This is a fill for a Norsekink prompt.

Tittle: Better Sort of Happiness.

Fandom: Iron Man & Thor & Avengers [films, not comics]

Pairing: female!Loki/Tony

Summary: After this cycle of Ragnarok, Loki is nowhere to be found on the higher realms. On earth a green eyed baby is born.

The Cycle Begins Anew

There was something missing in the world, Odin could tell the moment he woke up from Ragnarok. There was something missing, and he couldn't tell what it was. Everything was in peace, everything was golden and his empire was building itself from the ashes of destruction. But there was still something missing.

He couldn't help it, he searched the realms, he searched for that one right thing that would let him rest, the one right thing which would make the worlds perfect.

He knew Frigga felt it too and Thor, when the babe was born also felt it. Something missing, a part of them missing.

It was only when Jotunheimr's war came and went and Odin touched the Casket that he gave voice to what had been bothering him since the beginning of this time.

"Loki." He whispered, and the whisper carried through the nine realms. Loki was their missing link, their missing element, their missing god... despite the chaos and war and death around him Odin suddenly found this existence much too peaceful. Where was chaos? Disorder? Where was Loki?

(~o~)

"Loki." Thor murmured, memories coming back and wondering where was his little brother.

(~o~)

"Loki." Frigga whispered, memories of a boy that had never been breaking away from the bonds of another time. She stared ahead, eyes filling with tears, where was Loki?

(~o~)

"Loki." Sif hissed, eyes narrowing down and touching her golden hair, momentarily distracted from battle. Vile trickster!

"Sif?" Tyr asked, stopping his attack as his companion stopped dead on her tracks. "What is a Loki?" The god of war blinked, recollection coming back after a moment's pause, his eyes wide.

(~o~)

"Loki." Sigyn whimpered, cradling her empty stomach. There was never a child there, and there would never be. She stopped the tending of her gardens, sitting down, not caring about the silent tears falling.

(~o~)

The eight realms stopped, each one wondering what had become of the Trickster. He had been big, bigger than life, he had been a hurricane going through life and changing each person in a fundamental and, sometimes, unpleasant way. He had been Loki. Loki Odinson, sometimes Laufeyson, Loki the Trickster, the deceiver, the liar, Loki Skywalker, the Ragnarok, mother of monsters...

But where were the monsters if they could not be bought forward by Loki? Who would the nine gather upon to battle against?

(~o~)

"Loki." Hel muttered, her hand clenched in a fist. She had known Loki as mother, father and betrayer. She had known that Loki had died the moment it had happened and yet... and yet...

Hel searched through her own realm, moving souls and bonds and rocks and skies and fumes and realities out of the way for a sign, for something... and came out empty handed.

Her mother's soul was not in Helheimr, should she weep? Should she contact Odin? She had been sure Loki's soul had not passed through the rebirth process, it had been stored away for the moment when Laufey and Farbauty joined together for the first time.

But Jotunheimr's first prince wasn't a runt, it wasn't Loki, but Helblindi. Hel considered. There was no Loki in this reality, there was no mother, there was nothing. No relations to anyone in the nine realms, no brothers, no family, no uncle and grandparents... and Loki's soul was nowhere to be found.

"Lady Hel?" Came the inquiry, a voice she had never heard of before and yet had, her grandfather's voice.

"Loki soul is not here, it does not reside in the halls of Helheimr." She said, going for apathetic but sounding hurt.

"He's not in Valhalla either," Odin said, sitting down by his supposed granddaughter's side. Were they still family? There was no Loki to bind them.

(~o~)

The ninth realm was the only one where life went forward as it is wont to do. An orphan was born to no known parents, raised by nuns in Iceland. Fair skinned, dark haired and green eyed, left on the doorstep of a Convent, on a lukewarm spring night, pink blanket branded with a golden lock.

"Laesa," the nun whispered as she brought the baby inside, the door locked behind her and Skuld smiled to herself, leaving Iceland behind.

(~o~)

"Laesa," Tony Stark of Stark Industries muttered, glancing through the curriculum in his hand and at the girl in front of him. They were the same age, barely twenty-three, but he was the figure head of Stark Industries and she, she was the one applying for a job as an engineer. A woman, barely out of MIT herself. "That's it? No last name."

"I'm pretty sure it's on the CV, Stark." Laesa said in mildly accented English, eyebrow high and daring the genius before her to argue, "Nafnlaus."

"That's not a name, that's a translation. I could use google and get either 'nameless' or 'no name' which is pretty much the same thing, so which is it?"

"All of them," Laesa said, unconcerned, "the nuns which took me in were not very imaginative." She shrugged, eyeing the engineer before her. "Do you have any relevant questions or should I show myself out?"

"Nuns?" Tony asked, Laesa hardly looked to be the nun-type.

"Are hardly the topic in hand, Stark. You're the one who told me to keep things impersonal."

"And now I'm changing the rules, so... nuns?" Tony asked with a pleasant smile, but the woman before him just scowled.

"I won't let you change the rules, Stark." Laesa said, scowling and reaching for her purse.

"All right, all right! Touchy! No nuns then... why do you want to work here, then?" Tony asked, leaning back on his chair, letting his eyes take on the female shape before him. She was hot, smoking hot! All curves and full breasts which he bet would fit in his hand and legs... if there was one thing Tony Stark was a fan of was long legs which could wrap around his middle and bring him closer, and those eyes!

"... and then you show the rumours are true and you care nothing for what I have to say." Laesa's speech suddenly raised him from his daydream, her legs doing something worth of Sharon Stone and getting up.

"Hey wait, were are you going? What are you doing?" Tony snapped after her, the woman walking purposely to the door and yanking it open. "I thought you wanted to work here!"

"Not anymore I don't. I rather work for Hammer industries!" Laesa snapped, narrowing her eyes. "At least Hammer will not be a chauvinist pig the way you're behaving! I'm not yours to ogle, you stupid shit!"

"That means if you were mine I could?" Tony couldn't help but snap back, walking after her.

"I wouldn't be yours even if you were the last man on earth!" Laesa growled, stalking out of the room and banging the door behind her, her lips pressed together.

"That went well..." Tony muttered, watching her go and turning to the next hopeful Stark Industries Engineer.

(~o~)

"That went well," Laesa sighed, unknowingly echoing Stark's early words as she entered a bar hours after the fact. She glanced around and, locating the bartender, sauntered over, ordering a Screaming Orgasm.

"I could give you one if you wanted." Laesa glanced to her side, eyeing the man up and down and sneering.

"That's a horrible pun." She said, shaking her head. The man was nothing grand, nothing intriguing, pretty common and forgettable. After Stark she needed to at least end the day with something to gloat about. He would do.

"Doesn't mean I'm not right." The nameless one shrugged, and Laesa smiled invitingly at him.

"I wouldn't know, would I?"

"And neither do you want to." Came another voice, this one Laesa knew well enough having heard it not even five hours ago. Tony Stark. Laesa gritted her teeth.

"And who are you to tell me what I want or not?" Laesa said, voice low and vaguely threatening.

"Your future employer." Tony shrugged, taking the seat vacated by the nameless man.

"I don't want to work for you." Laesa shrugged back, temper already going up.

"I'll double your salary." Tony said, looking the woman over, smirking as she almost chocked on her drink.

"You're mad." Laesa hissed, cleaning her face with a napkin. "I just refused the job why would you offer it to me again?"

"I saw you... I reviewed all your answers and the tapes up from the very first interview. You're intelligent, probably the best out of the ten you were with, and I only hire the best." Tony said seriously, blue eyes staring into green ones.

"Probably?" Laesa said, frowning.

"Now you're just being picky, I complimented you and everything!" Tony rolled his eyes, snapping his fingers and calling the barman. "I'll have a 7&7."

"It's not a compliment I'm looking for!" Laesa cried, banging her drink and turning to Tony, "you're a pig, Stark, it's not about money-"

"You're broke." Tony interrupted, leaning forward, eyes narrowed.

"Yes, I am... stating the obvious here."

"I'm offering you double your salary and you're refusing... how does that make sense?"

"Oh please, you're only offering after the interview, after you disliked every single one of the candidates and decided randomly that, not only the woman but the woman who turned you down needs the job so you can get your eye candy. Why should I take it?" Laesa said, hands fisted, her short nails digging inside her palm.

"Temper, temper." Tony tutted, "I'm offering because I can see you'll take it seriously, I can see that you'll enjoy it. I saw your tests, Laesa, I know how high your IQ is, I know what that does and I know that you'll never be bored at Stark Industries!"

"I still don't want to work with you!" Laesa said, turning around and grabbing her purse. Seemed like she was always running from Stark.

He couldn't leave well enough alone, could he? Tony also got up, leave a $100 bill to the bartender and leaving him the change. For a woman in high heels Laesa sure could run!

"Must you be so damn stubborn?" Tony cried as he ran after her.

"Yes, your very presence is annoying me!" Laes hissed, stalking away from Tony, rubbing her arms at the sudden chill. Tony just rolled his eyes, placing his jacket on Laesa's back.

"You're so rude!"

"To people who annoy me." Laesa shot back, glaring at Tony.

"I want you to work for me. Hell you won't even have to see me! Look, I'll add another $500 to your salary!" Tony cried, throwing his hands up and still stalking after Laesa.

"Stubborn mule... fine, I'll think about it." Laesa said, crossing her arms and refusing the look at Tony. "I need to go home to think."

"No being rude with you employer!" Tony tsk-ed, hauling a cab. The both of them stood, waiting, breathing heavily and glaring at each other.

"I want fifty-thousand a year, at the very least."

"Make that sixty and come to the R&D." Tony countered.

"No thank you, I'd have to see you every day if I did." Laesa snorted derisively.

"Would that be so bad?"

"You're a pig, Stark. The only reason I even want to work in Stark Industries is because it is the best, and I want to make it better, that does not mean I want to look at you every day."

"Who wouldn't want to look at me every day?"

"Me!" Laesa shouted, looking away from Stark and to the cab suddenly there. Tony blinked at it, opening the door to the cab to the woman and handing the cabbie a $100. "I can pay for it myself, Stark."

"No you can't, you're broke, and I've already paid for it anyway!"

"You're infuriating!"

"So are you, do not be late tomorrow morning, ask for Pepper and she will show you around."

"I'm never late, Stark." Laesa snapped.

"That's good to know," Tony leered at her, getting a facefull of his jacket in return, "rude!"

"Infuriating, how did you manage to hold your position for so long?"

"I'm a genius baby, a genius! Oi, give me your number!"

"So you can bother me later? No!" Laesa said, recoiling from Stark's presence.

"Do as I said, I'm your employer!" Tony grinned, it had been a while since he had encountered someone he liked to annoy.

"That line's getting old, find a new one!" Laesa said, but got a paper from her tiny purse and scrambled a number in it anyway, "there, do with it whatever you want! Cabbie, to the Hilton." Tony grinned, triumphant, as the cab rolled out of view he took the paper, opening up, his smile sliding right out of his face.

"You win this round, Laesa. You win this round." Tony snickered to himself, pocketing the digits and texting Happy. It had been a productive day all in all.

'3.14159265'