His body thrummed with energy and with heat, hands opening and closing at his sides.

There were times that he swore he hated his brother.

The space about him expanded as he stepped past the guards and into the Vault and his breath came easier. The vast, empty corners of the place were simple and dark. Soft against his agitated senses. Cooler than much of the palace, being so far below it.

He inhaled until his lungs hurt, then let his breath out.

It was a quarrel. Nothing more, and nothing unusual at that.

Why he should expect more of the oaf at this point was beyond him.

Something a little ways away dragged at his senses like ghostly fingers on the back of his neck.

The distraction was a welcome one, and Loki straightened from the pillar he'd leaned on. He frowned. He'd felt this before, but differently. When he'd found that path to Nidavellir and after the paths to Nifleheim and Alfheim he'd felt the same thing.

He'd teased Thor about that first path he'd found for weeks and finally word had gotten to Father and that had been the end of that. Father hadn't done much about it, had felt that the retribution the Dwarves had wrought on him serious enough. He hadn't spoken about the others, and when Thor asked he only smiled and teased him about some other thing which Thor would spring to defend. Easy enough.

But within the walls of the palace?

Loki followed the hovering, humming feeling like a bloodhound on a scent, out of the Vault itself and down an abandoned corridor until he stopped abruptly as though brought face to face with a wall – though for all to see, there was naught before him but air.

Every other time, it had been within a cave. He'd thought at least this might lead him farther, perhaps to some deeper cellar, though the portal would have to be exceptionally strong to have the pull it did from that distance. Odd that he'd never noticed this one before. But, then, he spent little time in this wing of the palace.

Tentatively, he put one hand, palm-up, against the barrier. It was a moment only before he snatched it back.

The screen spoke of ice. Of dark. Of cold. Jotunheim.

A portal. Within the very palace of Asgard. And to Jotunheim.

There was nothing to be done about it, portals were where they were, if there was a way to create or destroy them, the knowledge was undocumented and Loki had yet to discover it.

Within him, he shuddered. Curiosity quickened in his blood.

Jotunheim.

It was forbidden.

Forbidden to him to leave the Realm without order – an order that had been for decades and was largely ignored, an order that was scarcely ever enforced. But it was forbidden to all to venture to Jotunheim. Had been since the Great War at the time of his own birth.

Dropping his hand, Loki shook his head and strode through the place, leaving the screen untouched as he pressed through it.

It dragged at his senses as he went to the end of the long passage.

Should Heimdal be watching, it would not pay to be caught gaping.

Few knew of his ability to locate the portals, Father had only punished him once for leaving, and that once because he'd admitted it to Thor. He recalled the first time. He'd known of the portal for a good while, fearful of its rumored danger, unsure of his own senses. In a rush he'd cast caution aside. Traversing the paths was simpler than he'd imagined it could be. He had come and gone along his paths quite freely since, especially in the past few years. He'd brought much past the Gatekeeper.

He felt that Heimdal was not as good a Guardian as his father claimed.

There was always the story of how Laufey smuggled an army past him and into Midgard.

If Laufey – of all possible creatures – could manage it, so could he.

Going about as though nothing were odd, Loki slid a guard about himself. He didn't know if it worked, truly, or if it was only that Heimdal happened to be distracted at the times when he'd used it. It was unlikely that Heimdal had seen him and chosen to turn a blind eye. Loki had never put any faith on the goodwill of the Gatekeeper towards himself. But it was better to take the precaution on the off chance that it might work. And, as far as his studies had taken him, it should have worked beautifully.

But then, he'd thought that before…

It would not, he thought, be remiss to test it and see if Heimdal could see him.

The guards did not see him as he slid past them into the Vault.

But Jotunheim… He stood before the portal. He faltered. Jotunheim was forbidden. To all.

Father could forbid all he liked.

Casting caution aside, Loki stepped through.

TLTLTLTLTLTLTLTLTLTLTLTLTLTLTLTLTLTLTLTLTLTLTLTLTLTLTLTLTLTLTL

It was perhaps an hour later that Loki appeared back in the dark corridor, flushed with the cold. His eyes burned with excitement.

He'd been on Jotunheim. And – unless he was greatly mistaken – he remained uncaught.

It was exhilarating.

He hadn't remained overly long. He'd seen little besides terrain. But he'd been there, and the defiance of his father's orders made him want to laugh. He'd been to Jotunheim. He'd done no harm. But, he did wonder at Heimdal. The fabled Gatekeeper would fail to hold his hallowed place long if others knew of his unfortunate shortcomings.

TLTLTLTLTLTLTLTLTLTLTLTLTLTLTLTLTLTLTLTLTLTLTLTLTLTLTLTLTLTLTL

Following Thor and the others out of the Observatory Loki took the bridle of his horse from the man who offered it, then, on a whim, he turned back.

"Heimdal,"

"My prince," the dark man's head did not turn.

"You see the spaces between Realms, do you not?" It had been his habit as a boy to often question Heimdal thus. He'd ask if such and such a thing he'd read about truly existed and a smile would tug at the huge man's mouth though he would never take his eyes from his watch. Those were in days far off, before Loki had taken it into his head that he might outwit the man. Before he'd decided Heimdal hated him.

"I see all, my prince."

Hubris was a dangerous failing. "Do the paths that ran between them in the legends yet exist?"

"If they do, my eyes see none yet who know them."

So, Father had kept it quiet, then. If Heimdal did not know… He kept the laughter back from his eyes.

"Loki!"

"I'm coming."

TLTLTLTLTLTLTLTLTLTLTLTLTLTLTLTLTLTLTLTLTLTLTLTLTLTLTLTLTLTLTL

Thor knows that Loki can operate the 'Secret Paths'. But I get the feeling that that was not something that was common knowledge, and also that if it were, it would not be considered a good thing.

This is the beginning of the end. Let me know what you think.