On Loki's 17th birthday — that is, in human years — he'd figured out something new.

The Bifrost Bridge.

The older the mischief-boy grew, the more he got in control of his powers. So it wasn't exactly hard for him to transfer into somebody else, or to trick Heimdall into sending him off to the other realms; or to, simply just distract his attention elsewhere so that he could jump off to the swirl of space.

So, bored to his life in the kingdom, but mostly just curious, Loki had taken a habit of traveling to the other realms. He'd never been to Midgard, but he'd traveled a lot elsewhere. He'd read all about the other places from the books they kept in the palace library, and he'd studied them.

He would always take a little souvenir from every realm he'd visited; even if it was just a rock from the ground, he'd always taken something. But as he grew older, so did his ambitiousness. He wanted to bring back more and more valuable things; and now he had his eyes set on something specific.

The fiery sword of Hephaestus, kept in safe in the realm of fire, Muspelheim.

Was it realistic for Loki to get it?

Absolutely not.

But did Loki care?

Absolutely not.

So there he was now, making his way towards the palace of Muspelheim, in the said realm.

During his trip towards the goal, he had to sneak in behind the rocks and the small volcanoes every now and then, even practicing his little disappearing-trick occasionally when the guard-protectors of the palace marched back and forth, but he managed to hide successfully.

Once he approached the palace, Loki smirked to himself. He glanced around his both sides; first left, then right, before he put his dagger sideways between his teeth, and he begun to climb up the wall of the palace.

As he was higher, he threw himself to the side of the window, and glued his eyes to it as he stared inside to the palace.

He glanced behind himself once more, before he kicked his way in through the window; and landed on his feet.

He was inside.

He whistled a little as he looked around; the place was huge.

Of course so was Loki's house, but it was different being inside somebody else's.

Then he heard footsteps coming.

Quickly Loki closed his eyes, and slowly he begun to disappear...

and the guards walked right past him.

After making sure they were really gone, Loki made himself visible again, and stared after the backs of the guards until they turned around the corner.

Then Loki started to silently sneak his way to the other way.

He had memorized the map of the Muspelheim palace to his brain so well, that he knew exactly where the vault was located at.

Just a couple of more turns to the left; and then, there he was.

Loki stopped. He bit to his lip as he stared at the sword inside the room. It was shoved into the stone, and was flaming.

The raven-black haired kid smiled with the side of his mouth — and then, he walked right through the wall, and once he was inside, his jaw actually dropped a little as he realized that it had actually worked.

He'd actually managed to use his powers to walk through a wall; into a vault. And not just any vault; the vault of Hephaestus.

"Mother would kill me," Loki mumbled to himself, but he still sounded proud.

Now with confident steps the young trickster then started to walk towards the sword.

He stopped right by it; he wasn't a fool, after all. He knew better than to grab the sword just like that. He knew that his arms would burn off.

So now he bit his lip again, as he held his arm up, and started to pull a glove to cover it.

"Excuse me—?"

Loki turned his head, his eyes widening from the sight he faced, as his lips parted.

In front of him, there was a girl his age. She had thick, long, platinum-blonde hair, that was going down in beautiful curls framing her face.

Her clothes were entirely red, and she had full lips, her eyes emerald green.

Loki found himself mesmerized by her looks; he'd never laid eyes on a girl this beautiful.

The girl raised her brows a little, as she looked at Loki.

"What exactly do you think you're doing?" Agni asked.

Slowly, Loki started to return back to the moment, blinking his eyes, gaining his ability to speak and move again.

"Nothing." He blurted out.

Agni frowned now.

"Really-?" She asked. She glanced at the sword, then turned her gaze back to Loki, raising her brows again as she crossed her arms in front of her chest. "Because to me, it almost looks like you're about to steal my father's sword."

Loki looked at her for a moment, leaning in a little.

"What-?" He asked, as if he hadn't heard her probably; and then he let out a laugh. "Your father's sword? No! I would neve-"

Then he stopped, blinking.

"Hold on," He said. "Did you just say- Your father's sword?"

Agni frowned at him.

"Yes?" She asked.

Loki's jaw dropped again, slowly.

"No way," He said. "So that makes you…"

The girl was still just looking at him, confused.

"A princess," Loki said quietly. "I never knew there was a princess…"

Agni narrowed her eyes at Loki.

"Who are you?" She asked, glancing at him from head to toe. "You're not from this realm."

Loki smirked.

"No, Sweetness - I am not." He said.

He stepped a little closer to Agni, who eyed him suspiciously.

"Allow me to introduce myself." Loki said. He bowed down politely, before he grabbed Agni's hand gently, looking at her from under his brows. "I am Loki. Prince, of Asgard. It is a pleasure to meet you, Princess."

"You're a prince?" Agni asked incredulously.

Loki smirked a little.

"What, is that so hard to believe?" He asked.

"Yes, actually." Agni said, pulling her hand back to herself. Loki seemed a little offended by this.

"What do you mean?" Loki asked.

"Why would a prince steal?" Agni asked. "Don't you have fortune and property of your own?"

Loki snorted through his nose.

"I do." He said. "I just… find other treasure more appealing."

Then he eyed Agni from head to toe, eyes sparkling with lust, and before Agni could react to his disrespectful act; Loki lifted his gaze back up to her eyes again, smirking.

"Except for my crown, of course." Loki said. "Which I'll get one day."

"Yeah?" Agni asked. "I wonder if that day'll come."

Loki frowned a little, but still smiled.

"What do you mean? Of course it will." He said.

"Are you certain?" Agni asked. "I don't think they do crownings in the dungeons."

Now the smile from Loki's face faded.

"The dungeons?" He asked.

Agni smiled, and just then the guards jumped on Loki from behind him, shoving him down and handcuffing him with fiery cuffs.

Loki gritted his teeth as he looked up at Agni, who still smiled down at him, now sweetly and innocently; clearly faking.

"Have fun." She said.

And now Loki started to smile, his eyes beginning to sparkle.

This confused Agni, her smile slowly fading away.

"You tricked me." Loki said.

"Which is why I don't see why you're smiling," Agni said.

And Loki's smirk only deepened, as the guards pulled him up harshly.

"You and I are much more alike than you'd think, Princess." He said.

"Silence, brat." One of the guards growled, and Loki could throw one more flirtatious, overwhelming look at Agni, before he was turned around, and marched away.

And Agni was left standing there, staring after Loki with her lips gaped.

—

"An intruder? In my palace-?"

Hephaestus shook his head in disappointment, dropping it to his hands.

Then he smacked his other fist against the table, and the guards in front of him flinched a little.

"How did this happen?!" He growled.

"We don't know, Sir." The other one answered. "Somehow he got past us."

"Did he take anything?" Hephaestus spat.

"No, my Lord." The other guard now spoke. "And he is locked in the dungeon now. So- so he couldn't have taken anything, Sir. He was only targeting the sword. What are the orders from now, my King? Shall we burn him alive - feed him to the dragons, or rot him in the cell till he dies?"

Hephaestus raised his head.

"Feed him to the dragons. And do it tonight." He said. "I do not want him anywhere near my daughter. This thief… He could be really dangerous. It should be impossible to get through the security of that vault; but somehow he managed to. Who knows what else they're capable of..."

The guards looked at eachother, before one of them spoke.

"Your daughter, my Lord..." He started. "The thief was with her, when we found him."

Hephaestus blinked.

"What?" He asked quietly.

"Yes, Sir."

Hephaestus bit his teeth together.

"This thief…" He started. "How old was he?"

"He looked about your daughter's age, my lord."

And then the king dropped his head, closing his eyes.

"Thank you." He mumbled. "You're excused."

The guards nodded, and took off, out of the room of the throne.

And Hephaestus shook his head.

Agni was sitting on her chair, brushing her hair as she looked at herself in the mirror, lost in her thoughts, the windows on the walls of her room showing the wildly burning fires of Muspelheim.

Then there was a knock on her door.

"Yes?" Agni asked.

The door opened, and it revelead Hephaestus, who was looking at Agni through the mirror.

Agni looked back at him, before putting her brush down, and turning around.

"What?" She asked.

"You're forbid to go see him." Hephaestus said.

Agni frowned.

"Who?"

"The thief." Hephaestus spat. "I know you met him."

Agni raised her brows, before letting out a laugh.

"Are you serious?" She asked. "You really think that I would wanna go see the boy? Father — is that really how low you think of me? He is a thief!"

"I know you want to go see him," Hephaestus growled. "He's a stranger. From another realm. You find him intriguing. But he's dangerous, Agni. No matter how fascinating you'd think he is; he is dangerous."

"He's just a kid!" Agni blurted out.

Hephaestus stared at her, and then scoffed.

"So you don't see him as a thief." He said.

"Father, you can not feed him to the dragons," Agni said, getting up.

"You were eavesdropping," Hephaestus said. "That isn't polite, Agni. I taught you better than that."
"You can't murder someone so young," Agni shook her head. "Mother would have never."
"This boy disrespected our family." Hephaestus spat. "This kingdom. He had the nerve to try and take something that was not his. I have no other option but to kill him. And your mother would've agreed with me. She understands. I have to protect our legacy."

"You really think that our legacy is endangered by a boy my age-?" Agni shook her head in disbelief.

"The fires of this kingdom don't burn everlastingly from kindness, Agni!" Hephaestus shouted. "They burn from justice."

Agni shook her head.

"Justice for who-?" She asked. "Father... The fires burn out of the souls that have made mistakes... Who you have murdered."

Hephaestus only stared at her.

"One day you will understand," He then growled. "One day, when you're wiser. And you'll stop acting so stubborn."

Agni clenched her jaw.

Hephaestus was already about to turn around and walk out of the room, but then he stopped.

"Oh; and do not just sit there, brushing your hair. That is shallow." He said. "Practice your powers, instead."

Then he walked away, not closing the door after him.

Agni stared after him, still biting her teeth together.

She turned around to look at herself from the mirror;

took a long, hard look, before she turned around swiftly, and marched out of her room.

—

Loki was sitting on the corner of his cell, leaning against the rock wall.

His hands were still cuffed. They were a special kind of handcuffs; they were on fire, but only on the outsides. So the insides that were touching Loki's skin, weren't burning him; but if he tried to smack them against the ground or something among that, they'd burst into bigger flames. And somehow he wasn't able to do his sorcery while cuffed; he'd tried, but not managed to.

So there he was, stuck between the four fiery walls, just waiting for his doom.

This wasn't exactly how Loki had imagined this day to end; but there wasn't exactly a thing he could do anymore. There was no crossing the dungeon bars made of fire.

Then he heard footsteps coming down the stairs.

Curiously he raised his brows a bit as he tilted his head upwards, trying to see who was coming.

He knew that the possibility of it being the princess was only the slightest, but you couldn't blame the young prince for hoping.

Sadly for him, he was wrong, however — as the footsteps now lead to the dungeon, he saw two of the guards.

He scoffed a bit, as the men stopped in front of his cell.

"Hello, gentlemen." He however then said, smiling a little. "Come here to pick me upstairs for dinner?"

"Shut up." The bigger guard spat. "The king has given orders to kill you."

Loki's smug smile faded away a little, as he understood the realness of his crime.

Then he faked it back on.

"Has he, now?" He asked.

"Ade. Bache."

It was a girl's voice. The guards turned their heads.

Loki turned his head towards the voice too, and his eyes sparkled again while his lips curved upwards as he now saw the princess at the end of the stairs.

"There's a stranger walking outside the palace." Agni spoke.

"A stranger?" The smaller guard asked.

"Yes," Agni nodded. "She was wearing a dark hood. I think she could be related to this thief."

Agni nodded at Loki, and the guards turned to him. Loki was a little confused for a moment, but as she saw how Agni looked at him — slightly raising her brows — he then started to play along.

"Oh-" He started. "Crap… I guess my sister followed me. What a fool."

The big guard showed his teeth to Loki.

"Guess your sister will join you under the fire of dragon, then." He said, and then the guards hurried off.

Agni watched them go, before she made her way over to Loki's cell, who was smirking excitedly.

"What is this?" He asked. "Correct me if I'm wrong; but it would almost seem like you were just distracting the guards."

Agni looked at him, and then she walked closer to the bars.

"You said you're from another realm." She spoke.

Loki looked up at her.

"I am." He said. "Asgard."

"I've never been outside Muspelheim." Agni said. "I've… never been outside this palace."

Loki raised his brows, surprised.

"Truly?"

Agni nodded.

Loki eyed her, curious, as he begun to get up.

He walked closer to the bars, Agni following his every move carefully, until Loki stopped right in front of her, behind the bars.

"I could show you." Loki whispered.

Agni raised her brows a little.

"We have a bridge," Loki continued. "In my realm. It leads to every planet there is."

Agni frowned.

"That can't be true." She said. "You'd have to have a spaceship."

Loki smiled with the corner of his mouth.

"Not with the Bifrost."

"Bifrost?" Agni asked.

"Yes." Loki said. "The bridge."

Agni looked at him, debating.

"I've never heard of your realm," She said.

"Not much to be heard." Loki murmured. "Your father's a bit of a racist, then, huh?"

He smirked a little.

"He's going to kill you." Agni said.

Loki snorted, glancing down.

"So it would seem." He said.

Agni was still watching him.

All her life; she'd dreamt of this.

Of that one stranger.

The stranger that would come, and change her life.

"Would you really?" She asked.

Loki lifted his gaze back up to her.

"Would I really what?" He asked.

"Show me." Agni continued. "The realms."

Loki started to smirk.

"Yes." He said. "Any place you'd want."

Agni didn't say anything, and neither did Loki. He only looked at her, waiting for her next move. Not daring to say anything.

And then Agni grabbed the bars with her bare hands. Loki's eyes widened as he watched her bend the bars, melting them, until there was an opening Loki could pass through.

"Impressing." He commented.

"Quick." Agni said, showing him to hurry with her hand.

Loki did.

Then Agni grabbed his handcuffs, and melted them away too.

"Thank you." Loki smirked a little.

Then they started to hear the guards again.

"Come on. Hurry!" Agni blurted out, and started to walk rapidly further on the dungeon hallway. Loki hurried after her, and soon they sneaked out from a door, and ran even further, now finding their way to the backyard of the palace, and they didn't stop running until they were by the high, golden gates surrounding the property. Where the palace ended, and the outside land of Muspelheim begun.

"Do you really have dragons?" Loki then asked, kind of excited.

"Yes," Agni answered fast. "Look- you have to go, before they find you."

"But what about you?" Loki asked, frowning a little. "I thought you wanted me to show you the realms."
"I do," Agni said. "But I can not leave. Not now. If I do — they will think that you snatched me. My father will put a price on your head, and he won't stop till you're dead."

Loki looked at her, not believing what he was hearing.

"You're worried about what'll happen to me?" He asked.

This random girl; this stranger; a Princess - was worried. About him.

Agni looked at him.

"You're just a kid." She said. "Like me. And unlike my father, I don't want to see blood shed for small, improper reasons."

Loki looked at her, his brows raising a little.

"Loki, I don't…" Agni then started. "I don't want to live by my father's rules no more."

Short silence.

"Promise you'll come back." Agni added, her voice silent, but begging.

Loki blinked, and then swallowed, his throat suddenly feeling dry.

"I don't… I don't even know your name," He said.

Agni looked at him.

"It's Agni." She said.

And as Loki looked at her, he felt something in his chest.

Something the boy had never felt before, but it was the kind of feeling he'd heard about in all the fairytale books his mother had read him and his brother when they were just children.

"Agni," Loki repeated her name, trying out how it felt rolling off his tongue.

And he liked the way.

Agni looked at him, her beautiful eyes wide, like a deer's in headlights.

"I promise." Loki assured, nodding.

And then Agni begun to smile a little.

"Find him!"

Agni's smile disappeared immediately.

"That's the guards," Agni then said, a little panicky. "Go- Now!"

"I'll come back," Loki blurted out, starting to back out. "I promise!"

"Go!" Agni snapped, glancing behind them; and just then, Loki disappeared in thin air like a puff of smoke.

As Agni turned her head again, Loki was no longer there.

Her lips parted, as she stared at the empty spot.

Then the guards rushed to the back of the yard, where they found her by herself.

Agni turned around.

"I tried," She said. "I tried to stop him. He was too fast."

The guards stared at her.

"Get back in the palace, Princess."

Agni looked at them for a moment, before she nodded.

"Going."

And off she went.

—

Once Loki dropped back in to Asgard, he was first greeted by his father and Heimdall.

Loki's jaw dropped carefully as he froze in place, Odin's glare burning into his eyes.

"Do you have any idea how dangerous it is to travel in to other realms—?!" Odin spat as he dragged Loki back to the palace, his grip rough on Loki's arm. "And Lord Forbid if you'd found your way into Midgard! Where did you even travel?! Hm?!"

"I went to Muspelheim," Loki answered.

"Muspelheim?!" Odin hissed. He stopped, and turned so that he could grab Loki by both of his shoulders, his fingers sinking into Loki's clothing. "The realm of fire-?! Ruled by Hephaestus?!"

"Yes," Loki said. "Father, there's a Princess-"

"Of course there is," Odin growled, shaking his head. "You are not traveling from realm to realm for a girl, Loki! There's plenty of females in this kingdom for you."

"But they're not like her," Loki said, frowning a little. "She's different."

"I don't care!" Odin spat. "You are never allowed to use the Bifrost again."

Loki's eyes widened as his lips parted.

"What?" He asked, his voice tiny.

"Not before you've grown in age and wisdom." Odin hissed. "So I hope you enjoyed your time in Muspelheim with the Princess and took a good, long look. Because you will not be seeing her again."

"But father-!"

"No." Odin just said, and then he threw Loki to his room, and slammed the door shut.

The young Prince could now do nothing but stare at the closed door; before he smacked his fist against it.

"You had something to do with it — didn't you?!"

Agni turned around on the hallway, now facing her father.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," She lied.

"That boy." Hephaestus spat. "The thief. He is gone."

Agni looked at him.

"Oh." She then just said. "What a shame."

Hephaestus didn't say anything.

"He was from a realm called Asgard," Agni snapped. "I've never heard of that realm. Why, father?!"

Hephaestus smacked his sceptre to the floor, as he let out a loud groan.

"You will never leave this realm!" He shouted, flames bursting all around Agni, whose jaw dropped as she tried to back out away from her father. "You will gain respect for me! For your legacy! And this nonsense will end! Your desire for journeys — it will end, Agni! You will become queen of Muspelheim, whether you liked it, or not!"

And then the king turned around and marched away, leaving Agni stand there between the flames, biting her teeth together to try and stop herself from bursting out in tears, as they were already glistening in her eyes.