*music above....... I HAD SO MUCH FUN WRITING THIS CHAPTER 😍😍 😍*

The kiss on the forehead had been soft, gentle.

Unlike this.

Although he didn't exactly mashed his lips on hers, it was no light touch. It started out one-sided at first, as Kyra was too dazed to respond. Then she started kissing him back, and Loki's arm came up to hold her neck, just beneath her ear.

The kiss deepened, intensified, and just about set all of her nerves on fire. They were kissing kissing, and for the second time that day the world disappeared.

He pulled her even closer and her hands came up to cup both sides of his face. Loki could feel the strands of her russet brown hair against his fingers. His thumb stroked the nape of her neck and she shivered.

They broke for air, but their foreheads still touched. For once Loki had no witty reply in store.

"Well this sucks," Kyra finally muttered. "Now your mum thinks I'm so desperate that I'm kissing any random Asgardian dude that I just met."

Loki let out a breathy chuckle.

"You are desperate. You claimed me as your lover within the first ten minutes of meeting me remember?"

"That's different - "

She didn't get to finish, because just then a loud commotion arose.

"That is Loki, the criminal!"

"The criminal is here at the Elska Ball!"

"Capture him at once!"

Eyes wide opened now, Kyra looked around as everyone in the hall began shouting and pointing accusatory fingers at Loki.

He looked down at himself. "Oops, I think that my illusion might have been broken."

"Why did you let your illusion break?" Kyra hissed as several guards advanced threateningly.

His green eyes looked deep into hers as he replied simply and honestly,

"I was distracted."

Kyra felt herself flush. Heart skipped a beat.

"I do believe it is high time we take our leave." He grabbed hold of her hand. "Let's go!"

They ran out of the hall together, Kyra's free hand bunching her skirts up so she could run better. They made their way out through the double doors and stopped long enough for Kyra to take off her heels. They ran on down the streets, Loki's long overcoat streaming out behind.

"Here!" Loki urged. They ducked into an alley and ran down it.

"Why are we heading back to the palace?" Kyra gasped.

"It is the last place they will expect. And I have a perfect getaway plan!"

They ran back, and ducked behind a wall as a line of Einherjar trooped past. Carefully they inched along the wall until they came to a side door.

"Wait." Loki's eyebrows furrowed for a second, and Kyra felt the magic rippled out.

"How do I look?"

Kyra burst into laughter, which she hurriedly shushed. Loki grinned, and she giggled.

He had constructed for himself a very accurate image of Tom Hiddleston.

Loki's eyes glanced upwards. "I think I might get used to this golden haired look. I see why Thor fancies it."

They entered the little door in the way and walked down a stone corridor. The guard at the end directed his spear at them as they neared.

"Halt! Who goes there?"

As they walked closer Loki leaned down to murmur in Kyra's ears.

"Do you remember the golden haired maiden that I have no intention of courting?"

"Sherria. Yes. Why?"

"I want you to act like her. A spoiled princess. Without the flirting. Can you do it?"

"Well......I guess," Kyra said dubiously.

"Good! Action!"

They reached the guard and Loki stepped forward. "I am Fenrir, brother of Herrick Geir. With me is the esteemed and honourable Kyra Pierce - the beloved daughter of King Richard and Crown Princess of Midgard."

Crown Princess of what?

The guard was staring at her, and her mind scrambled wildly for something to say.

What would Sherria do?

......Well that was easy.

She flipped her hair as outrageously as she could and tried not to wince as the ends of it slapped the side of the guard's helmet, who blinked rapidly. Next she fluttered her eyelashes.

The guard stared at her, then at Loki, looking utterly lost.

"Her Highness has been specifically invited by Her Royal Majesty Queen Frigga to the Elska Ball as a sign of friendship between both Midgard and Asgard." Damn was he a smooth liar. "As head of the guards, Herrick has been entrusted with palace duties at the ball. Therefore it falls on me to show our guest around Asgard, a duty I very gladly accepted. To better show her the beauty of our realm, I have decided to take Princess Kyra on a trip through the night skies. What better way is there to explore Asgard, don't you agree?"

The guard hesitated. "I have heard of no such news, nor received no such orders."

Loki shrugged carelessly. "It is an impromptu visit, one arranged mere hours before the ball began. But I understand your concerns. By all means, do take your time to verify this with the Queen. Only, I fear that she will not take kindly to being interrupted, especially since last I saw of her she was dancing with the King."

Kyra could almost see the guard weighing his options. On one hand, these were strangers asking for admission. On the other hand, this was apparently an imperial order.

She felt Loki nudged her, though he kept his face to the front.

Clearing her throat, she imitated Sherria the best she could.

Nasally whiny voice, childish pouting......

"Oh my gosh, seriously? Like, I have to wait here, while he runs off? Like, how long is that going to take? Cos I have to get back to Midgard, like, in half an hour, for a super duper ultra important meeting, with my......manicurist, for some seriously important issues, about the future of all Midgardians, in regards to......acrylic gels and tip overlays......"

I'm totally spamming.

Loki made a sympathetic noise. "Truly, you are such a busy person Princess Kyra. If we enter now the tour could finish in time, but if we wait for verification I'm afraid I will have to disappoint......" he trailed off on purpose.

The guard wavered. Loki let out a theatrical sigh.

"Well! Perhaps next time Princess." He placed an arm round her waist and steered her around.

"Wait for it," he murmured as they began walking way. "Wait for it......"

There was a loud cry from behind."Wait!"

Loki smiled. "And there we are." He gave Kyra a wink. "Reverse psychology. The key lies in being confident."

The door opened up into a dark, spacious room. There were two raised podiums, and when Kyra went near she could see that there were strange dials and buttons on both. Otherwise, the room was empty.

Loki stood in the middle of the two podiums and reached out his hands, touching both sides easily. He eyed Kyra, who was hanging back, unsure.

"Well come on!"

She stepped next to him and Loki pushed a lever up. Lights flickered on, while a deep whirring noise came from somewhere below and the whole room lurched. Kyra grasped Loki's arm in alarm.

"What was that?"

Loki grinned. "That is the sound of fun!"

In front of Kyra, a blue holographic screen lit up, littered all over with symbols. It looked like a projection of a map more than anything else, and a single moving dot was navigating its streets.

Beyond the screen, the long rectangular wall of the room was peeling away to one side, disappearing and folding into itself. Kyra watched open-mouthed as she soon found herself staring out into the Asgardian night sky.

She walked over to where the wall had been and reached out a tentative hand, only to touch glass. Directly below them was the kingdom of Asgard displayed in all its glory.

"Flying ships," Loki announced proudly from behind her. "The Asgard mode of transportation."

Kyra turned around to look at Loki, her eyes shining. "We're flying?"

Loki pressed a few buttons, setting the plane on a slow floating drift through the night sky. He came to stand next to her, one hand tucked into a pocket, his posture tall and regal. Like a prince.

"No traffic jams here," he smiled.

She laughed, looking back outside the window. "This is amazing!"

They watched the resplendent view for a few minutes, and Loki pointed out the constellations. Here they had far more stars, as well as extra moons. It surprised her how knowledgeable Loki was; she could ask him a whole bunch of questions and he answered them all.

"I bet you were one of those teenagers who was always holed up in the library huh? On Earth we call people like you a nerd."

The edges of his lips curved. "Is that a bad thing?"

Kyra looked at him, seeing his smile, his mesmerising green eyes, that twinkle of mischief.

She swallowed. "Nope. Nerds are hot."

Loki arched an eyebrow, looking even more amused. "Hot?"

Scarlet warmth crept up her cheeks. She wasn't going to explain that. Instead she just turned back to the glass wall.

"Yep. It's uh, it's a Midgard thing."

"Ah. An insult then."

She shot him an exasperated look. "It's a compliment, okay? I just complimented you."

Loki placed a fist to his chest and breathed in deep. "A compliment! From the Crown Princess of Midgard! I thank thee Your Highness." He bowed low.

She rolled her eyes. "You are more than welcome, Prince of Asgard," she mimicked.

She curtseyed too, but at that moment the ship decided to turn right and she stumbled forward. Loki was there in a second, his arms catching her before she could fall.

It was as if they were back at the ball again, in those few moments before they had kissed. Both her hands were holding his arms, while he was holding her by the waist. He was staring at her with that same unfathomable mask he had worn when she had kissed him, and something glimmered in his irises. For her part she thought she might just be about to melt into a puddle of goo.

His eyes glanced, just for the briefest of seconds, to her lips, and she felt her heart rate tripled. Stop trying to hammer yourself out of my chest!

Were they going to kiss again? That electrifying dizzying exhilarating kiss? She didn't think her nerves could handle it.

.......On second thoughts I think they can......

The moment was ruined by a sharp blast of feedback from the ship's internal speakers, followed by an unmistakable bark of:

"Criminal! How dare you escape from your dungeon and wreck havoc on a royal event!" A pause. "And how dare you lock the head of the palace guards inside a dungeon cell!"

Loki sighed. He drew himself up straight and Kyra let go, standing aside hurriedly. She brushed a lock of hair behind her ear and looked away, willing her cheeks to cool down.

Loki walked to a podium and spoke to the microphone there.

"Ah, Herrick. I must say, you have terrible timing."

There was something about the way he phrased his words that send the warmth scurrying right back up Kyra's cheeks.

"Silence you repugnant creature! I hereby place you back under arrest!"

There was a loud whine and all the lights dimmed into blackness. Kyra felt the ship changed course. From beside her she could hear Loki walking back.

"He cut off the power and overrode the ship's controls," Loki explained. "He's pulling us back to base. All we can do is wait."

They stood in silence, and Kyra began to be aware of a change in her vision. It was clouding over, getting darker until she nearly couldn't see, and the world too become blurred. For a moment she panicked, but then she remembered that Frigga's magical eye drops worked only until midnight. And it wasn't just her eyesight that was terrible, she had a pretty bad case of night blindness too.

Pretty soon she couldn't see anything. The ship gave another lurch and her hands searched for something to steady herself, but found none.

"Loki?" Her voice echoed in the belly of the ship. She wasn't scared of the dark, but not being able to see was quite unnerving.

"I'm here." The dulcet tones were close, behind her. Her hands reached out for him on their own accord, and she felt his warm skin touched hers. "Can't see?"

She nodded. "Frigga's magic wore off."

Long fingers interlaced with hers in a comforting grip. She felt him step near, and found herself leaning back against his chest.

"I got you," he said softly, both his hands holding hers.

She breathed in, loving his clear citrusy fragrance.

It was a very long minute before she finally decided to tell him.

"Kyra Pierce......isn't my birth name."

He shifted a little in surprise. "It's not?"

She shook her head, slow. "No, it isn't."

"Then what is it?"

She shrugged.

"I don't know. I'm adopted."

She felt him stiffened. She continued.

"My mother was in university when she became pregnant. One night, she got drunk with her boyfriend, and well.....you know. When her boyfriend - my father I guess, though he wasn't much of one - found out, he didn't want the responsibility. So he dumped her. Ran off with some other girl.

"My mother got depressed after that. She didn't want me either. She saw me as the reason why her life was now completely ruined. She only discovered me in her fifth month of pregnancy, and for the remaining four months she tried to kill me. Abortion surgeries were too expensive, so she used pills. Drugs and alcohol. The whole lot. Apparently she even threw herself down a flight of stairs once."

Kyra paused, recalling all the stories she had heard. All went quiet. Then -

"But you survived," came his voice, low.

"I did. I fought for my place on Earth. And when she finally gave birth to me, she wrapped me up in a towel, so no one could see, and brought me to the toilets, where she planned me to flush me down the drain."

The hands around hers tightened, almost protectively. She thought she heard a sharp inhalation of air.

"But her teacher knew what was going on, and stopped her. She was in a mess, emotionally and mentally, and confessed to everything. Her teacher brought me to an orphanage and told the director there what had happened. She in turn told my step-parents, who told me when they decided I was old enough - which was at sixteen. But I always knew I was adopted, I just didn't know my history."

She stopped. Long moments, where no one spoke.

"Was it hard? Growing up adopted?" he finally asked.

"It wasn't easy. But it wasn't as bad as you think. Sure, you get those gang of nasty kids that call you names and tease about you being unwanted, but they're wrong on that count. I'm not unwanted. And I do have a mum and dad. They're just different from the normal sense. Doesn't mean it's a bad thing."

She gave a sudden laugh. "And sometimes it's fun you know. I got away with a lot of things when I was younger, because when you're adopted people tend to treat you really nice. Not just my parents, but I had all the relatives and teachers wrapped around my little finger. I got way more presents than all my cousins, and I could pull pranks and not get scolded......did I tell you about this one time when I - "

But she didn't get to finish, because just then Loki pulled her close in a back hug, wrapping both arms around her waist. She tilted her head to the side slightly, as he rested his chin on her collarbone, his cheek pressed up against hers.

She blinked, startled. "Loki......"

He didn't say anything for a long time.

Finally -

"Thank you," he whispered, "for being alive."