Loki had met the Lady Death for the first time eons ago. He had met her when he was little, only about nine hundred years old. There was a conference or a gathering of many powerful and near immortal beings and Loki was allowed to attend along with his father, mother, and brother, Thor.

It had been held in another realm, another branch on the Yggdrasil, in a large palace, created by Dream of the Endless. Loki found the Endless a little intimidating, he knew that they were more powerful than Gods, that they were the living embodiment of an force or power. He had read what texts he could on them, (one of them, Thor happened to get mud all over it when he dragged Loki on one of his adventures), and knew that they operated about the same.

They could die, the first Despair had, but they were reborn, and Loki had heard that some Gods weren't always sent on. They had powers and abilities, maybe a bit stronger, but Loki almost doubted that they were more powerful than Odin, the Allfather.

They had arrived in a garden outside of the palace, and Loki immediately recognized Set and Nepthys, standing beside Geb and speaking to Artemis and Diana.

"Now," said Loki's mother, Frigga, "We must attend the main conference."

"Behave yourselves." said Father. "No wandering off, stay here until we return."

"But-" began Thor.

They both disappeared. As did most of the guests.

Thor and Loki looked at each other.

Thor took off down a path. "Wait!" called Loki, catching up to him. "Thor!"

"What?" he asked impatiently.

"We are supposed to stay here." Loki reminded him.

"I want to explore, brother." Thor continued walking along.

"Don't be stupid. You could get lost or something horrible could happen." Loki tried to reason with him, Loki had stopped following Thor, but Thor had completely ignored Loki, in favor of walking away from the main square and away from the gardens.

"Fine. Don't listen! I hope you do get hurt or something, brother!" Loki yelled at him. Loki turned away, trying to look like he didn't care. He turned back. Thor was gone down one of the paths or into one of the many doors. Great. Abandoned by his big brother so easily.

Loki began to run to try and find him. He ran down a side path that went by a large corridor and through a grove of trees.

He wasn't watching where he was going when suddenly his foot was caught on a stone and he tumbled down onto the cold, rocky path.

Loki grimaced in pain and held his knee. He had skinned it and bright drops of blood were running down his leg. He bit his lip and blinked rapidly to keep the tears from falling. He was far too old to cry over this. He would be mortified if anyone saw him in tears anyways. At least, Loki told himself that. He had brushed the dirt off his hands and was beginning to stand up, when a stranger asked him:

"Are you okay?" in a voice of soft, musical tones.

Loki felt himself flush red with embarrassment, this was one of the very important guests who had just seen one of the Odinssons clumsy fall.

"Yes, I am fine." he replied without looking up. Loki wanted the ground to swallow him up, this was just so embarrassing!

"Alright, then. I had hoped I would meet you today, Loki Odinsson."

Loki finally looked up at the woman. She was pale, and dressed in a long black dress. It was her. Lady Death.

"I, I-" Loki looked around desperately wondering what etiquette demanded of this situation. Should he bow? Kiss her hand? Apologize and run off? Or even better, practice a vanishing spell so he could get out of this situation.

"Oh, dear. I apologize," Lady Death smiled, "I did not introduce myself. I am Death of the Endless."

"It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance." Loki quickly said. Politeness, he could do that.

'"That looks like a nasty cut." she commented. "Do you want me to get a healer?"

Loki shook his head.

"No, no. I can mend it myself." Well, maybe he could. Loki was still a beginner in magick. But, he wanted to impress Lady Death in some way.

He remembered the healing spell and began it. At once the air crackled around him, and something like lightning ran down his skin. His veins ran cold with ice, but his blood was boiling hot. It felt like fire and a deep freeze.

The bleeding stopped and the wound on his knee closed up. Soon, there was nothing more than a slight bruise.

Loki still felt strangely cold, and frost had formed on trees around him. It disappeared quickly, but there was still a chill in the air.

"A Jotunn." Lady Death said in quiet astonishment.

Loki jumped and looked around in horror. A Jotunn! Did she see one of the Frost Giants? Was one of the monsters was causing the cold? He felt terrified, those things would kill him!

"Where is the J-jotunn?" Loki asked her shakily.

"Nevermind. I'm sorry, it was just a slip of the tongue." Lady Death was lying. Loki could tell. But, he didn't see any Frost Giants anywhere, so why had she said that?

"Lady Death. Why aren't you attending the conference?" Loki decided to ask.

"Most of the guests here fear me. They will live a long time, to be sure. But, in the end, they all come to me."

"Well, I don't fear you."

"I had wanted to meet you, as well." Lady Death finished.

"Why me?" Loki asked.

"Ragnarok. There is a prophecy about the end of the cosmos."

"What does it have to do with me?" Loki wondered why he had never heard of it.

"You'll find out. You should meet my other siblings. They're here, too."

Death vanished very suddenly.

Loki heard the voices of a crowd back in the plaza. The meeting must have been over or the guests were taking a break.

He hurried back. Before he got too close, he turned himself invisible and sneaked in. His mother and father were there and Thor was standing with them, acting like he had never left and saying how he had tried to stop his baby brother from running off. Loki crept up behind them and lifted the spell. Thor nearly screamed.

His mother turned to Loki, angry, "Where were you?"

It was not his first lie and certainly not his last, "I was right here the whole time."