One:

Year 976:

With summer coming to a close, the leaves began changing ever slowly to brilliant shades of burnt yellows and ravishing reds. The temperature remained rather agreeable as did the weather, although on one particular day it turned out to be rather dreary. The skies turned a rather voluminous slate gray, and Sif suspected it would rain at any given moment. Thunder rumbled threateningly throughout the skies, giving her confirmation. It was with this conclusion that directed her eyes from the sky and towards her companion who was ahead of her.

"Loki, don't you think we should be heading in soon?" she inquired, hurrying her pace to catch up with the prince.

He disregarded her completely, not giving her the slightest indication that he had heard her-or noticed her. She frowned at his lack of attention but chided herself to keep quiet. As much as she wanted to go inside, she knew that Loki must be in the middle of thinking about something quite important and so she didn't want to interrupt his thought process.

"After all," she thought with a twinge of pride as she studied the back of the pale skinned boy, "he was rather smart. Much smarter than his brother."

"Oi! You're hurting me!"

"Oh stop being a ninny!"

"OW-you did that on purpose!"

It was because of this small chorus of voices that Loki slowed his pace down considerably, looking behind him to signal to Sif to follow his lead. Stealthily, the raven haired prince darted behind a wide base of a nearby tree and crouched low to the ground. Sif, curiosity eating away at her, loyally followed him.

A small gust of wind ran through the gardens and Sif shivered slightly. She glanced towards the sky again, ignoring the spine chilling feeling that she obtained when another round of thunder was sent rumbling across the clouds.

"You're too close." Her companion complained, "Your hair keeps hitting me."

She looked at Loki, mumbling an apology as she edged away from him a couple of inches. Running her fingers through her prized locks she then observed what Loki was actually doing. Not one for snooping, but inquisitive all the same, she crawled to get a better look from what was actually in front of the tree.

Her eyes were presented with a scene of rowdy boys, all of them tumbling and rolling about as if they were swine in mud. She wrinkled her nose as they screeched with laughter and hit each other, wrestling to their hearts content.

"Thor. Fandral. Volstagg. Hogun." Loki stated under his breath. Sif wasn't sure whether or not he was talking to her or merely to himself. She kept quiet as she drank in the scene. Even though she was still upset with the blonde haired prince of Asgard, her heart tugged a little at the sight of Thor having so much fun. He obviously didn't miss her presence. A feeling like fire rushed through her veins as her hands evolved into fists, her nails digging into the palms of her hands. If he wasn't going to apologize then the least he could do was miss her.

She fumed and directed her attention towards the tree branches. The delicious sight of beautifully blushing plump apples greeted her. Her mouth watered at the thought of climbing up and snatching one. How wonderful it would taste. Of course this was a ridiculous thought. The few branches with apples were so high that it would be quite dangerous to even attempt climbing-

"If your hair keeps touching me I swear I'll-I'll shave it all off your head." Loki hissed, his eyes now glued on her. Sif stumbled backwards, not expecting such a wave of anger from someone who she thought was a friend. She opened her lips to retort, to return such a comment but then clenched her teeth and kept silent. Seeming satisfied, the boy then resumed spying on the group of friends who were still romping around.

Once Sif was sure that her friend wasn't paying attention she allowed the tears that were threatening to form. They ran down her cheeks gracefully as she sniffled. No one had ever spoke or insulted her like Loki had just done. Her hair was her most prized quality. Many admired how her locks seemed to be as if from the Sun itself-each hair spun from gold. For him to insult her hair…

"For Odin's sake, are you crying?" Loki asked, his voice in disbelief. Sif peered up at him and he looked at her, studying her. For one moment he looked almost apologetic, but then any sign of him feeling remorse was instantly replaced with disgust. His pink lips thinned out to a vicious smirk that struck a chord of fear in Sif.

"Girls really are stupid," he sneered, almost laughing. It was with this last comment that he pushed her away, making her tumble out of the hiding spot behind the tree and into plain sight of the group of playmates.

As if a sudden spotlight had been thrown on her, the boys stopped their actions and gawked at her.

"Is that a girl?" Fandral asked finally.

"So what if I'm a girl?" Sif asked as she got up and brushed herself off. She then put her hands on her hips, portraying a more masculine stance. She stared at them, waiting for them to say something but the group seemed to be at a loss of words, not knowing how to deal with such a situation.

Eventually Hogun spoke up, "Come on, let's go play inside."

Sif huffed and stalked off in the opposite direction, completely forgetting that a certain prince was still hiding behind the trunk of a nearby tree, watching the whole interaction. Instead, she was preoccupied with her thoughts and wanted nothing more than to get away from boys.

It was a shame that Sif did not watch the boys run off to go indoors, for if she had, she would have seen Thor glance back and hesitate before joining the trio.

After dinner in the Great Hall, Sif wandered the passageways desiring to be left alone with her own devices. It was because of this desire that when she heard a familiar voice calling her name she sped up her pace, wanting to escape.

"Sif, wait!"

Knowing that he knew all the passageways better than she, and that he could probably find a shortcut and block her off at some point, she slowed her gait. Glancing behind her she was surprised to find that Loki was closer than she had assumed. Panting a little as if he had run some far distance, he took a few more steps to close the gap between them.

She blinked at him.

Once.

Twice.

Thrice.

Silence ensued.

"I'm sorry." He blurted out, revealing an apple from behind his back and shoving it in front of her nose. Shocked, she gently clasped her fingers around the apple, taking ahold of it. The fruit was even more beautiful than she saw it this morning. The question of how he was able to manage such a task arose in her mind. She looked at Loki in admiration.

"Say something." He demanded, grumbling as looked away as if he was disinterested. If it had been better lighting she would have seen that his cheeks had a slight pale pink tint to them.

"I'm still upset at you." She admitted after a few moments. She looked at him with cautious eyes for a second before examining the beautiful piece of fruit in her hands.

"That's fine. As long as you don't hate me." He replied almost eagerly, "I don't think I could bear it if you hated me."

The sudden change of attitude made Sif puzzled but she didn't voice her concern. Instead, shook her head, "I don't think I could hate you," she paused briefly, "even though your words were rather mean."

"I am sorry Sif. Friends?" he proposed. His eyes held hope and anticipation, and somehow that made Sif's stomach churn nervously. As if suddenly there were butterflies residing there. She rather hate the feeling and wanted such a sensation to stop.

Her grasp on the apple tightened, her knuckles turning an unnatural white before she made herself swallow and take a breath of air. Wanting this sickish feeling to stop she then nodded her head in a rather terse manner:

"I suppose so."

Note: I'm terribly sorry about the ridiculously long delay. It's been nearly a year and I am ashamed that I haven't updated sooner. Thank you so much for all the support you guys have shown me! I really appreciate it! On a lighter note, what do you think about Loki and Sif? Is he truly sorry? And what about Thor? Do you think he misses Sif? Leave your thoughts in a review! I love reading what you dear readers think, and they certainly brighten up my day-not to mention that they encourage me to keep writing.

Much thanks,

The Painted Green Door