Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the plot and my OCs. Please enjoy!
Years after their first meeting, Loki and Nanna had grown closer and tended to keep with each other rather than Thor, the Warriors Three and Sif. Over the years, they had bonded over pranks pulled against the heir of Asgard; most through Loki's planning and skills in the art of morphing the truth, and Nanna's strength and determination. By the time they were to be able to be compared to a Midgardian thirteen year old, the duo had taken to more mature acts of mischief; in a world that saw them as adults—childish games were no longer accepted. But the views of others made no dent in the amount of amusement the duo could find within one another.
On the morning of Loki's day of coming of age, Nanna was running around her home looking for a wrapping for the gift that she had specially made for Loki. On this day, he was to swear loyalty to his the Allfather and join the ranks of manhood. Nanna was ecstatic for her friend, he had always been waiting for this day—more so ever since Thor was recognized as a man not two years before.
"Nanna," Dagny called from the foyer of their home, "Are you nearly ready?"
"Almost! I just need to find something to wrap my gift with!" Nanna replied loudly; her mother stood in the entrance hall and grinned. It was rare for her daughter to take such care with something, but Dagny had known for quite some time that her daughter had a soft spot for the youngest prince.
Not long after, Nanna came running down the stairs with a cloth covered parcel. The cloth was emerald silk and wrapped around the gift rather elegantly for something that Nanna had done in just moments. The gown that Nanna wore was the same shade of green, and it was rather flattering on her young body. Her fiery locks were left to run wild as they only reached a few inches past her shoulders; even now, after Dagny and Nanna had spent so much time attempting to tame it, the young girl's hair fell in a tousled fashion.
Nanna's parents stood at the door waiting for her; as she jogged up to the door, Nanna was gently scolded by her mother while her father stood beside the women laughing amusedly. After a few short moments, Vidar gave a cough and when the women's attention was on him, he gestured towards the carriage. Immediately, Nanna stormed towards the ride with her skirts hiked up to make sure she did not trip; her parents followed behind her with loving expressions painted upon their features.
It was not until dinner time that Nanna and her family arrived at Odin's castle. By that time, the redhead was basically jumping in her seat, and she was already attempting to climb out of the carriage just as it was beginning to slow down. The only thing that kept her from doing so was the grasp of her father on the bodice of her dress; Nanna looked back at him and gave an annoyed huff but sat and waited for the ride to come to a complete stop before she hopped down and ran for the inside of the palace.
Upon entering, Nanna saw that it was the chit-chat time that adults liked to have with others of their region before the dinners prior to being seated with others of their status and rank rather regional affiliation. Hazel eyes scanned the hall, searching a specific figure in the haze of strangers; when they finally locked on to the item of their quest, Nanna beamed thankfully.
The girl began to walk forward, her eyes still on her target, and longtime friend. But as the picture around him began to clear up, Nanna's smile slipped away with the fog. Loki was standing there and making light with Sif; Nanna had known for as long as she had been with Loki that the raven haired prince was fancied with the young woman. Nanna despised how hard Loki tried to change his character for the girl who would never want him—that wanted his brother rather than him.
She was the cause of many a small fight that Nanna and Loki had experienced. The grasp on the gift still in her hands tightened as Nanna thought back to all those fights; they had never been enjoyable and always made Nanna realize that she was too weak to protect Loki from himself. If only she were a stronger warrior, if she could beat Sif at one thing—anything—then maybe Loki would look at her that way.
When she realized the thoughts swarming around in her head, Nanna shook her head to clear her thoughts. The redhead took a deep breath before she made to move forward, but she was stopped when the clang of the dinner bell sounded through the hall. The young girl glared at the ceiling and swiftly made her way to a servant whom stood nearby.
"Can I ask a favor of you?" Nanna murmured to the older being. He looked down at her and gave a small smile while nodded that he could indeed perform a favor for the young noble. "Could you give this to Prince Loki? But I ask that you keep it a secret as to whom the gift is from."
"Of course, Milady." The servant bowed and went to walk away before he turned and inquired, "Is there anything else that I may to be of service?" Nanna looked up at him, shook her head and then smiled before she walked away to sit with her parents at the dining table.
At said table, Nanna sat and scowled as she listened to the pompous boys around her; this was the one thing that she hated about the parties thrown for the royalty, Nanna was never able to sit with Loki or any of her sparring friends. One too high on the social ladder, and the other too low. At that moment, just as the thought was leaving her head, the boy beside her turned to look at her.
"My, Lady Nanna…you sure have grown to be beautiful." When she heard those words, Nanna was a bit flattered but that was before he continued to speak, "I am pleasantly surprised to see that you have dropped those unattractive activities of your youth. Maybe now you could learn a bit more on the ways of being a noble woman."
"And you could learn the ways of being a sufficient flirt." Nanna snapped as her gazed locked onto the boy and the hazel of her eyes seemed to burn a molten gold. The boy shrank back and whimpered slightly as she continued, "You have no right to speak with me as if you know me…for instance, I have not quit 'those unattractive activities' that you speak of. Do not, ever, speak to me again with such an arrogant tone or with ignorance concerning my life."
The boy shrank away, as did some of the people surrounding him and Nanna. The redhead could not have cared less, though. People like those surrounding her were the bane of her existence; she never wanted to speak with any of them for the rest of her life. Nanna was sick of the boys that had always ridiculed her suddenly wanting to be her best friend in hopes of courting her.
With an aggravated sigh, the young noble looked to her plate and decided that she was going to eat her current emotions away until she came face to face with Loki. After that, Nanna savagely reached for the meat and potatoes that lay on the table. Vidar watched his daughter in amusement and with pride; he was happy that she had frightened the prissy boy off. Vidar absolutely hated when boys tried to court his daughter and could not accept what he had allowed her to do. His way of making it logical that the boys would want her to stop would be that they could not stand having a woman being able to defeat them rather amazingly in battle.
Beside Vidar, Dagny sat and sighed sadly. She knew who held her daughter's heart and wished that he would let it go for Nanna to be able to move forward in life; no matter what Frigga said, Dagny had no assumption that Loki and Nanna would end up together—not after all that her daughter had said of how Loki fond over Sif.
At the royal table, Loki sat and listened to the boasting of Thor and the Warriors Three; irritatingly enough, people seemed happier for Thor than they did for him. But that was always how it was, Loki was ignored in favor of the golden boy and usually that was tolerable because he had his best friend by his side, but at the moment she seemed absent from the whole affair. The raven haired prince sighed and poked at his food with disinterest. So far, the only highlight of the evening had been talking to Sif earlier.
Moments later, there was a commotion from another table to the left. Loki turned to glance and saw Nanna snarling at some boy seated next to her; his emerald gaze narrowed in on the boy. The only thing that kept the young prince from casting some sort of magic at the boy was the fact that Nanna had scared him away in a most amusing way. A smile worked its way onto his lips as Loki watched the redhead begin to eat away whatever was bothering her. That was something that Loki loved about Nanna, she always had some form of snack on her person to assist in keeping her emotions in check.
"Loki!" Thor's voice roared through from his spot at the table; the giant blond was merry and as annoying as ever. "Celebrate brother! You have received splendid gifts and many are happy for you!"
"Of course, Brother." Loki conceded, though when he turned his head from the blond, his lips dipped downward in a frown. "I have so much to celebrate…"
After the portion of the night that was spent on eating was done and over with, Loki stood and made his way over to Nanna's position in the room. Just as he was out of his seat and ready to walk over to his friend, a servant appeared and bowed in front of the raven haired prince.
"Young Lord, you have a gift yet to be opened." The man said as he kept his gaze on the floor and presented the parcel. Loki looked the item over suspiciously, though he was attracted to the fact it was his color. It was obvious that someone who knew him and his affinity to the color had made to give him the gift. With an airy sigh, Loki grabbed the parcel from the servant and quietly inquired as to whom it was from. "I'm afraid I've been asked to keep that information to myself, Young Lord."
"To yourself?" Loki mimicked incredulously, the very thought confused him. But at that moment, he began to think of the people who would get him anything. Emerald orbs zeroed in on Nanna only to widen upon realizing the girl was actually wearing a dress for once in her life when attending such a gathering. "Well, I know what Nan's gift to me was," Loki mumbled to himself with a smile as he subconsciously thought of how much he liked the redhead in his color. "But that would only leave one person left who has yet to get me anything for this day…"
Loki looked to Sif and blushed lightly when he saw that she was gazing at him, as well. The young man looked to see that Nanna was distracted by some of her training partners and took that as an opportunity to run over and thank Sif for her gift. The young prince did so, and was unaware that Nanna had ended her conversation and was on her way after him.
As the young noble made her way over, she saw that Loki was once again speaking with Sif, but there seemed to be something in his hands. Just as she got by his side, Nanna heard the lady warrior wave off a thank-you from Loki for the gift in his hands. Nanna stepped closer to examine it, and her insides froze when she saw that it was her gift.
"No," Loki continued, "I truly appreciate this."
"It is nothing, Loki." Sif replied, her tone awkward as she spoke. The redhead glared to the ground before she readied herself a mask. Stepping forward, Nanna looked down at Sif and asked what it was that she had gotten Loki. "Well, it's right there in his hands."
"Yes, but what is it that's wrapped in the cloth?" Nanna pressed, wanting so badly to prove that Sif was a horrid person just toying with Loki.
"Something he'd like, obviously." Sif waved off the question, though she turned her head to the side and avoided the young noble's gaze.
"What kind of something?" Nanna snapped before freezing and thinking quickly of any sort of way to cover her slip of emotion, "Y-you know that Loki likes to solve such mysteries! Why not try and clue us in, huh?"
Sif froze at that suggestion, though Loki glowed and seemed ready for the challenge of figuring out what was wrapped in his hands. The black haired warrior was about to say something when the bumbling blond oaf came to her rescue.
"Worry not, Nan!" Thor laughed as he slung an arm around Sif's and Loki's shoulders, "Surely, Lady Sif had gotten him something amazing!" Nanna's eyes darkened with hidden sorrow as she saw how Loki gave a small smile at both how Thor treated him purposefully lovingly for once, and how Sif had seemingly gotten him a present from the goodness of her heart.
It sickened Nanna to see how infatuated Loki was with the woman, but she gave a forced grin and replied, "Of, of course, Thor. But you know how I worry about you brother." The small group laughed at the redhead's words. Quickly after that, Nanna excused herself and headed to walk outside. By the time she hit the veranda doors, tears had worked their way down her cheeks and were dripping from her chin.
Nanna hated when she cried—she could not bring herself to let her sobs or heaving gasps be heard. She worked until she was trembling and her face was red to keep her sobbing to the quietest amount of noise possible. Nanna gave a heaving gasp as she attempted to breathe past her tears; the young noble held her hands to her face to hide from the world around her.
The redhead tensed when she heard footsteps from behind her, Nanna tried desperately to wipe her face clean in the most inconspicuous way possible and sniffled as lightly as she could. Nanna refused to turn toward the being behind her, though; she knew not who it was and would not risk embarrassing herself further. She flinched when a hand touched her shoulder, but the hand stayed in its spot and felt warm and comforting.
"Nan," she knew the voice, but was surprised to find they would come to comfort her at this time. "It is truly horrid what has been done. I…I am in shock that Lady Sif would take credit for something she has not done…she has never done so before."
"Oh, but she has…" Nanna spat venomously, "She's taken credit for my work more times than I can count and it is all for the wrong brother…"
"Wrong brother?"
"She wishes to win Thor…everyone in Asgard knows that, all but Loki, and he is the one being deceived by her 'kind' actions of giving him attention she does not wish to reward him with, and taking name for gifts she would never have truly given him." Nanna babbled all she had felt in the short time of coming to the ceremony this night. "She is rotting his heart away before he can even realize it, and when he does….he will deny it, and continue to pine for her when he should only wish her away!"
"You love him, then?"
"Ha!" Nanna laughed in hurt, "I do not only love him, I live for him…he is all I want and need in the world and I have known so since our first meeting! But he has never felt that way for me, and I fear he never will." Nanna turned to her momentary companion, her fellow redhead stared down at her sadly, "Voltstagg…what am I to do?"
"I know not…" the slightly older Asgardian murmured before he took the sorrowful girl into his arms. The duo stood there for several moments before Nanna lightly pushed him away, her face was morphed with an expression of determination and hurt. Voltstagg knew what that look meant, as well; for the length of time that she had known Loki, she had known Voltstagg through Thor and due to the shared want of food the redheads had—they had bonded when in one another's company. "Nan, don't force yourself to do something…"
"Who's forcing themselves to do anything, Vol?" Nanna murmured, her voice laced with barely hidden pain. The young noble turned to reenter the castle, and Voltstagg followed closely behind her as he visibly worried about his young comrade.
"What are you planning to do, then?" he inquired pointedly, reaching out to grab her arm and force her to face him. "You are only going to hurt yourself more by doing something so rash!"
"I don't care!" Nanna snarled, ripping at Voltstagg's hand to free herself. By this time, they were beginning to gain a small audience, and Loki was one of the members. Upon seeing his friend being manhandled, as it seemed, the young prince made a move forward before he stopped himself. He did not know what made him stop, but he could not force himself a step more towards the friend he had known for most of his life.
Nanna glanced to the side and saw that Loki was there and he was watching. She froze in her struggles as she realized that he was not coming to her aid as he once would have. Nanna's heart crumbled as her thoughts turned to how she must be unworthy of him and how Sif was still poisoning him against her. The girl dropped limply to the ground, giving up for the first time in her life and feeling the need to purge herself of the feeling immediately after.
When she hit the ground, Loki came forward and went to Nanna's side. As he reached to touch her, Nanna lashed out and snarled at him to leave. He looked at her in confusion to which she snapped that Loki should return to his love, the one whom had given him such a lovely gift.
"Why are you so jealous of Lady Sif?" Loki requested petulantly, he had never seen Nanna act so unattractively before.
"Jealous?" she laughed, looking at her prince, "Why Highness, I have no reason to be jealous! I could never obtain you! I'm not worthy of you! I can't believe that I once thought all these years our friendship was a lie, you only pitied me, didn't you?" the heart-hurt teen continued to babble and sob at the raven haired boy before she pushed him away and turned to exit the whole hall. Looking back as tears dripped, once again, from her chin, and she murmured to Loki, "May your daggers serve you well."
Loki stared after her in shock before he slowly gained a scowl and stood quickly to return to his parents. As he stalked away, Loki's thoughts were filled with the expressions on Nanna's face as she had spoken to him, and the one that had stood out the most was the almost dead look in her eyes as she had bid him her farewell.
For the rest of the celebration, Nanna and Loki were completely split from one another. Voltstagg took it upon himself to notify Odin and Frigga of the happenings of the night, and the couple then told Nanna's own parents. Both mothers were near tears to hear the news, while the fathers were unsure of what to do.
"There must be some way to bring them together once again!" Frigga cried softly as she looked to her husband imploringly. Odin gave a hum as he thought before an idea came to him. He looked to his comrades and gave a small smirk.
"I believe that I have found our solution." He stated, and when the small group looked to him expectantly, he chuckled. Odin looked at his companions with a conspiratorial spark in his eye. "The First Hunt of Manhood."