Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers, Norse Mythology, or any of the characters in between… I just don't.

Good Parenting

Prologue: The Great Imitators

"Children are great imitators.

So give them something great to imitate."

~ Anonymous

~O~O~O~O~O~
"Can thou believe what they did to Mommy? It's not fair!"

Tears poured down the young face as he glanced around the room through red-rimmed eyes. In another corner, one of his brothers pounded his fists against the wall, sending sounds of echoed frustration all through the darkness.

Looking down at their youngest sibling; the daughter, opened her arms to him.

He ran into them, wrapping trembling limbs around her tightly, burying his face in her shoulder.

"We know, dear one… All of us are frustrated." Her voice was a comfort, though soft sniffling still settled amongst them.

"You keep telling us to wait… yet I don't believe that it does us any good! We should take action! A few slit throats never hurt anyone!" The voice from the corner snarled, yellow eyes gleaming with anger, as he gave another fierce, metal-denting punch to the wall.

"Don't be so rash, brother… Thou art being hasty with thy tongue again." The sister chastised, "We should talk to Father before making any decisions on our own."

Glowing, yellow eyes made their way over to the deep, purple ones.
"But I am the eldest! All of you should listen to me, otherwise nothing will get done in this pity-council!" he roared, "Don't speak sense and compassion, Hela! I don't want to hear it! Though Odin knows you'll have none of my words!"

In her embrace, the young boy turned around to look at her; his eyes pleading even more than his words.

"Yeah Hela… what should we do? I don't want Mommy to cry anymore!" the little one insisted.

The girl gave a sigh, glancing around at her siblings.

"I don't know if Father would approve." She answered, her voice trembling, "And if Uncle Thor finds out… Well, I'm sure you don't want him holding you by the throat, Fenny!"

The being gave a roll of its yellow eyes.

"Oh please… Uncle Thor loves us. He's the cool one. Dad makes us read books…" Fenny answered with a snort, "Besides, I know you love bloodshed as much as I do!"

Hela glared at him, standing up and releasing her younger sibling. He wasn't wrong, yet she knew the responsibilities placed upon her by the All-father.

"Sleippy, what do you think we should do?" she asked, her eyes softening.

The younger sniffled, wiping his eyes on his sister's tunic.

"I-I just don't want Mommy to cry anymore! He already said he's sorry! They should let him go!" Sleippy cried, "Perhaps we can get Mommy a present! Something shiny!"

The daughter gave a sigh.

"Well, if we bring Jorry with us, a little field trip can't hurt." Hela reasoned, "But we'll be going in disguise."

She shot her older brother a warning glare.

"No use causing those Midgardians any problems."

Fenny gave a roll of his eyes.

"Fine, fine… Let's just get down there and see what we can do… though, if anything happens, I can't guarantee the lack of bloodshed."

The brother's lips curled into a fanged smirk.

Hela rolled her eyes. There was just no helping it.

"Come on, Sleipnir. Get ready." She said, giving her brother a nudge, "We'll plan on leaving tonight."

The youngest lit up with excitement, tears dried from his eyes as he stood up and bouncing around with the loud clopping of hooves.

"Okay!"

The older siblings watched as their younger brother sprang up the stairs, towards their grandfather's throne room. It was the first step of the journey they were going to make; travels to scope out strangers who were blissfully unaware of their arrival.

((A/N: I hope you enjoyed it so far! Please read and review so I know your opinions! Thanks for reading! :D ))

Historical/Mythological background:

For those of you who haven't read the mythology/the comics, Loki fathered several children, including Fenrir the Wolf, Jormungand the Serpent (also known as the Midgard Serpent), and Hela the ruler of the realms Hel and Niflheim.

Sleipnir, the youngest, was birthed by Loki himself. In order to save one of Asgard's most beautiful maidens from an unwanted marriage with a rock giant, Loki changed himself into a beautiful mare in order to distract the giant's horse and throw off the bargin. After "dealings" with the horse, Loki returned with Sleipnir. This is the reason that he'll refer to Loki as "Mommy", rather than "Father", like the other children. Just so there isn't any confusion. ^^;