Staying up long into the night isn't always bad, but when your younger brother is jumping on your bed and hollering at the crack of dawn, you begin to regret it.

Jormungandir groaned, and pulled his pillow over his head. "Lemme 'lone, Fen."

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!" Fenris hollered, continuing to hop.

Gandhi looked up in confusion. "It isn't my birthday."

"No, but I like the song." Fen admitted. "And you're awake, now!" He clapped gleefully, and ripped the blankets off his brother. "Come on! I wanna play!"

"I don't." Gandhi grumbled, but sat up, anyway, blearily rubbing his eyes. "What time is it?"

Fenris shrugged. "Up time."

"Breakfast first, then play." Gandhi told Fenris, and the two of them trotted down the stairs into the kitchen. Sigyn and Narfi were already awake, as Sigyn cooked up breakfast for her children. She looked pale and melancholy, but greeted the two of them with a smile.

"Morning, boys!" She smiled at the two of them, ruffling Gandhi's hair as he walked by, and seated himself at the table next to Narfi. "What would you like for breakfast?"

"Waffles?" Gandhi suggested cheerfully, fondly punching Fenris' shoulder.

"Eggs!" Fen piped, as he sat backwards in his chair.

Narfi eyed his two brothers sleepily, obviously not fully awake yet. "You were awake, last night." He stated, reddish-greenish eyes resting lazily on a spot just over his brother's left shoulder. "I know, cause you were talking to Vali in the hall."

"Did I keep you up?" Gandhi asked worriedly.

"Nien, I was still 'wake." Narfi admitted. "Still too noisy."

Fenris stuck his tongue out at Narfi, clearly apathetic.

"Be nice, Fen." Sigyn corrected softly, as she placed their plates of breakfast before them.

"Thank you, Mother!" Fenris smiled, and Gandhi nodded, remembering his manners. "Yes, thank you."

"No problem." She smiled, and left the room to tend to something or other.

"It's weird…" Narfi noticed.

"What?" Fenris wondered.

"Your face?" Gandhi snickered, as Narfi glared in frustration.

"Last time I saw, Sleipnir was a baby, and now you're all older than me." Narfi explained, raising his head from the table. "It's not fair."

"I'm not older than you." Fenris noticed, his mouth full of eggs. "I'm only five." He held up five fingers to demonstrate.

Narfi shrugged. "Might as well be… I used to be the oldest."

Gandhi shrugged. "Time is a strange thing, my friend." He agreed. "By the way, what do you have against Sleepy?"

Narfi rolled his eyes in frustration. "Nothing. She's just…"

"DAZZLING?" Sleipnir jumped up behind his chair. She was the most morning person out of all of them, and appeared with a bright smile on her face. "Why thank you, Narfi! I always knew it!"

Narfi leveled her with an icy stare. "Keep telling yourself that. Maybe some day your ego will get so big it pops."

Fenris stared between the two of them with round eyes. "Are you gonna kill each other?"

"What?!" Sleipnir gasped. "No! I'm annoyed by him, not driven to homicidal tendencies!"

"Hom… homi… homi…" Fenris stammered, unsure of what the word meant.

"She means no." Gandhi translated.

"Father would be angry if I killed her." Narfi dead-panned, innocently spooning his cereal. "Do you remember him? Any of you?"

Sleipnir and Gandhi nodded, as Fenris went back to devouring his eggs. "We saw him yesterday, remember?" Gandhi pointed out.

Narfi laid down his spoon. "No, I mean, really remember. How he used to be. Before."

Sleipnir and Gandhi glanced at each other, and soberly shook their heads.

"I thought so…" Narfi sighed, staring morosely into his cereal bowl.

There was a moment of silence, before Fenris piped up, again. "Anyone wanna help me set up my Legos?"

Gandhi immediately raised a hand. "PICKMEPICKMEPICKME!"

"What is 'Legos'?" Narfi wondered.

"You wouldn't know, would you?" Sleipnir snorted.

"Hey, be nice, Sleepy." Gandhi scowled at his older sister. "He's a space alien."

"So are you." Narfi grouched.

Gandhi grinned. "Well, yes, but I'm a space alien from Earth, you see…"

Narfi did not see.

"Legos are toys." Fenris explained cheerfully. "I have a million of 'em, and I put them in my room. You wanna help me set 'em up?"

Narfi was obviously touched by this invitation, and hastily agreed. The two younger boys quickly finished their breakfast, and clambered up the stairs to Fen's room, leaving Sleepy and Gandhi at the table, alone. "You ought to be nicer to him." Gandhi pointed out.

"Why?" Sleepy grinned.

"He's been through a lot." Gandhi calmly chewed on his waffle. "Vali and he both have. And he's littler than you. Just stop antagonizing him." With that, he picked up his plate, and carried it over to sink, before following Narfi and Fen up to play with the Legos.

Sigyn knocked lightly on Vali's door, provoking a sleepy grunt from behind.

"Va?" She called softly, before slipping inside and perching lightly on the edge of his bed. He was still asleep, but when Sigyn rubbed his shoulder gently, his eyes cracked open a smidge. "Mama?" He whispered, and sat up, rubbing at his eyes.

"Hey, sweety." Sigyn smiled. "It's almost noon, you know."

"No, I didn't… Vali admitted, stifling a yawn. "Sorry…"

"It's fine." Sigyn nodded. "I figured most of you would want to sleep in, today." She gave him a quick once-over, and noticed exactly how haggard he seemed. He was only thirteen, for heaven's sake! He shouldn't look like… well, basically what his father looked like, at present. "Vali, honey…"

"Yeah?" He turned his wide eyes to her nervously.

She had so much she wanted to say, but, when it all boiled down to it, the main problem was the most obvious. "You barely touched your dinner, last night… When's the last time you ate something?"

Vali started guiltily, and wrapped his arms around his chest protectively. "Um… that is… I, uh…" He stammered nervously, before hanging his head in shame. "Two days ago."

Sigyn's brown eyes widened in horror. "Two days? Did Thor not feed you?"

"Well…" Vali picked at a thread on his sleeve. "Yes… he fed me… I just…"

"You didn't want to eat." Sigyn finished for him, furrowing her brow in concern. He nodded miserably, eyes trained on his hands, clenched nervously in his lap. "Why not?" Sigyn wondered softly, laying a hand on his almost-skeletal shoulder. "You're a growing boy, you need your nutrients. Surely you know this, you're a healer!"

Vali's lip began trembling, and he shook his head, pulling away from Sigyn's touch. "I don't want to grow…" He whimpered, and buried his head in his pillow. "I wanna be normal."

"Hey, hey, Vali…" Sigyn stood up, and gently rubbed circles on her stepson's shoulder. "It's okay. It'll be okay. Come on, why don't you sit up, and tell me everything."

Vali glanced up. "You'll say it's not true. Like Thor did."

So, Thor knew about this, too? Probably for the better. "I won't. I just want to help."

Vali regarded her nervously. "Promise?"

"I promise." Sigyn smiled.

Vali sat up, again, and hugged his knees to his chest. Looking her directly in the eye, he spouted, "I'm a freak and nobody can stand the sight of me and if I eat, I grow and if I grow, I'm even more freakish and…" He trailed off, a silent tear running down his cheek. "I just wanna be normal…"

Sigyn stared at him in confusion. "Va, you are normal. In the best way, obviously, but nobody thinks you're freakish."

Vali stared at her, silently disagreeing.

"Sure, you're a little different, but everyone's different from everyone else."

"But I'm freakishly different…" He mumbled into his knees. "And you promised you wouldn't say it's not true."

Sigyn shook her head. "I didn't say it wasn't true. I simply contradicted you."

"Semantics."

Sigyn smirked. "Maybe, but Va, it's dangerous, what you're doing, what you're believing about yourself. If we don't put a stop to this, you could die."

Vali shrugged. "I do eat. But only enough to keep me alive."

"You haven't eaten in two days." Sigyn reminded him. "That is not enough. You need, at the very least, two full meals a day."

He gagged. "I hate eating…"

"Then learn to like it." She commanded. "I can't have you starving yourself."

Vali gave her a doubtful stare. "You're talking to a certified Asgardian healer. I'm not in danger."

Sigyn snatched his wrist, and held it up before his face. "Look at yourself, Vali! You're basically skin and bones!"

Vali's eyes widened fearfully, and he stared miserably at his hand, apparently realizing her point. "I don't wanna die…" He whispered. "I'm afraid…"

Sigyn pulled him into a tight hug, and stroked his hair comfortingly. "Sweetie. You're not going to die. You need to come downstairs, and eat something, though. Okay?"

"Okay…" Vali sniffled.

TheOnlyHuman.