*Please be prepared to cry while reading this chapter. My apologies.*
*Also, please do not kill me*
*Thank you.*
Music: Your Star (Evanescence) Carry You (Jeffrey James)
Chapter 49
Angelique wakes up as the sunlight filters through the window. She rolls over and opens her eyes, blinking. With a jolt, she remembers last night, and her cheeks flush as she recalls the touching, the gasping, the heat. Feeling a mix of exaltation and self-consciousness, she looks to the side. Videl's space is still empty, and Angelique is both relieved that he has hopefully taken care of Thea, and disappointed that she didn't get to wake up with him at her side.
She puts on the large t-shirt lying on the floor, amongst some other discarded clothing. It's huge on her, but she is also tall, so that it barely skims her thighs. It smells of cotton and rain and sweat.
Taking a deep breath, Angelique walks out of the bedroom, her bare feet silent across the floor, and then jumps as she sees Videl rummaging through the cabinet.
"Well good morning," says Videl with a mischievous smirk. His hair is tousled, and his hooded eyes bright. He had slept well last night, despite the events.
"Hi," says Angelique, trying to keep herself from turning red.
Videl comes out from around the counter, holding what looks to be the last apple. He walks up to Angelique and looks her up and down, not even trying to hide his hungry expression. "Is that my shirt?" He asks, fingering the material at her waist; his long fingers wrap around her, "Do you even realize how cliched that is?"
"I'm so sorry," says Angelique, "Next time I'll just wear-"
"Your brassiere," says Videl, accentuating the French accent. "I will accept that or nothing. Actually, I prefer nothing."
Angelique smacks his arm. "Shut up. How's Thea?"
"You're looking for an excuse, but seeing as it is a perfectly plausible excuse, I'll go with it." Videl takes a bite of the apple, so juice dribbles down his chin, "Little Thea is sleeping soundly in the other room, better than she has slept in a while."
Angelique rubs the back of her neck and sighs, "We need to talk to her."
"About how you and I had a-"
"No. About how we abandoned her and let her get attacked. If we hadn't..." Angelique clears her throat, "This wouldn't have happened. We should have noticed that she was gone. Especially you. You're the one with creepy hearing."
"I apologize, but my ears weren't exactly focused on a fourteen year old in the other room."
Angelique almost asks what his ears were focused on, but then realizes what the answer will be and decides to avoid the topic. Clearing her throat again, she says, "Is she okay?"
"Thea is at her wits end," says Videl, throwing the apple core away, "She just learned that her father is being tortured for her, and she also killed a woman last night."
"What? I didn't–"
"Didn't you hear her?" Videl leans against the counter and runs his fingers through his hair, "Neidra possessed some hapless human because Loki's not getting the job done quick enough. Thea killed her, partially out of necessity, partially out of temper."
"That's terrible," says Angelique mournfully.
"We have time to talk to Thea briefly, but then we need to leave. It's not long before Neidra finds out what's going on, and she'll be on to us. So I think–"
They don't get to find out what Videl thinks, because at that moment, the door to the second bedroom opens.
Thea doesn't look tired, but there is a wary stare in her eyes. What draws Angelique, however, are the cuts on her body. Immediately, she flies over to Thea.
"Oh my gosh, Videl, you didn't tell me that she's hurt! Are you all right?"
"I'm fine," says Thea quietly.
"No," says Videl, walking over to her and tugging gently at her hair, "You are not fine. You are traumatized, and have been traumatized for the past month and a half, but have refused to show your emotions. So what's going to happen is that you need to sit down and tell us what you've been keeping from us since I found you."
Thea opens her mouth and then closes it.
Angelique looks up at Videl quickly.
"Videl, that's not fair, she doesn't have to–"
"I'm immortal."
Silence.
Angelique looks down at the ground. Videl stops looking at himself through the television and stares at Thea.
He crosses his arms, "You're going to need to do a bit of explaining. I know that half-Asgardians can take an immortality draught to become fully Asgardian, but I didn't expect Neidra to do that to you."
"Neidra didn't," says Thea. "Loki did."
Now both Angelique and Videl stare at her. Videl shoots Angelique an I-told-you-so look. "Why?"
"He didn't say why," she says sadly, "He was...he was horrible though. He wouldn't listen to anything I said."
"Of course he didn't," says Videl, crossing his arms, "I don't care what Angelique says, Loki is nothing but–"
Angelique slaps him upside the head, and then turns to Thea. "What color–"
"His eyes were green."
Angelique shakes her head, and so does Videl, but for very different reasons.
Then, Videl says, "That's what Wairua saw you drinking in the throne room, isn't it? Not some dumb mind control potion."
Thea shrugs.
"Well," says Videl, coming over to sit down next to Thea on the couch, "This explains why you were asking all of those odd existential questions."
Thea shrugs.
"Are you actually going to talk some?" asks Videl, nudging her.
"Thea," says Angelique, "Do you want to be immortal?"
"I don't know."
"Because here's the thing. Loki...he told me that there's a cure for it."
She jerks her head up. "What?"
"Did he happen to mention this during or after he was possessed?" asks Videl.
Angelique ignores him, "He said it's in the very center of the palace, whatever the cure is. Do you think you know of a place?"
Thea clenches her fists and closes her eyes briefly. Then, she whispers, "There's a little room right next to the throne room. I think it's there. That's the very center."
"What kind of little room?" asks Angelique, not noticing Videl's warning look.
"It's a small room," she says shortly, "And there's a bed, and a washroom, and chains on the walls."
Angelique covers her mouth with her hands. "Thea, I'm so sorry."
"Don't apologize," says Thea. She looks angry. "But I want to go there."
"Are you joking?" asks Videl.
She whirls on him, "Do I look like I'm joking, dumbass?"
"Oh, not again," Angelique mutters.
"You were so docile last night," says Videl without a shred of teasing in his voice, "And look, I know you're really upset at everything that can possibly move, including yourself, but please try to stop calling me names." He reaches forward and tucks a strand of hair behind her ear. "Your hair is growing out."
Thea makes a small choking noise in her throat and buries her head in his neck. He squeezes her shoulder and leans back against the sofa, and as Thea begins to cry softly, he gives Angelique a very smug look. She looks at him incredulously, and he shrugs ever so slightly.
"Hey," says Angelique, after Thea finally sits up and wipes her eyes, "I need to apologize to you for last night. This is Videl's and my fault, that you got hurt."
"It's fine," she says, but there's something in her tone that says that everything is most certainly not fine.
"I understand if you're upset," says Angelique, "We were incredibly, incredibly stupid."
"Yes, you were," says Thea.
"All right," says Videl, "We have to leave really soon, because Neidra is going to find us. But we also need to figure out what we're going to do."
She turns to him, and her eyes are full of sadness, but with a spark of determination, "I need to find Loki."
"No," says Videl, "You absolutely do not."
"Yes. I absolutely do. He's my father, and he's going through all of this for me, and I'm not just going to sit around and wait for him to die!"
"What do you want to do? Bust into the palace? Get the immortality potion and find Loki, and try to get out alive?"
"Well," says Thea, "Yes."
Videl looks extremely exasperated, but tries to keep his attitude in check. Leaning forward, he wipes some of the last few tears from Thea's cheek, and says, "Thea, you're being reckless. The palace is crawling with guards, not to mention we'll never be able to get in. I can't Jaunt inside the palace. Once I get in, yes, but not before."
"We'll be able to get in," says Thea, "Because of the masquerade ball that Angelique mentioned."
Videl stares at her.
"Are. You. Insane?"
"Some people say that I am," muses Thea, "But I really don't think so. It's easy. We get in and get out. There will be people everywhere. Nobody will notice us."
"They will if we walk into a masquerade ball dressed like this!"
"We won't be dressed like this. There's a village right outside the palace, and when I was there, I saw a dressmaker's. You can use your mind control on Asgardians, right?"
"Not all of them," says Videl, who looks mutinous.
"Okay then. You get us clothes and then get us inside the palace if you have to."
Videl stares at her some more, and then stares at Angelique. Pointing at Thea, he says to Angelique, "Is she serious?"
Angelique shrugs, "Apparently she is."
"And you don't have a problem with this?!"
"Not if it makes up for what we did last night."
"Okay fine, then I'll get her ice cream or something! Not infiltrate the palace of Asgard looking for a cure that we don't even know exists and for a half-mad sorcerer."
"He's not mad," says Thea staunchly.
"Hence why I said half mad," says Videl.
Thea looks like she's about to hit him, but Angelique intervenes, "Videl, it can't possibly be any worse than keeping on running from Neidra."
"It can," says Videl stubbornly.
"Thea has a point. It's going to be crowded. Nobody will notice us, especially if we separate."
Videl's eyes look like they are about to pop, "SEPERATE? First you have an insane plan where you want the three of us to get inside a royal ball, and now you bring up an insaner plan that involves us SEPARATING?"
"Caomh is expecting us, or at least you. He'll be looking for three of us together."
"And this brings up my most brilliant point. This could be a trap! We have not a single ounce of proof that one, the potion actually exists, two, it's inside that little room, and three, that this masquerade ball is even a thing!"
"Then you can Jaunt to Asgard," says Thea, "And find out."
"So you want me to go try and get myself captured?"
"I've heard of worse things," says Thea serenely.
Angelique cuts in, "Videl's right in one thing–"
"Only one thing?"
"He's right that we need to leave Chicago. Once we get somewhere else, I need to take care of all those cuts, Thea. While I'm doing that, Videl can go to Asgard. I'm sure a ball needs preparations, even though the new moon is three days away."
"You're crazy," says Videl.
"I am not crazy," Angelique says determinedly, "If Thea doesn't want to be immortal, then she shouldn't have to be."
Videl breathes very loudly through his nose. Then, he says, "Then what? Assuming I get back to you two in one piece?"
"We can figure out our exact steps," says Angelique, "While you're an Asgard, scout out the village Thea was talking about and tell us about it."
"I don't even know where it is!"
"It's not a long ride from the palace," says Thea, "It's down the hill and to the east."
"And then," says Angelique, "We'll figure out what we're going to do. If it's insanely dangerous, then we won't do it. But if we do, then we need to go quickly and effectively."
Videl points at Thea, "You are crazy."
She points right back at him, "But I also just won an argument."
"Don't get used to it, sweetie," he says.
Thea has a hard time moving around for a significant amount of time, as the cuts on her body are still healing, but she helps pack everything anyway. There isn't much to put in the backpacks, but Thea focuses on making sure everything is precisely in its place, trying to distract herself. She doesn't want to think about Loki, but nonetheless, her thoughts keep shifting to him, even when Videl Jaunts them away from snowy Chicago, not noticing as they walk into the street that a hooded figure is watching their every move.
Thea has a right to worry.
Neidra walks through the dungeon, accompanied by two burly manservants and Caomh. Each one of the manservants is carrying a thick coil of iron chain around his shoulders, and Caomh is carrying a sword. Neidra is smiling.
The sorceress opens the cell with a clang, and Loki looks up with a start. The poison is only slowly affecting him, but Neidra has not been forcing it into his body over the last twenty-four hours. Still, however, he looks dreadful, hanging against the wall, his black hair matted around his pale, sickly face. His eyes, a dull green, are red and inflamed, and his lips are bright red and cracked.
"Our plan worked perfectly," Neidra trills, "Your daughter and her companions are planning on attending our masquerade ball!"
He glares at her, but doesn't say anything.
Neidra fixes her mouth in a mocking sort of pout, "The poor thing thinks that there actually is a cure to immortality. Poor fool."
Loki lunges at Neidra, but the chains yank him back to the wall, "I will kill you, Neidra." His voice is raspy, "I will kill you for what you have done to Thea."
"Mm," says Neidra as the two manservants walk forward to Loki, fastening the chains on his arms and pulling him off the wall. "Assuming you are not already dead."
"Where are you taking me?" Loki hisses, tugging back on the chains, but his body is weak.
"You are going somewhere Thea will find you," says Neidra, and then takes the sword from Caomh. It has a brass hilt, with a shimmering blade, and glints in the low light of the cell, "And I will give her two options. Two options because I am such a considerate woman."
"Considerate?" spits Loki, "You? You are many things, but you are not considerate, you damned witch."
Neidra laughs, and holds the point of the sword up to Loki's throat. Staring right into his eyes, she says in her low voice, a giddy smile on her lips, "Thea will have the choice to run through two hearts. Yours." Her smile grows, "Or hers."
Loki screams and lunges at her, but the manservants yank the chains back, so that he skitters on the cold, wet ground and collapses.
When he looks up, his eyes are wild with untamed fury.
"If I had the chance," he growls, "I would rip out your heart and devour it."
She chuckles, the sword still pointed at him. "Your fire is just like Thea's. But what did I tell you? It is nothing that a little water cannot put out. Although you call for something stronger. I think the sight of being forced to watch Thea kill herself for your sake will be enough to do it!"
"I will kill myself before I let this happen," snarls Loki, "Mark me, Neidra, you'll sooner find me dead then having to endure the sight of my daughter taking her life in exchange for mine."
"Well, you won't have an opportunity for that, I'm afraid," says Neidra. She turns around and walks out of the cell. The manservants, practically dragging Loki behind them, follow her, with Caomh picking up the rear of the miserable parade, "But you will have a front seat to watch. And maybe I'll even let her talk to you. Perhaps her last words to you will be that she loves you just as much as you seem to love you."
Tears of fury drip from Loki's bloodshot eyes, and he fights the two men. In his anger, he slams both of them down to the ground, knocking one out.
Before Caomh can move, Loki has seized the sword from the young sorcerer and driven the blade through his chest.
Neidra laughs as Loki falls to the ground, a laugh of contempt and cruelty as the blood drips from his body, staining his pale skin crimson.
"I told you," whispers Loki, "That I would rather die for Thea than have her die for me. I would rather die ten times then to let her die. I have lived for a long time, and she has lived for such a short while." His eyes begin to roll, but he manages to whisper, "All that I have put her through, all that she has had to experience, I refuse to let her die. I used to believe that I could never love a single person in all of the realms, but then I met Thea's mother. And then when she left me, I believed it again. And then I met Thea. And then my world changed, because I will never love anyone as much as I love my daughter."
Neidra is smirking.
Loki is talking to himself now, delirious.
"Thea, darling, please... never change what is in your heart. You have...fallen next to me because I had no chance before you. My wish is that you...you could see that. I wish...I so wish you could see how your scars are turning you into a beautiful...young girl, my little...my precious princess... and I wish...my wish to you, darling, my...my last wish, the only thing I truly desire... is that... you would...would know...know how much....how much I love you, kitten."
His body spasms and then goes still. He's dead.
Neidra throws her head back and laughs again, the raucous sound echoing through the chamber.
Laughing tears of mirth from her eyes, she says to Caomh, "What a pity Thea wasn't here to hear those lovely last words." She turns to the manservants, both of which who are now conscious, and then nods to Loki's body. "Bring him."
The manservants carry Loki's body after a grinning Neidra, his arms hanging limply, his neck back, and his green eyes, identical to those of his daughter that he loves so much,are as still as his bleeding heart.
nopenopenopenopenope
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