Hey, hey, hey, it's Sierra! 

Get ready for another sad chapter. :(

~Music~

Fallen (Adrian von Ziegler) (he's great, if you haven't noticed)

Chapter 17

The palace of Ardhigiza is alit with happiness. Servants and courtiers walk through the gleaming, half-marble, half-wooden halls, and chatter rings through, even at the lateness of the hour. Light from the moon filters through the stained glass, through the waterfalls that still pour over the walls and in little rivets on the floor.

Up on the second floor, sprawled out on a chair, his feet kicked up, Videl lies. He's very pleased with himself, having just escaped from Earth by way of Kyle making the mistake of opening the door for half a second. Now, he is holding a piece of paper and inspecting both it and his fingernails in turn.

At this moment, Amara walks by. She is dressed in a nightgown. Velah rarely sleep, unless they have exerted themselves, and she doesn't look even remotely tired.

"What are you doing here?" She demands.

"I," says Videl cockily, "Am waiting for a message from dear Lifolas."

"Where has he gone? He left without a trace. "Lify doesn't often leave like this."

Videl looks extremely unperturbed. "He was running an errand for me. Seeing as I have been- had been- imprisoned. I suspect he will be here at any moment. We were to meet here."

"Why? You and he barely agreed on anything. Why should he help you? And why do you require his aid?"

Videl is about to reply when a piercing scream echoes from the third floor. In an instant, he has sprung from his chair, dropping the paper as he does so, and bounded up the stairs, Amara right behind him.

There is a large crowd of Velah outside Archer and Linthria's bed chamber, most still in their night clothes. A maid is frantically gesturing around, her long, bright-white hair shining in the light.

Videl does not spare them a look, but his chest clenches in fear as he throws open the door to his brother's room. Hands try to stop him, but he pushes them aggressively away, and stalks into the room, where the sounds of a crying baby can be heard.

It is dark, but Videl has no need for light to see two shapes lying on the bed. Archer is spread sideways, his arms hanging off the bed and his head sideways, limp as a ragdoll. Blood still runs from the gushing wound in his chest, where a knife is protruding, staining his nightshirt and the sheets around him. His red eyes are still wide open, and a trickle of red stems from his partially opened mouth. Beside him is Linthria, likewise still and bloodily destroyed, her hair hanging around her like a curtain.

Videl's eyes widen, his breath coming quickly, and as the thunder and lightning outside the room cast himself in a turbulent light, he falls to his knees and lets out an agonized scream.

Saliva drips from his lips as panting, he looks up, his amber eyes furious and pained, like a tortured animal. He has spotted the source of the cool breeze in the room, an open window, the curtains still blowing like a mocking wave. Next to the open window is a cradle, from which the sounds of a crying child are still heard.

Stumbling slightly, Videl walks to the cradle. Inside is a baby, a newborn, with a fuzzy mop of black hair on her head. Her eyes are bright red, and are the precise shape of her father's. She is splaying her little arms around, crying piercingly and making Videl's ears ring.

His hands trembling, Videl reaches down and takes the baby in his arms. The child immediately stops crying, her screams dying down to whimpers. Tears are streaming down his face as Videl leans down and kisses his niece on the forehead.

"Du er elsket," he chokes, his curls tickling the little girl's head.

And then he breaks down into sobs. Someone takes the child from his arms, someone else puts a hand on his shoulder, but he ignores them all. He walks back to Archer's body and tears the dagger from his chest, holding up so that the blood drips down slowly onto the floor.

He sheathes it and stalks from the room, not responding to anyone around him, not responding to a single living soul but his anguished heart that is beating faster and faster in his ribcage. He walks into a courtyard filled with flowers, but instead of sweet, the scent smells deadly to him now.

"Wairua!" he shouts as the rain pours over his lean body. His face is twisted in anguish as he looks at the sky.

The white owl immediately appears, alighting on a crumbling stone statue of some ruler long past. Your brother is dead, is he-

"Take me to Thea," growls Videl, holding up the dagger, "Now."

Wairua blinks, Are you certain that this is what you want?

"Loki will pay for what he did to my brother," Videl looks almost devilish, "I will take from him the thing he loves most. See what he thinks of vengeance then."

Wairua lets out a low, sad hoot.

"TAKE ME THERE!"

A flap of wings, and then Wairua takes to the sky, flying around Videl. Black mist instantly encircles them, and then, they are gone.

*

"It wasn't Archer," says Loki as he and Caomh walk into Nedira's bedchamber of the  mansion. Neidra, still in her sheer nightdress, is lounging on a bed.

"He is innocent." Loki looks infuriated, but his voice is relatively calm, "And yet, Caomh insisted that we dispose of him and his young wife."

"He knew too much," says Caomh, "You know it had to be done."

"Don't speak to me like that!" exclaims Loki, and then his gaze falls on Neidra, and he snaps, "And put some clothes on, woman!"

Neidra arches her eyebrows, but nonetheless, slides on a dark crimson dressing robe made of silk and embroidered with black lace. "But who else could have done this? Mansar had only two sons. Could possibly-"

"Videl," spits Loki, "That is the only other option. Somehow, for whatever reason, he orchestrated this, but Archer's death will infuriate him, and Thea will be in danger."

"Do you mean to say that you care for her?" asks Caomh lightly, apparently not seeing Neidra's warning look, "My mother said you struck her. Surely-"

"Silence."

Caomh closes his mouth, although does not look particularly pleased about it.

"Now what do we do?" croons Neidra, putting her arm around Loki's shoulder, trying to calm him once again, "Tell us, my love. Tell us, and we will obey."

Loki takes a deep breath, "I have but one order. Find her. Find my daugher. I do not care what it takes, I do not care if it means vice or deceit or killing. I will have Thea returned to me, you mark my words now."

*

In the alleyway, Videl splashes through the rainwater. Having sent Wairua away, he now stalks through the backlots of old restaurants, bookstores, and a hotel. His hood is drawn up, but anyone around him would be wise to step away from him. His nostrils are flaring, his eyes wild. He is a predator hunting his prey, and only but the most foolish could see that.

He lifts his head, the street light revealing his golden, curly hair, and sniffs the air. The stench of blood hits him like a poisoned dart, and he looks to the left, where a long, dark alleyway vanishes into the shadows.

He turns and enters it, his hand clutching the dagger as he does so. Within seconds, he has reached the back, where the scent of blood has grown stronger.

Videl spots Thea lying in a puddle, her face and body drenched with rain almost as much as it is drenched with blood. The blanket around her can only do so much to hide the painful-looking wounds that wrap around her body like rope. Her cropped hair is flattened against her head, and her eyes are tightly closed. He cannot tell if she is unconscious or sleeping, but he doesn't care.

Videl raises the dagger over Thea's exposed neck, the blade glinting wickedly in the light. Panting he looks down at her, and feels anger coursing through his veins like flames, feels the lust for revenge on the being that took his brother away from him. The child has not moved; she is so beyond consciousness, in a world of pain, that she cannot even see death so close by. Gritting his teeth, Videl clutches the dagger harder and raises it higher.

What could have stopped him? What emotion crashes against the Velah's stony heart so that he spares the life of the child beside him? Perhaps it is the pain in her splayed, broken body, or the helplessness which exudes from her. Or perhaps it is the memory of his gentle brother whispering in his ear through the windy rain, urging him to think, to think, to spare himself as much as Thea.

And so Videl lets the bloody dagger drop beside him, splashing in the rainwater with a dull thud.

Taking a deep breath, his eyes still wild with untamed fury, Videl looks down at Thea, who hasn't moved. Then, he puts his hand under her limp body and hoists her up into his arms. She mumbles, and her eyelids open for the briefest of seconds, long enough for Videl to see the redness around her green eyes, before they flutter again and shut.

Turning around, Videl walks out of the alleyway as the rain roars down, drenching them both in sweet drops that may signal a new beginning for them both.

Sad, but maybe hopeful???

Please VOTE and COMMENT! :D