I AM SO SORRY FOR LEAVING YOU ALL, MY PHONE DIED. IT WAS DREADFUL

BUT HERE'S A CHAPTER!

I hope you like it, it sort of tugged at my heartstrings.

:)

Music: don't you dare laugh

Your Star (Evanescence) (really, you should get used to it now)

I have to go pick up food, to beat the storm that's rolling in. Enjoy! Remember to VOTE and COMMENT! :) Ily.

Also the Q&A is up!! There's some interesting stuff there...

Chapter Forty-Six

~Nobody's POV~

They end up in Chicago. Angelique is still mumbling, hanging limply in Videl's arms, and both Videl and Thea are still sopping wet. All three of them have faces covered in soot, and the tips of Thea's fingers are a raw pink, with tendrils of slight smoke still trickling up from her skin. 

As it is, three dripping wet individuals, one of which is still partially unconscious and one of which is covered in blood attracts a fair bit of attention. Passersby look up curiously, some frowning, some moving on quickly. 

"Go," says Videl curtly, nudging Thea into an alleyway. It's about noon, and freezing. Snow flurries around them, landing on their Costa Rican attire. Thea begins to tremble, cold even with her Asgardian blood. Videl, despite himself, shivers slightly as he sets Angelique gently on the ground behind a stack of disposed cardboard boxes. 

He looks up, and meets Thea's eyes, "Stay with her while I find some place for us to stay." 

"But–" 

"No buts," he says, his voice clipped. He sets his hand on Angelique's sweaty forehead, and then stands. "Don't move." 

He is gone before Thea can say a single word. She curls up against the wall, next to Angelique's shaking body. 

She jumps as a white figure alights on a cardboard box above her. Glancing up, she sees Wairua, and her shoulders fall slightly in relief. Reaching up the stroke the top of the owl's head, she smiles slightly. 

Thea is shaken from her encounter with Caomh, but she tries to put aside the thoughts of burning flesh and turns to Angelique. 

The gash in the older girl's shoulder has stopped bleeding, but still looks deep and nasty. Angelique's eyes are rolling, and she is muttering under her breath, her breath coming in rasps. Thea looks down and sees slice marks on Angelique's arms, and when she sees the bruise swelling on Angelique's cheek, sick dread comes over her. 

The cold is biting her, and though Thea might be part-Jotun, she is still freezing, shaking uncontrollably. She is still wearing the thin dress over her swimsuit, and as the snow blows around her, Thea squeezes her eyes shut, trying to warm herself. She tries to produce a small flame on her fingers, but she is exhausted, and the spark quickly smokes out. 

Wairua hoots lowly. 

By the time Videl returns, the tips of both girls' fingers are a slight blue, and Thea's face is flushed from the cold. 

"Oh damn," mutters Videl, and then bends, scooping up Angelique. He looks back at Thea, "Let's go." 

She shakily stands, but staggers with the weight of the backpack on her freezing self, bracing herself against the wall. Her thin legs are shaking uncontrollably. 

"Come on, Thea," says Videl, "Get up, and hold on to me if you have to, but we need to move. The hotel isn't far from here, only about a five minute walk." 

Thea wants to groan, but she sees Angelique's listless body, and doesn't say a word. Instead, she reaches forward, wrapping her arms through one of Videl's, and begins to walk shakily next to him. 

Videl leads her into the lobby of a small hotel. At the entrance of the hotel, Wairua, hooting softly, floats up the building and vanishes around the side. As she walks inside, Thea gasps. The warmth is almost shocking, and as her teeth chatter, she moves to sit down on one of the couches in the dimly lit lobby. 

"Ah, ah," says Videl, pulling her back up, "We're going upstairs. It's the third floor, so we're using the stairs" 

Thea looks up at him pityingly. 

"Don't try that on me," he says, striding towards the back staircase, half-dragging her behind him, "I'm still pissed at you." 

Thea throws him a terrible look, which he can't see, but doesn't say anything. 

As it turns out, the more she walks, the stronger Thea becomes, which is probably the reason Videl is making them climb. Her limbs begin to grow warmer, and she stops shivering too much. By the time she reaches the third floor, she is breathing regularly again, although her nose is still fire engine red, and the tips of her fingers are still slightly numb. 

The room is very basic, but very much like the setup at Disney World. Videl flips on the light switch, revealing a tiny sitting room. Thea sees two small bedrooms on either side, each with one large bed. 

She follows Videl into one of the bedrooms, where he lies Angelique down on the mattress. Angelique opens her bloodshot eyes, and looks up at them. 

"How do you feel?" asks Videl. 

She shivers, "Cold." 

Videl nods, and then begins to pull down the sheets around Angelique, shifting her so that she's now lying underneath blankets. As he does so, he says, "I don't think whatever Caomh did to you will last long, and your cuts aren't dangerous. I'm going to go downstairs and get something for them anyway. For now, rest." He glances at Thea, who is walking to the bed eagerly, "As for you, idiot, take a shower, put some of the warm clothes from Canada on that are still in the backpack and you stupidly forgot about, and then go lie down in the other bed." 

"What, do you can share this one with Angelique?" 

He glares at her, "I'm not remotely in the mood, Thea. And no, I'm unfortunately sharing with you."

Thea's shoulders fall. "I don't need to rest." 

"Yes, you do, and you know it. Now please, go shower now." 

"At least you said please," mutters Thea, and vanishes into the bathroom, lugging her backpack behind her. 

Videl's predictions come true. Whatever serum Caomh injected in Angelique vanishes by the end of the night, and by the next evening, she is moving about as usual. The cuts Loki had inflicted upon her aren't terribly deep, and although her shoulder still causes her to wince, Angelique is recovering quickly. 

They gather in the sitting room as the sun begins to set, as Videl has finally thought it appropriate to now ask Angelique what had happened in Neidra's dungeons. It had been extremely obvious that Thea had wanted to know as soon as the three had reached Chicago, but Videl had completely squashed that idea. 

Thea and Videl have also continued their chilly behavior towards one another. Both are still angry at the other from their disastrous Costa Rican argument, but both refuse to apologize. Last night, Thea had climbed into the bed and curled up as far away from Videl as she possibly could, halfway hanging off the bed and yanking the blankets off of him. Finally annoyed by her, he had gone into the sitting room and paced in there until the sun had risen. 

Now, Thea sits on the small couch next to Angelique, leaving Videl to sit in the chair across from them. Angelique, wearing a worn pair of jeans and a tank top, is drinking coffee that Videl had brought up from the library–he hadn't brought anything for Thea, who pretended to hate coffee as a result– and glances between Videl and Thea. Videl is playing with one of his rings, taking it off his finger, putting it back on, and then taking it back off, and Thea is twitching impatiently. 

"Did you see Loki?" asks Thea, breaking the silence. 

Not looking away from his ring, Videl says irritably, "Of course she saw Loki, he was the one who stabbed her and then took her to the bloody dungeon." 

Angelique bites her lip, looking at the ceiling. Finally, she says, "Loki took me into a dungeon.I'm sorry, I didn't really know where in the house that it was. But that's where I was for most of the time." 

"What happened?" asks Videl, "What did he do to you?" 

She shrugs, tracing the edge of her steaming mug, "It doesn't really matter, Vi-"

"Doesn't matter!? He tortured you!" 

"Not for very long," she says quietly, "He wanted to know about Thea, where she would be."

"So he could kill her," says Videl listlessly.

"I didn't tell him anything. I'm pretty sure he would have killed me if he hadn't broken through Neidra's spell." 

Thea sits up ramrod straight. 

"How? How did he do that?"

Angelique looks at Thea gently, "I tried the only thing I could think of. I started talking about you. Not your location, or anything about what you might be up to, but I reminded him about what he used to have. He struggled for a couple minutes, but then, when he looked up, his eyes were green." She smiles at Thea, who hasn't moved, and then says, "The same emerald green that your eyes are. For the first time, I saw how much you really look like him."

Thea's voice is almost afraid, "What did he do? What did he say?" 

"He...he wanted to know where you are, but most of all, wanted to know if you were safe. But he didn't get to say much else before Neidra showed up." 

"Neidra?" 

"Yes," Angelique looks down at the ground, "I figured out what's happening. Neidra is poisoning Loki, but he sometimes breaks free of the potion, and she has to reinstate it." 

"Reinstate it?" asks Videl, "How? She'd have a really hard time force-feeding Loki, he's bigger than her, and probably stronger." 

"He's not stronger anymore," says Angelique quietly. "I got a look at him. Besides being so like Thea, he's...he..." Angelique hesitates, looking at Thea carefully, "Thea, honey, I'm so sorry. But Neidra has been torturing him. With knives. His entire chest was all marked up and bloodied, and so was his face." 

Thea hasn't moved. The only thing that has changed is that she is clutching the arm of the couch and breathing quicker. 

"He fought her," says Angelique, "And when he lost, that's how I knew for sure that he's weakened. But the last thing he said to me, before Caomh took me out... " She sighs, "He asked me to tell you that he loves you." 

Thea makes a choking sound, but she blinks rapidly, swallowing hard, and doesn't start crying. Videl peers at her through narrowed eyes. 

"What happened after that?" asks Videl, turning back to Angelique. 

"Caomh took me out," says Angelique, "And up to that terrible, evil room. I thought he was going to kill me. Instead, he pierced my side with some sort of needle. As I began to drift into unconsciousness, he mocked us, and by us, I mean all of us. He said that if Videl wanted to find him, he would be at the masquerade ball at the new moon."

Videl frowns, "What does that mean? Why would I want to meet that bastard any more than I have to?"

"I don't know." 

"What did he say about me?" Thea asks in a tiny voice. 

Angelique sighs, "He said that he and Neidra knew that you would come for me. So Neidra was planning on drawing you to Loki, to get killed by this tripwire crossbow thing that she had set up." 

"We didn't see any signs of Loki," says Videl, "Apparently, their plan failed." 

"How were they going to draw me to him?" asks Thea. 

Angelique's shoulders slump. She hadn't want to answer this question. Finally, she says "Caomh said–and Thea, he could have been a liar, we don't know–"

"What did he say?"

"Let her talk, Thea," snaps Videl. 

Thea almost hits him. 

Angelique hurries on, "Caomh said that Neidra was planning on...his exact words...he said that Neidra was going to torture him until he screamed. And that when he screamed, you would come running and be killed." 

Thea's mouth opens in horror. 

"That means," Angelique says as gently as possible, "That Neidra's plan failed because Loki wouldn't scream, wouldn't draw you to him. But I heard him...cry out earlier, so the pain was just as bad. But he kept silent." She reaches forward to touch Thea's arm, which is shaking, "He did it for you, Thea." 

Thea can't stand it any longer. She wrenches herself from Angelique and then goes running into her bedroom, slamming the door behind her.

"Thea!" Angelique calls imploringly, but no response comes from the shut door. 

Videl throws up his hands, "Why on earth would you say that?! You realize what she's going to do, right?" 

"What?" 

"Now, she's going to want to go find Loki, to try and break that spell herself. You've just set her up for a suicide mission!" 

"Videl, she had to know! She had to know that Loki is still there for her!" 

"He's not there for her!" Videl's voice rises, "He's a killer, and he's-"

Angelique gets to her feet and begins to talk louder too, "You didn't see what I saw, Videl! You've seen a possessed man obeying every command from a twisted witch, and because of...because of reasons, you want to see the bad in everything! We don–"

"You don't get to say that!" shouts Videl, "He's a murderer, and if Thea's around him, she's going to end up dead! Loki is a manipulator, Angelique, we don't know if what he just pulled was just a trick!" 

"How could you say that!?" demands Angelique, "I saw Loki, chained up, bleeding, scarred, and I heard him scream over and over! I saw a father doing everything he could to save his daughter, even if it meant–"

"Then why would he kidnap her, Angelique! Riddle me that!" 

He's under a SPELL, Videl!"

"He's only been under a spell for part of the time! Only when the silver eyes started, which was right after you came along on this hell of a trip!" 

"But–"

"That means he was in his right mind when he kidnapped Thea, when he HIT her, when he took her to Neidra's house and let her whip her until she was nearly dead!" 

Thea paces in her room, clutching her head and taking deep breaths, trying to calm herself down. She lets flames appear on her fingers, ignoring the slight stinging, as long as it will stop her from crying. She flings her hand to the side: the Duffy Bear, a few magazines, and a lamp go crashing from the nightstand. The clattering sound makes her feel better. 

She hears Angelique and Videl beginning to shout at each other, but she doesn't care. She's only thinking about Loki. What if Angelique was right, and Loki had been being tortured, and bearing it to try and save her? The thought of a bloodied Loki tied up and being sliced roars through her mind and makes her want to burst into tears.

What if she had been right next to Loki, down in that corridor, and hadn't even known it? Had she been on the other side of the wall where he was suppressing his screams of pain in order to save her life? He had known that she would come running to him if he had made a sound, and so had put himself through hell for it. 

Thea lets out a short scream of her own, frustrated and in turmoil. She glances back at the connecting door, where Angelique and Videl are still yelling, louder and louder, and makes a decision by herself. She knows that Videl would kill her if he knew what she is planning. 

She needs to go find Loki by herself, and save him that way. Maybe, before he kills her, she can try to break the spell like Angelique had. Surely, her talking to him would be stronger than when Angelique had. 

Loki tracks her quickly. Thea just needs to go somewhere he will have an easy time locating. 

She holds out her hand, and her ruby dagger comes flying into her hand. She leaves her backpack behind, only taking from it the thick jacket from Canada. 

She looks back once more at the door. Angelique and Videl are still shouting. Clutching her dagger tightly, she walks out of the exterior door that this bedroom has, the only other exit from the hotel room. 

Not looking back, she runs down the hallway, towards the elevator, just as the first roll of thunder vibrates across the winter Chicago sky. 

Angelique and Videl are still going at it. 

"Whatever you think, I don't believe for a second that Loki knew what Neidra did to Thea." 

Videl kicks the foot of the couch, striding over to Angelique. Looking down at her, he narrows his amber eyes and exclaims, "You're being ridiculous! Ridiculous and trusting, just like Thea!" 

"He's being TORTURED, and he's under a spell!"

Videl looks manic, frenzied, and completely beyond control of his emotions. 

"He's nothing but a killer! He killed my brother!" 

Angelique looks, horrified, in the direction of the shut bedroom door. Videl notices. 

"I DON'T CARE IF SHE KNOWS! NOW, MAYBE SHE'LL SEE A LITTLE BIT OF DAMNED SENSE!" 

"She's fourteen!" implores Angelique. 

"Unlike you, I don't pity her for her age! She's plenty old enough to know about–"

"You can't possibly–"

"You're just like her, Angelique, trying to be all innocent and accepting, and everything, but you don't know what's out there!" 

"I know that bad things aren't always bad, and terrible people aren't always terrible!" she exclaims. 

"Oh, so just like me?" 

Angelique's eyes snap furiously, but she won't back down, "Yes, like you, Videl! You've done horrific things, things I've just barely begun to realize, but I've seen you! I know you're good somewhere. I know that your father was terrible to you and–"

"DON'T TALK ABOUT MY FATHER! THE LITTLE BITCH IN THE OTHER ROOM KILLED HIM!" 

"I KNOW SHE DID! She didn't have a choice!" 

"Didn't have a choice!? She sunk a blade through his heart!" 

"She would have died otherwise! What would you have done!?"

Videl has no answer for that. Instead, he snaps, breathing hard now, "You're a damned, fool, Angelique. I am a terrible person, and there's no way to change it! You can't change it, Thea can't change it, I'm who I am and I'm proud of that!" 

"No you're not," says Angelique, "Otherwise, you would have left Thea to die in that alley, you would have abandoned her sometime this entire time, you wouldn't have saved her life, you wouldn't have done any of this! You're trying to make up for the hell you put Thea through!"

Videl is quivering with rage, "So what if I have!? It won't change anything! I killed a CHILD, on my father's orders, but didn't care, didn't have a conscience. I LAUGHED when Thea sunk that blade into Leah's chest, I LAUGHED, ANGELIQUE, I'M NOTHING BUT A MONSTER!" 

Tears are streaming down both of their faces. Videl doesn't care though, he's continuing to scream at Angelique. 

"I tortured Thea, I'm no different than Neidra! I–"

"You did it out of grief! Neidra is torturing Loki out of evil and power!" 

Videl loses it. 

"STOP MAKING EXCUSES FOR ME! STOP IT! I CAN'T GIVE YOU ANYTHING, ANGELIQUE! I'm a dead end, I'm an empty glass, I am a gateway to hell!" 

"You're not!" begs Angelique as Videl begins to pace around the room, "I've seen it! I've–"

"You're an angel, you're good and pure. Me? I'm nothing but a devil, a demonic creature that does nothing but hurt and hurt and hurt!" 

"You're NOT a devil! You're not! I've seen how protective you've gotten of Thea, over both of us! There's so much goodness still in your heart, Videl, it's just been pushed down by an entire lifetime of hatred and bloodlust! Look at you! You've never threatened to drink either of our blood, Thea's or mine!" 

"Oh, GOODY! I'm just CELEBRATING for the amount of GOODNESS that is, not draining the two of you dry! Don't think I haven't thought about it before! I'm nothing, Angelique, and–"

"VIDEL, STOP THIS! I swear, you're just as pure as any of us, if you look inside–"

"I DON'T NEED A MAGNIFYING GLASS TO SEE WHAT'S INSIDE ME! I live with it every day! I know how poisonous I am! I can't give you anything, Angelique!" 

"Yes you can," whispers Angelique, "Yes you can, you can give me everything. I love you, don't you see anything, idiot?" 

Videl stares at her, panting, unbelieving. His eyes are wild. 

Then, he crosses the room and kisses Angelique so hard, she runs into the wall. He kisses her faster and faster, moving his hands up and down her body, every curve, fingering the fabric of her shirt. Between both of their gasps, he whispers hoarsely, "I love you too." 

*fair warning: the next chapter will have some mature elements...*

What do you think? Please VOTE and COMMENT!

xoxo Sierra xoxo