I did my SAT. It lasted too long, I swear. But I think it went pretty well! :) God bless all those test-takers out there.

I enjoyed this chapter immensely. I hope you do too.

I'm going on a longish (a week or so) vacation on Monday. Updates will be spotty, especially because I'm taking the time to do a LOT of editing for Blue Moon. Editing that book is rough, lemme tell you, because my writing and plot lines and everything SUCKED. I'm re-writing quite a bit of stuff, like how the Imeldi poison is removed from Thea, how Thea and Jack meet, and how Thea and Rani's (that's Loki) relationship gets to a start. There's also some more obvious Rani-is-Thea's-father-or-something hints too.

ANYWAY CHAPTER TIME.

~The photo is slightly too young for Thea, but I think it does the trick ;) ~

~Music~ (you'll know when to use it)

Sweet About Me (Gabriella Cilmi)

Cha-Ching/Till We Grow Older (Imagine Dragons)

Chapter Fifty-Three

~Thea's POV~

I can't believe this. 

We're thrown into a dimly lit room, and with a shock, I recognize the same dusty shelves, same overstuffed furniture, same electric lanterns, same loft as the one I had been thrown into by the portal, the first time I had met Videl. He had been terrible, then, and frightening, driven mad by his father's control on his spirit. 

But I don't really care at the moment. 

"WHAT DID YOU DO, YOU BASTARD!?" I scream at him, getting to my feet. I can feel the throbbing of my temple from where it had struck the ground but ignore it, and the dripping blood. 

I fly at Videl, but he's ready for me. Seizing my wrists before I can begin to pummel him, he throws me to the ground in disgust. 

"What did you just do?!" he shouts right back. 

"Videl," says Angelique softly, always the pacifist. 

I don't pay her the slightest bit of attention. All my fury I had been feeling for Neidra for what she has done to Loki is now channeling to Videl. He looks just as mad, stalking up and down and around me like some sort of stalking tiger. 

"I didn't do–"

Apparently, he had only wanted me to talk to interrupt. 

"You. Almost. Killed. Yourself." 

"It was my father! I was trying to save him, and now he's going to DIE, and it's ALL YOUR FAULT!" 

"I JUST SAVED YOUR LIFE!" 

"I DIDN'T WANT TO BE SAVED!" 

He throws his hands up, "You don't get to make decisions like that!"

"And you don't get to decide whether or not to stop me from making decisions like that!" I hurl back at him, "I'm fourteen, not four!" 

"You IDIOT, you desperate IDIOT, Neidra wants to kill Loki anyway! You killing yourself for him makes no difference! It's part of her plan to destroy Loki and to take over his throne!" 

I don't even know how to express the hot-red anger that I'm feeling right now. Apparently, neither do my fingers, because suddenly, they are alit with the flames of my fury. Pointing right at Videl, the fire comes dangerously close to him, illuminating his enraged features, his eyes practically snapping like the blaze. 

"You should have left me alone!" I scream at him, " You should have let me save him! You should have let me die back there!" 

Videl moves so quickly, I don't even have time to process before he slaps me. 

"VIDEL!" shouts Angelique, looking horrified. 

I barely react to the pain. I stand rooted to the spot, feeling the sting on my cheek and the tears that smart on my eyes, but I refuse to back down from him. 

"Your saint father doesn't deserve you to die for him!" hisses Videl, looking down at me, his fangs bared–had it been six months ago, I would have staggered away crying, but now, I'm too mad to be scared. "He doesn't deserve anything!" 

"You don't know him!" 

"I don't want to know the murderous bastard that killed my brother!"

My jaw drops. I can't help it. 

Through clenched teeth, Videl spits, "I was trying to keep it from your poor innocent ears, but I think it's time you knew what happened. Your father murdered my brother and my sister-in-law in cold blood, when they wouldn't tell him anything about you!" 

"Archer..." I whisper, and the first thing I think of is Lifolas lying still and dead on the rainy alleyway ground. 

Angelique closes her eyes tightly. 

"He's dead!" screams Videl, and now, I see that he's crying, "He's dead, you idiot, and it's because of your father! I'm in this mess to begin with because of it! My entire family is gone now, dead!  My brother was killed by Loki, and my father was killed by his rotten little daughter!" 

"I–" 

"You know what?" snarls Videl, "I should have gone with my instinct and killed you in that alleyway when I had the chance!" 

Before I can say another word, he stalks from the room, slamming the door behind him. 

I turn to Angelique, my bottom lip trembling. 

"Oh Thea," she says, walking forward and hugging me. I take a jagged breath and try to stop crying, but the tears come anyway as I think about Loki, probably dead soon, and about the horrible things Videl has just said. Archer is dead. He almost killed me that night in the alleyway. Angelique rubs my back and says quietly, "I'm so sorry, Thea. I'm so sorry." 

I keep crying for several more minutes, but then, sniffing, step backwards, nearly tripping as I do so–I'm still in my dark colored dress, but now the beauty of it has worn out, as if a cloud had come across its midnight sky. "My life," I pronounce miserably, "Is a wreck." 

Angelique smiles sadly, "It's not a wreck. It's just... it's just a little bumpy. But you'll get through it. Both of you will get through it." 

"Archer is dead," It comes out as a groan, "And Linthria, both dead because of me." 

"Don't blame yourself," says Angelique firmly, "It's not your fault! They're dead...they're dead because this world is a wreck, not because you are, or any part of your life is." 

"But Loki...he killed...my father killed them. Archer was my friend! He saved my life, and...and Leah's." 

"We don't know about Loki," says Angelique, "Maybe he didn't kill him."

"He would have," I say dismally, "He would have for me, I know it." 

Angelique sighs, her hands still on my shoulders, "I don't know what to tell you. And I don't know what to tell Videl, either. He's done some horrific things, and I know it. Sometimes...sometimes I wonder what's going on through my head whenever I kiss him, or let him touch me." 

"I wonder that all the time for you," I say as bitterly as possible, not wanting to admit out loud what I'm really thinking. 

"But then," Angelique glances away from me, as if trying to see something invisible in the distance, "Then I see him differently." She holds up her satin black mask, so that the sequins sparkle slightly in the light. "I see him like I see this black mask sometimes. Beautiful and elegant, but with something dark and black and dangerous. But then," Angelique flips over the mask, revealing the creamy colored inside, "I see that the black mask is hiding the other side of him. The soft, light side that lets him wear his heart on his sleeve, and the side that is battling with a battalion of demons that are creeping up his castle wall in the middle of the night. Sometimes, he fights with the demons with his fangs and his temper, but sometimes he fights against them with his heart and his internally gentle spirit." 

I look down, "That was ridiculously symbolic and beautiful at the same time." 

There's a smile in her voice, "Thank you." 

"Why didn't he tell me about Archer?" I wonder out loud, walking away from her and towards the small nightstand next to the one large bed. The nightstand has a radio on it, and is full of dust on the surface, and the bed smells like mothballs. At least there aren't any dead bodies in here anymore. I get a mental picture of Videl frantically trying to get rid of emaciated corpses before Angelique gets here, and I have the terrible, morbid urge to laugh. 

"He told me it was because he didn't want you to have to deal with too much at one time," Angelique responds. 

I turn to stare at her, "He told you? You knew?" 

"Yeah," she says quietly, looking down, "Yeah, he told me." 

I sit on the side of the bed and immediately flap my hands as two or three moths flutter up from the blankets. "Ugh," I say. 

"Ugh is right," says Angelique. 

I look over at her. She looks lovely in her red dress, even if it's gotten torn a little. This reminds me of my dress. I look down at it, fingering the soft fabric. I can feel the cool, delicate strands of the diamond head dress on my temple, grazing my bloody wound. My dress reminds me of Loki, and how he had told me I looked gorgeous. 

I cough, trying to cover up my tears, but then I can't help it any more. I start crying again, mentally cursing myself for my weakness. I lean back on the bed, not even caring about its disrepair and cry as hard as I can. I cry for Archer, and for Lifolas and Linrhria, who had all died, in a roundabout way, for me. I cry for Videl, and for his masked pain. I cry for Max and Kyle and Jack and Peter and every single person I love that I miss, including those that have died. Most of all, I cry for my father, who is facing death because of me. All for me. Everything for me. It's me. It's me, it's all my fault! 

I vaguely sense Angelique walking over, and close my eyes tighter, not wanting her to try and comfort me right now. For me, misery never loves company. 

But then, I hear her switching some dials, and then the sounds of the radio come floating through the old room. Angelique changes the channel a couple of times, past talk shows, sports announcements, commercials for lawn care, rap music, old country, and other diverse music. 

She finally stops on some alternative rock song that I've never heard. I sit up, back against the headboard of the bed, and that's when I realize that Videl has returned. Snuck in, to be more precise. 

Evidently, he had been outside. His face and his hair is wet, the droplets dripping off of his chin, forehead, and eyelashes. His amber eyes are narrowed, but the fire has been put out, and they're slightly softer. 

Still infuriated with him, I turn away and cross my arms very determinedly, staring at a spot on the wall. 

A few seconds later, I hear Videl mutter, annoyed, "I don't dance." 

"Don't be silly," says Angelique passively, "Everyone can dance." 

This reminds me immediately of the Asgardian festival, when Loki had forced me to dance. I had complained then, but now, I would given everything to go back to that summer night, dancing with my father. I drop my chin to my knees and feel a few more tears leak from my eyes. 

Glancing up a few minutes later, I see that Angelique has persuaded Videl. Now, his arms are around her waist, and they're swinging in time to the beat of the music, which is emphasized by strong guitar plucks and short drums. His eyes are even softer now as they gaze down at her, and as she looks up at him, I can see the happiness in her smile. Her skirts swirl like little whispers as Videl ducks her slightly, holding her back with one hand. She laughs quietly, and he smiles. As he turns, and as the light catches his face, I can see the faded tear stains on his cheeks. 

Their happiness and contrasting love makes me want to cry from longing and from loneliness, to scream at them from anger at this undignified event at this undignified hour at this undignified time, but I can't do any of that, not if I want to wipe my face clear of any emotions. 

Angelique and Videl keep dancing, and I keep sitting steadfastly in a corner. Occasionally, one of them looks over at me. When Angelique glances at me, I look away, but when Videl looks my way, I fix him with a glare. He turns away quickly each time.

The music changes to a song that I actually know, since Kyle had sung it and played it on his guitar last winter. It's "Sweet About Me" by Gabriella Cilmi. It's too cheerful and too twangy for me right now, and I roll my eyes. 

The wood floor creaks as Videl separates himself from Angelique. As he walks over to me, I force myself to glare at him even more, even though all I want to do is cry. 

He holds his hand out to me, and raises his eyebrows. 

"Hell no," I snap, "You get away from me." 

He tugs at my hand, which I try to jerk away without success, and then bends down to whisper in my ear, "It's time for you to take off your mask too." 

I stare at him, and my shock distracts me, because Videl takes this opportunity to pull me off of the bed. Leading me over to the more open part of the loft, Videl takes my other hand, latching his fingers over mine firmly so that I have no chance of wriggling out of them, and begins to dance us around in a circle. 

At first, I hardly move, determined to grow roots into this floor if I have to in order to avoid dancing with Videl. But as he looks down at me, half-daringly, half-pleadingly, my limbs subconsciously loosen. I don't notice Angelique turning the music up louder, but she must, and Videl, smirking at his success, spins me around so that my skirts swirl around me, and then pulls me back to him. He puts one hand on my upper waist and the other clasps my hand as we continue to waltz around the room. 

I look up at him. He smiles down at me, a slight smile that barely exposes his fangs, and there is something mischievous in that smile. Before I can say anything, he ducks me so low to the ground, that I can't resist letting out a small shriek as he pulls me up, causing my head dress to shift on my head slightly. 

Laughing, he moves the diamonds back on my head in the proper place, and I realize that his laugh is infectious when he means it. It's boyish and light, and causes his eyes to crinkle with hidden joy. I can't help but laugh too, and I laugh despite my tears. We both do, despite our tears. 

Angelique, smiling, walks over to us. Videl reaches out to her, and takes her waist with his free hand, still holding onto me. 

I don't know how long we all dance together, but it goes on well past midnight. I feel all my worries begin to drift away from me, at least for a little bit, as I dance around and around, sometimes with Videl, sometimes with Angelique, sometimes with myself. I twirl my skirts around, my Asgardian dress that makes me feel like I'm a princess. Because I'm a princess. I'm Loki's princess, and no matter what happens, I'm going to do anything to make sure that everyone I care about, including the vividly, emotionally broken Velah and the girl with so much joy in her, will never get hurt again. 

But I can't do anything about it right now. 

So instead, I dance in the loft, and throw my midnight mask away, letting my worries escape into the stars and fade away as if they were never there. 

Well, this is new. Instead of starting happy and ending depressing, I start depressing and end sort of happy :) *London Tipton imitation* Yay me!

haha, please VOTE and COMMENT!

Love you all! :)

xxSierraxx