Geez, that took too long to write again. 

This may or may not be the last chapter before school starts. But when school DOES start, I will only be updating weekly, usually on weekends. :( I know, very sad, but this year is horrifically important because I'm trying go get into this not-so-easy-college-to-get-into, so I need to focus all I can. 

Anway, that was boring. Onto the chapter!

~Songs~

Something Beautiful- NEEDTOBREATHE

Forgive Me- Thor soundtrack 

Chapter Thirty-Three

~Thea's POV~

The first time we run into trouble (if you don't count the fact that we lost one of the tents in the river) is just at the top of another plateau. Jack and I are playing a moderated version of tag, where we dart in between everyone else, but not too far ahead of the group, lest we get yelled at by Kyle or Tony. 

"You're getting slow," yells Jack as I chase him between Loki and Thor, now at the very front of the pack, him darting between them. While Thor, who looks simply amused as he carries a sleeping Leah in his broad arms, Loki's face twists in annoyance. 

"Hey!" I exclaim as Loki grabs my arm, pulling me back, "I'm going to lose Jack, he's getting farther ah-"

I am cut off as a loud yell cuts through the silent air, causing several colorful birds to take flight. "Jack!"

I wrench myself from Loki's grip, ("Oh, come on!" he snarls) then run forward. Jack is around the bend, inside a nestle of plants, holding his arm in agony. There is something that resembles a giant red...stinger?... digging into it. 

"Jack!" I fall down on my knees in front of him. 

"No..." he moans, "No, Thea, get aw-"

I shriek as something hits my arm too, piercing it and causing me to fall to the ground as well, "What...is...this!?" 

While clutching my arm, I look up to see what appears to be a giant red heron screaming at us. It his bright yellow eyes and is flapping its huge wings threateningly. From its back, there are spines that protrude out, rattling threateningly. 

"Thea!" I hear someone else sliding to a stop in front of me, next to me, and realize that it's Max.  He turns me over on my back as I clutch my agonized arm and hold back exclamations of both curses and pain. 

From what sounds like far away, I hear Archer say sharply, "Don't kill her!" 

Scuffling noises, someone else kneeling beside me. It's Archer. His hands are warm, burning hot in fact, and he's pressing on the circumference of the wound, where the stinger is protruding. I wail and struggle slightly, clenching Max's hands hard.

Then, as I protest weakly, Archer yanks the stinger from my arm. I groan, clutching my bloody arm. 

Before I can say anything else, Archer has risen and hurried over to the side of the writhing figure of Jack. 

"You good Thea?" Max asks, helping me sit up. "You okay, does anything hurt?" 

"Well..." I stammer, "Yes." 

Max rolls his eyes and then helps me stand up. From beside me, Jack is groaning, but the stinger has been removed from his arm, and he's sitting up. 

Glancing up, I see Archer hurrying over to the tree where the devil bird is sitting in the tree, threateningly. screaming its head off again. The Velah reaches his hand up hesitantly, yanking it back with the bird snaps at him with its sharp beak. He waits, then extends it again. The bird cocks its head and then, looking at him suspiciously though beaded eyes, lets Archer stroke the top of its head. 

"What is that thing?!" I exclaim as Jack gets to his feet, this time supported by Tony. 

"It's a vilidon," says Archer, still touching the bird, "And this is why she attacked you," he points to the ground, where, nestled under the brush, a half dozen large smooth-blue eggs, "She was protecting them."

"Well," says Jack slightly weakly, "That's some mother." 

"Yeah," I gripe, rubbing my arm, "Tell me about it." 

*

Leah, as it transpires, has warmed up to Archer significantly. This is partially because she doesn't really know who he is (nobody, not even Loki, has decided to tell her) and also because he did, of course, save her life. When she's not being carried by Thor, she's walking along on her short little legs next to the much taller Archer- and Miryen. 

Archer is perfectly nice to Leah, smiling at her, helping her over ditches, and so forth. One reason for this, I suspect, is because she is one of the few around here who don't treat him like a criminal. Thor is similar. 

I, too, am friendlier to Archer. I begin this tenuous relationship of trust by asking him about growing up here on Ardhigiza. 

"There's not much to say," he says quietly. We're all making our way down a steep embankment, Kyle carrying Leah on his shoulders, me trying as hard as possible to be careful of where I step, lest I skitter down on the rocks, "My father is the emperor of the Velah, which is why I live in the palace. My mother was a high priestess before my father courted her. I'm four years younger than Videl. I had a sister too, who was younger than me. Four years younger. Her name was Rini."

I stay silent as Archer swats off a rather large spider-like creature and don't ask what happened to Rini. I suspect he may or may not tell me. 

Archer clears his throat, "Anyway, I lived a pretty normal life as a Velah prince. Although my father doted on Videl, my mother took to Rini and me. When I was fourteen, I entered the Rite. That's when all young Velah of that age are taken to Earth to feast on human blood. 

"When I was there, I got scared. Videl had dared me to kill a grown man, in the middle of the city, in the middle of the night. I didn't want to. The man had children, but his wife was dead. I later learned that his wife was the human Videl had killed four years earlier." Archer's voice grows quieter, "When I panicked, the man did too. He tried to shoot me, but of course, that didn't work. I left the house empty-handed. My father was enraged- I had let him down. He beat me.

"When Rini, who was nine at the time, tried to stop him, he slapped her. I grew furious, as Rini was my best friend. I attacked my father, and my lust for blood grew stronger. Perhaps I would have killed Father had it not been for Rini. Rini was an innocently pure girl. She did not want to kill either, or see those she loved get killed.

"Videl took this news in stride, and didn't even try to beat me like he did several times before in our childhood. In fact, he seemed rather impressed that I had managed to take a swing on Father. He tried to take me in, to train me. I didn't want it- Videl's idea of fun was sickening to me. He would hunt down mothers and their children on the few times we went to Earth. I began to loathe my brother, but didn't say anything about it- Videl is much stronger than me, and much more clever, and if he had gotten a sniff of what I was feeling. 

"When I was sixteen, Videl took Rini with us Earth, for the Rite. She didn't want to go. I tried to hide her, but Videl found us sneaking out into the forest. Rini kicked and she screamed, but Father allowed Videl to drag her all the way to your planet. For all his brutality towards her as a child, Videl still, I think, cared for her, and did not want Father to give her the same treatment he gave me when I failed to kill a human. 

"Rini refused to drink human blood. She claimed they were too alike the Velah, that we are no better than you. This caused Videl, who considers the Velah the superior race, to grow furious. He tied up Rini and forced her to watch him kill human after human after human. He killed a child. He killed his mother. Rini screamed for him to stop, but he only did when she swore she would kill a human for herself.

"Rini, for all her gentleness, was a clever girl, nearly as devious as her eldest brother. It took very little time at all for her to corner a human, a teenaged boy, and kill it. The blood lust for a young Velah is more powerful than that of an older one. She began to kill, more and more and more that night, desperate for blood. And Videl just watched and let her, happy I guess, that one of his siblings turned out to be normal. At the dawn of the next day, Videl, satisfied at last, took her back to Ardhigiza and left the murders in his wake.

"But her murder on Earth destroyed Rini. She refused to talk to anyone except me. It was her that suggested I rescue Miryen from the slaughterhouse, perhaps to make up for her crimes. She refused to eat, only drinking feeble bits of blood I preserved for her from the forest. Whenever Videl tried to approach her, she screamed at him, lashing out for his throat. She nearly killed him once, and that is when Father realized something needed to be done. 

"He allowed healers to attempt to control the deranged Rini. She killed one of them. Father ordered her to be locked up. Around this time, one of the Imeldi servants led a small rebellion. The guards vanquished their number, as the Imeldi did not take into consideration one power that the Velah have: we can vanish into a black smoke and appear anyplace we choose, although it takes strength. We call it Jaunting. The Imeldi fell, but not before the leader, a brute named Yinj, killed my mother as she was protecting Rini. Father killed Yinj and blamed Rini for our mother's death, even though she couldn't have done anything, tied up like that.

"But Mother's death forced Rini farther into insanity. Only I could speak to her, to try to control her, but I could only do so much. She killed a servant that had cut himself on a piece of glass in her prison. Two days later, she stole a dagger infused from a dying star, one we kept for threatening, and killed herself." 

Archer pauses, swallowing hard. I try to ignore the bright silver tear trickling from his eye, dripping down his nose. There is not a sound; even Leah has fallen silent, her blue eyes wide as she swings from Kyle's shoulders. 

"I tried to stop her," says Archer tortuously, "But I couldn't. The only thing that kept me sane was the fact that it was insanity that killed my own sister.

"As for Videl, he took Rini's death as a matter of face. He claimed that he had known it was coming. Finally, after years and years, my temper snapped. I fought my brother, and nearly killed him before I remembered Rini. She would not, in the back of her mind where innocence still laid,  would have wanted for me to kill Videl.

"Father did not take his daughter's death hard either. Rini had always defied what it meant to be a Velah. She had even told Father, to his face, that she wanted to be human. 

"Perhaps the only reason Videl put up with me is because he was still sharing my grief for our mother. Interestingly, we began to bond somewhat as we tried to live our lives like normal. I hid my hatred as I hid the excursions into the forest with Miryen.

"This was nearly two years ago. A year ago, the Imeldi once again rebelled. This time, we could not stop them. They took the Mother Pearl. They vanquished us. Father was wounded trying to save my life.  Before Father slipped into his comatose state, he had Videl swear to that he would take me to Earth to protect me, to protect us, his last living family. Although, like me, Videl was weak, he used his last bit of strength to Jaunt us onto Earth, into Detroit. It nearly killed him."

Archer takes a deep breath, "You know the story from here. We stayed in Detroit, trying to gain back our strength as winter began to approach. That's when Videl heard that the Imeldi had been vanquished, thanks to you and your friends. He considered it lucky that you had a bit of Imeldi blood in your veins, that perhaps you could help re-take Ardhigiza." Archer holds up his hands, "And that's it."

There is silence. And more silence. Even Jack has stopped snapping random branches in half.

I don't know what to say. If Archer is telling the truth- which I somehow know for a fact that he is- his childhood had been ruined, just like mine had been, when he was not much older than me. I somehow feel pity for him, this bloodthirsty Velah with a pale face and amber eyes. 

"I'm sorry," I say quietly, touching Archer's shoulder. "I am." 

He looks at me sadly, "I have done wrong, and I am trying my best to make up for it. I want my father back, like Videl. I want my friends back." 

"Did you have a girlfriend?" I ask, hoping it's not too blunt to ask. For some reason, I find myself trying not to cry as I take in Archer's pitiful story. 

Archer glances at me, "Yes. Her name is Linthria. I want her back as well." 

"Well my friend," says Thor, who has been walking behind us, "I swear that we will assist you in all that we can. As long as you do not try to harm us, you have nothing to fear." 

"I know," says Archer, offering a tiny, lopsided smile in my direction, "That's why I knew I could ask for your help." 

*

That night, Tony informs the rest of us that they should reach the mermaid's pond tomorrow, at night, "Which could be good or bad," he says, "Depending on if we want to talk to the things at night."

"Mermaids are more dangerous in the morning," says Archer, "It would be wiser to confront them the next day, at sundown."

"Whatever you say," says Tony inconsequently as he helps Steve and Natasha put up one of the tents. 

Over dinner, while Archer lopes off into the forest with Miryen to hunt, Jane organizes how we will be moving sleeping arrangements around, now that we're short one tent. "How about Leah and I sleep with Jack, Kyle, and Clint? Nat can move to Max's tent, and Thea, you can slide in Thor's and Steve's tent." She smiles at me.

I already know precisely why Jane has moved me into that particular tent, and I feel my cheeks flush with embarrassment. Had I actually screamed aloud because of my nightmare, or was it now obvious to all that only one person could soothe me and make me sleep?

Although, when, in the middle of the night I wake up panting and in a sweat, I can't help but admit that the arm that wraps around me, sheltering me from the cold and from my tortuous nights, isn't at least a little bit comforting. 

Well

Hope you liked it! Please VOTE and COMMENT! :)

So I'm gonna try to enter Blue Moon in the Watty awards this year (*crosses fingeres violently*)

Anywho. 

~Three Tasks Fact~ 

Rini was based very very roughly on Ariana, Dumbledore's younger sister from Harry Potter.