Hello my lovelies :) 

I finished this while watching Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows. It is indeed a good movie. 

Music: Letting Go (Thor)

Edit: me (I really like this one hehehe)

Chapter Sixty-One

"What do you mean she doesn't want to see me?" Jack demands that evening. He, Jijah, Clint, Natasha, and Bruce are sitting at a round table in one of the lower levels of the castle, eating. It's chilly outside, and the wind is crisp: Jack's nose is red from being out of doors so much. Jijah's skin is as porcelain and perfect as usual.

"Just what I said," says Bruce, "She really doesn't want to see anybody except Lifolas, and that's because she has to."

"Also, Lifolas has those lovely golden locks," points out Jijah, "Has to count for something."

"Thea's going downhill fast," says Natasha, "It's just a matter of time before she either snaps, or snaps out of it."

"Well when can I see her?" asks Jack.

Bruce sighs, "I don't know Jack. When she wants to see you, I guess. She's been through a lot, Jack, you know that."

"I know, I know," Jack says hastily, "But I just thought...I don't know... maybe..." Jack trails off, fiddling with some of the fish on his plate.

Clint sets a hand on his arm, "Look, I know this isn't easy for you either, Jack. But we are just going to have to give Thea time. Time and space."

*

That night, when the moon is high in the sky, Thea lies on her side, staring out of the window and watching the clouds filter slowly across the sky. After eating a little bit of dinner, Natasha had finally helped her change out of her dirty pants and ripped shirt and into a thick, blue, cotton-like nightdress that trails at her feet. Her hair still remains unwashed, and so the dirty, oily strands hang below her shoulders and against her chest.

Tonight, there is nobody in her room. She had made this clear that she didn't want anyone around, and although Bruce had argued against her for a couple minutes, in the end, he had given in, but insisted on people staying out in the hallway.

Thea hesitantly, shakily, stands up, grabbing onto the bed post to steady herself. Still in her bare feet, she silently walks across the room, her body practically screaming protest. But she ignores this, and, pausing to catch her breath at the door, turns the handle, and opens the door, grabbing a candlestick as she does so.

She hears voices, and peering to the right, she sees the vague shadows of Bruce and Lifolas on their nightly vigil. Slipping into the shadows, she turns to the left and vanishes into the darkness.

There is no reason for Thea's midnight wandering. She's half-delirious, and that is all there is to it. There is only a tiny bit of consciousness that hits her brain as she wanders through the stone corridors, and it's lost amongst her stage of unconsciousness.

She begins to walk down another large, spiral staircase, feeling the cold stone with her trembling, wan hands, for the only light is the occasional torch to show her the way. As she continues her descent, she becomes weaker and weaker, and more and more tired, her feet dragging, her breath coming to her quicker, and her legs trembling. But she pushes on, her mind not quite registering the danger she has put herself in.

Thea keeps walking and walking, but her body is giving out quicker and quicker. The stone walls are becoming more and more decrepit: she is heading down into the lower levels of the castle. Her limbs begin to shake madly from the cold.

She has just reached the bottom of the staircase when it happens. She trips, and falls to the ground hard. The fall knocks the wind out of her, and for a moment, she just lies there, gasping for air.

"Well look at what the cat dragged in."

Thea looks up, her hair falling in her face. With shaking fingers, she moves it and then recoils. Videl is lying lazily on a sort of lounging couch, a book in his hand, and his other hand hanging off of the edge. His sharp, liquid amber eyes are fixated on her.

"And what are you doing here at this hour? I had thought that the precious little invalid would have been guarded from harm. And from herself. You do have a tendency to kill things, do you not?"

Thea just looks at him, her lip trembling.

"Get up," snaps Videl, "You look like a pathetic fish out of water."

"N-n-no...I can't-t-t...can't...do it..." Thea's words are high and staggered, "...too...can't..."

Videl cocks his head, assessing her as if she were some curious oddity. "Oh you really are quite demented now, I see."

She screams at him, staggering to her feet.

Videl rolls his eyes as she continues to scream. "All right, all right, I can hear you."

 She keeps screaming.

 "Honestly, shut up."

 She isn't listening to him

"Shut up! They're going to think that I am murdering you, which I shall do if you do not shut. Up!"

It's as if she has gone completely deaf. She is still screaming, and has crumbled back to the ground, digging her fingers into the stone as if bracing herself from an earthquake.

Videl swings off of the lounge, stalks across the room, and then kneels down in front of Thea. Shaking her shoulders, he growls, "Silence, Thea! Shut it!"

She finally shuts her mouth, but then pulls away with a stutter when she realizes that it is Videl who is shaking her vigorously. "DON'T TOUCH ME!"

Videl holds his hands up, "Fine. Only if you shut up! Now go upstairs, you little murderess!"

At his words, Thea quails and begins to sob. Videl rolls his eyes and sneers, "I said to go upstairs, you idiot!"

Thea continues to sob.

"Go!" roars Videl, "I can't kill you, but do not tempt me to do so!"

Thea scrambles up, still weakened, but she staggers down the second flight of staircase. Behind her, she can hear a raucous sort of sound. Videl is laughing.

Although she is running as far away and as quickly as she can, Thea is growing weaker and weaker. Finally, her legs give out and she stumbles, then falls to the ground, falling down several steps before stopping. 

The candlestick falls to the floor with a clang.

Her eyes are closed. She is unconscious.

*

Three hours later, a shadow passes over the second stone staircase. It ignores the loud shouting coming from the direction of Videl's chamber a flight above, and continues downward.

But then Loki stops still.

Thea is lying prone over several stairs, her hand dangling off of another. The torchlight reflects off of her pale face, and the pale dress that is bunched around her. She is no longer unconscious, but fallen into a deep stupor.

Kneeling down next to her, Loki feels her face and is surprised at how cold her skin is. Sighing, he carefully picks her up. He walks slowly up the long round staircase, so as not to wake her. Her body is small and weak in his arms.

But just as Loki reaches the hallway, she begins to mumble and her eyes blink slowly. They focus on Loki's face and then widen. She begins to kick furiously, shrieking nonsensical things.

"DON'T TOUCH ME!" she screams, fighting him so hard, it is all he can do to not drop her.

He nearly does drop her, but with his shout, Lifolas and Steve come running. The two of them manage to help Loki practically drag Thea back into bed. Lifolas, with the application of a particularly potent needle, sends her back to her dreamless, tortuous sleep.

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This chapter made me sad :(

Anybody notice any slight parallels?

Anywho, please VOTE and COMMENT. 

Lots of love, Sierra xx