Hewo :) 

SERIOUSLY. IF I FAIL MY CLASSES BECAUSE THIS BOOK IS ALL I SPEND TIME ON, I BLAME YOU ALL. 

Jk. 

No actually, I will. 

Music: Still, Still, Still; Jon Schmidt             By Your Side; Tenth Avenue North

Edit: me

Chapter Forty-Eight

~Nobody's POV~

"No!"

Thea staggers and fumbles, memories flying through her head, like ghosts, like wraiths, like demons, "Nononoonononono!"

"Thea," Loki tries to grab her arm, but she slaps it away, "Thea, look at-"

"I...I killed her, she's dead, she's dead, she's dead LOKI, SHE'S DEAD! No, she can't be, I killed her, why, why, I can't remember it, why, Loki, why, why, WHY?!"

"Thea!" he exclaims, seizing her hand, "You didn't do this! This wasn't your fault, it wasn't, I swear!"

But she just trembles and begins to scream, clutching her head, her screams ricocheting off the narrow walls, "I CAN'T, I CAN'T, I CAN'T!"

"Thea-"

But she isn't listening. She grabs the emerald dagger from the table beside the bed and then aims it at her side.

Loki reacts in an instant. He yanks the dagger from her arm and knocks her down to the ground, hard. Snarling, she tries to leap up at him, but he uses his knee to pin her to the floor and tosses the dagger across the room. It clatters to the floor. She flails her arms up, trying to get up, but he keeps her down. "Thea, calm down!" he orders.

But she continues to scream, loudly, shrilly, painfully, kicking, "I KILLED HER, Loki, kill me! I can't do this, I can't, I can't, I CAN'T!"

Loki closes his eyes, then stands up. Bending down, he pins her arms behind her back and picks up the anguished Thea. She begins to howl and struggle, throwing her head back against his chest and screaming and screaming and screaming.

He drags her into the other room and throws her onto the larger bed. She immediately jumps up, but before she can get away, he grabs the tiny, jeweled bottle the nightstand, uncorks it, and pushes her back down.

Thea claws at the blankets, screeching, but he pulls her up anyway, practically in his lap. She keeps thrashing, knocking his head back painfully onto the wall. He tangles up his legs on top of hers and wraps one arm around her torso, immobilizing her legs and arms completely. She howls, yanking herself around, trying to be free, screaming incomprehensible things.

With his free hand, Loki seizes her chin and uses his fingers to open her mouth.

"Nnnnnn! Nnn!" she wails, throwing her head back again onto his chest in an effort to get away from the bottle, but to no avail: he tips the bottle back and forces the silver liquid down her throat.

The effects are immediate: Thea stops thrashing and her kicks grow less and less fierce. Tears continue to run down her face, but silently. Finally, with a gasp, she stops fighting Loki, stops screaming, and lies her head limply against Loki's arm, panting.

"Wh...what...what...is...that?" she croaks, trembling madly.

"It's a special concoction mixed with vervain," says Loki quietly.

"Make...it...make it...stop," she rasps, "I...can't...I...I can't."

He finally releases her, although she is still lying like a rag doll, and begins to stroke her hair, "Sh...sh...sh..."

Thea looks up at him, her eyes red and bloodshot, swollen with tears of misery, "Le... Leah-Lea-ah-ah..."

She breaks down into fresh, soft sobs, and Loki leans down and kisses her forehead softly.

Thea's eyes roll into the back of her head, and she falls unconscious, into blissful nothingness.

*

The following days are dark, made darker by the rain that continues to torrent down on the little shack. Loki only leaves to hunt, and when he does, he makes Thea drink more of the vervain, then chains one of her wrists to the bed, just in case.

He won't let her sleep alone, and although he doesn't chain her, he makes her sleep against the wall, so that his body can shield her from attempts to sneak out. But the thing is, she doesn't want to sneak out.

The vervain may stop her from screaming, and from using her strength to the maximum, but it cannot help her anguish. Sometimes, she only sleeps for a couple hours at night, crying the rest of the time, and Loki helpless to stop her.

One time, she cleverly fakes being under the influence of the vervain, and when Loki isn't watching, she makes it outside. But what she didn't realize that the entire glen is surrounded by rock sixty feet tall, and finally collapses, crying, onto the ground.

Footsteps behind her, and Loki picks her up and without a word, carries her back to the shack. She doesn't even struggle. But when he sets her back down on the bed, she begins to scream at him again, horrible things, and when Loki can take it no longer, he gets out the vervain.

But that night, Thea curls up close to him and cries herself to sleep.

*

A few evenings later, as the rain falls down around the shack, Loki takes out the journal from underneath the bed and sits down in the corner of the room. Glancing up to make certain Thea is still sleeping, he opens the journal and begins to write.

Thea is beginning to calm down, but she retains her misery and self-hatred, and hardly sleeps, and I fear that her calmness only comes from the vervain. She will want vengeance, and will want it soon. I may tell-

"Loki?"

His eyes dart up to spot her looking at him with squinted, exhausted eyes. He immediately closes the journal, "Yes?"

"Where's Jack? And everyone else?"

Loki tilts his head, trying to figure out what to tell her. Then, he gets up, crosses the tiny room, and sits down on the bed, at her feet, "Thor, Steve, and Jane are near the mermaid lake. As for the others, I do not know for sure."

"Why aren't they together?"

He runs his fingers through his over-long hair, "There were...compilations. Don't concern yourself with-"

"Are they okay?" Thea looks scared.

He closes his eyes briefly, and then says, "I'm sure they will be fine."

"Where's my cell phone?"

"You don't need it Thea."

"Where is it?" she demands.

"I'm not sure," says Loki calmly.

"Yes you are!"

"You're right, I am, but you aren't going to get it right now. I want you to go back to sleep."

"Can I have it tomorrow?" Thea asks miserably.

"I'll consider it," says Loki, who truly has no plans whatsoever to consider it, "Now go to sleep."

"No." she says staunchly, but within twenty minutes, she has fallen into another troubled slumber, muttering and crying in her sleep.

When Loki opens back the journal, his writing is gone and is replaced with Thor's scraggly hand:

We are doing everything we can to find everyone, but we have scattered. The Velah hunt us at night, and it is all we can to stay alive. We must either attempt to make it back to the portal, or try to take the power from Videl and his father. Either choice is fraught with danger.

Loki frowns, then begins to write:

Our best course is to attempt to destroy the Pearl and its power. Unless you all wish to become one of their dinners, I recommend you stay out of sight and out of mind. Once Thea is a bit stronger, we will join you, as I can no longer refuse her desire for revenge.

A few minutes later, more writing appears:

Loki, this is Jane. Thea's not going after the pearl, and I'm not open for consideration. We don't need another kid in danger.

Loki rolls his eyes.

Dearest Jane, I do not think it is your decision. I am aware that the loss of Leah has shattered you, but you should know from experience that Thea will not rest until her sister's life is avenged. There will be no point in attempting to stop her and quite frankly, as I am growing weary of stopping her from killing herself, it will be refreshing for her to try to kill an actual monster.

There's quite a bit of time before Thor's writing surfaces from the journal:

We will worry about this at a later time. Take care of Thea. Send word when you are ready to leave, although if you truly wish to keep Thea safe, the knowledge that Videl is hunting for her may cause you to reconsider.

Loki does not reply. He closes the journal, leans his head against the wall, and closes his eyes, thinking hard.

*

"Loki..." whimpers Thea, "Make it stop."

"I don't think I can, kitten," says Loki quietly as she leans her head against him that night, "I'm sorry."

"I want to go home." She buries her head in his arms.

Loki grimaces, then says, "I know. You will soon."

"Please...make it stop..." she sobs.

"Sh, sh," he murmurs, wiping tears from her cheeks, "Sh, darling, please try to sleep."

"It...it hurts..."

"Tomorrow will be brighter. Shh. Sleep, little one. Sleep."

She does, eventually, and Loki holds her close to him as her breathing begins to steady. And then increase as the nightmares begin to take over again.

Ok, this chapter brought tears to my eyes, just saying, just saying.

If you want to cry some more, go ahead and watch the video. 

 Today actually might be a double update. Good for you. :) 

Love, 

Sierra