Here's anothah :) 

Hope you like it...

Music: Iris (Goo Goo Dolls)        Farewell to Lorien (LOTR 2: The Two Towers)

Edit: me (the picture of Thea is precisely what I have imagined her as looking) (Basically, I just love this edit)

Chapter Fifty-Three

~Nobody's POV~

Kyle, although conscious fifty percent of the time, is still very weak, as he has lost a great quantity of blood from his time at the Velah palace. Although he manages to croak out a few words or phrases, and can drink water, he doesn't have enough energy to sit up, and can't eat. This concerns Bruce, who is doing everything he can, but doesn't exactly have a blood bank at his disposal.

Thea and- once he's recovered, which only takes a day and a half- Jack don't leave his side. Thea spends the day sitting next to Kyle, sponging his feverish forehead with cool water, counting his breathing, and, when he's awake, trying to get him to eat. He pushes aside everything though, and drifts in and out of consciousness, sometimes muttering in his sleep, and often shivering. His skin, usually so tan, is ghost-like in color and nearly transparent.

One night, when Thea remains awake by Kyle's side even after Jack and Bruce have gone to sleep, she actually begins to cry quietly as she looks over Kyle. She has been used to seeing him strong, laughing, and lively, not weak, silent, and still.

He's sleeping, his chest rising and falling in loud rasps, his black hair matted with sweat. Thea tries to stop her tears, but fails, and finally takes Kyle's hand in her own- it's damp and trembling.

She is still weeping quietly when she feels a hand on her shoulder. Looking up with a start, she sees Loki.

"You need to rest, kitten," he says softly, crouching down beside her.

She shakes her head, her lip trembling, "No. No. I have to...I have to stay with him, what if something-"

"I'll look after him," says Loki, "Go to sleep in Jack's tent."

She is still shaking her head rapidly, "No. No. I can't. I have to-"

Loki's voice is stern, "Leave and go to sleep."

"But Lo-"

"Thea."

When she looks up at him, she sees that he is not willing to compromise. Her shoulders fall. Leaning forward, she kisses Kyle's forehead softly, and then reluctantly lets go of his hand. "Feel better, Ky," she whispers.

*

But Kyle doesn't begin to feel better until Archer comes back from a scouting trip a night later. Archer reports to Steve that there are Velah scouts all about the hills, and that it would be best to move, or at least to split up, very soon.

"I don't know where we should go," says Steve, talking quietly so that Thea and Jack, who are sitting nearby and pretending to be having an interesting conversation with each other, "And we can't move with Kyle like this."

"About Kyle," says Archer in a low voice, "I want to show you something."

As Archer takes something from his leather bag, Max's voice echoes through the campground. "Thea! Jack! Go to bed!"

"But-" protests Jack, mostly because of Thea's crestfallen expression.

Max emerges from behind the tent, "C'mon guys, go to sleep."

So Thea and Jack don't know what Archer and Steve talk about. That is, until later that night, when Max shakes the two awake.

*

"Hey," Max whispers, shaking Thea's shoulders, "Thea, wake up."

"Wha-?" she asks blearily. "What is it?"

Max is busy waking up a protesting Jack, "Come see something, you two."

"This better be worth it," grumbles Jack, standing up and following Max and Thea out of the tent.

Near the campfire, several figures stand in front of the flickering glames. As Thea's eyes adjust to the light, her eyes widen.

Kyle is siting up against a tree overhanging the fire, looking as strong and as healthy as he had been before Leeviah. He's talking with Jane and Bruce, who are next to him, but when he looks up and spots Thea and Jack, he grins.

"What is going on?" Jack looks frozen.

"Thank your buddy Archer," says Kyle, and holds up a small bowl of some sort of light pink, sweet-smelling liquid, "This, my friends, is ambrosia."

"What's that?" Jack demands. Thea is still staring at Kyle, speechless.

"Traditionally, it's the food of the gods," says Bruce, "But here on Ardhigiza, it's a healing device. It returns the drinker to perfect health."

"It gets better," says Max, who is standing behind Jack, "Look at his eye."

Jack turns to look at Kyle's left eye, which is usually glossy and unseeing. But now, it's clear and focused. He stares.

"Bloody hell!"

Smirking, Kyle turns to Thea, "I know I'm hot, but honey, why are you staring at me so much?"

Instead of replying, Thea bursts into tears.

Kyle laughs and stands up, then engulfs Thea in a hug. She sobs against his chest, crying, "I thought...I thought you were going to die!"

"I don't plan on dying for a while," says Kyle sympathy in his eyes, then adds softly, "Who would look after you then?"

"I can't believe I'm doing this," says Jack over Thea's cries, and then wraps his arms around Kyle and Thea, the addresses his cousin, "Don't you ever scare me like that again."

"How'd I scare you?" Kyle asks shrewdly, who is still rubbing Thea's back. "I was the one worried sick about you in that darn cell.
"Don't even go there, Kyle." Says Jack. "Don't even go there, mate."

Kyle leans back so that he's looking at Thea's face, "I hear you were my little nurse," he says with a grin. He pinches her nose briefly and when she smiles tremulously, he says, "I guess I should say thank you."

"You're welcome," says Jack, causing Max and Kyle to laugh.

Although Jack stops hugging after a minute or so, Thea refuses to let go of Kyle, taking in every bit of him that she possibly can. Eventually, he leans down and kisses her cheek, "All right. Go back to sleep. I'll still be here in the morning."

"Promise?" Thea whispers.

He smiles, "Promise."

*

But sadly, it is agreed that the camp has to be divided up, for safety. This decision occurs after, on a scouting trip, Kyle nearly gets impaled by a Velah's long knife- if it weren't for Archer, who quickly dispatched the shadow woman, Kyle would have died.

"Clearly, they're getting closer," says Steve, "We need to split, and we need to split now."

Nobody looks very happy with this arrangement, but nobody is arguing.

"We still don't know where Tony, Nat, and Clint are?" asks Max as they all sit around the extinguished campfire a few days later.

"No," says Steve, "And my guess is that they're the only ones who made it over the mountain, so we don't need to worry about them right now."

Nobody mentions that Tony and Nat and Clint could also be dead, but everyone is thinking it, especially Thea.

"Fine," says Max, "Let's split us up. Is there no way to communicate with each other? All of our phones are gone, except Thea's, but hers is dead."

Steve nods towards Archer, "He's our communication. If he knows the general location of us all, he can Jaunt between the two groups and across the lands, looking for the other three too."

Archer nods, "I can do that."

"We're splitting into groups of two, and I think one group of three. It's safer and easier this way. We'll all head to different places on Ardhigiza. Sound good?"

"Depends on who the groups are," says Jack.

"Thor and Jane. Max and you. Thea and Kyle. Bruce, Loki, and myself. All good?"

*

They break camp that night, deciding to sneak away in the darkness. As the tents come down and the backpacks loaded, Thea comes across something she would really rather not come across.

While maneuvering around the chaos, she spots something wrapped in a dark blanket, next to a collection of flowers. Thea's heart stops. The something is not as tall as her, but has distinct outlines about it that makes her feel dizzy.

She crouches down and is about to reach forward and touch it with trembling fingers when someone grabs her wrist. Looking up with a start, she sees Kyle peering down at her with saddened eyes. "Don't."

She looks back at the something in the dark blanket, then looks back up at him. She lets him help her up, but her head is spinning and she feels faint.

And then she does faint.

And Kyle catches her.

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This makes me sad :(

I've actually decided to go back and make Thea 14. I just think she acts a little older than 13 and this just makes my life easier

Please comment and vote and such! 

Love,

Sierra