I don't own class of titans or the poems, wish I could write something like warped and twisted though, sigh.
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Harmony smiled as she glided around Olympus, though she only came once a week for anger management classes, she had already familiarized herself with the place. After all, snakes are very curious creatures. Which was why she didn't hesitate to pick up the bit of paper as it too drifted along the hallways. As she turned it over her benevolent smile was quickly replaced with a worried frown. Harmony sighed sadly, she was going to have to talk to Archie.
The paper, a tattered affair with much scribbling and crossing out, read:
Warped and Twisted
Harsh words & violent blows
Hidden secrets nobody knows
Eyes are open, hands are fisted
Deep inside I'm warped & twisted
So many tricks & so many lies
Too many when's & too many whys
Nobody's special, nobody's gifted
I'm just me, warped & twisted
Sleeping awake & choking on a dream
Listening loudly to a silent scream
Call my mind, the number's unlisted
Lost in someone so warped & twisted
On my knees, alive but dead
Look at the invisible blood I've bled
I'm not gone, my mind has drifted
Don't expect much, I'm warped & twisted
Burnt out, wasted, empty, & hollow
Today's just yesterday's tomorrow
The sun died out, the ashes sifted
I'm still here, warped & twisted
(I found this on the net, it's actually by someone called Skittles, don't ask.)
The next day at anger management class, Archie decided that if this went on for much longer he would fall asleep. Sure, harmony's voice was soothing, loving, easily described as harmonious, but it was only a surface fix, didn't even scratch the constant wars raging inside his head. Looking around, Archie could only shake his head at the others obvious captivation with Harmony. Even Neil was looking at not himself but the giant snake, admittedly he was using his mirror to watch her. Maybe I'm immune to Harmony, Archie mused. It was possible, but not very likely, peace wasn't a disease. Maybe he just needed more harmony than the goddess was currently dishing out. With a start Archie realized the lesson was over, he got up from where he'd been slumping in his chair, relishing his freedom.
"Archie, could you help me with these please?" Harmony asked. Never refuse a goddess, Archie thought grimly. He nodded reluctantly and could only watch as his teammates drifted out the door. As soon as Harmony was sure that they were out of earshot, her tone became more serious.
"You have to confront them Archie, you have to confront your demons." She handed him his poem. Archie raised an eyebrow, than glanced at it and visibly stiffened.
"Where
did you find this?" He inquired quietly.
"I found it in the
hallway." Just as softly. Suddenly Archie seemed to snap out of it
and quickly replaced the mask that he had, for just a few seconds,
let slip.
"Sure, yep, OK. I'll just go and err, 'confront my demons'" He turned to leave and behind him he heard Harmony whisper.
"I'm sorry Archie." Then he felt a presence in his mind that seemed to tear away at all of his carefully constructed mental barriers and walls, letting out the memories that lurked behind them. Archie gasped as he was suddenly swamped with raw emotion, as he was forced to relive all the horrible moments he had blocked out. Archie fell to his knees, not knowing what to do, how to fight.
"Stop, no really, stop it. Please." He moaned as a horrible expression of pain crossed his face. Harmony was slumped in a chair, weeping as she too experienced Archie's long hidden secrets. Images flashed through his mind, himself being bullied for his wonky ankle and strange hair…
'Get the stupid runt! Look at him, all a quiver 'cause he's to small to fight back. 10-year-old Archie watched in disbelief as the fist curved towards his face. They wouldn't hit me, I'm just a kid… Was all he had time to think before they broke his nose.
…lost in a forest for days with no one caring enough to search for him…
Archie fell over for the third time in 10 seconds, and finally gave up and just lay on the forest floor. He'd been walking since the night before and the air was getting cold as the sun went down below the horizon. It was the fourth sunset he'd seen since he'd been left in the forest.
…attempting to run away only to be brought back forcibly by the police…
'I'm begging you, don't make me go back! They do horrible things to me.' Archie, 13, pleaded desperately.
'Everyone thinks their parents are horrible at your age son. They can't be worse than sleeping on the side of a road, now, can they? Asked the cheerful policeman, clearly not having met Archie's parents.
'I'd rather die.'
…how he really obtained the scars on his back, being attacked with a knife by his mother…
His mum turned on him as soon as the police were gone, furious.
"How dare you leave when there's work to do? You have a job now and I expect you to stick to it! You'll be properly punished for this!"
"Mum, I'm sorry but, what are you- aargh!" .
"Try to understand," Harmony whispered. "you need to heal in order to grow. I'm so sorry." Archie was curled in the foetal position, trying in vain to protect himself from the horror that had overtaken his mind, silent tears sliding down his face.
Atlanta smiled contently and then smirked, to think Archie had said these lessons would be bogus. She turned to bag him out about it and was momentarily confused when she discovered he wasn't there. Deciding she'd check back with Harmony to see which way he went, she started back.
Archie shivered uncontrollably as he went through the fear that assailed him every time he was in the water. He relived being swept away by the current of a river while his father laughed only to wash up on the shore, hours later, half-drowned.
Archie spluttered, being dragged down into the waiting water as they churned all around him, slipping, splashing, turning, tumbling, gasping and gesturing uselessly for help. Who was he kidding? No one cared enough to help him. This time Archie stopped struggling, to weak to fight, and just let the water take him…
Harmony rocked back and forth as she absorbed Archie's fears, unable to help him, barely able to help herself.
Atlanta walked into a scene that would be engraved into her memory forever, Archie, her Archie, curled on the floor, motionless.
"Archie?" she whisper, horrified. "What's wrong? Are you hurt?" and then when he wouldn't, or couldn't, even acknowledge her, she sped across the room a desperate cry tearing itself from her throat,
"Archie, answer me!"
"Make it stop," he begged her "just make it go away." Atlanta looked around wildly, her gaze landed on a crying Harmony.
"What's going on, Harmony? What's wrong with Archie?" Harmony looked, up gratefully, though tears continued to travel down her face.
"Oh thank goodness you're here, child. Archie is confronting his demons, his darkest fears. Help him, please, he needs you."
"What?"
"He is reliving his worst memories, I made him take down the walls he had place around them." Harmony admitted. Atlanta gasped in outrage.
"You made him. You mean he didn't have any choice in this? How could you? Look at him!" Harmony sighed sadly.
"Perhaps you'll understand, maybe one day." Atlanta wasn't really listening; she was too busy trying to get Archie to respond to her.
"Come on Arch, you can do it. Break out of her stupid spell; I know you can do it. You're so strong, you're stronger than anyone, even me. Please Archie." she begged.
"Atlanta? Are you real?" he shuddered suddenly. "It hurts, make it stop." Archie choked out.
"It's me, it's OK. I'm here." Atlanta found herself crying with him, crying for his pain, and her helplessness. Archie flinched as he remembered being beaten up by a group of older kids, being shunned by the town because he was the only one not to get sick so was believed to be evil. He felt Atlanta's arms wrap around him and part of him calmed, began to heal. Atlanta felt small in the face of his pain, but she grimly held on to him, hoping to provide some sort of comfort, and began to rock with him. Slowly, agonisingly slowly, Archie felt pieces of his mind quiet, calm, he became more and more aware of the present world and as he 'confronted his demons' and began to leave the past. Finally it was over. Archie took a great, shuddering breath and sat up slowly, unsure of himself.
"Archie," Atlanta whispered. "is it over?" Archie turned to her, hesitated, than nodded.
"Thank Zeus." Atlanta said fervently and gently wiped his tears away.
"Thanks." Archie muttered, his voice hoarse from crying.
"Are, are you OK?" Atlanta faltered, "I mean, err well…" Archie considered his possible answers and decided to stick with honesty.
"I'm not sure, everything's a little surreal."
"You will be, you may even be now. It will take you a few days to adjust. You may be a little different." Atlanta felt all her previous rage come back.
"You, you little-"
"It's OK," Archie hurriedly interrupted. "it was for the best. She knew what she was doing." Harmony nodded to Archie meeting his eyes squarely.
"But-" Atlanta began.
"Come on, Lan. I'm tired, let's go home." Archie tried to get up, and in doing so discovered that he and Atlanta were literally tangled together. It's amazing, Archie thought, that after practically baring my soul to her, I can still go completely red in Atlanta's presence.
As they stood together outside Brownstone Atlanta began to fidget.
"What's wrong?" asked Archie calmly, he had some idea of what was bugging her. Atlanta hesitated then burst out,
"Can you tell me? I mean it's OK if you don't, but…"
"I will tell you, but not right now, it's too, too… oh, I don't know, one day." Atlanta nodded, in a small way relieved, she wasn't sure she wanted to know something that could cause that much pain.
"I thought, it wasn't ever going stop, back there. I thought I had lost you, that you would never recover." Atlanta admitted in a small voice.
"When you first came I thought you were another memory…" Archie winced and blushed, averting his eyes. Atlanta was shocked.
"I haven't hurt you, have I? When did I hurt you?" Archie refused to meet her gaze, so Atlanta reached up, grabbed his face and forcefully turned him towards her.
"Tell me Archie, please." Staring straight into his eyes, till he gave in.
"When you, well, when you went out with that stupid goat." he muttered, getting steadily redder. Atlanta stared at him in shock for a few seconds then moved closer to Archie so that their faces where mere centimetres apart
"I was under an enchantment, you big, purple-headed dork." Then she kissed him. Archie's eye's widened then closed as he wrapt his arms around her waist and deepened the kiss. Unnoticed to them Neil walked out of the house and, acting with the absolute height of subtlety and consideration, asked
"So this is what you two have been up to all this time." Atlanta and Archie glanced at each other and sighed as the other members of the team filtered through the door to see what was up.
"You go to bed," Atlanta said. "I'll explain."
A few weeks later, Harmony was once again gliding around Olympus when she once again found a bit of paper. Harmony picked it up with much trepidation and turned it over carefully. She sighed and relaxed, muttering something about teaching 'that kid to be more careful.'
The paper read:
Let
the rain fall down
And wake my dreams
Let it wash away
My
sanity
'Cause different
Doesn't feel so different
And
going out is better
Than always staying in
'Cause
I wanna feel the thunder
I wanna scream
Let the rain fall
down
I'm comimg clean.
(This is Let the Rain Fall Down by Hillary Duff, I couldn't find any other good ones so I rearranged the lyrics a bit and decided to put this up.)
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Please review but only if you are going to complement me or add something helpful, flames will be treated with contempt.