Disclaimer: I will only say this once to avoid useless banter at the beginning of each chapter; I don't own Class of the Titans. If I did, Archie's hair would not look like a retarded poodle. ... And it would be blue.
D/N: For all of you who've been reading my YGO stories (I doubt there's any of you left. I haven't been on this site for about a decade... Or a couple months, whatever.), there's a nice note for you on my user lookup. Everyone else... enjoy. I'm going to be writing CotT fics for a while now, just because there's not enough Neil here, and the ones that are here... I just find... sad and disappointing. Everyone cry with me and pray I can do a better job.
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Last week, Neil had decided to start titling his days.
Tuesday morning, Atlanta had come bursting into the dorms, sobbing and waving a black-lined envelope in her hand. She'd refused to open it, so Archie took it upon himself to read the letter aloud. Her grandmother had passed away. Atlanta spent the next fourteen hours in her room howling with grief, passed out to sleep for three hours, then woke up and trudged around in a terrible mood for the duration of the day. This, of course, led to Archie being in a foul mood, simply because Atlanta had promised to spar with him - sadly, it was the closest they'd managed to get to a date with Archie's backbone - and now she was too upset to follow through with it. Theresa was moody too, because she'd spent the whole night planning a rant for Jay about how she was tired of the 'distance growing between their once flourished and connected relationship' (once, of course, being three weeks ago) and he'd managed to squirm out of it by comparing the situation with Atlanta's predicament. This left Odie angry, because with Atlanta locked in her room and Neil just as barricaded in the shower washing every strand of his golden hair, Odie was the only one Theresa felt like raving to. Herry got upset because everyone else was upset, and Jay spent most of the day in a corner focusing on breathing. When Neil finally came of out the bathroom, he called it the 'Day No One Noticed My New Shampoo' and joined in with the sulking.
He later revised the title to the 'Day Everyone Was Angry' after careful consideration.
Wednesday was a bit better. Everyone was still tense from the day before, but it was a warm, soothing tenseness that kept everyone silent yet still able to apologise. Generally everyone just kept to themselves, nodding and trying to start a bit of small chat before realising it was useless, until at last they gathered together and got it over. Respects were paid to Atlanta, who took out her remaining frustrations out on Archie as they sparred, which got him happy. Theresa and Jay worked things out yet again, Odie was relieved to not have any more rants thrown his way, and Herry's mood soared with the rest of them. Neil, to make things right in his world, took a full hour out of his day to get someone to notice his new shampoo. Finally Herry, after a few hints ("My shampoo is new. Isn't it nice?" "... Uh... yeah. Very nice."), Neil was happy, and called it the 'Day Feelings were Mended'.
Thursday was called the 'Day Nothing Happened', Friday was called the 'Day Theresa Bought Shoes and Everyone Noticed Them', and Saturday was the 'Day Cronus Tried to Kill Us with Ugly Goat-Dog-Girl Things' ("For the last time, Neil, there's nothing about lamia that resemble goats or dogs." "Oh, Odie, I don't care! They're disgusting.")
Sunday was undoubtedly the 'Day Archie Didn't Shut his Fat Mouth'.
It had started normal enough. By three in the afternoon, Neil was about ready to call this the 'Day Nothing Happened Again', but it was when he, Archie, Atlanta, and Herry were sitting idly around the TV watching whoknewwhat that things began to take a turn for the worst. He supposed it was because of the overly zealous action scenes reminded Archie of yesterday's fight that he decided to say anything at all. Or maybe it was just because Herry kept saying things like, "Yeah, right! I did something way cooler than that yesterday!" and "Neil, you remember when I... Oh, yeah, you weren't there," and "Geez, Neil. You weren't there when I did that either? You missed the whole fight!". At any rate, Archie decided was about time to break the gentle peace that had been growing between them.
"Neil," he said. "You don't really do much in our fights against Cronus, do you?"
The action scenes were taking a toll on Neil's mind. It was trudging so slowly, he couldn't even fathom a deeper meaning behind Archie's words. So he quickly replied, "Sure, I do. I work from the sidelines."
"Yeah?" Archie said, with a touch more enthusiasm. "Like what?"
"Guys, keep it down," Atlanta cut in. "I'm trying to watch."
Archie was quiet for a few minutes, but, like clockwork, brought it up again. "So, Neil, what do you do when we're all fighting?"
"Hmm?" Sprawled out on the couch with arm dangling off the side wasn't exactly his 'thinking position'. He sighed, shrugged, and said, "I don't know. Stuff. I fight sometimes. I guess I just do whatever needs to be done when you guys aren't there to do it... or something."
"Ah," said Archie. "I see."
Silence.
"And by that you mean... ?"
"Uh... If someone's hurt, I guess I'll be the one looking after them."
And then Herry opened his mouth. "Yeah, right!"
Whether he was commenting on the topic at hand or the movie didn't matter. Archie took it as a point for his side, and asked, "When have you ever looked after us?"
"Lots of times," Neil idly responded. "Did you want an actual number?"
"No, it's cool."
More silence.
"So, if you had to... I don't know... give everyone a job - a role, if you will - for the team, what would... mine be?"
Neil sighed again. "Maybe... a fighter-guy?"
"A 'fighter-guy'? You can't do any better than that?"
"Archie, I don't know -"
"Come on," Archie coaxed. "Just try."
"Why? What's it matter?"
"It doesn't. Just tell me what I am to the team."
"I don't know. Some kind of warrior person. Happy?"
"Okay, I'm the warrior of the team." Archie nodded. He and Atlanta were on the floor, Herry having taken up the last seat. He didn't look comfortable, which might have contributed to the desire to take Neil on - who could have been a bit less obvious about how much better the couch was on his feet. "And - uh... what would you call Atlanta?"
"... She's... She does a lot of hunting stuff. The hunter-girl, I guess."
"So, if we were all stranded in the middle of a forest, she could find us some food and cook it and still be able to help fight?"
"Yeah. Sure. Whatever."
"Guys," Atlanta said. "Keep it down."
"And Herry?"
"What's up?"
"No, not you, Herry. Neil, what would Herry be to the team?"
Neil rolled his eyes, and, as though it was the most agonisingly taxing chore on the face of the planet, raised his head to look over at the purple-headed teen. "Is there a point to all this?" he asked, his mind working just enough to suspect something.
"No, no," Archie said. "I'm just asking."
"Oh. Okay." Suspicion dead. A-OK, Captain Neil. His head plopped back onto the couch. "Then... He'd be the strong guy. The muscle, I guess."
Archie left it at that for a while, and so Neil turned his attention back to the TV and ever-so-fascinating way the screen reflected the window. Really, it was just art the way the light bounced off its glossy surface. If he squinted, he could see the actual ray shoot through the room and ricochet, dust fluttering in and out of the beam like tiny stars. There was a beauty in it, and as he watched the dust dance, he felt a wonderful calm flow through him. He was relaxed and at one with the dust. He was the dust. The dust was him. They were all connected, and all bound to the same meaning of life, which was so clear to him now. The entire meaning of anyone's existence was -
"And you?"
Stupid Archie and his stupid fat mouth, breaking into his thoughts just as he was about to reach enlightenment. Neil raised his head again. "What?"
"You. What would you be? What's your role?"
"Archie - "
"Just answer the question, Neil."
"Oh, just shut up, Archie."
"Both of you shut up," Atlanta snapped. "I'm trying to watch this thing, okay? I can't do that if you keep talking over the dialogue."
Archie snorted. "What dialogue? They're just shooting each other."
"Yeah, but they're also shooting witty banter." Atlanta frowned. "Just be quiet."
Two minutes.
Three minutes.
Four...
"I'd say you're the filler of the team," Archie said.
This caught Neil completely off guard, and all of a sudden his mind was a whirlwind of activity. "What? Why'd you say that?"
Atlanta, who seemed to have been paying a bit of attention after all, added, "Yeah, Arch. That sounded kind of mean."
Archie shrugged. "I wasn't trying to be mean. I was just saying the facts. Neil doesn't do anything. He just... sits there, or cowers in a corner, or watches from a distance, or gets himself in trouble. I mean, yeah, there was this one time he got lucky with leading some ants around, but - come on. How hard was that?"
"Hey!" Neil cried. "I didn't see any ants following you."
"No, but I didn't see you fighting them in the first place either." Archie started counting off his fingers. "Or the kraken, or the Scylla, or the Gorgons, or the Minotaurs, or the -"
"Okay, okay!" Neil protested. "So I don't like getting my hands dirty. I still help out. I mean, if it wasn't for me, you guys would have never found Medusa, or you would have found her and one of you would've gotten turned into a pigeon-post."
"Yeah, but you pranced around all happy about it for weeks," Archie said. "Why? Because it was the first time you've ever done anything."
"Well, I never -"
"What about the time Medea came and tried to kill us? We tried contacting you for help, and you couldn't even answer your PMR right!" Archie pointed at him. "Face it, Neil. You're just a filler. The only reason you're even on this team is because we needed a seventh member."
"Excuse me?" Neil sat up, looking quite horrified at the accusations. "I'm on this team because I'm the descendant of Narcissus!"
With a roll of his eyes, Archie replied, "Yeah, because he's such a great hero. 'Look at me, I'm pretty! Hey, look, a pond! Let's look in it... Oh, wow, I'm so in love I can't even remember that it's my own reflection! Just look at those looks! Guess I'm just gonna have to die here because I'm just too in love with myself to leave.'"
"Oh, yeah?" Neil spat out. "What about your guy? Achilles? Gets hit in the heel and he dies from that?"
"There's some major arteries down there, Neil," Archie said. "And anyway, you're forgetting the fact that he killed, like, everyone that tried to fight him, and that he was invincible."
"Except for his heel!"
"Give it up, Neil, and just admit it. You're a filler on this team. You're just the seventh member, and that's that."
Neil gasped in horror just as Odie walked in. "Hey, guys," the newcomer greeted. "What's going on?"
No sooner had this been said than Neil flung himself from his seat and stomped towards the room's exit. "Your friend," he jabbed a finger towards Archie, "says he's happy being related to a mass murderer." And stomp - stomp - stomp, the blond marched out. Seconds later, the fierce cutting sound of a door being whipped shut echoed through the halls.
Odie looked confused. "So... what's happening?"
Herry finally pried his eyes away from the TV, just long enough to ask, "What's this about potatoes?"
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D/N: This is a very special note for all those who are kind enough to review (for once, I'm not counting reviews, I'm counting hits.). Understandably, I'm going to be putting my own special touch into each of the characters (i.e.: see above.) but I'm trying to do it by paying as much tribute to the original personalities. In other words, I'm trying to be in-character with everyone. So I need help. If you see anything OOC, tell me, and I'll try to fix it. (The bold's for people who just skim.) I ask that everyone do this before reviewing. It's quite simple. Just write IC - for 'in-character' - and then rank me from 1 - 10. (i.e.: IC - 8.) And then just leave your little comments, questions, requests, flames... whatever. Also, if there's anything in your heart that's breaking into a thousand pieces because "OMGEE, why are Atlanta and Archie making out right now?" then... well, they're not going to be making out for the whole time, but I can drop a few more hints at closeness or something. Too much Jay and Theresa? Meh. I don't like them. Break-up time. Want a little slashy-slashy? Let me know. (Uhmm... I'm only offering this if you ask for Neil/Herry... It won't be anything big one way or another, but it's the only thing I'm willing to ship at the moment.) Anyway... Yeah... Updating... I can't guarantee much. It'll be fast in the beginning, and then it'll get... sloooooow... Sorry. My Of Dogs and Men readers lived through it. You can, too. (Tu veux, aussi.)