Archie walked through the local pharmacy with his hands stuffed in his hoodie's pockets. He thought of the irony as he browsed through unfamiliar over-the-counter medications: the only hero that could never get sick was the one buying medicine. Archie had faced many challenges in his life, but this one was new to him. His eyes flicked between different brands, each advertising to relieve a different list of symptoms.
As he struggled to figure out whether teenagers were supposed to take adult medication or children's medication, a cheery voice interrupted his thoughts. "Hello! Can I help you with anything?"
Archie turned to see a smiling middle-aged woman wearing a shirt that bore the pharmacy's logo. "Yeah, do you have any flu medications?" he asked. "I'll need a lot."
The lady smiled and started sifting through the shelves. "Of course! I've heard that the flu was going around," she said as she picked medications off shelves and handed them to Archie.
He sighed as he thought about the situation. "Is it ever. I have six bedridden friends waiting for me back home."
"Oh, goodness!" The clerk frowned at him in sympathy. "You should be thankful you haven't caught it yet!"
Archie gave a short laugh. "Nah, I'm the only one immune… Meaning I, uh, bothered getting my flu shot." He had a feeling that Jay was going to make vaccinations a new top priority after this ordeal was over.
The woman smiled as she finished handing him various painkillers, fever-reducers, and general flu medications. "Well, I can see you're the smartest of the bunch, anyways!" She laughed. "Good luck!"
"Thank you…" Archie said as she walked away. He paid for the items, then headed home as fast as he could.
…
It was eerie how silent the usually upbeat house was. Archie couldn't help but glance around nervously as he entered. This whole ordeal had started only yesterday, after all. The rest of the group had groggily complained that the Brownstone was too cold when they got up in the morning for school, which Archie found odd considering it wasn't any different from usual. As the day progressed, they went downhill fast.
Neil, Jay, and Herry – in that order – all left school before the day was over, complaining that they weren't feeling well. Odie had looked awful, and Archie suspected he was only staying there out of sheer determination to not miss any class time. Theresa made it through the day, but opted to skip her training with Persephone due to a headache. Atlanta insisted she was fine to tag along with Archie after school for some skateboarding, but she tired very quickly and Archie ended up taking her home not long after they'd left. When Archie woke up the next morning, he was alarmed to find that not one of the other six could find the strength to rise out of bed.
Having zero experience being sick himself, Archie had little idea of what to do in a situation like this. After some prompting from his teammates, medication became his first priority. With the actual shopping done, now he just needed to distribute it. Archie made his way up the stairs, and without hesitation entered Atlanta's bedroom first.
Atlanta was curled up in her bed under mountains of blankets. She opened her eyes blearily as Archie came in.
"Atlanta?" Archie asked worriedly. "How are you feeling?"
Atlanta gave a weak groan. "Like hell." She squinted at Archie, her eyes looking like they were struggling to focus. "Did you get the stuff?" Her voice was weak and cracking.
Archie nodded. "It's right here." He offered her the plastic bag from the pharmacy. She sat up and rummaged through it until she found a bottle of painkillers.
"You're a Godsend." Atlanta sighed, dry-swallowed what was probably a slight overdose, then flopped back down on the bed and looked at Archie anxiously. "Listen, you have go f-find -" She broke off, coughing unrelentingly.
"Find what?" Archie prompted. Immediately after the words left his lips, there was a loud crashing noise coming from the floor below. Archie leapt up with warrior instincts. "What was that!?"
Atlanta gestured downward with one arm as she covered her mouth with the other, still coughing. There was another crashing noise. Finally, Atlanta seemed to regain herself. "I-it's Jay. And Herry, that noise was probably Herry... I think the f-fever might be getting to them."
"What?!" Archie asked, alarmed as more noises came from downstairs. "Listen, I'll be right back, I promise." Atlanta tried to say something else, but it turned into another coughing fit before she could get Archie's attention. He grabbed the plastic pharmacy bag and sprinted out of her room and down the stairs.
The noises seemed to be coming from the kitchen, so Archie hurried toward it and nearly tripped over Neil in the process, as he was lying on his stomach in the middle of the floor.
"Neil?!" Archie asked, alarmed. "Oh man, are you alright?!" He knelt down. "Neil, say something!"
"It's so warm…" Neil said dreamily. "The floor's so warm…"
Archie stared at the blonde, and carefully felt the floor. "Gods, you're right for once," Archie said, retracting his hand quickly at the unusually hot floor.
Another loud bang came from the kitchen, and Archie shot upwards. He didn't have time to investigate the state of the floor further. "Neil, take this. Go back to bed." Archie placed a bottle of flu pills next to him, then ran to the next room.
Archie stopped short, his mouth gaping at the state of the kitchen. There were shards of broken plates and glass decorating the floor, and what looked like the entire contents of the refrigerator strewn across the counters. In the middle of everything was Herry, who was stabbing a tomato with a steak knife.
"Herry!" Archie shouted. The muscular boy wheeled around, and Archie recoiled as the knife came uncomfortably close to his nose.
"Oh," Herry said, turning around. "It's just you." He coughed a few times, then turned around and cut open a plastic bag filled with sliced bread.
"Uh, Herry? What are you doing?" Archie said, a hint of fear in his voice.
"I'm not hungry," he replied casually as he put a squished tomato on top of several pieces of bread.
Archie watched the much bigger teen, unsure if he was even physically capable of stopping Herry from eating. "You mean you are hungry?" he corrected.
Herry shook his head. "Nah, I just wanted a snack, but the world keeps spinning…" He looked dazed, and rubbed his forehead with his thumb and pointer finger.
"O-okay…" Archie said, his own mind starting to get confused. "How about you get back to bed, and I'll ask Athena to make you some soup or something instead? Oh, wait," Archie dug into the plastic pharmacy bag and procured another bottle of medication. "Here," Archie said, pressing the pills into Herry's hand
Herry seemed to think this over for a second, his eyes blearily shifting from the bread to the medication bottle. "Okay," he said, then dropped the knife and slouched toward the stairs.
Archie sighed in relief. It was still a bit early for lunch, but he prayed that the Goddess of War would have some sympathy and cut her routine training short before Herry destroyed the entire building attempting to cook for himself. As Archie entered the next room (where Neil was still lying with several stray pills covering the area around him), he hesitated. It was boiling; the floor felt like it might as well be on fire.
Suddenly, it clicked: the basement.
Fearing the worst, Archie took off down the stairs. "Odie?!" he shouted, praying that nothing had happened to the smallest member of the team. "Odie, are you here?!"
Archie opened the door to Odie's room. Though it wasn't physically on fire, it was still alarmingly hot. Archie pulled at the collar of his hoodie; he could already feel himself starting to sweat.
Odie lay sprawled on his bed, and was, unbelievably, under another blanket. He noticed Archie enter, and lifted his head. His eyes were droopy, but he offered a tiny smile. "Hey man," he greeted, lifting one arm in a wave.
"Odie, why does your room feel like it's on fire?" Archie asked, panting a bit as he tried to find the heat dial. He finally gave in and pulled his hoodie off, throwing it on Odie's bed. He had a white t-shirt on underneath.
Odie groaned. "I know, but I'm freezing…" Archie peered over and noticed a thermometer sticking out of his mouth.
"Hey, Odie? What's your temperature?" Archie asked, still trying to locate the heater.
Odie popped the device out of his mouth and squinted at it. "One-hundred-and-twelve point four Fahrenheit," he said casually, then laughed. "That's weird; I should be dead."
Archie rolled his eyes. "Probably because this ROOM is a hundred-and-twelve degrees! Gods Odie, where's the freaking heater?!"
Odie stretched out on his bed and reached for a glass of water on the table beside him. "I knew you'd try to turn it off, so I hid it," Odie said as he sipped at his drink.
The warrior spun around, staring at his teammate in disbelief. "How do you hide a heater?! Seriously Odie, this isn't funny. It's expensive to have the heat on this high, and besides, it's not good for you."
Odie grinned dopily. "I think we have influenza type B."
"What?"
"The only known animals that can contract it besides humans are seals and ferrets."
"Odie, I don't care, TURN THE HEAT DOWN."
Odie frowned, then procured a small device from underneath his pillow and turned a dial. He retreated further under the covers after doing so and began shivering. "There, h-happy?" he asked bitterly.
Archie blinked. "I don't think anything happened. What did you turn it down to?"
"Thirty-five degrees Celsius. Or, if you'd prefer, ninety-five Fahrenheit," he answered smugly.
Archie sighed in exasperation. "Turn it down to twenty."
Odie looked alarmed. "Fahrenheit?! That's freezing! Heaters can't cool houses, you know, only heat!"
"CELSIUS, ODIE!"
Odie glared. "Okay, okay, no need to yell." He fiddled with his device again, then curled back up under the blankets. Noticeably less warm air was coming out of the vents. "I put it at twenty-five Celsius."
Archie supposed that was as good as it would get. "Okay. Here, takes some of these. Stay in bed." Archie tossed a bottle of pills for flu symptoms in Odie's direction, threw his hoodie back on, and then headed upstairs.
Neil was still sprawled out on the ground, but he had flipped onto his back and was moaning lightly. With a jolt, Archie noticed that the front of his white shirt was covered in blood.
"Oh no," Archie gasped, his eyes widening as he knelt down. "Neil?! Are you okay?" Archie carefully lifted up Neil's shirt, revealing a thin, very shallow gash across his chest.
Neil struggled to sit up. "Jay tried to kill me," he groaned as he collapsed back to the floor. "I think he succeeded… just look at my shirt… it was c-cashm-mere t-too." He coughed a couple of times before continuing. "The horror… the TRAGEDY of it all! My whole body hurts… I can't move… maybe Jay poisoned his blade…"
"Neil," Archie rolled his eyes. "don't be such a drama queen, that's barely even considered a cut. You just have the flu, that's all. No poison… wait, did you say Jay attacked you?!"
Neil coughed again. "He mistook me for Cronus! Can you i-imagine?! I look NOTHING like that ugly mug." He sighed from the ground. "Why me?"
"Where'd he go?" Archie asked urgently.
"Dunno." Neil groaned and flopped to one side, his eyes tightly closed.
"Archie!" Herry's voice boomed from above them. "Where's my soup?!"
Before Archie could answer, Theresa's voice came down the stairs. "You're making soup?! Gods I could use some soup."
"Me too!" Atlanta's voice chimed in.
"I'm not hungry," Neil said pathetically, starting to curl into a ball.
"I have bigger things to worry about than soup, guys!" Archie yelled. "Has anybody seen Jay?"
"Not since he tried to kill me," Atlanta answered nonchalantly.
"Same!" Herry called out.
"Weird," Theresa joined in, "he didn't try to kill me."
"Wonder why…" Neil muttered so that only Archie could hear.
"Crud..." Archie groaned and rushed up the stairs. "Jay? Jay, are you here?!" He knocked fervently on their leader's door before opening it. Jay's bed was unmade, but there was nobody in it. The only noise in the room came from Jay's radio, which was – as per usual – set to the news station. He quickly shut the door and paused at the stairwell to consider where Jay could have gone. "If he attacked Herry, then he must have been up here while I was downstairs with Odie…" If – Gods forbid – Jay had left the house, he couldn't have gotten far. Archie knew that he would have to hurry if he would have any chance of catching up with him before he attacked any other 'Cronus look-alikes'.
"Ugh… J-Jay!" Theresa's voice called out shakily. Archie followed the sound cautiously to her doorway, and peeked his head around her doorframe. Theresa was curled up in bed, still in her nightgown, clutching her head with both hands.
Archie quietly snuck to the side of her bed as not to disturb her vision – any lead, even if it was from the drama queen, would be useful information right now. As soon as Theresa's eyes snapped open, Archie hounded her. "What did you see?! Where's Jay?"
Theresa blinked at Archie, then groaned and covered her head with her sheets. "I-I don't know. My head's killing me…"
"Oh, right." Archie opened his plastic bag of pharmaceuticals and pulled out a bottle of painkillers. He shook it lightly, prompting Theresa to pop her head back out like a dog hearing the rattling of its kibble. Archie grinned at this analogy, and Theresa glared at him. He rolled his eyes and tossed her the bottle.
"Thanks, I guess…" Theresa muttered before reaching for a water bottle beside her bed and downing two of the pills.
Archie perked up. "Okay? Can you tell me now?"
Theresa rolled her eyes. "I know this whole 'sick' thing is new to you, but medications don't work instantly."
Archie hesitated. "…they don't? I-I mean, uh, I knew that…"
Theresa sighed. "I-I saw Jay, he was…" she hesitated and rubbed the spot between her eyes with two fingers. "Ugh, he was… in danger…"
"What kind of danger? Where is he?"
"…I… I don't remember… It looked like he was fighting a dark figure…"
Considering Theresa's visions were foggy even on a good day, Archie doubted he'd get much more out of her than that. "I'm going to find him!" he announced before rushing out of her room. "Even if I have no idea where he is…" he muttered once out of earshot. He descended the stairs to the second level.
"A-Archie?" Atlanta's cracking voice sounded like it was strangely close by. Archie blinked and turned to find her leaning heavily against her doorframe, her brow slick with sweat. She was panting, apparently from the effort of standing, and her eyes were starting to droop –
"Atlanta!" Archie rushed over and managed to catch her before she hit the ground. He carefully lowered her partially to the floor, where her eyes woozily flickered open. "What are you doing, 'Lanta?! You look awful… c'mon, back to bed."
Atlanta groaned lightly but allowed Archie to lead her to bed and help her lie down. Archie sat on the edge of the bed next to her. Her cheeks were tinged pink, though Archie couldn't tell if it was from embarrassment or from her fever. "S-sorry…" Atlanta coughed and rolled onto her side. "I-I wanted to help you find Jay…"
Archie snorted. "You're in no shape for that. You took the meds I gave you, right?" Her pale complexion and lethargy were frightening him. It was beyond unusual for Atlanta to willingly sit still for more than a few minutes, and this sickness had confined her to her bed for a full day. Archie couldn't quite relate to what she was going through. He could only liken it to severe pain and exhaustion, which only made him more concerned.
"Y-yeah…" Atlanta groaned and curled into a ball. "I d-don't feel well…"
Archie leapt up. "Are you gonna hurl?" He hastily scanned her room for a garbage can –
"Atlanta?" Theresa's voice flowed in from the entryway, and Archie jumped in surprise. Theresa had heavy bags under her eyes, but walked in carrying a tall glass of water which she shakily placed on Atlanta's bedside table. She stole Archie's spot at the edge of Atlanta's bed, and coughed into her elbow a few times before wrapping both arms around herself in an attempt to cease her shivering.
"Theresa?" Archie asked in surprise. "H-how did you…? Atlanta just passed out when she tried to walk!" He raised an eyebrow suspiciously. "Are you sure those medications don't work immediately?"
Theresa rolled her eyes. "Believe me, my headache is telling me to get back to bed. But I've been drinking water all day."
Atlanta watched Theresa with mild confusion. Her eyes flicked to the water glass left on the bedside table. Theresa followed her gaze, then picked up the glass and carefully lifted it to Atlanta's mouth. To Archie's shock, Atlanta drank greedily and took the glass from Theresa to finish it herself. She downed the entire thing within a couple of seconds. "Th-thank you," she gasped.
Theresa sighed. "You need to stay hydrated when you have a fever, Atlanta." She took the glass from Atlanta and stood up. She looked anxiously over at Archie. "Atlanta will be fine, but you need to find Jay." She bit her lip. "I'm really worried about him… if he got out of the house…"
"Right." Archie turned to walk toward the doorway, but hesitated. "Uh… thanks, Theresa. I guess I don't really know much about taking care of sick people." He'd allowed Atlanta to collapse from dehydration, after all! And if Jay was in the same condition, but outside where Cronus could find him…
"Archie…" Theresa smiled sadly. "This is all new to you, and you're doing the best that you can." She glanced sideways at Atlanta, who now had her eyes shut and was snoring lightly. "Okay, now go!"
Archie gave a small smile at Atlanta and nodded before taking off. Even before he'd reached the bottom of the stairs, Neil's loud snoring indicated that he'd also fallen asleep. Archie snorted with laughter as he realized that Neil had, in fact, fallen asleep on the hardwood floor. "Alright, I'll help…" Archie grunted as he heaved Neil to a standing position and practically dragged his sick teammate to the couch. "Stay," he instructed before double checking that he had his whip, rushing to the kitchen to grab a bottle of water, then heading out of the door at a run.
"Jay? Jaaaaay?" Archie yelled, looking frantically around the brownstone, but not seeing anything out of the ordinary. He scratched his head. "Where would he have gone…?" Archie didn't think Jay would be able to go far in his condition, so not immediately spotting him was alarming.
"Hey, kid!" A man pulled his car over and stared at Archie with wide eyes. "What are you doing outside?! Haven't you heard?"
Archie blinked in confusion. "…Heard what?"
"M-m-monsters!" the man stuttered, pausing to check behind himself. "In the park! It's been all over the radio!"
"The radio…?" Archie thought for a second, and then came to a sudden realization. "Like the one Jay has in his room! Oh no… uh, thank you!" Archie made a beeline for the park, ignoring the panicked calls of the driver telling him that he was fleeing in the wrong direction.
"Jay, what were you thinking?" Archie muttered in annoyance as he approached the park. Police were on the scene, but no part of the park was roped off – they likely were assuming that it was a prank. Archie couldn't see any monsters either. And if this was Cronus's doing, then the most likely suspects would be giants, which would be impossible to miss.
"Jay!" Archie cupped his hands around his mouth and yelled. "Jaaaaay?"
Archie wandered away from the police. Most of the park was deserted – clearly the citizens were taking the warnings seriously. "Jay? Jay!" Still no response.
"Looking for somebody?" A chill ran down Archie's spine – it was Cronus's voice.
Archie whirled around, gripping his whip tightly. Cronus had materialized with a huge smirk on his face, and had Jay's arm clutched in one hand. Jay's body sagged from underneath him, and he was fighting just to open his eyes. Cronus laughed. "Wonderful, isn't it? Mortal illnesses are so much more powerful than we Gods give them credit for. Without lifting a finger, I had Jay collapsing at my feet."
Archie growled and raised his whip. "I'm not gonna let you get away with this!"
"Ah, but of course…" Cronus smirked. "Descendant of Achilles, immune to all illnesses. Couldn't keep your teammate out of trouble though, could you? You teenagers can be so reckless."
Archie tightened his grip, but his mind raced as he struggled to figure a way out of this situation. He couldn't trust Jay to run even if he managed to get Cronus to release him. "Jay!" he called. Jay raised his head, but his eyes weren't focusing properly on Archie.
It was difficult to plan anything without backup, and Archie had never felt more alone. Cronus laughed at the sky. "I was expecting to lure out all seven of you with that monster rumour, but it doesn't matter. I had planned something far more interesting, but at this point it would be… how should I say this? Overkill." He sneered at Archie and summoned a scythe with his free hand. "I'll save the real monster for the other five. For now, I'll be happy breaking the prophesy myself!"
Cronus sent a wall of fire soaring toward Archie with a wave of his scythe. Archie dove frantically out of the way and tumbled into a prone position on the grass. He began to pull himself up, but Cronus grabbed him by his hoodie and yanked him to a standing position.
Archie struggled to be released, but Cronus gave another sick laugh. "I've got you right where I want you."
"P-put him to s-sleep…" Jay muttered, his eyes nearly closed.
Archie paused in his thrashing to pay attention to the only words his leader had said thus far. "What?"
"…p-p-put him to sleep…"
With that, Jay's eyes fell shut. Cronus sniggered. "Come, now." His eyes glowed, and a huge pit of fire appeared in the middle of the park. He began dragging the two boys toward it. "This is almost too easy!"
"Gah!" Archie tried to resist Cronus, but no amount of thrashing was allowing him to escape. He gritted his teeth and dug his heels into the ground. "Jay!" he called to no avail as Jay was still asleep. What had Jay meant? Put him to sleep…
Archie squinted against the roaring fire. He could feel sweat dripping down his face from the sheer heat. He had always felt that drowning would be the worst way to die, but now –
A dark figure with flaming red hair materialised in the center of the fire. "What's this?!" Cronus growled, throwing Jay to one side in order to brandish a sickle. The figure – a woman from what Archie could tell – waved one arm and sent both Archie and Cronus flying across the field.
Archie quickly picked himself up and frantically looked around. The woman was hovering over Jay. She was cloaked entirely in black and had long red hair. One of her legs appeared made of pure bronze; the other resembled the leg of a donkey.
"Empusa!" Cronus shouted. "Do as I command! I will have five mortals waiting at a later date. Leave these two to me!"
Empusa either did not hear him or did not care, as she didn't so much as flinch at Cronus's words. Jay was lying helpless below her. "Jay!" Archie yelled, moving in to help.
As soon as Archie yelled, Jay cracked open one of his eyes, which made Archie hesitate. He closed his eye, then mouthed 'put him to sleep'.
"Put him to sleep…?" Archie muttered, giving a sideways glance to Cronus, who was too busy fuming at Empusa to notice the two boys. Empusa was bent overtop of Jay, and was speaking into his ear. Jay groaned and rolled weakly onto his side. Archie wished he had Odie here to explain what she was doing, as he couldn't remember this creature himself…
Cronus was still distracted by Empusa, so Archie knew he had to act fast before Cronus realized he was in danger. Jay's words combined with Empusa's behaviour seemed to indicate that she was attracted to sleeping people. Literally putting Cronus to sleep would be impossible, but Jay wasn't actually asleep, after all. If he could just figure out a way to put Cronus in a prone position, that might be enough.
Archie swung his whip so that it wrapped around Cronus's arm and yanked. Cronus, having been distracted, fell down, but was quickly back on his feet and now had his full attention focused on Archie. "Feeling neglected, are we?" he taunted with a smirk as he brandished two sickles.
Archie assumed a fighting stance, but cautiously began circling Cronus. He hastily shifted his eyes around, trying to find something – anything – that could give him a leg up. There was the fire pit, but he doubted he'd ever be able to trick Cronus into that –
Cronus leapt forward, right scythe extended, sensing Archie's lack of focus. Archie flipped quickly to avoid it, and accidentally landed himself in the path of an old oak tree. He didn't have long to recover from the collision before Cronus was on him again, and Archie defensively rolled away. His weapons were of little use in close combat, and he didn't feel like testing his luck against Cronus's scythes.
Unfortunately, all he was doing was allowing Cronus to push him closer to the fire. The flames were uncomfortably close, and were only expanding with every second wasted. Archie glanced at Jay, and knew he wouldn't have much time before the fire spread to where Empusa hovered over his collapsed body. The fire had already reached the base of the tree Archie had been thrown into earlier. The flames licked up its side, doubtlessly weakening the resolve of the already old trunk…
An idea sprung to Archie's head, and considering his lack of options, he quickly went with it. Cronus was trying to force him into the fire, so Archie began making the dodges that Cronus wanted, until his back was almost against the burning tree. Cronus smirked and slowly advanced. Archie grasped his whip tightly, then turned and flung it into the tree.
With an easy tug, the tree fell. He smoothly brought the whip directly forward again and ensnared Cronus, quickly tripping him just as the tree was falling forward –
Archie dove out of the way and tumbled across the grass. He pulled himself to his feet with a grunt, and was greeted with the sound of Cronus's angry cries. "No! Noooooo!"
Empusa had left her place by Jay and was circling over Cronus's head. This served as a distraction for Archie to rush over to Jay, who was shakily trying to stand. "G-good job, Arch…" Jay muttered as Archie allowed him to lean heavily on his shoulders, and the two fled with as much speed as they could muster.
Jay was quickly out of breath, and by the time they had reached where the police were still patrolling, he was collapsing. Archie allowed him to sink to the ground a safe distance away from any onlookers, and grabbed the bottle of water he had taken from the house earlier out of his hoodie pocket. "Here," Archie offered, lifting the water to Jay's mouth. "You're dehydrated."
As Atlanta had, Jay drank eagerly, only his need for air impeding him from downing the bottle all at once. "Th-thank you…" Jay muttered once the bottle was nearly empty. "I-I-I…" He broke off coughing and put one hand to his head. His complexion had paled considerably since Archie first saw him, and when Jay tipped his head to look behind them, Archie saw the reason why. Blood was streaming steadily from two gashes in Jay's neck.
"You're bleeding," Archie said, causing Jay to put one hand over the wounds and nod.
"Empusa…" Jay paused to breathe. Archie didn't take that as a good sign. "Drinks blood… from people… as they sleep…"
"C'mon," Archie said, also glancing nervously behind them. The last thing they needed now was for Cronus to catch up to them, considering Jay was now apparently anemic on top of being terribly ill. "We've gotta get you home."
The trek home was quiet and painfully slow. Jay walked on his own for a bit of the journey, but soon relented and took to leaning on Archie. "You're tough, man. You can do this," Archie encouraged, genuinely worried by his leader's weakened state. At least the encounter with Cronus seemed to have snapped him out of whatever mindset thought it was a good idea to go after him alone, but he definitely didn't seem like he was all there. Jay's entire focus was set on putting one foot in front of the other. Archie was grateful that he would never have to go through being sick, because it seemed awful.
As soon as they managed to reach the inside of the Brownstone, Jay sunk to his knees and panted heavily. He was very pale and sweaty. Athena approached them with a soup ladle in one hand. "Where were you?" She took one look at Jay and set the ladle aside. "What happened to him?"
Archie rubbed the back of his head. "Uh… short version: Cronus and Empusa attacked us in the park, but we got away." He watched Jay carefully, deciding to wait for him to catch his breath before moving him again. Athena placed the back of her hand on Jay's forehead for a moment, her expression stony. She then proceeded to do the same with Archie, but he backed away. "I'm fine. I'm immune to diseases."
"Oh, right." Athena moved back to the pot of soup and began stirring it. "Good thing, too. Jay owes you his life."
"Hey," Herry – who Archie presumed was probably waiting for Athena's soup – walked over and crouched by Jay. Herry still didn't look good himself. He was pale and trembling. "D-do you need help moving him?"
Archie shook his head. "Nah, I'm good. You need to rest too, you know."
"He's right," Athena agreed, brandishing her sword at him. Herry recoiled backwards. "I'll help with Jay. The soup will be ready in a couple of minutes."
Together, Athena and Archie managed to get Jay up the stairs and into bed. Athena hurried out to check on the soup, and Archie turned to follow her. "H-hey, Archie…" Jay said weakly.
Archie paused and turned around. "Yeah?"
"Thank… thank you…" Jay was on the verge of falling asleep.
A thought occurring to him, Archie walked over and switched off Jay's radio. "No problem. You need to get some rest."
"Y-yeah… You fought well…" Jay rolled over and Archie walked out. He decided to check on the others and quietly peeked into Atlanta's room. She was also sound asleep, not even moving when Archie cracked open her door – and Atlanta was not a heavy sleeper. Archie smiled at her and closed her door.
Theresa's door was open, and she was sitting up in bed. "Is Jay okay?" she asked as soon as she spotted Archie.
"Huh? Oh… yeah, I just got him back. He's resting in bed."
Theresa sighed in relief. "Thank goodness. I kept getting visions of you two being attacked and there wasn't anything I could do to help. It was awful…" She rubbed her forehead and sunk back into bed. "Ugh… make sure everyone stays put now, Archie…"
"How are you doing?" Archie asked, recalling her making the same mannerisms before. "Do you need more medicine?"
"Yeah, maybe…" Theresa winced and closed her eyes. "Stupid visions… stupid sickness…"
"Alright. Athena made soup. I could bring you up some?"
Theresa glanced at him curiously. "It's not like you to be so courteous. I like it."
Archie shrugged. "Eh. You have your psychic visions, I have my immunity to the flu… we all have our niches."
Theresa smiled and sunk under her covers. "Soup would be great, thank you."
Archie left and went to check on Neil and Odie. Neil was right where Archie had left him on the couch, snoring loudly. Odie had fallen asleep, and fortunately the temperature in his room was back to normal. Content that his friends were doing alright, he dished out soup to Herry and Theresa and then settled down with a bowl for himself.
Athena busied herself by cleaning the kitchen. "Your friends are lucky to have you around, you know," she said to Archie without looking over.
Archie glanced up. "You think so?"
"Of course." Athena paused for a moment to look at him. "Don't you have class today?"
"Well, yeah…" Archie said sheepishly. "Wouldn't it seem weird if the rest of my house was sick and I wasn't? Didn't want to draw attention…"
"Riiight…" Athena said, as if not believing him.
"…I also didn't think I should leave them alone…" Archie admitted, rubbing the back of his neck. "I was right, though." He also was eager to take any opportunity for an extra day off, but wasn't about to admit that to the goddess of war. Athena raised an eyebrow at him. Archie gulped. "M-maybe I'll go do homework now while they're sleeping…"
Athena smiled and continued cleaning. "Good boy."
…
Three days went by, and the rest of the group slowly showed signs of improvement. Jay rarely ventured far from his bed, but the others had started coming downstairs in small intervals to eat and watch television. Archie, for his part, had returned to school and kept up his normal training regime, but on advice from the Gods didn't go anywhere else by himself. Theresa hadn't been sensing anything out of the ordinary, but everyone was worried that Cronus would seize the opportunity to strike again.
After the first day of insanity, the complete lack of activity in the house had Archie easily bored. Training wasn't very fun alone, classes were dull without friends for distraction, and he had nobody to hang out with at home. Even when they did manage to make their way downstairs for a movie, they nearly always fell asleep halfway through. Archie was probably more eager for his friends to get better than his friends were themselves. He ended up spending a lot of free time either reading or doing homework.
As Archie sat at the kitchen table scribbling out answers to math problems, he heard footsteps and looked up in time to see Atlanta settle herself in the chair across from him. "Hey Atlanta," he greeted, quickly putting down his pencil. "How are you feeling?"
Atlanta slouched over the table with her head sitting on crossed arms. She managed a weak smile. "A little better…"
"Great!" Archie exclaimed enthusiastically. He pushed his notebook aside. "We haven't learned much new in math; you'll pick it up quickly."
Atlanta smirked. "Huh. Guess that means a lot coming from you. Didn't you fail the last math test? What's with the change in study habits?"
Archie shrugged. "I've been bored without you guys." He rubbed the back of his neck. "Uh… you want to watch a movie or something? Or I could heat up some of Athena's soup for you?"
"Hey!" Herry said, appearing in the kitchen doorway. "I hope that offer applies to both of us." He grinned knowingly.
"I agree," Theresa said, walking in beside him. She looked behind herself. "Odie? How about you?"
"Yeah, s-sure…" Odie had wrapped a blanket around himself, and gestured backwards toward the living room. "C'mon guys, Neil already took half of the couch for himself. What movie should we watch?"
Archie smiled widely. "I don't care. I'll get the soup!" He could hear his friends laughing at his eagerness as they disappeared into the living room, but he didn't care. He was thrilled at the improvements they were making and was hopeful that everything would be back to normal soon.
Soon the six of them were huddled around the television, each with their own bowl of soup. Before the movie started, a seventh face entered the room. Jay settled himself on the end of the couch, and managed a tired smile in response to the beaming faces around him.
"Jay!" The room dissolved into excited chatter. They hadn't seen Jay out of his room since Archie had lugged him back, and everyone was quick to express their relief that he was alive.
"Sorry if I worried you," Jay responded sheepishly to the attention. "I feel a little better today."
"I'll get you soup," Archie volunteered. He hurried back out to the kitchen, but could hear his friends continuing the conversation without him.
"He's been pretty worried about you, you know," Theresa piped up, presumably to Jay.
"Y-yeah?" Jay asked, hesitating to cough several times. "Wait, was I the only one who was sick?"
The rest of the group gave a mixture of laughter and groans. "Wow, you really were out of it," Neil said offhandedly.
"I'll say," Odie agreed. "We were all down for the count, except for Archie."
"Yeah," Atlanta said. "At least we were aware of it though."
"Where have you even been for the last couple of days?" Herry asked Jay.
"It's… kind of fuzzy," Jay admitted. Archie walked back into the room and presented Jay with a bowl of soup. Jay took it and smiled at him gratefully. "I remember you saving me from Cronus, but that may just have been a fever-induced nightmare?"
Archie rolled his eyes and settled himself on the floor beside Atlanta's chair. "Yeah, that was a fever-induced nightmare: for both of us."
Jay looked genuinely surprised. "I'm sorry. I can only remember bits and pieces." He rubbed his head. "But thank you. Glad to know I can count on you to take charge when I can't."
"Yeah, Archie!" Herry agreed from across the room. "You're an awesome nurse!" He said it half-jokingly and chuckled.
"We should do something for you when we're all better, as thanks," Theresa suggested with a smile.
"I know what you can do for me," Archie said. Six faces looked at him curiously. "Never get sick ever again." His teammates broke into laughter, but Archie didn't crack a smile. "…Guys, I'm not joking. Never again…"