Authors Note: Many thanks for the reviews guys! I'm sending this one out a little bit early this week, but I think it should deliver. If you love tension you've come to the right place! I'm not sure how many of you have had prom, but I've done my best to keep things accurate.
We are slowly edging our way closer to the end of act one, I hope you are all enjoying the story. I personally am very happy with how the story is going! I always appreciate reviews of all shapes and sizes so if you have any thoughts, please don't be afraid to post it up. I can help fill in questions and it gives me an idea of how the story is on your side!
Walls Of Bricks
Act One: Destruam
Chapter 08
Chapter Theme: Lean- The National
The evening arrived at the brownstone. Herry's "famous lasagne" was on the menu, but less than half was eaten. Archie walked in after a tiring visit to the gym. Everyone was sat by the table eating. All except for Jay, who had already gone out for his date.
"Hey Archie," said Herry enthusiastically, while the rest of the room remained quiet and continued eating the lasagne. Archie just shrugged and sat down on the couch beside Atlanta, who gave him a foul look. Opposite him, Archie noticed Odie trying to give him raised eyebrows without alerting the rest of the table.
He understood the implication; he was trying to figure out if he had sorted things out, Archie told him the truth by shaking his head sideways. When Atlanta looked up, Odie and Archie resumed eating. With her back hunched, she got up.
"I'm taking my dinner to my room. See you all in the morning." He left the room, with the stairs creaking by each step. Each one was a reminder to Archie in what he made her do, why she now hated him. I even seemed to sound like the stretching of a bowstring.
He needed to sort this out. Not just for his sake, but also for the team. They were all looking at him as Atlanta left. The two of them argued enough already. This was just going to make things worse, potentially reducing the morale of the team. He stood up, handed his emptied plate of lasagne, and with a "Thanks Herry", he followed Atlanta up the stairs. He didn't see the smiles that Odie and Neil were giving each other, but he knew.
Outside Atlanta's door, he could hear mellow indie music coming from within her room. He didn't recognise the song, but he recognised Atlantas favourite band. City and Colour. With a deep breath, he knocked gently.
"Yes?"
"Its me."
No reply. Archie went red. He knew this would happen. She's still mad and won't talk to me.
To Archies' delight, the door opened, and her red head popped around the corner.
"Need something?"
"I just want to talk."
She sighed. "And what would it be that you want to talk about?"
"You know exactly what."
"I'm not in a forgiving mood right now."
"I'm not asking for forgiveness, I shouldn't have made you do it. I made you kill someone, and I want to say sorry, if it's worth anything. You don't need to forgive me but lets just talk about it. Not talking to each other is just hurting the morale of the team."
Atlanta looked solemly at the ground, contemplating his offer. She eventually decided to open the door.
"Alright let's talk."
Archie felt a tingle of joy. He walked in and she closed the door behind her. The music went on, but it didn't scream above their voices.
"Atlanta, I'm-."
"Archie please. Let me do the talking for a second."
Hushed by Atlanta. Not a good start.
Atlanta strolled around the room, seeming anxious. "I'm starting to get worried about you Archie. You've been changing. I'm not sure how much the others have noticed, but I know you, and believe me, you are changing."
Archie shrugged "I don't feel any different."
"Different? What isn't different about you? When I first met you, I don't think you would have ever actually considered killing someone. Last night you killed two men without hesitation. Sure, I killed someone too, but you seem completely unphased by it." Atlanta had stopped strolling around the room and was looking him in the eyes with a an awkward stare, "Did it not affect you at all?"
Archie shrugged again. What did I feel when I killed them? Archie didn't recall anything emotional about the event besides Atlanta's disapproval. Was I meant to feel something?
"I never thought about it really. I guess I just felt normal. It was a part of the job."
"Killing should never feel normal, Archie. Also, you lost your temper with Biff earlier last week. You say you control your temper, but I'm not sure if you can. I think that, well, you're not always yourself anymore."
Archie let out a gasp, almost imitating a laugh, "You-, you think that I'm losing it, don't you?"
Pursing her lips tightly, she nodded.
Archie stuttered in his gasps, "I-, I don't know what to say."
"We need you Archie. I don't want to lose you."
Lose me? I'm not going anywhere. Archie told himself. He was almost angry at her for thinking he was going crazy, but at the same time, she wasn't wrong. What if I am going crazy? No. I won't.
"No, you won't lose me. I won't let myself." Archie said with refound confidence, "I promise you, Atlanta. You won't lose me. Never. I have your back."
Atlanta looked at him. Her eyes had gone from angry to concerned, "Archie, don't make a promise you can't keep. I've looked into this. Insanity is known to be, well, a slippery slope."
"That's why I need you Atlanta. I need you to make sure I never do that. You're one of the only people I can trust everything with. I know you won't let me down."
"Don't worry Arch, I've got your back." She smiled with her caring eyes and placed her soft hand on his arm, still pulsing from the weights he lifted earlier. It was so good to see her smile again. "I need to catch up on my sleep. I'll see you tomorrow."
Archie walked out of that room conently. He had made amends to his best abilities, and he may even be one step closer to asker Atlanta to prom.
One step at a time Archie. He told himself. He still had a long way to go.
Odie and Herry were the last ones up. It wasn't that late, but they were all working on very little sleep. They had decided to wait for Jay, the man on the date. Herry was watching a game of girls' beach volleyball, mostly for the very attractive outfits, and Odie was aimlessly scrolling down Facebook on his phone when Jay walked in.
"Hey guys," he said cheerfully. "Didn't expect to see you up this late."
"It was probably best to know that you got home safely." Odie said, his eyes slightly droopy and his brain a little fuzzy. Looking up from his phone, he saw that Jay was wearing a very bright, cheesey smile.
"I'll take it went well?"
"Oh yeah it did." He hadn't stopped smiling yet.
"Did you score with her?" Asked Herry very bluntly.
Jay laughed at Herrys bluntness, "No, probably won't until prom."
Odie perked up at that word. "You're going with Sabrina?"
Jay nodded, "I asked her, and she said yes. We've been talking since the party, and I kind of planned it out for tonight."
"Why didn't you tell us? We would've helped!" said Herry. Odie wasn't quite sure what Herry was talking about. Odie wouldn't have helped with this. He was no fan of Sabrina, and actually thought she was distracting Jay from the team. The mission aside, Jay seemed to be paying less attention to the team, especially Theresa, who wasn't helping the situation either.
"You guys had enough on your plates, and I wanted to keep it quiet." He lowered his voice, "I don't believe her and Theresa get along."
"That's an understatement. But she's going to find out anyways." Said Odie.
Jay had a small look of defeat on his face, "Yeah, well that's her problem. Not mine."
Odie sighed.
"Something wrong Odie?" asked Jay.
"No. Nothing. Just tired. I think we all are. See you all in the morning." He smiled, "Congrats on the date man."
The others departed to their rooms as well, but Odie walked over to the light switch. As the others disappeared, He let his guard down. His usual, relaxed smile turned into a dismal expression.
This isn't going to end well. He thought to himself as he shut off the lights. The room went dark, and Odie suddenly felt strange, the air went a bit stale, like a poisonous essence had just made it's home in the house.
The fires were lit dim in Cronus's cavern, and the god of time was sitting at a stone table, staring profusely at the object he had taken from the temple. The surface if the stone hexagon had a marble crescent moon surrounding a large, beautiful blue sapphire in the center, staring back at Cronus with a deep, dark stare. The problem was Cronus had not recalled the use of this object. The scroll had emptied all of its contents, but there were still missing facts. What do I do with this thing? That was the main question circulating in his head.
Laying his finger over the sapphire, he could feel the glowing heat that the sapphire was emitting. It pulsed gently beneath his muscular fingers. Not having the memories to solve the puzzle was driving him crazy. No matter how hard he tried to remember, there was nothing but a void where his memory was.
"Damn this thing!" He swore. Nothing he could think of seemed to get anywhere.
He had sealed all information to these scrolls; perhaps each memory was fragmented into the seals. It may have been possible Memories were easily split into other parts, however, was another seal containing the information he needed?
It dawned upon him what he had to do. No, not again. The first scroll had likely been the most painful experience in his long life, and Cronus had been exhausted from the fight in the temple the other night. He had felt that his power was not regenerating fast enough. What is happening to me? He asked himself. A god should never get tired.
He was right. Gods did not suffer from fatigue, or weakness, yet somehow, against all laws of power and sense, Cronus's power was draining. His powers still regenerated over time, but the rate at which they returned to him was significantly slowing down. It wasn't the tree with the golden apples. That was routinely looked after and was the gods lifeline as well as Cronus's. There was something else at work. An unseen force was draining his power, but where was that power going? Power does not simply vanish. That would be against the laws of physics. Cronus's power was going somewhere. That, he knew. However, where it was going, he had no idea. There didn't seem to be much he could do.
Cronus took a weary sigh. Power or not, I need that scroll.
There were several dozen of the scrolls to choose from, and he had to find the one with the information he needed. If he picked the wrong one, he would not be able to reseal them. Cronus needed to be focused. He had come this far, and sore, distracting memories were the last thing he needed.
Each scroll's golden seal had an insignia on it. He picked up the broken seal, put it together, and saw the insignia; Laced in gold, there was a silhouette of a long necked bird, etched with flaming embers. There you are, Cronus looked almost fondly at the bird. He remembered that was what the thing looked like. Something told him to hate the picture, but Cronus ignored the feeling. This "bird" was his last chance at getting revenge against the gods. At the rate at which his powers were depleting, he wasn't sure if he could survive another failed attempt. Cronus began to look at the wall of scrolls, carefully hidden behind magically sealed glass. If he found the other scroll with the matching insignia, it may would the information he needed.
Agnon trailed behind him. Cronus was secretly glad to be rid of Eric. The mortal was resilient and witty, constantly asking questions and disobeying Cronus. He had offered assistance out of personal interest, not loyalty. Cronus needed the help desperately, but he knew that man was too smart for his own good. That was probably why he opened ne of the scrolls. Pandora and Eric, same story, different times. Mortals are all the same.
Agnon was a much better example of a henchman. He wasn't as efficient or as smart as Eric, but he was loyal to the bitter end. Cronus valued that in his henchman far more than insolence and efficiency. It took a smartass mortal for Cronus to realize that. He began to wish he hadn't killed off so many of his giants early in the war.
It didn't matter now. They were gone, Eric was also gone, likely dead, and he had sent Cronus down a path of utter desperation. The only way onward was forward. If Cronus didn't find a way to defeat the teenagers or their gods, he was a dead god. Dead god, never thought I'd have to worry about death.
His eyes scanned the dozens of different insignias. He wondered what each one held, but he quickly shut the idea away, they were painful to read, and were likely just sore memories from his long and hard reign all those years ago.
At last, he found it. The long necked bird in embers. This one did look slightly different, but the bird was the same. This time it was standing on the top of a snowy mountain. He picked it up from its wooden holder, and placed it on his stone desk. Agnon grunted.
"I know, Agnon. I don't like it either. But I don't think we have a choice." The regaining of the memories was a painful task, as the foolish mortal also found out. Cronus was completely baffled how the mortal survived the procedure. Cronus had to face it again this time. He knew how painful it was going to be this time, and was hesitant to open it. But like he just said, he didn't have a choice.
*Grunt* Cronus knew what Agnon meant; Please be careful.
"I will be, now step back." Cronus said softly, ensuring the giant that he was going to be OK.
I will be okay. I am a god. The god of time and space.
Cronus took a deep breath. His scythe slipped into his hand from his sleeve, he held it high, and, with his godly fury, unleashed his strength onto the golden seal.
The seal was cleaved perfectly in half, as if it was done with a pair of tiny scissors. Cronus placed his scythe to the side, his hands shaky as he picked up the scroll, and unravelled it. A strong light confronted Cronus's face from the paper, seeming to consume his head. Agnon stood back in terror. The scroll was proving to be a challenging force to reckon with, and he watched frightened as his master battled the scroll. Cronus screamed in pain, but he did not turn his eyes away from the scroll. A noise began to emerge from the paper, which consumed the whole cavern. It was a roaring screech, louder than Cronus's like that of a giant, but stronger. Older. More powerful. Agnon shut his ears. The screech was too much.
All of a sudden however, it stopped, and Cronus fell to all fours screeching in pain, the light dimmed, and all out vanished; the pain seemed to stay for a bit longer. The paper was left blank. Steam was coming off of was exhausted, but he was strong enough to get up onto his knees.
"I know what must be done," Cronus said weakly, but with confidence. Agnon was quick to offer assistance, but Cronus strongly refused and rose up.
"No Agnon. Come with me. There is much to prepare. We have a long journey ahead."
Cronus knew where he had to go. It was far, far away, but Cronus knew that wasn't going to be the hardest part. He knew he was going to have to make the journey without getting the attention from the teenagers and the gods, as he didn't have the strength to fight them. That was going to be far more difficult.
I must. It is the only way. I cannot go back now.
The second floor of the cafeteria had become a popular place to be this week. The boys gathered for a relief from the stress of the past few days. It was only a Tuesday, but it had felt like an age since the mission. And prom was the coming Friday. The whole school was tense with anticipation. Many people who hadn't gotten a date were growing desperate. Many of the dateless girls were wearing suggestive outfits, advertising themselves to the river of equally desperate boys. The team managed to avoid getting into the stream of desperation because they were mostly too busy to notice it. They had all gotten very behind on their schoolwork, and unsurprisingly, Odie was the only one with his stuff together. Barely.
"This doesn't make sense!" said Neil; shrugging his shoulders at the handout he was assigned. Less than half a question out of five was filled out.
"If you paid attention in class, it would make sense." Said Odie.
"Well sorry, I'm only taking physics because I need to graduate, and I'll still pass if I don't hand this in."
Jay gave him a stern look, "Neil, if you don't do this, you'll have no idea what's on the exam. And you WILL fail the course if you don't do well on that."
"Look Neil, I'll help you." Said Odie, leaning over and explained what sounded like gibberish to everyone else. Neil was a lost cause, especially when it came to physics terminology.
"See? It's easy!" He finished, waving his hands around like it was magic.
"Easy? How is your mind able to process all that, along with everything else?" asked Archie, who sat quietly on the far side of the table.
Odie laughed. "This is a holiday from the stuff I've been working on recently. I've been making new software for our phones. It that makes them process faster than the latest supercomputer. These things can now do just about anything."
"Well, they sure needed an upgrade. It was like carrying a metal brick everywhere." Muttered Herry, as he chomped down on a messy chilli cheese dog. He had just sat down, and had a very wide smile on his face as he ate his lunch. It looked quite disturbing and the whole table noticed.
"What's got you so happy there Herry?" asked Jay, even though he knew the answer. Hell, I was there. Jay let out a small smirk, waiting for the tables reaction.
Herry put down his chilli cheese dog for a moment, and waited until he as emptied his mouth of contents before talking like a true gentleman.
"I asked Katrina to prom, and she said yes!"
The whole table started smiling and congratulating Herry. Katrina was a girl who Herry had a thing for, but never told her. That of course, had changed now. The whole team knew she also had a thing for him too, but they decided to let Herry figure that out for himself. From what he said, they gathered that Herry had waited for her to come to her locker in the morning, and then approached her with flowers. It seemed like a bold move, but there was a rule when it came to promposals; the more public it is, the less likely they would refuse. It could often be a crude way of exploiting the situation, but Herry genuinely cared about Katrina and wasn't afraid to show it. From what it sounded like, Katrina would have said yes even if nobody was around.
Something caught Archie's attention as the others kept on talking about Herry's new date, causing him to zone out from the conversation. Atlanta was sitting at a table across the cafeteria. Between them was an entire space of air dropping to the first floor below. He didn't know why he didn't sit with her this morning. She was reading a book, and taking notes. It looked terribly boring and Archie was sure she was waiting for relief from her English homework.
Archie could see her as pristinely as if she was right in front of him. Even deep in thought, she was beautiful. Not in a girly way, but in her posture, her brilliant hair, and her strength radiating from her like heat from a fire. He never understood how nobody ever seemed to see how he did. He saw someone who would stay strong, no matter what life threw at her. Someone who would always have my back. And he would always have hers. His heart began to beat harder, because he knew his plan. After class later on, he was going to ask her. He wasn't backing away this time. He would refuse to squirm out of it. He would not be able to sleep at night until he told her how he felt. Earlier, Neil was telling him to make a big scene of his promposal, but Archie refused. Unlike Neil, Archie didn't dig audiences. He worked in the shadows. He was still looking at her when he saw a figure rush towards Atlanta. She greeted him with a smile. Archie stood up in his seat, paying closer attention. He recognised the figure.
It was Lucas. He had talked to Archie once or twice, like that time in the hallway. He seemed to be talking to Atlanta like they knew each other, but Archie never remembered seeing them talk at all.
That's odd. What is he up to?
All of a sudden, he dropped to one knee, picked up something from his jacket. A rose, offering it to Atlanta, who was cover her face, which was a s red as her hair. The whole cafeteria was looking, gasping. Even the rest of the table had gone awfully quiet. Odie, Neil and Jay took a glimpse at Archie, but Archie wasn't paying attention to them.
The small candle in Archie's heart extinguished. Everything around him went quiet. And all of his facial muscles ceased movement. He knew what was happening. His sharp eyes saw what the tag on the rose said.
No….
In delicate, gold writing were the words, "Prom?". He could also see the words move in her lips. "Yes." The crowd around them began to clap. The rule about promposals had stayed true to its word.
Archie suddenly felt a void in his stomach. He felt empty, cheated. He had been so close to telling her, but Lucas had beaten him to the finish line. His lips tightened, his fist clenched.
SHE BETRAYED YOU! A voice screamed in his head. She could have said no, but she didn't. She doesn't have your back. His breath grew deeper, and stronger, holding back his desire to bawl his eyes out.
She never did. The voice said.
He could no longer bear to watch. The others watched him as he rose from his squeaky plastic chair and quickly stormed out of the cafeteria, although nobody else in the cafeteria seemed to notice.
The guys looked at each other. Realising he was on his own, Jay ran after Archie.
"Archie!" Jay yelled. Running after the blue and purple shape running out into the front yard.
He caught the door before it closed, and ran outside, but by the time he called "Archie!" again, Archie was on his longboard, racing down the road and out of sight. There was no way Jay could reach him.
Archie was gone.
