Rise of a Hero
Disclaimer: See chapter one
Warnings: See chapter one.
Pairings: See chapter one
Authors Note: Hey there again! We have some massive angst in this chapter- and I swear this is almost the end of everyone being all 'Woe is me! All is teh sadz!' It should all wrap up pretty well by the next chapter, no lie. Just bear with me, people need time to grieve. As always, feedback is welcome, plus is any of my stories happen to inspire anything (writing/drawing/prose- I know I get some massive inspirations from/for other stories and art) I would totally love to see it!
Chapter 9: Choices
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The doors opened slowly, light spilling in and dust swirled in the still air. It was blocked by a silhouette, crouched and looking back and forth as he entered. There was a small limp in his walk, due to some old injury. The light highlighted his tense muscles, the violet in his hair and the glint of red in his eyes.
He stepped forwards tentatively and the darkness in front of him illuminated like the sun. He jumped but quickly regained an aloof, but wary demeanor. He snarled at the man standing across the room from him.
"Welcome, Demonspawn!" Zeus called from across the floor.
Cronus said he had something for us to do! He set us up! Tulais roared.
He Is A Traitor! You should have killed him when you had the chance, Archie! Achilles shouted.
"Zeus! I don't want to fight you- can't we talk?" Archie held up his hands to show he had no weapons.
"Talk is meaningless with a Godslay'r," Zeus began walking forwards, drawing a thunderbolt from the quiver on his back. He was dressed to fight. To kill.
Archie took a step back; he could get a good head start on Zeus if the god attacked now.
Zeus laughed, "Why run Demonspawn? I thought you enjoyed the taste of my blood! Or was Poseidon some 'accident'?"
Cronus has told him everything! We have to assume he knows all of our weaknesses now; Achilles' tone was that of a commander.
Fight him! We have to stand our ground! Tulais ordered.
Archie was on a completely different wavelength then his ancestors, No! We have to run away! I don't want to die!
"You're not going to leave so soon, are you?" Zeus chuckled, "well, that's okay. I've got a little surprise that you're probably going to die for."
Zeus held up a bony hand, waving it through the air to open a portal that revealed Atlanta. She was bound and gagged and laying on the ground of some dark cell. There was blood matted on her brow from where she had been hit. She was unconscious at the moment. Archie felt his blood boil.
"What Did You Do To Her?" he snarled.
"Fight me, Demonspawn, die to save your whore!" Zeus laughed.
"Don't You Talk About Her That Way!" Archie threw himself into a run at the god, Achilles and Tulais telling him he was being foolish now. The hair on the back of his neck rose as the thunderbolt glowed an electric blue and hummed in the still, dry air. Zeus threw it with such precision that Archie almost didn't dodge it. He had to rely on Tulais's senses and Achilles' reaction time to keep himself alive. The entire lair shook with every bolt. The air was alive with static.
There was a pull in his body, powered by his rage, a tingling sensation like pins and needles that focused in his hand. He clenched his fists as he leapt into the air. Zeus threw another thunderbolt at him, Archie knocked it aside with the buzzing- the magic- in his body. He realized he was holding Poseidon's trident. That magic had been him summoning it. He landed on the other side of Zeus and spun to face the god, snarling and crouched so low he was almost on all fours.
Instead of Zeus, it was Cronus standing before him. And the Titan was clapping with a smug look on his face.
"Well done, m'boy. I must say you did very well for our first training session."
"Our What?!" Archie, Achilles and Tulais snapped.
Cronus gave him a look of feigned innocence, "Training of course, did you honestly think I would sell you out to my dear, young son? If I did- you'd be dead already."
Archie relaxed, standing up slowly. His back cracked and he rolled his shoulders. All of the wounds from the fight with Poseidon were almost completely healed and only small scratches or scrapes now.
"So Atlanta…" Archie began slowly, his eyes were still furious despite his relaxed stance.
"Is still with the gods and is in whatever state they're letting her stay in," Cronus replied, clasping his hands behind his back as he began to walk towards Archie.
Archie frowned, and then looked down at the trident in his hand, "Where did this come from?"
"It's a magical weapon, made for a god, m'boy. Of course you don't carry it around physically with you all the time, but as the weapon now belongs to you, you can summon it when you are in a fight. I am quite glad I don't need to teach you how to call it to your aid, as you've done it just fine on your own."
Archie snorted. Tulais and Achilles were still on edge, and all three of them were quite upset about being tricked. Archie wasn't sure if Cronus was still talking, but tuned him out regardless and twirled the trident around in his hands. It was much like his own spear, back in the war-
Whoa! Not my memory! Archie fumbled and dropped the trident. It clattered loudly to the floor, sending up a cloud of dust around his feet.
Cronus huffed, taking the opportunity to treat Archie like a child again, "I thought we spoke about being a clumsy mortal already-"
"Be quiet. Don't ever pull some trick like that on me again, Cronus," Archie let Achilles speak as he bent down to pick up the trident. He swung it widely as he stood up so that it was pointed in Cronus's face, "and don't you ever call Atlanta a whore or I will kill you where you stand."
Archie was relieved to see Cronus pale slightly and pretend not to notice the trident. He was obviously nervous. Archie was pleased to see this reaction. He's been counting on it.
"I don't need to be trained, Cronus. I will not fight the gods. Now leave- I'll come speak to you later. I have a few more things to think about."
Cronus stammered, then decided to stay silent with heated eyes, and retreated from the room. Archie waited until he was sure Cronus was gone, before falling to his knees in relief. He'd been worried sick that he'd been wrong to think Cronus would obey him. Him, Archie, a mortal! Even worse- a Demonspawn. Just as easily had Cronus stepped down in authority, he could have stepped up and killed Archie right then and there.
The spasm caught Archie so off guard he thought something was wrong with him before he realized he was laughing. It wasn't anything like when he laughed with his friends. It was a weak, strained pathetic sound of someone who had just cheated death. The Titan of Time truly was at his command, for now. Archie just had to be sure Cronus respected his authority, not resented it. He'd have to be careful with how much he ordered Cronus around.
He got back to his feet, still shaking with giddy adrenaline, and used the trident for support. Archie forced himself to take deep breaths to steady his heart rate.
We should have fought him, Tulais huffed.
We would have lost, Archie reminded the demon. He tried not to pay attention as Tulais ranted. Listening to the voices in his head brought him back to a darker mood. He sighed, had he said that out loud, people would think… people would know he was crazy.
Achilles casually spun the trident around effortlessly a few more times before Archie wondered what to do with it. He tried to imagine it 'poofing' back to wherever it came from. That didn't really work.
Let's see… it came when I was going to get attacked… he had an idea, and took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Archie counted slowly to ten and repeated until he felt quite calm. Probably as close to peaceful as he could get. He could feel the tingling sensation over his body as the magic coursed through him and then the trident was gone. He shook his hands to rid them of the pins and needles feeling.
"Now to talk to Cronus," Archie muttered, almost destroying his happy feeling. Achilles and Tulais both groaned.
Happy feeling gone now, thanks guys. I was feeling sane for a moment.
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Atlanta recoiled from the light as the door opened. She was lying on Archie's bed, clutching his grease-stained pillow like it was her lifeline. It still smelled strongly of him. She'd always loved hugging his pillow while waiting for him to get back from his lessons with Ares to surprise him. Holding it made it feel like he was just taking a really long time getting home and she sometimes caught herself wondering if she should call him and remind him about the plans they'd made for yesterday.
Then she'd choke up and the tears would start all over again. Archie was gone, and he was never going back. She was never going to go to a midnight premiere horror movie with him and then make fun of everything, or scare him at the tensest parts. Never again would she run into battle with him or go skateboarding with him. She wouldn't get upset with him at leaving the toilet seat up or for still being afraid of water. She'd never have to tell him he was being a jerk again or ever get to call him a dork. It was ridiculous how much it still hurt to think about how much she'd lost, and how much worse it was that she'd never said goodbye.
"Lannie," Theresa whispered sadly, closing the door behind her. She moved slowly across the now-familiar path to Atlanta and sat down beside the huntress. Theresa didn't speak but wrapped her arms around Atlanta comfortingly.
Atlanta hugged her back and the two of them sat in silence, "When did you get back?" Atlanta croaked, her voice horse from crying.
"Really early this morning," Theresa smiled weakly, there were large bags under her eyes and she looked lifeless, "we've looked everywhere but there's no sign of Cronus. I-I think he might be taunting us about… Archie." Atlanta flinched at the name.
Theresa sighed, "Listen, Lan. I know you're hurting. I… Archie and I never did get along very well, but I miss him too, you know? As much as we fought, he was my team mate, my friend my… my brother. I know I'm hurting a lot, but what you're going through must be terrible, Atlanta. I know there's really nothing I can say to make you feel better, but you have to remember: you know where Archie is right now. He's in the Elysian Fields, right? Where heroes go- where we'll go."
"T-then can we go see him? Why can't we go see Archie?" Atlanta mumbled. She refused to let Theresa go, but was also cradling the pillow in her other arm.
"Hades said Archie's still a little disoriented about everything, and that he doesn't want us to see him dead until it's our turn, because then we'll all be really sad and depressed. You know Archie 'd hate to see you so depressed like this- it makes all of us upset to see you hurting so much. Lannie, you know Archie's in a good place, so please, it's been almost a week now- you need to start getting back on your feet."
Atlanta shook her head stubbornly and clutched tighter on the pillow, "I can't Theresa, it… it hurts so much. How can I let Archie go, Theresa? He was my best friend and… and…" Atlanta wiped her nose on the sleeve of her sweater- the one Archie had gotten for her birthday a year ago.
Theresa cried a little with Atlanta, "And what?" she finally asked.
Atlanta opened her mouth as if to answer, then shook her head slowly and closed the topic.
Theresa's shoulders slumped, "Atlanta, you won't be able to let go of his death quickly, I know that. But you need to get back into the world. I want you to go to the mall, okay? Just… go hang out, shop around a little. Just be around people and out of this house for the day. You can go sit in the food court all day if you want- I don't mind. But please, start working towards being happy again. For Archie?"
Atlanta's breathing hitched as Theresa finished. How could she deny anything for Archie now? She nodded slowly, "Alright," she murmured, "I'll go."
Theresa hugged Atlanta again, "Clean yourself up a little, okay? I'll drive you over." Theresa got up and headed to the door.
"What are you doing today?" Atlanta looked up.
Theresa stopped at the door, "I… I'm going back to locating Cronus. I'll tell you the truth, Atlanta, I think we need to stop. We're all exhausted- physically and emotionally by trying to force ourselves through our grief. No one has it in them to smile, or even laugh. It's kinda scary, Lan. Maybe if they see you dealing, then everyone else can follow suit."
"You sound like you're dealing pretty well, Therri," Atlanta tried to smile, but it was a pathetic attempt.
Theresa looked at her feet, "I'm a pretty good actor when I need to be. I'll meet you outside in a few minutes Atlanta."
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It was so bright, so big, so joyful, so loud, so open, so packed. It was completely different than Archie's room, which had been Atlanta's sanctuary for the past few days. She felt so exposed that she walked huddled together with her arms crossed and tried to make herself as small as possible. She felt like a wild animal in a cage surrounded by unfamiliar things.
Now she needed to find a way to make time go faster, or else this horror of the mall and the sun and all the loud, happy people would never end.
Her feet followed the familiar track to the theatres and she found herself looking up at the posters of all the movies she and Archie had seen and were still planning on seeing together. She bit back her sobs and forced herself not to cry in public. Atlanta was still keeping her tears down when a boy tapped her on the shoulder.
"Hey, you okay?" She nodded and forced herself to look at him. He was a little taller then she was, overall he wasn't very attractive- but not unattractive either. He was dressed casually like he frequented the mall. She didn't miss how he looked her over and decided she was worth flirting with.
"So, going to see a movie? Me too- which one are you going to see?" he tried to make friendly conversation.
She shrugged, "Any one. I don't really care." The conversation pretty well shut down. She didn't mind.
He made another try, "Well… how 'bout I buy us tickets and what do you say we go sit in the back?"
Normally Atlanta would have laughed and told him to go away before she got Archie after him. You didn't sit in the back unless you were planning on not watching the movie. But now… there was an empty void inside of her and it hurt. She would do anything to make it stop hurting. And it was hurting because of Archie, and this boy was nothing like Archie. She knew it was a bad choice.
"Sure," she said, "pick a long movie."
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So if you are taking a bit of notice, Archie completely resists Tulais, the demon, taking control in his body, but seems content with allowing Achilles, the hero, to control his actions and/or words. Why do you think this is?
Oh, and Archie, listening to the voices in my head puts me into a darker mood too- you're not the only one.
Oh, Atlanta, don't do that to yourself!
I know Atlanta may seem to be acting out of character by being 'oh woe is me!', but hey, her best friend/boyfriend just 'died'. Let her grieve. I promise that she'll be getting back on her feet by the next chapter. And what could Archie's plan possibly be? Is there any way to save Atlanta from Mr. Wrong? What about the others- will they be able to get over Archie's 'death'?
-Demenior
