I lied. Two more, end of story. Literally. This one is sort of a whole day.. chopped up. Also, this might be the longest one, again with the lying. I don't own Class of the Titans. Wish I owned Jay though, have I mentioned that?

10. No Guts, No Glory

"It's not your fault it gets this hard," Atlanta whispered from across the bed, staring decisively at Jay.

Archie was standing behind her, resting his hands on the back of her chair and leaning forward a little. "She's right, man. This isn't your fault."

"I should've been there." Jay's voice was hollow, lacking any sort of emotion.

Herry scoffed, looking up from the floor from his seated position a little ways from the bed. "Do you really think you could've changed the outcome?" He too was leaning forward, but had his elbows resting on his knees, hands hanging loosely. Odie was perched on the arm of the chair, Neil lingering behind with his arms folded over his chest.

"What even happened?" Jay croaked out, shifting a little and reaching out to take Theresa's hand in both of his.

She was lying almost peacefully on the make-shift bed in Persephone's room, her red hair fanned out on the pillow and her skin as pale as the moon that shone through the nearby window. The only sign of any trouble was a tiny scorch mark, just below her breast bone, right through her red tank top revealing skin.

Atlanta sighed shakily, and Archie's hand came down to rest on her shoulder, giving it an reassuring squeeze. "Cronus kept telling her that her powers were weak," Atlanta began, her eyes on the other girl's face, "and you know Theresa, she doesn't take lightly to criticism. He kept saying she was worthless, we were all worthless and that the group would crumble at the end, underneath your guidance," her eyes flew up to Jay's for a moment, "and that broke any sort of.. self control Theresa had.."

"All of a sudden things in the temple were just.. flying at Cronus." Neil was speaking now, for the first time since they had arrived back. "It was freaky, it was like she was pulsing, physically."

"Almost as if electricity was running through her," Odie murmured, rolling his shoulders uncomfortably.

"Anyways," Atlanta continued, glancing at the others. "Cronus wasn't about to let Theresa's powers get the best of him.. I don't remember what he said, something in Greek, but it was like this green flash of light and it just.. it just.."

"It caught her right in the chest, making that mark, I guess," Archie picked up the story for Atlanta, who had bowed her head now, burying her face in her hands. "She just.. flew through the air with her arms out like some sort of puppet on a string, and her eyes were so - "

"STOP."

Everybody jumped, their eyes flying towards Jay, who had thrown himself out of his chair, pressing his hands to his head. "Just stop! I can't listen to this.."

"Jay, she's going to be fine. Chiron said so.." Atlanta had started to rise from her chair, but Archie's hand on her shoulder tightened, and he simply shook his head.

"Leave him," Archie whispered to her, watching their friend walk himself right out of the room. "Chiron didn't say when she'd wake up, you know."

Herry stood up, knocking Odie off the arm of the chair. "Archie.. shut up, will you? Theresa's going to wake up and then she'll tease us about how much we worried."

As Odie fell into the chair Herry had been in, Herry moved over to the one Jay had occupied.

"He'll probably just go sailing. Shocker."

This wasn't true, though. Jay had immediately gone to the Brownstone, thoughts and emotions raging throughout his body. The only place that seemed fitting was the roof, and hours after he had stormed out of Persephone's he found himself still seated against one of the low walls on the roof terrace.

He knew he should've gone back a while ago, and he knew he would have to face the wrath of not only Atlanta, but probably Archie, Herry, Odie and maybe even Neil. But the thought of sitting there beside Theresa, and knowing that she was in a sort of coma type thing.. he couldn't do it. He couldn't sit there without wanting to destroy the nearest thing.

I wished Cronus would show his ugly self right here and now, Jay thought irritably, closing his eyes and letting his head fall back against the wall gently.

From ahead him, Jay heard the door leading up onto the terrace open. It had to be Archie. Or perhaps Herry. Even though Hercules's descendent wasn't the brightest, he was strangely gifted with giving advice.

But the steps were too light against the sandstone to be Herry's. It had to be Archie. Atlanta would not have even considered approaching Jay, and was probably glued to his girlfriend's side. Again, a pang of guilt struck Jay; he should be there. Odie and Neil didn't have any sort of sense how to comfort someone, especially the latter of the two. Not that Jay necessarily wanted consoling. He wanted to kill Cronus, or rather needed to do.

"Go away," Jay told the figure, not baring to open his eyes and come upon the face of a gravely disappointed Archie. But as the footsteps stopped in front of Jay, he was assaulted with a familiar smell. Lavender.

He hesitantly opened his eyes to find Theresa standing above him, her head tilted curiously. A loose pair of sweats hung on her hips, and she had replaced her burnt tank top with a plain blue t-shirt, one that Jay knew was his. A heavy blanket was wrapped around her shoulders, and she was holding it with one hand in the middle of her chest.

"They said you left." She didn't sound let down, or angry. Theresa was simply speaking. Simply standing there, alive and awake and conscious and talking.

"Because I thought you were gone for sure."

"So you left?"

"Yeah."

"I wouldn't've left."

Jay blinked, frowning. "So what, because I left you're mad?"

"No," Theresa began slowly, a crease appearing in between her eyebrows. "Any other girl would probably be mad.. but you left when I was hoping to wake up to see you."

His shoulders sagged, and honest to goodness shame appeared across his face. Jay ran a hand through his hair, exhaling noisily. "I was going to break something if I didn't get out of there."

"I figured." Theresa sunk down next to Jay, leaning against the low wall. She adjusted the blanket around herself, holding it tighter.

Jay shook his head, looking down at her noticeably serene face. "You should go inside."

"I'm fine here. With you."

He didn't put his arm around her like normal, nor did she lean into his body, putting her head on his shoulder. They merely sat there, letting the night sky above them catch their full attention. Theresa didn't need an apology, they just understood eachother. They understood eachother more than the others probably realized, despite their teasing.

Only when his girlfriend's head finally did dropped heavily onto his shoulder, did Jay look back down. Theresa's eyes were closed, her lips parted just slightly and her breathe steady as she slept on.

He would bring her in eventually. But for now, Jay would just simply bask in the feeling of knowing she was there.

For now.