All's Fair in Love and Hate: Chapter 1
He hadn't expected the smile then the grin, all dazzling white teeth and pink lips. She looked radiantly at him, that smile melting the apprehensions he had held, the sun casting a brilliant glow on her face. Archie just then noticed how tense his muscles were, and he relaxed slightly with a sigh of relief on to the green, green grass beneath them. He also didn't notice that a dorky grin was making its way on to his face.
"Oh, good," he babbled mindlessly with that silly grin on his face, "because I wasn't sure whether you'd really -" Archie stopped, the grin on his face sliding off. Her eyes were - well, they were more twinkly than they usually were, and even though her eyes were pretty twinkly in the first place he was pretty sure that sort of twinkly wasn't so wet and -
Oh no.
Was she crying? Archie stiffened again. He - well, it was unexpected, but really, she had smiled at him and now tears were starting to pool in her grey-blue eyes. Was he allowed to be surprised? She brushed that question away from his mind as she brought a hand up to her face to wipe at her eyes and oh God she was crying.
"A-Atlanta!" Archie stuttered. He winced and sat up. "Don't cry, please don't cry -"
Atlanta sprung up, her hands still viciously wiping across her face. "I'm not crying!" she insisted furiously, then stormed away from Archie, her red hair ruffled by the wind that was gathering considerably as she walked faster. The speedy girl started to run.
He stood and stared after her, flabbergasted. "Atlanta!" he roared, but now all he could see of her was a blurry figure far away. He'd never catch up to her if she was running. Nobody could catch up to Atlanta when she ran.
Archie collapsed back on to the grass, glaring accusingly at the park benches, the trees, the people who jogged by in sweaty glory. Aything and anyone who he might have been able to blame for Atlanta's hasty departure. It wasn't fair, though, Archie thought. Here he was being perfectly nice to her and making her happy when she suddenly bursts into tears and storms off. He threw his arms up into the air. Girls! Crazy, indecisive girls! Who could understand them!
Odie and Herry were fixing up a few plates of crackers and cheese in the kitchen while Neil sat at the table and admired his reflection in a stainless steel spoon as Archie stormed in, slamming the back door with a loud BANG. All three of them looked up at the purple-haired boy and raised their eyebrows. "What's eating you?" Neil muttered, before diverting his attention back to his reflection.
Archie slumped into a chair, picking at the varnish of the table. He said nothing until Odie had sat down next to him and Herry next to Neil, the plate in front of him piled with crackers and clumsily cut slabs of cheese. "See, that's the thing," Archie started, with a slightly hysterical note in his voice, "they never get the point!"
Odie blinked. "Is it just me or is he babbling?" he asked Herry. The heavily muscled boy shrugged, devouring a handful of crackers before mumbling through the crumbs, "What's up, Arch?"
Archie let his head fall on to the table, face first. "Atlanta's up, that's what," he muttered thickly. "It's like girls are an alien species or something! I mean, how hard is it to give a simple 'yes' or 'no' sometimes?"
Neil raised one perfectly arched eyebrow. "I don't know, Archie, with that hair I don't think anyone would want to give you a straight answer..." he paused, brushing a delicate hand through his own silky hair. "Me, on the other hand - now I am a prime specimen!" Neil winked at himself in the spoon. "I could give you some tips if you asked nicely."
With a groan, Odie snatched the spoon away from the narcissistic blond, regardless of his loud and squealing protests. "You told her, Arch? How'd you do it?"
Archie moaned and looked back up. "It doesn't matter, Odie, all that matters is that I didn't get a straight answer and that means I didn't win!"
"Win what?" Odie asked curiously just before being interrupted by Neil showing some interest and exclaiming, "So she said no? I knew it! Who could resist my natural magnetism, my flawless skin, my -"
Herry impatiently swatted at Neil, who was lucky enough to have already sunken down closer to the table to catch a glance at himself in the spoon Odie was now holding.
Rubbing the gold brace on his heel in habit, Archie continued to rant. "I mean, she didn't even say anything! She smiled! Then she started crying! Atlanta, crying!"
Odie winced. "Ouch, man. I think that's a bad sign. Atlanta never cries."
Before Archie could say anything in response, Jay wandered in, with a bit of a confused look on his face. Taking a cracker and some cheese from Odie's practically untouched plate, Jay asked the four other boys, "Have you guys seen Atlanta? I know Theresa's at school practicing in the fight room but I can't find Atlanta anywhere."
Odie and Herry both glanced at Archie, who flung his arms up defensively. "I don't know where she went! She just ran off after she started to -" He stopped himself.
Jay frowned. "Well, if you can find her, you'd better get her to come back. We have training with Ares soon and he told us not to be late." He glared at Neil. "And we all have to be on time."
Neil assumed a defensive position. "It was only one mirror," he whined. "A zit could've popped up in that fifteen minutes!"
Before they started to quarrel about Neil's lack of self-control around mirrors, Archie got up. "I guess I'll find Atlanta," he mumbled quietly. Nobody heard over Neil's high-pitched squeal of "I am not vain!". He left anyway.
Archie had jogged back out to the park - he had the feeling she'd be there. Probably running. He shook his head. Atlanta was always running.
He looked around for her for a little while, then collapsed on to a park bench. "It's no use," he muttered.
"What's no use?" A rather quiet, familiar voice asked teasingly from beside him.
Archie jumped up, startled by the redhead's abrupt appearance. "O-Oh!" He stuttered, before regaining his composure. "Nothing. Jay's looking for you. I think."
Atlanta gave him an odd look but didn't say anything. They stood there in awkward, growing silence until Atlanta broke it. "Um, you know," she mumbled. "About what you said before -"
A loud fluttering noise filled the air, then, and Atlanta looked up, distracted. "What's that noise?" she said, puzzled, searching the air for something.
Archie blinked. "What?" He asked, still thinking about Atlanta. He was pretty sure her sentence was going to turn out in a good way and he's rather she wouldn't interrupt it because, you know, all differences aside, he really liked her. Even though they always argued and they were way too competitive to ever get along too well, Archie could hardly get his mind off her. And, well, since the catastrophe with Pan and the whole mess with the Seeper...
Suddenly, and quite unexpectedly, a loud, shrill scream pierced through the air, reverberating in Archie's ears and leaving a quite annoying ringing noise in his ears. "Ouch!" he exclaimed, covering his ears a moment too late. The scream rang on even as it eventually faded away in the distance and he looked up into the clear blue sky wondering what sort of bird had a cry like that.
He looked back at Atlanta. "We'd better get back, Jay and the others'll be worrying about us by now." He stated, and couldn't help but notice the strange look that had suddenly entered into her eyes. Almost - almost feral, and wild, and -
Atlanta leaped at him with a mighty roar and he fell back to the ground, twisting his weak ankle a little under the brace he was wearing. "Atlanta!" he said through his clenched teeth, trying to fight her off without hurting her. "What's wrong with you!"
She attempted to scratch at him with her somewhat sharp nails, her wild grey eyes flashing. "I - hate - you," she hissed viciously, pawing at his face. He froze up a bit at her statement, his arms failing to keep up with her angry swipes at his face. He knew she didn't mean it; something was definitely wrong... but in spite of this, he couldn't help feeling hurt.
In his emotional lapse of defense, Atlanta jabbed her knee into his groin and his hands instinctively flew to his damaged manhood. He could feel his eyes tearing up a little with pain. If she wanted to reject me, she could've just said no, he thought, his ego deflating appropriately. However, Atlanta didn't stop and wait for his self-pity as she landed a punch on his face. He groaned and weakly tried to stop her but now he was no match for the apparently crazed Atlanta. She drew her hand across his face in a savage motion, her fingernails tearing at the skin on his left cheek and drawing blood.
Archie awaited another blow, wincing with pain from his face, groin, and ankle, but it never came. He opened his eyes as Atlanta pushed herself off him and left, running into the forest. He raised a hand to his face, feeling the tender skin from her magnificent punch and the blood seeping from the long scratches across his face. Shaking, he managed to stand up, testing his weak ankle. I have to get back to the brownstone, Archie thought distractedly. Something is definitely wrong.
A/N: So, well, there's my first stab at Class of the Titans fanfiction! Don't worry, there is a slightly more "usual" plot coming - the idea is that this fanfic takes place in an episode of CotT. As you can probably tell, I'm a big fan of the AxA relationship, and this is definitely going to touch on that more than a couple of times. For you JxT or NxT fans, I'm not quite as interested in those pairings, though I am keeping this as canon as I can.
Yes, a Greek myth is going to be used -- I wouldn't bear my geeky self if I didn't do so. A million chocolate chip cookies to anyone who can guess the identity of this Greek myth/mythological figure from the sparse information I've given you!
I'm relatively new to the fandom so if you could drop me a note on what you thought of the characterisation, that would be great! Reviews appreciated, constructive criticism definitely encouraged in lieu of flames.
And of course - if I owned any of this - would I even be here writing:)