All's Fair in Love and Hate: Chapter 5
In his sleep, Jay dreamed of Cronus and Erida, Theresa and Odie, Neil's gold-plated mirror and Herry's monster truck.
Running, Jay struggled to catch up to the evil god of Time, island scenery passing them as the leader hopelessly attempted to grab hold of Cronus' sleek black sleeve. The faster he ran, the closer he got to Cronus, but the god always managed to teleport a few feet ahead, laughing cruelly as he taunted the tired boy. The descendant of Jason tripped, tripped over a root from a menacing overhead tree and landed facefirst at the god's feet. Now, they were washed up on Aeolus' island, and Cronus held Neil's mirror in one hand, holding it up to Jay's face, a cold, mirthless smile spreading across Cronus' face. Jay caught sight of his reflection, and cried out in alarm as he saw Herry's truck advancing quickly behind him. Leaping up, Jay began to run again, running right across the open space above the water with the orange truck in chase. They passed Theres and Odie, and Jay tried to cry for help, but they merely laughed and pointed ahead. A fiery circle lay pulsing in Jay's path and as he ran towards it in horror, he tried to stop, but he ran right through the flaming barrier, his face growing hot, and then
a scream - cold savage cruel angry blood-chilling feral wild - a scream
Jay sat straight up in bed with a cry, his brown eyes wide with terror and cold sweat running down his face. He took in his surroundings and reassured himself shakily before he stood up, not bothering to do his bed. Slowly walking down the stairs, he wiped his forehead with slight relief. It was only a dream, he scolded himself. You shouldn't've gotten so worked up about it.
Stepping into the kitchen, Jay sat down at the foot of the table before jumping up again and staring round at his teammates. Archie and Odie sat reclined at the head of the table, twin smiles set across their satisfied faces, and the other four were gathered around them, grins wide on their faces as well. "You're - done?" Jay asked faintly.
Odie sat up a little straighter. "We're past done," he answered proudly. "We've got a master plan, a back-up plan, and a back-up plan for the back-up plan."
"And," Archie interjected cockily, "they're impossible for Erida to get past."
Jay sank back down in his chair, staring at his team. His heart was bursting with pride for their amazing feat, but he could only manage a few stuttered words. "Y-You mean you're done? And with back-ups and everything -" they nodded again, and a smile reached his mouth. "You guys are amazing," Jay said in wonder. "You've sorted out all the things we need and the steps we need to take, and how to hold her off, and how to stop her scream from affecting us - you guys are the best."
A bit of a troubled look came over Odie's face. "Okay, well, maybe not that last point," he said uncertainly. "We were planning on figuring that out as we go on."
Jay paused, but shrugged. "That's fine."
Grins erupted over everyone's faces again, and Herry stood up. "I'm gonna go grab some burgers," he cried. "To celebrate our brilliant plan!"
Odie's grin widened some more. "Great!" he exclaimed, then lightly punched the Herculean boy's arm."You know my order."
Herry laughed, and grabbed his smallest friend affectionately around the neck, giving him a noogie. The friendship between the two was somewhat startling at first glance, but Herry's gentle soul and Odie's heart of gold went together like bread and butter. Odie struggled and complained as custom under Herry's huge grasp, but the grin on his face lasted through the friendly tussle.
"You guys want anything special?" Herry asked, looking around at the rest of the crew. Neil looked up at him lazily. "Tell them to leave off the pickles on mine," the blond grumbled, "you guys always forget I hate those gross things."
Herry nodded, then took his PMR off the table and closed the door behind him, calling "I'll be back in a sec," behind him.
The other six lapsed into a comfortable silence before Jay broke it suddenly, repeating in amazement from the elaborate plans written out on the paper in front of him to Archie and Odie, "I can't believe you guys did all this!"
Archie grinned again. "Well, it was mostly Odie's ideas. I just... helped," he admitted, rubbing his bruised nose shyly.
Nodding, Jay murmured offhandedly, "Odysseus was an amazing tactician, he went around being called 'the man of many wiles'."
Odie shrugged, a blush staining his cheeks. "I'm not that great," he protested. His dark eyes went around the room, five faces clearly reading yes, you are, and he blushed a deeper shade of scarlet.
As his eyes roamed the room uncomfortably, they fell on to a pair of keys sitting on the countertop. "Herry forgot his truck keys," Odie said loudly. "I'll go... er... give them to him now!"
The dark boy jumped up and dived for the doorknob, as the rest of his teammates burst out laughing. Theresa, however, sat still, her eyes wide, as a vision penetrated her train of thought.
a shrill scream - a roar like a lion's - muscles bulging - Odie's terrified face
"No!" Theresa shrieked, stretching her hand out towards the door, but Odie was already out the door. Jay stood up, his face serious. "Theresa?"
The redhead turned towards him, her face white. "Odie's in danger!" she cried tearfully.
The five frantic teenagers spilled out into the alley that opened out from the door Odie had taken out of the kitchen. They spent several moments looking around for either of their two friends, but nothing of importance was observable, other than the fact the the alley was extremely dark and it smelled, disturbingly, of rotting fish.
Archie looked towards Theresa. "There's no one here," he said, sounding somewhat exasperated.
Theresa closed her eyes, concentrating on her intelligent bespectacled friend and hoping to divine something. She finally turned and pointed further down in the alley, where the signal she was receiving of Odie was particularly strong and horribly fearful. "There!" she said, but everyone was already running in that direction.
The team kept their eyes peeled for Odie as they ran down the alley, seeing nothing and no one. "Nobody's here!" Jay panted, slowing down despairingly. "How could Odie have gotten this far away anyway?"
Nobody needed to reply, as a roar rang through the narrow passageway, a horrified cry following it. Atlanta sped up, turning the corner, with the others at her heels.
When they finally halted, their eyes had to grow accustomed to the even dimmer light until they collectively breathed in with horror.
Herry had pinned Odie forcefully against the stone wall of the dead-end, the keys to his truck thrown aside carelessly. Odie was groaning in pain, his left arm bent behind his back at an awkward angle; the longer Herry held the broken limb, the quieter his moans became, and Herry drew his strong arm back for a final punch.
Atlanta's bolas beat him to it, entangling his legs and causing Herry to collapse, leaving Odie to slump against the wall, his eyes slipping close and the blood from his broken, battered arm seeping quickly through his shirt. Neil managed to make his way past the enraged Herry, kneeling next to Odie and trying to pull him up.
With a savage roar, Herry broke free of the bolas, his eyes wild as he turned to face the other four. He flexed his huge muscles and threw his head back, roaring again like an animal might just before striking its prey. He took a step closer, his teeth bared, but Archie drew his Hephaestus whip and flung loosely around Herry's broad chest and arms, and Archie pressed the button on the side of the handle, causing an electric charge to travel through the length of wire and making the muscular teenager shake as he passed out. Archie grimly retracted the whip, jabbing it into the pocket of his sweater.
Theresa ran forward, taking Herry's shoulders, and shook him forcefully until his eyes began to open slowly. Neil tried a similar method with Odie, but only evoked another cry of pain. "Leave him be," Jay painfully muttered; in his heart, he wanted to make sure Odie was alright as well, but his mind told him that would be a better job for Chiron.
The combined efforts of the two girls finally got Herry to open his eyes, his body still weak from the electrical charge. His eyes were back to normal, no longer filled with the savage, primitive light they had been filled with before. He moaned gently.
Archie stood in the middle of it all, his hands clenched. "We'd better get them to the gods, Jay," he heard himself say, but his voice was faraway and faint. Everyone glanced at him, Neil's face especially white and scared from witnessing Odie's pain up close. "Archie!" he heard Atlanta say in a panicked voice, before he fell over and everything went black.
A/N: Alright, that was depressing to even write. Well, more on Odie and Herry in the next chapter, and the actual fighting/attempted capturing of Erida will start (I think) in either the next chapter, or the one after it.
One a more cheerful note, thanks to everyone who's left a review so far! That would be to the amazing 0lympias, Princess Aelita Lyoko, Sandall, Ishii Sen Ling, Twill, Nick Conway, ChattyPants, Raven Child2, EilayAdnayVolieay, and christiankikyo! Your thoughts have been very much appreciated!