All's Fair in Love and Hate: Chapter 9
It was painful, the way her voice burned at his ears, and Archie struggled to block out the sound of Erida's practised scream, hands clenched between his knees and eyes squeezed shut in agony. After what seemed like hours, he managed to stagger upright and look hopelessly up at the goddess, who triumphantly hovered lower at the scene behind him, giggling.
Turning around hastily, the boy groaned. Atlanta and Theresa had just begun fighting again, much more viciously now as they hit and kicked each other. The apple was tossed back and forth as they fought to reclaim it, employing any dirty means to grasp it for a second before it was tugged away. Jay, on the other hand, was collapsed on the ground, face scrunched up in pain and hands tightly wound up in his dirt-stained shirt. Archie would like to think the team's leader would stand up, unaffected, but it was not wise to take chances.
Pathetically moaning, Neil sat on the ground as he attempted to fix his mussed hair. Archie growled furiously at this. The blond seemed less and less involved with the team lately, he thought, always going off by himself to admire his lovely reflection, and not helping out enough in fights. Grabbing Neil's tazer, Archie swung it at the blond. The weapon hit Neil on the arm, shocking him painfully.
Once the shock had subsided, Neil looked up at Archie. "What was that for?" he asked half-heartedly.
"Use it!" Archie shouted with annoyance as he turned back to face the goddess, whip out at the ready. "Look!"
The blond, holding one end of his tazer, spread his hands out. "What's wrong?"
The pulsing electricity at the other end of the weapon jolted, sending a shock through Jay, who had crept up on the other boy and had unfortunately been whacked with the weapon when Neil had lifted it up. The blond groaned as he turned around, looking at his electrified friend. "Great," Neil muttered, and ran over to try and calm the two girls down.
Facing Erida, Archie flicked his whip, the barb at the tip cutting across the goddess's foot, slicing through her threadbare sandals and nicking the skin underneath. She howled, reaching down and clutching her foot for a moment before angrily landing and launching a round of acid-filled pellets at the teenager. He dodged them easily, taunting the goddess with a mocking laugh. "You couldn't hit me if I was wide as a battlefield!"
Screeching, the goddess furiously curled her hands up into fists, face red with anger. Archie looked back at Neil, and with relief noted that he had managed to stop the two girls from clawing at each other - though they were still fighting over that stupid apple. He understood Theresa being attracted to that sort of thing, but Atlanta?
Not waiting for her opposition to face her again, Erida let out another shrill scream. Archie winced, dropping to the ground with his last thought still forming in his mind, the sound penetrating his mind painfully.
Once the cry had finally faded from his senses, Archie groaned, looking back at the others again. With slight horror, he noted that Theresa and Atlanta were now fighting with their nails again, trying to rip at each other's hair and clothes, and Jay was looking a bit worse for wear, his eyes bloodshot and fierce. Thankfully, Neil struggled to reach for the tazer which had fallen from his hands, and tried to shock them out of it.
Archie turned back to the goddess, determination setting over his face. "You're not going to win," he said fiercely, hand over his whip. She answered by letting fly more of the small capsules in his direction, which he rolled away from narrowly and stood clumsily, lashing the razor cord out at the goddess. His aim was, to his dismay, far off to one side, missing her completely. He had no time to ponder this, though, because she sent another round of pellets at him.
Luckily for Archie, most of her capsules soared above his head, embedding themselves into the pavement behind him. However, three of the pellets came in contact with his golden brace.
Horrified, the boy watched as the acid ate away at the carefully melded joints, causing the brace to uselessly fall apart into three pieces. They clattered to the ground, the gold gleaming in the light, and he stared up at the goddess striding towards him with a cruel grin on her face.
Archie struggled to stand up, weak ankle unsteady, not used to the absence of the heavy brace. He brandished his whip, eyes narrowing at her smug expression, focused intently on her.
Of course, he did not expect her to throw her head back with relish and scream.
He collapsed, weak ankle twisting under his weight, and groaned. Something dark welled up inside him, something bitter and angry that invaded his thoughts even as he tried to fight them off. His vision clouded with spots of crimson and jagged streaks of black as he opened his eyes with hatred for everything around him.
Spotting the goddess standing just before him, he bared his teeth. He knew her. He knew he hated her, hated her with all his might and all the power of his soul, hated her with something he had never experienced before - hate darkening his senses, hate forming a lump in his throat and a barrier to everything else.
Archie reached out stupidly, forgetting the weapon that lay beside him as he tore at her leg with his fingers. He left only one pathetic scratch across his leg before she seized his arm, pulling him off the ground with a strength he didn't seem to remember, and slammed the boy viciously back down.
His weak ankle gave way, electrocuting him with pain from head to toe. Twisted at an unnatural angle, he looked down at it and willed subconsciously for the pain to go away, for his eyes to close... the greater part of his mind blocked this thought, anger welling up and hate still lingering. Archie attempted to paw at Erida's foot, failing.
Erida seized his arm again, lifting him up with a heave and throwing him with all her might against the far wall. He dimly processed this, feeling only a numbing sensation crawling down his bruised backbone and through his leg as the weak ankle was yet again subjected to a heavy land on the cold stone pavement. This time, the hateful emotion was satisfied, and it faded into pure pain.
The goddess, he was sure of later, would have come closer to finish him off. No - he knew she would have done so, and he heard the steps towards him that mocked his agonising injuries. She laughed at him, eyes narrowed cruelly as she lifted a foot to push his weak ankle down, grind it into the ground. Someone must have told her about the ankle, he thought faintly. The pain was so great it was almost bearable. His eyes slipped closed a little.
Suddenly, though, there was a cry and a heavy thud of a body against the ground. Archie's eyes opened in alarm, and he looked around, startled. A smile made its way over his face.
Someone very large, very muscular, and wearing a very orange shirt was wrestling Erida on the ground, his brown hair ruffled. Herry had leaped onto the goddess, pushing her away from Archie and struggling to wrest her into submission. Archie's small smile turned into a grin of relief. Jay had been right; Herry would always come back.
Predictably, though, the goddess made her usual cowardly way out: she opened her mouth and shrilly screamed. It didn't bother Archie; he was in too much pain to register it, he supposed. Managing to sit up against the wall, Archie made out Neil still running around the alley, a panicked expression on his face, trying to subdue the catfighting girls and the wild Jay. Herry didn't seem too affected by Erida's trademark scream; he was still trying to punch her.
Neil never gets affected, Archie noted with a bit of a frown. He watched the blond hurriedly shock Jay, who limply indicated a thank-you, his body not too happy for the many electrical sparks that had been jammed in. The scream doesn't always get everyone, either, he added to his thoughts.
Still somewhat dazed, Archie watched Neil squeal as he neared the girls, jumping back and hugging himself as they almost scratched him. A thoughtful expression made its way onto his face. Neil's always thinking about himself, but that can't be it - why would thinking about Neil stop Erida?
His eyes glanced upon Atlanta and Theresa as Neil finally shocked them, and his face hardened for a moment. He had to help them, he desperately reasoned, he had to figure out how to stop her scream. If he didn't, Atlanta and Theresa might get hurt - or worse, die - and if Atlanta got hurt...
Archie closed his eyes for a moment, breathing deeply. If Atlanta was hurt, if she died, he wouldn't be able to show her how much he liked her... suddenly, his eyes flew open. That's it!
Just as Erida opened her mouth to let out a scream again, Archie yelled at the top of his lungs, "Think about someone you love!"
Even Theresa and Atlanta stopped fighting for a moment, their faces turned towards him, though they resumed albeit slightly more slowly. Neil blinked as his hand sought out the mirror in his pocket, and Jay looked up to the sky with an unreadable expression on his face.
It was sharp, very sharp, and almost as loud as the strongest scream Erida had ever voiced. It echoed in the dark alley, rebounding against the walls and off the ground as it skimmed over the golden apple between Theresa and Atlanta's hands.
Neil's hand clenched over the mirror in his pocket, so tightly the bones of his hand were visible. Jay's eyes closed for a moment, as if in deep thought, his face still facing the heavens. Herry, rolling off Erida because of the forceful inhalation she had given for the scream, was looking down at his balled hands. Archie himself was looking directly at Atlanta. I love her.
Erida looked back at them, something dangerous coming over her face as she realised nothing had happened. Furiously, she rolled her hands into fists again and tried to scream. After the high note finished reverberating around the alley, she hopelessly realised that it wasn't going to work, at all.
Instead of saying anything else, the goddess rose to her feet and quickly tried to jump off the ground, her wings folding out. Gleefully, she mocked them as she rose above the ground with the flap of her wings, about to escape.
Jay, however, had other plans. Having recovered from his tiring trials, the leader ran up to her and leaped off the ground, grabbing hold of her left foot. Erida's wings faltered somewhat, but continued to strongly flap and carry them upward.
Coming to his senses, Herry easily wrapped his hand around Jay's foot, pulling the two down with all of his strength. As soon as Jay's feet grazed the ground, Herry pushed Erida back to the ground and pinned her there, easily withstanding her constant struggles. Jay smiled gratefully at the Herculean teen. "I'm glad you came back," he said softly.
Herry nodded at this, his usual grin coming over his face. "So am I."
Quickly, Neil took hold of the unbreakable Olympian rope they had brought to the scene, and Jay tied the goddess up, securing the knots easily. "That should stop her from trying anything," he said, satisfied.
With an angry growl, the goddess replied, "Cronus will come for me, you'll see it!"
Herry rolled his eyes, stepping over to the two quarrelling girls. He easily lifted them away from each other, the golden apple dropping from Atlanta's hand and rolling away to come to a stop at Archie's side, where he slipped it into his pocket.
As soon as the golden apple disappeared from sight, the two girls blinked in confusion.
"Were we arguing over an apple?" Theresa asked, looking somewhat alarmed. Herry gently lowered the two girls to the ground as they looked away in shame.
Archie laughed at their comical expressions. "You definitely were."
Atlanta winced. "Oh, gods," she muttered, slapping herself on the forehead. "I'm going to need a long run after this."
Shaking his head wryly, Jay cheerfully said, "You'll get one, but we need to get her -" he gestured to the tied-up goddess, who bared her teeth - "back to the gods."
Archie struggled to stand, failing miserably. For the first time, Neil noticed how painfully hurt the other boy was, and he rushed over, attempting to help him up and trying to gather the broken parts of his brace at the same time. "Chiron will have to attend to you," Jay observed with a wince as he gathered up the many items scattered on the ground they had left behind, "I'm afraid you'll have to spend some more time with him." Archie nodded, his teeth gritted as Neil carefully aided him in standing, balanced carefully on his unhurt foot.
Unexpectedly, a bright dazzle of light outlined a neat oval in mid-air. Erida grinned. "He's here," she hissed, with relief.
The oval of light fleshed out, becoming a fiery ring. Atlanta and Jay both stiffened unconsciously, Theresa reaching for her nunchucks, as the inside of the oval became a mirror of the night sky. A leg swathed in black pants was observable through the portal, then Cronus appeared in front of them.
"Cronus!" Jay cried, drawing his xiphos. Atlanta took hold of her wrist crossbow, and Theresa spun her nunchucks threateningly.
"Don't worry, children," the god of Time replied dryly, "I'm not in the mood to fight you today. I've come to reclaim what is mine."
Erida brightened up, her face almost excited. "I told you he'd come for me!" she triumphantly crowed.
Cronus rolled his eyes. "You were entertaining for the most part, Erida," he said coldly, "but I'm afraid you've failed me."
The goddess' face fell. "What?" she whispered, stringy hair falling over her face.
Neil watched this exchange with a confused look on his face. "Um, so are we attacking you or not?" he asked, voice slightly higher-pitched in confusion.
Smiling, the god shook his head. "No, Neil," he said calmly, and drew an elegant hand.
With a click of his long fingers, Erida stiffened painfully with a cry. The fiery wings that had been attached to her back now tore themselves off her, beating twice in all their brilliant glory before folding up and disappearing into a pair of tiny dark discs. They dropped into Cronus' hand, and he tucked them away into his pocket. "I'll be going now," Cronus said, dark eyes flickering over the children and not even glancing over at the goddess.
As he turned away, Erida moaned. "You said you loved me!" she cried in an uncharacteristically vulnerable voice, biting down on her lower lip. A tear was threatening to spill out from the corner of her eye, and the six teenagers watched the developing scene in disbelief.
Slowly, Cronus turned back to face her. "I lied," he answered cruelly, a smile twisting his features. He stepped into his portal, ignoring the soft whimper from the goddess. They were surprised to see that she didn't make a noise as she cried, merely closing her eyes as tears cascading down her dirty cheeks and wetting her cracked lips. As Jay watched, he felt almost sympathetic with the goddess who had just been throwing acid-filled pellets at them.
Pausing from his position at the portal, the god in the black suit turned, looking directly at Jay. "By the way, Jay..."
The leader brandished his xiphos. "What?" he replied roughly.
"Your sword has melted," the god answered, a hint of laughter in his voice as he flashed a grin. "You might want to fix that."
With those parting words, the god vanished, fire-ringed portal swallowing him up to bring him who-knew-where. Atlanta looked helplessly from the silently devastated Erida to Jay, who merely sighed, eyeing the very blunt blade of his deformed xiphos.
"Let's go home."
thisisadivider
A/N: a quick update, I thought you readers might like the chapter served faster this time. x) So, we find out why the scream affects some people but not others - I hope some of you thought about that!
No, this is NOT the last chapter. I'm making it an even ten; there's some stuff that needs to be tied up in the next chapter. Hopefully you'll find it a nice fluffy happy ending!
As always: reviews much appreciated, as are favourites and pageviews!