Authors notes: Alright. Sorry for such a long wait. I wasn't able to get to my dads. Anyway, I found a printed version of my story so I re-wrote the chapter from that. It's a little different than what was written, but only by a few sentences. Hope you like it and once again I'm incredibly sorry about the wait.

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Chapter 10 Wounded

Atlanta was in and out to see Archie regularly, while Herry, Neil, Odie, Jay and Theresa made a point of visiting daily. He hadn't healed much and Chiron was getting anxious. Archie lay on the couch at all times, having neither the strength nor every to sit up. Archie claimed that he felt better everyday, although the wound wasn't healing he was assured it was because he need more time. He would never race Atlanta and win again, of that he was sure. Of course she wasn't able to reach quite the speed she used to since she herself was injured.

As Atlanta made her way to see Archie she was horrified to see that the gods were gathered around him, heads lowered in careful examination. They made no attempt to make the girl leave, however, when she rushed to his side. He was quiet, eyes closed and still pale, but his hand was warm and his chest rose and fell in a steady motion as he breathed. "Atlanta, he's alright. His wound wasn't healing as fast as we had hoped. Dionysus recently found a herb that helps to speed up the healing process. He assured us he was alright when he took it and fell asleep shortly after. Its been healing steadily since." Persephone explained, pointing to his chest where new skin was creeping across the angry red slash.

Atlanta nodded in understanding and remained seated next to Archie. Not a single Titan had joked about her or Archie lately. None of them had thought it respectful or proper as the two had both injured themselves to help the other teens and had shown their affection publicly without problems after Archie had been injured. The whole team had been present when Archie had applied a gentle pressure to Atlanta's hand to give her assurance.

Atlanta sighed in relief as she spotted a grin flickering on Archie's face. The gods behind her smiled. "Archie! The gods scared me half to death. When I came in all I could see was them looking all solemn watching you. I thought something bad had happened!" she exclaimed as he opened his eyes. He smiled. "Well I hope they explained to you why. That herb tasted bad enough! Besides, I knew it wasn't going to kill me." He added. Glancing at his chest he laughed. "I know for a fact you didn't heal this quickly." Atlanta laughed and turned to thank the Gods, however they were gone. "Well they weren't offering herbs to me." "Oh? Would you have accepted them in all your stubbornness?" Atlanta raised an eyebrow. "My stubbornness? Oh very funny Arch." "I know. Now, aside from worrying what have you been doing?" He asked. He had kept up with things outside of Chiron's study and made a point of knowing what Atlanta had been doing.

She grinned. "Well, Classes, regular boring things, notes, doodling, teachers talk, we listen, day-dream. And other than school I train, sleep and attend some of the extra classes. Advanced weapons training and stuff." Carefully Archie sat up. "Would you look at that. I can sit up now." He paused. "I wonder if I can stand…" Atlanta's expression changed to worry once again. "Archie don't try it." She warned. Archie sighed patiently. "First bit of pain I'll sit down alright? I promise." He added. Somewhat reluctantly she nodded. Slowly Archie pulled himself up so that he was standing. "And now walking." Atlanta linked her arm through Archie's and Archie confidently strode forward. "Ok. And don't worry. I won't try running." He smiled as he caught sight of her concerned face, changing to relief. "Think Hera would explode if I stole you and took you back to the dorm to see the others?" Atlanta wondered. "Maybe asking would do some good." He suggested. "Asking what?" a voice asked. Atlanta turned around, shocked. "Oh!" "I was wondering, seeing as how I can walk and stuff, if I was able to go back to the dorm." Archie explained, silently praying he'd be able to. Hera considered it for a moment before nodding. "On these conditions: You will remain out of classes till next Monday and, even though your healing well, your bandage is to be put on and remain there. Alright?" He nodded. "Alright. I'll keep them on and I'll get the homework from the others."

There was an uproar of yells and excitement as Archie attempted to walk, unnoticed into the dorm. Atlanta grinned. "Face it Arch. There was no way in the world you were going to pass them unnoticed." She murmured. He found himself answering question after question about how he felt and if he needed anything and why he was home. "Alright alright! I need to sit down before you all kill me." He glanced apologetically at Atlanta as she flinched the slightest bit.

Slouching on the couch in the living room Archie adjusted the ankle brace he wore while listening to a list of questions. One from Odie stuck out the most. "I thought you were only able to feel pain in your heel. How come you were able to feel it then?" he asked. The purple-haired descendant of Achilles shrugged. "I asked Hera the same question. She said that even Achilles could feel pain in places other than his heel. I don't remember a lot of what she said, but she did say that part of the reason is because I'm not Achilles himself, just a descendant of him." he explained. He refrained from mentioning the herb, or the reason Hera hadn't told them about the blade. He'd wait for a bit.

Twenty minutes of questioning later, Archie found himself scavenging through the fridge, shoving Herry away in a game. They'd shove one another away and Dart to the fridge until the girls came down. Archie winced, knowing that he'd be scolded by either one or both the girls. Involuntarily biting his lip he waited as Atlanta and Theresa came into view.

"Archie! Your going to kill yourself!" Theresa exclaimed. "Herry, quit shoving him, get something to eat and get a move on." Theresa was an expert at scolding, having a father to learn off of. She'd mastered the tone and expression that went along with it by the age of ten. Herry nodded and glanced at Atlanta, half expecting her to smack him over the head. "Don't look at me! Theresa's the one to look out for when it comes to anything with words." Archie grinned and the two boys grabbed sandwiches (having forgotten their camping incident), and headed back into the living room.

"What happened to you two! You look as if you were caught in a tornado!" Jay laughed as Herry and Archie strolled into the brownstone two days later. Archie's hair was ruffled and stuck up in ragged tufts resembling the two regular cowlicks while his sweater was plastered in mud and leaves. Herry was in a similar condition. "Not quite. We decided to chuck the football at each other for the right to the fridge. First one to drop the ball lost. So naturally we ended up falling into mud puddles, running backwards into bushes, stepping on cats tails…" Jay laughed. "Archie, are you sure you should be doing that?" he asked after a minute, trying to be serious. Archie shrugged. "Anyway, who won?" jay asked. Theresa walked in. "Neither of them." She grinned. "Atlanta and I jumped in and caught it. Then we…well Atlanta…totally outran the boys and got the kitchen to ourselves." She announced cheerfully. Atlanta grinned and held up the dirty brown ball.

"Finished raiding the kitchen yet?" Archie asked, speaking for the first time in the conversation. "I'm starving." Atlanta shrugged. "Your always starving. Anyway, no but if you go and change into something cleaner we might be when you get down. And don't forget not to take off the bandage!" She added. Laughing she listened to the thudding of their feet as they bounded up the stairs and into their rooms. Ten minutes later Archie and Herry were wolfing down a box of leftover pizza and chugging a bottle of pop.

"Come on Archie we haven't got all day!" Odie called the next morning. The sunlight poured into the windows of the brownstone. The teens were all hurrying to get ready for school yet Archie hadn't shown his face yet. There wasn't any reply from Archie. Again Odie banged on the door. "C'mon Man!" silence. "Archie?" Once again nothing but silence greeted him. "Jay! You and Herry may want to come help me!" he called, a worried tone entering his voice. The two were soon opening the door to Archie's room. It was terrible.