Hia, Thank you all very much for not giving up on my story! I greatly appreciate it! And warning, the end of the chapter may make you cry a little. So be prepared.

Not saying the disclaimer, you all know what I mean anyways.

Chapter Nine: Tears of forgiveness

Jay slowly opened his eyes. Where am I? He thought. His eyes adjusted to the darkness and realized that he was in the basement. Did I pass out in here or something? He thought to himself as he sat up strait.

He did not remember falling asleep, or even sitting down or anything. He rubbed his eyes and stood up, feeling really sore, yet somehow refreshed from his few hours of sleep. This is so weird, he thought stretching his hands. And as he did, he felt something fall of his shouldersAs there was a small thud on the floor, Jay turned around and crouched to the floor. Something was on the floor, it was fuzzy, pink and light. And also it at had the most beautiful feminine smell to it. Suddenly Jay stopped , Fuzzy? PINK?! Jay looked around at what was wrapped around his shoulders. It was not a blanket, it was a housecoat. And not just anyone's housecoat, it was Theresa's. Jay blushed, how did Theresa's housecoat end up around his shoulders? Suddenly it was a lot chillier then it was before. Jay pulled the coat tightly around himself. He liked the smell of Theresa's robe, it smelled like roses and lavender, so fresh, so clean, so exotic, and so, so much like Theresa. It smelled so mysterious, so feminine that Jay felt shy just looking at it. But how had it got there in the first place? Was Theresa worrying about him over the night? Had she been so scared for him that she actually woke up in the middle of her sleep just to make his rest, that little more comfortable?

Jay smiled to himself. It was so like Theresa to worry about him during harsh and dangerous times. And although he would never believe himself, he actually liked that Theresa was constantly thinking of him. Jay sighed. He could never stop thinking about her. Even when she was not around, he was constantly thinking about her. And he never knew why. Was it the way she smiled at him and made his hopes lift up when he saw her? Was it the sweet melody her voice always made as she called his name? Or was it just those adorable features on her face that made the world shine brighter then heaven.

There was only one possibility that made sense, Jay loved Theresa.

Jay shook his head to rid himself of those thoughts. He had to keep remembering that Theresa was out of bounds. To love her, would mean to put her life in mortal danger from Cronus. No, he could not possibly love her; he could NEVER tell her how he felt. He would only ruin their friendship more then he had before by locking her and the others out of his life for such a long time. Nope, he could NEVER love her. He could stare at her when her back was turned and think about her every second of his life, but he could DEFINETLY NOT love her. He would not risk her life over something his heart was telling him. Maybe, just maybe when Cronus was defeated they would be able to spend their lives together as Jay always wished. But not now. There was to much work to be done. To much searching Jay still had to accomplish, and as he kept reminding himself, he would never get any work done if he kept on taking these stupid breaks. Yes he was tired and worn out by working but this is the price he had to pay for being the team's leader.

Morning sleepy head.

Jay groaned and banged his head on his desk. "Not again," Jay whispered tears flooding in his eyes.

Cronus's voice laughed at him and echoed around the room in loud jeers.

You did not think I forgot you? Did you Jay?

Jay did not reply, and Cronus laughed. Jay covered his ears to block out the horrible sound. It was so evil, so maniacal, so in human, it was scary.

Awe, pour little defenseless Jay thought he was all alone for once.

What's wrong Jay? Don't enjoy my company? It makes me feel so horrible to know you may not like me.

"Never have, never will." He hissed through clenched teeth, clutching the side of the desk so hard splinters were pushing into the palm of his hand.

Now, come Jay, let's not get too angry now. What have I ever done to you?

"You have made my life a living nightmare for one." Jay growled out to him shaking in anger at the silent torment.

Well, I for one am happy that I have seemed to accomplish something, unlike you. Admit it Jay, you were doomed to failure from the start. You are either the worst leader I have ever seen or the dumbest.

"Shut up" he hissed. "I am a great leader, I have protected my friends, and I am close to defeating you!"

Cronus laughed at him more. Dear Jay, he said, where were you when I was killing poor, beautiful Theresa eh? SAVING her? More like LEADING her to her death. All you have ever done is fail them, torturing them with your silence. But who needs those friends anyways, hm Jay? You always have me Jay. I can always be your friend. Even when the others desert you, leave you behind sobbing in the dust. I will always be there for you. I will always be your friend.

"I don't want you there. All you have ever done is hurt me and the others. All you want is to take over the world. Why would I want someone like YOU to be my friend?!" Jay yelled.

I can be an amazing friend Jay. And a powerful ally too. But I can be an even deadlier enemy. Which side would you rather be on Jay? The losing side where worthless teenagers pin their hopes on an even MORE worthless leader? Or the winning side where I can rule the earth with an iron fist?

"I'll never join you!" He hissed out angrily. How dare he even THINK that he would betray his friends like that?

That's what you think. With your little friends of yours just standing around their hopelessly, who is there to stop me from getting what I want? Hm?

Oh and guess what Jay. I just found out the most interesting thing about you. Would you like to hear what it is?

I just found out, that my little boy is in love! Oh Jay! I was so taken back when I found out. Congratulations." He hissed.

Jay's face had gone completely white. No, he couldn't possibly know. Could he?

"No, no you can't!" He whispered out in fear.

Can't what Jay? Did I say I was going to do anything to young Theresa?

"You bastard, I will find you, I will stop you from hurting her anymore." he whispered fear clearly showing in his face.

Wow Jay, I never knew you cared about her the much. And who are you intending on searching with hm? Definitely not those weak minded friends of yours? If you do, then you are doomed to failure from the start. They do not even trust you anymore

They trust me!" He yelled out in anger, "We are a team!"

Cronus just laughed out again this time louder. Jay was now standing and panting, letting out huge gasps of breath he had been holding in. Sweat was pouring down his forehead, blurring his sight, and pouring down his cheeks and dripping down the floor. As Cronus continued to laugh, Jay could not take it anymore. In anger and frustration he pushed all of his work onto the floor, not even bothering where it went.

You and your friends are no team. Cronus said after finishing his fits of jeering.

This statement angered Jay even more and he started to growl.

You are just a bunch of mindless teenagers, hoping that if they pray hard enough, they will win the battle against the god of time. Besides, they probably will never forgive you anyway.

"I will kill you." Jay whispered, tears pouring down his cheeks, flooding his vision.

My, my Jay, crying now are we? You truly are weaker then I thought.

Jay had enough. He could not take it anymore.

He stood up, he had to leave. He had to stop; he had to find someway to get rid of the horrible voice in his head.

Wish to escape me Jay? Cronus sneered at him. You will find that quite impossible No matter where you are,

Jay hurried across the room and opened the small wooden door.

No matter how hard you fight,

Jay rushed up the stairs, this voice had to stop, and it had to. He cried out as he felt horrible pain fill his head because of the voice's jeers. He opened the door that led to the kitchen where the rest of his friends were gathered around the table silently eating their breakfast.

I am always there.

In the kitchen:

Theresa played around with her cereal with a spoon, mixing around the cheerios in her bowl. Today was definitely not a good morning. First she had woken up at five thirty in the morning, fun fun fun! Then after a quick peek in on Jay she went to the living room to watch some TV when she realized the power was out. It took about 3 hours before the power finally came on, and by that time, the only thing on was stupid soap operas! She hoped that Jay would suddenly decide it was time for a break, but still no sign of Jay.

So she decides to go outside for a walk, and as soon as she steps out the door, it starts to rain!

Perfect beginning to a perfect day! She had thought as she walked back inside after getting dunked with rain water.

Soon after her other friends had woken up. Still no sign of Jay.

Theresa sighed looking out the window where rain was still pouring out in tiny droplets. The rain kind of reminded her of her tears. All the tears she had ever cried for the one she loved, all for Jay. Although he probably will never realize it. She was hurting worse then death. Every moment of her life since they first met, was spent thinking about him. During gym class, him. During lunch, him. When they were on some crazy mission to save the world, him. All she ever thought about was him, during the day, and especially at night. Soon she actually gave up on trying to not to sleep. Only this night she was able to stop herself from sleeping. And that was because she did not want to see IT happen again. Her dreams about Jay had been getting even worse now. Now she was not just dreaming up things about Cronus, it was now showing Cronus KILLING Jay! Every time.

Jay would be standing there tears pouring down his cheeks, his scream engulfing the midnight sky. Blood was pouring out of his mouth as he screamed and from about a million other wounds on his body. Cronus would walk strait up to Jay, his back facing her and he lifted up one of his scythes to prepare for the final blow. Theresa would scream bloody murder and break down into tears as Cronus brought down his scythe and slashed Jay to pieces. Blood poured down his body as his corpse fell to the ground. Cronus would just stand up and disappear into the shadows. Theresa would slowly crawl up to Jay and cradle his body in her arms, and Theresa would sit there and cry her heart out. And then when she thought all hope was lost, Jay opened his eyes and looked at her. For a split second, Theresa thought he was actually going to make it through this, that Jay would live on and leave all of this behind. But instead Jay said the most hurtful words he could have said to Theresa.

"You evil little bitch," He would mummer his voice filled with venom, "You did nothing, you just sat there and watched me die. I hate you!" Those were the last words she heard, as always right after he would say those words; she would wake up from the nightmare.

Every night Theresa would start screaming, REAL tears pouring down her face falling onto the sweaty sheets. Usually Atlanta, who was the closest to Theresa's room, would run inside her room in a hurry. Blurting out and asking her what had happened. But Theresa would always shake her head and mummer "Bad dream" before shooing her friend out of the room. As soon as Atlanta had left Theresa would continue to cry her eyes out into the pillow. Not pausing for even the tiniest of breaths.

This can't be happening, this CANT be real! She would whisper to herself every time the dream ended. But that would only make the tears start to flow harder. This was just too much, this was too much for her to handle.

Theresa did not have to look at her friends to no that all eyes were on her. She was now used to that sort of treatment. Ever since she had awakened, at least one of her friends have always been with her. None of them wanted to leave her side. They were all too afraid she would die on them.

Theresa could hear yelling coming from downstairs in the basement and a swift movement. They all new that Jay was yelling, but they just could not find out exactly what he was yelling about. Theresa sighed and took a sip of her orange juice. This was the third morning the group had woken up to Jay's screaming. The third time something like this has happened. She could tell he was hiding something from her, from all of them. He was working way too hard, and the pressure was just eating away his soul inside. It was not good for his health. Lately he had been staying up past midnight and not retiring to his bed for sleep. She was really worried about him, they were all worried about him.

Oh dear, here she goes again, talking about Jay. Why is it that she could never stop thinking about him? Why was he always on his mind? Why was it that even in her sleep, all she could think about him?

Because you love him, She thought to herself. But she just shook the thought from her head, No way! I do not love him! Even if I did, love is an extreme thing. Even if he loved me back and we got into a relationship. I know what the relationship would end up having.

Theresa blushed to herself. How could she even THINK about her and Jay doing something as extreme as THAT!

"Damn hormones," She murmured under her breath. Suddenly she looked up. The rest of the team was looking up at her with wide eyes, they had heard everything she had said.

Her face became as red as her shirt, Oh great, she thought to herself, now they must think I am hallucinating, man this sucks.

But the tension of the room only increased as Jay burst through the door, sweating and panting.

The group's attention quickly moved away from Theresa and towards Jay. This is the first time anyone had seen Jay ever since Theresa had awakened. And man were they ever happy they didn't. Jay looked terrible, like he had just died and came back again, only to die once more.

He was staring at the team with tired bloodshot eyes. His face was wrinkled with worry and saddened. His muscles were worn and perplexed. He had a very worried look on his face that sent his friends in a worry of panic. He was leaning on the door frame as if he did not have the strength to hold himself up. There were huge black bags under his eyes that went so far down they almost reached his cheeks. His eyes were puffy and red, his eyebrows were furrowed in what seemed to be anger.

For a moment no one spoke.

Theresa looked at Jay with pity in her eyes. What is he doing to himself? She wondered to herself as Jay's dazed eyes looked around the room.

Still no one said anything.

The tension filled up around the room as jay's eyes met Theresa's. He winced when he looked strait into her eyes. As soon as he looked at her he could see all the damage he had done to her. He could actually see the pain seeping out of her, the pain of shunning.

Still not a word.

The teams' eyes looked back and forth between their tired leader and their hurt friend. Both of them seemed not to wish to let go of the others gaze. Both were eagerly looking into the others eyes. Looking for something within them. Searching for something, was it forgiveness, or was it hope?

Still no one spoke.

For awhile nobody said anything. Finally Jay sighed and broke his gaze away from Theresa. "I-I just came to get another coffee." He said weakly, quickly walking towards the coffee pot and taking a large cup from the cupboard. He poured a large amount of coffee into his cup and sat down across from Theresa. Everyone was silent as they ate their breakfast. No one spoke.

Jay sat there and sipped away silently and quickly at his large cup of coffee, not even acknowledging she was there. For a while they all just sat there, not moving nor speaking. Suddenly Theresa opened her mouth to speak, but Jay had already placed his coffee cup in the sink and headed towards the basement door.

"Hey wait Jay!" Theresa called out to him. Jay froze his hand on the door knob. "What?" He whispered, tilting his head slightly so he could see the questioning stares of his friends. "Um I thought that maybe, well you know, all seven of us could do something together. You know? Like we could go to the park, or go see a movie. I heard there is this great knew movie called,"

"No," Jay said sharply and dangerously. "I have no time for such things. I just came up to get a coffee. Now I am going back to my work."

That was it. Those were the words that broke her heart. "So what your saying is," Theresa snapped at him angrily, "That you have time to come up here to get another cup from that damn coffee machine, but you don't have enough time to even spend time with us?!"

This was just too much to take for her.

"What is happening to you Jay?" She basically screamed now, standing up from her chair and pointing an accusing finger at him. "You are up at the crack of dawn like some kind of rooster, and you NEVER take some sleep. You NEVER stop drinking that damn coffee, just so that you can stay awake to do more work. Just so you can go back done to that DAMN basement of yours, just so you could look for that DAMN CRONUS!" Tears poured down her cheeks uncontrollably as she said those hurtful words to Jay.

The rest of the team said nothing. They were too shocked to speak. Theresa had just yelled at Jay! Now what were the odds of that ever happening? Usually Theresa was really good at controlling her anger during times like these. But now, it was like she was out of control.

"You don't understand." Jay murmured weakly not looking up from the door handle.

"I am helping to protect you all, I am making sure none of you get hurt."

"Not get hurt?" She croaked out, her tears choking her. "Jay look at us. Do we look like none of us have been hurt this whole time?"

Now it was Jay's turn for his heart to break. This was too much for him to take.

"YOU DO NOT UNDERSTAND!" He yelled, tears welling up in his eyes. " Do you all know what I have done for you? For all of you? I have locked you out of my life for your safety! I have made sure Cronus couldn't kill you all like he almost did to Theresa. And what do you guys do? Just stand there like gawking idiots and yell at me! Have any of you ever gone to help me? Any of you? Do you know how much of my life I

Have given up for you? I been trying, I have been trying to make this better for all of you. So that way we can see are families again, so we can be normal again.

I can't stand to see any of you get hurt! Not again! I can't, I CANT! I- I just can't."

Finally Jay broke down, his knees fell weak and he dropped to the floor. Shaking all over, tears pouring down his face. He just kneeled there, crying, letting out all of his emotions, all of his pain, escape from him.

"And the only way to do that is to keep you uninvolved. So that my burden of being a leader does not affect you all. So that way every night I do not have to beg for forgiveness because I failed you all. Because another one of you got hurt."

Jay stayed there like that as he spoke continue to sob, and continuing to pray in his mind that the others would forgive him. But he did not stay like that for long.

Soon he was pulled into a tight hug, by two different pairs of hands. Jay looked up and with blurry eyes noticed Atlanta and Theresa hugging him tightly. He looked around and felt some strong hand s gripping his shoulders. Archie and Herry were also leaning down, placing their firm hands onto his shoulders. Neil and Odie were on either side of him, clasping one of their hands in each of his.

Theresa was sobbing into his shirt and so was Atlanta. Jay could feel Archie's hands shaking and Herry had tears in his eyes to. Same with Odie and Neil. No one said anything except for Theresa.

"Don't worry Jay," She whispered into his shirt, "There is nothing to be forgiven. You are our friend, we will always be there to help you. We will always be there to share the burden of being a leader. We will ALWAYS be your friends, not matter what."

Jay smiled nothing more could be said.

Those words she spoke brought out everything good that had happened, and slashed out anything bad.

For once Cronus was wrong, and Jay was right.

And for once, since the longest period of time, Jay was happy.

Awwwwwww. So did you guys cry? I know it was kinda sappy there. But no flames for sappiness! I hate when that happens. And do not worry! The plot is now beginning to form up! Within the next two chapters, I will be getting to the good stuff!

Now please review. I will update faster if you do!