FicWad

Demons Within Me

Disclaimer: See previous chapters

Warnings: Crazy dreams that actually do have a point later on in the future. Atlanta's being her creepy ponder-over-Archie self again.

Pairings: same as always. More hints at Archie/Atlanta

Authors Note: ...I'm back! And I actually did have a nice time on my trip, and I missed you guys a lot! Hope you like this next chapter... it doesn't like me!

Chapter 21: Omens

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Jay stretched out on the green sofa, sipping some coco while he woke up. Surprisingly, it appeared he'd slept in today and everyone else was either still sleeping or gone out without him. Not really feeling like getting in touch with reality just yet, Jay hadn't bothered to call them. He leaned his head back lazily and opened his eyes.

Only to jump up a few moments later when he saw Archie standing above him.

"A-Archie! When did you get back?" he cried, barely registering the scalding burns he was getting on his abdomen from his now-spilled coco.

"Archie never did return," Archie growled in a deeper, throatier voice, like Tulais', "instead, I've returned to finish off what Tulais started so long ago..."

"And what's that?" Jay was slowly stepped backwards, never taking his eyes off Archie while he headed for the stairs- his sword was in his room, though he hoped he wouldn't have to use it.

"To destroy the gods. To be rid of useless species like mankind. You should have never trusted me, Jay, because now you will die for your foolishness!"

Without warning Archie lunged forwards and tackled Jay to the ground. Jay yelped in surprised and kicked and punched at Archie. Archie grabbed his hands and, holding them away from Jay's face so he couldn't protect himself, he smiled darkly.

"Never trust a demon, Jay. We are only creatures of darkness, belong to the shadow. We'll kill without regret and I'll kill everyone you care about," as Archie spoke Jay could see the long fangs in his mouth, and Archie's voice echoed around him- almost accompanied by a female voice but Jay had no time to worry about that.

"I've killed your friends while you slept, and they screamed but you did not hear them. I drank their blood and you did not come to their aid. What kind of leader are you?"

Jay nearly threw up as a slideshow of images of his friends, still lying in their beds, lay with their faces twisted in silent screams and their bodies in massacre. He closed his eyes and tried not to think about it, but it seemed that even with his eyes clamped shut he could still see everything clearly.

It was no longer Archie above him, it was Tulais. The demon laughed and then lunged forwards, fangs barred.

It was Tulais!

It was Archie!

It was Tulais!

No, Archie, no Tulais, Archie, Tulais, Archie, Tulais!

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Jay screamed and rolled out of his bed. Gasping for breath, he clutched his throat to find it was still in tact. He rolled onto his back, still tangled in his sweat-soaked sheets. Strangely, he heard Archie's warning by his ear one last time,

'Never trust a demon.'

Shakily, he looked up but didn't see anything. With a half-conscious effort, Jay pulled himself up and out of his sheets, wearing only his dark blue boxers, and went for his door. Strangely, it was ajar and Jay always left his door closed. Taking a deep breath, he stepped back, grabbed his faithful xiphos, and lunged into the hall.

It was dark and peaceful like it normally was. Senses still in a frenzy, Jay made his way around and checked in on everyone. They were still curled up in their beds, sound asleep and not having nightmares like he had, except for Atlanta. He knew she was still awake, since he could hear her tossing and turning in her room. Jay didn't want to explain why he was going around at some ungodly hour of the morning so he didn't open the door and instead went back to his room.

Crawling into his blankets took some more effort than usual, but after some tossing and turning of his own, he fell asleep again without any more strange dreams.

Unfortunately, in the dark, he failed to notice the peacock feather lying almost completely under his bed, dropped by the goddess who had been using the power of 'dream persuasion' on the poor boy.

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Archie was standing in a field. No, a valley. There wee mountains all around him, blocking off any entrances or exits like a huge fence he'd never be able to climb over. And above, the sky was a swirling mass of color- blue, pink, indigo, orange, red, grey, and white. Every color that would appear in the sky at one point or another seemed to be fighting- or joining- right above him.

Then, something broke through the clouds. But it wasn't SOMETHING, it was nothing. It had no color. No shape, no sound- and yet Archie knew it was there. It wasn't even the darkest black, since that would give it a color, but it was simply Nothing.

The Nothingness swirled over him, wiping out the sky and the earth as it enveloped everything. Archie felt himself becoming a part of the nothingness, but it pulled away sharply. He was the only thing left in the nothing.

"H-hello?" his voice sounded... it didn't even sound. This was nothing, and though his body was still there, he was nothing as well. Yet, he was sure nothing heard him, but it didn't reply because nothing has no voice, and the reply that he got was non-existent, but he heard it all the same.

"My warrior. The time to fight is nearly upon you. Don't be afraid, but do my bidding. Beware my bloodline- for he shall kill you."

"Warrior? Time to fight? Who's going to kill me?" Archie 'didn't' call.

"My kin shall kill you"

The nothing began to recede and Archie was able to see the ground around him again. Violently, a streak of the sky lashed out and pushed nothing back.

"Don't believe the liar! I speak the truth! Give the immortality to me! I will reward you!"

"What's going on?" Archie cried, startled by the sound of his own voice after 'hearing' nothing.

The ground began to shake and he heard an angry cry, whether it came from nothing or the sky he didn't know anymore. There was a strange pounding in his head, like a heartbeat or a steady drum rhythm, slowly changing into voices shrieking 'Save Us! Save Us!'

Archie clamped his eyes shut and covered his ears, trying to keep the sounds out. He fell to his knees while the earth continued moving around him, swallowing him, and the sky pulled at him from above the nothing encircled him-

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"Archie? Wake up, Brat!" Tulais commanded sharply.

Archie sprang up, shaking. It was early morning, the light was just beginning to break through the mountains and treetops and dazzle up the woods as it shone through dewdrops. His and Tulais' breath became mist in the cooler air. Archie shivered and leaned back on Tulais.

"A dream?" the demon growled.

Archie nodded slowly, "A really crazy nightmare..." he shivered as he drew up his knees to his chest, "I-I was told that someone's son was going to k-kill me."

Tulais sighed, "Well, that could be anyone really. Every man is one mans' son. Who told you this?"

Archie looked at the demon strangely. He felt like he had grown closer to Tulais over the course of their questions, and the fact that they were kin, but still he couldn't imagine why or how the demon was capable of so many different emotions.

"Why do you care?" he found himself snapping. Good old anger- unfortunately, this particular ancestor of his was also a deep well of furry (and even Achilles was- no wonder he couldn't control his anger all the time!)

Tulais barred his teeth, "If you haven't forgotten, Brat, I was once human as well." Tulais looked away from Archie and down to his paws.

"I don't know entirely sure why the gods did this to me. Why would Aphrodite's allow me to fall in love with the woman I could never have? Where on earth I got the stupid idea in my head to try and charm Atalanta with the forms of beasts, I do not know. All I know is it was almost out of my power to resist, like I was being controlled by the gods themselves," He chuckled lightly, "but even though they have taken away my body I will not ever let them take away my humanity. I can still feel human emotion- it's just the demons' rage is usually stronger."

He turned and looked Archie in the eyes and Archie found he couldn't hold Tulais' gaze for very long.

Finally, Tulais rose to his feet, "Do you want to return to your... comrades and your Atlanta just yet?"

Seeing Archie's cheeks become a light shade of pink at the words 'your Atlanta' Tulais smiled, though it didn't really look like a smile Archie knew it was. He stood up and lightly punched Tulais in the shoulder.

"Not just yet... it's too early," Archie yawned; he didn't want to face the others so soon after leaving.

Tulais crouched down, "Then get on my back. There's a nice clearing that I can train you in."

Archie swung himself onto Tulais's back, holding onto the black goat horns and then asked, "Training?"

"Yes- you fight worse than a she-child!" Tulais laughed as he sprinted off, catching Archie off guard and nearly throwing the mortal off his back.

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Atlanta, after getting some sleep, woke up and got out of bed. Worry for Archie quickly flooded her senses and she went to her closet, pulling out his hoodie that he had given to her when Tulais had nearly ripped her shirt off in the battle a few days ago. She'd gotten it washed so now it wasn't all bloody and sweat-smelling, but it still smelled like Archie. She almost giggled when she thgouht of what Archie or any of the others would think if they knew she was keeping this.

Sitting down on the edge of her bed she held the hoodie like a child would hold it's 'blankie'- arms wrapped tight around it and face half-buried in the fabric. She took a deep breath and then lay down, still hugging the hoodie close.

Archie was going to be okay. He and Tulais were family- but what if they didn't know that? Although, Archie was also the descendant of Tulais' best friend- that would help. She wished Archie would walk in through the front door right now and she'd rush up and tackle him with a fierce hug. She'd tell him she wanted to be more than just friends- maybe not really dating yet, but she never wanted to leave him again. Whether it was love or not, she had no idea. The only other time she'd felt so strange would have been when she had been hypnotized by Pan.

Then, even if she did tell Archie she liked him- how long would their relationship last? Did Archie even like her as much as she liked him? Did he feel the same way about her? He had almost kissed her- but wasn't that what most boys wanted? And to add to that- Archie was a 'Demonspawn' and maybe he wouldn't feel as attached to them (the gang) anymore and might go find someone else. Maybe he'd lose the relationships he already had on the team just because he was the descendant of a demon. She shivered and curled around the hoodie.

Slowly... Atlanta fell asleep again, still worried for her 'missing' friend.

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"Alright, kids, time to wake up! It's noon and Cronus is coming this way!" Ares called up the stairs.

There were muffled (because of the closed doors) yells from seven different kids and many thuds were heard as they rolled/fell out of bed and went in a mad scramble to get dressed and reasonably attractive for the day.

They tripped over each other down the stairs and burst into the living room to find Athena curled up on the couch, laughing terribly hard while Ares laughed from the recliner chair.

"Where? Where is he?" Jay demanded, panting hard.

"Nowhere!" Ares burst out, "I just needed you squirts to wake up before noon!" he started howling with laughter again, slapping his knee.

Scowls and groans passed across the faces of the six children.

Athena managed to regain her composure slightly, "W-well it's a g-good thing to s-see you all d-dedicated!" she fought back bursting into laughter again.

Odie sighed, "Well, I do have some homework I should get done and- It's Almost Noon? What About School?" he shrieked in a near panic.

"You've been excused for the da- where's Archie? Don't tell me the lazy oaf slept through that racket at you all made?" Ares commented.

Jay shook his head.

"He went with Tulais- but he'll be back soon," Herry told them. Ares and Athena stopped laughing immediately. Both gods almost seemed to pale, but regained themselves.

Jay spoke before they could begin to accuse them again, "He agreed to, and Hera told us just to wait at home. We made a deal and I won't go back on it." But even as Jay spoke, he was remembering how angry he'd gotten at Archie down in the cavern last night, knowing that Archie had been hiding something. Had Archie known all along that he was the descendant of Tulais? What other secrets did he know that he wasn't telling him? And his scary dream... were they all omens that he couldn't trust Archie?

"I-I'm hungry, I'm going to go have some breakfast," Theresa said after a moment, breaking the tension in the air.

"You mean brunch, right?" Neil commented as he followed after her.

There was a follow fairly relieved giggles from the rest of the group as they followed after Neil and Theresa. Atlanta and Jay waited a moment longer than the rest, wondering different things. Atlanta was curious about why the gods seemed so worried about Tulais being around Archie even if they knew he wouldn't get hurt. Jay was wondering jus how much they'd be able to trust Archie if- when- he returned.

That day was spent relaxing and lazing around the living room. Jay and Herry hosted a 'Foosball Championship for the Ages' and everyone got to compete in best-out-of-three matches against each other all afternoon. Surprisingly enough, the final contestants were Odie and Neil and sadly, brains still couldn't match with the strength of Neil's pure, 'dumb' luck and Neil was the new Champion.

It was near the evening, while they were all curled up on the couches, chairs and the floor chatting like old, childhood friends, when they heard the door open and a tentative:

"Hello? Anyone home?"

"Archie!" Atlanta cried, springing up and rushing to the door.

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Wow... out of all the chapters, I think this one is my least favorite x.x

It just didn't want to be written right form the beginning- but it got done what it needed too, and maybe it isn't working thanks to this killer headache I've been suffering (most likely from the oh-so-'lovely'-heat for about a week now.

Anyways, Demons is looking to be ending fairly soon, sorry guys, but I hope this chapter fills you for now.

Please review, it's appreciated!

Demenior