Categories > Cartoons > Class of the Titans > Rise of a Hero

Promises

by Demenior 13 reviews

!!((Sequel to Demons Within Me))!! Archie is now far in over his head in a plot woven centuries before he was born. Now it's up to him to save himself, and the world. Of course it won't be easy,...

Category: Class of the Titans - Rating: PG - Genres: Action/Adventure, Drama, Romance - Warnings: [!!] - Published: 2006-12-23 - Updated: 2006-12-24 - 2588 words

3Exciting
Rise of a Hero

Disclaimer: I don't own 'Class of the Titans'. What is mine is the overall plot-line for this fanfiction, and the few original characters and character adaptations I have made.

Warnings: This sequel will be bloodier, there will be many character deaths, there will be major betrayal, bonding-moments, cliché bonding moments, probably a bit more colorful-language (but not too much) and have more drama than ever before. Ahh, we all love the clichéd soap-opera drama, no?

Pairings: Finally we have Archie/Atlanta (for how long?) and still the Jay/Theresa/Neil triangle.

Authors Note: Title is subject to change. I'm crossing my fingers that I can keep up the same level of rather-good writing that 'Demons' had, and not kill the whole idea with this story, and I just can't get all these crazy action-scenes out of my head that I hope to manage to put into this sequel. I really hope you guys enjoy it- The long awaited sequel to Demons Within Me is here!

Wow, I'm back to chapter one again.

Chapter 1: Promises

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A dark day, grey clouds overcastting the sun and hiding the light from tired eyes. Faces, bodies, walking back and forth, passing reflections of who they are, whom they were and what they would be. None take notice and they continue on, a sea of umbrellas and briefcases.

But one body pauses to look at himself in the window. It's not to check his hair or secretly watch a girl behind him; it's to look at himself. Inside. Through unfeeling eyes, the boy sees a flash of long claws, horns and thick fur and the snap of sharp teeth. A howl rings through his mind, one that he hasn't heard in a long time.

This creature smiles and continues moving along. As he passes through the crowd, it might be a bit of refracted light from the hidden sun, but his eyes flash red, and then they are grey-blue, and he smiles no more.


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"Finally!" Atlanta said as she stretched out her legs. Happily she threw down her crutches and then teetered on her weak leg. It had taken a while longer, but now she was officially walking on her own. She just wished Archie was there to see her.

She and Archie had been attacked by Cronus a few weeks ago, and when he'd tried to kill Archie, and nearly succeeded, he'd also delivered a painful blow to her thigh, cutting the muscle too. Archie, thanks to his heritage, had healed much faster than she, but she had also healed in an incredible amount of time.

"I'm so up for a run! Who wants to do laps?"

Nervous looks were exchanged in the group. Even in her weakened state, who knew if they could beat Atlanta or not? Herry finally shook his head and with a 'no way' went to lift some weights. Odie took his skipping rope and followed. Theresa, sitting between Jay and Neil, was more concerned with the looks Jay and Neil kept giving each other out of the corners of their eyes. Atlanta sighed in exasperation,

"Where's Archie when you really need him?"

"Thanks, Lan."

Atlanta's head whipped around and her eyes lit up, "About time you got here! You're late!"

Archie shrugged and jogged up to her, "Sorry," he shrugged, rubbing the back of his neck, "woke up early and couldn't get back to sleep. I needed to go for a run."

Atlanta rolled her eyes, "Now, see anything you want to comment on," she gestured to herself.

Archie looked her up and down, "You have a stain right there," he pointed to a spot on her shirt. Worried, and a little frustrated, she looked down, and as she did, he flicked her in the nose.

"Got'cha," he laughed.

"Dork! I don't need my crutches anymore, remember?" Atlanta fumed, she hated getting caught off-guard by silly little pranks.

"Right! You're looking good, for now. How long can you last?" Archie challenged.

"Long enough to beat you!" Atlanta gave him a well-mannered shove and trotted (with barely a limp) to the track and slowly began to speed up. Herry and Odie cheered as she broke into a run, soon joined in their cheering by the rest of the gang. Archie let her have a head start before racing after her.

You would have never noticed it form looking at Archie, but he was the descendant of the most treacherous demon (un)known to man. So evil, he'd been erased from the history of mankind, and the only one allowed to remember him had died in war before ever seeing Tulais again.

Archie, like all of them, was also a descendant of a famous Greek hero. His ancestor was Achilles. Being both half-demon and half-hero definitely had its own pros and cons. The Greek gods, who were mentoring and looking after the group, didn't like the demon, but loved the hero. That was as much as the gang actually knew.

That said, some of them had started to catch on to some strange happenings going on. All of them involved Archie and his ancestors in some way, but they trusted the gods enough not to investigate any further.

Archie had a dark secret. He knew that after the gang of seven teenagers had defeated Cronus, Titan of Time, the gods were going to kill him. He still didn't know why yet, that was something he was still looking into, and might've had help if Tulais hadn't given up his life to save Archie's.

After the surprise attack where Atlanta had been so badly injured, Archie had been on his deathbed and would have died for sure. He needed someone else's life, and no one was really willing to die for him. In the end, it was Tulais who gave himself up to let his descendant live at least one more day. Archie hoped that maybe now Tulais and Achilles could be reunited, finally.

So now he was trying to figure out how he was going to be able to save the world from Cronus, and deal with the everyday issues of being a teenage half-demon, and keep his secrets safe from the others as well as stay alive and not be killed by the creators of mankind. He didn't know who he could really trust, especially since Jay had been fed so many lies about demons from Hera. He was utterly brainwashed into believing Archie as the enemy, and Archie himself didn't know if that wasn't completely true or not. One thing was for certain, this was his problem and his problem alone.

Archie let Atlanta win, even though in her weakened state she would have been easy prey for him. Momentarily Archie frowned at the thought, He'd had so many random little snippets of thought, like he was a hunter or murderer and everything else was his game. He shook his head and gave Atlanta a friendly clap on the shoulder. She nearly buckled and he caught her. A glance between them said more than her 'thanks' and his 'no problem'.

They'd been, well, closer since the night they'd returned to the Brownstone and learned of Tulais's death. Still somewhat scared of what the others might think, and especially how Jay would react, they just hadn't brought up the subject.

"Guess I'm not as sturdy as I thought," Atlanta smiled.

"For sure," Archie rolled his eyes, "you're hardly walk-worthy."

Atlanta stuck her tongue out at him, "I still beat you."

"I let you win," Archie countered.

Atlanta gasped sarcastically, "You did not! I challenge you to another race- first one outside wins!"

The two of them sped off, side by side, and out into the fresh air.

"They're so cute," Theresa smiled, "and I love how Atlanta's still the only one of us who's okay with Archie's ancestors." She turned to face her other teammates.

They all lowered their eyes, except Jay, who wouldn't let his uncertainty show to his team.

"I'm.. I'm pretty good with it, just... I swear I've seen his eyes, like, turn red and it just... spooks me out. Archie's still my friend, no matter what though," Herry said slowly and quietly, as if the others were going to turn on him for his opinion.

Surprisingly, Odie and Theresa both nodded their agreement to him; Neil let out a consented grunt and went back to making sure he didn't have anything stuck in his teeth. Jay remained silent. No one really wanted to challenge their leader, because they knew that he would continue looking out for them, and Archie, but it scared them to see just how cold Jay was to Archie's ancestor, Tulais, in particular.

Everyone looked to Jay but he remained silent. Everyone remembered how strangely he'd reacted to Archie when the Demonspawn had returned after a mission with Cronus, where Tulais had come to their aid for the first time. Tulais and Jay had fought together in the demon's final battle, protecting Theresa while she drove Archie and Atlanta to Chiron where they could be tended too.

Secretly, Theresa felt despaired that Jay still wouldn't agree that he could trust Archie, after all that had happened, all that Archie had done for them and gone through, he still wouldn't trust him because of the fact that he was half-demon. Theresa shook her head sadly and sighed.

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Atlanta leaned against Archie as the two of them sat outside. It was a nice day out, and she was enjoying being alone with him again. He always seemed so tense and nervous inside the school now, though she couldn't understand why.

"Nice run," Archie said quietly, leaning his head against hers. She smiled and closed her eyes tiredly.

"You nearly beat me though," she murmured.

"I let you-"

"Don't ruin the moment," she was quick to say.

Archie giggled, if that's the right way to describe a boy when he's not laughing, but not trying to not laugh, and tightened his grip around her waist. He relished in the fact that he could now hold her like this, and not be afraid.

And it was all thanks to Tulais, that he could have Atlanta, and Tulais was even the reason that the two of them had finally admitted to maybe liking each other 'more than just friends'. Archie closed his eyes; he had a lot of thanks owed to the demon. He smiled sadly at the thought of his ancestor, not going to cry anymore, but he still missed the demon. Even if he had only known Tulais for around a week.

/You still owe me, Brat/ the Tulais his grieving mind had invented for himself to talk to, but had never gone away, said. Archie felt his spirit lighten slightly, still wondering if he was going insane.

When he opened his eyes, Archie blinked slowly, his eyesight becoming slightly fuzzy. It wasn't because of tears, mind you, but his vision still didn't clear. He rubbed his eyes with a hand, still keeping the other around Atlanta, but everything was blending even more. He shook his head, getting a little worried now. As he started to get up, he suddenly lost control of his legs and fell back down.

"Archie, are you okay?" he heard Atlanta ask before he blacked out.

"Yeah, sorry, my leg fell asleep," he grinned at her. Atlanta laughed.

"Don't worry me, next time. I thought something really bad was happening," she punched him in the arm. Was it just her or had his voice suddenly got deeper? She stifled a giggle at the thought of Archie only now starting to go through the phase where his voice cracked and he finally grew hair in normal places, other than his head, like a normal guy.,

"Well, I need to walk around a bit. Will you be okay?" he asked as he stood up, still a little unbalanced.

"Yeah," she yawned, "I'll head back to the gym and hang with the guys, I'm exhausted." Archie helped her up and pulled her into a quick hug.

"Be careful," he whispered so quietly she wasn't sure she'd heard him. He pulled away and started to walk towards the inside when she looked over her shoulder to him,

"Hey, Arch, when was the last time you bathed? You're looking like a homeless person," she teased. He looked over his shoulder at her and smiled wryly, red eyes hiding some sort of knowledge that was just beyond her reach. Then he continued walking and quickly headed inside.

Atlanta shivered as she watched him go. That wasn't her Archie.

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Hera was looking over some documents from Hermes when she heard her door open. She continued reading, waiting to be addressed properly first.

"Hello."

Hera frowned at the in-proper greeting. She lifted her eyes and nearly jumped when she saw Archie leaning in the doorframe.

"Hello... Archie. What can I help you with?" Hera said slowly, on guard. She was scared out of her wits, would never show it, but she realized her breathing had quickened. Slowly she stood and moved to the side of her desk.

"I wanted to know..." Archie began slowly, stepping forwards. The heavy doors closed behind him.

"I wanted to know... if you've ever been locked in a cage..."

He moved closer.

"Then freed for only a moment, before being locked away again?"

Hera trembled.

"I am still a demon and there is still strength in my claws, I will break out and when I do- I will destroy you all!" Archie quoted coldly.

Hera nearly shrieked when he looked at her with his blood-red eyes. She paled tremendously and held onto the side of her desk with white knuckles.

"No... it can't be," she breathed, "how- how did you come back? You are dead! Dead! Zeus! Athena!" she cried.

Tulais burst out laughing, "So few words can bring the Queen of the Gods to hysteria. But not yet Hera, there is still much to be done before we meet in battle," he narrowed his eyes, "and then I will kill you."

He turned and left the room, passing Zeus and Athena as he did so.

"What happened?" he heard before Tulais retreated back into Archie's mind and the boy stumbled. Archie shook his head, wondering how on earth he wound up here. With a shrug he headed to the gym.

"Hera, calm down," Zeus said soothingly, "what happened?"

"H-he must..." Hera regained her composure, "the Demonspawn must die- tonight!"

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Wow, first chapter and the action has already started.

So this, save for the end, was a boring, review-chapter to remind you guys what happened in 'Demons Within Me'.

So, not much to say, but I've given a few hints on some things you should be looking for, the last line makes one thing pretty obvious, but what about the whole Tulais-in-Archie thing, hm? What will come out of that? It's all part of the prophecy that you can find in 'DWM, Chapter 12: The True Prophecy'. You all know I love Tulais too much to give up on his that easily.

Hope you enjoyed, and I'd like to hear some feedback- it'd be nice.

p.s. This is my Christmas/New Years/Whichever holiday you celebrate gift to you guys. I was actually going to wait until January 2007 to post this, but I think this is special occasion enough.

And yes... he did just walk in, threaten her, and then leave. Rather amusing, no?

Demenior
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