FicWad

Well, I have been really busy lately, which seems to be a way of life at the moment. I had wanted this chapter up sooner than this, but I guess my dice didn't land like I wanted them. Oh, well. I have also received a few reviews that mentioned trouble with the review system. So, instead of listing names and maybe accidentally missing someone, I'll just say thanks to everyone who reviewed me.

Disclaimer: I do not own COTT. I only own Robert, which I am not too fond of.

Chapter 9:

"You are a complete moron, you realize that?"

"No, I didn't, but thanks for clearing it up for me."

"Sarcasm will get you nowhere."

"Say's the flying cat."

"What were you thinking? I can't believe you were dumb enough to stab yourself."

"I had something I needed to figure out."

"Yeah, and now your going to bleed to death."

I really hope she's just joking. Raising myself onto my elbows, I look down to where she's working on me. After the exchange with Robert, she took me back to her place. Yeah, she has a place. I was surprise, but happy too. Now I don't have to waste money on a hotel room. Plus, it's relatively close to the city, so not much traveling has to be done. There's only one drawback...make that two. The place is a bloody cave. That lacks furniture.

"So, what's the verdict doc? Am I going to die?"

"No." Galenthias sighs pointedly, setting aside the gauze and peroxide. For a cave, the place is well stocked. A few baskets full of supplies are all she really owns. The majority of her supplies are candles it seems, as she has about ten lit around the small space. I can't believe she doesn't even own a bed! See what I'm trying to emphasize here? "Just don't do it again."

"No, I don't think I will." Sitting up fully, I take a look at her work. The wound hurts, but now that it's tied off, the pain is starting to ebb. "Nice work."

"Thank you." Picking up her supplies, she stands and walks out of my view. Sitting on the ground, I'm starting to get cold. It's not like I can do much to help myself either. And I'm supposed to face him in three days? I planned this nicely, didn't I?

"Weren't thinking much of visitors when you designed the place, huh?"

"No one besides myself was supposed to know about this." She glances over at me, her cat-like eyes glowing in the candlelight. "Besides, I do not need luxuries to live. I am a simple woman with a simple purpose in life."

"High Priestess to the goddess Hecate doesn't seem like a simple purpose." I reply. She throws a questioning look my way. Laying down, I stare up at the roof. "Pray to who you want, I'm not here to judge anymore. It must have taken a lot of effort to be in the position you are in now. Getting the title of High Priestess has to be hard to obtain, which wouldn't make it simple."

She's silent a moment, then comes and sits at my side. She gives me a look that I can't interpret. "Every moment I am with you makes me realize I know even less about you than I have come to believe. You are an odd boy, Archie."

I can't help but smile. "Yeah, I get that a lot."

"You speak of things beyond your years. Is everyone in this time like that?" Galenthias questions. "You all speak like adults, but are still merely children."

My grin fades. "Cronus has made the others grow up a lot faster than they should have. Your right, we are still just kids. The responsibilities we have are beyond those of adults, even. For me, though, I never had a childhood. I was forced to grow up long before anyone should have to." Sighing, I plaster a grin back on my face. The task is harder than I though. "That's why I act out a lot. I'm trying to get in as much mischief and child-like stupidity as I can before I really am an adult."

Galenthias shakes her head, but she's smiling. "Do what you like. I am not here to judge." She let's the echo of my own words sink in before standing. "Get some rest. We have much to discuss in the morning." Turning, she walks outside.

I watch her go, her tail swinging from side to side. After she's gone from view, I yawn. It's strange. The day passed by so fast, thanks to our journey through the Underworld, it doesn't seem like I've done so much to become so tired. I suppose that's it's the fault of my injury. My...self inflicted injury. God, I'm dumb! I freaking scratch would have sufficed too! Galenthias is right. I am a complete moron...

(-)

I don't know if it was the ache in my leg, or the water dripping onto my forehead that woke me up. Opening an eye, I'm just in time to watch a droplet of water drip off a stalactite and smack me in the face. Yeah, it's definitely the water this morning.

Sitting up before I get hit again, I look around the cave. It's dark and empty. The only light in the place is coming from outside. Galenthias is gone, and she's stowed the candles somewhere. Besides the dripping of water, there's not a sound to be heard. A little creepy? Yeah.

Standing up is a chore in itself. My leg - stupid! - is still sore, and it's become stiff over night. Damn, I know it's just going to be one of those days. Practically crawling out of the cave, I blink at the bright morning sun. It's higher in the sky than I though it would be, and I feel a bit guilty for sleeping in. After all, I if I'm going to save Atlanta, I need to make a plan, and right now!

"Well, good morning."

I nearly jump out of my skin as I hear Galenthias' voice behind me. Turning, I spot the priestess sitting on a rocky ledge just above the cave. She's wearing a long white robe today, which stands out sharply from her black fur. The smile she's giving me is mischievous, showing off her fangs.

"Thanks for making my already fragile health that much more unstable!" I growl at her, clutching my chest. My hearts beating so fast, it hurts! "Didn't your parents ever teach you its rude to scare the shit out of people in the morning?"

She rolls her eyes to the sky, as if in thought. "No, I don't think they did." she replies sarcastically. If she didn't have claws, I'd go show her how it feels! I can only fold my arms and scowl at her as she's too high up. She looks at me and smiles. Then in a flash, she gets serious again. "You'll be pleased to know I scouted out the city last night."

Now we're talking! "That's awesome! What did you find?"

"Well," she starts, pointing a paw out towards the cities skyline. She must have a great view from up there! "Robert said the tallest building in New Olympia, but he never mentioned which one. The tallest, by far, is the New Olympia Petroleum Building."

"That's the one right on the wharf, isn't it?" Galenthias nods. I could never fathom why they would want to build skyscrapers so close to the ocean. Probably for shipping reasons.

Walking over to a nearby tree, which overlooks the city on the horizon, I sit down to relieve the ache in my thigh. With a single leap - sounds like a superhero - Galenthias is beside me. I wince as I jar my leg on a tree root, and she gives me a look. "You know," she says as I lean back against the trunk, "your friends are looking for you."

"Good thing I turned off my PMR."

She sighs and rolls her eyes. "You missed what I was implying. They care about you! Why don't you go back to them? They only want to help."

"By locking me in Hera's solarium?" I ask bitterly. "How is that supposed to help me?"

"Whether you like it or not, the man responsible for this situation your father. Not Jay's, Theresa's or Odie's, but yours." Ouch. "When you fight him, you let your emotions get the better of you, and that will only lead to trouble. That's one reason. The other is that...they don't want to see you get hurt again."

"I know." I guess this surprises her, judging by the look I'm getting. "They're good people, but like you said, he's my father. I should be the one to deal with this." I hang my head. "They're afraid of me getting hurt, and that's why I'm going to do this alone. It's so they don't get hurt in the end because of me."

Galenthias is almost too quiet as she stands next to me. I can't even hear her breathing. After a moment, she sighs and sits down. "It's your decision." Silence. "So, we need a plan."

I think it over as a breeze picks up. The leaves on the tree rustle in the wind, casting shadows over the two of us. What to do...it has to be good. We'll only get one shot at this guy, I'm sure. "We have to think of a way to get around his speed and strength, not to mention the psychic abilities he's picked up from Theresa. In other words, we have to play dirty."

Galenthias smiles. "If you need to play dirty, there's one thing I know that he doesn't have, besides the psychic power of course."

I blink. "Which is?"

"Magic, of course." she grinned, and a ball of energy formed itself between her claws.

"I can only give her a look. "Have you forgotten about Cronus? He has magic too, you know. No doubt he's going to be there too."

"Yeah, but Cronus is a moron. He won't be hard to distract. Then we can take down your-"

"Robert!"

(-)

Well, this has to be an uneventful day. We have a skeleton of a plan, which is great, and I think it'll work nicely if we build on it. What sucked is that, thanks to my injury, I did NOTHING! Nada, zilch, and so on. Now I'm out on the hill watching the sun set, my body aching. Let's see...there's my leg, my shoulder, my chest, my headache. I am falling apart at the seams. But that doesn't matter. With the sun setting, that means I have exactly two days left. Two days to flesh out the perfect plan that will allow me to save Atlanta, get rid of Robert, and maybe even take out Cronus. Wouldn't that be great. And I have to do it all without my friends finding me. I know, I know. The prophesy right? Seven kids, yadda yadda yadda, end of the earth. Whatever. They have enough to worry about as it is.

"Archie."

I jump so high I nearly fall off the hill! And that's one voice I wasn't expecting to hear...Turning ever so slowly, my eyes meet silver hair, blue eyes...really pissed off frown...

"Hi, Hera."

She crosses her arms. "You've really done it this time, haven't you?"

"Is that really a question, or can I just not answer?"

She glares at me. I have pissed off the Queen of the Gods. I wonder if anyone's done that before and lived to tell the tale? I try not too, but I can't help from shaking. She's really scary when she's mad.

"Stand."

"Yes, ma'am!" Standing faster than I wanted to, my body paining me, I almost flip her a salute as I stand as straight as humanly possible.

I almost fall off the hill again as she grabs me into a bone crushing hug. I can then feel my shirt dampen, and I realize said Queen of the Gods is crying on my shoulder. I can't speak. There's nothing to say anyway. Wrapping my arms around her shoulders, I hug her back. Who would have thought Hera cared so much that I made her cry? About a minute has passed by now, and I think I should say something.

"So..." That's always a good start. "How did you find me?" Wow. I am an idiot. She's a god, stupid!

She pulls away from me, her eyes completely clear. If I didn't know better, I would have thought she wasn't crying at all. "I know where all my children are."

For some reason I want to spout 'we are all God's children', but I doubt that would help my case any. Lets try a different topic. "So, you're here to take me back right?" I can't help but look around for the gang. Bet they're hiding in the bushes or something. "Where's the others?"

Hera sighs. "They aren't here. They are looking though."

"Well, when you see them next, tell them I'm fine, and I'll be bringing Atlanta home very soon." I can't help but feel slightly cocky, and I grin that stupid grin of mine.

Hera doesn't seem as amused. "I'll pass on the message. As for bringing you back, I am not here to do so. After everything that's happened, it would be pointless, what with your stubbornness. I needed to make sure you understand the dangers involved in doing this alone."

I nod. "Yeah, I know."

"Good." There's complete silence now. Is it just me, or is this meeting a little pointless? After a few minutes of this, I get annoyed.

"Is that all you came here to say?"

"Just..." Hera pauses. Odd. She usually has a lot to say when someone's disobeyed her, and she never falters! "Just come back in one piece." Then like a whiff of smoke, she turns her back to me and disappears.

"Well," comes Galenthias' voice from behind me, "that was an interesting conversation." I'm still too busy looking at the place where Hera was a second ago to look at the feline.

"You're telling me!" Hera crying? There's something that wasn't written in the mythology books. She's supposed to be the strong one, a pillar to keep you standing in the hard times. I thought fighting Cronus was the hard times. Guess not.

It is now totally dark out, the sun having hid itself behind the horizon. The moon is bright and full tonight, which is good for me. At least it won't be full two days from now. Two days. Fishing into my pockets for the only weapons on hand, I start to twirl my throwing stars on my fingers out of habit as I stare at the city lights. I only do it when I'm nervous, which doesn't happen very often. What if I screw this up? What'll happen then? The team may be down two members if I don't get this right. I'll have destroyed the one person that means more than life to me, and I'll have succeeded in throwing the world into Cronus' hands. Talk about a stressful situation.

Hearing footsteps behind me, I glance over my shoulder in time to see Galenthias walking into the cave. She's like a ghost, as only her white robes are visible in the darkness. Turning back, I watch as the lights of New Olympia begin to blink out one at a time. Soon the only lights left are a few lights in the skyscrapers, the street lamps, the moon and the moonlight shining off my throwing stars. The soft whirling sound is comforting. As a flash of light reflects off the twirling steel, I can't help but think back to the day Oracle told us the new prophesy. I had been watching Atlanta from the corner of my eye. Her innocent curiosity, the fire that had appeared in her bright green eyes at the thought of a new challenge, chewing on her perfect lips in thought...I narrow my eyes and glare at the city. I'm going to dedicate my life to making sure she can live the rest of her life without fear and hate. I'll make sure she can have more adventures, run, and fulfill her life's desires. As another flash of light shines off my throwing stars, a powerful realization comes to me. I want to be there to watch her fulfill her life's desires, and I want to be there when she runs, go on adventures, fight those who get in her way, see those beautiful eyes shine with happiness. I had always known I wanted to be in her life. Now I know I want my life to be hers forever. I want to date her, then one day put a ring on her finger.

/The stars must shine alone.../The only stars left that can shine alone are my own. With a ghost in white robes, and the stars in my hands, I swear to God I'll save her. I have to...

(-)

I know this chapter was a little dry, but I needed a transitional chapter. I am still planning what's going to happen for the final fight, and I want it to be edge-of-your-seat good! I also didn't want you all to wait any longer than you have to. So, I hope you all enjoyed it, and have a great Easter, for those who celebrate it of course!

~ClandestineFire