FicWad

A/N: I'm really sorry for the long wait for this chapter, I honestly didn't intend for it to take that long but you know how it is. You start putting something off for a little bit and then all of a sudden, you forget all about it and say, 'Next weekend,' and then months have gone by. A lot of months, since I believe I was supposed to update this before school started, and it's already a lot later. Wow, that made me realize just how long it has actually been... well, obviously I got a little too distracted but hopefully the break gave me some time to get some new ideas and get over any writer's block I may have had... hopefully. Thanks for sticking through with me on this one, R&R.

Disclaimer: Class of the Titans does not belong to me, it belongs to Studio B Productions and goodness knows who else.

Class of the Titans: Land Of Dreams
EilayAdnayVolieay

Chapter Seven: Definition of a Kiss

Archie sat there on the ground, trying to figure out what had just happened. Or, more so, why it had happened. He knew what had happened - Atlanta, the girl he had been in love with practically since they first met, had kissed him. Kissed... /him /. He was still shocked, surprised - and had the thought still in the back of his head, of why. Why had she kissed him

Well, he attempted to reason to himself, she had just saved him from the water-demons that had lured him into their waters. He could have drowned, could have... died. What happened if you died in a dream world? A dream wasn't real, so this dream world couldn't be either. If he died, would he wake up? In regular dreams, the moment just before your death, you woke up. As if seeing your own demise made you too traumatized, for life.

Returning to camp, he saw Atlanta's gaze follow him as he walked over to where their fire was. He turned his head, and when she realized he had caught her staring, she looked away hurriedly. Archie smiled slightly; was she embarrassed to have been caught? Her face was slightly flushed, but he wasn't entirely sure what that was from - running back to the camp as quick as she had, or being caught staring at the best friend she had just kissed.

"Is it safe to sleep here?" Andrew asked suddenly. Archie turned to him, and then looked around, as if trying to figure out how dangerous the place they were camping at could possibly be. Sitting down on a log near the fire, he shrugged.

"Not any safer than anywhere else, but if you're getting attacked, I'm sure you'll wake up. Eventually." Archie added. Andrew appeared to gulp, and Archie rolled his eyes. What did the guy expect him to say? 'Don't worry, everything will be okay? You'll wake up in your own beds back at home, just go to sleep?'

"Thanks, I feel so much better," Andrew muttered sarcastically.

"Good. Now get some sleep - we're going to be doing a lot of walking tomorrow, and I don't want to hear any whining about being tired." Archie told him. Sarah and Lizzy also exchanged glances, but lied down on the ground. Andrew glared at Archie but also decided it was better to do as they were told, get some sleep, than to argue with Archie when his mind was dead set on what he had said.

Archie had been staring into the fire for awhile when he felt someone sit beside him, and he looked over to see Atlanta sitting on the log with him. She didn't say anything, so he didn't bother breaking the silence, but instead turned his gaze back to the flame that was keeping them warm, and, he hoped, just a little more safer than they may have been before.

"Why don't you get some sleep?" Atlanta replied after a few minutes had passed. Archie turned to her, and suddenly realized how tired he was.

"Okay, thanks," He replied, smiling. "But... the minute you get tired, wake me up, and I'll keep watch. Alright? Don't get all, 'He needs his sleep,' or 'He looks so peaceful,' I don't care if you're tired in ten minutes, get me up as soon as you are," Archie warned her. Atlanta rolled her eyes and motioned for him to move.

"Yeah, yeah," She replied casually, but there was something different about the way she was talking to him suddenly. Her voice seemed... he shook his head, thinking it was all a part of his imagination, but her voice seemed softer. Calmer.

"Thanks, Lanta," he replied softly, walking past her and putting his hand on her shoulder for a moment. He considered hugging her, or kissing her on the cheek, but decided against it and took his hand away. He never noticed the look of disappointment on Atlanta's face, and he never noticed the glance she gave him as he lied down on the ground, trying to get comfortable and sleep as long as he could until Atlanta would get tired.

-

Atlanta stifled a yawn, and realized she was going against what Archie had said. He had told her that the instant she got the slightest bit tired, she was to wake him up. Well, she had been tired for about an hour now, and hadn't woke him up yet. She knew he'd get mad if he knew, but she didn't want to wake him up. She had been so worried when she saw the water-demons take him and try to drown him. And then... she had kissed him. She didn't even know why. She didn't... didn't care about Archie that way. At least, she didn't think she did.

Atlanta's head was starting to ache and she felt dizzy from all this confusion and thinking while she was this tired. They hadn't been in this strange place for very long, but even still it felt as if they had been gone forever. What were Jay, Theresa, Odie and the others doing? Did anyone of them know that they were trapped in this dream world? Had any time passed in New Olympia while they were here in this strange dream world? If so, just how much?

Sighing, Atlanta threw a stone that she saw lying on the ground near her across the ground, and cringed when it almost ricocheted and hit Sarah in the head - but narrowly missed. Sighing, Atlanta stretched her legs out and yawned again. Glancing over at Archie, she decided that she should wake him up, before she fell asleep on the spot.

Walking over to where he had lied down, she shook him gently, trying to wake him up. He groaned and rolled over, opening one eye. When he saw her, he sat up straight. Atlanta could tell by the way he looked around and suddenly shook his head, he had thought he was back at home./ Sorry, Arch , Atlanta thought with a weak smile. We're stuck here. For now./

"How did you sleep?" She asked him lightly, trying to make conversation. Archie shrugged, holding his knees to his chest.

"Like a baby. And I mean that literally - I woke up every hour, on the hour. And for the record, I saw you yawning behind your hand and trying not to fall asleep." Archie chastised her.

"Oh come on, if you were that worried about me being tired, why didn't you get up and tell me to go to sleep while you kept watch, huh?" Atlanta asked him teasingly. Archie grinned sheepishly.

"...I fell asleep again every time," he told her finally. Atlanta rolled her eyes and threw a twig on the ground at him, but he ducked and it missed him. "Go to sleep," he told her firmly now, standing up. Atlanta leaned backwards and curled up on the ground trying to get comfortable. Soon, her eyes were closed and all she saw was blackness enveloping around her.

-

Archie, tired of sitting by the fire, stood up and started to quietly walk around. How would they get out of this place? Was it up to them to search for an escape, like they had been? Or was it up to the others back home to find a way to wake them up? Did the others know they couldn't wake up? Sighing, Archie knelt down and picked up a rock, chucking it at a tree. He jumped back, startled, when what appeared to be a book fell from the tree he had just hit.

Archie looked around cautiously. Was there someone else here? He hadn't hit that tree hard enough to knock a book out of it, and the rock was too small anyway to have made much of an impact. Walking slowly and making sure there was no traps around, no mysterious creatures and beings watching him, he got to his knees and grabbed the book. Flipping it over, he saw the cover was completely blank, no writing at all, but there was a mysterious lock on the front. Did that mean they'd need to find a key to open it? Or was some kind of magic required? /Where's Odie when you need him../. Archie thought dryly. He considered for a moment waking Atlanta up to tell her what he had found, but when he saw how comfortably she was sleeping, he instantly decided against it She needed her sleep; he could try to figure this out on his own for awhile, and when morning came, and she woke up, he'd show her what he had found.

Okay, Archie thought, in a situation like this, what would Odie do? The brains... hmm... /Archie glanced back at the tree where the book had fallen from and walked over to it. Examining the tree, he couldn't see a hollow in it anywhere. He lied down on his stomach and looked at the ground around the tree. Other than where he had been walking, it didn't seem disturbed by anything. Getting back up on his feet, he looked up. The book must have fallen from one of those branches,/ he reasoned with himself. Rubbing his hands together for a moment, he jumped up and grabbed the first branch and pulled himself up. Sitting on the branch, he looked around. No sign of a key or anything that would help him. Great /, he thought to himself sarcastically. I have to go even higher,/ he realized, his stomach sinking. He wasn't afraid of heights - he wasn't afraid of falling out of the tree. He was afraid of finding something up in this tree that he didn't exactly want to see. Like a pair of eyes staring back at him.

Breathing heavier now, he reached up to the next branch and pulled himself up. He saw what appeared to be a nest, and there were two tiny birds inside of it, staring back at him. And around the neck of one of them, was a set of keys. Archie reached forward to grab it, but the other bird pecked at his hand which he immediately pulled back.

"Ow!" he yelled, rubbing his hand and glaring at the bird. He didn't want to do something to hurt it - especially knowing Atlanta would kill him if she found out he hurt a baby bird. He reached around in his pocket - did he have anything that would help him? He came up with nothing, and he groaned in frustration. And that was when he heard it.

A loud screeching noise echoed through the air, nearly knocking Archie out of the tree he was in. He held on tightly to it and looked down at the ground - falling right now would not be a good idea. He knew he had to get down before the adult bird found him, and she was approaching rapidly, but he couldn't leave the key here. Gritting his teeth together, he reached his hand forward, knowing immediately he would regret it. Even as the bird pecked at his hand, he ignored it and reached around with his other hand (once he was sure his feet had a good hold on the tree) to pull the keys off the birds neck.

"Yes!" he cried out triumphantly as he managed to grab the keys. And that was when the 'mama bird' came home to her nest.

A/N: Yep, that's where I'm ending it, lol. Sorry for the long wait for an update but there you have it and I think the story will probably only be about 6 or 7 more chapters, up to about a total of 13 or 14, somewhere along that, and then it will probably end. I have everything planned out for what's supposed to happen now, so that's my GENERAL time line that may or may not change in the future, depending on how long or short a chapter is and what I accomplish in one, etc. I always have to go back and read all my old chapters to see what I've already done since, heh, I've sort of... forgotten. Thanks for reviewing and being patient, please review and let me know what you think and I'll try to update again soon. I'll make the next chapter MUCH longer because I will have bits in the real world as well as the dream world, it's just I was offline when I did this and didn't remember where I left off in the real world and couldn't get on just yet to check, so that's why. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR PATIENCE and I will try very hard not to take that long before updating again. Thank-you.