From the perspective of 𝐀𝐑𝐂𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐎𝐒...

The Prince of Hearts strode across the dirty, uneven ground with a destination in mind. 

He was leaving behind his group- the Riot- which would no doubt bring Pandora's annoying lecturing later. But he didn't care. He had spent the last hour helping to build up the mound to cross the barrier- his power allowed him to make his teammate's hearts stronger so that they could work harder. I've done my part for today, he thought. 

As he neared Pandora's house, he stretched out his power to see who was nearby. There were the pounding heartbeats of the Riot behind him, pumping with adrenaline. The Beauties were also nearby, their heartbeats calm and level- insignificant to him at the time. He focused his power into the area of Pandora's house. 

A blast of negativity nearly caused his knees to buckle. He felt two hearts pounding with rage, sadness, betrayal, neglect, and everything in between. Archeros didn't have to see to know who it was. 

Pandora and Lorelai are at it again, he thought with annoyance. Focusing his power further, he could tell that they were in the central room of the house. Which meant that he was definitely not going in through the front door. 

He stepped around and walked to the smaller back door. It had more trash in piles, but Archeros couldn't care less. He was used to avoiding getting trash on his fanc clothes. He paused at the back door and focused his power into the small back room that the back door led to. 

There- underneath the chaotic heartbeats of the arguing couple, a small, timid heartbeat fluttered nervously. 

Archeros smiled softly, the straightened his coat, smoothed his hair, and pushed open the door. 

Gabe's head shot up when he walked through the door, his shoulders tensed, but he relaxed whenever he saw who it was. "Oh," he said, sounding relieved. "Hey, Ros." Archeros came forward and looked over his shoulder at the piece of clothing he was working on. "Whatcha making?"

Gabe picked up a piece of paper and pointed to the dress design on it. "I'm making Jane's dress. She wants it to be tight, so I'm making the waistline slimmer than usual..." he began talking excitedly about everyone's costume designs. Archeros walked around the room, observing all the different outfits. 

Gabe had labeled the different piles of clothing with the names of who they belonged to. Pandora had a nice black suit, Jamie had a captain-style red suit jacket, and Leigh-Anne had a light blue and yellow dress with a huge pile of jewelry and a pair of heels next to it. Then, Archeros saw the next pile of clothing. 

It was a stunning black and red suit with red rocks studding it. A small bundle of white lace was at the collar, and chains looped around the coat, adding a dark flair. It had a long tail, and a crown of steel wires and red rocks sat next to the mannequin with the coat on it. A long cape with red-black tones sat next to the mannequin as well, seemingly in the process of being sewn. The paper with the designs for the outfits had a name at the top written in Gabe's familiar handwriting- 𝙰𝚛𝚌𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚘𝚜.

"Gabe," he said in astonishment, "This is mine?" He felt Gabe's heartbeat quicken, and he knew that he was embarrassed. "Y-yeah. I've been working a lot on it. Do you... like it?" he asked. Archeros whirled around and grabbed Gabe's shoulders. 

"Like it?" he asked. He shook his head. "Gabe, I LOVE it! Look at this crown!" he walked back over to his outfit and gently picked up the crown. "Fit for a prince," Gabe said quietly, smiling. Archeros shook his head again. "This crown is fit for a king, Gabe." 

Gabe laughed quietly, then turned back to Jane's dress. Archeros set the crown down, then continued walking around the room looking at outfits. But a small pile caught his eye. 

He walked over to the pile, and he felt Gabe's pulse skip a beat. He doesn't want me looking at this? Why? he thought. But he kept walking towards the pile. It was very small indeed- just a few strips of cloth, a pair of shoes, and another scrap of paper with hardly any design on it. Archeros picked up the paper and saw the name written on it- 𝙶𝚊𝚋𝚎. 

Archeros snorted. The pile of material was pitiful. He's working so hard on everyone else, he doesn't even care about his own outfit, he thought with annoyance. Archeros glanced over his shoulder at Gabe, who was sewing the dress nervously. "Hey, Gabe," he said, causing Gabe to flinch. 

"Yeah?" he said softly. Archeros held out a hand. "Do you have a pencil?" he asked. Gabe nodded and picked up a battered pencil, passing it to Archeros. Archeros bent over the paper and began studying the light sketches. 

They had been done in a rush, that was for sure. Some of the lines could barely be seen. But Archeros focused and gently sketched out the forms drawn on the paper. 

It was a simple suit, and a plain black mask. Archeros scoffed, causing Gabe's heartbeat to jump behind him. This is absolutely unaccaptable! He thought furiously. Gabe deserves better than this! Archeros began to add things to the suit- a tail for the jacket, a white dress shirt, and  buttons made from mosaic glass shards. 

Then Archeros focused on the mask. He added green glass shards that would pattern the mask, and a silk interior. Then, he picked up the paper, blew it off, and walked over to where Gabe was putting the finishing touches on Jane's dress. 

He passed the paper to Gabe and tapped it. "Here. Do you think you could do this?" he asked. Gabe looked it over, and his eyes widened. "Ros, it looks amazing, but..." he glanced over at the small pile of fabric. "I don't have nearly enough materials to be able to make this."

Archeros didn't hesitate. He had already thought of that. He walked over to his pile of clothing, grabbed the half-done cape, and set it on Gabe's pile. "There," he said, dusting his hands off. "Now you have plenty of material to work with."

Gabe opened his mouth to protest, but Archeros put a finger on his mouth, shushing him. "You deserve so much more than what you currently have, Gabe," he said in a low voice. "You're doing all this for everyone, and can't bother to make your own outfit. So take the material from the cape and use it to make your costume. I don't like capes very much, anyway- I'll look better without it."

Gabe's eyes were wide, and his heart was pounding wildly- but it somehow maintained that gentle sense. He has such a delicate heart, Archeros thought. He thought of Pandora and of how he acted around Gabe, and a wave of bitter jealousy rose up inside him. He doesn't need a scheming fairy to be with him. He needs someone capable of protecting his heart. 

He needs me.

A sudden creak caused Archeros to quickly pull away from Gabe, and just in time- Pandora marched into the room, looking livid. He saw that Archeros was there, and his brow crinkled in confusion. 

"Archeros? What are you doing here? I thought I told you all to spend time with your team!" he said. Archeros straightened up. "I simply came to monitor the progress of my outfit, Pandora," he said, holding his head up. "I was just leaving."

Pandora looked skeptical, but he shrugged it off. "Well, then, you can come with me to check on the rest of the groups," he said. Then he looked at the different outfits around the room, nodding in approval. "Good work, Gabe. Keep it up," he said before walking through the back door. 

Archeros followed him, careful to stay close behind Pandora. "Why did you sneak away from your team?" Pandora asked. Archeros shrugged. "I've spent the past hour working to help build up the bridge to the barrier. I figured that I've done more than my part today," he said. 

Pandora snorted as they climbed up the tallest mound of trash. "Alright, but just this once. You know what they say- idle hands are the devil's playground." Archeros scoffed. "I resent that!" he said, climbing carefully. Pandora stopped at the top and waited until Archeros was standing next to him. "Oh? And why is that?" he asked. 

Archeros swept his hand across the trash-strewn landscape, gesturing to all the groups- the Riot, the Beauties, and the Tinkers, all hard at work preparing to bring chaos. "If idle hands are the devil's playground, how come we work so damn hard at this?"

Pandora laughed- a dark, chilling sound that caught the attention of every Blackheart below. "Well said, Archeros!" he said, grinning at him. Then, Pandora stopped and sniffed. "Do you smell smoke?" he asked. 

They both turned and looked in the direction of the Riot. A huge fire was burning a couple hundred feet from the barrier- and the Riot was throwing in every bit of trash they could get their hands on. "DAMMIT!" Pandora yelled before taking off towards the blaze. 

"Archeros, this is why I wanted you to stay with your group! To prevent stuff like this from happening!" he called. Archeros suppressed a chuckle. "Alright, Pandora, it won't happen again," he said. 

I can't make that promise, Archeros said, glancing back at the house. He knew that inside, a sweet young boy sat working hard for others, thinking not of himself- a boy with a sweet, kind, delicate heart. I'll come back to visit you soon, Gabe, he thought before walking down the hill after Pandora. 

For now, I have to go and get my group back under control.

BEHIND THE SCENES WITH ABBY

Just wanted to say- I had a TON of fun writing this oneshot. It took a while, yes, but Archeros is just-

*chefs kiss*

I had to make sure I got him EXACTLY RIGHT because his personality is AMAZING also plz let me know if I didn't write his personality correctly

Shoutout to my-dear-Watson for Archeros- he is her oc and, as she said, "A flamboyant asshole who we love very much". 

This is the first time I've actually included swearing in my writing- I don't know if that's a yay or a boo 😅

SO! I am getting so many great requests from y'all, and I'm doing my best to keep writing these oneshots! But, I also have a ton of ideas for my own writing, so I'm doing my best to work on that and school and these at the same time

Hope to see you all soon- expect content soon! Ciao for now!

-Abby