A/N: Sorry chapter four took forever to come out. I had lost my muse, but then I found two new muses so all was right in the world. This chapter is dedicated to all my great reviewers. Here's hoping I get chapter five out quicker. PS. I don't own this, so don't sue!
Summary: Cronus has some sort of twisted game planned and decides to make an old European Fairy Tale come to life, but his intended target is saved at the last minute by a stroke of Luck, and gets a new target. Neil is under a spell of Sleeping Death and only his true love can wake him. But who is it? Will the others find the person in time to save the world? Or will Neil be asleep forever? R and R!
A thick white fog settled around the park when the heroes arrived. The six piled out of the truck. Jay told everyone to watch out for Cronus and as soon as two of them got to Neil to start bringing him out and to keep in contact with the PMR. The others nodded and made a run for it to the forest.
Archie was surprised that the plan was working. He was getting into the forest with no problem, though he felt a little uneasy about not being able to see his friends.
"How deep is this place?" Archie asked into his headset as a thorn ripped at his clothes. "I don't think I can take much more of this."
"It's pretty deep," came Odie's voice. "You're looking for a white light, those narcissus flowers were giving off a strange glow." Archie just gave the thin air a funny look and kept moving through the forest.
"Hey guys, I can see the clearing," came Herry's voice through everyone's headset.
"Good, just get to Neil," Jay said wincing as a thorn scraped his arm.
"Jay," Theresa was getting caught up in a very thick part of the forest. "It's getting harder to hack through, I feel like we haven't gone anywhere,"
"That's funny," Archie said stepping into a clearing. "I'm through." The young boy looked around for any sign of Herry. The larger boy walked over to his friend and then looked behind him to see their paths being sealed.
"You guys might want to turn around," Herry said a little panicked.
"Why?" Jay asked starting to break up a little.
"Because once you get to the clearing, the path closes again," there was a silence for a bit as if the other four were thinking about what to do.
"Is there another way in?" Odie suddenly asked. Archie looked around and noticed an opening big enough for a small aircraft of some sort to get in.
"Yeah," Archie said pointing his PMR to the opening. "Right in the center," he brought the little device down. "Why don't you four go back to the school and get something to get us out of here and we'll figure out how to move Neil, just in case Cronus has something up his sleeve in here.
"Just be careful Archie," Atlanta said. It was almost like she was really worried about Archie being in there.
"Don't worry Atlanta," Archie said with a small smile on his face. "I'll be fine, I have Herry with me."
"Ok then it's settled, we'll go back to the school. In the mean time you two watch your backs. Cronus could show up at any moment." Jay warned as he turned around and started to walk back the way he came. When the others got out Jay pressed the button on the PMR again to give one last message to Herry and Archie. "Guys," he said, but all that he got back was static. It was obvious that the PMRs wouldn't work now that they were on this side of the forest. Jay bit his lip and motioned that they had no choice, but to go.
On the inside, Archie and Herry were making their way up to Neil. The boy's glass tomb was upon a pyramid of gold. Herry and Archie could see that the same flower surrounded him; the beautiful white narcissus. Neil was dressed in a beautiful wine toga, a golden crown upon his flaxen head. He looked like a king. Archie and Herry couldn't help but draw back a breath in awe. They could now see why Neil was in love with himself.
Herry looked at Archie silently asking if he should lift the glass or not. Archie nodded and watched his friend. The glass top came off easily, which some how made Archie feel uneasy and paranoid.
"What's wrong Arch?" Herry asked thinking of the best way to pick Neil up.
"Well, this all seems too easy," Archie responded. He looked around the clearing. "You would think Cronus would have shown up by now to try and get us away from Neil." Herry began to look around as well then shrugged.
"Well we do have to remember that Neil wasn't Cronus' target. Theresa was. So really I think he wanted to draw Jay out, but instead he got us." Archie and Herry looked at each other and shrugged.
"They're taking too long," Archie finally said after a few moments. Herry was just looking at the flowers and sighed. He had to admit he was getting a little antsy too.
"What's wrong young Hercules?" came a sly voice from the shadows. The two young heroes spun around to face Cronus and his giants. Archie glared and pulled out his sword and Hephaestus whip. Cronus just clicked his tongue and smirked as he heard the sound of the air moving at a strange whirling speed. Like the sky itself had a heart beat. Archie and Herry both looked to the forest skylight and saw Jay coming through the opening.
"Herry you got to get Neil out of here," Archie said as Jay landed on top of the pyramid. "Jay and I will hold them back."
"Put Atlanta in that sentence and I'll be happy," Atlanta said coming out of the helicopter. Archie smiled quickly at Atlanta then turned to face the giants once again. Herry didn't waste any time in getting hooked up to the harness and flinging Neil over his shoulder. Jay, Archie and Atlanta started to fight the giants.
It wasn't long, until Cronus signalled for his giants to retreat. "Until next time children," He said and went through one of his portals. The three teens looked at each other and got hooked up on harnesses. Herry was almost to the top of the forest when Cronus appeared again and sent something flying towards the rope that held Herry. The object bumped the rope and caused Herry to lose his grip on Neil, but as luck would have it, Archie was right below and caught him before the boy really did die. The God of Time began to laugh and disappeared again. Jay, and Atlanta looked at each other wondering what that was all about. Herry was trying to stay focused on getting out of the forest to really care, and Archie was just surprised that he caught Neil.
The six teens made it into the helicopter in no time and went back to the school as fast as they could. Odie had explained to Herry that he hotwired his truck to get back to the school. The strongest teen just shrugged it off and helped Archie place Neil on a stretcher. Jay was replaying the last few minutes in his head. That battle seemed way to easy. He wanted to know what Cronus had planed.
