VIII. Chased
Artemis
She followed the two boys walking slightly behind them. It was interesting to see the little shops with all the different items being sold. There were things ranging from cabbages to jewelry, and completely different shops could be set up next to each other. People were furiously haggling for the trade or price they wanted, and Artemis tried to imagine her mother doing that. It actually wasn't that hard.
"Artemis! Come on, you're walking really slow," Wally criticized.
She glared at him and looked back longingly at a shiny vase that someone had made and put up for sale. Then she gave in and quickened her pace, not wanting to be left behind and somehow kidnapped by ninjas.
It wasn't long until they were out of the town and back in the countryside, open spaces and not a soul to be seen. It almost felt like being home. Except she wasn't able to just turn around and head inside her house out here. Because her house wasn't here. And so Artemis stayed close to the two boys and let the cool breeze blow through her hair (that was entwined in a complicated braid structure) and watched the white clouds overhead, floating through the blue skies.
It was probably about noon when the trio decided to take a break. They hadn't ventured from the paths (since they were following Richard who warned them that highwaymen would probably attack them if they left the paths), so they sat at the side of one and Richard took out some bread and water to pass around for their lunch.
While Artemis was in the middle of drinking from the canteen, Richard put a hand out defensively.
"Someone's coming," he whispered.
There wasn't really anywhere to hide though, most of where they were traveling was open space, and so they all gave each other frantic looks and decided they may as well stand up and fight if they needed too.
Artemis kind of wished that maybe her hair could help defend her. After all, it was long enough and strong enough to be a weapon. Besides, it was enchanted hair, anything could happen. And so she willed it to trip the feet of whoever was coming. Surprisingly, it actually moved. Even though the aim was pretty terrible, a girly scream resounded through the area. There was someone coming.
"Hi Richard! There you are!" a blonde girl exclaimed excitedly.
Richard
Wally and Artemis looked at Richard questioningly. Of course he recognized the three people walking towards him. They were in the forest tribe that had shown them hospitality when Wally stole the Lightning King powers!
"Hey Kalina, River, Barbara," he replied, smiling.
Kalina had blonde hair with dark skin and green eyes, and last time Richard spoke to them, she was dating River, a dark skinned guy with brown hair and yellow eyes. Barbara had light skin and red hair, she wasn't originally part of the tribe, but one day, her stepmother took her and her brother, Carl, into the woods and tried to lose them. She'd succeeded, and they'd found their way to a candy house which they ate from, but an evil witch lived inside who wanted to eat them. Barbara used her wit to push the evil witch into the oven. When she escaped with her brother, they found their dad. Apparently their stepmom had kicked him out of the house or something, because he said he had nowhere to take them to live. So they ended up living with the tribe. At least that's the story Richard heard.
"When are you coming back to live with the tribe?" River finally asked.
"What? Why would I go live with the tribe?" Richard questioned, puzzled.
"Well, you went through with the marriage rituals with Barbara and we just thought you might-" Kalina started.
"MARRIAGE RITUALS?" Richard exclaimed.
Wally couldn't hold in his laughter anymore and exploded in contagious laughter, causing Artemis to catch on a little bit. They both seemed amused by Richard's predicament.
"Yeah… when you gave her the special purple lily of the forest…" Kalina said.
"I found a flower on the ground and she told me it was pretty," Richard stated.
"And then you told her father that they had a nice tree house…" Kalina continued.
"Well how was I supposed to know that telling someone his tree house is nice is part of some marriage ritual?" Richard protested.
"Then you walked to the sacred rock with Barbara," Kalina kept talking.
"I didn't know that the rock had any significance!"
"And then you accepted her offer to stay the night at their tree house."
"Because my traveling companion was still blacked out and I didn't know where else to go and she offered to let me stay at their house and- I'M MARRIED?" Richard cried.
Wally and Artemis looked on, figuring interfering would lead to more problems, and so they started a game of I Spy. It didn't last very long since they only spied trees, grass, dirt, clouds, and people. And so they continued to watch what was happening.
"Yes. You're married," River said, rolling his eyes.
Richard paced, muttering to himself and every so often glanced at Barbara, who was crossing her arms and frowning, seeing her "husband" was traveling with some blonde girl she'd never seen before.
"Hey. Um, Richard, buddy, I think we need to go. Now," Wally interrupted his thinking process.
Because in the distance, an army of ninjas was traveling towards them. On horseback. And this time, they had a leader.
Richard glanced up at the scene, threw his hands up in the air, and yelled, "This is just great. My day has been perfect."
"Well?" Wally asked his friend.
"Carry Artemis out of here. They're after her. They probably won't do anything to us," Richard finally directed, thinking a little more clearly now.
And so Wally scooped her up and started running.
Artemis
She held on tightly to Wally while he ran, cutting through the air. Her hair floated gently on the wind and she could see the determined look on his face. It was strange how her heart seemed to leap against her chest when she finally dared to open her eyes and look at him. But then she noticed something else too.
"You might be able to run fast, but you're still just a kid," a guy shouted at Wally, approaching them.
And he was running just as fast as Wally, maybe even faster.
Richard
"There's another thing we should probably tell you," River said.
Richard didn't think there could possibly be any news worse than being married, and at such a young age too, so he nodded his head, signaling he wanted to hear the news.
"After you left, a guy named Eobard Thawne came to the tribe with that exact same army of ninjas and attacked us, looking for the elder who knew the secret to the Lightning King powers. He kind of wanted some, said he saw a kid running around beating up his ninja army with them while they tried to get some girl in a tower or something, and so he wouldn't stop killing tribespeople until Hadiir agreed to go through with the ceremony. So yeah. I think that's him," River said.
Richard stared at River blankly.
"You think? Well now what? He's going to catch up to Wally and then he'll probably capture Artemis and then we'll have failed our mission. And this doesn't change the fact that I'm married!"
"WE GET IT. YOU'RE MARRIED AND YOU'RE NOT HAPPY ABOUT IT," Barbara finally said.
Obviously she was annoyed at how Richard was reacting to the news.
"Well do you want to be married to me?" Richard asked.
"Hm… maybe romantically involved. But no. Not married," Barbara replied.
"Then why did you carry through with the ceremony? Wait. Romantically involved?" Richard exclaimed.
"I carried through with the ceremony because my dad gave approval by telling you 'samersharakiyl' after you complimented the house! I don't have a choice after that!" Barbara answered, ignoring the second half of what he said.
"I thought that word meant 'thank you' or something in forest tribespeople language!" Richard defended himself.
They watched each other in silence. Really she was pretty, at least Richard thought she was. But he did not want to be married.
"…there's tribal un-marriage customs," Kalina piped up.
"What are they?" Richard and Barbara asked at the same time.
"We tie you to a tree together for twenty-four hours. When we release you, you'll be un-married," River replied, quite indifferently.
"Okay. Let's do this."
Wally
He opened his eyes to see he was tied up to a horse-cart. He looked over and saw that Artemis was with him, but she seemed to still be blacked out.
"So why are you doing this again?" one of the soldiers whispered.
"I told you already. When I asked the magical talking mirror, this girl turned up as a possible marriage choice and she was not only the prettiest girl on there, but the most interesting one on there. And so I sent my ninjas to go find her. Of course, they failed. I always have to do everything myself," the leader replied.
Wally closed his eyes, wanting to trick them into thinking he was still out. Besides, he had a headache. The leader looked like the guy who'd been able to run as fast as Wally, which meant that he wasn't the only one with Lightning King powers. He'd met his equal. Sort of. This guy looked like he was twenty or something, and this guy already commanded a ninja army and a Calvary. Wally was probably just a lame prince compared to this guy. Actually, "this guy" looked kind of like Eobard Thawne, a prince from a neighboring kingdom who was only a few years older than Wally. Wally wondered if Eobard recognized him, and decided that he'd find out later. When they got to their destination. Wherever it was.
Characters: Artemis, Wally, Richard, Kalina (OC), River (OC), Barbara (Batgirl I/Oracle), ninjas, Eobard Thawne (Professor Zoom)
Well I got over writer's block. And I finally found time to write.
This chapter's plot was thought up by Rowanfall (who is super awesome and you should check out her stories! :D)
Special appearances of: Barbara Gordon (as tribesgirl with Hansel and Gretel inspired background story) and Professor Zoom/Eobard Thawne (as leader or as Wally calls him "this guy", where the magical talking mirror that suggests who he should marry is inspired by Shrek)
Disclaimer: I don't own Hansel and Gretel, Rapunzel, Shrek, or Young Justice.
So while Wally and Artemis are being carted off to who knows where, why don't you leave a review? :)
Thank you for reading :D
-Safirel
