This is my shortest chapter so far! Enjoy and comment! Constructive criticism is always welcomed!
Disclaimer: I own neither Young Justice nor Heroes Of Olympus.
When Raquel woke up all she could see was purple smoke. She tried to get up and move but it felt as if she was tied to a tree, then she looked down and noticed she was tied to a tree. Raquel turned her head against the tree as much as she could until her cheek scraped harshly against the bark.
Raquel let out a relieved sigh when she realized her wrist were loose enough for her to reach her belt. She touched her waist with her fingertips but felt no sign of the belt on her. Looking down through the purple smoke she saw that her belt wasn't anywhere near her. "Where's my belt?" she exclaimed.
"Don't worry it's all taken care of." a voice said out of the smoke.
Raquel would've jumped ten feet into the air if she wasn't tied to the tree. "Who's there?"
The smoke suddenly cleared just enough so she could see a man was standing in it. Raquel was surprised to notice that he was almost naked, the only thing covering him was a leopard skin loincloth. At first, he stood completely still like a statue, it wouldn't be surprising if he really was one considering how pale his skin was. But just as suddenly as the smoke cleared he screamed "philas" at the loudest volume possible and struck a pose that reminded Raquel of a one-legged ballerina.
"What?" she screamed back just as loud.
"Philas!" he said again. "You asked who's there and I answered back with my name. Philas!" Every time he repeated his name he got a little louder.
"Uggh…" Raquel heard a small moan of pain from the other side of the tree and hoped it was one of her friends.
"Robin? Aqualad?" she called out to them.
"Jason." he responded.
"I can work with that," she said with a small shrug. "What's wrong with you? You sound like you've been hit with a brick."
"It wouldn't be the first time."
"Finally, our guest are starting to wake up!" Philas struck a different pose, "I am-"
"Jason this is Phil, Phil this is Jason." Raquel said quickly.
"Where are we exactly, uh... Phil?" Raquel felt Jason shift in their bonds. "And why are we tied to a tree?"
"Don't fret young ones!" he did a spin, "You're here for the ceremony!" Raquel didn't know why they were being referred to as "young ones" when he looked just about the same age. The only thing that made him seem any older was his white hair that matched his pale skin.
Jason seemed more preoccupied with something else that Phil said. "Wait, what ceremony?"
"All will be revealed if you are patient Jason Grace."
Raquel furrowed her brow. "You know, it's kind of weird that you've got us tied up like this, Phil. Considering how… friendly you are."
"Is it?"
"Yes, it is. And you know what else is weird- I don't think I ever told you Jason's last name."
Phil stopped mid-turn and got back into a regular standing position. It didn't phase Raquel that he had suddenly gotten serious, what surprised her is when he started laughing. And it wasn't any regular laugh, it was maniacal.
"Seems like you've found me out." an incredibly creepy smile formed on his face. For the first time since he introduces himself, Philas opened his eyes revealing them to be entirely purple. "And I was really trying to keep you passive until the ceremony started. Or at least until it was too late for you save your friend."
All the smoke around them dissipated and revealed hundreds of pale-skinned men and women standing behind Phil. But they aren't what caught Raquel's eye. Above them suspended by a rope was Robin, who looked sound asleep. Or at least she hoped he was asleep.
"What are you doing to him?" Raquel cried angrily.
"What's happening?" Jason twisted in his binds. Being on the other side of the tree he couldn't see what was going on.
"You let Robin go right now!"
"Why would I want to let him go?" Phil asked innocently, "He should be honored."
"Why are you doing this?"
"Isn't obvious? He's the youngest member of you young heroes. We've been preparing him for this role since you landed on this mountain, that's why we pushed his mind into eating the fruit. With this smoke," Phil pushed his hands through the vapor around him, "it is still there even if you can't see it."
Raquel let her head drop back onto the tree. "No wonder he was acting so weird."
Jason spoke from the opposite side of the tree. "You mean he isn't always like that?"
"No, not really. He can be annoying and reckless and he leaves without telling anyone and-"
"Raquel," Jason interrupted, "What's your point?"
"My point is that he's been acting silly- no, more like crazy since we encountered the sheep."
"Crazy is what we're all about." Phil smiled his disturbing smile and cleared his throat. "Bring out the wine!"
Some of Phil's pale friends disappeared then reappeared with a giant crate of wine on wheels and put it right under Robin.
"What are you doing?" Raquel yelled.
"Now that we're getting started I guess it's okay to tell you." Philas walked closer to Raquel. "We are putting on a play for our great king, Dionysus!"
The crowds behind him repeated Dionysus again and again like it was some sacred mantra. After a few seconds Phil put up is hand to silence him.
"Who's Dionysus?" There were several gasps in response to Raquel's query.
"Dionysus is the god of wine, theater, and madness," Jason answered. "He also has a habit of forgetting people's names."
"You know nothing about our god." Philas snapped, "As I was saying, we put on a play once every decade for Lord Dionysus."
"How long have you been doing this?"
"For as long as Lord Dionysus has been a god, young lady. Every decade we choose a group of people and coax their youngest into eating the fruit. Then we… borrow the rest of this group so they can fight to get back their youngest's life as well as their own. If they fail we kill them and drown the youngest in the wine."
Raquel sneered, "What kind of sick play is this?"
"I tragedy, my dear. And we all know how badly those end."
"Let us out of here!" Raquel struggled violently against her binds.
"Raquel wait!" Jason said, "You said we get a chance to fight, right? What happens if we win?"
"Then we'd be forced to let you live and the heroes win that scene. But, no one's won any of the challenges in twelve thousand years so…"
"We'll try anyway." Raquel interrupted.
Philas threw up his hands. "Okay fine! But you'll need a third member and your friend over there doesn't look like he's in condition to do anything."
"What friend?" Raquel and Jason said in unison.
"That one over there." Philas cleared all the smoke in the direction he was pointing in. Under all of it was Aqualad who was still in deep sleep and breathing easy while he lied against a bush near the tree they were tied to.
"I'll let you go so you can wake the other one up." Philas snapped and the ropes disappeared, "But if you try to escape we'll kill you and your little friend."
-(Line Break)-
Raquel gently shook the sleeping Atlantean and was surprised when he opened his eyes almost immediately. But he closed them quickly and groaned. "Raquel? Wh-where are we?" He moaned again, "Where's Robin?"
"He's kind of tied up right now. No pun intended." she said.
"I know this may be a bad time for you," Jason helped Kaldur up, "But we're in a really bad situation that we literally have no time to expl-"
"Great!" Philas interrupted Jason as he tried to explain why he couldn't explain what was going on. "Now that you're all awake we can commence the announcement of challenges." Everyone in the background erupted into cheering that was silenced by a rise of Philas's hand.
"Is it just me or is it weird that he just had an announcement for an announcement." Jason said under his breath. Raquel would've laughed if she wasn't standing in front of a murderous cult that was about to tell them about all the terrifying plans they had ready for them.
"And to decide the task we'll be using everyone's favorite circular object." Philas paused for dramatic effect, "The Wheel of Madness!"
Everyone repeated 'madness' over and over again after Phil said it. Two women dressed in leopard skin bikinis pushed out the wheel of madness so that it was right next to a crate of wine and Robin. It looked a lot like the wheel of fortune but it replaced the money and prizes with various horrifying challenges.
"Since we have three competitors we'll turn the wheel three times." he said, "Now let's spin for the first challenge! Althea, be a doll."
One of the bikini-clad women, who must have been Althea, stepped up and spun the wheel. It turned for what felt like years and it lingered unsettlingly on 'A Walk Through Hades' but finally stopped on 'Pinecone Picking'. Jason and Raquel let out breaths they didn't know they were holding.
"Well isn't that boring." Philas visibly scowled then cleared his throat, "All well, the wheel has spoken. For this challenge, you'll be picking pinecones."
"That's not that bad." Raquel said.
"Pinecones that happen to be underwater!" Philas and the rest of the followers stepped to the side and cleared a path revealing a giant lake behind them.
Jason shrugged, "We can still-"
"And the water is freezing cold and filled with sharks!" Just then a bunch of shark fins surfaced and swam menacingly.
"It can't get any harder." Raquel tried to remain optimistic.
"Did I mention that you'll only have a minute and I'm not telling how many there are." Philas smiled as if he made the rules up himself, which he probably did. "The goal is to get more pinecones than your opponents."
"Wait, opponents," Raquel exclaimed, "Like multiple people we're going up against."
"Of course! If it wasn't one against five it would be a challenge, would it? And we get to pick which one of you go first."
"Uh uh!" Raquel stood up in protest, "You know that is not fair!"
"It doesn't matter if it's fair sweetheart, I made up the rules." Philas's grin eerily reminded Raquel of Cheshire's mask. "Now, excuse us while we make our decision." After that Philas and the other followers got into a huge football huddle that was filled with whispers.
Raquel turned back to Jason, "I can't believe this! What are we going to do?"
Jason looked at Raquel. "I've got a plan, just follow my lead." Jason glanced quickly at the huddle before speaking as loudly as possible. "Oh no, it's too bad they get to pick who goes first. I really hope they don't pick Kaldur."
Raquel smiled with understanding. "Oh yes, anyone of us but Kaldur, he's so weak right now." she spoke equally as loud as Jason.
"If he goes into that freezing shark infested water he might die." he said dramatically. Kaldur seemed to have caught on as well and let out a fake little moan to add to the theatrics.
"That would give us less of a chance to save Robin too. We can't have two deaths in one day."
Raquel glanced at the huddle and saw Philas sticking his head out from the masses of people, obviously listening. Or maybe he thought he was eavesdropping on their super secret conversation.
"I know who we're picking!" he said suddenly. The followers made a path for him as he walked towards the trio. "You with the tattoos get up." Aqualad made a show of dragging himself to the edge of the lake while five Michael Phelps-looking followers stood at the edge along with him.
Philas held up a timer that he pulled out from seemingly nowhere. "On my mark… get set… go!"
And then they were off. It must have been an exciting match, too bad none of them could tell because it was underwater. But Raquel could vaguely make out large gray masses that must have been sharks moving quickly underwater, they must have been chasing their prey.
All of a sudden Kaldur's head resurfaced. He deposited the pinecones he collected on the ground and pulled himself out of the water with 15 seconds to spare.
Phil looked down at his timer. "What… what are you doing?"
"I couldn't find anymore," Kaldur answered nonchalantly, "I hope these are all of them."
"How did you do that?" Just as he asked the five followers he sent in resurfaced holding no pinecones. "Where are all your pinecones?" The men just shrugged at him.
The timer rang and the expression on Philas's face was a mixture of confusion and anger. "Althea! Count the pinecones!" he yelled.
She bent down to count them, which only took a second. Once she stood up Philas asked her "Is that all twelve of them?" and she nodded.
"I really thought there would be more than that." As he said that Aqualad looked like he was trying to hold a smirk back.
Phil's purple eyes stared intently at Aqualad who was still wet from his short swim, then his eyes widened. It looked like he finally noticed his gills and webbed hands and feet.
"You cheaters!" he exclaimed, suddenly sounding like a child, "You had an Atlantean with you! We should kill you for that!"
"Didn't you make up the rules, sweetheart?" Raquel chided.
The follower's wine colored eyes darkened for second before reverting back to normal. "Fine." he chuckled, "Let's see how you fair with the next challenge."
I felt like this chapter wasn't my best but my writer's block is starting to clear up so hopefully the updates will be better and come a little quicker!
Comment if you enjoyed this! A new chapter will be up soon (hopefully)!