Chapter Text
It was the next morning and almost time for the first challenge. Everyone hoped it would be decently easy and not too dangerous. Last night’s dinner was amazing and very filling. Everyone always loved Hera’s cooking. Afterward, Odysseus, Polites, Eurylochus, Poseidon, and Telemachus had gone for a swim in the ocean while Circe, Calypso, and Penelope laid out on towels and watched the sun disappear below the horizon. Hermes had stayed with Tiresias under a tree, getting to know him and helping lead him where he needed to go.
That morning, as soon as everyone was allowed out of their cabins, Odysseus immediately ran over to his wife and hugged her tightly. “My beautiful wife…” He whispered, melting into her as she returned his embrace.
Penelope let out a laugh and kissed her clingy puppy of a husband on the jaw. “Odysseus, please. We weren’t even apart for a day.”
Odysseus buried his face into the crook of Penelope’s neck, taking in her scent. “I know, but I love–”
Athena’s voice boomed from the speakers, interrupting the couple's sweet moment. Odysseus scowled, refusing to let go of his gorgeous wife. Penelope adjusted herself so she could partly see the stage where the goddess was standing over her husband's scarred biceps.
After the rest of the group slowly filed in, Athena began speaking. “Good morning, everyone! I hope you got good rest last night, you’ll need all the concentration you can get for this challenge.” She hummed, her voice steady.
Everyone looked at each other, curious and excited for their first activity. Athena cleared her throat, bringing all attention back to her. “For your first challenge, you will be competing in team archery!” Quiet murmurs and gasps arose from the group. “Now, this isn’t just any team archery.” She began again “You will be working in pairs! Pairs that have been assigned by me.”
Odysseus and Telemachus smiled at each other; they had been training together in the castle gardens for months. Telemachus had become an excellent archer.
“For this to work,” Athena continued on, “one person will be standing on a balance board with a target over their head, while the other must aim and shoot the target.” She snickered. “The medics will be on standby at all times, so, have no fear.”
Everyone went silent, and the atmosphere suddenly felt as thick as molasses. “Now, there will be no teams for this activity. Just pairs.” The goddess mentioned. “Speaking of the pairs, we have…. Let’s see… Odysseus and Telemachus…”
Telemachus ran over to his father, and Odysseus gave him an encouraging pat on the back,
“Circe and Poseidon.”
The witch made her way towards the ocean god, who gave her a small smile.
“Penelope and Calypso.”
Penelope felt her stomach drop. She didn’t know how she felt about being paired up with the girl who kept her husband from her for seven years.
“Polites and Eurylochus.”
Polites gave his muscular friend a smile and looped their arms.
“And Hermes and Tiresias.”
Hermes felt his pulse speed up. Archery… with a blind guy? Not the best pairing.
After everyone got with their partner, they were led out to an enclosed part of the beach. Out in the water, there were five balance boards. Across from them, on the sand, were five bows and five quivers with at least thirty arrows each. Then, a little farther back, the medics had set up their tent, ready to address whatever injuries would be caused during this challenge.
“One more thing.” Athena started, pulling everyone's focus to her. “After five hits—whether those hits are to your partner or the target—you must switch places. You have 15 minutes to shoot your target with as many arrows as possible. However, you only have thirty arrows in your quiver, so take your time with your aim.” She hummed, happily. “Now, choose what partner goes into the water first, and let the games begin!”
A couple seconds later, Odysseus, Poseidon, Calypso, and Eurylochus stepped into the water. Hermes and Tiresias, however, were still having trouble deciding who would get shot at first.
“Dawling prophet, I really think it would be better if I shot first! I mean, you are—”
“Blind? I do believe I have noticed, Lord Hermes.” Tiresias responded, politely. “However, please trust me. I do not think—nor intend—to injure such a fine figure of a god.”
Hermes felt his face get hot at this comment. This blind prophet—this mortal… he made him feel weak and powerless at moments. Even though they’d only met not even twenty-four hours before, he had taken a liking to him. “I— fine, I suppose you can shoot first, dawling.” He sighed, giving in to Tiresias’ charms. “But, please, try not to hit me!”
A small smile rose to Tiresias’ lips, and he nodded, raising the bow into position as Hermes got into the water. “I will not let you down, Lord Hermes.”
Odysseus wobbled on the small, circular piece of floating plastic in the calm ocean water, waiting for his son, Telemachus, to raise his bow and take his first shot at the discus-sized target that loomed above his head. “You got this, kiddo!” The king shouted, giving his nervous kid some encouragement. “I believe in you!”
Telemachus began to raise his bow, carefully lining up his shot. A smile rose to his mouth at the sound of his father’s positive words; the confidence in Odysseus’ voice exhilarated him. After he had finished aiming, he took an arrow from his quiver, and placed it on his bow’s rest. He then nocked it and drew it back, ready to fire. At the sound of Athena’s voice, he let the arrow fly and it stuck perfectly in the middle ring of his father’s target.
“Uh, are you sure you wouldn’t rather me shoot first, Polites?” Eurylochus called from the water, nervous sweat beading on his forehead as he watched his small friend fumble with his bow, certainly not knowing what to do with it.
Polites looked up at Eurylochus, and gave him a confident smile. “Don’t worry! I got this! I just gotta figure out how to load it—” He raised his bow, attempted to nock an arrow, and pulled back. Suddenly, he accidentally let go, and his first arrow shot right by the left side of his partner's head, barely grazing the tip of his ear. They both stared at each other in shock for a moment before Polites said “Sorry, Eury! Let me try again.”
“That’s quite alright, Polites, just let me— Eek!”
Again, an arrow flew by him, this time through the small hole where his jaw protruded from his neck. Polites let out a nervous chuckle. “You know what? Maybe you should shoot first!”
“Yeah- good idea.” Eurylochus answered, still visibly shaking from his two close calls with two poorly shot barbed-tip arrows.
Circe stood on the hot summer sand, bow half raised, sneaking glances at the young, tall, brown haired man that stood on the left of her. Telemachus, the son of Odysseus. He was a charming young man, she thought - wouldn’t make a bad husband, either.
“Hey, witch!” Poseidon called, perfectly balanced on the circular balance board that stood in the ocean. “Time’s ticking! Let’s focus up, shall we?”
Circe looked up at the sea God, and rolled her eyes as she raised her bow into position. “I can see why you’re the sea god… you ARE quite crabby” She scoffed, a small smirk pulling at the corners of her mouth.
Poseidon let out an agitated sigh. “Just shoot, will you!?” Suddenly, as he had commanded, Circe shot an arrow straight into the target's center, making the deity jump.
“Are you happy now, fish lips?” Circe laughed, amused by the all-mighty gods' startled reaction.
Composing himself, Poseidon gave a silent thumbs up, and just tried to focus on steadying himself instead of his embarrassment.
Penelope raised her bow, trying to focus on the task at hand and not on killing the woman that kept and tried to assault her husband for seven years.
“Sooo” Calypso began, wobbling on her balance board. “You’re Ody’s wife?” She asked, her voice laced with venom and a slight jealousy.
Penelope nodded, raising her aim from Calypso’s throat up to the target above her head. “I am.”
Calypso laughed, the sound cold and sarcastic. “Wow. From the way he described you, I would have assumed you’d be prettier!” She said, not-so-innocently.
Immediately, Penelope’s aim shifted down and she shot an arrow right into Calypso’s foot. The goddess howled in pain and fell backwards into the water. “Oops!” Penelope chuckled, “Sorry, bad aim!” She said through her teeth, obviously proud of the pain she had just caused Calypso.
A second later, medics had to go and grab the injured goddess from the water and bring her up to land. Penelope smiled sweetly at Calypso as she, foot still bleeding, got carried into the medical tent, whimpering in pain all the way there.
Athena’s voice boomed over the loud speakers. “Calypso and Penelope are eliminated from the challenge due to injury!”
Odysseus looked over to the medical tent, a pang of anxiety striking him in the chest when he heard the word ‘injury’. He hoped it wasn’t his beautiful wife that had gotten hurt. Though, as soon as he locked eyes with his unharmed lover, his fears faded, and he gave her a big smile, which she immediately returned.
The sounds of flying arrows and excited, and triumphant shouts, along with fearful, and
disappointed sighs could be heard all over the beach. In the lead at the moment was Odysseus and Telemachus with no misfires and 25 arrows in the target. Behind them were Polites and Eurylochus tied with Hermes and Tiresias who had 2 misfires and 22 arrows in their target. In last place was Circe and Poseidon with 3 misfires and only 16 arrows in their targets. There were only 2 more minutes on the clock and everyone was beginning to get anxious. Each team was scrambling to get their last perfect shots in before time ran out.
“Uhh Tiresias, dawling! Are you going to shoot or not?” Hermes shouted to his teammate, a nervous chuckle escaping his throat.
Tiresias continued to silently line up his shot, using Hermes' voice as his anchor for where he was going to shoot. He paused and pulled back the string of his bow, making his last adjustments.
On the other side of the beach, Polites and Eurylochus were doing the same. Odysseus and Telemachus had already finished, thus, making them the winners. Circe and Poseidon had followed behind them. However, now it was up to who could get their last shot closest to the middle of the target.
“C’mon, Polites! You got this!” Eurylochus yelled to his obviously nervous teammate. “Don’t think about it so much! You’ve been doing amazingly, so just shoot!”
In sync, Tiresias and Polites both let their arrows fly. The thin pieces of wood glided weightlessly through the sky, the red feathers on the ends of them compressing down to the weapons sides as it gained speed. Like clockwork, both arrows stuck straight in the center of each target right as the timer rang, signaling that the challenge was officially over.
Hermes jumped out of the water and gave his teammate a proud smile. Eurylochus did the same and each team walked over to the stage where Athena and the rest of the teams were standing. Penelope and Calypso stood off to the side, Calypso’s foot now bandaged and Penelope’s smile still wide as ever. Telemachus and Odysseus gave Tiresias and Polites a high five and a pat on the back. Circe and Poseidon gave everyone a thumbs up. Athena cleared her throat, the sound echoing through the camp.
“Alright! Great job, everybody!” The goddess chirped, her voice full of pride and enthusiasm. “This first challenge was certainly a success! For… mostly everyone, anyway.” Her eyes shot over to Penelope and Calypso and then back to the rest of the finished teams. “Now, for our winners… there will be first, second, and third place. Fourth and fifth place will be having to do an extra challenge to avoid elimination.”
Everyone looked at each other nervously. They had seen the reality TV shows and knew what nasty, outrageous elimination challenges that they could very well be put through.
“We’re going to start with first place, since it’s very obvious who won that.” Athena continued, motioning for Odysseus and Telemachus to come up on stage. “Congratulations to our father and son duo: Odysseus and Telemachus! You two had no misfires and all thirty arrows in your target.” Odysseus and Telemachus happily ran up onto the stage and gave one another a clap on the back. Applause rose from the crowd, and then died down shortly after.
“For second place,” Athena began again. “We have our fish and witch team: Circe and Poseidon! With only three misfires and twenty-seven arrows in total.” Circe and Poseidon made their way to the stage, as well, giving each other triumphant smiles.
“Now, third place was kind of… difficult.” Athena sighed. “Hermes, Tiresias. Polites, Eurylochus. Would you come up to the stage, please?” The goddess stretched out a toned arm, and motioned for them to come to the stage. As soon as the two nervous teams came up to the stage, Athena turned to face them. “All of you did absolutely splendidly! But, there can only be one team that can take third place…” She wiped a bead of sweat from her brow. “Hermes and Tiresias, you guys had four misfires and ultimately twenty-six arrows in your target.” She pointed out. “Polites and Eurylochus, you guys also had four misfires and twenty-six arrows in your target.”
Hermes grabbed Tiresias’ arm nervously, and Eurylochus put a hand on Polites’ shoulder. “In the end, it came down to whose arrow was dead center in their target, and after measuring, we saw that our winner was…” She paused for a long moment. Everything went silent as all the teams waited for the third team to be safe from elimination. The air was thick, and the wait felt like it went on for centuries. Who would win? Who would have to face elimination? Which team was going to leave the podium disappointed? It all came down to a singular measurement, and one simple announcement.
“...Hermes and Tiresias! Whose arrow couldn’t get any closer to the middle if they tried!”
Hermes and Tiresias jaws dropped, and Hermes squealed and practically tackled his blind teammate. “Eeeeee! Tiresias! You did it!” The god shouted, happily jumping up and down, squeezing his partner as tightly as he could.
Tiresias smiled, feeling his face heat up just a bit due to the gods' affection. “We did it, Lord Hermes.” He laughed, hugging his teammate back.
That left Polites and Eurylochus being put into the elimination challenge. “Polites and Eurylochus.” Athena started, causing everyone to go silent. “Your arrow was but point-third of a millimeter away from being dead center. Which means you will be put into the elimination challenge.”
Polites looked over and saw his teammate's sad expression and frowned. He immediately gave Eurylochus a big hug and told him how good he did. Eurylochus returned the embrace, a gentle smile pulling at his lips.
Athena cleared her throat, and began to speak once more. “Alright everyone, good work today! Dinner is in an hour, go wash up. The elimination challenge will be held in the main hall tonight. Calypso and Penelope. Polites and Eurylochus. I suggest you all save your appetite for this next challenge… you’ll need it.” The goddess chuckled, an evil smile rising to her lips.
What did Athena have in store for the elimination? Nobody knew. But, from the way she was acting… nobody thought it could be good.