Artemis was restless
He wasn't this way because of something he did, but rather because there was something that he felt he should be doing, but wasn't. His genius mind couldn't cope with it at all. It was especially bad at night, because of his dreams
His dreams were inhabited by little people. People no taller than three feet. There was a girl, very pretty, with cutting hazel eyes, thick skin, almost the same color, and auburn, crew cut hair. Her lips were full and red. He was attracted to Her as no other girl had ever attracted him before. She would often visit him in his dreams, saying things like how much She missed him, and that somehow, someday, they would be together. He didn't know that they had met before, but he trusted Her. He felt safe with Her... not safe as in Butler made him feel, but safe from everything else. He felt as if absolutely nothing could ever harm him if She, whoever She was, stayed with him.
There were two others that visited him, too. One was sort of like the girl, only more red and purple in the face. The other was weird, like a centaur. It's whole body was a beautiful chestnut color, but it had the torso, arms, and head of a Man, but it also had the Mane, body, tail, and legs of a horse. He wore a hat of Tin Foil sort of like a Football helmet.
They liked to ask him questions about his history, all that he could remember from the past. He told them about glimpses from his life as a toddler, birthday parties that only his limited family came to. He told them about how horrible he felt when, at the local public kindergarten, he finally realized that all of the other kids his age were afraid of him. Although he was their size, their age, he knew more than even their parents did. He frightened them with his apparent superiority. His body-guard frightened them, and much more frightened them. And that frightened him, and made him grow bitter.
He despised the children he was exposed to, and made sure that they undoubtedly knew that he always was better, smarter, richer, and always would be. However, it pained him, especially as he grew older to know that all the other children could make friends with others, and he couldn't. The social wall that separated them lashed against him with barbed wire, cold and hard. The invisible lacerations cut deep into his soul, yet he learned just to grin and bear it. But then the grinning became too much, so he just bore it.
And then, of course, he told them about the problem with his father. All he knew about his father was that he was named after him, and that he kept on spouting out the same Latin phrase - "Aurum Est Potestas" - Gold Is Power. When he asked his father what it was supposed to mean, his father replied "Someday, you will understand the power we hold, my son. We are rich, and that gives us the benefit over the poor. We can buy what we need, and still have more money for things we don't need. The poor, on the other hand, can barely hold onto their possessions, and still buy what they need, let alone what they don't need. We can do as we please, and they can do as others can tell them to. Now do you understand? Or did I raise a poor son?"
Tears came to Artemis' eyes as he told the short people of this. He didn't want his father to think him a poor son. It would mean that his father wouldn't like him, in his youthful mind, so he learned to understand. He also learned to catch things and understand them the first time round, so he wouldn't ever have to worry about being called a poor son again.