For the first little while, there was nothing. Just darkness all around her. No sound, no light, no up, no down. She had never felt so afraid. Or was she? She couldn't tell whether she was afraid or happy. What was the difference again? She couldn't remember. How long had she been here? Hours? Days? Maybe just minutes? Where was her team? Hadn't she been with her team? Or was it her family?
No she was sure she had been on a mission with her team... So where was she? She had to find her team, so why was she just sitting here? Wait where was here again? That question kept coming back to her mind. Finally, as though a spell had been broken, her mind which had felt so sluggish a few minutes ago, cleared. She glanced around quickly. It wasn't so dark anymore. Why not?
There, in the middle of the darkness was a candle. Had that been here the whole time? And looking down, she could just see a concrete floor in the dim light. Weird, a second ago she could have sworn there was nothing beneath her. She shook her head. She made her way over to the light, and bent down to pick it up. The candle stood in a blue stand, the type from old movies and cartoons that you could carry around.
"Artemis! Hurry up! We need to get out of here before it blows!"
Artemis whipped around to see who had spoken. The room was suddenly brighter, but she still saw no other light source but the candle. Looking around the room, she saw that she was in a warehouse. It was cold and dusty, and the room was filled with boxes. She saw only one door, and could hear people running towards her from it. She stood in the middle of room, with only the candle in her hand. Should she hide? But what if it was the team? Maybe they had come for her.
Her internal debate was cut off when two young girls burst into the room. One had shoulder length black hair and wore a mask similar to what Robin wore. Behind her a smaller blonde girl ran in. Unlike the first one, who was relatively unscathed, this one had blood running down her arm, which she was clutching. She wore no mask, but her hair was in her face, making it hard for Artemis to see her.
"Tch. Dead end." The taller one started glancing around the room.
"Jade... It hurts..."
Artemis' eyes widened. She looked back at the girl again. The small girl had brushed her hair out of her face revealing her big gray eyes.
"It's your own fault for getting shot Artemis! I told you to stay away from the boss and handle the henchmen!"
Artemis' eyes widened. That was her. And Jade. Now that she thought about it... She remembered this. She and Jade had been sent on a mission to 'encourage' a new villain to stay out of their fathers business. What was going on? How was this happening?
"I'm sorry Jade! I didn't mean to, he just came at me!"
Jade turned and at seeing Artemis clutching her bloody arm, she seemed to soften a bit.
"I'll help you with it when we get home." She said, "Right now we need to get out of here. And fast."
Little Artemis nodded, and helped her sister in trying to find a way out. The other Artemis, watched the two of them, completely confused as to what was going on. Why was she seeing this? And it didn't seem as though the two sisters could see her. Was there something important about this memory? What had happened that night? That's when it hit her. That was the night when-
"Artemis! We're going to have to go through the windows up there." Jade pointed towards the windows near the top of the room. It was pretty high up, close to the rafters.
Little Artemis nodded and the two girls started climbing up the boxes. Suddenly Artemis heard footsteps again.
"They went that way! Hurry, the boss wants those brats alive!"
"Hurry Artemis!"
Jade was already at the windowsill, looking back. Little Artemis was lagging behind, her arm slowing her down.
"I'm coming! I'll meet you down there!"
Artemis wanted to close her eyes. She didn't want to watch this. Not again. But she couldn't, and her eyes stayed trained on the two girls. She watched as Jade narrowed her eyes, looking nervously towards the door where voices could be heard getting closer. She glanced down at her wrist.
"Fine." She said when it looked like little Artemis was almost there, "But hurry. There isn't much time left."
With that the eldest sibling was gone, jumping from the window and finding her way safely to the ground. Little Artemis was still climbing as fast as she could, trying to reach the top before time ran out. Artemis grimaced as she watched herself slip and fall a few feet before catching herself. This had to be her most painful memory. She had been only nine or so.
"There she is!"
Artemis whipped around to see two men in the doorway. They both looked pretty beaten up. Little Artemis had only spared them a glance before she continued scrambling up the box's. One of the men raised his gun and started firing at her. Artemis felt a few of them pass through her, as though she wasn't there. The younger girl dodged the best she could, but one nicked her leg. The girl let out a yelp but she kept going. The two goons seemed to have run out of bullets and were now running, trying but failing to climb after her. Little Artemis finally reached the window sill and spared a glance back at them, sticking out her tongue. However, the expression was wiped from her face a moment later.
Beep...Beep...Beep...Beep..Beep.
The bomb. And with that the sound of the explosion filled the air, and fire roared down the hallway. Little Artemis dove from the window, trying to get out of the way. But it was too late. Now, the older Artemis had thought that she wouldn't feel anything when the explosion came. She was wrong. She felt everything that she had felt back when she was little, and she could hear herself screaming. The bullet in her arm, and the nick on her leg was nothing compared to the feeling of burning alive. Faintly she could hear Jade screaming for her, and helping her. She knew that back then, she had passed out from the pain by now, but right now all she felt was the pain. It just went on and on. All she could see in front of her was fire, the flames licking her skin. But soon it was gone, replaced again by the darkness. However the pain remained and Artemis writhed on the ground, her eyes squeezed shut.
"That was for what you did to Teekl, brat." A voice said somewhere in the darkness.
Artemis cracked her eyes open a bit, looking around but seeing nothing. She was shaking with pain and her teeth were clenched together, trying to keep in a pained whimper. Then suddenly, it was gone. She lay on the ground, gasping for breath for a few minutes before even bothering to look up. When she did, she was met with the face of the chaos lord. Klarion glared down at her, floating in the darkness.
"You're lucky I'm not allowed to kill you yet." He grumbled. He soon seemed to get over that though, and continued on, "Now then. I needed to test the connection, just in case."
Artemis just looked at him in confusion. He seemed to enjoy the fact that he knew something she didn't, and a large grin covered his face.
"Let's just say that soon you are going to be a very useful tool for me and my colleagues. Now then, I have to go and it looks like you'll be waking up soon, so ta ta for now!"
And with that, he was gone, leaving Artemis alone in the cold, unforgiving darkness once again.
A/N: Wow! This must be the fastest update yet! Oh my gosh! 40 reviews?! Thank you all so much! Also, sorry I got Teekl's gender wrong, and thanks for telling me XD . I will try to update one more time before I go on vacation and am separated from my computer but if I don't, then there won't be another update till at least mid- January. SO happy holidays and New Years everyone!
Please review!
