Artemis' eyes flicked open to see a multitude of white surrounding her. The white soon turned into grays and blues, and shapes began to form.
She saw her leg propped up with a cast around it. Her right arm however was also in a cast, but it kept her elbow bent and stopped at the middle of her upper arm.
Artemis looked around once again, realizing that she was in a Hospital room. Then she realized that she could almost see out of both eyes. She smiled at this, only to feel that the cuts on her face where still there, and still stung. So naturally, the teen quietly groaned in pain.
She then used her good hand to discover the condition of said cuts. Both the one on her check and temple had stitches, and she had a scab on the bridge of her nose. This meant that they would probably leave scars.
Cool, battle scars. Artemis nodded her head, approvingly .
That's when she heard the quiet murmuring coming from across the room.
She looked over to see four people conversing quietly. Artemis smiled - the pain in her check returning - as she recognized them. It was Cole, Jay, Nya, and Lloyd.
"Yo, cartoon characters, I'm awake."
"ARTEMIS!" Lloyd whipped his head towards her, a huge smile plastered on his face. In about two steps, he had practically landed on Artemis, squeezing her in a tight hug. This caused the teen to suck in a breath, as the new pressure had aggravated her broken ribs. Noticing her discomfort, Lloyd quickly let her go and sheepishly said, "Sorry."
Artemis just smiled through the pain. "It's good to see you too Green Bean."
The others where now crowded around her bed, looking both happy and worried.
"So, how long was I out?" Artemis asked, fully expecting the answer to a few hours.
"Three days." Cole said.
Her expression must have been worrying, because Jay quickly added; "But don't worry, while you were out, we managed to steal all of the Fang Blades from the Serpentine. And the doctors said that once you woke up you would be discharged."
Her expression changed from distressed to just stressed and angry. If the heist had happed how she thought it did, someone was going to get hit with a metal pole. Artemis glanced over at Lloyd; he had a small bruise on his jaw. Scratch that, all of the Ninja would be getting hit with said pole.
"I think you're forgetting something!" Lloyd spoke up, glaring at Jay. He puffed out his chest and turned toward Artemis. "I'm the Green Ninja."
Artemis smiled once again, her face slowly becoming used to the action. "Why do you think I call you 'Green Bean'?"
The four balked at this.
"Wait, you knew!?" The blond exclaimed.
The teen nodded, "Yup, and I know that Zane is a robot-"
"We prefer the term Nindroid" Nya corrected her.
"There is no way in hell I am calling him that."
A nurse suddenly entered the room, effectively ending that conversation.
The older woman did her job and checked Artemis thoroughly. The others were quiet as she did so, and the nurse paid no attention to them. Once her work was done, she explained that she would be discharged in a few hours, and then promptly left the room.
Artemis glanced from the door to her friends and back again. "So why did she seem to hate you guys?"
"Well, when we brought you in, we didn't exactly tell them that you were captured by the Serpentine." Cole explained, looking rather uncomfortable as he did so.
"So we told them you fell down some stairs." Jay finished off lamely.
"Let me guess, they didn't believe you." Artemis asked, with a sarcastic tone to her voice.
The all shook their heads, confirming her statement.
"Especially when they saw you foot, and cuts. They said those were about a week old." Nya motioned to the offending injuries. "What exactly did you do?"
"I took every hit meant for Lloyd." Artemis deadpanned.
That made everyone shut up. The silence wasn't tense, or comfortable, everyone was just searching for something to say.
Finally Jay broke the ice.
"So why was Cole the first one to be real for you?"
Artemis laughed.
After a few hours of mindless chitchat, the nurse came back, this time with a crutch and a sling. Then forced the boys to leave the room, so she and Nya could help Artemis get actual clothes on, and out of the hospital gown she was currently wearing.
It took a while for Artemis to actually stand up properly and even longer to actually get her clothes on, even with the extra help.
After that ordeal was over, the nurse put her broken arm in the sling to hold it up properly. Then, explained that she would need the crutch for at least three or four weeks. The break wasn't that sever, but she shouldn't be putting too much weight on it too soon.
Afterwards, the five where back on the Bounty and Kai, Zane, and Wu had all come to greet them.
"Can we all agree that volcanoes suck, and never go to another one ever again?" Artemis practical pleaded.
Once again, the others shifted awkwardly.
"Err, well, we're on our way to another right now. Sorry." Kai explained, smiling uncomfortably.
Noticing her confusion, Zane further explained the situation. "This Volcano is hot enough to actually destroy the blades."
"What is this? Lord of the Rings?" the teen asked herself, but she just shook her head. "Well good for you guys, I'm going to get something to eat." She then hobbled off towards the stairs.
Suddenly they seemed to all regain their common sense and tried to persuade the small teen to let them help her.
Things were finally starting to look up for the ninja.
I hope you all enjoyed the chapter!
Thank you to all of the wonderful reviews who go me back in to the grove of things.
Shoutout to Rainbowaly03 and Catie Kuda! You guys rock :D
Also I now have an actual character description of Artemis on my profile if you are interested.