Artemis felt a spreading numbness across his features, particularly his senses. He waited for some sort impact, as he knew he was falling.
But he felt nothing.
He heard Holly scream, from somewhere far away. She said his name, and he felt a series of soft spots of pressure as her tears fell on his cheeks.
"No." She said, her voice catching. "No, Artemis. You can't die. Not now."
Wait. Artemis thought, in a surge of panic. She thinks I'm dead.
Am I dead?
The thought echoed loudly around his head for a few seconds, before a voice cut through the silence, much closer than Holly's.
"No, I'm afraid you're not."
He jumped as he was suddenly transported, in a flurry of sparks. When his vision cleared, he was startled yet again. He appeared to be standing on nothing, a white backround spread out around him in every direction, like a blank sheet of paper. But it was the figure in front of him that really caught his attention.
Standing before him, cold eyes burning from emotionless features, was a twelve year old version of himself.
The younger Artemis only smiled his wicked smile, and sparks crackled across the nonexistent floor.
That was when the true severity of the situation occurred to him.
This was a younger Artemis...with magic.
Holly was in a complete state of panic.
Why had she done that? How could he have convinced her so easily? She should've kept the weapon from him, protected him.
But she hadn't, and now he was dead.
And it was all her fault.
The next few minutes were a blur as Butler and Juliet rushed into the room, reacting to the commotion. She heard the flurry of talk between the two, each word blurring with the next until she couldn't even try to understand.
All she remembered was crying over Artemis's body before this, sitting in a chair outside of his room, listening to the soft sound of footsteps within.
She was an idiot, and she knew it. A complete and utter idiot. If only she'd had the courage to talk to him, tell him all the things she wanted so badly to say, but never could. No, she'd missed her chance.
She spun in her seat, staring at the closed door with empty eyes and a broken heart.
"I love you." she murmured to the wall, knowing this was the closest she would ever get now.
The sense of finality in the gesture overwhelmed her.
She got up and ran.
She didn't know where she was going, only that she had to get away.
Away from it all.
Away from him.
She couldn't even bear to think his name anymore.