L/N: Okay here is the next chapter and it might explain why Lucas' family was cursed and by who. Enjoy and review!
Artemis
She woke in the arms of a man, her head against his chest. She looked up to see Lucas watching her, his hands in her now black hair. "Morning, Luna."
Artemis tilted her head to the side. "Luna?"
He shrugged and smiled at her, the childish grin warming her heart. "Thought you deserved a nickname instead of me calling you Diana or Artemis."
Minutes later, now dressed and bathed, they both sat at his kitchen, Artemis somehow being able to walk down the stairs even if she needed to lean on him for support. She devoured her pancakes and he laughed, causing her to look up at the man. "Looks like someone's hungry." Was all he teased as her face reddened. He leaned forward after she calmed down. "The question is how are you recovering quickly after for weeks you were getting worse?"
"Well, Cupid did warn me of a time limit, but maybe that has something to do with how much time we have left."
Lucas gave her a sad smile. "You do seem to be losing your aura. When I found you the silver aura around you was bright, but now it seems to be fading almost completely. You could easily pass as human now." Artemis saddened at the reminder. He lifted her gaze to his with a finger under her chin, her silver eyes still shining their familiar glow. "We will find a way. We can reach Olympus in nine days."
Artemis sighed. "We first have to find a 'Lake of Moonlight', as he said. I have never seen a lake of moonlight in all my years of existence." Follow the silver arrow, shot by the hands of a mortal man, the first to use the Bow of Artemis. Find the Lake of Moonlight or the end will come. His words kept running through her head, even as she tried to understand their meaning.
Lucas let go of her chin to grasp her hand in his, their fingers interlacing as if they were meant to be so. "You said he told you to find it or else the end will come." Artemis slid the paper she had been writing on to him. He stared at it before turning to her. "His exact wording?" She nodded and he read the words, his hand tightening its grip on hers. "So we do as it tells us. We follow the silver arrow shot by the first man to use your bow. Who was that?"
She shook her head. "No one has ever used my bow except for me, much less a male. It'll be impossible to find the right one..." She raised her head. The mortal shall aide you... only once you have bonded and no secrets hold between you. She stared at him, gazes locked. "The mortal shall aide you, only once you have bonded and no secrets hold between you." Lucas turned away, a clouded look in his eyes.
He must hold a lot of secrets. He reread all of the words and then looked back at her. "Well, I guess we should go get your bow then, shall we?" He stood up and helped her to the door, right before Torquin opened it with his spare key Lucas had given him.
"Am I missin' somethin'?" The old man raised his gaze as he looked from Lucas to Artemis, then their interlocked hands.
"Sorry Torquin, but we have to go to the workshop and then a forge I've been working at. Diana got well a lot better from yesterday, and she wanted to see and do some things. You wouldn't mind if..." Lucas' quick thinking caught to Artemis, leaving her silent as the old man smiled at him.
"Don' worry. I jus came to ask if ye wanted me to bring yer supplies here or keep 'em in the storage room, since ye just got another package delivered. I'll just wait til ye get back. Have fun, son." Lucas nodded in appreciation as they all walked to the door, Lucas closing and locking the door once they all got outside. Torquin turned to Artemis. "So yer the girl Lucas told me about, eh? The twins can't stop talkin' about you and how Lucas talks about ye."
Artemis reddened, but the old man just laughed. "It's alright. As long as ye take good care of 'im, then there's nothin' to say." Artemis nodded before her walked off, leaving Artemis wondering how Lucas met such a kind old man.
They got into the truck and Lucas drove, leaving her to watch as everything flew by.
Lucas
Once they arrived to the workshop, Lucas took out the keys and unlocked the door, letting Artemis enter before him. She looked around in curiosity and amazement, probably never having seen such machinery in her eons of hunting. He grabbed what he needed before stepping out of the office, finding Artemis staring at his notes, one of the pages in her hand. She turned to him as he walked towards her, holding the page for him to see a detailed sketch of her bow. "What is this for?"
Lucas plucked the paper from her fingers and tacked it back to the board. "It's a project I was working on, before we got our quest for you." She only nodded as she stared at the wall of designs and measurements with her eyes narrowed. She looked cute like that. "Come on, let's go get your bow."
About a few hours later he arrived to the closed forge, the mining grounds nearby. He unlocked the door and told Artemis to be careful, seeing as there was a furnace still burning with flames. He reached up to pull her bow off of the nail in the wall and turned to find her holding his almost identical replica of hers. She stared at him. "How?"
He placed his hands over hers and looked at the almost finished product of his hard work. He remembered the first day working on it, the picture of her durable bow body and string in his mind as he looked at the string of material he had made, the color dark but not silver as hers. He placed her hand on the grip, causing her to gasp from the feeling of the material. "It's the same thing as yours. It was all hard to find, but I somehow managed to put it all together. I know it's not silver, but I hadn't been able to find what made it that color."
Artemis stared at him, bewilderment covering her expression. "I know I'm not a cyclops, but I managed. I just need to test it out." She nodded slowly as he led her out of the forge, him carrying her bow slung over his shoulder with her quiver beside it, Artemis holding his mixed colored replica.
He drove into a nearby forest and left his truck near the side of it, both walking on foot into the thick trees. They kept their hands interlocked, each taking comfort of the one next to them. Once he thought it was deep enough, he unslung the bow and quiver from around his shoulder, handing the bow to Artemis. She shook her head. "It said the arrow shot by the first man to use my bow. You will be the one to shoot the arrow." His eyes widened but he stayed silent, wrapping and tying a light string rope around the head of the arrow.
He didn't understand how it was meant to work, but his experiences told him to follow his instincts. And so he did. He raised the bow expertly, nocking the arrow into place on the bow. He pulled the string back, and breathed in. Trusting Artemis, he turned himself to where he felt a pulling sensation. He closed his eyes and releasing his breath, he let the arrow fly. He expected it to hit a tree or something nearby, but instead it zoomed through the trees, somehow not stopping.
Lucas turned towards her, as she watched the string keep going and it almost ran out. Reaching for her, they sprinted after the arrow, the string continuing to go straight. Her breathing began to quiver, quick and short breaths coming from her mouth as she partly stumbled in her running. The curse must be causing her to lose her domain powers. He lifted her into his arms, his legs carrying them both as the string was all they could see of the arrow. The forest began to change as he ran, old oak trees changing to moist jungle wood. He ignored the strange appearance and followed the path, the string glowing silver with moonlight.
Somehow he wasn't tiring, adrenaline and energy flowing through his veins as he carried Artemis bridal style in his arms, her hands clenching and clutching at his neck, trying to keep herself steady. Seeing her silver eyes gave him extra energy, somehow causing him to sprint faster, Artemis becoming weightless to him as he felt a change inside of him.
While he was sprinting, a different silver arrow flew past his head, and he turned to see the girls in silver hunting parkas, bows aimed at him. "Follow Lady Artemis!" The arrows stopped, and the girls followed behind him at a steady pace, the one in the lead running with a wolf by her side. He instantly recognized her as the lieutenant, the one Artemis had called Zoe.
He returned his attention to the trail of moonlight, strength growing as he followed it, the moonlight flowing through his chest and vanishing as he past by with each step. Artemis closed her eyes, and Lucas kept going until he came to a clearing.
The moonlight trail completely vanished, and the hunters scouted around him trying to find a lead. He let Artemis down and she stumbled for a second, before Lucas and a bigger one of the wolves steadied her. Her silver eyes opened wide as she caught sight of the wolf. "Midnight," The wolf bowed its head before lowering it to Lucas as well. Zoe walked towards them, a fierce look in her eyes.
"Milady," She bowed her head in acknowledgement before starting her report. "The hunters have secured the area and are trying to find another trail. The wolves have only found trails leading to the lake, before they vanish entirely."
"How did you find me?" Artemis asked in astonishment. She was surprised by the wolf first and then her lieutenant not killing Lucas at first sight.
Zoe sighed. "I caught Aphrodite and Cupid talking of thee in her palace. Thy brother Apollo got Cupid to reveal his actions and what he predicts can happen if thee does not stop thy transformation to mortal. It cannot be undone, but we will still follow thee, milady. Even if we must accompany the male to aide thee."
Artemis
To say she was shocked or surprised was putting it lightly. Zoe Nightshade, her greatest hunter and lieutenant, hater of all male creatures, had accepted Lucas' presence and had made it her duty to protect and aide her even with his company.
Artemis stayed silent as Lucas asked on what must've been confidence. "Where is the lake?"
Zoe's eyes widened at his courage to speak. She said nothing, but gestured for them to follow her through the clearing. She stopped them at a different clearing, where a lake shined in the moon's reflection. Day had turned to night, and the moon shined darkly in the sky, illuminating the lake and turning it to silver. Lucas let go of her hand and reached for his bow, the one he had made almost identical to her own. He knelt down at the water's edge, slowly lowering the bow into the water. He let it stay there for a few seconds before he raised his hands out of the water, his skin coated in a silver color, the bow shining brightly silver as he held it up to the sky.
Zoe looked to him in confusion, while Artemis tried to understand what had just happened. Follow the silver arrow, shot by the hands of a mortal man, the first to use the Bow of Artemis. Find the Lake of Moonlight or the end will come. She didn't understand what they were meant to do once they reached the Lake of Moonlight, and yet Lucas seemed to be following an instinct or so.
The silver from his hands vanished, only a silver engraving left on his right forearm. She knelt beside him and held his arm, looking at the marking. A silver bow was outlined by silver shaped into water. A bow in a lake. The bow had an arrow nocked, as if ready to fly.
A voice filled her head. He has been marked, his curse erased from his veins. Do as he had, hands in your lake. The bond will grow. She recognized it as Cupid. She did as he said and emerged her entire arm into the liquid. A tingling went through her arm's skin, and she waited until it faded to pull her own arm out slowly, the silver liquid covering her hand and forearm. Once the excess color dripped as liquid into the lake, she had a similar marking on her own forearm. Lucas only watched as she raised her arm in wonder.
Zoe cleared her throat to break the silence, in which Phoebe, the Hunt's tracker, spoke. "What comes next?" As soon as her words were said, Artemis felt lightheaded, barely staying sitting as Midnight kept her upright. Lucas fell slowly, eyes closing after he looked at hers. He vision went blurry and she heard voices, but she couldn't understand any of them. She felt herself fall beside him as she slipped from consciousness.
Third(dream/vision)
A boy stood in a clearing, his mother holding his small body in her arms. "Don't do this, he's only a boy!"
"You should have thought of that before his father killed my child." A different woman stood before the kneeling woman, a Greek style flowing gray robe and sandals her choice of appearance with her brown hair tied back, anger in her storm gray eyes.
"He didn't know! He was only told to stop the attack from being started! If he had known of the woman's heritage he wouldn't have killed her, maybe restrained or imprisoned, but not killed!" The gray eyed woman stared at the blue eyed mother, who clung to her child as she pleaded with the immortal.
"He had no excuse. As Nemesis says, an eye for an eye, a life for a life. My daughter was killed, as was your husband. It does not satisfy my anger. The boy must pay." The immortal woman stepped forward, reaching for the young boy, but the blue eyed mother pulled him out of her reach.
"He has done nothing wrong! He needs to grow with age! He has no interest in violence, please leave him be."
Athena's gray eyes flamed, anger rising. Then she came up with an idea. "Very well, your eldest son will not be touched." The mother sighed in relief and was about to thank the goddess, but Athena was not done. "Your youngest, however, will not be so lucky." Her eyes flared and thunder clapped, lightening striking beside the daughter of Zeus.
The woman screamed in panic and fear, shielding her stomach as much as she could. "Your child will grow without mother, and you will carry him for three years in agony. Once he is born, he will grow smart and strong, but will find no home on the earth. He will move, from talent to talent, work to work, place to place. No human will be able to aide or comfort him in his pain, forced to walk alone for as long as he lives. Only a maiden goddess may release him of his curse." At her last word a grey light beam flew towards the pregnant woman, the light being absorbed by the child inside as her stomach glowed once before the goddess' eyes flashed, and the mother let go of her son as she cried out in pain, her hands on her stomach as she arched back and screamed, agony the only emotion in it. The boy started to cry as his mother screamed.
Athena stepped back and looked through the woman's stomach, seeing the figure of the unborn child writhe and darken in the womb of his mother. The shape of an owl with its wings spread out in flight appeared as it burned itself into the woman's skin on her neck.
Once the goddess vanished the sound barrier and shield fell, allowing the figure of a young man stumble after now being able to go through and run to the side of his sister. The pain subsided and he saw the burned skin on her neck as he scowled in anger. "Which of them did this to you?"
The woman shook her head as she laid back beside him, her eyes closing as she held her son close to her to calm him down. "Don't fight her. They will always get what they want, and revenge is not an exception.
A man argued with his mother, who sat in a rocking chair to keep her old bones from hurting. "He won't be able to defend himself. We need to find the one who cursed him and make her take it back."
The old woman shook her head as she sighed heavily. "No. We cannot anger them more than they already are. We have spoken of this before, and yet you still argue with me."
"Because Lucas deserves to have a good life like his brother! He shouldn't have to suffer just because of something his father did without knowing!" He slammed his hand angrily against a table.
"You wish to find me?" A figure came out of the shadows, her grey eyes filled with intelligence.
The man whirled on her. "You did this to him! Release him or I'll-"
She raised an eyebrow. "You know you can't beat me in a challenge, and to challenge or anger a god is to call for your own death." Her eyes flashed. "As you already have angered me, and so has your dead sister, I'll make his curse more painful." She snapped her fingers and a horrible sound came from outside, before no more sound came.
The man's eyes widened. "You didn't-" He cut himself off at her smile, and ran to check on his nephew and the machine he was working with. Seconds later he was shouting, and the goddess smiled at his anger and fear. A great combination. The mother stepped out of her chair and walked as fast as she could to the porch, looking for the boys. Athena followed her, knowing what had happened.
"Lucas!" The man was shaking the bloody figure of the boy, who had the deep cut from the side of his chest down to his other side. The old woman covered her mouth with her hand, tears falling. Athena smiled before vanishing in a grey and blue light. The man kept shaking his nephew before he called out for help, the few neighbors running to help and carry the boy carefully to the hospital.
A huntress ran through the night, the calm silence breaking as she neared a home, where a mother was screaming and trying to give birth. The goddess let her bow and quiver vanish into nothing, her form becoming older until she looked like an adult. She spoke quickly with the man who opened the door and she stepped in, finding the mother bleeding and pushing for the baby to come out.
The woman recognized the goddess and did as she was told, and minutes later a little boy was being placed in her tired arms, the silver eyes of the goddess watching the new mother. "Lucas." Only the name fell from her lips, until her breathing slowed and her heart stopped, the woman dying without even being able to hold her second child. The man was revealed as her brother, and he held her newborn child while Artemis checked the reason for her quick death.
When she found it, her eyes widened. She turned to the brother of the now dead mother and he looked down shamefully. He believed he failed to save her, but the goddess shook her head at him. "The boy was cursed. It was part of it." The man nodded and the goddess left, after helping put the woman in a shroud as the family buried her outside. She thought nothing of the encounter, believing that it was the usual curse from a minor god or spirit that usually cursed some families. She easily slid the memory away, forgetting and only putting it in the expanse of her existence's memories.
An arrow hit the tree target, going through the entire tree and into the one behind it half emerged in the bark. The teenager sighed as he pulled it out of the tree, putting the last dull arrow into his quiver. He sharpened the arrow heads as he sat in his camp, watching the flames from the hearth flicker in the air before vanishing into smoke.
He didn't believe in myths, but in bad luck. He never found a place to stay, a steady job, not even a companion that could at least ease his pain. He watched the night sky and caught a glimpse of a flying chariot, the silver mechanism being pulled by deer. He looked away from the moon and shook his head. He was only seeing things, just like the boy with a sword who was accompanied by a half man half goat. The teenager finished sharpening his arrows in minutes and put them away, only one with his bow to stay out next to his sleeping bag. Why did he have to see things that weren't real? A one eyed cashier in a grocery store, a vampire woman with a donkey leg and a metal one in a park, a big hound that melted into shadows in the forest... None of them were real.
Laying down in his 'bed', he listened to the sounds of the woods until he drifted to sleep, again promising himself to never stay in one place or job with people when he returned to the world.
Zoe
The gasp of both of the people who they were watching called her attention to Artemis. Artemis and the man, Lucas, were both sitting up and clutching their heads, before they looked at each other in confusion. Zoe cleared her throat. "Milady?" The huntress turned towards her lieutenant, seeing the look of question in her eyes. She again turned towards the male as he looked at his forearm.
"What was that?" Lucas asked, letting go of his head. "You saw that too right?"
Artemis nodded. "I only recognized the third one, but the other three..." She trailed off, curiosity, filling Zoe as she watched the two interact.
"What did thee see?" Artemis again turned to look at her, and also let go of her own head.
"The third was a memory of mine, when I helped deliver a child and his mother died after naming him."
"The others must be memories, but who's?" Lucas tilted his head in thought. "The last one was my memory of when I kept denying the strange things I would see. The first two I don't know who's memories they are of, but they seem familiar."
Artemis explained the visions to Zoe and she listened, only speaking once her lady had finished. "The first two were of Lady Athena interacting with a family that had been broken. First she put a curse and the second she could be said to harm a child to make a point to the family." She turned to Artemis. "Does thee know what its meaning may be for thy quest?"
Lucas paled seconds later. "My past..." Zoe and Artemis both turned to look at him. They both questioned what he meant, and he stared at the ground. "That explains, everything."
Artemis' eyes widened. "The twins said your father died three years before your birth. Athena must've been the one to curse you to cause pain for your mother."
Lucas nodded, and Zoe tilted her head curiously. "She left my brother be since he didn't like violence, but I wasn't even born, and she used that for her rage..."
Zoe put the pieces together. No wonder Aphrodite and Cupid had gone after him for her lady. He had suffered a horrible childhood, and that had made him loyal and caring to certain people. Artemis hated men, but she despised them because they were not loyal and were the abusers of women and were very unfaithful to their wives and families. This male was basically made to be different from all other men. He cared and protected those close to him, which now included Lady Artemis. If her lady had spoken the exact words that Lady Athena had said for the curse, then he was cursed to never be free. Unless a maiden goddess freed him. Zoe wondered if Athena had some power over seeing the future, because that wording was the loophole for Aphrodite to plant Artemis into his life, in a romantic way.
"Thou art now freed from thy curse." Lucas stared at her in confusion until Artemis understood, and her lady's eyes widened. "If thy wording of Lady Athena's curse on thee is exact, milady has freed thee of thy curse."
"Cupid said the same. He told me to place my hand in the water to seal the bond." Artemis tilted her head as her eyes clouded. "But what bond is it?"
"Thou art connected. Bonded, strung together by power. Fate has chosen thee for milady." She spoke no more as the other two stayed silent, understanding filling the air.
Artemis blushed as Lucas reddened. Zoe had to restrain herself from summoning her bow and firing an arrow to his neck while another to his manhood, her hatred for males causing her to struggle.
Midnight, her lady's wolf, trotted into the tent, resting her head on her master's lap as Artemis placed her arm on the wolf's back and head. A few seconds later came a wolf with black fur, a silver line of fur on her right side. She slowed to a stop next to Zoe, pushing her head under Zoe's hand, which had been clenched in a fist while she held onto the silver arrow, almost cutting her palm open from the tightness of her hold on the arrowhead. Zoe sighed and let go of the arrow, resting her hand on the wolf's head before running her fingers through her fur, causing the wolf to sigh in contentment. "What worries you, Mistress?" Came the soft voice of the wolf beside her.
Zoe let her mind wander as she went through the past days and the information and deadlines for her lady. The male was acceptable, for now, and was protecting Artemis even without knowing who she was. Obviously, he knew now for some time, meaning her lady had to have told him the truth of her identity. Zoe led the Hunt in her stead, and when Zoe was not able she allowed Phoebe to do so.
After the revelation of her lady's condition, Zoe had had to slowly accept the fact that the male would be a big part in helping to restore Artemis to her immortality. She had thought at first that he would be scared of them the next time they crossed paths, yet he had proven her wrong as he had easily asked her to tell them the lake's location. He had seemed different from before.
Artemis looked different from her usual form as well. She was now forced to be in an older age of maybe 20 to early 30, her body and height the average for her age. Her usual brown hair was now pitch black, as dark as the shadows and the River Styx. Her eyes were now a dull silver, bordering to gray like a natural color for human eyes. Her skin no longer radiated her silver aura of power, even when she was in her own domain. Her stamina and strength had drastically lowered to the average strength of an unhealthy woman, her stamina not far from the same point.
Zoe sighed internally. "I worry for Milady, and what the male may change of her." She spoke to Sliver, the name of her companion wolf who had joined the Hunt before she had. She was one of the few to name themselves, introducing themselves as a new wolf in a new life, or so Sliver had told her once.
"The male is loyal, and she trusts him. If you trust her, then trust her judgement. I trust yours, and I will do as you decide." Was the cryptic answer she got. Zoe at first had thought that the wolf's words meant as they were said, but then learned there was always a hidden meaning in her words, sometimes the wording or her choice of words holding the message. Zoe could never be sure when she was distracted by emotions and instincts, and only understood the wolf perfectly if she was focused on her companion and their connection.
Zoe snapped to attention internally. Emotions and instincts cloud her judgement, while trusting and focusing on their connection and bond strengthened it, clearing her mind and judgement and sometimes also strengthening her loyalty as well. The male is loyal to her lady, and Artemis trusts him. Not his loyalty, but him. Artemis never went by emotions, but always her judgement and a bit of instinct, when it came to making decisions. But she still followed her trust. "I trust her." Sliver seemed to smile inwardly as Zoe made a decision.
"Milady," Artemis turned to look at her. "I trust thee. Thy hunters shall follow as thee decides."
Artemis didn't answer for a few minutes, before she nodded and smiled at her lieutenant. Zoe relaxed as she saw her lady's gratitude and care, relieved that she hadn't changed entirely. She turned to Lucas. "We have eight days left to-"
Zoe interrupted. "Milady, I may have forgotten to mention how long thou was unresponsive." Artemis' face paled.
"How long have we been unconscious, Zoe?"
Zoe turned away from her lady before answering loud enough for them both to hear:
"Four days, Milady."
L/N: Okay this was a lot longer than usual but we hope you enjoy and review your thoughts. Enjoy!