Prologue

Uptown Funk bounced around her head as she drummed her fingers against the dash in what she imagined the beat to be of the popular song. Ignorant of her surroundings as she tried in vain to remember the rest of the lyrics.

"Artemis! Stop that incessant noise!" Theo barked at her; trying and failing to keep the young girl's attention as her eyes closed in thought again. Turning his eyes back to the road when she stopped beating on his poor car.

Noting his attention shifting back to the road Artemis continued drumming her fingers on the dash. Feeling a smug sense of satisfaction in her brother's obvious distress.

Briefly shifting his eyes from the road back to the rebellious child lounging next to him Theo reached over and smacked her playfully over the head.

Gripping her head in pain; Artemis reached over, smacking her brother in retaliation. The car ride home quickly turned into a full-on war as the two brawled, in a vain attempt to assert being the others better.

Taking care to not drive off-road Theo battled his sister one-armed; the abandoned road perfect for the dangerous curve events had gone. "Truce!" Theo called laughing as he shifted his eyes back at the road; The car swayed as Theo violently yanked the wheel, narrowly missing the lone figure on the road. "Lunatic!" Theo muttered heatedly.

"Relax Theo," Artemis sighed; leaning back into her seat; the car shifted into silence as they turned off the highway onto their exit home. Glancing back she noted the figure waving at the retreating car; she turned away; a shiver racing down her spine.

Glancing out the window for the umpteenth time; Artemis glanced at her brother; boredom dancing across her face. The silence was broken as a shrill screaming akin to what Artemis dubbed ear rape erupted from her brother's phone.

Pulling to the side of the road; Theo hefted the phone to his ear with a huff of annoyance. "Hello?" Theo grunted; clearly irritated. "Theo baby," a shrill voice erupted from the other side of the phone.

Truly the whore's voice was akin to nails on a chalkboard if anything Artemis thought darkly as she rolled her eyes and stuffed her ears with her earphones before blasting the volume they hold.

Theo sighed and looked over at the self-proclaimed edgy teen and frowned," She's not that bad you know. If you gave her a chance then perhaps you two would get along," he suggested smiling in that manner he always had.

Artemis watched his mouth move until it stopped before pulling a headphone out and arching an eyebrow," Sorry I missed the bullshit spilling from your mouth. Care to repeat?" she asked dryly, before turning her attention away not bothering to listen to his scolding tone.

Artemis stared out the window and noticed the figure they had passed a while back standing in front of the gas station a couple of blocks from their house. She watched it shake it's head as if disappointed before it disappeared as the car continued.

Turning away from the window she glanced at Theo to see if he had seen the figure as well, seeing him grumble about her antics as he looked straight ahead she knew he hadn't.

Theo had always worn his heart on his sleeve and when something freaked him out he voiced that opinion rather vehemently unless it was a serious matter and not the horror movies Artemis made him watch every weekend with her. She had to toughen his resolve somehow she mused to herself lightly.

And seeing as he was rather calm for the most part, she thought as they passed the only stop sign in the neighborhood, that she had probably hallucinated the figure or something like that.

As Theo pulled up to their house and eventually into their drive," Any slower?" Artemis complained as she undid her seatbelt, reaching for the car door. "Wait!" Theo said sharply causing her to pause and look over at him confused.

Before she could question his rather strange behavior, she froze at the look of terror on his face. "Stay in the car, and I mean it!" he said firmly, a distant look seemed to gather in his eyes as he stepped out of the car. The door shut with a thud that seemed to ring in her ears for eternity.

Theo stepped into the home closing the door firmly behind him before meeting the eyes of an old friend. "It's been a long time," was all that was said as the guy stood from his seat on the family couch.

"Why now?" He asked blandly as he crossed his arms, his muscles clenched as he tried to portray himself as nonchalant. The man laughed, a bitter laugh of betrayal as he moved closer, in a hand, he loosely held a gun.

As he came to a stop in front of him the door burst open behind him and Artemis was dragged into the room kicking and screaming vulgar vanities. Theo froze and stepped to help his sister when he felt the cool barrel of a gun pressed to the back of his head.

"Don't you think it's time to pay for your crimes?" the man muttered bitterly into his ear as the gun was cocked. "If you had just done your job, then my sister wouldn't be dead today you know," he added his voice a footnote in Theo's running thoughts.

Artemis cried and struggled," Please don't kill my brother!" she begged as she pulled at her restrainer's hands desperately. To somehow get there in time before that man pulled the trigger, promptly ending her dear brother's life at least in her mind.

"It's alright Artemis, everything's going to be alright," Theo soothed as he raised his shaking hands in an attempt to soothe the frantic teen. He didn't want them to kill her because she was too loud after all.

The man laughed," Don't tell her that Theo, I honestly didn't take you for a liar. Not when I'm starting with her. Now you can feel the same pain I've felt all these years," he proclaimed as the weight of the gun withdrew and he aimed instead at his helpless sister.

With a desperate cry, Theo turned and lifted the barrel with his hands and as the round went off into the ceiling the two men fell to the floor in a tussle. Eventually, Theo kicked the gun away, the first chance he got before attempting to overpower the other man.

Maybe Artemis thought as she watched her brother struggle helplessly if this had been a movie Theo would have beat the bad guy fair and square in a one on one fight. But one of the men let go of her, trusting his ally to keep her under control as she froze in horror.

And she could only watch as he threw her brother off the bad man, she could only watch as the man stood and took his allies gun. She stood there and watched as her brother told her how sorry he was before he was shot in the head with a nine-millimeter.

The man turned and looked at it with a sigh rubbing the barrel of the gun against the side of his head as if everything was all of a sudden wrong. "Damn it!" he cursed kicking the wall as he turned before looking at her and smiling as if reassuring himself.

He gestured for the man to let go of her and he raised the gun as his ally stepped away. Even free she couldn't find the courage to move as she stared at a man she did not know pointing a gun at her as if she had done something wrong.

"You know it's too bad it had to end this way," he shrugged with a bland, rather a dry chuckle. "See you in hell little girl," he finally said simply as if he was having a casual conversation instead of preparing to end her life.

The last thing she saw was his dull blue eyes as her world went black and she fell to the floor dead not even five feet away from her biggest protector, and older brother. As the world went black she couldn't help but wonder in all this madness where the hell that whore who clung to her brother was.

}-~o~-{

The sea of darkness should have been cold Artemis thought as she floated, she couldn't tell where she was. She tried to remember, who she was and how she had gotten there but could feel her memories sleeping like her life had been all but a dream. She couldn't necessarily say if it was bad or not, and as everything slipped away she couldn't help but scramble to grasp something, anything.

It was fortunate that she grasped onto her dear brother's smiling face, she must have only been nine. She watched as her brother swung her around, she watched as she laughed with him, and she watched as the younger version of herself clung to her brother like a lifeline as they howled over some private joke between them.

She couldn't remember what it could have been as she felt herself slipping. What was her name? She couldn't remember, the only thing that she could grasp onto was his name. Theo, she couldn't remember his face anymore as the memory slipped between her fingers. Desperately she clung to his name like a lifeline as if he was her identity as if her name was Theo.

Seeing a pinprick of light appear on the horizon she reached out for it desperately and allowed herself to be swallowed as the light expanded engulfing the darkness and her vision went white.

As her clarity returned she noticed a chair, but more than that was the being occupying the chair. Dumbstruck she watched on silently as the smoky black figure with white glowing eyes considered her. It looked like a child if a child was made of only black hazy smoke. She watched the black smoke wisp around it without so much as a word.

"Does your soul burn with anger?" It asked softly, it's voice sounded old and worn as if it had seen and done more than she could even comprehend. "Does it cry vengeance on a silver platter served with a cold glass of karma? Tell me girl do you remember your name?" It asked bitterly as if it expected her answers as if it knew things she didn't.

She thought about the name, the only thing that she could grasp as everything slipped between her fingers like a lucid dream. "Theo," she finally whispered, her voice cracking pathetically as if she hadn't used her voice in eons. She couldn't remember their face or even who they were, she just knew that she needed to know that name. Was it hers? She couldn't know.

The figure laughed so hard they fell off their chair as if she had said something unbelievably ridiculous. "Theo," she said more surely, her voice louder now and more sure if not a little angry at this being's mockery of the precious name.

The figure sighed and stood, putting the chair back in its place before patting the seat impatiently," Alright Theo, let's get down to business. Sit," they said rather plainly as they patiently waited for her to sit down.

"I am going to give you a brand new appearance, and some of my power so you can follow out my orders. After you have reached the end of your servitude to me I will grant you one wish. And over time I will grant you little gifts, like giving you the choice to remember who you were originally and other such stuff," he explained blandly as if he had given the speech a thousand times.

She stayed silent not understanding as she listened quietly to his words, she couldn't truly grasp an understanding yet but she would remember and perhaps one day she would.

"You're a fleshing and I need to have you trained, so my first orders are for you to get stronger. You will do this in the new world I am going to send you where you will grow and have your limits tested," he explained leisurely as he waved his hand over her head changing her hair color as if he was making his own personal avatar.

"Now I've enjoyed our little talk but I must go, if you need me I'll contact you," the figure said as it stepped away from her. With a wave of its hand, a mirror appeared," feel free to look at yourself before heading out, chow," they proclaimed before disappearing through a door that had suddenly appeared as the figure extended a hand.

Theo stood and looked into the mirror quietly, she was a child of probably nine now. She didn't know when she had shrunk but it seemed to have happened while the figure had been speaking to her not that she understood truly what it was saying. She didn't understand the purpose of the mirror and couldn't help but touch it with her hands.

Her hair was long and red, her mind whispered as she tried to wrangle her memories that reached out like a whispering voice only at the edge of her mind. Her eyes were big and were shaped like something she couldn't recall the name of any more.

Approaching the door she mimicked the figure and twisted the knob before pushing it open and stepping into the familiar darkness. The door shut behind her and she stared at a little boy in a straw hat who looked quite shocked to see her.

}-~o~-{

A/N

Second time's a charm! For the few that read that depressing first attempt I apologize, but I couldn't leave it up anymore and I want to distribute more time to focus on this book. Mostly because I am just feeling it if I have time I might revisit the old story but for now I am just going to focus on this one. Thanks for reading, and don't forget to comment and review! :3