So, This Chapter wound up with some very heavy edits I think, and a bit more of the "I'm not taking your shit anymore' version of Artemis, because let's face it, i've put the poor girl through a hell of a lot of crap XD (Sorry-not-sorry. lol.) However, With only 4 actual episodes to go after this I have put a lot of thought into it and I am going to try split Plus Est En vous (More in you) into 2...maybe 3 chapters if I can find, or create, good cut offs for the chapters to end. after all, the finale is an hour long and that chapter alone, if left as one, could be upwards of 20 pages long and at least 10 thousand words if not more. (I do not have that kind of motivation for a whole day.)
I do plan to still do the Tangled Ever after short, but I also had the idea of Varian and Artemis Maybe taking a trip to our favorite kingdom of Arendelle, let me know fi you guy's think this could work, the two of them maybe teaming up with Anna and Kristoff to end the winter.
ONTO THE CHAPTER!
"This place is…interesting." Artemis swiveled her stool around as the music carried on, it was crawling with people that could literally eat her alive, and somehow, Rapunzel felt safe here, startled as the bar shook, she stared down at the plate of food.
"Thanks, Lance."
"No problem, Kid."
"Whoa! I've read about these." Spinning around again Artemis noticed the floating green bottle, "Never a dull moment anymore." She sighed, hopping off the stool.
"Enchanted message bottles, I've always wanted to get one." Atilla uncorked the bottle, "Ooh! Lucky day, it's for you." There was a letter from Calliope inside,
"Rapunzel, Help. Cass Attacking spire. Keep this."
"Not that annoying magician from the mountains…" Artemis groaned, she didn't want anything to do with that woman, not ever again.
"Calliope must be in trouble."
"She probably got smart with Cass. not that that would be surprising, the girl was a horrible know-it-all."
"Artemis." Rapunzel scolded, the teen shrugged, "Tell me I'm wrong."
"Calliope? Oh right, the obnoxious, know-it-all, keeper of the Spire." Artemis motioned to Eugene, as if to emphasize her earlier point.
"Guy's, put the weapons down already, it's just a bottle, for crying in the night." The smaller blonde hadn't even noticed everyone seemed ready for a fight.
"Crying in the night? Oh, you mean like you do when you have nightmares?" Eugene narrowed his eyes as a few of the thugs laughed,
"Well, at least I don't…uh…" he stopped, he couldn't think of anything embarrassing to fire as a comeback.
"Yeah, uh-huh, you got nothing." Rapunzel tipped the bottle, inside was a key.
"A key, but for what?" Eugene looked at the oddly shaped object,
"That's the key she used at the top of the mountain. It unlocks the doors."
"Why do you remember that?" Artemis shrugged, "I'm very observant, unlike some people."
"I don't know, but one thing's for sure, we have to get to the spire as fast as possible and help Calliope."
"Uh, Sunshine, this is the same Calliope who lied to us and almost got us eaten by a bear monster." Artemis nodded,
"That's not even a made up story, this girl had us believing she was the keeper from the get go, lied to us and then almost got us killed."
"Look, Eugene, I am not her biggest fan either, but she needs our help."
"It's just my luck, to fall in love with the most compassionate person in the world." Almost as if he timed it, Varian toppled through the door of the Tavern,
"Speaking of people we love." The teen hurried over to help him up, "Why did you come all the way out here, Varian?"
"Well, I went to look for you at the Castle, but they told me you left with Eugene and Rapunzel this morning. Big nose said this was likely where you three were." Artemis laughed, brushing some dust from his hair, "So, did you need something?"
"N-no, w-well I…" She giggled as he fumbled over his words, "We just got a message from someone we met on our journey, up for an adventure?" she quirked a questioning brow at him,
"M-Me? Out on the road." Rapunzel chuckled, "Oh come on, Varian. How often does the chance to see ancient artifacts come along?" it was as if a switch was flipped in the Alchemists mind, "Ancient artifacts?"
"Oh yeah, old relics, pre-corona machinery, Cloaks that can turn you into whoever to can think of." He looked past her at Rapunzel and Eugene,
"Welcome aboard, Hair-stripe." Eugene grinned, clapping him on the back.
"This is gonna be awesome!" Rapunzel thrust the message bottle forward, "Fire up the Balloon!" there were suddenly several torches at the ready.
"No, guy's, she means fly the Balloon, not…never mind."
"I chemically treated these thrusters so the flames will burn hotter and longer than any natural flame, you're gonna fly like the wind."
"You mean we're." Varian grinned sheepishly, "O-Oh, yeah, right!" she ruffled his hair, "I'm not Keen on Ballooning, but there really isn't another option of travel that will get us there fast enough, so I guess I just have to suck it up." Hearing rummaging coming from Varian's work table the teens looked at her older brother,
"Don't touch that." Eugene set the bucket down at reach for something else, "Or that." Eugene grew more and more annoyed, turning to reach for the knob on one of the valves,
"NO WAIT, DON'T TOUCH THAT, IT'S GONNA BLOW!" Artemis laughed as Eugene screamed like a little girl, Varian joining in.
"Ah -ha! Got you, just messing with you." pulling himself of the floor of the basket, Eugene narrowed his eyes,
"I knew that." Even Pascal laughed, "And you're on my list, frog."
"Chameleon."
"You, you're not allowed to date him anymore." Artemis smirked, "Says who? My big brother who has no authority over me and really shouldn't be trying to pull rank over someone who he has to spend at least three hours in a flying Hot air balloon hundred of miles above ground with no means of escape?" Varian looked between the siblings, waiting to see what Eugene would fire back with,
"I—Did I ever mention that I hate children?"
"Hey, no one says you have to love me, but you will respect me and my choices. Varian stays." She stated, wrapping an arm around his shoulders.
"Guy's, focus. Look at this." All eyes turned to the map, "It took us weeks to get to the spire on foot, but thanks to Varian's speed balloon, and this direct route, we'll make it in a day."
"Good job, Buddy." Upon closer inspection, both teens narrowed their eyes,
"Rapunzel, look." She motioned to what they had to travel over,
"this route takes you over Kresten Loch." Rapunzel didn't look worried, "Uh, Kresten Loch, the frozen sea? Miles and miles of deadly, wintery expanse?"
"That's the one." She still didn't seem worried, "Sounds like one princess has a death wish…this one on the other hand, eh, not so much."
"Well, if it were anybody other than you, I'd be worrie—AH!" Artemis flinched as he hit the ground, "Who glued my boots to the ground?" Blue and gold eyes trailed over to Eugene who held a paintbrush,
"That's for your little balloon prank. Eugene Fitzherbert never forgets." Artemis leaned down, "That's fine, I'll help him get payback later. You'll never see it coming." The teens high-fived before climbing into the balloon. Eugene looked skeptical, yet still somewhat afraid.
"It's gonna hurt isn't it?"
"You'll never know–"
"Because we'll never tell." the two shared in flashing the former thief a Cheshire grin,
"You know, Sunshine, this all kind of reminds me, remember when we used that cauldron to launch the caravan off that rock thing?"
"Lombard's pass. There was this whole thing with Madame Conartist, this travelling Gypsy woman and the monkey that turned out to be Demanitus the whole time, he used one of his machines millennia ago to transfer his mind into the body of a monkey." Varian just looked confused,
"Of course you painted a picture of that… why do you keep drawing me so scared in these?"
"Because, you make the funniest faces when you're in mortal danger." Artemis teased, imitating his face, Rapunzel and Varian laughed,
"I…paint it like I see it."
"I do not look like that when I am scared." There was a brief pause as he continued, "I look much more handsome." Rapunzel reached for the steering levers, "Oh really?" The Balloon started to pick up speed, Eugene's screams being the only thing they could hear over the thrusters.
"There it is." The former thief looked unimpressed, looking over at Pascal who looked frozen in fear, "You making fun of me too frog?" the four of them turned their attention ahead,
"Actually, he's not. Kresten Loch"
"Pascal, I would like to sincerely apologize, your previous expression of terror was completely valid." Artemis looked at the Loch, "It's kind of…serene, in a way."
"How so?" Artemis smiled, "it's quite and secluded, there's not a lot of noise pollution because there's no population density." As they drifted further and further across Poor pascal had frozen solid,
"Okay, so we're pretty cold, but at least we're not that guy." Artemis fished around in her bag, pulling out a couple of coats and some blankets, handing them around, "I couldn't fit a lot in my bag, but I packed the essentials."
"Good thinking, Kiddo." Varian grabbed one of the jackets, "If we keep up this pace, we can make it to the spire by nightfall." Rapunzel grabbed one of the heavy blankets, Eugene took the other one. The younger teen's eyes caught sight of something as the Balloon started to sink towards the ground.
"We must have cut too close to a wave."
"But we weren't anywhere near a wave."
"She's right, something cut the Balloon. Brace yourselves!"
"Hang on, I've got an idea, but it might get kind of bumpy!" Focusing her attention on the waves below Artemis pulled up strategically placed rocks for them to bounce against,
"Everybody okay?"
"Fine."
"Fine here, too" The teens flashed a thumbs up as the Balloon came to a complete stop.
"All in one piece." The four shared a look of concern,
"That was quick thinking, Kid. Good job." Artemis gave a weak smile, "Yeah, I guess." As they climbed out of the basket Artemis and Varian went to look at the balloon,
"What do you think took us down?" as they inspected the fabric of the air craft Varian noticed the cut wasn't long in length.
"Well, whatever it was, it wasn't a wave, the tear is too small. But it should be easy to repair.
"All right, guys, Let's get sewing." Artemis stopped her, "Rapunzel, why don't you two scout the area, make sure we're safe here, Varian and I can handle repairs." Rapunzel looked at Eugene and then back to the two teens, "Are you sure?" the teens smiled, "We've got this" Rapunzel took Eugene's hand, "We'll be back soon."
"Helloooooooo" The teens looked up, "What the…?" Varian shrugged, "Hellooooooo" There it was again,
"Okay, what lunatic would be out here, willingly?"
"I saw your Balloon, are you coming to help me?!" Artemis watched as whoever it was slipped down the slope of a frozen wave,
"Oh…great."
"Artemis, do you know her?" Annoyed, the girl nodded, "Unfortunately, yes. Varian, meet Calliope." She turned to the stout woman, "Why in the world are you way out here?"
"I escaped, but Cass is still at the Spire, she's after the mind trap. An artifact that would give her control over the members of the brotherhood."
"The brotherhood, you mean the group my father was a member of?" Varian looked worried; his father had been through enough already. Would Cass actually do this?
"Adira and Hector, too. What would she need with them?"
"What do I look like, her biographer?" Artemis looked unimpressed with the woman's attitude, "Well, whatever she plans to do with the Mind Trap, we cannot let her have it. We can fill Rapunzel and my brother in when they get back from their assignment, until then, how good are you with sewing?"
"Not good." Artemis sighed, "Then just wait in the basket, they should be back soon." Calliope did as she was told as the teens went back to patching up the balloon.
"Uh, Guys…what is that?" Calliope pointed something out, whatever it was, it was speeding towards them.
"I don't know what that is, but get in the basket, Varian." He looked at her, But I can help, you're not the only one who packed provisions, I packed some of my explosive compounds."
Whatever was after them popped out of the ice, "Oh great…fish people." The teens got ready for a fight as Rapunzel and Eugene returned form scouting,
"We didn't see anything suspic—Oh come on!" Eugene screamed in exasperation at the small horde of fish creatures,
"Perfect timing!"
"Calliope?!" Rapunzel notice the short woman standing in their balloon basket, Yeah, she fell right into our laps, literally, but focus, we're kind of under siege!"
"Right." the creatures charged with Axes, slashing at whoever was closest, Artemis put up a shield of rocks to deflect their attacks,
"She can control them?"
"There's a lot of things I can do, but now's—" She dodged out of the way of another fish monster, "Not really the time to be marveling at magical Spector's!"
"Eugene, duck!" He snapped off a chunk of ice and whipped it, hitting one of the monsters in the head, it crushed the chunk in it's mouth and looked at him with new found fury.
Artemis trapped a few of them in black rock prisons, "There, that should take care of a few of them."
"Eugene, twirl attack!" he looked at her confused, "Do we even have a move called twirl attack?" he dodged out of the way of another axe wielding monster,
"Uh, we're about to!" Varian looked over at Artemis, "Why don't we have any special attacks."
She flashed him a sly smile, "We could…"
"Wh-why are you looking at me like that." He suddenly felt himself launch into the air, "ArTeMiS!?"
"Throw on of your explosives!" he didn't question the order, basically bombing their enemy with one of his explosive compounds, blasting them a good five feet away from the party.
"Nice move you two!" Looking over her shoulder Pascal had gotten the balloon back in working order.
"Way to go, Pascal, you fixed it!" the teens looked annoyed, "Good job to you two as well." The four of them took off after the Balloon,, hopping into the basket before it got too far from them.
"Geez, they're persistent!" Annoyed, Artemis sealed the rest of them in cages of rocks,
"We made it! Calliope for the win. You're welcome." Artemis scoffed, "Uh, yeah, you didn't do jack shit." The short woman rolled her eyes, "Sure I did." Even Varian was annoyed, "I can see why you told me she was annoying."
"Exactly." The sound of whining echoed behind them, "Oh, please tell me we're not going back down there."
"They're in trouble, we need to go back and help them." Looking back, two of them that had tried to jump after the balloon were dangling form the edge of a frozen wave.
"Oh…" Rapunzel made quick work of turning the balloon around, "If we get in close enough I can create a platform and lower them down. Thank it's manageable?" Rapunzel nodded with a grin, "Completely possible,"
She turned to Calliope, "I also need this balloon to stay completely steady, understood? That means do not move from the spot in which you stand."
"But they tried to obliterate us." Artemis flashed her a dangerous look, "You wanna push your luck? I already don't like you." Calliope actually looked terrified, "N-No ma'am." Rapunzel turned the balloon around, Rapunzel steered them in close enough so Artemis could use the black rocks to get the fish people to safety, pushing her hands back towards where the other's stood, she also dropped the cages she had trapped them in,
"Think of it this way, you guys are gonna have so much fun sledding back down that thing." Rapunzel called out as they drifted away.
"There it is!" Varian looked at the blandly shaped structure, "That's the spire?"
"Yup, in all it's mystical glory, you know this thing is protected by a gigantic bear monster?"
"No way."
"It is! Or it was, I don't know if it is anymore."
"Let's just hope we're not too late and Cass hasn't gotten that box open."
"Speaking of the box, where's the key." Something was off, Calliope had sent them the key in the first place, why was she asking about it all of a sudden?
"Oh, I have it right here in my bag, which has it's very own security system." Rapunzel lifted the top of the bag and Pascal popped out, trying his best to be menacing, Artemis and Varian shared a laugh at his "Scary" face as the balloon touched down.
Climbing out of the basket, everyone's guard was up, "Where's Cassandra?" the four of them followed Calliope into the Tower where the young Alchemist went nuts with all the old relics,
"Be careful, Varian. Don't touch anything, we don't know what half of this stuff can do."
"Yeah, yeah, got it, don't touch anything."
"Here it is, now give me the key so we can make sure the Mind Trap is still here." Calliope grabbed a metal lock box off one of the shelves and held her hand out to Rapunzel,
"Mm, I am gonna pass on that. I think the box should stay closed. Now where's Cassandra?"
"She's right here." All eyes turned to the blue-haired woman as she descended the spiral staircase,
"I don't wanna fight you again." Cass laughed, coming to a stop in front of the golden-haired princess, "That's on you." Artemis stopped in her place on the stairs, looking at the Tiara the Keeper had told her about, she hadn't noticed before, but it was missing a stone, right in the center point on one side was a gold citrine stone and on the other was a blue Sapphire stone, but there was nothing inlaid in the third spot,
"How strange…"
"Where's the key?"
"Hi, sorry, while we're asking questions, I've been sitting on one. The blue hair, what's going on there?" the sound of sword scraping against something snapped Artemis out of her thoughts, she quickly shot up a rock shield to get a point across,
"Don't even think about, Cassandra. Remember what happened the last time you attacked someone I cared about?"
"Hello, Artemis." The blue haired woman turned to face the teen, "You're not getting that key, I've hidden it."
"It's in her bag." 'Calliope" tugged at the skin of her face, revealing a small, very pale girl in a less than appealing brown dress, her hair done up in two rather large hair buns, "Ah, I love this cloak."
"What have you done with the real Calliope?"
"She's fine, or at least she will be, provided you give Cassandra what she wants."
"I'm sorry, have we met?" Cassandra cut the conversation off, "Introductions later, now hand over the key." Cassandra ripped the item from Rapunzel's hand.
"Ah ah." Artemis used one of her rocks to knock the key out Cassandra's hand, the small object sliding across the floor of the Spire. "I don't think so, Cassandra."
"Nice move, kid!"
"Varian, do you have any of the sticky stuff you created for the raccoon problem?"
"Yeah, why?" She grinned and he caught onto her plan, aiming it at the spot the key slid to before throwing the ball, trapping the key in a pile of pink goop.
"You're gonna regret that." Artemis pouted her lips before her face shifted to a sadistic smirk, "Am I?" Artemis quickly blasted the woman backwards with a cluster of rocks,
"As much as I enjoy our games of back and forth, I'm getting tired of you underestimating me." She blasted the woman again, "I can't let you take that key." She looked to Rapunzel, motioning for her to grab it,
"We knew this wasn't the real Calliope when she didn't correct us on how to say 'Spire' as we flew over the Loch." Artemis looked down at the dull little girl who held the box,
"I know it a wave didn't cut our balloon, but something had." The girl flashed a metal lined Boomerang, "Yeah, that would do it. And when you coincidentally showed up, moments later and then didn't correct either of our pronunciations of spire, I knew you weren't the real Calliope."
"Huh, you know, come to think of it, I thought you were somewhat less annoying, not much, but somewhat."
"And I meant what I said, I don't like you or that know-it-all keeper."
The girl feigned a hurt expression, "That's a shame, because I am very interested in you, Princess Amaris of the Dark Kingdom. And you know, there's something in this room that belongs to you."
"Oh, yeah, and what's that?" A dark smile spread across the girls face, "Hecate's Diadem. I figured it out at Cassandra's strong hold, when you two battled last." Artemis wasn't buying the girls story,
"How can I trust anything you're saying?" the girl once again looked sad, "What reason do I have to lie to you?"
"What reason do you have to tell me the truth? I've been told enough lies in my lifetime, Lady."
"I enjoyed our trip together, you four." The girl passed Cassandra the box, "it provided me with an invaluable lesson. Your weakness, Compassion. You went out of your way to help the vodniks, because you felt…sorry for them."
"Some people would say that's a strength." The four of them watched the small girl as she laughed, Artemis coming to stand beside the rest of her friends,
"Strength? No. useful, yes." The real Calliope was revealed quickly, dangling above a sharp cluster of rocks,
"Let her go." Cassandra moved forward, using her own power of the rocks to slowly sever the rope suspending the keeper,
"Give Cassandra the key, or Calliope becomes a permanent artifact here."
"How do we know she's the real keeper of the spire?" Eugene had a point, they had already had one false keeper,
"He's right, Proof or we're not making any deals." The woman managed to get the gag out of her mouth, "Actually, it's pronounced spire." Artemis and Varian's face shifted to annoyance, "Okay, that's her."
"You were right…very annoying." The rope was fraying quickly, "Time's up Rapunzel, hand over the key, now or Calliope pays the price." Artemis looked at the woman then over where she and Varian had trapped the key in the goop.
Rapunzel gave the teens the go-ahead and Varian fished the solution out of his satchel, Artemis fallowed behind him to make sure nothing funny happened, "Before I pour this, We better have your word, Cassandra. No last-minute stunts and no attacks, because if you try anything, I will run you through."
"Oh-ho, is that threat, little girl?"
"No, Cassandra, it's a promise. You kidnapped me and Varian, force fed him a truth serum, held me prisoner and forced me to use dark magic to build your strong hold. I'm done making threats and I'm done with the games." Rapunzel and Eugene shared another look, "You'll also let Calliope go, or the only thing I'll be doing with the key, is destroying it."
Cassandra looked to the drab little girl beside her who, in response, whipped her boomerang at the two teens in a last ditch effort to get them to release the key. Artemis blocked the toy with a single rock shield, "Wrong move. I'll give you one more chance to comply or I break this key." The girl motioned for Cassandra to lower Calliope to the ground,
"We've done as you asked, now give us the key."
"One more condition, as soon as you have the key, you leave." The dull little girl frowned, "But I had so hoped we could chat a little while longer, Princess Amaris." Artemis summon a thin blade made of the rocks, "You have no permission to use my birth name when I don't even know who you are." Cassandra looked pissed,
"Fine, we'll do as you ask, now give us the key." Artemis nodded to Varian who poured the solution on the sticky pink compound, Grabbing the key he tossed it to Cassandra who quickly opened the box,
"Cassandra, the brotherhood of the dark kingdom is now yours to command."
"You have what you want. Now leave!" Rapunzel undid her hair and whipped it towards Cassandra, "Rapunzel!"
"Sorry Artemis." She looked back to Cass, "What do you want with the brotherhood?"
"You can't have a war without soldier's, princess. But at the moment, you've got other thing's to worry about."
Artemis grew more annoyed, "You have what you want, leave." She motioned to the door, Cassandra smirked, "Gladly, your highness."
Artemis stared at the Diadem that was missing the center gem, "So this thing…belongs to you?" Artemis picked up the black head accessory, "I guess, the original keeper told me a story…" she tried to remember how it went,
"He said that the Dark Kingdoms ruler, our father, had two children, a Boy who he had to send away due to war and as we learned later, a sort of political hardship, but 11 years later he and a young woman brought into this world a beautiful baby girl, born on the night of a blue moon. he had this circlet crafted specially, just for his daughter for her 18th birthday, as he had a crown for his son, who he had to send away with a palace servant. Sadly, the King also had to give his daughter away as well. He entrusted her to one of his finest soldiers and his wife, Hector and my mother, and well…you already know the rest of it."
Varian looked at the Diadem then at Artemis, "4 years after he had to give me up, I met you and your father, and 9 years after I met you, on the day of my 13th birthday, I met the brother I didn't know I had."
"If it belongs to you, then you need to take it." Artemis looked at Calliope, "No, I think it's safer here." The stout woman picked up the Diadem, "No, it's safer with who it belongs to, today proved that." Artemis took the head piece in her hands, "Do the stones mean anything?" Calliope only shrugged, "I know a lot of stuff about these artifacts, but that is one the Keeper never taught me about. Even he doesn't know why it's missing a stone." Varian put a hand on her shoulder,
"Hey, maybe this can be something we figure out together?" she smiled fondly, looking at him over her shoulder, "I'd like that." Eugene called up to them, "We're going head out to the balloon, you two coming?"
"In a sec!" Eugene gave a thumbs up as he started to walk away,
"I believe Cassandra promised us a proper introduction, but she failed to deliver, didn't she?"
"Why are you still here?" Artemis' tone was Hostile, "Come now child, no need for that." She turned back to Rapunzel, "I'm surprised you didn't guess who I am, seeing as how we've already met...in a way." Varian leaned over to whisper something in Artemis' Ear.
"She's the girl from my dream…the one who told me I had to use the sun to see the sun." Artemis let her eyes fall to the young girl,
"Ah, yes, the little Alchemist. You know it's interesting that you two got together, Fate has great things in store for you, that is, if you come out of this on the side of victory." She turned back to Rapunzel once more,
"You see, over the centuries I've taken the form of whatever suits my needs, a warlock, a demon, even a blizzard."
"You're…Zhan Tiri. But that doesn't make any sense, Cass knows how evil Zhan Tiri is. Why would she team up with—"
"Cassandra knows only what I want her to know. I'm playing her, Rapunzel, she has no idea but she is under my complete control." Zhan Tiri started to climb the stairs of the Spire, "Prepare yourself, Sun Drop, Princess Amaris, an eclipse is coming, and when it does corona will become nothing more than dust." She slid some artifact over her body and vanished, leaving the three remaining friends with more questions than answers.
"Goodbye you four! Sorry you blew it, but it wasn't my fault!" Artemis, annoyed, launched the annoying little keeper into the air,
"Whoops, sorry, not my fault!" she called back as the woman looked on, annoyed yet terrified.
Eugene and Varian gave the girl a discreet high five so Rapunzel couldn't see it, "I really can't stand her," he uttered through clenched teeth.
Rapunzel moved to the other side of the basket as Varian and Artemis tucked themselves into a corner of the floating basket,
"Hey, Blondie, I know thing's didn't pan out the way we hoped it would, but… you did what you had to do and we will get Cass back."
"Actually, Eugene, at the moment, I'm beginning to think Cass…is the least of our worries."
"Hey, whatever is coming, we'll face it together. We always do."He gave Rapunzel a reassuring smile before he turned to the two teens, "And you two, I am incredibly proud of you, you two worked as a pretty efficient team, and you—" Artemis flinched, thinking she was in for it,
"You had to make hard calls, but you did the right thing. Setting aside personal grudges is hard when it feels like the only option's you have are the bad ones. You were brave, and I know that if dad could have seen you today, he would be so proud, your mom too. You're growing up, Artemis. Both of you are, and I couldn't have gotten stuck a better baby sister." He grinned, ruffling her hair before he turned his eyes on Varian, "And she could not have picked a better boyfriend."
Varian's face flushed red,
"I-I …Well, I-I c-couldn't have found a better girlfriend." Artemis chuckled,
"You're so cute when you're flustered." She leaned over, kissing his cheek.
