Title: Children and Choices
By: Xmarksthespot
Disclaimer: I don't own YJ
Words: 1,100+
Notes: For the YJ anon meme: yjanon-meme . livejournal 477 . html ?thread=9437
X-X-X-
Artemis.
"Punch him."
Dad's voice still rings in my ears sometimes late at night; the gruffness that only comes up behind his mask, hiding the sweet and caring person whom I know as my father.
I'm a good girl, I think. I obey dad's commands.
The man in front of me gives a low grunt when I throw my fist into his gut, not once, but twice in hopes that dad will notice how strong I've gotten since he's started training me. I slowly turn to face him, but not too violently, otherwise dad will notice how much space my hair takes up and threaten to cut it again – I don't want it cut; even if Jade isn't here anymore, I'm still Cheshire's Alice and I want my long hair. I secretly hope Jade will come back and see how long it's gotten. Maybe she'll tell me I'm a good girl too.
Dad interrupts my thoughts when he gives me another order.
"Kick him until his teeth fall out."
I feel an odd shiver down my spine and goose bumps along my arm, still unaccustomed to doing all this, but I oblige, twisting my body at an angle and continuously kick the man in the jaw. I try to ignore the blood on my new shoes – dad says I should be proud that my shoes are covered in blood. I think he got me white shoes on purpose.
My legs aren't as powerful as my upper body, so it takes me almost twenty minutes to see three teeth on the floor. I'm exhausted and I know dad isn't happy at my efforts, but I'm his baby girl and I want to see him proud of me. I keep kicking.
Finally, I see Sportsmaster move away from the brick wall he was leaning on and approach me. He puts a hand on my shoulder and I wonder if there's a grin behind that hard, white mask. I look into the eye holes for the answer to my question. They're relaxed and his eyebrows aren't slanted this time! I give him one of the largest grins that I haven't used in a long time since mom and Jade left, and there's a warm feeling rising in my chest. For once, I've done something right, and dad agrees with me.
"Good job, Artemis," he tells me, "you're a good girl."
I nod in response, turning around to face the direction of our apartment. Maybe dad will help me cook dinner tonight – that's always fun.
"Not yet, angel." He holds me back by the shoulder and I turn to look at him. I give him a frown, hoping he'll notice how upset I am. He did, after all, tell me this wasn't supposed to take a long time.
My eyes trail him as he walks to his duffle bag, which was mostly filled with sports equipment, but wasn't used for sports. At least, not regular people's sports. That's when I see him pull out the bow and arrow and I can feel my eyes widen.
"Is that…" I don't finish the sentence because dad has already handed it to me.
"Your own bow and arrow. Just like I promised." He then ruffles my hair like how I see most fathers treat their sons – I know dad wanted me to be a boy, so I don't complain, because it makes him happy. "Happy early birthday, angel."
My face instantly brightens and I look at the weapon in my hands again. I had been practicing with an older set at home and dad always said I had a knack for archery, but I never thought he would actually get me one.
I look up at dad again, and I'm about to thank him when I see his eyes lower dangerously.
"Artemis," he mutters in his deep, Sportsmaster voice.
I ignore the quick beating of my chest, because I should have gotten used to that voice a long time ago; I always heard him use it on Jade.
"Yes, dad?"
"How about we test this bow and arrow out?"
This confuses me because all of the target sets are at home or in the secret warehouses that he takes me to sometimes, and last time he told me Cam could be used as target practice while he talked to Mr. Mahkent, but none of that was here right now. Dad seems to realize this because he puts his hands on my shoulders again to guide me to my target.
"Kill him."
I look at dad in disbelief. He knew how much it had hurt Jade the first time she had to kill someone, why was he doing this to me now?
I hesitate and I guess dad sees me because he lifts my hands up into the air, in the perfect position to aim at the man's heart.
"But, dad, I… I'm not ready yet."
He shakes his head at me and walks to his bag again. He pulls out his own baseball bat and before I could blink, he whips it down towards the man's legs. The man screams and I cringe.
"See that, angel? It's not hard."
Dad continues to hit the man with his baseball bat, but only at his legs and arms – I didn't want to look away again; the last time I did that, dad was not happy. Jade once told me that hearing the sounds of bones breaking wasn't hard once I got used to it, but this is the third time I've seen dad do this and it still bothers me. But I watch dad do it anyway, and I don't notice that my hands are trembling until I hear my arrow fall to the ground.
Dad stops and looks back at me.
"Artemis…" he starts and I drop myself to the ground to pick up the arrow. He steps away from the man in front of me before giving me a nod.
I look at my target again who was screaming louder than before. Cops aren't a good thing, dad told me that when they took mom away. If he keeps being loud like this, the cops will hear it and come. I don't want them to take away my dad too. I catch a glimpse of my dad before adjusting my bow and arrow.
I'm a good girl, I tell myself again. I shoot.