Chapter 2

Artemis POV

I stood in satisfaction as each arrow hit its mark. Three in the groin, two in the stomach, one in each hand and finally I released my arrow directly into his heart. His body shook the ground as it hit the cold forest floor. The child, no now that I look closer, boy, whimpered. I realized his eyes were covered with a blood soaked shirt with a rag stuffed in his mouth, with a cry of outrage I had not felt in many years, because this wasn't just some boy, this was a CHILD.

Not even four years old if I guessed right, I rushed to his side and slowly pulled the rag from his mouth, blood poured out of it as he coughed and sobbed. Slowly I untied the shirt around his arms, and gasped at what I saw. His arm was broken and part of a bone was sticking through the skin and gushed blood, I had no idea how he was still alive and even more so, awake.

Once more I reached for him, he flinched and whimpered, steadily and slowly I reached to the boys face, wiping some of the blood off his boy slowly opened his eyes, and once more, I gasped, his eyes were such a green that I had only seen on one person, my uncle. He looked at me through pain filled green eyes, confusion and apprehension showing through the maelstrom of pain in them.

I minutely nodded my head, showing the barest hint of a smile, but it seems that was all the more the boy could take, his eyes drooped and he passed out. I quickly motioned for Zoe to hand me the medical supplies, once I had them I set to work stopping blood flow.

"My Lady? What, are you doing?" Timidly asked Zoe.

"Saving his life." A collective smothered gasp went through my hunters but I paid no mind, plans already forming in my mind.

"But.. He is a boy My Lady." One of my hunters whispered.

"Yes. But he is also a child and I, I- I fear for him." I whispered the last words.

Quickly making makeshift splints for the broken bones, I did all I could and decided I needed Apollo. Nodding to myself I carefully lifted his tiny frame, making him cry through clenched teeth, as though even in sleep he was afraid, and I saw red. I turned to the body of the mortal and kicked it muttering words that sent the man's soul on the fast track straight to the fields of punishment if not Tartarus.

That done I told the girls I'd meet them back at the camp and once there they were to tend to the boy as best they could and were NOT to harm him in any way. I flashed to the camp laying him down on the softest fur I had. Stood and flashed to find my brother.

Apollo POV

Now generally when my sister shows up it's always 'How could you sully your hands and these maidens!' or 'You disgusting man I cannot believe I am related to you!' or something to that extent. So when Arty showed up silent, marching straight up to me and the women I was with, without even the slightest sneer at them, I knew something was up.

"Yo sis- whoa what's wrong?" I ask noticing her countenance.

"Brother, I need your help. Now." The steely glint in her eye was broken by the undertone of desperation in her voice. Holding back my witty retort, I simply nodded. We flashed to her camp and I followed her to her cabin.

At first I thought it was one of the hunters curled in a ball, but then I realized it was much too small to be one of her hunters, it had to be a child. My second thought was, what the hell is a BOY doing in Arty's camp?!

And then I noticed the bruises and blood and my mouth snapped shut as my face hardened. Who in the hell beats children?! I walked closer to the bed and felt my eyes fill with tears, even with the bandages the extent of the beatings was evident. I glanced to Artemis, seeing her in much the same condition, I set to work, no way was the kid gonna die if he had anything to say about it.

First off, I checked for internal bleeding, luckily there was only one puncture from a broken rib, mending that I set to work setting the bones and healing them, then onto the largest lacerations. I stopped when I came to the ones on his stomach and nearly threw up. They were SO DEEP, and at a closer look ,SAID SOMETHING. Whoever did this CARVED WORDS into this BOY'S SKIN.

Nauseated I read them while trying to heal them, the words 'whore', 'bitch', and 'mine', were the largest and deepest. Under those along the waistline in jagged letters said, 'property of Gabriel'. Sobbing I healed them as best I could, I went to flip him on his back when I noticed hand shaped bruises on his hips, silently praying I would not find what I thought I would, only to break down sobbing over the child.

He had been raped repeatedly for at least a year, and at least six times TODAY. Healing him, I flipped him over and nearly broke down again, there were so many laceration marks on his back, old and new. Healing them as best I could I checked his head again to make sure I hadn't missed a head injury.

Only seeing a split lip I laid him back down on a clean pile of soft furs, throwing one over him to keep him warm and give him privacy. Turning around I notice Artemis had left while I was working. Checking internally where my chariot was in the sky I realized it was nine o'clock at night, I had been working on him for three hours. I walked out to see Arty sitting on a log a few feet away from the tent door, staring up at the night sky.

Artemis POV

Staring at the stars I felt a small amount of comfort. I couldn't stay in there while Apollo worked, he got so zoned into healing he didn't hear the child's whimpers or notice his own tears pouring down his face. I almost went in to see what was wrong when I heard Apollos mournful cry and break down into sobs. But then I realized, no he would tell me and I probably wouldn't want to see the injury itself.

So lost in my thoughts I was, I didn't notice my hunters walk past me with faces marred with worried frowns, or three hours later my brother come out and join me. I glanced at him and almost wished I hadn't, he still had tear streaks down his face, his eyes red and puffy, face blotchy, skin pale and hands shaking. All light in his eyes had dimmed, looking as though the horror he'd seen had put out his sun. Turning back to the sky I sigh.

"That bad huh?" I whisper. He simply nodded. I caught the barest hint of a choked sob, I turned to him to see as he curled in on himself sobbing tears streaming down his face again, reaching for my twin I held him in my arms as he sobbed. My own tears spilled down my face again as thoughts of what I had seen went through my head knowing that it was only half of the injuries.

We sat and sobbed under the stars and one of my hunters saw us ran off, soon all my hunters were around us holding us, even Apollo. I could seen confusion in their eyes as they did not know what was wrong but also understanding that this is what we needed, to be held surrounded my love and security. As the thought ran through my head I choked out a sob realizing the boy probably had no such someone to rely on.

There we stayed, a family for an hour, when I had finally broke down sobbing some of my hunters had tears sun down their faces seeing how badly we were affected. When we all had calmed down, my hunters sat down around us and Apollo retold us the list of injuries the boy had and the extent of each, he had to stop multiple times, as each of the girls would break out into sobs, having the same thing done to them at one point.

When he got to the rapes everyone cried, even the wolves howled to the moon with us, the sound long and melancholy, showing us they shared our pain. After that we all went in to check on him. We all sat down on the furs around him and simply watched him breathe, a miracle in itself.

We ended up all falling asleep like that, a huge pile of bodies, a family, surrounding their precious cargo, some of the hunters even fell asleep holding the boy's hand or with a hand in his hair.

Needless to say Hades was very surprised when he came to visit.

AN:

hey! this is Wolf, I just wanted to say that i'm not sure when exactly i'll be updating. I already have the next chapter written most of the way, but I don't want people to think I'll post a new chapter everyday, because sometimes i'm motivated to write and sometimes i'm not, but I will do everything in my power to not abandon this story, because I know I hate it when authors do that and I will try not to do that too.