guess what?
i fixed the typos :)
every single one ofthem.
so, be proud or something.

Recap

"What are you doing," She asked, heading back towards him. "If you didn't notice, its raining out side and I just so happen to be soaked." Holly blinked, embarrassed that she hadn't noticed sooner. "So, not too be rude but I would like to change, and unless you want to watch..." Artemis shut the door behind him, not giving her time to speak.

end Recap

.-a masquerade of dying-.

ThursdayNov. 30

"Artemis..." a throbbing pain shot through his head, who was calling him? "Artemis..." laughter, not his, it was familiar, too familiar but he could not place it. Vague pastel colors blurred his vision, or was his vision blurring the images? Did that even make sense? The colors twisted and transformed, slowly becoming blurred shapes. "Artemis, hurry up!" Distant banging,the pounding of angry fist on wood,the image was vaporized. He awoke, coated in sweat, pain, and confusion. He, for a moment was lost, trying to reach back into, whatever he had just fallen out of. His attempts failed and only served to make his head hurt worse. It took him a minute to remember where he was, what he was doing, and what had awoken him. "Just a dream..." he whisper to himself, slightly annoyed at having been awoken. "only a dream..." a shout made his ear ring like church bells, and his head ache much, much worse. "Artemis!" he groaned, and rubbed his head, figuring that he must have passed out while changing. Well, that would explain the fact that I'm in my closet... he stood up shakily,"Would it kill you to be, oh, I don't know, patient for once in your life, Ms.Short?" He half growled, half sighed at the door, as he pulled on a random, and plain, shirt and a pin-stripped suit style jacket, both black. The way Artemis kept his clothes, they might have been able to pass as suits that had been tweaked, altered to fit its master's needs, instead of jeans and cotton shirt that he opted to wear under some kind of jacket. Another stab of pain. I'm guessing this is what a hang over feels like.. The banging stopped, only to be replaced with an irritated voice, "Maybe it would, smart-ass." Artemis rolled his eyes, and pushed open the door, nearly knocking over Holly. He smirked, "Smooth, Ms. Short, very smooth." She glared at him. "Fuck. You." a smirk, Holly short was ever-so confident that he wouldn't have a response to that. "Not even in nightmares." Artemis replied in a tone that seemed to be made of ice. Holly blinked, not really expecting any sort of comeback for him, and not liking the fact that she had been wrong, then glared again. "So, what was it that you wanted?" Holly quirked an eyebrow, offering no further reply. Artemis mirrored the gesture with the utmost perfection. She scoffed, her voice irritated and low, "You know, for a kid who spends his time avoiding emotions, you sure know how to read people." Artemis just blinked, uncaring, "Well, are you going to tell me or not?" "Well what do you think, after all you are the smart one." sarcasm is a virtue. Still showing no emotion other than the mocking tone of his voice, Artemis replied "I think you need my help on some case so you don't loose another client, and yes I am the smart one, Ms. Short, how kind of you to notice." Holly glared, the increasing venom in her voice would burn the insides of most peoples ears. Unfortunately for her, this was Artemis and he was certainly not most people. "I really hate you sometimes." Artemis gave a slight smile that was far from happy. You should hate me... he mentally slapped himself and quickly removed the smile from his, the elf was none the wiser. Invisibility had its perks.

Holly began to tell Artemis about her latest case, it was something about gang wars, homicides and needing to take out the leaders or something, he wasn't really listening. Artemis blinked, "Isn't this the kind of thing LEP deals with?" Holly grinned. "Exactly." Artemis raised an eyebrow. Holly just continued to grin. "And they need you why?" Holly's grin faltered a bit and she hit his arm. Hard. Hard enough to re-open a few old, and new for that matter, wounds. Artemis flinched, unwillingly. "Artemis, your such a wimp." Ah, insults, no pity, couldn't ask for more. Artemis gripped his arm in an attempt to keep the blood to a minimum. Nobody could ever know. "And you are, Ms.Short, are a cornucopia of kindness." Holly rolled her eyes, he was trying to annoy her. "They need me because I'm one of the best there is when it comes to stealth, and I'm the best shot." Artemis gave her an and-your-point-is look before speaking, "But thats besides the point, Its very odd, that Stool would allow you on this case. He pretty much hates you after all." Holly grinned again, "Stool has been stripped of his command, turns out that he had a dirty little secret." Artemis opened his mouth to speak but Holly cut him off, "Trouble is in charge now, and he's doing a much better job than Stool ever could," Holly smirked, "He admits when he needs a little help from..."she began only to pause and stare at the pale boy with a strange and unsettling look on her face. "um, Artemis your head's bleeding" Shit. Artemis slowly removed his hand from his arm and brought it up to his forehead. "Just a scratch..." He trailed off, remembering the bullet from the night before, confused as to why it had began to bleed again. Artemis wiped some of the blood off and let his arm drop. It didn't help much, he could feel the liquid flowing slowly down his forehead."Well its bleeding alot for a scratch. Here let me fix that."

Holly lifted a hand, so that she might heal the 'scratch', but Artemis took a step back. "Sheesh, its not like I'm going to bite you, just let me heal it..." Artemis just took another step. "I'm fine." He said in a way that implied there was no room for compromise. Holly gave a half hearted shrug. "Fine, bleed, but I still want to know where you got it, it looks like..." Holly trailed off in thought, lower her gaze so that it might search the floor for answers. Her eye traveled back and forth in an erratic motion. "Like what?" Artemis asked, not wanting her to know about a bullet, or rather bullets, that were not meant for him. He wiped his head again, and chewed his lip until he realized just what he was doing and .She was once one of the LEP, and was therefor no stranger to weapons. And, besides, after all thats happened, she might think that it was self inflicted even if he denied it. Not that the idea of a bullet to the head wasn't appealing to Artemis, but it was much too quick. He'd rather go out slower, with more time for pain. There were so many beautiful ways in which he could dispose of himself. Not like I deserve anything less than to suffer--No. No bad thoughts, not now. He cursed under his breath, it was as if he thought the elf would know everything that he had worked so hard to hide by reading his thought. His paranoia was beginning to be a bad thing. The last thing he need was for anybody to kno--"Like you were shot at." I really need to invest in band-aids... "Holly I can assure you that I was not shot at" This shut Holly up, for about two seconds. Two blissful second which Artemis thought ended much too soon"Well then how did you get it?" Artemis glared at her with the intensity of a fire storm. "Aren't you supposed to be telling me about your case?" A combination of a scowl and a deep frown latched itself on to the short girls face, showing no sign of letting go anytime soon. She tucked a loose strand of aburn hair behind her pointed ear. "Your avoiding the question." Artemis didn't budge, "So? Doesn't change why you came here." Holly sighed in a defeated manner. "Do you really need to know everything?" Artemis blinked as if he did not understand the question. "Of course I need to know everything, even the littlest thing could come back to bite us if given the chance." Holly began to tell him everything she knew, and Artemis subconsciously cataloged the information, allowing the rest of his mind to wander to other things. Things that contained a much darker nature. Holly never noticed the far away look in his eyes, she had better things to do.

Artemis was pulled from his thoughts abruptly when Holly asked him a question that didn't fit with her explanation. "What?" He asked her, still slightly dazed.He had really only grasped about a third of the question. The boy's eye darted around, trying to figure out where he was.She just laughed, the scowl-frown falling from her face with ease. "Never mind, it wasn't like it was important anyway." Artemis raised an eyebrow, he seemed to be doing that alot lately, but didn't press the matter further. "So, are you in or what?" Artemis offered a scowl and a dark glance, "I'll do it, but no more questions, understand?" Holly was a bit fazed by the anger in his voice, he had seemed annoyed, but not nearly this angry. Well, he didn't need to show much anger for it to be shocking, after all he was normally monotone and emotionless. Or at least he tried to be. "And next time you deicide you want to visit, call instead." He pushed her out into the rain, leaving no room for argument or any other action as the door slammed. Holly fell into a thick puddle, wishing she could strangle the mud boy. She flicked a bit of the substance from her hand, she realized that she was coated in the thick liquid. Mud. "Oh, the irony."

Haven

"Are you serious?" Laughter. Insane, mocking laughter. If there was one thing Holly hated, it was being made a fool of. "Yes..." the elf hissed, waves of anger seeming to flow from her, drowning the room in perpetual spite. "What, I ask you, could possibly make me say anything this demeaning unless it was true?" She should have changed before she came to the OPs booth. The rain was coming down hard, she figured that the mud would have washed off, and most of it did. She just didn't take into account the fact that her clothes would attach themselves to her as if they would disintegrated if they separated from her body, or that there would still be some stain left by the drowning dirt. If she had changed he wouldn't have asked, with nothing to hint for such a question. Then maybe she could have left out her heart wrenching departure from the manor. And the fact that the centaur wouldn't stop laughing, even after she slapped and threatened him several times, wasn't helping matters much. "Shutup Foaly." He still laughed, tears forming at his eyes. What was so funny about her misfortune? She half hoped that he would laugh himself to death, or at least a coma. What have I done to deserve--no, we're not going there. "Okay, okay." he breathed the words slowly and with some effort, wiping his eyes clear of tears, panting, gasping for breath. "but you have to admit it is funny." Holly scowled and the room got tenser. "Its not funny." She insisted with all the malice she could muster. Foaly just laughed again, "Not to you, at least not yet." The elf grasped a random object and hurled it at the centaur. It hit him hard right in the face. The impact with a beautiful noise that resembled the sound of a metal support beam pounding into wet bone, bone drench with blood. Holly flinched and the fell over, convulsing on the floor, a red imprint the promised a bruise that would last a week or so. It, for some reason, reminded Holly of a dying spider, as what little life it had left leaked from its crushed body. Absolutely lovely. "Ow..." one word, not much but it made the girl smirk. "You know, it can be really painful to be around you." Holly just stood their smirking at the scowl on Foaly's face, then, after sticking out her tongue in childish mockery, she offered a hand to help him up.

"So, he's going to help." Holly shrugged passively. "He said he would, but it was odd, I don't think he was over joyed at the idea." Foaly just stared at her, as if to say something along the lines of 'so, whats your point?'. Holly hated looks like that. "What, I mean its his kind of thing, you think he wouldn't be such a jerk about it." Foaly smirked "So thats why he pushed you?" Holly glared and Foaly raised his hands, hoping the gesture would get her to calm down, or atleast. "Holly, come on, who thought he'd be so childish?" Holly backed down but the tension in the room was as thick as ever. "What do you mean?" Foaly smiled, "Well, think about it. He pushed you out, because he was 'forced' to do something he didn't want to do." Holly untensed a bit. "Childish." Foaly repeated. "Is just not something you think he'd do, thats the whole hilarity of the situation, nothing to do with you as the victim." Foaly laughed nervously. Holly just nodded, believing what he said but also know that he was laughing harder because she was the one that ended up coated in mud. "Its just so--" she let out a noise that was similar to a muffled scream. "--infuriating! I mean I didn't even do anything to him!" She fell back into a random chair, "I mean, I treated him normal, if anything I was too nice, too patient. He can be such an asshole sometimes." Foaly stood there, smiling as always "Are you done." Holly blinked and smiled "Yeah I'm done, all angered-out." Holly rubbed the back her head in embarrassment."Oh, and sorry about the head injury." Foaly blinked then frowned, "You know you didn't have to aim so high, you hit my face. Now its going to be bruised." Pouting, should have seen that one coming... Foaly sighed, "Next time, hurt the mud boy, please. Whenever your angry it seems to always turn out bad for me." Holly shook her head, some things would never change. Foaly paused in his complaints, "You know," Foaly began, "from what you told me, it seemed like the mud boy was trying to make you mad, like he wanted you to hate him or something." Holly looked at the centaur, then lowered her eyes in thought. "But...why would he do that...?" Foaly just shrugged. "How should I know what goes on in his head?"

Fowl manor - shortly after Holly...left.

"Well, that was rude." Juliet stood, hand on her hips, and a mocking smile on her face. Artemis glanced over at the girl, his eyes unblinking and full of ice, "So?" Juliet laughed, and rolled her eyes. This, is going to be harder than I thought. Both of them had the same thought at almost the same moment save a split second delay. "So?" She looked at him oddly "So apologize, say your sorry." she laughed again, Artemis failed to see why the situation was funny. "Why?" Artemis knew what she meant, but he managed to make it appear otherwise. "Because, what you did was totally asinine and childish, words that don't describe you." she was glaring at him now, Mood swings suck. Artemis open his mouth to offer a reply, when Juliet's cell phone rang. She scowled, and picked it up.

"Hello?" her voice was sweet, sugary as Japanese candy, and faker than a well planned con. The girls eye widened and she turned her back to Artemis. "What, why--How did this...?" I she trailed off, listening intensely, as if the voice on the other end held the key to some dark secret that could change reality as we know it. "Is..is he okay?" Artemis knew who the call was about, and that it would not end well. "No...no, no that--you're lying you have to be!" Juliet fell to her knees and cried.She nodded before she realized that the voice on the other end couldn't see her. "Yes..." Her voice sounded so weak. She hung up the phone and closed her fist tightly around the phone, Artemis placed a hand on her shoulder. "Artemis," she sniffed, tears still flowing, show no sign of stopping. "Theres been an accident, and-and..." More sobs, Artemis bent down, and lifted the crying girls head to face him. "he was shot, Artemis, he-he's..." the tears doubled, and she latched on to Artemis. "Why, why did it have to be him, Artemis, why him?" Juliet sobbed into his shoulder, staining the material with tears and cosmetics. "I don't know Juliet, I don't know."

A few hours later Artemis was alone, and red diamond was slashed into his arm, deep, it was partially gouged out, though you could still see its shape, deeper. He didn't shed any tears, simply because he didn't know how. He still cried, but it was a bit different than normal tears. Relax, release. He laid back on the floor, not stopping the bleeding, not covering it with the jacket he had tossed to the side. Anybody could have just walked in and see everything, he didn't even lock the door. It was almost as if somebody was trying to take away everything Artemis had, killing just to hurt him. It was making to execute his machination as original planned. At least, there was less work to do now. At least he didn't have to see it happen this time. Artemis hated himself more for thinking this, he practically loathed himself already, and now he had more reason to.There was a knock at his door, and Artemis sat up in and extemporaneous manner, and pulled his jacket on in the time span of 2 seconds. "Artemis?" he sighed, it was probably extremely hard for Juliet to deal with this loss, the plan could wait. The girl had just lost virtually everything, he was pretty much all she had left. He wouldn't-no, he couldn't do that to her. He wasn't that evil, was he? "Yes?" a sob, Artemis figured his voice must sound colder went you've been stripped of so much. "Can-can I come in?" Artemis took a deep breath, "Yes." he tried to sound compassionate, but at the moment it was a hard task to accomplish. The door slid open soundlessly and Artemis realized, with some relief, that his room was very dark. Less light meant less of a chance that she'd notice the stains on the floor.

The girl was illuminated by the light from the hall, her crystalline eyes were wet and red from all the tears. And the lighting only served to shadow her eyes, making her appearance look more like a decaying corpse than a crying girl. "Thanks, this house is kind of empty..." she looked up from the floor, her eyes were still wet, but she managed a small smile, "And right now it feels like the emptiness is going to swallow me up." Artemis said nothing, but kept his eyes fixed on her shadow, which seemed to move even when Juliet remained motionless. "I know that must sound silly, but..." His eyes traveled upward, meeting her gaze. "It...scares me." Tears, slow tears. Artemis found it odd that Juliet would admit to being afraid, very odd. Even if he had chosen to speak, he wouldn't have known what to say. As the girl glided towards him, it seemed as it she were floating on air. The darkness added a certain grace to simple things and the light in the background cause objects to glow. Juliet looked like a goddess floating over a lake of darkness. The image was too surreal. The girl embraced the boy, crying once again. Unfortunately, he had been to busy with his thoughts, contemplating how the room--and Juliet--could look so other worldly, that he was unprepared for the extra weight, slight as it may have been. The two toppled to the floor in a tangled heap. Juliet smiled, then laughed. They remained that way for a while, Artemis silently staring up at the sealing, Juliet draped over the floor and Artemis, laughing and crying. It was as if the moment was repeating itself, over and over, like a broken record. An eternity passed before Juliet was gasping, out of breath, and the laughter stopped. She attempted to hug the boy, but the position they were in made it awkward. "Thank you." she whispered. "For what?" he was genuinely confused, for once in his life. The girl just smiled. "Does it really matter?" "No, I guess it doesn't." Juliet succumbed to sleep on top of the boy, but she woke up on his bed, covered by black satin sheets. Artemis was no where in sight. She stood up, and as she was leaving noticed a stain, which was odd considering this was Artemis' room, and he was a clean-freak by Juliet's standards. She gave it no more than a passing glance, it was faint and with all that has happen, he might not have noticed. Still it bothered her, but she shrugged it off. It was just a faded stain.

Funeral, Sunday, Dec.3

Artemis' parents had been cremated, and the had been no former formalities after that expect the memorial service which had been a very private event. There had been no burial, which is one of the most depressing events a person can witness outside of anything with the word 'mass' in front of it. The whole time Juliet just stood there in shock, trying not to cry. Artemis had told Holly, who had spent the first five minuets of the call, screaming at him, threatening him, and asking why she shouldn't hang up, it made it hard for Artemis to get a word in until he yell at her, telling her to be quite. If Holly hadn't been shocked at the show of emotion, she would have killed him. He hung up on her shortly after that, telling her about the accident and the date of the burial. Her face paled and she stood there on there, mouth opening and closing like a fish gasping for water, only in much more frantic and exaggerated manner. He knew she was there, hiding from sight until the remainder of the mourners left. Who knew the big guy was so popular? Holly made her self known when only Artemis and Juliet remained. Juliet had broken down on Artemis for the third time just seconds after the last one left. Holly knelt beside the grave and stroked the coffin delicately as if it would break. Artemis gently nudged Juliet so that she would know that they were not alone. Juliet looked to the coffin and sniffed, "H-holly?" The elf turned her head as Juliet removed herself from Artemis, and embraced the elf, tears began to flow again. Artemis looked up. The sky was mocking him again, this time with a blinding blue and skies as clear as spring water, save one or two clouds that made ants seem like mountainous creatures that could block out the sun by raising their heads. It was a shame those ants were lazy. The sun was shining bright enough to burn the retinas of anybody who would be unfortunate enough to glance its way. Artemis unconsciously pulled up the sleeve of the arm he had carved the diamond into. He rubbed his arm, pressing down hard. Moving his hand faster and faster until his fingers were wet. He licked the blood off and pulled his sleeve down. The sound of sobs decreased and slowly ebbed into sniffles and whispers of words. Artemis turned around and looked at the couple. Juliet was steading herself and Holly was helping her balance. It would have been an amusing sight if the circumstances had been different. He walked over to Juliet and placed a hand on her shoulder, "Come on, lets go home." The girl jumped , a foot in the air, then calmed down when she realized who's voice it was. She nodded weakly, unable to speak comprehendible sentences. Holly bit her lip, "Do you guy minds if I spend the night? I don't think I'll be able to get a shuttle home..." Juliet looked at Artemis with pleading eye, he sighed. "Come on, lets go, all of us." Holly smiled a little and followed the two humans to a car.

It was a little after 7 when they arrived home, and it wasn't until nearly 10 that night when they would speak to one another. The elf was to stay in a guest room but Juliet offered to share her room, Artemis knew why. Juliet couldn't stand to be alone, though she'd never admit it,and Holly was more emotion-prone than Artemis. He wouldn't have to worry about being interrupted tonight. He turned and started to walk away when Juliet spoke up, "Artemis, I-i meant you too." The boy blinked and Holly looked confused, but not by much. "Please?" Artemis turned around, "Juliet..." She looked at him again, tears forming in the corners of her eyes, "Please..." Artemis sighed,"Must I?" his eyes showed no emotion. Juliet nodded, and he sighed. "I'm probably not going to sleep anyway, so what would be the point?" Juliet whimpered, and Holly glared at him. "Just do it, Artemis. Haven't you seen her cry enough today?" Artemis sighed and muttered something under his breath. He couldn't say no without hating himself more than he already did. Today was definitely not a good day for him. He walked back to them, not saying a word and keeping his eyes on the floor. So much for not being interrupted."Thanks Artemis," Juliet whispered, her voice soft as the flutter of a butterflies wings, "your the best, you know that?" Artemis fixed his eye guiltily on the floor. He couldn't have disagreed more if he had tried. He was a monster, he didn't deserve her kind words, her didn't deserve anything, or anybody. Not Juliet not Holly, nobody. All he deserved was pain, emptiness, and to be alone. Pain had become pleasure for him, he was addicted to it, it was his on deadly little drug. And emptiness he thrived on. Artemis' strange need for those things was only out matched by his attraction, no, obsession, with death. The girls took no notice of him, or the strange look on his face. To them, he was invisible, and that was the way he liked it. Artemis continued walking, and a wicked smile swiftly graced his face. The smile grew wider as he reached into his pocked feeling and finding what he was looking for. Nothing out of place...perfect. Had the girls thought to turn around they would have noticed, but they didn't. Artemis laughed at that thought, insane laughter that was more pleased than anything else, but it was not loud. Nobody heard him, he was invisible to there eyes, deaf to their ears. Holly looked back, and Artemis dropped the smile before she could notice. Holly turned back around, she had probably thought Artemis would run off at the first chance he got. She was right, of course, but he would wait until they were asleep and had no supicions, no doubts left to keep in a light sleep, footsteps wouldn't reach them. Tonight he wouldn't be followed, tonight he wouldn't be inturrupted.That insane, wicked, and almost cruel smile returned to his face along with thoughts of self destruction. "Beautiful..." Artemis whispered, but nobody noticed, nobody ever noticed.

hows that for a longer chapter?
actually its almost longer than
all the others combined
sorry if the story has been a bit...boring?
(lack of action and all..)
It just that things happen too fast,
makes me feel like I missed something.

please review,
it would be appreciated.