Hey I'm back with next chapter for this fic, in case it isn't obvious. This is from Artemis' POV so heads up on feelings. P.S. bo0klover35 (my best friend, read her story The World) pointed out that I just happened to have made a little pun at the end of the last chapter with 'solar flare', and because of this correction I've noticed all of the little puns I have made in my other stories, so FYI most puns I make are unintentional. –PoisonBones

Artemis POV

I ached. Every crevice, every nook and cranny was throbbing with a burning pain. I gasped as I was dropped heavily on my bed, in the most uncomfortable position. My right leg was crumpled beneath me; my left arm was flipped and lay awkwardly at my side, and my ankle, Gods it hurt.

'How could I be so stupid?' I thought, 'Of everyone to disrespect, I just had to choose Hera didn't I?'

I lay still in my painful placement, not daring to challenge the agony that already incased my body. I don't know how long I sat there and scolded myself until I dozed off, but I woke to the sound of the door to the house opening and the soft padding of socked feet coming down the hallway.

'Oh Gods' Me and Apollo shared a house on the outskirts of Olympus, in a small clearing in the woods, where all the sun and moonlight possible can bathe the house at night and day, it was a truly beautiful thing, with floor to ceiling front windows and solar power on two floors and a large archery range around the back. But that's not important, what's important was the fact that if Apollo saw me like this he was going to beat Hera to high hell. But I couldn't lie to him, no matter how much I wanted too, I just couldn't.

Biting my lip to muffle my groans and whimpers, I flipped myself onto my back and lay there to wait for my brother, not caring that my chiton had been pushed up to my mid-thigh, revealing most of my bruised legs and my dark purple, almost black left ankle. I could hear him shifting around in the kitchen, moving things and quietly singing the lyrics to 'Somebody That I Used to Know'.

I released a sharp breath and yelped as a surge of pain and heat washed over me. The kitchen fell silent.

"Arty?" Apollo shouted down the hallway.

'Damn' I sighed in defeat, I hadn't really wanted him to find me that fast, but he had found me and that was it.

"I'm in here." I called. I could hear him coming down the hallway to the bedroom, and I shifted uncomfortably.

Apollo stuck his blond head in the doorway and looked around. When his eyes landed me, he reacted just like I knew he would.

"What the fuck happened? Who did this? Who do I have to incinerate? Artemis, gods look at yourself, you're all bloody and your ankle- for Christ's sake what happened!?" Apollo pulled a chair up by my side, whipped up his medicine case and pulled me up to move me.

I winced. He saw it. "Sorry, you're going to have to lie on your stomach." He said gently, "Now what happened and who did this?"

I took a deep breath, "Look, before you get all worked up, let me just tell you, I deserved it."

"My little sister doesn't deserve anything like this. Now who the hell did this?" He demanded as he flipped me onto my belly. I sighed with relief, for this position was not painful to sit in.

"I'll tell you when it doesn't hurt to talk." Apollo accepted my answer, for now. I sat still for him but I jolted when he began to loosen the ties on the back of my chiton.

"What are you doing?" I asked. I couldn't help but feel a little alert.

"You have to take it off." He answered and continued to work.

"Why?"

"So I can get to your cuts. Now hold still."

"I don't want you to take it off!"

"Okay," Apollo turned his back to me and leaned against the bed frame, his back to me, "I can just leave those cuts untreated and they can get infected and swollen and fill up with pus. Your skin can slowly rot away around them and you can be in 10 times the pain you're in now, which I can see is quite a bit, since you're not doing a very good job of hiding it."

I closed my eyes, 'that bastard, I'm gonna strangle him once I feel better' I thought. I really hated my medicine-nerd brother right about now, not because he was annoying (which he totally was) but because he was right.

I gritted my teeth, "Apollo. Please help me."

Accepting my apology, my brother stood and started again on the back of my chiton and pulled it down to my waist. I hissed as something cold touched my back, but I did not complain, he was helping me, so I had to suck it up.

Apollo worked in silence for a good 20 minutes. He washed my cut and put some yellow stuff on them that made them go numb and painless. He had to remove the rest of my chiton, which I was not happy about, leaving me in my bra and underwear. In a strange way, I was comforted that it was Apollo seeing me this way, and not anybody else, because he was my brother. And we spent nine months in mama Leto's womb pressed buck naked against each other, so I think one half dressed and the other full is quite a step up don't you think?

I now lay quiet and comfortable on my back. My comfort was quickly broken when an electric like wave shot up my leg. "What's going on? Why does it hurt so much?" I asked cautiously. "Is it broken?"

"No," Apollo said, "But the muscle is torn away from the bone. I'm going to need ice, and more bandages. Stay here."

"Oh yeah, I'm going somewhere, cause I'm just in spit-spot shape aren't I?" I snapped. I immediately regretted it. He was going to fix this and I was being a complete bitch. I'm so smart, sometimes I amaze myself! In case you can't tell, I was being sarcastic.

Luckily Apollo was out of the room before he could hear my comment. At least I hope so. I took the time to examine my foot while he was gone. It was purple all over and was swollen to twice its original size. I grimaced at the sight and laid back down as Apollo returned carrying a Ziploc bag full of ice with a washcloth wrapped around it in one hand, and a roll of ace bandage in the other. He sat down beside me and bound my foot tightly with the ace and applied the ice to it. He stood and went over to my dresser. He pulled open the top drawer and brought out a dark green nightgown.

"Sit up." He said as he returned to the bedside. I did as I was told, and allowed him to put it over my head and help me pull my arms through like I was a young child.

He sat down beside me again and looked right I into my silver eyes with his baby blue ones.

"Now, I cleaned you up, I put you in clean clothes. Tell me who did it." Apollo had never looked so . . . . scary.

I gulped, "Um, Apollo…"

"No. Tell me who did it." I looked back into his eyes. There was no use in arguing with him.

"I beheaded her statue in Greece in front of the whole population, and 3 emperors."

"Who?"

"Hera." Apollo stared at me for a solid ten seconds before he burst.

"Hera? Where in the hell did she get the idea that it was alright to beat someone for a damn statue?" He yelled, standing so fast he knocked his chair over. "I'm going to throw her straight into the sun! I'm gonna throw all her statues into erupting volcanoes! She is dead!" He spurted angrily.

"We're immortal, we can't die."

"That's exactly the point!"

By this point in time, it was useless to keep anything from him, so I told him the full truth, "She broke my arrows too. The ones you made for me."

Apollo turned in fury to the door, "Oh, that evil witch I'm gonna wring her neck!"

The next thing I knew the door was banging shut behind my brother. I leaned back against my pillows.

'Oh Gods, what have I done?'