Maze of Blood

Part 4

Artemis grinned, feeling the power surge through her body. She was lucky, in a way. That creature that was chasing her before must have caught up to her illusion and destroyed it. That means she had her magic back. She finally had a chance of winning. She snapped her head up to look at the man. He gritted his teeth, obviously annoyed at this turn of events. Her grin just widened. Then, her eyes narrowed.

"Now, I'm sorry but I must finish this"

With those words, she charged her hands outstretched in front of her. Her opponent raised his hands to defend whatever was coming for him, his snakes hissing in anticipation. Artemis smirked. Nothing would defend him from her next move. It was her trump card. It was the thing that finished everything.

She skidded to a stop roughly three feet from the tattoo stained man and raised her hands before her. She closed her eyes. One breath, two breaths, three breaths. She clenched her right hand into a fist. Four breaths, five breaths, six breaths. She folded her left hand over the top of the right. Seven breaths, eight breaths, nine breaths. She opened her eyes. Ten breaths. She smirked.

"It's over!" She opened both her hands. "Lunar Eclipse!" wisps of indigo mist swirled around her hands. Their smoky tendrils darted towards her opponent, their fingers dancing over his skin. He didn't have a chance to do anything, because, in a matter of seconds.

He was gone.

Artemis sighed and sunk to her knees. That really was a last resort move, but it was final. He was gone, there was no way anyone could ever escape from her Lunar Eclipse. Ever. But god did it take a lot of power. She was drained. There was nothing more she could do – any enemies she came across now would have to be fought off with her knife alone.

But hopefully, she would find Fuyuka before that.

Apophis cursed as he floated through the empty black space. Lunar Eclipse. He had heard of that before. It was a powerful move that locked ones opponents in a different dimension forever. There was escape. However, it had one flaw. It could only trap someone if the user saw that person as an enemy. Kind of like Fairy Law.

Apophis cursed again and punched his fist out in the air in front of him in frustration. He had let her down. He had said they would win this thing, but he failed.

'I'm sorry, Autumn'

But as his fist shot out into the air, it collided with something hard, yet unstable. His eyes, which he had screwed shut in anger, shot wide open and he watched as the strange surface before him rippled.

'What?'

He pushed harder and watched as his fist slid slowly through the wall type thing, disappearing from sight. He smirked.

'I see' His mind whispered as understanding dawned. 'Autumn, I take back my apology. We're going to win this thing!'

"Huh?" Artemis looked up as she heard a soft tearing sound. Her green eyes widened in disbelieving as she watched his bald head appear from nowhere, followed by his body. When all of him was visible, he raised his head to look at her.

He grinned, his reptilian eyes gleaming. He then walked towards her, and all she could do was scramble backwards, her body exhausted from her previous burst of power. Her body was trembling. It was impossible. He had escaped her Lunar Eclipse. No-one had ever done that. Hurriedly, she made more signs with her hands, watching as meagre animals and creatures appeared from thin air. But his snaked took care of them easily. Her back came against a wall and he just kept approaching. She couldn't make anything bigger. Anything stronger.

Tears appeared in the corners of her eyes. She rapidly blinked them away. She had promised not cry anymore, not after what had happened. She had survived, she hadn't the right to cry when others had died.

"I'm sorry"

Artemis looked at the man's face. He looked genuinely upset. Her features softened and she let the tears fall.

"H-how did you escape?" Her voice wavered.

The man closed his eyes.

"Your attack has one weakness" He said, his eyes slowly sliding open again. "It only works on people you view as enemies. We may be fighting, but it seems that you do not hate me entirely"

Artemis let a small smile grace her now tearstained face. She lowered her head so that her navy hair was shadowing her eyes and watched as her tears splashed on the concrete floor, making the grey surface a few shades darker in certain places.

"I see."

Then, she heard footsteps. But not toward her. Away. She looked up to see her opponent walking the other direction, away from the fallen Artemis.

"Where are you going?" She called. Was he tricking her? Toying with her before he finally killed her?

He stopped.

"I will not kill you. You do not deserve to die."

Artemis couldn't believe her ears. He was going to let her live? But…

"No." He looked back, slightly shocked. "Kill me." She drew her knife back out from her pocket and held it out in front of her, her hands shaking. Her green eyes were narrowed in determination.

"Would are you talking about?" The man called, spinning round to face her. "I'm letting you live! I'm giving you another chance!"

Artemis smiled again and her eyes softened, tears trickling down her cheeks.

"I know. And I thank you for that. But, I can't use anymore magic, I'm exhausted. If you leave me here, one of those creatures will kill me" She paused. "Please, I would rather someone who is a worthy opponent to kill me. Please"

He looked confused, but then a sympathetic look crossed his face. He slowly walked forwards and plucked the dagger from the girls trembling fingers. As soon as the object left her hand, her arm fell languidly to her side.

"I didn't want to do this…" He voice shook slightly and it was then that she realised he wasn't actually planning on killing her from the beginning. That meant he had stronger powers than she had seen. He truly was a great opponent.

"I know" She whispered. "Now please, make it quick"

He nodded. She closed her eyes as he brought the cold metal to the flesh of her neck. Tears dripped from her chin.

'I really wanted to see you again. Ginger. Travis. Melanie. Luke… I'm sorry…'

"Run!" He called, his brown hair blowing in the wind. "Now!"

Artemis pulled her hand from her sisters and stepped forward, tears cascading down her dirtied face. She looked at Luke, her eyes hard but soft at the same time.

"But Luke! What about you and Travis?" She screamed. "You promised you would never leave me!"

Luke's face softened and he stepped towards Artemis ,his hand outstretched to gently cup her tearstained cheek. His fingers gently brushed the tears away.

"We'll see each other again. This is my new promise" He whispered. "Now don't cry"

Hypocrite, considering he was crying himself.

"But I liked the old promise." He voice was low, barely above a whisper.

"Luke! We have to go!" His brothers voice made him pull away.

"Luke!" Luke looked over his shoulder at Artemis.

"I promise. Now go!"

A hand wrapped itself round her wrist and pulled her away. She hesitated before running with the other girls. She just had to believe in Luke. Him and Travis would be fine. Ginger, Hazel, her and Melanie. They were all going to survive! Then, she and Luke would be happy together.

They were going to get through this!

But then, Hazel died. Luke and Travis were nowhere to be found and soon Artemis got separated from Ginger and her sister.

She was all alone.

Slash.

Splatter.

Thump.

Her last thought as her final memory played in her mind.

'I never did get to thank him… That boy who saved my life…'

Then, her body fell still.

"Oi?" Who's voice was that? Luke? Travis? "Are you ok?"

Why was everything so dark? Why did everything hurt? Slowly, her eyes fluttered open and the sudden light almost blinded her. She raised her arm to shield her face. Bad move. She hissed in pain.

"Don't be so hasty!" A girl's voice this time, light and soft.

"Where am I?" Her voice was croaky. She wondered if they had been able to hear her.

"Good, you're awake. I was scared you were dead"

She turned towards his voice. There, she found two warm brown eyes staring back at her. He grinned and the corners of his mouth seemed to reach all the way up to his pink hair.

Then, she must've fainted again, because all she could remember was waking up in a hospital bed, nurses rushing around her.

"What happened?"

"Oh, you're lucky. If that boy hadn't of brought you here, you would be dead!"

'Boy? Oh, the pink haired one… I would like to thank him one day…'

Sorry for making you wait! This was the chapter from hell, and I'm still not quite satisifed with it. It feels a bit drabble-ish to me. But anyway! Oh no, Artemis is dead! Only one more chapter of this game guys, then we move on to the next game and two new teams, as well as catching up with Lucy and Carter!

P.S. Chapters might be fewer now because one, I have end of term tests coming up. two, I have lots of homework because my teachers just realised that they havn't set any all half term. three, I've just started watching Naruto and can't get away. My favourite characters Gaara LOL :)