Dragon's Love with Dangerous Letters
Chapter 2
After that long day of decorating, Artemis began to make her way home where she had been longing to go since she arrived at Porlyusica's clinic this morning. To think she was this tired and still had to go to the ball tonight, Artemis was afraid she'd pass out in the middle of the dance floor if she went. Maybe if she were to run into that boy, Natsu, later she could explain to him her reasons for not going so that she could take a shower and crawl into bed once she arrived at home.
Many people greeted Artemis as she passed, most of them being men that were coming home from work. Not many women on the poor side of Magnolia would take jobs for the sake of looking after the children since they couldn't afford babysitters but in Artemis's family she had no choice. Her father wasn't capable of working, not anymore anyway since the incident with her mother all those years ago. He had broken his leg trying to protect Artemis and her mother from soldiers in another kingdom that tried to infiltrate Magnolia back then, Artemis was at least thankful that no more soldiers had past the kingdom gates after that day. After that her father lost his ability to walk right so he couldn't work thus leading to Artemis having to work once she was old enough.
Greeting the last person on the street Artemis finally stood in front of the door to her home. It was little but cozy, good enough to fit her and her father. One of its windows were boarded up, the cause of this being when her dad tried to attempt carrying something he shouldn't have with his leg. The shingles on the roof were dark, an almost black but brown when the light hit them. You could also spot the light blue curtains on the other sides of the windows, each window having a row of golden flowers hanging from them on the outside. The inside wasn't so bad either, a table sitting in the middle of the floor when you walked in accompanied by three chairs, one being vacant for some time now. The kitchen sat off to the side in a small area through an archway, a closet door sat on the wall opposite of where the kitchen was to the back of the room. A narrow hallway peaked out to the back of the house on the wall next to where that closet rested. Three doors sat on the walls, one on the left and the other two on the right, one being their bathroom, another Artemis' room and the last one her father's.
Artemis's room was nothing special. Blue curtains hung in the windows and a desk sat in the far left corner, papers that were meant to be letters scattered upon the oak wood with a quill pen on top. Her dresser sat against the right wall at the end of her bed that was covered in gray and white sheets, on her bed was something red with white gloves strewn a crossed it. Artemis dropped her bag by the side of her bed and gingerly grasped the white gloves and the small strip of paper that was there with it as well. Scanning her emerald eyes over it she read only this:
Thought you might want to get out and go to the ball. Here's something for you to wear and I'm sure your mother would've wanted you to have it. Have fun sweetheart.
-love, your father
The brunette really didn't get out much it was true but for her father to give her the dress her mother adored seemed a little much. Her fingers traced over the red fabric that made the dress, white jewels outlining the top of the chest area and the waist. Artemis could remember everything her mother said about this dress and how Artemis would look in it once she was old enough to wear it. To have that chance to wear it now, Artemis could just feel the joy bubbling within her.
Quickly emptying her bag, she carefully placed the dress and gloves into the bag and scurried out of her home. Artemis had a friend down at the dress shop who would help with the payments, her name was Lucy Heartfillia. They've been friends since the age of five but ever since Artemis started her job down at the clinic their time together just seems to become slimmer and slimmer.
Artemis found that blonde haired girl surrounded by dresses and a few tuxes at her work desk in the back upon arriving at the shop. She seemed frustrated as she looked through the varied colored clothing as she seemed to be looking for something, possibly time for herself to get ready for tonight.
"Lucy." The brunette called which startled the blonde.
"Artemis! My lord you scared me!", the chestnut eyed gasped while placing a hand over her heart, "Did you need something?"
"Sorry and yeah. My father lent me this dress but I'm sure this won't fit. Do you think you have time to resize it?" Artemis asked pulling her bag around to pull out the red piece of clothing.
"For you I'd give up all my time. Change and I'll get to work." Her cheerful friend gave a wink and gestured to the changing room off to the side.
Artemis took no time in changing knowing that she would feel bad if she took up to much of Lucy's time. The gloves that slipped over Artemis's arms reached up to the middle of her biceps, the dress almost fitting perfectly except for the top that was just a little loose. It took Lucy only a few seconds to realize what she needed to do to fix the little issue and once noticing this she told Artemis to stay where she was and vanished to go look for something, not that Artemis was planning on going anywhere in the first place.
It didn't take long for chocolate haired girl to become bored from waiting so deciding to waste the time it took for Lucy to return she decided to wander the store, her bare feet scraping the wooded floor. Dresses were the main item in this shop but tuxes could be found on the wall to the right of the shop. The curious teen had never thought of going there so letting that curiosity get the best of her she decided to go look at the tuxes the store had on display, little did Artemis know she would be bumping into someone there.
It was a boy, a teen about a year or so older than the pinkette Artemis had met earlier. His locks were golden and his eyes were like sapphires. A single diamond earring hung from his left ear and a scar resided above his right eye. His clothes were nice, a little to fancy for Magnolia just like Natsu's clothes had been. He stood there, his pools of blue scanning over the tuxes before looking directly at the green eyed girl herself. It took Artemis some time to realize that she had been staring back before she quickly looked away, a small pink coating showing her embarrassment.
"You don't happen to work here do you?" The blonde asked.
"N-No sorry." Artemis stuttered still trying to recover from her embarrassment.
"Sting, Sting Eucliffe." The boy said strutting over and holding out a hand.
"Artemis Elise nice to meet you." The brunette replied taking his hand.
"Artemis huh? Like one of those gods right?" He questioned.
"The goddess of the moon and hunting yeah.", She answered, "So you were looking for something? I may not work here but I come here often enough to know things."
"I was just browsing really. I'm not from this kingdom so I thought I'd see what kinds of things you wore. I live in the kingdom south from here called Sabertooth. You know the really weird one split in two and run by two kings equally, yeah that one." The male chuckled and scratched his head awkwardly as he explained.
"I've heard of it but I've never been there. My family is too poor to travel to other kingdoms sadly but one day I hope to see them all, especially PhantomLord where my cousin Celestine lives." The girl's grass toned eyes twinkled as she shared this information.
"PhantomLord? The kingdom at the edge of the continent? I heard that place is becoming a little more shut off from the rest of the world everyday." Sting stated.
"Erm. . .well I'll still go there one day no matter how hard I have to try!" Artemis determinably told him.
It was true that Artemis knew of PhantomLord's submissiveness lately. It also let her know why she hadn't revived letters from her cousin in a while but that wasn't going to stop Artemis from getting to meet one of her last living relatives.
"Okay then I won't get in the way of a girl and her determination that's for sure.", the sapphire eyed teen shrugged and held up his hands in defense, "Anyway if you do get the chance I hope you can come and visit Sabertooth. Try looking me up if you do and I hope to see you at tonight's ball."
With that the blonde took his lips to her knuckles and walked out of the shop leaving Artemis there with the task of finding two people in the ball's crowd tonight.