Reviewers: The Fool Arcana, XxXTwilight-SinXxX,

Aquamarine Silvertail That... is an interesting pairing... I never really thought of that as a serious pairing though haha

Only 3 reviews this time around T 3 T; a little disheartening but it's cool.../cries in a corner

summary: Artemis Niels is a part-time topographer, gel maker, and merchant, with some medical talents just for kicks. Dressing as a male comes naturally. but she never thought she'd be dragged on a quest to save the world. 'Tales of the Abyss is not my property'

Page 10:

They must be better now, Guy surmised. After all, he was sitting by Artemis and he was fine. No blushing either. It just passed over. It was probably just a one time thing. Besides, they were both men, there wasn't any reason for him to even think about Artemis in- He stopped himself short. They were both men. That was it.

Guy was sitting on a bench with Artemis beside him and Jade on the other side of the man. Artemis seemed disheartened almost. It was probably Jade; anyone would feel disheartened by sitting with the Colonel. He glanced over Artemis. The Necromancer was currently holding Artemis' satchel up, observing the outer leather before looking through the exterior pockets.

The swordsman looked back down to see Artemis staring emptily at the building in front of them. Maybe he should cheer the green-haired man up a little?

"This is pretty amazing," Guy said while tossing a smaller bag in his hand. It was very light. Even if it had been explained to him it was amazing to think that so much gald was kept in such a small container.

"So, in a sense this is kind of like Jade."

Artemis grimaced but quickly covered it up. He probably shouldn't have brought up Jade.

"You mean how he summons his spear right?" Artemis said as if to avoid any connection with Jade in person. At the current moment, Artemis probably didn't want to even think about being compared to the Colonel.

"Yeah-" Guy started but was cut off by Jade when he suddenly put a hand on Artemis' thigh.

Guy gaped at the hand

"Jade," their documenter said flatly.

Artemis was staring intensely at the building in front of them. Guy saw his eye twitch. He looked down. Jade's hand had moved. This was wrong. Wrong on so many levels. They...they were both men. What was Jade doing? Before Guy could do anything Jade spoke up.

"What's wrong, Artemis?" Jade smirked, "From that tone of voice, I'd think you didn't want to associate yourself with me."

Artemis pinched the Necromancer's gloved hand with a forced smile, "With all due respect Colonel Curtiss I could hardly think of myself on a level of caliber as someone such as yourself."

Jade pulled his hand back calmly. The pinch hadn't been very effective through the glove's cloth. He went back to looking through the man's bag.

"Oh, you shouldn't flatter me so, Artemis. Your 'Binding Series' was quite the impressive compilation of art. Ah," he pulled out a map from the satchel, "I have a copy of this one."

Artemis suddenly snatched it, along with his satchel, from Jade and calmly rolled the map up before pocketing it into his bag. He stood up and tied the satchel around his petit- around his waist and turned to Guy.

"I think I'm going to meet up with the others," he said politely.

"Ah," Guy stood up, "I'll go with you. No offense Colonel."

Jade waved them off, "Ah, don't mind me. I'm just an old man. I'll catch up on my own."

Jade smirked to himself. Oh, Artemis was very fun to play with and even more so after learning about Guy. It was going to be very interesting when Guy found out about Artemis, very interesting indeed.

Once they were some distance away he got to his feet as well.

At least he knew he wouldn't be bored for a while.

Which is exactly why he was so amused at his current position. The group had met up again and Guy had brought up a conversation about the sand which then led to showers. Jade was bemusedly watching both Artemis' and Guy's facial expressions.

"I-I'm not thinking anything!" Luke exclaimed. Ah, of course their little noble was amusing to observe as well.

"Leave me alone!"

Tear shook her head disappointed and turned to leave.

"Disgusting! I can't believe you're that kind of person!" Natalia exclaimed while stomping off to the inn.

"You pervert!" Anise ran off aswell.

"ARRGG! SHUT UP ALREADY!" he exclaimed lifting his arms up in the air to express his frustration. He raged off in another direction.

Artemis happened to glance at Jade and the man gave her a knowing smirk. She in return shot him a withering look and left to speak with a merchant.

Finally, he turned to Guy and would have laughed but decided not to.

"...Well, Guy, it seems you got lucky."

"...Lucky?"

"You're drooling," Jade pointed to the corner of his own mouth in reference. He lifted his arms and shrugged his shoulders, "They'd have been on you in an instant if they'd noticed."

"Ah..." the golden haired man trailed off. There was a pause before his face turned bright red.

"Hm?" Jade had a hunch he knew just why his face was turning red, "Thinking of a lady in particular?"

"He's not a lady-" Guy blurted out and then realized what he had just said. Oh, Lorelei, Jade would never let him live this down.

"E-excuse me, Jade," he ran off leaving Jade alone.

Artemis sighed. She was finally alone. She looked around again just to make sure and walked down an empty alley way. Even if it was just a for a little while she'd do it now. When she reached the end of the alley way she sat down and removed her satchel and set down a little away from her. She held out a hand in front of her. Nothing happened at first but then it started to shake. Her whole arm started to shake. She looked at it blankly before bringing her hand close to her chest. She didn't have the composition to hold up her arm up. The Fonon deterioration must have been reacting faster. She probably couldn't even hold up a sword anymore in their battles. She made sure that Jade and the others hadn't noticed though. If she relied on any of the seals who knew what would happen.

She looked up at the sky. The clouds were moving by slowly. Perhaps the desert oasis was going to get some rain that day. Artemis sighed again and let her arms fall limply to her sides. When she had first met with the group, no with Ion, the deterioration had stopped for a moment, but the moment they split up it started again. Now she knew for sure which seal was the main cause for the Fonon deterioration. But there was nothing she could do about it. It'd be too risky to stay by his side...because of the extremist.

Artemis lifted her other arm up and rubbed the back of her neck absentmindedly. Guess there really wasn't any escape.

"It's not like I plan on dying anytime soon." She dropped her hand into her lap. That was right...she'd told Jade that she hadn't given up yet. Her eyes lowered. No. When the time came...she'd definitely get her revenge on that man. She just had to wait for the opportune moment. When he'd have no supporters, when no one would know. Then they would both disappear quietly. Because no one would know.

She closed her eyes and concentrated on relaxing all of her muscles. Her breathing slowed down so much that she almost stopped breathing. Everything became muted. The world around her was silent now. Not even the fonons around her could bother her. Slowly one by one all the seals on her glowed and lifted off of her bare skin. It wasn't very far, only a centimeter or two but it was more than enough for Artemis.

This was the only time she could do this. When she was absolutely alone and nothing could bother her. She felt the fonons that made her up flow smoothly for the first time in a long time. It was an artificial peace that no one could give her. She couldn't remember how it felt without the seals and even now while she was doing it, she could still feel their pull on her fonons. But that didn't matter at this point. No right now she was fine with the short time she had.

A frown crossed her lips when the seals' pull started to get stronger. It seemed she couldn't do it as long as she used to... She concentrated again. She'd have to slowly assimilate each seal back on otherwise there'd be some difficulty.

"Artemis?" her eyes shot open. Oh, Lorelei, not now. Of all times.

"What are you doing?"

The group was preparing to leave for the Zao Ruins, but Artemis was no where to be found.

"Hmm," Jade started, "Well, I suppose we can't very well leave without our documenter."

"Ch," Luke scowled, "Of all times that guy..."

"Someone should go look for him," Jade suggested.

Tear looked around. No one really seemed like wanting to search in the desert town. Guy was distracted by his own thoughts. Jade was the one who had suggested it so he wasn't going to do it. Natalia...was a princess. Luke was definitely out of the question. Anise...

"I'll go," Tear volunteered, "Everyone please stay in one place."

"Why thank you, Tear," Jade smiled, "In that case we'll be waiting at the town exit."

"Alright then," then she turned and started her search.

The best thing to do was to start at the inn that they'd been staying at. Nothing there. She asked a merchant nearby. He replied that he had seen Artemis go off a little ways away from the town bazaar. And so that was how Tear found Artemis sitting at the end of an alleyway. Besides the fact that the man was simply lying in an empty alleyway, the thing that caught her attention the most was the glowing seals on his body.

"Artemis? What are you doing?" She regretted speaking immediately. There was a sudden flash, probably from the seals, before Artemis was suddenly on his hands and knees. She watched as his shoulders started to shake and his fists clenched tightly against the sandy ground. His whole body started to convulse and he suddenly vomited. The only thing she saw was blood.

"Artemis!" Tear ran over and bent down to his side.

"Artemis are you alright? Can you hear me? Artemis!"

Shakily his head turned to Tear and he looked at her through clouded eyes.

"Te-Tear?"

"Yes, it's me."

He started to cough.

Tear looked around. What could she do? Get Natalia? No, she doubted anyone else could help. Artemis had said he couldn't take any sort of Fonic Arte. So what could she do? Surely Artemis had something in case something like this happened.

"My bag," he managed to say before his body shuddered into another spasm.

"F-find a blue gel," he started to cough again, "And a blue bottle."

A blue gel? She'd never heard of a blue colored gel before. Either way, she scrambled to the satchel that was lying on its own and opened it. It was empty and black.

"There's nothing in it!" she exclaimed.

Artemis cursed under his breath, "You h-have to think about it," he took an uneasy breath before finishing his sentence.

Think about it? Tear put her hand into the bag. Think about a blue gel and a blue bottle... Something solid formed in her hand. She grabbed it and pulled it out. It was a blue gel. How- She'd have to think about that later. The blue bottle...Nothing happened. She panicked a little. What if he didn't have it? Would he die without it? Did he tell her the wrong bottle? Maybe- she thought hard about a bottle with blue inside of it. Thankfully something solid appeared in her hand. A glass bottle with blue liquid in it. She ran over again to the sick man's side.

"Artemis, I have them."

He quickly grabbed them and hastily swallowed the blue gel whole. He choked on it at first and Tear lifted her arms to help somehow but he shook his head. Then he quickly brought the bottle to his lips and downed the whole thing. He gagged on it for a few seconds and fell onto his hands again. His whole body seemed tense for a few seconds before it all stopped. His shoulder's fell slack and his hands relaxed.

"Artemis?"

The man took in a deep breath and sat up straight. His head rolled back while his eyes were still closed.

Tear stared at the man. Was he okay now? He had stopped shaking but...

Artemis released the breath and stood to his feet. He held out a hand to Tear, who although confused, took it. She was pulled to her feet. Artemis' pull had been surprisingly strong and his grip unexpectedly firm. She just stared at him as he wiped the dirt off of his clothes. He walked past her and picked up his satchel, brushing off any dirt from it then buckling it to his waist.

What just happened. This man had just been convulsing on the ground and all the sudden he seemed perfectly fine. Even his skin seemed healthier. His ambiance was out of place for someone who had been previously so unwell.

"...Artemis?"

"Hm?" the man said, "I suppose we're leaving for the ruins now?" He turned to her with a smile. But even though it looked the same as his usual smiles, it didn't feel the same.

"Yes."

"Ah, and thank you for just now," he said smiling.

"...You're welcome." Maybe it was for the best if she kept this to herself. Or maybe she should tell Jade. It seemed he would know something about this. It might have had something to do with the man's seals.

"We should get moving, hm, Tear?"

When Tear and Artemis had met up with the group, Jade knew something was wrong. Artemis seemed...out of place. Sure she looked the same, but there was something off... His assumptions were proven when Tear sent him a look. She had something to tell him and more than likely it was about Artemis.

"Where were you!" Luke exclaimed pointing at the green haired man, "You're dragging us behind!"

Artemis laughed, "I'm sorry, Luke, I'm here now."

She walked over and put a hand in her pocket while pointing the other towards the desert infront of them.

"This way then, young noble?"

Luke stared at Artemis before making a face, "What's wrong with you? Cut that out, it's creepy."

Artemis laughed again and started walking into the desert. Reluctantly, Luke followed suit, the rest of the group also going along. Jade and Tear stayed in the back.

Ohhh Artemis what have you done now... And what is Jade going to do about it?