Cold Memories - New Gen

Apoth started walking towards the door back outside of the room. When he was standing in the doorway he turned back to look at Artemis.

"And no, I do not work for Gaea, she works for me."

It had been one week since Artemis had woken. She would mostly spend time in her room, too afraid of what horrors were waiting for her in Gaea's army camp. She couldn't escape via her powers so she was practically useless against the enemy leader, Apoth.

Even if she did have her powers she was reluctant to say but she thought that Apoth would definitely defeat her in a fight. Artemis thought awhile on how to escape. If her powers were dulled in this camp than the only way for her powers to increase would be in her domain. Luckily for her, her domains included the moon and would be stronger in the forests, and it just so happened that there was a forest she spotted from her window that was close by.

Her plan was brilliant. Tonight she would sneak out at night time and rush to the forests where she could gain enough power to flash herself away. She grinned. Perfect. The plan might have a couple flaws but she was no good but a bargaining piece for the enemies is she stayed.

As she was planning her door was roughly pushed open and in came a Nymph. Artemis widely spun around to only calm down as she saw the small figure. "Oh it's just you Keira," Artemis sighed in relief. The Nymph smiled and nodded to the moon goddess.

You see, Keira was the Nymph that she learned cleaned her up when she was in her unconscious state. When Artemis had first met the Nymph she was relieved to find out that the girl was, in fact, nice to her.

She had asked Keira about when she was cleaning her up and was surprised to find that Apoth had ordered her to clean Artemis up. Artemis would have thought that most vile men would just touch her body as they pleased, but Apoth had a Nymph clean her up. She became quite interested in the leader of Gaea's army. He seemed to hold a sort of dignity and wasn't vile like all men were. But he was the enemy. It confused her greatly.

Keira coughed to get Artemis' attention since the goddess spaced out. Artemis apologized, "So, Keira, what brings you here?"

The Nymph chuckled, "To bring you lunch like every day since the great moon goddess is too scared to come out of her room," Keira mocked.

If anyone else besides the Nymph or her hunters had said she was afraid, Artemis would have made them disintegrate instantly. Artemis shook her head at Keira's antics. Then a thought appeared in her head; 'If she was going to leave would she really leave Keria behind? No, she refused to believe that she would leave her friend behind, she would take the Nymph with her and could hopefully muster enough energy to flash them both out.'

Artemis' silver eyes glowed as she swung to look Keira in the eyes. "Keira, would you like to come with me, I am going to escape tonight through the woods. Would you like to come with me?"

Keira actually paled for a second, then a thinking expression appeared on her face. She started to hum, "Hmmm, I mean I guess, are you sure we can escape though?"

Artemis nodded, she had to be strong for the both of them, "Yes, of course. Come back here one hour before midnight so we can get a headstart. At Midnight I will be most powerful, so we must be in the woods by Midnight, that is our only window."

Keira nodded at the importance of this, "Okay, I will be here, in the meantime, here," Keira said as she gave Artemis her lunch. It consisted of a bowl of some soup and a glass of nectar.

"The soup is what we all eat around here, but that nectar was a special request from the Lord himself for you to be treated extra highly because of the Gration event," Keira informed Artemis.

Artemis was grateful for this, Apoth may be the enemy but he definitely knew of honor, she was honestly a little excited to maybe see the great Apoth in battle. The leader of Gaea's army must be insanely strong. "Alright then, until tonight Keira," Artemis said to Keira. The Nymph nodded and exited the door with a small "bye".

Artemis ate her lunch than climbed into her bed. Gods may not need sleep but it does help. She needed all of her rest to perform this stunt she had planned. Then she drifted off.

Artemis' eyes slowly opened, a feeling that it was almost time to leave the enemies' base. She quickly got up and gathered her gear. She sighed as she had all of her gear. She walked to the window to take a last glimpse of the enemy. A thought hit her, 'Could I maybe kill Apoth before I leave?'.

The thought dispersed as her door opened and in came Keira. Keira held a small backpack that must've held all of her belongings. Artemis smiled as her friend entered. Keira looked nervous but Artemis gave her an encouraging nod. Keira smiled as she saw the nod, in response she to nodded. Artemis walked by Keira and whispered in her ear, "Let us go."

Keira smiled and they both quietly walked out of the room and towards the treeline. Artemis looked to the moon and saw that it was close to midnight, about half an hour till. Once Artemis reached the forest she smiled and opened her arms as some power went into her, replenishing her of some strength.

Artemis looked behind her to see Keira smiling at her, "It is close to midnight, we must get into the middle of the woods as soon as possible," Artemis informed Keira.

The two of them raced to the middle, eager to leave. After about ten minutes of running through the forest, they had reached the middle of the forest. Here, Artemis was as strong as one domain would provide her. They both sat on a nearby log, waiting for their window to appear. Once there were only 10 minutes left a sound reached Artemis' ear. Artemis considerably paled and slowly looked behind her.

There, standing behind the two of them was the worst possible case. Apoth stood there, looking at the two of them curiously.

Keira noticed Artemis had paled and turned around, so she too turned to see what was bothering the moon goddess. Once Keira laid eyes on her lord she too paled. But unlike Artemis, Keira got onto her knees and pleaded with Apoth to not harm them.

Apoth chuckled at the Nymph, he rose his hand, a signal for the Nymph to shut up or he would make her. Apoth's attention from the Nymph turned to Artemis. He chuckled, "Artemis, why do you leave so soon? Is my hospitality not good enough for a Mighty Olympian Princess," he mocked.

Artemis shivered, fear leaking into her. The fact that a male could be so scary hurt her pride. She wouldn't let a male overpower her. The thought infuriated her. Her eyes steeled over and she looked at Apoth with an aura of defiance. "You vile male! You think you have any right over me? Pathetic!" She spat.

She ranted about how males were disgusting and were unhonest swines. How no men could love women the way women loved men. She even went as far to insult Apoth on a personal scale, "You could never lose a loved one because you are evil. No one would love you. And if someone did, they should die and never return!"

That was when she fucked up. Feelings and memories of Annabeth appeared in Apoth's mind. And with it came the memory of her death. Anger boiled Apoth's blood.

Betrayer. Murderer. Follower. Guilty. Enemy. Those words flashed through his mind. Those were the words that the campers would use when they visited him while he was imprisoned. Fury clouded his vision. Tinting it a dark red with a swirl of violet on the edges. His mind started to battle itself.

You are a murderer. No, I'm not. You betrayed Olympus. Only cause they killed me. It is all your fault. No, it's not. You failed her. You killed her. She would be alive if it weren't for you.

That thought was what broke whatever was left of his former self. His joking personality. Gone. His sass that rivaled anyone. Gone. His humanity. Gone.

He felt a push of what brought him back to reality. A sudden coldness enveloped him. Gone was the smirk he held. Replaced with a burning scowl. Artemis noticed his change of personality. She realized she had gone too far. She was sooooo dead.

Apoth growled. The dark red aura that took physical form appeared around his body. A fire burned itself in his gut. And for the second time; his divine form of Death unleashed itself.

A dark flash of black mixed with a dark royal purple surrounded Apoth's body. He roared in anger to show he would hold no mercy.

Once again the ground below him, which was the grass, was all burnt in a circle that surrounded him. A symbol that showed Death had made its presence. The Dark cloak and hood covered his body and his dark, black, wings appeared. He didn't even show a sign of pain as the wings broke through his skin, he was too focused on Artemis.

His scythes appeared in his hands that were adjourned in his dark gauntlets. His eyes glowed their dark red, and the whites disappeared and were replaced with a black. His physical aura flared, promising a burning death that went straight to Hell's darkest punishments. Artemis stepped back at the amount of power.

This was why Apoth was lording over Gaea. He had power that could make a minor god explode just by being in his presence. Power of a Primordial. She felt stupid for angering someone she already knew could kill her with a flick of his wrist. Now she would have to suffer the consequences due to her own pride and opinions.

Keira who had been watching the whole ordeal had passed out from the power when Apoth's aura went physical.

"You've made a mistake little goddess," Apoth growled, his voice had gone into a deeper pitch, think of a dark and powerful demonic voice.

Artemis flinched at the anger that was present in his voice. She thought of pleading for forgiveness but the thought of getting on her knees for a male disgusted her. Apoth took one thundering step toward her, the grass below his armored boot shriveled and died. In return, Artemis took a step back and her eyes finally showed her true emotion. Fear. Fear of being overpowered. Fear of him.

But Apoth couldn't care. He remembered that before Athena stabbed him she had said that everyone had voted for him to die.

This thought boosted his anger. He had saved this goddess. Held the sky for her. And she had repaid him with a vote against his life. Man-hating or not. This was something he couldn't forgive. She had insulted him. Annabeth. His mother. Everyone he had loved.

She would pay with her Immortal life. He wouldn't defile the goddess. No, he would do something much worse.

Destroy her and when she fades she can watch as he destroyed everything she loved.

A plan had already started forming in his mind. He had gone insane with revenge against her. Against Olympus. Against the Demigods. First, he would destroy the moon. Then the gods. Then the Demigods of both camps. And finally, when that was over he would destroy each and every one of her hunters.

The true pressure of the betrayal started to weigh down on him. Gone was his fatal flaw. Dying with Percy Jackson. He took another step towards Artemis. A small voice in the back of his head annoyed him, it was trying to tell him something. He knew what it was. He didn't want to let it take control. But then again he knew he wasn't thinking straight.

He snarled again at Artemis before he closed his eyes and let his anger disperse. He heard the voice and knew it was the rational part of his brain telling him to stop. He sighed as he looked down and slowly looked behind him to see there burning trail of grass that led him to be an arm's reach to Artemis.

Apoth then looked to Artemis. The blacks of his eyes slowly reverting back to whites. He saw the fear in her eyes. He had caused this. His mother had brought him up better. He sighed again, his divine form dispersed and he was back in just a black Adidas Sweatshirt and some white Adidas sweatpants.

He felt guilty for losing control. Although he did believe the Goddess deserved a little of that. He still had become cold though. "Artemis I recommend you return to your quarters before I make you go there," Apoth snarled. Artemis wanted to agree, to be safe from him, but she wouldn't back down.

Artemis' eyes steeled again like they had before Apoth showed his true power. "No, I will not return until you meet my demands."

Apoth growled, Artemis' eyes wavered and showed a hidden layer of fear but it was gone and replaced with her own fake confidence. He grunted, "What do you need so badly that you must have it in order to return to your quarters? You know I could just hand you over to the Giants and not worry about what you are planning?"

Artemis' act was destroyed. She pleaded for Apoth not to do that to her. Apoth just gave her a cold stare, "Fair enough, since I lost control you will be allowed one demand that is within reason."

Artemis released a breath she hadn't realized she was holding. She nodded showing that she agreed to the terms. She took another breath and looked directly into Apoth's dark red eyes, "Everyday we will spar and if ever win you will let me and my friend leave this horrible place."

Apoth nodded in acceptance, "Deal, but no trickery or unfairness. You will be allowed to spar against me once every day, no more."

Artemis looked to the Nymph who was still unconscious. Midnight had already passed so she couldn't muster enough energy to leave even if she wanted to. But it was still night. She got into a fighting stance, signaling Apoth that she was ready for her first spar. Apoth grunted and got into a stance with so many flaws. He was standing straight and had both hands behind his back.

Artemis felt offended that he would even think of going easy on her. She growled and pounced towards Apoth. Mid-air she pulled out her knives and spun in a 360, gaining trajectory. All of her weight pulled over to one side so she used that side to swing both knives.

The result would have been deadly against any opponent. Except for Apoth. He simply used the goddess' weight against her and ducked under the strike. This made Artemis land on the ground and lose balance quickly. Apoth was behind her in less than a second. He jumped in the air and just like Artemis pushed his weight to one side and released a kick on the unbalanced goddess' back.

The kick sent her flying into a tree where she almost lost consciousness. She slowly got back up. She would not lose to a male.

Artemis snarled and got back on her feet. She pulled a bow or from nowhere but it costed her only energy supply that she would have used to escape. She pulled the string back at godly speeds. Each pull and release would make another arrow appear in its spot while the others soared at Apoth.

Apoth just stood there. Each time an arrow came close to him he would simply use the water in the air to stop the arrows midair.

After Artemis stopped her barrage of arrows she collapsed in tiredness from summoning so many arrows. She crumpled to the ground unconscious. Apoth made the water in the air shoot the arrows into a nearby tree. When the arrows hit the tree they dispersed into a silver mist.

Apoth's attention turned to the two females that laid on the ground. He sighed and dispersed all three of them into mist and traveled back into a room.

He laid both of them on the bed and walked out without another word.