Artemis's Capture Ch. 09

Remus and Artemis nervously walked through the woods, stepping delicately around twisted tree roots and strange plants they'd never seen before. "You, goddess of forests or whatever, do you know of woods like this?"

"No I've never seen anything like this, on any planet."

Remus puffed. "Fuck. We definitely went too far."

After walking for an hour or so they saw a light peeking through the trees. They looked at each other nervously and peered around the brush to see what it was. It resembled a large butterfly, its body emitting a soft pink light.

Remus leaned to Artemis and whispered, "What the fuck are those?"

Artemis shook her head and whispered back, "I have no idea." Nevertheless she started to approach it slowly, step by step.

"Hey!" Remus hissed, trying to stop her. But it was useless, she was going to do what she wanted.

Remus leapt up as another of the strange creatures flew from behind him, just grazing his shoulder. He yelped and hopped over to Artemis. "I don't do well with small things," he said to her nervously. Artemis looked closer, face to face with the illuminated little creature. It looked like a tiny human with wings.

"It's a fairy!" she said excitedly. "They're so rare, I wonder how we ended up finding them here."

All of Artemis's attention was on the beautiful glowing being. Remus was back to back with her, but while she was absorbed with curiosity, he was busy panicking over the dozens more coming out of the trees approaching them.

"Wow, it's so beautiful," she said in awe.

"Is that good?" he asked, trying to avoid the incoming fairies.

"Well, it could go one of both ways. Beautiful things in the forest can be something very special and magical, we could be lucky to find them," she replied. Remus swatted at an incoming light swooping towards him.

"Okay so what's the other thing. Death?"

Artemis tilted her head and lifted her finger towards the tiny fairy. "Or it could be something very dreadful and dangerous disguising itself. So pretty much yes. But these look harmless."

"Ow! It bit me!" he yelped, slapping away the little pink light that had perched on his shoulder. Artemis turned her attention from the fairy before her. They were now completely surrounded in a cloud of lights. "Ouch!" Artemis winced from a sharp bite on her forefinger.

Remus swatted at them, backing up into Artemis. "Okay I'm done, let's get out of here," he said, annoyed.

she nodded in agreement, grabbing hold of Remus's sleeve. They quickly ran out from the cloud of lights.

The tiny creatures were on their heels for a very long time. Artemis and Remus barely got away from them, tripping on tree roots and branches. But eventually after sprinting as fast as they could they lost them.

Even when they were out of sight of the lights they still ran. They got stopped by a huge steep cliff with a giant crack running down the middle. They stopped, huffing and panting. "I think we lost them," Artemis said as she walked towards the crack in the cliff.

"Oh come on," Remus said, rolling his eyes. "We almost just got mauled by whatever those things were. Please get away from that."

Artemis snorted, peeking into the crack. "You're being a baby. Don't you play with dragons? Anyhow, it looks like the entrance to a cave, want to check it out?"

Remus scrunched up his face and replied, "Alright, do not insult me ever, and I don't think trapping ourselves is very smart. Something could be in there you know. Also, I told you I'm not fond of small things. Dragons aren't small. So there."

Artemis didn't wait for him to finish before she disappeared into the crack. "Damnit, seriously?" he whined. He reluctantly followed her, squeezing into the dark crevice.

Artemis had formed a light, a little bright ball of fire lighting up the cave. "Why have you never done that before?" he asked, annoyed.

"Well we've never needed it. I thought you knew all my tricks," she said back as they ducked through a tunnel. The further they walked the wider the tunnel became. It was so quiet all you could hear was the sounds of dripping and the eerie echoes of their steps.

As they walked with the light further into the cave, they made it to a large cavern. Their footsteps echoed louder as they uneasily explored. Strange columns met from the floor to the ceiling, shallow pools of water were scattered on the ground. "I think this is limestone," Remus commented, dipping his foot in one of the puddles.

The ball of light in Artemis's hands grew stronger, fully illuminating the cave. Crude drawings and strange markings littered the walls from the floor to the ceiling. "I think someone might live here. Or did," Artemis said, curiously taking in each image on the walls.

"I think you're right."

Artemis turned to him inspecting a long-abandoned fire pit. "I'll be back," he said and walked back to the entrance of the cave. Artemis continued to explore the cavern, shining her light along the string of drawings surrounding them.

Remus came back with dead fallen branches and anything else he could quickly gather for a fire. As he broke and arranged the wood. Artemis stopped her inspection and came to the pit. She reached out to light it with her small little ball of fire, but Remus snapped at her, "Hey! Back off." He grunted as if offended and snapped his finger, lighting the fire instantly.

"Who are you really?" Artemis asked, letting the little ball of light dissipate in her hands. Remus snorted at her boldness.

"I'm Remus. There's nothing more to know."

But that surely wasn't enough for Artemis. "Look, if you can take me across the universe and force me to do what you want, I would at least like to know who my captor is. I'm sick of this whole one-sided crap."

Remus scrunched his face, mildly frustrated. "Why do you need to know anything else? The only things that matter are the present, and the future."

"Well fine! Then I'll just keep running away, and you can keep finding me. I know I can do that forever. What else do I have going on for me right now? I could even go back Olympus and my brother and I will handle you ourselves."

Remus rolled his eyes, dwelling upon her threat. "Okay, well, if you don't know where we are right now, I guarantee you won't be able to find Olympus," he replied. Artemis scowled.

"No! I'm sick of this!" she plopped herself on the ground stubbornly in front of the fire facing him. "I want to know who you are!" she practically yelled.

Remus backed up an inch, her reaction stronger than he expected it would be. "Um, okay," he replied nervously. He tried to think a way out of this, but Artemis was staring daggers at him impatiently. "Okay, fine. But this once and we never speak of it again. I'm serious, never."

He waited for a moment, as if she might change her mind. But when she held her stern glare, he knew she wasn't going to let it go. Remus took a deep breath and sighed, rubbing his temples with his fingers. "Well, okay, so I may be from Tartarus, sort of." Remus said simply, hoping maybe that was enough information, but the glare she gave him said otherwise.

Remus grumbled, incredibly reluctant to share this kind of information. "So? That doesn't tell me much. Many Olympians have been to Tartarus," she replied.

"Well, I'm not an Olympian. Don't you think you would've heard of me?"

"Stop being cryptic."

She was asking him to tell her things he had never told anyone before. But then again, no one had ever asked. Maybe that's why he was even considering telling her anything.

"Fine, okay. Well, I am the offspring of Nyx, sort of. I'm technically a Titan, I guess. I'm not quite sure what I would be called at this point." Artemis's head tilted to the side, now more confused than ever. How could he be a Titan?

"Then why haven't I heard of you? Why hasn't anyone talked about you? You don't think they talk on Mount Olympus? That's all they do."

Remus was thoroughly uncomfortable, but it was clear she wasn't going to leave him alone without more answers. "Alright," he continued, fixing his gaze to the fire.

"Nyx was my mother. But when I was born, I had no purpose. My siblings all shaped the universe we know today, but me? No, I had nothing special. It took me 500 years to reach physical maturity, whereas everyone practically came out just the way they were. Do you know what it's like to be a child that long? No, no you don't.

Well, no one knew what to do with me. Some sort of mistake or runt of the universe. The only reason I ever survived was because Tartarus took me in. Tartarus is more than just a place, you know."

Remus stopped, surely that story had to be enough. "So? What happened then?" Artemis asked, waiting for a more in-depth answer.

Remus tried to think of the easiest and shortest way to sum up what he thought was of any significance. "Well, that was it. I grew up with Tartarus, I freely roamed the underworld. It's not that fabulous of a place, but it was simple. And I liked the darkness. Sunlight isn't my favorite thing. And I will admit I do miss the rivers of acid and fire. Tartarus gave me Cosmas and Thaddeus, who grew much faster than me.

After hundreds of years of growing up in the underworld, I needed to see what else was beyond. I needed to get out. I could find a purpose maybe. But I was so alone. That's when I met Georgie. Mind you he was very small, but I promised if he could get me out, I would take him with me.

I just managed to get Thaddeus and Cosmas with us. When we made it out of the underworld, I tried to find my purpose, I couldn't have just been a mistake. But I never found it. So there, I made my own.

The only useful thing it seemed I had going for me was to travel through space with a snap of my finger. But in comparison to my siblings it's just a lame party trick. A few hundred years ago I stumbled upon the ruins of the Kingdom of Giants and made it my own. So there, you're all caught up. So stop asking me any more fucking questions."

There was a silence between them, the echoes of the crackling fire rung through the cave eerily. "So you were all alone?" she asked, almost sympathetically. Remus snorted. "I was fine, that's what I was. So shut up."

Artemis was satisfied. She hardly expected him to tell her that much. There was another long silence, Remus was very anxious after unloading all of his history upon her so easily. Perhaps he had given away information that she would use against him? He was quickly regretting his words. He was just exhausted from all the excitement and left his guard down. That's what it was, he told himself.

"What are we going to do?" Artemis asked, who had laid down on the dry part of the ground. It was uncomfortable but she was too tired to care.

Remus shrugged, still seated in front of the fire. "I'm not quite sure."

Artemis rolled over on her side to look at him. "How are we getting back?" she asked. Remus grumbled, becoming increasingly more frustrated.

"Does it really matter if we go back?" He replied. Artemis was shocked.

"What do you mean? We have to go back. You know that."

"No, we don't. What is keeping us there? The forest won't die without you."

"Where we are right now, this is not where we belong. We would just be lost here forever."

Remus stood up angrily. "Why? You were alone anyway, your whole deal was being alone. But you're not alone now. I have no obligations to anyone, and now that you're mine your only obligation is to me. I guarantee all of Olympus knows, and I bet they've abandoned you now that I've claimed you. Where I go, you go. And I'm not going back."

Artemis clumsily stood up before him from the cold ground. "We don't know where we are, or where we even go. I just want to go home," she said sadly, looking up at him with a miserable expression.

"What, so you can call your self-righteous brother and have me thrown back to Tartarus? So you can try and get away from me again? Not a chance. From where I see this is the best outcome."

Artemis's eyes started to water. She sniffled and approached him, wrapping her arms around him and squeezing gently.

"What the fuck," he said as she leaned against him. "Get off, get the fuck off!" he said and pushed her away. "Stop trying to manipulate me."

Artemis wracked her brain for any reason that would convince him to get them back home. After going through every scenario in her head she knew she only had one choice. "I'll be yours." Remus was stunned, all of his attention focused on her words. "Just please get us home and I'll admit it."

Remus was skeptical but very intrigued. All she had to do was say the words, and a pact would be formed that even the most powerful of gods couldn't separate. Whether she really knew what she was doing or not did not matter to Remus. She just needed to say the words back and mean them.

This is all Remus had been trying to do, just get her to say those words. So simple, yet a seemingly impossible task. But to have the offer right now without having to wait for who knows how many years, seemed to be the favorable option. It had been fun toying with her, but it wasn't enough.

Having her bonded to him wouldn't protect him from the other gods, but it would make them less likely to come for Artemis. At least that's what he was hoping. "I'll think about it," he grumbled and sat back down by the fire. He didn't want her to think she could persuade him so easily.

After sleeping just enough to revive them from their bizarre journey they woke and stumbled out of the cave groggily. Artemis rubbed her eyes, squinting as they stood in the sunlight. "What now?" she asked hopelessly.

Remus winced, the sun felt like it was beating down on them. "We should probably find some water before we do anything."

As impatient as Artemis was to get an answer of how to get back, she was extremely dehydrated. Not much of a concern to a god but it didn't hurt to drink water. She shook her head in agreement.

Remus led the way into the forest as Artemis fully woke up, following him into the dark trees. Their march lasted a few hours before the trees started to get taller. The farther they traveled, the bigger everything became. The trees started to look like they were stretching up to the sky.

Their march turned into a slow meandering as the forest changed around them with every step. Eventually they came across a small pond. Remus thought back, it looked just like the pond he had found Artemis lying next to when he found her. It was softly illuminated, crystal clear.

As they walked towards it, a familiar little light danced through the forest. Remus quickly turned to look at it. "Hey, it's one of those things," he said to her.

Artemis rolled her head back and sighed, frustrated that now they had finally reached their destination they would have to flee again. She stood up and realized that a cloud of fairies was starting to come out from the brush, surrounding them completely.

Soon there were so many of the bright creatures it looked as if there was a pink fog creeping through the trees.

"Fuck," Remus scowled. "Use that little fire tric-" but he was cut off as he lifted up in the air. "Hey!" he yelled, struggling against the invisible force holding him high above the ground. "What the fuck!" he tried to reach around him to remove the assailant, but it was useless.

Artemis instinctively grabbed at his ankle, trying to pull him back down. "Damnit get back down!" she said, still pulling at him.

"We have found you at last," said a deep, feminine voice echoing loudly through the woods.

Remus, angrily trying to free himself, yelled back at the voice. "Let me the fuck down!" Artemis still clung to his leg, trying to drag him down with her own bodyweight. But she suddenly dropped, landing on her backside when a tall woman materialized in front of her. She wore white, almost blending in with her translucent porcelain skin. Her eyes were completely black. She herself had wings as well, just like the tiny fairies surrounding them.

"Warriors of Avalon, your fate has been written and you must embark on this noblest of quests," she began. "I am the Queen of Fairies, so hear me. You must find and join King Arthu-" But Remus cut her off.

"Wrong people lady," he said, still kicking and trying to reach behind him. But The woman seemed confident in her assumption.

"You, born of Avalon an-" she barely said when Remus cut her off again.

"Wrong people!"

Artemis stood from her fall, rubbing her backside. "No, he's right. You've got the wrong people. We're from the universe next door."

"Hm. Oh, well, that's very disappointing. That explains why he's so rude," she said, pointing up at Remus.

"Hey!" he barked back angrily. But they both ignored him and Artemis decided to take control of the situation.

"We're not quite sure how we got here, but we're trying to get back to where we're from. Is there any way you could help us?"

The elegant woman sighed. "Yes I can help you. But you won't be able to come back the same way again. It's a one-way exit."

Artemis practically jumped in excitement. "Yes! That is absolutely fine. We just need to get back home."

The Queen looked up at Remus and nodded. Instantly the invisible attacker restraining Remus became visible. It was almost a full-grown fairy, just a bit smaller than Artemis, holding Remus by the neck of his shirt. It flew him directly above the clear pool of water.

"Farewell travelers," said the queen as she waved them goodbye.

"Let me go damnit," Remus demanded, now able to see the fairy holding him up.

"Okay," giggled the fairy and dropped him in the pool of water.

"You too," The Queen said to Artemis, motioning her to the pool. Artemis thanked her and jumped in the water.

The transition from one universe to the other was instantaneous. Remus popped out of the water, gasping for air. Artemis came out right behind him, but her entrance was much more graceful. "We made it!" She exclaimed, crawling out of the pond.

Remus growled and pulled himself out. "Yeah we did," he said, annoyed, now thoroughly drenched. He grabbed hold of Artemis and snapped his fingers.

He landed them into another forest, on a more desolate planet. "Hey!" yelled Artemis angrily, yanking her wrist from his grip. "We literally just got back, and now you're going to risk getting us lost again?"

Remus grabbed her arm and pulled her closer. "I'll do what I want. And that just happened because I miscalculated our destination. It's not like you would've had a better idea. And how was I supposed to know I could do that? Now come on, I have somewhere we can go temporarily."

"Fine," Artemis replied, giving a shrug but grateful to be back where they were meant to be. Or at least where she was meant to be.

It didn't take long until they found a small cabin that had looked like it had been deserted decades ago. As they stepped closer Artemis could see vines and plants weaving and crawling up the cabin walls, completely taking over. Part of the roof looked slightly collapsed.

Remus walked to the door and pried it open. "Home sweet home," he said and motioned for Artemis to follow him inside. The moment she entered the dark cabin she could see everything was in disarray. There wasn't much, a fireplace, bed, and a few items of furniture knocked over on the floor.

Remus snapped his fingers and lit the candles littered around the cabin. "How did you find this place?" Artemis asked curiously.

Remus rifled around a closet, pulling out a stack of folded blankets and throwing them by the bed. "Well, I built it. I mean ages ago, but every once in a while I come back. This planet is quite empty, life seems to have a hard time sticking around here. It's quiet." He tossed a large, soft cloth in her direction. "Get dried off."

They were still soaking from the water, both dripping around the cabin and leaving puddles behind them. Artemis undid the laces of her dress and peeled it off, setting it on a nearby chair. She snatched up the cloth and wrapped it around her, trying to soak up all of the water on her cold skin.