artemis-iokheaira

[artemis-iokheaira]

I Will Eat the Whole World Raw )O( [Myrmidons]

heart-of-dunbroch​:

Artemis was strong. Artemis was fast. Merida knew these things but still, the shock of each hit reverberated through the muscles of her arms and she grit her teeth every time. She stepped back, and back, and back– all the time aware of the trees behind her, the space narrowing down.

This was a dangerous strategy, but if Merida’s arms were tired from catching each wild swing, then Artemis would be twice as tired with each smash. 

Patience. Wait for the right time, and use Artemis’s rage against her– 

And then it came.

Artemis, desperate to catch Merida off balance and in surprise, changed the direction of her swing. The twist in her wrist made her hold on the sword vulnerable. She opened up her body. 

Merida stepped in, parried high with one hand, caught the blade with her own. Smash! 

And then her other hand grabbed the dagger at her waist and she stabbed Artemis in the gut. 

As soon as the blade pressed through flesh, Merida jumped back, panting. Sweat beaded at her forehead. She wiped her cheek, her eyes never leaving Artemis’s own.  

The swords rang together and the vibration made Artemis’ hand open, the sword dropping to the ground with a thud. 

In the next moment--

A sharp pain split through her stomach, making her gasp and stumble back. She didn’t try to stay standing, collapsing at once to her knees. And she realized that this was what she had been searching for. Not the Gates of the Underworld. She wanted to meet her brother on the Elysian Fields. 

Her hand gripped the knife and pulled it from her own gut. The blood oozed out slowly and with it, the warmth of life. Not fast enough. 

Artemis coughed, feeling rust in her mouth and she looked up at Merida. 

“Please,” she said, blood tinging the corner of her mouth and tears in the corners of her eyes. “Please, I can’t be without him.” 

[artemis-iokheaira]

I Will Eat the Whole World Raw )O( [Myrmidons]

heart-of-dunbroch​:

Their swords clashed and the sound shook the air, their steel like thunder. 

Merida saw the twitch in Artemis’s arm and the pain twist across her face. Just like Merida thought. That first shot had been, perhaps, the one thing that might save Merida in the end. She’d been correct, remembering Artemis’s dominant arm too–

But whatever confidence she gathered faltered as Artemis shoved her back and tossed her sword to the other hand.

Ah, great, she was ambidextrous, or at least skilled enough with the other hand to wield the sword without batting an eye. Well, Merida had expected something like this. Still–fighting with her less dominant arm put Artemis at a slight disadvantage. She would not be as fast or she would swing wider, giving Merida more space. That was important. Merida needed that extra space in case Artemis tried to grab her and end it all. 

She grit her teeth and prepared for the second blow.

Their swords clashed again as Merida’s blade caught Artemis’s. She needed to lead Artemis on, make her thing that she had the advantage here, that she was stronger, that Merida was already losing. 

She let Artemis swing again and Merida feinted to the left, on the retreat. “Is that all you got?!” she spat anyway. Taunt her. Make her swing more wildly. Make her desperate to land a hit. 

Artemis had not fought with swords in a long time. She used to drill them all the time. With muses. With the people of Piperi. With the members of the Tribunal. And then, with enemies. She had spared the most with Apollo. The only person who had ever been her match. When they fought, they danced and their swords were batons they twirled. How she missed those drills. When things had been so much simpler. When she had known where to step and how to move. When her brother would taught and tease her and laugh so beautifully it was almost distracting to the sparring. 

This was not friendly sparring. The taunting not affectionate. This was a battle with the intent to kill. Artemis had no delusions about that. She felt it in the strength of Merida’s swings. In the intention of her own movements.

The taunt only served to fuel Artemis’ rage. She sucked in a deep, ragged breath and hit harder and harder, pushing Merida back further. Her sword swung wide, as if trying to catch the girl in the side. She twisted her wrist at the last moment and tried to hit higher. All the while her feet were moving, driving Merida in the direction of the treeline.

[artemis-iokheaira]

I Will Eat the Whole World Raw )O( [Myrmidons]

heart-of-dunbroch​:

Merida was not scared. She was prepared where Artemis was not in more ways than one. 

She dodged to the right, took an arrow square in the chest–

It bounced off as the third arrow hissed over her shoulder and buried itself in the tree behind her.

“It’s called armor, mate. You think you’re a goddess, but it looks like you can still bleed!” 

And she darted forward, closing the gap. Here, she had to be careful. She needed to get close enough to force Artemis to abandon the bow, but not close enough that she could lunge forward and grab her with those hands laced in death. She would have to be faster– or at least, lead Artemis into clumsiness and frustration. By the wild light in her eyes, Merida knew she could do it. She just had to be more patient.

She pulled the short sword from her waist and swung it at Artemis, forcing her to block or dodge. 

The taunt made Artemis snarl.

She knew that she was no goddess. That was becoming abundantly clear to her. While she had always known there was ichor in her veins, she had known, too, that she was divine. What was the point of all the suffering in her life if it was not the suffering of a god? The power almost too heavy to carry. 

If she set it down now, what would it mean?

What would it mean for her? For Apollo? Who had never wanted to be divine, who had always seen it as a shackle? 

Artemis couldn’t set it down. It was the only armor she had left. 

When the former she-wolf sprang into action, Artemis was ready for her. She unsheathed the sword at her own hip, circling her bow across her chest in the same motion. She was as skilled in close quarters as she was at long range. Her whole life had trained and prepared her for combat.

For taking another’s life.

As their swords clashed, the reverberation traveled up Artemis’ arm to where the arrow was still embedded. Her muscles twitched and seized and the sword gave a little more, but she didn’t lose her ground. Not yet.

“This is none of your business,” Artemis growled, her eyes flashing. “Leave it alone and I’ll let you live.” 

She shoved her weight against the swords to make Merida stumble backwards. Her own feet slipped in the muddy bank, but she pushed forward regardless, switching hands that her sword was in before swinging it about her head and bringing it down towards Merida

[artemis-iokheaira]

I Will Eat the Whole World Raw )O( [Myrmidons]

heart-of-dunbroch​:

Merida didn’t exactly have a plan, but she wasn’t rushing in blind either. She sped back to her castle and reviewed all the options in her mind. She could not sneak up on Artemis; the huntress was as skilled in the woods as she and if the ghosts had their way, they’d warn her before Merida got close. She could not corner her either, for she would absolutely fight instead of flee. She ruled out using Angus, she ruled out drawing Artemis out the way the Order did with most of their prey. She was no wild beast. She was something else– something else the way that Merida was something else.

And so in the end, Merida knew she had one option. This would not be a battle of strength. In some ways, Artemis had her beat. It would not be a battle of power either, because get too close, and Artemis would simply snatch Merida’s life from the jaws of Fate. 

It would be a battle of will and mind. Where Artemis was broken, Merida was strong. Merida had to use Artemis’s heartbreak against her. Make her unstable enough to stumble, hesitate, or strike too fast. Once, Merida had been rash like that– too emotional like that–

But as Merida slipped the daggers into her belt and slung her arrows over her shoulder, she was calm. She carried with her the lessons from Phoebus– the ones that sharpened her as a weapon– along with the ultimate shield: Artemis had nothing to lose, but Merida had something to protect.

She would not let Artemis touch the Acherons. Or anyone else.

And so she tracked the hunter and when she got too close that Artemis sensed her there, she did not panic. 

From the trees, an arrow split through the branches and buried itself in Artemis’s shoulder. It was the only shot Merida could land before face-to-face combat, but she’d never missed a target. 

At the huntress’s cry, Merida stepped out, another arrow drawn.

“Remember me?” Merida said. “That was a warnin’ shot. Put ye bow down and leave these woods for good, or your story ends here.”

The arrow whistled towards her and embedded in her shoulder. 

Artemis stumbled back a step, her own arrow letting loose and crashing blindly into the tree canopy. The pain was sharp and hot and Artemis welcome it. She wanted to feel even a moment of what her brother must have felt. Whatever pain she had was his pain. Now there was only Artemis to carry it and she would hold it all, like a bucket full of water overflowing.

She reached up and snapped the shaft of the arrow with a growl more beast than human. 

“You’ve no business leveling threats, mortal.” 

Artemis’ own hot, sticky blood dribbled down her arm in a line. It dripped from her fingers and splashed into the river, which bubbled at her feet. The ghosts chattered loudly in her head, a chorus of dos and do nots. 

She reset her own bow, even though the range was too close to accurately land a shot and the dagger at her hip would do better. Artemis refused to be told to put her bow down. She was Artemis, delighting in arrows, and she would not be overtaken by a mortal.

Her own arrow loosed, sharp and fast. Then another, and another. The gryphon fletched tails whistling in the wind as they rushed towards their target. Artemis never missed either. 

[artemis-iokheaira]

I Will Eat the Whole World Raw )O( [Myrmidons]

@heart-of-dunbroch

When Artemis fled the shoppe it was to a chorus of cackling, dead voices.

No matter how loud they were: the absence was louder.

What cruel, twisted Fates made the rule that mediums could not hear the voice of those they loved and were deceased? Who was it that made this call? Heartless. Heartless and savage. That was all Fate was. There was nothing kind about it, nothing heroic. Only cruel and empty. 

If Apollo’s voice could whisper in her ear, perhaps the shattering of her heart would stop. Perhaps, he could stop the avalanche, the eruption, the tsunami. It would take just a word. 

Despite knowing that it was impossible, Artemis searched through the echoing laughter for her brother’s. If he laughed at her, or called her a monster, she would not care. Even though he’d been the only one to never call her these things and never treat her in such a way. 

As she sprinted from the shoppe towards the treeline, she could not out run the ghosts and she could not out run the absence of her brother. Towards the north she angled herself, once she had broken through the treeline. Vines sprang from the earth to try and slow her, branches tore at her hair, bushes jumped into her path. She tripped, she scrapped her knees and the palms of her hands, but like a vicious, wild animal, she snarled and broke the vines and branches in her bloodied hands, killing them the way she killed everything. 

It took an hour, but she made it to the river’s edge, her bloodied clothes torn into tatters, her hair a mess about her head. The look in her eye was savage as she knelt along the bank and cupped her hands together, so that she could drink from it’s cool waters. Everything was dead and still here, she could rest a moment before continuing on to the Gates.

For a few minutes, she was able to catch her breath again, but then--

There was a snap of a twig.

In the next second, she had swept her bow off her back and notched an arrow, pointing it towards the sound. 

“Show yourself,” she growled. 

[artemis-iokheaira]

The Rage of Artemis )O( [Myrmidons]

calliope-hesiod​:

The girl on the floor was not dead. The girl on the floor was not dead, which was a small comfort, because Callie was sure Artemis had just killed the girl. Why had Artemis killed the girl? Why was Artemis here? Artemis should’ve come home. If Apollo had died, Artemis should’ve come home and told Callie and they could’ve cried together.

Why was Artemis here?

Callie knew the answer to that immediately.

Artemis was here because of Hades. Hades, who guarded the Gates to the Underworld. Artemis wanted to go to the Underworld. She wanted to find Apollo. She wanted to bring him back. Artemis would do anything for her brother.

Callie looked at Artemis now, dark eyes brimming with tears. Her heart squeezed. She felt Artemis’ pain – not as deeply, she knew – but Apollo had been a brother to her too. The last she saw of him was his bright smile, brighter than the sun, when he told Callie he’d be back. They’d both be back and they’d go off together and they could have the life that was taken from them in their youth.

Apollo was dead.

Artemis wanted him back.

Calliope knew better than almost anyone when someone was dead for certain. There were exceptions – there were always exceptions – but this was a story told. It had a beginning and a middle and this was the ending. Apollo shining, Apollo burning, Apollo’s light out.

“It won’t work, Artemis. We won’t be able to get him.” Callie’s voice choked. “I can feel it – Calliope can feel it. I can’t – “ Calliope surged in her veins. Callie staggered forward. “I want him back too. But we can’t. It won’t work.”

 @heart-of-dunbroch​ @artemis-iokheaira​

Artemis’ eyes flashed like lightening striking.

Who was Callie--who was Calliope--to tell Artemis what she could and could not do? Her entire life, Artemis had been told what she could and could not do. Stifled, her powers caged and restless. Artemis, too afraid of her own touch to ever learn to touch others. Death was in her fingertips, but it was the world that was terrifying and dark to her.

Only her brother had never flinched from her. Only her brother could light up her sky with hope and joy. 

Without him, she was in that darkness without an end in sight. Stumbling as if blind. Her power an inferno which blazed around her. It would take and touch anything that fell into its radius. It was a pull of gravity, now spinning out of orbit. The star upon which Artemis’ galaxy had been built extinguished. A supernova.

And in that blinding flash of grief and anger and the fear of being once more contained, controlled, tamed--

Artemis reached out. 

In her heart, she wanted to catch Calliope, so that she would not explode too. Catch her, hold her, keep her safe. The way she hadn’t kept her brother safe. It didn’t matter now--what became of anyone--but Calliope deserved what she had been promised. In her heart, Artemis wanted to give Calliope the freedom that she had so craved for so long. The goddess of wild beasts was not meant to have ever been caged. The goddess of epics and heroes was never meant to be creatively stifled. 

Artemis reached out and her heart broke into a thousand pieces. Her cold, bloodied hands gripped firmly at Calliope’s soft, warm ones; and a shriek of agony bellowed out from the darkest recesses of Artemis’ body. The place where all the ghosts hid. Where she kept all her pain. The surge of magic was as hot as fire, as strong as a fearsome storm.

Calliope’s body went limp. She fell against Artemis’ chest, who stumbled back in surprise at the weight. She tripped, falling over, spilling books across the ground.

As swift as a deer, she bounded upright again. Her eyes wild as they darted between the wolf-girl and Belle. Without hesitating again, she turned on her heel and fled from the bookshop, towards the trees--swift-footed and sure of nothing but the fact she wanted to run until she collapsed.

[artemis-iokheaira]

The Rage of Artemis )O( [Myrmidons]

heart-of-dunbroch​:

calliope-hesiod​:

A day hadn’t gone by where Callie did not think of Artemis and Apollo.

She had been living in their house, after all, after she had to leave the dorms, after she’d told Polyhymnus that she’d come back to Piperi after summer was done. She’d done her due duty. She’d told them about Euterpe. She felt the guilt of her decision weigh down on her constantly.

But thinking of Artemis and Apollo – of the future they would share together – that kept her going. She thought of going to Florida first, introducing them to her mother and Dr. Sweet, then journeying to Kenya to reunite with Kiara and from there – they had the whole world, their whole future, theirs at last.

She hadn’t heard from either of them, but she had to hope that they would not fail.

Callie, actually, was not thinking of Artemis when she walked into the book shoppe for her shift. She was thinking of the order she had to unpack today and how she’d decorate the display for July. She had her headphones on and was listening to some music, humming along. She pushed open the door of the shoppe, slid off her headphones –

“Artemis!”

She froze, glancing from Artemis to Belle to the curled body on the floor, panic quickly rising within her. She opened her mouth, about to ask what had happened, what was going on, but she met Artemis’ eyes and immediately she knew.

But dusk shadows glory, turned bitter and brief,

When one stands alone to bury their grief

“Artemis, no,” she whispered, taking a step closer. “Not like this.”

The bow cracked against the ground. Its wood splintered, snapped. This alone wouldn’t be enough to tame the goddess of wild beasts.

Merida swung her fist.

Artemis grabbed her. 

Lightning struck. 

No, not lightning. Merida gasped. It was the opposite of lightning, as if the storm she had held inside her was sucked out through a straw. Her back arched as though she’d taken one of Artemis’s arrows between the shoulder blades. The burning from her magic snuffed. The howling from the wolf ceased. The gnashing of her teeth, the hunger in her belly– Merida had carried these things so long that she had not realized how much she had grown around these things. She collapsed without them as if her legs were nothing but sticks, now snapped like the bow.

She laid in a heap, gasping. At first, she thought– I’m dying. 

She must be dying. Everything was quiet, cold, colour sucked out from the world. Her senses all dimmed. She couldn’t hear the commotion of the streets, smell Belle’s sweet scent… 

But she didn’t die. 

Instead, she groaned and tried to push up with her flimsy, trembling arms as another person entered the store. Calliope, called Artemis. They knew each other? That had to be bad. Artemis was turning everyone into her enemy, whether they had been friend or foe. (One thing was certain– Hades could not meet this goddess–)

“Run!” Merida called, weakly from the floor as her warning. 

@labellerose-acheron​ @calliope-hesiod​

Artemis scoffed at the feeble wolf-girl on the floor. 

“She does not need to run,” Artemis said plainly. 

She turned, then, abandoning Belle--though, she would’ve never hurt the woman (she tells herself this.) She turned towards Calliope and feels her heart beat once in her chest, for the first time since she had lost half of it. It only chimes the once, but it is enough to make her step towards Calliope, stumbling in her wretched grief towards the young woman.

Calliope cannot make it better. Her presence is a salve on a wound that will never heal. It is the bite of a brown recluse. It rots the flesh, it expands and expands, eating a hole through her until there will be nothing else: Artemis, a dying star, collapsing in upon itself.

She reaches out a hand anyway, bloodied and coarse. Artemis had always had such rough hands, from plucking thorny plants upon the fields of Piperi, from holding the hewn wood of her bow. It was if she covered her hands in callouses, perhaps she could protect others from her magic, buried beneath the layers of her flesh. 

Now, she held out one of those hands to Calliope.

“Let us go, let us find Apollo in the Underworld, and then, let us do all we planned,” Artemis entreated her, tears shining in her eyes like the pools of water that Artemis had always imagined her mother had once loved, as she had once loved her children. As Artemis had once loved her father.

@calliope-hesiod​, @heart-of-dunbroch​

[artemis-iokheaira]

Sister Song - Perfume Genius

Drive on, drive on My special one Don't you stop 'til you know you're gone Your sister and me have a set of keys Don't you worry your head 'bout a thing

Drive on, drive on My special one Don't you stop 'til you know you're gone

Drive on, drive on My special one Don't you stop 'til you know you're gone Your sister and me will keep your place clean so it shines when you finally come home...

[artemis-iokheaira]

The Rage of Artemis )O( [Myrmidons]

heart-of-dunbroch​:

Merida’s muscles tensed and her eyes locked on that bow. 

Who was faster– the huntress or the wolf? 

Later, Merida would not remember exactly what she thought. 

Later, this moment would be a blur besides one thing, and that was that this was Merida’s chance. Death wasn’t something to fear– rather, it was an open door and the arrow a key. What were the worst case scenarios here anyway? She would die, taking out Artemis with her and showing Belle once and for all the strength of their friendship–

She can take your magic, Belle’s voice echoed again through her mind, in the split second before Merida acted.

She leaped. 

Merida grabbed the bow, forcing it down so the arrow released into the ground. Wood cracked against wood and Merida yanked again, her wolf strength surging forward to help her. 

Artemis had a split second of watching as the wolf-girl’s muscles gathered. They were close range already. The bow not the best weapon, but all she had. It was all she had. She loosed an arrow just as Merida sprang forward. 

The arrow shattered against the earth, as useless as it had been in saving her brother. Too late. Too late.

Her magic surged too as Merida ripped the bow from her hands. It clattered to the floor and slid out of reach, but Artemis barely blinked. She didn’t need a mortal weapon. All she needed was this: 

Artemis grabbed Merida around the wrist and felt the power crackle between them. The beast howled through Merida’s veins, but Artemis was tamer of wild beasts and she coaxed the magic into herself, feeling her soul tear in order to make room. It took only a split second of warm skin against cool.

As Artemis did this, she swept Merida’s feet out from under her with a precise kick to the ankles. 

By the time she hit the floor, her magic was gone. 

Artemis kicked her once in the ribs, hard enough to knock the wind out of her and stalked towards Belle, who stood with the book shoppe’s counter between them. Her eyes were wide, but she didn’t move. (Not that she had anywhere to go, trapped between the wall and the bookshelves behind her.)

“Where is he?” snarled Artemis. “Don’t be stupid.”

“You cannot take my magic,” Belle said, raising her chin. 

This made Artemis pause, for just a moment. Belle was right, but Artemis could do much, much worse. The power tickled at her fingers.

“Are you going to kill a pregnant woman, Artemis? I know that is not you.” 

And then, the bell above the door jingled. 

Artemis head snapped towards the door and she blinked, tears at once shining in her eyes. “Calliope.” 

@calliope-hesiod

[artemis-iokheaira]

I am the knife which will slaughter heaven. Heaven is full of blood. Soon it will snow.

Heiner Müller, Anatomy Titus Fall of Rome (1984)

[artemis-iokheaira]

The Rage of Artemis )O( [Myrmidons]

heart-of-dunbroch​:

Yes, Merida had seen this person before. 

Merida had once been her. 

She recognized the fearlessness in Artemis’s eyes, which came from a place of wild pain and desperation. The way she looked at Belle–once Merida had been in this position, standing opposite of her friend, and she’d forgotten that that’s what Belle was. She’d treated Belle first as a pawn. If I don’t do this, I’ll lose everything, she’d thought at the time. But this had been a lie. Merida had always had a choice, proven an hour too late when Merida had saved Belle instead of doomed her. But what had that change of heart meant in the end? There were some mistakes you could never walk back. 

Though here, right here and right now, it felt like the opportunity to. 

Merida wouldn’t let Artemis touch Belle, no matter what. 

And that no matter what might be steep. Belle’s warning replayed in her mind. Take her magic. And Artemis had glowed at the warning and said she could do worse too– which meant death, undoubtedly. 

Still, Merida wasn’t afraid. She was almost–excited. Yes, this was her chance, not to erase her sins but to finally face proper justice. Right her wrongs. Protect Belle. 

She quickly moved in front of Belle, stationing herself directly in Artemis’s line of sight. The hunter had several inches on her. They were well-matched in a way that Merida rarely faced. But Merida just lifted her chin. 

“You need to calm down. And put down the weapon,” she ordered in a slow, firm tone. “If ye do these things, maybe Belle can help you.” 

Artemis’ lip twitched and she laughed. It was as loud as the sun had once been. It bounced with brightness. 

This wolf-girl thought that she could take on Artemis, of the shining arrows? Artemis, of the wild beasts? Artemis, the huntress. Who slew creatures like this wolf-girl without blinking? Who was given pelts and young girls for penance. 

Perhaps Artemis’ life had been a lie, but she still held herself like a goddess. She still held the power of a goddess. The power to choose between life and death with just a touch. And this time:

There would be no undoing her wrongs.

Not that it mattered to Artemis, for Apollo could not undo himself. He had been the one who could heal. Artemis was the one who destroyed. The balance was off-kilter now. The world spinning on an axis that was impossible to right. There was only undoings and undoings, until the world unraveled itself like a ball of woolen yarn. 

“You’re not in a position to make demands,” threatened Artemis, raising her bow, though, if one looked closely, it was aimed between the two women’s shoulders.

“Tell me where the Ambassador is or I’ll decide which of you dies first.” 

“Artemis.” Belle’s voice rang out soft. “What happened?”

Artemis’ gaze flicked towards the Mundus. “Just tell me what I need to know!” Artemis shouted, loud enough that tears sprang to her eyes, her bow drawing back. The string cut sharply into her lip as she raised it to her face, like the sun rising in the morning light.

[artemis-iokheaira]

Artemis/Αρτεμις epithets

Hêmerasia - She who Soothes

Heurippa - Horse-Finder

Hiereia - Priestess   

Keladeinê - Lady of Clamours

Orsilokhia - Helper of Childbirth

Paidotrophos - Nurse of Children

Philomeirax - Friend of Young Girls

Pôtnia Therôn - Queen of Beasts

Thêroskopos - Hunter of Wild Beasts

[artemis-iokheaira]

You’re my big brother.You’re supposed to be the one comforting me.

[artemis-iokheaira]

Madeline Miller, Circe

[artemis-iokheaira]

Jennifer Givhan, from “I am dark, I am forest”

[artemis-iokheaira]

The Rage of Artemis )O( [Myrmidons]

heart-of-dunbroch​:

Merida was here in Chapter Three doing more research. 

She still couldn’t believe that she could say such a thing, let alone for it to be true. A few months ago, it would have been impossible to think that she would have been here again with Belle by her side, a project once again between them. On the horizon she could almost glimpse their friendship but Merida tried not to look too longingly. She focused like always on the present, day by day. Because only so much could change. She would never take back her crimes. And she would always be an outcast, if not for those crimes than for the wolf under her skin.

But the books were welcome, as was Belle’s company, as were the memories from a different life that let Merida escape her own. She embraced Gawain now for the bridge that he was building between herself and the people that Merida still loved.

The appearance of Artemis summoned him now.

She felt him in the back of her mind as Merida darted to the front and took in the sight of the woman. She’d never seen her before, she didn’t think– but at the same time, she knew her.

The wolf knew her, and thought her a friend, recognizing this scent as one that moved between the trees almost invisibly, as if a shadow on the forest floor or the moonlight between the branches. 

Gawain saw her and only thought enemy. How could he not? She was covered in blood, viciously smiling. 

And what did Merida think?

Merida knew that her job had not changed.

She quieted both voices in her head and she stepped forward, unafraid despite Belle’s warning. (Though what did that mean? Take someone’s magic? Take it how? Put it where?) 

“Is that why you’re here, covered in blood and makin’ a ruckus?” Merida asked instead, her eyebrows raised– the human equivalent of having one’s hackles up. “State your purpose.” 

Artemis’ eyes narrowed at the wolf, but she was unconcerned with her. 

It was the queen she was after. That was how you won a game of chess, wasn’t it? Check the queen, the most powerful piece on the board, and the game was yours. Not to trivialize her revenge to a game, but it was an apt metaphor. 

Not that she wanted to hurt Belle necessarily. Though maybe it’d feel--something to shoot an arrow through her heart. Artemis’ fingers twitched on her bow, but she did not raise it. Her thumb stroked at the soft feathers, as if that would soothe her, but there was nothing to soothe her now. 

Her gaze bore into Belle’s, who didn’t flinch away from it. Only her eyebrows furrowed slightly in return.

“I need to speak with the--Hades,” Artemis announced bluntly.

“What about?”

“Not your concern.” 

“It absolutely is,” Belle shot back at once, crossing her arms over her chest. Artemis could see the fear in the tremble of her lip and the red-rim of her wide eyes. “If the ghosts won’t tell you, then you’re not up to anything good.” 

Ooh, she’s got a point.

So smart, our lady. 

The ghosts cackled and taunted in Artemis’ head, making her shake it once, like a dog with water in its ears. 

“I need his help,” Artemis said and her voice was as taut as a bowstring. 

“With what?”

“Just tell me where he is!” Artemis’ voice ticked up, drowning out the sound of the ghosts in her head. She took a step forward. 

[artemis-iokheaira]