Artemis’ Forced Quest

Artemis never liked visiting Olympus. It reminded her too much of the deplorable man she had to call father during her time spent here. From the grand marble pillars decorated with pure gold decorations and inscriptions, to the neat polished marble floor - she hated everything about it. She used to have to follow strict rules in these halls and it made her feel like she was a caged wolf. She felt sick to her stomach even thinking about those times. Letting her messy blonde-haired brother, Apollo, to join a long was also a mistake, since he flirted with anyone passing by them as they walked through the halls - with no signs of him stopping. The worst part was her brother was clearly not liked by the majority of denizens of Olympus but he seemed to not have noticed yet or he disregarded the fact anyways. Annoyance was starting to spark in her cloudy-silver eyes, running her hand through her matching straight silver hair. But she needed to fetch a special luring remedy from the only Goddess that could make it - Hecate Heddwyn, The Goddess of Witchcraft. And the only way to get in touch with her was of course her laboratory in Olympus. If only her father did not order such a tall request of hunting down one of the hardest animals to hunt down-the silver deer- she would not even think to let Apollo help nor visit Olympus again. The silver deer itself - a silver antlered deer that was the size of a human house, with a hide that would glisten under the moonlight- was never dangerous but Zeus made such an urgent order to catch one and bring a vial amount of its blood. So here she is, sighing in frustration as she wondered why the only Goddess that could help her would enjoy the stuffy and grand atmosphere of this horrid place. Artemis could have picked thousands of places in the mortal realm to set up her laboratory with much more freedom. As Apollo tried to approach the 100th forest nymph they saw, Artemis could not take it anymore. Artemis forcefully hauled her brother to one of the spaces in between the pillars before her brother could bother that nymph. She faced her baby blue-eyed brother with a scowling face, her grip on his hand tight. 

"I am not listening to another word you say." She said, grinding her teeth, seething with rage. Apollo, however, seemed to not be surprised at all. On the contrary, his eyes seemed to show a playful glint and his smile was starting to morph into a smirk. That smile could only mean 1 thing, she thought - and she did not want him to say or do whatever he was about to do. So she did the one reasonable thing she could think of. Teleportation. Even though she enjoyed walking, as usually the journey was as important as the destination to her, she could not stand to be embarrassed by another flirty phrase coming out of her brother. One second they were in the halls of Olympus, the next they were in front of the lab.

To call the lab different compared to the rest of Olympus, would be an understatement. Apollo once said it stuck out like a sore thumb - and for once she agreed. The building entirely looked like a simple and rustic brick house from the outside. It was surrounded by normal-looking iron fences with no opening to be seen, but that was one of the many secrets to the lab. Only Gods and Goddesses were granted normal access to anywhere near the house. The fences would burn anyone who touched it without access and the fire, she heard, lasted for 3 days and 3 nights. The ones that have access would be able to walk through part of the fence that was leading up to the front window. The front yard was filled with rows of different kinds of herbs and plants that ranged from mortal herbs to special plants - to this day there were plants Artemis has even very little knowledge of. The path leading up to the front of the house was lit up by small floating flames that, Artemis knew, were casted by the Goddess. The front of the house had only 2 small windows on each side and a wooden door for entry, with a torch that was placed beside the door as the only light source for the front of the house. Even though there were 2 windows, the windows did not show a thing. But once you enter the fence, the windows would turn transparent and do what a window would do. 

As they arrived at the part of the fence that they could enter from, Artemis let go of her brother - sighing out loud in relief. She looked over to her brother and saw him smiling ear-to-ear, which earned a confused look as a reply.

"Finally, you did it. I wondered how much longer I needed to do that before you cracked under all that embarrassment, little sister." He said as he fixed his leather cloak in position, his smirk looked evermore punchable. He knew she always hated when he called her that. She knew she acted and was much more responsible than Apollo, and yet he always had the nerve to call her little sister. Just because she would always lose in a one-versus-one archery duel with him. 

"Well, dear little brother," She said with a malicious smile, "Why do you need to follow me then?" He questioned her brother, but the tone of her voice made her sound like she was commanding him to tell her. Although her malicious expression didn't show it, there was a part of her who was genuinely curious as to why she was being followed by her brother. She cannot think of a valid reason, bar for annoying her out of her sanity. Her question looked as if it triggered one of a rare event - confidence faltering. 

"I was going to," He paused, he looked around them fretfully,"help you." He whispered, with an unexpected grimace showing on his face. Artemis usually never sees his twin lose his confidence often, much often to this extent. Artemis nodded slowly in response, trying to wrap her head around what she had just heard. She was still surprised by the answer he had said as she has never seen him this out of character - much less this paranoid. The only person she would gladly help was their mother but her? He would rather tease her about not being able to do said task alone and boast about himself doing it alone. She only wanted a vial amount of the animal's blood as they contain healing properties if brewed correctly, but it could very much easily turn into a poisonous concoction that could even fatally injure a God. Although this was the case, the hunt for the creature was never banned for one simple reason; it was hard to track and lure out. Therefore the information around the creature were only rumors, not a viable source for Artemis to directly narrow down her prey. However there was one consistent detail she picked on from rumors -whether it be deities' or mortals' - the deer very much liked a sweet scent of a rotting corpse. Artemis was not a believer to her own theory at first, but as the sample size of the rumors grew, it was getting harder to ignore. 

"Do not think this is me wanting to help you," Apollo's voice broke her train of thoughts. "I received a foresight last night that something will happen to the both of us soon, so I need time alone where we can talk about the details of the foresight. In private." He said, his voice and expression now - she thought- was anxiousness mixed with doubt. Artemis' expression instinctively softened, she still cared for her brother deep down in her heart and seeing her brother in such paranoia made her worry for him. 

"It will be fine, Apollo," She said, comforting him. Although she had very little experience in comforting people, It felt oddly satisfying for her to be the one comforting the usually-emotional one of the two. "We will discuss the details as soon as possible." There was a small part of her mind that had a mixture of anxiousness and curiosity, having an irresistible thirst to know what details his foresight could have given to shake Apollo's usual confident character into this mess he is currently. Apollo nodded slowly in reply, trying to show his usual confident smile - but his eyes could not deceive his own sister. As she received a reply from him, she grabbed her hand to go through the garden of the lab. As they reached the front door, they could feel the Godly presence in the building - she presumed to be Hecate.Before she had the chance to open the door, Apollo was already beside her, his hands turning the knob. She looked over to her brother with a surprised face and he replied with a smirk at her - and now his eyes were back to having the playful glint it would normally have. The bell on the inside of the lab rang a familiar eerie deep ring, notifying the twins of their appearance. 

The inside of the lab gave somewhat the usual eerie as Artemis entered the building. From the wooden racks of pouches filled with herb combinations, labeled with illegible handwriting and smelled like death, to the taxidermied creatures that were hanged over the ceiling in iron chains like trophies such as the species of eagle that was the same eagle that ate prometheus' livers. Although she had visited her lab for more times than she could remember, the eerie feeling she could never get used to. It did not help that the roof of the lab was low compared to grandiose halls outside the lab. There was one wall where pelts of different kinds of mythical creatures were hung and the opposite part of the building that had bookshelves that looked as if it had never tended since the placement of the books. Some of the books on the shelves did not even have proper modern leather exterior, let alone titles on its spines. The ones they do have titles mostly read somewhere along the lines of "Herbs & Magic By Hecate" or "Magical Creatures Encyclopedia By Hecate".

What a narcissist.

The lab smelled of nothing, neither a pleasant nor an awful one. It smelled like nothing. Artemis imagined that if you mixed every smell known to both man and Gods, the smell of the lab would be produced. There was a mix of wooden furniture from the olden times and the more recent - and comfortable- furniture sets scattered around the room. Across all of the tables, papers were scattered around. The writing on the papers were either calculations or incomplete magic circles from what Artemis observed. The floor had clean rugs covering it with intricate designs depicting the original Titanomachy victory ceremony- a design that depicted the victorious occasions of the Olympus Gods with Nike aiding alongside them. But all of this did not surprise Artemis -actually it seemed cleaner since she last visited this place over a hundred years ago. It was actually more welcoming than before. From memory, Artemis remembered how the awful stench around the lab would not stop assaulting her nose, even after she was already out of the lab. 

Artemis looked over to her brother to see his reaction, only to be amused by the sight of it. His face was contorted into a mixture of multiple emotions, mainly disgust and curiosity. He only noticed her staring at his expression amusedly after a second before he morphed his expression into a questioning frown - which made the situation much more amusing.

"What?" 

"You do not need to know." Artemis quickly dismissed her brother's question.

Before Apollo could push her for another question, the sound of a woman's heels rang throughout the lab. The owner of said heels was an obsidian-black haired woman who wore a simple and short white dress with multiple rubies and silver embroidered into shoulders to resemble a torch design. A singular finger click was heard from her and torches started to appear out of thin air around the room, lighting up the dim room with an orange hue. Wearing gold-framed glasses did not stop affecting her piercing and yet calculative stare of her blood-red eyes, in fact it amplified the color even more in Artemis' opinion. As she saw Artemis - or the both of them she couldn't tell - she smiled slightly but it showed not an inch of warmth to it. 

"Ah, the Aerhart twins." She said flatly, her slight smile still plastered across her face. "What would you require of me?" 

"I require the ingredient for the luring remedy to lure out a silver deer, Hecate." Artemis replied formally, she did not want her only possible supplier to deny her request. "I do not suppose you have all of it on hand would you?" 

"Well, hello ther-" 

"Spare me the interest, Young Sun God." She abruptly stopped him with her hand pulled blocking his view of her face, not a single change happened for her expression, before he could flirt even further. It was actually quite hilarious to see someone, something not many dared to do, bravely shut down the advances of her twin. Apollo's reaction was the cherry on top as he looked awestruck - only for a moment but one of the moments she would not forget throughout her immortal life- as he couldn't get close to even say one of his many cringe-worthy lines. It was definitely a struggle to hold her laugh in and put up a straight face but there were more important topics to tend to. 

"Only some, If I recall correctly. " Hecate continued as she moved back her attention to Artemis. "I might need some help gathering more to brew one to the utmost greatest quality.." She started walking closer to one of the shelves filled with herbs, carefully reading each label of each jars and pouches. After carefully reading them a handful of jars and pouches, she picked out 3 green pouches from them. She then lifted up and clicked her finger again before they could drop down, the 3 pouches floated around her at head height. They followed her as she grabbed one of the old wooden chairs and sat down promptly. She used more of her witchcraft powers by pulling on the wooden table across the room while still sitting down. She also pulled more chairs around the room and looked over to the twins with a more welcoming smile - although it still felt a more professional one rather than a friendly one paired with those still calculating eyes. Both gladly received the gesture of hospitality. As they sat down, Artemis noticed her gaze was not focused, not to her or her twin. Her eyes were completely unfocused and deep in her own mind, which made her usual calculating demeanor waver for a moment. 

"What else do you need?" Apollo said before Artemis could open her mouth, his tone laced with teasing. "Do you not grow everything here already? " He gestured around to the many other shelves fully filled with jars and pouches of different, a playful smirk grew across his face. Now it was blatantly obvious that he was playfully teasing her even more because of the direct. Artemis sat in her seat, trying to hold her mouth from being agape from embarrassment. She cannot believe he was so brazen with his way of teasing, even a tactless person would feel annoyed by the comments he's making. Artemis elbowed his brother with more force than usual, clearing her throat in the meanwhile trying to stop his embarrassing acts. His brother groaned and flinched at the punch, which promptly made Apollo reply with a menacing glare.

To the extreme surprise of the twins, Hecate laughed heartily. From the rumors and Artemis' personal experience with her, it was rare to see her smile so heartily with no meaning behind it. To see her laughing was a different plane of rarity in itself. Artemis stared at her, confusedly then looked at her brother for a single shred of idea that might explain what had just happened in front of them. 

"Ah, that was a good one, Sun God." She said composing herself, letting her glasses dangle on her neck, wiping her tears that were starting to form from the laughing fit she just had. "A breath of fresh air, I dare say." 

"The rumors of you being so," She paused, focusing all her attention on her brother. "egregiously annoying was severely underplayed." Her smile now seemed to match her normal atmosphere; cold and calculating. Artemis did not expect Hecate to shoot back with her own words to fight off the teasing of her brother. She had never witnessed her brother getting rejected and being insulted by another Goddess in the span of 10 minutes, much less done by the same one. She glanced over to her brother, pausing any thought she had to examine what was her brother's reaction. As expected, his bottom lip of his closed mouth was quivering while his index finger started audibly tapping on the table. Artemis' face started smirking, enjoying one of the rarest times the witty God Of Poetry fell in his own domain, a battle of words. Apollo must have stolen a glance of her smirk as his finger-tapping started to gain more pace. Artemis changed her focus as Hecate stood up from her chair, still her victorious smirk ever more present on her small face. She started walking away from the table, leaving the floating pouches hovering just directly above the table. 

"I believe I have some more materials, in another room." She said, turning herself towards a different door from where they came from. "Do not touch anything." Even without seeing her expression, she could tell that Hecate's was one of a victorious amusement. As the door she went through was closed, Artemis could not hold her amusement much longer as she snorted loud enough for her brother to hear. As she did, the finger tapping stopped and the room turned awfully quiet. Not a single sound could be heard in the room except the echo of Hecate's shoes in the other room, but she suspected her brother's sharp glare was on the back of her head. Her suspicion was correct as she slowly turned her head around to a very-irritated Apollo. 

"What?" She asked innocently.

"I know you enjoyed that very much." Crossing his arms, a visible frown on his face.

"No," Her face completely betrayed the words that came out. Her mouth quivering under the conscious pressure to not smile, her eyebrow was trying to straighten itself constantly. She even knew her normally-serious eyes were laughing alongside her sub-consciousness. Unsurprisingly, her twin knew exactly what she was doing and it does not seem like he enjoyed his sister's reaction. 

"I can see you trying not to laugh at me, you know?" Apollo hissed - that confirmed Artemis' guess. She let out a whispered chuckle- trying very much not to disturb Hecate in the other room, facing her brother who was currently giving her the eyebrow raise, continuing his finger-tapping but now on his arms. 

"Are you done?" He clicked his tongue loudly, stopping his finger-tapping. But his frown is still deep as ever. 

"Yes, yes. I am done." He cocked up one eyebrow, seemingly not believing a word she said.

"I promise," She said, wiping her eyes. "I am done." That prompted her brother to click his tongue audibly, still crossing his arms. 

"Sure you did." He looked away, eyes still very much flaring.

"Ok, this time I am sure." She took a deep breath, regaining her composure. Her brother now looked back at her, no change in his expression whatsoever. 

"I do think you did deserve it."

"And I'm supposed to trust you to defend me."

"Actually I should only defend you in battle."

"And would you?" 

"You already know what I'm going to say won't you?" She said, a smirk grew on her face. His upper body seemed to grow more tense and his eyes seemed to be burning with more anger - Artemis observed. 

"It wouldn't be the first time would it?" 

"I have not a single slightest clue on what you are talking about." 

"Dumb is not what you are, sister."

 "I know you remember the multiple accidents from the past very well."

"And what if I do?" Her voice raised. "What are you going to do about it?" Her smirk now replaced with a frown with her eyebrow tense. She harshly pointed at his chest, pushing it with force. She will not stand down to such disrespect over a single silly little laugh - that Artemis did not have a hand on. 

"I want you to apologize to me." He said, leaning closer to her, pushing her finger away from his chest. A prideful smirk was growing across his face. She stared back at his eyes, her own rebellious stare into his eyes grew more intense as the time passed. She was the one who should be embarrassed at his actions and yet he expects an apology from her.

The audacity.

"What if I say no?"

He smiled - a smile that she cannot distinguish if it was a positive one or a derogatory one. There was another change that Artemis spotted as she stared down her brother, waiting for the expected rebuttal, which was the pride in his eyes rose further. As she stared at him, he also focused his eyes back into her eyes. Suddenly, his eyes relaxed, followed by his eyebrows. His smile tugged even wider, showing his pearly whites. He closed the distance between their faces and , before she could react, touched her nose - in which Artemis reflexively moved back on her seat and almost fell over. Her reaction must have been unbelievably silly as Apollo's smile transformed into a not-so-hushed laughter. He must have laughed for a good minute, or at least that's what Artemis felt like. She rolled her eyes and frowned at him, a reply that she knew was an automatic reply to his jokes, but she cannot believe he would have used her few accidents caused by her lack of aim in the past as a material for his jokes.

"Just kidding sister! Your reaction has always been worth the performance I put out. I say this all the time but this time for sure you should have seen your reaction for yourself. You would have most likely enjoyed it." She should have known that it was all part of a joke to him - something he would scheme in his almost-never-serious mind. She crossed her arms 

"And that is exactly why I can never defend you."

"And that is the reason I love you sister! I know you also love it. Lying does not do good " He laughed, a hearty laugh, a laugh that made the room more cheery. It was much better seeing this than whatever rather than whatever his face was not so long ago. She playfully punched him in the chest, which she was met by a hand blocking it. She looked up and saw the mischievous glint her twin's eyes again, and before she knew it her hands were held captive and a playful punch landed on her shoulder. His laugh filled the room once again which made her frown in response, removing her hand from the weakened grip of his hand. But her frown was quickly wiped away from her face as she slowly enjoyed his twin's laugh. 

For a moment, they felt like they were back in Delos - happily conversing with no worries for the world or themselves. But it did not last, like every other time. All of a sudden, his brother's head sharply stopped moving, his eyes glowed with the colors of the clear ocean. His expression hardened and his shoulders tensed as he suddenly screamed with a statue-like expression still on his face. His scream did not sound like his voice, instead it sounded like the mixture of souls drowning in The Styx. His scream only lasted for a second before it stopped which was followed by Apollo dropping down on his knees, clutching his chest in pain. His eyes were back to normal, but the joy on his eyes were already replaced by his battle-hardened eyes. 

"Someone is coming." His voice sounded tired as held himself up using the seat, looking around the room. His eyes tried to focus on seemingly hunting the presence he just mentioned. His expression was the opposite of his eyes, calculated and cold. He held out his right hand and flames started to erupt from it. The flames were not burning for neigh though, as the flames started to burn in the shape of a bow. A simple yet majestic bow that shone bright as the sun, color-matching his hair with a perfectly smooth surface with no imperfections for the eyes could see. As the bow fully formed and flames extinguish, her brother fixed his gaze on a specific corner of the room - right in between a bookshelf and a shelf filled with dried vegetation. He fixed his stance, pulling his bow and aiming carefully down at eye-level. 

For his brother to pull out his bow and his eyes blazing bright, was a good sign that her brother's ability of foresight was working as intended. At least they knew now. As she saw her brother aiming down, she raised her left hand and enveloped her hands with moonlight. The moonlight projected a shape of a bow, in which a simple wooden bow formed from it. The bow was made from carved oak, clearly carved carefully with almost no imperfections shown on it. Except for one small part on the lower part of the bow facing the holder, where 3 elongated lines were carved in such a flawed manner compared to the perfect smooth surface of the bow. Artemis always, without fail, noticed the lines first as the bow finished forming. No matter what situation, her eyes hardened, her smile erased and confidence left her body for the second she looked at the defectivity she herself had carved into her perfect weapon. But that was all in the past, she has not missed since those 3 incidents and she will not start now. Although she does not trust him in most day-to-day cases, she always trusted him in combat - no matter where, no matter how. With his instincts and foresight, paired with her quickdraw and presence detection, many have fallen helpless beneath them. 

And she will make sure it stays that way.