𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐬𝐭 | artem wing

ch. 11

dead ends
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artem arrived in sweden, looking at the picture he had taken of the painting. there was nearly nothing to go off of except for a very obvious waterfall in the background. the trees and cabin could be anywhere at all and he wished there was something more obvious. couldnt she have hid a flag in there? even writing from the language?

he has reverse searched the waterfall countless times but it got him no where. as he was in the capital of sweden, he assumed there would be some place for everything. he walked into the building where he was able to go ask questions and was relieved when someone greeted him in english.

"excuse me uh.. do you recognize this?" he showed the image.

the woman looked for a moment at the waterfall and the surrounding area. she tapped something on her uniform and another worker walked up.

"that looks familiar.. doesnt it?"

"yeah but wheres it from?"

the two stared at the picture and looked at eachother. the first looked up at artem and saw the worry and panic that swam through his eyes.

"im not sure where that is.. mind if we search it up on the computers?"

"ive already tri-"

"theres some things that arent on google."

artem followed the women as they showed him over to the computers. they searched up the image and found one thing.

"yes its um.. thats weird."

"what is it?" artem asked curiously.

the two women whispered back and forth for a moment. they were obviously from two different places, one being sweden and one was unclear.

"i believe thats a place near my hometown. its not in sweden but.. good luck."

"wait, where?"

the girl got a piece of paper and wrote down a name on it, the name of the town. he had no clue how to read or say it.

"find a way to get there and maybe youll find something."

artem left the building, feeling somewhat glad he found something. but what if she didnt even really remember him? he could imagine that she had been busy, very busy. what if work had invaded her thoughts and just erased him completely? the second artem was in his car, he called rosa. with an 8 hour time difference from stellis, she was obviously somewhat tired.

"you find anything?" rosa asked.

"i did, i found where she may be. or at least a town near where she is."

"oh yeah? was it in sweden or was i right about norway?"

they had gotten closer as friends over the past five years and they got much more comfortable with talking to eachother outside of work.

"you were right.. again."

her laugh was heard throughout the car as she celebrated. artem couldnt help but laugh as well from her obvious excitement.

"you and vienna were like.. the stellis power couple. i hope its still like that once you find her again."

"hah.. i hope so too."

they talked and talk as he was already starting the drive to the other country. it was a 6 hour drive to get to oslo so he may as well start early. thankfully, once he had googled where the town was, it was quite close to oslo. she was so close. if she was alive once he got there.