The Two Worlds

Chapter 43

Venus's POV:

Not being light on that kind of thing, huh Ronin? I thought. I notice Shino flinching slightly at the memory. I then elbowed Ronin in the side. I looked at myself confused. Then he realized what he said. Shino shook his head in disagreement.

"They weren't my actual father. They were my adopted parents. That was, I guess in a way, a diversion. A way to make it so that I would forget about my real parents. Until it comes time... I know, that sounds weird and confusing. But-"

"That sounds pretty normal, compared to what we witnessed...'' said Ronin, cutting him off. Shino looks at him confused. Then I looked at Artemis. He looked away from his gaze.

I continued to heal the people who were injured. Artemis just looked out the window. Not really sure at what. But it was something. He was leaning slightly on the bed to help hold him up. He grabbed the pendant on his choker. He twirled in between his fingers.

"What happened while I was gone?" asked Shino.

"Ask Artemis... He's the one that should tell you..." I said. He nodded and faced Artemis. He was still fidgeting, staring out the window. Shino walked up to him.

"Hey Artemis?" he didn't respond.

"Artemis~" said Shino, sweetly.

He was trying not to startle him. He still didn't respond. He seemed to be in his own world. Shino looked at us worriedly. Lychee walked up next to him, to try and help. Shino just moved out of his way to help him.

Lychee was trying to get his attention. He was waving his hand in front of him. Snapping. Calling his name. Anything to get his attention. But there was no response. Artemis just continued to fidget with the pendant around his neck.

When he was in front of him, he tried to grab his hand. His immediate reaction was to smack his hand away. Then kick him in the stomach. He went flying into the door. We all were startled. It wasn't expected. Once he realized who it was, he immediately seemed to feel bad.

Lychee flew through the door. Shattering it into millions of pieces. Wood shards flew through the air. Everyone shielded themselves from the wood shards flying at them. Everyone looked at me with wide eyes. I looked at Lychee with terrified eyes.

"I-I..."

He decided to hide in the shadows. Everyone was super confused. Shino walked up to the bed his father was supposed to be on. Then laid him down. He then looked around to try and find him. I walked up to Shino's father, and continued to heal him. Then walked over to Rikku.

"Arti?" he said.

Ronin had gone over to Lychee to check on him, per my request. I wanted to make sure we didn't have another injury on our hands. That would be bad. While I was helping Rikku. Rikku's wounds were bad.

"Artemis. Come out if you're still here. We're not mad at you" He then corrected himself. "I'm not mad at you. I'm not sure about everyone else. I know you have your reasons to do what you did. And that's fine. That's your problem, not ours."

I just ignored what was happening around me. I needed to make sure everyone was safe. Shino had continued to try and get his attention. He continued to try and get him to come out. But he didn't.

After a while, Shino gave up. He walked over to Ronin and Lychee. He helped pick Lychee up (with a little help from Ronin). Then made his way to my old bed. Shino laid him down on the bed, so Venus could examine him. Lychee was still conscious, he was just in alot of pain.

I walked over to Lychee to check him out. Most of Rikku's wounds were healed, they just needed to be patched up. Why the fuck would this happen... I thought. I started to get really dizzy. I gripped the bed to try and balance myself.

Ronin looked at me confused and worried. I just shook my head, and continued to work on what I was working on. I can't show them weakness... I thought, pushing myself. No matter how tired I am, it doesn't matter.

Suddenly, all the shadows moved.It seemed that they were upset. Or they were trying to protect Aremis from something. They were trying to shield me from everything happening. He cried out in pain. His shadows made it 10x louder. I continued to focus on what I was doing,

"Artemis!" yelled a voice. It was Shino's. Artemis then came out of his shadows. He had tumbled onto the ground. He was hiding in the ceiling.

"Artemis! Are you ok?!" said Shino.

He was kneeling beside him. Artemis balled up into a ball.Shino laid a hand on his arm.I didn't really worry about what pain artemis was in. I was more worried about Lychee, Cal, and Rikku than anything right now.

"His bones are shifting. We can't do anything until it's done." said Ronin.

He was hovering over Shino. Artemis cried out in pain again. Then I started crying. Shino looked at Ronin in sadness and anger. He stood up and faced Ronin. He stood up on his tippy toes to try and get in his face.

"I know you're upset with Artemis right now. But you need to fucking suck it up! He's in fucking pain, god damn it! He needs our fucking help!" he yelled at Ronin.

He had no reaction. He just looked at him with a disappointed look. I'm not gonna lie. I kinda zoned out on this part. I was struggling to focus and stand. Everything was getting blurry and I was feeling dizzy. After a moment, I focused back in.

"Y-Y-You're b-b-breaking t-the s-spell o-o-off o-of me. I-It's f-f-from m-m-m-my p-parents."

From what I could see, Shino looked at him and was pissed for a moment. The air immediately got tenser by that comment. Then Artemis waved his hands in front of him in worry. I personally think he got it confused or something.

"F-F-F-For m-my p-p-protection."

Shino made an 'oh' sound. Since I was done with Lychee, I turned around to watch what was happening. I walked over to my cart to take some notes. Then I grabbed the side of the cart to steady myself. Arti nodded to Shino. He continued on.

"T-T-That's w-w-why I-I-I a-always h-h-had s-sudden v-visions w-when y-y-y-you w-w-were t-t-touching m-m-me. I-I-It's b-because y-you w-were w-weavering t-t-the s-p-p-pell." He stuttered out.

Shino's eyes widened in fear. It was pretty obvious he was having conflicting thoughts. None of us wanted to interrupt him. So we let him sit there in his own thoughts for a moment. After a little bit of silence, he finally decided to say something.

"B-But it's hurting you! Can't we wait until you're done?!" He yelled, worriedly.

The shadows around them grew larger and larger by the moment. Shino looked at them in worry. I could understand his worry. It's very normal to feel worried for someone's significant other.Or you're own significant other.

"S-S-Since I-I'm t-transforming, t-that m-means t-t-t-this w-w-would b-be t-the b-b-b-best t-time t-t-then e-e-ever t-to d-d-do t-t-this..."

Shino looked at him with a sad look. He groaned out in pain. His legs gave out on him again. Shit. I thought, eyes widening slightly. I'm pretty sure we all thought that. Luckily Shino was there to help him this time. He gripped Arti's waist tighter. So he wouldn't fall too far.

Shino looked at him sadly. Artemis looked back at him. His face was calm, cool, and collected. But I'm pretty sure deep down, he was in alot of pain. He must have noticed Shino being worried. Because he said this.

"I-I'll b-b-b-be o-o-ok, S-S-Shino..." he said.

Shino looked at him. Then nodded. He picked him up, and took him out of the room. Me and Ronin looked at each other confused. Then back at Shino and Artemis. Suddenly, Shino stopped and turned around. He was facing us.

"We'll be back soon. Just take care of these 3 while I'm gone. Thank you"