Artemis & Apollo

Chapter Four

        A/N Song is I'll Make a Man Out of You (I couldn't resist)                     

                            ------------------FLASHBACK CHAPTER-------------------

Nine year old Artemis' fist collided with the punching bag. Then her other fist. Followed by her feet, elbows, and knees. Her father watched her with criticizing eyes. Her brothers were sitting down on a bench, sipping water. Their father had allowed them a break, a pleasure that he had not given his daughter. Apparently, even though she had executed the blows better than her brothers, her performance wasn't "satisfactory". What a load of crap. 

But, this was the usual. Every day this happened. Jade had gotten the same treatment up until she left. Artemis didn't completely blame her for leaving. She still couldn't figure out if her father was sexist, expected more from his daughter because they both knew that she was better than her brothers, just didn't like her, all of the above, or some assortment of the above. Artemis' main suspect was all of the above. 

The other people who used the gym had long since gotten used to the kids' presence, as they had been coming since before they could use the equipment. They just assumed that the girl was pushed more than her brothers because she asked to be. New people were always weirded out by the trio who hadn't even reached their teenage years who were as strong as, actually stronger than,  most of the adult patrons who used the gym every day, but they always got used to them. 

Sweat ran down Artemis' thin body. She was exhausted, but she kept going. She had no choice. 

"C'mon, Baby Girl," Crusher urged. "C'mon, it's not hard. It's just the same thing over and over. Focus on what you're doing. You'll forget how long that you've been doing this and how tired you are. Just focus on that bag and landing those blows perfectly on it. That's all. Everything else will fade away. Trust me, it'll help."

She did as she was told. It did indeed help. Soon her brothers started up again, and their dad started goading them on. He didn't offer Artemis a break, and she didn't ask for one. She zeroed in on the bag and kept going. She had done this a million times. She would be fine.

She was so absorbed half an hour later that she didn't notice her father standing behind her until he grabbed her shoulder. "Oh!" She yelped in surprise. "I'm sorry, Daddy. I didn't notice that you were there."

"Good," Crusher said. "That means that you obeyed me and only focused on the bag. Keep going." She did. Her tiredness increased, but she kept on going.

 Punch, punch, kick, kick, elbow, elbow, knee, knee. Make the bag swing with each blow. Repeat the blow if it doesn't. Repeat the series three times. Stop for a few seconds. Breathe in, breathe out. Breathe in, breathe out. Breathe in, breathe out. Start again. Punch, punch. Kick, kick. Elbow, elbow. Knee, knee. Make the bag swing each time. Repeat three times. Stop for a few seconds. Breathe in, breathe out. Breathe in, breathe out. Breathe in, breathe out. Over and over again.

She vaguely registered her dad telling her brothers to take another break. She knew she wasn't gonna get one. That was ok. She didn't need one. She didn't even want one anymore. She continued until she realized that her dad was behind her again. 

"It's really time that you to take a break, Baby Girl," He told her. She wondered why he said that.

"It's ok, Dad," She said. "I don't need one."

"I didn't ask if you needed one. I'm saying that you have to take one."

"Well, I don't want one. I'm fine."

"I don't care if you want one or not, you're taking one." She wondered again why he cared so much. Then she realized that people were staring. Crusher couldn't risk someone calling child services because he didn't tell his nine year old kid that she had to take a break after five hours of non-stop work. 

She realized that there might be a point to that as she felt exhaustion start to come over her. Just standing for each second made it worse. 

"Ok, Daddy," She said finally, just as she was about to collapse. Crusher told her to go sit down with her brothers. She stumbled to the bench and sat down next to Apollo. 

Her twin handed her her water bottle, which was teal with her initials, AN-CL on it in sticker letters covered with Alice in Wonderland art. It was actually a pretty cool bottle. They had found it on the windowsill on the twins' ninth birthday, along with a yoyo for Apollo and two notes from their sister. Crusher never even asked where the stuff came from, assuming that they had already owned it.

"I think that that's enough for today," Crusher said a few minutes later, gathering his stuff and leaving. His three kids grabbed their stuff and scrambled to catch up to him. Artemis glanced back at the building, glad to be leaving it for today.