Artemis & Apollo

Chapter Seven

A/N Song is Migraine by Twenty One Pilots.

"What the h***?!" Apollo snaps looking at his girlfriend and sister, who were sitting at the kitchen table. The sleeves of Artemis' jacket were pulled up and Emily was bandaging her cut-up arms. "You started self-harming again?! I thought that you stopped! You said that you stopped! How long?!"

"About a year," Artemis said quietly.

"A year?! Does Ronnie know?"

"No."

"He's been your boyfriend since you started up again! How does he not know?!" Artemis just looked down. "How long have you known, Em?"

Emily sighed. "I'm her best friend, Apollo."

"How. Long?"

"About nine or ten months, give or take."

"Nine or ten months?! You've known almost the entire time and said nothing to me?!"

"Apollo, I'm sorry."

"Sorry doesn't cut it! I trusted you and you broke that trust! I can't- we're over, Emily."

The two girls sat there in shock. Then Artemis leaped to her feet and tore out of the room.

"Ok. We're over. But you and I both care about Artemis, and who knows what she'll do to herself now. You know that she'll blame herself for this." Apollo nodded and they ran after Artemis.

Apollo started to pick the lock on Artemis' bedroom door while Emily knocked. "Go away!" Artemis choked out between sobs.

"No, Sweetie," Emily said gently. Though she and Artemis were the same age, Emily was the kind of person who called everyone Sweetie, hon, honey, etc. The door swung open as Apollo pushed. Artemis soon found herself in her best friend's arms.

"You know that it isn't your fault that Em and I broke up, right?" Apollo asked Artemis.

"But it is." Artemis sniffled. 

"No it's not," Emily said.

"Yes it is. You wouldn't have broken up if I had told Polly or if I let you tell him. It's definitely my fault."

"No, it's not." Emily. "This is about broken trust. He thought that he could trust me to tell him important stuff, and I broke that trust."

"But you wouldn't have if I hadn't asked you not to tell him and made you promise that you wouldn't. You never break a promise. Everyone knows that."

"It's true that I don't break promises, but I should've broken that one. Self-harm is a tell people no matter what kind of thing. It should not have mattered what you said. I should have told someone anyway. He trusted me to do that." Artemis put her hands over her ears, a clear signal that she was ignoring Emily.

Apollo shook his head and pulled Arty's hands from over her ears. Which was surprisingly hard, she had a tight grip. 

"It. Is. Not. Your. Fault. Artemis." He said. Artemis shook her head and tried to put her hands back over her ears, but her brother wouldn't let her. She whined. 

"Let me go."

"No," Emily snapped. She grabbed Artemis' chin and forced her friend to look straight into her eyes and hold it.

"It's really not my fault?" Artemis asked after a while, tears still streaming down her cheeks.

"No. Of course it isn't," Apollo said.

"No, it's not, Sweetie," Emily said at the same time.

"Ok." She reached over to the bedside table and grabbed her phone and earbuds, apparently over it.