Artemis & Apollo

Chapter Ten

A/N Song is I got you by Olivia Lunny This chapter's for Artemistigress. I hope that you like it!

Artemis sat in Megan's room. The two were talking. "Sooo..." Megan said. "Whatcha want to do, Arty?"

Artemis shrugged and continued chewing her gum. "I'm not sure." She sounded uninterested.

Megan sighed. She was trying to have fun with her friend, but Artemis wasn't in the mood. "Want me to do your nails?"

"Sure," Artemis replied, sounding surprised, interested, pleased, and completely uninterested all at the same time. Megan was kind of impressed, actually.

"What color?" M'gann asked.

"Don't care." She blew a bubble and it popped, but it didn't make a mess.

Megan grinned mischievously. "Those words will be your downfall, Artemis L. Crock." She pulled out a bunch of pastel colors. "C'mere."

Artemis got up from where she was sitting cross cross on her air mattress and walked over, plopping down next to M'gann. She surrendered her hand over to the other girl.Megan held it carefully and carefully started to paint each nail a different color. Then she moved on to the other hand. When she was done, Artemis' nails were literally painted ten different colors.

Artemis glanced down, uncaring. But then she smiled. To her surprise, she actually really liked the colors. Megan smiled too, pleased with her friend's reaction. "You like them?" She asked.

Artemis only nodded in reply, still smiling.

"Do you want to me to to put a flower on those ones?" Megan asked signaling to her friend's pointer fingers. She offered to do both, not just one because she knew that Arty was ambidextrous, she didn't have a favored hand. Apollo was, too. Artemis thought about it and reluctantly nodded, deciding to trust the other girl. Megan quickly and carefully put a few dots on each finger, making a simple five petaled flower on each. Artemis smiled, she liked it, and she hadn't expected to.

"Do you want to do mine?" Megan asked.

Artemis smile was replaced with a look of worry. "I'm not good at it. They'd look better if you did them yourself."

Megan smiled reassuringly at her friend. "I want you to. I don't care how nice they look."

"Ok," Artemis agreed. She had Megan pick out the colors she wanted, and carefully painted them with shaking hands.

Megan smiled. "I love them, Artemis!"

"But I messed up." Arty pointed out the places where she hadn't been able to stay on the nail.

"That's ok. I don't mind. Not everything is perfect."

"Do you want me to do a flower like you did with me?"

"Only if you want to. Right index finger is where you'd put it."

Artemis did as she was told. It looked almost as nice as Megan's. The night went on. After some begging, Art even let Megan play with her long blonde hair.

Finally, both girls were yawning. Megan got up and turned off the lights. She was almost asleep when she heard Artemis mutter, "Shut up."

"What?" Megan asked confused.

"Not you. Ugh." She grabbed her head.

"Are you ok?"

"Yeah. I'm fine, I'm fine."

"You're sure?"

"Yeah." Then she started muttering again. "Shut up, shut up, shut up!" A few minutes later she started to look around for something.

"What are you looking for, Artemis?" Megan asked worriedly. She suspected what Artemis was searching for, and she wasn't gonna find it.

"Nothing."

"Mmmhmm. If you're looking for something sharp, your not gonna find it."

"What about my wit? That's pretty dam sharp."

Megan rolled her eyes. "You know what I meant." She walked up to her friend who was starting to shake. "Artemis, calm down. You're perfectly fine. There's nothing wrong with you. Deep breaths."

Artemis' hands were shaking like they were doing an impression of the San Francisco earthquake. She raised her right hand to her left wrist and dug in her fingernails, dragging them down her arm, scratching herself. Megan quickly grabbed her friend's wrist and yanked it back. Arty fought against her, but failed. She started hyperventilating.

'...She might freak out,' Apollo's voice rang through M'gann's head. 'If she does, try to calm her down and get me.' Megan followed his advice. She tried to calm her down, and set up a mind link with Apollo.

'Hey, Apollo, your sister's freaking out,' She said. 'Can you come help me, please?'

'Coming,' Apollo replied. A minute later, the door opened and Artemis' twin stepped in. He hurried over and knelt down next to the girls. He gently grabbed his sister and pulled her into his lap. He held her close, stroked her hair, and softly shushed her. "It's ok, Art. It's ok. I'm right here. I've got you. You're ok."

Artemis clung to him. "I-I don't feel ok."

"I know that you don't. Meg, can you go get her some water?" Megan nodded and left the room. Apollo went back to comforting his sister. "Do you think that you might pass out?" Artemis nodded, feeling lightheaded. "It's alright, Sis. Just slow down your breathing. I know that that's something easier said than done, but you gotta. Match your breathing with mine, ok, Sis?"

Artemis tried and eventually succeeded in slowing her breathing  and heartbeat, and calmed down. The water from Megan helped. "I'm sleepy. Like, really, really sleepy," Artemis said. 

"Stay awake for a few more minutes and then you can go to sleep if your still tired." Apollo told his sister, who did just that. He put his sleeping twin sister down and gently kissed her forehead. "Goodnight," He whispered in her ear. He stood up and started to leave.

He felt a thin hand on his arm. He looked down at Artemis, who was struggling to keep her eyes open. "Don't go," She said, barley audible. 

Apollo smiled and lied down next to her, above the covers that she was tucked under, and wrapped his arms around her. Artemis was soon asleep again, and Apollo swiftly followed her, both feeling safe and comforted with the other's presence.