Always Traught

Death's and Life's Princess

Death was a never what she expected it to be. For starters, Death was a young man. And a total dork. He had black hair that fell into his face, bright blue eyes, and talked about conspiracy theories as a distraction. His attire was some jeans, a black shirt, and a blue jacket. Death even flirted with her, which was insanely weird. And it was even weirder that she felt okay with it. It was better than the emptiness of the hospital, the beeping, and tubes that ran across her limbs and face.

He sat in the chair next to her bed. One of his pale hands rested on the side of it and he used the other one as he talked. Artemis stared into his baby blues. They were the prettiest thing she had ever seen. Gorgeous, even. They were so magnificent in their color that she thought maybe she was delirious. So the archer held out a hand to stop him. Death immediately stopped talking about how Hilter faked his own death and shut up, "Yes?" He asked her.

"Are you real?" The blonde questioned. He made a confused face. He probably had never been asked that before. Many people didn't question death when it was near, literally and figuratively. But Artemis always questioned everything. Death was no acceptation.

"Of course I'm real! I have parents, a name, and even a social security number!" Death explained as he leaned back in the chair, "Everyone in the underworld has a social security number."

She smiled at his answer. Death had parents and a name? Who would have thought? She guessed Christians knew, but whatever. She didn't exactly believe in religion.

She chuckled as she asked him another question, "What's your name?" He grinned at her, happy that someone cared enough to ask.

"Richard, but everyone calls me Dick," Dick held out a hand for her to shake. She took it, "Nice to meet you, Princess."

"Princess? My name isn't Princess."

The raven shrugged, "You could be one if you married me. I could show you all the hotspots. There's this one guy that keeps reliving a nightmare where he gets chased by Peppa Pig. Turns out he was into bank fraud."

Artemis slowly frowned, "So I'm going to die? What if I don't want to die?" Dick frowned too and suddenly looked away from the blonde. A gut wrenching feeling started to build up in her abdomen. Artemis knew what death meant, but it was starting to kick in. She was in a lonely hospital with Death awaiting for her. She much rather be with her mom, Will, and Lian as she passed on. Not alone.

Dick didn't look at her as he said, "I don't chose when I show up. It's on the body's own time. Just please don't think I want this for you. Dying sick and alone is meant for the worst. And you're not that, Princess."

Artemis swallowed the lump in her throat, "That's why you distracted me," Dick faced her as he nodded.

"I've done this a three billion times, Princess. It's best to distract the good people. But you questioned it and kinda ruined my whole thing, not gonna lie. You're a smart one," He gave her a grin to lighten the mood, "I mean, who questions the end?"

"The dinosaurs," Artemis smiled back at him. For some reason his smile calmed her down. It was apart of the job, really. His smile had to be able to calm down the next victims of the upcoming deceased.

Eventually their smiles fell and he grabbed her hand. His fingers felt perfect in between hers. Maybe if he was human and she had lived longer, she would've fell in love with him. Artemis simply hadn't lived long enough for her to love a boy. It saddened her to think about it, but what could she do now?

"My name's Artemis," Artemis told him as she took a deep breath.

"That's a beautiful name," He smiled again.

Her eyes started to feel heavy, as if she was tired. But she knew that wasn't the case. He was pulling her in. As he did so, the annoying beeping wasn't so aggravating anymore. It became a sweet lullaby to her ears. The sound of her heartbeat willed herself to lower her eyelids, focus on her breathing, an imagine the last of life.

She was so close to sleep when she heard a faint whisper, "Sweet dreams, Princess," Then, she closed her eyes and slowly drifted away.

Artemis woke up to the sound of talking. It was loud, as if all the people around her were screaming. But at the same time, everything was muffled. She couldn't pick up any words. She tried to move her body, too. It felt like she was stuck.

"She's awake!" A male voice exclaimed. A hand gently gripped her arm and placed itself on the expanse of her back. Whoever it was pushed her up and let her fall against the back of her bed. The goddess couldn't open her eyes, however, "Come on, Princess. Stay with us."

Princess. It was as if the word had brought her back completely. She slowly opened her grey eyes and was met with a pair of light colored eyes. Her first reaction was to say Dick's name, but the more her eyes focused she realized the eyes were green. Just as beautiful, but not blue.

"She's awake," The young man said again as he let go of Artemis. The young man had black hair as well, just with with a white strip.  If she hadn't known better, Artemis would've thought that they were related.

Artemis stopped looking at the boy and looked around the room. There was no one but nurses. Any sign of Dick was gone. That left her confused. The boy must've noticed her confusion because he motioned for all the other nurses to leave. He had this under control.

The blonde looked back at the green eyed brunet, "What happened?" She asked.

"You died, but I brought you back," He told her, "You're stable now."

Artemis just nodded, as if she could understand. Everything that had happened left it hard to process. She had met Death and he took her into his clutches. But she was brought back to life by a man who looked similar to Death? Her aching mind couldn't handle it.

"Don't worry anymore. We have you. I have you. Just rest for now," She nodded again. That was all she could. He understood, though. He had done this enough times to understand. She needed space.

Artemis wasn't going to say anything to the man, but she stopped him right before he left her room, "Wait!" She yelped. The nurse turned right around and waited, "What's your name?"

"Jason," He replied with a smile. Artemis furrowed her brow in confusion once more and looked straight at her feet. Jason chuckled softly before saying, "Rest up, Princess."

Unfortunately for her, all she could do was think.

A/N: I have no idea what this is, so there's that. Anyways, I'm thinking about writing another Artemis story. It's not going to be long and only about five chapters.  It'll probably be traught but not focus around it.