Luna

Chapter Eight - Home

Artemis woke up the next day, but she had grown weaker. She couldn't talk anymore. Her vision was getting blurry. She could barely stay conscious either. There were moments were she would just fall asleep.

When she was asleep, she would have these strange dreams that felt real. Sometimes she dreamt of reuniting with Wally. Other times she dreamt of meeting Greta for real. One time she even dreamt of meeting her grandparents, even though she had never met them.

"Your friends are working on a cure for you," Paula said to her daughter. She back at the hospital. Everyday she was there. Will was in the room, too. He had taken work off for a few days to be there for Artemis.

"It was the incident in Venezuela, Blondie," Will tried to joke. He was studying the goddess' face. Her mind was elsewhere. Her eyes were glossy, but they were blank at the same time. He could tell she wasn't thinking about them. He could tell she wasn't  thinking at all, actually. She couldn't even talk or eat. Why would she be able to think?

Artemis didn't respond to them. She felt tired again and close her eyes. When she closed them, she saw Wally. This happened every time she shut her lids. She saw his red hair, his green eyes, and faded freckles. When she saw him, she felt longing. Artemis was ready to see him for real this time. She was really to stay with him. There would be no door to walk out of, now.  

Will and Paula looked at Artemis then at each other. They both wore the same expression. Her time was running out. They had both seen death before. And maybe they both should have been numb to it, but this was the woman that saved both of their lives. If Artemis hadn't been there for Paula, she would've had nothing. If Artemis hadn't been there for Will, he most likely would've fallen back into his bad habits.  But Artemis was so much more than that.

Paula had already lost Jade, multiple times. She had already experience Artemis' death. Now she would go through it again. However, this time hurt worse. She could only watch as her youngest daughter suffered. Before there was a strange comfort in her fake death being short and quick. Now there was nothing but the unspeakable pain of losing her child, her last baby, and her motivator to keep living.

Will felt something similar. Jade had left him again, too. He had no one to help him raise a baby, but Artemis stepped in. She set aside all the pain she felt from losing Wally and took responsibility, even when she didn't have to. And even though they would never work out, she taught him that it was okay to love again. To him, losing Artemis was so much more than losing his sister-in-law. It was losing the mother his child, losing the woman who helped him love again, and losing the person that could get through to him.

"I need air," Will announced, "Would like to come with me, Paula?"

Paula shook her head, "I'm staying with her until it's time."

Wally's POV

He guessed he was haunting Artemis. It was difficult to describe. He was still in limbo, Heaven, whatever you wanted to call it, but he was in Artemis' hospital room. No one could see him. He was ghost, which was a bit trippy. The scientist in him wanted to haywire. Part of him as felt like a stalker. But those feelings were repressed when he looked Artemis.

Not only could Wally see her dying, he could feel her dying. He had talked to Inza about it when he returned home from his old apartment. Inza explained it was the bound between him and Artemis. If one half of the partnership was dying and the other half was already dead, the already dead one would feel the bound slowly shutting down. The bound would reunite when the living half finally died.

The feeling covered Wally in disgust. It felt as if he was sick and a dark energy hung around him. Inza had said it was miserable feeling. In her case, it had only lasted a few minutes. Kent had died relatively fast. In Wally's case, Artemis was dying slowly so the feeling dragged on. Today it was intense. It made him believe that his spitfire only had a few hours or a day left. Those thoughts nearly destroyed him.