Till Death Do Us Part..

Artemis almost smiled at that. Almost. "are you okay?"

"I've been better." His voice dwindled slightly and he sighed. "I'm so sorry, Artemis. If I had known..I'm sorry..."

Artemis winced and fought back against a wave of tears "it's not your fault"

"It won't happen again, Artemis." Mark said, his voice filling with a sudden determination. "As long as I am around, it will never happen again." Mark shifted in his bed, working to force himself up. "I'm coming, Artemis." with that, he broke off the connection and forced himself out of his bed and into the wheelchair that sat beside it with the little bit of strength he had. Determination filled him as he rolled down the hall, looking for her, his head spinning, face pale from the blood loss.

Artemis was staring blankly ahead as he wheeled in, her eyes unseeing, unable to see. She didn't want to see.. she didn't want to remember

Mark rolled forward, his face pale, skin cold. "artemis?" he didn't touch her though, not wanting to scare her

She flinched, her eyes sliding over to met his gaze "yes?" she whispered

Mark slowly put a hand on hers, his eyes locking on hers, taking in all the pain and hurt. He felt his heart break, her parents staring at him though he ignored them. "I'll keep you safe..." he said as he watched her, his eyes never leaving her. "Come away with me Wendy." he said refuring to Peter Pan.

A tear pricked her eyes and she looked away "wendy's dead"

Mark watched, his eyes filling with pain, a tear rolling down his cheek. "I'll always love you Wendy. Always protect you." he rolled out of the room, and with that, made the solid promise to never leave. Sure..it was stalker-ish staying in the shadows, always gaurding her. But he would do it.

the next few weeks passed by as a blur for artemis. After much time in the hospital and a pysch eval. she was finally sent home. She learned how to lie and fool her parents into thinking she was alright, but she was never able to put the light back into her eyes.
Quiet Artemis became even quieter, this event proving that it was indeed wise to stay pessimenstic

Mark had refused to leave, watching her from the shadows. He kept the spirits from bothering her, kept the Searchers from finding her. A silent gaurdian, keeping her safe. He didn't sleep at all, running on nothing but determination and energy boosts. He was following her one day on her way to school, keeping to the shadows as always.

Artemis kept walking aimlessly around town, not wanting to return home yet, not wanting to place back on that painful charade that she was 'alright'
she soon found herself running, trying to escape her thoughts, her feeling, her memories. and stopped short as she found herself at a familiar set of box cars

Mark followed her a small smile playing on his lips. She did remember. 'Wendy' wasn't dead. He stopped a spirit from going towards her and sent him on his way, helping as best he could.

Artemis crawled up onto the top of the car and gingerly picked up a left over spoon from the time they ate their ice cream. Hers vanilla, his heath bar. She spotted a dried nut attached to it and cradled the utensil, closing her eyes and ,for the first time, letting her tears flow forward

Mark's heart broke as he watched her. "how are you holding up wendy?" he stayed hidden, letting her think he was still gone.

Artemis froze and quickly bit back her tears "still breathing" she joked weakly, trying her best to fool him like the rest "i hear they say that's a good thing"

Mark forced a sad chuckled. "yes, it's good that you are still breathing." There was a small pause of silence before he took a deep breath, unable to keep from once again offering up an escape. "Do you till want to come away with me Wendy? Leave this all behind?" After asking her to run away countless times, he had given her the name wendy, feeling like peter pan begging her to come away to neverland. He hadn't asked her since the day at the hosptial though.

Artemis cradled the spoon. yes, yes she she did. She remained silent. "where are you?"

Mark stepped out from behind a box car and looked up at her, staying quiet. His hand absently rubbed the wound in his shoulder that Nellie had put there, a gentle breeze blowing and tossling his hair. "On the ground."

She furrowed her eyebrows and crawled over to the edge of the car, cautiously peeking down. then she saw him- her angel. her eyes widened and she began to shake "m-mark?" she breathed

Mark gave a sheepish grin as he looked up at her. "Hey, Wendy." he said, dark circles were under his eyes, his hair a mess, though nothing he couldn't pull off as an on purpose look.

Artemis scrambled down and into his arms "m-mark" she sobbed, burying her head in his shoulder

"Ouf." Mark held back a small groan as she accidently knocked some wind ouf of him. He wrapped his arms around her gently, holding her close. "Well hello to you too," he chuckled as he rubbed her back.

Artemis pulled back, suddenly coming to her senses and realizing she was in a males arms. She didn't like that, regardless of who it was. Her father had learned that the hard way. that first day in the hospital, he had tried to hug her only for her to snap out of that eery trance and scream bloody murdered, scratching at clawing him until he released her from his grip. She didn't liked to be touched anymore.
She stood back and wrapped her arms around herself "h-how are you?"