Till Death Do Us Part..

Artemis startled awake, nearly jumping out of her skin. She remained tense for a moment before losing herself in his sleeping face. She quickly relaxed and fell back asleep

Mark slept, holding her gently. When he woke a few hours later, the sun was shining through the curtians and on to his face. He groaned, rolling onto his back, rubbing his eyes and looking over at the clock. How long had he been asleep?

Artemis sighed but remained blissfully asleep. For the first time in weeks, she didn't have nightmares ... well, at least not a billion of them

Mark streached as best as he could with Artemis laying on his other arm and then sighed as he let his body settle back in. They really needed to be hitting the road, but he couldn't bring himself to wake her.

Artemis turned into him, her face burring into his arm. She yawn and opened her eyes, tensing for a moment before relaxing again "hello" she whispered, trying not to blush

"Hello," Mark said with a yawn and looked down at her. "How are you feeling?"

"okay" she whispered "I brought you some food" She gestured toward the table "you need to eat, how's your head feeling?"

"I'll eat it a moment. It's not spinning, but it hurts something terrible." Mark grumdled as he rubbed his head. He looked down at her and sighed. She was stll cuddled next to him, still on his arm. He wondered if she was ok, or if she was freaking out.

Artemis stared at him, fear spiking through her at their closeness. She tried not to let it show though, she tried to force herself to stay in his arms and get over her fears. they were very strong fears

Mark didn't move to touch her, he just let her be, turning his head to the ceiling. At least they were making some sort of progress.

Artemis let out a shaky breath, unable to bring herself to move away, despite how much she wanted to "you should really eat"

"as soon as my stomach settles. I don't think it would do me much good if it came back up. Besides, you need food too, so go ahead and dig in." Mark murmered as his eyes closed again, his spirit searching through his mind for memories as he tried to piece things together again.

"I already ate" she shrugged, watching his face "whatcha thinking about?"

"Just things...trying to figure somethings out." Mark mumbled as he rubbed his eyes at the bridge of his nose.

"What things?" Artemis chirped, hoping to maybe help him out

"How Jack is alive. What is behind the gate that they are so determined to get. Souls aren't this important to them. I don't...I don't get it." Mark muttered and sighed.

Artemis frowned "well, didn't you and your brother come back to life? maybe its the same.. anywho" she sat up "you can still think and eat at the same time.. right?" she tossed the food to him "eat" she demanded "I'm going to take a shower"

"Ya, but we didn't get our heads chopped off." Mark mumbled as he picked at the food, his eyes distant, lost in thought.

Artemis crinkled her nose at his comment and padded into the bathroom, turning on the water and slipping into steaming out shower. it felt good, it chased away her thoughts

Mark sighed, running a hand through his hair. Something. He was missing something. But what? He sifted through his memories, studying each one carefully.
"Nothing is ever as it seems Boyio. You got to be careful, some people might manipulate your mind." Jack said as he stared down at Mark. "There are mediators that can do it, and I wouldn't put it past them to use it for bad."
"Yes, Mentor." Mark said, his twelve year old mind racing wildly with the thoughts of adventure, intrigue, dames! He hadn't been paying all that much attention, not until Jack got right in his face.
"It'll happen one day Mark. It'll happen. Don't let it fool you."
"Yes, Sir. I promise, I'll keep my eyes open."
Mark frowned. Manipulaters of the mind.....

Artemis sighed and finally emerged, drying herself off,slipping back into her clothes, and making her way back out to mark

"NO! MENTOR!" Mark, now grown to look forever eighteen, shouted as the gaurds of the council held him back. Mentor, Jack, looked back at him, his eyes filled with sadness.
"I must accept the conciquences (sp?)."
"NO! PLEASE! PLEASE DON'T IT WAS MY FAULT!" Mark struggled, though it didn't help. Brendon stood off a ways, his eyes cast to the ground. Whether in shame or not, Mark neve did figure out. But he took it as shame. Mark felt his heart breaking as they kneeled Jack to the block, making him lay his neck in place.
"NO!" Mark shouted, as the ax came down. A fleeting shadow, a flicker of a man entered his side vision, though he was to busy watching Jack's head roll to a stop to really pay attention.

Mark's face turned pained, a tear rolling from the corner of his eye, so lost in the memory that he knew nothing of the prestent moment.

Artemis rushed to mark's side, her hand sliding in his "mark?" she shook him gently "mark? are you okay? snap out of it" she demanded, panicked

Mark blinked a few times and looked around. It was weird, finding himself in a hotel room instead of the council hall, and it took him a few minutes to remember how he had gotten there. He looked down at his hand, fingers wrapped around his. He followed the hand to the face that it belonged to. Upon seeing her panicked look, Mark snapped out of it. "Is everything alright?" he asked her, his pain now masked and concern replacing it.

"me? what about you? you're crying" Artemis gasped