Till Death Do Us Part..

Artemis shook her head "they would have found a way through, regardless" she squeezed his hand, "it's not your fault"

"Artemis, the only way through is the gate. I was letting myself be distracted by a Nymph. Of all the things, a stupid Nymph!" Mark shook his head, gripping the stearing wheel. "It just...it is my fault, Artemis. There is no justification for what happened. The council threw me out, along with my brother. Our mentor was killed because it was apparent he lacked the ability to train worthy keepers, and we were cursed to walk the world for eternity as neither souls, nor humans. Never to know what it was like to have a family, and never to be shown kindness by any mediators who knew of us. We were to be turned over to the searchers if we so much as asked for help."

Artemis fell silent, unsure what to say. So she just squeezed his hand on more time. "I'm a mediator.." she reasoned "I hope you feel I'm showing you kindness"

Mark gave a small smile that almost was a grimace. "Yes, I do feel you are. Though I'm not sure it is such a great idea." His eyes scanned the dark infront of them as they passed though yet another town. His eyes filled with a certain saddness, emptyness.

Artemis frowned "and why is that?"

"Because, I wouldn't want to loose you too." Mark said giving her a sad smile before looking back out at the road. His eyes distant.

artemis frowned "where is this 'council'. there are others like us? how come no came to help me? I was left to think I was crazy"

"The council stay....hidden. No one really knows where they are, nor what they look like. It's rare that mediators are even found. The only way they are found is like with me and Brendon when we were found by the searchers." Mark's voice was still a little quite, though it had picked up some volume, and his eyes were still distant.

"So we're just left to struggle through this on our own?!" artemis exclaimed, her volume rising in anger

"Well...yes. Yes actually. It's how they keep everything under wraps. Most mediators don't make it pass sixteen. They are either found by the soul searchers, or commited to psych wards." Mark glanced at her.

Artemis swallowed hard, she had almost been sentenced to both those fates "what a messed up system" she steamed, "they meant for me to die?"

Grace fell asleep soon after the music turned into news.

Mark gave a small nod. "More or less." He let out a long breath and glanced over at her. "Theoretically you should have died three years ago when the man in black came to you but was scared off. Do you remember that?"

Man in black? yes, that rung a dim bell... a very dim bell. it was one of the memories she tried to forget, fearing she was crazy "who was he?" her voice wavered, betraying her fear

"A searcher." Mark said, not looking at her. He was starting to feel a little stalker-ish...especially since he was the one that chased the searcher off and actually killed him.

"and.. and what happened to him? how come I am not dead?" she froze, " how did you know about that night?"

Mark didn't look at her. "I was there that night. I saw the searcher, I killed him."

Artemis stared at him "there? why where you there?"

Mark sighed and ran a hand through his hair. Crap. Now she wanted to know the whole stalker story. "Well...you see..I've actually been here, in this town, longer than records say..." He refused to look at her, thinking she'd give him the "CREEPER" look. "I saw your mark when you were...about to be attacked by the searcher..so I stuck around."

Artemis blinked hard a few times "how long have you been... looking out for me?"

Mark shrugged and sighed. "Aproximately three years or so..I don't know. Time doesn't hold much meaning for me any more for obvious reasons."

Artemis studied him for a moment "how many times have you saved my life exactly?"

"A rough guess?" Mark's eyes widened slightly as he tried to think. He let out a long breath. "Uh, hmm. Somewhere near the thousand mark. Maye a bit more."

Artemis froze, her life had been in danger that many times? "thou-thousands?" she stuttered

"Not thousands. More like 1250 times. Give or take a few." Mark shrugged. "At least once a day if not twice..sometimes more."