Chapter 44: We were happy

Year 2001

Artemis sat by the chair near the window of their small house. In front of her was the crib of the two-year-old Magnus who was soundly sleeping.

A tear fell from her eye as she stared at the sleeping little angel in front of her. Magnus had inherited Jace's blonde hair and her brown eyes. But he was more of a Jace than an Artemis, she thought.

She wiped her tears as she took a deep breath and stared at her left hand and found that the emptiness she had been feeling was warranted.

After she had successfully conceived Magnus, she and Jace decided to get married and two years later her life had never been anything but happy.

But now, Jace had decided to end things and she still didn't know why.

He angrily snatched the wedding ring from Artemis' finger and threw it away and left the house suddenly without any word nor explanation for her.

"Luna"

Artemis turned around and saw her father standing on the door frame of the room. His eyes were full of sadness and pity and Artemis hated it.

Phoebus was the first person to jump out of joy when Artemis went home to properly introduce Jace. He couldn't hide his overwhelming happiness when he could finally see his youngest daughter creating her own family.

And yet, he was the first person to feel like something was wrong the moment Jace suddenly decided to leave.

"Dad, sorry, I didn't hear you coming in."

"How's Magnus?"

"Sleeping as always, I'm just glad that he isn't clingy. He won't search for Jace."

Artemis almost choked on her own words. Even just saying Jace's name out loud was enough to bring back the pain.

Phoebus went closer to his daughter and gave her a hug. His heart shattered the moment he saw his daughter display a weakness that wasn't usually there.

"I… just don't understand dad. We were happy, we were talking about our future. A future for the three of us and then suddenly, out of nowhere he decided that he wanted things to end?"

Artemis was crying her heart out now, feeling the warmth that his father's hug brought made her feel like she could talk about anything if it's him.

"Oh, my Luna"

"Daddy, is love that weak?"

Phoebus didn't know how to respond. Here was his daughter questioning love and he didn't know how to explain it to her.

In the first place, they never had this talk before she decided to marry Jace. Phoebus assumed that she would know since she was smart, and she could understand and observe things more clearly compared to other people. But he was wrong, Artemis never had a clear understanding of what love really was.

All she knew was that she wanted Jace and that she wanted to build a future with him in the picture.

"Is love that feeble? I just don't understand. What exactly went wrong"?

Artemis' tears continued on pouring and Phoebus could do nothing but stare at her and hug her.

"My darling, how about you go and try to talk it out with him?"

Artemis looked at her father. She looked like a little child, then again, she's only 22. Phoebus caressed her head.

"I'll watch over Magnus, go. Talk it out with him, patch things up or whatever it is. You would never know what happened or why things went wrong if you didn't ask the person involved."

Artemis didn't want to admit it, but she was scared. She was scared of knowing that she might have done something wrong that was why Jace left her.

She was scared to know just exactly where she lacked. She wasn't perfect, she knew that, but she didn't want to admit it. She didn't want other people to know that she was a failure.

The next day she went straight to work. She knew that Jace would be there. Both of them never really stopped working for the NRA, they just worked out both of their schedules so that they would still have time for Magnus.

And there she saw him; he was busy talking with Dione, but Artemis knew exactly that it was a ruse to avoid her.

"Jace"

She called him the moment she got near the two. It broke her heart how he acted as if he didn't hear her. If it wasn't for Dione who stopped talking with Jace to look at her, she wouldn't be able to repeat what she just said.

"Let's talk"

Jace coldly stared at her before walking to the dormitories, Artemis followed suit.

Her hunch was right afterall, she knew that Jace would stay at his former quarters here in the NRA. Jace didn't have any parents nor family left. The only family that he said he had left was Artemis and Magnus but that changed too.

They went inside Jace's former room and as soon as Artemis shut the door behind her, she heard Jace.

"Make it quick, Dione and I have a new assignment."

Lies.

Artemis wanted to believe it, that he was only lying so he could avoid her.

"What changed?"

Jace stared at her, a little confused at her questions.

"What?"

"Why the sudden change of heart? What did I do wrong that you just decided to pack up and leave me and our son?"

Jace's disbelief was plastered on his face, a little while later he sneered at Artemis, something that made her more afraid.

"You really didn't know what you did?"

Jace walked towards Artemis, finally slamming his hand on the door behind her, caging her in between.

"Hey Artemis, did you really love me?"

Artemis gaped at him; she was supposed to be asking that not the other way around.

"Of course, I did, why would you—"

"DAMN IT THEN WHY DID YOU ASKED ME TO GET YOU PREGNANT ALL FOR THE SAKE OF YOUR EXPERIMENT!??"

Artemis could feel her blood running dry, a voice on the back of her head telling her that it was dangerous. She was taken aback.

"Ho— how did you know about that."

She widened her eyes the moment those words left her mouth. Those words weren't what she wanted to say, no, what she wanted to say was different.

'Sorry but I really did love you.'

She wanted to say that so why did her mouth blurted something else.

Jace's expression proved the rage that he was feeling.

"You really—- Chaos told me about that experiment of yours. So what? I thought Magnus would be a child born out of love but instead he was a product. A trophy of yours to prove that your experiment was a success."

No… Artemis wanted to scream, she wanted to say that she did want to have Magnus, and that she had loved Jace so much, but the words never came out of her.

"That's not love, Artemis. I know you never experienced love in your household, but that thing wasn't love. I don't want to keep on seeing Magnus and every time I'll remember how he came into this world."

Who are you to decide that it wasn't love what I felt. Who are you to decide how to feel towards my son?

Artemis' pain was slowly transforming into an entity that was a stranger for her and she had no idea.

"That's why I'm ending this Artemis. There's no way I would be happy by your side. There's no mending this relationship so it's best to keep the professionalism while we're in the same work"

Without uttering another word, Artemis opened the door and walked away. There was no more pain and she wasn't scared anymore. She was now angry, and her rage was something so unfamiliar to her that it made her smile.

She went to her desk and opened up her computer, she typed something. Dione, who was sitting next to her, couldn't help but feel scared when he saw Artemis' expression.

Artemis who was smiling maniacally finally understood how the question that was stuck to her since she was a child felt.

The question.

How does it feel to want to kill someone?