Chapter 2

Turning around he looked at the girl who slightly cowered back from the sight of Artemis as he turned to walk away only for her to yell out "Hey wait a second". He looked over his shoulder at her while she grabbed her gear and quickly raced over towards him "You're a pilot of a sky ship are you not?" "What makes you think that" she pointed at the keys located on his belt as he sighed "Alright fine maybe I am the pilot of a sky ship what's your point?" "Ummm well I was just wondering if perhaps I could hitch a ride on your ship... I won't be a hassle I swear". Looking down into the girl's innocent eyes Artemis sighed "Alright fine, first things first what's your name and where are you heading". "My names Lilith and I don't exactly know where I'm heading to, I just want to get away from this place since it has to many bad memories for me". Artemis began to walk away as Lilith just stood there until he finally called back over his shoulder "Well come on then follow me to my ship unless you've changed your mind".

Lilith strode into the Balthazar behind Artemis as she gasped upon seeing just how huge an air ship was. She had seen them before flying in the skies but never up close and looking at one now they were every bit as magnificent as she had imagined. "Yeah she's impressive I must say, go ahead and throw your stuff into the spare room I got plenty of free rooms for you to crash in. As she raced off towards her room Artemis slumped into the pilot's chair and stared out the front of the window wondering what the hell he had just gotten himself into. "Man this is some predicament, I got a random girl trailing along with me but I just couldn't find it in me to say no to that pretty face of hers" he muttered to himself looking across at the photo of a young blonde haired bombshell on his table. "Yep I am definitely a sucker for a pretty woman isn't that right Kat" with that he pushed the picture down as Lilith wandered into the pilots area and picked up the picture staring at it inquisitively. "So, who's that your girlfriend or something" grabbing the picture from her hands he threw it back onto the table "Was my girlfriend is more like, she dumped me awhile back kind of left me shattered and what not". "So then why do you keep her photo" Artemis shrugged his shoulders as he got up and walked over to the fridge grabbing a beer "I don't know part of me still cares for her I guess". 

 "What's your story like where is your family if you have any?", when Lilith heard that she looked down at the ground slightly "My parents left me when I was only 4 and I had to look after myself living in this area, but when I turned 18 I decided I would finally leave this place if I could only get a pilot to fly me out and then you just happened to come along". Artemis slumped back into his chair as he began turning various switches on which made the engine in the ship roar loudly to life "That's a pretty rough story I must say" as he pulled back a lever the ship slowly began to rise and the second he pushed a huge red button the ship shot forward at a rapid pace sending everything blurry until they stopped suddenly floating in the sky. 

 Lilith had fallen over from the sudden surge forward and slowly stood up as Artemis unclipped his seat belt and stood up as the ship casually flew by itself. "How is the ship flying itself?" she asked curiously as Artemis pointed to a flashing red dot "Auto pilot". As he wandered through the ship Lilith followed behind him as she asked him the story of his life "Mine isn't exactly an overly pleasant tale either, basically my parents were killed when I was 2 by the Protoss and I grew up on the streets by myself. Then I joined the army when I was 12 and eventually was shipped off to war by the age of 16 where I lost my right arm and had it replaced with a metal prosthetic. After that I couldn't stand the military and how they only went around conquering so I became a space pirate and have been flying through the skies by myself for 3 years". 

Artemis finished his tale and then slumped down onto the couch while Lilith sat there entranced by his story but even more by his metal arm "Can I uhh touch your arm" "Huh yeah sure go ahead". She slowly placed her hand on the cold steel and began running her fingers up it "Can you even feel that" "To a degree yes the nerves aren't fully attached which is kind of useful since I've had quite a few sharp objects hit that spot. Now if you'll excuse me I'm going to take a nap for a few hours feel free to wander about the ship or watch TV it doesn't matter to me". With that Artemis slid his shirt off while Lilith gasped at just how ripped his torso was but also the numerous scars covering it "Huh what you never seen a guy shirtless before" Artemis said as Lilith blushed slightly looking away "No not really". Shrugging his shoulder Artemis slide his pants off so he was only wearing briefs and climbed into bed pulling the covers over him "Well anyway night Lilith" "Right night Artemis" she said staring at him sleeping peaceful for a moment then realised she had been staring for too long and darted off elsewhere even though her mind kept falling back to the image of him shirtless.

 As Lilith settled into the bed of her spare room she thought about where exactly she was planning on going and figured that anywhere was better than her previous home as it contained to many bad memories. Slowly hey eyelids began to droop shut as she felt perfectly safe in the presence of Artemis even though she didn't know him at all it almost felt like he would protect her from anything.

 Artemis leapt up from his bed as the Balthazar began to rock violently almost like it was under attack from something. Grabbing his assault rifle he ran into the pilots room to find there was nothing outside but could hear screaming coming from inside Lilith's room. Throwing open the door to find he found her asleep but yelling for someone or something to stop as a green aura emanated around her body causing everything inside her room to float. Racing across the room he grabbed Lilith shaking her as she slowly opened her eyes causing the strange aura to disappear as everything in her room dropped to the floor. 

"Huh, what's the problem?" she said groggily rubbing her eyes as Artemis stood up looking confused "What you don't remember yelling in your sleep?" "I was yelling I didn't realise" Lilith said incredibly confused as Artemis figured she didn't know what she was doing. "Weird I've never seen this type of power displayed by a human before this is something a protoss would be able to do" deciding it was best not to tell Lilith what she was doing he asked her what exactly she was dreaming of. 

 "I can't remember exactly as it was very hazy but I recall someone screaming then a bunch of loud gunfire followed by a huge explosion and then everything went blank". "Well don't worry it was just a dream" he said as Lilith glimpsed down at her hands which were trembling "But it felt so real almost like I was actually there at the time". Without even realising Artemis reached out and grabbed Lilith's hands as she looked up into his sky-blue eyes which made her feel a sense of calm as he spoke in a soft tone "But it was just a dream alright so forget about it". 

Snapping back to reality he pulled away from her suddenly like he had been burnt by something turning around he quickly walked out of the room leaving Lilith completely stunned and somewhat mesmerised by what had just happened. As the door slid shut Artemis leaned against it wondering why he did that, in the back of his mind it just felt natural to comfort her. Thinking back he realised the last time he touched someone like that would have been Kat which was why he leapt back suddenly as the sudden touch of a women made all the hurt and pain he had bottled up slowly bubble to the surface.

 Grabbing a beer from the fridge Artemis dropped into a chair as his mind wandered back to the last time he saw Kat before she had broken it off with him. He was going over to give her birthday present but as he opened the door he found her locking lips with another man. Upon being found out she merely said to Artemis that she had grown tired of him and decided to move on and he should do so as well. The coldness in her voice pierced a hole right through his heart as he dropped her gift a diamond ring on the floor then stormed off tears slowly trying to escape from his eyes. 

 That week he drank his sorrows away every single night until finally he decided to enlist in the army figuring that if he died it would bring him some satisfaction as living with this broken heart of his was unbearable. The two years of war made him an even darker man as the hole in his heart never truly did heal over as he became a ruthless cold-blooded killer not sparing anyone no matter what.