Voices in my head

The moment Alissa's desire to take over Artemis's memory plane had been completely diminished by Artemis's desire to stay intact, that's when Alissa was no longer able to enter Artemis's body. Alissa's plan ended up going worse than she had expected, because clearly, she had no way of using her primary target.

Being unable to possess Artemis's body meant absolutely the worst for Alissa. There was no one else to compensate for Elena's and Artemis's place, which basically means that Alissa is forced to proceed with her next approach, which has an even lower chance of succeeding, now that a step to her plans was skipped.

'It's over… It's not going to work. Fate is really against me…' Alissa could only despair. She could not look at Artemis, and sat in a corner instead, completely shriveled up.

'Should I just give up? There has to be another way right? Isn't there always a way in life? Oh, wait, I'm not even alive…'

Even though Alissa was so tired and so close to giving up, she didn't want to give up. She couldn't accept the state of her current life, and was willing to do anything to fight off against her cruel fate.

*Sigh…*

At last, she could only let out an exhausted and frustrated puff of non-existing breath. Things were simply too difficult for her, and clearly, it seems to be that her goal is something impossible to achieve.

'Wait…'

Just when Alissa thought she was hopeless, that's when she remembered that she still has that new idea of hers that she needed to test out. She had been so caught up with her failure earlier, that she had forgotten about the idea of hers. An idea, which might be the last slim sense of hope that she needs…

With the resolve to achieve that slim hope, Alissa got rid of the horrible state that she was in, and stood up to walk towards Artemis. Her eyes were determined, as she made her way closer to Artemis's ears. When she was close enough, she uttered, "I should teach Mark how to hunt…"

While uttering those words, she made sure to change her voice into one that is very similar to the voice of Artemis. That way, Artemis would be confused and assume that it's her own thoughts, which she did. She didn't show any signs of hearing anyone, which has to mean that she had thought it to be her own thoughts.

'Please work, please work…' Alissa could only hope. This hope of hers was in fact her slim sense of hope that she had longed for.

A last desperate sense of hope…

A last desperate leap for the hopes of better…

It was about an hour or so, when Mark finally came passing by. Within this one hour, Alissa was able to confirm that Artemis had definitely confused her modified voice for her own thoughts. As to how she was able to confirm it. That's because Artemis would stare out of her window often times.

'Surely, she must be waiting for Mark in anticipation.' Alissa assumed, when she had confirmed the slight change in Artemis's actions.

"Hey, Mark!" Artemis called out to Mark when was passing by in front of her house.

Hearing her call, Mark stopped his tracks, and looked straight in the direction of where Artemis was standing. Artemis was already at the door, waving to Mark, and gesturing for him to come closer to her. Mark of course didn't mind having his jog disturbed, since he is familiar with Artemis, and because he knew that she always has something useful to say or advice him with.

"You've improved your breathing. Good job." Were the first few words that Artemis had told Mark.

"Haha, it's all thanks to your help." Mark replied.

"No need for such modesty. Anyway, I don't want to interfere with your private life, but, I can feel some kind of resentment and killing intent in you. Is there someone you hate? If so, come inside. Maybe I can help…"

The words of Artemis were different to what Alissa had expected. Alissa had told her to teach Mark how to hunt, however, she had taken such words quite differently. A reason for this change in approach, was because of Artemis's talents and character. Alissa didn't account for such traits, and as a result, she met quite the unexpected.

Apparently, Artemis has the talents of a empath and spiritualist, and the character of a hunter. Not just any hunter however, but a killer, who had taken human lives before due to her talents as an empath and spiritualist. This is the reason for her change in approach…

The thought of teaching Mark how to hunt, she understood it differently in comparison to Alissa. Alissa saw it as something simple as them hunting for wild together, and forming a loving relationship eventually. Meanwhile, Artemis could sense the desire to kill in Mark, and as a result, thought of teaching him how to hunt humans. One had innocent thoughts of a lovely bond being build through the wild, while the other had thoughts of cruelty and torture that would build the best killing machine.

Both thoughts contrasted each other, which made Alissa almost wanting to pass out.

'M-maybe they'll form a romantic relationship as assassins?" Alissa tried to stay optimistic.

"But won't that just make it difficult for me to approach Mark through other women?! Won't she just kill all of my avatars?!" Alissa wanted to cry out loud when she had realized how even more troublesome her situation has become.