Counting Stars at Dawn

19: Laying The Future To Rest

Several weeks passed ever since Hades made the decision to not ever mark Artemis.

He didn't have the heart to tell him he would never mark him, but he still acted normally and loved every second of his existence. Yet, there was a crushing sense of dread in the vampire now. He felt on the brink of a mental breakdown each time he and Artemis shared a loving moment or even when they demonstrated their physical affection.

He could never forget that his love would be in vain. Hades would never be able to hold him forever, mark or no mark, Artemis would still perish and leave him in the dark.

Artemis had lost track of time and the wedding was almost upon him. He was so caught up with details and bombarded with requests left and right that he completely forgot Hades' feelings about it. Because of this, arguments between the two escalated and stressed Artemis more than ever.

"Hades I can't repeat this enough!" Artemis argued. "I have to marry her! You don't get a say in it, I don't get a say in it, she doesn't get a say in it, no one gets a damn say in it!"

"Artemis you keep failing to think about something important! It's killing me you haven't even thought once about it!" Hades held his ground. "Have you even thought of what becomes of us when you marry her? What are you going to do about me, huh? Are you gonna spend nights with me and her? I'll have you know Artemis, I do not share!"

"I'm not your goddamn possession to share Hades! If you have a problem with it, then you get nothing!"

Hades exclaimed in exasperation and rubbed his face with his hands.

"Seriously, I don't see it." Hades bitterly shook his head. "You lot label us as the insensitive selfish ones for a century but no. It's all wrong. It's all fucked up."

"I'm not being insensitive Hades! I'm telling you the truth, which you can't seem to understand no matter how many times I repeat it!" Artemis shouted.

"No, you know what? You are being insensitive Artemis. In fact, it seems to me like you just don't care at all happens to our relationship afterwards. And you know what makes it worse?"

Hades closed in on Artemis and he backed away to stop at a wall. Hades' gleaming red eyes dug into Artemis's blue ones and he whispered:

"It's starting to look to me like this is all a farse. You didn't have any intention of taking this seriously ever, did you?"

"Of course I didn't Hades!" Artemis yelled. "What did you want from me?! It doesn't matter how much you or I want it, we can't go past loving each other in secret! It was never meant to be any more serious than this, it wasn't even supposed to happen in the first place! Why can't you get it through your head! Urgh!"

Artemis left Hades alone in his potion lab, and stormed away.

It stung in a completely different way for Hades hearing Artemis say it. He had a point, one he couldn't admit. It was never supposed to get serious, they weren't supposed to fall in love with each other, hell they weren't supposed to be in the forest at that time.

Seeing as he needed to cool down, Hades escaped to find calm in the dark forest.

Time scurried fast, and the prince of the Sapphire Kingdom was now one week away from marrying. Artemis was stressed, not only was he forced to go through with this, Ruby was constantly manipulating him to do as she pleased, but he also had to deal with Hades.

As soon as Artemis was spotted outside of his tower, he was once more pushed into a wedding related matter. They were rehearsing their first dance.