Well, Here I Am (narrative)
If this was death, Artemis was far from impressed.
Being forced into Concept like that was bad enough, but she found the place a bit boring. There was really nothing she could do while she healed and formed a new corpus. All she could do was wait. And think.
After she got past just being furious about her death, she gave some thought to the all too brief battle. Akheron, damn him, had played her perfectly. Art had been so angry with him and his idiot brother invading her home and slaughtering her dogs that she had reacted exactly as Akky had wanted. She had gone in with no plan, just anger and cutting comments, all of which gained her nothing. Except for the one about family being paramount. She was a little proud of that one.
She had acted rashly and dragged Apollo and Athena into her mess. Her closest siblings and she had put their lives in jeopardy. She really hoped that they had done better than she had. And she really, really hoped they kicked those Underworlders’ asses. Hard and maybe with some permanent damage.
She knew what her mistake had been. Artemis had tried to engage in close quarters combat with an opponent that was stronger than she was. Not to mention insane. Athena had always told her that one should play to their strengths in battle. Art’s strong suit was hunting, not straight on fighting.
She should have remembered that lesson. Then she would have hunted those assholes from a distance. Then she might have been able to taken care of both of them without risking Athena or Apollo.
Shoulda. Woulda. Coulda. Whatever. What’s done is done. Dead was dead.
What was really on her mind was what she was going to do to once she returned. The most obvious answer would be that she would go out hunting and catch herself a big Doom monkey and repay him the kindness he recently showed her. She could almost picture it. A very long hunt, slow. Making him wonder when and where she would attack him next. She saw the wonderful visions of Moros the moron with dozens arrows piercing several and various parts of his anatomy. It would be a very long time before he died.
He killed her. She would come back and kill him. And then he would come back and kill her again and so on and so on. Round and round they would go with no one ever winning. An endless cycle of killing and resurrection.
That would just suck and not solve anything. And Art was really not that interested in dying again.
Therefore, she needed something else for him. Something really nasty just for him. Having Moron sent to Tartarus was obviously out of the question. Hell, the bastard was suppose to have been there when he was out killing her. If those being punished could come and go as they pleased, it hardly seemed like that bad a place to be sent. Uncle Hades needed to tighten his hold down there or those idiots would try to take his throne next.
Killing him was out. Sending him to Tartarus was out. That left… What?
If she did anything brutal to the nut-job, he would probably just get off on it. She laughed to herself as she thought that maybe Moron needed a few centuries tied to the comfy chair being constantly attacked by fluffy pillows and tickled by feathers. The asshole could certainly take physical abuse, but let’s see how he handled endless softness.
Maybe she would see if Ares had any ideas. Or even better, Enyo or Eris. They might be able to come up with something really good. Enyo might enjoy having a new play-toy. Most likely, she would just ask Apollo or Athena for their input.
Artemis came as close as she could to sighing as her thoughts shifted from revenge to those she had left behind. Poor Apollo. He had been there and had watched as Moron snapped her neck. Her twin was not going to be happy with her for dying on him. She hoped his latest girlfriend would be there to help him through this. He was going to need support.
She took small comfort in the fact that Philammon wasn’t around to have to suffer through her death. But there were others. Athena, of course would be very upset (or at least Art thinks she will) as will Lottie. Poor Lottie will be crushed, as will her mother. And she and Soter had started a pretty nice relationship and he would likely be upset that he could not keep her safe.
Zeus would not be happy and would most likely use her death as a rallying point for a war with the Underworlders. She didn’t mind that at all. Whatever it took to bring the bastards down, she was all for. Go get them, Dad!
Yes, thinking was about all she could do right now while she healed. Think and wait.