𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐑𝐎𝐏𝐘 ― d. grayson ¹

⤿ twenty-six

Tears flooded her eyes. She was absolutely frustrated. But that slight blur did not blind her from an upcoming attack. Jason had gotten tired of waiting. He chose the wrong move. Artemisia grabbed his staff mid-air, pulling it from his grasp and tossing it away, allowing it to clank as loud as it could to prove a point. "Just wait a goddamn second! Something's not right!"

"What's wrong, Temi?" Rachel jumped on her feet, face contorted in an inner battle of whether she should walk closer or leave her space.

Artemisia took a step away from them all, anticipating their need to comfort her. "My powers. They're not working. I think I screwed them up." She cast a glance around the room of worried faces. Her eyes landed on Dianna. "Can that happen?"

"I- I don't know," the girl spat quickly, intimidated by her desperate gaze.

Dick rushed to her side, ignoring her body language asking to be left alone. He stocked her arm. "Maybe you're just stressed. You should take a break."

"Yeah. I should clear my head. I need some time to think." Artemisia pulled her arm away and rushed out of the room before anyone argued with her. She did not want to hear any other opinion about her condition. Only she could understand what that void felt like. This was not stress.

And that time turned into hours. Artemisia had locked herself in her room. She did not lunch, nor had her mid-day coffee, or dinner. The sun in her window had fully set. She knew that eventually, she'd have to get out, eat something and face the team. She tried to push it as far as she could.

Her stomach rumbled with hunger and her head spun from being in bed for so long. Still, she strutted out of her room and straight into the kitchen. She tried to be quiet. No one should be around after dinner. They all go back to their rooms by then.

But, of course, they would not do so that night. All five of them, including a grumpy Jason, waited sitting around the counter. An empty seat faced them all. So, they wanted to talk. Artemisia silently obeyed their wordless request. Garfield stood up and seconds later, a plate was placed before her. She murmured thanks.

Before she could dive into the food, Dianna spoke quickly, almost afraid she'd run away. "After you left the training room, I started researching." Artemisia looked up, then down at her food, taking a bite. "When you fought Trigon, and I came back, our souls were divided. Torn apart, actually. That essence might have died when our energies were split."

"So they're lost forever?" The fork dropped from her hand, landing on her food quietly. She glanced over the table with a depressed feeling. Was it really all lost? It felt like the ultimate sacrifice to save the world.

Dick tried to reach towards her and do exactly what she tried to avoid. Rachel held him back by the wrist. He sat down and fidgeted with his hands. "They could be damaged. And we need to heal them."

"It might sound simple but it's not," Dianna snapped towards the man, delivering a glare. She swiftly turned to Artemisia, trying to appear put together. "We would contact another essence, ask for help and maybe it can cure yours."

"That sounds simple to me." Artemisia shrugged. Summoning anything seemed simple in movies and stories, so why wouldn't it be in real life? Especially if they weren't contacting the spiritual world, where unpredictable beings lived.

Dianna jumped to the edge of her seat, bringing herself closer to the woman. "Sounds," she remarked. "If your essence is dead, we could meet trouble. The essence would be confused as to why it was called for, and things could go very wrong very fast. We don't know much about them. No one does."

"What could happen?"

"Possession," Dick chimed suggestively.

Artemisia paused and thought about it, going back to her only source of summonings. If the victim's friends knew who to contact or how to do it, they could be exorcised. Worst case scenario, she dies. Dick met her haze with wondering eyes. "Reversible?"