One mistake can change an entire life

It had been a busy night. More so than usual, and Penelope felt like she hadn’t been standing still for the last eight hours she had already been at work, she usually had no troubles with keeping up, but ever since Blaise had come by, her head had been in the clouds, or just shattered without her really understanding what was going on. Then she had a small break, found her phone where a message had been waiting for her, her mother needed her help. She quickly got her things together and was on her way out of the door; then, someone shouted for her help; turning around, she pointed at the flask that they needed before saying that she really had to go. But as she turned around, she bumped into someone instead of the free space she had thought she had. Now, she usually was rather good at just ignoring what happened around her, giving a quick apology and then she was off again. But the rush of emotions that washed over her, and then images of her and this man, well, was enough to knock the air out of the poor human who looked up at the tall man. For a moment, she thought it had to be Blaise, but she was quick to see that the person in front of her, though he shared the resemblance of Blaise, wasn’t him at all. “I’m terribly sorry abaht that; I should be more careful, ‘re ya aw wite?” she asked him, not really wanting to stay, but she had to be friendly to the customers, right?

Aldonas was trying to find his brother to discuss some business matter. Everything pointed in the direction of him being at River’s Casino, and if he wasn’t there, well then River might be able to tell where he had been going. As he got into, the casino, there was one smell that hit him. He wasn’t even sure if it was possible, but as he got further inside, he walked straight into a small human being. As he looked down at her, multiple, painful feelings welled up in him. Memories, wonderful memories. All of their spots, talks, and events. Planned futures. The engagement. The talk about kids. The fights. The tears. The empty bed and the very lonely aftermath. “Sorry what?” he said, not because he didn’t understand her, but because he for a moment had felt trapped in the memories. Before she could repeat herself, he shook his head and gestured for her not to repeat herself. “Yeah, I-” he nodded with closed eyes feeling how it hurt almost looking at her. “Sorry, you just reminded me of someone I used to know,” he told her, followed by opening his eyes to look at her. “It looks like you’re busy with going home,” he told her, with a small nod. “Please, go on,” he said and stepped to the side, so he wasn’t blocking the way for her. “Take care-” he told her. There was something in him, that simply told him, that somewhere in her line of her family, Paula was a part of it - or maybe not. “Sorry, ma’am,” he called hoping for a reaction, “Please listen to your heart,” he told her, “Or you’ll be spending the rest of your life wishing you had,” he finished his advice.

She chuckled and gave him time to figure out what he wanted to say, knowing that his ‘sorry what’ had more likely been a way for him to gather his thoughts. “Nah ‘arm done”, she said with a smile still on her lips, nodding when he told her to take care “ya too,” she answered and started to walk away, only to be stopped after a few steps. When she looked over her shoulder, it was clear to see that he confused her, not really understanding what he meant but decided to nod and give him a small smile; “thank ya” she then turned and got out of the casino before he could change his mind and start talking with her again.

Now, it hadn’t been the small altercation that had gotten the young witch's attention; no, it had been the tone of voice. A voice from the past, no less, a voice that she had thought she had forgotten, but as he stood there, it was like no time had passed at all. Her stomach twisted painfully, and she looked back into her drink; once again, she had been stood up or left behind if one wanted to think that. She had found out she was pregnant but hadn’t had the time to talk with Bentley about it because he was never available when she had tried to reach out. She still hadn’t figured out if she wanted to keep it or not, but somewhere down the line, she had found that she really wanted to become a mother, to show the world she wasn’t as heartless as many thoughts her to be. She had now lost her third mate in a concise period of time, and right now, she didn’t really care much about her or the baby’s health as she drowned her drink.
“Rough night?” she called out, looking up at Aldonas, giving him a small smile before turning her gaze toward the bartender, “I’ll have another one, and I’ll buy his drink as well; it seems like he needs it” now, she knew she might need to tell him who she was, but maybe just a few minutes of him not knowing, then she would do the right thing; but just a few minutes more.

A thank you was received, and he pulled a soft smile, feeling it difficult to see her go. It was awful how it could affect him so many years later. As soon as she was out of the building and out of sight, he pulled his eyes away from her. Away from the pain that apparently lived to haunt him again. He started to enter the casino to continue his search, even though he couldn’t really get his mind off the small blonde lady. Someone called, seemingly for him and it made him look up, pointing at himself to be sure that he wasn’t being mistaken. It was indeed him that she spoke to, so he moved over to her, hearing how she ordered herself another drink and one for him too. “Thank you miss, but I’m not here to drink,” he said giving her a gentle smile, simply standing next to her. Though he should walk away and find the men he was looking for, he stood next to her, because now she had ordered a drink, and it was probably too late to tell the bartender no, so at least he could have this one drink, but then he would have to go before Blaise got away.

She gave him a sad smile, then looking back at the bartender, she found it odd he decided to stay when he had just told her he wasn’t there to drink. Her tongue ran over her lips before letting out a small sigh, her finger running over the empty glass edge. “Blaise isn’t here, if it's him you’re looking for, I think you’ll have better luck in Southside now that the Phoenix brothers decided to take over the ownership of The Serpents”, she explained, letting her eyes find a spot on the shelve in front of her, maybe she should stop drinking as well. She knew she should. But right now, she felt nothing, if she was being honest, well, nothing other than pain and annoyance, primarily by her own doing. Yes, the only person she could blame for all of this was herself, herself and her foolish hope that one day she would amount to something better than a lonely girl hiding away in a bar instead of looking at the consequences of her own actions in the eye.

Aldonas furrowed his brows as the lady started to speak about the exact person he was searching for. “Excuse me?” he said, clearly not understanding how she knew. Was she telepathic? “I really don’t want to sound rude or anything, but how do you know who I’m looking for?” he wondered. It confused him to such a degree that he was afraid that he was wearing a t-shirt that said that he searched for Blaise. “And if it’s not too much to ask, how do you know Blaise?” It didn’t surprise him that Blaise probably had been in her company too. She did after all look more than fantastic. He could almost hear how Blaise could joke about a woman being a snack, even though these dear witches never really got into the category of a ‘snack’ in Aldonas book.

Her gaze turned, and she looked at him with a small smile as he asked how she had known and then added the part about her knowing Blaise; her tongue ran over her lips as she returned her eyes to the spot on the shelve she had been looking at before. She guessed that the cat was out of the bag now; it was for the better; instead of lying or trying to build a relationship with him, it would be wrong based on the fact that she didn’t look like herself. Right now, she didn’t want any more trouble or end up breaking her or another person's heart in the process. “I guess not much has changed in the last hundred years”, she whispered; her fingers kept gliding over the glass; looking down, she saw the golden liquid of the drink she shouldn’t be drinking. “I don’t blame you for not recognising me; a lot has changed in my department” she finally returned her gaze to him, feeling how the pain folded around her, crushing her and her soul ever so slowly, “It's me, Artemis” she whispered the words, knowing he would either walk away or not believe her, she was guessing it would be a mix of the two of them when he finally did believe that she was telling him the truth.  

His eyes noticed how she licked her lips. She seemed so thoughtful and secretive. His brows furrowed as she mentioned how things hadn’t changed in the last hundred years. It narrowed everything down, so it was easier to figure out who she was. But it didn’t help much, because he didn’t seem to recognize her looks, though there was something in the ways she spoke and moved that seemed familiar. He watched her as she continued to explain how things had changed for her, only to finally reveal her identity. Artemis. A short-lived chuckle left him before he turned his gaze to the drink that he had been served at some point in their conversation. He picked the glass up and downed most of it. “Yeah,” he said with his voice slightly horse from how the drink had had its effects on his throat. He put the glass down, looking at it for a thoughtful moment before he turned his attention back to her. “Things must have changed a lot in your department,” he continued with a hoarse voice before he cleared his throat. “See, I thought you would be happy by now. Following your heart to those mighty warlocks,” he chuckled a little. “But here you are… Looking quite miserable, nursing that half-empty glass,” he said, clenching his teeth a little. He should be going, so he could find the serpents and find Blaise right after, but something told him, that he had to know; “What happened?”

She couldn’t help but laugh, not that it was a joyous laugh, not it was quite pitiful, and nothing like she usually did. Those mighty warlocks, she deserved that one, even though she couldn’t deny that it stung. Those mighty warlocks all seemed to have used her and then thrown her away when something better came along, what she hadn’t sacrificed for Killian, only to be discarded because his mate came along. Bentley, well, she should have known now, shouldn’t she? Whenever it involved Killian’s precious little girl Norah, he would jump to the opportunity to help her, no matter what he was doing.
What happened
Her eyes widened as she looked up at him, surprised he even wanted to know. A short-lived chuckle left her as her lips twisted for a moment. Where should she begin? “I got what I deserved”, she added, “lost three mates in the span of a year, and both those mighty warlocks chose someone else, so here I am, trapped in another person’s body because mine is rotting away; in the ground somewhere in Scotland.” She ended her sad little tale, not looking at him anymore, she knew she didn’t deserve pity because it was a path she had chosen for herself, but she still – she just felt so incredibly alone.

She had gotten what she deserved. That sentence made him sit down on the stool closest to her. Discarding the plans he had had for tonight’s search for his brother. Something that almost sounded like a scoff left him as he turned his eyes towards the glass he had gotten. “No one deserves to go through that,” he mumbled and pulled a short smile. “I know it hurts like hell to lose a mate,” he took a sip of his drink, emptying it. “And I’m sorry you went through that so many times within a year,” he told her and looked at her again. “I’m certain, that if you ask your lovers nicely, they can fix things up with your old body,” he said and leaned closer, but only to take her glass and lean back again, “And you don’t need this,” he said and emptied it. Her blood volume was over the average of a woman of her size, simply indicating that her body was going through stages he hadn’t believed she would be going through alone. He asked the bartender for some tab water, and only a moment later, he gave her the glass of water to her. “Sorry,” he told her.

Maybe he was right, no one deserved to go through that, but she still couldn’t think otherwise. She wasn’t a nice person, she never wanted to pretend otherwise, she had just thought she would find someone that could tolerate her for who she was, but she had been horribly wrong, mostly because she had tried to take the shortcut to the status she wanted. Now she didn’t care about that, nor what would become of her, which was a dangerous mindset to put yourself in. She had even gotten her old job back at the academy; funny how much joy that had brought her, even if she had found herself with an emotion she hadn’t been counting on, that being her sadness when she found out that Victoria no longer worked there. She knew it was a gamble to work there again, especially since Oliver worked at the academy, and even if her smell and looks had changed, her magical energy hadn’t.
She laughed when he told her that she could ask her lovers nicely. “Burned those bridges, and it might be for the better; I quite like this one” she gave him a softer smile, then saw how he took her drink. Did he know? For a moment, she felt panic forming in her chest but didn’t say anything about it.
“Thank you”, she whispered, taking a sip of the water and watching the liquid swirl around in her glass as she placed it back on the bar counter.
“So, how are you doing?” she asked and turned her eyes to him; he looked the same. It was almost painful how she could remember every small detail of their terse relationship. How she would do anything to go back in time and stay with him, but sadly she had been young and dumb back then. Not understanding the consequences of her own actions nor what love was really about.

He hummed thoughtfully as she explained how she had burned her bridges to get her body fixed. He was certain that if she asked the right people, those who might not be the ones she thought it would be, she would succeed, but maybe she wasn’t up for doing something like that.
She thanked him for taking her glass. Maybe it had functioned as a mental slap that she should take care of herself instead of drowning herself in miserable, mindless drinking. “Any time,” he said with a soft voice, and just like her, he let the liquid in the glass swirl a little around. His eyes looked up at her as she asked how he was doing. It felt so odd whenever he looked at her because she simply didn’t look like Artemis anymore, but he knew; she was Artemis. “Right this second? Not very well,” said and his eyes sought back to the drink he had taken from her. “But it’s just old wounds,” It could sound like it was their wounds that bothered him, but it certainly wasn’t. Their wounds only made him a little bitter, but people had gotten used to that, hadn’t they? “In general, however,” he said, thinking a little about how he was dealing with everyday life. “I’m okay,” he said, clenching his teeth a little by the thought. He wasn’t even fine or good, just okay. “And when are you heading home?” he wondered.

As he mentioned old wounds, she looked to where Penelope had gone out the door; she was guessing that the someone she looked like was someone that he had loved dearly in another life. But maybe it was her presence he was talking about as well; she couldn’t believe that he would be pleased about her being here, even though she found it oddly comforting that he had decided to sit down and talk with her.
“Right”, she whispered, almost as if she tasted the word, okay could mean many things; okay could mean that at least I’m not dead, or I can’t complain, but life is a little boring. But other than that, she decided not to prod in how he had phrased himself. Her eyes saw how he clenched his teeth, and before she could stop herself, she reached her fingers up, not that that they stayed by his jaw for long before she quickly removed her hand, knowing she had overstepped. “Sorry”, she whispered.
Then he asked when she was heading home; she let out a small sigh. “Should be doing so now” she turned her gaze toward him. “I live on the border on Oakheart and Southside; if you are heading that way, either way, want to walk with me?” she asked, not knowing if she overstepped or not, but she couldn’t help herself.

She reached for his jaw as he had clenched his teeth. It instantaneously made him lose the tension and look directly at her, somewhat surprised by the gesture. He tried to let it pass, let it fall to the ground as if nothing had happened, pulling up the topic of when she was heading home.
He thought it smart of her of going home now before she just continued to buy drinks that he had to take from her, not that he should be the one to make choices for her. “I would like to walk you home,” he said with a soft smile, not that there was anything to it, except for making sure that she was alright. He still cared for her. He emptied the glass he had taken from her and pushed it, and his own glass closer to the bartender so they could take them whenever they passed or had the time. He stood up, “Bottoms up,” he told her, even though it was just a simple glass of water. Whether she did it or not, he would give her a hand with getting up so they could leave as soon as possible. He had no purpose in staying when Blaise wasn’t here. His only ‘purpose’ right now was to accompany Artemis and make sure she got home safe now that he hadn’t been able to do that to the small girl who had wrecked his heart in another life, though Artemis also had done so. Her reasons however hadn’t been the same as they had been between him and Paula.

She tried not to put too much into his words, but she couldn’t help the feeling of her heart fluttering when he told her he would like to walk her home. There was something about the part where he would like to do something for her that breathed some fire into her otherwise broken and lonely heart.
“Bottoms up,” she said with half of a smirk and then drowned her glass of water before she got down from the chair, looking up at him from her very short stature. “I’ve shrunken a little too,” she hummed, even if her shoes gave her at least ten centimetres more than she should have had. She took her purse and jacket before she then nodded toward the entrance. “Shall we?” she asked with a soft voice, hugging her belongs toward her chest. There was so much she wanted to say to him, but no words left her as she silently started to guide him down the streets to where she lived. They got a couple of roads down from the Casino before she finally parted her lips. “I’m sorry for how things ended with us,” she said, feeling goosebumps glide over her arms for even letting those words leave her mouth. She rarely, if ever, apologised for anything, “leaving you was the biggest mistake I’ve ever made” she finally managed to get what she wanted to say, to leave her.

He chuckled a little more genuinely, “I can see that,” he said with a slightly brighter smile. As soon as she had gotten her belongings he nodded when she asked if they should proceed to go to her home. They walked along the dark streets, and even though he knew Blaise wasn’t around, he kept his senses out to see if he could pick up his scent, not that he would leave her if he caught it. His concentration was however disturbed as she broke the silence. He looked at her as she explained how she was sorry. He could feel how she was honest, especially because she wasn’t the person who apologized unless it was something very heartlessly. He felt like it was almost a hundred years too late that she said those words. He took a sharper breath as she spoke about how it was her biggest mistake. “I’m sorry,” he said looking ahead of them. “I hope you got some kind of satisfaction before you realized so,” he told her feeling it was difficult to sympathize with her for a past mistake, that apparently took this long to figure out, or at least say. “How did you realize it?” he wondered. There were many possibilities, even the possibility that she didn’t even know how she realized it.

Pain washed over her as stabbing needles in her skin when he told her that he at least hoped she had gotten some sort of satisfaction out of it. She looked away, not knowing how to answer that, maybe she had gotten some satisfaction, but if she was honest, she hadn’t really been happy since that day. She chuckled when he asked her when she had realised it; “a few years after I left”, she whispered before letting her dark eyes find their way down the street they were walking on. “But I was young and stubborn”, she hummed. “Still am” at this point, she was just counting down the days she had left because something told her that she didn’t have long to go, not with the child growing inside of her; she was getting more afraid by the minute that passed, that her mother would find her again, and do the same to that child as she had tried to do to Artemis.

He let his tongue glide over his teeth behind his closed lips. He glanced toward her as she mentioned that she was young and stubborn. His teeth clenched a little as she mentioned how she still was young and stubborn. “You are,” he agreed. She would always be young to him, and her stubbornness, well he could see that in the way she was drinking, but definitely pregnant, even though it didn’t show how far she was. She was keeping her baby. “A hundred years of experience isn’t necessarily enough to change that,” he said with a soft sigh. “I’m sorry that I’m not helping your mood yet,” he said and let his hand find her the shoulder furthest away from him and pulled her close, walking almost like glued to each other.

He was right; one could live for a thousand years and never see the wrong in what they were doing; it all came down to the part of; did they want to change. Maybe Artemis just hadn’t wanted to change, but something had shifted, and she wanted to try at least to become a better person than what she was right now. A better person for her children she would one day have.
A laugh left her as he was sorry that he wasn’t helping her mood, she liked the yet part, and as his arm found its way around her shoulders, she stiffened for a moment before she relaxed in his embrace. She placed her jacket over one arm and let the other find its way around his waist. It felt so incredibly safe walking here with his arm around her.
“You never sugarcoated things; I will always love that part of you”, she hummed, not thinking about how she was phrasing herself.

He noticed how she was almost spooked for a second as he had wrapped his arm around her shoulder, but it was easy to notice how she relaxed and got comfortable, wrapping an arm around him. He glanced towards her as she revealed how she always loved how he was blunt about the truth. “Well, there’s no need for false hopes or for expectations that are set too high,” he told her with a soft smile before he corrected his eyes forward while they got a few meters more on their feet. “Or are your expectations already too high?” he wondered and looked back at her. After all, she had phrased herself with what he would say were expectations. It could almost sound like he was a pessimist, but he didn't think of himself as one. He was just tired of getting his heart broken because he set his expectations too high. Life experience, one might say.

She looked up at him with her brows slightly furrowed as he asked her if her expectations were already too high; she wasn’t sure what he meant. She thought about it for a moment and looked into the darkness only illuminated by the streetlights shining every five meters. Maybe her expectations had been too high, or perhaps she had just been scared. “I don’t think –“ she stopped herself, letting out an almost defeated sigh. “I let my fear overrule me, and when I was ready to open up and become a better version of myself, I got burned”, she tried to explain, not knowing if it made much sense, “I wanted the world, and yes maybe my expectations had been too high when I was younger, but I’ve learned that all I really want is just someone to be mine, but the only one that chose me, I didn’t let in” she chuckled even though she didn’t find it funny, far from, but it was the truth nonetheless.

He watched her for a moment as she thought about her words, truly thinking it was a process that she interrupted herself. Evaluating what was going on and speaking up. A short hum left him as she spoke about how she had been burned in the process. That was interesting, and certainly something she could learn from. She continued to explain how she actually had set her expectations too high when she had been younger. He understood very well how she was sorry about having shut him out and sought too high. Even though Aldonas didn’t have the world, he certainly had a lot. “So, you’ve learned something,” he mused a little, trying to keep the mood somewhat positive, looking forward while thinking, not that he needed much time for that. “Maybe… You figured that ‘the world’ is simply someone who is yours truly,” he said and glanced down at her again, “And for now, it might just be you and mini-Artemis,” he said pulling a gentle smile.

When he brought up that she was pregnant, it was like her entire world came crashing down. She felt the sting in her eyes and the slight hotness from tears that wanted to glide down her cheeks. Her lips folded together as she made sure her gaze was rather stiffly directed in front of herself. Once again, she questioned everything, so afraid that if she decided to be the child's mother, it would be taken away from her, either by Rebekah because it was her son’s child or that her own mother would come for it. She would live in constant fear, and she had no one to ask for help, mostly because she was too proud to go to Bentley when he had decided she wasn’t worth the effort anymore. Or at least, that was how it felt.
“Maybe” she hated how her voice cracked, but she didn’t say anything else; she didn’t want him to be pulled into her mess, he would walk her home, and then they would probably never see each other again. It was like a coldness grabbed around her body, and she looked over her shoulder as paranoia was starting to set in; she hadn’t said it out loud ever since she had figured out as if it would become real and dangerous as soon as she did. Even though she knew it might not be anything, she decided to trust her gut feeling, and with a small spell, she made a replica of the two of them walking over the street, whereas they were cloaked as they walked in the other direction. “Sorry, I haven’t said it out loud before”, she tried to explain herself, even if it might only feed the confusion with how she had reacted after he had done so.

He noticed how her voice cracked, and let it settle for a moment. He wasn’t going to be a prince on a white horse, coming to her rescue just like that. He could feel how she turned her head to look over her shoulder. Was she getting uncomfortable now? It made him wonder. They turned down an alley and he could from the corner of his eyes see the illusion of them continuing down the street. “Said what?” he wondered. That she was pregnant, or that she knew very well that he was the one who had gotten away? He didn’t need a reply to know. “Why are you afraid?” he wondered and held her close. For some reason, his thought shortly wandered to how they both could have gone in mysterious directions and how they could actually be luring each other into a trap, but that wasn’t the reality from his perspective at least.

She didn’t answer; she was sure he already knew what she had meant.
Why was she afraid? There were many reasons, but the biggest one was that her mother was lurking around, which almost made her irrationally scared. “My mother”, she whispered; her tongue ran over her lips. “When I turned fourteen, and my powers started to show, she wanted to sacrifice me to a demon; I was on the run when we met” she finally told him the truth before looking over her shoulder again, she was sure something or someone was following them, but she just couldn’t figure out who or why.
“I’m afraid of what she will do when she figures out I’m pregnant”, she finally revealed, turning another corner and pulling him with her; this wasn’t the direct route home, but she needed and wanted to make sure. “Especially when she finds out who the father is”, she hissed, stopping and turning her head, fucking bullshit, “I never left because I didn’t love you, I left because I was scared, and I hoped Killian could help me” she looked up, catching his eyes for a moment. Turning her body, so she was facing him, then she looked down at the street. “You should go the serpents; I’ll be fine on my own from here” she didn’t want him to help her just because he felt like he needed to; she was a big girl and could handle the consequences of her own actions.