well, fuck.

artemis hadn't talked to mint in months, had tried pretty much everything to erase the other man from his mind. and it had worked, for the most part, up until now. because rocket can't give him a fucking break, he supposes; first having to deal with a mission in general, and now this.

he tries to avoid looking at mint, but out of the corner of his eye, he can see the other rocket glance at him- and he meets it with a glare that would kill a lesser man for just a second (and, also just for a second, wishes that it would).

he tenses, just slightly, at the sound of his name. he almost debates being petty, more than he is, but shoves down the urge (for now) in favor of a simple 'stairwells.' he'd rather not be around mint, at all, but this seems like the best he can do for now.

still refusing to really look at mint, aside from his earlier glare, he reaches for a pokeball to pull out andromeda. the persian, one that mint himself would probably recognize, blinks up at him in confusion before stretching, seemingly ready to follow him.

and artemis, unfortunately, is left to follow mint.

if mint is uncomfortable, he doesn't seem to show it. it's probably petty of artemis to hope he is, but he does anyways. after all he's done, he thinks mint deserves worse than a few petty hopes, anyways.

the other rocket offers to cover the windows, and some of that tension leaves artemis, if only due to the knowledge that they won't be as close as he was originally expecting. good, honestly- rocket may have pushed them together for this mission, but it didn't mean artemis wasn't going to hope he could avoid mint for the entirety of it.

reve zajac's bed just seemed more and more tempting to go back to. at least, if nothing else, he had confirmation that he could leave as soon as this was all over- even if that follow up has him biting down his annoyance all over again. he has better things to do (even if rocket probably wouldn't see it that way).

mint, this time, doesn't get much of a response out of him before he's making his way to the stairwell. just a simple thumbs up, proof that he was paying attention, before he's moving away, andromeda following at his heels.

artemis' own nerves hadn't truly set in, honestly; and, even now, they wouldn't due to his own distractions. the realization that kingsley wasn't coming out of this alive hadn't hit him, yet, with everything else going on. some rocket-turned-traitor was the least of his worries.

andromeda, by his side, is at least a comforting prescence between having to deal with mint and rocket in general, even if the persian just seems like she wants to be as close as possible. artemis moves, just slightly, to risk a scratch between the cat pokemon's ears, when-

panicked footsteps, coming their way, and quickly. artemis jolts, hand pulling away from the persian with a quick movement to try to usher her into action. andromeda rushes for kingsley to play rough and hopefully pin the man with outstreched claws like the cat pokemon would with prey.

with the flurry of action, artemis himself moves to try to keep the man still, regardless of if his pokemon manages to pin kingsley or not. despite everything, he's still almost careful about it, like he's avoiding kingsley getting too hurt. hurt beyond what could be fixed, at least.

just more proof that he doesn't have a clue of what's going to happen to him, if mint chooses to pay attention.

for a second, artemis allows himself to hope things will go well. andromeda's attack is enough to stop kingsley, despite the consistent thrasing and yelling of the man. and, for a second, his anger at mint is replaced with a desperation for the other rocket to make his appearance. the sooner he shows up, the sooner he can go home after they....put kingsley in a cell or whatever it was they were planing to do with him.

things go downhill just as quickly as artemis began to hope, starting with the kick to andromeda's ribs and the yowl that comes from the persian. instinct kicks in, for a second, and maybe that's why it's so easy for kingsley to pop his fist into artemis eye; his instinct is to check on his pokemon, not hold someone else down. his grip, already loosened by his distraction, loosens even more, and he pulls his head back, eyes watering.

before he can fix his posture, kingsley shoved his elbow into artemis' chest, and that's all it takes, just as mint shows up. kingsley slithers from his grasp, and artemis reaches blindly for andromeda's pokeball, inwardly apologizing to the persian as he recalls her and promising that he'll check on her later- and that she won't get hurt like this again if he can help it.

he almost doesn't process kingsley's screams at first. there's a disconnect between the mint he knows, or maybe used to know, and the man he's working with now, ordering his pokemon to bring kingsley back. it's only when he pushes himself up and looks over the railing to see the blood trails, and how bloodied kingsley himself is, that it actually clicks that this is mint.

the realization doesn't hurt as much as he thought it would; he feels almost numb to it. instead, there's a burning anger, directed towards kingsley, who hurt his fucking pokemon. looking over the railing, down at this man, artemis thinks he deserves this and worse, just for hurting andromeda.

he nods, once, at mint's words- at least this time, though, the anger isn't directed at the other rocket when he looks up. he tries to push it down- and the desire to return to kingsley what he did to the persian tenfold. he should be better at it- enough that he's calm enough by the time he turns away to head down the flights of stairs without waiting for mint.

it doesn't work. with each step closer to kingsley, artemis finds himself cursing the man with anything in him. he doesn't think he'd be an impulsive person, especially when it comes to anger-driven decisons, but by the time he makes it to kingsley, he's already made up his mind. cacio doesn't get much of a glance before artemis makes his way directly to kingsley to punch the rocket traitor in the face.

artemis' punch lands fairly easily, if only thanks to cacio. he isn't sure if it's kingsley falling, or the way artemis had hit him that causes something to crack, but either way it's enough to put a stop to his anger for now, leaving artemis almost unsure of what to do in the aftermath.

he follows cacio back into the apartment, hovering near the door after mint's closed it and trying to avoid really looking at either of them. it wasn't that hard; he didn't know much about black eyes, had never had to worry about anything lie it before, but it wasn't hard to tell it was swelling from where kingsley had hit him.

which was fine. he'd deal with it later- he was just more worried about andromeda. as soon as he could, he'd make it up to her. he wasn't sure how, yet, but he'd find a way.

kingsley's realization about what's going to happen sparks artemis' own, in a sense. the man is literally begging for his life, and the thought is enough to cause artemis' blood to run cold. there's a large part of him, replacing his anger, that makes artemis desperate to leave. maybe mint had this handled, from here, and he wouldn't have to get involved with this.

he doesn't want involved with this. he's not a murderer.

he can't bring himself to move to even ask; he feels frozen, unable to look away from kingsley as mint gags him. his old friend pulls out a knife, long and serrated, and artemis' heart sinks. he's not even the one in danger here, but between what may as well be fight or flight (or freeze?) and a lump in his throat, he feels like he may as well be. he feels like he's going to be sick.

mint's words are enough to snap him out of it, even briefly, and he nods again- this time, though, it's shaky, and he swallows, heavily, before he turns away, closing his good eye. he wishes, desperately, there would be a way to block out any noise, too, but instead he's just tense, trying to prepare himself for something he could never really be prepared for.

artemis, now that the realization has truly set in, doesn’t know how he managed to be so calm, either. the realization makes him feel sick, still, with every beat of his hammering heart. looking away, and keeping his eyes closed, didn’t stop him from hearing kingsley’s panic and the way he’s hyperventilating and crying. it doesn’t stop the awful, sinking feeling as the moments go by and he hears mint’s voice.

if it were anything else, or if the timing had been different, artemis would have been more concerned about the way mint’s words almost seem hollow, like he’s repeating something from memory. but he knows why, and— he doesn’t want to think about it any more than he has to. when mint finally finishes his mini speech, artemis tries to steady himself to not look. no matter what he heard.

the next few minutes seem to stretch on forever. cacio’s snarling, the sound of a knife in flesh, and kingsley’s desperate screams— artemis thinks, for a second, that this is all surreal in the worst possible way. it doesn’t seem real. it just seems like some nightmare. he hears mint’s exclaim, and then, following, the sickening snap. the nausea that had been rising threatens to come up, at that, and he swallows desperately a few times to keep it down.

it’s over. if the snap hadn’t confirmed it, the eerie silence that followed afterward would. artemis can’t bring himself to move for a second, can’t bring himself to breathe (he hadn’t even realized he had been holding his breath this whole time). and then part of him does.

none of this feels real, and artemis feels heavy, once that panic fades into an unsettling numbness. he just wants to go home, he thinks, or just somewhere that isn’t here. he finally manages to move, something in the back of his mind pleading with mint to let him leave.

’what now?’ he manages instead, almost unthinkingly. he knows, reasonably, that this can’t just all be over with that— but reasoning is hard right now, and he wishes for it like nothing else.