White Out

"Butler, what is this?"

Said manservant stepped closer to the tiny bottle that Artemis was holding in his hand. His charge looked like he was about to go on a rant, but he remained still. Artemis' eyes looked glazed over, like when he had been thinking or staring at his computer screen for too long.

"Uh, white out, sir?"

Was Artemis testing him? Surely the genius knew what the concoction was, and perhaps even made out of. Yet, he still looked distant.

"Yes, old friend. White out. Do you know what white out is used for?"

"To erase mistakes, Artemis what are you getting at?"

Artemis tore his eyes down to look at the tiny bottle. "It's amazing really; something that was supposed to fix everyone's problems made them much worse. Did you know that white out used to include trichloroethane? Though it is not as powerful as other toxins, trichloroethane acts as a depressant. It can cause dizziness and confusion if inhaled. And if inhaled in reasonable measurements, it can result in unconsciousness and even death. Once it was figured out that the ingredients were hazardous, they removed the trichloroethane, but it still caused quite a riot." He looked up at Butler. "Does attempting to fix your mistakes always leave you in worse situations?"

Butler opened his mouth, but found that no words came to him. He thought for a moment, then said, "Artemis what did you do that made you think like this?"

Artemis just sighed. He turned away from Butler and replied, "Nothing that is quite as easy to fix, as taking a toxin out of the equation."

Butler put a hand on Artemis' shoulder. "Artemis,"

"No, Butler. Thank you but you and I both know that when I try to fix a situation, I only make it worse." He turned back to Butler and breathed, "I am the trichloroethane."

Butler heaved a dramatic sigh. He was tempted to shake his charge, but refrained. "Artemis, you are no toxin, not anymore at least. You have changed. You don't hurt people anymore. You were the one who replaced the trichloroethane. You have fixed your mistakes. You've learned from them."

"Butler, do you realize that every sentence you said there started with you? It shouldn't be about me Butler. It should be about others. That is what I am trying to fix."

The manservant thought for a moment, then continued. "Artemis, do you write a word, then put white out on it, even though it is not needed?"

Artemis shook his head.

"No, you don't. You can't fix something that hasn't been broken Artemis. You haven't done anything wrong."

"What if I have Butler? What of something happened to have gone wrong? What would I do then? I don't want to make the situation worse."

"Artemis, at that point, you put the white out down, and start with a new page. You start over, with a fresh untouched page, and you do your best not to make a mistake. But if you happen to, then you always have a pencil beside you. While it may not look as elegant as pen, but planning ahead never hurt."

And with that he walked off; leaving Artemis alone in his study.

What happened if the white out had been spread, but not thick enough? What happened he had been forgiven, but not fully? Artemis took a blank piece of paper out of his drawer, and started to write. He didn't write in pen though, instead he wrote in pencil, where he had the ability to erase his mistakes without needing to inhale any toxins. He wrote a rough copy of his letter, and then wrote an identical one in pen. It was thought out, it was mistake free. All because he had a well executed plan, which he stuck to. And while it worked for writing, Artemis knew that it wasn't the same in real life. Things changed in real life, people interfered. But that didn't mean planning ahead hurt anyone. With his intelligence and his friends' own special abilities, he knew that he would always find a way to remove that trichloroethane.

Okay, so I had writer's block and I came across some white out. Sue me. Is it okay though? I didn't think it was bad. I hope the characters weren't OOC. I tried really hard. (insert persuading sentence hopefully evoking the reader) to review I hope you enjoyed it.