Artemis Fowl and the Spell of Change

Chapter 1: Mulch Diggums, and the Scroll

Hi! I am Funny Bunny (FB for short.) and this is my first truly fully Artemis Fowl fan- fiction, the plot is something new to you peoples I think. It starts of course, with Mulch Diggums making a deal with Artemis, this giving Artemis a very unique ability, however, it does have (a certain) consequence, R&R, please! I do not own Artemis Fowl.

...

Mulch had obviously escaped the LEPS once again, and the best thing about it was the whole fact that he had wondered around and found many things that most without magic wouldn't ever want. However, he wasn't planning on keeping his latest piece of discovery. No, he had other plans for it. You see ever since he ran into the Fowl kid, whom he found out later to have had outsmarted the LEPS, Mulch Diggums had become very interested in him. Very interested indeed. His idea was a trade, just a small bit of gold, or LEP technology for the scroll that lay in his little hands. It was obviously very useful to the boy, or would become very soon. He had already left a note for the young child to find, Artemis had responded by agreeing to seeing what Mr. Diggums had attained. It was almost time he met this Artemis....

...

Artemis paced back and forth in the backyard, his mother had already headed to bed, and he had for a time as well. But soon after crept forth to await his latest guest. Mulch Diggums, a fairy yes, but one that could give the boy the edge he needed to gain more gold from the LEPS. He paced again the way he had come, his head swimming with the possibilities. Butler, of course was sitting close by, watching his young master walk from one end of the patio to the next. Then, they saw him. He strode straight on up to Artemis. He quickly handed Artemis the copied version of the scroll, which was just half of it, and waited for his agreement. Artemis opened it up, and skimmed the writing, it was of the old mid- evil era, and was written in old English, but it was obviously true. The young boy held out a bag, and let Mulch look inside. "That is sufficient I hope.", Artemis stated.

"Yes, it is.", Mulch agreed, and handed over the scroll itself.

Shortly after, the dwarf left, leaving Artemis with the old, worn, parchment. "Butler, I need you to gather everything on this scroll, got it?", Fowl stated.

"Yes, I understand, Master Fowl.", the large man left with the scroll to do as told.

...

By morning, Artemis had everything he needed to go ahead with his plan. It was a spell, preformed by humans, he needed to wait until twilight though, when the sun was touching the earth, and the moon, the symbol for change. So, he waited, with Butler at his side, and waited. Until finally, it was time. Artemis started the spell, the one that would turn the tides in this ongoing war between him, and the LEPS. Artemis let the spell rise at his highest, then, let the last words utter, and then echo into the inky darkness....

...

Nothing happened for about two minutes, Butler and himself didn't make a sound, then, Artemis fell into a deep darkness, he had passed out.

...

When Artemis woke, he was pleased to find Butler there, watching over him. Artemis sat up, oddly, his clothing didn't seem to fit right, a bit bigger than before. Artemis felt his ears, they too had changed, the spell had worked. The young Fowl looked up at Butler, who watched Artemis carefully walk over to the mirror, and look himself over. He looked different enough not to be spotted by the LEPS but enough so that his closest friends would know who he was. Artemis gazed at the tail, he was elfin, but what type? Probably field, or wood, he looked a slight bit like some mouse, his nose was obviously like a mouse would have, even down to the soft fuzz on it. His eyes were larger, more innocent, but also had a trace of small, and scared woodland creature. He turned to Butler, and looked up at him. "You did remember my clothing, correct?", he prompted.

Butler nodded, producing the clothing that would fit Artemis, now that he was elfin, and left the room. After being dressed, Artemis went to Butler. They went to find the closest area where Artemis could possibly make a journey to the underground city of the fairies. However, the biggest mistake was having Butler watch him from afar, because, one instant he was there, the next, he wasn't.

...

How can it be? You ask, well, to tell it straight, Artemis had become one of the smaller varieties of elfin kind (About half of the normal size), a woodland elf, made for quick fleetness, and looking like a small woodland creature. This, made it hard to keep an eye on the young Fowl to start with, secondly, he did not sense, or know of another human very close by. One of Artemis's same objective gold, however, not as clever, but, he did manage to snatch the Fowl up, and get away, even before Butler could have seen it. But, as known, every case is also monitored by the LEPS, mainly Foaly.

...

Holly Short jostled by the traffic that she needed to get through, having just been given the orders that a human had gotten another elf. He appeared not to be too old in their standards, that and was being critically hurt by the man. When Foaly brought the image up on screen it was obvious that it was a woodland elf, who would die soon if she didn't hurry. After quickly thanking Foaly, Captain Short headed for the chute.

...

The large man that had snatched Artemis, was currently squeezing hard onto him, causing a loss of air, and pain of bones close to being broken. He whimpered slightly in pain. Why hadn't Butler noticed him? Why was he wanting to do this? Artemis's head swam with questions, ones he couldn't answer. He began to feel himself slipping into darkness before there was some yelling, and the man let go. Artemis was too dazed to know for sure. The last thing he remembered happening before passing out was being picked up, and some woman muttering something.

...

Holly had knocked out the large figure using a type of sleeping gas, and had freed the elfin youth from it's clutches. Only after turning him over to get a close up look did she totally realize who it was, and thanked herself for not having on a visual feed back to Foaly. It was Artemis, how, she didn't know, but she did know that this elf that was currently in extreme danger of dieing, was him. She noted how weakly his breath was coming, obvious sign of damaged lungs, and of ribs possibly too. His breaths were ragged, and short. He looked innocent right at this point, barely clinging to this life, but also in bad need of medical attention. He looked as though he was slammed into something before he was taken. Root showed up just as Short carried Fowl over. "What is it, Short? You look as though you know who this youth is.", the Commander stated.

"Yes, I- I do....", Short stated, she couldn't hand Artemis over, it didn't settle right with her, "He's my second cousin, Winter, from Canada to visit, and I...",

"I understand the circumstances, get him to the medical tunnel quickly.", Root stated, obviously not noticing it was Fowl right under his own nose.

"Yes, sir.", Holly saluted, and carried the young boy to the pod.

They were about halfway down the chute, when his health took a dive for the worst. Holly was holding him when it happened, Artemis woke, but sat up, and then, he stopped breathing, he gulped for air, pain was obviously the cause of his panicking. Artemis struggled for air, and found none, he clawed at Holly's arms in his desperation. Holly looked at Artemis sadly, and quietly watched as he lost energy, and just lay in her arms. Holly gently sang a song she'd picked up from somewhere, and lulled him gently into calmness. Artemis looked as though he was confused, obviously too hurt to be aware of who he was with. She gently placed a breathing mask on him, and stroked his pale hair. His eyes were closed, however, she had noticed the tears that trickled down his cheeks from the pain.

...

It was a couple days after this incident that Holly walked to the hospital to check on the small elf's conditions, he had been in coma for the full period. Holly had found out information since then, first off, that Artemis had no magic to heal himself with, second, that he had one punctured lung, and third, he would most likely survive. She watched him from the observation window, with his tiny body all hooked up to the machines, and monitors. Holly couldn't help but think of how weak, and helpless he looked, so fragile. His form had thinned from hardly any food, but she knew eventually, he'd wake to find himself more confused than ever.

...

Artemis awoke to the sounds of many people, and he was correct, it was bright, and had many people looking down upon him. So many voices, too many voices.... Artemis wanted them to stop, all of them, and found the crowd suffocating him. He had never liked crowds of people, but there was something else causing this distinct fear.... Could it be instinct possibly? Artemis sat up slowly. The crowd was too close, too many. Artemis felt like he was sinking in these people. Then it hit him, he didn't remember how he got like this, or here. What he did know was that he was taken, and hurt badly by one of his fellow, profit driven, humans. Even if that calmed him down, the faces getting closer didn't, he leaned to the far side of the bed, only to fall right out. Before he could help it, Artemis let out a small yelp of pain. "Get back, he needs some space, poor thing, you all scared him.", one stated, "Let his cousin see him."

"My.... Cousin?...", Artemis muttered.

Captain Short went over to his side, carefully whispered into his right ear. "It's a disguise to help you out, okay? You helped me to gain respect, I'll help you not get sent to jail.", it was Short's way of paying back for the portion of gold, which obviously caused Root to give a little credit to her. Artemis found himself shaking, noting how cold he was for the first time. Artemis didn't make a sound for a long time. He felt as though he was slipping into a void, as though he was losing his memories, himself, who he was. But that's impossible, he retorted to himself. Captain Short turned to the rest, informing them that he said he felt fine, and that she would just take Winter home. She had come up with the perfect identity, Artemis, to the rest of the fairies now was, Winter Evergreen, a cousin from the Canadian forest to visit her. Short smiled politely, and helped Artemis up.

...

Artemis had always suspected it to be crowded underground, but not like this, his tail had almost been stepped on five times, as he scurried to keep up with Holly Short. He ran straight into something not that nice. But before anything too severe happened, he was snatched up by Short, and carried through the streets the rest of the way. "You cannot just lag behind down here, the longer you do, the more likely some one will decide you deserve a good beating.", she warned.

Artemis listened to all of this droning, until they reached Holly's place. It was small, with a futon, and a dresser, and another room, probably the restroom, a kitchen, and dinning room combination. Artemis was sat down on the futon, "Now, stay here while I change, then we'll talk.",

She handed him something to drink before heading to the bathroom. Artemis sat, and quietly took in his surroundings. It wasn't bad, cramped, but not bad, it was that cozy feeling someone would get from a small space. He looked at all the pictures of her family, and found himself getting a bit tired, he looked at his now much smaller watch, it was almost one. But that didn't matter. "There, now.", Holly stated, now wearing a loose tee with jeans, and her hair loosely tied back by a rubber band, "Here, you are Winter Evergreen, don't forget that unless you like being toasted alive. Second, you should understand that any trouble from you, and I let your true name slip, got it?",

Artemis nodded quickly, "Fully understood.",

"I'll eventually get you back to Butler, and Juliet, but for now, you're stuck down here.", Holly stated.

And for the first time, he wondered who the heck she was talking about...

End Chapter: Oh, no he doesn't remember Butler, and Juliet, review please.