I stood at his bedside, staring down at his sleeping features. His hair, once so dark and thick, lay white and limp on the pillows. His skin, always so pale, was all but translucent, and looked too delicate. As if it would tear if you touched it. When had this happened? When had he become this old man, instead of the young, if not exactly energetic, human I knew?

I whispered his name through numb lips. He stirred, turning his head towards me and opening his eyes to slits.

"Holly?"

I smiled thinly and shook my head as I unshielded. He always did know when I was around, shield or no. And his eyes were still the same – one sapphire, one hazel, and as alive and intelligent as ever. He may have aged, but he was still the man I knew. Long ago.

"Hello Artemis. It's been a long time."

"Fifty-six years by my count."

He coughed and swallowed, looking pained. I took a step closer to him, as near now as I could get without climbing onto the bed with him. He saw the blue sparks dancing at my fingertips and shook his head.

"There's no need. It won't help anyway."

"Why? What's wrong?"

I ran through the list of human diseases in my mind; as far as I knew, all of them were curable by magic. What was I missing? I had to do some more reading on human biology. Either that or I could ask Foaly.

Artemis chuckled dryly.

"Old age, Holly. I was only twenty-four last time we met, but half a century does a lot to humans, even if it leaves elves untouched."

He waved a hand in my direction. I glanced down at myself. I had changed since I saw him last, but they were all inconsequential things. I had grown a centimetre; I'd gone up a bust size (which everyone in Police Plaza was quick to point out); my hair was a little longer. But time had barely touched me; it had ravaged him, and left him a husk in its wake. I nodded minutely, accepting his point. He coughed again.

"You were gone so long; I feared you had forgotten me. What took you five decades?"

There was anger in his tone, but it was muted, as though the years had dampened it until it was all but extinguished. Instead of flaring my own temper, it drew empathy from me. I sighed and looked at the floor.

"Vinyaya was killed in a fire fight, and Section Eight asked me to step in and take her place. It took so long to get everything running properly again, not least because IA tried to have me removed from office. Twice. They really hate me; Frond knows why."

I glanced up at him, smiling a little at my pathetic joke. I knew exactly why they didn't like me, and so did he. The Artemis I knew would have rolled his eyes and said something sarcastic, what would the man before me do?

Artemis rolled his eyes and spoke in a drawl.

"It couldn't have anything to do with the numerous time-travels, disobeying of orders and consorting with Mud Men now, could it?"

I grinned.

"Believe it or not, Fowl, I missed that wit of yours. All I get from anyone these days is 'Yes Commander'. Either that or a long list of excuses. The only one who'll talk to me normally is Foaly."

"I wouldn't call the centaur 'normal'."

I nodded. Thirty years of fatherhood had made Foaly even more eccentric. Of course, that's the nice way of putting it. Trouble had confided in me once that the 'bloody pony's off his rocker'.

"Still, he's the best scientist the LEP's ever had. Don't tell him I said that though. His ego is so swollen; I'm surprised he can fit it into the Ops Booth."

Artemis sniggered again, and it was closer to the sound I remembered. I hadn't heard him laugh often, and the few times I had were ingrained into my memory along with the handful of genuine smiles I'd seen from him.

He turned his hand over on the sheets, so it lay palm up. I accepted the invitation and slipped my fingers over his, feeling the paper-thin skin flex under my touch. He squeezed my hand, tighter than I would have thought possible, and I returned the pressure gingerly. He sighed and rolled his eyes again.

"I won't break, Holly."

I squeezed harder, and he nodded, apparently satisfied.

"I missed you. I waited for you to call for ages. Butler told me to give up, but I never did. And now you're here, so I was right."

He sounded smug. The corners of my lips twitched upwards.

"You usually are. Where is Butler?"

Artemis closed his eyes.

"He died, fifteen years ago."

A strange feeling developed in my stomach. I had forgotten how fragile human life was; how short compared to my own. Even with the proof lying in front of me, it hadn't occurred to me that Butler would be so much older than the man I'd brought back to life with my magic all those years ago.

I felt pressure on my fingers, and opened my eyes. I hadn't realised I'd closed them. Artemis squeezed my hand again and touched his free hand to my face. It came away wet; I hadn't realised I was crying either. He smiled at me gently.

"He'd like that you cared" he said, pushing himself to a sitting position. I extracted my hand from his and pulled the fluffy pillows up behind his back, cushioning his frail body. The man was a bag of bones; were humans supposed to be so thin?

He reached for me again, this time wrapping his hand around my wrist. It reached the whole way around with room to spare; even withered, he was so much bigger than me. He pulled me closer, so that I had to sit on the bed or fall over it. I sat, and he pulled me into a tight embrace.

"You're still so young" he muttered into my ear, his nose buried in my hair. I laughed a little and hugged him back.

"I'm older than you by a long way, Arty. You're a baby by elf standards."

He loosened his grip and leaned back into the nest of pillows, his hands still on my arms.

"I haven't been called Arty in so long. I never liked it."

"Sorry."

He tilted his head to one side, studying me and capturing my gaze with his.

"Why have you come, Holly? Why now?"

I swallowed and looked away from his eyes. He knew full well why, but he was going to make me say it anyway.

"Foaly called me. He said you were..."

"Dying" he finished, in such a matter-of-fact tone that I had to look up. He shrugged.

"I've had a good life, and I'm old. And there's nothing I can do about it anyway, so there is no point worrying about it."

"Who are you and what have you done with Artemis Fowl?"

He smiled and shook his head.

"Everything dies, Holly. Some things just take longer." He squeezed my arms. I nodded, feeling the moisture in my eyes again. I blinked and it dispelled. If he could talk about it calmly, then so could I. He watched me with an odd expression on his face, and when he broke the silence his tone was halfway between curious and nervous.

"I'm glad you came, of course, but why did you? You haven't so much as spoken to me for more than fifty years. Why the sudden visit?"

I stared at him.

"What, did you think I was going to shrug it off? You were my best friend, once upon a time. Fifty years isn't that long for a fairy; I still care for you. Did you really think I was callous enough to leave you alone?"

I pulled my hands free of him and stood up, quite prepared to wreck something old and valuable in the bedroom in place of hitting the mud man in the bed. If I did that, I was afraid it would do some serious damage. I shot him a look that could send goblins running for cover, but he just sat there and smiled, pleased by my reaction.

"You do care. Good. Holly, there's something I want to tell you. Sit, please."

I wondered if the choice of words was deliberate. I sat back on the bed, but out of reach. He sighed and folded his hands on his lap.

"Come closer. I'm not going to hurt you."

"You never intend to, but it usually happens anyway."

He flinched, but didn't try to deny it. I moved closer.

"I got married when I was thirty. Her name was Amy. She died three years ago."

I nodded slowly, unsure where this was going.

"She looked a bit like you; small, red hair. She didn't have your temper though."

He paused again and ran a hand through his hair, making it stick up on end. He looked tense.

"My point is, I've had a life entirely separate from you for the last twenty years. I tried to move on; I succeeded, in all but one thing. You were my first love, Holly. Mother always did say that was the most enduring. You were never far from my thoughts."

I opened my mouth, couldn't think of anything to say, and closed it again. He watched my reaction and closed his eyes, nodding minutely.

"I didn't think you'd return my feelings. But there's nothing to be lost by confessing now."

I watched him slip back into sleep, then stood and paced around the bed. Artemis had feelings for me? At least, he used to. What had he done to show it? I thought hard, casting my memory back almost sixty years. He had confided in me, trusted me more than almost anyone else. But the one time I had kissed him, he had backpedalled as though burned. And he had lied to me, many times. Were all humans this confusing, or was it just the genii?

I sat back by his side and slipped my fingers into his. How did I feel? He opened his eyes and blinked at me, apparently unaware that he had slept at all. I sent a solitary spark down my fingers and into his body, exploring. The magic confirmed what Foaly had implied; Artemis had little more than a day left to live. I lifted our entwined hands and brushed my lips across his knuckles.

"You were my closest friend, Artemis. You are still the only person who knows some things about me. I trusted you more than anyone, and if that's not love I don't know what is. I never forgot about you, but the years passed and I didn't know how to get back in touch. What do you say after so long?"

He studied me for several seconds, looking for a lie in my words. I shook my head and leaned forwards, pressing my mouth to his cheek. He turned his head and our lips met. The kiss was brief and chaste, but still managed to convey all the pain he'd felt at my absence, and the contentment at my return. When we parted, he was smiling.

"Thank you" he muttered, tightening his grip on my hand. I squeezed back. He closed his eyes again, and this time when he fell into slumber he didn't feel my touch. I stroked the back of his hand with my thumb and let my eyes rove over his face, engraving it in my memory. My helmet, lying on the floor by the door, beeped. Artemis didn't stir. I pushed a button by the visor, and Foaly's image appeared as a hologram floating above the helmet. He was, as usual, eating.

"What is it, centaur? Run out of carrots?"

He frowned at me. The camera in the helmet would capture my image and allow him to see it on the screen in the Ops Booth.

"No."

"Really? At the rate you're going through them, I am surprised."

"Ha ha." He finished the carrot in his hand and became serious. "How is he?"

I stepped back and allowed the camera to record the old man on the bed.

"He's not got long left. I'm going to stay with him."

Foaly nodded and picked up another carrot, twirling it in his fingers.

"I'll let the forces know that you're on leave; one of the Majors can step in for a few hours. Do you want to take tomorrow off as well?"

"No." Left to my own devices, I'd sit and stare at the communicator I hadn't used in so long, which would do nothing to help. I needed work to move on; it was literally my world, my rock. The thing I turned to when I needed comfort. Foaly frowned at me, but he didn't try to talk me out of it.

"I'll see you when you get back. I can stay at Police Plaza late if you need me..."

I swallowed and shook my head.

"Go home Foaly. I'll come to find you tomorrow."

I flicked the button, and the hologram faded. I stood, winced at the dual cracks my knees emitted, and sank back onto the bed at Artemis's side. At some point I fell asleep, and when I woke I was lying beside him, staring into his eyes from an inch away. I sat up quickly, trying not to hyperventilate. He smirked at me.

"You stayed."

My breathing back under control, I nodded slowly.

"Of course I did."

"Good."

He twined his hand with mine and smiled.

"We could have really been something. Something world-altering. In another time, another place. Another circumstance."

"There is no 'could have been', Artemis. We did change the world. We made it better."

He nodded and moved his fingers slightly.

"Call me Arty" he whispered, his eyes closing. His breathing hitched. I tightened my grip on his hand and moved closer, my mouth hovering next to his ear.

"Arty."

I felt by my chest touching his when his breathing stopped; felt by my fingertips on his wrist when his heart stopped. Felt by the magic in my veins when his life slipped away. I kissed his cheek again and folded his hands on his lap, then I stood and picked up my helmet, pulling it on. I opened the door and turned to see him one last time, to say my last farewell to the man who'd kidnapped me and in doing so had saved the world, my life, and both our civilisations.

"Goodbye Arty."

The door closed soundlessly behind me, my visor sliding down to hide my silent tears from the world.

It was late when I got back belowground. Even the students were in bed, having returned from their late-night pub crawls. I walked out of the shuttle bay, and saw a figure waiting for me. Four legs, two arms and a paunch that apparently no amount of jogging and healthy food could remove. My helmet, previously stowed under my arm, fell to the ground as Foaly cantered towards me and enveloped me in his arms. We stood this way for some time, silent as my tears created a large wet patch on the front of his shirt. When I was all cried out, I pulled back, feeling the dampness in my hair that meant I hadn't been the only one crying.

"I thought I told you to go home?"

He ignored me completely.

"Did you mean what you said to him?"

He had no doubt watched the entire recording of my conversation with Artemis, kiss and all. I shrugged as nonchalantly as I could manage.

"Did I love him, you mean? I meant every word. But I love Artemis the same way I love you and Trouble. I was never in love with him."

He frowned at me.

"But the kiss..."

"I made a dying man happy. There's nothing wrong with that."

I stepped around him and walked home. I could feel his eyes on me until I rounded the corner, trying to work out if I meant what I said. I thought about it. Had I done the right thing? Something my mother said once came back to me; Love is caring enough to do what must be done. If what must be done is lying, then surely the lie itself is an act of love? Suddenly, I understood fully what Artemis had done to me all those years ago when he told me that I was responsible for his mother's condition.

I stopped and looked up at the artificial sky, at the sun strips casting a dawn glow over the world; announcing a new day, telling of the end of the night. Some nights end like this, quiet and serene. Some end with a huge explosion of colour, turning the water fountains red, then green, then blue. And some don't ever end, but remain in the memory forever. I touched the skin under my blue eye gently. Sometimes, a reminder was all that was needed. Something to make you recall that perfect night, and the reasons it was so good. Something to make you see the darkness again, hiding the brilliance of the stars, waiting to be coaxed out of the shadows of the night and display their strength. It took effort and time, but once the stars shone they could drown out the dark and make the night something even more beautiful. Something to be truly admired, and never, ever forgotten. And that validated all the effort, all the pain and the fear, the aggravation and the threats, all the time spent in the dark. That made it all worth it.