A Mari Usque Ad Mare

A few notes before the fanfiction really begins:

This is really my second fanfiction since a one-shot alternate ending for S. E. Hinton's book "The Outsiders".

I am actually writing this as a continuation of the Artemis fowl/Leviathan crossover fan-fiction, Leif af, by Ezqueza. Do to almost obscenely long waits between chapters (5 months!) I believe that something should be done to at least try to leave the story with closure. As such I really don't own even the story proper (much less the characters, with all dues to Scott Westerfeld and Eion Colfer) so I would strongly suggest hitting up Ezqueza's page on and leaving a review for her work.

I am doing this as a project for creative writing so please leave any and all comments in your reviews, even if it is only to tell me how much a plagiarizing scum bag I am. So without further ado the tale of Mud men and Darwinists, fairies and Clankers.

To keep in line with fanfiction site (God bless their little hearts) I will upload the first two chapters as one.

Again I do not take responsibility for the first two chapters. They belong to Ezqueza. Hit her up please.

Chapter 1

We are all adrift in the sea of reality.

-Anonymous

Many have tried to describe Artemis Fowl, many have failed. He has baffled even the most intelligent child psychologists around the world. He is a genius, like none other than the world has ever been seen. Not only has Artemis succeeded in being the smartest boy of his generation, he has been the first to reach 'the People' (the fairy community) in years, able to put insane criminal mastermind, Opal Koboi, behind bars, saved a fairy city Atlantis from destruction, and stopped global warming. All before his sixteenth birthday. It is true that there have been some drawbacks; he developed a case of 'Atlantis Complex' through his affairs in magic. The Atlantis Complex gives the boy a sense of paranoia, extreme OCD, and a second personality. He is currently in Haven city and is subject to treatment. His projects are still in the works, but under temporary supervision.

Holly Short waited inside the Cumulus house, not knowing who would come to greet her in the waiting room. If this was going to be a good day, Artemis Fowl would exit through those doors and the two would be on their way. If this were going to be a bad day however, Orion Fowl would leap from the door and ask to be taken on an adventure. Holly had been trying to keep up with Artemis's treatments of shock therapy over the past year, but he had been shocked so many times that she lost count and could not predict just who she was going to the Haven City Museum with.

Artemis had been a good patient to the doctor, and his sixteenth birthday was coming up, so Holly, as the closest friend in Haven city with a day off, decided to take him to see some culture. Not to say Artemis already knew everything he needed to know through stealing and translating the book and hacking Foaly's database. Regardless, the boy needed some time off the madhouse and the museum seemed to be the most interesting thing he could see without stirring up too much trouble. With Artemis, it was a day off. With Orion, it was a quest. Holly Short's patience all depended on who came through those doors.

A nurse looked up from her desk.

"Mr. Fowl will be with you now." She said blankly.

With an intake of breath, Holly stood to accept her fate. Artemis- or Orion- she could not tell yet- met her in the waiting room.

"Good to see you Holly," he said, extending his hand. Holly, she thought, not Princess.

"Nice to see you too….mud boy," She said, not willing to make her guess yet.

"Artemis, its Artemis. I do not know if I could stand missing a chance to learn about the people, especially if Orion was there to not appreciate it in my absence."

Holly sighed with relief. No Orion. That was good.

"Though I think we should get going, it is almost 3:50, and ten more minutes after that will be…"

"Four." Holly Finished.

Artemis Flinched.

Holly sighed. Though Artemis was a million times more practical than Orion, the number thing was a major drawback. Artemis had already accepted that four was a part of life, but he still avoided it whenever possible. To relieve the situation of further awkward conversation, Holly began in the direction of the exit.

"It's a walk, but you'll survive it," she said.

"What is a fairy museum like, out of interest?" Artemis asked as he followed her out the door.

"I guess the same as a mud man museum, only a bit more content." Holly said.

"I feel like a child again, five years old and heading to an exhibit. Must I write an essay about it later?" Artemis joked, his humor dry as ever.

"Only you would write an essay at five years old," said Holly, "And I thought you frowned upon leaving your room."

"I did," Artemis said, "But I had little say in such things at five."

Holly was about to comment, when a swarm of reporters crowded around them, sticking their microphones in their faces. While a mud man being treated in Haven city was worth an article in the papers, Artemis Fowl being treated in Haven city was more news than a reporter could cover in a year. The Cumulus House security had the crowd shoved away, but the chance of walking through Haven city as two celebrities was dwindling. Luckily, there was a car waiting for them. In the miniature driver's seat was Juliet; hair dyed green and skin dyed purple. Her elongated nails tapped the steering wheel.

"I thought you would need me Arty." She said, "Good to see you Holly."

Recently Juliet had taken Butler's place as Artemis's bodyguard. Haven was too small for Butler, and the Fowls needed him back on the surface. Reluctantly Butler agreed to leave his charge until Artemis recovered.

"And only for that long," he had said, "God knows he doesn't need time to get into trouble."

Juliet said she was Artemis's bodyguard, but one cannot keep her from the ring. She became Haven's own 'Mud Princess' instead of the 'Jade Princess', a name she actually preferred. Along with the joy of changing her colors every five minutes.

Holly took Artemis's hand, for he had made no movements toward the waiting car, but he snatched it away.

"What do all these people want?" He stammered. The paranoia was kicking in, "Why do they want me? What do I have that they want?"

Artemis began tap his side. He muttered the 5 multiples under his breath.

"5 10 15 20 25…"

Juliet saw the rising problem and helped Holly shove the boy into the backseat.

"Drive" Holly said, and then to Artemis, "They're gone."

"Right," said the boy, "It seems my medication failed me for a moment there, I will have to inform the doctor when we get back."

"Are you sure you are up to it?" Holly asked, worried for her friend.

"Of course I am up to it, wouldn't miss it for the world." Artemis smiled something he said he had been mentally practicing with Orion.

Holly did not exactly know what it was like to be under shock treatment every day, but she assumed Artemis would not give up his break from it easily. When the car pulled up to the museum, Juliet was quick to boot them out.

Holly shoved (or shoved the most she could an almost fully grown mud man) Artemis onto the steps before he was noticed.

Inside was a world of holograms, fossils, artifacts, and wax humans. He pointed to a knight with a bloody mace.

"I didn't make it," Holly said defensively.

Holly lead Artemis to the new exhibit, the one he would be most interested in, the reason for this trip.

"The 'what we still don't know' exhibit," Artemis read, "All the mysteries that still baffle the people?"

"Yes, thought you might enjoy it." Holly said, "Notice it is a very small exhibit."

Artemis did not answer, deciding instead to look at the different artifacts and descriptions under little glass domes. In his excited scan of the room, he noticed in the center of the room a tattered piece of paper that did not look to hold any fantastic mysteries. Holly came up beside him.

"The only page that was not copied into the book. No one can read it, because it was written in a language that hasn't been found anywhere else on the planet."

Artemis's hand twitched.

"Go ahead," Holly continued, "Take a picture; you'll need something to do in your spare time."

Artemis smiled again, his normal smile that reflected his old self.

"Perhaps I will," Artemis said.

D'Arvit it was good to have a project.

Chapter 1.5

Deryn placed the letter on Alek's pillow. She knew this would be a daft idea, if anyone read that letter she was finished, but Alek had to know. It was the only way she could live with herself. Even dafter would be to just leave it out for the world to see. Then again it just was a bit of crumpled paper after all, hell, Alek might not even look twice at it! Perhaps she should make up an excuse to wait here until he got back from being interviewed by the captain, so she could leave just as he was reading it. If anyone who didn't need to see it were to come along, she could just snatch it up and say it was a drawing.

You barking coward might as well tell him then! Deryn thought to herself, though she knew that the words would never come out verbally. Nervously she backed away from the bedroom, heart on fire. She could not wait to just get out of here and let fate have its way with the barking letter. She could deny it, maybe, probably not.

Her back was to his room as she walked away. She hoped to whatever cruel angel watched over her that things wouldn't go pear shaped. Back to work. The original intention for coming all the way over to Alek's end of the ship was to be on her way to the captain's quarters. A message lizard had come to her while she was writing her letter and demanded her presence at once. Of course, she was out of her barking mind with nerves. Some day she would think back to her time aboard the Leviathan and realize most of her time on the ship was spent hiding and having heart attacks when her captain spoke to her. Every time she passed an officer she expected him to guess something or accuse her of treason. It was the life of a lair, always on your guard to protect your inventions. But one falsehood was out of the way. Perhaps once Alek knew, she wouldn't feel like such a traitor anymore. It was bad enough she lied to her ship about both her sex and Alek's family, but she was keeping secrets from Alek as well. Without her fiction, she was no one's ally, and could never be trusted as one.

A burden lifted off of her chest when the captain welcomed her with a smile along with Mr. Rigby. She noticed that if neither Dr. Barlow or the Clankers had anything to do with her visit to the captain, she had no fear of seeing him. It made her feel a bit better about lying to everyone she knew and loved on this ship.

"Ah, Mr. Sharp, our best midshipman when it comes to flying." Said the captain.

Inside her thoughts, Deryn snorted. She was the only midshipman who was good at flying. Newkirk was dead useless in the air.

"Mr. Sharp, due to the new engines we recently acquired we been able to reach new altitudes with the ship and have noticed odd weather patterns." The captain continued" "It is strange, because on the ground weather experts tell us that there is nothing out of the ordinary. We need a good flyer to go up in a Huxley and record the patterns for science."

Deryn nodded. This was a good mission. No sneaking around on other people's land, no spying on friends, just going up in the air in the name of science. Many other boys might have wanted a dangerous mission, but Deryn Sharp has had enough of risking her life trying to figure out the balance in treason and helping a poor sod get by.

Mr. Rigby strapped all sorts of weather detecting doo-dads to her uniform. So many that one unsteady shift of weight would send her to the floor. How was she meant to fly in this?

The Huxley managed to take her weight anyway, though when she was strapped in she could feel the metal of the weather detectors digging into her skin from all sides. Slowly, she was hoisted into the air. The higher she went, the smaller the Leviathan was.

"Blisters, how high exactly are these weather patterns?" She swore to herself.

Looking up, she saw the same blue sky. No big clouds, really, just a couple of lazy drifting puffs of white. How could the experts tell the difference between this sky and any other? The monitors were normal, and things had only a few moments to get interesting before the rope ran out and they had to reel her back in. Even though she had not wanted a whole fighting mission, this could get a bit more exciting. They could of coarse have sent up Newkirk after all. From the way things looked no real piloting experience was needed. She felt a message lizard climb onto her shoulder.

"Mr. Sharp, you are almost at the altitude where we have lost our weather balloons. Since there is little oxygen up there, you will have to put on your air mask," It said, Deryn didn't know of any air mask. As if it could read her mind the lizard continued, "The mask is attached to the yellow tank on your back. Pull it to your mouth and flick the switch, don't wait for the air to get thin. I can promise you that it will happen in a moment. Send the lizard down if there are any problems, if not, sit tight and try not to freeze."

Deryn obeyed, not wanting to find out what it felt like to be gasping for air. She pulled the mask to her face and flicked the switch. The air tasted odd, but she had swum miles with a squid in her mouth and anything was better than that. Once again she looked ahead. Weather balloons were lost here? They hadn't told her about that. She supposed they had simply popped and dropped down to the ship.

The bigger concern was the painful pang in her head as her ears popped. She had read about this sensation. As great as flying was, men were born for the ground, and up in these heights one would get a sucking feeling in their head, like when you dive too deep in an ocean. This was far worse than any dive though. It felt like her brain was being forced out of her ears while simultaneously doing summersaults to struggle against a throbbing migraine. She remembered the trick Jaspert had taught her during swimming lessons and let a breath loose while holding her nose and keeping her mouth shut. She felt like something reversed in her head and the pain stopped. Though a bit lightheaded, she rose further into the sky.

Curiosity overcame her and she stared back down at the leviathan. Barking spiders it was far away. How long had she been up here? How long was the rope? The beastie nestled into her neck for warmth. Apparently the thin air and high altitude did not bother it.

"Sorry beastie," she said, reaching up to tickle its chin, "You're not getting much excitement today."

Once she had said it she marveled at how odd her voice sounded through the mask. Almost like a Clanker megaphone. Come to think of it, all of these gadgets looked very Clanker. Thought it pained her to admit it, when it came to recording data, the Darwinists had used mostly Clanker machines. She would have to mention that to Alek, a swelled head would do him a bit of good. Pride is the best bandage, or at least, the one that people use the most. He might need a lot of bandages when Volger was through lecturing him about coming back aboard the Leviathan.

"Barking Spiders!" She swore.

She had almost forgotten! The letter was still in his room. Another glance down made it feel so far away, so irreversible if she changed her mind and ran to retrieve it. Who knows when he had gotten back to his room and seen it? Maybe an Officer had seen it too. At any moment she could be cranked down as Deryn, instead of Midshipman Dylan Sharp. Suddenly every twitch of the cable made her nervous. Her nasty fate could be waiting below her. The message lizard, evidently because of the increasing cold, crawled into her jacket. If she sent it down now she could get back in time. But then she would have to make up an excuse. Her secret was important, a tragedy if discovered, but Deryn could not help but wonder. Was being revealed worse than a broken monitor? Perhaps she could say something fell loose when a particularly strong breeze hit. There would be punishment for losing an expensive piece of equipment, but no punishment was worse than losing the Leviathan. Then again, some sod probably was watching her closely, and with the Clanker spyglasses on board, them being all well-made and such, someone would definitely see her drop whatever she could wriggle loose. Another option was spooking her Huxley, but that was out of the question. Deryn Sharp was much too proud to pretend to panic at something so trivial. Plus, her experiences with spooking Huxley's had not always been so successful.

"I suppose I wait," She said to no one in particular, "I suppose I-" *CRACK*

In her panic of having her secret discovered, Deryn had not noticed that the needles on the monitors were going mad. One of them had broken and was leaking water.

"Well there's my excuse," Deryn said, and pulled the lizard from her shirt, "Captain, One of the monitors just broke," CRACK, CRACK, CRACK. More glass shattered from the pressure of frantic needles, "And there goes three more, I doubt the rest will last much longer…"

With a final shatter of each and every monitor, a powerful gust of wind swept Deryn higher into the air, startling her lizard and cutting off her message. The sky was suddenly dark around her. Winds battered her while blue electricity bounced around the clouds. She looked down to see that the chord was hanging limply, severed just a foot away from the rig. The message lizard darted back into her shirt, and began to replay her message.

"!" it babbled, "Oh come on Officer Miller, you've lost the game, give me my damned money!"

She tried to ignore the various snippets of conversation and previous messages as the wind took her higher. Through the confusion she wondered why on earth the Huxley wasn't spooked. It coiled and uncoiled its tentacles, as if wondering what it thought of its situation. Then the mad hysteria hit Deryn as well. She heard word after word coming out of her mouth that even she could not understand. The message lizard's voice combined with hers.

"You really are…"

"Souriou!"

"That would be a…"

"Bibbi lou lou"

"…is our plan and I hope you gentlemen…"

Deryn bit her tongue, though she felt as if the teeth were gone from her mouth. Her gums were numb. The wind blocked out the message lizard as Deryn started to see colors. Not just the spiraling lightning, but blasts of red and yellow, as if missiles were going off.

After rising, or falling, she could not tell, she saw massive ships. They were made of metal but had no familiar enemy markings. They shot at each other, some with cannons and others with green lights that singed the enemies. The ships seemed to be from different worlds, some weren't even airships at all, and she could have sworn she saw a sailboat shoot by. There were some things she recognized, aero planes, zeppelins, and even some birds, but other alien contraptions were trapped here too. Was that a massive stingray over there? The noise was the worst. The sounds of weapons firing and men shouting filled the air.

"I'm going mad!" she cried, "I've got no head left!"

A thought came to her. She may be knocked out because of the altitude and was dreaming this. A bullet shot past her, scraping her cheek. The thought was whipped away with the rest of her reason. In a desperate attempt not to lose herself, she began shouting again. Words she didn't know the meaning of, places that she had hated, numbers she would not count to, and names of people she had never met but liked the sound of them. Anything to keep her occupied so as not to fall into the confusion.

A jolt in the Huxley anchored her to reality, or as much reality that existed here. It had been shot, the friction of the escaping hydrogen lighting her aflame. The roar of the fire blotted out all other noises.

Suddenly she was back on the grass, watching her Da fly away with his balloon on fire. Desperately, she ran after him.

"DA! DA!" She screamed at the top of her lungs.

She ran, though she could not feel the ground, kicking the grass as if it were empty air. There she was, stumbling through the woods again, chasing the balloon. Watching it fade, waking up to a village boy gripping at her arm and calling to the rest of the search party, 'I've found her! I've found her!' She tried to bat him away, but her hands and elbows only met more air. Hot air. How on earth could she still breathe? She was on fire!

"Blisters Roger!" Deryn screamed, "Stop waving your daft hands and put out the barking fire!"

Time stopped and started, the boy's hands on her forming into the shape of her pilot rig and back. The fire crept down the chords, down his arms, down the chords again.

"This is hell!" Someone shouted, Deryn couldn't tell if it was her own voice or not, "I'm in barking hell!"

The fire had found her! It had tried to kill her once before in Da's balloon, but it had found her. Somewhere Deryn had always known this was how she was going to die. It was her Ma, tutting at her for running away from a bath. It was her Aunties, scolding her from running away from her corsets. It was Dylan, shaking his head sadly for her running away from herself. No different names or clothes could stop the fire now.

"I'm going to die!" she screeched, as if it made any difference.

As if those words had freed her, Deryn was suddenly sucked away from the madness. Suddenly, everything was calm. The fire still blazed, but it was slower. Obviously the dead Huxley had long released its hydrogen, and nothing but a steady burn flickered on the rig. Somehow the battering winds had kept the hydrogen from igniting, or at least that's what it seemed like. She wasn't in the air anymore. She was lying somewhere dry, looking up at a blue sky. A calm blue sky, like the same sky that had pulled her into the mess. It felt so long ago. So very long ago. Deryn felt old and tired, as if the ordeal had changed her into a frail old woman. She reached up a hand and removed her glove. It was a young hand, with all of her scrapes and calluses untouched. Maybe not old, but definitely tired. Too tired even to think. But even so, one thought plagued her mind.

"My letter," she croaked, "Alek…"

It did not matter if Deryn Sharp was alive or dead. It did not matter if she survived. Dylan was dead, and no haircuts, change of clothes, or cursing would persuade Deryn to bring him back.