A/N: Okay, so I'm going to fix this up a bit, because of some very helpful reviews! ;) Please continue to R&R so that I can continue to improve my writing! Thanks! I do not in any way own Artemis Fowl.

Holly
Holly Short was the epitome of a good LEP Captain. She'd had many good missions and was strong, determined and loyal. There were only a few problems. Firstly, she was a girl. And no one had ever heard of a LEP Captain being a girl before. Secondly, she happened to be on the bad side of the Council and IA because of several cases involving Artemis Fowl. And thirdly, she went back in time for 3 years and now has to get her life back on track. But, Holly was determined to make the best of it. With Trouble Kelp, one of her best friends as Commander now, she new she had a better chance of being accepted back into the society than if Ark Sool was still in charge. But apparently, he'd been overthrown due to the circumstance that he'd wanted to let the entire race of demons die. Holly was working very hard to get her career back on track. So that was how she found herself stuck in-between a very large troll and a wall...

"D'Arvit!" Holly swore.

She was in a tight situation. With the troll right in front of her, about to kill her, and a wall made from solid steel behind her, there was really nothing she could do but cower for the moment. Foaly was trying to get a LEP Retrieval squad right on it, but they were having some trouble shooting through the doors. So, for now she was on her own. Holly grabbed her Neutrino 5000, the latest edition courtesy of Foaly and fired two high shots right in-between the troll's head. The bright flashes of light confused him for a second and by hitting him in the eyes, she could probably get him groggy for at least a few minutes. She ran around him, keeping low. The troll started to walk towards the wall, blinking frantically. Holly made a beeline for the doors and pounded on them. She could hear the Retrieval team outside trying to blast their way in, but it was no use. She had to get out of there.

"There has to be another way out," Holly thought, "Maybe... some air vents?"

She looked up and down the walls to see the air vents that Foaly had placed inside this chute for when magma flares started. They were small, but they'd be easier to blast through than solid wall. Holly used the ladder going up the wall, to the pipes and blew a strand of red hair out of her face, preparing to be blasted back by her own shot. Over the last few months, cutting her hair hadn't really been at the top of her list for things to do, so it'd gotten a lot longer, brushing just above her shoulders. Other people thought it was really pretty, but she just found it annoying.
Raising the communicator on her wrist to her lips, she tried to contact Foaly again. But unfortunately due to the recent magma flare around here, it just wasn't happening. Sighing in frustration she continued her way up the ladder. By now the troll had cleared his head and was looking around for his prey. Holly knew that when he spotted her it would all go downhill. She had to get to those vents. Finally, she reached the vents. Taking her Neutrino and hanging off the ladder with one arm, she pulled the trigger, aiming for the sides of the vents. She'd switched her blast frequency to high and made sure it was as big as she could make it. The blast took a large chunk of the wall with it. The vents were placed around the room in alternating intervals. Their purpose was to let access hot air out and through LEP, kind of a natural heating source. They were not made from steel because that might get really hot. Instead they had a base of concrete with plastic on top. Easy to blast through. As soon as the smoke cleared, she climbed up some more and clambered into the newly enlarged hole. By now, though, the troll had found her and was attempting to swat at her. Trolls are really stupid, but they will do almost anything to get at prey or someone who angers them. Holly had obviously angered him. A troll is so huge that if one of those random swings came into contact with her, she would be slammed against the wall and probably look a bit like a broken doll. Her magic would save her, but not before the troll got to her again. So, hopefully, if she had any luck, the troll wouldn't hit her. Though usually she DIDN'T have any luck, so, this could be pretty bad. Holly continued to crawl through the hole when the trolls arm whizzed past her, dangerously close. Holly winced, but continued to crawl. Her blast had only opened up the upper part of the hole. The vent that led out to where the Retrieval team was blasting away was too narrow to reach. If she gave it another blast with her Neutrino, she might damage with wall opposite and that could cause the whole issue of her being crushed.

"D'Arvit!" She said again.

Huffing with frustration, she tried to make her brain figure out what to do. There were two options- risk getting crushed or blasting from a safer distance (where the troll was). She decided to back up a little, and hope that the troll was unlucky with capturing her again. Holly backed up a few steps, careful with her footing and keeping her head low. Her LEP helmet had been knocked off by the troll when she first encountered him, and so she didn't even have that protection. Holly readied her Neutrino and took the shot.

Artemis
While Holly was trying to escape from the clutches of a troll, Artemis was at his house, playing with the twins. Playing was a one-sided term. To put it correctly, the twins were using him as a hanging post. Artemis was just trying to escape. Which made it all the more fun, of course. Beckett was hanging off of one of Artemis's arms, trying to drag him down and shouting something incomprehensible. Myles was clinging to one of his legs, trying to drag him down. Artemis was hanging onto the corner of a table for dear life, thinking to himself. I have crawled in possibly radioactive gel, gone to a different world in space and time, gone back in time and saved a lemur, caused a huge explosion on a kraken, and more and I cannot seem to get my two twin brothers off of me? What kind of world is this? Just then the door opened and Butler walked in. He was still retired, but he liked to visit Artemis sometimes. He walked in, calling for Artemis to see him there, hanging onto the corner of the coffee table with Myles and Beckett using his as their own personal jungle gym. Butler laughed loudly and Artemis looked up at him, pleading with his eyes.

"Help me!' Artemis said. Butler obliged, walking over to Artemis and hooking Myles and Beckett in his burly arms. They exclaimed in delight, loving the feeling of being swung around in a circle, as though they were as light as air. Kids love that sort of thing. Artemis sighed in relief and straightened up.

"Hello, Butler," He said, "Thank you for pulling those little monsters off of me." Butler just grinned and hugged the 'monsters' close. Then he set them down gently and put a hand on Artemis's shoulder.

"I'm not so sure their actually monsters, Artemis." Artemis shook his head, disagreeing completely. They were worse than trolls! But he loved them. As much as he hated to admit to having actual feelings, he did.

"So, old friend, what brings you here? Come to just hang out?" Butler raised an eyebrow at Artemis's use of teenage slang.

"Yes, actually, I figured you probably wouldn't be busy, so I came over," Then Butler smiled, "Apparently, you were busy."

Artemis scowled, "Ha-ha. I wasn't. Not really anyways. Until they came over and attacked me, I was really quite bored."

Butler raised an eyebrow again. Artemis bored? That didn't happen all too often. In fact, it almost never did. Except for during school. Artemis was always bored there.
"Why were you bored? That's very unlike you." Butler commented. Artemis sighed, rubbing his temples as he usually did.

"Honestly? I don't know why. I guess it's just because just last week, it seems I was traveling through time and saving my mother and causing explosions, and now I'm doing Science homework where the questions are ridiculously easy and on occasion, wrong!"

It was more emotion Butler had seen from him in a very long while. Then Butler laughed.

"Artemis, of course you feel this way. Even before we got involved with the LEP you had schemes that made our lives entirely too interesting." Artemis sighed again and then pointed towards the living room.

"Why don't we sit down. A talk with you might make me less bored."

Butler nodded and watched as his young friend walked into the very bright living room, which was just as Angeline liked it. Artemis had looked better. In fact, the last time Butler had visited Artemis had been slightly less pale and looked like he had even picked up the occasional weight. But now he wasn't so sure, Artemis had returned to being vampiricly pale and slim and even looked a little paler than usual. His slimness used to fit him, but now he looked oddly like a child who was starved, with his skin hanging off of bone like that.

"Artemis, are you feeling well?" Butler asked him as they sat down, "Because you don't look so well."

Artemis rubbed his forehead distractedly and then turned towards Butler. They sat down in cushy seats opposite of each other. Butler was looking at him with a concerned expression on his face.

"Yes, I'm fine," But as he said it, he new it wasn't true.

Over the past few days he'd felt rather sick and he hadn't had much of an appetite at all. Plus his energy seemed to be depleting at a rather rapid rate, so that going to bed kept on becoming earlier for him. He was thinking of calling Holly and telling her, but would rather not. Although she had (kind of) forgiven him for lying, he wasn't so sure she would trust him if he told her he was sick. So, he didn't. And anyways, worrying her would only put her career in more jeopardy. He'd rather not tell his mother because seeing her distressed only added to his pain, and anyways, he could take care of himself. Butler narrowed his eyes at him, but Artemis simply raised an eyebrow. Butler shook his head and they started talking about their home lives. If Artemis wanted to tell him what was wrong, he would.

Holly
The blast went true, that was for sure, and she dodged anything that could crush her, but the troll she didn't dodge as well. The arm hit her, instantly breaking several of her rib bones and she was shunted against the wall with incredible force. She heard her arm break and although now she was in shock, soon she would be in pain. Luckily enough, the Retrieval team had noticed the explosion (it was kind of hard not to) and was now trying to help her. They got up there and blasted at the troll until he backed away. A groaning Holly was encased in blue sparks and several of the Retrieval members lined up in front of her. While Holly was healing, the Retrieval team managed to stun the troll, who promptly collapsed with a thud that sent vibrations all across the room. Holly's healing process had finished and she was stretching sleepily on the ground, testing for anymore injuries. Finding none, she hopped to her feet and cleared the dizziness from her head.

"Thanks, guys that was a big help," She said. Not sourly, really, but they could've tried a little harder to get to her.
Drake, nicknamed for his full name Mandrake, grinned at her and led her from the hole.

"Sorry, Captain, but we aren't as smart as you apparently."

Holly narrowed her eyes dangerously, "No. Apparently not. It's alright. Although Foaly won't be too happy about my helmet," She sighed, tired, "Do you think the Commander will let me go and get some sleep. That really tired me out."

Drake nodded understandingly. A bout with a troll could really take it out of you. Not that he would know.

Holly collapsed on her bed as soon as she got to her apartment. After talking to Trouble- ahem, Commander Kelp- who had said fine to her request of coming back and sleeping for a while. She really deserved it. Just as she was falling asleep, she thought about what Artemis might be doing. Probably scheming. And on that happy note, Holly drifted off into dreamland.

Artemis
After Butler left, Artemis retired to his room. Which was also his study. He sat at his computer for hours straight, not really doing anything at all but staring at the screen. Truth be told, he was thinking about his sickness. Upon his return from the past, and retrieving Jayjay from himself, he'd been pretty sick for a week. That was to be expected, No1 had told him, seeing how the Time Stream could mess you up pretty badly. But, now, this was a different kind of sickness, something more draining. He had no magic and no one to ask about it. Putting his head in his hands, Artemis continued to wonder if maybe, just maybe, he had pushed himself a little too hard the last time. Artemis would never tell anyone, but there were times these days when he was just in such incredible pain, he didn't know what to do. So, Artemis had started researching. Not only human sites, but also fairy places, he even went so far as to hacking into Foaly's computer files on fairy sicknesses. This is what he had come up with. His sickness seemed to be a type of cancer, and although he'd been infected by normal human standards, the sickness itself was of fairy origin. He was starting to have symptoms of two different types of cancers, one strictly for fairies and one that was human. The cancer started with his abdomen and stomach, causing waves of pain that erupted out from his core and stopped just below his heart. Then there was Artemis's head. Although his intelligence was obviously not affected by this, his head in general was, meaning that excruciating migraines formed every so often. Besides that, there was energy depletion at an abnormally fast rate and every so often stabbing pains that would rip their way through his limbs. But his heart, so far was left untouched. Artemis had stopped eating completely, because everything he ate just came back up later, and what was the point in eating something if it simply came right back up? Artemis came to the conclusion that his sickness was a human and fairy cancer mixed, and that simply made it stronger, made it eat at him faster. He hadn't really come up with a name for it yet, but he would. Artemis often wondered if it would kill him, although he planned on doing something about it before then. Artemis also thought about Holly. What would she say if he told her? What would she say if he didn't and then she found out anyways? Artemis decided to simply not tell her, and if she asked he would. Therefore there would be no lying.

Holly
Holly woke up to hear one of her communicators buzzing. She had two, one that Artemis had with him and one that Butler kept. This was one that Butler kept with him. Holly smiled. Usually Butler was pretty reasonable about these things and even though it was 5:00 in the morning, she decided to answer it.

"Hey, Butler. What's up?" She asked.

"Hello, Holly, I have a favor to ask," When he spoke he sounded pretty worried, so Holly started getting worried herself.

"Butler, what's wrong?" She asked quietly. For some reason she that it had something to do with Artemis.

"Well, Holly, I'm not sure," He sounded tired, "But I was over at Artemis's and at first everything seemed normal, but then..." He trailed off.

Holly sat up in her bed,"Then what, Butler, then what?" Holly was frantic, Butler usually cut to the chase.

"I think he's sick, Holly. Really sick. But he won't say anything. You know Artemis, thinking that he can just get over things like this. But I'm really worried this time. He seems so weak, even for him. And paler." Holly frowned. Hearing Butler this worried was worrying her. So if Artemis was sick, why hadn't he told her?

"Okay, Butler, I know what you're asking. Sure, I'll go and check up on him."

"Thanks, Holly," He sounded relieved, "Bye."

"Bye," Holly said, then hung up and set the communicator down on her bedside table. Frond knew what was going to happen now.

Artemis
The weak sunlight that filtered through Artemis's curtains was annoying him. These days, every light seemed brighter and every light seemed to give him a headache. He was lying in bed, unable to find the energy to drag himself up. His parents and the twins had left half and hour ago, to take the twins to some carnival. He'd told his moth- mom- that he was feeling rather under the weather and would rather not go. This was very true, so why did he still feel guilty? Artemis stared down at himself. It was practically noon and he was still here, in bed. This was a very un-Artemis like thing to do, and it was that thought that made him get up and pull on a robe. Artemis walked down the stairs slowly, feeling down and a little nauseous. His arm was hanging limply onto the railing and he looked down on it, only to see several bruises on the wrist. Artemis stared at them like this would cause their fading. Then he sighed wearily. Bruising easily was just another sign of cancer. He entered the kitchen, glanced at the food left on the table and left the kitchen. Artemis decided to sit down and read. Or something. He ended up staring out of a window. He's been doing that a lot lately. It seemed to Artemis that something about windows were rather calming. Or maybe he was just hoping Holly would turn up in one. As if on cue, he heard a buzzing. Smiling to himself, Artemis turned towards the noise.

"Hello, Holly."

Holly
Holly had flown to Artemis's house the next day, seeing as how Trouble had given her the day off to rest. When she had opened the window on the upper floor and flown in, she'd almost turned off her shield. But then Holly had not. She didn't know why. After leaving the room she followed the stairs down into the living room where she had found Artemis sitting on the couch, staring out the window, clad in a blue robe. She waited for him to hear her. It didn't take long, and he turned around smiling.

"Hello, Holly." He said. She unshielded, revealing herself to him.

"Hey, Artemis." She said, smiling, "Nice to see you."

Artemis smiled genuinely,"Nice to see you too, Holly. What brings you here?"

Holly walked over to the couch he was sitting on and sat there. She then punched him on the shoulder.
"What, I can't just come for a visit?" She said playfully. But she felt anything but playful. Honestly, Artemis looked horrible. He was usually extremely pale, but now he was sickly pale with a grayish tinge to his skin. There was purple bruise like marks under his eyes, showing he was tired and although Artemis had always been thin, now he was skin and bones. Artemis's mismatched eyes, usually bright with thoughts and ideas were dull now. Although he'd obviously tried to hide it from her, his wrist was spotted with bruises. Holly felt sad, and appalled, what was wrong with him?

Artemis smiled again,"Of course, I just got the feeling that you were here for a reason." Holly sighed and turned towards the Mud boy and decided to tell the truth.

"Actually, Artemis, Butler asked me to check up on you. He was worried about your health," Holly looked him over again, "And, now that I see you, so am I." A flash of something spread through Artemis's eyes. Was that guilt? Or possibly... sadness?

"Holly, honestly, I'm fine. It's just a little bug that's going around." He said it as convincingly as he could, but Holly just didn't believe him.

She raised an eyebrow,"Uh-huh, and that's why you look like the walking dead and have bruises on your wrist." Artemis winced slightly at her accusing, and worried tone. That just made it harder for him.

Holly's voice softened,"Come on, Arty, tell me what's wrong," Then she narrowed here eyes dangerously and said, "I'm not leaving until you do!"
Artemis studied his hands, looking like he was trying to make a decision.

"Alright," He said, "I'll tell you."

Artemis
Holly was staring at him in horror. He was still looking at his hands. He'd told her his theory about his sickness and was still waiting for some kind of reaction. She seemed to be frozen.

Finally, Holly spoke,"Arty, that's horrible!" Artemis winced at the sound of his nickname. It hurt to hear her hurt and it made him sad to hear her sad. Holly reached over and placed her hand on his wrist. Her expression of horror had left and was replaced with sadness.

"Heal," Holly whispered, sending blue sparks over his wrist, healing the bruises. Artemis leaned down, holding his throbbing head in his hands. Holly sighed above him and then gently placed a warm hand on his back.

"Arty," She said softly, "I think I can help you."

He raised his head tentatively,"What do you mean? There's no cure for this kind of cancer, Holly."

He looked into her eyes and saw her determination. Holly leapt off the couch and activated her wings. She looked him in the eyes. Their mirrored, mismatched eyes.

"I'll be right back. Don't you dare go hide somewhere." Then she shielded and left the mansion. Artemis watched her leave thinking, maybe, just maybe, he might actually have a chance.