Hey Guys, this is my first attempt to write a Fanfic though I've thought about it quite a bit. For the purpose of this story we will pretend that Opal was successfully apprehended at the end of AFTP. I have the story all worked out but it might take me a while to get it down on paper. I welcome comments but I'm not sure if I will always have time to respond to them because my computer time is limited. Anyways I hope you enjoy it.


Scandinavia

5000 feet in the air, Holly short flew along the coast of Norway enjoying a brief period of respite before she had to return to the L.E.P. and resume her duties. She flew lower, scanning the ocean underneath her. A few dolphins saw her and did a few flips in the air. Holly gave a sad smile in return. She enjoyed her trips to the surface but each visit was permeated with sadness. The People had not lived above ground for many millennia, forced to retreat to their underground haven due to the rising human population.

Still not all Mudmen are bad thought Holly. Just think of Artemis.

Artemis. The thought of the genius boy still caused a pang in her stomach. She wasn't really sure how she felt about him anymore. They where friends, but mixed in with their friendship was a cloud of more complicated emotions. He had deceived her, used her emotions to gain her help in his latest plot. And even while it had been with his mother at heart, it had hurt to know that Artemis had thought she would not have helped him willingly. Then there was what had happened when they went back in time. When she had kissed...

In the air, Holly shook her head. She didn't want to think about that right now. She was on the surface and she wanted to enjoy that while she could.

"Caught in fantasies Major?" Said a voice in her ear.

"I'm on my way to the site right now Foaly."

"Really? You appear to be drifting out to sea."

Holly scowled and quickly corrected her course. It didn't due to give Foaly more fodder to taunt her with.

"I was just checking out the reef." Said Holly. It wasn't like her to get distracted on the job.

"Sure," said Foaly (Holly could just see that smug little smile on his face right now). "Just make sure you don't enjoy yourself to much Holly."

Inside her helmet, Holly smiled. She wasn't fooling anybody. Foaly knew full well that she had assigned this mission to herself to get out of the office. She had expected a drop in aboveground missions after she had accepted the promotion to major, but in five months since she had started her duties as major, she hadn't done anything outside of work at her desk. This mission was her vacation from the stacks of paperwork she had to get through.

"Stupid L.E.P. bureaucracy." Holly muttered under her breath. Still she had made a promise to do her duty to the people after Commander Root had died, even if that meant giving up some personal freedoms and dealing with all of the unpleasantries.

A little red dot blinked on the navigation screen, signaling that she was approaching her destination. Holly flew low over the ground; double-checking that she had her shield on and also that the suits cameo function was working. A technical genius Foaly might be, but Holly had experienced a failure in his equipment before and she was not about to take the suits functions for granted.

She landed in the midst of a dense forest next to a towering old oak. Holly took of her helmet and breathed in the night air. Nearby a stream meandered softly through the brush. This was what Fairies lived for. Holly went up to the oak and touched her fingers to the bark. Even though it wasn't a full moon she could still feel the dull throb of magic in her veins. She closed her eyes for a moment enjoying the senses of the world around her.

"Better hop to it Holly. We're on the clock here." Said Foaly's voice from her earpiece.

Holly nodded and took a slender metal pole from her bag. In recent times the deforestation frenzies of the Mudmen had caused many magical sites like this one to become none-existential. To combat this, Foaly had designed a device that emitted pulses of high frequency noise, filling the air for several hundred feet in either direction, which acted somewhat like the mesmer. When a human heard it they would become distracted, filled with a sudden fear of danger in the general area. The theory behind this was that the surveyors for the logging companies would report back that the area was unfit for logging which would keep the forest relatively free of Mudmen infestations. The pole was designed to look like a normal survey rod with an orange band on the top.

Holly put the pole into the earth near the base of the oak and then twisted the top to activate it. Although she herself was unaffected, the trees around her was suddenly filled with the screeches of birds fleeing to less noisy areas.

"Sorry guys." said Holly picking up her bag wings and helmet. She strapped up, put on her helmet and took off into the air gliding back out to the coast.

Her earpiece gave a sharp crackle of static startling her slightly.

"Foaly?" She said.

"Sorry," said Foaly sheepishly "I dropped my mike."

Holly laughed. Down in Haven Foaly gritted his teeth.

"Hardly the most glamorous job for a L.E.P. Major is it?" Said Foaly trying to change the subject.

"You know perfectly well that I took this mission to get out of the office for a while."

"But I thought you enjoyed the office." Said Foaly in mock surprise.

"You might want to drop the mike again before I decide to get down there and kick your hairy behind." Said Holly.

"There's the Holly I know and love." Said Foaly. "But seriously, you've been too uptight at work. Enjoy your flight home."

Now it was Holly's turn to act surprised. "Concerned for me? You aren't going soft on my are you Foaly." She heard a block of static that sounded like Foaly had snorted into the microphone. "Ok, ok. See you when I get back."

For several minutes Holly flew in peace, admiring the glistening of the moon on the rough waves below. She wondered what it would be like to live above ground but she knew it could never happen not with the number of Mudmen that occupied the earth. It was not in their nature to accept things like Fairies and the People, being for the most part peaceful, would not win a battle with them. So secrecy it had to be sighed Holly.

Holly was interrupted in her musings by a small flashing mail icon the corner of the helmets screen.

"Foaly can you move this to my office computer? I don't want to think about work right now."

"Um. I think you might want to read this Holly." Said Foaly "Its from Artemis."

Holly felt her heart rate speed up. Artemis almost never contacted her inanely. If he had sent her a message it probably meant that there was some kind of trouble.

She opened the massage. It was a single word: "help". She felt her stomach drop.

"Holly?" Asked Foaly sounding worried.

Holly ground her teeth. This was NOT what she needed right now.

"Get me all of the emails from Artemis that are in my inbox." She said.

She had received three emails from Artemis since she had last seen him after the opal incident. One she had opened but the other two were still sitting in her inbox. Holly hadn't gotten around to reading those because her work kept her to busy for anything else and both had been marked as non urgent so she had set them aside.

"On it."

There was the sound of a keyboard and in a little under 3 seconds the emails where scrolling on the screen in front of her.

00000

Message 1

Dear Holly,

First allow me to say congratulations on your promotion to major. I can say that you out of anyone deserve it the most. Anyways I have been feeling odd recently and I thought that it might be a side effect of the time tunnel. I wonder if you could put me in contact with Foaly and we could discuss it. It's probably nothing but I just want to be sure.

Artemis

Message 2

Dear Holly,

Sorry to bother you again but I'm afraid my condition has deteriorated quite rapidly. I am starting to experience curious pains that I'm not quite sure how to describe. I think I have ruled out most ailments and diseases and my physician says I'm perfectly healthy. Please contact me or have Foaly contact me when you get a hole you your work.

Artemis

00000

"D'arvit!" Holly swore. She keyed in the coordinates of Fowl Manor into her navigation screen and changed course mid air.

"Holly, you aren't cleared for more surface time."

"I know Foaly. But you know I have to go."

"Yes." Said Foaly softly. "I know."

For the love of Frond, Artemis had better really be in trouble thought Holly.