A/N: Due to popular demand, and largely a few loyal fans, I have decided to post this much earlier than expected. Please note that this is the sequel to my other fanfic Artemis Fowl: The Magic Paradox. You do not necessarily have to read that to read this fanfic, however, the Magic Paradox gives context to this story, and you may be somewhat confused if you haven't read it. I hope you enjoy this story, particularly as I intend to bring back a few characters you thought you would never see again.
Disclaimer: I do not own Artemis Fowl and all related characters and events. No copyright infringement intended.
Artemis Fowl: The Koan Complication
Prologue
The Fowls and the Butlers had sat down for a wonderful gourmet creamy pasta dinner. Take out.
Not your usual Fowl family dinner, but Butler had his hands full.
Butler knew only a small fraction of the story, and no one knew what had truly happened last night. Not even Artemis. Or so everyone thought.
A Faded Photograph
Artemis realized he had made a terrible mistake. Not only in trying to overcome his amnesia, but in his own plan.
"Silver! Put on some silver!" he yelled, knocking his chair to the ground. He grabbed the crutches beside him, wincing.
Already the world had begun to fade around him.
Artemis moved as fast as he could, he had to anchor Holly.
Normally Artemis would not be willing to exert himself physically, but this was quite likely life or death for him, and for Holly.
As he hurled himself up the stairs on the crutches, the stairs faded more and more.
The small ornately carved figure on the post at the top of the stairs became pale and ghostly.
The figure was a small fairy, and her face became paler along with the world around her.
Artemis yelled, "Holly! Silver! Put on some silver!"
He could hear Butler yelling in the dining room. He could only hope his parents grabbed onto something. He was sure they were all equally confused. Even he didn't truly know what was happening. He had the feeling he was about to find out.
He was on the second last step now, and Holly was running out of the door, towards him, shock on her face.
She had nearly reached him when his crutch slipped on the top stair.
Both crutches slipped from his hands, and he saw Holly's hands clawing the empty air above him.
As he fell, Holly's horrified face and the staircase above him faded into pale and dull colours.
Artemis cried out as he fell backwards, and hit his head hard on the stair.
Holly's face blurred, and then it all went black.
Julius Root's fingers began tapping rhythmically on his chest. His eyes opened groggily.
He gasped, sitting up abruptly and clutching at his chest. His heart was beating. No. This was impossible. Did the pony bring him back to life?
Nah, he wouldn't do that, Root thought, sinking back contentedly.
This was really strange. He was definitely dead. He remembered his very last moments.
Holly hadn't listened to him. That elf never did, she did what she thought was right. Really, it had usually been what Root had thought was right too, but you didn't get to be Commander doing whatever the D'Arvit you wanted to do.
He remembered, Opal had been crushing his ribs with her strange device. Holly had tried to hit the sweet spot, but there wasn't one. The pain had been white-hot by this time, and he had wanted to just pass out, and let it go, but he had held on to that last bit of consciousness. He had to.
Opal had taunted Holly one last time, and finally she had flown away, through the chute.
In his last moments, he had gone up in flames. The flames seemed to come from his very inside, out. It had been pain like he had never felt before, but it had only lasted a few seconds. There had been nothing more after that. Until now.
He must be in some kind of afterlife. That was ridiculous, no fairy religion had an afterlife. They lived for several hundred years, then their magic and body was recycled and returned to the earth.
That was it, that was the end. But here he was.
He opened his eyes again, finally taking in his surroundings.
In front of him stood the solid wrought iron gates to Fowl manor. Fowl was scrawled in dramatic lettering across the top. Why the D'Arvit was he in front of Fowl manor?
He could see the grass just beyond the gate was as dully coloured as the black painted gate itself. The grass was the colour of his own dull green LEP jumpsuit.
Finally, he looked up at the sky. It was a horrible gray colour, as if it had faded. There were no clouds.
Even as he thought this, a few wispy gray clouds blew across the sky.
Something truly strange was going on here, and Root knew he wasn't about to figure it out.
The iron gate creaked open. There was no wind.
Root knew exactly who would know what was going on.
A/N: Thank you very much for reading! I would particularly like you to comment now. As I said, I intend to bring back characters you thought you would never see again. Obviously, one of these is Root. It is still open for some other characters, so please comment if you would like your favourite AF character to be in it, and I will do my best. Let me know, who is your favourite villian or minor character in the series?
Also, I think that people enjoy writing flames far more than they enjoy writing reviews to stories they enjoyed. I don't want to be a jerk, but I feel that I deserve a few more reviews than I have been getting. Please review, even if it is only to critique. Unfortunately, I have decided that I will not update this story until I receive 10 quality reviews. Review, even if it's just to say thanks, or that you dislike something, anything.
Thank you.