Disclaimer: I do not own any character or location mentioned below.

Prologue: Unconsciousness

(Artemis POV)

I blinked my eyes once, then twice. I heard voices.

'Check his vitals...'

'Is he going to recover?...'

'Oh, my poor Arty...'

'Dad, Beckett miss Artemis...'

'Artemis simple-toon, wake up...'

I felt my eyes closing, the voices becoming blurry as I sank back into unconsciousness.

I heard the door open and close. Footsteps on the floor, coming closer, closer. I can't open my eyes, they feel so heavy. The footsteps came to a stop next to me. I heard him mutter incoherent phrases.

'Breathing, check...heartbeat, check...brainwaves, stable, check...check...check.'

I felt him pry open my mouth firmly and roll a cotton swab on the inside of my mouth, I still couldn't open my eyes. The cotton swab had a clinical medicine taste to it. I felt a flash of light and heard a beep.

'Identity confirmation, check. Confirmation result, positive…'

I heard more footsteps, the door opened and closed, and there was nothing. I sank into unconsciousness again, but more slowly, and not as deep.

I felt my consciousness slip, I must be dreaming, how can there be two voices in my head.

'Get out of here, Orion. You were never meant to stay for this long.'

'Oh, Artemis, how foolish can you be? I am Holly's knight in shining armor, how can I leave her with you.'

'Look, it's my head, I get to decide, and I say out.'

'Nope, it's not yours anymore. Fight me you coward and let us decide who gets this mind.'

'Stop this foolishness, you are not even real. Now get over it and just disappear.'

'You wish.'

Pain! Excruciating pain! Slowly, the pain dulled and my mind cleared somewhat, enough for me to realize that it was an electric shock. I heard someone saying, 'He still down, give him another blast.'

'One, two, three, clear!'

More pain! As the current flowed through my body, I felt my consciousness jolting, trying to wake. Inside my mind, I felt something filling the empty space. The voices returned.

'What's going on?'

'It's the treatment, it wouldn't be strange if one of us disappears. Or I should say that that's the point of the treatment.'

'You foul villain! For the sake of my beloved Holly, I shall be the one to survive! I will live out a full life for your Artemis. Go in peace.'

'Hmm, what makes you think that you will survive? Might I remind you that I am the dominant personality and as long as I remain so, you will have to listen to me.'

'I will not bow to you, you foul beast. I shall smite you with my sword of steel and iron. Prepare yourself, Artemis, I will survive!'

'Shout all you like, Orion. No one can hear you, and no one ever will.'

That guy called Artemis is wrong here, I thought gloomily. I can hear them. Actually, they seem to be getting louder and clearer. I suddenly realized that I could see them too. At first they were just a blurry shape, but their getting clearer and clearer, just like a camera focusing its lens.

I also realized that I could hear voices from outside my head too.

'He's stable enough now, Number One. Do it.'

Then I heard a whisper, 'Heal.'

I heard a loud gasp, then realized that my mouth was moving and that gasp came from me. I felt my body jolt violently as red sparks traveled through the length of my body and mind.

Inside, I saw the two bodies suddenly stuck together as if drawn by a magnet. The red sparks rushed through them and everywhere they touched melded together.

'What's happening?! What have you done?!'

'Nothing at all, you fool. This is an interesting turn of events. I suppose I was mistaken and the purpose of the treatment is to meld us together instead of eliminating one of us. Clever, but annoyingly so. How can I live knowing that you are a part of me?'

'Don't sound so disgusted, I am you after all. And I'm not enjoying this any more than you are.'

'For once, I agree with you.'

I saw their body flow into each other, slowly merging together inch by inch, until finally only one body was left standing. Then I spoke, "Who are you?"

The body's mouth moved along with me and I realized that he is me.

(A few hours earlier)

Holly, Butler and all the Fowls were standing around Artemis' bed. Artemis Senior had his arms around Angeline while she cried into his shoulder. He patted her lightly on the back before holding her close and whispered into her ear, 'He will be fine, Angel. He's a Fowl for God's sake.'

The twins, Beckett and Myles were standing next to Holly who, in the past year, had assumed the position of babysitter (a job that not many would dare to take) and had become good friends with them. The twins were almost three by now. They held one of her hands each and peered over the bed to look at Artemis' sleeping face.

''Holly,'' Beckett said in a whiny voice, 'When is Artemis waking up?'

''Soon, Beckett. Soon.'' I hope. She added to herself.

''Humph, Beckett simple-toon.'' Said Myles and tried to cross his arms.

All he succeeded in doing was wrapping his arms around himself. Beckett laughed at him, loudly. Loud enough to attract the attention of Butler.

Butler was lost in his own thoughts, lost in the memories of him and Artemis. He heard a laugh, it sounded like Artemis could have, he thought. Still, wasn't Artemis still sleeping? He sighed to himself, and looked at the twins. He saw a ghost of Artemis' past in their faces. He silently promised himself that he would ensure that they would at least live the life that Artemis did not.

The gloomy silence settled back on them like a fog, squeezing the life out of them. Their eyes unknowingly settled on Artemis' sleeping face. He looked so peaceful when he was sleeping. Just like a normal teenage child.

'As if his life could be normal after all he's been through' thought Holly and Butler to themselves.

They continued looking at him, afraid that when they next saw him, he would not be the same anymore.

J. Argon entered, his face all smiles and sunshine, if you squint, you might see hints of rainbows and unicorns. He was hoping that the treatment would fail, and his number one patient could stay. Publicity was his life, other than money. But still, perhaps a successful treatment would be better, since there are still quite a number of the People who did not like a mud man walking in their territory.

"Alright, everybody out! It's time for the last treatment, hopefully."He added.

It didn't sound very hopeful to the rest of them, but now all they could do was to wait patiently, no matter how impossible it would seem.

Beckett and Myles sat in a corner holding hands with Holly. She was trying hard to keep on smiling in front of the twins. It was bad enough without the twins knowing it. She watched them entertain themselves, thinking that children should not have to go through things like this. She remembered her mother and her smile faltered a bit, but she picked it up again, her mum wouldn't want to see her sad.

Butler sat in a corner, but not out of sadness and despair (well, partly, but not completely). He had to sit, because, the corridor simply wasn't high enough, and although he could double over, the treatment had no specific duration. It could be finished within half an hour or it could drag on for more than 30 hours. Even Butler couldn't double over for that long. Well, maybe he could but he prefered to preserve his energy instead of wasting it on useless energy-consuming activities.

He was currently sitting with his massive head in equally massive hands. Holly went over to him and stood by him. She couldn't even comfort herself, never mind a six-foot(and above)-giant. Butler looked at her a whispered a 'Thank you.' (in Gnomnish). 'For what?' she asked (in Gnomnish).

"For being here for him."

She blushed, "I promised him." She said, trying doing her best to ignore the tomato-coloured war paint now covering every inch of her face. Okay, maybe it's an exaggeration, but she did blush.

Butler smiled, ever so slightly, and then it disappeared. "He liked you, you know?"

Holly blushed further and tried to hide her face with her helmet visor. Helmets are never allowed in the hospital, she brought it in anyway, they were extremely useful in situations such as the current one. The atmosphere was getting too awkward for her liking. Nodding once more at Butler, she walked back to where the twins were cooking up some new brand of mischief.

The twins were sitting down, looking at the ground. They were very quiet, Holly couldn't help but check for any tricks or trap that the twins were likely to set.

Making sure that there were no traps, she walked over and sat down between the twins. She held their hand and sat there quietly.

'I miss Artemis.' said Beckett in a whiny voice. 'Me too' said Myles, in a whiny voice for the first time. In an effort to cheer the twins up, she said, 'Wow! The great Professor Myles is whining!'

Myles immediately straightened up and attempted the action of crossing his arms once again. 'Humph, Myles is not whining.' He said, pouting cutely.

Holly was thinking up a smartmouth comment when they suddenly announced that the treatment was over.

They rushed into the room and crowded around Artemis.

He opened his eyes.

"Who am I?"

Note:

Speech will be in "...", everything in the first half is in '(thoughts)' because as far as the character is concerned, it's all happening inside his head. Hope I didn't confuse you too much.

A/N:

Edited! The next two chappies are in the works too! After this revamp—thank God I started it early—the updates will hopefully more closely resemble some form of regularity and increase in length.

Ciao~