Artemis Fowl the Second was no stranger to fear. Since the tender age of eight, it had been a rather unwelcomed constant in his life; a life that was far from ordinary to begin with. The older he grew, the more he became accustomed to dealing with circumstances well beyond his years, if not his maturity and intellect. He sought out solace in cold, hard science. He found a reprieve from overwhelming emotion in undisputed facts about the universe that could be quantified, measured and examined.
These rationalizations were useful during moments when he felt utterly helpless and incapable. While his father lay freezing on the ice drifts of the Bay of Cola, ten year old Artemis had mustered every inch of self control available to him, spending night and day searching for the Fowl patriarch, and caring for his dear mother, who's own coping abilities were stretched to their absolute limits.
During his early teenage years, as each misadventure with his new found fairy acquaintances became more convoluted and the consequences increased in their severity, Artemis' concepts of terror and loss developed ever more sophisticated layers. He found himself experiencing the compulsory need to explore the feelings he had allowed to accumulate within his own expansive mind. The horror of watching those he had grown to love dearly fight to survive situations that he himself had a hand in creating, left him with deep wounds that quite often did not have a chance to heal before another disaster struck.
After so many whirlwind years of self discovery, Artemis was left with no question of how to proceed on the fateful day he gave up his life to save both the human and fairy races. From the very moment his lips left Holly Short's forehead, his purpose was as keen as a freshly sharpened blade. For the first time in his life, he felt at peace with himself. The last thing he could remember seeing before his world faded into velvet draped darkness was Holly and Butler racing towards him, willing to go to war for him up until the last minute.