An Interview With Artemis On Truth Serum
Foaly put down his victim's Earl Grey Tea, and, settled himself down into his modified chair.
The victim, a mudboy, couldn't have looked any calmer. Why shouldn't he be? Here he was, being asked a few questions by one of his other few highly intelligible friends (A/N: willfully, you could say), in the Ops Booth, with no one around, in or outside. Absolutely no reason to be worried because, what could possibly go wrong?
Famous last words.
'Oh, yes. Famous, indeed.'
"Ah, Foaly, thank-you. Now, shall we proceed?"
Foaly attempted, and succeeded, in hiding a smirk as the human to a sip from his tea.
"Yes, Artemis, let's."
Artemis nodded, "Okay. So, what is it you wanted to inquire me about?"
Foaly leaned back, getting comfortable. "What happened, in the past?" he asked calmly, closing his eyes. When Artemis didn't answer right away, Foaly cracked open one eye, but opened the other right after seeing Artemis.
The genius was sitting, mouth opening and closing, becoming a shade paler each time. Eventually, after much trying to lie or avoid the truth, Artemis took a different approach. Instead, he turned red with rage (A/N: Or embarrassment, who could tell?) and glared at Foaly.
"What did you do, centaur?"
Foaly feigned surprise, but intentionally making it look bad just to get the boy more upset. "I don't know what you're talking about." He chuckled.
Artemis rolled his eyes. "Oh, please. Your innocence won't work on me. Now, tell me!"
Foaly was taken aback by the sudden icy tone in the boy's voice. "Calm down, mudboy! All I did was slip a drop or two of truth serum into your tea."
The poor victim looked down at the fine china tea cup and the murky liquid in it, his eyes widening.
"D'arvit," he muttered. Then he looked up, swallowed, and put on a curious smile.
"How-"
"It lasts three hours, how long this interrogation is." Foaly interrupted with an unconcealed smile. "Now, time to get some answers!"
Artemis put on a confident look, and inclined his head. Foaly rolled his eyes. 'Let's flatten some mudboy ego.'
"Foaly, you do realize I don't have to answer any of your questions."
The centaur looked at him, and grinned. "I know. Yet, I have this sneaking suspicion that something happened, and that you would just love to talk about it! Am I right?"
Artemis opened his mouth, and then closed it again. Then he opened it again, with a determined spark in his mismatched eyes.
"Yes."
In an instant the spark was gone. And poor Arty was sitting there, mouth agape. So, what did Foaly do? Why, press him even more, of course!
"Ah, really now? Well, let's hear it, then." He smirked. Then, with a look of happy remembrance, he spoke again; "Oh, did I forget to mention that the serum has a hint of Mesmer in it and that I can command you, to a length?"
Artemis shook his head. "No?" asked Foaly, "Oh. Oops! Yes, I can command you, but it's not as strong."
Artemis sighed, and, waving his imaginary white flag of surrender, answered.
At first, when Artemis was telling the recollection of his adventure, Foaly was skeptical that perhaps Holly and he hadn't left anything out. So, when Artemis reached the part of him being attacked in the gorilla cage, Foaly was flat-out bored. Little did he know that a triumph was none too far away.
"-and the gorilla escaped into the canopy of the trees. I was unconscious and then Holly healed me. Then she-" Artemis stopped abruptly.
Foaly opened his resting eyes, and did a double-take at Artemis's position. The boy was sitting stiffly upright, eyes wide. But what interested him were the two small, nut-brown hands clasping the boys mouth shut.
The look was comical, with Artemis suddenly furrowing his brow and looking cross-eyed at the new addition of hands. Foaly could even still make out the muffled retelling of the story.
"Captain Holly Short, you'd better unshield."
The lone female elf captain unshielded, smiling sheepishly at Foaly then down at Artemis. (A/N: She had wings on.)
"Artemis, stop." Foaly commanded, not taking his eyes off of Holly.
The boy's mumbling stopped, and Holly removed her hands.
"What was that for?!" asked Foaly, knowing now that something had happened, and he wanted to know what it was!
Holly opened her mouth, and then blushed. Artemis looked from Foaly to Holly and back to Foaly. And then, before poor Artemis could stop himself, he answered for her.
"Holly was just trying to prevent me from telling you about the ki-" Holly, looking flustered and a nice shade of red, clamped her hands around Artemis's mouth, again.
Foaly smiled. He could tell what Artemis had said. So they kissed! Hmmm…Then the full meaning of the words hit him. They kissed?!
If you think you could imagine how big Foaly's eyes were, then you must have a huge amount of skull room, because Foaly's eyes were as huge as the planet Jupiter!
The poor centaur raked his eyes from embarrassed human to blushing elf, then again, over and over and over once more.
"You…and…and her…elf…mudboy…kiss…WHAT?!" Spluttered Foaly. He looked at the pair:
Artemis was contemplating on whether he should blush madly, or bash his head against the table.
While he finally made his choice, and started to blush, Holly chose the latter and walked over to the wall. Foaly winced as multiple dents appeared in the steel-coated wall. 'They're going to need to repair that…' he thought.
Eventually, Holly seemed to have given herself amnesia, because she walked back smiling. Her eyes seemed to be staring at the table. Artemis glanced at her, and noticed what she was staring at. He caught on immediately…
Foaly was now thoroughly spooked. Holly's creepy smile was now being imitated on Artemis's face, and they were both advancing on him, Artemis holding the tainted tea.
Suddenly, Foaly decided that there would be no way of getting out of this, so he decided he might as well have some fun before he is mesmerized to forget what happened.
"Artemis, kiss Holly."
Both froze, Artemis from the command, Holly from fear. Then the poor elf made the wrong decision to turn and glance at Artemis, because at the same time, Artemis turned and leaned towards her. His lips met hers in an awkward kiss (who said Artemis kissed her willingly? He was pretty petrified, but not for reasons that you might think. Oh no, he scared because of the damage he knew she could deal).
Foaly slowly edged out of the room.
Observations Booth
Whilst this was happening, Foaly had snuck out of the Interrogation room and into the Observation room, where he could watch the drama from a one-way window; a safe distance. Then, being the annoying centaur he is, he cracked a smile and started balking with laughter. It didn't help the two that the speakers were on.
Interrogations Room
When Artemis kissed Holly, all rational thought went straight out the window. For both of them.
The pair was transported, back, eight years ago, to that day, that time, in Rathdown Park. They could smell gorilla dropping, grass, and blood. Artemis's blood. That dreamy-like state held them both, enchanting and enticing, begging to stay longer.
Both could feel the sparks from the corona of magic, yet neither knowing why it was there. The memory was never, although both promised it would be, forgotten.
Observation Booth
Foaly gawked at the pair, but more importantly, at the magic that surrounded them. He had never seen this before and decided to look it up. But, before he did, Foaly decided that it was safe to go back inside. Besides, the people who would inflict pain upon him were a bit preoccupied. He snickered.
Their dream/memory state was shattered by a loud, intrusive snort. Artemis and Holly pulled away reluctantly, not wanting to go back to reality. Then they realized what happened and started blushing furiously, not even daring to look at each other. Their position wasn't making it any easier; Artemis: His right hand was laced in Holly's hair, the other on her waist; and Holly: Arms around his neck.
They let go, and both spared a glance at Foaly. Human and elf shuddered at his expression.
Foaly was grinning widely. Perfect.
"So…how was your second kiss?"
Artemis was livid, beside the fact that he was still red from embarrassment.
"Why, in the name of God, did you tell me to do that?!" he snapped, his icy tone returning with dizzying speed.
Foaly's smile faltered a bit, but covered it up by turning his smile into a smirk. "Why wouldn't I?" he paused, then added, "You two didn't seem to mind."
Holly looked at Artemis, who in turn glanced at her. She tried to say something, but nothing came out. Then she tilted hr head, and looked at Foaly. She smiled.
"Foaly, would you be so kind as to give the mudboy and me some privacy…please?"
Foaly's eyes opened wide, scared at the sickenly sweet tone in her voice. He wasn't fooled. It was either fight or flight, and Foaly was smart enough to know how much pain the little, underestimated elf could give.
As Foaly edged out the door, and quick, fleeing footsteps were heard down the hall, Holly turned to Artemis. He was looking down at his feet.
"Artemis…"she started, softly, not knowing what his mood was at the moment.
He looked up, and frowned. "I'm sorry, Holly. I couldn't stop it. Though there was very little magic, it was still quite strong, even for my mind."
Holly smiled. "It's okay, Arty."
Arty. He breathed a sigh of relief. He was forgiven.
Then something crossed his mind, and he looked up.
Holly was sitting down in his chair that earlier had occupied Artemis.
"What were you doing in here anyways?" he asked curiosity evident in his voice.
The elf shrugged. "I overheard Foaly talking to you about it, and I thought something was suspicious about it. So I decided I'd sneak in incase Foaly tried anything on you." Holly smirked, but then frowned.
"What's the matter?" he inquired.
She shoo her head and groaned. "Foaly probably recorded that k…kiss and is now going to play it on all the screens in Haven!" she slammed her fist down, knocking the tea cup over, spilling liquid everywhere.
"D'arvit!"
As she bent down to pick up the shattered pieces of china, Artemis lightly touched her shoulder, forcing Holly to look up. "What?" she growled.
"Don't worry," he reassured her, "I'll get him back if he does. Besides, all you have to do is make up a lie about the kiss if anyone mentions it. Okay?"
The elf sighed, and smiled gratefully at him. "Thank-you, Arty."
She walked over to him, put her hand on his shoulder for support, and leaned upwards; planting a kiss on his cheek.
Artemis was, to say the least, startled. He didn't expect this reaction from Holly, because, after all, since when was Artemis Fowl the Second able to comfort someone?
He looked down at her and smiled, "Thank-you."
The elf looked down, suddenly very interested in her LEP boots.
There was a long expanse of silence, awkward in the small room.
"Holly…?" he started, unsure, "what did happen, back in time? I know you said we should forget it but, do you really think we'll ever forget?"
She sighed. "No matter how many times we'll try, I don't think we'll ever forget…"then added, "Why?"
He shook his head, and met her eyes. "I don't know."
He took a step towards her, but, as Fate loves to be cruel to us all, he slipped on the tea that Holly had spilled earlier.
"Woa-Ahhhhhh!" he screamed as he fell backwards. Holly leaned forwards in an attempt to catch him, but ended up slipping as well. They landed in a heap, a dull thud resounding throughout the halls.
Both would have scrambled to their feet in a matter of seconds if either one weren't so preoccupied with something else.
Holly's lips were smashed against Artemis's, and both had their eyes wide open, neither moving.
She sat up, and moved away. Then, she started laughing nervously. Artemis joined in, (A/N: SHOCKING!!) which was pretty funny, seeing he didn't move from his spot on the floor. Soon they were both jittery with laughs.
Holly got up and helped Artemis up, both still laughing.
"That's…that's the…the…third time w-…we kissed…accidentally or unwillingly!" she was able to choke out before breaking out in a series of very un-character-like giggles. Artemis just nodded, smiling.
Eventually they calmed down, silence falling over the room like a heavy blanket.
Holly looked over at Artemis solemnly. "Why is it that we keep kissing?" she asked quietly, almost to herself.
Artemis got up, a theory sparking in his mind. Now how to tell Holly seriously…
"Well, not to sound like a philosophical crack-pot but…what if someone or something wants us together?" he asked thoughtfully.
Holly snorted. "What, like we were meant to be?" she laughed. "I highly doubt it!"
He sighed. So much for serious…
She looked up at Artemis, who was glaring at her; probably because of the way she dismissed his idea.
"Oh come on, Arty! You don't honestly believe that the Fates, or whatever they are called, are playing matchmaker!"
He looked away, but then turned his head back to her, another plan coming to mind.
"Kiss me, then."
This shocked Holly, and she had to mentally slap herself to realize Artemis had just said that.
"What?!" she asked incredulously. "Why not use one of the other three kisses for your…experiments?!" she spit out.
He chuckled, moving closer to her. "I need to have us do this willingly, so will you help? After this, we can let it drop if it means nothing. If it does, well…" he trailed off, embarrassed.
"Fine." She muttered, giving up.
"Excellent. Now come sit." He said as he took a seat on the floor and patted the area in front of him. She swallowed, and sat down.
Both, as soon as they were seated in front of each other, blushed.
"Er…" Artemis started, but then regained composure. "Right. Okay, you ready?" she nodded.
"Okay…on the count of three. One, two…three."
The pair leaned towards each other, their eyes open wide. But when their lips finally met, all thought was lost. It was a chaste kiss, three seconds, but still sparks flickered where contact was made. Both pulled away, not wanting to speak.
Artemis opened his mouth, but Holly beat him to it.
"Well?" she snapped.
"I…what the-?" he said as blue sparks danced lazily around the two.
Holly watched them with a slight remembrance. "These sparks are formed every time we d'arvitting kiss!"
Artemis just nodded, looking down. "I…I was right." He said.
"What?" she asked.
He looked up at her, and locked her eyes with his. Ask me why I suggested the kiss. The mesmer should still be working."
The elf nodded. "Why did you suggest the kiss?"
The boy's eyes glazed over.
"I just wanted you to kiss me again."
"Why?" questioned Holly, curious against her will.
"I think it's because I love you, but I'm unsure. Will you help?"
Then he snapped out of it, and he glanced down at his watch. "The three hours are up. What did I say?"
Holly just leaned towards him and kissed him on the cheek.
"I love you, too." She whispered.