Okay, this is my first attempt at a longer chapter story. I hope it's seen as at least a bit original...I've been thinking about posting it for a while now. I'm going to try and keep this fluff-less...and fail miserably...I have a few other chapters already written so if people like it, then I'll continue it. :)

Disclaimer: *insert witty remark to the effect that the characters do not belong to me here* ...sigh.

Artemis stood as he saw the rock make contact with his window. He walked cautiously over to it, only to find that it wasn't really a rock. It was a weapon. The unusual tininess of the gun and model, which he had helped Foaly design, made it clear to him that it was a fairy's neutrino. The certain pattern of symbols etched into the side made it clear that it was one Miss Holly Short's neutrino.

Holly Short's neutrino; her only weapon, besides her buzz baton, was being thrown through his window at five o'clock in the morning. That was no coincidence.

Artemis was instantly alert. Someone was taunting him; luring him into a trap. He didn't need to overreact now. That could wait for when he had an armed Butler in front of him. He went over his options. Looking outside the now shattered window would do no good. Even touching the neutrino could have some danger to it. After yelling for Butler to clean the mess of glass now covering his floor, and also guard the vulnerable opening in the wall, he decided to call Holly.

She answered a little irritated to be woken at two in the morning when she had to be getting up early the next day, but when she saw who was calling, she attempted to wake herself. She sat up, flipping open the communicator.

"Artemis?" she asked.

Artemis felt a weight being lifted from his shoulders. He answered, if a little bit shakily. "Yes Holly, it's me. I was wondering whether you were…never mind. I'll let you get back to sleep."

He was about to close his communicator, before he heard Holly speak.

"Artemis, what's wrong?"

At first he didn't answer. He didn't want her to think that he was worried, even though he was.

He sighed. "Holly are you missing anything?"

Holly looked puzzled at first, before her hand automatically went to her hip, where her holster for her gun would be (had she been wearing her uniform). Then she looked scared. Artemis was surprised; he had never seen the Holly Short become scared. The worst part was that he felt bad about it. Boy, had he changed.

"Artemis, I don't know where my neutrino is."

Artemis smirked before he picked up the weapon in question off of his bedroom floor. "Would you perhaps mean this neutrino?"

Needless to say, Holly looked shocked. "H—how did you get that?"

Artemis smirked again. "Someone threw it through my window." he answered bluntly.

A simple 'oh' was all Holly could muster.

Artemis' expression changed when he looked at her closely. "Are you feeling okay? You look a bit pale." Artemis asked her.

"Oh, yeah." she replied. "I've just never been without my weapon for too long." An involuntary shiver went down her spine. She shook slightly, but did her best to look completely dignified and 'okay' as she had said she was, even though she was far from it.

"Well, I would love to come down there to deliver it for you, but sadly, I think I might get caught." Artemis joked. He attempted a weak smile, which turned out looking like a sideways grimace.

"Agreed." Artemis was slightly hurt. He had tried to use humor and she still seemed depressed.

"Well, would you like to talk?" he asked. Strange, before he would have just hung up.

Holly shifted uncomfortably. "It's okay, you need your sleep." But secretly she thought it would be nice to have someone's voice talking to her as she sat alone in her apartment, weaponless. Suddenly that extra cost for a security system that the sales person had recommended didn't seem so high. She wasn't aware at the time that she could possibly regret telling the sprite that anyone who messed with her home would be fried to a crisp before they could get past the metaphorical welcome mat.

"Holly, it's okay. I've already gotten six hours worth."

Holly smiled. "Thanks artemis."

"It's my pleasure." he replied, also smiling now.

They were silent for a while, Holly thinking, and Artemis, watching her think.

Then she broke out of it, to find Artemis staring at her. He quickly looked away. She just ignored it.

"Artemis…how's life been?"

Artemis stared at her like she had grown an extra head.

"Pretty good, I suppose." then he caught on, she wanted him to ask her. "What about you?"

She instantly smiled, partly because she was proud of Artemis for getting the hint, and partly because of the news she was about to tell him.

"Pretty good, I suppose." she mocked, before giving her real answer, her tones changing from dry humor to excited and slightly squeal-ish. "I'm getting married!"

Artemis was shocked. His mouth dropped open. He was at a loss for words; something only Holly was capable of doing to him. He was just about ready to go find a glass of water and do a spit-take.

He gave a weak smile. "That's-that's great, Holly." He stuttered. He didn't care though.

Holly. Getting. Married.

Then a thought flashed before his unfocused eyes. He looked up suddenly. "Who?"

"Who what?" she was confused.

Artemis sighed. "Who are you getting married to?"

"Oh!" she smiled even wider. "Sorry, I'm just so…excited?" She nodded. "Yeah that's the word, I think."

Artemis nodded. He was getting anxious. Who had Holly been so in love with, that she just happened to forget to mention to him…and Butler.

"No, wait. Let me guess. Trouble?"

Holly looked disgusted. "EW, no! Trouble's like my brother."

He nodded, and then thought again. "Mulch?" At her vulgar expression, he continued. "Chix Verbal?"

"Artemis, really. I thought you knew me better. While I don't see myself as beautiful exactly, I'd like to think that I'm allowed higher standards."

"Okay, well those are all the fairies that I can think of. Well, Foaly's married, and while I do think I read something on Centaurs taking more than one wife, I, like you, think you have higher standards." He smirked. "No offence to Foaly if he's got this link wired."

Holly gave a small laugh. "No, he doesn't know about this link. Or at least I don't think he does. I sometimes wonder if he just doesn't tell me things so that I can feel good about sneaking something past him." She was basically talking to herself by the time she finished her statement. But Artemis was growing anxious.

"Are you going to tell me? I've listed every fairy I think I know…around your age and you've said no to all of them."

"Well, that's because you don't know him." She gave him a wide smile.

"What? Why didn't you tell me?"

Holly fake pouted. "It was funny!" she defended. "I've never seen Artemis Fowl play the guessing game before." Then she smirked. "It's almost as if you've still got some hidden child in you."

It was Artemis' turn to pout. "Holly, you are fully aware that I am now twenty, and that is the age at which humans are considered adults." Then, more to himself, he muttered, "I could get married like you are."

Holly laughed. "Let me know how that works out for you mud boy."

"You still haven't told me who you're marrying." He pointed out, preferring to keep the subject about her love life rather than his.

"Well, you don't know him." She teased, still smiling.

"You can still tell me." He said pointedly.

"Artemis, you'll meet him at the wedding." Her smile vanished, and she was playing with her hands absently.

"Holly. I think I'm entitled to know who my best friends marry. Now. Who. Is. It?" he was practically shouting now.

Holly looked down at her hands.

"Holly?" he asked, trying to get her attention.

She didn't look up.

"Holly!"

Her head whipped up to stare angrily at him. "I DON'T KNOW OKAY!?" she screamed.

"What do you mean you don't know?" He pressed still, even though her anger was evident everywhere upon her features.

"Exactly that." She shrugged.

"How can you not know who you're marrying?"

"It's an arranged marriage. All I know is that his name is Sier Tolos."

Artemis gave her a look. "Sier Tolos? Are you serious? Holly that's the most ridiculous name I've ever heard." He gave a nervous laugh, afraid that she would give him a swift punch the next time they met.

Holly glared at him. "Oh, yeah, you're one to talk little Mister Goddess."

"Hunter." He corrected.

Holly smirked. "Whatever, it's still a girl's name. You can't talk Arty."

He smiled at the pet name. "Okay, so did Foaly do a background check on Mister Sier?"

"Yes, almighty goddess of my business. He did, and he came up clean. Lives in Atlantis, that's why I've never heard of him."

Artemis gave her a look. "Goddess of your business? Honestly, Holly I thought you were more creative than that." His tone gave the impression of pity.

"Shut up! It's like, what? Two in the morning?" she defended.

"Here it is five o'clock in the morning. However I understand your point. Maybe I should be going."He narrowly avoided the upcoming argument. He didn't feel like talking anymore; she had given him a lot to think about and he couldn't look into his mind while she was yelling at him.

"Yeah, I should get some sleep." She yawned to prove her point. "But I'll be visiting you soon; maybe next week or something. One sec."

She went off the screen for what Artemis claimed as checking her calendar, then came back. "Yeah, it's a full moon next Tuesday. I'll come visit once I've completed the ritual. The commander also wants me to ask you some questions about your suspicions with what happened to my weapon. And you can give me back my neutrino." She smiled. "Everybody wins." Artemis returned the sarcastic smile, but it was obvious that it wasn't genuine.

After they had exchanged their Goodnight's (Artemis had distinctly notified that it was morning where both of them were, however it sounded like the right thing to say) and Don't take over the world while I'm asleep's, Artemis walked to the controls room to check the feeds, thinking of Sier Tolos, as he walked, and if Holly was being serious when she said that Foaly had done a background check on him.

Something didn't feel right about that name.

As Holly walked into the manor, Butler greeted her. She attempted to give the large Eurasian man a hug, but then opted to clinging onto one of his legs for a few seconds, before realizing that a friendly I-haven't-seen-you-in-so-long hug was just creating awkwardness.

Artemis strolled down the stairs to find Holly talking to Butler of her wedding, and how she was attempting to escape the whole dress part that came with getting married.

He walked silently up to her, before saying in a fairly loud whisper, "Come to think of it, I've never seen you in a dress Holly."

She smirked. "And if things work out my way, you're not going to."

She turned around and gave him a hug. Since Artemis was significantly smaller than Butler, it was a lot easier for Holly to avoid the awkwardness that came with hugging her other human friend.

Then she pulled away, wiping the smile off her face. She held out her hand. "Gun."; was all she had to say.

Artemis reluctantly handed her the neutrino, seemingly from nowhere.

She sighed deeply as she slid it into her holster. She pulled out the gun she had rented from Foaly. "Here, add this to your collection."

Artemis raised an eyebrow. "Wouldn't that be against rules?"

"Artemis, Artemis, Artemis. Have I ever been one for rules?" he smiled and shook his head as he carefully took the neutrino 3000 from Holly. He placed it on a table for Butler to pick up, and led her to the sitting room.

"It's weird how it just…did you say smashed? Yeah. It's weird how it just smashed into your window. And my weapon. Out of all the other fairies in the world, mine."

"Yes, well I expect it to be some sort of warning." Artemis replied nonchalantly.

Holly narrowed her eyes. "What sort of warning?"

He looked up at her. "A…how shall I say this?" he stroked his chin for a second, before replying while wincing at his horrible grammar. "Like a very-bad-thing-is-about-to-happen warning."

"And just who do you think sent us this very-bad-thing-is-about-to-happen warning?"

He raised an eyebrow. "I suspect none other than Opal Koboi." He replied simply. He was so calm that it scared Holly.

"Oh. Yeah it's been weird having two of those. I keep thinking that we have her under lock and key-well, not that we use locks and keys but you get the point- and then I remember that we're trying to track two of them. It's exhausting really."

"Yes, saving the world tends to be somewhat exhausting." Artemis' smirk could be heard through his sarcastic reply.

Holly rolled her eyes and punched his arm lightly. "You know what I mean."

"Yes. Anyways, I was thinking,"

"There's a shock." Holly interrupted him. Artemis almost stuck his tongue out at her. Almost. He was a dignified genius after all.

"As I was saying, I was thinking that she must've sent someone here. This means she has allies. And if she has allies, then we could be in more trouble than previously thought."

"What makes you think she has allies?"

"Well she has lost her magic correct?" Holly nodded. "Right, then she wouldn't have the ability to shield. And since my security cameras came up with nothing, I'm guessing that the fairy that did throw your neutrino through my window would need the ability to shield. I tried slowing down the frequency of the feed to see if there was any way we could find the identity of the ally, but nothing came up."

"Well, all we can do is wait then. We don't have any idea where she is or what she's planning so the best thing to do would just be to sit tight and wait for her to make her next move." She stood up, and then turned back to Artemis. "And be cautious. I don't want you going anywhere without Butler. Understood?"

He sulked. "Do I look like a child to you? And for your information, I've been working out with Butler."

"I'm sure you have Arty." She smirked playfully as she faded out of view. Then she unshielded her head, giving the illusion of it floating in the air. "And the wedding's in two months. Sort notice I know, but Sier was apparently anxious to get married."

Artemis smirked, before thinking to himself, I'm sure he is.

He wiped the smirk off his face before replying, "Okay Holly. Just have Foaly send us the invitations and we'll be there."

She nodded and faded out of view again, before bringing back her head one more time.

"Oh! I forgot to tell you! It's an aboveground wedding! I'm getting married at Tara!" Her excitement to be getting hitched under the sun was apparent on her face. "Anyways, I'll see you soon Artemis. Bye!"

She walked over to him and he felt a slight pressure as she quickly squeezed him, then faded out of his vision.

The last thing to go was her smile.

"I've often seen a cat without a grin but never a grin without a cat." He recited.

"You're not in Kansas anymore, cupcake." Came the reply.

"Get your stories straight Holly." He shot back, smiling.

"Hakuna Matata" she sing-songed.

If you wanna, I think I'll be okay with you reviewing. :)