A/N: I'm part of a writing website and we've been doing these things called Daily Challenges. I wrote this for our Terrible Tuesday challenge on June 8 - "

What wicked thing shall we do to your characters today? What about if we kill off the person closest to her/him, the person he or she depends on the most? Write a short scene where the person your character cares about most is dead. Not some peaceful, in-their-sleep dead, but something violent and unexpected. Even better if your character witnessed/is witnessing it. Or maybe your character could have saved them, but arrived too late to stop it. However you like. You have until next Tuesday's challenge goes up!"

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Holly asked tentatively, watching as Artemis put on the scuba gear. After all the years they'd been having adventures, he was still short enough to fit into the fairy-sized clothing. It reminded Holly of how young he really was, even for a human.

They were in a sub that was circling the city of Atlantis, preparing a rescue mission. Mulch Diggums was inside Atlantis, which was in danger of being destroyed quite soon by Opal Koboi. The dwarf would be one of the few in the city without the adaptation of gills. If the city was blown up, he would drown for sure if the explosion didn't kill him.

"Of course, Captain," the boy answered impatiently. He'd had this conversation many times with Holly in the past. "It's a simple plan. All I need to do is swim underneath the city without being seen by the giant squid so I can get in and get Mulch out. He should be able to hold his breath for long enough to return here, seeing as he once escaped from a deep-sea sub without an air tank. Once I get Mulch back here, we'll get back to the surface and regroup with Butler and Foaly."

Sure the plan sounded simple, but it wasn't the complexity of the plan that worried Holly. Artemis had been put in plenty of dangerous situations before – going to the Arctic to rescue his father from the Russian Mafia, being chased by trolls, travelling through time – but during all those adventures he'd had Holly at his side to protect him. There was only so much this human was going to be able to take, only so many more healings before even magic couldn't hold him together anymore. Only so much time was left before his luck would run out.

"You're right, Mud Boy." She nodded and tried to sound confident. "Just go quickly. If we're lucky the squid will be swimming around the other side of the city."

Giant squids were known among fairies as being very dangerous and vicious creatures. They were often confused with krakens by the Mud Men, but krakens are peace-loving creatures, and are so large that they spend most of their lives floating harmlessly on the surface of the ocean disguised as islands.

Artemis nodded as his donned his helmet, checking to see that air was coming in. He opened a hatch on the bottom of the sub. This hatch lead to a chamber that would, once the hatch was closed, release him into the ocean. Artemis would be swimming much deeper down than any human had ever gone. This was only possible through the use of the fairy's technology.

Artemis climbed down into the hatch, closing the door behind him. He felt anxious as he heard the hatch lock behind him. This was probably one of the most dangerous things he had ever done. He was venturing into the deepest ocean any human had ever gone, with only a giant squid for company. Holly was there with him in spirit of course, and would be talking to him through his helmet's speaker, but he still felt very alone as the chamber's bottom opened up into the dark ocean.

It was much darker, and much colder than Artemis had expected. The blackness seemed to be pushing against his suit, trying to find any weak points that could be used to kill him. Artemis knew that despite how well made fairy technology was, it would not be able to withstand the pressure for long.

A long ways ahead of him, Artemis thought he could see the faints lights of what was probably the city of Atlantis. It was hard to judge the distance, but he didn't think it was too far. He checked to see that his air tank was still functional and set off, using the suits jet packs to propel himself.

As he went along he had become so used to the silence that when he heard Holly's voice coming in through his helmet's speakers, he jumped.

"How's it going Mud Boy?" she sounded worried, but also like she was trying to sound cheerful and confident. "Any sign of the squid yet?"

"No, Holly. The squid could be right in front of me and I wouldn't know. We underestimated how low the visibility would be down here."

"Well you could come back and-"

"Holly you know full well that there's barely enough air in the tank to get me there and back. There's no time to come back. I shall just have to get there as quickly as I can and hope that the squid does not show himself."

Holly was quiet on the other end of the connection. She knew that Artemis was right. They would just have to hope for the best.

Artemis had been in the water for about twenty minutes when a wave of fear washed over him. He wasn't sure what was wrong, but it felt like something was in the water nearby. Something big.

"...Holly?" He whispered, not wanting anything to attract the monster's attention.

"Yeah Artemis? Something wrong?"

"Not yet...but I think the squid is nearby."

"D'Arvit!" she swore. "Just keep going Artemis, maybe if leave it alone it will do the same for you."

"Yes, that's probably- AGH!"

Artemis' words were cut off as one of the giant squid's tentacles struck him across the chest rather hard, pushing him back, away from his destination.

"Artemis? What happened?"

Artemis couldn't answer. The squid, who had no trouble seeing in the inky blackness of the water, kept striking him again and again from different directions. The jet pack was utterly smashed, and if Artemis wanted to get away, he would have to swim back to the sub. But what direction was it in?

The next strike that came threw Artemis to the ocean floor. He struck a rock and heard a crack. A broken bone would have been better than this – a large crack could be seen in the front glass of his helmet. It hadn't yet completely penetrated it, but Artemis knew he had to get back to the submarine or drown.

But Artemis was being held down by the squid, who was apparently done playing with his food and deciding which limb it was going to tear off and eat first.

The crack deepened.

"Holly? Holly are you there?" Artemis spoke quickly, knowing he didn't have much time.

"Yes Mud Boy I'm here. What in the name of Frond is happening down there?"

"It's the squid Holly. I – I don't have much time and there's something I have to say." He was surprised when he felt warm tears running down his cheeks. He normally wasn't this emotional.

"What is it?"

"Holly...I'm sorry. For everything I've put you through. I'm sorry about all the times I lied to you. But I am not sorry I kidnapped you. If it wasn't for that we'd never have met. I lov-"

All Holly heard was static as the crack in Artemis' helmet finally broke, and water rushed in, the pressure killing him instantly.

"Artemis? ARTEMIS? Answer me right now!"

No answer came.

"No!" Holly slammed her fists onto the console of the submarine, for a moment planning on ramming it into the squid. But she knew it wouldn't do any good. The squid would crush the sub easily.

Holly's knees buckled and she fell to the floor of the sub, not able to stop herself from sobbing. She thought she could hear someone's voice coming in through the speakers, but it wasn't Artemis so she didn't care. Nothing mattered anymore. Opal would win and all the citizens of Atlantis would die. Without Artemis, all was lost.

A/N: I hope you enjoyed it. I really had fun writing it. I actually do like Arty, but I seem to kill him a lot in my fanfics.