Hello all! Erugenel is back and I would like to say how wonderful it is to be writing stories once again. I am hoping to post Journey of Faith Chapter 3 soon after this, and thanks to all my lovely readers who have hung on for so long!
Note: this is a one-shot on Holly after the events in the Opal Deception. There are hints of AF romance. I thought I might try the pairing out, since I love the characters so much.
Disclaimer: Not conceived of by me but written for the greater good.
A Night under the Stars
The thrill of adventure was what ex-captain Holly Short of the LEP had loved. The rush of adrenaline when going above ground on well conceived espionage missions and coming back victorious, feeling the winds carry her slight frame wherever they wished. She had fire in her blood; fire and passion for justice that made her never able to sit still but instead fight for a just cause. And she managed to do it with such sass and spunk that you just had to forgive her for wrecking so much damage to save a life. Those were the days of the LEP.
But now were the days of the Ark Sool dictatorship, meaning that she would never be able to fight for the greater good easily, what with him monitoring her every move. She could no longer rely on reconnaissance to take her to the surface. She could no longer rely on the LEP for her daring, reckless missions. She could no longer rely on Root, for Root was dead. Blast that fairy for leaving her all alone. She had lost her mentor and her father-figure in one go. And on some days, she just felt so alone in the world, when she no longer had the LEP with her to fight crime. She was just sweating it out herself, and going it alone.
But not alone, she reminded herself, on some days when her mood was much better. She still had Mulch Diggums, cocky kleptomaniac dwarf digger extraordinaire with a heart of well… gold. She had Foaly, that smart-alec centaur, whose comments that were dripping with sarcasm were all worth putting up for the excellent technology that his genius brain invented. And she had Artemis.
Artemis Fowl, heir to the Fowl Empire, adolescent genius, youth prodigy, talented wunderkind, criminal mastermind, but that part until recently. Until recently, he had separated the fairy people from a considerable mount of their gold, held a fairy captive, outsmarted the LEP, turned the situation to his own advantage and had risked the threat of an all out cross-species war between man and fairies all for his own benefit, and this had branded him an enemy of the People. Until recently he and Holly Short had been enemies. Now they were comrades, and good friends. The fire within her had melted his cold demeanor and his hearty of ice, and he was grateful for it.
But now that she was in freelance, work was getting much tougher, as their workforce was down to only a handful compared to the massive organization that was the L- oh nevermind. The point was that each one of them was going to have to carry an even bigger burden. Some days, Holly just wanted to curl up in bed and pull the covers over her head, every inch the defeated fairy. But she drew her quiet strength from the fact that she still had her friends, her life, her freedom, and control. She could go on. She must go on. To give up was to admit defeat, and Captain Holly Short did not take defeat lightly. She had nearly given up once, but a certain raven-haired Irish teen had made her think otherwise.
And when the world caught up with her and left her winded and tired, she found herself with Artemis lying on the grass upon a small hilltop on Fowl grounds, letting the wind caress them and blow away all their worries, recharging them with a stress-free, worry-free, problem-free night.
A Night under the Stars.
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