– Artemis Fowl –
The Darkness of Light
Author: deunan4eva
Summary: A war has torn Haven and the underground apart – but Holly is still fighting. Until one tragic moment, when she dies in her best friends arms…an Artemis/Holly one shot, character death.
BeforeNote:
Well, there's pretty much FUCK-ALL that I can put here apart from the fact that if anyone reads this, you'll either be laughing at how bad I write Artemis Fowl fanfics or crying at how damn sad it is. I mean, really? How kills off such a loveable character like Holly? I DO, THAT'S WHO! MWHAHAHA, fear the wrath of my individuality. No fluffy-ness in this, no romance, only guns, goblins, musing and Holly becoming a Dear-Departed.
- Mercy
Please note, I have nothing against Holly, (or Artemis, for that matter) and this was originally supposed to be a longer story where Holly DIDN'T die, but I got bored of it before I got three pages of writing in, so this is actually an edited version of the epilogue. Enjoy! Mwahhaha…*evil wrath*
-:- The Darkness of Light -:-
The darkness was unbearable. With the feeling of claustrophobia hemming her in, the elf took flight from her hiding place, leaping to the ledge of a blown out building.
This is what Haven had become.
Everything, blown apart, shot into oblivion, torn by war and destruction. She had mere minutes until the goblins arrived. Taking a deep breath, the slim figure took another jump to the ground, hitting the concrete surface with a light thump. Immediately aware of her surroundings, she straightened carefully, about to run for more cover.
The blown out courtyard was of little protection, apart from the large chunks of concrete walls that were scattered across the once peaceful terrace. Dodging behind a pod that had it's interior blown out, she crouched, every muscle tense.
Suddenly, the goblins swarmed into the courtyard like sewer rats, cries for blood and death overwhelming. Holly Short stood from her hiding place, opening fire onto the goblins. They let out more cries of glee at the sight of her, and many fell with gaping body and head wounds, screaming in agonizing pain. She backed away, partly from the recoil of her modified Armscor 40mm MGL and partly because of the advancing goblins. Once close enough to an exit, she took off into the main city street, the goblins hard on her tail.
Holly swerved and ducked into an alley, where she hit a dead end. Heading straight for the wall, she powered up her old wings rig, and it purred into life like a contented cat.
Springing at the wall, she skimmed over the top, and landed neatly on the other side.
She ducked into the shadows that backed against the wall just as the goblins scrambled over the wall and racing off down the next alley in search for her as she remained in the darkness. Waiting until the last of them had gone, she moved quickly into the building next to her.
Running along a corridor, she saw the goblin mass teaming outside, unsure of where she'd gone.
She let out a few hefty blasts, telling them that their numbers had just decreased by ten. Not to mention she had just pinpointed where she was.
They came after her, swarming into the building, totally enraged and out for her blood.
Holly ran full pelt out of the building into another courtyard, where the goblins surrounded her in a ragged circle.
She eyed them wearily, knowing one false move would be her as the main course for these guys. She opened fire on the goblin that was clearly the leader. He went down screaming, and the others closed in.
She jumped back as one took a swipe for her face, and then did an expert somersault backwards, plugging another in the chest as she flipped head over heels.
Landing in a crouch, she went flat on her back as another took a lethal swing at her head with a heavily booted foot. Springing back to her feet, Holly took out several more as she made for the nearest exit.
They blocked her off, and one caught hold of her modified Armscor.
She tried to wrestle it back from him, but he pulled her across his barrel like chest and she fell heavily to the ground. Holly felt a rib crack as she struck the concrete, but hauled herself back to her feet quickly and pulled out the Neutrino 2003 from the thigh strap attached to her combat outfit.
She let loose another round of shots into each goblin that was in the immediate area, and now they were even wearier of her than before.
-:-
'Hmm,' hmm the sixteen-year-old as he sat at his study desk, his hand creating a steeple as he propped his elbows on the table.
The manservant at his side watched as the boy conjured several blue sparks that snapped out of his fingertips.
'Hmm,' he said again. 'I have more magic left than I possibly should.'
The man beside him nodded.
'Perhaps we should contact Holly.' He said, hand resting on his Sig Sauer.
The boy raised his eyebrows.
'I haven't seen her for so long,' he mused. 'I wonder how she has changed.'
Suddenly, he pointed his right index finger at the carpet in front of the desk and clicked his fingers.
A blue vortex-like tunnel opened, catching both boy and man of guard.
'What the…' the suited manservant said, reaching again for his Sig.
The teenager raised a hand to stop him, and stood.
That wasn't supposed to have happened, he mused. A time tunnel, maybe? Or a transport portal?
-:-
The shower of blue light separated Holly from her goblin enemies, who were crowing and yelling and shouting things more colourful than Holly imagined above the roar of the vortex.
No, she thought. Nobody could have opened the portal, not now…
She figured that she would probably die whether the goblins got her or the vortex's time loop did. It would have been nice to see Artemis Fowl again…even for a second. An image of his face flickered through her mind, and then…
Suddenly, a bullet whizzed through the portal from the other side where the goblins were still jeering, and slammed into her chest.
'No…' Holly Short whispered as blood flew from the wound and she fell helplessly into the transport portal.
Artemis watched as the vortex before him whirled and changed colour. Something, or someone, was coming through.
Suddenly, there was a brilliant flash and the vortex disappeared, leaving in it's place a female elf dressed in Haven's national combat outfit, blood leaking lazily from the wound in her chest, her eyes confused, hurt and pained.
'No…Holly!' Artemis cried, rushing to his injured friends side.
She collapsed into his outstretched arms, flopping against him like a rag doll. Blood spilled onto Artemis's suit, but he paid no attention. Holly's eyes were drooping, her head lolling against his chest.
'Artemis…Artemis…' she whispered weakly, her eyes closing. Artemis's, however, widened in shock.
'Butler! Quick! Get some ice and a medi-kit!' he cried, cradling Holly in his arms.
The old manservant sprang into action, slightly pale from the sight of their wounded friend. Artemis's face was also pale, matching Holly's. He could feeling her fade – she had no magic, and her pulse was weak. Her heartbeat was shallow, and her eyes were beginning to glaze over. I'm losing her, he realized.
'Holly,' he begged, rubbing her cheek with one hand. 'Come on, Holly. Please wake up.'
She didn't respond, and Artemis stood, picking her up in his arms as he did so. Those morning's spent with Butler in the gym were paying off. He took her body into the guest room, and lay her down on the bed just as Butler came in and began administering first aid, resuscitation – whatever he could think of to revive their gravely wounded ally.
Artemis stood back, watching Butler work. Hardly a minute later, though, Butler turned back to him, grief on his face and Holly's blood on his hands. The look that Butler gave Artemis was enough; Artemis didn't have to be told – his friend was dead. There had been nothing that Butler or anyone else could have done. Holly was gone forever. Under his breath, he swore to avenge his dead elfin friend.
'Oh yes,' he breathed, biting down on the fury welling inside of him. 'I'll find you.'
AfterNote:
Okay, now I have to say, but I kinda enjoyed killing off Holly. The writing of it had it's perks, that has to be said at least. This chapter/thing was originally written while I was listening to the Thing-Thing Arena soundtrack, and some of Holly's fight scene was actually from the opening of Appleseed (if anyone actually bothers to watch it), and so when I read over it about three months later, I said to myself: wouldn't it be great if this was a one-shot, and Holly ended up dying? Now THAT would piss the hell out of people, wouldn't it? So here you have it: the reason I wrote this was to piss off as many hard-core HollyXArtemis fans as possible. But in good spirit, I hope you all couldn't believe it when I killed off a VERY important MAIN character that didn't DESERVE it. Hell, I'm going to do it to Zack in one of my FFVII fics, so I'll do it to Holly, too!
– Mercy