I Won't Slow You Down

A short Artemis Fowl story © Artyna 2011

Timeline: Six months after TAC, after Artemis is cured.

Disclaimer: Eoin Colfer is the creator if the characters. Trust me, if they were all mine, Artemis and Holly would have been a couple since book 4. I only use them in my dark schemes.

Dedication: I'll give this story to my BFF Ina (Kristtornia) and ArtfullyInsane since she loves stories like this. Enjoy.

CHAPTER ONE:

Trouble Made Us Apart

Chapter 1 of 5

Artemis' POV.

Fowl manor. Artemis' study.

"Hey Arty, how you doing?"

Holly Short looked at me with joyful mismatching eyes. She was smiling, that beautiful smile that I, over time, have come to love.

"Quite well, Holly. I'm finally cured after all." I added.

Holly smile widen. I couldn't even take my eyes from her.

"Yes, I heard from Foaly. I'm happy for you."

I smiled. Of course Foaly would have told her.

"I'm sorry I didn't have time to visit you, Trouble was always hooking me in after work, I did try, but..."

I broke her off. Her excuses pained me deeply. The fact that she would rather be with Trouble than me was hard to face.

"It's fine, Holly, truly. Not your fault. I wasn't alone, so no harm done."

I was lying. Of course I was. I was hurt by it, deeply. But no need to ruin her good mood was it?

Holly smiled, and breathed in relief and ran a hand trough her auburn hair; it had grown a lot in six months. I was tempted to touch the communicator screen, but she'd find that rather odd so I restrained myself.

"Puh, I was afraid you'd be mad about it. Who was with you? Foaly?"

I nodded. Foaly and I hade become quite close friends during my time at the Argon Clinic, he seemed to be the only one who did understand me now.

I forced myself to smile, it was as fake as it gets, but hopefully Holly wouldn't notice that.

"I could never be mad with you Holly."

This wasn't all true either. I was mad at her, for leaving me alone when I was most vulnerable, when I needed her the most.

"And, Yes, Foaly... he was quite good company."

"Yes, I'm sure he was, you must have talked about computers and your brilliant minds all day long." She laughed.

For a moment I was bewitched by her. She had become even more beautiful since I saw her the last time. I didn't know a person could change so much on half a year. She used to be pretty; now, she was a thing of pure beauty.

"Hello, Mudboy?"

Holly woke my from a spell she herself had put on me.

"Yes?" I blinked.

"You seemed a little air-headed for a moment, what did you think off?"

You, I thought of you Holly, but I couldn't tell her so, she'd only laugh at me, she could never love me. Too much had changed.

"Did I?" once again I forced myself to smile.

She nodded.

"Yes, but never mind. I have great news for you."

Her smile changed, she seemed excited and overjoyed. I'd never seen her that way before; it must be something pretty special.

"Oh, what might that be?"

She giggled another thing I've never heard Holly do.

"You know that I've spent much time with Trouble lately..." she started.

I felt a cold creep up my back. Why didn't I like how this started out?

"And well, a month ago he asked me to marry him..."

More cold, just like back in the Arctic or in Finland. I could hear my own rasping breath.

"What... what did you answer?" My voice was trembling.

"I said yes."

My heart stopped for a second. No, this wasn't happing, it couldn't be. No, never. Holly Short, my closest friend and secret love, was not going to marry someone else.

"Arty?"

I brought myself together. If Trouble was what made her happy I'd just have to live with it, but I didn't know if I could live on knowing she would belong to Trouble Kelp, a man who had hated me for years.

"Yes?"

"Is something wrong? You seem pale..."

Of course something is wrong! You're going to marry someone. Someone who's not me... I wanted to scream it to her, but I was speechless.

"No... no, I'm just surprised. I didn't know you felt that way for the Commander." I fought to keep my voice steady.

"Well," she laughed.

"Spending so much time with him opened my eyes I guess."

She looked so happy, it broke my heart. If she'd just bin with me, then I could have been the one she gave her love too, but than again I was a human, what changes had I ever had against Trouble Kelp... None.

"I see, but if it's such a long time ago, why aren't you Holly Kelp yet?"

I spit out his last name, it made me sick to think of it, soon I'd not be friends with Holly Short, it would be Holly Kelp.

"Because of you." She said, it made my heart start breathing again.

Because of me? Why would she delay her happiness for me?

"Because of me?" I had to know why.

Holly nodded. She seemed so happy; did she really not notice how devastated I was? Had we grown that much apart? No, we hadn't grown apart, it was Trouble Kelp. Trouble made us apart. Did he know what I felt for Holly or was he just paranoid? After all he'd never liked me. I was his rival in the battle for Holly's heart, and he'd won.

"Yes, I wanted you to be there, you're my best friend after all, silly."

The cold returned, spreading trough my every limb. Best friends. After all these time, alle those adventures together, you'd thought we'd be more, but we could never be more, I should be happy for our friendship, it was the best I could hope for. I didn't even deserve it after all the things I've done to her.

"How kind of you."

I was almost surprised my that she didn't seem to notice the anger in my voice, I guess she was too happy to even care about how I felt.

"So you will come? I can't go into marriage without you by my side. This will be the greatest adventure we'll ever go trough together."

And possibly the last.

"Of course I will. When and were?"

"Sunday, I'll meet you at the terminal at Tara, so don't worry about the location."

I smiled, just for the display. If Holly saw me broken I'd ruin her, and she deserved to be happy.

"I'll be there. White suit I presume?"

She nodded.

"Yes, you would have one of those I guess, you always wear a suit." She broke herself of, when she finally looked at more than my face.

"You're wearing casual clothing?" she looked at me in disbelief.

I nodded what else to do?

"Yes, mom made me. I still don't like it, so don't get any ideas."

That made her laugh; I enjoyed it for a moment. After Sunday I might never got a chance to see her much.

I sighed. I didn't have many friends, and I was about to lose my closest one to someone else.

"Well, I'll have to go now, Arty, Caballine is taking me to find a dress. Bye. "

She hung up.

I felt a darkness closing. I was, well, broken, in ruins. Why was life always this hard on me? I didn't care about knowing the answer, quite unusual for me, but the shock was too big I guess. She hadn't even given me a chance to say goodbye, and it made it even worse.

But I was not going to let anyone know. I had a plan, I plan for how I should solve this problem. It would make Holly happy, and It would give me peace of mind. Perfect.

"Happiness was an illusion, and we are all victims to it... "

(AN: Reviews = Happy Arty = Faster Updates. It's an easy drill, make it work.)