Thump thump thump.
A pause. Then the noise repeated.
Thump thump thump.
Holly Short sighed a little as she pushed opened the door to the human's cell. Forget knocking. He was the prisoner in her home - why should she bother with manners? It was a waste, especially if he didn't even acknowledge it.
She shut the door behind her and turned to look over the interior of the cell. Dark blue walls that matched the hue of the silent human's eyes greeted her, along with the sight of her ex-captor, laying on his back on the small bed in the corner, staring with a calm, if not slightly bored expression at the ceiling.
She stared at him for a second in silence, taking in how much the boy had changed since she'd last seen him. He'd grown. He wasn't quite a man - it'd only been four years, after all - but he'd definitely aged, both physically and mentally. His face had sharpened, though he still had bags beneath his eyes. As for his eyes, they were still blue and piercing as ever. He was taller, much taller, over a foot taller than he had been when she'd last seen him at the meger age of thirteen. He was barely seventeen now.
She still wasn't sure what had possessed her to kidnap him. Lately, he'd just been a pest: meddling in technology and things that were no business of his, hacking LEP files, screwing up operations, etcetera. He had been everywhere in her reports of dirty dealings, within Haven and out of it.
At first, she had let it slide. Everyone had. Everyone knew of Artemis's criminal tendencies, and after appearing clean for two years since the B'wa Kell incident, they figured it was just an itchy fingers thing. It shouldn't have been a problem.
But then the crimes got bigger. A little smuggling went to hacking and copying of important LEP documents, and changing things on criminal records to set dangerous individuals free.
The first few weren't dangerous, at least not overly so - people like Mulch Diggums, for example. He had been one of the first ones the human had freed through this type of action. But then, slowly and surely, they became more horrid people, people even the fairies considered to be scum and better off dead. People like Turnball Root. He sent a group of rogues that he'd freed - Diggums among them - to break out Turnball and a few others from prison. And it was then that people began to find out, and the LEP began to really worry.
No one knew for certain it was him, though, until Turnball had went and got himself recaptured. He ratted on Diggums immediately, and when they captured him, Mulch was more than happy to spill his sources and his employer to the LEP.
Truthfully, he only did so because he knew they couldn't do anything to Artemis, and that the turmoil the truth would cause belowground would give him an easy chance escape. He turned out to be partially right, and he escaped that very night to warn his partners and his employer of what had happened.
When he escaped, Holly, who had been stuck on the case with Root immediately, knew that he would go warn Artemis, and told her boss so. Root agreed with her. But even knowing the growing dangers, and having their suspicions confirmed, they couldn't do much to Artemis yet. He was still human, and, while the people he had helped escape were dangerous, he hadn't outright done it in person. He was far from stupid. He knew that they wouldn't only have shaky legal ground to come after him on. He wanted to wait until it became more stable beneath them before acting. After all, he had argued, Fowl's security will be jumped up after the warning from his little monkeys. Best give him a while to calm down and relax it some, so when we do get the perfect chance to arrest him, or even mindwipe him, things go more smoothly.
That was two days before Artemis had blown up an entire LEP prison house with everyone in it. That included Holly and her commander.
The only reason the two were in one piece was because they were leaving as the explosion happened. It had been a team of four: Holly, Root, Trouble Kelp, and the Wing Commander Vinyaya. Four fairies with strong voices and high influence in Haven. None of them had any doubt that the bomb was set to go off when it did. It wasn't meant to kill them, but it was meant for them to see. It was meant to send a message, and it had, loud and clear.
Artemis Fowl was back, and more dangerous than ever.
She'd taken matters into her own hands, then. She didn't care about the shaky legal ground anymore. She didn't care about any of it. She just needed to eliminate Artemis as a threat. Even knowing what he'd done, she wasn't certain she could kill him, but she could try.
And try she did. But it didn't work. She went up, broke into the Manor, and found him, sound asleep in bed, not expecting anything. There hadn't been any trips or traps, or even a bodyguard outside his door, much to her surprise. It would have been easy. She went over, and leveled the gun with his head… but found that she couldn't pull the trigger. Even knowing what a cruel, heartless jerk he was, even knowing all that he'd done, she could not find the will to kill him.
She'd holstered her gun and sighed, she remembered, but from there everything had been a blur. She didn't remember making the conscious decision to kidnap him, but she had done it, and now here he was, locked down in her guest bedroom. When she'd come out of her daze and realized what she'd done, she immediately had drugged him and went to buy more security. There must have been more security in her house now and on that door then there was in the whole neighborhood surrounding her combined, but even so, she didn't feel it unjustified. Not only could she not have him escaping into Haven, she couldn't let anyone find out, either.
"Hello, Holly."
She jumped, feeling inexplicably guilty for no reason at all as the human's voice startled her from her thoughts. He had rolled over on his side, his wide blue eyes fixed on her, watching as she daydreamed, and she hadn't even noticed. How bad was that?
Holly shook her head and sighed, meeting his gaze with narrowed eyes. "Fowl," was all she said.
Artemis raised an eyebrow. "Really, Holly? 'Fowl'? That's all I get? I truly hope I was a bit more hospitable when I kidnapped you."
She frowned, but said nothing, preferring to scrutinize him in silence. The look on her face was answer enough.
He sighed a little. "Cold shoulder, hm? I suppose it's fair." He moved to sit up, but stopped when she drew her gun immediately and trained it on him. "Jumpy, Captain Short? I assure you, I'm not going to attack; I'm merely moving to a sitting position. There's no need for weapons in the mixture."
"Shut up." Holly snapped. Her mind whirred as she stared at him, wondering what her next move was. Clearly, she should have thought this through more. Yes, she had him here, tightly under lock and key, but what to do with him now?
Artemis shrugged a little and sat up the rest of the way. He stretched a minute before leaning back against the wall and crossing his arms over his slim chest. He eyed her gun warily. "As you wish. After all, you are now the captor, and I do believe I am the captive. And, in any case, you have the weapon, which puts you in a stronger position of power even if the opposite were still true."
Holly gritted her teeth, but her gun hand wavered. His stupid banter was distracting her, as it was probably meant to, but again she found herself thinking the same thing. She wouldn't kill him. She couldn't. But then what would she do then? "I said shut up, Artemis," she growled.
Artemis inclined his head in acknowledgement. His eyes didn't leave the gun, but even so, she saw no hint of fear in his gaze. More like a sense of morbid curiosity.
He studied her for a moment as she glared at him, but eventually decided that she wasn't actually going to shoot him, or she would have done it. She was merely trying to intimidate him and make him compliant, most likely because the opposite was true towards him. She was afraid of and intimidated by him; thus, she felt unsafe and unsure in her current position. He waited another moment, and then spoke slowly, softly, as if to a spooked animal that he hoped to calm.
"Holly, lower your gun," Artemis told her, his voice low and soothing. She blinked once, surprised at the gentleness in his tone and the fact that it actually soothed her nerves for a second before setting them back on edge. "We both know that you're not actually going to shoot me," he continued. "It's not in your nature. You're not that kind of person. You won't spill the lifeblood of an innocent if there is another option."
"You're not anywhere near innocent, Artemis," she hissed. But even as she spoke, her gun hand wavered again, and without even consciously realizing that she was doing it, she lowered the gun.
"No," Artemis agreed, a hint of satisfaction coloring his tone as he watched her put away the Neutrino, "But nonetheless, you cannot make yourself kill me, can you?"
"Not yet. But just because I haven't yet doesn't mean I won't later."
He smirked. "Now you're beginning to sound a bit like me. Making vain threats to hold the opposition in suspense, and keep them in control at the same time. But, I assure you, Holly, there is no need for such things now. I'm not going to fight you. If you wanted to put a laser burst through my chest, you would have by now, and I would have let you. If you had felt the urge, now or earlier, to harm me, you could have, and you still could. I'd still let you."
She narrowed her eyes at him from her spot across the room. "You make absolutely no sense, Artemis. What are you hoping to gain from that ruse?"
He chuckled and shook his head once, looking at the hands that lay in his lap for a second before meeting her gaze again. "You believe me to be lying, Holly? Then go ahead and try me. I already told you, I won't fight you. Restrain me if you want to, even; I don't care. I'm at your mercy. Isn't that how you wanted it?"
"I wanted your threat to my People to be eliminated," Holly found herself saying. She blinked and frowned at herself. It wasn't as though he didn't already know that, because he probably had, but somehow he'd made her start talking, revealing things that she hadn't meant to. Even in this situation, Artemis Fowl still held power over her. How, she wasn't sure, but she found herself sinking deeper into its grasp, opening her mouth to continue talking. "I did want to kill you, Artemis. At least, I did for a while. But then I saw you again and even as I leveled my gun with your head I knew I couldn't do it. I'm still not sure what possessed me to go up to you in the first place, but at least I have an idea there; I don't have a clue what I was thinking when I decided to bring you here. It seemed smart at the time. Then I could keep you neutralized as a threat temporarily until the LEP decided to do something with you… or neutralize you permanently if I thought I could later. But I still can't."
"Of course you can't. As I said, it's not in your nature," Artemis explained patiently. "You didn't kill me, but you brought me here hoping that, perhaps, someone else could. I'm sure your commander would in a heartbeat. Just give him a gun and show him his most desired target - me - and it would be…" He snapped his fingers, making Holly flinch. "...just like that. Over before either of us could blink."
"But…" whispered the elf. She stopped and lowered her eyes. She could see it, just as he described, pictured in her mind's eye: Artemis, sitting there as he was now.. the commander coming in, raising his Neutrino… the splatter of blood when he fired.. Artemis's limp body falling to the floor. She could almost hear the hiss of the flare as he shot it, playing throughout her mind and making her whimper aloud softly. "No," she mumbled.
"Yes, Holly," Artemis whispered. "Can't you feel it? The relief of my being gone, a huge threat, neutralized forever? Imagine not having the guilt - assuming you would feel any - of my execution, not on your shoulders, but still feeling the aftereffects of it. You'd be happy, wouldn't you?"
"Yes… I mean, no… I don't know! Stop it, damn it." She shook away the thoughts and tried to return to glaring at Artemis, but she couldn't quite do it as well as she had been. "What are you doing? Why are you trying to convince me to kill you?"
"Is that what I'm doing?"
"Sort of!" she growled. But then, quieter, she asked again, "Why, Artemis? It doesn't make any sense to me. Why do all this work, to just allow yourself to be taken, and then instead of trying to escape, trying to convince me to kill you! It doesn't make any sense," she repeated.
The human sighed heavily and closed his eyes. "Perhaps you should come sit, and then we can talk. I feel like this may take a lengthy explanation, in the end, to get it through to you." When she gave him a wary look and didn't move, Artemis peeked one eye open and sighed. "Holly, really. Please just sit with me. I'm not the monster you think I am, and I already told you I shall not attack you or try to inflict harm on you in any way. I am merely suggesting a talk."
"A.. talk," Holly repeated. "You… I don't understand you."
"Not many do," Artemis said softly. "And that's the way I like it. But, Holly, if you truly want to know my story, then I will tell you, and you will be one of the few who come close to grasping what I am. If you really want to know, then come sit, and I'll tell you whatever you want to know."
She stared at him, uncertain. Should she trust him? Or put him out now and leave? If he was conning her, and she got close enough for him to grab her gun, it would be over quickly. She'd be dead. There was no doubt in her mind that he would kill her, even if she wouldn't him.
"Holly," Artemis said again. He had opened his eyes and was watching her expectantly.
"Fine," she relented. "I'll come over there: But I'm keeping my gun with me, and so help me Frond, if you so much as try to stand, I'll stun you."
He smiled a smaller, sadder-looking version of his vampire smile and nodded his head once. "I know," he told her, his voice just loud enough to be audible. "Believe me, I know. But you don't have to worry about that. Just sit, please."
"Why does that sound familiar?" Holly mused to herself as she walked over and sat beside him. Her hand stayed on the hilt of her gun, but she didn't draw it.
"Because I've said it before," Artemis replied. He slid to the other side of the bed and turned, crossing his legs and facing where she was as she sat down. He tilted his head and looked at her, and she got the feeling he was appraising her. "Don't you remember?"
"I'm sure I do, but not off the top of my head. How do you...?"
He met her inquiring gaze and shrugged. "I've never forgotten anything about kidnapping you," he replied simply.
Holly made to roll her eyes, but stopped when she saw the look in his eyes. She was also certain he must have been playing with her, or playing up his knowledge again to use against her, but it didn't look that way. He didn't look that way. And what good would it be anyway? But then again, he was a master manipulator - maybe that was what he wanted her to think.
Stupid, criminal, manipulative little Mud Boy.
"Alright, Mud Boy," Holly grumbled. "No more games, no lies, no manipulation. Just tell me the truth."
Artemis looked into her eyes and smiled at her. Even his smile had lost it's sadistically happy edge. It mostly just held flashes of sadness now. "I swear to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth," he promised, half sarcastically. Now his tone was serious, but he looked playful.
Holly narrowed her eyes at him and said reprovingly, "Right. Now do it. Speak. Or I could always-"
"What?" Artemis asked her. He raised an eyebrow at her, cocky and questioning, somehow looking lost but still completely in control. "You could always do a lot of things, Holly, but it doesn't matter, because you won't. You're too gentle, and I think, for some odd reason, you have a soft spot for me." He paused and met her heated gaze. "Admittedly, I don't understand that. After I killed all those people..." He emphasized those words, making her flinch, "Why don't you want my head on a platter? I don't understand what's keeping you from killing me."
Holly sighed and shrugged helplessly, wondering why it always came back to this. He seemed to have a fixation on her killing him. "Artemis, your guess is as good as mine. Why don't you tell me, since you're the genius?"
He lowered his gaze. "If I thought I knew, Holly, I wouldn't have asked, but I'm clueless. Anyway, my genius doesn't seem to be doing me much good lately, and I'm not too keen to see what would happen if I tried to use it again."
For a long moment, Holly stared at him, frozen and confused. Then, slowly, she shook her head and dislodged her thoughts, frowning. Maybe she'd have to straight out ask the Mud Boy what was on her mind. It seemed almost unfeasible, but it was still possible. "Artemis," Holly said, slowly, looking up at him with furrowed brows, "I have a question. And it's important. Will you answer me? Honestly?"
Artemis quirked a shoulder in the semblance of a shrug. His blue eyes fixed on hers with intensity, and she was almost certain, that somewhere in the depths, she saw a little bit of fervent hope. "Go ahead," he told her, quietly.
"Are you..." She stopped, hesitating and allowing herself to close her eyes and take a few deep breaths. Then suddenly they fluttered back open, and she blurted, "Are you suicidal?"
"Suicidal?" Artemis repeated, then laughed softly. He looked down at the bed, half-smirking, but it was more of a bitter smirk. There was no real joy in his expression.
After a moment, he looked up at her, that bitter half-smile still in place. He looked thoughtful, as though he were debating the benefits of lying, but eventually gave a little half shrug and just answered with what she could only hope was the truth. "Maybe I am, Holly. Is that the word for it? I suppose it would fit, although I'd think I'm being more self-destructing than plain suicidal."
Holly drew in a sharp breath, feeling his confession like a knife in the gut. Of course that was it. It made so much sense, just... not in a good way. "Artemis," she started, but he waved her off.
"Don't bother, Holly," he told her, turning away from her and putting his back to the wall. He turned his head toward the ceiling, as if he planned to stare at it like earlier, resting his head against the wall and sighing. "You may not wish me dead, but I guarantee my life is not something you wish to spare, either. It's not worth anything to you." He closed his eyes. "At any rate, what I did was too much. I killed too many people, and I'm sure by now the people I freed have now caused quite a few more as well. There is no way of escaping from punishment for me, not with crimes that weigh so heavily."
For a long moment, Holly didn't say anything. She was considering his words, their impact, and weighing her own carefully. She studied the Mud Boy for minute, then slowly, painstakingly, started speaking to him. She used the same voice she would have used to calm a panicked or cornered animal, although Artemis seemed to display neither emotion. She knew he couldn't be as calm and collected on the inside as acted like he was, however. He put up a good act, but even so, that was all it was: an act.
"Artemis," she began, softly, feeling sorry for him despite herself, "Listen. If it's considered that you were in a stable mindset when you did what you did, there's ways around getting such a high punishment. And since you're human, we don't have a lot of jurisdiction over you to begin with, so you could potentially get away free. It's just a matter of wording, and a proper explanation to the LEP. If they find out you're suicidal, more than likely the only thing they'd do is try to get you help."
"I don't want help. I want to be punished for my crimes - all of them. I'll confess to whatever I need to confess to for them to just find a way to end it." His voice was low and ragged, wounded. She could hear the palpable pain in his words, and, despite everything, she felt a sharp tug in her heart when she heard it.
"You don't need to be ended, Artemis, you need to be saved," Holly told him gently. "Why don't you let me help you? Isn't that why you set all this up?"
"No!" He shot up and grasped her by the shoulders, shaking her hard. In spite of what she'd said earlier, she just blinked, frozen in his grasp, surprised at his sudden movement and how much strength was really in his thin, pianist hands. "I told you why I did it! I want them to punish me and be done. Let them end it. Please, Holly. I don't have any reason to live anymore except evil. And it's not what I want to be." He let out a ragged breath and released her. He looked down and shook his head. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have grabbed you."
Holly blinked at him, still shocked. "What do you mean?"
Artemis glanced at her, then turned away. "It doesn't matter."
"Yes, it does." She frowned at him. "Artemis, please. Just let me help you."
"What will it take for you to kill me?" he asked neutrally, not opening his eyes.
Holly's jaw fell open slightly. "I'm not going to kill you! Frond, don't you get it? Just stop this!"
"I haven't done anything yet." Artemis opened his eyes again, and suddenly they were cold as I've chips again as he turned back to her. "Fine. I guess I have to hurt you for you to hate me enough to kill me." He lunged at her.
Holly gasped and lifted her arms to shove out at him, but he caught her arms, trapping them above her head and shoving her into the wall, pinning her with his body. "Do you really need me to do this?" he growled in her ear. "I will do it. I'll beat you or rape you or shoot you if I have to. How long will it take for someone to come rescue you, I wonder?"
Holly blinked and made a small sound, nearly a whimper. Truth be told, with all the security she'd jacked up, it'd probably take a good couple of hours at least. Not counting how long it would take for anyone to realize something was wrong. "Artemis," she pleaded thinly. "Don't. If you do this, I don't know how much I can do to help you. If they label me personally involved-"
He barked out a laugh. "Look at yourself, Holly. You're already personally involved."
She took a deep breath. He was right, but she didn't have to say that. "Just let go of me right now, Artemis, and everything will be fine."
He snorted. "Right." He looked over her once and his eyes landed on her gun. He drew it slowly from her holster. "This...this will make everything fine."
Holly's eyes widened. "Artemis, the only thing that will do is make everything worse. There's no need for weapons in the mixture, remember?"
Artemis studied her gun, flicking the setting up one. "You weren't upholding it, so why should I?" he asked her lowly, looking back down at her and pressing the gun against her chest.
It was too close range, Holly knew. If he shot her this close, she'd be lucky if death wasn't instant. There was little to no chance of healing herself.
Holly took a breath, raising her eyes to his. She was surprised to see the sadness in them. Oddly enough, it looked like he didn't actually want to kill her. "Why are you making me do this, Holly?" Artemis asked her, his voice deadly quiet.
"I'm not," she breathed, unsure what else to say. She was starting to wonder if the human was bipolar or had MPD.
He shook her again, shaking his head. "Yes, you are. I have to make you kill me, somehow. If you won't, then I have to make you. The only way seems to be if you need to protect yourself."
"I won't, Artemis. I'd tie you down first." She bit her lip, wavering slightly, but then pressing on. "Don't you see that I just want to help you? We were nearly friends before. Let me be now. Let me help you."
Artemis narrowed his eyes at her. "If you were really my friend," he spat, contempt heavy in his tone, "You'd want to make my pain go away. You'd do what I asked of you. You wouldn't be making me deal with it longer."
"Killing you is not the way to make the pain go away, Artemis. I can help you. We can help you here, now. But there's nothing I can do for you if you're dead."
"If I'm dead, my pain will go away," Artemis countered. "All my pain comes from the death of others. If I'm dead, I'm with them. I'll feel better. Plus, nothing will be able to hurt me again." Slowly, he pulled the gun away from her chest.
Holly stared at him, her head spinning. Who could have died? Who did Artemis love? She watched him raise the gun to his head and lunged forward against his grip. But it didn't falter. "No! That's not true, Artemis. You have to know that!"
"Of course it is, Holly," Artemis said plainly. He tilted his head at her, smiling slightly. "Don't you know that? All the people you've lost… You can't say it's never occurred to you."
She shook her head rapidly. "Of course it has, but I would never… there's too much here for me. And you. You too. Artemis, please don't," she pleaded thinly.
He paused and lowered the gun for a moment to pat her on the cheek. "No, Holly, I'm afraid there isn't. So I have to… there is no better way."
"Yes, there is!" Artemis shook his head, raising the gun again. Panicking, she shouted, "No! Wait! At least tell me who!"
He shook his head again, the gun against his chest this time. "No. I'm sorry, Holly. You don't have to watch if you don't want to."
She watched his hand wrap around the gun tighter as if in slow motion, her eyes widening again with panic. A wave of adrenaline born by panic hit her suddenly and she finally managed to shove off the hand holding her down...just as he pulled the trigger.
Holly launched herself forward to catch his limp body just as it flew back, barely making it around in time. She caught him under the arms and settled his body into her lap, watching the blood rush from his chest as a scream of raw, pure panic ripped free from her throat.
"Artemis!"
Okay... so don't kill me. Should I continue? What did you think? Any guesses as to what's gotten into Arty?
If enough people want me to, I'll try to continue, even if I am working on a few other things for you guys... Just let me know! Review please!