Disclaimer: I do not own anything that is in Eoin Colfer's books.
Extra Part of Summary: I wrote this when it was 95 degrees in Seattle (where I live) and I could only think about Christmas, and the Snowsports season.
-Fowl Manor-
Artemis walked out of his room for the first time in several days. His eyes were red, and there were dark shadows beneath them. Someone might ask why he was torturing himself like this, but the answer is simple: Artemis blackmailed Holly Short, and took advantage of her belief in him, and the horrible situation. She was his best friend: she was always there to help, and brought his father back. But the most remarkable part of all was that she forgave him for what was probably the worst Christmas she had ever had. After a long time, she finally came to terms with Artemis. With this last event, he supposedly made it up to her, by letting her talk to Commander Root, who had died, but he still knew that they would never feel the same way about each other again. Well, at least she wouldn't.
He decided that it wouldn't be a half bad idea to try something else, but he wasn't sure what. For all of his genius, he couldn't figure out a girl. In his defense, Holly was nowhere near simple, but, after all, she was his best friend. He looked around the room for ideas. He doubted that she would ever call him again, unless there was an emergency, and she probably wouldn't read one of his emails ever again. Still deadpanning, he looked at his desk. A few piece of paper, a computer, and a calendar which read : December 20, 2010. And that's when he got the idea; he'd give her a sincere apology, for all of the things he had done, than let her decide whether he was worth her time. If not, a mindwipe might do the trick. He didn't need the fairies now; he had other friends, and his moral lessons helped allot with that.
-Haven-
Captain Holly Short of the LEP read the date on a calendar, December 20, 2010. She wondered if Artemis was ever going to contact her, it'd been well over three months. Sure, he had lied and blackmailed her, but she realized that he might do this once she got the message, and she should've been prepared, after all, it was Artemis Fowl she was dealing with. She thought of calling him, but she had already sent tons of emails, and they hadn't been replied to, and probably not even read. The only being in the Lower Elements that had talked to Artemis lately, was Mulch Diggums, who needed help finding some smuggled gasoline that Opal Koboi was going to try to use to create chaos, and break herself out of prison, and find her other self, from the time stream. When Holly asked Mulch how Artemis was doing, Mulch began to pale underneath his beard, and simply said 'Fine'. It was almost like he was avoiding her, and that ticked her off, but then again, maybe he just felt too bad about what he did to ever talk to her again.
She decided to call him, to see how he was doing, and (possibly) what his San d'Klass plans were.
"Holly. Hello, I wasn't really expecting you to call me. How may I be of service?" Artemis asked
"I don't need anything Mud Boy" Holly said, accidently sounding fierce.
"So, what is the purpose of this call then?" Artemis asked, halfway tempted to hang up.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to sound that way. And yes, I do have a purpose. A year ago, I promised you that I would call to simply chat with you. And I'm going to fulfill that right now." Holly said, sounding quite sure of herself.
"I see. So are you doing anything to celebrate the fairies giving gifts to humans?" Artemis teased
"You must be joking. It was done in peace, to try to get your kind to quit rapping on our skulls, and to quit trying to dig us out of the earth." Holly said, making a digging motion against her head
"I wasn't joking. I hardly ever joke. You know that, Holly." Artemis said, while gesturing back
"Alright. I have a surface Holiday, and Foaly wants to send me to a spa. Now I hate spas, and I'd rather be somewhere amazing, but I'm going to be in Dublin. So, do you mind if I spend some time at the manor. Say, two weeks?" Holly asked, lying about the spa.
"Fine by me. Right now, my mother, father, and brothers are currently in America, visiting New York, and giving money to the Ground Zero project." Artemis explained "They will be gone for three more weeks, so it shouldn't be a problem" He finished
"What's ground zero?" Holly asked
'I'll tell you when you come up. How long will it be?" He asked
"Give me a day to get ready, and I'll be up there." Holly said, turning away from the hologram, so Artemis didn't see her evil grin.
"Goodbye, Holly. I'll see you tomorrow. Just call me if you need transportation." He said, pressing the 'Terminate' button.
-Fowl Manor-
Right after Artemis had his conversation with Holly, he needed to think of a gift, and fast. He thought that she deserved something big, and expensive. Something that she could use while she was on the surface, so she could enjoy herself a little more. But once again, Artemis, with his huge brain, and all, didn't understand a single thing about girls. The best idea he came up with was to try to coax the answer out of her, without her knowledge.
-Haven-
Holly was still grinning after Artemis had ended the call. One day, was a huge lie. Maybe one quarter hour at the longest. She thought of a gift, and unlike Artemis, thought of one right away. Writing down the idea (she could only get what she was looking for on the surface), she took her bag, strapped it on, and set off for E1: Tara.
She blasted up the chute, quite pissed off that the stupid dwarf wouldn't let her go, again. What pissed her off even more was his nickname for her: crazy girlie captain. When she reached the tops of the chute, she bypassed the terminal, and shot through a hologram, which, currently, appeared to be a car. She headed towards Dublin, and out onto the coast. A few minutes later, she was flying within inches of the water, her speed causing a wake. She called out to dolphins, seals, and the smaller fish in the sea. For a minute, she was reminded of flying to check the sensors on the kraken, while Foaly was spouting some garbage, and she accidentally called out 'Get out of my head, Centaur!' Luckily, it was in gnommish, and if her voice carried out, the noise would seem to have come from a very smart mammal, other than a human. After all, Humans don't speak dialect that sounded like Latin and Greek combined, and Fairies didn't exist. Did they?
When she reached Fowl Manor, she bypassed the door, and flew straight up to Artemis' window, which showed the boy genius, deep in thought, with his tired face, and a sheet of paper with quite a long list on it. Unfortunately, the window wasn't open, but she took advantage of No.1's reversal of the uninvited dwelling hex, and the fact that Artemis was too lost in his own thought to actually notice his other surroundings. She took her omnitool, and placed it against the window lock. It quietly lid open, and she quietly slid the window up, slipped in, and shut the window, the only evidence was a slight shimmer that moved to directly behind Artemis' back.
Holly decided on reminding Artemis of the thing. She gently massaged his shoulders, and pressed her lips to the skin directly below Artemis' ear. She than, jumped on the desk, and shimmered into visibility.
"Hey, Artemis." Holly said, smiling, showing all of her pointy teeth
"Oh! Hello, Holly. I wasn't expecting you until tomorrow." Artemis said, blushing, and quickly hiding the list he created.
"Well, are you going to show me to a guest room?" Holly asked
"Yeah, sure. Hang on a second." Artemis stammered.
He led Holly out of his room, and crossed the Hallway (a whole 5 steps across), and opened a door, which led to a spacious guest room, with windows on the walls facing the water, and grassland surrounding the Manor. She placed her bag on her bed, and instead of marveling at the room Artemis personally prepared for her, she went downstairs, and laid down on the sweet smelling grass, and began to gaze at the sky, which had a few wispy clouds floating past. Somehow, Artemis managed to catch up with her, and joined her, laying a few inches to the right of her. They stayed like that for about an hour, before Holly turned over, and looked at Artemis. When he's not thinking about anything, he's actually quite cute, and hot. Then: What in the hell are you thinking about? He's WAY younger than I am, and he's a criminal! But then again, I've changed him, and if I converted the fairy years, he's only about 2 years younger than I am… That's not too bad…
"Arty, have you ever wondered what it would be like if you were a simpler person, and didn't have any knowledge of us?" Holly asked
"I have. I didn't really like the results, because the world would've been allot worse, both up on the surface, and down in the Lower Elements. Opal Koboi would've taken over the LEP, and allot of other criminals would've succeeded in controlling World Markets and destabilizing powerful countries like the United States, Russia, and Parts of Europe." Artemis said
"Well let me tell you one thing, and don't get a swelled head, but I'm glad you didn't forget us. I might not have really liked you at the time, but I still felt empty while your mind was 'blank'." Holly admitted
"I always felt a pull towards you, even while I was knowledgeable. I kept wanting paintings with fairies in them, and I especially felt a pull towards The Fairy Thief. It's like my subconscious still knew, but I was unable to figure out what it knew, and what my personality knew." Artemis said
"What in the hell, Artemis? That didn't even make any sense!" Holly said "Maybe to Foaly, but I'm not a genius; I'm just the first girl to join Recon!" Holly said, faking an introduction.
"Very nice, Captain Short, but I still need show some remains to my intelligence." Artemis said
"Whatever, Artemis. Anyways, it's getting cold, let's go inside." Holly said, getting up.
And although they didn't realize it, this is how their relationship truly began. And the scene was perfect: They walked side-by-side, their hands brushing, as they walked back into the manor, with the sinking sun reflecting on their hair, turning the shiny black and auburn into a rainbow of colors.
OK - I know this chapter is short, but the next ones will be longer. And because of the situation, I say "Artemis can't figure out a girl" but you know what I mean, Artemis just plain can't figure out people. And no, I'm not sexist.
I will update as soon as I format and copy my written story onto a lovely Microsoft Word file on my computer.