I Don't Own Artemis Fowl
Dr. Argon looked at his patient. The patient that seemed to baffle every text book he had ever read and crush the techniques he had learned over nearly 40 years of schooling and over 2 centuries of work experience. And Argon was beginning to get annoyed with the young genius. Since he had come to his hospital nearly 3 months ago, he had made extreme progress, according to the text, he was cured. All the other personalities had come back to his mind and his symptoms had lessened tremendously.
But as he left his room to await pickup the boy had asked to meet with him in his private office. He tapped his fingers on the table patiently waiting for the young man to start. but as the minutes crept by he began to wonder if it would ever happen. Finally he could take no more and spoke
"Artemis,"
the boy looked at him, and even though he wore his hazel, strike that, "Holly's Hazel eye" it did nothing to calm the vicious stare of the cold blue right eye. Argon had heard that no one could ever beat Artemis in a stare off with his blue eyes, and now he knew why that was. no one, human or otherwise could match the brutal and merciless stare that radiated from the cold, ruthless, calculating eye, Artemis had never given him that stare. Now Argon new why Artemis said nothing, he was deep in thought.
"What are you thinking about?" the doctor asked cautiously.
The boy hesitated, said nothing for the span of a few seconds then sighed. "Do you have any idea, Dr. Argon, what it is like to know that you have always done the right thing, the thing that needed to be done, had to be done, and then, with a single choice. A choice that you knew you did not have to make come to the realization… that you were wrong… that you made… a wrong choice." by the time the last words left his lips, his volume had dropped to a whisper.
Dr. Argon was Perplexed, he had never heard Artemis use this tone of voice before. It was the voice of a guilty conscience. Then it hit him full sail. A GUILTY CONSCIENCE!. Finally, have we really made a break through? "This is good Artemis, admitting that you have made mistakes is the first step on the road to righting them."
The boy looked at him with a perturbed look. "I've only made one doctor." He replied calmly
Argon laughed "What do you mean you've only ma-" but the boy silenced him with a hand up.
"I may have made bad choices Doctor, but I always did what I had to. All of those are forgivable and can be justified by simple reasoning."
The boys Calm demeanor was baffling and, to put it simply, Enraging to Argon. "What about Kidnapping Holly Short 7 years ago!"
"that," Artemis interrupted with another hand, "was a poor decision, but it was the right one. I needed Money, The People had more than enough to spare. I had no other way to raise the funds to save myself, my home, and my family from what the sharks left over after the destruction of my father's criminal empire."
"But what about when Butle-"
Again, another hand up, "LEP's fault, not mine, I did not whistle for a troll."
A sly thought came to Argon, and with a smile he replied, "What about the C-cube, that almost cost your life and the life of your Butler."
"that was a miss election of marketing technique, but selling it was not wrong. That device would have helped my world immensely."
The Dr. threw his hand up in surrender, "Very well Artemis," he said resigning, "What, if I may ask, was your one wrong choice then."
The young genius looked out the window for several long moments looking lost and without an answer. Argon knew better though, Artemis ALWAYS has an answer.
"A dear friend trusted me, to tell them the truth, they thought they had shown me that I didn't have to lie for me to gain their help…" a pained look crossed Artemis' face. "and they were right, but I… I lied, though I had no reason whatsoever to do so."
Argon snapped his head up at the last sentence in confusion, Artemis lies all the time, what made this time any different, then he saw the glistening in the boys eye, in his right eye. the cold blue eye had softened and looked as if it were about to shatter like broken glass while looking at a long distant memory.
Dr. Argon was flabbergasted, he didn't know what to make of this.
"why…" Argon asked, "are you telling me this, you've already been checked. For all intents and purposes, you're cured… so why tell me this?"
Artemis inhaled lightly before answering, "you deserve to know,"
Argon was confused, "I deserve to know what?"
Artemis smirked lightly. The sad look in his eyes had vanished. "You deserve to know that you were right about my guilt. That I owe you an apology for all the nasty things I thought about you during my tenure here, and that… and that I Never forget a favor." He turned his gaze to look at the much shorted man sitting behind his desk in time to catch the widening of his brown eyes. "I know that you took this case, mostly to further your own ambitions. But I do owe you a great deal for seeing me through this very difficult time." He paused to let the depth of what he was saying to sink in.
As the seconds ticked by, Argon found himself speechless. Artemis Fowl, The Artemis Fowl. The young man that was the source for the coined term ArtemisFowlAphobia, the unnatural fear of humans that would take any and every chance to plague upon the fears, hopes, and dreams of fairies and otherwise terrorize The People, had just offered him an open hand of friendship.
After a few endless moments of painful silence, the Mudman stood until he had to stop for the short roof, and offered an open hand. Which the Doctor took rather timidly and then shook.
The young man's grip was strong. Yes, a Human. Argon thought to himself, I've made friends with a Human today. Then he stood and smiled himself, "Thank you, Artemis. I will not forget this." Then he smiled as a thought came to him. "by the by, what were those 'Nasty thoughts' you had of me?"
To his surprise Artemis actually smiled back. "Well Doctor, I could recite them back to you now, but I think it will probably be easiest if we let bygones be bygones."