I originally intended this as just a One-shot but... the story developed and I realized one chapter wasn't going to cut it if I do this.

Please Read & Review. Depending on how many people pay any attention to this, I might just not bother continuing...

Note: Events are taking place before the Time Paradox but after The Lost Colony. On the Ghost Trick side of things: this is after Sissel had fixed the meteor event's results to make everyone happier and events are 10 years later.

The "Lucky" Black Cat

An Artemis Fowl/Ghost Trick Cross-over

Sissel

Life was good for me nowadays, 10 years after the meteorite incident. The little lady and the detective were as happy as could be imagined. The family was clearly complete and Lynn, the red-haired detective was thriving in her job. Yomeil was apparently happy as I had seen him walking the streets with a woman I didn't recognize but given his apparent attachment to her, it must have been the person who he had originally named me after: Sissel.

Me? Watching all of them living their lives was entertaining for a while but… every now and then, I wanted to do something… having the Temsik meteorite fragment inside me meant I had eternity before me and I could leave my body at any time as a soul and manipulate objects. The only body I could influence though was my own. I didn't have the power Yomeil had had before that night.

I went about doing these occasional deeds just to have a little fun and help someone while I was at it, simply to spice up my life. I'm a cat, what can I say? Heh, then again, I technically can't say anything but that's beside the point.

However, I found out the hard way, that some people are possibly better left alone.

###

I was just wandering town. I was going by a local restaurant, one of those upper-class type of places. One that Lynn would've never had to money to visit, to put it another way.

Then the glass of one window quite suddenly had a hole appear in it. I was startled, obviously. But I decided to check things out…

I curled my body in against the building, out of the way, as if I were going to take a nap and entered Ghost World to jump into the core of a plastic saltshaker on the other side of the wall. It had evidently been dropped. I left Ghost World to see how events were unfolding (being that time is stopped in Ghost World).

The inside of the restaurant was in a panic, except one fellow who was cradling a body. That was how people tended to act when a murder happened. The man holding the body though, was huge… and that's an understatement.

I made use of the tableware to make my way across the room to the two of them.

"Artemis! Artemis! Oh gods… Angeline is going to be…" the man holding the body was lost for words.

I soon got to the core of the dead boy in the man's arms.

I took a moment to deliberate with myself if I was actually going to attempt this.

After a while in Ghost World, I finally decided I was going to be a nice guy and try to undo this.

I would find myself wishing later that I had just left things as they were…

###

When I entered the body's core, I found myself face-to-face with a blue soul flame… not surprising given how recently the person had died.

"Hey there. You wakin' up anytime soon?" I asked rhetorically. To my surprise, they actually did.

"Hm? Greetings… what is this place?" the soul said, in rather cordial tones despite sounding tired.

"Ghost World. Sorry, but you're dead." I said bluntly. No use dancing around the issue, I figured.

The soul suddenly flickered and took on the form of the boy he was. It struck me then how formally the boy was dressed. He was wearing a suit that I had little doubt was expensive. He also had hair as black as my own fur and… two differently colored eyes? The speed at which the kid had regained his original appearance was also stunning, since that meant he was very smart if he could remember so quickly.

The boy smiled and if I had been in my body, my fur would've stood on end. It was a friendly smile but it still made me nothing less than nervous.

"Hmm. I can accept that explanation seeing as how I cannot think of any other way to account for the conditions I perceive." The boy said, the smile fading "But if you don't mind answering: how is it that I can speak to a cat?" He had a hint of amusement in his voice. I got the feeling that he was asking the question out of curiosity more than wonder.

"I can't exactly explain myself, but here in Ghost World, thoughts are heard by everyone." I said, not knowing how else to put it.

"Ah… how interesting." The boy said thoughtfully. Then what I had just said crossed my mind and I realized I wasn't picking up any thoughts from him!

"So you noticed." The boy pointed out "it's no wonder you're not more scared of me if you can't read my mind. Thousands of thoughts must have already passed through my own mind in this short time."

"But, but… how-?"

The boy shrugged, interrupting my confusion before folding his arms.

"How indeed? I've got my own theories but I'll save those for another time. Now then, I believe we've already affirmed that I have died. You seem to be quite smart for a simple cat. Can you tell me how I died?"

I got the distinct impression he was testing me and he knew perfectly well how he had died. Perhaps it was the fact that as I thought this, a smirk was playing about his lips. I decided to humor him though.

"A sniper got you?" I guessed.

The boy contemplated this as if he didn't know already. He finally nodded.

"Yes… that seems correct… and they must have been quite skilled to have gotten past Butler's guard."

"Butler?" I quirked an eyebrow.

"My bodyguard… the man who I'm afraid I've left in a rather… shattered position by dying. I owe him an apology…" the boy trailed off, looking somewhat ashamed of himself.

So the massive man was named Butler?

"Oh yes," the boy suddenly spoke, sounding like he was chastising himself "I may be dead but that's no excuse for a lack of manners, even to a cat. I am Artemis Fowl the Second." The boy said, bowing in a manner as cordial as his tones as he introduced himself. I was left feeling like any response to this attitude would be insufficient.

"Uh… Sissel… my name's Sissel." I said rather lamely… my mind seemed to have gone numb.

Artemis didn't seem to mind my response's lack of formality and pushed right on with the conversation.

"Now to the main question on my mind, my feline friend: Why are you here and how did you come to be here?" Artemis's tone shifted until he was sounding very serious as he asked his question. He leveled a gaze at me that seemed to show a side that I hadn't seen until just then… and it scared me…

I realized then that I had just stepped into a situation that was possibly very dangerous.

Artemis

I had only been in this country for a couple of days. My intentions had been a simple study.

Of course, I was operating under the pre-tense of a school park tour. I was still going to St. Bartelby's, as per Mother's demands. It had been an easy matter to convince the headmaster to have a school tour for the local park well-known for the meteor that had hit 10 years ago. Old news to be sure but a little money on the side and the man had been like putty in my hands; I'd even gotten Butler permission to accompany me for the trip. I'd been looking up information on the internet for some days after getting back from Limbo and I had come across this meteor. On the surface, it hadn't appeared to be anything that interesting but a bit of digging had unearthed rumors of strange occurances at the park that day 10 years ago. Thus, I had arranged for this trip.

At the time, I was feining illness and had claimed to be going back to the hotel... of course, I actually was going to get a closer look at the meteor's site for myself and I was simply having lunch first. Butler had been worried coming here... he had warned me that he felt he was losing his edge... that I was in mortal danger. I shrugged this off though, I had faith in my old friend.

A shame I had to die on him like this, one of the few times I was wrong. It is amazing what comes of events like these though...

I knew there had to be more to this black cat that was now talking to me in this... Ghost World as he called it. I had never heard of souls talking to one another like this and now, I was experiencing it firsthand. I was also feeling somewhat grateful that the cat couldn't read my mind or else he might've left right away and I would've been stuck as a dead genius. It was merely a guess, but the first theory that had crossed my mind was that Holly's magic (which I had, admittedly, stolen in the time tunnel) was creating an unconscious shield of some sort. It was the only explanation that I could think of. However, given that I knew little at this point about this cat or what he was capable of, I wasn't about to do something so naive as voice this theory to him. Besides that, it would mean I would reveal my fairy companions down below.

I could tell I was scaring the creature. But the situation I was in was something I wasn't about to let go of lightly so I was being ruthless with my questions. I heard a variety of thoughts racing through his mind:

What do I tell him? Why can't I hear his thoughts? Can I even trust him with anything?

The cat hesitated several minutes... it seemed time was stopped while we were in this Ghost World so I allowed him the time to think. But I soon reapplied pressure on him.

"Tell me... Sissel, how is it that you have come to visit me in my own body? And why?" I repeated my question, keeping my glare focused on him. That finally got him to answer.

"I came here because... I was going to try to reverse your death." he said in forced tone. I stared him down... I had no way of being certain... but I had to trust he was being honest.

"And what motive could you possibly have to do that? This is the first time we met." I pointed out, rather haphazardly. The cat gave me a confused look but then seemed to concede the point.

"Entertainment I suppose... plus its nice to do something for others..." though I'm having my doubts here now. I heard the after-thought but I couldn't help feeling a touch sympathetic. I had some projects in mind that not only would be a great mental exercise for myself but it would also be helping everyone around the world if I pulled them off. Though I obviously wouldn't be performing any of them if I was dead.

"Interesting..." I replied "So, how are you going to go about preventing my death? It has already happened as we both very well know."

Here comes the big part... do I tell him? Or...

The cat seemed to be forgetting that I could pick up his thoughts easily and based on that one sentence that passed through his mind, I knew he could do something... what though? I'd have to wait for him to say if he did at all. Sissel seemed to decide to tell me though.

"We're going to go back to four minutes before your death."

A personal time warp? This surprised me but after my adventures in Limbo, it didn't stun me. My mind was immediately wondering how he had this ability though.

"Well, shall we then?" Sissel asked, a definite note of uncertainty in his voice. He didn't trust me, I was sure of that but he had decided to save my life and I wasn't going to pass that up. I gestured for him to proceed.