-:- Artemis Fowl -:-
Roses in Winter

Author: deunan4eva

Summary: Amid the happenings of Haven, Captain Holly Shot finds the time to say a final goodbye to a special friend – Holly/Julius one-shot

BeforeNote:

Basically, since I'm probably gonna build a reputation for having a character in most of my Artemis Fowl fics DIE, I thought I should write this in tribute – yes, Julius is dead, but was there ever a ceremony to bid him farewell? Nope, don't think so. He probably had a little plaque stuck in the ground in some kind of memorial park for people to pass by and say "oh, I heard about him – poor fellow, getting killed by a pixie", and then go merrily on their way. Not that I'm being cynical or anything…just still – I hope you enjoy this one, and I hope it makes you cry! Mwahahaha! (More individuality wrath)!

Mercy

I'm actually going to apologize to Bookworm2212 right now, because even though you're probably not going to read this, I thought I should say sorry for killing off Holly in my last Artemis Fowl fic. So, uh…yeah. Sorry about that.

I don't own Artemis Fowl, by the way. I forgot to mention this on my OTHER Artemis Fowl fic, which is called "The Darkness of Light".

Roses in Winter

Haven Memorial Garden, Underground 14th February, 2008

I walk such a fine line, mused Holly as she pulled her coat tighter around her small, slender shoulders. Between life and death – it's a strange thing.
Many things seemed strange to her these days – she just couldn't concentrate on anything. Something would have her attention, and then, she would become unfocused and pick up on something else. This was becoming a bad habit and it had interfered with her work – Trouble Kelp had sent her home on a months leave from the LEP, and all Holly could do was mull around and feel useless. Ever since Opal Koboi had killed Julius Root, nothing had been the same. Ever since everything had happened and Artemis had been saved and had his memories restored – now, he was home, back in the human world where he should be. With Butler, with his family.
Holly despaired. She had no family left. Mulch Diggums was somewhere in the Caribbean, enjoying what he thought was a well-earned rest but Holly only thought of as an excuse for not having to pay for the damage's he'd done over the course of time that she'd known him. Foaly was working pretty much day and night for the LEP to fix this or that, designing new sensors or pods that didn't shake loose your teeth every time you changed gear – he had no time for Holly, and all she really had were her thoughts.

Without them, she thought to herself as she walked through Haven, I'd be insane.

It was the middle of winter above ground, but underground, Haven had simulated snowflakes and clouds hanging high above the people of the city, and the fairy-made snow was of little comfort, as it was still cold and had a chill to it that cursed Holly's bones. Her boots were thick and insulated, her gloves protected her hands from the cold but didn't prevent them from going slightly blue, and her lips were redder than ever against the pale skin of her elfin face – her auburn hair drifting freely around her, covering her neck from the majority of the cold flakes that landed upon her. She didn't like winter – it didn't suit her. She preferred the warm Irish nights flying over the land or ocean, preferably to replenish her magic. That suited her – not this fake snow and fake cold that everyone was made to put up with.

I'll bet it's colder where Artemis is, she smiled slightly at the thought, but it hardly helped her frozen mind to thaw. The doctor said she was still in shock from losing Julius. That this was all natural – that it would all be better in time. Holly wanted so much to believe this, but found it so hard.

Slowly, she made her way down the busy streets of Haven, passing by store vendors and market keepers, shops and other buildings. Young elves and pixies ran passed her, laughing and screaming in the snow, playing tag or throwing snowballs. Holly paused a moment and watched them, thinking of how when she was young, she'd never joined her friends out in the snow during winter – she'd spent her winters curled up in a library, surrounded by military books or books on the history of Frond, or studying for her grades, working towards becoming an LEP officer. It payed off now, but Holly couldn't help but feel she had missed out on something. Her cheeks were rosy from the bitter cold and her eyelashes were dusted with the finer powder of the snow, but she couldn't help but watch the children playing and screaming in the snow. Her eyes drifted away from them and caught of a street vendor selling roses – bright, crisp red roses that stood out like a blood stain in the white and grey of snow that covered just about everything in the Haven around her.
She made her way over to the vendor, taking in the beauty of the buckets of roses, the blood red petals, the thorned green stems.

'They're a good price in winter,' the dwarf who stood behind the makeshift counter said proudly, catching Holly's attention.

'Oh – are they?' she asked, feeling odd. It wasn't every day she interacted with the locals of Haven – normally she'd be telling them to get out of the way, to stand back as she tried to catch a thieving pixie on the run. 'Um…they're very nice.'

'Nicest you'll find,' the dwarf said, his barrel chest stuck out with pride, his thick arms crossed over his chest and his thick, black beard hiding his chin. He was wearing an apron, much unlike other dwarves, and Holly wondered briefly if he frequented with others of his kind.

'Really?' she was warming to this conversation. The dwarf was friendly enough, his eyes seeming to glitter with a smile, and the overall atmosphere of the small sales stall was quite comforting. It seemed strange, but Holly was reminded suddenly of Julius. Why was that? He had hated roses – but Holly could distinctly feel a certain warmth that strike a chord in her mind, something perhaps that Julius had said…?

'Miss?' the dwarf asked, and Holly shook herself.
'Pardon?'
'You alright there, ma'am?' the dwarf asked politely, and Holly forced a smile and nodded.
'Yes, thank you – um, how much would two roses be?' she asked, fishing into her pockets for spare change, and the dwarf seemed pleased that he was going to make a small profit.
'Well, usually, they're two dollars each, but for you, ma'am, that's a dollar for both of them,' he smiled, and Holly looked up from the roses she'd chosen, surprised.
'Really?' she asked, and he grinned toothily – surprisingly enough, it looked like he had most of his teeth intact, unlike a few dwarves she'd come into contact with.
'You be looking like you could do with some comfort, miss,' he said kindly. 'I saw you standing out there by yourself – you seemed to have something on your mind, as if you've lost a friend.'

Holly felt a small, choked laugh rise in her chest, and she smiled sadly.

'Sort of,' she admitted, and the dwarf nodded knowingly. He then turned away for a moment, took another rose from a bucket behind him, and handed it to her.

'Well then, a third for company, no charge,' he said, and she stared at him, astonished.

'No…no charge?' she asked, and he nodded.
'Absolutely none. I know a heartbroken elf when I see one, miss, and you look like an extra rose might just help to put a smile back on your face.' He said, and Holly smiled again as she handed over the money for the first two roses.
'Thank you, uh…' she trailed off, realizing that she had no clue what his name was.
'Grym,' he said, and she nodded.
'Yes – thank you, Grym,' she finished, and then turned, holding the roses close as she left the stall. Once back out onto the streets of Haven, Holly turned her head towards the far end of town. She knew where she wanted to go now. She started walking, clasping the three roses to her chest. I'm coming, Julius.

-:-

The cemetery was silent, and no one else was in sight as Holly stepped through the wrought iron gates. It was set up to be just like above ground, and the snow covered a thick layer over the ground, crunching beneath her boots. She wove her way around the headstones and marked out graves, their black iron or silver-plated slabs standing out like dark eyes on a pallid white face of the snow. Holly had never liked graveyards – they reeked of death and despair. She'd have paid anything to be anywhere else in a similar situation, but this wasn't normal circumstances, and she felt oddly humbled by the feeling that many elf before her lay here, surrounding her in contented silence. The roses, her black coat and her auburn hair stuck out against the white background like the slabs and iron, and her feet sunk into the snow with each step she took, marking where she'd been. It looked as if no one had been in here since the snow had started to fall – and Holly could understand why completely.
There's no place better to smell death than a graveyard, a small, singsong voice in the back of her mind chirped.

As she walked along the path marked between the headstones towards the middle of the cemetery, where a small patio stood, inside of which held a single coffin on a plinth, to mark the loss of the most recently departed of Haven, she felt a chill run through her bones. She didn't know why she was here – she wasn't even closely related to Julius. But he'd been her mentor, her commander for so long, it felt right, somehow.

Slowly climbing the steps to the platform, she found herself looking at a shrine of things atop the coffin, obvious placed there by Julius's family. Photos in their frames, a still-ticking watch, a pair of elvish gloves, a coil of tightly braided, platinum blonde hair tied in a blue silk ribbon – Holly didn't have to guess that the shrine was constructed of things of Julius's family. She closed her eyes, her head bowed for a moment, in silent prayer, and then, when she opened them, she set down two of the roses, drops of water on their petals, onto the coffin alongside the other pieces of assembled memoirs.

'Well, Julius,' she said softly, to no one in particular. 'I…I don't really know what to say. Maybe I shouldn't say anything – I just…I felt this was right, to come here.'

To her horror, Holly could feel hot tears gathering in her eyes, and she blinked them away, knowing that her cheeks were flushing.

'I wanted to say goodbye,' she whispered, taking a deep, shuddering breath. A tear streaked down her face. She hadn't cried in so, so long, it felt so strange. 'And – and happy Valentines Day, sir.'

With that, clutching the third rose so hard that some of the thorns pricked her hands, she turned and started back down the steps, only to walk nearly headlong into a young man and a little girl. Both of them were elves, like her, and she met both of them with a startled gaze, as they did.

'Oh! I'm so sorry, ma'am,' the young man said. 'Forgive us – we didn't mean to interrupt you.'

Holly shook her head.
'No, I'm sorry – I should have been looking where I was going.'
There was a slightly awkward silence, only broken by the little girl, who was looking up at Holly curiously with wide, blue eyes from under her beanie.
''Scuse me, miss,' she said inquisitively. 'Why are you crying?'

Holly realized in horror that she hadn't brushed away the tear – but the young man didn't seem to have noticed.
'Elvira!' he chided the little girl. 'That's no way to talk to someone. Go on – I'll be there in a second.' He ushered the little girl on, and she nodded and skipped passed Holly without another thought – and Holly saw a flash of platinum blonde hair from underneath the girls beanie – and her heart missed a beat when she realized that the hair on the shrine was, in fact, the little girls.

'Uh – I should go,' she said, starting passed the young elf – he couldn't have been much more than eighty five in elf years, not that much older than herself – but he caught hold of her arm and stopped her.

'Oh, please – forgive my daughter. She's the curious type – although, I have to say I am too, but were you a friend of my uncle?' he asked, and Holly's eyebrows knitted.

'Your…oh! You mean Julius?' she said, realization dawning again, and he nodded.

'Yes,' he smiled, and she bit her lip. "Friend" wasn't exactly the word she'd have used…

'Um, well – I worked with him,' she said. 'In the LEP.'
The young man nodded.
'Oh, right! Then you must be Captain Holly Short!' he said, his eyes widening and his smile spreading as he held out his hand. 'My uncle never stopped talking about you!'

'He didn't?' Holly asked, and the young elf shook his head.
'No, he didn't, it was always –'

'Daddy,' the little girl, Elvira, called from the plinth. 'Why are there roses on granddad's shrine? Did mommy put them there?'
Holly and the young man turned, and Holly saw that Elvira had one of her roses on her hands, mitts protecting her from the thorns.
'No, sweetie – they were a present from granddad's friend here – please, put them back,' the elf said, and the little girl nodded, placing the rose back.

'Um…I have to go,' Holly said, and the elf nodded.

'Of course – sorry it I was holding you up,' he said, and she smiled, and then stepped around him. 'Uh – see you later.'

'Yes,' she replied, twirling the stem of the rose between her gloved fingers. 'Maybe some other time.'

With that, she headed away from the cemetery – the snow still falling around her in soft, crisp flakes. She didn't look back at the some risen platform in the patio that held the shrine to her late commander – she kept her eyes dead ahead and held the rose tightly. Her spirits were lighter, knowing that someone else cared about the fact that Julius would be missed. Suddenly, that line between life and death seemed to become a little bit clearer – Holly would keep that in mind when she was next running for her life, or taking down a goblin rebellion, or facing of megalomaniac pixies.

She headed back into the cit of Haven, feeling the rose seem to bloom brighter in her hands.

AfterNote:

I hope you all know – I can't write tragedy very well. But I give it my best, and I'd like to thank the support of LovelyWickedDescet and Alois Phantomhive for their reviews in the Darkness of Light.

-Mercy