Artemis Fowl and the Forbidden Treasure

Set after Eternity Code. Artemis has forgotten the events that occured when he discovered that fairies do exist. What is this strange dream he keeps having and what is the Forbidden Treasure...

Disclaimer: Yes, I don't own Artemis Fowl nor do I own any other character from the books, however much i wish i did...

Chapter 1: The Dream

Artemis woke with a start. His dark hair was dishevelled and he was covered in a thick layer of sweat. He turned and groped around for his alarm clock. The fluorescent green digits blinded him as he squinted to read the time. 4 am. Sighing he rolled back over. His alarm wouldn't sound for another few hours. Staring at the ceiling which he couldn't quite make out in the darkness he tried to remember what had happened in the dream he had being having only moments before.

It was the same dream that he had been having every night this week. He could vividly remember being cold. Ice surrounded him and he shivered in the dead of night. Every time he had the dream he felt alone. He would walk for a while. Trudging through thick snow. Eventually he would reach a ravine and then he would see them. Three other figures. Two seemed to be trapped under a ridge and the other was talking to them through the icy bars of their trap. He froze as he watched them trying to decide the best way to escape. Looking up he saw to his amazement that there were three creatures hovering in the air. He couldn't make out what they were through the darkness, but he was sure that they were unpleasant, because he could see the pale moonlight reflected from what seemed to be guns.

He tried to make out who the other people were through the haze of night. One of the trapped men could easily see was his own bodyguard Butler. He had never met another man his size, but he seemed to be lying on the icy ground. If Butler was unconscious it was never a good sign. He turned his attention to the other two figures with Butler. The other trapped figure had his back to him and he couldn't work out who he was. He looked strangely small, but somewhere deep in the back of his mind Artemis was sure that he knew him.

He then turned to the other figure. He was sure this was a female as her form was so dainty and she moved with a certain grace, but she looked too small to be a woman and she seemed too out of proportion to be a child. A tingling somewhere in the depths of his mind was longing to tell him who this figure was, but whenever it was close it seemed to freeze up. Artemis frowned. To him, this seemed to be a bizarre situation. He sat in the snow trying to make sense of it. He watched the two small people urgently discussing their options. Then he thought maybe he should help these people after all Butler was his bodyguard and these people were his friends. Friends? He thought, since when did I have friends? What am I talking about?I don't even know who these people are. It was then that the three hovering creatures decided to descend a bit to see what was going on. Artemis jumped to his feet. He had to warn them that they were coming. It was at that exact moment every time that his surroundings seemed to spin and with a jolt he was riding in what looked like a carriage in a train.

Again he looked around puzzled. A hatch was hanging open in the ceiling and he had a feeling that Butler had climbed onto the roof of the train to check on their mysterious enemies. He looked around in the carriage the small man was sitting a short way away from the female, with his back to Artemis, holding his eye. The female was lying with her back to him. Artemis stared through the shadows and saw blood seeping from her form through a hole where one of her fingers had been. He gasped and scrambled over to help her. A deep desire to find out who she was consumed him, the sight of her face would surely remind him. He gently turned her onto her back. Her short auburn hair was lying delicately across her face, just hiding her features. Gently he reached out to sweep it away. It seemed like an eternity had passed before his hand finally reached her silky hair. He softly brushed the hair from her face and…

He groaned. The dream always ended there. He never found out this person's identity. His eyes were still focused on the seemingly non-existant ceiling. His eyes had partially adjusted to the light while he was thinking and he could vaguely see the patterns that the gap in his curtains painted upon the white backdrop. He rolled over and shut his eyes. Wanting to sleep. Willing the dream to return. Wanting to see the end. He tried to empty his mind. To coax sleep to him quicker. However hard he tried he couldn't get the vivid auburn out of his head. Eventually he gave up and simply let the colour wash him back into a deep sleep.

When he woke the next day Artemis had the biggest frown he could have possibly had on his face. Much to his disappointment the dream hadn't returned to him and he was no closer to peering into the face of the mysterious person. He tapped the alarm clock as it beckoned him to get up and pulled himself out of bed. As he attempted to get up he tripped over a part of his duvet that was still wrapped around his leg from the night before when he was rolling around. He landed with a thud on the floor and groaned. Then as he struggled to pull the duvet from his leg and began to stand up there was a knock at the door.

"Arty darling?" his mother's voice drifted in through the polished oak wood. "Are you alright? I heard a crash."

"I'm fine mother," replied Artemis, brushing himself down and heading to the door to his en suite. "I just knocked something over."

"Alright but make sure you are ready for breakfast soon. You know this is an important day for your father."

Artemis internally groaned as he began to brush his teeth. With all this nonsense with a dream he had forgotten that his father was having an extremely important meeting with some of his clients today to discuss a potential business deal. Of course Artemis would have to meet these people and act as though he was interested when they tried to teach him things that he had taught himself at the age of five. Great, he thought, a whole day wasted on these pompous old men when I could be continuing with the plan.

A smirk played on Artemis' lips. This was no doubt the best plan he had ever concocted and was sure to put his family back on the world's rich list. Not only that. He was potentially revealing a secret of more than eleven thousand years.

He patted down his hair that recently seemed to grow less tidy everyday and more resistant to his attempts to tame it. He heard his mother calling him again from downstairs. His hair would have to do. He walked into his impeccably tidy room and opened his wardrobe pulling out a tailor made suit and tie from the extensive collection hanging there. As he put it on he inspected himself in the mirror in his wardrobe door. He looked perfect for the upcoming meeting and suspected that this way the so called wiser men may treat him with a bit more respect.

He walked out of his room and down to the huge kitchen where his mother was waiting for him with breakfast and a smile. Her smile turned to a frown when she saw Artemis come in.

"Arty what are you wearing? How many times do I have to tell you that your father has to dress smartly for his meetings, but you don't? You should be wearing normal clothes."

"These are my normal clothes." Artemis replied frostily as he sat down opposite his mother and helped himself to some toast. "I merely wish to set a good impression for father."

Her mother shook her head. "At least take that tie off."

"Mother I am absolutely fine as I am."

His mother got up and walked around the table to where he was sitting. When she reached him she smiled and in one swift manoeuvre had his tie in her hands.

"Mother…"

"Arty you aren't a grown man yet and I wish you would enjoy your childhood while it still lasts"

She undid his top button and with a look of slight approval she moved back around to the other side of the table and sat down.

Artemis finished his toast and headed back upstairs. His brain was ticking trying to work out how he could improve his already brilliant plan. He sat at his computer and opened up some documents which were very hard to find if you didn't know where to look. His new plan lay open in all its glory in front of him. The second smirk in an already short day appeared on his pale face, but it was soon wiped away by a call from his mother telling him to come down, his father's guests were arriving. Artemis sighed and closed his plans. This was going to be very long day.

What seemed like an eternity later Artemis was sitting back at his computer. It had been a very long afternoon. He had spent most of it either sitting listening to one of his father's clients telling him all about their not so ingenious business ideas and telling him that they hoped he would use some of their ideas to help him in the future (he grimaced at the thought) or sitting with his mother in the kitchen waiting for the 'private' part of the meeting to finish so he could say goodbye to the arrogant men, whilst listening to his mother ranting about how he should be enjoying his childhood instead of worrying about business all the time. He had of course bugged this part of the meeting, but when he played it back there was nothing of real importance mentioned.

He leant back in his designer chair and sighed. He was bored of his mother and father controlling his life and had managed more than alright without them. He now wasn't sure whether he was happy that his father had miraculously turned up at a hospital in Helsinki or that this had meant his mother's depression was cured. They seemed to keep tabs on him day and night and he wasn't pleased.

He decided to escape from it all and indulge himself in a game of chess. That always cheered him up; because of course he never lost. He began a game with a so called expert player. However he soon discovered that this particular expert must be mistaken. He won the game in six moves. A technique people had named the Bashkir Manoeuvre after he performed it under the particular alias of Stefan Bashkir with his Uncle Constantin. Turning off his computer he was for once frustrated with his own genius which had prevented him from escaping the real world for a moment. He sat wondering what he should do next. A visit to Butler to inform him of the items he would be required to bring on his latest mission and also of the fact that they would be leaving at seven tomorrow morning seemed to be the best option. However first he decided to tell his parents about his departure.

He had already come up with a story about a chess championship tournament that would be conveniently be taking place on the other side of the world, so that they would be able to leave for a longer period of time. He had even printed some fake information about the tournament. Not that he thought he would need it. His mother would be glad that he was actually going to meet some real people instead of always playing online and his father would probably say nothing. Ever since he had returned Artemis had the feeling that he didn't think he could tell him what to do because he hadn't been there for a considerable amount of time.

He walked down the colossal staircase that lead to the main entrance of Fowl Manor and turned as if to go into one of the reception rooms, but he paused as he heard voices.

"… never seems to be doing anything with children of his own age. I'm just worried that his childhood will pass him by and he will never have a second chance at it." That was unmistakably his mother's voice. A deeper voice replied, the voice of his father.

"But Angeline, it is his decision. You have told him a thousand times the way you feel about his behaviour and he never listens. You should learn to just accept that he isn't going to change. He obviously doesn't feel the need to."

"But I just wish that sometime he would find some friends. The only friends he really has are Butler and Juliet, and they are just his bodyguards. Maybe we should send him away to a camp. Let him meet some people. I definitely think we should remove him from that dreadful school it obviously isn't helping his social skills. I think we should let him go to a school where he can live at home. Maybe it will make him relax more."

Silence filled the room. Artemis was actually smiling. It was the first smile for a long time. He hated his school it was so restrictive and now he knew his mother would definitely let him go to the chess tournament. He gently opened the door and walked inside.

"Oh Arty, I was just going to send Juliet to fetch you. We need to talk to you about something."

Artemis could tell that his father didn't want to talk to him about something. That he would rather be anywhere else but here.

"We decided" his mother continued despite the fact that her husband obviously disagreed with the situation. "That you should move to a different school closer to home." Artemis plastered a fake expression of surprise on his face. "We also decided that you should maybe go away for a while and spend some time with people of your own age whilst we sort out the transfer of schools." His mother smiled at him reassuringly.

He grinned back. "Well that is very convenient, because I was just about to ask you whether I could attend this." Artemis handed his mother the fake leaflet. "I would have to leave tomorrow, but if I'm transferring schools that should be fine shouldn't it?"

It took a minute for Angeline to read the leaflet before she replied. "Well, this sounds wonderful darling. Of course you can go. Have you told Butler yet? He will need to prepare for the trip."

"No. I thought I should ask for your permission first. I shall of course enlighten him now though."

"Good. Well off you go then." His mother was beaming at him, obviously glad that he wasn't as emotionally stunted as she thought. He glanced at his father. He didn't seem so pleased and was pointedly looking anywhere but at Artemis.

He left the room and was halfway up the stairs before he heard his parent's voices gradually rising as they argued about him. He chose to ignore it. There were more important things to worry about, plus he had an inkling that his mother would win and now he was rather hoping that he would be able to leave that awful school. He hurried up another floor to the gym where he knew Butler would be. For a few weeks now Butler had been less agile than he used to be. This had lead to him spending more and more time in the gym trying to rework his muscles whilst Artemis devised a new scheme.

He reached the set of double doors which no doubt once would have lead to an immense library, but which had now been converted into a state of the art gym for the Butlers to use in their leisure time. The Fowl's didn't need four libraries anyway. Pushing open the door he found Butler and Juliet immersed in combat on the floor mat that took up half of the room. He walked in quietly. Neither of them noticed him enter. He sat in the lotus position on the floor meditating. Running the plan through his mind. Anticipating every outcome that was possible. But nothing could have prepared him for the truth.

Five minutes later Juliet had Butler pinned to the floor and they both decided to take a break and have a drink. Juliet was first to notice Artemis sitting by the door.

"We didn't hear you come in." she said turning to Artemis who had come out of his meditative state. "You should have said something."

"There was no point. I could see you were nearly finished and I thought I could use the time to contemplate on my plan."

Juliet was unfazed by him talking like this. She was used to it after all.

"Oh, fair enough. So what is it you wanted anyway?"

"I need to speak to both of you. It is imperative that we leave tomorrow and I need to inform you both of what this is about."

Butler smiled. At last, a chance to earn his keep. Juliet bounced up and down in anticipation. Her first journey with Artemis and Butler. Or so she thought, the other time had been wiped from her memory.

"I will meet you in my study in one hour. We will be leaving early tomorrow, so you should probably start packing now, so you can rest well later."

Butler and Juliet nodded in unison. They knew that Artemis had only suggested they do this, but his tone of voice had the same effect on everyone. It made people want to follow his every word.

"Excellent." Artemis smirked and with that he left the room, the bulky doors banging shut behind him.

Yay! Chapter 1 complete...

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