After the End
A/N: Written nearly immediately after I read the last book. I'm thinking of doing a longer exploration of what happens after later.
Dedication: Ciel in a Dress, for whom this was originally written.
SPOILERS FOR The Last Guardian AHEAD.
As always, reviews are love.
She tells him the story. The story of her kidnapping, the ransom and the time-stop. He winces at his actions and she realises who Artemis is at heart.
He asks for what happens after, because they seem like friends now, and she obliges, giving a brief overview of the goblin revolution and his Omnicube. They've made their way into the house by the time she gets to the mindwipe and the adventure with Opal.
Butler takes Artemis to a spare bedroom and lays him on the bed. Holly is still talking, and Foaly and Butler are to one side, talking in low whispers. She tells him of the demons, No. 1 and the other genius, Minerva, and subsequently missing many years of his life. When she stops, he looks at her, questioningly, and she continues, a small smile on her face.
He's asleep by the time she gets to their adventures back in time.
She wants to finish the story of their friendship, but the moment she gets to the start of their latest adventure she chokes up, unable to say anything.
Instead she kisses him on the forehead, as he did to her, and lies on the floor beside the bed, unsure of what the morning will bring, and sleeps.
In the morning, Artemis will wake with his synapses rewired, and he will remember last night. He will gently place the sleeping, exhausted, Holly onto the bed and find Butler. He will apologise.
The adventures of Artemis Fowl the Second will continue.