Disclaimer: I don't own Artemis, Holly or Butler, they are the creations of Eion Colfer, I do own the plot and scenario which takes place in this one-shot.
Rate: M, because I take no chances.
WARNING - macabre content, cannibalism in a way, death and general gore.
My first attempt on this type of story. Might be some grammatical errors. I don't attempt to keep them in character, but neither are they OOC. I'd say they're something in between.
~¤~¤~DSES~¤~¤~
She is Different
By Arty-the-Puppeteer
© 2012
~¤~¤~DSES~¤~¤~
Why should this time be any different? He had already killed these creatures countless times, heartless, for his own benefits only. So, why should this time be any different form any previous time? Why should he doubt now?
Just the sight of her should have gotten the predator within him to wake, blocking out the human part that so desperately fought to stay alive.
Why should she get a special treatment, she was the only thing that could keep him in this state of being, the only thing that was keeping him alive.
"You look troubled, Master Artemis."
The pale, young boy with raven black hair lifted his eyes from the monitor before him, it showed a woman, asleep.
"I am worried about Mother. Her condition does not seem to be improving, like I was hoping." Grumbled Artemis.
"Had Madam Fowl known what her only son was up to, she probably wouldn't felt much better," The Eurasian noted.
This earned him a cold blue stare, from eyes lost for all human compassion and care.
"I do this for my Mother's sake, Butler." The 12-years-old snarled peevishly.
The manservant nodded.
He was fully aware of the reasons for the horrible acts the young heir repeated to commit four times a month.
The cellar has started too small different and there were some spots even the bodyguard was not able to remove. Deep inside, he was pleading for the boy to realise that there was no real benefit in his desperate attempt to stay in this world.
"I know, Artemis, but," Butler hold the words back.
Artemis had been rather hasty last time the bodyguard had mentioned the accident and his contract.
"But, don't you think this has been going on for too long? Think off all those creature that you have…"
"I know very well what I have done, Butler, I do not for a second need you refreshing my memory." Murmured the boy.
"I am fully aware of what I am doing, and you are equally aware as to why it needs to be done."
Butler nodded, it was no use arguing with Master Artemis, even before the incident that had changed an already way to complicated life, he had been a stubborn child.
"Yes, Master Artemis."
The manservant's gaze went to the second monitor. It showed a different female. She sat motionless on a bed in an otherwise empty room, staring blankly ahead.
He sighed, and felt sorry for the creature, and the fate that would soon befall her.
The boy followed his gaze, there was no trace of regret on those clear blue eyes of his, even thought it gnawed at the edges of his consciousness.
~¤~¤~DSES~¤~¤~
Holly Short was horrified, and that was quite a merit. Since the female elf was not easily scared.
No LEP officer with some sense would try to go alone for a mission such as this. A zombie was perhaps one of the worst things an elf in service could come over. Zombies eat elfin flesh to keep their human traits. Therefore, after the thirteenth disappearance in such a short period of time, Commander Root had no doubt anymore, they were dealing with a zombie.
It was pure suicide to even consider it, but after the disappearance of Captain Trouble Kelp a mere week ago, Holly had more or less forced herself to take on the mission to go look for the missing officer, or what would remain of him.
She had flown to Ireland, with still a spark of hope of finding at least Trouble alive. Unfortunately, there had been no such luck.
The zombie behind everything has already ended Trouble existence. Holly knew this because of the piles of elfin bones she had picked a notice of on the way down into the basement.
It made her shiver to the bone just by thinking that the possibilities for her to end up just like that before the next full moon.
It had been somewhat surprising to find out that the zombie was just some whelp. He could not have been more then twelve years old, with raven hair and blue, intelligent eyes, dough now, they were empty and with a clear lack of emotions. She could find no sympathy for the boy in her heart, only hatred, which was the only feeling she could spare to such a hideous creature.
~¤~¤~DSES~¤~¤~
The pain was almost unbearable. Hadn't he known better he would have thought that someone had just dropped a building on his head.
Not that this was so far from the truth. During a rather violent thunderstorm a pieces of the roof had been hit by lightning and fell down, hitting the teen in the head. It says itself he hadn't stand a chance. The piece of roof had killed him on the spot.
But, Artemis Fowl wouldn't just lie down and die. No, he couldn't. After his Father's disappearance in Russia about a year ago, and his Mother had driven further into her madness, she needed her only son, he simply couldn't die now!
Some people calls it a second chance at life, but a life where you have to live on the meat form a breed that you didn't even believe in seconds earlier, truly sets your life upside down in mere seconds. However, it was better than having no life at all, and he had to live, his Mother would die from grief otherwise.
Artemis has reawakened in his bedroom, with a bandage around his head and a concerned Butler by the bedside.
At first it seemed as if he had never died at all, but when Butler told him, in a voice no more than a whisper, that Artemis no longer had any pulse or heartbeat, the truth sank in.
Artemis had taken the news surprisingly calmly, more than most people who had just learned that they were now a zombie would have taken this shocking news, but he was Artemis Fowl after all, and he was, or had never been a normal twelve year old. Far from it.
Artemis had simply set up in the bed, despite Butler's frequent protests.
"Butler, old friend, it seems that we must take to a new form of hunting," the boy had said. "We must hunt elves."
~¤~¤~DSES~¤~¤~
"Looking for something?"
The cold voice brought Holly back to the gruesome reality she had managed to get herself into. She formerly jumped up from the bed, prepared for a fight.
The boy, the zombie stood before her, it was strange, he had entered the room without making a single sound.
She took his slim face in for a closer examination. If you looked closely, you'd make out the sickly white tone of skin, a clear sign that something wasn't as it should be with this Mud Boy.
"Sit." The boy said, with the cold blue eyes straight into her hazel. Holly swore mentally, this creature made her sick, all she needed to do was reconstruct the imagine of the piles, fourteen in number, with elf bones, and it would be enough to make her blood boil in her veins. He had…. No, she didn't want to think about it, the fact that it had happened was to sickening.
She sat there on the edge of the bed, staring at him as thought it was a deadly plague. Had eyes been able to kill, not that it would be necessary, the boy was already dead, after all. That was what was the worst, this whelp wasn't even meant to stand before her right now. Holly noticed a slight bruise on the left temple. It looked more black then blue really, something must ave hit there, hard to.
Nevertheless, not even that would make her get the slightest piece of sympathy for him, he was still a monster in her eyes, and it was unlikely to change,
"So, why haven't you eaten me yet, eh Zombie?"
Her voice was hard, she wasn't going to show any fear in it, oh no. she would not give him such pleasure. Never in this life, which sadly was a literally statement.
"My food doesn't normally ask me questions, normally they just plea for their lives, I find it half amusing, half tiresome, but they all becomes quite... after a few bites."
There was something about how simple he said it. As if eating other living individuals did not bother him the least.
It made Holly's slim frame shake with anger, she wished she had gotten a knife or something sharp so she should cut that sick grin, that were formed by his dimly blue lips, right off.
"YOU MONSTER!" she cried.
"Call me whatever you like."
His voice was cold, but still soft as silk, or a cold breeze. The expression on his blue eyes were unreadable.
She said no more, just sat there and looked at him with murder in her eyes.
"So, will I get a name?"
Holly said nothing, her hazel eyes just narrowed in contempt and blind hatred.
They sat in silence for what seemed like the rest of eternity. The zombie just looked at her, it made her shudder, and briefly wonder if he always stares at the people he was going to eat in such a manner.
Finally, the boy broke the silence.
"Are you… Holly?"
The reaction on her face, as she heard him call out her name was enough to tell Artemis he was right. His lips pulled back into a smirk.
"Oh, so you are. My last prey told me you'd come. 'Holly will save me' he said, 'Holly will find you and your pitiful existence will end' I hope he is right, that you'll be, different. He didn't taste very good either, so…"
Hearing this, what Trouble had said, caused the flames to flare up inside of her once again. The desire to break the neck of the horrible creature that stood before her, forced its way into her brain once more.
"I HATE YOU!"
"Hating me won't save you, elf."
And it was this cold aura, as if all the horrible things he did didn't mean anything, tat convinced Holly that this zombie deserved to starve.
"Don't call me 'elf', zombie."
She snapped at him.
His lips pulled back a little.
"You call me 'zombie' so why not?"
The elf gave him a glare that told just how badly she waned to see him suffer right now.
Yet again a silence, that could only be matched by the silence of a tomb, over the pair of them.
Once again the zombie was looking at her, she could feel those blue eyes drill their way into her skull.
"Artemis."
Holly looked up, with a slightly confused expression.
"That is my name."
With those words the boy walked over to the door, he turned one last time, examine her, and then he was gone.
Holly would never admit to it, but Artemis was the most beautiful name she had ever heard.
~¤~¤~DSES~¤~¤~
The days passed quickly, and after three days, the elf started seeing changes in Artemis appearances. The boy's pale, almost perfect skin had begun to look more washed out.
He had dark circles under the eyes, and he could no longer visit her without her noticing his presents.
"I don't understand you, Artemis. You have food. D'Arvit, you are bloody talking with your food right now, who don't you do as your instincts tell you?"
Artemis looked at her, his eyes will blue, beautiful, though they seemed to have faded, like windows do after many years.
"I do as I please, Holly." He said, slowly.
The elf sighed.
"Why don't you let me go then?" she asked, or rather demanded to know.
Artemis took her in eyesight.
"You're right," he got to his feet's, and walked towards the cell door, "you are free to leave the grounds."
Holly blinked, he hadn't actually said that she was allowed to leave, had he? No, impossible.
"Sorry, what did you say?"
The boy took a shaky breath, he looked like he could fall over any second now.
"You… can go."
Holly blinked again. Go, he rally had said that word. She was free, she didn't have to end up like her fellow LEP officer's. She was free.
She didn't know why she did it, she just did it. Holly reached up the few inches that separated her and the boy, and kissed him on the cheek. His skin felt clammy and could, but she didn't care.
"Thank you, Artemis."
"Thank you."
~¤~¤~DSES~¤~¤~
Holly didn't go far. Curiosity simple was to strong for the elf, she had to know why Artemis had let her go, just like that. So she made an abrupt turn, and headed back towards Fowl Manor.
The mood was definitely changed since she left just over a quarter ago; there was a silence other the estate. Death's silence.
The elf landed on the stairs in front of the entrance, she knocked lightly.
It was Butler who opened. The huge man seemed surprised to see the elf again, no wonder, but there was something in his eyes, that made Holly's fairie senses yelling that something was terribly wrong.
"Eh, Butler, I know it's strange tat I come back voluntarily, but I would like to ask Artemis why he let me go."
The manservant looked down at her.
"I am afraid that can't be done."
"Can't be done? Why can't.." then it got to her, "Oh, Frond!"
For several seconds she was just standing there, and then she mumbled:
"Can I… see him?"
The bodyguard nodded slowly.
Together they went down the stairs to the basement. There was something on her bed, something covered with a white sheet, which was formed by the slender figure that was underneath it.
Holly slowly stretched one arm out, as if she really didn't want to see what was under the sheet, but she had to, she needed to know if he actually was…
The white sheet fell to the floor.
He could have been a China doll, the raven hair stroked back form his pale brow. The little touch of colours whish his skin had sued to have was now all gone, replaced by a dull greyish one. His thin lips faintly blue.
Holly just stood there, unable to move of form as mush as his name with has slight trembling lips. It was true.
"When?" finally came out.
"Shortly after you left, I asked why he had let you go, he said: She is different. Also, he hoped you would cure his mother," this was added later.
Holly felt her heart sink in her chest. Artemis had died. Because he thought, she was different.
She nodded slowly. Not understanding why she felt like crying.
Because, for some reason, she mourned his passing.
THE END
~¤~¤~DSES~¤~¤~
AN: The first of many horror related stories that I'll write. I don't know what would make a person even GET an idea like this it just came, okay? Well, please leave a review telling me what you, and if you have request please tell me so to.
This should also make up form my absence here lately.
Until the next chapter – Love, Arty
