Okay people, chapter two up. Thanks to RLD Flame-point Callie-co, henceforth referred to as RLD, for being the most amazing and efficient beta ever. I have a few ideas now for a villian, but I'd still like to hear any imput you wish to give. Also, I'm running a poll on the pairings. So far, A/H is winning. Let me know what you want, huh?
Disclaimer: The characters belong to Eoin Colfer, the idea belongs to AH4eva. I own the other stuff. Enjoy!


Artemis groaned as he regained consciousness. His head hurt, and he was cold. Where was he? He opened his eyes and sat up, squinting in the daylight. He was under an oak tree. Why would he be there? What had happened last night? And why wasn't he wearing anything? He hunched over and looked around. To his left was Butler, and he could see from the manservant's back that he was also nude. What in the world...?

He heard a moan behind him and to his right; uncovering as little of his body as possible, he turned and saw a short figure lying there, with messy dark hair and pointed ears – Trouble. The elf sat up like Artemis, before noticing his lack of clothing.

"What the...?" he muttered angrily, imitating Artemis's posture. "What did you do, Fowl?!"

"Nothing! At least, I don't think I did... I don't remember what happened last night."

Trouble narrowed his eyes, refusing to look anywhere other than at the human's face.

"We were supposed to meet you here. You turned up, and then..." Trouble trailed off. "I don't recall."

"We?" Artemis asked. Trouble nodded.

"Me and Holly..."

He looked around frantically. Butler woke and sat up, thankfully with his back to the elf. Trouble didn't really process this; his attention was occupied by the fact that he could see only himself, Artemis and Butler on the ground. Where was Holly?

He heard a sound from above his head, looked up, and glimpsed a foot poking out from the oak's leaves. He stood, making Artemis avert his gaze rather quickly, and called, "Holly? Is that you?"

There was another groan, a gasp, and the foot withdrew into the shelter of the oak.

"D'Arvit!"

Trouble smiled – that was Holly, no doubt about it. What was she doing in a tree?

"What the hell happened?" she bellowed, ensuring that no part of her anatomy was visible through the boughs. Trouble assumed that she, like them, had found herself deprived of clothing.

"No idea," he answered. Her reply made him smile.

"Oh, that's comforting. Now where the hell are my clothes? And my equipment? Fowl, if you had anything to do with this I swear I'll..."

"Not me," Artemis interjected quickly. He was taking no blame for this. Butler stood and began to make his way to where they'd left the car – he always kept a set of clothing inside it, a habit that would pay off now. There was enough to go around, he thought. Artemis had a suit and a set of casual wear in there in case he had to go undercover unexpectedly. It hadn't happened yet but now it was going to be useful, so long as one of the boys didn't mind going topless and giving Holly the suit's shirt. He put on his suit at the car, then carried the other clothes back to the tree. Holly was still in the oak, and neither Artemis nor Trouble was looking anywhere near each other. Butler dropped the suit by Trouble and handed Artemis the casual clothing over the boy's shoulder. Each of them thanked him and dressed quickly. Holly's voice rang out from the branch she was sitting on.

"What about me? If you think I'm walking around naked, you've got another thing coming!"

Trouble tossed the shirt in his hands onto the lowest limb. Holly sighed, swore, and climbed down to retrieve it. The men caught a glimpse of thigh before she grabbed her shirt and retreated back into obscurity. After much swearing and complaining, she emerged and dropped to the ground. The shirt covered her from neck to mid-thigh, but still left little to the imagination. At least it was blue rather than white. She rolled the sleeves back so that she could use her hands and glared at her companions.

"If you say one word, I swear I'll..."

Trouble interrupted before she could finish her threat, striding in a circle around the other three. Holly tugged self-consciously at the shirt as if she could make it longer.

"We need to figure out what happened. I remember waiting here with Captain Short, and then you two arrived..." he gestured at the humans and frowned.

"Then what?" asked Butler, who recalled nothing after leaving the car. Holly took over the narrative, frowning as she tried to remember.

"Someone set us up, I think. You didn't email me, and I didn't set the meeting up..."

Silence fell as they each tried to remember what had happened, and all drew a blank. Holly swore and punched the tree; a few rotten acorns at her feet burst into flames and she jumped back in shock, staring at the fire.

"What the hell..." she cried, voice higher than Artemis had ever heard it. He put a hand on her shoulder, which she shook off roughly.

"Spontaneous combustion," he muttered, trying to calm her. She just looked at him.

"They were damp, Artemis. Wet things don't just burst into flames for no apparent reason." Artemis frowned, realizing Holly had a point.

Trouble and Butler were attempting, unsuccessfully, to scoop water from the river with their hands to throw on the fire; Holly joined them, kneeling by Trouble and scooping river water into her hands. It trickled out between her fingers before she got anywhere near the oak tree.

Artemis sighed. "That's not going to work. You need to throw the water at the flames."

"With what, genius?" Holly shot back. One of their sacred sites was burning, and all Mud Boy could do was deliver lectures. "We don't have any of our equipment."

Artemis gestured at the tree, unsure what he was trying to achieve. Water flew from the river and onto the flames, following the arc of the boy's arm, and the fire sizzled out of existence. All four of them froze.

"Do that again," Holly said, looking at him curiously. Artemis waved vaguely in the direction of the river. Water splashed up and soaked Trouble's torso. Artemis let his arm drop, speechless. Holly walked around him in a circle, scrutinising him. Butler took a more direct approach.

"How did you do that?" he asked, handing Trouble the suit jacket to dry his bare chest with. Artemis shrugged.

"I have no idea."

Trouble threw the jacket aside and spoke.

"That fire started by Holly's feet, when she lost her temper and hit the tree."

The three men turned to look at her and she backed away, palms raised.

"Whoa. You think I did that?"

"It's a possibility," mused Artemis. "After all, you said yourself that wet things don't catch fire easily. If I can manipulate water, what's to say you can't start fires?"

"You're making me sound like a pyromaniac," she objected numbly. Could it be true?

"Try it again," Trouble urged her. Holly wasn't sure that she'd heard him right.

"You want me to deliberately attempt to set things on fire?"

Trouble nodded and pulled a few leaves from a low-hanging bough, setting them down in front of her.

"Just try it."

Holly shook her head incredulously, but closed her eyes and tried to recall how she'd felt before the acorns had suddenly combusted. Angry, a little scared... She heard the other three gasp, and opened her eyes. The leaves were blazing merrily. Artemis pointed at the river and water squirted on them, putting the blaze out. Holly exhaled shakily.

"Okay then..."

Trouble eyed her warily.

"Remind me not to irritate you in the future."

Artemis turned to him and Butler.

"Fire and water are two of the elements. Maybe you have some sort of influence over the other two."

Butler frowned.

"So, I could be able to, what? Make the grass grow, or create a hurricane?"

"Think about it," interrupted Trouble. "Holly has fire, right? It matches her personality somewhat – uncontrollable, untameable, and dangerously beautiful."

Holly blushed and looked at the ground – she'd never heard herself described quite like that before. Trouble turned to Artemis.

"And Fowl here used to be colder than an ice cube in the Arctic. So that fits."

"I think it's more than that," Holly interjected. "He's always so calm on the surface, but has undercurrents that could pull you out to sea. I never know where he's coming from, and he can change flow in the middle of a plan effortlessly. If that's not a watery trait, I don't know what is."

It was Artemis's turn to look down. He was unsure whether he'd just been complimented or insulted, but either way it was strange to hear Holly talking about him like that. Maybe she knew him better that he'd thought. She turned back to Trouble, who cringed slightly, awaiting her scrutiny.

"You seem more like air than earth to me, Trubs" she said, completely forgetting protocol in the face of this momentous revelation. "Earth is too calm, and you have too many personality quirks. I mean, you jump into danger without a second thought, you can go from calm to terrifying in a matter of seconds..."

Trouble frowned, but decided that she was right. He made a circular gesture with his wrist, feeling a little foolish. Nothing happened. Holly shrugged.

"Try again."

Trouble took a deep breath and exhaled sharply. A sudden gust of wind blew Holly into the oak tree, grabbing at the hem of her shirt. Trouble was by her side in an instant.

"Are you alright?"

She nodded, looking a little dazed.

"Just try not to sneeze any time soon," she said, rubbing the back of her head. Artemis turned to Butler.

"That leaves you with earth."

Butler knelt and stroked the grass by his feet. A few daisies sprouted and the grass grew about an inch. He stood quickly, trying not to look as shocked as he felt.

"What does this all mean?" asked Holly, looking at each of the others in turn. "What the heck happened last night...?"

There was a pause as they strained their memories. A flash of light registered in Artemis's mind – a blue glow enveloping his body... He gasped as the memories of the previous night overwhelmed him. Butler was by his side instantaneously.

"Artemis, talk to me. What is it?"

"The voice..." said the boy. Butler looked confused, but Artemis's words started off a chain reaction of memories in Holly's mind. She met Trouble's eyes and spoke hoarsely.

"There was a flash of light... I couldn't look away..."

She trailed off, realising that whatever that voice and light thing was, it had mesmerised her. She clenched her fists before remembering what happened when she got irritated. Trouble looked at her, concerned, but Artemis knew what she was talking about.

"The same thing happened to me. These two were taken too quickly, I think, but we fought it. That's why we can remember."

"Well deducted," came a voice from over their heads, the same voice from last night. Holly and Artemis started shouting at the same time.

"What did you do to us...?"

"...mesmerise us, you..."

"...the light..."

They paused and looked at each other. The voice spoke up in the brief silence.

"Shall we allow a fair grounding? Let Domovoi and Trouble recall last night's events?"

The two named sank to their knees as memories overcame them. The voice spoke again, sounding smug.

"Welcome Holly, Artemis, Trouble and Domovoi, to a world of unlimited power."