CHAPTER 2

PRINCIPLES

Room 16, J. Argon Institute, Haven City, the Lower Elements; Now

ARTEMIS came out of his meditative state with a shuddering breath. He reflected on what he had experienced. Despite the indescribable beauty he had just experienced in his subconscious mind, he felt exhausted and drained upon returning to the land of the living.

Such a feeling, he thought. It leaves me hollow - as if I had reached transcendence but was pulled back to Earth by an unknown and unyielding force. It is comparable to what infants must feel upon first leaving their mothers' wombs.

Artemis uncrossed his legs and groaned as his thighs protested. He pulled himself up to the bed, lying down and thinking about what he had realized.

The ice blue...there is no mistaking it. It is the same shade as my right eye. The colors I saw were representations of Holly. Nut brown, auburn, hazel, green…and ice blue.

He felt a familiar warmth at the thought, but was somewhat concerned.

I was unable to complete my meditation. Somehow, thoughts of Holly prevented me from attaining the clarity of mind desired - more so than thoughts of guilt or shame.

He felt another feeling - shockingly unfamiliar this time. It was very warm, much like how he felt upon hugging his mother after Holly had cured her depression and dementia; yet it was cold, like an icy trickle running down his spine. He felt apprehension - the uncertainty that came before the journey into the unknown, yet a confident familiarity that gave him the hope and courage to go on.

Artemis sat up and pinched the bridge of his nose.

Perhaps I should consult Butler about this.

Though Domovoi Butler was originally hired to protect the life of Artemis Fowl the Second, the fairy-related adventures he and his young charge have gone through had brought them closer together. Butler no longer called Artemis "sir", instead referring to him by name and freely teasing him without fear of repercussions. For Artemis's part, he came to see Butler as a friend and father figure, filled with decades of experience - and not just with how to kill an enemy that got too close for comfort. It was for this reason that Artemis decided to seek his advice. Despite Artemis's obvious superior mental capabilities, the Fowls prior to Artemis Senior's return were a cold, criminally active family. Anything more than simple professionalism was frowned upon, and emotional outbursts were seen as a display of weakness. Therefore, Artemis II felt uncertain when it came to more complex emotions.

Such as the one now! he thought crossly. What is this confounding sensation? Three sets of conflicting feelings, each with other, smaller thoughts hidden below the surface. I feel afraid, yet exhilarated. I feel giddy, yet it is twinged with doubt. All these thoughts and more…

Whatever could they mean?

Operations Booth, Police Plaza, Haven City, the Lower Elements; Now

There was silence as Foaly - Haven's best and brightest mind - took all of ten seconds to process what his best friend had just said. Then came the laughing.

Holly spent the dreadful silence growing redder by the second, and she stared at the floor with a meek smile. Now that it was out in the open, it was easier to accept. In all honesty, she was surprised she hadn't fallen for Artemis sooner. Of course, though, she thought with a little annoyance, as Foaly's laughs turned into long, drawn-out neighs, it doesn't make it any easier to bear this.

Foaly was on the ground with his hands on his side, legs kicking in a gallop while he gasped for breath.

"Oh, Holly- " cough " -you have got- " snort " -to be kidding me!" Foaly wheezed, as he lay twitching and shaking on the ground. "The Mud Boy? The Mud Boy? No wa-a-!" Foaly collapsed in a heap of laughter again.

Normally Holly would have glared daggers at him, but today she just wasn't in the mood. She continued to stare at her spot on the floor.

My, that really is a lovely shade of red, thought Holly as she looked at her reflection in the floor's polished tiles, and then: I could have given Julius a run for his money.

Foaly gradually stopped laughing, all four knees shaking as he stood up. He gave a cough, then a wheeze, and turned back to Holly, still grinning. The grin disappeared when he realized his friend wasn't giving him a death stare; that's when it really hit him.

"You weren't kidding." It wasn't a question; it was a statement of fact. "You're in love with the Mud Boy."

"Yes," said Holly in a small voice, a further indication of how serious she was. Foaly knew that a Holly that was playing around would have become indignant and cheeky, trading insults with him blow for blow. This quiet, reserved, and almost submissive Holly was more than a little disturbing.

Disturbing or not, though, Holly was his friend, and he was determined to help her pull through.

"Alright, then. So what seems to be the problem? You seem fairly certain about how you feel." Foaly kept his sense of humor in check, almost banishing it completely. Now was a time to help Holly - only once in recent history had there been a human/fairy relationship, and it literally ended in a bang. Besides, Artemis and Holly didn't exactly meet; he had Butler shoot her with a tranquilizing dart.

"It's not about how I feel, Foaly. If that was it, I wouldn't have had to come down here, now would I?" Holly tried to smirk at him, but really just didn't feel like it. Instead, she just sighed and covered her face with her hands. "Truth be told, I'm terrified."

Foaly raised an eyebrow, which was as close to an outburst as he dared with Holly in this fragile state. He knew she was strong and brave - she was the first successful female Recon officer in the LEP, after all - and he knew she would stand up for her friends without a second thought. It was this quality, in fact, that made Julius Root so infinitely proud of her. Foaly had never known Holly to be truly terrified. Not during the Fowl Manor Siege, not when accused of murdering the Commander, and not when attempting to alert Atlantis of the incoming probe. Holly Short always stood her ground, no matter what the consequences.

So seeing this more vulnerable side of her was distressing for the centaur, and in all honesty he had no idea what to do. In the end, he rather lamely repeated, "So what seems to be the problem?"

Holly looked up and Foaly was alarmed to see misting in her eyes, especially since nobody was dying and the city had been crisis-free for the last five months. "I don't know how to tell him."

Foaly nodded and beckoned for her to go on. In this state, he knew it was best for her to let everything out.

Holly obliged. Now that she had opened up a bit, the floodgates flew open and she poured out all her heart to Foaly. She spoke of how Artemis had saved her life in Limbo, of how they kept in touch through the fairy communicator, and how close they became in the past before Artemis ruined it.

"But," said Holly, shrugging and smiling a little ruefully, "now I honestly don't care. If I had the chance to save my own mother, I would have done the same."

She went silent at that, remembering the fear and horror she felt in the gorilla cage. She remembered the relief when Artemis opened his eyes, and the way her heart fluttered when she kissed him.

"Holly?" Holly started a bit, forgetting where she was for a moment. "Do you want to go on?"

"Yes. Ye-yeah. Um...you know how Orion said he had all of Artemis's memories but not his disposition?"

Foaly nodded, trying not to interject until she was finished.

She shut her eyes as she recalled a specific moment. "Well, the last time I spoke to him, I said, 'Close your eyes if you love me', and he obeyed me immediately. And-and I know they had the same memories and the same experiences, but…"

"But what, Holly?" Foaly was too interested - uncomfortably so. He had unconsciously leaned forward, waiting for what came next.

Holly opened her eyes in anguish. "D'arvit, Foaly, Artemis and Orion had the same memories, and Orion was definitely in love with me, but I don't know if Artemis feels the same way!" She put her head in her hands and started trembling.

Foaly clopped forward and awkwardly rested an arm on Holly's shoulders, unsure how to start. Besides the obvious species and age differences, how does one deal with two personalities of the same person? Obviously both personalities share the same brain - and therefore the same memories and experiences, but the complete change from Artemis to Orion clearly demonstrated the number of facets that weren't shared.

"Holly," began Foaly gently. "I don't have all the answers. I wasn't even the one that asked Caballine on our first date - my security measures simply malfunctioned and she asked me out after the LEP had held her for three hours." Foaly withdrew his arm at this point and turned to face Holly.

"Now look. I know you're in a bit of a pickle. In fact, you've been basically stuffed in a pickle jar, locked in a barrel, and set afloat in the Atlantic." Foaly noted that Holly didn't even look up at his terrible analogy, but kept going. "Artemis won't initiate anything - in fact, knowing him and his family's history, if he feels affection towards you he probably won't even recognize it; it may be too much for him to grasp."

At this, Holly began shaking almost uncontrollably.

"No! Holly!" Foaly grasped onto her shoulders firmly. "Look at me! It'll be alright. Listen to what I have to say." He released her when he saw she had calmed down sufficiently.

"Alright. Now getting Fowl to admit he has some 'human imperfections' will be downright impossible, but what if we were to get Butler in on this?"

Exercise gym, J. Argon Institute, Haven City, the Lower Elements; Now

"Uh-huh. Right. Sure. Oh. Oh really?"

Butler's eyes shot up at his caller's last statement. He was in Dr. Argon's gym designed for what the doctor called advanced physical therapy - but was really just fancy wording for "working out" - trying to work up a sweat before he turned in for the night - or rather, what passed for night underground. In practicality, he could have gone back to Fowl Manor, where the barbells actually extended past the length of his shoulders, but he preferred to be as close to his principal as possible. As a result, he was lifting a fairy-sized barbell in each hand, and was in the middle of some bicep curls when his phone had rung.

The caller had delivered some extraordinary information - information that was a mild surprise, but actually somewhat expected. And now he was asking Butler for assistance - assistance Butler was more than willing to provide.

"Of course. What do you want me to…? Ah, I see. Well, it's simple enough. And it's about damn time."

At this point, Butler heard Artemis's loafered footsteps, and decided it was to end the call.

"Look, I'd like to help more right now, but my...ah...principles are currently getting in the way. Call me later." With that, Butler quickly returned to his curls, just as Artemis walked through the door.

"Butler, can I ask you something?"

Butler raised an eyebrow. His charge seemed...distracted. He became worried, wondering if Atlantis was relapsing. Then he reconsidered. Yes, Artemis seemed distracted, but he wasn't delusional - not like how Holly had described his behavior moments before Foaly's space probe crashed into Iceland. Butler saw the clarity in Artemis's eyes - a sure sign of his grasp on reality - and relaxed internally.

"Of course, Artemis. What's on your mind?"

Artemis fingered his chin with his left hand, forming an L underneath his bottom lip. "To be honest, I'm not entirely certain myself," he began. "I was utilizing one of the Hindu yoga forms, attempting to process and compartmentalize my most recent endeavors in Iceland. However, I was prevented from reaching the level of clarity I desired by swirling colors."

Butler knew what Artemis meant. The first time this had happened - a year after the Fowl Manor Siege - Artemis had experienced black and red, later identified as regret and shame after witnessing Holly and Commander Root selflessly assisting in rescuing Artemis Senior from the Russian Mafiya. Butler also knew, however, that this time was different; if Artemis had come to him for assistance, then there was a new variable in the environment - a "kink", as Butler liked to call it.

Artemis was continuing his experience. "I expended a greater amount of energy identifying these colors than normal. They seemed...familiar somehow, yet strange and uncharted. I eventually reached a revelation; the colors were my subconscious's representation of Holly."

Butler's eyebrow went up again. He felt a familiar softening of his heart, one that he had not felt since finishing The Notebook nearly twenty years ago. This time, however, the story felt closer to home - was his charge finally in love?

Artemis's next statement all but confirmed it. "I felt...an unfamiliar sensation. Warmth...and cold...apprehension...and confidence...fear...and elation."

Butler almost smiled, but caught himself. If he adopted a knowing - or even a teasing - air, Artemis might become intimidated - or worse, discouraged.

The teenage genius made a very intricate but helpless hand movement. "Butler, what is this feeling? Every time I try to focus on it, my heart rate increases and my thought processes slow! Is it another sort of mental disease?" He sounded very irritated.

Butler's other eyebrow went up. Artemis Fowl II, the latest generation in a family of criminal masterminds, writer of multiple papers under the pseudonym Dr. F. Roy Dean Schlippe - psychology papers, for heaven's sake - was unable to identify this feeling? This basic, intrinsic feeling? Butler knew immediately what it was, of course, having roughly half a century of lifetime experiences, but he found it hard to believe that a teenage boy - though reserved in his emotions - was unable to realize it.

Of course, he couldn't just proclaim, "Artemis, my boy, you are in love!" That would scare him into denial, possibly turn him even colder than he was now. Instead, he decided to take a slightly less direct approach.

"Artemis," Butler began, "think hard about Madame Fowl - your mother. What does she mean to you? What do you feel when you think about her?"

Artemis frowned. "Well, I love her, of course, despite her constant haranguing about my 'sense of fashion', or lack thereof, and I respect her for the transformations she has made in Father and myself."

"What do you feel?" repeated Butler.

Artemis's frown deepened slightly. "A...warmth. It...reminds me of Christmas in recent years, where formalities are all but forgotten and smiles are all but permanent."

Butler nodded slowly. "What about the twins - how do you feel about them?"

Artemis let out a low chuckle. "Beckett is who I could have been, had my father's transformation been sooner. He is carefree, silly, and naïve. In Myles, I see myself - fascinated by science and inherently acerbic. Complete polar opposites, but I would have it no other way."

This went on for a while, with Butler asking about Minerva, Artemis Senior, Julius Root, Mulch, Foaly, and Juliet, among others. Butler was paying special attention to Artemis's responses regarding the females, as he would be using them as a background - not unlike a "control" trial in a scientific experiment.

"And what about Holly?"

There! A hesitation!

It was almost imperceptible - barely a quarter of a second - but Butler had served Artemis for over a decade and a half now, and what would be unnoticeable to others was a major indicator for him. With this in mind, he listened intently to Artemis's response.

"I have the deepest respect for her. Not only has she weathered with me whatever life has thrown at the two of us, but she has also healed our band of brigands more times than I can count, and forgiven me for the two worst things I could have done to her. She, along with Mother, transformed my life. I owe my life to her in more ways than one."

Externally, Butler seemed to be listening, but internally he was giving his charge's response a thorough analysis.

There is a slight tenderness in the way he describes the Captain's feats. It is certainly a softer tone than when he talked about the others - almost fond, even. And there! A slight upwards twitch in the mouth, and a slight glazing in the eyes. But there is one more thing - one piece of evidence to determine whether it is true.

"Artemis," said the manservant.

"What do you feel when you think of Captain Short?"