A/N: Wish me a happy birthday! It's coming up soon! I bet you all know what I want. . .
Fire
火
I.
Holly held his hand gently, gently, like a fragile bird that might break any second.
He looked pitiful, with his hair burnt and his skin raw underneath the black ash. Artemis was still lying on the stretcher, still as death, taken a safe distance away from the fire. His eyes were closed.
The twins were reasonably healthy, they hadn't even needed stretchers. Artemis would be relieved at that when he woke up, he'd given so much to keep them safe. She'd watched him carry the twins out, collapsing in the end, and Holly had carefully dragged him the rest of the way out.
His fingers twitched, slightly. She adjusted her hold.
An elfin medic tested his vitals and fitted him with an oxygen mask. He carefully cut open Artemis' shirt, and let out a soft whistle.
"What?" Holly demanded. "What is it?" She leaned forward over Artemis' prone body, still holding his hand, and hissed softly. There was a deep gash in his side.
"That's not a normal cut," the medic said, beginning to probe around the edges with gloved fingers.
At the touch, Artemis stiffened, and Holly squeezed his fingers.
"Yep, just what I thought," the medic said grimly, and reached inside the cut. Holly nearly jumped up—sticking fingers into other people's insides!—but concentrated on holding Artemis' hand as he let out a soft groan.
Artemis relaxed infinitesimally as the medic pulled out his hand, holding up the unmistakable shape of a bullet shard.
II.
Juliet sat to the side, with a blank look on her face. She held a twin in her lap, Beckett, while Myles was allowed to wander and look in wonder at the elven medical teams scurrying around the burning Manor. Eventually, Myles made his way back to Juliet, sitting down beside her in the grass, under the oak tree, and taking her other hand. Beckett played with a strand of Juliet's wispy blond hair, and Myles drew line-pictures in the soot on her arms.
III.
There was a small fire burning in the center of his chest, and it somehow seemed larger than the fire taking his home.
It surprised him, somehow, that fairy medical teams were on the grounds of the burning Fowl Manor. Why would they help? He'd fallen out of favor. He was Artemis Fowl, the criminal, the distrusted friend of fairies.
Except for one, he thought, looking down.
"Artemis, sit down!" Holly said crossly, holding his elbow for stability. "The twins are fine, Juliet's with them, and you're in no condition to stand up!" She tugged at his elbow half-heartedly. Worry was plainly etched in her face.
"I'll sit down later," he said.
He couldn't believe a simple accident had caused this destruction, the fire. He wouldn't. Couldn't. And, of course, he had evidence to prove it. The evidence just so happened to be scarred in his chest.
"You had a bullet in you, Artemis! A bullet! Those cause a lot of damage!" Holly said shrilly. She had never, of course, seen a bullet wound, since fairies hadn't used them for...ever, really.
Artemis resisted the urge to make a sarcastic remark. The anger he felt, that fire in his chest, wasn't directed at her. . .She was his friend, one of the few he had, he would not alienate her... "I need to find the Commander," he said quietly.
"But..." Her words died away when she saw the look on his face. Holly supported him silently as he painfully limped over to where Commander Kelp and Vinyaya were standing.
IV.
"Teams 4 and 5, north and west perimeter!" Commander Kelp was shouting into a head-set. Vinyaya was shouting similar orders, only it was to her fleet in the sky, not the infantry. "2 and 3, south and east! If we hurry, people, we'll catch her before daylight!"
"Catch who, Commander?"
The voice was even and low, with a terrifying sort of calm that sent cold rivulets down Trouble's spine. He and Vinyaya shivered as one, and turned to the voice that was unmistakable. No one could, or ever would, forget the sound, or the eyes, of pale Artemis.
"Fowl," Vinyaya said stoically, turning toward him. "Should I call for the healers? I heard you were in need of medical attention." Her eyes roved the length of his body, taking in his burnt appearance, the loose button-up shirt through which bandages were visible, and most importantly, Holly standing at his elbow with concern and confusion visible on her face.
"I am," he said quietly. "But there's no need for healers at the moment."
He didn't look well at all, Trouble decided. Something in his eyes looked ill and dark.
"If there's something you need, say so," Vinyaya said impatiently, but not unkindly. "Our people are busy."
His head tilted to the side slightly, like he was listening to something no one else could hear. "I wonder," he began softly, "were you ever going to tell me? Did you think I didn't need to know? Or that I didn't already..."
"Fowl," Vinyaya said, and her lips were thin, "you've just had a shock, you may need—"
"I need what, precisely, Commander?" Artemis said, smiling mockingly. This was it, that fire that was building in his chest, that rage finally pouring out through the only way it could escape. . .Domovoi, his parents. . .the fire was building, and he couldn't bear it any longer. . . "I need medical attention? Need morals, a sense of honesty? Need to dispose of my "ruthless drive for my own ends," as I believe you called it last time we spoke, five months ago!" He let out a laugh, and felt Holly tighten her grip on his wrist.
Trouble tried. "Artemis—"
"Oh, first names now! Am I that dangerous, that you need to appease the ruthless human with platitudes? I was incredibly surprised, when I managed out of my former home to find fairies, of all things, on my front lawn." His voice was still quiet, but rising in intensity, and he was trying to control that fire—
"You believed me to be dangerous, a creature with no sense of right or wrong, am I correct? This is why you severed contact, refused advice, stripped communication, and threatened mind wipe! I managed to save your People, over and over again, through methods you thought of as uncivilized, unethical, 'human'—but still I saved them, through methods that ended with minimal cost, less than the "traditional" means would have cost us!" His eyes were wide and pale, and he couldn't stop—
"Artemis Fowl!" Vinyaya said sharply, trying to shock him out of whatever state he was in. She'd never seen him like this before, even when angry.
A laugh. "My means are not your means, no matter how effective. When you see how much alike to our mutual enemy"—They both flinched, and he smiled—"it frightens you, doesn't it? But I have to think like them, and at some time or another I've been like them. The poisonous villains. How else could I counterattack? You need me, and then you condemn me for what I am."
"Artemis, what does this have to do with anything?" Holly breathed. It hurt, because she couldn't deny that what he said was true, although she'd never thought about it before. Who he was talking about wasn't her Artemis. Her Artemis...
Ignoring her, which was a kindness in his present state, Artemis continued: "I'm intelligent, whatever else you believe me to be, Commander! Did you think I wouldn't notice, even when you tried to sever any communication with me, that after a few months, my surveillance, by all appearances, ceased? For all anybody would know, it seemed I'd fallen out of favor with the fairies, and now my security measures had stopped...and how would my enemies not notice that...? ...Or resist such an opportunity for revenge..."
Vinyaya and Trouble didn't say a word, but looked a little sick to have it put that way.
Holly frowned, confused and more than a little unnerved. If what Artemis was saying was true. . .that mean Trouble and Vinyaya had dropped the security and used Artemis as. . .
"I was bait," Artemis spat furiously. "You used me and my family as bait, to catch her."
Suddenly everything was clear. Holly slipped her hand down Artemis' forearm to hold his slim and shaking fingers.
Generally, Artemis kept a cold, disinterested persona. It was better that way. When he was mad enough to spit, he assumed a blank mask, and his words grew more cutting. There was a specific reason for this, besides keeping his strong reputation. No, the simple reason was, that raging fire inside of him could burn so fiercely it frightened him, flame so intense it could melt that cold, icy surface.
When ice met flame, it melted.
"Fowl," Vinyaya began in a low voice, "we never, ever meant for things to turn out this way..."
"Check your teams, Commanders," Artemis said bitterly, turning away so they couldn't see the moisture in his eyes, threatening to spill over. "Check to see if you've succeeded and finally caught Opal Koboi with your brilliant plan."