Artemis woke up early the next morning, mentally refreshed after "sleeping" in his mental bed. In fact, he woke up quite suddenly, due in part to the fact that three personalities were standing over his bed, staring at him.
"Whoa!" he jumped, tangling himself in his covers, then thought, I am spending too much time around Noland, I can't believe that I just used an expression such as that! "What are the three of you doing in my room?" he asked slowly, feeling uncomfortable.
Aris looked over at the mindscreen, "We are… going to wake up soon," he replied, pointing to where light was beginning to cut through the blackness of Artemis's body's sleep, "We were… worried that you… wouldn't wake up in time… to go outside."
Artemis winced slightly; registering how laborious a long sentence was for someone like Aris. "Good work, I guess," he groaned finally, rubbing his imaginary back where it apparently ached, "Can I go outside anytime?" he wondered to the three alter egos, who shrugged.
"We only know that which you know, Artemis," Orion answered after a moment, "Until you explore the space beyond the mysterious door, we will remain unknowing of what may lie beyond, in the great unknown."
"Then I guess that I'd better go," Artemis said, mostly to himself, though the validity of that statement in a space where only other versions of himself existed was doubtful. He then stood in front of the blank door, which apparently led to the control of his own body, and reached out to the doorknob, stepping out of his mind's office and into the chaos of his own brain, where he had a fleeting sense that he was growing, growing far beyond the size he had been just moments before.
Butler was startled from a doze as Artemis sat up suddenly in his bed, gasping. "Artemis!" he half-yelled, somehow seeing his employer in the teenager's mismatched eyes, and the way he held himself.
"Butler?" he asked. Then, assured that he was back outside his brain, he sank back onto his bed, "What time is it?"
"Just past 5 AM in Greenwich," the bodyguard answered, checking his battered timepiece.
"Can I talk to mother?" Artemis asked, "I must talk to her before my paranoia and obsessions return, which will no doubt be soon."
"I'll call her," Butler confirmed, "Do you want me to call Holly as well? She's working night shift right now, and she'll be off in half an hour."
Artemis nodded, and pushed himself into a sitting position, absently shifting his covers, "Yes, please, my old friend. But please hurry, I can almost feel the compulsions returning."
Angeline arrived minutes later, wearing her white nightgown, which reminded Artemis painfully of her in the thrall of the evil pixie Opal Koboi, levitating above her bed in Fowl Manor.
"Arty, dear!" she almost yelled, rushing over to his bed and hugging him, "How are you?"
"Fine, mother," Artemis said, then withered under Angeline Fowl's disbelieving glare, "I am as well as can be expected, considering the unfortunate circumstances," he gulped slightly, "Mom."
"That's better," Angeline chirped, positioning herself on the chair beside the bed that Butler had vacated, "Butler told me what symptoms are beginning to recur," she changed the subject masterfully, with skill that rivaled Artemis's, even in his own mind, "How long can you ignore them?"
"I don't know," Artemis answered, too honestly, "Rather, they appear to be becoming more severe, which causes them to begin occurring more quickly," he explained, when Angeline looked alarmed. Even as he said this, Artemis saw the first of the hallucinatory fours wink into his peripheral vision.
"Oh," Angeline whispered, having felt worried about her son admitting that he didn't know something, "Ah, I just remembered," she said suddenly, "What am I going to tell your father? He will start worrying when he arrives home from business to find the note that I left with Myles and Beckett's nanny."
Artemis sighed heavily, nervously allowing his eyes to rove around the room, "We will have to talk to him, tell him everything," Angeline raised her eyebrows at this, "It would be hard to hide a travesty such as this from him, as I will most likely be spending an extended period of time here and I doubt that I would have an easy time convincing you to leave," Artemis expounded, rather exasperated.
"He will want to come see you, you know," Angeline said softly, playing with Artemis's covers "And he'll have to bring Myles and Beckett if he does."
"Not a chance," huffed the just arrived Dr. Argon, as he barged through the door, "The Council remains undecided that we should not simply expel you from the city, send you back home. There is no way that they would allow three more humans into Haven at this juncture."
"I do not believe that there is any purpose to you keeping track of Council activities, Doctor, and why are you here at this early hour?" Artemis responded calmly, despite his psychologically powerless position on the bed, as Butler and Angeline both glared at the pompous gnome.
"It is my job to keep track of your Atlantis Complex, Master Fowl," Argon said, "And keeping you secure is currently my biggest worry, considering what Atlantis sufferers usually have hidden."
"And what would that be," Mrs. Fowl wondered irritably from her chair, looking peeved.
"Usually, at least one of the possible personalities has violent or destructive tendencies, which is why we have that," Argon explained, pointing to a small security camera in one corner.
"You're watching me?" Artemis yelped, then caught himself. I must talk to Holly and father soon, before I completely lose my hold on my reality, he thought, worried.
"Of course we are watching you," Argon puffed, "Not only are you a known criminal who has previously attacked the People, but you are in an unstable condition, where you may possibly cause harm to yourself or others."
"I do not believe that drawing attention to my guilt in such a way is an effective way to treat Atlantis Complex, Doctor," Artemis pointed out, wincing.
"Perhaps not," Argon conceded, "But I think that I am justified in my actions, considering the crimes that you have perpetrated."
"Then perhaps you are unnecessary in this situation," Angeline Fowl broke in, standing up from the fairy chair and exercising her considerable height, even for a human, to intimidate the doctor, "As I do not feel safe allowing you to treat my son with your-" she paused, apparently searching for a description that did not involve outright rudeness, "Somewhat biased," she decided, "Views toward humans."
Artemis, meanwhile, had realized how much he needed both food and a bathroom, as well as how much the Doctor could be necessary to tree the Atlantis Complex, "If I could break in on this argument," he began delicately, "Could we continue this disagreement after I am more prepared to mediate?"
Everyone, from Butler to Argon, was surprised at the teenager's sudden civility. Smiling smugly, Artemis took their silence as consent and headed to his bathroom.
Half an hour later, Artemis was dressed, washed, and fed, and was sitting at his desk, rubbing his temples and trying to ignore the fours which were beginning to form phalanxes to attack him. Holly had just arrived, still wearing her LEPRecon jumpsuit, having just helped capture a renegade elf who had stolen a pair of wings from the licensing office and attempted to fly from Tara to Dublin, carrying stolen goods from throughout Haven and with no flying experience. He had survived with minor injuries, having been unable to clear treetops and coming down in a stand of trees near the E1 station, accidentally setting off the Panic setting on some of the equipment and being quickly picked up by the LEP.
"Artemis, what was so urgent about talking to me?" Holly asked, leaning forward, "I have work to do, you know. I can't do this often."
"I wanted to talk to all of you before the compulsion and paranoia returned today," Artemis explained, and Butler and Holly exchanged glances, having been getting into the habit of counting the amount of words Artemis used, "Very well, perhaps it is too late for that now," Artemis conceded, "But I do still want to discuss something that I will most likely have little chance to talk about later."
"That being?" Argon asked, leaning over.
"Just how long does the treatment of Atlantis Complex take?" Artemis asked abruptly.
"In severe cases, several months," Argon replied immediately.
"Not good," Artemis said, "What am I supposed to do about my father and brothers while I am down here in Haven?" he responded, reaching the root of his topic, "You cannot allow them to come here, but we," he gestured at Angeline, "Have already decided to tell them the truth, and they will want to visit us here, a situation I do not wish to put you in." And then I will have all five members of my family here, a good thing, he thought.
"The Council would never go for that," Holly said sadly, knowing that that argument was invalid to a Fowl.
"Then it looks like we will have to deal with this rather quickly," Artemis muttered briskly, surprising everyone with his quick acceptance of the inability to bring his family to Haven, "What possible treatments do you suggest, Doctor?"
"Well, we already started with temporary cures," Argon explained, "Such as the drugs we started you on at your arrival on the Nostremius. However, since the root cause of Atlantis Complex is guilt, we will have to address, isolate, and deal with all of the guilt that you've stored up over the last eight years."
"And the many multiple personalities?" Artemis asked.
"Secondary," Argon puffed, waving a hand, "The first course of action is to prevent the formation of more personalities, and we can deal with already formed personalities later, as a separated treatment."
"I would love to talk about my guilt," said Artemis, surprisingly, "Especially if it would help get rid of the more irksome symptoms of Atlantis Complex, but even without my paranoia, I believe I would have a hard time trusting you to remain confidential about my many problems."
Argon shrugged, indifferent. "It is convenient that you have a large group of trustworthy people in Haven at this time, then," he responded.
"Is there any protocol involving the drugs?" Holly wondered, "Because I don't think Mud Boy is going to last much longer without them." She was correct. Artemis was beginning to see fours in all directions, and the paranoia factor of the Complex was beginning to overcome his defenses, leaving him feeling very alone.
"There is no record of these particular chemicals being used for the treatment of humans," Argon pointed out, "So we have no idea how his body will react to it. We can, however, infer that it works well after the situation just after he arrived, at least with the control of the Multiple Personalities.
"These are the drugs that will control the paranoia and obsessions," he continued, gesturing at the desk, where he had laid out several tiny bottles, "A one bottle dosage should control these symptoms for 24 hours, but we may have to adjust the dosage for the, ahem, human," he said the word with obvious distaste.
"Good," whispered Artemis, clinging to the last of his sanity in the face of the Complex. He grabbed one of the bottles and drank it, then relaxed into his chair, even though he knew that he could not be feeling better yet.
"How do we handle the conversations for dealing with the guilt?" Angeline asked icily, "Since it does not appear that you will be treating him in that capacity." She made no pretense of hiding her satisfaction about that fact.
"You should start with the minor guilt," Argon huffed, attempting to make himself appear larger by puffing out his chest, "His first few crimes, and move up to dealing with the guilt about major events that he may feel responsible for."
"Thank you, Doctor," Angeline said, leeching the phrase of its meaning, "You may leave us to discuss this ourselves."
Blustering and muttering, Argon left in an obvious huff, then headed to his clinic to attend to his less interesting patients.
"Are you feeling better, Arty?" Angeline asked her son, who had straightened in his chair.
"Much better, mother," he replied, then got up to find something to do. As soon as his weight shifted, he felt dizzy, and he fell back into his chair. "I think we found out the side effects of the drugs," he moaned, as Butler and Holly both got up to help.
"We should start on your-" Holly hesitated, "Therapy," she decided, "If we can call it that. The sooner we start dealing with the Atlantis Complex, the sooner it'll be gone, right?"
Artemis still looked dizzy, "Why don't we start in a few hours, when I feel less seasick." At least there aren't fours floating around my head, he decided, or insane paranoid ideas. I'll take dizziness over that for now.
"We can start after we eat lunch," Angeline decided, "I'll call Timmy, and I can keep myself busy," she looked affectionately at Artemis, "I know that children don't like talking about their misdeeds with their parents, but I can come back in if you need me."
"Maybe it should be you and Juliet for now, Holly," Butler told Holly, "I've seen too many of the situations Artemis feels guilty about to be much use."
Holly looked to Artemis for approval. All he managed was a nod, and he looked even sicker than before. Barely anticipating the probable result of such sickness, Angeline grabbed a bowl from Artemis's breakfast tray and held it under his head as his breakfast came out the wrong way, to put it politely.
"We might need to get an IV in here if this goes on," Butler pointed out drily as Holly recoiled, having not been around small children or vomiting people for a long time, at least not in a situation where she could consider the contents or smell of the waste.