Disclaimer- All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

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Author's Note:

This chapter's shorter than I wanted it to be, but it also turned out darker and more intense to make up for length. I had it done by Saturday night, but stupid site wouldn't let me load it. : (. I stayed up late to finish it, too. You don't know how ticked off I was when I found out. Then, I forgot what my new hotmail password is. (sigh)

Enjoy!

Luv

Creatress

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Persephone's Crown

Chapter 3 – Unseen Empathy

Suddenly, Holly felt Artemis' fingers at her jugular, and as tired as she was, instinct kicked in and she reacted. She shot up into a sitting position, her hand catching Artemis' wrist in a fighting grip. But Holly did open her eyes, and triumph and failure and a storm of emotions exploded between them when her gaze met his.

Holly gulped a little. She had thought about hurting him, killing him – ending his life the way he had ended hers. But seeing him rendered her feeling lost. She was never supposed to see him again; the last time she'd seen him was the supposed to be the last time she would ever see him. She suddenly felt detached and empty, as if the world had turned into a dream, and tensed herself, waiting for him to react, to do something.

But Artemis only held her tired, yet determined gaze for half a second before he turned away to stare at his watch. This had two benefits: he could quickly check her pulse, as she hadn't pushed his hands away from her neck. Also, having to check her pulse meant that he could look at something else rather than having to look into her hurt, hateful and accusing eyes. But five seconds in, he suddenly felt her hand slightly tremble around his fist before her grip loosened.

Artemis' eyes snapped back to Holly just as she let go of his wrist to slowly lean back against the bed, her eyes blank and defocused as her whole body shuddered. "Holly?" he asked, frowning. He let go of her neck to grasp her shoulder so that he could push her back down against the pillows.

Holly abruptly stopped shaking and blinked. She shrugged his hand off and turned away, glancing around the room like a scared rabbit. "What just happened?" she asked, her quiet voice a little hoarse. "What was that?"

Artemis watched her carefully, feeling himself tense and get into fight or flight mode. "I don't know."

Holly turned to him, eyes glazing over, acting differently than how he expected her to react. "I don't believe you!" she said, as if talking to herself. She glanced around a little before she turned to him, furrowing her eyebrows. "What happened to me? How did I get here?"

Artemis frowned, and then glanced toward the doorway. "It's a long story," he told her. "You're in no condition - " He stopped as Holly stiffened again, another tremor passing through her. Artemis glanced at his watch again, intending to time it, but this attack only lasted a few seconds.

"What is that?" Holly asked, looking down at herself with wide eyes. She suddenly sounded scared. She met Artemis' eyes accusingly. "What did you do?"

"I didn't do anything," Artemis said, evenly, his voice starting to give away his building irritation. But then he stopped short when Holly turned her gaze to her own hands. Was she expecting her magic to kick in and heal her? He studied her confused, scared expression for a few seconds and then remembered what she had been through for the past few weeks. "Holly," he said, trying to keep his voice gentle and firm. "You've lost your magic."

Holly suddenly shook her head, bringing her hands up to cover her face. Artemis thought she might be in denial, but then the fairy spoke, her voice muffled. "No. I didn't lose it. They took it."

Artemis looked away from Holly to gaze at the high, white ceiling for a second. "Either way," he said, carefully. "You don't have it anymore." His gaze dropped to Holly again, and he saw that she had frozen, her hands in her lap as she stared at the floor with an unreadable expression. "I don't know what's happening to you yet, but I am certain I will figure it out. I doubt that the procedure was life threatening, so - " He stopped talking when Holly started moving.

"Of course, it was life threatening," she said, her voice unreasonably calm. She started moving toward the edge of the bed. "I'm leaving this place."

Artemis grabbed her arm to stop her. "You're not going anywhere," he stated.

Holly tried to twist her arm out of his grip. "This is all your fault!" she snapped, her voice finally rising a little. "They did this because the LEP lost to you. Do you-?" Her voice suddenly broke and she stopped struggling, bringing her other hand to cover her face.

Artemis used the opportunity to push Holly back down into a sitting position on the mattress, his hand still around her arm. "This is not my fault," he told her. His throat felt strangely hollow, contrary to how strong and sure his voice was. "The Book says nothing about exiling fairies who've lost to humans."

Holly tried to jerk her arm away. "I've lost everything because you of what you did to me!" Her voice sounded strangled, yet steady. It was an odd sound. "My job, my friends, my life!"

Artemis' tone was infuriatingly cold and emotionless around the emptiness that still caressed his throat. "Debatable," he said, shrugging a little.

Holly turned to look at him, and for a second, he was able to see the old Captain Short somewhere in the depths of her hazel eyes. "Don't you understand?!" she demanded. When Artemis only looked at her with an expectant expression, she turned away, exhaling and covering her face with her free hand again. Her next words were strong, lined with repressed desperation. "I've been exiled. I'm worth nothing to you. Please just let me go."

Artemis subconsciously tightened his hold on her arm, his icy composure thickening around him as he heard her. At some far, dark corner of his mind, he thought that he should be feeling something, anything – sadness, guilt. But he gulped, though there was nothing to swallow and even managed a small, callous smile. "You really think I could just let you walk away?"

"You can't keep me here." Holly's voice was barely audible now.

Her calmness suddenly irked Artemis in a way that made him lose his patience. "Where were you planning on going?" he asked, cuttingly. "Like you said, you've been exiled from Haven. You have no magic, no weapons and no possessions. Above all, you have no one to help you." He suddenly felt her arm go limp and let her go. Holly's face was hidden by the locks of hair that had fallen in front of her face, so he couldn't make out her expression. "You're not leaving here, Holly."

Holly heard what Artemis was saying and suddenly understood. Really understood, as the reality of the situation finally settled on her. The grief she'd experienced when she'd woken up came screaming back to attack her relentlessly, tearing into every fiber of her being. It was as if she had lost her mother and father all over again – the hurting, helpless pain from years ago came back now in full force, amplified further by the fact that it wasn't just her family. This time, she had lost everyone. She was truly alone.

Holly had seen a system overload before. During a major software change, all of the computers in the LEP offices took too much information at once and simply crashed. One second, there were millions of pixels running across the screen in vibrant colours, numbers and letters. The next second, it was just dead. There was nothing there. Everything had a limit.

There was only so much a person can take; only so many feelings. Holly suddenly felt like the wind had been knocked out of her, and for a second, she felt nothing. And then, something inside her broke.

The first scream took Artemis off guard. For half a second, he hadn't realized that the tortured, animalistic howl had come from Holly, who had doubled over. Artemis didn't know what to do – should he call Butler? Administer a sedative? He almost took a step back from the bed as he glanced toward the door, wondering what he should do, and almost panicking as his mind drew a blank. This had never happened before. Cold, indifferent reason had abandoned him. But then Holly screamed again, and the sound cut through the walls around him. Suddenly, he was moving without thinking about it, the ice around him disintegrating as he let instinct take over.

Holly's third scream was muffled by Artemis' shirt. For a few seconds she thrashed against him, and he had to tighten his arms around her in an effort to hold her still, before she went limp, moving only because of the sobs that wracked her.

Artemis knew he should probably say something, but the words froze in his throat. He looked down at the elf he was holding, but he couldn't see her face through her hair. That was fine, though. He didn't want to see her face; he didn't want to see her tears. The words that were choking his throat right now were almost as bad as the empty nothingness that had bothered him before. Artemis tried to take a deep breath, but it was shaky. He didn't know how long it had been. His nightshirt - now Holly's – covered his watch. He waited until her sobs subsided before loosening his arms. There were a few words at the bottom of his throat, but he bit them down along with his guilt. "You need to rest." He sounded so much older than his years.

As soon as Artemis let her go, Holly turned away from him, lying face down on the bed. Artemis hesitated, wondering if he should ask her if she needed anything, but decided to keep quiet. He pulled the covers over her, up to her shoulders, but Holly didn't react. There was nothing else to do but leave.

xXx

Artemis left Holly's room and closed the door gently behind him. It took him a second to realize that his mother was standing against the wall beside the door. "Mother?" he asked, surprised. Had she heard the screaming? He realized that Angeline wasn't looking at him, and he followed her gaze to his chest. Between the material of his black blazer, his white shirt was wet.

Angeline's own eyes were a little glazed. "Butler and Juliet left to check the cameras. We all came running when we heard her, but…" She trailed off, her eyes flickering to Artemis' face. "We saw you… Holding her, and we figured it wouldn't do to interrupt."

Artemis suddenly felt exhausted, and couldn't bring himself to make any comments to convey how he felt about their decision.

"Artemis?"

Artemis leaned against Holly's door, getting ready for another round of sugarcoated praises for standing by his friend at a time like this. "Yes, Mother?"

"People tend to…" Angeline trailed off, and lightly waved a hand, struggling to find the right words. Her discomfort caught her son's attention, though, and he straightened. "People tend to deal with tragedies in different ways."

Artemis frowned. "Yes," he said, rather shortly. "I know that. What are you talking about, Mother?"

Angeline sighed a little. "I know my illness hurt you. I just don't want you think that…" She trailed off and sighed heavily again. "I don't want you to think that you can make everything better for her. Instantly, I mean. It will take a while for her to heal. If she…" Her words trailed off for a third time and Artemis lost his patience.

The mastermind straightened, frowning. "I don't expect to fix Holly in a few days," Artemis said. "And after what happened to cause our fight, I don't expect to be able to make her life into a fun ride either. But I know it would be worse if she was transferred around to homes after homes."

Angeline interrupted him. "You keep talking about what happened between you two while I was sick," she pointed out. She met his eyes and smiled a little. "You say you did something 'bad.' You can tell me what it was. Maybe I can help fix it."

The corner of Artemis' lips quirked and his gaze shifted to Holly's door. "You can't fix it."

Angeline reached out and took Artemis' shoulders. "Honey, I'm your mother. I won't judge you."

"If I had been a few years older, a jury would have judged me for you." Artemis smiled wryly when his mother let him go.

"You're being overdramatic," Angeline said. Her tone was rushed, but each word was emphasized, as if she was talking to herself.

Artemis didn't respond in any way, shape or form. His eyes were fixed on Holly's door. "After Holly wakes up, will you please refrain from questioning her, as well?" he said. It was more of an ill-disguised order than a question.

Angeline recoiled a little. When Artemis slipped into overly informal tones, it was a sign that he was about slip into cold distance as well. "Fine," she sighed, unhappily. "I won't ask her anything."

Artemis turned to his mother, looking serious. "And please don't bother Butler or Juliet about it either. They only know what I needed them to know, and I only needed them to know very little."

Angeline frowned, trying to look angry. It was a step away from how distressed she really felt. "But I may speak to her?" she asked. She set her jaw when Artemis frowned and furrowed an eyebrow, obviously thinking about it. "Artemis, I live here, too. This is the only one of your friends I've ever even heard about, and I won't avoid her. Especially not while she lives under the same roof as me."

Artemis bristled a little. "I can't guarantee that she will respond to you." His mother didn't reply, only tried to give him the kind of unyielding look most mothers gave to normal twelve-year-olds. It was a useless tool to Angeline, though, and Artemis decided to change the topic. "You said you had good news this morning. What was it?"

Angeline waved a hand, dismissing it. "Stricter laws concerning caging animals in rural parts of India," she mumbled.

Artemis' interest was vague, but it was interest nevertheless. "Oh?" he asked.

Angeline tried harder to get into the subject. "Well, it used to be perfectly legal to go out, capture an animal and put it in this tiny cell - " She stopped talking when Artemis suddenly brought a hand to his forehead. "Artemis?"

"I forgot to do something. I'll talk to you later, Mother," he promised, as he took a few steps away.

"Fine," Angeline sighed before Artemis turned and disappeared around the corner. She looked at the door to Holly's room. Was the girl asleep?

It took a great amount of willpower to keep Angeline from going in to see her. This was the first friend Artemis had ever spoken of – the only other people that the boy was remotely friendly with were herself and the Butlers. But being his mother and being his staff put them in different standings with him. She herself would always be responsible for looking after him, worrying about it, doing anything for him. Juliet's main job – taking orders – prevented her friendship with Artemis from doing any good for him or having any influence on him. Butler, one of the most important people in Artemis' life, was little better; the bodyguard was like a male combination of Angeline and Juliet. Holly was the only person who was at an equal footing with Artemis; she was neither expected to obey him nor be obeyed by him. She was… Different. And though Angeline knew that appearances could be deceiving, she was to dying to at least get a glimpse of her. So, of course, it took a great amount of willpower to restrain herself.

xXx

After her rounds, Juliet was told to watch over Holly, but not to wake her up. It sounded eerily like her first ever instructions regarding the redhead, but at least, the back drop was different this time. The guest bedroom was a definite level above the basement cell that Holly had been kept in before, but Juliet didn't bother pointing any of this out to Artemis nor Butler. Butler, she knew agreed with her. Artemis, she'd rather not deal with at the moment – it was quite obvious that the genius just wanted to be left alone.

Juliet passed her time in Holly's room by putting all the clothes away. She was actually enjoying herself, sorting through the garments based on colour, texture, use, etc. Almost two hours flew by, and Juliet was just perfecting the order of the shoes on the rack before a slight movement from the bed caught her attention.

Holly was stirring. Juliet shot over to the side of the bed and stood over her, not knowing what to expect. She had heard the screams earlier, and was actually surprised that Artemis hadn't called her and her brother in to restrain the other girl. Master Fowl was getting soft, she suddenly decided. However, she was snapped out of her thoughts when Holly's eyes opened.

Juliet stood stock still, wondering what was about to happen. But Holly didn't react to seeing her at all. The redhead only gazed curiously at her for a second before she sat up, letting her olive-speckled brown eyes roam over the room. Her expression was still calm, save for the slight amount of curiousity.

"Artemis has gone," Juliet suddenly blurted. She froze when Holly tensed, but the fairy didn't do anything. She only dropped her eyes to her small hands, which were hanging lightly to the rim of the blanket. Juliet shifted from foot to foot for a second, suddenly feeling nervous. "So…" she mused.

Holly didn't answer. Her eyes were blank as they studied the white covers of the bed, taking in the contrast between the material of the bedding and the material of her – or Artemis' – nightshirt.

"Do you want to shower?" Juliet asked. "I mean, I did give you a sponge bath earlier, but you might feel better. And it's almost time for lunch, so…" The blonde abruptly stopped babbling when Holly turned to look at her. Juliet, suddenly feeling flustered, gestured toward a second, smaller door at the corner of the room. "Washroom's over there." She felt a bit of relief when Holly looked away from her again to look at the washroom entrance. "I went shopping for you. Well, we can go again if you want; I don't really know your style. But I got you new towels, and they're already in there. They're blue…" Juliet trailed off when Holly slid out of bed and started walking toward the washroom.

Once the door shut behind Holly, Juliet stood still for a second before she smiled. First, she'd make Holly's bed. After that, there's would be nothing else to do but pick out an outfit for her.

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Artemis pushed away his keyboard, unable to type anymore. His fingers were trembling and the amount of errors he caused frustrated him. He brought a hand to his forehead to massage his right temple. He had a cup of Earl Grey tea, but that was all the caffeine he had this morning. He didn't have anything else that would cause his fingers to tremble. Of course, his genius mind immediately supplied him with the fact that a physiological symptom could often be caused by psychological stress.

He should have said something.

Artemis almost hit his keyboard, but restrained himself. He made a fist instead and easily shot down the mental suggestion. This had nothing to do with Holly. He hadn't kept track of the number of people he manipulated in his life. Besides, was he not trying to help Holly?

The inner voice that answered sounded irritatingly like his own. There was something maddening about arguing with oneself, especially if one happened to be Artemis Fowl. He couldn't help Holly if he couldn't help himself first.

Artemis let his gaze pass over his room, before his eyes came to a stop on rather squished black files on the bottom shelf of his bookcase. The files, all similar, no matter how many of them there were or ever would be, would all be squished into the bottom shelf. Each one contained reports (and Artemis used this term loosely) on the young mastermind's psyche.

Artemis' eyes traveled back to the desk before him, and his attention was caught by a book. It was thicker than a notebook, thinner than a text book, with hard, black covers. It was his diary. The book was only there because of a recommendation by a since retired school psychologist. Artemis could have imagined what the man had said to his mother. "I can't figure the boy out. Give him a diary, and go into it when he's asleep. It's your best bet." So far, the book was filled with a few entries of him bashing the psychosis systems of the world. He didn't write daily, but that was fine. Artemis never did write how his day was going and he felt about it tough; that made him feel childish.

A question shot through his mind. What's wrong with me? Artemis suddenly thought that he should have said something for his sake as well as Holly's.

Wordlessly, Artemis dragged his diary from the corner of his desk to the space in front of him. But whatever made him retrieve the diary was gone as soon as Artemis opened the book to a new, blank page. Artemis sat, fountain pen in hand, staring at the page for a good few minutes before he set the writing instrument back down, growing rigid as he did so. I am fine, he told himself.

I am fine.

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After a few long minutes of standing under a jet of hot water, Holly had to wipe a spot of the mirror clean before she could stare at herself. She'd pulled on the light cerulean bathrobe, but it only served to make her cheeks look even more flushed than they were after the shower. But Holly wasn't paying attention to her cheeks. She was more interested in her ears and the locks of red hair around them.

Wordlessly, Holly ran her fingers through her hair, smoothing the locks out over her ears, and letting some of the strands fall over her forehead and the sides of her face. When her ears were amply covered, she frowned at the water specked glass and looked at herself with a strange expression of pained satisfaction before she abruptly turned away and left the washroom.

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A/n

I'm sorry if that wasn't up to par with Ch. 1 and 2… Was it? I can't tell, and I've had differing opinions from two different readers. Anyways, if it was different, it's because I've been buried under work. Also, the Creatress is feeling twitchy and nervous because she has forgotten her new password to her hotmail account.

Next chapter: An unexpected turn in Holly's condition creates a shock for everyone in the household and puts a strain on Artemis.

Questions to mull over while you await Ch. 4:

1) Where did I get the line "You really think I could just let you walk away?" Who said that to who, and how does it relate to AH in this fic?

2) Do you think there's any significance behind the nightshirt?

3) Bonus question: (REALLY HARD!) What did I change my password to?!? It has something to do with Artemis/Holly (because no one else in my family are Colfer's readers). Also, if it helps, I had just finished reading Dark Chocolate by Olynara Sedai.

I'll see you next Friday or Saturday…

REVIEW! (Please? I'll give you cookies!)