I finally found out how to read reviews. And I had gotten a review. And it was positive :-)! Really positive! So, I decided to work up some boredom (I have to write an essay for Thursday, and decided against writing that for now) and I found some time to write ch. 3. It's a bit darker, but there needs to be a bit of suspense, right.

Disclaimer: Artemis Fowl and co. is owned by Eoin Colfer. Hiccup and co. is owned by Dreamworks. I own the plot though .

Act 1: Past.

Chapter 3: Trust.

Waking up with a massive headache was an experience Artemis would rather not try again. It had begun with the end of a dream, a nightmare, and when Artemis suddenly was propelled into the world of the living, he was immediately assaulted with a massive pain in his head. Millions of knives assaulted his mind, trying to make him pass out again, while trying to keep him awake at the same time. His face hurt like hell, but remembering the giant man who had hit him, he came to. Artemis grunted and tried to get up, but the pain came back as he tried, making him dizzy. He immediately thought of using magic to make the pain go away, but even Artemis found that it was impossible to call upon his magic when he was busy with trying to keep awake. A muffled voice spoke from somewhere, but Artemis could not bother to actually listen. He just grunted and tried to little by little regain himself. Two seconds later, he was doused with a bucket of water.

"Get up!"

The voice was suddenly extremely loud. Artemis had heard him very clearly and he realized he was not alone in the small cell. The cell itself was pretty low tech; a small cubic room made of stone, except for a barred window in the ceiling and a wooden door leading out. It was dark outside, wind whipping into the cell as a storm was on the rise. Artemis was then lifted by the man in the cell and placed upon a stool. Artemis recognized his captor as the one who had hit him, even in the darkness, and it was apparently painted in his face that he was not happy to see the man, as he said: "Good, you remember me." Stoick wandered around himself and then suddenly his face came closer to Artemis' and he yelled:"Now, tell me: WHICH TRIBE ARE YOU FROM?"

Artemis was taken aback. He found himself mumbling, something he would rather be caught dead than doing, and he snapped back with an emergency remark. "I…" Artemis tried to find his voice, which seemed to have left him. "I'm not from around here." Artemis breathed in, the pain momentarily numbing his senses. "But I'm not sure what you want from me?"

"I want to know three things: One, I want to know who you are. Two, I want to know where you come from. And three, I want to know how you want to die! The more you cooperate, the more options you get when we reach the third question. No one," his voice lowered to a whisper, "No one, hurts my son other than friends or family, and only because, gods know, he needed it to become who he is today! Now get talking."

Artemis was desperately trying to grasp the situation he was in. He had almost no time to think and yet his every fiber told him he needed to slow down and get the man to calm down. Maybe he could still reason with him. Then Artemis caught on with the last statement. "Wait… Hiccup is your son?"

"Aye, I am Stoick the Vast, the chief of Berk, and he is my son. Although you might have trouble seeing the family resemblance, you will know he is my son, if you meet him in battle. " The last part sounded doubtful about his own declaration, and Artemis wondered what the relationship between Hiccup and his father might be. Which father would say: "No one but me and my friends can hurt my son, and only because he needs it." Stoick then realized something and Artemis was instantaneously brought back to the seriousness of the situation when Stoick slapped him with his huge hand.

Stoick saw the small boy's frame cower in fear of being slapped again, and he found that even he did not enjoy this as much as he thought he would. He had thought he would enjoy getting back at a stranger who had tried to hurt his son, but the boy he was staring at was probably younger or the same age as Hiccup. He would much rather, that the boy had not come. But herein was the problem; he would have to make an example of him, otherwise the tribe who had sent him would probably send even more young spies, and it would wear down the villages' resources even faster than the dragon raids. So he said: "I am the one asking the questions and if your next words do not form a satisfying answer to my first question, I will break your arm."

Artemis was terrified. He had been beaten around before, but this man seemed like he had a heart of ice. When Holly had hit him, he had been dumbfounded the first time, but he had learned to grow used to her outbursts of random violence as it was just her way of showing affection for him. This man did not possess any affection for anyone. Artemis would not believe it if someone told him otherwise. Artemis knew that he himself could act cold, and make himself do some things he would otherwise not do if it was really necessary, but when this man said threatened to do something he meant every word. And he could most likely do whatever he had just said. So Artemis stammered: "I'm Artemis Fowl. I am heir to the Fowl Empire. And I am not from a tribe. Please don't…" Stoicks eyes shut him up.

Stoick raised an eyebrow. An heir… really, he thought. But the second sentence left more questions. What was the Fowl Empire? Stoick had never heard of it. And where was this Empire? Lastly, Stoick knew Artemis was telling the truth when he said he was not from a tribe. There was no way it could be a lie, he could see it in his eyes… unless, time had turned against him and Artemis had gotten back the power of the words. Damn it, it was all so confusing when the gods were involved. Maybe, he should let the boy sit in silence. Angrily, Stoick smashed open the door and left the cell, leaving Artemis sitting in silence on the stool.

Hiccup was standing outside the wooden door. He had heard Stoick ask who Artemis was, had heard him slap Artemis and had heard Artemis' cries of pain, but the wooden door was too thick for anything other than loud sounds to pass through. He desperately hoped for a chance to speak to Artemis, because whatever his father said, Hiccup didn't believe Artemis was as "dangerous" as advertised. Hiccup knew that the village policy was to kill spies and if only Artemis had not done his hypnotizing trick in front of Stoick perhaps the situation might have been salvaged. But Hiccup knew that his father, however much his father didn't like him being weak and scrawny, loved him, and if someone tried to hurt "his Hiccup" that person would be living on borrowed time. It was only because they needed to know where to send the body that Artemis was still alive, thought Hiccup, when his father angrily burst through the door and strode toward the arena exit.

Hiccup knew he shouldn't, but he had decided to talk to Artemis and he went into the room through the heavy wooden door. Artemis was sitting still in the middle of the room on the stool. There wasn't much light, but what little there was, did not look more inviting to Hiccup as the light made Artemis look like a tortured soul, a demonic entity from Hel. Hiccup began wondering if this had been such a good idea, when Artemis rasped: "What are you doing here? Have you come to gloat?"

Hiccup raised his hands defensively and said: "No, I just wanted to try and understand you. You come here to this island, through means unknown, and the first person you meet is me. You then placate me with an obvious lie before trying to hypnotize me to forget about the lie. Please, don't try that again, by the way. I just want to know your side of the story."

Artemis gave this some thought and said: "If you want my side of the story, you're going to have to let me go somewhere your father doesn't know. Then you can get the story."

Artemis was confident that Hiccup would slump in his shoulders and leave, as it would be impossible for the chief's son to save a prisoner, and even one who had apparently tried to do something to that same person. He expected that he would then be able to gather his options before deciding what to do. So when Hiccup suddenly smiled and said: "Ok. I trust you and you trust me," Artemis just stared speechless at him.

"What?"

"I trust you and you trust me. I'll get you out of here, and you tell me the truth. Deal?"

Artemis couldn't believe what he was hearing. The probability of Hiccup actually going through with this plan was small, the probability of it even smaller and even then he hadn't said anything about what he wanted to do with Artemis after they had escaped. He could be leading Artemis right into a trap. However upon thinking it over Artemis knew he had to run with it. He didn't know anything about where he was. Here was someone offering help and Artemis needed all the help he could possibly get. So after a minute or so, Artemis came to a decision; he would test Hiccups determination.

"I will trust you, if you actually do get me out of here. And then I'll decide if I want to tell you my story." This would essentially mean that whilst Artemis got maximum payoff, Hiccup could be left with nothing.

"It's alright. If you decide not to tell me, then I'll just go on with my life and you'll go on with yours. But I have a feeling you don't want to do that. I think you want to trust me," Hiccup said smiling. Damn, thought Artemis, I was too easy to read. I suppose I'll have to run with it.

"Fine. It's a deal. But if you do something, that I don't like, then you'll have to explain yourself or I will leave. Now, what is the plan?"

"Plan? We walk out of here, and move to the forest on the other side of the village. Simple."

"You should know with me around, nothing is ever simple. So how do we get to the forest."

"Remember where we met first?"

"Yeah, I suppose." Artemis still hadn't forgotten his first view of this strange new world. This day would most likely get even weirder, if he decided to tell Hiccup of himself.

"Well, if you had continued to follow that pathway, you would have gotten to the top of the village; our house is actually around there. Anyway, you just have to continue a small ways down the village and then you would get to the forest. No one really goes into the forest so we don't have to worry when we get to that point. Now, any questions?"

"Two actually: Where are we now, when compared to where I… appeared?"

Hiccup suddenly realized Artemis had been unconscious when he was being carried to the prison. "Well, that's easy. We're at the arena – you must have seen it behind me, right. Well, the arena also functions as a prison, and quite frankly, we don't usually have any trouble with the other tribes so our prison is sort of underwhelming. This is the only cell." That isn't occupied by dragons, thought Hiccup. He was glad his father was so angry with Artemis that he hadn't immediately thrown his unconscious body into the cage with the Deadly Nadder.

"Then why did you come from the arena with a barrel filled with fish when I met you?"

"Oh. Well. I was just… The Mead Hall is behind the arena and I just had to get some cod for dinner. I really like cod."

Artemis ok'ed the answer. He knew the boy was lying, but he didn't sense any evil intentions with the lie – he was just keeping a secret. Artemis understood secrets. Knowledge is power, he thought, but now is not the time.

"And the last question: How are we supposed to get me, public enemy nr. 1, from this arena to the forest, without anyone realizing I'm gone?"

"Oh, don't worry, I've got that one covered," Hiccup said with a smile. Artemis really hated being left out of a plan.

Another chapter is done. I know that my commas are way wrong, but English isn't my first language and in my language we have commas everywhere. If you liked this chapter, please review. If there were some parts you didn't like then please, tell me where I should improve. I believe that unless something unexpected happens, the next chapter will be up within one or two days:-).