A/N: So, did everyone enjoy my cliffhanger? IloveFowl: All the time I've spent trying to write an (admittedly reformed) evil genius, it rubs off. Particularly the evil part. Hence the suspense.
Now for the moment you've all been waiting for, Holly's response and Artemis' operation!
The magic/chrysalis plot piece was adapted with permission from fanfiction-dot-net/s/8566608/1/The-Plan-An-Artemis-Fowl-Fanfiction by Fluffy Nabs. Check it out!
Holly, for the second time that day, stood there with her mouth open. She could have sworn she just heard Artemis ask her to move in with him. But that couldn't be, could it? She thought, I must have imagined it . . .
She did not, in fact, imagine it. A moment later, Artemis continued.
"It is a large house," he said, "And I am unaccustomed to living alone. There is plenty of room, if this floor plan is correct, and I thought you might enjoy a larger living space than your apartment."
Holly finally managed to close her mouth, but her mind was still reeling. Not having to visit, not worrying about his well being, having access to Artemis whenever I wanted him . . .
"I . . . I need to think about this." She said weakly.
"Of course," Artemis said, unphased, "Take the key, whatever you decide, you're always welcome in this house. Speaking of which, let's check it out." The normally stoic genius genuinely seemed excited. He had, after all, never owned a house before. At least, he thought, not legally.
The house was amazing. There was a state of the art entertainment room, complete with several extremely comfortable couches. Next they found the kitchen, which would have allowed Butler to try every style of cooking he knew (which was an exceedingly large number) and more. There were several bedrooms, including two master bedrooms. Due to a need for security, the recycling lounges and toilet ponds connected to these bedrooms and anywhere else in the house were only technically separate, and were dug out of the surrounding rock. The house was one of many made to house the Council in case of emergency, and as such extended into a bunker beneath the ground. This was a seamless transition, with each floor containing a small central lounge with rooms coming off of it. It only extended 2 levels into the bedrock, but the entire structure was made to be accommodating as possible. The Council had to have style, after all.
As she went through the building with Artemis, she found it harder and harder to reason against moving in with him. She'd had her apartment for years, it was home to her. But what if I could make this my new home? She'd certainly managed to make herself at home in Fowl Manor . . .
In the end she compromised. She would give herself a week. In that time she would try to pack her things, thinking about moving the whole time. If she couldn't bring herself to do it, then so be it, but otherwise, she would see where things were going.
She couldn't figure out why she was having such a hard time with all of this. Normally she wouldn't even consider moving in with someone, she liked living alone. But Artemis wasn't normal. She certainly didn't act the same about anyone like she did him. What is it with this damn mud boy?
Artemis took in the house with his normal scrutiny. Due to the vast resources at the Council's disposal, there was not a single item out of place in the small (compared to Fowl Manor) house. And even Butler would feel more comfortable knowing the security on this building, He thought, I'm living in a bunker, literally.
Artemis felt a bit of homesickness as he thought about the large manservant. Despite his position as bodyguard for Artemis, Butler had opted to stay on the surface. He had in the past displayed an enormous discomfort in the city built for people under half his size. When Artemis had made his intentions clear, Butler had made the decision that, because his charge would be sticking to Holly like glue, his services would not only be unnecessary once Artemis lived below ground, but would be detrimental to both his mental health and Artemis' transition.
At this point Artemis and Holly returned to the car and, upon opening the trunk, Holly saw that Artemis had anticipated the Council allowing him to live in Haven. Inside were 4 decent sized suitcases. This and a laptop bag were all that Artemis had brought with him from the surface. They were mostly clothes, and thus light enough that between the two of them it only took two trips. Money was another story.
"How are you going to survive without the precious Fowl family fortune?" Holly asked, sitting on top of the small pile of suitcases in the largest bedroom.
"Butler is, as we speak, collecting all my remaining money from accounts world wide." He began, speaking matter-of-factly. "He will then convert it all to gold, which will then be shipped down here by the Council."
"I thought your will had already been taken care of, where is all the money coming from?" she asked.
"Most of it was left to my family. They never collected it out of my accounts and when I proved to be quite alive, they simply gave back control. I have somewhere in the vicinity of two hundred million pounds."
After Holly got over the thought of how much gold that converted into, their conversation was interrupted by the chauffeur ringing the doorbell. Artemis crossed to a small computer panel in the wall next to the door to the room, bringing up a two-way video screen.
"Sir? You have an appointment in forty-five minutes," He said, "If you wish to drop off miss Short before hand we should leave now."
"Thank you, we'll be out shortly." Artemis closed the connection and turned to Holly. "He's only around until the gold comes through and I can buy my own transportation. Until then it seems the Council want an eye kept on me."
Holly was going to protest being left out of two meetings in one day, but decided it would probably wind up the same as the last time she had tried. The car ride was again awkwardly silent, and fifteen minutes later she was home.
She walked to a small storage closet in one corner of her apartment. Inside, on the floor, were the same plain plastic storage bins she had used when she had moved in. She removed a few and began taking small things from around her spartan living space and putting them in the boxes. Instead of being unable to pack each sentimental item, as she had expected, she found herself thinking about where in the big house they would go. Artemis doesn't have any decorations, with his permission, this could go on that little table in the hall. This would look good in the middle of that big dining table. My picture of my parents would go next to our bed. Holly stopped suddenly. My bed . . . not ours . . . She couldn't shake the thought from her head. The idea that Holly had been trying to ignore ever since Artemis had kissed her the morning after his resurrection came into her mind. Artemis hadn't been a friend for some time. She didn't go the lengths she had gone for Artemis for her friends. Stop being silly, he's a human for Frond's sake! Holly shook her head, bidding the memory of the kiss to fall away. Just wishful thinking, it'd never work . . . he won't even live to see you middle aged!
-Across the cavern-
Artemis waited in a small, white room. On one wall was a small counter with several drawers, a monitor, and a sink. In the middle was an examining table, upon which he sat. The exam had been short, with a nurse simply coming by to collect samples of blood and the warlock running a quick scan via magic. He hadn't even needed to disrobe. He had, however, been waiting for forty-five minutes for the results of what he had been assured would be fifteen minute blood tests. When the door next opened, he was mildly surprised to see Foaly walking in, rather than the medical warlock. Behind him, Artemis saw the telltale horns and spiraling rune of No. 1, his demonic friend.
"To what do I owe this visit? I take it you're not just visiting to wish me luck in my surgery." He said, looking from Foaly to No. 1.
"Not exactly," Foaly said, wringing his hands, "There was apparently some slight . . . alterations made during your time in the chrysalis. We think it was pre-programmed to do so, a sort of last option for Koboi . . ."
He hesitated, causing Artemis to prompt him. "Get to the point, Foaly, what's happened?"
"It seems your DNA was crossed with fairy genotypes." Foaly said, after a long pause. He hurried the words out, not sure of what Artemis' reactions would be. When he offered none, Foaly continued. "I didn't have access to very advanced equipment when I was cloning you, and resorted to simply waiting for visual features to make sure it was you. There's no external changes, but from what we can tell, Opal programmed the machine to alter the pituitary gland of the subject. This would have resulted in Opal being able to mix human height and fairy magic."
Artemis saw where this was going, but Foaly continued before he could speak. "It's good she never acted on this contingency, as she would have been able to blend in on the surface without sacrificing her powers like before. As it is, I didn't have the know-how to change the settings . . ."
Foaly trailed off, looking between Artemis and No. 1. When nobody said anything, the imp warlock stepped forward.
"I get to see if you can hold magic again!" He said, as if he were suggesting a party, "We don't have a time tunnel, and infusions only work on those who can use magic without one, so it's time to check it out!"
Artemis was snapped out of his reverie at the end of his sentence, and looked up to see that the rune on his forehead was already spinning up. For the second time in as many minutes he was interrupted before a word could escape when a beam of red light hit him directly in the forehead. His mind was instantly engulfed in red light, and Artemis was shocked to discover that it wasn't just engulfing his mind, but saturating it. After several minutes, his vision cleared, and he looked at No. 1 with a slight grin. "Tell me before you do that next time!" he said, but there was no rebuke in his voice. He held up his hands and, remembering back to his time on Hybras, sent a single spark spiraling off into the air.
No. 1 and Foaly both reacted instantly, No. 1 with a shout for joy at this wonder of magic and science, while Foaly slouched slightly. "Artemis Fowl with magic again, great." though his tone said otherwise.
The medical warlock came back and shooed the two from the room, anxious to finish the procedure and get paid. The council was paying an exorbitant fee to him and his staff to keep quiet about the procedure, and to also make sure it went down without a hitch. He pulled out two syringes, one with a clear liquid, and one with a hazel fluid that matced Holly's eye perfectly. It should, Artemis thought, I had them base it on a high definition picture of her eye.
"The first will bleach your retina of all colour, and the second, rather obviously, will re-dye it in the shade you requested." the warlock explained, motioning for him to lie back. Two rather painful pokes later, and the whole process was done. The injections had irritated Artemis' eye, and the warlock offered to heal it, unaware of what had progressed when he was in the hall. Artemis instead merely asked for a gauze patch to put over it for the time being, as he had a plan running through his head. After all, I'll have to tell Holly, both about the eye and the magic, and I do enjoy shocking her.
A/N: Wee! More cliffhangers! This way you all keep reading! Especially considering I don't quite like how the ending of this chapter came out, even after two re-writes.
Don't worry, production of chapter 5 has already begun!