Thank you all for reviewing! I hope you all like this one; it's one of my personal favorites.

Five months later...

"Foaly? You said there was something I should see?"

The centaur glanced up at Holly, who was standing in the doorway to the basement, and nodded, beckoning her forward. "Yeah. Don't worry, it's not bad news. The clone's coming along well- I just thought you might like to see what it looks like. I did some calculations, and, if I'm right, it should be pretty familiar."

Holly had no idea what he was talking about, but walked forward anyway. She headed to the chrysalis and looked down into it, following Foaly's lead.

What she saw inside shocked her.

Underneath the plastic cover of the chrysalis lay a twelve year old Artemis Fowl. It was him exactly. The perfect picture of the boy who had kidnapped her and held her for ransom. He was the mirror image of the child who had outsmarted the entire LEP and that had nearly caused her to be beaten to death by a troll. The first time she had ever met the boy who had changed her life so much.

I was a broken boy, and you fixed me. Thank you.

This was that broken boy. But now, without his face darkened by the weight of his father's disappearance and his mother's depression, he truly looked like a child. Which, she supposed, this clone was. Technically, this wasn't even Artemis, it was just a soulless creature made to look like him.

But that knowledge couldn't overwhelm the powerful feelings of deja-vu she got from just looking at a twelve year old Artemis. "It's him, exactly," she whispered. "This is how old he was when this all started."

Foaly shrugged. "Almost. He's a few months older, but I doubt his own mother could tell the difference."

"His own mother hardly even recognized him at this age, Foaly."

Foaly sighed. "It's an expression, Holly. Well, considering it's a backstreet job, I'd say that it's close enough. Besides, you should be thanking of me that it looks this good. Did you know I've been cutting his hair twice almost every week?"

"Really? You've been cutting his hair?"

He laughed sourly. "Me, Kensi, what's the difference? Come on, Holly. Would you really prefer that I cut his hair? It grows six months worth in four days. Kensi's the only girl on the team. I thought she might do a better job on it that I would."

Holly glared at him. "You saying that all women are supposed to beauticians, centaur?"

"Hey, hey, relax, Captain. Consider it a compliment to your gender. No offense intended." Foaly raised his hands in mock surrender and smiled at her before he went back to work on the clone. He stuck his hands in through the sterile gloves built into the side of the chrysalis and lifted the clone's eyelids. The dark blue emotionless orbs stared blankly up at the ceiling, dilating when Foaly shone a tiny flashlight into them. "That's good," he remarked. "Pupils responsive to stimuli." He wrote down his notes, then winked at Holly. "I should be a doctor. Think I'd get more respect at a hospital than I do at LEP?"

"I'd think that you'd be bored at a hospital. Face it, Foaly, you need the excitement I bring you. When would you ever get to involve yourself in time travel at a hospital?"

He grimaced. "I don't recall signing up for that when I was first asked to come and work at LEP. I distinctly remember the phrase 'you will assist in the technical aspects only' being used in the interview- no one ever said anything about me getting involved in all of this." He closed the clone's eyelids and recorded another note or two before he went back to his calculations. "If things continue going like this, he'll be ready in a month."

"Why can't we just take it up to the surface now? Looks like he's in good enough shape."

"Oh, gods, no. He may look good on the outside, but, on the inside, he's a whole mess. His pancreas is an immature little weasel, his liver's underdeveloped, his bone's are weaker than a little old lady's, his heart is-"

"Okay, okay, I get it." Holly rested her hand on the top of the chrysalis, brushing her thumb over the plastic and staring down at the limp body of Artemis's clone. It seemed that the older it got, the more machines Foaly hooked it up to. There was a thick plastic tube stuck down its throat to keep it breathing and wires stuck to its head and chest, partially hidden by its hospital gown. There were multiple IV lines inserted into its wrist and shoulder, bringing nutrients and steroids and other medications into its bloodstream. Half of this equipment had probably been ripped off from humans; fairies had never needed such extensive medical machines as long as they had magic.

She couldn't touch his hand through the chrysalis, so she settled on running her thumb over the top of the plastic, looking down at the weak boy underneath the plastic. Hang in there, Artemis. One more month. You'll be alive soon. I promise.

The clone's body lay, unmoving, in the dirt. Foaly was kneeling over it, his hand over the thing's heart. The sky was dark, no moon or stars visible, no light to shine over the Berserker Gate. Holly crouched in the sparse grass, watching and waiting for the clone to come to life. But nothing was happening. The clone wasn't moving.

Finally, Foaly shook his head and stood, looking over at her. "No heartbeat. It's dead."

Holly nearly choked. "Wh- what?" she stammered, crawling forward towards the body. "What do you mean, 'it's dead'? Where's Artemis?!"

Foaly just shrugged, beginning to walk away. "He's not coming. He's dead."

"What? No!" Holly threw herself across the grass and shook the clone's dead body, trying to wake him up. "Artemis! Arty! Can't you hear me? Artemis!"

"Holly, come on. Let's get back to Haven. I have an expensive dinner planned with my wife," he said, his voice cold and unfeeling. "Don't want all the money I put into it to go to waste."

Holly, so shocked by his words, was positive she had just misheard him. "No! We have to wake him up! Artemis, come on! Come back to us, Artemis! Foaly, help me!"

"Why? He's gone. He's just a Mud Boy, anyway, Holly. You shouldn't care so much."

Holly stared up at him, stunned. "What… Foaly, how can you even talk like that? After what he's done for us? 'Just a Mud Boy'?"

Foaly shrugged, unashamed. "He is, Holly. He was just a stupid Mud Boy playing around when it came to fairy matters. It's good he's dead. Saves the LEP the money of doing another mind wipe."

"W… what?"

"Come on. He's gone. Good riddance. Let's get back underground."

Holly's eyes widened; somehow, she was still able to be shocked. "But… but… what about the clone? We can't just leave him here!"

"Leave it there. It'll be a good scare for that big Mud Man," he cackled before turning his back and trotting away, leaving Artemis and Holly alone.

The very picture of indifference, Foaly's attitude stunned Holly. She looked down at the dead body and found herself crying. He couldn't be dead. How could Foaly not even care? He just couldn't be dead."Artemis? Arty, come on. Come on! I know you're here. I know you're alive! Wake up! Come on!" She started to sob, shaking him harder and calling for him to wake up. "Please. You'll never be just a Mud Boy, not to me! Come on! Wake up! Please, Artemis! You have to be alive!"

"But I'm not."

Holly jumped, whirling around to stare at the source of the voice. Behind her was a transparent Artemis, his eyes the same blue and gold of the original boy, not the clone. He stepped forward, his gaze icy and distant. "I am dead, Holly," he said, the accusation and hatred in his voice clear. "I am dead."

"What?" she choked, stumbling to her feet, staring at him in horror. "Artemis? Is that you?"

"Have you forgotten me so quickly, Captain Short? I'm not surprised. I suppose that's the only way you could cope with the guilt."

"What are you talking about?" she gasped, reaching out to touch him. Her hand passed straight through him.

He shrugged with a grim smile. "You know exactly what I'm talking about. Remember this?" he asked, tapping the skin under his right eye. A bruise slowly appeared, and he smirked, his transparent body seemingly growing more solid. "This is where you hit me."

Tears started to form in her eyes as she reached out, trying to touch him again. "I'm sorry. You'd kidnapped me and I was escaping. You can't blame me for that."

Artemis kept speaking as if she hadn't even said anything. "And remember this?" he asked, raising his head to rub the side of his head. A trickle of blood began to trail out of his ear. "This is where we were on that train in the Arctic and it bounced on the tracks. I got a concussion, remember?"

Holly raised her hand, showing him the scar. "Yeah, and I lost a finger."

Once again, Artemis ignored her. "And this?" He hit the side of his head, this time, smiling in such a way he appeared to be an imbecile. "After what I do for you, you and your friends mind wipe me. I could've lost a few brain cells in that procedure." He grinned, the bruise still under his eye, the blood still coming out of his ear.

"And I'm sure you remember this, Holly," he chuckled coldly, raising his shirt to reveal his ribs. Before her very eyes, they began to bruise, his pale skin turning black and purple. He coughed, a globule of blood emerging from his throat and hitting her in the face. "This is when I had to jump out of a third story hotel room to save myself from Opal. Where were you then, Holly?"

"I… I was coming. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. But I healed you, right? You were fine!"

"You were coming? What kind of excuse is that? You weren't there and I could have died. Remember this?" He raised his hand and his index and middle finger switched places, a product of the time tunnel. "Did you know that I had to use my magic to stop the bones from setting wrong, Holly? I had to have Butler break those two fingers so I could use magic to set them correctly." As he spoke, both his fingers broke at once. He let his hand fall, though the fingers remained broken, his ribs remained crushed, the blood continued to drip steadily from his ear, and the bruise under his eye only grew darker.

"You never told me. I would've fixed them for you, Arty. All you had to do was say something-"

"You wouldn't have fixed it. I'm just a Mud Boy, after all. Why waste magic on a Mud Boy?"

"Artemis, I swear-"

"Remember this?" His left arm broke, white bone punching through the skin, his hair suddenly matted with blood, the crimson liquid staining his suit and skin. "Remember the gorilla, Holly?"

"I'm sorry," she sobbed. Artemis didn't look fazed by her tears or her apology, and his gaze remained cold and distant. "I'm so sorry."

He turned his head to the side, tapping the side of his neck with one of his broken fingers. A burn mark materialized there, and his nose suddenly started to bleed. "Remember when you shot me when I was showing you my Ice Cube, Holly?"

"You were sick. You didn't know what was going on. I had to shoot you to get you out of the way or you would have been killed-"

"And here?" Another burn mark came into being, right next to the previous one. "You shot me when we were running out of oxygen on the shuttle?"

"We would have died otherwise!"

"And this?" He held up four fingers and suddenly, the maimed Artemis turned into the injured Orion. She didn't know how she could tell the difference before he opened his mouth.

"Fair maiden, don't you wish to live with me in my bivouac? I shall keep you safe and love you forevermore." He smiled sweetly before abruptly, it was Artemis again, the hate in his eyes returning.

"Atlantis Complex. A disease fairies contract because of guilt. Ever wondered why I fell so ill, so soon after you went after me for lying to you to take me back in time to save Mother?"

Holly's hand passed through his again, even as she cried out, "I'm sorry, Artemis! I didn't know at the time that you were-"

"Would you like to speak with Butler? Julius? My bodyguard has quite a list of injuries attributed to your kind as well. And, Julius… I forget, wasn't it you who fired the shot that killed him?" Artemis's cold smile broadened when Holly gasped, and his bloodied appearance worsened. "And that's not even mentioning all the emotional damage. I wasn't here when my brothers were born. My family thought I was dead. My mother almost died, Butler almost died, my father almost died- I almost died. I got Atlantis Complex because of you and your magic. Would you like for me to go on, Captain?"

Holly shook her head weakly, reaching out to grab his hand in vain. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. It's my fault, I know."

Artemis nodded coldly as he walked around her to stand above his clone's body. "And do you remember this, Holly?" Artemis pointed down at the body, who changed appearance, injuries appearing, blood staining its hospital gown, which darkened and twisted until it became a ripped, bloody suit. One of its staring eyes flashed to become gold and, before she knew it, it was no clone; this was the same body that had collapsed on the hill six months ago.

"Remember this, Captain?"

Holly sobbed, unable to answer. Artemis forced her to look at him.

"How did this happen? How did I die? Where are you excuses this time, Captain?!"

Holly allowed tears to spill down her cheeks as she started to shake. "I'm so sorry. I tried to stop you. It should have been me, but you drugged me."

"So it's my fault that I'm dead?"

"No, Artemis, no-"

"I drugged you? I thought you were the Captain. Shouldn't you have seen it coming?"

Holly struggled for an answer, but there was none. She should have seen it coming. Artemis was dead and it was her fault. "I'm so sorry. I know. It's my fault, I know."

Artemis gave a cold chuckle. "Of course I wouldn't come back. Why would I want to live again? Look at me, Holly. Look at what's happened to me because of your people, because of you."

And Holly did look at him. She looked at his mutilated ghost's body, at the broken bones, at the bruises, at the blood. He looked like death walking. Artemis's icy gaze did not waver as he spoke again, his words piercing her heart like Abbott's sword had. Somehow, his hatred was able to hurt her much worse than that fatal injury had.

"Why would I want to come back after what you've put me through? Of course I'd rather stay dead then come back to the likes of you again. You let me die! You let this happen!"

Holly could do nothing but cry harder as she stared at him in horror. She had never known Artemis felt all these things, but, now that she thought about it, of course he did. She had murdered him. Why would he want to come back to his murderer?

"Captain, when you tried to drug me, you told me not to hate you forever. But I do. I am dead because of you. Why wouldn't I hate you?"

"Artemis…" she pleaded. "I'm so sorry. This never should have happened. You shouldn't have died."

"But I am dead, Holly, and it's because of you. Don't you wish you had done something?" he taunted. "Don't you wish you had saved me?"

"Yes," she sobbed. "Yes."

"What about me?"

Holly blinked and Vinyaya was there, standing beside Artemis. Her eyes held the same blame and accusation as the human's. "Remember when I died, Captain? You wish you had saved me?"

"And me?"

On Artemis's other side appeared Julius. He, too, gazed at her with hate. "You wish you had saved me, Captain?"

"And me?"

Holly's mother appeared in the night. Anger and hate and accusation were written in her expression, plain as the day was long. "What did you do while I died, Holly? Nothing?"

Holly sobbed harder, her mismatched eyes glittering with tears. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry, all of you. I failed you. I shouldn't have let you die. I should have saved you."

Vinyaya, Julius, and her mother disappeared, leaving just her and the bloodied Artemis. "Well, too bad, Captain. You didn't." And then the ghost collapsed, falling back into the his own dead body.

Holly fell to her knees beside him, shaking him harder before she collapsed over him and began crying into his chest. "I'm so sorry! Artemis, come back! I'm so sorry! Artemis! Artemis!"

Holly awoke to the sound of a loud, continuous alarm. She gasped, choking in air as she sat bolt upright, tears burning in her eyes. It took her a moment to realize the cacophony in the room and she coughed, looking around wildly to see Foaly, Alex, Kensi, and Mayne all gathered around the chrysalis, speaking frantically to each other over the alarming beeps of the machines. The sight nearly stopped her heart.

"Artemis!" she cried, jumping to her feet and running forward. She practically threw Kensi aside to get a look at the clone, but she couldn't tell what was wrong; the thing was still tethered to life by machines and still hardly even looked alive. "Artemis!" she cried again.

"Holly, get back!" Foaly shouted, elbowing her out of the way and talking to the others, using a blur of medical language that she didn't recognize.

What she did recognize was the defibrillator that Alex yanked over from across the room.

"Artemis! No!" she shouted, her limbs freezing and her strength deserting her. She couldn't move, she couldn't breathe, she couldn't do anything but stand and watch in horror as Mayne ripped back the plastic cover and Foaly began to charge up the paddles. Holly would've screamed if she had the air- but she could do nothing but watch as Foaly shocked the clone. The limp body jerked above the chrysalis, and the horrid alarm of the machines did not cease, nor did the team gathered around him relax.

"Nothing!" Alex exclaimed, pulling his hand back from Artemis's neck and gesturing Foaly forward. "Again!"

Foaly shocked the clone again, shouting, "Not again! Don't you dare do this to us again, Mud Boy!" Little twelve year old Artemis was lifted out of the chrysalis once more. It was one of the worst things she had ever seen. Alex reached forward and felt for his pulse again. Holly waited, watching, her heart in her throat.

"Still nothing! Go again, Foaly!" Alex said, drawing his hand back mere seconds before Foaly shocked Artemis again. Time seemed to stand still as Alex's hand shot out to feel for his pulse again. Nobody moved an inch for several slow, agonizing moments, and then-

"Foaly, wait! I got something!"

Holly gasped, finally able to breathe again, actually collapsing back against the wall. She leaned back, light headed, sinking to the floor as she panted for breath. She dimly heard Alex say, "He's got a pulse. It's definitely there."

"Good," she heard Foaly say. "Come on. Get to work. We've got to figure out what caused this and what effects it had."

Holly frowned, realizing the urgency and panic in his voice had barely lessened. She took a deep breath and slowly stood, only able to manage the feat by telling herself that Artemis was still alive. Artemis was alive and nothing was going to change that. "Foaly, what happened?!" she gasped, stumbling forward, practically falling against the chrysalis.

Foaly shook his head tersely, already examining a monitor intently and taking precise notes. He didn't even look at her as he answered, "I don't know. But I'm going to find out."

Holly looked down at the clone in a panic. It looked fine- or, at least, no worse than it had looked these pat few months. The thing was still barely alive, but at least it was alive. Why was Foaly so worried?

When she asked him, the centaur continued to work and still wouldn't spare her a glance. "Holly, if everything was okay with the clone, its heart wouldn't stop. We have to correct the problem as soon as possible or it could flatline again, this time, for good."

Even as Holly blanched, Foaly moved past her to another machine. "Alex! Mayne! You two see what damage the heart attack caused. Kensi, work with me. We've got to find out what caused this in the first place." Foaly still didn't even look at her, and Holly reached out desperately, grabbing him by the arm.

"Foaly!" she gasped. "He… he is going to be okay, right?"

Foaly paused, then pulled out of her grip and went to work. "I don't know."