Butler went into the house behind Mrs. Fowl, expecting to see Artemis and Rosaline waiting for him. But upon entering the foyer, he saw only the twins together, leaning against the wall and relishing some shared joke. He looked around, anger boiling in him at their disappearance. How long could he have been talking with Mrs. Fowl? Surely not long enough for them to decide to wander off!

But then again, Mrs. Fowl had pestered him with questions about Artemis' supposed love interest, demanding to know about her parents, background, where she was from, anything she could think of. All were questions Artemis had answers for, and so Angeline had been unable to cause him to slip up. And he realized glumly that she had taken up quite a few minutes, not even including the time he'd taken to explain their lie. And he hadn't even told her much. Only a few sparse details Artemis had given him to make everything seem acceptably suspicious.

"Boys, what are you snickering about over there? And where did Artemis and Miss Flynn go?" Angeline put her hands on her hips, instantly the matriarch. The boys looked up, smirking deviously.

"Well, mother dear," began Myles.

"The two questions have very similar answers." finished Beckett.

"Hmm. And what might the answers be?" Angeline asked, a slight quirk appearing in her lips. Butler wanted the latter answer rather soon.

"Well, Artemis and Rosaline went down the hall. Artemis said they were going to the room in which she'd be staying." Myles informed them. Her room. Good.

"Excuse me then while I take her her things." Butler start down the hall, but managed to hear the end of the conversation as he turned the corner.

"And why are you two laughing about that?" Angeline asked.

"We are laughing because Artemis was looking at her with a dreamy look on his face." replied Beckett.

"And he was holding her hand as they left." Finished Myles.

Butler felt a groan coming on. Oh... lord.

Butler was pissed. He had gone to every guest room in the mansion. They were not in any of them. He then thought to check Artemis' room, while a small part of his brain appreciated the absolute absurdity of Artemis having a girl in his room. The thought never would have crossed his mind before today.

He fought the urge to merely throw the door open and knocked rather loudly. NO response. Just to be sure, he opened the door and looked around. Nothing there. He grit his teeth.

Ok, ok. Where did they go? He thought about the quickest method. He turned abruptly, heading for the surveillance room. He could simply find them through that.

He looked at all the screens, searching for the bright hair. He found them after a moment. In the sitting room. Sitting too close. If she wanted she could harm him and he actually was allowing this close proximity.

Butler fairly flew out of the room, heading briskly toward the room, all the while thinking to himself, 'Artemis... what is wrong with you?'

Butler tore open the door, his eyes finding the two sitting on the couch, leaning towards each other as if whispering. They were jumping apart as he came into the room, and he took in their flushed faces. Their right hands were also joined between them.

Butler strode over quickly, placing his hands on Artemis' shoulders and attempting to yank him backwards. To his annoyance, Aretmis' grip on Rosaline's right hand only seemed to tighten, as if he was unwilling to part from the connection. And Rosaline's grip also seemed to tighten at the threat of parting.

Butler firmly put his hand on Artemis' wrist, and the two young adults were no match for his strength. He promptly ripped them apart and shoved them to opposite ends of the couch. He looked down at Artemis.

"Might I ask what possibly possessed you to wander off with a stranger and not tell me where you were going? I've been ready to tear this place apart trying to find you. You clearly lied to Myles and Beckett, you have lied to your mother and disregarded your own safety." Butler ranted rather close to Artemis' face. His young charge bristled.

"Considering you have access to the security of this house, I assumed if you needed to find me you would look there first. I do not need to report my exact whereabouts to two overly mischievous children, and last I check showing Rose to the sitting room and giving her food is not going to start a war." Artemis' face twitched slightly, realizing yet another slip.

"We have no idea what she is up to. She could have been an assassin for all you know. And you two were using that connection again, without supervision. What exactly would you have done if your breathing was cut off again?"

Artemis looked rather haughty.

"I was able to overcome the physical effects. Rose-aline and I have just done some rather informative research. Surely you must have realized that I planned on experimenting with this again. I refuse to just ignore it. And Rosaline too was curious and insightful about it." Artemis colored slightly, a fact that was not lost on Butler.

"And will you explain why you two were so close? All you needed to do was hold hands. You would've had no defense if she'd decided to-"

"For the love of God! WHAT exactly do you think I'm going to do? Or rather, be capable of doing? I'm not a trained assassin for Christ's sake." Rosaline sat up indignantly, glaring at Butler. Her arms were crossed, and she stared at Butler as though he were the most foolish person she'd ever met.

"You need not have weapons or great muscle to be a threat. Killers all over the world are trained to use only their hands, to strike at crucial points in close combat. You coudl've-"

"And how, precisely, would I be able to do that without him noticing?" Rosaline raised her eyebrow in challenge. Butler frowned at her question.

"Artemis, though brilliant, is not, unfortunately, very athletic, despite an increase in training over the past few years. While he has learned more evasive techniques and defense, I doubt he could get away from you. His reaction time is still rather poor. And considering you had hold of his hand-"

"Exactly!" Rosaline cried,, throwing her hands out in front of her with an exasperated expression. Artemis grinned very slightly.

"We were holding hands at the time. So, as we've already come to know, our heads were connected, and our prominent thoughts could easily be received. If I was about to strike he'd have heard it before I'd even started to move. And therefore, could have done a multitude of things to protect himself." Rosaline leaned back against the ornate couch, her lips pressed in a thin line and her cheeks slightly flushed from her heated explanation.

Butler looked at her, knowing what she'd said was true but it still didn't answer his question. Why had they been so close?

"Answer my question, then. Why were you sitting so close together?" The two turned noticeable shades of pink. Artemis glanced at Rosaline. It seemed her talking was done.

"It... appears that when using this connection, our body were drawn towards each other. The connection in our minds seemed to fuel a... an inclination to be closer physically, as if complementing our closeness in our heads." Artemis looked Butler square in the eye. From what he'd experienced, this wasn't actually a lie. He was just omitting precisely how close they'd gotten.

Before Butler could probe them further, they all turned toward the door. Foots were approaching, with the unmistakable sound of a heel clicking against the hard floors. Artemis looked at Rosaline for a moment, giving her a small smile and nod. "It'll be alright."

Angeline Fowl had spoken to her sons for a few minutes, fondly listening to them as this laughed together about their elder brother. Normally, and in most households, such behavior would be reprimanded, as siblings deserved respect from each other. But to Angeline, it was welcome. For too many years she'd had to deal with the aloofness of her husband and son.. Their relationship had been stiff and respectful, although she'd never doubted that there was love there. But ever since the return of her husband and birth of her twins, laughter had filled manner. Her husband had developed laugh lines, as had she, and her eldest child, despite his disappearance and behavior, seemed happier when he was home than he'd ever been as a child. And she had three children , all brilliant, who openly teased and prodded each other. Yet she had yet to see a real shouting match develop between them, especially since Artemis' return to health. Her youngest sons had barely left his side, constantly pestering him for his company, having missed yet another year in each other's lives. And Artemis had accepted that pestering, allowing the twins to follow him around, and even allowing himself to wrestle with them when they wanted. She wondered if they were curious as to how Artemis was able to partake in such physical exertions after supposedly having major damage done to his body, but didn't dare ask. She could live with the suspicion in her family, as they didn't seem to care. They were too happy to have Artemis back again.

Her sons were currently relaying to her, in great detail, how flustered Artemis seemed to get upon introducing Rosaline to the twins. She took that as a sign that perhaps Artemis was actually interested in this girl.

The large grandfather clock rang out down the hall, alerting everyone that it was five o' clock.

"I expect that dinner will be ready soon. Go wash up, you too." As her boys started to scamper off, she thought of something. "And boys!" They turned slowly. "You will behavior yourselves tonight in front of our guest. And you won't try to embarrass your brother. Is that clear?" The boys visibly wilted.

"Yes, Mum."

Now she was walking around her large manner, attempting to locate her son and the girl. Hadn't the twins told her Artemis was taking her to her room? She located the overnight bag in one of the halls with guest rooms, but so far no sign of the young people. Butler wasn't around either. She walked further down the halls, hearing what sounded like raised voices. Why?

She heard the voices lower as she got closer, wondering if they heard her approach and were attempting to calm themselves. She opened the door to a sitting room, and saw Butler standing over Artemis and Miss Flynn, both of whom were slightly red in the face. Artemis sat up straight as she entered the room. Rosaline looked a little wide eyed.

Why?

She walked over to them, trying to ascertain what the commotion had been. Artemis was emotionless. No surprise. Butler looked stony. Shocker. Miss Flynn... looked nervous. She was upset about something. What?

"Dinner will be ready soon. Are you going to join us tonight, Artemis?"

"Of course, Mum. Let me just get Rosaline to her room. We never actually went there." He stood up, keeping his eyes on his mother's face. He reached his left hand behind him, uncurling his fingers to Rosaline. She tentatively placed her right in his, standing behind him. He led them out of the room, and the moment they were in the hall, Angeline rounded on Butler again.

"I know when my son is schooling his face. She needs more practice. So you are left to explain again. Why did I hear raised voices? And why was she so nervous?"

"I overreacted. We had a bit of an argument over acceptable behavior. She didn't like to see Artemis and I argue. She pointed that out."

"Nothing more significant than that? And what do you mean acceptable behavior?"

"They didn't go where they said they were going to go, and I came upon them in rather close quarters." Butler's face looked exasperated.

"They were... what exactly were they doing?" Angeline felt like laughing at the absurdity of this situation.

"I don't know. They jumped apart at my entrance. All I saw was that they were holding hands."

"Butler... how well does he actually know this girl? What about her does he know?" He shook his head.

"You'll have to ask him that, Madame. I couldn't tell you."

"Oh, don't worry. I plan to ask him many things."

Having finally arrived at the room where she would be staying, Rosaline sat down on the bed. It was a queen size, luxurious and adorned in silken sheets. Artemis was leaning against the wall opposite her, staring at the floor near her feet. He sighed, pinching his nose between his left fingers.

"What happened in the sitting room happened for exactly the reason I gave Butler, Rose. The mental connection sought further strength which caused the need for physical contact to increase. There was nothing..." he trailed off. Rose was looking at the ground, her lips puckered out slightly as she nodded slowly.

"Yeah, I didn't really think much of it. The connection just randomly increased at one point. That fits." She still wasn't looking at him.

"Ahem. Anyway, I think it would be prudent to discuss what we witnessed during the connection. I'm unsure as to how much you actually gathered from those images. Images themselves cannot accurately convey the truth. What did you-" Rose cut him off.

"True, the visions themselves didn't tell me everything, but YOUR thoughts concerning them were rather informative. Everything I saw, you reacted to as well, giving me plenty of truths." She paused, finally raising her head to look him in the eye. The look of awe on her face made Artemis flush slightly.

"All the things you've done... Yet you still label yourself a villain. You truly don't believe that you've redeemed yourself by now? One mistake made as a child shouldn't-" She broke off at the hard look on his face.

"In seventeen years, I've managed to get innocent people killed, almost wipe out a species, kidnap an innocent person, lie to everyone I've ever given a damn about, break my family's heart, lose three years, and watch a world get torn apart. Perhaps not all of it was my fault, but the majority was. And it will always be my fault that my family has suffered as it has. My mother doesn't trust anything I say, and my father and brothers have no idea who I actually am. My brothers think I'm twenty, and don't believe I love them as much as they love me. If I ever dare refuse their company, I must be angry or getting sick again. God forbid I tell them to leave me alone. I've left them alone for too many years in their life." He paused, still staring angrily at the floor. He looked like he wanted something nearby for him to kick. "They deserve better from me. They deserve better than me."

"But you saved your father! You're the reason your brothers even exist! The reason your mother's mind is alright again! And if it weren't for you, can you be sure your family would even be alive by now?" She looked at him imploringly, as if she could not bear to hear his opinion of himself. He looked at her, his eyes slightly hooded, his face slack. "You've saved the entire planet from chaos multiple times, Artemis. Those fairies who try to start war, if you hadn't stopped them, who knows how many people would've died. Yes, you've done some... bad things in your life... but from everything I've seen... My God Artemis! The good you've done outweighs it by a long shot! And after kidnapping that girl, what bad have you done? I mean really bad?" She titled her head to the side again. It seemed to be a habit of hers.

"Bad? Let's see. Blackmail the race I harassed to get back my father, used their power for my own ends, easily revert back to my original evil ways when they took my memories..." He paused there, looking out the window, across the vast expanse of his land. "That's the crux of the matter, really, Rose. After being with them, I think I honestly started to become a better person. It took inhuman creatures to make me a human, not the power crazed, egotistical maniac I was. And the moment they were gone from my life, back I went." He chuckled darkly. "I even insulted my father. I believed he had become weak for wanting to be 'good.' I swore never to be like him, the person I'd gone to hell and back to get back. Without the fairies, I'd still be that person. A selfish bastard who wanted to take over the world because he assumed he could run it properly." Artemis was still looking at the window, but his expression had changed to one of disgust. Rose had a creeping assumption that he wasn't looking past the glass, but was focusing on what he saw reflected back at him.

"I thought you weren't supposed to focus on the bad things in your life." Rose said softly, getting up from the bed to walk behind him. She looked in the glass, seeing her own face and his. "Guilt after all this time won't change anything. You actions, on the other hand... would imply that you have changed. That you are a better person..." She grinned slightly, and it reached her eyes. He looked at her in the reflection as she looked back at him. "I'd say at this point you fall under the category of superhero. How many other people have saved the world multiple times?" He snorted.

"How many superheroes do you know that would hurt innocent people to get what they want?" He looked away from her again, staring. He didn't see her movement, but he felt it when she placed her hand lightly on his right shoulder, and closed his eyes.

"How many of the villains in this world have completely turned around their lives to try to redeem the bad they've done? I don't think good and bad is so black and white, Artemis, and I don't think you do either. And we both know that you can't call yourself a villain any longer." She lightly squeezed his shoulder. He opened his eyes a little, staring down at the ground outside the window.

"Assuming that were true, I am still not a superhero. There's nothing super involved. And as you well know, I still partake in illegal and unsavory activities. Not exactly the sort of ventures a so called "hero" would do." He scoffed at himself, turning to look left.

"And saving the world, your friends, your family, and trying to curtail global warming to save the planet without any acknowledgment or compensation are not the actions of a villain. So if not a superhero, perhaps I'll go with...antihero. Not quite perfectly good, but not evil either... perhaps, in reality, that's what most people are." At his dubious look, she grinned and added "Maybe their actions, both good and bad, are just a little less extreme. Saying something hurtful to someone, but also helping pick up fallen school supplies." She took her hand of his shoulder, and he experienced a rather slight feeling of loss. It disappeared as she took his right hand in her left. "You've been holding onto this guilt for so long, even after the help you got from the fairies. You're supposed to be letting it go now, not clinging to it as a life force. It's been a long time since the clinic." He grimaced slightly at the memory. "You aren't exactly at risk for the complex anymore... but still, you're letting this guilt eat away at you. You've been told all of this before, long before me. You just need to actually do it." She squeezed his hand lightly. He returned the pressure.

"And have you noticed something else, Artemis?" She was smilingly softly again, glancing at him at an angle. He lowered his gaze.

"What?"

"You've started thinking of me as Rose. Not Miss Flynn. Not even Rosaline." Her eyes twinkled.

Staring out the window at the sky, the grass, at whatever caught their eyes, neither truly considered the fact that they had hardly know each other for more than a few hours, and yet, through demented chance, were somehow inextricably close.