Author's notes: Well everyone, this is the last chapter of Ardagh Chalice. I hope all of you enjoyed this little bit of fan fiction and will continue to read on with Neppyman's sequel . I know that his story isn't specifically an Artemis Fowl/ Holly Short pairing, but they are involved. Hopefully, I will return with book 3. We're toying around with ideas at the moment of how we're going to co-write that piece due to not having book 2 done, but we do have a few ideas of what we would love to write.
sniffles I feel the love though. I want to thank all those who responded to this last chapter, especially Lily. I really appreciate the support. I just hope this epilogue doesn't disappoint. It's just tying up loose ends…and starting new ones of course ;-)
As for me, some one-shots are in the future and who knows…perhaps maybe even another full fiction or two. I have a few more ideas for that up my sleeve so hopefully, it turns out okay on paper (Yes, I do handwrite all of my stories first. Old fashioned, I know, but it is a great way to go back and catch things.)
I would like to dedicate this last chapter to my late grandfather Allen Lower Senior who just past away a few days ago. He's part of the reason the last chapter was late in posting besides the fact my monitor on my laptop died. I had the chapter all ready to go and I literally had to drop everything to rush to the visitation and funeral. My boyfriend and I bought a stepping stone in honor of his memory and for some reason the words on it are making my muse wheels turn, but that will be for another time, I think.
Enjoy this and more to come (my endnotes at the bottom feel free to skip),
S'Eleene Paris
Epilogue
Inquiries
Fowl Manor
When Holly entered the estate gate; she half expected Butler to greet her with his Sig Sauer drawn and pointed at her. Instead, she found a handwritten envelope upon the door of the manor. It was written in Gnomish, "To Holly Short or the fairy reading this envelope."
The words had been written with a quill or a quill tipped fountain pen. When she opened the envelope, she smiled at the hand-written Gnomish written on the invitation to proceed inside. Even thought the people had a natural gift of tongues and Holly would have understood every word Artemis wrote in English; it was just oddly comforting to see her native tongue on the surface once again.
Holly grasped the door knob and went inside the manor house. She quietly stepped into the foyer amongst the other guests. No one really paid her noticed as she joined the crowd, just another person fashionably late among the invitees to the party. Memories flooded her memories of the first time she met Artemis.
"Holly," she heard Artemis breathe her name and she knew he was nearby. She glanced at the other guests and didn't lock eyes with him until he was already halfway down the stairs. They met at the bottom of the stairs and he greeted her with a hug.
She hugged him back in return. "You weren't there when I woke up."
"I had to get back before my so-called professors noticed my absence."
"I think your 'so-called' professors, as you call them would have noticed you were gone the first day. You weren't there to interrupt every five seconds to prove his theories wrong."
"Not all of them are wrong; just most of them."
Holly smacked his arm, playfully. "Always the genius, aren't you?"
"Always," Artemis smiled, but before he could comment further on the situation at hand, Artemis Senior and Angeline Fowl approached the couple.
"Lovely party, son," Artemis Senior greeted the pair.
"Who is this lovely lady?" Angeline asked as she noticed Holly standing next to her son, "Because I don't believe we have met, yet."
"Mother, Father, this is Holly Short. She and I have had a few business dealings in the past."
"Nothing illegal I hope." Artemis tossed at his son.
"Not completely."
"Well, it's nice to meet you." Angeline took the elf's hand and shook it. "It's not often Arty brings home his friends. Where did you two meet? At school; in England?"
"No, we met here in Ireland actually. He introduced himself to me. It was rather unexpected."
"Well, I think it is wonderful that Arty brought home a friend."
Artemis the second interrupted his mother. "Holly, would you like to dance?"
"I'd love to." As Artemis pulled her away into the great hall, she waved to his parents. "Your mother seems sweet."
"Embarrassing as well," Artemis commented as he took her hand in his as the small string orchestra accompanied the pianist to Beethoven's classic opus number 27.
An awkward silent wall fell between them, unsure as what either of them should say next. They avoided making eye contact for the first few measures of the song so they could dance rhythmically together. Artemis was the first to break the silence. "I apologize for my lack of rhythm. I never excelled at dancing."
Holly was flabbergasted. "Did I just hear you apologize to me? Is it possible the great Artemis Fowl the second can? I didn't know if you even knew how."
"I guess I deserved that. After all, I did abduct you."
She looked up at him and the duo locked eyes. Holly quietly, almost in a whisper, blurted, "Artemis, I am pregnant."
"I know." He nodded. "When you walked through that door tonight, I knew. I also knew that I couldn't live without you. I love you, Holly."
Tears welled up in the fairy's eyes and a single one escaped and rolled down her cheek. "I love you, too, Artemis, but what are we going to do? This has never been done before. A human and a fairy have never been mated before. This has disaster written all over it and you know fairy intuition is never wrong."
"We'll figure things out, but for the moment, let me enjoy the fact you're here."
Holly nodded and laid her head on Artemis' shoulder. "The grand council isn't going to like this."
"More than likely not," Artemis admitted as flashes of a memory of what he had experienced during the second part of the Metamorphosis Ritual played across his mind like a movie. Pain, Loss, Union, Return, Doubling, Blue and Green, Silver, Exchange…their minds had been one and had been allowed to see glimpses into their future. Granted, to him it looked like incoherent chaos, but it also had been confirmation the universe allowed them to be together. The only thing now stood in their way was the People themselves.
LEP Headquarters
Silence filled the L.E.P main office as a pixie dressed in official robes walked by the cubical belonging to the various officers of the Recon division. The male pixie with orange hair walked silently to the commanding officer's office.
He knocked on the door and the entire staff watched as Commander Root hollered for his entry. He keyed the command for it to open and walked inside. "Who are you and what do you want?" Commander Root bellowed, annoyed with the interruption and turning a lovely shade of scarlet.
"Are you Commander Julius Root?"
"Yes, I am. Didn't you read my name on the door?"
"I need confirmation it is you and not some imposter. I need your security clearance password." The page offered a small rectangle box with a small screen on top. He handed the clip-board like devise to the commander and Commander Root punched in his password "Vidalia Amelia Root" and pressed the button to enter it into the security system.
"Thank you." The page handed him a manila envelope and turned to walk out of his office.
Commander Root chewed on the end of his fungus cigar contemplating the latest news he received on the paper in his hands. "D'Arvait!" he declared as he pulled the document from inside the manila envelope; recognizing the stationary of a high council summons.
Whenever he received envelopes such as this, a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach usually came along with it. He had hoped the leak in security had not reached as far as the grand council. Somehow, he knew while he opened the envelope, the manure had hit the fan.
"Commander Root, you are here-by summed to the grand counsel to give testimony on the incident which occurred…"
And that ladies and gentlemen is the end of Ardagh Chalice. It was short, I know, but I didn't want to go into too much detail of what is to come in Artemis Fowl: The Kurokaze Conspiracy. (Aka…Neppyman's story)
Also be sure to read his story Artemis Fowl: The Metamorphosis for those of you who are over the age of 18 to give you a better glimpse of what actually happened to our lovely pair in the ritual. I had to kind of glaze over it for those underage people, but I really feel he did an excellent job with it so totally promote it here.
I MUST STRONGLY STATE THAT IF YOU ARE NOT OVER THE AGE OF 18 DO NOT AND I REPEAT DO NOT READ ARTEMIS FOWL: THE METAMORPHOSIS. If you do, it is not on my shoulders. I included everything you really needed to know from that story. Neppyman and I strongly feel that if you are not over the age of 18, you should not read this fiction (Yes, I do know him off the internet too).
Again, I do plan on writing more here in the near future. I have a story that I have been playing around with for a little while. It's based on a few Amy Brown paintings called "Rescued" and "Always". We'll see how they pan out though.
Thanks again for those who reviewed. blows all of you a kiss I feel the love!
S'Eleene Paris