I do not own Artemis

Holly: I-

Me: I have the power to make your life a living hell.

Holly:...I'll be quiet.

Me: Good.

Chapter 11

"WHAT!" Foaly screamed. Holly nearly jumped 3 feet in the air, quite a feat when you're only three feet tall to begin with. Holly had just finished explaining to Foaly what had happened, not that he hadn't seen the whole ordeal from satellite anyway, but he couldn't see what went on in Constantine's house. His current reaction was to Holly telling him that she was going to go back the next night.

"What's the big deal? We've been in life and death situations before, and it's not like we can't handle it." She said. Foaly had been acting oddly jumpy lately, and she didn't know why. When she came into the ops booth, there was a strong smell of coffee in the air. Foaly almost never drank coffee, and only would if something was bothering him greatly, and he had been up all night, or for a few nights, as the case may be, trying to solve the problem. The last time he drank coffee Artemis had hacked into his system and posted a looping video of some vulgar cartoon mooning the viewer onto Foaly's screen, and Foaly couldn't get it off for two days. Who says the mud-boy doesn't have a sense of humor?

"Yes but we never INTENTIONALLY put ourselves into harms way! Not just to help a couple of mud-men find themselves! Usually we have to save the fairies, or save the humans, or better yet, BOTH!"

Holly got defensive. "Artemis is our friend! Not just some mud-man anymore! He's helped us on more occasions than you can count and he's someone I trust!"

"But why are you helping Constantine? Why didn't you just wipe him and send him on his way?"

"I told you why! Artemis wouldn't let me, and I very well can't go doing so now after he just saved my life. What kind of crappy person would I be?" Holly's voiced was raised now, and people walking by the mirror that was actually the ops booth's 1-way soundproof window, were starting to wonder why their reflections were shouting at them.

"I've had enough of this, I'm calling Vinyaya." Foaly declared.

"Fine! Call her!" Holly's voice cracked, her eyes were starting to water. Foaly was supposed to be her best friend. They weren't supposed to fight, not like this. She didn't know what had gotten into him. Even in some of her direst moments, he always trust her decision making, her intuition, but this time it seemed like he thought it was too dangerous for her, like she didn't know what she was getting into. It seemed like…..like….

"What do you know?" She asked him when he put down the phone. He looked at her oddly, then quickly looked away.

"What do you mean?"

"You know what I mean." She moved to come between him and his computer, and put her hand on his shoulder. It wasn't a threatening gesture, but a loving one. Her trying to reconnect with him, like through that contact everything would suddenly become clear, and they would start clicking again, just like they always had. "What's got you so worried?"

Foaly looked into her eyes for a moment. She could see the confusion there, the struggle. It was like he was struggling against something unseen, some great inner battle happening within him, and she could see the wreck and carnage displayed through his eyes. "He's…He's dangerous, Holly."

"Who is, Foaly? Artemis? But we know him, he-"

"Not Artemis!" Foaly's voice was strained now, and sweat was beading across his brow, his face heavily lined. "In fact, if this goes bad stay close to Artemis, he may be the only one who can save you." He had grabbed her shoulders. As if he were trying to convey some message of which he had been sworn to silence.

Holly was confused. "Then Constantine? But he saved my life Foaly, and besides that-" She looked away from him. "I feel something about him, it's odd, I can't shake the feeling that I know him from somewhere. It's a nagging at the back of my head, a monster at the gate, but I don't know what it is." She looked back at him, a pleading in her eyes. "What is it, Foaly? What are you trying to tell me?"

Foaly hesitated. "Holly-"

"That's quite enough, Foaly." Vinyaya walked into the ops booth. Holly composed herself immediately, that side of herself was for only the select few to see. Vinyaya was well outside of those few. Foaly had a little more trouble than Holly composing himself, but he managed to pull it together.

"Yes commander."

"What was it you wanted to speak to me about?" Vinyaya asked, emotionless. Holly nearly shivered.

Foaly didn't hesitate. "You remember the attack on Fowl Manor earlier in the day?"

Vinyaya nodded. "Yes."

"Holly has returned from the field, and has requested to go back tomorrow night. I strongly suggest that you prevent her from-"

Vinyaya held up her hand, stopping him. She walked over to Holly, and a warmth spread across her face with a smile. "You may go tomorrow, major, but now I think it would be prudent for you to go home and get some rest. I do expect you to be in for work tomorrow morning however."

Holly nodded, struck by this unexpected turn of events. "Yes commander."

"Now go." Holly left.

Foaly watched his best friend leave before saying anything. "Commander! you can't let her go!" He exploded.

Vinyaya waited, watching the door where Holly had left for a moment. Then she spoke, quietly, deliberately. "If we let her go now, then we placate her. If we don't, then she'll only seek the truth herself. If she does that, she'll most definitely find it."

"Maybe the truth needs to be found." Foaly said through gritted teeth.

VInyaya ignored him. "Will his memories come back?"

"There's no way to know. We never wiped him. Hell, we don't even know if his memories are gone or if he just has some anterior motive."

"If they are gone?"

"Amnesia is not like our memory suppression, the brain cells have certain connections broken through trauma, emotional or physical. If it's emotional, then it is actually like our suppression techniques, as the brain walls off memories to protect itself. If it's physical, then who knows when they'll come back. If the cells realign, or his memory is jogged enough, the could come back just like that." He snapped his fingers. "Or they may never come back, it's all up to chance."

"And if they aren't gone?"

Foaly breathed. "Then he's probably going to kill us all."

ooooooh D:

Things are starting to be revealed...sort of.

I am having fun with this.

Temly76: Don't worry, that image will soon start to go down the toilet as things get on a role.

Everyone else, Please read and review :)