This chapter should have been up a few days ago, but my computer wasn't working. Really.
Disclaimer: I do not own Artemis Fowl, Holly Short, or any member of the rest of the gang, which makes me sad. I'm happy I don't own Juliet, though, because I REALLY don't like her. Mr Colfer can keep her, or kill her off. Both would make me smile. Anyway, that's why she won't be featured in this story, or any others, probably.
Yes! We actually leave Fowl manor in this chapter! Finally!
Chapter 10 Haven
Crash! Someone would have to pay for that in the morning. To be literal, that would probably be Artemis Senior and Angeline Fowl, but if Artemis Junior footed the bill, they probably wouldn't notice the sum missing. To be less literal, Butler would be paying, as he had to clean it up. Artemis felt bad, true, but he was too busy chasing Holly to care. He was exhausted, but so was she, leaving them with an equal chance of winning this nameless but oh-so common game.
He tore around a corner, following the orange tail that he was after. If either could have a distinguishable laugh, they would have cackled, but were breathing too hard to possibly manage any sound except panting. Ah! Trying to dodge the thick purple curtains (Everyone wants purple curtains. Admit it.) Artemis slid, hitting them and being completely submerged in violet before clawing his way out and staring around and running off again. At least, he would have run off, if it weren't for the sudden weight on his back. Groaning, the black cat looked up, directly into the deep amber irises of our dear Holly, who was grinning, naturally, in a very cheshire-cat-like way.
"I win." She purred, literally, her grin widdening. "Mmm, and I think I'll save my prize."
"Prize?" Groaned Artemis. "When was a prize agreed on?"
"As the winner I decided that I deserve one. A favour, or boon, in Ye Olde English."
"You can't possibly make me keep a favour." Replied dark kitty, and realised his mistake a second later. This was intensified instantly when Holly's jaw came down hard on his head, digging against his skull in a chewing motion. Gritting his teeth, Artemis shook himself violently, causing them both to tumble in the velvety mass of draps. Holly glared at him, but all she said was:
"Not bad, mud boy, but don't think I won't be holding you to that favour." He simply smiled, shaking himself and yawning. Yawning? "And I think I'll go to sleep." Added Holly, drapping herself back over him in a complete deadweight.
"Hey!" No point complaining or arguing, Holly wouldn't budge, and was half asleep in less than a minute. Artemis himself was blinking to keep his eyes open. That he felt like he was lying in the midst of cyber space beneath a -heavy- cashmere blanket didn't help things.
Prrrrrr. The soft rumble meant one of two things. Prrrrrr. One, Holly was asleep; or two, Artemis was relaxed and almost asleep. Prrrrrr. A moment later they were both asleep, so it really didn't matter.
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"Where are Holly and Artemis?" Asked Grub urgently, starting around the main dinning room. Trouble looked at him curiously, while starting on a plate of pancakes he had begged Butler to make. What? Everyone needs a favourite breakfast food.
"Why do you care?"
"Well, anything could have happened to them, they might have been squashed by something, or the window could have closed while they were outside, or-"
"Breakfast! Food! What do I get?!" Holly bounded in, yawning, followed by the more subdued Artemis. Trouble folded his arms at his brother, who blushed scarlet. Foaly chuckled at the exuberance of the Turkish Van, who purred delightedly when Butler put a bowl of thickened cream on the ground.
"Good night?" He asked innocently. She laughed.
"Exhausting." Any other words were mumbled when most of her head was plunged in the bowl of cream, her tail swaying in the air. Artemis shook his head, smiling softly before the second bowl of cream was placed on the ground, and he joined Holly, though with a little more dignity.
It was later, much later, when the group stood on the front lawn of Fowl Manor in the dusk light. Well, most of them stood on the lawn. Holly and Artemis had the more amusing seats, each atop one of Butlers shoulders. Artemis sat straight and indignant, glaring across his manservant's head to Holly, who was perfectly happy, her tail curled around the manservant's neck. Setting off towards the car, Butler managed to remain surprisingly stotic while pretending Holly was silent, and not shouting 'High ho Butler, away!' and 'Forward, mighty mudman!' While Artemis batted at the end of her tail on the left shoulder. The others were already in the car, and Foaly had left early with the help of some cam foil.
Butler, taking the wheel, drove to the now known E-Tara location, with a little back seat driving from everyone but Artemis, who was curled up on the dashboard. (He and Holly had originally been on the front seat together, but her constant chattering to Butler had gotten unnerving. And the dashboard was warm. Mmm. Warmth.)
The shuttle waiting for them was cramped; Foaly had convinced it was important to reach Haven, quickly, and the fastest availible shuttle wasn't pretty. Still, it was better than that old goblin shuttle, so no one -other than poor cramped Butler- was overly concerned. Trouble was driving the shuttle and had shut off the part of him that understood Holly and Artemis, so Holly's attempts of backseat -or dashboard- driving became nothing more than a soft, agitated mewling. Artemis was watching the fairies from the co-pilot's seat, the only selfless thing he had ever done by Trouble's standards, as it had taken quiet begging from Trouble to convince the black cat to take the seat. A strange thing to do, but a dark stare from Artemis was better than whining from Grub.
Remembering the first trip, it wasn't overly difficult to get into the operations booth, and Foaly immediately got started on his computers. "My babies," he crooned. "Did you miss me?" of course, he stopped when he saw the stares he was getting.
Ah, everything in life is rush, rush, rush. "Foaly!" Barked an oh-so well known voice from a screen-less intercom. "Get down to the council chambers! Now! You too Captain Kelp!"
"Uh, Commander, we have a situation down h-"
"Now! It can wait!"
"No it can't!"
"It can wait, Centaur. Get your hairy rear end down here or you'll be needing a new uniform- the janitor's!" With a frustrated growl, Foaly looked helplessly around the room, and fled it with Trouble (sounds like they're eloping). That last voice hadn't been Julius Root. It belonged to the gnome, Sool, and he had been gaining much control over the council recently. He had every power to demote Foaly, though it was doubtful he was stupid enough to do it. As the sliding door hissed behind them, Grub looked around.
"Hey... where are the other two?"
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While the intercom conversation was going on, Artemis and Holly simultaniusly decided to find out what was so important about the meeting. So, when the door opened, they both dashed out and followed Foaly and Trouble to the council chambers. The centaur and elf looked worried, which gave both cats reason for concern.
"Ah, so good of you to join us." Purred Sool darkly when they entered. "We almost had to start without you. That would have been... regretful." Yeah. Right. And clouds are made of mashed potato. "Now sit." No matter how much both hated taking orders, Foaly and Trouble Kelp obeyed, taking seats at the large table.
"Where's Holly Short?" asked an annoyed Vinyaya. Foaly shrugged.
"She was really sick," was his lame apology. Root raised an eyebrow.
" If that was anyone but Holly, who never misses work, that would have sounded really lame." Foaly replied with a stiff glare.
Holly chuckled and nodded in agreement, glancing at Artemis, and took her seat, followed by the boy. They sat close together to fit on the chair, ears flat and eyes just over the desk rim.
"Now down to business," said Root, beginning the briefing. "As the Wing Commander put it so well, we have a situation. Some humans have been messing with DNA, creating mutating syrums." Uh-oh. Holly and Artemis turned to stared at each other, then almost jumped back when their noses touched, due to the cramped space of the chair. Foaly visibly paled, as did Trouble. Sool seemed unconcerned.
"What does this have to do with us? The humans can do what they want to each other. It could be a bonus for our situation."
"Uh, don't you think we should have had an inkling about this before they got to testing?" Asked one of the council. "Yeah, Foaly should have been keeping track." Added another.
"Oh, thank you so much for adding me to this." He muttered dryly.
"Well obviously, technical genius has only just been informed." Added Sool. "Personally, I think he should have an incntive to make sure there won't be a next time."
"My, my," whispered Artemis. "His hints are are truly subtle. I barely caught them." Holly giggled, then shushed him.
"What was that?" Asked Vinyaya suddenly. "I thought I heard a cat noise."
"Ridiculous." Said Foaly and Trouble together. That raised a few eyebrows, but nothing was said. "Anyway," pushed Foaly, desperately trying to move on while not wanting to look like he was staring at the big, slitted eyes that were staring at the members of the council. "I'm betting you think a fairy's involved. Humans couldn't have thought this up on their own." The council nodded and mumbled affirmative. Foaly sighed. "I'll go back to my computer, shall I?"
Dammit. If only Vinyaya had slightly less than 20/20 vision, or the strange ability to see when something wasn't right. She shook her head, stood, and walked straight up to Holly's chair. Artemis and Holly shrank back as the fairy stared at them both incredulously, then back at Foaly.
"What the...?" Neither Foaly or Trouble Kelp spoke as Vinyaya picked up the fluffy, red and white cat and deposited her on the table, doing the same with the masked black tom, who looked annoyed by the whole affair. The rest of the fairies choked on either laughter or shock. Artemis and Holly were a little glad to see Julius Root looked amused by the whole affair.
"Gentlemen," laughed an incredulous Vinyaya. "Might I ask why we have two cats join in our meeting?"
"Actually, I'm wondering that too." Added Trouble, looking at the cats, not Foaly. Luckily, Foaly wasn't just sarcastic, annoying, cynical, pessimistic, big-headed, sarcastic, and sarcastic. He was also clever. Trotting forward, he picked up both cats, who smartly didn't complain.
"They're, uh, mine, Wing Commander." He said quickly. Root looked surprised. "Yeah, I think someone's been bringing swear toads in here, and these two are good at hunting them. But I should keep them in the office, so I'll take them back now." Any comments against the idea were destroyed by a load sneeze from a fine suited dwarf.
"Damn allergies... get those things out of here!" Happy to comply, Foaly left the room, but was followed by the Commander.
"Artemis!" Butler gasped in relief as the cat clawed it's way free of Foaly, only to be trapped by the giant.
"Help me." Begged the boy, till he saw Root walk in behind Foaly.
"You're not getting out of it that easily, centaur." He growled. "Since when have you been allowed pets, and more importantly, WHAT IS ARTEMIS FOWL'S BODYGUARD DOING HERE?!" Foaly sighed. This was going to take a lot of explaining.
"Well, let's start with the problem Artemis and Holly are having."
"Problem?" Root looked worried. He cared deeply for Holly, though he would never admit it. Foaly nodded.
"Guys, mind helping?" He asked the cats, who obediently sat up and trotted over to Julius. He raised an eyebrow.
"Neat trick, centaur, but this isn't the time." Very neat trick. Both cats walked up to him and began staring at him intently and disconcertingly. No-one moved. After about thirty seconds Root was completely freaked out. "Seriously Foaly, make them stop." Foaly chuckled.
"Well, you know how Holly's been sick, right. It's because I sent her to check out those experiments, the ones you were talking about in the meeting." He couldn't help but add how he was ahead of the other fairies. "Well she... um... was infected." Root remained the same colour, but only because he had paled and darkened almost simultanously. He opened his mouth, but Foaly plowed on. "And Artemis was checking it out too. And, well..."
"I'm begging, actually begging you Foaly. Tell me these aren't Holly and the mudboy." Root blanched as both cats nodded, tails swaying. Root said one word, the calm before the storm.
"D'arvit."
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Yay! Ladies and Gents, we have a plot line. I hope you're all proud of me! R&R and say so!
Oh, and do you like my new end of chapter thing?