Author's Note: I hope that this chapter does not disappoint :)
-SQ
Disclaimer: Say it with me, "I do not own Artemis Fowl"
Chapter Twenty: Taking Control
Artemis woke up with the mother of all headaches and a cool cloth being applied to his forehead.
"Good afternoon, Artemis," said Juliet's voice. "Did you have a nice rest?"
The boy groaned. "What are you…doing here?"
Juliet sniffed. "Not a very pleasant greeting. You'd think you'd be a little more grateful to the person trying to keep your head from feeling like it's exploding."
"Sorry, Juliet. How…long was I…out?"
"Almost six hours. Whatever you did it really took it out of you."
"Not hard to…do in my present…condition," said Artemis. "But troubling…nonetheless. I will never make…significant progress…if I sleep for…that long afterwards…and feel this bad…when I wake up." A thought occurred to him. "How did you know…I had a headache…anyway?"
"Dr. Argon said that you probably would."
"Aha…" Artemis tried to push himself into a sitting position and failed utterly. He gritted his teeth. "Juliet…a little help here…"
Juliet helped him to sit against the headboard, frowning as she did so.
"You really don't look good, Arty," she said.
"Well," said Artemis.
"Huh?"
"I really don't…look well, not…good."
Juliet rolled her eyes. "Whatever. You really don't look well, then."
"I really don't…feel well," said Artemis in a raspy voice.
"Would you like some water?"
"Yes, please."
Juliet tipped the glass to Artemis's lips and he drank gratefully.
When Juliet took the glass away Artemis settled himself on the bed and closed his eyes.
"What are you doing now, Artemis?"
"I am going…to meditate."
"Okay, well, I'll be here if you need anything, okay?" said Juliet.
"Thank you, Juliet."
The young woman patted his shoulder gently as he closed his eyes and slipped back into the recesses of his mind.
When Artemis became aware once more he was standing in his mind-office, already surrounded by all of the alters.
"Good," he said, rubbing his hands together. "This makes things easier."
The seven identical teenagers sat close together on the floor of the space, much closer together than Artemis would normally have felt comfortable sitting with anyone, except perhaps Holly; and yet it felt right, somehow, to be sitting knee-to-knee and shoulder-to-shoulder with Orion and Siproites, Adonis and Iphegenia linking those two to Ephialtes and a glowering but subdued Aura.
"So…what exactly are we supposed to be doing?" asked Adonis after a few seconds of silence.
"At the risk of sounding like a hippie, we need to all open our thoughts to one another and try to connect."
"You're right," said Siproites, "you do sound like a hippie."
"I think it is a marvelous idea," said Orion.
"You would," said Ephialtes condescendingly.
"Anyone have a better idea?" challenged Artemis. Silence. "Right then. Let's begin."
*****RTR*****
When Butler came to relieve Juliet of her temporary care duties Artemis was still deep in meditation.
"Has he eaten?" asked the elder Butler, feeling Artemis's burning forehead with a thick finger.
"Erm…no," said Juliet. "He started meditating almost as soon as he woke up."
Butler glared at his little sister. "He needs to eat, Juliet."
"I know, I know, I'm sorry! I should have thought of that," she said, half guilty, half defensive. "He just woke up, drank some water, and went right into meditation."
Butler shook his charge's shoulders gently.
"Artemis. Artemis. Come out of it. You need to eat. Artemis."
Artemis opened his eyes and glared at his bodyguard. "I was…rather in…the middle of something…Butler."
"I don't care," said Butler. "It's dinner time, you didn't eat lunch, and you're going to eat now."
"I am not—"
"Too damn bad," said Butler.
Artemis raised an eyebrow.
"Butler…such language."
"Well it got you to listen to me," said the bodyguard gruffly.
Artemis smiled weakly.
"Sorry, old friend... I just really…want to get…through this."
"And you will," said Butler, laying a hand on his shoulder. "But not if you don't eat. Juliet, can you call up some dinner?"
"One step ahead of you, big bro," said Juliet. "As always."
The food was brought, consumed, and taken away, and then Artemis lay back down on his bed.
"No more meditating," said Butler sternly. "I know there is no rest involved when you're doing that. Get some real, non-electricity-induced sleep."
Artemis managed a slight quirk of his mouth. "Who is the…boss here, anyway?"
"You," said Bulter, lowering himself to the floor and pulling the blankets up over the wan boy. "And I'm making sure that I still have one when all of this is over."
Artemis shifted, trying to get his aching body comfortable. "Goodnight, Butler," he murmured.
"Goodnight, Artemis."
*****RTR*****
Holly arrived at Artemis's room bright (artificially, but still) and early in the morning.
"How is he?" she asked as soon as Butler opened the door.
"About the same," said Butler. "He woke up coughing a few times last night, but I don't think he was ever truly awake."
Holly ran a hand through her auburn hair. "Coughing blood, I presume?" Butler nodded. Holly sighed. "I brought you both some breakfast, figured you might need it. Argon should be here in about an hour."
Holly entered the room and sat in the chair beside Artemis's bed, pulling out fruit, yogurt, and croissants from the bag she carried and laying them on the bedside table. At the sound of her voice Artemis stirred and opened his eyes. "Good morning…"
"Good morning," said Holly. "I brought you some breakfast. And don't even think the words 'I'm not hungry'."
*****RTR*****
Soon enough Dr. Argon appeared to shoo Butler and Holly out of the room.
"Same as…yesterday," said Artemis as soon as the door was closed behind them. "Only with…Orion."
Argon resisted a groan. Orion grated on his nerves nearly as badly as Artemis himself did.
"No one is…particularly fond of him in his…pure form," said Artemis. "But he does have his…uses. And I think…you may find him…slightly changed."
Argon pursed his lips but made no comment as he began preparing his machine. He was beginning to think that the sooner he got rid of this particular patient the better; give him a nice, proper fairy any day.
Artemis swallowed the bitter contents of the vial which was handed to him and then allowed himself to be hooked up to the electrotherapy machine.
"Night, night, Fowl," said Dr. Argon.
Artemis mentally rolled his eyes; he wouldn't have granted this with a response even if he had still been able to.
*****RTR*****
When Orion opened his eyes, he became immediately aware of two things. One was that he felt absolutely awful; all he wanted to do was curl up into a ball and die. The second was that he was aware of Artemis in the back of his mind, as aware of his thoughts and actions and feelings as he had ever been within the mindspace.
"Orion?" said Dr. Argon's voice too loudly above him.
He whimpered.
Pull yourself together, said an annoyed voice in his head. It is high time for you to stop making an utter fool out of me. Orion felt the decision to push himself more upright and turn to face the doctor, he felt his muscles obey the command, but he himself had not given it; it was a rather strange sensation.
I won't let this beat me, thought Orion/Artemis. I have strength of the mind and spirit to make up for weakness of the body.
Artemis made Orion brush lank strands of raven black hair out of his eyes. "Yes and no," he said into the microphone.
"Yes and no," said Orion out in the real world.
Artemis could have crowed with delight, if he had been the type to crow.
"I did it!" he said.
"I did it!" said Orion.
"D'arvit."
"D'arvit."
Artemis frowned. This wasn't any good. He couldn't have his mouth spouting every single thought that came into his…oh, of course, thinking was the same as speaking within the mindspace, but not without it, so as long as he didn't say it out loud it would be heard only in his head. What an astonishing revelation, he thought sarcastically. If I only think it then it is only heard in my head. Then he glanced over his shoulder. Sirproites was standing there, looking overly innocent. He nearly rolled his eyes at her and then caught himself, turning back to the controls.
As it turned out, controlling Orion was surprisingly easy; perhaps because he was the first alter to appear, perhaps because Artemis had spent the most time in close proximity with him, perhaps because he had very little grip on actual reality; whatever the reason, Artemis felt that he could safely say that day's therapy session was a success.
*****RTR*****
The first thing Artemis did when he next came to consciousness was to look at the clock. He had slept again for six hours and still felt utterly exhausted.
"D'arvit."
"Arty?" Holly's face appeared in his line of vision.
Artemis coughed. "I didn't mean...to sleep so…long."
"You obviously needed it," said Holly. She put a hand to his forehead.
"I know it's…dangerously…high," said Artemis before Holly could say anything. "There's not…really anything we can…do."
"Your mother called earlier," said Holly, absentmindedly playing with Artemis's hair. "We told her what was going on."
"Why would you…do a thing…like that?" he demanded crossly.
"What else could we do? She wanted to come down here immediately of course, but we convinced her to wait until tomorrow morning."
"D'arvit," said Artemis again.
"Don't you want to see your mother?"
"It's not that…I don't want…to see her," said Artemis. "I just…can't have…distractions…right now."
"Artemis, she loves you. She's worried about you. You're her son. She's your mother."
"I know."
Artemis coughed, red liquid blossoming between his teeth. Holly dragged him upright and pressed a cloth to his mouth, patting his back firmly with the other hand. When the fit subsided Holly continued to stroke Artemis's hair and back until his tremors subsided.
"Please tell me this is going to end soon," she said, shifting the boy so that he was lying against the headboard. "It is seriously grating on my nerves."
"That is…the plan," said Artemis.
Holly swallowed the lump in her throat and said briskly, "You need to eat. I brought you some lunch."
Artemis stared at the soup on the tray. "Holly…I'm not…sure I can…eat it."
"Nonsense," said the elf. "You will eat it."
"No," said Artemis, looking at his trembling hands folded in his lap, "I'm not sure I can… physically…hold the…spoon…"
And so Holly fed Artemis the soup and the boy bit down his shame at his inability to feed himself and his reaction to the intimacy and necessitated closeness of the gesture. When the soup was gone—Artemis had managed to eat it all, just barely—he closed his eyes again.
"Meditation," he said simply, knowing Holly needed no more words to understand.
She nodded, though he couldn't see her, and gently laced her fingers through his. "Is this distracting?"
"No."
"Will it be safe for me or Butler to pull you out when it's time for dinner?"
"Yes."
"Alright."
Nothing more was said as Artemis sank into meditation, his breathing becoming shallow and even, his muscles relaxed. Holly picked up her own lunch from beside the bed with her free hand and began to eat one-handedly, moving on to reading her book when she had finished, never losing awareness of Artemis's hand in hers or his gently breathing form beside her on the bed.
*****RTR*****
Artemis was pulled away from his mental office by the hands and voice of his bodyguard.
"Artemis, it's dinner time. Artemis, stop that now, no more, alright? You're done. No more."
Artemis gently rolled his neck and flexed his fingers, which were lying lax on the sheets beside him—Holly had left sometime during his meditation.
"Alright, Butler," said Artemis. "But you'll have to…feed me…I'm too weak…to do it…on my own."
Butler's lips tightened and his eyes narrowed just a fraction as he looked at his charge. "Holly told me as much. How much longer is this going to last, Artemis?"
"As long…as it takes," said Artemis.
Butler was not satisfied with that answer, but, as Artemis had pointed out to Holly earlier, there wasn't a lot he could do about it.
Halfway through the meal Artemis jerked suddenly, nearly spilling the soup Butler was feeding him.
"What?" asked the bodyguard, instantly on alert.
"Like a fly…" said Artemis, still shaking his head. "Inside…my head…"
I'm not a fly, said a voice in his head.
"Siproites?" he said aloud.
"Sorry?" said Butler.
Yes, these controls really aren't that complicated once you get the hang of them. Perhaps because we're supposed to be using them in the first place, subconsciously of course.
I still don't think we should be messing about with them right now, Sirproites, said Adonis. Artemis didn't know how he knew it was Adonis, he just did.
Nonsense, said Ephialtes, we are always using these controls, this is how our body functions.
Yes, I suppose so, said Adonis. But not like this.
'Like this' how? asked Orion. We're not trying to take control, we're just connecting. Isn't that a good thing?
"You're giving me a headache," said Artemis.
"How so?" asked Butler.
"Not you."
Think it, don't say it, remember? said Orion.
Right.
Artemis concentrated on pushing the alters' voices, thoughts, and feelings to the back of his mind. They were still there, but he didn't have to respond unless he didn't want to. Hopefully doing that would get easier with time. He then looked at Butler.
"Conversation with…my other selves…nothing to…worry about… Shall we…finish…dinner?"
Butler opened his mouth to ask for specifics, and then closed it again; he wouldn't understand his employer's explanation anyway. So instead he just finished feeding Artemis his dinner and then watched him as he fell almost instantly into a restless sleep.
AN: I would like to thank all of you who read, review, follow, and favorite this story for making it one of the most popular AF fics on the site. Several people have pointed that out to me & I was like "Whoa, really? *checks site* O.o I suppose it kind of is…" So thank you! And please do keep reviewing, not simply for the story to rack up reviews, but rather because I love hearing from you :)
-SQ