"Fairies, huh?"
Tucked into a solitary corner of the library as far from other people as possible, and holding a small pile of books they'd snatched from shelves on their way there, Frisk grimaced and nodded.
"It definitely seems like they could be fairies, though for all we know there could be something else involved here." They waved at the various tomes. "I don't think we'll know for sure unless we do some more research, right?"
Sans dropped down into a chair directly across from them, and, with a lazy flick of his fingers and a spark of blue, levitated one of the books from the top of the pile and turned it so he could read the cover.
"Eh, I guess that's true." With a noise that sounded suspiciously like a yawn, he plucked the book out of the air and flipped it open to the table of contents. "'m surprised you're not using the internet, though. S' a lot more info there."
With a groan, Frisk flopped into another chair and reached for a book themselves – a thin tome of fairy folktales. "There's a ton more information there. Too much. I think if I read any more articles without proper spellings and paragraph breaks, then my head would explode. Heck, maybe Chara's would explode."
*Hey! The computer would explode, thank you so very much!
"Heh." The corners of Sans's permanent grin twitched up a little higher. "Gotta give you brownie points for stickin' with it as long as you did."
It took Frisk a couple seconds to recognize the pun for what it was, and then they leveled the most unimpressed expression they could muster at the skeleton. "Sans, I like puns as much as the next person, but is now really the time for them?"
"You don't know me fairy well if 'ya have to ask that, kiddo. There's always time for puns."
They snorted but otherwise didn't react as they opened the book of folktales and started reading.
Almost three hours later, Frisk shut their fifth book with a huff of frustration and set it aside.
Folktales were only marginally more helpful than online articles, it seemed. There was definitely more attention to detail, but they were still stories, obviously geared more towards entertainment than anything else, and while there was somewhat accurate info – fairies appearing seemingly from nowhere, only to disappear again, sometimes hostile personalities, etcetera – it was far too often hemmed in by both sides by things that seemed much more fantastical. Food that made human food taste like sawdust? Babies being snatched and replaced with fairy infants without the parents noticing? That seemed unrealistic even by their own very skewed standards.
"Have you had any luck, Sans?"
The monster shrugged, white pupils still steadily reading on. "Depends on what you see as 'luck.' Anythin' about fairy rings, changelings, that sorta stuff?"
Frisk groaned and let their head flop back to stare at the ceiling.
"Take it that's a 'no.'"
"I haven't found anything!" They complained. Then, remembering where they were, they lowered their voice to almost a whisper as the continued. "There's nothing that could help us explain why they were Underground, or why they'd want people to forget about them!"
Sans shrugged again – a remarkable effort for him, to perform the same action two times in a row. "Can't say I know anythin' either, kid."
With another angry noise, Frisk reached for the next book. This one had caught their eye as they were passing by the non-fiction section – it was titled, in bold, professional letters, Sightings of the Fairy Kind: A Chronicle of Fairy Sightings and Unexplained Phenomenon in the Aftermath of the Crash.
It was a remarkably long title for such a small book – it couldn't have been wider than maybe half an inch, at the most – but Frisk had briefly scanned the first chapter when they'd found it, and the text was small, densely packed, and had a very professional tone to it, so maybe it'd be more helpful.
They opened it, turning to the table of contents and scanning the chapter titles –
And found one that made them start. Hardly daring to believe their eyes, they quickly flipped to that chapter and found that they had not been mistaken.
The Fairy Roses of Dublin.
Beneath the chapter title, there was a small aerial photograph of the familiar orange blooms from the Fowl Estate.
*Well, that's… interesting. Didn't expect to see them in a book.
Frisk could safely say they hadn't expected it, either, certainly not in this book, listed among the ranks of post-Crash fairy sightings, of all things –
Fairy sightings. Fairy roses.
No. No way. How did we miss this?
"Sans?"
"Hmm?" He didn't even glance up from his book, even though his sockets were visibly drooping with greater-than-usual fatigue.
"Those flowers I told you about, the ones planted in a spiral around the SAVE point? They're mentioned in a book of fairy sightings."
That caught his attention. Sans didn't quite sit bolt upright, but he did stop slouching and look up from his own reading.
Frisk held up the book for him to see, and pointed at the picture for emphasis. "See?"
His brows rose a fraction, and he made a gimme that gesture with one hand. Frisk complied, handing it over so he could have a look at it himself.
"Huh." The skeleton squinted as if to get a better look at the picture, a definite flicker of blue creeping into one eye. "That looks almost like magical discoloration."
*What the hell is magical discoloration?
Seeing Frisk's quizzical expression, Sans narrowed his eye sockets in consideration, for a moment, before he started to explain.
"Y'know there's a lot of plants in the Underground?" When they nodded, he continued. "Well, 'cause they didn't have sunlight when they were bein' grown, we had to use magic, and that caused stuff like this." He waved the book a little in his hand. "Wasn't common, but some plants would change color if exposed to too much magic. Before they lost their needles, there were some trees 'n Snowdin that were blue."
"Blue-green, or…?"
"Nah, bright blue. Almost the same color as Patience."
*Wait a second… if plants can change color when there's too much magic around, and the roses are almost exactly the same shade of orange as Bravery…
Frisk gulped.
"Then do you think that that's what happened here? Magical discoloration?"
He shrugged and tossed the book back at them carelessly. "Dunno. Wouldn't know for sure unless I could see them in person, and I can't really see that happening."
Frisk looked back down at the book, then back up at Sans.
"Actually, there is a way you can see them in person… how do you feel about coming to a birthday party?"
The peace of a quiet room, near silent save for the soft humming of electricity running in the background, crickets chirping outside the open window, and pages turning, was broken by a harsh ring.
Myles slipped a strip of paper in to mark his place in his book – a second edition copy of Algal and Cyanobacteria Symboses – and quickly stood up, crossing the floor of what had once been his older brother's study to pick up the phone.
"This is Myles Fowl speaking."
"Ah, Myles. Just who I was looking to speak to. I trust you're doing well?"
The boy's lips twitched up into a small, surprisingly soft smile. "Hello, Artemis! I have to admit, I wasn't expecting you – are you alright?"
"Perfectly fine, I can assure you, though I will not deny that I am becoming quite fed up with recent political ventures."
"I can only imagine." Myles' voice was dryly humorous at the admission. "I take it this isn't a social call?"
"No, unfortunately." The faint sound of clicking keys echoed out of the receiver – it seemed that his brother was working while he spoke, as he was often wont to do. "I wish to ask you a favor, assuming of course that you would be willing to help your eldest sibling?"
"It depends on the favor." Myles remembered the last favor that Artemis had asked of him in vivid detail, and what it involved, and though it had been intellectually stimulating, he had no desire to walk blindly into a situation like that ever again. Juliet had enough ammunition to tease him with as it was.
"It's not nearly so harrowing as the last favor, I promise." The man sounded vaguely amused, though only vaguely, thankfully. "It has to do with the monster Ambassador and the fairies."
Myles blinked. He couldn't have heard that right. "Pardon?"
"You heard me correctly, Myles." More clicking, then a rustling of fabric – he could almost see Artemis steepling his fingers as if he was right in front of him. "A monster that recently made the trip overseas to Ireland – and has, so far as we are aware, been in Ambassador Frisk's immediate presence with some frequency since his arrival – is aware of the People."
Oh. He already knew about the monster, as he'd heard the fairies still lingering on the grounds around the roses speaking about it in hushed, fearful tones, but he had been unaware of the company it kept. With that and the People's dedication to secrecy in mind, he immediately had an educated hypothesis as to what exactly Artemis's new favor was going to be.
"You wish me to supervise them, while they are here?"
"Yes, for a time, at least. There will still be fairies on the grounds by that point, and I know they'll appreciate having an extra pair of observant eyes on their side, especially since there will be at least one monster present. They've become rather jittery of late, as I'm sure you've noticed."
"How could I not? I wouldn't be surprised if I could hear their nervous whispering from my bedroom window."
Artemis chuckled. "Don't let Holly hear you say that – I can only imagine how she would react."
"I have no intention of her hearing me." Myles cast a glance around the office once, just to be certain that the fiery LEP captain was nowhere in sight – not that she would be, when she and half of the other fairies were spending most of their nighttime airborne and shielded. "How long do you wish me to watch them?"
"Only until my arrival. After that, you may leave it to me."
"I understand."
"Good. And Myles, be careful."
There was a click, and then a soft tone as the speaker near his ear informed him that the other caller had hung up.
Myles eyed the receiver skeptically for several moments, wondering what precisely Artemis had neglected to mention, for such a warning to be viable, then carefully set the phone back on its cradle, and left through the office door, intending to find his twin. After all, unlike the previous favor, Artemis had not specifically stated he had to keep this a secret.
Welp, looks like Frisk and Sans has already made a connection between the Fowl Estate and fairies – I will point out, however, that they don't know that the Fowls themselves are involved, not yet. They'll find out eventually.
You all may have noticed that I like writing panicking fairies. Heheheheheheh, you have NO idea.
There WILL be a sequel to this fanfic – be sure to say thank you to danielxcutter for that, because without the very enthusiastic chats we had (VERY enthusiastic chats), I might not have decided to work on one at all! (Also, thanks for helping me figure out the transitional scenes in this chapter, daniel! You're a lifesaver!)
And now, for today's worldbuilding tidbit, brought to you by me and daniel: How much do people (fairies and humans) know about the colored magic used by the monsters?
The fairies have started learning colored magic, as we have seen, though they're having some difficulty identifying some of the magic's capabilities. They'll figure them out eventually. Humans, on the other hand, know next to nothing, mostly because there are no humans with magic – apart from Frisk, maybe (yes I am considering giving them magic, but not any time soon) – and therefore none capable of learning colored magic (colored magic in this universe can be learned on top of any original magic a person may have, but without magic of your own, you can't learn them). Also, the monsters are hiding all that they're capable of, including how they use colored magic so that humans aren't as scared of them, and therefore less violent towards monsters.
That's not the only thing the monsters are hiding, either – they're also hiding how vulnerable monster souls are to malicious intent (at Frisk's insistence). They don't want to encourage the more violent anti-monster folks to take action by letting that become public knowledge.