I do Not Own Artemis Fowl.

Chapter 25

A familiarity came to Holly as everything about the town they had experienced so far, not only a familiarity with Yaroslavl, but a familiarity with Constantine as well. Not only did she know him from somewhere else, they had spent four months in this frond-forsaken town scouting out that damned Kravchenko. He had discovered the fairies some time ago, and the fairies hired Constantine as an above-ground consultant to find out how much the crazy Russian really knew. Eventually, Constantine and Holly infiltrated Kravchenko's compound, hoping to find the man and wipe him of everything regarding fairies, magic, and underground civilizations, but things went wrong. Then, things went horribly wrong.

Holly sat on the bed, her fists shaking in rage. The recollection hadn't been violent, the way Constantine's was. Her memories came back to her in a calm, peaceful way, like she had finally remembered a word that had been on the tip of her tongue for so long, but she couldn't quite enunciate. That was why it was wrong. The return of her memories was like when Artemis' memories returned to him, after he was wiped. This wasn't amnesia she had from the fall off the gondola, she had been wiped. She remembered waking up two weeks after the explosion in a hospital in Haven. Root was there, so was Foaly. They all smiled, and fed her a well-cooked story about what had happened in the gaps in her memories. It was all lies.

It was at that moment that the Holly's off-helmet communicator rang. It had been lying on the bed next to Holly, she glared at it, but Artemis picked it up first, and answered it.

"Hello?" Foaly's voice called out after a moment of silence.

"I'm sorry, Major Short is not here to answer your call at the moment, please leave your name and number after the beep." Artemis tossed the small rectangle to Butler, who took the hint.

"Beep." he said, and crushed it in a massive fist.

"Why'd you do that?" Holly asked, still livid.

"Because, if you tell the LEP that your memories have returned, they will do one of two things. They will try to suppress them again, for which they will come to get you, or they will beg forgiveness. If they do the former, I do not wish them to do so here. Contrary to what Foaly thinks, I can fight off the entire LEP. I've done it once, and for you I would gladly do it again, but I cannot do it here. We have to get back to the manor."

Holly looked at him, her eyes shown with tears. She jumped up from the bed and embraced him, burying her face into his suit. "Thank you, Artemis." Artemis returned the embrace in response.

"I will never let you go."

He broke off the embrace as Butler and Juliet squeezed by him, going to pack up their things and get the car ready. The had to leave now. Constantine, however, didn't move. Artemis and Holly looked at him.

"You two go." He said. "I have to take care of some unfinished business here. I'll return as soon as I can to assist you."

"Unfinished business?"

"Yep, somebody once shoved a missile down my throat in this city once, and I've yet to return the favor."

"We could use you if they decide to raid."

"Their going to want me too." Constantine said, "It's better to have an enemy fighting on two fronts, if they do turn out to be our enemy. If not, then I'll see you again soon – Hopefully."

Holly eyed the man, new memories and old ones mixing, and a feeling of affection resurfacing. She walked over to him and hugged him, taking Constantine by surprise. He started for a moment, then returned her embrace.

"Holly-"

"You're a fool." She cut him off. "You may be a genius, but like Arty, you're a fool. The exact same type of idiot that would take on the entire LEP by himself. And now you're going to go off, attacking someone who beat us before, and you're probably going to die doing it." She looked up at him, her eyes watering. The sight nearly broke Constantine's heart. He wanted to tell her she was wrong, that he would come back with them, go back home and live happily ever after, but he couldn't. Life just didn't work that way. There were things he needed to take care of. He wouldn't be able to rest until they were. Lives would be put in danger if they weren't.

"Yes, I am a fool, but I won't die. I promise, I'll be back soon."

Holly looked at him, a defiant gleam in he eyes. "You better keep that promise, or I'll kill you myself."

"I'd be insulted if you didn't." He smiled at her.

"Obstinate fool." She muttered. She walked back over to Artemis, kissed him on the cheek, told him she had to get her stuff together, and left. That left only Artemis and Constantine in Constantine's room. The looked at each other awkwardly.

"I'll call you when I get back," Constantine said. "if the fairies do attack, I'll hit them from the side, if they haven't already got to me. I'll try to break through and cause a little bit of havoc in their camp. They'll go whole hog on this one. Blue rinse, everything. They'll be trying to hide their mistakes.

Artemis nodded. "I know. Are you sure you wish to do this?"

Constantine nodded this time. "It's got to be done."

"Yes." Artemis agreed. "Be careful."

"You too."

A half-hour later, Butler, Juliet, Artemis and Holly were all back in the car, and driving away from the ruined house. Constantine stood outside the house, dressed in all black, contrasting with the white snow and bright cottages around him, waving at the group as they drove away. Artemis was in the back seat of the car with Holly, and waved at Constantine's shrinking figure through the back window. Holly was sullen, but she looked back at him anyway, and he was gone.

Deep underground, Foaly was meeting with Vinyaya in the Ops Booth. Things were going awry very fast. Papers were scattered everywhere, Foaly had all seven of his supercomputers running at full speed. There was the slight hum of coolant being piped around the consoles that added to the din of the Wing Commander.

"What do you mean you THINK she has her memories back?" Vinyaya was livid.

Foaly breathed deeply trying to control himself. "I received satellite imaging showing that there was an attack on the manor they were staying in in Russia. Constantine repelled the attack. I called to make sure Holly was alright, and Artemis answered."

"Why would he answer for her?"

"I'm getting to that, Commander."

"I don't think I like your attitude, centaur."

"No one ever does. Like I was saying, Artemis answered for her, said Holly wasn't available, and then the line was cut off. I haven't been able to get through to her since."

Vinyaya's eyes narrowed in thought. "I was afraid this would happen. What happened to Willow?"

"She sent in her resignation this morning."

"WHAT?"

"Yes, I don't know what happened, but she sent in her report this morning, saying she failed in her mission to dispatch the mud man and her resignation was attached. Maybe it has something to do with a soldier's professional pride or some other similar notion."

"I doubt it." Vinyaya's fists were clenched and her knuckles whitening. "It's that mud man, he has that effect on people. He changes them, that's how he got to Holly in the first place. That's how he negotiated his way with Root." Vinyaya let out a sigh. "The good Commander's biggest mistake was letting the mud man go."

"It wasn't a mistake, he didn't kill needlessly." Foaly said through gritted teeth. "He didn't even want to wipe Holly, you know that, he fought the Council for a week on that decision."

"He was getting soft then. It's the same type of decision making paradigm that led to his death."

Foaly slammed his big fist on the control council, an unusual act of defiance for the timid centaur, but this was enough, he couldn't stand for her insulting the commander that way. "Don't you think we've had enough? Everything is falling apart around our pointy ears and all we can do is lie about it! We should tell Holly the truth, we should appeal to Constantine ask him for forgiveness, we should do what we couldn't, or wouldn't, ten years ago!"

Vinyaya, glared at Foaly. "No, we shoudln't, civilian, And if you ever try to order me around again I'll have you deported to one of the centaur colonies under the Hawaiin volcanoes and exiled from Haven, you understand me?"

"Try it, see if you can get these computers working without me." There was silence, this was the first time Foaly had every called one of these bluffs. They stared at each other.

"The fact of the matter is this, that man is dangerous. He is a danger to every fairy under and above-ground and mostly to Holly. This is my decision, this is the Council's decision, and that is how we're going to act." Foaly fell silent. "Where is Holly now?"

"The last image I could pick up was Holly with Artemis and company driving into Moscow Airport." Foaly replied in a defeated monotone.

"So they're running. Send a retrieval squad to Fowl Manor. Where's Constantine?"

"Still in Yaroslavl."

"Send our next fairy after him. We must end this." Her voice was cold, calculating. Foaly didn't move as she left the Ops Booth, and when she was gone, he sent a quick prayer to whatever gods may have existed for bot Constantine, and Artemis. He knew Holly liked Artemis, and the mud boy possessed something in the way of feelings towards her. He was their ally, their friend, and he didn't deserve this.

It was then Foaly decided to do something, he couldn't go to the council, they had made their decision, and weren't known to change their minds, but with a quick movement of his hands, he opened up his email browser and sent two secured emails: one to the next assassin in line on the payroll, and the second to the home address of Willow Berry.

Please Read and Review :)