Future Artemis P.O.V

We had been rather lucky with the Manager. Three rooms had been occupied before, and he'd had the generosity to let us have the other three at more than eighty percent off. That meant one of three rooms out of the six could have Castro as an occupant. Our mission just got whole lot easier.

The first thing I did upon entering the room was starting a video conference with Foaly.

"Heya," Foaly gnawed on a carrot. "Any luck? Signs of Castro? Big red arrows pointing at his room saying Open the door? Anything at all?"

I sighed. "Yes, a considerable stroke of luck. We have only three rooms to search."

Foaly tapped his chin thoughtfully. "Well, why call me then? Surely you're smart enough to formulate a plan now."

I tiredly rubbed my forehead. He knew, and he was trying to have some fun while he was at it.

As predicted, a small smirk started to fill his face. "Oh, oh no," he widened his eyes in mock horror. "Don't tell me..."

Knowing full well that Foaly wasn't going to let his chance pass, I started tapping the laptop's surface and drowning him out.

"You want your pretty little girlfriend, Mud Boy?"

I patiently nodded.

"Okay...let me put her on the line and leave you two alone. But first—"

"But first?" I raised an eyebrow. "Foaly, I have no time for this."

Foaly laughed. "But first, admit it."

"Admit what?"

"You had a crush on her when you were seventeen."

"You mean myself of this time?" I groaned. "Foaly, stop this and put her online."

"Come on, you can tell me—"

"Absolutely not," I interrupted.

The centaur whinnied. "Okay, fine. I'll put her online. You can exchange virtual kisses while you're at it. I won't bother you. I wouldn't ever dream of opening the door while you're kissing. Oh noo, that would be terrible of me, wouldn't it?"

I tried my utmost not to end the call right then. "Firstly, we can't exchange virtual kisses, and secondly, I am resisting an impulse to toss your beloved laptop out of the—"

Perhaps it was fortunate for both of us that there was suddenly an urgent knock on the door.

—•••

Future Holly P.O.V

"Our guns are lighter than these," I aimed at the cheerily painted target. "Much lighter."

The LEP's target shooting range was located at Police Plaza's basement. The larger half of it was steel walls and moving red targets, but there were two sections apart from that. Sealed off and for private use if you had special access. Obviously, if anyone just happened to drop in and see two Holly Shorts challenging each other's aim—my youngest self had gone off somewhere and it didn't exactly bother me—it would be catastrophic, so we had no choice but to use the private ranges. I swear, they were more likely designed for officers taking their kids to work.

Ten cardboard targets looking like traditional Irish Leprechauns moved slowly along a steel line. Green uniforms, belt buckles, red beards and four leaf clovers. I was glad they didn't have these in my time.

"No kidding," my present self crossed her arms. "So, about this future of yours. You still have a lot to tell us."

I shrugged, not bothering to spare a glance. "Well, you're destroying the timeline by simply asking that."

Present Holly got down from her perch on one of the benches, beside Present Mulch. "Am not. One thing, Holly. I want to know one thing."

"Don't call her by name," whined Mulch, as if he had the biggest problem with it. "We can make things less complicated. Holly One, Holly Two and H—"

I purposely aimed low and shot the metal plate that held the cardboard target, the sound loud and bouncing off the walls.

Mulch rolled his eyes. "Fine. I was only trying to help."

"Go eat a target or something," I quipped, turning back to what I was supposed to shoot. One pull of the trigger and the traditional Leprechaun had a hole in his belt buckle. I grinned. That looked quite amusing.

My present self seemed pretty annoyed. "You still haven't answered my question."

"You still haven't asked it," I replied.

"I'm sure you can guess what it is and I don't need to ask," she walked up to the spot beside me and plucked the Neutrino 3000 from her holster. "In the future you come from, Artemis gave himself up because he wanted you to live. How did he convince you to step down and not give yourself up?"

I had known this was coming. It was inevitable, really. "Well, that's simply none of your business."

"It technically is," she protested. "You're me and I'm you, and I have every right to know."

What did she expect me to say to that? They knew they weren't getting an answer anyways.

"Trust me, you'll only regret asking." Yeah, because the D'Arvitting timeline would have ripped in half if either of them got to know.

"Yeah, trust her," Mulch grinned. There was something suspicious in that grin. "You don't want to know."

"What's the worst we could hear?" Present Holly glared at us. "Come on, if he knows and you've told Foaly—"

"I haven't told Foaly." I glanced sideways at Mulch, a look of warning in my eyes. "And I have no clue who told Mulch."

Mulch laughed. "Let's just say that my Future self trusts...himself."

I would have rubbed my forehead if I wasn't holding the gun. And I would have aimed the gun at Mulch if it weren't for my borrowed communicator's sudden decision to break the tension with a weird beep.

—•••

Future Artemis

"Castro is in room 42," said my youngest self. "Two floors up from here, but right beside mine."

Foaly whinnied. "And what, you're going to spy on him just like that?"

Past Artemis scowled. "No, I'm suggesting we use the surveillance equipment

of utmost importance

to spy on him. Or have you already forgotten the heavy knapsacks we had to drag up the stairs?"

The centaur shrugged. "Not my fault you're never physically fit." He shot a glance at me. "Except maybe you. Train with the LEP, Mud Boy?"

I shrugged. "I was forced to."

"You mean you did it because Holly asked."

I scowled. "Why do you insist on deserving the name Donkey Boy every time you speak?"

•

"A bit closer!"

"Well, unlike some of us, I happen to be carrying this corpulent, burdensome weight over my head—"

Foaly whinnied. A noise I was more than used to by now. "Come on, it can't be so hard. All you have to do is reach over and spray the thing on him."

I snorted. He expected fourteen year old Artemis to be capable of a feat like that?

My counterpart on the other end of the line was heard dropping something, likely the corpulent, burdensome so-called state-of-the-art surveillance equipment of Foaly's. Grunting, we heard him lift it again and we had a new video feed. Clearer that last time. I shot the centaur a look.

He shrugged on-screen. "Hey, I didn't build those. I designed them. Maybe the techies who worked on it forgot to connect a wire somewhere and that hit on the ground was all it needed to be fixed."

"I assumed you had the common sense to check your equipment before this!"

"I have perfect trust in my techies! Well, had—"

"I'm in."

That simple statement from my youngest self was enough to make us both, and the so-far sensibly quiet Present Artemis to snap and face the other screen which now showed us what was clearly the interior of Castro's room.

The corpulent, burdensome equipment was Foaly's pathetic excuse of an in-built tracker spray in a lightweight camera, the first essential, the camera just for his entertainment because he could have loaned us an iris cam instead, but both seemed to be serving their purpose now.

Until, as usual, something went horribly wrong.

—•••

Past Artemis P.O.V

I wasn't sure if my older selves had seen the reason for Foaly's ludicrous camera, but it struck me at random that he wasn't just looking for something to laugh at.

That camera was a shield.

Of course Foaly was looking for something to laugh at. Considering that he didn't just loan me a shimmer suit, it was a fact. But I found myself relieved. Just in case Castro turned my way, he wouldn't see me. He wouldn't see a shimmer, leaving him no room to even begin to suspect fairies. With this camera fixed onto my head like a standard LEP helmet, I was well out of harm's way. It was heavy because it was new, a prototype. One that worked well and one that I prayed would not break, because it could more or less mean the end of my life.

I had the easiest part of the plan.

Step two, locate Castro. It shouldn't be a problem. The room isn't very large—

The room was very large.

Completely out of place in the dingy building and unswept corridors, the walls were crisp white. It didn't comprise of more than a bed and a sofa set—but, after all we'd seen over the past couple of hours, this place was a billionaire's. The bed itself took up one quarter of the room, clean sheets and a red quilt, but that didn't bother me.

No, what caught my attention were the sounds coming from the bathroom.

Running water, someone talking. That was all it took to shrink my confidence.

My future self should have been here. He really should have. I didn't know a thing about Castro, I had no information whatsoever, and information had up to this point had always been my defense. Information or the presence of a bodyguard.

The bathroom door was pushed open.

You're invisible. You just have to keep quiet and somehow get the spray onto him.

The man who stepped out was already fully clothed, though I'd hear the shower seconds ago. Red. That was the colour he'd chosen; perfectly normal clothes, but overdone, exaggerated, and intimidating. A red shirt, a red jacket, maroon trousers and red shoes. He was an abhorrent eye sore.

I managed to find his face.

The man was tall and only partially muscular. But that was more than enough. One wrong move and I'd have a broken neck.

Oh yes, Artemis Fowl was scared.

I didn't understand it. I had faced trolls before. A pack of ravenous, bloodthirsty trolls. This man was merely a human-fairy hybrid who didn't even have magic. And yet, something gripped me in a way I didn't understand. It was not the dark hair, it was not the clothes he wore, it wasn't because his eyes were of two different colours that looked too much like Present Holly's—

Then it struck me why.

My theory was confirmed without a shred of doubt when an electric black spark passed through his fingers and collected, floating at the tips.

No. He had magic. But that wasn't possible. In fact, this time my theory seemed too ridiculous, too out-of-place, too inconvenient to be even close to the truth.

Castro didn't walk halfway across his room before he suddenly turned towards my direction.

I held my breath.

This was not the man we'd been expecting. Castro should've been weak. Castro shouldn't have had black magic literally at his fingertips.

He suddenly grinned.

"I smell a rat," Castro seemed to brighten up considerably, but it didn't take the crazed look from his eyes. "I know who you are, Artemis. That prototype never reached the market for a reason."

I was frozen on the spot.

Artemis.

There was no point in standing there. Not with my exit being sealed and not with him standing more than an arm's length away. If I pretended I wasn't there, he would probably run his fist into the wall and test for himself.

I slowly reached the top of the helmet and found the switch.

It powered down and I was visible.

Castro frowned.

"You're...different."

What was I going to say, I was from the past?

What would my older self do?

"Oh, you noticed," I put on a smirk. "Glad. You see, the time stream has a variety of side effects. It doesn't matter that I'm seven years younger, Castro. That's all that's changed. It won't drag me down, it won't be an advantage to you."

Castro's frown turned into a small grin. A grin I'd only seen on Opal Koboi before. "Well," he made a show of cracking his knuckles. As averagely built as the man was, I was still physically no match for him. "I suppose I can't blame you for taking all that trouble. I did crash your wedding, didn't I?"

This Castro was from the future. My oldest self's time.

The only question was why he was here.

"You're going to wish you hadn't done that," I scowled. It wasn't acting, it was a real one this time.

"Right," Castro yawned. "You know, these little chats were always the reason you survived my brother's confrontations. I'd prefer it faster."

Several things happened at once. Castro's left hand lurched at my throat, his right stretching immediately towards the door, literally throwing sparks at it. Banging was heard from the other end, indications that it was being shot, kicked and heaved at, but the door didn't so much as budge. I barely managed to spot a movement at the window—the latch breaking open, Castro's head snapping to look at it, his fingers tightening around my neck.

The next thing I knew, I was free, and gasping for air on the large bed's now ragged sheets beside one Holly Short from my time.

"What?" yelled Castro, finally getting to look at his attacker. Holly managed to sit up straight, groggily, but alive and well. His shots of electric black magic had missed her by less than an inch.

Despite the intensity of the situation, I couldn't help but give her an incredulous look.

"You flew in through the window? Just like that?"

Holly rolled her eyes. "Couldn't let you have all the fun, could I?"

Castro was starting to recover, although he was still halfway in that state of confusion. "You. It's not possible. You died. I saw you die."

She somehow managed to recover just as quickly and get down, standing in front of me. "Enormous concentrations of black magic in one place," she explained, almost to herself. "I figured something was wrong."

"But you died!" shouted Castro. "You lost your magic and I got it!"

Holly winced as the entire situation started to make sense. "Not another time traveling—"

Acting on impulse, my hand was immediately over her mouth before she gave away anything crucial.

Which, of course, just made it more obvious.

Castro now sounded dangerous. "You aren't from my time. You're from here."

That's better than from seven years into your past. "Ah, yes," I replied. "She has a hard time understanding the situation's requirements."

His eyes narrowed. "Requirements?"

I scoffed, releasing Holly. "Surely you want something." Knowing full well I'd be taken more seriously if I stood on the ground, I did. "Why would you be here otherwise?"

Castro sneered. "You want to strike a deal with me, Fowl? After everything? Isn't this plan of yours a little too far-fetched?"

More banging from outside the door, but the black magic kept it shut.

"It's too bothersome trying to kill you," continued Castro. "So how about I," he broke into a grin again. A cynical, maniacal grin. He outstretched a hand in Holly's direction, fingers spread out just like he had done to the door. "Use her instead?"

Holly scowled, but I was faster with an answer.

"Killing her now, in the past could mean you never getting your magic," I warned.

Castro barked a laugh. "Oh, and what makes you think I wouldn't get my magic through you?"

My future self was a hybrid, he had magic. But very limited magic, wasn't it? There was no way Castro couldn't have known that, so the only logical explanation was that I was wrong.

Undeniably so.

It then struck me for the first time, something I should have seen before. His magic was not as limited as it should have been. After all, in Future Holly's Alternative timeline, my older self had been the one to do Castro's magic exchange.

My older self had the same magic as Castro.

So did Future Holly.

And I hadn't seen it. They hadn't told us.

And, before I could react, before I could even fully grasp the reality of what was going on, time stopped and the next thing I knew was that the door was broken, my older selves inside the room, Holly gone along with Castro and that sparks of electric black magic was the aura around Future Artemis.

He stopped, stared and the sparks receded.

"That—That wasn't—" he began. "Look, I had a perfectly plausible reason for not telling you about—"

"What?" demanded my Present self. "The magic you had at your disposal? How could I be so stupid as to not see it?"

I didn't hear them. Or at least I didn't care.

"Castro has Holly."

—••—

Author's Note; I don't need to yell "CLIFFHANGER!", because wow, that felt good. I won't update unless I get comments from you guys, and if you guys want the next chapter you'd better comment. Reviewers get milk toffees!

PS;- My first ever Fanfiction, ARMAGEDDON'S EVE, has been completely rewritten. Still rated K with all the hilarity and alter egos you love, but written a whole lot better than last time. Click my name up there and you'll find it.

MILK TOFFEEEEEES!

So what do you think of Castro? As dislikable as Zidan, or is Zidan better? For those of you who don't know, The Cross Species Battle is the story of when this fic's Present Artemis turns 21 and Castro's brother. That includes Hartemis too, plus fused storylines, so GO READ IT NOW!

Oh, BTW, if you want anything added to either stories (eg: more romance, suggestions, more annoying cliffhangers) you can leave that in your comments as well. You don't have to.