Author's Note: I know it's been nearly a month again, I just have so little time and even less internet access for the rest of this summer, due to my job at summer camp. That also means that I just got The Last Guardian today and have yet to start reading it, as I was writing this, so please, please, PLEASE, no spoilers! Along those lines, even when I do read it, this story was started right after TAC came out, so if it ends up not being TLG compliant, oh well.

Happy reading :)

-SQ

Disclaimer: If I owned Artemis Fowl I would be Eoin Colfer, and if I were Eoin Colfer I wouldn't be writing this, and if I wasn't writing this, you wouldn't be reading it

Chapter Thirty-Six: Theory

Holly returned twenty minutes later with her arms full of coffee.

"Sorry," she said grumpily, handing the two humans their cups and plonking herself down on the side of Artemis's bed, "the line was atrocious."

"Not a problem," said Artemis, taking his cappuccino and spinning it slowly in his hands.

Holly frowned at him. "Are you alright, Artemis?"

Artemis blinked. "What? Oh, yes. Yes, I am fine."

Holly raised her eyebrows, unconvinced.

"Really. I am feeling rather unreasonably anxious, and slightly less than fond of the number four, but nothing unmanageable."

"Artemis," said Holly quietly, "you're tapping."

Artemis looked down at the fingers wrapped around his coffee cup. "So I am."

Holly reached over and stilled his hand. "Deep breaths, Arty."

Artemis nodded, taking several calming breaths in through his nose. "Apparently I still have good days and bad days."

"Well, you had a stressful evening," Butler pointed out.

"How long were you sitting there before Juliet found you?" asked Holly.

"About forty-five minutes."

Holly whistled. "No wonder you're on tenderhooks today." She rubbed his knee.

"I do not like being ill," said Artemis testily. "I do not like not being in control."

Holly coughed. "Control freak."

Artemis glared at her.

"Drink your coffee before it gets cold," said Holly.

Artemis made a face but complied, sipping the hot drink. He found it soothing.

"How are you feeling physically, Artemis?"

Artemis shrugged. "I am slightly achy and feverish, but decent, overall."

Butler felt his forehead. "I will rest a lot easier when this fever is gone."

"Trust me, so will I, in a more literal sense."

The door opened.

"Knock knock," said Juliet, sticking her head around the doorframe. "I'm back, did you miss me?"

"Not particularly," said Holly and Artemis at the same time.

Juliet stuck her tongue out at them. "I am so unappreciated." She came all the way into the room. "How's your back, Holly?"

Artemis looked at Holly questioningly.

The elf rolled her eyes. "My mission yesterday had it acting up again."

"This is a recurring problem?" asked Artemis.

Holly shrugged. "Recently it is. Recon is a rough job, it takes a toll on the body."

"But you're not even ninety."

"It's rude to make comments about a woman's age, Artemis," said Holly crossly.

"Yes, well social conventions aren't exactly his forte."

"Thank you, Juliet, for the unnecessary comment."

"You're welcome, Arty" said Juliet cheerily.

Holly leaned over toward Artemis. "Why do we put up with her?"

"Because we have no choice?" Artemis suggested.

"Your mother called," said Juliet, helping herself to a sip of Butler's coffee. "Yech! I don't understand how drink this stuff black, Dom."

"What did she say?" asked Artemis as Butler saved his unappreciated coffee from his sister.

"The usual," said Juliet. "She's worried about you, she hopes you're feeling better, she wants to know when she can see you."

"She knows I cannot leave here until I have been given a clean bill of physical and mental health."

"A process which Argon is likely to draw out as long as possible for the fame factor," said Holly.

"I doubt it," said Butler dryly. "I think he'll be glad to be rid of him, with the way he's been acting."

"Fair point."

"I try," said Artemis modestly.

Holly rolled her eyes and punched him in the shoulder. "You are insufferable."

"Ow," protested Artemis.

"Hey, who's the one with back problems here?"

"Let me take a look, it it's hurting you that bad."

"No, Artemis, not—" but his slim fingers were already exploring the knotted muscles of her back.

"Holly, what did you do to yourself?"

"My job," said Holly irritably, trying to shrug off his hands. "Not all of us live in mansions and are waited on hand and foot all day long."

"Ouch, Holly, it's not my fault I'm rich. Alright," he amended, "it partially is, but you know you are welcome to any comforts I can provide you with at any time."

"I don't need your charity, Artemis."

"It's not charity, Holly, it is my attempt at being a good friend."

Holly looked around at him. "I'm sorry, Artemis. You are a good friend. I'm just in a snippy mood."

"I can tell," said Juliet.

Holly opened her mouth, but Artemis beat her to it. "Leave her alone, Juliet. Or better yet, make yourself useful and find a heat pack."

"Is it that bad?" asked Juliet.

"No," said Holly.

"Yes," said Artemis at the same time.

"Dom," said Juliet, "come with me to find a heat pack for Holly."

"I think I'll stay here."

"Dom," said Juliet, "come with me to find a heat pack for Holly."

Butler gave her a strange look, but stood and followed her out of the room.

Holly and Artemis exchanged a look.

"Way to go, genius boy."

"What did I do?"

"Did you not just hear Juliet?"

"I thought we were doing an admirable job of hiding the recent developments in our relationship."

"We'd do a better job if you could keep your hands off of my back while other people are in the room," said Holly testily.

"You could have told me to stop."

"I was trying to be subtle!"

"And I was trying to help!"

Holly sighed, dragging a hand over her face. "I know, I know."

There was a silence and then Artemis asked, "Would you like a massage or not?"

Holly sighed again. "Yes, please," she said wearily, without looking at him.

Artemis laid his hands back on Holly's shoulders and began to work through the knots and cramps in the muscles. After several minutes of silence Artemis said, "Holly, me giving you massages is all very well, but you need a chiropractor. And a doctor who is better acquainted with the fairy anatomy than I."

Holly tilted her head, biting her lip as Artemis's fingers worked through the knots in her neck. "I hate doctors."

"Does that mean you hate me? I do have a medical degree after all."

Holly rolled her eyes. "No, Artemis, I do not hate you, as you very well know. I—ah!"

"Holly?"

"Keep—going," she said through gritted teeth.

"I mean it," said Artemis, gently working through the knots in her back. "You need to see a professional before you permanently injure yourself."

Holly sighed. "I will, I will, when I get the time. You get better first."

"I am doing my best," said Artemis sincerely.

Holly leaned back against Artemis, forcing him to halt his massage.

"Hello," said the Irish boy.

"How's your anxiety doing?" asked Holly, tilting her head back to look at his face.

"I'm trying not to think about it."

Holly reached up and felt his cheek. "I'm with Butler. I want you to lose this fever."

"You're not alone."

Holly smiled. "I never am. Whenever something exciting happens you always seem to be along for the ride."

"Not exactly what I meant," said Artemis.

"It's true, though."

"Yes because half the time I'm the cause of it."

"Ah," said Holly, "you keep my life interesting."

"That's one way to put a positive spin on it," said Artemis dryly.

"Well one of us has to be the optimist in this relationship."

This statement was followed by an awkward silence as both of them considered exactly what their relationship was at the moment.

Artemis brushed his fingers against the back of Holly's neck, making her shiver. "Holly, are you angry?"

Holly twisted her neck in a way that couldn't be good for her back. "No, Arty," she sighed after a moment, "I'm not angry. I'm just a little frustrated and confused."

"You're not the only one."

"I know. Isn't there some rule that we're not allowed to have bad days at the same time?"

"Apparently not."

Holly sat up on her knees and brushed her lips softly against Artemis's. "Breathe," she said. "You're okay."

"That's not exactly helping calm me down, Holly," said Artemis tightly.

Holly ignored him, opting instead to cradle his head in her hands and press her mouth more firmly against his. Her heart was beating wildly in her chest, for all her calm demeanor. Half of her screamed at her that what she was doing was insane, but the other half wouldn't let her pull away once she had committed to the kiss, especially once Artemis started responding.

This time she let herself experience the kiss itself, rather than merely the fact that it was happening. Artemis's lips were warm. Well of course they are, she chided herself, he has a fever.

Like usual, the Irish boy was trying too hard, even more so in this area where he had next to no experience. Being a genius, he knew he was trying too hard, but stopping something like that is much easier said than done. One thing was for sure, though, Holly was a good kisser.

"Feel better?" Holly murmured when they had both pulled away and she had settled down beside him once more.

"I am…not sure," said Artemis. He wondered if Holly kissing him was to become a regular occurrence. He found he really wouldn't mind that at all. "Have my kissing skills improved?"

"They could still use some work," Holly half-teased.

"I haven't really had time to read up on the subject—"

Holly groaned. "Artemis, please don't research the best way to kiss me. Your biggest problem is that you're putting too much thought into it. Kissing isn't something you analyze, it's just something you do."

"I don't 'just do' things, Holly, you know that."

Holly rubbed her temples. "Can we stop talking about this? It's giving me a headache."

They lapsed back into silence. Holly tried her best to banish the tight feeling in her chest. If she lost the level of comfort she and Artemis had arduously reached together she didn't know what she would do. In a life that left little time for true deep friendships, hers with Artemis was not something she was willing to sacrifice.

Beside her, Artemis was having similar thoughts. Chief among them was the acknowledgement that he could no longer blame his attraction to Holly on mere puberty. His friend was pretty, yes, strikingly so, at least from his point of view, but it was more than that. It was like that and what they had been through together and their friendship and something else he couldn't quite put his finger on had combined to create something he couldn't—or didn't want to—give a name to. Not to mention that the word "friend" hardly covered their relationship anymore. However, it will have to do until I find one that is more suitable. It is certainly preferable to the obvious alternatives.

*****RTR*****

"Juliet," said Butler, consciously shortening his strides to match those of his sister, "Do you think there might be…something going on between Holly and Artemis?"

Juliet resisted the strong urge to roll her eyes, a habit she had picked up from a certain elf. "'Something'?" she said instead.

"Yes," said Butler uncomfortably. "The way they look at each other…and touch each other…it reminds me of…well, of a couple."

"They are very close," said Juliet benignly.

"So you don't think it's anything more than that?"

"I didn't say that."

Butler huffed at her, annoyed. "Foaly's noticed it too. We can't decide if it means anything or not."

"I'm sure it means something."

Butler groaned, sometimes getting things out of Juliet was nearly as bad as getting things out of Artemis.

"Leave them alone," advised Juliet. "If anything is going on they'll tell us when they're ready."

"Oh yes," said Butler sarcastically. "Just like you've been 'leaving them alone.'"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

Butler just shook his head at his sister, thinking that she was almost as good of a liar as Artemis.

*****RTR*****

"Tell me everything you can remember about this tree."

Artemis was sitting at the desk in his hospital room, dressed in his usual immaculate suit and tie, eyes glued to his laptop screen as his fingers flew furiously across the keyboard.

Holly closed her eyes, bringing the image of the strange, glowing tree to the forefront of her mind. "It was really big—shut up, Artemis, I know that's not descriptive enough—It was definitely an oak, but it was bigger than any oak I've ever seen in my life. The trunk must have been at least as big around as this room, and it was so tall I couldn't see the top. It was also giving off a blinding glow. I couldn't look directly at it, it was too bright, but my eyes were drawn to it. My entire body was drawn to it."

"Your body or your magic?"

Holly considered this question. "My magic, I think. But not just my magic. All of my energy was being drawn to it like iron to some great magnet. As long as I stood still I could resist it, but as soon as I took a step I was dragged forward.

"How did you stop yourself from being sucked into the tree?" asked Mulch.

Artemis gave him a dirty look. "I am asking the questions here. How did you prevent the tree from ensnaring you?"

"That's what I said," protested the dwarf.

"I grabbed a nearby branch and used my SmartCord to tie myself to the normal trees around me," said Holly, ignoring the bickering males.

"Good thinking, Holly," said Foaly approvingly.

"You said the tree was emanating light?" pressed Artemis. "What color was it?"

"The light or the tree?"

"The light," said Artemis impatiently.

"White," said Holly. "Blindingly so."

"Any other colors mixed into it?"

"No," said Holly, shaking her head. "Wait…once I thought I saw a flicker of other colors in the corner of my eye, like a rainbow, but when I moved my head it was gone, so it may have just been my eyes playing tricks on me."

Artemis nodded absently, tapping all the while on his keyboard.

"And how did it make you feel?"

Holly gave him an unamused look. "I think you've been spending too much time with Dr. Argon."

"Five minutes is too much time with Dr. Argon," said Artemis. "Answer the question please."

"I was convinced that the tree was where I needed to be," said Holly softly. "I was a part of it and it was a part of me and if I could only join with it I would be complete."

"With the amount of energy it was radiating, the only thing you would have been if you had touched it is dead," said Artemis. He frowned, concentrating on his computer. "Yes… Of course the legend has been botched, as usual, but the elements are there… If I cross-reference…"

The others waited impatiently for Artemis to finish whatever he was doing and explain it to them. Finally he looked up from the computer screen, a glint in his bicolored eyes.

"Well?" demanded Juliet. "What is it?"

"Holly's description of the tree jogged something in my memory from when I was doing my initial research of the People. Nearly every single culture in the world has stories about the People, of varying accuracy. Many of them include references to a World Tree, which connects the physical and spiritual worlds and is the source of all power. That is, of course, a load of waffle, but aspects of the stories have merit. I cross-referenced some of the more promising legends with information from Foaly's databases and came up with a theory."

"Artemis," said Holly in a pained voice, "please get to the point."

Artemis scowled; he didn't appreciate being interrupted mid-lecture. "As I was saying, I believe that several of these supposed World Trees have existed in various places around the world over the millennia. In fact, they were probably once quite plentiful. Unfortunately, with the advent of technology and innovation, both human and fairy, their numbers have been greatly depleted. This may, in fact, be the only one still in existence."

"You're saying that a bunch of these glowing, energy suctioning trees used to be sitting all around the world?" said Mulch skeptically. "Just waiting to be stumbled upon by some poor, unsuspecting fairy?"

"Not precisely," said Artemis. "These power trees are concentration areas for magic, and thus could protect themselves from all unwanted visitors as well as summon those they did want. Also, in the time when they were more plentiful, the fairies knew they existed. It was to these trees that they came to replenish their power. Over time, however, as the trees grew scarcer, a new way of renewing their magic had to be found. That is where the ritual came about, as the oak is a cousin to the power trees. The power trees fell out of use and were forgotten. The relationship between the trees and the fairies was a symbiotic one; they fed off of one another. No more fairies coming to replenish their magic, no more trees with which to do it."

"I remember!" said No1 suddenly. "Qwan told me about the power trees in one of my lessons!"

"But I know this already," protested Foaly. "The power trees died out millennia ago, around the same time that the Book was codified. The trees couldn't survive without interacting with fairy magic. They're extinct."

"And yet one still exists."

"Impossible!"

"It is obviously not impossible," said Artemis in an overly-patient voice tinged with smugness, "or Holly would not have nearly literally run into one."

"That's another thing," said Foaly, getting more and more agitated. "The power trees didn't suck fairies powerlessly into them like some kind of vacuum. It's absurd!"

"Precisely, the power trees didn't suck fairies powerlessly into them, but something appears to have changed, corrupted the tree's magic."

"But what?" asked No1.

"I am not entirely sure, but if you were a tree that depended on interaction with fairy magic to survive, and fairies suddenly stopped willingly providing you with this interaction, wouldn't you look for a way to force it and therefore ensure your survival?"

"You know…" said Foaly, "I hate to admit it…but it actually makes sense…"

Butler spoke for the first time. "If this is true, Artemis, how much of a danger is it to the People and what, if anything, can be done about it?"

"I need to conduct some tests to confirm my theories and further my research," said Artemis. "And to do so I will need to be on site."

"On site?" said Foaly. "You mean you want to visit the tree?"

"That is generally what 'on site' mean, yes," said Artemis.

"No," said Holly and Butler at the same time.

"No?"

"Absolutely not," said Holly.

"I agree," said Butler. "It is far too dangerous."

"Besides," said Foaly. "The site has already been declared and NA zone."

"NA?"

"No Access."

"I am not governed by the People's laws, as I have pointed out to you on several occasions."

"Exploited, more like it," said Foaly. "Still, he has a point."

"This all sounds very exciting," said No1.

"Don't encourage him," snapped Holly. "He's not going. Artemis, you're not even well. It would be lunacy to attempt something like this."

"Contrary to your opinion of me, Holly, I am not that callous about my own safety. I shall, of course, wait until I have recovered to take on this venture."

Juliet decided to change the topic for the moment. "How are you feeling, Artemis?"

"Today is a good day," said Artemis. "I can very nearly forget that I have the Atlantis Complex at all. My fever is also nearly gone."

"That is good," observed No1. "Positive, satisfactory, pleasing."

"I concur," said Juliet in an imitation of Artemis that made the little imp giggle.

I am surrounded by adolescents.

"I have work to do," said Holly rising from her place on the bed. "Trouble has me up to my ears. I'll be back later."

Artemis nodded. This discussion was far from over, and would remain so until he got his way, but he could wait. The tree, while fascinating, was not an immediately pressing issue. For the time being.

AN: Yes, the focus is changing back to the tree. And all is not quite smooth sailing in paradise. Again, please don't mention TLG in your reviews, I don't want to know until I read it. Thanks for reading my story! And waiting for it :P

-SQ