I do not own Artemis Fowl

This chapter is Dedicated to Jay Naylor.

Chapter 36

Butler, Holly, and Artemis all let Constantine sleep, Holly even covered the man with his own jacket. They didn't expect him to sleep long, especially with Juliet arriving soon. They waited until they heard a helicopter lowering down outside the exit, attracted to a flare that Holly and Artemis had lit before the whole ordeal with the troll had started. Light was just starting to peak through at this point, and everyone was anxious to leave. Butler easily hefted a both Kravchenko and Dragovich over his shoulders, thankful to Constantine that his knees no longer ached with old age. Holly went to go wake Constantine up.

His eyes darted open when she first touched his skin, which was odd, because he didn't even quiver with the helicopter making such a racket outside. "Hello Holly." he said, looking away from her gaze.

"Morning sleepyhead." She said, using a mud man saying she had picked up from Artemis' mother. Constantine breathed out quickly in what might have been a laugh. "What was that all about? I didn't know you could do that."

"Yeah, crazy huh?" He sat up, his arm resting on one knee, his other leg straight in front of him. She sat down next to him, her knees pulled up to her chest. They sat there, not really looking at each other, just hanging out in a dank underground basement, amongst a sea of feathers, the smell of dead troll hanging in the air between them.

"You should put a shirt on, its cold outside."

"Where am I going to get a shirt?" He asked, eyeing her cheekily. "There a TJ Max around here somewhere?"

"Conny, I don't even know what a TJ Max is." She said, laughing at him. Then she blinked, she had just used his old pet name for him. Without even thinking, she had returned them to a time that was so different. She looked at him, trying to get something from him, reassurement, perhaps, that it was okay.

"Conny? It's been years since I've been called that by you." He didn't look at her, but he didn't look bothered either. He was simply looking ahead.

"Someone else gave you that nickname?"

"My wife. She kept saying that 'Constantine' was a handful, and that Conny sounded gentler."

A silence fell between the two. Neither knowing really what to say. A moment passed, and then another.

"Conny, I don't know what to do about us, what we had -"

"Then don't do anything." He looked at her finally, smiling, that same cheerful, kind smile that had become so familiar on his face since she found him again. "I'm happy with the way things are. Aren't you happy with Artemis?"

She thought for a moment, then blushed. "Yes. More than ever."

"Then what's the problem?" He stood up, still smiling, a laughter behind his eyes replacing the weakness that had been there only minutes ago. He held out a hand to help her up. "Friends?"

She smiled and took it. "The best."

When they left the room, after Constantine put his jacket on to stave off the cold, they saw Juliet, Butler, and Artemis standing outside a helicopter, nobody moving, all waiting for them. The snow had died, as well as the wind, and the sun was glistening off of the snow. In all, it was a glorious day, but nobody looked happy.

Artemis was wearing his glasses, the ones designed to filter fairy shields, Butler was too. Constantine didn't know about these glasses, and was unaware of their function. Holly, however, was not.

"Are they here already?"

Artemis nodded, two quick, jerking motions. Holly rushed to his side.

"The Fairies?" Constantine asked.

"Yes."

"Damn, they got here quick. How many?"

Artemis looked up at the sky, squinting from the bright blue. "I'm not sure, there is only one shuttle up there. They are not coming down, but they are not shooting us either, so I suppose that's a good thing."

"Maybe they just want to talk."

"Perhaps."

Constantine looked up, then glanced at Artemis' glasses. "You can see through their cloaking device with those?"

"No, but I did have the foresight to have Juliet install an advanced radar system on the helicopter."

"Clever."

"I usually am."

"Artemis they're coming down." Juliet called from inside the helicopter. Constantine turned around and saw her sitting inside, monitoring some screen, which he presumed was a readout for the radar system. Butler re-gripped an automatic rifle he pulled from...somewhere.

Constantine could hear the landing boosters firing on the shuttle firing, no matter how "whisper silent" Foaly insisted that they were, but he didn't need too. Snow started melting in puddles, revealing small patches of brown earth, and a large part of the snow dented in when the shuttle's hull caved it inwards. Soon after, the white, rounded corners of the shuttle blinked into existence. Everyone in the group tensed, ready for a firefight.

The doors opened with a hiss, and out stepped Commander Vinyaya, and Foaly. Everyone but Butler and Holly relaxed a bit. Butler, because he had made the mistake of underestimating the LEP once, and he wasn't going to do it again. Holly, however had a wholly different reason.

She charged forward before anyone could stop her, walking right in front of Foaly, and slapping him. Hard.

"Major, stand down." Vinyaya ordered.

"I'm not your major anymore." Holly spat in Gnommish. She pulled something out of her pocket and threw it at the Commander's feet, it glittered gold in the sun, with the letters LEP standing out: It was her badge. "I quit."

"Holly." Foaly's voiced cracked.

"Don't you start!" In a second, she was in his face, shouting "Don't you dare start." She paused for a moment, trying to catch her breath. "You were my friend, Foaly! You were supposed to help me, to have my back, and you betrayed me!"

"I'm sorry." Foaly whispered, he couldn't look her in the eye.

"You're scum."

"What do you intend on doing now, Ms. Short?" Vinyaya cut in, a gleam in her eye. "Either way you have to come back with us."

"The hell I do." Holly glared at the Commander. "Fairies have lived above ground before."

Vinyaya sighed in a tired, sort of way. "There's nothing for you here, major, just come back with us and we'll work this out."

"Don't. Don't try to rationalize this with me. You stole my memories from me, you stole a part of who I was! Why would I ever want to have anything to do with you People again!"

"Then what are you going to do? Live with the mud-man? for what? Twenty years? Until people recognize that you haven't aged? What will you tell them then? Will you betray your race, Holly? Or will you live like the dozen or so who have managed to evade us? Drunk in some gutter, healing warts to pay for alcohol?"

"As long as I live, Holly will always have a home." Artemis spoke.

"Good to know she'll have a place to stay for the next eighty years, she can reflect on the good times for the rest of the 800." Vinyaya shot daggers at Artemis.

"A lot can change in 80 years." Artemis said calmly.

"Face it Holly, there is nothing for you here." Vinyaya ignored Artemis. Holly looked her in the eye and said nothing, then turned around and walked back to Artemis, who looked smug. When she reached him, she turned around and looked back at Vinyaya and Foaly.

"Here my child has a father." She declared.

For a moment, you could hear the veritable pin drop. Until Constantine, who had been sitting down in the helicopter, his legs hanging out the doors, gave out a low, long whistle. Then, it hit the veritable fan.

Both Vinyaya and Foaly started shouting at once, Vinyaya outraged and scandalized, Foaly shocked and hurt. Juliet nearly fell out of her chair laughing, and Butler was yelling at her to maintain her professionalism. The only ones who weren't making an inordinate amount of noise were Holly and Artemis. Artemis was having trouble making any sound with his throat, mainly because it felt like his throat was being filled with his intestines. He was having some trouble breathing as a matter of fact. He turned to Holly, who turned back to him. "I wanted to tell you." She said. "We just got caught up in everything that was going on, and I didn't really know till two days ago."

Artemis managed to force down his gut so that he could talk. "You're sure it's mine? I mean I know it seems like a stupid question but one really cannot be too sure about this sort of thing, and it would be presumptuous of me to assume that -"

Holly put her hand on his cheek, and he fell silent. "Artemis, it's yours. And I know I'm pregnant, I went with Juliet to get one of those home check devices, and that little amber display from yesterday confirmed it."

Artemis nodded once. "That explains quite a bit."

"WHAT?" Vinyaya's voice tore out over the din, and through the couple's concentration. "You performed that ritual with a mud man?"

"I suppose there's more to that display than you let on." Artemis whispered in Holly's ear.

"More too it? Are you telling me you are unaware of what that means, boy?"

Artemis shrugged indifferently. "I can't possibly know anything without previous data, I can suppose of course, but never know."

"Don't give me your usual brand of stinkworm shit, mud-boy, you have no idea what you've gotten yourself, and Holly into." She moved forward towards Artemis, and both Butler and Constantine stood, flanking either side of him. She stopped short of him.

"Then enlighten me."

Artemis's calm demeanor infuriated her. "The "Amber Binding" is a sacred ritual, and our most binding magic. I don't know if it has ever been performed with a human before, but for elves it's akin to mating. It's legally and magically binding, you couldn't leave her now even if you tried. You've dammed her from her people you egotistical wretch!"

Holly exploded. "Don't throw this on him! I knew exactly what I was doing, and I don't regret it for an instant! This was my decision and I won't let you belittle it."

Vinyaya glared at her through slitted teeth. "You betrayed your people."

Holly glared back, and honestly, hers was better. "They betrayed me first."

"With that," Constantine cut in, standing in between Vinyaya and Holly. "This conversation is over."

"I agree." Artemis said from behind him. "Juliet, please get the helicopter going, I think it is time we left." He guided Holly into the chopper as the blades started rotating slowly. Butler followed after them, taking his spot next to Juliet in the co-pilots seat. Constantine, however, stayed outside for a moment longer, smirking at Foaly and Vinyaya.

"Congratulations Foaly, Vinyaya, you've succeeded in alienating the best recon agent the LEP has ever seen." Foaly hung his head in shame, and Vinyaya glared at Constantine, who nodded. "Good day."

He climbed onto the helicopter and shut the sliding door behind him. Artemis watched the pair outside his window climb back into the shuttle as the blades started to move faster and faster. Soon they had lifted off, and were moving through the sky. He looked out the other window, over the town, and out to the horizon. I'm going to be a father. He thought, and smiled. The past was full of troubles, but better days were sure to come.

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