A/N: Before getting into the chapter, I just wanted to say a really big thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter. I know this fandom is pretty dead at this point, but the support on this story has been great and it means the world to me. I didn't have the time to respond to many of last chapter's reviews, but I really appreciate the support and it helps motivate me to find time to keep getting up chapters. So once again, thank you. I hope you enjoy the chapter :)

Oh, and I'm not actually at uni (where I live) right now, which means I don't have access to my computer and am trying to edit and upload this with a borrowed laptop. So apologies in advance if there are some typos I missed.

-Kio

Chapter 13; Condemned

Fowl Manor, Ireland

Dawn had come and gone by the time the group arrived back at Fowl Manor, and the sun was high in the sky as they pulled through the reinforced steel gates. Transferring the former from the Learjet to the Fowl Bentley had been no trivial task, but thankfully they had been able to land on a private airstrip, and so there had been no one to ask difficult questions about why two humans and a fairy were wrestling a bloodied, savage humanoid into the boot of a car.

It was only as they were pulling up outside Fowl Manor that Juliet decided to ask a difficult question of her own.

"Artemis," she said. "You know your parents were due back while we were all in Egypt, don't you? What are you going to tell them?"

On the back seat, Artemis's eyebrows shot up. "My parents? They're here?" He paused, thinking. "That complicates things."

Holly laid a hand on his knee. "Don't you want to see them?" she asked. "You haven't seen each other since before your disappearance."

"I know," muttered Artemis distractedly. "I know. But now isn't a good time. How am I going to explain all of this?"

Holly smiled reassuringly. "It'll be fine. Your father knows about the People already – I told him after you disappeared. You can just tell them the truth."

Artemis looked unsure. "They won't like that. They'll be worried."

"Well, if you're going to lie, you had better think of something fast," said Juliet, nodding towards the front of Fowl Manor, where Angeline and Artemis Sr. were striding out to meet them, both wearing anxious expressions.

Butler and Juliet both got out and started to greet the two Fowls, but they were quickly interrupted by Artemis Sr., who was looking strained.

"Where were you?" he was saying. "You were supposed be here when we got back! We don't pay you to just disappear-"

He stopped talking very quickly as he spotted Artemis getting out of the Bentley.

"Angeline…" he managed in a sort of strangled whisper, aiming a shaking finger at his son.

Artemis Jr. swallowed a wave of sudden anxiety. "Hello, Father," he said, trying to keep his voice even. He nodded to Angeline. "Mother."

Both his parents simply stood and stared, apparently incapable of speech.

"Hello Mr and Mrs Fowl," said Holly nervously, appearing next to Artemis.

She was completely ignored; Angeline and Artemis Sr. were utterly transfixed by their son. Their living son. Eventually, Angeline seemed to break out of her reverie, stumbling forward and reaching out a hand. Her fingers brushed against Artemis's cheek, her touch gentle, as though she needed to make sure he was real, but was afraid that if she was too rough he might disappear again.

"Artemis?" she said tentatively. "Is it really you?"

Artemis tried to smile, but didn't quite manage it. His heart was in his throat.

"Yes, Mother."

"I don't understand."

No, Artemis thought, of course you don't. He found then that he felt a sudden rush of guilt, as he thought of exactly what he had put them through. He remembered Holly, remembered the grief that had sat behind her eyes when he had spoken to her at the safe house. The loss. He thought that for the first time, he was starting to truly understand what it was he had done. Understand the extent of the consequences of his actions.

He suddenly wanted to explain, to explain everything. He found himself inexplicably desperate to make them understand. To tell them that he had never wanted to leave, never wanted to disappear, that he had had no choice, that Natalya had abducted him and taken his memories, preventing him from returning to his family.

But even as the words were surging up his throat, he swallowed them. Don't be silly, he told himself. Mother would worry herself half to death if she knew where you had been over the last month. Besides, Holly is the priority now. There is no time to waste on unnecessary explanations.

"I'm sorry, Mother," he said. "I missed you, all of you. More than I would ever have thought possible."

"Where were you?" his mother asked hoarsely. "Holly said… she said you were dead! What happened?"

Artemis considered his words carefully. "I was dead. At least, that's what she believed. What everyone believed. But in truth, I survived. I would have returned to you sooner, but I was… otherwise engaged. Against my will. However, I am completely fine now, you will be pleased to know."

Butler mumbled something that might have been something along the lines of I didn't believe you were dead, but Angeline was speaking again and no one seemed to hear him.

"Holly said that you sacrificed yourself…" she said.

Her son averted his eyes. "It is true that that was my intention."

All of a sudden, Angeline threw her arms around him, sobbing loudly. "Oh, Arty, you've changed so much." She sobbed harder, her speech disintegrating into disjointed words. "Missed you… so much… couldn't believe… couldn't help wishing… if only you'd stayed selfish… but so proud… my little Arty… so brave… Oh Arty…"

Seeming to recover from the initial shock of seeing his recently deceased son, Artemis Sr. stepped forward, placing a hand on his wife's shoulder as she continued to cry. His eyes, however, never left his son's face. Though he opened his mouth and tried to speak several times, no sound came out. He simply carried on staring silently at the boy he had thought he would never see again.

"Father," said Artemis Jr., finally extricating himself from his mother's teary embrace. He was about to say something else, but then he got a proper look at his father's face. He was struck immediately by how gaunt and hollow it seemed; the renewed warmth that had emanated from the Fowl Patriarch ever since he had been healed by Holly all those years ago was gone, snatched away by grief.

"Father," he tried again. "I know you have many questions, and in time, I will do my utmost to answer them. But at present, the world is in danger. It is imperative that I get to my lab as soon as possible so I can seek a solution."

His father frowned as though struggling to keep up with events. "Danger? What danger?"

Artemis was saved having to answer by a sudden screech from his mother.

"What in the heavens is that?" she exclaimed, pointing a shaking finger over Artemis's shoulder, where Butler and Juliet were dragging the wounded former from the boot of the Fowl Bentley.

Artemis followed her gaze to the struggling creature, to its horrible sunken eyes and rotting skin, to the dried blood that matted its tattered LEP uniform. It growled and thrashed as he watched, desperately trying to sink its teeth into one of its captors.

"That," he said grimly. "Is the danger."

Artemis gathered Butler, Juliet and Holly in his laboratory several hours later. The former they had recovered from Egypt was strapped to a table in a corner, surrounded by various surgical implements stained by black blood. It wasn't moving anymore.

"So?" asked Holly nervously. "What did you find out?"

Artemis cleared his throat. "Well," he began. "There's good news and bad news."

He got three loud groans in response.

"I hate it when he says that," muttered Juliet.

"The good news," continued Artemis, ignoring her. "Is that I now have a much better understanding of exactly what these creatures are, and I believe that it may be possible to eliminate an existing infection if it is identified in its early stages."

Holly's heart sank. If being able to stop an existing infection was being given as the good news, that could only mean one thing about the bad news.

"The bad news," said Artemis, looking unusually grave. "Is that, judging by what I have learned, Captain Short here has almost certainly been infected. Although, it may still help to examine you, Holly, to witness the progression of the infection in a living host."

Juliet raised her hand. "Artemis," she said, without waiting to be asked. "What do you mean… living host?"

Artemis flashed her a grim smile. "I'm glad you ask, as that is a rather key point." He cleared his throat, and everyone recognised that he was about to launch into a lecture. For once, however, no-one was expecting to be bored by it; the formers were many things – sinister and revolting certainly being among them – but they were not dull.

"When Holly first encountered the creatures in Russia," he said. "She suggested that they seemed like former humans; humans that had somehow been changed – altered – to exhibit extraordinary savagery. She also suggested, because their bodies were cold and they had no heartbeat, that they were no longer alive. I initially dismissed this as impossible, but it turns out that, in a way, she was right."

Juliet looked as though she was considering bursting out laughing. "You don't mean… you're not saying… they aren't zombies, are they?"

Artemis treated her to a look of utter condescension. "Don't be ridiculous," he said scathingly, before returning to his explanation. "No, these are not humans – or fairies – infected with a sickness or disease. They are playing host to a parasite."

Holly frowned. "I thought parasites were creatures that lived inside other creatures."

Artemis sighed. "While that is a painfully crude explanation, it is more or less accurate. However, there are also microscopic parasites that can grow and reproduce within individual host cells. It seems that just such a parasite is responsible for the formers; however, this parasite is, put simply, extraordinary. In a relatively short space of time, it infects every single cell in the host's body, killing the host."

"Shouldn't that kill the parasite as well?" asked Butler, trying to keep up. He wasn't cut out for microbiology.

"Yes!" exclaimed Artemis, clapping his hands. "Yes, it should. Normally, the last thing a parasite wants to do is kill its host. But this parasite appears capable of surviving inside a dead host. Don't ask me why, I don't understand. I suspect that magic is involved. And somehow, the several trillion individual parasites are all able to work together to control the host's corpse. It shouldn't be possible, but somehow, it is. And not only that, but the separate collections of parasites – different formers – are able to work together, even without visibly communicating. The only logical conclusion is that they are operating as some kind of hive mind."

"Wait a minute," said Holly. "Opal's controlling the formers. That would mean-"

"That she is controlling the hive mind," interrupted Artemis. "Yes, Holly! All we have to do is find the hive mind and sever her connection with it and her army will collapse."

Juliet rolled her eyes. "Well, I guess it's lucky we know where the hive mind is and how to destroy it, otherwise that might seem almost impossible."

Pausing only to shoot Juliet a disdainful glare, Artemis turned to Holly, now addressing her directly. "Holly, I will fix this, but I need you to do something first."

The elf couldn't stop a feeling of apprehension creeping into her limbs. "What is it?"

Artemis gave her a reassuring smile, perhaps sensing her trepidation. "Nothing strenuous. It'll be dark soon and there's a full moon tonight; I need you to complete the ritual. You will need all the magic you can if we are to succeed in eradicating the parasite."

The reply did nothing to abate Holly's worries. Artemis may have been a genius, but his record wasn't exactly stellar when it came to playing with magic.

"Why?" she asked.

Artemis looked away. "It's complicated," he muttered. "Difficult to explain."

Holly looked hard at him as he steadfastly refused to meet her eyes. It wasn't like him to decline the opportunity to explain complicated to someone who was unlikely to understand. It was obvious he was trying to hide something.

She adopted a stern expression. "Artemis-"

"Holly," he interrupted. "The details aren't important. What matters is that I can fix this, if, and only if,you complete the ritual. Do you trust me?"

"Artemis-"

"Holly!" Finally, he met her gaze, eyes blazing with purpose. "Do you trust me?"

The elf glared at him for a full minute before she left to collect her wings. She didn't need to say anything; they both knew the answer to his question.

When fairies complete the ritual, the rush of power as magic surged through every nerve ending was generally accompanied a sudden euphoria. Holly was used to feeling invincible when she was full to the brim was magic. She couldn't ever remember feeling like this before.

A kind of foreign terror clawed at her insides as she touched back down in the Fowl Manor grounds. The dull orange glow of sunset was gone from the sky; the last pitiful rays of sunlight had withered and died, and what few light sources did litter the Fowl Estate failed to penetrate the thick gloom clinging to the grounds. Night had well and truly come, and with it, a sense of terrible foreboding.

As a fairy, Holly would normally have drawn comfort from the familiar darkness, but not tonight. She turned her eyes skyward, seeking the solace of the full moon, but was not rewarded. The moon sat hidden, its pearly glow shrouded by clouds.

She tried to dislodge the feeling of despair that stuck in her gut. She tried to ignore what was happening at that very moment inside her own body, to concentrate not on the parasite, but on the battles that would still need to be fought once Artemis had cured her. She succeeded at neither.

It wasn't that she was in any way a stranger to having her life in danger – she had been in so many near-death situations she had lost count – or to the fear that came alongside. But every other time, it had always been in the midst of some great battle, or else a deadly race against time. There had always been a tangible enemy – a troll, perhaps, or a bio-bomb; even a giant space probe.

But not this time. This time, the enemy was inside her. No, she reminded herself, barely supressing s shiver, it was a part of her. And there was absolutely nothing she could do about it. She was a fighter – she was used to solving problems with action; used to enemies that could be fought, enemies she could punch, or shoot, or throw grenades at.

She didn't know how long she had. If Artemis had managed to extrapolate the rate at which the parasite would spread sufficiently to be fatal, he hadn't bothered to share it with her. Her heart beat a rapid rhythm against her ribs like some caged animal, desperate to be free. Did it know the parasite was coming for it? Would it continue to beat once her life had faded, or would it lie dormant as her body joined Opal's ranks of living dead?

Even though she had more than once been certain that she was about to die, there had never really been time to think about it. She longed for it to be that way now: to die suddenly, without time to worry or regret, would be infinitely preferable to this. Having to simply wait as her seconds ticked away, with nothing to do but think, was a torture unlike anything she had experienced.

A part of was strangely envious of Artemis. He had given his life for something. She wished that she had had the chance die for something important; to die in battle, fighting against evil, or else to throw herself in front of someone she loved. If only it could have been her instead or Artemis that had stayed behind to sacrifice herself in the Nebula Facility, she could never have been infected; her death would have had value, and Artemis's family would never have been put through hell.

Don't think that! she tried to tell herself. You aren't going to die. Artemis will save you. He promised.

Perhaps it was just her imagination, but she thought she could almost sense the parasite within her, spreading out hungrily, desperate to consume her. Feel its malice, its desire to dominate. Would Artemis really be able to stop it?

He promised. I trust him.

Perhaps it wasn't a question of trust. Perhaps it wasn't possible.

He promised.

She clung to the notion like a new-born clinging to its mother, drawing what little comfort she could, using it to sustain her as she made her way into the manor.

Yes, Artemis had promised, and yes, she trusted him, so she would give him the chance to try and cure her. But if it didn't work…

The elf failed to suppress a shudder as she thought of what she would end up as. She remembered the formers in Russia; soulless, savage animals, killing indiscriminately on the orders of Opal Koboi. She couldn't become like them, she wouldn't let it happen. Whatever she had to do to avoid that was nothing, because it was a fate too terrible to even contemplate.

Holly switched on her shield as she stalked the manor's corridors; she knew exactly what she had to do, what she had to ask, and she wasn't sure she could handle meeting anyone else on the way.

The elf navigated the passages easily – she knew Fowl Manor as though it were her own home – and she quickly found herself at her destination. The door to Butler's equipment locker surrendered quickly to her omnitool. Without pausing to look around at the plethora of dangerous weaponry, she selected a ceramic handgun at random and grabbed a pair of handcuffs.

Artemis was still in his lab when Holly caught up with him. Hearing the elf approach, he swallowed his fear, forcing his features to rearrange themselves into their normal mask of icy composure.

"Ah, Holly, perfect," he said, careful to keep his voice even, careful not to betray his worries. "I was wondering when you would be getting back. For optimal results, I recommend we commence treatment immediately."

Holly's eyes were hard. She looked as though she was trying to keep a lid on a deep internal struggle. She regarded him for a long moment, and Artemis had a strange feeling that she was sizing him up.

"I have conditions," she eventually.

Artemis raised an elegant eyebrow. "You wish to place conditions on my attempt to save your life?"

The elf nodded, drawing a black ceramic handgun from her belt. It was chunky and out-of-place clutched in her childlike fist. Artemis's eyes widened. She took a step towards him, carefully laying the weapon down on the table next to him. With her other hand, she held out the handcuffs.

"I have conditions," she repeated quietly, sounding like she had rehearsed the speech. "You will restrain me before administering whatever cure you have concocted, and under no circumstances will you release unless you are certain that the parasite is completely eradicated."

"Holly, I really don't think-"

"If whatever you attempt is unsuccessful," the elf continued as though she hadn't heard him. "You will not allow me to become one of those… those things." She inclined her head towards the gun, lying innocently on the table. "Do you understand?"

Artemis backed away, staring at the weapon without bothering to hide his distaste. It was a Belgian FN Five-seveN, a weapon he had seen Butler fire, and kill with, more than once. He had always considered guns simply to be tools, instruments that could be used against him, or used to his advantage. But as he stared at the Five-seveN, he couldn't help thinking there was something ugly – sinister, even – about it. Even the notion of touching it was repellent.

"Absolutely not, Holly."

Holly flicked the ignition for her wings and rose about a half metre off the ground so her eyes were level with Artemis's.

"I'm a danger to you," she said. She raised a hand and stared at it for a moment, as though expecting to see some kind of visible sign of the parasite's progress. "I'll be under Opal's control; she'll make me hurt you." Artemis was shocked to see an unshed tear in her eye. "I don't want to hurt you. Please."

"Holly, I understand you're afraid. I know I would be if I were in your position. But I will cure you, I promise. I have a plan. It will work, I know it will."

"Artemis…"

The boy looked away, but he was no more successful at hiding his tears than she had been.

"Ask me to do anything. Anything but this." He turned to face her. "You can't ask me to do this."

"It's kinder," said Holly gently. "You know it is. Hopefully, you'll cure me and it'll all be fine, but if it doesn't work-"

"Which it will!"

"-if it doesn't work, the parasite will kill me. Please, Artemis, if I have to die, let it be on my terms. Don't let me become a weapon for Opal to use against you."

Artemis took a step away from the elf, breathing hard. The rational part of him knew that in the end, it wouldn't matter what he said now, but even contemplating what Holly was suggesting made him feel ill. Though he knew he wouldn't have to follow through, and though it was what Holly wanted, agreeing to… to kill her still felt like a terrible betrayal.

"Artemis, promise me."

Before Artemis had a chance to respond, they were interrupted by Butler.

"Artemis. Your mother wants to speak to you."

The boy barely spared his bodyguard a glance. "Understood, Butler, I will be there momentarily. I just need to administer Holly's cure – it would be unwise to delay further."

"Artemis," whispered Holly, grabbing his hand. "Promise me."

Artemis couldn't bring himself to look her in the eye. "I promise," he muttered.

Holly gave his hand a squeeze and leaned in a little. "Thank you," she said quietly. "I'm sorry I even have to ask this of you, but it's better this way." She straightened up and composed herself. "OK, where do you want me?"

Artemis, who was carefully measuring out a syringe of a colourless liquid, looked up distractedly. "What? Oh, anywhere, it doesn't matter."

Holly chained herself a piece of apparatus she didn't recognise while Artemis finished filling the syringe with what she presumed was the cure he had been preparing while she was away performing the ritual. She looked a little more closely as the clear liquid; it didn't look very potent, and he wasn't using very much of it.

"Is that it?" she couldn't resist asking doubtfully.

Artemis gave a humourless chuckle and answered without looking up. "Trust me, Holly, this is more than enough." He straightened up, apparently satisfied, and carried the syringe over to her. "I've mixed in a slight sedative, so you should wake up in about six hours completely cured. Give me your arm."

As the elf extended her arm, awkwardly straining against the handcuffs, she felt a wave of apprehension slide over her. Once she was unconscious, she would be completely at the mercy of the parasite, and Artemis's mystery cure. Would it work? Or would she wake up a demon? Or would she never wake up at all?

"Artemis…" she looked pleadingly at him. "This… this could be goodbye." She wanted to say a proper goodbye to him, but she knew that a kiss would risk transferring the infection.

"Shhh, don't say that. Don't even think that. I'll be here when you wake up." He seemed to sense that she wasn't completely reassured and gave her a comforting smile. "Don't worry," he said as he pulled up the sleeve of her LEP uniform to expose a patch of flawless coffee coloured skin. "You're going to be fine."

Despite the severity of the situation, Holly couldn't help raising an eyebrow. "Oh? Can you guarantee that?"

Mindful to keep his expression unreadable, Artemis chose his words carefully, making sure they were true. "I can guarantee that this will eliminate the infection, yes." He placed the end of the needle against Holly's skin.

"Will it hurt?" The words were out before she could stop them.

Artemis smiled kindly. "No," he said, the lie coming easily. "Not at all." He pressed the needle into the elf's arm and deposited its contents into her bloodstream. Her eyes immediately began to lose focus. She would lose consciousness in seconds. "Goodnight," he whispered, leaning forward and kissing her lightly on the forehead.

Butler respectfully waited a few moments before speaking. "If you don't mind me asking, sir," he said. "What did you promise her?"

Artemis's gaze didn't leave Holly's sleeping form as he responded. "I promised that if I can't cure her, I will end it quickly for her. That I will kill her."

Butler expression didn't register surprise. His eyes found the Five-seveN lying discarded on the side. He had expected the elf to ask for something like that sooner or later. It was what he would have done.

"And will you?"

Artemis didn't speak for a long time. Just when Butler was convinced that he had overstepped his boundaries and wouldn't be getting a response, his young charge said quietly, "It doesn't matter now."

Butler frowned. "What do you mean?"

Artemis bit his lip, keeping the clawing fear at bay. He had to stay disconnected from the reality of what was happening to Holly right now. If he didn't, if he took a moment to consider it, he would surely fall apart. He had to be as he had once strived to be: indifferent. Detached.

"Cure is perhaps a generous description for what I have given her," he said dispassionately. "Poison would probably be closer to the truth. I have injected her with a highly potent toxin that will target and destroy the infected cells. It will purge her of the parasite, but the damage to her body will be considerable at best. We can only hope that her magic is able repair enough of the damage to keep her alive during the purging process."

Shock flitted across Butler's normally smooth features. "What are her chances?"

"Difficult to say," Artemis responded in the same apathetic tone, his face devoid of emotion. "Forty percent, maybe a shade less."

Butler momentarily lost for words. It was more likely than not that Holly would die?

"And there's nothing more you can do?" he asked once he had found his voice.

"The parasite is a part of her; to attack one is to attack the other. Perhaps, with several years of research and my substantial resources, I might be able to identify a way to eliminate the parasite with minimal collateral damage, but with only a few hours and limited information, I am afraid that this is the best I can do."

For a few moments, there was silence. Then, Butler muttered, "You told her it wouldn't hurt." He sounded like he was talking to himself more than anyone else.

Artemis shrugged. "I lied. Purging her body of the parasite will be extraordinarily painful. Now, what were you saying about Mother?"

Butler was so thrown by the sudden change of topic that it took him a few seconds to respond.

"Oh," he said. "Yes. She said she needed to speak to you about something; she's waiting in the living room."

Artemis nodded absently. "Yes," he muttered. "I'll go and talk to her." He made to leave the laboratory, but was interrupted by his fairy phone ringing. He frowned and shot a confused glance at Holly – she and Foaly were the only ones who even had this number. Since Holly obviously wasn't the one calling, that left only one option: Foaly. The only question was, what did the centaur want? Was he going to reprimand Artemis for escaping the LEP's custody in Egypt? Or perhaps he had spoken to Holly and found out about her infection?

Unable to shake off a certain sense of foreboding, he raised the phone to his ear. "Yes?"

The fairy technology delivered the crisp response in perfect quality. The speaker may as well have been standing next to him.

"Artemis Fowl," said Opal Koboi. "I've waited a long time for this."

A/N: Well, well, well. Opal's here, and she doesn't sound like she's in the mood for fun and games. Who's ready for a few chapters of sheer violence and destruction? As usual, any feedback or thoughts you might happen to have would be much appreciated in a review :)

-Kio