Oh my god I can't believe I actually got this chapter out within a reasonable timeframe. No two-month wait, it's a miracle!
Waking up in a stylish, lavish bedroom after months of sleeping in modest hotel rooms and once in a conference room was… surreal. Surreal enough that for a long moment, Frisk could only lay there and blink at the ceiling wondering where they were, and why it was so quiet when every day for the past few months they'd woken up to the distant clamor of Dublin's population beginning to go about their day. Even after waking up more and remembering where they were, and after having gotten ready for the day, the strangeness of the whole situation persisted, especially so when they, Toriel, and the other monsters were led by one of the Fowl's maids to the dining hall. Fowl Manor's extravagant, expansive hallways felt somehow even bigger than the last time they were here, and without the twins there to run commentary, it somehow made them seem more intimidating as well.
The dining hall itself was no different by the time they reached it to find platters of breakfast food, both monster and human, left out for them. Though the twins and their parents were there, along with Juliet and the man-mountain Butler, the hall felt weird being so quiet. Something that both of the Fowl parents (the twins both seemingly half-asleep and barely registering that they were there) had apparently noticed once everyone had sat down and helped themselves to food because they'd taken it on themselves to start a casual conversation to fill the silence.
Normally that sort of thing would be something Frisk could appreciate. Even in the quietest parts of the Underground, there was always a background layer of noise – shuffling, voices, footsteps – that betrayed the presence of people during the better timelines, and the same noises were often present in the towns and cities they and Toriel stayed in. Silence… was something they'd never truly heard except during the Genocide timelines. It made them uneasy.
Even with background noise having been provided, though, Frisk still felt wound as tight as a spring. They kept their eyes either locked on their breakfast or looking around the room, scanning corners and shadows for the tell-tale heat hazes of eavesdropping fairies. And their thoughts? Those weren't focused on breakfast at all. Instead, they were fixated firmly on Myles' words from last night and what would be happening later today.
Artemis Fowl is going to ask about the Resets. There was no doubt in their mind when it came to that – if he really had seen some of their memories, then he'd at least seen their deaths and subsequent LOADs at the Fowl Manor Save Point, especially if the fairies had used those… MagiScanners to find out that there was some weird magic going on. Seeing someone go back in time after dying would be something that people as cautious as the Irishman and his fairy… allies? Friends? Either way, it wouldn't be something they'd want to be ignorant about.
Depending on how much they'd seen… they might have recorded a decade's worth of memories, but that didn't mean they'd looked through all of them. Ten years was a long time, after all. If they'd only looked a few timelines back, then that might be… maybe not okay, but manageable. Frisk still felt a sickening thrill of panic every time they thought of someone that wasn't one of those already in the know about the time loops, but as long as the fairies and Artemis Fowl hadn't seen much they were pretty sure they could handle it. But… if they'd seen farther back – and considering how guilty Artemis had looked during the parley with the fairies, and how he'd apologized openly about it, they were pretty sure he had – then they would have started seeing hints of things much, much worse than a few deaths by bullets. And if they went that far back, saw evidence of more things they were missing and looked even deeper into it all…
Frisk's grip on their silverware tightened.
*Stop thinking about it so hard, Frisk.
Chara…
The ghost huffed irritably, and the ambassador could easily imagine their partner crossing their arms and rolling their eyes.
*We'll be finding out what they know soon enough, right? No point in driving yourself crazy worrying about it. That'll only make it worse.
Unfortunately, Chara was right. But just because Frisk knew that logically didn't mean that they could just stop worrying.
"Frisk? Are you alright?"
Frisk glanced up at Toriel. While they'd been silently munching and staring off into space, Toriel had stopped chatting with the Fowl parents and turned her attention to them instead. She looked concerned, and she wasn't the only one. Most of the monsters had similar expressions of worry on their faces - save for Flowey who was still stuffing his face - and the Fowl parents and the twins looked much the same, if more subtly.
"I'm fine," they mumbled unconvincingly. They put their fork down, and folded both of their hands in their lap in an effort to hide the shaking.
Multitudes of skeptical looks greeted their words, and Frisk flushed and ducked their head down.
"Are you still concerned about the fairies?" Mr. Fowl asked, carefully. Frisk, since this was one of their main concerns, even if they hadn't thought much on the subject this morning, nodded, and the man sighed, and gave them a reassuring smile. "I see. Well, I guess I can understand that. To be honest… the fairies were a bit of a shock for the two of us when we first found out about them, too."
Frisk lifted their head, now curious in spite of themselves. "You mean… when Artemis first got involved with them?"
The Fowl parents winced, almost in unison. "Actually, no," Mrs. Fowl said, sounding distinctly pained. "We didn't actually find out about them until long after Artemis… made first contact with them."
*… I have the feeling that she was going to say something else there.
Frisk had that impression too, but knew better to pry. Still, the fact that Artemis had apparently kept the fairies a secret even from his own parents at first…
"Figures someone like him would keep that kind of thing a secret from his own parents," Undyne scoffed venomously, stabbing aggressively at the food left on her plate with her fork. "Why'd we expect any different, anyway?"
This time, both parents winced. "In fairness," Fowl Senior said, tersely, "neither one of us was exactly… present, at the time." He shifted his weight uncomfortably in his chair, though his impeccable posture remained stable. "To put it bluntly… that was before I decided to bring the family out of the shadows and go straight, and some of my business ventures earned me and the family enemies. Let's just say that the Russian Mafia wasn't exactly pleased that I was trying to muscle in on their market."
"O-oh," Alphys said, as if realizing something. "T-then – that incident with, um, the F-Fowl Star, in Murmansk… y-your son found out about the fairies while you were missing?"
"A couple of years after I was declared dead, yes." Mr. Fowl said, and… alright. Ouch. That was a good reason for not telling your father about discovering an entirely new sentient species.
Undyne was obviously unconvinced, though. "Were you missing, too?" She snapped at Mrs. Fowl.
The woman flinched, and now there was a look of definite guilt on her face. "I'm afraid," she said, carefully, "that while I may have been physically present for him… well, I didn't handle Timmy's disappearance well at all. The only reliable adult he had around that he could have trusted at that point was Butler."
Frisk looked back down, suddenly feeling very uncomfortable. It sounded like Artemis had been in a generally bad situation when he'd found out about the fairies, then.
"He still could have told you after you two were back," Undyne snapped.
"No, I couldn't have." Frisk glanced up, startled, to find Artemis Fowl himself in the doorway to the dining hall, a messenger bag slung over one shoulder and an icy frown on his face. "My parents both had better things to worry about." His eyes narrowed dangerously at Undyne. "Father was busy recovering from losing a limb and moving the family's assets into legal business ventures. Mother was recovering from the depression she fell into after his disappearance. And at that point in time, the fairies still considered me their enemy."
"For good reason, probably," Undyne sneered.
Frisk winced. Oh man, this wasn't going to go well – just what they needed, more stress to add to the list. "Undyne, please don't –"
"Oh, undeniably," Artemis said, bluntly, stopping their words in their tracks. "Our first encounter was far from friendly, and all instigated by myself to boot." His eyes sharpened – looking at them was like trying to make eye contact with a pair of sapphire scalpels. Frisk gulped nervously – they'd never seen the Irishman look so threatening before, not even at the gala! "If you think I am despicable now, then I can assure you that I was much, much worse when I was twelve. But even back then, I was not heartless. Not completely." He took a step back into the hall. "But of course, that's not really your problem with me, is it? Your problems with me should not be taken out on my family, Undyne. They are hardly at fault for the current situation. Or do you make it a habit to accuse the innocent of the guilty's crimes?"
With those accusatory words, Artemis visibly dismissed the half-furious, half-shocked fish monster, instead turning his attention to Frisk, who shrank down in their chair as those sharp eyes landed on them. Thankfully, those same eyes did soften a fraction, as did his expression… though not by much. "Myles informed you of my request last night, I assume?"
Frisk nodded, trying not to look too nervous. They weren't sure how well they succeeded. Their poker face wasn't as unshakable as it usually would be. "Y-yeah. Did he tell you –"
"About your request to bring one of your two friends… in the know about the matters we will be discussing? Yes, he did. Which one would you prefer to accompany you?"
Frisk felt a bead of sweat start collecting on their forehead. How did he figure that out? Was that in my memories, too? They tried not to think too much about that, though. Instead, they quickly ran the merits of bringing either Flowey or Sans with them into a discussion with Artemis Fowl, his man-mountain friend – bodyguard? – and at least a couple of fairies.
Flowey would rather kill them than talk to them, probably, whereas Sans could be civil about the whole thing. On the other hand… Flowey knows more about the Resets than Sans. And Sans already has nightmares because of the Genocide timelines, even if he doesn't really remember what they're about. I… if we end up talking about them…
I don't want to make those nightmares worse.
"… Flowey." They said, finally.
Artemis nodded briskly, brow furrowing. "Very well. When you're ready, come to my study. It was specifically altered to be a hole in the manor's security – nothing we speak of in there will be recorded." And with those words, he turned sharply on his heels and strode purposely away, disappearing around the corner in moments and leaving the dining hall feeling even tenser and more discomfiting behind him.
When you're ready, he'd said. Honestly, Frisk wasn't sure they were ever going to be ready. It was so tempting to just… avoid the conversation that would be coming. But after breakfast had crawled past, and Frisk hadn't been able to bring themselves to talk to the twins just yet – too worried, too terrified of what the UN representative and his fairy allies might know, to really think of anything but what worried them so much – and after seeing how worried the monsters were, and how they were visibly holding themselves back from asking what was wrong because they knew it was something that Frisk didn't want them to know… well.
It didn't take much for them to decide to get it over with, even if it had taken Sans giving them a Look to finally lessen their cowardice just enough to pick up Flowey and go.
And so they were here. Standing in front of Artemis Fowl's study door in an empty hall, biting their lip and trying not to look as though they were marching to the gallows.
Chara?
A moment of silence, as the ghost checked the room beyond.
*… three people. Fowl, that Butler guy, and that fairy captain with the stupidly ironic name.
So Artemis, his bodyguard, and Captain Short. No-one else?
*They're talking to someone over Fowl's laptop. Sorry, 'couple of someones. Sounds like one of them is that centaur from the base, but I don't know who the other one is.
Right. Frisk straightened their shoulders, and clutched Flowey's pot a little closer to their chest. Ignoring the flower's surprisingly sedate grumbling ("what's with you and trying to squish me like this, damn it") they raised a trembling hand and knocked.
The faint murmur of conversation from inside the office – which they'd barely been able to hear in the first place – paused.
"Come in, Frisk." Artemis Fowl's voice called, after a moment.
Swallowing, they pushed open the door.
Like Chara had said, three people in the room. Artemis sat behind his fancy desk, posture perfect and fingers steepled in front of him, as if he was waiting for a business meeting to begin rather than what might just turn out to be an intense interrogation. In a chair to one side, the fairy who'd introduced herself as Captain Short sat, seeming much too small and almost childish in an armchair meant for someone at least five feet tall instead of three. Looming behind them both, like some protective stone guardian, Butler stood perfectly still with his back to the window, face implacable and passive.
"Hello, Ambassador," the captain said. "Flowey." Her voice seemed strangely… tentative. Much more so than it had been during the parley that seemed so long ago, now. Frisk felt the hairs on the back of their neck stand up, and heard Chara mutter something that was probably foul under their nonexistent breath.
It might have just been because she was in the same room as Flowey – the fairies were pretty scared of him, after all, that had been clear, though it seemed likely that they were just as scared of Sans as Flowey now after what had happened last time – but something told Frisk that wasn't the reason. Not this time, at least.
Flowey sniffed, but didn't respond to the greeting, narrowing his eyes at the trio.
"Seriously?" A new voice complained from the laptop. Well, a relatively new voice. Frisk recognized that voice from the fairy's Tara base – looked like Chara had been right about them talking to the centaur. "You three agreed to be in the same room as that damn flower monster?"
"Got a problem with me, buddy?" Flowey sneered.
"Duh." Came the immediate response. "I saw what you did to those Retrieval officers in the Underground! Artemis, your schemes are always crazy, but now I think you've gone and lost your marbles!"
"Foaly," a new voice chided from the computer. "Artemis already agreed, conceded, acquiesced! It's a bit late for him to back off now, and that wouldn't exactly be fair to the Ambassador, either!"
"The hell's with all those stupid synonyms?" Flowey groused.
Frisk pursed their lips, eyeing the laptop and wishing they could see the screen from here, if only so they could put a face to the new voice. Seeing the glance, Artemis raised an eyebrow and gestured to the other chair in front of his desk.
"Please sit, Ambassador. We may be here for some time."
When Frisk had done so, making sure the door had shut and latched behind them and seating themselves cautiously, Artemis nodded briskly. "Before we get down to business, would you prefer that these two," he nodded to the laptop, "not be a part of the conversation? Foaly was the one who alerted me to the oddities in your memories in the first place, and No. 1 has seen a few of them as well, though not nearly as many."
*What kind of name is No. 1?
"Hey!" Foaly protested. "You can't just kick me out here, Mud Boy!"
Frisk nearly choked. Mud Boy? Their incredulousness must have shown because Captain Short gave them a faint grin and a shrug.
"I can and I will, Foaly. This is about the Ambassador's memories, and we've already encroached on them far too much already."
Grumbling over the speakers, and Artemis turned a questioning look to Frisk. They bit their lip uncertainly.
Chara?
*They've already seen the memories, right? If Fowl is as smart as he thinks he is, then he probably picked them because they already know whatever they're going to ask about.
Which meant that it probably wouldn't cause more harm in letting two more fairies get involved. After a moment, Frisk grimaced and shook their head. "It's fine," they murmured. "Though, um, can I… at least see their faces while we're talking? I…"
Artemis easily spun the laptop around so they could see the screen, and Frisk's words stopped and their eyebrows jumped up when they saw the two windows open there. The centaur's face was a familiar one, and barely even made them bat an eye after that… Mulch guy from their rescue, but the other face definitely gave them pause, because its owner honestly looked a bit like what they imagined a baby gargoyle might look like. It was humanoid, yeah, but the nose was too flat, the mouth a bit too wide, and the creature was covered in pebbly-looking grey scales with orange rune-like markings on the forehead, and sported stumpy little horns and bright orange eyes.
Seeing their expression, the… fairy… gave them a grin that, despite the mouthful of fangs, actually managed to come across as friendly and a little sheepish. They also raised a hand – a hand with only three fingers and a thumb, all tipped in short talons – to wave.
"Hello, greetings, salutations!" The being said in an obvious attempt at cheerfulness. "Sorry if my appearance startled you!"
Frisk opened and shut their mouth a few times, then managed a faint smile back. "Um… no, it's fine. You didn't scare me." Unbalance them because they hadn't been expecting something so monster-like on the screen, yes. Scare them? No.
"Well, that's a relief!" The creature sighed, lowering their hand and beginning to fidget. "Some people can find us a little frightening sometimes! Though admittedly it's partially justified with some of the older demons. They didn't adjust to peaceful society very well at first, not like my teacher and I did."
*Demons?
Chara sounded incredulous, and Frisk was about two seconds away from following suit before they decided not to ask. Flowey had no such qualms, and outright spluttered.
"Demons?" He said.
"Long story," Captain Short said briskly. "That's not what we're here for, though if you want more information later I'm sure we could spare it."
"Oh, absolutely! Definitely! Of course!" No. 1 said. Foaly made an indignant whinnying sound and shot the… demon… a glare. Before any kind of argument could happen, though, Artemis cleared his throat pointedly, and both of the fairies on-screen went quiet, their expressions quickly shifting into ones a little more serious.
"Anyway," Foaly coughed. "Uh, proper introductions. Name's Foaly, technical consultant for the LEP, though I mostly work with Section Eight nowadays, their stuff's more interesting. This little guy," he gestured off-screen, probably in the general direction of the other fairy ", is No. 1, one of two trained demon warlocks in the Lower Elements. A damn powerful one, too, he really knows his stuff."
"Yeah yeah yeah, whatever!" Flowey snapped. "Frisk's not here to chat and make nice! You guys wanted to talk to them about something, so talk already!"
"Flowey," Frisk muttered disapprovingly.
"Your friend is technically correct," Artemis said frankly, waving the flower's rudeness aside. "And, honestly, I think all of us would prefer to get this over and done with, yes?"
They nodded.
"In that case… I'll begin our questions." Artemis folded his hands in front of him again, eyes going sharp and calculating. "Tell me, Frisk, how long have you and your ghostly ally been trapped in a time loop?"
The whole Resets conversation is probably gonna take a couple of chapters – I could do it as one chapter, maybe, but that would be a really long chapter, and I'd prefer to keep all the chapters of this fanfic relatively close to the same length. Sorry for the new cliffhanger, guys!
Everybody's on edge right now, and it's morning shortly after everyone's woken up, to boot. Nobody's really in a good state of mind right now, which is part of the reason why Undyne's so snappish and confrontational. The other reason… well, see last chapter. She's not happy about being in what she considers enemy territory. At all. She'll calm down eventually, but it's gonna take a while…
The twins are definitely not morning people. They were literally half asleep at first, though everyone's going to be awake after all those harsh words being thrown around. Honestly, though, I just thought it would be kinda funny for hyperactive Beckett and scarily alert Myles to both be zombies in the morning. Imagine a mini-Artemis with curly hair constantly being seconds away from falling asleep at the table and face-planting into his crepes. You're welcome :P
I was initially only going to have Artemis, Holly and Butler talking to Frisk, but considering that Foaly and No.1 already know about the Genocide Runs and want answers, it also makes sense for them to be involved, so I included them too. Besides, having a friendly and empathetic person like No.1 involved will probably help Frisk's nerves, if only a little.
