Chapter 6 - Resolution
Lower Elements, LEP "Julius Root Memorial Laboratory"
Artemis shuffled into the lab seeming excessively tired, enough that Holly cocked her head as he entered. It was a long night for him, designing and then hunting down the parts for a set of LEP elf-wings in the middle of the night proved taxing. The genius was forced to scrounge the Lower Elements equivalent of recycling bins in the populated area near the apartment that had been paid for by the LEP. Items he couldn't find, he managed to encounter a junk dealer which happened to carry some of the more specialized parts. Between those and what parts he could scrounge sneaking into Foaly's lab an hour prior to them beginning Artemis' memory treatment, Artemis not only had a functioning set of wings, but even a remote for them that he kept hidden in his pocket. He was saving the demonstration for later. For now, he waddled into the Memory-Line machine's pod and began attaching the pads himself. He could barely attach the first one when Holly came by to attend to him.
"You seem tired today Mud-Boy." Holly observed, somewhere between a statement and a question.
"I couldn't find rest easily last night," the boy genius replied simply, it almost wasn't a lie, "I figured I'd just get the rest of my rest while you work, complete two tasks at once."
Holly nodded in acknowledgement and finished off Artemis' wiring, giving the signal for Foaly to boot the machine, allowing the pod to close. She looked over to see the machine's progress display had been flashing at 70%, almost taunting them with their near-completion. She took her place next to Foaly to begin sorting through the boy's continually explosive and interesting adventures.
This next one happened to be the one with Orion. Artemis' case of Atlantis Complex stretched not only to another personality, but also affecting his main one in subtle ways like a fear of the number four. Sure enough, electrical shock was the trigger for the genius' change in personality from genius to… whatever Orion was meant to be. Thwarting Turnball Root turned out to be a spectacular affair, complete with mind-control and ending in a large explosion that consumed both Root and his human wife.
Stretching ahead of them was what appeared to be the last set of items to sort through. They had reached 87%, and it appeared that whatever was left occurred in the same time period. They were leading to the final point in Fowl's spectacular journey, his death and return.
"Looks like we have one last adventure to fill in," Holly commented, "you know, when we send him out of here I'll almost miss him."
"Sure." Foaly replied, somehow filling one syllable with all the possible sarcasm that could possibly be crammed into a vocal tone. Holly naturally punched his shoulder.
"Ow," the centaur cried out, "that's police brutality!"
Holly chuckled, but otherwise ignored the centaur, using the machine's timeline to draw a rough map of how they might organize the various scenes that Artemis' brain contained. She immediately found his death, something that she could recognize fully redeemed the lad, and placed it at the end. Just before it was a kiss on her forehead, the same one that Foaly used to create his clone and later the basis for this machine. Foaly noted the great techno-crash at the front end of the adventure, briefly after Fowl's Atlantis Complex treatment, ridding him of Orion and his odd obsession with the number five (and great fear of the number four.)
It was surely another Koboi plot, it seemed that the Pixie truly did everything in her power to utterly destroy both fairy and surface societies. By using some form of time paradox that destroyed anything associated with her… including the great deal of technology in Haven, Atlantis, and across the surface. The fairy folk were still recovering in some areas, but most places, even on the surface, were able to replace their infrastructure in the intervening time before Artemis returned. It was actually Holly's large amount of assistance in the time period shortly after Koboi's plot: rescuing civilians from downed infrastructure and doing nearly 24/7 peacekeeping in the Lower Elements that gave her the requisite time off to pursue the "Fowl Project" as the LEP put it. Assuming it was not just Holly and Foaly's memories returning, the LEP might deem her "pet project" a greater success than they could have imagined, considering how intrinsically tied Fowl seemed to be to recent fairy history. Holly could not wait to demonstrate to them just how important this mission turned out to be. There was still a bit of resentment that she carried from how they emphasized the "pet" part of "pet project."
The parts of the tale surrounding the Fowl Manor were easy enough to piece together, all the way up to his death. It was that usual guiding force and the lifting of fog on their own memories leading them to whether they were right or not. When everything was lined up, and the progress bar reached 100%, there was no large fanfare, no great feeling as if the fogginess was lifted once and for all. That didn't stop their feeling of satisfaction and clarity, finally understanding the past several years and their massive effects on an otherwise stagnant surface and fairy society. With their job complete, Holly released Artemis from the pod and helped him remove the electrodes once more.
"That's it then." Artemis said with almost a tinge of sorrow, "we're done here?"
"Sure looks that way." Holly replied, she knew how he was feeling, although instinctively she didn't wish to show it.
They didn't even notice the centaur, his duty complete, clopping his way to the exit of the lab and shutting the door behind him.
The genius remembered his gift, pulling out a remote from his pocket, "I believe I have something for you."
The elf was surprised, but only mildly, the boy that kidnapped her truly did come a long way. She gingerly took it and investigated it, "what is it?"
As she looked at it, she noticed that it was a small remote with only two buttons. Underneath it was a strap that could easily grip to bare skin or an LEP-Recon suit. The top button was labelled "call" and the bottom labelled "release." Holly truly could not tell what it was meant to do.
"I think it's best if we go outside." Artemis suggested, beckoning for Holly to follow.
They walked outside together, out into the large open cave that was the Lower Elements. The laboratory was set above the main city, leaving the view in front of them to be cave wall that slowly panned downwards into a thriving fairy metropolis. Artemis felt the freedom that came from his treatment being over, and hopefully this would make him a slightly redeemable figure in Ms. Short's eyes.
'Ms. Short, huh. Orion must really have gotten to me when he had the chance.'
"Alrighty Holly, I want you to affix the remote to your arm and press the 'call' button." Artemis ordered.
Holly complied, placing the remote on like a watch, but still harbored questions, "Seriously, what does this do?"
"You'll find out."
Holly sighed and pressed the call button. A telltale beep indicated that it functioned, but nothing immediately happened. What did the boy do?
Artemis scanned all around them, searching for something, before noticing Holly was tapping her feet in impatience.
"Give it a moment Ms. Short," the boy stated somewhat jovially, "it will be here shortly."
Holly learned from the past couple days that she was starting to hate surprises, "what will?"
Before she could demand that he tell her in a much more authoritative tone, a buzzing noise sounded from above them. The duo looked up to see a pair of fairy wings diving at them with incredible speed. Before Holly could so much as react, the wings slowed rapidly, stopping behind her. Not a second sooner the wings attached themselves to Holly's plainclothes by wrapping around her midsection. Holly seemed none too pleased by anything that was currently happening.
"Artemis Fowl the Second, what is the meaning of this!" Holly shouted at the boy as she attempted to pull off the machine that had unexpectedly wrapped around her.
Artemis stifled a laugh, attempting to remain serious as he explained himself, "Sorry for the surprise, but I built you a pair of custom wings. They're slightly heavier than a normal set but can be used without your Recon suit and are faster and more maneuverable."
"How do you know anything about fairy wings?" Holly queried the boy before realizing that was a dumb question. Of course Fowl would figure out how to work with fairy technology.
"I just figured it out," Artemis replied in a nonchalant manner, "do you plan on letting them gather dust on your back?"
'He does have a point,' Holly's subconscious was betraying her from the moment she heard "faster" and "more maneuverable," yet between her grappling with all of the genius' past at once and the sudden introduction of this new toy she had a natural aversion to this sudden gift. 'I guess I just have to put my trust in him.'
Putting her faith in him, she attempted to fly as she would in her normal LEP suit. Sure enough, the boy's creation worked and she sprang into the air with a sudden quickness not afforded by normal suits. She gave an uncontrolled smile before immediately flying away. Deciding to take a lap around the laboratory, she took it slow and tested if the boy knew all the intricacies of flying in a wingsuit. Able to pitch, yaw, and roll was critical, and they were active on these portable wings as well. She was still confused on how Fowl figured out the control system, considering she barely knew how it worked, but if the wings functioned, they functioned.
Upon reaching her starting point Holly kicked the speed up a notch for a second lap. Testing the limits for how fast she could go, she cut corners and flew at an incredible pace. She also took the time to observe the scenery, which happened to be the usual cave walls and buildings all about. The laboratory itself was adorned with Julius Root's name, her old CO before one of Koboi's many plans. It stood on its own platform of sorts above much of the rest of the city. Its front entrance was small and the small 'courtyard' in front of sorts gave way to a view of the city below, and there was only a very small walkway from that entrance that led to the rest of the city. By the time she finished this lap, she nearly halved the time of her first. Reaching her starting point again, she hovered and glanced at a grinning Artemis. 'Might as well give him a show.'
"Watch this Mud-Boy!" Holly called out to Artemis before lurching forward.
Artemis suddenly realized something and reached out, but it was too late and the incredibly satisfied elf was long gone, leaving the boy only able to yell "Holly, wait!"
Having done a lap at a normal pace and a lap at her pace, it was only natural to take it at the fastest the wings would take her. She bolted into the first corner and only barely missed the wall after a slight adjustment. The wings were dangerously swift if one didn't intrinsically know how to avoid obstacles. Continuing the dash, she took corner two with a little bit more space to the wall, fearing it might take her out. There was also the fear of whiplash that was now raised, considering any sharp turn could utterly ruin the elf's day. Still, this was an incredibly joyous occasion, rarely did she get to go so fast, exemplified by corner three where she was getting the hang of flying at such a high tempo, apexing the corner with grace and even giving a slight twirl. She pushed the wings to their total limit in the straight leading to the turn that would bring her back to the boy. However, she felt the wings rapidly slow as she came into the corner, leaving her to realize that the wings were giving out. By the time she exited the corner she was pointed right at Artemis, who was standing only a few meters from the end of the lab's platform.
"Fowl!" The speed-demon elf cried out, unable to control her movement.
Artemis braced himself to catch her, she was small but still traveling at a substantial speed. He knew that behind him lay the edge of the platform, and apparently the LEP did not invest in safety railing for an occasion like this. When Holly sailed into him, he was ready, catching her in his arms, but he was still sent onto his back with her on top of him. The momentum carried to him and they were sent back those precious meters to the edge, but to their surprise, nobody was sent over. They clutched each other tightly as they both breathed sighs of relief.
"That was close." Artemis muttered, almost able to turn his head and see the entire Lower Elements below.
"What else is new, you were involved." Holly said with a bit of sarcasm, almost not noticing the position they were in. Almost.
Holly immediately shook off Artemis' grip, standing herself back up and beginning to try to remove the wings. She was back to having mixed emotions, as per usual these past few days.
"Sorry Holly," Artemis apologized as he got up himself, smarting slightly from landing hard on his back, "I warned you too late that these were experimental. Come here and let me show you how to take it off."
She elf woman approached him and awaited his help. On one hand, the wings almost killed her, but on the other, it was an incredible ride that she would love to have done again. They were sort of symbolic of Artemis' relationship with her, actually. All his adventures put them in mortal danger, but without him, where would she be. It was not one-sided either, without her he'd be dead or otherwise still out committing crime. Also, without her and Foaly they would never have known the extent to his adventure with the fairy folk. It was a weird balance between the duo. Artemis released the locking mechanism by holding the "release" button and pulling one half of the strap along her midsection out of its lock.
"The release is normally to send it away, it's meant to have an AI to hide itself when not in use, but it also works like that in emergencies." Artemis explained.
"Interesting," Holly muttered, lost in thought, before settling on one sticking point, "you know Foaly will want to tear this apart and reverse-engineer it to find out how you made it so fast, right?"
"One step ahead of you," the genius grinned, "I forwarded schematics to him this morning, it turns out that your society is incredibly obsessed with miniaturizing everything that they never considered the power from a slightly larger 'engine' could outweigh the weight from reducing it."
Holly was slightly confused but got the gist, "So these are mine?"
"Of course. I can help you fix them, using the right parts this time, but it would require a bit more time," Artemis surmised, "Problem is, my lease is up with the LEP apartment now that treatment can be considered complete."
"I have one more day off, a sofa in my home, and a lot of talking to do with you." Holly grinned, motioning for him to follow as she began to leave the walkway.
Artemis stood there, a little surprised. He wasn't sure quite what he was implying when he mentioned his inability to stay, but he didn't quite expect for her to be so quick to offer up her home.
"Are you coming or not?" Holly smirked as she beckoned him to follow her. The boy finally followed the instructions and came running up next to her.
The duo walked out into the Lower Elements, both happy they still had a little while longer together.
Lower Elements, Haven City, "Gnome's Dome Café," the next evening.
Artemis shuffled awkwardly in his chair, right hand holding a fork and eating salad, left fidgeting with a small jewelry box in his pocket. Across from him, Holly Short, also eating a salad. He certainly hoped that the elf couldn't tell he was nervous. Spending much of the day together, retooling the wings and having someone to explain his thought process to as he did so gave him absolutely no nerves, but giving a sentimental gift, he was a step away from sweating.
The delivery from Butler came this afternoon and Artemis was able to retrieve it in secret, partially thanks to a Foaly that was overly indulgent in Artemis' little 'proposal' plan. Foaly had convinced Holly and Caballine to go out for a short while, leaving the boys to talk at the centaur's house.
"It's not a proposal, Foaly." Artemis bluntly stated to the centaur, who had feigned wiping a tear at someone finally asking for Holly's hand in marriage.
"Could've fooled me," Foaly chuckled in response, "what's your endgame for this anyways?"
"It's a thank you," Fowl emphasized, "a gift, nothing more."
The centaur grinned, a comment clearly ready, "Maybe this one wont almost get her killed."
"How did you hear about that already?" Artemis whispered in a hushed tone, like anyone would hear them in Foaly's house.
"You know I never left the building, right?"
"What?"
"I went into the other lab to start working on your wings, an almost fine design by the way, when I watched the incident on my security monitors."
"Of course."
"Of course!" The centaur chuckled.
Foaly suddenly smacked himself on the head, seeming to recall something, "Here! Almost forgot to give the thing to you."
Artemis retrieved his gift, "Thank you."
"Also, he told me when I picked your thing up: Butler wants you to contact him at some point, says Juliet will be returning to Fowl Manor soon and he can come back down for you." Foaly reported.
The genius certainly did miss Butler, but also the independence of being able to exist with nobody to watch was somewhat nice. Then again, that independence and feeling of freedom ironically was coming from spending all his time with Ms. Short. 'Is this why people fall in love?'
"Got it, I'm going to let him know that I'm due to return to the surface soon," Artemis replied, "I think today or tomorrow may be my last days in the Lower Elements for a while."
Foaly appeared slightly sullen by the prospect, grimacing somewhat, "You should come back, I'll need somebody with a modicum of my intelligence to bounce ideas off of."
"Of course," Fowl grinned, "but only if you can do the same for me, I have ideas for a settlement on the planet Mars.'
Foaly's eyebrows were raised in a little bit of surprise, presumably at the prospect of such an endeavor, but he nodded in approval. "Any time."
Shortly afterwards the girls returned, and the duo of Artemis and Holly left to get food.
Now, Artemis just had to find a way to give the trinket to her. His mind returning to the present, he took a swig of the vegetable juice served with his salad. It was a surprisingly flavorful beverage, vegan meals that might be boring or distasteful in the human realm were much improved in Lower Elements cuisine. Artemis knew his focusing on food of all things was a distraction for himself. 'That's not what matters right now.'
'It has to be done now or I'll never do it.'
Artemis cleared his throat, breaking the silence that overcame the duo when they began eating, "Holly, the wings weren't the only thing I had for you."
Holly looked up from her meal with a bit of surprise, swallowing so that she could reply, "What are you going to try to kill me with this time?"
The genius looked down a moment, there was still a slight guilt from the entire incident with the wings breaking.
"I jest," Holly quickly addended, "but what else could you possibly have that beats the fastest pair of wings in the Lower Elements?"
Fowl squeezed the jewelry box for good luck before slowly pulling it out of his pocket. Holly's eyes widened slightly as he placed the box on the table and slid it to her.
"Art-" Holly was at a loss, "Artemis, I don't know. What is the meaning of this? What are you doing?"
In the span of several seconds Artemis watched Holly go through a span of emotions, now he had to clarify, "It's a gift, a thank you, nothing more."
Holly stopped her near-interrogation a moment and looked down at the box, deciding to open it.
Inside was a pure golden necklace, the links slightly thicker than the average delicate chain. Attached to this chain was a solid-gold acorn, with all the embellishments and textures that one might expect from the real-deal. Holly looked up at the genius.
"It's not just any acorn," Artemis quickly explained before Holly could question him more, "it's the one from when I kidnapped you. You planted it in your cell to complete the ritual, and I left it there for several years. It couldn't grow since it was in a lightless cell with weak soil, until I had Butler remove it.
I also know a specialized jeweler, he took an ingot of gold obtained in an unknown manor and melted some of it down into a chain and acorn replica. Butler then replanted the acorn at the Fowl Manor for posterity."
The fairy woman was already surprised by the wings and the necklace, but to hear Fowl had come up with a sentimental gift that had such a great deal of thought and effort put into it, it was almost unbelievable.
"You," Holly declared, "Artemis Fowl the Second, came up with this for me?"
"Yes, it's a thank-you, not just for these past couple days, but for all the guiding you've done for me in the past several years. I consider you to not just be a great ally, but a fantastic friend."
The conviction with which Artemis spoke to her about this stunned Holly. She tried to formulate a sentence, a couple sentences actually, to no avail. It wasn't a total confession of love as she'd expected from a gift like this, but it was still Artemis, she was talking about, this might as well have been for him. She glanced around and noticed a couple of eyes on the pair, and she knew for better or worse something like this would spread like wildfire throughout the Lower Elements. 'I can't wait to hear what the hens have to say next time I have my hair dealt with.'
Artemis cleared his throat abruptly and stood up, his face was beet red, the confession clearly having drained all of the stoic energy that kept his visible emotions limited at any given time, "Anyways, I think I have a flight to catch up to the surface Ms. Short."
"Artemis," Holly found her voice and tried to call him back, "wait."
It was too late, and the genius had already left the restaurant. She noticed he'd even left payment for their combined bill, alongside a generous tip to the pixie who had waited on them. Quickly, Holly followed his trail, desperate to see him one last time. There had to be more to what he was trying to say. She hated to admit it, but she wanted there to be more.
"Fowl!" She yelled as soon as she exited, seeing no sign of the human boy among the throngs of elves and pixies that composed the foot traffic around Haven. He would have stuck out like a troll in a bathhouse.
It just so happened that Holly had a fairly sharp wit, no female could get into the LEP Recon division and become a captain otherwise. Artemis also did himself no favors by tempering those reflexes on multiple occasions, his antics ending up with her in situations that she had to be adaptive in order to resolve. This was all to say that she instantly knew the solution to her problem
"Tsk," Holly snickered to herself as she pressed the call button on her wrist, "shouldn't have repaired the wings if you wanted to hide from me."
The wings took a moment, but quickly arrived and attached themselves to the elf's body. Holly quickly sprang up and made a mad dash to the LEP's Haven headquarters. This was guaranteed to be Artemis' destination considering they were responsible for his transportation to the Lower Elements and back. A short while later, a surprised Artemis was left stopped in his tracks upon seeing her awaiting him. His shock was so palpable that he had dropped the luggage he came prepared with.
"Holly, you-" Artemis tried to speak but couldn't find the words, giving Holly the time to approach and shut him up.
"It's a difficult prospect, I know," Holly started, "but I love you too."
Artemis stared at his shoes, somewhere between too embarrassed to speak and too dumbfounded by her forwardness.
"We don't have to figure this all out right now." Holly grinned. "How about this, I'll see you on the surface in a week and we can talk more. Deal?"
"S-sounds good to me." The boy stuttered a little bit.
Artemis was flush and Holly had an uncontrollable grin, to seal their mutual feelings she fluttered up to eye level and stared into his eyes for a moment. They were both an icy blue, no longer the blue and hazel that they both shared for a long while. It was probably a good thing; he'd be less terrifying now but still concerning if he had access to the people's magic. After a too-long gaze she finally gave him a peck on the cheek.
"Now get in there!" Holly yelled in a playfully authoritative manner, "every second you spend here is a waste of thousands of our tax dollars!"
Artemis hustled inside the headquarters to get his flight underway back to the surface. Meanwhile, Holly sighed. She was happy that she could get it off her chest, for better or worse the memory therapy did a great deal in advancing their understanding of their relationship. Without her, he'd be dead ten times over, but similarly that principle applied vice-versa. Opal Koboi would still initiate her plans no matter what, it just so happened that they had each other for assistance and the requisite skillsets to complement each other. If the memories they had were retained, they would never have been forced to re-examine and truly study what made Fowl's adventures so important to both man and fairy. Most importantly, they never would have examined the sparks that existed between them.
Holly sprang in the air once again, zipping her way on home. She had the rest of a day off, a week, and then she would meet up with the Mud Boy, maybe sort things out.