A Twist of Fate
What if Holly's father had never died? As a sinister plan unfolds, Holly finds herself tangled in a web of jealousy and betrayal. Then when she finally thinks she's made the right choice, she finds herself back to square one. Can Holly still believe in the power of friendship, and the power of...love? (Holly/Trouble/Artemis)
Author's Note: REVIEWS! Oh, oh, thank you! I'm so touched! There's nothing better than knowing your story is appreciated. So...hey...I'm back again! I hope the last two chapters weren't too dark. I know the story doesn't have the happiest beginning, but I promise there will be humour later on in this story, to relieve the tension. Right now, the first few chapters are rather angsty and have a pretty oppressive tone, but don't worry, it won't be oppressive for too long. And hey, I just realized Holly seems to be overreacting and have rather exaggerated reactions to the possibility that her father may be alive, but hey, I think it would be pretty creepy if someone you loved died and came back to life, since we all know that's scientifically impossible. So I hope it's not too out-of-character. Okay, enough of my long, rambling author's note, let's get on with the story!
Chapter Three: Illusions
Root and Trouble stared pointedly at Holly, and feeling uncomfortable, Holly bowed her head. She could still feel the intensity of their gaze boring into her head, doubting her words, not believing, not knowing what to say. An awkward silence hung in the air, as Holly's statement echoed in their ears, in their minds.
Finally, Root broke the silence. Holly could hear him clear his throat.
"But..."
Holly knew it. She knew the 'but' would come.
Root continued. "But Holly...your father's...your father's dead."
Holly did not look up. "....I know. That's why I think I'm going crazy," she whispered, a lump rising in her throat. She wanted so much to believe it was true, but she knew she had only been hallucinating.
Trouble spoke next. "Holly...why don't you take a break from work? You sound awfully tired."
Holly's head snapped back up and she glared at him disbelievingly. Take a break from work because of this? Was he crazy?
"No...never! That would be so...ludicrous!" Holly said. She loved her job, she really did. Why would she risk taking a vacation, only to come back and find that her position had been given to another? She already knew the odds were against her, since she was female and all.
Trouble stroked Holly's hair, as if he really thought she was already losing her sanity. "Holly...you hardly rest. It's time you left some work to us for a change, you've been hogging all the work," he said gently, smiling.
Holly stared at him. To even suggest rest meant that he didn't trust her to be sane enough. "Hey...come on, Trouble...lighten up. I just hallucinated a bit, and now you're asking me to leave the LEP to take a rest?" The concept sounded foreign to her.
Root looked at Holly again. "You know, Holly, Trouble's right."
Holly's eyes darted from Trouble to Root. This wasn't fair.
"Imagine. If you're really hallucinating, how can the LEP trust you to send you on an assignment? You might have some illusion and make it worse, like injuring an innocent bystander when you're meant to shoot a criminal. Furthermore, you seem worn out and exhausted. You even fainted on a mission. I don't mean to be harsh but....wouldn't it be better for you to take a break, recuperate, and come back absolutely fit and healthy?"
"Am I not absolutely fit and healthy?" Holly felt the beginnings of tears form.
Root sighed impatiently. "Don't be stubborn, Holly. It's for your own good and you know it."
"I wished I hadn't said anything!" Holly blurted out.
"This has nothing to do with you saying anything or not. The fact that you seem so...tired recently..." Root trailed off.
You just don't know what it's like to worry every day about whether the job you love will still be there or not... thought Holly.
Trouble sat next to Holly, draping his arm across her shoulders and whispering soothingly in her ear, "Holly, if it's about your job, we'll put in a good word for you. No one's perfect, no one can go on forever without stopping to take a rest. So just concentrate on resting up and you'll be fine."
"Yes, Holly, we're all worried. Don't worry us any further. We can't concentrate on assignments if we're worrying about your health," Root added.
Holly looked at her lap, her tears threatening to spill over. Perhaps she was overreacting. Nevertheless, she felt unwanted, distrusted, and useless. When in her life had she felt so useless? Not since the Artemis Fowl affair.
"You....you can't do this to me," Holly said softly, biting her lip. She would not cry. She would not cry in front of two well-known LEP officers. Imagine the embarrassment they'd put her through. Captain Holly Short isn't so brave and strong after all, she almost heard Root snicker in her mind. She wasn't sure if her overbearing commander would even resort to that, but from the way he had treated her...
"I'm fine, damn it!" Holly yelled, trying to drive the point home. "I'm not going crazy!"
She watched as Trouble and Root gave each other another knowing look, and her heart welled up with seething fury. This was so unfair!
Trouble patted Holly's shoulder. "You know what, Holly? Get some rest. We'll talk about this tomorrow." He seemed tired of arguing with her.
Root gave her a grim smile. "Yes, Holly, we'll see you again. Meanwhile get some rest, and report for work tomorrow." The look on his face clearly told her differently.
Holly looked at her lap, refusing to reply. She was afraid she might say something wrong, that would further reinforce their belief that she was going mad.
"See you, Holly," she heard Trouble say.
Falling backwards, Holly thought for a while, before her brain screamed for sleep and she finally succumbed to the welcoming arms of dreamland.
~*~
"Captain Short, reporting for duty!" Holly raised her hand in a salute, feeling more jovial than she had been last night. Sleep did seem to do miracles.
The young LEP officer at the door grinned back at her. "Nice to see you again, Holly. You've been out for the past two days!"
Two days? thought Holly alarmingly. She hadn't known fainting had had such an adverse effect on her. But then again, there was that issue with her father....Holly shook her head, and refused to think about it anymore. If she did, she might start hallucinating again.
Holly groaned. "Jeez, does everyone in the LEP know that I fainted? How embarrassing can things get?"
The LEP officer chuckled. "It's not everyday you see tough cookie Captain Short fainting on a mission."
Holly stuck her tongue out at him before she entered the building. On the way, she encountered Foaly, who smiled pleasantly at her.
"What are you doing here, Holly?" he asked.
Holly gave an amused smile. "Well, I work here, don't I?"
"Oh!" Foaly exclaimed, and Holly noticed his face fall.
"What is it?" Holly narrowed her eyes suspiciously.
She watched as Foaly scratched his head. "Er...well...didn't Julius tell you?"
Holly's smile began to get tight. "Tell me what, Foaly?"
"I thought he popped over to your house last night..." Foaly mumbled.
"I was asleep the whole time. Besides, he asked me to report back for work today," Holly replied.
Foaly sighed. "Oh, Holly....you know Root just wanted to cheer you up."
"Wha-what do you mean?" Holly asked curiously.
Foaly shifted nervously from foot to foot. "Well...Root's told the council that you're taking a break from the LEP for a while."
"WHAT?!" Holly shrieked, and the people around her turned to stare.
Foaly cringed. "I knew you wouldn't take it well...Root tried to tell you yesterday. I know that he and Trouble left your house in the afternoon, but he wanted to come back in the evening to tell you, after he had discussed it with the council. But I guess he didn't get the chance - since you were asleep. You better not go up, I don't think Root would be expecting you."
"HOW COULD HE DO THIS TO ME?!" Holly yelled furiously.
"Relax, Holly!" Foaly cried.
"HE CAN'T DO THIS TO ME!" Holly screamed.
"It'll be good for you, Holly. Just comply."
"YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND! This job is my life, now the council will have something against me! That's why they agreed, they never wanted me in the first place!" Holly spun on her heel and ran out of the building. Her vision was blurry as tears stung her eyes.
Don't cry, Holly, you're a big girl. Don't cry, don't cry, don't cry.
Holly ran to the train station. She needed some fresh air - literally.
~*~
Holly stared moodily out of the window. A couple of tourists sat behind her, excitedly chattering away about something. Holly didn't know where she was heading, but all she knew was that she had to get away from Haven. She didn't want to think about how complicated her life had gotten - all because of her big mouth. She had headed straight for the train station, knowing that without her LEP pass, she couldn't even get onto the pods. But never mind that the trains were slow and mostly filled with enthusiastic tourists she normally couldn't stand (because they were just so excited all the time), she needed time to think. Not that time was running short. She had plenty of it now, now that she wasn't working for the LEP.
Come on, Holly, don't make it sound so bad. It's not like you're not going back there forever, Holly tried to comfort herself. She stared stonily out of the window, watching the Underground pass by her in a moderate whirl.
Oh, who am I kidding?! Holly thought, and immediately felt her heart twist. She knew she was standing on shaky ground with the council, and it wasn't even her fault.
Why did I have to hallucinate and then open my big trap about it? Holly moaned, dropping her head into her hands. Her body jerked as the train stopped, and getting to her feet, Holly exited the train.
She wandered aimlessly above ground, not even bothering to shield, even though she was out of the Underground and on the Mud People's Land. She was so depressed that she couldn't care less if a white lamb came frolicking her way, over the green hills. She sat on a patch of greenery, and picking up a blade of grass, she blew at it, sighing. Life had gotten so boring now - so boring that all she had to do was to sit around.
Why didn't Root understand that working in the LEP would have helped her more, instead of "resting"? Now that she was so bored, who knew what other hallucinations she would have, just to keep herself occupied? She shook her head, wondering when her sanity had become so threadbare.
Immediately, an onslaught of memories came rushing back, filling up every gap in her mind. She watched the movie of that day replay itself, how she had shivered at the sight of the dilapidated house, how she had gone into the room alone. Involuntarily, Holly shivered again.
Those eyes. Those big, hazel eyes, so much like her own. Were they real? Holly wondered. It had sounded so real to her, looked so real...yet she knew she must have imagined it. Nothing could bring her father back, no matter how much she missed him. Nothing could ever bring a dead person back to life.
Am I really dead though? a voice, so much like the one on the day she fainted, started up in her voice again.
Holly jumped up to her feet in surprise. "Not again!" she yelled. "Who the heck are you?"
It's just my imagination. Stop, Holly, stop thinking about it.
It's not your imagination and you know it, the voice retorted. You are my daughter, and I am your father...
Holly groaned. "Not that nonsense again? MY FATHER'S DEAD, FOR D'ARVIT'S SAKE!"
Why won't you believe me? You saw me at the house. Old, frail, starved, but definitely alive. That figure was me. Why won't you believe me?
"You're just a hallucination. You're not my father. You're not, you're not, you're not!" Holly screamed.
My precious daughter...I am alive...I am alive...the heroic LEP officer I once was, the one you respected. The one you decided to follow...
Holly clutched her head, trying to get it to shut up. "Dad...Dad's dead...Dad's dead, stop telling me you are him!"
Holly...oh Holly...I am your father...
"No, you're not...you're not! Please...go away...stop making me act weird...please...!"
Holly...Holly...the voice whispered eerily.
"You got me in trouble...go away!"
I'm shattered by your denial, Holly...
"If you're really my father, why didn't you come back before?!"
Now is the time...now is the time...trust me first, Holly, I shall reveal to you the truth. We shall be unbeatable, a father-daughter duo...
"You're not my father....my father never spoke like that..."
Holly...I am your father as you remembered me...
"No..." Holly spoke brokenly. Tears cascaded down her cheeks. "No..."
Holly...trust in me...
"Captain Short?" someone called behind her. It sounded like a man, but different from the voice she had been hearing in her head. But who knew? She couldn't take chances. Maybe it was the voice!
"Go away, go away, go away!" she shrieked wildly.
"Captain Short?! What's wrong?" that someone continued to speak, his voice interlaced with concern. She felt a hand on her shoulder.
Holly did not turn around, and instead, wept miserably. "The voice....the voice...! It's coming after me, it wants to kill me!" she shouted hysterically.
"Captain Short! What voice?" she heard the man say.
"The...the voice," Holly sobbed. This was no longer the strong Holly everyone knew.
The man turned her face, and stared into her hazel eyes, a look of confusion in his eyes. Holly saw blue. So much blue. The endless blue threatened to drown her.
"Artemis, oh, oh, Artemis," she whispered finally, before collapsing into his arms.