Hi! It's me. Well duh, of course it's me, who else could get into my account and type this story for me? HACKERS that's who! But hacking into my computer is a complete waste of time, there is nothing in here but the things I type…and other crap like stuff.
Thanks to all you who reviewed my last chapter, I'm very happy you liked it! I mean VERY happy. I was all smiling and cheerful when I saw people actually read my story then reviewed! To make things even better, some put it on their favorite stories list. (That's what made me jump for joy!)
To my reviewer Alex: I'm sorry if I made Root seem happy and out of character. "And then I'll just give everyone else off too. We can throw a party, with lots of confetti, and lights, oh and don't forget lots and lots music! Oh, then I will just release the prisoners from their cells while I'm at it. They deserve to take Christmas off to, go see their families, eat lots of good food, and steal some gifts for the kids… Christmas is a day that everyone should get off. You know what? I think I will take it off too!" If you thought that by that paragraph, well that paragraph was supposed to be said with sarcasm. Just wanted to clear that up, if he did seem too happy, then that is my doing and I am deeply sorry.
To the rest of my reviewers: Thanks for reviewing, It really warmed my heart to see all those reviews in my inbox. The reviews my other story never got. ;-; .My poor, poor, poor misunderstood story. Must be the summary, I really stink at writing summaries. Well I think that's all I have to say on this topic…at the moment. Oh and are dear Arty will be in this.
Disclaimer: I OWN NOTHING! If I did I wouldn't be typing this story; I would be swimming in my pool full of pudding. Mmmmm pudding…
Remember to review when your done reading, and no flames unless they are constructive, Or they shall forever remain DELETED!
Now without further adieu, I bring you A AF Christmas Carol Chapter 2. Please hold all questions and chastise till the end of the chapter.
Chapter 2: The arrival of an old friend
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Commander Root left the station. Coat wrapped closely around his body in order to keep in the warm and shield out the cold air around him. He was trying to forget that his cousin asked him to go over to his house for Christmas dinner. Root said that he would see him -- yes, indeed he did. He went the whole length of the expression, and said that he would see him in that extremity first.
Winter was one of the worst times of the year for the people. Sure they lived close to the Earth's core, but every year for three months, the lava doesn't give off as much heat as usual, quite a bit less actually. You know as well as I do, the fairies can't stand the cold.
'Just another reason for me to hate Christmas.' Thought Root as he made his way to his town house. It was pretty small even by town house standards, there were apartments bigger than it was, but who was Root to complain. He had no friends and not enough family to care about, or too much family to care about, (he never could remember which it was) so why should he care if he had an extremely small house and left it a mess all the time.
He reached into his pocket to pull out his house chip. After many years of complaining about how easily keys are broken, lost, stolen, and copied, the council finally gave into the peoples demands and had Foaly make a better replacement.
The V89.5 chip was no bigger than an American dime. You simply had it placed under your skin in the palm of your hand, put your hand under the scanner in the door, and turn the knob. Root didn't like the idea of something being stuck permanently under his skin so he simply had his modified into a key chain.
When he put his chip under the scanner he saw something. His garden gnome looked like his old friend Briar Cudgeon. Albeit Cudgeon didn't have a beard and pointy red hat.
Root blinked. That couldn't be right. When he tried looking at it more closely it turned back to its original form, evil looking and fat.
'You work to hard Julius, look your hallucinating!'
"Shut up brain! I am not working too hard."
'Sure you are, look your talking to yourself.'
Root growled as he stepped into his house, not exactly in the right state of mind to have an argument with himself.
He walked into his living room and collapsed in his moss green armchair. 'Another day another night.' he thought 'Tomorrow there is more work to be done.' He just hoped the evening goes by rather quickly. His wish was not going to come true.
There was a light thud in the bathroom, like someone had landed on the floor. Root distinguished it as nothing and went to the kitchen to make dinner. Not to long after his evening sandwich was prepared there was another thud from the bathroom. Sounded like something heavy and marble.
Not wanting to eat his sandwich in a house with intruders, Root carefully covered every inch of ground in his home, starting with the kitchen. There weren't many cabinets or shelves in Roots kitchen; not that he needed them for the only thing he had were loaves of bread on the counter. Coffee beans in the freezer, piles of salami, tomatoes, cheese, and lettuce in the refrigerator. All for making sandwiches of course. In one of the only cabinets he had was one bottle of medicine for Roots blood pressure. Magic couldn't keep blood from pumping into his heart. The label had said 500 pills; he was down to about 12.
Root decided now was a good time for one of those pills. The doctor said only to swallow when absolutely necessary. Ph, who needs doctors to tell them what to do, that's what attorneys are for. He took these pills when he was either hungry, tired, stressed out, or bored, and nothing ever happened to him! Sure he blacked out a few times, 76 times to be exact, but no harm ever came from blackouts. Except 12 of those times he had to go to the hospital from over dose…
Another thud, this time from the hallway. Now was a good time to take his sandwich and go to bed.
Root got changed and headed to his bed, his half-eaten sandwich still in hand. Not forgetting to put locks on his door. For the first time in a long time, Root was really nervous. Of course there was the Fowl cases, but those happened so long ago, or so it seemed.
"Julius." A faint voice sounded from the hallway. It was groggy and shallow. It kind of reminded Root of someone though he couldn't quite put his finger on it.
'"Julius." The same voice only louder this time. It sounded as if it was headed his way…
"Julius!" Root was far beyond freaked out. He ran over to his bedroom door and put more locks on it then he had fingers on both his of his hands. While he was at it, he grabbed his trusty triple-barreled blaster.
"Ok I think now is a great time to take some of those pills." Said Root harnessing his gun.
"JULIUS D'ARVIT OPEN THE FROND DAMN DOOR!"
"Cudgeon? No it can't be, your dead."
"Got something against dead people coming into your house at night?"
"Actually yes, yes I do."
"Gr…"
"And besides if you're dead, couldn't you just walk through the door?"
"…Never thought of that, well won't help your sink now."
"What about my sink?"
"Uh, nothing…nothing is wrong with your bathroom sink."
Root backed away from the door slowly. Was he imagining this? Or was he really talking to Briar Cudgeon? He was probably just asleep. It was times like these that Root really wanted those pills.
Suddenly a shadowed cast hand crept through the door, followed by a ghostly body. Root paled immediately at the sight of his dead ex-friend. It wasn't the fact he was a ghost, it was what he looked like. Cudgeon was in a grayish white robe, with shackles on his hands and feet and chains all over his body. Quite frankly, Cudgeon looked exhausted.
"What do you want here Cudgeon?"
"I've come to warn you Julius-"
"Don't call me Julius! I don't care if you're dead, you backstabbed me. That took away all your Julius privileges."
"Can't we just forget about what happened for one second so I can warn you about something?"
"Depends."
"Depends on what?"
"If the warning is big or small."
"It's big so I would advise you to pay attention."
Grumbling, Root sat on his bed and faced Cudgeon. He took a bite of his sandwich.
"Listen, I don't like you, and you don't like me."
"Then why are you here?"
Cudgeon looked like he was on the braking point, but tried to regain his composure as he said, "How about I just show you?" He walked over to Roots window, casting meaningful glances out it.
Root got off his bed, dropping his sandwich he went over to the windowsill he looked out of it. He gaped in astonishment at what he saw.
"Julius, this less time I spend with you the better. Really I would much rather not have warned you, but seeing you at work…It made me look like a better commander. Well, before I tried to take over."
Snapping back out of his state, he asked, "You see me at work?"
"I do Julius, only now can you see me. Retching your horrid anger on your co-workers, not spending any time with your family or friends. You spent most of your life in the office doing work. Outside of your job, you haven't done a decent thing for anyone."
Ignoring the Julius, Root was about to reply, but he didn't have a single retort. There may have been a time when he was a child that he did some good, but lets face the facts. Cudgeon was right.
"Do you want to be like them?" asked Cudgeon, pointing out the window.
Root looked back outside at the wandering spirits. Fairy ghost's young and old were floating above Haven. Some with more, some with less chains then Cudgeon was burdened with. Each moaning and trying to alleviate the heavy chains, one was reaching down towards an elf mother caressing her baby whom he could no longer help, but had the chance when he was alive.
"We are not aloud to leave until we have wandered the earth, watching in misery at what has become of the mudmen. Everyone must at least once before they die, be nice and do good deeds to another fairy. If they don't, they will be just like us. This is your fate Julius, or it would be."
"What do you mean by 'or it would be'?"
"You will be visited by three spirits, each at one o'clock starting tonight. They can help you."
"Great more dead people in my house."
"Julius pay attention this is important!"
"I don't need dead people helping me, I can do that by myself! And what did I tell you about calling me Julius?"
A shrewd chime sound was heard in the distance.
"I must go now, here is my parting note: The spirits can help you, listen to them. I hope to see you again before your time is up Julius." With that he went out the window, seeming to glide over all the buildings and around the icy stalactites.
"Don't call me Julius!" Root yelled out his window towards the now fading away form of Cudgeon.
"GO TO BED! IT'S MIDNIGHT FOR FRONDS SAKE, YOU'LL HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT ME NOT CALLING YOU SOMETHING ELSE IF YOU DON'T SHUT UP!" Called one of Roots neighbors. He was used to Roots temper, but he had to draw the line somewhere, and yelling in the middle of the night was where that line was.
Fussing something about neighbors always being in his business, Root returned to bed. Amazingly he went right to sleep. Obviously not caring that he was asleep on top of his sandwich.
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So what did you think? Review and tell me, just remember NO NON- CONSTRUCTIVE FLAMES!
Please don't ask me about the garden gnome. I decided that fairies are aloud to have garden gnomes, besides the real gnomes might feel honored. Well, they probably wouldn't but that's not my problem.
As for the pills? Don't ask about those either, fairies are also aloud to take pills in my story. Why? Because if some fairies are like Root they probably need it.
I don't own the line: He said that he would see him -- yes, indeed he did. He went the whole length of the expression, and said that he would see him in that extremity first. That belongs to Charles Dickens. I loved that line so much from the book I had to put it in here.
Well that is all, sorry if I'm making Root a bit… OOC, I'll try harder to make him more Root like in the next chapter.
Au Revoir! Please read my next chapter!