Artemis Fowl: The Time Machine by Kirbie

Rated PG for swearing and a non-graphic car accident (not much blood, anyway)

Warnings: Slight angst, swearing, possible OOCness

Disclaimer: Eoin Colfer owns Artemis Fowl and all the characters in the trilogy- but I own the plot and any OCs that may pop up (probably none though).

Pre-Chapter Notes: Chapter title taken from "Change the World", Inuyasha's first opening theme. Shorter chapter than before and the times may get a bit confusing, but I made it as clear as I could. If my writing level seems to be dropping, you can blame exams. But this'll probably undergo more editing later.

Chapter 2

Change the World

Root's Office, Haven, Past Time

The first thing she felt when she finally awoke was the familiar material of the carpeting in Root's office.

Groaning, she hauled herself up and propped herself against the wall, taking a good look around her.

Her eyes widened.

She was in Root's office, as she had suspected.

"D'Arvit, Foaly, your machine didn't work!"

She was greeted with silence.

His office wasn't empty when I left it…Root left, but Foaly was still here…

A feeling of excitement coursed through her body. So it did work!

But her giddy smile was replaced with a frown when she realized that it hadn't sent her anywhere above ground. It would take at least half an hour to get to the surface- that was, if there were no delays. And Artemis called Butler at three, so she needed to be up there to intercept the call before that.

It was starting to look like a doomed mission.

She scrambled to her feet and rushed to the door. But before she could open it, someone else did it for her.

"F-Foaly?" she stammered.

"Holly? I thought Julius told you to go check on Fowl! What are you doing in here?"

"Oh. I thought I'd take a look around to see if there was anything Root forgot to tell me that I needed to bring or something…"

I am a horrible liar, Holly told herself.

Foaly gave her an uncertain glance. "Are you sure?"

"Positive," Holly said, her voice taking on a bolder tone. "What, you actually think that I don't know what I'm doing? I think I'd better go now, though."

Foaly moved to give her space to go through. "You're already ten minutes late, Holly. I'd advise you to move quickly, or Julius is going to blow."

Holly's eyes widened again. Ten minutes already? Foaly is going to suffer when I get back…the time difference doesn't apply down here too, does it?

I only have fifty minutes to stop Artemis from getting to the car!

"Thanks for the advice! Have to run!" Holly shouted after her, activating her wings and squeezing the throttle, speeding forward as fast as she could.

Foaly just stood there blinking.

"I thought there was a rule against flying inside," Foaly frowned.

"There is," Root said, coming up behind him. "I wonder why she's so eager to get up there."

"Maybe we should…send someone after her?" Foaly suggested. "I hate to say I doubt Holly's word, but she was acting strangely. And she was in your office before I got here."

"She was what?" Root sighed, shook his head, and eyed Holly's rapidly fading figure. "You're right. I'll go after her."

Chute Terminal E1, Tara, Ireland

Holly skidded to a stop and retracted her wings, dashing up to the first official she saw.

Just my luck, she thought as she realized that she had run up to Commandant Terryl, the gnome that had refused to comply with her orders back during the B'wa Kell business. Well, maybe my luck will be better this time.

Fortunately for Holly, it was. Checking the clock in the terminal, she realized with a pang that she only had forty minutes left. Even flying at full speed down the hallway, it was still a long way to the Tara shuttleport.

Commandant Terryl, Holly's last threat apparently still fresh in his mind, let her aboard a shuttle without any complaints. As she fired up the contraption and let it cruise, waiting for a flare, she wondered if it was possible for her to even make it within that time limit.

Artemis's call goes through at three. If what Foaly said was true, then I have ten minutes before he arranges the ride.

She felt the familiar rumble of a flare coming up behind her. She braced herself and let the shuttle do the rest.

Shooting up to the surface took only two minutes, but every second counted now. She reactivated her wings and soared off in an arc towards Fowl Manor.

That was when she realized that she had no idea where St. Bartleby's was.

"D'Arvit," she growled as she circled around Fowl Manor. "How do I get there? Foaly didn't tell me that!"

But a plan was already forming in Holly's mind. She wasn't a captain for nothing.

I could mesmerize Butler and make him tell me where St. Bartleby's is…

But it would probably be too late by the time I found him.

So…I'll follow Butler and mesmerize Artemis into not getting into the car.

Damn, this was annoying.

Holly sighed, checked that she was shielded, and perched on an elaborate stone fountain, which was spewing water from the tip, to wait.

Ten minutes passed. Holly couldn't sit still any longer. She drifted in a lazy arc towards the front door of the building.

Where is he? Was I late?

Circling around the house again, she checked in all the windows she saw, looking for either Butler or anything that could tell her what time it was.

She saw a large wooden clock ticking loudly in a corner of what appeared to be the living room, and leaned over to see the time.

She froze.

That can't be right…

Root's Office, Present Time

"JULIUS!!!"

Root poked his head in the office door. "I told you not to call me that," he growled. "But what is it, Foaly? Did something happen to Holly?"

"Oh, nothing really happened to Holly. I just gave her…wrong information. I was distracted and I gave her the information about the time differences in reverse. So she probably thinks that time passes faster up there. In reality, time passes faster down here, so when two minutes go by down here, one minute will have gone by up there. I'm afraid that may have caused her some trouble…"

"That and she'll shoot you when she gets back down here," Root snickered. "Is that the only thing you forgot to tell her?"

"No…I also forgot to tell her how to get to St. Bartleby's."

"D'Arvit, Foaly, how the h-"

"Which is why we need to send a messenger back in time to give her this information."

Root spluttered. "And who would want to test your newly screwed-up machine?"

"I don't know…" Foaly feigned innocence and looked around, whistling nervously. Then he looked at Root.

Root saw the glance. "No way. Not me. I am not going back in time."

Foaly shrugged. "Oh come on…is there any reason why you can't go back in time?"

Root growled and tried to come up with a plausible excuse. Nothing came to mind, so he gave in, though reluctantly.

Foaly slapped him on the back. "I knew you'd come to your senses!" he crowed. "Now here's what you need to know…"

Fowl Manor, Past Time

The clock read 2:41.

How can it be 2:41? I must've run out of time to stop the call ten minutes ago!

Foaly…I'm going to roast his bottom when I get back there! He screwed up on the time differences too!

Holly groaned. Just my luck. I have to wait another twenty minutes.

She once again settled herself on the fountain to wait.

She hated waiting.

But it was better than what was coming next, anyway.

~*~*~

Holly was dozing off against the fountain when she thought she saw a speck flying towards her at a very high speed.

She jerked out of her stupor and squinted, trying to make out who it was.

It was Root.

"Captain Short, what are you doing just standing here?"

Holly blinked. And blinked again. Then she rubbed her eyes and looked more closely.

Oh…damn…

I think I've just changed the past…Root didn't come after me before. I wonder what this is going to do for the future…

"Oh. Fowl wasn't at home, and I couldn't find his associates, so I was waiting for them to get back."

Root frowned. "Well, we'll just have to come back another day, then. If you've really been waiting here for an hour, then I doubt they're coming back anytime soon. Come on, Short. We're leaving."

Uh-oh.

"But Fowl is still a danger to the People! Knowing him, he probably figured out a way to reclaim his memories! We have to-" Holly attempted to present a convincing argument before he made her leave, but Root cut her off.

"Holly, you're acting strangely. I want you to go back to Haven and take a week off."

D'Arvit. If this doesn't change the future, I don't know what will.

"Right, sir. I'll just stay here for another twenty minutes, then I promise I'll go back."

Root eyed her suspiciously. "Fine. But only twenty minutes. I'll expect you back at my office by then, or I'll come find you again." And with that, he squeezed the throttle on his wings and took off towards Tara.

"What do I do now?" Holly groaned, watching him go.

"You follow me." Root's voice came from somewhere above her. Holly leaned back to see Commander Julius Root floating several feet above her.

"Commander? But didn't you just leave? How did you get back here so fast?"

"I'm the Commander from the future, Short. And Foaly's given me some information that I don't think you had before. We're going to St. Bartleby's."

En Route from Fowl Manor to St. Bartleby's

"I think we may have some problems," Holly started once they were cruising through the air. "The past you just told me to take a week off…and I think that's going to change the future."

Root blinked.

"Oh D'Arvit!" he growled as he realized what Holly was saying. "We'll have to go back and fix things then…but we're still operating under a time limit. Would it make any difference if I told you not to take a week-long break?"

"Probably not," Holly sighed. "We have a real mess on our hands…"

"You're telling me," Root agreed.

The rest of the trip was spent in silence, until Holly realized something else that the past Root had said.

"Your past self also wanted me back at Haven in twenty minutes. What do I do?"

Silence from Root.

"D'Arvit."

~*~TBC…~*~

…

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