Chapter 3

Artemis sat in the security room, watching Holly. He tapped the screen, "How is it, Holly? How is it?"

Butler walked in then, puzzled. He and Juliet had been instructed to watch Artemis and Holly's conversation, and now had full, correct memories. "Artemis . . . "

"Yes, Butler?"

"I was wondering, why are we still holding Holly hostage?"

"Two reasons Butler." Artemis looked away from the screen, actually looking Butler in the eye. There was an emotion there that scared the bodyguard, it scared him more than the anti-rad can Holly had sprayed him with on the expedition to rescue Artemis's father. "First off, I want to make sure that we have remembered everything."

"What's the second?" Butler asked after a pause.

"That reason is personal," Artemis returned to the screen.

Butler nodded. He understood. Artemis had a score to settle, and, while it was not entirely Holly's fault, and Artemis was not normally one to hold a grudge, and Butler didn't agree, there would be no stopping him. Artemis had almost lost the one thing most dear to him, and someone would pay. Butler walked out, leaving Artemis to his revenge, no matter how much he disagreed.

Out of the corner of his eye, Artemis watched Butler go, and for a moment, he felt regret. He pondered letting Holly go. For a moment, he thought of his father, and how long he had strived to be like him. In the end, Artemis had been a mere boy, simply looking up to his father as a role-model. Artemis thought again of the question his father had posed to him. When the time came, he had taken the chance to be a hero, but then he had lost it. Would he now continue with that choice? He had spoken with the fairy folk before being wiped. He had challenged them, and, unknowingly, himself. He had posed the possibility that he would revert to the way he was before the Booke, to the way he was while he had kidnapped Holly (the first time). He had been right, but now, he had his memories and had the choice to be different, or to be a despicable creature. He stared absently at the screen, not really seeing anything. He had the choice to be a hero now. He had the choice to be good or evil, a choice that he had always before found childish and never truly thought about. He touched the screen of the monitor, and actually whimpered. Artemis was sitting there, challenging all of his beliefs, he was contemplating his nature, and was discovering the truth. Was it really possible for someone to change their nature? Could he truly become a model citizen? The very idea was preposterous, but . . . maybe he could. Artemis groaned and rolled his eyes, standing. If this wasn't a result of fairy magic, he didn't know what was.

Holly sat on the bed, thinking. In truth, she couldn't think of any way out of this. She took a swig of water, then winced. 'Human' pure was no where near 'Fairy' pure. When the door slammed, she jumped, getting the water all over her. She turned, to just see Artemis sitting across from her, grumbling something about heros and his father.

Artemis looked up, and saw a look of pure terror on the fairies face. He smiled a little, and chuckled, scaring Holly even more. Artemis rolled his eyes.

"There's nothing to be afraid of, fairy."

"Why are you treating me like this?"

"I was angry Now I can't seem to stop thinking."

"You mean you weren't before?"

Artemis sighed, "No, actually I wasn't. Not when I decided to keep you here."

"And I don't suppose you're sorry?" Holly asked tentavely.

"Hmm . . . " Artemis thought. "No. Well . . . maybe a little." He smiled, bringing his fingers up to display how little. His fingers were spread perhaps an inch.

Holly was bewildered. This was a side of Artemis she had never seen before. In fact, no one but Artemis Senior had seen this side of Artemis before. "So . . . what is it you want now?"

"I want the truth."

Holly was shocked, "I already told you everything! You're memory should have already filled in the gaps!"

"No." Artemis shook his head, actually closing his eyes, "I mean, I want to know what I didn't know before. I want to know . . . I want to know what you feel. Nothing sciencey, just emotion." This even shocked Artemis himself. He was acting strange alright. Holly even thought for a moment that Artemis was drunk, but she smelled no alcohol on his breath.

"What do you mean?"

Artemis paused, looking for the right way to phrase this. If he insulted the fairy, or made it seem that his intentions were bad, it could affect Holly's way of answering. "I mean . . . I mean how do you feel about me?" Artemis was regretful even before the words were out of his mouth. This was not actually what he came to ask, but when he got here, he had to know. He needed to know the truth.

"You want the truth? The straight answer?"

Artemis nodded.

"Alright." She sighed. "I . . . I have mixed feelings for you, Artemis. I mean, I feel that we departed friends, but, when I actually see you, I feel . . . I feel . . . "

Artemis sighed, "You hate me."

Holly opened her mouth to disagree, but apologized instead. "I'm sorry, Artemis. It's just the way you act sometimes. All cocky and . . . "

"Like a know-it-all."

Holly was surprised to see splatters of water on the floor under where Artemis hung his head. Could he really be crying? Or were these crocodile tears? Was he trying to manipulate her?

"I'm sorry, Artemis. It's just . . . you."

She regretted the words seconds after they passed her lips. Holly winced.

Surprisingly, Artemis nodded. "I know." He looked up, business again. His cheeks were streaked with tears. "Which brings me to my next question. Is it truly possible to change human nature? Or are we all just fooling ourselves?"

Blinking, Holly answered. "I honestly don't know. But, I do know that Foaly theorizes that human nature is just a bad habit, and can thus be broken. Why?"

Artemis looked her in the eyes. "Fate."

Holly blinked. "What?"

"Fate. It's all a question of fate. I guess what I mean to ask is are we allowed to change our fate. But, I suppose it's silly asking you."

"Wait." Holly whispered as Artemis stood up. He remained standing.

"Yes?"

"What do you mean? Why are you asking these philosophical questions all of a sudden? You've changed . . ."

Artemis nodded, "I know. I suppose I'm asking these questions because . . . because I find it highly coincidental that right after I begin to change, I get mind wiped and am forced to change back. I guess I just want to know if it's all worth it."

A few more tears began their journey down Artemis's cheek. Holly stood up and moved towards Artemis. He backed up a step, then stopped. Holly wrapped her arms around him and hugged him, as a friend. Artemis stiffened.

"Nothing is worthless, Artemis." Holly whispered as she began to cry. "Artemis, it hurts me to see you like this."

Artemis relaxed, and, tentavely, he hugged back. "Thank you."

Artemis Fowl's Bedroom

Artemis sat, lotus position, on the bed in his room. The files were right across from him. He could continue with it. He was so close to finding the Dracon Eye. But, there were those morals again. Appearantly, the fairy folk were claiming the Dracon Eye as their own. He could tell, because all of the sites with details on it were suddenly missing. Not a trace of them. That, and there were suddenly so many sites on how the Eye was a fake, the search engines weren't bringing up anything else.

You had to admire Foaly's work, that was for certain. Thourough, he was.

Then, there was the fact that he had a fairy on his hands.

A thought struck him. If he were to hold Holly as ransom for the stone...

No, he had no secrets anymore. Foaly had his mind on file somewhere, and his advantage was gone. They would merely blue-rinse the place, without bothering with the negotiations. After all, he had escaped the time-stop once...

Good times. Artemis allowed himself a smile. Remenicing out of the way, he desided it was time to send Holly back from whence she came. She would do him no good in his walls. He stood and walked over to the helmet, noting that it was beeping again.