Breaking point



Disclaimer: The characters mentioned in this story belong to Eoin Colfer. Despite several attempts to resolve this situation in a court of law, that is not my name. Because I do not wish to interrupt the continuous flow of the story, this will be the disclaimer for the entire story. Obviously, I am not a good a writer as Colfer himself is. I don't care if you review or not, but if you review for the sheer thrill of seeing your name in the story abet as an answer to a review, sorry I don't do that. If you have a question, I will send you an email to answer it. That's all. Oh and I wish to thank Lord Draffyn for their suggestions. You'll never know just how much you influenced me. No, that's not a compliment.
"Everyone has a breaking point. A 'but' to their clauses of life. A place where you never want to see yourself cross that first time, because it's oh so much easier the second time. And the knack to reaching that place becomes sooo much closer. Close enough, so that finally there is no breaking point anymore. Because you've already cracked, and you can't get much further out than that." Lord Draffyn

It's been six months since Artemis and his crew were mind wiped. Mulch's trial in currently underway, a record for the farie trial system. But then, Mulch did hire the best gold could buy. He knew he'd make the money back once he got out. So, what's happened in the communities? Let's find out…

'FOALY!' The centaur gulped, the beetle's he was crunching getting caught half way down his throat. He turned towards the door which had been thrown open…or would have been had the door's not been electronic and therefore incapable of doing any things but drawing apart gently, and plastered his best grin upon his face. 'Oh, Commander Root. What a pleasant surprise.' A blatant lie, but really, what else could he say? Commander Root stomped into the room, one of his noxious cigars clamped between his teeth. Foaly gulped. Oh this wasn't going to be good. Root hadn't even lit the cigar, something he only forgot to do when he was really mad.

Commander Root's faced looked as though he trying to prove that the nickname of 'Beetroot' was well justified. 'We… lost… Mulch' he growled, each word spat out as if it were vermin in the elf's mouth. Foaly frowned, hooves dancing nervously beneath him. But even in the face of such a temper, sarcasm won out and the centaur asked in mock seriousness 'Lost him? How can you lose a dwarf?' He actually regretted those words, not something which happened every decade, as Root's already furious face took on a deeper hue to it. His voice was low and shook with suppressed anger 'The date on his warrant was the day after his arrest' Foaly winced. A costly error. Someone's head would roll for that one. And in hind sight, Foaly really should have paid more attention to that thought.

'That's a terrible tragedy' Foaly said soothingly, glancing surreptitiously at his watch. His favourite Mud Man soap would be on soon. 'But I really don't see what that has to do with me.'

A nasty glint added itself to Root's facial expressions. 'Because' said Root, empathizing each word carefully and slowly to make certain his point got well and truly home, an impressive feat considering his teeth were grounding together hard enough to cause noise pollution in the city to go up a fraction. 'you' he jabbed an index finger at Foaly's chest 'are the one the Council has decided is responsible for this mess.'

Foaly scrambled upwards, hooves skidding slightly on the smooth tiles as he stood up. 'You can't be serious!' he blustered, hysteria giving his voice a slight edge. 'Oh, but I am.' smirked Root. 'the council has decided, and I agree with them that your more trouble than you're worth now." Foaly was stunned beyond belief. This could not be happening! He was the most valuable member of LEP. It was only because of him that the mud men hadn't caught up to fairy technology yet, although Foaly privately doubted that they would stay ahead for much longer. The fairies had Foaly, but the mud men had Artemis… Foaly broke that train of thought in time to hear the final paragraph of the Commander's ranting.

'Just how long did you really think you could fool us? I signed the warrant for Mulch's arrest myself, I know the date. And the only person smart enough to be able to change it is STANDING RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME!' Foaly drew himself up to his full height and stared loftily down despite the Commander's roar. Smaller than most of his kind, he was still taller than the majority of other species. Including elves. "I did nothing of the sort!' he glared. Root harrumphed in response and pulled out a document. 'Like I said, Mulch's arrest isn't the only thing your being blamed for. You should really pay attention pony boy.'

For once, Foaly failed to hear the jab as he snatch the paper out of his commander's hands and started skimming through the words searching for the reasons he was being blamed. He idly noticed that the page was pink. Strange colour for a report he though but dismissed it as irrelevant although there was a nagging feeling trying to get his brain's attention. Ah, here we go.

The Centaur…dismissed from the Lower Element Police…insubordination…failure to alert personal to the continuing existence of the convict Mulch Diggums…disobeying direct orders…helping a mud man with known criminal history…

The majority of the paper sailed over his head as he continued to stare at the main parts of most relevance. Insubordination? Well, yes, alright, he admitted to that. Not a day went by when he wasn't guilty for that one. He snorted under his breath at the next reason …failure to alert personal to the continuing existence of the convict Mulch Diggums… everyone knew that the Commander didn't listen to hunchs, what was he supposed to do? Disobeying direct orders? He'd only ever disobeyed stupid ones. Never had he done anything that would put someone in and danger or harm…helping a mud man with known criminal history… They'd be referring to Artemis of course. He was about to hand the paper back with a sigh and accept the punishment, probably another budget cut when what was arguably the most important part of the entire document caught his eye. Pink.

The council only ever used pink paper for one thing. Every member of the LEP looked on in fear for the pink slip. More commonly referred to the sacking slip. Foaly looked back at the paragraph again. And this time, read it more carefully. The first sentence leapt out at him now that he as looking for it.

…dismissed from the Lower Element Police… Foaly dropped the papers in shock. This could not be, WAS not happening to him! Foaly glanced around the room, hoping desperately that any seconds, LEP jocks would pour in, and they'd all have a good laugh about the joke they'd played on the well known paranoid centaur. This just had to be a dream! The LEP was his life, they couldn't just take that away from him! …could they?

Root chuckled, the malicious sound filling the tiny op booth. "You've got one hour to leave the premises pony boy. Now get out.' Foaly was too stunned to even comment on the cliché-ness of that statement. The diminutive elf strode forth from the tiny booth and Foaly dimly heard him yelling at some one or other.

But all he could think about was how, after decades of loyal service, the LEP was just tossing him away.

And, as these things tend to do, the more he thought about it, the angrier he got. How dare the LEP assume he was responsible for this and not even attempt to find out who the real culprit was. How dare they, treat him as a, a, a second class citizen! He was more valuable than any one else here! He didn't have to stay and be a lackey his entire life. He didn't have to be treated like this, with no one being able to understand him and his hobbies. How often had he been lonely, sitting by himself in a tiny box? Nobody wanted to be friend's with the know-it-all centaur. But they were willingly to throw insults at him. Nobody even attempted to understand his lectures. They took him for granted. Well, Foaly would show them. Fired eh? Foaly had no doubt that once tempers had cooled there would be a heartfelt, Foaly's lips curled into a sneer at the word, apology and he'd properly get a budget increase.

STUFF THE BLOODY BUDGET INCREASE! He shouted inside his head. If they wanted to treat him like this, well then fine. In his time at the LEP there had been one person who had understood him and his intelligence. One person who would never look down on him for being smarter than the average fairy. One person, who would never take a friend for granted, although he might take the concept of friendship on a good run for it's money. His mind made up, Foaly left the building, taking with him everything he could carry. The shuttle ships weren't too far, and he wanted to get to Tara before dawn broke.

Foaly would have been extremely disappointed to know that he wasn't missed until two days had passed, and that was only because Holly had come back from her latest mission and wanted to know where the centaur was when she failed to notice the often irritating smirk. It took another hour before the muck really hit the fan when the captain learnt what had taken place.