Read and review! So far my evil plan has not succeeded… I am adding a "laser beam" to my list of materials, and a sound wave of "Simple and Clean" by Utada Hikaru…I'll keep y'all posted!
Chapter 8: An Unexpected Meeting
Artemis was so relaxed, head against a comfortable headrest as a pillow, the warm water like a blanket, that he was almost asleep. That was why he didn't hear the fairy come zooming through the bathroom's open window.
Holly Short glided carefully into the room, being as quiet as possible. She wanted to surprise Artemis, of course, but not in a way that would have Butler pulling out his Sig Sauer and shooting her down.
Flying into the dimly lit bathroom, Holly relaxed considerably. She was alone. Holly landed softly on the tiled floor, unstrapped her wings and took off her helmet. She sighed with satisfaction. It felt good to get that thing off and feel the air on her face again. Without power, the helmet had no heating or airflow control and the air inside it had grown quite stale. Still, without the helmet, Holly was sure she would have frozen her pointed ears off; the wind was freezing at that altitude.
A sudden movement in the bathtub caught Holly off guard, and she jumped half her height when she realised she wasn't alone in the bathroom after all. When she realised who it was, Holly blushed furiously. Artemis Fowl…
A male…how embarrassing… Why couldn't it have been Juliet, or Mrs. Fowl? Oh well…at least it wasn't Butler…D'arvit, she had to pick that window…
Holly took a deep breath. There was nothing else for it.
"Hello, Artemis." Holly said shakily, looking everywhere but the bathtub
Artemis woke from his stupor and opened his bleary eyes. As the room came into view, Artemis saw a short girl with auburn hair, hazel eyes and pointed ears. A wave of heat that started at the boy's ears slowly worked its way into a giant blush that covered his entire body.
"H-holly!" Artemis spluttered, "W-what are you doing?-" He sunk down deep in the water and thanked god that he had added too many bubbles.
"I-I'm not wearing anything!" the boy finished weakly.
"I've come for a visit. Surprise…" Holly said feebly and she grinned sheepishly, still determinedly looking everywhere but the bathtub. The crack in the wall where a picture frame used to hang had become extremely interesting.
Artemis continued spluttering various incomprehensible words. His normally pale face had turned as red as a tomato.
"For the first time, the great Artemis Fowl is unable to say something witty." Holly smiled. Now that was a once in a lifetime opportunity. Then Holly remembered why she was there and frowned. "You'd better hurry up and get dressed." She grabbed a towel and chucked it to the surprised boy. "We may have real trouble brewing."
(A/N: Whoop! Back together! I couldn't resist putting Artemis in the bath for this scene! Artemis rarely gets embarrassed cause he always knows the right thing to say that will intimidate people. So I thought, when is the time when people are most vulnerable? Naked, of course! Only it's not as if she actually sees him naked, the bubbles save Artemis from too much humiliation!
Because I wanted Artemis to be…like, not his usual haughty self. So that their meeting would go smoothly. I didn't want it to be all "Oh, Captain Short, I've been expecting you." I wanted it to be "Captain Short! Oo; What the hell are you doing here!" ;;
Oh, and I know they both seemed really awkward meeting each other again, but again, this doesn't mean they're in love! Wouldn't you be embarrassed if you were naked (and Artemis is going through puberty so he would be pretty embarrassed about his naked self, ESPECIALLY in front of a girl!) in the bathtub and you were interrupted? And wouldn't you be embarrassed if you interrupted someone in the bathtub? So just cause they were shy doesn't mean they like each other in 'that' way! I know I keep repeating that they aren't in love over and over again but people jump to conclusions over the smallest of things so... but you never know, they might be in love in the future! I'm not giving anything away:P Whoa! What a long note! Back to the story!)
Holly had made an awkward exit and waited in the hallway while Artemis dressed. He soon emerged, clad in Armani suit, his hair messy and still damp, face flushed from the heat of the bathroom (and also, Holly expected, from embarrassment)
Artemis was a little shaky on his feet, and Holly had to help him hobble slowly along down the stairs.
Butler and Juliet were in the dining room drinking tea, eating sponge cake and catching up on things. Holly had decided to wait a while before showing herself to the Butlers, lest they freak out and have a heart attack or something to that effect. So it was Artemis who showed them the video from his laptop and after half an hour of crying, screaming, collapsing and fainting, they were ready to meet Holly again.
Once the introductions had been made, Juliet poured more tea for all of them.
Butler sipped his tea and sighed. "Not that I am displeased to see you, Captain Short," Butler said glancing at the elf, "But I fear that your presence here can only mean one thing."
Juliet tried, and failed to hide a grin. "Trouble, right?"
Artemis raised an eyebrow, but smiled to himself. Juliet loved a bit of danger.
Holly winked at Butler. "Can't a person just pop around for a visit, now and again?"
Butler smiled knowingly at Holly.
"Oh alright." Holly frowned, and took a sip of tea. Then she slowly took a breath and got straight to the point. "The Fairy People need your help. Haven was pinged again."The other occupants of the table gasped. Pinging Haven was not an easy thing to do. 'Pinged' was a Fairy term meaning that Haven's highly advanced and highly secure computer system had been hacked into.
"Foaly doesn't know how it happened. It came, and then it was gone without a trace. The only thing that we're sure of is that it came from Italy." Holly said tonelessly.
Artemis drew a piece of paper out of his pocket and passed it to Holly. "Do you think this may be a clue?" he asked slowly
Holly's eyes widened as she read the paper. "When did you get this?"
"A few hours ago when we returned home from the airport."
"This is in Mulch Diggum's handwriting-"
Juliet choked on her cake as Holly continued. "-Although I'm not sure it really counts as handwriting. Untidy scrawl more like."
"That's from Smelly?" Juliet said hiding a grin, "What does it say?"
"It barely says anything. 'Haven in danger from Dark Lady of Forest-seek Holly'" The elf sighed, "The only thing that makes sense is that Haven is in danger. And we already knew that. If they pinged us once they can do it again."
Artemis pointed at the crumpled paper. "But it does says that Haven is in danger from 'The Dark Lady of the Forest.'"
Butler frowned. "Whoever that is."
Artemis shook his head. "The mistake that this person has made is giving us their name, even if it is only a nickname. This is a strong clue." Artemis turned to Juliet. "Juliet, could you please retrieve my laptop. It is in the Bentley."
The girl nodded, and left without a word. Artemis continued.
"I have on my laptop, a very high tech translator and decoder. We enter the mysterious nickname, and it gives us possibilities for a proper name. Then, we check out those possibilities on the Internet and see which possible name matches the most likely suspect. It is most likely a code for something. And if it's a code, I will crack it."
Holly smiled. "You really haven't changed a bit."
Artemis returned the smile. "No, I have changed. But for the better, I'm sure."
Juliet returned with the laptop and Artemis immediately booted it up while Juliet left to make more tea. He then handed it to Butler.
Artemis looked at Butler seriously as he handed it over. "The same way we searched for father."
Butler gave him a curt nod then started typing furiously, his hands a blur over the keyboard.
Artemis frowned slightly as he remembered his dream from the night before. He had remembered Holly's name, but there was no stimulus, nothing that could have made him remember.
Holly noticed his frown. "What's wrong?" she asked quickly,
Artemis looked up at the elf. "I just realised something strange. Last night I had some interesting dreams. Many of these were memories that shouldn't have been in my mind. Memories of Haven… and of you..." He broke off, thinking hard.
Holly bit her lip. "Foaly had warned that the Mind-Wipe wouldn't be permanent as expected, though he didn't tell Commander Root. You see, a lot of fairy activity happened in Fowl Manor, and obviously, with people who live with you, Butler and Juliet. These would act as a stimulus; no matter how many fairy memories we destroyed. Every time you looked at Angeline Fowl you might, for example, remember when you gave me back half the fairy gold to heal her. And therefore you would slowly regain your memories again. Foaly predicted that in ten or so years you would have regained almost all of your memories." Holly's face suddenly looked confused, "But still, that doesn't explain how you regained your memories so quickly. You weren't even at Fowl Manor with Butler and Juliet, you were at boarding school…"
Artemis stared off at the wall. "The memories were too strong…"
The room was strangely quiet for a moment as the occupants contemplated these bizarre ideas, and all that could be heard was the keys of the laptop clicking away.
Finally, Holly looked up and stared at Artemis curiously. "So what's in your head, Artemis? Once we've worked out who mud-girl is; how do we find her?"
"With your magic," said Artemis with a grin, "-and my intelligence, we can do anything."
A bit cheesy, but ever so nice! Read and review!
Oh by the way, who else thinks that it is high time for some shout-outs?
seawinter windgirl: you were my very first reviewer! Thankies! I was reading your fic a while ago and it was really cool! Update it! And you know how you asked "how did Artemis remember without a stimulus?", well that question will be answered in a few chapters!
Lady Laswen: thanks for reviewing me so many times! I'm reading your lotr fics and cracking up! YOU ROCK!
Pannikittypiggyphant: woah! Nice name! This might be Artemis/Holly pairing! Not telling! Though..I think it's kinda obvious...
LunaML: thanks for sticking by me! Keep reading, and I'll keep updating!
RaptorK: did you get my email? I emailed heaps of my reviewers to say thanks, but I don't think any of you got them! Eeek! I think many people were thinking on the same lines as us, and no, there will NOT EVER be an Artemis/Felicity pairing! If I knew what a Mary-Sue was, then she would be one! Nah, Felicity was just a random character!
thalia524: thanks for the hint! Thanks for reviewing!
little miss demosthenes: thanks for the constructive critcism, but fyi, I only used the spelling of "ok" once and actually if you look in Colfer's Artemis Fowl, more often than not he spells okay- "OK". No offence, but if you plan to give out constructive criticism then possibly use the sandwich technique otherwise you sound really harsh and mean. Just a tip:)
xTamx: hyper is cool! I'm hyper all the time! THANKS FOR REVIEWING! Please come back and read more!
CHERUB: Yo! I've updated! Come read it!
Kallie: Do I know you from somewhere? Are you from California? Anyways, thankies for reviewing!
D'Arvit Tyranny: THANKYOU FOR REVIEWING! I can't tell you how happy I was when I read your review! I WORSHIP YOUR STORIES! YOU ROCK! Thankyou for using a constructive criticism sandwich! Your review not only made me happy but it was useful too. I've put in two whole chapters in relation to Arty regaining his memory, fixed up the "page" thing etc. The reason that Mulch hasn't been in it yet was because I had to write in other things before I could get to him. Actually, I haven't left him out at all, it just seems that way because of how the chapters are cut up. I'd like to get a beta reader to edit this story but I can't- no one I know who has read Artemis Fowl would be able to edit it except for my sister Renee, but she is a REALLY good writer and I would be too embarressed to let her read it! Holly's mission was unimportant to the plot and therefore I skipped over it. THANKS AGAIN FOR REVIEWING!
Phire Phoenix: thanks for your comment! You made me all warm and fuzzy on the inside!
The Xylia: thanks for that! I edited my story to add in a bit more about how Arty came up with the ideas of fairies and mind-wiping!
Sakura: Hooray for your name! waves Cardcaptor Sakura banner Unfortunetly, there will possibly be a weird relationship, GIRLZ RULE and Holly can definetly whack Artemis in the nose in a following chapter! Thanks for the idea:D
flattenedowl: I love your name! I've updated, now read and review!
Aquilastor: thanks for reviewing! I love to hear from readers! Glad you like it so far!
DETERMINEDPerfectionist: A fellow pouter! I love to pout! pouts See!
The Spear of Longinus: I'm really proud of the memory chapters! I couldn't believe that I actually wrote that! And who do you think the "Black Lady of the Forest" is? I don't reckon you know! sticks out tongue Telllll meee!
Artemis Fowl: Oh my god! ARTEMIS FOWL REVIEWED ME! Will you marry me, Artemis? Oh crap, hang on, I've got a boyfriend now, darn it!
,b: Hmm..interesting name... I love suspense!
Woah so long! Didn't mean to do that! Um...if I missed anyone out then please tell me! So sorry if I did! I'll be waiting to hear from you guys again soon!
Remember to tell me which pairing you like the best!
Bella
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IMPORTANT!
I've just submitted a new Artemis Fowl story which is sort of a recycled version of this story. It's much better than this one, so I'd really love it if everyone read it. Please check out my profile page to find the story. It's called 'Somewhere In Between' and it's supposed to fit in between the fourth and fifth books. Thankyou!