Chapter 9: Subtle Changes
Disclaimer: No, don't own Artemis fowl, never did.
A/N: The finale! I'm so happy for all the reviewers out there, and how they were so positive on my first fanfic! You don't know how much that affects an author unless you yourself are one. My thanks especially to Laughing Dragoness, Identity99, and Very Evil Daughter of Lord Vol. They read through every tedious chapter. I only hope this chapter makes up for the wait and suspense. The very last chapter...Enjoy!
E1 Tara
Holly was overjoyed, but disappointed her flight was so short; and slightly disturbed. The warehouse was close enough to the chutes that it was within walking distance, and so much closer to flee. Every occurrence that took play here was carefully calculated, beginning with the abduction, ending with the escape. And yet, everything that fitted, fitted without escape. It was futile; the LEP would be upon the criminal before he or she flinched. Unless it was a dolt, but Holly had high reason to disprove that.
Her mind soon strayed to other manners, starting innocently with how to escape, concluding with the color of nuts. Carefully, she traced her scattered thoughts, almost as if with a finger, and recalled it slowly. Still didn't make sense. Ah well, that was needless. She had to see a physiatrist; her sanity was treading on a thin line.
Her attention focused on the life-form draped across her shoulder, breathing shallowly on the nape of her neck. She longed to scratch, the itch was becoming unbearable. Instead, she sighed. Now she was thinking about itches. Perhaps it wasn't as bad as it sounded: it was her way of coping with tragedies such as this. It wasn't as, to say bluntly, ignorance, but almost as if she was self-detached to her world, looking at herself in third person. A small comfort and a rational one, at least it was not the theory of having a mental illness.
What's this...? A flicker was suspended in the corner of her vision. Slowly she lifted her head...
The entire Haven was in chaos. Cries and shouts chaos the streets and assaulted her ears. For all she knew, a bonfire could have raged and earthquakes collapse the Haven. Throngs of fairies pulsed as one, shorting incoherent words that are soon lost to the sky. Mothers with children begged officers to allow them to flee to the surface; officers turning deaf in one ear. Everyone was desperate to leave the city, the 'quarantined' city, and escape the infectious disease. Now who had spread that 'partial' rumor?
"Officer!"
Holly throbbed trying to surpass her haste. "Sorry, but you will have to excuse me. It's urgent I must be on my-,"
"It's your fault!" shrieked the middle-aged fairy. The one whom she knocked on his door, asking as politely and sincerely as she could for directions, with hard restraint on her part. "You!"
"What are you babbling-,"
"You and that human!" Holly swayed, frozen to the spot. This guy didn't want or care for an explanation, he fancied a riot; riots being not the best suited to her job description. And Artemis was in immediate threat. Her posture slightly hunched, partly crouching in a defensive stance. She lowered her voice to a whisper.
"Sir, I cannot be delayed with obscene-,"
"My people!" He shouted, raised fists shaking to the crowd. "It is the captain that has brought havoc to our beloved city, the one who brought Artemis Fowl!" The citizens repeated the name with menace, chanting, taunting with a loathing scorn harsh on their voices.
"ARTEMIS AT FAULT!" He flaunted them a crude grin. "And Holly has means to escape..."
"TRAITOR!"
"I say, do we let her!"
A deafening cry echoed. "BETRAYER!"
"It's rehearsed, they blame anyone." Holly whispered, grinding her teeth. "You, you started this riot didn't you. Just how did you know?"
"SPY, WENCH, THEIF!" They were chanting in the background, really over doing it.
"So, why do they blame me?" She asked. The middle fairy looked at her grimly, then with a strained smile.
"BEGGAR, SPAWN-," The fairy held his hands up in repose.
"Direct your anger not to the messenger but to the damage itself; fellow fairies, I speak of Artemis!"
"THE WRAITH!" The crowd began drawing in. Then, it clicked. She knew who the fairy was. He was the banker holding her ransom fee from years back, once a very wealthy man. The entire incident must have hit him the worse. Now in poverty, seeking vengeance on the two people he hated most. Then, another jigsaw puzzle formed. This, this was his doing. He activated the hot spot. He designed the location, so Holly would pass it when going above ground. He was probably the financer of this entire tragedy. Looking daggers at him, at Creor, Holly said slowly, "You meant this to happen, didn't you?"
The moment of his triumph was a sneer across his face, and the instant the crowd drew close enough to ambush, Holly swiftly delivered a rabbit punch that should at least give Creor a concussion.
"Sicko." She said in disgust. Soon, Artemis was starting to be brutally pulled off her shoulder. There was just one way she could think to free herself. Tossing Artemis high into the air, along with her helmet, she lunged herself out of the circle and spreading the wings, people shouting, "She's getting away!" The crowd, drawn to the hurtling object, allowed her berth to zoom on all four wings to catch Artemis. Impossible, yes? Still, residue of time stop couldn't be completely confirmed, and time did seem to slow down as she swooped. But it was all very quick. Four seconds quick. It took just that long to be seated in the cockpit of a commercial pod. Thrusting fins, she began her descent to the surface, Artemis a rag doll crumpled in the back seat; his heart beginning to beat. The time stop had been deactivated.
Tara
She was choking the moment she landed. Pulling Artemis out of the smoking wreckage, she looked back at the ruined pod, reminding herself not to come in left lane. It was all the stupid pedestrians. What were they doing on the sidewalk anyway? They certainly did leave after that. It was illegal to be up here anyways.
Sprinting to the willow, using the river as her guide, she decided to break the rules for a little bit, flying the rest of the way there.
No helmet, no foil, no clearance. What a mess this is. Holly thought miserably.
Then, when the Promised Land (or willow) was finally within reach, Holly hesitated. Now what do I do? Acorn. Oh yeah. Easing her burden off her shoulders, she reached down to pick a shiny ripe acorn when a curious 'thump' resounded. Frozen, her heart skipped a beat.
...Thump.
It was Artemis. He was acting like that other nightmare was.
..Thump
And all it would do is go faster and faster.
Then, it began pulse. Holly covered her ears, wishing desperately it would just go away. Slowly, it became a rhythm, one she could dance to. First, the slow dance, then winding to a March, waltz, and jig. She had to act quickly.
Without thinking, she pulled out a Swiss Army knife, clenching the acorn in one wrist. Grabbing Artemis, she pushed him into the riverbank, holding him propped by a rock, and his head beneath water. If this failed, he would never arise again even with infused magic. Magic being the acorn, his body being the earth; the acorn must be in the earth. Holly thrust the knife below his heart, the blood discoloring the river.
I must be insane. This can't be sane. What I'm doing isn't sane. And gross.
Pushing the acorn through the fresh slit, she closed the opening seeing more blood wash into the river as the heart beat into a drum.
He will drown. Die of blood loss. Everything and anything. Artemis heart was soon too slurred to discern a heartbeat. These thoughts soon faded as the ecstasy of renewed magic spilled into her blood. Holly pushed it back into Artemis. Water as a conductor, the entire river glowed electric blue, rapids became more rapid; the light almost blinding. Holly held on for dear life, and Artemis's life, which he would be deprived of and swept away if her grip was loosed. She felt as if riding a bronco as his body warped this way and that. Then... it stopped. The currents slowing, the light fading, Artemis's eyes opening.
His mouth moved up and down like a fish. Water burbled from unheard words. Suddenly he bolted upright, spine arching, gasping for air; Holly was thrown to the unforgiving ground. Artemis started crawling to the banks, all the while coughing blood on the grass. Lurching onto the muddy Earth, he flopped a little ways from Holly, reminding her again of a fish. Artemis cocked his head towards Holly, nodded, and then did a double take. Squeezing his eyes shut, he inched a little more ashore, and then dropped his taxed body hard to the earth.
"Speak no evil, hear no evil, and see no evil." He rasped.
Holly just nodded. "Whatever you say, Fowl. And for once I agree with you."
Artemis groaned.
