(I don't own Artemis Fowl or any of the Artemis Fowl references in here, nor do I own the 5, 6, 7, 8's or the WWF, please no flames. Now, on with the story!)
Holly could feel the jerk of the shuttle underneath her. Her neck snapped forward and woke her from her dream world. She let out a sigh and looked at the clock on the wall. It was eight o' clock in Tara. She wasn't sure what time that would be where Artemis lived, but she would take her chances.
Holly pulled the headphones from her ears and looked to see how long she had been out. It was only on song seven; apparently Foaly had fixed the speed on the shuttle. Thirty five minutes was this ones old record.
She wiped the sleep from her eyes and stretched her arms, carefully as to not hit anyone that was sitting around her. One unfortunate woman gave Holly a sneer, Holly repaid with her with a swift punch in the jaw. She could almost hear Foaly's disapproving voice in her mind.
"Fighting on the shuttle? I may have to tell Root." Holly would have laughed at the thought if it had been eight years ago. But now she was a different person. It took a lot to make her even crack the smallest of smiles. Holly slowly pulled herself from the leather chair. She tried not to flinch as it pulled any showing skin from her body.
Tons of money goes into these shuttles every year and we still can't get a better material for the chairs? Holly thought to herself. Even Mud Men get more comfortable rides than this. Holly's thought process was interrupted as a familiar voice came over the intercom. And it wasn't a voice she ever wanted to hear.
"Ladies and Gentleman, we have reached our destination, please file out of the shuttle in an orderly manner, expect for the little red head in seat A16." Holly slowly turned to find her chair number, praying that it wasn't hers. She grimaced as she saw the letter and number combination on the back of her chair. She sat down and put her shoes on the chair in front of her.
From the shuttle captains chamber she could see a small green man emerge. She gave another exasperated sigh as she saw him coming over to her area.
"Holly," he said. "Holly, Holly, Holly."
"What do you want, Verbil?" Holly said, a lot less coldly than she would have preferred.
"I just wanted to know why out of every shuttle you could've ridden on, you chose mine." He said as he leaned over the chair in front of her. Holly quickly retracted her feet. "I knew you couldn't stay away from me for so long. It just isn't in women nature. All women come back to Chix."
"Most of them are probably coming to give you a swift kick or a blow to the head and the rest must be coming to show you that they've gone gay." Holly said coldly. Chix put a hand over his heart and gave a phony sigh.
"Holly, you just can't admit it, can you?" He said in a sad voice. "You love me. That's all there is to it. I just want to apologize though, I can't return that affection. Not when there are this many girls out there just waiting for me." Chix ran a hand through his hair. "But I'm sure we could make some arrangement."
Chix leaned in towards Holly and she searched the rest of the shuttle for anyone that was left on it. Finally after realizing no one was there to save her she decided that she needed to do something she was getting rather good at, lie.
"Sorry, Chix, but I'm taken." She said as she pushed him away from her. Chix stumbled back with a shocked look on his face.
"How, when, who?" He stammered. Holly was slightly happy to see the sprite brought down a few pegs.
"Okay, we met and liked each other, two weeks today, and none of your business." Holly said sassily. She was lying through her teeth, but he didn't need to know that.
"Besides, like you ever had a chance with me," she said as she pushed him away and walked off the shuttle. It was the happiest she had felt in a long time and she knew that her day could only go up from there.
Over in Artemis's side of Ireland things were going great. For Juliet that is. She had a pair of headphones on her ears blasting some of her favorite music while she dusted the living room. It wasn't her normal job, but if nobody else was going to do it she decided it may as well be her job.
"I'm blue-ue-ue, do be do be do be," She sang happily as she dusted the mantle. Her headphones were turned up so loud that she didn't even notice Artemis slink into the room. It wouldn't have mattered though, over the years Artemis had mastered the art of sneaking around. She wouldn't have noticed that he had entered the room if he hadn't of said anything.
"What on earth are you singing?" He said in his usual drawling voice. Juliet jumped and took the headphones off.
"The 5, 6, 7, 8's." Juliet responded, trying to keep her voice cheerful. "They're a Japanese band." Artemis nodded in understanding, Juliet always liked Japanese related things.
"So does that mean you aren't listening to your WWF wrestling soundtrack anymore?" He asked, trying to keep the conversation lively. Juliet gave him a strange look as if trying to figure out if he really cared. Artemis gave an innocent look and she smiled at him.
"I'm still using that one," she said. "This is just my new style now."
Artemis nodded again and rolled his eyes. Juliet smiled as she went back to dusting. Maybe Artemis is getting better, she thought. I've got to try and keep this good mood up.
"So have you heard from Butler recently?" Juliet asked.
"Not today. Last time he called was a couple of days ago. He said he should be visiting this weekend." Artemis explained. Juliet nodded thoughtfully. It had been six years since her older brother had gotten married and left with his new wife. It felt like it had just happened.
"It's good that he's going to come back to visit again though. Things are pretty lonely around here with almost everyone gone." Artemis sighed and looked around the big living room. It didn't look very lived in at all. It had only been a few years since his parents were killed and it had been quite awhile since Butler left. It had been him and Juliet for so long it was hard to remember a time before.
That's not the only reason it's hard to remember… A voice in the back of his mind said. Artemis shook the thought away. He had enough to worry about without thinking that he was crazy.
Although he didn't know it there was something waiting outside that would be a lot for him to worry about. Holly Short had just arrived.
(Dun dun dun, what's going to happen, what will this do for Holly's career, tune in next time for Somebody Who Loves Me, chapter 5, coming to a screen near you! Sorry for the shortness of this chapter. It's just a transitional one anyway.)
