Disclaimer: I am getting tired of repeatedly telling you all that I AM NOT EOIN COLFER AND I DO NOT OWN HIS CHARICTERS IN ANYWAY SHAPE OR FORM, because it just makes me oh so sad. insert sad face here
So so so so so so sorry for the delay! School has been a mean old ferret that should be taken out and shot.
cocoaducks: Thank you for reviewing again. I'm sorry about the story idea. :P (I still love your pen name.)
Holly Rox: ... You're expecting a lot out of me... oh my...
mad sam: Hahaha, I think that your pen name warns us in advance of... yes. Hahaha. Your review makes me smile, and that makes my day all "sharp and pointy, just like I like it." Thank you for reviewing!
Marfbag: Oh... sorry for the misunderstanding. Glad to see you're still reading though. It makes me happy.
sugaCraZie: :yelps: Very well..?!
Dorinda: Dear, speaking from experience, eating things that are not for eating but then deciding to eat them anywhatwho isn't really good for you. Thank you for the reviews!
Naoko Misumi: Thank you ever so much for reviewing. It would make me happier if I knew what you wrote... heh...
Ahava: :squeal: ... :cough: Thank you for reviewing again! Forgive me for my ignorance, but I'm 'new' to , and... the world in general- but we won't discuss that now- what's a beta?
AgiVega: I was thinking about making it a romance, and I put it in the story description... thing. But I am now rethinking that. I'm not sure how I would want that to go. :sigh: I'll just let the story lead me! Thank you for reviewing!
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Another big thanks to all those that have reviewed! Please, do it again, and you'll get... three more units of my respect! And gods know that there's little enough of that floating around.
Try to enjoy the next chapter!
LEP Headquarters
Foaly fumed and look on his face as he concentrated resembled that of Root as he tried to understand that horse's jargon.
"Foaly?" Holly's voice rang through the intercom, worry in her tone.
The centaur's mind raced as he tried to figure out how this could have happened.
Somewhere in the back of his mind, he panicked. Just in this recluse corner, mind you.
"Hold on, Holls." And with the he dashed off to have a very calm chat with Commander Root.
"JULIUS!" Foaly called out in a very un-male like manner as his hooves slipped as he scrambled through LEP Headquarters. He skidded to a halt out side of Root's door, and threw it open. His breathing was ragged, foil hat askew, legs (all four) splayed and had his hands up against a wall to balance him self. Take a few deep breaths and counting to ten, he regained his composure, adjusted his foil hat, and clipped softly into the room.
Clasping his hands together he said delicately and in a genteel manner, "There was no troll."
There was an Odd moment when it seemed as if sound were not real. A storm could have blown in and the Commander would not have slackened his jaw's clamp on the cigar or loosened his grip on his chair.
In that moment, Foaly's hairy hands strategically placed them selves at his ear.
"Okay. So there is not troll." Root spoke up quietly. "Is there a reason that we have," Root closed his eyes, inhaled deeply "A WHOLE RETRIVAL TEAM SET UP READY TO GO?!" his face turned purple, and Foaly was sure that this time he would explode.
Foaly stayed silent while Root over heated and thought about the possibilities.
'No,' he told him self. 'it can't be. My mind wipes are perfect... this time.' And with that reassurance, he let no further thoughts wander to that as a possibility.
Root was still seething in anger behind his desk. After a while, the realization seemed to hit him, and his jaw slackened and the red-almost-purple complexion of his face drained a little.
"It's not-"
"No." Foaly stated simply.
Obviously willing to believe any weak hypothesis instead of thinking that the boy had found them again, that they would have to go through the same ordeal again, Root agreed with the glitch.
As if to reassure him self further, he clicked onto Holly's line.
"Short? You copy?"
"Yessir."
"There's no troll."
"...yes sir."
"Get your behind back here, but," here he paused for breath, and Foaly's brow knit together trying to understand that the Commander was planning, "take a trip, and perform the ritual. Over and out, Short."
"Julius?" Foaly took a tentive step towards the wooden desk which Root was situated behind.
"I needed to, Foaly." The cigar was our from between his teeth and forgotten in an ash tray. His lips were set in a thin line and his amber eyes fixed on some non existent form once again. "I had to..."
"Why?" asked Foaly. He barely uttered his one worded question before the answer came known to him by his own reasoning. He straightened his back and blinked and mouthed, "Oh." But Root didn't notice as his smoldering gaze was still frying something that only he could see.
There was a moment of silence which Foaly took as his dismissal, yet his commanding officer spoke.
"It'll be that last bit of closure."
Foaly was at the threshold of the door when Root's voice demanded his attention once again. Without turning, he paused and put one hairy hand on the door frame. Root continued.
"The mind wipes were successful, but each time, this is how it all happened. SO far, there has been no recall. We've never had it this good so far into the game the last times. So this will be my last bit of closure, the last time I have to worry about Fowl, or Holly, or anyone else's, " Root then whispered softly, "the last time..."
He lifted his eyes to Foaly's back and slightly turned head. The horse's eyes were softer than usual and Root realized that he had confided in the subordinate once again. Regaining his poise, he cleared his throat and threw papers about his desk and mumbled something along the lines of, "Besides, the she elf will be fine."
Foaly walked clipped out of the room smiling softly at Root's display of actual emotion and concern. His smile faded when he remembered what he read during each of Holly's mind wipes.
Root flipped his lid when he read that.
It happened the same way each time.
It all started the same way, the same event triggered it. Foaly didn't understand how.
Every time.
He locked himself in the Ops booth, and pulled up that same file that had him befuddled time after time.
Each mind wipe, he read the same thing. Each daily routine that he witnessed was the same as the last.
Maynooth, Ireland
"Short? You copy?"
'Finally', thought Holly still hovering over the large rock and tree. "Yes sir." She spoke into her helmet, the button of a button of a microphone picking up her voice easily.
"There's no troll."
Holly's thoughts stopped at that point. 'There's no hope for the LEP or the Lower Elements at all if the LEP are the top of the top.' It took her a while to find her voice again.
"...yes sir."
He then told her to perform the ritual, and clicked off before she could respond.
Befuddled by the commanders seemingly rash decision Holly rose to 300 feet and glided softly in the night wondering how he could have known that she needed to perform the ritual in the first place.
Holly flew in lazy circles and found her self in Claine. The river that bent on the out skirts of the little town sparkled, the little ripples and waves made by the gentle current waved at her, greeted her.
She landed down softly under the leaves of an oak tree. Her hands released the toggles and reached up to remove her helmet. For an instant, she hesitated and that feeling of déjà vu washed over her as the river did over the rocks. Ignoring it like she had done before, she removed the helmet and unclipped the wings from her back.
She stretched out her arms and breathed in the night air. Looking up, she could see the light from the moon struggling to go between the green leaves. Smiling widely to see the stars, moon, and flowing water again, she touched a hand to the rough of bark of the tree. When her fingers met the wood, there was a slight whistle of wind and she felt a numbing pain in her lower back. Behind her, she heard a cracking of a twig under foot. Under a heavy and very large foot she soon realized as he gaze fell upon a mammoth of a man. Behind him, a younger form stepped out from the bushes.
A wave of drowsiness crashed upon her mind and body. Her eye lids dropped and her limbs failed to support her weight. Before she fell completely unconscious to the ground, she heard the taller one speak to the smaller framed human.
"You were right, Artemis."
The name resounded in her mind, even as it was shrouded in darkness.
Sorry for the delay. Hope you liked this one. Review!!!