Fatum Universus

By: Sango Ai

A/N: Hey everyone, I just wanted to apologize for the fact that my
writing has proved a little hard to read, whether the content was good
or not. I know it appears that I am unfamiliar with the punctuating
of the English language, which is not the case. The problem lies
within the fact that during the uploading process FanfictionNet's
server, or however that works, is reading my word documents wrong and
skewing the punctuation. It doesn't seem to like punctuation within
quotation marks… Or ellipses. I am hoping and praying that this
corrects itself eventually and for the time being I am willing to and
ask that you give both Fanfiction Net and myself the benefit of the
doubt.


You/Me, Obviously: Thank you, and yes, she's a lot like Holly
intentionally so. She and Holly will become friends, but I think that
they're so similar (though not clones at all) that sparks may fly. By
the way if you want Ariana's air of mystery to remain you need to stay
away from reading the reviews. Some of my reviewers figured out her
secret.

AgiVega: Ah! You're giving me ideas of something I want to pursue
even though I have no idea how. Anyway I explained it to you in an
email Agi.

ArtyChick: You sure you really want to know? But yes, guilty as
charged. I've got to come up with something for suspense; my AF
reviewers are too smart for me.

Thanks all three who reviewed!


Chapter Two: Clearing Things Up

Holly wiped her forehead as she emerged from the shuttle and stepped
into the aboveground lobby. Normally she loved the chutes but now her
mind was preoccupied. She, numb from the overload of emotions that
threatened to ravage her, began to make the eerily familiar flight to
Fowl Manor.

About fifteen minutes later Holly, apprehensively, alighted on the ground inside the walls of Fowl Manor, holding onto being secure in her shield as long as she could. Artemis was no longer in possession of the cannibalized LEP Retrieval helmets and not being able to be seen by him was some comfort. She knew the mind wipe had not been her decision, and that Root did it because he felt he had to, but she still did not know if she could truly face Artemis and the Butlers again. She was afraid that they would not remember her, even seeing her face to face, but another equal part of her was afraid that they would.

Artemis sat in the lotus position on his lushly carpeted floor, going through his memories systematically, searching. What he was searching for was unbeknownst, even to him. Since the appearance of the mysterious contact lenses, things at Fowl Manor had taken a turn for the peculiar. The lenses expert Butler knew had, when asked about the mirrored contacts, looked at Butler incredulously and told him that Artemis had, via Butler, ordered the contacts himself. Artemis felt that this was a great revelation for a moment, and felt as though everything that had been confusing him since the fateful moment he found the contacts might click into place. It almost did, but this was not satisfactory for Artemis.

He had been having strange dreams about the most curious things, amazing, and at this point impossible technology, and mythical creatures that anyone in their right mind would refuse to believe truly exist. Yet they would not leave his mind, specifically one, it seemed to be female, petite yet muscular, and overall very pretty, and there was something extremely familiar about her. Artemis could not get anywhere with this though, because every time in his meditations he would get a good look at her there seemed to be something blocking
recall. She felt like a friend but he did not even know her name.

Outside, Holly flew from window to window on the second to top story of the massive house. She had been through Fowl Manor thoroughly during the siege, as well as at other times, but her mental map of the place, though nearly flawless even after four months, inside did almost nothing for her understanding of the layout outside. When she finally came to the window of Artemis' room she nearly passed it by. It was night and the room was dark, but then, in the moonlight she caught sight of a pale body, a small candle flickering next to and above it on the mahogany computer desk.

Artemis groaned uncomfortably and his forehead began to sweat. Suddenly things started to flash through his mind at entirely too rapid a rate, even for an intellect such as Artemis'. Holly landed on the window ledge and looked in with concern. Artemis' face looked like he was worried and in pain, and she, knowing Artemis as well as she did knew he was not very prone to physically showing emotion. Artemis tried to regulate his breathing, concentrating on the images flashing before his mind's eye, accompanied by words that felt arcane but almost a part of him, "…the Arctic, Artemis Senior's rescue, Koboi Laboratories, Neutrino, Foaly, the C Cube, Jon Spiro, healing, mesmer, Holly…" He called out for the last mentioned fairy as the checklist continued running until his body refused to withstand anymore and he fell from his lotus position into a crumpled heap, seemingly unconscious, and in the process of falling he hit his head on the edge of the solid wood desk.

Holly sighed and growled in annoyance and concern, "Stupid Mud Boy…" she muttered under her breath as she set her Neutrino to the fourth setting and made a small jagged circle, melting the glass and making it soft enough for her to break without setting off the security alarm. She pushed her body weight through the glass, it caused a mild crashing sound for a moment but the carpet muffled it. She hurried over to Artemis to check for any major injury despite the small lacerations in both her jump suit and skin, mud boy or not she could not just leave him there, possibly in some kind of trauma. Holly had never actually seen a total recall, and in recent memory could not name one that had occurred. So she could not take chances with her former, and she hoped current friend. She, with only a slight amount of effort, pulled Artemis out of his current position and laid him flat on his back and kneeled beside him, checking the place of impact, she pressed on it lightly to see if he would wince. He did, "Well at least he's not unconscious."

Holly sighed heavily, "Now what…?" she pondered aloud. She got to her feet and looked around Artemis' room and decided which door looked more likely to lead to the bathroom. She picked one next to the antique mahogany armoire. "Good then," she said, "I was right." She found a small towel and wet it with cold water and didn't bother to wring it. She walked back into the bedroom, quickly checking to see that the door was locked. Butler and Juliet both probably had a key, but it would at least probably hinder any nosey older Fowls, if they were home.

She resumed her crouched position next to the human and gently patted the quickly bruising area with the cool wash cloth, "Come on, wake up…" she said, less than gently. Whether she was concerned about him or not she had work to do. When he just whimpered slightly, but otherwise ignored her she began to get annoyed despite herself, Artemis had that effect on people, specifically her, "Wake up!" she growled as she proceeded to wring the ice cold, sopping cloth over Artemis' face. Stray drops seemed to work their way up his nose and he coughed for a moment and opened his eyes and blinked them.

He reached up and stroked his forehead and winced, "That hurt…" he said under his breath, then he fully recognized the somewhat concerned, somewhat morbidly satisfied face above him, "Holly?" he asked in disbelief. He wondered if perhaps her closeness had triggered the recall, from which his head was still confused and throbbing in pain. On second thought however that seemed a bit too farfetched. Pure coincidence, he decided.

Holly smiled but only briefly, "Yes, Artemis, it's Holly."

Artemis pushed himself up and leaned against the desk, a less unseemly position, "So, the fairies can't live without me for even half a year? Or is this a social visit?"

Holly rolled her eyes slightly, "We can live without the help of the Great Artemis Fowl," she said sarcastically, trying to sound confident, "…but Root doesn't seem to think so…" she added, her voice trailing off.

"The Commander sent you for me?" Artemis asked, genuinely surprised but barely showing it, if at all.

"Yes, what, you think I'd come looking for you?"

Artemis stood, towering over the crouched elf and walked to the other side of the room, fiddling with something that glistened that seemed to be suspended from a dark brown or black cord on his bedpost.

"What's that?" Holly asked, though she already thought she knew what it was.

"Remember the coin you gave me… after we rescued my father and saved Haven from Opal Koboi and Briar Cudgeon?" he asked.

Holly nodded, "Yes, " she was surprised that he already seemed to have such a firm grasp on his newly regained memories, or were they all new?

"Well, the coin I gave Mulch wasn't the real thing…" he confessed, still staring at the coin, Holly couldn't tell if he was fascinated by it or if he was looking at it to avoid looking at her.

Holly felt several emotions fade into one another at a very rapid rate, first empathy, then annoyance at his dishonesty, then curiosity, "What was it then, Fowl?" she said, sounding impatient.

He smiled his vampire smile, still not looking directly at her, "It was a laser disk that had been gold leafed, containing copies of all my fairy related files… Mulch was supposed to bring it back to me in two years, when all his criminal charges were found null and void."

"Always plotting…" Holly muttered under her breath, half amused, half angered. She wondered about what he meant by Mulch's charges becoming null and void but decided she'd find that out soon enough, she would rather not be too angry with him, she still felt that she owed penance somehow. Holly then realized something and, standing, asked, "How long have you had your memories back?"

"Just now was when I got all of them in full, " Artemis explained, finally breaking his concentration upon the coin and looking at her and into her eyes, "Just as you showed up… which seems strangely suspicious."

"We didn't do anything…" Holly stated.

"Well, I'd been getting some of them back in waves for quite some time. However they would disappear no sooner than they would come. But I had the original coin in safekeeping and I happened upon in about three weeks after the mind wipe I suppose. I remembered that it had something to do with the strange dreams I kept having and the mysterious events… but I didn't know how. In a moment of superstition I thought that hanging it on my bed post might help make the dreams make more sense."

"Well that was out of character…" Holly said, "I hate to interrupt your reverie but I did have a reason for coming here."

"Yes, I apologize, go ahead, Captain," Artemis said, in a very business-like tone.

Holly explained the situation at hand and explained the reasons she thought Foaly and Commander Root seemed to think his assistance was needed.

Artemis nodded thoughtfully, off into nothing, then glared at the air seemingly, "Spiro… I hate to judge by lineage but if he's anything like the relative of his I know, you have no need to question whether or not I'll help the People."

"Still lookin' to give that family their comuppin's?" Holly asked, smirking.

Artemis shook his head, "No, I had my revenge. But obviously it taught him, and thus his future family nothing," Artemis looked at Holly for a moment, "And after all, we're still friends aren't we…?"

When he finished this statement he looked at the floor for a moment, feeling very slightly embarrassed that he, Artemis Fowl, had asked such a sappy sounding question.

'So we were…' Holly thought but shook herself, "Yes, I suppose. Despite your trickery."

"If I hadn't left myself some clues I would've turned back into a monster, Holly," he stated matter-of-factly, "Even with the few memories I began to reclaim, I am still a criminal without the influence of the People…"

Holly sighed, she really did feel sorry for him, but this was no time for sentiment, "Well, maybe, if this goes without friction the Council…will… let you keep your memories this time. We can hope for the world's sake," Holly said, adding a bit of sarcasm to her last sentence.

"We can hope," Artemis agreed.

"Well, are Juliet and Butler here, they'd probably prove useful, not to mention it wouldn't be smart for you to just up and disappear would it?"

"I should think not," replied Artemis as he paged the Butler siblings from their respective rooms.


A/N: I really had to grabble with myself as to whether or not to post this chapter, I wasn't really comfortable with it, but I guess its the best I can do... Please review. Thank you for reading.