The Pivotal Five

Summary: Five great stories come together in an epic imbalance that sets the world of fantasy on its side. Each people from each story must learn to put their differences aside and work together to save their own world, and the world of reality.

Last Episode: Harry received a weird letter from Sirius that contained one fifth of a dimension machine.

Chapter 3: A Golden Disk

"Is there an Artemis Fowl living here?"

Butler looked at the strange little man as though he were crazy. 'Of course, the Fowls live here, you loon,' he thought as he nodded in assent. "Junior or Senior?" Not that he would let him see either. This was an unidentified individual, who might be, and probably was, a crazed murderer, intent on ending the Fowl line.

"Junior, if that's possible. If you do not permit me to see him, please tell him that Mulch Diggums came to call to remind him of his past." At this, the short, odd man turned to walk back to his limo.

Butler pondered his words. A vague memory surfaced in his mind, which brought forth a click of recognition, and a filling in of missing pieces of a puzzle. "Mr. Diggums," Butler stopped.

A wide smile formed on Mulch's face, revealing a set of tombstone-like teeth.

"If you'd like to make yourself comfortable, I shall see to it that Master Fowl will meet with you." Butler then left the room.

"Artemis!" a girl called in an American accent.

A sigh escaped from Artemis. "What is it, now, Fay? A rabbit in the security system, again?" Sometimes he wished she would just use the same accent as everyone else and stop annoying him with her flat tones.

"No." A girl his age stalked in. Her angular features were drawn in a look of confusion. "Butler's let in some weird, small man."

Now her confusion was made known to Artemis. "Have you ever seen him before?" he asked her.

She shook her head. "I think we should check it out."

'We should check it out,' was one of Fay's favorite phrases. Artemis took a deep breath to stop himself from losing patience with her. Had she no sense? Didn't she see that this unusual man might want to kill him? "And have him turn out to be an assassin? I think not."

"Coward." And then it began.

"Reckless peasant."

"Runty weakling."

"Hothead."

"Piss off!"

"As colorful as your language undoubtedly is, I do not wish to hear it."

"Snob—"

"What's going on in here?" Artemis turned to see Butler poke his head in. "Having another lovers' quarrel?"

At this, Fay made a noise of disgust as a tinge of red colored Artemis' pale cheeks. An awkward silence followed.

"What did you come in here for, Butler?" Fay asked, breaking the silence.

"There's someone completely safe downstairs waiting to see you, Artemis. I told him you would not be long," he said with a good-humored smile. The two fifteen year olds were inseparable since Fay was found on the doorstep of Saint Bartleby's two years ago. Well, not exactly since. They had to go through some rough spots before they respected each other, and even began to become friends. But that's a story for a different time. "Bring your laptop and disk converter."

Confused beyond all measure, Artemis gathered the items and made his way down the stairs. Fay made a move to follow him, but Butler stopped her.

"This meeting is for Artemis' and my ears only."

Before Fay could shout in indignation, Artemis stepped between Butler and her. "Now, Butler, what could possibly be said that we'd want to keep from Fay?" he asked calmly. "I trust her with my life, as I trust you. Are you telling me that my trust, so unwilling to be given in the first place, is unfounded? That trusting her is a rash decision that should be taken back?"

Stumped, Butler let Fay through. "You'll regret that once your memory kicks in," he murmured darkly.

"Fowl!" the man called out. "You've really grown. Not a puny little vampire anymore, are you?"

"Do I know you?" Artemis looked quizzically at him. He felt as if he did; yet he couldn't place him.

"Course you do. I'm Mulch Diggums, kleptomaniac extraordinaire. And I've got a little disk of yours," he explained. He reached in his shirt and pulled off a necklace with a gold circle with a perfect hole in the center.

Artemis knew he'd seen that somewhere before, but where? He took the disk into the converter and plugged in into his laptop. The title that flashed on the screen read, 'The People, and What Artemis Fowl Has Discovered about Them.'

Pictures and documents appeared and disappeared as fast as Artemis and Fay could read them. Actually, Fay would get to the middle when it flashed. Obviously, the program had been made to Artemis' reading speed, and not a second slower, so that no other soul could read all of it.

Now Artemis knew why Butler hadn't wanted Fay to see this.

"Artemis, this is some wild hoax. One; fairies don't exist, two; you couldn't have captured one, and three; you are morally incapable of that. You're too good, all though there is no such thing…"

"Fay, when this happened, I was not how I am today. I was cold, unfeeling. All I cared about was upholding the family tradition and supporting the family fortune—"

"Can't…No. I don't believe it. I mean, yeah. You can be emotionally closed off and stuff but you couldn't have kidnapped a…a…fairy and put her through that…"

After a half-hour of proving to her that Artemis really used to be that way, he watched her silently, waiting for her to say she hated him, and that she wanted to leave Fowl Manor, now.

Fay was just about to write him off as no friend of hers, but then thought back to the definition of friend she and Artemis had created the day they agreed to be closer than just civil.

'Friend (frĕnd) n. 1. Someone one can trust to be there for one. Someone who will not judge one by one's past, but will help one plan one's future and live in one's present. A friend is not someone who will bail one out of jail, but will be sitting next to one, saying, "That was awesome!" * There are many meanings for this word, and this one has been designed and henceforth accepted by Artemis Fowl and Farren Wakanda (signed)'

Fay added that last bit, while Artemis had put in the parts about time. Fay sighed in resolution.

Artemis seemed to take that as the final penalty. He'd known this girl for two years, watched her open up to other people, and saw her through the traumatizing realization that her parents really didn't want her. He wasn't about to lose a hard-won friendship because of the past!

"You know, Arty?" His decision about not losing a friend didn't stop him from scowling when she used that nickname. "I think you've gone soft!" Artemis could've laughed in relief at the smile on Fay's face.

"Well, I've done my job," said Diggums, "Fowl, when you're ready for that partnership, you know where to contact me." And with that, Mulch Diggums exited the Manor with a dramatic slamming of the doors.

"Remarkably little man, isn't he, Fay?" Butler asked.

"I should say so," replied Fay.

"I should say so, also," echoed Artemis.

(A/N: Tell me if you do not like my OFC in this…I'm asking you, now, if you do not like her, would you like to read the separate story about her? It explains how Artemis and her became friends…But it is kind of boring. It's got no magic or fairies, *but you might catch hints that they are still checking up on Artemis*, and it has to deal a lot with a boy and a girl, helping each other out through hard times. For Artemis, who was in the stage of rebelling against his family, and Fay, who found her family and realized that they didn't want her, a friend was all they needed, and neither of them noticed until they were thrown together in extraordinary circumstances. But anywayz…I'm going off topic. No one's even reading this….  If you read, review. If you don't like, flame. If you like, review. BUT WHATEVER YOU DO!!! REVIEW!!!! *I'm a poet and I know it, cuz I rhyme all the time!!! ^_^*)