Disclaimer: Lyrics (minus one gender change) are the creation of James Blunt. Characters are Eoin Colfer's.

Authors Notes: My Holly/Artemis labour -kind of soppy, song-fic. R + R please!

Goodbye My Lover

My heart was blinded by you.

The bleeping of the heart monitor worked rhythmically with the beating Holly's tears. For decades she had known this day would come; it was as inevitable. All those years ago she had been warned by her fairy counsel that this moment cause her unbearable pain, that she would never overcome it, but he had been too much to resist. It was as if there hearts had been joined by some invisible power. And now, amidst spasms of soulful pain, it was fading.

I've kissed your lips and held your head.
Shared your dreams and shared your bed.
I know you well, I know your smell.
I've been addicted to you.

Holly had found this old man repugnant once, a parasite, intent only on the accumulation of gold, and now she longed for that young man, for the greasy intellectual and his boyish cheekiness. She regretted even five minutes hating him, because it was five minutes less that she could have spent loving him, the minutes drifted past like the last gram of heroine.

Goodbye my lover.
Goodbye my friend.
You have been the one.
You have been the one for me.

She caressed his wrinkled hand, thinking of all the hours she had spent holding it, all the wonders of the world explored. There would never be another hand clasped in hers. For this hand had done great crimes, but no other radiated the perfect imperfection of this one; none had the cocky intelligence of youth; and none defined the wise power of a merciful genius so fully. This was the only hand that would hold hers, ever.

I am a dreamer but when I wake,
You can't break my spirit - it's my dreams you take.

Buried in her sub-conscious this event had always been scheduled, but even living among the mud-men, it was hard to switch of the internal chronology of a fairy. It wasn't supposed to be this soon; they had so much more to do, so much more to explore, to see; he had so much more to show her about his tamed power. As Holly saw it, there was no life after Artemis Fowl II. Even the most stimulating experience would not compare to the deep, warm voice of Artemis' battered soul. Oh, to here him mutter some relentlessly dull mathematical formula! Oh, to have his heavy arms wrapped around her, humouring her with affection, when they both knew physical attraction had never been a part. Never.

And as you move on, remember me,
Remember us and all we used to be

Life beyond the incessant beeps of joyful condemnation was… incomprehensible. Perhaps this was the apocalypse… Yes, that was the most likely explanation – there was nothing after Artemis Fowl, nothing and no one.

It was somewhat comforting though to contemplate suicide, but Holly knew it was just a cowardly fantasy.

I've seen you cry, I've seen you smile.
I've watched you sleeping for a while.

It was a wonderful anaesthetic to pretend he was just dosing. He looked so peaceful, after all. All the trials and tribulations of making the relationship work, they all seemed so trivial now. They had fought long and hard over where they should live: Haven or Ireland. But it didn't matter now. For all she cared, they could live for eternity in this dingy, plain white hospital room. Hell, for all she cared, he could sleep forever, as long as the bleep… bleep kept going, as long as the spark of life still flickered around his body. He had so much life – it wouldn't hurt so much, if he

I'd be the Mother of your child.
I'd spend a lifetime with you.

The saddest thing of all, great as this man was, there would be no legacy. His friends had died long ago. – They had faded into nothingness. If only they had been compatible… if only. No, it was best to forget about it; the Fowl family line was none of her business. She had just married into it.

I know your fears and you know mine.
We've had our doubts but now we're fine,
And I love you, I swear that's true.
I cannot live without you.

There was no time in their relationship to be happy and content. They were passionate, despite there love; they had never quite clicked into bliss. This was the first time she had ever felt truly at ease with her ninety year old lover. Yet it was so bittersweet, that this 'content' should come accompanied by such agony. He was so peaceful, so still; his mind was finally resting.

Goodbye my lover.
Goodbye my friend.
You have been the one.
You have been the one for me.

Holly's instincts told her it was near. All the doctors had left, as it was just a matter of time. Just time. Ha! Right now, time was all she cared about.

And I still hold your hand in mine.
In mine when I'm asleep.
And I will bear my soul in time,
When I'm kneeling at your feet.

Holly found little comfort in the clichés about death. She already missed his sardonic grin and the priceless jewel of the occasional compliment. But maybe, they would live on, just a little, because Holly thought she would seldom forget them. She would carry just a hint of his vibrant spirit in her.

Goodbye my lover.
Goodbye my friend.
You have been the one.
You have been the one for me.

"Goodbye, Artemis," she whispered, holding back the last of tears in shame, for Artemis hadn't believed in crying for comfort. There would be time to mourn, later

I'm so hollow, baby, I'm so hollow.
I'm so, I'm so, I'm so hollow.

"Goodbye, my friend."

And then the incessant bleeping faded into a long, howling slur like the world mourning its finest intellectual explorer, dying with Artemis' heart… dying with Holly's soul.

End