A/N – I do not own any of the characters featured in the Artemis Fowl books, I am merely a mortal fan. Oh yeah, this chapter is to simply tie up some of the loose ends from 'The Lost Colony,' my plot really kicks in as of the next chapter.

Chapter One: Only a Boy

June 17th – Fowl Manor – 11:45am

It had been a happy reunion. A sobbing, brutal and loving embrace from his mother, an equally brutal and loving embrace, minus the sobbing part, from his father, and then he was hurried inside, leaving Butler to park the Bentley.

He was led into a foreign sitting room. Things were different. The formality that had used to hang around the house had been replaced with a casual, informal feel. His parents, he noticed, were dressed in jeans and t-shirts, as opposed to the dresses and suit-like clothes they used to wear. A plasma screen TV lined an orange wall with a pale red border, a rack of DVDs positioned neatly above. There was even a bean bag sitting in the corner beside a bookshelf.

Then the uncomfortability settled in. To his parents, Artemis had been missing for nearly three years. He had just vanished without a trace. To Artemis, he had simply left yesterday and was home again today.

No one knew what to say. His parents just couldn't simply ask "Where have you been?" That was a question asked by a mother to a small child who had run to the forest to play with his friends for a few hours, not a question asked to a teenager who had disappeared for three years and returned unchanged.

"It's been so… so long." His mother mumbled, taking Artemis's hand in hers. It felt warm, and his brain picked the word happy to go with it. Could that be the magic, sensing the mood?

"It has." He replied, unsure of what to say.

"I tried, Son." His father said. Artemis could see the pain and tiredness in his eyes. "I pulled in all of my favours, I paid millions of Euro… but I couldn't track down the people who took-"

"I wasn't kidnapped, father."

"But how could you just… disappear? You must have gone somewhere. Dom told us stories… we didn't believe-"

And then Artemis remembered what Foaly had said. "The People thank you for your efforts, but you know that everything you have learned is confidential. Not even your parents, Artemis. You'll have to think of something besides the truth to tell them."

"So, Artemis? Are Dom's stories true?"

Artemis knew what he had to do. He focussed on the part of his brain that he had felt tingle when he had healed his cut, and forced it.

"No. Forget everything Butler has told you about my disappearance." Artemis was only mildly surprised to hear that his own voice was layered with bass tones, as if from some sort of dream.

"But…"

"They were all false. Forget them" He forced harder.

"What stories?"

Artemis instantly stopped forcing. His voice returned to normal. "I was kidnapped by an extremist Russian terrorist group. There was a gunfight and my kidnappers were killed. For the past year, I have been working my way across countries, to get home. I placed collect calls, but no one ever answered. Remember the messages that I left?" He forced the magic again, "Don't you remember the letters, the videos? They wanted millions of Euros in return for my life. You were about to pay when they were killed and you lost contact."

It was the perfect story. A story that occurred in a country hundreds of miles away, all of the suspects were killed so there would be no need for an investigation, and of course, Artemis had the power of persuasion on his side.

But there was one flaw. The age. Artemis was meant to be nearly eighteen-years-old, yet he still embodied all of his fourteen-year-old traits. This was going to require some serious lying.

"But what about your age…?"

"The combination of radiation, freezing weather and poor living conditions has caused my physical form to age more slowly. I am seventeen and a half. Now, again, lets forget about this."

Another uncomfortable silence followed. Again, no one knew what to say. The spell broke when voices could be heard out on the landing.

"Mrs. Fowl, I can't find the-" A young blonde woman entered the room, holding the hands of two toddlers. She stopped talking abruptly when she noticed Artemis sitting on the leather sofa. She gasper, and muttered one word. "Artemis…?"

"Long time no see, Juliet." Artemis spoke, smiling slightly.

"I see you survived the demon world Butler was always telling your parents and me about."

Again, Artemis was forced to turn to his parents and say to each in turn, "She's only joking, there is no demon world, forget it."

Artemis could literally feel Juliet's shock burning into his face. "Isn't that right, Juliet?" He said, with the barest hint of aggression in his voice. She nodded, afraid to say a word.

And then Artemis turned his attention to the two small toddlers.

This is all happening too fast. Things aren't meant to happen this fast!

"Arty… we'd like you to meet Artemis Fowl the third, and Apollo Fowl. Apollo's named after your great-great-grandfather."

Artemis continued to take in the two toddlers, who had started to wander away from Juliet towards a small plastic fire engine that was tucked away in the corner of the room. They were without a doubt Fowls. The same pale skin, dark hair and piercing blue eyes. They were almost identical, but Apollo was an inch taller and was slightly bigger built.

Apollo's eyes met with Artemis's, there was a second of silence… and then the child started crying. Juliet hurried forward.

Why is the child crying? Artemis asked himself.

June 17th – Fowl Library – 04:35pm

"I've been discussing this with your parents, Artemis, and they would like me to once again take up residence within the manor. They'd also like me to resume my place by your shoulder." Butler told Artemis, whilst tying his hair up into a ponytail. "But before I give them an answer, I wanted to-"

"My shoulder wouldn't feel right without you beside it. I wouldn't let you not guard me, Butler." Artemis whispered, his voice full of sincerity. "You're more than a Bodyguard to me… you're more than a friend…"

Butler put his hand on the boy's shoulder.

"And… when I was in Hybras, a thought struck me. If I was to die, right there, how would I have been able to set things right?" He looked into Butler's eyes. "I'll tell you how. I couldn't have. I would have died, leaving the world behind me. The only people to ever like me, or love me, would never know of my fate." He turned his head, and continued. "I'm a cold person, Butler. I don't show emotion. But being in that position, facing almost certain death, I regretted never letting my emotions through. I would have died, Butler, without letting you know that you have been like a father to me. Despite my coldness, and the evil things I have done, you have stood by me. And…"

Butler watched as the boy before him, the boy who had been like a son t him since the day he was born, the boy he had seen commit evil beyond anything any other child could commit, lowered his head, a solitary tear snaking its way down his cheek and onto his chin. Butler held the boy's shoulder, and the boy leant his head against Butler's chest. For once in his life, Artemis was merely a boy.