Not much to say for this one. Except, Holly is apologizing for the fight, if that doesn't make any sense.

And the fight seems kinda unrealistic…sorry bout that…

HEARTBEAT

She's struggling. Her grasp on reality is a weak one, one that can be torn apart so easily.

It reminds her of so many things.

Life…life can be torn apart. Hearts.

But by what?

Death, loss, love…

Love is something she doesn't want to think about right now.

She doesn't want to think at all.

She opens her eyes and gazes around the dream world of liquid beats of time. She counts the seconds in her head.

Suddenly she feels herself being lowered down, feels someone standing next to her, hears a door slam.

One.

Two.

He was there—

Three.

Four.

Artemis stood by Holly's bed in the hospital for a moment. He turned and began to walk out, opening the door.

'Wait…'

Artemis closed the door, turned, and slowly made his way back to Holly. 'You're awake?' he asked her quietly

Holly nodded. She was pale and her breathing was slowed, her eyes barely open, but she was awake.

'Sorry.' Holly muttered.

'For what?'

'What I said.'

Artemis paused slightly.

'And,' he began, 'that was…?'

'You remember,' Holly said harshly.

There was a silence. Artemis finally nodded, just once, slowly, and left the room.

Holly blinked at the white ceiling. Everything in the room seemed to be a dazzling blue or grey or white.

She sighed, leaning over and closing her eyes, suddenly freezing cold.

She wondered silently what had frozen her.

Artemis sat down in the waiting room beside Mulch.

'Is she awake?' Mulch asked him.

Artemis paused for a moment.

'No.'

Flashback

Holly sat at her desk, frowning as she filled out the form. 'Thank you very much for coming to Mulch and Holly's private investigating service, we hope you are satisfied. Please actually check for your "stolen" violin under your bed before coming to us…' Holly crossed that part out and continued writing.

'Thank you notes?' Artemis, sitting in a chair, enquired.

'Forms. And they are the absolute joy of my day,' Holly replied somewhat bitterly, laughing.

'I never got one of those for my work with the paintings,' Artemis said teasingly.

Holly's smile disappeared. She continued writing, digging the pencil onto the paper, writing hurriedly and forcefully.

'You think you should be thanked?' she asked in an almost inaudible tone.

'No,' Artemis said, concerned. 'I wasn't serious.'

Holly didn't seem to hear him. 'For all the trouble you've caused the People…you think you can just put that behind you and get thanked for a couple of stupid paintings?' Holly continued, her voice rising now.

Artemis was still too stunned to speak. The pencil cracked loudly as it broke into two pieces.

'All the pain? You think that doesn't matter? The stupid mind wipe, and all the sleepless nights afterwards…you think none of that matters, let's just thank you?'

Artemis froze.

'I never…' he trailed off.

'Leave,' Holly said suddenly, realizing what she'd said. 'Please. Go see Mulch or something.'

Artemis walked out the door silently.

Holly closed her eyes. The broken pencil pieces lay on the desk. Broken like her heart.

End flashback

She wakes.

Wake is a loose word. Her vision is still gone; her knowledge of the world outside a tainted dream is nonexistent, but she senses the place around her.

Poison…

The world is but a piece of paper, dabbed with watercolours of shades that are everything and nothing. Alive and dead.

Water, the liquid staining her face and her reality, spills across the paper, and instantly the watercolours flow. Dripping through the tainted dream world.

'She's going to need an operation…'

'What do you think is wrong with her?'

'I don't know, it's like she's in some sort of coma, she—oh my god.'

'What?'

'Look. Look at this. Her heartbeat…'

'She can't be alive.'

'She is, alright.'

In the brief moments the elf can hear the exchanged words, tossed around to embrace her silence, she feels fear.

Some part of her thinks she is dying.

'Help...' she whispers again. She's lifted up out of her poison and into the real world.

She's thrown back just as she hears shouts and yells, fading along with her strength and consciousness.

A sprite, one of the doctors, hurriedly entered the waiting room. Mulch stood up.

'What's wrong with her?' he asked anxiously.

The sprite shook his had. 'No idea,' he said quietly. 'Her pulse rate's down to twenty beats a minute.'

Mulch's mouth dropped. Artemis was too numb to move.

'And yet,' the doctor continued, 'she's alive.'

'And yet,' Mulch repeated, sitting down. 'And yet.' He seemed incapable of doing anything else.

Artemis stared blindly into space.

Yay…another story that writes itself…

Reviews welcome.

-Tigeress-10