Holly sat down next to Artemis, right in the exact same spot that Eden had just been sitting in.
"How do you feel?" Holly asked, wrapping her arm around his. Artemis appreciated her concern.
"For somebody who had died… again… I feel good. I feel alive. It's hard to describe, actually."
"You look a lot better" Holly said. "When I saw you in that factory, you looked awful. You looked like, well, death. And then you passed out, I didn't know what to do. For a moment, I thought you were gone. I thought I had lost you."
"You don't realise how close you were to being correct with that statement" Artemis replied, looking up at the artificial stars. "We can make light my condition now, given that I am safely back in Haven, but I was as good as gone. One does not walk into the lair of Wyatt Munroe and get away to tell the tale often. The losses of Masek and Cable only prove that statement further."
"You have something on your mind" Holly remarked, moving herself even closer to Artemis.
"I have a lot on my mind" Artemis replied.
"You have something on your mind that you want to tell me, but are conflicted how to do so" Holly said. Artemis looked at her in bewilderment.
"Since when did I become so readable?"
"You're not as much of a closed book as you like to think you are, Artemis" Holly replied. "Not once you allow somebody to get to know you, for who you really are. You make people think that you are cold and calculating – which you are, when you need to be – but you also make out like you're heartless. You, Artemis Fowl, are the furthest thing from heartless; look at how you care for me, how you tried to protect me. You don't give yourself enough credit sometimes. So – tell me what is on your mind. I promise you, whatever it is, I will be here."
Artemis shook his head slightly.
"I'd call you wise beyond your years, but you are considerably older than me."
"Artemis, you're stalling" Holly said, prodding him gently.
"Fine" Artemis relented. "I truly thought that there was nothing in this world that could surprise me anymore; I had everything planned out going into Wyatt Munroe's base of operations, and yet I also knew that, under normal circumstances, there was no way that I could make it out of there alive. It wasn't possible. The only chance of survival was based on a guess, a prediction that I could not verify before I went in, that even I did not think would happen."
"But it did" Holly said. Artemis nodded.
"It was truly a chance in a billion" Artemis said. "It was a risk, too much of a risk. The kind of risk that might not work out so well next time."
"But you're still here" Holly said. "That's all that matters to me."
"It's the kind of risk" Artemis continued, "That I am going to suffer the consequences of for the rest of my life."
That got Holly's attention.
"What do you mean?" She asked, a nervous quiver to her voice.
"You remember the Energy Matrix?" Artemis asked. "The Energy Matrix is not just a massive source of power, but an intergalactic prison."
"Prison?" Holly asked, but Artemis held up his finger to stop her.
"I am not sure I yet truly understand the history" Artemis said. "But it would seem that the Energy Matrix was a prison, holding within it a group of ancient, extra-terrestrial beings. When I connected myself to the Matrix, one of those beings took it upon themselves to ride the wave and enter my body, where is now takes up residence inside my brain. She is the one who resurrected me, who ensured that I survived my encounter with Wyatt."
"She?" Holly asked. "I – OK… I get why you might be hesitant saying that out loud. You have an alien living in your head?!"
"Yes, 'she'" Artemis replied. "Eden is the name that she assigned to herself. And don't let her hear you calling her an alien, I don't think she appreciated that."
"Dear Frond" Holly said. "I don't know whether I should laugh or cry about the fact that you keep getting yourself into these situations. It's not good for my already fragile heart, you know, having to worry about you all the time. But I believe you. I saw what you looked like inside that warehouse Artemis – you had no right to even still be standing let alone helping to save Cecily's life. It's just so you, to experiment on yourself like that too, I guess something was going to give some day."
"You don't need to convince me that you're convinced, Holly" Artemis said, smiling to himself at the way Holly kept tripping over her words. "But thank you."
"Can I meet her?" Holly asked.
Artemis shook his head.
"That's the thing about Eden being stuck inside my brain – only I can hear her, talk to her. That's why I fear it will look like I have gone insane. Maybe I have gone insane?"
"You sound sane to me" Holly assured him. "I get it though; sane people tend not to look like they're talking to themselves. There'll be humans and fairies out there that'll need more convincing than me."
"They'll have to get used to it" Artemis said. "Because this is a long-term deal. Now that Eden is here, I don't know how to get her out of my head. She's stuck here."
Holly looked up at Artemis, but he averted his gaze.
"All of this" Artemis said. "Everything that has happened to us. We lost good people, great people, out there. The LEP is in ruins, and not for the first time, thanks to what we've done. Fowl Manor is rubble. My father is DEAD. I now have an ancient goddess running round in my head trying to ensure that I don't perish myself, with no idea what the long-term repercussions might be. And for what? Wyatt Munroe is still alive, still out there planning his doomsday, and now I'm not sure he's acting alone. The Lower Elements may very well still be sleepwalking into disaster. All this death and destruction, and we have achieved nothing."
Holly tugged on Artemis' shirt sleeve, forcing him to look at her.
"We are both still here" Holly said. "And whilst we're both still here, we are still in the fight. I'm not giving up, and neither are you."
"Holly, think of everything that has happened to us since we first met" Artemis said. "How many times we, collectively, have both died and come back to life. How many close calls we have somehow managed to escape from? Think of the strain it has put on us and our relationship, how close it came to wrenching us apart for good. So far, we've always come back from the edge, but one day our luck is going to run out. One day, we're not going to be coming back."
"And when that time comes" Holly replied, defiant. "We'll go down swinging, and we'll do it together."
Artemis and Holly locked eyes, a silent understanding between the pair.
Together until the end it was.
Would you believe I finished writing everything outside of this final chapter over a year ago? I just never found the time to go through and upload everything – but here we are, the story is complete!
I'd say that I wouldn't leave it there with so many questions left unanswered, but given my track record, it's entirely possible. With that said, story number five in this series, the aptly named One Last Sunrise, is in development, so maybe(?) we might be able to wrap this whole saga up after all!