Disclaimer: You know the drill. I. Do. Not. Own. Anything. That. You. May. Recognise.

The ideas about the Balance and its Keeper, however, is mine.

Chapter 27 – In which a new Power comes into the spotlight

It didn't sound right, somehow. Ivy Kestrel was dead. The shape of those words still hadn't hit home yet. Artemis wasn't sure who was screaming, but it was the most animalistic sound he had ever heard escape from a human or fairy.

It couldn't be. It was impossible for her to be dead because… because…

And for once, Artemis Fowl could not formulate an excuse for what he wanted.

A single teardrop slid down his cheek. This time, there was no doubt whose it was.

Holly watched as the blood spread, ran forwards to try and heal her, but the laughing maniac managed to knock her across the cockpit, breaking several ribs in the progress. She could only stare in horror as the magic started to heal her fractured ribs as the kestrel in Ivy's eyes took flight.

"NO!"

The simultaneous scream erupted from both adolescents, archaic and modern, and both of them sank to their knees. Two teardrops reached the ground. Both of them crawling unceremoniously towards the girl that had fallen in their stead. Two identical pairs of eyes staring at the lifeless body of Ivy Saraswati Kestrel, friend of the People.

A faint noise came from her helmet, but she shook her head slightly to try and get rid of the noise. All she wanted at that moment was to get rid of all of the annoying things in life, and a commander demanding a status report was included on that list. Turning the helmet's mike onto mute, Holly scrambled ungraciously towards her fallen charge, and placed her fingers on Ivy's neck, desperately trying to feel a pulse.

But there wasn't even a goblin's trace of electricity left in her brain.

A strange, distorted noise came from either side of her. It sounded a little like when there was interference in her helmet mike because of one of Foaly's PPTV soaps. She raised her tearstained face only to be shocked into dryness.

Both of the Artemises were being distorted. Every time the sound came, their figures blurred at the edges, a little like a faulty television would do.

And then, a heartbeat.

The very particles of the two Fowls shook. They both stood up, the same look of shock and fear creeping into their facial expressions. Holly looked down at her charge again, and saw that she was also distorted.

"Hey, wait…" Holly started, before realising that she was speaking in Gnommish. Switching back to English, she repeated what she had said, but by then it was really too late.

There was another heartbeat.

And there was no one there anymore.

I should have known to use the girl earlier.

Artemis was floating – no, not really floating, more like suspension. Like a puppet. It took him a while to realise that the sound of the voice was resounding around his head, but not around him. Although it was hard to tell – there was nothing to pinpoint his position – the darkness hid everything from him.

This will feel strange, but bear with it.

And then, it was like being in two places at once, but staying in the same place. Although, Artemis reflected, it could also feel like having two minds and one body, depending on your perspective. He suddenly felt as if he had been separated, as if his awareness was in two different places at the same time. It was not pleasant, but not unbearable. The result was… interesting.

And then, something happened. It wasn't just his thoughts inside his head anymore, but they were his own.

And now, came the mysterious voice again, you are truly my Keeper.

And the experience of being in two places at the same time ceased, but he wasn't himself anymore.

"What just happened?"

This same question was being posed by a tomato red bodyguard up on the surface, yelling into a mouthpiece, glaring at the computer screen at the diminutive, equally tomato red ex-commander. Nubi glared daggers at the commander, not only because she had accepted that he was dead and had been in mourning, but also because he was the one who had told her that her charge, her logically indestructible charge, had just died.

Been snuffed out.

Kicked the bucket.

Somehow, if she kept on coming up with new ways of saying that Ivy had died, she never reached the conclusion that she was actually dead.

"How can she have died? I thought that she had some sort of… of power over the elements!" Butler exclaimed, throwing professional calmness to the winds. It was startling to find out about the death of someone – especially since it would have a great impact on Master Artemis. Also, this would be the first time that Artemis would have encountered death with his own eyes.

"Even having a relationship of sorts with the elements doesn't make you bullet-proof, Butler." Growled Root, "And she hasn't really developed them very much."

"What do you mean?"

"Her mother's been putting up barriers all around for the past few years. Remember that Fowl incident?"

Butler frowned, upset at the reminder of their previous actions to their present friends, "Of course, how can I forget?"

"It was only around that time that her power over the elements actually began to show. For some reason, she couldn't really control it before – it was more like uncontrolled outbursts of energy. But we've got reason to believe that it's because of Ivy that Haven's still standing."

This intrigued Butler. Beside him, he could feel that Nubi was getting bored – she obviously didn't want to waste anymore time there. She would probably much rather be hunting down Spiro, even if it did involve her jumping into a wormhole, from what the commander had said before.

Suddenly, a shrill, hysterical voice piped up form the opposite side of the room. Butler vaguely recognised it as Holly's.

"Commander! He… he's…"

"What? Who's what? Spit it out, soldier!"

If the situation hadn't been so dire, it would almost have been funny hearing Root call Holly, who had finally gone past her limit and broken down, a 'soldier.'

"Fowl!" Butler's heart froze over this new announcement, "Artemis Fowl has disappeared!"

"What? Both of them? Be clear about this, woman!"

This was definitely new to Butler. "Would it inconvenience anyone to tell me what's going on?" He asked in a voice that seemed to freeze molten magma, but Root went on and ignored it.

"Yes, actually, it would. We'll fill you in nicely once we get Fowl the Frond back here, but before then…"

He was cut off, and all Butler could hear was a lot of swearing in Gnommish. Nubi frowned – she still wasn't very familiar with the fairy language yet, but she got the basic idea. Foaly's face filled the screen,

"Hey there, Butler. Our resurrected leader is now about to dunk his head into a bucket of Atlantic ice to cool off, so I'll update you."

"Less of the lip and more of the information, Foaly. What's happened to Ivy and Fowl?"

"Well… how much do you know about alternative dimensions?"

You are now in what the Previous have called the Void.

"It can't be void, otherwise I wouldn't be here right now."

You have no need to speak out loud – I can hear you loud and clear.

"It reassures me." Then Artemis remembered something, "Where's Ivy? This is the Great Beyond, is it not?"

Hardly. This is the place where all things came from and from which all things are harmonised.

"Explain."

As you have deduced, I am the Balance. I have needed a Keeper since the beginning of my reign, because a Greater Power has no personal connection to any living thing. We keep the living alive, and that is the extent of our relationship.

"And that, to some people, is enough to suggest a fairly close relationship. Their lives are all they care about."

Indeed. But we know nothing of war, nor of victory and loss, nor of your human emotions. Those were brought into being by yourselves and yourselves alone.

"I knew that emotions were a mistake."

Sometimes, I feel that human beings were a mistake.

"That was what I was implying."

Sidetracking is not the objective here. I need a Keeper because it is I who control how the Balance tips in each separate world, but as a Greater Power, I do not understand much about your humanity. That makes you, and your predecessors, necessary. The Elements are also Greater Powers, but they are more tied to the human race than I am, and therefore more given to the shadier side of human nature – deceit, treachery, selfishness and so on. They sought a way to conquer me.

"Yes… I remember something about that…"

Ah yes… I forgot to mention that you'll be remembering some things that haven't really happened to you.

"How is that possible? I thought that both Artemises just combined to form me?"

A misguided preconception. In fact, the Artemis that contained the power to unlock me was meant to only be a vessel. When you were split by the Elements, they intended on using the vessel as a tool. Fortunately, enough mistakes had been made that the vessel still had enough humanity within it to withhold the elements – we Greater Powers have never liked to use humans, you're too complicated. Besides, I have been neglecting some of my duties in the past several years, or past several centuries according to some of the timelines, and you're going to be very busy. You are you, the powers you have now are only an addition - the extra Artemis should never have existed.

"Wait a minute, I don't seem to have any memories on how to control these powers!"

And I'm not surprised that you don't know how to control them – the vessel was just that. A vessel. Unless it was tipped the wrong way or broken, none of the power would have leaked out.

"That's a novel way of putting it."

Indeed.

"So I'm basically starting from a clean slate?"

Basically. However, if your intellect is as great as you boast it is, then you should be able to figure out how to do some things on your own.

"Such as raising the dead?"

Artemis almost got the feeling that this entity would have been choking if it had a bodily form.

No! Absolutely not! I forbid it!

"What? But why is it forbidden? The obvious use of a balance is to tip it in your favour."

Yes, it is possible, but I do not permit it! Whoever dies, dies for a reason. Raising them again may have dire consequences on the future.

"And if their survival is beneficial?"

Then it is…permissible.

"And that's all the encouragement I need."

And, concentrating harder on his own physical existence, he shifted back into solid being. His appearance evidently shocked the (conscious) occupants of the ship. Spiro seemed to have been knocked unconscious by someone. Artemis was half-relieved and half-disappointed at this development.

If Spiro had been conscious, Artemis had fantasized about punching him out by himself.

But if he had been conscious… Artemis wasn't sure if he would have stopped at just punching anymore. The death of one of his only human friends seemed to have punched a hole in his reasoning – where he would once have only bankrupted Spiro, he now wanted something more. Much more.

"Fowl! Stop staring at Spiro and answer me already – where have you been?"

With the slightest moment of hesitation, he replied, "Talking."

"With who?"

Artemis smiled, but there was a trace of vampirism in his smile again. It made the people in the cockpit back away slightly. It had been so long since he had given off a vampire smile to the crowds that they had almost forgotten the full impact of it.

"It's a secret."

Cat was the first one to pipe up, her voice still subdued after seeing one of her best friends being killed,

"Is this secret something that will help us get Ivy back? Why can't Holly heal her?"

"I told you already, Cat." Holly sighed exasperatedly, "Ivy's brain had already stopped. Once the brain stops functioning, there's no hope for the patient. Ivy was long gone before I could even attempt to start healing her."

Artemis was moving almost automatically. He crossed over to the corpse of the girl who made his heart thump slightly faster every time she smiled at him, and straightened her body again. Then, turning to Piccolo, he asked,

"Can you steer onwards? I need to be somewhere solid to do this." He turned to Holly, "Can you tell Butler that I'm fine?" The last part was automatic more than anything else. Perhaps the only person who would be worrying about him was Butler. But that wasn't the most important thing at the moment - after all, he would explain everything to Butler after he got Ivy back.

His heart was racing as he pondered over the impications of his intended actions. Raising someone from the dead - it would be looked upon by Holly, as one of the People, as the ultimate evil. But at this point, he was beyond caring.

Artemis Fowl was finally whole.

And he knew what he had to do.

A/N: There's not going to be many chapters after this one, but I can promise that the loose ends will all be tied up!

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