A/N: Here's the next part! Thank you to all those who have put me onto their favourites/alert/reviewed :) Sorry it took so long...
Disclaimer: I do not own this. Don't rub it in.
Chapter 29 – In which there is a confession of love… sort of.
"She's still sleeping, she's still sleeping, she's still sleeping… why is she still sleeping?" Duke Kestrel, when under pressure, was apparently not a very calm man.
"Sir, please, her heartbeat indicates that she is fully alive, and will probably wake up any moment now. It's just the aftershock that's making her mind go into autopilot – the important thing is that she is alive, and is healing. The healer said that her condition was stable…"
This blatant reversal of roles made Artemis think that he would probably make a better psychiatrist than he had originally thought. Butler had commented that for him to be a good psychiatrist, he had to be able to be nice. Artemis Fowl the Second did not do nice.
A short, slightly plump elf rushed in front of the Duke, and bowed nervously before heralding his news,
"The Lady Melissa Kestrel, Duchess of Kestrel, is stirring!"
And immediately, Duke Kestrel ran from his vigil at Ivy's bedroom door, and straight after the herald. Artemis's eyebrows quirked upwards slightly – it seemed that even the Duke wasn't immune to the charms of Ivy's mother. Artemis contemplated how he reacted when he first met Melissa Kestrel – probably like a boy just jumping into puberty. Well, he was a boy just into puberty, but that was beside the point.
He wasn't really sure what he felt about Ivy. On one hand, she was smart; she understood him and she could actually speak with him as an equal. That, and she was really pretty. And he meant really pretty.
But on the other hand, her intelligence could have come from other people due to her family gift, the Kestrel Gift of knowing other's knowledge, and she was on speaking terms with the strange powers that had previously tried to throw the several worlds into chaos and split him into two.
And that really put him off.
How was he meant to be sure of his own feelings if he wasn't even sure of who he was? Or where he was?
He sighed – the helmet had disappeared a few minutes after he managed to speak with the Balance. He wasn't even sure how on earth he was going to get back to his own world. He was effectively stranded in a strange land, with strange people, and with no method of communication.
"Holly was right. This was stupid of me. Root was right about this being suicidal." Artemis muttered angrily, more out of annoyance at his errors than at the correctness of his fairy friends.
"The commander said what…?" Came a feeble, shaking voice from inside the room. A fairy attendant came out, saw that Duke Kestrel was not there, and shrugged noncommittally.
"You can go in to see her now."
"I thought that the first one to see her would be…"
"Well, do you see the Duke here? Get in there before she gets insecure – and mind you don't let her see the dark. Sometimes, the dark scares these people, they're frightened of going back into the coma."
"I… I understand."
"You'd better. Now go keep her company whilst I send a runner to fetch the Duke."
Artemis nodded, a little startled at the gruff way this fairy handled her patients, showing almost a human side. Shrugging off the feeling that she was a human, he entered the room to see a welcome sight.
Ivy was lying down, her eyes open and confused. Her rotating eyes fell on him, and she struggled to try and get up. Artemis hurried to her side, and lay a hand on her sheets, a signal for her to not bother. At once, she became still again. Artemis smiled a little, thanking whatever force was listening for giving Ivy another chance at life. Then he realised that he really didn't know what to say in a situation such as this.
"Are you alright?"
A cool, green stare.
"Sorry, standard question."
"No, I'm fine now. The healer's going to get the Duke to invite a mind healer. Apparently I've suffered mental attacks as well. This potion, however," She picked up a small bottle that stank of chrysanthemums, "is doing wonders for this huge headache I've got." She glanced around – or at least as much as her head allowed her to, "Artemis, where's your twin?"
"Well, after you… left temporarily, we sort of… merged."
"Merged?"
"Well, yes." Artemis almost backed away when those green eyes seemed to almost glow. He had feeling that what was coming next wasn't going to be a 'thank you'.
"You managed to merge because of my death? That's what made you combine? I'm not sure whether I should feel insulted or… or…"
It seemed that Ivy didn't have much strength in her, because she collapsed in mid-rant, gasping and spluttering, almost as if she had run a marathon. Artemis frowned a little. Something about her seemed… different, somehow.
Apparently, Ivy thought so too, because her next request was for a mirror.
"Er… well, I don't know where anything is in this room – neither of my halves has any recollection of this room." Artemis frowned, trying to get the right memory. It was really hard when you still felt like two separate people. Part of him was telling his body to back away and come back later when she was calm, and the other part was telling him that she had a point, and that he should own up.
He wondered absently if schizophrenics felt the same way that he did. Trying to divert his attention from his abnormally illogical mind, he tried to offer an opinion - something he always enjoyed.
"You look… sort of different from before, I suppose. You've got a slightly different expression on your face, but your features are all still the same…"
"I feel different too. Lighter, somehow, as if a great weight has been lifted from my chest. My senses are all tingling, and somehow… my mind!" Ivy dropped the mirror, clutching her head, her eyes wide open, "The voices! The murmurs! They've gone!"
And suddenly, logic wormed its way back into Artemis's brain, forming explanations for the feverish grin on Ivy's face, her tears of relief and how this all tied into her subtle change of character. He was pulled back quickly by Ivy's light punch on his shoulder.
"Did you get that from Holly?" He asked, rubbing the sore spot where both of the diminutive girls liked to punch him.
"Never mind who I got it from – ask me a question, any question!"
"Alright… how many elements are there in the Periodic Table?" He decided to come up with an easy question, seeing as Ivy had just woken up.
"No idea!" She laughed suddenly, collapsing onto the bed, laughing until tears rolled down her eyes, "It's gone! It's finally gone!"
Artemis was shocked. He had never experienced the switchover of personalities so fast, nor so extreme. He was suddenly afraid at the change in the girl he liked, at the sudden openness of her personality, the measure of emotion she showed, the lack of control…
"Kestrel… what are you doing?" Better record this for future generations of Fowls… their ancestor, Artemis Fowl II, is asking a question.
"I'm being myself… the self that I've lost for so long now!" Taking a deep breath, Artemis saw that more muscles relaxed, and before him stood an Ivy that looked, for the entire world, like a normal fourteen-year-old girl.
So why do I feel so lost?
Silence settled between the two of them, both painfully aware of the difference between them now. The changes that had happened to both of them since the beginning of their strange friendship.
It was at this moment that the Healer burst in, announcing the arrival of the Duke and Duchess.
This is not how it should be.
But it is how it turned out.
Their relationship has been jeopardised! Thou deliberately let him see her true nature!
Regard it as payback for what you did to my Keeper.
That was different!
In what way?
There was a pause. Even Greater Powers need time to think sometimes.
Nothing has changed, overall. They shall simply have to adjust.
And if they do not?
Then we'll just have to find others.
There are no others. Thou made it that way since the last time.
Point taken. However, this is a pointless argument. They will adjust Another pause. After all, we made them that way, did we not, Water?
"It seems that something happened to you in the Void. It may be that the Balance was trying to repay the Elements for what they did to Artemis, or it may be that the Balance really didn't think you would serve any purpose in the world, and kept you away. Either way, you're back now, where you belong."
Duke Kestrel was perched on the armchair where the regal-looking Melissa Kestrel sat, her recent illness somehow emphasising her ethereal look. However, her eyes were still sharp, scheming…
"But… Duke Kestrel…" Ivy still couldn't bring herself to call him 'father', apparently, "I do not know if I truly want to stay here."
"Why not?"
"It's not that I don't want to," Obvious lie. "I mean, this is where my family is," Biologically true. "But I've just lived all my life on the other side of the Void. My friends are there, my future is there…"
"And is there no future here, as the Heiress of Kestrel?" Melissa was glowering at her daughter, silently reprimanding her for the folly of her choice.
Silence.
"Ivy," This time, it was the Duke who spoke, "Understand, please, that it is difficult for your mother to conceive with me. It may be years, maybe never, before our cycles coincide again. Until that day, you must take on board your duties as the Heiress of Kestrel. It is not a choice. It is a responsibility."
And here, the docile girl suddenly turned into a towering griffin, her special connection to the elements showing itself as the room trembled on its foundations,
"Responsibility? You're lecturing me on responsibility? I just spent the last ten years concealing my true nature – not out of choice, but because my mother… your wife!… had decided that my true nature was not fit for my responsibilities! You want me to comply?" She pointed an accusing finger at Melissa, "Then give my childhood back!"
Neither woman spoke for a while. Both of them were inhaling deeply, both angry beyond comprehension. Artemis saw no way out.
We should intervene.
Intervention is forbidden.
Thou hast no control over us.
I know that. I'm just saying.
Then we are allowed?
Do you see me stopping you?
A swirl of blue entered the room, between the feuding mother and daughter, and chimed,
Why dost thou fight with thine kin?
Water had entered the building.
A/N: Sorry this is taking so long, but my A levels have just started - for those who don't know, these exams are my tickets to Uni, so it's really important to me, so I do apologise to the rubbish and weird chapters following.
Anyway, reviews will make me want to update more often! You'll have to wait until October 20th or something for the next installment - it's my half-term!