Disclaimer:I don't own anyone or anything from Artemis Fowl(so sad... :P ). I do, however, happily own Alina and Elsa. :)
Have you ever been in love? Horrible isn't it? It makes you so vulnerable. It opens your chest and it opens up your heart and it means that someone can get inside you and mess you up. You build up all these defenses, you build up a whole suit of armor, so that nothing can hurt you, then one stupid person, no different from any other stupid person, wanders into your stupid life...You give them a piece of you. They didn't ask for it. They did something dumb one day, like kiss you or smile at you, and then your life isn't your own anymore. Love takes hostages. It gets inside you. It eats you out and leaves you crying in the darkness, so simple a phrase like 'maybe we should be just friends' turns into a glass splinter working its way into your heart. It hurts. Not just in the imagination. Not just in the mind. It's a soul-hurt, a real gets-inside-you-and-rips-you-apart pain. I hate love.
~Neil Gaiman
When they'd finally made it back to the shuttle, Holly contacted Commander Trouble Kelp, informing him that a mindwiping team would be necessary, and that they were going after Opal. She'd handed the communicator to Artemis so he could give the Commander specifics and she could drive. Before Artemis could hang up, she asked for the communicator back for a moment.
"Commander?" she asked hesitantly though the phone-like object.
"Yes, Ho – I mean, Major Short?" he answered, sounding eager for some reason.
"If you could," she whispered, after looking around for a moment. "Spare the little girl's memory. She doesn't know anything, but she should be able to remember her sister. The parents are the only ones who really need their memories erased."
After a pause, Trouble spoke again. "Developing a soft spot for another human, Major?" Before she could say anything more, whether protest or threat, he hung up after saying, "I'll do what I can."
"Thanks," she mumbled inaudibly, then turned her attention back to driving the shuttle, narrowly missing the trunk of a majestic oak tree. In truth, under her skin, she was boiling with anger, feeling that Trouble was somehow to blame for all this. Even if it wasn't true at all, she contented herself with thinking this until she could calm down.
Artemis was tick-taking away at the keyboard of one of his numerous computers that was currently sitting on his lap. He seemed a bit paler than usual, and he seemed to droop everywhere; his hair, his head, his limbs; these were all much more limp than a normal, healthy human.
He was, indeed, deriving the new Loss Factors; it was, in comparison, something a bit like a drug. Once he had started, it was nearly impossible to stop; after all, if you know what is to come, you can anticipate, can you not? So far, the results had been unappetizing, in the least. He could see, so far, that their chase was completely useless; Opal had everything planned to perfection.
Even now, he realized that she had sabotauged their shuttle; they were unable to get much more than a hundred feet off the ground. It would not be good enough for quick flight, especially if they were going to be passing through many cities, which was the fastest way to go anywhere.
Clicking the lid of his laptop shut when the factors began to greatly increase his depression, Artemis leaned heavily on his hands, hiding his face in them. It seemed so useless; everything that they were doing. The Loss Factors did not lie; he had been extremely careful to calculate without mistakes. Without a mistake, the formula would accurately process the other factors he added in, and any results would be at least 99.9% correct, without a doubt.
Holly noticed his renewed depression, and with an exasperated sigh, pushed the button for auto pilot and slipped out of her seat, walking back to join him. Taking his face in her hands, she flushed his system with magic, expecting an immediate reaction. The reaction was not what she had expected, however; Artemis pushed her hands away, keeping hold, but keeping them away all the same.
"It won't work," he said breezily, as if it were the most common thing in the world to be as depressed as he was. "It goes deeper than a physical or emotional condition; I suppose you should know. It is...deeply mental," he noted her skeptical expression, continuing. "I told you once that emotions cannot suppress someone of my intelligence for long; it is true. That doesn't mean, however, that I can't be affected by deeper, non-emotional conditions. Depression is not always physical or emotional..."
Jerking her hands away to cross them on her chest, Holly let her face remain in the familiar expression, one eyebrow raised. "Okay, so maybe it isn't. Tell me what's happening, then; I'd dearly like to know why magic won't work on you, how you apparently can predict happenings." she threw her arms in the air now. "Yes, I've noticed; how could I not? It's not natural, even for a genius; not even those with powerful magic can predict the future so accurately as you can. Tell me why, how, and all of that. Now."
He chucked, clasping his hands in his lap and crossing his legs. "That's a command, is it? Very well; I shall tell you, but this is something that cannot pass to Foaly, or Opal; any of them. It has a particularly...devastating property, especially for genii and other somewhat high IQs..."
Alina had refused to let Opal heal her, even to the point of locking herself in the small bathroom. If Opal truly wanted to heal her small cut, then she could have broken the door down and pursued the task, but her 'master' was a fickle person, flitting from one thing to the next, never dwelling on anything for very long. So far, all Alina could see that Opal truly dwelt on was her revenge, and not even Alina's along with hers; she seemed to have entirely forgotten her end of the bargain. Too afraid of her to try reminding her, Alina kept her distance from the pixie as much as was possible in the small shuttle.
They had stood, staring at each other for such a dreadfully long time that she could feel her eyes drying, beginning to itch. Then Opal had flounced off, seemingly pushing everything to the back of her mind, and Alina was left to wipe the quickly-drying blood from her face. It had bled a surprising amount and she had finally given up on wiping it off with a tissue, realizing that she needed something moist. On her way to the bathroom, Opal had seemingly materialized, reaching after Alina, saying that she wanted to heal her face. When the girl declined her offer, the pixie had sneered at her, hissing through her teeth, catlike, saying that if she didn't want relief from the sting of pain, it was fine with her; slaves needed to suffer pain occasionally.
So she was in the bathroom now, washing the dried blood slowly from her face. Maybe it was the fact that the person who had offered her a way to get her memory back, or the fact that she had left her beloved little sister behind, but either one, hot, heavy tears drifted down her face. Each one plinked lightly on the metallic sink, and the sound was almost musical, such an odd occurrence that a mirthless laugh drifted from her.
Looking at her face in the mirror, Alina had nothing but disgust for herself; what kind of good, sensitive person was she to get involved with someone as...fluttery, inane - as Opal? Her tears thickened for a while until she had cried herself out; alone and hugging herself she sat on the seat of the toilet. She decided that she would show no more emotion to Opal; obviously the pixie would use it against her. But how could she do that? So many people had told her she was the most emotional person alive; it was nearly impossible for her to hold tears in, unless she mutilated her tongue while they were brimming.
I'm so sorry, Elsa. she whimpered inside, hating that she was so weak and her left-behind little sister so amazingly strong and resilient.. At least you'll be happy, without me. I hope you are, anyway...
As she skipped up and down the stairs at home, Elsa laughed to herself, thinking of the girl and boy that she'd found tied up in the living room. They had been so funny! But they were nice, too, she decided. If I had friends like them, I would be really happy. I hope that Aly is happy; I miss her...
A knock on the back door downstairs startled her out of her mirth, and she hurried down the stairs. She wasn't in so much of a hurry that she forgot to tap the special rhythm on the railing as she jumped down the stairs. Aly had taught her to tap SOS out on it, and after a while it had become a loved habit. Reaching the bottom of the stairs, she pirouetted, laughing as she made two full turns on the kitchen linoleum. Forgetting about the knocked door for a moment, she turned again, enjoying the tug of air on her ponytails and fingers.
More rapid knocks brought her attention back to the sliding door, and she glanced in that direction to see a curious troupe of little humanoid creatures tapping at the glass. Elsa tugged on the handle, frowning as it stuck tight. The ice sometimes got in the track, making it hard to pull open, and she wasn't the strongest nine-year-old. Aly had teased her about this, lovingly calling her a wimp as she had pulled the door open for Elsa. After a few more tugs, she held up a finger to the little people, telling them to wait, and started pulling harder.
Finally, after she had pulled as hard as she could and had a foot pushing at the wall to help her, she cracked the ice and managed to open the door a crack. From there, she was able to shove the door open wide enough to let the whole troupe of people in, and when they were all in, she slammed the door after them.
"Are you Holly's friends? She was her earlier, with a boy, and she said that my sister was having a sleepover with them." Elsa burbled on happily, unconscious that she was making them a bit uneasy. When one of them coughed, finally causing her to notice them again, she started with an "Oh!". Clasping her hands, she leaned forward. "You all are fairies too, right? Oh, oh, I love fairies! Holly was really nice; I helped untie them. Are you going to stay for a while? Do you want hot chocolate? I just saw Horton Hears a Who, do you like that movie?"
As she kept talking, not realizing that they were splitting up, hiding at strategic points in the house, Elsa followed the one in the lead. He seemed to dislike her following him, but made no move to stop her until he crouched behind the thick branches and sprouts of a series of hanging plants and small trees. Then, he spoke for the first time. "Let's play hide-and-seek," he suggested, his voice unmistakably that of Commander Trouble Kelp. "We're hiding, and you can seek first, okay?"
She agreed, and covered her eyes, backing into the middle of the room and plopping down onto the floor. "I'll count to twenty, okay? Twenty is a good number, Aly says. My favorite number is three, though." she pouted for a moment, then brightened up comically. "Aly says her favorite isn't twenty, but her favorite is seven! Are you ready for me to count yet?"
Before any of the Recon squad could reply, the front door swung open.
"Elsa? I'm home!"
Again, wow. Chapter 6! :) Thank you to all my reviewers; I enjoy reading through all your reviews. :)
Now that Christmas and Christmas break have finally rolled around, I'll have more time to write, which will be good...I hope to have another chapter up Monday, maybe; it depends. :) But yeah...Merry Christmas everyone!
Ooh, so who's home now? Is it Alina? Is it Elsa's Dad or Mom? Is it someone else? WHO IS IT? :P Will come with the next chapter, I promise. Did I leave too many cliffhangers here?
Oh, and I'd like to remind everyone; if you liked this, you might read my drabble series as well; just go to my profile and find it; it's titled 'Dust Motes'; I really have fun writing those. ^_^
I hope you all enjoy reading my humble fanfiic(Heehee...)! Comments and construvtice crit are always totally welcome; even one review brightens my day up.