OK, The Last Chapter people.

Not a biggy either, sadly.

But it's not over yet.

Thanks to...

nekodreamstealer for favouriting.

CherryBerryB for reviewing

and slightlyso for doing both :)

And, of course, to everyone who read - even if you didn't review - for sticking with me this far.

Artemis was silently seething. Just because he was eight-years-old didn't automatically make him an imbecile. He had already explained to the officer who gave them blankets that they were not suffering from Stockholme Syndrome and had not befriended a particular pirate. The 'pirate' in question was his bodyguard and his friend's brother and they would very much like him back now please, if that wouldn't be too much trouble.

Eventually, after much deliberation, the officer had decided that once they had been reunited with their families they could possibly visit the cells and pick out their, to quote him exactly, 'pet pirate', as though Butler was a dog in a pound.

Juliet sulked, but was at least comforted by the fact that when she had last seen her brother, he had been being dragged aboard the prison boat looking relatively alive and well considering the circumstances.

The journey was a little rough, but far more agreeable than their night in the cargo-hold. They had barely stepped onto the wooden jetty when they were engulfed by a sobbing Angeline.

"I thought I'd lost you!" she bawled, squeezing the breath out of the pair of them.

"I'm fine, Mother." Artemis said, returning the hug awkwardly. "We both are."

Mr. Fowl joined them, self-consciously folding his arms around his family - plus one. Juliet endured the hug for a few seconds before breaking free. Rules forgotten she ran to her uncle and wrapped her skinny arms around his broad waist. He patted her on the head, uncertain how to comfort her. Deciding it would be better to have this chat face-to-face, he checked for any hostiles and, finding no obvious threats, other than the approaching police boat no doubt full of murdering criminals, he crouched to her level, holding her wrists. He was still around head height.

"We need to find Dom." She whispered, daring to use his name while the Fowls were busy reuniting.

Her uncle looked away. Of course she'd want to find the body - or what was left of it. He'd heard of executions like this before and wouldn't be surprised if they'd cut it up and fed the evidence to the sharks. Probably before he was even properly dead.

"I'm sorry about your brother." The Major bowed his head. "I know it doesn't mean anything, but... I'm proud of him."

"Good. Then you can tell him when you see him." Juliet grinned, pointing over to where the other boat was now unloading its passengers.

Her uncle followed her finger, easily spotting the giant figure that was his nephew. Giving the law enforcement a little hassle, it would seem. The Major couldn't bring himself to blame him. Secretly, he felt a rush of what could only be described as relief. Although he appeared to be a detached sort of man, these two were the closest family he had and he wasn't sure he could face loosing either one of them, let alone both, as he had been dreading the news of just a few hours earlier.

"Well then." he said gruffly, clearing his throat of the strange lump that seemed to be stuck there. "Let's go get him."

And, straightening up to his full height and taking Juliet by the hand to where the Fowls were talking to the chief police officer, he prepared to negotiate his family member's release.

The second he stepped foot off the boat, Butler immediately started trying to catch the attention of his employers and family and was immediately reprimanded for it.

"I'm with them." he jerked his head in the general direction of the parallel jetty. It might as well have been a parallel universe for all he could do to reach it.

"Yeah right, mate. Pull the other one." One of the three officers detaining him laughed.

Three, because the officer in charge had taken one look at Butler and order him to be guarded by two men. Then he had taken a second look at the bloodied, shirtless monster and had seen the blue diamond tattoo on his shoulder. Apparently, either that, or the wide berth the other pirate's were trying to give the giant, meant something to the boss, because he quickly called over a third and quietly warned a fourth to be on the look out for trouble of 'that big one'.

"Well I'm not with this lot." Butler muttered.

"No honour among thieves, is there?"

Deciding not to waste his breath, Butler said nothing when he was piled into the same cell as the rest of the crew. The prison system in East Africa wasn't quite as sophisticated as the system back in Ireland and they were all simply squashed into the same concrete walled chamber with hardly enough bench room to sit down and hardly enough floor space to stand up.

Not that sitting down or standing around was on the agenda. As soon as the door clanged shut behind them, the pirates turned on him.

"Show him what happens when you mess with us, lads." Jace ordered, looking a little less sinister with his hair sticking up like a bog-brush and suit dripping water into a puddle around his ruined shoes.

"What's this gotta be? Round three? Haven't you guys learnt yet?" Butler asked, with more gusto than he felt.

"What are you waiting for?" Jace screeched. "Get him already!"

The crew looked at each other. Butler lowered his centre of gravity and prepared to fight as best he could with handcuffs on.

Deciding that this time they really did have a good advantage the pirates rushed towards him. Butler took the first three out with a roundhouse kick, trapping another's neck in the short chain connecting his wrists together, using it to thwack the man's head against one of the walls. Another few were taken out by elbows and one who tried to strangle Butler got headbutted. By now the police had realised that they had either made a mistake, or this was a full-scale crew-fallout.

"Oi! Stop it!" One officer yelled, frantically pulling the pin on a fire-extinguisher and blasting it through the bars. It wasn't a bad idea. It would have worked with fighting tigers. However these were humans and so they just carried on.

Before the police could rally enough men to justify getting into the cell, Butler had decimated the twelve pirates that made up the crew. They lay, either groaning or still, on the floor. Their leader stood quivering in the corner. From rage or fear it was hard to tell.

"You." He hissed. "Are extremely irritating."

"Likewise." Butler countered, and then considered what he'd said, head cocked to one side. "Although, to be honest, you're more pathetic."

Jace finally lost his temper and leapt forward. Which was exactly what Butler wanted him to do.

In one swift movement he brought a knee up to stop the run and swung his arms as though holding an imaginary sword, walloping the man who had caused them all so much grief in the side of the head. Jace flew sideways, face-planting on the jail bars and bouncing off.

Butler turned, interested to see if he'd made an indent in the metal. He hadn't. But, standing on the other side of the grossly olive-painted iron poles were several stunned policemen, the shocked faces of the Fowls and the proud smiles of his family.

And so he stood, shirtless, handcuffed, soaking wet and covered in flame-retardant foam in a pile of debilitated pirates in a jail cell on the coast of the Gulf of Aden and smiled back.

"Hello." He said calmly.

I'm hoping some of you are still trying to scroll down going "WHAT? THAT'S THE END?"

Hoping that is.

Anyway - no. It isn't.

I won't leave you like that because it really annoys me when people don't finish a story off properly.

There will be an epilogue.