Summary: What if Artemis' mind games in the first book had a worse affect on Holly than he thought possible? Rated for suicide and blood.

I don't own the Artemis series, like I said before!

A/N - this is my first and probably only Artemis Fowl FanFic. I know I'm not as good a writer as Eoin Colfer, so be kind and don't rub it in! POV changes throughout the story.

Holly's POV

I returned to the corner of the room, holding the sharp piece of metal in one hand. No doubt the Mud Boy was trying to figure out was I was planning to do. That or he already knew and was trying to figure out how to stop me.

I didn't know how far the negotiations had gone, or if there even were any going on. I didn't care anymore. My only regret was not being able to apologize to Commander Root for letting all of this happen, and to tell him that despite being as strict as he always was, he had been like a second father to me, something I was glad to have had.

You know how they say that people who attempt to take their own lives end up fighting to live in the end because they suddenly realize that they don't want to die, that they realize that they do have someone or something to live for after all?

Well, I didn't.

Changing the position of my hands on the sharpened piece of metal, I rammed it into my chest, and I did so without hesitation.

Artemis's POV

"Damn it!" I shouted as I watched Captain Holly Short shove the sharp metal cot leg into her chest, wondering why I didn't realize what she had been planning sooner. Had what I said to her about telling me all of those things affected her this badly, or in doing so had I shown her that this was the only way out? Or had the suggestion that she had betrayed her people been a worse thing than I had thought, enough to make her chose to take her own life rather than be rescued?

All of those thoughts went trough my brain like lightening. My stomach clenched painfully as I realized that indeed it had been my fault that she had chosen this way out. I turned to Butler. "Get down there and try to stop the bleeding. I'll contact the Recon commander and tell him he needs to get in here if he wants to help his officer."

Butler left the room at a run as I activated the radio. "Commander Root! I know you can hear me! Captain Short just ran herself through with a sharpened piece of metal. I need you and someone else to come up here right away and heal her!"

No answer.

"Commander Root, do you hear me? Or are you not answering because you really don't care about your officer? Answer me!"

Root's POV

The radio next to Foaly crackled. "Commander Root! I know you can hear me! Captain Short just ran herself through with a sharpened piece of metal. I need you and someone else to come up here right away and heal her!"

Root glared at the radio. "what does that Mud Boy take us for, idiots? Walk right on up there and into a trap so he can just demand more gold?"

Foaly shifted nervously as Artemis's voice came again out of the small machine. "Commander Root, do you hear me? Or are you not answering because you really don't care about your officer? Answer me!"

"Julius, he might just be telling the truth."

"Don't call me Julius, Foaly!" Root roared. He grabbed the mike. "Yeah, I hear you, Mud Boy, but I don't believe you. You feed us this lie about Captain Short needing help, you capture us and demand more gold! We're not stupid, Mud Boy. And besides, if you're holding Short hostage, where would she get a sharp piece of metal from?"

"She used the last of her magic to break off one of the legs of the cot in the cell. Now listen; I give you and one other fairy permission to enter the manor to heal the Captain and leave afterward. No one will try and stop you. I will meet you at the door."

The line went dead. Slowly, Julius set the mike back down. "He invited us back into his house and gave us permission to leave afterwards…gods above, he was telling the truth."

Butler's POV

As I ran down the hall towards the cell, I reflected on the look on Artemis's face when the fairy ran herself through. It was one of fear and regret, neither of which I had ever seen on Artemis's face directed at another human. Regret over something of great value, maybe. But never a person. And what's worse, he had been the cause of it.

Hurriedly I punched in the access code for the cell and the door swung open. I hurried inside, and groaned. I had seen many dead and dying people in my life, and on some occasions it had been me who had caused their injures. But the fairy captain had done this to herself out of hopelessness and a broken, shattered soul. She was slumped on her side against the wall, a growing pool of blood underneath her.

It didn't look like she was breathing.

A/N - I love leaving cliffhangers… he he he ….

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