Mulch took up next to Artemis. "Did I eavesdrop correctly?" he asked a hint of playfulness in his saddened voice.

"You heard?" Artemis asked.

"Trust me, everyone heard," he said smiling broken heartedly. "So, ah, we gonna die?"

Holly shot Mulch a look and he backed away quickly smiling to kill the mood, resuming his seat two aisles back.

Artemis replaced himself before Holly blocking her view of anyone else. He only wanted her to listen, and look at him.

He raised a bit and leaned in closer stopping and inch away from her face and turning to her ear. "Miss me," he whispered lowly so that not to be overheard again. "Promise?" he said aloud.

Holly turned away.

"Five minutes" Foaly said. Artemis stood. Immediately two of the tech boys moved into the next car remembering Artemis' need of help. "I told you we all heard you," Mulch said.

Holly pulled Artemis back to her. "I promise." Artemis grinned which brought Holly to tears. She wasn't going to force anything for him. He's the one who made her get like this. She bit her lower lip and brought herself to look at him. She held his glance for half a second before breaking into a slight sob. She recovered immediately; embarrassed. This isn't to say the tears stopped flowing. How can you stop crying when the only one who can console you, is the one that made you cry in the first place?

Holly hugged him close, then pulled away, embarrassed as to what the other passengers would think. All Artemis could do was wipe the tears that he caused with the back of his hand looking at Foaly rather than her.

"Artemis?" Foaly called.

Artemis tapped a finger to his cheek hoping for a peck like once before. "One more time," He grinned, abnormally relaxed.

She shook her head and pushed the finger away. "No".

He smiled softly even though it had hurt, "That's okay, I understand." He moved closer to her, placing his wrists on both her shoulders in mid-hug. Holly placed a finger and thumb to his chin only to pull his lips a centimeter from her own. He exhaled slightly and Holly breathed his cool breath. He moved his hand to caress her, but stopped himself. "I'm sorry", he offered, frowning for the first time. "No," she repeated desperately, still a centimeter from his face.



"Artemis!" Foaly said worried.

He stayed motionless for a heartbeat and began to pull away from her hold, never breaking eye contact.

She grabbed him immediately, pulling him closer than last time, unsure what to do to show him how much he meant to her. She kissed him with a gentle, lingering brush of her lips. With hesitation on both parts as they touched. Both of them trying to memorize the feeling before their lips parted. He placed a hand on her cheek and pulled away, stroking her drying face. Normally, she wouldn't have liked that. Normally…

She didn't like that he felt sorry for her. She didn't like him seeing her so...vulnerable. She didn't like him having the satisfaction of knowing he had caused her to cry in the first place. She was tougher, no, stronger than that.

He drew close again, unsure of what exactly he wanted to do. How could he show her how much she meant to him? He thought of Minerva for a moment. He had realized much earlier that love built on beauty, soon as beauty, dies. She had only wanted his knowledge of fairies. In which he would have willingly given up, had it not been for Holly. He would never have put her or his other friends in such a danger. God knows what she would have done with the knowledge. She seemed quite eager to get that Noble Peace Prize, and he was more than certain that the safety of his friends were of no concern to her.

He smiled to himself. Women...the biggest downfall of the world's greatest men. Holly didn't seem to fit that. Holly was, more. Not only had she helped him become what he now was. But she had given moral, she'd given him his family, she'd given him a companion. Aside from Butler, Holly was his greatest friend. And he'd give anything for them.

He stared at her for a moment, knowing it would be he last time he would ever get the chance to do so. He held Holly's face in his hands for a moment. Studying it, so as to never forget. The shape of her cherubic lips, where her long eyelashes ended, the exact color of her eyes, which had been a mixture of blue and hazel, because she had his and her eye colors combined (she hated contacts, and walking around with a two different eye colors wasn't in the least bit attractive underground).

"Stop staring at me, you're making me sick," she said trying to smile. He smirked and pressed himself closer, so much so she could feel the small amount of heat that his skin was sharing with her own. He originally had wanted to whisper something. Something so memorable, that she would never forget. So that she'd have to keep her promise. But he couldn't do that. Who was he to cause her that pain? Had he no idea how his words would haunt her after he died? No, he couldn't force her to remember him, he couldn't force her to trust or love him either.

He paused at her ears, then retraced his steps. Brushing his lips slightly along her cheekbones, finding himself again at her mouth.



Holly was still deep in thought when she awoke to find Artemis offering her his lips again. At least, that's what she thought he was doing. She leaned in slightly, barely touching him, and parted her lips for the last time he would ever feel. She prepared for something much more passionate. This was her only chance to prove how much she felt for him. To show that forgetting him, would be much more difficult than remembering. To prove that she needn't have made her promise in the first place, for loosing him would be a pain she'd never forget.

He held her slightly and timidly, embarrassed to be touching her without her permission. But before Holly could even explain herself through her kiss, he pulled away. Turning her face gently with his hand, a placing a tender kiss on her cheek. He broke away and walked into the next car, without looking back.