A/N: Yay! Finally the next chapter's out, and I only have one message for you all. Please DO NOT give up immediately after the first section. I promise you, things will work out. Thanks, and please review!

FOWL MANOR, DUBLIN, IRELAND

A small group of figures huddled in the rain-swept darkness as a casket was pulled down a narrow aisle. It looked tiny, as if it should have belonged to a child. But it was empty – there were no remains to be found of the mourned figure that should have been inside it. A solitary teenager stood at the head of the group, his head bowed as if in prayer. His raven black hair was lank and greasy, and his deep blue eyes gave the impression of someone who had just stopped caring. His neatly pressed suit looked out of place, and his face looked gaunt, as if he had lost too much weight in a short amount of time.

The funeral was simple – no frills, no prayers, no over-the-top hats. If it weren't for the entirely monochromatic attire and driving rain, someone could almost mistake it for a normal gathering. In the middle of the ceremony stood a wooden podium, its edging engraved with what looked like miniscule fairies. A muscly elf stood on a stool so as to be seen over the microphone.

'Holly was more than a captain, a police officer. She was a friend, a beacon, someone you could trust your life. She will stay in our hearts forever,' Commander Trouble Kelp broke off with a noise that sounded suspiciously like a sob, although no one could be sure he hadn't just sneezed at the wrong time.

He stepped out from behind the podium having finished his brief speech, before signalling to the pale youth in the front row, who walked up to take his place. He looked even thinner behind the podium, the dim lighting accentuating his slightly sunken cheeks. His formerly confident manner seemed to have evaporated – he was merely a shell of his former self.

"We are brought here today by one person – a...,' for once in his life Artemis Fowl faltered. He didn't want to go on. It was as if the stares of all the family and friends gathered around the small, empty casket – Butler, Foaly, Trouble Kelp, Angeline, Myles and Beckett, as well as many more recon officers – had woken a sharp realisation that pushed away the numbness. Holly was gone. And even surrounded by all these people, he had never felt so alone.

He took a deep breath before beginning to speak, once again. "We are brought here today by one person – an elf with a heart who saved me countless times, despite personal risk. Even in times when I was at my worst, she never gave up on me. I am talking about Holly Short.

'I am the only person who saw what happened that night. I decided I could hide the truth from the people standing before me, yet I refrained from writing a speech based upon lies. It is everyone's right to know the truth.' He paused for a moment, gathering his breath, before beginning to recount the moments of that fateful night. Everyone looked shocked as he told them of how she had run from him after she had seen him kissing Minerva, how she had run through the fields all the way to Tara, how she'd plummeted off the edge into the hungry earth. How he'd at first expected her to fly up and punch him on the shoulder, laughing at how much of a scare she'd given him. But no elf arose that night.

Whispering was now starting to rustle through the group, and Artemis saw many imploring eyes turned on him, not sure what to think of the news.

'I loved her,' he choked, reality crashing down on him like water bursting from a dam. He had killed her. If he had never followed her, she would have been alive. And for the first time in his life, tears gushing down the cheeks of the pale youth in silent streams. If he was still that obnoxious twelve-year-old boy who had kidnapped a fairy by an old oak tree in Tara, he would have been ashamed of himself, but now he truly didn't care. Nothing mattered anymore.

He stepped down from the podium; conscious of the crowd's shocked stares following him as he made his way back towards Fowl Manor. Holly's real fairy recycling ceremony had been held with another empty casket underground, but Artemis had wanted to throw a proper funeral for her above ground.

The only member of the Fowl family absent was Father – Artemis didn't know how he would react to the sudden discovery of the People. Myles and Beckett were still too young to know much different, and Angeline already knew about Holly after she had been possessed by Opal Koboi six months previously, so they had been invited. Father was currently on a climate-change conference for Ireland's top ten richest families, with no idea what was taking place on the Fowl grounds.

Artemis walked through the Manor absent-mindedly, his thoughts still back with the night when Holly had fallen. Some part of him still wondered whether some passing shuttle could have caught her as she neared the bottom of the chute, but with the magma flare that burst up shortly after, he highly doubted it. Big mistake.

THE LUNCHROOM, ATLANTIS PRISON

Snicker was once again on lunch duty. How many times he had to be stuck behind the lunch trolley serving reconstituted beans to prisoners, he didn't know, but the job was really starting to make him long in the tooth.

'Stop that!' he snickered at a couple of brawling Gnomes having it out in a corner. One of them landed one last punch in the gut before sloping off. No one messed with Snicker.

Of course, Snicker hadn't always been under that name – he was named as Henry Pooter III by his now very sorry parents. At his manhood ceremony he had changed his name to Snicker due to the fact he could never talk without sounding like he was mocking someone. He hadn't spoken normally since his parents had been "accidentally" run over by a transport hover-shuttle. Arrested under charges of murder and torture, he was one of the most notorious criminals in Atlantis. Besides one other.

The present-day Opal was not looking good. Her eyes were slightly sunken and she seemed to have lost weight, but a certain fire everyone steered clear of still burned in her eyes. That was why Snicker was always stuck on lunch duty – he would much rather be serving gloop than have to approach Opal in a bad mood.

Snicker forced another pile of mulch on to an almost innocent-looking pixies plate, recognising him as another of Opal's slaves. Although criminals themselves, many of the pixies at Atlantis prison seemed to wait on Opal's every need. He wasn't surprised when the pixie didn't eat the food himself, instead bringing it to Opal, who just looked at it disdainfully.

'Beans again,' she screeched loudly. 'Don't I deserve any respect?'

No one pointed out that, seeing as she herself gave others any respect, she certainlydidn't deserve it. Not a single soul in the facility would be that stupid.

Snicker noticed her glance enviously at the tinted glass panel indented into the north wall, where four guards sat, mockingly eating their vegeburgers and nettle salads while they watched over the prisoners. Opal had once tried flirting with one of the guards in hope of decent food, but to her disgust it hadn't worked. In fact, Opal had tried many things during her stay at Atlantis Prison.

The first thing she had done was tried to knock out the officer leading her into the prison, which had failed on account of the seventeen buzz batons all aimed at her. The next thing she attempted was somewhat more planned – trying to sneak into the recycler truck that passed through the prison monthly, encased in a giant barrel of out-of-date pickles. The plan had failed, and what was worse had to be the fact she smelt of gherkin for the next week.

Many more attempted escapades followed, but eventually Opal seemed to finally calm down and stop. The pixie appeared to have finally realised something that was already apparent – Atlantis Prison was impenetrable. From the inside, anyway, thought Snicker as he plopped another glob of beans onto a tray.

Suddenly, four things happened at once. The first thing that happened was the guards, who had all been intently looking at the prisoners, were face-down in their meals, snoring gently. Opal jumped up from where she had been demurely sitting, her black hair flying as she spun out of the way of a sudden laser burst. An alarm growing ever louder droned, as doors began to fly shut. Then Snicker was falling towards the rapidly approaching ground, and the scene faded like wisps of a forgotten dream.

* * *

What appeared to be seventeen Opals were now racing through and around Atlantis prison, wreaking havoc. Of course, there weren't really seventeen Opals – fifteen of them were just carefully calibrated holograms thrown up from mini-projectors zooming about the place, all fashioned by Opal herself. They were one of her brainchild ideas, as it was almost impossible to discern a holographic Opal from the real pixie.

Past Opal had barely shoved a water suit into present Opal's arms before running through the airlock, past the guards, and through the jelly-barrier back to the shuttle, the rest of the rescue group in tow. Any booby traps had been disabled by Spikkle, and what with all the holographic-Opals running around, no guard got within inches of them.

Present Opal, however, hadn't been so lucky. One of her prison pixie followers had grabbed her arm as she ran past, looking at her beseechingly.

'Can I please come?' he pleaded. 'I can serve you...'

'Get off me, filth!' she screeched, attempting to shake him off. But foolishly he hung on.

'Please! I'll do anything! I can...'

'Get off of me!' she screamed, her rage becoming so great she almost looked inhuman. 'Not only do you plead, but you grab me with your filthy hands! You'll make me wrinkle!!'

'But I...'

'No! Get off me!' she twisted away from him so violently she thought she heard one of his bones snap. With a fleeting glance back at the prison, she ran her way towards the waiting shuttle.

* * *

The two Opals were sitting side by side, a box of chocolate truffles between them. Their feet were both propped up on red pouffes, and the recently-rescued Opal had changed out of her regulation prison uniform. She looked more menacing already.

'Archie!' yelled Past-Opal. 'Drive faster!'

Present-Opal laughed derisively. How she loved having another person who enjoyed ordering others around as much as she did. And someone who appreciated the wonders of chocolate truffles. But she couldn't read her past self's thoughts, so she decided to ask her something she had been wondering ever since the engine had started on the stealth shuttle.

'Where are we...'

'...going?' finished Past-Opal. 'I was going to take you back to my hideout – if you can call it that, such a crude name – it has one of the best thermal spa pools on the market. But we may have to take a little...detour.'

Present-Opal didn't mind. If she knew herself as well as she thought, what was going to happen next wasn't worth missing.

CHUTE E1, TARA

Holly was falling. It wasn't that dream-like fall you find in storybooks, with a slow air thermal flowing gently and a sweeping calm – this was a full-on adrenaline rush, something mud man thrill seekers continuously strived to achieve by jumping off bridges attached to elastic ropes. But Holly didn't have any rope to cling on to.

She was tossed about the chute on hot gusts of air with no wings strapped to her back to save her. It was a weird, empty feeling – not being able to steer herself away from the rocky walls every time she came scarily close to it. It was unsettling.

The truth was; Holly feared something more than dying. And that thing was that Artemis hadn't understood her final glance, her final act of peace. She was scared she hadn't made her forgiveness strong enough, especially when one of the last things she said was; 'You did, Artemis Fowl, and that's the thought you will carry with you to the grave.'

The only thing that prevented tears from making their way down her cheeks was the billowing wind hitting her. The fire below was creeping ever closer, and all she could think of was the people who she had never said goodbye to. Foaly, Commander Kelp, Butler, Mulch...and Artemis. She never had said a proper goodbye. And by the looks of it, never would.

Holly Short closed her eyes as the swirling magma neared her, bubbling ominously.

It is at this point it must be emphasised just how long chute E1 was. Like all magma chutes, it drilled essentially right through the earth, meaning it stretched for kilometres. So at first Holly barely noticed the sudden updraft of air suspending her, preventing her fall. But as she realised she still wasn't being plunged into magma, she slowly opened her eyes.

She was floating on a cushion of air which appeared to be coming out of...nothing. All that was beneath her was the firey innards of the earth. She glanced up, but the sheer length of the tunnel meant Artemis was now completely out of sight. She couldn't see him, he couldn't see her.

Holly experimentally moved an arm, to find herself suddenly pitching sideways. She steadied herself, resolving not to move again without careful planning. It was time for tactics now – she may not be a master strategist like Artemis, but she could still think.

She was approximately two metres from the side of the chute; if the magma flares held out she could possible shuffle her way to the side. She was about to risk it when a magnified voice began to echo around the tunnel.

'Don't move.'

Holly stopped abruptly, trying to source the location of the voice. It seemed to be coming from below her.

'We have come to rescue you,' boomed the voice. Suddenly a hatch opened beneath Holly, seemingly from thin air, and she toppled forward.

'So glad you could join us,' said one voice, suddenly high-pitched. 'We phoned, but nobody was home.'

Holly looked up to find herself staring into the faces of, not one, but two Opal Koboi's.

A/N: Hoped you liked it, and if you want to see the next chapter get out quickly, please review! I got this finished twice as quickly thanks to everyone who reviewed for the last chapter, so whether it's a mindless 'update now!' or a 'cool', send it in. The longer the better though :)

Oh, and no flaming please.

*Flamers shuffle away, looking disappointed*