A/N: Here it is! You voted and I procrastinated! . . . I mean wrote . . . yeah, that. Anyway, the final vote was 2.75 for and 1.25 against! . . . only four of you voted . . . But your votes and suggestions were received and shall be at the very least used as inspiration during writers' block!
Now quiet, the show's starting.
Holly looked at the box in her hands. Then back to the two rooms in front of her. Slowly, with deliberate hesitation, she walked into the spare master bedroom. When she saw the disappointed look on Artemis' face, she quickly explained.
"I just want to see what it's like," She said, trying to be reassuring, though she didn't know to whom, "this way I can see if I like sleeping alone, or if I want some company." She felt this was sound reasoning, and so she walked into the spare room. She didn't bother unpacking it yet, there were more important things to do, less long term things.
Artemis was relatively silent as the unpacked the rest of the items Holly had brought with her. He had few possessions from the surface so almost all of the aesthetic touches were provided by her meager belongings. In the end, however, the bunker looked far more like a home and less like a shelter.
Later that evening, Artemis was doing his best to cook a small dinner, (vegetable soup, a simple recipe that Butler had drilled into his head) managing not to burn anything beyond edibility. After several minutes of frantic preparations, he noticed a lack of Holly anywhere near the kitchen. It was a fairly open space to the rest of the area, and he couldn't see her anywhere in the floor's central space.
Filing this away, he turned back to his cooking. Within a few minutes, Holly appeared as if from nowhere to help in the last minute, preventing a simple meal from becoming an inter-species incident. Dinner was similarly quiet, as Artemis was still saddened by her earlier choice. Finally, Artemis decided there was nothing left to do, and obviously neither had anything to say, so he walked back towards the bedroom, Holly just behind him. When he reached the door, he turned.
"Alright then Holly, I guess this is good night." He was almost stiff in his farewell trying to be stoic about the situation. "I shall see you in the morning."
She said nothing, so he turned and walked into his bedroom.
Then he stopped.
The sheets on the bed were not his, and the pictures on the far bedside table were certainly not his family. Confused, he turned to Holly.
"If you wanted the room, you could have allowed me to move my things first."
Holly walked over and sat on the bed, motioning for Artemis to join her.
"I could have, yes," she said, a small grin forming as Artemis took the seat, "but if you leave the room, so does my reason for choosing it."
"But I thought," Artemis stuttered, confused, "you wanted to try being separate."
Holly hopped up and collected a pile of folded clothes, heading towards a small room containing a sink and shower near the tunnel to the recycling lounge. "I did," She said, closing the door and raising her voice, "I failed. Now are you going to change? I won't sleep next to a man in a suit."
Holly awoke the next morning and for a second found herself confused by the strange surroundings. Then she felt the arm over her midsection and the warm body tucked under the covers with her. She smiled as she remembered who the body belonged to and the events leading up to this perfect morning.
Gingerly, she slid out from under the arm and the blankets, only afterward seeing that she needn't have bothered, as Artemis was still deep asleep. Quietly, she moved across the room to her dresser and chose a few casual clothing items. She had the day off from work so she and Artemis could run some errands and finish with the house. As they had worked quickly and finished moving last night, this meant she had a lot of time today to show Artemis her city and generally spend time with him. As she showered and got ready for the day, she realized that the last time Artemis had spent any significant time in Haven was when he was hospitalized in Argon's clinic, and thus unable to explore.
When she finished her shower and reentered the bedroom, Artemis was now sitting up in bed, his laptop already open, typing quickly. As she approached, he closed the computer and set it aside.
"Are you going to get ready?" She asked, feigning impatience, "We haven't got all day, we need to get you to the hospital for those tests."
"Ah yes," said Artemis, "Time to see just how much of me is me, and how much is Opal's chrysalis."
Artemis got up and walked to a wardrobe, picking out a black suit. He could feel Holly rolling her eyes at his formality, but he ignored it. He was in an unfamiliar setting, and his suits comforted him. Like Holly he showered and got ready for the day, and within 20 minutes met her in the kitchen for breakfast, which consisted of some store bought pastries they had bought the day before. Soon, Brick arrived to take them to the hospital.
Holly hated waiting. Waiting for battle, waiting for assignments, or worst of all, waiting in hospitals. She hadn't been in one since her mother's death of radiation poisoning, and the memories of long waits while medical warlocks tried procedure after procedure still haunted her while she waited for Artemis' appointment to start. Foaly was supposed to stop by to keep her company, but he was nowhere to be found. Finally, she sent him a text inquiring as to his whereabouts, and threatening him with violence should he not make haste. In reality it read more like "Where are you? Get your equine butt down here before I find you and kick it here myself."
Not long after she sent it, from around the corner she heard a phone going off around the corner. Listening to the tune, she realized it could only be Foaly.
We call upon our troopers, in this our darkest hour,
Our way of life is what we're fighting for,
The flag that flies above us, inspires us each day,
To give our very best, in every way!
It's a good day to die,
When you know the reasons why,
Citizens, we fight for what is right,
A noble sacrifice,
When duty calls, you pay the price,
For the Federation I will give my life!
Holly turned on Foaly as he rounded the corner, frantically digging in a pocket to silence the communicator. She recognized the song from a series of movies Foaly and Mulch had forced her to watch. They were based on some mud-man political novel, and featured a group of soldiers in an endless war against arachnid foes. Foaly had long joked that the gung-ho attitude suited Holly, but this was too far.
"What's that?" she said, the grin on her face far from joking. In fact it looked almost predatory.
"Just a joke Holly," the centaur said, having finally silenced the music, "Everyone does it, brightens the day a bit. Are you telling me you've never set joke ringtones for your friends?"
Holly thought about it, and realized she hadn't. All her friends were related to work, and she didn't feel right having personal effects, such as a special ringtone, for work-related business. I wonder if Artemis does it . . . Holly got a terrible idea.
Moving to sit next to Artemis, she carefully applied some of Mulch's training, particularly pick-pocketing. By the time Artemis realized what was happening, she had taken his phone.
"Wait! Don't -" He started, but it was too late, she had found her contact and pressed play. Strains of music played from the small speaker.
Auburn hair and ruby lips
sparks fly from her finger tips
Echoed voices in the night
she's a restless spirit on an endless flight
wooo hooo witchy woman, see how
high she flies
woo hoo witchy woman she got
the moon in her eye
The music cut off. Before it could repeat, Holly dropped the phone as if it were hot.
"Witchy woman?" She said, glaring at the unfortunate mud-boy.
"That wasn't quite the reasoning for choosing that song . . ." Artemis said, realizing it wouldn't help him. When Holly decided she was angry with him, it would take her being totally distracted before she would give it up. He decided he would change the setting as soon as possible.
Before he could, his name was called. After being left in the room for a time, nurses came in to collect blood, urine, and magic for sampling. Artemis was interested in the small battery he charged with sparks from his hands, but was not given time to examine it. After several long minutes, the warlock stepped in.
"It appears your encounter with cloning has left some rather fortunate marks on your genes." He said, examining his charts, "According to this, you are not quite half fairy, but enough to count."
"What of the magic?" Artemis inquired, "What effect will that have?"
"We'll have to check again after you attempt the ritual," the Warlock said, still not looking up, "but it appears you will live a fairly lifespan as the magic regenerates your body."
"Why will we have to wait?" Artemis said, not happy with the nature of this exam. He was having to ask more questions than he wanted.
"Because the traitor's magic is implanted, we cannot run our own tests until you have your own."
"Traitor?" Artemis was worried now. Something was wrong, and Butler could not be summoned.
Before he could react, the warlock dropped a small, rune-etched stone. As it left his hand, a shape-shifting spell unraveled, revealing the buck demon standing before him. Before he could call out, the demon produced a second stone, this one he pressed to Artemis' chest, causing a charge to spread across his body, knocking him unconscious.
In the waiting area, Holly was growing impatient again. More procedures . . . No! It's just a check-up. She banished the negative thoughts from her head and typed a message to ask Artemis how it was going. In an eerie repeat of earlier events, a song played from around the corner. He's playing with me! She thought, once again annoyed, but at the same time looking forward to seeing Artemis again. As she walked towards the corner she listened to the music playing, as Artemis had taken some time to change the tone.
Though I've tried before to tell her
Of the feelings I have for her in my heart
Every time that I come near her
I just lose my nerve as I've done from the start
Every little thing she does is magic
Everything she doe just turns me on
Even though my life before was tragic
Now I know my love for her goes on
Holly was amused at the fitting lyrics, but still annoyed that he was hiding from her. As she rounded the corner, however, she didn't see Artemis. A little ways down the corridor was a trash can, from which the sound seemed to be coming. If he's trying to hide behind a trash can he should really turn off the phone. She thought. Almost pouncing, she rounded the trash can, revealing . . . nothing? The music was repeating the two verses, clearly clipped for those lyrics. Holly removed the lid of the trashcan and looked in. Inside was the phone, the alert for Holly's text still flashing. Slowly, she picked it up and deactivated it.
Then realization dawned on her. She ran around the corner and nearly ran head first into Foaly, running in the opposite direction. Simultaneously, they blurted out their frantic news.
"Artemis has been taken!"
"I know Holly," Foaly said quickly, putting his hands on her shoulders, "the warlock was a disguised demon, he took Artemis and left the hospital using some sort of spell stored in a rune stone."
"They left his phone in the trash" Holly said, producing the device. As she pulled it free from her pocket it went off, not displaying a number. Gingerly, Holly answered it.
"We have the mud-man infiltrator. Bring us the traitor No. 1 or we will kill him." * click *
A/N: Woo! Evilness is afoot! Why are there demons trying to get to No. 1? Why have the kidnapped Artemis? What will happen?
Find out in the next chapter of The Next Adventure
P. S.: I know that the lyics to "Witchy Woman" start with "raven hair", but that wouldn't fit the story, would it?