Hey you guys out there on the interweb,
So, I decided that Im going to finish this, despite the fact its not Christmas anymore. I figured it will never get done if that happens. And I split this chapter into 2 because it was so long, and I still have a few scenes to write for the next part and I really wanted to get this out ASAP.
If you want to know what happened to me, go check out 13 Days of Halloween 2, which I just posted a couple days ago. It explains everything.
Angeline squealed in excitement, jumping up from her seat as Artemis slid the ring onto Holly's hand. Artemis' eyes were huge and shocked as he faced Holly, but when he took hold of her hand and turned around to his parents, a large, proud smile was graced upon his face.
Holly didn't know what to feel. A part of her was shocked and stunned, she was now engaged. Engaged to Artemis Fowl. The man that had haunted her dreams for the past few days, who sent fire through her by a single look. That part of her...was happy, to say the least.
But the other part. The part that wasn't swooning over him, was terrified as hell. What did she just do? This wasn't what was suppose to happen! She just got engaged to ARTEMIS FOWL. THE Artemis Fowl. A Mud Man!
After the regular congratulations from his parents and more giddy smiles from Angeline, Artemis and Holly excused themselves to retire for the night.
"What in the name of Frond was that?!" Artemis hissed when his bedroom door closed, whirling around to face her.
She had to take a step back, never seeing Artemis angry like this before. "It was pressure!" She shot back, frowning and walking over to her suitcase. Was is pressure? Or was that her pathetic attempt of trying to believe it was pressure? "Gods, Artemis! All your family was staring at me, waiting. I couldn't even remember what my name was, nevermind what I was suppose to say with your mother giving me that look." She unlocked the case as she talked, her movements sharp and agitated to match how she felt and how she talked.
Artemis sighed, rubbing his forehead as he thought. His mind reeled with possibilities of what could happen. Of what they could do to fix this. The hole he had started to dig a few days ago just swallowed Holly whole.
Holly pulled out a sweatshirt and some pants. "We'll leave it like this now, and when I go back to Haven, you can tell your parents we split up, alright?" She looked up at him for a split second before walking into the bathroom.
Artemis watched her leave, and once the door finally closed the genius let out a gigantic breath of air he was holding in. He walked over and sat on the end of his bed, staring down at his hands in his lap. Finally what had just happened settled into his brain. There was a ring on Holly's finger.
The problem was, Artemis was fighting how he should feel about that. On one hand, he was anxious about how his parents would feel if they ever found out this was all a sham. Because that was what it was. A sham.
But on the other hand-the hand that the man thought was utterly insane-wondered if it was really so bad. Was it? He looked up at the closed bathroom door in front of him. How did he really feel about being "engaged" to her? He wasn't nervous about it, not like he was with his parents. Holly was the one person he could never be nervous about disappointing, because she-and Butler-had seen him at his absolute worst.
Artemis furrowed his eyebrows, concentrating as he tried to piece together what was going on inside of him. How did he feel? Ugh, all of this was so complicated. And adding onto the Fowl's lack of emotional and social skills already, it just made his head hurt.
His head snapped up when the bathroom door opened. Holly was wringing out her damp hair with a towel and looked up at him with her earthy eyes. "You okay?" She asked, concern gracing her face. "...Well, besides the obvious."
He shook his head, standing up and brushing off his suit from the non-existent particles on it. "I'll be fine." He replied eloquently, making Holly look even more concerned. "I'll be in my office if you need me."
Before Holly could even respond to his short, curt phrase, Artemis was out the door. She frowned at that. Had she really upset him that much? She sighed, knowing he most likely wanted his space, and crawled onto one side of the bed.
When Holly reached over to turn off the bedside lamp, her eye caught the glint of light from the ring on her finger. She sighed again, not turning off the light and sitting against the headboard, running her finger over the warm piece of metal.
Surprisingly, it felt comfortable for her to wear it and Holly didn't know why. It was a beautifully crafted piece of jewelry, but it was simple. She wondered how Artemis got hold of it, or if it was a family heirloom.
She spent a few more moments looking it over, pursing her lips as she thought. Finally, the elf took it off and placed it on the table next to her before turning off the light and laying down in the bed.
Her ring finger was cold, and she suddenly felt vulnerable. Like Artemis and the safety she felt from being around him was being sucked out of her and in that ring. But that was crazy...Right? She was a Captain of the LEP. She didn't need anybody.
It took a while, but Holly finally started to fall asleep. But Artemis still hadn't come back yet.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Artemis walked back into his bedroom, looking at his watch and sighing. It was extremely late into the middle of the night and he was just coming back from his office after hours of work.
The genius was in the process of taking off his suit jacket and tie when he noticed Holly sleeping on the bed across the room.
Holly scrunched her nose in her sleep, and Artemis cocked his head, smirking at her softly. Wondering what she was dreaming about, he walked over to her silently and perched himself on the edge of the bed. "Holly.." He whispered, looking down at the elf sleeping on the bed and shaking her gently on the arm.
Holly groaned, turning around and scratching her nose sleepily. "A-Artemis?" She groaned, looking up at him with her tired eyes. "What? Is something wrong?"
She made a move to get up, but Artemis put a hand on her shoulder and effectively stopped her from panicking. Holly looked up at him, her eyes wide and gleaming when Artemis reached over and turned on the bedside lamp. He noticed the ring on the table and sighed, picking it up with two fingers before turning towards Holly, still looking at the ring. "I have something to tell you." He told her in a hushed tone, still fiddling the ring between his fingers as he thought about what to say.
Holly leaned back on her elbows, raising an eyebrow at him. She wondered what this was about. He looked..even paler than normal. Paler than he did when he left in a rage before. "What is it, Artemis?"
Artemis bit his lip nervously, looking up in her eyes from the ring. "I...I think…" He sighed and closed his eyes. He was stuttering like a village idiot. "I love you."
The elf sat up even more, rubbing her head and not looking amused at all. "Artemis…" She murmured, shaking her head. "What are you doing?" Holly clearly did not want to go through this right now.
Artemis sighed, taking her hand in his. "Why is this such a bad thing we've done?" He asked, holding up the ring for her to get a better look. "If anything has changed during the past few days, it's me realizing just how amazing you are." He smiled gently at her. "I love you."
Speechless, Holly looked up at him and tried to find the words she wanted to say back. "I…" She sighed, looking down. "I'm sorry, Artemis...But I just can't."
"What? Why not?"
"Well, for one I'm a Fairy! You're a Mud Man!" Holly looked up at him desperately, silently asking him to stop this.
Artemis waved his hand in the air, clearly not reading the signs right. "That's never stopped us before, why should it now? I've been studying The People for years."
"I live in Haven." Holly argued, "Thousands of miles underground, and there is going to be a point where things will be too small for you there."
"I've perfected the science of making you look human." Artemis glanced at the other ring on her right hand, the device that was making her look like a Mud Person on this little adventure of theirs. "What makes you think I can't perform vice versa?"
Holly sighed in defeat, closing her eyes and bowing her head. "I don't love you, Artemis." She whispered softly, looking up at him afterwards. Seriousness graced her eyes with a tinge of tears. "And I never will."
Realization struck Artemis, and it struck him hard. It was as though all the air had gotten sucked out of him, a hard blow to the stomach. He stood up, looking away embarrassed. "Oh…" He trailed off, as though part of him was still trying to catch up. Slowly, he started to back out of the room. He couldn't look at her.
"Artemis..Please don't be like this.." Holly pleaded, starting to get out of the bed. Artemis didn't answer, and Holly pleaded again. "Artemis!"
0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"Artemis!"
A hard shake knocked the genius out of his unconscious stupor. He looked around wildly, until his eyes locked with Holly.
She looked back at him, an unbelieved look on her face. "Did you sleep here last night?" She asked. That was when he noticed she was dressed and ready for the day, and he was wearing yesterday's clothes. And he was at his desk in his office.
He looked back at Holly, wiping a bit of drool off the side of his mouth and grimacing. "I..Guess I did."
Holly rolled her eyes, "Look, I know we had that fight last night-"
"Fight?" Artemis' eyes widened at her, and he looked at his computer screen. A fight about what, exactly? He needed to know.
"Did you hit your head or something, Mud Boy?" Holly put her hands on her hips, confused why he was acting so strange. "The fight about our 'Engagement.'" She held up her left hand, pointing to the ring on it.
Artemis ran a hand through his hair. "So, I haven't been back since I left yesterday?"
Holly shook her head warily, "No…" She told him. "Unless you snuck in without waking me."
Artemis looked away, scrunching his eyebrows as he thought deeply. He was trying to piece everything together. "Yes." He glanced at Holly, who was staring at him as though he was going insane. And, to be honest, he felt like he was. "What I mean to say," He cleared his throat. "Is that I stayed here all night."
That made the elf scoff, "Unbelievable." And she turned on her heel. Everything was getting so complicated again, and talking to him just made her head hurt. She couldn't deal with it right now, so Holly turned on her heel and stormed out.
Artemis physically slumped when she turned the corner and left, letting out a huge breath he didn't realize he was holding in for all of that time.
That was all a dream? Part of him thanked the Gods that it was just that. A d'arvitting dream.
But...Love? That made Artemis freeze. Did he actually love Holly? He definitely said it, but the problem was...did he mean it? The genius sighed internally. He was never good with social interaction, and this was just making his relationship with Holly even more difficult than it already was.
Artemis ran another hand through his hair and grimaced. It was messy and matted, and he didn't have a comb in his office. He rarely ever slept in here anymore, and his back and neck hurt from being bent in an abnormal angle all night.
Finally, he came to the conclusion that he had to patching things up with Holly, and fast, before the odd situation between them tore the two apart.
Thankfully, Holly hadn't gone down to breakfast yet, and was picking through the suitcase at the bottom of his bed when he walked into his bedroom. The elf didn't even look up when he walked through the doors, her eyes roaming around to search for something to wear.
Artemis stared at her for a minute, not able to figure out what to say at the exact moment. Fortunately, he didn't have to.
"I'm sorry."
He almost jumped when Holly spoke, and it took the genius a minute to hear what she said and to process it. "Excuse me?"
Holly sighed, standing up and anxiously rubbing her hands on the sweatpants she was still wearing, fiddling with the seam of them. She didn't like apologizing, but felt the need to, and she definitely did not like apologizing to one Artemis Fowl. "I said I'm sorry." She repeated, this time a smidge louder. "For last night...I know I wasn't suppose to go off script like that."
Artemis paused for a moment, stunned, before smirking himself out of the awkward situation. "I heard you the first time." He confessed to her. "I just wanted you to repeat it."
The elf smiled, walking up to Artemis and punching him lightly on the shoulder. "We'll fix this, Artemis." She told him. "Promise."
A heavy cloud fell over Artemis, and for a moment he felt the urge to tell her the same thing he told her in his dream. Her eyes were gleaming brilliantly, and the smile on her face was most definitely contagious, because it spread to his in a heartbeat. It was just three little words. I love you. But they seemed to be the most complicated to say. Reality set in, and Artemis had to find something else to say. Anything else. "Why do you need a warning?" He asked.
Anything but that too, Fowl. A nagging voice exclaimed in the back of his head, especially when he saw the blank stare Holly had on her face after he said that.
"What?" She cocked her head, not sure what he meant.
Artemis paced a few steps away, further into the bedroom while he closed the door. "The other night. You said I needed to warn you the next time I kissed you."
Still not understanding fully what he was talking about, Holly gave him a strange glance. "Uhh…"
"You went out with Trouble Kelp for Frond's sake!" Artemis ran a hand through his hair. "I suppose he didn't need a warning every time he pushed to get a bit more intimate with you in public."
Holly raised her eyebrows at him and scoffed. She didn't want to fight with him, but he was being completely ludicrous right then. "Are you seriously comparing our irrational situation to my actual relationship with Trouble?"
Artemis looked away and bit his lip, thinking to himself before he glanced back at her. "I just…" He sighed. "What's wrong with me that you need to brace yourself for me to get close to you?"
"Artemis, it is nothing personal." Holly told him. "But I've never been one to display affection before. Not even with Trouble." And I have a problem where once I start thinking about kissing you, I never want to stop mentally kissing you. She thought, but shook it out of her head instantly. "And being in front of you family...I feel fake, Artemis."
The genius nodded, understanding what she was saying. "Alright." He murmured, smiling gently at her to soothe both of their minds. "I get it."
Holly sighed in relief, not really wanting to talk about warnings about intimate moments. Especially not when she wanted to lock the door and stay here with him all day. "I'll meet you down at breakfast." She said, walking over and opening up the bedroom door.
Artemis let her leave, and after the man changed and was walking down the large halls of Fowl Manor to get downstairs for some breakfast of his own, he had to stop when he heard something through one of the doors.
"I just...I don't know, Angeline." Artemis could hear his father through the door as he walked past his parents room. "Should we be rushing them like this?"
His wife sighed, "Timmy, our Artemis is happy for once. We should try our best to encourage this behavior from him."
"I know, Angeline. You have to believe me when I say that I am fully aware of Artemis' recent behavioral changes. But I'm not looking at the specific 'happy' being of it. I am looking at the overall change in our son."
"What do you mean?"
There was a pause and when Artemis Sr. spoke, it was soft. So soft, that the young man had to almost press his ear against the door to actually hear it. It was ridiculous. Artemis Fowl eavesdropping shamelessly?
"Something is off, Angeline. This whole situation is wrong with Artemis and Holly. We have only seen them kiss once, and that was when you practically forced them together. Other than that, I haven't even heard anything on that side of the wing at night."
"That's true. Don't you remember when we were engaged? We could keep our hands to each other for more than two seconds. Even before Myles and Beckett were born we-"
Artemis had to leave after a few moments of that, the sound of gagging almost instantaneously ripping from his throat. He did not need to hear any more of that to realize what was going on.
His parents were having doubts. And honestly, who wouldn't? It was true, they hadn't made an effort to be...Privately intimate.
He had to think of something...And soon. Before he practically put the puzzle together for them.
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