I really, really wanted Minerva's villa to have an ocean-view. Arrr!! I mean come on! Who has that kind of money, lives in the south of France, but not right on the water? No one, that's who!

Anyway, I think you all know where this is going.

Thanks to ilex-ferox for laying down the law on dream sequences.

Chapter Nineteen: In the End

Holly stands before him, one metre tall exactly. 'It's for the best,' she says. She is wearing her LEP jumpsuit, helmet tucked professionally under one arm.

'You don't believe that,' he looks down at her from his chair.

'It doesn't matter what I believe.' She refuses to meet his eyes. Her eyes. She is lying to both of them.

'We both knew this would come in the end,' she says. Putting down her helmet, she reaches forward, gently pulling the elastic strap of the goggles over his head.

'That is not true. You need me. What happens next time the People are in trouble?'

'There won't be a next time.' She is still refusing to meet his eyes. He wants to reach out and force her to look at him.

'There is always going to be a next time. I will create a next time.'

'Artemis, please -' she swallows, 'please don't do this.'

She does look at him then, and her eyes are mirrors of his. He can feel hopelessness sliding between his ribs like a knife, cutting through his desperation. Cutting straight through until it hits the centre of everything: the foreknowledge of his own impending heartbreak. And it's made worse because he can see all of that again in her eyes looking back at him. In some deep part of his mind he is impressed. This pain is far worse than anything he could ever have inflicted. Fate is, at long last, putting him in his place.

'This is not how it should end,' he whispers, fierce.

The world bleeds into itself like watercolours. Its lines blur and the colours muddy, becoming shadows that eat away at the walls around them, at his body, at Holly's face before him.

'Things don't always work out the way they should,' she replies. 'This is how it has to end. This is how it was always going to end.'

'It can't,' his voice isn't pleading; it's assertive. Calm and collected because he knows, for once, he's speaking the truth. 'You can't do without me.'

'We can do without you just fine,' comes Trouble's disembodied voice from behind him.

But Holly is looking him in the eyes. She knows what he's talking about. She is remembering exactly how this will feel.

'At least you won't remember,' she says pulling down the goggles.

'That's the worst part,' he says, catching hold of her wrists, his voice still level. 'I'll never know what it is I'm looking for.'

She frees herself, tugging the goggles into place.

'I'm sorry,' she says, and he can see that she is. To him, her face is an open book. 'This is the end, Artemis. I'm so sorry.'

'Artemis! Butler! What a surprise.' Minerva is all charm by the time she greets her guests in the front hall. Artemis, at least, matches her watt for watt.

'Minerva, I know it's horrendously early, but we were in the neighbourhood and thought we'd drop by. I do hope we're not disturbing you.' Artemis' smile is terrifying.

'Disturbing me? You two? Never,' she tinkles. Clearly we didn't get rid of that fairy device fast enough, she thinks. Then she catches sight of Butler's face behind Artemis. His features are perfectly composed, not betraying even a flicker of emotion, but his eyes meet hers and guilt rises like a tide in her stomach, threatening to engulf her. She has never been made to feel such an utter failure in her entire life; and all without one word spoken. 'C-come this way.' She shakes her head, pulling herself together. 'Would you like tea?'

'Tea would be lovely,' Butler may be devastated but Artemis, despite his unacknowledged anxiety, truly is revelling in the chance to be vindictive without having to feel guilty about it.

'Why are we stopping?' Juliet whispers, her headlamp illuminating almost nothing in the oppressive darkness of the tunnel. She's glad - it saves her from seeing things she doesn't want to see.

'Because we've arrived.'

She might not be able to see much, but Juliet can hear condescension a mile away.

'Well, how was I supposed to know?' she hisses back.

'Shh, I'm concentrating.'

'Uh oh, trying to count to ten again, are you?'

'Ooh, ouch. Now be quiet, I'm listening to see if it's safe to go out, genius.'

This shuts Juliet up. 'Sorry,' she whispers, contrite.

It's a moment before Mulch responds, and the sounds of him chewing reverberate through the small space. 'Don't worry,' he speaks at last, 'not everyone can be as brilliant as I am. All clear, we're going up. Be quick about it, I've got some serious gas to release.'

'Right.' Juliet scrambles past the dwarf, coming out onto the wooden floor of a dark, cramped room. 'Gah, it's nearly as small as the tunnel was.'

The sound of Mulch passing wind echoes down below her. She wrinkles her nose. 'Next time Dom can crawl after you.'

'I love you too, Stinker.'

Juliet chuckles. 'Right back atcha. Now, let's get this show on the road. What're the infra-reds showing?'

Mulch pulls out a small, flat device and holds it in his palm. A screen comes to life, showing them the blueprints that Foaly made up. Superimposed onto them, the tiny machine's infra-red sensors have painted glowing patches moving through the rooms. Mulch squints at the screen. 'I'm seeing the kitchens, couple of people there; next rooms are empty ... oh, I think I found Artemis and Company, one of those blotches is huge, must be your brother... ah, here we go: tiny person who looks to be sitting down with someone larger circling 'round. Can you say prison guard or what? They're in the opposite end of the house though, southern corner and on the second floor.'

Juliet tches. 'Well, let's hope these distractions work. You got Foaly's looping gizmo?'

'Yessir.'

'Right, let's move out.'

'Affirmative, Captain,' Mulch sniggers.

'Oh shut up.'

'So,' Harold circles the woman, 'Holly. How are you feeling?'

Holly glares at him.

'Not a big talker, eh? That's okay, I like monologues. You can just listen if you want.'

'I hardly have a choice in the matter,' Holly points out, nodding her chin at the restraints on her wrists and ankles.

'True,' Harold muses. 'Though, what does that say about me? Resorting to force just to have an audience?'

Holly sighs. Even the thugs she ends up with fancy themselves intellectuals.

Artemis' mobile rings suddenly, interrupting an apparently pleasant conversation about hydrogen fuel cells. He looks down at the number and pulls a face. 'I'm sorry, Minerva, this is terribly rude, but I really must take this call. I'll be right back.' Getting to his feet, he disappears into the hall.

Usually, when Artemis leaves a room, the atmosphere warms up a tangible two or three degrees. This time, it drops even more.

Minerva sips from her teacup, unable to look Butler in the eye. They both know why he and Artemis are here.

Butler, on the other hand, watches her intently. He has suddenly realised what it is like to be Holly and love someone, though you know they are going to let you down: again and again and again. And know that you will forgive them each time and hate yourself a little for doing so. But a little hate is better than not loving them at all.

'Yes?' Artemis speaks softly. Though he's speaking into his mobile, his voice is also being picked up by the throat mike plastered, invisible, to the skin of his neck.

'We're in,' Juliet replies. 'We've been watching the infra-reds and, just for the record, I'm pretty sure Minerva has a rats and -'

'Juliet.'

'- right. Sorry. We think that Holly's up in the southern corner, second floor. There's two humanoid blobs up there, one stay perfectly still while the other paces. Not sure, but just a head's up.'

Artemis frowns. 'Minerva's rooms are near there, that would make sense. Perhaps she's got a lab set up. At any rate, be ready to follow her when she leaves. Can you see us on the blueprints?'

'Yep, we've got you. Front salon?'

'Yes, that's right. There's a stair way just to our left.'

'Yeah, I know. Don't worry, Mulch and I have this all figured out. We're going to go detonate now. Hold onto your hat!'

'Good. And don't let anyone see you.'

'No, really?'

Artemis can nearly hear her rolling her eyes.

Mulch and Juliet follow the blueprints to an empty room with more than one exit. The map points them to an out of favour parlour on the sout-east side of the villa. Using the infra-red sensors to avoid what would have otherwise been several close calls with Minerva's horde of security guards, they sneak across the rambling house. Slipping into the deserted drawing-room, they take a minute to sit down on a dust-sheeted couch and catch their breath. When Juliet stands again, she has a small sphere in her right hand.

'It's too bad Artemis won't let us use real grenades,' she pouts.

'Don't worry,' Mulch tells her. 'I've used bangers before. They're the next best thing. All the smoke and noise, none of the clean up. Besides, Foaly inveneted them. If he knows how to do anything it's causing an uproar over nothing.''

Juliet eyes the tiny ball doubtfully. 'Well, here goes nothing, I guess. Get ready to run.'

She and Mulch head for the opposite door and she pulls the pin, throwing the grenade into the centre of the room. Sure enough, ten seconds later, the house shudders with the noise of its detonation. Mulch tucked under one arm, Juliet is already rooms away.

Minerva's head whips around as the sound of an explosion thunders through the villa. 'Quoi...?' She rises from her seat, pulling out a mobile phone as she heads for the door. 'Jacques! Qu'est ce qui s'est passé? Tu n'sais pas. Oui, évidemment, ça s'voit. Non, je m'en fou de tes excuses. 'Scuse-moi? Tu te fou de ma geule ou quoi là? Non, c'est ça que je croyais. Bon, ben, vas-y alors!' She turns to her guests, switching back to English, 'I'm afraid I must leave you. Hopefully, it's just the cook having trouble with the ovens.' Flashing them a smile, she disappears into the hall.

Running for the nearest staircase, she opens the phone again. 'Harold. Move Holly into the lab. Then go downstairs and have your men stall my two visitors. Invent an excuse to keep them there. Some regulation or something. No death, you understand?' As though those idiots have a chance against Butler, she thinks. I just need them delayed a little.

'Sure thing,' comes Harold's reply.

Minerva shuts her phone with a snap. Merde. Merde, merde, merde. Artemis has done something, I know he has. She takes the steps two at a time.

Immersed in her worrying, Minerva doesn't notice a very odd-looking couple slip out of an old broom closet and stealthily follow her down the hall. Not even when the taller of the two types a stealthy text message on the go.

'Rite bout room. C u thr.'

'That's our cue.' Artemis rises from his chair as Minerva leaves. 'Juliet believes Holly's in Minerva's suite. She'll ring when she's sure. But I suggest we head in that direction.'

'Southern corner?'

'Exactly. Juliet marked the room on the floor plan for us.' He pulls the map up on the screen of his mobile as they make for the stairs.

At the foot of the staircase, however, they are met by half a dozen men in security uniforms.

'Excuse me,' says a tall, thin brunette, 'but I'm afraid I'm going to have to detain you for security reasons.'

Butler eyes the six men and sighs. His back really isn't the thing today. It's going to be close.

Meanwhile, Artemis checks his messages.

Minerva enters the lab, gasping for breath.

'Out of shape, are we?' Holly asks brightly.

Minerva doesn't bother replying as she picks up the abandoned syringe.

'What's with the explosions?' Holly continues. 'Electrical problems?'

'Straighten your arm,' Minerva tells her.

'No,' Holly says.

'Don't be difficult. Straighten your arm.'

'No.'

Minerva shakes the needle in Holly's face. 'I am returning you to your people. Can't you at least be a little bit helpful?'

Holly sneers, 'We both know that's got nothing to do with it.'

'I am giving you back your life. Can you really begrudge me my prize?'

'Don't come over all "angel of mercy" on me. Who are you trying to kid? We both know you couldn't give a shit about me. And which prize? The Nobel or Artemis?'

Minerva draws herself up to respond when suddenly she has a change of heart. With vicious enthusiasm, Minerva unties Holly's wrists. 'Here,' she says, taking Holly's hand and forcing the syringe into it, 'do it yourself then! You know it will work, you saw the results of the blood sample. What are you waiting for? Go on, go.'

Holly looks down at the syringe. The liquid is thick, gelatinous. Opal's original magic, captured so long ago, still sparks blue. She looks down at her arm.

Suddenly the room shudders, shaken by another distant explosion.

'Putain,' Minerva mutters. Then she smirks, 'Your cavalry has arrived, my dear. Honestly, all the fuss Artemis is putting into coming after you - it's almost as though he doesn't want you to change back. And after all that work he's put into finding a cure himself...' she lets the sentence hang.

Holly gives Minerva a withering glare. 'Do you really think I know Artemis so little? He doesn't want me changing anything and that's no secret. I know exactly how much he wants to find a cure - which is not at all - so don't bother playing your silly games. There's nothing you can tell me about Artemis that I don't already know. '

Another explosion rocks the house.

'Well, that's all terribly heart warming but get on with it, would you?' Minerva sneers. 'Or are you afraid of needles?'

'Everyone's afraid of needles,' Holly replies absently, eyes returning to the syringe.

'Artemis! Dom! God, Dom, a black eye? Talk about amateur. What happened?' Juliet and Mulch skid to a stop to avoid colliding with their partners in crime as all four of them simultaneously turn a corner.

'Getting old, what can I say?' Butler shrugs as he and Juliet soon outstrip the other two, running towards Minerva's rooms.

Juliet tsks.

As they approach the study, Mulch checks the heat sensors again and calls ahead to the Butler siblings, 'She's still in there.'

'Right,' Butler answers. 'You ready to break down a few doors, Juliet?'

'Are you kidding? I'm chomping at the bit here.'

Holding the syringe in her right hand, Holly looks up, into Minerva's expectant face. Staring straight into the other woman's eyes, Holly pushes the plunger home - emptying the contents of the syringe onto the floor.

Minerva's eyes widen, 'What on -.' But that's as far as she gets before Holly knocks her unconscious.

Undoing the straps on her ankles, Holly rolls Minerva into a corner. Sitting back down, she rests her elbows on her thighs, letting her head hang between her knees. Directly below her, the pool of elfin blood swirls as the magic dissipates into the floor. When, at last, the liquid stops glowing, becoming nothing more than a puddle of muddy red and brown, Holly starts to cry. She curls her arms around her head and sobs for an entire minute.

At the end of the minute she swallows, wipes her eyes with the backs of her hands, and goes over to the desk. Picking up Minerva's laptop, she scrolls through the files open on the desktop. Following them back to the umbrella file, she taps her finger three times on the side of the keyboard, then presses DELETE. Setting down the computer, she picks up the canister of fairy blood from amongst scattered notes and enormous texts.

There's a thumping outside the doors. Holly ignores it. She grasps the lid of the canister in her left hand and begins turning it, trying to force herself to think about what she's losing - just in case she wants to change her mind.

Butler blows in the reinforced doors of Minerva's study just as Holly inverts the canister. Artemis, Juliet and Mulch push through the dust and debris in time to see the last of the blood fall to the ground, droplets spattering Holly's trousers, her shirt, her face. With the backs of her hands she smears blood across her cheeks in an attempt to rub it off. She smiles at them.

Artemis stumbles through the rubble, 'Holly! Holly, are you alright? Are you -' He stops short, taking in Minerva in the corner, the blood on the floor, the strap wrapped around Holly's arm. 'You're still human.' He frowns and reaches to take off the tourniquet.

She holds out her arm complacently, 'Yes.'

The autumn sun is finally rising; its light floods in through the high windows of the lab.

'Why?' Artemis asks, holding the tourniquet between them. They watch each other for a moment.

At last Holly shrugs, stepping forward to drape a comradely arm around his shoulders, 'Because, Arty,' she gestures expansively with her free hand, 'when seen in a certain light ... well, humanity's really not quite so bad.' And then she smiles at him and he realises the full extent of what she's done.

Butler doesn't think he's ever seen Artemis beam before.

'But the formula!' Mulch moves forward, 'That's all warm and fuzzy, but what if you change your mind?'

Holly shakes her head. 'I'm not going to change my mind. I'm either one thing or the other, and I made my choice a long time ago. Besides, I don't want anyone else having to live through what I did. Or any other human seeing that formula.'

Butler reaches forward, cupping her face in one giant hand. He doesn't say anything but his eyes are suspiciously bright. Holly swallows, her own eyes stinging.

Mulch looks away, busying himself with rifling through Minerva's things. Juliet comes up beside him, laying a hand on his shoulder.

'You okay?' she whispers.

'Yeah, 'course,' comes the gruff reply. But, when she crouches down beside him, he has to smile through tears.

'Hey, our plumbing's always open to you,' she says, shaking his shoulder gently, 'you know that, right?'

The dwarf sighs, covering her hand with one of his hairy ones. 'You're a good kid, Blondie.'

Juliet winks. 'And you're a better dwarf than you like to pretend.'

Artemis meanwhile has taken up Minerva's computer. 'We'll have to clean this out, delete all of her research.' He looks back at Holly, 'If you're sure.'

Holly shakes her head, 'I've already deleted everything. She had it all open. At least, I think it's all gone, I suppose you should probably double check.'

While everyone else is busy, Butler crosses the room to where Minerva is just regaining consciousness. Unnoticed by the others, he picks her up, carrying her into the outer room and laying her on a sofa. She groans quietly, blinking at the bloody sunrise above her.

'Red sky in the morning, sailor's warning,' the girl mumbles, saying the first thing that comes to mind. She shakes her head at her own rambling and focuses on the man beside her. 'Butler,' she sighs. 'It's all over then, if you're here.' She doesn't sound angry, or even disappointed, only tired. Looking out at the sky, she frowns. 'I just... I don't understand... why didn't she take the cure? Isn't that what she wants? She could have gone back to wherever it is she came from.'

'Apparently she doesn't want to go.'

Minerva's pretty face contorts with sudden rage. 'She was right! He doesn't deserve that kind of devotion!' she spits out, sitting up, her anger giving her strength. 'You, her - it's ridiculous. What on earth do you people see in him? He's a thief. Nothing but a charming, brilliant,' she swallows, her chin trembling, 'crook.'

Butler puts his arm around her, not seeing a criminal master mind or a child prodigy, only a sixteen year-old girl swept up in all the passion and misery of her first heartbreak.

'It isn't fair,' she sobs into his shirt. 'He has everything. Couldn't he be generous for once and take me too? We're p-perfect for each other. And she- she- Mon Dieu, Butler, this hurts so much - I can't believe how much this hurts,' she gasps.

He nods, rubbing her back and letting her cry everything out.

'Will it always be this painful?' she asks eventually, taking deep, steadying breaths.

'No,' he lies. 'No, it'll get easier. The first time is always the worst.'

She nods, shoulders still shaking. It's another moment before she sits up straight and brushes her hair behind her ears. 'Thank you,' she looks him in the eye. 'And I'm sorry ... I'm sorry I disappointed you. That I ... used you.'

Butler chuckles. 'I work for Artemis - don't worry, I'm used to it.'

Minerva manages a wobbly smile.

Holly, watching unnoticed from the ruins of the doorway, feels, for the first time in her life, sympathy for Minerva Paradizo.

Artemis frowns out of the window, all the other possible endings to this day running through his head. Stop torturing yourself, he thinks scornfully, leaning back in his seat. Looking down at the Brittany coastline, he shakes his head at his own masochism.

Holly enters the Lear jet cabin from the cockpit. The Butler siblings have told her they're flying, there's no point in arguing, so just get out of their hair. Mulch has locked himself in the toilet, trying not to be ill.

He watches her cross the floor towards him, and his breathing begins to return to normal.

She smiles, coming to sit next to him. Laying a hand on his arm she frowns, 'Artemis, you're stiff as a board. What's wrong with you?'

'Nothing,' he lies.

'Artemis -'

He turns, looking her in the eye. 'This isn't how it was supposed to end, is it?'

'What do you mean? How what is supposed to end?'

'This,' he gestures to her and himself. 'Us. Our friendship. By rights it should have ended in misery.'

'Artemis, what are you talking about?' She curls her legs under herself, reaching to take his hand.

'I was supposed to be mind wiped and you were supposed to be an elf and it was supposed to end.'

She purses her lips. 'Well, yes ... that's how it would have been if everything had gone to plan after Spiro.'

'No, I mean that's how it would have ended in the future. In a month, in a year, a decade; that's how we would have ended.'

'That's not how it'll end now.' She is assertive.

He looks out at the ocean again, silent.

'No,' he shakes his head at length, 'somehow, we finally managed to have a bit of luck.' He looks over at her face next to his. 'Though...' he lets the word hang between them; she knows full well what comes after.

'It was my choice.' She leans over, kissing his forehead, 'Get some sleep, Artemis. I'm not going anywhere.'

His lips twitch. 'I know,' he says. 'And it's hardly a choice, really - you can't do without me.'

'Go to sleep, Artemis, before I take the choice of unconsciousness out of your hands.'

He sighs dramatically and closes his eyes. Taking advantage of his feigned sleep, he lets his head droop onto her shoulder. She clucks her tongue, but doesn't move.