A/N: This might not be a one-shot like the other stuff I've posted. In fact, I will most definitely be continuing this with some awesomesauce A/H stuff. Please review! :)

Artemis was at home in his bed. Not plotting. Not exploiting anyone. Not building super computers out of stolen fairy technology. The Irish genius had been in an accident several days previously after the LEP had gotten a lead on Opal Koboi's location and had gone after her. The location had been correct, but it wasn't what they expected. After the rock slide she had been caught under before her initial escape, they had expected her to be weak, injured, not prepared for their attack, but she was waiting for them and Artemis had been the target of her revenge.

Captain Holly Short stood at his bedside, with Butler guarding the door to his charge's room. The captain was there to attempt another healing, but wasn't sure how much good it would do. After all, the first two healings had done nothing to wake the boy. She looked at her friend, who was pale as death. This was how he usually looked of course, but it had seemed worse to Holly the last few days.

"Alright – third time's the charm." She muttered to herself, placing her hands on Artemis's chest and allowing her magic to flow out of her. For the third time in as many days, his body was enveloped in a blue light, before all the magic went towards his head. That was obviously where the injury had occurred, though the best LEP doctors were unable to find anything physically wrong with it. As far as they could tell, the boy simply wouldn't wake up.

The magic faded as it was absorbed into Artemis. Nothing had changed. He looked like he was sleeping, nothing more, and no amount of magic could wake him up.

"Anything?" a voice spoke in Holly's earpiece.

"Nothing, Foaly," she sighed. "I don't understand it. What's wrong with him? He should be awake by now."

"I don't know Holly, I really don't. Tell me again what happened. Everything you remember."

"He was hit with something, but I didn't see what. There wasn't a mark on him before the healings though! We looked and looked but-"

"Could it have been magic?"

"What?"

"Magic – could magic have hit him? Opal could have blasted him with something."

"Well yeah, I suppose it's possible, but we have no way of knowing what hit him, not now after all the healings."

There was nothing they could do but wait for him to wake up.

Luckily, they wouldn't have long to wait. The next day Artemis rose from his bed, looking tired, and a bit paler than normal, but otherwise healthy. However, it was quickly clear that something was wrong with him.

Holly Short had been given a short vacation to oversee Artemis's recovery after the accident. The LEP had recognized the danger he'd been putting himself in all these years for the good of the People and wanted to make sure he would be around to help them again if the need arose.

Holly was the first to see him after he woke up, and the first to realise what was wrong.

"Artemis!" she rushed to stand at his bedside when she saw him open his eyes. "Are you alright?"

The boy gave her a puzzled look and shook his head, but didn't speak yet.

"What is it? You're head – does it hurt? That's where you got hit wasn't it?"

Artemis shook his head again and closed his eyes.

"Artemis. Artemis, what is it?"

Then his spoke, so quietly and quickly that Holly wasn't sure she had heard anything at all. "You're speaking to me like you know me girl which is definitely not the case so I would appreciate it if you would leave me and get Butler."

"I-I'm sorry. What?"

"You heard me."Artemis sat up, and glared at her. "Go get Butler."

Holly felt like she'd been slapped. How could Artemis have forgotten her? What had happened? Instead of trying to speak to him again though, she did as he had requested and left his room to fetch Butler. The look of shock from what had just happened must have shown on her face because as soon as she closed the door behind her, Butler asked, "What happened?"

"He woke up."

"And? Did he tell you what happened?"

"He doesn't remember any of it. He doesn't remember me."

"Well maybe this is a blessing in disguise," Foaly said in her earpiece.

"How so Foaly?" she said, gritting her teeth.

"I mean, we wanted to have him mind-wiped a few years ago and now it's finally happened. We could just leave him be. We don't have to have anything to do with humans anymore!"

"But we need him Foaly. We need his help to stop Opal! It's our fault this happened to him and now we're just going to leave him?"

"I don't see what else we can do Holly. I know it's a bit cruel to leave him like this, but I don't see what we can do! You've healed him three times Holls."

"And I'll heal him a hundred more times if I have to!"

"What is all this yelling about? Butler! There you are!" Artemis had left his room. He wore a scarlet coloured robe over his pyjamas. "I thought I asked you to get Butler."

"I did get him." Holly had forgotten how annoying Artemis could be. "We were just on our wa-"

"Butler," Artemis interrupted. "Could you escort this young woman out of the Manor please?"

Holly wasn't going to listen to any more of this. "Young woman?" She stood up straighter, but of course still wasn't taller than three feet. "I'll have you know that I am nearly a century old! What is wrong with you Artemis?" She sighed angrily. "Come on!" she grabbed his arm and pulled him back into his bedroom. "We've got to figure things out."

They'd been in his bedroom for nearly an hour and although they hadn't figured out what had happened to him, they had discovered how much damage had been done.

Artemis sat crossed-legged on his bed with Holly sitting across from him in an armchair. The boy's eyes were closed and his fingertips were raised to massage his temples as though all the information given to him was causing him pain.

"So let me check that I've understood all this. I kidnapped you five-"

"Eight actually. I forgot to tell you about Hybras."

"Fine. I kidnapped you eight years ago and since then, we've become friends?"

Holly nodded. "Yes. But you've lost your memories."

"I see...And how did this happen?"

"We're ah...not sure yet. We're working on it though."

"Well I'm not sure that I believe you yet, but as there seem to be huge gaps in my memory it seems I have no choice to listen to you for now."

"Good, because I know a lot more than you do about what you've been doing for the last five years."

"I thought you said we knew each other for eight years?"

"Well I suppose you could think of it that way. But we technically skipped over three of those years."

Artemis looked distressed. Talk of time travel was too much for him at the moment.

"I'm sorry Artemis; I know this must be hard on you right now. Seven years of your memory gone. But it's not all bad."

Artemis nodded. She was right. He had thought his father was still missing in Russia and his mother bedridden after losing her mind, but he had come to find out that they were both doing well and that he had two younger brothers.

"And I'm sorry Arty, I really am, but we need you to do something."

"What might that be Captain Short?"

"Opal Koboi, the pixie I told you about, well, she's still out there."

"And you need my help to track her down?" Artemis grinned.

"Yeah, Mud Boy, we need your help. But first, we have to see about getting your memories back."

Underground in Haven City, Foaly was sitting in the Operations Booth and looking at a scan of Artemis's brain that Holly had sent him.

"I don't know if I can do it Holly."

"What do you mean?" Holly was still aboveground but had gone into Artemis's study to speak with Foaly privately.

"I mean I don't see any possible way of getting his memories back. If I knew what Opal did to him maybe, but we haven't got a clue."

"So he'll never remember?"

"I don't know. Maybe something will trigger the memories and they'll come back. But maybe nothing will work and he'll never remember."