Thank you everyone for being so patient while this chapter slowly came together. I started soon after the last one, but got so busy, and then, hell.. it was after Christmas. Oh well, sorry about that. I hope the length makes up for it, (if my writing doesn't). This is the second last chapter (just to clarify) and I would really appreciate reviews if you haven't already. So, to the story!
Trouble slowly regained consciousness. A blur descended on his mind, and he couldn't fully shake the effects of the sedative off. He was in some sort of cellar, there were no windows, and the only light was from an ancient mini sun strip that feebly flickered the longer Trouble gazed at it. There was a door, but it had no lock or handle, obviously the secure lock, whether it be a combination lock or palm print scanner, was on the other side of the door. Trouble was in no position to try and open it anyway, so he examined the contents of the room, including the mudman curled in the fetal position on the stone floor.
Trouble barely blinked, but his heart started thundering so fast he was in danger of accidentally shielding. The mud filth who stole Holly from me. He thought vengefully, and Trouble found the strength to stand up. Strength born from unimaginable hatred.
Mulch found Holly sobbing against a wall. "I don't know where he is!" she confided to the dwarf as he tried hard not to stare at the red blotches on the face of the elf he had thought nearly indestructible. Well, with his new found memories, Holly Short now seemed to almost have the emotions of a normal fairy. Well, apart from the compulsive kiss-a-mudman disorder, but what could Mulch do about that?
"Maybe he went back or something. I mean, why would Artemis go here?"
Mulch's efforts didn't help at all. Holly turned towards him with gaunt eyes. "He's still here."
Mulch was now even more confused. "How do you know?"
Holly shook her head and paced across the small alley, "I just know."
The dwarf blinked. Yesterday the world had seemed almost simple to him, now it was utterly bizarre.
"Maybe you need a rest." Mulch said softly, placing a hand on Holly's shoulder. If anyone who only knew him from his formidable reputation would've witnessed this, there would be no hard core reputation left.
Holly choked on a sob. "I need to find Artemis and a-apologize." Mulch now felt himself shaking. Holly Short stuttering. Probably the most terrifying thing he had ever witnessed.
"Apologize for what?"
Holly broke away from Mulch and aimlessly started walking. "For breaking his heart."
Mulch barely heard this, and immediately wished he hadn't. He pulled put out a phone and started to call LEP Plaza, while trailing Holly from a few meters behind. "Foaly, we have a situation here." Mulch frowned, "No. This has got to do with Holly! She's..." Mulch turned around and stared at the figure of his friend lopsidedly walking, "Heartbroken."
It was Foaly's turn to be utterly speechless. Frowning at the communicator as if he had misheard, Foaly brought it back to his ear and took a deep breath, he didn't want to seem shocked. "And may I inquire as to why Holly seems so... out of sorts?"
Foaly could almost picture Mulch frowning and chewing some miserable creature as he formed his words. "Okay pony boy. Artemis is missing and Holly is a bit frantic."
Usually at this point of time in a conversation, Foaly would offer some snide comment and his trademark sarcasm, perhaps bringing up Artemis' utter lack of sense of direction. Instead the word heartbroken seemed to hang in the air, Foaly heard Mulch take a breath and continue, "Holly seems to have in mind that she needs to apologize to Artemis for b-breaking his heart."
Foaly sighed somewhat dramatically and ran his hand down his long face, "Mulch, tell me. How long is it before every being on and in earth knows about the catastrophe that is Holly Short and Artemis Fowl? And more to the point, will it be a happy ending, the kind that you read in a fluffy romance novel published by some human that doesn't know much about grammar and the ways of the world?"
Mulch frowned, "I don't think that's very to the point Foaly, but I think I get what pony- I mean centaur genius is implying."
"Just answer the question!" Foaly cried in exasperation.
"Okay okay, I think, that if they make up, get married blah blah blah, and have little minions- er babies, and these little devils have Holly's sense of obedience, and Artemis' brains... The world is doomed."
Foaly sighed, "Sadly, I agree."
Artemis roused, and before he accidentally alerted whoever had kidnapped him that he was awake, Artemis recalled the events of the day. Opal had captured him. That was certain. Why had he been in a dim alleyway? Holly had apologized to Trouble, and he Artemis, was worried that if he didn't take his medication soon, Orion would take over. And what Orion would do to this already mucked up state of affairs, Artemis didn't dare to think. He did dare to think however, that he was in an incredibly perilous situation that required some quick thinking on his part. Artemis shifted slightly, and he heard no response. Artemis needed some information, so he slowly opened his mismatched eyes, and saw Trouble's purple eyes almost glowing red with something that Artemis was afraid to admit was undoubtedly hatred.
The mud filth seemed to stir, and Trouble froze, slowly Artemis' eyes opened. And Trouble came face to face with the same mismatched colour eyes of Holly Short. Trouble took a step back, he wasn't expecting to see anything that would remind him of the elf he had come close to being in love with. But, this would hurt Holly deeply... She was seemingly in love with Artemis, and there was that obvious link. Trouble's anger cooled a bit. He crouched down and looked straight at the obviously terrified human. "Tell me all about what you have with Holly. And DO NOT leave anything."
It took a few hurried minutes of Artemis' brief yet encompassing description for Trouble to have the whole story. He now understood. Trouble stood up, nodded at Artemis and kicked him hard in the stomach. The most disturbing thing, was Trouble wasn't enjoying this at all.
Holly and Mulch were standing in the alley. "He's somewhere here. I.." Holly doubled over with an apparent sudden pain to her stomach. "Holly!" Mulch grabbed his shaking friend and let her lean against him. Holly looked up with pained eyes. "Artemis. I know where he is... the bond is telling me. Mulch, call No1, we need backup."
Mulch turned around to call the demon warlock. When he turned back around, Holly was gone. "D'Arvit." Mulch confined to no one.
Holly knew instinctively where Artemis was. She turned a corner, turned another one, and spotted an ordinary looking door. She ran up to it and with a swipe of her Omnitool, broke in. Holly felt her stomach aching unbearably, Artemis was badly hurt. More reason to do this quickly. Holly gritted her teeth and opened the door, but gasped in complete shock when she saw who was inside.
Opal was sitting at a table, with... Grub.
Opal smiled that sickly smile which made Holly want to vomit. "Well well. Look who we have here Grub! A lovesick LEP officer ready to save her dear mudman." Opal spat. "I despise you, your sickly feelings." Opal pointed a finger at Holly. "Good thing you won't have any emotions soon." Holly cried out in indescribable, excruciating agony as Opal hit Holly with wave after wave of magic, sent to bring the mightiest warrior to his knees in deafening pain. In the other room, Artemis suddenly went white, whiter than he had been I should say. He couldn't muffle this yell. Opal heard it over Holly. Opal tsked and stopped shooting bolts of magic at the aforementioned female officer, who collapsed to the floor immediately. "I think Trouble is being a bit too harsh on our poor Artemis." Holly paled, "Trouble?" she gasped while feebly readjusting her grip on the omnitool, knowing that she'd run out of luck soon.
Opal smirked. She considered carefully, and decided Holly thinking Trouble was on her side wouldn't hurt anyone but Holly, and Trouble, if Holly reached him.
"Yes, dear Trouble's been an absolute treat. His undeniable hate for mud filth vermin makes him the perfect "hit man" to coin a mudman phrase." Opal wiggled her fingers.
"And combined with the fact that he is a trained LEPretreival commander AND that you trust him. Mmmm... delicious."
Holly blinked hard, her breath labored. She raised the omnitool above her, aiming for Opal's legs underneath the table. Holly sent a silent prayer to her mother as she rammed the device at Opal's leg. The tool latched onto the pixie, who screamed in agony as it dug into her leg, clicking mechanically as the omnitool searched for the workings of the 'lock' it was attached to. Bursts of blue radiated from where Opal had been injured, yet the sparks were dimming, and to the cliché, she had exhausted all her magic on torture. "Grub!" Opal yelled as the elf shook his head. "Sorry Ms Koboi." Grub picked up a nearby saucepan, and wacked Opal right in the head, knocking her out cold. Holly stood up shakily, everything was going too fast, she turned to Grub. "Artemis." Holly gasped as she slid to the floor again.
Artemis lay on the floor. "I hope that will be enough." He stated, barely audible. Trouble nodded and offered a hand for Artemis to stand up. "The good thing is," Artemis added while rubbing his temple, "that I really believed you would hurt me, which would aid Holly knowing where we are." Trouble nodded. "I am quite sorry that I had to do that, and it's admirable that you would put yourself in harms way for Holly to save us."
"Not only to save us," Artemis injected. "but to finally catch that villainous pixie."
Trouble nodded somberly, "I just can't believe that Grub would be in league with Opal."
It was Artemis' turn to nod, "Yes, but he could be mesmerized. I don't believe he would do such a thing either." Trouble wiped his rather bloodshot eyes. "I should notice these things!" he all but shouted, "He's my brother!"
Artemis was listening to Trouble, but his bond suddenly pulled him out of range, Artemis widened his eyes as he sensed Holly's presence. "Holly came alone."
"D'Arvit!" Trouble started to pace the room, each step thundering down and sending shivers down Artemis' spine. "This is so typical." Trouble murmured, and Artemis just had to agree.
The human walked towards the door, "I can hear Opal. She's speaking to Holly!" He ushered Trouble to come forward, and they placed their ears on the door.
"You, your sickly feelings. Good thing you won't have any emotions soon."
And Artemis cried out, head banging against the steel door as he thrashed in waves of agony that he was incapable of keeping silent. Trouble jerked backwards and looked around with fright, he heard Holly dimly over Artemis, and he realised what was happening. Trouble tried to calm Artemis, but the mudboy accidentally lashed out and struck Trouble straight in the solar plexus. A soft groan was all that the Commander could muster before he slid to the ground, unconscious before he did.
Holly came to exactly 142 seconds after she has injured Opal. Her body has used this time to reboot and check systematically for internal bleeding, organ failure, brain damage, and all manner of common and not-so-common unsightly injuries. Holly did not have more than a scrap of magic, but she was strengthened by the closeness of the person she was bonded to, although he was still unconscious. Holly stood up, not feeling as stable as she would've liked, and the sight that awaited her was worth the unsteady legs. Grub had found Foaly, Mulch and No1 wandering along the alley, not to mention the LEP squad that flanked them. They had burst in and secured an unconscious Opal, and No1 was standing close to Holly, with the intention of gently rousing her after her system had rebooted. "Are you feeling alright?" The demon asked her with an air of concern. Holly responded by doing something that was definitely not in the LEP rule book on the matter of what to so when waking to find ones self in a area that still needed securing. Holly sprang forward and hugged No1 tightly. "I'm fine." she whispered hoarsely. Holly stepped back and cherished the sight of an unconscious Opal being carried out by the LEP team. The pixie was muttering softly. No1 followed Holly's gaze, and commented, "I've done a complete erase of her memory of going forward in time, and of your visit to her time. I'm opening the time stream in five minutes, and this mess will be all over."
Holly shook her head slowly, "I hate to think we are letting her go to become such a villain. If we lock her up or kill her, we could save Julius, we could..."
"We can't risk changing the past so significantly." Foaly butted in, though he shed a tear at the fact that they were, in perspective, signing Commander Root's death sentence. "Who knows what damage that would issue to the space time continuum? The only thing we can do is be grateful that Opal is locked away in her cell in Atlantis, and while we are still breathing, she can never do any harm again."
To this Holly sighed, and her thoughts brought her to Artemis.
"Artemis!" she called anxiously, as she ran towards the locked door where she knew the mud boy was. Holly banged the locked door with her fists, and Grub came forward.
"Let me." He entered a complicated series of numbers onto a keypad and the door swung inward, revealing two unconscious males lying on the floor. Holly rushed to Artemis' side, where there were bruises on his temple and his shirt was torn. Holly fixed his hair and wiped the blood off Artemis' cheek. Holly looked sideways at Trouble, knowing he was going to pay for what he had done. Almost blind with rage, Holly tried to muster her self control... and failed.