It was a brisk and cold evening in Ireland. The sun had just barely set and the dark velvety blue had already begun to take over the blazing oranges and reds. The wind danced through the forest beyond the Fowl Manor, creating an almost hypnotic subtle sway throughout the canopy, and carried a soft whistle as it breezed through one open window into the Manor.
Regardless of the weather, Artemis Fowl II was doing exactly what one would expect him to be doing on one of his numerous nights of solitude. On this particular night, he was occupying himself with being a grievance to an up and coming Chinese company developing an AI program. Specifically, he was copying, and deleting all their data off of their servers. Alright, call it stealing if you must. Semantics.
Occasionally, Artemis liked to indulge in a bit of classical music during his less than legal endeavours. The choice of the night was Beethoven. Some classics are simply too good to ever get tired of.He allowed himself a grin as he broke down the last remaining firewall with a couple more deft clicks as his ever capable (at least on a keyboard) fingers seemed to ghost over the last combination.
"And here I thought you had actually genuinely turned over a new leaf. I wish I could say I'm surprised, but I'm really not." An exasperated and disappointed sounding voice broke Artemis out of his concentration rather unpleasantly, as he jolted and whacked his against his screen.
"You can hardly judge me, seeing as you're the one that's breaking and entering, Captain. Unless you have a warrant." Artemis swiveled his chair around to face Holly, having regained his composure, as he steepled his hands in front of him, looking like the perfect aristocrat.
"Actually, I didn't break anything. I only entered. It's not my fault your window is wide open." Holly Short sneered right back at him, having taken off her helmet, and fluffing her hair to get rid of some of the helmet head. "And that's Major to you, civilian."
Artemis cocked an unimpressed brow at her before dropping the facade, and smiling genuinely at his best friend. "It's nice to see you too, Holly. Any particular reason for this unannounced visit? Goblin rebellion? Time travelling criminal? Tax forms?"
"Unfortunately, none of the above. I just finished a routine recon mission and I thought I'd stop by since I barely get any surface missions anymore. The only thing a promotion gets you is more paperwork." Holly rolled her eyes as she made herself comfortable on his relatively gigantic bed, stretching out to relax herself after a long 6 hours of wait-and-see-what-happens.
"And don't change the subject." She shot at him, half heartedly.
"If you're referring to whether I've turned over a new leaf as you put it, that's simply your opinion. My opinion is that I am doing the world a favor by relieving this company of their work. Why, I could do so much more than they could ever dream of with this source code. They just saved me time by building it from scratch, so now I don't have to." He declared proudly, not even the least bit repentant
"Bite me, Fowl." Holly retorted.
Artemis shrugged. "Suit yourself. Unfortunately, I cannot step away from this very important work for a while. It takes precision and care to make sure I'm not discovered, so in the meantime, help yourself to a book from my personal collection." He slipped his headphones back on and turned back to his computer, leaving Holly to huff at his back.
For her part, the real reason that Holly had decided to make a pitstop at Fowl Manor was because she had seen a thunderstorm blowing in, cutting off her route back to the shuttle port. So, instead of shivering to death in a camfoil tent, she made the executive decision to not shiver to death by making herself comfortable in Fowl Manor where they had actual walls, fireplaces and oversized blankets.
She hopped off the bed, and grabbed the first book she touched off of his shelf, before glancing out the window. The towering clouds were covering the entire sky at that point, and Artemis was too preoccupied to notice unless his room started flooding. She rolled her eyes at his back and walked over to close the window, before heading back to his cloud of a bed and wrapping herself up three times over.
Ten minutes had passed and the rain was hammering away at the Manor, as the wind rattled the old windows, and howled through the cracks. Holly was halfway through the second chapter when it happened.
A low rumble at first, followed by a groundshaking roar. Artemis' straightened a bit, having been brought back to reality. He slipped off his headphones, finally noticing that it had begun storming. He swiveled around to find Holly bundled up, only her hands and face visible through the blanket, completely engrossed in the book. "Oh you closed the window. Thank you Holly. It would have been a shame if this beautiful venetian carpet got soaked." He said nonchalantly as he stood up,to take a gaze out the window. He turned back to Holly, who hadn't yet moved an inch.
"You must really be enjoying that. Did you even hear what I said?" Artemis asked in a bemused tone.
"Hm. Carpet? Yes. Sure. That." She reeled off before returning to her reading, leaving Artemis slightly confused. Still, he didn't make a mountain out of that particular molehill, and returned to his work.
Holly, however, was not confused, or bemused or even paying attention to the book. Holly was petrified. Scared stiff by the thunder. But she would never let Artemis see that. Over my dead body will he ever get to tease me for a phobia. She mentally reassured herself. And it worked. For all of five seconds before another flash of lightning was followed by a clap of thunder. She didn't mean to, but she couldn't help the small yelp that betrayed her.
Artemis spun around, alerted by the strange sound. "Everything alright, Holly?" He enquired.
"Yea. Everything.. Everything is fine. Just. Just go back to your work." She tried her best not to stammer, but she knew he was no fool. He was already reading her like a book, but he chose to give her the benefit of the doubt, returning to his work.
She would not make another peep. She mentally swore, trying to get herself lost into the novel, hoping it would distract her enough.
But nature decided to have none of that, as another burst of lightning exploded with a crack of thunder. Holly's hands reactively shot to cover her ears as she squeezed her eyes shut. Of course, this caused the book she was reading to fly out of her hands and tumble on the floor with a series of thuds.
Artemis twisted around, and had his suspicions confirmed. Holly was afraid of thunder. He noted in his mind, as he got up to join her on the bed.
"Holly?" He called out to her as gently as he could, doing everything in his power to not poke fun at her for a phobia. He would do that later of course. But his multiple psychology degrees told him that right now, he needed to calm his friend, and console her. Because she genuinely was afraid.
"Holly. It's OK. You're in a safe place, alright? Everything is fine." He tried to make his voice as calm and soothing as possible. What he didn't know was that he never needed to put in that much effort to reassure her, because he naturally had that affect on her. He had for a long time.
"I know, I know. I'm fine OK? Really. I'm fine." She proclaimed defiantly, as she crossed her arms and turned away from him, too embarrassed to face him.
"Holly? Are you... afraid of thunder?" Artemis asked, slowly and carefully.
Instinctively, Holly wanted to deny it vehemently. She wouldn't ever want to show fear or weakness in front of anyone, let alone Artemis. But for some reason, she couldn't bring herself to hide it from him.
"Y... Yes." She muttered, barely audible, red tinting her cheeks.
Artemis took a deep breath as he slowly reached out a hand and placed it in her shoulder. He wouldn't tease her for it. She was extremely vulnerable and baring a side of her that she would never ever reveal. She was allowing herself to be afraid in front of him. She was trusting him not to screw it up, and he knew her well enough to acknowledge it.
"It's alright, Holly. The storm will pass soon. The wind is strong, so it'll be blown away in a matter of minu-"
CRASH!
Another burst of thunder rocked the earth. By the time the rumble had died down, Artemis was the one that was frozen. Because Holly had instinctively launched herself into him, clutching at his shirt, burying her face into his chest. It took a few seconds for his brain to comprehend that beautiful Holly Short was clutching onto him as though he were a life preserver. And that she was hearing his erratic heartbeat quite possibly revealing more than he would like. Still, he found some semblance of brain capacity as he placed a hand over her ear, hoping to calm her somewhat.
Of course, in that moment he would forget just how sensitive an elf's ears were, and what the exact implications of touching an elf's ear were. In that instant, Holly gasped as her eyes fluttered and her body rolled as a wave of pleasure flooded her system. A split second later, she composed herself and shot away from Artemis, leaving him with blank look on his face as opposed to the shocked one she was wearing. She watched as the gears in his head clicked into place as his own face flushed, bright pink against alabaster.
"I'm so sorry, Holly... The ears... I.. Forgot. I'm so very sorry. I was just trying to calm you. I didn't mean.. I didn't." He stammered. Artemis Fowl stammered.
Before Holly could decide whether she was angry at him for touching her ear, or upset with him that he seemed to regret it, and formulate a response another crack of thunder ripped through the Manor, and she found herself back in his arms.
"Just. Shut up. And hold me. And don't. Say. Anything!" She spoke into his shirt once more, hiding her own flushed face. There were way too many emotions rocking around inside her, but all she needed at the moment was to get through the storm. Everything else could wait.
Minutes ticked by, as the rain raged on. Artemis decided to take a gamble and try to distract her somewhat. "Holly? If you don't mind my asking, why are you afraid of thunder? Surely you've dealt with a lot more deadly and terrifying things. Bombs? Trolls?"
"I can disarm a bomb and shoot a troll. I can't really do that to thunder now can I? And what did I say about shutting up?" She mumbled, still refusing to look anywhere except into his shirt. It took a few seconds, but she realised that talking to him felt... relatively pleasant.
"We don't have storms underground. And you know how we fairies are more connected to nature than you humans. Not everyone is afraid like this I guess. It's a phobia. It's not supposed to make sense. We don't come topside during storms much either. Don't really like the cold. So, to me, thunder feels like the sky and the earth are at war. And I'm helpless and caught in the middle."
Artemis nodded silently as he very carefully stroked her hair, taking care not to brush against her ears accidentally.
"When you put it that way, I suppose it makes sense." He mused. Before he could add to it, another roar of thunder sounded and Holly tensed up in his arms. However, he noted that she recovered rather quickly this time around. Perhaps it was working.
"I suppose I see it differently." Artemis thought out loud.
"How so?" Holly was curious and intrigued by the chance to get some insight into the mind of Artemis on a topic that she actually had a chance to understand. So she slowly tilted her head up to look at him for the first time since it started pouring.
"Well. Aside from the scientific aspect of it, friction and static and whatnot, I do quite marvel at it. For those few seconds, or sometimes split seconds, the sheer power and force of the phenomenon around me, it sets me free. Truly free. There is nothing to think about, nothing to feel about, no fear, no worry, no responsibility. That overwhelming power erases everything around me, and for those few instances, all that exists is me, and the rumble that resonates within me. That helplessness that you fear so much, I revel in it. I crave it."
Holly was stunned. Artemis was lost somewhere in his thoughts, gazing outside the window. She had never before seen him so at peace and relaxed and single minded.
And free.
She was looking at Artemis who for the first time since they had met, looked free of the world. No worries about his mother, or father, or world ending catastrophes. Simply the man that was Artemis Fowl II, her best friend. Her magnificent, genius, brave, selfless, kind best friend who was going out of his way for her benefit. My Arty...In that instant, what was perhaps the loudest burst of thunder clapped throughout the sky. And Holly watched as Artemis' eyes closed slowly, and a serene smile took over his face.
And she didn't so much as flinch.
Seconds passed and he opened his eyes, to look down at her in his arms. She quickly turned away, hiding her wonderstruck face from him.
"Do you get what I mean, Holly?" he asked as he stroked his fingers through her hair.
Holly thought about it for a moment. A feeling of pure freedom where nothing else existed but her. Thunder didn't do that for her. She suddenly realised that there was something far more powerful in her life that had managed to erase even her crippling fear of thunder.
A certain human who happened to be in her company at that very moment.
"Yes. I do." She replied, blissfully at peace for perhaps the first time in her life.