Another bit of this that I had written. Wanted to give you folks something since I'm back at uni now so updates shall be scarce ¬_¬
P.S. To all you Resurrecting Annie followers - I am writing Chapter 16, do not worry. But it's a beast, so you'll have to bare with me.
In the mean time...
Cora 0.2 (AKA Pauli)
Artemis Fowl was happily accepting of the fact that, at twenty-two years of age, his entire world was the size of two people.
"Who's the best girl? Who's a clever girl?"
The baby on the blanket, surrounded by an ocean of toys, nappies and other soft and practical paraphernalia that is part and parcel of taking care of a very new and tiny human, was person number one.
"Are you a clever girl?" Person number two tickled her baby's belly. "Are you a clever girl?"
"Holly," said Artemis softly. "Stop asking her stupid questions…"
The elf ignored him and beamed at her baby.
"Yes you are! Yes you are!"
Cora giggled as her mother pulled her gently into a sitting position and a line of dribble trailed down her chin. Holly quickly grabbed the edge of a blanket, wiping the baby clean.
"Can't have you being all messy like your daddy now can we?" she murmured.
Artemis looked affronted.
"Excuse me?"
"You dribble in your sleep, my love. It's sweet, but messy." She smiled and kissed him on the head as she left the room. "Stay there, I'm just going to grab some more wipes."
Artemis grumbled quietly, staring after his wife, before catching the somewhat intense stare of their daughter.
"You are perfectly aware of your intelligence," he said wryly, sliding closer to her across the carpet. "You need no affirmation."
Cora didn't answer. She gazed openly at her father as if he were the most captivating thing on Earth. Her hands padded absently at the blanket.
He smiled. "Who's a clever girl?"
She slapped at the floor, giggling, opening and closing a toothless mouth.
"Cora… It's Cora…" he told her.
Pauli García Butler was a knobbly-kneed six-year-old with a shock of caramel curls and eyes so dark they swallowed light. He had the thin lips and long nose of his Butler mother, but the freckles and sun-browned skin of his father: a home-grown Mexican García. He hardly spoke, though he had five languages in his head from which to choose from, spending most of his childhood watching; watching the world and observing. Always quiet, always aware...
Which was a good job, as Cora Fowl could make more than enough noise for the both of them.
"Then the troll just- just bursts down the door like BOOM!" The four-year-old threw her arms wide, her hazel eyes wild and dancing. "And the knight he- he…" She looks frantically around her before snatching up a woe-be-gone teddy bear with a sieve on its head. "And the knight – which is this bear because I haven't got a proper knight, – the knight says, 'wow! You're so big' and the troll says–" She grabs a stuffed gnome "– 'I'm going to smash you!' But the knight's really brave, even though he's forgotten his armour–" She looks at the bear and pulls the sieve from its head. "Even though he's forgotten his armour, so he stands up to the troll and says 'stay away from my sister'!"
Pauli's brow furrowed.
"What?" Cora's arms fell. "The knight's got a sister – did I forget to tell you that bit?"
Pauli nodded.
She shook her head impatiently. "Well he's got a sister anyway." She raised her arms again. "And she's had a spell cast on her so she's all silly. So when she sees the troll she says 'that's a pretty troll' and the knight, her brother, says 'shhhh! You're being silly!' and then the troll rudely interrupts with – 'ARRRRRRGGHHHH!'" She grimaces and pushes the gnome's face into the teddy bear's face. "But the knight's really brave so he stands up to the troll which is a mistake because the troll goes–" She tosses the bear to the floor and pummels it with the gnome. "Smash smash smash all over the knight, and because he hasn't got armour on he gets really hurt and his sister just stands there because she's still silly..." She looks up at Pauli from the floor. "Are you still listening to me?"
The little boy stops playing with his fingers.
"Because then the troll's standing over the sister and saying 'you look tasty,' and the sister says 'Oooooh' and is about to get it when–" The little girl leaps up, grabbing a winged doll from her bedside table. "–the fairy arrives!" She swoops the doll down and around before ramming it into the gnome. "And she smashes the troll out of the way, saving the knight's sister! But then–" Cora's eyes grow wide with the drama "– just when everyone thinks the troll is finished… it reaches up… and pulls her out of the air!" She forces the gnome's gloved hand to swipe at the doll, crashing it to the floor beside the bear. "And now both the knight and the fairy are WIA. BUT!" The little boy starts. "BUT! The fairy has magic and she chooses to help the knight!So he rises up! Slowly… slowly… and slays the troll!" The teddy bear collides heavily with the gnome. "And so he saves his sister! And saves the fairy! And really just saves the whole day!" The four-year-old flops down onto the carpet, panting. "Any questions?"
Pauli fidgets. He drags a sleeve across his nose and stares at his knees. "If the fairy has magic," he says, in a soft, accented murmur, "why didn't… why didn't she just help herself?"
The little girl snorts, flicking her fringe back from her face, a flaming auburn that curls at the tips of her pigtails. "Because…" She twists her cupid-bow lips. "Because… because she's a Butler fairy!" she decides. "She's down… and the knight's down… but she helps the knight because she's supposed to. LikeDommy would help Daddy if they were both hurt. See?"
Pauli's head hangs a little lower. "I guess so…"
Cora snaps at him. "You should know so! You're a Butler and one day you'll have to help your person first when you're hurt."
"But the fairy doesn't help herself at all," he says, looking up at her. "She has one go and then… and then just gives up."
Cora shakes her head. "No. She… She's just too badly hurt. She does keep some magic back for herself. But the knight gets up and sorts out the troll once and for all!"
"But why doesn't–?"
The little girl scowls and gets up from the floor, clapping the non-existent dust from her purple leggings. "I want to play a different game now," she announces. "This one's boring."
"Do you remember when my uncle Beckett climbed this tree?" Cora Fowl smiled at Pauli, one arm slung around the trunk of the great elm. "He got stuck halfway up and my dad had to fetch a ladder."
"You mean my unclehad to get a ladder," said Pauli, softly, picking his way across the roots. "Your dad couldn't lift a ladder."
Cora frowned. "He's good at other things…"
"Si... Just not lifting things."
They looked at each other, and Cora's lips twitched.
"Yes, alright, he's terrible at lifting things – but he never needs to do it!"
Pauli nodded. "He's got my Uncle."
"Exactly…"
Cora sighed and slumped down at the base of the tree, her sandals sending up clouds of dust as they scuffed across the earth. She plucked at a dead leaf.
"You know–?"
"No."
The girl scowled at her companion. "Are you going to listen to me?"
"Do I have a choice?"
She thrust out a hand and hit him hard across the shins. He clutched at his leg, grimacing in pain... and then stopped faking.
"Si, I'm listening."
"Good. You know I'm actually glad you came to stay?"
Pauli sat down carefully in the grass, folding his stringy legs.
"I thought I was going to be stuck with dad again on one of his 'educational excursions'." Cora pulled a face and looked at the leaf in her hands. "I mean… I like some of the places... Rome was cool." She tossed the leaf away. "But this is better."
Pauli smiled from beneath his hair. The July winds were teasing through it, jostling the caramel curls that had darkened in the three years since he'd last seen Fowl manor. Wild but soft: his father and mother would always ruffle them as they passed each other in their home… but he knew he'd have to lose them soon. He was a Garcia-butler, but a Butler none-the-less; and training began at ten years old. His mother had been reluctant to sign the papers at first, to let him go and suffer through the same semi-ordeal as she had, but Pauli had spent time with his uncle and his many, distant Butler cousins. He wanted to go to Madam Ko: to learn how to fight, how to protect. It was in his blood.
When he looked up, Cora had stood from the ground and was already halfway up the trunk of the elm.
"Cora!" he cried, his heart rate rocketing.
"Calm down," she replied, in deeply condescending tones. "I've climbed this thing a thousand times."
He got up quickly, his fingers bunching into fists. "Cora, the bark's wet. You could–"
"Pauli." She took another step up, rose another metre. "I am neither my uncle nor my father. I can handle this tree–"
And then her sandal slipped. She gave a short, surprised gasp, her hand clutching on thin air… and fell.
For Pauli, the moment played in slow motion. Her back was sinking, heading straight towards the earth. That would hit the ground first, she'd be winded, bruised, her head would ricochet back against the ground …
Pauli saw his only available option – and took it.
The wind was thrown from Cora's lungs. She had hit something hard, but it wasn't as hard as she had expected. The earth ran sideways and then tilted. There was a crack. Her cheek smacked hard against the earth and she rolled, something hard wrapped around her chest. Her face was throbbing, raw, and she could feel bruises already forming on her hips and her elbows… but that was all.
"Pauli?" she gasped. "Pauli, are you alright?"
The boy gritted his teeth and squeezed his eyes shut. He really didn't want to cry in front of her, but... madre dios!
Cora escaped from his tanned arms, her hazel eyes focused and sharp. "Are you hurt?" she demanded.
He shook his head, tried to move but instead gave a cry of pain. His right knee was burning. ThenCora caught sight of the strange kink in his leg.
"Alright," she said, as Pauli sucked in another agonised breath. "It's alright."
"Get… my uncle!" gasped the boy.
"Shhh."
She laid her hands on his leg, one on his thigh, one on his shin.
Pauli was sweating now, shaking. "Cora–!"
"I said shhh!"
She took a deep breath and for a moment there was silence. Pauli's whole body was trembling. He had never been in as much pain in his life, he wanted to cry and scream and– Argh! He could see it now; the bump sticking out of his leg. He bit down hard on his bottom lip and tilted his head back. Cora face was hidden, her thick red hair falling like a veil over her eyes.
"Cora," he pleaded weakly.
She didn't move.
"Cora… por favor."
And then he felt it; heat beginning to creep up his leg. Not the burning, agonising fire of his broken leg but a comforting warmth, a tingling. He looked down. Sparks were trailing from Cora's fingertips, dancing blue bodies, ethereal, wrapping his wounded limb in light. He gasped, stiffened his arms ready to crawl backwards–
"Don't move," ordered Cora.
But it didn't sound like Cora. Cora was a singular, six-year-old girl. The voice Pauli had heard surely belonged to a chamber choir, three hundred strong, warming up in a medieval cathedral somewhere...
His eyes widened as his leg was completely consumed by the glow. There was a deep, melting, sensation in his bones… then his limb snapped back straight.
"Ah!" cried Pauli.
"Sorry," sang Cora.
The little boy looked up at her, the light, the symphony in her words, and his eyes finally filled with tears.
A few seconds later and the job was done. Cora's hands remained on his now perfectly functional leg, though Pauli could feel the tremble.
"You…" She swallowed. Pauli realised there was fear in her eyes, real fear. "Are you alright?"
"I… Yes."
"You can't tell anyone," she whispered.
Pauli didn't say anything. Cora took her hands from his leg and grabbed his T-Shirt.
"You can't tell anyone!" she shouted, shaking the material. "You can't tell anyone!"
He sat up. "No," he said hoarsely. "No, I–" He coughed, shook his head. "I… Never."
"Daddy…?"
"A-hmm…?"
Cora padded across the carpet to the window desk, her bare feet silent and soft. She reached a hand up and curled her fingers over the top of the leather chair. It swivelled slightly in her grasp.
Artemis Fowl took off his glasses and smiled at his daughter. "And what merits this visit?"
She shrugged. "Nothing."
"Oh really?" He reached around her waist, turning her back to him before hoisting her into his lap. "Just a social trip then?"
She nodded at her fingers, her elbows resting on the long forearms now wrapped about her stomach. "What are you working on?"
There was a large blueprint spread across the desk, smothered with pencil scratchings and neat, diagrammatic alterations.
"What do you think?"
His daughter's eyes narrowed. "I'd say a solar-diffuser, but then why the pistons?"
Artemis smiled. "Why indeed?"
Cora shot him a shrewd look before tossing a hand in the direction of the paper. Sparks scattered from her fingertips, picking up each pencil component print and swelling them from their former 2D size. Artemis's machine was built in mid-air, his little girl assembling each piece with simple nods and flicks of her eyes. Soon, it floated back to the desk; an engine in miniature. A sun beam hit squarely to its overlarge solar panel and the pistons and flywheels began to turn. Artemis leant forward. The machine trundled across the wood of the desk, swiftly picking up momentum. As it shot off the edge, he caught it one handed, and the engine burst into golden dust.
"Needs less resistance," he murmured, light winking about his fingertips.
Cora's hands tightened on his other arm.
"When will I see Mummy again?"
Artemis stilled.
"Soon," he said softly, "soon."
"How soon?"
He sighed and took off his glasses, folded them neatly into a case on the desk.
"You know Mummy's busy…"
"She's always busy!" shouted Cora, and the mullioned windows actually began to tremor. "Always! She's obviously making time for other things, so why can't she make time for me?"
Artemis watched a gel-sack paper-weight ripple atop his blueprints. The floorboards began to vibrate beneath his chair and Cora's body heated up in his arms. There were heavy footsteps outside.
"Artemis!"
The little girl's head whipped around. She dropped from her father's lap and sprinted towards the door, just in time to collide with the stampeding bodyguard. Butler caught her at his knees.
What's happened? He asked with his eyes as the little girl hugged him hard.
Artemis turned back to his work. Holly happened. Again.
Only little, but yeah...
Reviews are always appreciated :)