A/N: Chapter 2 is now up, slightly shorter than the first one but a lot more dialogue! Hopefully I'm not too OOC but please review and let me know what you think, it really does mean a lot. Also the title will make sense later – as will a few other elements such as 'the dream' which haven't been addressed yet. Updates are likely to be less frequent for a while after this but if people like the story then I promise I will keep going with it!

Rude Awakenings and False Accusations

LEP Interrogation Room, Haven

XXXX

Shortly after his first encounter with The People (encounter being a very generous description of what could essentially be described as kidnap and extortion) Artemis Fowl had been brought to Haven unconscious, only to awaken handcuffed and under armed guard, before being interrogated.

Seven years may have passed since that first trip to the fairy capital but the position in which Artemis Fowl found himself upon regaining consciousness was, he reflected, not exactly dissimilar from that which he had found himself in so many years before – handcuffed, under guard and accused of a crime he had not committed.

Of course some things were different this time; indeed some things would never be the same again. It had been Holly that had brought Artemis in for his first interrogation but this time he was to stand trial for her murder.

No, I refuse to believe that Holly is dead without proof. There must be another explanation...

Sat across the table from Artemis was Commander Trouble Kelp, flanked by the arresting officer Major Darkleaf. Suppressing the urge to make a quip at the Commander's expense, Artemis opted instead to follow Butler's advice and took a second to familiarise himself with the environment while the two officers still believed him to be unconscious, in case he missed something which could offer him an advantage later.

The LEP interrogation room had changed little since his last visit and was as spartan as one would expect from a room designed for the sole purpose of intimidating suspected criminals and offered little in the way of comfort. The only furniture within the room was the table and chairs at which he was currently sat and in front of Artemis the only feature to stand out from the gray walls was a one way mirror, behind which he had to assume the interrogation was being observed by other officers. Behind him was only the door through which he assumed he had entered, and which was now guarded by two particularly unfriendly looking jumbo pixies.

Hardly a reassuring assessment.

Before Artemis could observe further Trouble noticed that he had regained consciousness and took that as a cue to start the interrogation. The Commander's voice was steady as he read out the charges but Artemis could clearly detect the barely suppressed hatred in his expression.

"Artemis Fowl The Second, you are charged with planning and arranging the murder of Captain Holly Short and you are furthermore charged with the murder of five civilians and twelve charges of grievous bodily harm. I am required by law to ask you how you would like to plea but I'll give you a clue Fowl, the answer is guilty."

Artemis took a second to mentally compose himself and provided the Commander with his most vampiric smile before replying.

"I am afraid Commander that we must disagree on that as I am most certainly not guilty. Before you start threatening me and the Major begins what I'm sure will be an exceptionally convincing 'good cop' routine allow me to save us all the bother, it will achieve nothing."Artemis smiled again but hastily continued before the Commander, who looked ready to commit murder himself, could cut him off.

"Also I appreciate that this may be somewhat awkward from a purely pragmatic perspective but I really must insist on having my lawyer present before we proceed any further; you should be able to locate him at his London office..."

Artemis delivered this speech with the practiced smoothness of an experienced barrister and neither his voice nor his eyes betrayed the emotions that he was struggling to contain at the loss of his closest friend.

Concentrate now and worry about emotions later. Either Holly is dead or she isn't, either way I can neither help nor avenge her if I am found guilty and my memory is wiped.

Sensing that his commanding officer was too angry to reply without resorting to physical violence Major Darkleaf decided to intervene.

"Alright Fowl, I'll level with you, we have plenty of evidence proving you to be behind this attack. To be perfectly honest your confession is only really a formality right now. We have your DNA on the only gun to be recovered from the scene, we have several eye witnesses prepared to testify that the Dwarf responsible for shooting Captain Short incriminated you and Foaly has traced numerous payments from an account which we know you hold in Haven, to the dwarf we captured earlier. Soon he will also be awake and able to give us a full testimony."

"Firstly Major, I would never be foolish enough to leave so much evidence pointing back to myself and secondly, if that were indeed the case then I seriously doubt we would be having this conversation. Evidently sufficient doubt remains to prevent you from incarcerating or memory wiping me." Artemis had struck a nerve and when Darkleaf next replied it was clear that the good cop act had been precisely that, an act.

"There's still time yet Mud Boy, we will get justice and I'm going to enjoy seeing you suffer." Before Artemis could respond, Trouble Kelp put down the radio into which he had been speaking and turned to face him again, grinning from ear to ear as he did so.

"Looks like you were right after all Mud Turd - you won't be remembering this conversation. In fact very soon you won't be able to remember an awful lot of things. In light of the evidence against you and the threat that you pose to The People etcetera etcetera the Council have just authorised us to perform a block mind wipe and relocation – I'm sure a genius like you can work out what that means but I'll give you some time to think on the implications while we get the equipment ready."

Chuckling to himself and in the best mood he had been in for weeks Trouble left Artemis in stunned silence as he got up from the table and turned towards the door. Caught off guard as he was by this latest development Artemis knew that he had only one chance to convince Trouble of his innocence.

"Wait Commander! If I ordered this killing then why? What would I possibly stand to gain from Holly's death? Someone else is responsible for this and they have evidently calculated correctly that your dislike for me would lead you to assume that I was responsible thus preventing further investigation."

Trouble paused for a second, his hand hovering above the sensor to unlock the door and a slither of doubt seemed to enter his mind before he shook his head once and stepped through the door. As the solid steel doors slid shut behind the Commander Artemis Fowl slumped back against the wall, all fight gone from him.

In the past he could almost certainly have devised a plan to escape and foil the LEP but with Holly gone it was hard to find the will to act. It may have been his plans which had foiled Spiro, Cudgeon, Koboi and Root but Holly had always been the driving force propelling him onwards, giving him purpose, and without her Artemis realised that he felt truly lost. The reality of Holly's death had not truly hit him until that moment and his legs suddenly seemed incapable of holding his weight causing him to slide to the floor with his back propped against the wall.

Head resting against the cold stone wall, he closed his eyes in an attempt to stem the tears which threatened to come. With one hand he fingered the gold coin with a hole through the centre, which he had worn since Holly gave it to him in gratitude for saving her trigger finger. All he had left of Holly now were memories and even those would be gone soon, destroyed in penance for a crime he could never have committed.

I have failed you Holly.

XXXX

Haven General Hospital, Haven (One hour earlier)

Recovering from a major healing will leave anyone feeling groggy and Holly Short was certainly no exception. Her head felt as if it were being compressed by a bull troll and the rest of her wasn't in much better shape. As she slowly regained consciousness she began to take note of her surroundings. She appeared to be laying in a bed underneath an intolerably bright examination light and was attached to a small suite of monitoring equipment.

A hospital, still alive then at least. Not a bad start, considering.

A quick check confirmed that all fingers and toes were in fact still attached and functioning. Despite the general grogginess, aching and nausea which could be attributed to the healing, Holly had to admit that she felt remarkably better than she had any right to be.

Before she could compose herself further however the metallic doors slid silently open to admit the LEPs resident technical consultant and one of Holly's closest friends – Foaly. Foaly was renowned for many things within the Lower Elements but remaining calm in stressful situations certainly wasn't one of them; nonetheless his current agitation was impressive even by his standards.

"Holly, you're awake! Thank Frond. Considering all the magic they pumped into you and I mean, you weren't even breathing when the medics got there...Obviously it's good to see you awake again but everything is wrong! I can' t believe it, I don't want to believe it and to be honest it doesn't make any sense but Trouble won't listen to me and – "

"Foaly I have just woken up from a magically induced coma and I can't even begin to describe how much my head hurts right now, so calm down and explain what's wrong or so help me Frond when I get out of this bed you will regret it...". Even bed bound, an angry Holly Short was still a force to be reckoned with but Foaly was agitated and as his father had been fond of telling him 'there's no reasoning with an agitated centaur.'

"Right, of course! Artemis Fowl springs four dwarven murderers from the Deeps, arms them with illegal weapons and recruits them to kill you whilst shooting up half of Haven in the process but hey, let's all blame the Centaur!"

Foaly continued in this manner for several minutes whilst becoming increasingly less coherent and more agitated but Holly wasn't listening.

Artemis recruited them to kill me? I don't believe it, not after everything we've been through together.

Even as she thought this however Holly couldn't help but remember the words of her would-be killer.

'Artemis Fowl sends his regards..'

Holly was prevented from further thought by the arrival of a second visitor – newly appointed Commander Trouble Kelp. Where Foaly had seemed agitated Trouble's overriding emotion was plainly anger, tinged with concern. In keeping with his typical style the Commander wasted no time on pleasantries and plunged immediately into briefing mode.

"Good to see you back with us Holly, I have to confess that you had me worried for a while. From what the medics told me you suffered a collapsed lung, significant haemorrhaging and severe cardiac trauma, whatever that's supposed to mean." Trouble was visibly tired and Holly knew that he wouldn't have left the office since the attack earlier; preferring to remain and oversee everything personally. During the Koboi crisis a year earlier, Trouble had gone seventy two hours without sleep whilst surviving on energy drinks from the vending machine in Police Plaza.

"Thanks Troub-Commander. How long was I out? Do we know who was behind the attack? Foaly mentioned Artemis but that can't be right." With considerable effort Holly pushed herself up onto her elbows and Trouble propped a pillow behind her back to help her sit upright. Foaly whinnied indignantly and stamped a hoof at the implication that his information could possibly be wrong, but was quickly silenced by a look from the Commander.

"It's Trouble when we're off-duty Holly and before you argue with me, being hospitalised counts." Trouble smiled disarmingly.

"Sure thing, thanks Trouble." Holly smiled slightly despite the gravity of the situation. After all the years that she had known Trouble it was still strange to think of him as her commanding officer.

"Don't mention it. Now, to answer your questions, you were out for the best part of ten hours. I won't lie to you, we're damned lucky that you're alive at all and a lot of people thought you weren't going to make it. By some stroke of amazing good fortune we had deployed a team, with medical support, to a public disturbance in downtown Haven prior to the attack. They were on their way back to Police Plaza when the incident occurred and were able to intervene. Three of the mercs got away but we did manage to bag one of them; Foaly can fill you in on that later."

"And Artemis..?" Holly almost didn't want to hear the answer but she had to ask.

No matter what they say, he didn't do it.

"That D'Arvitting Mud Whelp is as guilty as a dwarf in a jewellery store! He is a threat to the people and this time he's gone too far, don't worry Holly, he won't get away with this."

Trouble's tone brooked no argument but Holly wasn't prepared to give up that easily - she knew that Artemis couldn't be responsible. Even at his worse he had never been a killer and he had changed, hadn't he? Then again Artemis Fowl had died and for all she knew the boy currently residing in Fowl Manor could be an imposter wearing his skin, with nothing of her Artemis really remaining. It had been so long since she had seen him...

D'Arvit! I need to see you Artemis. None of this is right. I have to believe that you didn't do this.

"Ok, Trouble I know that you don't like Artemis but I don't think we should jump to conclusions..."

"Damn right I don't like him! Holly, Artemis just committed genocide against the People; how can you possibly defend him?" The commander met Holly's gaze, pleading with his eyes for her to let the argument rest although they both knew that was never going to happen. It simply wasn't in Holly's character to let anything rest if she felt that an injustice was occurring and she had never felt that more than she did now.

"Let me be clear on my - "

"No Holly, let me be clear, this is my decision and it isn't open to debate. At any rate the call has already been made. A retrieval team was on surface preparing to look into some concerns Foaly had about a recent Mud Man expedition to the Antarctic and I redeployed them to bring Fowl in as soon as we heard about the attack. He's languishing in a cell under Police Plaza right now. With any luck he might even be conscious by the time I get back." Trouble shot Holly his trademark grin which she had once found so charming, now it just made her want to punch him.

The conversation was deteriorating fast and Foaly knew it but before he could think of anything to say to defuse the situation Holly realised the implications of what Trouble had said.

"...He might be conscious?!"

"Be careful Captain. I'm prepared to be lenient considering what you've just been through but you're dangerously close to insubordination right now. Fowl is guilty and his continued knowledge of us is a danger to the People. I intend to have him block wiped and relocated, somewhere appropriately dismal; right now I like the sound of Siberia. The Council are in the process of discussing the matter, it's out of my hands now. I'm sorry Holly but you're too close to the Mud Whelp, this is for the greater good."

As the implications of the Commander's words hit her Holly felt numb with dread.

A block mind wipe and relocation, every memory irretrievably lost. He would forget me all over again.

"You're making a massive mistake here Commander. How can you talk about the greater good considering everything that Artemis has done for the People?!"

"This discussion is over Captain, I don't want to hear anything else about Fowl and yes that is an order." All semblance of levity was now gone, Trouble was deadly serious but Holly couldn't back down, too much was at stake.

He wouldn't give up on me.

"I can't accept that Commander, if I could just see him and-"

"ENOUGH Holly, not another word! I swear if you were anyone else I'd have your acorn for this. You will remain here until such time as you are sufficiently recovered to report to my office, where I expect to have a long discussion about your position within Recon. Until that time you will remain under guard here; I doubt Fowl can orchestrate another attempt on your life from a prison cell but I'd rather be safe than sorry." By the time he had finished berating Holly the Commander's face had turned a shade of red that would have made his predecessor Julius Root proud.

To his credit Foaly did attempt to support Holly at this point but Trouble made it explicitly clear that any further argument on the matter would result in an immediate cessation of employment and the centaur was certain that he could do more to help his friends from within the Ops booth than outside it. It was with a heavy heart that Foaly followed Commander Trouble Kelp from the private room in Haven General Hospital and he could not help but feel that more than one friend was in danger here - if he knew Holly at all then she would not give up this easily. The Commander's day was about to get a whole lot worse.

XXXX

Haven General Hospital, 30 minutes earlier

Chix Verbill was not a typical LEP fairy; as far as he was concerned his job description involved doing as little work as possible, avoiding anything remotely dangerous and of course, looking good for the ladies.

For that reason his current duty, guarding Recon babe Captain Holly Short from an assassin that was already behind bars, suited Chix just perfectly. As the only female Captain in Recon and easily one of the most attractive fairies in the LEP, Holly Short was the focus of more than a little testosterone fuelled fantasy and (to Holly's ignorance) there existed an ongoing wager as to which fairy would be the first to persuade the 'Crazy Girlie Captain' to 'ride their shuttle'.

Chix had worked with Holly before, indeed she had saved his life shortly before the Bwa Kell rebellion (and if that didn't scream repressed desire then Chix Verbill was a troll!). As far as he was concerned this was the perfect opportunity to turn on the old Verbil charm, surely the Captain would be like putty in his hands. The wager would be his and that would certainly shut the rest of them up.

So distracted was he by fantasising about precisely how he would achieve his goal, Chix almost missed the increasingly vigorous knocking from the inside of the hospital door.

"Hello, can you hear me out there? I need to borrow the radio, it's urgent!" Holly certainly did sound concerned about something and Chix could never resist a damsel in distress. Wait until I tell the guys! he thought as he buzzed the door open. Unfortunately for Chix, Holly Short was not in the mood for wagers or flirtatious pixies.

"Sorry Verbil but this is important and there's no other way."

Even if Chix had immediately grasped the implications of Holly's statement there was almost no chance that his reactions would have been fast enough to avoid the uppercut which Holly landed on his chin. He was unconscious before he hit the floor.

Holly did experience a brief pang of guilt after hitting Chix but he would live and besides, there was much more at stake here than a few bruises and a headache. She paused only to remove the sprites' buzz baton and communicator before leaving in the direction of Police Plaza at a steady run, keying in a number that she knew all too well as she went.

Hold on Artemis. For me.

Definitely enjoy writing cliffhangers, sorry! If you enjoyed the story so far (or even if you didn't but have a suggestion for improvement) then please leave a review and let me know. Particularly interested in how people found the Chix Verbil POV because I definitely found that the hardest part to write.