Artemis hardly slept that night.
He was inside his own head, he reasoned, so he was technically already asleep. But the mental fatigue of the day eventually forced him to rest. Since he did not have a bed in his "office" however, he was forced to share Noland's room, which made for a rather awkward situation. By the end of the night, Artemis was so sick of Star Wars patterned blankets that he was at risk of burning all of Beckett's patterned sheets when he got back home.
Everyone slept lightly and woke up before Artemis's body, so they congregated in Artemis's office to wait for their body to wake up. Orion and Noland were both curious to see what the new dominant personality would be, but Artemis was just worried. What if the new personality was dangerous to everyone? What if the new personality was another embarrassment? Would the others ever let him live something like that down?
Outside Artemis's mind, Butler was keeping an eye on Artemis when the boy began to wake up. Butler quietly called Holly and Juliet on the intercom system, but thought better than to wake up Mrs. Fowl until they knew who was in control.
Holly and Juliet, just woken up, arrived just as "Artemis" also woke up. He stirred slightly, opened his eyes to see the three people in the room, and quickly turned away towards the wall, shutting his eyes tight.
"Artemis?" asked Juliet cautiously, leaning over the bed.
"Artemis… isn't here," said the new personality sadly, "I'm sorry."
Butler cast a confused glance at Holly, who returned it, then said, "Then who are you?"
The personality started at the sound of Holly's voice, then curled up and mumbled something.
"Sorry, I didn't hear that," said Butler, somewhat crossly. Artemis never mumbled. He also rarely whispered, murmured, or muttered. He always made sure that everyone who he wanted to hear him heard him.
"Aris," muttered the personality again, loud enough for everyone to hear, "But you should probably leave."
Now everyone was really confused. "Why?" asked Holly, causing Aris to jump again.
"We're bad luck," whispered Aris sadly, so that only Juliet, who was leaning over the bed, could hear, "Everyone who cares about us gets hurt."
Juliet realized that the child in Artemis's body was talking about the multiple personalities and Artemis. and repeated Aris's information to the other two.
"I don't think Mrs. Fowl should see him," Juliet explained, "Seeing such a depressed version of Artemis might not be good for her."
"It'll be worse for us if we try to stop one of the Fowls from doing what they want," Holly pointed out, "Double if we try to stop a mother from doing what she wants."
"Good point, Holly," Juliet conceded.
Aris listened to this discussion with his eyes closed. What would happen if he saw Artemis's mother? Nothing good, he guessed miserably, considering what had happened previously when he was near Artemis's mother. Hopefully, if he just stayed in the bed all day, no one would get hurt.
The matter was decided for the caregivers when Angeline Fowl marched in to the room, then slammed the door right in Dr. Argon's face as he tried to follow her in.
"Foaly said to warn you that we'll be arriving in Haven later," she announced, having been roused by the insistent knocking at her door and her phone ringing. She then noticed all three of the healthy people in the room looking at her sheepishly, while Artemis was curled op on the bed, rigid with fear.
"Should we discuss this outside?" she wondered, and Butler and Holly nodded vigorously, once more leaving Juliet with the patient.
Dr. Argon started talking before the door had closed behind Holly. "I must insist on seeing the patient," he announced, "This new personality that I heard you discussing must be researched and interviewed to help-"
Angeline cut him off. "Be quiet," she half-screeched, "I want to know as much about the new personality as you, but you are not going to be allowed to see him before I say so!"
Dr. Argon dropped his noteboard.
"Now then," continued Angeline in a reasonable voice, "Who is this new Artemis?"
Holly took it upon herself to explain this time. "He seems to be an Artemis swamped by his own guilt," she began, "Very depressed and possibly unstable.
"He seems to think that Artemis and the other personalities are the cause of all the catastrophes that happen when they're around," she continued.
"Well, Artemis certainly set this whole disaster when he kidnapped you," Argon huffed.
"Does he have a name?" asked Mrs. Fowl, pointedly ignoring the Doctor.
"He calls himself Aris," said Butler, "But we don't know if that's his name. He seems to be more connected to Artemis than the other two."
"He doesn't seem to like having us around," said Holly, worried that having a lot of people around for an extended period of time might drive him too far.
"Then we will leave him alone for now," answered Angeline, "We can take turns watching him."
Argon took a deep breath. "Captain Short," he said, ignoring the humans, "I must insist that I see the patient. If he is unstable, as you said, I will have to ensure the there are sedatives supplied in case he loses control."
Angeline Fowl gave the doctor a disdainful look. "Excuse me," she began sarcastically, clearly not caring whether she was excused or not, "I must insist that my son be left alone today. As I see it, having less people around will lessen the risk of poor Aris "losing control" as you so crudely put it."
Argon was incensed, but understood that Mrs. Fowl's wishes took precedence, and that he could be banned from seeing his patient if he set up any more resistance. "O-of course," the gnome spluttered. The Doctor then spun on his heel and stalked off.
Holly was impressed. "I didn't think it was possible to get rid of that blathering idiot without causing some collateral damage to your own credibility."
Angeline gave a mock curtsy. "It's a talent," she smirked.
The inside of Artemis's mind was in turmoil.
"I feel sorry for that kid," said Noland, leaning back in a chair he had brought from his chamber through the door that apparently connected to every room at once. "I can't imagine being that sad for so long. I guess that our guilt has a lot of weight in someone who dwells on it."
""That kid" happens to be a part of me," Artemis pointed out, "Though he seems even more unlikely than you."
"Depression is a horribly devastating sickness," said Orion, looking sadly at the mindscreen, which was showing an image of the wall Aris was staring at.
"I want to go talk to him after he falls asleep," said Noland, "Maybe we can help him."
"Unlikely," said Artemis, standing up, "We could not change you or Orion if we tried for eternity, so I think that Aris's depression is going to last."
"Where did the poor child's name come from?" asked Orion, "It seems familiar, yet I cannot place the word."
"The first four letters of Aristotle, who was the first person to identify depression as its own illness," Artemis explained, as he had been wondering that as well. "It also forms a contraction of my name."
"Clever," said Noland, "But who would expect anything else from our brain." He didn't sound proud, he was just making a statement of fact.
Aris was mortified. He had Juliet Butler sitting beside the bed, trying to make conversation. Every other second Aris expected the Nostremius to crash, or the ceiling to fall in on the girl. He wanted to ask her to leave, but he knew that she would not comply.
"Could you… leave me alone?" he finally managed, "I just want… you to stop talking. You can stay if you want." He almost smiled. He'd actually said something and hopefully not hurt anyone!
Juliet was happy too, and she cheerfully retreated to the far corner of the bedroom, where she pulled out a book from the shelves and started reading, while keeping one eye on Aris.
The day passed uneventfully, with the most exciting event being the docking in Haven City. Aris spent the time hiding under the bedcovers, convinced that the cave ceiling above the aquanaut was about to collapse, or the aquanaut would crash into the dock, but the others quite enjoyed watching the massive submarine slow and finally stop at the underground dock.
Once Aris was safe in the LEP Security Hospital, which was where the Council insisted on keeping the sick teenager, Mrs. Fowl stayed with her son, putting the surprisingly comfortable room in order and unpacking the science reports that she had brought for Artemis to read. She also unpacked Artemis's laptop, which she had brought from Fowl Manor, and set it beside the bed, where Artemis would easily find it when he was ready to use it. Aris watched her bustle around in silence, terrified that Opal Koboi or some other fairy would suddenly possess her.
Aris ate and drank facing away from whoever was facing the room, but Butler was just thankful that he consumed anything at all, considering the depth of depression he was in.
Holly had had to go back to work, performing her normal duties while her file was once again perused in the precursor of yet another tribunal. Foaly had insisted that Holly stay on duty while Artemis was ill, reasoning that she would then be allowed to visit him while he recovered, rather than be cooped up doing some dead-end job by the Council, such as Customs and Excise in E37.
Angeline managed to get Aris out of his bed late in the day, pressing him into washing and then making him dress in fresh clothes. Aris offered some resistance to getting up, but complied mutely with whatever Artemis's mother wanted once he was up. For the second night in a row, Artemis's body fell asleep exceedingly early, just after darkness fell on the surface.
Butler took it upon himself to watch Artemis overnight again, though Juliet made sure that her brother promised to let her watch him the next night. As he watched Artemis sleep, Butler could almost believe that the boy wasn't suffering from a serious fairy psychosis.
Angeline and Juliet were given a shared room one floor down from Artemis, and discussed the situation as they got ready for bed.
"Where did all the fairies go?" Angeline wondered as she bathed in the curtained tub, "They seemed so worried while we were on the submarine, and now they seem to have disappeared."
"They all have jobs," Juliet explained as she washed her face, "And unlike us, Mrs. Fowl, their jobs don't involve taking care of Artemis."
"I hope we get to see Artemis tomorrow," admitted Angeline as she drained the small bathtub, "Talking to him would be such a relief."
"He might not trust you," Juliet pointed out as she searched through the bag of toiletries that her employer had brought, trying to find a fresh toothbrush, "The Atlantis Complex gives him OCD and paranoia in addition to the multiple personality. He stopped trusting Butler before he went on that trip of his to the Arctic, remember?"
"He was acting strange," agreed Angeline as she grabbed her nightgown from beside the tub, "But I wasn't home enough to think much of it. I've been so busy lately."
"Think of this as a holiday then, Mrs. Fowl," said Juliet drily as she finally found a toothbrush still in its packaging, "You don't have to do anything except take care of Artemis while we're here."
"I was hoping that when I finally had a holiday that it would be with the twins, Timmy and Arty," Angeline sighed, emerging from behind the curtain fully dressed.
As Aris fell asleep, another door appeared in Artemis's cell, this time right under his gaze. One moment, there was a blank stretch of wall, then there was suddenly an immaculate gray door set opposite the one that led into the others' rooms.
Noland looked up, having seen the change in his peripheral vision from where he was lying on the floor, and stood, reaching for the knob.
"No!" came a voice from the other door. Artemis guessed that Aris must have finally fallen completely asleep, because a fourth person had just come through the door from the other rooms.
"That door… will wake us up," said Aris, reverting to his usual speech pattern.
Artemis was shocked by his appearance. Aris looked like him, but emaciated. His cheeks were hollow, his eyes were sunken, and his hair was a raggedy mess, but he was obviously Artemis, with the same pale skin and mismatched eyes, as well as the height. He was wearing one of Artemis's suits, but one that looked like it needed to be dry-cleaned urgently.
"You mean that door lets us take control of our slumbering body?" asked Orion, surprised. Aris just nodded, looking morosely around the room. At least he was more comfortable with them, Noland thought, despite his decrepit appearance.
"Then I'm heading through there in the morning," decided Artemis, "I need to talk to my friends and my mother," he explained to the alter egos.
"Then we'll go by Aris's room tomorrow," said Noland, "I want to see what that place is like."
"Until then," said Artemis, "I need a bed." He was absolutely not willing to spend another night in the same bed as one of his alter egos. Then he looked around in shock as there was a whoosh of displaced illusionary air.
The office had just doubled in size, and the other personalities were staring open-mouthed at the new addition. Artemis's bed stood in the corner now, beside a table with several chairs.
"I guess I don't have to drag in my chair anymore," chirped Noland cheerfully. Aris just sank quietly into one of the new chairs and stared at the wall. Orion headed back to his room, followed by Noland, dragging his chair, leaving Artemis alone with Aris.
"Could you head to your room?" Artemis asked after a few awkward minutes during which Aris stared obstinately at the wall.
"Yes," was the simple answer, and Aris stood and went to leave.
Artemis looked awkwardly at the chronically depressed teen, feeling that he needed to comfort him. "I'm sorry," he whispered, knowing that his memories were causing Aris his pain.
"Its OK," replied the youth, who then headed through the door without another word.
Artemis went to sleep then, knowing that he would have to wake up early the next morning and head through the door to the real world. Almost before his head hit the pillow, Artemis was asleep.