Hey everyone!
Another temporary Author's Note here. I just want to say that I'm sorry it took so long to get this chapter up, since writing the new personality for this chapter was rather difficult.
Hey, what am I talking about? That wasn't the purpose of the note! I want to ask for some help, here. Since this is one of my first fics, I am somewhat lacking in experience in the management of the information of the blurb. I have had one or two reviews saying that my genres are in error, and I would like to ask you guys to tell me what the genres should be. Please help!
PeterPokefreak out! :)
Artemis "slept" fitfully during the night, worried about what Leon might do if he ever got out of Artemis's mind again. As was becoming usual, the other three personalities woke the youth up before his body awoke by knocking on his door.
"Are you feeling well, Artemis?" Orion asked worriedly, as the original personality opened his door, with a slight physical resemblance to Aris, with dark circles under his eyes and unusually messy hair.
"I'm fine," Artemis insisted, stretching surreptitiously, "I got some sleep. Worry does nothing good for the state of one's mind."
Noland stepped into Artemis's room and looked at the darkened mindscreen. "Maybe this new personality will be better then the last one," he said optimistically.
"Can it be much… worse than Leon?" Aris questioned, walking in, and Orion snorted.
"I can think of a few things worse than Leon," Artemis pointed out tiredly, "Perhaps a truly psychopathic killer personality?"
"Great optimism, sunshine," Noland said sarcastically, "Anyway, the personalities only develop if you were dwelling on those parts of your psyche while the Complex developed."
"Then what else… is there to be… made?" Aris asked, as usual, always questioning, "We have guilt, or… the lack thereof," he glanced wryly at Orion, who looked apologetic, "We have "normal" and… we have a personality who… never met the fairies," he finished listing the personalities and sat down at one of the chairs at Artemis's table, breathing hard from the effort of getting all the words out and glancing around nervously, worried Leon would walk in now that he had been mentioned.
"I think there is a possibility," Orion stated thoughtfully, "That the personalities we meet from here on into the unknown will be more realistic, or rather, more multifaceted as true people," receiving some confused glances from the others, especially Noland, Orion continued, "In case you have failed to realize," he said to Noland, specifically, "We personalities who have already reached the outside world are also changing as the wheel of time passes. You are more than just a typical teenager; you are also a highly sensible and levelheaded person, a role which you failed to fulfill at first. I have become more than what I was, as well. I flatter myself that I am becoming less flamboyant and extreme through the passing of days, and I have often found myself offering helpful opinions in situations which stop the rest of us short."
Artemis looked thoughtful, "So what you mean is," he began slowly, "My subconscious mind is making you represent more as I gain experience with you?"
Orion nodded mutely, pleased that the others understood.
Noland stepped in with his own theory, "I think we're more likely absorbing some incomplete personalities. You were probably wishing you could act sensible as the Complex progressed, but the personality never came to the surface, probably never became conscious, and our subconscious gave the personality's traits to me, making me more of a full person."
"That's not good," Aris said quietly, worried, "It means you will… have more trouble rejoining… Artemis."
Orion and Noland looked crushed as they realized this too. Artemis was amazed at how suddenly depressed they looked, so he decided to change the subject, noticing light filtering through the dark mindscreen. Despite his pessimism, Artemis was hopeful that the next personality might be friendlier than the previous day's.
When Foaly noticed Artemis's body stirring from his security booth, he quietly called Juliet and asked her to check on him before Angeline or Argon knew he was awake. The girl scurried through the hallways, swiftly pulling back the locks and keying in the password she had been given by some of the security elves. She entered the bedroom to find Artemis sitting up and yawning, looking around the cramped space.
"Artemis?" Juliet asked cautiously, standing warily in the doorway, fully prepared to slam the door as she fled and lock it once more.
"That's not my name," the boy said airily, giving Juliet a puzzled, lost look that was very out of place on Artemis's face. Of course, the dull pyjamas Artemis was wearing looked very out of place as well.
Juliet, very tentatively stepping into the room, still ready to dodge out the door, and asked another question, "What is your name, then?" she asked the personality nervously, closing the door slowly behind her.
"Diana," the personality said brightly, standing up and stretching, then looking around the room cheerfully as it realized where it was, "Is there any paper in here?" the personality asked, moving to the dresser to get changed.
Juliet stood in the middle of the room, completely losing any ability to leave the room, as dumbfounded as she had been the previous day by Leon's explanation of his persona. A girl? A girl version of Artemis?
Noticing Juliet's expression, with her mouth hanging half-open and her eyes wide, Diana looked irritated, as if the personality often received similar questioning looks. "No, I'm not a girl," he said, annoyed, "It's just my name. Roman counterpart to the goddess Artemis?" he asked, as if worried that Juliet didn't know.
Juliet, regaining some control, looked at the security camera and, imagining Foaly's expression, gave it a wry smile.
Diana continued to search determinedly through the room after getting changed in the bathroom into more colourful clothing, finally picking up one of the printed sheets on Artemis's bedside table. Then he looked around the room again and turned to a still confused Juliet. "Are there any pencils?" he asked, lilting his voice slightly as he grew used to the outside world.
Meanwhile, Leon happened to come barging in to Artemis's room in the apparent building which was building itself for each personality. "A feminine personality, Artemis?" he asked accusingly, skipping over usual pleasantries and ignoring the other personalities entirely, "This is why you need my help," he said in exasperation.
Looking around as silence began to stretch, Leon found himself seeing the backs of the others' heads, as they had all turned away from him as one. "Did you not notice what he was searching for, Leon?" Artemis asked from where he was staring at a shelf of books, "Diana represents creativity as well as a feminine side of me. He probably also has another extended purpose, if Orion's theory proves true."
"That is no excuse for our brain to produce a feminine personality," Leon said hotly, "Others will interpret it as a sign of weakness-"
"And who would use such information against us?" Orion interrupted his fellow coldly, turning to the new personality, "Those who are with us in the outside world are innocent of any subterfuge and would not use such a situation as this for leverage in order to force us into a situation."
"Don't count on that," Noland said, smiling and turning to Orion, "Foaly will definitely blackmail us with stuff like that to keep us off the LEP secure site."
"Anyway, we're already… considered weak without… Diana showing weakness in… your little fantasy, Leon," Aris pushed out.
"As all of you can apparently not see," Leon said angrily, "Sexism thrives among the fairies, or at least the LEP, and us acting feminine may lose us support with the Council, which is deciding whether to treat our Atlantis Complex as we speak."
"If anything, Leon," Artemis began, joining the argument, "Diana being weak will most likely gain support among the Council. If they believe they will earn my gratitude and goodwill by helping me deal with any weakness in the face of the Complex, they will do all in their power to gain my support."
"Artemis," Noland replied gently, seeing some of Leon's argument in his own calm fashion, "don't think that the Council will think the situation through that far. Among the entire group, they probably barely have our brain capacity. For all we know, Leon could be right in his assumptions." Noland wasn't insulting the Council in his observation, Artemis realized, he was just looking over any argument to either side.
"Could be?" Leon asked arrogantly, "Could be? Mine is the only logical conclusion in a decision made by the Council regarding us."
"Gentlemen, gentlemen," Orion said, trying to calm the group of personalities, effectively siding with Noland, "For now, we must observe Diana's facet of our original personality, and prepare the best way to greet him on his entrance back into this gilded cage."
"Orion's right," Aris agreed, joining the other two personalities, "We won't… get anywhere by… arguing about someone we don't… know."
After helping Diana find a pen to use in place of his desired pencil, Juliet slipped out of the room and called Mrs. Fowl.
"Good morning, Juliet," the girl's employer said muzzily, "Is Artemis awake?"
"Yes," Juliet replied carefully, "And we have a new personality to deal with."
Juliet could almost hear the sudden alertness in Angeline's voice when she spoke again, but perhaps that was just because she dropped her phone and Juliet heard her fumbling for it before the girl's employer spoke once more. "I'll be right up," Mrs. Fowl breathed, "Is there anything I should bring with me?"
Juliet hesitated, then decided that the younger Fowl would have to be appeased. "If you have any pencils with you, perhaps you could bring them up?" Juliet proposed neutrally, then she ended the call and went in to keep an eye on Diana.
Angeline arrived with, as usual, Dr. Argon trailing her. Even to an untrained human, the tension between the human woman and the gnome would have been an almost physical presence as they positioned themselves on opposite sides of the room, Angeline taking the bedside. Mrs. Fowl, fortunately, happened to have a few mechanical pencils with her, and extra lead. The woman gave Juliet a curious look before handing the expensive silver writing implements to the young artist inhabiting Artemis's body.
Diana had spent the wait until Artemis's mother arrived drawing on the as yet unread sheets. After doodling a viewpoint of Artemis's room, seen from the bed, he had proceeded to begin drawing randomly from his imagination or his original's memories. The ensuing pen sketches had featured realistically winged elves, a troll in formal English clothing, and wearing a top hat, as well as an unfinished leisurely sketch of a familiar human girl in a massive, hoop-skirted ball gown.
After claiming the pencils from Artemis's mother, Diana drew everything he could see, while the other people in the room looked on in amazement. A complete and accurate sketch of Angeline Fowl sitting beside the bed on the short chair was drawn in thirty seconds, and Juliet standing in front of the miniature bookcase was quickly captured by the graphite strokes. Only when he ran out of paper did Diana ask for food, and he only had a little to eat before pulling out Artemis's laptop computer. He took careful pictures of every drawing and compiled them in a file labeled with his own name. After this, he began to fiddle with a composing program while waiting silently for the others to speak.
"So," Juliet started nervously, as an awkward silence stretched, unbroken this time by the scratch of pencil on paper, "is Artemis this creative, too?"
Diana made a small chuckle, finding the question humourous. "I am Artemis, if you look deep enough," he pointed out, "I just use his intellect in a different way than he does."
Angeline picked up the sheets at the bedside. "These are beautiful," she said in a hushed voice, flipping through the drawings, "It looks like the drawings could be alive in a different universe."
Diana blushed, looking down at Artemis's computer shyly and quickly scrambling notes together into a single bar. "They aren't very good," the personality said modestly, "I just wanted to see if I could still draw outside of my room. I would need stiff card and more sophisticated tools to make better sketches. I can also paint, though. I think those look better."
Doctor Argon, who had been inching across the room to catch a glance of the pictures, looked up curiously at Diana's casual mention of his room. "What do you mean by "room," Diana?" he asked quickly.
The artist looked up, startled. "I mean the place where I go when I'm not in the outside world," he said, puzzled, "I think it's an illusory bedroom, with furniture keyed to my liking." He was obviously very confused that the Doctor didn't know about the mental bedrooms, and looked to the two females for support.
"Could you draw your room for us?" asked Angeline slowly, making sure not to act like she was on a similar mental wavelength to the Doctor, "I would like to see what it looks like."
Diana looked at the sheets he had been using, now covered in his quick sketches, leaving no space for such a detailed drawing. "Can I have some more paper?" he asked in answer to Angeline's question, moving to Artemis's desk.
Diana took most of the day to finish his highly detailed drawing of his own bedroom in Artemis's mind, especially with both the Doctor and Juliet hovering over his shoulder, watching each line he put in while Mrs. Fowl waited patiently in her bedroom. Eventually, Diana forced both impatient watchers to leave so that he could concentrate on his drawing, promising to call them when he finished. As the personalities in Artemis's mental bedroom watched, Diana meticulously drew a view of his personal bedroom as seen from what appeared to be a blank space of wall that probably now held a door to the other rooms.
The graphite strokes on the fresh paper quickly turned into a beautiful image under Diana's command. His room was cluttered with art, full of paintings and doodles from Artemis's memories and what the group had seen recently. A narrow bed stood in a corner of the cheerfully painted room, the colours easily shown in shades of gray by Diana's hand. The floor was nearly invisible under layers of sheet music and unsatisfactory line drawings, with several easels posing desperately above the mess. One picture frame along the wall opposite the viewpoint of the drawing was shaded near a solid black, apparently revealing the youth's mindscreen. Several of the easels were organized to face the frame, so Diana probably sketched from life as it happened before him, especially during the recent calamities.
When Diana finished he finally leaned back in his chair and stretched, rubbing a kink in his neck, before calling the three caretakers back to see it.
Angeline swept in promptly, irritably snatching the drawing up before Argon, who had followed her in, could see it. Her eyes widened for a moment as she looked at the fresh, neat lines, then she slowly put the drawing down and hugged Diana, who was caught unprepared.
"What!" he gasped as Artemis's mother put her arms around him, "Is it bad?"
Juliet snickered quietly as she trailed into the room; taking her time to let the other two see the drawing first. Apparently Diana was socially unequipped, despite being a prodigal artist, she realized.
"Oh," Angeline quickly withdrew her arms from around Diana, who had gone stiff at her touch, and turned back to the drawing. "It's perfect, honey," she reassured him, letting Argon and Juliet look at the drawing, "I was just glad that one of the personalities we've seen since the Atlantis Complex emerged actually has my son's brains."
Diana smiled, then yawned, imagining what some of the personalities he had seen were probably saying to Mrs. Fowl's comment. Juliet went to help him. "The other new personalities went to sleep early, too," she reassured the youth, and he nodded tiredly.
Angeline swooped down on Diana before he could start falling asleep. "Eat first," she ordered, "Your body needs to maintain itself."
Unnerved, Diana quickly followed Mrs. Fowl's instructions and ate quite a bit before quickly falling into a deep sleep. The three people who had spent the day in the hospital quickly went to one of the facility's private lounges to discuss any new information on Artemis's Complex.
"Any news, Argon?" Mrs. Fowl asked icily, and Juliet sighed. Staying in the same room as the two beings talked inevitably led to becoming something of a mediator between the two warring interests.
"Looking at Diana's drawing and inferring some information," the doctor said pompously, dodging or ignoring Angeline's deadly stare, "I do not believe that many of the personalities will be dangerous. If more than a very small amount were harmful, even if they had not yet surfaced, each personality's memories of being within the mind of the patient would most likely involve a cell as the person's subconscious attempted to block the destructive tendencies of the personalities."
"Good," the Fowl matriarch muttered, sitting down in one of the exceedingly low fairy couches, "Will we see Artemis soon?" she asked, hoping for a helpful answer.
Argon groaned, "Why do you ask impossible questions?" he grunted irritably, then continued, "I think his mind will want one of the already surfaced personalities to take over tomorrow, as the mental fatigue of a new personality may take its toll on even Artemis's limits. It could be any of the personalities we have met so far, however, including Artemis himself."
"We'll find out tomorrow," Juliet said firmly, "For now, we all have to sleep." The bodyguard then firmly led the other two caretakers out of the lounge and back to their rooms.
As Diana sat up in his bedroom, he was unsurprised to find his chamber swarming with the other personalities. As Artemis and Orion looked through the art on the walls and floor, occasionally picking up some of the sheet music, Noland and Aris lay out on the floor, in spaces they had cleared of mess, revealing the perky blue carpet.
Orion was the first to notice the appearance of Diana, as he turned away from a drawing of the Arctic setting where he had first surfaced, and called to the others, who quickly gathered as Diana stepped out of bed. Artemis quickly looked over the new personality, quickly taking in his mental appearance. Beside Orion and Noland, Diana appeared short, but he was approximately an average height, certainly taller than the personalities who looked like Artemis himself. He had smooth blonde curls, hanging to his shoulders in a messy looking pattern. Reaching to his desk, Diana quickly grabbed a floppy beret and put it on at an odd angle. In some sort of modern style, he was wearing a plaid, short-sleeved shirt and worn knee-length jeans, even though he had just been in bed.
Noland quickly introduced everyone, then held out his hand for Diana to shake. The obviously not socially adept artist simply looked at his hand curiously, then cocked his head as he thought. His proportionally large, dextrous hands stayed firmly at his sides.
Artemis decided to jump in before Diana alienated the other personalities, who were all looking at the new personality with caution, especially after the day before. "Are you tired, Diana?" he asked, at a loss to say anything else.
The artist turned his pale face to Artemis gratefully. "Yes, I think our mind wants us to sleep," he said quietly, very soft-spoken, despite how he had seemed to act before.
"We won't bother you any longer, then," Artemis said courteously, gesturing to the others that they should go and sleep as well. With the apparent "family" of personalities building quickly, they would all need their rest.