The Angelic Paradox

Oh, You're Real

Wrote a lot guys. Here's another chapter. I'll posta map of the Bloodstone Bench map soon. =P

My eyes flutter open, and for a moment I don't know where I am. I lay in a soft bed, its length abnormally short so my feet stick out over the edge, in a room illuminated by a pair of lights somehow resembling futuristic florescent bulbs. The only other accessories that adorn the simplistic space are a vanity and an odd looking chair. The ceiling also seems strangely low, and, in fact, everything seems to be in miniature. I can definitely relate to how Butler felt in Haven City in the Artemis Fowl series.
Then everything comes rushing back.
Art.
Holly.
Artemis Fowl...
The kiss.
Oh gods.
Oh......oh...oh gods.
He's real. He is actually holy macaroni real. And he fricking kissed me on the fricking lips. Oh gods oh gods oh gods oh gods oh gods...
Oh gods.
I'm interrupted mid-rant, just as I start to hyperventilate, by the door creaking open slowly and the entrance of a centaur. Yes, a centaur. Am I hallucinating or something? Seriously?
"Ah, you're awake. This is swell. Another Mud Person to contend with all thanks to little Arty," he huffs and trots over to the weird chair, plopping down comfortably.
"I am Foaly," he continues, "and yes, fairies are real and so is the infamous Artemis Fowl Junior. I'm positive you've encountered me if you've read the series. Technical consultant to the LEP as well as a genius. Quite brilliant, actually. I'm sure this is all quite a shock to you so I'll let a semi-familiar face explain it to you. I will send Holly to escort you to the conference room where Fowl is waiting. Got it?"
"Sure," I manage to stutter.
"Superb," he says, clomping out the door.
I stare at the door once he leaves, stunned. What. What. WHAT. How are they real? Why was I dragged into this? Why the book I have obsessed over for the past four years of my life? Why!?!?!?!?!?! Seriously, man, WHY?!
Why did he kiss me?
The door opens again, revealing a small figure dressed in a green jumpsuit with LEP inscribed (in Gnommish) on the lapel. Her hair is fringed and bright orange, but her eyes---her eyes proved it all. One sapphire blue and one rusty hazel. Captain Holly Short, the first female captain in LEP history.
"I don't believe we really met properly with you fainting and all," she says.
I nod.
"Sorry to drag you into our mess, but it was bound to happen sometime. I'm clearly Holly. Obviously."
"Emerald," I respond, quietly.
She smiles, "Hey, girl power, right? Sometimes I miss the company of a female, you know?"
"Yeah. Guess so," I reply awkwardly.
Her smiles fades slowly, "D'Arvit, you're shy. Artemis probably won't do anything to remedy that, especially since he decided he felt the need to kiss you. His mom'll have a fit when she finds out he's kissing Mud Girls."
My face heats up as I blush.
She laughs, "C'mon. Let's get this mess straightened out."
><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
"And Foaly started screaming like a clogged up dwarf. I got the whole thing on video. The commander even laughed when he saw it!"
I laugh, "That reminds of this one April Fools' Day where I gave my best friend a lollipop with a real scorpion inside it but you could only see it from one side. So she picked it up and started unwrap it. When she saw the scorpion, she threw at the football team, screaming bloody murder. It was hilarious!"
Holly giggles and playfully punches my shoulder, "Nice one, Em. Hate to end our girl chat but Arty awaits. I'm glad you crawled outta your shell. I need a girl around here sometimes."
I just nod, suddenly overcome with seeing Art---or I guess, Artemis---again. She opens the door and nudges me inside, "Good luck."
"Thanks," I mutter.
The door clicks shut behind me and I stare at my black boots inside of those enchanting sapphire eyes I know are watching me intently. The eyes of the boy who I thought was fiction and was so extremely obsessed with. The eyes of the fictional character I had a major crush on. The boy that kissed me. That I kissed back.
"Emerald, I'm...I'm sorry."
I don't respond.
"Emerald, please. You have to understand. I had to deceive you."
"I know, I don't blame you," I say, still looking down.
"I apologize for what happened by the bench. I...I wasn't thinking straight."
"What? The kiss?" I ask bluntly.
"Yes. I'm sorry---"
I finally look up and meet his sapphire eyes, "Don't apologize."
He nods slowly.
"Just gimme the facts. You're good with those. Explain the crap I'm tangled up in."
"Very well. I have gathered you have read the Artemis fowl series so you understand who I am, basically, as well as my associates, human and fairy alike. Of course, fate will not let me live the rest of my life normally after being resurrected. My newest nemesis is a supernatural force---the fallen angel, Sabriel."
I almost burst out laughing at his name. Sabriel is also the name for a ridiculous ship---Sam Winchester and Gabriel. None of my friends support. Our O.T.P. is Larky (the author of this story and the actor that plays Lucifer). O.T.P. Larky!
"Sabriel is plotting world domination. His first step is to eliminate the two people who would ever stand a chance at defeating him; you and me, Miss Tate."
This time I can't contain my laughter, "Me? Save the world? That's more impossible than you failing a test because you sincerely don't know the material."
The edges of his mouth twitch upward, "He said it himself."
"Oh really, how d'ya know that's valid?"
He huffs, exasperated, "I'll get to that. Now, may I precede?"
"If you insist."
"Obviously, as a Fowl, defeating me would be quite a challenge, so Sabriel and I have bashed horns on multiple occasions. In one such occasion, we ended up your house in the year 2003."
"Oh...crap. It wasn't an aneurysm then, was it?" I ask, the realization hitting me square in the chest.
"What do you mean?"
"Did he kill my mom?"
"Yes."
"So it wasn't a cerebral aneurysm."
"No."
I grew up, told that my real mother had passed away of a brain aneurysm when I was two in 2003. So apparently she did not die of natural causes at all. Sabriel murdered her. Lovely guy.
"Okay......go on," I mutter.
"You and your mother were the only ones home at the time," he continues, "Sabriel and I materialized in different sections of the house, me by your crib and him in the kitchen with your mother. I knew he would kill all the innocents so I grabbed you from you bed where you had awoken to your mother's sobs below. With the lack of time, we ended up in a closet down the hall.
"Sabriel, of course, found us. Here's where it gets complicated. In the first event this happened, you were murdered but I managed to escape. He told me, though, that you were the other person on his Kill List, if you will. I couldn't let you die, not to mention the fact that I later gained the information that you played a major role in the future. In the second version of those events, you survived and here you are. I wanted to join forces. To defeat Sabriel. So that is why you were...contacted."
I snort, "More like 'Surprise, I'm real!' moment. A bit more than just contacted."
He breaks my gaze, "I apologize again, Miss Tate---"
"Don't apologize, Artemis."
He sits heavily in one of the chairs, putting his head in his hands, "That won't stop me from feeling guilty about it."
I glide over next to him, "Well... don't."
He laughs coolly, "We all know what I was like when I didn't feel guilty."
"But being guilty also got you the Atlantis Complex. It's just like anything else, you gotta find your happy medium."
"Artemis Fowl, a man of extremes."
I sit down next to him, and before I know what I'm doing, I lace my fingers through his, "All I'm saying is don't beat yourself up over something you honestly didn't have a choice in."
"But I chose to...to...kiss you."
" You did. But who said I didn't enjoy it?"
He lifts his head slowly and searches my gaze, "You did? I thought since you ran---"
I roll my eyes, "Of course I ran. A guy I thought was playing some mean prank on me then kisses me. What am I 'posed to do? Not stay with him, that's for sure."
He squeezes my hand.
"Seriously. That was too much to take in at once. Especially since everyone knows I love the Artemis Fowl series. My obsession is kinda obvious, ya' know."
"Obsession?"
"Ohhhhh yeah, obsession alright. I rant about it all the time. When we learned how to say hair colors in French class, I pestered her to learn black hair. My art revolved around you. I wrote fan fictions about you. My friend and I have a total disagreement over who's a real elf, Legolas for Lord of the Rings or Holly, me, of course, for the latter. I, um, read the whole series like twenty times and Eoin Colfer was my hero. Totally obsessed."
I continue to rant about my obsession, purposely leaving out the fact that I had a ginormous crush on him and had convinced my friends he was my husband for five years. Our anniversary is apparently on May 5 (5/5). So I left all that out 'cause that would be awkward.
Ya' know...
"That quite interesting, Miss Tate. I presume my presence in your past may have attracted you to my adventures," he says back with the facts.
And you, I add in my head.
"Now, I presume Holly and co. are awaiting. Do you have any questions? It's best if you get the gist of it now."
"Just one, actually."
"Very well."
"Wanna kiss again?"