The Unexpected Traitor

...And Death

Disclaimer: ANGSTY!!!!!!!!

*******TUT*******

A lot of things happened all at once. Holly screamed as the floor collapsed. You see, there were several bombs planted in the basement. Since the basement spread under the entire manor, a few strategically placed bombs were all it took to send the whole building falling. "Artemis!" She and Butler shouted at the boy simultaneously. Artemis would've been flattered that they both wanted to make sure he was okay had the manor not just blown up. Holly thrust the newborn girls into the arms of Butler, who was near the bed. She rolled out of it and made her way to Artemis to make sure he was alive. The boy was hunched over and still, but after further examination, Holly found a pulse and called to Butler, who slapped an adrenaline patch onto Artemis' arm. That was when they smelled the smoke.

The girls were crying and screaming and Butler was doing everything possible to quiet them down. Holly looked around. She recognised their surroundings as the remains of the basement. "D'Arvit!" She growled. "How are we gonna get out of here?" After a few minutes of her and Artemis frantically searching for an exit and Butler still trying to calm down the girls, the smoke smell grew stronger, and a flaming floorboard dropped to the ground in front of Artemis. He looked up. The entire house above them was engulfed in flames. It wouldn't be long before the fire from the floorboard spread and burned them to death. He cast a frantic glance at Holly. She, too, had noticed the situation and was looking up. Her head tilted back, her arms swinging gently at her side, her tiny frame illuminated by the fire, her auburn hair glowing fiercely... She was like someone from a fairytale. For a few moments, Artemis couldn't bring himself to look away.

Then he was snapped back to reality in the form of another burning piece of rubble falling at his feet. He jumped away from it and ran to Holly.

"Have you found anything?" He panted.

She looked up at him and met his eyes. Her mismatched eyes were full of sadness and despair, but a tiny spark of hope glittered there, too.

"No, not yet." She sighed. "I don't know how we're going to get out of here. It seems too late already... But we'll find a way." She added in a tone full of determination.

Artemis nodded. There was no stopping a determined Holly Short. Especially a determined Holly Short who was also a mother. The best thing he could do was continue searching.

Butler knew the girls were too big for Holly to carry for long, so he fashioned a makeshift harness, strapped them to his back, and joined the search.

*******TUT*******

An hour went by. Holly and Artemis were covered in burns, as they were searching through flaming piles of rubble, and their magic had long since run dry. Butler would've been covered in burns with them, but he knew he couldn't risk the twins, so he searched near the walls that were not burning. After an hour and a half of searching, Artemis pressed his back against a wall and slid down onto his rear. "Holly, I can't do this anymore. I'm exhausted, I can barely stand up." She nodded and came to sit next to him. Artemis saw the depressed and defeated look on her face and, before his brain registered what he was doing, he put his hand on Holly's and moved closer to her. "Don't worry." He whispered. "We'll get out of here. Somehow." As if on cue, a hairy face poked out of the wall and shouted at them. "Mulch!" Holly breathed. Artemis smiled, and Butler followed his charge and the elf into the hole and out of the burning basement.

About halfway through, Holly stumbled and fell in front of Artemis. He moved to help her up, but she shook her head.

"No, Artemis." She protested, gasping for breath. "I can't, I'm too weak. Too injured. Go without me."

Artemis raised an eyebrow and looked at her as if to say "Do you really think you're getting rid of me that easily?" With difficulty, he picked up the elfin girl and heaved her onto his back and continued to crawl. Her arms dangled over his shoulders, and from her slow and steady breathing on his neck, Artemis guessed she had fallen asleep.

They made their way out of the ground to the surface. Artemis emerged from the hole and noticed that Holly's breathing was getting more and more ragged by the second. He laid her on the ground and sat beside her, studying her coffee-colored face. It was badly burned, and Artemis tried to squeeze some magic out of his system, but there was none. Even with his advanced healing powers, he had already used all of his magic to heal himself in the basement. He was perfectly fine. She, on the other hand, looked ready to die.

Just then, Holly woke and opened her mismatched eyes, taking a shaky breath as she felt the pain from the burns grow worse. Her whole body felt as if it was on fire, and she knew she wouldn't survive for long. Artemis knew, too. With a glimmer of hope in his eyes, which mirrored hers, he looked up. That hope was extinguished when, in the twilight glow of the evening, he spotted the moon. It was a crescent in its waning phase. He sighed. Holly noticed there was so much meaning in that one little sigh, that one look on his face. Sadness, despair, anguish, and...love? She shook her head and moaned at the pain that came with it.

Artemis leaned over her and gently held her head still. "Shh, Holly. Don't move. It will only escalate the pain." He whispered. She looked into his eyes, and he met her gaze. Each could've sworn they saw a pink spark flash in the other's eyes, but it must've been a trick of the light.

"Artemis..." Holly choked. He tried to quiet her again, but she stubbornly refused. He had to hear this. She kept talking as she worked up the courage to say what she had to say. "Artemis...take care of the girls. Our girls." Tears welled up in his eyes as he nodded. Holly continued. "Don't be a man they fear. Be the man they respect. Be their anchor, their guiding light, their shoulder to cry on, their teacher. Be their father." She smiled. "And make sure they remember their mother."

She felt herself slipping away, her soul leaving the earth. No, no, no! She had to tell him now, or she would never get the chance. "A...Artemis...I...I love you." She smiled sadly, closed her eyes as their light dimmed, and took her last breath.

And something happened. Something that hadn't happened since he broke his leg when he was two. He leaned over the elf's body, closed his eyes, and Artemis Fowl II cried.

*******TUT*******

Comment!