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damned_lounge2008-10-31 03:58 am
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Oktoberfest Entry 08: "Fowl's Seven" by Serey [2/2]
Title: Fowl's Seven
Author: Serey/Kouject
Beta: Souji and Rini ♥
Word Count: *cough*6,105*COUGH*
Rating: Uh... PG? I guess...?
Characters: Artemis Fowl II, Haku, Zabuza, Hitsugaya Toushirou, Schuldig, Farfarello, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Skuld, The Doctor, Holly Short, ???, brief mentions of other characters.
Pairing(s): Artemis/Haku
Summary: Don't blink.
“NOBODY BLINK,” Haku ordered, eyes transfixed in the angel’s own.
“Where’s the kid?” Zabuza asked, his own normally gruff and brave voice taking on a note of panic. His sword was lodged in this thing after all, and Haku had nearly… again. The ice ninja panicked for a moment, afraid to take his eyes off the target. He had meant to protect Domovoi and yet there was no response. Not even a rustle.
“Second verse… same as the first,” Haku heard the son collapse, and felt a small sigh of relief leave him. But still, the problem of staring at the angels was—
“It’s all right,” Domovoi said, heaving great relieved breaths. “You can blink. It’s safe.”
“Are you crazy, boy?” Zabuza shot back, not taking his eyes off his opponent. “First you told us not to blink, and now—”
“They’re all looking at one another,” Obi-Wan observed, turning to look at the angel looming over the shuddering Skuld.
“Yes,” Domovoi confirmed. “Yes, my father orchestrated this so that the angels would end up staring at one another. They are immobile in the sight of another living creature—they will not move.”
“That fucking COUNTS?” Farfarello growled. “They’re stone statues, they can’t look at one another.”
“They weren’t stone when they moved, Farfie,” Schuldig said, grinning and flicking the forehead of the immobile angel. “They’re living things, by a technicality. So, Dom,” the Mastermind turned to the practically apoplectic son. “We should get your daddy now.”
“What?” Hitsugaya turned his icy glare away from the angel and onto Domovoi. “You mean to say that Fowl has been here the whole time, and you never thought to mention it?”
“Think about it, Shiro-chan,” Schuldig smirked, only a little annoyed that Hitsugaya still wouldn’t look him in the face. That name, however, got the Captain’s attention. “If he told us Arty was in the building, we would’ve focused on getting him out instead of fixing this little angel problem. Who knows how many people would’ve disappeared. Incredible, huh? A teenager thinking about someone else besides himself,” Schuldig said with a barking laugh.
“Where is he Domovoi?” Haku said calmly, withholding the eagerness in his tone. The letter had said that Artemis’ life depended on his ability to complete the tasks in that night. He’d done them, and now it was time to tie up the loose ends.
The son looked at Haku with an almost pained expression. “He… wouldn’t tell me. He only said that the Captain would know.” Suddenly, every eye was on Hitsugaya. The Captain’s scowl deepened, as he had no idea what the hell Fowl was referring to.
“He said that he would be in the place you and two other healers didn’t reach…”
Hitsugaya growled. He hated riddles. Couldn’t Fowl just be straightforward for once? No, of course not, not when his son was in the middle of it. Obviously the boy idolized his father, and would have tried to rush off to save him. Like father like son, of course.
“The only night I worked with two healers was when the both of us worked with Yamada,” Hitsugaya said with a deep frown. “And we couldn’t get to a lot of places.”
“He didn’t say couldn’t,” Skuld pointed out, looking worried as well. If Haku was concerned, it must be serious. “He said ‘didn’t’. Where were you trying to get to?”
“I got that!” Hitsugaya snapped, running a hand through his hair in aggravation. “We went into a mine. We were looking for Jill, but we couldn’t find her.”
“There must be more…” Obi-Wan said, voice gently imploring Hitsugaya to remember something. “He wouldn’t have given us a location that he knew we didn’t know. Artemis was too smart for that.”
“Look!” Hitsugaya said sharply, glaring at the company. “We went into a mine, found nothing and tried to move downward but Fowl didn’t trust the dumbwaiter!”
Silence.
Farfarello took off at a run for the stairs.
“He’s down in that mine,” Schuldig looked a little disturbed. “How the hell was he down there… and why didn’t I hear him…?”
“He must be out of your range,” Skuld commented, tapping her temple and beginning to run for the stairs. “Or… If I know Artemis, he wouldn’t have wanted to tip you off so soon. He… he’s probably been down there for a while.”
“Probably since you arrived, Schuldig,” Farfarello finished, saying what Skuld didn’t want to suggest. “He’s probably starving or freezing to death. Or dying of exposure.”
“Can we keep the theories to a minimum?” Obi-Wan pleaded. “Less postulating, more action.”
The group ran at breakneck speed. Skuld and Domovoi couldn’t run fast enough to keep up with the rest of the group, so she held onto Obi-Wan’s shoulders and Domovoi let Haku bear him to the mine. The group didn’t know when morning would come, so getting to Artemis as soon as possible was of the utmost importance. Zabuza didn’t seem too keen on the whole ordeal, but given that Artemis’ son was riding on Haku’s back, he didn’t have much say in the matter, it seemed.
Hitsugaya leading the way, the party made it to the dumbwaiter directly at the back of the mine. The Captain still didn’t trust the thing, but there wasn’t any choice at this point. “I’ll go down. I’ll need some backup, though. You,” he turned to Schuldig, still chapped about the ‘Shiro-chan’ comment. “Can you hear him?”
“Faintly, but he’s not doing so hot,” Even Schuldig seemed worried. “I think he’s sick.”
“I’m going too,” Haku said immediately, pushing to the front of the group. He felt a hand seize his shoulder. Expecting it to be Zabuza-san, he was surprised to find that it was Domovoi who was holding him back.
“Then… this is where we part,” he said, his tone a little sad. Haku looked confused.
“He’s… he’s your father, Domovoi. We need your help.”
“I can’t face him. It could cause a rift in the time-space continuum.”
“I thought that was just in that movie,” Farfarello said, raising an eyebrow. Obi-Wan took this moment to look disgruntled.
“We’re wasting time,” Hitsugaya barked. “Come or don’t come, I don’t care.”
“But… I thought the letter said that Artemis was sixty-five,” Skuld said, confused. “There couldn’t be two of him in the same timeframe, it would cause a meltdown. Wouldn’t it?”
Domovoi gave Skuld a smirk, ghosting his father’s. “My father never said that he was still in this world. Only that if he was transported back to 1964, he would have been sixty-five. And I never said that I was from this dimensional plane.”
As if on cue, a tiny being, barely three-feet tall, shimmered into view. It was suited up in a green jumpsuit and had a rather complex helmet on. Schuldig nearly jumped a foot.
“WHAT THE FUCK,” he shouted, backing away two steps. Apparently, he hadn’t felt this one. The figure tapped its helmet.
“Negates my brain waves. Artemis said I would need it,” The tiny person pulled off the helmet, revealing two pointed ears fringed by a shock of auburn hair in a crew cut, and one hazel and one blue eye. Haku blinked.
“Holly Short,” he said. Everyone else seemed surprised at this development. After all, people didn’t just appear out of nowhere. The elf grinned, strangely friendly.
“I knew he’d tell you about me. Can’t shut that mud boy up,” she said with a mock-aggravated sigh. Haku laughed behind a hand.
“Yes, that is true.”
“I’m sorry,” Schuldig said, clearly still aggravated by the sudden appearance of a person he didn’t feel coming. “But what the hell is going on?” Now there’s a question that Schuldig didn’t ask very often. “I know you fucking lied to us Dom, but I didn’t hear anything about her.”
“And Fowl is still down in the shaft,” Hitsugaya growled. “So if we could move this little rescue party along, that would be best for everyone.”
“Hold your pants on, Captain Mudboy,” Holly shot back, clearly not at all afraid of Hitsugaya. “Domovoi and I can’t go down there with you, and Schuldig here needs an explanation.”
“We need to explain what’s happened,” Domovoi corrected her.
“Right. And take good notes, this is important,” Holly crossed her arms to accent the point. She wasn’t going to haul her wings over here for nothing, just to discover that Artemis had vanished when she got back.
“Holly and I were sent here by No. 1 and my father in order to lead the plot against the angels,” Skuld opened her mouth, but Domovoi silenced her by holding his hand up. “I can’t explain. My father will understand. We were sent here to complete this mission as it has occurred and nothing more. It is true that my father was thrown backwards in time by the angels, but through sheer decision and willpower, he was able to devise a method of escape. The Doctor showed up shortly after he had this,” Domovoi held up the worn picture he had shown Haku that morning. “Taken. After explaining the situation and with the use of some…incentive, the Doctor agreed to pull my father forward in time to before Schuldig entered the Institute. There, he waited for us to defeat the angels and find him.”
“But let me put it this way,” Holly said, pointing a bony finger at Hitsugaya, “If you don’t get down there and get him soon, this all goes down like a Generation 4 pod in a magma flare, got it?”
Hitsugaya was a little taken aback by the woman’s direct attitude, but mostly by the strange and incomprehensible analogy she used. “That’s what I’ve been trying to do…” he grumbled.
“We’ll leave him in your care, then,” Domovoi assured Hitsugaya, putting a hand on Holly’s shoulder. “It’s almost time,” he noted. The elf nodded, putting her helmet back on. Domovoi smiled at everyone. Unspoken, the consensus was that they would probably never meet again. The son held out his hand to Haku. “Tell father to keep fighting.”
Haku looked down at the hand and took it awkwardly. A moment later, the ninja’s eyes widened. His eyes flicked down to Domovoi’s hand, then back up to the boy’s face. His eyes… they were familiar. What had…? “Your hand isn’t warm.”
Domovoi cast a glance at Zabuza, then smiled at Haku. “Goodbye.”
The son and the fairy nodded to one another, took hands, and were suddenly gone in a flurry of blue sparks. The group stood there, somewhat dumbfounded. Haku being the most profoundly confused. Schuldig was in the business of revealing things that he probably had no business telling other people, and he quite enjoyed this job. However, part of him decided that he could tell Artemis ‘I told you so’ later. Much later. Like when Zabuza was far away.
“Let’s go,” Haku said, nodding to Hitsugaya. He and the Captain carefully climbed into the dumbwaiter, and Skuld and Zabuza slowly lowered it down…
“Artemis,” Haku breathed, sprinting over to his fallen friend. Schuldig had been right: Artemis looked like death warmed over. His eyes were sunken, and it looked like he hadn’t eaten in days. His suit was torn and bloody in places, and his sword was broken. As Haku and the Captain approached, the boy could barely turn his head to acknowledge their presence. But when he saw who it was, the corners of his mouth turned up a little.
“Haku…” he wheezed. “Captain… You came…”
“Of course we came you idiot,” Hitsugaya snapped, kneeling down and taking stock of the boy’s injuries. “You’re too much damn trouble.”
“Apologies,” he said with a weak laugh. He turned his eyes on Haku. The ninja was relieved almost to the point of tears to see the triumphant spark behind his tired look. Artemis Fowl had done it again. “I have something for you. I’ll trade it to you for everything that happened tonight. I have to give it to the Doctor.”
Haku sighed, “Half dead and still making deals, Artemis? What is it this time?”
Slowly, Artemis’ hand went into the breast pocket of his jacket. He drew out a piece of white cardstock with a black and white photo printed on it. Haku took it, immediately recognizing it. This was the third time he’d seen it today.
“You need this—your son gave it to me. You have to give it to him.”
Artemis shook his head, “No, you should keep it.”
“But Domovoi—”
“He’ll receive it eventually,” Artemis assured Haku, his own hand searching for Haku’s.
“Holly said everything had to go exactly as it went tonight. That includes the photo.”
Artemis smiled. “Everything will happen according to plan, I know myself too well. But you need to tell me. Everything. There’s one thing I didn’t have back in 1964—the plan. I need it now.” Haku looked at him, confused. Artemis had thought up this plan and yet… he hadn’t done it yet. How did that work? “But,” he coughed to cover a groan of pain as Hitsugaya went to work on repairing a broken leg. “There’s one thing that 1964 has that we didn’t.” The boy reached over and tugged a dirty blanket off of a small crate. Haku and Hitsugaya looked at the box curiously, unaware of what it was. A smirk perfect for an evil genius spread out across Artemis’ features.
“C-4.”
Author: Serey/Kouject
Beta: Souji and Rini ♥
Word Count: *cough*6,105*COUGH*
Rating: Uh... PG? I guess...?
Characters: Artemis Fowl II, Haku, Zabuza, Hitsugaya Toushirou, Schuldig, Farfarello, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Skuld, The Doctor, Holly Short, ???, brief mentions of other characters.
Pairing(s): Artemis/Haku
Summary: Don't blink.
“NOBODY BLINK,” Haku ordered, eyes transfixed in the angel’s own.
“Where’s the kid?” Zabuza asked, his own normally gruff and brave voice taking on a note of panic. His sword was lodged in this thing after all, and Haku had nearly… again. The ice ninja panicked for a moment, afraid to take his eyes off the target. He had meant to protect Domovoi and yet there was no response. Not even a rustle.
“Second verse… same as the first,” Haku heard the son collapse, and felt a small sigh of relief leave him. But still, the problem of staring at the angels was—
“It’s all right,” Domovoi said, heaving great relieved breaths. “You can blink. It’s safe.”
“Are you crazy, boy?” Zabuza shot back, not taking his eyes off his opponent. “First you told us not to blink, and now—”
“They’re all looking at one another,” Obi-Wan observed, turning to look at the angel looming over the shuddering Skuld.
“Yes,” Domovoi confirmed. “Yes, my father orchestrated this so that the angels would end up staring at one another. They are immobile in the sight of another living creature—they will not move.”
“That fucking COUNTS?” Farfarello growled. “They’re stone statues, they can’t look at one another.”
“They weren’t stone when they moved, Farfie,” Schuldig said, grinning and flicking the forehead of the immobile angel. “They’re living things, by a technicality. So, Dom,” the Mastermind turned to the practically apoplectic son. “We should get your daddy now.”
“What?” Hitsugaya turned his icy glare away from the angel and onto Domovoi. “You mean to say that Fowl has been here the whole time, and you never thought to mention it?”
“Think about it, Shiro-chan,” Schuldig smirked, only a little annoyed that Hitsugaya still wouldn’t look him in the face. That name, however, got the Captain’s attention. “If he told us Arty was in the building, we would’ve focused on getting him out instead of fixing this little angel problem. Who knows how many people would’ve disappeared. Incredible, huh? A teenager thinking about someone else besides himself,” Schuldig said with a barking laugh.
“Where is he Domovoi?” Haku said calmly, withholding the eagerness in his tone. The letter had said that Artemis’ life depended on his ability to complete the tasks in that night. He’d done them, and now it was time to tie up the loose ends.
The son looked at Haku with an almost pained expression. “He… wouldn’t tell me. He only said that the Captain would know.” Suddenly, every eye was on Hitsugaya. The Captain’s scowl deepened, as he had no idea what the hell Fowl was referring to.
“He said that he would be in the place you and two other healers didn’t reach…”
Hitsugaya growled. He hated riddles. Couldn’t Fowl just be straightforward for once? No, of course not, not when his son was in the middle of it. Obviously the boy idolized his father, and would have tried to rush off to save him. Like father like son, of course.
“The only night I worked with two healers was when the both of us worked with Yamada,” Hitsugaya said with a deep frown. “And we couldn’t get to a lot of places.”
“He didn’t say couldn’t,” Skuld pointed out, looking worried as well. If Haku was concerned, it must be serious. “He said ‘didn’t’. Where were you trying to get to?”
“I got that!” Hitsugaya snapped, running a hand through his hair in aggravation. “We went into a mine. We were looking for Jill, but we couldn’t find her.”
“There must be more…” Obi-Wan said, voice gently imploring Hitsugaya to remember something. “He wouldn’t have given us a location that he knew we didn’t know. Artemis was too smart for that.”
“Look!” Hitsugaya said sharply, glaring at the company. “We went into a mine, found nothing and tried to move downward but Fowl didn’t trust the dumbwaiter!”
Silence.
Farfarello took off at a run for the stairs.
“He’s down in that mine,” Schuldig looked a little disturbed. “How the hell was he down there… and why didn’t I hear him…?”
“He must be out of your range,” Skuld commented, tapping her temple and beginning to run for the stairs. “Or… If I know Artemis, he wouldn’t have wanted to tip you off so soon. He… he’s probably been down there for a while.”
“Probably since you arrived, Schuldig,” Farfarello finished, saying what Skuld didn’t want to suggest. “He’s probably starving or freezing to death. Or dying of exposure.”
“Can we keep the theories to a minimum?” Obi-Wan pleaded. “Less postulating, more action.”
The group ran at breakneck speed. Skuld and Domovoi couldn’t run fast enough to keep up with the rest of the group, so she held onto Obi-Wan’s shoulders and Domovoi let Haku bear him to the mine. The group didn’t know when morning would come, so getting to Artemis as soon as possible was of the utmost importance. Zabuza didn’t seem too keen on the whole ordeal, but given that Artemis’ son was riding on Haku’s back, he didn’t have much say in the matter, it seemed.
Hitsugaya leading the way, the party made it to the dumbwaiter directly at the back of the mine. The Captain still didn’t trust the thing, but there wasn’t any choice at this point. “I’ll go down. I’ll need some backup, though. You,” he turned to Schuldig, still chapped about the ‘Shiro-chan’ comment. “Can you hear him?”
“Faintly, but he’s not doing so hot,” Even Schuldig seemed worried. “I think he’s sick.”
“I’m going too,” Haku said immediately, pushing to the front of the group. He felt a hand seize his shoulder. Expecting it to be Zabuza-san, he was surprised to find that it was Domovoi who was holding him back.
“Then… this is where we part,” he said, his tone a little sad. Haku looked confused.
“He’s… he’s your father, Domovoi. We need your help.”
“I can’t face him. It could cause a rift in the time-space continuum.”
“I thought that was just in that movie,” Farfarello said, raising an eyebrow. Obi-Wan took this moment to look disgruntled.
“We’re wasting time,” Hitsugaya barked. “Come or don’t come, I don’t care.”
“But… I thought the letter said that Artemis was sixty-five,” Skuld said, confused. “There couldn’t be two of him in the same timeframe, it would cause a meltdown. Wouldn’t it?”
Domovoi gave Skuld a smirk, ghosting his father’s. “My father never said that he was still in this world. Only that if he was transported back to 1964, he would have been sixty-five. And I never said that I was from this dimensional plane.”
As if on cue, a tiny being, barely three-feet tall, shimmered into view. It was suited up in a green jumpsuit and had a rather complex helmet on. Schuldig nearly jumped a foot.
“WHAT THE FUCK,” he shouted, backing away two steps. Apparently, he hadn’t felt this one. The figure tapped its helmet.
“Negates my brain waves. Artemis said I would need it,” The tiny person pulled off the helmet, revealing two pointed ears fringed by a shock of auburn hair in a crew cut, and one hazel and one blue eye. Haku blinked.
“Holly Short,” he said. Everyone else seemed surprised at this development. After all, people didn’t just appear out of nowhere. The elf grinned, strangely friendly.
“I knew he’d tell you about me. Can’t shut that mud boy up,” she said with a mock-aggravated sigh. Haku laughed behind a hand.
“Yes, that is true.”
“I’m sorry,” Schuldig said, clearly still aggravated by the sudden appearance of a person he didn’t feel coming. “But what the hell is going on?” Now there’s a question that Schuldig didn’t ask very often. “I know you fucking lied to us Dom, but I didn’t hear anything about her.”
“And Fowl is still down in the shaft,” Hitsugaya growled. “So if we could move this little rescue party along, that would be best for everyone.”
“Hold your pants on, Captain Mudboy,” Holly shot back, clearly not at all afraid of Hitsugaya. “Domovoi and I can’t go down there with you, and Schuldig here needs an explanation.”
“We need to explain what’s happened,” Domovoi corrected her.
“Right. And take good notes, this is important,” Holly crossed her arms to accent the point. She wasn’t going to haul her wings over here for nothing, just to discover that Artemis had vanished when she got back.
“Holly and I were sent here by No. 1 and my father in order to lead the plot against the angels,” Skuld opened her mouth, but Domovoi silenced her by holding his hand up. “I can’t explain. My father will understand. We were sent here to complete this mission as it has occurred and nothing more. It is true that my father was thrown backwards in time by the angels, but through sheer decision and willpower, he was able to devise a method of escape. The Doctor showed up shortly after he had this,” Domovoi held up the worn picture he had shown Haku that morning. “Taken. After explaining the situation and with the use of some…incentive, the Doctor agreed to pull my father forward in time to before Schuldig entered the Institute. There, he waited for us to defeat the angels and find him.”
“But let me put it this way,” Holly said, pointing a bony finger at Hitsugaya, “If you don’t get down there and get him soon, this all goes down like a Generation 4 pod in a magma flare, got it?”
Hitsugaya was a little taken aback by the woman’s direct attitude, but mostly by the strange and incomprehensible analogy she used. “That’s what I’ve been trying to do…” he grumbled.
“We’ll leave him in your care, then,” Domovoi assured Hitsugaya, putting a hand on Holly’s shoulder. “It’s almost time,” he noted. The elf nodded, putting her helmet back on. Domovoi smiled at everyone. Unspoken, the consensus was that they would probably never meet again. The son held out his hand to Haku. “Tell father to keep fighting.”
Haku looked down at the hand and took it awkwardly. A moment later, the ninja’s eyes widened. His eyes flicked down to Domovoi’s hand, then back up to the boy’s face. His eyes… they were familiar. What had…? “Your hand isn’t warm.”
Domovoi cast a glance at Zabuza, then smiled at Haku. “Goodbye.”
The son and the fairy nodded to one another, took hands, and were suddenly gone in a flurry of blue sparks. The group stood there, somewhat dumbfounded. Haku being the most profoundly confused. Schuldig was in the business of revealing things that he probably had no business telling other people, and he quite enjoyed this job. However, part of him decided that he could tell Artemis ‘I told you so’ later. Much later. Like when Zabuza was far away.
“Let’s go,” Haku said, nodding to Hitsugaya. He and the Captain carefully climbed into the dumbwaiter, and Skuld and Zabuza slowly lowered it down…
“Artemis,” Haku breathed, sprinting over to his fallen friend. Schuldig had been right: Artemis looked like death warmed over. His eyes were sunken, and it looked like he hadn’t eaten in days. His suit was torn and bloody in places, and his sword was broken. As Haku and the Captain approached, the boy could barely turn his head to acknowledge their presence. But when he saw who it was, the corners of his mouth turned up a little.
“Haku…” he wheezed. “Captain… You came…”
“Of course we came you idiot,” Hitsugaya snapped, kneeling down and taking stock of the boy’s injuries. “You’re too much damn trouble.”
“Apologies,” he said with a weak laugh. He turned his eyes on Haku. The ninja was relieved almost to the point of tears to see the triumphant spark behind his tired look. Artemis Fowl had done it again. “I have something for you. I’ll trade it to you for everything that happened tonight. I have to give it to the Doctor.”
Haku sighed, “Half dead and still making deals, Artemis? What is it this time?”
Slowly, Artemis’ hand went into the breast pocket of his jacket. He drew out a piece of white cardstock with a black and white photo printed on it. Haku took it, immediately recognizing it. This was the third time he’d seen it today.
“You need this—your son gave it to me. You have to give it to him.”
Artemis shook his head, “No, you should keep it.”
“But Domovoi—”
“He’ll receive it eventually,” Artemis assured Haku, his own hand searching for Haku’s.
“Holly said everything had to go exactly as it went tonight. That includes the photo.”
Artemis smiled. “Everything will happen according to plan, I know myself too well. But you need to tell me. Everything. There’s one thing I didn’t have back in 1964—the plan. I need it now.” Haku looked at him, confused. Artemis had thought up this plan and yet… he hadn’t done it yet. How did that work? “But,” he coughed to cover a groan of pain as Hitsugaya went to work on repairing a broken leg. “There’s one thing that 1964 has that we didn’t.” The boy reached over and tugged a dirty blanket off of a small crate. Haku and Hitsugaya looked at the box curiously, unaware of what it was. A smirk perfect for an evil genius spread out across Artemis’ features.
“C-4.”