What if Holly had been killed in book 1? This story is extremely dark and kind of gory. Sorry! I won’t write any more gross stories, but this one interested me.

     

            Artemis Fowl, page 230
Holly looked the troll straight in its merciless eyes and pressed the button. Very melodramatic. Or it would have been, if the lights had worked. Unfortunately for Holly, in her haste she’d grabbed one of the helmets cannibalized by Artemis Fowl. Hence no Sonix, no filters and no tunnel beams. The halogen bulbs were still installed, but the wires had come loose during Artemis’s investigations.
            “Oh, dear,” breathed Holly.
            “Oh, dear!” barked Root. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
            “The beams are off-line,” explained Foaly.
            “Oh…” Root’s voice trailed off. What more was there to say?
            Holly squinted at the troll. If you didn’t know trolls were dumb animals, you’d swear the beast was grinning. Standing there with blood dripping from various chest wounds, grinning. Captain Short didn’t like being ginned at.
            “Laugh this off,” she said, and butted the troll with the only weapon available to her. Her helmeted head.
 

 

Captain Short lay on the floor of Fowl Manor, her breath coming in sharp gasps. She had head-butted a troll to save three Mud Men. How stupid could she be? Sure, it was the only idea that came to mind at a situation like this, but still, a poor choice. The troll had been momentarily confused, then had swatted Holly aside like a child does with a bee. Holly had slammed into a stone pillar, fracturing the few ribs that hadn’t been broken by the troll. Blood spilled over Holly’s uniform from various fatal wounds. A rib had punctured a lung, making breathing almost impossible.

            Holly had watched the human, Butler, come at the troll, wearing a ridiculous suit of armor. Amazingly, Butler had won. He had rushed to his sister’s side, not even noticing Holly. Holly was out of magic, completely out. She had used every spark in her body to heal the Mud Man, and now she would pay for her generosity.

            Butler knelt by Juliet’s side. The girl was almost herself again. Almost. She still murmured something about Hogman’s pet piggy, but her eyes were clearing, and she seemed more alert.

            “What happened?” she said sleepily. Butler smiled, relief flooding through him.

            “Nothing, sis. Just lie down.” Juliet didn’t even question why she had to lie down, just simply nodded obediently, and fell asleep. Butler glanced at the monitors in the corner of the room. Artemis would have been watching the whole thing. Surely the boy hadn’t been expecting the troll? A flaw in the plan. There had never been a flaw in any of Artemis’s plans. Butler began to get nervous.

            Butler surveyed the room. It was a complete mess. Hundreds of priceless artifacts had been demolished. Everything was in shambles. Even the statue in the corner was ruined.

            Butler looked harder at the “statue.” A cold sense of dread gripped the bodyguards’ stomach. Statues don’t usually bleed, he thought. And they do not usually squirm in pain.

            It was the prisoner.

            Butler ran to Captain Short’s side. For some reason, seeing the tiny elf so drastically injured made Butler forget the girl was a prisoner.

            He had to admit, the Captain didn’t look good. She was sickly pale, her eyes half open. A cold sweat had broken out on Holly’s forehead, and the elf gasped for air that did not want to fill her broken lungs. Blood covered a grotesque wound on her side. Holly’s entire stomach area seemed to have odd lumps because of the broken ribs. A heavy weight seemed to bear down on Butler’s shoulders. Even if he did not want to believe it, somewhere deep inside Butler knew Captain Short would not live to fight another troll.

            Holly snatched blindly in the air, finding Butler’s hand. She seemed confused for a moment, not knowing what she was holding. Then Holly forced her eyes open, looking into Butler’s eyes.

            The elf’s eyes showed a mixture of many emotions. There was fear, anger, pain, sadness, and utter hatred. It was as if Holly was saying, you destroyed my career, imprisoned me, humiliated me, and now you’re killing me. I saved your sister, Butler. This is your thanks?

            Suddenly, Artemis rushed into the room.

            “I saw everything,” he gasped. “What’s going o- oh.”

            The boy’s eyes rested on Captain Short. His eyes widened with uncontrollable fear. Artemis Fowl, a murderer? Impossible.

            Holly beckoned Artemis closer with her hand, wincing with every movement. Artemis glided towards Holly as if in a daze. The elf sat up, actually screaming with pain.

            “I’m about t-to die,” she gasped, struggling with every syllable. “And I need to say a f-few t-things before I go.” Artemis nodded, unable to believe what he was seeing.

            “When the others realize I’m dead,” Holly said, “I want you to tell them that I want you to have the gold. All of it. Every last bar. You know why?”

            Holly stopped for a second, straining to draw enough air to talk.

            “Because I want you to think about what you went through to get that gold. I’m a person with a soul. Souls are far more valuable than minerals. Think about this! If everyone was dead, then gold would be worthless. People make worth. Without others, then everything is worthless. You could have everything you wanted, but would it be worth it?”

            Holly closed her eyes, and lay down.

            “Butler, do something!” Artemis snapped. Holly’s speech had jolted everything he believed in. Whatever happened, his prisoner couldn’t die.

            Butler shook his head. “There’s nothing I can do, Artemis,” he said quietly. “She’s as good as gone.”

            Holly lay for a minute, shaking as fast as a rabbit’s heartbeat. She stopped so quickly, it was eerie. Then something in Holly’s eyes seemed to die, and Holly Short was no more.

            “No!” Artemis yelled, angrily pacing the floor. “No!” This couldn’t be happening. The entire plot ruined. A fairy dead.

            Butler slowly lifted Holly’s body, bringing her out of the room. Artemis stayed, dropping to his knees in frustration. Even in his wildest dreams, Artemis hadn’t anticipated anything even close to this. The thing was, he thought he should be happy. Artemis was still receiving his gold. That was what really mattered, wasn’t it? But seeing the elf dead—it was more than Artemis could bare. He had no idea why! Emotions the boy hadn’t even known existed were erupting in his heart. Actual grief for a person he barely knew- was that even possible?

            Artemis raced out of the room, following Butler. The manservant had entered a spare bedroom, and was laying Holly’s mangled body on the mattress, pulling the covers over her head. It was a disturbing sight.

           

 

            Commander Julius Root, Foaly, Trouble Kelp and many other fairies watched as the doors to Fowl Manor opened. The Mud Boy and his bodyguard seemed to be pushing a mattress on wheels towards the fairies. Kelp walked forward to meet the humans. The big human wore a grave expression as he peeled back the covers to reveal- oh no.

            Oh no.

            It was Holly, unmistakably dead.

            Fowl had killed her.

            Artemis tried to explain, but was silenced by a thousand guns pointing at his chest. The centaur, Foaly, trotted forward, tears in his eyes.

            “What happened?” growled Foaly, looking murderous.

            “The- the troll you sent in, it attacked Butler and his sister. Captain Short had an acorn in her boot, and escaped. She saved Butler, but the troll…”

            Artemis’s voice faded away. Julius Root came forward.

            “We saw the troll attack,” Root hissed. “Visuals blacked out after Holly passed out.”

            “She said something before she died,” Artemis said meekly. He tried to act professional, but it was hard.

            “What?” Trouble asked.

            “She said that she wanted me to have the gold- all of it,” Artemis said finally. This caused an uproar, and a lot of cocked guns.

            “My officer is dead, and all you can think about is your precious gold!” Root shouted, his face red.

            “No, it’s true!” Artemis yelled over the noise. “Look!”

            Artemis had brought a small television with him, obviously his own design. He inserted the security disk into the television. The troll scenario sprang to life on the screen, or the end of it. Artemis had only included the beginning of Holly’s speech, then had pretended the cameras had blacked out. The speech ended when Holly said, “Because I want you to think about what you went through to get that gold.”

            After a few scans made by Foaly, it was determined that Fowl was telling the truth. Artemis was handed his gold. The two humans left without a second glance at Holly.

            Foaly lost it. He grabbed a Neutrino 2000 and shot the human, Butler, in the head. It was a fatal shot. As Butler fell, he couldn’t believe that he hadn’t predicted this to happen. It was obvious the fairies would do something like this. Butler’s last thought was, I wonder how soon Artemis will join me?

            Artemis yelled out in fear as Butler was killed. It wasn’t until Artemis was safe inside his home that his brain processed the event that had just happened. Butler was dead.

 

 

 

            Artemis stared at the gold for a very long time, barely hearing Juliet’s sobs. He hated this gold. It had killed Butler. It had also killed Holly, but that didn’t bother him nearly as much. Finally, Artemis stood. He pushed the wheelbarrow of gold to his safe room, and locked the door. He could no longer stand the mineral’s presence.

            Because of Holly’s death, Mrs. Fowl stayed insane. She was taken away to a mental hospital, and Artemis was put in a foster home. Mr. Fowl died in the Arctic. Opal Koboi and Briar Cudgeon took over Haven. Julius Root was murdered two books early. Opal was promptly killed by Cudgeon.

            Foaly survived, yet was blamed for the Bwa Kell attack and was sent to jail. He broke out, amazingly, and, deranged, made his way to Fowl’s foster home. The centaur killed Artemis with a blast from the same Neutrino that had murdered Butler. In less than a hundred years, the fairy and human worlds collided. The earth became a mess of war, all because Holly Short was killed by a troll.

Some other stories by songfic_freak:

• Oh, Valencia
• Update
• Artemis Fowl and the Incredible Time Machine
• Holly Short: Pop Star?
• I'm not that girl