“Holly?” Lili said tentatively, knocking on the bathroom door.

            “Go away!” came Holly’s voice, muffled and slurred by tears. She had been crying for an hour.

            Holly was devastated. Artemis knew her secret! She had known it was a bad idea to become a human singer. Artemis probably heard her little mournful speech on the radio, too. Everything was going horribly!
            “Holly, it wasn’t that bad,” Lili said, trying to coax Holly out of the bathroom.

            “Yes it was,” Holly sniffled. “He said, I knew it, then hung up. How much worse could it get?”

            Lili didn’t have an answer to this. She sighed. It had really been all her fault this had happened. She had made Holly become a singer, and now everything was ruined. It didn’t help that Holly was hopelessly in love with Artemis, and that Holly would be in big trouble if the Council ever found out about this.

            Lili Frond made a choice. If people were going to stop treating her like a shallow bimbo, then she needed to prove she was a good friend. Lili was going to go meet Artemis, and straighten everything out.

            “Are you going to be okay?” she asked Holly. Her answer was a box of tissues thrown over the stall, aimed for her head.

            “Fine,” Lili grumbled. “Should I take that as a, ‘No, I’ll be horrible but please leave’?”

            Another box came flying over the stall. This one hit Lili on the shoulder.

            “Ouch!” she cried. Lili swore Holly’s next sob was laced with a giggle, but she could’ve imagined that.

            Lili grabbed a pair of wings and flew out the window, shielded. Hours later, she flew into Fowl Manor, knocking on the door. The giant Mud Man answered.

            Butler looked down at the ground, fully expecting to see Holly. But his filtered eyes saw another fairy; one he had never seen before.

            “Who are you?” he growled. Lili squeaked in fright, then took a deep breath.

            “I’m Lili Frond. I really need to talk to Artemis, if that’s okay. It’s about the whole Holly thing. She’s wicked upset, and it’s all my fault.”

            “Butler let Lili in. “Artemis!” he called. “We have a fairy here to see you!”

            Artemis came out of his study, and, like Butler, expected to see Holly.

            “Look, Holly, we need to ta- who are you?” he said to the elf. Lili smiled nervously.

            “I’m Lili Frond. Can I talk to you? It’s about Holly.”

            Lili explained everything; about how Holly was really upset, and how she had a great voice. Lili hadn’t known she had liked Artemis in that way, and fully hadn’t expected for Artemis to hear Holly’s music. Artemis listened in silence.

            “So you see,” Lili concluded, “It wasn’t Holly’s fault at all. I feel horrible about weirding up you’re friendship, but please, don’t blame Holly.”

            Artemis nodded. “Is Holly okay?”

            Lili grinned sheepishly. “The last time I saw her, she was sobbing and chucking tissue boxes at my head. I’d say she’s pretty torn up.”

            Artemis swallowed. “Lili, I have a problem. I think I might like Captain Short- eh, Holly, more than a friend as well.”

            Lili sighed. “Are you still doing that ‘eh’ thing? Holly told me about that. Hey, wait, did you just say you LIKED HOLLY?”

            Artemis groaned, and nodded. Lili jumped up and down with joy.

            “This is great!” she exclaimed. “Now you two can be together, problem solved.”

            Lili frowned when she saw Artemis’s expression. “Why the long face?” she said. “This is good news!”

            “No, it’s bad news!” Artemis snapped. “How could we ever be together? It’s impossible! I- I can’t do this, Lili. Tell Holly that I feel we should stop seeing each other- even as friends. Tell her that I’m extremely angry. But know that I feel the exact opposite.”

            Lili was shocked. “There must be some other way! This will kill her! I’ve never seen Holly this upset, Artemis. She’s a tough girl, the toughest I know. You can’t do this to her!”

            “Watch me!” Artemis yelled. Lili was shocked and offended by Artemis’s tone. She shielded, and said, “Fine. Holly can do better, anyway.” Artemis felt a tiny fist punch his head, and Lili Frond flew out of the room.

 

Some other stories by songfic_freak:

• Oh, Valencia
• Update
• Artemis Fowl and the Incredible Time Machine
• What if Holly had been killed by the troll in Fowl Manor?
• I'm not that girl

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