Disclaimer: not mine. Honestly, I just want this bloody fic to be over.

Chapter Twenty: Down Once More

Occasionally, in life, there are moments in time that could go either way. Whether battles or confrontations, one word or action has the weight of ages. Winning or losing hinges on the smallest of things. Artemis was not to know this, but he was approaching one of those moments.

All he knew was that the dress rehearsals was going completely to hell. And he had to admit, the situation wasn't entirely unexpected. He knew the LEP were close. He knew they wanted their captain back at all costs. But somehow, despite his instincts telling him everything to the contrary, he had always imagined that he would see Holly perform his opera. That the theatre would pack full and overflow with the sweetness of her voice and the thunder of his music. And he would watch her beautiful face transform into the angel that had haunted him for as long as he could remember. At the fringes of his imagination, at the edges of his mind, he had always been hearing her voice in his head.

But now the LEP were flooding down the aisles and the music had drawn to a screeching halt. Now he had Holly in his arms once again, but this time she was fighting him with everything in her.

Of course, that might have had something to do with the neck he'd broken.

"Verbil was a D'Arvited idiot, but you didn't have to kill him!" she'd raged, half sobbing and half trying to beat him unconscious. "What is wrong with you? Is murder all you understand?"

"Yes," he hissed virulently, hauling her down the stairs. "All and everything." Of course, it had been mere instinct when he saw a veiled shape flying towards him, discernible only by the shimmer on the air. One quick flick of the Punjab lasso, and a green, winged creature was falling to the ground. He'd been up in the flies, watching, as he always did. But, he supposed, in a way her point was proven, if murder was his first instinct.

"I'll kill you," she vowed, and it was as though someone had forced a spike of pain in his heart. "Do you hear me? I'll kill you myself -"

He forced a hand over her mouth. "Shut up, Holly," he growled, and she bit his hand. Resolutely he held it there, ignoring the pain as he descended through his maze of traps and snares. He could hear muffled swear words from under his palm, and several threats of grievous bodily harm towards his person. No matter, now. Not when he was afire with rage. How dare those fairy fools interrupt his music! More than that, how dare they not let him achieve that perfect, blissful moment of opening night? His opera, strangled in it's birth canal before it ever had a chance to be truly born. Fury tensed his grip on her, white marks marring her brown skin when he finally set her down, back in his abode.

"They're coming," she spat at him the moment her mouth was free. "Oh, and I'll relish it. Whether they kill you now or drag you off to a fairy prison to be executed later, I'll relish it." Anger was leaving him in waves, and all he could feel was dull disappointment.

"You must truly hate me, Holly," he said blankly, dropping into an armchair and feeling as though he would never be capable of rising again. "All along I have believed that our differences could be reconciled. You being a fairy, and I a mortal man. A flawed, unworthy mortal man. Perhaps this was the only way it could end."

She was still angry. But that wasn't the only emotion in her, he could see from the softening of her eyes and the way her hands unclenched from fists. "Artemis," she said, strain still tensing her voice. "I don't hate you because you're a man. I hate you for kidnapping me and killing people! Mostly for the killing people," she said, "but for the kidnapping too. How could you think I could care for someone who stole me?" He hung his head, feeling the white heat of tears burn his eyes.

"But you never would have loved me any other way," he rasped. She nodded.

"Probably. But does it look like I love you now?" she asked. "Love cannot be forced, it cannot be commanded. And it certainly not be kidnapped! And now your opera will never be performed, the LEP will see it buried deep. How is any of this what you wanted?"

"None of it is!" he snapped, and saw her recoil. Forcing his voice to calm, he continued. "But I knew no other way to make you mine." And finally, though it made him feel like a worm to see it, sympathy warmed her hazel eyes.

"Life really did a number on you, huh?" she asked gently, and he twitched like a broken thing, seeking her hands on him yet knowing it would not come to pass.

"That's no excuse," he mumbled into his hands.

"Perhaps not, but I understand better now," she retorted. And perhaps it was the shadow of her understanding that made him confess his last secret to her.

"I wanted you to marry me," he whispered weakly, shame feeling him all the way down to his toes. He had never told anyone that. It was the most cherished, most secret desire of his black heart. "To be my bride. To be with me all of my days."

"I know," she murmured, and she seemed to comprehend what just speaking of it cost him, for her hand twisted around his. "I've always known that was what you've wanted. I've always known what a lonely soul yours is." She paused for a moment, but added as though she could restrain herself from asking the question: "But why me? Why not one of your own kind? Why choose such a difficult path?"

"I chose nothing," he replied. "From the moment I heard your voice - no, that is wrong. It is as if I have always been hearing your voice, but until I met you, I did not know whose it was."

"My voice," she said, as if that was nothing, and she crossed her arms over her chest. "Is that really all that matters to you?" she snapped, and he felt himself wince.

"No, darling girl," he said, the endearment falling from his tongue as easily as snow off a bough. "Your kindness, your courage, your strength. I was infatuated with your voice. But it is you I love."

And the LEP chose that precise moment to arrive. Or rather, one member of the LEP. The door creaked open and a shimmering figure in the doorway became Trouble Kelp. "Trouble fucking Kelp, she seethed. Of course it would be him. Artemis looked at the interloper, at his handsome face and the horror in his expression, and for a long moment there was only silence.

Until Artemis turned, and she could see fury sparked in his electric eyes.

"My dear! I see we have a guest!"

.