A/N: Oh dear. This was supposed to be a one shot, but due to my er...over-detailed writing style, it's actually turning out to be just a bit longer...

Disclaimer: It pains me to say this but I don't own Artemis Fowl. Or Holly Short. Or Foaly. Or...well, you get my gist.

Artemis walked slowly through the long heather, feeling the dry stalks brush against his legs. He had swapped his suit and tie for a T-shirt and jeans, and couldn't have felt happier.

A few metres away he could see the auburn hair of Holly Short amongst the foliage, and he was surprised to find himself running towards her.

'Artemis,' she greeted him softly. She looked up towards the sky, which was a shade of the brightest blue. 'It's beautiful, isn't it?'

Artemis flopped down next to her. 'Amazing. You always make me appreciate nature more'

He turned to face her, but suddenly the scene warped – the golden heather turned into coins, gold, surrounding him like a river, clinking, pounding, suffocating...

'Ow!' Artemis yelped as he fell out of bed, banging his head in the process. He blinked as his room began to come into focus, swirling bizarrely. Eventually he found his bedside light and flicked it on. A piece of his dream seemed to have travelled with him into consciousness – the light clink, clink of coin hitting coin.

He had been having the same dream for the past few nights, and it had been bothering him. It was as if it were forcing the same question into his head – what would he have been like if he had never discovered the fairies?

His thoughts were once again interrupted by the mysterious clinking noise, and it only took him a second for him to realise why. His fairy communicator vibrated on his wrist. He answered it quickly.

'Holly?'

'Artemis, get your butt off the floor and let me in!'

He winced as he hurriedly got up and opened the window, grabbing a bathrobe on the way. Holly didn't sound too impressed. He stepped back as a rather ruffled Holly climbed in, landing lightly on the floor.

'What took you so long? It's freezing out there,' she shivered to confirm her point. 'Oh, nice boxers by the way'

Artemis cursed himself silently, turning a beautiful shade of beetroot red. She must have seen him through the window before he had time to cover up. That had to be the second time she had seen him in a pair of boxers in six months. On top of that, the slight feeling of attraction he had towards her certainly wasn't helping. 'You could have waited before looking!'

'You were being so slow, and hadn't left the window open!' Holly protested. 'Unless you wanted me to freeze out there!'

Artemis sighed and shook his head. Holly watched him curiously.

'Why so glum?' she asked. 'Even you are normally happier than this'

Artemis looked into her mismatched eyes, which seemed to hold genuine concern. 'I have been worrying the past few days,' he admitted.

'What possibly could you worry about that's worse than goblins, trolls, and basically everything else we've encountered?'

'I know it's stupid...' Artemis started. 'But I've been wondering what would have happened if I had stuck to my criminal ways, never got mixed up with the fairies...' He left out the part about the dream - he didn't want to give her a reason to laugh at him.

'Artemis, does it really matter what would have happened?' Holly reasoned, sounding slightly frustrated. 'It's what's happening now that we need to worry about. If you keep asking yourself 'what if...?', you might never really appreciate the what's going on in the present'

'I suppose.' said Artemis reluctantly. 'It's the downside of being a genius - once you put your mind to something, it's pretty hard to get that thought to go away.'

Holly grinned. 'Just as modest as always. To tell the truth, I'm glad I have an average IQ'

'At least I'm not as bad as Foaly'

'True, true,' Holly agreed. 'Speaking of Foaly, I am seriously going to wring his neck when I next see him-'

'Let me guess, the thermal coils on your shimmer suit stopped working?' Now it was Artemis's turn to smile.

'Spot on,' replied Holly, rolling her eyes. 'I should have guessed you would know. How did you find out this time?'

'You were complaining of the cold – Foaly's thermal coils would never allow that. It can work in far worse temperatures'

'Well they certainly are allowing the cold in now, let me tell you,' said Holly. She punched his shoulder lightly. 'Although at least this time you didn't give me a full analysis of all the new upgrades on Foaly's shimmer suits. He really went all out this time,' she looked once more at the bleary-eyed Artemis before glancing at his alarm clock. It was only 3AM. 'Anyway, I have to go. LEP has another goblin on the loose'

'Let me guess – they went through Tara without a visa?'

'Right again, Arty. We think he's in Dublin, but that's only a guess. Caused a right panic at the shuttle port. Held a model gun up to the gnome at the ticketing desk and scared him into letting him pass. Probably just on the surface to annoy the LEP'

'Most likely,' Artemis yawned widely. 'If you'll excuse me, but I'm basically falling asleep on my feet. Can we talk another time?' He gestured towards the fairy communicator tied to his wrist.

'Sure,' said Holly. She stood on the tips of her toes and quickly kissed him on the cheek. Artemis couldn't help feeling slightly tingly. 'Take care, Arty'

'You too,' he said quietly, as she slipped out the window into the night.

TWO MONTHS LATER, LEP HEADQUARTERS

'Holly, where are you taking me?' asked Artemis, glancing around nervously as he was followed by the glares of several elfin police officers. 'And more importantly, am I even allowed here?'

'I think you've saved enough fairy lives to be allowed here, Artemis,' replied Holly as she tugged him down the corridor. 'Besides, it's only Foaly. He won't mind.'

She pushed open a door and led Artemis inside. He couldn't help smiling at the inventions that lined Foaly's technical hideout.

'Hello, Artemis,' said a disembodied voice from behind a stack of Neutrinos. 'What took you so long?'

'Good to see you too, Foaly. Maybe you could explain why Holly dragged me away from decoding the US President's emails?'

'Indeed I can,' said Foaly, sounding rather proud. 'Holly told me about something you said when she last went to visit you, something about you wanting to see what you would have been like had you never found us fairies.'

Artemis glared at Holly – he didn't enjoy his concerns being shared with the world.

'Anyway,' continued Foaly, 'I found a way to get that very question answered. I built none other than a time-matter displacement system'

'What?' said Holly and Artemis simultaneously; only Artemis sounded stunned where Holly just sounded confused. Foaly puffed out his chest at Artemis's reaction, obviously satisfied with himself.

'What in Frond's name is a time-matter something-rather system?' asked Holly. Artemis didn't bother correcting her.

'A time-matter displacement system separates certain spaces of time from their dimension and...Holly, for god's sakes, don't touch that!' Foaly shouted, interrupting his own explanation. Holly - who was about to pick up an innocent-looking metal star off the floor - hurriedly drew back her hand. Foaly stormed up to her and picked it up with a pair of yellow plastic tongs. 'Never touch this. It would fry you in a matter of milliseconds. Anyway, a time-matter displacement system works by...'

'Foaly, we really don't care,' Holly cut in. Artemis looked slightly disappointed, but didn't protest. 'Can't you get rid of your bigheadedness for just a few minutes? Artemis will want to see this'

'Anyway, Artemis. I duplicated some of No.1's powers in a machine. No.1 offered to transport you himself, but his powers can be, erm...a little volatile to say the least.'

'I assume you are telling me you can show me what I would have been like, had I never met the fairies?' Artemis asked.

'More than that,' snorted Foaly. 'We can transport you into the very dimension in which this other Artemis lives. You can actually see the life you would be living had you not met us fairies. It's a stroke of pure genius, in my opinion'

'I have to admit that's impressive,' said Artemis. Foaly couldn't tell whether the statement was genuine or not. 'But have you tested it?'

'No,' replied Foaly. 'We still need to test it, even though we're sure it's safe...'

'I guessed as much,' Artemis told Foaly. 'It's hardly likely you would create something this complex just for me'

'Yes, this was actually made for the LEP when checking over decisions - we can see alternate outcomes with this baby.' He patted a large orb on his desk fondly. 'It's been one of my long-term projects'

'So, we're the guinea-pigs?' pressed Artemis. 'Sounds dangerous.' But in some ways I wouldn't mind a bit of danger, he added silently.

'I'm in if Artemis is,' said Holly brightly. 'It sure beats chasing after trolls taking an illegal midnight stroll'

'Rampage, more like,' corrected Artemis. 'The day I see a troll strolling is the day I've lost my mind'

'And it's pretty hard to lose a mind as big as yours,' laughed Holly. 'Anyway, are you in?'

'Definitely,' smiled Artemis. Now this should be interesting, he thought

* * *

Thirty minutes later, Holly and Artemis were both suited up in shimmer suits – or in Artemis's case, two shimmer suits stitched together to compensate for his height. He squirmed uncomfortably in the tight material, but Holly seemed completely at ease. It wasn't hard to tell the suits had been her everyday attire for a while now.

'Are these really necessary?' he asked Foaly.

'If you don't want them to become part of you, yes,' Foaly replied simply, tapping coordinates into a silver machine perched on his desk. 'As you would already know, time travel can, well...mix things up a little bit,' He pointedly glanced at Artemis's mismatched eyes. Holly was ignoring their conversation, instead fiddling with an oddly shaped remote foolishly left within her reach. Foaly snatched it off her.

'Are we going now?' asked Holly.

'Yes,' answered Foaly irritably. 'Now, stand there, in the circle.' Holly and Artemis moved there obediently. 'Holly, you know how to get back. Do you remember the safety precautions?'

'Yup,' she said confidently, ticking them off on her fingers. 'Get there. Look at this alternate, teenage Artemis Fowl for a bit. Satisfy mud boy over here...' she slapped Artemis on the back heartily. A bit too heartily, as it turned out.

'Ow!' he complained.

'... then let us be drawn back here by magic, just like last time,' she finished, ignoring Artemis.

'How much time do we have there, exactly?' squeaked Artemis, rubbing his back.

'About seven days – this machine can hold on for a lot longer than No.1 could. Anyway, are you ready to go?'

Holly and Artemis nodded nervously.

'Okay, on three, two, one...'

Suddenly Holly felt like she was being sucked into a vortex, before an unusual floaty sensation took over her. She felt oddly giggly.

Artemis wasn't feeling himself either – he felt more vulnerable, which was a rather uncommon feeling for the Irish boy to have. They both appeared to be in that very same wind tunnel they had travelled down while going to retrieve the Lemur, only this time the ride seemed a bit gentler.

Suddenly with an almighty lurch he found himself lying in a tangled heap on the floor with Holly. It was a slightly awkward moment – neither of them had forgotten their kiss last time they played with time.

Artemis glanced around, before whistling. Not only had Foaly's machine transported them to an alternate time, but they were in the exact right place too – Artemis's bedroom.

'Wow, now that's what I call accurate,' said Holly, glancing around Artemis's bedroom in wonder.

But this wasn't Holly as he knew her – somehow the time-displacement process had made her younger once again, just like when they had to retrieve JayJay the lemur from the past. Only this time she wasn't even a teenager – in human years she would be the equivalent of an eight-year old. She was so small it was as if she had been taken directly out of a fairytale storybook. She actually looked slightly...cute. He couldn't help laughing. Holly glared at him.

'If you think I'm bad, look at yourself,' she told him sourly.

Artemis turned to stare at the mirror, before letting out a small gasp. The person in the mirror was tiny – he looked like a six-year-old, even though his mind felt the same. He couldn't help noticing how everything seemed to tower above him.

'So this is what it's like to be short,' he said to Holly, sounding slightly mocking. 'If you'll excuse the pun'

He received a glare that could have burnt through steel.

'Watch it, mud boy. And if you hadn't noticed, we have a time limit.' She stalked over to a wardrobe before looking back over her shoulder. 'Oh, and by the way, Arty...' she said in mock sweetness.

'What?'

'Your clothes are falling off'

Artemis glanced down at his shimmer suit, which was hanging off him in shreds. Obviously Foaly's machine was doing a little more than sending them into an alternate time. He sighed as he realised it was the third time Holly had seen him in a pair of Armani boxers. Once again, he blushed in embarrassment.

He watched as Holly glanced through the clothes, before shaking her head sadly. All the suits in this other Artemis's closet were either too large or too stiff.

'Here, let me try,' Artemis said, in an attempt to get over his embarrassment. He shuffled about among the coathangers for a while before dragging out a cardboard box. 'This alternate me still kept my first suit and tie'

He glanced at Holly's shimmer suit, looking slightly envious. Somehow it was still in one piece and had shrunk to accommodate for her lack in height. Hurriedly he put on the small, tailored suit. Somehow it was still too big for him, but he ignored that.

'Ok, so what do we have to do?'

'Make sure this other Artemis doesn't see us,' Holly told him simply. Artemis groaned.

'It's like finding JayJay all over again,' he complained. Holly glanced at the door, looking serious.

'And this may just be that much more difficult,' Holly informed him.

'Why?'

'Because this criminal, alternate Artemis is right on the other side of that door'

A/N: There you go, I hope you liked it! If any part of it confused you, just send me a review with a question attached and I will try to reply ASAP.

One more thing...Please review!