A/N: If you don't know the story of Hippolytus or the story of Cupid and Psyche, then you should probably look them up real quick before you read this.
I (obviously) do not own Artemis Fowl
So far Holly's birthday had been rather boring.
Her friends had wanted to throw her a party and it had taken a lot of persuading on her part to convince them not to.
"There's nothing special about turning eighty-five," she had told them.
"Eighty-eight. You missed three birthdays while you were in Limbo," Foaly reminded her.
"Which is why you need to really celebrate this one, to make up for the ones you missed," said Mulch.
But Holly had just shaken her head and eventually her friends gave up. Instead, Trouble simply gave her the day off to do as she pleased. So far that day had been spent watching reruns and wondering if Trouble would mind if she came into work after all.
A knock on the door startled her from her thoughts. With a sigh she got off the couch and went to see who it was. She opened the door and found herself face to face with the last person she had ever expected to show up at her house.
"Happy birthday Holly," Artemis said, smiling with amusement at the shocked look on her face.
"Artemis!" Holly finally managed to stammer out. "How did you get here?"
"Well I took a shuttle from the surface and then I was driven here in a car, or at least the fairy equivalent of one," Artemis told her, still smiling.
Holly rolled her eyes. "That's not what I meant. I suppose what I should ask is: Does the council know you're here? Or Foaly? Or Trouble?"
"Of course," Artemis replied. "I had to get the commander's and the council's permission to come down here and Foaly is the one who arranged the whole thing to begin with."
Holly frowned. "Please don't tell me that you are Foaly's birthday present."
"No, I am my own birthday present. Also, I brought these."
He held up what appeared to be two tickets. Holly stared at them feeling dazed.
Artemis sighed. "They're tickets. They're for a play that Foaly said you would be interested in."
"A play?" Holly asked, confused. She had never cared much for theatre.
"A Greek tragedy. The story of Hippolytus."
"Oh."
Holly thought for a moment, trying to remember what that particular story was about. Oh right, one of Aphrodite's and Artemis' many fights. Clearly Foaly thought he was being funny.
"So, would you like to go?" Artemis asked.
"Yeah, sure," Holly said with a shrug. At least Aphrodite won in this story. That is, if you could consider getting innocent humans killed as winning. Sometimes Holly found it rather difficult to be proud of her ancestors.
They got into Holly's car and headed for the theatre. During the drive, Holly asked Artemis how he had convinced the council to let him come down to Haven.
"They weren't worried that this was really an attempt to steal more gold and you were using my birthday as a cover?" she asked.
"Trying something here in Haven would be suicide on my part. They know it and I know it. And just in case I was up to no good, they forbid me to bring Butler. Not that I would have brought him anyways. He's a bit too big for a fairy city," Artemis told her, his tone indignant.
It didn't take long to reach their destination. They quickly found their seats and waited for the play to begin. As Holly sat there, it occurred to her that this was rather like a date. One that Foaly had set her up on. She was going to kill that centaur. Then she was going to have N°1 bring him back to life so she could kill him again. She was still fuming silently when the lights went down and the actors came onto the stage.
It had been a long time since Holly had seen a play. The last time had been when she was still in school. She observed with some interest the actors' costumes. They were all wearing clothing typical to Ancient Greece, but the fairies playing humans all had either wigs or headbands on to cover their ears and were wearing special shoes to make them slightly taller than normal. The "gods" of course simply looked like fairies.
It had just reached the part where Aphrodite made Phaedra believe she was in love with Hippolytus when Artemis leaned over and whispered in her ear, "Did she just mesmerize her?"
"Yeah," Holly whispered back.
"So in the People's version of the myth, the gods are fairies?"
Holly rolled her eyes. "No. It's not a myth. This is the way it really happened."
Artemis raised his eyebrows in surprise. "You mean the Greek gods were really fairies?"
"Yes, of course they were," Holly told him. "I should know. Aphrodite is my great-great-grandmother."
"Your great-great…"
The way he was staring at her you would think she had told him that she had fallen madly in love with a troll and they were running away to Vegas together.
Members of the audience had begun to glare at them so Holly put a finger to her lips to shush him. "Later," she mouthed.
Artemis watched the remainder of the play in silence, a thoughtful look on his face. He didn't say a word until the play ended and they had walked out of the theatre.
"I suppose you would like an explanation now," Holly said as they walked towards her car.
Artemis shook his head. "Not really. It makes sense now that I think about it. As a matter of fact, I wouldn't be at all surprised if other cultures' deities were originally based on fairies."
"Yeah, quite a few," Holly admitted.
"So which of your parents was a descendent of the gods?" Artemis asked her with a smile.
"My dad," Holly replied, smiling as well. "His mother was Cupid's, or Eros' - they all had many names back then - daughter."
"Cupid," murmured Artemis. "I suppose that must be where you got your aim from."
Holly laughed. "Actually, no. The real Cupid didn't go around shooting people full of arrows to make them fall in love. I have no idea where the Mud Men came up with that one."
After they had climbed into the car, Holly turned to Artemis. "Do I take you back to the shuttle port now?" she asked.
Artemis frowned. "Well I don't know about you, but I would like to have dinner first. I don't suppose you know any good restaurants?"
Holly's eyes widened in alarm. "Oh no, you are not taking me to dinner."
Artemis' frown deepened. "Care to explain why not?"
"Because, if we go out to dinner this officially becomes a date. And I am not going on a date with you. Sorry, but no."
Artemis' expression flickered back and forth between hurt and amusement as if he wasn't sure which emotion he should be feeling. He finally settled on amusement. His lips curled up gently into a half smile as he raised an eyebrow at her.
"Holly, that is ridiculous. This isn't a date," he said.
"Of course it isn't. We haven't gone out to dinner," she replied.
Artemis sighed, still looking rather amused. "So you're just going to send me home then? I'm hungry. I would really prefer to eat something before I have to take that long shuttle ride back to the surface."
Holly thought for a moment. "Well I guess you could come to my house and eat there." She was fairly certain that sitting on her couch eating leftovers did not count as a date.
"You're taking me home with you? Are you certain you don't want me to buy you dinner first? It seems like the proper thing to do." It was clear from the look on Artemis' face that he was trying not to laugh.
Holly glared at him. Did he really just make a sexual innuendo? For Frond's sake, the boy was only fifteen! Clearly puberty was somehow managing to make Artemis even more aggravating than usual.
"Or I could just take you to the shuttle port and let you go home with an empty stomach," she said, still glaring at him.
"No, no, that's quite alright," Artemis said, raising his hands in defeat.
When they reached her house, Holly sent Artemis to the living room while she went to the kitchen in search of food.
"So are any of the stories about Cupid true?" Artemis asked as he sat down on the couch.
Holly took a step back from the open refrigerator to look at him. "What?"
"Well, you said that the arrows bit was false, so I was wondering if any of the stories about him are true, or at least based in truth."
Holly stuck her head back in the refrigerator, searching for something Artemis might actually eat. "Yeah, some of them."
She grabbed some salads and headed back to the living room. Artemis smiled and muttered a quick "thank you" as she handed him his food.
"Is the one about Psyche true?" Artemis asked after she had taken a seat beside him on the couch.
Holly nodded. "Yeah. Well, I mean, it's based on a true story."
"Oh?"
Holly took a quick bite of her salad. Swallowing it, she continued, "Cupid fell in love with a human girl. He really did go and visit her at night and he really did try to conceal his identity from her. The tasks they have her do in the Mud Men's version of the story are completely made up, but she was forced to do some things to prove she was worthy of her fairy lover."
"And then she was somehow turned into a fairy?" Artemis asked, clearly curious.
"No. But she was allowed to come live in the Lower Elements after she and Cupid got married."
Artemis gave her a startled look. "You mean you're part human?"
Holly shook her head. "Cupid and Psyche never had children. After his wife died, Cupid eventually remarried and had my grandmother."
"Ah," Artemis mumbled.
They ate their food in silence for a while. Artemis had returned to looking thoughtful. Holly wasn't sure if she should be worried or not since Artemis rarely didn't look thoughtful.
Finally, Artemis spoke. "So there have been cases of humans and fairies marrying each other?"
"Well yes, though it's not common. Most of the time they are simply lovers. Surely you came across examples of this back when you were first researching the People?" Holly gently bit her lip. She was feeling decidedly uncomfortable with the direction this conversation was taking.
"Yes, but those were just stories. I wanted to know if there was any truth to them."
"Yes, there is. But to be honest, even fairies and humans being lovers isn't all that common. It's unheard of now a days. Doing something like that would be far too risky."
"Yes, of course," Artemis mumbled.
Holly hated it when he agreed with her so quickly. It always made her feel as if he didn't really agree at all.
Artemis glanced at his watch. "I should really be getting back now," he said.
Holly stood up and took his plate. She placed both of their dishes on the kitchen table to be washed later.
"Alright," she said. "Let's go."
"Thank you for dinner," Artemis said as he too stood up.
"Thank you for taking me to the play," Holly replied.
Artemis smiled. "You're welcome."
"I guess I'm obligated now to come visit you on your next birthday," Holly joked.
Artemis' smile widened. "You're hardly obligated, but feel free to come if you wish. Or any day really. You're always welcome to visit."
Holly smiled and hugged her friend. "Alright." She pulled away. "Now let's get you home."
Artemis nodded and followed her out the door.