I know most of you hate me slightly for the major cliffie last chapter, so here is the last chapter to make it all better. H/T fans out there will be very happy, H/A fans (myself included) not so much. Anyone who hates Minerva, READ THIS!!!

So, this is the last official chapter of 'hunt'. There will be one more uploaded, but that will be the Foaly/Caballine oneshot I promised earlier. Don't reads it if you don't want to.

"No" Trouble breathed, then sprinted to Holly's side and untied her hands. She fell limply into his arms. His LEP suit was immediately sprayed with blood, but he didn't notice. Artemis was at his side, helping to lower Holly to the ground. She was breathing, but it looked laboured, and when Artemis felt for a pulse it was weak and irregular. Trouble put his hand on the knife hilt. Artemis stopped him before he could remove it.

"The blade's not in her heart, or she'd be dead already. It's plugging the wound, stopping her bleeding to death. If you take it out, we're going to lose her."

Artemis was purposely not saying Holly's name. If he pretended it was someone else, then maybe he could do this without breaking down. He'd lost Holly once; he would not lose her again. At that thought, tears broke free and streaked down his face. Trouble didn't notice, but he did remove his hand from the blade.

"Then what do we do?"

Through the headsets, Artemis could hear Foaly trying not to panic. The centaur was muttering things into the microphone, but it was too distorted to make any sense of. Artemis decided to go with his prior knowledge, and pray that it worked.

"You heal her, and I'll pull the blade out slowly. The wound should seal as the knife comes out."

"Should?" Trouble barked, alarmed. Artemis was never unsure. The boy took a deep breath.

"Will. Holly's done this before, in Spiro's tower. Well, not exactly this, but something similar."

Trouble nodded and placed his hand on Holly's chest. Through the blood drenching her LEP jumpsuit, he could feel her heartbeat against his palm. It was barely there. He closed his eyes and pushed the magic into her body. Blue sparks shot out of his fingers and targeted the wound in her chest as being the most vital. Artemis waited until some of the blood receded, then steadily removed the blade. The magic went haywire, zooming around her small frame faster than the boy had ever seen. There was too much to be done at once, he supposed. A cut on Holly's cheek vanished, followed by a small wound above her eye. Her back arched as her heart regained its rhythm, and Trouble's eyes snapped open. He grabbed Artemis by the arm and pulled him away from her, not a moment too soon. The healing Artemis had witnessed in the Arctic was nothing compared to this. Apparently, a three foot tall elf could effectively wreck an abattoir in less than two minutes. Not that either of the two witnesses minded – they weren't exactly keen on the place anyway.

After what seemed like an eternity, but was in reality probably no more than one minute, Holly stopped shaking and shouting, and slumped back to the floor. Trouble was by her side in an instant, two fingers on her throat. He looked up at Artemis, beaming.

"She's going to be alright."

Artemis sagged against the doorframe in relief. He never wanted to see Holly heal herself like that again. A groan from the floor brought his attention to the assassin, who was coming to. Trouble was too preoccupied with Holly to notice, so the boy picked up the Commander's discarded weapon and made his way over to the recovering sprite. The fairy opened his eyes.

"Artemis Fowl?"

"Yes" said the boy, pointing the gun at the sprite's head. The fairy didn't seem to care.

"Good" he said, then pulled a phone from his pocket and pressed two buttons. Artemis loosed a shot into the mobile. His aim wasn't perfect, and he hit the sprite's hand rather than the mobile, but the desired effect was achieved anyway. The sprite dropped the phone with a yelp, which brought Trouble's attention to him. The Commander left Holly's side for a second, marched over to Artemis's side, took the gun off him and shot the sprite with it. The assassin's eyes rolled up into his head and he passed out again. Trouble knelt down and cuffed him, then lowered his helmet mike.

"Foaly? I need a recovery team here, now."

"They're on their way, Trubs. ETA twenty minutes."

"Don't call me Trubs" he muttered, but there was no bite in it. Both fairies were relieved that Holly was alright. She was still unconscious, but that was to be expected after a healing like that. Trouble hung up and pulled off his helmet. He sat on the floor with Holly's head in his lap, and promised himself silently that he was going to have serious words with both Vinyaya and Fowl once he'd gotten Holly home. If it wasn't for them, she'd never have been in this position in the first place.

He brushed a lock of hair out of Holly's eyes, and she groaned. He froze. Holly coughed, and blinked awake slowly.

"Trouble?"

"Hey, Holls. You ok?"

She grimaced at him.

"Oh, just perfect."

Trouble almost laughed. If she was being sarcastic, then she really was alright. He leaned down and kissed her gently. She reciprocated, hands going around his neck.

Artemis watched the pair for a second, then turned away. What he saw made him gasp and backpedal. Trouble glanced up sharply. Minerva was standing in the doorway.

"You came for her?"

She was talking to Artemis. He nodded.

"Of course I did, she's my friend."

There was a pause, then Artemis had to ask.

"Why did you do this?"

"Because..." Minerva paused, unsure how to continue. Holly struggled onto her elbows and answered for the girl.

"Because she likes you, Artemis."

This made no sense to the boy. He turned to Holly, questions in his gaze. Trouble helped her to her feet, and she leaned heavily on him. She shrugged as much as was possible with Trouble's arms around her shoulders.

"She's psycho, Artemis. That's all I know."

Minerva flushed at this, and took a step towards Holly, who shook free of Trouble's grip and did likewise. She swayed, but stayed on her feet. Minerva was clearly disheartened by this, but she decided to shout anyway.

"You little..."

Holly threw a punch that carried with it all her anger and pain. Minerva made an 'oof' noise and keeled over. Holly grinned at the two males.

"That felt good."

Retrieval chose that time to arrive, and Trouble had to supervise the removal of the sprite and Minerva. They were going to take the French girl home and mindwipe her. Holly and Artemis walked outside, looking up at the stars.

"I'm glad you're alright, Holly" Artemis said softly. Holly glanced at him. She still looked pale and unsteady on her feet, but at least she was alive.

"Likewise" she said. It took the boy a moment to realise she meant him.

"Thank you, Arty. You saved me again."

"You saved me yesterday. We're even."

She nodded agreement to that, but didn't have time to say anything more before Trouble emerged from the frenzy of activity by the doors. He kissed Holly lightly, then turned to Artemis.

"Retrieval will drop you home on their way to France. I'm going to take Holly belowground and get her home."

"I don't need mollycoddling, Trubs."

He ignored her indignant tone, and held out a hand to Artemis.

"Thank you, Fowl."

Artemis shook his hand.

"And you, Commander Kelp."

Trouble gave Holly a pair of wings (she refused to be carried), and the two took off into the night. Holly had buried the acorn Trouble had given her minutes before, so Artemis lost sight of her as she shielded.

"Goodbye, Holly" he muttered.

Trouble was by Holly's side right up until she reached her front door. She smiled at him and pecked him on the cheek. He hugged her close, still unable to comprehend how close he'd come to losing her. She whispered into his ear.

"Thanks, Trubs."

He pulled back enough to see her smile.

"What for?"

"You saved me. Thank you."

"It was nothing."

She opened her front door and stepped inside. Trouble hovered on the step. They'd been going out for almost five months, but he hadn't actually been into her new apartment before. The old one – the one she'd had before the whole Limbo incident – he had been forced to sell, but he'd placed the money in an account and hadn't touched it. He knew she'd come back, even when most others had given up hope.

She smiled at him and beckoned him inside. He grinned and stepped over the threshold.

"Stay tonight" Holly said. It wasn't voiced as a request, but the uncertainty was clear in her eyes. He kissed her to make it go away.

"Of course" he said, and closed the door behind him with a soft click.

So, that's it. Thanks to you all for sticking with this, and for making Skullduck and me very happy with your reviews. Don't let us down this time, huh?
This has been fun to write, and I'm gonna miss it. Thanks again to you all, you're awesome.

Love Liris and Skullduck
xxx