Well, this is it. Hope you enjoyed. PLEASE REVIEW.

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Epilogue: No Place Like Home

"Yo, Holly. Was' up?"

Holly rolled her eyes with a smile as she entered the controls booth. "Have you been watching mud men television again?" She could easily imagine Foaly sitting in his swingy chair with his tin foil hat on backwards.

Foaly laughed. It sounded like a horse's neigh. "How could you tell?"

"Just a feeling," Holly said mysteriously. "So where's this miracle device that's going to turn me into a mud-person?

Foaly grinned. "I'm so glad you asked." He opened a drawer in his desk and pulled out a metal box. "It's called the Cloaker. I made it nice and pretty." He handed the box to Holly, who opened it.

Pretty was an understatement. It was incredible, absolutely beautiful! Holly's eyes opened wide in awe as she studied the exquisite necklace. It was woven from delicate strands of silver in a Celtic style circle. In the centre was a deep purple amethyst.

"Foaly! It's lovely!" Holly exclaimed, "But how will it make me look human?"

The centaur laughed. "You'll see that when you put it on tonight. In basic terms, it's a hologram unit. I, shall we say, 'borrowed' the technology from young Kirra Woods. It's based on the model she used to disguise herself as Sool."

Holly laughed. "Well at least something has come out of this whole fiasco."

Foally grinned and continued. "There's a little switch on the back of the pendant." He turned it around so she could see. "But only turn it on when you're about to leave for the party. It's running on battery power, so it'll only last a few hours."

Holly nodded, and put the Cloaker necklace back in its case.

"But now Holly," said Foaly mockingly, "The Cloaker can only do so much. It's up to you to act the part. Can you do it?"

Holly snorted. "Can a dwarf blow a hole in his pants?" With that, Holly winked at Foaly and flounced out of the controls booth.

Foaly watched her go with a small smile. "That's my line."

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When posed the question, "What do you think of school dances?" Artemis' first reaction was, "Oh dear."

A dance? It was his worst nightmare. Somewhere in his mind Artemis could remember a sarcastic Butler stating Artemis would be 'a big hit' at school dances. And Artemis had to reluctantly agree with Butler.

A few years ago, Angeline Fowl had ignored Artemis' protests and forced him to attend dance classes in town. Eventually, after almost ten weeks of embarrassment in which Artemis spent more time fallen on the dancefloor than actually dancing on it, the boy genius had learned one dance. The waltz.
Soon, Artemis learned to bring his wallet with him and bribed the dance teachers to pretend he was learning. He then would leave, perhaps visit a café and get a tea, then return to the Dance School when his mother came to pick him up. Now he felt a slight pang of remorse that he had not learned to dance properly.

Artemis sighed and studied his reflection in the mirror. A short, pale boy stared back at him. Nothing remarkable, not particuarly handsome. But his suit was perfectly tailored and his hair was neat. Artemis was always careful with his appearance, but tonight he had been extra careful. Tonight was… special. It was important to him. Artemis wanted to savour every minute with Holly before… before he lost his memories again. The boy clicked his tongue in annoyance. At least his brain wasn't going to turn to mush, but the fact that a months worth of memories were about to become hazy really ticked him off.

Artemis sighed, resigned to his fate. But at least if he screwed up tonight and embarrassed himself, he wouldn't remember it in the morning. Artemis straightened his tie one last time and began his walk down to the Bentley.

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Holly nervously smoothed down her dress. She knew there was no reason to feel worried. Foaly had assured her that the Cloaker would make it seem as if she were human. But then again, who could trust Foaly's inventions, let alone a prototype?

When Artemis had asked her to come to his school dance, at first she thought he was joking. Then she had noticed that serious look in his eyes, the same look he got when he was working out a plan in his head. It was such an intense expression. Suddenly, there wasn't even the possibility that she could refuse his offer. She truly wanted to go with him.

But of course, Holly was an elf and proud to be one. The last thing she wanted to do is look like a disgusting mud-person. But then again… not all mud-people were bad, right? Holly picked a speck of non-existent dust off of her new dress and wondered at her nervousness. Somehow, Holly knew that it wasn't because she was afraid the prototype would fail and humans would see her pointed ears. She was nervous about…other things…

Once Holly had realised that Artemis was serious about wanting her as a dance partner she had accepted gladly. Then she had remembered that she was an elf, and no matter how much makeup she wore, or how she dressed, she would still look like an elf. But then Foaly had come over looking all smug and explained that he had a new invention.

And now Holly was a mud-girl for the night. Well, at least until midnight anyway. That was about when the Cloaker ran out of batteries. Artemis had told Holly about a human fairytale, Cinderella. That was how Holly felt tonight.

Her dress was deep purple and had a vintage pattern embroidered with pale gold lines and swirls. The neckline curved gently around, slightly off-the-shoulders. A sash of the same material was tied around her waist. The dress wasn't full length and ended half-way down her shins. Holly's shoes were silver with a very high heel. Foaly had made the shoes, and they were extra tall to make up the height that Holly lacked. Wearing them, she was just a little shorter than Artemis at almost five feet. The Cloaker necklace removed the points on her ears, and she felt strange without them. It also made Holly seemed a little better proportioned, so although it couldn't make her much taller, it made her body stretch out so the height didn't look unnatural, and she didn't look like a midget on stilts.

Holly's hair was brushed and shining, but she hadn't bothered to style it, as short hair tends to style itself.

All in all, Holly felt like a princess. Just like Cinderella.

The taxi that Holly had been riding it slowly stopped outside of a churchy looking school and the driver held his hand out for payment. Holly quickly paid him, took a deep breath, and stepped out of the car.

Walking slowly in the high heels, Holly climbed the stone steps to the entrance of the school, ignoring the curious stares from other mud-people arriving for the dance. As she was concentrating so hard on keeping her balance, Holly didn't notice the boy standing in front of her and she had almost bumped into him before she stopped to change direction. Then she looked at his face and saw who it was.

A rather dashing Artemis Fowl stood gaping at Holly from the top step. She grinned.

"Good evening, Mud-boy."

Artemis smiled. "Good evening Miss Short. But you're a 'mud-person' as well tonight, don't forget."

Holly groaned. "How could I forget?" she asked melodramatically, pointing down to her high-heeled shoes. "I remember every time I try to walk."

Artemis didn't reply but he couldn't seem to stop smiling and Holly could tell he was struggling to say something.

"You look-" He paused awkwardly, still struggling for words.

Holly smiled encouragingly. "Yes?"

"You look... nice." Artemis took a deep breath. "Really nice. Beautiful."

"Thank you, Artemis." Holly smiled again and took his hand. "You don't look half bad yourself."

The couple began to walk slowly together up the stone stairs.

"At least until midnight I'm a mud-girl in a fancy dress," Holly sighed. "It sounds just like that Cinderalla story you humans have."

"Yes." Artemis agreed with a smile, glancing at Holly's elegant gown, "Just like a fairytale."

Holly feigned a pout and poked Artemis in the ribs. "Fairies don't have tails. You know, for a genius, you're pretty stupid."

Artemis sighed melodramatically as she led him through the archway. "So you keep telling me."

The band started to play a song and many couples moved out onto the dance floor.

Holly and Foaly secretly adored Mud-people's 80's music and whenever Root had been busy they would dance around the controls booth signing along to 'Call Me', 'Let's Hear it for the Boy' and Foaly's favourite, 'Girls Just Wanna Have Fun.'

However, Foaly had four left hooves and there was a great mess in the booth by the time they were finished. Holly recognised this song straight away.

"I thought that love was ScienceFiction
Until I saw you today
Now that love is my addiction
I've thrown all my books away."

"When I was young I was sonaïve
I was so naïve, I was making believe
Making believe

Never thought that we'd last this long
You know, always thought that they'd drop the bomb
Drop the bomb"

"When I was young I was so naive
I didn't believe, no I didn't believe
I didn't believe it

I've been waiting for men from space
To come to earth for the human race
The human race."

"I thought that love was Science Fiction
Until I saw you today
Now that love is my addiction
I've thrown all my books away."

Holly led Artemis to the middle of the dancefloor. "Shall we?" she offered brightly. The boy winced and she laughed at him. "You ask Artemis Fowl to save the world, no worries. You ask him to dance, nothing."

"Geniuses don't dance." Artemis explained with a smile. "Saving the world is easy compared to this."

The end.

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Thanks for being so patient, everyone! I appreciate it. Hope you enjoyed and PLEASE REVIEW!!

Oh, and I drew a picture of Holly's dress if you'd like to see it. It's on my deviant art account (bella-the-dork.)

http:// www. bella-the-dork. deviantart .com /art /holly-short-is-cinderella-62613050 (WITHOUT SPACES)