A/N: It's been a long time, I know. Finally here is another Artemis/Holly oneshot with a bittersweet part to it, and a possibility of happily ever after. Have fun!

Thanks to candycan, ilex-ferox, ht4eva, Lady of Spring Rain and Forrbidden Moanz for reviewing either 'Caress the Rain' or 'Sham and a lie'. If you haven't read them - check them out. Personally i prefer CtR to S&al, but well, go and see ;)

Disclaimer: I don't own Artemis Fowl and associated characters. The quotes belong to their respective authors.

Autograph of Love

I will find out where she has gone,
And kiss her lips and take her hands;
And walk among long dappled grass,
And pluck till time and times are done
The silver apples of the moon,
The golden apples of the sun.
(William Butler Yeats)

Old. So old now. Indeed it is true that I, Artemis Fowl junior, have grown old.

Time, you cruel thief of my youth, hereby I address you my last words. Time, who stole my life as I stole other people's jewels, you are the only one who ever defeated me.

And therefore I have come today to recount the tale of my long life. It may not always have been happy, but I am content, for it was a fulfilled life of joy and pain, a human life as everyone desires. Time, you unfaithful lover, count my sins, condemn me. Time, you fickle friend and foe, count my failures, murder me.

I was born to a proud father and a caring mother. Since the early days of my childhood, my father introduced me to the family values. The Fowl Family have been for the last two centuries the most successful and infamous thieves in the known world. But I, foolish as only a child can be, desired a different fame than my ancestors. Simple paintings, jewellery or money didn't interest me, my greatest wish was to find gold. When my missions in human society all ended in deceptions – humans do not cherish gold as I do -, I became fascinated by the various myths and legends that tell about the Sidhe, fees, the fairy folk. After a short research, I was able to capture a fairy and to steal from her people what I wished for. Although I expected my magical encounter to be a unique event, the kidnapping was succeeded by a series of mythical adventures.

Time, who lead me to downfall, say I was wrong, say I am a sinner. Add I was proud, add I despised humankind. Time, you ruthless reaper, know that my few friends all perished too young. Father, mother and my twin brothers, Butler and Juliet, Time, you even took my wife. You, who allies mere acquaintances in forced marriages, know that I never loved Minerva. Say I'm heartless, say I'm sad. Say I was unjust, for I neglected her while she was still alive and missed her when she was dead. Mention I did care for her, after all, mention I am not completely heartless. Say she never loved me either, because we were alike and different simultaneously. Time, who loved to play my sentiments, maybe it was fate. I have always been solitary, I have never cared for company or friendship, claim I am indifferent.

Say I wanted to be free. As I slowly grew old, any spark of concern for the human world vanished, left was only my ever-calculating, ever-thinking mind. Time, who knows I've claimed to be a genius for too long, say I was vain and selfish. Rapidly, oh all too quickly my health deteriorated. A handsome young man became the arthritic, wrinkled, poor, whining cripple standing before you and asking you for forgiveness.

Despite everything I have done, every crime I have committed, every time I have sinned, *Time, you thief, who love to get sweets into your list, put that in. Say I'm weary, sad I'm sad, say that health and wealth have missed me; say I'm growing old, but add Holly kissed me.*Meeting again after a long separation, the elf I had once captured when I was a mere boy simply approached me and pressed her lips to mine. And a kiss it was, indeed. As they say,* a kiss is the very autograph of love.* I may not have loved her before, but then I did. Her kiss, fiery, yet surprisingly gently, almost chaste, convinced me she was in love with me also. But when our lips separated, she did not utter a single world. I could only wave her goodbye as she flew away. Alas, I have never seen her again, but the love I felt during our only kiss has never left me. Then I swore I would find her, no matter what it would cost me. I would go to world's end and even farther, east of the sun and west of the moon, to see her once, to talk, to kiss her.

And so, time, judge of my life, say I was heartless, yet in love. Say I am cold, say I am sad. Add I am a solitary sinner. But for the autograph of love I received once is intertwined with my destiny, Time, thief like me, let me find my love in the end. Time, you who have not been kind to me, give me absolution. Let us rejoin in this world, or in a different one, in paradise or in hell, anywhere as long as happiness might reach us together.

Quotes:
*Time, you thief, who love to get/ Sweets into your list, put that in./ Say I'm weary, say I'm sad,/ Say that health and wealth have missed me;/ Say I'm growing old, but add Jenny kissed me. (Leigh Hunt: Jenny Kissed Me)
*Is not a kiss the very autograph of love? (Henry Finck)

A/N: Good? Bad? Indifferent? In need of a sequel? Please review!

Anna Scathach