A/N: Welp, here's my story-- revised! WOOT! And if you haven't seen the first version, then I must tell you that you are a very, very lucky individual, Any Joe. In all honesty, it sucked monkey butt. BLA! I wasn't used to the flaws in the doc manager when I first put this up-- it was my first fic. But I believe I have now managed to fix all the bugs.

Also...this was originally a songfic to She Will Be Loved, and I remember that it was entered in the sonfic catagory in the Orion Awards. But I've already had a warning from Fanfic and don't want another. As it appears, song lyrics are a "no-no."

…After reading, answer me this: Is Opal really misunderstood, is Artemis crazy, or am I crazy and a little mean?

Spiderjuice

M I S U N D E R S T O O D

Artemis Fowl lay in his bed, staring straight up at the ceiling. He had gone to bed at 9:30 PM. It was now almost 12:00 AM. He’d never had any trouble falling asleep before… but that was before he’d met Holly. Now here was Artemis Fowl II, lying face up upon his plush, cushy mattress, staring blankly into space for hours, guilt tugging mercilessly at his heart.

This had been happening more and more often as the nights went by, since the first time he’d met Holly Short. Holly was to Artemis what Jiminy Cricket was to Pinocchio. She could guilt a dwarf into abandoning a diamond! …Well, maybe not Mulch… Holly, besides possibly Artemis’s mother and father and his good friends, the Butlers, was the only person who could activate his subconscious guilt and make it leak into his waking mind like this until it tortured him to the point where he could hardly take it.

Business plans--normally of illegal variety; lies; heartless acts from the past… every night, now, they returned from the depths of his black memories to haunt him with this terrible insomnia.

Artemis sighed in despair. It could no longer be denied. The layer of ice he had built and hardened around his heart was slowly disintegrating, and he would soon be left vulnerable again, with no feeling of protection from the ways of the world and no way to hide inside the stone fortress of his own unfeeling soul. The thought was… frightening. Artemis II did not frighten easily.

Artemis rolled over onto his stomach and buried his face in the pile of soft pillows, trying desperately to repress tears he could not justify for any rational reason.

Nothing had burned him as bad as what phantoms swirled inside his mind this night. He truly had weakened, and what he found to be his weakness was what troubled him: Artemis Fowl’s thoughts were stuck hopelessly on Opal Koboi.

Opal…

Foaly had told Artemis all about Opal, repeating the tedious speech on every occasion he could. How he had beaten her for the Science medal in high school with his iris cam was his mind’s own legend. The stuck-up carrot addict was only telling his own embellished side of the story, though, Artemis knew.

Opal…poor Opal…

Out of pure curiosity, he’d looked up some things-- theories, biographies, professional diagnosis, and had also come to some conclusions of his own-- and he was shocked by the things he found.

For all her brains and all her determination and all her fabulously striking dark beauty, Opal Koboi was unappreciated-- most of all by her own parents. Sad. It really was.

Something that happens, Artemis thought bitterly, when parents go so wretchedly far as to grow envious of their own child. For that was what seemed to have happened, even if only he seemed to see it.

Little Opal Koboi had been born to Mr. And Mrs. Ferall Koboi. Ferall Koboi was a businessman who owned a successful chain of laboratories. He reasoned, of course, that the child his wife was to bear would probably be of a decent scale of intelligence, maybe have a few nice things about her physically, but nothing more. He’d expected-- perhaps hoped!-- for an average child. That, unfortunately for dear Mr. Koboi, was not what he got.

Opal Koboi was an officially certified genius, having a broad vocabulary of over 500 words at an estimated age 2-- none of which were the traditional baby “Goo goo, ga ga,” scoring beyond 300 on several IQ tests, and stunningly lovely enough to be a supermodel.

But she was never very obedient. Maybe that’s what had messed her up. Oh, of course, parents want children who are perfectly obedient, robots they can control with the press of a button! Sadly for their delusional minds, those types of children do not exist. The young Koboi daughter had admirable determination. A leader, not a follower. And that quality should have been honored! Revered and beloved by loving parents! But no, it was frowned upon!

When Opal Koboi entered high school, she was one of the best and the brightest, especially drawn to science and mechanics. Two lovely passions to have if you feel you are destined for big business. And that, Opal Koboi felt she was. She slaved and slaved, working just as hard in her courses as the boys. And eventually, with great confidence, she put herself to the test by entering herself in the school’s science competition. A brilliant wing design, she had invented. But Opal did not have the astounding luck displayed by, let’s say, Elizabeth Blackwell. Opal did not win the medal and become a role model praised by school officials who realized their sexist errors and sobbed at her feet, and she did not live happily ever after. A certain centaur named Foaly won the medal… with a cruddy iris cam! He won because he was male. Everyone knew, but no one would admit to that.

Artemis didn’t know for certain, but it was near doubtless her parents enjoyed a jolly good laugh over that one. Terrible.

Severely disappointed in the judgment of school officials and in her own ability, Opal tried desperately to push herself even harder. She went up to her limit, and maybe over. Maybe over too far. She became obsessive compulsive and an extreme perfectionist. She tried in vain to win the love and respect of her parents and her schoolmates, but she went unnoticed.

Yes. That was what happened.

Ferall Koboi begged his daughter time after time, before she went off to college, to abandon her dreams of big business.

Because she was a threat to him! thought Artemis with surprising venom. That ninny was frightened! Of his own little daughter! Did he ever once think, maybe, of a partnership? A father and daughter, Koboi and Koboi, partnership. Cute, of course, sickeningly cute. But possibly just cute enough to draw customers effectively.

Opal refused to listen and eventually disowned her family, ignoring their existence altogether.

Is that what I’m beginning to do? Because they want me to simply be a normal child, will my mind win over my heart and fight it? Sometimes, that’s how genius backfires on you…

She was only paying them back for what they’d done to her. They had wished to ship her off like a piece of junk up for grabs in a yard sale to some man with a moderate amount of cash and a cushy position somewhere important, and had wished even before her birth that she would be not quite smart enough to figure that out. But Opal was that smart and much, much smarter.

And for perhaps the very first time he ever had, Ferall Koboi worried for his daughter. But he cared too late. He realized what a good thing she could have been for him far too late.

Opal Koboi worked hard. A Brotherhood of Master Engineer degree fell neatly into place over History of Art. Exactly the opposite of everything her parents wanted, and the thought clearly delighted her. She must have still missed her parents, even if they were always somewhat cruel and unappreciative toward her obvious genius, but ignored the feeling. In her struggle to win recognition, her mind was mangled by grief. She began to suffer from various mental conditions. Her heart was hardened.

Like what happened to me? Is that the dream both of us shared? To simply be remembered as someone admirable if not simply amazing or talented? And both of us lost control of ourselves in the process?

She was the victim of a mild schizophrenia and may have developed the habit of chronic lying, as if her parentally-induced overly obsessive nature wasn’t already destroying her. She cut herself off from the rest of the world, spending so much time alone she began to fabricate the value of her own existence, assuring herself as her parents never did that someday she would be great. Similar to a very small child who liked to believe in fairy tales… he, he. A pun in this instance. …Sad. Sad indeed.

It was only now that the reality of his own insult struck Artemis: “If I may, Miss Koboi. This delusion of self-importance is common among those recently awakened from comas. It is known as the Narcissus Syndrome. …You have spent so much time in your own company, so to speak, that everyone else has become unreal…”

He produced a small sob and thrust his head farther into the fortress of fluffy cushions. Little had he known then about Opal, and how long she must have really had that view, or why.

And I just made it worse… How much did that hurt her?

Finally, Opal’s dreaming, planning, and devious plotting came to life for her at last. She succeeded in putting up shop on her own, directly in a fierce competition with her father’s own company. She rapidly invented for need, registering patent after patent, right and left. Soon, she had become so successful she’d destroyed her father’s business completely. Later, Opal actually succeeded in becoming so rich that, pointy ears quivering with glee, she could buy the entire company off her father. Only more space and equipment for her own superior industries. It brought her joy. And as for her dear old daddy? He was OK. Cumulus House was a lovely asylum.

And of course she was happy. After all that suffering, the need for revenge is only natural, even if morally wrong. But sometimes, to the tortured, that just doesn’t matter anymore… Look at me… Look at what I did, and I hardly had a reason! Artemis finally admitted to himself. My father’s disappearance upset me inside to the point where I took it out on the poor People, on poor Holly. And they were innocents…

Soon, however, this satisfaction wore off, and Opal longed for more. She wanted the entirety of the fairy world to know her name. It was an obsession. She no longer controlled her own brilliant mind, her longings from her unhappy childhood did.

So it was so easy for her weakened mind to fall prey to Briar Cudgeon. He could make her dreams come true, she thought. He appreciated her, she was sure. Maybe even…?

Did Opal believe Briar loved her?

………..

Did I believe Holly loved me?

Artemis squeezed his tired eyes shut, but sleep still refused to come. And now another worrisome though was invading his mind.

NO! Of course I didn’t! I never even thought of herthat way! …I’m not even oldenough!

He knew he was lying to himself.

Now I’m just like Opal, lying all the time to escape the truth. Opal… I understand her and she understands me…

His whole body shook. Soon after the commander’s recycling ceremony, Holly had made less and less contact with him. She was slipping deeper and deeper into a depression. Sometimes that happened. It takes a while for the fact that a loved one is dead to finally process, and then you just lose it for a while. That was what obviously occurred in the case of Miss Short… but it didn’t seem to Artemis that she would ever be coming back from her depression-created insanity. She’d gone the way his mother had after losing her “Timmy.“

It was only too clear now who she loved and always had loved.

And Opal… Opal killed Root! He was my friend, and Butler’s. The fact that Holly loves him doesn’t change the fact that he was my friend, and that Opal viciously murdered him! “Poor Opal, poor Opal…” What was I thinking! Soon I’ll be just as crazy as Holly is becoming, slowly, slowly…

But he thought again of Opal’s horrified expression when he tossed her the cell phone, of the grief-stricken yet hating tone of her screech: “YOU! You betrayed me! HOW DARE YOU!” Her eyes had burned with hell’s fire then, but behind it was a sadness and a knowing that went so deep back into those big brown eyes that it must have started a long time ago: No one cares about me…

He remembered the horrified look of absolute shock the second time he’d beaten her at her own game. Artemis was happily popping truffle after delightful, minty, dark chocolate truffle into his awaiting mouth; and Opal stood there and watched him eat her truffles as though he were eating out her soul.

What had that done to her self esteem? That poor, poor, unloved girl… beaten again. And again by a male. Not just any male either. A fourteen year old boy.

Artemis found himself unable to resist looking back upon her big, deep

coa-coa eyes. They were wide and watery then, not slanted and burning. She’d looked sad and innocent and defeated, not at all like the different, cold individual the public thought she was. She was only an unhappy and unloved little girl on the inside.

But she’s a maniac…A beautifulmaniac…

Artemis finally began to drift off.

He was somewhere stony, somewhere cold. A jail cell.

Opal had been dumped in a lonely prison somewhere. Most likely with goblins. Or trolls. Artemis shivered, something that did not happen often.

He was walking down long, narrow hallways that never seemed to end. Endless strings of laser-barred cells lined each side.

A voice broke him out of the hypnosis of the never-ending hallway. “Fowl? Artemis Fowl?” A timid little whisper, sounding just a bit hopeful. Artemis turned. “Opal?” he asked, voice cracking.

Opal sat in the small cell to his right. Her already slender frame was withering away. That beautiful shining black hair was knotted and neglected. And her eyesGod, those amazing, mesmerizing chocolate brown eyes!

Artemis’s hands clawed at the bed sheets in his shallow slumber.

They were so big compared to her shrinking body. There was no light anymore, nor any clever plan. No hope They begged.

“Artemis, I’m sorry!” she bawled. “Please, help me out! These people… Police aren’t supposed to go by favoritism! They don’t feedme! It isn’t fair! I can’t stay here anymore….I want to see my mother and father! I want to apologize! I swear! I don’t know what’s wrong with me! Don’t let me die here alone!” She fell to the cold, gray cement, sobbing hysterically.

Artemis walked toward the cell, unable to stop himself, drawn hypnotically toward her. He knew she was telling the truth, it was written all over in those sorrow filled eyes. It was so awful… He couldn’t even put his hands up against the bars.

Opal looked up. One eye twitched. “Did you really come to see me?” Twitch, twitch. “I didn’t think anyone cared about me.” Blink, sniff. “You care about me, don’t you?” Twitch. “…I think I always…” Gulp, sob. “…really liked you.” Twitch. “Are we the same? Did I imagine it, or do you understand me too?”

Artemis clung desperately to the pillows, almost suffocating now with his face buried deeper still.

“I think I love you, Artemis…,” Opal whispered in her half insane, dehydrated rasp. Somewhere, the young Irish boy could still detect small traces of her pretty, musical voice, like velvet.

“…I…love you too, Opal…,” Artemis gasped.

Koboi smiled faintly. “Really? You do? Someone cares about me?”

Artemis nodded fervently, biting his bottom lip as hard as he could to silence sobs. He wanted so badly just to touch her hand.

Opal seemed to fight to breathe suddenly. With a choke, she collapsed from her already kneeling position close to the floor. Her fragile pixie scull clunked against the hard floor.

“OPAL!” Artemis screamed out loud.

Butler charged into the room several seconds later. “Artemis!”

Butler’s young charge had to be taken, kicking and screaming in absolute hysteria, out of his bed.

Angeline Fowl’s tiny, bare feet padded quickly down the hallway. “Arty! Oh, God, did something happen! Are you all right?”

Artemis’s breathing had slowed back to normal. He relaxed in his friend’s arms, sucking lungfuls of fresh air. “I- I… mmm… breath,” he uttered in a feeble attempt to say, “I’m fine.”

Butler stared down at the little brother he never had in amazement.

“QUIET DOWN OUT THERE!” hollered Juliet from down the hall, oblivious and cranky from tiredness. Butler and Angeline ignored her.

“A…nightmare?” questioned Butler carefully. Artemis Fowl II did not have nightmares.

“OHHH! Sweetie!” cooed Angeline, rushing over and snatching her precious baby out of Butler’s arms. For once, Artemis didn’t fight her and let his mother hold him close and stroke his cheek.

The unappreciated manservant huffed and marched dejectedly out of the bedroom.

“Mother…,” Artemis whimpered and then was quiet once more.

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

The next morning, Artemis received a call on the small communicator, locked in the bottom desk drawer. Something that hadn’t happened in months, even close to a year.

Heart pounding, Artemis approached the shrill ring of the handheld, twisting the key in the lock and slowly, gingerly lifting the device from out of the drawer. He took a deep breath and flipped open the lid. Holly Short stared back at him.

“Holly?” breathed Artemis in amazement.

Holly smiled faintly back at him. “Hi, there. If it isn’t my favorite Mud Boy.”

Artemis’s smile faded. “Holly… what happened? That you want to tell me?” The communicator bill was high, and Holly could only talk to him once in a while or if it was about something very important.

Holly hesitated…

“It’s about Koboi.”

Artemis’s breath caught in his throat. “O-Opal?” he stammered. He never stammered.

“I just thought you’d be interested,” said Holly quietly, sensing something was wrong. “…Opal Koboi died last night…… And-- get this-- the guards...um... said she was screaming your name at the top of her lungs.”

Artemis stared with his mouth wide opened, horrified.

“…Freaky, huh?” laughed Holly nervously. "Koboi... Snort! She still couldn't stand losing. Cursing us even goin' into the grave, eh? Pathetic!"

Artemis didn’t answer.

“Fowl?”

Silence.

“I just want you to know I’m sorry I haven’t been…myself…for quite a while. I promise I’ll make up for it. I’ll call more often now, and to hell with the bill. Our friendship is the most important thing now, right? …Mulch says hello… Artemis, is something wrong?”

The Irish boy breathed for the first time in the last few mind-blowing moments. “I…,” he whispered hopelessly.

For just a second, just one desperate second, he felt the need to let it all out. He could cry, and Holly could tell him it would all be all right.

He’d loved Opal, he had. How had he just realized it now?

But, no. That would be crazy. Holly couldn’t understand. Opal had killed the love of her life! No one would ever understand…so…

“No, Cap-- err-- Holly, I’m perfectly well,” he assured her, composing himself. “Opal was a cold-blooded killer who finally got what she deserved.”

He could almost hear Opal’s sobbing.

Holly showed teeth in a victorious grin. “We won, eh, Artemis?”

“Yes,” he answered quietly.

No one had ever defended or cared about Opal her entire life. And he was just as bad as them now, just as cowardly.

He plastered a fake grin across his face. He truthfully felt the severe need to vomit. “Yes, Holly, we won.”

Artemis felt that he couldn’t possibly have been more of a loser if he tried.

E N D

Go ahead and flame me if you must, I have no fear! Flames are good, they heat mycoa-coa! ArtyxOpal forever! Even if flames are laughed at, though, I do greatly appreciate CC. Please review!

xSpiderjuice: )