Grace Rocky Save Stars

...always stays a burden... no matter what

can't cook w the title lol but yall get it

(click for quality)

Art based of the Villain mikey AU by @an-artistic-failure

bc i cannot overstate the potential of the dynamic between Ryland "middle school teacher" Grace and Artemis "teenage mastermind who hates being treated like a child" Fowl and i think they would be great friends (eventually) (other random headcanons for this AU below)

Grace would default to treating Artemis like one of his students at the beginning, because why wouldn't he? Artemis looks like a teenager. but then he finds out that this random teenage boy has written multiple phd level research papers under various aliases and stops. but by habit he'll still do it from time to time, which very much annoys Artemis lol

Artemis would find Grace's paper on the Goldilocks zone interesting and wouldn't outright consider it wrong/invalid, so he won't argue/insult him about it but he will (very proudly) scientifically dissect/point the flaws out in his argument with logic, much to Grace's annoyance. but artemis is also the type who, if he met the guy who grace called a "staggering waste of carbon", would say that to his face very loudly and very clearly and with a very threatening 7 ft tall eurasian bodyguard next to him. meanwhile Grace is trying to get him to stfu bc to him its embarrassing.

Grace would crash out after regaining his memories of how he ended up on the Hail Mary and think of himself as a coward, and then there'd be Artemis being bad at emotions and also regaining his memories so he tells grace smt like "oh don't guilt trip yourself over that. trust me, that's not even that bad" ((arty it's not that bad but thats only because his worst crime was running for his life and your worst crime is kidnapping and extortion to exploit another sentient being))

holly & rocky would get along so well together (and probably bond over the fact that artemis & grace's lifespans are wayyyy shorter than both of them and they'll both die before those 2. but thats a brick i will throw another day.) i like to think the gift of tongues that the fairies' magic possesses still works for Eridian, so you'd just have holly & rocky yapping to each other in fluent eridian while grace & artemis look on in mild confusion.

this AU would take place chronologically after the Last Guardian and before The Fowl Twins in the AF timeline-

this was just some quick silly self-indulgent stuff bc this week was prolly one of the most stressful weeks in my life :,D but yes ill expand on + draw more stuff for this au (maybe write smt later on) after my exams (which are currently deep frying me) bc i dooo kinda have an idea of how the story would go.

Im entering my creature era ig?? Mermen twins.

Color theory

Consistent art style

Perspective

Hands.....

Seeing the truth

Chapter Four — The Line Holds at Night

Sadie was the first to notice him.

She always was.

Seventeen and already sharper than most adults, Sadie didn’t ask questions when she saw the man sitting at our table—scars half-hidden by lamplight, posture too still to belong to anyone from town. She just narrowed her eyes and shifted subtly closer to Payton.

Payton—fourteen, all nerves and fire—stared outright. Defiant even when afraid. Especially then.

Wyatt lingered in the doorway, eleven and quiet, already learning when to listen instead of speak. Colton hovered behind her, ten years old and pretending not to shake. Wheeler slept in Maddie’s arms, three years old, thumb in his mouth, dreaming of a world that hadn’t tried to kill him yet.

They were my reason.

Every breath I’d taken since I was a kid was because of them.

“This is Matthew,” I said finally. Not father. Not dad. Just his name. “He’s… staying the night.”

No one spoke.

Sadie’s jaw tightened. Payton crossed her arms. Wyatt nodded once, like she was filing the information away for later. Colton looked at Maddie. Wheeler slept on.

That was it.

No forgiveness. No welcome.

Just survival.

We slept in shifts.

I barely slept at all.

I never do.

The Veil doesn’t let you forget it’s there—not with the way the wind moans through broken trees, not with the distant calls of things that used to be animals. I lay on my back, bow within reach, knife under my hand, staring at the ceiling and counting breaths that didn’t calm anything.

Morning, we’d move his armor. Before anyone noticed. Before stories grew teeth.

Morning never came.

The first sound was wrong.

Not the scrape of wind.

Not the groan of the generator.

Boots.

Disciplined. Soft. Too many.

I was on my feet before the thought finished forming.

I shook Maddie awake, fingers tight on her shoulder. Her eyes snapped open, already alert.

“Get the kids,” I whispered. “Pack only what you can carry. Farm route.”

She didn’t argue.

She never does.

I slid out the back,into the snow, not time for a jacket or sweater the cold biting hard enough to make my vision sharpen. Shadows moved between buildings. Silhouettes where people shouldn’t be.

Brotherhood.

Not the broken ones.

The real ones.

I took the first soldier from behind—arm around his throat, knife up under the jaw, pressure just right. No flourish. No sound. He sagged into the snow like he’d decided to rest there.

The second turned too late.

My hand clamped over his mouth as the blade kissed his neck.

I leaned in close, breath fogging his visor.

“You can come for the grown men,” I growled, voice low and steady, “but touch the kids…”

I pressed harder, just enough for him to feel it.

“…and I’ll kill every last one of you.”

I keyed his open comms and spoke into the night so they’d all hear it.

Silence followed.

Then a voice crackled back—controlled, cold.

“Knight Matthew Robson. You are ordered to surrender yourself immediately.”

I smiled without humor.

From inside the house, I heard Maddie moving. Heard Sadie shushing Wheeler. Heard Payton whispering prayers she didn’t believe in. Heard Wyatt take charge of Colton like she’d been doing it all her life.

The line was drawn.

And I was already standing on it.

They came looking for Matthew Robson and their about to found something worse.