Set after Mortal Coil, but before Death Bringer (I think).
Tanith wasn't happy. She was banished to the deep, dark depths of her own mind and forced to watch the remnant pretend to be her, and hurt the ones she loved. She had to watch herself do evil things and she couldn't do a thing to stop it. Of course, she had tried to fight the remnant, but it was too strong for her, and it just pushed her back further. She was fed up, and bored. She wanted nothing more than to go home, to her friends and her family. The family and friends that now didn't trust her, maybe even hated her. Tanith missed them, especially Valkyrie Cain. She often wondered what her best friend was up to, and constantly worried about her and wanted to know if she was okay.
The remnant wasn't happy either. It was stuck in a body that was homesick and lonely. All of its family were stuck somewhere, and it didn't know how to find them. It could hear their screams inside its head, echoing through the walls of its skull, they were calling its help, pleading. It was fed up, and starting to get depressed. The novelty of being free had worn off; it wanted back into that little room with its family. It knew that Tanith wanted to go home, to be free; it could hear her voice loud and clear, moaning and complaining.
The remnant had made a decision, and Tanith would be happy about it but she didn't trust the remnant; it had lied to her before.
They made their way through the maze of shipping containers and garden sheds that had been dumped somewhere in Ireland. They bumped into steel and wood walls and they stumbled onward; they had become two minds sharing one body, and they didn't cooperate very well. They stopped outside one of the largest metal boxes, "This one?" the remnant asked silently, Tanith made the body nod. They both tried to knock on the door, resulting in the bodies' hand connecting with its face, "Ouch!" They exclaimed. The container door rattled and shuddered open.
A small, furry head, with slanted eyes, a dark red scab where the nose should be and its mouth hidden behind messy, scruffy stiches peeked out of the open door. "What do you want?" Its whinny voice made them shudder. The remnant made the body speak, "We have heard much about your research on the human soul, and where in the body it is located. We can give you the next best thing, I am a remnant, I took over this body and I stayed in it for more than two days so we are now bonded. But the soul already existing in here is too strong and there isn't enough room for both of us. If you remove the remnant from this body, then Tanith will tell you where the soul is located in a human." Nye stared at them for a moment before ushering them inside, and then it slammed the door shut behind them.
"Are you sure you know where the human soul is located?" They nodded quickly. Nye hurried away, grabbing its utensils and setting them out carefully. Tanith was curious as to what the greasy, blood-coated garden shears were used for, but part of her realised she probably didn't want to know. Nye shoved them down onto a bed and started work.
It began peeling away layers or the bodies' torso like an onion, mushy, blobby, tangled insides spilled out onto the makeshift bed in piles. Blood began to dribble onto the floor. Tanith was very unsure about this.
Nye plunged its hand deep inside the body, and it made a squelching sound. Nye grabbed something and began to pull on it as hard as it could. Sweat appeared on the creature's brow and Tanith felt the influence of the remnant becoming weaker the more Nye pulled. She began to become more aware of her surroundings and her own body than she had in ages.
Whatever Nye was pulling on gave and it stepped backwards before quickly stuffing a black mass into a glass jar. It then turned its attention to putting Tanith back together. Tanith was now fully aware or her own body and the splitting pain all over. She felt pain when Nye's long, slender fingers touched her. But she didn't mind, she felt alive, for the first time in months she was living her own life. She moved her foot just to be sure, it moved gracefully, as it should, with no jerking movements. Nye gave her gut a squeeze, "Be still!" It squeaked.
Nye sewed Tanith back together and gave her her shirt. She nodded her thanks and pulled it on. She stood up and done a few stretches, she felt amazing. Nye cleared its throat and she remembered her part of the deal. "Yeah, the soul, it's… In the leg! Left leg! Just below the kneecap. Yeah, that's where it is…" Tanith nodded her head and smiled at Nye.
"Prove it." Nye crossed its arms and stood in front of the door. It arched an eyebrow. Tanith sat on a box and hit her leg, just below the kneecap, her foot bounced up. "See! It doesn't like to be hurt!" Nye nodded.
"Because I always wondered what reflexes are." Tanith shrugged her leather jacket on and picked up her sword. She walked towards the door. "I've done my part. Now let me go. I want to go home." Nye stood its ground. Tanith huffed and picked up a scalpel, she threw it at Nye, it sliced through the creatures' ear and it howled in pain. Tanith ran to the door. She fiddled with the lock. The bolt slid out and she pushed against the door. Nye lit a match behind her. Tanith shoved against the door harder. It wouldn't budge. She undid a bolt at the bottom of the door. Nye dropped the match into the jar containing the remnant. Tanith shoved the door again. The jar shattered. The door gave. Glass flew in all direction. Tanith fell to the floor outside the steel box. Black ribbons followed the bits of jar through the air.
Bit of glass bounced off Tanith's leather jacket. Shards twinkled through the air and continued through Tanith's jeans like they weren't there. She hissed is pain and gritted her teeth. Nye cursed somewhere behind her. Tanith stood up, she swore under her breath because of the splitting pain in her legs. She ran through the shipping containers. She reached open space. She spotted a phone box.
She clumsily dialled the first number that popped into her head. It was answered on the third ring. "Hello?"
"Hi. Is Stephanie there?"
"Just one second." Tanith looked around to make sure there were no stretched monkeys lurking nearby, ready to dissect her leg. "Hello?"
"Val! Am I glad to hear your voice!"
"T-Tanith?" Tanith's heart leaped.
"Val! You got to help me! Nye's after me! I don't know where it went, and I have this creepy feeling that it's watching me! And my legs hurt!" Tanith started crying down the phone, her whole body shaking with her sobs.
"It's really you!" She could imagine her best friends grin.
"Help me! I'm in that place of shipping container. I don't know where the remnant it, or Nye."
"Hide somewhere near the big gates, I'll send someone." Valkyrie hung up, and Tanith was alone again.
Tanith crouched in a hole in the wall where the cash machine used to be, the main gates were to her left and the road in front of her. She had to tuck her head in to fit in the gap, and it was by no means comfortable. Her legs stung worse when she was crouched down. She tried to ignore the pain and focus on the fact that she would see her friends and family again. She was going home.
A big, sleek, black Bentley skidded to a stop in front of the main gates. Tanith squirmed out of her hiding hole and ran to the car. Somebody opened the passengers' door and she jumped in, hissing in pain as the shards in her legs moved. She turned to see, not Skulduggery, as she had expected, but Ghastly sitting behind the wheel, holding a bouquet of flowers out to her. He smiled sheepishly.
When I started writing this, it was supposed to be the next chapter of "Her Own Little Piece of Me" but it turned into… this. What did you think? Please review! It's just a one-shot. I'm also going to write a one-shot based on Norse mythology, I've already written it, I did it in English. But I'm going to re-write it with Skulduggery Pleasant character. Do you want the main character to be Skulduggery, Ghastly or Erskine? But they're going to be immortal (vampire). Review or PM me you thoughts. Thanks for reading!
~Skylair xxo