Skulduggery Pleasant: After the End
Disclaimer: I do not own Skulduggery Pleasant or any of the characters therein. Hope you enjoy...
That's them done for, Darquesse thought. She felt a little bit sorry about Skulduggery Pleasant: all the times they'd shared together. Skulduggery had never really known Valkyrie, she mused smugly. She had been the dominant one inside Valkyrie's head. And now she was the only one left. She remembered Tanith Low: she'd been a little hard to kill. Emotionally. Otherwise, it was as easy as clicking her fingers: she clicked her fingers and destroyed the world.
Funny place, this was. As much as she hated to admit it, Darquesse was wounded. Flying face-first into Beijing had stuffed up her spinal cord and destroying Australia had mangled up her legs a bit. She sat down on a rock in this strange, empty parallel dimension. It better contain the Faceless Ones, she thought. But I'll wait until I'm healed, then they show up, and I'll destroy them. This was going to be the most fun ever.
Valkyrie had not been doing much that morning. The terrible guilt she had for momentarily killing her sister was crushing and all-consuming. Skulduggery would never consider killing his family: he died for them, she thought. He wouldn't even kill me for a second. I'm worse than he is. She saved the world: not me. She saved the world for all of us, that's what I'm going to tell her when she grows up, Valkyrie thought, holding her sister in her arms. She was babbling and smiling and clearly couldn't remember the incident, but knowing it happened was bad enough. The whole thing was like a nightmare that would soon fade in time. What did confuse her, however, was that after Darquesse went into a different dimension, there had been no… separation. There was no feeling to indicate that she was dead, and there hadn't been one since. Darquesse was part of her mind, and she had expected to feel a difference if she was dead. Either she had defeated the Faceless Ones, or she had moved on to another universe. Absent-mindedly, she called Skulduggery.
"Hi, Skulduggery, how are you?" she asked.
"As wise-cracking and good-looking as ever," he replied.
"Well," she said, trying to contain her amused annoyance, "I just wanted to ask you something. You know how Darquesse is in a different dimension now, damaging stuff and destroying people, I just thought that I might have felt our connection sever when she went through a different dimension."
"You mean that you didn't feel that?" Skulduggery asked.
"No. Not at all."
"Nothing changed at all, and hasn't for weeks? No splitting headache, or the disappearance of that part of your mind?"
"No." Skulduggery's line crackled silently for a while.
"This is bad," he said softly. "I assumed you had. By now the Separation should have happened. If not, she'll notice that you're still alive and the whole plan will be destroyed. She'll come back here and get us all."
"No pressure."
"I'll head over now." Ten minutes later, Valkyrie joined him in the Bentley and set off.
"So what can we do about it?" Valkyrie asked.
"We need to find out where this all began," he said. "Then we can cut the bond between you forever, and it should kill her. She lives off you."
"Like a parasite?"
"Very much like that. We need to get you un-infested."
"Thanks. So where are we going?"
"You're not going to like it."
"Where are we going?" He hesitated.
"We're going to visit Doctor Nye."
They were admitted into the jail with minimum fuss: everybody knew they were the world's best Sanctuary detectives. They went down to Nye's cell in a cold, dark little place where the sunlight didn't shine. Probably just the way Nye liked it.
"Hello," Skulduggery said cheerfully into his cell. "How are you?"
There was no answer for a second. Then Dr Nye, as horrible and evil as ever, moved slowly to the bars of its cell, black as night and towering.
"Well, well, Mr Pleasant and Miss Cain," it said. "The last two people I would ever have thought would visit me."
"Well, it is a visit"-
"But you want something. You always do. As I said, I know you wouldn't be visiting me to say 'happy birthday'."
"Is it your birthday?" Valkyrie asked.
"No," it said.
"Then of course we haven't," Valkyrie replied. "Besides, you did nearly dissect my soul in an alternative dimension."
"Did I?" It's voice was raspy and harsh, towering above Valkyrie through the bars. She was very glad to be on this side of them.
"Yes. That's what we've come to talk to you about," Skulduggery said. "Do you know much about the soul and brain in this dimension?"
"What would you like to know?" it said, large yellow eyes luminous in the darkness of the cell.
"Darquesse is connected to Valkyrie somewhere in her mind. We want to find out where she is anchored and destroy her." Nye thought for a while.
"Well, I would really have to cut up"-
"You ain't cutting up anything, Nye," Valkyrie interrupted. "You've already done it at least twice, I'm sure you can remember." It glared at her sulkily.
"Well, your case is very rare, but… I think I can surmise what happened. Everybody has a good side and an evil side, but your evil side magnified a million times and became a separate being. Darquesse is the direct link to the source of magic: she is your true name, but for the first time ever, it is likely a true name – your true name – is wrong," Nye explained.
"We know that if someone discovers a person's true name they can control them utterly, body and soul. But did that happen with Darquesse? No. Nobody could control her. That suggests that Darquesse isn't your true name at all – it was a mistake from the source of magic that gave you the wrong true name. Maybe swapping a true name, or an accident in conveying a true name, is deadly: it magnifies out of proportion and turns evil, drawing on the source of magic for power."
"Brilliant," Skulduggery murmured. "That would explain why she was so incredibly powerful. That would mean, Valkyrie, that you aren't at all evil. She is an accident."
"An expensive one. So, what can we do about it?" Valkyrie asked.
"It would seem that Darquesse is connected to your soul," Nye said. "And messing around with souls causes more trouble than you started with."
"So what can we do?" Skulduggery asked.
"If you let me have a look at her, I may be able to remove Darquesse," it said.
"No chance of that," Valkyrie said.
"Well, in that case, you'll have to do the procedure yourself," Nye said. "And it's going to be very, very dangerous."
Darquesse had been waiting around for a few days now, turning thin air into rubber ducks and melting the rocks beneath her feet with pure willpower. Now she was healed, she was ready to take on the Gods. She recalled that funny sensation when she destroyed Earth: that feeling of a hand pressing down upon her head. She didn't feel that now. She never felt it before. Strange, actually.
The only hand pressing down on her head had been that psychic, just before she destroyed Earth and all the way through it… then it was gone. Strange, that.
But Darquesses' mind had surpassed all others in its thinking. She knew that those psychics had done more than simply a failed attempt at subduing her. In fact, when Valkyrie died, she hadn't felt anything change.
They had tricked her. She seethed with rage so much that the dirt beneath her turned to dust and the dust melted into lava. They had made her believe that she was destroying them, making her see what she wanted to see. They were still alive!
"ARGHHHHHHHHHH!" she screamed, and with the power of her voice killed every living thing within a radius of 100m. She had to get back! She had to finish them!
But suddenly something caught her eye: black shapes flying towards her, far, far away.
She could feel their power from here. Thousands of black dragon-lizard creatures, armed with needle-sharp teeth and hideous claws with twenty riders on each scaly back: Darquesse remembered Skulduggery saying once that the Faceless Ones 'had pets. And their pets had pets'. Here they were. An army. The Faceless Ones were coming.
Darquesse smiled. Those losers could wait. The Faceless Ones were here, and she was going to take them down.
However, she mused, taking them down with nobody to watch her incredible skill would be a disappointment. Using the skills she'd been developing, she reached back to Valkyrie's alive and working mind one dimension away and said: "Hi, gorgeous. Watch this."
Suddenly, Valkyrie could see nothing. Nothing was in front of her. Nothing was around her. It was like sinking into the worst nightmare imaginable: that terrible, terrible voice.
"Hi, gorgeous. Watch this."
Suddenly, she gasped and everything came rushing back. "Skulduggery!"
Tears came pouring from her eyes. She gasped as her chest felt constricted.
"Skulduggery, she knows!" Valkyrie gasped. "She knows we tricked her, she knows we're alive!"
Skulduggery stared at her outside Nye's cell. "How do you know?"
"Darquesse talked. Just then. She's about to fight the Faceless Ones." She felt giddy. They couldn't let Darquesse back in. All that effort couldn't be for nothing.
"What are we going to do!?" Valkyrie exclaimed.
"Firstly, we're going to calm down," Skulduggery said.
"But bloody Darquesse is going to bust back in here and kill us for real!" Valkyrie exclaimed.
"Well, in that case, let's panic," he said. She looked at him and smiled.
"So, Nye, what do we have to do?" Valkyrie said, calming down, turning back to Nye.
But Skulduggery was fixated on something at the end of the corridor.
"Val," he said, and she turned. Somebody was sprinting up the corridor, brandishing a sword in his grasp.
"The sparrow flies south for"- Skulduggery began.
"Onto it," Valkyrie said and roundhouse kicked her attacker in the face, just out of range of his blade. He reeled and fell on the floor with a clang.
"What?" said Nye and then there was another intruder clad in black with a sword sprinting at them.
"The sparrow flies south for – WAIT!" Skulduggery yelled as Tanith Low ducked Valkyrie's punch.
"Thanks for the warning," Valkyrie said dryly.
"Val!" Tanith exclaimed weakly, clutching her side. Blood trickled from the wound.
"Tanith, what's happened? Who are they?" Valkyrie asked.
"They've been chasing you," she gasped. "Don't worry, that was the last one. I took down the other six myself."
"Nice," Skulduggery said.
"I'm good like that," Tanith replied. "Now, can you help me a bit?"
"Of course," he said. "Why were they attacking us?"
"Not entirely sure," she gasped. "I think they worship the Faceless Ones."
Skulduggery and Valkyrie looked at each other.
"Tanith, Darquesse is alive and she's trying to get back," Valkyrie said. She turned back to Nye. "So what do we do?"
"You said she talked to you?" it said. "Next time that happens, have a past ally of her's near you. At least two. They may make her unconsciously drop her guard and concentrate on you, trying to possess them again to make them kill you."
"Great."
"It will distract her from the Faceless Ones! Then, Valkyrie, you must concentrate on not allowing her into your mind. Skulduggery, while she's doing that, remind Valkyrie of her earliest memories of magic, before she knew her true name and use your magic to form a Sigil. If that's right, it may reverse her. She might cease to exist. But it's dangerous, because if you make a mistake in the sigil you will delete Valkyrie from existence, or if you let Darquesse control the situation you will die. Good luck."
"Thank you," Valkyrie said. "You've been very helpful."
"Yes," Skulduggery said disapprovingly. He put one skeletal arm around Tanith Low, supporting her, and Valkyrie did the same on the other side. Shuffling past the unconscious security guard, they exited the building.