"My grandfather believed… He believed that we were magic."

"What?"

"He said it'd been passed down, this magic, generation to generation. He said we were descendants of a great sorcerer called the Last of the Ancients. These stories, this belief, has followed the family for centuries. I don't know how it began, or when, but it seems like it's always been a part of us. And, now and then, there have been members of our family who have chosen to believe it.

"Gordon believed. A rational man, an intelligent man, and yet he believed in magic and sorcery and people who never age. All the stuff he wrote about- he probably believed in most, if not all, of it. And because of this, he got involved in things that were… Unhealthy. The people he mixed with were people who fed into his delusions, who shared his madness. Dangerous people. It's a sickness, Steph. My granddad had it, Gordon had it… And I don't want you to get it."

There was a moment of absolute silence. The words I'm not crazy lined up on Valkyrie's tongue. She didn't use them.

"It's too late."

"What? Stephanie, what did you say?"

"My name is Valkyrie Cain, and I said, it's too late."

His eyes widened. "You're not serious- Stephanie, what's wrong?"

"Nothing." There was a pause, and that sense of absolute lucidity, when everything was connected, and everything had a part in her world… Her eyes closed briefly, and she smiled.

"Do you see that shell over there?" She pointed at a faraway piece of pink shell. It lifted from the sand and dropped neatly into her lap.

He gaped.

"There really was a sorcerer called the Last of the Ancients. There really is magic. You could probably do it too…"

Dreamily, she threw the shell back into the ocean, the wind helping it along and the water stretching to meet it.

"If you wanted to."


A/N: The first four paragraphs were written by the lovely Derek Landy.

I'm going to say this is a oneshot for now, but if I ever want to write a psychotic, power-crazy Valkyrie, we all know which story I'll expand on :D

Tell me what you thought.

~Mademise Morte, November 7