Chapter 1: An Abundance of Nothing

Ever since Fletcher had come back and then left her again, Valkyrie had become different. She wouldn't eat much, sleeping was a rarety and she would defeat her enemies with much gusto.

One training session, Valkyrie was sending flames flying into the air, and beating the large sand bag until it burst. It was when she started screaming that Skulduggery felt he needed to step in.
"Valkyrie, is everything alright?"
"No, Skulduggery, everything is not alright! Nothing's right!"
"...Tell me, what happened that has made you wreck the last sandbag that we have?"
"Fletcher. H-he was there, and then he just, left!"
"Yeah, but that was a long time ago, Valkyrie. And, you did cheat on him with that vampire."
"No, no. I mean, he came back. He was saying that he missed me and I was crying and then he said he had to go because it was the right thing to do but I don't think it was!" Skulduggery said nothing for a while. He watched Valkyrie with his hollow sockets.
"I am going to leave for a while. And I'm hoping you will find my good friend Valkyrie. She is strong, she can get through a trivial ordeal like this. When you find her, tell her to come find me. Then, we can go through training like civilized people." And with that, Skulduggery got into the Bentley and with a purr, drove off to his next destination.

Valkyrie watched him leave. How dare he? She needed some kind of support, she needed a friend. How dare he leave her when she's going through this? Valkyrie was furious. Not just at Skulduggery, but at almost everyone else. They didn't understand. None of them did. But most of all, she was furious at Fletcher. He was the one that made her like this, caused her to scream, to cry, to wish he didn't leave. In fact, she wished he'd never even come back. It was him coming back that made her realise that he was what she wanted and what was missing from her too exiting life. A functional relationship. Happiness after a painful fight with an enemy. That was all she needed to be content, yet that happiness seemed to be so very out of reach.

Valkyrie's jaw clenched as she walked home. It didn't take long, but a ride home from Skulduggery would make the time a lot shorter. The rain started dripping almost immediately after she left the training area. By the time she was climbing into her bedroom window she was drenched. Her reflection looked up and stared blankly, waiting for instructions.
"Get in the mirror." Valkyrie said in a tone that was not to be questioned. The reflection nodded and undressed before walking over to the mirror and moving into the shiny oval shape on the wall. Valkyrie put her hand on the mirror, gaining the memories of her reflection the past day. The reflection had done some homework and not much else. It never usually did anything interesting and today was no exeption. Valkyrie took her hand away from the mirror and took off her soaking wet clothes. She had decided not to wear her black battle clothes. That was a mistake.

She took a shower and dried herself off. It was around dinner time but she remembered that the reflection had already eaten. She hadn't. She tossed on what her reflection was wearing and wandered downstairs to grab a snack. Nobody had noticed her slipping in and out of the kitchen. Good. Valkyrie thought. I'm not feeling too social right now. She dashed into her room and shut the door. She half jumped onto her bed and tossed her arms around her face. It was one of those days. When you could do something wonderful and fun but still feel like murdering anyone who talks to you. She bit into the sugary biscuit she had collected from the cupboard downstairs. It didn't fill her up but at that moment it didn't really matter. She wasn't hungry. What she needed was sleep. And lots of it. She pulled on the string that controlled the blind on her window then pulled her covers over herself after changing into her bed clothes. She drifted off into a deep sleep until the harsh light of morning came.