Nothing Like The Song
A/N: Hi there! This is my first Skulduggery Pleasant songfic. Hope you like it!
It's set in a place and time after these lot have just saved the world. Again.
The song is One Of Us by ABBA.
They stood side by side for the first time. Wind whipped in their face. The four were silent. Their battle was done, but they didn't trust anything yet. China Sorrows gave a light sigh.
"So. It's finally over." Sorrows whispered. The beautiful lady's words triggered a total collapse in the party. They fell to their knees and sat or lay where they had stood.
"Tired." Cain mumbled. "I no longer know the meaning of the word 'untired." She hurried to block her partner's advance. "I know. 'Untired' is not a word."
"We're done?" Melancholia said incredulously. "That's... it?"
Skulduggery seemed to smile. "It indeed, my dear Death Bringer."
"Not your dear anything." The words were tired.
They were silent for a while.
China rolled over from where she had been reclining and rose once more. Her lips opened, and music poured forth. "They passed me by, all of those great romances." The words were sad and hollow.
"You were, I felt, robbing me of my rightful chances." She was staring directly at Skulduggery.
"China?" They had never heard her sing before.
Her voice rose and soared above the trees, startling a flock of birds into flight. "My picture clear, everything seemed so easy."
"And so I dealt you the blow." China's mouth tightened, and she looked away from Skulduggery as he looked away from her.
The words came harsher now, and Valkyrie had a distinct feeling of deja vu. "One of us had to go."
Skulduggery rose and they looked back at each other."Now it's different, I want you to know..." Her voice trailed off. She ran to him with hurried footsteps and hugged him. His hands flew to her face and lifted it. Skeleton jaws met full, warm lips.
"One of us is crying." Melancholia sang out. Indeed, there were tears streaming down her face.
"One of us is lying," China Sorrows began.
Wind whistled and hair wrapped around her face. "In her lonely bed,"
"Staring at the ceiling," The words didn't fit anymore. Once they would've, but now?
"Wishing she was somewhere else instead." the company sang together.
"One of us is lonely." Pleasant said in a low baritone.
Valkyrie Cain began. "One of us is only,"
"Waiting for a call..." Tune wrapped around words.
Her eyes tightened. "Sorry for herself,"
"Feeling stupid, feeling small," the four sung.
"Wishing she had never left at all!" Her face shone with joy. The battle was done. The words of the old song no longer matched her feelings.
Melancholia St Clair stood. She knew she must sing the next bit, but she was in no hurry to do so. "I saw myself as a concealed attraction," The notes rang out clear and true.
She bared her teeth in a twisted smile and looked at Valkyrie. "I felt you kept me away from the heat and the action."
Melancholia sang, "Just like a child, stubborn and misconceiving," Cain returned the grin.
"That's how I started the show," the two girls sang together.
They walked together, trying to stare the other down."One of us had to go..."
Now Melancholia spoke alone. "Now I've changed and I want you to know..." Two sets of lovers kissed, there on the battle field of death.
St. Clair whispered, "One of us is crying,"
"One of us is lying," China began.
The music wrapped around the four. "In her lonely bed,"
Her voice rose and spun once more. "Staring at the ceiling,"
"Wishing she was somewhere else instead!" She smiled at Valkyrie sadly. She knew the younger girl had had some infatuation with Skulduggery in the past. The smile was returned, much brighter and stronger than before.
"One of us is lonely," Skulduggery murmured into China's ear, sending a shiver running down her back.
Cain sang softly, "One of us is only,"
"Waiting for a call..." The notes rolled off her tongue.
"Sorry for herself, feeling stupid feeling small." The words perfectly echoed her past feelings, and they were harsh and bitter.
Her voice was glad now. "Wishing she had never left at all."
The old melody intertwined around her words. "Never left at all..."
"Staring at the ceiling..." China started up.
"Wishing she was somewhere else instead." She did not. No way.
Pleasant said, "One of us is lonely," He was not. No way.
"One of us is only," It was Valkyrie Cain.
Her voice petered out. "Waiting for a call..."
The four had arrived as partial enemies. Now, as they left the field of death and peril, they left as lovers.
