Valkyrie is Darquesse.
Skulduggery had uttered those 3 words earlier, after Val had been taken.
At the time they hadn't been in a position to discuss the statement at length. And now, as Tanith reconsidered those 3 simple words, they continued to make exactly zero sense.
Valkyrie is Darquesse.
It couldn't be true. Because Darquesse was, well… evil. The Big Baddie. Exactly the type of psycho that Skulduggery and Valkyrie fought against. It just didn't make sense.
OK, so Val could be a little hot-headed, and maybe she was a bit too quick to use violence to solve her problems, but that didn't change the fact that she was a good kid. She wouldn't hurt anyone who didn't have it coming and even then Tanith couldn't imagine her actually killing anyone.
Except she kind of had. Tanith had seen it. The evidence was right there, not a hundred meters away. Bodies, or whatever was left of them, strewn about the valley like bloody ragdolls.
The plan had worked. It was a miracle, really.
There had been a tense moment, when the last Remnant clung to that assassin but then it too got sucked into the Receptacle.
It powered down. Skulduggery looked at Valkyrie and then turned to Tanith.
"Look after her," he said, and Tanith nodded. Valkyrie didn't respond, half slumped on the cold earth. A hazy, lost look in her eyes.
She stayed quiet as Tanith helped her to the small brook. Let her clean the blood off her hands and face with the frigid water without so much as a peep.
The silence was heavy and unnerving but Tanith had no clue how she could break it. Valkyrie was no help either and continued to stare at drops of red being washed downstream. Her shoulders were hunched, making her already small form even smaller.
Still, horror and confusion aside, this was still Valkyrie. And Tanith was not about to let her deal with this alone.
"Val."
Valkyrie's shoulders tensed.
"Val, look at me."
She did, and the guarded look in those familiar dark eyes made something in Tanith chest constrict painfully.
"Oh, Val."
Tanith had her arms around her friend in an instant.
It took a few seconds but eventually she lost that rigidness. Valkyrie's arms rose and she returned the hug, hands gripping the back of Tanith's top.
xXx
They joined the others. Skulduggery momentarily paused in his efforts to shake a particularly unconscious sorcerer awake and looked their way. Valkyrie managed a smile. A tiny one, barely more than slight lift of the corners of her mouth but it seemed to suffice.
Skulduggery nodded once. Then proceeded to slap the mage in the face.
"Valkyrie!"
She found herself wrapped in another hug. Fletcher pulled back to look at her with anxious eyes. Dark red bruises ran along his neck and she felt a stab of guilt. It lasted a second, then faded.
Valkyrie blinked.
She hadn't noticed it before but he had other injuries. His shirt/jacket was torn, blood staining the edges. His cheek was swollen, like he'd gotten punched.
"Yeah," he said, peering down at himself. "Don't know what happened. Last thing I remember is getting ready to teleport and then I woke up here."
"Are you alright?"
"I'm fine," he lied.
"Oh," she said. "Ok. I just thought you might want a leaf but-"
"I take it back. It hurts everywhere. I think my wrist might be broken." She rolled her eyes but handed it over. Fletcher popped it into his mouth. His face cleared.
"Oh yeah," he nodded. "That's the good stuff. What about you?" he asked, growing sombre, "Your face…"
"It's nothing. Tanith already took a look." She nodded at her friend. Tanith was talking to Ghastly. He was holding her hand.
Fletcher frowned, followed her gaze, "Are they, like, a thing now?"
"Yup."
xXx
The Bentley drove as smoothly as ever and they soon left the snowy peaks of MacGillycuddy's Reeks far behind them. Fletcher had volunteered to ferry people back and forth, and Ghastly was driving Tanith back to the Hibernian to get her bike. China, along with her assistant, had taken the teleportation route. Her library had gone unattended for too long.
That left her and Skulduggery. And Gordon, but her uncle's echo stone lay dormant in her lap for now.
Sanguine had, to their surprise snuck away at some point, slipping into the earth. Skulduggery didn't think he'd get far. Not with his injuries. She was inclined to believe him. These past few hours had taken a toll on them all.
"Do you think we should have stayed?"
"No. Corrival and Ravel can handle it. It'll give them a taste what leading the Sanctuary will be like. Never a dull moment."
"You're happy someone else has to do the work."
"A bit."
"Me too. Tesseract's in custody. That's good."
"It is," he agreed. "Let's see for how long."
Valkyrie looked at him. "You think he'll get out?"
"Not alive, no."
"He, the remnant I mean, it told me something before… you know. He said he had a vision of me, when he was possessing Finbar. I think that's how they found out about me."
Skulduggery was quiet for a moment.
"I see," he said. "We should go pay Finbar a visit, then. See how he's doing. And after that we'll drop by the Temple as well."
"Why?"
"Anton said they never delivered their Remnant."
"Oh."
Skulduggery turned on the radio. A newscaster was reporting on the attacks. The relief in his voice was palpable as he talked about the cure Kenspeckle had concocted. She missed him.
Valkyrie listened to him prattle on and she watched the clouds trail across the blue expanse.
She'd called the reflection. Her family was safe and well. For now.
She thought of her parents, of her little sister who hadn't even gotten her first taste of the world. They could have died.
"We got lucky," she said, forcing herself to abandon that train of thought. Today had given her glimpse of what she could become. And she never wanted to experience it again.
"We did."
xXx
The whisky burned as it slid down his throat. It was a good sort of burn, though, and it was followed by a numbness which did wonders for the pain in his gut.
Sanguine poured himself another glass. It was good whisky, old and rich. The bartender had sung its praises not 10 minutes ago. Now his throat was sliced up nice and clean.
Sanguine took a swig.
So, Valkyrie Cain was Darquesse. Future destroyer of the world and everyone on it. Who'd have thought.
He grinned.
Now what to do with that juicy bit of gossip.
FINALLY
I have been working on this goddamn AU for months. It's going to span the final chapters of book 5 and then onward to book 9. Loads will happen in between.
Be warned, it's not even remotely done but I wanted to share some of what I had so far for 2 reasons.
1) There isn't nearly enough SP content out there and that's just sad considering we have over 10 books so come on people, write things, post them. Now is your time to shine.
2) I'm kinda hoping posting this will force me to write more (frequently) since I'll be thinking about the plot more and working on the dialogue in my head.
So yeah, I have loads of plans. Ghanith lovers rejoice. Ghastly deserves all the love and I intend to have him and our favourite swordswoman live a long and healthy life together. As for Valduggery, I am a fan (don't yell at me) but I haven't quite worked out how to get there plotwise. Fletcher is wonderful but he and Val just don't work imo. That boy needs to get some self respect and not settle for scraps of attention.
I'm not going to promise you regular updates because I know myself and it would be a big fat lie. Sorry about that. I hope you enjoyed this little piece and I look forward to hearing your input.
Bye (^ ^)/