From The Ashes We Rise...Chapter 2...
Thank you to all the wonderful people who reviewed and read Wistful Kisses, I never expected to get such a response! (': I hope you're all glad that I decided to do a sequel and not kill off all the amazing characters! You all know about copyright and whatnot so yeah, read away!
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Tanith looked up when Alice and Emma appeared in front of her, and sheathed her sword. They were outside, on the grounds of the mansion, surrounded by dead trees and half-parched grass. Tanith stood in the centre of a circle of dead foliage with a face like thunder.
"Hey guys," she said grumpily.
"Wassup Tanith?" Alice asked.
"China," was the growled reply. "Always China. I don't get why Skulduggery ever let her stay here."
"Because it's not his house, it's Mum's," Moo answered.
"He moved in with her, and she's never around. Lately it's more his house than hers, considering the amount of time she spends away from us all." Tanith forced herself to stop ranting. "What's up with you two anyway? The only time you interrupt my sulking is when you want my help."
"We want you to get Mum back home. If she spent just one day here with us she might realise how much we miss her," Emma said, her eyes cast downward.
"Val's spent too much time wallowing already, and it's time she realised just how pig sick of it we are." Alice sighed. "You're her best friend, Tan. You're the only one she ever listens to."
"If you think she ever listened to me then you're crazy," Tanith snorted, amused.
"Please?" the girls asked together, and the blonde woman wavered a little.
"Damn puppy-dog eyes," she muttered. "Fine! I'll go find her and drag her home. What time is it now?"
"Time you got a watch," Alice answered.
"Ten forty five," Emma said helpfully, rolling her eyes at her sister.
"I'll be back in an hour, with or without her." And Tanith walked away, in search of her moody best friend. Alice looked at Moo triumphantly and held up a hand. Moo raised an eyebrow at her sister, but high fived her and grinned, allowing herself a moment to share in Alice's good humour.
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"Valkyrie Pleasant, I swear if you don't shut up, I am going to kill you," Tanith groaned. Val was whining about almost breaking into Grimm's residence. Apparently she was close to killing him this time, and Tanith had just ruined it all.
"But I was close Tanith! I was so close and you had to drag me away!" Tanith finally snapped, grabbing the neck of Valkyrie's tunic.
"There are more important things to deal with right now than Grimm," she hissed.
"Like what?" Valkyrie growled back, anger flashing in her eyes.
"Your family. Your husband. All of us. Whether you like it or not, you are coming back with me, and you are spending time with us all. If you stop wallowing in self-hatred for more than five seconds, you might actually realise how much we miss you, Val!"
"I can see my family when Grimm is dead," she answered, her face going blank as she tried to pull away, but Tanith's grip was like iron.
"If you keep this up, there'll be no family around to see when he's dead, and then what will you do, eh? You're losing them, Val." For the first time in a long time, something clicked in Valkyrie skull.
"Losing them? What do you mean?"
"They're starting to think you don't want them anymore," Tanith said, and tried to soften her tone. Any more shouting could push the girl back into denial. "You're thirty five, and you have a family. You have a husband, you have a child, and you have a sister. You have friends. You have people who care about you, which is more than most people have now, Valkyrie. You're losing yourself, and it's killing us to see it. Come home, spend time with your husband. If not for all of us, then for him."
"But I..." she trailed off, her resolve weakening much more quickly than expected. Tanith took the opportunity to attack where it would hurt the most. She hated herself for doing it, but she had to be cruel to be kind.
"It was your anniversary two days ago. You've been married for fifteen years and two days. In that time, how long have you spent acting like you were married?" Tanith asked softly, and tears blossomed in Valkyrie's eyes.
"...Two days," she whispered, ashamed.
"And when was the last time you kissed your husband, or spent the night with him? Or even smiled at him?"
"Fifteen years ago." The tears spilled over and a sob broke loose. Tanith pulled her best friend into a hug and let her cry until the tears ran out, before holding her at arms length.
"Come home with me, Val. We all miss you, and you miss us. I know you do." She held out an arm, and Valkyrie looked at it for a long moment, before smiling and linking up with Tanith.
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Valkyrie was afraid; she'd missed so much in her attempts to reach Grimm. She'd missed birthdays, magical breakthroughs, funny moments, family time, arguments, even little things like somebody making her a cup of tea, or having her husband put his arms around her. She'd even missed every wedding anniversary since the Reckoning. She was a terrible wife, a horrible friend, a neglectful sister, and an unworthy mother to Emma. She'd been on a path to self destruct the moment she'd made it her goal to kill Grimm. Thank God Tanith had brought her to her senses before she lost them all.
"Skulduggery," she said, when she found her husband looking at a photograph of her in her wedding dress with his back to her. She'd looked so beautiful, a vision in black, next to a tall, dashing skeleton, holding a bouquet spilling white and black flowers, a brilliant smile on her face. It'd been the happiest day of her life. The sound of her voice made him raise his head slightly, and slowly, he put the photo down and turned to face her.
For a long while, he said nothing. He didn't speak, didn't even move. And then, finally, he opened his arms to her, and she ran to him. To her, nothing had ever felt better than being held by him after so long, than knowing that in that simple embrace, he was forgiving her for fifteen years of leaving him alone night after night, of being the worst wife she could possibly be. He just held her tight while she sobbed, one hand stroking her hair, the other flat against her back, keeping her close to him. He just let her cry, and when she finally stopped and pulled back to look at him, he remained silent.
"I'm so sorry, Skulduggery. I've been horrible for so long, I didn't mean to do this. I love you so much and I just didn't think about what I was doing to you all. I just, I felt like I needed to kill him to try and make up for the lives I took that night. I'm an awful wife and I'd understand it if you decided to leave me or if you hated me, but I swear to you, from now on I'll be here all the time and I'll treat you like I should've done right from the first day we got married. You mean everything to me and I lost sight of that when I was trying to make up for something I will never be able to make up for. It was bad enough that I helped destroy humanity, but I also went on to break apart my own family. I should never have neglected you all the way I did, and if none of you want me around anymore I'll understand." She ran out of steam and looked at her husband with glittering, tearful eyes.
"Hush now, Valkyrie. Everything is going to be alright," he said, and kissed her, so gently, for the first time in fifteen long, empty years.
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Awwwwh! :3 I enjoyed writing that! It's always good when an argument is resolved (': Until next time, Cyanide out! (':