Last chapter. I had fun with this :)
Ghastly Bespoke sat tensely, sipping coffee almost mechanically. He stared at his washing machine, which had the blood soaked rags that he used to clean up the mess of blood that had been left in his home that previous night. He listened as the bell to his door chimed, and he watched Tanith Low march into his kitchen.
"Hi," she said evenly, studying him hard.
"Good morning," Ghastly said, getting up swiftly and enveloping her into a tight hug. Normally she would laugh and kiss his cheek, but instead, her arms wrapped around his neck too.
"I missed you," Tanith said quietly. "I wish I had stayed with you last night. I slept awful last night."
Ghastly froze up a little, debating about what to say next. "I wish you had stayed here too," he eventually muttered. "It was lonely without you."
She smiled at him. Tanith suddenly turned around at the sound of a Pop!
Fletcher Renn stood in the kitchen, smiling sheepishly. "Hi guys," he murmured, giving a half-hearted wave and shuffling around.
"Hey there, Fletcher," Tanith said, running and hugging him too. He sighed and hugged her back.
"Everything alright?" Ghastly asked.
Fletcher didn't answer right away; he wondered if anyone had experienced something similar to what he had gone through last night. "Yeah, I'm fine," he finally said. "Just…a weird night, I guess. I had a weird dream."
"Where's Valkyrie? And Skulduggery?"
Fletcher shrugged. "I called Valkyrie this morning, but she didn't pick up. I don't know about Skulduggery."
They all sat around in silence, drinking the coffee that Ghastly made for them. After maybe an hour, they heard the soft roar of the engine of Skulduggery's Bentley. The door to the shop opened and Skulduggery and Valkyrie stepped in. Valkyrie looked a little wary and confused, while Skulduggery kept his body tensed; he stood up straight like a plank of wood.
"Hello," he greeted them.
"Morning," Fletcher said, giving a wave. "You guys look a little worse for wear."
"Rough night of no sleep for either of us," Valkyrie replied sleepily, scratching her head and fluffing her hair. "Ghastly, what happened to your arm? And your arm, Tanith? Fletcher, your face?"
The three stuttered for a moment, all trying to think of excuses.
"I just…cut myself with some…scissors," Tanith said lamely, shrugging.
Ghastly nodded. "I accidentally jammed my shirt in my machines, so then I cut myself on the needle trying to get free."
"I…papercut my face," Fletcher added, stroking the wound on his cheek.
"How did you get those bruises on your arm?" Tanith asked Valkyrie.
Valkyrie rubbed the black and blue spots on her arms, thinking of her own excuse. "I guess I must have missed them while getting fixed up. I'll get Kenspeckle to look at it."
They all nodded, accepting each others' stories, but remaining a tad suspicious about everything.
They all sat around in silence, drinking coffee and thinking hard about what had happened to them each. That is, until there were loud and clunking footsteps heard on the stairs.
Everyone rushed into the main room, recoiling as a tall and lean man descended the stairs. He had dark brown hair, slicked back with hair gel. His eyes were equally brown, with a creepy beady look about them. His skin was pale but not an unhealthy pale color. He was wearing a suit more commonly seen in the 1800s. His pants were black, with a suit jacket that was the color of an evergreen tree going down to his knees. He had black gloves on and a smirk.
"Sleep well, everyone?" he merrily asked, looking smug.
"Who are you?"
"Fever Gray, the Nightmare Extraordinaire," he said. "Doesn't it have a nice ring to it? Speaking of rings, I should have known you had that bell there, sir." He gestured to the shop door and the bell.
"Get out of here," Ghastly said lowly, glaring at Fever hard.
He held up his hands. "Alright, I will, my goodness. Just…give me a minute."
He brought his hands together and folded them like in prayer and swept them around in the air grandly. Suddenly, seven people stood behind Fever Gray, all staring at the group.
There was a menacing looking Darquesse, who had a gun drawn, and was pointing it at Valkyrie.
Crossfire Lost and Ivory Frost stood together, holding hands, and looking harshly at Fletcher.
Billy-Ray Sanguine was chuckling quietly, watching Tanith with his eye-holes.
Evangeline Falls and Damien Seas looked at Skulduggery sadly.
And finally, Tanith the Remnant stared down at Ghastly, the black veins spreading across her face and body rapidly.
"Look at this, everyone," Fever Gray said, sweeping his arm around and gesturing to the new people. "Look at your fears. Look at what everyone fears the most.
"You, miss," he said, addressing Valkyrie, "fear your evil and corrupt self, bent on killing everyone you've ever loved and everyone who has ever crossed you. You don't want to be evil, but you're afraid that someone has already decided your gruesome fate. How unfortunate. And you can't help but worry you're not liked; quite a pathetic fear, I admit. I suppose everyone just wants to be loved though…
"And you, sir," Fever said to Fletcher, "your dead parents. You think that in their after life, they are damning you for living and for your life. They're like every parents out there: they are disappointed in their children. You apparently threw out your life when you broke up with this evil girl. What will you do? Will you let them rule you and haunt your life for as long as you live? They're getting to you. You can't handle that they hated their own son.
"Madame, you're quite interesting," he announced, talking to Tanith. "The four most important people in your life. Three of them out to kill you and haunt you, and the other who loves you dearly. He can take care of himself, can't he? He doesn't need your protection, no way. Oh, but he wants to protect you. Tell me, do you really love him? Would your prefer this southern man over your northern man? What is it? Your dreams are haunted by your injuries and pain and suffering and love.
"You, Mr. Skeleton," Fever said to Skulduggery, "your fears are the most personal, I believe. Everyone is afraid of losing their loved ones. You're afraid of your loved ones hating you for their death. Do you feel you couldn't save them? You were utterly hopeless as you watched them die. Seeing the look on your face as you slowly came to the realization that nothing can ever can be happy for you was one of the crowning moments of this whole affair, I have to admit. Everyone you love will someday turn against you. Pity…
"Lastly, sir," he said, getting to Ghastly, resting his gloved hands on his shoulders, "the two girls who have ever loved you are dead. The evil girl killed by your best friend; your best friend killed by the evil girl. You've done everything in your power to protect here; you converted yourself to a statue for her! And she just died. She still ended up a corrupt girl, with no future, except a bleak and, well, dead one. And your relationship with this lady. She's beautiful, admittedly, but does she really love you? You may comfort yourself with the fact that it's simply a Remnant inside of her, forcing her to hate you and hurt you. But really. It's her own accord. She has no feelings for you."
Fever Gray stood back and surveyed the scene. The seven figures he had conjured up were now shaking their heads sadly at them all.
"Why are you doing this?" Skulduggery asked Fever, his head tilted to study him.
Fever shrugged. "I'm not doing anything. These are just figments of your imaginations, yet they're real. The mind can do such amazing things, can't it?"
"I've heard of you," Skulduggery said. "I've heard of people going insane because of their worst nightmares coming to life; even dead loved ones coming back."
"We're not dead," Evangeline Falls snarled. "We keep calling out to you, but you're too busy running your hands all over this evil girl."
Valkyrie took a step back. "It's not my fault Skulduggery managed to get over you. You don't even look that special. He's always going on about how great and fantastic you were."
"That's why I killed him!" Darquesse joined in, still not wavering her gun. They looked at each other, but Valkyrie couldn't stand seeing herself like that.
"Why didn't you kill my son?" Crossfire Lost asked loudly. "He's utterly worthless."
"Gladly," Tanith the Remnant said, brandishing her sword, with Sanguine joining her.
"This kid has gotten just as annoying as stupid Valkyrie," he grumbled, waving his straight-razor.
Fletcher sucked breath, recoiling as they began advancing on him. And then suddenly, Ghastly came from the side and delivered a back-handed slap on Tanith the Remnant's face. She snarled in pain and fury, swinging her sword over and almost slicing Ghastly's arm off, but he managed to dodge and roll away. Fletcher shook his head, clearing it from the nasty little thoughts. He reached and grabbed a staple gun and began waving it around like a madman.
Valkyrie and Skulduggery had taken on their fears. Darquesse was stabbing at Valkyrie with shadow after shadow, while Evangeline and Damien kicked and punched at Skulduggery. His mind was focused on nothing but getting rid of these living nightmares; he knew these people were not his deceased family. He still wasn't sure how they came to be and how Fever Gray was creating these illusions.
Ghastly fought and battled Tanith the Remnant, but she was beginning to overtake him. She almost drove her blade into his chest, but Sanguine was sent hurtling into her. Ghastly looked up at Tanith, breathing heavy, gripping a sewing machine tightly. She chucked it at Tanith the Remnant and stole her sword, flicking it about in the air.
There was suddenly a great crash as Skulduggery slammed Evangeline Falls into one of Ghastly's tables. She screamed in pain, staring in horror and agony at the piece of shrapnel that Skulduggery then rammed through her.
Someone else shouted with pure fury.
Skulduggery watched as the nightmares that everyone was fighting disappeared into clouds of smoke, only to be replaced with pitch black Dobermans. They began barking and jumping around like mad.
"Fever Gray's Dobermans," Fever Gray said grandly, though through clenched teeth. "My dogs…are special, if you couldn't tell."
Fletcher kept waving the staple gun at the two dogs that had been his dead parents. "They…turn into people?" he asked breathlessly.
"I have twenty dogs, all with this ability," Gray said. He began subtly inching over to the door, but Skulduggery noticed it.
Skulduggery grunted. "Valkyrie," he merely muttered. She nodded and quickly jumped over to Gray before he could escape and wrapped him up in deep black shadows. He shouted in frustration, wriggling and kicking against her binds. She pushed him over to a non-broken chair of Ghastly's and forced him to sit down. Skulduggery stood opposite him and tilted his head.
"How did you know our greatest fears?" he asked casually.
"I just know," Gray muttered angrily. "I simply need to send my dogs into wherever and they instantly know. However, it makes it easier when I'm able to watch my victims for a few days before I release my attack. Did you, Mr. Skeleton, sense anyone watching you as you said goodbye to the evil girl last night?"
"Can't say I did."
"Well, I was watching. I had been following you for a few hours. As soon as you left, I went around the side of the house and forced one of my dogs up the side and into the room of the evil girl. He snuck in there and that began it all."
"My window was open, even though I had closed it," Valkyrie said. "Um, D-Darquesse emerged from my closet."
"My parents came from there too," Fletcher said.
Tanith nodded. "My…attackers came from the three closets in my apartment."
"The Faceless Ones portal was in my closet," Skulduggery added.
"I don't have a closet, yet they came from under my bed," Ghastly muttered, confused.
Fever Gray nodded and smirked. "My dogs, without my presence, can only form the fears of the victims in two places: a closet, or under the bed. However, since I am here, they are able to roam and attack wherever they can. Make sense?"
"Sadly."
"I may be the evil guy in this situation, but you have to admit that I'm creative. Besides, who was expecting to see their deceased loved ones last night? Or their greatest enemies?"
Fletcher frowned and held the staple gun steady, aiming it at Fever Gray. "I will staple your mouth shut if you don't keep quiet."
Gray didn't respond. He merely nodded and then suddenly strong arms reached up and grabbed Fletcher's neck. He struggled, but was suddenly thrown backwards, his back slamming into the floor. He stared at Valkyrie, however it was a Valkyrie with bloodstained teeth and wild eyes.
"V-Vampire…" Fletcher muttered. He watched Caelan emerge from the corner, his face as bloodstained as Valkyrie's. Caelan smirked, flashing his fangs. Valkyrie the Vampire clicked her teeth together, about to pounce on Fletcher, but something collided with her head and sent her sprawling forward.
Valkyrie growled picked up another of Ghastly's sewing machines, launching it at Caelan and grinning in satisfaction when it hit his forehead and he stumbled back. Valkyrie the Vampire let out a cry of fury, whipping around to face Valkyrie. Tanith charged towards Caelan, ramming her sword through his chest, watching as he merely looked down at his wound. He shook his head and immediately turned into a plain black figure. A Remnant. Tanith whimpered, becoming afraid of it almost instantly. The Remnant was simply walking forward, brining out its arm to block Tanith's blows. Tanith gasped when she suddenly ran into something.
"Don't be afraid," Ghastly whispered in her ear. "Don't be afraid."
Tanith gave an uneasy laugh, suddenly swooping down and kicking the Remnant's legs from under him. Before he could block her attack, Tanith rammed her sword into his chest. He screamed and suddenly was gone, replaced by a dog.
Valkyrie the Vampire was beating Valkyrie down easily. Her claws swiped across Valkyrie's cheek, and she gasped in pain, feeling warm blood run down her cheek. Fletcher watched this, grabbed his staple gun and conked Valkyrie the Vampire on the head. Tanith called out to him, throwing her sword in his direction. Fletcher miraculously caught it, stabbing Valkyrie the Vampire through the chest. She screamed too, disappearing and reappearing as a dog.
"Would you stop that," Valkyrie angrily asked Fever Gray.
He shrugged. "It's fun. It's what I do. Would you stop doing the thing you love if I just asked you? Would you stop loving Mr. Skeleton?"
Valkyrie glared. "Why are you here? Did anyone send you?"
Fever Gray shook his head, but then suddenly stopped. "Well, technically, no one sent me. Though I was talking to a really big and smelly man, who was very loudly complaining about a skeleton and a dark haired girl and all their stupid friends. Now naturally, Skulduggery Pleasant and Valkyrie Cain, I've heard of you. What baddie hasn't heard of the tales of you two beating and destroying some of the roughest and toughest guys out there?"
"How come you haven't used our names, then?" Valkyrie asked.
He shrugged. "I like referring to you as 'evil girl'. It's fun."
Skulduggery sighed. "Oh yes, barrels. This is the most fun I've had."
"Isn't it?" Evangeline Falls asked silkily, her mouth right where his ear would be.
Skulduggery stiffened only slightly at her voice. He turned to face his dead wife, tilting his head. "It's sad to see you like this."
"She's not real," Valkyrie said, coming up behind him and placing a hand on his shoulder. "Just…kill her."
She pressed a piece of sharpened wood into his hand from the coffee table that was broken previously. Skulduggery stared at the weapon, unsure suddenly. Would his real wife and child who had to be watching him from somewhere…would they think bad of him? Skulduggery shook his head and almost rammed the wood through Evangeline's chest, but he stopped at the now two figures standing before him. He watched in awe and vague dismay at the displays of affection Solomon Wreath was showing a very sickly looking Valkyrie Cain.
"That's a really weird fear," the real Valkyrie said from behind Skulduggery.
"Well in that scenario you're Darquesse," he replied, staking both of them through the hearts quickly and cleanly.
Valkyrie smiled but then turned back to Fever Gray. "I think someone needs to be taken to a cell over at the Sanctuary," she said happily. "Get rid of your dogs or we'll use some really mean interrogation methods."
Fever Gray pursed his lips but nodded and sighed a moment later. "Alright, they've been sent away. I promise they won't follow us along to your headquarters or whatever it is."
Valkyrie gripped his one arm, and Skulduggery grabbed the other side. They hoisted him up, letting the remaining three get the door and start the Bentley. Tanith, Ghastly, and Fletcher sat up in the front while Skulduggery and Valkyrie sat on either side of Fever Gray.
After dumping him off at the holding cells at the Sanctuary, the five filed out of the building. Tanith and Ghastly walked close together, their hands intertwined with each others. Skulduggery had his arm draped over Valkyrie's shoulders, while Fletcher shuffled along behind them all; Valkyrie saw him out of the corner of her. She ducked out from Skulduggery, who understood her intention quickly.
Valkyrie stepped back and fell into pace with Fletcher. "You alright?"
He shrugged. "I'm just thinking, really."
"That can't be good."
"Oh, shut up."
Valkyrie laughed and said, "I'm just kidding. But really, Fletcher, don't let this get to you. It's not like all that was real."
"Oh, but it felt like it."
"I know," she replied quietly. "It scared me seeing what I'd become. I freaked out seeing Skulduggery afraid of his wife and kid hating on him. What…Why do you fear your parents so much?"
"They didn't really care about me," Fletcher answered. "I have some happy memories from when I was younger, but when I hit those teenage years, they began forgetting about me. My mom and dad had their own hunting agency, sort of. They were like you and Skulduggery: partners who looked for evil guys. Simple. They really loved each other, and then all that love resulted in me, the Accident Baby. I like to think that when I was younger they loved me and cared for me and all that good stuff, but when I grew up…they barely talked to me at all."
Valkyrie was quiet for a few moments. "You're afraid your parents hate you so much they'd want you dead?"
Fletcher shrugged. "Yeah, pretty much."
Valkyrie gasped quietly. She slowly wrapped her arms around his shoulders and hugged him tightly. "Well, we'll always be there for you," she added with a smile.
"Wow, that wasn't cliché in the slightest!" Fletcher responded, shaking her off, smiling. Valkyrie laughed and punched his arm and ran away from him and tackled Skulduggery from behind. He regained his footing a moment later as he gave Valkyrie a kiss on her cheek. Fletcher smiled at them.
He stepped out of the wax museum and jogged to catch up to everyone getting into the Bentley. He almost squeezed in the back with everyone else, but he noticed someone staring at him from across the street. His own eyes caught site of the tall man with the dark coloring and the shorter woman with the lighter coloring. Crossfire Lost and Ivory Frost glared back at their son harshly, nodding once before they disappeared from sight.
"Fletcher, I'm going to start driving," Skulduggery said to him.
Fletcher Renn shook his head and shut the Bentley's door. He pressed himself into the little bit of room left for him, wondering what had just been real and what had just been fiction.
Hm. That's all I gotta say for this one.
Thanks everyone for your kind words and encouragement! It's great that you'll still read the weird stuff that I post. This didn't turn out to be one of those big epic looong stories, but I didn't want it like that. I'm fine the way this one was.
Thanks everyone for reading and sorry for any mistakes! :DD