From Skulduggery Pleasant kinkmeme post. Ahaha.
"Valkyrie is the death bringer. Unlike Melancholia, her power is consistent and strong. But she's still reluctant about leaving Skulduggery.
Until Tenebrae lets her in on a little secret.
Angst. I want it. But the ending is up to you- make it as sad or as happy as you want."
Everyone thank bubblemoon666 on Tumblr for the Beta'ing.
Please, just stop talking…
…
"Dead?" Valkyrie took a sip of her water bottle. "Do they know what happened?"
Solomon watched her, head tilted, waiting patiently to resume their lesson. He always waited for her, and sometimes she wished he would kick her chair out from underneath her and tease her. But he just shrugged.
"Craven has been mumbling something about surges and experiments. Understandably, the Temple is not amused." He shrugged again. "It's a sorry thing. I'm looking into it. Did you know her?"
Valkyrie stood and stretched, shook out her ring hand. "Yeah. Sort of. She was annoying and prissy and thought she was, like, the best thing in the entire world because she respected Tenebrae."
"I'll look into it. Ready?"
Valkyrie curled the shadows around her fist. "Were you not going to look into it?"
Solomon flicked his cane, and a wave of darkness crashed toward Valkyrie. She cut through it with her own slice of shadow, following through to make sure the shadows didn't sneak around to trip her up. He did that, sometimes.
…
Valkyrie landed on her back, and the breath whooshed out of her. She struggled to recover, arching her back and sucking in a gulp of air. She pushed the air, skidded away from Skulduggery to give herself time and room.
"You're distracted," he commented.
Valkyrie rolled neatly onto her knees, struggled up, circled Skulduggery.
"Fight me."
"I am."
He stepped forward, threw a punch she dodged, ducked under his arm and slammed against him. He was so smooth on his feet, and he easily adjusted, got her into a lock, arms pinned at her side.
"Were you with Wreath?" Skulduggery asked, too casual for what he was really asking.
Valkyrie caught her breath, and he set her back on the ground. She stretched out, wincing when a stitch in her side twinged. She didn't answer, rolled her hands, shook them out. Skulduggery watched her, and she threw her hands in the air.
"Yes, yes, I was with Wreath. I forgot to text you. Did I miss anything interesting?"
"That depends if you think blackmailing is interesting."
Valkyrie hesitated. "I do."
"Too bad."
She scowled. "Oh, tell me! Who's blackmailing who?" She pulled on her sweatshirt, the chill of the outside getting to her. At least in the Temple, they had a whole training room to themselves.
Not that it mattered.
"Skulduggery…"
He shrugged. "I feel as though our dear friend China is hiding something from us. I'm not sure what, but she's hiding something. Some of her informants have defected, and they're all tight-lipped when questioned about the reason. We're going to figure out why."
Valkyrie snapped her fingers, warmed her hands with the flame. "Sort of feels dirty. I mean, she's good now, isn't she? She's a friend?"
"Well, the nature of blackmail is to force someone to do something they don't particularly want to do. Which is why we are here to figure out who is blackmailing her and kindly ask them to stop."
"'Kindly?'"
"Relatively speaking. You look cold."
Valkyrie held the flame close to her nose. It was numb. "I am cold. It's cold out. Why are we training outside?"
"To enjoy the scenery."
"We're in your backyard."
Skulduggery spread his hands. "Enjoy."
She laughed.
…
"So," Solomon began.
Valkyrie looked up sharply. "Oh, no."
"How do you know what I'm going to say is bad?"
Valkyrie's head lolled back, and she got a lovely view of the Temple's ceiling. It was damp. And cold. And not very aesthetically pleasing. She sank down lower on the bench and looked back at him.
"You only use that tone when we're going to talk about the off-limit topic." She watched him smile and adjust his grip on his cane. "Yep, see, here we go."
"Valkyrie, we both know you're approaching your surge—"
"Wow, it's almost like everyone I know doesn't remind me of that little fact any time I use magic around them." Valkyrie took a breath. "Well, you might as well. I'll add it to the list."
Solomon tried a quick smile. "You're one of the most powerful Necromancers I've ever seen. It would be a shame if you picked Elemental over—"
"Skulduggery doesn't talk to me about it."
Solomon's mouth snapped shut.
Valkyrie suddenly wished they were training again. It was almost painful to sit here, ring burning cold fire on her hand, and be judged. She let out a sigh and sat straighter, stretching her fingers. She was about to apologize, but—
"You could save the world, Valkyrie."
"I already have. A couple of times." She stood. "I have an impressive resumé."
He shook his head, took a quick step forward, and she almost thought he was going to grab her shoulders and shake her. She wasn't sure if she would have shrugged him off, but he stopped, feet from her.
"You could bring this world into a new age! You wouldn't have to save the world from anyone. As the Death Bringer—"
"Solomon—"
"As the Death Bringer, you wouldn't have to save anyone. You would bring around a realm of peace, an age of prosperity. No wars, no death, no dark gods. That would all be you, Valkyrie. This power?"
Solomon sent a shadow whipping at the bench behind Valkyrie, so close she could feel the air shift around her. She didn't have to look to know the bench was in pieces.
"You could use it for good."
Solomon took a step back from her, looking away, gripping his cane. It was suddenly very quiet, and she couldn't stop the thought that she wasn't sure came from her mind or—
Well, that sounds much better than destroying everything, doesn't it?
…
"I need you here," Skulduggery murmured, the Bentley sliding to a neat stop.
Valkyrie looked over. "I am here."
"No, you're not. You've been distracted lately. I haven't mentioned it because it hasn't particularly affected your work, but I'm mentioning it now." He shut off the car and looked at her, tilted his head down. "I need you focused."
"I am," Valkyrie said, sharply. Because she was lying. The silence built in the car, and she let out a sharp sigh. "Okay, fine, maybe I have been distracted, just a little bit. Wreath is investigating something at the Temple, and I'm helping, and I was trying to figure something out."
"Did you figure it out?"
"No," Valkyrie said. "I didn't."
"I could help you. You didn't tell me you were investigating something with Wreath. You don't have to let me help, but now it makes sense." Something about his posture made Valkyrie want to make a joke, push on. She wasn't fast enough. "You can tell me these things, you know."
Valkyrie's eyes slid to the cup holder. "I know."
"I won't judge you."
She didn't answer.
"Valkyrie…?"
"Whenever I talk about him, you get weird." She looked up quickly. "I know you don't like him, and I'm not asking you to like him. But I feel like—like you would see what he said as being bias. And it's just…"
"I was being unfair," Skulduggery said quickly.
"Look, I just want to get to the bottom of this whole China thing. Let's not talk about Solomon."
Skulduggery looked at her slowly. Valkyrie felt like she had said something wrong, and she fumbled over the conversation in her head, trying to figure out what she had let slip.
"What?"
"Nothing—"
…
She hadn't come dressed for a meeting with Tenebrae. She was in her workout clothes, sweatpants and a sweatshirt. Not even a tank top underneath, just a training bra. Valkyrie counted the holes as they walked through the Temple.
She wondered why it mattered and stopped.
"I'm guessing this isn't going to be a good meeting," she said lightly, looking over at Solomon.
"What makes you say that?"
"Well, for one, you're not your usual chatty self. You're acting like someone just chopped off one of your hands, and you're trying to act brave about it." Valkyrie nodded to the Necromancers she recognized, those who kept their hoods down. "Let me guess: He's kicking me out of the temple?"
Solomon's jaw clenched. "No."
"He's going to scold me for smiling too much? For talking too loud? For yelling that Craven is a murderer? For knocking over that priceless artifact? For knocking over that other priceless artifact?"
Solomon didn't even look at her.
"What, is he going to kill me?" Valkyrie meant it as a joke, but somewhere, she wondered if he would let that happen. Skulduggery. If Solomon would. "Solomon?"
He stopped jerkily in front of Tenebrae's door, opened it. Valkyrie's heart sank.
…
Valkyrie didn't want to do this outside of the Temple, outside in front of the cameras she knew was hidden behind the graves, over other skeletons. So she marched down the sidewalk, teeth chattering, hands shoved in her pockets.
She didn't stop when the Bentley pulled up next to her.
She didn't stop when Skulduggery got out after her.
"Valkyrie?"
She choked around a sob, and in a moment Skulduggery was at her side, touching her elbow. He was cold, cold like the air, and she could feel the leather of his gloves through her sweatshirt. She ripped away from him violently, turning towards him.
It was her night off. It was dark, and the air felt wet even as she moved through it. She wanted it to rain, so the tears dripping down her cheeks looked like rain. So the thunder might drown out how broken she sounded. How broken she looked.
"Don't."
Skulduggery swayed in the wind. "Valkyrie, is everything all right?"
"No. No. Tell me it isn't true." Her knees threatened to give out from under her.
He was so still. Only his jaw moved. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"Yes you do!" Valkyrie must have shrieked, but she didn't hear it. Just her throat hurt, like she had swallowed broken shards of glass.
His head lowered, face in shadow. Like it would have mattered.
Valkyrie didn't think she would be able to say the name, but of course—
"Lord Vile."
Skulduggery's shoulders dipped. That was all Valkyrie needed.
…
She ran back in the rain, to the Temple, and she fell into Solomon's arms and sobbed.
And he gave her a warm drink and set her up in a room.
She lay on her bed, facing the wall, curled up.
