Entry #14: Written July 9th
Dear Diary,
Alright. When I last saw you Diary, I was talking about my reasoning and what I thought was the motive for capturing Fletcher and I. And also that Skulduggery was Indiana Jones, but that'll come in later.
So, picking up where I left off, I had fallen asleep. When I awoke, there was something covering my mouth. It was a cloth, like someone had gagged me as I was sleeping. I don't know about you, but that's exactly how I want to wake up in the mornings! I groaned and felt a sharp slap to my leg. My eyes snapped open and I glared at whoever did that.
There was Gautier, standing above me, holding a bright lantern, his arms totally normal. I admit the lantern almost blinded me since I hadn't been out and seen actual, good light in a long time.
I tried to speak, but the cloth made it so I couldn't. I felt someone struggle beside me, and I turned and saw that Fletcher was beside me, a gag in his mouth as well.
"What?" Gautier smirked. "Can't speak? I wonder why!" He suddenly bent down and I watched as his arms instantly transformed into those long chains. It started at his hands and then traveled up his arm. His fingers and hand and wrist all turn a rusted color, forming chains, interlocking with each other. His forearm and upper arm did the same and both limbs soon formed the chains. My eyes widened as I watched him swing his arm in a violent arc, slapping up against the stones of the wall. After this he began rambling in French, seeming to complaining about everything, and yelling at us. Fletcher and I just stared at each other.
After he was done ranting though, he stood still and allowed his arms to go back to normal. It started at his upper arms this time, and skin and muscle slowly coiled down the chains, consuming them, until a regular arm was left. Gautier bent down to remove out gags. I debated biting him, but decided against it, since I'd probably be killed. Now wouldn't that suck?
He removed Fletcher's gag as well. Fletcher stuck out his tongue right as Gautier turned the corner and spat onto the floor.
"Gross!" he exclaimed. "I definitely think someone, like, peed on that thing."
I grimaced and kicked his leg. "You are disgusting, Fletcher."
He shrugged. "I'm just saying," he replied, settling up against the wall. He began tapping his foot, and this position and situation lasted for a few hours, I'd say.
After a while, my head whipped up and I listened closely, trying to drown out Fletcher's obnoxious tapping. It was footsteps. Light and quiet ones, but they still echoed off the stone walls.
"Do you hear that?" I asked softly to Fletcher.
"I don't hear anything," he said.
"Because you're not trying to!"
He grunted and stopped tapping, then sat quietly, cocking his head from left to right.
"Nope, still nothing," he said gruffly.
"Well I hear something. Quiet; I want to figure out who or what it is before they come and kill us."
"I don't think they'll kill us. Maybe it's a goat."
"Why would there be a goat in here?"
"The gargoyles eat goats."
"I think you're going insane."
"Maybe a bit."
I sighed and rattled my chains loudly, and I suddenly heard the footsteps pick up their pace. I rattled them louder, and Fletcher joined in a minute later.
"SHUT UP," came Gautier's voice from above. "Rattle them again and you'll be killed!!"
I rolled my eyes in disgust, and then took to tapping my feet. Fletcher joined in again, and it sounded like we had started a morbid band thing. The footsteps grew louder and louder, until I noticed something pass by our cell/cage thing.
I rattled my chains quietly. "Hey there," I said, getting the figure's attention. The footsteps instantly stopped, and I heard someone mutter something in French, and it was in such a lovely, velvety voice, I couldn't help but smile. "'Bout time you got here, Skulduggery," I grinned.
"We worked as fast as we could," he replied urgently. There was a small static-y sound, and then I heard Monsieur Rhett's small French voice. "He says hi," Skulduggery said suddenly. "And that the keys should be on the wall right over here." He turned around and felt on the stones until he gave a shout of triumph. "It's a good thing these guys are into torture, and kept the keys just out of your reach." (That's why they kept them there!)
Fletcher groaned. "Don't remind me," he whimpered and rubbed the incision on his hand where they had cut him for trying to get to the keys. He had told me about it earlier. Skulduggery grunted in sympathy, found the right key, and pushed open the door quietly. He reached into his overcoat and revealed a cloaking sphere. He activated it and we were enveloped in invisible-goodness. He was pressing little buttons on it, without stepping into the cage, and the sphere shook in his hand, but remained quiet after that. He took a step inside and grunted.
"That was a strange tingling feeling I don't wish to experience again," he mumbled and bent down next to me. He jammed the key in the lock in my cuffs and it was released and I jumped up. I watched as Skulduggery undid Fletcher's binds and I frowned and breathed deeply.
"Skul…What's wrong with your hand?" I asked tentatively.
"Hm?" he mumbled, staring at his hands. "Nothing is wrong with them." I stepped forward and grabbed his hand and pulled up the sleeve of his coat and suit jacket. I gasped and poked him. A sound rumbled in his throat as he released what I was staring at. I began tearing away at his disguise, until the only thing standing before me was a clean-shaven, hard-eyed, pale man wearing a too-tight suit in places.
Skulduggery Pleasant had somehow turned into a man.
"Oh my God, Skulduggery," I whispered, poking at his face and hair. He was holding his hat in his hand and staring at his hands without the gloves.
"This is…" he started, then stopped.
"This is really amazing and all," Fletcher interrupted, "but should we be getting out of here? Like, maybe now?"
Skulduggery remained silent, scratching at his head, playing with the mass of black hair that had appeared there. "Uh…I guess so. It would be best, I suppose…"
"Are you alright?" I asked, stepping closer to him. I groaned quietly in frustration as footsteps echoed around in the hallways near us.
"Yeah," Skulduggery replied, "this is just a strange feeling. But I think…Um…Valkyrie, Fletcher, it would be best if you didn't come with me; I only realized now."
"WHAT!" Fletcher shouted before one of us could get our hands on his mouth. "I am not going to be all bound up again! I can't stand my arms above my head anymore."
"But it would be better this way," Skulduggery pleaded. "If we keep you here, and all those bad guys come looking for you, we'll be more secretive, since you'd still be there. Someone would without a doubt come back to get you, don't worry about that, but I'd run off and leave you two here."
"Don't you pull an Indiana Jones on us!" I shouted.
"Gee, thanks, pal," Fletcher grumbled, sitting back down and cuffing himself again begrudgingly. He only got one hand through one bind, and I did the other one.
"Will you be alright down here for a bit longer?" Skulduggery whispered to me.
I nodded. "We've made it this long," I replied. "As long as we all get out of here again." He gave an awkward laugh, and then, without warning, he gripped my face and kissed me. He had soft lips and breath that was like green apples, which was how he smelled sometimes. A hand left my face and curled around my hips, while the other slid down to the back of my neck. I hesitantly reached up and gripped his jacket lapels, pulling at them, bringing him closer. But then, his grip loosened and he pulled away hesitantly, waiting to figure out my reaction.
"Ahem," Fletcher grumbled impatiently, looking away and at the ceiling, so as not to stare at us. I blushed furiously and laughed once and turned to flop down next to Fletcher. Skulduggery awkwardly helped me into my cuffs. He took a deep breath, gave me a soft kiss on the lips again and stood up. He grabbed his disguise and asked if he could give it to us, so we stuck it behind our bodies.
"I'll be right back with that Lost Ark, okay?" he said and gave a salute, shutting the door, placing the keys back up on the hook on the wall, bending down to grab the cloaking sphere, and darting off.
"What about Indiana Jones?" Fletcher asked after a while.
"There's that part in the first one where he finds Marion, and he almost rescues her, but instead keeps her there for the evil guys. That's pretty much what Skulduggery just did."
Fletcher nodded and laughed a little, and then began tapping his feet again. After a few minutes, he said, "I was afraid I'd have to tell you kids to keep your clothes on."
"Uh, what?"
"Seriously, that kiss couldn't have been any more sexual," Fletcher replied, smirking. "And it was so sudden!"
I scoffed. "Please, that was just a little 'goodbye, I'll see you again in a bit' kiss. Don't think anymore about it."
"That second one was," he said, "but that first one got too heated for just friends, don't you think?"
I groaned and squirmed, trying to avoid answer, but he nudged my knee hard. "Alright, fine! Maybe it wasn't something casual, but it could have been one of those snap decisions! Perhaps his instinct over and he just had to do it."
"That's what she said."
I glared. "No. That wasn't funny."
"It was a little bit funny," Fletcher said, trying to redeem himself.
"If we were under better circumstances, I would have laughed. But since I'm tired and my arms hurt, I don't care for your dirty jokes right now."
He shrugged. "Fair enough," he said, "fair enough."
Okay. This is where things get a little insane. But of course, you'll find out why they get insane in the next entry. I'll see what I can do for that.
~Valkyrie
I don't like being sick D:
I don't own Indiana Jones or anything associated with him/the character.
Thanks for reading and sorry for any mistakes! :D
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