Skulduggery – Crow

Anton – Bear

Ghastly – Panda

Dexter – Wolf

Saracen – Weasel

Erskine – Snake

Chapter 25

"Val? Valkyrie, baby, wake up," a voice said softly. There was a sharp ringing in her ears and her whole body hurt. There was throbbing everywhere but it was dull, like it wasn't her body at all. "Val, could you look at me? Make a sound? Please, I don't know what to do."

It was Nadia's voice Valkyrie realised, and she was lying on her back. Wincing, she opened her eyes and when the bright lights woke her fully, the pain hit her like a truck and she moaned, twisting into the fatal position instinctively.

"Valkyrie, you need to lay flat, you have to let your muscles relax," Nadia told her gently, stroking her hair. "Where does it hurt?"

Valkyrie opened her eyes and noticed the shower room was clear of everyone except them. She could now hear Tanith's voice outside and realised she was finding out what had happened and shouting sense into the bystanders for not helping her baby sister after she had fallen unconscious. "It hurts everywhere Nadia," she admitted. "That girl – she was stronger than she looked. Got me on the ground and kicked me everywhere. I don't think I ever want to stand again."

"She got you between the legs?" Nadia asked - her voice was sympathetic but Valkyrie could see the pained look on her face. Valkyrie hid her face in her hands and Nadia laughed quietly. "Don't worry, I'm sure some of those pain relief leaves will help."

"No, I just need a new body. This one's a dud," Valkyrie moaned. "I'm done."

Nadia kissed her forehead softly. "It'll be alright. Come on, sit up and let's see how bad it is. They've put the show on hold."

"Oh," Valkyrie said, feeling sick to the stomach. "That's just great. Fuck my life."

Nadia helped her sit up and when the dizziness faded she stood up and checked herself over in the one mirror next to the door for blood. And there certainly was some. "Oh, Val," Nadia said, looking her over.

Valkyrie felt sicker, some of it from embarrassment, but she was sure most of it was from the sticky blood she could now feel dribbling down her leg. She was wearing a skirt and it was bright red and obvious. "That isn't good."

"Maybe just your period?" Nadia asked. They were pretty open about things, so speaking about it wasn't embarrassing even if seeing it would have been.

But as it was: "No, that was last week. God, help me in there and let me see." Plus this wasn't a little bit like a normal period leak. This was quick, thick, and there was a lot.

Nadia helped her into a cubical and left her alone but didn't let her lock the door, just in case. She lifted her skirt, pulled down her knickers and inspected herself. She had a somewhat deep cut on her skin just above her pink folds, a rip in the skin that was slowly but steadily bleeding and too big to clot quickly. She had to pad it, get in the car, knock herself out and let Kenspeckle fix it and never see him again. It was sad because she liked Kenspeckle, but there was no way she wanted to see him after this.

She noticed as well that she actually had a few bruises between her legs – a few more kicks that girl got in when she was unconscious and vulnerable on the ground. Her clit was swollen painfully and purple from a disgusting bruise and her pelvic bone must have been stomped on. It was slowly turning a dark yellow with bruising. It really hurt.

Sobs suddenly pushed up her throat and Valkyrie breathed slowly and replaced her underwear, not having any tissue in the shower to clean up the blood on her underwear, incredibly sensitive skin, her clothes, her legs, her face and neck from her surely broken nose. It was so embarrassing. She'd have to walk in front of everyone, let everyone see her like this. Her teachers, the other competitors, the parents, her friends. Sure, they were brothers and sisters but there were some things no one wants showing. She barely wanted to speak to Nadia.

"Valkyrie?" Nadia whispered. "Baby, sweetie, can I come in?"

Valkyrie breathed deeply, pushed the offending tears away and opened the door. She stood as tall as she could, trying to find some sort of courage to face the world with.

Nadia took one look at her and pulled her into a tight hug.

Sobs clawed their way out of Valkyrie and soon she was crying on her girlfriend, telling the older girl about what she'd been told before the race and when she got out the shower. Nadia began crying too and they held each other, Nadia telling her about how when she was unconscious, the other girls started fighting between them, shouting to stop but then the two older girls started kicking her all over and didn't stop until a bunch came out of the locker into the stadium shouting for help. It had taken ten minutes before Valkyrie's brothers, sister and girlfriend had been told what had happened but only Tanith and Nadia had been allowed to see her. Tanith was doing the shouting while Nadia stayed with Valkyrie. Neither had let anyone else near them, even the medics.

Slowly, they calmed down and let each other go.

"Sorry," Valkyrie gasped, noticing the reddish-brown stains she'd transferred onto Nadia. "Oh my God, I'm such a damn mess, I'm so sorry."

"It's fine Val," Nadia said tearfully. "Come on, I have some tissues. Let's get you looking more decent."

It took a while to do that but by then Valkyrie and Nadia could hear the Gardaí had turned up. They went out and Tanith wrapped a gentle arm over her shoulders, which she kept back. Her head stayed high even when she felt bile in her throat.

The Garde, officials and offending girls – who were glaring at her from across the change rooms as she strolled out – as well as the Dead Men all watched her. Random parents, staff and other competitors whispered behind their hands.

Her brothers looked deadlier than she'd ever seen them.

She was pulled into a hug by Snake and instead of an immature joke to make her better, he just held her and muttered in her ear "I love you. Don't worry, we'll sort everything," and she nodded into his shoulder. She pulled away quickly.

It took hours to get through everything. She had to be interviewed at the station and so did the other girls and then their parents, or guardian in Crow's case. Crow decided to press charges after Valkyrie told him she didn't want to be involved at all, and between the girls they were arrested with premeditated assault, hateful language and, for the girls kicking her when she was down, attempted manslaughter – the last two had been kicking at her face, neck and 'genitalia' as the police were referring to it, making it violent enough to be manslaughter. She heard her brothers muttering to each other that it was unlikely to go through though. They'd get community service at best.

Valkyrie had to write out a passage the Gardaí could use in court on her behalf but as she was underage, she did not have to do anything else. She just wanted to pretend this had never happened.

Soon enough it was time to go and, exhausted, Valkyrie sat in one of the waiting seats for her brothers to turn up. Tanith put an arm around her.

"Cheer up," she tried with a half-hearted smile. "I thought you had a date to plan?"

Valkyrie snorted. "Yeah, I think that can wait for now. I need to see Kenspeckle. Like, soon."

"Have you switched it?" Nadia asked. She was referring to the tissue keeping the blood from seeping down her leg.

"I did when I went to the loo, it's stopped bleeding now. They took pictures as evidence," she whispered furiously. "We need to move to a new country."

"We could move to Switzerland?" Nadia suggested. "We could get married and live in the mountains."

"Total seclusion. I like it."

"Guys, come on, you won't ever see these people again," Tanith said. "And if you do, the boys and I will shred them to pieces."

Valkyrie smiled. "Thanks, Tan."

The trip to Kenspeckle's wasn't nice but did let Valkyrie reflect on the situation enough to tell the doctor what happened by herself. No one, due to her spread legs, was in the room with her so she didn't feel too uncomfortable. Civet and Stentor, in a relationship themselves and eavesdropping through the door, were both upset and angry for her, giving her surprise hugs before she left for dinner. They promised they'd poison whoever hurt her and Valkyrie was pretty sure they were serious and Kenspeckle would help them. Hopefully the girls wouldn't die though – might be linked back to Valkyrie. Permanently damaged, on the other hand…

Although it wasn't a date or even that enjoyable really, they did all go out for dinner that night and slept peacefully in their beds. Separately of course. Nadia was staying over as the next day they took a plane to England, specifically London, for the dance competition. Almost as soon as her feet touched English soil that next day, Valkyrie was at the borrowed dance studio with her group and instructor.

Her family had told her she didn't have to continue. No one would begrudge her that. But she insisted. She wanted normality and she desperately wanted to win a second competition to go hand in hand with yesterday's success, such as it was.

"Stephanie," their instructor said when she glided into the room. "Stephanie, I've been told you got yourself into a scrap."

"Yes, Miss Molly," she said, pointing at her face. "I was attacked by some competitors at my swimming competition and my neck is bruised."

And it was – she could use the healing stone on her body, but it would be suspicious on her neck and face, so they'd left that, making her look rather abused. At least she could sit without wincing.

"Dear girl – why did they attack you?" She asked.

"Because I'm in a relationship with a girl," she explained. "Honestly, I think they're all lucky my brothers didn't kill them!"

She laughed a fake laugh and watched her instructor grimace a little. She knew the woman fancied one or two of her brothers, but she was also somewhat homophobic, or at least not comfortable with the idea, and left the conversation there. The woman already didn't like Valkyrie which didn't help. Too much messing around in her free time. Valkyrie ignored it since the woman had still let her on the team when she had found out about her being homosexual near the start of the year.

They practised for the whole day.

Much of the week was spent practising, the others going off and doing more amusing things than watch her repetitively practice the same moves, going so far as to get into a case and solve it while she was at dance. She had been jealous and more than a little peeved and hadn't stopped sulking until Nadia had grabbed her shoulders, pinned her down and kissed the daylights out of her, making her pant, flushed and very, very aroused. The Dead Men and Tanith had laughed at her. The emotions had gotten a little better after that and she'd even secretly teased Nadia, joking that everything still worked down below at least - a dark joke but a positive one for her, and it made her a little better about it all.

The day of the dance was pleasant, and no drama happened, letting Valkyrie do the group performance with ease and then a quick congratulation from their instructor before going through the solo performances swiftly and for the last time. All alone behind the curtain, Valkyrie fixed her hair and bold makeup and her costume. She was lucky to have the part. She hoped she could prove she had it because she was a good dancer and not just to get her instructor in whoever she fancied good books.

She stepped onto the stage, the crowd silent, and got into her starting position on the floor. The music started in a slow, sad song, and she moved with the melody, up and down with the song, angry and sad as the voice sang softly in Irish. The words, translated, were behind her on a projector with a white screen and just her shadow moving across it, deftly placed lights reflecting it beautifully.

She twisted and turned on the ground, 'trying' to get up and when the music switched to the part about inner strength, she threw herself up and put all her heart into the dance, feeling both the words and the music, pushing herself to perform for these people. Falling to her knees at the end, she gazed into the black hole the lights created in place of the crowd and as the music stopped it went up in cheers. She stood slowly, bowed, and exited the stage.

She kept her head down behind the curtain, taken over by the emotion of the song. It had been a tough week for her and the intensity of the practising had left her no time to grieve even if the edges had faded. Dancing her heart out, apparently, did the trick.

They sat as a group for the awarding and their group only won third but as a solo performance, Valkyrie received the second placing and a Scottish girl got first. The feeling of getting so close was wonderful and sad at once but Valkyrie was mostly relieved it was done.

"You did it!" Nadia grinned, gripping Valkyrie in a strong hug when she was let free from the instructor. "I loved your dance."

"Thanks," she said, smiling at the beautiful girl, looking at her full lips. "Can we go back now?"

"Stephanie, sweetheart!" Miss Molly said, coming up behind her. "Darling, you did so wonderfully tonight."

"Thank you, Miss Molly," she said politely. The woman was looking at Wolf openly, but he was chatting up one of the dance mums. Weasel was doing the same, grinning as he tried to win her over before his friend. Or maybe they were chatting each other up, Valkyrie could never tell. "I think we need to get dinner, so I'll see you again."

"Oh, of course," Miss Molly said. "You know, I really need to get dinner myself."

"It's too bad, we're eating in tonight," she said. "Nadia, you ready to go?"

They ran off and pulled Wolf and Weasel away between them. Getting back to their hotel, they all laughed and laid the takeaway out on the dining table.

"-and then, I grabbed the boy by the back of his neck and lifted him – 'What do you think you're doing here?' And the lad wet himself."

They laughed at Snakes story. "You sure you didn't do that part?" Bear said, smirking. They laughed more, and Valkyrie rolled on the floor silently, unable to control the happy tears rolling down her face.

"No! Damn you, I scared the idiot and got my phone back of course. Before it got broken too," he said defensively. "I'm not that bad."

They were silent for a moment before Nadia muttered "Sure," and they were all laughing again.

They still had two days of holiday left. Looking at Nadia laughing, Valkyrie knew how to spend them.

Awwww! They are so loved up. But I still feel bad! I'll make it up to her, don't worry, and I'm writing her getting older and older (at chapter 50 posting this) so I can't wait to play with these two some more ;) Send me a review on how you're thinking it's going, I'd love to hear from you :)