Skulduggery – Crow

Anton – Bear

Ghastly – Panda

Dexter – Wolf

Saracen – Weasel

Erskine – Snake

Solomon – Raven

Chapter 72

Valkyrie didn't sleep much that night.

She kept waking from her nightmares, and each time, she'd work herself up until she was crying and felt sick, and fall asleep with tears on her cheeks, only to wake an hour or less later to repeat the painful dream of shooting Fletcher, shooting that innocent man, of Raven being stabbed. Nadia was a constant presence through it all as well. She'd dream of other people. But every time she closed her eyes her thoughts would be about her. Was she safe? Had she been affected? Had she been killed?

She went downstairs at barely six in the morning, giving up on finding any rest, and almost flinched at her own reflection. She was pale with almost black circles under her eyes, her hair flat and nasty looking. Even her clothes, clean, ironed and stored on hangers until moments ago, looked grubby on her because of how awful she looked. She barely had the energy to scowl at herself but she stood there and took that time to make sure she looked at herself with as much hatred and guilt as she felt and deserved.

After a moment to really feel that emotion, she went back to tired and numb and went to the kitchen.

Wolf and Weasel were there.

"Cub," Wolf said with a small smile. He had his arm over Weasel, massaging his shoulder one-handed and had his phone in the other. "You look like shit."

"I feel like shit," she said, looking at the food already on the table. Her stomach clenched with hunger but she only poured herself a glass of water and sat opposite them. "You don't. You never do."

"I know," he sighed. "I am truly cursed."

"You don't have to make jokes for me," she told him.

He lost his smile a little but he still looked at her with the kind eyes of a big, protective, loving brother. Weasel was smiling a little more, so much more genuinely than he did just a handful of years ago and it was lovely to see. His eyes were brighter. A little dimple was on his cheek. Having family around him so often had helped, it seemed, unlike the more erratic visits before. Plus he had Wolf now, again, so she supposed he felt quite good about himself.

"I just want you happy," Wolf said quietly.

She pushed her glass away from her a little and stared at the table. "Is Fletcher dead?"

"No," Weasel said immediately.

"He's in critical condition," Wolf added. "He's had an operation, but he needs another. Kenspeckle had someone else do some of the work to keep him alive while he worked on Solomon. Fletcher gets his second op in a few hours after Kenspeckle gets some sleep."

"How's Solomon?"

"Delicate but stable. Crow's still with him," Wolf said, tapping his phone on the table. "I've got to be honest, I didn't see that coming. He's hated that man since before I met him. I never knew they dated before his wife."

Valkyrie nodded, though she wasn't sure at what bit. She hadn't known for certain, though she had thought it was kind of obvious. "I'm glad he's okay."

"He is. Fletcher will be too, it'll just take a few more hours," Wolf said caringly.

"He'll hate me."

"He won't."

"I think he will. No, I know he will. I shot him. I shot him from barely a few inches away and blew half his chest off. He's going to really, really hate me."

"I mean, I doubt he's going to like you," Wolf said dubiously, "but I don't think he'll hate you. He'll definitely forgive you one day."

"When I'm dead," she muttered, standing up to pour her barely touched water down the sink. "What am I meant to do? I ran rampant around Dublin and then shot two people, one of them dead, without any Remnant at all. How am I meant to do anything? Neither of them did a thing to deserve it. That man was innocent, he didn't need to die."

"Solomon would have been killed," Weasel said quietly behind her.

She kept looking out the window blindly. "But that didn't mean I should have murdered an innocent mortal."

"You can't put one life above another," he said slowly. "Yes, he died, but he was going to kill Solomon. And then Skulduggery would have killed him. You know he would have. And then he'd have killed every other person in that field. He'd have killed every Cleaver. He'd have killed you, and us, probably."

Valkyrie looked out the window and didn't say or think a thing. It sounds a lot like Weasel knew about Lord Vile. Like he knew what it would turn Crow into if he had to see one more loved one torn from under his feet – but she threw that thought away. It was impossible. Even if it was possible, it was a silent knowledge. Never to be said aloud. She wouldn't mention it.

"He was mortal," she said instead.

"He was about to be a murderer, and murdered," Wolf said with an air of finality. "You saved Solomon's life. The Remnant couldn't kill him outright, and you saved the rest of us from dying, just like Saracen told you. You didn't have a choice and it was the right thing to do. I would have done it too. So stop you're moping and get ready, we need to collect Tanith."

"How is Tanith?" She asked quickly, turning around. "Was she left there last night?"

"No, Erskine had the sense of mind to tell us what happened," Wolf said, standing and grabbing his keys and wallet from his space on the side where most of them lined up their valuables as to not lose them. They'd be screwed if a thief got in the house, though that was an unlikely event now. It still didn't seem safe to her. "She wasn't in good shape, but she hasn't been possessed which is good. Or at least, not when she was left in the old building. We reviewed the camera's to make sure, and everything's fine. Honestly though? I don't think she's just sick. I got her out with Ghastly and Erskine, and she looks like hell. She threw up twice in there, once on the way back, and god knows how many times yesterday before that. I don't think she's got a bug anymore."

"Wouldn't the Remnant have made the sickness worse?" Valkyrie asked as she followed him out the house with Weasel. "I mean, she was already pretty sick, maybe it just intensified it? I can't think of anything that could make her that sick."

"There's always something," Weasel said darkly and got in the car.

They didn't have an answer to that, and Weasel drove Gordon's old car – the car anyone was allowed to drive, unlike certain other cars parked lovingly outside their house more often than not – in silence. They got to Kenspeckle's without a problem, but the signs of the 'riots and other drug-induced violence from contaminated water' were clearly evident on the roads and buildings. It was probably time to work out exactly how to kill a Remnant, Valkyrie thought. She wasn't the one to do it. She never wanted to see one again.

"Valkyrie," Stentor greeted tiredly when she and the others got up the steps. "It's good to see you whole for once. I wanted to thank you for giving us the warning. I – I doubt we would have both made it through the attacks. Thank you."

She smiled at him tightly. "It's fine. It's over now."

He nodded quickly. "Yes, yes it is. Come in then, I bet you want to see your sister, right?"

He led them quickly through the ward to a private room Tanith was being kept in while Kenspeckle had Civet, and only Civet, look after her. No one wanted whatever she'd caught to spread to everyone else, after all, and Valkyrie could only agree.

If Valkyrie looked like hell, Tanith was Dead himself.

She looked almost as if she'd lost weight overnight. Her cheeks seemed hollower, her face and even her hair looked pale, her eyes were tired and there were purple bruises under them. She gave them a shaky smile when Valkyrie came in. There was a beautiful bouquet of flowers on her bedside table.

"I like your flowers," Valkyrie said, coming into the room bravely. Civet left through a door to the lab – as to not infect everyone if it was infectious – to do some tests, and their brothers went to see whoever else there was in the hospital still. "They're very blue."

"They are. Ghastly got them for me," she said with surprising strength to her voice. "He just left."

"Has he been here all night?"

"Yeah. He tried thinking up things I could be sick with too, but we haven't worked anything out. I don't think it's just a bug, Val. It feels different, you know? You know when your body knows what's going on? That's how I feel. But I've never felt this feeling before, and I just can't put my finger on it. It's annoying me."

"You'll work it out," Valkyrie said supportively. "I'm sure Kenspeckle will work it out as soon as he's finished with everyone else."

"I'm sure. Have you seen anyone else?"

"No," she said quietly. "I don't know if I want to yet. Solomon will remind me of killing a mortal, and I shot Fletcher from an inch away, so I doubt he wants to see me very much."

Tanith smiled. "I'm sure he'll forgive you. Once the pain goes away."

"I doubt he'll forget this pain quickly."

"Me either. But he will. He thinks the world of you," she assured her. "Could you help me sit up?"

"Sure." She did that, pulling her older sister gently up in her arms to lean back on a few pillows, reaching under the bed for a few more. When she was happy, she sat down. "So what have you ruled out then?"

"It's not a disease, at least not one they can test for," Tanith recited, drinking heavily from her water. "It's also not a bug bite or any other poisoning from the outside. There also isn't any physical clue, so they want to scan me for an internal swelling or infection or cists or something along those lines, but only Kenspeckle can do that and he's a little busy so," she held her water up, "I have to wait."

Valkyrie nodded. "At least they're trying."

"Yeah, Civet's really nice. He's done at least thirty different blood tests I think."

"Is that healthy?"

"He's a doctor, so probably, yeah," she shrugged. "I'm alright anyway. I just keep throwing up. Gave myself a headache."

Valkyrie smiled at her. "Do you want me to get you anything?"

"No, I'm fine. I'll call you if I get anything back."

Valkyrie nodded and went to see if there was anyone else about that she knew. She wasn't sure why she had tried to convince herself everyone would be really busy or asleep. Almost everyone was awake and slowly healing or else slumped on chairs waiting for friends and loved ones to do their healing. But it was better than thinking, wondering who else could be dead.

Crow and some of her brothers were crowded around at the end of the ward and they waved her over.

She went and saw Raven was awake and smiling in his bed, a bandage around his neck but otherwise healthy. He was no less pale than usual and didn't even have the decency to look tired.

She frowned at him. "You're meant to be just out of an op. How come you're so happy?"

"I like treeees," he laughed. "Woosh!"

"Solomon has been put on a few drugs," Crow said calmly.

"Hold my hand," Raven demanded, grabbing Crow's hand. Crow held it. Raven grinned and looked up at Crow with a mix of cheekiness and adoration. "Yay."

"I see," Valkyrie said slowly. "I assume it went well then?"

"It did. Kenspeckle should be awake in three hours or so and then it's Fletcher's turn," Crow informed her. "Valkyrie, I – thank you. Thank you so, so much."

Valkyrie lowered her head. She didn't want to say she didn't want to kill that man or hurt Fletcher, because that was like she regretted trying saving Raven, even if he had been stabbed anyway, and that wasn't wholly true. She wished she hadn't, but would she have changed it? It was hard to say. She just shrugged.

Crow sighed and pulled her in for a one-armed hug, holding her securely and placing a kiss on her head. "I couldn't have lost him," he muttered almost silently to her. "Thank you. Thank you."

She almost cried, but held it in and pulled away to smile at him. "It's fine. All worth it to see this."

"I like blue," Raven smiled at her. "Blue is like yellow."

"Yes," she told him.

"I can't feel like feet. Do I have to get up?"

"I don't think so."

"Good. I don't like blue."

High Raven/Solomon is fun to write! My chapters should start evening out and getting a tad longer soon too, the ones I recently wrote are all three thousand each, so it is coming, just not so quickly. At any rate, I hope you enjoyed this one and feel free to tell me how you think Fletcher should react to Val when he wakes up! :D