Skulduggery – Crow

Anton – Bear

Ghastly – Panda

Dexter – Wolf

Saracen – Weasel

Erskine – Snake

Solomon – Raven

Chapter 81

"How was the scan?" Militsa asked her as they walked to the old staff room after study time once more. Their daily routine. It was nice.

"It was good. Ghastly cried about his beautiful baby and Tanith did too, and I did a little as well, and the doctor laughed at us all and we got to eat all their food and tea. It's such a nice place, honestly, I don't know why all maternity places aren't so pretty, it was so relaxing. I couldn't even hear babies crying but I know there at least a few there, and there was a common room and babysitters to help mums recover and a playroom for any older kids. It was amazing," Valkyrie grinned, a hop in her step. Every time she thought about the baby recently she'd get excited and walk really bouncy. "I'm so excited. Tanith said she wants me to be there when she has the baby."

"Will her mother not be there?" Militsa asked, opening the door for Valkyrie since Valkyrie was carrying her bags for her.

"I guess so but she hasn't told her she's pregnant yet. I just hope she says something before they find out from a rumour or something. I'm sure Tanith knows what she's doing. She's acting like she's super pregnant, always eating, super emotional, always tired, forgetful. She's only three months."

Militsa grinned and shrugged her robe off at the same time as Valkyrie. "Different people act differently for each pregnancy. But it is funny, I suppose."

"I think it is. It's driving Ghastly around the bend," Valkyrie laughed. "So what did you do yesterday while I was out in the open air?"

Militsa's smile went away a little but she held it just in time. She had a sad little look on her face. "It was alright. I just studied and spoke to one of the teachers and went to my room."

"Sounds like there's something else."

Militsa shrugged, flattening the folds of her pleated skirt carefully.

Valkyrie sighed and walked directly in front of her so Militsa's knees were on Valkyrie's shins. "What's up?" She asked. Militsa looked right up at Valkyrie and blushed. Valkyrie put her hands on her hips.

"I, er, I spoke to some other students. They weren't very nice so I went to my room. Don't worry about it though, I can handle it," she said quickly. "Really. Because if you get involved it'll be even harder once you go. I've had this happen since I got here. I don't want it to get worse."

"I don't want it to happen at all."

"Well, neither do I," Militsa said bitterly. "But this is how it is now. And I don't want to make it worse, alright?"

Valkyrie hummed and sat down on her knees and rested her chin on Militsa's leg. She blushed again. "If you say so. But you know I'm always there to start a fight."

Militsa smiled. "I know. Trust me, I always remember."

"I'm glad."

There was a moment where they said nothing, just looking at each other, Valkyrie through her eyelashes up at the older girl, admiring the little strands of hair that were so vibrant she could see the fiery colour in each one. Slowly, Militsa reached out a finger and pushed Valkyrie's own hair out her face behind her ear with a little smile. Before she really thought about it, Valkyrie turned her head and placed a kiss on Militsa's palm.

She didn't move her hand. Valkyrie didn't look at Militsa, she just lay her head in her lap. Moving slowly, Militsa started to stroke Valkyrie's hair. She lay like that for who knows how long, enjoying the feeling of long, thin fingers running through her hair and the soft warmth of Militsa's legs. Eventually, the silence was broken by Militsa.

"I've been thinking about what you said. About not staying at the Temple."

"Yeah?" Valkyrie said softly, enjoying the attention.

"I was thinking I'd go to the Sanctuary and see if they'll get me some work. I thought, maybe, if you helped me..."

Valkyrie sat up to look at her, breaking the wonderful spell she'd been under from the stroking. "You want me to put in a good word for you?"

"Well, kind of," she said nervously. "I just thought they'd listen to you, since your working for them."

Valkyrie smiled. "I can do my best. I'll ask them when I'm done here and get Solomon to tell you what they said."

"Thank you," she grinned, looking relieved. "I've been wanting to ask you all day. I was so nervous at lunch I thought I'd just say it right then, but I didn't want anyone to overhear. And then at dinner, I thought the same thing, and we got to the library and I sat next to you–"

Valkyrie leaned up and captured Militsa's lips in a kiss. It lasted less than a second, barely a peck, before she leant back and smiled. "It's okay."

"Yeah," she whispered and then blushed violently. "Sorry, that was–"

She kissed her again.

.*****.

When it turned five in the morning a few days later, Valkyrie was ready and opened her door quickly to see a smirking Raven with his hand up about to knock.

"You're getting slow," Valkyrie said, walking past him with a smile.

"And you're getting the hang of things," he replied happily.

"Did you see Crow last night?"

"Is it that obvious?" He laughed, a big grin brightening his features.

"Just a little. You look happier after you've seen him," Valkyrie commented. "So what are we doing today?"

His smile lessened and he got serious. They stopped their walk to talk. "Cleric Craven came to the High Priest last night and informed him he believes a girl in your class, St Clair, is the Death Bringer."

"Melancholia St. Clair?" Valkyrie asked dubiously. "That pipsqueak is the most annoying, easy to anger girl I know. And I've fought her before and won by a million miles and with a thousand times more power. There is no way she could be the oh so amazing Death Bringer."

"That's what I thought. But he's begun raving about her and got the High Priest to make her his apprentice. He wants the two of you to fight again. This morning."

Valkyrie gave him a look. "How bad am I allowed to hurt her?"

"Just a little."

"Rubbish," she muttered and kept walking, this time to the sparring room.

Down there was indeed Craven, standing as if to say to the world 'I am the best and the rest of you can rot for all I care.' She doubted that was far from how they felt about her and Raven, but she wondered how Melancholia was feeling about them all considering her hood was hiding her whole face and she was standing straight but didn't have her shoulders back the way Craven did. Maybe she was nervous? She swore in her head when she realised how close Raven and Craven's names were. Then she wondered if she could maybe throw her classmate into Craven and take them both out. That would make life easier.

"Miss Cain," Craven said slowly as they came up as if he'd turned to royalty overnight. "Has your Mentor explained the reason for this test?"

"You want to see if Melancholia is still weak after you told her some bullshit, yeah," she said, dropping her books and robe to the floor. "Luckily, I'm always dressed prepared to fight."

She threw her top off, leaving her in her trainers, thick leggings and a sports bra suited to the fight she was about to get into. It was funny because it was the first time she chose to wear something so completely not allowed and it worked out so very well.

Craven looked down at her from his nose. "I see. I feel obliged to tell you that Melancholia has improved significantly over the last few days, and as her Surge approaches, her strength is becoming more and more obvious. Are you sure you're up for the challenge?"

"Get over here, St. Clair," she grinned, standing on the other side of the room with a big grin. Craven's lips tightened and he used a finger and thumb to pull Melancholia's hood down. She didn't look happy. Actually, she didn't look anything. She was blank and didn't react at all to Valkyrie. That didn't seem right, she thought, right before Melancholia sent a thick wall of shadows at her.

She ducked and rolled to her feet, throwing shadows in Melancholia's face to obscure her vision before sending shadows at her knees. Valkyrie grinned somewhat meanly when Melancholia fell on her face. That faded as she had to watch the girl very, very slowly raise herself to her knees and then to her feet. She looked so pale.

"Something's wrong," Valkyrie muttered, looking closely at the girl. She glanced at Wreath and he looked equally concerned but Craven was just smirking, watching Melancholia with big eyes. It made the hairs on Valkyrie's whole body stand on end. What was going on? Why was Melancholia just doing what she was told? She'd never acted like that before.

Despite her obvious issues, Melancholia did seem to have great control over her magic as she sent another wall of shadows at her, this time lower and higher, more solid and certainly unavoidable. Valkyrie was slammed into the wall on the other side of the massive room.

She felt her vision go when she hit her head and her body lost all feeling. She hit the floor a moment later.

It took some time for her senses to come back to her, and she was able to move her head before anything else. How had she been taken out of the fight so quickly? She watched Craven and Raven shout about something, probably her, and Melancholia slowly walking over to her. She looked so slow. Her hood was up again but the skin she could see was pale as death. Her eyes were half closed and she had almost black bags under her eyes, her lips were nearly blue, and there were little cuts on her face and neck up close. She had obviously been hurt, but Valkyrie wasn't sure how or why or even if it was Craven who did it or if Craven was just using her new powers with no regard to Melancholia's health. She needed answers.

Valkyrie picked herself up just as Melancholia came up to her but she didn't stop walking, and it surprised Valkyrie when the girl was pressed up against her and wasn't moving. At first, Valkyrie figured it was something wrong with her brain, thinking she was close to Valkyrie and she just couldn't see or feel how close Valkyrie was. But then she felt Melancholia's hand reach her hand and wrap around her index finger like a small child, and she knew there was something seriously wrong with Melancholia more so than just her injuries and lack so sleep. Something mental was going on. She was hardly a doctor, but the normally quick to anger, annoying girl was not herself in any way.

She looked over at their Mentor's and saw they were both still wrapped up in arguing with shadows wrapping around them as if they were both ready to lash out so she'd have an opportunity to help Melancholia at least. She wrapped her arms around her and, scrunching her eyes, thought of where she wanted to go, feeling the cold of the shadows wrap around them and take them away.

It took a long time before they reappeared in her room as she was not an experienced shadow walker, and Melancholia had her eyes shut and her body swayed, but they were there and had at least a few minutes before they would have to worry.

"Melancholia?" Valkyrie asked, holding the girl's shoulders. "Melancholia, can you hear me?"

She didn't say anything or react in any way.

"Oh God," Valkyrie whispered, looking at the girls face. She couldn't imagine what trauma she could have gone through to switch her personality out so quickly. She needed to work out what to do. She needed help.

Without Raven around, she knew only one other viable option.

It was about to turn six in the morning, so Valkyrie quickly donned her other robe and helped Melancholia lie on her bed to rest. She locked the door, knowing she was really risking the girl being found, but not daring to take her along. The student rooms were not all together as there were so many, but Valkyrie knew vaguely where Militsa's room was. She sprinted down the hall, nearly knocking into someone, and down the correct area the room was in.

"Thank God," she breathed, when she saw Militsa's long, red hair halfway down the hall. Militsa spotted her and started to smile before frowning in concern. Valkyrie sprinted to her. "Quickly," she said, grabbing Militsa's hand.

"What's going–"

"Not now!" She snapped harshly, and they walked quickly back to Valkyrie's room. She unlocked the door and Melancholia was still on the bed, now with her eyes open and staring blankly at the wall. She pulled the girl into a sitting position, her head lolling.

"Valkyrie, what's going on?" Militsa asked nervously.

"Cleric Craven was telling everyone last night that Melancholia is the Death Bringer and wanted me to fight her because last time we did, I won. Solomon agreed, because I'm more advanced at combat than Melancholia and Craven's talking absolute bullshit, and we got there and Melancholia was looking like this. She hasn't said a thing all morning," Valkyrie explained. "Look, she's got all this cuts, and her hair looks chopped."

Militsa came over to the bed and pulled Melancholia's hood down, showing clearly that the hair had been chopped, badly, and was also greasy and unbrushed. Her face was even paler in the horrible lighting, and Valkyrie unclipped the robe to show she was in a black t-shirt that let them see the many, many little wounds on her arms and neck.

"Someone did this to her," Valkyrie muttered. She noticed a darker patch on her shirt and swore before gently lifting the girls top. "She has a massive open wound. We need to take her to a medic."

"Where?" Militsa asked with panic in her voice. "If - If Cleric Craven did this to her, we can't let him get to her."

"I know," she said, wrapping the robe back around Melancholia. She found herself a new top and shoved it in a bag for later - she hadn't planned on taking off her robe that day and had planned on the scars acting as shock factor but not for Militsa - and shoved her phone and purse in there too. "Are you coming with me?"

Militsa bit her lip. "I don't know Valkyrie," she started.

"Just stop them from stopping me alright?" Valkyrie said as she picked Melancholia up. "We need to go before she dies."

Militsa looked pale but nodded and they left the room. People were starting to mill about, making it difficult to get places and to stay unnoticed. After just a few minutes of trying, she swore in Militsa's ear and started running down the halls with her not-girlfriend on her heals right up to the front entrance.

"Hey!" A man said, rushing up to them and holding a hand out. "You can't leave here! You need a pass!"

"I'm leaving," Valkyrie growled out.

"Where's your pass?"

"I don't have one. This girl's going to die if I don't leave and get her medical attention. You stopping us could cost her life. Do you want to be responsible for that?" Valkyrie asked him.

"No," he hesistated. "But you can't–"

Shadows suddenly hit him from behind and he fell forward with a thud and didn't get up. Militsa smiled at her. "Saving people is kind of violent," she said quietly.

"Yeah, it can be. Do you want to come?"

Militsa bit her lip again.

"I need to know now, Mil, I have to go."

She blushed at the name and nodded quickly. "I'll come."

"Good. Now lose the cape."

I was getting bored of the Temple, not going to lie. And isn't this more fun? I think so ;)

More baby names and ideas are appreciated! No one has even asked my plan on what genetics the baby will get from the parents, or suggested anything fun to do before they come! I'm shaking my head at you all.