Home
His life had started unremarkable and he had been born a completly normal human,with skin and flesh and unremarkable brown eyes and hair.
Average.
Nobody would have ever said that he somehow stood put, not the eldest child nor the youngest, maybe a littel tall and too skinny for his age, but so were many other boys and girls too.
Back then his home had been with his family in a littel house, with good parents, average and somtimes nice, sometimes annoying and sometimes downright mean siblings.
But that was the way it was.
For all of them the way seemed already destined, not completly, but it seemed sure that they all would stay in this littel village.
A village he too consider home with it's beautiful hills, that were so green and that often were covered with herds off cattles.
It seemed clear that he would learn some kind of job, then marry a woman and start a family, settle down.
And he had never doubted that this was how it was supposed to be and that thus was how it should be.
This was what his life should be, average and simple.
He was fine with that.
That all changed the day the magic came to him, changed when he realised that he could use the air.
After he realised that he had a new purpose, with magic everything seemed suddenly seemed possibly.
At first he could only move the tiniest thinghs like the page of a book, then he could move the book itself with the air.
Only a few days later he learned that when he clicked his fingers, there would be sparks and that he could turn them into a fire.
After one week of magic there were rumours starting about him.
About the witch and hiw his soul was possed by the devil.
,,He is a demon."whispered people to each other bot even bothering to keep their voices down, starring at him, their eyes filled with accusation and fear ,,He sold his soul to do magic."
Parents made sure that their children staid away from him and everyone started changing the side of the street they were walking on to avoid him.
He had no real problem with that and adjusted suprisingly well, as long as he had his magic he didn't cared what people said.
,,You have to go."
With wide eyes he starred up at his older brother looking down on him with sadness, but determination too in his eyes.
,,But this is my home."he replied.
,,Not anymore."replied his brother sadly ,,By tomorrow morning I expect you gone."
It was suprising how fast his home turned into a place he was beeing feared and regarded with looks, that told him they thought he must be a monster.
And it broke his heart to see thses looks on the faces of his family, to see his brothers eyes filled with fear and too see mistrust in his sisters eyes.
His parents quickly turned their heads away as soon as he entered a room, never meeting his eyes.
Never acknowledge him as their son anymore, out of fear.
Without a glance back he left his home behind heading towards the unknown, only knowing he could never com back.
So he changed his name to make sure his past couldn't follow him ir that no one ever would be able to connect him with the wishpers of a demon in the visage he had called his home.
Not long and he met the first mages, they were quite disappointing he realised watching them doing magic, but he never spotted the astonishment in their eyes, he knew that was shining in his, they most have lost it.
But he still desperately wanted to met other mates, wanted to learn from them and learn more, he wanted to posses all the knowledge in the world about magic
that was there.
As soon as he was told that Dublin was a city with many mages he got on his way towards Dublin.
,,What is your name?"asked most of the mages he knew.
,,Skulldugery Pleasant."as soon as he answered recognition flickered trough their eyes and they understood that he was one of them and they instantly relaxed, now that they knew they didn't had to pretend to be normal around him.
His first case of murder was a friend of his, somone who had thought him about the magic he wanted to master.
That was when he discovered his talent as a detective and somehow that set him at ease, knowing that he now could actually do something with all the magic he had.
Now he could track down the bad ones and put them into prison.
And for a long time his job was his new found sense of live and he got a littel arpartemt in Dublin, but it wasn't home.
Sure it was nice, clean and tidy and maybe even a littel homely, but it wasn't home, Dublin itself was still a foreign city and most of the peoples in it were stranger to him.
But then he met Ghastly helping his father in his littel shop and he had his first real friend in Dublin and it helped ease the pain about beeing si far away from home.
A home he still missed even trough he knew he couldn't go back.
,,There is somone I would like you to met.''told Ghastly him one day, bot looking up from his work, sewong and talking at the same time.
,,Who?"asked Skulldugery looking at Ghastly who smiled at him as soon as he asked, as if he was remembering something good.
,,An old friend."he replied.
,,An old friend of yours or a friend who is old?"asked Skulldugery lookimg curiosly at Ghadtly, ge knew by now that magic slowed the aging process down, but he had yet to met one of the really old mages, but he wanted to.
After all some that old surely must have some interesting stories to tell.
,,Both."replied Ghastly anused and finally looked up from his work ,,Ypu will like him."
..............
Ghastly's old friend turned put to be a tall guy, who didn't looked old in the slightest with his black hair and dark, warm eyes that seemed to smile at Skulldugery.
Most confusing trough the man acted young to and had a spring in his step and he even made Skullduggery feel a littel old, wich was really strange because Skulldugery knew he was young, especially for a mage.
,,How old are you even?"asked Skulldugery not even trying to hide the doubt about that question.
Ghastly frowned at him immediately, looking slightly embarrassed.
Skullduggery ignored that and glared at the man with the dark, smiling eyes.
,,Old."answered the man vague and added ,,My name is Hopeless."
,,A strange name."remarked Skulldugery,,is it a name you have taken, because you wanted to be sarcastic or were you really hopeless?"
,,It's just my name."replied Hopeless amused.
,,Ahhh I see now you try to be mysterious."said Skullduggery more to himself then anyone else.
As soon as he had said it Hopeless threw his head back and laughed.
And with that Skulldugery found another friend, and Dublin became more of a home, not yet a home but something close to it.
,,I want you to meet somebody."told Hopeless him weeks later, like Ghastly had said when he arranged their first meeting.
,,Who is it?"asked Skullduggery.
In the next day he let a woman that smiled at him and extended him her hand, she was remarkably smart and with something in her eyes that told Skulldugery she was incredible strong and stubborn.
He fell in love with her more every day he met her and slowly she helped him see Dublin as his new home.
Their daughter was born shortly after they married, a beautiful girl.
The war started three years later.
And Skulldugery went to the war and it was all kind if blurry and fast moving in his memories, like a movie that was to fast to follow it.
In this war he went in his first suicide mission and met all if the dead man, Dexter, Saracen, Erskine, Anton, Ghastly and Hopeless were their too.
Tighter with them he was helping their side winning their war.
But every time Skulldugery sat down for his watch and came to rest he was alone again, missing his family that wasn't were he was.
It felt so weing to leave them abd fight a war while he should be with him, sometimes he wondered if his daughter even would rember him if he would die in his war.
Would he be just something her mother told her in stories about, a man his daughter would never see and now, because he had died so far, far away.
,,Thinking bad thoughts again?"interrupted suddenly a voice his thought and he turned around and watched Hopeless approach.
,,Maybe."replied Skulldugery.
Hopeless sat opposite of him and tilted his head and slowly smiled at him ,,Go to sleep Skull, I will keep watch."
,,It is my turn to watch, I have a duty and I will fulfil it."
,,Let the duty wait till tomorrow."
,,I can't it is my duty."
,,Don't be stubborn Skul, you need sleep, you didn't even heard me approach, just go to sleep."urged Hopeless him.
,,Why don't you go to sleep, you are old you need ot more then me."pointed Skulldugery out.
,,I am not that old."replied Hopeless with a frown.
,,I am pretty sure I am seeing a grey hair on your head."replied Skulldugery with his serious face and leaned forward as if he was looking at said hair.
Immediatly Hopeless raised his hand worried towards his head.
,,You are kidding aren't you?"asked Hopeless.
,,Maybe, maybe not."
,,You can be pain in the ass."
,,Right back at you "
,,Can't you to shut up? Some of us are trying to sleep."yelled Ghastly over at them.
,,You hear that Skul? Shut up and go back to bed."
,,I am still sure you should go back to bed, not me, you need the beauty sleep after all."remarked Skulldugery with a grin.
,,Oh please I am good looking enough."
,,Have you ever looked in a mirror Hopeless, you should do that more often, maybe you wouldn't lie to yourself then anymore and think you have any good looks."
,,Now you're delusional."
,,Am I?
I know it's hard to accept my friend....but I fear it is time for you to acknowledge your defeat and be a sad old single man."
,,Now you're completely overdoing it."
,,I am sorry Hopeless that is just the way it is....."
,,Seriously you two shut the HELL up."snapped Erskine now.
,,Nobody tells me what to do."snapped Hopeless right back.
,,Me neither."added Skulldugery totally unhelpful.
With a frustrated groan Erskine got up and sat next to them on the fire and starred totally angered at them.
,,Enough is enough either you go back to sleep or...."and then he stopped starring at them, crunching his face and trying to think of a good solid threat.
,,Or what?"teased Hopeless amused ,,What will you do Erskine, will you be mean to us?
Will you give us a a could shoulder?"
,,Maybe."gritted Erskine out.
,,I don't think that will shut any of us, indeed I think we will only tak more, wichconsidering that you are trying to shut up, just proves you are totally incapable...."
But Hopeless was quickly silenced when Erskine pressed his mouth on his and moved closer to him and wrapped his arms around the other man.
Skulldugery watched them, his eyes wide and big, he had never thought of that........
And before his completely suprised eyes their kiss turned into something more, then silencing Hopeless when they didn't stopped.
But eventually they had to stopp and when they dud Erskine grinned at Hopeless full of triumph.
,,Who is silent now, hmmm?"asked Erskine with a bright light in his eyes that seemed to turn them into liquid gold.
Hopeless must looked at him his broken eyes wide, like a deer cought in the headlights of a car.
Slowly and carefully Erskine stood up and walked towards his tent, while Hopeless eyes followed him, a few feet from his tent away Erskine stopped and turned around and threw a quick smile over his shoulder towards Hopeless.
,,Are you coming?"asked Erskine abd then nodded towards the tent with a grin.
Without hesitation Hopeless quickly following muttering a quick ,,have fun with your duty."in Skullduggery direction, then he disappears in Erskines tent and Skulldugery wayched them with a smile diaper out of his seight.
,,Unbelievable."complained Saracen the next morning ,,Couldn't you have kept it down?"
,,We stopped talking."muttered Hopeless defensively.
,,I wasn't talking about that part."pointed Saracen out with a frown ,,I was talking about you and Erskine hitting it off."
,,Oh."replied Hopeless and began to blush ,,Well that was......we.....we tried to keep it .....quiet."
,,Sounded more like the opposite of it."complained Saracen.
,,We weren't that loud."protested Hopeless.
,,Had you been any louder, the enemy would have followed the noise and found us."
,,Sure and pigs can fly."
,,I hope he was at least good and made it worth."snapped Saracen.
,,You know I can hear you?"asked Erskine then.
,,Shut up I want to gossip with Hopeless about you."replied Saracen with a grin.
,,You're just jealous because Dexter is still bot realising that you are flirting with him."pointed Hopeless out.
That shit Saracen effectively up and Erskine grinned admiringly at Hopeless.
,,Ahhh honey you are incredible."told Erskine him and Hopeless smiled shyly back.
Watching them made Skulldugerys heart ache, because it reminded him of his family and of his life, it reminded him of what he had left behind for this war.
At the same time it warmed his heart to see these two man find love with each other and with a startle he realised that these six men he was riding with were kind of his home too.
Their laughter and their smiles, the pain they had endured together and the strength it had taken to work through all of that and still come out off it alive, that was home to him.
They were his home now as much as his family was.
Serpine killed his family.
Serpine killed him.
Skulldugery at first couldn't believe it, he just couldn't comprehend how the world could go on without them.
How could the sun still shine, when his daughter would never take another breath.
How could still be laughter and joy in this world, when his wife was dead, buried in some shallow grave or maybe even mot buried at all, but left to rot somewhere were the animals would ripp the flesh of her bones.
How could life go on when they were dead.
How could he be still alive when they weren't?
Why?
How?
I can't do this, he thought.
I can't life without them.....
But he couldn't end it either, not as long as Seroine was still out there, killing people, hurting the Mike he had hurt Skullduggery.
The pain turned into anger, like the tide of the ocean shifts.
It took him a week to track down the dead man, the man that were his brothers and the men he expected him to help him on his mission.
They were useless.
The only thingh they did was slow him down he realised, they couldn't help him and when he looked at them he wondered, how they ever possibly could have been home to him.
It was night when he left them behind, all of them sound asleep, the rage burning inside him and consuming Skullduggery.
And he let it, later the rage fill him and drive him and it took him to the armour he put on to avemflfe his family, instead he became Lord Vile.
It never had been a step he made with purpose, it was a slow process in wich he lost himself.
All of it started with killing one person and with him drinking the death in and finally, finally feeling whole again and at ease.
Finally the pain was gone and all of it was anger, rage.
He loved it.
Slowly he began to kill more people until he met Abyssinia and he admitted her for the way she killed like him, full of range and hate.
In some twisted and evil home she was home for him too, making him feel at ease and torn apart at the same time.
At her side he felt like they could conquer the world toghter, instead they joined Mevolents army and Skullduggery loved it there too.
They let him kill every soldier on the other side, let them drink in all their deaths and fear all of their pain and joy, let him feel that incredible rush of power.
,,We need to kill Mevolent."
Vile could only starr at her, totally confused and somehow Abyssinia sensed his confusion and explained everything carefully and how she would take him down.
But Vile couldn't let that happen, he couldn't let her take over, because with her the war would finish way to fast.
And Skullduggery enjoyed killing more then he ever could love her and killing her was maybe strange but not something he couldn't do.
So he did.
A part of him watched her die and almost regretted it, another part watched and could only think that she had been in the way.
Without her killing wasn't as much fun, but it was enough and he went on and on with it.
The days were filled with killing and sometimes Mevolent sent him along with one of his generals, sometimes he kept him close, so Vile could play a littel bit bodyguard.
One day he was sent again to the battlefield and he started murdering people to his right and left, drinking their death until he turned to his right, watching the dead man approach and sine part of him knew that this was wrong.
Slowly he watched them circle Vangeous, wich he was accompanying today.
His not existing heart ached, when he watched them circled Vangeous and all he wanted was to join them and to go back to them.
All he wanted to do was go home and they had been home once, so surely could be home again.
Then a ugly sound echoed over the battlefield and Vile felt a death flooding though him, filling him and gir a second a familiar memory ran through him.
With a turn of his head he looked over too the twisted and broken body of a man he once called his brother and was now laying there in the mud dead, murder by his colleague.
He left.
Couldn't bear to see the man that Hhastly had introduced him to lying their, with his eyes broken.
He flee, finally realising what he had done.
What he had become......
a monster.
He had been there and he could have done something, anything......
he dud nothing.
And he would regret it for the rest of his sorry existence.
In his ears echoed Hopeless laughter and he heard the man talking in his memories and it was....too much.
He was dead.
Hopeless is dead.
And I am responsible.
I could have saved and I should.....
Instead....
Instead....I watched them....
....drank his death....
And I did nothing.......
Erskine....
He will be devastated....
They need me.
And with that he went back to dead man and they let him come back, they didn't exactly welcomed him back, because they remembered too clearly how he just had least them behind.
And Erskine.....
Erskine was a mess, a broken mess....
And then their was Larrikin, their reserve man and ge filled Hopless place alright but....he wasn't Hopeless.
When Skulldugery closed his eyes (or at least due his Skeleton version of that and turned of his seight ), while they were riding towards their next mission, then he could almost pretend that they were still whole.
But this wasn't home to him anymore, pieces were missing.
There should be Hopeless laughter mixed in the conversation along with his stubborn comments.
And Erskine should be smiling at Hopeless with admiration in his golden eyes, that always shone so bright, when he admired his liver.
But all he saw when he opened his eyes was Erskine grim face and Larrikin, instead of Hopeless.
It was hard for all of them and for Larrikin too, because he could feel their resentment towards him.
But slowly, step by step they could start to pretend that this was how it was supposed to be and that Larrikin always had been there.
Slowly it faded into the background that Hopeless had died.
They never could really forget trough.
Only pretend.
One day Larrikin threw Anton a birthday party and that was when Skulldugery finally could see him for what he was, a friend.
And when he watched Larrikin grin at Anton and when he saw a smile forming on Antons face, he knew they were on the right way again.
Only days later Anton and Larrikin announced their relationship and nobody was suprised, only over Erskines face flickered sadness, but he put on a smile and congratulated them.
Three weeks later Larrikin died.
Nobody talked for a whole day, they couldn't.
It would have made Larrikins death seem permanent, they couldn't do that.
And Skullduggery guilty all over, feeling it should have been him which sacrificed himself for Dexter.
But he hadn't.
He had failed again.
The war was over only a week later with a truce.
Never in his life Skulldugery had hated politics as much as when they announced that Serpine was now free off any guilt.
Free to walk the earth and laugh and smile, while Larrikin was dead.
Centuries later Skullduggery would see Serpine die, but it was too late, way too late, because Larrikin was already dead.
He was too late.
But while he was too late for Larrikin, maybe he had come right in time for the girl.
Gordon's nice who quickly became his partner and at side he found a his place at her side.
He can never forget what happened trough and when he medicates he sometimes hears Larrikns screams echo trough the otherwise silent house and on other nights he can almost hear Hopeless laughter.
Almost.
