skull on fire: A skulduggery pleasant/ hunger games crossover fanfic

Chapter Six: Beautiful

Chapter Six: Beautiful

Me and Clarrabelle leave the dressing room. I see Skulduggery standing in the corner. He is dressed in a black suit with red and blue wires coming out of the collar. I suppose they must glow in the same way as mine but Clarabelle tells me that they are switched off to save electricity.

Sculduggery looks amazing in his suit. With the wires lighted up, the glow highlights his sharp jawbone and the shirt and jacket are designed in such a way that you can hardly tell he doesn't have a body.

Soon Skulduggery stops admiring the racks of clothing in the room and turns to see me and Clarabelle watching him, his eyes flicker over my outfit and he gasps. "You look beautiful!," He gushes, "So, so beautiful."

"Thanks," I murmur, nervously, as I stare down at my feet. "You don't look so bad yourself."

"Why thank you m'dear." Replies Skulduggery, startled. Personally I'm still not sure about these shoes, but..." he trails off and gestures towards Ghastly.

"I am your stylist you know. I think I know which shoes go with which outfit." interjects Ghastly and I nod.

"I personally see nothing wrong at all with those shoes. In fact, I don't think I could find a better pair for that suit myself. Not that I know anything at all about shoes or fashion but.." I say, firmly.

"Oh, so now your implying that I don't know about fashion are you?" says Skulduggery, sassily. "Ill have you know that I... know absolutely nothing about fashion," he finishes, lowering his head in defeat. Hah! who's more intelligent now eh, mister!

Clarabelle steps in and tells me and Skulduggery that, if we are happy with our outfits, she will give us the tour of the building.

A few minuets later, me and Skulduggery are both standing there in our normal clothes (jeans and a black tee for me and a crisp suit for skulduggery). Clarabelle asks us where we would like to see first and I mention how much I would like to see the training rooms.

As we walk across the building, I notice how silent Skulduggery has been for the last few minutes. I wonder what is wrong but I decide that I will ask him later, when Clarabelle isn't with us.
Clarabelle shows us the training room and tells us that, while we are allowed to train there as much as we like, we must inform one of the training instructors before we begin. I wonder if anyone has ever got in a fight with another tribute or something and that is why there has to be a supervisor around.

Clarabelle then tells us that there is mandatory training every day from 1 to 4 and that all the tributes have to attend, starting tomorrow of course.
Clarabelle asks us where we would like to go next, but I am beginning to feel tired and hungry so I ask if we can go somewhere to eat before having an early night. We walk along a narrow aisle lined with strange plants growing up the walls and across the ceiling. Clarabelle points out a small glass elevator and tells us that it is the way up to the roof. In a whisper, she also tells us that the roof is the only place in the building without surveillance cameras and mics. I decide that I will check it out later.

Soon we arrive in a large, luxurious dining room, with rows of buffet tables down the sides and a large table with a silky blue tablecloth in the middle. An avox gestures to the tables and Clarabelle tells us to serve ourselves. I chose a lot of food as I know calories will be hard to come across in the arena.

As I finish my hot chocolate (this stuff is addictive!) Skulduggery and Clarabelle begin to talk. Skulduggery asks Clarabelle how me and her became friends and she tells him the whole story.

It was winter, seven years ago. I had just turned nine. I was skipping along happily. My mother had told me to go and play in the snow and I was planning to do just that. At least that was until i spotted a small girl, who looked a little younger than me, sitting in the snow. I began to walk towards her, planning to say hi, then i noticed the sound of soft sobs and saw her shoulders shaking. She was crying.

As a young child, my first reaction should have been to turn around and tiptoe out of there. To leave her to her tears and not get involved. But I knew how it felt to be lonely, to be shunned and ignored by your peers, to be bullied and taunted. I knew how it felt to be crying so hard but to be completely ignored by everyone you loved. I knew how she felt. And that's why I walked over and sat next to her. That's why I put a hand on her shoulder gently and said softly "You're going to catch a cold if you stay sitting here."

The girl raised her head and sniffled. Then she smiled sadly and said, "You sound like my mom. She's always telling me not to go out in the snow. She says ill catch my death."
I giggled, but then I frowned. "thats weird, my moms always telling me to go play outside. She just wants me out of the house really though. I'm always making a huge mess."

We were silent for a moment then I realised something, "If your moms always telling you not to go out in the snow, why are you here now?"
The girl looked surprised for a second then replied, "My mom is in the Capitol at the moment, she is a make up artist and she has just been offered a job in one of the big labels. She left me here."
"On your own?" I gasped. I could never imagine being left in my house by myself.

"One of my neighbours checks in on me from time to time but..."
"Is that why you were crying?"
"Oh, well.. not really.. you see, I was walking and.. I slipped on the ice. My dress ripped. This is the only dress my mom would let me design for myself and now it's ripped... She might never let me design again!" She began to sob again and I pulled her closer as I had a brainwave. "My mother has a sewing machine! We could fix it! Your mom would never know it even ripped!"

A glow of hope spread across her face as she realised what I was suggesting. "You'd do that for me?" she asked, surprised.
"Of course I would" I replied, "but can you tell me your name?"
"Oh, of course, I'm Clarabelle!" she said happily, stretching out her hand to shake.
"And you can call me Val!" I said, firmly, shaking her hand. This could turn out to be an incredible friendship.

"And it did," Clarabelle continue, "And when Valkyries mother died of cancer, our friendship became more important than ever. We worked in a bakery for a while, selling pastries, and then I got a job in the Capitol designing clothes. I managed to work my way up the chain and now I am stylist for the tributes, as well as owning my own label. It really is amazing work, especially for a sixteen year old!"

"Wow," murmurs Skulduggery, "You two sure have been through a lot."

"Yeah," says Clarabelle, sadly. Then she notices my empty plate and her face clears. "You must both be feeling tired. You know where your rooms are right?"

"Yeah," I say with a yawn. "We should crash. Were gonna need plenty of energy for the Arena."

My mention of the games makes everyone go quiet. It seems far too easy to forget about the whole thing and just joke around.

................

I lie in bed, suddenly restless. Although I know I'm tired and need rest, sleep just seems impossible for me at the moment. I slide out of bed and pull a black top and a pair of jeans over my PJs. I need to get some air.
I walk down the weird corridor of plants until I reach the elevator. I am surprised to see Skulduggery walking towards me, from the direction of the kitchen. He walks up beside me and presses the button for the elevator. It is a moment before either of us speaks.

"Couldn't sleep?" asks Skulduggery as the lift comes pinging down.

"No. You?"

"You know I don't sleep. I meditate."

"Couldn't meditate?"

"Nah." skulduggery replies, putting his arm around my shoulder.

We step into the lift and skulduggery presses the button for the top floor. I watch the floors flying past as we travel upwards. When I turn my head to look at Skulduggery, he seems lost in thought. I wonder what is wrong. He seems so distant.

A/N: I hope you liked this chapter. The whole sort of flashback thing was a friend of mine's idea, and I think it really worked! Please vote and Comment if you liked it and ill see you in the next chapter:)

<3