A Reflection: A Skulduggery Pleasant Fanfiction

A Reflection

Stephanie Edgley missed her bedroom. She missed the familiar sloped ceiling, and the old creaky floorboards. She even missed the loose spring in her bed that threatened to jab her in the back if she rolled the wrong way in bed. There wasn't anything particularly special about any of these things, or indeed, about anything else in her bedroom. She simply missed them because they were hers. True, they hadn't always been hers, once they'd belonged to a girl called Valkyrie Cain. But as far as Stephanie was concerned Valkyrie had given up the right to them, and everything else that was now Stephanie's, when she'd chosen a life of magic over a life with her family.

The bedroom she was sitting in right now wasn't hers. Her bedroom was homely, this bedroom wasn't. It had been designed with luxury in mind, and no expense had been spared when it had been built. There were silk sheets, velvet wall-hangings and a set of intricately carved sandalwood furniture. This bedroom screamed extravagance. It was also a tip. Stephanie's bedroom was neat and tidy. This bedroom had dirty laundry strewn about, sweet wrappers littering the floor, and even a half-drunken mug of tea going moldy on the windowsill. This bedroom belonged to Valkyrie Cain. It may have been in Skulduggery Pleasant's house, but he had designed if for her, and she had gladly made it her home. Until she'd let herself be taken over by an evil super-villain destined to destroy the world, that was. And now Stephanie was stuck sleeping on a bed that was too soft and sheets that were too cold. Because somebody had to stop Darquesse, and she didn't trust anyone to do it for her.

She'd told her folks she needed time away from home to 'find herself' which couldn't be further from the truth. She knew who she was. She was Stephanie Edgley. An eighteen year old girl who graduated top of her class. Who had great friends, a wonderful family, and a nice safe ordinary life she loved. She was exactly who she wanted to be. But to protect that life she needed to stop Darquesse. And her best chance of doing that was by teaming up with Skulduggery. Which meant long periods away from home and lying to her family about her whereabouts.

Stephanie finished pulling on her boots - or rather Valkyrie's boots - and headed out of the bedroom. She'd crashed here after a late night hunting down a sensitive who was rumored to know the whereabouts of Darquesse. It had taken four days to find him and ten minutes to expose him as a fraud. The discovery had left both her and Skulduggery in a sour mood. Another useless lead, another fruitless mission. She wasn't looking forward to the curt words and brusque looks that he'd doubtless give her while they headed off to the next one. It was like that every time they ran into a dead end. And the longer this went on disgruntled and desperate he became.

The wooden staircase chirred underneath her footsteps as she made her way downstairs. The sounds of a heated conversation rose up to greet her. Skulduggery had company. He hadn't warned her there were people coming over. Hadn't bothered to wake her either. And why would he? At best he thought of her as a cheap imitation standing in for his partner. At worse she was an inhuman thing that had tried to kill he best friend, undeserving of his time or respect.

"-and what about when you do find her? What then? Can we trust you to do what needs to be done?"

Stephanie paused halfway down the steps, recognizing Dexter Vex's voice at once. It was coming from behind a closed door at the bottom of the stairs, one of the many living room's in Skulduggery's house.

"I think what Dexter's means to say is that he... we are worried that your feelings for Valkyrie are clouding your judgment. We need to know that when you do find Darquesse you'll do whatever it takes to stop her."

Saracen Rue's voice was more level than Vex's but she could sense the tension lingering just below the surface. She'd heard this argument before, a dozen times over, and it never ended well. Both men were worried that when push came to shove, Skulduggery would be unwilling to harm his former partner. They wanted assurance that this was not the case. In her opinion they were right to worry.