The Descendants; The Return of the Unnamed

Shielding one daughter from the other

Valkyrie scratched the dried flakes of blood from her knees as she sobbed in her cell. It had all happened so fast.

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Dexter Vex screamed her name but he was too far away to intercept. Desmond Edgley, however, was right beside Valkyrie and had just enough time to shield one daughter from the other. Valkyrie's shrieks echoed around the cavern as she looked into her Father's eyes, seeing the life drain from them. He managed a smile before dropping to the cave floor into a growing pool of his own blood. Valkyrie's senses went mute and her legs were weak as she fell to her knees. Dexter pulled her away from Desmond's body as the others swore and cursed and panicked around them.

She faintly registered Tanith at her side as she muttered over and over "But we saw it in the vision...this wasn't how he died. I was...bringing him with us...it was meant to save him..." she breathed.

"You may have changed the future by the way he died and when and where, but the universe always comes back into balance." Tanith comforted her.

"No, but Ghastly and Anton, they died but we changed it and they're back. It did nothing to their stupid balance!" Valkyrie shook Tanith off from her shoulder, unable to peel her eyes away from her father's corpse.

"Ghastly and Anton were never meant to die, remember? He was alive in the vision. You changed it so they did die, but it came back into balance by bringing them back." Skulduggery said softly.

Valkyrie's demeanor changed when she looked up to see Alice standing there, face slack, and unfeeling as she watched.

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Valkyrie clenched her fists as anger coursed through her.