Skulduggery Pleasant - Becoming Whole (Valduggery)

9

The Nightmare on Cemetery Road

Night after night after horrid night, Valkyrie had felt Hallows presence in her sleep despite her attempts to stay awake. Skulduggery had laid in her bed next to her, comforting and talking to her until slumber claimed her and the nightmare began almost immediately after. From there Skulduggery would become helpless as his heart broke, like it always did, whilst he watched the torment unfold before him.

Day after day after tedious day, Valkyrie had been left alone waiting for Skulduggery who went about trying to stop Hallow. She had helped for the first half a week, but her sleep deprivation and lack of energy had caused her to pass out during a fight so Skulduggery deemed it unsafe for her to continue helping him any further. And as the days turned into weeks Valkyrie felt as though her brain was going to explode at any given moment. Her eyes were blood shot and dark circles laid beneath them, her face was washed of all its colour leaving behind a grey tone as if she had just died.
Not only did she feel physically ill, but mentally she was exhausted. Within the first two weeks she had began hallucinating, at first she thought she had seen Stephanie, her dead reflection, then she saw Ghastly Bespoke and her Uncle Gordon, who too are deceased. Once Skulduggery had found her talking to herself he rushed her to Synecdoche for any help he could get, yet he was more than disappointed to hear she could do nothing and was left with the task of visiting the Sanctuary's medical bay. After he had spoken to Chiasmus and Epistrophe (who he called Clarabella two), he was told that Hallow's magic was too strong and the sigil China had carved on him couldn't be reversed without Hallow's own doing.

Valkyrie was alone at Skulduggery Pleasant's house on Cemetery Road. She was sat on the settee in her dressing gown staring at the blank TV screen. It was two o'clock in the afternoon but Valkyrie was almost certain the clock had been unchanging for the past three hours, or was it just her tiredness making the day drag? Still, she hoped Skulduggery wouldn't be long so she had someone to talk to other than her hallucinations. Valkyrie hadn't seen her family for months despite her mothers texts and phone calls since she was in no fit state to see them, no matter how much she wished she could.

"Wow, you look horrible." Kes said from behind her. "What happened to you?"

Valkyrie batted her eyes over to where Kes, previously known as Darquesse, stood. "It's a long story." Valkyrie willed herself to talk through her tiredness.

"Well, I have no where to be." Kes sat on the settee next to Valkyrie in the living room, waiting for her to explain. And she did, to the best of her ability as she stared at the person before her who looked like a mirror image of herself. Kes nodded and gave input when she felt she needed to, to which Valkyrie was grateful. She was just glad to be able to talk to someone who wasn't a part of her imagination.

"So, sounds like you need help then."

"There's nothing you can do. No magic can undo the power he has over me." Valkyrie said through a yawn. "The only person who can is Hallow himself."

"Well then why don't we find him and make him reverse it?" Kes almost shouted.

"Skulduggery is out there doing that now. That's all he's been doing for the past few weeks." Valkyrie reassured Kes.

"And you've been living here?"

"Yep."

"By yourself?"

"No, no. Skulduggery will be back soon. Besides, I have Xena and the other unnamed dog to keep me company." She looked at the two dogs who lay sleeping on their beds before sighing and burying her head in her hands. "But I'm fine. I have Skulduggery's films I guess." She motioned to the stack of DVD's.