Random Skulduggery Pleasant Nonsense

The Tale of the General and the... Worm

 Athena_Danger said that she wanted me to write a Vile x Darquesse, and that's what this chapter was going to be, but then I had no ideas but I had the start which I liked. Picture above 'regretfully scribbled' by Ali and the writing around it is the possible names that we brainstormed- she was determined to make it a name from classic literature. So enjoy, or don't. Up to you.

T/W-  blood, worm, skull, sharp shadows, injuries, Nefarian Serpine.

Vile didn't know what  it was.

So he poked it.

He poked it with a shadow, the tip grazing the weird, jelly-like thing that was on the ground. It moved, and Vile jumped back, watching it slither and worm it's way an inch across the ground. Oh. It was a worm. 

He gently touched it with the shadow again, waiting for it to move on, but it just sat there. Red was pooling out of it- he had hurt it. For some reason, he never felt bad about killing the millions of people he did, but hurting this worm- he felt bad. Scooping it up onto the shadow, he dropped it in his hand, and tucked it into his helmet, keeping it safe. He really was going insane.

Getting up from the crouched position he was in, making sure the worm didn't fall out of the headpiece, he strode towards the door of the tiny room he was in. What would he call it? Hm. Had to relate to classic literature. BASIL! From the Picture of Dorian Gray! Basil also fit the worm- Vile thought while scratching his helmet, only succeeding in banging it, before remembering that Basil was in there. Did it like eating basil? Uh oh- that would be interesting. 

He strode out the door, greeted by the silence of an awkward meeting between Serpine and Baron Vengeous. They were fidgeting, looking around and not paying attention, so it wasn't much of a meeting.

Vile grunted, and they jumped,shooting him dark looks before following him as he walked out of that room too. Vile grunted again, in annoyance and made shooing motions with his hands. Why did they follow him? Idiots.

He waited until they stopped following him, and reached into his helmet, pulling Basil out and stroking him softly with an armoured finger. Vile held the creature tenderly in his hand, and strode off to find  something for it to eat. Something that wasn't his armour he thought, watching, fascinated, as Basil happily clamped his tiny, gummy mouth around a wrinkle in his glove. Fascinated wasn't the word Vile would use to describe his mood, actually. Endearing. It was more like a fatherly feeling- almost like how he had felt towards his son. 

Before Serpine had killed him.

Vile was determined to protect Basil this time around- he would take care of the small worm that was trying to eat his glove at any cost. He held the little thing above his head, peering at it to get a closer look-
When a freaking dagger came out of nowhere-

Right through Basil's fragile little body.

Lord Vile stood for a second, shocked, and dreading what was inevitably going to happen to his miniscule friend, on the floor, cut, and pinned under the weight of the dagger. He shook himself out of these feelings and ran to Basil, pushing away the dagger and cradling the almost lifeless body in his pam.

The general turned, and reached for the discarded dagger, gently nestling Basil in his skull. Snatching it up, he turned back to the building, and faced the person who threw the dagger.

Surprise, surprise, it was Nefarian Serpine, with a frustratingly smug smirk lazing around on his satisfied face. Vile pointed the dagger at Serpine, and he was engulfed in shadows, bound and unable to move his scarlet  hand, with the deadly darkness slashing across his limbs, and wiping that infuriating expression off his face.

The Lord of Vile-ness turned around, leaving Serpine tied on the floor, and took Basil out of his skull, taking in the almost-dead body. He walked around, looking for the safest spot, where no-one could see him, for what he was about to do was going to be life changing for anyone who saw him. In a way.

He found a nice bush, and brushed past it. He found a lovely tree, and accidentally ran into it, careful to hold Basil out of harm's way. He walked into a random cave that just so happened to be there, and sat down. He gently sat Basil down on the floor, the cold hard stone making the worm look even more infinitesimal then it already was. 

An idea slowly dawned on Vile. It would mean he would never exist again as him. He would have to give up the item that gave him unimaginable power, for this worm's life. He knew he'd do it, for whatever ridiculous reason.

He went into a cave (That just so happened to be there) and cradled Basil in his arms. Slowly putting him on the floor, Vile breathed in, and out. He felt the air rush through his skull, and the shadows surrounding him dissipated at the same time. He concentrated- he'd never done this before. He directed every shadow in the cave into a wiggly line right above Basil. Lastly, he let his armour join the collection, all his necromancer power on that one shadow. He slowly lowered it, and it sunk into the worm, and he hoped that all the power of death would bring this creature back to life. 

Basil wiggled. Skulduggery almost cried in relief (or he would have if he could cry) and scooped the little worm into his hands. It latched it's gums onto his little finger-bone, and skulduggery walked out of the cave, grabbing a leaf and laying it on his palm next to Basil. 

"Hey, little guy." Skulduggery hummed, and walked off, leaving Serpine, Mevolent, Baron Vengeous, and went to join his friends with his worm- It was time to return to the Dead Men.

Kinda ended this in a rushed way- eh. :) This was kinda fun to write, so yay? Anyway-

Sorry for taking so long to publish another chapter😪

-Me