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skulduggery-pleasant-bp9 · 1 year ago

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Part 7 – A small visit

WARNING!: Mention of suicide, Mention of homeless child, Mentally unhealthy and emotionally unstable Reader, Cursing, mention of murder/killing, AND MORE ! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED !!!

Read THIS to understand why the reader has a name !

Erskin didn’t lie, when he said he was probably not ready to face Skulduggery yet, but he HAD to make sure he is okay. It was an urge that he couldn’t turn off.

He stood in front of Skulduggery’s front door and knocked. He took a deep breath as he waited for him to answer. He was there, his Bentley stood in its usual place, so he was here.

The front door clicked and soon opened. Out looked Skulduggery without a façade.

“Erskin ? What are you doing here ?”, he asked with a hollow voice.

Erskin winced in his mind. He was emotionally and mentally drained from that information.

“Valkyrie told me that China had a part in...you know... I thought I better check on you, to make sure you are as okay as you can be at the moment. She is worried about you. You didn’t talk to her for two days now.”, Erskin explained softly.

In his head started a small panic attack and his heart started to beat a bit quicker than it should. He knew it was a bad idea, but he HAD to help Skulduggery. He helped Erskin so much when he was a child, now it’s his turn to help.

Skulduggery just stood there, not saying anything.

“Do you want to come in for a little bit, before you go back to the Hotel ?”, the skeleton detective then asked.

Erskin swallowed the lump in his throat and controlled his panic attack.

“Sure. If you want me to stay for a bit.”, he replied.

Skulduggery opened the door wider, stepping aside too, for him to enter and Erskin did enter. Skulduggery closed the door and Erskin took off his shoes.

“Do Anton and Ghastly know that you are here ?”, he asked.

“No. They don’t know that I left at all. I will get a scolding when I return, but meh. It’s not like they will kill me.”

Skulduggery nodded softly.

“Do you...want me to use the façade, so you can read my emotions ?”, he asked.

Erskin was shocked at that question. Skulduggery never asked him if he should. There was definitely something going on with him...

“No, you don’t have to. I can use my vision. I bet Valkyrie told you about that small trait that I told her. I CAN see souls. I can use my vision to read your emotions.”

“How would that even work ?”

“Well, it’s complicated to explain, but in short, when I see souls, I see their bodies and faces. You may be just a skeleton to the living eye, but if I use my vision, I see a transparent version of you, like you still look alive. I know I am horrible in explaining stuff... But it is the best I can explain it to someone...”, Erskin mumbled embarrassed.

“I get the image... You can control your vision ?”

“I can now since...I went to the Temple of Necromancers. When I learned Necromancy, I learned how to control my vision. How to turn it off and on by will. I just rarely do it nowadays. It feels like invading privacy.”

“You can use it on me anytime, Erskin. You don’t need my permission for that.”

Alright, WHAT happened to Skulduggery Pleasant ? This is so out of character for him. Erskin grew nervous and scared of what he will see if he uses his vision ability now. But...Skulduggery sounded so empty and sad...

“O-okay... Been a while so I’m a bit nervous. Haha !”, Erskin chuckled nervously.

Then he activated his vision sight and saw Skulduggery’s transparent soul looking down at the floor. His soul color was orange and you could barely make out his hair was once brown and his eyes forest green. The clothes he wore on the skeleton are also on his soul version and his hair was middle long and tied to a ponytail, slightly curly too, like soft waves.

He looked sad and ashamed. Erskin grew worried.

“What happened ? Are you that surprised about China ?”, he asked.

Skulduggery sighed and his eyes moved up to look at him.

“I didn’t expect her to...have done that to my family, nor did I expect that she was there when it all happened.”

Erskin froze up.

“She .... W h a t ?”

A sad smile from Skulduggery.

“You heard me the first time.”

“Where is she ? I will kill her myself.”, Erskin said darkly.

Skulduggery shook his head.

“Not important. I just...can’t process this information as good as I should. My family has been dead for a while now. It...shouldn’t matter anymore.”

“I know why it still matters to you. You loved your family very much, you were emotionally very attached to them, you cherished your wife and Son, your Son made your worst days to the best ones....They loved you very much too. Because of all of that, you, without knowing, became possessive and overprotective. Someone looked at them the wrong way or in a way you didn’t like, you made it instantly clear they were yours. But when the war happened, you couldn’t be there for them. You let them out of your sight for a second and they got snatched away and killed in front of you. And you couldn’t do anything about it.”

Skulduggery turned his head to his right and looked away. His soul face screwed up in phantom pain. It still hurt him to talk about it. Erskin frowned, but he had to say it, to make him understand why it still mattered.

“It still hurts you to talk about them and what happened, BECAUSE you are still attached to them, but not just emotionally now. You are attached to them mentally too now. After your unfortunate end...you watched everything go to shit and came back. You came back with rage and anger, yes, but also because of your family. The only downside was that, because your family was no more around and you went through a difficult phase, you had no one to help and support you, to stay on the right path. You stopped caring, because it finally sunk in that you don’t have a family anymore. It destroyed you mentally and numbed you emotionally for a long while. It took me YEARS to understand why you ignored and avoided me so much. It was the only conclusion I could find.”

‘Yet you still had many panic attacks and breakdowns...’, Skulduggery thought saddened.

“You didn’t know how to handle that. You tried to, but as soon as someone mentioned your family, you were ready to kill them. So they became a taboo to talk about. But...you can’t heal, when you don’t talk about it.”

Skulduggery looked at him again, with sad eyes. They looked like they were crying. Maybe he actually was crying, his soul form looked pained, it would make sense. Erskin came closer and took Skulduggery’s gloved hands in his own and looked at him.

“I understand that it is hard to talk about something that scarred you in every way imaginable. I don’t...understand your pain as good as Ghastly...I didn’t had many people that loved me in my family by blood, but I can relate a little bit. When you died...I was ready to die too. I guess you must have felt that way slightly too, when they left. But, life goes on and so do they with us. Yes, your wife and Son aren’t here physically anymore, but they live on with us. You don’t have to forget them, nor is anyone expecting you to not care about them anymore, but you really need to start to open up again.”

Skulduggery stared at their hands and listened closely. He never heard so much wisdom from Erskin.... So much wisdom that he himself doesn’t use.

“I don’t expect you to go to a therapist, nor that you talk with a sensitive, but Skulduggery...you have friends. Yes, they might leave one day too, but until then, they can help you. They are here for you. At least talk to them about such things, let them hear your troubles, confide in them a little bit. Open up and let them help you get better.”

He looked from their hands up to Erskin’s face. He looked at him too.

“Do you really think that...they can help ?”, he asked Erskin.

“Skul...I see them as my Family. You are a part of it. You all behave like big Brothers to me. Besides you, you behaved like a Dad. I believe they can help you, because they helped me too. You, out of all people, should know that you can have more than ONE family, without being unfaithful. YOU, The Dead Men, are MY family and we are not blood related. Maybe, I don’t know, you see them slightly as your family too. Maybe as the Brothers you never thought you’d have. I love you all and I care about all of you. Even though, I don’t show it very much. It’s...hard to show emotions, when you were raised, as a child, to not have any emotions. But I am trying.”

Skulduggery smiled a small smile and chuckled, while a tear rolled down his transparent cheek. Erskin smiled at him with glassy eyes too. Then he boxed Skulduggery’s shoulder softly.

“You can be such a pain, but god. You’re my best friend, even if I am not your best bud. If you would ever vanish from this world, I would miss you terribly.”, Erskin chuckled out with a shaky smile.

Skulduggery smiled softly and pulled Erskin into a hug. Erskin was surprised and didn’t move at first.

“Thank you, Erskin.”, he then said.

Erskin hugged him back carefully.

“Sure, no problem. Anything for a friend.”, he replied with a smile in his voice.

Erskin didn’t even notice that his panic attack dissipated. He never felt that happy since after the war, near Skulduggery. It was so long ago. Soon they parted.

“When do you think we can talk ? There is...more to what Scorn told me, but I think we both need a clear head to talk about it.”, Skulduggery asked.

“I mean, I was almost scared that you were totally out of it when I came here and told Val that I would need a month probably. But...hmm...maybe next week instead ? You also could come tomorrow, but I think you need a bit longer to have a clear head.”, Erskin suggested.

“Hmm...good idea. Next week it is then. And I will call Valkyrie tomorrow.”

“Okay. You can tell her I was here, but...please ask her for me to not smack me. I swear I didn’t lie to her, but I really had to check on you.”

He chuckled.

“I will tell her that. Until next week, Erskin.”

“Yep. If anything else is troubling you two, just give me a call and I will see how I can help.”

“Will do. Good night.”

“Good night, Skul.”

With that Erskin teleported away and back to Hotel Midnight. In his room was already an angry looking Anton and a pissed off looking Ghastly.

“Ah shit...”, he mumbled and slumped.

“WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN ?!”, they both yelled.

Erskin winced and looked away.

“I killed the Vampire that didn’t leave Valkyrie alone. He got...aggressive and I had to kill him. He hurt her, tried to make her obey him...maybe even turn her. Then we talked a bit and now here I am.”, he explained.

They stared at Erskin and then felt bad for yelling at him.

“Oh, by the way. Skul and Val will come visit next week. There are important matters to discuss, but Skul wasn’t ready to talk about them yet.”

“And are YOU ready to talk to him in a week ?”, Ghastly asked.

“I do think I am !”

Anton and Ghastly gave him a serious look over and after a while of tense silence they nodded.

“Fine by me.”, Anton said.

“Alright then.”, Ghastly agreed.

Erskin breathed out in relief.

“But the rest of the Dead Men are coming to visit too, no buts.”, Anton stated.

Erskin’s jaw dropped open.

“Ugh ! Fine you two !”, he then yelled playfully frustrated.

“Admit it, you love us !”, Ghastly teased.

“You’re lucky that I see you as my Family. Otherwise I would have smacked the shit out of you two.”, Erskin said grumpily.

“We feel honored.”, Ghastly said with a hand on his chest.

“Very honored.”, Anton agreed.

Erskin pouted and flopped down in his bed. Anton and Ghastly joined him in a big cuddle.

“Night, little Brother.”, Ghastly told Erskin.

“Night you two big dummies.”, he replied.

“Ouch...our little Brother doesn’t like us, Ghastly.”, Anton informed the other with a fake sad voice.

Erskin smiled and playfully rolled his eyes. He hugged them both back.

“You two can be so stupid sometimes. But that is what I love about you two. Good night.”

Ghastly and Anton smiled and fell asleep with Erskin. They already planned to tease the living shit, out of Erskin, the next day.

-Next day-

-With Valkyrie-

She just woke up and looked at her phone again, still nothing. She started to get really worried now. She got up from her bed and started to dress herself up, then she went into the bathroom and got ready for the day. Her parents were out with Allison and her reflection was in school.

She just entered her room again as her phone rang. She sprinted to it and was happy to see that it was Skulduggery who called her. She picked up.

“Skulduggery ?! Are you okay ?!”, she instantly yelled.

“Hello to you too, Valkyrie. I am better than I have been the last two to three nights, thank you for asking.”

“Did you kill China ?”

“No. Why waste my time with that ?”

“Okay. Where is the body ?”, she asked, not believing him.

He chuckled and hung up. She stared at her phone with big eyes.

‘Did he just hang up on me ?!’

Then the window knocked and she saw Skulduggery in her window. She rolled her eyes, but smiled brightly. She opened the window, letting him in.

“I apologize, but I wanted to surprise visit you.”, he said.

“You big goof !”, she laughed.

He chuckled softly and then there was silence for a minute.

“I really didn’t kill anyone. But I had a surprise visit yesterday night. He also asked me to ask you to not smack him.”

“Who visited you, Skul ?”, she asked.

“It was Erskin. After you told him about me and being unresponsive, he appeared right at my front door.”

She looked at him shocked.

“He told me that he won’t be ready to see you until after a month ! What a lying asshole !”

“He wasn’t lying, Valkyrie.”

She glared at him, ready to protest, but he lifted his finger asking her to let him finish. She shut her mouth.

“He only came to check on me, because it is an urge he can’t control. He was probably panicking on the inside. He used his soul vision on me to see my expressions, so he knows if he is in danger or not. We had a small chat that cheered me up and he said we could meet next week. I didn’t tell him everything, just that China had a part in killing my family off and that she was there when they were killed. We both needed a clearer head for the rest. He was ready to kill China.”

She stared at him with wide eyes of shock.

“Okay...do we have to book a room then ?”, she asked.

“I think Anton already did. He will tell me when we can come over any second, I bet.”

And as if he knew, his phone rang. He pulled it out and it was indeed Anton Shudder. He picked up and put him on speaker.

“Hello, Anton.”

“Skulduggery. I booked you and Valkyrie a room that has two beds. You can have it Monday to Friday. If I find out that you hurt Erskin, I will personally ban you from my Hotel and never speak with you again. We both know how easily you can get violent. That is the last thing Erskin needs right now.”, Anton replied.

Valkyrie felt bad for Skulduggery. His own friends don’t trust him around Erskin, but at the same time she understood why. They were very close once and suddenly Skulduggery, without meaning to, only hurt and destroyed Erskin.

“I am not planning to hurt him, but sure. You can ban me if I lose control. Thank you for letting us know about the room booking. We will see to it that everything is packed in 5 days.”

“Sure. Until then, you two.”

With that Anton hung up. Skulduggery hung up too and sighed.

“It hurts you, that they don’t trust you, with Erskin being alone in a room with you, does it ?”, she asked softly.

“They have every reason to not trust me. I was very stupid as I came back from the dead. Worst is, I never realized it. I will have to prove myself to them, so I gain their trust again and that is just fine with me.”

“Now what are we going to do ?”, she asked.

“Take a break, pack our stuff and wait until Monday.”

“No cases ?”

“We don’t have any.”

She nodded softly at that. Then she hugged Skulduggery, who stiffened up.

“What is the hug for ?”, he asked.

“To comfort you and to show you that I am here for you.”, Valkyrie answered.

He hugged her back.

“Ha, Erskin said almost something like that. Said, that I should open up more again, at least to my friends. They might be able to help me to stabilize a bit better.”

Valkyrie smiled.

“Very true and wise words from him. Sad, that he doesn’t use these advices himself.”, she stated.

“He only hides away because I scared him off. I was the calmest, hard to anger, less violent person of The Dead Men, when I was still alive. He trusted me with everything he was ready to tell me about. I was the first one to know that he had abusive people around him, but he only said that it was his own parents when he was with us for 2 years already, so when he was 19 years of age. He told us about his biological Father, which was only that he had one and never met him. He never really went into detail how bad his family was, but to be honest, I think it would have made my blood boil.”

She nodded in understanding.

“He never mentioned names, was never ready to do that. He told us that he was forced to know about magic since he was three years of age and had no choice but to be here. He hid his emotions at first but he opened up to me more. I pretty much helped him to be open about himself with the rest of the Dead Men and my family. It was hard to get him to talk at first.”

“When did you meet him ?”

“When he was 11 years of age. My Son...found him. He brought him to me. He had no trouble to talk with him, but he didn’t like talking to adults. My Son had to make him warm up to me.”

“And he only came three times to see you all ?”

“I mean he stayed for a few days with us, but yes. The longest he stayed with my family was 2 months. And he only stayed, because it was raining, cold and muddy outside. The weather was really crazy those two months. My Son didn’t want him to get sick and I felt responsible for Erskin, so I let him in, fed him, cared for him, washed him and got him his own room. He mostly rather stayed with my Son, but I did catch him a few times in his own room. I guess he did need some space from everyone from time to time.”

She gave him a look.

“What ?”

“How did he get so attached to you if he was only there three times ?”

“He was with my FAMILY only three times. He told me where to usually find him and we met up often. I was pretty much his therapist and mentor. He needed my help, but was too afraid to ask for it, so I offered him my help. He instantly accepted and since then we built up a bond. It got very strong and he was almost ready to tell me everything...then the war started.”

“The war that you didn’t want Erskin to join with 16 years of age.”, she added.

Skulduggery nodded.

“Yes. I was afraid that he would lose his life. I admit it felt like he was my second Son. When he was 12 years of age, his magic was out of control and he was scared what he would do. That was the time I slowly tried to teach him how to control it. He HAD elemental Magic after all, it was easy to teach him something I had myself. When he was 14 years of age, he could control it without troubles and then we started to build up trust, so he can talk to me whenever he needs to. It took me a whole year and six months until he finally deemed me trustworthy enough. I helped him with a lot of issues I found out he had and he was almost ready to tell me things, he would have thought he would take to his grave, when he became 16 years of age. But then the war started and he wanted to join so badly, that I had to give in. It was very important to him and I didn’t want to destroy him by locking him away.”

She just stared and listened.

“You should have seen his desperation. There was no changing his mind. I warned him and he said he can deal with it. I knew he wouldn’t, but I let him join. I took him everywhere with me and started to train him to fight and use his magic against people. He was strong and a fast learner. When we were in the war for 5 months, we met the rest of our Team. One after the other and we pretty much fought side by side, I made friends with them all and as we took our first suicide mission, I saw that Erskin liked Ghastly instantly. I was friends with him before already, but he never met him then. I thought the scars would scare him off, but he liked them. Even complimented Ghastly about them.”

“Who was the hardest, Erskin had to get along with, from the Dead Men ?”

“Surprisingly it was Anton Shudder. He was a bit blunt and rough with his words. He didn’t like physical affection much and he mostly frowned. He took things very serious. He wasn’t as playful as the rest. Erskine, Hopeless and Saracen tried their best to always give Erskin a smile, when he looked at them, to assure him that he did nothing wrong. Ghastly and I always fooled around with him when he needed it, Dexter was always acting like an idiot to make him laugh and Anton...had a hard time to adjust. He needed a while to warm up to Erskin. He thought he was acting childish, but when I explained his situation to everyone, via Erskin’s permission, he understood why he acted the way he did and he tried very hard to show emotion and be a bit more careful with his words. Erskin always treasured his birthdays with us the most. He liked Anton’s hugs, even though they were rare and he hated hugging people. Erskin was an exception.”, Skulduggery told her with a chuckle.

She smiled at that.

“After my death...I think that was when it finally sunk into Anton’s head, that Erskin was still a child and that he needed someone to look after him. His outburst in the woods, after I was burned, must have opened his eyes. As Ghastly said, he and Anton played the Mother hen, after my death. Anton was still a bit...cold and rough with Erskin, but after I was gone, he seemed to finally get that his behavior still didn’t help Erskin. Anton did a 180 degree turn from when we met to now. I am thankful that they took care of him when I couldn’t. And I am happy that Erskin grew close with the rest. But it doesn’t change the fact that he was ready to tell me things he would have never told anyone else, only for me to change so much that I broke him.”

Valkyrie frowned saddened.

“I was planning to adopt Erskin after the war, when I was alive. I don’t know why I changed so suddenly, but...I totally forgot about that part when I came back. I don’t think I can repair the damage I caused him in the war. I doubt he will tell me anything ever again. Lord Vile was right.”

She perked up at that statement.

“About what was he right ?”, she asked.

“After my return from the dead, I forgot about Erskin. I just...I FORGOT about him, Valkyrie. Like the time didn’t matter that I spent with him, even though it did matter to me. I forgot that he was...that I treated him like one of my own children. I forgot our bond. I forgot about everything. All I knew was war, rage and revenge.”

Valkyrie stared at Skulduggery as he spilled it out. So Lord Vile told him that he stopped caring. She was shocked that Skulduggery admitted to it and that he was very devastated about it, but she was more curious as to why Lord Vile made him feel guilt for killing innocent people. Was it because of Erskin ? What was Vile’s reason ?

She hugged Skulduggery again, tighter this time. He hugged her back.

“I made him suicidal...”, Skulduggery whispered in utter guilt.

Valkyrie froze, eyes wide open in shock.

‘What ?’

Masterlist HERE !

#read warnings above #derek landy #Skulduggery Pleasant x Reader Universe #male!reader #erskin is male!reader #valkyrie cain #my au #not the canon au #The Dead Men #skulduggery pleasant #anton shudder #saracen rue #erskine ravel #ghastly bespoke #Dexter Vex

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