In Between

In Between Chapter 43

In which the reflection has a reflection. A very dark and depressing companion drabble to the last chapter. Totally AU (I hope) and I'm pretending that Valkyrie's reflection (Stephanie) had a reflection. Warning: this one is a little graphic, so for the more squeamish people I wouldn't advise reading this one.
43. Reflection
Valkyrie didn't hold back her smile as she unlocked the front door of Gordon's mansion. It felt like it had only been yesterday since she had last come here. Surprisingly, the place was quite tidy. The furniture had been dusted, and the carpet felt clean. The library was organized, as well. Valkyrie frowned, then shrugged and put her bags on the couch. She had decided to surprise her parents the next day, and not even her slight paranoia could dampen her mood.
She unpacked most of her things, then ordered a pizza. While eating a late dinner, she called Skulduggery.
"You've settled in, then?"
Valkyrie nodded.
"Yeah. I think I'm going to visit my family tomorrow. I'll start working again on Tuesday, okay?"
"Okay. Say hello to your parents for me," Skulduggery replied. They exchanged goodbyes, and Valkyrie went back to her room.
She went to bed early, or at least earlier than she usually did. It was around midnight when she turned off the lights, and another thirty minutes before she actually fell asleep. Her dreams were filled with shadows and an urgent sense of confusion and panic.
Valkyrie woke up at 4 in the morning, the sky still dark and the morning still cold. She lay in bed, but couldn't fall back asleep, unwilling to return to her nightmares. She would've called Skulduggery, but she had been fine on her own and she would be fine now.
The hours ticked by slowly, but eventually the sun came up and she ate breakfast downstairs. She turned the television on for a spell, but there were only reports of an accident on the freeway and a tragic fire miles away. She looked away when they showed the bodies.
She was glad to see that her old Oompa Loompa was still in the driveway, and found the keys in her purse. She didn't call her parents to tell them that she was coming. She wanted to surprise them.
The car still had two gallon's worth of gas in the tank, more than plenty enough to get to her parent's house and back. The roads were quiet, and any bird song muted. Valkyrie felt a tad bit uneasy. This wasn't how she remembered Haggard.
She parked right in front of the driveway. Her parent's minivan wasn't there. For a second, she was worried, but then she realized that it was Monday. Her mum and dad were probably at work, and Alice would be at school. God, it had been too long. Her baby sister was going to elementary school now.
For now, she still had quite a while before anybody returned, so she decided to wait inside. The spare key was still under the welcome mat (no matter how many times she asked her mum to put it somewhere else, her dad would always forget where they had moved it and end up sitting outside of the house for hours). She opened the door, and almost immediately she felt a prickling sense of danger. There was someone here.
Valkyrie cautiously shut the door, keeping the door from slamming, and quietly padded her way inside. She could here rustling from her room, and she readied herself to fight.
She carefully made her way up the stairs, wincing as her foot stepped on a loose floorboard. She froze as she heard a woman's voice call out.
"Mum? Is that you?"
The voice sounded familiar. Valkyrie knew that she had heard it before, many, many times, and yet she just couldn't figure it out.
At that moment, she let the muscles in her left leg relax, and the floorboard creaked again. The door to her room opened-
and Stephanie came out. Her reflection stared back at her. Valkyrie didn't say a word, staring just as openly as Stephanie.
"Stephanie?" Her doppelgänger asked. "I thought you were dead!"
Valkrie looked up, her mouth getting dry. Her reflection stepped into the hallway and made her way closer to her.
"Oh, I see. So you're the original, aren't you? You're the one that Stephanie came from."
Valkyrie wanted to scream, run, anything! Just get away from all of this wrongness. It wasn't right- how come there was another Stephanie? It didn't make any sense.
The Not-Stephanie laughed.
"You look so confused. Must I spell it out for you? I'm Stephanie's reflection. She was gone from home so often, you know, so Skulduggery made me to keep her parents from worrying."
Valkyrie took a step backwards, stumbling when she realized that she was still on the stairs. The Not-Stephanie came closer.
"When I found out that she died, I hid. I should've died when she did, but maybe it was different for me since I was a reflection of an ex-reflection. I didn't want to be taken away by the Sanctuary, so I stayed in the closet until you left. Stephanie's parents seemed to believe that their eldest daughter was giving up magic quite easily. And so it was. Until you came back."
The Not-Stephanie suddenly snarled, and lunged for Valkyrie. Valkyrie shouted, and steadily built up a ball of electricity in her hand when the Not-Stephanie tumbled into her. They both flew off of the staircase and crashed into a heap on the floor. By sheer chance, Valkyrie got trapped underneath it. The Not-Stephanie hit her as hard as she could in the stomach, effectively knocking the wind out of her. Valkyrie wheezed, trying to breath, and held up the lightning to the Not-Stephanie's face.
There was an awful smell of burning flesh, but the Not-Stephanie didn't move or scream. It jut sat on top of Valkyrie, smiling isanely, as her flesh melted away to reveal bone. When Valkyrie's power was spent, it leaned in and wrapped its hands around her neck and squeezed.
The Not-Stephanie's eyes were filled with madness, and Valkyrie was acutely aware of an overwhelming terror. Its flesh slowly healed itself, new skin flowing over the injury like Skulduggery's facade. This wasn't right. She wasn't supposed to die here, not like this, not right now-
"I'm sorry, Valkyrie, but I don't want to die."
and then she was slipping and the darkness was closing in
and then Valkyrie Cain died.
-
It was quite messy, this killing thing, it mused, as it buried the dead girl's body in the yard. Stephanie had never made it seem this difficult in their memories when she killed Valkyrie's cousin. But then again, Stephanie had the Scepter. All it had was her two hands.
It patted down the last bit of dirt, then headed back into the house. It was almost lunch time, and it was getting hungry.