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‘Here lies Melancholia St Clair’
Those were the words etched onto the small gravestone that stood in front of Valkyrie. She had insisted that Melancholia got a gravestone, convincing Skulduggery to pay for it. Valkyrie wasn’t sure why but she felt responsible for Melancholia. If she didn’t give her a proper burial then who would? She had no one else.
This was the first time Valkyrie stood in front of the stone, a few weeks after the tragic ordeal. Grey clouds started to spit rain as Valkyrie stood, unmoving, just staring. Eventually she snapped back to reality, kneeing down beside the grave and clenching her jaw.
“Hey, Mel-” Her voice broke off in a crack. She felt somewhat silly talking to a piece of stone, but she couldn’t stop herself.
“This feels fucking stupid. Talking to you when you can’t even hear me. God, what am I doing?” She let out a bitter laugh.
“If you were here right now you’d be calling me pathetic.” Despite the negative words there was a tinge of affection in Valkyries tone.
“I brought you these.” She produced a bunch of slightly crushed flowers from behind her back. Placing them in front of the grave she noticed how there was nothing else there, no one else had came to grieve her. Something about that thought sickened Valkyrie, not a single person in the world even cared about Melancholia enough to visit her grave. She swallowed the lump in her throat.
“I didn’t just come here to give you flowers.”
Valkyrie took a breath,
“I came to say thank you, and that i’m sorry. Both i guess.” The clouds cast dark shadows over the empty graveyard.
“Thank you for helping defeat Darquesse, I don’t think it could’ve been done without you. And you did look like a total badass when your eyes started glowing.” Valkyrie smiled at the memory.
“And i’m so sorry. Not just for…” Valkyries throat closed on her words. She coughed, regaining her composure. “Not just for your death. I’m sorry for how i treated you. Back when we first met i was a smug little bitch, I let all the deathbringer stuff get to my head. I mean you were a cunt to me too but i guess thats fair. I’m not forgetting about the time you nearly ripped me to shreds though.” Valkyrie tried to lighten her mood with a joke but it fell flat.
“I know I acted like i hated you every time we were together, and I did for a while, i really hated you. But I…I’m going to miss you Mel.” Her fingers skimmed the gravestone.
“I’ll miss pissing you off and I’ll miss fighting with you and I’ll miss just seeing your face.”
That was it, Valkyrie pictured Melancholias face in her mind and everything came crumbling down. She cracked, letting out a sob, the tears that had been lining her eyes finally pushing their way out. She sobbed louder, not caring if there was anyone around to hear. Her tears escaped faster, mixing with the raindrops that were pelting down. Her chest felt hollow, the pit in her stomach swirled with emptiness. She saw Melancholia in her mind, her blonde hair, her soft skin, her shadows swirling around her. Valkyrie pressed her face to the earth she was buried beneath.
“I’m sorry i’m sorry i’m sorry.” She cried into the ground in gasping breaths, her hands gripping the edges of the gravestone, unable to let go. She didn’t know how long she sat there in a crumpled ball, she didn’t care. She didn’t care about anything in this moment apart from Melancholia. She pictured her, locked inside the wooden coffin, bugs eating away at her face, alone in the darkness. Her whole body shook. She ignored her fingers going numb from the cold, ignored her throat growing hoarse and dry from her ragged sobs, ignored the rain soaking her clothes onto her skin. She ignored it all. She didn’t have the strength to care anymore.
“I’m sorry.”