Skulduggery Pleasant Fan-fiction- Love Amongst The Cain (Sequel to The Cradle Of Magic)

The burden of darkness.

-Oblivion

An overwhelming sheet of dust and upturned tar hit my eyes in a blinding effort. Sirens were heard far off in the distance and the hum of the motorway was but a blur to my racing thoughts. Blood poured in a heavy flow from numerous parts of my body and my ribs and arms stung in a violent effort to numb my senses of the surroundings. My vision was a solid blur and there was no hope of sitting up as male yells were heard and the ground vibrated lightly with running feet. The world was still an intense hum and to what had happened still had trouble replaying in my mind.
Despite my vision being fogged I could still pick out the broken body of Havoc off to my far left, a broad fraction of the car door shielding his trunk and legs. A slow yet continuous tide of scarlet leaked from beneath the metal as his head was tossed back to the harsh concrete; eyes closed.
There was a harsh rally of sirens in the far distance, yells and a muffled cry as dust fell in a cloud across the tarmac as a jeep was moved and lifted from the people beneath. Their eyes either hurried and hurt or dead and dulled.
A shadow blocked the greyed sky as the rain fell to my wounds, cooling the hot tarmac from my skin. The man leant down, his knee brushing the fractured wound of the road as my head rolled weakly into his torso. The pound of his chest, his heartbeat, was all I could hear now and I permitted it. I let my eyes close softly to the tears on on the rim of my lashes as the yells increased and I felt life drain from my body.
The world went black once more.

***
-Gracious

His hand was warm, beating in mine as his pulse sped. A light wave of hairs pricked erect up my neck as a soft exhale of hot breath was felt from behind. We had ran, we had ran into the dark away from the sounds not known to us and we had hidden. It was instinct and my first was to keep him safe.
I had heard a scream, a masculine yell and then a high pitched cry and then... Silence.
It was eery and the air wafted gently of blood, hot and previously beating through veins of the living. I held him tight as he sobbed into my matted shirt, running my hands through his moist hair and kissing his forehead. I soothed him, rocking him back and forth and holding my breath in the dark. The eyes played tricks and it was almost clear to see shadows play across the walls to where there was no light or creatures other than ours to shadow.
Or so we thought.
There was no aim to crouching here and yet a feeling filled me that we would be safe. We were not safe and would never be safe as long as we were in these caves.
Donegan whimpered from my shoulder, clutching tightly to me as tears soaked my cheeks.
"Don. Don we need to move." I whispered, hardly audibly, but I could tell he had heard from the shaking of his head.
"Don. Whatever's down here will find us if we stay here. They've found the others."
I felt him swallow harshly on my shoulder, his trachea throbbing and painful from the tears that soaked through my shirt. "Baby-"
There was a nasal screech, a high sound that spat down the caverns and into your soul and that instinctively brought terror deep inside you. An intense scratching of feet to rock and the tremble of movement from up the tunnel. I shakily moved to my feet, hauling him up and weakly stumbling across the jagged rocks around us, moving and feeling my heart tremble with fear.
It was faster than us, hungry and quick legged. We could not run it out.
We were condemned to die in these caves.
Suddenly I felt a brisk halt from my left, a halt in the air. I skidded suddenly as his warmth left my side and my throat went dry.
There was a yell from feet ahead and a wave of blue light that shocked the cave's darkness.
There was a yell.
A scream.
And then...
Black.

***
-Erskine

The light was a sudden shock to the blind man, the man that had seen no light for the past few weeks; no light except the fractured, concentrated starlight in his life, to which was inconsistently rare. His daughter.
My daughter.
My legs stumbled weakly across the soft and dew-moistened grass, the sun marking the sky in brisk contrast to the light, pink sunrise. It scorched and burned, bleeding light into the surroundings around, and stabbing at the remnants of dark.
It was beautiful and the blind man marvelled over it.
The park was empty and yet there was a fulfilling sense of peace despite this. Ducks sleepily moved beneath the water of the pond, yet gliding peacefully over the edge. The park was always empty and would forever remain that way.
It was a shame, however, that this statement wasn't true.
It was around this time two years ago that I had gambled with her life- on this very spot. Gambled with death to give her life.
My little girl.
And to recall twenty five years back I had done the same with her mother. I held her shakily in my arms, letting her go as a breeze in the wind.
Roses had grown here that early April, soft buds breaking from their enclosed tombs. Small, newly born signets gathered to the edges of the pond, watching their mothers tentatively as they moved into the deeper water.
She had sat here, twenty five years ago, and I had held my hand. Her pulse beating with mine as she watched spring's creations.
The last spring she would ever see.
She had smiled, her beautiful smile matching that of the landscape around, yet faltered and weak. She was a bloomed cherry blossom; beautiful and yet gone so soon.
Too soon.
I had run my hand to her lower stomach, my pulse quickening at the third beating heart. Small and gentle but there. Alive.
Still alive.
She had smiled that beautiful, reassuring smile of hers and whispered softly to my lips as she kissed me.
"I'm fine, Erskine. I'm alright."
If only that had been true. Lives wouldn't have been lost through my pain and jealously.
I would have my Annie and we would be happy.
So happy.
But of course fates had turned and that Winter after did I hold our baby in my arms, wrapping her from the cold and tucking her into my jacket. Her eyes were deep brown, flecked with the eyes of my own and a light tuft of her mother's hair brushed lightly over her eyes.
The ice lay thickly over the pond, the roses had died away and the beauty was dead. I had said goodbye not that morning before and now held the only living price I had paid for my wife.
My Annie.
I rocked our baby in the darkness of our coat, humming a lilting tune to her as she reached aimlessly for my cheeks, giggling lightly as her little fingers brushed my stubble and her eyes widened with a flutter.
"Daddy!"
She had said, with all the love and utter devotion a little girl could give her father, as hot tears ran down my cheeks.
And now, as I sat alone, they continued. The brushed my neck as the day came and brought light splashing across the sky to where I sat.
On a bench, in the park I once loved.
I swallowed painfully, the anger caught in my throat as I shakily delved into my pocket to reach the folded, ivory paper to which caught between my fingers.
How such little could change so much.
I flicked at the edges of the paper to open it, a few lines of linked handwriting proving what I was to undertake. As debt.
It was clear and I only had two days and three hours to undertake it, that amount made it easy for any normal man. Any normal man to kill a girl.
Except, I was no normal man. I was the girl's father.
And my debt was to kill my daughter.
***
Phew.
Well that was a long time coming.
Sorry about the wait, everyone... ._. *deep sigh*
And also, apologises for not replying to most messeges, I've been really down recently and it's no fault of anyone else's...
I just... Well yes.
Hope we're all good and sorry for the wait, hopefully that was a good enough chapter (despite it being short)
ily all x
Bliv xxxx