WAIT WAIT FOR THE KIDNAPPING AU
- How would Vile feel about Darquesse, especially since it would be the girl he raised eventually becoming stronger than him?
- does Leibniz!Serpine ever show up or is he just in that prison cell forever
- what about the alternate versions of China, Anton, and Meritorious? What happens to them now that Mev mainly functions in Dimension Y?
- is regular China a character? Does she go back to working for Mev? Also what happens to Tanith
- can I have some scraps of the valkyrie-vile dynamic pretty please with a cherry on top
How would Vile feel about Darquesse, especially since it would be the girl he raised eventually becoming stronger than him?
Darquesse is formed in a horrific way in this au. Valkyrie is 16 and she helps Fletcher escape to the Resistance. She's caught (Fletcher escapes) and Mevolent punishes her by letting Nye have her for a few hours. Doctor Nye of Dimension Y btw. He does his whole Soul Sealing thing just to prove that he can and he has sigils that allow the dead bodies to feel pain so Valkyrie is in agony. Once she's stitched back up, Darquesse is formed despite Valkyrie not knowing about her, simply because the sectioned off piece of her soul was able to gain consciousness.
Backstory aside, Vile is fascinated by Darquesse. She's much more subdued here because both she and Valkyrie are under the assumption that they'll never be able to take on Sorcerers so much bigger than themselves. Vile isn't one to pretend so he lets them figure it out on their own but otherwise her power level doesn't matter to him so long as she becomes a Necromancer. He needs her for his Apocalypse Plan after all.
Does Leibniz Serpine ever show up or is he just in that prison cell forever?
He's around. Skulduggery takes over the Resistance from Leibniz China real quick and he discovers Nefarian incredibly quickly. He was going to kill him but figured he'd keep him around as a bargaining chip if he ever needed to break anyone out of Mevolent's castle. Eventually, he uses Nefarian as a guide through the palace and Nefarian is allowed to be in the lower ranks of the Resistance. He has a small hut and has his privacy, but not much else.
What about the alternate versions of China, Anton, and Meritorious? What happens to them now that Mev mainly functions in Dimension Y?
China, now she isn't leader, mostly focuses on making sure every single barrier is secured around the Resistance's main headquarters. She's using Skulduggery's knowledge of the new sigils created in Dimension Y and she also spends much time going back to reading. She has a trading station although she gets more than she gives.
Anton isn't a bodyguard anymore and he mostly tries to learn how to be something other than a soldier after seeing his alternate smiling around Dexter and Saracen. Ghastly and Dexter are the same, wanting to know how to be happier. Ravel doesn't go through with his plan, obviously, so the Dead Men are just expanded and more loyal to each other than ever.
Meritorious is broken out of his cell by Tanith and Fletcher two years after Fletcher escapes. The guy's been around the entire castle so he frees prisoners left and right. Meritorious was under the impression he'd take leadership back but Skulduggery decides that he isn't what they need (Don't blame him after what he went through in the first book) and Meritorious is mostly in charge of keeping the peace and organising food raids and other things like that.
As for what they do with Mevolent mostly being in another dimension; they make more bases. They have five locations, two in each dimension and the main headquarters which is Skulduggery's house. It's near one of the portals though so it's an in-between space. They rescue more people under Skulduggery's command and build themselves up, not to fight, but to live. They're preparing an army, but they mostly focus on community at Ghastly's insistence.
Is regular China a character? Does she go back to working for Mev?
She does indeed. It's China who convinced Mevolent to use Valkyrie instead of imprison her actually. She'd wanted Valkyrie to work for her but Mevolent purposefully put her with Vile to avoid any betrayals. China teaches about the tech and sigils in her dimension to help Mevolent and explains the ways which Mortals fight when things get too dangerous. She still grows fond of Valkyrie but they're more distant because Valkyrie is so distrustful and socially inept in this AU.
Also what happens to Tanith?
Originally, she died. But I've decided she was taken prisoner, healed and then tortured for information of the Knives in the Darkness and the people she knows. She's freed by Billy-Ray Sanguine after two years because she wooed him. She thinks Valkyrie is dead, not having seen her since she was dragged from the dungeon two years earlier. She knocks Sanguine out once they reach outside the city and finds Alt! Ghastly, who takes them to the Resistance. Sanguine is paid into staying on their side and eventually he grows to like their company and just stays for fun. He's like Nefarian and in the lower ranks.
Can I have some scraps of the valkyrie-vile dynamic pretty please with a cherry on top?
Okay so Vile didn't like Valkyrie at the beginning. She was small, weak and the only good thing he could see was that she didn't speak. Around the time Fletcher shows up, Valkyrie is more comfortable and when Vile makes a comment {signing using shadows and stuff} she starts snarking him. Depending on his mood he either lets it go; sasses back or there have been a few times where Valkyrie has been flung into walls or thrown to the ground. This doesn't stop her and she continues to snark and annoy him until he's desensitised to it.
Valkyrie doesn't like Vile at all, he angry most of the time and he takes it out on her. He never speaks so she has nothing to talk to and his jobs tends to be a bit much for her to properly do, which leads to punishment. She starts training with Baron and swords in her freetime and tries to catch him off guard with it. He normally just makes a shadow sword and uses it to push her to the ground, but neither of them are actually trying to hurt the other so it's something they do casually and do without violence.
Vile eventually senses the deep rooted hatred for Serpine that he shares and decides that Valkyrie isn't too bad. They have tried to poison him multiple times and kept a tally chart on what poisons he's immune to. It's fascinating to them. Eventually, Valkyrie starts emulating him and so he teaches her Necromancy, which is a turning point. Vile is a mix of Cadaver and Skulduggery but more violent and he isn't afraid to hurt Valkyrie.
When she gets back from Nye, he isn't too worried about her. He gets her working again and sends her to train with Serpine because they're now both familiar with torture (Mevolent takes out his annoyances with Nefarian on Serpine when the man starts being more active in the Resistance).
Valkyrie likewise doesn't much care when Abyssinia shows up and instantly rocks his shit. She claps for Abyssinia on more than one occasion. This does get her punished, but by that point she's in her 20s and fully conditioned to take it.
Anyways, thanks for the questions. So much for this being the AU I'll never write lol. Feel free to ask more whenever you like, this is fun
