Leaving did it. Skulduggery leaving the Dead Men. The Dead Men splitting up to take Roarhaven back, even after Saracen told them it was a terrible idea. Valkyrie sealing her true name in secret. Ravel keeping an entire world a secret. Leaving to shoulder burdens alone.
Skulduggery had tried that, and thousands of people had suffered for it. Hopeless had told him, time and again, that you didn't need to talk to someone in order to take advantage of their support. Skulduggery had heard it, gone through the motions of it, but hadn't listened. Hadn't particularly cared.
Not until he met Valkyrie.
For a time, he was quiet, looking up at the sky. Skulduggery was probably the last person in the world - in either world - Ravel should be looking to for support. But by the same token, if Ravel couldn't find solace in Lord Vile's defeat, then what on earth had been the point of the defeat in the first place?
"I met someone," he said. "Not, I should clarify, in the way that phrase has been taken to mean these days. I met someone who knew, and didn't care." He put his hands in his pockets. "If you want help, you'll be amazed how many different places offer it. If you don't, either because it's safer to be miserable or you don't feel you deserve it, then nothing changes. It's as simple as that."
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Leaving did it. Skulduggery leaving the Dead Men. The Dead Men splitting up to take Roarhaven back, even after Saracen told them it was a terrible idea. Valkyrie sealing her true name in secret. Ravel keeping an entire world a secret. Leaving to shoulder burdens alone.
Skulduggery had tried that, and thousands of people had suffered for it. Hopeless had told him, time and again, that you didn't need to talk to someone in order to take advantage of their support. Skulduggery had heard it, gone through the motions of it, but hadn't listened. Hadn't particularly cared.
Not until he met Valkyrie.
For a time, he was quiet, looking up at the sky. Skulduggery was probably the last person in the world - in either world - Ravel should be looking to for support. But by the same token, if Ravel couldn't find solace in Lord Vile's defeat, then what on earth had been the point of the defeat in the first place?
"I met someone," he said. "Not, I should clarify, in the way that phrase has been taken to mean these days. I met someone who knew, and didn't care." He put his hands in his pockets. "If you want help, you'll be amazed how many different places offer it. If you don't, either because it's safer to be miserable or you don't feel you deserve it, then nothing changes. It's as simple as that."