Valhalla Found

The calm that place held in its arms was screaming home to her. She laid there high up on the mound, with her arms sprawled beside her. The deep blue sky, cold grass and the distance rustling of trees, accompanied with the gentle caress of cool wind; it was just the kind of place she had been looking for.

The sky was so far away, she felt like reaching out to it. But she hadn't had the chance to rest all day so she didn't want to move right now in this moment of peace.

"Oi, Lady!", Chopper's head appeared in her view, "Quit dawdlin'!"

She pouted, pulling herself up, and sat cross legged, staring at the grass now.

"Well, is this alright? Ya sure?", he asked, looking about with a scrutinizing eye.

"Hmmm...", she mumbled.

"Oi oi, why are ya turning yer head like that?", Chopper raised a brow.

Instead of answering him, she just went on doing it. She'd slept in the wrong position last night and when she woke up this morning, her neck hurt a lot. She could only keep her head straight all day. If she turned it even a little, it felt like it would break off.

But now she was feeling adventurous, so she went ahead and tilted her head to the side almost aiming to do a 360.

"Oi oi! Stop turnin' yer head like that!", Chopper was creeped out and for good reason.

They dawdled for another half an hour at least, despite Chopper asking her to stop. Lady rolled about on the grassy mound, all the while turning her head in all the wrong ways. Her theory was that she could beat the pain if she just pretended it wasn't there. But her pain didn't go away until the next day after she slept in another wrong position, thereby wronging her wrongs, and ultimately setting things right.

"Oi, wanna look in?", Chopper hung over her again, with his hands on his hips and the same perpetual look of annoyance on his face.

Lady was smeared in grass already. So she stopped rolling around.

"Yeah, let's!"

She sprang up and stood in front of him. Other than her heavy fur coat and heavier set of hair, there was about a pound of grass on her. Chopper sighed, brushing it off her head.

When they finally got to the huge door that stood between them and their new home, Lady took a deep breath, pushing against the door that was getting blocked by something.

"Hey Chopper, gimme a hand!", she said, with a hidden excitement in her eyes that Chopper could see clearly.

He let out a sigh. He was really craving a cigarette right about now. But there was still work to be done. He helped her push the door open.

The inside smelled like dust, a lot of it flew out when they opened the door, almost as if it had been waiting to ambush them. That helped to take away some more strands of stray grass off of Lady.

"Smells terrible", Chopper murmured to himself before noticing the strange figure standing in the middle of the great hall.

"Ah, Grim...", Lady noticed too.

"Oi, ya deadass bastard! What's up with trashing the place?!", Chopper was annoyed enough for the day and now there was cleaning to do.

"Hmmm, how rude! And coming from someone that's this late. I was getting so bored, you know", Grim shrugged his shoulders, standing amidst a number of bodies that who knows how had gotten to that place.

In fact, the thing blocking the door earlier was a pile of bodies too.

"Shut the hell up and take yer trash out!", Chopper knocked a head his way.

Grim barely parried it, grabbing the head that was flung his way, "What's with the headshots all of a sudden?"

Grim was slaved away by Chopper to clean the whole place, even more than he'd trashed. All the while Lady explored every nook and cranny of what seemed like an ancient church.

"Back in the day, you know, some religions suddenly became taboo. It was when gods strated forming left and right. People lost belief in the real God. And so, when a preacher came around, everyone accused them of lying. The preachers, you know, or whatever else they were called, had these little flask like lamps that burned with a thick oil for a very very long time. Many heretics dowsed those preachers in that oil and burned them. The fire wouldn't go out for years because of the oil, so they used those burning bodies to form cults and religions of their own. Sounds funny, doesn't it?", Lady went on and on, coming to the end with a chuckle.

"Yeah yeah, you old hag", despite his response, Chopper was listening intently.

"Hag? Hmmm...Chopper, you know how old I am?", Lady tilted her head very intensely, to a dangerous limit.

"Tch, old enough to know those ancient stories", he replied.

Things like that weren't recorded in history. Only people who knew it were those that lived through it. Military erased any signs of uprising or disturbance among the people before it could escalate enough to make news.

"In any case, Lady", Chopper went up to the altar that was mostly in pieces, "You are absolutely sure, aren't you? This isn't how you intended things to be."

"Hmm hmm! I'm sure. True that I thought we'll be always be roaming around but it would be hard to safekeep important things that way. And since I found that treasure, its all the more important to settle down."

"Ya keep talking about this treasure, just what did ya find?", Chopper had been hearing about it all day.

"I'll show you!"

"When?"

She just smirked.

"I like settling down too. Its a nice change of pace. Plus there's plenty of time to relax. Also, since I cleaned so much, I think I'll never leave here now. It's so clean here", Grim joined with a grin.

"Yo god, ya realize this place was probably taken out because yer kind came around", Chopper mentioned.

"God vs gods...huh? Well, I don't care either way. I don't like God though."

"Me neither", replied Chopper.

"That makes three of us", Lady smirked.

The three remained silent for a while, softly chuckling. But then with their sighs mixed in, a strange tension rose in the air.

"This is beginnin' to sound like a heathenish party or somethin'", Chopper opined, opening his pack of cigarettes.

"Well, we should probably set out now", Lady said.

"Yeah", Chopper agreed, "So which one are we going for?"

"Hmm, Wenus is too far away, so let's go to the capital, instead."

"That one's a little strange, Lady. We don't know nothing about it. It might not even be true. Or it might be something as insignificant as a serial killer."

"Insignificant? Come again. I know at least one serial killer that wasn't insignificant", Lady looked at him suggestively.

Chopper let out a puff of smoke and let it hover over his face, so as to avoid Lady's eyes.

"In any case, rumors go way back so it must be one old devil. Maybe it's planning to retire or some'n. Ya sure it's worth beggin' an old crook out of his retirement?", Chopper asked, avoiding looking at her.

"Hmmm, what's that? Don't tell me, Chopper, that you hate this case because of how similar it sounds."

"Hmph! Ya must be joking!", he completely turned away, his back facing Lady now.

Lady chuckled, titling her head to fhe breaking point. She didn't look much human anymore.

"Ah, dear Lady, are you trying to break it off? Tell me about these things sooner", Grim noticed her head going bonkers.

"Settle down, Grim. You don't need to get worked up. I won't die yet", Lady replied to him casually.

"Ah, I see", Grim too accepted her answer casually.

"Fine, let's go. To the capital!", Chopper finally agreed.

Lady sprang up, ready to depart.

"Oh but almost forgot!", she turned back, "We should name this place."

"Huh?!"

"How else will we call it?"

"Why would we need to call it?"

"In a conversation or....something."

"Just call it home", Chopper put out his cigarette on the wooden door, leaving a burn mark that stayed there forever.

"That doesn't sound right...", Lady answered, "Come now, think of something good to call it."

"Yer just being ridiculous. It looks like a church so call it that."

"But...it sounds like a holy place. I don't like that."

"Well then, I've got one", Grim joined in, seizing their attention, "Let's call this place Valhalla."

"That's about as holy as it gets", Chopper said.

"That sounds great! We'll go with that!", Lady readily accepted.

"Huh?! How is that any good?"

"And since we want no god in here, let's all be no more than Valkyries", Grim smiled his signature sinister, yet calming smile.

"We'll go with that!", Lady really liked the idea.

Chopper understood that her almost aggressive support for the name was probably because Lady wanted to go against what Chopper suggested. It may have sounded spiteful in some other case, if he didn't know how much she loved to butt heads with him.

"Well, we're setting off to bring home a new Valkyrie!"

"Is that what we're hoping for?", Chopper muttered to himself.

Lady waved to Grim and set off down the path that led away from Valhalla.

"Ya better not trash the place again, ya gothic chicken!", Chopper gave the final instruction before going after her.

Grim grinned, and nodded and waved goodbye.