Cross Your Ts [Valduggery, Skulduggery Pleasant Fanfiction]

Janet

Not dead!

Cereal, dry and gross. Valkyrie munched on it.

"You can bring it in the car."

Valkyrie blinked at him, swallowed. She needed a drink of water, something, but her mouth was too dry. She felt sick, and she needed milk, something. Skulduggery tilted his head at her and started toward the garage.

His body whipped left, smashing through the window. Valkyrie let out a scream and practically threw herself after him. She was having trouble breathing, smoke and dust and fear filled her lungs and stung her eyes.

"Skulduggery!" she screamed, and someone else—she had screamed his name then, too, a second after she did. Like a shadow of the word.

She felt her skin prickle, and she turned. Darquesse walked smoothly in the air towards her.

Temple Bar was deserted. The world seemed to be on mute, no noise, nothing, just Valkyrie's heartbeat in her ears. It was sunny and cool and the whole place seemed to slump, colors sliding into one another.

Darquesse was talking, mouth moving. Valkyrie knew she was talking back. What, what, what was she saying?

The sky was growing red behind her. The portal into the other dimension grew, eating away at the blue. Another world's sun peaked out, and it was all Valkyrie could do to not shut her eyes and curl in on herself.

A man sipped his coffee, slowly disappearing behind the edge of the portal.

The sound cut back in, and things seemed to sharpen.

"—friends."

Something seared in Valkyrie's memory, something that made her ears pop and her stomach turn. Something that was not stepped out of that portal. Valkyrie's mind screamed at her.

She backed away, away, away, and then Skulduggery was gripping her arm, right on a bruise.

The pain was hot through her arm, hotter than that damn sun, real and dull and sharp. Valkyrie's head swam, and everything bled together again, and she wanted to be sick, and Skulduggery was talking in her ear and covering her eyes.

God, what had she done?

The scene jerked, and suddenly they were surrounded by people, faces on top of black veins.

Valkyrie slammed her foot through someone's head and somewhere, she screamed, and then she was back and Skulduggery was talking in her ear again, but this time he was jerked away and the portal was—

Darquesse stood in front of her. The memory flicked again, and this time the smell of home hit Valkyrie, and then blood, and Fletcher was leaning against the wall and there was Valkyrie—Stephanie on the stairs—

It was hot, Valkyrie had no jacket on, perspiration ran down her arms. Darquesse smiled at her—

A man was reading a newspaper—

The world bent out to a point again, a hand, the face. Darquesse looked down at them and snarled and—

The grave looked more like mud in the sun. Valkyrie looked up and saw a man in a long coat, and Skulduggery was standing next to her, too.

"God! Fuck!"

Valkyrie's voice—her voice was sharp and angry. The grave began to sink into the ground, and Skulduggery turned away from her. Valkyrie wanted to grab him and hold on and cry.