Traffic [Valduggery, Skulduggery Pleasant Fanfiction]

Keratin, of the Integumentary System

[ looks at you and winks ]

Thanks, as always, for the support.

Valkyrie had never seen guards like these.

They had chased her through this madhouse like they were smoking out a rat. Down corridors, trapped behind doors, fighting back out from dead-ends. They had scythes, and while Valkyrie was well practiced fighting against them, it really sucked.

They were almost like Cleavers. Valkyrie peaked out from behind a corner, Aura Vision on. Nothing, no sickly pale color.

She was filthy and covered in sweat. Aby had burrowed into the ground like she was the rat. The walls were slick with wet earth that clung to her like hands, making her magic finicky and hard to control.

She licked her lips, got a mouthful of dirt for her troubles, and moved off.

Even if Skulduggery was being tortured, she would never be able to find him. His screams would be swallowed by the walls. If he was gagged, she wouldn't be able to see him, nearly pitch black as it was.

And walking around with her Aura Vision on was giving her a killer headache.

She wandered around aimlessly for twenty minutes. The guards had chased away any sense of direction, and she was disoriented.

But finally, finally, she might have gotten close. There were torches implanted into the dirt of the walls. Not regular flame, but something a little paler, that burned cold. Like the guards, Valkyrie guessed them to be a hangover from Aby's younger days.

Wait.

Valkyrie perked, because was that... Yes, it was. Whistling.

She grinned and angled herself towards the sound. Another few corridors and she found Skulduggery chained to the wall. No room, no special door, just chains extending into the dirt behind him.

"Obviously," she whispered, crouching to examine the chains, "she's still upset about the whole 'murdering' thing."

Skulduggery's façade raised an easy eyebrow. "Oh, was it the kidnapping that gave it away? The torture these Cleavers have been putting me through? Or was it the monolog she gave when she captured me?"

"No. She didn't even give you a room." She gave an experimental tug at the chains. "Well, they're certainly in there."

"May I ask what took you so long?"

Valkyrie grimaced. "We thought she was keeping you at the island. That involved trying to prepare for an assault, trying to find the damn island, talking to a magical oceanographer, only to get a tip that she had been spotted in Argentina."

"Ah," was all he said.

"Okay, I'm going to cut you lose." She stood and brandished her stole scythe. "It's really important that you don't move."

Skulduggery's façade pressed his lips together. "Well, I am chained to the damn wall."

"Right." Valkyrie hesitated.

"You're hesitating."

"It's... your eyeballs. They're freaking me out."

Skulduggery closed his eyes. "I wouldn't want you to lob off by head, after all."

Valkyrie took a deep breath and swung downwards. But she shouldn't have worried; the scythe cut through the metal like butter.

Skulduggery hopped up and brushed off his t-shirt.