Here's to Christmas - Skulduggery Pleasant FanFic

Chapter 18: Here's to Christmas

Christmas Day was lovely. Skulduggery, of course, already had his hat and Valkyrie had her necklace. Dexter loved his new jacket and Saracen couldn't get enough of his watch...and then they gave her a small, red envelope.

"What's this?" She asked. Dexter shrugged, and she ran her finger along it and removed the contents and her heart stopped.

A ticket. A ticket to All Time Low.

She squealed. So that was their special man-made miracle! She couldn't believe it. She was going. She was going to see All Time Low!!

Valkyrie and Skulduggery made breakfast; pancakes with lemon and maple syrup and bacon and nectarines. Her kitchen was covered in flour and egg shells. When she flipped the pancake half of it landed on the edge of the pan and flopped onto the floor, and then on the second one she flipped too hard and it hit the ceiling and stuck for a good ten minutes before it fell on Skulduggery's hat. She laughed till she had a stitch in her side at his reaction.

They started drinking champagne before noon - Valkyrie's first taste of the bubbly substance. She liked it, and by four o'clock in the afternoon they'd finished the bottle and cracked open a new one. Dexter and Saracen didn't notice she didn't have another glass - now wasn't the time to get tipsy, and tomorrow wasn't the day for a hangover. They cheersed to the future, to happiness. Here's to loving, here's to friendship, here's to Christmas. They watched bad Christmas movies and the Doctor Who special, and Valkyrie was in love with the skeleton, and the skeleton was in love with Valkyrie, and that's just the way it was.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

The New Year's eve meeting came along a week later. Valkyrie dreaded speaking in front of them all, but nerves were something she could no longer afford to show. That look people had given her at the Christmas ball returned in waves. What did they want from her?

For what seemed like an age they stood at the side of the stage, Skulduggery being unusually affectionate and sweet towards her, wrapping his arm around her waist and stroking her hair, and that calmed her nerves. He kept telling her she would be fine until she believed him. God, he was a genius.

Dexter pulled her aside at some point before she spoke.

"You told him?"

She nodded, biting her lip. He smiled sympathetically. "And the situation is..."

"We're just friends."

He half laughed and pulled her into a hug. It was nice to be hugged, but it was nicer to be hugged by Skulduggery.

And then she went up to talk. As she walked up onto the platform, everyone fell silent. All eyes were on here. She spotted Cassandra Pharos and Tanith near the front, and the Dead Men were standing to the side of the stage. What the hell was happening? Everyone in the room was staring at her with that look of hopefulness and pride.

"Good evening, all," she began. "First and foremost, I would like to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, but it will only be happy if we elect a new Grand Mage today. It's vital for Ireland to show the world it is still strong, even when flying in the face of crises. The fact is, Roarhaven has had a string of bad Grand Mages, and that needs to end. We started with Thurid Guild and his little sidekick Marr. Corrival Deuce could have saved us, but he was murdered in the remnant attack, and we got stuck with Madame Mist and her friend Erskine Ravel, a man I am ashamed to say I once trusted. And following this we have just got rid of Reise and Lewin. That string ends here. The new Grand Mage must be able to govern this magical community well, or Ireland may very well be on it's way out of the magical world.