Valkyrie woke up with a grogginess clouding her brain. Her body felt heavy, like it was weighed down and covered in layers. Upon looking down to see what was going on, she immediately wished she hadn't. She was covered by the heavy kind of duvet, the one with feathers inside, but she just knew that she was naked underneath it all though. She could feel the material against her smooth and milky skin and it made her shiver with fear because the only time she was ever naked was when she was having a shower. She slept in old tops and shorts and now that she thought about it, she wasn't in her bed, or even her room. The room was baby pink, almost like a room in a doll house, complete with the vanity mirror, no, it was more like Barbie's dream house. The thought made her shudder. She sat up and pulled the duvet around her as she did so, her chocolate coloured eyes scoping the room for any idea of where she was and what was going on. She saw some closed curtains and stood up on heavy and wobbly legs, stumbling over with the duvet still held to her body tightly. She neared the curtains and tugged them open with a rising hope to find out where she was only to find an unpainted brick wall where a window should have been; the hope died in her chest. She looked around once more to see a desk with a piece of paper folded neatly on top of it. The desk was painted a baby pink and it was empty apart from the note. It was backed into the matching baby pink wall which matched the other three in the room. She looked to the note it being the only thing that's not baby pink other than the ceiling which was as white as the paper. She picked up the note and opened it up with one hand, frowning as she read it;

'Valkyrie, such a valiant name,

Such beauty,

Such innocence.

I've been wanting to do this ever since I saw you all those years ago.

And now I can.

I want you and now I have you.

-Your Knight in Shining Armour x

Valkyrie frowned deeply and set the note down, feeling fear washing round her. She moved to the closet and opened it to see nothing but frilly dresses. She shuddered and moved to a chest of draws, letting out a breath of relief when she found some underwear which she gladly pulled on. She then looked through the rest of the room to find no other clothes than the dresses in the closet. And so, begrudgingly, she looked through them for the least frilly pink one and pulled it on. It came to her mid-thigh and to her horror, there weren't any that were longer unless they came down too low in the chest area. She frowned at the sight of the dress in the mirror and hated how it reminded her of such innocence, like something her little sister would have worn. She looked to the door and moved towards it, thinking of the feeling of the energy she was trying to conjure and then felt a sudden dread that she had no magic. It was only then that she realised that there was a sense of numbness inside of her, like she couldn't access something that should be present in her always. The feeling of dread grew when the door handle rattled and the door opened and in stepped a man that Valkyrie genuinely didn't recognise.

She took a step back and then got into a fighting stance, ready for anything, if she couldn't have magic then she'd rely on her training, rely on what Skulduggery and Tanith had taught her. "Who are you?" she asked with a voice that held more steadiness than she felt.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" he smirked, and at any other time Valkyrie would have found that smirk attractive but due to the situation, it made her feel sick.

"That's why I asked, dumbass." She grumbled which appeared to be the wrong way to reply because then she was being pinned against the wall.

"You do not talk to me like that. You will call me sir and that is it. You will do as I say or I will not hesitate to punish you, do you understand?" he growled dangerously close to her face while he gripped tightly at her hair to stop her from smashing her head against his. He has studied her for years, he knew everything about her. "I see you went for the little girl dress, you feeling vulnerable sweetheart?" he asked softly and suddenly she felt so out of her depth. She knew she wasn't ready to come back into the field, she wanted Skulduggery.

"Where's Skulduggery?" she asked quickly, her voice shaky and scared. This didn't feel like any of their other cases. This one felt as though it would haunt her for a long while.

"Ah, I figured you would ask after him, he's safe and I promise I won't hurt you as long as you co-operate with me." He said softly but with an undertone of seriousness, "You'll be sticking around with me for a while darling, I'll let your precious detective friend know that you're safe however I'm afraid that I'm unable to let you go. You're my pretty little doll now, all mine, isn't that amazing? It's like I can take a breath of relief now, like I can relax." He smiled warmly and again, if it were in a different situation, she knew her stomach would have fluttered but she just felt that all too familiar queasy feeling.

"Why do you want me?" she whispered, "I'm nothing special." She added quietly, her eyes closing.

"Au contraire my dear, you are quite valuable to me. I saw you with your skeleton friend once and since then I just knew that I needed to have you here, here in my arms… and here you are, my beautiful doll, here in my arms. I know what you've been through darling, I've been there with you through it all; you just haven't seen me. That's okay though because we can make up for lost time now. We can spend the rest of our days with each other, haven't you noticed that there has been no mumblings from Darquesse? You've had complete control of what you think, it's just me and you here, just us. No prying eyes, no judgmental humans." He said in a voice that managed to soothe her just like Skulduggery's did.

"B-but…"

"Shh, my sweet, you're safe, you don't have to be stressed anymore. I know how you try and hide it from Mr. Pleasant. I know how you try and keep him from knowing about the bad dreams you have, what you do for sweet relief, I won't tell anyone, I promise you, I just want to help you, I just want to keep you safe and protected." He said in the same soothing tone.

She fell silent because what if this was the break she had been dreaming of? The man had promised not to hurt her and this way she felt sane, like she could control herself after so long of having Darquesse taking over her brain. But then there was no Skulduggery, no feeling of magic in her, like part of her was missing. Finally, she spoke up, "I don't want to live without Skulduggery." She whispered and felt a harsh slap catch her across the cheek and then she was dropped to the floor.

"He can't protect you like I can! You are mine! You'll never see that skeleton again!" he screamed at her and then left and locked the door, turning off the lights from the outside and watched a screen on the wall next to the light switch of what Valkyrie was going to do. His strong arms were crossed as he stood with a frown marring his, what could be, soft and angelic features, and felt the presence of his boss beside him, "Are you sure about this?" he asked, suddenly not sure. He had a feeling she'll ask for her mentor a lot and he didn't really want to hurt her.

"You want her and I want Skulduggery, this works in our favour Darius." The woman beside him said. She was shorter than him but he knew her well enough to know that if he did anything then he would be dead.

"Yes Ms. Sorrows, he's probably looking for her now, she's been out for a few hours. He would be sneaking into the study by now." Darius said softly, he truly did know their schedule.

"Thank you Darius, I'll let you know if you are suspected, call me if there are any developments." She said and then tapped the sigil on her shoulder and then the Supreme Mage was gone.