Disclaimer: I do not own Skulduggery or any of the characters contained within this story :)

A/N: First chapter is really long i know, i'll shorten the next chapter.

Chapter One

I need to find Skulduggery, she thought to herself. She shuffled along the dampened road as fast as her crippled old legs could carry her; she was running out of time, she knew it. The old women continued along the streets clutching her chest, she looked as though she'd just come out of a war. Her hair was a mucky grey color, all tangled and bits of rubble and dried blood clung to it, her face was covered in cuts and bruises along with her arms and legs. Her clothes were all dirty and cut up revealing a tattoo along her upper right arm. She looked around, the place was just as she remembered it; the buildings around her were newly built and stood high towering over the town, hiding the secrets that lay underneath. The people around her too scared to leave or offer assistance. Her breathing was getting heavy now, she didn't have long left she knew she was going to die soon, but she had to make sure she found Skulduggery first, she had to warn him. She was remembering things more clearly, The Sanctuary, her past, her present.

She was nearly there. She could see the sanctuary more clearly now as memories of her time there came flooding back to her. She took a few more steps then collapsed onto her hands and knees, she stayed there panting. She couldn't make it. Not by herself. Just then a woman came over to her, a very beautiful woman wearing a blood red dress. She stared at the woman for a while, she knew this woman, she'd seen her before, but where?

"Er…Are you okay? Do you need any help?" The woman asked with a worrying look on her face. The old woman looked at her puzzled, that voice, where had she heard it before, it was so familiar. And then it hit her. She knew this woman, in fact she knew this woman even before she became a woman.

"S…Scape…grace?" The woman named Scapegrace looked surprised that this old woman knew his name.

"How do you know my name? Just who are you?" The old woman slowly reached for Scapegrace but he took a step back hesitantly.

"Scapegrace, I need to find Skulduggery," she coughed and blood came out. "I need to warn him." She doubled over and continued coughing, blood splattering the floor in front of her.

"Warn him about what?" Scapegrace asked, not wanting to know the answer. The old woman remained silent for a moment or two then with a desperate lunge she grabbed Scapegrace's hand.

"It's me," she said with a sigh "I'm Valkyrie…Valkyrie Cain; I need to find Skulduggery, I need to tell him."

"Tell him what?" he said with an alarmed look on his face. The old woman looked into his eyes for what seemed like a lifetime, and then said with a gentle whisper "I need to tell him how the world ended!"

Valkyrie sat up in bed suddenly, her dream fading from her memory as she tried hard to remember it. It seemed so real, there had been an old woman – and Scapegrace, and… she rested her hand on her head and closed her eyes tightly shut. What happened in the dream? What were they talking about? She was racking her brain, trying to picture her dream but it was no use, the dream was sifting through her head, it was like trying to keep sand in your hand, each detail slowly drifting away.

She was back in her own bed today; Skulduggery had a meeting with Ghastly so she was free until the afternoon. She gave up trying to remember the dream; it wasn't like it actually meant something, right? She thought to herself. She got up and went into the bathroom and turned the shower on. Once she'd finished she stepped out of the shower and quickly grabbed a towel and wrapped herself in it just as she heard footsteps coming up the stairs. A voice called from the other side of the door

"Steph, is that you?"

"No Mum," she replied "It's a thief; I'm here to steal your soap"

"That's funny, not many thieves call me Mum" she retorted with a chuckle. Valkyrie scowled at the door trying to think of a witty comeback, but too late, her mother had already crossed the landing and gone into her room. Valkyrie stepped in front of the mirror wiping away the steam as she neared, opening her towel slightly to check for any bruising or cuts. The fight last night had taken a toll on her physically leaving her exhausted but luckily left no visible signs. Satisfied there weren't any she went to her own room and pulled on her football Jersey and some worn down jeans then headed downstairs into a heated debate about the gym membership her parents gave Stephanie a few years ago.

"I think I should be the one who gets to go with Stephanie, I love her more" her dad whined as she entered. "I was there when she was born"

"So was I" her mother exclaimed "I kind of had to be!"

"Well I was there too" Valkyrie interjected not wanting to feel left out of the conversation. They both looked at each other then turned to look at Stephanie,

"Do you mind?" they replied, their voices dripping with sarcasm, "This really isn't about you" Valkyrie murmured something unflattering under her breath then turned on her heel and stomped out leaving her parents to make smart remarks about her behind her back. She headed into the kitchen to make herself some breakfast and just as she'd settled herself into a chair her phone rang.

"I thought you said I had the morning off" she said grumpily into the phone.

"Relax grumpy I'm not calling to ruin your morning, I just thought I'd be polite and tell you I'm in your bedroom" Skulduggery replied with humor in his voice. Valkyrie looked up at the ceiling.

"What are you doing up there, I thought you had a meeting with Ghastly?" she said hastily as she picked up her breakfast and hurried upstairs into her bedroom, she closed the door and turned to find Skulduggery sat on her bed looking at her.

"My meeting ended early so I had nothing else to do" he continued speaking into his phone.

"Well…" she started to say into the phone then shook her head and hung up.

"Well you could've called first" she sat down on the bed and started eating her breakfast.

"I did call" he said while putting his phone back in his pocket.

"I meant you could've called earlier before you were already here" she sighed then decided to change the conversation. "So what did Ghastly want to see you about?"

"Oh you know, just the usual"

"Actually I don't know just the 'usual' I don't get invited to these meetings" she said.

"You have to wonder why that is, are you not important enough? Maybe you're just unexceptional" he said with a nod.

"I'm very exceptional and I choose not to get invited"

"Yes" he nodded. "You're refusing to see them." She could hear the sarcasm in his voice and glared at him.

"I'm glad I don't get invited, I wouldn't go even if they did want me to. Anyway we're going off topic, what did he want to see you about?" Skulduggery didn't talk for a few minutes then mumbled something under his breath.

"Skulduggery" she said with an edge in her voice.

"I didn't go" he repeated, louder this time. Valkyrie stared at him bewildered. Skulduggery for his part remained silent and stared down at his shoes, avoiding her eyes.

"You said he had something important to tell you, why didn't you go?" Skulduggery cleared his throat uselessly then sighed.

"Every time I go to their meetings it's always dull and boring, I can't go to another one, I might start shooting" Valkyrie stared at him with a look that smart people would use towards idiots. Ghastly had spent months researching about dimensional shifts, ever since Nadir sent Valkyrie to another dimension it had intrigued him, he wanted to know more. Especially since someone was using Nadir to bring things from another dimension to here. That 'someone' was still a mystery; he had remained under the radar from them for a little over seven years now, whoever he is, he has something big planned which includes Skulduggery and herself.

"Don't worry," he said "we'll probably see them soon enough, knowing our luck something will come up and it will be unavoidable. Besides I thought we could go somewhere fun this morning, no bad guys, no fights and no magic. I know a coffee shop nearby that we could stop at before dinner, what you say?" despite herself she found herself actually smiling, she'd never really spent any time with Skulduggery outside the magic world. She scooped up the last of her cereal then told Skulduggery to wait here while she went downstairs.

She stayed behind the living room door and listened for any banter, she didn't want to walk in on another one of her parents silly arguments, they were draining her energy. Thankfully they were sat watching television when she entered. Her dad looked up from the television to her when he heard her and smiled.

"Hello my darling daughter, to what do I owe the pleasure?" Valkyrie gave her father a puzzled look then turned to her mother about to ask if dad was drugged up on painkillers. Her mother ended her puzzlement.

"Des she's not taking you to the gym so stop trying to butter her up" her dad sagged into his chair and returned his attention to the television. Valkyrie felt a little wounded that her dad only wanted to talk to her about the gym membership but after a few seconds she realized she didn't really care. She went over to her mother instead.

"I'm finishing off some homework upstairs so I probably won't be down for a while, if you need me for anything other than the membership then only then can you disturb me". Her mother nodded her agreement but her father was too wrapped up in who won the football match last night to respond. She hugged her mum as they both rolled their eyes then went upstairs for the second time in less than half an hour.

She touched the mirror and watched as her reflection came spilling out and stood right in front on her, she then motioned for Skulduggery to turn around while she started getting undressed. She got changed into the clothes Ghastly had made for her, noticing how well they still fitted then put her discarded clothes under the bed.

"I'll only be gone for a few hours" she told the reflection, "so stay upstairs for an hour or two then spend some time with my parents. You can finish the homework off we got yesterday". The reflection went and sat down at the desk and withdrew some books from her school bag.

"You ready to go?" Skulduggery asked Valkyrie. She glanced at the reflection a minute then opened her window and together they both jumped out and made their way towards the Bentley.

Skulduggery had decided to take a different route to the cafe, he said it was a short cut but Valkyrie had a feeling they were lost. She sat back in her seat and looked out of the window, she had no idea where she was, she wondered if they were still even in Haggard, it didn't look like it.

"I know it's around here somewhere, were definitely close" Skulduggery insisted, Valkyrie turned to him.

"Let's go somewhere nice' you said, 'it'll be fun' you said. I could've been doing something that is fun by now if I'd stayed at home" she said sulkily.

"Really? And what would you have been doing?"

"I could've…well I…" she faltered. "I could've been doing anything that's better than sitting in a car while being lost, I could be watching the results from last night's football match" skulduggery tilted his head to her.

"You're interested in football?"

"Well, no but if I was I would be missing it now"

"I am so sorry I took you away from watching the results of the football match last night that you're not interested in. Happy?" she folded her arms.

"I'm not going to dignify that with a response" she heard him laugh behind his skull.

"Anyway, what's so wrong with being stuck in a car if you have me as company?" Valkyrie raised an eyebrow,

"The only thing wrong with being stuck in a car is that I HAVE you as company" Skulduggery said something quietly to himself that sounded a lot like cow, so she hit him.

"I didn't say anything" he groaned whilst rubbing his arm.

"You're the one who doesn't have ears, not me" he turned his head fully towards her and was about to make a clever remark then caught sight of the look on her face and decided it was probably best not to respond.

"Let's just forget about the cafe and do something else" she said. "Why don't we just talk or something, that doesn't involve bad guys, fights or magic" Skulduggery thought about this for a moment then stopped the car and turned the engine off.

"Okay, what do you want to talk about?" Valkyrie frowned.

"Hey I came up with the idea you have to pick the conversation" Skulduggery sighed then went silent, she guessed he was probably thinking about what to talk about, or he was thinking about the best way to get rid of her, she couldn't tell.

"Hmm…what did you have for breakfast this morning?"

"Skulduggery I ate my breakfast right in front of you, I had cheerio's" he nodded.

"So you did. That's just like you, eat food in front of me to boast that you can eat and I can't" she stared at him.

"No it's because you snuck into my house instead of going to your meeting"

"That could have had something to do with it" he said agreeing with her. Right now she really did wish she had stayed at home. "So how's your love life going?" he continued. "Have you made a move on Emmett yet?" Valkyrie looked as though she might throw up.

"Skulduggery he's seventy-three"

"And a fine seventy-three year old he is" he replied with a smile in his voice.

"Aren't you supposed to be encouraging me to date people close to my age?" Skulduggery looked at her.

"When have you actually valued anything I've said?" he made Valkyrie stop and think with that one, hmm… let's see, a smile broke across her face.

"There was that time when you thanked me for saving you from the other reality" Skulduggery cocked his head to the side.

"Valkyrie that wasn't any advice on life that was simply me being grateful to you for bringing me back"

"I still valued your gratefulness" he dipped his head down to the steering wheel; she could tell she was annoying him which made it more fun. It had been a while now since they'd had a real conversation, she'd missed this, it was a time when they didn't have to worry about end of the world drama or bad guys or timing. Skulduggery's phone rang; he went to answer it while Valkyrie went back to staring out of the window. It didn't look as though there was a café nearby, maybe Skulduggery was losing it she thought to herself. He was trapped in a different reality for a little under a year after all. She couldn't hear who was on the other end of the phone, it could be Ghastly yelling at Skulduggery for not turning up to the meeting, although, that doesn't really sound like something he would do. He's far too busy to do that. Skulduggery hung up the phone then turned to Valkyrie, his skull was tilted at an angle so she knew something was wrong. A moment of awkward silence went by with the two of them just staring at each other then out of nowhere Skulduggery's finger prodded Valkyrie's face.

"Ouch" she said angrily, mostly out of shock than anything else. "What was that for?"

"I was just checking to make sure you weren't another one of my hallucinations." Valkyrie rubbed her face deciding if that was a passable excuse, she decided it wasn't.

"Why would I be a hallucination? You're not trapped in a rundown town with faceless ones anymore you know, you can't play that card. So who was that on the phone and are they the reason you're acting weird?" Skulduggery didn't respond and she knew another awkward silence was approaching; Valkyrie readied herself in case Skulduggery tried to prod her face off again but no prod came.

"We need to head to the sanctuary" he said at last,

"What do you mean? Is this about the meeting you didn't go to because if it is you're not blaming me for your lack of commitment". Skulduggery shook his head and started the car.

"This isn't about the meeting, I just got a call from Scapegrace, he says there's a woman at the sanctuary" Valkyrie rolled her eyes and cut the engine off.

"Skulduggery now's not the time to be stalking women, so there's a woman at the sanctuary big deal, what's that got to do with us?"

"Scapegrace says the woman told him her name was Valkyrie Cain" Valkyrie took a minute to process this information.

"Yeah we should probably head over there like right now" she said whilst fastening her seatbelt. Skulduggery started the engine again and it roared to life and then the Bentley sped off making its way to the sanctuary.

They walked down the corridors in silence, Valkyrie had no idea what Skulduggery was thinking but right now she didn't really care. She was told she could have a morning away from all this and now once again she was getting dragged here, all because of some lunatic running around calling herself Valkyrie Cain to anyone she met.

"Strangle" she said out of nowhere, Skulduggery turned his head towards her.

"Sorry?" Valkyrie looked his way, suddenly remembering he was with her.

"I was just thinking of what I should do to this crazy person once we see her. I'm torn, I can't decide between strangling her or shooting her. Strangling her would be more satisfying but shooting her would be less physical"

"Such a violent person" Skulduggery said sadly.

"I'm not violent" she replied defensively "I just don't like having my time wasted that's all"

"Whatever gets you through the day Val" she was about to reply to what he said but just then Ghastly, Ravel and Madame Mist stepped out of a room to their left, they noticed the two of them and proceeded towards them.

"Skulduggery" Ravel said a smile growing on his face, "Valkyrie" he said with the same amount of enthusiasm, maybe a bit more than Skulduggery's she thought.

"Good morning your majesty and might I say what a fabulous dress you have on, it's elegant, not too short. I could go as far as to say you're quite passable" Ravel's smile disappeared and was replaced with a look of embarrassment.

"It's not a dress it's a robe, it's traditional for the grand mage and his two elders to wear this uniform, and if you make one more joke about it I'll have you thrown in a cell" Skulduggery bowed.

"My apologies your highness" Valkyrie did her best not to laugh, it became harder when Ravel met her eyes.

"Valkyrie could you please control your partner?" she nodded her head then slapped Skulduggery's arm.

"Thank you" Ravel said whilst pulling something from his pocket.

"So, where's the girl who claims she's Valkyrie Cain? Skulduggery asked, Ravel looked up from the item he had taken out and addressed him.

"Well actually, I wouldn't exactly call her a girl" Valkyrie stared at what Ravel was holding, it looked magnificent. It was shaped like a sphere and was entirely made out of gold; it reminded her of the golden snitch in Harry Potter except it had no wings. There was writing all over it; ancient writing, but she couldn't tell what it said. She paid no attention as to what was being said about the impostor; instead she continued to stare at the sphere, transfixed with wonder. It was like she was drawn to it, she could feel magic leaking from within it. Ravel noticed the way she was looking at the sphere and returned it to his pocket, smiling apologetically to her.

"And your sure Scapegrace is telling the truth?" Valkyrie heard Skulduggery ask, bringing her attention back to the matter at hand.

"He sounded pretty certain, but we won't know anything until she wakes up". Skulduggery nodded and started walking towards the door they had seen Ravel, Ghastly and Mist walk through, Valkyrie hesitated then followed in his wake. She'd missed most of the conversation about the mysterious girl but she didn't want to ask Skulduggery to fill her in, she didn't want to admit to being hypnotized by that sphere, especially since she had been the only one who had. She remained silent as Skulduggery led the way to – well… wherever it was he wanted to go, maybe they were going to go see the crazy girl, or Scapegrace.

"Interesting object" Skulduggery said after a long silence, Valkyrie turned to him.

"The sphere? Yeah, it was. What do you think it is?" she asked as casually as she could, Skulduggery shrugged.

"No idea, it was rather pretty though. Maybe when we've finished here we could go ask him what it is" Valkyrie nodded but didn't respond. Did Skulduggery notice the way she was staring at it as well, or was he just being his usual nosy self?

They walked along a narrow dimly lit corridor with paintings covering either side of the walls, the paintings kind of creeped Valkyrie out as she glanced at each one as they passed, they were supposed to be of sorcerers fighting during the war with Mevolent, but whoever had painted these must have had an obsession with dark and morbid colors, most of the paintings were very dark and some had bodies piled up on the floor as a dark figure stood over them with a jagged sword. She looked away from them and stared at the back of Skulduggery's head, wondering what he thought of the paintings and if seeing them brought back any awful memories. He didn't even glance at any of them, she was kind of thankful for that in a way; she hated seeing Skulduggery in pain. It's not often she's seen him like that but there have been a few times in the past where that's happened that have just killed her inside.

Skulduggery stepped inside a room leaving Valkyrie a few paces behind trying to catch up, she could hear voices coming from the room and walked in to find Skulduggery in a conversation with Scapegrace. She walked towards them and Scapegrace smiled at her with his women smile which she found off-putting so didn't return the smile; instead she sat down at a table and listened as Skulduggery continued talking.

"As I was saying, we need to know everything she told you, is there anything you missed out when you were talking to Ghastly and Ravel?" Scapegrace looked over at Valkyrie. Was he allowed to tell her? Could it affect the future?

"Er – nothing, everything she told me was passed onto elder Ravel" Skulduggery tilted his head in disappointment then turned to Valkyrie.

"So the only thing that we know is she's pretending to be you and she's old…" Valkyrie snapped her eyes up at him and stared at him in disbelief.

"Wait, she's old? No one ever said she was old"

"Ravel told us while we were standing in the corridor" Valkyrie remembered not listening to that conversation and pretended as if she had.

"Oh yeah, now I remember. Well if she's an old woman why did you think I was a hallucination in the car, she couldn't be me".

"Well yes but I didn't know then that she was old, you know we were in the car before we came to the sanctuary right?" Valkyrie thought about it for a minute then covered her face to hide her embarrassment, this just wasn't her day. Skulduggery noticed this and chuckled behind his skull silently so she couldn't hear. He returned his attention back to Scapegrace who was looking fidgety almost.

"Are you sure she didn't say anything else?", "Anything of importance?" Scapegrace thought about this for a moment, he could tell them himself or he could wait for the future Valkyrie Cain to tell them everything, that way he wouldn't get into any trouble with her. He decided.

"There is something else but I don't think I should be the one to tell you, you'll need to speak with her". That got both Skulduggery's and Valkyrie's attention.