This story takes place right after the events of "Nightmare". If you have not read it, some parts of this story might contain spoilers. You've been warned! For the rest of you, I hope you enjoy this story! Please leave a review and tell me what you think :)

Everywhere around her nothing else excisted but darkness and fire. She stood in the middle of a bridge with an abyss of flames beneath her. Tiniest little misstep and she would fall straight down into it and be annihilated...

She raised her gaze from the abyss and instead concentrated on making her way across the bridge before that, which was chasing her, caught up to her. She could feel its presence, it was everywhere around her. What she could not do however, was to see it. She knew it was there somewhere, but where she could not say. She hurried her steps and had come three quarters over the bridge when a shape appeared in front of her and cut of her only escape route.

She stopped and stared at the shape that stood there as equally still as a statue. It did not say anything, did not move. It just... existed. She felt her magic pulsate in her body and let it zip out through her fingers as white lightning. She did not attack, not yet, but awaited to see what and if the shape was going to do something. When nothing happened she raised her hands against the shape so it could see the lightning in her hands.

"I'm just going to say this once. Get out of the way, otherwise I will be forced to hurt you." The shape did not answer but just continued to stand as still as before. She sighed. "Why don't they never listen?"

She ran forward against the shape while she sent out her magic towards it. With a quickness she did not think was possible, the shape moved away from her attack and now stood behind her. Quickly, before it had time to grab her, she threw herself down on the bridge and rolled around before she quickly stood up. A kick against her chin made her see stars and she fell down on her ass with a confussed expression on her face.

"What..." she said before a pair of hands lay around her throat and lifted up her.

She tried to pull away the hands that pushed against her throat and that cut off all air supply to her lungs, but despite how much she struggled the hands did not release their hold. Black dots now began to dance in front of her eyes and she desperately tried to get some air into her lungs, but nothing came. The panic welled upp inside of her. She did not want to die, she could not, die like this! She must fight, she must...

The shape let go of her throat with on of its hands and she could finally breath in some air. She became dizzy of the measly, clean air that trickled into her and when she once again could focus she saw that the shape had pulled back the hood that covered its face. The person under it was someone she knew way too well...

"See what you've done to me, Valkyrie... This is what awaits me in the future. I will become an empty shell of the one I once was, before you made the unmentionable towards me. I will become just like your precious reflection Stephanie but thousand times better. Our parents will never be able to see that there's something wrong with me. They will just think that I am an unusual happy kid."

In front of her stood an older version of her beloved little sister Alice Edgley. She looked like she might be around 12 years old. As old as she herself had been when she had met Skulduggery and become a part of the magical society. Her blond hair was lighter (probably bleached by the sun) and her facial features had a more adult way over it. But it was Alice's eyes that got Valkyrie to shiver in discomfort. In Alice's light blue eyes were no kind of emotions. They were like a bottomless well of non-emotions. It was as if someone had sucked out all of Alice's emotions and left behind a shell of the once so emotional girl that Valkyrie loved over everything else.

"Alice, I... I am sorry... I did not want to... I did not think... I did not know that would happen..."

Alice laughed a laugh without emotions and once again laid her hand over Valkyrie's throat. "Do not worry, dear sister. I am here to make everything right. Relax, the more you struggle the more painful it will be."

"Alice, please..."

Alice just laughed again and the last Valkyrie saw before the darkness fell over her was those unfeeling eyes...

She awoke by her own scream and felt how hard her heart beat in her chest. She was clammy and she had managed to tangle the sheet around her body which gave her a sense of claustrophobia.

Before she had managed to struggle out of the sheet her bedroom door opened with such a force that the door bounced against the wall and back towards the person that had opened it. Strong arms lay around her struggling body and tried to help her, but just rather made it worse.

"Let me be!" she screamed and tried to get away the hands that had laid around her.

"Valkyrie, stop! It's me! Calm down!"

That voice... She would never be able to mistake that. It was as smooth as velvet and each time she heard it she knew that she was safe and that the owner to the voice always would be there for her.

"Skulduggery."

"Yes, it's me. I'm here now. Calm down. Take a deep breath. That's it. Better now?"

"Yes. Thank you."

Skulduggery did not answer but just looked at her with his black eye sockets where his eyes once had been. Despite he no longer having any eyes or any other human organs, he could see, feel and talk just like a normal human being. He always used to say that the benefits with being a living skeleton was that he never had to worry for things that other people needed like going to the toilet or eat.

He helped her out of the sheet before he let his hands wander over her body. She knew that he was checking for injuries but was too exhausted to be able to tell him that it was nothing wrong with her physically. She was exhausted inboard and had so been for several years now. She had hoped that everything would be for the better after the whole Darquesse-incident, but that had not been the case.

Everything had rather gotten worse...

Skulduggery lifted up her chin with his gloved hand so her eyes came in eye height with his own. "Valkyrie."

That was all he said. Just her name, but in that single word she could determine so much. In that single word she could hear what he felt for her, that he would always be there for her, that everything they had been through had brought them closer together. That nothing could separate them...

Valkyrie laid her arms around Skulduggery and hugged him hard. He laid his bony arms around her and hugged her back. In the same moment that she felt his body against her own the tears came. Her hands took a hard grip around Skulduggery's shirt collar and she pushed her face against his right bony shoulder. Her whole body was shaking from the crying and she felt how Skulduggery let his hands stroke over her back and hair while he whispered calming words in her ear.

"Sch, everything will be alright. We'll solve this. We've always done. Until the end."

Valkyrie smiled despite the tears. "Until the end..." she whispered.

She pulled away a little bit from him and dried her eyes. She had always thought it was hard to be forced to cry in front of other people, but with Skulduggery it at least was bearable.

"I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"For wetting your suit. This is one of your favourites, right? One of those that Ghastly made?"

"That may be the case but it is washable. Besides it wouldn't be the end of the world if I would be forced to get rid of it, since I have many more in stock."

"Just like with your plans, you mean?" Valkyrie asked and gave Skulduggery a crooked smile.

"I am going to pretend that I did not hear the sarcasm in your voice since I know that you find me flawless and perfect in every way possible."

Valkyrie roared with laughter and hit Skulduggery's arm.

"Ow! That was a bit unnecessarily, don't you think?"

"Nothing beats an opportunity to hit you, Skulduggery."

Skulduggery did not answer but just tilted his head and observed her. He laid his hand in hers and squeezed it. "I understand, Valkyrie. It is normal to dream nightmares after having been experiencing something traumatic. I am here for you if you want to talk about it."

She did not answer. She released her gaze on him and instead looked down on their intertwined hands. She so desperately wanted to tell about the nightmare to Skulduggery but at the same time it was something that held her back. She did not know how she should start or what he would think about her when he got to hear what she'd dreamed. Even if it was stupid of her to think that way, a small part of her was afraid that he would see her as weak.

Was it something she did not want to be in front of Skulduggery it was weak.

"I..." she began but interrupted herself.

Skulduggery squeezed her hand again and it made her take a deep breath to try to calm her hammering heart. She dared a quick glance up at him and what she saw in his face was a calm and patience that made her feel stupid for thinking the idiotic thought to not daring to show weakness in front of him. Had he not been weak a couple of occasions and it had been her task to get him on other thoughts?

"I dreamt about Alice... She was a few years older than she is now and she... She killed me because of what I did against her..." Valkyrie's voice stagnated and she had to struggle to keep back the tears.

Before she had time to react she once again had Skulduggery's arms around her. "I am sorry, Valkyrie."

"It's my fault, Skulduggery! It was my choice and I have to stand for the consequences! I... I have ruined my own sister!"

"No! Don't say that, Valkyrie! You have not destroyed Alice! Did I not tell you a couple hours ago that we will solve this? Did I not say that we would fix and make her better? Did I not say that we would help Alice?"

Valkyrie could not answer since what Skulduggery was saying was the truth. She also knew that he would do everything he could to help her sister, if there now was anything they could do.

"Valkyrie, listen to me. I understand that you are upset right now. To live with this burden is not easy and believe me when I say that I know how you feel. You at least have the advantage to see Alice live and see her be happy."

"I'm sorry, Skulduggery... I know you can not take back the things you did as Lord Vile. I know that there are many people you will never be able to meet again because of the choices you did and that this is something you have to carry with you daily."

"That is true, but even if I like to talk about myself it is you and your problems we are talking about now. I just want to say one more thing about myself before we move forward and that is that even if I still feel pain and sorrow for the people I've killed and lost so is that pain something positive. Pain makes you know that you're alive."

"But you are not really alive", Valkyrie answered and could not help but smile.

Skulduggery chuckled and tilted his head. "No, not really. My existence is pretty complicated. Not even I knows how it really works."

"You know? Sometimes I envy you. It has to be so nice to avoid getting bruises, not have to worry about hunger, thirst and that you in the middle of an important decision or fight have to seek up a toilet."

"Well, being dead has, as you say, a great many advantages. Sometimes when I look at you and your everyday problems I can not help but miss my humanity a little, but then I quickly remind myself about that I am a living skeleton and the only one of my kind and then the missing dissapears pretty quickly."

Valkyrie laughed again and laid her head against Skulduggery's bony chest. She laid her arms around his back and pressed him close before she gave out a deep sigh. She felt how Skulduggery stroked her back slowly and pressed his teeths against her hair, which was his version of a kiss.

"Does it feel better now?"

"A lot." Valkyrie closed her eyes. "Will you stay with me for the rest of the night?"

"Of course." Skulduggery laid down on her bed with her on top and then settled down against her pillows. "I will always be here for you."

"And I for you. Until the end." Valkyrie looked up at Skulduggery. "I love you, Skulduggery Pleasant."

"And I love you, Valkyrie Cain."