A/N: I don't own Valkyrie, Skulduggery, Corrival, Erskine, Dex, Saracen, Wreath or Craven. This is set after the books and I tinkered a tad but you won't notice, I swear. Contains massive spoilers, so be warned. Val is 100, story is in her POV. I do own my OC though, so paws off.

Valkyrie had decided that turning a hundred was a pretty big deal, but one she wanted to celebrate on her own. She loved her friends, but they had very different lives now. Skulduggery and Erskine had at last joined Corrival to head the Sanctuary, and when she wasn't called in on cases Valkyrie liked going off on adventures.

Sometimes she traveled with Dex or Saracen and she liked that well enough, but all her friends still saw the young girl they'd first met. Not that they treated her as less than an adult, but well, it would have been nice to have met someone by now. And her friends seemed intent on keeping her single. Valkyrie smiled to herself as she gathered light into her palm.

People still didn't know what she was and people of every magical branch had studied her. The only thing she did know is that she sent Necromancers into a screaming panic and she had a good idea Wreath was actively hiding from her. So now, at one hundred she was exploring a Necromancer temple long since abandoned and one she'd only read about once in a temple library.

Wreath wouldn't talk about the place, but Craven, typical of his pomposity and need to show off had told her the place was full of heretics and had been the final false temple to be expunged from the Earth. That had given Valkyrie the chills. Necromancers, nutty and creepy as most were usually didn't have the capacity to kill in them.

Valkyrie shook her head and brought herself back to the present. She'd used her light magic as she liked to think of it to light-walk into the temple and now as she stood in what must have been the old entrance she looked around in awe. The temple walls were made from pure white stone and even as she watched torches with gentle blue flames lit themselves. The place was open and airy and clean and as she started forward she was drinking in pleasantly cool but not cold air.

No wonder they hated this place. She thought as she explored white halls and walked into libraries full of ancient books she didn't dare breath on. There was dust everywhere, white as the walls and fine, and a hushed quality to the temple, but the energy of the place was welcoming and nurturing. Valkyrie was glad she'd come alone. The places stirred memories in her she couldn't explain and when she came to the throne room she put a hand to her mouth and gasped.

The throne room for the high priest and what must have been the clerics wasn't a room at all. It was a circular clearing in the center of the temple and there was one large white stone throne and several slightly smaller ones in a circle around a stone pool filled with blue water. A huge circular dome shone light down on the scene from above and it was strangely beautiful. On each throne sat a white robed figure with its head bowed and although Valkyrie wanted to leave them in peace she felt a tender pity for them.

She felt like saying something as she approached. "They never understood me either, the Necromancers, I mean." She said. The still figures didn't answer of course but Valkyrie looked into each hooded face. Some had mummified, some were skeletons and on the largest throne of all? Valkyrie felt her heart hammer. The hooded figure was tall and unlike everything else in the temple was free of dust. The robe gleamed white and the figure gave an appearance of great strength. It dawned on her that the person on the throne might be very much alive.

"Hello?" Valkyrie said as she approached. "I thought this temple was abandoned, I didn't mean to interfere in your, um, ceremony." The hooded figure raised its head and Valkyrie gasped softly. She was looking at a skeleton. A skeleton of unearthly beauty that had glowing blue lights for eyes. Valkyrie was instantly smitten. The skeleton's gaze was gentle, but clearly confused. "Hello, young one. Have I slept long?"

"Yes?" Valkyrie tried as the skeleton looked around herself then looked at each throne.

"I thought they could hang on," She said sadly. She seemed to rally. "Where are my manners? These are your brothers and sisters, all that was left after the others converted to that prevision that dares call itself Necromancy."

"Brothers and sisters?" Valkyrie asked and the skeleton chuckled and held up her palm, light pooling into her palm.

"Welcome to the last temple of the only true Necromancers, my dear. Your coming was foretold you know." The skeleton got up stiffly and Valkyrie went to her. "Thank you." She put a hand on Valkyrie's shoulder, then promptly sat back down. "Tea would be lovely." She said faintly and Valkyrie nodded.

She followed the skeleton's directions, not willing to tell her that the tea had to have gone off or that she couldn't drink tea being a skeleton. She found the kitchen ran on magic, the tea was good and soon she'd made a cup with plenty of sugar. She took the delicate cup back and the high priestess sipped it, closing her glowing blue eyes in pleasure. "Thank you, my dear."

"No problem." Valkyrie shrugged. "You're the high priestess of this temple?"

"Yes." The priestess looked at her. "You don't seem to be fainting."

"I was Skulduggery Pleasant's partner, so..."

"Ah, Mr. Pleasant, yes. Tell me, are we still under Queen Victoria's unwanted reign?"

"Not exactly."

"Then what queen?"

"We got our independence, we're the Republic of Ireland now."

"We did? Good for us then. How are we handling it?"

"As well as can be expected?" Valkyrie tried. She though these were strange questions, she'd have wanted to know other things, but clearly the high priestess had her own priorities.

"What year?"

"Twenty one and change."

"We're in the two thousands? Goodness, the last thing I remember is Queen Victoria's reign, and tea was all the rage, and our temple was going into a shut down mode, only they came in and they, they-" She shivered. "They came in like a black wave. Our defenses did us nothing. We were mostly peaceful we stood no chance. They didn't have the decency to kill us, but rendered us helpless and left. They didn't even stay to watch us die. We made it to our thrones, we tried to hold on, to wait for you."

"Please stop saying that. I'm not a Necromancer."

"Of course you are. Your light is our true power. Those nasty creatures never had the talent to handle it so they decided what they did was the one true way for all Necromancers." The skeleton's blue eyes flashed. "But, you are right. You can't be held to anything. Go. It was kind of you to visit." The skeleton settled back on her throne and her head drooped.

Valkyrie felt sorry for her. She didn't want this. She wanted nothing to do with Necromancy. But she couldn't leave the high priestess alone either. "Let's start over. I'm Valkyrie Cain." She said brightly and extended a hand. The skeleton looked up in surprise took her hand and instead of shaking, she kissed it.

Valkyrie blushed and the skeleton turned the gesture into a handshake. "Women's hands are meant to be kissed. Beautiful women's hands at any rate. I should take a new name for this new life, it seems proper. So I shall be... Maxilla. Maxilla Coronal."

Valkyrie simply nodded and stuffed her hands in her pockets. "So people can just call you Max?"

"Yes, I'd like that. And I can call you Val?" Valkyrie gave another nod. "Good, great." She switched to a stream of Irish that Valkyrie caught one of ten words of then sighed. "You are a rather interesting young lady, Val. Tell me, will you stay a while and let me teach you about Necromancy? The real thing? No strings attached, of course."

Valkyrie bit her lip and didn't know what to say.

And I'm leaving it there. And yes, Max is a lesbian. Hence the pretty heart necklace cover pic.