Warning! This story takes place after the events of the latest SP book "Ressurection". If you have not read that far in the series yet, I reccomend you to either not read this story or go read the book first before reading this if you do not want any spoilers! Thanks in advance! And please, do leave some reviews and tell me what you think! :)

"I know you miss the power. I can see and hear it, how the thoughts roll around in your head. I am a part of her, you know. Which means I am also a part of you. I have all her memories and some parts of her powers, although I am unfortunately not as strong as her."

Valkyrie tried to ignore Darquesse, but it did not work that well. She knew that what she said was true, even how much she would like it not to be. She really missed some of the powers Darquesse had had, but far from all of them. What she missed most was the flying. She felt so free up there among the clouds, as if nothing in the world could reach her up there.

"Come on, I think you owe me a service in return given that I helped both you and the Skeleton Detective a few weeks ago with those new magicians who would use you to revive Abyssinia."

"Neoterric. They are called neoterric's. And he actually has a name."

"Oh, but forgive me because I forgot such an incredibly important name." Darquesse laughed madly. "And why can't I call him for what he really is? Never mind that he has a name, he is after all, a skeleton detective."

"He does not like anyone calling him that", murmured Valkyrie, looking down at the floor.

Darquesse laughed again. "He does not like it, or you do not like it? Admit it Valkyrie, you hate that nickname on him. You hate it that I speak condescending of him when you can hear it. You do not want someone to nigrescence his name. Aren't I..."

Darquesse was interrupted by a fist in her face and flew backwards into a wall. She shook her head to disperse the fog that had ascended from the hit and looked up at Valkyrie where she stood in the living room of Gordon's house. To think that she could not yet look at this house as her own, even though her uncle had been dead for over thirteen years. She grinned at Valkyrie's face expression.

"Don't you dare to speak about him like that! Nobody is allowed to talk condescending about Skulduggery!"

"How sensitive you can be, then! That remarkable he is not, Valkyrie. Or maybe I'll start calling you Stephanie instead? What do you think about that?" Darquesse continued to grin and Valkyrie was prepared to hit her again when Darquesse suddenly disappeared.

The house turned silent and Valkyrie understood that Darquesse (not the real Darquesse, but more a memory of her that still remained) had given up. For now. She could come back anytime when Valkyrie at least expected it. She had done it before and would continue to do so.

"Damn it! Why does she do this? What does she want me?" Valkyrie dragged her hands through her hair in a frustrated gesture while a velvety voice behind her said:

"Who's doing what towards you and who's this 'her'?"

Valkyrie winched and felt how her cheeks became red of embarrassment. She had not heard when Skulduggery came in and could not help wondering how much he could have heard. In a failed attempt to conceal her embarrassment, she rubbed her hands over her face once before turning to her mentor and best friend.

"Hi, Skulduggery! I did not hear you come. What are you doing here?"

Valkyrie knew that if Skulduggery had had eyebrows he would have raised them now. She could see it in the way he leaned his skull and in the way he stood. "What now? Do I have to have a reason to visit my partner and one of the few people I respect and trust the most?"

"So now, suddenly, and without any apparent reason, I have been degraded into an ordinary human being, instead of being an entirely unique creature that nobody understands and which was about to wipe out the whole world?"

"My dear Valkyrie, if you have not noticed, I'm actually a walking, talking and living skeleton and there's only one of my kind, so you can not directly claim that you're the only one that's unique. However, you're right in being unique about being the strongest and most dangerous magician that has existed thus far."

"Thank you, that really helped raise my confidence."

"Do you mean that?" wondered Skulduggery with a doubtful tone.

"To one hundred percent no. Are you kidding?! Who would feel better to hear that you are unique in a bad way?!"

"I thought that by now you had met so many freaks that nothing could surprise you anymore. But, but, I've been wrong before, although I have to admit that it does not happen often and that I get equally surprised every time it happens."

"Does your ego never stop growing?"

"Valkyrie, how long have we known each other? Given all the time we have spent, and will continue to spend, together, I think you should know the answer to that question by now."

Valkyrie could not help laughing. At the same time as she did, she realized that she had not laughed so spontaneously and wholeheartedly for a long time. It was only now that she understood how much of her thoughts on Darquesse and her increasingly intrusive presence had upheld her lately. It also made her realize that Skulduggery knew something was not as it should be in her life but that he had decided not to say anything until she was ready for it.

Which in itself meant that his unannounced visit to her was not that weird. It was not as if he had never done such things before under all the years they had known each other.

"Nice to hear you laugh again." Valkyrie knew that Skulduggery smiled, even though he could not show it by pulling on his dimples. She could hear it in his voice.

"Was it really that long of a time since I laughed last?"

"Well, laugh you have done time to time, but it was a long time since I heard you laugh unprovoked and to something that only you would find funny."

Valkyrie shrugged her shoulders and smiled. "Well, you might say that I have had a lot of things to think about. I am still a little rusty after being away from you and everyone else for a few years and I still do not really know how to control my new powers. It's not like I can ask anyone else about them."

"You are right about that, but in the few weeks that have passed since you decided to come back you have unusually quickly found your way back in the game again. I'll admit I am impressed, there are not many who can do such a thing after what you have gone through, Valkyrie. You are strong, brave, beautiful and unique in a good way. Never forget that."

Without Valkyrie being able to stop it, she laid her arms around Skulduggery and buried her face in his chest. It was not long before the tears began to pour down her cheeks, despite how much she tried to stop them. Skulduggery said nothing, just laid his arms around Valkyrie and hugged her back. He let his head rest against hers and he let his arms slowly stroke her back in a soothing gesture.

They stood so for a long time. The only thing that could be heard was the weak rustle of clothes that gets stroked of a hand and the low sobs from a crying human.

When Valkyrie had calmed down, she realeased a bit on her grip on Skulduggery and took a step back to take some time to sort her thoughts. Just as she would lift her head and apologize to Skulduggery, she felt how someone stood behind her. Before she understood what was happening, she felt a hand dig into her head and how a headache she had never experienced before rinsed through her.

Valkyrie shouted and would have fallen backwards to the floor if Skulduggery had not kept his hold on her waist. She closed her eyes and tried to understand what was happening when a familiar voice filled her entire head and excluded all other sounds.

"I knew I'd get my chance sooner or later. I knew sooner or later you would lower your guard and give me a golden opportunity to get my will through. Did you really think I'd let you be, Valkyrie? Did you really think I was going to let you go back to a normal life after all that you made me go through? Hardly!"

Valkyrie was filled with such a pure and clear fear as she had not experienced since the time Darquesse had taken over her for the first time. She could not utter a single word, the only thing she could do was to scream out her pain and lay her hands around her head in a desperate attempt to alleviate the pain she felt.

"Go away, get out of my head!" Valkyrie shouted back to Darquesse inside her head, but the only response she received was an evil, malicious laugh.

"I do not think so, Valkyrie. Not now when I finally have gotten my chance. Go ahead, try to throw me out if you think you can, but I have to warn you: I'm stronger now than I was before I first appeared."

"How can you be? You're just a ghost, a memory of the real Darquesse!"

"Because I've gotten strength from you, of course. The more you talked to me, the more you acknowledged to yourself that I was real and every time you have used magic, my strength has increased. I've been making sure of being by your side more often than you think. I've taken a part of all the energy you have used when you exerted magic and let it flow into myself."

Valkyrie could feel how Darquesse rotated in her head and explored her feelings and memories of things that had happened to her both a long time ago and recently. She tried to find a good place she could put Valkyrie in while she took Valkyrie's place and was going to implement what it know was that she wanted to do.

"NO!" Valkyrie shouted out her fear, anger and despair in that single word, and let herself loose from Skulduggery's arms while she was fiddling backwards with her arms still pressed against her head.

The pain in her head became so serious that she realized that if she did not get rid of Darquesse now she would faint from the pain and then Darquesse would take over immediately. Valkyrie could not let it happen! She had let Darquesse take over her too many times already in the past, and she was not about to let her do it again!

"OUT OF MY HEAD NOW!" Valkyrie screamed and at the same time released her magic as a magic shield around herself and her body.

The room was filled with a white light that quickly spread outwards as Valkyrie realesed more and more magic for every second that was passing. As soon as the light had arose, it began to dissolve and shrink until the only thing left was a small circle of light surrounding Valkyrie's body.

Skulduggery screamed Valkyrie's name but received no response. He slowly approached her, but was stopped by the shield she had laid around herself. At this point, Valkyrie floated a few centimeters above the ground and had creeped into fetal position with her hands pressed against her head while new tears of pain poured down her cheeks.

Slowly, Skulduggery put his hands on the shield and began to talk with soothing voice to Valkyrie, without knowing if she could hear him or not. "Valkyrie, I'm here. Everything will be fine, I promise. Listen to my voice. Everything will be fine, okay? I'm here for you, and will always be. 'Until the end', right? You are my partner and best friend and nothing is going to separate us."

Slowly, very slowly, Valkyrie raised her head against Skulduggery's voice, but she kept her eyes closed. "Skulduggery, is that you?"

"Yes, Valkyrie. I'm here, everything is fine. Please come back to me. We will solve whatever is bothering you. You can talk to me about everything."

Valkyrie nodded and slowly opened her eyes. At that moment the shield was dissolving around her and Skulduggery caught her in his arms before she hit the floor. He stroked a strand of hair from her face before asking "How are you?"

Just when Valkyrie was about to answer, Skulduggery felt a presence passing him behind his back, but when he turned around, nobody was there. He again turned to Valkyrie after having made it clear that no one else was there except them.

"I have... been better..." Valkyrie muttered and shivered. "What happened?"

"I'm the one that should be asking you, Valkyrie. You started screaming and holding your head as if someone was trying to take over you. Before I understood what had happened, you evoked your magic and surrounded yourself in a magic shield. I managed to reach you and caught you at the same time as the shield was dissolved. I guess you ran out of power."

Valkyrie nodded but made a grimace in the next moment, when a slight pain in her head went through her. "I remember now..." she muttered and shivered again.

"You have a lot to explain to me, am I afraid, Valkyrie."

Valkyrie nodded and looked Skulduggery in his eyes before she said "Darquesse is back."