Chapter 4: Love and War
A/N: I definitely do not own any of the characters, especially this chapter. RATED M FOR LANGUAGE TOWARDS THE MIDDLE. Sorry for the language, just it sounded better than some kid insult.
Valkyrie played with her dark hair as she looked through her messages. Although she looked like a twenty year old on the outside, inside she was the classic two year old. Skulduggery walked into the room and slumped his shoulders at the girlish sight in front of him.
"Val, you are always on that cell phone! Probably texting that lousy boyfriend of yours, aren't you?"
Valkyrie looked up with a glare that could kill.
"Fletcher is not lousy! Sure, he's annoying, loud—"
"Don't forget that ridiculous hair. Bloody Hell it's awful," Skulduggery interrupted pointing a finger.
Valkyrie knew she couldn't deny that one, so she just hunched her shoulders and sighed.
"Skul, I am dating Fletch for a reason, okay? It's not true love, but I can't find anyone better who adores me like him. I'm sick of being alone; no offence. You're still my best friend. It just hurts to know no one you love loves you back."
Skulduggery's imaginary heart sank; his jaw dropping.
"Valkyrie Cain listen here. You are beautiful! You can do way better than some love thirsty idiot like Fletcher. Anyone with a brain or eyes could see that. Well, I make an exception of course."
Valkyrie looked up at the dead serious skeleton before her.
"Skul, do you mean that?" she asked, her eyes wide.
Skulduggery finally realized all that he just said, and tilted his head at her.
"Oh, look at the time! I must be going; my meditation chair is missing me, goodbye Val!"
Skulduggery ran out of the door of Gordon's mansion and sped off in the Bentley, leaving the wonderstruck Valkyrie alone.
"He said I'm beautiful," Valkyrie murmured, her heart beating rapidly.
"Who is it?" Fletcher snarled with his face red.
Valkyrie looked up with tearstained cheeks and cried, "No one! Why won't you believe me, Fletch?"
Fletcher's expression didn't change as he got up in Valkyrie's face.
"Oh, you're a liar. You wouldn't have broken up with me if there wasn't someone else…It's him isn't it! You are in love with the bag of bones with no emotions!" he spat, a finger in Valkyrie's face.
"My god, Fletcher! Why do you care? I know you have been two timing. Please go, and accept I don't love you anymore!" she moaned.
"I'll tear that skeleton apart and sink him back in that damn river! He can't even love you properly! Or do this."
Fletcher went to touch Valkyrie, but she slapped him. His head spun back around slowly, his right cheek sporting a fresh red handprint.
"You bitch!" he yelled hitting her back.
Valkyrie's lip twitched as blood spilled down her chin. She was consumed with complete terror and anger as more tears trickled down her face mixing with blood and hair.
"You h-hit—"
"Get over it, you bitch. I'm guessing you wish your beloved skeleton was here, huh? Well guess what! He's not! If he shows up I'll kill him!" Fletcher's laugh was laced with venom that made Valkyrie flinch.
Suddenly, the door burst off its hinges and the great Skeleton Detective himself walked in. Skulduggery aimed his gun at Fletcher with no hesitation.
"Don't you ever lay a hand on Valkyrie again, boy!" Skulduggery snarled.
Fletcher laughed and threw his head back.
"Well, well! The bag of bones himself showed up! Guess he can die now!"
Skulduggery's gun didn't waver as he said, "You can't kill what's already dead, Fletcher."
Fletcher rolled his eyes and turned back to Valkyrie, his over gelled hair messed up.
"Ehh, I can't believe you love this thing, Val. Guess I'm going to have to get rid of him."
Fletcher turned back around and winked at Skulduggery as the gun fired. Fletcher teleported too quickly, and the bullet passed through where he was standing and hit Valkyrie in the shoulder. She moaned with immense pain as she clutched her shoulder. Blood poured from the gun wound as she leaned back against the wall. Skulduggery gasped in horror at what had happened and rushed forward to assist her.
As Skulduggery went to ask if she was all right, Fletcher appeared behind him, a baseball bat in hand. Valkyrie's eyes widened as she saw the insane Fletcher raise the bat. Skulduggery sensed the danger behind him and spun around to deliver a swift kick to Fletcher's shins. Fletcher howled in pain but didn't give up the attack. He ran forward and attempted a swing at Skulduggery's ribcage. Skulduggery stepped back quickly and splayed his gloved hands forward.
Fletcher was now pressed up against the wall, his teeth gritted. Skulduggery walked up to Fletcher and with great force punched him in the head. Fletcher moaned in pain and his head lulled forward as he drifted into unconsciousness. Skulduggery patted Fletcher's head and sighed.
"He should have known he couldn't have won against me. Poor thing."
He then turned his attention back to the twenty year old moaning in pain against the other wall.
"A little help here, Skul. If you haven't noticed you shot me."
Skulduggery rushed forward to pick her up, and cradled her to his chest.
"I'm so sorry, Val. I seemed to have forgotten the idiot could teleport."
Valkyrie faked a gasp, and replied, "The Great Skeleton Detective forgot something? OH MY GOODNESS! What a world I live in!"
Skulduggery gave a fake laugh and muttered, "Yeah, funny."
Valkyrie woke up to a bright white light. She flinched at the brightness and brought herself forward to sit up. She looked around the room for anyone, and relaxed as she saw Skulduggery meditating in the chair across from her bed. She closed her eyes and lay back down, not feeling any pain from her shoulder. She heard Skulduggery stir awake, and she turned her head to look at him. Skulduggery tilted his head at her to show he was grinning and slid his chair up by her.
"Have a good sleep? Again, sorry about the accident," Skulduggery grabbed her soft hand gently.
"Skul, I'm fine. I think it's quite fine now. Don't apologize for shooting me, because you didn't mean to. Damn teleporters."
Skulduggery chuckled and leaned back in the chair.
"That's good that your wound is healing. Now, Val, mind telling me why Fletcher was there in the first place?"
Valkyrie sighed and looked away from him.
"He was there because I wanted him there. We needed to talk about something. That whole relationship thing with him really wasn't working as you've already guessed. "
"But I thought you said you didn't like being alone, Val."
"Well, I didn't break up with him because I was bored of him, I broke up with him because I have undoubtedly fallen in love with someone else."
Skulduggery's head snapped up as he saw the grin on Val's face.
"Who?"
"Eh, someone with many great qualities you know. You guys are quite close."
"When I find out who this guy is, I plan on hitting him a few times."
Valkyrie laughed at the thought of Skulduggery punching himself.
"I don't think you would hit him, Skul."
"And why not?"
"Because he's sitting right in front of me."
Skulduggery realized she was talking about him, and became stiff.
"Oh…that's nice."
Valkyrie giggled and faced the opposite direction, letting him piece things together. After a minute, she heard him get up. She became concerned and turned around in the hospital bed to see what was wrong. Skulduggery was now straddling Valkyrie, bringing his teeth down to meet her lips. Valkyrie was quite shocked, but gave into the kiss. She wrapped her arms around his neck as he made the kiss deeper. As Valkyrie finally drew back for breath, she looked up into his eye sockets.
"I love you, Skulduggery."
Skulduggery tilted his skull at her grinning, and replied, "I love you too, Valkyrie Cain."
A/N: Sorry if that was mushy. Should I have warned you? Hopefully you will live. I know I made a big deal about language in this chapter, but other authors do it, so I thought I should thank them.
I want to give a big thank you to NightCatMau, one of my favorite fanfic writers xD, for reviewing as well as you other wonderful reviewers. Thanks a bunch! I am so grateful that there are Valduggery shippers reading this. J