Skulduggery's POV
Skulduggery was sitting in the conference room with Saracen and Dexter trying to find a way to get Valkyrie back with out changing the future.
Valkyrie had told them that she wouldn't come back if it was going to kill Skulduggery and she had stuck to that. Though Valkyrie was able to get John in her time to find China and send her back to their era. China was currently resting up in the medical wing where there were doctors were fussing around her 24/7. At least they got their grand mage back everybody said to Skulduggery but it wasn't Valkyrie and that's all he wanted, for Valkyrie to come home.
Dexter and Saracen looked up as Tanith came barging in the room. Skulduggery was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't realize she had entered the room at all. Though he looked up when she came to stand in front of him. Before she could say anything though he was standing up.
"Is it Valkyrie what happened?" he asked her
Tanith nodded at him as she tried to catch her breath. "They went out to dinner when Nefarian showed up. I came to get you soon after that." Before she could finish the sentence though He was running out of the room with Saracen and Dexter right behind him sprinting to the security room where they watched Valkyrie.
Skulduggery barged into the room to see Fletcher, Donagen, gracious, and even china gathered around the computers motherboard and looking up at the screen on the wall that showed Valkyrie and Skulduggery sitting at a table with Nefarian standing next to them. Valkyrie was looking down at the table as Skulduggery striked conversation with Nefarian.
"Ah... Nefarian. How was your vacation?" Skulduggery asked him.
"Don't play with me," Nefarian acidly replies back to him.
"I'm not. I am genuinely curious."
"Which one are you talking about?" Nefarian says following what Skulduggery was doing.
What Skulduggery wasn't expecting was for Valkyrie to say something but leave it to her to do the unexpected. Tanith winces when Valkyrie replies to Nefarians snide comment.
"The one to hell," She says. Everybody stiffens as they watch everything unfold on the screen in front of them. Tanith walks over to her seat and sits down Fletcher leans forward in his own chair and Dexter Saracen and china step forward as they wait to see what happens.
"What did you say?" Nefarian says glaring at Valkyrie.
"You heard me. The vacation to hell, how did it go?' Valkyrie stubborn side was coming out again.
Everybody watches as the human Skulduggery snickers and Nefarian goes bright red.
"The next time you talk to me like that you little rat, I will kill you," Nefarian says stepping close to Valkyrie making her lean back a little and everybody in the surveillance room cringe and Cause Skulduggery to glare at him. Nefarian smiles and turns to Skulduggery.
"Now Pleasant. Keep your little pet reined in will you?"
Skulduggery watches what Valkyrie's reaction is to that. And it isn't good. She waits tell Nefarian had turned away to grab his shoulder and as he turned toward her, her hand met his face making a satisfying cracking sound to Skulduggery's imaginary ears and falls into the table a few feet away making it crash to the ground along with him. Valkyrie stepped forward towering over Nefarian who was laying on the ground holding his broken nose that was now bleeding non stop. He started to get up again but she grabbed his arm and pulled it behind his back and twisted it so if he moved at all the arm would be pulled out of it's socket causing him a large amount of pain if not unbearable, all of this happened in a matter of a minute not giving the Skulduggery there enough time to process what was happening before it had stopped.
Tanith was about to say something or possibly cheer her on but both china and Skulduggery shushed her to hear what Valkyrie was now saying to Nefarian but the camera was too far away and she was talking to quietly and a few moments later she is standing up still staring down at him with pity in her eyes. She was turning around when Nefarian jumps up and before she could block him he had punched her in the head so hard she landed on the floor and didn't get back up. Tanith cried out, fletcher yelled her name and Saracen and Dexter winced. China just looked away but Skulduggery just stood there waiting for what he knew was coming next.
His younger self-shot up and grabbed Nefarain by the neck slamming him against the wall, He leaned down to say something in Nefarians ear and even though he everybody else couldn't hear what he was saying Skulduggery could remember what the conversation like it was just yesterday.
He leaned forward so he was in Nefarians face and he had hold of his neck but he was ready to ram it through the wall if he made one wrong move. " If you ever touch her again Nefarian you will have me to deal with," A smirk crosses Nefarians face, which only makes Skulduggery more angered. He tightens his hold on Nefarians neck, which cuts off the only small amount of air that was let through to his lungs before causing him to start choking.
"If you ever come as far as five feet away from her. You will have me being the one killing you. I know what she told you and if I know one thing about her she never lies so if I were you I would believe her and I would run. NOW!" He lets Nefarian go and he runs out of the building along with boo's from the other customers in the restaurant. Once he's gone they cheer.
Skulduggery comes back to himself to Tanith shaking his shoulder. They had paused the computer screen, which was now blank. He looked around at everybody and then walked out of the room heading to his office to think things over. He ignored every body until he got to the door that had Mr. Pleasant and Mrs. Cain's office. Written across the frosted glass window. He opens the door and enters walking over to the comfy chair he had bought for Valkyrie a few years ago. He stared at the wall which consisted of several pictures of him and Valkyrie though there were a few with the dead men to on one of their missions but the one picture he caught himself staring at the longest was one taken a week before Valkyrie had left for her job in America. It was of them standing in front of the Bentley with her arm around Skullduggery's waist with a big smile on her face. Tanith had taken this picture, which allowed Skulduggery to be in it, and he had his face tilted to the right showing he was smiling. The story behind that picture is what made it one of his favorites but he knew that if he relived that he would miss Valkyrie even more and so he was just content with staring at Valkyries beautiful face.
He stands up and walks over to it putting his finger on her face. "I'll get you back. Even if it does kill me, I'll get you back. I promise."
Someone clears their throat behind him and he turns around to see Dexter standing there. "Yes?" he asks.
"We found out some good news." He says.
" Finally. What is it?"
"Well... we found out that when we thought you would be dead if Valkyrie came back that wouldn't be the truth."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean that if she comes back you'll still be alive." Dexter says.
