Disclaimer: I do not own Skulduggery Pleasant or Death Note. Or Animorphs. No, that doesn't mean there will be Animorphs in this chapter. But that does not mean that I own it.

11—Playing Catch-Up

They drove there quickly. Skulduggery, despite the gentleness with which he treated Anita, was not ok with this. His wife, the woman he had once grown to love…she was supposed to kill him.

And he was supposed to share her anyway…though if it meant he got both Anita and Valkyrie, he supposed he didn't mind.

"And," he thought, "I suppose I should have expected something like this. Someone as charming as I am would be bound to have multiple people after him. And as for Anita being Nu'Undech…well, we all have evil parts of us, and things rarely do go my way…"

He looked back at Valkyrie. She had kissed him. He was, overall, quite flustered. He had said to wait until things settled down…but then, he had never completely understood women. He'd have to talk to Ghastly about it all.

When they pulled up to the house, Skulduggery looked around for the man Ryuzaki, but he was nowhere to be seen. He got out slowly, feeling as if something were off.

Bang! Skulduggery jumped as Valkyrie closed the car door. She blushed, mumbling, "Sorry. Closed it harder than I meant to…"

He shrugged and started to walk inside before realizing that Anita was still in the car. He went around to her side, approaching the window, only to see that she was sleeping. He knocked on the window and she started awake, eyes wild.

(Line break.)

Anita started out of her nightmare when someone knocked on her window. The memories were vivid, but as she glanced out, she saw Skulduggery and the evening sky. It would be twilight soon.

Clicking off her seatbelt, Anita rose from her seat. She hit her head getting out, and stumbled on a rock, but chalked it down to her still drowsy brain.

They proceeded to the house, Anita's feet still dragging slightly. It wasn't late, but car rides tended to make her very drowsy indeed.

They stepped inside and a noise from behind the couch rang out as if it were an explosion is the still night. Skulduggery turned the light on with one hand, as he and Valkyrie clicked their fingers, flame lighting in their palms. Anita frowned, holding her hand out in front of her, a fist curled around empty air. She focused harder, and a dagger made of ice melted from her palm, the blade facing towards her elbow. Her arm bent until her fist was level with her chin.

Ryuzaki stood up slowly from behind the furniture, a fork in one hand, a plate with a small cake in the other.

"Please don't attack me," he stated.

The flame went out, but Anita stepped forward lightly, turning her side to the man in front of her, the tip of the dagger facing L.

"How do I know you're L?" Anita demanded.

"On a forum once someone thought they could kill me by saying the cake is a lie!" L responded in a rush.

"I told everyone that. A shapeshifter would know that if they did any amount of research," Anita hissed.

"Ok…I lay down the white lily," L retorted.

Anita wondered that he could be so calm, his voice never wavering or losing its monotone. "I see. Very well."

She lowered the dagger, bowing her head and closing her eyes, and it re-absorbed into her palm. A red, sore spot was left in its place. Anita frowned.

"So I still need to work on even ice?" she wondered.

"I hope you don't mind," L was saying, "but I broke into your house. It was getting late, and the cake was getting cold…"

Valkyrie snorted. Skulduggery just took off his coat, folding it neatly and placing it on the table, saying, "I hope you realize that there's no kitchen where you can clean that off. No bathroom, either."

L nodded slightly, taking another bite of his cake. Anita looked at the three by turns, and then stepped over to L and poked him on the shoulder—hard.

"That," she told him, "was for scaring me."

L looked at his shoulder and Anita stole a bit of frosting off of his cake, sucking on her finger as she stepped out of reach.

Skulduggery cleared his throat as L started to protest. "I think we had better get on to the more serious matters," he declared.

"Yeah, we should," Valkyrie agreed.

Anita walked to the same spot as before and collapsed into a cross-legged sitting pose, falling to the ground. "Let me start!" she cried as soon as she landed. Valkyrie nodded and Anita went on, "Ok, so there are psychics, pretty much, or seers, but they're called Sensitives, and anyway, the Sensitives were seeing this vision. And it was about me. And I die. Then I become the evil alternate version of me who's supposed to kill all of the Nafar and everyone I love, so I kill Skulduggery—in the vision, that is—but we're going to try and stop that."

Anita took a deep breath and went on, "And that's why we went to see the Elders. Oh, and on the way Skulduggery told me—apparently…apparently my parents are dead," Anita finished quietly. Her talking had slowed down bit by bit, and was robbed of all of its energy by the time she finished.

"Oh, God, that's…that's terrible!" L said, but he didn't move. His gaze remained fixed calmly on her face, and a the frown that flitted across his face was momentary. Anita couldn't help but wonder, despite her distress, if his calm was a façade or truly what he felt. He continued, "I'm sorry. But you're going to have to tell me more about this vision. Could you explain in greater detail, and perhaps more slowly?"

Anita nodded, scrubbing furiously at her eyes. She understood his need to continue on, but his lack of outward caring still stung. "So, I can show you the vision," she told him, "and after that, I will tell you more about Nu'Undech—the other me I told you about."

He simply nodded, and she held out her hand. A fire melted up, and a miniature version of what she, Valkyrie, and Skulduggery had witnessed in the steam chamber played out above her palm.

Ryuzaki didn't move or speak, simply sitting and devouring the vision with eager eyes.

"Of course," Anita reckoned, "this is all just another case to him. He's very good, I suppose, at compartmentalizing. Or does he just care that little about me? No, I refuse to believe that…"

But she realized that he was paler by the end, if only slightly.

"I am Nu'Undech. That was her, at the end, who killed…who killed Skulduggery. Speaking of which, where's he gone off to?" Anita queried.

"Sorry. I figured you all might need food—I've just ordered a pizza," the man in question replied, walking back from another room.

Ryuzaki made a face, replying, "You two girls can have it. I already ate. Anita, what are the stories surrounding Nu'Undech?"

Silently, Anita thanked Ryuzaki for specifying Nu'Undech and not simply saying 'you.' She was thanking Valkyrie moments later for saving her from the need to answer.

"The one who's supposed to kill all of the Nafar, apparently," she answered. "Honestly, this has all been so vague…I'm not used to knowing so little, to be honest. Every new piece of information just brings up a new question. If I may be frank, I don't really like this situation at all."

"Well, that's understandable," Skulduggery commented. "I, for once, don't really know any more than you do."

"Well, Nu'Undech is, like so many people's dark, twisted, evil sides, a shadow bearer (that's what we call Necromancers in our world). Basically, thousands of years ago, there was this vision about her. She would walk our world and kill every Nafar left. In the times that she's taken me over, she's never failed to try and kill someone I love. Not once," Anita explained. Anger bubbled through her voice.

L cockd his head. "What are the Nafar?" he asked innocently.

Anita sucked in a breath. She stood, turning to Skulduggery and asking, "Is there anywhere I won't burn your house down and no mortals will see me if I catch on fire?"

"Out back—this way," he replied, leading the way. Anita beckoned for L to follow, too (Valkyrie had gone ahead of her) and they proceeded outside.

"The Nafar," Anita said as she stepped onto a concrete porch out of the view of mortal pedestrians, "are my race. They look a bit like…this."

And she caught fire.

A/N: So I found some errors and such in 'Conversations.' At one point, Anita states that "Anyone who doesn't hate me doesn't know me, and if he doesn't know me, he can't hate me."

The hate near the end of the sentence is supposed to be 'love.' Not hate. Sorry about that, don't know how I missed it…

Anyway, I see I have a reader from the Netherlands who read this all the way through. I don't think anyone else has done that, it's really not that good. But anyway, review, person-from-the-Netherlands, or I'll have to keep calling you person-from-the-Netherlands. And that's not good.

Ok, read and review, all! No flames, please, but if it's the only way you'll review, I'll accept it…this time…