right... roll up roll up, the PENULTIMATE chapter is here! its quite long, for those of you who have loving the longer chapter(s). this is the most M it'll ever get, so dont say i didnt warn you. and excuse the placebo reference about half way through; it just seemed perfect. so yeah, enjoy....

Chapter 14: Then: Tears

When Valkyrie woke the next morning, she felt absolutely rotten. Her eyes were red and puffy and she still felt tired. She tried to rub her eyes, but her hand was stuck. She opened her eyes.

Skulduggery was lying next to her, his legs crossed. Both his hands were clasped round her own, holding it to where his nose was; should be. He didn't know she was watching. She watched him as he pressed her hand closer to him. She watched as he began to rub one bony thumb along her hand. She watched as tears rolled from each eye socket. She frowned, the stopped, realising.

I've been blind, she thought.

She rolled over and brushed her hand along his cheekbone. "How can you cry?" she asked. The rising Sun shone in through her window and illuminated his tears as if to emphasise her point.

"From wanting something I can't have too much and for too long," he replied. He didn't look at her, but let her hand slowly fall from his. She let it rest on his ribcage. He looked at it, then looked at her, then looked away. Valkyrie continued to examine his skull with her hand. She traced the edge of his jaw with her hand, drawing his tears across his face. "Do you often cry?"

"Not before I met you."

They sat in silence for a while, watching the Sun's rays illuminate each other. Valkyrie took one of Skulduggery's hands. She turned it over in her hands, examine all the little bones. "Do you know all the names?" she asked

"Of what?"

"Of the bones. Do you know them all?"

He paused, then said, "You know, I don't."

She continued to examine his hands, touching each little bone. Then, into the silence, Skulduggery gave a soft moan and leant his head against the wall. "What?" she asked, a small frown creeping across her forehead. He looked at her. "Don't frown; it mars you." He leant his head back against the wall. "You have no idea what that feels like," he whispered.

"Good or bad?"

"Good. Too good."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be. Please don't be." He sighed.

"No I am. I'm sorry I didn't notice, I'm sorry I didn't realise, I'm sorry I couldn't make it easier for you."

"Don't be." He made to sit up.

"Where are you going?" she asked

"Well, I'll probably leave Ireland for a while, maybe travel, avoid all contact with you for a few centuries and we can meet back up in, ooh, I don't know, say seven hundred years?"

"Why?"

"Why? Why!" He sprang up. "Valkyrie, I'm obsessed with you. I watch you sleep and I follow your every move when you're awake. I feel sick with fear every time we go to a fight in case you're hurt." He traced the edge of her face with his hand. "And I've got to say it before I go; I need to get off my chest that I think you're divine. Valkyrie, I'm infatuated. I'm completely and utterly in love you."

Valkyrie stood up. The early morning light filled the room, elucidating them. "Well then," she said, taking a step towards him. "It's a very good thing I feel exactly the same about you."

She didn't kiss him yet, though. She took another step towards him, so she stood right in front of him. She placed her hands into his and looked straight up at him. "I love you," she said simply.

"I'm dead," he said hoarsely.

"I know that."

"I'm a skeleton." His voice was even hoarser

"I don't care."

"I'm hundreds of years older than you."

"Well then," her hands snaked to the back of his head, "you'll just have more to teach me."

"But Valkyrie-"

"How can you still be denying yourself of everything you want? I don't care, Skulduggery. I don't care about any of that."

"I love you," he whispered.

"Stop talking," she sighed, beginning to kiss him again.

He slid his hands under her jacket, feeling the warmth radiate off her back, his fingers tracing down her spine. Her simply removed his jacket (technically she ripped it off) and untucked his shirt, her fingers tracing his ribs. He moved her hand to where his heart was and curled it into a little fist, then unfurled it, letting it stroke down his ribcage. He let out a soft moan, then slowly took off her jacket. Valkyrie pushed him onto the bed, smiling her perfect smile, that mixture of benevolence and mischief and they disappeared to a place where only the Sun shining through the window could see them.

also, please, no questions about how. it just is, ok? let them be, despite the technicalities :)