We're close to the end, everyone…Just a few more entries now…

Entry #21: Written July 29th

Dear Diary,

So, getting straight to the crap hitting the fan, we begin!

I left off with the fact Fletcher, Skulduggery, and I were leaning up against each other, and it was only slightly adorable. I'm not sure how long we were all asleep, but I was suddenly jolted awake by a sharp slap to the leg.

I thought it was somebody evil or whatever, so I jumped up, pushing Fletcher and Skulduggery away, and a large hand caught the fist I was using to punch whoever woke me.

"Mademoiselle Cain!" Monsieur Spar shouted in annoyance.

Well, I felt pretty stupid. At this point, Fletcher had woken up from me knocking him down, and he had jumped up too. His fists were raised, but I stopped him before he made a fool of himself.

"It's a good thing that the Nottinghams didn't move locations, no?" Madame Gabs wondered lightly, swinging a jug of alcohol around and around.

"Come on; hurry up," a voice from the cell door said. "We don't have much time left. They're going to figure out we're back again."

"Hey there, Monsieur Rhett," I said cheerfully, bending down to Skulduggery, since he still hadn't gotten up. I shook him and shook him, but he wouldn't wake.

"Can we just pour alcohol down his throat?" Madame Gabs grumbled angrily, stepping closer to him.

"That would be absolutely terrible for him and for us, so I don't think that's the best idea," Fletcher replied. "The drugs he's on are really effective and can really screw him up if mixed with alcohol."

She huffed and stepped out of the cell moodily. "Well we have to leave him here-"

"NO!"

"For now," she continued. "We can go and get him afterwards. But I hear someone coming, and this won't be pretty."

She shoved the jug of alcohol into Monsieur Rhett's invisible hands, and she charged off.

"Madame!" Monsieur Spar cried out desperately. "Wait for me!"

"No, just go on!" she shouted back, her footsteps fading. A moment later, there was an anguished cry and running footsteps.

Monsieur Spar growled and reached down to Skulduggery. He peered at his face, then gripped his torso and hoisted him up. Monsieur Spar propped him against the cage wall, trying to make him comfortable enough. Monsieur Spar quickly marched out of the cell, waiting for Fletcher and I to get out.

"We don't have much time," Monsieur Rhett reiterated. "We have to leave him, Valkyrie," he said quietly, coming into view next to me.

Fletcher placed his hand on my shoulder. "We'll let you kill whoever did this to him, okay?"

I groaned and eventually turned away. Monsieur Rhett half closed the cage door. Skulduggery flinched, curling around the shirt I had used to clean him up. There were distant and rather angry sounding footsteps coming from above, so Fletcher pulled me forward, and we all took off running. The hall we were running down ended abruptly when we came face to face with 8 or so Sand Men that had magically jumped down through the wall. The four of us immediately began attacking and kicking and punching. Monsieur Rhett had doused about five in alcohol, and the remaining few knew they were in trouble. They were about to run off, but all of a sudden, Tanith and Ghastly fell from the ceiling. They landed somewhat un-gracefully on the few Sand Men, and Tanith knocked them out while Monsieur Rhett poured alcohol on them.

"Valkyrie!" Tanith shouted joyously. "Thank God!" She threw her arms around my neck, chocking me just a bit. I waved to Ghastly, who was brushing Fletcher, since he kept getting sprayed with sand.

"Where's Skulduggery?" Ghastly asked calmly, though he had a slightly panicked look on his face.

"OUT TO YOUR NORTH," a voice shouted from Monsieur Rhett. He held the ear piece that was wedged into his…ear and nodded.

"We've got trouble!"

"Make it double!" Fletcher began, but everyone just shook their heads.

"In better circumstances, that would have been awesome," Tanith said sadly. She watched as Monsieur Spar and Ghastly tore off in one direction to clear the way. Monsieur Rhett had given them the jug of alcohol. Fletcher, Monsieur Rhett, Tanith, and I stumbled off in a different direction from a bunch of footsteps. We passed down a narrow hallway, and Fletcher abruptly stopped at some stairs.

"Going up?" he asked, slightly out of breath. Monsieur Rhett nodded and crept up the rickety old stairs, completely invisible. We all emerged into another passageway with a small door, and Tanith went first, with her sword ready to attack. She twisted the handle and stepped into the room where we were immediately met with volleys of bullets.

After three seconds, I pushed everyone out of the way and cast a thick wall of shadows around us. It was incredibly dark in my little ball of shadows, but we could still hear. I could hear a steady drip coming from my left, and I sensed it was Tanith from the heavy breathing.

"Are you hurt?" I asked her quietly.

Everyone shuffled around, checking themselves for injuries.

"I'm hit," Tanith stated. "In the arm, so it's nothing too bad."

We all moved around again. Monsieur Rhett placed a hand on my shoulder and slunk past me, avoiding Fletcher and the small puddle of Tanith's blood.

"We need to take out those guns," he quietly said. "If I covered you, could you, Valkyrie, break them with your necromancy?"

"Fletcher and I can cover, too," Tanith added.

I shrugged. "I can try. How do I get rid them? What should I do to them?"

"Bend the barrels, so they can't fire or anything."

I nodded and shook out my limbs. "Okay, that sounds complicated enough. Ready everyone?"

My shadow wall dissipated rapidly, and everyone fanned out.

Monsieur Rhett instantly disappeared from sight, but I watched a Sand Men cry out in pain as an arm curled around his neck and yanked him backwards. I shot out a tendril and grabbed the gun, twisting it and cracked it everywhere. A few bullets kept being shot, narrowly missing Fletcher and Tanith, as well as me. One grazed my arm. Tanith gave a sharp slice to a Sand Man's arm, but it grew back almost instantly, but as it was growing back, I slunk a shadow up his body and destroyed his gun. He looked up in astonishment, but Fletcher bashed his head in with the remaining guns parts. Tanith had already taken out the other guy, and she tossed the gun towards me, and I disassembled it.

Monsieur Rhett approached me. "That was a terrible plan, wasn't it?"

"Not the best," I said. "At least it worked."

"This way?" Fletcher asked a few minutes later, after we had dumped all of the Sand Men together in a pile. We completely obliterated the guns, just for good measure. Everyone shrugged, but we all took off in a sprint anyway.

Suddenly, a huge explosion and shriek ripped through the air.

Stones shook and fell around us. Walls from different rooms were collapsing everywhere, shaking the whole place again. We all stumbled around and fell against each other.

"Oh God," I moaned, "Skulduggery!" I began off in the way we came, but Monsieur Rhett stopped me.

"We don't have enough time to get him!" he said desperately. "I know you're worried about him, but he'll get out of there just fine. And you're hurt, and you could get hurt just as easily as him down there! The structure of this place is incredibly unstable! Look around us!"

I paused to gaze at the stones and rubble surrounding our feet.

"I have to go find him," I whispered. "I swear I'll be back as fast as I can. As soon as I know where to get to him, I'll find you guys again. I can look after myself."

"But you're hu-"

"I'm fine!" I growled and tore away from the three of them, jumping over piles of stones. I was probably running and jumping for twenty minutes before I made it to the same door we emerged from. I ripped it open and was engulfed in darkness. I heard marching footsteps pass by me, so I flattened myself against the wall. I stepped away from the broken and disturbed wall. I kept walking for a little bit, but I suddenly slammed into a Sand Man.

He growled loudly and gripped my torso and hoisted me into the air.

"Don't tell me you're the guy who almost killed me from before!" I shouted in disbelief. "Fancy seeing you here!"

He growled and was about to say something, but he lowered me so I could stand, and then held a knife up to my throat.

"I'm going to kill you, unlike before," he mumbled lowly in my ear.

My mind was reeling, thinking about how stupid I was for doing this and trying to save Skulduggery.

I thought that the guy was going to kill me right there, but he suddenly groaned and moaned in pain. He dropped the knife to the ground and fell backwards, shaking the ground a little. A tired cough rose from the silence.

"SKULDUGGERY!" I screamed throwing my arms around the limp looking figure in front of me. "You're alright!"

"I'm alive at least," he mumbled, leaning up against me. "Where did you all go?"

"The Sanctuary came to get us," I replied, leading him back up the hallway and to the stairs. "We were all above this level when something exploded and shook the whole place. Can you walk?"

"Did you come back to get me?" he asked tiredly, though I could hear the playful tone in his voice.

"Yes, I did," I mumbled. "Now we have to get going. Ghastly and Monsieur Spar went off in a different direction than us, so it's just Tanith, Fletcher, Monsieur Rhett, and I now. Madame Gabs was with us, but she ran off almost instantly to get rid of some Sand Men. Are you sure you can walk?"

"Calm down, Valkyrie," Skulduggery whispered as he slumped against the wall. "My muscles are just weak. I can walk, but don't expect me to do somersaults."

"Alright, alright." I gripped his arm and slung it around my neck and pulled him up. We took shaky steps, and it took a long time to get to the stairs. Luckily, though, we didn't run into anyone on our way there. The rooms and hallways that we had gone through previously were deserted. Not even the Sand Men bodies were there anymore.

Skulduggery seemed to be gaining his strength back, though. He wasn't leaning as heavily on me anymore, and his steps were more confident, and his legs didn't shake when he moved them.

"Do you smell it?" he asked in the silence in a dark corridor.

"The blood?" I asked after a moment of sniffing the air.

"I don't think we're all going to make it out of here alive."

I almost berated him for saying something like that, but there was a part of me that thought he was telling the truth

But anyway, Skulduggery let go of me and began walking quicker. He was strong enough to walk on his own finally. He stopped at a beautifully carved doorway, and there was rubble surrounding the door it was in front of. He huffed and crossed his arms, thinking about what to do, but I stepped forward and cast a blanket of blackness over the pile, and the stones broke into tiny little pieces. He snapped his palm against the air and the little rocks went flying to the sides in different directions, clearing a path for us.

"Now wasn't that easy?" I said happily, approaching the door, and holding a shadow in my hand, I turned the knob and entered the room. Skulduggery followed suit, with a flame glowing brightly in his palm.

The second we stepped into the room, a thick mist of smoke surrounded us. We could hear people coughing all around us and moans of pain as well. Others were shouting in French, and suddenly, a huge explosion rocked the entire room. Skulduggery and I fell over each other, and though we were in a really awkward position, we didn't care. Skulduggery pushed me off and he tried pushing away the smoke, but it wouldn't move. It was like it was suspended in the air.

But then, out of the blue, something stabbed through my back. It hit me in the lower back, and I could instantly feel the blood spurting out.

I was flung forwards by the impact, and I screamed in pain.

"Valkyrie!" a few voices called out.

Whatever stabbed me was pulled out of my body, and I collapsed. Two slimy hands gripped my upper arms and hoisted me up. Something sharp pressed into my left arm, and I hissed in pain.

"An arm for an arm," Gautier whispered menacingly, and the knife he was holding began pressing harder and harder into my flesh.

There was suddenly a large high-pitched roar, followed by a shriek. Another huge explosion echoed around the room. The knife fell from my arm, and the slimy hands that belonged to Colette peeled off of me. The smoke around us suddenly lifted up and disappeared, and I could finally see everything.

Neva was mercilessly attacking Madame Gabs and Monsieur Spar. I turned and watched as Tanith chased Colette around the room. Colette was covering more ground my elongating her legs and taking huge leaps with them, but I could tell that Tanith had already formulated a plan. She backed away and sprinted up the walls easily, while Colette remained oblivious to what had just happened. Her eyes caught me, and she smiled evilly. She was about to attack me, but Tanith had jumped from the ceiling and had landed smack down on her. Colette flopped down on the stone floor, bleeding from various places.

I turned and watched as Skulduggery got smacked in the face by Gautier's chain arm. He was flung backwards, his strength still not to its fullest. His face was gushing blood. I growled and charged towards him, giving a huge kick to his back. His remaining chain arm flailed around, smacking himself in the back. That's when I noticed the huge spiky ball placed on the end of the chain. It was covered in blood, and little bits of flesh.

"That really hurt, you know," I grumbled, coiling a shadow around his ribcage, squeezing a little.

He choked and tried saying something, so I tightened my grip on him.

And then an arrow went shooting through my leg.

I cried out in pain, and I fell all over the place. Gautier jumped up, and he wrapped his chain around my torso this time.

"This will hurt more," he said lowly, about to swing his chain around, but he was suddenly stabbed through the chest with a sword. His eyes went to the size of dinner plates, and his face squinted in pain. He whispered something in a crazy language before he completely exploded and tons of tons of sand went spewing everywhere.

Neva screamed high and she rammed an arrow through Madame Gabs's arm. A few daggers were sticking out of her in various places, while bruises and cuts dotted along her old face.

"HOW?" she shouted. Everyone looked up to the person who killed Gautier.

We all expected it to be Tanith, since she was the only person who had a sword here.

And it wasn't Tanith.

It was Monsieur Rhett, covered in sand, sweat, and blood. His hair was matted, stuck up in strange angles, and dripping with blood. His face was tired.

"YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO BE DEAD," Neva called out to the room. "My pet was meant to kill you!"

"I killed Monsieur Snuggles first," he merely said.

"How the he-" Neva began, but she was cut off by a huge explosion again. She fumed and prepared a bow and arrow. She aimed at Monsieur Rhett, but then suddenly pointed at me. I had gotten up at this point, and she shot the arrow, aiming straight for my chest.

You know, in all those super dramatic parts in movies or whatever, there's always epic music and slow-mo going on.

It's a shame that real life doesn't act like that.

See, Monsieur Rhett jumped right in front of the arrow, and it penetrated his chest deeply. He staggered back, clutching his chest, blood leaking out and forming a puddle on the floor.

Immediately, everyone else still standing gave a bum-rush. The doors burst open and Ghastly and Fletcher sprinted through. Ghastly chucked a small little ball at Colette. She screamed in terror as it collided with her outstretched arm and blew it up. Her arm shriveled into a pile of sand, and she cried and cried in pain.

Tanith and Fletcher grabbed the teenager and kept her grounded. Skulduggery tossed them some handcuffs and chased after Neva, along with Madame Gabs, Monsieur Spar, and Ghastly.

I, meanwhile, stayed with Monsieur Rhett.

I knelt down next to him, brushing dust and sand away from his face.

"Why did you do that, you idiot?"

"I said I'd take the bullet for you, remember?" he weakly said, smiling up at me, remembering the conversation we had on our date:

"Yeah, but I haven't explained what's going on or why I'm here. They call it my 'business,' and I feel so terrible for jetting off and leaving them back at home with no way of knowing if I'm alright. Of course, Tanith or someone would go and break the news, but I can't stand the thought of that."

"Well then I'll go ahead and take the bullet for you, alright?" Alaire said and smiled lightly.

I shook my head and rested my hand on his shoulder. Madame Gabs strolled a bit later, and she made a beeline for Monsieur Rhett.

"How are you, Alaire?" she asked quietly.

He tried shrugging. "I could be better."

"We should get you back to the Sanctuary," she said.

"I want to see Doctor Jacques," he meekly replied. "He can help us all, unlike the Sanctuary doctor who hates me."

Madame Gabs was about to deny him, but the look in his tired eyes made her nod her head. "We need to get out of here as fast as possible," she shouted. "Monsieur Spar, call the drill here. And put it on maximum."

I'd normally make a dirty joke about the previous dialogue, but the circumstances kind of sucked, so I figured I shouldn't and wouldn't.

Alright, I'll skip this next part, since it's just us getting to Doctor Jacques's place. He graciously took everyone in without hesitating at all. He seemed a little alarmed at our injuries, and we explained what happened, so he understood. He fixed up my back really fast, and then disappeared into the room with Monsieur Rhett.

Doctor Jacques made me sit in a chair while I healed, and Skulduggery sat beside me. He was totally fine, since the second he had stepped back onto land, his skin and everything melted away.

But, Diary, I'm sure you're wondering what happened with Colette and Neva.

Well, Colette was taken back to the Sanctuary. We were told that she'd be dealt with after everyone's injuries were all fixed up. But, Neva, however, got away.

The men had chased her for as long as possible, but they just suddenly lost sight of her. Sanctuary agents have searched the whole underground headquarters, looking for a sign of where she'd have gone, but she left nothing behind.

But anyway, back to this. I fell asleep after a while, and I was awoken a bit later by Skulduggery.

"Doctor Jacques says he's in a critical condition," he mumbled sadly. "He's breathing well and is alert, but he doesn't seem to be getting any better."

I frowned and sat up from the chair I was in. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"It looks like he doesn't want to live, actually."

"How ridiculous!" I shouted, jumping up. "What idiot dies just because? If he's got the ability to get better why the hell won't he? What's going through his stupid head? How can-"

"Shh," Skulduggery said, pressing a finger to my lips. "Everyone is still asleep."

"Oh who cares?" I muttered angrily. "Is Aya here? I want to yell at her for her stupid brother."

Skulduggery shook his head. "She says she can't come here," he said. "Something about finishing up a project."

I fumed. "What sibling won't even visit their dying brother? How can someone be that heartless?"

Skulduggery shrugged and placed a hand on my shoulder.

"Give me that key thing to the Sanctuary," I demanded. "I'm going to go see Aya and ask why the hell she can't freaking get out of that stupid Sanctuary."

Skulduggery reluctantly handed the key card to me. "How are you going to get there?"

"I'll teleport," I growled, and engulfed myself with shadows. Usually I don't travel that way, since it drains my energy for a few hours, but the situation called for it.

I arrived outside of the Sanctuary and got through the security fast enough. I passed through the wall and entered the grand main room. I immediately veered off down a hallway and hesitated when I passed by Monsieur Rhett's office. There wasn't piano music playing and that made me sad.

I stopped abruptly at Aya's office. I swung open the large door and stepped around the wires and gadgets that littered the floor.

I could hear someone crying softly.

One of the big computers was shut off, but still gave off a faint whirring sound. I saw Aya's wheelchair, but she wasn't in it. As I approached the chair, the crying suddenly stopped.

I knelt down in front of the chair and reached out and patted Aya's invisible leg.

"You and your brother have the same power?" I whispered.

Aya materialized in front of me, her face red and puffy from tears. She nodded. "Oui, we do. He's able to use his for better ways, though."

"Speaking of which," I said, "why the heck won't you go out and see your brother?"

Aya hesitated and scratched her neck. "It's not because I need to finish up something, if that's what you're wondering about. It's something way more complicated. Alaire understands why I can't be there with him. He knows that I'll…"

"You'll what? I want to know why you can't go see your own twin brother who's dying as we speak. Tell me. I'll keep it a secret if you want. Are you afraid-"

"YES!" she screamed suddenly. "I'm afraid! I'm afraid of the world. I'm afraid of being up there. I'm…I…I'm agoraphobic."

"Agora-what?"

"It means I'm afraid of going outside. I haven't been out of this Sanctuary since my accident that made crippled thirteen years ago."

"What happened then?"

"Alaire and I were chasing these villains, and I had one cornered, and we were so close to catching the two, but the other one drove up and hit me before I could react. It was just…too traumatic. I'm afraid of cars and won't get in one. I'm afraid of going out there again and getting injured further. I used to be powerful and strong and beautiful. But now I'm just stuck in this godforsaken chair. Do you know how hard it is to adjust to this stupid thing after walking for sixty years? I kept trying to get up, but my legs wouldn't work. Alaire's helped me through my life; he's helped me with the chair, and my phobia, and all the emotional problems I've had over the years."

"Well then, wouldn't you want to be the person who's saved and helped you? Wouldn't you want to be holding his hand when he…dies?"

"Of course!" Aya sighed, exasperated. "But I…I can't do that."

"You know you could if you really wanted to," I muttered.

She huffed sadly, and wheeled her chair around. "Can you just go, s'il vous plait? Can you please just tell Alaire that I love him?"

I almost nodded my head, but I gasped at a thought. "No," I said. "You'll have to tell him. I'm not a messenger, and it'd mean so much more coming from you. He'd be so proud of you for getting out of here."

"You don't know what he'd think," she whispered. "Just go, now."

I shrugged and got up and left. I shut the door and ran from the stupid place. I ran out of the catacombs and just kept running and running. I ran all the way back to Doctor Jacques's place. Since it was about two in the morning, everyone was asleep and crowded in one room. The only person who was up was Skulduggery, but he looked like he was about to fall asleep. He was sitting on a pillow in the corner of the room, and I went to join him. I wordlessly sat down next to him, and his arms mechanically gripped my shoulders and nestled me against him. My head rested on his shoulder, and his skull rested on my own head.

And we fell asleep like that.

We were awoken by someone gently shaking us both. Skulduggery woke up almost instantaneously, and whoever was shaking us got up and left. Skulduggery eased himself away from me, but his arms wrapped around my waist and knees, and he lifted me up effortlessly.

"What are you doing?" I asked tiredly.

"Moving you from the cold and uncomfortable floor," he replied quietly.

"Well thank you," I said, curling into his ribcage, "but why?"

"Because the comfy beg that Fletcher the Hog took over is free. And you look and sound tired. And someone keeps shouting in French outside. That woke up Tanith, who then woke us up in spite."

"Wait…What?"

"Nothing, just go to sleep, Valkyrie," Skulduggery whispered, easing me onto the bed.

"Don't go," I murmured.

"You want me to stay with you?" he whispered in my ear. I wordlessly nodded and the bed dipped where he sat down lightly. I pulled him over to me harshly, and he laughed in response. I snuggled up (ha, sap, again) into his chest and breathed in his nice, antique-y scent. He chuckled lowly and stroked my hair softly, lulling me to sleep.

I was woken up again a few hours later by someone repeatedly shouting in French.

"Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!" they were shouting. I sat up slowly, and Skulduggery supported me, so I wouldn't fall over or whatever.

I almost screamed at the sight before me.

"Where is he? Where's Alaire?" Aya Robin growled at me. Her eyes were wild, and her face had a determined look on it. Her hands clenched the armrests on her wheelchair. She looked like she was about to explode from the tension she was feeling.

"What are you-"

"Just shut up and tell me where he is!" she shouted, interrupting me. "I finally made it out of that place after three hours of coaxing from my therapist, and I'm not going to get to my brother just as he dies. I'm going to sit there with him until his heart stops beating. Now, where is he?"

I got up from the bed quickly, and pushed Aya's chair out of the room and down the hallway. She knocked on the door we stopped in front of, and Doctor Jacques shouted "Come in" in French. We entered the room, and Aya immediately broke away from me and wheeled herself next to her brother. She reached out to pat his hand, and he smiled weakly and could automatically tell who it was.

And that's where I'll leave you off, Diary. I'll say that it looks like that now Monsieur Rhett has a better chance, but Doctor Jacques says that there's no guarantee that he'll ever recover.

But at least he'd be alive.

~Valkyrie

WOAH THIS IS LONG.

And you guys BETTER love me. I've got finals all next week (well, minus Monday), BUT I still managed to get this done this weekend. I'm been working like mad all this weekend to get studying. And ALSO, my STUPID science teacher assigned a project that requires a HUGE poster and an oral presentation!

SO BURN.

But luckily, I've got the next chapter already written (it's been written for months), so I don't have to worry about writing! Except for the fanfiction contest on the SP page on Facebook. Has anyone sent in anything? I can't think of a good idea D:

Anyways, thanks for reading and sorry for mistakes (I was too lazy to proofread XD) ! :DD