OH GOD IT'S THE END.

I'll put my huge THANK YOU GUYS at the end, so yeah.

Aaand from reading your simply lovely and hilarious reviews, I'll say that some of you are right in guessing what will happen. I won't say who though. That's more fun :D

THE ZILLIONTH EDIT: Aperio pointed out a MAJOR FAIL on my part, so I fixed it. Yeeep.

Entry #25: Written August 19th

Dear Diary,

(Technically, this all happened on August 18th, but it's around eleven in the morning on the 19th. So…just pretend like it's the 18th. I'll let you know when it changes to the 19th. Yeeep.)

This morning I was like: D:

This evening I was like: :\

And now I'm like: :DDDDD

Care to know why, Diary?

OF COURSE YOU DO.

So, beginning with this morning.

I woke up, naturally. I showered, stumbled downstairs sleepily, and then paused. I realized the last time I had showered and stumbled downstairs sleepily was before we left for France. Yep.

I grabbed by coffee, and a random magazine that was on the table, and I just sat there and read.

Diary, you don't know how lonely I've been these past couple days. Tanith came over for a few hours, and we watched a weird movie about romance or whatever, which just made things weird. And yeah, I hadn't had contact with Skulduggery since he dropped me off here.

Though I still hated him a bit, I missed him.

I was probably down stairs for a while when my home phone rang, and I noticed it was my parents calling.

"Hello?"

"Stephanie!" Mom responded. "We haven't heard from you in so long!"

…Oh, crap.

"Ah, yeah, things got really crazy over-"

"We called once, and one of your friends picked up the phone, and they said they didn't know where you were!"

"Well like in the house-"

"THEY DIDN'T KNOW WHERE YOU WERE," Mom shouted. "You had your father and I so worried for you! What has been happening to you? You better not have half-died or something!"

"Mom, mom, mom!" I said firmly. "Relax, and let me explain, please."

Mom took a deep breath, but she remained quiet. I was about to begin my story of everything that had happened, but Dad suddenly hopped onto another phone, and we started the yelling process again. Mom explained everything we had just been through, so Dad let me talk.

I don't know how long I spent on the phone with them, but I told them EVERYTHING that had happened on our trip. Well, minus Skulduggery and I fighting, and Monsieur Rhett's death. But I explained my multiple kidnappings with Fletcher, and the Nottinghams powers, and really, everything.

When I had finished the story, Mom whimpered a little.

"Alright," Dad mumbled, "so you're back now, and the business you were sent to France hasn't been entirely taken care of?"

"Pretty much," I said, shrugging. "But our French counterparts are working on it; they know what they're doing."

"Alright then," Mom said. "How are all of your friends? Did they make it out okay?"

"More or less," I replied.

"How's Skulduggery?" Dad suddenly asked.

"Aaah, he's fine, I suppose."

"Have you talked with him lately? Because I'm not sure if you remember, but I wanted to see the two of you over for dinner."

OH CRAP I TOTALLY FORGOT ABOUT THAT.

"Uh, Mom, Skulduggery doesn't eat," I said, trying to convince them to not do this.

"Would he mind just coming over then? If he's uncomfortable with it, then alright then. But your father and I would love it if he came along, too."

I scratched my head and checked the time. It was around two in the afternoon.

"When would we come over?"

"Do you have anything going on tonight? Because tonight would be absolutely perfect."

"I don't have anything, but I don't know about him. I can go and…find him."

"Please!" Mom said. "Call us back when you hear from him!"

And she just hung up.

Gee, awesome.

But anyway, I quickly changed into my protective clothing and made sure I looked rather presentable. I climbed into my oldie Ford Mustang. I purred the engine to life, and I set off towards, really, the only logical place I could think of where Skulduggery would be.

(Why didn't I call his cell phone, Diary? Frankly, I forgot about it. I was panicked, so there is my excuse. HA.)

I parked on the curb next to China's old tenement building, and lo and behold, the Bentley was parked there too. At least I had the right place. I climbed the stairs of the old building and pushed open the door to China's library. I nodded politely at a few mages who I sort-of-kind-of knew, and began searched the whole library for China and/or Skulduggery. I figured that where one was, the other wasn't far behind.

I wandered around a bit, checking in all the corners, until I suddenly heard China's voice.

"Well if you would just tell her, we wouldn't be in this problem, would we?" she muttered, and judging by the sounds, shelving a few books.

"She won't listen, China!" Skulduggery responded. "I would, but if I even try talking to her, she just glares and doesn't say anything."

"What about when we got back that night? From my position she didn't look hostile. You seemed to be in a rather nice conversation."

"You were watching?"

"Naturally!" China replied, putting a book on a low shelf delicately. "You yourself knew that I was faking a call. Of course I was watching."

Skulduggery sighed but didn't say anything else. China sighed as well, stepping around the corner and coming face to face with me.

"Oh, hello, Valkyrie," she said loud enough for Skulduggery to hear. There was a loud thump sound. Skulduggery appeared from behind the shelf, scrambling to readjust a huge book in his arms.

"What can I help you with?" China asked sweetly.

"I actually just need to talk to Skulduggery," I said.

She nodded and pried the book from Skulduggery's hands. I led Skulduggery towards the back of the library. We stopped when we came to a corner wall.

"Did you, by any chance, hear our conversation?" he began.

To lie, or to say that I had heard…

"Skulduggery, you watch me through windows, so don't go yelling at China for creeping on us."

"Damn," he growled, leaning lazily against the wall.

"I am also not hostile."

"Have you looked in a mirror when you're beating someone up?"

"That's totally different, so shush."

"Okay, fine."

Silence.

"So," Skulduggery finally said, "what did you want to talk about?"

"Oh, right." I took a deep breath. "My parents want you and I over at their house tonight."

"Why?"

"They want to meet you or whatever. They said this before we left for Paris, but I never got around to telling you. I almost lied and said that you couldn't come."

"Well what are they expecting of me? I'm a skeleton; I can't very well eat anything."

"I said that, but they just said we should still just go over there."

Skulduggery shrugged and rubbed his spinal chord. "I'm alright with it, I suppose."

I nodded and turned to leave, but Skulduggery grabbed my arm. "When though?"

I shrugged. "I don't know. I need to call them back."

"Well there we are then," he said. "Call them and ask."

"I don't have my phone," I snapped. Skulduggery silently reached into his coat pocket and pulled out his own phone. He held it out expectantly to me, and I grabbed it and dialed my parent's number.

It was a short conversation, and it involved my mom exclaiming happily about how we were going over there. So, when I ended the call, we had decided that 7 at night would be good, since it "after dinnertime," and then Skulduggery wouldn't feel "awkward" about it.

Skulduggery nodded when I handed him his phone back. "I'll, uh, pick you up at 6:30?"

"I guess," I said with a shrug.

Awkward silence.

"Right, so, I have to go and yell at China," Skulduggery mumbled. "So I'll, um, see you later."

He kind of held out his hand awkwardly, like he was going to wave or shake my hand. He finally sighed and gave a tip of his hat and then wandered off through the maze of shelves.

I remained in the corner of the library for a few more minutes, silently kicking myself.

I could already tell that that night was going to be terribly awkward and terrible.

So, Diary, care to know how the night actually went?

OF COURSE YOU DO.

Fast forward to 6:30.

RIGHT.

There were a few delicate knocks on the front door of Gordon's, but then the door just opened.

"I forgot I have a key," Skulduggery announced when he stepped into the house.

I chuckled lightly and quickly checked myself in the mirror.

"You look…different," Skulduggery said.

"Different how?"

"Just different."

I rose an eyebrow at him through the mirror. He just shrugged and beckoned me out to the Bentley.

(Diary, you must be wondering what the eff is up with us. I was wondering it too at this point.)

We got to my parents house quick enough and without too much awkwardness in the car. I was about to ring the doorbell, but Skulduggery stopped me.

"What should I call you?" he asked.

I shrugged. "Whichever name; it doesn't matter."

He nodded and let go of my hand. I rang the doorbell, and we waited in silence for a few minutes. Dad answered the door, and he beamed when he saw us. He wrapped me into a hug, and then shook Skulduggery's hand hesitantly. He dragged us into the kitchen where Mom was washing a few dishes. She immediately dropped what she was doing and hugged us both.

"Do you, er, want to take off your…?" Mom trailed off as she motioned to Skulduggery. He grunted and began removing his disguise. When he had removed everything, and his skull was visible, my parents made a terribly large effort to not gasp.

"At least they didn't faint," I muttered as Mom placed his disguise on the front table in the hallway.

I'm not really going to describe tonight. It was a really long night, and I was glad to be done with it.

But I'll say that, Diary, the way both Skulduggery and I acted, it was like the past weeks where I would rather rip his skull off than spend a minute with him had just disappeared. We settled into a rhythm where I'd poke fun at him, and then he'd retort with something strange I said in Paris.

It was so strange, Diary.

I think I found myself forgiving him, Diary.

Do you think I should?

Because, frankly, I don't know what to think about him anymore.

So, when we left my parents, we climbed into the car sluggishly and just sat there for a few minutes.

"That was so weird to do," Skulduggery mumbled, his hand covering his face.

"I've never forced a smile so many times," I said. "But I think we were able to convince them that nothing terrible had happened."

Skulduggery started up the Bentley. He pulled away from the curb and said, "Yeah, but something terrible has happened."

"Right, but I certainly don't want to tell them that someone who was working with us died. And that we weren't on the best of terms."

Skulduggery chuckled but didn't say anything. He drove smoothly along the winding roads back to Gordon's. He parked the Bentley on the curb by Gordon's, and Skulduggery, being the gentleman that he is, walked me up to the front door. Before I opened the door, I took a deep breath and faced him.

"So…thanks for doing this tonight," I said. "And thanks for not being awkward about my parents."

He shrugged. "It was the least I could do, really. Valkyrie, I really am so-"

I held up my hand and stopped him. "I know you're sorry," I whispered. "And while that's a nice gesture, it doesn't make things better."

WHAT AM I SAYING OH MY GOD.

Skulduggery sighed sadly and nodded. "I suppose you're right, though I have the urge to yell at you right now. Seeing that I am a gentleman, however, I won't."

He gave another tip of his hat and turned sharply and got into the Bentley. He revved the engine and sped off. I silently fumed and thrust open the front door.

Nothing happened for the next few hours. I ate, showered, and then read one of Gordon's books. Exciting, no? (Gordon thought so. He started reading over my shoulder. It got so annoying.)

I checked the clock then, and it read 12:49 AM. I growled at it and put the book down. I got up from the comfy chair I was in and headed to my bedroom. And pretty much the SECOND before I passed out all over my bed, there came a frantic knocking at my window. I grimaced and got up and stood at the window. Skulduggery was there, full disguise on and everything. He was silently pleading for me to open the window, and I did so out of the goodness of my heart. He climbed into my room gracefully and quietly. I do believe he was a cat in another life.

The first thing he said to me was, "They found her."

"Who? Who's 'they'? And who's 'her'?"

"The French Sanctuary found Neva Nottingham."

I stood, frozen and speechless. "Like, seriously?"

"Seriously."

"What are they going to do with her?"

Skulduggery shrugged. "I'm not sure. I only found out because I was creeping around the Sanctuary just now. Someone came by me as I was poking at the computer, and they told me they just found a message written in a little box that said, 'Madame Gabs and Monsieur Spar have found Neva Nottingham – Aya.'"

"So, Aya hacked into the Sanctuary's ancient computer and just wrote that message?"

"That's what it seems like, yeah."

"Wow," I mumbled stupidly.

"Agreed."

Silence.

"So…" I said. "Is that all you had to say?"

He hesitated, stuttered a bit, and then just froze up.

"Are you, by any chance, having a seizure?"

"No I'm not having a seizure," he said, irritated. "Why would I be seizing?"

"You're being a big spaz," I said.

"Well…I have other things to tell you, but I don't know how to say them. And yeah."

"You could just blatantly say what you-"

"Valkyrie I'm sorry for everything I did. And I love you."

Silence.

Silence.

Silence.

Silence.

"W-What?" I managed to mutter.

"Don't make me say it again," he said dejectedly.

"I heard what you said," I replied, "but it was just so…so…"

"Unexpected? Stupid? Bold?"

"I'm going to go with unexpected, actually."

"Alright, that's okay."

I stared at him for a few minutes. He stared back. I grunted and stumbled backwards and fell onto my bed. I closed my eyes and put my hand to my face. I could hear fabric rustling, and I figured it was Skulduggery taking off his disguise. The bed dipped a little where Skulduggery sat

"Say something please," he whispered

"Something," I snapped.

"Not funny!" he growled and stood up. I sat up on my bed and opened by eyes.

And then I screamed.

Want to know why, Diary?

OF COURSE YOU DO.

Standing right in front of me, looking sheepish and down at the ground, was a man.

Not just any man.

A clean-shaven, hard-eyed, tired-looking man.

Skulduggery Pleasant with light skin, shining green eyes, and ruffled black hair.

"Oh my God…" I whispered, standing up and approaching him. I poked at his face and pulled at his hair lightly. He kept staring into my eyes.

"A certain French doctor figured out how to get me my skin back from studying the regenerating technology the Nottinghams had," he mumbled. "I asked him how, but he just launched into this super complicated talk about cells and DNA; I couldn't follow it at all. He gave me that box with little pills in it. This lasts for 24 hours."

"Oh my God…" I said again, peering into his eyes.

"Will you please say something else than that?"

"Something else than that," I murmured.

Skulduggery stuttered and flailed a bit, his eyes widening in annoyance. He turned, and I thought he was going to leave, but he suddenly turned back and gripped my shoulders and kissed me full-force. I squealed momentarily at the shock but recovered quickly and let Skulduggery do his thing.

When he realized I wasn't pulling away from him, Skulduggery released his firm grip on my shoulders and slid his hands down to my waist. He pulled me in tight as I threw my arms around his neck and angled my face to kiss him deeper. He responded by opening his mouth a little and tracing his tongue along my lower lip. I hesitated a second, but my uncertainty made him pull back from me.

"I'm s-sorry," he stuttered quietly. He pulled his hands away from my waist and tried escaping, but I grabbed his face and kissed him again. He gave a muffled shout of surprise at my eagerness but didn't back away. After a few moments, I felt his tongue out again and opened my mouth a little, allowing entrance. His tongue eagerly joined mine in my mouth, and we then had a battle of dominance, ending only when I shoved off Skulduggery's thick trench coat, and there was a loud thump sound.

I pulled away abruptly and asked, "What was that?"

Skulduggery didn't answer at first; he was catching his breath. I bent down to his coat and rummaged through the pockets. I reached one pocket and pulled out a small, little book.

"Ah, that," he mumbled, going over to flop down on my bed. I held the beaten up book in my hand, just staring at it.

"Go ahead," he said, "open it."

I did so, read the first thing at the top of the first page, and I screamed again.

Want to know why, Diary?

OF COURSE YOU DO.

This is what the first page said:

Entry #1

May 28th

Diary,

Let's get a few things straight.

1. I don't know why I bought you. Valkyrie received a diary for no reason really, and I just got this overwhelming urge to buy one myself.

2. I'm rather, ahem, infatuated with Valkyrie Cain at the moment. I don't exactly know what makes me so drawn to her, but I'm going to go with the fact that she's incredibly gorgeous, but scary as hell.

And that's it. I'll probably barely right in you. Probably just to…say something interesting. Though I doubt whatever happens will be completely uninteresting.

-Skulduggery

(I'll put a line after all these…entries and when the day changes, Diary. Just a heads up.)

"It seems we think alike," Skulduggery said, hoisting himself up so he was sitting on my bed.

"You literally have one, too?" I asked, disbelief in my voice.

He shrugged. "It's looking that way, right? Keep reading; I've got better stuff later on."

I stared at the little book but went to sit down next to Skulduggery. He took the diary from my hands and furiously flipped through the pages, finding a specific entry. He didn't seem to have too much written. What he had written mostly was just a few little lines about what had happened. It seemed like he didn't have any time to go through a diary and write in it much.

He handed the book back to me. I stared down at the page. It said:

Entry #17

Written July 7th

Diary,

Sweet Mother of God. Mercy. Holy Baby Jesus. Oh my Jeezums. I think I'm about to go into a shock induced coma.

"…I, Valkyrie Cain, am rather hopelessly in love with Skulduggery Pleasant."

The personal diary of a one Valkyrie Cain is in my possession. God knows where she is and what's happening to her. She could be half-dead, and I'm sitting at her uncle's villa, reading her own personal diary. I have turned into a terribly rotten man.

-Skulduggery

"You are a terrible rotten man, that's true at least," I mumbled grumpily, staring at the quote that he had written down from my diary. "Things would have been so much easier if you had just told me about how you found my diary. I wouldn't be so mad at you."

"Are you still mad at me?" he asked quietly. I sharply took in a breath and faced him. He was looking out the window, not facing me. I put the diary down and looked at his face. He kept trying to turn away from me.

"I'm confused with you," I said.

"How so?"

"Because we're like hormonal teenagers! One minute we're flirting, then fighting the next minute! We're all over each other like just now, and now you won't even look at me."

I stood up and fumed and stood in front of him. He tried getting up, but I gripped his face and forced him to look at me.

"Skulduggery Pleasant, what the hell do you want from me?" I asked lowly.

"I-I don't know," he stated.

"Well I had thought that that kiss was a pretty clear signal, but apparently not," I growled.

"I want you to not hate me," he whispered.

I whimpered and got down on my knees, so my arms were resting on his thighs. He frowned down at me but didn't try moving or anything.

"I don't hate you," I said. "I'm just annoyed at your stupid-ness. I know that you're smart enough to know what you want from someone, and I know that you know that I don't hate you anymore."

He paused, processing what I just said. "But Valkyrie, you just confuse me so badly."

"And you just randomly kissing me isn't curious or confusing?"

"I…Well…"

"See? We're both confused with each other," I grumbled. "Heck, I'm even wondering about myself."

Skulduggery chuckled once, staring at the ground. "China knows," he suddenly said.

"Knows what?"

"Knows how I feel…about you."

"Ah!" I stood up in triumph. "So that's why she's so obsessed with us and you and everything! I always thought she was just creeping! And that you two had some weird romantic relationship!"

He laughed again. "No, completely the opposite really."

I sighed in relief. Thank goodness. "Skulduggery," I said, staring up at him seriously, "how come you never told me you had the same feelings for me?"

"You'd have known that I had read your Diary," he replied.

"But if you had just stated clearly that you had feelings for me, then I could say that I did too, and then we would have been happy!"

He shrugged and said, "I don't know why I act the way I do, alright? It's just…I'm a complicated guy."

"I noticed," I snapped and sat next to him again on my bed. "So…Uh, where does this leave us? See, I'm tired and would like to go to bed and not tha-"

I was cut off when Skulduggery swooped down and kissed me. He leaned down against me, forcing me back. I ended up lying flat on my back with Skulduggery hovering above me.

"Where do you want to leave this?" he whispered.

"On a happy note at least."

He laughed and kissed me again. "Like you said, I think that all this is a pretty clear signal of what I want to happen. How about you?" he added, kissing my neck after every few words.

I squirmed underneath Skulduggery, keeping my mouth shut and trying not to moan. CURSE HIM.

"So basically," I mumbled breathlessly, "we've declared our undying love to each other through lame diaries, both want the exact same thing, which is…?"

"Some type of relationship?"

"What, like you'd be my boyfriend and I your girlfriend?"

He gave a small shrug and sighed, "Something like that, yes."

I nodded in satisfaction a minute later, and then leaned up to kiss him again. I felt him grin big. We continued to remain in this position after a while, but Skulduggery muttered that he had to go. He began to get up from me, but I yanked him back down.

"Stay here tonight," I said, a hint of hope in my voice. He smiled and sank back onto the bed. I curled around him, and we just sat there and talked. I don't remember exactly what we talked about, but I do know that cookies were involved at some point. We fell asleep after a while, but I woke up again after a few hours.

I untangled myself from Skulduggery without waking him up. (He snores, and it's really cute…Oh my, I just said that, didn't I?) I rolled away from him stealthily, and I ended up rolling all over his diary. I pulled it from under my back and stared at it. I shot Skulduggery a quick look, and I cracked open his diary.

I flipped through some pages, coming to this entry:

Entry #14

Written June 19th

Diary,

I hate Alaire Rhett.

-Skulduggery

Based on the title, I assume this is when he and I went out on our date. Seeing this…makes me sad and angry at the same time.

The being sad is pretty obvious, since, uh, Monsieur Rhett is sort of dead.

But the angry part…God dang if Skulduggery had just told me that he had the same feelings that I had for him he wouldn't have been pissed at him and WE WOULDN'T HAVE SHOUTED AT EACH OTHER.

It's just infuriating.

I turned the pages and came across this entry:

Entry #19

Written July 19th

Diary,

I respect Valkyrie and everything she does (except for the whole necromancer thing) and want her happy.

After, ahem, reading some very interesting literature, I decided to take a try at being more of a creeper than I already am and cornering her and, ahem, kissing her. While it started out fantastic, I was quickly rejected. She never specifically said "No," but she was…scared, I suppose is the right word. Valkyrie didn't know what she was doing.

I didn't know what I was doing.

-Skulduggery

I suppose that literature would be my own diary. And…uh, he's pretty right about what was going on there. I didn't know what I was doing, neither did he, and I didn't know why he was doing that in the first place. But this entry is the real kicker:

Entry #24

Written August 8th

Diary,

Did you know that Valkyrie has I-Hate-Skulduggery Bread? It's the bread she angrily makes and angrily kneads when she's mad at me. It would very well explain why I would go to see her after having some argument about something entirely pointless, and there would be fresh bread.

And Diary Valkyrie is a domestic goddess in the kitchen. She never admits it, nor shows it, but it's plain to see she loves to cook. She doesn't do it often, but when she does, it smells amazing. I've never eaten it, which is a shame, really, but she did try and make me eat cake.

It didn't work, Diary.

Anyway, after the Incident That Ruined Everything (I'd rather not say what it was about, thank you) she left for a bit, and I took refuge upstairs, where China was lecturing me about everything. She had forced me to tell her exactly what had happened, and then she stared yelling at me! It was a few hours later, though, that everyone heard the front door open. (Yeah, everyone had crowded in China's room. I don't know why.) Tanith went down to check on Valkyrie since it was obvious it would be her coming back. Tanith returned with a grim face.

"What's wrong?" Fletcher asked, beating me.

"She's making bread," she whispered. Everyone sighed sadly, and Ghastly even cringed.

"What's wrong with bread?" I wondered.

Everyone sat in an uncomfortable silence, before Fletcher spoke. "Maybe you should go see for yourself," he mumbled. "Careful of your word choice, though."

I frowned and got up slowly, and crept downstairs. Valkyrie was in the kitchen.

"Hello there," I began.

She didn't say anything.

"Making bread, I see."

Nothing.

"Valkyrie, please talk to me."

"Why don't you just read my diary, so you can see what I'm thinking right now?" she growled, ripping some dough away and throwing it at me. I dodged it and watched it stick to the wall.

"I wouldn't do that…"

"What made you do it before, huh?"

"I didn't know what it was."

"So," she muttered, kneading the dough so hard, it was like it killed her family and she was getting revenge, "seeing the words 'Dear Diary' at the top of the pages gave no indication that it was a diary?"

"I didn't ever see them…And by the time I realized what it was, I had already read some…"

"Are you blind?" she screamed (like, really screamed). "Or are you just really stupid?" She ripped off another piece of dough and threw it with everything in her at me. It hit my suit jacket and stuck there. I peeled it off and placed it on the counter. Valkyrie still didn't stop her kneading.

"Don't over knead it now," I mumbled.

"Shut up," she replied simply.

"What can I do to make it better?" I finally asked, exasperated. "How am I supposed to make you forgive me?"

"By shutting up and leaving me alone!" she screamed again, ripping open a drawer and picking up a sharp knife. She lobbed it at me, but it just hit the wall and lodged itself in there.

"Why are you overreacting like this?" I growled.

"Overreacting?" she asked incredulously. "You read my diary. You read it while I was off, chained to a wall. Maybe I wouldn't be as mad if it was under slightly normal-er circumstances, but the fact that you went rooting through my stuff hurts. I really did trust you, you know."

"I wasn't rooting through your stuff! You left it on the floor, and I went to pick it up! And don't you remember how you said you'd never leave me, no matter what?" I mumbled suddenly. "And we were going to be together forever? What happened to that?"

"It's your fault," she just said. "You screwed up."

She stopped her bread kneading and stormed up to the wall with the knife. She pulled it out of the wall, and she threw it in the sink.

"Will you just leave, for God's sake?" she angrily mumbled, turning back to the bread.

Skulduggery shook his head. "Can I please just give you my reasons for doing this?"

"You can talk," she said, "but no guarantees that I'll listen."

"As long as you won't throw a knife at me, then," I said.

"Valkyrie, you know that I don't want to screw up our relationship," I began. "I was never sure of your feelings entirely before I read your, uh, diary, since I could never tell if we were flirting or just playfully arguing. But when I found out about everything you've…felt over the time here, I thought that maybe we could do something about that."

I paused a moment, trying to think of something else to add to that, but I couldn't piece together the right words.

"Anyway," I continued, "the reason I cornered you on July 19th was because…well I'm actually not sure. But I had figured, that since you had felt that way for so long, that you would go along with it."

She snorted.

"It was a logical thought."

"Yeah, if I was an easy girl that'd make sense, Skulduggery," she whispered. I sighed. I almost said something else, but I turned on my heel and trudged back up the stairs. The second I reached the top stop, China's door flew open and she stormed out of the room, and began fiercely whispering at me.

"Good job choosing the right words!" she growled.

"What?"

"It came off like you didn't care about your relationship!"

"I do care!"

"Well why the heck did you snap at her? Valkyrie's the one who's supposed to get to yell at you!"

"She threw a knife at my face!"

"You deserved it."

China glared at me a few moments, then finally grabbed my arm. "You're sleeping in my room tonight."

"Wait, why?"

"Do you really think you'll get to sleep in the same room as Valkyrie? She'd kill you in your sleep."

I sighed again, and hesitantly came along with China. I could hear Valkyrie pounding the dough a few times (out of frustration, I assume).

God, Diary, I really screwed up, didn't I?

-Skulduggery

Deja vu...

What I love most about this entry is that it's exactly the same as my own entry, except our wording is different, and I know what those whispers were from upstairs. And China was right: I wouldn't have let him sleep in the room as me. This next entry makes me sad:

Entry #27

Written August 18th

Diary,

Valkyrie hates me. A lot.

-Skulduggery

This was obviously written before all of today's/yesterday's events, so it's understandable, but still. Diary, throughout everything we've ever been through, I was never this mad at Skulduggery for anything else. Yeah, I was pissed when he wouldn't let me join him on some case or whatever, or when he'd make me go to school.

After reading this entry, I shook my head and sighed quietly. Skulduggery stirred from beside me a little, turning over, flopping his arm across where I'd be. His face contorted into a look of confusion, but he settled after a few minutes.

I smirked at a sudden thought that I had had. I gripped my pen and I flipped to a clean in Skulduggery's diary. This is what I wrote:

Entry #28: Written August 18th

Dear Skulduggery's Diary,

This is Valkyrie. I don't hate Skulduggery anymore. Quite the opposite, really. We're all lovey-dovey now, so that's pretty awesome, I have to say.

I like being able to say that I'm totally in love with Skulduggery Pleasant, and him being able to say it back. (Not the being in love with Skulduggery Pleasant thing but in love with me. Though he probably would say that he loves himself.)

~Valkyrie

I put his diary down, and I crawled back to Skulduggery. I lifted up his arm, and he groaned quietly, half-waking up.

"What are you doing?" he slurred.

"Go to sleep," I murmured, smoothing his black hair out of the way. He grunted and closed his eyes again. He raised his arm and wrapped it around my waist, pulling me close. His breathing evened out a few moments later, and he was asleep. I fell asleep, smiling.

(So, here's the 19th!)

I woke up to someone screaming.

Always a good start to the day.

There was a shout of surprise, and I was suddenly being pulled down onto the ground. I landed heavily on the floor, a hand resting heavily on my knee. I groaned and sat up, resting my head on the bed. Tanith was standing at the door, her sword ready and drawn. I normally would have been mad at her for being weird and doing this, but I was waaay too tired. Skulduggery grunted angrily from beside me.

There were other shouts heard from around the house, and footsteps sounded heavily on the stairs.

"God Tanith!" Skulduggery shouted at her. Apparently she had screamed. "Is it necessary to burst into someone's room and scream?"

"And who are you to yell at me?" she responded back angrily.

"What's going on?" Fletcher asked breathlessly. He had burst into the room a few seconds after we had fallen from the bed.

"What is Valkyrie doing on the floor?" Ghastly asked quietly. "And who's…" He trailed off as he noticed the guy beside me. "Uh…Sk-"

"Yes, okay, it's me," he grumbled, standing up stiffly. "I'm Skulduggery, Tanith, don't pee yourself."

Her eyes narrowed. "How can I trust it's you?"

"I read Valkyrie's diary while we were at her uncle's villa in France," he stated.

"Valkyrie has a diary?" Fletcher asked loudly.

"He has one too!" Ghastly said, pointing at Skulduggery accusingly.

"What did you do to her in the middle of the night?" Tanith shouted, her sword not wavering.

"We made up, Tanith," I announced, finally standing up and leaning up against Skulduggery.

The three of them slumped their postures simultaneously. Tanith muttered a dejected "Oh."

"Did you making up magically grow you skin then?" Fletcher mused.

Skulduggery sighed and facepalmed. I chuckled beside him. He explained shortly what had happened over the course of the night (leaving out all the kissing and such). He told them that he had come to tell me that Neva Nottingham had been caught, our diary sharing, and our make up. Tanith smiled widely after finding out the whole story, and she finally put away her sword.

Ghastly nodded in satisfaction at the explanation, and Fletcher just stared blankly at us.

"Does that mean you guys are…like, a couple now?" he asked. It sounded like he was completely disgusted in the idea.

I shrugged. "Pretty much, yeah."

Skulduggery nodded shortly, glaring at Fletcher as he started to say something.

"Valkyrie, he didn't hypnotize your or anything, right?" Tanith asked skeptically.

"Yes, because Skulduggery is so known for his hypnotizing skills," I replied. He laughed from beside me, slowly placing a hand around my waist.

"You never know!" Tanith shouted.

"Why do we associate ourselves with you, Tanith?" Skulduggery questioned while he and I strode from the room.

Diary, as I'm writing in you, drinking my coffee, that whole scene pretty much sums up my life. My friends are crazy, yet loveable, and I don't think life would be as awesome without Fletcher…or Skulduggery, for that matter. (He's sitting next to me, reading over my shoulder. He's laughing as he's reading this sentence.)

Though we lost Monsieur Rhett, and we're all still down about that, we're all happy. And that's just fine.

Skulduggery just laughed at my sap.

But that's just fine, too.

~Valkyrie

EDIT: The line, "Valkyrie I'm sorry for everything I did. And I love you," was originally written as one big word, like Skulduggery had said it really rushed. Sadly, was being a buttface and not keeping it. I don't know WHY, but it wasn't. Sooo...I fixed the sentence so it doesn't say, "ValkyrieI'". Juuuust if you reread this at any point, read it reeeally fast and rushed. Yeeep.

CONTINUING TO BE AN EDIT BUT NOT REALLY EDITING ANYTHING: Woooow thanks for the great and nice reviews! :D I, like, cried reading them XD

HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA DONE.

DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONE.

22 pages. THIS WAS 22 PAGES.

Anyways, however, the length of this wouldn't be possible without you guys! Like, if I didn't get the OVER 200 REVIEWS (OH MY GOD THAT'S SO FANTASTIC) that I did get, this story probably wouldn't be that good. I would have probably lost interest in it. That would have been saaaad. I really thank you all for being so kind and so gracious on your thoughts and words. I'd come home from school on a Monday, and I'd be soooo happy at the reviews I'd get in my e-mail. (Did you know I did that on purpose? I upload Sunday night so then Monday afternoon I check my e-mail, and I get a bunch of reviews :3)

So just thank you all for everything. You are all such great people, and I'm glad that I'm here, writing, and getting your opinions on it. LOOOOOVE YOU ~

But getting to real business, I think I'm just going to take a small break for a little bit. Like, from all actual stories. His and Her Broken Bones and possible Once Upon A Time will get more attention because I miss them. I won't disappear, but maybe just not an update every Sunday day/night? I'm not sure right now.

But yeah.

The end.

Thank you EVERYONE for reading anything of this story and for reading this particular chapter. I apologize for any mistakes!

:DDDDDDD