Message before you read:

Hi! Thank you for clicking on my story. At the time of this message, I have not finished the fanfic, but I am still working on it!

There will be mature themes. The story starts by being incredibly like the books. By the time you get to about Chapter 30, however, it will begin to be more my own, and by the time you're at Chapter 50, the books are basically out the window! I think it's the best of both worlds in that way.

There will be some character dead and disappearances. The Dead Men are safe (mostly ;)). But the criminals are going to end differently to the books as well as happen at different times because 1) fanfiction, and 2) this is a personal creation, not a slightly different version of the original.

I am dyslexic and although I try my hardest, there will be a few annoying spelling and sentence structure problems. Words such as adept vs adapt and such, so shouldn't be too annoying.

Everything in this story is explained! By which I mean, don't worry if you don't remember everything in the books. I'm going to go through it just as Valkyrie goes through it. So no worries.

Chapter 1

Stephanie is eight years old

Stephanie ran into her Uncle Gordon's arms for a hug.

"Oof," he groaned. "You're getting big Steph."

"I'm just so awesome," she said, backing up. "Need more space for it all."

He laughed and led her into the house, waving Melissa off. Uncle Gordon looked after Stephanie every weekend and most days after school, and had done since he broke his arm a year ago and found he enjoyed the routine. It was a joke in their family now that Gordon was a second father, especially since her real father, Desmond, passed away when she was little. They got on extremely well, so much so that Melissa couldn't deny her only child time with the man even though she was unsure of his books and some of his friends. She loved Gordon as a brother, so after a few weeks of begging, she allowed it, even letting her have a week with Gordon while she went on a holiday to Spain with her friends – and Stephanie was happy for her Mum. She deserved time away to be happy. She worked extremely hard. Gordon told her so.

"What are we doing this weekend?" She asked.

"Oh, I have a few ideas. But remember I also have to finish my book soon so I'll have to work too," he reminded her. That was okay, she had brought her homework and a book with her. For an eight-year-old, she was bright, smart and unusually quick to answer back though a lot of her humour was unappreciated by her family and teachers. It was probably also why she didn't keep friends long, but with Gordon, she could embrace her full self and trade witty remarks without fear of being told off. He even let her swear once.

They started the morning by taking a drive up to the supermarket and ran around the shop getting everything they wanted. That was followed by ice-cream and they returned to Gordon's house to eat lunch and put away the food. Gordon liked to get work done in the afternoons so they had evenings to have fun again so she was sent to her room to do homework and read or play. She wasn't allowed to leave the room.

"This house is so big," he'd say when she asked. "You'll get lost and I'll never find you and your mum will have my head."

So, she never left. It was an amazing room to be fair, and she even had a computer and all the new games and toys she could ever want, and Gordon's friends would bring little things for her walls and all imaginable surfaces. The newest things, which she found as soon as she ran in, was sitting on her bed waiting for her. A tiny, tiny charm for her bracelet, made of some smooth stone, in the shape of a heart. She knew who this was from.

There were six of them, she was certain. She kept their things separate so she'll know who got her what. She didn't know their names though, so she gave them some herself.

This person always got her jewellery and pretty things, though usually not pink, and she called him Bear. It was rare to get something from him, but she always felt he really thought about what he got her.

Another person usually got her clothes, or shoes or bags or little purses or little toys. Everything always had animals on it and she adored it all. He was called Panda because of her favourite toy, the only gift she had taken home from Gordon's.

Crow always got her silly things like sticks, rubber bugs and really random objects or books that she was confused by. He seemed a little strange, but it was always funny to her when she found his gifts.

Snakie got her pink everything, usually clothes, but they were always cool, like pink camo jackets, pink combat boots, a pink nerf gun with glittery bullets that exploded in gold when she shot them. Though they were pink, and she didn't like to be a girly girl, she couldn't help but embrace them with a big grin. She especially liked shooting Gordon with glitter bullets. He'd put the nerf gun up high on a shelf so she couldn't get to it, but she knew she could get it down by standing on the chest of drawers below.

Weasel got her food more often than not, though he did occasionally send her tickets to an event of some type which she went to with Gordon.

Lastly was Wolf, whose gifts she would always take to Gordon to explain and show off. They were always exotic and fun, sometimes and instrument, sometimes a toy, sometimes jewellery, it seems random, but it was always different and intrigued her. Wolf had inspired her to learn dance, to her mother's joy, and to find her singing talent. She hated singing in front of people because they would immediately want her to sing more and to other people. But she enjoyed it and liked to sing songs with her Mum.

Stephanie did her homework quickly with the stone heart charm in her little fist, and when it was stuffed back into its folder, she attached the charm to her bracelet and put it on. It was the perfect size and really pretty. Gordon said he'd get her a new bracelet one day, when she was older and bigger, and they'd put the charms on that one so she'd get to keep wearing the gifts.

She played with the doll's house for a while, and the toys and tried to compete in a chess match against herself, turning the board for every go but she found herself being biased towards one colour when they started winning at the start and just gave up on the others and set them up for death, so she could win. Looking around the room of stuff, she wished she had someone to play with. So she played her favourite game – imagining she was on an adventure with her friends, with Crow, Bear, Panda, Wolf, Weasel and Snake.

She wasn't sure why, but pretty soon into the game, she heard a noise outside the room. It had been a bang. She went quiet and listened carefully.

Nothing.

If it had been another day, she would have kept playing whatever game she had. But Stephanie and her imaginary friends had been playing 'saviours', where Stephanie would valiantly save all her friends from certain death, and now she was worried Gordon needed saving.

She opened the door very, very quietly.

"Gordon?" She whispered. Nothing. "Gordon?" She shouted. Nothing. "GOOORRRDOOOON!" She screamed. Nothing.

Things were serious then.

Stephanie bit her lip and left the room, something she had never done in the afternoons before. She knew where the office was, which was were Gordon was, a floor above her, so she snuck up the stairs and down the long hallway. She could see from a distance that his door was open slightly and there was light from the spring sun filtering through, and there was the murmur of voices too but she wasn't sure if they were Gordon's.

She snuck closer, stepping around the noisy floorboards until she was besides the door. She held her breath and looked into the crack.

She could see Gordon's desk and there were three chairs in front of it, each of them filled though she couldn't see who by. One of them was sat in front of Gordon so he couldn't see her.

"How was your time in India?" Gordon asked suddenly. He was changing the topic, she could tell. "Find anything exciting? Any fun stories?"

The man snorted. "Nothing at all. I went for a month and I didn't find a single mercenary matching their description. I just sort of wandered around."

"You never were the best at finding people though," another man with a velvety voice said. She'd heard that voice before but had never seen him. "You probably had drinks with them and didn't realise."

Gordon and the third man laughed. The first man looked at the second with a scowl and Stephanie got a look at his profile before he turned back to Gordon. He had dark blonde hair and a scruffy beard that wasn't very long. "How is your book coming along? Am I going to be a hero?"

Gordon's book was about her friends, Stephanie suddenly realised. Because these men had to be her friends. She started to jig excitedly in place. She really, really wanted to meet them. Who would they be? What did they get her? What other stories did they have? What were their real names?

"It's going well, thank you," Gordon said. "And you hardly think I'm going to tell you that, do you?"

One of the men snorted. "You'd tell China."

"Well, that's here nor there," Gordon claimed. "Did you get that information from her by the way? You never said."

"Yes, I cracked that case a long while ago," the velvet man said.

"We spoke about it this morning."

"Really, the difference between a few hours and a few years is nothing."

They laughed at the man and Stephanie giggled accidently. They went quiet and she held her breath. She was going to be caught. Oh no, where could she hide? Think, think…

Gordon opened his study door and Stephanie shut her eyes so she'd be more hidden. She heard his steps going up and down the hall, looking for her. "Stephanie, where are you? You're not in trouble."

Stephanie opened her eyes. She wasn't in trouble? She wasn't sure she believed him, but he couldn't go back on it now he said it.

Gordon was further up the hall where it split into different halls going to other places. She carefully crawled out from behind the counter-thing she'd squeezed into a moment before and tiptoed into the study.

There, three men looked at her. She grinned and ran behind the desk and sat in Gordon's big leather chair.

"Good day," she told them and giggled.

They grinned back. One had his face covered with glasses, scarf and hat, another was the dark blonde man with the stubble, and the last was a man with a lot of scars. Stephanie was a little shocked at his appearance but next to the man covering his face she could only assume he was getting off lightly and gave him a bigger smile. Her Mum always said to be nice to people no matter what they looked like and she didn't want to seem rude.

"You're my friends," she whispered. "The ones who keep bringing me things."

The one with scars laughed deeply. "Yes, I suppose we are."

"You're little Stephanie," the dark blonde one grinned.

"Of course," she rolled her eyes. She turned to the covered man. "Why are you hidden?"

"I'm sorry?" He asked.

"Why are you hiding?"

"I'm not. I'm right here."

"Your face," she specified, giving him a look of attitude her mother wouldn't like.

"Well, I have a hideous face," he said.

"Oh. You're the one who brings weird things, aren't you? Why do you do that?" She questioned.

He tilted his head. "I do not. I bring things that will aid your development."

She frowned at him. "Like plastic bugs?"

He hesitated. "Yes."

She shook her head. "Who are you?" She asked the other two.

"My name is Ghastly," the scared one said. "I'm a tailor."

"I'm Dexter. I'm awesome."

"So am I," she grinned. "Do you bring all the different thing from everywhere?"

"I suppose so. Do you like them?" He asked.

"I love them! I have everything in my room, you should come see!"

Gordon came into the office then. "Stephanie!"

He looked mad.

"Oh, sorry Uncle Gordon," she said, trying to look sorry. "I forgot you were going to get lost."

The others tried to smother laughs.

"I didn't know where you were. Why did you leave your room?" He asked more kindly.

She shrugged. "You walked right passed me so I came and met my friends. I was going to show Mr Dexter my room. I haven't even told them my nicknames for them!"

"What's my nickname?" Wolf – Dexter – asked quickly.

"Wolf," she grinned excitedly.

Dexter grinned but Gordon shook his head. "Come on, back to your room."

"What?" She asked, really upset. "But I only just got to meet them! I want to play a game. I want to know were all those things came from, I want Panda to teach me how he makes stuff! I don't know what being a tailor is yet!"

"No," Gordon said, picking her up. She was about to start squirming but didn't want to have a tantrum in front of her friends. That was just embarrassing. "I told you to stay put."

"I heard a bang. I thought you were alone and hurt. I wanted to help."

"You don't have to worry about me," he said. "Now say goodbye."

She looked at her three friends with big eyes and they filled with tears. When would she see them again? "I want a hug."

She was let down and she hugged Crow first because he was nearest before hugging Panda, Ghastly, in a tight grip, and finally Wolf, who was actually Dexter. "Be good," he told her, "and we can talk another day."

She squeezed him tighter. "I'm not leaving." He laughed and squeezed her tighter too and they started a squeezing competition. "I'll squish you!" She shouted. "No Gordon! I have to squeeze his butt off!"

Wolf roared in laughter and Gordon finally pried her away. "I love you," she said, and she was forced from the room trying to see them again.

Gordon shut the door softly and took her back to her room. He sat on her bed and she looked at him from the middle of the room for a moment before sitting beside him.

"Are you upset?" She whispered. "I didn't mean to upset you."

He sighed. "It's alright." He looked at her with a smile, but she could see he was upset. "I was just worried when I couldn't find you."

Stephanie gave him a hug. "I love you."

"I love you too Steph."