WARNING! This story contains events that occurs in the latest book, 'Seasons of War', so if you haven't read that book yet, I recommend you not to read this story until you've read the book.

I know that it has been a while since I last wrote something, but I have been really busy the last 18 months. I gave birth to a baby boy in July 2019 and a baby takes up A LOT of your time. I also brought a house together with my boyfriend in march of this year and that has also taken up a lot of my time. But now I finally found some time to write, since my son has started pre-school and that gives me some hours free on the days when I am not working and I have also managed to write a little after he goes to bed in the evenings before I myself need to go to sleep.

The inspiration to this story came to me in many steps. First I re-read 'Seasons of War' and in the book there are a lot of Valduggery moments (according to me, at least) that got me thinking if Valkyrie really is as happy together with Militsa as she says she is. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against Militsa or the fact that Valkyrie is bisexual, since my boyfriend is bisexual and I have friends who is both homo- and bisexual. It's just that I think that Valkyrie and Militsa's relationship feels a bit... forced. It just came out of nowhere if you ask me and it feels like Derek added it to show that he thinks it's okay to love whoever you want, no matter the gender.

And before someone out there is going to write that I don't understand Derek or what it's like to be something else than straight, that's not what I mean. I don't care who you fall in love with, as long as you're happy with your choice. And to all of you out there who supports Valitsa, I'm happy for you! Everyone should be able to ship whoever they want and I hope that we all can be nice to one another and spread love instead of hate.

Enough said! I just hope that you will enjoy this story and if you do, please leave a review and like this story! :)

The sky was dark gray, the wind flew around in icy winds and the rain was pouring down. The thunder rumbled in the distance and a lightning bolt lit up the otherwise dark evening sky. Two young women who looks to be in their mid twenties quarrel violently. Their voices are angry and upset and they gesture strongly with their arms in the air. One of the women, who is a redhead with freckles and dressed in a black garment, sighs heavily and turns around before she goes back into the house they both stormed out of just a moment ago.

"Militsa, wait!" shouts the other woman but gets no response.

She remains with her hand outstretched for several minutes without moving. The woman has dark hair, brown eyes and her body shows signs of someone who actively is staying in shape and trains hard. She is wearing jeans, a t-shirt and an unbuttoned jacket. Her name is Valkyrie Cain and she has just been dumped by her girlfriend Militsa Gnosis.

Valkyrie returns to reality the moment she notices how her body begins to shake from the cold. How long has she been standing there with outstretched hand, just staring at the closed door through which she saw Militsa disappear? She puts her arms around herself in an attempt to keep the little warmth she has left, but fails.

Tears of anger, sadness and embarrassment protrude from her eyes and she angrily rubs them away but new ones immediately run down her cheeks. So that no one will see her standing and crying like a little child, she turns her back on Militsa's house and quickly takes the few steps to her car, which is parked on the other side of the street. At the same time as the engine starts and she feels how the heat from it flows in through the fan, she can no longer contain her emotions and lets the tears flow freely down her cheeks while she puts her hands in front of her face.

A telephone signal starts playing in her pocket and makes her jerk. She takes up her mobile from her jacket pocket and manages to see Skulduggery's name on the screen through tearful eyes. Valkyrie pushes the call away and decides that the best thing she can do at the moment is to go home to her dog Xena and find comfort in her soft fur and unconditional love.

The wipers hits the windshield and Valkyrie has to make an effort to be able to distinguish the road from all the rain and tears that are still flowing from her eyes. She feels nothing but a great emptiness in her chest that she has not experienced since the day Fletcher and she broke up so many years ago. Why could she not be happy for once? As soon as everything seemed to resolve itself, something always appeared that turned her whole world upside down.

Not in a good way, should be added.

Militsa had been one of the few things she had looked forward to coming back to every time she had gone on a new mission with Skulduggery or any of her other friends and acquaintances. Militsa always had time for her and listened to her problems without interrupting and judging her. Militsa had been her mainstay for a long time and Valkyrie began to understand that now that she was no longer there, she had lost a very close friend.

As soon as she came home and unlocked the door, Xena appeared and began to lick away her tears. Valkyrie could not help it but started laughing and hugged her beloved dog hard while she buried her face in her warm and soft fur.

"Good girl, good girl..."

Xena whined a little and stroked her mistress in an attempt to make her feel better. She hated seeing her mistress as down as she was now and even though she did not know what had happened, she knew that Valkyrie needed all the support in the world right now.

Valkyrie's phone rang again and she let it ring. She could not bear to talk to anyone right now, but the only thing she wanted to do at the moment was to disappear from the world for a few days until she had been able to digest what had happened. She gave Xena one last pat before she went into the kitchen and started making a cup of tea with a lot of honey in it.

As soon as the sweetness of the drink ran down her throat, she felt a little better. She went into the living room and sat down on the sofa before laying a blanket around her to regain the heat she had lost while standing outside in the rain. Xena lay down at her feet and fell asleep after a while. Valkyrie stroked her dog's back and could not help but smile. What if she too could have such a hassle-free life as Xena? The only thing she would have to do all day was play, eat, sleep, go to the toilet and take long walks outdoors.

"It's easy for you, Xena. Sometimes I get jealous of you, you know." Valkyrie scratched her dog behind the ears before she lay down on the sofa and pulled the blanket tighter around her.

She closed her eyes and let the thoughts flow freely. Could she somehow have prevented what had happened? Should she have acted differently? Had the signs been there long before she had seen them? Sure, she and Militsa had not seen each other as often lately, but there was nothing she could have done, or made an effort to, do anything about. She and Skulduggery had had a lot to do and she had thought that Militsa understood, which she'd done, but it did not change her feelings about it all.

"I understand that it's a lot right now, Valkyrie, but surely you must be able to ask Skulduggery to be able to take at least a few hours off for one day? Surely he must be able to find answers without you for a while? You promised me that you would take some weeks off so we could catch up on the time we lost under the seven months you were away!" Militsa had said once when they discussed it all.

"He knows that very well, but I want to be there when he finds them and you know that. I don't want to find out afterwards, I want to be at the center of it all. I hate standing in the background and watch others work for me. Especially with the case we're working on right now and you know that. We've talked about this before. You know how important this is to me and that I also wish we could meet up more often, but as soon as this is over I'll take a few days off and then we can spend some time together. For real this time, I promise."

Militsa had sighed and just said "Sure" before changing the subject.

Thus in retrospect, Valkyrie began to suspect that Militsa had not told the whole truth about how she had really felt about the whole situation and that she had probably talked to others about their situation. Especially with one of her female teacher colleagues.

Valkyrie thought back to what Militsa had said when they quarreled outside her home in Roarhaven in an attempt to understand why it had ended.

"Do you really not understand why we are standing here now, Valkyrie? Did you never listen to what I said to you the few times you decided that you wanted to spend time with me since you came back from what you call Dimension X? You have changed and not for the better, I am afraid. It feels like you do not love me anymore, as if you do everything to avoid seeing and hanging out with me! We decide a time and place when we shal meet, but at the last minute you cancel and come with the same, lousy excuse! Skulduggery seems to be more important and deserves your time more than your own girlfriend!"

Valkyrie had stretched out her hands towards Militsa, but she had backed away from her. "I have asked around and what you have said about this mission being so important and that you can not take time off until it has been resolved is false! You lied straight to my face, Valkyrie! I need love, not betrayal! I need a present girlfriend who wants to hang out with me, who takes time for me and who is willing to listen to what I have to say! Who can stay and have dinner together with me, who wants to stay the night and cuddle with me. None of that has happened in a long time and I'm tired of coming second all the time. I'm tired of constantly getting excuses for why we can't see each other, for why you can't or do not want to hang out with me, for why you don't have time to listen to my problems but I am expected to listen to your problems! I'm tired of constantly being supportive, without getting anything in return!"

With tears in her eyes, Militsa had looked into Valkyrie's eyes and said the words that changed everything. "I have met someone else, Valkyrie. I'm not going to name her because I know that if you found out who she is, you would do something to her that you would regret later. The only thing I intend to tell you is that she is a colleague of mine and that I have not been unfaithful. We have feelings for each other but we have not done anything that can be considered inappropriate."

"You... you're lying!"

"No, Valkyrie, I don't and you know that. You know I'm always telling the truth. Why would I make up such a thing?"

"Militsa, please! We can solve this! I... I love you!" Valkyrie had said in a desperate voice, reaching for Militsa's hand.

"Valkyrie, do not make this more difficult than it has to be. For the sake of us both, it's probably best that you go now. I have nothing more to say. I wish you all the best and hope you have a good life." With those words of farewell, Militsa had turned around and returned to her house, thus leaving the life she and Valkyrie had had together behind her.

Without being able to stop them, the tears ran down Valkyrie's cheeks again. She let them flow and curled up in fetal position and let all the negative feelings that the breakup had brought up wash over her. Who would she now turn to when she needed someone to talk to and ventilate with? Who would she turn to for comfort and love?

"Skulduggery..." she whispered to herself without first noticing what she said. It was true everything Militsa told her: she had not taken it upon herself to spend time with her but had instead chosen to spend more and more time with Skulduggery, even though she did not always need to. It was true that the assignment they had just been assigned required a lot of their time, but not as much time as Valkyrie tried to make Militsa believe.

The truth was simply that Valkyrie had deliberately chosen to neglect Militsa in order to be with Skulduggery instead. She could not explain why, but ever since they returned from Dimension X, she had found herself searching for Skulduggery more and more often. When she was with him, she felt calm, relaxed and glad. When she was with him, her darkest thoughts did not haunt her, when she was with him she could talk about what they had been experiencing, since she knew that he understood her and knew exactly what she was going through. With him she could gain understanding and not have to see the pity on his face that she saw every time she talked to Militsa or her parents.

She had also begun to have strange thoughts and dreams about Skulduggery that she had not had before. She thought she knew what they were trying to tell her, but so far she had stuck her head in the sand like an ostrich in the hope that they would disappear.

But they had not, but rather the opposite.

Valkyrie was interrupted in her thoughts by a knock on the door. She looked up at the hall but did not have the strength to get up and open it, but instead let the person who was on the other side of the door continue to knock. Hopefully the person would get tired and go his way. She had no desire at all to meet anyone right now.

"Valkyrie, are you there?" a voice as soft as velvet could be heard asking.

At the sound of the voice, Xena opened her eyes and began wagging her tail happily before jumping down from the sofa and walking to the door where she barked happily. The man to whom the voice belonged turned the door handle and when he noticed that the door was unlocked, he opened the door and stepped inside. But saying that he was a "man" was perhaps the wrong word to use. He was really a living skeleton and his name was Skulduggery Pleasant. He was wearing a black suit with a black tie, white shirt and matching shoes. On his head he wore a hat which he had put on at an angle and when he saw Xena he bent down and scratched her behind the ears.

"Hey, girl. Where is your mistress? " he asked.

Xena barked and licked the man's bony cheek before turning around and going into the living room where Valkyrie still had not moved a muscle. She had not even made an attempt to wipe away the tears since she knew it was no idea. Skulduggery would only need to take a look at her to see that she had been crying if she dried them away.

"I was worried when you didn't answer the phone and when I called Militsa to ask if she knew where you were, since you told me that you would be seeing each other today, she was unusually short and cold in her voice and said that the last time she saw you, you were sitting in your car on your way somewhere. She did not know where you were going, but she suspected that you had gone home."

Skulduggery sat down on the armchair next to the sofa where Valkyrie lay before clasping his hands over his bony knees and leaning forward. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"No."

"Valkyrie..."

"Please Skulduggery", Valkyrie asked. "I do not want to talk about it and nothing you say right now can make me change my opinion."

Skulduggery did not answer this, but only looked at her. The silence that settled between them was not oppressive, but a silence of understanding. This was not the first time this had happened and it would probably not be the last. Valkyrie and Skulduggery had known each other for so many years now that they did not always have to tell what the other felt or thought, but the other knew it only by reading the other's body language.

"Do you want a hug?" Skulduggery wondered after they'd looked each other in the eyes for a while.

Valkyrie did not answer but just stretched out her arms and Skulduggery immediately got up from the armchair he was sitting in. He knelt in front of Valkyrie and put his bony arms around her in an embrace that only he could. Valkyrie put her head against his collarbone and closed her eyes while hugging Skulduggery back.

Skulduggery stretched out one of his gloved hands and wiped away Valkyrie's tears with his thumb before grabbing her chin and forcing Valkyrie to look into his eye sockets. "It's going to be okay, Valkyrie. I understand that it feels hard right now and that you feel a little confused, but you will soon be your old self again. I know that because I'm never wrong."

"Except when you are", Valkyrie replied, smiling.

Skulduggery pretended to be appalled. "How dare you say that about me, the best detective who ever lived?! I may be over 400 years old and a wandering skeleton, but I'm still as smart and handsome as I was when I was human."

"How come every time you cheer me up or assure me of something, it always ends up being about yourself?"

"Because I am irresistible and no matter how hard you and others try, you can not get enough of me."

"It's rather the opposite, I'm afraid. I want to remind myself that most of the people we have encountered during the years we've known each other have either hated, loathed or just tolerated you."

Skulduggery waved his hand dismissal and snorted. "It's just the way you imagined it, Valkyrie. My name is well known all over the world. There are not many who have not heard of me and my achievements."

"That may be true, but it does not change what I just said to you. I would probably actually like to say that I am one of the few people who can manage to be in your company for more than 5 minutes without going crazy."

Skulduggery laughed and hugged Valkyrie again before saying, "Jokes aside, Valkyrie. If you need to talk, I'm here."

"I know, Skulduggery, and I am very grateful for that. What I need right now is a friend who just holds me and lets me think about something else for the moment. Do you think you can do that for me?"

"I'm more than happy to do that. You may be interested in hearing what I have been finding out in the last few hours? I have a feeling that this information will prove to be of great use to us. In fact, I dare even say that we can solve the case with the help from this information."

Valkyrie smiled and patted the sofa cushion next to herself. When Skulduggery sat down next to her, she settled into Skulduggery's arms and closed her eyes before saying "Let's hear it."