Requiem: Chapter Twenty Three...

Here is the final chapter of this Fic, I hope you all like it and I'm sorry about the wait. The end of chapter twenty two has been edited slightly and some of the fighting has been fleshed out for you :)

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Valkyrie stared out at the sea as it crashed against Haggard pier. She'd stood there so many times over the years, looking out at the ocean and letting her mind empty. She came to the pier to clear her thoughts and to have time to herself. Today her thoughts refused to quieten down. They were as restless and disturbed as the waves she stood above.

"I thought I'd find you here." Skulduggery's voice was warm as he approached her with his hands in his pockets, the brim of his hat pulled low over his eyes. He wore the facade and he felt solid and comforting as he wrapped an arm around her waist. "Melissa said you liked to come here a lot as a child."

"I used to leap over the rocks and into the sea," she answered, hugging her arms close to her body. "I can't stop seeing their faces."

"I know," he murmured. In the few days since the fight with Lord Vile, Valkyrie had woken each night with nightmares. The faces of the innocent bystanders she'd injured and killed stood front and centre, screaming at her and begging for their lives. She simply smiled and slit their throats, basking in the blood and the death. She'd wake in a cold sweat, the memory of Darquesse laughing at the carnage fresh in her mind.

"I can't stand to be free. I took their lives."

"It wasn't you, you know that."

"It was my hands. It was my body. Whether I like it or not, Darquesse is inside me. I need to find a way to stop her getting out. I can't rely on Lord Vile to make an appearance every time she pushes me back."

"I think the two of them meeting again should be avoided at all costs." He tilted his head the way he did when he knew something she didn't.

"What?"

"An inkling of an idea that may or may not turn out to be fruitful," he replied. "There's an artefact designed to seal a person's true power. It was said to be created by the Ancients to help them defeat the Faceless Ones." He pulled out a crumpled piece of paper and handed it to her. On the paper were reprints of two paintings. The first depicted an image of the Ancients forcing a crown onto the head of a Faceless one. The second showed the Faceless One on its knees before the Ancients, the crown causing it to shrink and wither.

"What's the downside if we find it?"

"We don't know how far the limitations will go. It may remove your magic completely."

"If that's what it takes to stop me becoming her again then I'll do it." She clenched her fists. "I'll do anything to stop it."

"Well, alright then. I'll dig around for more information about the artefact and then we can go and find it."

"Skulduggery?" He turned to look at her. "What happens if it does remove my magic? Will I have to stop being an Arbiter?"

"No," he answered with a smile. "Your Uncle Gordon never had an ounce of magic in him and he offered me more help during his life than most mages. You have his sharp mind and Tanith and I taught you how to fight. Magic isn't everything, Valkyrie."

"So we'll still be partners?"

"Always." He bent his head to kiss her gently. They were interrupted by the ping of Valkyrie's mobile phone in her jacket pocket. She frowned and pulled it out. The words on the screen froze her blood and made her fingers tremble.

"Uh, Skul?" She showed him the message, nausea rolling through her.

"Ah. Well, that can't be good." She stared at the five words with wide eyes, burning them into her memory as the sea crashed against the pier and the world turned around her like nothing was wrong. She sucked in deep breaths, trying to calm her racing pulse as she slipped the phone back inside her jacket. Even when it was away she could still see those six words illuminated in front of her eyes.

I know who you really are.

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Author's Note: Thank you so much for taking the time to read and review my work, I hope I did Derek Landy an ounce of justice. The sequel 'Aftermath' is in the works to be released very soon. I hope you'll do me the honour of reading on.