Chapter 3

"Listen Skul-Man..." Tanith began, trying to relax in her chair. Tanith's tone had suddenly gone from accusational to friendly advice. Something had flipped a switch . Skulduggery paid it no mind, but to Tanith it meant a great deal. It wasn't that she was realizing that Skulduggery was losing it which comforted her. Or the fact that he had saved a large quantity of people that comforted her. It boiled down to the fact that now, Tanith wasn't the scariest person in the room. However, she had never been that amongst the likes of Cain and Pleasant.

She was an afterthought.

"Don't call me that" Skulduggery said, realizing her reason. He didn't mind though. It meant that she wasn't afraid.

She will be.

Of my brilliance? Your right.

You have a shoe shaped hole in your closet

I think it looks lovely

It looks like a hole in the wall...

Shaped like a shoe.

Fair play.

"Look, I know things have been tough, but you can't keep doing this." Tanith continued.

"You've put the world on high alert. Everyone is stepping on thin ice with a Great White Shark sleeping underneath it."

"This isn't like you, man! What's going on?" Tanith said as sincere as he had ever seen her. Tanith had always tried to play it cool, playing stuff like this off as venting anger. But, she looked so serious. The look of concern in her eyes was disturbing for Skulduggery. It might have been the fact that Skulduggery was her only companion left that actually trusted her. He didn't trust her to the extent she believed, but nonetheless, it was trust. This kind of concern only ever reminded him of his ex-partner. She had always picked at him when she knew something was wrong. Even if she knew it would stir trouble, she would keep trying to understand. He had told her countless times to stop, but she very rarely did.

"Come on Val..." He paused, sitting absolutely still for what felt like an hour. It took him a minute to realize what he had just said. Tanith looked at him, but with understanding rather than concern. She blushed slightly and looked out the window for a brief second. She looked back after a while, secured her composure again. Skulduggery sighed and sat back into his chair, sinking into the leather.

"Well, let's talk about that then, shall we?" Tanith said, doing the same as the Detective.

"What are you, my psychologist?" Skulduggery said with his hand on his forehead.

"You have a psychologist?"

"I had a tailor" he said sadly, but dryly whimsical.

"That's not a psychologist" Tanith dead-panned

"That all depends on your perspective." Skulduggery said, smirk in his voice.

"A tailors perspective is looking at the crotch of customers." Tanith said with a smile.

"The most profound perspective of all" Skulduggery spread his arms wide in a "You get it now?" kind of motion.

"Skeleton!"Tanith only ever called him that when she was extremely upset with him. Something she had only developed over the last few years. She sat down for a minute, calming herself down from the common place ridiculousness of Skulduggery Pleasant.

"I'm being serious here, OK?" Tanith said, sounding slightly stressed.

"Can we actually talk seriously?" Skulduggery chuckled rhetorically. "Last time we talked it was about how everyone's hair looked ridiculous in the 80's. The time before that we talked about what it was like in the 1800's, specifically mine. Embarrassment aside, it was rather amusing"Skulduggery chuckled softly again.

"We're talking about right now though, Skul. Regardless of how ridiculous the hair was."

"Specifically yours. The 80's were a tough time for gravity. With every other disco-individual taking up an ..." Skulduggery said with a smile. If he had a face.

"The time's were different!" Tantih interjected sharply. A blush spreading to the rest of her face.

"You could probably tell the time by just looking at your shadow. Or replicate the shape of an ice cream" Skulduggery joked.

"You can't talk shit about hair OK, you don't have any!"

"That hurt Tanith. If my heart were still here, it would be shattering. " Skulduggery said with a mock frown in his voice and a tilt on his head. He put his hand to his heart in offense.

"Shut up, Skeleton. OK, can we be real for a minute?" Tanith spat, shaking her hands sporadically.

"We are real Tanith, at least to my knowledge. You could be a figment of my imagination. You'd be surprised how much that happens." Skulduggery said as he sat back further into his chair and looked at the ceiling. He sighed again and just waited for something to happen. Maybe the Rainbow Cleaver would bust through the roof and start doing a river-dance. That would be preferable to this, at least he'd have something to look at.

"OK man, look. I miss Val as much as you do, maybe less, maybe more. I can't really be sure, since we never talked about it."

"There's a reason we don't talk about that." He said as he looked back to Tantih, peaking his fingertips again.

"This isn't vampire's Skul! This is about your partner, you know that." Tanith sat back in her seat, sort of exhausted.

"Ex partner" He tensed his fingers slightly.

"She never stopped being your partner"

"Really? How would you know?"

"I just do okay? You were her best friend for a long time Skulduggery, The friend I should have been."

"I'm a good alternative." Skulduggery said, putting a modest hand to his chest. Tanith looked away again, she seemed so far away in that moment, Skulduggery knew he needed to bring her back somehow.

"Look Tanith, your shouldn't blame yourself, OK? I may not be the best person to hear this from, but you can't be held accountable for what evil crawls into you. The remnant may have looked like you, talked like you, had the same memories and so on, but it will never be you. The thing that defines you in my opinion is your kindness. Also your friendship with me. Tanith, do not let the past define you. It was said that your past molds you, but your actions define you."

"Who said that?"

"Probably some man with a beard. Anyway, I think I told Valkyrie this once, but I think there's a reason sorcerers live so long. We live to atone for the things that we have done, the mistakes we have made."

"And to make new ones"

"True enough. But that's what makes life interesting. You can't make an omelet without stealing the unborn of chickens. It's been great talking to you, now i'll see ya later." Skulduggery started to get up and tried to walk to the door, but Tanith continued to sit and gave Skulduggery a look.

"OK, now that we've talked out my problems, let's not beat around the bush. You miss Valkyrie."

"In the same way a drunk man misses the bar"

"Sit down skeleton, i'm gonna make a cup of tea, if you're not here when I get back, I will hunt you down and cut off one of your fingers."

"Such cruel words Miss Low, some would say your a violent person."

"Tell that to the Black Cleaver" Tanith rose from her chair, with a little more spring in her step. She had done this sort of thing every time she had come around. She never asked for any help, she was to proud for that, but she was really hurting, she needed a friend who understood. About what it was like to kill so many and not really be aware of it.

Skulduggery knew all too well.

Tanith disappeared into the kitchen and Skulduggery felt the sudden urge to bust out of the window and make a run for it. If he couldn't walk away from his feelings he could sprint from them. He didn't have time for this, Sorrow's might need him to do something at Roarhaven, or maybe the monster hunters would call him up. He didn't need amateur psychology, or psychology in general. He needed to punch something. Tanith wasn't any better than he was with this sort of stuff so a kettle-pot situation was imminent. As Tanith stood around waiting for the tea to boil the only thing on Skulduggery's mind was...

Should we tell her?

Wait, We?