IMPORTANT: The song featured in this chapter 'Wings' is by Cimorelli. I didn't write it and neither did Valkyrie, although I changed the lyrics a bit. Cimorelli are AWESOME!

Rightio folks, this is a LONG chapter (My longest ever!) 4000 words! And all of them are for you… yes, this is my gift to you. ENJOY! :)

Valkyrie was stuck. Sure she was out of the grave, but how the heck was she supposed to visit China when she was a skeleton? It's not like she could just walk down the street and catch a bus there, the mortals would freak out at the sight of a walking talking skeleton. She couldn't call Skulduggery or China either, she wasn't buried with her phone. In fact, she was currently hiding in a public bathroom in the park next to the cemetery. She was lucky that there were no mortals to see her duck into the loo, but she was betting she would see plenty on her way to China.

China. How would Skulduggery feel knowing that she had gone to China first, not him? She pushed that thought aside shaking her skull from side to side. How on earth was she going to do this?! She didn't want to wait until dark either, that would be way too long a wait.

She needed to get to China's new apartment without being identified as a skeleton, she needed a disguise. But where was she going to get clothes from anyway?

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of heavy footsteps and awful whistling. She tried to smile but found that she couldn't, so tilted her skull instead. She stepped out of the cubicle and snapped her palm out at the unsuspecting man, who was thrown at a wall and sunk to the ground.

She rolled her eyes at the fat man, although she didn't have any, dragging him back to her cubicle. Why did he have to be so fat?! There was no way these clothes would fit her!

She stripped them off of him anyway, putting them on herself. Buttoning up the shirt, she ripped some of the bottom off for a scarf pulled her trousers up and put his sunglasses on.

Right, she thought, now I'm ready.

She scooted out of the bathroom catching a glimpse of herself in the mirror. Damn, she thought, I look like the friggin grim reaper! She tried to walk in a casual manner to the bus stop, but she was freaking out. The disguise wasn't that good, what if the bus driver freaked out and called the cops on her?

Calm down Valkyrie, she tried to soothe herself, if you can get yourself out of a grave, you can do anything.

She stepped onto the bus and nodded at the driver, trying to ignore the stare she was receiving in return. She took her seat and was glad when she could finally get off the stuffy bus.

XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxXxxXxxXxxXxxXxxXxxXxxXxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX

She looked up at the apartment building feeling nervous. China wouldn't know who she was, probably wouldn't even want to help her. But then again, she was in debt to Skulduggery so maybe she would help her.

She ascended the stairs to China's unit slowly, not wanting to trip over her own baggy pants and knocked on the door. She waited for about thirty seconds until finally the door opened to reveal one of her bodyguards.

His eyes widened at her somewhat creepy appearance.

"I'm here to see China Sorrows, my name is Valkyrie Cain," she stated confidently. His eyes widened even more.

"You're dead, there's a memorial party tonight to celebrate your life. You can't be Valkyrie Cain!" the man said.

She sighed and took off her sunglasses to reveal the pearly white bone underneath, "Trust me. I need to see China immediately."

The man nodded at this and opened the door wider, beckoning her inside.

She heard a female voice speak, "Derald! What on earth are you doing? Who is it?"

The man looked at Valkyrie nervously as she spoke, "China, it's me, its Valkyrie Cain."

A beautiful woman emerged from what looked like the bathroom wearing her pink fluffy towel around her.

China.

"What?" she whispered, genuinely shocked as she tapped a symbol, causing her clothes to appear on her.

Valkyrie took off the scarf too and repeated herself, "It's Valkyrie Cain."

"But… how? I watched them bury you!" she said.

"You watched them bury me?" she said.

"Yes! And you're dead?" she asked.

"Yes," Valkyrie said.

"And you're a skeleton now?"

"No China I'm a puppy," she said sarcastically.

"Okay," China said calmly, "What happened?"

So Valkyrie repeated her story, from the fight between Skulduggery and Darquesse, the grave and escaping it.

"I need a façade China," Valkyrie stated, "If I want to see Skulduggery tonight at this memorial thing, I need to look like myself so I don't completely freak him out."

China nodded, "I think I can give you back your original face seeing as you died so recently."

Valkyrie cringed at the word 'died'.

"Okay," she said, "How long will it take?"

China smiled, "For it to be perfect, a while. Don't worry, you'll be in good time to go to your memorial service."

Again, Valkyrie cringed. When would she get used to the fact that she was dead?

"Okay," China smiled, "Let's begin."

She pulled out a chair for Valkyrie to sit in and grabbed what looked like a pen and some cream.

"For those who have never experienced my symbols before, they can actually be quite painful and seeing as you're a skeleton, I'm betting that you're probably still adjusting as well," China said as Valkyrie nodded.

"Is that what the cream is for?" she asked.

China nodded and squirted the ointment onto Valkyrie's collar bone, massaging it softly.

"You won't feel any pain while I do this," China said, pulling the pen out.

"What is that?" Valkyrie asked.

"Shh," China said, "This is a work of art, I can't have distractions."

Valkyrie huffed and mumbled, "Fine."

China laughed, "At least dying hasn't changed you. You're still the same old Valkyrie."

"And you're the same old China?" Valkyrie asked, sensing China stiffen at her words.

"I hope I have changed," she said softly, "Sometimes, and I can't believe that I'm even admitting this to you, sometimes I feel lonely. No one wants to see a murderer, a trickster and a cheat."

Valkyrie was silent before answering, "China, before I found out about it, you did change. I actually wanted to see you because you were my friend. And then I found out that you were the one who lead Skulduggery's family into Serpine's trap."

China lifted her head up and snapped at her rather angrily, "Look Valkyrie, you weren't even alive when the war happened! How would you know what it is like? I was a different person Valkyrie, just like Skulduggery was. He killed people in his rage even before he became Lord Vile. I changed after that war. I'm not the same person. It has taken me so long to be able to look at myself and not feel utter hatred. You may not be able to tell, but I am a human, and I do have feelings. Do you think I'm proud of what I've done? No. I most certainly am not, so why don't you, and everyone else take a lesson from Elsa and LET IT GO."

Valkyrie was shocked at the sudden outburst, but was also amazed at the truth behind her words. How could she judge? She used to be a world killer, she wasn't exactly a saint and neither was Skulduggery.

She tilted her head at China and inwardly smiled, "So, you like the movie 'Frozen'?"

China relaxed and smiled at her, "Yes, I think I can kind of relate to Elsa in a way. Everyone thought that she was an evil sorceress but really, she was just lonely and lacking love."

"I totally have control of my powers though," she added.

China then clapped her hands together.

"Now dear, I think I should really get to work on this façade."

Skulduggery's POV

Skulduggery stood in front of the mirror, admiring himself. He was wearing his favourite suit today, it was the simple black and white, but today his hat had a ribbon of gold around it. He sighed and through the hat across the room. When would the pain stop? The answer should be 'in time' but really, Skulduggery doubted that he would ever get over the loss of Valkyrie. He wasn't ready for this, wasn't ready to dress up and listen to people talk about her in the past tense. He had already gone through that with his wife, and now he was forced to go through it with Valkyrie.

He heard the soft ping of his phone and slowly picked it up. A text from Ghastly: Where are you?

Skulduggery's jaw tensed as he texted back: On my way.

As soon as he sent it, he got in the Bentley trying to ignore the stinging memories of the person who should have been sitting beside him and drove to Gordon's mansion.

Valkyrie's POV

"Done," China said, gently tapping the symbols as Valkyrie's face suddenly appeared.

She smiled at her appearance, genuinely happy to have her face back. She couldn't wait to see Skulduggery, although he might freak out. After all, she was supposed to be dead. Did he miss her? She thought about this and shook her head, of course he would.

"Thanks China, are you coming to this memorial thing?" she asked.

"Of course," China said, "But I'm afraid you are going to need some clothes."

Oh, that's right, her clothes. The symbols weren't full body, so she was going to need to cover her legs and arms completely.

"I want a suit," she said.

"A suit? I suppose that's really the only option," China said thoughtfully, "Also, I'd wait to reveal yourself, otherwise you'll freak everyone out."

"What, am I supposed to go as a skeleton then?" Valkyrie asked.

"You're going to have to," China said as Valkyrie tapped the symbol again to reveal the skull underneath.

"Okay," she said, "I'm ready to go."

XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxXxxXxxXxxXxxXxxXxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX

China and a very nervous Valkyrie stepped out of the car and knocked on the door to Gordon's mansion which was opened by Ghastly.

Ghastly stared at Valkyrie who was wearing the exact same outfit Skulduggery was probably wearing.

"But Skulduggery's inside-

"Hush now, don't worry about it. This is …. um Dan," China said. Uh, nice lying China.

"Um Dan?" Ghastly repeated.

"Yes, Um Dan," China said, "May we come in?"

"Uh yeah, sure, I guess."

Valkyrie breathed a sigh of relief as they passed a suspicious Ghastly and proceeded into one of the ballrooms where the ceremony was going to take place. She saw Skulduggery sitting at the far back of the room and resisted the urge to run over to him and hug him as hard as she could.

She also saw Nyx, Damien and little Hazel. They all looked like a happy family. She couldn't wait to be able to see them and talk to them as Valkyrie.

XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxXxxXxxXxxXxxXxxXxxXxxXxxXxxXxxXxxXxxXxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX

Skulduggery's POV

"Ahem, excuse me everyone, will you all take your seats," Ghastly said, "Tonight we are here to celebrate the life of one of our best friends, detectives, and sorcerers."

"Valkyrie Cain was special, right from the start when she was introduced to the world of magic. I told her to quit, live her life and to forget all about magic. Of course, she didn't. She was stubborn, she never gave up, and that was something I admired about her. She always tried her hardest at everything, and she was always a good friend. She didn't deserve to die, and we all know that, so tonight, let us remember our young sorceress as the kind fiery spirited girl she was."

Everyone clapped as the next speaker got up. Skulduggery focused on his breathing, in and out, in and out. His eyes scanned the audience and he inwardly scowled when he saw China. But who was that sitting next to her? He was thin, wore a hat, a suit… he was dressed exactly like Skulduggery!

Who did his guy think he was? Mocking him? His jaw tightened when suddenly, the man spun around in his seat and made eye contact with him. Eye contact, more like eye socket contact, the man was an exact replica of him! Skulduggery was furious now, who the hell was this guy?

There was noise suddenly, and Skulduggery realised there was a break. Ghastly tapped him on the shoulder and mumbled, "Are you okay?"

"I don't know," he sighed and pointed at the other skeleton, "But I will be better when I found out who the hell my clone is."

Ghastly looked uneasy as he said, "I don't know who he is, China brought him."

China, his jaw tightened, she was probably up to something fishy.

The other skeleton man stood by a table full of food looking at it almost longingly.

Skulduggery had had enough. He needed to find out who this guy was and why he was at Valkyrie's memorial service.

They made eye contact again, but this time Skulduggery didn't look away. He continued walking towards the man who already started walking away and up the stairs toward Gordon's library.

Skulduggery reached the stairs and took them two at a time. He reached the top and sprinted at the man, pouncing on him.

"Gotcha now," he whispered in the man's ear.

Valkyrie's POV

"Gotcha now," Skulduggery whispered in her ear, making her shiver. What was she going to do now? Reveal herself as Valkyrie? But how would Skulduggery react to that? Would he even believe that she was Valkyrie?

Her thoughts were interrupted when her body was flipped around to face Skulduggery, and although he wasn't wearing a façade, Valkyrie could tell that he was furious.

"Who the hell are you?" he finally spoke. Should she answer?

He shook her roughly, "Hey, I'm talking to you! Why are you here? And why did you come up to Gordon's study?"

Oh jeez, of all the random rooms you could have picked, why Gordon's?

Suddenly, she felt something cold against her skull and without having to turn her head, she knew that Skulduggery was pointing a gun at her.

"Look here imposter, if you do not tell me right now what your purpose is and who you are, I swear to you I'm going to shoot you," he said in a dangerous tone, causing her to whimper ever so slightly.

He pulled the gun back, shocked.

"What?" he half whispered. Well, it was now or never.

"Sk-sk-Skulduggery?" she whispered, "It's me, Valkyrie."

The other skeleton froze completely and stood silently for a while before finally answering, "No you're not, you can't be."

Then in a softer tone continued, "I killed you."

All of a sudden she felt his thin frame start to shake, softly at first, but then rather violently. He was crying.

Oh gosh, she had hoped that their reunion would be a bit better than this.

She spoke again, "You killed Darquesse Skulduggery, but I was still there. You know that you can't kill magic right? Well, I latched onto my magic held within Darquesse and as she died, all of her and my magic came rushing to me. The next thing I know, I wake up in a coffin underground."

She had started crying now as he looked up at her.

"How do I know that you're not lying?" he said.

"Well silly billy," she said smiling a little, "I have Valkyrie's voice for starters, the grave that I escaped is all dug up, and I'm pretty sure that we were the only ones who knew about Darquesse-

Her sentenced was cut off when she was enveloped by a tight hug from Skulduggery. She sighed in relief and hugged him back as hard as she could.

"You're alive," he said, "You're actually alive."

They stayed like this for a while until finally, Skulduggery pulled away.

"And you're a bloody skeleton!"

"Look," she said ignoring him and tapped the symbols on her collarbone.

Skulduggery's POV

"Look," she said, tapping the symbols on her delicate collarbone. He gasped as her face appeared on top of the skull. Her face. Not a fake one. Hers. He raised a gloved hand and stroked her face, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her face.

"You are very beautiful my most loyal combat accessory," he smiled, "Did China do this?"

She nodded, "I had only recently died so she was able to give me back my original face."

"Wow," he said, "I guess I'm going to have to thank her then."

She looked down as she said, "Yeah, I guess you're going to have to."

"Wait, you went to China first?" he asked angrily.

She looked up as if she had been expecting this kind of reaction, "I had to Skulduggery, I had no clothes, and I had just woken up as a skeleton. You can imagine I was pretty freaked out, and I needed a façade."

He nodded, feeling ashamed of his reaction.

"Are you okay now?" he asked her.

"Well," she said, "I think I'm going to need some time to get used to the fact that I am now officially dead and a skeleton. But aside from that, yes, I think I'm okay."

"That's good. And is Darquesse gone?" he asked.

"Yup, gone for good," she replied, and then in a softer tone asked, "Are you okay? What happened after I… I died."

He took a long pause before answering, "I don't know. When you died, I became nothing, I just sat alone at home and ignored everything. I stopped being a detective and stopped basically, being."

He could tell she was getting upset and quickly said, "But I think everything's going to be okay now, now that you're back. We can get back to detecting. Oh! Did you know that Nyx and Damien became detectives? Their amazing."

She just smiled at him.

He would have continued talking, but the sound of Ghastly's voice beckoning everyone to take their seats once again stopped him.

"Nyx is going to perform a song now, in your honour, and I get to say a few words," he said nervously.

"Do you think I should let everyone know that I'm actually not as dead as they think I am?" she asked, a smile playing on her lips.

"Not yet," he said, "Wait until I've said my bit, then we'll tell everyone. And take off the façade."

"Okay," she said tapping the symbols once more.

He couldn't help it, he opened his arms again and hugged her again, more tightly this time.

"I'm so glad that you're not dead."

"But I am dead," she said.

"Oh you know what I mean," he said, leading her into the ballroom.

Valkyrie's POV

This time when Valkyrie took her seat, it was next to Skulduggery. She glanced across the room to catch several people staring at her. Well, they can stare all they like at her and Skulduggery but boy were they going to get a shock when they found out that she wasn't really dead. As Ghastly continued his speech about her skills as a detective Skulduggery whispered in her ear, "Don't you feel uncomfortable that he keeps talking about you in the past tense?"

"Yup," she whispered back, "its super weird."

She refocused her attention to the new person holding the microphone to find that it was Nyx. She looked very pretty today, and Valkyrie was glad to see that she wasn't wearing mourning clothes like a lot of other people were, but a nice blue dress.

"Um, my name is Nyx, and although I didn't know Valkyrie as well as most of you did, she was a very good friend of mine," she cleared her throat and continued, "So I'd like to sing you a song today, seeing as that is my forte, and it was written by Valkyrie herself."

What? She couldn't have possibly found it… the journal where she wrote all her poems in. They weren't song lyrics, but they were still private.

"This song is called 'Wings' and I believe that this song is from her to all of you," Nyx said.

O. M. G. Wings?! She had written it for everyone… but in the end, it had really been for Skulduggery.

Skulduggery nudged her, "Are you okay?"

She nodded as Nyx's beautiful voice filled the room.

I can be so negative, sometimes

My own worst enemy, sometimes

Even at my lowest lows,

You still had hope

When I wanna quit,

You won't let me

When I'm falling down,

You'll catch me,

You pick me up,

Yeah you fix me up,

Now I'm on my way and I'm strong enough to say:

Valkyrie's jaw dropped at the beautiful melody behind her words and closed it as Nyx continued with what seemed like her own version of Valkyrie's poem.

You gave me wings, and taught me to fly

When I was out there on my own

You gave me wings, and taught me to fly

And now I need to know if you wanna fly

Cause I wanna fly

Yeah

You and me me and you

The higher the better

Forever until the end.

Valkyrie gasped at the last 3 words. Her and Skulduggery's words. If she had a heart it would be going crazy right now.

Skulduggery tilted his head at her.

"I wrote that as a poem for you," she whispered.

He placed his gloved hand on top of hers and stood up to say his speech.

OMG OMG OMG OMG.

A million thoughts raced through her mind all seeming to shout the same thing: What would Skulduggery say? Nothing prepared her for what he did end up saying.

Skuduggery's POV

Skulduggery wasn't just nervous. He was really nervous. He held his speech in his shaking hand as he made his way to the front of the room. He took a glance down at his speech, before tearing it in two. A written speech was planned, and he knew that rarely anything that was planned was any good.

The audience seemed shocked when he ripped it, but he ignored them as he picked up the microphone.

"Valkyrie Cain was a pain in the butt," he began, but was interrupted by Ghastly.

"Skulduggery," he snapped, but Skulduggery waved him away.

"She never listened to what anyone told her, she made her own rules. She didn't pay any attention to anyone who told her that she was too young, or that she wasn't good enough. She was persistent and no matter what people said, she managed to achieve the impossible. So yes, when she refused to listen to anything I said, it was a pain in the butt, but it's also one of the reasons I'm in love with her."

"She always wanted to protect people, she's kind, loving and thoughtful. She put her life on the line for me almost every single day, as a detective and as a friend. She is amazing. She is my most loyal combat accessory. And I love her. Until the end."

The whole room was silent until he finally spoke, "And she's also alive."

Valkyrie's POV

The audience broke out in a wave of murmuring and whispering, and she knew that this was her cue to step forward. She shuffled past Nyx and Damien, who of course, still didn't know who the heck she was and took the microphone from Skulduggery. She tried to gulp, but then remembered that she couldn't and stared at the silent crowd before her.

"Hi my name is Valkyrie Cain, and I have risen from the dead," she said dramatically. Skulduggery looked at her and tilted his head ever so slightly. She shrugged.

"We know the story of how Skulduggery became a living skeleton after he died, but it was a bit different for me," she said softly.

She then explained everything to them, Darquesse, Mevolent, meeting Nyx and the final battle of Darquesse. She also told them about her 'resurrection.'

She was surprised by how relieved she felt after telling everyone, she felt lighter. Suddenly she felt hands on her shoulders, head and legs. Oh my gosh, were they attacking her?! She looked around her to find the opposite. All of her friends surrounded her, each with a hand resting on her body. They all smiled at her, some with tears in their eyes. She felt Skulduggery reach for her hand and she gripped it tightly.

It was Nyx who then spoke, "Welcome back Val."

Then all of them chorused, "Welcome back."

She smiled, everything was perfect.

Well well well…. Dramatic and fun, what a cool chapter? I literally had lots of fun writing it, and I'm really proud of it. It would REALLY help me if you left a review!

Also…. This is not the final chapter…. There will be an epilogue…

YAY!

REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW! And have an awesome day/night!