Chapter Nine.

What happened to Skulduggery Pleasant?

Part 1 - Fatherhood.

Skulduggery drove his dear Bentley through the early hours of the morning. He had been driving endlessly all night and morning, going through the case in his head. He was ready to go to the conference Mr Envy organized and that they would share their discoveries. He tapped his pockets to check if the photograph slips for the projector were still in there safely. He found something quite important and possibly a clue to what the weapon that killed Riddle was. He glanced at the clock on the dashboard, reading 08:37. Valkyrie would hopefully be on her way to school by now, and Skulduggery felt odd that he won't have her company today, but he shrugged it off and told himself it was for the best.

Before he was going to the house, he wanted to see Ghastly in the Sanctuary to check if he had improved since the day before yesterday. He hoped he wouldn't be sleeping, and with a sense of loneliness, turned his car onto the pavement next to the close down Wax Museum. He pushed the hidden doorway in the wall of a seemingly innocent corridor and found himself in the different world were people had before strolled by without any knowledge that next to them was the heart of the Sorcering world.

He stepped into the quiet, deserted grand hall, his light footsteps echoed and Skulduggery wandered if he had arrived too early. He waited for a while, looking around the place, admiring the ornaments that he hadn't noticed before, and even gazed up at the painted globed ceiling. He started whistling a tune that he remembered from long ago, before the secret war, when he was made out of flesh and blood.

Unexpectedly, the Grand Mage appeared out of a door of his office, and seemed not to have noticed Skulduggery standing there. He was busy shuffling through parchments that his nose was buried in deeply as he read them. He hadn't seen him until Skulduggery coughed on purpose to drag his attention away that Guild had almost jumped out of his skin and yelped in fright. Skulduggery tried to suppress his laughter. Thurid Guild composed himself, "What time do you call this?"

Guild came toward the detective suspiciously, his robe dragging on the floor, which gave Skulduggery the impression that he was gliding.

Skulduggery lifted his sleeves up, exposed his bone, and looked at his watch. "8:46 and 21 seconds exactly." Then he paused, "Nope, make that 22 seconds."

"What are you doing here?" Guild went straight to the point.

"I came to see Ghastly, wanted to get something." Remembering the key for the library, which was one of his jobs he had wanted to do today.

Guild shook his head, "He's gone. Back to his tailoring shop."

"Oh," Skulduggery was pleased, as long as he doesn't have to go here anymore.

There was an awkward silence. Skulduggery was going to show himself out when Guild stopped him.

"Where's the girl?"

Skulduggery knew he meant Valkyrie.

"School."

"Ah, so you finally let her go." Guild mused.

Skulduggery shook his head. "It's only temporally; she needs to be a child once and a while. It can be hard to remember that she's only thirteen. But she will be back with me investigating who you really are soon."

"Don't kid yourself. I told you and London that I am trustworthy."

Skulduggery smiled bitterly. Moving around the room, wandering, while Guild's cold gaze watched him intently.

Before Skulduggery could answer, Guild asked a different question. Something very off the topic, which took Skulduggery by surprise.

"Valkyrie is not your daughter, you do know that." When he had finished saying that, an echo repeated it, which made it even more awkward.

Skulduggery stopped in mid step and locked his jaw.

"You don't ever talk to me about my little girl or my wife." Skulduggery whispered coldly.

"I know what you are doing with Valkyrie; you are treating her like she's your child." Guild taunting him.

Skulduggery shook his head. "If I treat Valkyire like my...daughter, then I wouldn't let her do these things."

"But, you're changing your mind now though, aren't you? She's at school, just like any daughter should be."

Than, he realised something with his head falling sideways. "You want to be like a father figure to her, don't you? But you will never be a father again; you will never see your little girl ever again, and that just tortures you."

With that Skulduggery cracked, yelling, "Don't speak of what I'm feeling." Then calming himself, continued silently, his fists clenched. "You don't know what I feel. If you did, you would want to kill yourself because it is so painful."

The room seemed to have gone bigger, quieter, and more empty. They both stood still like statues. Guild took in Skulduggery's sudden emotional outburst.

Then, as if to comfort Skulduggery, he stepped forward, his voice small. "Detective, you need to let go."

"When I finished Serpine, I thought I would have felt more comfortable, like a weight lifted off my shoulders. But I feel like I still need to avenge their deaths. It's as if I need to stop the Faceless Ones myself." He said it to himself rather than saying it to Guild.

Skulduggery had his head dropped, his arms hanging at his side helplessly. This made Guild feel a little guilty, seeing Skulduggery looking so vulnerable. But they still felt the same way about each other, that they were still enemies. Guild started to feel uncomfortable, and straightening himself, he said with a tone of authority, "You will have to go now. I am expecting important people for a very important meeting."

Skulduggery nodded, his voice still small, but with more of an edge with it now. "Don't worry, I will." And he strode to the wall where he entered to the Wax Museum.

Okay, i hope that wasn't too over the top...well, i just wanted something that would imply that Skulduggery is softening towards Valkyrie and being more pretective because he's feeling father bound with her. I hope that came across without going 'unskulduggeryish' kinda way.