If anyone at all is confused, talk to me and I'll get Skulduggery to explain, seeing as I'm probably just as confused as you. OH AND THERE'S A BIT ABOUT A DARK TEMPLE! I wrote a SongFic Story on my drabbles story and this is basically the reason why he was… GO READ IT YOU LAZY BUMS! Heh, kidding!

"So, this is your imagination?" The Doctor asked, looking around while rubbing his chin.

"Yep." Skulduggery sighed, putting his hands on his hips and looking around.

"Pretty impressive."

"Yep."

"Can we just explain what you have to do to get past the gate so we can move on to the next guy?" Said the women together.

"…Uhm, what gate?" Skulduggery questioned.

"The one you have to pass to get to Val's imagination."

"…So, you two are like gate keepers?" He laughed, mockingly.

"Yes." They both said, putting their hands on their hips and angry expressions smacking across their faces.

"…Oh." His grin faded. The Doctor looked over at them, intrigued.

"Look, there are going to be three gates to pass through. Each gate will represent a part of you that you are troubled about from different times of your life. Past, present and future." Said the first.

"Future?" The Doctor butted in. "I'm guessing that's why I'm here."

"Yes, Doctor."

"Ah-ha! I get to stick around for a while then!" He grinned.

"Yes, Doctor."

The Doctor walked happily off to look around a little more. He straightened his Fez, bowtie and jacket.

"What do you mean… 'Troubled'?" Said a now extremely worried Skulduggery.

"Memories that haunt you." The second woman said casually.

Skulduggery paused, quickly thinking of all the things the first could be. His childhood? Parents? Bullies? What on Earth could it be?

"Say the word, and we'll take you there."

"Will I be alone or…?"

"We will be with you."

"Me too!" The Doctor grinned. "I can't wait to see what could have gone on in your past!"

"Oh, great. Thanks, Doctor." Skulduggery muttered. "Take us there, Miss uh…"

"Miss Jenkins." The first said.

"Mrs Kilan." The second nodded.

The names seemed awfully familiar, but Skulduggery had to focus on the task ahead of him.

"Allons-y!" The Doctor grinned, like a giddy school girl.

"As you wish." Miss Jenkins said.

The world around them seemed to spin, making all blurry. Skulduggery and The Doctor tripped over, falling to the ground as the two women seemed to stay perfectly still. The world stopped spinning, and their surroundings had changed. Drastically.

Skulduggery tapped his façade up so he could raise his eyebrows. They were outside his old school. There was a bleak fence, going for miles. An old gate said "St. John's School for Boys". Skulduggery had always hated it. He wasn't even religious and he was force to go to a catholic school by his-

Wait. What was that? He ignored it.

He tapped his façade down standing up turned to the women.

"Miss Jenkins and Mrs Kilan, why am I here?"

"This must be a memory." Said Miss Jenkins.

"Well… I remember it started raining on my-"

It started raining.

"-First day of school…" He face palmed, knowing what was coming next. "Can anyone see us?"

"No. We're like ghosts." Said Mrs Kilan.

"Good. How do I get past this gate?"

"You figure out what exactly haunts you and change it."

"Okie dokie!" The Doctor stood up, brushed himself down and clapped his hands, rubbing them together. "Let's do this!"

"Well, I… I can't really remember what else happened. Maybe we should split up and look for me. I mean him. I mean…"

"We know what you mean, Mr. Pleasant."

"Oh good."

The women seemed to walk off in sync and the Doctor skipped through the gate, heading t'wards the school.

Skulduggery knew EXACLTY what happened that day. Heck! If you'd had your head stuck down a toilet three times, you sure as hell wouldn't want anyone to see it. He walked casually, looking around to make sure no-one could see him, coming to a thin, dark alleyway by an oldish looking brick wall. He glanced inside of it.

Suddenly a young boy with light brunette hair, a dark blue blazer and black trousers rapidly fled straight through him. Skulduggery flailed and stumbled backwards. His mind screamed at him. Calm, Skulduggery… You can do this.

Four boys chased after him. They all had black hair and the same tattoo on their left wrist.

The Dark Temple

"Oi! " The main bully screamed after him. As the child was about to get to the end of the alley, two boys blocked the exit, leaving no hope for the young boy. He tried to run the other way but two more boys blocked the other exit. The leader of this gang of bullies pushed past them. "Money. Now."

"I told you, I don't have any!" The young boy wept.

"Well, we'll have to take something else…"

"L-L-Like what?"

"Hmmm, I dunno… Your bravery… Your confidence. Hey, do you see that guy?"

The bully seemed to point straight at Skulduggery. The child glanced over, but saw nothing but thin air. Little did the young boy know he was staring straight into the eyes of a 400 year old skeleton.

Skulduggery Pleasant froze to the spot.

"I don't see anything…" The younger one said curiously.

"You're not meant to see him. You're meant to feel him."

"So, you boys can sense me, can you hear me, too?" Skulduggery questioned.

"Indeed I can, Skulduggery."

"Okay. I want you to know this. That young boy before you will probably grow up to be one of the amazing people in the whole of Ireland."

"Heh." Smirked the bully.

"I-I don't hear anything…"

"That's because you're small. You're nothing. You're like the gum stuck to my shoe. I spit you out and tread on you. You're nothing. You might as well not exist. I mean, not like your parents are around, are they?" The boy smirked, his eyes lasering into the young boy's.

Could Skulduggery interact with the young boy? Could he tell him what to do?

"Kid, no-one is nothing. There is always somebody who loves you out there and never forget that. Sure, your parents aren't around but that doesn't mean they didn't love you. I had a kid for god's sake, but I can't see her anymore. It doesn't mean she always keeps a little piece of my heart." Skulduggery hoped the young boy could hear him.

The spark of fear that was in his dark eyes before was now gone, seeming his confidence had been restored. "You know what," He grinned, standing straight. He was taller than the bullies. He felt like he could be on top of the world. "I'm me. You love me or you hate me. That's who I am. But if you have a problem with me, you say it to my face."

"I do have a problem with you." The bully moved closer to him. "You're too good."

"Why thank you."

"You're too good to be true, kid."

"Why thank you. Again."

"That's why we have to kill you."

"Wait, what?"

The young boy saw a small gleaming metal object gripped in the bully's bulky hand. A look of shock suddenly became stuck on his face. "You wouldn't…"

"I would."

The bully plunged the homemade dagger into his side. The boy grunted and fell to the floor. "Help! If you're even there at all… They were probably just tricking me, seeing as I'm probably going to die here…"

Skulduggery's gut did flips. What did he do? Did he help? Get rid of the bullies permanently? This wasn't even what had HAUNTED him! He didn't think… He decided to get rid of the bullies. A tactic from the war popped into his head. Take out the leader and the rest shall run.

He flicked his wrist, hoping it would push a wave of air at them. All he had to do was scare them, right? Surely enough they flew out of the alley and onto the grass. They didn't seem in the slightest bit shocked. He remembered these guys vividly. The meanest guys in school. Stuffed his head down the toilet for everyday of his school life and stole all his money whenever they had the chance. Why the heck did he have to do this? Why him?

An image of Valkyrie flashed into his head.

Oh.

He leant his head up, slowly letting out a long and slow sigh of frustration and swallowing the pill they call pride. Which is a pretty big pill, for Skulduggery at least.

He ran at the bullies, kicking one in the face. He fell to the ground out cold. Wow, his kicks must be pretty hard. From what he remembered, these boys were the toughest in school! The ones he aspired to be. Now, he definitely didn't want to follow in their footsteps.

The other henchman of the leader ignited the flame of fear in his heart. The glint in his eyes told him so. He ran, tripping over his own shoes as he went.

The main bully remained.

"So…"

"Hello!" Skulduggery said. "How are you?"

"Fine."

"Ah, good."

The side of the bully's mouth twitched. He sent a wave of shadows crashing into Skulduggery and he went flying back. Skulduggery groaned as he crashed into the black fence like a pigeon flying into an aeroplane. "That hurt."

"It was meant to."

"But, this will hurt more."

The boy looked around casually and shrugged at Skulduggery, smiling. "Nothing here."

"Oh really?"

"Yea-"He was interrupted by a dark spear of shadows stabbing him through his chest, lodging itself. He screamed out and fell to his knees, gasping. Tears gripped onto his pale cheeks.

It was good to see him in so much pain.

It was good to see him cry.

"I'm sorry!" He cried. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry… I'm so so sorry…"

"Too late." Growled Skulduggery. He gripped his revolver in his hand, feeling the rough texture rubbing against his bones. He raised it to the young boy's head.

"If you kill me, my father will come after you!"

"Bah!"

"Hear me out!"

"I'm giving you one minute."

"I'm the son of the leader of The Dark Temple. If you kill me, this'll have terrible consequences in the future!"

"61 seconds. Goodnight."

"No- wait!"

Bang.

The boy's lame body fell to onto the bright green grass. He saw a few adults running over to their location, the gunshot arousing them from their day to day schedule. To their shock, they found one unconscious boy, Justin Rimba, one dead boy, Richard Jenkins, and one boy barely gripping onto life, Skulduggery Pleasant.