Disclaimer: I do not, sadly, own Skulduggery Pleasant. Less sadly, but still true (and somewhat sad) I do not own Ghastly, or Tanith, or Valkyrie. Or any other affiliated characters. I do own my mistakes, but I don't own the idea of owning my mistakes. I do own Anita Heathers, since I came up with her. I don't own the idea for that, either. I suppose I do not have a lot of intellectual property. Ah, well...

2-Family Death

Anita smiled as she got off of the boat, happy as she could have been. So this was it. She was finally in Ireland. What to do…what to do.

"Well, first—" she started. As she turned her head to catch more sun, she stopped abruptly. There was a man by the docks. He was tall and thin, with a hat and sunglasses over frizzy hair and a scarf. As she slowed, her parents catching up even as she took in his exquisite suite, a girl walked up next to him.

Anita gasped. The girl was tall, lean and strong-looking, with dark hair and dark eyes, wearing all black. Slowly, Anita breathed out. Could it be? No, it couldn't be! Skulduggery Pleasant and Valkyrie Cain…it couldn't be as easy as that…could it? No.

But his hand was creeping to what must have been a filled holster, wasn't it?

Skulduggery straightened up and turned. A girl was staring at him, her eyes wandering over his attire, and he could feel something, see a glint of recognition in her eye, his hand moving inexplicably to the gun at his hip. He had barely even noticed it when Valkyrie stepped up beside him and the girl watching them breathed out, a word, something too far away for him to hear.

Why did he feel like he recognized her? No, he couldn't. But she recognized him.

Her parents—or, at least, he assumed they were her parents—caught up to her, and as they stepped to the dock together, Skulduggery saw the parents say that the directions were missing. Their lips were easy to read, and suddenly he knew they were Americans.

"What's wrong?" Valkyrie asked.

Shaking himself from his reverie, Skulduggery said, "Nothing. Nothing at all, just an American girl saw me. It isn't important." His voice, he realized, was shaking. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see them coming up to them—the tall girl with the glasses and the long, blonde hair was beaming.

"Oh, please no," he thought. "Please don't come over here. Oh, they are. Oh, no, it must have been the girl's idea. Oh, god no…"

"Excuse me," she said, "but we seem to have misplaced out directions. You wouldn't happen to know where the…uh…the…" She grumbled as she looked at a printed paper in her hands, squinting slightly. "The Arbinger Inn would be, would you?"

Skulduggery would have frowned, if his façade was up, but as it was, he merely grunted. She sounded faintly British…but no, she didn't have the same accent as the Brits, not like Tanith's even. But she didn't exactly sound American. She stood oddly, and it took him a moment before he saw that she was raised on tiptoe, her eyes gentle and yet burning with a fire fiercer than he had ever seen. She seemed ready to take flight at any moment. So…odd. She was odd, and that was the only description he could think of.

"Up the road, to the left," he found himself saying. "You're new here, aren't you? What's your name?"

The girl smiled tightly, "I'm…I'm…" she cast around for a name suitable for the situation before blurting out, "I'm Ruckt'l!"

"Ruckt'l?" Valkyrie asked.

"Close enough. Human vocal cords—or the sound produced by the memory of having human vocal cords—cannot recreate the sound," Ruckt'l informed them. Skulduggery mused about how well this fit—a name that could not be pronounced for a girl who did not fit. She was like a puzzle piece forced to fit in a place where it did not belong, and yet…

"Anita!" the mother cried harshly, clearly shocked by her daughter's conduct. "Do not spread this foolishness about like this." Turning to Skulduggery and Valkyrie, she continued, "I'm sorry about this. Her name is Anita, and I'm sure she didn't mean anything by it. She's…eccentric, you could say. I really am sorry."

The entire time her mother was talking, the girl, Ruckt'l, Anita, whatever her name was, muttered, her eyes closed, hands clenched. A sudden breeze knocked the hat off of Skulduggery's head.

Even as he snatched to grab it, his sunglasses fell off, and he simply froze. Everything was still, silent. The other passengers had left already, and the docks were empty. Only these people could see. That was good. Fewer people for the sanctuary agents to have to erase memories from. That was good.

But the girl laughed. "I told, you, Mom. I told you—it's him! I told you we'd find them! Oh, thank god…Skulduggery…don't worry. We're American, but we're magic, too. We never looked for the Sanctuary, and since no one was there to teach us, there wasn't anything we had to worry about. A few people avoided me, but…"

When she said his name, Skluduggery remembered all in a rush. The dream, a week before, when he was meditating, about a girl all in white, her hair spread around her head and her eyes closed as if she was sleeping. A flower was clasped in pale, bloodless hands, a flame flickering in its centre just as there seemed to be a white flame under the girl's skin. The boat she was in pushed off, and the men crowded about the stone where she was let go of tried to keep back their tears. The woman he faced had told him, "That is how I will die—that is my funeral. You will have to send me off, one day, you know that, right?"

And that was when he woke. But, no, it couldn't be…she couldn't be…it was all just a dream, right?

"Listen, I don't know what you're talking about," Valkyrie tried.

"It's no use, Valkyrie. I don't know who these people are, but I know that she—" the gun Skulduggery found in his hand pointed at Anita Heathers, for he knew her name now, and he continued levely, "will try something on me. I don't know what, but she has plans."

The girl looked stunned, and stepped back. "No…no, it isn't supposed to be like this. It's not supposed to be like this!" she screamed, and as Skulduggery's hand trembled, his finger tightening on the trigger, the gun already cocked, a voice sounded out from behind him, "I wouldn't do that if I were you. I shouldn't like to have to arrest you, my friend."

Ghastly put one hand on his shoulder and pulled Skluduggery back gently. "This is important, Ghastly."

"Indeed it is. I'm glad you showed up—by the way, now I've met you, I'll be getting all of my magic back. Find Tanith, I think I can free her," Anita said.

Ghastly's fingers tightened uncontrollably, and by the time he pulled back, it was too late. The gun dropped, firing. The girl Anita, burst into flames as she screamed. Her parents yelled and tried to pull back but the water behind them erupted and pulled them in, and the girl stopped screaming as the blood soaked through her shirt. Her mouth was open wide, her eyes bulging.

"No…" Skulduggery whispered. "No…I remember you now. Your name…your name is Rhyanna. No! No!" And then he was yelling at the sky, "I didn't mean to kill her! That's how it works, right? If I didn't want to shoot her, it doesn't activate! The runes only work if it was on purpose, right? Am I right, dammit?"

And he was on his knees, memories flitting out of reach as he blacked out, feeling as if blood soaked through his shirt, too, his lifeblood draining away.

A/N: So this was a little longer. Remember how I would get you guys attatched? I may have lied. Sorry, guys. :P

But no, I hope you all loved it. I am very sorry, but the Mary-Sue-ness of Anita can't be avoided. I just can't do it. *sigh* So this will be very interesting. Ah, well. Oh, and she's awesome. Not as awesome as me, but awesome. So please review. I hope you like it. I hope you're not crying yet. Kind of. And L-kun and other characters will show up soon, I promise.

Just keep hitting that review button!