Disclaimer: I still don't own any of the Skulduggery Pleasant or Death Note characters. TT_TT Though I don't want to own Serpine for very long...after a while, I just want to own his corpse...mutilated...oh, there I go again. Enjoy the reading! ^_^

4- A Surprise Visit

"I still can't feel my magic, though," Anita was saying. "It's like it out of focus. I can't even get up a good fire, and as a fire-specified Nafar…well, you know how it is. Fire was everything to me in magic. I couldn't live without it."

"Maybe it's hiding?" Skulduggery asked.

"Not now, Skulduggery," Valkyrie sighed. "Please. I'm tired."

"Hm…" he replied. "And Anita and I are the ones who were hospitalized. How interesting."

"Shut up."

Anita smiled, glanced at the clock, and started to slip out of bed, saying, "It's been an hour, you know. I'm going to walk around for a bit."

Skulduggery stood. "We can go back to my house if you'd like, rest a bit…"

"That would be nice, but actually…I would like to see Dublin. Just some of it, but…well, this is the place of my dreams, you know," Anita commented.

"But of course. I'm here, aren't I?" Skulduggery said with a mock tone of surprise in his voice.

"Glad to see you're feeling better," Anita smiled, "but I think Kenspeckle is about to come and lecture us. Let's go now before he gets here."

They left quickly, and in a few minutes were driving through the city. Anita had been quite happy to take the backseat, and so Valkyrie sat next to Skulduggery as he pointed out the landmarks, occasionally adding something to the conversation. Anita, on the other hand, remained mostly silent, staring out of the window a mere centimetre from the glass as they slid quietly past the city.

"Wait. Stop! Stop!" she suddenly cried. Valkyrie frowned. It was a quiet part of the city, with only one pedestrian—a man, with wild hair, a white shirt and too-long jeans, hunched over as he walked. While he looked strange, there didn't seem to be anything about him to warrant a special kind of interest.

Skulduggery tilted his head quizzically, but pulled over all the same. The moment he did so, Anita was out of the car, and despite Kenspeckle's precautions, running over to the man.

Skulduggery and Valkyrie got out of the car almost simultaneously, just in time to hear Anita shouting.

"Ryuuzaki! Ryuuzaki! Stop! Wait—Ryuuzaki!"

The man gasped, looked over his shoulder, and started to walk faster, but Anita's hand clapped over his shoulder, halting his movement and he turned.

His eyes were deeply shadowed and dark, small pupils swimming in grey irises, bulging out at them.

"Who…?" he asked, and Valkyrie noted that his voice was almost as smooth as Skulduggery's—almost, but not quite.

"You remember me, Lawliet," Anita said.

The effect was immediate. His eyes widened and then a grin spread across his face. "So it's you. Rhyanna Bredlau, correct?"

"I go by Anita now, but yes. Skulduggery's here too," Anita corrected him.

Skulduggery walked up, and though he didn't know the man, he recognized him immediately. He was the one, from the dream, who had started to lay white roses around her, he remembered. So he was one of them.

"I see…" he said.

"Well, we were just heading to my place, I think," Skulduggery said, "And if you wanted to come, I'm sure we could accommodate our needs."

"Actually, I'm working on a case right now," Ryuuzaki replied.

"Oh? So you're a detective, too?" Skulduggery mused.

Valkyrie coughed and they all sensed Anita wandering about. She was muttering to herself. As Skulduggery and Ruuzaki (who of course, the reader knows to be L, though none of the others know this—as such, he will be called L, but only in narrative. Characters will say Ryuuzaki if they use a name at all.) turned, they saw Anita pacing quickly, her arms waving about as if she were holding a very lively conversation.

"You know," Skulduggery called, "I used to have hallucinations, too, so I understand your predicament, but you might want to stop acting so outward with them."

Anita paused and looked up. "Oh, I know no one else can see them. Remember, though, that was once how I talked to you, especially when I wanted to figure something out. Which I do now."

"And what are you trying to figure out?" Skulduggery and L both asked at the same time.

"Well, you, Skulduggery, and you, Valkyrie, are both Irish. You were the ones that showed up the soonest. Go figure. Then you, Ryuuzaki, showed up two days later. You went to school in England, correct? So, then, I'm trying to figure out who will show up next," Anita explained.

"You mean…there're more?" Valkyrie asked.

"Yes."

Skulduggery sighed before walking to the car, saying, "I can tell this is going to be a long conversation. Come on, get in, all of you. And don't touch the radio."

Anita nodded, walking to the car. Valkyrie stepped in, and heard the man they had found say, "You seem to be taking my cooperation for granted."

"Yes, we are. Now get in the car, Ryuuzaki," Anita replied.

They drove home silently, and Valkyrie could tell by his rigidness that Skulduggery was not happy with the way things were going. That he hadn't said anything meant that either he wasn't mad enough or knew it wouldn't matter, or that he was incredibly angry and they were all in for trouble.

Valkyrie didn't like this at all. Skulduggery was acting out of character. It was still him, but she's never seen him like this. And how had Anita, the girl, known about Tanith? What did she think she could do? And what right did she have to just walk into their lives and take Skulduggery away from her!

"Wait," Valkyrie thought. "Take Skulduggery away from me? What does that mean? Oh God…it isn't that, is it? We were always friends…"

Then she remembered something Fletcher had told her about, something China had said. "They were meant for each other." Or something like that. At the memory, Valkyrie felt her cheeks begin to burn.

Now what? She had seen how Skulduggery had acted around Anita when she was resting. Valkyrie didn't think she had a chance.

Skulduggery sat, driving them all to his home. He didn't want to, he didn't really know the man, but this was a mystery that he needed to solve. And he knew it was what Anita wanted, and if he could only remember why, he was sure that he wouldn't mind, but his memory was as full of holes as a swiss cheese…

But he would figure this out. One way…or another.

L was intrigued. The girl knew his faked name, at least, that he'd used the in Kira investigation…

He shuddered. For one, someone knowing him like that was eerie, and most likely bad news. For another, remembering the investigation was never fun. Well, he had had a lot of good experiences there, but they were all crowded out by the…dying. Heart attacks, it seemed, were not fun.

But how she knew his name, and how she and this man with her had both invaded his dreams, he did not know. But he loved a mystery. And this, though it was of little significance and would be unpaid, was well worth the effort. And her eyes…they seemed familiar.

But that was for another time. For now, they were pulling up to the house.

"So, you don't remember me, do you?" Anita asked once they had all settled down.

"I remember some. August 16th, 2010 and 2011. But nothing else. But we were close, I think," Skulduggery said. Anita just nodded.

"I remember nothing," L said.

"Neither do I, though if you were that close to Skulduggery, then you probably knew me too," Valkyrie agreed.

"Oh, yes. We were rather close. Not as close, perhaps, as you and Tanith were before the remnants, what, two years ago? By the way—when I do finally get my magic back, I'll be able to fix that. But, no, Valkyrie, we were quite good friends," Anita said. At the mention of Tanith, Skulduggery tensed and Valkyrie paled, her hands balling up into fists, but neither said a word.

"So, then, who are you?" L asked cautiously.

"That is a very….complicated answer," Anita ventured. "But I will try to get it in a nutshell for you…hrmmm…well, you all know me. I am…was…well…" She sighed.

"You were my…wife?" Skulduggery asked.

Anita looked startled and wilted a bit. "Yes, I was," she commented softly. She seemed so, so sad at the moment.

Skulduggery stood and walked over to the sofa where she sat, crouching in front of her. She was a girl beyond tears, but her gaze was empty and sad, almost as if she was seeing into another world. He reached up and took her hands in his, feeling warm flesh ripple under the tight leather gloves.

He looked into her eyes and started to speak, softly. "You know, I never thought I would remarry, especially seeing that I'm who and what I am. But if I had to, I'm glad to know it was someone like you. You are…devoted. I loved you, once, Anita. That will never be gone."

He reached up to touch her face again, and a single tear started to escape, though her countenance was otherwise unchanged. "I still do love you, my dear, even if it isn't the same as…before. I can't really remember much, but I will, I'm sure."

And he sat next to her, putting his arm around her shoulders and pulling her just a little bit closer, murmuring, "I can never really forget," in her ear.

"But you have. Don't you see? There's more, you know. So, so much more. I'm not even human. But you don't know that. Do you?" Anita cried.

"I do know that I wasn't the only one," Skulduggery said.

"What?" Valkyrie yelled.

"Me, too, right?" L inquired.

Anita nodded, stiff and pale. "I didn't think you would find out so quickly. Not that I mind!" she added hurriedly.

Before she could go on, though, she started straight up and bolted out of the sofa. Her hair started to glow, and she grinned as a flame crawled up her arm.

"About time…"she muttered as a man burst through the door, one hand red, his green eyes glittering in the light.

A/N: Hi guys! A lot of hits, so you've been waiting for updates. Sorry it's been so long. Ah, well, it's here at last. And if you have comments, please review! Because I really, really, would hate having to kill you...

Oh, and here starts Anita's epicness and some awkwardness between the Skull-man and L (no, I don't actually call Skulduggery 'the Skull-man' except for when I am being really silly) for...well, obvious reasons. I also plan on doing a multiverse with this character but a different storyline and more people later on-hopefully it'll be a little more cheery.

Bye now!