I woke up and scratched my arm. Valkyrie's hair had draped over it, ticklin' me. I shifted away from her in case she kicked me again like a few nights ago. Her blankets were falling from her chest; she always insisted on at least puttin' on underwear afterwards. I dunno why. I placed my arms behind my head and tried to get to sleep again.

A few minutes later, though, Valkyrie suddenly sighed in her sleep. I watched her body twitch in eight different places as she kept sighin'. She hissed something out, and then groaned. Um, what's happenin'? She quieted down a few minutes later, but then suddenly flailed real hard. She groaned again and muttered little things I couldn't understand for a while. When, ten minutes later, she screamed and shot up in bed, I realized she had been havin' a nightmare.

Her breathin' was hard and crazy.

"Uh, Valkyrie?" I asked, reachin' out to her steadily.

She turned to me, her eyes wide and frightened. Her lip trembled. And then she sobbed. I mean, sobbed. She clutched her face in her hands and rested her head against her bent knees. Her shoulders were shakin' even!

"H-Hey, Valkyrie," I tried, but she waved a hand at me to shut me up.

I kinda figured she wouldn't stop sobbin' for a while, and I wanted to get my sleep, so I scooted to her and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Them nightmares are awful, ain't they?"

She didn't answer – just kept on sobbin'.

"What was it about? Me bein' stuck with you for the rest of your life?" I asked, tryin' to joke.

Again, no answer.

I shifted and wrapped my whole arm around her back and pulled her to me. She fell hard into me and kept sobbin'. Now, I dunno, but dealin' with cryin' girls is like defusin' a bomb. Say one wrong word or cut the wrong wire, and yer done for. So I just decided to not say anythin'. Valkyrie didn't seem to hear me from what I did say, so I figured it wouldn't do much.

A while later, her sobs quieted down, and she untangled herself from my arms. Her eyes were pretty red, and her face was pretty splotchy. She crept from the bed and slipped into the bathroom for a minute. When she came back out, her face looked a bit better, but she now just looked exhausted. She silently crawled back into bed and placed an arm over her eyes.

"I love my life," she whispered, "but I would give it away if I didn't have to suffer from these nightmares."

And that was that. She rolled over and went back to sleep. I moved closer to her and placed my arm around her stomach. She shuddered at the skin-on-skin feelin' but didn't tell me to move away. So then we fell asleep like that again.

A few hours later, I woke up as Valkyrie crawled away from bed again. She sat up and bent down to gather her clothes up.

"Hey, where do ya think yer goin'?" I asked.

She looked at me. "To go shower."

"It's…four in the mornin'," I said, after checkin' the clock. "Come back."

Valkyrie sighed and threw her clothes down again and climbed back into bed. She folded herself against me, and I stroked her hair softly. Valkyrie seemed to tense. Maybe it was from the nightmare or somethin', but she just wasn't as…touchin' as she normally was.

"Hey, Valkyrie?"

"Hmm?"

"I didn't, um…take ya or anythin', right?"

She sat up a bit to look at me. "What do you mean?"

"I didn't take you? Ya know? Like, innocence? Eh, virginity?"

"Oh!" she sighed in realization. "Oh, no, you didn't. Why? Does that matter whether you did or not?"

"Well had I taken it, I guess I'da felt bad. It wouldn't have been special or nothin'."

She smiled lightly. "Aww, you have morals!"

"Oh shut up."

Valkyrie laughed, but was quiet.

A few minutes later, though, I asked, "Who did you lose it too? And why? Oh God, please tell me not Hair Boy!"

Valkyrie stuck out her tongue. "It wasn't to Fletcher. And what is, twenty questions or whatever? Why so curious?"

I shrugged. "I just am." I paused. "How about I ask ya as many questions as I want, and ya answer them all, but then ya do the same to me."

She shrugged too. "Works for me."

"Okay, so who'd ya lose it to?"

"His name was Rory Spade. He and I were together for, um, five years, I believe."

"What happened? And what happened with Hair Boy?"

"Well Fletcher wanted to travel around and see things, and I didn't. I wanted to stay here with Skulduggery and all that. We were friendly about it, and it's worked out. He left to see the world for a few years, and a few months later, I met Rory. And with Rory – well, he died."

"O-Oh. I'm sorry, li'l darlin'."

"He went to go on a dangerous mission, and the odds were against him. He was pretty sure he wouldn't make it out alive. He told me to not, you know, freak out over it and not grieve and all that. I visit his grave on the anniversary of his death, but I try to keep all the memories of him out of my mind, honestly. It can't affect me."

I nodded. "Do you have family?"

"I do. My parents and little sister live a bit away from this house. I won't tell you where or their names."

I smirked. "Do they know all about this?"

"Basically, yes. They dropped by unexpectedly and saw a skeleton sitting on the couch and…Tanith sitting on the ceiling. So, uh, I couldn't exactly pretend they didn't see all that. They don't know how dangerous everything I do is. They know of magic and the fact that I'm a detective for the 'magical police' here, but that's pretty much. I always say that I have business to get to, but I never go into details. They'd be horrified."

"What we do is pretty terrifyin'," I agreed. "Are you ever afraid that you won't come back after somethin'?"

"Yes." That was it. She didn't say anythin' else. She shifted a bit and that caused my hand to slip over her stomach. I grazed over her scar.

"Where did you get this?" I asked softly, tracin' it with my finger.

She suddenly sat up and sighed. She pulled the blankets down to fully uncover the markin'. She replied, "You gave it to me."

"What? When? Why don't I remember this?"

She shrugged. "Skulduggery and I were hunting you, since we thought that you'd maybe still be with, um, Tanith. We caught you, but there was no Tanith. I remember you swiping out at me with your razor, but you had thought you hadn't gotten me. You ran off after that. Skulduggery had to take me to Nye I was bleeding so much. But I guess that's what I get for not wearing my protective coat."

"Huh. That's interestin', then."

She nodded. "I'm not dead yet, but at least you wounded me profusely." A stretch of silence followed that. Valkyrie finally said, "Are you done with your questions for me?"

"I believe so, yes, li'l darlin'. Ask me anythin'."

"How old are you?" was her first question.

I shrugged and said, "I honestly don't know. I wanna say I was about thirty when daddy dearest was thrown into jail, and he was there for, what, two-hundred years? Probably around 250 years, I guess."

"Is Scarab your only living relative?"

"I don't know either. I had a sister and a brother, but I haven't seen them since daddy dearest was put in jail. But whether they're dead or alive, I don't care. I hated 'em, and they hated me. My mamma died a while ago, too. I think hearin' about everythin' her children and husband got into put so much stress on her, she just keeled over."

"Did you have a bad relationship with her?"

"For most of my childhood, she was the only person I'd talk to. Daddy dearest kept doin', uh, stuff, but she wouldn't stand for any of it. But when I was more of a teenager we grew apart. I guess it kinda sucked when she died. I realized my mamma wouldn't ever be around to, like, make pies or nothin' anymore."

Valkyrie was quiet but asked, "What had Scarab been doing that made her upset?"

"He just went around and did bad-guy type things, ya know? Nothin' out of the ordinary for 'im."

She looked up and stared me straight in the eyes. I could already tell what the next question was gonna be. I was right when she asked, "What happened to your eyes? Why are they like that?"

I stretched hard for a second before answerin'. "Well, all right. I was born blind." She gasped quietly, but didn't say anythin' else. "I had actual eyes, but the irises were clouded and kinda milky lookin'. Well, apparently so. Ain't like I ever saw 'em. So daddy dearest was set on findin' a cure. He would spend forever locked away in the basement, playin' around with rats and other things. When he thought he'd found a thing that wouldn't kill me and would improve my sight, he'd make me drink it. Or, well, inject it. Most times he just had a ton of needles that he'd shove into my arm. That sure was fun.

"So, naturally, mamma didn't really like that I was bein' experimented on. She kept tryin' to stop daddy dearest, but he refused. So fast-forwardin' after a while, daddy dearest finally came up THE ONE. The one thing that would help me see. He injected it, I went to bed, woke up, and my eyes were cleared."

"What color were they?"

"Kinda hazel, but for the most part they were brown. Unless I wore green."

"So what happened? Why do you not have any eyes at all?"

I shrugged. "Not sure. For one whole day I could see with real eyes. My mamma took so many pictures that day. I went to bed that night and woke up, still able to see. So, ya know, I figured I still had eyes. But no. Mamma greeted me like normal, but then she screamed. For some reason, I just didn't have eyes. Don't know why, and I don't think I'll ever know why."

Valkyrie was quiet.

"Were you expectin' a different story, li'l darlin'?"

"Something less…tragic, admittedly."

"I guess it's kinda hard to grasp the fact that I, cold-hearted, killin', psychotic Billy-Ray Sanguine, had a family."

Valkyrie made a noise of surprise at my statement. She stared me down seriously, searchin' around in my face for some sign of emotion. She suddenly bent down and kissed me. This kiss was far more gentle and soft than anythin' before. As we moved against each other, she trailed down to nip at the sensitive spot on my neck.

She kissed there, and I groaned and muttered, "Mmm, Valkyrie, I think I –"

Before I could finish that, though, she moved her lips back to my own. And thank God she did, or things probably would have ended badly. We didn't actually get too far, since I explained I'd probably need some Gatorade or somethin' to keep goin'. Valkyrie laughed, but she stopped kissin' and rested her head in the crook of my neck. And we fell asleep like that.

We woke up later, at around ten in the mornin'. We dressed and moseyed downstairs. Hair Boy was there already. He greeted us. I flopped down in a seat, still tired from all of the activities and talkin' from last night.

I rested my head on the table while Valkyrie went and grabbed somethin', I dunno, I was too tired. There was a silence for a few minutes, but then Hair Boy screamed.

Valkyrie whipped around and shouted, "My God, what was that for?"

Hair Boy was hyperventilatin' like crazy, with eyes wide and mouth open in horror. "You guys are…you're…Oh my God!"

"What? Fletcher, what?"

Hair Boy flopped back into his chair, his eyes directed to the ceilin'.

"Hair Boy? You all right over there?"

He whimpered and pointed a finger at me. "You two are sleeping together, aren't you?" he asked quietly, surprisin'ly calm with this statement.

I almost sent a glance to Valkyrie, but she jumped in with, "What? Fletcher, that's ridiculous! Why would I do that?"

Ouch.

"Valkyrie!" he barked. "I'm not stupid! Sanguine has nail marks and hickeys all over him and so do you! It's not a rash! And I see those wayward glances; and I see your wandering hands, Sanguine. I could tell something was going on between you, even though, you, Valkyrie, denied it. Why? Why…him?"

I looked to Valkyrie, wonderin' if she'd respond to his rant. She sighed and set down a mug on the counter and muttered, lookin' to the ground, "Please don't tell anyone, Fletcher…"

"Oh, God!" he bawled, slappin' his forehead. "Valkyrie! He's tried to kill you! He took Tanith away from us!"

"Hair Boy, that was not me," I interjected. "That was the Remnant. Ain't my fault Remnant Tanith found me so good-lookin'."

"Either way, Valkyrie, this guy…he's a criminal. He's lied and cheated and stolen and hated and killed and almost killed you! What is so sexy about that? Are you proud of that scar on her, Sanguine!" he suddenly asked fervently, roundin' on me. "Are you happy that she'll be permanently marked with your stupid grudge because she stole your knife when she was thirteen?"

I stared, vaguely afraid, as Hair Boy growled and yanked at...that giant fluff of spikes on his head.

"Fletcher!" Valkyrie said incredulously. "What is wrong with you?"

"No!" he screamed. "What is wrong with you? Him!" He shouted at me like I was a giant monster. "Him! Of everyone you could have, you pick the psychotic assassin!"

"Fletcher," she pleaded, "it's not like that! We…I, uh, it meant to-"

"Valkyrie, stop." Hair Boy sighed and backed away a few steps. "You are insane Valkyrie, and I don't know why they let you, Sanguine, out of jail."

"Don't tell anyone! Fletcher! Please…"

He glared at her harshly but then finally muttered, "Fine."

And then he teleported.

I remained sittin', watchin' Valkyrie. She blinked a few times and took a deep breath.

"Gonna be all right?" I asked her quietly.

She nodded. "Yourself?"

"I'll manage."

Now I just gotta hope and pray to God that Hair Boy won't tell anyone.

Yaay! I've been lookin' forward to this chapter for a while. I've had the story about Sanguine's eyes in the back of my head for sooo long, so I'm glad I finally got it out. We're getting kind of close to the ending (probably around five or so chapters left) so I'm just really excited.

Also my obsession with the movie Labyrinth has surfaced again. It comes back occasionally, but this time it's come back in full-swing. So much to the point of considering a crossover after this story is done...But, I'm not totally sure. We'll see~

But do you think Fletcher will tell? Only I know what'll haaaaappeeeen!

OH YEAH. OVER 100 REVIEWS. DUDE. AWESOME. Thanks for all your kind words so far! I'm really happy that this story turned out to be so loved by you guys and whatnot. And I hope I'm doing a good job of making them all in-character. I said before that I was really going to try and make sure Sanguine didn't turn into a giant romantic sap.

(Also, from writing this story, half the time, whenever I come across a word with 'ing' in the end, I automatically cut off the g and add an apostrophe XDD)

So yeah. Thanks for reading and sorry for any mistakes! :DDD