Valkyrie's head lolled back. Her hair swung gently as if caught in an unseen breeze. She looked ethereal.
Skulduggery broke into a sprint. He dashed through the deserted passages to the Infirmary. The fluorescent lights flickered overhead. The cold walls threw back the sound of his footsteps. The flagstones absorbed the drops of blood that fell from Valkyrie's chest.
Skulduggery skidded around the last corner and arrived at the Infirmary. He slammed through the double doors.
"Nye!"
Something long-limbed stirred behind one of the curtained beds that lined the room. It sat up slowly and stretched.
"The good detective calls to interrupt my nap. How can I help you, kind sir," it mocked, voice dripping with cynicism.
Skulduggery pushed past it and laid Valkyrie on a bed. Her skin looked grey and her breathing was strained and uneven. "Hold on," he whispered.
Behind him, Nye cracked its knuckles. "You'll want me to patch her up, I assume." It stepped closer and parted her jacket with its long fingers. It frowned slightly. "Ah, you come with a challenge for me. This one is complex, complex indeed," it mused. "Very well. You may leave now."
Skulduggery opened his mouth to protest, but a hand landed heavily on his shoulder. "Thank you, Doctor," said Ravel. "I brought Clarabelle to help you out."
Nye grumbled and shooed them vaguely by flapping his hand as Clarabelle took her place by his side. Ravel reeled Skulduggery out of the room as the Sanctuary doctor pulled a sheet over Valkyrie's prone body.
The door shut, leaving the two men out in the hall. Ravel turned to look at Skulduggery. "She's going to be fine," he reassured. Skulduggery rubbed his bony hands across his skull, and leaned back against the wall. He looked up at his friend.
"I'm worried about the damage she can do to herself. Today she almost shot herself - twice. Maybe it wasn't her own doing. But she's a weapon in herself, and others can use it against her."
Ravel opened his mouth, then shut it again, unsure of what to say. All of a sudden, someone came barreling around the corner, colliding with his back. Ravel stumbled forward.
"Oh. Sorry," said Tanith. "Didn't see you there, Grand Mage." She smiled sheepishly, then refocused on Skulduggery.
"She's okay. Nye is operating right now," Skulduggery informed her before she could ask.
Tanith sighed with relief. "Thank god," she mumbled. "My legs feel like jelly." With a chuckle, she sat down at the base of the wall and crossed her ankles.
Skulduggery joined her, stretching his legs out in front of him. He stared at the door in front of them that concealed the Infirmary and all of its goings-on.
Ravel plunked down next to Tanith, and tried to lay his head in her lap. She laughed and pushed him away. "Sorry, Erskine, but I'm a one man woman."
He salt bolt upright and stared at her.
She tilted her head questioningly.
"Did Ghastly ask you out?" he ventured.
Tanith beamed.
Ravel leapt to his feet with a shout of triumph. He yanked her up and swung her around. "Oh, man, I've been waiting for that to happen for much too long." Ravel grabbed her arm and thrust it in the air like she had just won a boxing competition. Tanith squealed with laughter. "This, m'lady, calls for a round of drinks on me. And well even bring that scoundrel boyfriend of yours." He wiggled his eyebrows and Tanith's grin widened.
They both looked down at Skulduggery. "Congrats, Tanith," he said simply, a smile in his voice.
Ravel stared in shock. "What, no cynicism? No snarkiness? Not even *sarcasm*?"
Skulduggery shrugged. Ravel continued gaping.
"Oh, go now before I begin to feel the urge to complement you on those robes," he said irritably.
Ravel grinned. "That's better."
"So you're not going to come for drinks, then," Tanith inferred.
"Valkyrie's here," he stated.
"When she wakes up, tell her that I love her and that I will soon be rudely barging into her rest hours to bother her. And say that with affection," she ordered. "Oh, and tell her that I hope she gets better soon," added Ravel.
Skulduggery nodded, then watched them leave. He settled back and, with one more lingering look at the shut door, settled back.
The Infirmary door opened with a slight creak.
Skulduggery was on his feet and moving through the entrance before it had even finished widening fully. He nodded to Nye as he passed by. The doctor wrinkled its forehead in what was probably supposed to be a lift of the eyebrows. "I have moved her into the back room for her recovery time," Nye informed Skulduggery as it trailed behind him. "The surgery went well, and I predict a full and speedy recovery. I singlehandedly reattached every one of your partner's destroyed arteries, and reformed the crushed chambers of her heart. I also removed some splinters that were threatening the integrity of the immune system. Blood pressure is normal and..." It trailed off. "Very well, you aren't listening anyways." Nye turned and returned to its taken bed in the corner, thoughtfully pulling at the black thread that pierced its lips.
Skulduggery reached the door to the back rooms, and gently turned the handle to let himself in. A bright, white, sterile environment greeted him. The smell of lemon cleaning agent and starched sheets wafted through the quiet room.
Valkyrie stirred under the sheets of her bed, placed against the center of the back wall. Her left arm lay on top of the covers, attached to an IV drip. Skulduggery pulled a chair up next to her bed, and sat.
She moaned quietly and rolled over to face him. Her eyes stayed closed.
"Valkyrie."
"Dia duit," she mumbled.
"Pardon?"
"I'm not a complete idiot, you know." She grinned sleepily.
"I'm lost."
"I do think you are."
"Do you know who I am?"
"How could I forget?"
He sighed with relief.
"You're my conscience."
Skulduggery tensed. "Um."
Valkyrie laughed and opened her eyes."Duh. I know who you are, Skulduggery."
"I am kind of your conscience though." "*How?* You're the one who made me violent. You taught me to punch people."
"Only the ones who need a good hit to clear up their minds a tad. But for the record, I prefer power slaps."
She smiled and stared deep into his face, then reached out and curled her fingers through his. "It means hello. Dia duit. Irish Gaelic."
"Well in that case, hello to you too. And I don't think you're a complete idiot."
"Really?"
"No. You're just a partial idiot. For many reasons."
"I'll just view that as a complement. I take what I can get."
Skulduggery tilted his head in a smile and took a moment to look her over, scanning for damage. The edge of a bandage wrapped about her chest poked out of the blankets, and a fading line of stitches perched above her eyebrow. Absentmindedly, he traced it with a finger. Valkyrie sighed contentedly, and closed her eyes. His finger traced along her jaw line, and his thumb brushed just south of her eyelashes.
"I wanted to thank you. For coming to get me."
He stroked her cheek lightly.
"I don't know what I would have done without you."
She leaned her head against his palm. "I've found the one to save me."
Skulduggery said quietly, "The man who killed so many, took so many innocent lives, who served on the side of Mevolent, who brought himself back from death by the force of his rage?"
Valkyrie kissed his palm. "Isn't it ironic?" She began to hum a few bars of the song. Skulduggery joined in, and their voices harmonized, twisting around each other, and filling the empty room with the sound of singing.
*Sob*. It's over now. I think I'm going to miss this story. I really enjoyed writing it, and I loved all of your kind reviews for me. I hope that you don't think this ending is too cheesy but you all know that Skulkyrie/Valduggery is kind of my lifelong dream, so I splurged a little.
Again, leave me a message/review about what I should do for my next story!
Please rate&review, follow, favorite, or PM! I hope you enjoyed Someone to Save You.
~PierDreams