Another chapter, and just to let people know I am bringing back some characters who died, because I felt sad with them gone :)

Chapter 2

As soon as Kenspeckle saw them his face grew stern and worried, and his eyes followed the trail of blood that Valkyrie was leaving on the clean polished floor. He quickly beckoned her in before promptly shutting the door in Skulduggery's face. Valkyrie sighed inwardly; Kenspeckle's bedside manner hadn't improved, and nowadays he was even less tolerant than usual with Skulduggery. He threw Valkyrie a hospital gown which she quickly put on, protesting all the time.

"I'm fine; it's only a few cuts."

Kenspeckle huffed.

"Once again, allow the medical genius to be the judge of that, please, Valkyrie."

Valkyrie took the hint and shut up, allowing Kenspeckle to wipe her lacerated face with a sweet smelling purple ointment, before turning to look at her fingers, which were now a blotchy purple, swollen and still bent backwards. He tutted.

"This is going to hurt"

Valkyrie gripped the table she was sitting on and braced herself as Kenspeckle gently pushed a long thin needle into the base of her hand. She hissed in pain but kept her groan inside of her as silver liquid numbed her whole hand. But the numbness was soon welcome as Kenspeckle reset her broken fingers before placing them in a healing mud. He taped her ribs up and ordered her to rest for a few hours.

"There will be light bruising on the fingers, but that should fade in a few days. The ribs will mend quickly, no lungs are punctured and they will feel back to normal in 5 or 6 hours."

Valkyrie beamed up at the grouchy man. He reminded her so much of her grandfather, who, she recalled with a lump in her throat, had held her grandmother's hand and shook with sobs at her "funeral". Tears suddenly welled into her eyes, and although she held them back, Kenspeckle's sharp eyes noticed and his entire face softened.

"I'm sorry," he explained quietly. "I know my bedside manner leaves much to be desired, but I'm too old to change my habits now."

She nodded, trying to smile.

Kenspeckle still looked concerned. "Is everything ok Valkyrie? Has anything happened? I may be grumpy, but you can tell me anything. "

His concern touched her, and if anything made her want to grieve even more for the family she had lost, but she shook her head and clammed up. Kenspeckle, howver, didn't seem to need an answer as he searched her face. He blinked slowly, and enveloped her in a loving hug.

"You miss them, don't you?" he said. His voice darkened. "You should never have been put into this position; you should never have been forced to choose." His voice held fragments of blame, and Valkyrie leant away from the hug, narrowing her eyes.

"This was my choice, no one else's. This is not Skulduggery's fault." So this was why Kenspeckle has been short with Skulduggery.

Kenspeckle didn't agree but nodded, and as he spoke she could hear the pity in his voice: "This is no consolation, but it gets easier. And I understand; it hurts so much knowing they have no idea, knowing you chose this life over them, knowing they may never get over their loss."

Valkyrie didn't trust herself to speak.

"But be sure of this Valkyrie; rest easy knowing you made the right decision. What were the alternatives? Forget magic? No-that would never be possible for you, not now, not with the Surge coming. Tell your family? Although easier for you, that would ruin their lives. They'd never be able to sleep easy again. This is hard to accept, but you had no choice."

His eyes clouded over. "I had a family once as well, and I left them behind too. It will hurt for a long time, and although the pain will never go away, I promise you Valkyrie, it will get easier."

With this he left, shuffling out of the room with a weight on his shoulders that wasn't there before.

Soon after Skulduggery entered, and stood over Valkyrie with his skull tilted over on one side. She could see the green fire flickering in his eye sockets. She suddenly felt sure he had heard her conversation with Kenspeckle, so she plastered a bright smile on her face and focused on the attack.

"So, that happened."

"Well yes, I suppose it did", replied Skulduggery. "Unless, of course, it was a dream"

"Dreams don't hurt that much"

"Well, yours don't, but with my superior mind, you never know. My dream could stop right now, and you'd just vanish. None of this would have happened."

"You don't even dream," she argued. "You can't sleep remember?"

"Everybody dreams Valkyrie. Sleep isn't the important part. Some people just dream better than others."

"I'm going to try to ignore the ridiculous things you say," Valkyrie decided. "And I'm pretty sure what I was saying was important, until you distracted me."

Skulduggery's head tilted further, and she could tell he was smiling as he teased; "I distract you?"

"Oh shut up." Valkyrie's smile grew.

She could tell his smile was wide and growing wider. "Of course I distract you, I'm me. And, in answer to your unspoken questions, no, I have no idea who they were, yes that is worrying, yes I have a plan, yes, we have places to be, and finally, yes, you can hit someone in a few hours' time."

She laughed and stood up, grimacing ever so slightly as her half-mended ribs complained. She washed her hand in the sink, and admired the fantastic job Kenspeckle had done. Her fingers were stiff but painless. She tuned to Skulduggery and smiled.

"Why are we still here then?"

And with that, they left the way they had come, Valkyrie trying all the time to leave her loss behind her.