A/N: I don't own Skulduggery, Valkyrie, or Lord Vile. Val is still 24, still her point of view. Yes I take liberties here and give Lord Vile some upgrades. It's called fan fiction, not fan fact. Mostly because that would just sound stupid.

Lord Vile had come to stand by my side, the shadows swirling around his armour. He just looked at me, and somehow I could feel myself drawing shadows as well, so that they wrapped around me, moving and flickering like his. He inclined his head slightly in silent approval. He thrust out his hand in front of him, the hand seeming to lengthen and sharpen to a point and spears of shadows flew from him. Again I could intuit what he wanted, wondering if the traces of him in the armour helped. At that thought I felt more power come into the armour, an almost endless reservoir. Vile noticed even though I made no sound or movement.

His armoured hands were on my shoulders, silently urging me to bring the power up and out, to release it. I did, and a wave of shadows flooded out of me, expanding on all sides, then racing away towards the tree line and back towards the mansion, bent on destruction. Vile's own shadows let mine flow around him, and at a gesture more shadows rose up, containing mine before they hit anything.

I could almost hear a faint humming from inside his armour. He tilted his head and I understood what he wanted. He splayed his hand and the shadows poured out, I joined him, our shadows entwining. They became a living thing almost, dancing and feinting, then together, a weapon that could have shattered stone. Vile was pleased with me, I could tell. At a gesture he had me unsheathe my sword. I handed it to him. He looked at the blade, testing it. I felt him shoot me a look for using my sword to block blows when fighting Lovegate and Tanith. He let me know it was wrong, and an excellent way to ruin a sword.

He shook his head, but still pressed the shadows into my sword. He returned it, pausing to touch my guns as well. Then the brim of my hat. His hand rested for a while on my armoured face, then he walked several paces away and his own sword was in his hands. People mistakenly thought Necromancers didn't or couldn't use weapons, but we did. Vile, superior warrior that he was, was well skilled with a sword. I thanked my lucky stars he hadn't thought of his battle ax instead, and his head titled in amusement.

I realized he could read my thoughts and I could feel him smile behind his visor. We went through the basic moves I would need, Vile pointing out when to step to the side, how to avoid a blow of the sword without blocking, and the exceedingly rare times it was OK to use the flat of the sword, though there were always other options.

I was slow at first, but he was every bit the patient teacher Skulduggery was. He was perfecting the skills I already had, sharpening them so they would be actual skills not reliance on my armour's abilities. The thought that Lord Vile was teaching me to fight made me smile, and I could feel him smile in return as we trained. He could fight one-handed as well, so he taught me to use the sword in both hands, then perfected my two-handed grip.

Then we were sparring, and I was advancing and retreating as he taught me, as his own sword flashed towards me, or he left openings for me to attack. Once or twice he lured me in, teaching me to be wary of an opponent. We were gradually picking up speed as we fought, Vile's excitement palatable. He advanced towards me, his sword speeding towards my neck. I ducked, coming up with my own swing aimed towards his exposed side.

But he merely shadow walked out of range, taunting me to come meet him with a tilt of the head. I knew better than to fall for the bait, so instead I shadow walked further away. I could feel his surprise. Then he was instantly behind me, sword to my neck. I felt him shake his head and release me, but overall he seemed satisfied with my progress. I could feel his silent question. Would I want Lord Vile at my side in the hospital? I nodded respectfully. He bowed his head to me gracefully, then Skulduggery was raising his visor. He lifted his own armour away in pieces, still shaking his head.

"You're lucky he didn't kill you, getting distance between you and Lord Vile isn't ever useful. Still, he was pleased you didn't come to meet him either."

"Then there was no right solution?"

"Oh there was, you should have attacked with your shadows, and most likely would have if you weren't so busy being smitten with him. I felt that, by the way."

I removed my own armour before replying. "Uh, that's because you are Lord Vile."

He smirked in my direction. "Yes, yes I am. Never thought I'd live to see the day Lord Vile started to redeem himself."

"Skulduggery, you've been redeeming yourself for the last several hundred years. You know you have."

"True, but Lord Vile hasn't, so I get to start all over again. Lucky me. He loves you, you know."

"I know, he passed on quite a bit with the armour. I don't know how since it was from my great grandmother, but the form was his gift to me, somehow. That explains all my abilities, and here I thought I was just naturally talented."

Skulduggery chuckled, coming over to chuck my softly on the chin. "So THAT'S what you were going to tell me later. I wish you and Vile would let me in on these little tête-à-têtes . "

"You're jealous of yourself? That's a whole new level of egotism, even for you."

"Why shouldn't I be? He is me, and therefore irresistible. I'm half surprised you didn't charm him out of his armour."

"Skulduggery!" I felt the heat rise to my face.

He made another of his chirruping sounds in response. "Now now, my dear. I know you're too much of a lady to do any such thing, at least I hope you are."

I gaped at him, and he started humming again, sauntering towards the Bentley. The sun had started to rise and as I stowed the armour Skulduggery looked at me. "You're beautiful in the morning, but of course you are. You're my combat accessory. Breakfast? I'll even take you to that dreadful diner with the stupid waitress if you want."

I grinned. "I love your back-handed compliments, but yes, breakfast sounds lovely." He nodded and we got in.

"Seat belt."

"Yes, boss."

"Cute."

Skulduggery relaxed into the booth after I'd given my order and eyed me appreciatively. "You do know when you walk into that hospital ten days from now with Vile at your side heads are going to turn. Are you sure you trust him that much?"

"Yes, I am. I'm counting on his to go for the kill as soon as he sees an opening, but I have a feeling the cave won't make it easy. Hopefully in the ten days our killer doesn't leave the cave. Arresting him would be anticlimactic."

"Besides, you're looking forward to Vile being with you."

We paused as my breakfast arrived. "Yes, I am. I told you before I'd be proud to have him fight at my side and I meant it."

"He knows it, that's why he offered in the first place. He won't let you down." We left it at that. We didn't mention the obvious. That even Lord Vile might fall, and so could I. We didn't say a word about loosing one another because we'd faced it countless times before and it never got any easier. We just learned to put our emotions to one side until afterwards. Still, Lord Vile would be fighting once again, and I knew he was looking forward to it.

That evening I was stretched out on the couch with a book at home, which is what Skulduggery now insisted I call his house. He was reading the paper in his meditation chair. I felt him look over at me several times. "Hmm?" I asked.

"Um, nothing."

"Your very irresistible, Skulduggery. I've been wondering why you didn't kiss me all day." He made a rather high pitched sound I'd never heard before and I could tell I'd affronted his dignity. "You know future notice that I can initiate things would be appreciated." I said dryly, still reading. He didn't say a word and I looked up at him. The look on his face was dreadful. He'd assumed I'd just know and now he was offended that I didn't know about my newly given rights as part of what made him so wonderful. How dreadful a woman I was, not to know.

I got up smiling and went over to sit in his lap. He was still giving me the same baleful gaze and made no move to embrace me. But when I kissed him his arms locked around me and he didn't let me go for a very long while, adjusting his teeth on my lips from time to time. I felt his strong hands grip my shoulders and he drew his legs up, sliding my body in closer to his. When he at last let me go, he looked serene. "That's what you get for not knowing any better." He murmured.

I caressed his skull in response and ran my hand over his delicate facial bones. I marveled at the thinness of the zygomatic bone as I traced it with my finger. The bones of his eye sockets seemed as thin as eggshells, and I realized then as a skeleton he was fragile, compared to a man with flesh protecting him, and that I'd always have to be careful to not hurt him. He brought a hand up to capture mine, pressed it to his teeth. "Penny for your thoughts?"

"I just realized how terribly handsome you really are."

"Mmm. You just want me to make you coffee."

"True."

"Get up then." He said good naturedly. We went to the kitchen, both well pleased the kiss hadn't ended in romantic mush. Neither one of us was like that. I knew as he busied himself with the coffee he was relieved I wasn't and didn't expect him to become a fawning, simpering mess. I'd always disliked that in a man. I was also grateful Skulduggery wasn't a fan of public displays of affection. They made my skin crawl since I saw them as the hollow boasts of possession they were. That, I reflected was what was wrong with people. They mistook possession for love, and in the end when they realized that you couldn't own another human any more than you could own a cat, they fell out of love, the illusion shattered.

I knew full well that Skulduggery was his own man as I was my own woman. We didn't need to be owned or to own. We didn't have to say 'I love you' every five minutes in gooey voices because words were really meaningless, and the people who said it the most often didn't seem to actually be in love with a person, they loved the idea of being in love.

We showed out love by moments like these, kept in companionable silence. We showed them through our friendship, which was only growing stronger daily. We were well aware that the friendship was the base of everything, that without it, being together would be meaningless. Right then I was very pleased to be with my best friend. That he was also the man I loved deepened the feeling, but the friendship came first. We took the coffee to the living room by silent agreement, Skulduggery putting on a Nat King Cole album before settling into the couch. He held me as I sipped my coffee. When 'It's Almost Like Being In Love' came on I smiled into my cup and heard him snort. "Pure mush." He grunted.

"Yes, but imagine this playing as we tooled around Ireland in Christine. Then it isn't mush, it's good driving music."

"You make a wonderful point, assuming you can ever get me in that car again."

"Oh come on, you know you love her. She should appeal to your ego."

"How so?"

"She was a creamy eggshell color when I got her, and the detailer wanted to paint her light blue after he restored her. I had to insist on the dark blue."

He was silent for a minute. "Like my suit." He said at last, his voice a mixture of awe and affection. He placed a kiss on the back of my head before continuing. "I always wondered why you didn't choose black, though you could have as I am exceedingly dashing in a tuxedo. As I think you well know if the way you looked at me the night of the ball was any indication."

"I thought that would be a little too obvious, really. I went with hiding in plain sight instead."

"Who ever taught you to be so clever? That's right, me. I retract everything I've ever said, she's a lovely car, even if she isn't a Bentley."

I yawned and stretched. "I'm almost thinking of sleeping down here tonight. We could watch TV until we fall asleep."

"Oh no you don't, young lady. You go get a bath, then bed. I'll be with you shortly." I came out of the bath to find coffee awaiting me one again and Skulduggery planted happily beneath the covers. He had a teasing look on his face I did my best to ignore. I got in and he turned to me.

"Hello, fair and helpless maiden." He purred.

"Skulduggery, behave." I sipped my coffee, managing not to spill it as he sat up to embrace me, nuzzling his skull into my neck, his teeth doing dreadful things.

"Skulduggery! Stop that!"

"Make me."

"Skullduggery!" I laughed, setting my coffee back down as he found a rather ticklish area. I pushed him gently away, and he collapsed back into the pillows dramatically, doing his level best to look like rejection had turned him into a mere inanimate skeleton. I couldn't suppress my laugher over that, and it only got worse when he brought the back of one hand to his forehead and sighed. He looked over at me then mischief dancing in his eye sockets.

Skulduggery crooked a finger towards me, and I obligingly shut out the light and cuddled down beside him. He looped one arm around me, adjusting himself so I could rest with my arms around him and my head on his chest. "You don't find this disturbing in any way? I am a skeleton you know."

"That's a point in your favour as far as I'm concerned."

"My bones don't hurt you? You aren't uncomfortable?"

"Of course not, Skulduggery, I've always loved it when you've held me."

"You don't find me unappealing? I am dead, you know." His voice was soft.

"Skulduggery Pleasant, don't you even start thinking like that. I've always found you appealing, and how many times do I have to tell you you are living."

"Am not."

"You can be healed can't you?"

"Yes."

"Then you're alive. Also, as I pointed out before dead skeletons tend to collapse. I know because I've seen it happen."

"That must have given you a fright."

"It terrified me. I realized I loved you even then, but had the sense to keep my fool mouth shut."

"Ah, I thought when Davina needled you you got a little too angry, but I thought the idea of being in love with me insulted you."

"God, you're thick."

"I usually am, where you are concerned. You could have told me earlier, you know."

"Like how early? I thought twenty four would be too soon."

"Twenty one, it's well past the age of consent in Ireland."

"You're kidding me."

"No, I'm not. I waited that whole year to see in you would say something because I realized I wanted you with me."

"You should have said something."

"Indeed I should have. But get some rest. I'm sure Ghastly will have some busywork for us in the morning. If nothing else we should get updates from all the detectives." We both fell silent then, and it wasn't long before sleep claimed me.