A/N: I don't own Valkyrie, Skulduggery, Darquesse, Lord Vile, Tipstaff, Erskine, Tesseract, Finbar or Ghastly. Cain and Val are my babies though. I don't know if anyone wanted this, but I had one heck of a nightmare last night. The creative process being a harsh mistress indeed. Uh, thanks go out to my readers that showed support.

I clawed my way out of the remains of a nightmare, none of which made any sense, yet all it did. And as nightmares went this had been worse than anything from any case we'd ever been on. Worse than anything I'd done as Darquesse, because, as far as I or anyone else knew, I was no longer Darquesse. And it had happened, now that I thought of it, for the most perfect reason possible.

The wedding for our children had been wonderful. Their spouses had been well dressed, but it had been my offspring that made my breath catch. Cain had looked like a god of the underworld in his tuxedo of shadowy fabric. He'd stood tall and proud as he awaited Melody's approach and from the look on his face it had hit me then that he was a man now, no longer a child and I'd felt a lump in my throat.

And as for my beloved Val she had taken my breath away. More beautiful than any bride I'd ever seen, a vision of skeletal beauty in lace and cascading silk she'd trembled as she'd gone to meet her beloved Tesseract and as the ceremony went on, Skulduggery bumped me discretely and I sighed. I knew what he wanted. Something that as Darquesse I could give my children with a skill that would surpass any mage.

And as both had approached me after, I'd bit my lip, then nodded my agreement. In a perfect world everyone would feel as I felt, that my babies were perfect, but, I could no longer use my pride in my beautiful children or motherly love as an excuse not to grant their wishes. They were adults now and while I could not grant them full bodies, the façades I could grant and did as I touched my children's temples were exceptional.

My children had always been perfect to me, but as I closed my eyes as Darquesse and completed their transformations I heard a gasp and when I opened my eyes as Valkyrie once more, I knew why. I'd thought people had noticed my abrupt shift back, but no, it was my children. Cain made Erskine look downright homely and had Val been married to anyone but Tess I'd have worried about her husband having to fight off the competition. Not that she was a bad girl by any means, but she'd attract attention now and she knew it.

Ghastly, thankfully, had designed the wedding clothes to embrace the transformations and as my daughter hugged me as warm as any flesh and blood woman for the first time I felt her joy. "Mom, are you OK?" She whispered in my ear. "And thanks."

"Think nothing of it." I said, still amazed at my own work. "And I'm fine sweetie." Both children looked slightly guilty but I assured them I was fine. The kids has swallowed the lie I'd made up, but Skulduggery hadn't.

"Remind Lord Vile to beat you." He'd murmured as we ate at the reception.

"Hush. I just regret not having enough left in me for you, you know that." I said and he gave me a cheerfully dismissive wave.

"I happen to like being a skeleton. Tell me those are just really good façades though."

"They are, but the opposite of what yours was. They'll have to remember to take them off, not put them on. It might get annoying, but safety first." I said and he nodded. "And they can't be forced off, either. I can imitate everything. They are warm to the touch, they feel like everyone else on the outside, it should feel like having flesh."

"You're a skeleton in your armour, so you tell me." Skulduggery pointed out.

"I wasn't born one."

"Ah."

And then he'd let it go. The reception had went well, we'd seen our children off and now we were back home. And the nightmare had come. It didn't even make any sense. I was in the woods by the sea, as strange as that sounds, high up on a cliff. And a skeleton in a wedding dress had been trying to either drag me underground or into a cave or something. I had fleeting memories of her dragging me through the woods, through brambles and remembered stories of the Good Folk and shivered. That's all we needed.

"Cold, dearheart?" Skulduggery asked in that velvety voice of his and my insides turned to mush as they always did.

"No, nightmare." I confessed and he tsked me then kissed me and got up to make coffee. I watched him, amused that his suits now looked perfect, even when slept in. He gave me a glance over his shoulder and I swore he winked at me. I stuck my tongue out at him in response and he laughed.

"You could tell me about the nightmare." He offered and so I did and Skulduggery looked thoughtful as he returned with coffee for both of us.

"Hmm. Well, it sounds like research is called for as I highly doubt your dream had anything to do with Val. Or Cain." He added and I nodded. I hadn't seen him in the dream, but only after did I remember a skeleton knight in black armour astride a white horse, watching me.

"The strange thing was, I think they were excited to see me, happy even. But let's just drop it, could we?" I asked and Skulduggery stared at me until I relented. "Fine. But you know there is no subculture of skeletons running around Ireland outside of this family, right?" I asked as we finished our coffee and rose to dress.

"That we know of. We're magic, Val. We can't brush off dreams like mortals. Maybe it is nothing, maybe it isn't."

We exchanged uneasy glances as we finished dressing and left the house to grab breakfast out. Neither of us wanted to say it, but while mortal pagans viewed the Good Folk as reawakened old gods, mages viewed them as very real and very dangerous, and nothing like the fluffy cartoons or courtly lovers mortals prattled on about.

Tipstaff was one of the few people at the Sanctuary, most were still recovering from the revels of the wedding reception as our kids had decided the entire Sanctuary was family. He listened attentively to my dream then tapped his chin thoughtfully. "What you describe sounds like Death from the Tarot. The knight on horseback? And the bride, well, that is another culture as well, but let's see. It's entirely possible your talent from Necromancy has the dead asking for help."

Skulduggery shrugged at my mystified glance and we followed Tipstaff to a room where case material too sensitive for even most Sanctuary detectives was kept. Tipstaff riffled through some older files, then looked at us. "What I'm looking for isn't here. But to be truthful I had roughly the same dream." We both looked at Skulduggery.

"Maybe." He admitted.

"And you were going to tell me this when, Skulduggery?" I growled and he just smiled at me.

We made calls as best we could, but it seemed as though we were the only three to have the same dream. And as the Good Folk tended to show up and ask for help in person we'd all agreed to turn our research to either ghostly communication, as much as Skulduggery had laughed at the idea, or something deeper.

Which meant a trip to see Finbar, who was also recovering from the wedding. He blinked sleepily as he opened the door. "Hey, Skul-man, Valley Girl. You wanna see the old lady?"

"No, Finbar. We don't know her. We're here to find someone." Skulduggery said patiently.

"Yeah, OK." Finbar said then opened the door and led the way upstairs. "How about a kitten tattoo, Val? A big one with a bow and a ball of yarn?"

"No thanks."

"Princess Celestia?"

"Who now?"

"From My Little Pony?"

"Never saw it." I said and I hadn't. I think I'd caught exactly six seconds of an episode once and it still gave me vivid nightmares that people would actually watch something so sweet. Unless the ponies started turning into vampires and killing one another off, I wanted no part of it.

Finbar made us tea, then went into his trance, already knowing about the dream. He tilted his head this way and that. "Wow, I'm seeing the forest you three were in. But, it's like it's both here in Ireland and not here, you know what I mean?" We said nothing, letting him go on. "And the knight, I can see him, he's looking right at me, and the bride." Finbar's head snapped back and he jumped up, still in the trance.

We went and held him gently, afraid he'd hurt himself. "No, it's not possible. No." He gasped as if he'd had a terrible vision, then came to. "Why'd you come here? Why ask me? They aren't from here, they shouldn't even be here. You know what you saw." Finbar glared at Skulduggery

"Finbar, the, look, I'm as respectful of neo-pagans as you are, but if you're going to tell me we saw old Celtic gods of the underworld in the only medium Valkyrie could understand..."

"No, that isn't what they were. But they are Death. They both are." He looked horrified, as if death him or herself was about to appear.

I sighed. "Finbar, death is a process, not a person."

"Tell them that." He muttered, looking away. "I was always cool with the concept you know, and they seem nice and everything, but it's one thing to think a concept is cool and really see it. Death chose you three. That's pretty deep."

"Then why two forms, why not one?"

"I dunno. I'm not the most religious guy. Maybe a metaphor for something. Or being, you know Death, They or She or whatever had to dial it back or you might have imploded or died or something."

We thanked Finbar and left with more questions than answers. I didn't believe for a minute that Death him or herself had appeared to us. I did believe that we'd had a huge wedding and too much good food and a long reception. A shared dream was nothing more than that, a shared dream. And yet...

I called Tipstaff who listened then answered thoughtfully after I told him about Finbar's vision. "And not old gods from here? I think you're right, Valkyrie. Someone could have spiked the coffee or desserts, not meaning to be cruel, and it had unexpected results. There are perfectly mundane herbs that would have given us all the same dream, especially with having seen so many skeletons last night. And well, caves and paths through woods, it's very yonic."

I winced. He was right. All three of us could have been terrified of our children loosing their innocence as Tipstaff was yet another father to them. We all agreed to dismiss the dream. After all, it wasn't like the Grim Reaper would show up in the streets of Ireland if we did nothing.

Until, of course, the next day, he did. It wasn't anywhere near the right season but someone, newscasters blamed college kids, had put grim reaper statues, paintings and more everywhere. The knight on horseback from the Tarot was seated on a rearing horse in the park, the statue towering over the throng gathered around it.

Skeletons with scythes and burial shrouds decorated window shops, causing some other reporters to blame them, and wall murals of Death as he or she was seen the world over were everywhere. Children hadn't been left out either, every single one waking up to find papier-mâché skulls filled to the brim with candy and plush reapers. It was downright uncanny. We watched the news as we sipped our morning coffee and I felt the excitement I felt for every good case. "Who could do all this in one night?" I asked, feeling around sleepily for a lead.

"Could be mortal pranksters for all we know." Skulduggery said thoughtfully. "For magic? Anyone. Teleporters, Necromancers, even determined Elementals. But I don't think this was anyone magical, not in our sense at least. This could blow the lid off magic and I'm surprised we haven't been called in yet."

"Maybe it was just, you know, art students." I offered hopefully, but that didn't explain everyone in Ireland finding something. Except us. I went to the kitchen for more coffee and screamed. There on the kitchen table was a massive statue of Death, a basket at his or her feet, filled to the brim with breakfast makings.

There was a note attached and I took it as Skulduggery rushed to join me. "Now do you believe we are real? We are everywhere at once. We are many, yet one." I read out loud. I looked at Skulduggery. Some mortals had already dug into the clearly homemade treats that had come in the skulls and into baskets of goodies like ours and come to no harm. "Delayed magical virus?" I asked uneasily.

"Doubtful. No, I believe this is a goodwill gesture. Let's dig in and maybe the mystery will solve itself." I nodded, not saying that we were most likely walking into a trap.

I need to go back on coffee more often. I write really trippy stories on it. Hope you liked it!