A/N: I don't own Valkyrie, Skulduggery, Argeddion, Erskine or Death. Thanks go out to everyone who reviewed, faved and followed. Hope this makes some sense I haven't written in ages and the chapter was just lying there half finished. So special thanks go out to chatterobyn for the reminder that I still have readers left.

But I didn't have time to grieve, I grabbed the statue of Death and smashed it, grabbing up the two necklaces that fell out. It was too late for Skulduggery, but I gathered up his bones in a bag and then put on one of the necklaces, wrapping the other around the closed neck of the bag and then tightening my grip tight on the sack.

The room spun around me and went black and when I could see again we were in the land of the dead. I was standing before Death's throne and she looked at me calmly. "Tell me you can fix him?" I begged, starting to cry now that she was there and she nodded and gestured for me to bring the bag to her.

Death crooned lovingly and put his bones back together with a single touch, then held Skulduggery's inert skeleton while I slipped the necklace on him. He gasped and sat up, looking first at me and then at Death. He looked back at me, seemingly in no hurry to leave her lap and looked rather smug about the whole experience. "I'd say well done, but you realize you are stuck here now right? That we both are?"

"What?" I and Death thundered at roughly the same time. "Skulduggery, can't you ever say thank you?" I growled, getting ready to knock his skull off. Death for her part actually scruffed him like you would with a kitten and he had sense enough to look chastised. But only just.

"Sorry?" He tried and we both glared at him. "Honestly, I shouldn't have teased. I'm a bad little skeleton." He was trying to hold back laughter and actually not in the least bit sorry, but we were both failing to repress our smiles. Skulduggery could charm anyone into anything, even us.

Death crooned and cuddled him close for a moment, the shooed him off her lap. Skulduggery came and took me in his arms, kissing me tenderly, his teeth pressed to my lips and I sighed happily and relaxed into him, my arms around his ribcage and my head resting against his sternum. "I love you." He whispered tenderly.

"I love you too." I whispered back. Death gave us a moment and when we turned back to her she was looking at us fondly.

"You aren't stuck here." She said gently. "The necklaces are your way here and back. Everyone got one. We can see a lot further that you can into the future. I knew you all might need a way to come to me if I could not come to you. I didn't miss a one."

"You cheated?" I asked and she looked pleased with herself.

"I'm your death, of course I cheated." She was absolutely preening. And it made my heart melt that she cared that much. I knew that to a lot of people a world with no death or aging would be a dream come true, but I also knew from Skulduggery's collapse every Necromancer on the planet and everything from vampires to zombies would soon be joining us, shunted out of the world by an overabundance of life.

Though I didn't know how and Death tilted her head thoughtfully at my question. "I don't know to be honest. I can't go to them and I whispered to everyone the true nature of the gifts. But for the undead, trapped as they are between true life and my realm, I just don't know." She shrugged then waved her hand, a banquet table appearing in her throne room. "But now, we feast."

I was going to ask if we shouldn't be mounting a rescue mission of some sort, or try to find Life, but there was something her tone that made us both oblige her. She was being sneaky again, and sure enough, we hadn't been eating long when Argeddion showed up, looking frantic. "Something's wrong, you have to come back, now, and fix things." He said, and Death gave him a lazy look.

"Can't. You got me fired, remember? I'm out of a job. You made this mess, you fix it." She shooed him away and went back to eating.

"You don't understand, no one can die!" He pleaded.

"You just figure that out, bright boy?" She asked, clearly amused. "Let me guess, you've all gone back to killing one another and killing yourselves with your bad habits. And now you have to live though the aftermath." She shook her head and resumed eating, gesturing for us to join her. We did, exchanging uneasy glances. The warm and loving mother figure had been replaced by a being that couldn't care less about human suffering.

Then I realized what she was up to and joined in. "You're some kind of god now, Argeddion, fix things yourself."

"I've tried. And Life has gone haywire. He, they, whatever, they can't stop, they've gone into overdrive. I'm begging you for mercy."

Death abruptly stood up to tower over him, rage radiating off her. "You" she pressed a bony finger into his chest. "Don't get to beg for anything. Humans like you make me wish I'd stepped on the first member of your species the moment I saw it." She hissed.

Then she started to laugh and it wasn't a comforting sound. It was scary. "By the way, the only way you are here is that you died first. Nothing enters my realm alive. And with you gone I can restore balance at last." Argeddion tried to run but Death simply touched him and he dissolved into black dust. She laughed again and we could both feel the power radiating from her as she swung her scythe.

We were abruptly back in our world, and as soon as we arrived it happened. We could feel Death everywhere and she fixed the imbalance immediately. As we rushed to the Sanctuary we had to avoid cars with drivers who should have been long since dead slumped over the wheel, and were now careening unguided into whatever was in front of them.

Skulduggery smiled and looked at me. "Good to have her back, isn't it?" He asked.

"It is." I said as we made our way to the Sanctuary. There was mass panic there and Erskine was shouting to be heard. Skulduggery casually withdrew his revolver and fired, then smiled at Etskine's nervous glance of thanks.

"Right. Thank you, Skulduggery. Look, everything will be fine. As much as no one here likes to think of it, we just saw what life would be like if it went on forever. I know were all scared but we need Death in the world."

There was slow clapping in response and we all turned to see Solomon Wreath emerging from the shadows. "Indeed. The whole episode has no doubt given my former brethren something to think about."

Solomon turned his gaze on me, his eyes gleaming. Skulduggery stiffened in response. "Stop looking at my wife, Solomon." He warned and Wreath only smiled in reply, a grin that promised trouble.

"You're wife? So you own Valkyrie, do you?" Solomon asked, never taking his eyes off me. Skulduggery's gun was in his hand and it roared as he fired. Wreath dropped to the ground lifeless and Skulduggery pocketed his revolver happily.

"See? Problem solved, everything back to normal." He said happily. Erskine sighed in response.

"Every time you come back you're a little crazier. Nobody saw anything that happened here, right?" He asked and various Sanctuary staff members nodded. Erskine looked at Skulduggery. "Go home, Skul. You saved the world and you got rid of a Necromancer." Erskine's lips twitched into a smile. "Some might say you planned all of this out ahead of time."

"Some might saw I did."

"Did you shoot him or did Lord Vile?"

"Guess." Skulduggery said cheerfully and with that we were on our way home.

Wheee!