Skulduggery – Crow

Anton – Bear

Ghastly – Panda

Dexter – Wolf

Saracen – Weasel

Erskine – Snake

Solomon – Raven

Chapter 51

Thank God her four days of schooling went quickly, filled with talking to Tanith about her torture to work through it, talking to Nadia about anything and everything while avoiding increasingly burning questions and desires she wanted to bring into their lives, and working with Gordon on a new book idea he wanted to write with Valkyrie. She'd had a haircut too to even out the bits the Remnant had cut off. It was just brushing her shoulders, whereas before it had been down to her elbows.

By the time it came to her first unofficial day back on the job, Valkyrie found herself inexplicitly nervous.

She knew why of course.

There was always the possibility she might get hurt. There was always that chance of course, of simply falling down the stairs, but in her line of work, a very simple case of someone retrieving someone's stolen property could easily turn sour quickly. And then she'd get hurt and have to go to Kenspeckle.

She sat on her bed that morning, dressed, eaten and ready to go, looking at the letter from Kenspeckle in her hands. She wanted to read it, but the felt something weird inside her. Some fear, a little repulsion, but also guilt.

She didn't know why. She knew that Kenspeckle only had a few memories of what had happened and that he felt extremely guilty, but it still hurt her even if it hadn't been him. She swallowed thickly and opened it resolutely, knowing she'd just work herself up otherwise.

It was two pages long, outlining first that he was sorry and hoped she had a fast recovery before spiralling into begging for forgiveness and repeatedly telling her he barely remembered the experience and if he were ever to be possessed again he'd sooner take the infamous pill – something used by soldiers in the war and highly controversial, something Kenspeckle had always abhorred – than allow it to happen again.

She could feel the pain in the letter and knew it had been written in a rush and had been left unedited. It had a few tear spots on it and Valkyrie almost cried, knowing how the gentle man had been forced but still feeling the lingering anxiety about being in his presence. She didn't want to not go to him if she was hurt, because that would surely hurt his feelings, but she didn't want to go and break down either because that would definitely hurt him even more. She had no idea what to do but did feel herself soften towards him a little more even if she was conflicted.

She sighed and left it on her pillow, knowing she'd want to see it again later, and after washing her face of tears, she joined Crow in the car.

They were silent on the way there and when they arrived, Valkyrie knew why.

"Hi," she said, smiling and stopping herself from using his codename. Raven was there. "How are you?"

"I am well, thank you," he said, and he looked it too. Less sleepless. "How are you?"

"Grand, grand. Are you working on this case?"

"Yes, the Sanctuary has you on time off after all. I am sharing some cases I have been offered as a means of training you. I thought also, I could introduce you to Necromancy on the way?"

Valkyrie smiled, always ready to learn new magic, but she could feel Crow's conflict. His memories of Lord Vile and Necromancy were not positive after all. "I would love to. I've learnt a lot of magic now. I think I'm really heading towards Elemental though."

Crow relaxed a little and nodded. "It is always healthy to learn different things," he said quietly.

Raven smiled at him and Valkyrie saw a flash of warmth in his eyes though he did try to cover it. "Colour me impressed."

"That would be new for you," Crow said snidely and Valkyrie very nearly laughed. Instead, she bit her tongue and tried to disappear so she could watch. It didn't work. "We are here to train Valkyrie."

"Quite right. Valkyrie, take this," Crow said and handed her a ring. It fit her, though only her pinkie finger, and she looked back at him. "I am going to help you to direct your magic into it."

They must have spent an hour doing that, going through the process of finding the magic and directing it into the ring. She used Raven's cane a few times to help her feel what it should be like to find her own, and when she finally found it, it was just a matter of getting it to stay in the ring. She was quite cold by the time they were done, but she was thrilled to have an immediate grasp of the instrument.

"You're doing well," Skulduggery said cautiously. Valkyrie took his hand, knowing the conflict inside – the pride he felt for her, and the guilt associated with the magic. Valkyrie was really enjoying it though. His pride meant a lot to her. It always felt very fatherly.

"Thanks," she said, turning to Raven. "What are we actually meant to be doing today?"

"We are on a search and retrieve mission," he said. "A fancy name for returning the property of a man whose mother took his car as punishment for breaking up with a young lady she rather liked. We have all the warrants."

Valkyrie frowned. "We're getting someone's car?"

"Yes."

"We're detectives," she said.

"Yes. Detectives find things, and that is your objective today."

"I'd rather be thrown at a wall," she said with disgust. "I don't want to be getting some cowards car. He can get it himself."

"Ah, but you don't know the best part," Crow interjected. "His mother is on holiday."

Valkyrie said nothing, just looked at him like a gaping fish.

"So all you need to do is find her house."

Valkyrie continued fishing.

"This is actually a test of you making your way from nowhere to the correct place," Crow said cheerfully, fixing his tie. "Off you go."

"I hate you," she glared. "Solomon, is this actually what we're doing?"

"Unfortunately," he smirked. "We can practice your Necromancy skills on the way."

.*****.

Valkyrie's week did not improve after that 'case', such as it was.

She spent her time with Crow and Raven as a weird third wheel and mediator, trying to deal with not only what ridiculous case Raven found but also whatever 'skill' Crow decided to test during said case. And the whole time she had to listen to them bicker and ignore her as they debated serious topics or squabbled over tiny details like Raven splashing a tiny little piece of mud onto Crow's calf.

She shook her head into her pillow and tried to focus on herself instead. At the text message she'd been staring at for almost five minutes.

Nadia had sent her a picture of some 'clothes' she wanted to wear to a date they had planned. She had sent the pictures at ten at night after checking Valkyrie was in bed, which she was, and the pictures were of each individual item. For example, the picture asking about the shorts was of Nadia, in her full-length mirror, wearing the article, with a view of the back, showing off the curve of her ass and her smooth legs, as well as her bare back.

Another picture was of the front of the shorts and her belly, stopping just, just below her nipples, giving Valkyrie a tantalising view of the bottom of her breasts.

To be fair, Valkyrie rationalised as she felt her body react, she has been jumping around this since she got home, texting Nadia probing questions without saying anything sexual. It seemed Nadia had finally taken it into her own hands.

Holding her breath, Valkyrie sent her a text – 'You're beautiful xx,' she sent. And then smacked herself, remembering she was meant to be playing along, talking about the clothes. Stupid, stupid, stupid – her phone buzzed.

She looked and Nadia had sent her another picture, this time of a 'crop-top'. Valkyrie felt herself go red even though she was alone. Again, she hadn't shown anything, but still! She might as well have, and if that was a crop-top, Valkyrie wanted Nadia to wear them every time she saw her. But never in public – that wasn't allowed anymore.

'I love it,' she sent, biting her lip.

It took a few moments longer for a reply and Valkyrie almost started sweating with nerves. 'Show me what you're wearing?'

Valkyrie nearly choked, sitting up quickly in a panic. 'Now or for our date?' She asked with a flash of competence, trying to buy her brain some time to think.

'The date,' Nadia sent. Valkyrie jumped out of bed, falling to the floor with a bang as she tripped over her sheets. She didn't stop, crawling to her wardrobe and looking around. What did she have? What even fit her? Did she have to stick to what she put on now? Probably not, she realised, calming herself. Nadia had sent her pictures before, though not quite like these ones, and had not followed through on the outfit. She just had to flirt back, she realised. Flirt with her looks.

How did she do that?

Valkyrie quickly pulled her clothes off and thanked the gods of every and all religions she had shaved recently and ripped through the hangers to find something, anything.

The only skimpy things she had left since her growth spurt was old workout gear and a few items Nadia had already seen and were obviously out of the count for that reason. Was flirting meant to be stressful? She sighed and decided she'd let Nadia hang long enough and pulled on a pair of old shorts. They were kind of ugly, being bright blue and all, but Valkyrie owned nothing smaller. She threw them on, taking off her underwear first, and yanked them high. Remembering some 'leaked footage' from some magazine, she put her leg on a shelf and twisted to take the picture, leaving her top off and covering her small breasts with her arm and hand.

Hoping to the same god's she didn't look like the biggest idiot in all of Idiotdom, she sent it to Nadia and threw herself into bed with embarrassment, not wanting to start comparing herself to her gorgeous girlfriend.

'Val?' Nadia sent her.

Valkyrie swallowed thickly. 'Yeah?' She sent.

'What are those scars?'

Valkyrie felt the blood drain from her face and tears come to her eyes as the real embarrassment and dread filled her. She looked back at the picture and realised she had forgotten completely to hide the scars, the new scars she had taken great care to conceal from her family.

The nails that possessed Kenspeckle had hammered through her had been cursed in some way to leave scars, and the picture showed several, including the ones on her thighs, shins and the shoulder visible in the picture. She had sent her girlfriend, the one person she wanted to look beautiful and amazing and smart to, a picture of her scars.

She hadn't meant to do that. It was dark in her room and she hadn't realised her brightness was down. On closer inspection, the thin ones cut into her with the cursed straight-razor weren't even visible. And yet it was still so gross.

She genuinely hadn't even thought about it. In a way, the scars were cool, and she'd been trying to tell herself that for the last week, and despite how ugly they were she just hadn't thought about it when she hadn't seen them on her camera.

'I'm sorry,' she sent to Nadia and threw the phone down to cry.

She heard it buzz several times but didn't dare looking, lost in her own self-consciousness and feeling of dread, working up the situation in her head. At some point, she heard the phone ringing. She hesitated for a long moment, not wanting to face her shame, but pressed the button to answer out of habit. She raised it to her ear. "Hello?" She said, trying to mask her tears.

"Val, baby, I'm sorry!" Nadia cried, sobbing down the phone. "I didn't mean to say it like that, I'm so sorry I hurt your feelings!"

Valkyrie own eyes welled up again, but she coughed and answered stoically. "You didn't. I'm fine. Why are you crying?"

"I'm crying because I know I upset you," she said in a high, muffled voice. "I just didn't know about them, you said nothing. I just – I don't know why I said anything, you're still the prettiest girl I know, but I didn't know."

"You didn't have to know," Valkyrie grumbled.

"I–" Nadia started, then stiffed and started again. "I'm sorry, Val. I am. You're beautiful. I almost didn't notice the scars I was so busy looking at the rest of you. But I love you, I don't want you hurting."

Valkyrie put a hand over her belly, knowing there were far more ugly scars possessed Kenspeckle had slashed into her skin. Did she want to tell Nadia that? She didn't think it was beautiful, so how could Nadia? Perhaps she might be able to convince herself they were cool someday, but never beautiful. "It's fine. I'm fine. Don't think about it."

"Don't – Valkyrie how couldn't I think about it? It's a part of you now, I want to think about it," she said, with a huff of a laugh, something exasperated. "I love you. I love all of you. Scar's don't change that. Would you love me less if I had scars?"

"No–"

"Exactly! So don't even start that. Honestly," Nadia said. Valkyrie could hear the smile through her sad voice even through the phone, trying to cheer her up. "You are so hot. You should know that."

Valkyrie smiled, brushing a thumb over one scar. She said nothing, not exactly feeling it.

"I think it's hot anyway."

Valkyrie hummed at that, not sure if she really meant it.

"It is. It say's how strong you are, to have gone through so much. And you know how much I like how strong you are."

"I suppose," she said allowed, feeling the anxious knots fall away and suddenly reappear when she made her mind up. "I have scars on my stomach too. He – he ruined the skin," she said quietly, looking down at herself.

Nadia said nothing for a moment. "What do you mean?"

Valkyrie hesitated, taking a moment to push away from the anxieties and memories before focusing on the conversation again. "It's just lots of cuts. Like, loads. My whole belly is just lines and scars and ugly skin. I hate it."

"You're not ugly. Even if you hate it, it's not ugly."

"You don't know that," Valkyrie said heavily.

"I do, because you're you, and you're always hot," Nadia said confidently. "But why didn't the doctor's that healed you get rid of the scars?"

"He found the flip knife I got from a criminal, it's a cursed one. It's made of the same stuff as the nails he hammered through me. It leaves a permanent scar."

"Why would he even do that?" Nadia said hotly. "It's not as if he even has anything against you, he was just hurting you for no reason!"

"It wasn't Kenspeckle," Valkyrie defended quietly. "It was a Remnant wanting to cause me as much pain as possible, it's all a Remnant wants."

"You are perfect," Nadia said with conviction. "And I want to see those scars in person and I want to kiss them and I want to kiss your lips. I want to kiss all of you. I want to–"

"Nadia," she said, grinning with a mad blush. "You've made your point."

"I don't think I have," she breathed through the phone. "I think I need to tell you I love you and – and be left alone with that picture you sent me. So there. Goodnight. I love you."

Valkyrie bit her lip and thought over what to say but couldn't think of any type of comeback around the obvious innuendo. "I love you too. Goodnight."

"Goodnight."

"Goodnight."

"Yes. Have fun." And Nadia hung up.

Valkyrie grinned and put her face in her pillow, giggling. Soon though, she blushed, thinking of what Nadia was doing, and that caused her to go back to those pictures of Nadia as she joined in the activity.

Heheheheheeee