Chapter 123, everybody! Nice number. :D

Another chapter that was written way long ago and then was edited later—mostly to match up the group that ended up getting sucked into Halloween Town. Honestly the next several chapters are probably going to have this disclaimer I had a lot written ahead while I was stuck on one thing or another.

Moving on…dipping into Skulduggery's canon backstory as in his source material Serpine used his wife and child as bait to lure him in, caught him as he does here, and then spent his sweet time torturing Skul.

Angiembabe, thanks for the review! Yeah FFN did a thing where they automatically turn off notifications after three months, so having that on top of their big goof last fall/winter doesn't help. Bout a third of the way caught up on AO3, so we're getting there! And good question….

References:

Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi

The Nightmare Before Christmas © 1993 Tim Burton

Skulduggery Pleasant © 2007 Derek Landy (the concept of Head Mages, Skulduggery himself, etc.)

Dharma and Greg © 1997 Dottie Dartland & Chuck Lorre (Mr. Montgau and his side of the family)

Original characters, + setting © Kineil D. Wicks (myself, not the girl in the story)

Yami felt like he was being sucked down a drain, and resolved never to wash any more bugs down the sink. Desperately clinging to Horus, still in hat form, struggling to deal with the fact that the floor was gone, that there was nothing but swirling color pulling him down—

For a terrible moment, he thought that he had made a dreadful miscalculation, that Skellington had plotted the death of them all.

Then the light flashed away, and he face-planted in the sod next to his brother.

Yami lifted himself up, spitting out grass, looked around to see his friends recovering from their own untidy deposits….

"Holy…." he managed finally, seeing where they were. "We're back."

Everyone looked around to see that he was right; they were atop one of the grassy hills east of Delvaire, deep twilight setting in. The chirruping of crickets, cicadas, and frogs laced with the soft rushing of the river. Over the hills, they could see the taller buildings of Delvaire, the clock tower standing proud and tall, bonging the hour.

Kels suddenly bounced up, dancing in relief. Honda and Jonouchi let out a wild whoop, and began bouncing around her. Bakura flopped onto his back with a sigh, and Anzu sat there, silently weeping with relief.

Yuki hugged his brother tightly, obviously thrilled with the final result.

"What are you hugging me for?" Yami asked, irritated. "I didn't do anything to get us out of that mess."

Yuki pointed at the scroll, still held tight within Yami's grasp.

"You got that back, didn't you?" Yuki asked. "We return it, it's like nothing ever happened, right?"

Yami tightened his expression. "I sure do hope so."

Bakura glanced over, then stood up and walked over to them, holding out his hand.

"Give it to me," he told Yami.

Yami blinked, startled. "What?"

"Let me put it back," Bakura said, winking one of his sharp blue eyes. "If they catch me, it'll be on my head, not yours."

Yami felt his jaw twitch; this was a decidedly uncharacteristic show of solidarity, especially coming from this particular thief.

"They will catch you, and you know what they'll do to you when they do."

"It'll be better than what happens to you."

Yes, Yami knew this.

Yami also knew he was done letting others pay for his own decisions.

"No," Yami said finally. He stood up, muttered a quick spell to the scroll, and it vanished in a flash of light.

Kels stopped jumping. "What did you do?"

"I sent the scroll back to the Administration Building," Yami said. "If they trace it back to me, then so be it. It's about time I took some responsibility for my actions."

Kels blinked. Jonouchi and Honda stopped dancing. Bakura, Anzu, and Yuki stared.

"Yami Montgau," Kels said finally. "I think you might have matured these past several days."

Yami gave a weak smile. "Don't I know it."

*\*/*

Skulduggery had wasted no time in getting the pertinent information out of people, leaving a one-man wave of destruction behind him. He had hardly paid attention to the damage, his main focus was getting to Idgy and Jack. Hadn't been in the woods, so start looking—

Found the lights on in his house.

Slowed, considering the situation…a trap? Idgy safe and sound? No way to know for sure but to go straight in and trip it.

"That'll teach you to overestimate stupid people," he muttered, figuring he'd say it over Ghastly missing the opportunity. Grab his gun, rush up, using the air to sense if anyone else was there—banged in, scanning the area—

Spotted Idgy tied up and wearing a gag.

"Hold on—" he started—

Was cut off by Serpine stepping into view.

"You," he growled. "Didn't I get rid of you once?"

"Yes well, it didn't stick," Serpine said. "Unfortunately for you. I told her you'd come. Thank you, Mrs. Pleasant, for acting as the bait."

And with that, he shot her.

"The boy's already dead and buried in the woods," he said conversationally—seemed unconcerned with the weapon he picked up with every intent of using it on Serpine. "And you are nothing if not predictable. Going for the up-close and personal fight you were spoiling for instead of planning ahead. Well I did, which means this game is mine."

"Not when I cut your heart out—" Skulduggery snarled, surging for him—

Dropped the knife, something about the handle feeling odd, losing the feeling in his hands—

"And that's why I planned ahead," Serpine said. "Because I anticipated that you'd rather kill me up close and personal. The knife handle was laced with poison. It'll take them days to drag you out to hang you, and by then, I'm sure I'll get some good moments to make you bleed, now won't I?"

No—no—had to get to Idgy, to Jack—

And then Serpine pointed at him.

*/*\*

He and Yuki snuck back into their room, managing not to wake anyone. Anzu had said something about taking a good long shower when she got home, and while that sounded appealing, he knew they couldn't risk running water and waking someone up. They settled for a change of clothes, resolving to take a nice long scrubbing in the morning, after they explained themselves.

Yuki was nestled in bed, hugging his stuffed owl close to his chest, obviously having missed him terribly. Yami was sitting on his bed, gloves off, running his fingers through his hair and muffing up his spikes considerably. He had released Horus from his hat form, and the bird had flown off huffily, complaining of being kept as a hat for too long and how he stank so, squawking that he wouldn't be back until he had cleaned himself up, since certain people obviously couldn't be bothered to properly care for their hats.

Yami couldn't much blame him. He had truly dutched things up; how could he have been so stupid? Summoning Skellington had been a big mistake in a series of big mistakes—he would be lucky if he got off with being grounded for life.

"Yami?"

Yami looked up to see Yuki eyeing him with concern. Yami tried offering one of his confident smirks, but could only produce a wan smile; throughout all of this, Yuki had stuck by him—he wouldn't let his brother get into trouble for something that was his fault.

Maybe Kels was right; maybe he had matured. He had definitely gained a healthy dose of humility.

"Get some sleep, Yuki," Yami told his brother, lying down on his bed. "We have a big day of explaining tomorrow."