Skulduggery stopped the car in front of Diamond's brick townhouse at the edge of Roarhaven. It was much smaller than her house in England, only offering space for a handful of people to sleep in, did not have a backyard, and was generally a good bit simpler in comparison. But in the end, that was all it needed to be.
"I didn't know you had a place here." Skulduggery commented as he mustered the snug line of brick buildings.
"Yeah, you know, we get jobs in Ireland so often now, it just made sense. Got it a couple of months ago... well..." Diamond paused and diverted, "Technically, I got it almost two years ago but the security proofing takes ages to complete."
"I will assume, at least it's safe now?"
"Excessively." Diamond smiled. "I sleep very soundly."
"Well, then," Skulduggery said, sounding slightly questioning when she did not unbuckle herself or made any other efforts to leave, "good night?"
She sniffed blandly. "I guess."
"You guess what?" He asked.
Diamond shrugged nonchalantly. "I doubt I'll be able to sleep much tonight. I will probably deal with the paperwork of passing this case on to the Sanctuaries."
She mustered him. "How about you?"
He lifted an unknowing shoulder. "I'm not quite certain, yet."
She threw him a sympathetic look. "Won't sleep either?"
Skulduggery hesitated. "I don't, necessarily... sleep."
She frowned confusedly. "What?"
He extended a flat palm. "I'm not physically capable of sleep. I usually meditate."
Diamond tried not to look too shocked, while her medical brain was running through the repercussions of four-hundred years of sleep deprivation. Surely, there have been monks and similar spiritual people to try and replace a regular sleep cycle with meditation, but they also lived in a monastery, not in a war-ridden magical world.
Yet instead of telling him about what he probably already knew himself, Diamond moved to a more practical question. "How often do you do that?"
Skulduggery moved his head slightly side-to-side. "It used to be several times per week, during slower times."
She raised a questioning brow. "Used to?"
He gave a tiny sigh, speaking slowly through hesitation. "It hasn't been… altogether safe."
She looked ahead outside, to let her eyes move along to her thoughts. If his definition of meditation was similar to hers, it would need for somewhat of a surrender of control over his thoughts. And in a situation where controlling them was a constant necessity, it made sense that it would give Vile space to start a new cycle of self-manipulation.
"When was the last time, then?" She carefully pressed.
He swayed an estimating hand. "A couple of weeks ago?"
Diamond sighed at him dismayingly, and Skulduggery just returned her look quietly, with an unreadable, expressionless expression.
"How is that affecting you, now?" She asked gently.
He stayed quiet for a moment, and she knew he would not tell her, exactly, what was going on in his head but, hopefully, he would pick out a response that was close to the truth.
"It gets to be… harder to focus," Skulduggery slowly admitted.
Diamond looked outside again, thinking for a moment, making a decision. Then, she nodded to the house. "Why don't you come in?" She calmly suggested. "I'm getting picked up in the morning, which leaves a good couple of hours to settle down."
Skulduggery mustered her but shook his head. "I doubt that's a good idea."
She exhaled with a smile at the start of an unnecessary. "This house is prepped the same way the other one is. Nothing gets in or out."
Skulduggery snorted. "Exactly, which means, you would be trapped in there, with me."
Diamond raised an unimpressed shoulder. "Hasn't been a problem, so far."
He threw her a look. "Under considerably different circumstances."
She gave a bemused sound. "If you think a glittery party trick is all I got under my sleeve, you might be vainer than I thought. But at least, I'll get to surprise you again, when I knock you out."
The way Skulduggery tilted his head looked disagreeable, but maybe also a bit amused.
She mustered him back, but with more seriousness. "You have got to get some rest, sometime."
"Technically, I don't." He argued.
Diamond moved her chin down, to give him an unfazed glance. "I'm not talking physically."
Skulduggery did not reply to that, and she gathered, he was probably very much in favor of the idea, just not the connected risk. So, she decided that the discussion was nil and unbuckled, to get out of the Bentley and step into the cold night air.
"You'll have to hide the car," she said before closing the door.
Assuming he was not going to follow to argue, Diamond headed for the fence gate, next to her housing unit, and opened it wide. Walking along the walls to leave space, she went to a roof that was covering the trash cans in the back. The Bentley rolled onto the parking space behind her, as she grabbed a large plastic tarp.
Skulduggery turned off the car and got out, to help her pull the cover over it. as he did so, he caught a glimpse of his own reflection in the window of the driver's door. For some reason, Skulduggery seemed shocked about it, paused, and disconcertingly mustered the sharp features, slicked-back, black hair, and piercing green eyes on his own face.
Diamond could see a look of recognition on his face and it clearly seemed to bother him.
"You alright, love?" Diamond asked.
He blinked and looked at her confusedly. "Sorry?"
She frowned, noticing herself starting to worry. "Are you ok?" She repeated slowly.
That seemed to shake him out of it. "Have I looked like this the entire time?" Skulduggery asked, looking at himself in the window again, and sounding vaguely horrified at the idea.
Her frown deepened. "Yeah. Why?"
He mustered her like he realized that she had no idea what was wrong with the current façade. Skulduggery shook his head, as if to get rid of whoever he might have reminded himself of, reached for his collarbones and deactivated the face, so it flowed down and left only his bare skull, under the black hat.
He avoided Diamond's curiously watching gaze, and finished covering up the car and his reflection. When the Bentley was not recognizable anymore, they walked around and to the front of the house.
"Bed or couch?" Diamond asked as she pulled out her keys and unlocked the door.
"A chair?" He suggested.
She sniffed and lead them into the house, turning on the light for herself. Admittedly, the furniture and décor of this place was not much different than the one in England. The hallway was slimmer, separating the unit into smaller rooms and the staircase sitting in a separate hall. But still, the atmosphere was similar, through white walls and warm wood. Instead of a full closet, there was a little bench and some hooks and low shelfs, for jackets and shoes.
"Why a chair?" She probed, while she turned, to open the lock panel in the wall.
"I won't have to worry about fabric wrinkles," Skulduggery replied cheekily.
Shaking her head disbelievingly, Diamond tapped on the shielding symbols beneath the latch, triggering clacking sounds, as the protection mechanisms changed the composition of the walls, doors and windows. "Isn't that a bit uncomfortable?"
"Doesn't make a difference."
Diamond was glad her face was turned away from him, so Skulduggery did not see her reaction to that.
Making sure her expression was neutral, Diamond closed the hatch and turned around to him. Skulduggery was facing away towards an open door, which was leading to the small kitchen. He was still wearing his hat, as if he had arrived and was yet planning to walk straight back out, in five minutes.
"Well, I only have dining chairs here, so the sofa will have to do," Diamond said, moving closer and reaching around, to pull his suit jacket off.
He turned his head in her direction but let her do so, and she folded it lengthwise to lay it over the armrest of the shoe bench, at which he took his hat off and placed it on top.
"Shoes." She demanded and Skulduggery sighed but bent down to open the binding of his dress shoes, then pushed them off, each with the other foot. Black socks hid the bones of his feet well, making them look mostly just slim. Unlike the bones underneath the shirt that jabbed out obviously around his shoulders.
Diamond paid no attention to it and, instead, placed a hand on his shoulder blade and walked him to the door of the living room. She left the light off, nodding to the longer of two couches.
"In favor of risk management, please just call me, if something's wrong," she said easily, pushing him gently into the room and taking her arm back with a jokingly warning look. "Rules of the house. I'll be right next door."
Skulduggery turned her way a bit, but Diamond just pulled at the door handle, while she turned, leaving it open at a gap, to feign privacy, while allowing her to throw in a look, without having to open the door every time.
She headed to the kitchen, taking the file from earlier with her. She laid out the documents on a small table for four, as well as her laptop and her phone, sighing at the sight of paperwork. On her phone, she quickly entered in Valkyrie's number as an emergency contact, so that she could call her quickly, should anything happen. Her hope was that the security of this environment was calming enough, to make a difference to his previous tries. That was; the security of the environment being secure of him.
And so, Diamond just focused on her work, checking on him once in a while. But her assumptions held up, since he did not only stay himself, but did not even move much, in general.
Since comfortability was not a factor, she guessed, him moving around would be more of a disturbance, rather than the usual necessity. That way, she could not tell, whether he was aware of her check-ups, so she stayed out of the room and kept them short or just peeked in, as she walked past on her way to the bathroom.
Most of the time Diamond spent on work and trying to phrase their past horrific experiences in professional terms. But her thoughts kept moving to the skeleton on her sofa. A part of her wanted to just keep him here, make him rest for a month. But the idea made her only chuckle at herself, if sadly so.
Eventually, the sun started rising and birds started chirping, announcing the next day. When her watch showed 8:00 AM, Diamond set her work aside and made herself some breakfast.
When the sandwich was eaten and the tea was about halfway finished, Skulduggery appeared in the doorframe to the kitchen, leaning against it.
"Good morning," Diamond said with a smile.
"Good morning," Skulduggery replied, sounding different than earlier. More relaxed, she guessed.
"How's that?" She asked, peeking over the rim of her teacup as she sipped.
"Much better, thank you," he said honestly.
She nodded contently and set the cup back down.
"How are you?" He asked as he nodded to the pile of paperwork at the edge of the table.
Diamond sighed with depreciating bemusement. "Riveting stuff."
Skulduggery snorted lightly. "I can only imagine."
"But it's done with," she said decisively. "it isn't my problem anymore. Until we get another client that's running from those bastards, that is, or until you get an actual clue."
"Probably a good call," he said.
Diamond went on drinking her tea and mustered the pattern of the wooden kitchen counter, trying to decide if she should bring this next topic up, or not. She felt, digging deeper might have been necessary to deal with this situation. But then, she also didn't know where Skulduggery's line of privacy was, yet. All she guessed was, it wasn't a hard line to reach.
"What are you thinking about?" Skulduggery asked, and she felt, in that case, it was a good moment to bring this up.
"Could I ask you a personal question?"
He nodded once, while still leaning against the doorframe. "Shoot."
"How much does your magic simulate?" She carefully asked. "Sight, hearing, pain to the inner bone...?"
Skulduggery nodded. "That about does it."
She tried to conceal the concern in her eyes. "How do you coordinate yourself without sense of touch or balance?"
He vaguely shrugged. "Most of my senses weren't entirely erased as much as they were... compensated for. I do know if I'm moving, and I can sense with my magic, for example, through the air. Plus, I can still see; quite well, in fact."
None of those explanations made Diamond's stomach churn any less. "So, it's all calculation?"
"Essentially."
Diamond nodded slowly as the puzzle pieces fell in place. "How long did it take you to learn that?"
Though she knew the topic couldn't be comfortable for him, Skulduggery continued evenly. "To learn it? Impossible to say, since it was a constant effort. But to master it, maybe a century or two?"
Diamond continued her nods as she carefully followed. "So, you learned until you were accustomed to it and, when that didn't help, you joined the Temple?"
Skulduggery faltered at her summary. "Well... I wouldn't exactly put it like that..."
"I mean, of course not," she replied objectively, "you lived it, I'm just looking at it, from a distance. What I'm wondering is; when you sought them out; did the Necromancers ever teach you anything... useful?"
"Sure, they did," Skulduggery replied as his voice begun to grow a little cool. "It took mere months for them to get me to a training level alike a master. A lot of that was my personal... affinity, I suppose. But they trained me just like any other Sorcerer that walks into the Temple."
Diamond nodded again but, this time, decisively. "Exactly."
He looked confused. "Exactly?"
"They taught you how to be a Necromancer, sure. A very powerful one, too. But did they teach you how to be dead?"
"I'm not... exactly sure what you're up to..."
Diamond sighed but gave him a gentle look and summarized: "When you left the Temple, did you feel any better than before?"
Skulduggery mustered her that same way he apparently tended to, when Diamond asked him a personal question. She wondered if he was swallowing it like an offense, thinking of a good reply, or if he simply was surprised.
"No," he then affirmed. "Not strictly speaking."
"So, essentially, the Necromancer's did absolutely nothing for you, but to make you more of a threat."
Skulduggery was the one to slowly nod, this time. "I suppose, they did. I still bare the responsibility for what I decided to do with their teachings."
Diamond ignored the retort. "Did Mevolent teach you how to be dead?"
His skull tilted peculiarly. "In... some manner of speaking...?"
"Did you feel better when you left him?"
Skulduggery suddenly barked a singular, bitter laugh. "No."
"So, none of your spooky teachers ever taught you how to deal with being dead?"
Now, his voice was ice cold. "There's no such thing, Diamond."
There was a part of her that wanted to argue with him. But then, Diamond gathered, she was about to majorly overstep her boundaries. If she hadn't done that already... After all, who was she to presume he hadn't tried out any and every solution possible?
"Anything else?" Skulduggery asked blankly. "Comments?"
"None, yet," Diamond decided to say, in order to cut short any potential discussion.
He tilted his skull at her. "Why don't I quite believe that?"
She sighed. "Well, one thing I can tell you, for certain, is that removing rest is probably one of the worst ideas possible."
He sniffed. "I cannot expect you to stand guard every time."
Diamond shrugged. "Why not? I'm constantly here, anyway. For which is what this house is for, yeah?"
"Either way," Skulduggery disagreed.
She ironically rolled her eyes. "It makes no difference to me, whatsoever, to sleep or to do paperwork, whether you're on the sofa or not."
"Until something goes wrong, that is," he added unimpressively.
She set her teacup aside and moved closer. "I'd rather something goes wrong in here, than out there."
Skulduggery exhaled an empty breath and looked up at the ceiling. Something seemed to waver his enthusiasm to argue with her on this. "Fine, but if I get any inkling-"
"Safe is safe." Diamond moved him to the hallway bench, where his remaining clothes were still hanging over the armrest. "Simple; you stop feeling safe, it's done with. But now, I need to head back to Brighton. I'll text you when I'm back in town."
"Alright," Skulduggery gave in, sounding less defensive, "and what about Nuce?" He asked, while slid put his shoes back on. "Are you going to make him stay in England forever?"
She sniffed. "I think Nuce is very happy to let me deal with this."
Skulduggery bent down to lace up his shoes. "He might change his mind, if he has to start sharing space with me."
"Don't worry about Nuce," she reassured him bemusedly. "He isn't resentful, but he doesn't want anything to do with it, either."
"Fair enough," he replied as he straightened up and reached for his jacket. "However, I am worried about Valkyrie. If she finds out about this, I will never hear the end of it."
Diamond leaned her head sideways humorously. "So, this is a secret mission, then?"
"Well," Skulduggery said as he put his hat on, adjusting it to a wicked angle, "you aren't a fan of fame and bravado, are you?"
That got a chuckle out of her. "Meh."
He nodded slowly as he opened the front door. "Then, I gather, it is."
"Ok," she agreed, "but I get one free gas station coffee, for every full scratch card."
Skulduggery sounded like he was smirking. "Deal."