Hey, guys. As you might have noticed, there have been some glitches that make the most recent chapters randomly disappear. This is common glitch apparently, and unfortunately the admin team is unresponsive. Please know that I would never just delete a chapter without notice. I'm aware of this error and I update the story or the chapter whenever I see the issue pop up. If you find something missing, you can be sure that I'm on it, and please come back later. Thank you for your patience.

Now, I hope you're ready for some more loopings, because back to the rollercoaster we go!

When Diamond arrived at Skulduggery's house that evening, something seemed amiss.

She drove down the road with the two funeral homes, as usual. She rang the bell, and Skulduggery opened the door for her, as usual. He greeted her and helped her out of her coat, as usual.

And yet, the entire time, Diamond felt as though something was different.

Beneath his warm greeting, she could hear a slight of coldness in Skulduggery's voice. With each of his casual movements, she thought to detect more tension, radiating from him. And with every step she took further into his home, Diamond grew more certain; Skulduggery was watching her.

Diamond wanted to believe that he was merely stressed. Or angry about something unrelated to her. But there was a terrible nagging feeling in her gut.

And as they walked into his kitchen, she couldn't help but wonder... Did he know? Had he somehow found out, where she had been earlier? Was she about to be confronted about her deepest darkest secrets? Was this relationship about to crash and burn?

"So," Skulduggery casually asked, "you seemed to be on a mission, earlier."

Diamond dropped her handbag off on the kitchen counter and unzipped it to stow away her car-keys and cellphone. All the while she avoided his gaze, which was incessantly pinned to her back.

"Well, yes," she replied, inner tension rising by the second. "I couldn't just stand by and watch you two chase your tails anymore. I've been trying to stay out of your business, but I also like to be helpful, you know?"

Skulduggery apparently decided to forgo her dodge and spoke on casually. "Was there anything particular you were planning?"

Diamond's stomach dropped deeper. She pretended to be rummaging around in her handbag, so that he couldn't see the flustered expression on her face.

She did have something on her mind; something she had been about to share with him. Now, she wasn't so sure if she wanted to share anything anymore. And yet, she couldn't keep herself from nervously rambling for far too long, in response to his hard-hitting questions.

"Oh no, we just got in touch with some people who would never divulge information to the two of you," she truthfully said. Then she lied, "but that didn't get us anywhere either. So, I dropped off Nuke at home and took care of some chores. If we're about to go to war, I'd like to be ready."

"Huh..." Skulduggery said as his tone chilled several degrees. "London City is quite the distance, to go for some chores."

Diamond froze. Then, she reminded herself that she was pretending to rummage. "What do you mean?" she asked. It wasn't easy to keep her voice from showing the shock that was tying a harsh knot in her stomach. "I wasn't in London."

"Are you certain about that?" Skulduggery prodded, and his voice was now void of any previous positivity.

Diamond turned around to muster him with wide, confused eyes. The obvious shock on her face seemed to only make Skulduggery more confident in his defiant stance.

"Yes?" she breathed, "I am...?"

"That's interesting," he said with cold mockery, "because I have proof that you were just in London City. It's impressive, really... For someone who lies so often, you truly are a terrible liar."

Diamond shook her head at him in bewilderment. "What is this, an interrogation?"

"Apparently, yes."

A brow rose up tall on her forehead, offended. Skulduggery pulled out his phone, clicked around on it, and handed it to her. Diamond frowned and looked at the screen. It was a photo, of her and two men, talking. She remembered this moment very clearly, as it had gone by mere hours ago.

She blinked at the picture in shock. Then, slowly, her demeanor changed to aggravation. "You tailed me?!"

"Ah, no, I would never dream to do that. That would be truly silly and exceedingly invasive," Skulduggery casually clarified. "Valkyrie tailed you."

Diamond shook her head again, hurt and disbelief growing by the second. "Where's the bloody difference?"

"How about you answer my question now?" Skulduggery said. He'd said it like a suggestion, but there was something else in his voice now; something cold. It could have very well been a threat.

She continued shaking her head at him in bewilderment, yet the anger was slowly but surely rising in her chest. "Skulduggery...? What do you think is happening here?"

He shrugged, pretended to be nonchalant but clearly wasn't. "I don't know, you tell me. Who are these men? Are they Faceless fanatics, Children of the Spider, necromancer cultists, secret agents...?"

She swallowed at her dry throat and didn't reply.

"Why are you meeting them in secret?" he pressed on. "Do you work with them? Are you one of them?"

Diamond felt the anger subside for a moment. Instead, her face slipped steadily into a look of hurt. "Do you...?" she paused to swallow again as liquid suddenly collected in her throat. "Do you think... I'm here to spy on you?"

"Are you?" Skulduggery blankly shot back.

For a moment, she thought she would start feeling the subsequent anger or tears bound to come back up. Instead, Diamond found herself snorting and nodding bitterly.

"Wow," she said.

"Dexter told me that he trained you regularly for three years, until you were twenty-four years old. You joined the British Sanctuary at sixty-eight," Skulduggery cuttingly elaborated, obviously with no concern for her severe discomfort. "Did you really believe, I wouldn't notice the forty-four-year gap that's missing in your resume? Or that you clearly know much more about experimental magic and running military-scale missions than some run-of-the-mill security guard?"

Diamond sneered at him. "Oh, don't you worry, love," she sourly retorted, "I know how clever you are."

His stance tensely shifted to mirror her facetious demeanor. "Well, then. Since you know all about me now, maybe it's time for you to do some opening up, dear."

Diamond scoffed, disbelief unwavering. "And you couldn't have just asked me?!"

"I'm asking now."

She stared at him for another moment, waited for him to retract any of his statements. Yet, Skulduggery remained resolute as he waited for her to explain herself.

Diamond realized there was no way to get out of this situation without telling him the truth. And even though she agreed that it was only fair, she still felt more anger and hurt rise up in her chest at the accusations.

She sharply tossed the phone onto the counter in front of him, pointing at the two men on the photo, matter-of-factly naming them each. "Special Agent Salient Clutch; Special Agent Ulysses Denman."

Skulduggery slowly looked up from the screen. Now, the threatening aura had spread from his voice into every one of his motions. "The Secret Service...?"

Diamond sharply sighed and just as sharply replied. "Yes."

"Which would make you..." he suggested with some spite, "Special Agent Diamond Irie?"

"No. I told you;" she impatiently reminded him, her voice now shaking from the effort of keeping it relatively contained. "I didn't take on my last name, until I met Betty at the sanctuary. At my old job, they used to call me, Thee Diamond."

"Thee Diamond?" he echoed, either with surprise or disbelief or spite, she couldn't quite tell.

Her voice and gestures were becoming more aggrevated with each of his sharp prods. "Yes, The Diamond! It was my code name!"

"It was, and they used to," Skulduggery blankly echoed. "Past tense."

"Yes, past tense! I quit there two decades ago, alright?! I've clearly laid down my weapons, and I have no interest, whatsoever, in picking them back up!"

"Then, why do you still meet with these men?" he skeptically pressed on, "they're part of your unit, I presume?"

"Former! Unit!" she impatiently corrected, and by now she was almost yelling. "And I've only met with them once, today! Because I thought they might be the only ones with new information on this dead-end case of yours!"

"And did they?" Skulduggery snidely asked, "have new information?"

Diamond faltered. She stared at him in disbelief for a moment. She coughed out a bitter laugh. Then, she shot him an ironic, thin-lipped smile. "Yes. They did."

"And?" Skulduggery wanted to know.

Diamond scoffed at him. She quickly grabbed her bag, turned, and strode out of the kitchen.

She heard Skulduggery follow her as she continued to the entrance hall. He watched her from the doorframe while she put her shoes back on. Her upset must've been crystal clear by her sharp fumbling movements, but she didn't care to hide it.

"And where are you going now?" Skulduggery asked. The frustration was still obvious in his voice, but it slowly seemed to settle.

Diamond shrugged facetiously as she bent over to tie up her shoelaces. "Oh, I'm just off to spy on some more friends," she viciously snarked. "I guess you've finally figured it out. Betrayal is my favorite pastime!"

"Diamond, come on," he pressed exasperatedly, almost pleadingly so. "Just talk to me."

She abstrusely snorted. "Oh, now you want to have a civil conversation? Please, spare me the back-paddling - I've already heard your point loud and clear."

Skulduggery sharply sighed and uneasily shifted his weight. He looked torn between snapping back and trying to further diffuse the situation. Diamond secretively hoped he would go for the first option, so she could say more mean things to get back at him. A part of her was ready to burst out crying, like a heartbroken teenager collecting ice cream and soap operas to cope with a messy breakup. Another part of her was spinning in a loop of outrage.

She could barely fathom it. How dare he accuse her of something so horrible? Had she not given him the benefit of the doubt, every step of the way? Hadn't she uprooted her life to suit his ridiculous lifestyle? Hadn't everything changed, ever since the day she had laid her eyes on Nuke, sitting there in the crater of the sanctuary...?

Diamond had thought this would be enough to hold them together, when she would inevitably turn out not to be perfect. She'd thought, if anyone, Skulduggery would understand the necessity of keeping a secret or two. She'd been so stupid to think she would be an exception to his rules.

But she guessed, he felt that these exceptions only applied to himself. His secrets were bigger and better. His secrets protected the world. Her secrets only protected herself, he probably believed, vain as he was.

Diamond's breathing grew laboured as she aggressively finished tying her shoelaces. Yet, she didn't allow herself to cry. No, that would only put the cherry on top of her humiliation cake.

"Are you, at least, going to tell me who you worked for?" Skulduggery eventually asked, almost gently so.

His voice was calm now; demonstrably calm. He was still trying to backpaddle, the idiot, but the damage was already done. Diamond felt her inner walls shoot up higher than ever, ready to cut him off completely, leaving only the tiniest gap for a mere slither of hopeful daylight to peek through.

"Sure." Diamond straightened up and pulled over her jacket. "Remember Major General Stein? You used to work with him, no?"

"Of course I do. He was one of the English Generals that helped win the war against Mevolent."

"I know," Diamond replied curtly and opened the door. "I'll arrange you a meeting with him, tomorrow."

Skulduggery's jaw opened for a response, but he was cut off by the door. Diamond slammed it in his non-existent face and angrily stomped away.

"I can't believe he said that!" Betty Baisemain outragedly proclaimed.

They were sitting on the cozy leather couches of her colorfully decorated, plant-lined apartment. Green, and yellow, and rust red colors mixed everywhere. At the same time, Betty had managed to make the space fashionable and cozy alike. Not for that reason alone, Diamond usually found herself here, when she needed an open ear to rant to.

Diamond sighed and tiredly rubbed her face. "I guess I deserve it."

"Why?!" Betty asked, her voice almost shrill by now. "You're telling me, he doesn't have any secrets?"

"Well, to his credit... He's actually told me about many of them," Diamond admittingly mumbled.

She shrugged, "so?"

"So, come on!" she argued, hands flailing with exasperation. "I should have told him about my lifetime-long spy career, no?"

This time, it was Betty's turn to sigh. She apologetically smiled at her. "Yes, you should have. I told you that months ago; the longer you let it fester the bigger it gets."

As her face remained buried in her hands, Diamond made a weak attempt at an excuse. "I was procrastinating on it..."

She heard an endeared smile in her friend's voice. "Procrastinating, huh?" Then, Betty grew serious again. "Still, there're better ways to go about asking you."

Diamond snorted, covering hurt with bemusement. "Uh-huh," she bitterly agreed and pulled her hands away from her face with a deep soothing inhale.

"Did you tell him about Erick, too?" Betty asked with obvious intrigue.

Diamond shot her a grim look. "No. Not really."

She received another endeared smile in return. "Still procrastinating on that?"

The corners of her lips softly tugged upwards as she coyly looked away. "Yeah... I wish I could just erase him from my history. I haven't seen him in two decades, and somehow he still manages to ruin my relationships..."

"Your boo is gonna find out," Betty cautioned her, voice dramatically fluctuating in a cheerful singsong, "and there will be more dramaaa!"

Diamond made an uncomfortable face. "I know..."

She sighed in melodic fashion. "Hah, you really are great at picking the easy ones, Irie..."

She threw her another glare. "Don't you go all Dexter on me."

Betty laughed and pushed herself up, off the sofa. "Are you kidding? You and Mister Detective is the cutest thing that's happened in a century! I'm in full support mode. It's just... you like it complicated! And a bit creepy...?"

She grinned, as Diamond grabbed a pillow off the couch and threw it at her. Betty laughed and ducked, but didn't make any real efforts to avoid getting hit in the shoulder.

"That's why I love you alright," she chuckled, placed the pillow back on its spot, and invitingly pointed at her friend. "Now, you sit here and relax, and I'll go get us chocolate ice cream." She wandered off to the kitchen.

Diamond amusedly sniffed but she didn't argue with the idea. She settled back into the worn leather sofa and stared unseeingly at the large Rastafari flag, which was actually a carpet that had been mounted to the wall.

"Why is Skulduggery always so grim, anyway? Does that come with the territory of being a spooky scary skeleton?" Betty called from behind the wooden cabinets that seperated them. In the background, the clattering of the freezer, drawers, bowls and cutlery cut into her casual voice. "Or was he already like that before, you know... dying?"

"As far as I know, yeah," Diamond called back, "he's always had a bit of a temper."

Betty stuck her head halfway out the kitchen, so that only her sceptical eyes and big hair were poking out. "Here's the thing; Nuke has 'a bit of a temper'. Skulduggery gives off serial-killer vibes. No offense."

"None taken."

Betty soon returned with two bowls of double chocolate chip ice cream in hand. "I mean, I get that he has reasons to be mad, with his wife and kid and all that... But some of this stuff he does just seems... excessive, don'it? After all this time?"

"He didn't only lose his family then," Diamond replied, "he lost his body, too."

Betty paused. She had just been in the process of sitting down and simultaneously handing over the bowl of ice cream, so she was stuck hovering in the unnatural pose. From there, she shot Diamond an understanding but uneasy look.

"Right..." she dragged and proceeded with handing over the goods and sitting down.

As Betty dug into her portion, Diamond nodded to her bowl. "Imagine, you could never eat ice cream again."

Betty stopped eating for a moment, as the first delicious bite melted in her mouth. She swallowed, and her eyes grew round as marbles. "No more ice cream?"

Diamond made sure to pick her examples wisely. "No more ice cream. No more partying or smoking or drinking. No more bubble baths, no smelling the roses, no rollercoasters, no cuddles or pillow forts, no naps..." She listed, as Betty's eyes grew wider and wider with every word. "Always awake, always sober, always remembering everything."

She now looked sincerely horrified. "So what does he do, to take a load off?"

"Well... he meditates. He likes music and books and fashion and film. He likes his job. He loves to spend time with Valkyrie, and to drive his car around..." She energetically swung her fist through the air, "and he punches criminals in the face!"

"Okay..." Betty slowly nodded. "Now that you've explained the scope, those activities actually sound pretty healthy in relation."

Diamond snorted for reasons thankfully unknown to Betty. "I'd say so."

She grinned teasingly. "You know, if you two break up, I'll be mad. You're an inspiration for all of us hopeless romantics who think they can't get any bones."

Diamond snorted again. They focussed on enjoying their ice cream for a little while, before it would inevitably melt.

"How about you, then?" Diamond eventually asked, when her portion was about halfway finished. "Are you okay? Any drama with Fletcher?"

"No drama," Betty replied and licked off her spoon, "it's easygoing."

"Friends, plus?"

"Pretty much."

"And Fletcher is still alright with that?"

"Oh, yah, he's not looking for anything serious." Her expression looked both contrite and somewhat bewildered. "He's had some pretty bad experiences, I think. I mean, Darquesse? And that whole story with the reflection? I have, like, no imagination of that at all."

Diamond snorted agreeingly. "Yeah, I barely have a rough sketch."

"And apparently, he was dating a spy once, and didn't even know? Then, when he found out, she electrocuted him and threw him out a window."

Diamond paused and blinked in horror. "Hold up, really?"

"Yah, honestly, it's no wonder those guys are all paranoid..."

"Yeah..." she thoughtfully murmured, "no wonder..."

"Anyway, I'll see for how long he'll stick around," Betty mumbled into her spoon with a badly faked sense of positivity. "Maybe he'll meet someone that he wants to settle with."

Diamond mustered her but, instead of commenting, stuck a spoon of ice cream in her own mouth.

Betty wasn't fooled. "What? What's that look?"

Diamond swallowed. "And what about you? Aren't you slowly getting tired of... hopping around town?"

She playfully rolled her eyes. "Only you can make casual dating sound lame."

With her free hand, Diamond wiped the chocolate from corners of her mouth before smiling. "It's a talent. Now tell me why you don't want to get serious with Fletcher. He's cute, he's fairly mature, you seem to get along..." She thoughtfully tapped the spoon against her lips. "Otherwise, there are about five sanctuary employees, I could think of off the top of my head, that would kneel by your feet immediately."

"Are you saying I'm unavailable, Irie?" Betty asked scoldingly.

"Uh-huh," she nodded, "that, pretty much, sums it up."

She grinned and Betty smirked back. But the joyfulness slowly slid from her face. "I don't know, Dye... I just hate to drag anyone into my family drama."

Diamond exhaled an empathetic sigh. "Is your brother bothering you - again?"

Betty made a frustrated sound and set her ice cream aside. "He just can't let me go, you know? I mean I haven't seen him in a little while... But then, he's been doing all this messed-up stuff, and I'm starting to feel like... Maybe, I shouldn't ignore him anymore."

Diamond frowned concernedly. She had heard more than once about Betty's shady older brother. Most of the time, she only heard about the regular arguments that Betty had with him. But based on what little she knew about her family, it was a convoluted web of tight-knit relationships, deeply entrenched in the criminal underworld. They generally seemed like a group of people to keep at a healthy arm's length distance.

Although, to this day, Diamond had yet to hear Betty mention her brother's name. Or, in fact, the names of any of her family members.

"What kind of messed-up stuff?" Diamond wearily asked.

"Also, I really miss my baby brother, you know," Betty continued lamenting. "Haven't seen him in so long... He was still a kid the last time we met, and now he's closing in on his surge... I mean, I'm missing out on half his childhood!"

"Betty," she sternly insisted. "What 'stuff' are you talking about? What is your older brother doing?"

Betty decisively shook her head and waved the topic away. "Don't worry about it, okay? I know you just want to help, but you've got enough on your plate as is. I just want to resolve this... family-internally."

Diamond cautiously raised a brow at her. "Are you going to be safe?"

Betty snorted and vaguely rolled her eyes. "Look, my family might be made up of a bunch of crazy people, but they're not crazy in that way. I'll be fine."

Even though she was no less worried, Diamond nodded and tried to let it go. "Alright. But you tell me if you need anything, yeah?"