China had seen Bax Hench's live video when the rest of the Sanctuary had. Of course, she had known beforehand that someone was trying to hack into the tv screens of the sanctuary building.

Her security and tech department had nearly lost their minds, trying to fend off the sudden attack. To China's dismay and to everyone's ultimate humiliation, they had failed. Now, the entire magical world was aware that the High Sanctuary wasn't safe from terrorists.

Despite this, what China Sorrows felt wasn't anger, but sorrow and concern. This went, especially, for the traumatized skeleton in the waiting room of the medical bay.

The purposeful similarities between Hench's show and Nefarian Serpine's scheme to kill Skulduggery's family hadn't gone past her. And so, it caused a pang of guilt in her chest, whenever she was reminded of one of many past sins.

As she sorted out the chaos in her sanctuary, China thought back. At the night she had dragged his wife from his home; of how viciously she had fought to protect their child. China thought of the many consequences, which this decision had brought onto her; the consequences it had brought onto the world. She thought of her burning library. Of the way Skulduggery and Valkyrie had looked at her with disappointment and disgust, when they'd learned the unforgivable truth. Of the unforgivable secrets that she was still keeping close to her heart.

But then, China was still Grand Mage. Skulduggery didn't seem to mind working under her, any more than under anyone. They had shared more than one flattering conversation over the centuries. They had been lovingly watching over Valkyrie for years, closing in on two decades. Therefore, she didn't consider checking on them to be an overstep.

And there was, of course, the political advantage of supporting the subject of global attention and sympathy. And currently, this happened to be Diamond Irie.

This fact brought a deeply bitter taste to China's mouth. Yet, after Irie's excessively public outing and near execution, every sanctuary in the world was buzzing at the news. They were waiting in anticipation for China's reaction, and she believed a hospital visit to be the best first move.

She waited until an update arrived, about the status of Irie's surgery. The idea of either outcome - her survival or her death - brought China both anxiety and anticipation. When she was told that the surgery would take longer than anticipated, she left her reception hall with a pair of Cleavers following behind.

As she walked into the waiting area of the sanctuary hospital, she found it almost entirely abandoned. She wasn't sure if her medical staff had decided to close off this ward for security reasons, or if everyone had quickly cleared the room on their own accord.

The latter wouldn't have been surprising to China as, the moment she walked inside, she was met with the cold air of someone's extremely bad mood.

Skulduggery was standing near the waiting chairs, with his arms crossed and his gaze directed at the doors of the surgery halls. Valkyrie had retreated to the back of the room and was sitting on one of the plastic seats. She looked at China, as she walked towards them. Skulduggery did not.

"Hi, China," Valkyrie said.

China gifted her a warm smile. "Hello, dear. I'm told the surgery is ongoing?"

She nodded. "No bad news yet."

"The Sanctuary remains on high alert," China informed them, "all the hatches are battened down, I doubt anyone could get in here."

"Okay, cool," Valkyrie vaguely approved.

Both women looked at Skulduggery. He had yet to shoot even a single glance in their direction.

"Skulduggery?" China carefully probed, "are you listening?"

Except for his jaw, he didn't move an inch. "I'm waiting."

"For an update?" China guessed, "I'm sure the healers will send someone out soon."

"No," Skulduggery dully clarified, "I'm waiting for your publicity stunt to be over."

Valkyrie warily glanced at him, but she didn't say anything.

Although stun and dread were suddenly wrenching her gut, China responded with a look of offense. "Can't a Grand Mage check in on her attendants?"

Skulduggery finally looked at her. Yet, as he did so, his demeanor was disinterested and ice-cold. "What on Earth makes you think, I want to see you right now?"

China blinked. She looked at Valkyrie. Valkyrie's lips thinned apologetically. She responded with a shrug that said, 'can't argue with him there.'

Hurt, anger, and defeat shot through her in quick succession. China covered it with an aloof scoff. "Well, then," she sourly retorted. "Rejoice, as my stunt is over. I'll presume, you will let me know if you need anything."

With that, she sharply turned and walked off as elegantly as possible. Her Cleavers followed close behind.

She felt Valkyrie's gaze in her back as she left the waiting room. China hoped to sense Skulduggery's gaze as well. But instead, she felt herself losing his attention almost immediately. It returned to the doors to the surgery halls, and to Diamond Irie beyond them.

After China had walked off with her tail between her legs, another long wait had followed. Admittedly, Valkyrie had felt a little bad for her, yet she couldn't blame Skulduggery for his reaction.

Valkyrie therefore hadn't commented on his overall rude demeanor, and she had soon resigned herself to pointlessly scrolling on her phone to kill time.

She eventually looked up, as their friends rejoined them in the waiting area of the sanctuary hospital. They went to sit down on the mounted plastic chairs next to Valkyrie.

Dexter's arm sleeve and most of Nuke's clothes were covered in brown stains of dried blood, but they looked much less gloomy than before. Tanith's and Fletcher's demeanor remained cautious, as their attention was mainly focused on Skulduggery.

As with China before, Skulduggery barely acknowledged them. He kept standing there, with his arms crossed and his gaze locked in on Diamond's general direction. All five of them quietly mustered him for a moment.

Then, Tanith leaned in closer towards Valkyrie and lowered her voice a little. "Any news?"

She shook her head. "Nothing yet, but I'm going to take that as a good sign."

Tanith agreeably nodded.

Valkyrie glanced at Dexter, sitting by her other side. "How's the arm?"

Dexter shrugged with his uninjured shoulder. "I'll live."

"You should probably get that checked out..." Nuke commented, as he inspected the deep cut closer.

"That bullet merely grazed me. Besides, the bleeding stopped hours ago," he casually retorted, and indicated towards the surgery halls with a nod. "They need all the help they can get in there."

No one tried to argue with him any further. They all grew quiet and joined Skulduggery in waiting. Once in a while, Nuke would exchange a couple of muted murmurs with Fletcher. Otherwise, the waiting area of the Sanctuary hospital remained unusually still and empty.

After about another half hour, the doors to the surgery halls finally opened. Doctor Reverie Synecdoche stepped through and steered directly towards them.

Skulduggery immediately snapped from his frozen position and strode forward to meet her halfway. The rest of them jumped up to do the same. Reverie didn't waste any time to tell them what they wanted to hear, as they met in the center of the waiting area.

"Diamond is officially out of the danger zone," she informed them. "She's an absolute fighter."

A wave of deep sighs went through their little group. Dexter put a hand on Nuke's shoulder, as both men nearly folded with groans of relief.

Valkyrie almost laughed, had she not actually expected for them to be this lucky. She smiled at Skulduggery, but his full attention remained focused on the Doctor.

"You got her here just in the nick of time," Reverie told him with a faint smile, "exactly like last time. Someone must be watching over you, for once."

"How about her arms," Skulduggery blankly asked, "will you be able to restore them?"

At this question, she looked a little less certain. "We're still working on that. We've restored circulation, but there's been significant nerve damage. If she does recover full motor function, at the very least, she'll keep the scars for a long time."

"When can we move her?"

Reverie confusedly frowned at him, "move her? Why, that's a terrible idea! In a case like this, I wouldn't reccomend transfer for at least a day, if not an entire week!"

He impatiently pressed on regardless, "so that's to say, it wouldn't kill her?"

Reverie surprisedly blinked, then her expression suddenly grew very stern. "I don't think you understand the severity-" she began to argue.

"No, Doctor," Skulduggery cut in, "you don't understand. Bax Hench has the ability to make himself and others, invisible to any type of human sense. He can trick anyone's consciousness not to perceive him, including mine. He could be in this very room right now, he could have us surrounded by guns, and we wouldn't notice."

Valkyrie contritely but agreeably nodded. "We should know; he literally just did that to us."

"He's done that twice now, actually," Nuke added, "the first time, when he killed all those girls in Dublin and stabbed Dye with the Limbkiller Blade."

With each new sentence, Reverie's eyes had grown more concerned. "Do you believe that other patients could be at risk?"

"If they get caught in the crossfire, yes," Skulduggery certainly replied.

Dexter seemed to agree, as he spoke up next, "every sorcerer and their mother knows that Diamond is here, and that she's currently vulnerable. It would be safer for everyone to move her somewhere less public."

Reverie finally resigned with a faint sigh. "Yes, fine. Let me see what we can do to stabilize her for the journey. But no magical intervention of any kind! You will have to do without Mister Renn's help."

"If we drive, we can be followed," Skulduggery argued.

Synecdoche was already in the process of getting back to work. "That isn't my problem, Detective. Figure it out."

As the swinging double doors wobbled shut behind her, Skulduggery exasperatedly turned away. He walked a couple of steps in the opposite direction, and everyone uneasily watched him pace for a moment.

"I could still help," Fletcher eventually offered. "How about a decoy?"

Skulduggery abruptly turned his way like Fletcher had suggested something obscene. When he replied, however, his voice was steady and even. "What do you suggest?"

"Well, people are going to assume that I'll be the one to move her, right? And I can't teleport inside the sanctuary building," Fletcher casually elaborated. "So, why don't we just... I dunno, put some pillows on a stretcher and a sheet on top? Some of us cart fake-Diamond out the regular hospital exit and teleport away. Meanwhile, you and Valkyrie go out another way and drive off with the real Diamond. That way, if they do follow us, they'll think they've lost her trace."

Everyone stared at him in surprise.

"But... but that's a brilliant idea!" Tanith said in awe.

Fletcher glowered. "Why is everyone so shocked that I had a good idea?"

Skulduggery ignored his complaint and looked at Tanith. "Can you inconspicuously follow us on your bike?"

"Sure."

He looked at Dexter next, but Dexter was already all caught up. "I'll stick with Nuke and Fletcher, and we'll be on standby."

Skulduggery agreeably nodded along to the quickly developing plan. "Hench has Diamond's address. We should all reconvene at my house."

Everyone agreed, the two groups split up, and they quickly began to prepare for the mission.

In a blurry mess, the world passed Diamond by, as she was moved from the hospital.

She couldn't feel anything other than utter exhaustion. Couldn't hear anything but the muffled sound of Skulduggery's voice, as he barked orders at sanctuary staff. Saw only the neon ceiling lights of the hospital hallway, as they flew by above her.

Her eyes shut and opened up again. Now the lights were gone, and the ceiling was dark. She was in the Bentley, lying across the back seats.

Valkyrie's face appeared at the edge of Diamond's vision, as she peered back at her from the passenger's seat. "Hey, I think she's waking up."

Skulduggery adjusted the front mirror, so that the reflection of his dark façade eyes was pointed at her.

"Can you hear me?" he asked, when he found Diamond hazily returning his gaze.

All she could muster was a faint moan.

"We're taking you home," he told her. "The sanctuary isn't safe."

Diamond slipped back into slumber. Her scattered dreams were filled by images of moving shadows, flowing and swirling and twitching; of tendrils and blobs and whisps that desperately tried to cling onto her.

When Diamond finally came to, she found herself in a bed inside a familiar room. It was her own room, designated to her fairly recently, at Skulduggery's house.

She had been placed under the sheets. A couple of pillows elevated her head. Her injured arms slumped uselessly on each side.

Once her body returned to her awareness, it welcomed Diamond with a concert of pain and nausea. She could barely react, as it also didn't leave her much room to move, let alone squirm in agony. Through the spinning in her head, Diamond managed to shapeshift her lower arms. The pain cut out shortly, only to return a moment later when her magic failed her too.

It seemed, she was forced to wait it out. Diamond took a couple of deep calming breaths. She tried to regain her bearings and blink the haziness from her eyes. Thus, she spotted him in the far corner of the room.

Skulduggery had set his hat aside on the coffee table, and he was sitting forward in the armchair in the corner. There was a distinct tension to his movements, as he cleaned his revolver in preparation for battle.

Diamond wasn't surprised by the sight, even in the slightest. Despite her aching limbs and churning stomach, she forced herself to come to her senses.

"Hey...?" she croaked.

Skulduggery sharply looked up, as though she had shook him awake from a vivid daydream. "Ah, you're awake."

"Uh-huh...?"

"Very well," he said and - solely out of courtesy it seemed - he asked, "how are you?"

"Alive," she meakly replied, "and you?"

"Me, I'm late to the fun!" Skulduggery proclaimed as he folded and pocketed the cleaning cloth. "The others left a while ago; they're currently wreaking all sorts of havoc, I'm assuming! I wanted to make sure you have everything you need before I join them."

"Okay," Diamond replied, but she didn't ask for anything, knowing that his mind had already moved on.

She blinked at him as she tried adjusting to being awake. But the moment she took him in; the stiff way he sat, the absent-minded way he folded the cleaning cloth, her stomach dropped. Uh-oh. He was already halfway down the spiral.

On cue, Skulduggery tilted his skull at a shadow on the wall. He seemed to be listening to something. His fingers clenched. Then, barely above a whisper, he muttered, "I know."

He spun the chamber of his gun and snapped it shut, focusing back on Diamond as if nothing had happened.

"I wonder if Nuke has started that fireworks show you've mentioned," he joked, although the coldness in his voice made any attempt at humor fall flat. He holstered his revolver, put on his hat, and stood up. "I should get the champagne."

With that, Skulduggery headed for the door.

Diamond's face pulled together in discontentment, as she stirred and raised her weary head. "Where're you going?" she croaked.

Skulduggery obviously scoffed and reached for the door handle. "I'm going after Hench."

"Why?"

Halfway through the movement, Skulduggery abruptly stopped. He swirled back around to her, as if she had just insulted him. "You must be joking."

Diamond showed no sign of humor at the situation. She propped up her head further, by carefully adjusting the pillow with a crane of her neck. This alone was enough to make her voice crack with discomfort. "I thought we were trying to... get past the whole vengeance thing..."

Skulduggery snorted abstrusely. He walked back to the foot of the bed, gesturing a sharp hand towards the door. "This isn't about vengeance, it's about prevention!"

"Do you think Hench has it out for you?" she asked. "He'll come for someone else you care about?"

"Isn't that obvious?!" Skulduggery snapped back.

By now, dark hatred radiated from his every word and motion; budding to launch itself at the next best victim. Fortunately, so far, he seemed to be doing his best not to make Diamond said victim.

"Hench had you dancing to his whistle already," he elaborated, his voice a barely contained growl. "Why else would he stage this whole thing, but to throw me off? Maybe, this was never about you. In fact, he didn't target you, until you started spending time with me."

"Alright... I can follow that logic..." Diamond replied, "but I see it a bit differently."

"Do you now."

She didn't flinch at his snide scrutiny. "Hench sent me the pink diamond right before we started dating, yeah? Maybe, he saw us together. Maybe, he wants to hurt me by breaking my sphere of privacy, and that was just the most effective way to make this public."

"Then, why does he have it out for you?" Skulduggery impatiently asked, not nearly for the first time. "What the hell does he want from you?!"

"I don't know, love," Diamond promised, not nearly for the first time, "I really don't." She attempted a shrug of sincere unwitting. The simple shoulder movement shot scolding hot pain down her arms. She did her best not to make a face.

Skulduggery took no notice of this. "So, you just want to let him get away with what he did to you?"

"I don't care about Hench right now," Diamond gently but decisively replied. "What I care about, is making sure that you're okay."

"Well, I'm not."

"Alright, and what do you think going on a manhunt would change?"

"He exposed himself. That gives us an opportunity to strike. I could put a stop to him, once and for all."

"And then, you could put a stop to the fear of losing me?"

Skulduggery faltered. Stared at her with that sense of unchecked darkness. Yet, as her words rung out, something heavy settled in the air. He was left looking defeated.

"We both know that isn't going to happen." She sadly smiled. "You're always going to worry about me, and about Valkyrie, and about the rest of the world. I can't change that. I can only remind you not to do anything reckless as a result."

Skulduggery didn't reply.

"Hench's stunt has changed nothing between us, love. We knew that all of this was going to come out, one way or another," she continued at his silence. "And I still feel the same way about us. Don't you?"

Skulduggery tensely shook his head and frustratedly forced himself to confess, "I don't know, I... Argh, there's just so much noise! I can't see anything beyond this anger..."

Diamond mustered up a soft reassuring smile. "It's still there, I know it."

His gloved hands balled to fists and opened again, as rage and reason silently battled each other. She could see his mind churning, trying to sort through the chaos, trying to figure out the best course of action.

"You going out there wouldn't improve anything for me, that's for sure," she added to the inner discussion. "I'd still be stuck to this bed, worried and alone."

He remained silent. Diamond couldn't tell what his focus was on, exactly. She tried not to let the heavy silence settle over them for too long.

"Would you stay here with me for a little while?" Diamond suggested as much as she requested.

Skulduggery hesitated. He looked at the door like he was about to bound for the exit, despite all.

"Look at me... Please?"

He turned his skull back to her slowly, as though an invisible weight were holding it in place. Diamond made sure he could see her face as well as possible in her current position.

"I don't need payback," she clearly told him, "I need you."

Skulduggery sounded to exhale sharply and avoided her gaze. Some more tension fell off his shoulders but this only made him look more beaten. He glanced at Diamond briefly. His jaw moved like he was about to say something. Instead, he turned and begun pacing back-and-forth in front of her bed.

Diamond decided, she'd had enough of watching him at an angle. This conversation was far from over, and it was time for her to brave up and sit up. However, as she needed her injured arms to prop her body, this would turn out about as painful as she had feared. Just the slightest bit of weight on her wrists was almost too much to bare.

In self-preservation, she shapeshifted the affected parts of her arms into protective crystal. This time, she kept them that way. The small transformation helped her move, but it did nothing to soothe her otherwise sore muscles.

"What is it, love?" she forced out, once she was sitting upright.

Skulduggery first responded with a soft growl of frustration. He stopped by the chair, but he didn't sit down or turn in her direction. His hand rose to rest on the back of his hat. It was pushed down as a result, covering more of his lowered skull.

Quiet returned, when Diamond was attacked by sudden nausea. It twisted up her insides enough to make her double up. She tried shapeshfting her stomach, only for a moment, long enough to calm the passing fit.

She regretted that strategy quickly, once she withdrew her magic entirely. The queasiness ended in a swansong of hot flashes, and her wrists let her know how much drill holes could truly hurt.

At that very moment, Skulduggery glanced at her again. The sparkle of crystalline skin must have caught his gaze and, this time around, Diamond's state of pain and discomfort didn't go unnoticed.

Skulduggery observed her wordlessly, as she collected herself. Then, he glanced at the same empty spot on the wall that had previously grabbed his attention. Diamond was sure that she couldn't see anything there; only a shadow on the tapestry, cast by the armchair.

Finally, Skulduggery pulled off his hat and decisively placed it back on its previous spot on the coffee table.

"I could use a reality check," he decided.

Diamond was greatly reassured by that. "Good idea."

"I doubt you'll much enjoy this round."

She disregarded it with a soft smile. "Go on."

His skull straightened and tilted in her general direction. "We're at my house."

"Check," she said.

"The only people in this room are you and I."

"Check."

Skulduggery nodded to himself. "You're my girlfriend and you're not here to spy on me, or to further curse my cursed existence."

Her lips thinned, but her chin dipped with certainty, "check."

"Because that would be a brilliant move, I've got to say. If you were to work with Hench, turning you into the victim would make sure that no one suspects you. Of course, always in a manner that wouldn't actually kill you. The timelines add up perfectly, if you consider that-"

"I'm spotting a rabbit hole," Diamond pointed out.

He faltered. "Ah, yes. I'll rephrase. You're on my side, check?"

"Check," she decisively confirmed.

His skull moved deterringly as though to shake off something. "So, there is no grand international or interdimensional conspiracy being hatched against me."

This time, Diamond opted for hinting at a shrug. "Not that I know of. What if there was?"

Skulduggery went back to pacing; his hands firmly clasped. Her eyes followed him, as he made his rounds.

"The larger a conspiracy is, the more likely it is to come out. The more people you involve, the higher is the chance of someone spilling the beans," he reiterated, his words now pouring in a straight line. "So, if there really was a conspiracy of significant scale, I'm basically guaranteed to find evidence for it."

"Right...?"

"And thanks to my endless connections and incredible intellect, I'm often the one to figure it out before everyone else. Which means, I have to convince everyone else. They will then usually treat me like a raging lunatic. And that annoys me and makes me even more paranoid."

She simpered at the wording but confirmed, "check."

Skulduggery paused. He finally turned around to Diamond. "It's both."

Her smile faltered to make way for a confused frown. "What's both?"

"Hench wanted to put you in the spotlight, yes, make you look vulnerable, make you a target..." He rewound, as his hands parted to gesture around his point. "...but he wants me to have a vendetta against him. He's imitating Nefarian Serpine because he wants me to get so angry, I grab the poison dagger and take myself out of the picture."

Diamond's head faintly bobbed along to that logic. "I can see that. Maybe, he wants to distract us."

"Quite possible. It would surprise no one, if he was involved with this Queen Mother somehow."

Diamond had no idea whichever Queen he was talking about, so she opted for a leading question. "And where does that leave us?"

"Regardless of whether Hench was setting up a trap or not... We've largely been ignoring him recently, so he's trying to drag is back into his games. Therefore, the smartest move is to stick to our original strategy. Which is to ignore him, and to focus on what's important right now."

Diamond gave him a relieved sigh as a response. Now that they were back to existing in the same plain of reality, she was abruptly overcome with a shower of extreme exhaustion.

Skulduggery reached for his phone in his inner jacket pocket. "I should warn Valkyrie and the rest to get back here," he decided and begun to send out text messages. "If we did ever have a window, it's closing up quickly."

Diamond sent out a silent thank you to the universe, as she was granted an opportunity to rest her eyes. Her wounds and aching muscles sent not-so gentle reminders that she was overdue for a nap. It was easy for her to forget how tiring conversations could be, and she realized that her battery had just run out from this one.

For a quiet moment, there were only the faint clicking sounds of text messages being typed out, and Skulduggery's faint reactions to the replies that buzzed in first.

Afterwards, Diamond sensed a startled movement from beyond her closed lids. Skulduggery had just noticed her absence. Based on how little she was moving, she must have looked outright unconscious.

Shock and concern entered his voice, "Diamond?"

She forced herself to respond, for the sake of his reassurance alone. "Mh-hm...?"

She heard Skulduggery put away his phone and walk up to her. The mattress dipped, as he sat down on the edge of the bed. Diamond forced her eyes open and found that most of the defensive aggression had faded from his demeanor.

Her lips curled upwards with benevolence. "Welcome back, love."

Skulduggery responded with a remorseful headshake. "I'm so sorry, Diamond."

Her hand wanted to reach for his hand, but her arm refused to move. Diamond managed a smile before she allowed for her lids fall shut again. "Don't be."

"How are you feeling?" he asked and seemed to actually care this time.

"I could sleep for a week..." she mumbled.

"Well, you've lost a lot of blood," Skulduggery let her know. "They had to use several bags of transfusions. I valiently offered to donate some of mine, but they told me I'm in the wrong group or some such...?"

Diamond chuckled as much as her body would allow her to.

"I'm assuming, the others won't be gathered here for at least another hour," he continued on a slightly more serious note.

"Mh-hm..." she agreed.

"Well, then. Looks like I don't have anything better to do, than to sit here and be your emotional support skeleton!"

The movement of the mattress briefly disturbed the soothing heaviness, but Diamond didn't complain, as Skulduggery maneuvered himself onto the free spot next to her. He stuck a pillow between his shoulder and her head, and she sank against him, into some resemblance of peace and comfort.