Skulduggery Pleasant - Becoming Whole (Valduggery)

5

Making do

It was three o'clock in the morning by the time the rain had finally stopped throwing itself against the window of Skulduggery's home on Cemetery Road. The light 'ping' noise coming from his phone almost woke Valkyrie, who was still sleeping on his chest, and would probably have disturbed Skulduggery's meditating had he been doing it. Instead he had spent the night hoping the nightmares wouldn't return to her. She was sprawled out against him, one of her arms was stretched over him, as was one of her legs. It was like she was playing a game of twister across him. Unsure of who would text him at this time, he carefully slid his hand under the covers and managed to get his hand into his trouser pocket without causing too much commotion. He fumbled for his phone for a while due to the deepness of his pocket but found it nonetheless, he gripped at it and gently pulled the device out. The display screen lit up, illuminating his Skull in the darkness. China's name popped up, she had sent him a text message.

"Get here immediately. There's been an issue." The text read.

Skulduggery looked at Valkyrie, reluctant to disturb her. He dropped his phone on her bedside table and tried to remove himself from under her, but her fingers gripped onto his jacket as she buried her face further into his chest. "Skul-" Valkyrie began murmuring in her sleep. "Love yo-". She trailed off.

"I love you too." He whispered back. Skulduggery would have smiled if he could but still he needed to be released from her grasp but she wouldn't let go. "Valkyrie." He tried. "Valkyrie. China needs us." She began to stir.

"W-what?" A yawn escaped her lips.

"She says there's been an issue but doesn't say what. I'm fearing Hallow is the issue." Skulduggery's voice smooth. Valkyrie sighed. "You don't have to come if you don't want. I'm sure I can handle it by myself."

"No, it's okay." She said. "I want to go with you." Valkyrie began to lift herself off him and sat up in her bed. Skulduggery lifted the covers off him and headed towards his jacket, hat and tie, putting them on.

"How are you feeling?" He asked.

"I feel okay now, thanks. Just a little fuzzy I guess."

"Fuzzy?"

"Yeah. Like there's something in my head whizzing round."

"Oh. I think that's probably because you're tired, Valkyrie."

"Probably." She lifted herself off her bed and turned on the light. The first thing she saw was the state of the reflection staring back at her. "Oh god. What happened to my hair? It looks like a birds nest."

"The same thing that happened to my suit top." Skulduggery pointed to the drool marks she had left on his top which had created creases.

"Oh god. I'm sorry." Embarrassment sounding within her as she laughed slightly putting her head in her hands.

"Don't worry. I will change it. You should get ready too." And with that he left the room, leaving Valkyrie by herself.

The ride to the sanctuary was quiet and awkward. Valkyrie didn't know what to talk about because her mind focused on what happened last night, she couldn't force herself to concentrate on anything else and she thought Skulduggery was thinking about it too. She remembered nearly begging him not to leave her alone, asking him to get in her bed to comfort her. He must have thought she was needy or acting like a child who crawls into their parents bed after a nightmare. Yet she couldn't shake the nagging feeling that this was no ordinary nightmare. After all, she had felt the pain that came with it, both physically and mentally. And since they had been driving she had began aching all over her body, or was that just her brain and it's imagination?