Skulduggery – Crow
Anton – Bear
Ghastly – Panda
Dexter – Wolf
Saracen – Weasel
Erskine – Snake
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Chapter 7
They laughed on the way to the Sanctuary, and hugs with Bear and Weasel were mandatory – for Stephanie only – and they were finally able to find out what had happened.
"Serpine's men had amour and weapons," Bear told Stephanie. "And they were in a small room and made sure to split us up."
"We work better together," Wolf said.
"Always have. And with others in the room we didn't have a chance to fight to our strengths. They knew that would happen, but we rushed into it and didn't realise until too late," Bear said. "We were very lucky to have you, Stephanie."
Crow nodded. "Though we do need to help you think up a name still. Calling you by your given name is getting more dangerous every day."
"She's Cub," Wolf proclaimed. "Right, Cub?"
"Yeah!" She said, putting her hands in the air. They high-fived.
Crow made a movement that was likely an eyeroll. "But you still need a real name. Code names are good for missions, we've needed them for a while I suppose, but that doesn't change the fact you need a Taken name."
"Hey," Weasel said to Stephanie, "you still haven't told us why you gave us those names."
"Aren't you meant to know these things?" Stephanie asked him.
He rolled his eyes. "I can't know everything. That would be boring. Tell me, why do I get the bad name?"
She tilted her head at him. "You don't have a bad name."
"Oh God," Snake said. "She's already acting like Skul."
Stephanie flipped her hair back and began pointing and explaining – she pointed to Skulduggery, "Crow, you always brought weird things, like crows get stuff for their nests." She pointed to Ghastly, "Panda made me a panda bear when I was little and it was the first thing he gave me and my favourite toy, so it became his name." To Anton, "Bear, you got me things that made me think you were trying to be all tough and not super cute but also wanted to spoil me like a marshmallow. I almost called you marshmallow actually but I liked the animal theme so you became Bear." Dexter, "Wolf, I'm not really sure how it happened, but it seemed to fit the you I made up from all the things you got me. It was always something new, unexpected and I loved it. I could always count on you to get me something when something bad happened too, so I sort of learned you were loyal and trustworthy, so I thought of a dog, but that sounded too tame compared to the other cool names so you're a wolf." Saracen, "Weasel, you always got me things I could eat or where I'd find more things to eat when I got there and weasels were good at finding food and getting from place to place unseen. At least to my head when I was a kid that's how I thought of it, so you got to be Weasel. I like that name." Erskine, "And Snake, I always thought you'd be telling me to do the stupid things and getting me in trouble on purpose, and then you'd hide and laugh at me, so you got to be Snake. You were always my favourite when I was very little because I'd spend so much time alone and whatever stupid thing imaginary Snakie said to me were usually pretty fun. So, I like it. I like them all though."
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Skulduggery Pleasant: Raising Cain
Fanfiction(This story is written as a fanfiction, but can be read as a story without having read any of the books.) Valkyrie Cain, the adoptive daughter of the Dead Men, has had a life full of love and magic. But as she gets older, times become scarier and sh...
