The Purple Haired Craze

In Which Valkyrie Has A Small Crisis

"I almost told him everything."

"You can't though. It's not what you are here to do."

Val almost ran her hands through her hair in frustration before remembering that it was done up. "What am I here to do then?" she half yelled at Liv, who was sitting in her room, quietly sewing some sheets. Livena didn't bother to look up at the girl that paced the room.

"I can't tell you that. I'm purely here for observational purposes to make sure all is going to plan, which currently it is. I am allowed to disclose further information later in the mission."

"You make this sound like I'm an animal in a zoo, with no rights or anything!"

Liv gave a small smile, but didn't look up from her sewing. "It's not like that. Everything you do here will be your choice, but the thing is I already know all your choices. Technically, I shouldn't be speaking to you. I should have just taken you here, but I figured you might appreciate some help."

Val sighed and flopped onto the bed beside Liv. "I'm sorry," Val said as her anger dissipated. "I just can't do this."

The sewing finally got set aside. "Sure you can!" the purple haired girl said, giving Val a small hug. "I'll try not to interfere too much and it might seem more normal and that your life is under your control. Ultimately the decisions you make will always be yours. It's just difficult to see it that way because technically, in your time, they have already happened."

Val nodded, trying to gulp down her tears of frustration. She missed Skulduggery, the one she had first met, and she missed her parents and her sister and her job. Hell, she even missed the annoying villains that she and Skul came up against.

"Thanks Liv."

"That's okay. Treat me like a sister, okay?"

"Sure." Tears wiped away, they stood and made their way down to lunch.

"Why are you sewing?" Val asked, as they walked down the corridors.

"I've made friends with Ghastly. He is teaching me his trade. When I've finished this job, I'm going to help him in the future."

"Oh. That's nice!" A thought breezed through her mind. "How old is Skul and the rest of the Dead Men?"

"Sixteen except for Anton Shudder and Saracen Rue. They are seventeen."

"So nearly all of them are my age then?"

Liv nodded as the got into the queue.

The menu today was fish pie and peas. Plain, but filling. They made their way to the seats they were in that morning and were later joined by the Dead Men.

"Afternoon, beautiful," said Dexter in his flirtatious manner.

"Nice to see you again, pretty," catcalled Saracen.

Ghastly rolled his eyes and slapped both of them round the head. "Sorry about them," he said. "Hello again, Valkyrie Cain and Livena Estrange."

"Hi, Ghastly," Livena chirped cheerfully and the pair got into a deep discussion about sewing. Val turned to Skulduggery, who was rubbing his chest as if he was still in a bit of pain from earlier.

"Are you okay, Skul?"

He nodded. "I've still got a few small bruises, but most are healed."

"Wait," cut in Dexter. "Skulduggery is hurt?"

Skulduggery scowled as Valkyrie smirked triumphantly. "Yeah, I bashed him up earlier. I wanted to see how strong I was as a fighter before we started combat lessons. I completely aced the duel."

"But Skul is the best fighter in the school! He's better than most of the teachers. He always has to go up against Mr Callen because he is the only teacher that can actually put up a fight against him, and even then they are really evenly matched." All of the Dead Men were staring at her in shock.

"I had a good trainer," Valkyrie said, blushing slightly, trying to ignore the eyes on her. "He taught me a lot, and what he couldn't teach me, he would get an expert in to teach me instead. He also taught me how to fight without relying on my magic, so I am more capable. But at the same time, he taught me how to use magic in combat so it works to my advantage, little subtle things that could be the difference between life and death."

"She was much better than me," admitted Skulduggery. "I don't think I've seen anybody like her, being able to fight so well, considering her age."

"How long have you been practicing magic and combat for with this trainer?"

"Four years."

There was silence.

"Four years? FOUR YEARS?!" Saracen was shrieking. People from the other side of the food hall were beginning to turn around to stare at a raging Saracen. "I'VE BEEN PRACTICING SINCE I WAS BLOODY BORN YEARS OLD AND I AM STILL NOWHERE NEAR AS GOOD AS SKULDUGGERY AND HERE YOU COME..."

Skulduggery stood up, held his hand out to Valkyrie and led her away from the ranting boy. She turned round just before they left the hall. Everybody was staring at the remained of the Dead Men and Liv, who were all trying to restrain Saracen, who continued ranting at the top of his voice.

"Sorry about that."

Val looked up at him. "No, it's okay. I wasn't expecting to be better than you, all I did was fought the way I knew how to."

They walked in a comfortable silence back to their room. It wasn't until they settled down on their separate beds did Skulduggery break the silence. "How are you so powerful?"

Valkyrie looked up at him. "I trained. I was twelve when I got introduced to the world of magic."

"You weren't born magical?"

She shook her head. "No, but my uncle knew about magic, but he got killed, which was kind of when I got thrown into the world of magic. I was almost killed more than ten times throughout the course of one week."

"Oh. I see what you meant earlier when it came to pain."

"Yeah, I'm used to it."

They smiled at each other, a little awkwardly, but none the less, Valkyrie was getting used to it.