Chapter 55 - Goodbye
Submitted November 24, 2005 Updated June 26, 2007 Status Complete | Shonen-ai/Slash! For DD_DM. A black-winged angel finds himself caught up in the fate of a young boy that defies existence itself, a boy with paradoxed wings, a boy named 'Iris'...
Category:
Fantasy |
Chapter 55 - Goodbye
Chapter 55 - Goodbye
Iris
+--
A spider skittered along on the flat surface of stone, zigzagging between light and shade cast by the overhang of rock.
Valkyre watched its movements, face expressionless. The crossbreed was reclining in the shadow of a jagged slab of stone thrown over several others, forming something akin to a cave, though shallow and artificial. His wings rested behind him, folded up, soft dark feathers and sharp black bone brushing against the stone roof and slabs of rock.
In front of him, the endless passage of the wastelands stretched out to either end, a vast expanse of stone that he’d somehow crossed, a black speck with no regard to day or night or heat or cold.
That he’d made the journey was no surprise; Valkyre hadn’t expected to die like a dog out there, had known that he wouldn’t. Not while he still had a reason to live.
With a sigh, the crossbreed glanced upward.
Corryn’s black-ringed golden eyes stared back, the other’s chipped fingernails scrabbling at the sheer rock above, sun burning through his dark hair, showing the tips to be dark brown.
When he spoke, his voice was low and calm, with the slightest lilt as if he found something innately funny.
“I’ve been waiting for quite a while, angel.”
The other swung down nimbly, swift hands finding impossible purchase on the sheer rock. Corryn slid into a hunched squat next to Valkyre, elbows on his knees, head cocked to one side.
“Well?”
The crossbreed looked away, blinking slowly.
“…I’m not an angel,” he stated. “…Not anymore.”
He glanced back out of the corner of his eye, regarding the other calmly. Corryn merely shrugged, disregarding his correction.
“So, you’ve finally found out.”
“…How long did you know?”
Valkyre turned his attention back to the endless desert and the horizon marking the edge of the world. Somewhere, far beyond all of that, lay his past life and that of angels. But it was all behind, and it would do him no good to look back on it. Of course, he was only resting here. He’d move on soon enough.
“I knew ever since I met you. Most of us probably did. The one scent a human never smells until the day he dies is that of his own.”
Valkyre didn’t bother responding. He’d already known the answer, to an extent.
The crossbreed glanced over at Corryn once again. The heavy wound to his chest had faded to a jagged starburst scar of white, the markings along his back half-hidden by the lank, tangled hair. His dark skin had gotten even darker in the sun, accented with his nearly-black hair, only the bright gold and pale whites of his eyes sharp and contrasting through the tangled strands of the bangs that fell over them.
Valkyre looked away. He had no need to keep the other within view or anything of the sort.
Although he couldn’t quite explain his premonitions to himself, he knew that Corryn was not particularly dangerous. Not at this moment, at least. There was something of a rival in him, yes, but he knew that there was something… perhaps, almost like camaraderie. Not quite, of course, but in the end, Corryn was particularly simplistic, and Valkyre could trust to know what he was thinking more than he could anyone else.
The crossbreed lifted his head, gazing up at the cool, crisp blue sky. The sun razed the area around itself to the same blinding white, and clouds were somewhere further ahead, gathered and pulled together at the crowns of the mountains.
“…Iris.”
He caught the other’s black-rimmed eye, blinking sharply, drawn to immediate attention by the mere word.
“He’s here, isn’t he?”
Corryn grinned. “Of course,” he replied, voice smooth. “It’s why we’re all here.”
Valkyre jerked his gaze away from the empty sky.
“…Why?”
Corryn blinked back hollowly.
“Why did Iris come here?”
The other barked out a short, sharp laugh. It rang in the shadowed, shallow dip of the shattered rock, then faded out once it hit the heat and the light and the sun.
“To die.” Corryn’s golden eyes were glinting with laughter. “To live. To save the world. Whatever you think, angel. Whatever you want.”
Valkyre paused, then shook his head.
“That’s… not right,” he murmured.
Corryn sneered back, smile falling from his lips.
“Oh? Not right? What is, then, in this black little world? What’s right, and what’s wrong?? Don’t give me any of your petty human morals. I’m not a fool.”
Valkyre merely shook his head again.
“It’s not right,” he repeated, “What we think of Iris. We’re shaping someone up on our own, and that’s not who he is.”
The crossbreed glanced over at the other.
“He should be able to live for himself, don’t you think?”
Corryn remained silent, gaze lowered, face hidden in his tangled hair. A black smudge of spider skittered over his hunched shoulder.
“Iris doesn’t need any of us, in the end. He’s never”-
“Shut up!”
Corryn lashed out suddenly, chipped fingernails swiping at nothing, still too far distant. Valkyre didn’t flinch, only stared into the other’s eyes. Corryn’s hands were trembling, empty fingers curling in on themselves. He glowered at the crossbreed, lips curled up into a snarl.
“I know that, Valkyre. I know. I know that he doesn’t need me, or want me. I know it’s all just fake. …I know.” The gold-ringed eyes were narrowed, sharp and cold, as if he’d been dealt an invisible blow somewhere, burning with a wound Valkyre couldn’t see. “Don’t think I’m so much of a fool, angel. I know the truth.”
The crossbreed let out a sharp breath of air.
“Then are you the selfish kind?” he asked. “Do you not care? …Do you want Iris, or do you want him to be happy?”
Corryn laughed, without emotion.
“There’s no such thing as happiness for him,” he hissed sharply. “Ever since his creation, ever since his sentience, he was doomed to this. He can never be happy.”
Valkyre remained apathetic.
“Then that justifies your using him?” he asked.
Corryn lunged forward suddenly, snarling. His fingernails dug into Valkyre’s shoulder through the clothing, sharp and fierce. His golden eyes were bright, smudges of black darkening.
“Don’t,” he hissed. “You don’t know a single goddamned thing, angel. Demon. You think you know the truth, that you know what’s right. That’s just because you’re too human.”
Valkyre didn’t move, even though he could feel the pain shuddering along his arm. He lifted his hand, placing it around Corryn’s bare, tanned wrist. He gripped it tightly, holding it in place, letting the other know that he could crush bone if he wanted to. Corryn ignored it, still shaking his head.
“Don’t lie to yourself, Valkyre. In the end, we all live and die for ourselves. No other. It’s the truth.”
Valkyre didn’t respond. Corryn’s fingers had loosened, and the crossbreed took his time, slowly working the hand off of his shoulder, calmly prying it away, finger by finger.
“I know,” he said.
Corryn blinked, then suddenly jerked his hand away. He paused and stared down at his hand, palm-up.
Valkyre watched a spider crawl along to the edge of the shadow cast by the stone, touch a limb over into the light, then shrink back and skitter away.
The crossbreed blinked then, feeling a pressure on his forearm. He glanced down to see Corryn’s hand there, resting almost casually, crescent slices of white fingernail the only thing distinguishable from the dark skin. Underneath, the tattoos on Valkyre’s bare arms seemed to shift, pale skin and black ink mixing and merging.
“You’re not… …Iris.”
Corryn’s face was hidden, eyes shadowed by the tangled curtain of dark, unruly hair. He felt something, Valkyre was sure of it. Something… that could push the pain away. Something that could make him believe, just for an instant, that he wasn’t doomed to die.
“…But… Just for… a while.”
And then Corryn was curled up on the stone, hand still resting on Valkyre’s forearm, head brushing up against the crossbreed’s hip, the hair falling away from his face showing his eyes to be closed.
Valkyre didn’t respond. He stared down at the other for a while, then he simply returned his gaze to the blatant, empty landscape.
Perhaps, then again, there was a little bit of time for reminiscing. For a final goodbye to the past.
For a brief, short second of oblivious, simple peace.
+--
AN: Sorry for the wait, as I've had this chappie up on my computer for a while now, heh, but, well... I was having some trouble with my plotline. ^^;
(A quick note, if anyone should find a stray plotline somewhere, please send it back to me~ XD)
Anyways, midterms are cracking down on us, but actually, I think I can still post. I've got a coupla more chapters up for ya guys, so stick around for some pretty regular updates. (Though some are a tad short...)
Thank you all who comment!! Don't fight, please! XD;
+--
A spider skittered along on the flat surface of stone, zigzagging between light and shade cast by the overhang of rock.
Valkyre watched its movements, face expressionless. The crossbreed was reclining in the shadow of a jagged slab of stone thrown over several others, forming something akin to a cave, though shallow and artificial. His wings rested behind him, folded up, soft dark feathers and sharp black bone brushing against the stone roof and slabs of rock.
In front of him, the endless passage of the wastelands stretched out to either end, a vast expanse of stone that he’d somehow crossed, a black speck with no regard to day or night or heat or cold.
That he’d made the journey was no surprise; Valkyre hadn’t expected to die like a dog out there, had known that he wouldn’t. Not while he still had a reason to live.
With a sigh, the crossbreed glanced upward.
Corryn’s black-ringed golden eyes stared back, the other’s chipped fingernails scrabbling at the sheer rock above, sun burning through his dark hair, showing the tips to be dark brown.
When he spoke, his voice was low and calm, with the slightest lilt as if he found something innately funny.
“I’ve been waiting for quite a while, angel.”
The other swung down nimbly, swift hands finding impossible purchase on the sheer rock. Corryn slid into a hunched squat next to Valkyre, elbows on his knees, head cocked to one side.
“Well?”
The crossbreed looked away, blinking slowly.
“…I’m not an angel,” he stated. “…Not anymore.”
He glanced back out of the corner of his eye, regarding the other calmly. Corryn merely shrugged, disregarding his correction.
“So, you’ve finally found out.”
“…How long did you know?”
Valkyre turned his attention back to the endless desert and the horizon marking the edge of the world. Somewhere, far beyond all of that, lay his past life and that of angels. But it was all behind, and it would do him no good to look back on it. Of course, he was only resting here. He’d move on soon enough.
“I knew ever since I met you. Most of us probably did. The one scent a human never smells until the day he dies is that of his own.”
Valkyre didn’t bother responding. He’d already known the answer, to an extent.
The crossbreed glanced over at Corryn once again. The heavy wound to his chest had faded to a jagged starburst scar of white, the markings along his back half-hidden by the lank, tangled hair. His dark skin had gotten even darker in the sun, accented with his nearly-black hair, only the bright gold and pale whites of his eyes sharp and contrasting through the tangled strands of the bangs that fell over them.
Valkyre looked away. He had no need to keep the other within view or anything of the sort.
Although he couldn’t quite explain his premonitions to himself, he knew that Corryn was not particularly dangerous. Not at this moment, at least. There was something of a rival in him, yes, but he knew that there was something… perhaps, almost like camaraderie. Not quite, of course, but in the end, Corryn was particularly simplistic, and Valkyre could trust to know what he was thinking more than he could anyone else.
The crossbreed lifted his head, gazing up at the cool, crisp blue sky. The sun razed the area around itself to the same blinding white, and clouds were somewhere further ahead, gathered and pulled together at the crowns of the mountains.
“…Iris.”
He caught the other’s black-rimmed eye, blinking sharply, drawn to immediate attention by the mere word.
“He’s here, isn’t he?”
Corryn grinned. “Of course,” he replied, voice smooth. “It’s why we’re all here.”
Valkyre jerked his gaze away from the empty sky.
“…Why?”
Corryn blinked back hollowly.
“Why did Iris come here?”
The other barked out a short, sharp laugh. It rang in the shadowed, shallow dip of the shattered rock, then faded out once it hit the heat and the light and the sun.
“To die.” Corryn’s golden eyes were glinting with laughter. “To live. To save the world. Whatever you think, angel. Whatever you want.”
Valkyre paused, then shook his head.
“That’s… not right,” he murmured.
Corryn sneered back, smile falling from his lips.
“Oh? Not right? What is, then, in this black little world? What’s right, and what’s wrong?? Don’t give me any of your petty human morals. I’m not a fool.”
Valkyre merely shook his head again.
“It’s not right,” he repeated, “What we think of Iris. We’re shaping someone up on our own, and that’s not who he is.”
The crossbreed glanced over at the other.
“He should be able to live for himself, don’t you think?”
Corryn remained silent, gaze lowered, face hidden in his tangled hair. A black smudge of spider skittered over his hunched shoulder.
“Iris doesn’t need any of us, in the end. He’s never”-
“Shut up!”
Corryn lashed out suddenly, chipped fingernails swiping at nothing, still too far distant. Valkyre didn’t flinch, only stared into the other’s eyes. Corryn’s hands were trembling, empty fingers curling in on themselves. He glowered at the crossbreed, lips curled up into a snarl.
“I know that, Valkyre. I know. I know that he doesn’t need me, or want me. I know it’s all just fake. …I know.” The gold-ringed eyes were narrowed, sharp and cold, as if he’d been dealt an invisible blow somewhere, burning with a wound Valkyre couldn’t see. “Don’t think I’m so much of a fool, angel. I know the truth.”
The crossbreed let out a sharp breath of air.
“Then are you the selfish kind?” he asked. “Do you not care? …Do you want Iris, or do you want him to be happy?”
Corryn laughed, without emotion.
“There’s no such thing as happiness for him,” he hissed sharply. “Ever since his creation, ever since his sentience, he was doomed to this. He can never be happy.”
Valkyre remained apathetic.
“Then that justifies your using him?” he asked.
Corryn lunged forward suddenly, snarling. His fingernails dug into Valkyre’s shoulder through the clothing, sharp and fierce. His golden eyes were bright, smudges of black darkening.
“Don’t,” he hissed. “You don’t know a single goddamned thing, angel. Demon. You think you know the truth, that you know what’s right. That’s just because you’re too human.”
Valkyre didn’t move, even though he could feel the pain shuddering along his arm. He lifted his hand, placing it around Corryn’s bare, tanned wrist. He gripped it tightly, holding it in place, letting the other know that he could crush bone if he wanted to. Corryn ignored it, still shaking his head.
“Don’t lie to yourself, Valkyre. In the end, we all live and die for ourselves. No other. It’s the truth.”
Valkyre didn’t respond. Corryn’s fingers had loosened, and the crossbreed took his time, slowly working the hand off of his shoulder, calmly prying it away, finger by finger.
“I know,” he said.
Corryn blinked, then suddenly jerked his hand away. He paused and stared down at his hand, palm-up.
Valkyre watched a spider crawl along to the edge of the shadow cast by the stone, touch a limb over into the light, then shrink back and skitter away.
The crossbreed blinked then, feeling a pressure on his forearm. He glanced down to see Corryn’s hand there, resting almost casually, crescent slices of white fingernail the only thing distinguishable from the dark skin. Underneath, the tattoos on Valkyre’s bare arms seemed to shift, pale skin and black ink mixing and merging.
“You’re not… …Iris.”
Corryn’s face was hidden, eyes shadowed by the tangled curtain of dark, unruly hair. He felt something, Valkyre was sure of it. Something… that could push the pain away. Something that could make him believe, just for an instant, that he wasn’t doomed to die.
“…But… Just for… a while.”
And then Corryn was curled up on the stone, hand still resting on Valkyre’s forearm, head brushing up against the crossbreed’s hip, the hair falling away from his face showing his eyes to be closed.
Valkyre didn’t respond. He stared down at the other for a while, then he simply returned his gaze to the blatant, empty landscape.
Perhaps, then again, there was a little bit of time for reminiscing. For a final goodbye to the past.
For a brief, short second of oblivious, simple peace.
+--
AN: Sorry for the wait, as I've had this chappie up on my computer for a while now, heh, but, well... I was having some trouble with my plotline. ^^;
(A quick note, if anyone should find a stray plotline somewhere, please send it back to me~ XD)
Anyways, midterms are cracking down on us, but actually, I think I can still post. I've got a coupla more chapters up for ya guys, so stick around for some pretty regular updates. (Though some are a tad short...)
Thank you all who comment!! Don't fight, please! XD;
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