Chapter 1 - Gray

Iris

- For: DefyDeath_DefyMe, aka Iris Wilder. Thanks for everything. -

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Gray.
That was all he seemed to be.
His hair was a soft gray that fell around his pale face, hanging over his eyes and draping down his back, over his hunched, skinny shoulders and thin back. The threadbare shirt thrown over was loose and stained, tattered sleeves just barely showing pale fingers curled up, knuckles white.
Valkyre shifted uneasily in the darkness, dagger tense in his hand. What was it with him?
The boy, for he couldn't possibly be any older than fifteen, remained where he was, curled up on the narrow stone windowsill, looking out through swirled and smeared glass at the city below. The dying rays of sunlight were pale and colorless, drained.
Surely this couldn't be real.
This couldn't be Iris.
Valkyre let out a silent sigh, brushing jet black strands of hair away from his face with a gloved hand. His rich amethyst eyes were cool and calculating, face expressionless, wreathed in darkness from where he stood, a shadow blending into a shadow.
He paused, eyes still on the figure by the window, blade slowly drawn back up over his body, tense. Slowly, he stepped away from the shadows, booted feet silent on the cold cement floor.
He had made no sound, but Iris turned and looked at him.
Valkyre froze, startled. Not by the fact that he'd been detected, but by what he was facing.
Cool, emotionless gray eyes bore into his own, without emotion, without depth, without expression. Like the hard cement he stood over, or the cold panes of glass behind the boy. Those eyes... they seemed like nothing more than a void, an empty abyss.
"What do you want?"
His voice was quiet, almost tired in the still, chill air. He stared at Valkyre, not moving, showing no fear, no surprise. Acknowledgement, perhaps, but nothing more.
Valkyre lowered his dagger, shifting his footing. Perhaps they did speak the truth in their myths.
"What else?"
His reply was curt and smooth, showing nothing, equaling the apathy he'd been met with. He raised his eyebrows slightly, faint smile on his face, though there was little humorous.
"You head."
Iris did nothing, only closed his eyes, then opened them again slowly. They remained unchanged, expressionless and dim. He did not reply.
Valkyre paused for only a split second, then lept forward suddenly, blade flashing. Behind him, a pair of wings black as their starless nights snapped out, encircling him.
The dagger tip bit into dry and cracked wood, thudding heavily in the frame of the window.
Valkyre's amethyst eyes flashed in the darkness, his lithe body tense, poised.
Iris stared up at him with his colorless eyes, head tilted just slightly to one side, dagger point inches from his face. Valkyre's arm was level with the boy's neck, fabric of his sleeve close enough to quiver lightly under the boy's breath.
"You're a bounty hunter, then."
That same voice, with that apathetic, uncaring tone.
Valkyre hissed sharply under his breath as he withdrew his blade, glaring at the boy. He hadn't so much as flinched.
"Yes," he whispered softly, dark wings folding behind him, "I am. And you are my prey."
Iris blinked, slowly, calmly. Valkyre scowled, fingernails digging into the soft leather hilt of his dagger.
As if finally realizing his annoyance, the boy looked up at him, eyes as placid and empty as before.
"...Why do you hunt?"
The other snapped about suddenly, and the blade sang as it sliced across the air, and this time dark magic swallowed up the air around it as it followed the swipe, dark tendrils leaving negative neon strands burning on the backs of Valkyre's eyelids.
But he hadn't struck Iris. The boy stood staring at him calmly and cooly against the side of the wall, silver-gray hair just settling slightly from his almost slow slip away.
Valkyre's hand trembled as the dark magic around his blade faded away slowly, translucent tendrils still snaking along his fingers and wrist, knuckles clenched too tightly, flashing bone-white skin.
"To live," he hissed. "I hunt so I can survive."
Iris was unmoving, silent, like a statue carved out of soft white marble. Cold, empty gray eyes stared back into rich violet ones.
When he spoke, his voice was quiet, almost inaudible.
"...But why do you live?"
And then he was gone.

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AN: I'm sorry, I know, it's really, pathetically short and kinda not... explaining... anything. ...Heh.
And, I know, it has absolutely nothing to do with you besides a title. But, think of this one as all yours, Deffy.
Got a whole story for this, and you'll see soon how it fits with 'Iris', of GooGooDolls. It's been in my head for a while, and it's actually been down on paper before, but I kept scratching around with that copy and re-doing it... I hope this final version will be good.
Hope you like this! I promise I'll work on this, and even more knowing that it's for you! [I'll try to get the next chappie up by Sunday, 'kay?]
Thank you for everything, and hope you'll like this lots!!!

-TF

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