Chapter 9 - Ruby

Iris

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Valkyre was awakened in the night by the cold chill of air on his bare arm and shoulder. He blinked open his eyes, greeted by the darkness and still sigh of the air.
The angel sat up slowly, testing his right arm, which he could lift up to perhaps waist height now. Getting better.
He sighed as he pulled at the blanket, which had slipped off sometime during the night. Valkyre paused, edge of the coarse fabric held loosely in his hands.
Iris lay on his side, back towards him, curled up onto himself. The thin shoulders rose and fell with his inaudible breathing, matted with his silvery gray hair, illustrious and surreal in the faint moonlight.
Valkyre sighed silently to himself. He pulled the blanket around himself, then glanced down at the boy again. The angel fingered the cloth between his gloved fingers absentmindedly, gaze roaming.
...Did Iris feel the cold? Did he feel warmth? ...Did he dream?
The hunter sighed again, then pulled up more of the blanket. He made to drape it over the boy's small form, but before the blanket had even brushed the skin, there was a blur of motion, flash of silver in the soft stillness.
Valkyre froze, staring into blank, wide demonic eyes the brilliant, deep shade of crimson red, rich as blood. They bore into him, burned at his mind, imprinted; a cold, frozen fire that raged at him, threatening to tear him apart; the hunger, he could see it, barely held back, animalistic in its fury; coupled with an immense, impossible power, broiling energy, darkness.
The angel was caught in those eyes of the demon, barely registering the glint of teeth bared in the dim light, the blunt fingernails digging into his wrist, the soft, dissipating hiss of breath.
Those eyes blinked, liquid rubies burning like molten steel and fire. The pupils, dark cores of scarlet, dilated, as if seeing for the first time.
Valkyre was frozen as he watched the other blink again, and suddenly, he was looking into the face of Iris.
The boy stared back, eyes faded back to nothing more than neutral gray again, but startled now, confused, bewildered. The breath he took in was ragged and uneven, like something was weighing down on his chest, not letting him breathe.
With a start, the boy suddenly let go of Valkyre's arm, leaving the hunter to stare at the bright, small crescents of red dug on his skin.
"I-I..." Iris suddenly pulled away, wrapping his arms around himself, blanket sliding with him and pooling around his ankles. He stared back at Valkyre, face drawn, twisted with hurt, pained.
"I-I'm sorry..."
The angel remained where he was, too stunned to move. He realized that Iris really did mean it. It was a rare glimpse into the boy's locked-away emotions, his true regret, the hurt he felt leaking out and staining him, curling and twisting at his body, wrapping him up in its dark, sweet pain.
Iris was shaking his head, drawing furthur back onto himself, curling up and trying to exile the rest of the world, tucking himself away in a forgotten corner.
...How cold it must be there, Valkyre thought.
Without words, he leaned over and wrapped his arms around the boy, pulling him into his embrace. The shock that ran through him, like static lightning, subsided as he closed his mind to the whisped singing of the magic flowing through the boy's veins, adjusting himself to meld into it, a drop of tainted water dissipating into the eternal sea.
Valkyre heard the boy gasp soundlessly, voice so small and thin, but then his frail shoulders relaxed, and Iris sank against his arms.
The angel sighed quietly, looping his arms around the boy's waist, fingers interlocked. Yes, he did feel cold, and extraordinarily light, but it was nonetheless the living, breathing body of nothing more than a young boy leaning against him, no matter the blood. In the end, when you stripped away the petty details and turned your back on the world's eyes, you'd see his core- like anyone else, just another being trying to get by, wanting only to live and fulfill the time given to them, however fleeting, however unfair and cold the circumstances you were placed into.
In the end, they really were just the same.
Valkyre closed his eyes, let his cheek rest on the soft, tangled mass of Iris' hair.
No, he thought, this was just the beginning of things.

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AN: Sorry for the long wait! But school's out now for winterbreak, and I've got absolutely no homework! Wonderful, really.
But I also happen to be leaving tomorrow for the ski trip, which'll last 'till Sunday night [today being Thursday]. So, updates will have to wait, again. Sorry.
This chapter was also kind of short, and typed up rather lazily... But I'm still into this! I really, really want to get around to showing off my new charries! [Hehe, showing off...]
So, ladeda, more random fluff, and insinuations! Oooh!
I'll try to get in the rest of the background soon, and get around to new charries! Yes!
Well, thanks a lot for reading, and Merry Christmas! ^^-

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