Chapter 24 - Journey

Iris

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Valkyre woke with a start, fingers curling up emptily on the bedsheets beside him, lightly ruffled and barely showing the signs of having been disturbed.
The angel shook off the last wisps of the dream, immediately out of bed and pacing across the room, panicking suddenly at the realization that he was alone. It was still dark outside, the sky an inky midnight blue dripped with smudgy-gray clouds that skudded past.
Valkyre glanced around the darkened, shadow-filled room, but he already knew that Iris wasn't there. ...Where could he have gone to at such of an hour?? The angel forced himself to take a deep breath and pause, closing his eyes and trying to relax. His fists were still clenched tight, but he breathed evenly and slowly, heartbeat settling down.
A long pause, then Valkyre blinked his eyes back open, exhaling softly. He looked slightly confused, but relieved. He'd detected the boy's presence, and he knew that Iris was still about the building. No one else, unless heavily hidden, was nearby, though that still didn't help his frayed nerves.
Calmly, the angel set about packing up. It was still twilight, yes, but most of the night had passed and daylight would come in a few hours. He searched the rooms and took a few things he was sure Maeve probably wouldn't mind of miss, and left behind some of his belongings he wouldn't be needing, but didn't want to permenantly lose. ...Hopefully, he'd be back someday.
Valkyre paused, hand in the knapsack, feeling the smooth, slim form of the pen inside the pocket. He was tempted to leave it behind, to just put it away, tucked out of sight; suddenly, the object was nothing more than something he loathed, but his feelings were divided between himself and Iris. Clearly, the boy wanted the tattoos, though he couldn't understand why... but he hated them so much, the black marring the pure white on the boy's back.
...Was it something like that? Night and day? Did Iris seek to blur the undefined, endless expanse of white, to bring out darkness like what ran in his veins...? ...It made no sense.
The angel sighed, then sat down on the edge of the bed, leaving the pen inside his bag. He leaned back, shaking his head, needing to think clearly.
They would be going now. But to where?
Valkyre closed his eyes, contemplating. He'd found Iris in a popular city rather close to the state's capital, and they'd been flitting about since then rather randomly, only content on being able to get away from the public postings and the eyes that would recognize them. They needed somewhere more stable, somewhere safer.
The capital lay to the south of the continent, near the coast. There was desert to the west, and more large port cities to the east. Valkyre wanted to avoid them both, knowing too well the empty, barren landscape of the desert- it contained no sand or dirt, having all long since been washed away, and all that was left was nothing more than an endless expanse of sheer rock, hard and cracked, containing no water, no food, and no life. It would be suicide to so much as consider lingering along the edges.
And the port cities, though much wealthier, were also strictly enforced as city-states under the capital, and would no doubt be strongly guarded and patrolled.
...They still had the north.
Up to the north, the land grew barren, edged by the desert, but it was more distant and the capital, though powerful as it was, has a looser grip around the northern city-states. It would be a safer place, though harder to live in. ...But it could possibly work, just for now.
Valkyre blinked, sitting up. ...And even further north... ...there was the mountain range. ...And whatever it was that lay beyond.
Perhaps, just perhaps, if they were able to escape and be forgotten by the rest of the world... They could go there. The mountains were said to contain some of the last folds and hidden valleys of untouched, pure lands, but even Valkyre couldn't really bring himself to believe it. The range was dangerous, steep and fickle, almost inhabitable.
But if you could get across... who knew what lay beyond? Everything over there was simply myth.
...Maybe. Just maybe, if they could...
The angel sighed and stood up, shaking his head. 'They'. His own thoughts were already encompassing Iris, as if they would always stay together.
...Would they?
Valkyre closed his eyes and breathed slowly. ...He would try.
The angel looked out the small window by the bed, staring up at the dark sky. How was he supposed to get through all of this, with just himself and Iris?
...Raguel.
Valkyre scowled, glancing around at the shadows of the room, though he knew that the demon-vampire wouldn't be there. Still, he felt uneasy.
Raguel had said that he'd find him later... The angel sorely wanted to wish that he wouldn't. At the same time, he was still anticipating. Would Raguel really show up?
Valkyre didn't like him, and he still didn't quite believe that he could be a dependable ally, but he wanted to know what he had to do with Iris.
The angel sighed, then rose to his feet, slinging the knapsack over his back.
He'd think about it all later. They had to go.

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AN: A rather boring chapter of plotting-out-ness.... ...I need another word to stand for 'big, ominous, but undetailed and unnamed governmental thingy...' ^^;
Chu. Told you I don't like Raguel. ...Mmyes.
Okay then, gimme a break for a bit 'cuz I've got requests to do [kinda] and still lots of hmwk and tests, and 'cuz, well... ...I don't know what happens next! XD I need to plan it out!
Chapters could be taking a while now, I'm sinking down a bit... But not stopping! Nawp! Never!
So, keep up with me, 'kay? Commentos = happy me and more thinking/brainstorming and more writing and more UPDATES!
...That type of math is easy enough to figure out, ne? :)
See ya, and thanks.

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