Wing Walker

[Anonymous]

Valeska tried to pull her hand back immediately but found she couldn’t! What the hell’s going on!?! She panicked a little. Now what!?! Her eyes darted around nervously, from Veguards face to his chest and sometimes the sky. She noticed the glowing spot it his chest seemed to be getting bigger. By now it occurred to Valeska what might be happening. Her breathing had sped up from her anxiety. I can’t take it out, Veguards getting worse, and he might… She swallowed, and pressed her hand further in. Valeska couldn’t see any other option, she didn’t know what this action might cause, but as is it stood now, Veguard would die. She would not sit there and watch that happen, it was a last desperate act. “I’m sorry Veguard.�

[Anonymous]

Veguard bucked as Valeska pushed her hand deeper into his chest, blood spurting from his mouth as he did so. This last strained push caused Valeska's hand to touch something warm, soft, and beating.
His heart.

As soon as she touched it, the glowing grew brighter, the gold spot in his chest becoming ever bigger. Her hand was suddenly free of the otherwordly grip in his chest, but only while her hand was on the fluttering heart beating within him.
Meanwhile Veguard continued to writh in pain, blood still spurting periodically from his mouth.
The gold was growing...
He was ceasing to exist...

[Anonymous]

Valeska shut her eyes as she pushed her hand further in, not wanting to see Veguards pain. She froze as she felt something pulsing. She also noticed the force that kept her hand there dissipated when she touched what seemed to be his heart. She opened her eyes. Valeska let out a small gasp, looking from his face to the growing glow. Then she had a strange thought, and acted on it quickly. She closed her eyes again and grit her teeth. Valeska grabbed his heart and attempted to pull it out.

[Anonymous]

There was only a slight resistance, and then out it came. But it wasn't what one would expect. With the heart came the glowing and the goldness, leaving Veguard's chest normal, aside from one thing.
A crooked golden scar, right where Valeska's hand had been.

What she held in her hand was a warm, golden thing that fluttered and pulsed in her palm. It was the part of Veguard that held emotion, and it whispered to her. Of love, saddness, hate...
All the things she had given to Veguard. The part of him that broke all the rules.
The little fluttering thing was like a quivering orb of light, and there was a sad little crack in one side.
Veguard's heart had been...breaking?
And now Valeska had a choice. Leave it and let it break away into nothingness, leaving Veguard as he should be.
Or fix it and replace it.

Which would it be...?

[Anonymous]

Valeska slowly opened her eyes once it came out. First she looked to Veguard. He seemed fine now…except for the strange scar in his chest. Then she heard something whispering to her, Valeskas eyes widened when she realized it was his heart. Her eyes became confused, there was a crack on one side. Her expression grew more grim as she knew she was handed a very difficult choice. She looked back to Veguard, wishing he were awake to tell her what to do, as it was his life she was about to tamper with.

Her first thought was to let it go, and leave Veguard as he should be. After all, the only thing it seemed to do was cause him pain. But as she continued to ponder, Valeska wondered, would Veguard be the same? Would he change without a heart? If she were to put it back, would this happen again? And why the hell wasn’t Veguard awake to tell her what he wanted!?! Valeska’s eyes began to fill with tears once more, she couldn’t believe what she was doing.

How do you mend a broken heart? Valeska sat there staring blankly at the heart, thinking hard. You…care for it I suppose, but that still doesn’t... She blinked…she tilted her head, giving it a confused look. Could it be so simple? Valska brought the heart up to her face, and moved it so the crack faced her. She let out a deep breath, and kissed it. After a moment she drew back, waiting.

[Anonymous]

Unfortunately for Valeska, Veguard slept peacefully on, in a state of inertia while his heart was held. She'd have to make one decision or another, or he would never awaken again.
No pressure Val!
The orb quivered and then pulsated after she had kissed it, and the crack closed itself up. It began pulsing with renewed vigor after she had done so, its glow growing a bit, almost...happily.

So now it was up to Valeska. She had created him from a spell, made him what she wished. And now it was again up to her to make a fate-altering decision as the golden orb sat warmly in her palm.
Which would it be?

[Anonymous]

She watched with curiosity at the orbs strange behavior. The crack closed, it’s pulse renewed and it even seemed to glow better than before. Valeska assumed this meant she had ‘fixed’ it. She sighed tiredly and looked to Veguard again. Her eyes traveling down from his face to the unusual scar on his chest were she had pulled his heart from. She looked back to the orb, thinking things over again, but coming up with the same result. She came to him again and pressed the heart against the scar in his chest lightly.

[Anonymous]

The scar glowed, and then opened, allowing the golden orb to be pushed back into his chest. The scar closed and then dissapeared after all of this, all the while Veguard did not seem affected by it at all.
He seemed to just be peacefully sleeping.

Finally, his warm honey amber eyes opened, and he yawned, sitting up. He winced a bit as he did so, holding his chest, blood still on his face from earlier.
"Oh ow, my chest really hurts..."
He looked up at Valeska.
"And I had a very strange dream. It was about you, but I can't remember what happened..."

[Anonymous]

Valeska felt extremely relived when Veguard opened his eyes. A grateful smile came to her face, though it dimmed as he spoke of a pain in his chest. Dream? He…but he says he doesn’t remember. She looked away for a moment, should I tell him? She shook her head, I’d want him to tell me. I shouldn’t keep him in the dark. With out a word she took a navy blue flask from her hip and put some water on her hand. She then began to gently wipe the blood from Veguards face, needing the water for help with the dryer parts. When she was finished she wiped her hand on the flask, which was likely that color for this reason, because it was too dark to make out any remaining blood. Her face had a weary look to it, “Can you tell me…do you remember how you felt in this dream?�

[Anonymous]

Veguard was a bit worried about the silence that seemed to settle like a heavy blanket over them. Why wasn't she saying anything...? Had something bad happened...?
He blinked as she began to wash his face free of blood, and the feeling of the sticky substance being removed jogged a few memories.
He had been in pain...coughing up blood...before...
Before what...?

Then she asked about his dream, and he thought back on how he had felt. "Er, well...at first I felt rather cold, and there was a strange pain everywhere. Then something happened, and I felt light, like a weight had been lifted from me, but I was still cold. I guess something happened, because all of a sudden I felt warm and happy and just...I don't know, it's hard to describe. It was incredible." His grin, which had grown near the end of his discription, faded a bit as his attention returned to Valeska. "Why do you ask Lady Valeska?"

[Anonymous]

Valeska matched what Veguard described to what actually happened in her mind. She smiled faintly as he described what must have been the moment she had kissed his heart. Again her smile dimmed, now for the depressing part, she sighed.

“Well…I was idiotically trying to describe love to you. When you started coughing, blood. Then you collapsed and fainted, I…sort of caught you, then laid you on your back. I had hoped it would subside, but it just got worse. Then a gold glow came from your chest,� she rested her palm lightly on the area she spoke of. “I recognized the glow and worried you were reverting back into you energy form. So I put my hand on you chest so that you could get at the reserve magick in my blood. Then…my hand…fell into your chest,� she took her hand back, as if she were afraid it would happen again. “I couldn’t pull it out and the glow kept getting bigger and you looked like you were in great pain so….so…so I did the only thing I could do. I pushed my hand further in until I touched something. When I did whatever force held my hand let go, so…I…acted on impulse and pulled it out…I think it was your heart Veguard.� At this time Valeska pulled her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around hem loosely, by holding one wrist. “It was a golden orb but it beat like a heart so I assumed. It…it had a crack on one side. Gods I must sound insane…� She sighed, “Do you believe me at all? Shall I keep going?"

[Anonymous]

Veguard listened closely to her discription, his eyes not belying any sort of confusion. He also wasn't giving her a 'you're messed up in the head' look either. It seemed like what she was saying to him made perfect sense, despite how odd it all sounded.
He stared at her for a moment after she stopped, his mouth alittle slack.
"You...you did what...?"
She couldn't have...that was something...
Only Luna could do that...
Only she could alter his heart like that, his very spell...

He went as though to take Valeska's shoulder, but stopped, his face closer than before. "You...you altered my heart...?" He just had to make sure it was true, searching her eyes carefully. That was...too amazing...or perhaps amazingly bad...
He sat back.
"Only Luna is supposed to be able to do that, Lady Valeska. You...you changed my heart, my very spell. I didn't think anyone else could do that..."
Only Luna could ever do that...

[Anonymous]

Valeska blinked as he first spoke. She grew more nervous as he continued. Her eyes were guilty, as they were saying for her that she hadn’t meant to, because she truly hadn’t. Her only goal had been to help Veguard, but she still wasn’t sure if she had. Altered his spell? Oh dear, that doesn’t sound good. Valeska was even more worried about the fact that apparently only the being who had actually created Veguard was able to do this. Somehow, she, a mortal dragon, who at the time had none of her power, had accomplished the same feat as Luna the angle, a celestial being. That could mean quite a few things…and many of them were not good. Valeska looked away, “ I’m sorry Veguard, did I do something wrong? I…was just trying to help you…�

[Anonymous]

Veguard smiled softly at her and shook his head. "I feel fine. Better even. I don't think what you did was a bad thing. I was just surprised. Luna was the only one ever able to do that. Even other angels couldn't alter my spell."
He placed a warm, gentle hand on the side of Valeska's face, trying to calm her.
"It's alright. You saved my life, Lady Valeska. Thank you."

Slowly he stood, smiling down at Valeska. There was a small bit of worry within him though. What would Luna do if she found out...?
And just what had Valeska altered...?
He held out a hand to her, to help her up.
"Should we continue?"
For now, he was content to shove his worries into the back of his mind. He'd have time to ponder on them later.
They had stayed here too long.

[Anonymous]

A dark blush came to Valeskas cheeks when Veguard touched her, her gaze coming back to meet his. She watched him stand up silently. He didn’t let me finish…does he have to know? I did tell him the most important part. She blushed again, I think. Her eyes fell to his hand when Veguard offered to help her up. She took it after a moment, wearing a faint smile.

Again Valeska decided to set up for the night at sun down. Physically she had the energy to go further, but for obvious reasons she was emotionally and mentally strained from earlier. She sighed and took out the sky blue dress and the white shirt she had worn with it. She had folded them carefully, so as to make sure the blood did not stain anything else inside. The incident involving Veguards spell making her own problem that morning seem so far away, and just plain unimportant in comparison. Valeska took out a needle and thread and began to sew the dress up. It calmed her down and cleared her thoughts, so much that she actually started humming a little, forgetting that she wasn’t alone.

[Anonymous]

Veguard sat himself a few paces from Valeska, still in his wing-walker style form. His feathery wings ruffled together every so often as he shifted, his head tilted back a bit to stare at the sky through the trees. Soon the sound of Valeska's humming carried through the peaceful silence, and Veguard smiled a bit before turning his attention to her.
His head tilted as he watched what she was doing.
He didn't know what sewing was.

"Lady Valeska, what are you doing?" He asked innocently, standing to come sit closer to her and watch. His amber eyes were bright, as if trying to figure it out just by watching.

[Anonymous]

Valeska blinked and stopped humming, looking up at Veguard. She looked at him blankly before smiling a little at his expression. He doesn’t know what the hell I’m doing. Her smile widened a little, knowing she must have looked just like that when she first watched a woman sew. She motioned him to sit by her. “I’m sewing. You see here� she held up the fabric, “the dress is made of many threads of string, just like the one on this needle. Using the needle,� she sewed up a little more of the dress slowly. “I can get between the original treads and bring the two halves back together.�

[Anonymous]

Veguard leaned closer to watch as she demonstrated, listening in to her explination. Oh, that seemed simple enough.
She was fixing the tears in the clothing using this method. Sewing, was it?
He nodded, watching a few more passes of the needle before he sat up and looked back at Lady Valeska.
"Would you...would you keep doing that, Lady Valeska? Those sounds that you made before. They were very nice."

He didn't know what humming was either.

Maybe his existance really was a sad one, even if he himself did not realize it.

[Anonymous]

Valeska looked at Veguard curiously. Sounds? She thought back for a moment, what had she been doing? Humming? Valeska blushed a little, she had barely noticed she was doing so. It was a habit she had developed hundreds of years ago, nearly as normal as walking for her. What made her blush more was his complementing the sound.

Her gaze avoided his for a moment before returning to her sewing. “…alright.� She began to hum again as she continued, expertly repairing the dress. That’s what happens when you’ve lived as a housewife for a thousand years.

[Anonymous]

Veguard smiled as she continued her humming, and rested back on his arms, tilting his head once again to stare at the darkening sky. It was such a soothing sound...
For some reason, Veguard felt utterly at peace right at that moment. He just felt so...alive. More so than he ever had before.
He wondered if this had anything to do with her altering his heart.
Maybe...

Veguard sighed softly. "Luna used to tell me that I was like her child. She always told me she loved me. She'd hold me in her hands and sing to me until I fell asleep. It was nice...very peaceful." He shut his eyes, his wings stretching out behind him a bit. "I kind of feel like that now."