Soar

Chapter 17

(Voss POV)

        Angie lifted his head and grinned weakly at Voss through his tears.
"Hey... I met you." Voss smiled, nodded, and patted Angie's back comfortingly. He figured that his boyfriend was just saying weird things since he was in shock. Angie must have sensed his thoughts, however, because he kept speaking.

"No, when we were younger. I was like...16. My dad and I were flying outside of the castle and you flew by! Your hair wasn't dyed yet, but it was definitely you...and you... well, you looked like you had been crying." Voss blinked at him, speechless. He happened to remember the day very well.

It was, among other things, the day he had started dying his hair.

        10 years ago today was the day that Voss's parents abandoned him. Maybe now, if he went back, they would accept him...maybe it had been long enough for them to come to terms with the way he felt. With that thought in his head, Voss brushed his long hair out of his face and took to the skies. As he flew towards his childhood home, he began to prepare a speech in his head. Words to try and be accepted, words to show his parents that he still loved them, and most of all, words to make them love him like they used to. Words with power, the power to change his life forever.

        When his mother opened the door, Voss began to speak. He had only gotten a few words into his speech when she cut him off with a single, heavy syllable.

"Voss." He blinked, closing his mouth and staring blankly into his mother's eyes. They were a deep violet, like his. Now, they had a certain steel in them - they looked cold, like ice compared to the warmth he remembered from when he was small. She let him stare for a few more seconds, just long enough for him to become uncomfortable, then opened her mouth.

"So. You want us to take you back." He hesitated, unsure of whether to conceal his goal from her until he had explained himself, then realized that it was obvious enough that it was his purpose in visiting - there would be no other reason for him to talk to them. Coming to this conclusion, his only response was to nod and to try to look as innocent as possible.

"Well, that depends...you remember why you left, right?" Voss decided to refrain from mentioning that he hadn't left, he had been kicked out, and nodded again. "Have your feelings changed?" He couldn't tell if she meant this as a good or a bad thing - he decided that the best route to take was to be honest.

" No. I still feel the same way, and that won't change. I only hoped that you had reconciled yourselves to my beliefs, and that you would be willing to accept me back home." With his words, his mother's eyes somehow hardened even farther, becoming like steel purple orbs.

"If that is so, then you will never belong in this family. Your beliefs are wrong, and there is no way around it." She glared at him, beginning to pull the door closed. "You are no longer my son."

        As soon as the door clicked shut, it was like floodgates being opened. Tears flowed freely from Voss's eyes, and he began to fly as fast as he could in the other direction, not caring where he ended up. All he wanted was to get away - not just from his parents, but from his home, from his memories, and from the pain they brought him. The happy memories that he had once cherished had turned sour and repugnant.

        The cold wind dried his tears as fast as they came, but he didn't stop crying. He wanted to change, somehow, to try and distance himself from the agony of his memories, but he didn't know how. As Voss fled, he passed two other. Valkyries. One of them, a raven-haired boy with dappled wings, looked about his age. Through the haziness of his sight, he could see mixed emotions in the hazel eyes of the boy; most of all, he saw curiosity and confusion.

          Later, although he tried to forget about the boy, he could not.

        That night, he dyed his hair for the first time.