Soar

Chapter 24

(Angie POV)

The morning sun shone through the open window, crisp air permeating the stuffy atmosphere inside. "Inside" was a bedroom, consisting of a large dresser and mirror, a closet, a door leading to a small bathroom, a bedside table, and a bed. On the bed sat what appeared to be a person. The person had short, raven-colored hair and chocolate brown eyes. He had his head resting in one of his hands, and a worried look on his face.

This could have been any average person, except for one crucial detail - this person had large, dappled wings sprouting from his back. This was, in fact, the soon-to-be chief of the Valkyries, the winged guardians of the heavens. His name was Angie, and the reason for the worried look on Angie's face was that in less than an hour, he would be coronated as chief.

Before then, Angie hadn't really given much thought to the fact. He had simply accepted it as it was, taken it in stride, as he had with most things in his life. Now, however, when what had before seemed like a crazy idea was about to become a reality, he was worried. His mind was working overtime coming up with countless possible scenarios in which he failed miserably a what he was supposed to be doing or embarrassed himself horribly, each vision worse than the last.

A knock on the door startled Angie out of his trance, and he slowly stood and dragged himself over to the door. Sighing, he pulled it open to see Voss standing there, wearing a suit and tie and with his long hair pulled back into a ponytail.

"Hi." Angie muttered, flopping back onto his bed with a groan. Voss walked in and leaned casually against the wall, glancing over at him occasionally. The concerned look on his face betrayed his feelings, despite his casual air.

"Angie, the coronation starts in half an hour, and you don't even have your suit on yet. Don't you think you should start getting ready?"

"I'm not going." Voss stared incredulously at him, completely abandoning all attempts at casualness.

"What!? But you have to! You are the one being coronated, after all."

"I told you, I'm not going. I've decided that I don't want to be chief."

"Angie." Voss pinched the bridge of his nose, obviously annoyed. "That's not something you can just decide. You are an only child and currently have no relatives able to take the throne, meaning that you are the only person who can. If you decide not to, it will send the entire kingdom into pandemonium, arguing over who will be the next leader. Angie, Valkyries need a leader, someone to follow and rally around - it's in our nature." Angie hesitated, considering his boyfriend's argument, then shook his head and let out a frustrated growl.

"But I can't! Don't you see, Voss? I can't! What if I mess up? What if I do something wrong? I have no idea what I'm doing here! This is all new territory for me, and there's nobody left to help me figure things out!"

"What about the council? They can help." Angie waved a hand dismissively.

"They just want a puppet, which I am determined not to be."

"Okay then, what about Jensen? He was very close to your father, and he was the one giving you classes on how to rule." Angie shrugged.

"I guess so, but he just knows the technical stuff. He doesn't know what it's really like, or how to deal with people."

"Then what about me?" Voss said softly. "You know that I'm always here to help you. I may not know how to be a ruler, but I do know you. I know you, and I love you, and I'm always going to stand by you, no matter what happens." He smiled warmly at Angie, then added somewhat sarcastically, "Plus, I actually have some common sense, unlike present company."