Rogue. (IN REVISION)

27

"What about you Fallon?" he asked, turning the questioning upon her now. "You must have had a paramour or two."

"Pfft!" She burst out laughing. "No, not me."

"You're kidding." He didn't believe her one bit, who would pass up someone like her? He did see Fallon as a beautiful woman in general, it was hard to believe that she never had a flame in her life. He could've never imagined a life with out Indra...until now.

"No." She shook her head.

"Come on, you look like you at least had one man in your life."

"No. I've never let a man get that close." She stated, looking away from him. "The only man closest to me is my father." Her eyes seemed to shine when she mentioned Leo and a wistful smile curved her lips.

"Understandable." He gazed at her, slightly amazed. Fallon saw the look on his face, knowing something was on his mind.

"What do you want to say? I can see that you're holding your tongue." She told him.

Venner's eyes slightly widened at how attentive she was to his actions, and he thought carefully. "You're a beautiful woman, Fallon. That's why it's surprising...." he gave her a shy look and she carefully listened. "From what I've seen, you seem to be a very agreeable and independent woman. You're kind, compassionate and selfless." He confessed looking down, unsure if his forwardness would be accepted. Once he finally looked up, he could see her smiling, "Thank you, Venner. That's...actually sweet of you."

"You're welcome." Relief washed over him, thankful that she didn't take offense.

"I didn't let myself do a lot of things." she admitted.

"Oh?"

"How can you trust someone in a place like Desolate?" She chuckled.

"You find good things in bad times every day, I met you and Hawk." He bumped shoulders with her.

"I'll help you." She said, meeting his electric blue eyes.

"Help me what?" He asked.

"Find Clara." She looked out at the now fully risen sun. "I found my father, it's only fair. A daughter needs her father."

Venner was fondly touched by her words, there was that selfless spirit again. As much as she tried to show how tough she was to protect herself from the evil world around her, there was a pure and beautiful soul underneath.

"Thank you, Fallon. That means a lot to me."

"Good things in the midst of bad times, right?"

"Yes." He said with a lighthearted laugh. He stood and took one last look at the morning sky. "I think I should take your advice and sleep."

"I'll take my own advice...I'm getting tired."

Venner helped her up and they settled downstairs, sleeping in their beds.

Venner had a hard time sleeping through the morning, thoughts swimming around in his head of the countless possibilities of where his daughter could be. What if he was wrong? What if she was gone for good? What if she really was dead? Why didn't she come back inside that fateful day? All she had to do was run to him and everything would be okay. He wouldn't have needed to escape Desolate and find her, he wouldn't have had to worry every day about where she ended up. He fell asleep eventually, the thoughts silencing themselves once he had closed his eyes and allowed himself to rest.

A few hours later, Venner awoke and saw Hawk sitting at a table next to an open window in the house, eating a pearl. "Morning sunshine." Hawk taunted.

"What time is it?" He asked.

"It's midday...so I guess noon or one." He glanced up at Venner. "You and Fallon didn't come down from the roof for a while."

"Oh, yeah." Venner scratched the back of his neck. "Your sister just needed to talk. She has some strong anger towards-"

"The Divine? yeah, I know." He nodded. "She isn't a believer. I don't have any memory of her even opening a scroll."

Fallon stirred in her sleep, and she turned on her side before the men started to talk again. Venner checked on her before he turned back to Hawk, "I think she believes a little or wants to but refuses." He told his new friend. "It's as if she has hope but she hides it so no one can take it from her."

"Hmm..." Hawk looked over at his sleeping sister and nodded. "Sounds like Fallon."

Fallon stirred again and this time woke up to see the two men talking, her hair was a mess and she looked at them with a scowl, "Keep it down over there, it's too early to be awake." She told them both.

"It's noon, silly. Get up." Hawk told her. "Fallon, did you have a fight with a raccoon?" Hawk teased. "Looks like it won." He laughed. Venner covered his mouth to keep from laughing too. Fallon only scoffed and threw one of her boots at her brother. "Go back to sleep." She groaned.

"No, Fallon, I think you should go back to bed, you're clearly behind on your beauty sleep."

Fallon responded by throwing her other boot at him, missing her shot, and hitting Venner in the face. "Oh! Fallon!" He grunted out. The pain he felt was as if someone punched him in the nose. Fallon laughed at the sight, "Ohoho! Sorry."

"Yeah, you sound sorry." He said picking her boot up and throwing it back at her, getting a girlish squeak in response which was so uncharacteristic of her. The sound made him laugh out loud.

"Ah! Hey!" She laughed. She got up from the couch and looked at the men before her, crossing her arms. "Quit it or I will have to do something about you two." She pulled her boot lace from the ringlets, palming it in her hand.

"You started it." Hawk told her.

"I just wanted some peace and quiet but you two won't stop talking." She said putting her hands on her hips.

"What are you going to do about it?" Hawk taunted.

"Don't make me beat you up." Fallon advanced on her brother and Venner looked on, a little entertained. She looked at her brother and then to Venner, she decided to go after Hawk first, lunging at him and catching his wrist in the lace.

"Fallon!" Hawk tried to get her to stop but she spun around and trapped his other hand with the lace. Fallon tied a knot and admired her work; Hawk's hands were tied behind his back.

"Very funny, Fallon. Please get me out of this." He struggled with the bounds.

"No." She crossed her arms and snickered.

"Come on Fallon, untie me." He pleaded.

"What do you think Venner, should I let him go?" She asked.

"Don't involve me." He laughed, putting his hands up.

"You traitor." Hawk grunted as he tried slipping his wrists out of the tight knots.

"What? You're the one who woke up the beast." Venner joked. Fallon looked at him, unamused. Hawk smiled, seeing Fallon's face.

"What?" She asked, approaching him.

"Now, Fallon. Let's not get violent-" Venner said backing away, holding his hands up to keep his distance from her. Hawk came towards the two, close enough that Fallon snatched up the rest of the long lace, dangling from his wrists and trapping Venner's wrist in it.

"See what you did, Hawk." Venner blamed.

"What I did?" He argued.

Before Venner could notice, Fallon had already tied both of his wrists together with her brother's. Venner looked down and then to Fallon who was making her way out of the house.
"Fallon!" Venner called to her.

"Fallon, we're sorry!" Hawk yelled out.

"Your sister is not a morning person." Venner replied, struggling to get out of his bounds.