Rogue. (IN REVISION)

24

As Hawk and Fallon walked back to Leo's home, they stumbled upon the stream again. Hawk went to cross when Fallon held up her arm to stop him. "Do you hear something?" She asked. Hawk looked down at the stream and nodded, "Rushing water."

"In the distance." She looked downstream and followed the sound. Streams don't make such a loud sound. Do they? Hawk watched his sister walk in front of him, with no clue of what she was doing. "Fal?" he called out to her. Her pace started to rush faster into the woods along the stream that eventually got more and more aggressive and wider as they went along. Fallon's figure got more and more distant as Hawk ran towards her to keep up.

"Fallon!" He finally saw it and rushed through the thicket to get to his sister. She stopped and looked down at the beautiful view. They both had found themselves at the top of a waterfall.

"I knew I heard a waterfall." She looked up at him.

"You scared me to death all because of a waterfall?" He asked.

"We have drinking water now, Venner will need that." she told him, stooping down to look at the sight. If only Venner were here to see this. Hawk stooped down next to her. "We will have to make a filtration system for it." He told her.

"Thankfully I have a brother who's a genius." She smirked at him with her large green eyes.

"Okay, challenge accepted." He nodded, helping Fallon up and returning to Leo's home. Fallon rushed through the door to see Venner still sleeping and not making a sound. "He'd been asleep this whole time?" She asked.

"Yes. I prefer it over his hysterics." He shrugged. "It looks like he is doing much better. His veins have cleared a little and I heard his stomach growl as he was sleeping."

"Yeah, we have a couple of wild pheasants for dinner, I hope that's alright."

"Prefect." Leo observed his daughter's face. "You look worn out, let me get you a Pearl."

"No, Dad. I'm okay."

"Sit." He told her. She obeyed, the tone in his voice calling her inner child to attention as she obeyed. He sliced up the white fruit and set the pieces down in a wooden bowl before giving it to her. "You are paler than the moon, Little Wisp."

"Haven't I always been?" She chuckled, taking a slice of the red guts of the Pearl, and eating it. Hawk walked by and plucked a piece from her bowl before sitting down and biting into it.

"Yes, you have but I know when your energy has been drained. You get much paler."

"Is that even possible?" Hawk interjected. "Fallon is a ghost."

Leo took his daughter's hand and looked at the veins in her hand, "Yes, Fallon is very pale and it's hard to tell but when she gets this way, you can see her green veins clear as day almost as if she were transparent." Fallon looked at her father endearingly, He was worried for her. All those years of her not being able to be close to him and here he was still recognizing when his child was low in vitamins. It was as if time hadn't passed at that moment. He still felt the need to take care of her. "Thank you, Dad."

"I'll make sure you get an extra serving of red meat at the table. I don't want this to become a constant problem for you."

Hawk and Fallon merely nodded and chuckled to each other, he was picking up where he left off with them and they were enjoying every minute of it. Leo sent the birds that Faris killed to be prepared for the table that night. Faris sat down on the shabby broken couch next to Fallon, laying his chin on her lap.

"What have you done to my dog, huh?" Leo stooped down to see his blue eyes. "He's supposed to be a ferocious beast, but you've turned him into a little pussy cat." Faris placed a paw over his snout, hiding his eyes from his other master.

"Oh, he did a good job at protecting us today, he's still a killer." Hawk blurted out.

"What? Who did you run into?" Leo looked at the two protectively.

"Your nephew, Benedict has decided to stalk us."

Leo's face fell and he noticed the bruise on his daughter's neck, "What did he do to you?"

"He held a knife to her throat al because I made a device to deter Tompers." Hawk confessed. Fallon looked at him as if he had just betrayed her. He shrugged and looked at Leo, "He's been following us and trying to get it from us ever since."

"Of course, anything to make a bit of coin in this hell hole." His eyes were enflamed with fury. "If he ever finds this place, he is dead."

"Good." Fallon placed her bowl aside and sat next to Venner who had been sleeping the day away. She didn't know why she was so protective of the guy so quickly, she felt responsible for him in a way. She just wanted him to wake up and go back to normal. Of course, normal is nonexistent in the world of bots, drugs and violence...She just needed to know he was okay.

Leo came into the room and lifted Venner's shirt to see his blue veins fading fast, "He's recovering a lot better than expected."

"Will he last the night?" She asked.

"We will see. The next stage of withdrawal is Malnutrition. We have to get him to eat."

"Okay."

"Wisp." Leo looked at his now grown daughter. "You don't have to hold yourself responsible, you know. This was an accident."

Fallon shook her head, hiding a ghost of a smirk on her face, "Stop reading my mind."

"I'm amazed that I can still do that." He smiled.

"He doesn't have any experience defending himself, Dad. He came from the Lorem of Desolate, I should've at least taught him something before he came with us."

"Well, if you really feel like you need to take the blame, " He stood up. "When he is better, you can teach him." He advised his daughter.