Flatline ⤞ Peter Pevensie [2]

ii

Fallon sat outside the hut, her back against the tree bark as she twirled a small throwing knife around her fingers, the blond boy watching her closely. After a few moments she sighed, giving him a look.

"Felix," she started, "intensely staring at me isn't going to do much. I've calmed down, ok? I'm alright."

Felix shook his head, rolling his eyes at her comment. "You're not alright, Fall. I saw the way you were looking at that Telmarine. You would have ripped his head off, had I not been there."

Fallon looked at him, pain tearing in her gaze. Felix was the one person she truly trusted, the only one she spoke to about her feelings. The night that Kat died, they'd cried in each other's arms for hours, neither knowing how to deal with the feeling of losing someone so close to them. Fallon had often broken down in his arms, and he'd simply held her, or let her hit him until she was a mess on the floor, only to help her get back up later. They had nothing left, no one else that truly mattered other than each other.

"It's just..." the Huntress started, searching for the right words, "if he's running away from the uncle that wants to kill him, why here? For all he knew, there was nothing here but miles and miles of woods and darkness." She thought back to the conversation she'd overheard only minutes before. "He wouldn't have been able to survive on his own, with or without Susan's horn." That last sentence was almost painful for her to say. Other than Felix, the High Queen had been Fallon's best friend during the Golden Age.

"I know, Fall, I know." Felix said, going over to sit next to her. "I'll, admit, it's a little suspicious. But if you think about it, you had no idea where you were going when you ran away, either. His first instinct was probably to leave, and it's no secret that Telmarine soldiers never step beyond the borders of the woods."

Fallon rolled her eyes at the boy's words. Felix had the characteristics of always seeing things from a calm and logical point of view, and, as much as it could be helpful at times, it sometimes drew the Huntress crazy.

The two sat in silence, listening to Trufflehunter explaining what the magic horn was to Caspian –who had apparently tried to leave–.

Fallon took a deep breath, watching as the early morning light sliced its way through the trees, hitting the ground with a golden light and reflecting it onto the rocks and branches. It was a calming sight, really. It was peaceful. Something Fallon desperately needed. It had been so long since she'd found a way to keep her mind at bay. The war had changed her in ways she would have never thought possible. It was as though she had slowly losing her humanity as another scar appeared on her body, another arrow she'd had to rip out of a dead soldier as she ran out of her own, another dagger covered in blood that wasn't her own...
Something inside her had died the day the first war horn was sounded, as the first battle cry was emitted. No one can die and come back the same. And when the first Narnian fell to the ground, she died. Over, and over, and over again. She missed the days when she was just a girl from the countryside, always out and about and making a ruckus just because she could. Those days seemed so far away, and, for her, they were.

Suddenly, she let out a small gasp, a ripple of electricity shooting through her body, and she looked up, her eyes darting everywhere, her thoughts racing a thousand miles per hour yet her mind was blank, unsure of what was happening. She could scarcely hear Felix calling out to her, and his words fumbled before they even reached her ears. Her heartbeat slowed, and she could feel the gradual rhythm vibrate in her chest.

And then it was over. Her vision cleared, her heartbeat steadied, and she loosened the grip on Felix's arm. She hadn't even realized she'd been holding it.

"Fallon?" Felix asked cautiously, not wanting to startle the girl. "Are you ok?"

The girl looked up at him to see concern swimming in his brown eyes as he placed a hand on her shoulder. She nodded, taking a breath to try and calm herself down.