Flatline ⤞ Peter Pevensie [2]

ix

The silence of the castle was near deafening.
Fallon's every breath was soft, controlled. She was gripping onto Ayron's coat as he twisted between towers and columns, waiting for Edmund's signal. One of the throwing knives on her belt was half unsheathed, ready to be used at any second. The chilled air of the night swept past her as she circled yet another stone tower, the rest of the group doing the same not too far from her.

A sudden light caught the corner of her eye.

Fallon turned her head, noting Edmund's first signal only for a second before she turned towards Felix, giving him a firm nod. Returning it, the blond angled downward, shooting towards the ground.

Turning her head again, the brunette exchanged the same actions with Susan, who was flying close to her right, before looking forward and leaning towards the same direction her second had gone.

Peter, Caspian, and Susan had taken it upon themselves to eliminate the guards on their side of the castle. It was up to the Hunters to cover their own ground.

Fallon spotted a guard not too far from her, but she barely had the time to catch a glimpse of him before he fell to the ground with a thud, the sound of flesh being torn and bone cracking echoing its way to her ears.
Felix landed a few moments later, Crya stooping low so the Hunter could easily roll out of her grip, standing up in a single, smooth movement and snatch up his shuriken from the male's bleeding head.

Felix had once told her that he hardly ever used his throwing stars to kill, considering the fact that they were actually made to distract his opponents, and used his gold and onyx twin swords to make the actual kill. The fact that he hadn't moved in personally on the guard and had chosen to throw a shuriken into the man's head could only means one thing; Felix was nervous. Not scared, not panicking, but nervous.
A twist tied in Fallon's stomach. Something was going to go wrong with this plan. She could feel it. She knew Felix felt it, too. After hundreds of years planning wars and scheming hunting sprees in dangerous grounds, the two had built up a good sense of success and failure –and they were hardly ever wrong.

Fallon landed quietly next to Felix, the griffins now making their way back up towards the sky, hiding in the clouds until the two Hunters needed them.

It had been the brunette's idea, mostly. She wasn't going to risk Ayron's life, especially when she knew how hard it was for the griffin to control himself around Telmarines. He'd barely gotten accustomed to Caspian being around. But when she told the rest of the group, Felix had been the first to support the idea. The girl knew he would never say it out loud, or with simple, non-sarcastic words, but he cared about Crya almost as much as Fallon cared about Ayron.

The duo didn't even have to look at each other before unsheathing their weapons, Fallon throwing a quick glance towards Edmund's position in the tower. She turned towards her second once they made sure the section was clear.

"I'm going with Caspian to find the professor," she stated quietly, "maybe there's something in his study that can help us understand what they're planning on doing."

Felix gave her a look she knew all too well. "Fall–"

"I won't do anything stupid," she cut him off, twisted her ring dagger between her fingers. "I'll only go snooping if we have time. In and out. I promise."

The blond hesitated for a moment before finally giving in, nodding towards her before turning on his heals and heading the other way –towards Edmund's tower, then to the others. He knew that if anyone could distinguish a good moment to search and a good moment to disappear, it was Fallon.

The girl stayed low as she slid over the edge of the stone path connecting two guard towers, gripping onto any small hand and footholds she could find.

"Fuck you for being so flat," she grunted as she finally managed to get only a few stories above a balcony she recognized. Using her feet for balance, Fallon pushed her front away from the wall and twisted the balls of her feet, her left hand gripping onto the stone the second her back touched the cold surface. She barely took half a second to catch her breath before she let herself slide downwards, her left hand scraping against the wall over her head and her feet pointed towards the balcony.
She landed silently and made her way into the open window with no hesitation.

Peter, Caspian, Susan, and Trumpkin were already inside, but there was no sign of anyone else.

"Where's the professor?" She asked as she took her place next to the High King, startling both him and the Prince. Susan and Trumpkin simply looked at her.

"We don't know," the Queen replied.

Fallon looked between the four of them for a moment. When no one said anything, the girl furrowed her eyebrows.

"Great. So let's go find him."

Peter turned to her. "Fallon, we can't–"

"You and Susan can handle Miraz just fine," the Huntress cut off.

"That's what I said," Susan commented.

When Peter hesitated, Fallon put a hand on his arm, giving it a small squeeze. "I'll go with Caspian. There's some stuff I had to take a look at, anyways. I may need the professor for that. We'll get to the gate on time."

Peter took a second to consider before nodding. He knew the girl could handle herself.

Fallon turned to Caspian, and the two of them made their way out the study's door.

They walked silently, treading their steps carefully as they headed deeper into the castle, Caspian leading the way. It took them no more than a few minutes to get to what Fallon figured were the dungeons.

Caspian apparently spotted something –or rather, someone– because he beelined towards one of the cells. After a soft jingle, he threw the door open and kneeled down. When or where he got the keys wasn't one of the Huntress's concerns.

Fallon surveyed the dark room as Caspian helped the professor.

"Why would they keep an old man locked up in here?" She mumbled, partly to Caspian and partly to herself. "Or locked up at all?"

Caspian didn't look at her, but shook his head unknowingly nonetheless.

"What are you doing here?" The professor asked as Caspian uncuffed him. "I didn't help you escape just so you could break back in."

Once the professor was up he spoke again. "You have to get out before Miraz learns you're here."

"He's going to know soon enough," Caspian breathed. "We are giving him your cell."

The man grabbed him when he tried to run, Fallon watching the scene unfold from the bottom of the stairs.

The professor caught Caspian before the prince could make it to the exit, his tone deadly serious as he said, "Don't underestimate Miraz as your father did."

Fallon couldn't see Caspian's face, but something told her it was similar to her own; confused and already in denial towards what was about to be uncovered.

"What are you talking about?"

One look at the older man's face was enough to make Fallon freeze. Not out of fear or shock, but out of anger. And warning. She'd been in a similar situation once before. Her body had subconsciously gotten ready to stop the prince from doing something he'd regret.

"I'm sorry," the professor said softly.

Caspian didn't hesitate. He turned towards the stairs, blindly running towards the exit, needing to do something, anything, to make it right.

The Huntress, leaning against the wall, didn't stop him.

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HI HELLO I'M A HORRIBLE PERSON
i'm sososo sorry for not updating sooner but the
past few weeks have been kinda hectic
hOWEVER school's gonna be over soon and we all know
what that means
however i'm a dumb human being which means
i'll probably forget to update anyways

this chapter was actual hell to write and idek why
so sorry if it's bad and short and ugh