Chapter 3

One week later...

A frying pan flew by and almost smacked Talon in the back of the head as he was running from the thrower. Talon tried to nab a couple potatoes from him earlier, but the man saw him and Talon had to book it. 'Where the hell is Kavyn?' thought Talon as he dodged a spatula being hurled at him. Kavyn was supposed to cause a distraction at the store. That was their usual plan, but this time Kavyn didn't even show up, and Talon got impatient. Talon turned a corner and hid in the shadows provided by the buildings. The pursuer also turned the corner, but he didn't see Talon hiding. The man was holding a long, metal stirring spoon defensively. He walked right by, not even noticing that Talon was standing right there. After the man passed by, Talon quietly paced out in the opposite direction.

Talon made it back to the hideout safely, but he had an empty stomach and he wasn't able to steal any food and get away from the angry person. He sat down on Kavyn's bed and let out a deep sigh. He was angry at Kavyn for not showing up, but he was also worried, 'What if something happened to him?' Talon thought. And as if he knew Talon was thinking about him, Kavyn popped his head into room. Now Talon's just angry.

"Hey there partner," Kavyn said as he tossed Talon half of a potato, and he took a bite of another half.

"You ass! Where the hell were you?!" Talon snapped.

"What do you mean?" Kavyn asked, obviously confused.

"The plan? We were going to make off with some potatoes, remember?"

If there was ever a time where Kavyn would face slap himself, now would've been perfect,

"Oh, my bad on that one. I totally forgot, but look what I was able to snatch from a drunk person earlier," Kavyn pulled out a handful of gold and silver coins. "This must be at least two or three pounds of gold and silver in here. You should be happy that I came across this."

"I almost took a frying pan to the back of the head and a spatula to my back and you expect me to be happy?"

Another time for Kavyn to face slap himself,

"And besides," Talon continued, "how will we even be able to spend the gold? Practically the whole market knows us, and they would turn us in for thievery."

"Ah, but here is where I show you the second things I 'found'" Kavyn pulled in a cardboard box and took off the lid. Inside was a purple jacket with a hood, a pair of ripped jeans, black sneakers, black fingerless gloves and a red bandana, "Since I'm nice, you can have the cool clothes, and I'll just wear the other one." He pulled out another box, but this time, inside was just a plain brown cloak with a hood, "If we put these on, no one from the market would ever recognize us." Kavyn slipped on his brown cloak, but left the hood off.

Talon thought it over, 'It could work,' he thought, 'but if it doesn't then I-'

"You should put it on," Kavyn said, interrupting Talon's thoughts.

Kavyn grabbed the photo of the couple and their baby off the shelf and starred deeply into it as Talon slipped on the new garb. He put on a serious expression, which was unlike him to do. Talon, now dressed in the new clothes, (renegade Talon skin without the cape and arm-blade) noticed Kavyn's new expression,

"Who are they?" Talon asked.

Kavyn looked up at Talon, surprised at the sudden question,

"They're my parents," He said with a hint of sadness.

"What happened to them?" Talon pressed.

"Dead. Killed by the man they were in debt to..."

"It happened back when I was eight and a half. My parents loved me, maybe a bit too much. We lived in a small house not too far from here. Life was better back then. I didn't have to steal food just to live another day. Hah, problem was: my parents were poor, and in huge debt to some Noxian loaner. My parents couldn't find the funds to pay off the debt, and soon enough, we were getting death threats from the loaner that if we don't pay him his money soon, he will hire some henchmen to come and 'take care of us.'"

Kavyn took a brief pause before continuing,

"But my parents didn't listen, nor could they even do anything about it. One day, we received a letter saying that the henchmen are on their way, and that's when my mom brought me here, in this room. 'Don't come out until we come and get you,' she told me. She then handed me this photo of us and left to go back to the house."

Kavyn's eyes were slightly red now, but there were no tears. He rubbed his eyes before continuing,

"I waited for three days. Three days I stayed down here. I got hungry, because I ran out of what little food Mom gave me. So I left the hideout and came back to my house. All seemed normal on the outside. It's when I went inside, that I discovered the horrible massacre that was in front of me. Both of my parents were dead. Slaughtered by the people that were hired to kill us. I knew I couldn't stay. I knew that they would come back for me. So I went back. Back to this hideout that I now call home. They'd never find me here."

A small tear then ran down Kavyn's cheek,

"Ever since then, I've been living here. Stealing to survive another day. It's hard to believe that it has already been six years."

Talon, who had been surprisingly quiet the whole time, gave Kavyn a pitiful look. Talon never knew his parents, so he didn't really feel anything when he thought of who or what they were. What did make Talon wonder was 'why did they leave me on the streets?' and 'did I do something wrong?'. Talon saw Kavyn rubbing the tears off of his cheeks and then realized that pressing the subject any further will be a terrible idea,

"So enough about my life," Kavyn said with his usual, upbeat tone, "We need to test out the new clothes. Wouldn't want to have to go to sleep on an empty stomach."

"You're hungry already? We just ate half a potato each." Talon said.

"Hey, it's hard work telling my life's story. Besides, we need to stock up."

Kavyn grabbed Talon's arm and dragged him out of the tunnel,

"Let's hope this works," Talon mumbled.