Extended note: If you like Roan, and you do since you're here, check out the TV show Black Sails! Zach McGowan [ the actor playing Roan ] is the infamous Pirate Captain Charles Vane in the show! He's a main character there and kicks ass big time. Not convinced? He walks around naked at some point. *wink*

The show is pretty cool on itself too. There was a comment on it [ not mine ] that went something like this: 'I watched Black Sails the first time for the testosterone, the second for the dialogue.' [ it also has the extremely hot, extremely mucle-y Billy Bones ( played by Tom Hopper) the charming John Silver and the Captain Flint]

OK, enough commercial :))

Hope you enjoy!

~ No beauty shines brighter than that of a good heart! ~

It took her four days to find another way out of camp. After she brought the grounder some food and a blanket she had to go to medical to get the cuts cleaned and bandaged. Abby was not stupid, so eventually she had to admit on going outside camp. Vivian kept the information about the grounder lurking nearby to herself, though. No need to panic everyone.

After the gap in the wall had been sealed and she received a good scolding for her apparent ignorance, not informing them about a potential breach, the weak spot in their defenses, Vivian was placed in kitchen duty. She hated it. It reminded her of the Ark, made her feel like the little orphan girl she really was. She wanted to explore the ground, to see new things, to spend her miserable live doing something she actually enjoyed. And she was dying to know if he was alright.

Every second no one paid attention to her, she searched for a way out. Octavia disappeared from camp, so there was a gap somewhere; she just had to find it. She scanned the wall and found none; she tried climbing over, but didn't have the strength. She even watched for the changing of the guards, hoping to make a run for it through the front gates, but dismissed the thought. She didn't want to get shoot at. Plus, she was neither stealthy nor nearly fast enough to pull that off.

It dawned on her that she was extremely weak. Physically. Lounging around the Ark, reading books and helping around the Archives did not prepare her in the slightest for life on Earth. So, when Chloe came asking if she'll join the training program with her, Vivian jumped at the opportunity. Somehow, her friend always knew how to cheer her up, even if she didn't know she was feeling down to begin with. It was not much: some running and exercises along with a few defense techniques everyone knew were useless against a grounder. But it kept her mind busy and she enjoyed spending time with Chloe.

It bugged Vivian that she was keeping secrets from her and, when she couldn't take her consciousness nagging at her any longer, she told her about the grounder. Chloe listened carefully, never interrupting her speech, her blank expression revealing nothing. She was scared for a moment that her friend wasn't going to support her.

"You're mental, have I ever told you that? Do you actually want to get yourself killed?"

"No, of course not. I just can't be cooped up in here when there's a whole world out there. On the Ark there was nowhere to go. Here, the sky's the limit." She paused for a moment, looking Chloe in her pretty blue eyes. "Are you not curious at all? About the ground? About the people that survived here?"

"I am, but the knowledge is not worth my life. Or yours! So please, tell me this has nothing to do with that mysterious grounder!" Something on Vivian's surprised face spoke to her friend and the blonde girl lifted her arms up in annoyance. "I knew it! Damn it, girl, you know nothing about him. He could be luring you to his den to eat you for all you know."

"Wh-what are you talking about? It's not like that! He saved me from melting in that lake."

"Yes, he did. And now you think he's different from his friends that killed our people. You got it in that little head of yours that maybe, just maybe, he changed for you. Snap out of it! People don't change out of the blue. He was probably after something." Vivian knew her friend meant well. She understood she was warning her about the dangers she was willing to ignore. But under no circumstances had she thought he had changed his murderous ways for her; she thought that, perhaps, he was a decent enough person to begin with. There was a difference! The still nameless grounder was a mystery Vivian wanted to solve, but he was not the whole reason she wanted out of camp.

"I feel stuck in here. It's the Ark all over again."

"It's because we are stuck here, Vi. But only because it's dangerous out there."

"It's not that bad. It's quite beautiful, really."

"Yeah, like the sparkling lake that you almost died in?"

"Even that. If you don't go in the water, it's still a wonder to look at. And there were these bright orange flowers that turned lilac when I touched them. And oh, I found this giant tree. And ruins from before the radiation; they're all over the forest." She wanted to be out there so badly. Only four days cooped in camp and the air was already feeling stale, like on the Ark.

"I have no chance to get you to stay put, do I?"

"Not one."

"Fine."

"What's fine?"

"It's refreshing to see you so excited about something… so, I'll tell you how to get out."

"You know a way out of here?"

"Keep your voice down! Yes. It's actually trough the kitchen. I'm surprised you hadn't found it yet." Vivian pursed her lips. She spent so much of her time sulking in there that she didn't consider that the wall she hung the pans on, was in fact the wall surrounding camp. She fixed a metal panel that was coming off herself; she could take it down just as easily. She jumped off her bed and latched her arms around her friend."

"Oh, Thank you! It means the world to me you're not against me g-"

"Oh, I am against you risking you life out there for nothing. But, if it makes you happy… You go, girl. Just make sure you come back too."

"I will, I promise." She got up and packed a few things: water, a small knife, some berries that Chloe brought and a jacket for when she would be between the trees again. She made her way to the kitchen; no one paid her any attention, she spent a lot of time there after all, as per her orders. She was careful to put the panel in place so no one could see the hole, but loose enough so she could sneak back in.

And, after four days of being trapped between metal walls, she was in the forest again.

Roan didn't know why he kept going back to the ruins. It was not like he expected the girl to be there, nor did he particularly wanted her to. He was not looking to thank her; she hadn't earned that, she had only repaid a debt. If anything, she still owed him for not killing her with every chance he got. And he most certainly wasn't planning to return her the things she left either; they were already stashed in his makeshift home. So why was he annoyed when he wouldn't find her there? Or anywhere in the forest actually. He had become accustomed to her roaming aimlessly trough the woods.

He blamed his interest on the lack of things to do. With nothing to trade for the lifting of his banishment, no one to spend his time with and no more kingdom to look forward to one day ruling, Roan was left with not much to do. He was too proud to seek his friends in the Ice Nation and he knew death awaited them if the queen found out. The sky girl was a distraction, something to occupy his time with, until he found his way back to his people.

Day after day, he would hunt, sleep, visit trading posts for information and think of ways to return home. But at some point, he would always find himself standing outside the falling structure where the sky girl brought him the curing roots He didn't even know her name, but he was still curious if she was still alive. Chances were she wasn't. Why else wouldn't she be exploring the forest with child-like wonder?

Four days after he had been poisoned, he made a decision not to go there anymore.

Vivian didn't know what she was expecting to find there. 'Noting' had been her first guess, but she was still disappointed when that was all there was. But it was a good sigh, wasn't it? No grounder corpse was lying around, so he must have gotten better and left. Right? Something could have eaten him, but then there would be blood. His fellow grounders could have found him and buried his body. There were hundreds of possibilities and no way on knowing if any of them were right.

Looking around the 'room', there was no sigh he was ever there. No bag, no blood thankfully, no piece of ripped cloth, no discarded food, nothing. She sighed a bit frustrated. Maybe she was going insane, maybe the air was not so radiation free, and she was delusional. She could have eaten something weird, like those small nuts everyone warned her about, and she was making him up inside her head. But that was just stupid. If he was a fiction of her mind her wrist wouldn't bear bruises from where he grabbed her.

She came back the next day, and the day after that and each time she was greeted by the same emptiness. She even went to the odd lake and spent some time there melting flowers and sticks. She was scared to go look for him too far. And there was really no reason to do so. He hadn't seem so particularly happy to see her that day, nor had he accepted her help without a second thought. Maybe he was just a wild, savage brute. With the manliest vice she'd ever heard.

Vivian though about leaving him a message. She even found precious a piece of paper and something to write on it with. But as the pen touched the pale fabric, she felt like an idiot. What was she going to write? 'Dear Mister Grounder, I've been coming back to this place like a mad woman. Where the hell are you? Are you even alive? Leave a sigh, if you please! Vivian.'

A sign! She could leave him a sign.

Roan didn't keep true to his decision. He kept away for a few days, but soon found his way back to the dilapidated building. He cursed himself for returning there when he saw it was empty and turned to leave. That was when he noticed the tracks. Small footprints running all over the place with no care that anyone could follow. She was alive, but still not present.

He didn't know what to make of the information, so he just left. It could have been a different person leaving the prints in the mud. Why did he assume it had been her? And even if it was the reckless brunette, she was probably lost and searching for her way back to her people. She should just stay put, behind the false security of those walls they had. The Commander was seeking blood and soon there would be no more sky people, but at least she wouldn't get herself killed by some spider or the fog. At least she would die with her people. Which was more than he would get if he didn't find a way to absolve himself.

The next time he went back to the ruins he found a plastic water bottle. He must have looked slow, staring at it as if it spoke to him. He took it at some point, stashing it in his bag and went to leave. Letting out an exasperated breath, he turned back and rummaged through the things he had with him. He finally set down in he bottle's place one of the three remaining red roots and left with a scowl on his face.

A soft tuneless song echoed through the woods, and he stopped in his track. Roan hid, not too deeply, between the leaves and saw the foolish sky girl hastily making her way to the abandoned walls. She looked alive and well. Maybe he should stop assuming she was so easily killed. He shook his head and restrained a chuckle. She had been lucky so far, but she was way overdue. He heard her gasp and run inside, picking up the small root. He grimaced at the loud giggling sound that came from her. When she came out, she was spinning the rood between her fingers. She left the way she came, singing just a little louder than before.

Frowning, he went inside and found a compass. He scoffed. Damn girl should have kept it for herself, he knew his way around those places and he could find North from the bark on the trees, something he doubted she knew how to do. He left, slightly angered by the small object he found, but not before he placed one of his knifes in its stead.

Ok, so, I'm super psyched about writing this. I do nothing but write and fuss about the following chapters [ok, I might have watched an episode of Lucifer in between...]. As a result, it might get a bit longer than the originally planned 5 chapters. Maybe 10? It depends on where I go with certain things… The chapters are short, so why not experiment a little with them?

And I really, really want to write something dark and a little twisted, but then I sit down to write... all these lovey-dovey moment pop into my head… I actually wrote the word 'cute' to describe the overall feeling of one of the following chapters [yes, I have a list of chapters and what they will contain… I like planning ahead like that. Sue me!] I don't want this to be cute! *cry*

Also... in my overly enthusiastic writing spree... I've already written the next chapter… should I post it? *evil smirk*