Hey there guys! If you know me and have read my previous works, welcome to another fic by me! If you're a new reader, Welcome!
This is a new story that shot into my mind recently and I simply HAD to write it. So I'll be writing this before my Vayne x Vlad story and before the sequel of my Zed x Akali story.
Anyway, this story centers on Talon and Riven in their Crimson Elite training days and how their relation develops through that. It'll also feature some interesting things.
Warning; It might be slightly AU and OOC in some cases. I'm a human being, I have my own interpretation of characters and things and though I try my level best to keep things as accurate as I can, I might differ in opinions. I ask of you, dear readers, to not completely go bat-shit crazy when something that is supposed to be green is orange in my story. Or anything similar.
The cover art of this story is titled 'Survive.', done and owned by the one and only Yosukii! A round of applause for him/her being an awesome person to allow me to use his/her artwork!
Anyway, without further ado, enjoy.
For Koneko-chan, who quiets the voices of insanity in my mind with her mere presence.
Crimson Hearts
Chapter 1: The Beginning of the End
He sat upon the bed, staring down at the floor, hunched over, his elbows on his thighs and his hands dangling between his knees. His long brown hair fell all around his face, curtaining it from the world around. He was one of the best assassins that Valoran had ever seen, yet this was something so daunting, he was having a hard time just to face it. Today was the day. The day he was going to apply for the Crimson Elite.
'Well… Apply was the wrong word to use here.' Talon mused with a small smirk as he stared down at the ground, the pressure upon him daunting. The Crimson Elite were supposedly the countermeasures taken by Noxus against the Demacian Commandos. Problem was, the Crimson Elite are supposedly going to be the best of the best, with such an inhuman training course that the predicted fatality rate was 99% among all of the inductees. And Talon, being such a skilled member within the Noxian faction was 'forced' into this by General Swain.
There was a knock at his door as he glanced at it through the tresses of brown falling around his head. He reached down to his boot, a finger hooking into the handle of a throwing knife hidden there as he said, "Come in."
The door opened and he tensed slightly, only to relax after seeing that it was Katarina du Couteau. Katarina was one of the constants in Talon's life. Someone he knew would always be there for him, someone he could trust completely to watch his back, which was a very, very rare thing. She was probably the only person Talon would trust his life with, aside from her father, Marcus du Couteau.
"Hey." She said in a gentler voice than she would normally use, knowing that Talon was a bomb with a feather-light pressure trigger at the moment. She walked over to sit next to him, as Talon went back to staring at the floor.
"How are you holding up?" She asked, as Talon took a few moments of silence before replying, "I'm managing."
Katarina stayed silent as she stared down at the ground too, her emerald eyes a lot more thoughtful than they normally were. She finally looked at him, putting an arm around his shoulder and pulling him in for a loose side-embrace as she said, "Don't worry about it… You'll make it… If anyone can, it'll be you." She said as Talon let out a small cynical snort. "You don't sound very sure." He said as Katarina stayed silent. He too, stayed silent after this, and they sat there, enjoying each other's company. If there was one person in this life that Talon could call a 'friend', it would be Katarina.
…
There was a large crowd. Much larger than expected. Talon stood uncomfortably in one corner of the room, trying to stay away from the crowd, yet they milled all around him. They gave him some distance; his signature bladed cape and arm blade warranted that respect, but with the number of people present inside the hall that they were said to gather in, they could only give him a feet of distance. And then, a voice echoed across the room, amplified by magic.
"Good morning, candidates. As you all know, you are gathered here today to apply for the Noxian High Command's secret Crimson Elite protocol. Some of you might have thought why so many people are present for it."
A pause. Absolute silence. Everyone was holding their breath.
"Others have guessed right. You see, there are about 500 of you but only 10 of you will be taken. Here is your first test, candidates. Prove yourself to be worthy of the top 10 spot. Survive and kill all others until only 10 of you remain." The voice said and for a few seconds, there was no sound or movement as everyone absorbed what the implications were. Then, all hell broke loose.
The people who were standing around Talon glanced at each other, then at him and decided to take him out. Talon swore under his breath as they all rushed at him, quickly jumping up and spinning around in midair. As he turned around, his left hand shot out at the people under him, throwing an arc of knives at those who had charged under him. Their faces looking up at him all proved to be an easy target as each knife found its mark, pronounced by an eruption of blood. As Talon landed, he crouched low, then spun around again, his cape whipping out around him, the steel at their edges flashing with deadly intent. Those who had tried to charge at him were instantly sliced up, and those who were smart enough to slowly advance were lucky enough to quickly backstep away. After his first spin, Talon had hooked his hands into the expanding shurikens at his belt. Latching the strings on one-handedly, Talon threw them at the men to the left of him, the shurikens expanding to their full size as they spun through the air like winds of death, slashing through anyone foolish enough to stand in its way. And then, Talon wrenched his arm to the right side, the strings going from his finger tips to his shurikens gleaming only for a moment as they went taut, before the shurikens followed in its wake, effectively slashing everyone in an arc around Talon. Talon pulled and then caught the shurikens with practiced ease, the rings and the retracted blades slick with blood. Talon himself was also covered in a good amount of blood that had splattered onto him, his purple hood dyed red in places where the blood dripped. The floor was already covered in a puddle of blood, coming from all the dead bodies already littering the hall.
And then, Talon saw a whole bunch of people still left. This was going to take a while…
… And take a while, it did. By the time only a handful of people were left and the last man fell, a sound rang out through the room. Talon was panting, gripping his side, where a sword had nicked him. Otherwise, he was literally covered in blood, his purple now a shiny shade of crimson as different hues of red from the new and drying blood intermixing dyed his clothes. He counted everyone who was there, count 10 with himself included. All of them were completely covered in red as well.
The door of the hall opened and there was a very audible splashing and dripping noise as the ankle deep pool of blood that had accumulated in the large room began draining out, the sound amplified in the deafening silence. "Congratulations, candidates. You ten have proven yourselves to be true Noxians. Now, we can begin our tests. And your next test begins immediately." The man said. "My name is Doctor Osvald Dimitri." The man introduced himself. He had short, spiky black hair, a long face with a straight nose and squinty eyes. He wore a lab coat that was from Zaun. "This is Corporal Vincent Everett and Corporal Sarah Hawkes." He said, gesturing to the two military soldiers standing next to him. Corporal Vincent was tall, with close-cropped dark red hair, a stocky muscular figure and stormy eyes. Corporal Sarah was shorter than both, but still quite tall as both the men were very tall. She had short blonde hair and piercing blue eyes. "We shall be the head co-ordinators and instructors of your Crimson Elite program."
"Your next test… Will be to sit here for the entirety of 24 hours. Without food. Without water. But, bear in mind that you 10 are among the strongest here as you have managed to fight through 490 other candidates to survive." Corporal Sarah said, her voice ringing with authority.
"Look at yourselves and at each other!" Vincent's firm voice rang out into the room. Talon narrowed his eyes, glancing at everyone else as they also glanced at each other. "Notice how you are all coated in crimson. This is the mark of acceptance. The mark that you have been accepted to become a Crimson Elite!" He said as Corporal Sarah looked at all of them. "Good luck, and may strength be with you, Noxians."
The doors of the hall closed just as one of the candidates cried out something, but the doors had already closed. Talon glanced at the man who had cried out. He looked in bad shape. He had lost an arm and was bleeding horribly from the stump.
"I-I-I need… I… Need medical help…" The man said in a panic, hyperventilating. Talon took a few moments to weigh his options. He walked towards the man, his steps echoing in the splashes of blood on the floor. Only a part of the blood had drained out, as the multiple corpses formed a sort of wall to prevent most of the blood from exiting the room.
The man saw him approaching and jumped, quickly holding his shaking sword out at Talon, who halted his progress. "S-STAY BACK! I'M WARNING YOU."
"Calm yourself." Talon said, feeling the eyes of everyone in the room on him. "I offer you a mercy. Your wound is serious and it is obvious they will not provide any assistance to you… You know what I offer." He said, his voice instilling a deathly weight of silence upon the room.
Finally, the man shook his head violently, still holding the sword up at Talon as he said, "F-Fuck off! I'm not g-gonna die! Stay back before I g-gut you like a little f-fish!" The man sputtered, struggling to even hold up his sword as the blood poured freely from the stump that was formerly his arm. A second later, the man groaned before falling to the ground, unable to keep standing anymore as Talon shook his head, turning around and walking back to a corner of the room. Reaching the wall, he sat down, leaning against the wall as he listened to the man's dying moans.
"You don't look that good yourself."
A female voice to his left uttered those words as Talon looked in the direction. He saw a woman hugging her knees, completely covered in red from the blood so it was impossible to tell her features. Only her eyes were visible as they looked at him, and for a second he thought even those were covered in blood. But no, they were a rich red color, similar to Talon's own red eyes. Her eyes glanced down and Talon followed her gaze down at his side, seeing the long gash. He smirked as he registered the dull throb that it gave. "It looks worse than it is." He said as the girl's eyes seemed to gleam in reply.
"A flesh wound. We've all had our fair share of those." She said as he looked back up at her. She had a huge sword, almost as long as she was tall, propped up against the wall next to her.
"Which division are you from?" Talon asked, catching the meaning behind her words. The girl seemed to beam at him for asking as she proudly said, "I'm the Commander of the 32nd squad. My name is Riven." Riven said, before adding, "You?"
"I'm not from any squad… Name's Talon." He said as Riven frowned. "Your gear looks too well made to be civilian." She muttered, glancing at his armblade as Talon smirked, turning his head around towards her. He saw her eyes widen slightly in surprise as his impassive red eyes became visible to her below his hood.
"It's best you don't pry, Riven." He said as Riven didn't reply, simply staring down at the floor. Talon glanced at the other people in the room, seeing they had also taken spots near the walls. Some, like him, had found a companion to talk to.
"How long do you think we'll have to be in here for?" Riven asked as Talon's lips twitched as the ghost of a smirk appeared on his face. "Seeing as only a few minutes have passed? Very long."
The chapter was a bit short, yes, but introductory chapters are usually meant to be short.
Next one will be a bit longer but don't hold onto your seats, as it usually takes me some time to get my lazy ass onto working on the next chapter.
As for my familiar readers, if any of you might be wondering about my other ongoing story, 'In her Icy Embrace', I'm afraid to say I can't give an exact date of when I'll update it. My Muse is what commands me to write and half the time, I do not know what I will write. I simply follow her flow when it comes and the results turn out to be awesome. Otherwise, I'm a ship at sea without a sail.
See you next time, dearest reader-kouhais. ~ Wings-Senpai