Twin Wind Swords at Dawn

Yasuo stared across the empty space to the person standing across from him. The woman who had killed his master. He pulled his sword out of its sheath slowly, a beautiful line of Ionian steel. With a stroke he would be able to regain his honor. He would be able to go home. The woman's white hair was caked with dirt and grime, just like her soul must be. Her sword was broken, just like Yasuo's honor. He would not hold back regardless. He would bring her body back to the elders. They would recognize the poster child of the hated Noxian horde. He would have justice.

Riven looked at Yasuo, the man who she had known for so long was now a complete stranger. Despite the years that had passed since that event, he had not let go. They had known each other for so long, she thought that when he mentioned the story of his elder being killed by wind techniques, she could tell him the truth. She had long come to terms with the mistakes she had made earlier in her life, and admitted as much to him. She thought she could trust him with that knowledge. She was wrong. "I don't want to fight you." Riven said quietly. "I want to move on with our lives, to be free from the guilt and shame of the past. Yasuo, I know I can't bring him back, but killing me won't fix anything."

"It will fix what matters." Yasuo said coldly. "If you won't fight then this will be over quickly." Swift as the wind, he charged.

Yasuo's blade sang as it swung towards the target of his loathing. She blocked it easily, but was too slow to counter before Yasuo struck again from a different direction. He was an Ionian Viper, striking from every conceivable direction with fangs of steel. Forced on the defensive by his righteous fury, the woman gritted her teeth in anger. Finally, his former friend was showing her true colors.

Riven blocked the first strike easily enough. She could have struck back but she didn't want to fight. She didn't want to hurt him. She wanted to talk, help him see. With any luck, and with proper ki control, she could hold out until Yasuo tired himself out. Then maybe he would listen to her. She gritted her teeth in exertion when she had to ki shield to block a sword from striking her in the flank, she saw now that she couldn't block his quickest flurries. She was not used to fighting purely defensively. Her preferred style was to rush down her enemies, using her ki to shield retaliatory attacks while cutting them down. Her stamina was not sufficient for long drawn out battles, and soon she was panting. Trying to shield errant strikes while blocking other was impossible to maintain. Desperately, she focused the ki she was using to shield herself, to blast Yasuo instead, stunning him as she turned to run to the forests.

The enemy stunned him before turning and running for the trees. A foolish move. She was physically stronger than he was, but he was much more agile. He grimly followed. He had thought with all the sparring they had done she would have known better than to play to his strengths. But desperation made animals do foolish things.

Riven ran through the trees, mentally sifting through various ways she could get him to stop attacking her and listen. Didn't he understand she didn't want to fight? She wanted things to go back to the way they were. She silently cursed, wishing she had never told him the truth. But she knew that if she didn't come clean it would haunt her the rest of her life. Every time she looked at him she would feel guilt. She had tried so hard to bury her past that she didn't understand at first why she had the urge to tell him anything. But she knew now. She had crafted a new image of herself. A person bound by honor and integrity. A memory flashed through her mind.

The night sky was clear, and a fire crackled and spat in the center of their camp. Riven and Yasuo had just finished eating, and she found him staring up at the stars. "What are you thinking about?" Riven asked.

Yasuo looked at her, and turned back silently without answering. After a bit however, he sighed and said, "Us."

"Us? I thought-"

"I do. I am just not used to feeling this way. For anybody. I've been living a life of distrust for so long. It feels... good to trust again."

"I'm glad."

"I don't want any secrets between us." Yasuo pulled a flute from his cloak. "I laid my life out bare for you some time before, and you accepted me anyway. I want the chance to do the same."

Riven smiled outwardly, but a deep pit formed in the bottom of her stomach. How could she tell him.

The memory was interrupted as Riven tripped over a root and slammed on the ground hard. She bit back a cry as she tried to scramble back to her feet. Her sprained ankle shot daggers of pain up her leg, and she leaned against a tree to steady herself.

Yasuo found that lying wretch by hearing her stumble, even as he flew through the trees quick enough to catch her on his own. He swung his sword fiercely, calling on his power to create a tornado to sweep her into the air for the coup de grace.

Riven saw the tornado coming and dived to one side to narrowly avoid. She threw up her sword as Yasuo burst through the trees with a sword swipe aimed at her skull.

Yasuo danced around her, using his superior speed and her injury to his advantage. She couldn't avoid or block forever.

Riven fought him off with desperate strength and speed. Even as her leg failed her, adrenaline kept her on her feet. But she couldn't avoid or block forever.

Riven moved her sword, exhaustion shutting down her body, to block Yasuo's overhand strike.

Yasuo feinted an overhand strike, then twisted and stabbed for her abdomen.

Riven gasped. Her body froze, in too much shock to respond to her commands. She looked down numbly and saw Yasuo's sword running through her. She looked up plaintively at Yasuo, her cold lips trying to form words. "Y...Yas..."

Yasuo expected, no, needed to look into his master's killer's eyes and see defeat, rage, even numb death taking hold. But he saw only the plaintive eyes of somebody betrayed beyond betrayal. He saw the eyes of somebody that had truly cared for him, and couldn't believe what he had done.

He saw the eyes of Yone.

Suddenly, with his honor so close in his grasp, he took hold of it, and examined it. He imagined himself bringing Riven's body to the elders, showing them the infamous Noxian soldier. They would believe that she killed him. He would be accepted. But then what.

What would his life be. Yasuo had never thought of it before. He had never expected to attain this goal, and yet it had driven him for years. He stood at the doorway to a future that he had forcibly opened, shutting another door closed in the process forever.

He looked into the doorway of his future. Without her. Without Riven. And realized that it wasn't worth it. She wasn't a liar. She wasn't secretly plotting to kill him as she killed his master. Everything she had said was true, and he didn't believe her.

In that one crucial moment, when she had laid her life out to bare for him to judge, he had fixated on one deed and had executed her for it.

He dropped his sword. And caught Riven as she fell.

"You... you were..." Yasuo tried speaking, but his throat caught with unchecked emotion. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I should have listened."

Riven looked up at him, or past him. He couldn't say. "You once... told me... you were an exile. Unforgiven..." Every word seemed to drain the last vestiges of her life. "But I..." Her final words were lost, transformed into a deep sigh as her life left her.

Yasuo held her close, tormented by the fact that he would never know her final words. "Riven..."

He stood up after what felt like hours, his legs cramping. He stood alone in the forest, and took her sword. He staggered back to their camp. He had sworn it off thanks to Riven, but now his bottle was all that could drown out the blood rushing in his head as his body was racked with guilt.

He would carry this to his grave.