Winters were always harsh in the city of Noxus, if the cold wasn't trying to rob you of breath, then you could guarantee someone else would try to rob you of it, one way or another. The snow was cruel, and it never stopped falling, it was freezing, for 5 months of the year, and the other 7 months? Rain. Humidity. That disgusting mixture between a modest, warm temperature and feeling like you've sweated out all the liquid in your body. A truly uncomfortable atmosphere, in conjunction with the hardest of people - the poor, the rich, assassin's, hit men.. You name everything bad in the world, and Noxus had it, even the pretentious rich families that dotted the many districts across the city.

One particular family, however, was a somewhat, unorthodox one, The Du Couteau household.

The eldest daughter to former General Du Couteau, Katarina, and Talon, a skilled assassin, perhaps the best in Valoran, perhaps even, the best in Runeterra.

Both were silently sleeping in their warm beds, comforted by walls and towers, protecting them from the dangers of the outside world, not that they couldn't protect themselves of course, however, a danger lurked the outside of the walls, in the shadows, creeping ever closer to entering the property.

Cassiopeia was no longer a resident of the Du Couteau household, she followed her own path, which consisted of her honing her curse, but Katarina was fast asleep from a night of heavy drinking with Talon. The danger made a false move, and landed themselves on the window ledge of Talon's bedroom.

He awoke, ears and eyes alert and screaming 'something isn't right'..

And they were correct. Talon lay still in his bed, still lying on his belly, sprawled across where he passed out many hours ago, hair in a mess, making every attempt to stay still, but the thing, or person outside of his window also stayed still, watching him, they knew if they were too loud he would awake, and now, they were testing him.

He was trying to make sense of what dim lighting the winter moon gave him, he was trying to adjust his eyes, but the alcohol was still in his system, creating more difficulty. From the double vision, Talon could see where the window panes blocked the small amount of moonlight in creating shadows on the walls, he could also see the shadowy figure on his ledge, but as he looked around even more, he could see an awkward mess of lines, which made no coherent pattern or shape, he was unsure if this was the double vision or not.. Until it clicked.

He left the window open.

The figure noticed it too, as they climbed up the small 4ft window, and carefully, gently, opened the window even more. It opened outwards, and the figure stepped inside, with an almost inaudible footstep onto the plush carpet.

Almost.

Talon pinpointed where the intruder could be, they were close to his feet, but of course, alcohol made it all the more difficult, nonetheless, Talon could sense the lifting of an arm, the small shift in weight from the enemy elicited a mouse-like creak in the floorboards, which gave Talon enough time to kick his legs backward and twist his body upright. The shadowy figure was knocked back into the wall that was Katarina's room, needless to say, it woke her up instantly.

She shot up.

Drunk and confused, she rubbed her eyes and stretched as the clambering continued in the next room. She removed the quilt from her, and swung her body to the side of the bed. She was wearing a black vest top and black jogging bottoms, she stood up and lifted the strap of the vest top back onto her arm, and walked towards the door.

She always kept a knife of some form tucked away in almost every crevice of the house in case of emergency, a trick her father taught her, one that would come in useful at various points, such as this, a break in, or a spontaneous knife fight with Talon, mostly the latter, however.

She reached her jelly-like arm underneath the table that was by the bedroom door and tried as best as she could to find the black-handed knife.

Bingo.

She sighed with a small smirk and promptly opened her door.

"I will gut you!" Talon shouted as he lunged his fist at the intruders hooded face, the person dodged it by jumping to she side, they grabbed Talon's wrist and twisted it, pushing him to the floor in a wrestling-like move, with such speed that even a drunk Talon couldn't react to.

They removed a piece of rope that was attached to a hidden belt, underneath the cloak, and tied his hands together behind his back, leaving Talon to fall to his side on the floor.

"Huh, not a talker? I can change -hiccup - that!"

The figure said nothing, only grabbed a dirty sock off the floor and shoved it in Talon's mouth. Only muffles were heard now. His hair covered his face, he could only see so much out of his long hair, and what he did see, was Katarina sneaking up behind the person.

She had second thoughts about starting a knife fight the moment she could no longer hear the bumping of fists, she opted for an ornament, kept in the lavish hallways, a steel miniature statue of Swain.

She swung her arm with great force, and bludgeoned the figure, what seemed like to death. They fell next to Talon. She didn't panic, it would only be one kill on top of another, instead, she checked their pulse.

Still alive.

Talon tried to talk, but it just sounded silly. She laughed, and removed the sock from his mouth.

"Ew." She picked it up with the very ends of her fingers, pinched it and threw it across the room.

"You don't have - hiccup - to be so rude you know."

"Not my fault you don't put your own washing away."

"Untie me."

Katarina looked him up and down, looked at how helpless he looked in his bed wear, his face covered in copious amounts of hair, it wasn't hard to see why she fell in love with him.

"Please." He grunted, sarcastically.

"I think.." She leaned down to him, placing a hand on his cheek.

".. I prefer it this way." She smirked, and gently placed a kiss on his lips. It was so tender, and Talon was unsurprised at the gesture, he responded and lifted his chin up, trying to get closer, until they opened their eyes.

It dawned on them that they were still, incredibly pissed. Both of them blushed, even though this had happened many a time before, even when they were both sober, they were still not used to these small episodes of affection.

She pulled him up so that he was on his knees, and cut the rope.

He rubbed his wrists and turned around to only see a sombre Katarina, looking disappointed, and embarrassed.

"Listen, Kat.."

She turned her head away as he reached for her hands.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done it."

"No, I was -hiccup- going to say that it's ok, it's fine. I don't mind."

The last part of the sentence took her by surprise, but Talon didn't react. He was still there, staring at her emptily with a smirk on his face.

"So who's this - hiccup - loser?"

"Oh, I didn't actually check."

Talon moved himself closer to the figures hooded face, whilst Katarina crawled over to them. She peeled back the hood to reveal a metal plate covering their jaw, and a mask covering the top half of their face, the inside of the cloak was red, a deep red.

"Who in the..?"

They looked at each other in confusion and tried to decipher where this person has come from, who they belonged to. The metal grate, black and red..

"This isn't someone from Noxus.." Talon slurred.

"They can't be from another country. That would mean.. War. There is a certain peace, for now at least.." She swayed as she was leaning over them, figuring out where they came from.

"Red.. Black.."

"Metal grate.." Talon continued.

Katarina tutted, and fell backwards onto her back.

"Order of Shadows. Zed's order."