OH MY GOD I'M ALIVE! AND... this is not my other story... damn.
I have and explanation! As I said, I played through all the Mass Effect games again... and then played Assassin's Creed for the first time... and played through all of those... then played God of War for the first time... then Dead Space... then played Bioshock Infinite... then like five other games... yeah, I have problem.
Part of that problem is that all the other games mutilated off my muse for Final Frontier, but it is slowly recovering under expert care, so don't worry... too much.
I also gained the idea for this story and had to write it down just to get it out of the way. I'm only posting this because it's there and it will let you know that I'm still out there somewhere. I have no intention to update this until I've at least gotten through most of Final Frontier... we'll see how that goes.
I will admit right now that I have not read anywhere near all the lore for League of Legends and I have only read the first five Harry Potter books and the rest of my knowledge is based purely off of fandom on this site, so prepare for the worst.
Also, this chapter was written in little pieces over the course of like a week, so it jumps around at lot in all senses of the word.
"Normal talk like this."
Posted: 4/5/2013
Word Count: 10,339
Brief Summary: Outlays the post apocalyptic world that this will be in as well as some of the main characters.
Chapter 1
A World of Disaster and Cowards
Normally when inside one of the dangerous arenas that were the Fields of Justice, sitting around and doing nothing would get you killed.
Also normally, one would be fighting when in a Field of Justice.
So it was safe to say that this was not a normal match, if such a thing existed.
Katarina Du Couteau sat on top of her team's center inner turret, cross legged with her head supported by her fist. She angrily blew a few strands of her crimson hair out of her face in an attempt to relieve some of her temper. It did not work.
She was itching to kill something, and you could only sharpen knives so many times before it got repetitive. If she did not see any blood soon then she would gut someone on her own team, three fourths of which were behind her somewhere.
"Oh stop being such a drama queen." The assassin did not even bat an eye at the sudden voice of her summoner inside her head.
"The whole reason I'm sitting here is because of your damn drama." Katarina grumbled. She then switched to a mockingly high pitched, girly voice. "Oh lookie! Two sisters are fighting, no one else is allowed to interfere!" She stopped and blew that annoying piece of hair out of her vision again. "Please."
"But people want a shooow!" Katarina nearly gagged at the disgustingly girly way her summoner said, er, thought that last word. "And what better show than two sisters, separated through war, and now forced to fight against each other despite their undying love for each other?"
Katarina snorted. How dense could this bitch be? One sister was easily one of the darkest sorceress ever and loved causing pain, especially to her sister. The other one had a huge stick shoved up her ass and probably refused to feel emotion to often because it went against her justice. There was no love whatsoever between those two. Getting tired of listening her her stupid summoner's overly dramatic ranting, Katarina used her foolproof method of ending their conversations.
"But mistress," She whined and had to fight down a smirk when she felt her summoner's emotions flinch in revulsion. The Noxian leaned back against the turret to make her barely restrained chest even more obvious, knowing that the other woman was watching her from somewhere. "I can give you a better show." Though Katarina had never bothered to learn this particular summoner's name, she did learn that the human female was highly religious, straight as an arrow, and incredibly homophobic.
"S-Shut up! I-I know y-you're faking it so s-stop!"
"Oh?" Katarina smirked and wrapped her arms under her chest and pulled up, making her cleavage even more pronounced. "But I would never, ever, ever dare to fake anything to you mistress."This particular summoner had once said that her attire was inappropriate. In response (and just to screw with the woman) Katarina went into the Fields of Justice in the kinkiest cat outfit she could find. If that didn't show how much she cared about what people thought about her outfit, nothing would.
"S-Shut up! Go back to s-sharpening those swords of yours!"
Resisting the urge to snap at the woman for calling her precious knives something as stupid as 'swords', Katarina shifted into an even more provocative position, uncaring that there were probably hundreds of people all across Valoran watching this match right now. "But I would never need a sword with you around, mistress."
"Shut u-up or you're n-not going to fight at all!"
Katarina's suggestive smirk abruptly turned into a scowl as she moved back into a sitting position, once again blowing the annoying strand of hair out of her face. In a last ditch effort to get the summoner to leave her alone, and also to get more than a little revenge out of it, Katarina used the temporary telepathic connection they shared to send the memory of the last time she masterbated. She was rewarded with a terrified scream that, while not the most enjoyable one Katarina had ever caused, was definitely in the top ten.
"Bitch." The assassin muttered with a smirk as she went back to watching the distant battle between the two angelic sisters.
The smirk disappeared however, when she sensed a sudden flux of magic in the air. Quick as a snake, she leapt off the turret and landed in a crouch, daggers in hand. Initially she thought it was the turret that was firing, but after focusing in on the trail of energy for a little bit, she found that it was coming from behind her. Whipping around, she saw that her team's nexus was acting funny. Now, Katarina was no expert in magic, having no ability in it herself, but even she could tell that it was bad when the large gem that was supposed to be blue was now black and looked to be melting.
"That can't be good." She saw the rest of her team, who had also been held back to let the sisters duke it out, were already running. Figuring that was as good an idea as any, she turned to Shunpo away, but did not get even that far as the nexus exploded in a great light and resounding thunder.
)*(_!^!_)*(
Katarina awoke with a groan, feeling great, which was not exactly a good thing. When inside of any of the League of Legend's buildings, all champions had their power suppressed to almost zero. To prevent conflict they say. The difference when in a Field of Justice was that the longer a champion fought, the more of their power they got back, but even at the highest level they were not allowed their full strength.
That Katarina felt so strong right now meant that she was not in any of the many League-owned areas. So, once again, not exactly good.
What was definitely not good was that her finely honed battle senses were screaming at her to move. A good thing she did so, as she got a perfect view of a giant spider lunging at the space she was not even a second ago.
"Elise?" The redhead could not help but voice. She did not know any other giant spiders, but as her eyes adjusted to the dark of what she now knew was a forest, she realized that the giant spider looked nothing like her fellow champion. Well, besides both being a giant spider that is.
The arachnid gave a sound somewhere between a hiss and a chitter as it stalked closer to its prey. Katarina arched an amused eyebrow at what was obviously supposed to be threatening. "Think you can take me on, do you?" She slipped into a crouch with her daggers that she thankfully had not lost held in reverse grip.
The battle prematurely ended however, when the spider spontaneously burst into flames, more specifically, blue flames.
"I was wondering if I was going to run into anyone else." A sultry voice purred from behind the immolating arachnid. "You look absolutely dreadful, Kat."
"Don't call me that." The Noxian said out of reflex, already knowing who the newcomer was just from the words. "And why did you do that? I was going to kill it."
The other woman stepped around the still burning spider corpse, the sway of her hips that was always present accented by her dress that could very easily be called slutty - not that Katarina could talk - and a glowing blue sphere floating lazily over her her hand.
"Of course, but could you kill all of them?"
Katarina looked at her strangely before looking around to find that the two women we surrounded by more of the giant spiders. Her battle hardened mind easily counted twenty-three in total, which was way out of her comfort zone. Not that she would ever say that out loud of course.
"Don't look down on me like that." Katarina shot back. "I would have no problem with these insects."
"They're arachnids."
"Whatever."
"Are you sure you don't want help?"
"... Ah, who am I to ruin someone else's fun? Kill as many as you want."
She giggled at Katarina. "Sure, that's exactly why you want me to help."
"Shut up Ahri... And stop tickling me with those tails! I know you're doing that on purpose!"
The fox giggled again. "I have no idea what you're talking about."
By now, the two women stood back to back (though awkwardly because of the tails one of them possessed) and the giant spiders had closed in around them in a circle.
"These things are such a disgusting sight." Ahri purred, her smirk growing ever so slightly. She snapped her fingers and half a dozen bright blue fireballs fazed into existence in the air her, each the size of a human head. The flames circled her almost lazily for a second, looking for all the world like harmless decorations, before they flew in all directions with breakneck speeds and uncanny precision. Much like the first spider, all the ones struck by the flames quickly turned to ash. "But fire is just oh so beautiful."
Katarina was slightly surprised by Ahri's true power, having never seen her before outside the Fields of Justice, and vowed at least put some effort into not getting onto her bad side.
Not wanting to be outdone, the Noxian darted at the first spider, moving so fast she disappeared to the naked eye. Her left dagger flashed and four of the beast's legs were severed. Her right one followed and the abdomen was cut neatly in half. A handful of thrown knives later and she had downed just as many spiders as Ahri.
"Not bad." The foxy woman allowed, looking up and down Katarina's blood covered form in a way that was impossible to tell if it was sexual or not. "Though you could do to be a little less... messy."
"Shut it." Katarina replied, moving on to another spider even as Ahri threw her essence orb in a form of attack. Ahri was easily the third most annoying person Katarina had ever encountered that was still alive. The main source of annoyance was that Katarina had no idea how to act around the fox. Being a trained Noxian assassin, all she did was figure out how to deal with people so that she could stick a blade in them all the easier. She dealt with that one annoying summoner by acting like the biggest lesbian whore in the world. She dealt with men trying to get into her pants by acting like an insane psychopath. The problem with Ahri was that the fox never reacted differently no matter what Katarina acted around her, annoying the Noxian to no end.
Back to the battle. Both assassin class champions zipped around the area with their respective speed techniques, one cutting the spiders, other setting them aflame. Though not as satisfying as doing the same to a person would be, Katarina still thoroughly enjoyed chopping the giant spiders into little bits. She enjoyed it so much that it was actually a little depressing when the last one fell.
"Well that's over with." Katarina sighed, wiping the blood off her face the best she could. "Now what do we do?" Ahri put a finger to her lips and hummed in thought, her many tails rolling her essence orb around behind her.
"Do you think there's an inn with a comfortable bed close by?" Katarina did not miss the suggestive look that Ahri sent her as she said this.
"Whatever." Choosing the highroad of simply ignoring the fox, Katarina chose a random direction and started walking.
"Oh poo, you're no fun." Ahri pouted as she followed her fellow champion to who knows where.
Seeing as Ahri and Katarina were both in Summoner's Rift when the nexus when kaboom, it was safe to assume that the other champions they were fighting with were probably somewhere else close by. Katarina decided it would be best to avoid most, if not all of them, if for no other reason than she could barely tolerate Ahri and did not want to deal anyone else on top of it.
)*(_!^!_)*(
Harry James Potter was many things.
But of all those things, there was one thing he was most famous for being.
A coward.
It had been many years since the terror once known as Tom Marvolo Riddle had died, if it could be called that. It had been just as long since Harry had last remembered being truly happy. Maybe that was the problem. Maybe he was not supposed to ever be happy and as soon as he had the happiest moment in his as-of-then short life, destiny decided to fuck it all up.
Way back when he was still considered a student and everyone knew the final battle with Tom was approaching, he had been in love. Not with one, but two beautiful young women. Even now, he was not sure how he enter a three way relationship with Ginny and Luna, but he never regretted it. Most of the Weasleys were uncomfortable with their youngest being in such a relationship (once they found out about it), but since it was Ginny's idea in the first place, they never could complained too much.
So Harry was happy. Even as he, Ron, Hermione, Neville, Ginny, and Luna hunted down the Horcruxs and ran for their lives at seemingly every waking moment, there was always a part of him that was little happy. There were tragedies, but somehow none of the six who ventured into the Department of Mysteries perished in the hunt. It was not until the final battle at Hogwarts that it happened.
Harry had died. Tom had killed him.
Harry came back to life. Death had chosen him as its master.
Harry killed Tom.
Harry had won.
But then, everything shattered. As one Dark Lord fell, another rose up almost immediately. Much like Tom, this new Dark Lord had the blood of an Ancient and Noble house coursing through his veins and did not have many, if any happy memories of his parents. Unlike Tom, he was a pure blood. This new Dark Lord was normal enough before hand, having positives and negatives, ups and downs. But recently he had slowly been driven insane, the change so subtle that none of his comrades realized it until it was too late.
This new Dark Lord's name was Neville Longbottom.
Apparently, Neville did not deal well with stress. So the events over the past year where he had been held prisoner, tortured, nearly starved, almost drowned, and chased for days on end did not go well together for the boy and they slowly built up and made Neville more and more unstable. To break the camel's back, he had been madly in love with one Luna Lovegood when he found out that she was with Harry.
Neville first showed his true colors when, as he, Luna, and Mrs. Weasley were battling Bellatrix LeStrange that Neville unleashed the Cruciatus Curse on her. And as the evil woman screamed, Neville laughed.
He laughed just like Bellatrix did sixteen years prior when she used the same spell on Neville's parents.
Then, when he looked at Mrs. Weasley and Luna, he saw that they were afraid of him.
He snapped.
Not five minutes later, the shell that was once the body of the innocent boy known as Neville Longbottom found Ron and Hermione trapped with Nagini bearing down on him. This had been shortly after Harry had finished off Tom, so the snake was the only thing holding the Dark Lord to the realm of the living.
Ginevra Weasley, who had just found the mutilated corpses of her mother and girlfriend next to that of Bellatrix, followed along the trail of blood with the intent for revenge. What she found was her friend Neville laughing over the bodies of her brother and soon-to-be sister in law. Ginny would have acted, had she not been given a front row seat to seeing Neville restrain Nagini and eat it!
Neville was eating a live snake!
Neville was eating part of Voldemort's soul!
It was impossible to tell which one of those disgusted her more as she turned and ran as fast as she could to the one person who needed to know about this right away - Harry.
He was celebrating, they all were. It was finally over. But when one of his girls ran out of the castle crying and covered in blood that was not her own, all joy left him. He met Ginny halfway and hugged her. She had just enough time to sputter out what she had seen with her mother and Luna, and what happened to Hermione and Ron when Cutting Curse came from behind. Harry had enough time to move them out of the way of it cutting through her neck. Sometimes he wished he did not. The spell cut through Ginny's left thigh, severing it, giving her a slow and very painful death as no medi-witch was nearby to help.
There was so much blood.
Harry was angry. More angry then he had ever been before. But with her dying breath, Ginny had said to run. Her voice had always had power over him, no matter the situation.
So he ran.
The last thing he saw before turning and running away was Neville stepping out into the sunlight, crimson eyes and pale, scaly skin. He was shouting at Harry to fight him. But Harry could not, would not fight.
Because he was a coward.
People - his allies in the fight against Tom - yelled at him to stay. But he did not.
Because he was a bloody coward.
Days later, Harry had returned to the castle to find that most, if not all the people he had once joined in battle had perished. He could not stand to look at them as he retrieved Luna's body and took it to the pyre he had given a funeral to Ginny with. Harry knew of the creation of Inferti, mindless, soulless corpses that do their master's bidding. He refused for there to ever be a chance of that happening to his loves. It would have been right to do the same with everyone else who died because of him, but he could not bring himself to look at their faces.
He had begged Death, his so called retainer, to bring Ginny and Luna back, but Death never answered. Harry knew why of course.
Because he was a god dammed bloody coward.
Even as the Dark Lord Archerious, the body and soul that was once his friend, rose to power and did what his predecessors failed to do, Harry never fought back. He never stood up against the monster that killed millions and brought the world to its knees. All Harry ever did was run and hide.
Because he was a GOD DAMMED BLOODY FUCKING COWARD!
Now all he wished was that he could die like every coward should.
)*(_!^!_)*(
Ahri gasped. "Look!"
Katarina did not need for it to be pointed out, for she too saw the break in the trees up ahead. After hours of walking through the indistinguishable trees and rocks, she could not help the elation that welled up inside of her as she picked up her pace to a jog just to reach it all the sooner.
"Hey wait up!"
Not caring if the other woman was tailing behind, Katarina burst through the wall of foliage, took a deep breath as the sun shone down on her after what felt like forever away from it, and looked at the area to hopefully get some idea of where she was.
Her small smile disappeared instantly, to be replaced by a look of horror.
Her foxy companion caught up, breathing slightly heavy. "What part of wait up don't you understand?" When Katarina did not respond, Ahri looked at her face and grew worried. "What's wrong?" The Noxian nodded forward, so Ahri followed her line of sight, and gasped. "What in the world."
It was a city, unlike any either of them had ever seen. The building looked to once reach all the way to the clouds, with easily hundreds of them in an almost uncomfortably confined area. They could both image hundreds, if not thousands of people bustling about the structures. The reason they had to image it was because the city was abandoned. Destroyed more like it.
Some of the giant buildings were toppled over, others shattered into little pieces, some even melted. But all of them were in ruin and overgrowing with plants, showing that whatever disaster occurred was long ago.
"I don't think we're in Valoran anymore." Katarina muttered, getting a nod from Ahri.
)*(_!^!_)*(
The steady trot of the horses and the sound of the tires was soothing. On the other hand, the goblin's angry mumbling most certainly was not.
"Will ya' keep it down back dere?" Jasper finally snapped at the much shorter creature. "Yer startin' to get annoying." The goblin just glared at him, before going back to whatever it was doing before. Jasper snorted, turning back to the road. "Damn goblins." A firm hand smacked the back of his head. "What was that fer?"
"No cursing in front of the children." His wife said firmly, their youngest soundly asleep in her arms even as their nine year old boy looked through a dusty old telescope, pretending to be a pirate.
"Yes ma'am." He grumbled, giving the reins a firm snap when the horses began to slow down a bit too much.
"Dad, hey dad! There are people up ahead." His son suddenly said, his telescope fixed forward.
"That so?" Jasper squinted and could make out vague forms on the side of the road ahead. "Well so it is. Maybe they gots somethin' fer trade. Ring fer a full stop." His son nodded happily and jumped off the side of the wagon, grabbing a hand held bell. The horses were only giving a slow trot and thus there was little chance of the boy being hurt when he jumped off. He then ran backwards, down the length of the caravan, ringing the bell to let all the other drivers to bring the forward momentum to a stop.
Jasper had timed it perfectly, his horses finally coming to a full stop within a few feet of the people. And, upon seeing them it took all of Jasper's sell control not to turn into a blushing, stuttering mess as he leapt off the wagon to talk to them.
They were two women - oh, they were definitely women - sitting in the shade of a large maple tree on the side of the well travelled dirt road. One had deep crimson hair that went all the way to her waist and was dressed in tight black leather that left her midriff and a fair amount of cleavage in plain view, emphasizing her large, cough, eyes. Her beautiful sea green eyes, one of which had a vertical scar through it. She had practically a full arsenal of knives all across her form. There might have had more blades hidden somewhere, but Jasper could honestly not possibly imagine where without his mind going into the gutter. Maybe in her combat boots, that's a safe place to think about.
The other woman was just as well endowed, and perhaps dressed even more scantily. She had just as long hair, only inky black and tied in a complicated braid. She also had her hair peaked up at the top of her head in what looked almost like large cat ears. Her bright amber eyes and dark whisker like marks stood out greatly on her pale face. She wore a red and white dress that rode a little too low at the top and too high at the bottom for Jasper's comfort, and the sleeves seemed to be detached. Her shoes were just as inappropriate for the road as the rest of her. She seemed to be sitting on an odd but very expensive looking fur coat.
Jasper honestly had no idea what to think about these two. One looked like she was ready to march into battle, the other looked like she was ready to join a strip club. Then there was the brightly glowing blue ball sitting on the ground between them that screamed magic, further complicating the situation.
The redhead looked at him with suspicion while the brunette just looked curious, though there was a definite seductive undertone that made Jasper hot under the collar.
"W-Well, what are two ladies like yer selves doin' out here?" He carefully avoided the brunette's look of growing suggestiveness.
"Down girl." The redhead told her companion her in an annoyed voice, before turning to Jasper. "We're lost. We have been walking along this road since those ruins down that way." She gestured the way Jasper's caravan came, and the man's eyebrows shot up. That was a long hike, easily five hours on foot. While the redhead looked like she could make it, the other one... not so much, especially with those shoes.
"Hey dad, who are they?" Jasper's son asked as he came back, his mom with him.
"Ah, where are my manners." The man said. "I'm Jasper, pleasure to meet you."
"Katarina." The redhead said simply.
"Ahri." The other one literally purred out, still eyeing Jasper with a look that he was not sure if he liked. Though it was very obvious what his wife thought about it if her narrowed eyes were anything to go by.
"Dammit girl have a little tack." Katarina said as she stood up, patting the bits of grass and dirt off her pants. "He's obviously married.
Ahri looked at her confused before noticing the other people present for what seemed like the first time. She completely ignored how the young boy was staring at her essence orb with a mystified expression or the glare the slightly older woman was giving her. Instead, Ahri's amber gaze locked onto the youngest person there - the baby girl in her mother's arms.
"Baby!" The fox champion squealed, jumping up from her sitting position and bent at the waist to get at eye level with the little girl, who was looking back with a adorably curious expression.
It was however then that Jasper and his wife nearly jumped out of their respective skins as the (what they assumed was a) fur coat flared out behind Ahri in a spectacular fashion.
Jasper sputtered out and was about to reach for his gun when one of the what he now realized were tails arched over Ahri and tickled his baby daughter, getting a squeal of delight from the toddler.
"She's so cuuuute." Ahri cooed, her remaining eight tails joining the first in tickling the little girl. "What's her name?"
Jasper shared a look with his wife. "... April."
"A cute name for a cute baby, isn't that right?" Ahri continued to play with baby April, and slowly smiles spread across the parents' faces.
Katarina was surprised by Ahri's behavior. She never knew that the fox had a soft spot for children. Then again, the fox always seemed to avoid fighting Annie in the Fields of Justice not that she thought about it. The Noxian also noted how the man, Jasper, had grabbed the gun he had on his hip and was ready to gut him at a moment's notice. But when he relaxed, so did she.
"Well by the look of things, ya don't have anything fer trade, do ya?" Jasper asked Katarina, looking at his family and Ahri out of the corner of his eye. As far as he could tell, these two women had nothing on them besides the clothes on their back... and a ton of knives... and that weird glowing ball that Ahri was juggling with her tails, much to the kids' enjoyment.
"No we don't." Katarina said with a frown. "I don't suppose we can catch a ride with you."
"Well..." Jasper trailed off uneasily.
"Can they dad?" His son was obviously enthralled by the tailed woman and her colorful sphere.
Jasper gave his son a pained look. "We don't have any room. We're tight on supplies too. I'm sorry but..." He trailed off. Katarina frowned but nodded in acceptance.
"But what about Mr. Hadrian? He has that entire carriage to himself. He looks lonely too."
Jasper sent his soon a suspicious look. "I thought I told ya to stay away from that man."
"I do dad." No one believed him for a second.
The father spent a few more moments to stare down his son before sighing in resignation. "Sure, yeah, we got one place ya can stay, but the company won't be the best."
"We can take care of ourselves." Katarina said with a smirk. Seeing all of her knives and having no idea what Ahri even was, Jasper did not find that hard to believe.
"Alrighty then, come on." Jasper led the two champions down the length of the caravan, his wife taking the children back to the head wagon with baby April waving a meaty hand at Ahri, who waved back with a smile.
The caravan was composed of a few dozen carts that varied in all ways. Some were large, others were small. Made of splintering wood or rusted metal. Wagon wheels or tires. Livable or storage. All were very aged and being pulled by various breeds of horses, though some more than others. Many people were loitering around, waiting for the lead wagon to start up again. Most were humans, but there were a few other species mixed in. Some goblins, a couple veela, a small group of centaurs, and even a lone vampire (not that he was outside right now with the sun up). Many stared at the two newcomers, most of the men having predicable reactions. Ahri retuned their curious looks and cat calls with waves and suggestive smirks while Katarina made a show of picking her teeth with a very large dagger, a disturbing grin on her face. It was obvious that many people were suspicious of Ahri's extra appendages, but no one called her out.
"So what are all you people doing out here together?" Katarina asked, eyeing a group of creatures that looked to be a human and a horse put together. They looked like a fleshy version of Hecarim, which she had no idea even existed.
"Just tryin' to survive and get to where we need to go." Jasper looked back at them. "Where'd ya say yur going again?"
Katarina frowned. "Ever heard of Valoran?"
"No, can't say I have." At seeing the saddened looks of the two women, he tried to raise their hopes. "But I'm not the most travelled person out dere, so that's not much of a surprise. What's there that you gotta get to?"
"It's our home." Ahri answered, slightly surprising Jasper that she could speak normally and without flirting. At least she decided to stop coming on to him, if only temporarily.
"There was a magical accident." Katarina said with a sigh and shook her head. "Next thing we know we woke up here. The fact that I've never seen ruins like those back there before is not a good sign."
"Magic eh?" Jasper muttered, his face darkening. "Definitely can't help ya there. Don't care much fer magic. There are a few people with us who could do a few tricks, but not much else." He gained a thoughtful look. "Maybe Hadrian can help you. I don't know how much he knows, quiet as he is, but he probably has a few tricks up his sleeves."
"What's this guy like, anyway?" Katarina questioned. If she was going to be living with someone for the foreseeable future, she would like to know more about him.
"Can't really explain it well myself. Probably best if ya just see fer yerself." He stopped walking. "Here we are." It was the very last vehicle in the long line that was the caravan. Not really remarkable by itself besides that it was old and wooden with matching wheels and no windows. It looked like it might be just big enough for three people to sleep uncomfortably in it and Katarina grimaced as she realized how tight it would be.
Ahri gasped quietly when she saw the beasts pulling it, Katarina matching her shortly afterwards. Attached to the front of the carriage were six horses unlike anything either had ever seen, looking to be made out of nothing but black, translucent flesh and white bone. They had large, leathery wings and sickly yellow eyes. The beasts stared, all of them, at the two champions in complete silence, unnerving them to no end. Jasper did not even bat an eye at the sight and walked right past them, to the side of the carriage, and rapped on the door.
The door opened and Katarina and Ahri got the first look at their roommate for the foreseeable future. He was fairly young, probably not even thirty, but his ragged hair and growing beard, both black in color, combined with his less than tidy appearance made him look much older. He was bent over a walking cane and not much could be said about his body or what he wore as he was almost completely covered by a thick traveling cloak that glistened in the light. His face was completely impassive, showing no emotion whatsoever. What stood out most though, were the dazzlingly bright emeralds that were his eyes.
The man, Hadrian, focused on Jasper first, then Katarina, and the Noxian felt a grudging respect for the man as his eyes held a familiar hard look of someone who had seen battle. When his eyes moved to Ahri, he did not even react to her odd appearance. The fox gave a purr and curled her fingers in a wave, but Hadrian's expression did not change at all.
The lack of emotion and walking stick reminded Katarina very vividly of Swain, someone who she detested with every fiber of her being. Hadrian better hope he never ran into her in a dark alley, lest he be mistaken for the cruel man.
"Alrughty Hadrian, these are yer new roomies." Jasper said without preamble, jutted a finger at the two women, and turning to leave. "Make 'em feel at home." It clear by his tone that he and Hadrian were not on the best of terms.
"I agreed to no such arrangement, Jasper." Hadrian said back in a quiet monotone, but his eyes kept shifting between Katarina and Ahri.
"Well to bad." The family man shot back, his patience wearing thin. "Everyone needs to pull their weight around here and these two need a place to sleep."
"I am the only reason that this caravan is still moving at all." Green eyes bore into Katarina's own, and she could have sworn for a second that there was a flicker of emotion, but it was gone before it could be identified.
Jasper grunted in resignation. "And all yur repairs are the reason that I don't kick ya away and take this self moving wagon fer myself." He threw a hand at the carriage, getting confused looks from the two champions, who looked again at the skeletal horses that were still staring at them. This carriage was anything but self moving. "But the fact remains that ya have the only sleeping space left in the whole caravan and these to lovely ladies need a ride." Jasper gave one last look at Katarina and Ahri, his expression softening greatly. "I expect the both of you to pull yer own weight around her as well, got it?"
"Aye!" Ahri gave a overly enthusiastic salute while Katarina just nodded.
"Good day." Jasper sent one more glare at Hadrian, who was finally looking back at him that that vacant stare. Figuring the matter was closed, the family man turned and left, muttering something unintelligible under his breath.
The three were now left in an awkward silence. At least it was awkward to Katarina. Hadrian seemed to be perfectly content to stare at the two women and Ahri was just as fine trying to eye Hadrian up and imagine what he looked like under that cloak.
"What are you?" Hadrian finally asked in that quiet, blank way that was starting to get on Katarina's nerves. He was looking at Ahri's tails and ears, making it clear what he wanted.
"I'm human." The fox giggled.
"You certainly don't look human with those tails."
"But they're so pretty." Ahri then did something unexpected, though with Ahri you learn to expect the unexpected. She turned around and shook her bum, er, tails at Hadrian for emphasis. This actually seemed to be enough to knock the stoic man out of his emotionless mask as he recoiled slightly in surprise. He blinked once. Twice. And then he laughed. It was a deep baritone sound, but was slightly strained like he never did it much. It seemed contagious too as Katarina could not stop a few chuckles from escaping.
After Ahri got over the confusion of being laughed at she puffed up her cheeks in childish anger. "What are you laughing at? Stop that!"
The laughter died down, but Hadrian continued to smile instead of going back to that stoic mask. "Been a while since I've laughed like that." He said, more to himself. He looked back towards the front of the caravan to see the other carts slowly staring to move again. "Looks like we moving again." Casting one last suspicious glance at the two champions, he sighed and moved aside to give them enough space to step though the doorway. "Come on, get in."
"Yay!" Ahri bounced, clapping excitedly, before darting inside the carriage. Katarina moved to follow, when the sickly yellow eyes of the skeletal, winged horses caught her eye again.
She heard Hadrian say something, but was to focused elsewhere to make out the words properly. "I'm sorry, what did you say?"
"Threshals." He supplied, getting a confused look in return. "That's what they are."
Katarina nodded and looked back at them. "Jasper couldn't see them."
"Only those who have seen death can." Katarina's head snapped back to find the emotionless emeralds staring back again. Katarina had no idea how, but at that moment, looking into his eyes, she could see how similar they were to her own, and she could tell he saw the same in her. Both of them had seen death. Both of them had killed. Both of them had done things they had come to regret, but knew there was nothing they could do about it.
"... Katarina Du Couteau." The Noxian introduced herself. "... an assassin."
"... Hadrian James." The man returned. Unwarranted, his slowly regaining stoic expression melted into a sad smile. "... a coward." Katarina's expression became confused and she opened her mouth to ask, when Hadrian stepped back into the darkness of the carriage. "Better get inside."
Katarina stood there for a few more moments in confusion before stepping into the carriage, expecting it to be a tight fit.
)*(_!^!_)*(
It was anything but that.
Katarina stood in the doorway in stunned silence, even as she felt the carriage began to move, courtesy of the threshals. Not believing her eyes, she leaned back out the door and measure with her eyes. Okay, the carriage was about seven feet tall, not including the wheels and fifteen feet long. That was fine. She leaned back into the doorway, purposefully ignoring Hadrian's amused look, and measured the inside. It was about, oh, fifteen feet high, thirty feet long, and thirty feet deep. And while it was clear he was not expecting guests if the piles of books and other bizarre objects she could not even begin to name lying around was any indication, it looked like there would be no space issue for them. Ahri was giggling and gasping excitedly, darting through the many doors in the room that, from what Katarina could tell led to rooms that were even bigger than this one.
There was a pause. "The fuck?"
Hadrian laughed again.
)*(_!^!_)*(
"There's only one bed, I'm afraid." Hadrian said as he led the two women down a hallway - yes, a hallway - flicking his hand that was not holding his walking stick every now and again, causing the piles of objects to fly around, though doors and presumably to their correct place. Katarina did not miss the sound of deadbolts sliding into place after the doors shut. "I'll take the couch in the library-"
"You have a library in here?" Katarina gaped at the man, who only chuckled.
"I'll take the couch in the library for now. The only rule I have is that if you find a locked door, don't try and open it." Reaching the end of the hallway, Hadrian opened the door there and held it open for the two women. The bedroom was spacious, if a bit spartan, but cozy enough. The bed was very large and, though katarina would be having to share it with Ahri, felt there would be enough space for them to keep their distance from each other... as long as Ahri did not get any ideas... better keep a knife under her pillow just in case. "Dinner usually happens around six, which is in an hour. I don't have any food in here so you will have to go to one of the other cars and eat with them. If they're nice they'll share some with you."
"Don't you have food here?" Ahri questioned with a tilt of her head, though her eyes kept darting between Hadrian and the very large bed and... was she drooling?
"Afraid not." Hadrian shrugged. "I don't see much use for it." The women looked at him oddly, but if he noticed he gave no indication. "But I am curious." He looked up and down Ahri, much to her approval. "I've travelled the whole world and I've never seen anything like you before."
"Wait, the whole world?" Katarina interrupted before Ahri could say anything, though it would have probably only been mindless innuendo. "Then do you know how to get to Valoran?"
"Valoran?" He tested the name out on his tongue with a frown. "I'm afraid I've never heard of that place before." At seeing Katarina's saddened and frustrated face, he tried to help. "Here, let's try this." He shifted his weight to his strong leg and held his walking stick out in front of him, parallel to the ground. "Point me, Valoran." Then he let it go, and the stick floated in the air for a moment before falling lifelessly to the ground. Hadrian frowned.
"What's that mean?" Ahri asked again, looking over Hadrian's shoulder and purposefully pressing her chest into his back.
"It means that either this Valoran is protected by something or does not exist." The man deadpanned, giving Katarina a look of suspicion. The Noxian met his gaze even, having no reason to back down. "... You should get settled in." And he left, his stick floating back to his hand.
)*(_!^!_)*(
Hadrian woke up the next morning and just lay in bed, thinking as the room wobbled. The problem with using expansion charms to make the inside of the carriage as large as he did was that it made every movement, like uneven dirt roads tend to do, much more noticeable. It was one of the reasons he never bothered to build a pool table in here. That, and he did not have anyone to play with.
While he did not need sleep anymore, it was still relaxing and allowed him to think better. Like about the two women he was now sharing his home with and how strange they were, and not just because one of them had tails. He had purposefully avoided them after the failed attempt at helping them, and locked all the doors besides the entrance, the bedroom, and the bathroom connected to it. Those two were fighters, that much was obvious. Katarina had muscles built for fighting and killing, and the amount of raw magical power Ahri had in that ball of hers alone was impressive. That they could see his threshals was just the icing on the cake.
They might even be able to give him a run for his money.
But what really surprised him was that both had somehow managed to get him to lower his Occlumency shields, something he had not done in years. Before he even realized it, Hadrian was opening the bedroom door, wanting to talk with both of them again, though he could not for the life of him figure out why. By opening the creaky old door he had roused both women, though Katarina was the first the open her eyes.
The two stared at each other in silence, and Hadrian felt his shields slipping as his brow twitched in annoyance. "Had you told me you two were like this I would have offered to soundproof the room... and not let you in my bed in the first place."
Katarina looked at him, confused, before looking around to take in the situation. The redhead was still wearing her leather outfit from yesterday, which must have been uncomfortable to sleep in, and was currently being spooned by Ahri, who wore nothing but a smile.
Katarina's eye twitched as well and she grabbed something under her pillow. "Ahri..."
"Hmm?"
"Get away from me!" Her hand came back out with a very large dagger that she swung at the foxy woman at with. Ahri, however, nimbly leaped out of the bed in a flurry of covers and pillows, most of which Katarina shredded through, causing feathers to fill the room.
"Aw, didn't you like it, Kat?" Ahri pouted as she avoided another strike.
"Don't call me that!" Katarina fumed, now with a second dagger that matched the first in her other hand as she continued her attack.
Hadrian's eye twitched harder as he was given witness to the deadly game of chase that was steadily destroying his room. Ahri finally decided that it would be best to hide behind Hadrian. Though why she decided to wrap her arms and legs around him so that her entire body was pressed into his back, was anyones guess.
"Please protect me Mr. Hadrian." The fox cooed from behind him, her chest pressed firmly into the back on his head. She then leaned down and whispered into his ear. "I've been soooo naughty."
The entire sequence had actually been enough to lower Hadrian's Occlumency shields sufficiently that he could not stop the blush from spreading over his cheeks. This woman was going to be the death of him.
... Actually the other woman running at him with daggers in hand and a crazed look in her eye was probably more life threatening now that he thought about it.
He simply pointed his staff at Katarina and she was suspended in the air by her feet by a silent Levicorpus.
Hadrian closed his eyes and carefully went about rebuilding his mental barriers to get them back to full strength, trying to ignore as Ahri began feeling up his chest. When she tried to go lower however, he quickly flicked his staff and suspended her in the air as well.
"Aw poo, you're no fun." Ahri pouted as she hung upside down in the air.
His carefully woven mental shields back up to full strength, Hadrian looked back at the two women with a blank slate of a face, not reacting to Ahri's lack of clothing. "Are you both quiet done?"
"No." Ahri immediately responded. Katarina just silently glared at her.
At that moment, the carriage gave a lurch as it came to a stop. Hadrian frowned. "We can't possibly be at the next town yet." He said, more to himself than to either of the two girls. He waved his staff in a complicated pattern and anger replaced his frown, only to be taken over by that blank look again. "Wonderful, Death Eaters." He released both of the women and turned away, using his staff as a walking stick to help his bad leg along. "You two should stay hidden."
Katarina and Ahri looked after him, confused.
"And put some clothes on!" They heard him shout back before the front door opened and closed.
)*(_!^!_)*(
There were three of them.
In Hadrian's opinion, that was three more wastes of space than this damaged world needed.
The leader of this little group, a male and probably still a teenager by the sound of the voice, was having a 'friendly chat' with Jasper. Everyone who was part of this caravan was either hiding or trying to be inconspicuous. No one looked the Death Eaters in the eye.
"So, where are you going, geezer?" The silver masked man teased Jasper, who was focused fully on his feet. "A big group like yours got to have a destination. What is it? Come on, you can tell me."
"... Lyon." Jasper relented.
"Perfect!" The Death Eater cheered, and the collective stomachs of every other person there dropped. "We were heading there ourselves. You can give us a ride!" If it was posed as a question, it was not taken as one by anyone.
Hadrian would have grit his teeth had his Occlumency shields not been up. All three Death Eaters had the latest and highest quality of Elysium's brooms in hand. They could have easily flown all the way to Lyon before noon. But no, they just wanted to pig out at the expense of the lower class.
"I'm sorry, sirs, but we're tight on space as it is. It would be very uncomfortable for you should you come with us." Jasper said evenly, keeping all vestiges of hope out of his voice.
The Death Eater's tone abruptly became harsh. "No space? No space at all?!" He probably would have spit had his mask not been in the way.
"There's space, sir." Jasper tried to placate him. "It's just that it would be a tight fit-"
"FINE!" The Death Eater snarled. His masked eyes then scanned around and focused on someone else. "Of course you're short on room, look at all the trash you're carrying around. You! Centaurs!" He pointed his wand angrily at the group of centaur that were part of the large group. "Go! Shoo! Go frolic in the woods or something!" No one moved. "I SAID LEAVE! AVADA KEDAVRA!" If nothing else, Death Eaters had good aim.
The remaining centaurs bolted into the forest, though one of them had to be dragged away by her comrades, kicking and screaming. She was crying.
No one dared move to do anything with the freshly made corpse.
Somewhere, they could hear April crying.
"There, see?" The Death Eater said in a much calmer voice, stowing away his wand. "Problem solved."
Jasper swallowed hard and clenched his fists so tightly that a few drops of blood trickled out from where his fingernails cut into his palm. Truthfully, that action was far more pointless than they thought. The centaurs were good people, if a bit annoying at times. They did not have their own car and simply walked along side the caravan for the company. Even with the half a dozen beasts gone into the trees or... indisposed of, there was no more free room in the caravan than there was five minutes ago. "... Of course sir. Make yerself at home."
"Excellent." The Death Eaters all moved, being given a wide berth as they moved towards the nearest car. "And learn how to speak!" The leader called back at Jasper. "I can barely understand you with that accent."
"... Yes sir"
People began to move around again, the women, children, and nonhumans purposefully kept away from the Death Eaters as they cleared out a random car by throwing all that was in it outside, not caring if any or all broke. Jasper carefully hung a silver flag up on the lead car, a few others following his example. The silver flags were a symbol to those in the the know to stay away, that Death Eaters were present. It was a common enough occurrence.
Hadrian gave one last emotionless look at the dead centaur before turning and walking away. He stopped next to a seemingly random tree. "I'm sorry you had to see that." He said. If Katarina was surprised that he knew she was there, she did not show it.
The assassin was leaning on the tree with her arms crossed, hidden in the shadow. "I've seen worse." She brushed it off.
"But that does not make it any easier." Hadrian lamented, before walking on, back to his carriage.
Katarina looked after him. "No, it doesn't."
When the two made it back to the carriage, they found Ahri, fully clothed this time, focused on the threshals. The deathly equines were acting up, getting restless. Their leathery wings flexed and their heavy hooves padded the ground. Hadrian walked straight up to them and started petting the closest one, immediately calming it down.
"What's wrong with them?" Ahri asked. Katarina already had an idea of what the answer would be.
"They get nervous when someone dies nearby." Hadrian said, already moving on to calm down the next one.
"Dies?!" Ahri jumped a little, her tails and ears going stiff. "Who died?"
"Felics." Katarina supplied. Ahri gasped, her hands covering her mouth in horror, her eyes became glossy. At Hadrian's look, the Noxian explained. "We ate dinner with them yesterday." She looked at her feet. "They were very nice and funny... and he could sing very well... The crying one they had to drag off was his mate." It was impossible to see Katarina's eyes with her head bowed, but Hadrian could tell that if she was not already crying, she would be soon. Losing friends, even recently made ones, always hit everyone hard.
He would know that better than anyone.
For the second time in as many hours, Hadrian acted without realizing it as he pulled both women into a hug, giving each a shoulder to cry on. Ahri bawled loudly, gripping Hadrian's cloak like a lifeline. Katarina was much more reserved, but he could feel the wetness forming on his shoulder as she returned his hug.
So caught up in the moment, Hadrian did not fight as his mental barriers slowly slipped away. He should have known better than to let that happen with so much emotion in the air.
"I love you, Harry."
He locked the shields back into place quickly, almost violently. Hugging two crying women was bringing back too many memories that he could not handle now, or ever for that matter.
None of them knew how long they stood there for, but when Katarina happened to glance up, she saw the rest of the caravan already leaving. "We should get inside so we can catch up." She was very proud of herself for managing to say that without a stutter.
Hadrian shook his head. "We're not going yet." At the Noxian's curious look, he looked her in the eye. "We have a body to bury."
)*(_!^!_)*(
Long after the rest of the rest of the caravan had left, the centaurs who had run away came back and, along with Hadrian, Katarina, and Ahri buried the body of Felics. The hole was dug in the forest, not far from the road. During the whole procession, neither Ahri nor Felics' mate had stopped crying.
It would be hours later as it was getting dark that the humans left the centaurs to head back to the carriage.
"We're not going to be moving tonight." Hadrian told them as they all sat on some chairs that Hadrian conjured up with a wave of his walking stick. As it was a clear, warm night they were sitting outside as the stars slowly came into view. "Give the threshals some rest."
"What happened to Felics, anyway?" Ahri asked suddenly. She had long since ran out of tears, but her eyes were still red and puffy. "Neither of you ever said."
"Death Eaters happened." Hadrian spoke up before Katarina could. "They're the... law enforcement, I suppose you can call them."
"Law enforcement?!" Katarina gasped. "I thought you would say they were terrorists or something!"
"They were terrorists, once upon a time." He said. "Still are as far as I'm concerned.
Ahri just looked confused. "Did Felics break the law?"
Hadrian shook his head. "Not that I know of, no."
"Then why did they kill him?"
He shrugged. "They wanted to hitch a ride, got angry, and Felics happened to be there."
Ahri continued to look confused, before it blossomed into understanding and disgust. "T-They killed him because he was there?" She looked ready to throw up. "He did nothing wrong! His mate is pregnant! He was going to be a father!"
Hadrian just shrugged, his face never changing from that completely blank look. "They don't like nonhumans. Everyone was just lucky that there was only one victim."
"Everyone?" Ahri echoed, before she gasped again as she had another epiphany. "That's right, you were there! Are you saying everyone else was there too?" Hadrian said nothing. "And they did nothing?!" She marched up to him and grabbed his collar, lifting his out of the chair. "You did NOTHING?!" Hadrian just stared back are her with that blank look. "Y-You- How could- Why- How dare- Everyone-" Her words dissolved into a senseless growl.
SLAP
Hadrian was thrown roughly back into his chair, a fresh red mark on his cheek.
"YOU'RE ALL COWARDS!" Ahri turned and marched away, ignoring Katarina's shocked look. "I'm going to go kill those bastards!" Her essence orb had taken on a bright ruby in reflection of her anger.
"They are not cowards."
The angry fox stopped and turned back to the man. "What?" She hissed.
"None of them are cowards." Hadrian repeated. "A coward is someone who has the ability to do something, but chooses not to because they are afraid. They were terrified, yes, but none of them could have done anything even if they wanted to."
"Well I can do something." Ahri snarled and turned to move off again in chase of the caravan.
"You will only make it worse for yourself." Hadrian's tone had never changed from his aggravating monotone. "Also, this is not your world, you are in no position to deal with our problems."
That last statement was so far out in left field that Ahri could not actually process it in a timely fashion. "What are you talking about?" Katarina asked, confused and even a little dreadful.
"Death Eaters are literally all over the world." Hadrian supplied, eyeing the two women evenly. "And yet neither of you had ever heard of them." He looked at Ahri. "You has a magical aura unlike anything I've ever seen. And trust me, I've seen every kind of magic out there." He looked at Katarina. "And you have incredibly exotic blades with a military mark that I can find in no book I posses." The redhead glanced at the Noxus emblem on her daggers. "I won't pretend to know what happened to you two, but you are not on your home world anymore." He let that sink in, and when he started talking again it was in a harsher voice. "These are not your people, this is not your home, this is not your world. There is no reason for you to get involved."
Ahri visibly deflated, her essence orb turning to a depressed grey. His words seemed to have been enough to placate her. Katarina however...
"Earlier, you always kept saying 'they' and 'them' were not cowards." She began, looking at her feet and keeping her eyes hidden from view. "And yesterday when you introduced yourself, you called yourself a coward. What is it you did? Or rather," Her head snapped up and she locked eyes with the pair of emeralds. "what is it that you didn't you do when you had the power to?"
He said nothing.
Seeing as she would not get an answer, Katarina sighed and stood up. "Dammit I know what I'm about to say will make me sound like a Demacian, but..." She blew a bang of red hair out of her eyes. "These Death Eaters have to go down, it's the right thing to do." She put a hand on Ahri shoulder and led her away, starting the long journey on foot to catch up with the caravan and - by extension - their new targets. She threw her other hand over her shoulder in a lazy wave. "Catch you later... coward."
Hadrian stared after the two women, a painful emotion welling up inside of him, but since he had his Occlumency shields up it was not strong enough to be identified. He looked up at the stars and sighed.
Something nudged his side and he started stroking the equine head that was trying to get his attention. Looking down at the threshal, Hadrian saw it had its bright yellow eyes focused on him.
"Don't look at me like that." He tried to reason with the beast. "Anything that will happen to them will be their own fault."
The threshal snorted and trotted away.
Hadrian looked after it for a little longer before his gaze focused down to his right hand, a ring with a old, black stone on the index finger.
"Should I..." He said to himself, taking the ring off and looking intently at the stone. "I've only used this once before, I don't even know if it still works." Slowly, a little scared, he turned the ring over in his hand three times.
End!
Well... yeah, that's it. I thought I did okay, but what dod I know?
Explanation time!
There was a match in Summoner's Rift (because that never happens). So far we know that Katarina, Ahri, and "two sisters who hate each other" were participating in it. At least one of the nexuses (nexsi? nexeses?) went haywire for unknown reasons, and at least two of the champions are now in Harry's world. If you couldn't pick all that up, no problem, I was pretty vague.
I tried to give both the girls in depth characters, but I think I made them too schizophrenic. If they seem that way to you, it's my fault.
Did I make Ahri too horny? Good. That's how she's supposed to be.
Did I make Katarina to nice? That was not my plan originally, but it sort of came out like that.
I bet you all were like: "Ginny? Since when does anyone actually like Ginny?" And then you were like: "Neville? Neville! How the fuck is Neville a bad guy? Neville's never a bad guy!" Remember, I have not read the last two Harry Potter books, so I don't actually know how Harry and Ginny got together. Thus, I have no negative opinion on their relationship. I also felt Neville being evil was more original than Ron.
The caravan is comprised of old cars and wagons being pulled by horses, mainly because oil would be hard to come by at this point. Again, I don't know if I made that clear enough.
Until Next Time,
- - Sorcerer of the East