A/N: A redo of an old story I had written a few years back. It's essentially a complete reimagining. As usual though, reviews/feedback is always appreciated and I'm always looking for ways to improve my writing.
Chapter 1: The Moonlight Assassin
Seasons had always been strange in Valoran. From Demacia to Noxus, sun-drenched summer days, blessed by the Solari themselves gave way to windy winter nights, heralded by a shimmering pearl moon; Here, the burning tides of Bilgewater had become a mere frozen breeze riding upon the eastern wind. Dancing along the moonlit streets of the pristine Crownguard district, the breeze flew intently towards its destination, guided by the sweeping wafts of leather on stone. For weeks he had been running, dodging and fleeing from every shard of misguided benevolent force that sought to trap him in a cage of iron and despair. For months he had been waiting, preparing, searching, for information on the mark, what and whom this job entailed, and for years he had been denying that this was ever necessary. Every cut, bruise and bullet he took, he thought to himself, 'better have been worth it.'
The security of the Crownguard's manor had been almost unlike any other; only the Royal family itself had matched this degree of precaution. To the Blade's Shadow it should have been easy; the cracks, though few there were, had been painfully simple to spot; a dash onto the ledge, a leap over the hedge and suddenly you were under the balcony of the most well known and supposedly well guarded woman in Valoran.
Like many things however, painfully simple came with a catch; Rising tensions between the city-states, a long-gone general and Talon's own disappearance only served to increase the number of guards around the complex. What was once a clear-cut dozen guards posted on each sector of the Manor has become a countless amount of guards, dogs and other strange and fantastical techno-maturgical instruments patrolling the entire grounds in unison.
The assassin reached into his pocket and breathed a heavy sigh
"A one way trip" he mumbled under his breath, opening the small velvet pouch he procured. A fine dust poured it's way onto his hand, hardening into a semi-solid, colourless pellet. With the final grain of dust, a familiar feeling of dread and nausea engulfed him; on the Rift, the applications of the powder had enabled him to perform his signature ability, the 'Shadow Assault,' without hassle. Outside however, Vanishing Dust had been an untamed and imperfect beast, plagued with various problems that could cause anything from a headache to instant death; Talon had used it very few times outside of a match, and each time had entailed some new illness or injury.
He straightened himself and readied his hand, slamming the pellet onto the crooked brick below him. In an instant he was engulfed in a magical field, clouding him to the eye. He raised his hands to where they would have been in front of his face and found nothing, confirming that the dust had worked.
To his surprise, infiltrating the manor had gone reasonably smoothly. The pellet's aftereffects had yet to kick in, the Dogs and Soldiers had been easy to avoid and the machines' sensors had been unable to discern him from the wind. A straight ledge and a short hedge later and only the target's balcony had been left to stand in his way.
He set his sights on the platform and jumped with a soft care, he did not want to cross blades with the person above nor want to dirty his blades with the blood of some poor guard posted at her bedroom door, if only because it would surely break them. It had felt like years since he had last set foot in Noxus and every smith since had not even come close to the quality of the Du Coteau's arms master's blades, all others had barely lasted a dozen kills and pierced only the dullest armour.
To his favour, the balcony had been devoid of life, only decorated with various trinkets on top of undeniably expensive glass furnishing. Oddly, the Balcony doors had been left open, and inside, lit by the moonlight, was one Luxanna Crownguard. For years, this seemingly vulnerable, innocent and light-hearted blonde girl had been the bane of his existence, the bane of the existence of hundreds upon thousands of Noxians and Zaunites. Around his parts, they had described her as sly as Twisted Fate, without the need for card tricks; as vicious as Katarina, without the need for a single blade. It was true too, she was all of this, possibly even more, but right now, right in front of him, was just an innocent young girl lost in slumber.
Of course, all this praise and accolade was from a long forgotten age, for since the League's introduction, she had taken her place among the legends and retired to a life of brawling on the Rift. 'A waste of talent' he had described it, out of all 126 Champions in the League she was the only one without a day job. Why he had chosen her had eluded him months ago, but he knew her talents were unmatched and would prove more valuable on the mission than an army of Runeterra's most expensive sell swords. As much as he hated it – If he could even convince her to join him, - a Crownguard would be both his greatest asset and only ally.
He stepped onto one of the stained-glass stools and crept silently onto the balcony's cold stage, careful to not alert any soldiers that would happen to be on the other side of the large ivory door behind her bed. For what was essentially royalty, Luxanna's room had been compact and scarcely furnished, it reminded the assassin of his own, only barely outmatching it in size. It didn't surprise him though, for a champion as ludicrously popular as her, home was probably an afterthought.
From the balcony he slid through the oaken door, careful not to open it in fear of the loud creak the particular wood was known for. The plan was to slither his way past her bed, across the room, to jam his blade into the bedroom's door and somehow convince her to join him in a civil and well-mannered way. The problem was that he was a well-known assassin and sworn, mortal enemy of the Crownguard family; civil and well-mannered are attributes already vehemently disassociated with him, but to the woman in front of him, they were unquestionably decapitated, quartered, thrown into the void and devoured by some abhorrent and hungry beast. The only course of action at this point would be to grab her and run to some cave far from any Demacian but that would undoubtedly prove both ineffective and fatal. These days running never held any positive results; killing some no-name minister had forced him to cross blades with Demacia's Wings mere days after the incident. Kidnapping a Crownguard would entail the mobilisation of the entire Demacian army, a guaranteed death sentence.
Of course, there was also the problem of the Lady of Luminosity herself. A powerful a mage as she was a spy, Talon had experienced her hard-hitting, blinding spells first hand. Now however, items restricting her power or the presence of health bars aren't there to limit Lux; outside of the Rift, a single 'light binding' would surely wound him severely, not even bringing into consideration what a 'Final spark' would do.
Time was ticking; he had already spent an unnecessarily large amount of time getting into the compound itself and now it had seemed like hours since he first entered the balcony. Dawn's light was quickly approaching and with it would come even worse outcomes than what presented him now. If time had not been so scarce, Talon would have berated himself, months of meticulous planning and scheming and he had not once considered what he would do when he got into the room; to him it had always been a large IF as to whether he even got into the room or not.
Regardless, he had to act fast; and so he continued on with his initial consideration. He skid along the foot of the bed and to the ivory door and readied his blade; With a swift finesse, the assassin jammed it forcefully into the wrought-iron lock. It was a skill he learned in his early years, where escaping was most necessary; if a lock is struck at the correct angle it jams and is rendered essentially inoperable. That would at least buy him some time when things went awry.
The Blade's Shadow unbuckled the blade from its latch on his wrist and slipped it off, leaving it stiffly jammed into the large iron lock of the door. He turned to creep back towards the other side of the room, when a pair of wide eyes in an unblinking stare froze him in place.
"That's not right you know."
Talon kept still, oblivious as to what to do.
"It's steel, tougher than what you've probably ever dealt with"
He grit his teeth, trying to hold back his ego. 'Steel just isn't Demacian standard' he thought to himself grudgingly.
"So what is it now? Are you a thief? An assassin? Trying to win my undying affection"
The girl removed her blanket and sat on the side of her large bed, letting her legs dangle casually off the side.
"I've heard it all before, trust me. You're not the first"
'It was all a game to her' Talon thought to himself angrily. 'It's why this was all too easy; she loves this. Probably get's it regularly'
"Hey, we're not going to get anywhere if you don't talk. Look, I won't call out to the guards if you just tell me something…"As if all her interest was drained from her suddenly, her attention turned to the pale moon outside.
"It's beautiful, isn't it" she mumbled. "You know, my parents have always wondered why I keep the balcony open at night, why I run the risk of letting guys like you in at night, but I just show them this. This huge, bright light in the sky that lights up the night."
"The moon" Talon blurted to himself, tired by the dramatics.
"Mhm, the moon." She said wistfully. "I know you're not just some suitor or killer or thief"
"And why is that?" He retorted, coming off as dejected and shaky.
"Because you would have tried by now, or at least moved from your place. You've been standing there, frozen as a statue since I noticed you. So who are you?"
"You know who I am," Talon said, feigning a broody tone. He was trying to hide fear, his nervousness. It was out of character.
"And by now you would have taken your blade to my throat. What Du Coteau…what Noxian wouldn't take the chance to stick a knife into the throat of Luxanna Crownguard?"
"I was never a Du Coteau" Talon shrugged, "and I doubt I could be called a Noxian anymore"
"You're still the best Assassin in Runeterra." Lux jumped from her bed, hitting the ground with a hop; "What's that thing you always say, that joke about losing a blade, tracing back all your stabbings?"
"Ugh…" Talon spat in disgust, "We both have pasts, both done horrible things in the name of, or against, our respective cities, but my work as a blade is over. It's been over for months."
The blonde girl strode to him,
"So why have you found your way, past all the added security, into my bedroom on this wonderful night of nights." She sighed longingly, "unless I've read you wrong you're not the type to covet the body of a woman, or a man, or anything for that matter."
By now Talon had been profusely questioning why he had chosen her over any other capable person in Runeterra. Akali, Nidalee, Katarina, all infinitely clearer choices that would have been easier to ally with.
Lost in deliberation, the Blade's Shadow had failed to notice the girl removing his blade from the door, only to jam it back into the supposedly correct spot.
"See," Lux called out, pulling at the door and snapping Talon out of his train of thought, "not even a budge."
"Why are you so…accepting?" Talon asked, still suspicious of her games.
"I told you, I get this a lot." She hopped back onto the bed, "and besides, I don't like getting people arrested"
Talon rolled his eyes, catching the last sentence. 'Bullshit' he thought to himself, reflecting back on the thousands she either personally killed or trapped in some dungeon to rot. He opened his mouth to express his thoughts, only to be met with a violently churning stomach.
"B..Bu..Bucket" he managed to get out, reaching for the girl's collar.
Lux frantically moved to dodge, grabbing her miniature tin garbage bin that sat on her bedside and throwing it to Talon, noticing that his face had been washed over with a shade of sickly green. Talon emptied his bowels for what seemed like an eternity before his guise regained the colour it normally had.
"That explains how you got in here so easily" Lux panted, laying back onto the bed, "You obviously know that Vanishing Dust can kill you, so why did you use it?"
Talon wiped his face, sitting on the foot of the bed.
"It's a long and complicated story." Talon reasoned, trying to gather what semblance of composure he could reattain.
"We have time" Lux mused, pointing to the now completely sealed door.