A Kat and Her Man - Ch. 1

AN: So, way back in A Boy and His Fox, I explained in the final chapter's AN that I had another idea for an ending and that I'd most likely publish it. Well, this is a spin off based off of that ending. While it's not canon in the ABAHF universe, it could be considered a timeline split ala Legend of Zelda. Some of you may also recognize this as being based off of the second chapter of Beauty is Love. I can't promise when I'll update this again, but I just wanted to get this chapter out there before it vanished from my head. -Kiba

I let out an impatient huff as I stood in the council room, arms crossed over my chest. I wasn't sure why they'd called this meeting, but I figured it had something to do with reprimanding me for something that Noxus had done. The League always seemed to have it out for us. "Katarina Du Couteau, good to see you again," one of the council members stated as they one-by-one winked into existence in their seats.

"Same," I blithely replied.

"I assume you're wondering why you're here."

"Assume whatever you want, I don't care." I knew I was being bitchy, but I was never a fan of the stupid smoke and mirrors that the League put up. We all knew who they were, what was the point of acting so secretive?

The man leaned forward, his stern gaze sharpening towards me. Even still, I didn't react. "Congratulations, Katarina, you will be working with a new summoner. While I may not necessarily be in full agreement, my colleagues assure me that your soul has become far more compatible with others lately."

The announcement made my body go rigid before I clenched my fist. "Excuse me?! Where do you get off just throwing me to a bunch of new blood. It is not my job to teach them…"

"Your job is what we tell you your job is!" the man boomed, cutting her off before the woman stood, placing her hand on his shoulder to settle him down. With a huff, he sank back into his chair.

"Katarina, do not misunderstand," she explained, "this is not a punishment. We are trusting you with this position because of its importance. The summoner you'll be paired with is...unique. It is the start of a new era for the League, and this is a test to see if it will function well."

"So I'm a guinea pig now?"

"No you are a proctor. He is the guinea pig," the older man responded, nodding his head towards the entrance. Turning to look over my shoulder, I was shocked to see a boy. He couldn't have been much older than fifteen.

"You have me babysitting?! That's even worse!"

The boy walked straight up beside me, ignoring my comment and bowing politely to the council. "Thank you for the invitation, Councilors. I am eager to prove myself on the fields of Justice." Turning to me, I simply glared at him. "It is also a pleasure to meet you, Lady Du Couteau."

I could tell that the words were whispered through gritted teeth and frustration. He was as unhappy about being here as I was, but still he tried to stay civil. "Ionian, hmm?" He said nothing, simply nodding my head, as if daring me to say something. A sly grin crossed my lips. I knew exactly how to make this one go running for the hills. "I suppose, if I must," I shrugged, turning away from him. "Come along, kid. I'll teach you the what's what."

"Kal." He hadn't budged from his spot. Turning to look back at him, I could see a strong defiance in his sapphire blue eyes. "My name is Kal." I let out a humph, turning away from him and walking once more through the large doors. Looking back to the councilor's he ran after me, falling into step behind me.

8 years later…

My heart was racing as I stood there in the Summoning chamber. The plan was a simple one. Magnus expected Kal to be with him there, unable to focus while standing so close to the man who'd captured his champion and lover. In order to counter this, he and I had switched places in secret, putting him in Summoner's Rift, a newly declared champion, with me as his summoner.

Needless to say, I was really nervous. I didn't use magic, never had. That meant that it was Kal and Kal alone who had to face whoever Magnus threw him up against. My eyes peered out from under the hood to look at my ex-lover standing beside me. He stood there, a cocky grin plastered on his face as he continued to say the most awful things to me about Ahri and what he'd done to her.

I was infuriated, but not for the reason he thought I was. Standing across from me was another Summoner: Magnus' underling. He was busy controlling Warwick while Magnus used his multiple channeled Sphere of Influence to control the other four at once. That was when I realized what his plan was.

"You monster…" I mumbled under my breath as Kal stood, standing toe to toe with Ahri.

Magnus chuckled, unable to recognize my voice. "What's wrong, boy? Finding it difficult to strike at your 'true love'? This is why you will lose and I will win. She doesn't love you anymore, Kal. She's mine, just as she has always been."

Kal's hand reached to his hood, drawing it back causing Magnus' eyes to go wide. "That's...that's impossible!" As he turned to look at me, I too removed my hood before in a single motion drawing a dagger and hurling it towards his partner just as he began to cast a spell.

He fell with a bloody plop to the ground, his sphere of influence rolling lazily between me and Magnus as our eyes met. "Surprise," I growled.

"You traitorous bitch," he snarled back. "How dare you do this to your Master? To your summoner!"

"Kal is my Summoner now. I am not your servant. I am not your pet. Oh, and before I forget," I quickly used my shunpo towards him, striking him hard in the chest with a kick as I rematerialized in front of him. As he stumbled back, I caught his Sphere and stabbed it with my dagger. As the light faded, I tossed it behind me. "Now you don't have any control. You're not going to hurt any champion, ever again!"

"So you're going to kill me, hmm? I doubt you have the guts. You were always a coward Kat."

With a grunt of rage, I hurled my dagger straight past his face, causing it leave a deep gash in his cheek that was sure to leave a scar. "My real summoner has taught me quite a bit, Magnus. Lesson one is that killing you isn't the only solution. It'd be far too easy of a way out for you. Instead, we're going to rip away everything you love and I intend to make you watch every second of it."

He just chuckled, wiping a bit of blood from his face. "Like I said, cowardice. And before you begin celebrating my 'downfall' you may want to take a look at how well your summoner has fared."

Right as I opened my mouth to spit another insult, the back of my mind sent out an alarming ping to inform me of the worst: Kal was dead. Turning back, I saw Ahri standing over his charred corpse and sobbing. Now it was my turn to laugh. "You think Kal is stupid? He has the ability to resurrect, you know?"

"Oh, I'm aware he does," Magnus replied nonchalantly. "But she doesn't."

An alarmed cry echoed through the rift as I looked once again to see Warwick, standing behind the shocked Ahri. His clawed hand had been roughly impaled through her stomach, remnants of blood and intestine stuck on it...in addition to something else.

Kal managed to appear and slay Warwick, sending him back to respawn, but by then it was too late. I could see his lips moving as he shook her, trying to ensure that she stayed alive. My heart was pounding roughly as tears streamed from my eyes. "How's that for ripping away what you love?"

I let out a scream of fury as I grabbed him and forcefully threw him against the wall. My dagger poised high I drove it towards him, stopping it just an inch from his chest as I trembled with fury and hatred. "You monster! You thrice Gods damned monster! How could you?! You told her you loved her! She trusted you!"

"That's her problem, not mine. Or at least, it was her problem."

I went to end him, but Kal's voice in my mind stopped me. "Kat! We need to end this quickly! If we can, I can use my magic to revive Ahri, but we have to end this now!"

"Consider yourself lucky," I snarled before releasing him. Connecting to my mental link that spread through the team, I announced to them all. "Everyone, we have an emergency! Warwick has killed Ahri and Magnus has disabled her respawn. We don't have much time before she dies for good. This is a rush job! Ignore hostiles and run straight for the Nexus."

As the four other members ran for their destination, Kal cradled Ahri in his arms. I could still hear him crying over the mental line before I heard one sentence leave Ahri's lips. "Kal...I love you." After that, she fell limp in his arms. I'd been around death enough to know, there was no coming back. She was gone.

Not even a minute later, the Nexus exploded into shards of crystalline fragments and a huge nova erupted from Magnus' damaged sphere. As it washed over him, he looked at me in horror. "What have you done to me?!"

I ignored him, however. It wasn't long until the champions teleported beside me, Kal still holding Ahri in his arms. "You're going to pay for this, you bastard," Kal hissed, clutching her tightly. "She didn't do anything to you! I promised her, I'd make sure you never could treat someone the way you treated her again, and I've made good on that promise."

Magnus snarled, raising his hand to cast a spell, only for it to fizzle just short of his palm.

"Your magic is gone Magnus. You're no longer a Summoner. What's more, as a Summoner of the League, I hereby place you under arrest for the murder of Ahri, the Nine-Tailed Fox."

"You don't get to make that call, boy," he snapped, but even still, just as planned, two representatives of the League teleported in, grabbing Magnus roughly and dragging him away. At last, the threat was over.

As silence flooded us, everyone filed out of the room one by one. No one knew what to say to Kal, and despite that we won, it still felt as if the whole world had crumbled beneath our feet. Walking to him, I hesitated before attempting to place my hand comfortingly on his shoulder. "Go home, Kat," he instructed flatly. "I"ll return there once I finish giving her a proper burial."

Shrugging off my touch, he turn and marched out of the room, the limp body of his lover in his arms. I couldn't even begin to explain how much I was hurting for him, which made me realize that if I was in so much pain...how much could he be in and how would he cope with it?

"Aunt Kat?" Annie whimpered, tugging on my sleeve. "What happened to Ahri? If she's dead...who's going to be my new mommy? Kal promised. He promised that he and Ahri were going to be my new mommy and daddy."

I shushed her, holding her in my arms affectionately. "I don't know Annie, I really don't know." The young girl began crying now as I carried her with me to take the long train ride home to Noxus.

I stood over the small mound of dirt that rested just above the ruins of Ahri's home. The seemingly endless tears still flowed from me as I just hovered over her grave. She was dead. I'd failed. Magnus, despite now being in League custody, as far as I was concerned, had won. He took away my true love...and worse, as I just discovered, the would-be mother of my children.

Laying the flowers over her grave, I cleared my throat, trying to say something, anything that would make this better. This marked the second, third, and fourth person that I'd lost since my adventure began. "Ahri," I whimpered, "I don't know if you can hear me or not. I...I've always struggled to believe in something like life after death, but even still, I really hope you hear me when I say that I love you, too. I know you, and I know you're probably telling yourself that this is your fault. You weren't strong enough or something stupid like that." Running the back of my hand across my eyes, my arm came back damp from the tears that refused to cease. "But that's not true. The person who failed was me, Ahri. I failed you. I'm your Summoner, I was supposed to protect you! 'Rely on me the way I rely on you', remember? Well it's obvious now that you chose to rely on the wrong man."

Despite that she was dead, the bright sunlight did little to mourn her passing. There was no rain or dark stormy clouds to show that a great loss had occurred. There was no rainbow or chirping birds to show that she would be missed. All there was was the chirping of the cicadas as they waited patiently to consume whatever scraps of my lover could be retrieved under the ground.

"It's bullshit," I muttered, sinking to my knees to stare at her tombstone. On it was etched her name along with the words 'There is nothing stronger than the love between that of a boy and his fox'. But that was a lie. There was something stronger: death. "Why you? Why didn't he kill me instead? He threw you away so why did he have to take you back?"

"Kal?" I recognized the voice immediately.

"What are you doing here, Lux?"

The flaxen-haired maiden sank down to the ground beside me before giving me a tight hug. "Kal...I'm sorry."

"Sorry won't bring her back," I snapped coldly, not returning her embrace. "Don't pretend that you're not over the moon about this. You never liked Ahri."

"How can you say that?"

"You didn't!" I knew I wasn't being fair, but I couldn't stop, I was so angry. "You wanted me but you knew you couldn't have me because she did! Well congratulations Lux, she doesn't have me anymore! She'll never have me and I'll never have her!"

"I know you're just saying this because you're angry…" she started.

I cut her off. "Shut up! You're just a stupid kid! Sure, you forced me to have sex with you, but you think that makes you a woman? Ha! You're just a little girl who can't find a lover unless you rape him." There was a fierce slap in my face before Lux quickly covered her mouth in shock.

"Oh my Gods, Kal. I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to…"

"Go," I ordered coldly.

"Kal…"

"I said, 'GO!' Get away from me! I never want to see you again, Lux! Do you understand me?! I hate you and want you out of my life forever!"

I knew she was heartbroken, but I didn't care. With a sigh, she nodded slowly. "Alright, Kal...I understand." Getting up, she began to walk back down the hill before pausing. "Kal?"

"What now?"

"I just wanted to say that...if I were Ahri, I'd forgive you. She knows it's not your fault that this happened. Despite that she's dead, she still lives in your heart. Whenever you are done mourning...if you do need a friend...please, do me a favor: don't come to see me. I just can't handle this anymore."

I said nothing. I should have, but I didn't. Instead, I just let one of the closest people in my life walk away and did nothing to stop her. After another hour of just sitting there in silence, I stood from her grave, dusting off my pants legs. I wanted desperately to just lay there until I was dead. Until I was able to join Ahri again, wherever she was. My mission wasn't over yet, though. I wouldn't be done until Magnus was swinging from the end of a rope.

"Kat?" My sister asked as I continued to stare at the clock. "Kat!"

"Sorry, Cass," I apologized, my senses returning to me.

"You're really worried."

"Of course, I am. Why wouldn't I be?"

She sighed. "I know we've never been close...but if you need someone, I'm here for you. You know that right?"

I smiled at my younger sister, weakly. "Thanks, Cass. I'll bear it in mind. It's not me that you need to be there for." She nodded in understanding, just as the door creaked open. I stood quickly, only to slowly sit back down when the face of Talon emerged from around the corner.

"Poor thing," he commented. "The young girl has cried herself to sleep. I know it will be hard for her to adjust to this new life." Walking into the room, he slowly set down a tray with two tea cups on it. "I thought you could use something to soothe your nerves," he explained.

"Thanks Talon," I murmured, sipping from my tea. Despite the sentiment, it did little to help. "I'm grateful to have such wonderful family. Right now though, I'd appreciate it if we focused more on Kal. I know he's hurting more than anyone."

As if one cue, the front doors opened, revealing the disheveled Summoner who stumbled through the grand foyer. As I went to talk to him, I nearly had to step back. He reeked of booze. It was as if he bathed in a distillery. "Hello, Kat. You stayed up?" His words were slurred and weak as he went for the stairs before I could respond.

"Kal, how much have you had to drink?"

"Not nearly enough," he groaned. "I'm shtill breathing."

Just as he nearly tripped over himself, I caught him in my arms, supporting his torso against mine. "What happened to you? This isn't how she'd want you to behave."

"What does it matter what she wants?!" Kal snapped drunkenly. "She's dead! She's not coming back so what in the Hells does she care if I drink or not?" I frowned, biting my lip nervously. This was not how my summoner acted. This was not the real Kal. "I've decided," he continued, "I'm going to just do whatever I want now. I"m going to drink myself into a stupor every night and I don't even care if I puke or anything. I mean, everyone's just going to leave anyway, right? So who cares what I do."

"What are you talking about?" I demanded. "No one's going to leave you."

"Lux did," he objected. "She told me that if I needed a friend not to visit her."

"That doesn't sound like something Lux would say," i murmured in thought.

"Are you calling me a liar?!" he accused, his voice raising to that of a shout. "That's an insult to my honor, Kat! I don't care if you are my champion, I'm not afraid to kick your ass." He weakly went to punch me, but I just stepped out of the way, causing him to twirl and begin to fall to the ground.

Again, I caught him, cradling him in my arms protectively. "Talon, grab his legs. Help me get him to bed. We'll watch him in shifts tonight, but I don't want him to be alone at any point, understand? I don't want Annie to see him like this either."

"As you command, Lady Du Couteau." Together, the two of us dragged my half-conscious Summoner to the spare bedroom I'd set up for him. As we placed him there, I began to tuck him into bed, his eyes closing slightly.

"Kat?"

"Yes, Kal?"

"I wish I was dead."

"Don't say that, Kal. If you were dead, we'd all miss you terribly."

"You're just saying that. I know you secretly hate me. You've always hated me. Ever since the academy. You killed my other friend. You only came to me because you were jealous of how much Magnus liked Ahri's sex than yours."

"Shhh," I hushed him, turning off the lamp beside his bed. "You're drunk, Kal. You're spouting off silliness now. Go to sleep. We'll talk about it in the morning."

"Fine," he grumbled.

As Talon and I left the room, he looked at me in confusion. "You killed his friend?"

I let out a huff. "It's a long story. I'm not happy about it and I wasn't really myself. Technically, it was Warwick who also killed her, but that doesn't change the fact that I helped him. I may not be able to take back what I did, but I can try to make up for it."

"You're a good friend, Lady Du Couteau. Please, try to bear that in mind."

I nodded in understanding. "I will."

"I've missed you, you know?" Talon commented as we walked together down the stairs. "You've been away for a long time. I was really worried. It started with the weekly visits. Then they became daily."

I grasped his wrist, squeezing it in request that he stop his current train of thought. "It's over now," I assured him. "That's all that's important." As my grip fell from him, he nodded in understanding.

"Would you care for a bath, Lady Du Couteau?"

"Talon, you're not my butler. If anything, you're more like a little brother."

"I appreciate you saying so, Lady Du Couteau. However, my place is to serve the family, so serve it I shall, be it by blade or bath." He chuckled at his own joke for a moment before clearing his throat. "Besides, I ask as a friend, not as a servant."

I let out a sigh of surrender before smiling dimly, "Sure Talon, a bath sounds wonderful to me. I'll be up in a minute once I finish the tea you made me." As he flickered from sight, I returned to the sitting room where Cass lay curled up on the sofa. "Sorry about that, Cass. I didn't mean to interrupt our conversation."

Cass smirked as she sipped her tea. "You've changed a lot."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, look at you! Cold, bloodthirsty, blade of Noxus. The thought of taking a bath would have been abhorrent to you not even a few years ago. And you certainly wouldn't apologize for interrupting a conversation." Her hand extended outwards to point to the cup in my hands. "You're even drinking tea with your pinky out!"

Now that she'd pointed it out, I shyly tucked it back beneath my other fingers. I hadn't even realized that I'd begun that strange habit. "Still...those are just small things."

"Maybe by themselves, but you are different now. It's a good change, Kat." She paused, raising her tea to her lips. "But that's none of my business."

"I'm glad you think so, but it still scares me," I retorted. "I don't like the thought of going soft. The whole, feminine noble thing was always your forte, not mine. You've changed yourself, you know? You used to always be so gloomy, but now it feels like you're hardly ever without a smile on your face." Noting the color on her cheeks, a smile spread across my lips as well. "Oh! You have a crush!"

"Do not!"

"Do so!" I teased, sliding closer to her to prod her playfully in the sides. "Cass has a crush on a boy! Come on, tell me who!"

"No," she squealed giggling as her sister attempted to tickle the information from her. "I don't want to."

"Oh ho! So you do have a crush! Now I have to know! It's not Talon is it?"

"Ew! No, he's like our brother. No it's that magician that Dad hired for me forever ago to cheer me up."

"That little kid? Cass…"

"He's not a little kid anymore!" she protested. "I mean...he's a teenager now, at least."

I sighed, withdrawing from her. "Cass, you're seventeen. You're nearly an adult now."

"I am an adult," she protested. "I've been courting since I first came of age when I was ten if you recall."

"That's not my concern," I tried.

"Then what is your concern? So he's four years younger than me. Who cares?! Dad married Mom and they were ten years apart."

"Look, I can't explain to you, okay? But it's different when you're older. Right now, it comes off as creepy, possibly criminal."

"Shut up, Kat. No one asked you," she hissed. "This is why I didn't want to tell you."

My heart sank before I slid closer to her, wrapping my arms around her shoulders and hugging her tightly.

"What are you doing?" Cass asked confused.

"It's called a 'hug', Cass."

"Shut up. I know what a hug is. Why are you hugging me?"

I smiled at her before kissing her cheek playfully. "Because I didn't do it enough when we were younger, so I'm making up for it now. I tell you what, your crush, your life. I won't stand in the way if you pursue it."

"Pursue it? No, no, no. I can't tell him, are you crazy?!"

"Why not?"

"Umm, hello?" Her tail whipped back and forth. "You know, half snake? He's not going to go after someone as ugly as me."

"Nonsense. You're not ugly, Cass. I, for one, still think you're plenty beautiful."

"You're an idiot," she sighed. "Hey, isn't Talon making you a bath? You should probably go."

I looked up to the ceiling, to hear that sure enough, the water had stopped running. Releasing her from my embrace, I stood with a grin. "Fine, you're off the hook...for now. Tomorrow morning, I expect to hear all about him, understood?"

Cass rolled her eyes. "Fine."

After finally sinking into the warm sudsy water, I smiled feeling the ripples lap away at the stress of my body. When was the last time that I'd taken some time to just relax? There was a knock at the door and covering myself, I called to whoever it was to come in. "Aunt Kat?" Annie's voice called out.

Relaxing, I turned over to smile at her. "What's wrong sweetie? Did you have a bad dream?"

"Kal's throwing up a lot."

I sighed softly. "Yeah, your daddy isn't feeling so well. I tell you what. You run back to bed, okay? I'll take care of it."

"Okay," she whispered, just standing there.

"Something else?"

"Why do you have such big boobs?"

I blinked in surprise. That question had come out of nowhere. "Well...probably because my mommy had big boobs, so now I have big boobs. And if the man I marry has a mommy with big boobs, then our daughter would have big boobs too. Out of curiosity, why do you ask?"

"Dad was talking about in a funny voice when he was throwing up. He kept talking about how he was going to miss them and their pet kitty."

Right then, it looked like my relaxation time was over. Standing up, I wrapped a towel around myself. Second priority: soundproofing Kal's room. First: making sure he didn't drown in a puddle of his own vomit. "Go ahead and go back to bed Annie. I'll take care of him, okay?"

"Thanks Aunt Kat."

As I opened the door, I found Kal huddled over a trash can, clearly out of his mine as he rambled between retches. "Oh Kal, you damned fool," I grumbled, sitting on my knees beside him and stroking his back.

"Huh? Oh, hi Kat. I don't want sex. I'm married, you know?"

"Kal, you're not married and I don't want sex."

"You don't? I'd be a catch, I'll…" he paused to vomit into the trashcan once more, "have you know."

"Yes, Kal. Every woman wants a man who will vomit into a waste bin over her."

"Good, good. I appear to be good at that."

After a few minutes, he seemed more coherent and the vomiting came to a stop. I didn't stop sitting there for another hour after that though. After the vomit came the tears. I prayed that this wasn't how it would always be for Kal, stuck between being wasted and being in agony. "Alright, mister. Off to bed with you," I instructed, helping him back up on to his feet and escorting him to the plush mattress that was waiting for him. The door opened to reveal Talon with a glass of water and an aspirin.

"I heard what was happening," he explained as I snatched them from him and quickly downed it.

"Thanks, Talon."

"...That was for him, Lady Du Couteau."

"Oh! I'm sorry, Talon. Could you grab another one?"

He nodded, returning shortly after to leave me the new medication. With Kal's stomach settled, I parted his lips slightly and placed the pill in his mouth before lifting the water for him to drink. "Ahri, I don't need a pill. I swear...I'm not seasick," he grumbled in his stupor once the water was gone. My heart felt a tinge of pain for him.

"I'm really sorry, Kal," I whispered to him, though I doubted he could hear me. "I know you're hurting really badly. But I promise, I'm going to do everything I can to get you through this. You're my Summoner, and I'm not going to let you crash to your demise."

He smiled up at me. "Oh Kat, you're here too."

"Too?" I looked around me to find the room completely empty.

"Yeah. Ahri's standing right next to you. Can't you see her?"

My blood ran cold as a shiver went through my spine. "Kal, you're drunk. You need to get some sleep. Go to bed, okay? Don't worry about Ahri, she's already resting elsewhere."

"Oh...okay," he mumbled before closing his eyes. Gods, this was going to be difficult.

To be continued...