((AN: So, I crafted this universe as my own, I took some aspects of LoL, mainly its new lore, and tried to create something unique. If you ever read the story "The Only Truth" by Princess Garen, that's kinda how I see Katarina and Garen's personality in my world, but they are also going to be different because the world is different. Anyway, I hope you guys like this and pls pls pls give me feedback so I know what I should change or where I need work. I should have the second chapter up tonight or tomorrow. I plan on this being a long ride :) ))

Marcus Du Couteau, Noxian General and head of an influential and respected house in the Noxian empire has been missing for six months. Katarina Du Couteau, Marcus' eldest daughter, and her adoptive brother Talon have both been scouring through all their contacts for any information on where he could be or what happened to him. They have had no luck, until now.

Katarina was in her father's study on the second floor of the family estate, rereading his journal for the fifth time under the dim light of a candle since his disappearance. The hour was late, and her eyes were getting tired, when Talon suddenly burst through the door, shouting, "I've got something! " revealing a rolled up wrinkled piece paper.

Katarina jolted up, rubbing her sleepy eyes and stood up, sending the chair sliding across the wooden floor behind her. She looked up at her adoptive brother, eyebrows raised and turned her gaze to the sheet in his hand then back to him. "Well what is it?" she blurted out curiously.

With a smirk on his face, he bounded over to the desk she was at and stood next to her, smacking the paper down on it triumphantly. "It's the current list of prisoners in the Demacian prison, read the names." he asked confidently

Katarina regarded Talon for a moment, then glanced down to the piece of paper and began reading through the list, a bunch of names that meant nothing to her except for one. "Josiah Grim" she planted her right index finger over the name as she reached it.

Her eyes darted up from the list to Talon. "Wait, this one... That's the last guy father mentioned going to see before he disappeared, right?!" Katarina immediately moved back to her dad's journal on the edge of the desk and flipped it open to the end, running her finger along the lines of text until she got to the name she was looking for. "Here!" she beamed in excitement. Katarina let out a brief chuckle. "We've been looking for him for so long he was locked up in a damn Demacian prison." Fucking Demacians she thought.

"Yeah, but I uh, I got some bad news too." Talon informed through gritted teeth.

Katarina shited her vision back up to Talon, her face turning from excitement to concern.

"He's going to be executed in a week since you know.. He's a spy. So we gotta do something soon."

"Fuck... So, I guess it's a prison break then?" she replied matter of factly, and the two looked at each other with a mischievous grin.

*Four Days Later*

Katarina landed face down in the dirt with a thud after the soldier shoved her hard in the back with her wrists bound behind her not allowing her to brace herself. The ground felt as if it was burning in what was an uncharacteristically hot day for Demacia. "Get moving!" he shouted without remorse. He sighed and hovered over her. "Come on, get up! Noxian scum."The gloved hand of the Demacian yanked her by her hair up to her feet, earning a grunt in response from the assassin.

She spat some dirt out of her mouth and looked over at her escort, a small smirk tugging on the corner of her mouth as she got a good look at his face. "Good thing I like it a little rough, huh?" she purred, with a predatory undertone.

He rolled his eyes and pushed her along.

Escorted by a group of ten Demacian soldiers, she was guided through the front gates. She had to admit, Demacia was elegant, but resembled something more of a palace than a castle. The well-kept cobblestone streets were packed as they wove their way to the prison located on the northern side of the city, they were unhindered though as everyone knew to get out of the way as they marched through.

Katarina looked up to the rooftops, wondering if she could spot Talon, who was no doubt watching, she could have just snuck in the city as well. But getting into a maximum security section of the Demacian prison where they kept spies and other dangerous criminals was another story.

Once inside she would need to get out of her cell, and find her fathers contact, 'Josiah Grim' she would repeat the name in her head to memory. From how he was described in her father's journal, Josiah was described as a tall, wiry man, with short, unkempt hair. As for the escape, Talon said he would create a distraction for her as night fell, when she asked what it was, he simply told her "You'll see." with a smirk on his face. The answer was good enough for her, and she left it at that.

Katarina didn't have her trademarked dual daggers with her, so she'd have to make do taking one of the guards swords after escaping, 'easy enough' the scarlet assassin thought. A lifetime of training to be Noxus' greatest assassin had made her a master of many different forms fighting along with her unmatched skill in stealth is why she had to be the one to get captured, and not Talon who eventually grumbled in agreement.

Eventually, they arrived at the prison. Katarina made sure to note where the exit was, and all the paths and turns they took as they brought her to her cell. As they made their way through the area where the common criminals were held, she was met with an array of whistles and catcalls, which she rolled her eyes to. Three guards assisted her into the cell, cutting the rope from her wrists before replacing them with iron ones, chained to the floor. They left her in the cell without uttering another word and marched out of the block.

She was in the last cell in the row, the hall curved slightly around the end, not allowing her to see what was at the end, and all the cells were on the same side as her, a blank slate of pearly white stone on the side. For prison cells, these weren't that bad. They were well maintained, and the bed in the corner wasn't the worse either.

She kept a small folded pick from underneath her tongue, pressed along the inside of her teeth, a trick her father showed her many years ago when learning how to escape various types of entrapments. The locks in the irons were pretty primitive and only took a few moments beforee they clicked and released from her wrists one by one.

Katarina was able to time how long it took between each cell check after a few hours, and jumped up above the cell door, sticking herself to the wall and ceiling just above it, concealing herself from view. The Demacian prison guard approached her cell, then took to swift steps to the iron-barred door, he looked around in shock as it was empty. He retrieved the loop of prison keys he had hanging from a belt strapped around his waist and pulled out the cell key. The guard unlocked the door and took a step in, Katarina dropped down onto his shoulders and in a swift motion, place one hand on his chin, and the other on the top of his neck and twisted, finishing with an audible pop before he collapsed. She fell gracefully with the body, her feet landing on either side of him.

Hastily she looted the guard for his Sword sheathed on his belt, and took the set of keys as well, hooking them to her leather pants. Next, she grabbed his cloak, and flung it over her back, looping it around her neck to keep it up, should help make her less conspicuous when out of the prison, her all black leather outfit, and cropped jacket not being a typical look for Demacians.

Katarina darted from her cell quietly, giving the sword in her hand a flourish as she got used to its weight and balance. The Noxian crouched, sword by her side in her right hand as she rounded the corner, satisfied that there were no other guards in the cell block, for now, she moved to each cell whispering, "Josiah?" while examining them as best she could through their dimly lit cells.

About halfway down the hall, one man perked his head up at the sound the name, "Hello?" he said groggily as if he was just woken up.

She repeated his name, "Josiah, are you Josiah?" her voice raised a bit higher. The man seemed to fit the description from the journal, it was tough to see in this place.

"Possibly.." he mumbled, moving towards the cell door cautiously.

"You knew my father, Marcus." she stated

The mans face turned from caution to realization, "Oh.. Katarina?" he answered in surprise. "Where's Marcus?" he continued, "I thought he wasn't going to involve you and Talon?"

Katarina perked an eyebrow "What? He's been missing for months? Wait, do you know where he is?" her voice trembled slightly.

The man pressed the side of his face against the cage door, checking down the hall before replying. "I'll tell you what, get me out of here. And I'll answer any questions you have..." he bargained, turning back to Katarina.

"Deal." she pushed the key into the cell door and opened it up. "Hurry, they are gonna start wondering where their friend is any moment now." she informed, helping the man from his cell and leading him down the cell block.

They reached a hall, with an opening on the right, which seemed to lead to a training field, filled with wooden dummies and practice swords, there was no roof, and the higher elevated parts of the city were visible, when suddenly a voice from a passage on her left shouted, "Their escaping! Sound the alarm!" which was then followed by a loud boom, shaking the building. Katarina, Josiah and the guard all froze for a moment, as they noticed a fireball from an explosion pushing into the sky from across the city.

Katarina grinned, "Nice one Talon." she turned and began a sprint for the exit. Upon reaching the door that would lead to their freedom, a group of Demacian Vanguard soldiers were blocking the door, an elite group of soldiers that were lead by their Commander Garen Crownguard, who was not present.

Katarina stopped, putting an arm out to her side to stop Josiah from running past her, before turning to face him. "Here." she pushed the loop of keys into his chest, then pointed down a narrow walkway to her right. "Go down that hall, and take a left at the end, and go straight. There's another exit there, and Talon should see you the moment you walk out. I'll take care of the guards." He nodded hastily, his face fearful and he began to run in the direction she pointed. Josiah stopped and shouted, "What about you!?" turning his head over his shoulder.

Katarina smirked and turned around with a twirl of her sword to face the band of four Demacians in front of her, advancing with weapons drawn. "I'll be fine." she answered smugly.

He spared her one more look before sprinting off in the other direction to safety.

"So, who's first?" she said provokingly, a wry smirk still pulling on the corner of her lips.

And she got her answer as the first soldier right in front of her, well built, probably a bit younger than her actually, charged into her with his sword raised high and blood lust in his eyes screaming "Demacia!" and with that, her dance began. 'Why do they always do that?' she thought, her inner voice sounding quite amused.

She raised her blade and sidestepped him, letting his sword just glance of hers, sending him staggering forward as he put his full strength into the swing. As she slid to his back in a blur, she spun, ducking as the soldier behind him took a horizontal swing towards her head. She gripped onto the first soldier's cloak, and pulled him into the second, causing them both to crash to the ground all in one swift motion. As she came out of her crouching spin, she thrust her blade gracefully up into the third man's throat on the right side of the group, just as he raised his own sword to attack. She stood up, prying the dying soldier's sword as he fell to the floor holding his neck as it oozed blood onto the pristine stone floor. She turned back around, with an elegant flourish with two blades now to face the remaining three.

"That all you got?"

Katarina loved the rush of fighting, she was good at it, the best. The moment her opponent knew that they were outmatched thrilled her, though she craved more than anything to meet someone who could actually challenge her for once.

The three soldiers regained their footing and stared at her for a moment when all three attacked at the same time. In a blur of black leather and red hair, she moved around them with ease, spinning, and cutting deep into unarmored flesh. And in moments the soldiers lay in a heap of blood on the floor.

She sighed and began to move to the door, when another man emerged and blocked the entrance, pulling a sword the size of an average man out from behind him. He was tall, with short reddish brown hair, and eyes the color of sapphire.

Katarina rolled her eyes, "Really?" she exasperated, looking to the heap of bodies behind her then back to the man in the door as if to say 'You sure you wanna do this?'

The man was Garen Crownguard, Commander of the Demacian Dauntless Vanguard and paragon of the city.

He responded with a grin of his own, lowering his sword at the ready. "I think I'll take my chances." he sneered.

"Perfect, big and stupid." she sighed, a pattented smirk tugging on the corner of her lips.

With another flourish of her stolen Demacian swords, she lowered into her stance, one blade above her head and the other stretched out in front of her.

This time she pushed the attack, lunging toward him with lighting like speed thrusting her sword towards his throat, but he swung at her in return with surprising speed, and she rolled under the edge of the sword to avoid losing her head, to which she raised into a slight crouch, looking back at the commander with a raised eyebrow.

Garen grinned at the expression on her face and moved with a vertical counter. He was built like a bull but to her surprise was agile as a cat, even with his massive sword he could wield single-handedly.

She stood up straight and blew a few strands of hair covering her eye as before taking a stance to fight once again.

Garen like Katarina had lived a life dedicated to war and never met in equal in combat. Groomed from childhood to become the best leader and soldier Demacia had to offer. Unlike her, he did not relish killing but instead resulted to it as a necessity. One thing had in common for sure was the desire for an equal.

And in a flash of black leather and red hair, she lunged at him with a flurry of strikes from every angle. Garen's eyes widened, and he began fighting on instinct rather than reaction. It seemed as though one moment she was in front of him, then in a blink she was at his back. He blocked what he could with his sword, and angled his body to deflect strikes he could not reach with his sword with his armor.

At one point, she caught his sword between hers in a cross shape, and they locked together for a moment.

"I knew something was up when I heard the notorious Katarina Du Couteau was so easily captured." he stated curiously, taking the slight break to catch his breath.

She grinned, "Notorious huh? I like that." she answered between deep breaths before the sparks flew as he was greeted with another series of lightning fast strikes, this time clipping him on an exposed part of his arm before their blades locked once again.

Garen grimaced, looking down to his arm, then glared back at Katarina, his jaw muscles tensing.

"Oh was that me?" she giggled.

He huffed, and pushed their clashed swords upwards, and sent a kick with his boot into the chest of the assassin, sending her sliding on the stone floor as her back collided on its cold surface knocking the wind out of her.

The Commander took a few strides towards her sword raised, as she laid on her back as she tried to get her breath back.

Her eyes widened as he thrust his sword down to her, but managed to roll out of the way in the last second, causing Garen to impale his sword a solid twelve inches into the stone. He grunted and tried to pull it out, but it was stuck.

Katarina spun, swinging her leg around, knocking his feet out from under him before rising to her feet. She spun the swords in her hands upside down in her hands and approached the commander when suddenly a small battalion of guards finally arrived, too many to count.

She looked back to Garen, "I'd love to continue our dance, but I have places to be." she said with mocked sadness.

Garen reached for her ankle as she darted past him but only grabbed air. In a frustrated groan, he quickly got on his feet and put both hands on his sword, using his legs as he lifted it out of the floor, leaving a fissure in what was a perfectly paved floor as the rest of the guards chased after her.

He made his way outside, but she was gone. He gripped onto his sword until his knuckles went white.

As Katarina made her way out of the prison and ducked into an alley, she slipped the hood of her borrowed cloak over her head, dropping the two bloodied swords on the ground. It only took a few moments for Talon to appear behind her.

"Kat! There you are, come on you're gonna wanna see this." he exclaimed, and she turned around to eye him.

"What is it?" she blurted out, as she made her way after him.

"Just come on!" he ran along and the two assassins stuck to the shadows as they made there way around the guards and that were on a manhunt for them in the middle of the night.

Eventually, Talon led her to a small bell tower, and they made there way inside.

"What the fuck is this?" she said in irritation, expecting something more interesting.

"Here." he stuck a dagger between the floorboards, and lifted up a hidden trap door, looking up at her with a smirk as it flipped open.

She widened her eyes for a moment sparing her brother one last glance, and then hopped down, and he followed suit.

Josiah Grim was here, he must have led Talon to this... Whatever this place was.

Lining the walls were maps with circles and Xs covering random locations. There was no doubt there was a lot of time and research put into this room, and whoever was doing it was in a rush. There were old books on the ground based on Valoran history and illusionary magic.

"What is this place?" Katarina asked softly, moving to one of the desks with more papers and books laying across it.

"It's Marcus' hideout here in Demacia." Josiah informed.

Katarina's face lit up, and she took a better look at everything that was pinned to the wall, it didn't make any sense. Maps of the Freljord, Mount Targon. She picked up a leather book bound book lying near the edge and flipped it open.

"This was your fathers base of operations here in Demacia... Marcus was sure he was onto something but it didn't really make sense..." Josiah said skeptically, emphasizing that last two words. "He uhm.. He believed that Swain was... No longer himself.." the man grimaced, searching for a proper way to articulate what he was saying. "I-"

Katarina covered her mouth, and leaned forward, planting her other hand down on the table to support herself, taking a deep breath and interrupting the spy.

Talon quickly turned around and took a few steps towards his sister.

"H-he's alive.." she stammered, "This means he's alive, Talon!" she looked up at her brother, doing her best to fight back the tears. When Talon saw the look on her

face, he realized that she wasn't upset, but happy. Her whole life, the thing that represented any sort of form of stability in her life was her father. When he disappeared, she felt more alone than ever. Her sister was no where to be found, and whether or not she would even be the same was another question. Talon was always off doing his own thing, having his own personal agenda when it came to her father, and her mother was dead. After months of nothing on her father, finding something that could point to him being alive brang out emotions that she had been trying to bury.

Katarina took a few deep breaths to recompose herself, and continued to read the pages before her. Sniffling as she did.

"He thinks Swain is corrupted by whatever the hell his arm is... And that Jarvan is possibly being impersonated by some woman using strong illusion magic.'" she interjected, reading from the book in her hands, the words written in her father's hand.

"I never did understand how his arm ended up like that.." Talon chimed in as he turned from a map on the wall on the other side of the room from Katarina. "Does it say anything else?"

"Give me a moment.." she replied as she went through the pages rapidly.

"I was going to say... I-" and he sighed immediately as Katarina cut him off again.

Josiah rubbed his temples with his fingers.

"There's a list here... red, blue.. green, teal, and yellow, but red is crossed out..."

"I was supposed to meet with him the day I got caught!" Josiah blurted out, not to be interrupted again.

"He said that he stole some sort of stone from Swain, that it held some kind of power. He wasn't sure exactly what kind of power it held, but the figure he saw Swain talking to swapped between the image of a woman and King Jarvan III. I couldn't help but feel he was holding back information though, almost as if he was afraid about how I would react."

"Wait, so you believe this? " Katarina questioned, looking from the map over to the spy sitting in the corner.

"I do." he said plainly.

"Why?" both Talon and Katarina chimed at the same time.

The wiry man glanced between the two briefly, his eyes narrowing before replying.

"He showed me the red stone he stole from Swain... And when we were going to meet, it was decide on how to get into the Demacian Library. It's probably one of the largest collections of information in Valoran, so surely there would be some sort of useful info on Illusionary magic or whatever that rock may be."

"Right... So let's say Marcus is right. And Swain and whoever this woman is are both up to something, whatever it is... It can't be good, and we don't have any solid proof to bring to high command, trying to do something now against Swain would be suicide.." Talon pointed out, rubbing his clean-shaven chin with his hand.

"Yeah, and father knew that... So, maybe he's looking for info on whatever it is he took from Swain... Why didn't he tell us this?" Katarina asked, looking over to Josiah

"He didn't want to get you two involved... But I guess that's out the window." Josiah replied.

"We're gonna need more info on these to figure out where father might have gone... I have no idea where to start though." Katarina dropped down into the chair by the desk with a thud.

"Demacia's Royal library has one of the most extensive collections of books in the world..." the spy put forth. "Not a bad place to start... Just have to find a way in, the palace doesn't look like it, but it's a fortress."

"So we're gonna need someone from the inside to help us... Talon, can you go back to Noxus, and see if any of the old libraries that belonged to Mordekaiser are still standing there? I've got an idea on someone who could help us."

"Kat... I'm not sure if we should-"

Katarina waved her hand dismissively. "I'll be fine, Talon... I know father asked you to look out for me, but I'm not a little girl anymore, fuck sake. The quicker we figure this out, the better."

Talon didn't look happy about the decison but nodded his head in assent anyway.

"I'll head over to Ionia... They surely would have some sort of knowledge about this somewhere, as magical a people they are." Josiah stood up, brushing his shirt off with his hands.

"Do you really think they would help a Noxian, after everything." Kat looked at him skeptically.

"Won't tell them I'm Noxian." he shrugged with a smirk.

"So who's this person you're going to get to help us?" Talon said, furrowing his brows.

"Their very own Commander." she said confidently.