"Only the dead have seen the end of war."
― Plato

Chapter I

"Did you hear what became of him?"

"Yeah."

The cafe was loud and their senses drowned in chatter.

"Is he... is he alive?"

Quinn avoided Shyvana's gaze. Finally she mumbled, "Of course. He wrote to me last week. He says he killed for the first time."

Fiora looked up from her computer screen. "Non!"

"I'm afraid so."

The French woman shook her head in disbelief, then looked back down at her screen.

The eagle that had been perched on Quinn's shoulder rubbed his head against her cheek as if trying to comfort her. She smiled at the gesture, but her gaze remained on the ground. A shadow seemed to pass over all four of them.

"What would we do if we were with him?" Shyvana asked.

"We wouldn't be him, would we now?" Fiora replied without looking up. "We're not insane enough to join. Besides, we don't have ties to Noxus. We'd have to join Demacia."

"He didn't choose to join them though." She said,

"He was losing his mind."

"No he wasn't." Quinn chimed in. "They threatened him, his girlfriend, anyone they thought he was close to."

"They wouldn't have killed no one." Fiora replied.

Shyvana chuckled. "How do you not know? Some time ago, Lux didn't want to join the Demacians. She refused and refused, even though her brother was a trusted member. Then they burnt the words I'm a Demacian on her stomach with acid. She agreed to sign the contract in the midst of her pain."

Fiora seemed to shiver. "Yeah I know that..."

Quinn was becoming uncomfortable. Her gaze darted from the windows to the door, to the crowd of people gathered around the counter and to the other tables around them. She suddenly lost all interest in the coffee that lay in front of her and felt sick. It was as if she could see them coming for her. It hadn't always been like this. Gangs had only recently appeared within the last ten years, and they developed incredibly quickly, from simple gangsters to intelligent, ruthless leaders in the world's most notorious organisations. All of which were blackmailers and killers.

"How come Talon still writes to you?" Fiora asked.

"I don't know. He's not supposed to, but I guess he somehow smuggles a few letters out. Maybe it's his way of letting us know how bad everything is, as if the world didn't already know."

"He still likes you." Shyvana grinned.

"You can't seriously bring this up now."

"Hey, I'm trying to lighten the mood. And he does."

Quinn chuckled. "Yeah well that's too bad."

Fiora sniggerred. "I was there when you rejected him. It was hilarious."

"You were?"

"I overheard."

They chuckled, though only briefly.

"And to think that he's going around murdering people now." Quinn mumbled.

"Don't think about it so much if it upsets you." Said Fiora.

She sighed and glanced at her watch. "You're going to have to excuse us. Valor and I have to go."

"Practice?" Shyvana asked and Quinn nodded.

Quinn was taken aback by the sudden gust of cold wind outside and pulled her hood up over her head. Valor's claws clenched around her hoodie before he pushed off and took flight. He was her eyes, not only in archery practice, but in everyday life. She couldn't afford to stroll casually down the streets anymore, which some would dismiss as paranoia, but no one was alone anymore.

Somewhere, she heard a scream. She called out to Valor to stay close, but she never stopped, never turned around to look. She passed a few alleyways which she never dared to look down on. When she reached the hardware store she caught the eye of two men dressed in all black but she took a sharp turn and avoided them.

She nearly bashed into the doors to the archery range. There, Vayne gave her a smile from behind the counter and held out Quinn's crossbow.

"We got it fixed for you."

Quinn let out a sigh of relief. "Thanks."

She smiled at the fixed hilt. She inspected the wood and realised that they had polished it as well, and had cleared the rust off the trigger.

"Wow, Vayne, how much would this be?" She asked.

Vayne shook her head. "It's nothing. That one's on us - just this time though."

Quinn shook her hand and thanked her again.

As she headed on to the training grounds she thought about Vayne's evasiveness from the mafia. She had caught their eye a few times, but she seemed to avoid them well. There were rumours that she was part of a pact working against the mafia, though such rumours were dangerous to discuss. Quinn couldn't imagine that there could possibly by any good guys in any of this, though she wouldn't know. She had always been a bystander.

Her training went smoothly, if a little rusty. Valor was pleased with himself and swallowed his treats greedily. On her way out, she froze.

"I made you a generous offer, Vayne. I expect you to think about it before making any rash decisions."

She recognised her almost immediately. Everyone seemed to know the face of the three Freljord gangs, mostly because they were always at each other's throats. Quinn cowered behind the corner to observe what was going on and not get spotted.

Ashe had slipped a piece of paper across the counter to Vayne, but she ignored it.

"We don't do orders."

Ashe was surrounded by two intimidating men, none of which seemed to phase Vayne. She looked the mafia leader in the eye with an unrecognisable expression and said nothing.

One of the men, the bigger of the two with a long red beard stepped forward and slammed his fist on the counter. Vayne didn't flinch.

"Listen to me, lady. We are not prepared to ask twice." He said, his voice loud and booming.

"You're right." Vayne answered. "You're not prepared at all." She went back to polishing a quiver. "That's too bad."

Ashe's white skin seemed to darken with anger, but she kept her calm. She gave a signal to the dark haired man and he nodded. Vayne had been watching them out of the corner of her eye when they walked out and when they were out of sight she put everything down and picked up her phone.

"Ashe this time." She said down the line. "And Tryndamere and Gragas. Yeah they came in person."

Now that they were gone, she seemed to have lost her calm and looked around frantically. She watched the door anxiously and checked her watch. Quinn inched forward and she spotted her.

"Quinn this isn't a good time. You should head on out and-"

The door busted open. Vayne gasped and span round. Her eyes widened at the gang of men standing in the doorway.

Gragas pushed past them and walked up to her again. "We don't ask twice."

And with that, the men split up and seized boxes of the company's belongings, and carried them outside where they would be scattered and burnt. Two had grabbed hold of Vayne before she could lift her crossbow, and no matter how hard she thrashed she couldn't break free. They saw Quinn trying to make a run for it out the back and grabbed her too. Valor had clawed at the eyes of an unsuspecting man and bloodied his face before he too was seized by his tail and held down.

They were tall and strong, and their jackets all had the Avarossan symbol embossed into the black leather on their backs. They spoke in a loud and deep voice, while a small party of a few headed on to look for other employees and customers.

Vayne stole one last glance at her watch and threw her head back in pain as they dragged her outside, her knees scraping across the floor. They made Quinn follow her. Valor's screams and protests were the loudest of them all.

Outside they had poured gasoline on the pile of arrows, bows and banknotes that they had gathered from inside. It was obvious what they had in mind and Vayne just sighed and closed her eyes. Quinn didn't have any ties to the company, but felt her pain.

Then they stopped. They had lit the match and were ready to throw it in when one of them put it out. He mumbled something to another man and they all grinned. They nodded to one another and before she even realised what was happening, Vayne was being dragged forward. She opened her eyes in horror, only to see herself approaching the heap of items.

She yelled and thrashed like a wild animal.

"Break her legs before you throw her on. So she can't run off it."One of the men had said.

Quinn's breathing quickened and her heart raced. She couldn't do anything and was about to watch her get burnt to death. She couldn't see Valor in the crowd of men.

They held Vayne down and grabbed hold of her left leg. One of them had said something which made them all laugh. Quinn gasped when they lifted her leg and jerked her knee backwards. The loud crack made her gag as Vayne's leg was forced to bend in the wrong direction. Her screams were deafening and she had tears running down her face.

The man then grabbed her other leg and was ready to do the same. He grinned and looked her in the eye before puckering his lips and whispering a suggestive line which was inaudible to Quinn. The crowd surrounding him burst out laughing.

He lifted her leg and tightened his grip around her thigh and calf. With a loud bang, he dropped dead right in front of her, his skull pierced, spurting out blood.

Two more men dropped dead before they even knew they were being shot at. As they turned to look for the shooter, their eyes bloodshot and teeth bared, they were ambushed. Three people were closing in on them, firing their assault rifles in a maddening rush to kill. Most didn't have enough time to draw their guns, and if they did they shot blindly and missed. Their assassins moved quickly and took them by surprise, and when they had killed at least six more, the remaining couple fled.

Quinn was no longer being restrained, and she dropped to her knees in shock. Valor limped quickly to her side and nudged her with his beak.

Vayne was in too much pain to talk properly. Her eyes had been glued shut and she couldn't bring herself to mutter a word. Quinn remembered the few men that were still inside the building and looked up to alert the others. They nodded and two of them headed in, while the other helped Vayne.

One more dropped down from the roofs and stopped to ask Quinn if she was okay. She nodded, but when she looked up she flinched. He wore a mask over his face and seemed to be glaring at her menacingly, holding a sniper rifle.

"Don't scare her, Jhin," said the other. Unlike his friend, he carried a shiny assault rifle. He seemed like a young man only in his twenties. His dark skin had small beads of sweat on his forehead, and he had chosen to cover his nose in white war paint. His hair was bleached and styled upwards in a long mohawk.

They didn't really know what to do with Vayne's battered leg. She couldn't walk and could put any weight on it. It was a devastating blow to her.

"Go and see if Lucian and Caitlyn need help." Vayne whimpered.

The boy nodded and ran inside after them, leaving Jhin to tend to her.

Quinn stood up, unsure of what to do. Her jeans were ripped and stained with blood from her grazed knees. She winced slightly at the pain. Valor's feet were sore, but he wasn't injured. They were lucky to not have been the targets of the assault.

She heard gunshots coming from inside and ducked instinctively. Shortly after, Vayne's friends emerged saying the coast was clear.

"What've you done this time?" Lucian asked.

"Refused to sell my archers to her. " She replied through gritted teeth. Her eyes still watered from the pain.

The young boy turned to Quinn. "Are you involved?"

She shook her head.

"Escort her to safety, Ekko." Vayne said.

He nodded. "Come on. We'll get you someplace safe."

She shook her head. "I can take care of myself."

He chuckled. "Ashe will likely be back when she finds out her men were massacred."

"Which is why you should stay here."

He held up his hands in defeat. "Hey dude, I'm just tryna help you."

Quinn felt lightheaded and her stomach could flip upside down any minute. She took deep breaths to steady herself, suddenly aware that she wasn't over the shock from earlier. She turned to Vayne and winced at the pain she must have been in.

"Vayne... will you be ok?"

Vayne nodded. "I got these looking after me, haven't I? Now go."

Quinn nodded and hurried away. Behind her, she caught a snippet of their conversation.

"Now Ashe knows who I am. She'll definitely want my head." Vayne's voice was distant but audible.

"Now's the time to shut this place u-"

Valor took off into the skies and squealed at her from above. Maybe some of the rumours she heard about Vayne were true. Maybe the city wasn't as hopeless. But then again, what's a group of five people against so many gangs.

She didn't hesitate to ring Fiora once a safe distance away. She asked if she could come and pick her up in her car. The French woman understood the graveness in her voice immediately and said she would be down there in a moment. Quinn had almost let out a sigh of relief when she saw her car approaching. She found Shyvana in the passenger seat too. She didn't hesitate to tell them both what had happened.

"I hate this fucking city," said Fiora.

After a short pause, Shyvana whispered,"We should join her group."

Silence fell as they froze.

"What?" Fiora broke the trance.

Shyvana sighed. "I sound like a fucking dumbass but listen... we can't do anything anymore. We can't even walk down the street without getting caught up in something. It's only a matter of time before the whole city gets engulfed. I think we need to do something about it."

"You're right." Replied Fiora. "You do sound like a fucking dumbass."

Shyv rolled her eyes. "Come on, Fi."

"Shyvana as much as I want to think like you," replied Quinn, "we won't last a day trying to fight anyone."

She nodded. "But I swear, Quinn... I don't want to die like this."

They fell quiet again.

Fiora pulled up in front of their block of flats. They headed up to the apartment they shared in silence and ate in silence too. Quinn must have felt fed up and turned the TV on. An imagine of a woman flashed on, showing her and a gang of men detonating a building. She roared as it became a pile of rubble, before they hurried in another, guns in hand behind a headline that read Winter's Claw Attack on Avarossan Controlled Factories.

Quinn sighed and turned it off again.

"We could be out there," said Shyvana, "putting a stop to all of that."

Quinn turned to face her friend. She could see in her eyes that she was serious.

"Don't listen to her. She's gone mad like Talon." Fiora said.

"I just want to live a life. What we're doing right now is far from it."

Quinn thought for a moment. "And what would we do? Shoot everyone and be done?"

"I didn't mean we'd..."

"I'm sorry, Shyv. I just don't think these wars have an end."

"And they never fucking will if everyone thinks like you two." She grabbed her coat and stormed out.

Quinn and Fiora stood frozen for a few moments, unsure of what to do.

"I'll go after her." Said Fiora.