To a particularly soft Softy :)
My apologies.

Of Chaos and Despair Chapter 1

'After her!', 'Don't let her get away!', 'Whoever gets her first, takes her first!'. The calls of the Noxian guards were loud and clear to her as she was being chased. She hadn't lost them yet. Deep brown hair, a pair of twilight eyes and pure skin. She scurried through the crowds and stands, tripping over obstacles as people started scolding her. 'HEY! Watch where you're going!'
But she ignored the calls and ran through the streets, searching for a particular oak tree marked with a green cross. The tree was now in sight, and the guards were still after her. She had to juke them. Entering a building on the left, she put on a red and black jacket she found there. There was no way they were going to find out where she was heading to. It quickly became silent when she turned around the corner and entered a hidden passageway into the sewers. The sewers were long and dark, but the cracks in the almost collapsing roads above let beams of light inside, guiding her on her path. She stopped for a quick breath and removed her jacket, trying to inspect the wounds she had sustained. A stream of blood was dripping down her now red-painted arm. Her legs were fine, besides a couple of painful bruises, her abdomen had a shallow cut so she decided to wrap the jacket tightly around her waist. She flinched a bit from the pain as she tightened the jacket but soon continued her journey to escape the Noxian territory. She had heard of a place called 'The institute of War' where people or so called Champions fought in the 'League of Legends'. Her plan was to get there, become a Summoner, one who communicates with the champion and decides on the strategies that they are able to take.

Her mother, the head of the Diplomatic Research Facility (D.R.F) had heard of her plan and dissaproved of it greatly. She wanted to hear nothing of it. She was not letting her eldest daughter run off to some stupid war zone with the chance of death being immensely high. She needed her to fill her position when the time was right. 'Sophie, you will NOT go there, DO YOU UNDERSTAND? It is dangerous, especially for a young girl like you. How will you even be able to survive the path towards that treacherous place? You are not going there and THAT. IS. FINAL.' Sophie remembered her saying. Demanding, rather. She sighed as she remembered her strict mother. She was a good woman, but she was too focused on her job. Sophie had never recieved a lot of love from her mother. Not that she felt like shes ever needed it. After finally being able to navigate her way through the sewers, she had found the way outside.

A loose grate above her head and an old, decayed wooden ladder lay next to her. She set the ladder upright and tested if the steps were still able to hold her weight. This wasn't the first time she's escaped from the city, but it was the first time whilst being chased by guards. She had reached the grate and shoved it aside. Putting her hands on the edge of the surface, she pulled herself up with all her might as an intense pain shot right through her arm. The wound on her arm had opened further and the stolled blood had now continued bleeding. Gritting her teeth, she'd still managed to pull herself up onto the surface. She opened up her backpack and took out a pure white cloth. She noticed that her bag was glowing a little on the inside and remembered why the guards were chasing her. The Kilet Stone. It had a black rim and a shining blue hull. A prototype she had made herself, using her mother's laboratory's equipment. She was a prodigy in the art of alchemy and magic. Returning from her reminiscent thoughts she remembered her wound. Using the cloth, she started bandaging the wound- not forgetting to put pressure on it. Grabbing a map, she tried locating her position. When she had finally been able to figure it out, she used a compass to steer her in the right direction. Whilst she was closing her bag, preparing to finally head into the forest towards the Institute she noticed a shadow somewhat sticking out of the covers of the treeline. Looking up to see what it was, she saw a purple-cloaked figure now right in front of her. 'W-w-who are you?!' she cried. The figure said nothing and simply stood upright. She couldnt see his face, but felt his eyes glaring at hers. Noticing how swiftly he slid out a blade she squeaked a bit. 'P-please! D-don't k-kill me!' she begged the figure, as he was now slowly walking towards her. Scrambling backwards, she grabbed her bag and put it in front of her as if it were a shield, her eyes full of fear. Her back now against the wall, the figure softly whispered, 'Sure..' as he retracted the blade. She took it as a friendly gesture, but only for a second. He suddenly grabbed a drugged cloth and put it over her mouth with one hand, the other hand pressing against her shoulder. Her vision quickly started to fade in a useless attempt to escape from his grasp. The last thing she heard herself say was a muffled 'Mmnooo'. Making sure she had really fainted, he grabbed the girl and carried her over to his horse, hidden from view.

'Hey, Sophie.' 'Hmm? What's up?' 'What are you going to do when we split up?' 'What are you talking about? We're never going to split up! Weren't we going to play together until the end of time?!' 'Oh.. Right, I forgot. Haha you're right. Forget I asked. Let's go then.' 'Mm.'

'Nnf.. uugh.' Slowly waking up, Sophie tried remembering what it was she dreamt of. As she tried opening her eyes, she felt the dust that had gathered on her lashes. Feeling the need to rub it off, she tried using her hand.. to no avail. Suddenly remembering the past events, panic struck over her. It was too dark to see, but she heard a door slowly creak open. She stared into the depths of the darkness, still cowering in fear. There were footsteps now heading towards whatever she lay on and they stopped very close by. She felt a hand on her chest which made her whimper slightly, and then towards her stomach, but in a very quick manoeuvre. Whoever this person was wasn't aiming to savor her. And she was glad of it. Then the hand landed slightly above her wrist, as she felt it loosen. Lying still in fear of being bound again, she heard the steps heading towards the still bound arm and to her relief, her legs and arms were being freed. 'I know you're up, you don't have to be afraid.' a deep, but strangely calming voice said.
Still too scared to speak, she decided to try and sit up anyway. Somehow she could feel the person smiling. It was probably a man. Now feeling the itch in her eyes she rubbed them furiously. The relief was greater than expected. 'I'm sorry for what happened back there.' He said. 'It wasn't my intention to do so, but I had to hide this from the guards. At least you're safe with me now.' She was thinking about thanking him or not, when a sudden headache came up. A bad one at that. She started cringing a bit, hearing the man in a surprised tone. 'Are you alright?' 'I'm okay..' she mumbled just loud enough for him to hear. He was happy to know that she would finally start speaking. 'So, do you have any questions?' he asked her in a simple tone.
Questions? Questions?! 'What, about you kidnapping me, putting me in a dark room, bound to a bed, getting a feel off my chest and afterwards trying to calm me down? Not really, no.' He laughed. Sophie still kind of felt awkward, but she knew that he was going to do her no harm.
'Actually.. why have you brought me here? What do you mean I'm safe with you?' he sighed. 'How about this. I'll get you something to drink, and we'll talk over it in the morning. It should let the headache you're having work out.' 'But you asked me if I had any questions!' she remarked. 'Yeah, but I don't feel like explaining right now after all. So rest well and don't complain.' 'Okay..' she said. 'Goodnight then.' as she swiftly started drifting away. 'Night.'

'What the hell is this?! Who have you brought home with you, and why is she in dad's room?!'
'Calm down, Kat. I saved her from being ripped apart by the guards. She tried escaping the city but the guards ran after her.' The door opened and the voices became louder. 'I don't know why yet but I'm about to find out.' Said the strangely still-hooded figure whilst looking at a gorgeous redhead standing in the doorway. Emerald eyes and one heck of a scar to add up alongside the fierce look that resided in them showed that she was probably one with a lot of blood on her hands. Even with such a cute face. She had a whole asset of knives on holsters on her legs, and she had two empty sheathes sticking out above her shoulder for somewhat larger blades on her back. Probably not very comfortable at home. The figure turned around to see Sophie up. 'Oh, you're up already.' 'Well, not really easy to sleep when there's an argument going on, is it?' she said with a slightly irritated tone. 'Sorry bout that.' he replied. 'Well, wash up and come downstairs for some food. Bathroom is at the end of the hall towards the left. We have a spare set of clothes prepared for you, so don't worry about that. You are a guest here now, so make yourself at home.' A bit surprised, Sophie thanked him and he walked out of the room. She saw the emerald eyes stare at her, before Kat let out a simple 'Hmpf.' and walked away, quickly catching up with the man. Sophie decided to quickly take a much-needed shower after her adventure in the sewers. Picking up the spare set of clothes, she walked towards the bathroom.
Just as she was about to turn around the corner, she noticed something on the edge of her vision. She turned to see a giant lamia staring at her. 'I heard you were a guessst.' The lamia simply stated with an almost polite smile on her face. Sophie did her best not to act surprised or shocked, even though she was about to scream. She hid it well enough, and the lamia praised her for her courage, 'Usually they end up sscreaming when they see me.' She smiled. 'Well then, I'll see you around.' as she started slithering away, heading towards the stairs. 'Well.. that was surprising' Sophie thought to herself as she entered the bathroom. Taking a look around, she noticed how clean everything was. And how big it was! There was probably enough space to fit a dozen or two people in here. A giant mirror with a golden edge hung on the right side, while there was a bath almost as big as a children's pool in the backleft corner. There was a shower cabinet in the backright corner. She locked the door, making sure it was really locked as she had no idea how the mechanism worked. Slowly undressing, she saw that her wounds were tended to very well. The wound on her right arm was stitched up and cleaned, with a still clean bandage but now unwrapped bandage on it. The wound on her abdomen seemed to only be cleaned, as it wasn't a very deep cut at all. Opening the cabinet door she stepped inside. There were very clear signs of what knob did what. She turned the one from a blue color to a red color, and the one with no volume to a higher volume. The water came down and she whimpered a bit because of the first few cold seconds. After that it was like she had found her personal heaven.

There was a very tense atmosphere present at the table. Slowly eating, he watched as Katarina was glaring at him. 'What?' he decided to ask her after a couple of silent minutes. 'What do you mean what? You know very well why I don't agree with this, Talon.' Talon took his hood off. 'Why not? I don't see a problem here.' he continued to eat. 'You don't see a problem here?' she scoffed. 'You bring home some random girl you picked up on the streets- not even on the streets but outside the wall even! And then you decide to bring her home to the DuCouteau's?'
'Yeah.' He nodded with a small grin on his face. He loved seeing her angry. A small hint of jealousy could be found in her tone as well, or- at least he thought so. They heard soft thumping on the stairs and saw Cass slowly descending. 'Morning.' they both stated very naturally. Cassiopeia had picked up some of the snake's senses and could feel the strange tension in between them. She couldn't help but smile a lot brighter than she thought she would. 'Morning!' she answered. 'So who's our guest?' she said whilst standing behind Talon, putting one of her hands/claws on his head. Talon shooed away the gesture and said ever so calmly, 'I... found her outside the Noxian walls.' Cass and Kat suddenly had the same, worried look in their eyes. Talon decided to ask, 'What's wrong?' Kat was trying to put the words together but Cass had her covered. 'Why did you doubt yourself there?' 'What do you mean?' 'Well, you paused a bit before speaking up.' 'Oh. Well.. there's nothing important about it, so don't worry.'
They had trouble believing him, but they wound up staying silent anyway. Hearing another set of steps on the stairs, they looked up to see Sophie, dressed in a black frilly dress. The dress had a white rim and the bottom was quite short, but she had stockings to cover up the otherwise bare legs. Short sleeves and a white neckpiece added to the attire made her look almost like a maid on the job. Her face flushed red, but it looked very bright on her as she had pure skin. 'T-thanks for the hospitality!' she stammered politely. She caught Talon staring at her with his mouth a bit agape. So this is how he looks like. He had long brownish black hair running down his neck and ears, running about wildly. A very handsome face with strangely enough, almost purple eyes. When she noticed how he was looking at her she grabbed her stomach, as if trying to cover up, as the flush deepened.
Katarina noticed the gesture and looked over at Talon. She saw how impressed he looked. It made her a bit sad, but she covered it up with anger. 'Why are you just staring at her like an idiot Talon? Go get her her food!' Talon woke up from his trancelike state and shook his head a bit wildly as if to return to reality. 'Ah. Right. Sorry.' he said in a deep but somewhat startled voice. Cassiopeia laughed at the drama. They almost never have such a moment with an outsider. When they are together they feel like they can drop their guards for a while, but when an outsider is involved they usually don't become so friendly. Talon returned with some vegetables and steamed potato, covered in tomato sauce alongside a glass of water. He gave it to Sophie as he seated her next to him. 'How does he know I don't eat meat?' she wondered.
As she sat down, she tried introducing herself. 'H-hello. U-uhm I'm Sophie. Nice to meet you.' she kind of mumbled. She wasn't used to her current surroundings. 'Kat', Katarina answered very dry, devoid of any emotion. She felt a bit more uncomfortable. 'Cassiopeia, youngest and mosst charming of us!' Cass answered. Even though she was a half-snake, Sophie didn't feel afraid of her. She lifted the mood quite greatly. And finally the man that 'saved' her. Talon, from what she heard Kat say. Talon? Where had she heard that name before..? Talon, interrupting her from her thoughts, said nothing to introduce himself. 'Eat up.' He seemed very calm, but Sophie felt the tensity he was still carrying. Deciding to take a bite of the food, it was still hot but very soothing. It was quite good! 'So. Now we talk.' Katarina stated.

End of Chapter 1

Well guys.. or whoever might be reading this. I enjoyed writing this chapter! It's my first ever on this website, and I've never published any others before. Not for others to read anyway. I hope you enjoyed my writing, and I hope I can get some reviews! Helps a lot even if you say 'I enjoyed it' Or 'You should do 'x' and 'x' to improve!' I will try to continue when I have time (probably within the week) and I'll also try to answer any comments that you guys write.

Alright! Until next time guys! o7

AquatiCh. |To you, with the softest heart.|