Chapter 7: The Point of No Return

Something was wrong. Something was very wrong. The spell should have taken Katarina back to the Institute, but she ended up stranded in the woods instead. It was still dark, several hours remained until the dawn. She was beaten and bleeding, her attire completely destroyed after fighting Talon. She made a small campfire to keep her warm and keep the wild beasts away from her. She waited until the sky was lit with the first rays of light, then she climbed up a tall tree and looked around. She saw the white towers of the Institute stand out against the still dark southwestern horizon. She set the course in her mind and followed it until she reached the Institute town.

The assassin had to sneak through it, she didn't want anyone to see her, not even in what she was currently wearing. Fortunately for her, the town was devoid of people at this time of day. Katarina walked silently among the houses, stepping on tiptoes, hiding behind every corner and scanning her surroundings for random civilians. She reached the Institute's building and found an open window. She climbed in and hurried to her room through the secret pathways. Once in there, she took a bath, then treated her minor wounds with bandages and washed all of the dirt and dried blood from her face, she couldn't tell if it was hers, Talon's or the dead general's. When she was done with it, she got dressed in her usual clothes and proceeded to dry her hair, but right then someone knocked on her door. She opened and saw a summoner standing there.

"Sinister Blade, are you well already?" he asked. She almost forgot she was supposed to be ill for the past week.

"Yup, feeling great!" Katarina responded.

"We need to assemble all champions," the summoner informed her.

"And why the fuck would you do that?"

"There has been a murder within the Institute's walls."


It had happened late in the evening, or at night, most of the champions were sleeping and those who weren't, surely had more important things to do than randomly wander around the Institute, so no one could disturb the murderer. The body was found very early in the morning, lying in a pool of blood in a non-frequently used hallway of the building. The champions were supposed to gather in the Institute's Great Hall, while being escorted there, Katarina learnt that Zilean, the Chronokeeper, was the victim. The summoners figured out his throat had been slit by a blade of sorts, they weren't able to find the weapon, and nobody had seen the murderer.

Katarina got to the Great Hall, the champions in there, alongside with summoners, were sorted into their regular factions, so the assassin found herself surrounded by Noxians. In front of the groups of champions were standing ornamented chairs with high backs on a raised dias. Some of the highest ranking summoners, whom the High Councilor Kolminye appointed as members of a new, special Tribunal, were sitting there and simply questioning all champions, they didn't hope to solve the case right away, only to narrow down the list of possible suspects. The assassin ignored them, she had other, more important matters on her mind right now. Pushing others out of way with her elbows, she worked her way directly to Swain.

"We need to talk, now," she said angrily, though he was sure he wasn't the target of her anger.

"Later, Katarina, there's something going on here," he replied calmly.

"What?" she was absolutely infuriated, "It's fucking important!"

"Calm down, Katarina," Swain turned to face her, piercing her with his gaze, his voice kept low and cold as death, "by now I can tell you want to inform me on failure of your mission, but think it through, do you really want all of these people to know about our secret operations?"

She closed her mouth immediatelly and remained silent.

"I thought so," the general added.

The Tribunal, led by Kolminye's deputy, summoner Arlos, was questioning the champions one by one, when they got to Katarina, she only repeated she was ill and they seemed to be quite satisfied with her answers. The initial questioning brought no positive results, so either none of the champions was guilty or some of them were lying. All matches scheduled for the next three days were cancelled and the Tribunal assembled a special investigation team, consisting of four champions. First of them were naturaly Caitlyn and Vi, for their experiences in the Piltover police dept. Of course, they had to prove themselves innocent in front of the Tribunal first, and they did so by claiming they were together, devising a strategy against a gang of very dangerous criminals threatening their city. This was told by Caitlyn, then Vi added those criminals call themselves the 'furious fingers' and the sheriff started to blush uncontrollably. The next two to join the team were Irelia, who had also some experiences as investigator in the Ionian Guard and was meditating with her country's summoners when the murder happened, and Heimerdinger, who could help with scientifical advices, and he also had some other yordles as alibi.

When the questioning was over, Katarina followed Swain into her room, he was afraid his can be compromised. The murder made him paranoid, well, more than usually.

"So how did it go?" he asked curiously.

"It was fucked up pretty hard!" the assassin exclaimed, "Someone is bullshitting you, Swain! Some of your own men!"

"Calm down, Katarina," Swain said, "tell me everything that happened, and try to start from the beginning this time."

"Zardas never wanted to betray us. Your information was wrong."

"Are you sure about that?"

"Absolutely, he told me right before Talon showed up and put a fucking blade through his heart. And by the way, he works for Darkwill now."

"That is an unexpected turn of events," the general stated, "I need you to tell me everything, spare me no detail."

She told him what happened since she left the Institute a week ago and he didn't stop her until she got to the part when the guards of the High Command let her pass and carry out her orders.

"Those weren't my men," he said, "my influence doesn't reach so far, although I would be happy if it would."

"What the fuck happened then?" Katarina asked completely confused, "Why did they let me in?"

"I believe it's clear they weren't told whom are they supposed to expect," Swain replied, "only that 'an assassin' would come and do the job."

"So they were expecting Talon!" the assassin concluded.

"Exactly."


The crime scene was kept untouched since the body was found, and guarded carefully by the summoners. All day, champions, summoners and people from the town alike were coming, they wanted to see for themselves if the rumor was true. The body lay still, blood spillt on the floor around it slowly drying exposed to the air. A disgusting stench was spreading on every side and flies together with other insects started to feast on the corpse. The Chronokeeper was lying on his side, his dead eyes looking forward and face twisted with an expression of unspeakable terror, his azure robes soaked with his own blood and the gory wound on his neck, deep and wide open, revealing the inside of his throat. The investigation team approached the body in silence, the scene in front of them took their words away. They started to examine the corpse, Caitlyn by careful observation and Heimerdinger using an extremely complicated device, which had a name no one beside him could pronounce.

"He looks surprised," Irelia stated.

"Yeah, I guess death has that effect on everyone," Vi replied casually.

"No," the Ionian said, "I mean they said he was able to see the future, how could he not know he was going to die?"

"I was just a rumor," Caitlyn opposed, "I don't think anyone actually believed it."

"What is this?" Heimerdinger noticed something on the ground and picked it up, it was a transparent bloodied fragment.

"The clock broke when he hit the ground," the sheriff said, "this must be a glass shard."

"At least we know the time of death," the enforcer joked.

"Vi!" Caitlyn scolded her.

"What? You know I ain't good at this 'detective work', I just punch people 'til they say what I want to know. And there's no one I could punch here, so I'm bored."

The four of them continued searching the crime scene, but they found no evidence at all. It looked like their effort was futile.


Later that day, Katarina sneaked out of her room. It was evening, but she didn't see any champions or summoners in the hallways. Only guards, watching over everything and everyone, patrolling through the Institute. It was a big change, and definitely an unpleasant one. The redhead also roamed silently and aimlessly around the building, her matches were cancelled, so she had a lot of time and no way to spend it. She doubted Swain would send her on a next mission any time soon, so she didn't need to train so much. She headed to the common area, only to find the bar is closed and almost all champions are attending a silent ceremony for the fallen member of the League. Summoner Izara, a tall woman in a red-and-silver robes, piercing eyes and long black hair, an Ionian member of the summoner council, was giving a speech.

"We've built a dream for ourselves," she said, she was trying hard to supress her feelings, but she somehow couldn't stop a single tear rolling down her cheek, "a dream of peace, harmony and good will, that would spread out through Valoran and make the world a better place for all of us, no matter from where we came, we dreamt of reaching the end of our journey together. We worked hard to achieve what none of us could do alone. But today, a tragic death of our friend, Zilean, shattered the fragile dream to pieces. Like a vicious disturbance of this dream, it caught us completely unprepared..."

The summoner kept talking on and on, Katarina walked to the bar and tried to order a drink, but she was turned down and sent away.

"So you're telling me I can't get drunk because an old dude wasn't watching his back and got killed?" she reacted, sounding thoroughly displeased.

"No, but you can still join us," a summoner suggested.

"No fucking way!"

"Sinister Blade, please pay some respect to the dead!"

"Why? I don't pay it to the living either!" Katarina exclaimed, she scanned the crowd and noticed a lot of eyes were watching her. Among them was a pair of crystal blue ones, belonging to the Frost Archer. The assassin just turned on her heel and walked away.

After all she ended up in the training area, completely alone, she could vent out her frustration as much as she wanted. Suddenly, everything came back to her. The murder, her fucked up love life, the disappearence of her father, the murder, the failure of her mission in Noxus, she knew it wasn't her fault but she couldn't stop blaming herself. She was lashing out at the wooden dummies with uncontrollable anger, and completely destroyed two of them only half an hour into her training session. A while later, the door behind her opened. It was Ashe, she quickly peered in, but after seeing the state the assassin was in, she just left.


The next day, the investigators had to try a new clue. It was a commonly known information that the Chronokeeper was working on something with Ryze, though no one could tell them exactly, what were they working on. The team decided to ask the mage personally, and visited him in the League's library, where he usually resided.

"So was he able to see the future or not?" Caitlyn asked him. Ryze had a small magic laboratory in a secluded part of the library, it was filled with the oldest books and scrolls, vials of strange potions, astronomical charts, runes, and other things, most of them the sheriff couldn't recognize at all.

"That depends," the blue man replied, "on which future are you talking about?"

"What?" there are more futures?" Vi asked completely puzzled.

"Yes, of course," the mage started explaining, "working with Zilean for so long, I have learnt a lot about the nature of time and the way we percieve it. You might know that his experiments with time magic caused him a very rare disease, so rare his case is actually the only one known. And this disease made his mind technically 'shift through time' going back and forth in his memories without any control over it."

"So he could see the future!" the enforcer exclaimed.

"Please, let me finish," Ryze continued, "if you stood in front of an important decision and someone granted you a vision of future, showing that you fail when you make the choice you wanted, would you alter your path?"

"I think I would," Caitlyn answered.

"What would happen with the future you saw then?" the mage asked again, "Different steps could result in an completely different future, that means what you saw wasn't the future after all. This is not the way how it all works."

"What are you trying to say, old man?" Vi asked in a threatening matter, so much theorizing over time made nervous and upset.

"I am trying to say that there are countless possible futures, but only one real. That one is determined by both intentional and unintentional actions of all sentient creatures, and it's the only one Zilean could see. The future is formed by the moment we make certain decisions and most of them don't take long to show results. In the end, I think his ability to 'see the future' was highly overrated and wasn't something worth killing for."

"Thank you for your time, Ryze," Caitlyn said and they left the library.


This night the bar was open and selling everything with fifty percent discount, to help the champions forget what happened. Katarina could come and drink as much as she wanted, but strangely she didn't show up. But Ashe was in there, sitting over a drink with Caitlyn and Vi, those two still discussing the investigation. Those two weren't her best friends, she but occasionally enjoyed their company. It was generally quiet this evening, no fights or drinking games. People were just sitting around, slowly sipping their drinks and talking about everything, from the meaning of life down to mediocre everyday matters.

"What's wrong with her?" Ashe asked Vi, after Caitlyn ingnored her previous question.

"She's in her own world right now," the enforcer replied casually, "she used to do it back in Piltover, everytime we were investigating and reached a dead end. She always sunk deeply into her thoughts and found the answer after several minutes. Or hours. Or days, it really depends."

"I think I've figured it out," the sheriff suddenly said.

"You had?" Ashe asked.

"That's great!" Vi yelled out excitedly, "Who's the killer, Cupcake?"

"I don't know yet," Caitlyn admitted, "but I worked out the possible motives. It was nothing personal, he wasn't a favourite champion, nor a hated one like Teemo or Tryndamere. We spent two days looking for any bad relationships, be we haven't found anything, that means there's nothing to be found!"

"Maybe you overlooked something," Ashe suggested. Both Vi and Caitlyn eyed her angrily.

"What? I'm just saying!"

"After that," the sheriff continued, "I realized there are only two other possible motives. The first, and easier one is a 'practise murder'. The Institute is heavily guarded, killing someone while remaining undercover is almost impossible, so I guess the killer has another target, maybe more important one, and just wanted to try how a murder in the Institute would play out."

"Wouldn't it just make the second murder more difficult?" Ashe asked, "Given how much the security has improved over the past two days."

"Yes, you're right, I'm still working on that," Caitlyn admitted, "maybe the killer wanted to distract them with the murder, so they can't guard something else."

"C'mon, Cupcake, don't give up, you still rock!" Vi said, "Tell us about the other motive."

"Well, thanks," the sheriff smiled, "Vi, you know how Ryze told us about the possible futures? So I thought, what if someone has some evil plan prepared for the Institute and didn't want Zilean to see it before it happens."

"That sounds really interesting," Ashe said, barely hiding laughter, "and also absolutely ridiculous, I'm really sorry, Caitlyn."

"It's alright," the sheriff replied sadly.

"Who would want to see the future anyway?" Vi said, then sipped from her drink, "I've been hearing a lot of bad news lately. The king of Demacia is dying, Noxus is in some sort of civil war, Freljord too, but for much longer, some terrorists are running around Ionia an recently Zaunites sent us their cute little gift that calls itself Jinx and kills people by hundreds."

"What do you mean?" Caitlyn asked, sounding really concerned.

"I mean the future is shit, let's enjoy what we have now," the enforcer finished in a worried voice.

"Do you have any suspects?" Ashe asked to break the silence that occured afterwards.

"Yeah, I have one," Vi said, sounding more vividly instantly, "Swain."

"Well, that might be," Caitlyn agreed, "he quite usually says he's five steps ahead of others."

"He does?" Vi asked curiously, "That's impossible! How could he walk so fast with that cane?"

"You can ask him yourself," Ashe suggested and pointed out to the far corner of the common area, "he's sitting over there with LeBlanc."

It was true, those two were sitting there and laughing much more than Noxians usually do, even if they are in company of their own kind.

"I certainly will," Caitlyn said and headed to the table, the two other women followed her. The Noxians stopped laughing when the trio approached them, and put on serious faces.

"Good evening, ladies," Swain spoke, his voice coldly polite and threatening as ever.

"We have a question for you, Swain," the sheriff started, but Vi interrupted her: "Did you kill Zilean?"

"No, I didn't," he answered calmly, "I was no friend of that old mage, but I also had no dispute with him.

"What were you doing in the time of murder?" Caitlyn asked.

"I was with Evaine," he replied, LeBlanc nodded, "we were in my room, we had a tactical meeting."

"Romantic dinner," the Deceiver corrected him.

"Yes," Swain admitted with a sigh, "that's actually a more correct description."

The three women left the Noxians and begin quietly walking back to their table.

"Those two are together?!" Caitlyn said after she sat down, "that's so gross! I can't even imagine how gross that is! Now I can't get the picture out of my head."

"Me too, thanks, Cupcake!" Vi said angrily.

"Hey, they are both creepy and both are Noxians," Ashe responded, "they fit together perfectly."

The enforcer just shrugged: "Excuse me, girls, I think I'm gonna vomit!"

"So," the Frost Archer started after Vi left, "I think we can rule those two out. Do you have any other suspects?"

"Well, I have," Caitlyn replied, "someone I've seen you with on the spring welcoming festival."

"Katarina?" Ashe asked uncertainly, "Why do you think she would do something like that?"

"She's an assassin," the sheriff said, "and she's from Noxus, and she has weak alibi, and she acts suspiciously, and she's a murderous bitch..."

"Okay, okay, I got your point," the archer said defensively, then started to look around as if she was trying to find a clue about what time it was.

"I think I have to leave you now," Ashe continued, "it's getting too late for me."

"Hey, Ashe, what did I say?" Caitlyn asked as the other woman stood up.

"Nothing, really," the archer replied, but the sheriff didn't believe her completely. Caitlyn ordered one more drink, drank it and then left as well.


Despite the late hour, or maybe just because of it, Katarina was standing amidst the training room, dripping with sweat. Around her stood several training dummies, some others lied on the ground, knocked down by the assassin. She was breathing heavily, eying her wooden opponents with rage in her eyes, her hands were clutching blades with such force they turned white entirely. She looked at the dummy in front of her, projecting all of her anger onto it and striked it, leaving a deep diagonal cut on its chest. But she didn't stop there, she couldn't, the rage was too big. She was striking the dummy over and over again, shredding it to pieces, splinters flying through the air after each hit, until the dummy was so damaged it crumbled. She didn't choose another one, instead she was attacking more at once now, spinning around, throwing punches, kicks and blades at all sides. It was exhausting, draining, but the rage burning inside her veins just forced her to go on, to continue despite the exhaustion, despite the pain. Her blades were digging deep holes into the wooden bodies, many of her targets were damaged beyond any repair. Once she stabbed on of them with such strength she couldn't pull the blade out. She tried and tried again, only to fail every time and sigh. In the end she kicked the lifeless figure down, it broke upon impact and the hard wood released the weapon. Katarina didn't pick it up, she let the other one fall to the ground as well. She felt like if someone was standing behind her, watching her and mocking her mistakes, she was also sure who that was supposed to be – Talon. She quickly turned around to punch that traitorous bastard right in his face, but she found out it was just another dummy. Her own mind was playing tricks her.

But she hit it anyway, with her bare fists, and kept on hitting it again and again and again. Large drops of sweat rolled down her face, her breath faster and heavier than before and her entire body in pain. The dummy shook each time the assassin's fist hit it, Katarina's training was very intense and still accelerating. She was suddenly letting out everything she kept inside for several past weeks. The wooden head of the dummy bore no face, but she saw faces of all her enemies at once. She roared in anger, quickened her pace and kept on hitting the wooden figure's torso. She was punching it until the wood broke under her hits and the dummy fell to the ground. Katarina looked at her hands, they were red as her hair. Her knuckles were bleeding very badly. Right then the door opened and the Frost Archer walked in. Ashe took in the scene in front of her, fixing her glance on the panting assassin.

"What?" Katarina roared, "You have something to tell me?"

"In fact I do," Ashe said calmly, "Caitlyn thinks you killed Zilean."

"Well, I didn't," the assassin replied.

The archer just kept on looking at her.

"You don't trust me?" Katarina asked, she would be very surprised if Ashe did.

"I do," the Freljordian said, "though I am not sure why."

There was an awkward silence growing between the two, so Ashe decided to break it after her gaze wandered to Katarina's hands: "It looks bad, you should see Soraka about it."

"It's none of your business," the assassin spat.

"Fine," the archer said and left. Katarina then realized it really hurts like hell, so she visited the League's infirmary, where the Starchild treated her wounds with mother-like care, not at all diminished by the fact Katarina was a Noxian. When she was leaving the infirmary, some deep, unexplainable feeling made her look into a distant corner. She noticed the Frost Archer was standing there and smiling intensely.


The League of Legends was the ultimate tool serving many noble purposes – it helped resolve disputes between nations, build metaphorical bridges between distinct cultures, protect small and unique comunities and shelter individuals running from persecution. But it was also the best place to bond with others, in there, friendships were formed regardless of where the people came from or which faction were they loyal to. Most usual were those between a champion and the one summoner that used to summon then more often than others. Even Ashe had one such friend, a Demacia-allied summoner called Balah, a man with one eye bright green and the other one dark brown. He always wore his blue-and-gold robes with hood pulled up, only those different eyes peeking into the world, but he seemed a genuinly nice guy. Ashe hadn't spoken to him since the murder happened, until the day after her night encounter with Katarina.

"Hey, here you are, Ashe," he greeted her when they met by chance in a hallway.

"Hello, Balah," she said, "how are you?"

Those two just casually talked for a while, exchanging general information about their lives, though nothing too intimate. Balah was very sad his king was dying, and from the way he talked Ashe soon felt sorry for him. As much as they wanted, they couldn't avoid the murder in their discussion, it was the most shocking thing ever happened in the Institute.

"Have you heard it?" summoner Balah asked.

"Heard what?" the archer responded.

"They found the weapon," he explained, "and with it the murderer."

"No," Ashe said confused, "I haven't heard that. Who was it?"

"The Sinister Blade," the summoner responded.

"Oh, no."

Ashe had to run through the entire building, just to see Katarina being dragged into the Judgement Tower for interrogation by four strong guards. Katarina was unarmed, yet she posed a serious threat. The assassin was putting up a fight, she was throwing punches and kicks all around her, yelling only the worst insults at the men who were trying to restrain her. They had no weapons in their hands as well, they didn't want to hurt her, but she didn't care at all and fought with her full strength. She knocked one of them to the ground, but other three quickly grabbed her and held her, trying to get her inside the tower.

"Get your fucking dirty hands off of me!" she yelled, but then Vi came and punched her in the face. The last thing Ashe saw was the tower's massive door closing behind Katarina.


"Do you recognize this weapon, Sinister Blade?" some old dude asked her, "we found it in a ventilation shaft near the crime scene, covered in the victim's blood!"

Katarina was sitting at the table mostly reserved for champions undergoing their Judgement. The investigation team was seated opposite of her, along with a man who obviously felt privileged to ask such questions. From what she was told she understood he was a summoner leading the investigation. There were also many guards in the room, tips of their spears aiming directly at her. The very last thing she noticed was the actual object of interest, a small blade lying in front of her.

"Yeah, I do," she admitted, "it's a throwing knife of a simple Noxian design, supposedly mine."

"Supposedly?" the man asked another question in an annoying, high-pitched voice. She didn't bother to answer at first, just eyed the man in font of her she sensed he's afraid of her, she could smell his fear. She wanted to rise from her seat and threateningly tower over the man, but after a guard jabbed her in the ribs with the dull end of his spear, the assassin quickly reconsidered her strategy.

"It's identical to those I use on the Fields," the assassin replied, "but given how much I throw them at people, I wonder you haven't found a full dozen of 'em."

"Believe me, you're not helping yourself, Katarina," the summoner said. The investigators were watching her patiently, observing her every move, every drop of sweat running down her face. They were waiting for any mistake she would make, but she wasn't going to make one. She was innocent after all, someone certainly wanted to frame her. If she only could tell the truth without sacrificing anything she and Swain were working on, she would do it right away, without hesitation. It seemed like someone knew, and she promised to herself she would find that bastard and gut him if she leaves this room alive.

"Why to fuck would I use a throwing knife to slit a man's throat anyway?" she asked nervously, "they're meant for throwing, not cutting!"

"I have no idea," he stated indifferently, "you tell me, you are an expert."

"What?" Katarina was shocked, "this is just ridiculous!"

She hit the table with her fist and the big room was suddenly filled with the sound. It was too much noise for someone currently accused of a murder, all of the guards made a quick step forward, she almost felt cold steel of a spear on the back of her head.

"It might be," the old man admitted, "so why don't you just tell us what were you doing in the time of murder?"

Her seat was getting uncomfortable, as if it wanted to trap her in itself and she was constantly shrinking in it. She knew very well the punishment would be death if she was proven guilty and it looked somehow inevitably. She had to think, consider everything, evaluate every option. Think it through entirely in the little amount of time that was given to her. She couldn't tell the truth, Swain's plan couldn't be compromised. But what other option did she have? She couldn't think of any suitable lie and even if she did, it would be exposed right away. It was the worst decision she had to make, ever. Save her life and betray Swain and his allies, or die for what she believed in. What would her father do in her place? She knew, she knew, it was difficult to admit but she knew he would stay loyal against all odds, never tell a word and accept the punishment as an unfortunate turn of events. He was strong, she realized he was much stronger than her, because there was something inside of her, that forced her to cowardly give in.

"I was..."

"She was with me," a voice from behind cut through the room. Katarina turned her head around to look at the balcony from where she used to watch the Judgements. She saw the hooded figure of the Frost Archer standing over there, the Freljordian must have remembered the secret passage Katarina once took her there through.

"Yes, I was with her," the Noxian didn't understand why would the archer risk to rescue her, but she grabbed the opportunity as soon as it was given to her.

"We are a couple," the archer finished.

"What?" several voices called out at once. One of them belonged to Katarina.


Author's notes: Yes, I know what are many of you thinking, a murder in the Institute is probably the worst cliché among LoL fanfic authors (I know about at least two other stories with that idea), but I promise you it will make sense in the 'greater scheme' of my story.

Besides, if this all was only about some murder, don't you think it would happen much sooner than it chapter 7?

So, if you have any idea who could be the murderer, feel free to post it as a review or PM me. I promise you I won't be making any new characters for this purpose, so it is either a champion or an OC summoner already mentioned in the story. But please post it with a motive you think the murderer had, I don't want just pure guessing there.

Plus one more revelation: it wasn't Katarina! :D

So feel free to post, I will have a good time laughing at your half-hearted attempts! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

But really, no offense.

I know this chapter took me really long, but since it is a break point in the story, I tried to make it as good as possible

And if you are concerned about the discussion with Ryze, don't worry, I won't change this story into some weird time travel/parallel universes sci-fi.