What is this!? An Author's Note at the top of the chapter instead of at the bottom?! HAS THE ENTIRE WORLD GONE MAD!?

Nah, I just wanted to give a shout-out to the guest reviewer who left a long, constructive review for me. As much as I realize he was pointing out things that he thought I should've put in but didn't, it makes me really happy that there are readers out there who are interested enough in the series to want to see me improve and want to give me suggestions of things that I should be doing instead to make the series better. Like, literally, I can't thank that guy/girl enough. Keep them coming!

Alayn sighed, walking out of the summoning room, breathing in the calm, serene quiet of the hallway. He closed his eyes, taking in a deep breath—

"ALAYN!"

A small form crashed into Alayn's back, letting out a small "Nyah~." as the form impacted, making him stumble forward to regain his balance. "What the—" Alayn said, looking behind him to see a pair of black fox ears pointing up at him. Ahri looked up at him, grinning. "You did well out there. Kind of want to know how you would handle me, if you want to try~." Ahri asked, giving a seductive smile and winking.

"Ahri! Stop being so perverted!" Lux screamed, putting her full effort into trying to peel the fox off of the summoner.

Alayn just stared in disbelief as right outside of the summoning room was what could only be described as a mini living room. A flat-screen TV was set up with a coffee table in front of it. A couch and two recliners were set up behind the coffee table, with Caitlyn lounging in one of the recliners, Akali with her feet kicked up on the couch. Ahri, having been forcefully removed from Alayn's back, frowned before walking over to the nearby mini-refrigerator and pulling out a bottle of water.

"What is…all of…this?" Alayn said, gesturing to the new living room in the middle of a hallway. Lux blushed slightly, embarrassed by the question. "Well, we wanted to be the first ones to congratulate you on your game after you got out…but we also wanted to watch it and not just sit out here doing nothing while we waited for you. And if we're watching a game we want to be comfortable…" Lux started to explain, absent-mindedly kicking at nothing on distract herself.

"None of that actually matters since someone beat us to congratulating him. Look at this." Akali said, having apparently moved from the couch to right next to Alayn's face without him realizing it. The ninja pointed a finger at a spot on Alayn's cheek that had s pair of slightly pink marks in the shape of lips. "Lip gloss." Akali concluded, getting a blush from Alayn as he remembered Katarina's goodbye kiss on the cheek.

Lux must have come to the same conclusion, her face darkening slightly from her normal sunny disposition. "That's the second time she's kissed you…" she said quietly, almost so quietly that Alayn didn't hear.

"L-Lux?" Alayn was almost afraid to ask, because the darkness quickly turned into what looked like suppressed rage.

"Okay Alayn, I know you do some silly things sometimes, but this is borderline dumb. Katarina is an assassin. A Noxian assassin no less. A Noxian assassin who specializes in killing Demacians! And you're wanting to-to…to…gah!" Lux shouted in frustration, shaking her red-stained face and walking off down the hall.

Alayn looked over to Caitlyn and Akali, who were both already trying to get all of the furniture they lugged out packed away again, leaving Alayn to stand in the emotional wreckage, trying to figure out what exactly just happened.


Katarina weaved her way down the hallways, doing her best not to make eye-contact with anyone, to become one with the crowd and avoid being noticed. As a woman with bright red hair it was difficult to make yourself be anonymous in a crowd, but thankfully there were bigger freak-shows in the League of Legends than her.

The noxian assassin worked her way down the halls, exiting the main area of the Institute and entering a service tunnel, scanning quickly to make sure that no one was following her. Her footsteps were fast, yet soft, making no noise to betray the direction she was traveling. Katarina passed one door, two doors, before pausing at the third door on her left. She looked around a few times, making sure that there was absolutely no one following her. After making sure that she hadn't picked up a tail, she pushed open the door a crack, sliding through the small opening before letting the door shut behind her.

The room she entered was dark, pitch black, just as she expected. There was no signs telling her that there was someone else in the room with her, yet she knew that she was not alone.

"You're late." Came a voice from the shadows, icy and emotionless.

"The price you pay for quality work." Katarina said simply, a slight tinge of arrogance coating her voice. The stillness in the room made Katarina fidget nervously in place, shifting from one foot to another. She had no reason to really feel uncomfortable about her assignment, but the quiet and the darkness was starting to make her feel uncomfortable for some reason.

"So? Give me an update on things with the boy." The voice asked again.

"Things are progressing well. We should have him within our grasp in a few weeks." Katarina informed, doing her best to relax. Something kept nagging at her, gnawing away at the back of her mind. Her entire mission was going along smoothly, but something felt off about the entire thing. Something felt…wrong.

"Good. Keep up the good work. I expect to be meeting him myself soon, with his word to work for us. Remember, we can't allow them to get his support. You know what that will cost us. What it will cost you."

Katarina nodded. She was well aware of what the stakes of the situation were, and what would happen were she to fail. She quickly nodded her head, reaffirming her resolve. "Of course, I won't fai—"

BANG!

The assassin quickly turned around, a knife in her hand, as the loud noise of someone hitting the door disturbed the secret meeting. Muffled voices came from outside the door, which brought a silent curse from the redhead's lips. It seemed the quiet, secret meeting place wasn't so quiet or secret anymore.


Lux paced around the cafeteria, fuming with anger. She couldn't believe how dense Alayn was being. He was getting absolutely smitten with a Noxian assassin who wanted nothing better than the downfall of Demacia! And while she wasn't sure if Alayn was actually Demacian, he was practically raised entirely in Demacia! That made Alayn a potential target for a Noxian Assassin who was trained to kill Demacians! The fact that he was still getting involved with her, despite everything Lux had ever done for him, despite the way that she—

Lux shook her head furiously, clearing the thoughts from her head. That had nothing to do with why she was mad at Alayn!

Lux sighed, sitting down at an empty table, hungry but too frustrated to eat, when a brief glimpse of crimson passed in front of her, weaving its way through a crowd of people. This piqued Lux's interest. "Where is Katarina off to in such a hurry?" Lux wondered, already off of her feet and following the Noxian. Katarina was setting a quick pace, and Lux soon began panting and breathing heavily from trying to keep up.

But Lux kept up. Lux rounded a corner just to see the assassin duck into a service tunnel. Lux quickly followed, making sure to stay far enough back to not be noticed by the Noxian. Lux watched her walk into one of the rooms, closing the door behind her. "What the heck…" Lux muttered to herself as she approached the door, pressing her ear up against the wood to hear what was going on.

So? Give me an update on things with the boy.

"Things are progressing well. We should have him within our grasp in a few weeks." Lux heard Katarina say, forcing Lux to cover her mouth so as to not make a noise that would betray her presence. Who else could they be talking about but Alayn!?

"Lux? What are you doing back here?" came a voice from behind Lux that made her jump in shock. Lux turned to see the figure of Jatt standing in the hallway, giving Lux a confused look.

Lux blushed in embarrassment, rubbing her left arm anxiously and giving the summoner a nervous laugh. "Oh, nothing! I was just, uh, having some alone time! Yeah! I could really use some alone time!" Lux said, nervously laughing and backpedalling away from the summoner. With a quick turn of the handle, the Lady of Luminosity left the service tunnel, walking with conviction toward the Demacian dorms.

She had to warn Alayn. Something wasn't right.

Holy god that took forever and a half!

Hey guys! Sorry this chapter took so long .-. Between work and school-related stuff, as well as a little bit of writer's block, it's taken a bit to get this chapter out. Hopefully this doesn't happen again…haha…hahaha…..*gulp*

Anyway, let me know what you think about the story so far and drop me a review. Or if you just wanna say hi or something, drop me a review anyway.