Riven's lore may not be entirely accurate in this Chapter, in fact it's not intended to be 100% accurate. I just figured I'd do my own take on it :D
Badass Riven this Chapter btw. To an extent anyway.
"I take it you haven't chosen to finally speak to me for the purpose of military strategies?" Swain asked without turning around.
"You know Goddamn well that's not why I'm here." Riven snapped.
The Grand General merely chuckled. He fed a few crumbs to his bird Beatrice before turning to Riven. His demonic hand remained hidden inside the black coat with the other stroking some long white hair out of his way.
"Yes, yes Riven we know. Evaine informed me that you were attacked by Culda and they apparently um, violated the partner of the late Commander Holland?"
Riven picked up a hint of sarcasm in the man's voice. She brought her blade out and angrily slammed it into the table causing it to break in two down the centre. Swain's eyes tensed up with his demonic hand coming out.
"Stop treating this like it's some kind of joke." Riven said coldly. "You are talking about the death of someone who was very close to me and James. Don't you have any respect for her. Don't you respect him?"
Swain glared at the girl. "Respect? Respect?" He quickly walked over to Riven who stood her ground. He was just an inch from her face with his eyes glowing red. "James Holland was one of my most decorated Commanders. I had, and still do, have the utmost respect for him and losing him was one of the hardest events I've endured during my reign as The Grand General of Noxus. Do not think, Riven, that you are the only one here who cared for him."
The man walked back to his original spot as Riven took a deep breath.
"I'm sorry about the death of his partner, but I didn't know her personally. Me and him didn't have that relationship where we could go out drinking and share personal information about our love life." Swain continued. "I have a job to do. I cannot let personal quarrels interfere with it."
Riven had to agree with those points.
"This business with the personal death is not something we can look into now. Culda has gained too much support and the accusation would guarantee her victory." Swain said. "But you know that I did not call you here for that reason, we have to look to the ongoing Invasion of Ionia."
The General gestured Riven to him which she did. He placed a map on the half of the broken table to explain his plan. She listened.
…
Evelynn walked through the hallways to her quarters. She tried to forget about what she was feeling for James, but it wasn't easy. Why was she afraid of what would happen tonight?
"I've done it thousands of times! Flaying them head to toe with no fear of what the audience would say. Now I'm nervous because… of him?" Evelynn's mind said.
The thinking was interrupted by a merry whistle. A man's voice was heard singing from the room James occupied. Evelynn was drawn to it by his voice. She briefly peeked in.
"Let the high heavens your songs invite,
These spacious fields of brilliant light"
James was sitting on the bed with the top of his helmet off. He was doing something with the visor, seemingly adjusting it.
"Where sun and moon and planets roll,
And stars that glow from pole to pole."
His voice was mesmerising to her. Evelynn felt the need to go into the bedroom and sit by him for hours as he sang until she fell asleep resting on his shoulder.
"Evelynn?"
She said nothing as she kept day dreaming.
"Evelynn? Hello in there?"
It took a moment for Evelynn to come back to reality. She was standing in the doorway, or leaning that is, with James on his feet and looking at her.
Realizing her position, Evelynn scrambled to get out, but she stumbled back and almost fell out. James grabbed her hand and pulled her up before falling completely. She accidentally went into his chest, resting against the armor before getting out. The woman put some distance between her and the man.
"What're you doing in here?"
"Um, I heard you whistling and singing. It caught my attention. Got me interested." Evelynn said sheepishly. "Why am I so fucking shy right now?"
James merely rose a brow and chuckled. "Earlier you tried to jump me in the shower because of my whistle. Are you intending to try that again?"
Evelynn was almost hurt by this, but James winked at her. She caught onto his sarcasm. They laughed a bit.
"You're certainly more cheerful compared to earlier Commander."
"I suppose the new information we heard from… that thing earlier lightened up my spirits. You giving me back my weapon sealed the deal."
Seeing James happy made the succubus feel happy in a way. Why did it? Last night he was forced to fuck her and clearly didn't like her, but now he seemed to be treating her like another… person.
"Well I'm glad you're in better spirits James. Tonight won't be very pleasant."
Evelynn saw what she assumed was a grin forming under the mouthpiece of his mask. "James? Did you call me James?"
She looked away with her arms crossed. "So what if I did? I know your name after all so why can't I call you that?"
"Because so far I believe you've only called me by that in an intentionally seductive way. But you sounded sincere for a moment there." James said. "Perhaps the fox's words were correct, you were jealous for a moment."
Evelynn's eyes lit up with her head tilting back. She scowled at the presumed grinning man. James began to laugh hysterically at the words.
"So much joy! How can he feel this way when earlier he was incredibly pissed off?!"
The woman's mouth began to form a smile as James's infectious laugh kept sounding. Soon she joined in with his laughter, both of them crying tears from doing it too hard.
Elise heard this and peeked in. She rolled her eyes with pitifulness at her friends constantly growing for this man. It would spiral out of her control soon and there was nothing The Spider Queen could do to stop it.
Not that she was against it either.
…
Swain had finished explaining to Riven his plan for her. With her being a new commander of the Crimson Elite, the girl would, similar to James, teleport into Ionian territory with a squad of Elite soldiers. However, they would not be teleporting back to Noxus. This wasn't an exfiltration mission like the map, this was an offensive against the Ionians. A platoon of 150 Noxian soldiers were in a bloody and desperate engagement with Ionians for control of a strategic village. The Captain had been killed. Riven and her unit would teleport in with her taking command of the unit and seizing the village. She hesitantly agreed to his decision. The main reason is to unleash the anger inside her that had been planted by Culda.
"Riven, I will not lie to you. This isn't a war with Ionia, it's an extermination."
She nodded without looking.
"You are one of our best soldiers out there. You've always carried out the orders of your superiors, terminating the remnants of a beaten and fractured enemy with extreme prejudice. I know that you're troubled, but for now that must be set aside." Swain kept on.
"Thank you, I suppose." Riven said without looking.
Swain sighed and put his demonic hand on her armoured shoulder. She barely looked over.
"When you return, you have my word we will look into the events of last night, and bring Culda to justice."
Taking in a long breath, Riven exhaled with a motion that she accepted Swain's proposal.
"You'll be deploying there in twenty minutes." Swain said.
Riven blinked at him, anger in her eyes again. "Excuse me?"
"Yes twenty minutes. Is there a problem?"
The girl opened her mouth to speak about her not being able to properly say goodbye to Maddoc, but knew Swain would ignore it. She shook her head and looked away.
"Now that that's out of the way, you shall meet your new unit. They're just down the ha-"
"Bring them here." Riven said.
"What?"
"You heard me. I said bring them here. I do not care for introductions. That's something James always did. I don't want to be reminded."
The General sighed and agreed. He gestured to Leblanc who had been silent during the meeting to retrieve the soldiers. Riven observed her blade.
Three soldiers entered into the room with Leblanc stepping to the side. They were all dressed in Crimson Elite Uniforms, one woman and two men. Riven, clearly uninterested, asked them for their names.
"Private Holly Corbin!" The woman said.
"Private Gary Bishop!"
"Private Ben Reid!"
"Good. Collect you're gear. We deploy in five." Riven said turning away.
Swain was about to say something, but figured he should let it slide. It was best not to piss of Riven more than he already unintentionally had.
…
Sounds of combat were heard in the once peaceful Ionian village. The Ionians had entrenched themselves up in the higher parts of the location, raining down an endless barrage of arrows to the pinned Noxian soldiers. Corpses littered the ground, each one having more than one arrow in them or were sliced down brutally.
"Goddammit where are those reinforcements?!" A soldier said. "We can't hold out much longer!"
An archer peeked out to take aim. He shot an Ionian, but was cut down by the return fire of the planted turrets.
Suddenly in one of the buildings, a portal appeared. The Crimson Elites jumped out with Riven leading the charge with her blade. Reid was armed with an axe and shield while Corbin and Bishop both have bows. Riven snuck up behind the Ionians manning the turret, letting out a battle cry as she cut them down with a single swing of her blade. Her uniform was bloody within seconds, her comrades watching with admiration and slight fear.
"Corbin!" She said pointing to the woman. "Get on that turret and throw some hell down there! Bishop watch her back! Reid, with me!"
The two archers obeyed her, Corbin manning the turret and turning the Ionian's weapon against them. Bishop began to shoot down Ionian archers, avoiding the return fire. Riven and Reid positioned themselves upon a heavily entrenched group of Ionians who had the Noxians pinned. She gestured to him and he nodded. They both leaped down with their weapons raised above their heads, battle cries sounding.
The Noxian soldiers could hear clashes and blood splattering from the area. They took it as their hint that help had arrived and they wasted no time. They used their shields as cover to avoid the now lessened barrage of arrows. Arriving at the spot, they saw that the whole unit of Ionians had been slaughtered. Two figures nearly coated in crimson red were there, panting heavily.
"Nice work there Private." Riven said with acknowledgement.
"Uh, t-thank you Commander." Reid replied.
She noticed the large number of Noxian soldiers looking at them. She went to the one in front unsure of who was leading this platoon.
"How many of you are there?"
"More than 80, less than 100." The soldier replied.
"Shit." Riven said. "Okay, let's not falter. We have to secure this village. How big is it?"
"It's not huge, but not small either. We have this region secured which is about half of it. The Ionians are heavily entrenched up in the higher parts of the land. They have us outnumbered."
"Heads up, we got more coming in from the east!" Bishop shouted above.
Riven looked to see a large number of Ionians charging to their location. She slightly smirked at this.
"Guess they're coming to us." She turned to the platoon. "Follow my lead and stay behind. Use your shields to cover yourselves until we're close enough to engage."
They nodded at her command. Riven clutched her blade and gestured to Reid. He ran ahead with Riven right behind him. They noticed the Ionians firing arrows at them and Reid stopped. He planted his shield onto the ground with the Noxians doing the same. The ones behind used their shields to block the barrage from above. The Ionians kept charging and Riven jumped over Reid, striking down three Ionians in a single swing.
The Noxian soldiers broke their defensive position, ramming into the Ionians with their blades and spears. Corbin adjusted the turrets height and fired into the backline of Ionians, cutting down many of the soldiers before it ran out of ammo. Following Bishop, they provided covering fire atop the balconies of different buildings.
Riven was charged by an Ionian, but she stabbed through them easily with her blade before they could get close. Yanking it out, she ducked to avoid another strike and decapitated the Ionian soldier. Reid blocked another slash with his shield and slammed his axe into the Ionians head. He reeled it back with a growl and engaged another soldier. The Noxian's were fairing well against the Ionians in close combat with them doing a better job at cutting them down. Bishop and Corbin kept shooting down numerous Ionians with little worry of the return fire.
In a few minutes the Ionian's were retreating from the Noxian force. They'd lost a significant number of soldiers while the Noxians barely lost any.
"We got them on the run let's go!" Riven commanded.
The remainder of the platoon followed the two Crimson Elites as they took charge. Bishop and Corbin eventually rejoined them up front as they kept advancing. The unit chased the Ionians into a courtyard where a great hall could be seen entrenched into the area. The archers finally were able to shoot down the last of the Ionians. Riven realized that they'd reached the end of the village.
"Hey, I think we did it!" Reid said with a cheerful attitude.
Riven scoffed in disbelief, but realised that it seemed like they did secure the village. Her mouth twitched with mirth at the situation.
Then her smile quickly went away to an agape mouth. Up in the cliffs above the village, numerous Ionian soldiers could be seen. Most had melee weapons, but a good amount had bows. She looked all around in the other directions to see more Ionian soldiers appearing.
They were surrounded.
"Shit. Shit. Shit." She mumbled to herself.
"Commander? What do we do?" Corbin asked.
"Uh, we uh…"
"We're surrounded!" A soldier exclaimed fearfully.
"Stow it soldier! You're a member of the Noxian army so act like it!" Reid said speaking for Riven.
Riven saw the Ionians begin to descend upon them from all directions. They were severely outnumbered and the chances of victory seemed slim. Still, she didn't give up.
"Corbin!" She said. "Get to shelter and call for backup! Bishop, round up all the archers and hold the Ionians off from afar as long as possible, Corbin will join you after! Reid, you, me, and the other soldiers will form up and meet them at the single street we came up from. We'll be able to hold them back until help arrives!"
"Yes Ma'am!" Everyone replied.
Corbin went into a house with a lone soldier watching her back. Bishop gathered up the archers and they took position on the balcony's of the buildings. They immediately began to rain down fire on the advancing enemy, but the Ionians fired backed taking down a few Noxians, but far lesser.
On the street, Riven was in front of the platoon of fighters, their spears in front with shields forming a wall. The Ionians were charging them.
"Here they come!" Reid said priming his shield and axe.
"Hold them!" Riven ordered.
With the Ionians charging them, the Noxians braced for the impact. A crash sounded when the force crashed into the shields. The Ionians tried to stab through the wall of shields, but the Noxians kept a firm grip.
"NOW!" Riven shouted.
The Noxian soldiers pushed the Ionians off and started to stab them with the spears again. This time the Ionians fought back with more ferocity, cutting down the outnumbered Noxians. A bloody and desperate battle ensued in the street, bodies quickly piling up from both parties. Riven threw herself into a group of 10 Ionians, sweeping her blade in a circle that cut down the whole group. Reid followed her lead, both of them fighting back to back as they fought for survival. Blades clanked and blood splattered everywhere.
"No retreat! No surrender! No defeat!" Riven shouted.
"Come on! Don't let them up!" Bishop shouted as he, Corbin, and the archers shot down the never ending horde of Ionians, trying to prevent them from entering the village and flanking their comrades below.
"Grappling hooks!" Corbin alerted.
Numerous hooks were thrown up on the edges of the building. The Noxians attempted to knock them off, but a couple stragglers survived. A few archers took out small daggers to combat the new arrivals. Both sides took losses as more hooks were caught on.
"Get out of our village Ionian bastards! Come on, knock them down!" Bishop said.
Soon more than half of the archers were engaged in hand to hand combat with Ionians. Bishop took an arrow from his holster and stabbed an Ionian in the face with it. Corbin did the same, but another soldier flanked her and tried to cut her down. She blocked it with her bow with it breaking and she delivered a punch to their abdomen. Stealing their sword, she stabbed the Ionian and let out a battle cry.
Bishop looked around seeing that the Ionians were gaining an advantage over the dwindling Noxians. He realized they couldn't hold the position for long.
"Fall back, to the centre! Regroup!" He ordered.
Corbin and the surviving Noxians heeded his word. However, Corbin soon became wide eyed.
"WATCH OUT! BEHIND YOU!"
Bishop turned around to see an Ionian lunging at him. The Crimson Elite brought out his dagger, but he was too late. The Ionian stabbed through him with the spear, impaling him. Blood spurting from his mouth as the Ionian let out a battle cry. Corbin and the others were shocked.
The man coughed some blood into his assailants' eye.
"I'm ready! How 'bout you?!"
With the remaining strength he had, Bishop sent the dagger into the Ionians throat. The soldier soon fell over the building onto the ground with Bishop falling with him. Corbin peeked over to see his body. The combined fall with the impaled spear had done it's effect.
He was dead.
Corbin was enraged by this and tightly gripped her sword. She joined the retreating Noxians who were engaging the Ionians who slipped past them.
The street was a blood bath now. Riven and Reid still fought back to back, but the Ionians kept coming and coming. The platoon of Noxians had been depleted significantly and couldn't keep up with the never ending Ionian army. The battle was looking grim for Riven and what was left of her unit.
"Commander! We can't hold them off forever, we need to fallback!" A Noxian shouted.
"Hold them off, just hold them off!" Riven replied. "Our support will be here soon!"
"He's right Commander! We're about to be overrun if we don't regroup with the others!" Reid said.
Riven knew deep down that they were vastly outnumbered and if she didn't retreat, her arrogance would get them killed.
"Alright! Fallback! Regroup with Corbin and Bishop! Make for the great hall!"
Reid nodded and ordered the surviving members of the platoon to retreat. She killed another Ionian who was advancing on her before joining the others. More Ionians soon pursued them. Regrouping with what was left of both parties, Riven, Reid, and Corbin came together.
"What? Where's Bishop?" Riven asked.
Corbin grimaced. "He's uh, he's d-dead."
Riven and Reid were surprised by this. She'd never lost a fellow Crimson Elite soldier on the battlefield apart from James. She wanted to grieve, but the present situation made that an afterthought. The Ionians had them surrounded and the remaining members of the platoon took up a defensive position outside of the great hall. Riven gripped her blade tightly, Reid doing the same with his axe and shield, and Corbin preparing her daggers.
"FIGHT! FIGHT TO THE LAST MAN! FIGHT FOR YOUR LIVES!" Riven shouted.
Just as she was prepared to fight to the death, a whistling could be heard. Everyone heard this and stopped. Riven looked up with a slight smile forming. It must've been the reinforcements.
Her smile disappeared upon closer inspection. It wasn't reinforcements, no extra soldiers to aid them. It was an object, green with gases slightly leaking from it. She could see a few more coming too.
It was a barrage of chemicals.
Riven's eyes widened with fear and she turned to her unit. She couldn't speak, no words coming out.
"TAKE COVER!" She shouted.
The warning wasn't enough when the barrage landed and unleashed its cargo. Green chemicals poured out immediately, coating the area in a green mist. Riven covered her mouth and gestured the others to do the same.
She watched with horror as Reid and Corbin began to cough violently, coughing up blood as they fell to the ground. The Noxians and Ionians soon did the same as they inhaled the biochemical. Riven looked around, seeing the soldiers dying in slow agonizing deaths. She couldn't save her fellow Crimson Elite members. Reid, through his state of death, mouthed to her "Run!".
With tears in her eyes, Riven sprinted as fast as she could to escape the barrage of chemicals. She kept her mouth and nose covered ensuring she'd never inhale the fumes. Her blade was dragged lazily along the ground as she ran. The girl passed by more dying Ionians as she kept running.
Finally, she reached a Cliffside. Riven looked back at the village, seeing the chemicals slowly advancing on her position. With a deep breath, she jumped off and dove into the water, narrowly but effectively escaping the chemical attack.
…
Water splashed up against the rocks on the Ionian shore. The sky was cloudy and was getting darker by the minute.
A torn gloved hand came out of the water and grabbed onto a rock. A woman pulled herself out of the water with a groan, her uniform all bloody and torn.
Riven gasped for air as she got out of the water, stumbling a few feet before falling to her knees. The swim from the chemical bombardment site had drained her energy and she needed to catch her breath. Her white hair was soaked and she took deep breaths.
"Reid… Bishop… Corbin… James… Maddoc…" She whimpered.
The girl curled herself into a fetal position, soon weeping at the horrors she endured during the battle. She was a tough woman, but seeing her fellow soldiers meeting a gruesome fate and knowing she couldn't do anything about it made her feel broken.
"I can't believe they did that. I can't believe they would launch a chemical attack on their own soldiers. On The Crimson Elite." She said to herself.
Riven eventually regained her strength. She dragged her blade along as she limped off the beach. Her helmet had come off during the dive and her wounds weren't lethal, but they still hurt. She eventually found a little cave, choosing to take shelter there. She tore off pieces of her uniform to use as makeshift bandages.
The memories of the battle flashed in her mind. The brutal killings and the chemical barrage. Riven wasn't sure if she could erase that memory. She could return to Noxus and confront the leadership about this decision. After all she was a poster child of the empire.
Or was she?
Riven looked at her hands. They were stained with the blood of Ionians who she killed without hesitation or the slight feeling of guilt.
"My hands are stained." She said to herself.
Soon, the girl glared ahead as she came to a conclusion. The Noxus she had grown up with wasn't there anymore. The actions they'd chosen had shattered her faith in the homeland she grew up in and had the utmost respect for.
All this pointless killing and conflict. Was it worth the lives of her fellow soldiers? The lack of respect for the dead? The lack of respect for James Holland and the justice agaist Culda? Riven's only reason to return to Noxus was to see Maddoc, but she wondered what would happen if she did. What if Culda had taken over as Grand General? Could she risk her life and her newfound lovers?
"No. Maddoc deserves better." Riven said to herself. "He'd never love a deserter like me."
The girl looked at her blade, soon glaring.
"I… will break you." She said with clenched teeth.
Looking at the rock, Riven gripped her blade. She reeled it back and with a cry, smashed it onto the hard object. The blade didn't break. Frustrated, she did it again. The weapon remained unbroken. On her third attempt, Riven let out a louder yell and brought it down with all her strength.
The blade was broken.
She'd severed all her ties with the empire. Surprisingly, Riven felt a great weight lift off her back. She slightly smiled at this.
Riven looked to her shoulder, seeing a Noxian symbol on it. Glaring at it, she ripped it off and threw it to the ground. She spat at it.
"I am not lost. With this new beginning, I will seek atonement and find a way to save the pure Noxian vision. Or maybe… I'll just forget about the past. Erase all memories. Live here in the land I've spilled too much blood on."
Slumping her now broken blade over her shoulder, Riven set off into Ionia. She wondered what would happen next.
She was an Exile now.
...
James was alone on his bedroom again, merrily whistling as he was almost done adjusting his helmet.
Suddenly, he felt something disturb him inside. Like a shockwave emitted from afar and just reached him. He felt like he just lost an important connection to his life back in Noxus. It felt like a part of him just slipped away. A piece of his heart torn out and never to be placed back in.
His whistling stopped and he soon began to scowl. He wasn't sure was disturbed him, but it wasn't just a feeling. It was something real.