A/N: Well, this fic is now officially AU thanks to the new Demacia lore updates, and the story description will soon be edited to reflect this. No changes will be made to the core premise of the story, but I'm always happy to incorporate new lore updates into the story if it doesn't derail the plot/plot progression, as you will see in this chapter and other chapters soon to come. As always, thanks for reading.

"Welcome back, Riven."

The young woman's eyes darted back and forth, desperate to identify the voice that called out to her. She had made a mistake by assuming she would be safe simply because she was back in Noxus. The dour slums of Noxus Prime could easily prove to be more of a lion's den than the front lines if one was unlucky enough to find themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time.

"Up here."

Riven turned her gaze to the rooftops to find the silhouette of an all too familiar bladed cloak outlined by the overcast sky.

"Talon, it's you," Riven called in an exasperated voice. "I didn't expect you to be waiting for me. Is something wrong?"

The assassin dropped to street below with a nearly inaudible thud and casually made his way beside her. "Nothing's wrong, I just thought it appropriate to congratulate you upon your return. It is your first mission as one of us, after all."

"Thanks, I guess."

"Do you know how long I've been following you?" Talon asked.

"You've been following me?" Talon was typically not a very expressive person, but he did have his tells. By now, Riven was starting to be able to interpret the meanings behind the small changes in his face as easily as if he were a mime. In this particular instance, he seemed quite disappointed.

"I thought as much. We'll have to schedule additional training sessions in between your missions."

"What!? Why? Demacia doesn't even have assassins!"

"True, but they do have ranger knights, and we can't have you compromising entire operations because you can't notice one on your trail."

Riven looked away dejectedly. Even after her official joining of the Crimson Elite and a successful first mission, she was still weighing the others down. At this rate it seemed she wouldn't even prove to have been worth the trouble of training. "So, did you reveal yourself just to scold me?"

"No," he answered. "You've been wandering around Noxus Prime since you gave your report at the estate. It's been nearly two hours."

"That… makes sense. I was looking for a place to get a decent meal; I'm starving."

"Don't lie to me. You could have easily eaten at the estate. You've done so plenty of times already."

Riven sighed. "Nothing gets past you, huh? Fine, I'll tell you, but this stays between us."

The swordswoman led her mentor to a claustrophobic alleyway that would offer them a modicum of privacy amidst the overpopulated slums. She leaned against a wall, settling herself in before advancing the conversation further. "Will it always feel like this?"

"Like what?"

"I don't know exactly. When I was in the military, all of my actions held purpose. I moved with a company of fellow soldiers, each of us reinforcing each other's convictions. There was little in the way of doubt or disquiet. I could stand before the gleaming armies of Demacia and swing my sword with the confidence of knowing I was fighting for the good of Noxus. This mission, though… the men I killed at that outpost… I can't shake the feeling that I wasn't justified in taking their lives. The whole assignment seemed so arbitrary… I feel like we could have left those soldiers alone and still been okay."

"It's always easier for a sheep to blame its shepherd for the course that it takes," Talon said. "You aren't a puppet to be marched afield to fight and die without question any longer. You are no longer a part of the hands of Noxus; you are its will. With this level of authority and autonomy comes the responsibility of self-regulation. We don't answer to High Command, we answer to General Du Couteau, and he frankly doesn't give a damn how we accomplish our missions so long as we return successfully. The only thing that has changed here is that the blood you shed is on your own hands now. So long as you think and act for yourself, that feeling will never go away."

Riven fell silent and thought over his words. From what she could tell, he was right. This assignment was the first time she had killed because she decided to rather than because she was ordered to. Perhaps that was what weighed so heavily on her. The soldiers at that outpost were not trying to kill her, nor did they pose any significant threat to the safety of Noxian citizens. However, that outpost had to come into Noxian hands if their soldiers were to make their way into the border territories undetected. She didn't agree with these increased hostilities, but it had to be done, and that was how she had elected to do it. Her sins were truly her own now.

"I think I understand what you mean," Riven eventually said. "This is going to take some getting used to."

"It always does." The assassin broke eye contact with his colleague, his eyes drifting to her disheveled snowy hair. "Here, turn around," he ordered. "Your hair is a mess."

Riven narrowed her eyes at Talon in suspicion, but relented to his request. The man would never say anything like, 'I'm glad you came back alive' or 'I'm happy we became friends', so instead, he would reach out like this. At least, that was what she liked to think. It was entirely possible that he just couldn't stand seeing people he knew going out in public looking so scruffy. For a recluse, he was rather insistent on keeping up good appearances. The swordswoman smiled to herself as she felt Talon tug at her hair and retie it in her usual fashion. She couldn't help but find humor in a man of his profession possessing such a skill set.

He eventually released her, analyzing and taking pride in his handiwork.

"Better?"

"Much better," he answered. "I know you were lying about being hungry earlier, but do you want to get something to eat? I don't have much time before I head out to find that ranger, and I'd prefer to spend the remainder of my time here doing something enjoyable."

"Of course," Riven answered. "Where shall we go?"

"I don't know. Let's see where our whims take us."

Talon jolted awake to a sensation he had never experienced before. His body, from head to toe, was alight with the strangest tingling one could imagine. The source was almost instantly made known to him. On her knees beside him was Ahri, the gumiho from the day prior. The fox girl had her eyes closed and was sapping a small stream of mana from him, apparently unaware he had regained consciousness.

"What the hell are you doing!?" he shouted.

Ahri's feline eyes popped open and her large furry ears shot skyward as Talon's voice shook her from her trance. "Y-you're awake."

"Yes, I'm awake. Why don't you go ahead and explain what you're doing here and what this is?"

"You're not angry, are you?" Ahri asked.

"Not yet," he answered, "but I will be if I don't get answers."

The gumiho took a deep breath to collect herself. "Well… I was trying to get to know you better."

"By siphoning my mana? You could have killed me!"

"Well, yes, but I have to take much, much more to hurt you. I was only taking enough to feel you, I promise."

Talon was beginning to realize that Ahri's lack of human interaction had left her vocabulary with a few oddities that didn't necessarily make much sense in common speech. "'Feel me'? Care to elaborate?"

"It's a little complicated."

"It's the dead of night; we have plenty of time. Now speak."

The woman sighed. "I guess you could say I was seeing your memories. I wanted to know more about you, and I was sure you weren't going to tell me yourself…"

"So instead of taking a chance and asking me, you decided to violate the privacy of my thoughts without my permission?"

Ahri's ears folded in embarrassment. "Well when you say it like that…"

Talon let out an elongated sigh, trying to cool himself down. Ultimately, he knew that getting upset at the fox woman would not amount to anything. Should he become aggressive, he might only be digging his own grave. "Why don't we start over? What are you doing here?"

"I've decided I want to come with you," Ahri said. "I want to learn more about the world, and I want you to teach me."

"So what, you've just been following me this whole time? It's been days!"

Ahri shook her head. "Following, but not 'following'… I think the appropriate phrase is 'catching up'. By the time I made up my mind to accompany you, I was already a day and a half behind. Luckily, people from Noxus are easy to track around here; your scent stood out like a fresh kill. Uhh… I'm sorry. That was inappropriate."

"Huh…"

"So, can I join you?" Ahri asked. "You're still looking for that girl, right? I know what she looks like now; maybe I can help."

It took great amounts of either bravery or inability to read the mood of a conversation to ask that sort of question right after being caught invading one's headspace in their sleep, and Talon didn't really respect either of those traits. He did, however, have need of a guide, and more importantly, someone to keep his mind off of Riven. He did not seek a replacement, just someone to talk to throughout the day to keep his thoughts from drifting. His nights, like his last, would likely still succumb to memories of his partner, but even so, the burden would be a little bit lighter.

"I see no harm in it, so long as you never do that again. You can stay."

The fox woman's features lit up in a display of joy. This was likely the happiest she had been in quite some time. "Thank you! Oh, thank you so much, Caleb! I promise you won't regret it."

Talon returned to his sleeping position and closed his eyes, eager to return to his slumber. "Sure, just go to sleep."

Ahri created a makeshift bed near her new companion and lay down, but sleep would not come to her. The whole of her being was alight with excitement, and the thought of making her first human friend made keeping still a terrible struggle in its own right. She passed a majority of the night lying silent, but wide awake. Tomorrow couldn't come soon enough.

Ionian taverns were a world apart from those of Noxus. They were smaller, for one, not needing to accommodate as many people due to the lack of dense population centers. While that alone was not something that would impact a customer's enjoyment, their selection was also strikingly limited. Though many Ionian brews that Noxians viewed as rarities were commonplace here, there was a distinct lack of variety outside of that circle. Perhaps Ionians were less inclined to open breweries and try their hand at creating the next sensation to sweep through their nation's alcoholic communities, or perhaps the lack of a significant alcoholic community left entrepreneurs little incentive to risk the business venture in the first place. Whatever the case, for all the time Talon had been in Ionia, he had yet to be impressed. Even in the province of Navori, from which the capitol and center of Ionian society was only a stone's throw away, he was left wanting. Nonetheless, the familiar atmosphere and comfortable seating were a welcome break from the travel that had consumed the better part of his last couple days. Ahri had proven a vital companion during that time, providing both mind-numbing trivia about the local wildlife and invaluable guidance to see him through areas that would have pushed his navigational skills to their limits. He was slowly growing fond of the strange girl, though not in any meaningful way. At the very least, she was much less of a nuisance than he expected her to be.

Unlike him, Ahri was enjoying their tavern pit stop to a nearly dangerous level. Driven by her insatiable curiosity toward the human world, she seemed hell-bent on putting her life on the line to try as many drinks as she could. As amusing as it would be to watch the girl drink herself sick, Talon had to cut her off quite early into her rampage, needing her to remain reasonably sober so that they could continue the day's scheduled travel.

"You really do lack discipline for someone dressed so conservatively," he noted, gesturing to the hooded cowl the fox woman wore to cover her ears. Her tails, he understood, were coiled around her legs tightly enough that they wouldn't stand out through the skirt of the dress she was wearing. He could have lived without that information, but the fox girl didn't seem to care when she told him.

Ahri leered at Talon and groaned as the water he had ordered for her was placed at their table.

"Drink," Talon commanded, "Trust me, it's for your own good."

She reluctantly brought the cup to her mouth and began slowly sipping her drink, seemingly intent on displaying her displeasure throughout the process. Eventually, she set the cup back down, the alcohol beginning to cloud her senses. "Caleb," she began, "do you mind if I ask you about what I saw when I read your memories?"

"Do you really need to?" Talon asked. "Shouldn't you be able to answer the questions yourself? You have seen my memories, after all."

"Not all of them, and not in their full con… con… content?"

"Context."

"Right. I only had time to feel the strong ones, the ones that are most important to you."

"Is that right?" If Ahri was not spiraling further into inebriation, she would have been able to tell his interest was quite blatantly feigned.

"Yes, so I was wondering, why did you tell me your real name?"

Talon leaned back into his seat as he contemplated her question. It wasn't a terribly meaningful gesture in his eyes, but he could see why she would take interest. She would presumably know by now that he had been called Talon for as long as his memory served, save for very recently. "You asked for my name and I gave it. It's that simple."

The woman's raven eyebrows furrowed as she began to drink her water in greater portions, her previous reservations now gone. "But it isn't your name," she contested. "Talon is your name. It has been for your whole life. Caleb is just what your parents called you, parents that you don't even remember. That's how you feel, isn't it?"

Talon paused for a moment to quell his irritation with the fox's persistence. He was not close with this woman, nor was he eager to go on a journey of introspective soul searching, but he had been shelving his identity crisis for some time now. While he wasn't keen on solving all of it that day, he wouldn't mind putting the issue into perspective. He would play along, for now. "Maybe I told you my real name to see if it was really mine. I wanted to feel what it was like to be Caleb, if even for the brief moments I would have had with you."

"You've gotten your wish; how does it feel, Caleb?"

"Frustratingly alien. Every time I answer to that name, I feel like I'm lying to myself. It's as though I'm reaching to claim a new life that never should have been within my reach in the first place. It's just not who I am. The mere thought of being a Demacian makes my stomach turn." Admitting that was oddly satisfying to him. Just having said so granted him levity he never would have expected.

Ahri set down her now empty cup in an animated fashion and her index finger began to trace its rim. She set her elbow on the wooden table and rested her head in her free palm, lulling herself into a trance as her eyes fixated on her finger's repeating circular motion. "Noxian, Demacian, Ionian, none of that really matters to people like us. The choice you face is much simpler, but also much more profound. Do you continue as Talon and return to the sisters and father that treated you like their own, living your life as you have all this time? Do you embrace your original life as Caleb, and reforge your bonds with your twin and lost parents? Do you walk the line between the two, naively hoping your duties and personal ties never contradict each other? Or… do you carve a new path, with a name and family of your own choosing?" Ahri sighed at her own musings. "It's a tough choice; even I wouldn't know which to choose."

Her words lit a fire within him. She was transgressing, and he would not tolerate it. "Do not speak as if you know me. You haven't even been able to feel emotions for most of your life; you could not possibly understand the conflicts humans face."

"You say that, but would you get so upset if I was wrong?" Ahri's finger finally drew to a halt, and the demihuman made eye contact with her companion for the first time in over a minute. She could see the frustration burning in his amber eyes. Even as socially inexperienced as she was, she knew she had pushed too many buttons. "I apologize," she said, "I'm being unfair. Would you like to know why I'm so interested in you, Caleb?"

"Not really, but you're going to tell me anyway."

Ahri giggled at his passive aggression. "Right you are. You know me as a gumiho, but that is only a part of it. My kind is but one of a great many that the Ionians call 'Vastaya'. There are hundreds of different races and tribes, but much like you, I do not have a place among any of them. To many I am 'Mu-Takl', a race traitor, cast out and scorned for my desire to become mortal."

"And you think that makes us similar?" Talon asked. "You and I ha-" Talon's statement was cut off by Ahri reaching across the table and placing a finger on his lips. As infuriating as it was to be silenced in such a way, the situation was so awkward that he didn't know how to react.

"I didn't finish, silly." The fox girl looked around to make sure no one was within earshot before continuing. "Where I believe the true similarities between us lie is in our actions. My human form is not natural; it is stolen from the life essence of my prey, and the price of my transformation this far was paid in rivers of blood. That, combined with my conflict with the few Vastaya that believe I should die for my endeavors, has forced me to fight and kill for years. My success and survival can be measured only in the bodies I have buried, a concept I know you're more than familiar with. I'm not here because I am an inexperienced fool that would follow an assassin simply because he was polite; I am here because unlike the villagers at Tevasa, you can understand me. We are the same, whether you admit it or not."

Talon sunk into his seat and closed his eyes, trying to wrap his head around the girl's story. If what she had said was true, then he had severely misjudged her, something he rarely ever did. He gave it more thought, considering her reluctance to reveal herself to common citizens and her apparent prowess in battle, and it all made sense. The gentle, playful person in front of him was a killer who carved her life's path through the bodies of those who opposed her, and in many cases, the innocent. If that was the case, he could not help but wonder what path she walked now. Was it one of repentance? Did her regret for her actions fuel a drive for redemption and reformation? Or was it one of indifference, in which she acknowledged her cruelty but carried on nonetheless, her goal of becoming mortal taking priority over all else? He had to know.

"You claim that the lives you have taken weigh heavily on your conscious; why then do you target innocents?" he asked.

Ahri's expression fell as she had to once again acknowledge the past she preferred to keep forgotten. "Looking like a human did not take much. I needed only a few to take a predominantly human form. Thinking and feeling like a human did not come until much later. Before, I felt no guilt, and so long as I could get away with it, my attacks were indiscriminate. It was only after I had done enough to crush me that I came to understand the horrors of my deeds."

"So how then do you plan on becoming mortal?"

"There are plenty of people in this world who do not deserve their lives," she replied. "Since they have no interest in their own humanity, I feel no remorse in taking it for myself."

Talon laughed for the first time in a while at that.

"What's so funny?" Ahri asked. "I just spilled my heart to you and you're laughing?"

"Don't worry, I'm not laughing at you. It's just funny… You're really nothing like me."

"I'm not?" she asked incredulously. She awaited his clarification, but also dreaded it. Would he reject her for her past deeds, or would he acknowledge their similarities and reciprocate her desire for companionship? Whatever the result, there was no going back now.

"No, you're worse." Talon lifted a hand in the air to draw the attention of the barkeep. "Why don't we get you another drink?"

The Vastayan girl's eyes went wide with shock at his accusation. It was not until she saw the smallest smirk on his face that she understood his meaning. He was joking; trying his best to make light of the grim life she had lived. In other words, he had accepted her. He knew of the blood on her hands and the trail of corpses she had left in her wake, and he still chose not to turn her away. She was right about him, and nothing made her happier than having won the first gamble she ever made. "I'll have to take you up on that. I think I'll try that Bilgewater import you seem so scared of."

Talon's high spirits sunk as he heard those words, as he had heard stories of Bilgewater drinks from Katarina. "That's not a good idea," he warned, "especially after having as much as you have."

"Pshh, what's the worst that could happen?"

"You could die."

"What? How would you even know? Have you had it?"

"No, but I know people who have. You may remember Katarina?"

Ahri searched her recollection of Talon's memories for the name, which she quickly connected with the red-haired Noxian he considered his sister. "Yes, go on."

"She regularly visits the island to gather crews for naval operations or just to pass the time. She's told me plenty of stories about Bilgewater grog. It ruins people's lives, and that's if you're drinking the real thing. Half of the time it's just piss."

"Now I really have to try it," Ahri stated. By this time, the barkeep was ready for their order, and Ahri requested the rum from Bilgewater, just as she had planned. The drink eventually made its way to them, and Ahri took a cautious sip before setting it down. "Say, your father is the general that's leading the Noxian invasion, right?"

"General Marcus Du Couteau, yes."

"And you said your sister has a decent amount of influence in Bilgewater, yes? I assume she's among the fleets sacking the Northern provinces?"

"Most likely, unless she's already left to meet up with the General. Do you have a point?"

"I just find it curious that your family is off at the helm of the invasion while you've been sent to search for some girl."

"I wasn't sent to search for 'some girl' I was sent to search for one of the most powerful mages to cross a Noxian border since the exile of the Hastur family."

"Who?"

"It doesn't matter. Look, my specialties are simply different from my family's. I posses the skill of a Du Couteau, but I am no leader of men. I am at my best alone, out of sight and out of mind. That's why they sent me to investigate your little village; I'm the one they send to solve problems they'd prefer to forget."

"Hmm, it still seems like a waste," Ahri noted. She took another sip of her drink and gently pushed it away. "Okay, one last question before we leave?"

"What?" Talon asked, "You aren't going to finish? I paid for that, you know."

"It's disgusting. I've never had my appetite ruined so quickly in my life, and I'm older than I look."

"Fine. Just leave it, then."

"Will do. Now, back to my question. That white haired girl from your dream… Riven, I think it was. Is she your mate?"

Talon remained silent, his amber eyes locked on her feline ones. Without a moment's hesitation, he reached for her rum and took a large swig, his desire for the loss to be dulled pushing him well through the ungodly taste. "Riven was not my mate, no. She might have been someday, but she died. I'd prefer to leave it at that."

"She died? I'm so sorry. I didn't see that in your memories; I didn't know."

"Don't pay it too much mind; I've been trying to forget about it myself."

An oppressive silence washed over the two as Talon gradually finished Ahri's drink. Minutes passed like this, without so much as a loud breath between the two. Eventually though, Talon could keep his silence no longer.

"He promised me he'd bring her back, you know?"

"Who?" Ahri asked.

"Marcus. He told me he'd see her back in one piece if it was in his power, but it was his order that killed her."

If Ahri could still trust her senses, she could have sworn he was tearing up under that hood.

"She died like a dog," he continued, "choking on toxic fumes that set your lungs aflame and instill a frenzied panic in your heart that's enough to kill you on its own. She didn't deserve that. None of them deserved it." He took a moment to try to collect himself, but he ultimately failed. "She was naïve, and it was bound to kill her eventually. She should have been slain by a great warrior that outmatched her in skill, dying for a nation that didn't deserve her loyalty, but she wasn't even afforded that much. Instead, she was forced into a corner and killed by a man that she admired, all of her efforts and struggles amounting to a meaningless death that accomplished nothing. She could have been a legend among our people, now she's just a name on a list."

"She was betrayed?" Ahri asked. "By your father?"

"In a sense. I haven't gone back to him already is because I can't guarantee I won't stab him the moment I see him. I respect that man above all others, but even I can't find it in myself to forgive what he did."

"So don't," Ahri suggested. "You don't have to go back, do you? Even this mission you're on seems like it was meant as a chance for you to escape rather than something they actually expect you to complete."

Talon laughed at her proposal. Hate it as he did, he couldn't just leave Noxus and fall off the face of the planet. It was his home, for better or worse, and that wasn't going to change any time soon. Talon raised his cup to his lips to find it disappointingly empty. "There isn't enough grog in the world…" he muttered under his breath.

"What was that?"

"Nothing," Talon answered, placing a silver coin on the table as he rose from his seat. "Come, we've wasted enough time here. We have a stone weaver to find." Just as Swain had said, the only thing that would keep his mind occupied was complete immersion in his mission; alcohol would only get in the way.

Ahri hurriedly stood, very quickly realizing how little motor control she retained through her drinking session. "But we don't know where she is," Ahri said, following her companion toward the door.

"I know someone who might. Tell me, have you ever met a bounty hunter before?"