"My wife is guilty. I had seen her on the night of the attack, bearing this knife," he said aloud, raising the plain iron dagger in his hand. "and making her way to a separate place with the Sinister Blade. I knew that such an action would take place and if I had not been watching she would have come out clean handed."
Ashe cringed. 'Such lies...' she said to herself while observing the full room of people. Every eye was cast upon the front of the room where Tryndamere shone a nasty smile. Each person was already sucked into the lies even of her enemy tribe sister Sejuani, who sat several rows behind her. She had only come because this case was against her, and Sejuani would only ever come to the Avarosan tribe if it were something bad happening to her. Never had Ashe been more publicly humiliated. Some glares were sent her way and she had no where to hide. Her hood was ripped off for Tryndamere's 'pleasure' of making her suffer; everyone now saw her as a murderer and only expected for their dethroning queen to be executed.
He turned to her now swiveling on his heels, speaking directly to Ashe who deliberately could not look away. "She deserves what she deserves and if her people allow it, then it shall be done. Actions like these are punishable to anyone, even to those that rule over us with the visions of peace."
The court agreed and Sejuani nodded slowly with them. Ashe closed her eyes. Her heart was racing and her hands were clammy. Where was Kat...
A small tear escaped her eye and landed on the floor. She raised her head, trying to maintain her composure since there were people around her and judging her every move. If only they knew what Tryndamere had done would they think differently. If only Katarina were here would she finally rest from her suffering.
The two doors that split her between her and her love were coming closer and closer each second. Behind her fought Rengar, viciously blood bathing in a pool of dead men. Katarina kicked up her pace, going as fast as she could to catch up to her awaiting suspense.
"Ashe, please come to the front." the Judge ordered. Ashe stood up from her chair and pushed it back upon standing so quickly and made her way to the seat below side the man.
The time was coming. Ashe didn't know what to think. Her head spun out of control and the room spun around her. There were whispers and murmurs as she lumbered over. She took the chair's back with a quaking hand and sat down, snapping her legs closed. She waited as the Judge shuffled through the papers Tryndamere had given only a few moments ago. He looked insensible at them, quickly reviewing the stack then set them down gathering air to speak out again.
"Where were you at the time of the murder your highness?" he started, already cutting down into her.
She had to not lie. She had sworn her oath at the start. Simply she replied, "I was with Katarina."
"Why was she with you?"
"She wanted to show me a place she used to visit within the League's borders."
"Why?"
Ashe gulped. "Well, she trusted me with her personal matters and wanted to show me this place."
The Judge narrowed his eyes. His eyes caught the bead of sweat that trickled down her temples. She stared directly at him realizing and looked away nervously. She was speechless; how could she keep calm when death was waiting for her? The guards commented with one another and watched her thoroughly. Tryndamere as well with his proud smirk.
"And you took this as an opportunity to strike?" he continued.
The Queen remained mute. Her lips moved but there were no words that could be forced out.
"When she was vulnerable?" he said louder. His voice shook her stiff, and caused for tears to erupt unwillingly.
Katarina picked up her pace to a run, letting go of her mind's worry of the pain.
Tryndamere exchanged looks to the Judge and glared at Ashe. Her bottom lip quivered and her head blanked out. She knew what he would ask next. She knew what she had to say.
"The evidence is proven. Are you guilty Ashe? Are you the murderer of Katarina Du Couteau?"
Ashe choked. Her mind contradicted the statement as well as her body, which felt the heat arise to her ears and head.
"I...I..."
The whole court was silent. Every eye was on her.
"STOP!"
Busting through the doors, Katarina charged in and trudged her way to the center of the court to face the Judge himself. Her state was so overwhelming, as soon as she barged in everyone gasped and looked to one another in awe. Ashe couldn't believe it as well. Her hand covered her open mouth and her blue eyes scanned Kat's body thoroughly. She was heavily wounded and the worst there war with bruises and blood splattered all on her ripped clothes and skin. But her face caused Ashe to lose her concern.
There was determination written all over it. Her eyes burned with fire towards the man beside the Frost Archer that his nostrils flared. He cleared his throat and slammed the hammer down to settle down the crowd. Especially Tryndamere.
"Order! Order!" he called and leaned over his podium to look at her. There were still murmurs being passed around much less of Ashe and more of Kat. "And who might you be?"
Her scar twitched slightly. Glancing at Ashe she stated loudly enough that whole room could hear, "I am Katarina Du Couteau, Sinister Blade of Noxus and the victim of this case."
The whole room shot up and shouted accusations to the Judge, pumping their fists at him and snarling. Sejuani held the edges of her seat and looked wide eyes around her and Tryndamere shot a blank white face at the man who yelled at the top of his lungs to the raging hoards of people. Guards were also sent immediately to settle down the people who had begun to argue and fight their hands off of them.
Katarina sneaked her way past them all and found herself climbing into the podium where Ashe was waiting for her with open arms. They embraced tightly before Katarina shrunk herself back a little and winced. Ashe apologized right before being pulled back into another embrace that was soft and gentle this time. "I missed you..." the Noxian whispered into her ear. She knew they had no chance of kissing now but instead, Katarina brushed her lips against it and left the Queen smiling.
"How did you escape?" Ashe said, inches away from Katarina's face. The Noxian looked down, chuckling roughly. "I had a little help along the way."
Her light laugh faded as she looked into Ashe's eyes. They were precious and took her mind away from the turbulent atmosphere. She felt as if they were alone not occupied with the world and what went around it. But in all that, Katarina saw something that concerned her more than what became of her arrival. There was a mix of emotions within the pools of blue that she gazed at.
"They didn't let me speak, Kat." she explained and begun to cry. The pain lined her lips, striking Katarina deeply. "They never let me, I was sentenced to die."
Katarina looked up, and held Ashe in her arms. The room was somewhat quiet and the guards had their way back to their positions to the back of the room although watching Katarina with suspicion. The Judge was hesitant when it came to addressing the Noxian and she was sure glad he was because she was about to give it right to him.
"Miss Du Couteau...would you kindly sit down over there?"
The Noxian pinched her eyebrows and snapped her head at the man. She placed her hands on Ashe's shoulders while saying vilely, "I only do what the Queen desires."
The Judge pursed his lips in silent response. Her tone was harsh as it should be. She was beaten, bruised, and fed up with everything. If Katarina was healthy, she would assassinate every soul in this room except Ashe and leave with that victory. But she knew better than that. The Noxian grabbed the Judge's attention with a simple glare and whispered impatiently, "Have you let her speak?"
Realization etched his face. Katarina questioned him again. "Have you. Let her. Speak."
"N-no, I have not." the Judge said dumbfound. He looked up and faced Tryndamere who was gritting his jaw at them both. By the looks of it, Tryndamere was playing tricks on him too. The Judge apologized to Ashe, his tone truly sorry for the mistake he's made. This make Katarina smile as he asked her to rise and tell her side of the story. Ashe found herself in Katarina's eyes and was speechless. The Noxian found her hand and took it gently and intertwined their fingers together.
Tryndamere's anger seethed. "This is an outrage!" he roared with his fist in the air.
"Sit. Down." the Judge snapped. Tryndamere unwillingly swallowed his knot and obeyed.
"Say it. Say everything." Katarina insisted softly. Ashe gulped and took a deep breath. There was nothing that could stop her now, not even Tryndamere. Having Katarina beside her, she lifted her chin confidently and poured out everything.
"Many months ago, I had went into Summoner's Rift as past of my daily routine to fight in the Fields of Justice. There, amongst my teammates, Katarina was fighting Garen who was on the opposite side. She was injured badly and my support at the time allowed me to heal her and come to her aid shortly after. Later throughout the match she fought against another enemy, Vi. I remember I was wounded so severely I couldn't make it to my base alone so she took me herself and sacrificed herself for the team."
Katarina listened intently. 'I did it for you.'
"A few days after, I was at the Lunar Revel with Tryndamere and near to the end he had..." Ashe closed her eyes and pushed past her previous boundaries. "he had threatened me as he always did."
Only a few gasps escaped from the people as they looked to one another questionably. Ashe strengthened her voice and watched Tryndamere sink in his seat.
"It was my mistake when I had tried to become the bigger person. He threatened to take my life and my place as Queen. Not to mention the brutal night after. When he left, I had wished that maybe something or someone would have listened. I had wished for a long time for that to happen. Then when Katarina's knife was thrown to grab my attention, for the first time in years, had I felt hope return to me."
The doors of the room had creaked open and Katarina smiled as Sarah, Rengar and Anivia sneaked in to stand behind the people. Sarah waved at the Noxian then took her place with the other two. The Judge saw this but did nothing and Ashe continued with her grin growing wider.
"Relentlessly, I had searched for the sinister Blade in my free time until I had stumbled upon Sarah Fortune's bar within the Institute. It was late at night and Tryndamere was out, so I went about and found her there drinking and using the very same knives as the one I held in my hand. I had spoken to her about what happened before and gave her back the knife in hopes that she'd accept it but instead she said I could have it and so, to this day I've kept it with me."
Ashe took the blade from underneath the wraps binding her waist and handed it to the Judge. He examined the weapon as she went on.
"Every day I went to the training center in the Institute to try and learn how to use the knife like Katarina did. It was...very unsuccessful." she said looking down and heard the Noxian chuckle as well as the jury. "I wanted to learn how to protect myself from Tryndamere and by luck Katarina showed me how to. We spent months training and eventually we grew closer as friends."
The Noxian rubbed her thumb on the top of Ashe's hand. She looked at the Frost Archer softly as Ashe did as well. "I knew as I went about my days with her, Tryndamere would expect something. He assumed she was out for information to seize the Freljord as Noxus did many years ago. His judgments were wrong and as proven what he forced me to do was wrong. When I was invited to the party Miss Fortune had thrown that night, Tryndamere confronted me and gave me the knife that I was supposed to kill Katarina with. I did take it, but I could never do it. Instead, I took an ancient Freljordian knife that I was given to on the day of my wedding to turn around this heinous crime and to protect the Sinister Blade from harm."
Ashe signaled Rengar to step forth and he did proudly, displaying the massacre on him. Several people were astonished by the blood that pained his clothes but he did not pay even the littlest attention to them. He took out the dagger and handed it to Ashe and stood by the two silently. Ashe drew her warm hand away from Katarina's much to her dismay. She held up the knife and the blade shone its icy magic for all to see.
"This dagger is what I saved Katarina with. I couldn't stop Tryndamere's request so I did what I was ordered to do. The magic from this blade pierced the area around her heart and froze the bleeding process till Rengar and Soraka could take her into custody. Once she was in their hands, she was safe and unharmed."
"Well this certainly got everyone listening." Katarina whispered to Rengar who dipped his head to listen. He nodded while crossing his arms and never leaving his eyes on the jury.
"I had spent a whole week later attending to Katarina along with Soraka and Rengar. When she finally awoke, I went back to my room to rest since I had lost countless hours of sleep but it didn't matter to me. All I wanted was Katarina's security. After everything that occurred later, I had no say in whether or not to come back here. Tryndamere's plans of dethroning me were all fitting into place the moment I arrived and now I stand before you all to be convicted and sentenced to execution. Katarina came here along with Rengar and Miss Fortune to help me escape but were also caught into his trap. The Sinister Blade fought bravely against him as I was chained in my own dungeons only a few hours ago, but she was defeated and left for dead. I was traded places with Katarina in the cell and was finally brought here."
The whole room was silent. Ashe sat down, greeted by Katarina taking her hand again and a pat on the back from the Pridestalker. Little was said even Tryndamere was silent. Katarina patted Ashe's hand for the good job and waited for the Judge's response. He fiddled with the papers and looked at them with an eyebrow raised and pushed them off to the side. He saw out of the corner of his eye that the Queen was telling the truth. Everyone should have seen her eye sparkle from the freedom she had. The Judge cleared his throat and called them all to the front.
"The witnesses of this case may come forward at this time."
Katarina, Ashe and Rengar quickly made their way down the two steps of the raised platform and joined in a line next to Anivia and Sarah. Sarah looked at the Noxian with a warm side grin as Katarina stood by her in victory.
"There needs to be one more witness." he frowned. Ashe felt heaviness on her chest and almost choked on her breath. Katarina only squeezed her hand tighter to reassure her there was more. Rengar took the initiative and walked to the front of the Judge and handed him a scrolled up manila paper which he took swiftly and read. Katarina watched his eyes going left to right and down the paper until he shuffled it back into a scroll.
"Do you all testify that this was true?"
"Yes." they replied in unison. He scanned each of them and bowed his head to Ashe and said loudly, "Seeing the serenity of each one of you and the value of your words is something truly honest and unlike anything I have ever seen. Queen Ashe of the Avarosan Tribe, you are not guilty."
Disbelief ridiculed Ashe's face as Katarina took her in for a big hug along with the rest of them. She stared wide eyed and grabbed the back of Katarina's jacket and embraced her too happy for words. Sarah laughed along with Rengar and joined into them, and Anivia smiled and thanked the Judge who acknowledged her. The room rejoiced along with them and cheered for them as the rest of them broke off to salute the people coming to them.
Katarina as well broke off the warm embrace and brushed off a strand of hair from the Frost Archer's tearing up face. "I kept a promise didn't I?"
"I love you so much..." Ashe said pressing her head on her chest crying. Katarina giggled while giving her a kiss on her snowy hair and walked over with her to the rest of the group.
"No...NO!" Tryndamere roared and stomped to the Judge. "Sejuani tricked me! She wanted to corrupt our tribe and made me do everything!"
"That is NOT TRUE! I did no such thing!" Sejuani yelled with a finger pointed to the Barbarian. She stood up puffing her chest and argued with the man before Katarina defensively pulled Ashe behind her.
"It's over, Tryndamere. Just end it already."
"Likewise," he said placing a firm hand on Tryndamere's shoulder. "You are guilty of attempted murder, failure to testify the truth and abuse. Take this man away, I will deal with the charges later."
"NO! You can't do this to me! Ashe do something!" he screamed. Katarina felt that Ashe pulled away and so she let go of her. The Queen heard the room simmer down as she walked regally maintaining each stride as she faced the man that bore her suffering for years. He looked at her angrily but that had no affect on her anymore.
"I chose you out of all people to lead this nation. I'm the one that has authority over you, not the other way around." she said flatly and slapped him right in the face. "You don't deserve the position of being a king. Its not something to pass over as just a luxury but as a responsibility. Take him out of my sight."
The guards bowed their heads and chained Tryndamere up and led him out the door. Ashe greeted the Judge along the way before he proceeded out. She joined Katarina and the others before being met by Sejuani on the side. The leader of the Winter's Claw tribe thinned her lips while saying, "Glad that he's done away with. You did good, archer."
Ashe bowed to her and simply replied, "Same to you always."
"WELL!" exclaimed Sarah stretching her arms. "I'm famished and could use a rest. The cold's getting to me!"
Rengar laughed along with Katarina who pulled Ashe closer to her. "I think we all do, considering I'm covered in blood and Katarina's all knocked up."
"Then it's settled." Katarina concluded and looked to Ashe with a grin. "Let's go home."
AND...it's done. Sinister is done. I'm a mix of being really happy and emotionally torn by this. I fully enjoyed of working for a full year with this story and thanks to all of you I couldn't have enjoyed it more!
The epilogue is the last thing that goes with this story then I'm officially done uploading this story:(
Listen to this song for this end: 19 - Reunion Of Friends - Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets Soundtrack
Till next time~