Deadly Deception

Chapter 18

One of my christmas gifts was a chromebook, so I switched from Onedrive to Google docs, and I am really not used to it. I hate it.

Laying under the stars in Ionia was a different experience for both Vi and Katarina. Neither of them really had a chance, or need, to sleep outdoors in their adulthood. The skies in Ionia were much clearer than in Noxus or Piltover, allowing them to see many more than they would have in either city. They were laying a few feet away from the shack, mostly because Xayah and Rakan claimed they deserved it, which they partially did, and they wanted to actually be alone.

Both pairs of lovers wanted to be alone.

Katarina, despite being comatose for over a month, didn't want anything more than laying next to Vi, head resting on her bicep, nose pressed against her red hair, and hand over her stomach, her scarred thumb gently stroking the assassin's skin. The only thing that could come even remotely close to matching this feeling would be getting some clothes other than tight leather. She shifted slightly, looking at Vi when she flinched.

"What's wrong?" She asked, smiling when her wife did.

"Nothing, you just made me jump." The enforcer kissed her gently and then pulled her into a hug. "I'm glad that you're okay."

"I'm going to be even better when I can get out of this leather." Vi chuckled, and Katarina thought of something else. "Wait, have I been wearing these clothes since we got attacked?"

"Not… all the time…" That tone worried her. "I did, uh, give you a couple of baths, sorry." Katarina forced back a shudder. "Couldn't just leave you filthy like that, but I know that you would've wanted me to see you like that on your own terms."

"I'm not going to get upset about it, Vi." She responded, working her arm under Vi's head and now clean, pink hair. "I understand. But I agree about preferring it on my own terms."

"If it helps, I looked as little as possible." Katarina opened her mouth to respond, but just smiled and shook her head. "Kat, we gotta figure out where to go."

"Didn't you already do that?" She tilted her head to look at Vi, and her worried expression.

"The best thing I can think to do is go to Piltover. To go home."

"Piltover isn't home for me, remember?" The assassin's expression turned sour once more. Neither of them spoke for a few minutes, letting an uncomfortable silence stretch between them.

"Where else are we gonna go, Kat?" Another few moments of silence. "We almost died; that place can't be home any more."

"But Piltover can be?" With an exaggerated sigh, Vi sat up, confusing her wife, who copied her.

"Kat, c'mon. It's where I've lived for years. It's the only home I've ever known." She followed this with a grin. "Except for you, of course."

"Oh, come on!" The assassin gave her a light shove, trying to hide the blush on her cheeks, and looking away as her wife laughed. "That's just cheesy! This isn't a romance play!"

"Oh, come on, you love me!" Vi put an arm over her shoulders and pulled Katarina into a tight hug, resting her chin on soft, red hair amd smiling.

"That will never be in question." She replied, hooking her arms around her wife's waist and tucking her head under the taller woman's chin. They sat like that for a while; until a different thought came to mind. "Vi?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you think that anybody would see us if we decided to bathe in a stream?"

"If they do, I'll pull their eyes out."

~X~

As the morning came, Rakan was the first to wake, stretching his arms out as far as possible and accidentally punching the wall. Even though hay was much easier to get their hands on, sleeping on a pile of blankets felt wonderful. The charmer wanted nothing more than to get up and stretch his wings, but it would be a crime punishable by death to wake Xayah up, and she would be the one enforcing the punishment. She was still asleep, head on his chest, right over his heart, and arm over his waist. The other was resting in front of her face when they went to sleep, but as the night went on, it moved to tangle into his short, blonde hair. She would never admit being clingy in her sleep, and flatly denied it when Rakan tried to tease her with it, so he enjoyed it in silence.

He was ready to stay there for most of the morning until he tilted his head and looked at the giant metal hands that were resting against the wall in the wardrobe. Neither Vastayan knew why they trusted that pink haired weirdo so much, but that strange trust came with a sense of safety; as if she was a steel wall that stood between them and a strong enemy force. The absence of any memories was both confusing and concerning.

Xayah's ear twitching and brushing his lips brought Rakan out of his deep thoughts, and he looked at his girlfriend with a wistful smile. She always did that when she was waking up without fail, and then pretend to continue sleeping. On any other day, he would let her continue sleeping and enjoy the touch of his soulmate, but having two strangers on their supposedly secret island needed to be dealt with.

"Baby." He gently stroked her cheek, grinning when she grumbled something to the effect of 'I'm still asleep'. "Come on, we need to get those two people away from this place."

"It won't stop it from smelling like them." Her ear twitched again, and as she stretched her legs out, the blanket moved, showing her sharp toes spreading apart. "I still want to know who they are."

"Whoever they are, they need to keep Noxus away from us." Rakan sighed, moving his arm behind his head and moving the other under the blankets and gently stroking Xayah's bare thigh. "Hey, do you think we can get that big woman to distract that Sett guy?"

"Now that you say that… they kind of seem like the same person." He laughed and moved his hand out of the blankets to stretch. "Do you think they're related?"

"For Vi's sake, I hope not." Xayah sat up and yawned widely, flicking her ears as she stretched. "I wonder if they actually slept outside."

"We'll find out soon." Rakan got up and searched around the floor for his pants, pulling them up and tightening the belt around his waist.

"Don't forget about your cape, honey." Xayah smiled, clasping it over his shoulder and kissing his cheek. "I'll join you in a few minutes." Before he left, he kissed her back, and left the shack with a big smile on his face. Vi and Katarina weren't immediately outside, so he closed his eyes and focused on the nature around him, trying to pinpoint their energies. Two were coming from a nearby river… As Rakan got closer, he did hear soft voices, soft laughter, and the movement of water. As he got closer, moving various leaves out of his way. When he moved the last few leaves out of the way, he slapped a hand over his eyes, but would never get the image of Vi and Katarina standing in the middle of the river, completely naked, and making out.

"Rakan!" Vi yelled, followed by Katarina dropping into the water, keeping her nose above it, and crossing her arms over her chest. The enforcer didn't care about being seen naked; it had happened before, and was bound to happen again. "What the fuck?!"

"I didn't see anything." He said, turning back around and holding his hands flat at the sides of his head so he didn't see anything else other than the way he was looking. "I didn't see anything." He started walking away again as Vi waded over to the shore, picking up her tattered jeans. As he walked back into the shack and the bedroom, Xayah had just pulled her own clothes on, flinching at the stony expression that her partner had.

"Rakan, what happened?" She asked, cradling his head and gently petting his hair when he pressed his face into her chest.

"I went to find Vi and Katarina, and they were bathing in the river." He mumbled, hugging her tightly. Xayah felt a flash of rage, but the sadness was enough to know that it was a mistake. "Please, burn my eyes."

"You'll forget it soon enough." Xayah continued stroking his hair, even though it must have been really uncomfortable to lean down into her chest like he was. "Do you want to stay here for now?"

"I need to heal the trees." She nodded to him and continued stroking his hair. "I need to heal my brain, too."

"You'll forget it." Xayah smiled, kissing his head. "Especially when you look at me again." Before an answer was given, The shack door opened, and Vi called into the small building.

"Rakan? Are you alright?"

"He's fine!" Following Xayah's voice, she walked into the bedroom and shrugged before giving Rakan a couple of pats on the back.

"Didn't know you'd be coming to find us so soon." Vi grinned sheepishly, rubbing the back of her head.

"Maybe don't try and fuck your wife out in the open?"

"We weren't-" The enforcer held her hand up and took a deep breath. "None of your business. There was nothing to see."

"We really need to get you out of here." Xayah sighed, shaking her head. That was met with a hurt look.

"Nothing against you, y'know." Rakan started, standing up again and placing a hand on Vi's shoulder. "But we're kinda trying to hide from someone, and you guys need to get back to… where was it? Piltover?" Vi nodded and sighed again, rubbing the back of her head. "Also, you hurt a lot of the nature around here."

"Yeah… sorry about that, I was just trying to survive out here." The door opened again, and Katarina stepped into the room, standing in the doorway with her hair still wet. "Kat, we've gotta go."

"Go where?"

"I'll point you in the right direction." Rakan smiled, Patting Vi's shoulder. "C'mon." Instead of just walking past Katarina, he made a shooing motion until she walked out of the shack, with Rakan beaming, and Vi -who was attaching her gauntlets to either side of the beltline of her jeans- and Xayah trying not to laugh. "Alright, you know the river you were just in?" He started, watching Vi grip her wife's hand. "You need to keep going in that direction from here. There's a town on the coat near the northern island called Weh'le. You'll definitely get some good directions there."

"Thanks." Vi smiled softly, putting a hand on his bicep. "Thanks for everything, Rakan." He looked at her hand, confused, then at Katarina's warm smile, and something clicked in his head.

"Any time!" He smiled widely and pulled Vi into a hug, neither of them noticing Xayah or Katarina bristling. "Just try not to get killed any more, alright?"

"Definitely not going back there again." Vi grinned, looking at Katarina, who looked away. That was a discussion about Noxus that could be saved for when they knew that they were alone. "We definitely need to find some other clothes, too."

"Let's just go." Katarina started walking, pulling Vi with her.

"Oh, uhm," She looked between her wife, and the vastayans a couple of times before grinning and waving to the latter. "Hope to see you guys again!" She saw Rakan waving back before they vanished into the trees. Now it was just Vi and Katarina, the what that the assassin wanted. The silence between them lasted until they reached the edge of the island, and the water lapped at Vi's bare feet.

"You know that I'm not getting my clothes wet." Katarina said, looking up at her wife, who grinned.

"Then take your boots off; I'll carry you over." There was only a moment of hesitation before she gripped Vi's arm and unzipped both of her boots, one after the other. When she was holding them, she gave a nod, and almost bit her tongue in panic when the enforcer lifted her up onto her shoulders.

"You're like a wild animal sometimes." Katarina mused, smiling as she watched the woman she loved wade into chest-deep water without a second thought. "I must ask, though; are you really planning on taking us to Piltover?"

"Where else can we go, Kat?" The silence that stretched as Vi stepped up onto the dry riverbank was a good enough answer. "I need you alive, so we can't go back to where we were before."

"I also need you alive, so I can't help but agree that it would be deadly." There was a pause in movement as the assassin was placed back onto the ground so she could pull her boots back on, and for Vi to squeeze some of the water out of her clothes. "Being in Ionia, however… If anyone here knows who I am, they will kill me on sight."

"What about those weird memory lapses?" VI asked, taking her wife's hand. "I remember Xayah and Rakan from somewhere, but I can't remember exactly where."

"You're not alone in that; I know them from somewhere, too." Katarina looked up at the small, jagged hill that they needed to climb. "We need to hope that nobody else remembers us, too."

"Hey, if they do, they'll have to go through me, first." The grin on her face gave Katarina a jab of guilt into her stomach. There was already a burn scar that stretched across Vi's back. What else would she have to suffer through for Katarina's sake?

More thoughts on the chromebook: It refused to connect to the internet completely for a week. It's not even a month old, and I already hate it. I hope I don't feel the same way when I finally have a kid.