Malcom Graves stepped into Headmistress' Fiora's office with audacity.
"Professeur Graves? Qu'est se qui se passe?", the woman asked visibly startled.
"Where's Tianna?", Graves grumbled ignoring all courtesy.
"Madame Crownguard is probably in her chamber. What happened? You seem upset", she stood up from her leather chair and circled around her desk.
The man sighed deeply, then took off his glasses. He gently rubbed his eyelids with the tips of his fingers.
"Things are far worse that we had imagined"...
Fiora let her mouth fall slightly open.
"I'm not following", she spoke in that french accent of hers.
"I.. uh..", the man paused. I can't let her know it was Jayce who told me. I screwed up once already. I'm not tossing another student under the bridge.. "An anonymous source has disclosed to me certain details on Lightfeather's alleged murder case". He didn't know if the fact that he was choosing every word meticulously was that transparent.
"A witness? Why hasn't he come forth?", Fiora leant against her desk with her weight on her hand.
"That is none of your concern".
Fiora's eyes lit up at his abrupt manner.
"Respectfully".
"So what does this witness claim?", she scoffed taken aback by his demeanor.
"It appears that the Black Rose might be involved".
"Stop uttering nonsense Graves. The Black Rose is nothing but a myth as far as I'm concerned".
Graves couldn't ignore the look of terror in her face even if he wanted to.
"The witness.. Before the scientist died.. he spoke of a 'pale one'".
Fiora's eyes were fixated in his. He saw her gulp forcefully.
"It can't be.. C'est.. LeBlanc"?
Where am I?
She opened up her blue eyes to find herself surrounded by darkness. She gently raised her hands to rub her temples. Her head hurt. A feeling of dizziness overcame the rest of her senses. The silence was broken by the sound of chains rattling.
This is.. Her hands were shackled. Metallic bracelets were wrapped around her thin wrists. Panic ensued. She couldn't control the loud thuds of her heart that had now been beating irregularly.
Blindly she crawled trying to follow the long chain that was tied to one of her arms. Until she reached a stone cold wall. The floor was damp. She immediately assumed she was in some kind of basement.
She tried to think back. What was the last thing she could remember? Right.. She was arguing with Ezreal. A sting of guilt pierced her stomach. Hiding Kayn's condition from him wasn't the right choice after all..
"Fuck the tournament". Ezreal's words echoed in her head. She knew it was selfish of her but she wanted him to stay. For her sake.
She felt so tired. She had cried herself to sleep that night. She had felt a blow to the back of her head. And that was all. Before she woke up here.
I have to leave. I need to leave! She wanted to scream as desparation nested within her heart. She wanted to shout at the top of her lungs. Cry out for help. But alas. She was no dimwit. The person who had taken her wouldn't have placed her somewhere where people could find her if she just called out for someone. It was simply no use.
That's what she was thinking when she heard someone close to her let out an angry grunt.
"I've brought you the mage. I've brought you the Crownguard girl. Don't you think that's enough already?", the pink haired girl clenched her teeth as her fingers wrapped tightly around the handles of her daggers. That was the only way she knew how to comfort herself.
A sly smile graced the pale one's black lips.
"Be patient my dear", she replied mysteriously.
"I've been nothing but patient and co-operative!", she yelled out. "My, my.. Teenagers and their hormones", the pale woman clicked her tongue as she walked away from her. Her long, velvet cape was sweeping the marble floor.
A big statue of a wolf was placed at the center of the room. The ceiling was ridiculously tall. The girl could hear a small echo of her own voice every time she spoke. Heavy, black curtains covered the windows leaving daylight cast away.
Vladimir stood beside her. His gloomy, white face being lit by nothing but the light of the yellow candles. He wore his school uniform along with a long striped scarf. His white hair gave him an otherwordly appeal.
Even she was surprised at how quickly he had aggreed to follow her here. She'd been prepared to tackle him. Hurt him really bad. Just so he could be there with her. But the pale one's instructions were clear.
"So what is your name this time around? Dahlia? Rosa? Violet?", the boy snickered, as he toyed with the pale one.
Katarina swallowed hard. Where is this intimacy coming from? She squeezed her dagger behind her back as the pale mage let out an obnoxious yet somehow contagious laugh.
"You're a funny one. It's Emilia", she finally replied. "My predecessors didn't think you were the jokester type. But perhaps you've become too accustomed to the role of the highschool student. Is that it"?
"Is that why you've called me out here after all this time 'Emilia'? For comedy? Just when I thought I was finally done with the Black Rose". A creepy smile settled on his face. If I didn't know any better I'd expect to see some fangs between his thin lips.
"The reason I've called you here, Vladimir, is because I need something from you", the pale one spoke in her soft, nearly seductive voice.
The boy raised his eyebrow in question.
"And what makes you think that I would ever help you or the Black Rose ever again"? Katarina was holding her breath as Vladimir approached the woman. He was sleethering in the room. His steps inaudible. His movements swift and precise. Like a serpent's.
If anything, he commanded fear.
But the woman didn't even blink even if their faces were inches away from eachother's. Katarina was sure she could even feel his breath against her cold skin.
"Because I have something that you want", she retorted calmly. This time there wasn't even a faint hint of a smile on her lips.
Vladimir sniggered but did not back away from her. He leaned in to whisper in her ear, but loud enough for Katarina to be able to listen in.
"There's nothing you could offer me, woman".
Vladimir's hands were knit together behind his back. His fingers were slick and long.
"Then you're free to go".
Katarina gasped at the sound of the woman's answer.
"You're no prisoner here. You're free to leave whenever you please".
Vladimir's dead expression didn't betray his thoughts no matter how much the pink haired girl had tried to decipher him.
"..Or you can follow me". She carried on nonchalantly as if the boy's choice was completely insignificant to her.
Vladimir turned to take a look at Katarina as the pale one was already walking ahead. His white eyes were enigmatic to her. He huffed out a sigh before he tagged along behind the woman in the dark clothing.
She wasn't sure what she was supposed to do with herself. She was simply left in there. Clutching her stupid daggers. No. I'll take what's mine and then go. She thought as she followed the mystical figures out the vast room.
They walked through hallways and passed a lot of closed doors. Katarina wondered where she was taking them at every turn. Every door and every wall was painted white. Every door handle was in the shape of a wolf's head. Each hallway seemed identical to eachother.
Katarina DuCuteau was partly relieved to have the pale woman guiding them in this palace. Even she would have a hard time getting out of this place. In her mind, it felt like an endless maze. They were now standing at the top of a staircase that was spiralling downwards. The steps were made of stone. The pale woman grabbed a torch hanging from the wall behind her and urged them to follow her once more.
She turned to look at the white haired boy to realize that he looked just as baffled as she was.
With careful, small steps they descended further into the darkness. Humidity was high. An awful stench made her want to vomit. Katarina quickly covered her mouth with her bare hand and swallowed hard. She couldn't afford to make a fool of herself in this environment. That was simply not an option.
Air currents blew through the cavern-like chamber they were now standing in. The walls were covered with greens. A pool of crystal clear water was taking up the most space in the room. And in the middle of it, a large statue stood tall and imposing. It was a statue of death itself. In accordance to ancient Valoran custom, death was represented as a dualistic in nature. Taking the form of the Lamb of peaceful death and the wolf of violent ends.
Katarina realized her hands were clammy as she remembered the wolf statue she'd seen in the previous room. After all.. In Noxus, the wolf was revered in a much more rigorous way. That was just the way things always were in her homeland.
The girl stood behind the pale woman unable to discern her face. The back of her head was now covered by a black hood. Without notice, she halted right in front of the well and whispered a few words that sounded foreign in her ears.
She looked around the room, expecting for something.. Something.. Anything to happen. The water started to ripple as if someone had thrown pebbles in it. At first it was only a little but as time went by it rippled more and more. To the point that waves as tall as her started to form. Waters splashing. Violently. Covering the stone walls. Drenching them entirely.
Katarina squinted her eyes as a new figure was starting to emerge from inside the water. A flash of silver blinded her vision momentarily. It was a long sword. No wait.. This isn't.. Her mouth was agape as a familiar looking scythe appeared before them. This could have been any weapon if it wasn't for the red, glowing eye. The blade was glistening from the water as it dripped from the edge of its sharp edge.
It didn't take long before the three of them were greeted by a disheveled alien-like form. A broken shell of a man.
Malnurished and deformed the girl stared in awe as Shieda Kayn of the Faceless held his heavy scythe with his razorsharp claws. Half of his face covered with a metallic material. His left eye was now painted scarlet. As if it had taken from him. A tribute to forces unknown to her. It didn't take long for her to realize that half of his torso had been blackened. Like it had been contaminated by a strange disease. His hair was long, unruly, reaching his lower waist.
The water stopped moving at once. Obeying to unheard orders. It was now calm and still. And Shieda Kayn was barely holding onto his feet. Demoting the large scythe from a deadly weapon to a measly crutch.
Her eyes were wide with wonder. She looked over to the pale woman for an explanation.
"Rhaast"?
A deep voice echoed in the cave-like room. She turned to look at Vladimir. A hint of recognition was plastered on his otherwise expressionless face. She kept stealing glances at the two people that had come here with her but she couldn't understand.
"Is this really you"?
She would think that the Doran Academy student was bound to burst into tears by the tremure of his voice alone.
"Shieda?", Katarina took a small step closer to the fountain ignoring the others. Kayn raised his head slowly and looked at her with his different coloured eyes.
"Where am I?", he asked her.
Even forming a question such as this looked like a painful task for the Ionian. Yet still. He held onto the scythe with all of his might.
With a slight wave of the pale one's hand, a thin, golden chain was wrapped around Kayn's neck, making him kneel in the process. The boy grumbled as he fell.
"Now..", she turned to Vladimir with a smile engraved on her lip. "I think you'll be more than willing to do as I ask now. Isn't that right"?
Vladimir was staring at the floor in deep contemplation.
"Don't you want your family back?", the pale woman pouted her lips tauntingly.
The white haired boy was clenching his teeth as he took a deep breath.
"What must I do"? He furrowed his eyebrows.
There was an unprecedented spark behind his white irises. Something that simply wasn't there before.
"I'm glad we're on the same page", the woman offered her most cunning smile.