Author's notes:

Hey, I thought that I could write a bit more and a bit faster, but I don't know, I couldn't.
Here's the short chapter that should prepare the background for the rest of the story.
I hope you will enjoy it.

As always, thanks for any interaction with the story (comments, reads, subscriptions, bookmarks), it really means a lot for me :)

Ending notes:

The next chapter I will write will be probably the 2nd chapter from the Alone story, but it is not yet decided, so it can be eighter Alone, Sometimes it's just better not to know, or My home is where my heart lies.

As of my last question, I didn't really get any response at all, so I think I will just write the 3rd part of the Warhammer AU story and finish on it. It seems that the story is not very interesting to you, so I will not waste time to write it.

Anyways, thanks for reading, and see you in the next chapter.

Two weeks later:

As Irelia was opening the door leading the apartment, she was temporarily given, she sighed heavily. Two weeks passed since her team returned from the undercity. It was two full weeks of constant guilt for the young officer. She failed her squad, she failed her friends, she failed her Government. Perhaps the most embarrassing situation she had ever encountered was the very moment she needed to place a report from their mission in the slums. To make the matter worse, she was asked to do it personally in front of the council of commanders. The pink-haired woman could see the disappointment that was hiding in their eyes as her report was being presented. Irelia was punished for her mistakes, part of it was the imprisonment in the apartment. Other than that, she wasn't allowed to take part in any kind of mission for at least the next six months.

When the familiar quiet click was heard, the soldier pushed the door open and entered the luxurious apartment. As soon as she dropped her bag on the floor, she sighed again. Irelia didn't care where the item fell, she was too tired to really care about such an unimportant matter. The pink-haired woman cursed under her breath. "Fuck, why did they need to assign me for reeducation," Irelia continued to sware in a low voice. The woman wasn't entirely sure, but the council might have had their eyes on her all the time. It sickened the young officer that her decision that saved the lives of many elite soldiers was declared as a failure as a betrayal. In the end, if they had stayed in the slums, her teams and all additional troopers sent to their aid would have been undoubtedly dead.

"It is so fucked-up," the soldier murmured under her nose. There was none a single night that she wouldn't have dreamed about what had happened down there. With every single passing day, the burden she was carrying became heavier and heavier. Irelia was so close to the point of no return. If it didn't change, she would surely go insane.

Soon enough, she reached the king-sized bed that was located in the biggest room of the apartment. Without much thinking, Irelia allowed her tired body to fall inertly onto the furniture. The pink-haired woman didn't have any strength left to even adjust her position on the bed. She was fed up with the lies that her supervisors were spreading in the news. The regular army that replaced the elite troopers in the slums were being seen as the heroes that were sent by the Government that somehow after many years reminded itself about the part of its people who were living in undercity.

To some extent, it was the truth. The soldiers were helping the residents of the slums by taking care of their sick and wounded, sharing their food rations. Of course, no one would confess that the trooper down there lost nothing, to be honest. The quotas that the single soldier was given would be enough to feed off 3 or even more people. It wouldn't be a problem for the rulers of the country to feed off all of the starving people, but instead, they just refused to do it. It was that simple in their minds – if you don't work, you don't deserve to eat. The reality of life in the slums was all too familiar to the young officer. To be frank, she was raised there, so she knew the situation from the first hand. Just like her, many young or not even so young people from the slums immediately tried to sign up for an army. And to be honest, it was a clue of the whole plan of the Government. The war between the Empire Irelia was serving in, and the Coalition of the Traders' Guild was on the horizon. The Empire needed new soldiers fast, it didn't really matter whether the new recruits would survive the first encounter. It was all about the number advantage, the war of attrition, which side would be willing to sacrifice more.

Irelia was more than certain that at least half of the recruits would not even finish the training in the camps. The instructors there were brutal, not to mention that they didn't have to care about the law, in camp they were the law, they were deciding who would live and who would die. It sickened the young officer because she knew the truth, but the pieces of information that were passed to the media could be considered as half-true or lie.

The current situation she was in, and the massive amount of the information she had access to, worried her. In the past, she believed that the rulers of the Empire weren't that bad, maybe they didn't know about the situation in slums, or elsewhere, but the truth was bitter. They just didn't care at all.

To be frank, her mind was currently a mess, maybe even more than a mess. Millions of thoughts were running through her head. Most of them were harmless, some pleasant, some sad, some terrifying, some bothering. However, all of them had one aspect in common, with the passing time, they became tiresome.

Irelia didn't even notice when her eyes became too heavy and closed themselves. In the most recent history, it wasn't that uncommon situation. To be perfectly honest, it was highly possible that every single evening, the young woman fell asleep in that very way.

Like every other night since maybe a week or so, she woke up in the middle of it. Irelia wiped her sleepy eyes and checked the small clock standing on the nightstand. "Damn, it's only 3 am, why the fuck did I wake up," she murmured. The entirety of the room was covered in darkness. The same could be said about the view from the single enormously large window that was put in the room. Even in the capital, the light system was implemented to shut precisely at 0000, or at least, it was the case in most of the districts. The pink-haired woman kept staring into the dark for a couple of minutes more, before averting her gaze. She laid down on the bed again, she tried her hardest to fall asleep, but to no avail. It didn't take long for her to start rumbling. The very moment she turned toward the window once more, her eyes opened and captured some movement. Just like many times again, she spotted two small red lights that were coming from outside of her place.

To some extent, it was astonishing that the sources of those lights were located so close to each other. To be honest, it could not be anything else, the apartment Irelia was put in was located on the 60th floor. There was no chance for anyone to reach it without jetpack that would make some kind of noise. The more she was staring into the red, the more troubled her mind became. After some time, the lights faded for a second or so, as if they were someone's eyes. As if someone was just outside of the window, and just blinked. That single thought scared the young officer. Not thinking too much, she hid her face in her pillow just like the small child. It could not be the truth, it would not be possible. "Wasn't it?" she asked herself. "I can think about one thing that could do it, and I'm pretty sure you know what I'm talking about," her mind stated. "You're talking about her, aren't you?" Irelia responded, trembling slightly. "Yes," the answer was provided.

"You need to face your fears," the pink-haired woman said to herself. With that, she turned around once again, focused on the window, but she didn't notice anything. "Maybe, those were just lights," she thought.

As soon as she averted her gaze, the orbs of crimson were just beside her. Instinctively, the young officer jumped to create some distance between her and the reaper. It was futile. The strong hands stopped her. In the blink of an eye, the room was filled with light. Immediately, Irelia recognised the intruder. As if it could have been someone else, it was the white-haired assassin that killed many of her friends and teammates.

"Kill me," the pink-haired woman said with a trembling voice.

"I don't think so," the reaper whispered softly into the ear of Irelia.

"How can …"

"I can do many things," the white-haired smiled mischievously. "You have only witnessed a fraction of my true potential," she added. "I need you if you help me, I will spare you and those of your people who had escaped."

"Do I have any choice to make?" Irelia asked, still terrified and shocked.

"I believe that no, you don't have any choice to take," the butcher whispered once again into the ear of the latter.

"Ok …" the officer whispered quietly.

"Fantastic," the assassin replied, leaning over the nape of the soldier.

"What are you doing?"

"You will see, just a bit of patience," the white-haired giggled.

"What … Aghhh," the young woman screamed when the razor sharped fangs of the crimson-eyed beauty sunk into the soft flash of her nape.

In a matter of a few seconds, Irelia's eyes went black, and she fell into a dreamless sleep.