Samira and Katarina are reunited after the black mist appears in Noxus. Set after the Ruination trailer.
Why had she been chosen for this? This was the job for some meager message runner, not Noxus's top assassin. But then again, considering who she was sent to retrieve, it had logic to it, she had to begrudgingly admit. After what had happened, her target had disappeared into the city, and now the Grand General was insistent on interviewing her. Somehow, and she never dared ask him how, he'd tracked her here. It had been decided then that Katarina was the best fit for the task.
With violence from worn patience and suppressed terror she shoved the door to the dingy little tavern open. It wasn't as if she hadn't lived through this as well, seeing that spectral mist crawling through the streets of her home, minds bent and twisted by it. For a moment earlier, as she raced to report in with High Command, cold panic had frozen her, a feeling she hadn't known since childhood. Would she too have herself subsumed by it? With an effort, she drove back the fear, and pressed on. Noxus needed every soldier it could muster. Now, a shiver passed through her as she recalled it and she fought to not show it. She had work to do, such that it was.
Her target sat at the bar hunched over a drink. Samira was unmistakable, but her boisterous attitude was notably missing. Kat was aware of the unusually dour look on her face as she settled onto the stool next to her. "So how long do you need to mope before I can haul you out of here?"
Her companion's tankard slammed on the counter. "Ah Red, as personable as ever." Samira summoned some bite to her tone, even if she still sounded exhausted.
"Just following orders." Kat shot back while flagging down the barmaid. "Your strongest ale." She wasn't prone to polite words or niceties in the best of times, and especially not tonight.
"You always were good at that. 'Just following orders Samira, you should try it sometime.' " Her tone was a crude impersonation, but it got the point across.
In reaction, Kat let out a snort. "I'm not going to give you the satisfaction of turning this into an argument." The wide-eyed barmaid left a tankard for her on the counter and hurried away. She took a sip and felt her face scrunch up in displeasure. Terrible, as expected. "Besides, you know I have my reasons."
Beside her, a noise of vague acquiescence was the only response before they descended into silence. Around them, many had done the same, no doubt also feeling the effects of the day's events. For several minutes they sat drinking and staring at nothing. "Do you think he knows what it was?" Her voice was haunted as it finally broke the quiet.
Kat shrugged, he was always vague with her at best. "Maybe. It's typical for him to know more than he'll say." She knew that well enough, there were times it felt as though he knew even her innermost secrets just by looking at her.
With a resigned sigh, Samira rose. "Fine! Let's go. Then maybe I can get out of this city."
Tossing some coins onto the bar, Kat followed her out into the night. "Running away again so soon? I guess we both have something we're good at."
"Ha. Well, I have reasons too." She didn't spare a glance beside her, keeping her focus in the distance. "Especially now." That tone had returned to her voice, fear, anguish, trepidation, all things not normally associated with Samira.
Cutting in front of her, Kat brought them both to a halt. "Tell me the truth, are you alright?" It was a stupid question, no one was alright tonight.
"I'm fine Red." She made a move to go around her. "And it's a little too late to be getting all tender with me."
She couldn't define where the urge came from, perhaps those taunting words that spoke of something long ago, but Kat was compelled to reach out and clasp her arms, to keep her from running away. It could prove a deadly notion, they were both equally lethal and neither was known for their restraint. If she objected to it, Kat could find out very violently. "Samira, you're not the only one that's been affected by this. We were all touched in some way." An old feeling was stirring in her, longing and regret she thought she'd put away long ago.
"Let me go." Was the response that was pushed out between clenched teeth.
"Not this time." Last time she had "followed orders" and returned home. She had started working for the Trifarix, having risen up from her disgrace, and needed to do what was necessary to keep her place. That had meant leaving Samira, who would not submit to a life of service to the Empire. Her grip loosened and her hands traced their way down her arms until their fingers were softly entwined. "Don't face this alone." Neither of them should, she knew.
"Kat," Samira squeezed her hands, voice now gentle "we know this doesn't work."
"Things can change. And...and maybe I don't want to be alone." It was her turn to look away. Once, long ago, they'd had something that was like an enchantment cast over them by the gods themselves. In the deepest part of her heart, Kat always felt a strange emptiness when she thought of its end. Now, under this moonless sky, with the memory of that voice in the mist still fresh in her mind, she wondered if her career had been worth the cost. "Just one night?"
"Kitty Kat, you make it hard to resist when you're looking so forlorn." Some of the spark came back to Samira's voice. There was a time when the nickname would have rankled her, but now she was too concerned with how her heart had started thundering in her chest. Her hands were released and she stood in breathless anticipation as Samira stepped closer, and gripped her waist. "After we talk to the Old Man, we can go find some privacy."
Like in the mist earlier, her mind was feeling hazy, but she knew it was for entirely different reasons. The scent of Samira, rosewater and gunpowder, was infiltrating her senses, bringing back that old enchantment. Without conscious thought, she leaned up and brushed her lips against hers. Arms wrapped around her neck as the kiss sprung to life, each of them pouring long-buried passion into it. Though their parting had been years ago, none had matched that fire that Samira and sparked in her. For this one moment, everything vanished, and breathlessly they clung to one another, lips and hearts entangled.
As they broke apart, Kat felt herself pulled closer into those wonderfully strong arms. Her head came to rest on her chest, surrendering to the wave of emotion that crashed over her. It was like being whole for the first time in forever, perfect and right, and all the things she had never been. "Nevermind one night, I'm keeping you forever."
"We'll see about that Red." Samira was grimly serious again and she pressed her lips to her forehead. "Let's worry about surviving what's to come first."
