Quinn had been on her way back to Demacia when they met again. It was late at night and she'd decided to stop and rest for a few hours. The outskirts of both Noxus and Demacia were full of seemingly endless forests and Quinn had decided to perch herself high up in one of the trees. She knew better than to try and actually sleep out here, still in Noxian territory – that was just asking to get killed. But she was able to close her eyes and be at peace for at least a little while, as Valor kept patrol of the area.
It felt like she'd only been at rest for a few minutes before Valor flew over to her and landed on her shoulder, nudging the side of her face with his beak. He made a quiet cooing noise in an attempt to wake her, much to the scout's displeasure.
"What is it, Val?" she asked sleepily.
He clicked his tongue at her and gestured towards the ground. Whatever was happening, Valor didn't want to make a scene about it, which was unusual for him. Usually if there were attackers he'd dive right in screeching, which would alert Quinn and get her to join in immediately.
Quinn shifted her weight and looked down beneath her. Not too far away she could make out several dark figures amongst a clearing in the trees. They appeared to be in a circle, surrounding something.
Despite her exhaustion, Quinn managed to hop from branch to branch of several trees until she was as close to the men as she could get without being spotted. Carefully, she climbed down a few branches at a time, trying to listen in on what the men were saying.
"This is where you'll meet our contact," one of them said, "He'll have all the information you've been looking for."
"Hand over the money," another demanded.
She heard someone sigh and then the jingling of coins, and saw a blurry object thrown from the middle of the circle to one of the men. Her fingers wandered to the crossbow at her hips when someone else spoke.
"I don't appreciate people wasting my time."
Quinn's eyes widened. She knew that voice. It was dark and sinister, laced with impatience and frustration. She peered closer at the group of men and spotted him – a blue cloak directly in the middle of the darkly clad figures.
What was he doing here?
"And we don't appreciate punk ass street urchins trying to get in the way of Noxian progress," one sneered back.
Immediately, they had all drawn weapons, causing Quinn to instinctively grip at her crossbow.
"You're wasting your time," Talon growled, "Are you going to tell me what I need to know, or are you going to try and kill me?"
"You think we actually had your information?" one of them laughed, "You stupid son of a –"
The man didn't get to finish his sentence, as Talon had thrown a blade directly into his throat, causing him to sputter and cough up blood before collapsing to the ground.
Quinn watched as he backflipped and landed on one of the men's shoulders, shoving his arm blade into the side of his head before gracefully dismounting with ease. She'd never actually watched him work, only glimpses of the aftermath he left behind.
The attackers didn't seem to know what to do. It had taken only seconds for Talon to take out two of them and he was on his way to another. One of them shot an arrow at him, only for Talon to deflect it with that oversized blade on his arm.
Talon ran forward and slid down on his knee, swiping one of the thugs off his feet with his free leg. The man landed with a thud and let out a scream of agony as Talon violently shoved a blade through his thigh, pinning him to the ground.
"You little –"
Another one charged at Talon, knocking him over so hard that his hood flew off. Talon grunted as he struggled with his attacker, trying to push him off. In one swift movement, he threw his knee into the assailant's groin and, once the man released him to clutch at his injured crotch, he rolled out from underneath him, grabbed him by the back of his neck and slammed his face into the ground. Blood spurted from the man's mouth as he tried to catch his breath, but Talon simply grabbed the man's head with both hands and snapped his neck like a twig, breathing heavily as the man fell lifelessly to the ground.
Quinn was in awe. She'd never seen someone move as quickly as her, or kill so efficiently. It was strangely beautiful.
As Talon began to stand, he suddenly cried out in agony. One man had been left, and he'd plunged his dagger right into Talon's back. He attempted to reach behind himself to rip it out, but the attacker had kicked him in the side, knocking him to the ground.
"You little shit," he spat, "You wanted to see Marcus? Go and see him in Hell!"
There was the sound of something flying through the air quickly, and then the man fell on his side, a crossbow belt going in one ear and out the other.
Confused, Talon looked to see where the bolt had come from. He certainly hadn't expected to see the Demacian scout standing there, crossbow up, still aiming as if the man might get up again.
"The hell are you doing here?" Talon hissed.
That stupid dagger was still in his back and it burned like fire.
Quinn snapped out of her daze, looking over at Talon.
"You know," she said with a smirk, "This is where most people would say thank you."
Talon started to laugh, but was silenced as the sharp pain grew with his movements. Quinn cautiously walked over to him, kneeling down to get a closer look.
This was the first time she'd seen his face now that his hood had been knocked back. His face was sharp and angular, with a strong chin and brows. His hair was longer than she expected, half pulled back out of his face, though a few strands had gotten lose and fell in front of his eyes. Those eyes again.
Quinn cleared her throat and reached into the pack she kept at her side, rummaging around to find something that might help.
"What were you doing out here?" she asked, finding a roll of bandages that she'd thrown in there after having to deal with those thugs from her last time in Noxus.
"I should be asking you the same thing," he muttered.
"Going back to Demacia. Your turn."
She looked at his back, noticing that the dagger had gone into his shoulder. At least she wouldn't have to deal with being careful around any organs.
Talon sighed at her blunt answer.
"Trying to get intel," he replied, "In case you couldn't tell, I was set up."
"I had no idea."
She smiled at him thoughtfully, humming in thought as she looked back at the dagger.
"This is gonna hurt," she said, "Try not to move or you'll make it worse."
Talon grunted in agreement and Quinn swiftly removed her cloak, holding it tightly in one hand as she reached for the hilt of the dagger with the other. She gripped it firmly, trying to calm her rapidly beating heart.
"Ready?" she asked.
"Do I have a choice?" he grumbled.
Quinn took a deep breath and ripped the dagger out as quickly as she could. Talon bit back a scream as Quinn threw the dagger to the ground and pressed her cloak against his wound forcefully. He groaned and sunk forward, biting his lip to keep himself from crying out. The Demacian kept applying pressure to the wound, watching as her cloak became stained red.
"Why are you doing this?" he choked out, "Helping me?"
"Life for a life," Quinn mumbled back, glancing down at the dagger.
Luckily it hadn't been very large, so hopefully the wound wouldn't be too severe. It was soaked in Talon's blood, and she noticed a familiar Noxian symbol engraved on the blade.
"What kind of intel were you looking for?" she asked, "These guys were Noxian like you…"
"You're an idiot if you think all Noxians are the same," he spat.
Quinn furrowed her brows in annoyance and pushed harder on his back, causing him to hiss in pain.
"You should be nicer to the person saving your life."
Talon muttered something under his breath.
"If you must know," he sighed, "Noxus isn't exactly a peaceful place. Lots of fighting within… trying to take control of the kingdom. It was mainly a fight between Swain and Du Couteau…"
Quinn nodded in understanding.
"I've heard," she said softly, "But Du Couteau went missing…"
Talon was quiet for a while, just breathing heavily as the fire in his back slowly died down.
"I know that you trained under him," Quinn continued, "He took you in when you were younger."
"Yeah," Talon breathed.
The silence grew between them and Quinn moved the cloak slightly to absorb more blood that didn't seem like it was going to stop flowing anytime soon.
"I never had a family," he said after a while, "He was the closest thing I had… So, I've been trying to find information about his disappearance. See if anyone knows anything."
Quinn was surprised by his honesty, but remained silent. It seemed like he had a lot he wanted to get off his chest and she was apparently the one he'd chosen to vent to.
"I know it had something to do with that bastard, Swain," Talon grunted, "But I have no proof… I'm sure these guys were some of Swain's lackeys trying to shut me up. He knew I would follow any lead about Marcus…"
"Why are you telling me this?" Quinn interrupted.
Talon chuckled.
"No one else has ever stayed long enough to listen," he answered, "Or lived long enough."
Quinn rolled her eyes and inspected his wound again.
"Alright, I think most of the bleeding has stopped, I need to wrap it though. Can you help me get your cloak off?"
"Probably…"
Talon reached with his good arm to unfasten the clasp at his neck, letting the cape fall to the ground.
"You know," Quinn said, "A cape of blades seems kind of pointless if you're not going to use them."
Talon huffed in response.
"Just because I didn't use it in that fight, doesn't mean I don't use it at all."
The scout laughed and reapplied pressure to his wound once again. There was a gaping hole in the back of his shirt from where he'd been stabbed and blood had run down the entirety of his back.
"I hope you're not too attached to this shirt," Quinn teased as she ripped at the fabric to get better access to his back.
"Do what you have to," he muttered.
She nodded and tore the shirt apart so his whole side was exposed. There were scars everywhere. His back, his arm, his chest. Some uglier than others, but there didn't seem to be much of him that wasn't scarred.
Quinn reached for the bandages and carefully covered his wound, beginning to wrap them under his armpit and then back over his shoulder, repeating it several times until the roll ran out.
Once finished, Quinn leaned back to inspect her work.
"Well, I'm no medic," she admitted, "But I think you'll survive."
Talon sat up a little straighter, rubbing his injured shoulder gently, carefully moving it to see how much mobility he still had. He winced a bit, but it didn't seem like he was in as much pain as he was before.
"Thanks, birdie," he murmured, "Guess we're even now."
Quinn smiled at the nickname.
"Speaking of which, where is that bird of yours?"
As if on cue Valor let out a screech, swooping down from a tree to land on Quinn's shoulder. He looked at Talon inquisitively, tilting his head back and forth while he inspected him.
"You've got that thing trained pretty well," Talon remarked.
Valor squawked indignantly, causing Quinn to reach up and stroke the top of his head.
"His name is Valor," she replied, "And he's not a thing. We've been partners for years now and wherever I go, he goes."
Valor lifted his head and clicked his tongue in approval, enjoying the affection he was receiving.
Talon seemed a bit off put by the bird, but he didn't want to say anything to anger it, less he get his eyes gouged out.
"Well now that we're even," he sighed, "Does that mean no more stalking me?"
Quinn snorted in amusement.
"You're still under suspicion for several crimes against Demacia. I don't think I can let you go that easily."
"Damn. What if I buy you a drink?"
She was surprised at the offer. At first, she couldn't tell if he was joking or not, but there didn't seem to be any malice in those bright eyes of his.
"Sure. Why not?"
Author's Note: Wow, I wasn't expecting to really get any kind of feedback on this, so thank you guys for that. I haven't published a fic in years so I'm hoping this one helps showcase my improvement (let's face it, we were all pretty cringe worthy when we were younger). This pairing is my hardcore OTP and means a lot, so I'm going to try and put only the best I can out. I've already finished six chapters of this, so once I upload the sixth, updates will take a bit longer. I really appreciate any and all feedback so if you could leave a review that'll help me crank stuff out faster! Thanks again guys 3