Author's notes:


Hey, posting the next chapter of the story. Hope, you'll like it. However, if you don't, please let me know, so I can improve :)

PS. The whole chapter should be finished in the middle of the week.

As always, thanks for everything, and see you next time :D

PS. Sorry that it took so long ;(

Changelog:
2021-02-07: A preview was posted.
2021-02-13: A whole chapter posted.

End of author's notes.


Flashbacks:


"Do remind me, why the fuck are we kneeling it that dirt, again?!" the annoyed and angry redhead hissed.

"Can you already stop nagging, sister?" Talon asked without sparing a single glance toward the eldest daughter of Du Couteau's house. "I've told you the exact reason at least a thousand times already," he added with a sigh.

"Can't we just break into that stupid building?!" Katarina asked. "I bet there's no one there who could match us."

"It's possible, but why do you want so badly to be in the spotlight?" the raven-haired man replied with the question of his own. "Look, I don't have anything against bloodshed, but sometimes the goal can be achieved without it. And… frankly saying, I feel like it's one of such cases," the man tried to explain everything once again as calmly as he could.

"Bullshit!" the red-haired woman scoffed.

"Wait a little more, dearest sister. I'm more than sure that your blades will taste blood tonight," Talon said before sighing.

"You better be right!" Katarina uttered in annoyance.

Her adoptive brother did not utter a single word more. His sight was fixated at the fort before them. Just mere dozens of steps were all that separated the Noxian assassin from the Demacian guards. Talon opted for the more risky approach, sneaking that close just to have a better view of the challenge standing right next to them. It meant that they ended up kneeling in the mud. A couple of past days were rainy. The usually dry surroundings of the fort became a swamp, at least temporarily.

Demacia was not known for maintaining outposts far from its homeland. However, in some situations, its rulers could be convinced that stretching the army's supply lines could be beneficial. The fort ahead of them was a perfect example of such a situation. The dagger buried deep beneath the outpost was a weapon made with one thought in mind – to contain a darkin. For years, darkins were thought to be invincible. They could be wounded, harmed, but never truly killed. Discovery was made out of pure luck when the antique dagger was buried deep into the side of the darkin. Demacian who did it, could not contain his amusement when instead of a painful death, his opponent was sucked into the blade. Demacian nearly immediately wanted the entirety of the truth to be covered up. After all, such knowledge even though useful was dangerous. For such a weapon, many rulers would be more than willing to send their armies to conquer Demacia, to burn it to the ground in a search for the antique blade. It must be admitted, the people assigned to that operation did their work as well as they possibly could. However, it did not stop Talon from finding out.

"How did you even come into possession of such an intel?" Katarina asked after a couple of minutes of silence. Based on her voice tone, she calmed down, at least a little.

"Oh, it wouldn't be a secret anymore if I told you, would it not?" Talon replied with a wide smirk glue to his handsome face. "I prefer to hold my cards hidden if you don't mind, sister."

"Jerk!" the redhead uttered in a low tone. "If you don't want to spill the bean, fine, don't talk. But, maybe do something before my patience run out completely!"

"You know what, dearest sister?" the raven-haired man hummed. "Sometimes, I really wonder how in the heavens you became one of the most successful assassins our nation produced," he added, giggling. "Sometimes, it seems that even a fading blow of the wind could make you lose your patience. And… that's not the greatest sign for the assassin."

"Shut the fuck up, already!" the eldest daughter of Du Couteau's family growled. "I can be impatient sometimes, but I make sure my job is done."

"Oh," Katarina's adoptive brother chuckled. "As I've already mentioned, our father always sends me to clean up the 'mess' after you. So, I'm not entirely sure whether I'm bought by your words," he mocked.

"Fuck you, Talon!" Katarina uttered through the clenched teeth.

"Wouldn't it be incest, dearest sister?" Talon allowed himself to giggle a little more. "But, whom am I to tell the great Katarina what to do," he added sarcastically.

"I swear, I'll eviscerate you the moment the dagger will be in my possession!" the red-haired woman threatened. "I'll gut you!"

"Promises, promises," the adoptive son of Du Couteau's house continued to mock while standing up. "It's high time for us to act. Or… you can spend the night in the mud. The choice is yours, dearest sister," he added, offering Katarina a helping hand.

"It's fucking about time!" the red-haired assassin growled but accepted the brother's help.

In a span of the next few seconds, the Noxian's pair vanished in the shadows.

Sometime later:


All of Katarina's clothing was wet, covered in the mixture of mud and something stinking. She hated that feeling, but nothing could be done with that. The eldest daughter of Du Couteau's family hated helplessness, inactivity. To some extent, she wanted to shut down her mind. All she wanted was to have that damned weapon in her hands reach already. Still, for now, she opted to just follow her adoptive brother.

With every single passing moment, the temperature was going down and down. The heavy raindrops started to fall from the dark as oblivion skies once again. They were freezingly cold. The moment the first drop made contact with her exposed skin, the woman shudder, the unpleasant shiver ran down her spine. The whole situation was getting better and better, which was only making the redhead more frustrated. A silent curse soon escaped the woman's throat.

"How long?" Katarina asked, seriously pissed off.

"Patience, dearest sister, patience," Talon replied, not even sparing a glance toward the red-haired woman. "There is a canal beneath the fort. We should reach it in a couple of moments," he added, still pressing forward.

"You're leading us to the sewer, aren't you?" `Sinister Blade` asked bitingly. "Why the fuck do you care how many lives we'll end up taking tonight? Is there some hot chick that you've been secretly meeting or stalking?!" she continued to nag, her voice filled with pure rage.

"I'd advise you to think about what you're going to say at least twice before speaking up your mind!" Talon replied in a cold tone, emphasising every word. "You're an assassin, not a mindless beast that kills without thinking!" he thundered. "If we killed all of the soldiers stationed here, there would be consequences, sever ones. Demacian won't seek who stood behind the action, no, they'll accuse Noxus. As much as you'd want to believe our rulers, this war has already taken a toll on us. Hundreds if not thousands are dead, more wounded, disabled, all thanks to that war!"

"Pfff!" Katarina scoffed. "We're far stronger than Demacia. Maybe… what we're going to do here tonight will finally push our nation toward the victory. After all, we'd love to have Demacians on our territory, bleeding out their far fewer forces," she added confidently. "If they attacked us, it'd be a clear sign for our people that we need to destroy them before there's peace!"

"You're delusional if you think that we're stronger than them," the man chuckled, but there was none happiness in his voice. "We have numbers, far more soldiers that can be fielded, but the quality of our armies are far lesser than these of Demacia. Their soldiers are probably the best regular army that you can see all over Runeterra. I'd say that we're more or less equal in overall strength. If it hasn't been the case, the war would have been over by now. And… as you probably know, the finishing line of that madness was yet to be drawn!" `Blade's Shadow` explained.

"Ohh?" Katarina gasped ironically. "Who would have thought that Talon would be such a softy?" she mocked. "If you can't handle the job you should…"

The man did not allow her to finish. Quicker than Katarina could react, he turned around, grabbed his adoptive sister by the neck, and slammed her into the mud. The dark-haired man leaned over the woman. There was no rage shown on his handsome face. Even though the redhead tried to rise up, she could not. Once again, she was reminded of the massive disparity in strength between them. Talon held her in the mud for a couple of moments longer before retreating his hand.

"I hope you've calmed down, at least a little," `Blade's Shadow` uttered, turning around.

"Fuck you, Talon!" the red-haired woman cursed through her clenched teeth. "The cost of getting these clothes clean is on you!" she added.

"Fine," the dark-haired man replied, moving forward. "But for now, let's focus on the task, shall we?"

"Fuck you! Do whatever you want!" the eldest daughter of the house replied, upset. Nevertheless, she followed her adoptive brother, grimacing every time the damp fabric contacted with her skin.

Surprisingly, they reached the canal's entrance just a couple of minutes later. She should be thankful that her speculation turned out to be false. However, she was too prideful to admit that aloud, giving the credits where they were due. The tunnel was hidden behind an illusion of the rock. The spell was broken by the trinket that Talon pulled out of one of his many pockets.

"Where did you get that?" Katarina asked once the illusion vanished.

"I told you, I like my secrets to remain secrets," the dark-haired man replied. "We have at most 10 – 15 minutes before they find out about the intrusion. So, in other words, we better hurry up," he added, running into the dark tunnel.

With a heavy sigh, the red-haired woman followed.

It would be a challenging question for Katarina so determinate how long they had been running. All she saw was her adoptive brother that ran in front of her, leading the way. As soon as the darkness covered everything around them, he pulled out another trinket that emanated some light. It was not enough to entirely chase away the shadows, but at least it allowed them to run safely.

Soon enough, the signs of life began reaching their ears. The sounds of the heavy boots clicking against the stone-cold floor, the metal plates rustling while moving. They were close, their target was in their reach.

Out of a sudden, Talon stopped. There was a ladder at his right, leading toward the small manhole. The redhead wanted to ask some question, but `Blade's Shadow` silenced her by pressing his finger to the lips. The man pointed out at the manhole. It was their next step. Within a few moments, he started climbing. Even though Talon tried to show that he was calm, it was not entirely true. His muscles were flexed, tensed. He was ready for a fight. Just a moment later, the light began to pour down from the manhole. The cover was lifted as quietly as it could be. The time seemed to freeze for the red-haired woman. Even though her brother did not say that aloud, she had been to stay in the tunnel until he would have told her that the path was clear. It was cold down there. It was ridiculous that she noticed that detail only one. Her hot breath was turning into clouds as soon as it left her mouth. She wondered how long would she had to wait. She was growing impatient again.

Soon enough, Talon gave her the sign. The path was clear. Without wasting a single moment, she climbed up the ladder. It turned out that the tunnel led to some sort of warehouse. The manhole was located between the heavy wooden cases at the very back of the magazine. The light came from the externally frozen torchlights. Without a doubt, these were the products of some sort of magic. It could be considered hypocoristically to see these there. After all, Demacian was not fond of magic. They were not the biggest fan of magic users as well.

"Where is the weapon?" Katarina asked.

"It remains to be seen," Talon chuckled. "My source wasn't able to tell me that in details. More than that, I found only a handful of plans for this place. As you might already expect, there is none big red cross on them, marking the place where the dagger is being stored," he provided a few pieces of information more.

"What do we do then?" the red-haired assassin asked, sighing.

"Something that we're best in, improvising," the dark-haired man responded.

"I hoped you wouldn't say that."