Darius set aside the stack of papers on his desk, sighing heavily at the sight of the other stacks of paper on the desk's wooden surface. He rubbed his eyes and leaned back, sleepiness beginning to cloud his senses. As much as he needed to complete the paperwork, he wanted to sleep even more. Unlike what most people thought, being a general was not just about leading battalions into battle and relishing in glory. While Draven became the epitome of such a vision, Darius himself was left to the reality of what a general was.
Mind-numbing businesses to settle on behalf of the army and constant bickering with advisors and tacticians on the next move to take. Everyday was a constant battle with exhaustion, both mentally and physically. There was also the lingering feeling of worry and paranoia. And lately, a certain redhead had been adding a lot of that onto his back.
When Darius had first met Katarina Du Couteau, he had felt an aura that many people did; a dangerous temper and a sadistic lust for blood. In fact, Katarina had so much of the latter that it slightly disgusted Darius. He could see why she and the prick Montgomery got along so well. Both had a love for violence and expressed no regret for the lives they had taken.
However, over time, Katarina had proven herself to be marginally better than Montgomery was. And Darius had to admit, while her feats on the battlefield were somewhat questionable, she had managed to contribute more to Noxus by stealthily weeding out the people that needed to die, both inside and outside Noxus.
He could respect that. He could respect that Katarina had built her life up despite the crushing expectations of society. The nobles in Noxus were not the nicest people someone could find on the whole of Runeterra. And Noxus was not exactly progressive when it came to the occupations of women. Most women in Runeterra were managers of their houses or whores in brothels willing to spread their legs for a few coins of gold.
But he couldn't respect Katarina now.
He had been there during one of his colleague's funeral. And he saw how affected the redheaded assassin had been during the ceremony, despite her best attempts to hide it. And when he met her again one year after Noxus' war with Ionia, the latter had become an alcoholic.
That was when Darius began fitting the puzzle pieces together. Katarina had told him once or twice that whenever she experienced a bump in her life, she naturally, almost instinctively, went to a training room to doom the training dummies with anger and hatred that she couldn't give to the people causing her trouble.
So over the one year of not seeing each other, the possibility of yet another mischance being the cause for Katarina's depression was ruled out. The death of a close friend couldn't possibly be the cause. When Talon, Katarina's supposed step-brother, had been mortally wounded, Darius had witnessed Katarina giving no shred of sympathy.
Above all, Katarina's depression had culminated after that commander's funeral, and the signs of slight distraught pointed even more fingers at Darius' strongest theory.
Katarina, the famed Sinister Blade, one of Noxus' highly prolific yet feared nobles, a possible candidate for High Command, fell in love with the deceased commander.
The icing on the cake? She fell in love with a woman.
Darius' lips curled as he recounted the confrontation he had with Katarina two weeks after she had been deployed into the Noxian military once again. He had already taken her new drinking habits into account, and couldn't withhold his suspicions any longer. He stormed into her room and demanded for her to come clean.
She had tried to deny it at first, but quickly crumbled under the pressure. She was drunk at the time, and her mood quickly switched to anger when she noticed the look of repulsion in Darius' eyes.
"What the fuck are you looking at?" The redhead shouted, wildly swinging at the bigger man. The latter took a step back, dodging the punch and causing the assassin to stumble.
"This needs to stop, Du Couteau." He said coldly. "What you and that woman were is bad enough. If others begin to suspect the cause of your recent tantrums, they'll start asking questions you don't want them to. And once that happens, everything you've worked for your entire life has all been for nothing!"
Katarina glared at him with bloodshot eyes. "You don't know shit!" She spat, attempting to regain her balance. Darius narrowed his eyes. "Noxus military has no room for feelings like yours, especially those for another woman . What do you think happened after Quilletta died?" Katarina screamed and lunged at the general, weakly pounding her fists against the man's breastplate.
"Shut up. Shut up." Her voice got weaker and so did her punches. She stopped punching, and Darius realised that the woman was sobbing.
He should have felt more disgust. A year ago, he had seen Katarina as someone who had earned her title and place in Noxus. But now, she was just a woman who had fallen from grace.
All because of love she shouldn't have felt.
Darius had tried to be lenient. Katarina's breakdown had reminded him of his own when his own love had died at the hands of his daughter. He tried to send Katarina for a bit of rehabilitation, he even swallowed his pride and wrote to Montgomery for tips to deal with the redhead's brashness, and maybe even send a letter to the redhead to tell her to wake up and focus on her priority, which is to serve Noxus till her dying breath, just as the commander had done.
He never got a reply. In fact, he had a feeling that the Spanish-French man re-read the letter multiple times just to get a laugh out of it.
Just when he had just about reached the end of his tether with Katarina however, she kidnapped Demacia's Lady of Luminosity. While Darius initially had no idea what to make out of the situation, he decided sending the blonde mage to Montgomery's camp was a good move. Not only was Montgomery's camp more secure and could better keep the mage captive, Montgomery would also be interested in trying his hand at twisting the mage's thoughts and morales. Just as he did with many other men or women he saw as a good asset to Noxus.
Still, Katarina was snapping up fast. And all because of one person. It wouldn't be long before Swain took notice of her unproductive developments and publicly humiliated her in front of the whole of High Command. House Du Couteau would be done for.
A sudden scream startled the general, snapping him out of his thoughts. He hastily got up and walked briskly towards the door, the single scream being followed by a cacophony of other screams and desperate shouts.
oooooooooo
One of the soldiers had gently shaken Katarina awake. Surprisingly, none of them had followed the assassin's orders to wake her up for her turn to take watch.
Lux seemed to have regained more of her strength since last night, as she was able to sit up from her lying position. As the other two soldiers packed their stuff, Katarina sent the mage a look that cautioned her what would happen if the blonde tried to run away. The latter gave a small nod in response.
Katarina still had some meat in her pack. But it can't last her the entire day. If she didn't get the four of them out of this forest and into Montgomery's base by today, she would have to resort to hunting for food.
"We'd best hurry up." She said shortly to her companions as she tore a small piece of meat and ate it. The other two men nodded solemnly, although Ansel regarded her with a disgruntled gaze. She stared back at him, silently daring him to speak his mind. He quickly looked away, and Katarina inwardly scoffed. He has the balls to challenge someone but doesn't have the balls to go through with it, she thought spitefully.
She glanced over at the captive, who hugged her knees as she looked at the floor. Looking at her sorry state and remembering what had nearly happened last night, the assassin felt a small twinge of guilt in her heart. Especially when she remembered that she had practically encouraged the men to commit the vile act on her. While she had stopped it before it could happen, it would raise questions from Ansel. And he looked like a difficult man to deal with. Stopping him from having fun for the supposed selfish reason of him waking her up probably wasn't enough to convince him.
Katarina grit her teeth. She didn't want to have to kill a fellow countrymen just to keep questions from being asked, but if she to, she would have to do it in a subtle way that would not result in fingers being pointed at her. If her worst fears were confirmed, she could try to frame Barry or make Ansel's death look like an accident.
Ensuring her companions weren't watching, she tore almost half the remaining meat she had and tossed it at the mage's knees. The mage looked up in surprise, but a side-glare from the assassin was enough to get her to pick up the meat and hurriedly eat it in big bites. Katarina looked back at the two soldiers. Fortunately, they were too wrapped up in their own conversation to notice what had just transpired between the two women.
Once she was sure her hunger was satiated, she packed the now very small piece of meat into her pack and put it in her sack. She then picked her blanket, wiped the dirt off of it, before folding it and packing it as well. "We need to get moving now." She ordered coldly. The soldiers shared a glance before each taking a bite out of their respective pieces of meat before shoving it into their packs and then their packs into their bags.
Katarina slung the strap of her bag over her shoulder and walked over to the mage. She grabbed her by the arm and pulled her up. "Listen to me," she said, staring into Lux's cerulean eyes. "Just because I have done some decent acts for you recently doesn't mean I've warmed up to you. You are still a captive of Noxus." Lux looked up into the assassin's jade green eyes with a sudden hard gaze that nearly startled the assassin. "I'm well aware of my place, thank you very much." As quickly as the gaze came, it left when the mage dropped her gaze back to the ground. Katarina wanted to smack the mage for having the audacity to talk to her in such a way, but the sounds of the two soldiers approaching them prevented her from doing so.
Turning away from the mage, she looked at her comrades expectantly. "Barry, make sure she doesn't get lost in the woods."
oooooooooo
"What happened here?" Tianna Crownguard asked aloud when she saw the wreckage in front of her.
Quinn had been able to pinpoint the exact location where the smoke was coming from, and she had managed to lead them to the place as well.
And at the place, Tianna saw burnt shacks and a few charred bodies here and there. On one side, she saw a burnt flag that looked like it had the symbol of Noxus etched onto it.
They had managed to find the Noxus' camp they had been searching for for quite some time, only to find it burnt to the ground. The Noxians could have tried to erase traces of them ever being here, but if so, they wouldn't have done such a sloppy job out of it. And if it had been one of her own countrymen, they would have reported it to superiors and gathered a force to attack the base instead of committing arson by themselves.
What has happened here then? She wondered. Stepping closer to the ruins to better inspect it. "Your orders, Marshall?" Quinn asked, her eagle perched on her arm. Tianna turned back to the smaller woman. "Go around and see if you can find where they have run off to." The Wings of Demacia nodded and walked off, the blue eagle screeching once before taking off to the sky.
Tianna turned to address the rest of her force. "The rest of you, spread out and search for survivors or anything that may be of use to us." The force responded with a unanimous 'Yes Marshal!' before doing as she said, fanning out and inspecting the ruins. Tianna glanced around her, wondering what could have happened to this place.
Is there another force at play? She wondered.
oooooooooo
Katarina had been right about it being easier to navigate the forest in daylight.
She did not have much experience in travelling across Runeterra, but she could definitely tell that she and her companions were covering much more ground than they did yesterday.
Sadly, that did not change the fact that they were still far from reaching Montgomery's camp. However, Katarina still held hope that they would be able to reach Montgomery today, or at least leave little distance for them to cover the next. Hopefully they could maybe delay lunch and compensate for it with short breaks to replenish energy.
She sighed inwardly. Why did Montgomery have to position himself so far from Darius?
oooooooooo
During the chaos that lit up the forest, the man had managed to sneak away from the Noxian soldiers and booked it for a place in the forest that would put a great distance between him and them.
When he was sure he was far enough, he stopped, skidding on the ground slightly due to his momentum. He bent over, putting his hands on his knees as he tried to catch his breath, before reaching into his pocket and pulling a stone out. He tossed it, and instantly, an image of a figure wearing a cloak appeared. The figure wore a hood that hid their face, and the cloak betrayed no detail of their physical appearance.
"Is it done?" The figure asked, their voice shifting between many pitches, starting out as deep before getting higher. The man nodded. "Yes, it is." The figure nodded in possible approval. "Well done. Return to Noxus." The man felt the corners of his lips twitch into a smile. These people were not easy to impress, and praise from them meant everything.
"I will." No sooner than the last syllable left his mouth did the image disappear. The man took the heavy armour off, exhaling the breastplate was lifted off his shoulders and dropped onto the ground. He got rid of the remaining pieces of armour before picking the stone and putting it back in his pocket. He walked off, whistling a merry tune as he did so.
ooooooooooo
Katarina hadn't wanted to stop yet.
Sure, her feet were screaming at her to stop and let them rest, and the sun was glaring down upon her with its heat. But she still wanted to continue their journey.
However, she had to look at how her companions were doing, and they weren't looking like they were doing too well. Ansel was hunched over, wiping the sweat from his eyes. Barry huffed as he shouldered his pack. Even Lux was fanning herself with her hand. Noxian soldiers were usually trained to have stamina like none other, but under this heat and having to carry heavy-looking packs, their stamina stood no chance. Reluctantly, she announced they would be stopping under a shade that the trees provided.
She sat on the ground and leaned against the tree, letting a numbing sensation wash over her sore feet. She reached into her pack and pulled a map out. Darius had supplied her with it yesterday, and she had looked at it for hours until her eyes watered and mind went numb, trying to memorise every little detail on it.
Unfortunately, her memory wasn't as good as she'd hoped, and so she was praying that she hadn't led them on the wrong path.
Thankfully, she hadn't. In fact, it seemed that they had covered slightly more than half the distance to Montgomery's camp. They would have to resort to hunting their food when lunch or dinner came, which would cost them additional time they could use to continue walking. Hopefully they could come across some fresh game while continuing their journey.
She glanced over to her companions, Barry and Ansel were both raising their water canteens to their mouths, drinking as if they had never tasted water before. The fools. Sure it was hot, but if they diminished their water that quickly, they would soon have none to drink and become dehydrated under this weather.
Katarina kept the map away and retrieved her own water canteen. She put it to her lips and took a small sip. She sighed. The forest hadn't shown any other signs of life besides insects and humans, and she hadn't seen any stream. It was only past a day and their supplies were already running low. This mission was poorly thought out.
She was about to sigh when she heard some commotion behind her. It sounded far from where she was but was still loud. Ansel, Lux and Barry all looked in the same direction she was looking. As the seconds passed, the sounds seemed to get further away from them.
Suddenly, Barry looked at the redheaded assassin with a new excitement in his eyes.
"I think I saw our flag with them. And Commander Moreno."