"Jared"

He turned around surprised.

"Karla, don't scare me like that!" He exclaimed, holding his heart.

"I'm sorry, I wasn't trying to." Karla apologized.

He took a couple deep breaths, calming down his unsteady heart.

"Such a troublesome condition." Jared complained under his breath.

"Do you need this?" Karla asked, grabbing the medication.

"Yes, thank you."

He took the bottle and shook a couple pills out. He then proceeded to swallow it whole.

"…Hey, I've been wondering this for a while, but…" Karla started, waiting for Jared to finish grabbing a glass of water.

When he had finished swallowing the water, Karla continued, "Why are you more concerned about the fact that we can't have sex than the fact that you could die?"

"…You didn't read my mind?" Jared asked.

"You already know I feel guilty doing that, it feels like I'm not trusting you enough when I do that. Married couples are supposed to trust each other wholeheartedly, right?"

"…Yeah." Jared said, his ring gleaming in the light as he scratched his head.

He looked at his young wife, not too much younger than he was, who pouted at him. He always thought it was cute when she made that face, because of how adult-like she acted in public. He then coughed as he answered her.

"Well… You told me how much you wanted kids."

Karla's pout turned into a stunned look of expression and awe as her face became red like a cherry. She then walked slowly up to him, so not to surprise him, and hugged him gently.

"…Silly. I said when I'm older. I… still want it to be just the two of us… for now."

"…And what about when my mind goes all fuzzy? Are you fine without that?" Jared asked, referring to the times when Karla looked into his mind during sex.

"Yup, because I've been with you long enough to know that you're just as beautiful on the outside as you are on the inside."

"B-Beautiful? I don't know, masculine seems to be a much better description."

Karla giggled as she traced her finger along Jared's chest.

"Hmm, this chest is masculine?" She said, teasing.

"Hey, you know I have a complex about that." Jared complained.

They laughed for a bit before watching the sunset together. Afterwards, the couple retired to bed, but one never woke from their sleep.

Karla woke up with a start, her breath ragged and panicking, reaching out for her husband's hand, who clasped it tightly.

"Nightmare?" He asked, sitting up.

Karla's eyes were wide as she shook and looked at him.

"You were… dead... and Kalamanda… and the bar…"

Jared took her head into his arms as he gently stroked it.

"Shh, It's alright now. I know it was scary but that's all over now. I'm here, ok?"

Karla's shaking body became still as Jared continued comforting her.

"Is… it really alright, for it to end like that? To just give up?" Karla spoke with pain, tears rushing down her face.

"…Karla, Look at me"

Karla looked into her husband's eyes, full of sadness.

"Of course it's alright, since you can't change what's already happened… and that's what makes this even harder."

"…Jared?"

Her vision blurred even further, but it was clear it wasn't because of the tears.

"No matter what happens… Don't regret it, because it won't change anything. The past doesn't change, but the future can as long as you live. Always remember that."

Karla's vision blurred even further.

"But… In the bar…" Karla spoke, her voice trailing off as she became drowsy.

"Now's not the time for us to be together… and that's why this is hard for me too. But always remember, for as long as you live… I'll be cheering for you."

As Karla closed her eyes to sleep she said, "…Idiot, you're supposed to say you'll always love me"

"If you didn't know that by now, then I guess I failed as a husband." He spoke in a joking tone.

Karla smiled. This… was enough. He must've known too, that she wouldn't want to leave if he said he would always love her.

"Don't regret it… huh?" Karla muttered as she finally fell back asleep.

Karla's eyes fluttered like a butterfly, her world upside down and twirling as she began to notice the headaches pounding in her head.

"Superior… you dumbass." She coughed out.

"Welcome back to the land of the living." Superior spoke in the background, Karla's vision still returning.

"If there was any idiot… who would risk their lives to betray the league… I thought I was the only one." Karla said, noticing the nausea that accompanied her headaches.

"And yet you knew it was me without even looking."

"You're the one who gave me the damn drink; of course I knew it was you." Karla closed her eyes as the headaches became even more unbearable.

"Congratulations on dying. Your name is in the official records of the deceased, and with that, all loose ends have been tied." Superior stated, sounding proud of himself.

"My head hurts, can I stop being un-dead and go back to being full-dead?" Karla moaned, feeling the need to vomit.

In the next second, she could feel her body being laid on its side, Superior apparently noticing her distress. She threw up involuntarily and coughed, her vision finally returning as she looked at her own puke.

"…Living sucks." Karla sighed, gesturing Superior to help her to the nearby seat.

As Superior led her to the seat, Karla noticed now that they had been inside a cathedral, a coffin lying wide open.

"I take it that was meant for me?" Karla asked, pointing to the coffin.

"Yes. Although there wasn't going to be much of a ceremony for a traitor, Demacian priests still insist on their rituals for the dead."

"Lucky me. If I were anywhere else, I'm sure my 'remains' would have been burned by now."

Setting Karla down on the seat, Superior made his way back to the coffin to close and seal it. Karla took the time to take in more of her surroundings; painted classwork on the wall she faced, a podium on the ground, wooden benches behind her…

"Wait, did you bring this chair inside?" Karla asked, noticing her difference in seating.

"I thought you would prefer something to support your back. You always hated lying down, for some odd reason." Superior noted.

Karla scratched her cheek in embarrassment as she asked, "You noticed that?"

"It wasn't hard to figure out, since you've even slept upright during some of our assignments."

"…Well, there are times when even I would like to lay down."

"Right now?"

"When I'm not alone."

Superior stopped sealing the coffin, in the midst of using magic to do so, and turned to look at Karla, expectant.

"…Fine you nosy codename, I'll tell you why." Karla sighed, noticing he was waiting for her to continue.

"…Codename?" Superior asked, raising an eyebrow at her.

"Shush… Before I met Jared, when 'mother' first picked me off the streets, I was a quite the naïve brat. I simply ran around flaunting my power for all to see, never suspecting I would be taken advantage of the way that I was. But when 'mother' learned about my powers when I arrived at my new home… before she could even cover up her thoughts, all of these selfish and unsavory things began to surface from her mind."

Karla paused, putting her hand over her heart so as to reconfirm it was still beating. She still needed reconfirm that she was alive, the very situation still unbelievable to her as she continued.

"'Mine. My daughter. She'll make our dreams come to fruition, at last…' Her horrible and selfish dreams that would eventually lead to me becoming a pawn of the league. I knew I was being used during my first mission, but it was all fun and games. I read some old man's mind and told them where he hid his daughter. I got praised, ate some candy, went to bed… and heard their inner voices about how the old man and his daughter were killed the next day. When I foolishly asked them, in tears, why they would do such a thing… They locked me in my own room, saying that they 'needed to talk'. When they finally finished talking, they told me this, 'Stay in your room and be a good girl, ok? And when we tell you to do something, do it and we may let you out of your room.'"

Karla took a deep breath as her old memories continued flooding out of her mouth.

"They kept me in that accursed room for 2 months, giving me food regularly from time to time. When they finally had a job for me to do and let me out of the room, I was ecstatic. For a mere child, staying inside a room with nothing for entertainment was tantamount to torture, so I eagerly did the job they asked me to do."

Karla bit her lip, as she clenched her fist.

"After three years of repeating going out of the room to do their dirty work, then returning to the same room, I was told to do another thing for them. I did it eagerly to get out of the room, maybe forever this time. I went along, doing it with perfection and giddiness as I… stabbed… so many people… and I got to their baby… and stabbed him again… and again and again and again until I couldn't even recognize him as a human being… and I… I…"

Karla's sobs emerged as her trauma moved her mouth even more.

"I smiled as I did it, thinking they would be so proud of me… for doing such a good job… at 9 years old… but… they put me in the room again? Why? Too much evidence? What the hell did that even mean!? And then I woke up, oh god, why couldn't I have continued dreaming in my bumbling murderous daze. And when I finally realized that I had been killing and killing and killing… so many people… ruining so many lives… I sat up in my bed… and stared at the door… fearing the next time they would open it. My prison… had become my last sanctuary."

Taking a breath in, she wiped off her tears with her sleeve.

"I eventually couldn't lay down, sitting up and staring at that door in fear of when it would be open next. I stared and stared at it… until I couldn't get comfortable in any other position. That peace of mind, knowing that the door was closed at that moment... That was my greatest comfort at the time."

Karla looked at Superior, who had been listening intently, and gave him a 'Satisfied now?' look. Superior just shook his head in apology and asked, "Didn't you ever tell Jared?"

"…I wanted to, believe me, but when I was about to gather the courage to tell him about my past, he was diagnosed. I didn't want him to stress him out and die, because that would have made me feel even worse compared to the baggage I was holding onto." Karla said.

"Thanks for sharing that with me. I always worried that you wouldn't ever get it off your chest."

"…Was I obviously stressing out over it?"

"Not obvious, but you and my wife always have this same tell when your stressed. That's how I knew."

Karla sat in silence as Superior tended to the coffin again, finishing the sealing within a minute, and walked over to her chair. He then pulled out a bucket from underneath the chair, which Karla hadn't noticed before.

"No hair-dye, but cutting it short would be smart for now until you can find a place to settle down and use some." Superior said, pulling out scissors from the basket.

"A little late to ask this, but why do all this for me?" Karla asked.

Superior led Karla's head to tilt back off the seat as he started to cut her lengthy hair, and said, "Probably for the same reason you stopped the assassination; we've grown too soft for this line of work."

Karla laughed, careful not to move her head around.

"So what do you plan on doing, now that you've died?" Superior asked, strands of long hair falling into the bucket.

"Hmm… running a kink store didn't go so well, even if it got entertaining near the end. Perhaps I'll try running a book store, or maybe even a restaurant?"

"Please. We both know you married Jared for his cooking. I still recall the look on his face when you tried to serve dinner when I visited; he was shocked you would try to kill your guest in such a gruesome way."

"Oh, bite me. I've had to learn since… well, since I've been on my own… Point is; I no longer cut cooked vegetables with the knife I used to cut raw chicken."

"…Karla, I know you no longer have to worry about the league breathing down your back, but do you really not plan on getting involved with them again?" Superior asked, his voice stern.

"Still doubting the words of a person even when their dead. Well, I guess I've lied to you plenty times before."

"Answer."

"To be honest, I don't know. You've given me a chance to begin again, this time without being tied to the league. I want to enjoy this freedom I've sought for so long, but at the same time, I want to destroy the league. I don't want a single trace of it left on the face of this world… So I've decided to compromise."

"Compromise?"

"I'll try living as a free woman once again; this time without the league watching my every move. I've went through so many things in my twenty years of life, things that I was never prepared to handle, that I just want to stop worrying about all that stuff for a while. Better yet, I hope Demacia and Noxus crush the league while I enjoy life to the fullest. That would be the second greatest thing to happen in my life."

"Naturally the first is coming back from the dead." Superior joked.

"Close fourth behind kicking the brute's balls."

"Brute?"

"Solider." Karla said, speaking the brute's codename.

"Ah yes, I can't recall that since I seem to have been asleep at the time."

Finishing his lack-luster job of cutting the hair, Superior handed Karla a mirror, who pouted at the face staring back at her.

"I never said I was a barber."

"Whatever happened to Shyvana after the bar…ber?" Karla asked suddenly, her superior groaning at the joke but answering nonetheless.

"Hmm, well she was too upset to go to 'her' right away, but in the end…"

Meet me in the place we first met.

-Cat

A rustling of bushes as a soft wind passed through the area.

The exhausted breath of a dragon who ran at full speed, hoping she hadn't wasted too much time when reporting what happened at the bar.

An empty silence was apparent in the area, no life in sight.

She just couldn't let go of Karla's death, but was forced to accept she could do nothing about it.

But if she accepted it sooner, would there be someone here, waiting to begin again?

She took a few more steps, refusing to give up even though all reason told her Katarina was gone.

She took even more steps.

Deafening steps.

And then, from the bushes, Shyvana could feel her body fall to the ground as she was tackled in a way similar to how she captured Katarina the first time.

When she looked up at her smiling assailant, brimming with joy, she smiled back.

"Sorry I'm late. Can we… begin again?" Shyvana asked.

Katarina's mouth moved towards Shyvana's, prepared to answer her the most honest way she knew.

. . . . .

. . .

(End)