"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing"
Edmund Burke
Waking up to a nightmare
"How long had he been there?" the young blonde asked the watchmen outside her brother door "Hours already my lady, and he doesn't seem to be coming out soon, he locked the door with his personal code, I have tried to hear what he is doing" he replied "So far I have heard just his voice every now and then, but I can't discern what he speaks, I'm pretty sure I heard clearly the words Homeworld and him speaking about a woman, but that is all" Lux sighed, after Garen woke up from the infirmary, he simply raised and went away running, not stopping to see her, not even answering to her call Sona was as surprised, it was as if he had just rebooted his mind or something. The brain pattern Sona show to her troubled the delicate blonde they were diferent, quite diferent from his brother's, his were still there, but there was something else, something new, an addition of sorts, but nothing could be tell from mere brain scans.
Inside the room Garen eyes remained fixed on the screen of his personal network station, he had tried gaining access into the Demacian information network in an effort to confirm the images now flooding his mind, his eyes looked tired, his blues looked as his finger typed, nothing, it had been hours and had found nothing, did the Noxian drugged him? "What am I doing…" he inquired, waiting for a response that never came, he sighed, for a moment he wanted to believe such beautiful memories, Katarina his wife, a world before the war ravaged their race, a happy life with a beautiful woman, a woman to love a woman who loved him back, everything was so dreamlike, there was no way it could be true…
His hands reached his face in a gesture of defeat, the open palms rubbed his face "Even is this was all true, how could I love her? Am I really that person she said I am, what about the person who has lived this life?" another sigh escaped his mouth, suddenly his gaze stumbles on to something he had almost forgot, the old data disk given by Jarvan "Hmmm…" he mumbled curiously "Well, why not?" he said as he removed the disk from the case and placed it on the network station, even though it was old, the machine was able to read it and the screen lit up with the Demacian coat of arms, nothing Garen had not seen before, as he expected the Disk was highly encrypted and required a password, typing his ID, he noticed the disk accepted the credentials even though it was old, the encryption was quite secure this made him wonder about the contents, and the first image in front of his eyes was like a fist right on the face…
There it was the image of a planet, a planet he knew well, then the files ran through many more images, all of them were familiar to Garen all the while a voice spoke explaining what he was looking at, as if he didn't already knew what it was, he knew every place, every inch, every piece of the information he knew about it thanks to Katarina, now he knew it was all true, he and his people had been fooled for a long time, just as the Noxians, except for a few, he had discovered the ties that bind the two nations, he had just discovered the eternal ties that bind him to Katarina.
"Everything is true… then, she…I…" his thoughs ran at the speed of light, trying to comprehend the magnitude of all this, his life a simple addition to something older, stronger, the hate towards Noxus, fed with lies when they all come from the same place, Garen fell to his knees, feeling a whirlwind inside his head "Who am I then… who am I?"
"You are Garen Crownguard" a voice sounded firm in his head, it was a man voice, strong, powerful, mighty in fact it was his own voice and with a single thought, all his doubts vanished and he accepted the truth for what it was, like the miracle of a man been resurrected to a new life he understood that, he was still the same, just wiser, he understood that, the feeling of emptiness he felt his entire life had been finally filled, he felt whole, stronger finally reunited with something he didn't knew he was searching for, but something he knew he was missing, for he was only the continuation of a man who everybody though long dead and it was time to prove them wrong.
Raising as a spring pressed for a while, Garen reached for the door after taking the disk and his personal intercom with him "Where she could have gone to…" the answer was simple, her sister Cassiopeia was still in Noxus if she had been betrayed then she was in danger with only Talon as the last line of defense, but Garen knew better, he knew Swain, now he really knew Swain, Talon had more in his hands than he could handle, the Demacian remembered Talon well now, the loyal guardsmen of his father in law, Marcus DuCouteau, skilled, deadly but just one men.
The door opened and he met his sister prying eyes, it didn't matter that he was technically 900 years old, she was still his sister and that wasn't going to change "Garen!" she said throwing herself in his arms "Are you ok brother?" she inquired, trying to hold tears back "Yes Lux, I'm better than never" he said leaving his little sister back in the floor "I need a ship and my armor, immediately" he said to guardsmen who promptly nodded and walked away as Garen made his way for the hangar "Brother what's wrong?" she inquired trying to follow, Garen turned and gave her the disk "Everything sister, everything but for once I'm going to make things right"
That said the General jogged forward, heading for the hangar "Roche, do you hear me?" he said knowing well he did "Yes my lord, good to have you back" the commander responded hastily "Set course for the Noxian border, you are dropping me in there, then you will return to Demacia" the commander didn't gave credit to the words "But sire… that is suicide, even for you!" in his frantic disbelief Roche accidentally activated the ship wide intercom, opening the conversation to the entire ship "General, you can't go to Noxus alone!" the words echoed on every member on the vanguard, soldiers raised from their beds, other left their task and stood listening "Roche, I'm giving you an order, I will go on my own, this is something personal, something only I care about, now fulfil my last orders!" Garen knew well what he was going to do, but he didn't care about the odds, he felt something that he couldn't describe when near that woman, he wasn't sure if the feeling was fabricated out of the memories or it was something real, but he wasn't losing her a second time.
Steps sounded everywhere as Garen made his way through the hallways, not paying much attention, finally reaching the hangar his eyes didn't give credit to what he saw"Attend HUT!" the officer yelled as the last members of the Vanguard fell into formation, the display of discipline would leave anybody, friend or foe breathless, perfectly formed lines of men and women standing straight saluting their commander, Garen entered the hangar warily not sure what was this all about "At ease" he said, causing the soldiers to change stance "What is going on here?" he yelled to the officers "Sir, we have been told we are going to Noxus, sir!" the response came from one of the soldiers "You have been told wrong soldier, I am going but you all are going to return home, that is an order" Garen said coldly "Sir, will all due respect, we are not sir!" another soldier replied at the same time Lux entered the hangar, breathing heavily after running behind her brother "Don't you understand!?" Garen shouted his face in anger as he took one of the soldiers by the shirt, the young man remained still, eyes meeting Garen's "I'm going alone, you can't throw your lives away just because your commander is going to…"
"Sir, with all due respect we don't care about your reasons sir!" another soldier joined "We are loyal to you sir and we will go to hell and back with you for whatever reason you need us to sir!" Garen released the soldier and took a step back, there was no way to convince them, he trained all those soldiers personally, over the years in his service he had seen many of them die, other he saw grown, but none left the Vanguard willingly or walking, once you are part of it you either stay on it or die out of it.
"Your soldiers made their choice, I don't know what you are going after, and I don't care, I will go with you, all the way to Noxus" A smile appeared on Garen face, he couldn't hide the happiness of having them in the ride, even though knowing what it could mean, but they all made their choice out of loyalty, he couldn't disrespect that "Roche, new orders" he said raising his head as if he was looking for divine advise "We are going to Noxus, set up course and prepare for combat!"
"Aye General!" Roche responded "HOA!" the soldiers behind responded, Garen turned, his eyes revealed how grateful he was to all of them "Gear up soldiers!" he said dismissing the vanguard and everybody entered into action running for their gear, Garen turned to face Lux, her inquisitive eyes scanned her brother "I know you are doing this for her" Garen blushed, trying to hide his eyes from his sister's blues "But I also know there is something else" the blonde raised the disk between her fingers "And you are going to tell me everything"
Execution Grounds
Katarina woke up, feeling dizziness starting to vanish away, numbness all over her body the darkness from her gaze started to fade, revealing a sight she knew well, although never from this side of the table, the dark room, barely lit by artificial sources it smell of blood. Is not that Noxians didn't clean their cells, they left them this way, psychological warfare Swain called it, quite effective on the weak-minded, but never on somebody like her.
"Sis…? Kat?" a broken voice called her, her heart stopped as she turned to the sound of a moving panel, revealing a screen showing her sister in gruesome torture, Cass shrieked in pain as Katarina's hand tried to reach for her touching the screen and receiving an electrical discharge back "Emotional aren't we?" the ruthless voice started from outside the screen "Let her go monster or I'll slit your throat!" the raspy laugh that followed only made her angrier as she tried again to catch the foe behind the screen, again in vain as another discharge reminded her Swain was not there "Let her go bastard! Don't harm her she knows nothing!" Katarina yelled, feeling her sister pain, the pain the monster known as Urgoth was causing "Kat! Please help me!" Cass cried, tears on her eyes as the monster scarred her skin even more "Stop!, please stop!" Katarina asked "Intriguing, the Sinister blade pleading" a female voice from off the screen said, most likely Empress LeBlanc "You won already! Why you harm her?!" she inquired falling to her knees as Urgoth tortured Cass even more, causing more pain and screams that made Katarina feel the pain as her own.
"In 900 years I have never seen you in such a position, it is satisfactory" Katarina turned to the screen, now showing LeBlanc and Swain, but the screams of Cass didn't stop, her eyes looked at them full of hate, a murderous hate "It is quite simple, I know you have wanted to betray me since the beginning it was a consequence of acquiring this position unchallenged, of removing your father so you understand better" Swain paused, allowing his crow to make a sound and flip its wings "You have schemed, looking for chances but I gave none, in turn I have been scheming as well, patiently waiting and teaching my clones to never trust you, patiently waiting for a moment in which I could strip you from your position as a Noxian hero and finally you fell for it, all those years waiting for you to achieve what you though will be your greatest success, resurrecting Crownguard, what a fiasco it was I imagine" Katarina eyes widened, she knew Swain was aware of her hate, but not of her plans "It is unfortunate that, your attempt was faulty, without the proper training you what you will achieve is an imperfect copy of him, in fact the sudden surge of memories may confuse him enough that he may even suicide out of confusion, weaklings, so far from perfection, is too unfortunate that you who had been always so close to said perfection decided on this path, after all we owe your father the birth of all this, it is too bad his memory will die with your family"
He had her in check mate, all the way Swain had always had her where he wanted with no chance to do anything, the master tactician calculated everything to the slightest detail she never had a chance, Katarina never stood a chance to beat him, he was always ahead…
In a burst of fury her fist crashed with the floor as she raised screaming in anger and hit the screen, smashing the crystal while standing the electrical discharge, her fist, bloody and burned remained on the broken screen that show Swain covered face "Worthless" was his only words for Katarina as the screen changed to the agonizing Cass, the sisters exchanged looks and knew everything was over, in silent she asked for Cass forgiveness, but Cass eyes only showed hate for her, a torture sharper than 100 blades pierced her soul and then the image vanished and Katarina was left alone once more.
Days passed, she lost any sense of time, barely eating, barely drinking any water, images of her sister torture filled her mind, torturing her as well, feeling Cass pain, where was Talon? She didn't want to know, if he was not here, not with Cass, then probably his fate was even worse than hers. Laying on the solid metal ground she wondered if this all worth the effort in the end, images of the past appeared dacing in front of her eyes, mere delusions of her mind in an hour of despair, she even saw a ghost of him, Garen as gallant as always, offering her a hand to raise a hand she tried to take but vanished the moment Katarina kneeled trying to reach the hand, trying to touch it, her eyes filled with tears and what started as a soft, almost silent sob rapidly grew into loud crying as desperation creep her body, her will finally giving in, minutes passed until the wepping became sobbing again, her long red hair falling at her sides, covering her face and tears, until she finally passed out and crashed in the floor, just as if she was dead.
Metallic sounds brought her back to the harsh reality, the light of the door opening woke her up, her weakened state didn't allow her to do anything, she was barely aware of what was happening, her hands were tied by solid metal bracelets, all she knew besides this was that somebody carried her away through the hallways in an utmost cruel manner, leaving her to fall and brutally striking her to raise, it was obvious this was not a rescue. The hallways seemed eternal as she walked them always whipped by the jailers behind, had the situation been other those two would be already dead. Finally she could feel air blowing on her face and the loud sound of the crowd filling her ears, making her snap out of the trance like state, realizing where she was, a strange calm filled her, the time of her true death was near, here in the Arena.
The crowd now became silent watching the former Noxian hero in chains, the jailers pushed her towards the center of the arena, tying her bracelets with force lines to the ground, restraining her movement, Katarina knew this place well, more than an Arena, this was Draven's execution grounds, dirt, broken pieces of metal, dry blood even a few corpses, everything was set to make anyone on the wrong side of the blade that this was their end, there was no fighting chance just a bloody and unfair murder and of course, there is no execution grounds without the executioner and so Draven made his appearance cocky as usual, raising his arms to provoke the crowd pulling out his spinning axe and pointing to Katarina, then passing it near his neck, motioning the usual beheading move, this obviously excited the crowd who called for the death of the traitor, Swain plan had come to fruition at last, and of course he would be there to watch, sitting on his throne, silent, watching flanked by Empress LeBlanc and Darius, Katarina could only wonder where was Cass, maybe she just sold her already, maybe she was death, both options will let her at ease, in both cases Cass won't be suffering anymore.
"Kill her!" a voice called on the crowd and suddenly it became a loud roar as everybody repeated the same "Give her a weapon and let her suicide!" another said, at this point Katarina could even consider that, it will be better than dying at Draven's disgusting methods "Oh no dear audience no! is still too early for that there is still so much fun on the agenda!" Draven walked towards her, carrying a metallic box in one hand and one of his spinning axes on the other "We still have parting presents for her!" the man said pressing a button on the box with his thumb and shocking it, throwing it contents to her…
Katarina screamed in terror once she could discern the contents, his hands reached for it, now tears flowed again on her eyes, before her it was the maimed head of Talon, she hugged the eyeless head tightly, his mouth sealed by steel treads as well as his eyes, tongue and eyes missing, such horror made her tremble out of anger and pain "I'm sorry… so sorry" she held him fiercely, sobbing "I should have listened, I should have…".
"But that's not all!" Draven laughed as he mocked her pain pointing to the door behind him, the door opened and a strange contraption was pulled out by Urgoth himself, very similar to the old "Horse rack" torture device but it had a cover like the iron maiden, Urgoth stopped not far from Katarina and turned to activate the device, the rack was then raised to an almost vertical position, the iron maiden like cover opened revealing another terrifying sight for Katarina…
"Cass!" she yelled releasing Talon's head upon gazing to her dying sister, bloodied and scarred, the needles from the iron maiden were filled with blood, Cass was almost dead, but she could still open her eyes, they didn't reflect anger anymore, just the shade of dead "Oh so cute!" Draven mocked "The sisters reunited, I feel so cozy I want to do something for them, lets give them a show of my infamous aiming!" Katarina froze, Draven was going to play his games on Cass "Don't!" she yelled "Isn't this enough?! Just kills us already!" she demanded her voice was weak but still she gathered enough strength to yell "Of course, of course you will die, that is why everybody come here isn't? to see this traitor die!" Draven throws one of his axes to Cass hitting her shoulder, separating her arm from the body causing yet another scream of pain "Whoops! Seems my aim is not calibrated today!" a few of the most bloodthirsty patrons laughed but some started to believe this was too much "Let's try again shall we?" the executioner said spinning his axe and throwing it, this time hitting Cass tail "Pinned snake!" he laughed as Cass screamed "What a shame I ran out of axes, Urgoth, be a good whatever you are and bring me the axes" with bloody delight Urgoth complied, removing the axes and making sure Cass got even more pain, walking away to deliver the weapons to Draven, standing now beside Katarina Urgoth remained still waiting for the next action of the young man who held his former tittle "And now…what so funny?" he inquired after hearing Cassiopeia start laughing "You…aren't… that's for sure" she said, the bleeding weakening her every second "Go… ahead, cut me… humiliate me, do… what you want… doesn't matter you can´t… hurt me… anymore" a slight smile draws on her face, even Katarina was surprised of her sister bravery "You… are just a dog… a nobody… none… of this... you do… will matter because… bad things are forgotten…" the public was silent now, the bravery of the serpent lady stirred something in them, the way she was facing the humiliation and death impressed them all "Strong words from a scaly lady, ha!" Draven tried to mock her and provoke laughter on the public but it didn't work, they didn't laugh, which angered him she stole what was more precious to Draven, the attention of the crowd "What's wrong… little jester?... nobody likes your show… anymore?"
"Shut up!" Draven said, throwing another axe, hitting her midsection, Cass felt the hit, but the numbness of her body eased the pain "Let her live she is not the traitor!" a voice in the crowd called and the word "live!" echoed among them and it became a roar just as the death of Katarina was called before, Draven was furious, the crowd was now against him he started spinning his axe and the crowd yelled their reject for his action, angering him more "You stole my audience, you scaly bitch!" he said before throwing the axe, time seemed to stop as Katarina watched the axe fly towards her sister, she tried to say her name but no words came out, Cass looked at her, drawing a smile before the axe hit, saying a silent goodbye, then her face looked at the sky "Daddy…I'm going home" and with the strike her head rolled and her pain ended.
Katarina screamed as the arena fell silent, her pain and anger could be sense on the sonic waves of her screams and more than one patron turned its back in disapproval, other simply couldn't stand it and started to left the Arena, no longer caring for her fate.
Draven looked at the empty seats of the Arena, very few remained, his expression showed his disbelief and deception "Where are you going?!" he yelled "I haven't finished my show!" he looked everywhere, seen more and more people leave "Finish this already!" Darius yelled, bothered by his brother attitude, attitude that will cost him his life. Taking advantage of Draven carelessness Katarina moved, with the little room she had to act she turned to Urgoth and grabbed his arm, holding the blade etched to it, with a powerful kick he send the beast back tearing his blade from the rotten flesh and then she turned to Draven…
The blade soared the air as Draven turned to her direction, the man couldn't even react the rusted blade cleanly pierced his face right in between the fumanchus, erasing his despicable face from the face of the universe, this was Katarina's last act of defiance her way to not go quietly into the shadows of the night.
Darius jumped down quickly from Swain's balcony rushing to his brother, kneeling beside him he confirmed his death, gazing upon the disfigured face he let the corpse down and made his way to Katarina, from the back Urgoth grabbed her, hitting her legs and forcing her to kneel "Stupidly brave" Darius said, a calm fury could be sense on his voice, Urgoth pulled her hair back, forcing her to look at the sky and expose her neck as Darius raised his axe
"Garen…I…" and then a bright light blinded her.
Out of the Darkness and into the light
"So, how do we get in?" Lux inquired as his brother watched the starmap "There is no way for a single ship, it doesn't matter if it is the Measured Thread" Roche added, Garen knew he was right, but he had to try, a charge?, no, they wouldn't even reach the planet, sneakily send dropships? Not high chances of success, their sensors will pick them up "There had to be a way…"
He put a hand on his chin while thinking, trying to find a way "What if…" he said as he pulled out a 3D map of Noxus on the starmap "We warp right inside the planet?" Roche turned to him in disbelief "But… the gravity may pull us into the planet, if we miss the calculation we will end in the planet crust and…"
"It can be done!" Lux said cheerfully "I can make the calculations and stop right below the shield, but that will just give us a few minutes of surprise before they detect us, where in the planet you want us to appear?" Garen looked at the map for a moment, obviously she was in the capital but where, how he will reach her? 1 problem solved and a new one appears, seemed luck wasn't on his side.
"General, we intercepted the Noxian communications network" Garen attention was called by one of his communications officer "This may interest you" Garen approached and watched the communications traffic, the prisons were on high alert as a prisoner was transferred to the Arena, the name told him everything he needed "Lux, you will get us here" he said pointing on the Arena location "And do it fast! Roche once we are out I will drop with the Vanguard, give us cover with all the weapons in the ship" as he gave orders he ran down to the hangar, the whole Vanguard was scrambled and in minutes they were ready to go in the hangar bay, armed to the teeth in their mighty power battle armors.
"ETA 5 minutes, hope you know what you are doing brother!" Lux said over the intercom Garen chuckled at her comment "I though you are the one doing the calculations?" Lux chuckled as well "I'm not talking about that!" Garen dismissed her words and turned towards the Vanguard
"Today is the last time I will call you soldiers!" he started, sword before him pointing down "Today, you have shown you are more than that to me, today you have given me the gift of your loyalty, a gift I won't waste, a gift I will treasure" Garen eyes fixed on them, he felt touched by such steadfast comradeship and loyalty, no other unit was better than them, no other unit held such fierce appreciation and fealty to their commander "Today, brothers and sister, you have shown the universe what it means to be a true friend and ally, thank you to all, I'm in your debt for an eternity!"
Every soldier nodded and smiled, they lived to serve this man, to do battle alongside him and every member of the Vanguard for them this was life, for them this was the way they wanted to live, for them this was their wish and if they end doing what they wanted, they could not find a better way to find their end.
"Hitting the warp drive here we go!" Lux said on the intercom as the ship vanished in a blue light…
Mere seconds later, on top of the Arena a blinding light flashed and the Measured Tread appeared in all its glory on the skies of Noxus taking the Noxian army by surprise with the bold maneuver, fire filled the sky due to the abrupt entrance in the atmosphere time and space distorted, sending waves around the ship causing a shockwave destroying nearby buildings roofs, following this the ship opened fire with the rail cannons sending a bombardment of destruction towards the nearest Noxian military installations looking to stall the defenders even more.
The main hangar opened, Garen lead the descend "CHAAAARGEEEEEEEE!" was his shout as he jumped into the air followed by the Vanguard, in the ground, Katarina didn't believe what she saw, her tear stricken face managed to smile recognizing the ship in a matter of seconds the Vanguard landed in the Arena and the fight started, Urgoth seen that Darius was busy now shouting orders for the defense took the task of executing Katarina for himself, releasing her hair he prepared to crush her head with his still able mechanic hand, but he wasn't able to do anything else as a blade ran down his body slicing him in two from above, with the force of a titan Garen landed beside Katarina, in a quick motion his sword sliced the metallic restrains and he offered her his hand, Katarina was about to take it, when Garen was hit with the brute force of Darius tackle, taking him away, forcing him to the ground, Garen knee found home on Darius chest as he rolled on the ground to shake him off, both men raised weapons on the ready "The mighty Garen Crownguard, Demacia's finest, I've always wanted to put that to test" Darius said jumping in the air with his axe raised "You are welcome to try scum!" Garen said stepping forward, his blade down on the ready to slash upward from the side, once Darius got close enough Garen moved sideways and sliced Darius side as he came down, Darius felt the blood coming and turned to strike, his axe met Garen's blade their strength collided and both weapons felt the pressure of their masters, both warriors broke the hold and stepped back, but not for long as Darius continued his assault diving to get the head of his opponent, his axe howled as it travelled horizontally, Garen jumped forward rolling beside Darius as he finished his move and he counterattacked slicing the other side of Darius chest, causing the Noxian juggernaut to flinch. Darius didn't even finished his first attack when he launched a new one, this time from above, but Garen knew exactly what to do, jumping to the side he avoided the axe as it cracked the floor below "Stop moving coward!" Darius yelled furiously as he tried again to hit him in a whirlwind of hate with his axe, missing again, Garen keep his distance this time, he was well aware of the Noxian strength, even with his power armor it may get difficult to fight him in close quarters, been the seasoned warrior he was and with his old memories back, Garen keep the fight on his terms.
Darius swung his axe again, hitting nothing but air, Garen moved fast, too fast the years of training paid off quite well in moments like this, but Garen knew well this wasn't going to end soon if he didn't kill Darius, the fight raged on the Arena, the Vanguard keep the Raedsel at bay, Swain and LeBlanc already fled the area, but the order he left was clear, Kill them all. The noxian defenders started to increase in numbers and though the Vanguard proved a formidable opponent, sending most of them to their deaths, Garen knew they will be overwhelmed soon, it was time to act.
Another swing came this time, Garen parried it, hitting with his forearm the shaft of the axe "HA! Fool I got you know!" Darius said, capturing Garen with the gap between the shaft and the axe pulling him closer and receiving Garen with a headbutt "Fool you can't run from…me…" Darius now felt the sting on his chest, his eyes looked down to find Garen blade deeply thrust beyond his armor, his eyes returned to Garen face, now showing a victory smile despite the slight trail of blood running down his forehead, not a second passed when Garen returned the headbutt to Darius pushing him back and pulling his sword out with a mighty swing he disarmed Darius by cutting his arm and then turned to strike him down with a powerful strike from above, causing the release of the energy on his blade in a blue pillar, obliterating Darius body leaving nothing but a silhouette of ash in the ground.
Garen now turned to Katarina, she was silent watching her sister and Talon remains, he walked to her, slowly his hand reached for her shoulder and the response made him feel strange, but at the same time he liked it, as if it was something she used to do, her hand touched his and as her face turned to look at him, he discovered the tears on her eyes "Its you? Are you really back?" the smile and nod Garen gave her was the only proof she needed
The Arena was clear and dropships descended to pick up the soldiers of the Vanguard, wounded and death were carried aboard, along with the remains of Cassiopeia and Talon by Garen command, even though the Vanguard eyed warily the woman now walking with their General they didn't dare question his motives, once the dropships returned as fast as the ship arrived it left the planet, leaving a trail of destruction on its wake the Noxians won't easily forget.
What the future holds
The ship travelled fast out of Noxian space, but not going towards Demacia either, even though the troops were at ease, enjoying a well-earned rest, their future was a mystery to all even Lux and Roche didn't knew what was next, not even Katarina knew now what she should do.
The day passed, slowly, painfully slow the red-headed woman watched the space from one of the many observation decks, measuring the consequences of what was happened, thinking on her lost relatives, noticing she didn't have anything left, except for the man now coming through the door "That uniform, reminds of the one you used so many years ago"
Garen smiled as he approached "I guess they based it off somewhere" he stood in front of Katarina, the woman lowered her eyes, trying to avoid his "I wanted to apologize" she started "In my obsession to bring you back I never cared of the consequences, never cared of anything, just you and now… I lost everything" Garen walked away getting closer to the window showing the stars "You don't owe me an apology" he said, causing her emerald eyes to look at him "In fact I should thank you, now I have a purpose beyond mere service to Demacia, now I know the web of lies we have been fed on and I won't stand it" Katarina smiled, a sad laugh escaped her lips "Always the idealist, one of the things I loved of you I guess I should be going then it was…" she stopped seen his hand again been offered to her "nice to see you" she concluded speechless "I'm not sure about many things, but I am sure I want you by my side, I want to try and recover that piece of my life… of our lives as well, I realized is more than an implanted memory, this is who I am, who I have been and, through all this years all of what was me, have endured" he paused "All".
With the most beautiful smile Garen had even seen, she took his hand and allowed him to pull her closer, hearing her heartbeat and his own almost synchronizing, feeling her so close his lips looked for hers and they meet in a passionate kiss just like those they shared so many years ago in a world almost forgotten by everybody, except them, seconds passed but they seemed an eternity them both enjoyed, the world faded around them and for the first time in quite some time Katarina felt her soul at ease.
"I… have been waiting so long for that" she said after breaking the kiss, her eyes shining, making Garen believe there was nothing as beautiful as those eyes, except her "So… husband and wife?" he whispered to her ear "Yes… husband and wife" Garen smiled, something sparking on his mind "Then I have much catch up to do Miss Crownguard, its been 900 years apart…"
Katarina laughed hearthfully "When did you acquire sense of humor? I think I like that new part of you" Garen smiled giving her a quick kiss "The new me has improvements, what can I say? And besides we have plenty of time before we reach our destination" Katarina gave him a strange look, Garen simply smiled as the intercom sounded "General, the coördinates are set, but there are no starmaps of the area, we will be on the dark"
Katarina couldn't give credit to the words "Do not worry Roche, Lux has data that will give us a starmap, its old but it may come in handy" Turning to Katarina he continued "I figured you may want to bury your sister and Talon on their true home, besides we may find some answers in there as well"
With nothing more to say, Katarina arms surrounded Garen, in silence she thanked him, realizing not everything was lost, there was still Hope in what the future may hold.
Note from the author: I want to thank all those people who took even a little time to see my history, this begin as simple challenge and became something bigger in the way, I never though I would make it to a final, I know this doesn't seem like a conclussion, but that's up to you guys to decide, I will like to hear about the readers and know if they will like a second part, I will writte a epilogue if I can come up with something good, because I like to end my histories with epilogues, specially if I'm going to make a second part, so here is it, a small journey but I do hope you have enjoyed reading it as I did writting it, again thank you all and I'll be waiting for your most appreciatted feedback!
PS. sorry for the delay, but lets say God decided to send me a little angel before time =P