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Don't Cross Me

Katarina did not seem to notice that her companion had returned to her room. She lay lazily on the sofa by the fire, one leg hanging over the back of it, spinning a knife through her fingers with deft precision. The silver of the blade caught the firelight and sent spots of light dancing around the extremely ornate room that the eldest Du Couteau had somehow commandeered for her visit to the Institute.

Talon shrugged his cloak off his shoulders and tossed it to the bed before rounding the sofa and pushing Katarina's legs down to make room for himself. Once he was seated, the redhead kicked her legs up into his lap, not caring that her boot connected briefly with his chin. Rubbing the spot carelessly, Talon watched the spinning weapon with casual interest until Katarina stopped spinning it and leapt up to press the point of it against his throat.

He batted her away without real concern, raising an eyebrow as the knife clattered to the stone floor near the hearth. She responded with a raised brow of her own, her scarred face twisting into a grimace of distaste as she crouched on the cushion beside him.

"What's got you so dull?" she demanded, grabbing a fistful of his hair and tugging his head back in order to meet his eyes. He reached up and took her wrist in a crushing grip until she released him. "Someone's touchy," she grumbled, tearing her hand away and rubbing her wrist with an annoyed huff.

"I'm not in the mood, Katarina," he said coldly, his voice grating like steel on stone. The woman stared at him for a moment before smirking cruelly and sliding into his lap. "Katarina…" he warned, his hands falling on her hips as she straddled him.

"What's wrong, baby brother?" she teased, lowering her lips to drift gently along his neck. "Don't you find me… beautiful?" She let out a rough laugh as she mocked her sister, her lips dropping tiny kisses over his skin.

"Is this why you brought me with you?" he asked, ignoring her touch as he always did. "To entertain you when you see your Demacian meat stick but aren't allowed to touch him?"

In response, she sunk her teeth into his flesh, drawing blood and a low grunt of pain from him.

"Don't speak," she murmured against his skin, her body lithe and supple as it pressed against his. "You ruin everything when you speak."

Talon closed his eyes, obliging the woman to whom he essentially belonged. In his mind's eye, he imagined the light of the full moon above him, guiding him to safe and quiet places in the dead of night.

'You simply need to trust Her as you did then.'

He wondered, as he often did, what would have become of him had Marcus Du Couteau not taken him in as a young man. He couldn't shake the feeling that he may have found guidance from another source.

Then Katarina slipped to the floor between his legs, and he stopped thinking altogether.

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While Diana enjoyed the ambiance offered by the Institute's spacious and exotic gardens, they had one major flaw: even in the dead of night, it was nearly impossible to be alone there. After Talon had left her, the Lunari had enjoyed a mere hour of tranquility before a small group of novice summoners had stumbled in, loudly intoxicated, and ruined the sanctity of her space. She had slipped into the shadows and escaped their drunken banter before they discovered her presence.

Summoners were a necessary evil in her life - a guiding force on the Fields and a source of protection off - but she kept her interactions with them minimal and at arm's length. Their reactions to her were far too inconsistent. Sometimes they admired her; on occasion, they wanted her.

Far more often, they feared her.

As they should. She crouched in her second-favourite place within the Institute's grounds, her eyes still drawn inexorably upwards to the globe of soft light she revered. It was a far more secretive place, this; much closer to the sky, to the moon, and to the solitude she sought on an ever-more-increasing basis.

"It is fortunate that you remain so still," a cold voice crooned from behind her. "Otherwise you may meet an untimely demise in the courtyard below you."

Diana had no need to move to identify the intruder. Whenever she looked for solace on the rooftop, she was denied. With a slight twitch of her lips, she realized that what she sought may not be solace at all.

"Must you be so dramatic?" the Lunari replied, her skyward gaze never faltering. "We both know you would catch me should I fall."

There was a rustling of heavy fabric and a low chuckle as Morgana moved to sit beside Diana. Though the position was undoubtedly uncomfortable, the Fallen Angel was graceful in every motion, smoothing her skirt over her legs and folding her tattered wings down her back so as not to accidentally knock Diana from her perch - it had happened once, months before, and it was only Morgana's Dark Binding that had kept the younger woman alive.

"Indeed," Morgana said, nodding her agreement. She turned her eyes to the moon and let out a slow sigh as the light washed over her tortured skin. In Diana's presence, moonlight eased pain and brought clarity to even the most troubled mind. It was a shame that the Lunari allowed so few people to experience her influence.

"The Moon sees all," Diana said thoughtfully, after several moments of silent camaraderie. "Yet She does not see you."

Morgana's lips twisted into a grin that would have left a weaker being cold. "That may explain why you seek my friendship so desperately."

Diana glanced sideways at the Fallen Angel and raised one eyebrow in what may have been a teasing manner.

"You're the one who seeks me out, Angel," she countered, a playful sort of light dancing in her pale eyes. Her expression was nearly mirrored in the twisted features of her associate, and for a moment, Diana could almost have admitted that she enjoyed Morgana's company.

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A.N

It would seem that this story will take quite a while to develop.

I hope you're okay with that.

I also hope you're okay with the Kat/Talon dynamic I've brought up here.

I honestly don't care if you're okay with a Morgana and Diana friendship, because I've loved the idea since around September (I started playing LoL in August).

At this point it would appear that character development is the name of this game.

I'm enjoying it. Are you?

Always remember to review! ↘