Katarina watched in slight awe as Fallon paced around behind the prisoner who was positioned in the centre of the line. Around him, soldiers holding rifles stood behind the other shackled prisoners, all ready to fire should the Demacians try anything.
"What do you want, Noxian?" The Demacian soldier demanded, taking a step forward. "I think the answer is quite obvious." Fallon said, stopping his pacing and flashing the leader a wide smile as one would when they were complimenting a gourmet dish. "Noxus wants more land, and authority. I've been kindly asking you to give us those two things for the past month, but I've reached my limit of kindness." He began pacing around behind the prisoner again with a hand on his belt.
"I know your instinctual response to my repeated question will be a 'no', and I can understand your reasons for responding in such a way, but this time, if you give me that answer, or anything implying that answer, these people," he pointed and waved a finger towards the shackled people. "Your fellow countrymen, they are going to die ." The shackled people gasped. Some of them began crying. Some began pleading for their lives, saying that they had families to care for.
But Katarina knew that families were what pushed Fallon's buttons. Bitterness at the harsh memories of negative bottled-up emotions in the man would quickly turn to joy at the mention of having the chance to suddenly yet violently rip someone away from their loved one's lives. Those who mentioned they had families to care for had sealed their fate. They would receive no mercy from the man standing behind them.
"Hear that?" Fallon asked, and from Katarina's angle, she saw his smile become more fixed. "Some of these people have families! Demacian families. Their lives and chances of seeing their loved ones again depend on you!" He pointed a finger at the Demacian leader, whose eyes narrowed. "So, what do you have to say?"
Katarina watched as the Demacian leader drew in a breath, attempting to maintain his composure. "I think we can talk about this." He was trying to keep a brave front, but Katarina could easily detect the slight shakiness in his tone. His eyes briefly darted to the prisoners before going back to Fallon. "Let them go, and we can talk this through." Fallon tilted his head slightly at the Demacian's statement. "I believe talking is what I've been trying to do so far. I'm sick of doing that."
The Noxian general suddenly drew his longer sword, prompting the prisoners to cry out or whimper in fear, and the opposing soldiers to clamour and protest. "Time for talk is over. I tried to be civil after my brief outburst in the other part of your country." Fallon said, inspecting his blade. "Every time I tried, you refused. Sometimes even before I even voiced my question." He lowered his blade and looked at the leader again.
"Then again, I should've stuck with a lesson I learned from the streets; talking never works." He raised the tip of his blade to the back of the centre prisoner's neck, allowing the other man to feel its cold, sharp touch; the general's smile was gone as the shackled man began to sob. "Now, it's time for you to listen. This is your last chance. I'm going to give you to the count of three, and if your answer crosses me, what will be done, will be done."
The Demacian leader opened his mouth to speak. "Listen-" Fallon didn't give him a chance. "Three." He cut off, and Katarina sensed the rising danger in his tone.
"Just calm-"
"Two." Fallon was beginning to raise his sword, and Katarina heard a sharp intake of breath from behind her. She turned and saw Lux's wide eyes, cerulean orbs filled with absolute terror.
"We can-" Without warning, Fallon quickly raised his blade and brought it down on the prisoner's head. A sickening crunch sounded as the sharp blade broke through the man's skull, tearing into tissue and flesh as blood sprayed everywhere. The unfortunate victim gasped once, but that was the only sound he could make as Fallon pulled his blade out and swung it down again, this time cutting further down until the blade reached the man's chest, causing more blood to spray out of the man's body and flow to the ground, forming a pool of blood as the victim let out a gurgle.
Katarina heard a horrified cry behind her, and turned to see Lux covering her mouth with a hand. In front of her, the prisoners cried in horror and terror while the Demacian soldiers began yelling in rage and protest. Fallon wrenched his blade out of the dead man's corpse, inspecting its bloodied state. After a moment, he bent down and wiped the blade on the corpse's clothes, somewhat managing to wipe the blood off. He stood up and smiled at the opposing leader again. "Gents, I believe you all know the next order of business."
At his last word, the soldiers standing behind the shackled prisoners raised the barrel of their rifles to the prisoners' heads. Screams sounded before they were quickly silenced with loud bang s. The Demacian soldiers tried to step forward, but their leader spread his arms to prevent them from surging forward. Katarina momentarily looked back to see Lux averting her gaze from the carnage while covering her ears. She briefly thought of forcing the mage to watch the unfair killings continue, but dropped the thought. She had to admit to herself that the blonde mage did not deserve to see her countrymen die in such a horrific fashion.
As the last gunshot sounded, everything quietened. The screaming prisoners had been shot dead, and both sides, Noxian and Demacian, stayed quiet, watching Fallon in anticipation. Katarina watched with bated breath as Fallon wiped his blade on one of his sleeves and slowly sheathed it.
He briefly looked up at the Demacian leader before slowly reaching into his coat. The Demacian soldiers braced as if they were expecting the general to pull a cannon out, but Fallon only pulled a lighter and cigarette out. He lit it and took a breath, letting out a puff of smoke. "Well, it's like I said," Fallon said after taking his cigar out of his mouth. "What will be done, will be done. And now," he gestured towards the bodies. "What will be done has been done."
He took another breath of his cigar. "I hope this has been an eye-opener for you all." He took the cigar out of his mouth and spread his arms wide. "You can save lots of countrymen from this sort of fate if you just accept the inevitable and unavoidable." He placed the cigarette in his mouth again, this time raising a hand to signal for the soldiers to leave. "Think about it." He said. Katarina watched the Noxian soldiers around her turn to leave, and so took Lux by the arm and pulled her along as she followed her comrades.
She heard a whistle and turned to see Fallon following the Noxian battalion from behind. His face and the front of his coat were covered in blood, yet he whistled a cheerful tune as if he hadn't just split a man in half down the middle and ordered the deaths of at least twelve defenceless prisoners. The Demacian soldiers looked too stunned to do anything, and they had the perfect opportunity to strike the general at that moment.
Prior to this day, Katarina had never actually seen what Fallon did in battle or to enemies, and she never once thought Fallon could be capable of such cruelty. Katarina had heard rumours circulating around the man after the war, rumours stemming from his apparent actions in the Ionian war. She had never believed them, but now she could understand why the soldiers had given Fallon his title. Katarina was Noxus' Sinister Blade, Fallon was Noxus' Whistling Mutilator.
oooooooooo
The man was extremely lucky to have found the armour he had discarded earlier. It took him a bit of wandering and had severely set him farther back from his appointed destination, but he found it. The armour was slightly stained, but still looked rather clean, although when the man tried to put it on, he gagged at the stench that wafted from the armour's insides.
Once he was suited up again, a grin spread across his features as he began walking, knowing where he had to go next.
ooooooooooo
Lux couldn't believe what she had just witnessed.
She knew that Noxians were barbaric and cruel to whatever enemies they faced in battle, but what she saw was something else.
What she had just witnessed was an unfair massacre. Dishonourable killings of defenceless women and men. Such a thing was frowned upon by those who followed the ancient unspoken and unofficial rules of honourable battle.
And she could tell that the other Noxians were affected by what they had just seen as well. Some of them kept turning and looking back from where they were going, others kept fidgeting with their weapons as they walked. She dared a glance at her captor beside her and saw that even Katarina's jade-green eyes held unease in them.
She glanced back and saw the bloodied general cheerfully strolling behind the battalion, slowly catching up. The mere sight of him was enough to remind her of what he had just done, and the screams began echoing in her head. Garen had mentioned that this was the man who had slain hundreds of their men on a different front of Demacia, and although Lux hadn't properly seen this general's abilities in combat, she sensed the hidden dangerous aura he hadn't emitted till just now.
When Lux first saw him, she had depicted him as one of those handsome generals who would cowardly hide behind his men as they went off to battle. But now she could tell that he would gladly throw himself at enemies and take great pleasure in their suffering.
Screwing her eyes shut, she turned to face forward again, but when she opened her eyes, she saw the shackled prisoners walking amongst the Noxian soldiers. All of them except one had holes in their heads, and blood had flowed from the holes down their bodies. Despite their severe conditions, they walked perfectly fine, although some of them had their heads bowed and sobbed quietly.
The one who didn't have a hole in his head like the others did was split down the middle to his chest, the two halves sagged down like how a banana peel would look after someone peeled a banana to eat. Blood continued to drip from the man's wound, leaving a trail behind him as he continued to walk forward. He wasn't really walking though, he was stumbling and trying to catch his balance rather than properly taking steps forward.
Lux blinked twice and rubbed her eyes. When she re-opened them, the prisoners were gone. Instead, a certain redhead was tilting her head down, giving her an incredulous look. "Are you alright?" Katarina questioned. Was that concern in her expression?
Squaring her shoulders up, Lux said, "I'm fine." However, the redhead grabbed her arm, turning the mage to face her. "You're scared, aren't you?" Katarina asked, the concern on her face becoming more apparent. Not wanting to continue this conversation any longer than she had to, Lux jerked her arm free from Katarina's grasp and continued to walk. "What does it matter to you anyway?" She quietly asked, not wanting other soldiers, or Fallon, especially Fallon, to hear their conversation.
"It matters cause I dont' want you to be traumatised to the point you end up trying to running away." Katarina replied with a tone of nonchalance. "You may have been randomly picked up from your home, but that doesn't change the fact that you're valuable asset now." Lux paused slightly at the assassin's words. "What do you mean 'randomly'?" She asked. She heard Katarina hiss out a swear, but before either woman could say anything else, Fallon had caught up to them.
"So, why is the golden girl being transported here?" He asked, his words slightly muffled due to the cigarette in his mouth. "I got her during one of the battles on the other Demacian front." Fallon hummed in response, and Lux went deathly quiet, afraid of possibly antagonising the man who had brutally killed her countrymen. "What are we supposed to do with her?"
"I suppose Swain may try to use her as a bargaining chip. She is Demacia's golden girl after all." Katarina replied. "That means keeping her secure at your camp, as per Darius' words." Fallon let out a short laugh behind the mage.
"I tell you, that man's soft. He just locks escapees back up again like nobody's business. I believe in a more firm punishment." Lux continued walking, her pace quickening in the slightest. "This one time, I personally handled one of the escapees myself." Lux heard. "I tore his guts out, gouged his eyes out, chopped his legs and arms off, and had the guts for lunch." Lux's eyes widened, but she didn't dare turn around. "Kidding!" Fallon laughed and Lux heard a pat. "I just chopped one of his hands off and sent him to work in harvesting. He tries something again, I'm taking his ears."
Lux let out a small breath of relief at that, but she was still highly disturbed by what the man was saying. "Sometimes, I wonder what's going on in your head." Katarina responded, her tone slightly betraying some hints of disturbance at the general's words. Fallon laughed shortly. "I was just raised different, Du Couteau, you of all people would know that." Lux heard Katarina click her tongue in annoyance. "I know, but still…" The rest of her words did not register in Lux's brain, as the mage instead chose to focus on the soldier in front of her.
At least now I know the Sinister Blade is not as inhumane as I thought.
oooooooooo
"What happened here?" The tall woman demanded. She had been resting in one of Demacia's military bases until she had been called to the scene. And the scene was not a pretty one.
The bodies of the fallen prisoners had been covered by white sheets. Since the corpses were still leaking blood, huge black circles formed from under the sheets. The tall woman knew that the stains were actually blood-red, but they were instead black under the light of the evening sky.
"The Whistling Mutilator came around, Lady Laurent." The Demacian leader said, his voice shaky. "The others were shot by the Noxian soldiers, but that one.." He couldn't finish his sentence, instead opting to point his finger at what he was referring to. Fiora looked at what the leader was pointing to and saw what he meant.
The corpse he was pointing to was in an extremely bad state. Its arms poked out from under the blanket, and the sheet was almost entirely stained black, giving Fiora a good idea of what had happened to it. "No need to continue." Fiora said, her throat going dry. "Who are the victims?" The Demacian soldier gulped once. "I believe they are from the nearby village that was conquered by the Noxians a few months back." Fiora forced her eyes away from the corpses. "Do they have any families in the city?" She asked. "We're still looking into it, Lady Laurent." The leader replied, voice still shaky.
"What's next after that?"
The leader licked his lips nervously. "Well, Lady Laurent. The men are scared, they saw what the Mutilator is capable of, they're actually considering surrender." Fiora arched a brow. "That is intolerable." She said calmly but firmly. "If they were to surrender, it will be considered treason against the Crown." The leader nodded his head somewhat frantically. "I know that, Lady Laurent. But they're extremely scared. They'd seen others get bombed and all that, but this was a whole new thing for them altogether."
Fiora turned to address the leader. "Have you tried tracking the Noxians down?" The leader sheepishly shook his head. "The scouts were too petrified to go withing ten meters of them, especially since the Mutilator was walking behind the Noxian battalion." He turned away from the tall woman's gaze and scratched the side of his face. "He'd already murdered a prisoner in a grizzly fashion, who knows what he'll do if we sent scouts after him."
Fiora nodded. While this was frustrating news to hear, she had to admit that if she was in the leader's place, she too would be too terrified to pursue the Whistling Mutilator.
As her gaze swept across the corpses, a shudder ran through her body again. These people had been slaughtered for no good reason. Noxus wanted intimidation, and they had used innocents to do that. The Grand Duelist felt her hand curl into a fist as newfound anger flowed into her mind.
"Can we do anything at the moment besides burying the dead?" She asked. "I think it's best for you to stay near the base, Lady Laurent." The leader replied, as if reading her mind. "Wait for the Crown to decide what's best for the next move." Fiora hissed in annoyance and set off. "I'll be in my quarters if anyone needs me."
The leader nodded and Fiora continued her brisk walk, heels making soft clacking noises as she did so.
ooooooooooo
The sun had begun to set, darkening the woods. Although Katarina normally had no issues in the dark, the day had taken a toll on her, and she was less than capable of properly seeing where she was going at the moment. She took a brief glance at Lux, and the mage was also slowing in her pace. Everyone else seemed to be slowing as well.
"Damn it, Fallon." She quietly cursed at the man. "How much longer?" Fallon's simple reply was to shrug and give a quick 'we'll be there soon'. Huffing, she continued walking.
As she did so, she noticed how the mage's shoulders sagged before the mage quickly straightened up again. As Katarina neared the mage, she heard the mage quietly whispering to herself. "Hey," she said, giving the blonde a little nudge. "What's wrong with you?" The mage gave no response.
"Hey." Katarina repeated, firmer this time. She gave Lux a harder nudge, but the mage still continued to mutter to herself. Growing frustrated at the mage's lack of response, she grabbed Lux's arm and gave her a firm tug. "Answer me, will you?" She harshly growled at a volume inaudible to those far from them. To her surprise, the mage limply fell backwards into her arms, her eyes half-lidded, puffy and red, as if she'd been silently crying.
"What's wrong with you?" Katarina asked, but the mage's eyes closed. "Get up!" She hissed, trying to shake the mage to her senses. "Passed out?" Fallon asked, poking into the situation. "They usually do after witnessing something like what I just did." He gave Katarina an unsympathetic smirk. "You're going to have to carry her, unless you're willing to leave her with one of the others." Katarina took a look around. The soldiers hadn't noticed the current state of the light mage, but Katarina was sure that they would pounce at the opportunity to hold one of Demacia's finest female heroes.
She shuddered at the thought. While she was irritated at Lux's lack of gratitude towards her, the thought of the younger woman being molested still greatly disturbed her.
"I'll carry her." She grumpily replied, slinging the mage over her shoulder like a bag of potatoes. Fallon seemed to be shocked at her decision. "You sure?" Katarina nodded and continued walking. "You're in luck, the camp's just up ahead." Fallon said, pointing somewhere in front of him. Katarina looked up and saw yellow lights and could barely make out a wooden barrier. "Seems like a nice place." She drily commented. "Yeah, it is." Fallon replied with an equally dry tone.
It took a while, but the battalion managed to pass through the wooden barrier and into the camp. Katarina saw it was bustling and lively. Tents had been set up all over the place, and in a far corner of the camp, she saw what seemed to be sowing grounds. There were other soldiers who chatted amongst themselves or just moved around while people wearing white shirts and carrying trays moved around hurriedly, looking as if they were tending to the soldiers.
"So," Fallon said, taking his gloves off and waving at one of the people wearing shirts. "Will you be bunking with the mage, or are you going to throw her in with the others?" Katarina looked at the mage for a moment and decided that she had enough of the younger woman for the night. "Where's the prison around here?" She asked. Fallon whistled once, and a man wearing a white shirt scurried to him.
"Show Lady Du Couteau to the 'prisons', as she calls it." The man bowed meekly, despite being taller than Fallon and spread an arm. "This way, miss." He said, and Katarina detected an accent in his voice.
The man led Katarina a far side of the camp, where a tent that had the size one would normally accommodate for a sick bay was stationed. "Here it is," he said, brushing one part of the tent aside, and Katarina gasped in slight horror.
In the tent, women, men and children were all shackled together. Some looked malnourished and hadn't had a good meal in days. The only thing they had in common was that they all wore white shirts. They murmured in surprise at the sight of Katarina, but otherwise made no move to confront her.
"Just leave the mage in here, I'll take care of the rest." Katarina eyed the man. She had her suspicions on who these people were and the man possibly having ulterior motives should she go with what she said, but she only found submission in his eyes, not an ounce of loathing or hatred could be found in his hazelnut eyes.
Although hesitant, she gently placed Lux in the taller man's arms and walked off.
I have many questions for Fallon tomorrow.
A/N - I didn't intend for the chapter to be this long. Oh well.
I also feel like Fallon's intro just went to shit. Haha I screw myself over.