Chapter 11 – The Gone Old Home
Talon returned in Du Couteau house. He forces his ruining thoughts about everything to stop. After all he did a lot trying to find out what happened with the general and everything he found was all spinning around Black Rose and Swain. He suspected them and tried to help Katarina finding her father, but she seemed like she didn`t care about him now. She changed and he could say that. So he gave her a break and returned home.
"You belong with us, Talon." Katarina was clenched on his arm to be sure he won`t do something and disappear again.
"Like hell I can escape this time." He was sarcastic noticing her struggling on his uniform, but she only tried hard to not start a fight again. His attitude always made her angry.
In a while they started to act like real siblings, while the war between Noxus and Demacia was delayed. Their fighters were having so much fun at Riven`s bar and their commanders didn`t mind it.
Also the three of general Du Couteau surpass the secrets and personal matters. Even Katarina seemed better and started to gave more attention to Talon, though he couldn`t see a nice person in the red haired girl. Trying so hard to ignore what he already know about this house and its members, Talon ended up skeptical about Katarina, while Cassiopeia looked like pretending to be happy as well. A half snake woman can`t turn into a nice person all of a sudden.
To Katarina`s excitement, his brother in law got longer hair so now she was playing with it, assisted by Cassiopeia who gave her hair pins.
"In the summer I used to go to the pool when I had legs..." The snake lady stood near Katarina while she was doing Talon`s hair. His face was silent screaming for help.
"Good idea. It`s already late summer. Time passes so fast when it`s not war." Katarina hugs Talon`s from behind who was sadly listening to their talk trying to not face the mirror because he knew Katarina made him look like a joke.
"What do you think, Talon?" Cassiopeia waves her long nails in front of him.
"I don`t know to swim." He get up, holding Katarina in his back manly.
"Or do you still have a grudge on us since we were only children?" Cassiopeia`s question could wake up what she wanted to hear from him. He was too calm these days for someone who hides the secret of her father.
"Pft!" He lets Katarina down and takes a seat on the bed near Cassiopeia who was laying her long tail in the whole place. "I`m mature enough to get over it." The way he said it, made Katarina come at his legs and hugs him. If he didn`t have to be nice with her, he would probably made fun of her for lowering herself so much in front of him, but he let it go, patting her hair.
"Oh! Katarina seem to miss you more than I do." The snake woman kept her shinny eyes on Katarina hugging Talon`s legs.
While Katarina gave Talon all signs that she might see him warmly, she didn`t know that Swain was planning something against them. The strategist gave noxian soldiers to demacian armours and sent them to burn Du Couteau house. He knew that Katarina can`t be trusted. After all Talon, who already knew a lot of things about that night when the general went missing, was part of her family. She was weak in his strategist eyes.
Even if it was summer, the nights were cold. Still in Du Couteau house everybody was sleeping. At the alarm of one of the maids, running in Katarina`s bedroom, the red head realized she was haunted by enemies.
Cassiopeia was the one attacked in her room, so Talon bursts in, slamming the door and seeing demacian soldiers turned in stone. To his over astonishment, Cassiopeia was down crawling her snake tail crying. He picks her up, even if the snake part was heavier than I normal human body, and takes her in the large hall. There was Katarina in her sleep shirt holding her daggers showing a sinister face stained with blood.
"Seems like you get angry when you don`t get what you want." Talon smirks in her face, trying to startle her even more.
"Shut up, rat!"
"...still weak ... hanging on insignificant things..." He keeps Cassiopeia up who didn`t know what happened between them last night and she didn`t even want to bother about their rough chat. "Better don`t let these undercover Black Rose people escape." He winks at her giving her a clue.
"What?! Black Rose?! You mean..." She didn`t have the time to surpass her surprise and jumps in fight throwing blades around her killing a few others. "How do you know that?" She wipes the blood on her face, while he sees another soldier wearing demacian armour jumping in Talon`s back. "Talon...!" The red hair gets in their way. But the noxian guy casually turns Cassiopeia to see and stone him.
"What a drag..." He sighs giving to Katarina a cold stare. "Your daggers can`t cut through stone, Kat."
"Fu k you, Talon!" She growls realizing that she got scared for his life a moment ago.
"Now, don`t cry, Cass. You did the right thing." He rubs his cheek on her hair. "If he would stab me, who would carry you?"
They made their way out of the mansion, as Katarina was clearing the path. Once they were outside, Talon could say that it smells like burning. Their house was set on fire by the Black Rose organization. Everybody who used to live in Du Couteau house stood in the garden watching. The maids and butlers carried a few valorous things out and took a place on the grass with devastated expressions. It was dangerous to work for a general of Noxus.
"Kat... Why do they hate you so much?"
"I... I don`t know... Only Swain came here." She tries to remember what have she done or maybe if Talon is the reason and their house is burning to ashes.
"In the winter, Swain asked me to give you that letter. I assume he came even in person..."
"He asked me to kill you." She interrupts him looking down. "Let`s forget about last night, but I still want to sleep with you if you let me..." She tries to change the topic, but the last things she said, made Cassiopeia`s eyes to narrow on her sister.
Talon didn`t know what he could say at that moment, but let her be. Now he knew that Swain wants to kill him. After all this is what Le Blanc wanted with him in the first place in slums. He can`t deny the general`s task, yet he is being caught between the things he has to do and the two sisters. "Kat. I am glad you forgot about that demacian soldier. It`s better to have less problems to deal with." He smiles for her, then leaves Cassiopeia down near the others from the house hold. As the house was flaming in his back, he breaths in and orders. "Everybody is free to leave home! I`ll take care of the general`s daughters!" Katarina and Cassiopeia never seen Talon so manly taking the role of a real leader, just like their father.
He picks Cassiopeia up again and takes her to a hidden location, being fallowed by Katarina in silence all this time. The red head girl trusted Talon enough to not ask more questions. The less she would know, the better it`ll be.
After a few night hours walking through the slums, the sun started to rise. Katarina opens the door of a cheap motel, making room for Talon to carry Cassiopeia. They covered her snake tail with some towels and Katarina tied her hair into a hat wore in Shurima to not be recognized. The red head ordered a room, even if he would complain about her, this was not the right moment. As they get in the room, they let Cassiopeia to sleep and cover the windows.
"Talon. Are you sure they were sent by Black Rose?"
"Yeah. I saw their insigns on the stoned bodies in Cassiopeia`s room. They were most probably sent by Le Blanc... manipulated by Swain." Both were whispering.
"Who is Le Blanc?"
"Their leader." He sighs remembering what happened between them in slums.
"Talon." Katarina sighs placing her hands on his shoulders. "After you left, you got in so much troubles meeting a lot of people. All this time I thought I was the one dealing with the war, but you were doing your part underground."
"Hey, Kat." He lifts her chin showing a carefree smile. "I still try to track the general for all of us. Don`t be sad in vain. I am respecting your father`s last words and I will tell you at the right moment."
"So you think he is alive?!" Her eyes gets bigger, as a thin blush rose on her face and her hands goes down on his chest.
"Yes and no, I don`t want to sleep with you while your sister can`t see us."
"Oh, you want her to watch?" Her voice was turned on.
"I didn`t mean that!" He blushes a little, but turns around and ignores Katarina for the whole day.