Crimson Streams
Her maniacal laugh broke through the battlefield. She shouted, "Noxus shall bleed," as she cut through the bodies as if they were butter. Crimson soaked her from head to toe, yet she had the desire to bathe in more. Quinn's golden eyes fell on the noxian civilians like a hawk hunting for mice. She cut through them as they tried to escape. She paused the slaughter as a voice called her name. Fueled by rage she hunted the speaker. She spotted a boy calling for her; she cut him down without hesitation. His scream froze her solid "oh god no…" she reached towards the limp body.
Her hand rested on his grave. Tears streamed her face as she read the words engraved over and over.
You are still our knight. Death can't hold you from your dreams.
The two simple sentences clouded her vision as her fingertips grazed across them. She cursed the gods for taking him instead of her. She cursed her father for saving her first. She looked down at herself to see what the gods had left in his place. She was bone where he was muscle. She was a dreamer where he was an adventurer. She was an idiot where he was a genius. She would have laughed at these two individuals being twins if it wasn't personal. She whispered while kneeling in front of his grave, "I'm sorry brother I've failed you. Your shoes are too large to fill." Her head rested on his grave as tears began to choke her voice, "I shouldn't have fooled myself into thinking I could fill them in the first place."
A hand rested on her shoulder comforting her as a feminine voice filled her ear, "Your job has never been to fill his shoes," the hand moved to smooth her hair. The soothing voice of her mother continued, "You have your own role to fill the gods make sure of this." Quinn let the words comfort her, but she was still unable to remove her hand from the tear soaked grave. "Our wings always grow differently from what we would wish."
Her eyes shot open meeting Valors as he stared deep into hers. Concern in his eyes was quickly replaced with relief as her eyes shot open. Trainees looked over her waiting to see if she could stand without assistance. She chuckled, "I must be rather good-looking for you all to be staring for so long," this was followed with some of the trainees growing beet red while some of the others followed in her laughter. Bennett was nowhere to be found, and neither were any of the other duelists.
Valor hopped off her chest as she stood up and asked where the sergeant went. A trainee, she believed his name was Arnold, said he went to chew Bennet a new ear until the medic arrived to check on her. As if on cue a medic entered the clearing. Quinn noticed it was not simply a medic, but rather a healer. The healers of Demacia bended the light itself to heal wounds; while it was a draining process it left no long-term physical or mental scarring on either the patient or the healer. She was slightly surprised to see one at a training camp of all places. The healer wore green robes signifying her role in the light magicks. Her blonde hair shook in the light breezes that crossed the clearing. A smile crossed her lips at the attention she received from the trainees.
She took a look at Quinn's wounds, gashes and bruising on the cranium, before commenting, "McHenricks always seems to break in trainees their first day off the cart. Looks like you got it easier than the last batch he had. Poor kid had to walk with a limp for a week even after my healing," she grabbed Quinn by her chin getting a better look at the lacerations that covered her upper skull. The medic turned to the other trainees, "You are to return to your barracks until the sergeant returns," some protests began as they had no idea where their barracks was. The medic ignored them and turned back to Quinn, "You will follow me, it's not safe to do this work outside," Quinn nodded as the medic turned expecting Quinn to follow. Quinn quickly grabbed her knapsack, which Valor eagerly jumped into before following.
The medic waited to hear the footsteps of Quinn before slowing down. She looked at Valor sticking his head out of Quinn's bag. She stared at it for a little while before asking, "What's with the bird?"
Quinn let out a long tired sigh, "It's a long story." Why am I so comfortable right now?
The medic motioned towards a cobblestone building. It looked no different from the ones Quinn could recall at the village near her father's farm. They entered inside in which Quinn found a unordinary layout for a medic. A sitting area was visible to the right of the door, oaken chairs with leather cushions surrounded a large table made of white ice. Quinn approached it and laid a hand on the table. She pulled her hand back instantly as pain pulsed through her hand, "Freljordian white ice, never chips and never melts, never cheap either," the medic chuckled. Quinn was lead deeper into the clinic before they stopped in front of a bench that sat at Quinn's waist. "Make yourself comfortable, this won't be easy on your body," the medic waited for Quinn to follow the command.
The medic looked at Valor once again, "I didn't think I'd ever lay my eyes on a Demacian eagle. First time for everything I guess. Have you ever endured curative magic?" The medic frowned as Quinn shook her head no. "It won't be that bad. It'll sting a little, and will be tiresome, but that's all," Quinn easily caught the lie, thus preparing her for the worst.
The medic raised her hands to the sides of Quinn's temple. They stood inches from her head as a faint light began to emit from the centers of her palms. The light slowly intensified as the healer began to raise her hands to the top of the skull. This isn't so bad, don't know what the big deal… A thousand needles stabbed at her skull and into her brain at once. She tried to recoil from the pain, but a force she could not feel kept her still. She attempted to scream, but only a squeak came out. The glow of the hands intensified with the pain. Quinn's nails dug deep into her palms, her back spasmed, tears rolled down her face. All she could do was focus on the pain, pleading silently with the gods to make it stop.
The light dimmed as Quinn crumpled on the bench. A hand smoothed her hair and a soothing voice whispered, "It's over, let the sleep take you. It'll be easier on you." Quinn had no choice in the matter as she slept from exhaustion. Valor watched, concern still glazed over his eyes he lay on top of her, resting on her stomach.
A forest sat undisturbed. A welcomed wind blew into the forest. It blew the leaves into new formations, and gave the trees respite from the humid day. Welcome animals followed the wind into the forest. They gave the forest life and death it had never experienced. The forest was at peace till an unwelcome shadow entered the forest. It had followed the animals to which the forest was sheltering. The forest was powerless to stop the shadow it only wished the shadow to cause as little damage to its state of peace as possible.
Quinn rubbed her fingers along the tracks. After determining they were fresh she continued the hunt. Leaves cracked under her feet as she followed the tracks. The tracks lead her into a clearing. The sounds of the forest stopped as she entered. She drew steel as her eyes scanned for the imminent threat. She felt the blade before his breath. "The hunter should always fear being hunted," Caleb's voice whispered in her ear. The blade was pulled away as she turned to face him.
His hazel eyes looked down at her, a triumphant smile plastered on his lips. She sheathed her sword as she hugged her brother. "I've missed you. You've been gone far too long."
"I'm sorry Quinn. I've been quite busy after they transferred me from the volunteers. The duties of an assassin leave very little time to return home," Calebe released the hug. He had always been the better fighter. Demacian high command decided he was good enough to put his skills to use. Quinn was left in the dust with the other recruits.
The following days passed like a blur to Quinn. He was called back to the capital, while she was shipped off to the border. She sat at the border bored from the lack of action. She had envisioned this occupation to be a constant battle with Noxian forces. The legends told of the great heroes at the battles that held the Demacian border. Quinn frowned as she was ordered to fetch spring water again.
"Always making me get his damn water. If I wanted to sit under the commander all day doing his work I would have become a squire." The mountainous terrain caused Quinn to slip a few times on the way to the spring. Pulling herself up from the tenth slip she heard voices close behind her.
"Are you sure this is the time to strike?" a feminine voice asked.
"They've fallen into a state of comfort there is no better time to strike. Demacia needs to learn its lesson," a masculine voice spat. Quinn could swear it sounded just like Caleb, but why would he be talking about Demacia as an enemy Quinn turned around just as the female turned the corner. The two met eyes, but before Quinn could react blood covered the assassins blade. Hazel eyes met her gold as the man turned the corner. A fire burned in his eyes as he watched her claw at the crimson streaming from her neck. She sat in confusion as her blue coat was replaced with red. "The strong must replace the weak."
Quinn sat up, and held Valor deep in her chest. She understood what she would have to do, but was she wasn't sure if she was willing.
Authors Note: Sorry about the late upload. Been having a bit of a writers block recently, and have been trying my best to overcome it. If you haven't caught on yet I'm using new league lore, or what we have of it so far. This means that I'm going to create some things while I go, such as the different magicks that'll introduce as I progress through the story. I also intend for this to be long as I still haven't even touched the tip of the iceberg. I'll try making the chapters longer, but I'll always get a chapter out to you guys every week. That's all I can think of right now. If you have any questions feel free to leave a review.