Losing Blades

Promises

Time skip – 7 years.

"Talon! Come down from there!" Talon awoke from his daydreaming in a tree, and looked down. His mother was staring at him. Old as she was, he only had one, so he made what he could of it. Reluctantly, he leapt down with practiced ease. Talon ignored his mother's nagging about being in a tree, and stepped in the tiny house they owned.

Talon never understood the Noxian life, where the strongest survive, and the weak fall. He looked at his puny arms. I guess I'm pretty weak…why haven't I fallen yet?

"Want to work out, Talon? I have some things you can work with in the back." Talon spun around, and looked at his father. At first glance, a person may thing Talon was a grandson to this man, but he wasn't. Talon nodded and followed his father down stairs into a dark basement. He observed his surroundings. He saw nothing, it was too dark.

"Talon, help me with this." His father requested. Talon waited for a moment, letting his eyes adjust to the dark, and walked over to the aged man. He felt a large…object, and hefted it up. With the man's help, Talon managed to drag it up the stairs and onto the floor of the house. Talon looked at it, then his father. What am I supposed to do with this? It was a large iron pole, with several of what looked like weights on the sides. The boy stared at his father questionably.

"Oh! You don't know how to use it yet! Here. I'll explain." He bent down and grabbed the iron pole. Talon noticed the he only placed his hands on places where the iron was marked, most likely for grip. With a great grunt, the old man lifted it up to his chest, and then placed it down gently. "Try it."

Talon stared, and then shrugged. He placed his hands on the grips, and attempted to lift it. [Do you even lift?] "Aaaaaaaghh" Talon strained with the weight, unable to bring the heavy tool up. The boy heard a chuckle from behind, and turned to glare at his father.

"I'm sorry, Talon. I'll take off some of the weights. This is called a barbell, by the way." Talon mentally added the new word to his vocabulary, and paired it with the tool at his feet. "Barbell." He said. His dad grunted, and pulled off some of the bigger weights.

"Here, Talon. Do it now." Talon walked over to the barbell again, and wrapped his hands around the grips. Again, Talon strained with the weight, but this time, he managed to lift it. Just as he was about to drop the barbell, Talon gasped and felt a little bit of strength surge back into his limbs. He hefted it all the way up above his head and held it there, a very large grin painted on his face. His father clapped, obviously proud of his son. Just as Talon placed the barbell back down, his mother charged into the room, looking panicked. She looked questionably at the barbell, then at an exhausted Talon. She gestured for her husband to come with her. They walked to a corner, away from Talon. Talon shrugged, and added a small weight to the barbell. Before he lifted it again, his name was called.

"Talon." He turned to his mother, then his father. "Your mother is going to take you out for a walk, alright?" Talon shrugged, and then nodded. Talon stepped outside, smelling the air of Noxus. It smelled of steel and sewers. Talon looked inside the door, and caught a glimpse of his father holding a large sword, and staring at something in defiance.

"They're here!" His mother gasped. She held Talon's hand, and ran away from the house. Talon suddenly started feeling very scared, as if something…terrible was about to erupt. At a safe distance away from the building, and hiding behind a dumpster, the same one Talon was hidden behind 7 years ago. But he didn't know that. Even at a distance like this, Talon could hear the sounds of combat from inside the house. The clang of steel on steel, then the sickening schlock of a decapitation. Talon didn't see or hear it, but he knew they were searching the house. Were they thieves? Suddenly, with a force so powerful, Talon was forced to hold on to the dumpster, the house exploded. Several men appeared on the doorstep of the ruined building. "Split up. Find them. Keep the boy alive. Kill anyone who tries to help." They were wearing red and black clothes. Probably symbols of a group they were part of. His mother was looking down at the ground, trying to hold in tears. Then one of the men came their way, wielding a small dagger, with several more strapped to his body. His mother's eyes widened and she gripped his hands, and stared into his hazel eyes. "Talon, I need you to run. Run and never look back. I'll…I'll buy you time. Just run, and hide. Go!" Obeying his mother, he took off. He looked back to see his mother gripping a broken bottle, trying to intimidate the armed soldier. He looked behind her, and saw Talon.
"There he is! Over here!" He started to shove his way past Talon's mother, but she gripped his arm, and slammed her bottle behind his head. Ouch, Talon thought. It broke on impact, and forced the assailant to turn and face her. Not even thinking about it, he stabbed her. It penetrated her small blouse and went into her heart. She let go of her breath and collapsed, letting herself fall on the man.

"What the- ACK." Her weight overtook him, and he fell to the ground. She looked at Talon once more, her eyes pleading once more. Run. Talon turned, while the man was on the ground, and ran. Talon wanted to turn and see if they were still chasing, but he knew it wasn't worth it. He held back tears as he turned a corner. He stopped for a moment. He had run into a dead end. Talon stopped and turned. 3 of the men were standing at the entrance to the dead end. Talon backed up into a wall.

"Shh, kid. We're just here to take care of yo-"Talon didn't hear the rest of the things he said. Blood rushed Talon's ears as he leapt on conveniently placed wooden pallets, and scaled the walls. He crawled on the roof, narrowly dodging a dagger that had been thrown at him. It landed on a spot next to him. Talon ignored it and ran like hell. He ran on the roofs of Noxus, and dropped down far, far away from the men. Not knowing what else to do, Talon found an abandoned shack, and crawled in a hole in the wall. He then grabbed a large piece of trash to block out the hole he came in. He curled up, and fell into sleep, praying to whatever god was out there, that all that happened was a twisted dream.