Each step taking Talon away from Quinn's home felt unnatural. Wrong. He had to muster all his willpower to walk back to the inn without stopping in his tracks and turning back, and by the time he was there, his heart was screaming in pain.

Talon repeated himself over and over that waiting would be short, that he had found her now, and that she was safe...

But was she ?

His entrancing reunion with the Demacian woman had almost made him forget her words. Had someone tried to harm her ?

Not really.

Talon grunted. As soon as he saw her again, he would ask her. The mere thought of someone threatening Quinn made his insides boil with rage. Without thinking, his fingers grazed the hidden blade in his belt.

He didn't answer the innkeeper's salute, and ignored the bustling crowd in the dining hall. He aimed straight for his room, taking the stairs two at a time. But when he came inside, he noticed the door hadn't been locked. Katarina was sitting by the window, stirring a cup of tea. Her eyes darted to Talon... He knew she had been impatiently waiting for him.

The emotion on her face was hard to read. Her eyebrows were tightly knit, but a subtle smirk adorned her lips. Talon was confused.

"So... Didn't get as bad as you thought, did it ?"

Talon didn't answer. He closed the door behind him and locked it, then aimed for the jug of water on the table. The ardent kissing with Quinn had left him dying of thirst.

While he drank straight from the jug, the redhead didn't drop her eyes off him. When he was done, Talon caught his breath again. He expected Katarina to nag him about his encounter with Quinn, like she usually did with any of his actions.

Kat smirked.

"I can tell she was happy to see you."

"Like you care."

"Oh I do, little brother. I don't think you deserve happiness, but life is unfair sometimes."

She sighed.

"You don't deserve it... People like us don't deserve it. But I'm glad you found it."

Talon rose an eyebrow. This didn't sound like Kat. Where were the insults, the insinuations, the humiliations ? He leaned against the wall, keeping his distance with her. Kat rolled her eyes.

"Get to the point." Talon stiffened. He didn't like this sudden hypocrisy.

"That's my point. What do you expect ?" Katarina innocently replied.

"Like you care about my happiness," he snickered. "I still don't get why you wanted to come with me. Did you get bored back home ?"

Katarina's jaw clenched like it usually did when she was getting riled up. She playfully teased the hilt of her dagger with the tip of her fingers.

"I was bored, yes. Since you disappeared."

Talon swallowed thickly, and silence grew heavy in the room. He had expected those words to bite, and hurt. But they fell like dead leaves from a dying tree. The Noxian assassin didn't even want to make fun of her, for Katarina had admitted, as much as her pride allowed, that she had missed him.

"My plans didn't go as expected."

"You could have least told me you were alive when you came back from Ixtal ! But no, Mr. Talon had to go all the way to Demacia and fall for a self righteous little ranger."

And make her lose everything, added Talon in his thoughts.

"What did you have in mind ?!" Katarina sprung from her seat. "Have you given up the search for our father ?"

This time, Talon closed his eyes. This was too much for him to answer, for he had buried this question deep in his heart. The answer was almost scary.

Yes.

He wanted to forget Marcus, to kill any memory of him. This man had taken everything from him, and had replaced it with his own domination, even pushing the joke as far as to call him his son. Talon had been no fool, and had not expected to truly become part of this fucked up family.

Yet, time had done its work. Talon knew he would never get back to his old self.

But did he want to forget Katarina ?

Their eyes met in the saddest manner. Katarina had gone through the same type of abuse as him, for an even longer time. They both had been hammered, sharpened and forged to become his perfect weapons. Being at the General's service hadn't bonded them through their common struggle, on the contrary. Katarina had been nothing but hatred for Talon since they met, seeing in him a new rival.

But with time, the two shared many experiences. Talon remembered the early mornings back from his missions when Kat would patch him up, cleaning his wounds and stitching them with no delicacy. Or when he trained with her under the watch of their father, trying not to break her bones so her day wouldn't go on too painfully. Or the long nights spent waiting endlessly for the perfect moment to strike.

Though Talon never expressed his feelings, he was no stranger to them. And apparently, Katarina had painfully worked hers out too, even though she had no clue on how to let them out.

"Will you disappear forever ?" she asked in a whisper.

Talon had a deep exhale. So that's what she wanted to know. That's why she came here.

The Noxian assassin was tempted to tell her the truth about how he felt, just this once. How he had come to consider her the closest thing to family he had ever known. He didn't love her like a sister, for he didn't even know what a normal relationship with a sister was supposed to be. But unlike the many people he had come accross in his life, he didn't want to forget Katarina.

The strangest idea then crossed his mind. The perfect words didn't exist, and he wasn't the kind of guy to search for them anyway. He smiled.

He could feel the tension radiating off Katarina in waves. The redhead anxiously waited for a reaction, and clearly didn't get what she expected. Talon took a step forward, contemplating her unsure eyes, and he pulled her into his arms.

It wasn't as awkward as he had expected, though it was the first touch of this kind he had ever had with Kat. He could tell it wasn't easy for her, as he felt all her body tense and prepare to fight back. He didn't blame her, he had this automatism too.

Finally, Katarina closed her eyes, and accepted to relax in Talon's embrace. It wasn't easy for the two of them, but that was the best answer that Talon could offer.

No, he wouldn't disappear forever.

He didn't count how long it lasted. Katarina broke their hug, and awkwardly rose her eyes.

"Ew, don't tell anyone that we did that... Especially not Cass." She was forcing that tone, but Talon could tell she was reassured.

"Not a chance." Talon chuckled.

"Now Talon, time for serious talk. I'll be the first and only godmother to your babies, right ?"

Talon hadn't known it was possible to choke on his own saliva. He coughed a few times and caught his breath while Katarina snickered. The redhead's greatest talent was with no doubt making him uncomfortable at the worst possible moment.

"Don't ever open your mouth in front of Quinn or I'll make you disappear for good." Talon growled.

"Since you're aksing so kindly..."

Quinn was so happy that she didn't even care when she wiped the dripping bile from her lips.

Hunched over the sink, the Demacian woman couldn't stop herself from smiling. Nothing could darken her day, for Talon had come back for her.

She rinsed her mouth with clear water and dried her hands on a towel. The pessimistic part of her still partly believed that she was in a dream, and that the passionate sex they had had was just a hallucination. But the light pain between her thighs told her otherwise. Her body knew he had been there, and already craved for more of him.

Quinn blushed when she thought of how urgently physical she had been straight ahead. When she had seen Talon and the redhead battling in front of her home, something in her brain had not completely accepted that this was reality. Her body's urges had taken over, surrendering to the touch and feelings she had dreamed of for so many nights.

Speaking of her condition had been impossible at the moment, for Quinn was scared that would make Talon change his mind. The words had been blocked before they could even form on her tongue, but this reality slowly crept back up in her conscience. Throwing up in the sink had helped, for sure.

The ex-ranger ran her fingers through her wet hair, and she vividly remembered how Talon's hands had touched her body a few hours ago. She shivered when she thought of how his lips had claimed hers, how his powerful arms had held her body over his...

Suddenly, her heart dropped in her chest and she started freaking out.

Talon. Was. Here.

What if her parents found out he was there ? And worse... Who he was ?

Quinn's legs started trembling, and they felt like they couldn't support her anymore. The Demacian woman slid down the bathroom's wall and almost fell on the floor.

She knew they were away for the whole day, but Talon and her had decided to part earlier just in case they showed up unexpectedly. It had been Talon's idea, but Quinn couldn't disagree... Rationally. She hadn't seen Vianna for days, since the old woman had chosen to take a well-needed break of a few days by herself in the forest. She had spoken of reconnecting with nature and her ancestors. Quinn hadn't asked more questions, in case Vianna went into lengthy and spiritual explanations.

Though Quinn still didn't know the woman well, she had been a perfect deflector for her parent's nosiness. Quinn was beyond thankful for that. She still tried to mend things with them, but the old trust she thought she had since childhood would never come back. They couldn't hide their disapproval, to say the least, for Quinn's choice of partner. The word "betrayal" had come up more than Quinn could tolerate.

Oh, the irony... If they knew of the new life that was growing inside of her.

Quinn drew her focus on the remnants of steam coating the windows. If she didn't push those thoughts away, they would drown her.

She forced herself up, dried her hair, and got dressed.

The rest of the day went on quietly for Quinn. She busied her hands with chores and tended to her father's garden. Anyone seeing her from the outside wouldn't know of the storm raging inside of her mind.

The ex-ranger had the hardest time to focus on her activities, for every thought was directed at Talon. Though she knew it was a stupid idea to come and visit him in the middle of the day, for she could be recognized in town, she couldn't help but fantasize about it. When she finished cutting the dead leaves from her father's fruit trees, she suddenly realized her feet were taking the way to the village !

Quinn giggled nervously. And the day still wasn't over. She couldn't wait for Valor to come back from his hunt, so she at least could focus on taking care of him.

Golden eyes anxiously scouted the dark coloured sky. Dusk had fallen, and Valor still was nowhere in sight. Quinn had expected the Azurite eagle to come back at least hours ago. Valor was a bird of habit, and Quinn always noticed the slightest change in his schedule.

Her parents had come back already, and were going about their business. Quinn had played the role that she had been adopting these last weeks, and had lied about going on mushroom hunting with Dismas today. This alibi was too good for her to give up on it just yet.

Quinn clenched the collar of her coat. The air around her was getting colder and colder. The Demacian woman took a look at the warmly lit windows in her back, revealing her mother cutting a cabbage in small pieces in the kitchen. She turned her back on the house, and walked towards the now dark forest.

Quinn's cold hand firmly held the hunting knife that was hidden in her coat. She had sadly lost her crossbow back in Demacia's royal city, and the only available bow at the house was her mother's unusable model.

The part of the forest she was in usually was peaceful, the biggest predator being wolves. But Quinn preferred to be safe than sorry.

The starry night sky wasn't enough to light her path. Quinn's eyes were better than most in seeing in the night, but even for a highly trained ranger like her, it was too dark for her to move quickly. Thorny plants grazed her legs, ripping small holes in her trousers.

Quinn whistled when she found a small clearing in the forest of pines. She rose her eyes in hope at the sky, and waited for what seemed like an eternity. But no winged silhouette came.

The Demacian woman's heart was restless, and her mind started imagining the worst case scenarios. What if Valor had been caught by a predator larger than him and killed ? What if he was wounded somewhere, unable to fly back or call for help ?

A tear of fear rolled down Quinn's cheek without her realizing. The ex-ranger lingered there, directing her hopeful gaze at the sky once more.

The sound of something rummaging through the foliage startled her. Quinn froze.

An animal had seen her. For a moment, it stayed there in silence, but Quinn knew it was still there. They were both aware of each other's presence, and neither made the first move. But when Quinn released a long-held breath, the animal scampered away in the night. The woman saw the bushes shake at its passage, but couldn't know more about its appearance. It seemed to be gone for good.

Quinn slowly walked towards the animal's original spot. What was it doing there ?

A small puddle of blood lay on the ground, reflecting the light of the crescent moon in a faint shimmer. Quinn could tell it was blood from the way the dark liquid coated the plants nearby. It had been splattered in a few spots around the puddle in the manner of an animal fight.

Quinn's heart dropped in her chest when she saw a small familiar shape on the ground, near the puddle. She picked it with her fingers. In the past, she had often marveled at how light it was...

A dark blue feather.

Quinn knew the shape of Valor's feathers by heart. No other bird in the region had such plumage. The feather trembled in Quinn's hold. The golden eyed woman's vision started blurring, and she clasped her other hand over her mouth.

She searched around the area, and found a few other feathers. Quinn had gathered them in her hand like a bloodied bouquet, she refused to let them lay on the scene.

Valor's body was yet to be found. Quinn was experienced in reading such scenes, but the violence of the fight that had taken place contrasted with the lack of any corpse. There was no sign of the direction that Valor or his opponent could have taken. Quinn noticed some branches had been cut quite neatly, in a way most animals couldn't.

She clenched her teeth. She had no time to lose and had to act fast. Her friend could already be dead. Quinn almost fainted at the thought.

Talon.

The only light in the dark sea of anguish that Quinn was drowning in... Talon. Quinn repeated his name in her mind over and over again. For the first time in months, she wasn't alone.

Her legs started faster than her mind, and led her to the place she had been wanting to escape to all day long.

The hardest skill that Talon had needed to learn had been patience.

From his early life in the Noxian slums, he had been forced to wait for days without eating any decent food. He had waited for the guards or the young thugs to pass by his hideout. He had waited for the sun to dry his soggy clothes after endless days of rain. For his wounds to heal after every fight he had taken.

Talon's experiences in waiting had made him direly hate it. He had pounced on every opportunity to break free from this painful, wasted time.

And when his freedom had been claimed by the General, the man had deemed it necessary to drill this imperative skill into him. Talon knew that in his eyes, he had been an imperfect blade in need of sharpening.

The training had been maddening, to say the least. It had started with the absolute restriction of Talon's freedom, locking him in a dark room for days without any source of light. The Noxian assassin perfectly remembered each moment of this torturous training, and each stage he had gone through. Rage and anger had come first. Talon could do no better than a caged tiger waiting for its turn in the colosseum.

Exhaustion then lassitude had been next. Talon's body and mind had accepted that he would never get out of here on his own, and had pushed him to force his attention onto anything he could find.

However, the General had left nothing at all that Talon could find. Not even a pebble.

Without realizing, Talon had started to hurt himself to kill time.

He had dug his nails in the bruised skin of his back until they left bloody marks, and had bitten them to the point they were almost nonexistant. Talon had always needed to busy his hands with something, and had never been forced into this pathetic practice.

Hunger and thirst weren't strangers for Talon, yet their presence was starting to torture him as well. He had learned long before coming here how to preserve his forces by moving as little as possible, and by adopting a regular, slow breathing.

Then, at last, Talon had started to forget himself and let his mind wander. He hadn't dreamed of anything good, for he had no hope for something good. He had tried to perfectly remember the appearance of the cell he had briefly seen to the light of a torch, and of the path that he had taken to come here. Without any more resistance, he was becoming one with the dark room.

Talon had asked the General how long he had been kept there, and as expected, never had an answer.

But when Marcus Du Couteau had opened the heavy gate and let the blinding light of a lamp in, he had invited Talon for breakfast in his personal chambers like nothing had happened.

Talon couldn't tell if he still hated waiting after this, for his patience had been the only thing keeping him sane in this void. During his next missions for the General, he had realized that this skill was fully part of him now. He was able to wait for hours, standing up, crouching, being uncomfortable, none of it mattered. Nothing would break him after the dark room.

Even being held and tortured in the Demacian dungeons hadn't been a bed of roses, but it couldn't compare to the rest of the training that the General had made Talon go through...

But on this day, Talon was starting to hate waiting again.

Needing to stay away from Quinn when she was in fact just a quick walk away was intolerable. His heart had been ripped from his chest and had stayed by her side, in the warm house nestled in the mountain.

Talon paced, and paced... This was driving Katarina mad and he knew it, but he couldn't care less. He had gone from sitting at the table and reading a few lines from a book, to trying to take a nap and ending up scratching bloody scars in his back instead. Nothing in this world was enough to temper his impatience.

The redhead threw her leg in front of Talon without a warning. It was a barrier more than an attempt to make him trip over it, and Talon stopped abruptly.

"What?"

"Stop doing that."

"No."

"Fucking hell, it's stressing me out ! Just stop."

Talon didn't answer and gave her an unbothered look.

"Damn it Talon, when did you become such a schoolgirl ?" Katarina said.

"I'm not in the mood, Kat." Talon was getting heated.

"I don't care, just stop fidgeting like a pony in its stall !"

The redhead rose from her seat and started studying Talon with her quick eyes. The Noxian assassin ground his teeth, the familiar annoyance was turning into anger.

"What are you doing ?" He growled.

Katarina had taken her chin between her fingers, and ignored Talon's menacing tone.

"At least now you're clean, but there's another problem."

She pointed her finger at Talon.

"Your hair."

Talon hadn't expected the subject to come up. He rose an eyebrow and crossed his arms.

"My hair?" He said in a deadpan voice.

"It's too long and messy. You look like a beggar, brother."

She paused, observing him even more closely.

"It needs a cut."

Talon couldn't stifle the low chuckle that came from his throat.

"Like I want you to put a blade near my neck."

"That would be easier than giving you a proper haircut."

Talon turned himself towards the window of the bedroom and forced his focus on the passerbys in the small street below.

"That's unnecessary."

"Oh that IS necessary. You never take care of yourself, and now that you have a woman it's time you start doing it."

"Mind your own business." He grumbled without looking at Kat.

"It's my business, in a way. I'm ashamed to walk next to you, brother." Katarina smirked. "At least you don't reek anymore."

This time, a sincere laugh came out of Talon.

"I didn't know looks mattered to you..." He looked at Kat from head to toe, pretending to judge her.

The redhead threw her mane behind her shoulder. Her confident smile told that she had won this round.

"Come on, please sit over there." She showed him the chair by the table.

Talon begrudgingly obeyed, knowing that Kat was right about his hair. Though he didn't truly care, he didn't want Quinn to be ashamed of his neglected appearance. He flipped the chair and slowly sat while Kat rummaged through her belongings. She pulled out a pair of thin silver scissors.

"Don't tell me you had planned this before we left."

Katarina shrugged, not bothering to hide her victorious smile.

"I always forget what's in my bag."

Talon released a long sigh.

"If you mess it up, I'll shave your head in your sleep."

Night had fallen upon the village, and Talon observed his face in the small bathroom mirror as he wiped wet strands of hair from his bare shoulder.

He had to admit that Katarina had been amazingly good at cutting his hair. She had been slow and precise, respecting its original shape without shortening it too much. His hair was still wet, but it was already improving his appearance, harmoniously emphasizing the sharpness of his face and gracefully falling in his lower neck.

The result was still a bit too clean for his taste, after all Talon wasn't a charming prince. He shook his head a few times, ruffling his hair in places, causing heavy strands to fall in front of his eyes. He smirked.

"Better."

Katarina was behind him, admiring her own work.

"Father should have sent you undercover more often..."

"Why ?" Talon asked, brushing the cut hair from his nape with a towel.

"I just realized you'd make a perfect stuck-up squire."

Katarina dodged the towel flying at her right in time.

"Hey, that was a compliment !"

"It sucks."

"Or a stuck-up knight, if you prefer."

Talon had a hollow chuckle.

"A knight..." He muttered...

"A stuck-up knight." Katarina was too amused. "By the way, brother... Did you wish to become a knight when you were a kid ?"

They had never shared a lot of their childhood memories, especially Talon. He had grown past shame from his time in the slums, but he'd often rather forget it. He paused, hesitating on the necessity of an answer.

"A bit."

Katarina came near Talon to wash her hands in the bathroom sink. She made the water run over them, drowning the remaining dark hair.

"For real ?" Kat smiled without any malice.

"That's normal for a young boy, I guess."

"Noxian boys tend to dream more about becoming soldiers for the Empire." Katarina noted.

Talon dug in his memory, trying to go back to the time where he had felt this short-lived dream. It hadn't lasted long, and he had been very young... Very naive.

"There was this book I had found in the trash..." Talon recalled.

His eyes were lost in his memories, and Katarina shut her mouth.

"I couldn't read, but there were those nice pictures of this knight on a black horse. I figured he was on some kind of quest... I don't know, it was just... Nice."

Talon turned away from Katarina, for he felt like he was blushing lightly. The redhead surprised him, and didn't taunt him about his childhood dream. Instead, she nodded quietly and left the sink.

The Noxian assassin was surprised by his own willingness to speak again.

"But I never wanted to be a soldier either."

"Me neither..." Katarina answered. "That's lame."

Before they could pursue the conversation, three loud knocks erupted against the wooden door. Katarina was quick to grab the silver scissors and hid them in her back. Talon had a dagger hanging from his belt. He didn't bother to put his shirt on, curious to see who had knocked that late in the night, and ready to respond to any unwanted visit.

He approached his hand from the handle and the key, but a feminine voice behind the door was quicker than him:

"It's me ! Are you here ?"

There was no doubt who this sweet voice belonged to. The tone of urgency that tinged it made Talon immediately unlock the door and open it.

She was there.

A dark leather coat with wool lining covered her. It was practical yet beautifully crafted, with small reindeer embroideries on the collar. Her legs were clad in thin linen pants and gaiters, and she wore light nimble boots. She held something under her coat, and when she opened it, Talon saw her delicate hand firmly clasped on a sharp hunting knife.

Quinn looked like what Talon imagined to be a typical Uwendalian huntress. He swallowed thickly at the thought of being on the hunt with her again, a familiar heat kindling in his stomach.

Her hair was messy. Her brows were knit in a line of worry, and her reddened eyes betrayed that she had cried not long ago. But her golden irises shone with a cold determination that made Talon catch a glimpse of a darker part of Quinn. He couldn't say that he disliked it.

"Talon..." She whispered.

"What's wrong ?" He asked, taking her hand in his. He hadn't realized it was trembling.

"I shouldn't have come here at that time, but I need your help."

Quinn kept her voice low. Talon saw her throw an unsure look at Katarina, but the redhead didn't do anything embarrassing and simply listened.

"I'm here."

"Something happened to... Valor."

When Quinn's voice broke at the name of her eagle, Talon's heart broke with it. He knew how much the bird mattered to her, and in a way, he owed him Quinn's life too.

"Tell me everything."

Quinn nodded and closed her eyes, then laid her forehead against Talon's bare chest. She held the hunting knife close to her heart. Talon's hand covered hers, securing her trembling grip on it. He wanted her to know that whatever happened, she was not alone.

[A/N: Long time no see ! I've been dying to update this fic, and I'm here to deliver with a long chapter.]