3/4/2025 A/N: Due to a wide range of problems with the site, it is with a heavy heart that I must announce that I'm switching to exclusively using Ao3 for this story for any further updates. Chapters and reviews both are disappearing and re-appearing, the mobile site appears to be basically non-functional, my PMs are overrun with bots among the nice messages I get from actual humans still, it's a multi-step process to update any typos that I notice after editing...I really tried to stick with it for the sake of tradition and because I'm a bit sentimental about this copy of it for inexplicable reasons, but y'all, I really can't deal with this anymore. The REAL Chapter 19 is probably about a few weeks out still, possibly longer, the next week or so is a bit crazy for me. But it will not be posted here. I don't think I can link to Ao3 here, as my attempts yield only broken links, so here are the Google instructions that are more frustrating than they have to be given that apparently individual fics on Ao3 don't show up in Google searches anymore, something something Cloudflare something something...

-Search "Katarina Ashe Ao3" and the first result should be the ship tag, go in there.

-Scroll down until you find Wounded. Alternatively, search my author name over there in the site search bar, which is "Lord Nyoka (SilverofSouls)" and a bunch of unrelated fics I wrote in college will probably come up, but Wounded should be among them, at the bottom because it's alphabetical, or you can click on my author page and it'll likely be at the top, for awhile at least lol.

If you are having trouble accessing it still, or want to contact me for any other reason, feel free to do so in one of two ways:

Email: on my profile because this hellsite censors those heavily apparently.

Discord: lordnyoka (message me before friend requesting if you choose this option because I get a lot of spam over there)

Once again, I apologize. To make it up to anyone who prefers to read the story here for reasons that are utterly beyond my understanding, I am posting some absolute nonsense below, so that this chapter doesn't technically break the site rule of "chapters can't just be author's notes." I've read the site guidelines and this shouldn't break any rules. Consider this my ridiculous farewell to the site that gave me my start. I don't know if I even need to say that this is not canon, but like, this is not canon.

Chapter 18.5: Escape from the Hellsite

Ashe awoke suddenly to a pair of hands shaking her roughly. She sat up with a start, nearly colliding into Katarina as she did.

"What's wrong?" she asked instinctively, dizzy from the sudden feeling of rocketing to full alertness from deep sleep.

"There's no time to explain," Katarina said rapidly. "We need to leave. Now. This website is falling apart."

The archer blinked in confusion, her eyes adjusting in the darkness. She could just barely make out the outline of Katarina's face, though it seemed strangely unfamiliar in some odd way she couldn't place.

"What are you talking about?" she asked, her brow furrowing. "The invasion...is it early?"

Katarina shook her head, frustrated, launching herself off of the bed. "It's worse than that. Basically, this version of the world is unraveling. There is another, but we have to go, and quickly."

"Unraveling?" Ashe echoed, her confusion only deepening. "Kat, you're not making sense."

The assassin sighed heavily before darting to the window, pulling back the curtain and glancing wildly outside. "I'm not actually Katarina. I'm the author, borrowing her dialogue for the short amount of time that we have left. That's why this chapter is written in your point of view. Well, sort of. Later it will get a bit omniscient, but that's neither here nor there."

Ashe gave a few rapid blinks as she watched the frantic Noxian...or...whoever she was in that moment. "The who?"

"Fuck, there's even more of them!" Not-Katarina growled in frustration.

Curious, Ashe slid off the bed and moved to stand beside her to glance out the window. She gasped at the sight. The edges of the universe were distorting, flickering off and on, the very fabric of reality slowly ripping apart. Some of the snow-capped mountains in the distance were beginning to crumble into nothingness. All of this was only visible in the night's darkness thanks to the strange, glowing red lights given off by an enormous army of human-shaped beings cast in metal.

"What are they?" the queen asked in horror. "What do they want?"

"Bots," Not-Katarina explained with no small amount of annoyance in her tone. "They want art commissions. Which would be pretty cool, if they were real, but they're not. They'll probably message me about this chapter saying how great it was and telling me that they want to draw it. Which would be pretty funny, given that we're both still naked."

Ashe couldn't pull her gaze from the horrors of the world gradually ceasing to be. "This must be a dream," she whispered absently.

"Don't worry," Not-Katarina assured her in an attempt to be comforting, "you won't remember this after we go through the portal. Everything will be fine. Er...well...right, there's still the matter of that invasion I'm putting you guys through. Sorry about that, by the way. Necessary plot and all that, I'm sure you understand."

The queen stared at her as though she had three heads. "No, I really don't."

Not-Katarina shrugged. "Yeah, fair. That's fine though. All you need to know right now is that when you wake up, it'll be like this whole conversation never happened, and we can all get on with the story. You'll be in basically the same universe as this one. Well, alright, there are some minor changes to your earlier memories, but you won't notice them. You can't see the spelling or grammar that make up the world. So, really, for you, it'll be like normal," she said with a definitive nod of her head before stepping away from the window and creating a circular portal in the middle of the queen's bedroom with a flick of her wrist. The edges flickered a deep, flaming crimson not unlike Katarina's hair, and within the circle Ashe caught a glimpse of the same room she was now standing in.

Ashe took a hesitant step forward, eyeing the portal warily. "Do we just...walk through?" she asked dubiously.

"Yup," confirmed Not-Katarina. "Although...wait, hold on, give me a sec," she held up a finger before reaching for a paper and pen, which she produced from...idk man, some sort of pocket dimension, don't question it. "This world will remain in some form, assuming the fanfiction gods allow it to live, so I have to leave a note for the readers who are still here, in case they don't know how to find us," she explained as though the action was perfectly natural, scribbling hastily onto the page. She finished quickly, scanned the words once, then deposited the letter face-up on the bed before turning back to the bewildered queen.

"Is...that it?" Ashe asked.

Not-Katarina nodded, her expression tinged with hints of some wistful, somber emotion that looked wholly out of place on her face. "Yeah, you're good. Go ahead now, I'll be right there."

"Should I put clothes on first?" Ashe asked, suddenly self-conscious at the growing realization that this definitely wasn't the woman she'd slept with hours ago.

"Oh, no need," Not-Katarina replied, flicking her wrist dismissively. "This will all feel pretty seamless to you once you're over there, promise. I just need a second. Memories, tradition, y'know. All that junk."

"Right..." Ashe drew out the word skeptically before turning back to the portal. "I'll see you there, I suppose," she said as she stepped through and disappeared from sight.

Not-Katarina watched her go, a soft sigh escaping her lips again. Her eyes scanned the room once before flicking to the window, then to the paper prominently displayed on the bed.

"I don't know why, but I'll miss this hellsite, I guess," she said to no one in particular, taking another step closer to the portal.

"Goodnight, sweet prince," she uttered wistfully as she stepped through.