Vince had died.
By the time Quinn and Vianna wordlessly walked back to the older woman's cottage, the younger man was already far beyond saving. Quinn understood that Vianna had chosen them over him, and had not wasted any time before looking for them. If she had saved Vince, Talon would have died.
When she saw the fresh corpse of her former comrade, Quinn felt a cruel emptiness in her heart. She wanted to feel something, anything: grief, terror, anger, anything... But Talon's departure had left her hollow.
The two women buried the young ranger in the forest, under an old tree that Vianna had always liked. She said that it would protect Vince's soul on its way to the afterlife, and that a ranger deserved to rest in the embrace of nature, not in a communal grave. Quinn didn't say anything, but at the moment, she didn't believe in an afterlife or anything of the kind. She simply believed in nothing.
Quinn saw herself dig in the dark soil. She saw her dirty hands, and felt her strained muscles... The Demacian woman was trying to focus on her current task to anchor herself to reality. Only this time, it wasn't working. Quinn was a lifeless puppet without anyone to pull her strings.
In the end, the grave was a simple mound covered by rocks. It would be concealed by moss and dead leaves in the span of a few months, and forgotten...
Vianna was more agitated than usual when they came back to the cottage. She started packing things, getting herself busy like she had never been before. The creases of worry now never left her face. Quinn didn't move and watched her like the older woman was the sole actor of a boring play.
Quinn knew Vianna had talked to her... She was almost sure of it. The paralyzing trance she was in made her completely oblivious to the surrounding world and its sounds... Including words.
Something in her stirred when she saw Vianna bring two horses by the bridle in front of the kitchen's window. Those were the horses her and Talon had escaped with. The animals pawed and trampled the ground... They looked as agitated as Vianna.
"Come on, Quinn. We're leaving for Uwendale."
This time, Quinn heard the words, and slowly understood them. She frowned, and answered Vianna in a voice that didn't sound like it belonged to her.
"Uwendale... Why?" She croaked.
Vianna sighed.
"To save your life, my girl." She put a comforting hand on the Demacian woman's shoulder. "I'm afraid Demacia won't leave you alone after this... They never will."
"Uwendale is still in Demacia. It won't stop them."
"But the mountains will. You know that."
Vianna deeply looked at the younger woman, her eyes filled with worry.
"Besides... I think you need to see your parents."
A surge of warmth and pain flowed through Quinn's entire body. Her parents... A single tear formed in the corner of her eye. It had been so, so long since she last saw them... And Valor. Her beloved eagle was there, too. Vianna's idea infused her with a timid breath of life.
Quinn didn't find the strength to cry, speak, or even look into Vianna's eyes... So she simply nodded.
She didn't look behind when they left the cottage. She dearly loved this place, and the forest that surrounded it. Even though they had been through horrors right before, it was the only place she had freely lived with Talon... It had been short, but Quinn had loved being out with him in the light of day, not trying to hide or lie.
It was all behind now, disappearing behind the thick foliage of the trees. Even though Quinn wasn't ready for another journey, she kept going.
Talon looked at his face in the mirror.
His angular cheeks were still stained with dark red splatters. He filled his hands with water from the basin, and washed the dried blood from his face. He let out a long breath and looked at himself while clean droplets ran down his jaw and lips.
That was better...
That innkeeper hadn't asked any questions when he had seen him, and Talon wanted it to stay that way. He had to take a few nights of good rest to allow his wound to heal. He had already travelled a lot by foot for someone in such a bad state, but had gone as far as he could towards his next destination. Noxus would be for later... If he came back.
He uncovered his wound from the makeshift bandage he had made: it was clean from dirt, and Vianna's magic still seemed to linger there. He knew otherwise, it would have been more painful. He needed this respite to allow the wound to heal, for an infected open wound would be a death sentence for him.
Talon winced when he rubbed the paste he had just made on the ripped flesh. But it didn't hurt as much as seeing Quinn betray him, and losing her soon after...
At the moment, he preferred not to relive those awful memories, but they imposed themselves upon him anyway. He hit the wall with his balled fist, almost drawing blood, and supported himself over the basin. A few droplets fell inside from his wet hair.
Talon remembered very clearly how Vianna and Quinn had penetrated in his mind... It had been shameful. His woman had been the witness of his innumerable murders, even the ones he was the least proud of. She had seen his pathetic past existence, the wretched man he had been, and still was. A murderer.
He couldn't bear knowing her beautiful eyes had been filled with these horrors. This time, his fist didn't strike the wall. He halted his hand, and almost hit himself. He was overcome by a sudden surge of disgust, and a violent need to punish himself for what he was. Though the pain pooling from his wound was already excruciating, he needed to suffer more.
His hawk eyes darted to the blade that was lying on his bed. An unknown force was pulling him towards the weapon like a magnet. His fingers wrapped themselves slowly around it, and brought the blade above his wrist...
Talon stopped there, and realized what he was doing. He had not been there in a long, long time... Something stopped him. Maybe it was contemplating his almost intact skin resting under the blade, or thinking of the pale and fragile hands that had touched him there, not so long ago...
Talon threw the blade on the ground in a clink. He panted in exhaustion.
He had to get a grip on himself. Forcefully taking this rest was a crucial part of his plan... And nothing could hinder it. Especially not his own weakness.
The horses' hooves regularly clattered on the forest road. Vianna had chosen a longer path to get to Uwendale, instead of taking the main road. It led in many ways to the Royal City, and it was a risk she was willing to avoid at all cost.
Quinn had been mute since the start of the ride... Even the lively chirps of birds and familiar smells of the forest couldn't help her out of this lifeless had pulled her own horse to her level, determinate to obtain a few words from the younger woman.
"Dear... How do you feel?"
Quinn turned her head towards Vianna.
"I think... I think I'm alright."
"I'm not asking you what you think. But what you feel."
Vianna wasn't hurtful, but rough. She wasn't going to let Quinn out of this. She watched the ex-ranger intently.
Quinn swallowed hard.
"I'm not ready yet... Please..."
"You'll never truly be, Quinn... You can't let the wound get infected when it's still fresh."
Quinn perfectly understood what Vianna was talking about... The wound was there, gaping and bloody. But Quinn couldn't bear looking at it. Not yet...
"Vianna... Please..." Quinn begged again.
But the older woman had no pity.
"I'm sorry about everything, Quinn. But this pain was necessary... It had to happen. Talon made the right choice."
If she had been the one walking instead of the horse, Quinn would have stopped right where she was. Hearing her former lover's name was more painful than she would have thought, and the implication that their parting was for the best was unbearable.
"Don't say that..." Her voice was weak.
"No. You need to hear that, Quinn. From the start I knew it, and Talon knew it too."
"What are you even talking about! You don't know him as well as I do..." Quinn protested.
"I know him better than you think. Remember... I've been twice in his mind."
"And see what it has done!" screamed Quinn, startling her horse.
"Quinn... Can you love someone if you never see his true self? Were you even ready to accept it if you saw who he was?"
"Yes! Yes... It doesn't change my feelings." She was getting there... A single tear rolled down her cheek and her lip quivered.
"Are you so sure about that... Quinn, during the vision... I saw your feelings, too."
Though Quinn made every effort to avoid Vianna's piercing gaze, she felt the woman's eyes on her.
"You were terrified." Vianna whispered.
This time, Quinn felt like a hole had been torn in her heart. She was surprised her eyes still had the ability to cry, after the hellish hours she had just been through. But still, the tears ran, wetting her reddened cheeks.
"I... I wasn't..." Quinn sobbed.
Vianna didn't answer yet. The creases between her eyebrows told that this was hard for her too.
"Quinn... My child... I'm so sorry you have to go through this. It is painful, but it will pass. If you don't close your eyes on the truth, you will heal with time."
Quinn cried. Nothing would ever heal her. Nothing would work, she knew it. Talon was her other half, the one she had been waiting for during all her life. She had already lost Caleb, and didn't want to lose him too. She thought of his words again, they had hurt like burning embers thrown in her face...
"Do you want to live everyday with a murderer? Do you want... Children with a murderer? DO YOU?"
Yes.
Vianna wasn't completely wrong: Quinn was terrified. Seeing who Talon had been, was and could be had chilled her to her very bones. She had known all along that he was an assassin, but seeing it with her own eyes, sharing his feelings through his memories, knowing what he had accepted to do without batting an eye...
Maybe Quinn was a fool, she thought. Maybe she was under the charm of a murderer like in one of those stupid novels... But she knew Talon loved her as much as she did. She had felt it so many times, through simple gestures, words, the way their bodies responded to the other...
She loved him.
Why couldn't it be so simple? Quinn rubbed her eyes, and Vianna encouragingly smiled at her. Though Quinn didn't appreciate all of the older woman's methods, she was grateful of everything she was doing for her.
"I... I must find him. When I'm ready." Quinn said mostly to herself in a small surge of hope.
But Vianna heard those words clearly...
"Quinn. Don't you understand why he left?" She said more roughly.
The Demacian woman didn't answer. She was afraid to be wrong... And afraid to be right. Vianna answered her own question.
"He did it for you. He left to protect you. You know it."
Quinn closed her eyes. This was not the kind of answer she wanted to hear... But maybe it was the right one. Though the conversation was incredibly painful, Vianna had been right about one thing. Talking and recognizing a few of her feelings had helped her reconnect with life itself. Though Quinn was still the prey of her own numbness, a part of her couldn't give up.
Because Talon was her other half. And there was no way she could live without him.
The journey to Uwendale had taken a week. Vianna had carefully made them avoid the main road, causing the trip to be longer than expected. Their only encounters were animals from the forest...
Being in movement helped Quinn lose track of time. The endless procession of trees kept her thoughts from rotting inside her head. When the road started steepening, and when Quinn saw the familiar red pines scattered on the mountainsides, she knew she was getting closer from home.
At some point, it was not Vianna anymore, but Quinn herself who started guiding them.
"There..." She silently spoke. "We should be going there." Quinn pointed a slope disappearing behind a rock pile.
"That's not what I saw on the map." Vianna hesitated. "There's no way there."
"There is... It's secret."
Quinn led her horse towards the small hidden road. She was afraid those Demacian horses from the Royal City wouldn't be fit to take such a path, but to her great surprise they didn't have too much difficulty. Taking the small path again after all these years of absence stirred her distant memories of childhood. She painfully thought of Caleb... After all these years, it still hurt the same.
The small town of Uwendale hadn't changed... It was still a quiet, peaceful place nestled in the mountains. The two women didn't penetrate in the town, for Quinn's home was further in the mountains, far from the center. Quinn thought that someday, she would gladly go back to the hunter's market. She used to go there a lot with Caleb.
They moved away from the small town, and took the path that Quinn knew so well. It meandered in an open forest. At this time of year, it was covered with high altitude flowers. Quinn inhaled their sweet scent... She hadn't realized she had missed them so much.
They finally came into view of a house made of wood and stone. It was a humble build surrounded by pines and larches, and a small terrace that was cultivated. Quinn warmly remembered it was her father who tended to it the most.
Her heart started painfully hammering against her chest. She was going to see her parents... Would they be ashamed of her? Would they even reject her? Quinn tried not to think about it too much, but the mere thoughts hurt her deeply.
There she was. Right before the front door. Vianna was behind her. Quinn brought her balled fist near the wood, about to knock... She took a long breath, and knocked three times.
Someone unlocked the heavy door, then opened it... A tall, broad man with a thick beard and amber eyes. He was wearing an apron... And looked as shocked as if he had seen a ghost. Quinn was instantly disgusted by herself. Her own father didn't want to see her... She wanted to run away, to disappear...
But her father took her in his arms in a rib-crushing hug. A sigh of relief escaped his lungs.
"Quinn... Our little girl."
His voice was weak... Was he trying not to cry? His sudden gesture of affection made Quinn feel small and fragile again, like she could melt into her father's arms. She was about to burst in tears she was doing her best to hold in, when another familiar figure appeared behind her father...
Severe, tired, piercing blue eyes were set on her. Though she had more wrinkles than before, her mother was still the same... But she didn't move from her spot, and coldly studied her daughter with a strange distance that Quinn had never known to her.
"Quinn... We thought you were dead."
The Demacian woman felt like she had been stabbed by her mother's words. A long talk was about to come.
[A/N: I'm sorry if it took a bit long for the chapter to be published... But it's HOT outside, and inside too. Everywhere. Ugh... The heat is making me so dumb that I don't even know my mother language anymore. Imagine writing... We'll see how it goes this summer, but I can't promise anything. I really hope you appreciated this chapter, and that you will love even more all that is to come.]