Chapter Text
Rain pelted down from the dark skies of Noxus.
A young boy desperately tore through the thin lanes of slums, trying to find refuge from the downpour. The harsh rain struck his skin like sharp lashes, and the cloak he wore did little to protect him. Drenched to his small bones, he was slowly approaching an old warehouse.
Most of the windows on the ground floor were boarded up, but one near the corner had a gap where the planks had begun to rot. He glanced over his shoulder, chest heaving, then pressed himself against the wet stone wall.
With numb, aching fingers, he pried at the weakest board. Splinters bit into his palms, but he didn’t care. He was too tired. Too cold. A low, frustrated growl escaped his throat as he wedged his shoulder against the wood and shoved hard. The board cracked, then gave way with a sharp snap.
Talon froze, staying still and silent as he quickly surveyed his surroundings. The weather wouldn’t detour people who hunted the urchins for the Noxian war machine to devour. Nothing sounded, no rushing footsteps. Talon let himself breathe, and entered the shelter.
The moment his boots hit the dusty floor inside, his legs nearly buckled. The warehouse was colder than he expected, but at least it was dry. Talon scoped the area, dark and dust ridden, but it was secure enough. He trudged towards the nearest corner, and finally let himself collapse to his knees.
He peeled off his dripping cloak and shirt, wringing them out before draping them over a crate. Water pooled at his feet and every muscle ached now. All Talon wanted was to be warm, even for a few hours. He thought about the warmth of the seedy bar, not far from here. But they kicked out any young ones if they had nothing to buy and Talon was very much coinless at the moment.
The boy finally curled up in the corner behind a pile of old sacks, knees drawn up to his chest, one hand resting near the knife at his belt. Talon’s eyelids grew heavy, the sound of the rain on the roof slowly fading as exhaustion finally claimed him.
He had barely been asleep ten minutes when a faint creak came.
Talon kept his breathing slow and shallow, feigning sleep to assess. Someone was inside, and they were coming towards him. He stayed perfectly still as the footsteps drew closer, one hand already curled around the hilt of his small knife.
When he felt the shadow swallow him, he lunged with a fierce snarl, blade ready.
He slammed hard into the intruder, snarling gutterly like a fierce animal. The two of them crashed to the dusty floor in a tangle of limbs.
Talon had the stranger pinned beneath him in a hard thud, knees on their chest, knife pressed to their exposed throat. Only then did he really see them.
It was another boy.
The other boy was his around age and had long, messy black hair that fell wildly across his face. Rainwater still clung to it heavily. His rich, saffron eyes were wide with shock under Talon. His clothes were in worse wear than Talon’s, filthy and sodden and falling apart at the seams.
The other boy froze under him, hands raised slightly in surrender. He wasn’t fighting back. Instead he almost seemed to shrink, shoulders curling inward as he cowered beneath Talon. Talon scowled, and took hold of the other boy’s ratty shirt and gripped hard.
“Who are you?” He snarled, his voice raspy from disuse.
The other boy didn't answer, his mouth opening but nothing came out. Talon growled and pressed the steel deeper against the boy’s throat.
“K-…”
“Answer me!”
”Kayn!” the boy blurted out, voice cracking with fear. “My name’s Kayn! Please—don’t hurt me! I just wanted somewhere dry… away from the rain!”
Talon stared down at him, breathing hard.
This other boy wasn't even attempting to fight him off. There was every opportunity, even right now, when Talon’s blade ever so slightly came away from his throat. He just lay there, trembling, shoulders curled inward like he was trying to make himself smaller. Terrified and pathetic.
Talon slowly removed his blade, and the boy—Kayn, didn't even relax or move a muscle. He stayed there, on the cold floor, expecting to die any second.
“Not worth it,” Talon grunted and began to return to his corner. He checked his clothing, still soaked which made the boy grimace.
“Are you alone too?” Kayn asked softly, finally shifting to an upright position.
Talon didn’t answer. He kept his focus on the cloak, listening carefully as Kayn slowly pushed himself upright. The moment the other boy started to stand, Talon’s shoulders tensed. His fingers tightened around the hilt of his knife.
“I can help you make a fire!” Kayn said, and that made Talon take pause.
He slowly glanced over his shoulder, offering only a frown at Kayn now. The other boy took a cautious step closer.
“I took this from a stall,” the boy said, rummaging in his torn pocket. He pulled out a small glass vial filled with clear liquid. “It catches fast. It just needs something to start the flame…Like a spark. Maybe you can use your knife?”
For a brief, dark second, Talon considered it: slit the boy’s throat, take the vial, and keep the shelter for himself. No one would know, no one would care. It was one less street rat in Noxus.
But then he remembered, a year ago…The adult man with the crooked smile who had let a younger Talon huddle close to his fire one bitter night. The man hadn’t been any colder for sharing the warmth. He’d even laughed when Talon tried to steal his flint, then showed him how to use it instead.
Talon sighed quietly and began to scour the floor for a piece of flint, anything to create a spark.
“We need wood,” he said bluntly, not looking at Kayn. “You find some.”
Kayn blinked, hands twisting nervously at his sides. He looked uncertain, like he was waiting for a trap, but eventually swallowed and gave a small nod.
“Okay…” he whispered. He shuffled off into the darker parts of the warehouse, glancing back once or twice.
Talon, not fully trusting his new ally, began to hunt for things to burn too. Everything in this area was either mold ridden, or not flammable. He made an annoyed huff when after ten minutes of scouring the area, all he had to show for his efforts was a small handful of some sort of insulation.
He scowled at the pathetic pile in his palm.
This isn’t enough, he thought. Not even close.
Still, it was better than nothing. He carried it back toward their corner just as Kayn returned with a few small wood pieces clutched in his arms.
“I found these under some rubble, they’re dry!” Kayn reported proudly.
Talon just grunted and cleared a space for their fire. Kayn hesitated a few steps away, then carefully set the wood down near Talon. Together, they arranged the pieces in companable silence. Kayn followed Talon’s lead without being told, placing the smallest, driest bits in the center.
“You've used that thing for a fire before?” Talon asked, watching Kayn carefully stack the bigger pieces around the middle.
“Yeah, but we need to only use a little or it’ll explode,” Kayn said. Talon’s eyes widened slightly at the mention of an explosion, but he let Kayn put a few small drops onto their kindling.
Talon grabbed a small, jagged piece of flint that was laying close by. He took his knife, and struck them together with quick, practiced motions. Sparks flew, bright against the dark warehouse, but the kindling refused to catch.
He tried again. And again. Frustration built in his chest. His jaw tightened. Talon shot Kayn a sharp glare, ready to snarl that the fluid was useless and that he was useless—
WHOOF.
A sudden rush of flame erupted as the final spark landed. Talon quickly jumped back, nearly landing flat on his back. Kayn gasped, and picked up one of his retrieved sticks to begin poking at the small fire.
“You did it!” Kayn said, smiling softly.
The fire crackled steadily now, warming them up and lifting the cold that clung to their bones. Both boys scooted closer without a word, letting the warmth dry them both. For several long minutes they sat in silence, shoulders hunched with only the sound spitting of embers filling the air.
“Do you have any weapons?” Talon suddenly asked after a while.
Kayn glanced at him, then shook his head slowly. He held his palms to the fire, drying out his sodden sleeves.
“No, not anymore,” Kayn sighed. “I lost it a few days ago, some older boys saw I’d had a good day begging.”
“You beg?” Talon repeated, his nose crinkling in disgust. He’d seen some try that— You had to be smaller and ‘cuter’ to manage even getting a coin. Kayn was way past that, much like Talon. “Why beg? That’s why you got beaten up! They saw how weak you were!”
“What?” Kayn said with a blink.
“You should take their gold by force,” Talon huffed, again frustrated. “That’s what your knife is for!”
Kayn looked down, and pulled his knees to his chest. Talon sighed, and pinched the bridge of his nose. He let out a short breath through his nose.“Stay on that side of the fire,” Talon finally said, his annoyance fading in his tone. “And don’t touch my stuff. If anyone comes through that window tonight, you wake me up.”
“Y-yeah, I promise,” Kayn said with a quick nod.
“And tomorrow, we are going to get a good weapon. I’ll show you the best places to steal from. But I won’t steal it for you. You have to do it alone, like I did.”
“I will. Thank you.”
The two boys settled in closer to the flames, the rain still drumming heavily on the warehouse roof above them. Talon lay down after a while, letting himself succumb to his exhaustion. He was dryer, warmer, and for now— was in safe company.