Lianne squeezed through the streets, searching for the stairs downwards. There were too many people here, in the stalls, walking along the pathway, and in the buildings above. She needed to get the hell out of here before she was seen. Hopefully Sirius was behind her, well, actually she wasn’t sure if she wanted him here. All that Lianne could hope for was to kill both of the targets fast enough and get out of this godforsaken place.

A child bumped into her leg and kept running, laughing as another one chased them through the crowds. Vendors on either side smiled as they sold their goods to the customers. Nobody was carrying a weapon, at least none that Lianne could see. There should have been a stairway around there somewhere, unless it collapsed since she was last here. Rounding a corner, Lianne shuffled through an alleyway. Murmurs came from further down, echoing loosely from the tight walls. Her eyes narrowed and she ducked into a corner. She felt somebody bump into her from behind.

“Hey, what-”

She put her fingers to her lips, motioning for Sirius to get out of sight. He moved behind her, attempting to peek out from the wall. There was a small group in front of them, three men huddled close together. Lianne narrowed her eyes, attempting to listen in on what they were saying. They were passing something to each other, probably something illegal, she didn’t care to find out. Luckily, it didn’t seem like they were being told to keep watch, and they started to walk their separate ways. Maybe security to the underground had gotten lighter since last time.

Making sure they were all gone, Lianne moved towards the staircase, checking each corner. The stairway was just as she remembered, it’s tight corners forcing her to duck as she walked down it. She always hated going down into the catacombs, she still did. Sirius tapped her on the shoulder, causing her to jump.

“Why did we need to hide from those men?”

“Don’t touch me.”

She turned away, irritated and still wary of her surroundings. The walls were made of roughly cobbled stone that barely were visible in the little sunlight that came from the stairway. Metal grates lined the sides of the walls, rusted and corroded from years of neglect. Luckily the catacombs were larger than the stairway, the long and twisting hallways giving Lianne some room to breath. If she was correct, their destination wouldn’t be too far. Dimly flickering candles were placed just far enough apart from each other to allow the corners to be shrouded in darkness. Lianne calmed her breathing and continued further inwards.

Down here there was little sense of direction to any normal person, you just had to know where each hall led. Straight for two intersections, a left, continue forwards for 3 more, and then take a right. That was what she was told before, right? She could only hope her memory wasn’t failing her. The sound of Sirius’s footsteps fell behind her, echoing through the halls. Lianne wished that he would be more quiet, but admittedly, his footsteps assured her she wasn’t being snuck up upon.

Water dripped from the loosely made brick ceiling above as Lianne counted the doors on her right. Placing her hand on the fifth, she readied her other hand on the handle of her sword. Sirius came up behind her, and she shot him a glance before returning her attention to the door. It slowly creaked open, the rotting wood swinging slowly from rusty hinges. The entrance gave way to a pitch black staircase. As the door stopped moving, her unease grew. Lianne took a deep breath, staring down into the darkness.

“Lianne?”

She suppressed the urge to startle from Sirius’s voice and let out a curse under her breath. Without looking back at him, she slowly stepped downwards into the shadows. Each step felt like it was going to slip out from under her, like something was going to pull everything away. The air stiffened and Lianne fought to keep her breathing in check. She felt a tingle go down her spine, causing her to shiver as she reached the bottom step. It was so dark in the room, the walls weren’t even visible. She felt her throat close up as she became aware of every sensation in her body.

Taking unwittingly cautious steps, Lianne forced herself to move to the end of the room. It should be there, he always left one here. Fumbling with shaking hands, she reached a small table, searching the length of it. Her fingers hit a small piece of metal, and she allowed herself to breathe a little. With a small metal ping, a flame lit from a candle on the table, illuminating the room. Stopping for a moment to calm herself, she carefully looked back at Sirius. Thankfully, he was looking around the room instead of at her.

It was quiet in the room as she scanned around her. This was definitely the right place, the pieces of cloth on the ground, the scrap metal in the corner, the vials that were laid out on the table, it was all familiar. Lianne shook her head in disgust at the memory of this place. She leaned down, picking up the remains of a bloodied and torn shirt. Sirius walked over to her side, still taking a look around the room.

“Why are we here? This place looks abandoned.”

Lianne placed the shirt back down, standing up straight.

“They were here recently.”

She gestured to the vials on the table, the liquids and powders inside them sitting stagnant. Sirius walked closer, leaning down to look at them.

“What are those?”

“Poisons.”

She turned away, carefully examining the whole room. The walls were the same decrepit stone, barely holding onto themselves. Wooden support beams above were on the brink of collapse, their wood arched into a bow. However, that thing wasn’t here, and neither was he. Maybe they were already gone? No, he would’ve taken everything from here, he never left a trace. She turned back around, taking a look at Sirius. He stood by one of the walls, running his hand on the wet stones. Lianne slowly approached.

“What are you doing?”

“There’s something behind here.”

“It’s another room, the walls are thin.”

“No, there’s a light… and a small breeze now.”

Lianne’s eyes widened as she attempted to warn him. Running towards Sirius, she tried to push him out of the way but was too late. A deafening thoom blasted through the wall as the bricks went flying, toppling onto Sirius and sending Lianne tumbling to the floor. She let out a cough and pushed herself back up to her feet, her chest aching. She looked around, the dust from the destroyed brick clearing up. Sirius was buried underneath the rubble, letting out small gasps of agony as he struggled under the weight. She couldn’t help him right now, there was no time.

The smoke cleared and a figure walked through the newly made hole. His dark brown cloak shrouded most of his figure, but the curved sword by his hip and the bandaged arm were unmistakable. He looked through his dark hair, his pale skin and two emerald green eyes piercing through Lianne. She unsheathed her blades, addressing him with a snarl.

“You.”

“Lianne.”

She tightened her grip on her blades, staring at the man before her. How long had it been? How long had she been waiting for this? He placed his hand on the wrapped handle of his sword, stepping one foot back.

“Walk away.”

She stepped forwards, readying her blades.

“Shut the fuck up.”

He narrowed his eyes, leaning forwards, prepared to strike.

“If we fight, you know what’s going to happen.”

She let a chuckle out and pointed one sword at him.

“I’m going to make this hurt. I’m going to make this hurt a lot.”

He kept his stance steady as she twirled her blades and hissed at him.

“I’m taking both your arms this time.”

Launching forwards, she swung her swords at him in quick succession. He dodged the first two strikes, stepping to the side. The familiar quick rasp of his sword exiting its sheath rang out as the sword whipped by Lianne’s head. The curved blade swung back around, but Lianne was already lunging forwards with her swords. He quickly deflected her blow, pushing her to the side.

She leaped back at him, pushing forwards with wild strikes. Anger flared in her eye as she put more power into each strike she threw. Swinging them both downwards, she slammed them into his sword. He blocked it in time, bracing the blade with his hand. She pushed further, attempting to force her blades through and into his skull. He looked up at her, his face close to hers.

“You’re open.”

She realized what he meant too late and felt pain jolt through her knee. As Lianne stumbled away, she felt him grab onto her arm and yank her back. He slammed the pommel of his sword into her temple, causing her vision to blur and ears to ring. She fought to stand up straight as he kept a hold on her arm. He pulled his leg up for a moment and then slammed it into the side of her ribcage. Lianne tumbled to the floor, losing the grip on her swords. She curled up on the floor, clutching her side as it burned in agony. Gasping for air, she tried to crawl to her blades.

~

Sirius groaned in pain as his vision cleared. He needed to get up, to get this rubble off of him. Lianne was fighting whoever that man was, and it didn’t sound like she was doing well. He looked around, spotting a sword next to him. It wasn’t his, it was Lianne’s. She wasn’t far from the discarded blade, and was writhing in agony, clutching her side. The man slowly walked over to her, sheathing his sword. The ringing in Sirius’s ear’s slowly quieted as the man spoke.

“You never learnt a thing.”

He kicked Lianne downwards again, causing her to let out a sharp cry. She slowly pushed herself onto her elbows, letting out laboured gasps. Sirius struggled with the debris on top of him, pushing bits of it off. Lianne got to her hands, groaning as she reached for her knife. The man grabbed onto the back of her head, pulling it up and slamming it back into the stone.

“You didn’t accept anything that was given to you.”

He ripped off the cloth that was on Lianne’s face, throwing it to the side. Lianne opened her eyes from the pain, looking faintly at Sirius. He stared in awe at her face; she had two eyes, and the one that was previously covered was softly glowing an orange red. It pierced the darkness, staring right back at him. Her eyes widened and she turned her face away, trying to get up once again. Sirius managed to get the rubble off of himself, stumbling to his feet.

The man looked up at Sirius, narrowing his eyes. He yanked Lianne upwards by her arm, pulling out a knife from underneath his cloak. Lianne looked at him dimly, coughing up blood as she was raised by one arm. She let out a scream as he stabbed the blade through her bicep, lifting her up further. She cried in pain with each breath as the man held her, looking directly at Sirius.

“Who are you.”

Sirius picked up his sword and pointed it at the man. Lianne screamed in pain again as the man pulled her in front of him and pulled out a second knife, placing it against her throat. Sirius stood still, his stance firm.

“Let her go.”

“Answer me.”

“We’re partners.”

The man paused for a second and pressed the blade underneath Lianne’s chin, pushing her head back and upwards.

“You were hired.”

Sirius didn’t respond, his mind racing. There was no way he could take this man out before he killed Lianne. He had him completely trapped here. To Sirius’s surprise, the man cursed and put the knife at Lianne’s throat away.

“If you want to live, leave both her and the contract.”

He pushed Lianne to her knees and ripped the knife from her arm. She let out a cry of pain and fell to the ground, shivering. Sirius ran over, putting down his sword as he came to her side. The man held onto the handle of his sword and a blue and green energy flowed from it to his hand. In a green flash, he was gone. Sirius’s eyes widened; that was teleportation, he shouldn’t be able to do that without any equipment.

Shaking his head, Sirius pulled Lianne upwards and examined her wounds. Her leg was out of alignment, and there were probably a few broken ribs. Of course, there was the wound channel in her arm, which was a huge problem. Lianne struggled from Sirius’s arms, hoarsely screaming at the man as he left.

“I'LL KILL YOU! I’M GOING TO MAKE YOU SUFFER!”

She tried to continue, but all she could manage was a scream of pain. Sirius shook his head and held onto her as she tried to scramble to where the man used to be.

“Lianne, get a hold of yourself!”

Her struggling slowly stopped as she whimpered in pain, her whole body shuddering. Sirius placed his hands onto the wound in her arm, attempting to put pressure onto it. Lianne growled at him with the loudest voice she could muster through the pain.

“Let go of me. Now.”

Sirius looked her in the eyes and sternly growled back.

“No, you’re in no shape to move. I’m not even sure if your ether can save your arm.”

“It can. Now let me go.”

“No.”

She looked up at him as her voice fell into an angry hiss.

“That’s the target, kill him.”

Sirius let out a long sigh, maintaining eye contact.

“It’s more than that, isn’t it?”

Lianne stopped and looked away from him, keeping her still glowing eye facing the ground. Sirius shook his head, as surprising as it was, it wasn’t a good time to ask about that. Lianne resigned from the conversation and let Sirius tend to her wounds. She had to be in so much pain right now, in fact, she should probably be passed out by now. Her uneven and shaking breaths weren’t a good sign, but at least she was still breathing.

Sirius pulled his hand off, taking a look at the wound channel. Somehow, it had already clotted and the bleeding had stopped. He moved down to her leg, running his hand gently along the knee. It was dislocated, most likely hurt like hell. He slowly positioned it in place and looked up at Lianne.

“Ready?”

“Just do it already.”

He nodded and pushed hard, feeling it pop into place. She let out a stifled cry, taking deep breaths through grit teeth. Sirius sat by her side, pulling out a strip of cloth to wrap around her arm, just in case. Thank god she had her ether, Sirius didn’t want to be unable to save yet another person. Although, maybe these injuries were just a small problem compared to her other ones.

Who was that man to her? They had a past together, and the hatred she had for him was immense. Was this why she took the job? To kill him? Hell, did she even care about the money? Sirius got up and walked across the rubble to pick up her swords. They were incredibly light and well balanced, and the grip felt immediately comfortable. He turned around, coming back to her side. She looked up at him, the orange light from her eye glowing. He placed the swords beside her and knelt down. She turned her face away and shuddered.

“... Why didn’t you listen to him?”

“What do you mean?”

“Why are you still here? You can just leave.”

Sirius stopped to think for a second. He never actually considered the man’s offer.

“We were hired for a job, I need to see it through.”

She let out a long sigh, keeping her body still.

“It’s for money, huh?”

“Hm?”

She let out a grunt of pain as she propped herself up. Sirius quickly moved to support her, to which she pushed him away.

“Don’t.”

“You shouldn’t be moving.”

“Don’t tell me what to do.”

He slowly retracted his hands as she sat up, her head sagging downwards.

“You don’t get it, you never would.”

Sirius sighed and put his arm on his knee.

“You’re right about me not understanding this, but you won’t explain anything to me.”

She glared at him and quickly turned her face away again.

“Why do you even care? You just need to finish the job, right?”

“This is a lot more than a job to you.”

“Just stop.”

Her words were exasperated as she picked her swords up with her good arm and sheathed them. Sirius watched Lianne, her face stained with her coughed up blood. She wiped her mouth, quickly glancing at Sirius as he spoke.

“Lianne, this is too much for me to ignore.”

She quickly turned towards him, her eyes wide as she snapped at him.

“Fine, fucking fine. His name is Merrick, he’s the one who did this to me.”

She pointed her finger to her eye and spoke in a whisper.

“I’m going to kill him and you as well if you get in my way. Is that enough for you?”

Sirius felt her gaze upon him and sat in silence. Lianne sat back, grunting in pain and holding her side. He grimaced and looked away, realizing he still wanted to know more. How deep did this whole thing go? How did Alastor play into this? What exactly was Lianne’s relationship with this Merrick? Too many questions, too few answers. He decided to keep his questions small.

“The eye, why is it like that?”

She touched her hand to it, brushing her hair out of the way. A scar connected to the side of it, drawing along the side of her head.

“It’s corrupted ether.”

Sirius took a moment to comprehend that fact. She turned away, holding her head as he slowly started to speak.

“Why did you cover it?”

“Why do you think?”

Sirius shook his head.

“To hide it, I don’t know-”

Lianne whipped around, snapping at him.

“Exactly, you don’t. Have you ever had to run from people you’ve just saved? Been treated exactly like the things you’ve just killed?”

Her voice shook as she finished her sentence. A silence filled the room as the small candle which still sat upon the table flickered sofly. She turned away, her voice calmer but still aggravated.

“You know nothing about me and I’d rather keep it that way. You don’t want to know more, for your own sake.”

Sirius just nodded and sat back against the wall, giving her a bit of space. Her breaths were calmer now, but still heavy. Through her hair, he could still see glimpses of the orange light. Letting the silence grow heavy, the candle slowly flickered out. Sirius stretched his arm outwards, feeling his chest ache. The bricks must’ve left a bruise, thankfully his chestplate took most of the blow. He let his body relax as the light disappeared from the room, leaving it in darkness. Lianne shifted beside him, gasping as she tried to get up. Sirius moved to her side, carefully putting his hand in front of her.

“You shouldn’t be moving, let yourself heal.”

“It’s not safe here.”

“It’ll be even more unsafe for you if you try to move with those injuries.”

She looked up at him and let herself fall back down, visibly exhausted.

“Fine, just get the light at least.”

Sirius nodded and stood to his feet, making his way to the table. He examined the light, it was of an interesting design; it was a metal sphere with a small handle protruding out it’s side.. Pushing down on the lever on it’s side, a flame sparked out the top.

Setting it back down, Sirius’s gaze fell to the three small vials on the table. He picked them up, carefully handling them underneath the small light. Two held powders, one yellow and the other purple. The other one contained an orange liquid which sloshed lazilly back and forth. He recognized that one, it was alghoul neurotoxins. How did somebody manage to extract it? The alghoul had to remain alive through the whole process in order to keep the venom from dissipating. Carefully setting the vials back down, he walked back to Lianne, who was still laid back on pieces of rubble. She eyed him for a moment and then returned her gaze to the ceiling.

“You don’t want to know what those do.”

“I know what alghoul toxins do, what are the others?”

She sighed and grimaced.

“One is wolfsbane mixed with stalker extract, the other is sulphur dust and swamp leech spores.”

Sirius nodded slowly, sitting back down beside her.

“Merrick, he’s an assassin, isn’t he?”

“Call him whatever you want.”

“What do you call him?”

“A monster.”

Sirius looked over at her, surprised at the speed of her response.

“What do I need to know about him?”

“What?”

“I don’t know how to fight him, what can he do?”

She let out a long sigh and rubbed her forehead.

“What do you want me to say? He’ll do anything he can to kill you, and anything he can to make my life a living hell.”

“How was he able to teleport?”

“I don’t know, now can you just shut up?”

She turned her face away, moving her hand to feel her ribs. Sirius let her be and slumped back, dead end again. The drips from the hallway echoed down the stairs as the quiet sank in.