An Assassins Love

Chapter 3

Marinette

My legs swing back and forth as I wait for Frost Dragon to show up. My trunks had already been picked up and I had my carry-on bag for the plane ride to the League. I was wearing my assassin outfit, and my parents and Bri were already asleep. A sigh escaped my lips and I leaped down, landing without a sound. Creeping around my room and stalking to my now empty desk, I fiddle with the 3 letters on the light grey metal. 1 for each person; Papa, Maman, and Bridgette. They all knew I was leaving but I still wanted to leave them a letter.

A tap came from my trapdoor, and I bolted onto my bed and unlatched the trapdoor. Frost Dragon stared at me with her white-blue eyes before scanning the room and landed on my bag. She gave a soft hum before giving me a nod. Swinging my bag over my shoulder, I leaped onto the balcony and close the trapdoor. She breaks off in a sprint and I follow, keeping pace easily.

Leaping over chimneys, doing flips, dancing from balcony to balcony, soundlessly running through the night engulfed streets of Paris, putting my hood down and letting my hair fly in the wind; adrenaline coursed through my veins intertwining with the joy in my heart. We stopped after running for who-knows-how-long and my eyes landed on the black jet in front of us. Frost Dragon walked forward and called out in Arabic.

The door slid open, and she walked inside, my feet gingerly landing on the beige carpet. The others were here as well. Surprise flickered through me when I saw someone else.

"Rose?"

The petite blonde gave me a nod and a small smile. "Blood Rose to you Lady Shadow."

Nino swoops in and wraps his arms around Frost Dragon's waist. I roll my eyes at the couple. Juleka sat next to Rose and pecked her cheek. Luka was nowhere to be seen and Chloe was with Kagami, both of them sharpening and inspecting their weapons. I sit down and pull down my mask. I bend to the side and look underneath the seats for the drinks. Smiling once finding my intended object, I pull out a bottle of orange juice. I open my bag and pull out my sketchbook and start drawing.

I look up when a piece of paper hits my head. Glaring at him, Nino give a shrug. "Bea had something to say."

"Who?"

"Me." I look at Frost Dragon. "Beatrix is my name. Beatrix Astride. You know me as Frost Dragon."

Chloe looks up. "And Sarin's betrothed. Everybody at the League knows between the uniting of the Lahiffe family and the Astride family; The bonding between the Heir Lahiffe and Lady Astride."

Luka, who appeared from the shadows, spoke. "Frost Dragon and Sarin are known as one of the deadliest duos, simply because when they work together, they can accomplish anything and destroy anything or anybody in their way. But cool, now we know who Frost Dragon is. I'm Heartstrings."

"Huntress."

"Paralyzer"

"Time Twister."

"Tatsu"

"Lady Shadow but you already knew that." Her pale skin turned slightly pink, and she gave a grateful nod.

"Thank you. But I also had something else to say." She turned to me, her expression now solemn and serious and kneeled. "I, Beatrix Astride, by no means am manipulating what was told to me, lying about the words of Lady Talia, Daughter of Ra's Al Ghul, and swear my life, honor, and name to my words. If she pleases, Lady Shadows, also known as Daughter of Lady Cheng, Lady Night, and Black Ghost, may blood bond me to my words to sanctify them from any dishonor, taint, and manipulation."

I stand there with wide eyes and flickers my gaze to everybody else; they seemed just as stunned as I, if not more. Beatrix continues to speak.

"The message I was sent to deliver is from Lady Talia, she had said, 'Lady Shadow is to come to the League to continue her training, to prove her loyalty is still intact, to show that she has not wasted away. Once proven, she will be given a task that only the best may be granted; only the best will receive and complete without fail. Lady Shadow will receive a brief examining training before going through a ruthless tournament to be accepted for the assignments. She shall be going through the Demon Tournament, a tournament which can only include the best and was created by Ra's Al Ghul to show who is the most powerful. She shall compete and will only be taken out if her life is lost. These are the words of Lady Talia, Daughter of Ra's Al Ghul."

Shock resounded through me as Beatrix stood up and squared her shoulders. "How does Lady Shadow respond?"

I look her dead in the eyes and make my face void of any emotion. "Lady Shadow accepts and wishes for this to be told to Lady Talia, 'Lady Shadow wishes to part of the tournament, and will prove to have a fierce and unwavering loyalty to the League, that her skills have only improved, been kept intact and she has not wasted away; She will live up to the title her mother has left and she will leave a greater title behind and no assassin will speak her name without feeling the power behind it.' This is what Lady Shadow has said and Beatrix Astride, other name, Frost Dragon, will tell this to Lady Talia without fail, for fear that her honor be stripped from her name, and her title and mark branded with shame and dishonor."

My tone was one of finality and seriousness and Beatrix nodded. "I accept this message from Lady Shadow." A bright light shone throughout the room signaling the bond was in place.

Silence stood in the room as we sat, and I picked up my sketchbook and continued drawing.

"So, are we not going to talk about what just happened?"

I look up at Nino and shrug. "No. There isn't anything to talk about. What's done is done and that's not going to change. Unless you are referring to something else?"

He purses his lips before shaking his head. I look back down at my sketchbook and take a swig of my drink.

"Nettie, you're going through the Demon Tournament, there is a significance to that." I sigh and look at Alix who was staring at me intently.

"Leave it. We'll find out, or I'll find out and tell you guys, about the reason behind it when we get to the League." The edge to my tone suggests that the conversation is over, and she understands.

The Demon Tournament was created by Ra's Al Ghul to test assassin's and see just how good they were. Not many have died in the tournament but those who have were either left dead or you were thrown into the pit. If you were revived, you were trained despite exhaustion, despite fatigue, despite the inhuman conditions they spent hours in. Then they went again and hopefully didn't die.

Anyways, the ones who didn't die fought each other, and finally the Top 2 went against each other. The assassin who won was declared the winner and they were chosen for the mission. The mission was normally very hard, sometimes borderline impossible; sometimes it was going to kill an enemy of the League, spying on someone for important information, or following someone who was to be part of a plan for the League. Either way, the missions were normally very hard and exhausting and required trained and skilled assassins who meet the requirements for the mission.

What the mission is we aren't told, only the winner is told. The mission is never told out to everybody else, in the case that a jealous assassin decides to follow the assassin with the mission. That could potentially cause the mission to go haywire and potentially endanger the assassin on the mission, and also defeat the entire purpose of the mission. And as foolish and idiotic as it is, it has happened and the assassin who basically ruined the entire mission was executed in front of the entire League simply to tarnish their name, to act as a warning, and as punishment for their actions.

The number of assassins that participated in the tournament varied because of the mission but it was normally about 25 or less. Maman had been 9 tournaments and won 6 of them.

She had told me all about her mission, all of them required her to murder somebody, gather intel, and kidnap somebody who was part of big plans for the League. Mama had said that the people she was spying on were all skilled and trained, always on guard, and were very good actors. 4 of them had been in the League and were close to the Demon Head or had a high position in the League, including holding an immense respect, fear, and power from the League.

Snapping out of my thoughts, I was greeted with comfortable conversations, light laughter, and the occasion weapons whistling through the air or landing on something. But a single question kept nudging the back of my mind.

What was so important that I had to go through the Demon Tournament? 

A/N: Pfftt- I got my computer fixed and now I can actually type without having the world's amount of mistakes and spelling mishaps. 

Sorry for updating a little late...

Bye!

Danielle