The sun was too bright. It hurt his eyes.
That was what Talon told himself as he stumbled away from the main street. It was the brightness of the sun that was making his eyes water and tear up. Nothing else. What man’s eyes would not sting to be exposed to such brilliance after days in the dark?
He made his way to the alley, groping blindly with his eyes still shut. Tears slipped out from under the closed eyelids, gluing his eyelashes together in damp spikes of black, and Talon sagged against the wall as if he didn’t trust himself to stay upright without its support.
It was close enough to the Du Couteau mansion still that he was in the nicer area of Noxus. He could let himself sink to the floor, so he did, drawing his knees to his chest and pressing his face into them. His shoulders shook with gasped, sobbing breaths, even as Talon fiercely told himself that it was only the sun that brought tears to his eyes and that he was not crying.
He was not crying. He wasn’t.
Vlad walked briskly; lost in thought, idly tracing his gaze across the various intricacies of Noxus.
A casual glance down the darkened alleyway.
He froze; the momentary glance had provoked a flicker of recognition - thus, eliciting a double-take. Curled against the wall in that recognizable crimson scarf with brunet hair twisting to his shoulders was Talon. Vlad hesitated; he hadn’t seen Talon since that night when he had drunkenly expressed to the assassin that he couldn’t see him anymore.
A surge of guilt crashed against his chest and he bit his bottom lip. He wanted to gush apologies, beg forgiveness, give Talon anything he asked. Anything to make up for the drunken words from a drunken night.
Because he feared Talon didn’t want to see him.
And why would he? It would make sense. If he was in Talon’s shoes, he wouldn’t want to see anyone.
But this could be it. This may one of the only chances he had to see the assassin.
With fluid steps and desperate quickness, he closed the distance between himself and the assassin. He dropped to his knee to make himself eye-level with Talon.
Upon closer inspection, the man seemed to be crying.
And seeing him like that hurt.
In words barely above a whisper, soft and fragile with a flicker of desperate emotion, he spoke to the man.
“Talon.. Talon I’m sorry. I was drunk. I was drunk and I didn’t mean a word of what I said. It’s not an excuse, I’m not excusing my behavior that night. I just.. you have to know that I would never say that to you in my right mind.”