"Katarina!" I rushed at her, hauling her off Dagger right before he stabbed her. "Get a hold of yourself," I whispered in her ear, but she thrashed against me all the same.

"Murderer! I'm gonna tear you apart, you bastard!" She spat at him, seeming not to have heard me at all. 

Just what has happened exactly?

"Kat!" I scolded, but once more she appeared deaf to my voice. Dagger laughed maniacally. 

"Come get some, dolly!" He taunted. 

"Kat... remember he can tear you apart with his bare hands." I pleaded with her, telling myself that if anything happened to her, my crew will be next... if they even return from the suicide mission. I refused to dwell on that thought. Newbie had to make it, but I wonder if that was the only reason even back then. I wonder if a part of me had already known what was to come, had already known what she'd come to mean. 

I grabbed my blaster and pointed it at Dagger. 

"Leave." He put his hands in the air, in mock surrender. 

"Ay, but she wanna kill me! I ain't gonna lie down 'er feet!" I clicked the release and the shots snapped to position.

"Leave, Dagger, or I'll be the one to shoot you." He gulped, his eyes narrowed, focusing on her and then at me. 

"Why ya care?"

"It was my assignment. You had no right to interfere!"

"Well, that ain't what they told me!" I shot right next to his head, close enough that he probably felt the heat of it on his skin, but no damage was inflicted. 

"One. Two..." He sighed. 

"Fine. See ya around ma man!" 

As soon as he was out of sight, I let go of Katarina to spin her around to face me: about to scold her for her idiocy. That thought died as soon as I saw her face. She was... crying. 

"I'll kill him!" She muttered. "That fucking bastard! I'll kill him! I'll rip him to shreds!" Tears streamed down her cheeks, that were bright red, and I much like the idiot who lacked all semblance of social skills had no idea what to do. 

What?... Am I supposed to say something? Touch her? How do you comfort her? 

I didn't know and I found it rather odd that I had the urge to comfort her at all. She was only an assignment. Snapping out of my daze, I looked around looking for any idiots, but we were all alone in the huge gymnasium. 

So much for training. 

I decided that the safest bet was to treat her like Grace whenever she was weepy. Hoping I was not about to get bitch-slapped for only trying to help, I gathered her in my arms and rubbed her back soothingly. She was much shorter than me, so it was awkward: my arms rested loosely on her shoulders and I had no real idea of how much pressure I should apply, since she seemed so delicate she might break at the slightest provocation.

Won't be thinking that when she sasses you! 

But it all made perfect sense. She was trying to put a brave face. She was trying to ignore the demons that plagued her. Little did she know that they cannot be ignored; the demons always won, and I should know. Been there, many times over, and it was always the same result that greeted me. 

============

I and greenie went out for lunch that day and there came the last question I had ever expected her to ask me.

"Do you like it? Assassination I mean." She asked quietly as we sat side by side not staring at each other, not acknowledging each other, much anyway. We sat in silence for a while as I argued my response. I know I don't like killing people. I never did find any pleasure in taking a life, but what did I want to tell her? Ultimately, I didn't reply and she didn't press the matter. Instead, she asked another question, from a completely different subject. I admired that about her, how she could read into my silence and know if I didn't want to share and so she would try another approach, a lot like chess. I found her way of handling my silence refreshing and with her initial feistiness gone after learning the truth about why she couldn't leave and why she should listen to us, she became a lot more tolerable. Most of the times anyway.

"Do you know a Thanatos? Is he one of the main generals of the league?"

I was astonished she would know of him since she was for the most part oblivious of the League and the other districts, so how did she learn about him? I didn't answer, directly anyway instead I asked her a question of my own.

"How do you know him? And what do you know of him?" She looked at me then, studied my face as if arguing whether or not she should trust me then shrugged.

"I heard of him. I don't know much though, just the rumours that seem rather contradictory. I collected that he has strong ties with the League, but he's not an ally, rather a rebel who saves people in the night. Somewhat like your typical phantom hero. No one had really seen him in the flesh and no one knows what he looks like. His kills are usually rogue assassins or League orders that shouldn't be and his kill sign is that of a white rose marked by the blood of his victims." She explained moving her glass in circles as if she needed the distraction to talk.

"When you put it that way he almost sounds decent, but how do you know he is a guy?" She looked at me again and shrugged, sipping her juice.

"I don't. I just assumed he is a guy." She took another sip staring out of the window on her right scanning the streets. It was my turn to stare at her. I kept my emotion in check when I answered her earlier question.

"What I know about Thanatos is just as much, but I would have to disagree about the part of him or her being a phantom hero, you see. I myself haven't met Thanatos, but from where I stand he's a killer same as us. It doesn't matter if it seems that his kills are justified, no kill is ever justified and whoever says otherwise is trying to sell you something. Besides, maybe Thanatos is doing it to repent for something horrible that he or she had done in the past. My point is don't be foolish enough to think of someone as being a hero for nothing more than street rumours. As for the part of him or her being a general, then I highly doubt it, since it is very much contradictory to what you've said he or she does in his or her free time." I finished and we sat in silence again as she took out her sketchbook and started sketching the view outside fantastically really, her every stroke captured the scene to perfection, every detail drawn so beautifully, so talentedly. I couldn't help but stare at her as she worked on it and then I stared up and saw the lone raven bird with the golden eyes staring back at me, with the same cock of its head from before. It was then that I made up my mind.

"Raven..." I said softly, testing how it sounded and I found myself liking the sound of the name. Greenie looked at me puzzled, with the same cock of her head as the raven bird outside on the tree branch.

"What was that?" She asked still looking at me with those perceptive, golden eyes of hers, the same as the raven's eyes. 

How did I miss it before? She does look like the raven.

"Raven. That's your new name." I finally said as I averted my eyes from her and stared at the raven bird outside instead. She appeared confused as we sat in silence again, thinking. The silence was not awkward, nor tense. It was just silence, just the way I like it. She seemed to understand my need for quiet time and was willing to sit for hours in silence herself, which I acknowledged.

"Raven..." She finally said as if testing the name herself. "Any specific reason?" She stared up at me. I shrugged.

"You remind me of the Ravens," I answered nonchalantly, whilst pointing at the bird on top of the branches. She nodded as if that was all she needed and went back to sketching while I drank my tea and watched her work on it, mesmerised by her work; by her just like I had been that day I first met her at school. Raven... I thought again and decided that I was rather fond of it, no... a lot fond of her.