Lux ran as fast as she could down the corridor. Her lungs burned, and her knees ached, but she kept going. She couldn't stop now. She whizzed past the family portraits in the great hall, slowing to a halt only at the one of herself and her brother, and stared up at it. It was almost as tall as the wall and twice as wide as Lux was tall. It was her favourite painting in the whole room. It showed her and Garen in the gardens, Lux sitting with her legs pulled to the side, and Garen behind her, leaning against a tree, whilst an array of blossoms and petals floated about them in the soft summer breeze. The memory brought tears to Lux's eyes but she would not allow them to be shed. She turned away from the portrait and continued running towards the dining hall. She threw herself through the heavy oak doors, almost falling with the sheer force with which she burst through. Her mother and father, who were staring out the large window at the other end of the room, her father's arm wrapped around her mother's shoulder, turned to look at her. Each wore the same expression.
Lux stared at her parents, her expression cold. "Is it true?" she whispered, looking hard at both adults.
"Luxanna -" her mother started.
"Is it true or isn't it!?" Lux screamed, banging her fist on the table. The table shook, and the crockery tinkled like little bells.
The Lord and Lady of Demacia had always known their daughter to be courteous and polite. They had never seen her so angry, and her sudden outburst surprised them. Her father stepped forward, and put his large hands on the table.
"Lux, please, don't get angry. Yes it's true, but we have our best commanders scouting at this very moment. I know you are upset, and I promise you, sweetheart, Garen's absence will not be a long one," he told her, gently and lovingly. Only Lux's father knew and fully understood the love she had for her brother; her mother seemed to have little interest in her children. The Lord could feel Lux's anguish, and he knew that she would go through anything to get him back, and he was determined to stop her at all costs.
Lux bent her head over the table, stray locks of her golden hair falling out of her headband and into her eyes. She curled her hands into fists and closed her eyes. Tears fell from her sapphire eyes and splashed on the white table cloth. Lux calmed herself and slowed her breathing before opening her eyes, and stared angrily at the table. Out of the corner of her eye, she spied one of the many crystal vases her mother insisted on using for the flowers they very rarely displayed. Lux stood up straight, took a deep breath, composed herself and picked up the vase. She pretended to be interested in the intricate design that was sculpted in the side of the vase. Turning it over in her dainty, soft, beautifully manicured hands, Lux's parents watched her curiously, wondering what she was doing with the vase. Lux glanced up at them, with such a cold expression in her eyes; she could have frozen the grounds into something one might have found in the Freljord. She held their gaze for what seemed to be an age. Lux gripped the vase tightly before she launched the across the table and watched it smash magnificently into a million tiny shards against the wall. Her mother screamed and covered her head with her hands, her father stood straight, his face showing the shock he felt. Lux stood, entirely straight, her hands curled in fists at her sides, her breathing sped up as her blood filled with adrenaline. She stared down the table at her mother, who was cowering into her father's shoulder. She noticed that he had taken a step backwards, away from the table. Lux stared her parents down; the look in her eyes was one that could kill. Lux made a face at her mother, who had looked up from the Lord's shoulder to see her daughter, staring straight at her, with a look full of rage. The Lady had never seen her daughter so angry.
Lux turned on her heel, and strolled out of the room, clenching and unclenching her fists, hoping it would calm her nerves. She stepped out into the lavishly decorated hallway, where she could barely hear her own footsteps, and wondered why her mother had insisted on using such thick carpeting. As soon as she was halfway down the hall, she started to run again, her footfalls silenced by the thick carpets. Instead of turning right and going up the spiral staircase that led to her room, she swerved left and ran through the kitchens, into the gardens, flying past the gardeners. The flowers turned to blurs of pinks and yellows and oranges and whites, as she ran through the labyrinth of hedges and flower bushes. Lux continued to run and she did not stop until she saw the clear, sparkling, deep blue water of the pond that sat at the very edge of the gardens. Lux ran as fast as her legs would allow her to go as she approached it. She leapt over the wall, and threw herself into the water.
She let the cool liquid surround her before she made her way back up to the surface. She swam over to the little island that was perched in the middle and lay down beneath the weeping willow. The willow was where Lux went whenever she felt upset or when she needed to be alone. This was her special place, which no one, not even Garen, knew about.
Lux sat next to the thick trunk, with her legs crossed, her eyebrows knitted together. She wanted to cry, but no tears came. The adrenaline rush had left her body, leaving only the bitter, angry feeling she had felt in the dining room. How could her parents have let this happen? Garen was the leader of the Demacian troops. He was the leader – Demacia needed him. Lux needed him.
She sat for hours, thinking about what could be happening to him, contemplating the situation. He could be tortured, or even killed. Lux finally stood up and went back to the castle, long after the sun had gone down and been replaced by the moon, which now was shining brightly, in the middle of a sea of stars. She had finally made a decision. She fetched her wand from her room, and preceded to her parent's room, where she left a note on the side table, which explained why she'd left and when she would return; if she ever did. She looked at her parents, sleeping, so peacefully, and she wondered how they could live with themselves, knowing what could be happening to their son. She knew it wasn't their fault, not really, but it felt good to blame someone.
As quickly and as quietly as she'd entered, Lux left the room and made for the servants entrance, avoiding people as she went, ducking into shadows wherever possible, and when there were no shadows to be found, she simply created her own. By the time she reached the stairs that indicated the servant's entrance, she had such an iron grip on her choice that no one could persuade her otherwise. If her parents wouldn't do anything about Garen themselves, then she would.
Lux stepped lightly down the graveled path to the wrought iron gate. She walked silently down the path into the dark, the moon being her only guiding light. Adrenaline coursed through her veins once more and the determination on her face was clear. She, and she alone, was going to save her brother, and anyone who got in the way, would be eliminated. She heard a bell coming from the tower; she knew it meant the castle staff had discovered her bed, empty; she knew she should go back and apologise. But she kept walking, refusing to look back at the manor until she had returned with her prize.