The original Spanish-language version of this story can be found at /s/10650287/1/Mi-%C3%A1ngel
Author's Note:
Hello to all, people. Well after a short time without writing, here I come with a fic about Darius and Lux, how they met, or at least the version that I made up. XD This morning, listening to one of my favorite songs from the 70's, this idea occurred to me. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it, see you later. ^_^
Translator' Note:
This translation is very much a literary translation instead of a literal translation. I don't speak Spanish, so I took the Google translate version, some online dictionaries, and my own knowledge of the English language, ground them all up into a fine powder, and sprinkled it over the original text. In case you're wondering, like I was, the song mentioned above is El chico de la armónica by Mickey, if you want to look it up on Youtube.
My Angel
"Dad!" The cry of the children, in unison, reached the ears of their father, who turned only once to see his two children, both with tears in their eyes.
"Strong boys do not cry," he told them with a smile, as he turned to enter the flames, listening to the voices of his children for the last time while searching for his wife.
"I have to go, I have to save them!" The larger of the boys wanted to enter the house to look for his parents. The neighborhood was on alert, trying to quell the cruel and powerful flames, while preventing the boys from entering.
Finally, the flames extinct, they found two charred bodies belonging to the parents of the Noxian children. Those who had been holding them turned them loose, moving away from the scene like the others. They had successfully prevented any more houses from burning, and only two Noxians had perished. They lamented the death of the two parents, great soldiers both, but now the children would have to fend for themselves, for pity was for the weak.
Looking at the bodies of their parents and holding back tears, little Darius stoically endured the sobbing of his little brother, crying uncontrollably at his side, knees and body covered in soot like his elder.
"Shut up, Draven. We can do nothing but continue to move forward with firm steps." He took himself into what was left of the house. All their memories, their entire family, consumed in one second. Passing beside their parents he tried not to look at their faces, or what remained of them.
Little could be saved from the catastrophe. Little Darius found a large blanket, a pair of pants that weren't too scorched, the same with a shirt. His brother's jacket caught under the overhang of a cabinet. He reached to take it, realizing that his mother had bought it just a week ago. He squeezed it between his hands, trying not to cry, without success. He went into the kitchen, there was nothing salvageable there. Returning to the exit, he encountered his brother caressing their mother's charred face, weeping without making a single sound.
"Let's go," whispered Darius. Tossing the bundle of clothes and the blanket on his back, he pulled his brother's hand aside in order to raise him up and move him away from such a macabre scene.
Now nothing would be the same again, pity and charity were a sign of weakness in Noxus, and for good or ill, they were Noxian. The streets would be their home from now on. He no longer had a warm place to sleep, no more meals served at a table, no more calling to his mother when his brother bothered him. Determined not to weep anymore, and to protect his only remaining family, Darius advanced down the street, lit by the bright rays of the sun, it made for a magnificent day...
"Brother... I'm hungry," said the smaller boy in a low whisper, holding his knees and shivering. The months have passed, and the raw winter lashes Noxus from all four sides. Darius looks at Draven, also shivering. The blanket saved from their old house is not enough to keep warm on a cold, wet street, where a fine rain is falling intermittently, becoming stronger as the minutes pass.
The elder boy knows his brother is not well. Placing his hand on his brother's forehead again, he confirms that the boy has a high temperature, feeling powerless since he can do nothing for the fever. The fact that they have not eaten for three days, joined with the moisture that soaks them down to their bones is taking its toll on their young bodies.
"We have to move from here," he said. Wrapping his brother in the blanket as best he can, and taking up his weight, the young Noxian moved slowly down the deserted streets in search of shelter. At least then the rain would stop bothering them. "I-I'll go get something to eat." Staggering, he leaves his brother on a porch, and heads out into the now pouring rain. They need to eat... One tiny crumb, a moldy bone, something, and they need it now.
His foot bumped something metal, and hearing in the tinkling the sound of hope he searched about feverishly, but found only a harmonica. With a cry of frustration and rage he hurled the instrument away.
"Ow!" He hears a childish voice from where he threw the instrument, and a little crying.
"A girl?" he thinks. Running forward, he bumps into her. She cries out anew, and they both fall to the ground, landing on their butts. "Hey! Watch where you're going," he growls.
"I, I'm very sorry. Pardon me," murmured a little voice.
The girl picked herself up, shaking her raincoat and taking her umbrella from the ground. Looking ahead to discover who pushed her, she sees a boy of more or less her age, his hair and body are filthy and very untidy, his clothes torn. Arms crossed, he gives her a look of superiority.
For his part, Darius studied the girl with a serious countenance. He immediately felt ill. Her blond hair well maintained, her clothes spotless except for the mud stain where she fell to the ground after the shove. Her umbrella, her basket, her everything. All the things he could not have through the fault of the stupid fire that stole everything.
"Get out of here! This is my street!" He turned himself sideways to look at her out of the corner of his eye.
"Y-you dropped this earlier..." The girl approached him, offering the harmonica. "Take it." A smile appears on her face, shining like the sun.
Darius was astonished. For a long time no one had smiled that way. With his mind fixed on her smile, he took the harmonica from her hands, seeing she had a bump on her forehead.
"I'm sorry if I hurt you," he apologized. She shook her head.
"Hush! It's nothing." She looks him up and down again. "I'm more worried about you... What happened to you?" Alarmed, she notes his injuries, his colorless face, his shivering. Without thinking twice, she removes her raincoat, putting it on him and adjusting the hood. "This way you won't get soaked." She fastened it on him, pulling him under the umbrella.
"Hey! What are you doing?" He attempts to take off the raincoat, however it's the best thing that could have happened: to no longer feel the cold rain on his skin, instead feeling some warmth from her proximity and from the garment. "W-what are you doing here alone? It's dangerous." She lowered her head.
"I... I got lost in the rain. I was following my father, but in a moment he was out of sight." A stab of distress went through the boy's heart.
"Come with me... My brother and I aren't far from here." He takes hold of her, guiding her to where his brother lies curled in on himself. The worried girl runs toward him, putting her hand on his forehead she realizes he is worse off than his brother.
"You need to go to a doctor." Draven, hearing a new voice, opens his eyes, meeting her blue ones with his own, as strands of her blond hair tickle his nose.
"Brother... Did an angel come to take me to our parents?" he asks deliriously. The girl laughs, causing them both to marvel at her.
"I'm not an angel, I'm an ordinary girl... My name is Luxanna, I'm pleased to meet you." She smiled. "But call me Lux."
Checking his temperature, Lux removed his rags all at once, leaving him in his underclothes, to the alarm of his brother.
"Hey!" He grabbed her arm, but she pulled free of him.
"Let me, this is what I do. My mother is a doctor. In these cases you need to warm the patient." She removes her thick coat, leaving herself wearing nothing more than a dress, a dress as blue as the sky, with white collar and cuffs, and a bow of the same color in the middle of her sternum. She puts her coat on the younger brother, fastening it all the way up to the neck and pulling up the hood. It's a large coat, almost to the ground, so that the boy, smaller than she, is fully covered.
"Can you bring us to your mother?" Lux shakes her head.
"She's not here, she's in Demacia, at our house." Darius pulls back in surprise. A Demacian had just virtually saved their lives.
"You Demacians are evil. You slaughter us Noxians without regard and despise Noxian children like evil seeds," Darius yells. "We don't want your help, get out of here!"
Lux's brows drew together, and she turned to confront him.
"Do you see me trying to kill you, dummy?" Darius is left speechless by the lecture that Lux begins to give on bringing about equality between the two nations and what the Demacians think of the Noxians, while Draven laughs very quietly from inside the coat. Finally Lux turns around, annoyed, and crosses her arms.
"I'm sorry, Luxanna," the boy apologized, wrapped up in the raincoat.
"Don't worry about it." She turns back, and faces them with a smile. She shivers a little in the cold, but it's not important, these boys need the warmth more than she does. "Are you hungry? I have some food in my basket... We were going to have a picnic, but everything got turned on its head when it stared to rain. The brothers weren't listening, only watching the basket, almost drooling. When Lux held out a thick sandwich to each one, they definitely thought an angel had come to rescue them. "What are your names?" she asked with a smile, seeing that rather than eating the food, they inhaled it.
"Afius," the first responds with his mouth full and the edges stained by tomato, giving Lux a fit of the giggles.
"Rafen," responds the other from inside the hood. Lux heard a sob, and startling, she glanced at the smallest of the three. "Fank oo, m' angel." Lux stroked his head.
"Swallow before you speak or you're going to choke." She heard the sound of food being swallowed down his throat, and a sob more pronounced than before.
"Thank you, my angel." Draven looked out with watery eyes and an extremely grateful smile he didn't have before.
"I-I'm nobody's angel." Seeing that the rain continues unabated and they are getting thirsty, the girl comes out to put the umbrella upside down and begin collecting the rain. "I didn't understand you before when you told me your names." She looked at them.
"Darius," the elder introduces himself.
"D-Draven." He rubs his eyes with the sleeve of the coat.
"Your names sound very powerful." With some difficulty, she carried the umbrella into their shelter, and took a cup out of the basket. "Drink, this water is the best that you can find." She fills the cup and passes it to Draven. "Are you still cold?"
"Not as much as earlier," he said, before drinking thirstily.
"The wet clothes were doing you more harm than good." Turning toward Darius, she says, "You ought to take them off too, the raincoat will insulate you from the cold." The boy agrees, and she continues to make her case. "Tomorrow we can go to the house where I'm living now, and ask my father to give you new clothes." She remains thoughtful for a moment.
"Why are you living here if you're from Demacia?" asks Darius, taking the cup of water the girl passes to him.
"My father is the ambassador from Demacia... We're here on an official visit, to talk about a truce between our two city-states." She offers them each another sandwich while she drinks, shivering slightly from the cold.
"Why are you helping us?" Darius finishes his second sandwich with a satisfied sigh.
"Helping people is one of my fundamental principles... If we all helped one another we wouldn't have wars for power or anything of that kind... It pains me to see that your own people don't help the disadvantaged, because they believe it's a sign of weakness. But they are wrong. Somebody who helps someone else will be a friend to that person forever... Achoo!" The cute sneeze makes the brothers laugh.
"You shouldn't say such philosophical things when you're about to catch a cold." Darius makes a gesture with his hand. "Come, we can't let our angel catch cold, right Draven?"
"Right, brother." He placed the small girl between the two boys, and they held one another to share their warmth.
"I'm not an angel." Annoyed, Lux wrinkled her brow and sneezed again.
"You're our angel, Luxanna. No matter where you are, no matter what we might become in the future, we will be there for you," Draven whispered.
The three fell asleep for a little while in one another's arms, without feeling the cold on that harsh Noxian winter night, forging a bond that would be very difficult to break no matter who might try...
The sun began to shine, hitting the girl's eyes, she woke up to funny yawns, surrounded by the two brothers.
"Come on! Wake up, today has to be a good day." She jostles them a little, leaving their warm embrace. "My father must be very worried." She looked around.
The umbrella is gone, stolen away last night by the wind, but there are three more sandwiches in the basket. She takes one and begins to eat while the brothers awaken from their slumber.
"I feel great." Darius put his hand on his stomach with a smile.
"Take this, and you'll feel better." Lux hands him a sandwich, and one to Draven also. She goes to put a hand on his forehead. "Your temperature has gone down, but you still need a doctor to look at you. Once you finish eating that we'll go to my house."
The clothes, left stretched in the corner by Lux, have dried during the night, and although they are cold now, it is better to put them on. Once the brothers are dressed in the rags, they turn to put on the raincoat and coat respectively.
"Let's go! They'll be anxious." Lux took each one by a hand, and began to walk through the cold, deserted streets.
"Surely they won't want to see us," the elder boy whispered, feeling protected by the touch of the girl's hand.
"Why are you on the street? And your parents?" she asked.
"They died in a fire," said Draven. "Everything was incinerated, our entire life. And there is no one to take care of us."
"I will make sure nothing happens to us," Darius said, bravely, making Lux smile.
"What a beautiful relationship you have with your brother."
"We only have each other, Luxanna."
"Well, now you also have me, right?"
They walked calmly down the street. People were starting to get up in order to go to work, surprised to see two little beggars smiling, hand in hand with a lady. The cries of patrols echoed at every corner, putting the citizens on alert, unusual at the current hour.
"Ahem." Lux cleared her throat. "Could you tell me what's going on, ma'am?" She politely asked an elderly woman who was leaning out the window of her house.
"They are looking for the daughter of the Demacian ambassador, little one. She was lost yesterday and they don't know where she is," she replied, turning to go back into the house.
"Oh good, we'll get there soon." She smiled, dragging the two boys along behind her. Almost running, the three run face-first into someone, falling to the ground in a tangle.
"Ow!" the girl complained, putting a hand to her forehead, yesterday's bump is where it hit just now.
"Lux! Luxanna!" The girl looked up to see a familiar figure.
"Father!" She smiles, hugging him.
"You had me very worried. Where have you been?" He took her by the shoulders, crouching down to her height and seeing the boys behind her with her raincoat and coat.
"With two good friends." She turned to bring them in front of her father. "These are Draven and Darius." She became serious. "Papa, they need a doctor right now. They have a fever and I could only give them my clothes."
The boys observe the Demacian with suspicion. Troops arrive and surround the ambassador, the captain asking if everything is in order. The adult assents, and looking back to the boys, he smiles at them.
"Let's go home then, you three need a good bath." The boys, dazzled by the Demacian's smile, exactly the same as his daughter's, take her hands again, walking in front of Lux's father and escorted by the guards who look at them with contempt. How can they accept help from a damned Demacian?
No sooner do they arrive at the house than the three are pushed to the bathroom, where a maid gets the water ready in a huge tub, they get into it and soak the cold from their bones, Draven and Darius needing it the most. After they are dried and dressed, food is served in the living-room, where Lux's father is waiting. She hugged him, while the brothers remained in the doorway, not daring to enter.
"Come on, he won't bite." Lux came toward them, taking their hands and bringing them to the table, where the four of them sit. The adult looked at the boys, who have their heads bowed over their dishes. "What's the matter, aren't you hungry?" Draven nodded with damp eyes and trembling shoulders. "Then eat." He grabbed the spoon hard, preparing to eat the first spoonful of soup as if it were a dream.
"Th-Thank you, my angel," he whispered between sobs, still eating the soup, as his brother followed suit.
Her father gave her a questioning look, and she recounted the story of what they have been through and the conditions that she found them in. He compliments her and thanks her for bringing in these boys who don't deserve such a cruel life, despite the city they belong to.
After eating three bowls of soup each, they started to doze off, and Lux led them to her own room, lending them her bed to sleep in.
"I'll be in the living-room, don't worry, sleep all you want." The brothers got in, stretching out and pulling the covers up to the roots of their hair, making her laugh.
"Papa," whispered the girl, lying on the couch with her head resting on her father's leg as he stroked her hair.
"Tell me, my light."
"Can they come back to Demacia with us?" she asked, rising and looking him in the eyes.
His green eyes met her blue ones.
"I don't know, treasure. Things are different here... They have lost everything and their society will not accept them unless they know how to get ahead on their own."
"That is why I want them to come to Demacia with us... We are their opportunity to leave this terrible place and change their fate... I don't want anything bad to happen to them, they are my friends." Her father nodded.
"I'll see what I can do, but I can't promise you anything. Tomorrow we go back to Demacia, and these things take time."
"But I can't leave them now. It would be too cruel. Why can't we stay a few more days?" Her father shook his head.
"The negotiations are finished, little one. We can't stay here any longer." She sadly bowed her head.
"I don't want them to go back to the streets Papa... They're just children."
"You too are a child, and here you are talking like an adult." He smiled, but she did not. She got off the couch, and softly opened the door to her bedroom to watch the two brothers sleep.
"I will take them back with me whatever the cost."
"The Demacian ambassador requests an audience with you, sir." One of the secretaries opened the door of the office, looking at the ambassador of his city. He simply nodded, giving the green light for the other adult to enter the room.
"Pleased to see you again, sir." He made a polite bow, matched by the other man, and they shook hands. "I've come here to ask you for a favor. I have now welcomed two Noxian boys into my home. I would like to bring them to Demacia." Almost without giving him time to finish the last word, the ambassador of Noxus began to laugh.
"Excuse me, but that is impossible. The law does not allow someone from outside the city-state to adopt Noxian children."
"But it allows two boys to live on the streets in deplorable conditions? I'm astonished your laws..."
"It's not you concern, sir. Here mercy is a symbol of weakness. And they are weak traitors to accept help from a Demacian like your daughter. It would have been better if she had ignored them. Then the boys' pride would be intact."
"And they would be dead of hunger and cold now." Lux's father adjusted himself, smoothing out his jacket. "This has been a revealing conversation. I hope to see you again soon, sir." These last words, loaded with hate and venom, barely made an impression on the other ambassador.
"Have a pleasant journey." Bringing the conversation to an end, the Noxian returned to his seat while the other went out the door, furious...
"Hello, Papa!" The girl greeted him cheerfully, when he entered through the door. The three children were in the living room, two playing, and Draven painting. The elder can't avoid a sigh of disappointment, since he couldn't do anything for those children.
"Lux, we need to talk." He took her by the hand and led her away, while she exchanged a concerned look with her friends. "Look, treasure," he said once they entered the room and closed the door. "We can't take them with us... Noxian law prevents someone from outside the city adopting their children." Lux's eyes filled with tears.
"B-but we can't leave them here, Papa... You've seen how it is for them. They don't have anyone but us."
"Something occurred to me. We cannot take them with us... But we can pay for this house every month so they can live here. What do you think?" Her little face lit up with a smile.
"Thank you, Papa." She gave him a hug and left the room to tell her friends the news.
The boys were astounded by the news, and hugged her, thrilled at the outcome that will provide them everything.
"You'll be able to live without having to beg. In a house... I would have liked for you to come to Demacia... But your laws are unjust."
"I don't think we can come back here again... I ended things a little badly with the ambassador, but I hope our cities continue to pursue peace for a long time," said her father.
"Papa, take a picture... That way we won't ever forget."
"I don't think we can ever forget what you've done for us," stated Darius, hugging her just like his brother.
"Look over here." The adult called for their attention, and took the picture, one brother on each side of Lux, holding her, with a smile like never before...
But not everything could go the way the little girl imagined it. Releasing her, perhaps forever, to climb aboard the carriage, the two brothers got ready to enter their new home, when two soldiers cut them off.
"You're not allowed in here."
"The ambassador gave us the house... He's paying for us to live here." The furious Draven attempted to enter, but was repelled by a strong kick, which left him lying on the ground.
Darius ran to him, to see that nothing had happened to him.
"We have the right to enter that house!" roared the older boy.
"Weak cowards like you have no right to anything." The soldier who kicked his brother before cuffed him. "Any Noxian worth his salt would never allow a Demacian to help him, no matter how bad it was. You're damn weaklings! Get out of our sight!" A couple more kicks detered the brothers from entering what could have been their home.
Their angel thought they would be safe, but in the rotten city where they lived it wasn't going to be any other way. It cost much more to return to the street after the generosity with which they had been treated. Apart from the coat and the raincoat, the clothes they were wearing were the only things left that she had given them.
Draven pulled the photo taken yesterday out of his coat pocket, looking at it, he smiled to see his angel.
"We'll see her again. Right, brother?" he asked, smile shaking, and eyes damp.
"Yes... Then we can show our gratitude for everything she did for us." Darius smiled, looking at the cloudy sky, hoping to see a ray of sunshine.
The years passed at dizzying speed, and then, it's the first day at the Institute of War for certain Noxian brothers. The elder of these, wearing red, and a silver-plated set of armor, with an imposing cape, looked around, trying to orient himself, while the younger, with his flashy clothes and well-groomed mustache, looked over a girl who passed his side.
"Fweee! Baby you're so hot, want to come spend the night with me?" Draven put his hands on her shoulders but she gave him a murderous look.
"Get lost, egotist." And went steadily on her way.
"Ha, ha, ha. Not much of a sense of humor, eh Darius?" his brother rolled his eyes, ignoring him.
"Come on, they're going to start the matches, and it wouldn't be good to arrive late on the first day."
They are on the first team to be chosen, so they go to a chamber where they are transported to Summoner's Rift.
"Welcome." A woman wearing a dazzling suit of armor greeted them. "My name is Leona, and I'll support you in the bottom lane, Draven." She offered her hand, which the young man squeezed warmly.
"I will be your defense in the middle lane." A distorted voice issued from below a violet hood. The shadowed face and glowing blue eyes astonished the brothers. "Malzahar."
"I will back you up from the jungle, if you need anything give me a shout." A man said in farewell, while rushing straight to his first target.
"And who was that?" asked the elder brother.
"Olaf," replied the woman. "He's a good guy, but if he's angry it's better not to be nearby."
The fight began, Darius going to the top lane. A red monster as big as a house cut him off, but he wasn't intimidated, sending it back to base less three-fourths its life. Time passed and the fight became more and more exhilarating.
Malzahar was having difficulties with the mid from the other team. He revived at the base when the two brothers were there, buying their items.
"How's it going, brother?" Darius asked.
"Great, so that Graves can't deal with my mastery of the axes." The younger man laughed. "And how are things going in mid?"
"Lux is very difficult to defeat, she's become very strong during the game."
They could scarcely believe it when they heard that name. Lux? Was he talking about their Luxanna? As one, the brothers began to run down the middle lane, chests aching with impatience, ignoring the cries of the Prophet of the Void. The first tower just blew sky high, and they were beset by a horde of minions, but it didn't matter to them. They passed without difficulty, before them they saw a figure from the back, surrounded by light.
At the same time they hugged her from behind, she cried out in fear and readied her weapon.
"M-my angel," Draven whispered, putting his face in the hollow between her shoulder and neck, while Darius clutched her to his chest.
"Luxanna," he murmured, holding her in his arms, resting his chin on her head.
"B-boys?" A thread of her voice barely escaped the girl's throat, when she looked up to find her childhood friends. She put a hand on each one's cheek, smiling at them. "I'm so glad that you're all right," she whispered, as a tear fell from her eyes...
Author's Note:
Well, well, well, here's a little one-shot. At first I was going to go in a different direction, but I opted for this, although both the beginning and the end are the same. XD Anyway, I hope you liked it, rotten tomatoes, spinning axes, flowers and compliments, I accept them all. XD See you later...
Translator's Note:
Please go to the original story and leave some nice comments. I can testify that Google Translate and other websites make it easy to say things in other languages. If you want to leave some comments or suggestions about the translation here, you can also do that ... :)
