"You are useless. "
Her mother's voice echoes in the room, dark tendrils of magic lashing at her young body tearing her flesh. Annie is crying.
"Daddy!"
The man in the shadows watches in silence, hate obvious in his eyes. Annie can feel her powers waking up, her burned fingertips starting to heat, slowly stripping the skin from her bones.
"We left Noxus because of you and you can't even summon a lesser demon! "
The tendrils slash at her face, her tears mixing with her blood, she can feel her magic swirling wildly around her palms, the finest of smokes rising in the air.
Her mother attacks again, inky black flames of malice barely missing her, the room is on fire, her father sneers.
"Kill her "
Then he leaves, not even sparing her a glance. Annie can't even feel her hands anymore, her nerves are overflowing with magical energy, a blinding inferno of raw magical power is swelling inside her chest. Her mother aims her wand at her, right between the eyes. Annie raises her hands on reflex trying to shield her face.
Time seems to stop, she can smell the ash in the air, see the madness in her mother's gaze, the emerald flames licking the walls, the death spell being unleashed rushing to meet her, rushing to end her life, she screams.
She stops restraining her magic for a moment, her attention diverted by the green lighting heading for her face. Her hands glow brighter, her fingertips are hurting, the room explodes.
Annie wakes up crying, her small body drenched in sweat, Tibbers' empty eyes staring back into her own shiny green ones. She grabs his hand and jumps out of the bed, not even bothering to wear her slippers. The feeling of the cold floor on her soles is a pleasant distraction from her night terror.
She opens the door and runs outside, her footsteps echoing on the empty corridors, their walls housing countless kings and monsters from all over Valoran.
She has no family, no friends, no one will bother searching for her in case she disappears, Katarina says that a lot and Annie believes her. Everyone fears and despises her, her own city state has put a bounty on her head so it must be true.
She stops in front of a simple door in the neutral champion section. Annie pauses for a moment taking the time to wipe away her tears, Noxians ought to be strong even when they are alone in a dark scary hallway filled with shadows, but there is nothing that she can do about her puffy eyes however.
She raises her hand to knock. She knocks once on the door then twice, the thought of spending the night alone makes her knock a third time. She takes a deep breath waiting in eerie silence, it is past midnight but she has nowhere else to go. The door opens slightly, a crimson eyes observes her for a moment before the door finally opens completely.
They are both silent, Riven's face is blank, an empty mask carved from stone. Annie just stares at her fiddling with her pyjamas. The warrior waits patiently, unmoving.
"I had a scawy dream, can I please sleep here? "
Riven stands still, her hard stare locked on the nervous toddler as if she is about to refuse but then she steps aside letting the child enter the room. She always does.
So I found this little drabble among the Angel of Piltover chapters and decided to post it. Riven would make a good parental figure for Annie being the only good Noxian and since she wouldn't befriend Annie to make use of her powers.
Annie could help Riven overcome her sadness after the Ionian invasion, maybe even become her adopted child raised together with her partner (I vote for Irelia) and that would help the characters evolve. Feel free to use the plot to write your own story, I have a similar Annie word prompt which I will post as the second chapter being similar and all I don't want to post a new story for only 600 words.