Look! I'm alive. I have been super busy these past for days. I'm still working on a much larger Annie x Amumu story, but if you read my last one, I kinda rushed to make sure I got it all out there because I was running behind and wanted to do more with the story itself... So, I'm writing out the entire story, then I'm posting it. Like... A chapter every week or something. Haven't figured it all out yet. Anyway! This story, I wanted to kinda through out how I'll be presenting their relationship in my longer story, because if you guys hate it... That'd be important to know. So here's this, lemme know what you think and hopefully I'll get more stuff out soon. Having a life sucks, don't do it. Ever.

It was always hard for him to put into words his feelings for her. He didn't sleep, the dead don't sleep, he didn't eat, food had no taste, he didn't play, no one would play with him, but with her, something was different. Maybe it was the way she smiled when she said his name, or the way she got upset when he got hurt on the fields, or maybe it was just the laugh she gave off for no reason whatsoever. Whatever he felt, he liked it, he liked being around her, liked seeing her smile, he liked seeing her get a penta-kill, even if he was part of the death toll. He liked her little purple dress, the way she burned her enemies to cinders, the way she careless skipped when others were there to kill. Something was different… No… Everything was different about her. He did not know why or what it was, but he just felt something when she was around.

"Hi Amumu," She said in the hallways one day, and he felt his body tense up, he had no muscles; no flesh, but he felt everything freeze for an instant when she said his name and then she kept on walking, as if nothing had happened, as if speaking to him was no different than speaking to a normal person. It was such a foreign sensation he went to Kennen for advice, but he just laughed and told him to go talk to her. Like he could do that… How could such a pathetic specimen such as himself talk to such a girl?

Days past, days turned to weeks, weeks of the sad mummy staying in his room until he could figure it out. Figure out what this feeling was every time she passed him, why she was able to pass him and wear a smile. No one could, he knew his power, he was doomed to forever bring misery and sorrow to the people of Valoran, he wanted to cry at his fate, but before the tears flowed, he thought of her again. Her warm smile, her soft eyes, her beautifully red hair… And he felt the tears recede. The sadness just vanished, replaced with warmth, just at the thought of her. He felt… Different.

The first time he ever held a conversation with her was truly a day he would never forget. It was cold outside, cold like his heart, miserable, like his eyes. After trudging into the main hall of the Institute, he saw so many people. People of all sizes, colors and even shapes, as he passed them, he could hear their joy fade, all their stares turned to him and none of them muttered a word, he knew they hated him. He walked through the crowds, not entirely sure where he was going, but wound up in front of her. She didn't frown but she did stare, stare at his bandages, stare into his eyes, she stared but he didn't feel the hate or sadness radiating from her like the others.

"You're funny looking," She chimed and Amumu thought she hated him already.

"Sorry…" He repeated a phrase he had used so many times before and turned away, only to have her step on the bandages falling behind him.

"I didn't say I didn't like you," She said as if she could read his thoughts. "I said you look funny,"

"I know…"

"Come on," She began to drag him by the bandages away from the crowd of people.

"Where are we going?" He didn't put up any resistance to her pulling him along and she simply led him away.

"To play," She responded absent mindedly.

It was odd… He usually ran, or cried but he didn't, he didn't even dispute her action, she just pulled him to play. No one had really done that before, nothing about her was usual, but then again… Could any less be said of him?

Since then, she'd always brightened his day, she always sat next to him, or he to her, he didn't know, he knew they sat together and he knew he liked it. She would try and get him to eat, he'd refuse, it was a pattern he waited for every morning. They played together, he always won tag; she always won hide and seek, but it was always a mystery who would win a snowball fights. She currently had two wins over him. But his favorite activity was when she would read spells from her books. Sometimes she'd summon a zombie and he'd converse with it about the horrors of being dead, other times she'd set him on fire, and they'd laugh as soon as she put it out. Part of him hoped, that somewhere in her books was the key to getting his life back, but if it was there, they hadn't found it.

He'll never forget the time she embraced him, she called it a hug, but it was the best feeling he could ever remember having. She was sad, about… Something, he didn't know what, but it was the first time he didn't see that smile. The one she wore every day, the won he felt something around.

"Hi Amumu," was all she offered and tried to smile, purely for his benefit, he asked her what was wrong and she just shook her head. It was horrible, it was heartbreaking, it… Reminded him how he felt without her. It was exactly how he felt without her and it was unacceptable for her to ever feel that way, he had to do something. Using everything he had learned about her, he went around the institute until he found what he needed. He came to her door, and knocked repeatedly until she answered and he presented her with the bouquet of roses he had set on fire. Annie stared into the flames, he eyes tentatively examining every inch of the burning roses, as if was a fine piece of art, but instead of what he thought she would do, she just slammed the door and he could hear her crying again. He stood outside with the burning flowers, confused but he wasn't going to give up. But he was out of ideas… all she needed to do to make him smile was be there for him… So without any notion of what to do next, he sat outside her door.

He didn't need sleep, the dead don't sleep, he didn't need food, the dead don't eat, but did the dead feel anything but sadness? As he sat there, he didn't feel like crying, he didn't even feel miserable, he just sat there, determined to not move until she was happy once again. No one should feel like he does, especially her. He sat there until the sun went down and he stayed until it came up again, he would've stayed longer, but she opened the door early in the day.

"How long have you sat there?" she asked him.

"All night,"

"Why?"

"You were crying." It was a simple answer, but it was the truth. She didn't say anything after that; she just stared at the yellow orbs that were his eyes. He didn't know what she was looking for, she probably didn't either; she just stared. Then, in a swift motion, she wrapped her arms around him and buried her face in his shoulder. It was sudden, and terrifying to him. He didn't know how to respond, did he wrap around her? He felt his bandages feel wet again, but he was not crying, in was her this time, letting his green bandages soak up her tears.

"I miss my parents…" She whispered from his shoulder. That made sense, she hadn't seen them since the League opened and they couldn't send her letters, Noxus would leap at the chance to find the splinter group of magi. "I miss my friends…"

"Am I your friend?" He said without thinking and she lifted her head with a tear stained smile.

"You're my best friend silly."

So he didn't sleep, rather, he stayed by her side all night. So he didn't eat, he made sure to give her his helpings every time he could. And he did play; she was the only one willing to play with him. She became his queen, and he, her loyal knight. Something was different when she was around, something fluttered in his stomach, something choked in his throat. He didn't know the feeling and he couldn't even begin to describe it. Every time he so much as uttered her name, her beautiful name, the only emotion he could feel was one he could not name, he felt… less sad.