Chapter One
Long After You're Gone

Renekton

It was all dark, only a tiny beam of light was coming through the gap between two stones. The dirty air mixed with sand was getting harder and harder to breathe in. 'Give in to your hate reptile.. and open these doors for me!' the magus teased him once more. How long they have been trapped here? No idea... he lost track years ago.

If only it was just him and Xerath down here, he could have resisted for centuries. And he was able to do so, until it appeared.

'It's because of them. The selfish emperor and brother traitor! They will pay the price! Yes... suffer..!' the horrifying voice spoke in his mind again. 'Wh..what? N..no... I did it for them. I... sacrificed.' The blue chains were piercing his arms, the sores and scars screamed with usnpeakable ache. He had enough.

'SACRIFICED?! Look around, where you are, blind fool. He trapped you with this freak, why didn't HE 'sacrifice' his own life, huh?!' The voice growled with venom. 'If not me... whole Runeterra would have been... in danger... I... I can't do it...' he gasped, trying to inhale some fresh air with no success. His resistance was getting weaker and weaker each day.

Xerath laughed, pleased with watching his pointless fight against himself. 'Aren't you tired?' He asked with fake compassion in his voice. The crocodile raised his head up with rests of his strength. 'N..never...' he lied. If not the thirst he felt he would spat on him with all the livid hatred he had left.

'Are you kidding? Let ME do the job, the old mage will be crushed like a worm under our feet...'

'I can't!' Renekton cried out, realizing his defiance won't last long. The first tear was shred, slowly sliding down his cheek. Xerath smirked, mercilessly damaging Renekton's skin with another enchanted thunder. The crocodile frowned from pain, his body started trembling, bolts were erupting here and there. 'Have you ever wondered why he left you here on your own?' he asked calmly, like they were talking about the weather. The mage's hand reached for Renekton's chin and raised it to look at him. His yellow eyes, filled with tears against his blue, exploding with arcane energy. Xerath continued, still focused on him. 'He never LOVED you, he never CARED, always JEALOUS of your powers, he was left behind because YOU were better! You see, now he has one less problem...'

But Renekton didn't respond. Because of this he received a firm punch in his stomach. 'Are you THAT blind?! Your unawarness let you down..!' He shouted right in his ear. But he didn't answer. Renekton's thoughts were focused on beloved brother. He knew it couldn't be true... could it? The reptile frowned and looked into enemy's eyes. 'Has anyone ever told you that you suck at lying?' The crocodile couldn't take it anymore. The sadness was slowly replaced by fury. 'Are you so sure of it, Renekton?' Mage turned around. 'Because somehow I managed to fool your careless emperor!'

But Renekton couldn't keep the conversation any longer. 'Go.. to.. HELL!' he roared with his last effort. But Xerath smiled. 'No, no, no... perhaps you misunderstood. Shouldn't it be me to say it..? - he stopped to load a missile of energy – GO.. TO.. HELL?!' And then he fired, illuminating the tomb in blue color.

Renekton's body stiffened. He was losing consciousness, the vision getting darker and darker... he was terrified. Heavy fear filled his soul. The magus frowned, walking up to his lifeless body. 'I ask you for the last time, will you unseal the door?!' But he didn't get his answer. The chains broke under the sudden burst of Renekton's power.

'ARGHHHH!' He launched himself right into the mage. The last thing the crocodile remembered was Xerath's fear painted on the whole face.

Red light...

Smell of.. blood...

Burning hatred...

Nasus... Your cycle is closing to its end!

YEARS LATER

Dandelion

'Late again... they shouldn't be angry, right?' She kept questioning herself while rushing through the long corridor, still putting on her cloak. A fuckin' hour of absence..

'Hey guys, how's the job goin'?' Dandelion nervously greeted the co-workers with a polite smile, walking through the glass doors to the Control Room. Grabbing the cup and pouring hot coffee from the machine she sat on her desk, humming a happy melody to calm down.

Something was wrong. Way too silent. She took a quick glance across the room. Everyone was looking at her. Yup, terribly wrong.

Trinket, the aging elder with long silver beard, cleared his throat. 'Oh shit, what have I missed this time..?' She questioned herself. 'You're late. Again.' He spoke. He wasn't angry. He was just sad. Dandelion didn't know which one was worse now. She didn't respond respond and looked down on her heels, embarrased, her hands still on the hot cup. The smell of coffee was hella distracting.

'Do you have any idea what happened an hour ago?' The elder questioned the girl. She shyly responded: 'N..no.' She looked up at him. But the master turned around, let out a heavy sigh and gestured at one of the teen men. 'Show her the tape.' He commanded with a tone of bitter. 'Yes master!' The guy answered immediately and walked up to the main console. She approached the boy and asked, whispering: 'How hard have I fucked up?' The boy kept looking at the controls, almost not moving his lips while giving an answer: ''Hard' will not express it enough.' The girl gulped. What on earth could be so important that she was needed back then?

'Here.' The teenager said sadly, backing off a couple of steps. The video started bufforing and eventually launched on the large projector.

The camera's objective was blinded by sun. It was all blurred, mixed colors of blue, black and yellow. 'HQ, do you copy?' The woman's low voice was very calm. 'Something to report, Sivir?' One of the female summoners responded. The picture caught sharpness and revealed the dark haired silhouette with jade green eyes. Desert sand was shining in the background. She looked really excited. 'Yes, Martha, we've reached the tomb. We're ready to explore it. Do we have your permission?' Another masculine voice responded: 'Yes you have. Repeat, you are allowed to explore the tomb.' Trinket was not hiding his excitation. 'Understood, over and out.'

The transmition finished and the screen turned blank. 'Is that all?' Dandelion turned around to their master. She didn't understand what wrong happened about if that was all. 'No, it's not.' Martha, the girl who talked with Sivir, loaded up another clip.

The summoner turned her head to look again at the screen.

This time everything was black, until someone lighted a torch, revealing a tiny hall covered in cobwebs and litres of sand. A huge statue of a serpent was blinking with jade crystals from the other side. On its right there was a huge stone door covered in runes, barely visible thanks to a ray of light from the crack in the ceiling. The runes seemed familiar.. oldruneterran. Oh shit.

'Sivir here, we've reached the tomb.' The woman spoke up, probably hoping to see Martha. 'We see it clearly.' Trinket answered, standing in sight of the camera. 'Not as huge as I expected..'

'But you haven't seen the gold yet, dear baron.' Her foreign accent sent shivers down Dandelion's spine, drawing out every 'a' in the sentence that was possible. First her long shadow, next she appeared from the right. The woman was stunningly wonderful, no doubt. Her long brown hair was reaching thin legs. Haunting yellow eyes were reflecting gold's and torch's warm light, but it lost it's cheerful spark in their depth. She was smiling, but it was not the smile of sincerness. Rather a smile of pure lust.

Sivir reached for her comrade's torch and walked over to the giant doors. The camera focused on the inscriptions written in the sandstone. 'Can you read it, dear?' The brunette asked impatiently and politely at once. 'No, I've never seen runes like these before..' Sivir quickly responded with a note of disappointment. The screen turned again on two women. 'you have a translator there, don't you?' The yellow-eyed kept asking not losing hope. 'Unfortunately Cassiopeia, we haven't seen her since yesterday evening.' Martha spoke up. 'Oh for fuck sake, why is everything against us now?' Cassiopeia exploded. Dandelion could feel her anger in her voice. The letters were shining in torch's light. So that's why she was needed.

'Can't we just blow it up?' Sivir asked suddenly after a brief silence. 'We've got explosives with us, don't we?'

'That's too dangerous, you don't know if the tomb can collapse from even the smallest explosion!' Trinket reacted negatively to her idea. 'Even if you agreed, we don't have the dynamite anymore..' brunette responded, turning the camera on the group of people impaled on the spikes. The whole computer room let out an 'Oh!' when they noticed broken bones and open wounds with fresh blood slowly dripping down on the floor.

'Search for anything, buttons, levers, there must be a way to open them.' A male voice stated calmly. The women didn't say anything, but listened to the man's advice and looked around the room. Sivir slowly approached a small stone lying on the floor and sat down with the camera, leaving it in position to see the doors.

Cassiopeia walked up to the statue and looked closely into serpent's maw, pulling her hand to reach something. Seconds after, the woman turned around, equipped with a dagger with smaller jade crystals carved into it. Flipping the weapon back and forth, she kept saying something under her nose. All Dandelion heared was: 'This is the key..'

Sivir took a quick glance at the sharp piece of metal. 'A knife? So what, you're gonna break through by scrathing the door?' She laughed at her idea. Despite the darkness, Dandelion noticed that Cassiopeia's smile faded and got replaced by an envious grimace. 'Darling, it all makes sense now.' Her words were as cold as Freljordian winter. The mistress frowned, slowly backing off from Cassiopeia. 'What the..?' The woman surrounded Sivir so she was between the door and the serpent statue. 'Now I know why they sent you here.' Neither Sivir, nor Dandelion had no idea what the brunette was talking about. 'But..'

Without hesitation Cassiopeia stabbed her into her stomach, not letting her finish up the question. Her loud scream pierced Dandelion's ears. Covering her face with her hands, she couldn't help but let out a terrified 'Oh my god!'. The traitor's face held a triumphant smile, mercilessly looking into Sivir's fading eyes, as she fell on her knees. 'You were the key, sweetie.'

With a deaf hit, her body fell on the stone, her hair covering her face. The blood stain was getting bigger and bigger. She didn't want to watch it anymore... buy curiosity took over.

Another scream made her look up on the screen once more. But Cassiopeia wasn't there. Yet no one cared about her yelling for help, something more interesting was happening. The heavy doors started sliding, slowly revealing nothing but dust and darkness. Meanwhile green rays shined so bright from the source of the screams that they covered half of the screen. Dandelion looked into the nothingness. A pair of red eyes suddenly showed up.

In a split second, something huge jumped out. All that Dandelion noticed was that the creature looked bloody and old. It looked like an.. alligator maybe..? But when she wanted to take a closer look, the monster destroyed the camera with it's claw, ending the transmission.

The whole room went as still as grave again, until Trinket raised his voice. 'Now you saw how much your lazyness cost us.' Trinket's voice resounded like echo in the quiet room. 'I.. I know! But it won't happen again, I promise! I..'

'Cut it off! I'm sure it won't, because you're fired!' Everyone was looking between her and their boss, not knowing which expression was more awful. But Dandelion had enough honor to not continue the lost fight. 'V.. very well.' With trembling voice the girl nodded at Trinket and just walked out, leaving the yellow cup on her desk.

'I beg you! There must be something you can do with it! I've done so much for this institute!' She cried out, losing last bits of hope.

'There's nothing I can do, sorry. You fucked up.' Natalee hesitated, but coldly added: 'No one can change his decisions, you know it.' She patted her on her shoulder, walking out of her room.

'FUCK!' Dandelion cursed, throwing her old teddy bear at the even ancient lamp on the wardrobe, pushing it on the ground. The cracking sound has been deafened by a carpet, but the pieces of porcelain landed on her baggage.

And so she ran out of helping hands, as the last one just left her for perdition. Fucking great. She looked at the phone. The hovercraft to Piltover was leaving in 30 minutes. The girl sighed heavily, still trembling from emotions. At least her bank balance was not that bad, they had paid her for this month already. Having looked at the app she was sure of it.

'It is time. You've failed them. This chapter has ended.' She kept saying it to herself while closing the flat, walking down the staircase and giving back the keys to the maid on the ground floor. Eventually Dandelion reached the main hall, covered in full moon's light. It added a beautiful effect to these marble collums.. The warm summer air coming from the entrence was blowing at her cheeks. She didn't want to leave this place so badly!

First tear was shred, after the first came the second, third, fourth.. she couldn't hold it anymore. Her entire life has collapsed, she had so many plans, but here, in the institute! How could she be so stupid?! Maybe if she didn't go on that party yesterday.. The girl ended up on the marble floor next to a fallen luggage, crying quietly. At least no one was here now to watch her downfall. No one, but...

She raised her ugly face covered in tears at the main entrance. Someone tall was slowly climbing the stairs. It was.. carrying something..? Someone!

With no much thinking, she stood up and ran to help, not even caring to wipe out the fresh tears, but the man fell down with his luggage in front of her as soon as he climbed the last step. Dandelion bend down to examine the two people. Now she recognized Nasus, but who the hell was the second man? All she could see in this light were tons of scales, which covered his body. 'Nasus? Answer me, what happened?!' The unpleasant smell of blood filled her nose. She kept jerking the canine twice big as her until he whispered: 'Call.. the nurse.' The girl nodded and rushed through the hall, her highheels cluttering among the whole room.

She finally reached the small hospital wing. Clenching her hands in the doorway she screamed with all the power in her lungs: 'HELP!'

An elder woman recognized her and approached her in a matter of seconds. 'I'm not gonna listen to your pleas for help to get you back to your god damn job! Have some honor woman!' She spat with hatred. As she was about to return to her seat, Danelion roared at her, hitting the door with her wrist. 'FOR FUCK SAKE, THERE ARE TWO MEN IN THE HALLWAY WITH FATAL WOUNDS, THEY NEED HELP!' The woman looked at her, surprised and terrified at once, but she regained consciousness quickly and hit the red button in the desk.

A horrifyingly loud alarm resonated in the whole wing, deafening Dandelion for a couple of seconds. As she looked around, the elder woman disappeared. But suddenly she let out a strangled scream. The fresh red blood was dripping from the doorway and her hands. And it was not her blood. Nasus could bleed out to death any second...

A couple of other doctors missed her on their way to the doors. 'Please.. please.. please.. hold on..' She held her bloody fists next to her lips, praying silently.

Renekton

All he remembered... a one big blur. Scenes mixing one with another in an endless cycle, various voices, some calm, some not. And over it all there was unspeakable pain. That was until his first memory sneaked into his brain. He held to it strongly until he woke up again.. or was the awakening first..? It didn't matter anyway, because there wasn't anything to remember except the white light, so different from warm shurimian sun. This one was rather.. unpleasant, snoopy. Like it was about to steal his last breath. Yet he kept holding on.

For the first time in ages he opened his eyes. His own yellow eyes. But just as he realized that a wave of piercing soreness struck him. Renekton unleashed a horrifying scream. He never suffered like that in his entire life. He felt like everything inside him was about to get crunched, the lime walls started approaching, the white light exploded.. Someone yelled across the room.. A fami.. fam.. vo.. i..

Suddenly the pain vanished, but his consciousness aswell. Renekton fell into another deep sleep.

How much time he spent on lying there? He didn't know it. All his senses were deeply lulled, except his hearing. Unfortunatelly none of the voices lasted for long, they came, existed for a second or two, and were gone forever. He couldn't remember anything. Until that familiar voice appeared one day again.

'Why you haven't told me earlier?!' It was full of anger and care at once. 'You can not enter, you are still not stabilised!' A girly voice replied to the masculine low tone. 'I don't care! I have to see him, no matter if you call the doctors or not!'

An odd silence filled his ears after their argument. He almost thought he fell asleep again. Saddened, he started thinking whose voice it belonged to. But he wasn't given much time, because he heared it again. Or rather a heavy sigh..? Oh shit, he started sobbing.

'Renny..? I'm.. I'm so sorry.. I could have rescued you earlier..' He knew this voice.. it gave him warm feelings.

'Oh, what are you doing here?!' The masculine voice growled at someone. 'People say that they hear us, even if they are in deep coma..' The girl said meakly and propably left the room, because he didn't hear her again. He felt sorry for her, he had a feeling she had good intentions, but that man treated her badly..

Not counting the small pain in his whole body, Renekton felt a warm touch around his hand. But he couldn't move an inch, he had no chance to answer the man's embrace. Suddenly, the voice broke the silence. 'Hey brother, You don't even know how hard it is here.'

Brother..?

'And I feel.. such remorse for Lux.. but she is overprotective..!' Lux.. a nice name..

Without warning, a wave of information hit his brain. Finally, he started walking out of the smoke, connecting small puzzles into a picture, throwbacks from the past, familiar faces.. It was his brother... It was Nasus..!

Maybe it was a miracle, maybe just a weird exception of medicine, but a small burst of electricity woke up his hand, still in Nasus'es grasp, ticing unnaturally. The last thing he heared before falling asleep once more, was canine's thrilled gasp.

The white lamplight, which he got used to already, sneaked between his eyelids. The crocodile covered his face from the blinding source with his hand, it was way too... He moved his hand..! ..but all his muscles were like rusted.. oh man. He moaned, but his throat was dry as hell.

Eventually his sight gained sharpness. A blonde girl settled in a sofa in front of him was asleep, snoring quietly. Judging by her creased shirt and dirty hair, she must have been beside him for a pretty long time... Time.. how long was he in a coma..?

He lazily leaned on his elbows to take a closer look at the girl. She was hella pretty. And young, probably in her teens. A flock of blonde hair detached from the band and was covering part of her face. But as Renekton took a deep breath to feel finally alive, the girl woke up. She froze for a second when she noticed him fully awake, then gasped and quickly ran out of the room before he could even say 'Hi'.

He was left alone in a hospital room, full of appliances he had never seen before. Everything was unbelievably clean. Has medicine developed that well in.. wait. How long?

Someone knocked at the door and stepped in, not waiting for response. A tall girl with uncommon yellow hair stood in the entrence warmly smiled until a low voice behind her asked: 'How long are you going to block the way? Where is he?' It was not hiding excitement. And Renekton had a good feeling who it was.

It felt like the time has stopped. He, lying on the bed, and his brother in the doorway with cheerful sparkles in his eyes. Or were these.. tears?

The canine and the girl sat next to his bed, Nasus on the left, the woman on the right. A couple of seconds passed in silence, spent on looking into each others eyes. It was all he needed.

Brother hasn't changed much, just a couple of new scars, including one under his right eye, it looked pretty fresh..

Renekton couldn't help, but smile back and greet him. 'Hi, brother.' Now Nasus couldn't hold his tears, which started flowing like a river. They both started laughing from hapiness, but the canine couldn't resist and strongly pulled the crocodile to give a firm hug.

Dandelion

After she and Nasus left the hospital wing, the canine asked: 'Found a job already?' The girl slowly shook her head, saddening. 'They said I do not meet their requirements. Fucktards.' She summed up, spiting on the ground.

Nasus patted her on the shoulder and stated warmly: 'That's fine. You're staying here.'

Dandelion froze in place and looked at him, not believing her ears. 'Ya're joking, right?!' She almost shouted at him. The canine couldn't help but laugh sincerely. 'No, I'm not.' He sent her a happy smile. 'As a way to thank you for your help, I've had a talk with Trinket. I unfortunatelly couldn't convince him to let you stay in the operating squad.'

She was not even sad because of such info. Actually that job was tiring as fuck. 'So what compromise have you reached then?' The girl asked, not hiding excitement.

Nasus hesitated for a second, but eventually revealed the truth. 'They hired you back as a summoner.'

Dandelion felt like she got hit by a shovel. 'I know it's one of the most responsible jobs here, but I couldn't find anything else..' But canine's voice wasn't reaching her. Duh, the hardest job in the whole institute! She just wondered why Trinket let her take it, since she proved her lazyness already. Also, one more important question remained now. She opened her lips to ask it, just to b-..

'It's Renekton.' Nasus stated calmly, looking at the entrance to the institute. The warm september sun kept heating the whole hall. 'That's my only condition. Do you want to try?'

She knew Nasus was not just politely asking. He needed her to protect his brother, and she needed the job. 'Oh, course I will!' She cheered and squeezed the giant canine from happiness, even though she never hugs people.

Nasus returned the embrace, mildly surprised, and asked something more in a serious tone. 'Only promise me one more thing. Please try to explain everything to him as easily as possible. He is a good brother, he only needs someone to show him the new world.'

The canine almost sounded like he was begging. Dandelion couldn't refuse to help! She nodded energically, unable to say anything more due to the amount of good news.

'Thank you.' He said to her, sounding more sincere than she could imagine a being ever could.

'Well, I've got to prepare for my departure. Take care of him, I know you can!' Nasus winked at her and turned around in the direction of the apartments.

'I will, don't worry!' She smiled back and kept waving until he disappeared.

Well, shit. How is she going to make it? This was her last chance.

Author's Notes:

Well, I'm still mad I'm not writing the way I should. But I'm making progress, as you can see! I'm happy to finally reveal my story to all of you. There should be some funny content in this section.. but I have no idea what to put. Lul.

Version 1.0: Finished 2017-03-14

Version 1.0.1: Tiny fixes. 2017-07-03