Frozen - Ashe x Lissandra

Ashandra Highschool!AU

-Lissandra-

Lissandra Frost impassively watched the girl who sat with Anivia Cryo as they exchanged light laughs about the weather and the lessons learned today. It was still her second week of coming to the highschool, and the only people whom she had befriended was Urs Volibear, a tall and barrel-chested jock who played for the Thunder Roar team, and Sejuani Winclaw, the short-haired resilient varsity cheerleader of the team. Otherwise, she had taken care that she didn't come too close to the two, as she suspected that they had a relationship, and kept herself independent from the other students. Students looked at her as if she was an anomaly, with her eyes hidden underneath her large headdress, spiking about in the way she liked. She didn't care about the other students, but there was a difference between being hated and being afraid of.

The cafeteria was almost full, teeming with the other students, and as usual, they avoided Lissandra as they would avoid the flu. The only one who had broken through that wall was Tryndamere Ragesteel, who sat beside her in the same icy atmosphere she brought with her. Tryndamere was older than her for three years, and she asked him mostly who this or that was. Tryndamere was calm to answer her questions, patiently pointing out who was which, found a liking even to her.

"That's Ashe Avarosa," he told her, downing a tall glass of ale (which was kind of illegal for most of the students), looking at her as she twisted around her chair. "She's just new."

"I knew that," Lissandra snapped and returned to pushing her food around her plate. "It's not like I don't have ears."

"Mhm," Tryndamere noted. "And not like you to snap at me. What's up, Liss?"

Lissandra bristled up at the baby name Tryndamere tagged on her, and scowled at her plate instead, forming an ice shard and stabbing it through the porcelain with a loud crack! Everyone's heads turned to her direction. Lissandra's scowl deepened as she grabbed her satchel and walked out of the cafeteria, bits of little dark ice shards gleaming on the floor where she stepped on.

-Lissandra-

The school had a large battle training arena, and Lissandra didn't let the chance to hone her skills go by. Armored with just her willpower and magic, and an ice armor she had perfected the week before, she entered the arena, delighted that no one was there to see her. At once, she let her magic flow down to the ground beneath her, dark ice crystals quickly popping out and forming up to her ankles and almost up to her knees. It made moving around easier, and didn't tire her one bit. The ice crystals responded correctly wherever she wanted them to take her.

Next was her ice shard. Lissandra concentrated hard; her breath quickening, drawing her right hand back and her left hand forward, and channeled her magic on forming the shard as sharp and long as she needed it to be. Slowly, with the temperature quickly dropping low, a shard began to form out of thin air, reaching it to be three feet long and sharpened as an arrow. Lissandra opened her eyes and threw the shard with the flick of her right arm into the archery target almost ten feet away from her. The shard flew straight and fast, but suddenly dispersed into a thousand glittering crystals halfway through. Lissandra almost screamed in frustration, when a soft clapping resounded behind her.

Lissandra whipped her head around that she could have broken her neck, and saw Ashe Avarosa and Luxanna Crownguard entering the arena. Avarosa was the one clapping, and Crownguard was looking at her like she had just interrupted a deep conversation between them.

"That was impressive," Avarosa said, smiling at Lissandra.

Lissandra's stomach twisted, not knowing whether why that smile seemed to flick something within her, or if it disgusted her to her core as she gave them a cursory glance again. She let the shards fall from her feet and then grabbed her things, walking past the two quickly, when a hand grabbed her back.

"You can spar with us if you want," Avarosa added, her hand on Lissandra's arm.

But before she could give a retort, Tryndamere appeared and then nodded towards her. Lissandra shook free of Avarosa's grip, and then gave her a cool look that suggested that she stayed away from her or else. Avarosa took a step back, and with that, Lissandra resumed getting out of the arena, Tryndamere following behind her.

-Ashe-

Ashe looked back where Frost had disappeared, the arena slowly filling up with other students who wished to train, spar, or duel. In truth, Ashe had never seen such power and poise go together than what she had seen Lissandra Frost had done earlier. The type of magic she had seen that from was Anivia, who was busy at the moment, and from herself. But Lissandra Frost. . . she was something else entirely.

"Hey, dreamer, get over here already!" Lux called out to her, waving her wand of light around Ashe's peripheral vision.

"Ah, yes, sorry," Ashe sauntered over to the archery grounds where Lux was waiting for her. The Lady of Luminosity had fixed up firing ranges that were almost 15 feet or more away from where they stood. Lux wanted to practice her precision on firing a dazzling ray of light to her targeted direction, the ability she called 'Final Spark', to which Ashe had agreed to help her with.

Ashe was still new to the school, but then she had an aura that made the other students drift toward her. Ashe was quite the helping-hand when no one was around to help the teachers, and was kind to whoever needed it. Family name also got the best of her, and everyone had good vibes whenever she was around. Not to Lissandra Frost though… Ashe had seen the girl looking towards her direction earlier, and the way everyone avoided her when they had flocked towards Ashe. It was kind of unfair.

Lux flapped her hand in front of her face again, bringing Ashe back to her senses. She blinked, and muttered a small sorry before directing Lux, how to hold her wand correctly and how to concentrate on the direction she had to take before hitting the target itself. Lux perfected her stance, and then made a small bright ball of light from her wand. "It's in the breathing," Ashe called out, shielding her eyes from the bright light Lux – who was unfazed – was creating. "Take a deep breath, and then as you unleash it, blow it towards your target!"

ZAP!

The target Lux had chosen had disintegrated cleanly, burnt down to its wooden stumps. The other students clapped, and then returned to their own training matches. Ashe approached Lux and patted her shoulder. "That was great!" Lux smiled and then twirled her wand around, catching a few more glimmers of light. But then she caught Ashe's arm, holding it gently.

"You're thinking too hard again," she commented. "Oh, come on, Ashe, don't tell me you're interested with the witch!"

Ashe frowned. "Witch?"

As Lux was about to say something, the air shimmered around the spot next to them, and a student with outrageous pink spiked up hair and a voluptuous chest that threatened to tear out of her uniform stepped up lightly, wagging a finger at Lux. "My, my, Lady of Light, you haven't been updating our Frost Archer?"

Ashe stepped back from the new face.

"Ah, my apologies." The girl made a sweeping bow. "I am named Evelynn Thorn. Happens that I listen to a lot of stuff going around, and even help them get around." Evelynn Thorn chuckled. "And this Lissandra Frost, yes? You are interested in her, yes?"

Ashe almost sputtered. "N-No, I'm not."

"Oh, come on, don't be daft." Evelynn waved her hand, dismissing Ashe's desperate answer. "A trade for free, now what do you think? Absolutely free, no strings attached, no fingers crossed." Evelynn winked at Ashe and showed her hands, which really had no crossed fingers.

Lux drew her aside. "Don't make deals with her, Ashe," she whispered urgently. "Evelynn gives and takes and that's how she does. She just doesn't give out information for free."

Evelynn cocked her eyebrows towards Lux, and rolled her eyes, gesturing towards her ears. "These aren't for ornament only, darling. Careful where you put your pretty tongue or you'll end up on the wrong side of the light." She smirked.

Ashe considered slowly, and slung her bow over her back. "Lux, I can handle this, thank you."

"Suit yourself. Just yell and I'll spark that little chatterer," Lux told her and then backed off, not after giving Evelynn the cold eye as she went to fix up more targets.

"Now this is business," Evelynn rubbed her hands together and then motioned the Frost Archer to follow her to the more quiet sides of the arena.

"Alright, you promised, no strings attached, or no fingers crossed," Ashe started, to which Evelynn nodded vigorously. "Tell me about Lissandra Frost."

"Hm, let's start off where she came from, yes? Let's see, hm, there were reports that your Lissandra Frost had used dark ice magic to bind her own family. She was often blamed for ice witchcraft – as everyone can see that she can manipulate ice quite expertly as you, I learned – but then she began to do more of the witchy-witch things like changing her form. There were even info that she had murdered a rich company's head, and then took over there, turning it to her family name. But there were no evidences, of course. Hm, rumors, they can change you know. But the murder thing? I personally think that stabbing and crushing and dark ice could affirm to that. But hm, who really listens to my opinions anyway?" Evelynn finished.

All the time as Evelynn Thorn evaluated the information about Lissandra, Ashe was fiddling with the string of her bow, feeling its familiar twang between her fingers. "She. . .couldn't have murdered anyone. . . right?" Ashe asked weakly.

Evelynn shrugged, inspecting her long sharp pink nails. "Well, that's up to you, honey. Every man for himself, they always say."

Ashe remembered the ice shard that Orianna Reveck had to pry loose from the table earlier. She bit her lip. Evelynn studied her. "I see that you're pondering over what to do with your Lissandra Frost. I'll leave you with that, for the mean time. But don't hesitate to approach me if you need more information. Ta," Evelynn told her and then disappeared into thin air.

-Lissandra-

Lissandra opened her eyes to her still-dark room, her fingers lazily twisting a small ice shard that floated above her chest. Her curtains were dark velvet blue, and the frost that emanated from her had crept up the cloth, solidifying it so much that the sun, or any ray of light had problems getting into her room. The only light that lit up her room was from the large crystal shards that decorated the ceiling, glowing blue whenever Lissandra willed it to be, brighter or dimmer, however she wanted it.

Her room was one of the biggest apartments in the school, next to the ones Syndra, Elise, Cassiopeia, Le'Blanc and Evelynn had. She didn't agree almost at first when she had known that all her floor-mates were all stuck-up idiots, but then she had no other choice. She didn't really want to be homed near the boys either.

No one came to invite her either, except for Syndra Sovereign, coming only for banter who involved Queens and Hierarchy, anarchy sometimes, or the usual talk about the idiosyncracy of the other students. Lissandra only allowed her to do so because she sometimes needed contact.

Lissandra moved from her bed and then neared her window, whose now-glass curtains move away like it was still cloth. She gazed downward, the room giving her a spectacular view of the arena and the swimming pool. She didn't go to class today, and Tryndamere could always invite her in for a tutor session. Otherwise, she 'borrowed' books from other students and from the library.

Her eyes settled on a dark hood inscribed with Avarosan runes, and knew instantly that it was the same girl whom she was giving unwanted attention to. She huffed, and then twirled a strand of her white-blue hair around her finger.

Ashe was obviously a distant relative to where Lissandra came from, though she doubted that the girl knew her history. She had seen Evelynn Thorn talking to her, and she probably knew who she was. Lissandra didn't expect Ashe to understand anyway. Nobody did. She didn't even know the girl.

A knock came from her door. Lissandra drew the curtains back, and then went to the door, opening the door to a summoner in a blue robe. "My apologies if I have disturbed you," the summoner started. "But a student asked me to bring this to you." The summoner held out a small box, decorated with white and gold patterns, and a few thickly bound books.

"I've no time for this nonsense—" Lissandra started.

"Please. The giver insists," the summoner trust the objects in her hand, and then quickly bowed, and then walked away.

Her lips tightened, and then slammed the door closed. She went back to her bed (a lovely four-poster, now frozen in a design she wants), and then tossed the objects on it, all except for the little box. Who would send me this? It's a waste of their time, she thought and then opened it with her sharp fingers.

Little gems with pearlescent lights glimmered on the velvet covering of the box, jagged that led Lissandra to the posibility that they must have been freshly mined, or picked out of the rock. But then, she recognized them. These were gems formed underneath snow and ice, could have been from the one of many caves in the Freljord. Hard to find, and hard to remove too, these were exceptionally rare gemstones.

-Ashe-

Ashe removed her garments and then changed into a new shirt, and then lain on her bed. Her room was small, holding only one bed and a small shelf for books, a small compact bathroom where she had her daily showers, and a small desk and chair, where she could study. Her bow rested on the bedpost beside her, her hair untied and free to move. Her eyes flickered on the photo of her mother, hugging a much younger Ashe, both smiling. Ashe smiled tiredly. "I'm fine, mom," she told the picture.

Ashe blinked back the tears; it had just been four years since her mother's death, but she took it as a lesson blown to her heart, even though she missed her mother terribly.

The picture beside it was also a young version of her, but with another child with glazed eyes and almost pale blue lips. The two children held their hands together, stood underneath a frozen bough of a tree, droplets of water frozen to form a sparkly curtain. It looked beautiful; they looked beautiful. Together.

Ann. . . Ashe remembered the girl who was looking at her from across the cafeteria. She remembered the feeling of knowing and not knowing who the girl was, why she had her eyes covered from everyone else, how the others whispered her name like it was kind of a disease. But the same white hair, the same blue lips; it hit Ashe like a hailstorm. She couldn't be the same girl! Ashe thought desperately when the girl had stormed out of the cafeteria. But after the visit and the rejection in the arena, Ashe couldn't doubt anymore. It was her. Even though the description Evelynn had given her was horrific to hear.

Someone knocked on her door. She let it alone for a few moments, before shrugging off the laziness that settled into her bones, and then opened the door. Anet, the summoner who agreed to help her, smiled up to her. "I gave it to her. She didn't almost want to take it, but yeah. She accepted it!" she said in a rush.

Ashe nodded. "Thank you for doing that for me, Anet," she said.

"Yeah! It's alright. If you need help with anything else, go to me. Bye!" With that, Ashe watched the summoner run back down the steps, the satchel on her hip bouncing. She must've been late for another lecture, Ashe thought, closing the door.

The box that she had told the summoner to take to her had sat on her desk for as long as she had remembered. It was one of the possessions she had taken with her as she left her home to move in the school, and memories came with it of course. She remembered that this box was a reminder of her childhood spent well with a playmate, one she had called Ann, and nothing else. Ashe remembered them both trekking up mountain passes, them both and their fathers on a hunting trip. They had found a cave inlaid with those rare gemstones, and Ann simply made them pop out of their crevices with a wave of her hand.

If she gave it to her, would she have reminded her of them? Ashe had thought as she pondered over the decision to give it to her or not. Now, all she did was think of the reaction Lissandra might be having right now, as she opens that box. Would she remember?

-Lissandra-

Lissandra took the notion to leave her room when she knew that the students would be busy in their own lecture halls. Even though she knew that she should be in one of those rooms, she made her way to the Library, where Nasus Sand, the librarian,filtered out the books on the shelves.

Lissandra walked in, drawing his attention away from a catalogue. "Well, shouldn't you be in class, Ms. Frost?" he asked her and then looked back on his work.

She shook her head. "Study period for me," she said bluntly and continued in the vast room. She went to the very back, where the bookshelves raised higher and dust settled over them. She pulled out a book labelled 'Inventory of Items', and quickly went to work, opening her notebook as she flipped through the pages.

Soon she arrived at a page which described the 'Scrying Orb'. Lissandra got to the point of how it could reveal a small location within 3500 range from where the orb was for five seconds, and then cooling down for 3 minutes, when she put down her pen and then massaged her head. Checking that no one was with her, she lifted her headress off her face, and then set it in front of her.

Then on the polished surface of her helm, she looked at herself, even though the image reflected back was enough to send someone running and screaming. Lissandra's eyes were diamond chips, literally. Cut, full of edges, and even though she thought she was going blind, she learned that she could see multiple reflections of an image, a myriad that pained her. It was hard for her to concentrate, as her eyes were useless kaleidoscopes. Otherwise, her helm also provided her as reading glasses, to where the structure of it was especially designed for her to look at her surroundings like every other normal individual would.

Lissandra sighed, and then tried to get her bearings when she felt a chilly creeping sensation trailing up her arm. She stiffened; the cold really didn't bother her at all, but this was an all-too familiar gesture of the voice that remained in her head.

Hello, Lissandra, the voice whispered.

With her jaw set, she moved to take her helm to put back on her head, but then her hands wouldn't move at all. Like they were stuck to the wood. Lissandra knew better. "Let me go," she said evenly.

Or what? The voice replied snidely, but then her hands moved and then she took back her helm, placing it over her head and eyes.

Your mother is dead. Your father is dead. And so are you, Lissandra. You are dead, it whispered.

Lissandra felt her coil of power pulse through her body, making her gauge her nails on the wood. It was wild, sensational, and then she felt as if she was in the middle of a drunk stupor. Images began to flicker in her mind, her mother and father underneath a thick sheet of sparkling ice, her house overrun with six foot icicles as sharp as swords and needles.

To be perfect is to be dead, is it not? The voice whispered again, and then she felt it withdraw, leaving her as if it was never there in the first place.

Lissandra slumped over the table, gasping. The peak of her power was so great that it rendered her body almost as limp as a doll. It was something she had to work with if she wanted to live. Power, she was so drunk with it.

And then another presence rolled in.

She stood up so fast, ice shards erupting from the floor, her hand around a pale white neck, and a bow cluttered to the floor as Lissandra held up the Frost Archer in a death grip.