"Come on you slow poke" He called while pulling her hand.
"Who in Valoran says slow poke?" She mocked at him with a smile.
"Humans. Hurry or we're gonna miss it!"
When the moon was high above the Institute of War, the landscape seemed to take on a different aura. The grass filled plains became calm and gentle as they blew through the breeze, bioluminescent flowers covered the fields in brilliant lights and the hillsides became rolling giants, offering countless wonders behind them.
On this night, two champions left the Halls of Justice to run through the grasslands and through the trees, just as nature had intended their original forms. The moon lit their adventures and the stars provided their audience as the two went further and further form the institute. With each step, one grew more and more anxious as the other grew curious.
"Almost there" Wukong assured his companion, whose hand he still held tight as he pulled her through the grass.
"Gods!" Ahri laughed a little as she lost her footing for a moment before quickening her pace. "Maybe I'd be more inclined to follow you if you told me where we are going"
"That would completely negate the idea of a surprise"
"Stupid monkey" She said with a grin.
"Impatient fox" Wukong countered with a smile. Ahri slipped her narrow hand out of his strong one and ran next to him. They were both incredibly quick, both eager to get to where they were going first, Ahri simply did not know when to stop. "Think you're faster than me?"
"I know I'm faster than you"
"I never settle for second"
"Too bad for you" She winked at him and began to break ahead of him in their foot race. Anyone who looked upon their race would only have seen a flash in the grass pass by, or perhaps the glow of Ahri's orb. It was apparent she was faster, but only by a margin and this infuriated Wukong. The two ran until the Institute and all its champions became nothing but background and the scenery changed from one of civilization to that of complete grassland wilderness. Grass that would come up to one's head and trees harboring all manner of strange fruits.
"Aaaaaaaannd" Wukong began with a toothy grin. "Stop!" He announced and quickly wrapped his arms around her small figure, gently setting her down on the opposite side of him.
"Was that necessary?"
"Haven't you read any children's books?" Wukong mocked her. "If I just yelled 'stop' then you'd think I was trying to cheat, and you would ignore me, and then you would get yourself hurt"
"I can't tell if you're calling me a fool or a child"
"Why not both?" Wukong grinned and Ahri slapped him on the back of his head.
"Why did you stop me?"
"That" Wukong carelessly pointed in front of them. There in front of the two was a large ditch that seemingly came from nowhere. An old river bed, it still had reminiscence of what used to be a water way, dead aquatic plant life and a sandy bed. It was a significant drop off and had she kept going, Ahri probably would have broken something, she'd die before telling Wukong that though. Without another word, Wukong hopped into the ditch and extended his arm to Ahri. "Empress?"
"One day I'll cause you enough pain to stop calling me that" She took his hand and he helped her into the ditch. "Where does this lead?"
"You're still not getting the idea of a surprise"
"Why can't you be more like Rammus? He's such a less annoying creature"
"Okay." Wukong said in a grunt and performed his best Rammus impression. His eyes squint, his face shriveled and his back hunched over, he looked nothing like Rammus, but Ahri was amused.
"Yes, yes, everybody look at the trained circus monkey."
"Right." He continued his performance. Ahri took this opportunity to fling her orb at his face in a light touch that sent Wukong to the ground. "Everyone's a critic…" He said from the floor.
"Come on, you still have a surprise to show me"
"Now you're getting it" Wukong got back on his feet with a needlessly large display of acrobatics and got up in one motion. "Let's go," They began walking for now, only lightly huffing at their recent sprinting contest.
"When did you have time to find this place?"
"I got banned four times in a row, there was some time to kill."
"And your first thought was to show this to your good friend Ahri?"
"Well Rengar was busy and Rammus was trying to kill Twitch, but you know, third is almost as good as first"
"Really?"
"No, of course not, first is the only place worth being."
"I mean, you really thought to ask them before me?"
"Aw, did I hurt the little fox's feelings?" He teased with a smirk.
"Yes." She said apparently dead serious.
"Oh" That made Wukong's victorious smile fade. "I didn't mean it!" He stopped walking through the dirt as Ahri kept walking. "You were absolutely my first choice to see this with me! I swear!" Ahri only turned her head back for a moment to flash him a smile and a wink, causing Wukong to feel very stupid. "I hate you"
"You fall for that every time" Ahri grinned.
"You're cruel" Was all he offered in response, letting Ahri know she won this match. The two continued to walk through the worn out grass that lied at the bottom of the ditch. Wukong led her over countless rock piles, patches of grass and even a skeleton, the moon still providing the light for this adventure. "Ah, here it is" Wukong commented looking straight ahead of them. The ditch seemed to lead right underneath one of the larger hills, as if it was an entrance to a building. This hole only led to darkness and Ahri felt a tinge of fear blemish her face. "Scared Empress? Come on you big chicken"
"I'm not a chicken! I am a fox" Wukong ignored her protest and more or less, pushed her to the darkness. "If I didn't know better I'd say you were trying to kill me"
"Who said I'm not?" He laughed. The two now stood in the darkness, though the light from outside could still be seen behind them. Ahri let her orb go and project its light across the walls of the cave. It was nothing special, a rounded hole in the side of a hill. The dirt beneath their feet felt slightly mushier against their sandals but it was not something the normal person would pay any attention to. "Onward" Wukong proclaimed.
"I am having doubts you found this place on your own…" Ahri observed the cave walls.
"Well, I might have read a book"
"You read?" She mocked.
"It had pictures too" He admitted. "And Master Yi helped… Human words make no damn sense."
"I will not disagree with you." Ahri admitted. The cave seemed to be headed in a downward direction, Ahri felt as if she was descending into some maniacal prank Wukong had thrown together. "What was this book about?" She questioned.
"Summoners" He reported, suddenly focused on where they were going.
"The Rune Wars?"
"No, no, other aspect of summoner culture" Ahri's brow furrowed at this, what book would detail anything about summoner's aside from the Rune Wars? Did Wukong want to try his hand at summoning? Dear god what if summoner bananas… That thought was enough to make Ahri skeptical of Wukong's intentions. Step by step, the two descended into this increasingly darkening cave. Her orb's light no longer coated the walls in a thick green, the darkness was either stronger or the cave was getting much wider.
"Summoner culture?" She tried to learn more of his intention discretely.
"As it turns out, they were far more than crazy magicians who just blew things up, they had rituals, dinner practices and maturity rights."
"There is no end to the pain I will cause you if you brought me out her to 'make me a woman'."
"Damn, you discovered my brilliant plan"
"You're not encouraging me to stay"
"No need to worry Empress, just be patient." He did not say this with his normal confidence, and Ahri made a mental note of it. They walked the rest of the path in silence, Ahri kept track of her companion's posture, he seemed timid, like the way he walks when he knows he's disappointed his master, or when he fails a challenge. He was nervous, or scared, but something was wrong with her friend and it did not comfort her thoughts about where the two of them were going. Perhaps he's leading her to an ambush and just now having second thoughts, or maybe there's a great beast he must sacrifice her to, in order to save his tribe or… It occurred to Ahri her imagination might be having a field day with this endeavor. "Alright," Wukong stopped. The dirt had stopped and Ahri shined her orb on the ground. There were stairs that led up.
"Why would these go up? It makes so much more sense if we simply stopped going down ten meters ago, then we would be at the exact same surface."
"Uh… Are you okay?" Wukong touched her shoulder and Ahri turned to face him.
"Why did you bring me here? Why can't you just tell me? Why is it so important that I not know!" Her questions came so quickly after one another Wukong wasn't sure which one to answer. However, He didn't have to. From Behind Ahri, a purple glow shined on her back and lit up the cave hallway. Ahri saw the purple shine on Wukong's face before turning to face the light, coming from up the staircase. "What's that?"
"It's your surprise." Wukong smiled. Ahri mindlessly walked towards the light, drawn to its glow and Wukong tagged behind her. It was not a long stair case, but it held such wonders.
As Ahri's head emerged in from the stairs, she was greeted with an enormous main cavern, its roof seemed to go all the way to the top of the hill this cave led underneath and the walls were just as wide. It was a hollowed out hill, and at the center of the entire cavern was a grand body of water, spewing water in the water with a glorious purple light. At the moment, it was only spewing water straight into the air, but it was enough to entrance Ahri. As Wukong joined her at the top of the stairs and smiled as he watched the shocked look in her face.
"What is it?" She asked, as she did, the water began to do so much more then fly into the air. The water began to almost float in the air, as if it was levitating. Making bubbles within itself before exploding into a drizzle of brightly lit water. From purple the water changed into blue, and began forming towers of water that would twist and change upon one other, mashing into pools and reforming into pillars. Then green, where water seemed to dance upon itself, moving through the air as if moved by fairies and lightly gracing each other with their movement and bouncing off Ahri's nose.
"It's a Summoner Spring" Wukong smiled as he watched the water continue to move. "It's a neutral ground where all manner of summoner agreements were founded."
"And the water?"
"It changes depending on the event being held, I don't know how to control it, so it's just cycling through its forms." Ahri took hold of Wukong's hand and pulled him further into the cavern and onto a small dry spot as they may both sit and watch the spectacle. The water became red and began to imitate flames, then white and pretended to fall like snow, it would change into a mix crisscrosses and diamonds, then a large cube. Ahri was too entranced to notice, but Wukong's attention was never on the water, just her shining reaction to it all. The large water cube began spinning, changing colors every second and spinning faster and faster. Eventually it spun so fast and there were so many colors that it all exploded in one large watery explosion and there was only a calm pool in the center.
"That was amazing…" Ahri commented, still watching where the water had once been.
"I'm glad you liked it" Wukong chuckled.
"When does it go again?"
"When it has reason it" Ahri kept staring, and if fell silent for a brief moment before Wukong decided this was the best opportunity he would get. "I brought you here for another reason"
"Alright…" Ahri was hesitant but ultimately she adjusted where she sat to face him.
"It's just the Institute is so loud, and you never know when Twitch will pop up," He seemed to be refraining from looking at her this entire time. "I just needed to speak to you alone."
"Well, here I am" She was feeling more than a little impatient with her friend, she had too many assumptions and wanted answers as to why they were here.
"Ahri," He tried to begin and intertwined his hands with hers. "I…" He began but didn't seem to like it that and shut his mouth before trying to create another word, only no sound was given to that one.
"Scared?" She giggled that shy little laugh she would always taunt champions with.
"Very" Wukong uncomfortably laughed with her. With a large inhale, the Monkey King let it go and spoke in calmest tone Ahri ever heard from him. "Ahri, I think… I think I'm falling in love with you." Wukong continued his steady breathing, as if to keep himself from exploding and slowly peeled one eye open to observe Ahri's reaction, but it didn't seem like there was one. The Nine-Tailed Fox kept her eyes trained on Wukong, her cat like ear twitched for a moment, but he face and gaze were unresponsive. Then, she smiled, then began to giggle, only with her mouth closed and that transformed into a full on, outward laugh. Ahri was laughing, she covered her mouth with her hand and simply could not contain herself. It was the most Wukong had ever seen her laugh… And he had no idea how to feel about it.
"Oh Gods" Ahri said as her laughter subsided. "Oh Gods" one more quick laugh escaped her and she sat with a comical smile on her lips. "No, no you're not." She shook her head.
"What?" He was expecting either a pep talk about how they could never be together or her shooting him through a wall, but… This was not expected.
"You're not" She said with a complete and series smile. "It's okay though, lots of men think they fall in love with me,"
"I am a monkey" Wukong reminded.
"Oh same thing, you're still male."
"You think I love you because of your body?"
"The breasts, the voice, the face… Some men have even said the ears… Either way, it's not love, just my allure, it's how my magic replenishes itself. Perhaps you were hit by too many of my charm attacks…" She placed a figure to her chin and pondered. "The point is, you don't love me Wukong, you never will" Ahri's eyes fell and her shoulders dropped after she said it.
"I disagree." Wukong simply countered.
"Don't you understand? My magic is incomplete, if I wanted to, I could take your essence right now. You're just under a spell my magic inherently gives off. Do not fool yourself into thinking its love."
"I do love you."
"No, you do not." It was clear to Wukong he was getting under Ahri's skin. "Even if it's not the charm spell…" Ahri tried to think of another explanation. "You always say you want to complete the greatest challenge, maybe I'm just a challenge you can't conquer, another mountain to climb" Wukong only offered one of his confident grins in response with a raised eyebrow. "Stop looking at me like that."
"You're very opposed to the idea of anyone loving you"
"No one can love me! That's the point. I take their souls, or steal their magic energies. It's incredibly unhealthy to love me! What if I looked like Kha'zix? Would still, even remotely care for me?"
"First of all, yes. Second of all, that's not fair; would you love me if I was uglier than Urgot?"
"Yes!" Ahri cried but immediately shut her mouth. "I mean no…" She looked to the side, furious at herself. "I don't love you." She crossed her arms and walked a few steps away from him.
"Uh huh" Wukong stepped toward her with a lighthearted voice.
"I don't!"
"I know" He kept walking until her was right behind her.
"And you certainly don't love me"
"Nope"
"I hate you" Ahri dropped her arms and turned around to face him.
"I don't believe you" Wukong said with a cheeky grin. "Hey Ahri,"
"Yes Wukong?" She said with tired eyes but a genuine smile. The smile did not last long however, for Wukong captured her lips with his own in a kiss lasting only a few brief seconds.
"I love you." Ahri still had her eyes closed from the kiss, before slowly opening them.
"Hey Wukong,"
"Yes Ahri?"
"Get back here" As she said it, she tackled Wukong to the floor of the Spring and refused to release Wukong's lips from her own. Both were completely oblivious to the changing water in the background, too enraptured in another to see the dazzling pink lights react to the emotions they gave off. Such is the way of the Summoner Spring, only there to provide the perfect background to matters far more important than itself, and one hell of a place to tell a mystical girl how you truly feel about her.
So that was a thing... Hello Summoners! Eros here saying I've been busy with this big ass Veigar and Lulu story, and my friend has asked me to write a script for him... But that's all projects. I also have this Braum and Sejuani thing sitting on my computer, but I don't know where it's going at the moment... So I have fics for you! I promise. I just hate not updating for so long so I wrote this literally in two days to keep people who care up to date. I know this is short but, yeah! Don't worry I got plans! Unless of course I get distracted by League... Again...