Chapter 1: Victory

"MINIONS HAVE SPAWNED!", boomed the announcer in Summoner's Rift as Ezreal crouched in the brush, looking for a sign of his opponent. Behind him, Lux was bent, ready to unleash her magic.

"I'm going to drop a ward in the next bush, Ezreal. Get ready.", she said, inching forward to the edge of the brush.

"Okay, just be careful.", he replied, a tone of arrogance mixed with concern on his voice. With that, Lux tossed the ward, revealing Sivir and Janna. Immediately, Ezreal fired off a shot, nailing Sivir directly in the chest. She didn't hesitate. The battle hardened maiden drew back her arm, and let fly her massive cross blade as a whirlwind ripped through the bush. Ezreal was quick. He teleported, narrowly dodging the blade and Janna's magic. Lux was not so lucky, but she managed to land her Binding Light, rooting the two women to the ground long enough for Ezreal to unleash a series of blows on Sivir, downing her quickly.

"FIRST BLOOD!", the announcement went out.

"Good job, babe!", Lux shouted.

As Janna retreated, another whirlwind tore across the field, knocking Lux back into the air. Ezreal teleported again, with a direct hit to Janna's back, followed by several more blasts to finish her off.

"BLUE TEAM DOUBLE KILL!"

"Ha, child's play!", Ezreal exclaimed, pumping a fist in the air.

Ezreal and Lux went to work on the mindless minions as they fought their battle to the death.

"Nicely done! Keep that up, and this match is in the bag!" Lux cheered, then planted a kiss on his cheek.

"Stop, Lux. I need to focus.", he replied, moving away from her.

"Geez, Ez. It's just a practice match. Relax.", she said, rolling her eyes.

Ezreal just glared at her and kept blasting down the wave of minions. Out from the bush near the river, Sivir's cross blade came spinning straight for the two of them. Ezreal just barely ducked out of the way, but Lux took the hit squarely in her shoulder, and fell to the ground. Janna was back with another whirlwind headed directly for Lux.

"Lux! Look out!", he cried, but it was too late. The wind ripped through the Lady of Luminosity, killing her. "Damn," he spat as he retreated back to the safety of his tower, "I told her to be careful."

"What's the matter, Explorer?", Sivir taunted, "Were you distracted by my beauty?"

"Not on your life, you man-armed whore!", he retorted.

Sivir was livid, "You little brat! I'll teach you some manners!", she declared, punctuating her anger with another deadly throw of her cross blade.

Ezreal teleported out of the way, but just barely. "How do you keep missing with those big man arms? Are you throwing with your eyes closed?"

Just as he finished the sentence, Talon appeared from the trees nearby and put his blade to Ezreal's throat, "Looks like you're going back to the summoning platform.", he uttered darkly.

Just as Talon was about to finish off the boy, a ball of light flew towards them, "You get your hands off him!", Lux shouted as she flung her binding light at Talon.

Talon immediately released him to get away from the barrage of magic Lux had just thrown at him, but yet another whirlwind blasted across the ground, this time knocking Ezreal into the air. As he fell back to the ground, Sivir's blade met him in the air, cutting him across his front. Talon then took his opening, jumping up to grab him.

"Good bye, Explorer.", he whispered as he plunged his blade into Ezreals throat.

"NO! Ezreal!", Lux cried. No matter how many times she saw death on the Fields of Justice, it always seemed real to her. She quickly composed herself, and stayed hidden behind her tower, popping out every so often to kill the minions that pushed up to it.

Ezreal floated above Summoner's Rift, in the ever familiar limbo that he was required to wait in. He took this opportunity to check on his teammates. Malphite was heading to the middle lane to help Gragas gank his opponent, Malzahar. Meanwhile, up in the top lane, Gankplank fought on Ezreal's team against Riven. "Looks like they're doing alright," he thought, "but where the hell was Malphite when I needed him?"

Suddenly, Ezreal felt himself being pulled towards the ground. He was back in business! He picked up an extra Doran's Blade, and headed out to his lane.

The battle went on, with Ezreal's team far in the lead for most of the match. He only died a a few more times, each death dealt by Talon; it was a good match for Ezreal.

"BLUE TEAM VICTORY!" the announcer shouted over Summoner's Rift as the purple team's nexus exploded and the summoning magic shielded the combatants from harm.

The ten competitors were teleported out of Summoner's Rift and back into the summoning chambers. They stood facing each other on a large stone platform, similar to the ones on the Fields of Justice. They all, with the exception of Sivir and Ezreal, shook hands.

"Too bad I couldn't get any ganks up top." Riven muttered under her breath.

"What did you say?" Talon sneared, giving Riven an icy stare.

"I said: Did we even have a jungler?" she raised her voice.

"Now now, lass," Gankplank interrupted, "Let's not get 'r panties in a twist. Let's hav'a drink 'nstead!"

"That's the best idea I've heard all day!" Gragas laughed, slapping Gankplank on the back, "Let's head to the bar. I've just made a new brew yesterday. I'm sure there's some left!"

"Fine, I guess I could use a drink after teaming up with that... that NOXIAN!", she growled.

"Aye! That's the spirit! Come on, lass! Let's hav'a drink!", and with that, Gragas, Riven, and Gankplank took their leave.

Talon spat on the ground, glad to see that traitor to Noxus leaving. "Irritating wench." he hissed under his breath. He looked over to see Ezreal; Lux was hanging on his arm and showering him with praise. Ezreal just looked annoyed. He approached, more or less unnoticed. "That was a great match," he said, extending his hand. "You're very skilled."

Ezreal rolled his eyes, "Thanks," he said taking the assassin's hand in a firm shake. "You're not bad yourself, I guess."

"Come on, darling," Lux interrupted, "We have to go see Garen." She then turned up her nose and whirled Ezreal around on his heels and marched him out of the room, leaving Talon by himself.

After a long and boring evening with Lux, Garen, and Xin Zhao, Ezreal finally took leave of the Demacian quarters and headed to his own room. "Why are we together?", he thought to himself, "She's just so annoying sometimes."

Truth be told, although Ezreal would never admit it to himself, he kept her around because she adored him. He is egotistical and, at least in his own mind, rightly so. He's a skilled fighter and explorer, and he was a government employee before he was even ten years old. He's a genius. Why shouldn't she adore him?

"Hey there, Ezreal.", came a woman's voice from behind him. "What are you doing out so late? Seeing your little girlfriend?"

"Caitlyn, why do you insist on sneaking up on me all the time?", he muttered, spinning around to face her.

She wore her standard purple uniform, if you could call it that. She took some steps towards the boy, and put her arm around his shoulder. She leaned in and spoke softly, "Oh, Ezzy, why don't you loosen up a bit?", she joked. Ezreal could smell alcohol on her breath. "After all, it's not like I'm going to gank you. Talon took care of that earlier, from what I heard." She giggled a bit at that.

"Been hitting the bar, Cait?", he questioned, clearly bothered by her booze breath.

"Maaaybe. I might have met up with your teammates from your last match.", she smiled impishly, "Anyways, you didn't answer my question. What are you up to so late?"

"None of your business. Why don't you go to bed?", he said as he brushed her arm from his shoulders. "It's late, and aren't you scheduled for guard duty in the morning?"

"You know, Ezzy, why do you stay with that girl? She's so beneath you, you know. You could do-"

"Shut up, Cait! What Lux and I do is not your business, so just-"

"Oh, Ezzy, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you. All I'm trying to say is that you're just so desireable. You could have any woman here, you know...", she leans in close enough so that her lips touch his ear, and he can feel her warm breath on his neck, "Any woman." At that, she stood up straight again, "But, you keep dating your little Lux. I'm sure you're happy." She turns away and heads up the hall to her own room. "Good night, Ezzy.", she says seductively as she gently closes the door.

Thoroughly flustered now, Ezreal storms off to his room and shuts the doors as hard as he can without making too much noise. "How dare she talk about Lux that way?!", he thought to himself. He was mad at Caitlyn, but maybe she was right? "No," he thought, "Lux was always the best at everything she does. That's why I'm with her. We're both the best at what we do. We belong together."

He hadn't totally convinced himself, but he wasn't going to keep himself up all night over it. He changed into his sleeping clothes, crawled into bed, and went to sleep.

A dream came to Ezreal. He was in the tunnels beneath Piltover, a place he was very familiar with. It was dark, and he pulled his goggles over his eyes. "That's better," he said to himself, "Now, what was I looking for?" He took some steps forward, rounded a bend in the tunnel, and there it was!

"Aha!," he exclaimed, as he approached an ancient looking hextech device. He bent down to examine it as he pulled out his picks to begin digging it out of the dirt. Suddenly, there was a faint breathing behind him. He whipped his head around, only to see the darkness of the tunnels.

He turned back around and kept digging, grinning to himself at his find. He wasn't sure what the device was, but he had found it the last time he had adventured down in the tunnels. He hadn't had his picks, so he had to come back today. The breathing sound came again, closer this time.

Ezreal barely had time to turn around before a blade was at his throat. He rolled backwards just in time to narrowly avoid a fatal blow. In one swift motion, he got back to his feet and lifted his arm to fire a blast of magical energy at his assailant. Something was wrong. No blast came. He glanced down at his wrist to see that his armlet was missing. "Shit," he muttered. He was cornered and without his magic.

"Looks like you should have learned to use real magic, Explorer," his assassin taunted. Ezreal met his gaze.

"Talon! How did you get in here?", he questioned, angry and impressed at the same time.

"Well, it's easy when you're a Noxian assassin."

"Hmph. I hate Noxians."

"That's too bad, Explorer," Talon replied as he lunged, grabbing Ezreal by the throat and pressing him against the wall of the tunnel, "Because Noxians have grown fond of you," he leaned in close as he said this. "So much, that they've sent me to give you a message..."

"AHHH!" Ezreal awoke with cold sweat, breathing hard, and his heart was thumping in his chest. He looked over to his beside table, where he kept his armlet. It was there. "What the hell was that?," he thought to himself. He shook his head a few times, rolled over, and laid his head down.

After twenty or so minutes of tossing and turning, Ezreal decided that he was just not going to be able to get to sleep again tonight. He threw off the blanket, got out of bed, and went to the window to gaze out at the woods that his window faced. "Sometimes, I wish I could just go." he thought wistfully.