Disclaimer: I'm not an owner, I'm just a random shipper.
The Hero and the Champ
As the intrepid pair trudged through the woods, the Yordle girl hummed a happy tune, while Jax just sighed. He had no idea how things had come to this. He didn't travel with other people; he was a loner by nature. He was also used to getting his way. The fact that he now had a companion, completely against his will, was baffling to him. Even though he could recall all the events leading up to it, he still had no idea how it had actually happened.
Jax's aimless wandering through the realms had taken him many places, some stranger than others. This no-name town at the edge of Demacia was as normal as normal could be. He mostly traveled off the beaten paths, though the wilderness where few dared to tread, seeing sights even fewer ever saw, but every once in a while he got the urge to sleep in a real bed, to eat food he didn't have to catch and cook himself, and yes, maybe to speak with another sentient being. Very briefly, of course. And so, he approached the largest inn in that little town...where fate saw fit to hand him his doom.
As he walked through the doors, every eye turned his way, and there was a collective gasp. His appearance was known throughout the realms, a legendary figure in his traditional cloak and mask that anyone would recognize and none would dare impersonate (not after the stories of what he had done the few times it had been tried). He approached the innkeeper and asked for room and board.
"Of course." The innkeeper gulped audibly. "It just so happens that our very best room has just opened up, and the meal tonight will be...I will talk to the cook. The very best of whatever we have available, I assure you. Complimentary, of course." A standard response wherever he went. He didn't even bother carrying money anymore. It was just useless weight when his reputation got him anything he wanted for free. He didn't bother with a thank you, just found an empty table in a corner to sit at and wait for his meal. The tension in the room was thick, everyone carefully avoiding looking at him at all costs, and scooting subltly away from his table when possible.
Minutes later, the doors of the inn opened again. The eyes in the room once again turned that direction, this time looking much further down to see the person walking in, a very unusual Yordle girl. Unusual for a number of reasons, starting with the manner of dress. Yordles did not typically wear any kind of armor, but this one was as fully decked out as a human knight. Also, Yordles had an affinity for weapons on the cutting edge of technology, often very clever weapons that worked in ways the average person could not even comprehend. This Yordle carried the most uncomplicated weapon imaginable, a giant hammer. But the biggest difference was the face. Yordles, as a rule, are a very flighty and frivolous people, tricky and mischievous, lovers of amusement, which typically showed in their features. This one...you could just see it. Strength, fortitude, honesty, determination, everything on display on that unguardedly expressive face. Not the face of a Yordle, the face of a soldier. A face that Jax found somehow slightly familiar.
"Innkeep! I'm gonna need to stay the night! Whacha got for me?" She said cheerfully.
"Of course I've always got something for you, Poppy! We'll get you fixed up. You'll need dinner too, the cook is getting right on it. It's gonna be a good one tonight, you don't want to miss it."
"Excellent! How much do I owe you?"
"No, no, your money is no good here, you know that! We go through this every time, Poppy! I won't have the town hero paying for a meal and a bed!" His manner was happy and personable, exactly the opposite of when he was dealing with Jax.
She smiled self-deprecatingly. "I'm no hero. Just a Yordle with a hammer. I'm telling you, anyone could've led that Mountain Drake away from the town."
"Yes, but anyone else would've been eaten afterward. Besides, anyone didn't do it. You did it. You saved the town, and you will never pay for a meal here, not as long as I'm the Innkeeper."
She shook her head ruefully. "I'm not going to change your mind on that, am I? Okay then, I'll let you treat me just this once."
She scanned the room for a place to sit. Her eyes settled on the man in the corner. "Jax? Is that you?"
She came over, displaying none of the fear and obsequiousness of the other occupants. Jax rarely remembered anyone he met: powerful mages, majestic kings, renowned warriors all blending together in his head as beneath his notice. But now Jax recognized her, the mannerisms gave her away. No one else in all the realms treated him this way, as if he were just another person instead of a separate existence who should be feared. Poppy, the Yordle warrior he had met occasionally in the League of Legends, the one place in all the realms where he could really cut loose and go all out. The gathering place of all the most powerful beings in the realms, where they could unleash their dreadful strength and skill upon each other without consequence, as the magic of the Summoners protected them all from permanent harm. That legendary tournament where he had made his name as the Undefeated Champ, unmatched throughout all the realms in skill and strength. Even among legends he was a Legend of another kind, respected and feared by the other Champions. Except Poppy. Respect, yes. She respected everyone she met. But fear? Knowing her just a little, he thought she was probably not even capable of feeling such a thing.
He groaned internally as she came over to his table. He had no idea how to deal with her. He was a recluse by nature, used to keeping everyone at a distance, which was easy to achieve when everyone fears you more than death itself. His 'don't talk to me' aura was almost a physical thing, apparent to anyone with any sense. Sense that Poppy apparently did not have. Her innocence was the perfect weapon to bore holes right through his previously invincible barriers.
"Wow! It is you! What a coincidence, huh?" She sat uninvited at his table. Jax silently cursed his absent-minded nature. If he had just recalled that she made Demacia her home, he would've avoided this place like the plague. "So what brings you to Demacia?"
"I like to travel. I don't really have a direction, I just go wherever my feet take me." Jax found himself unintentionally answering truthfully.
"Hm. That's cool, I guess. So where are you from originally?"
"I don't know." Again, he answered without volition. His eyes widened beneath his mask. How was she doing this to him? He could see the wheels in her head turning as she came to some conclusion that he was sure he wouldn't like.
"So...for all you know, you could be from Demacia originally?"
He tried. He desperately tried to lie. He KNEW that telling the truth would cause him trouble, so he tried to lie with all his might. He just couldn't do it. Her innocent face, devoid of deception, probably incapable of understanding the concept of one person tricking another, left him completely helpless. He answered. "Yes, that's possible. Very, very, very unlikely, but possible."
"That's great!" She shouted happily.
"That's great?" He asked, confused, and dreading the answer.
"Yes! Don't you see? You're the one! The one I've been looking for all this time! I've finally found you!"
Jax just stared at her silently for a few minutes, while she waited in breathless anticipation for his reaction. Finally he said, "I don't get it."
She sighed in exasperation. "Look. Don't you know the legend of the hammer?" He shook his head. "Well, that's okay, I'll tell you now."
"See, when Demacia was first formed, one of the leaders was this guy, Orlon. He was awesome, a really great warrior. I learned so much from him. This hammer was his, he used it to do all kinds of awesome stuff. He got old eventually, happens to the best of us. On his deathbed, he told me how the hammer was actually not made for him. It was forged very special, to be used by the Hero of Demacia, the only one who could keep Demacia together. He gave it to me, and just before he died, I promised him that I would find the Hero in his place and pass the hammer on. His face got kind of weird when I said that, and I think he tried to say something else, but then he died. So anyway, I've been looking for the Hero ever since. It's been a long, hard, disappointing road, but I finally made it! I found him!"
Jax took this in. The story raised a number of questions in his mind. "So...you were there in the beginning, before the first king of Demacia?" She nodded. "How old...exactly...does that make you?" She shrugged. "But you look...and act-" he mumbled the last quietly "-so young!"
"Yordles live longer than Humans. I'm still pretty young." She shrugged again.
"And you've been carrying the hammer around all these years since then?" She nodded again. "And doing things like what the innkeeper was talking about with the mountain drake." She shrugged, a little embarrassed. "And you were there with the hammer during all the wars with Noxus? And probably the negotiations with Ashe and Tryndamere. And every other major event in the nation's history." She nodded each time he stopped. "And you still haven't figured out-"
"Look, would you stop stalling with all these pointless questions? It's obvious, alright? You're the Legendary Hero of Demacia! You're the Undefeated Champ of the League of Legends, you're probably from Demacia originally, and now you just 'happen' to wander in to Demacia right in front of me? There's no way that's all coincidence! My lifelong quest is finally at an end, now take the hammer and become the Hero you were always meant to be!"
Jax was speechless. He didn't think it was possible for someone capable of intelligent thought to be this oblivious. The irony of her statement about coincidence was staggering. How could she not see? How could she not know? Everyone who met her knew, he was sure. "No."
"No? What do you mean, no?" Poppy said, confusion all over her face.
"I mean, no, I'm not taking the hammer. I only use this lamppost. The League Admin restricted me from using any real weapon."
Poppy scowled, her anger at being denied so close to her goal apparent. "I heard they redacted that sanction, and you are only using the lamppost because you're a stubborn git."
Jax almost choked at that. HER calling HIM stubborn? Yes indeed, she had no ability to sense irony whatsoever. "Either way, I'm not taking the hammer. I'm not a hero, I'm not from Demacia, and even if I am, I don't give a rat's a$$ about Demacia and her people, and I'm just passing through. I'm not even staying in Demacia. Take that hammer and shove it...somewhere." Guilt attacked him like Swain's Ravenous Flock when he was about to say something vulgar to the innocent little Yordle."
Poppy's eyes narrowed, then she smiled. "Well I'm not giving up. I've waited this long, I can wait til you come around. I'll just travel along with you until then."
"No, you won't." Jax said forcefully.
Poppy frowned. "Yes, I will."
"No, you won't."
"Yes, I will."
"NO YOU WON"T!"
Her tenacity was beyond belief. He used every trick in the book, and some he invented himself on the spot, to lose her. She always found him again, popping up like a Poppy when he least expected it. Eventually, he gave up trying to lose her and just resigned himself to his fate. They settled into a routine. Every day, she'd offer him the hammer, and every day he'd turn her down. At some point, she took total control of the travelling. He had no idea how or when, but now it resembled a guided tour of Demacia in which she constantly pointed out all the reasons one would want to live here, instead of his usual aimless wandering. He could only shake his head at her inhuman persistence.
"Hurry up, Jax! There's another really cool town just a few hours ahead that I really want to show you!"
"Alright, alright, I'm coming, I'm coming."
Maybe it wasn't so bad. Her enthusiasm was infectious. At the least, it was never boring, having her around.
