Chapter 2: Light and Dark

It was the next morning, and Ezreal had only gotten a few hours of sleep. He was awoken by a loud knock at his door. The door opened, and Lux entered. She crept quietly up to the edge of the bed. "Ezreal," she cooed, "it's time to get up." Ezreal was faced away from her. He didn't turn over, but he did make some incomprehensible mumbling noises. "What did you say, sweetie?" she inquired, stroking his longish blond hair.

He turned his head slighty, still faced away from her, "I said, 'Leave me alone'," he whined, pulling the blanket over his head. Ezreal was always grumpy in the morning, but today he was especially annoyed because of his lack of sleep.

Lux frowned at him, "What's your problem this morning?" she prodded. "You have a match soon. You need to get up."

"Uggh... Can't someone else fill in for me?"

"No, Ezreal, you were specifically chosen. You need to get up, lazy. Breakfast is already being served in the dining hall. You're going to miss it if you don't get moving."

"I'm not hungry."

"You need to eat if you're going to fight, and you are going to fight. You can't just not show up!" she urged, yanking the blanket off of the bed and tossing it across the room. Then, her wand lit up, and she created a blinding flash of light.

"Ah! Lux, what the hell!" Ezreal cried, immediately jumping out of bed and covering his eyes to avoid the light.

Lux stopped the light, "Glad to see you're out of bed, dear," she said, smiling sweetly. "Now, get dressed and we'll go down to the dining hall and have breakfast." With that, she turned on her heel and left.

There was no way Ezreal was getting back into that bed, for fear of another waking from Lux, so he decided to get ready. He grabbed a towel from the closet and went to the shower. He looked at himself in the mirror. He had dark circles under his eyes, and had obviously not slept well.

Now dressed and properly groomed, Ezreal headed to the dining hall. He opened the bedroom doors, and Lux was standing just outside. She looked a little annoyed, "There you are." she said, putting on a smile. She frowned then, "You look terrible. Didn't you sleep last night?"

Ezreal glared at his girlfriend, "No, I didn't," he said, clearly upset, "Why do you think I didn't want to get up?"

Lux looked worried, "Is everything okay?"

"I'm fine," he snapped, "let's just go eat so I can get this match over with."

With that, the couple headed towards the dining hall. Lux tried to grab Ezreal's hand, but he pulled it away. He was still thinking about his nightmare. It probably didn't matter, but it was unsettling to think of what could happen to him if he was caught by his enemies without his armlet.

Lux and Ezreal entered the dining hall. "Go and sit with Garen and Jarvan. I'm going to get us some food."

"Whatever," he said, walking over to the Demacians. Garen and Jarvan were talking about their matches from yesterday.

"So, I was hiding in the bush, and- Ezreal! How are you this morning?" Garen said welcomingly.

"I'm fine, just tired."

"Didn't you sleep? We didn't keep you too long last night, did you?"

"No. I just couldn't get to sleep."

"Well, you've got a match today, don't you? You can at least have a good meal!" Ezreal didn't know why Garen always seemed to shout, but it seemed like he was especially loud this morning.

"I'm back, guys," Lux said, smiling. She sat down with two plates of food, and slid one to Ezreal.

After breakfast, Ezreal headed to the summoning chambers to meet with his team before the match. He was gravely disappointed with the team that had been picked for him. In his team's summoning room, there waited LeBlanc, Katarina, Blitzcrank, and Talon. "Ugh," he thought, "Noxians, I hate those guys."

"BEEP BOOP, Good morning, Ezreal." Blitzcrank said.

Ezreal has only recently moved from Piltover to the Institution of War, and he still wasn't sure how to respond to the golem. "Uh, good morning..." he said, unsure of whether or not the mechanical man knew what he was saying.

"Ugh," Katarina groaned, "What is that little twerp doing here?"

"I'm your reluctant carry," he said, "and I'm not exactly happy about this, either."

"Did you have a nice dream?" LeBlanc said, smiling misgieviously.

Ezreal shot her a dark look. "Was she behind what happened last night?" he thought. Ezreal wasn't exactly sure what LeBlanc was capable of, but she is an illusionist.

"Guys, we're on a team. We need to be able to work together." Talon interjected.

"BEEP BOOP, that would be the most logical step." Blitzcrank replied.

"Champions, prepare for battle!" the announcer exclaimed. A blue light surrounded the champions, and they began the summoning process. Ezreal's sight blured, and there was a bright flash of light. When the light faded, he was in Summoner's Rift on the purple summoner's platform.

"Alright," Talon said, "I'll be roaming the jungle. I'll try to keep an eye on you guys. Contact me through the summoners if you need me."

They left for the Anchient Golem. "THIRTY SECONDS UNTIL MINIONS SPAWN!" the announcer boomed. Seconds later, a blast of fire came from the bushes and slammed directly into LeBlanc, followed by a charging Alistar.

Talon was quick to attack Annie. He launched himself through the trees and put his blade to her throat. She screamed, and Alistar turned and charge at him, knocking him backwards.

Katarina took aim, and threw her blade at Alistar. It struck him and bounced off and hit Annie, dealing a heavy blow to her. Talon and Ezreal followed up with with a combined attack. Talon threw his blades out, slowing her down to give Ezreal enough time to deal the final blows.

"FIRST BLOOD", came the announcement, as Alistar retreated.

Now that the threat was out of the way, Talon, LeBlanc, and Ezreal took down the golem to give Talon the blue buff. Afterwards, they parted ways and Ezreal headed to his lane to meet up with Blitzcrank.

"MINIONS HAVE SPAWNED!"

When Ezreal arrived at the lane, Blitzcrank was already hiding in the magically-concealed bush, waiting for his chance to strike. He had already placed a ward in the bush in front of him, but it was empty. Ezreal took his place in the bush behind his "ally".

"BEEP BOOP, greetings, Explorer." Blitzcrank said.

"Hi," he replied, "Just make sure to grab their carry."

"BEEP BOOP, Affirmative." With that, Alistar and Caitlyn came into range, and Blitzcrank launched his giant metal hand at Caitlyn. Unfortunately, Alistar lept in front of her just in time to block the golem.

Ezreal got out of the way, just as Alistar slammed Blitzcrank into the air as Caitlyn fired her Piltover Peacemaker, nailing Blitz. When Blitzcrank was on the ground again, he delivered a power-up fist into Alistar's jaw, popping him into the air long enough for him to get away. Ezreal took the chance to take a few shots at Alistar.

Alistar roared with ferocity, and he and his carry retreated to the safety of their tower to recover. Ezreal began destroying the wave of minions while Blitzcrank waited silently in the brush for his chance to grab Caitlyn.

Soon enough, Caitlyn showed herself to kill the minions near her tower. She was too close to the tower for Ezreal to hit her, but Blitzcrank made his move. He shot his hand at Caitlyn, and this time Alistar didn't have time to get in the way. Caitlyn let out a scream as she was pulled away from her tower. When she reached Blitzcrank, Ezreal fired off several blasts from his armlet as Blitz knocked her into the air.

As soon as she hit the ground, Caitlyn launched her net to get away from the steam golem just as Alistar charged from the safety of the tower, slamming into Blitzcrank to knock him away from Caitlyn as the threw down a snap trap directly behind Ezreal, which he stepped directly onto, locking him in place.

Ezreal didn't know what happened next. He found himself floating above Summoner's Rift.

The rest of the match was more or less a disaster for Ezreal. When he wasn't getting ganked by Fiddlesticks, the enemy jungler, Caitlyn was shooting him down. Talon tried his best to counter jungle, but he just couldn't stop Fiddlesticks.

Finally, the end of the match came. Ezreal's team won, but only after a very long fight. "PURPLE TEAM VICTORY!" boomed the announcer as the blue nexus exploded. The champions were engulfed in a blue light and transported to the summoning chambers, where they shook hands and parted ways.

"Ezzy," Caitlyn said, "Did you let me kill you?" she taunted, smiling.

Ezreal just rolled his eyes and ignored her, leaving silently. Waiting outside the chamber, was Talon. "She's such a bitch sometimes," he commented.

Ezreal didn't like Noxians, but he felt the same way right now, "Yeah," he said as he continued to head away from the summoning chamber.

Talon followed him, attempting to be friendly, "You know, we're at peace right now, you don't have to hate Noxians so much," he put his hand on Ezreal's shoulder, attempting to hold him back a bit.

"You're all my enemy." Ezreal respond, pulling himself away from Talon.

"To be fair, I was forced into service by the Noxian High Command," Talon pointed out. Ezreal kept walking. "It's the same way that you were forced into the League of Legends by that armlet you wear."

Ezreal stopped at that, "What do you mean?" he inquired, "You were forced into service?"

"Yes," Talon replied, "when I was younger, the High Command sent assassins after me to recruit me into their ranks. I killed so many of them, resisting them."

"What finally made you join them?" Ezreal was genuinely curious now.

"A blade to my throat," he replied. Ezreal looked shocked, "It was General Du Couteau. He was able to best me in combat, and so he told me that i was either to join the ranks of the Noxian High Command, or die where I stood."

"I guess you didn't have much of a choice."

"No, I didn't," Talon sighed, "and now I'm bound to the house Du Couteau."

"Well, I'm going to my room. I'm tired. I didn't get any sleep last night."

"Oh, come on. Neither of us has a match tomorrow. Let's grab a drink." Talon smiled, "I'll buy."

"We don't pay for anything here," Ezreal retorted.

"Well, it's the thought that counts, right? What's the harm in a few drinks?" he moved in front of Ezreal, "Besides, would you rather spend the night listening to your girlfriend drone on with Garen and the other Demacians?"

Checkmate. Drinks, even with a Noxian, was probably better than sitting around, bored out of his mind while he listened to the endless droning of the Demacians. He sighed, "You're right. Let's go."

Ezreal and Talon went off to the bar. After several drinks each, they left, laughing with each other, not really sure who was holding up who. As they stumbled down the hall, a shrill voice interrupted their laughter, "Ezreal! What the hell are you doing!?" It was Lux, and she was glaring at the two of them.

"Oh, Luthxs," he slurred, "How're you?"

"Get away from that... that Noxian!" she demanded, yanking him away.

"Kay, see you, Talon!"

"So, instead of having dinner with me, you decided to go get drunk with the enemy!" she accused, "What were you thinking? Do you know what Demacia would think if-"

"But, I'm not a Damatian!" he insisted, "an I'm a-"

"You're drunk, Ezreal. You need to go to be. We can talk about this tomorrow." she interrupted.

Ezreal was frustrated now. He yanked his arm away from Lux, "Why are you so controlling?" he yelled, "I kin do whaddev'r I wan'!" He stormed off to his room, leaving Lux in the empty hallway.

When he got to his room, he slammed the door and laid on his bed on his back while he stared at the ceiling. "Maybe Caitlyn was right," he thought out loud, "Maybe Lux isn't right for me..."

There was a knock at the door, "Go away, Lux!" Ezreal shouted.

"It's me." Talon's voice came from behind the door. Ezreal pulled himself off the bed and stumbled over to the door and opened it a crack, "Hey. Sorry about that." he appologized.

"It's not your fault, we've been having problems-" Ezreal started, but he was interrupted when Talon lunged at him, pressing his mouth against Ezreal's, causing the two of them to stumble backwards and fall onto Ezreal's bed. He pushed Talon off of him, "What are you doing?" he demanded.

"I just thought that-" Talon started to explain.

"Look, I don't-" Ezreal began, "I... um... I don't..." he just couldn't find the words.

"You don't what?" Talon inquired.

"I..." Ezreal just couldn't say what he wanted, and he wasn't really sure what he wanted to say. "I don't know..." he said, pulling Talon back in.