At the Institute of War; in a small courtyard, the little gap of leftover space between two of the numerous expansions to the institute, was a rock garden, a dusty sign proclaiming it to be the Plaskett memorial garden. When she had first arrived at the institute, Leona had found this lonely garden and something in it called to her, over the next few lonely weeks, she found herself returning to this little spot. One day she brought some plants, one day a bench, and eventually she made this place her home away from home. Nobody ever bothered her in her garden, and the rocks and the sun reminded her of her old village on Mount Taragon, and she would shut herself in this little place and be alone.
Eventually, things got better, she started helping at the infirmary, and having someone, whoever it was that day, that needed her, pulled her back together. Even when it became clear the elders just wanted her out of the way, things weren't as bad, she had people who needed her and a place that was her own, more so then her plain room, during the summer she had even taken to sleeping in her garden, as she had that night, she had hidden the door behind a musty tapestry and in over a year, nobody had ever so much as looked in…
A rumble from her stomach roused her from her thoughts, she was on her way to the mess, and almost there. The corridor was busier than normal; some important match that nobody would remember once it was done must be starting soon. At least she didn't have to participate in today's match, often she did but today a break was welcome. She was almost slipping back in to her thoughts when someone ran up behind her and tapped her on the shoulder
"Excuse me, I have a message for you" it was a summoner, a girl of obvious freljordian origin, young too, younger then Leona herself. The girl seemed far too nervous for such a simple task of delivering a message.
"Thank you Ms.… um…" Leona wanted to know this girl's name, the institute seemed a faceless entity and knowing the names of the people inside made it less intimidating.
"Oh… Uh, Vilja Caeloi" she answered, rocking from foot to foot, "Message from Soraka, you're to go to the infirmary immediately"
Leona sighed, she was hungry, but Soraka had asked for her help, and it was not like Soraka would have sent such a message if she didn't actually need help. "Of course you'll help her Leona" she muttered under her breath, turning towards the infirmary…
…She pushed open the Ionian styled swinging doors to the infirmary, the room was a beautiful one, she never failed to notice that. Soraka had, over the year or so Leona had been working there, transformed the infirmary, what had once been a very plain white room, like most of the infirmaries and hospitals of Valoran. Now, the walls had paintings of meadows and rivers, the windows had been enlarged, and cast bright beams of sunlight on the beds, and painted paper screens replaced the curtains around beds. But Leona's favorite part was the celling, on the ceiling, arranged above the beds, were intricately carved wood panels showing the history of Valoran. The panels had been gifts, one each from each of Ionia's schools, as a gift to Soraka for her services during and after the occupation.
Leona shook herself out of her admiration of the room and turned to its occupants, Soraka was hunched over a bed, a wounded young man, wearing the robes of a junior summoner. Hearing her footsteps, Soraka turned to Leona, "he will recover, but your purpose here is different" Soraka said "What happened?" Leona asked, "The same thing as always" Leona nodded, every year with the entry of new summoners, someone took a fancy to one of the more violence inclined female champions, followed them around for a day or two, and then got injured 'somehow' , usually by a knife or arrow.
"So what do you need me for?" Leona asked, "Vayne" Soraka replied, "Something is wrong with Vayne, I can feel it" Soraka's voice held absolute certainty, but then, it always did. At that moment, the girl who had delivered Soraka's message ran in to the infirmary, "Yes, little one, what did you discover?" Soraka asked "The books say she checked out yesterday afternoon, to return this afternoon, nothing is out of order" Vilja announced, a little out of breath. Soraka thought for a moment, and then turned back to Vilja, "Do you know where she was going?" she asked, before answering herself "No, Vayne wouldn't want anyone to know, she's just like that".
Soraka looked at the celling for a second, then she made up her mind, "Stand back" she cautioned. With that warning, she closed her eyes, and started to float a few inches off the ground, her eyes closed, and then she opened them, but when they opened, they were not Soraka's eyes, rather the void of space, with thousands of little stars. Some kind of cosmic dust began to swirl around her suspended form, it was beautiful, but the whole thing gave Leona a sense of danger, it unsettled her. Suddenly, after no more than a few seconds, her eyes snapped back to their normal yellow-orange, the cloud dissipated, and the room seemed brighter.
Soraka managed to croak out "Claver's lane" before she collapsed to the nearest chair. "Claver's lane, isn't that in Piltover?" Leona asked? "Y-Y-Yes" Vilja said, her thick accent exacerbated by her stuttering. What Soraka had just done had obviously shaken Vilja, it had shaken Leona the first (and only other) time she had seen that. Moving over to the wall of cabinets and shelves, she grabbed a nerve tincture that Taric had made and poured a small quantity in to a glass for Vilja. Once Vilja had drank her tincture Leona turned to her and said "I have to go, once you feel a bit better, go find Taric or one of the summoners who have medical experience and tell one of them that they need to come work the infirmary, Soraka will need a while to recover." And with that, Leona headed for Piltover.
Negotiating rapid passage to Piltover was harder than Leona was expecting, you would think that the people with vehicles would be happy to transport a champion; goodness knows the institute paid well enough. Eventually she found a carriage that would take her to Piltover, although it wouldn't arrive until midday, regardless, there was no better option, so aboard she climbed. The journey was pleasant enough, there was nobody in the carriage but a father and his newborn daughter, the ride was calm and relaxing, or rather it should have been. Leona couldn't stop thinking about what she'd find in Piltover, there was always the possibility that Soraka was wrong, but somehow, she never was…
Piltover, eight hours earlier:
Vayne hobbled out of the Piltover hospital, she was going to go to her base in Piltover, an abandoned apartment on Claver's lane, an inconspicuous side street. She had been there earlier that night, she was sure… it wasn't a long way from the hospital, only a few blocks. Once she was there, she needed to find out who had tried to kill her, was it the black rose? What could they want with her? Either way, she needed to get to the apartment … it wasn't a long way from the hospital, only a few blocks. Once she was there, she needed to find out who had tried to kill her… She had been there earlier that night, she was sure…
Almost tripping over her crutch brought her out of her daze for a moment, it was the painkiller, and she needed to flush it from her system. To that end she took a small steel vial from her belt and drank it. The vial was an anti-toxin; hopefully it worked on the painkiller, but that would make walking much harder… She needed to get to the apartment … it wasn't a long way from the hospital, only a few blocks. Once she was there, she needed to find out who had tried to kill her… She had been there earlier that night, she was sure… She was almost to the apartment now… just a few more streets, she decided to lean against a building… She needed to get to the apartment … it wasn't a long way from the hospital, only a few blocks. Once she was there, she needed to find out who had tried to kill her… She had been there earlier that night, she was sure… Then all of a sudden, she felt much less pain, her hip was fine, but still she had to hide, that hag could still be after her, it had murdered her father, so she got up and ran further…
She had no idea where she was going, or what she was going to do, she just had to get away, far away. She ran straight for several blocks before she had to stop, leaning against the wall in another narrow alley, it occurred to her to check the pistol; six bullets were still loaded in the gun.
She sat there, breathing heavily, heart beating a mile a minute, for some time, eventually she gathered the strength to get up and keep moving. She had just got to her feet when someone came in to the alley,
"Shauna, what the fuck are you doing here?" it was Pat Braceman a neighborhood troublemaker, a boy a few years older than her. Looking at her expression, he said: "ah, I understand, I can help you"
"Y-Y-You can?"
"Sure, I know where you can hide for now, and then we'll work out what to do next"
How does he know? Vayne thought
"Come on, follow me"
Vayne got up and followed him through the maze of alleyways, something wasn't right here, an alarm bell was going off somewhere in her mind, still she followed him onward. Eventually he came to a stop in a dead end. Something is wrong! Something is wrong! Her brain was screaming at her get out of that alley now, but Pat Braceman had already gone to block her path, he grabbed her and forced her against a wall.
An uncharacteristic rage swelled up inside Vayne, she thought of the hag that had murdered her parents, and this boy that was no doubt going to do the same to her, of the way she had just hid rather than fighting back. Finding a strength she didn't know she had, she shoved him off of her.
"LET ME GO" she shouted pulling the gun out and pointing at him.
"What! Where'd you get that! Ahg! What are you doing!" there was now a very real panic in his voice.
"Listen, I'm sorry! It was all a misunderstanding! Alright! Just go away!"
"NO" she shouted, and she pulled the trigger, six times, six gunshots rang through the alley, six bullets hit a shocked Pat Braceman. Blood exploded everywhere, and Pat Braceman fell over dead, and Vayne blacked out…
…Nurse Nancy Miller, less than a year on the job, but one of Piltover's best nurses, who had been on that unusual night shift who had tended to Vayne less than an hour earlier had then went to find Vayne on her break. Nurse Nancy Miller of Piltover fell over dead, as the blood drained out of her and Vayne passed out a few feet away, six silver bolts shone in the moonlight, six silver bolts that were unmistakably Vayne's, six silver bolts Vayne had shot herself, at the end of Claver's Lane…
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