Trapped

Chapter 2

Let's see how many people I can get to ship this. Also, somebody mentioned how I used Christmas instead of Snowdown. I couldn't find enough information about Snowdown to be able to use it. Although, if you really want me to, I'll re-write the offending parts of the other chapter.

December 14

(Lux)

I've been stood out here for almost an hour. Katarina left to alert the other Noxians, and Quinn did the same for the other Demacians. I've been trying to think of ways to disable the barrier, but nothing's come to mind. I jumped when I felt something cold and wet on my hand. I almost lashed out, but the soft grunt made me relax. I looked down and gently petted Bristle's scarred muzzle. He managed to sneak up on me in such a way that I was standing between his tusks.

"Did you get bored of the stables?" He grunted and stepped forward just enough so that my arm was resting on his head. I winced at the slight strain on my shoulder, but it wasn't anything bad. Bristle is just tall. I looked around, but I couldn't see Sejuani. I was about to walk away from the barrier, then a sharp whistle caught Bristle's attention. He turned around sharply, catching my legs and sweeping them out from under me. I landed face-first in the snow, followed by laughter. I could feel my face starting to heat up. How many people saw that?

"Gods, Bristle. You can be such an idiot." I heard Sejuani say before she grabbed the back of my shirt and lift me up. "You okay, Lux?" I nodded and brushed the snow off myself. "You're an idiot, Draven!"

"That was funny!" With a sigh, Sejuani roughly rubbed Bristle's head.

"It's fine." I smiled up at her. "He didn't hurt me." I've always wondered how Sejuani got so tall. I'm only just at face-height with her chest.

"Yeah, but he's an idiot." She grinned, bending over and gripping his top teeth with her hands. "But he's my idiot, aren't you Bristle?" He grunted playfully and pretended to try and break free of her hands. "Who's my big idiot?" I wish I had a pet like that. Sejuani has Bristle, Quinn has Valor, Not sure of it counts, but Malzahar has his Voidlings, too. "So." I looked back up at her when she rose back to her full height. "What's this I hear about a barrier?"

"Draven wanted to know, too." With a frown, I turned back to the barrier and placed a hand on it.

"It's just- there's a barrier here. I don't know what caused it." I flinched when an axe bounced off. A few feet from my hand. Draven just looked at it and shrugged.

"You might damage it doing that." He shrugged again and sheathed it. "Nobody at the institute could have done this?" I jumped again when Draven clapped his hand onto my shoulder.

"Draven knows what this is. It's the summoner's defence system. It musta gone crazy or something." I didn't even question how he knew that. I just looked up again. Does this thing cover the entire Institute? I shrugged Draven's hand off and turned to look back at the building. There's at least 23 of us here. And we're all trapped. I think that I'm starting to feel panicked. Draven and Sejuani started arguing again, so I started walking back towards the building. We can't leave. We can't go home. I can't see all of my family.

"Lux! Hey!" I didn't realise that I lost connection to the world. The first thing I felt was cold metal against my cheek. Then the metal on my back and arm. "Are you okay?"

"Did she faint?"

"How am I supposed to know?" I must have blanked out. I don't think I was sat in the snow with giant metal hands keeping me upright a few seconds ago. I was shaken slightly, which woke me up completely. I grabbed one of the fingers on the gauntlet and looked up, straight at Vi. "You okay?" I nodded and sat up. "The hell happened? You were just walking, then you collapsed."

"I'm fine, it's just-" I sighed and let her pull me up. "The situation that we're in."

"Trapped, huh?" I nodded. I noticed that I was still holding onto the giant hand that was hovering next to me. Although I didn't want to let go. It felt like I made friends with a giant.

"Are you sure that you're okay?" Caitlyn walked over from the doorway and put a hand on my forehead. "You don't feel to be too warm..."

"How cute. You're being all motherly." Vi grinned, then laughed when she was elbowed in the side. I smiled, too and finally let go of her finger when she dropped the hand to her side. "The summoners really fucked up this time, didn't they?"

"Who's to say that it's the summoners?"

"They always seem to fuck up. Remember the time they misused their magic and Annie got 3 times stronger for no reason?" Vi looked straight ahead with a glassed expression. "That's the only time I've ever been terrified of a 9 year old." I walked a few steps away when Caitlyn backhanded her arm and told her that she was being ridiculous. Not an argument that I want to get into the middle of. I looked around, and something outside of the barrier caught my eye. A fox stumbled out of the bushes, stopping just outside the barrier to clean its self. I walked over with a smile. It's pure black, which is strange for this weather.

"Here there, little one." I smiled, kneeling down and holding my hand out. "You have a strange fur colour for winter." The fox sniffed around the barrier, and to my surprise, ran straight over and rubbed it's head on my hand. Wait, people can come in, but they can't get out?

"What've you got there, Lux?" Garen asked, standing over me.

"A fox!" lifting it into my arms, I stood up and turned to show him. "Isn't it cute?" He chuckled and rubbed it's head with a finger.

"Cute, but you don't want to keep a fox as a pet."

"Why not?"

"They can be full of diseases and- ow!" He recoiled, hissing and grabbing his hand. "It bit me!" I tried to bite back a smile. "Why do animals hate me?!"

"Because you insult them like that!" Other people started looking over at this point. I rubbed it's head and smiled. Garen glared at it and tried to grab it. "What are you doing?"

"It's probably feral. Give it here." I didn't get chance to react. The fox jumped out of my arms and onto my shoulder. "Lux!"

"I didn't do anything!"

"I did." Did...did the fox just talk? I froze as the magic surrounded the animal and I felt arms wrap around my shoulders and a chin rest on my head a few seconds later. "Full of disease, am I? You're not as clean as I am, Garen." Just Ahri. Every thing's fine. I swear, I heard Vi say 'Oh shit' from all the way over there.

"I, I, uh, I didn't know that was you, Ahri."

"Your point being?" I probably needed to get out of this. In that moment, Ahri let go of me and stepped around me so that she was face-to-face with Garen as they argued. Sometimes I forget that she can read minds. I took a few cautious steps away, looking back to see if he noticed. He probably didn't, since Ahri was blocking his vision with her tails. I shrugged and started walking back towards the institute. The attention wasn't on me anymore, thank goodness. I was almost clear when I heard my brother again.

"Wait, where did Lux go?" I sighed, ready to admit defeat. I turned to face Garen, but a large body stood in front of me. I smiled at the pink hair that hit me in the face. "Did anybody see her?"

"I think she ran off that way." It was a few seconds before Vi said: "All clear."

"I can't believe that he fell for that." Caitlyn shook her head and pulled her rifle closer to her.

"Garen falls for anything, Cait."

"That can't be true."

"It kind of is." I rubbed the skin between my index finger and thumb as I thought back. "About a month ago, Quinn completely convinced him that Prince Jarvan had a crush on him."

"Hell yeah, I did!" I almost had a heart attack when I looked up. Quinn was sat on the outside of a third floor windowsill. "Best prank I ever pulled."

"As funny as that is, aren't you cold?" She paused and looked at herself. She was only wearing a pair of shorts, a t-shirt and the protective glove that Valor just landed on.

"Now that you mention it, yeah." I wish I had that kind of grace. She rolled back through the window and leant out again. "Lux! Meet me in my room!" I nodded and started walking inside when she went back in.

"Come along, Vi. We're going to see if we can find the source of the barrier."

"You don't have to talk to me like I'm a dog, y'know." I think that it would be nice to have a partnership like theirs. Well, without the attempted hitting. I jogged to Quinn's room, just in case Garen had tried to find me inside.

"You don't have to knock!" I lowered the hand that was hovering over the door.

"How did you know I was there?" She shrugged when I entered and closed the door behind me.

"Gotta have sharp senses." Rolling my eyes, I took another step forward, avoiding the random jacket that was crumpled on the floor. "I just need to tell you something. We're trapped here with Noxians."

"I know we are. Darius, Draven, Talon, Katarina, and Cassiopeia."

"Lux." Quinn grabbed both my shoulders. "Promise me that you'll be careful. I don't mean to be rude, but you're the weakest person here. Physically." I winced slightly at that comment. "Since the summoners aren't here, you could easily be attacked. Promise me that you'll be careful." I don't think it's necessary, but...

"Don't worry, Quinn." I smiled, placing both of my hands over one of hers. "I promise."