Chapter 3

"Ambushed"

Vestos slowly inched towards the thugs. The leader, or whoever he was, fell silent for a few moments. He shook his head and began to speak in his loud tone again.

"And there he is! The maniac in a mask himself! Just who are you, anyways?" He gripped Lux's shoulder tightly.

"Let. Her. Go." Vestos reached behind him and took out his blade. As his blade came out, all of the other thugs took a step back. They were scared out of their minds, but their leader kept up his facade of bravado. He looked back at his crew with anger in his eyes.

"What are you waiting for?! KILL HIM!" The thugs snapped out of their trance and all began to charge towards Vestos at once. There was still distance between them, so Vestos had time to handle them all before he was in danger. He closed his eyes, and his blade started to glow a bright red color. He opened his eyes and saw the thugs getting closer by the second. As soon as they were a bit over a foot away from him, he jumped backwards into the air and sliced horizontally in front of him. As he sliced, his blade sent out a blast of magic, hitting the ground right at the feet of the thugs. As the blast hit the ground, there was a small explosion and they were sent flying in multiple directions. As they hit the wall and floors, their bodies became bruised and their minds fell completely unconscious. They weren't dead, but they weren't going to be moving any time soon. The leader's facade of bravery was quickly fading.

"I'm going to say this one last time. Let the girl go, or your body will break faster than your make-believe bravery." The thug stood still, completely immobilized by fear. "RELEASE HER!" The thug jumped and let go of Lux, and ran in the opposite direction. Lux ran at Vestos and held onto him tightly, sobbing everywhere. "Shh… it's okay, you're safe now."

"S-Suken… it hurts…" Suken paused for a moment. What hurts. He looked down and suddenly noticed a trail of crimson coming from where she was standing.

"Oh, shit…" Vestos picked her up and ran into the direction of his house. He couldn't hop roofs with her, it was too risky. After a few minutes of running, there was a blockade, entirely full of Demacian soldiers.

"Stop right there!" They all raised their blades towards Vestos at once. Vestos quickly realized that him holding Lux with a bloody trail behind him could give people a terribly wrong idea.

"This girl has been stabbed! She needs medical attention, now!"

"I will get her all of the medical attention she needs." Coming out of the crowd came 2 figures that anyone who lived in Demacia recognized. The Might of Demacia, Garen Crownguard; and the Grand Duelist, Fiora Laurent. "Hand me my sister. Now." Vestos had no reason not to listen to him. He walked over and gave Lux to her brother. Garen turned around and looked at Fiora. "I leave the rest to you, Fiora." Garen ran away, desperately trying to get Lux to safety, while Fiora starred Vestos down.

"It has come to our attention that you have been roaming our streets and hurting people. Tell me, why?" Fiora never broke her stare, but neither did Vestos.

"I don't answer to you. Nor do I answer to anyone. I saved Lux from a gang of thugs, and now she is in the capable hands of her brother. I've done my fair share of good for the night, haven't I?" Fiora's stare didn't falter even still. For some reason, she was determined to see this masked man as evil.

Fiora lifted her blade and pointed it at Vestos. "What do I call you?" Vestos sighed and grabbed his blade, pointing it at her as she did to him

"Suken." Fiora smirked and lowered her blade. Vestos lowered his in response, but never did he let her leave his sight.

"Prepare yourself, Suken, the Masked Maniac…" Fiora quickly raised her sword again. "This street shall be your grave!" Fiora quickly lunges forward, but Vestos jumped back. Vestos could win this fight if he did it right, but there was a problem with that. Vestos continued to jump away from Fiora's strikes, while thinking of a way to get away without harming her. He would quickly become public enemy #1 if he were to hurt someone like her. As Fiora lunged at him again, Vestos blocked her blade with his, as they both pushed against each other. She was strong, but not as strong as he was. He pushed harder, and Fiora fell to her knees.

"Give up here, I don't want to kill you." Fiora stared up at him with a fire in her eyes.

"I will never back down!" Fiora reached into her pocket and pulled out her hidden blade, then lunged forward and tried to stab Vestos. Vestos jumped out of the way, and saw that there was no getting away from this. Fiora got up and lunged at him again, rapier in hand this time, but instead of jumping away, Vestos grabbed moved slightly to the slide and then grabbed the handle of her blade. Vestos proceeded to knee Fiora in the chest, and then kicked her back down to the floor. He threw her rapier to the side, and took a deep breath.

"This battle is over. You cannot defeat me, and I refuse to take your life." Vestos started to walk away, but then turned his head and said one last thing.

"I am not your enemy, Fiora. But I will fight and defeat anyone who gets in my way. Don't make me do something we'll both regret." After saying everything he needed, he ran into the nearest alleyway. He kicked his way up the buildings and sat on the rooftop. Before jumping away, he looked back down. Fiora looked somewhat defeated, but even more so than that, she looked… terrified. Vestos had no choice but to dismiss it and move on. It was starting to get late. He had wondered if he was still on to see Lux tomorrow after she got stabbed, but he couldn't afford to risk not going. He began to hop the roofs to get back home.

Meanwhile

Slowly awakening from unconsciousness, Lux woke up with a horrible headache. As she slowly came to, she started to remember what happened. She felt all around her body, but she quickly noticed that… there were no bandages on her. No scars, nothing. It was almost as if she hadn't been stabbed. But… how? There was no way she could have gotten out of that without even a scratch. What was more, she didn't even recognize where she was. She heard talking. Not even talking- she heard yelling. She left the room she was in and started to walk down the hallway. It took her a minute, but she recognized where she was. This was Jarvan's castle, but why was she here? She could only imagine that Garen was the one to bring her here, but she didn't know why. She went towards the throne room and went to knock on the door, but as she was moving her hand she heard someone yell from behind the door. She put her ear to the door and listened closely.

"Fiora… you're telling me you let him get AWAY?"

"Jarvan, I swear, he's skilled… there's something about him that-"

"ENOUGH! I don't want to hear any of your excuses. You KNOW how important this is, Fiora. You KNOW!"

"Jarvan, I swear that I-" Her voice was cut off by a gargling noise, leading to the sound of something falling to the floor.

"Worthless minion…" Jarvan sighed, and Lux heard his movement. Lux quickly ran away from the door. She just heard Fiora die, to the man who is the prince of what is supposed to be the most honorable place on Valoran. Jarvan IV himself, a traitor?! She knew Jarvan, as did her brother. He would never do something like this, there was definitely something up. She knew that the only person who would help her is Suken though. Garen wouldn't believe that this happened, not even for a second. Lux began to head towards the exit when she heard someone call her name.

"Answer me, Lux."

"O-Oh, Jarvan! I'm sorry, I was knocked out and I don't even remember why I was here. I was just leaving." Lux felt her heart drop. How did Jarvan get there without Lux hearing the sound of a door opening?

"Lux, it has come to my attention that you've encountered this masked vigilante on numerous occasions. I asked Garen to leave you here so I could ask you some questions about him."

"I mean, I really don't know anything about him, but I'll answer whatever I can." She felt… scared. There was something about this that didn't add up. Jarvan never asked questions, he just did what seemed right to him. Why is he asking questions?

"Excellent. Let's start off with a simple one. What is his name?"

"His name? He told me to call him Suken, but I doubt that's his real name…"

"Suken… right. Do you know how he fights?"

"The first time, I saw him use his fists. Then I saw him use a sword- one that he was able to channel some kind of magic with… it's still a blur really."

"Suken… fighting with both fist and blade. Thank you, that will be all of the questions. Run along now, I know Garen is worried to hell right about now."

"Um… yeah, I'll see you." Lux slowly walked away from Jarvan. She had a million things going through her mind now. Why is Jarvan so different? Why did he kill Fiora? And… what happened to Suken?

"Oh, and Lux?"

Her hand was on the door knob already. She wanted so badly to open the door, and run home. "Yes, Jarvan?"

"Have you seen Fiora anywhere? I'm starting to worry." Lux's heart sank. She didn't like Fiora, not at all, but she didn't want her dead. Jarvan was the one to kill her, she heard it happen. That sickening gurgling sound… there wasn't a doubt in her mind about it.

"No, I haven't seen her at all." Jarvan sighed in response.

"Very well. You may be on your way now."

"Thank you, Jarvan." Lux slowly opened the door and slowly closed it behind her. She took a few steps outside and then began to run. She wanted to get as far away from Jarvan as possible right now. She needed to find Suken. Whether it was Vestos or someone else- it didn't matter to her. Things would make a lot more sense if she wasn't alone in this.