Chapter 2: Elinor
Elinor was the eldest grandchild of the Crownguard family and by extension the Du Couteau family, when she was growing up she struggled to see how she was a Crownguard, unlike the other grandchildren who all had brown hair, hers was bright red like her grandmothers, she was also much slimmer and agile than the others and though she knew she was a Crownguard, she often thought of herself as Elinor Du Couteau, it was much more elegant than what the name Crownguard brought, although the name did carry the worth of honour and duty, where Du Couteau had a much darker past, either way Elinor was happy to know she was part of both families even if others didn't, something that was only solidified by the presence of Justice next to her, the sword of her Grandfather.
Elinor had always been curious about her family history, her grandfather was Garen Crownguard, The Might of Demacia, known for his commanding and fighting skill both on the battlefield and in the League of Legends where he joined the team Unity, the Summoners behind the team came up with the idea that if each city state gave one champion to the team, it would create a bond between them all and eventually peace would follow.
To begin with the team completely failed neither working together nor following orders from the summoners, in the end most believed the team would be broken apart and the champions would return to their respected city state teams, this changed however when a champion from Noxus arrived, a champion by the name of Katarina Du Couteau.
Elinor couldn't help but smile as she looked over the news clippings her grandfather had given her after he'd broken the news to her he wasn't really her grandfather and yet she still thought of him as such, the clippings mostly had pictures of the battered and bruised team Unity with the titles "Another loss for Unity" "How many more before Unity breaks?" "Failty strikes again!" Elinor couldn't help but laugh at how bad the last one was, as she flicked through the clippings she came to where her grandmother joined the team a picture of the team standing proud around their new member, Elinor looked a little closer at the image and saw Garen and Katarina slyly looking at one another in the moving hex-image, Elinor couldn't help but smile, was it love at first sight, captured in this picture? No it couldn't be they'd met before they teamed up in the league, at least that's what she'd heard.
Elinor placed the images back into the wooden box she carried with her, she had not forgotten what her grandfather had told her two years ago, at first she had laughed it off but then she realized there was no trace of amusement to be found on her grandfather's face, the conversation that followed had been short, as her grandmother had begun making her way back over to the house, but Elinor had not forgotten a word of it.
"I would not fool you Elinor. I tell you this now because you must know who your family is and the truth behind what happened in your grandfather's final game." Jarvan sighed sadly as he looked at the confused Elinor who still held Justice in her hand.
"A new champion had entered the League, we barely knew anything about him, the only thing we got was his name, Jhin. At the time your grandmother was pregnant so was unable to participate in the league. Garen, your grandfather had to change the team, I joined for the match as did Sona, Zed and Vi." Jarvan sighed again sadly as he tried to put the story into words.
"The match was very even and was meant to be more of a friendly, however as it progressed it became more aggressive from both sides. About 20 minutes into the match we gathered to discuss a plan of attack, I was caught off guard as I made my way over and was waylaid. When I finally got to them, I was already too late. Sona had already bled to death, Zed lay on the floor and Vi…she…she had tried to crawl away but she too had bled to death, I saw your grandfather running towards the shooter he was shot before he got there. Before I could do anything the summoners put the game into a stasis state."
"When I came to, I had been moved to the League Sanctuary in the hospital section, in the beds opposite me lay my team mates all covered, bar your grandfather he lay attached to multiple machines your grandmother was next to him holding his hand, willing him to be strong." Jarvan went silent again thinking, this story was not one he had ever told and had little practice in telling it.
"Garen lasted 6 months after that match, the bullet had damaged his heart and it gave out a month after your grandmother gave birth to twins, your mother and uncle, I believe he held on so he could see his children. In the time building up to it, I spent a lot of time with your grandfather, he was my best friend. I promised him I would take care of his family and forsake everything to devote my time to them as I knew he would have done, had he survived. When he passed away I left my duties and the kingdom I was to inherit to look after his family, from that day I became Garen Crownguard and Prince Jarvan vanished from the world. We buried your grandfather close to the house and the story we told was that he had simply retired and became a family man. It was the safest thing to do specially with the state the world was in at the time."
Jarvan had stopped as Elinor's grandmother got closer and he patted her on the shoulder "Go return Justice to the wall. I will tell you more later, I promise."
Elinor had done as her 'Grandfather' had said and returned Justice to the wall a feeling of emptiness leaving her as she let go of the giant blade's hilt. When she had held the blade in her hand a sense of purpose and excitement had filled her but as it hung on the wall she knew the blade was hers and only hers.
During the two years that had followed she had learnt more from Jarvan and her grandmother about what had happened in the arena and how Garen had died. The arena as everyone knew was enchanted all weapons and armour was to have a spell cast on them making them act like they should but without doing any real damage to the wielders, this way no one was truly hurt or killed but would feel the pain of the blows. As it turned out the murderer of Garen, hadn't had his weapon enchanted and so it had acted as a lethal weapon within the arena. The investigation that had followed found neither Jhin the shooter or any of the summoners at fault, it had been called a terrible accident. Four champions had died and a young family destroyed, and no justice had been done.
Now as Elinor sat within the grounds of the League Sanctuary, her anger bubbled to the surface, her hands becoming fists trembling with anger "Someone is to blame." She thought, her anger slowly passing "I will find out who." she promised herself and to the large blade known as Justice, that hung on her back.
Authors note: ((Hello everyone, first I would like to apologize to those of you who have followed my story and have been waiting for many months to see the next part. I have been extremely busy in my life and have just now found the time to begin writing again (and I will continue). I received a few messages from people asking if I would be continuing this story and the answer is yes, though it only has a small following I believe in finishing what I begin. I had to reread my notes and from them I was able to remember where I was going with the story (though I will be changing direction a little). It will have more to do with Garen and Katarina as I will be including flashbacks. Please remember this is my own work and if it breaks some lore I am sorry and am willing to discuss with anyone how I can fix and improve my work in that respect. If you like or dislike my writing, please let me know either in a review or a PM. I always want to improve myself and am always keen to talk with people about my writing and anything else you may want to discuss. I hope you enjoy this chapter it is a bit chopped together from my previous writing and to be honest I had re written it but I wanted to keep my old writing so I combined the two (personally I think it worked out). If there is anything you want or would like for me to write about send me a PM and we can discuss it further. I look forward to hearing from you.))