"What are you doing here?"

The corners of Irelia's lips turned down ever so slightly, the minuscule movement barely noticeable. "I'll leave if you want," she replied coldly.

Riven felt panic rising in her chest, remembering Irelia's reaction the last time she had asked that in the garden.

She held up her hands as if she were trying to physically prevent Irelia from leaving. "N-no! I'm just curious. I got the impression you hated me." Riven laughed nervously in an attempt to ease the tension.

Irelia's frown deepened considerably. "I did."

"Oh."

Irelia continued talking as if she didn't hear Riven's disappointment. "I'm more indifferent towards you now."

"I… Okay."

The two stared at each other in a deafening silence for what felt like hours.

Riven couldn't stand it.

"So… why are you here? I didn't think you would be interested in visiting me." Especially since you said you didn't like me just now, she thought.

Irelia shrugged. "To be honest, I'm not really."

Riven blinked slowly. Her mouth opened only for it to snap shut immediately. She wasn't going to question it. Nope. She was going to keep her mouth closed so she didn't have a chance to interrogate Irelia. She already learned her lesson from that time in the library, and something told her that bothering Irelia would have consequences much worse than if it was Ahri.

Still, she was so damn curious.

But she didn't trust herself. She was speechless, and she hated it.

She wasn't ready for another silent staring contest with her. The woman never seemed to blink, and her intense gaze made Riven feel like Irelia was staring straight into her soul. It made the quiet sound loud. It made her nervous, nervous that she did something wrong, and she could hear her heartbeat thumping in her ears as it sped up.

Yeah, Riven didn't like the silence.

Luckily for her, the Ionian decided to revive the conversation. "How are you feeling?"

Oh thank god, a change in topic.

"I'm fine, I think." She wasn't necessarily in pain at the moment, but her body was sore and she felt exhausted both mentally and physically. Plus, all injuries aren't immediately detectable.

She suspected her answer somehow wasn't the right one when Irelia's facial expression only hardened in response. She felt like she was being judged. It's not like there's a correct answer to that question but here she is, being judged for what she said in response to her question.

It was unnerving.

But then she saw Irelia blink a few times, and that calmed her for some strange reason. She wasn't even sure why. Why would it?

That unnerved her even more.

"Soraka said you would recover quickly, but I'm not sure she's telling the whole truth." Irelia crossed her arms and pursed her lips, frustrated. "I get the feeling she's hiding something."

Riven nodded absentmindedly. "Are you close with Soraka?" Now that the topic of the Starchild was brought up, maybe she could learn more about the relationship the two shared.

"I suppose I am. I visit her at least once a week for pleasantries and the occasional checkup. The other night, I was getting some kind of special medicinal plant for her as well."

"Ah." That would explain why the she would be gathering herbs, but not why she was doing it in those weather conditions. "Did it have to harvested at a certain time or something?"

"Yes. If I recall correctly, the ideal time to harvest that particular plant is around 3:03 A.M. while it's snowing."

Riven blinked rapidly for a second, as if that would help her process the information. "That's uh, really specific."

Irelia nodded curtly. "Yes, it is. I believe they're called Brumal Lunar Clusters due to their abundance of crescent shaped leaves and the conditions in which they thrive."

"What are they used for?"

"Apparently they can be used to treat severe headaches when turned into a salve. Other natural ingredients are needed as well, but I can't seem to recollect the names of them. I'm sure most can be found in the Institute gardens, although many are rather rare." Irelia pursed her lips and put a finger on her chin, a displeased look on her face, as if she was disappointed with herself for forgetting. Her eyebrows furrowed in concentration, and the skin on the bridge of her nose wrinkled slightly.

She stayed like that for a few minutes, blankly staring at nothing, completely still. Riven couldn't see her chest moving from breathing, and she didn't blink once. It was starting to creep Riven out.

The exile nearly jumped out of her skin when Irelia's voice pierced the quiet air. "I think the Ajunta poison is actually used in it, after undergoing a complex alchemical process. I really can't remember the rest though. I guess I'll have to read about it later." She gave a resigned sigh.

Riven, on the other hand, was both impressed and surprised. "You have a lot of knowledge about plants. If I didn't know any better, I'd think I was talking to Zyra."

Irelia smiled. It wasn't a big smile, but it was there. "Not quite. I just have a good memory. I try to improve my memory every chance I get."

Riven tilted her head inquisitively. "Why's that?"

Irelia's expression immediately turned sour. "That's none of your business."

Riven gulped. She had somehow hit a sore topic. She frantically searched for something else to talk about.

The glint of Irelia's weapon caught her eye.

"Y-your weapon must be special, huh? I didn't think they would allow weapons in the medical bay." Riven smiled nervously.

Irelia suddenly became very guarded. "They don't."

"Oh, so why's yours allowed?"

Irelia crossed her arms. "None of your business, Exile. Now if you'll excuse me, I'll be taking my leave."

Riven was a solitary person. She was fine with that. She didn't need a large group of friends, and she didn't need any friends before.

But when it came to the infirmary, it was different.

Here, she loved any human contact she could get. She looked forward to seeing her caretakers everyday and she hoped that she would have visitors. Well, Ahri and Soraka weren't exactly human, but that didn't matter to her.

What did matter though, was that they were her friends.

Friends that had very busy schedules.

So she was alone for the most part, and she hated it.

Hell, she would rather have Irelia just angrily glare at her all day. That would beat what felt like solitary confinement any day.

Here, she was stuck, trapped in an uncomfortable box. There was a simple bed, a hextech screen that showed live matches, and a window that overlooked the Institute gardens. And the door she wasn't allowed to touch, of course.

But it wasn't like she could leave anyway.

She was stuck here, and she's forced to acknowledge the life outside. That was the only thing she could do to pass time besides thinking.

Thinking didn't help alleviate her boredom or longing. If anything, it made things worse.

A week. They said she had to stay for at least a week to examine her, and that she could leave if she felt she was healthy enough.

At her rate of recovery—which was going backwards and not forwards—Riven didn't think they would actually let her go after a week.

Worse, she didn't think she would want to leave either because she was sure she couldn't deal with it alone.

She hadn't left this room ever since she woke up in it. She wasn't allowed to. She was allowed to get out of the bed and walk around the small space to her heart's content, but she discovered she had enteritis shortly after Irelia had left. She could barely walk without crumpling to the floor in pain, and she'd have to crawl towards the private restroom. And she'd struggle doing even that.

But that was only the beginning.

After that day, she was diagnosed with other health problems. Pneumonia, heartburn, and nausea were only a few she suffered from. Apparently the intense amount of summoning magic it had taken to revive her thirty-four times had caused intense internal damage and made her extremely susceptible to diseases. They told her she should expect more problems to arise over the course of the month.

They said she would be allowed to leave in a week.

She was definitely not going to be able to leave by then.

And she felt like absolute shit.

Speaking of that, the worst of her problems was the enteritis. She just wanted to walk around the room to get her body moving, to help forget about her current situation, but that only made her bowels burn like she was being doused in acid again.

Well, at least she had her own restroom.

A restroom she spent most of her time in.

With a toilet. A glorious toilet. A toilet she was practically glued to.

She loved that toilet.

She was practically hugging it right now.

Riven gasped for air as soon as her stomach emptied its contents. Not that there was much in there to begin with; she could barely digest anything before she was overcome with violent convulsions.

"Ugh," she groaned. With her head almost completely surrounded by the toilet bowl, the vibrations of the vocable painfully reverberated in her eardrums as a result.

She weakly pushed herself away from the toilet before she leaned back on it, trying to resume breathing at a normal pace.

She gingerly rubbed her ears. She had gotten an ear infection yesterday, and her ears wouldn't stop ringing.

It made her brain hurt, and her other organs weren't feeling much better either.

She laid down on the cool tiles on the floor, a light sheen of sweat on her skin wetting it with the contact. Her breathing was labored, heavy, and uneven. Her chest stung with each breath she took, and she felt like she was being repeatedly stabbed with tiny knives all over her skin. Her entire body felt like it was burning; the worst part was that the lower half of her body burned and hurt the most.

Fucking enteritis.

She wasn't ready to get back on that toilet. She was sure she was going to die if she did.

But she didn't have a choice. It was too much.

Before she could move, a voice outside the restroom called out to her.

"Riven?" She could barely hear through the ringing in her ears, but she was just glad she could hear them. She couldn't recognize who it was though since all the sounds she could hear were muffled and distant, but she didn't care at this point.

She just needed someone. Anyone.

Well, anyone but Singed.

"I-I'm in here." She could barely hear herself, but she was sure her voice was hoarse and her breath smelly from regurgitation.

She could only imagine how pathetic she looked right now.

The handle of the door suddenly shook stiffly yet rapidly, the metallic noise blaring in her ears.

"The door's locked."

Riven looked at the door from her current position. It was probably one foot away, if not two.

Getting over there, however, made her feel like she just ran a marathon.

It probably took that long too.

She looked up as she ungraciously fell back on the ground and saw Soraka's concerned face. Well, she kinda saw it. Her headache worsened as soon as she did, but some of her pain was starting to dull down. Her vision was all fuzzy and blurry and unclear. It looked like Soraka was really far away, even though she was kneeling directly over Riven.

That's weird, she thought blearily.

"What happened?! Did you hit your head just now?!" Soraka began to lift up Riven. Well, she tried to. The Starchild only succeeded in making Riven sit up, which caused the exile to double over.

"I'm dying, Sorakaaa. Dyyying." She tried to put her left hand on Soraka's shoulder, only to lightly slap her on the face instead. "Oopsss."

Soraka didn't even flinch when she got hit. Did she neglect training her left arm? Riven frowned at the possibility.

Soraka frowned as well, but Riven wasn't quite sure why. "Do you think you can get up?"

Riven thought about it. Her pain was starting to die down, at least on the left side of her body. That probably was a sign of recovery. It was strange, but it must be a good thing if she wasn't in as much pain anymore. "Yeahhh, I t-think I can geddup." Was… was she slurring her words? She wasn't even drunk!

Riven forced herself to stand to prove her point, only to immediately fall onto Soraka.

Huh, maybe she was drunk. She didn't remember drinking. Maybe she got really wasted. That would explain it.

It would, right?

Her muddled train of thought was interrupted when she heard Soraka say something under her breath, but she couldn't make it out.

Damn ear infection.

Soraka carefully dragged her out of the restroom and gently set her down on the bed.

Riven was starting to get really scared as her vision dimmed. "Sorakaa, what'ss happeninggg?" She looked at Soraka with pleading eyes, begging for an answer.

Soraka's expression made Riven's heart ache. Something was seriously wrong; she'd never seen Soraka this upset. "It'll be okay, Riven, I promise. Just hold on."

Riven nodded drowsily, even though she was still really confused.

What am I supposed to hold on to?

That was Riven's last thought before the world turned to black.