Chapter 4 - Repercussions
I miss my own bed. This was the only thought Annie was able to muster in her fatigue-ridden state when she woke up the next morning. She had slept through the night easily enough, but for some reason she had woken up dreary eyed and lacking an awful lot of energy. Although Annie didn't really want to think about it, she knew she was still feeling the effects of Amumu's words from the night before, his voice playing around in her head over and over. Checking the time, she was astonished to realise not only had she slept well, but she had slept in, and breakfast would be on very soon. As if on cue, there came a knock on the door.
"Annie, breakfast will be on soon, you'd better make your way down." Shyvana said before Annie heard her walking off in the direction of the hall. Annie hastily dressed, slipping on pretty much the same thing she had worn the night before, changing tops after realising the one from yesterday had some tear stains on it. She hastily exited her room and started down the hall before considering knocking on Amumu's door to see if he was in, but decided she wasn't quite ready to face him yet. As she made her way towards the hall, a very hung-over Lucian joined her. He attempted a smile, but cringed at the use of his facial muscles.
"Hey Annie, I don't remember you arriving, how are you?" His attempt at small talk brought a smile to Annie's face, the usually strong man in front of her clearly feeling terrible but trying to hide it.
"Yeah, I guess I'm ok. I arrived yesterday, and we did meet yesterday." Lucian hung his head at this.
"I'm sorry, I lost control last night. Umm, you don't happen to know if Vayne was there?" Annie nodded. Lucian muttered something under his breath which sounded oddly like 'shit', before rubbing his head in his hands.
"Well, I screwed up apparently. That's the last time I drink in a long time." They arrived at the open doors to the hall and went their separate ways, Lucian making his way towards a rather annoyed looking Vayne while Annie claimed a seat by herself. She watched Lucian for a little bit longer, feeling a little sorry for the purifier. She felt even more sorry for him when, upon greeting Vayne, she slapped him straight across the face. The smack was incredibly loud, and a few 'oohs' could be heard from the surrounding champions, who looked at the stunned Lucian in sympathy. He gently rubbed his cheeks, then shrugged, announcing a little louder to everybody else.
"Well, I probably deserved that one." This solicited a chuckle from most of the company, and lightened the mood in general. Even Vayne laughed a little, and once everybody had returned to their business, embraced the purifier, holding him very close to her.
"Now that is pretty sweet if you ask me." Quinn came and sat next to Annie, carrying with her a plate of eggs and bacon, which she offered to Annie. Annie accepted, feeling the need to re-energise.
"Did you know Vayne spent almost the whole night with him? She refused to let the poor sod out of her sight until she was convinced he'd be ok. She may not look it, but I know she barely got any sleep last night." Annie took a closer at Vayne, and did indeed notice the slight bagginess under her eyes, contrasting to her currently positive personality. Annie looked around the room at the others gathered. Most of the people from last night had gathered already, even Fiora, Jarven and Shyvana were here. Lux obviously wasn't, but curiously neither was her brother Garen.
"What happened to Garen?"
"Funny story, apparently he informed Jarven he would not be staying with us for the remainder of the holiday and took his leave from the palace sometime last night. Not entirely sure where he is going either, I just really hope he isn't planning on ruining Lux's time in Piltover." Annie nodded, the news certainly interesting. In spite of the outburst last night, Garen was usually quite calmed and collected, one of the many qualities that made him a brilliant general. Given this, Annie found it very hard to believe he would rush off to Piltover on a whim to stop his sister seeing Ezreal. It just didn't seem like him.
Annie again skimmed the room, then realised she had forgotten one other person.
"Where's Amumu?" Quinn looked at the young girl with sad eyes. Annie had told her and Vayne what Amumu had said, and it hadn't taken any interrogating to see that Annie was really brought down over it. As much as Quinn wanted to help their relationship, she really wasn't that close with either of them, and if she was honest, had no idea what their relationship was really like at the moment. She resolved instead just to try and be as supportive as possible.
"I haven't seen him this morning, he is probably just sleeping in. Didn't you say he had a headache last night?" Annie nodded, not really paying full attention to the scout's words. Thinking of Amumu again brought back that horrible sinking feeling, and she was desperately thinking of something else to say, she looked at Quinn, wondering if she had ever felt this low. Suddenly a thought hit her, and decided to pursue save she continue to think about Amumu.
"Say, where is Valor? I haven't seen you with him at all." Quinn gave off a beaming smile, rejoicing in the fact somebody had finally noticed.
"I've been waiting for somebody to ask! Well, as you know he is quite intelligent for a bird, and even he wanted to celebrate the Heartseeker festival! So, I let him go on his way, seeking out a mate. He said he'd return to me after the festival, and don't look at me like that, I'm not crazy! He actually said that." Annie hadn't realised she had been so overtly mocking until Quinn pointed it out. As much as Quinn assured everybody that Valor was an intelligent animal capable of a variation of speech, it was very hard to believe. Not only this, but now Quinn was convinced Valor was celebrating the Heartseeker festival, which was even harder to believe. Quinn seemed happy though, so Annie was willing to drop her disbelief. The two sat in silence while Annie ate, Vayne eventually leaving Lucian and joining them.
"You two seem to have made up pretty quickly."
"Shut up Quinn" Vayne said, smiling. Jarven was the next one to join them, seeking out Annie.
"Do you know where Amumu is? I have your itinerary for the day, but was hoping to catch both of you so as not to repeat myself."
"I'm not sure where he is, but I can fill him in." Jarven looked at her, concern brushing over his face before being dismissed. He pulled out a piece of paper covered in instructions.
"Well, you will start the day in the main square with the general population, most of them will be looking for signatures, but the odd one will simply want to see you and Amumu." He drew emphasis to the last part, emphasizing the expectation of the two as a couple. Jarven saw the look in Annie's eyes, understanding her concern.
"It's the Heartseeker festival, this is what they expect my dear. Anyway, the Laurant household have invited all the champions of the league from Demacia, including you two, over for lunch. After that, you will have free time to enjoy the city, although you may want to consider packing as you travel to Noxus quite early tomorrow. Dinner will be back here at the same time as yesterday." Jarven nodded and took his leave, taking the long way around the table, avoiding the place where Shyvana sat, watching him.
"I'd better go find Amumu, we will have a long day ahead of us." Annie left, walking down the hall towards her room, but was quickly caught by Shyvana. Annie looked up at the half-dragon, seeing that her eyes looked a little bloodshot, as though she had been crying.
"Annie, have you got a moment to talk?"
"Of course, what's wrong?" Shyvana awkwardly grabbed her upper arm, whatever she was about to say clearly embarrassing her a little.
"Umm, well, it's about Jarven. We kind of had a bit of a fight last night, and I'm not sure I can go to the Laurant house today, not when she will be there as well." Shyvana's lips curled up a little as she snarled at the mere thought of Fiora, but soon remembered her company and shook herself out of her state.
"Anyway, I was just wondering if maybe you could tell him. I don't feel ready to face him yet."
"Of course, but I still feel you should come. Don't worry about Fiora, I don't think she has much of a chance with Jarven, he really seems to like you."
"If he really liked me, he would have acted by now." Shyvana tried to hold it together, but tears started to fill her eyes, and soon she found herself weeping into her hands as Annie tried to console her.
"I messed up Annie. I waited so long for him to make the move, but he was too shy to do it. I waited too long and missed my chance. I'm afraid he's lost interest, damned be my stupid pride." Annie pulled Shyvana's hands away and looked her in the eyes.
"Don't pull yourself down, he likes you, and you have not messed up. Come today, and you'll see, he isn't interested in Fiora." Shyvana attempted to pull herself together, but it wasn't very convincing. Annie gave her a quick hug.
"You better go back to your room and freshen up. I'll see you this afternoon?"
"Yeah, maybe, I'll think about it." Shyvana walked off in the other direction towards her room while Annie continued on her way. Eventually she stood out the front of Amumu's room, her fist hovering an inch away from his door.
"Why is this so hard…" Annie scolded herself, trying to build up the confidence to knock. She didn't need to, as her own door opened and Amumu walked out.
"There you are! I thought you'd have gotten back from breakfast already." Amumu said, blushing suspiciously.
"Most of the champions are still at breakfast, and you thought I'd be finished? What were you doing in my room anyway?"
"Looking for you." Annie did feel a little better hearing those words, but knew it was a lie. She pushed past Amumu and into her room. It was mostly in the same state she had left it, save for the small package sitting in the middle of her bed. She heard the sound of a door closing behind her, turning around to realise Amumu had ventured into his room. She looked at the package in her hands, it was very light, really just a small brown box with white ribbon wrapped around it. There was a note underneath it, which Annie decided to read first.
"I'm sorry." Annie read the two words out aloud, suddenly feeling energy surge through her body. She removed the ribbon and opened the little box, and almost gasped at what she saw. In all the time she had known Amumu, never before had she imagined he would be the kind to buy her jewellery, but how wrong she felt now staring at the beautiful silver bracelet with a simple pendant hanging of it. Upon closer inspection, Annie could see the pendant was a small silver heart, encrusted with pink jewels. It was unquestionably beautiful, and Annie stood there in complete awe of the gift she had been given. She rushed over to Amumu's door, knocking repeatedly and calling his name. He opened the door slowly, noticing the overwhelmingly happy look on Annie's face.
"I'm so sorry about what I said yesterday, I didn't mean to hurt you. I was just confused; I can explain that later though if you want. Do you like the gift?" Annie embraced him, wrapping her arms around his neck and throwing her face into his chest.
"It's beautiful, where did you get it?"
"I went into the marketplace early this morning, before you woke up. I figured with all the festivities there would be something nice somewhere. I'm glad you like it." Amumu could feel that warmth spreading through his body, the same warmth Galio had called love. Amumu wasn't convinced that what he said was true, or whether or not him and Annie could go anywhere, but he knew he was willing to try.
Besides, if it doesn't work out, I can continue to be alone. No harm in trying. He had reasoned with himself before making the decision to get her the gift. Annie pulled away from him, straightening herself out.
"I'm sorry too, after what you said last night I thought… I was worried maybe…" Amumu cut her off with a smile.
"It's fine Annie, I understand." The two stood there awkwardly for another moment, not sure what else to say. Since it became apparent neither of the youth was going to continue this current conversation, Annie decided to fill Amumu in on the itinerary. He groaned a little hearing about them starting in the marketplace.
"But it'll be so crowded, and I hate it when everyone comes for autographs, not that anybody ever asks for mine."
"You complain too much Amumu, look on the bright side, at least I'll be there." Amumu felt a little better at that idea, and the two left for the marketplace.
