Manifesto Ch. 4

Once more the building rumbled beneath our feet as Veigar released another massive burst of dark energy upon the panicked mob of Yordles. Tearing open the door, I saw that Tristana had now loaded her cannon and was now pointing it at us. "You!" She demanded. "This was your doing, wasn't it? Distracting me so that he could make his attack?"

"Listen to me!" I quickly urged her. "We don't have time to argue. Every person he kills out there will only make him stronger, so we need to shut him down hard and fast." Tristana looked conflicted as she continued to aim her rocket launcher at me. Taking a moment, she glanced out the window to see many of the dead littered across the ground. When her eyes rested upon Veigar, she took a sharp breath of shock.

"What happened to him? How did he get big like that?"

Suddenly, the window behind her blew out, sending a cloud of glass and splinters into the hallway. His laughter could be heard much louder now. "Lulu. She has a spell that can make things grow. No doubt she used it on him to make him harder to take down. You two go and distract him. If Lulu is around, maybe I can talk to her and convince her to leave the matter alone."

Nidalee nodded, transforming into a panther and leaping through the open hole of the inn. Tristana, however, remained glued to the spot, her eye trained on me. "But...I…" She was so upset she was shaking.

"Go." I urged her softly. "I know you don't trust me, but think of what I knew. I'm the only one who can try to convince them to stop, but I need your help. I can't fight, so you'll have to do the fighting for me."

She looked to the opening then back to me before letting out a frustrated shout and rocketing herself out into the square. As she landed with a thud next to Nidalee, she immediately recocked her launcher, aiming it up at Veigar. "This is for blowing up our city!" She screamed, launching a spiked grenade to plant on his chest. It beeped momentarily as he looked puzzled before it exploded with massive force, sending him sprawling on his back.

I had to take advantage of the time I'd been given. There was no telling where Lulu was, but she couldn't be far. Clambering on to the roof of the inn, I managed to catch a glance of a purple light coming from the woods. The choice was so obvious, I chastised myself for not thinking so sooner. I had to stop her. She, more than Veigar, would be willing to listen to reason. The next step would be to prevent Tristana or Teemo from killing the tiny master of evil, but I would cross that bridge when I got there.

Breaking through the tree line, already I could hear Lulu's cheerful humming. As a support main, Lulu always held an interest for me. I was confident in my ability to relate to her. Much like the children I taught, she had her quirks, but her social attitude made it much easier to communicate. The key would be to keep her from having a melt down.

"C'mon Pix!" She giggled, running behind a tree as her fairy friend chased after her. However, as the fairy vanished behind the tree, they both reappeared from one much closer to me, stopping straight in my path. I tried to stop, accidentally tripping over her and falling to the ground beside her. "Ow!" She whined, turning on me angrily. "What would you do that for?!"

"I'm so sorry, are you alright?" I asked, causing her to look at me puzzled.

"You're not a Yordle!" She declared suddenly, clapping her hands together as if she'd just made some brilliant discovery. "But...what are you doing here?"

I noticed her staff in her hand as Pix flapped carefully towards me to inspect me closer. Maybe if I got the staff away from her she wouldn't be able to cast any spells. "Looking for you, actually." I replied slowly as Pix fluttered back to her to whisper something in her ear.

She giggled uproariously. "Pix says you're trying to do something silly." She informed me, her eyes gleaming. "Trying to take my staff away? That won't help you at all."

He could read my thoughts? I'd heard of stories where sprites could view what was in a person's heart. Who'd have thought that such a thing would happen on Runeterra as well? "Yeah," I agreed quickly, "I suppose that was a silly thought. Listen Lulu, I need you to stop helping Veigar. He's hurting a lot of innocent people."

"Veigar?" She questioned, looking confused. "I don't know him."

"Yordle...blue hat. Constantly talking about world domination. Ring any bells?" I tried to remind her.

"Oh! Yes, I know him." She smiled softly. "He's my friend."

I had heard once that when you want someone to think you're taking them seriously it was important to get on eye level with them. It was one of the things I've always used in my work. If a student ever wanted to talk to me, I tried to be sitting. Being over six foot six, my height often intimidated children who didn't know me. While Lulu certainly didn't seem frightened, I figured it couldn't hurt anyway and so I crossed my legs to sit in front of her. "Well, your friend is hurting a lot of people. That spell you put on him to make him big is causing a lot of trouble for Bandle City." I explained calmly. "I can understand you want to help your friend but…"

"Who cares what stupid Bandle City thinks?" She grumbled, her face flushed with anger. "They were all so mean to me when I finally came back. I tried to play Hide and Seek with the other kids but they kept me away."

My heart began to race as she complained. I had to find a way to calm her down. "Lulu?"

"What?!" She snapped, before realizing she was shouting and taking a breath.

I looked through the trees to see that the city still had smoke pouring from it. I hoped Nidalee was okay. As much as I needed to hurry, I knew this wasn't something I could rush. Taking a deep breath, I smiled at her. "Could you tell me about him? Your friend, I mean." I was certain there wasn't much I didn't already know, but she just giggled and plopped down in front of me anyway.

"Sure!" She placed her staff across her lap as Pix landed calmly on her shoulder. "When I met Pix, I was just a little girl. Everyone thought I was weird, so I didn't have very many friends. So we played all day, but when I got back so much time had passed. So I went back home to Bandle City, but they kicked me out of the village. I don't know why."

I knew exactly why. Transforming children into plants and animals to make the game more interesting is not what they'd consider socially acceptable. "I imagine that must have been pretty upsetting." I commented, ignoring my less-than-tactful thoughts. She nodded her head sadly. "So then you met Veigar, right?"

"Who?"

"Your friend."

"Oh! Yes. When I met him, he came up to me and said the sweetest thing." Her eyes seemed to shimmer as she let out a heartfelt sigh. "He just looked me in the eyes, grabbed me by the shoulders, and shouted 'Stop crying! I'm trying to plot my world domination!' It was the nicest thing anyone had ever said to me."

I bit my tongue to prevent saying something stupid. "That sounds really nice." I lied. "I bet you decided then that you really wanted to help him. He was your only friend, other than Pix that is." I quickly added, looking to the small sprite.

"That's right." She replied, giving me a weak smile. "So I decided to cast my spell on him so he could blow up that stupid city! If no one else wanted to be my friend, why should I care about them?"

Finally, I was starting to make some progress. "I'll be your friend, Lulu." I offered, causing her jaw to drop in surprise.

"You will?!" She squealed in delight. "Hooray! I love new friends. What game should we play first? There's always hide and seek. Oooh oooh, we can also play tag or duck, duck, goose!"

"I'll gladly play with you, but under one condition."

"Name it! Whatever you want!"

"I know that the Yordles in Bandle City were mean to you and your friend. I imagine it was very hard for you to have to leave your home. They probably called you mean names and all sorts of stuff. But you're not like them, Lulu. You're better than that, right? Be the better Yordle."

Her eyes glimmered with excitement. "Do you really think so?"

"Of course." I replied with a smile. "If you want, I'll even come with you."

"Okay!" She beamed. "Let's go!"

Taking her small hand in mine, the two of us made our way to the end of the woods and down into Bandle City. Releasing her, I put my hands in my pockets with a smile. Finally, things were going to be okay. I wouldn't have to worry about Bandle City anymore. They'd stop seeing me as a threat and realize that Lulu wasn't as bad as she seems.

Standing on the hilltop, she cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted at the top of her lungs. "Hey, Veigar!"

He held up his staff, causing a large ethereal cage to surround Nidalee and Tristana before turning back to look at Lulu. "Lulu?! What are you doing out here?" He shouted back, though his sounded far more angry than hers.

She raised her arm to point at me before replying, "This guy says we're better than the Yordles in Bandle City! Crush those inferior life-forms! We must create a far more superior breed of Yordles that are really good at Hide and Seek and won't kick other Yordles out!" My eyes went wide as I felt the color run from my face.

"HE SAID WHAT?!" Tristana boomed.

Veigar sniffled, wiping away a tear. "That's the most beautiful thing I've ever heard!" He cried, just as a massive missile struck him in the back of the head, sending him toppling on to his face.

"Veigar!" Lulu cried, gripping her stick tightly and rushing down the hill to help him.

"No, Lulu. Wait!" I called after her, running behind her quickly just as a poisoned dart flew past me. Teemo had returned, but this time he had an angry scowl on his face. It was obvious I needed to get out of here, but I couldn't abandon the city or Nidalee. Sliding down the hill, I arrived just as Lulu was attempting to help Veigar up. "Lulu! That is not what I meant when I said 'Be the better Yordle!' I meant you should forgive them and stop blowing up the city!"

"That's dumb." She grumbled. "Why would I do that? If he blows up the city, then we'd have a really big play ground to play games in."

Before I could argue the point, a massive cannonball slammed into her chest, knocking her off her feet. As her hat fluttered to the ground, I turned to see Tristana and Teemo coming closer. In their eyes was a lust for blood.

Veigar had begun to try to get up, but I quickly put my foot on his back to keep him down before spreading my arms out to shield Lulu with my body. "That's enough!" I shouted, causing both parties to immediately give pause.

Nidalee rushed to Tristana's side with a snarl. "Move out of the way!"

"No!" I snapped. "Don't you guys get it? This was the sort of thing that started this whole mess."

"Where do you get off lecturing us after calling us inferior?" Teemo growled, readying his blowgun at me. "As far as I'm concerned, friend of Kal or not, that's grounds for execution."

"Listen to how stupid you sound right now." I protested. "I didn't say you were inferior. I said that you were unfair to Lulu and Veigar. If you'd just-"

"Unfair?" Tristana interrupted. "She turned kids into plants, all for her sick demented games! If anything, this whole attack is what's unfair. She sicked this vicious monster on us and you think we were unfair?!"

"How can you even call him that?" I demanded. "Do you know why he's doing this? You have no idea, do you? The reason why he hates you so much is because you all left him to rot in a Noxian prison. He was tortured for years and did you do anything to save him?"

Tristana and Teemo both fell quiet as Veigar struggled to point his staff at them, but I plucked it from his hands. "Hey, that's mine!" He cried, just before I snapped it in two over my leg.

"Shut up and pay attention." I ordered. "All of you need to stop fighting with each other. Just because someone is different, doesn't mean you can just cast them out. Did you even try to explain to Lulu what she did wrong? Because when I tried to talk to her about it, she had no clue! Of course she'd want to lash out at you! You kicked her out of her home and you couldn't even be bothered to tell her why."

"That's it!" Teemo boomed. "I'm tired of this." Just as he went to fire however, Nidalee's spear swung outward, slicing the hollow tube in two before placing the tip of the blade at Tristana's throat.

"If you even think about following his example, it'll be the last mistake you make." She growled, before nodding to me. "Go ahead, Kiba."

"Veigar and Lulu are leaving." My words were a statement at this point, not a suggestion. "You will not pursue them under any circumstances, do I make myself clear? They're to be left alone. If I find out that you hurt them, either of them, when I return to my realm I will write you both a fate worse than death."

"Ooh, I'm so scared." Tristana mocked before Nidalee pressed the blade further against her neck, silencing her.

"As for you two," I continued, turning to see Lulu slowly getting to her feet, a look of shame on her face as she picked up her hat, "you'll leave Bandle City alone as well. I know you want to get back at them, but revenge is never a good path to go down. It won't make you happy, if anything it'll just be worse. All actions have consequences. All of the people you've killed today deserve justice, so on behalf of Bandle City, I'm continuing to impose their banishment."

Lulu hiccuped, her eyes starting to stream tears. "Why are you being so mean to us?" She whimpered. "You said you were our friend."

"Being a true friend means telling you when you're wrong, just as much as it means defending you when you're right. I'm not saying I won't be your friend, Lulu. I'm saying that you've made a mistake and that this is the way to correct it." I knelt down in front of her, Veigar letting out a groan from the shifted weight. I beckoned her closer, and when she approached I drew her into a tight hug. "I meant what I said, Lulu. You can be the better Yordle still. Believe me, it's not easy, I know. People can say such hurtful things, but you don't have to be that way, too."

Her arms wrapped back around me as she hugged me tightly. "But...what should I do? I don't know where to go."

"What if you and Veigar went back to the faerie world?" I suggested. "He could take over that place without hurting anyone. You and he could have lots of fun playing games together. You'd be able to stay there for a really long time and when you finally decide to come back to try to ask for forgiveness again, people will probably have forgotten all about it."

Lulu began to sob as she clung to me tightly. Veigar began to struggle beneath me. "Stop that infernal crying!" He protested, causing Lulu to sniffle and wipe away her tears.

"Veigar's right." She whispered. "I should cheer up. Thank you both for being such good friends. Are you coming with us?"

I shook my head solemnly. "Sorry Lulu, but I can't." She appeared so crestfallen, so I quickly added, "But that doesn't mean we aren't friends." I took her hand in mine, linking her pinky together. "Just like I told Kal and Ahri. When you make a pinky promise, it means that you're bound by fate. No matter how far apart we are from each other, we'll always be friends, and that's what this means. Understand?"

She just nodded slowly. "Yes. I understand."

"Good. Go ahead and get your stuff, okay? I'm going to talk to Veigar in private real quick and I'll send him after you."

"Okay."

As Lulu walked back to the woods, I waited for her to be out of earshot before grabbing the now shrunken Veigar by the scruff of his neck and lifting him up. "Listen to me and listen very closely Veigar." I hissed. "I know you were hurt, and I feel for you, truly I do, but that little girl thinks the world of you. She wants nothing more than to be your friend, and you will be her friend, because if you hurt her, I will know, and believe me I will not make things pretty for you."

"Release me foolish human! I am the master of evil! I shall teach you the meaning of pain!"

My grip only tightened on him as I stared deep into his eyes, my own reflecting the anger and ferocity that I felt inside of me. I was never good at hiding my emotions from others, and while it's always been a tough thing to overcome, it allowed me to get my feelings across very easily when I needed to. "Enough." I stated coldly, causing him to immediately fall still. "You will stop attacking Bandle City. As far as I care, if you decide to try to conquer the Faerie Realm or whatever, fine, as long as you don't hurt anyone. For your sake, try to be nice to Lulu. There may just come a day where she realizes how black your heart is and decides to leave you, and when that happens, you may just realize what you've lost. Do I make myself clear?" He said nothing, so I shook him. "Do. I. Make. Myself. Clear." I enunciated, causing him to flail about.

"Yes, yes. Fine! Just let me go!" He protested.

I dropped him to the ground impatiently and pointed towards the woods. "Do not leave her waiting for you. Go." As he began to walk, I called after him. "Hurry up."

He immediately sprinted off into the woods, causing me to collapse against the hill with a sigh of relief. My heart was pounding in my chest. Placing my hand over it, I could feel it thumping harshly and I hoped that it'd calm down soon. When I was younger, I was diagnosed with a heart condition that was a result of extra muscles inside of my heart. Because of it, my heart beat much faster than a normal persons, which could be incredibly dangerous to my health. Even though I ended up getting it surgically repaired when I was young, my heart still beat a little faster than average, so I tried my best to keep my anger in check.

"Are you okay?" Nidalee asked, having now joined my side. "I can hear your blood rushing through your body."

"I'm fine." I assured her with a wink. "I just need a bit of rest is all. How bad is it?"

"Twelve dead, fifteen injured." She answered. "Thankfully, Tristana and I were able to distract him from doing any further damage than he already had."

"I still don't like this." Tristana interjected, walking forward with a grumpy Teemo who was still staring at his broken blowpipe with a huff. "You just let two very dangerous criminals walk out of here."

"That's the problem, Tristana. Even if you'd stopped them and punished them, they wouldn't see it as compensation. They'd see that as an offense against them. No doubt it'd only cause the cycle to start all over again." I coughed weakly, my lungs still trying to adjust to my heart rate. "Now, about those train tickets…"

Lamb hummed cheerfully as she paused at the next Yordle. After selecting the bow, just as they all had, she fired it with a twang, sending its soul into the next realm. "This is so boring." Wolf complained. "None of these Yordles want a chase! Where's the excitement? Where's the fear?"

"Patience, Wolf." She replied calmly. "Did you not hear the human's speech? These Yordles are no doubt at peace thanks to him."

"I am starting to dislike the human more and more." He snarled, baring his fangs at one of the Yordles that had managed to pull through just close enough to death to see the two of them. "Why does he insist on ruining my fun?"

She let out a light giggle, finishing off another one. "I do not think he is doing it on purpose, dearest Wolf. Can you not hear it, even now? He may talk a big game, but the sound of his heart indicates that he is certainly not calm. He is trying hard to conceal it from his companion though." Lamb, having finished her duties put her bow back on its sling, approaching the frozen figures carefully. "Still, were you not impressed by his actions?"

The dark and shaggy creature shook its snout free of the blood of one of the corpses he'd been sniffing. "Oh yes," he answered sarcastically, "I was very impressed by the way he made things worse before changing absolutely nothing."

The pale huntress beckoned her companion over to her, kneeling just inches away from the human's face. "Look. In his eyes, can't you see? His words are more than just sounds that escape his lips, they are the inner messages of his heart dying to escape." The beast just rolled his eyes, but Lamb quickly took hold of his ear, pulling him closer to her and wrapping her arms around his neck. "You may know much about love, dearest Wolf, but I know far more about words. This human, through his words, has shown astounding bravery. Like many poets, he has shown that when wielded correctly, words can be used as a shield to protect those one cares about."

"Or a weapon?" Wolf asked.

She smiled. "Yes, Wolf. Or a weapon. But it requires more than just saying the words, there's a certain...life...to them. They need to be breathed into in order to make them truly shine out instead of just being sounds that escape us."

"That 'life' you're describing is called emotion." He corrected her. "This one seems to have a lot of it."

"I feel that is a good thing."

"It can be." Wolf mused. "But it can also be a bad thing. If a person cannot control their emotions, they tend to make irrational decisions based on them. For example, this human has just released the two little ones who slaughtered all of the others. By letting them go, they are now free to repeat their actions."

"But...but…" Lamb protested. "But they said they would not!"

"You know, as well as I, sweet Lamb, that not all words are truthful."

"What about his words?" She asked, her hand lightly reaching out to rest on his cheek. "Were they truthful?"

Her brother shook out his fur, now satisfied that he was clean. "Who can say? Even if his words were honest this time, it does not mean he is incapable of dishonesty. All mortals are dishonest, little Lamb. At one point or another, everyone tells a lie."

"Why do they lie, dear Wolf?"

"Some do it out of mercy. For example, when the human supported the girl's friendship with the angry one, he did so for her sake, more than for the other one's . You could see the doubt in his eyes when he let the one called Veigar go. Others do it to deceive. There are many reasons to conceal the truth from others, Lamb. I am simply pleased that we are honest with one another."

For the first time in her existence, a pang of guilt ran through Lamb's heart. Even still she nuzzled against her companion. "I concur. I am pleased as well." Another lie, she noted. The quickness of its occurrence startled her greatly. It seemed like lying once only led to further lies, but for some reason, she could not help herself. The last thing she wished was to upset her brother, and so she remained silent about her thoughts.

She could feel something strange about the human. She hadn't truly thought about the things her and her brother had discussed until she'd encountered him. The truth was, if he died again, she wasn't sure if she could bring herself to grant him her arrow. But at the same time, she knew that she certainly didn't want him to take the chase. "What's wrong?" Wolf asked, pulling her from her stupor.

"Nothing." She lied again, quickly moving to finish her work. "We shall have to follow him to Piltover to discover just what is in store for him. Perhaps on his way there he will make his choice." Despite the hopeful tone she'd used, in truth part of her wanted him to never choose.

Soon, the group was on the train as it rattled down the tracks. Wolf curled up sleepily on the seat, a reflection of Nidalee who did the same beside Josh. "Don't think I didn't notice." He suddenly spoke up, surprising Lamb who looked closely at him. Had he somehow managed to see her? Her heart raced as she leaned closer. "I heard you call me 'Kiba', Nidalee. I don't know if that means that you don't believe me, or if it's just a slip of the tongue, but either way you should be more cautious. I'm not Kiba. I'm just…" He paused for a moment before punctuating the thought with a sigh. "Not that it matters. You can't hear me anyway. I wish I had the courage to speak my thoughts to you directly, but I'll have to settle for this. I appreciate that you think so highly of me, but you shouldn't. I'm not anything special."

"That's not true." Lamb whispered to him, careful not to wake Wolf. "You are special, I can feel it." Her hand extended ever so carefully, trembling as it brushed against his cheek. He stirred slightly in surprise, looking around himself. Had he managed to feel her? Leaning closer to his ear, she whispered, "None are perfect. What's important is that you strive to be."

Looking towards her companion to ensure he was still asleep, she reached to her mask, removing it and revealing a beautiful pale face, much like a porcelain doll. Leaning forward, she placed a gentle kiss on the side of his cheek. Never before had she removed her mask for a human, but for him she felt it worthy.

Affixing it back in place, she sighed softly, leaning back against her seat to stare at the passing landscape. Josh's hand absently went to Nidalee's hair, running through it as he stared blankly ahead.

To be continued...