A Boy and His Fox: Redux Ch. 6

AN: Hey guys. Sorry I know it's been a few days since I last posted a chapter, but I've been a little busy. I've officially set up a now with goodies for donations and what not. Even if you don't want to donate, you can still follow me there as I'll be posting some updates and shower thoughts and other fun stuff. It's simply www. KibaElunal. Just take out the spaces and there you go! Bare in mind that there are cool rewards for donating, so don't hesitate to check it out. I'll be posting tickets for the play soonish on as well as on my Twitter: KibaElunal so don't forget to follow me there as well if you're interested in attending. I hope you guys continue to enjoy ABAHF:R. It's been a blast rewriting all this stuff. Be sure to fave and review :D - Kiba

I bit my lip nervously as the Sheriff slowly sipped her tea. Why was this woman procrastinating so much? Kal was in real danger being locked with that mad woman. I swear, if she hurt him I'd...I'd… "Now then, what was it you wanted to talk about?" Caitlyn asked, her demeanor remaining as calm as ever.

"My summoner," I stated coldly. "You locked him up with an insane criminal even though he didn't do anything." Calm down, Ahri, I reminded myself. If you treat her politely, maybe she'll let him go without a struggle.

"Your friend…"

"Summoner," I interjected.

"Your summoner pushed a lethal criminal out of the way of my shot. That's aiding and abetting."

"Are you fucking kidding me?" I snapped before catching myself and clearing my throat. "Listen, please. Kal's not a criminal. If anything, he's one of the most law-abiding individuals I know. I doubt he'd even so much as jaywalk. Not to mention that as a representative of the League, he outranks you."

The Sheriff scowled, leaning closer as sparks flew through the air between us. Beneath her desk, flames began to trickle into my palm. "Let's get one thing straight, fox. This is my city. Here, I make the rules. Not you, not your summoner, not the League. Do I make myself clear?"

"Crystal," I growled. "Now please, let my summoner out of jail." She nodded, standing from her desk. Taking a deep breath, I extinguished my flames, going to follow after her. "Please hurry."

"Don't worry. He'll be fine. Vi is watching them both right now. She'll make sure nothing happ…" Her words were cut off by a loud explosion that caused the building to shake around us. "On second thought, perhaps it's best we move along."

Running to the door, Caitlyn tore it open revealing her deputy beginning to get to her feet and a gaping hole in the wall. "Kal?" I called, running to the cell only to find that it was completely empty. "She has him! She has Kal!" My heart was pounding fiercely in my chest as I tried to take deep breaths, but found myself struggling just to do that. "Oh Gods...he's going to...Oh Gods…"

The sheriff turned back towards me, making her way to me before grasping my shoulders firmly. "Ahri, relax. We'll find him, I swear." Despite her reassurance, I still couldn't stop trembling. What if he died? I wouldn't have a summoner again! I only had one thought that continuously circled in my head: I was an awful champion.

As I stood there, the breeze drifting through the large opening, a scent pulled me out of my melancholy. I sniffed the air once more, now locking on to the odor. It was Kal! He still smelled like the restaurant across town! "I found a trail." I squealed excitedly, working to unlock the cell door. "I know how to find Kal!"

Caitlyn smiled at her partner. "Follow that fox."

I let out a disgusted groan as I quickly clambered out of the disgusting and foul-smelling muck. Sure enough, the sewer of Piltover was nothing like the city top-side. Covering my nose with my arm to stop the burning sensation from the air, I followed after the insane criminal. "So what's your plan now, hmm? The two of us on the lam forever? I tell you what, you change your ways, I'll put a word in for you."

A jester like grin spread across her face as she peered over her shoulder at me. "Let's go this way!" She giggled, grabbing my arm and leading me past a disgusting rat king that was feasting on its own flesh. Suddenly, she stopped.

"What is it?" I asked, just as I heard a faint splash from the direction we'd come from, followed by the complaining of multiple female voices. "Ahri!" I gasped in relief. If she'd come with the Sheriff and Deputy, she wouldn't let them hurt me if I turned myself in.

Just as I went to call for them, Jinx grabbed me and threw me against the wall. To silence me, she placed her lips tightly against mine in the form of a raw and sloppy kiss that made me shudder in frustration.

"Kal? Where are you?!" I could hear my champion cry out as they rushed past the turn-off where Jinx and I were waiting in the dim light. I let out a muffled complaint, but the criminal grabbed my wrists and pinned them above me. For a small woman, she was surprisingly strong.

When their footsteps had receded further along the tunnel and I could feel my hope sink back into my stomach, she finally pulled away from me, licking her lips with a smug grin. "Hmm, you'd think you'd be a better kisser. Come along now, Straight Lace. If the fuzz is on our tail, we'll have to take another short cut."

"This is a bad idea. I'm going back." I informed her, taking two steps before I could hear the sound of electricity charging up. Turning to look at her, I was surprised to see her with a shock pistol in her hands. Where did she even hide that thing?! "What are you doing?"

"You and I are sticking together. Our little field trip hasn't ended yet. Don't worry, I'll get you back to your girlfriend soon enough. Until that point though, you follow me, understand? You try to escape, I'll taze you and drag you through the rats. Got it?"

I held up my hands in surrender. There wasn't much I could do when I was staring down the barrel of a gun. "She's not my girlfriend." I muttered, unable to think of anything witty to say that wouldn't result in being shot.

"Oh that's so cute," she cooed, pinching my cheek and tucking her pistol away. "You're so oblivious it's down right adorable."

"Drop it," I growled, pushing my way past her to head down the sewer she indicated.

I could feel her smug grin growing bigger without even looking. I was so tempted to turn around and light her ass up in flames that steam began to pour from my fingertips. "Ooh...you don't even know that she likes you, do you?"

"We're friends," I replied, taking a deep breath. I didn't want to have this discussion. Not so soon after finally connecting on the boat and not with Jinx.

The criminal clapped her hands excitedly behind me. "This is priceless! Oh man, I bet you two just stare at each other vacantly from across the table, searching each other's souls through your eyes." She gave a mock lovesick sigh, fanning herself. "I...I think I may just tear up."

"I said, 'Drop it!' It's not any of your damned business. Ahri and I are just friends and partners. That's it! There's nothing else between us and there never will be. Now let's just get out of this stupid sewer so I can go back to my life."

She jumped on my back playfully, but I quickly spun to slam her against the wall. She proved too quick for me, however, and managed to put me in a choke hold. "I don't enjoy being lied to, lover boy. You're just as obvious as she is. Don't think I didn't notice the way you looked at her in that restaurant. You have feelings for her, don't you? Something is keeping you from saying so. Let me guess, she used to drive you crazy and now she really 'drives you crazy' if you get my meaning."

I gasped for air, pulling at her arm as I began to heat myself up. Without oxygen getting to my brain, however, I couldn't concentrate enough to cast my spell, leaving me absolutely defenseless.

"I'm going to be frank, Straight Lace. Right now, you've got about 7 seconds until you lose consciousness. You can tap out and I'll let you go on your honor that you'll behave and play along, or I leave you as food for the rats." She leaned closer to me, but as I tried to pull away she simply placed a playful kiss on my cheek. "Like I said, your obliviousness is super cute. Even if you aren't my type. Now then, what's it going to be?"

I struggled to stay awake before my stubbornness broke and I tapped her arm. As soon as she released me, I began to take in large mouthfuls of air as she skipped happily down the tunnel. Was she right? Did Ahri have feelings for me? I looked over my shoulder. I could probably make a run for it with my ghost spell and get away, but then again I swore on my honor. With so many thoughts in my head, I finally lowered my head dejectedly and trudged after her. Every few steps, however, I placed my hand on the wall, leaving a scorched handprint to remind me of the way that I came.

I continued to sniff the air, following the scent, even though it was difficult through the dank stench that surrounded us. I could scarcely believe that my fox-like nose still functioned so well. It'd never served me so well before. Did it have something to do with Kal?

Coming to a stop, my head tilted back once more as I closed my eyes tightly. Perhaps if I drowned out my other senses, my smell would become better. Sure enough, through the dark blindness, I could focus more on my olfactory sense, indicating that he had indeed come up this way. Lifting my hand, I extended my finger towards the manhole cover. "There. He went through here."

"That's crazy!" Vi exclaimed, brushing past me to climb up the ladder.

"That's some nose you have, Ahri." Caitlyn agreed.

"Not really," I muttered with a blush. "I just really like fried tofu."

With a grunt of effort, Vi's hands pressed against the heavy metal disk, shoving it aside for a beam of sunlight to lance down into the dimness of the sewers. Climbing out, she looked around before peering into the hole. "You two had better get up here. You won't believe this."

As the detective and I followed after, I held a frightened breath. What if when I got up there I found his body? I couldn't even begin to consider what I'd do without Kal as my summoner. The worst of it was that the thought that kept replaying in my head was the way I stayed frozen beneath that table when he tried to coax me to help him. If I had, maybe he wouldn't have been arrested. Or if he had, then at least I'd be there to protect him from the psychopath he was captured by now.

As my eyes adjusted once again to the brightness, my heart immediately sank like a stone. In front of us was not my summoner, but instead the restaurant we'd first followed the scent to eat at. The weight on my shoulders increased tenfold as I dropped to my knees. I couldn't help it, not anymore. I'd tried to be strong, but it wasn't enough as tears began to pepper my knees in a repeated assault on my emotions. "No...Kal…" I whimpered, sniffling. "I'm so sorry, Kal!"

People on the street began to pause, turning to look at the strange fox-woman who on her knees was crying out the name of some seemingly random man as she embarrassed herself. I could hear the crowd murmuring around me, but I ceased to care anymore. I could never do anything right. I really was worthless.

Suddenly, I felt Caitlyn's arms grab mine. "Come on now, up we go," she instructed but I shoved her hand away.

"This is your fault! You wouldn't listen when I tried to tell you he was innocent, but you were so damned arrogant that you decided to arrest him anyway for trying to stop a criminal! All he was doing was trying to help and now, he's probably lying dead in the gutter somewhere because of you...and because of me. I should have helped him take her out. Why didn't I help him?"

Caitlyn nodded to her partner who turned to the crowd, waving them along. "Alright, folks. Nothing to see here. Move along!" After a few moments of coercion they began to dissipate as Caitlyn knelt down beside me.

"Ahri, I'm sorry that you feel this way," the Sheriff began, "but you must understand that I did what I felt was right for the city of Piltover. If I could go back and prevent this from happening, do you not think that I would? Just as you would have helped him if you could go back yourself." Grasping my hands in hers, she held them there as I looked to her. "My mother always told me, when the opportunity to make a choice arises, you don't get a moment to mull over your options. You must act, even if that action is to take no action."

"I don't understand," I muttered before hiccuping. Great, now I couldn't even help myself as I began to sob. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be. My mother was wrong, Ahri. The truth is, when the time to make a choice arises, almost nine times out of ten, you've already made your choice before the questions even done being asked. Your choice, and in my opinion, the correct one was to wait and not get involved. I'm sure if things escalated, you'd have acted to protect your summoner."

"I…"

"You would have," she assured me. "I've seen it in your eyes, Ahri. You're a loyal champion and a loyal friend. It's okay to make mistakes, so long as you learn from them moving forward. Right now, your friend needs you. Don't let your mistakes get in the way of doing all that you can." Her eyes turned from mine to look at Vi, who was still directing the foot traffic away to give us privacy. "Keep him close, Ahri. You only get a handful of them in your lifetime. I guarantee you, if he were here to be asked, he wouldn't blame you one bit."

I swallowed, my tails falling all around me as I wiped my eyes with the back of my hand. I found myself thankful that I'd decided not to wear makeup in an attempt to get him to shy away from me. I knew Caitlyn was right. I couldn't push him away anymore. I'd made a mistake in the past, but I owed it to myself not to let those mistakes control me. "What if she killed him?"

The sheriff chuckled a little, helping me to my feet. This time, I didn't put up a struggle as she hoisted me before smoothing out her skirt. "I don't think you'll need to worry about that. If Jinx has taken an interest in Kal, she won't kill him until she's done playing her games with him. But we'll find him before then. Come along, the chase is still afoot."

Sitting in my office, I scratched the side of my head as I scanned the note for the fourth time. I didn't like this. When things went this crazy in the mine, it usually meant there was some sort of natural gas leak that made the men hallucinate. But even still, something was amiss. Men had explored that area of the tunnel before and never had any problems. They were expanding outwards not further down and scans hadn't shown any geysers that were just waiting for to spring up. Scans could be wrong of course, but my miners knew well enough that when they heard the sound of hissing, the best action was to get the hell out as fast as they could.

Standing up, I opened my cabinet looking through it to grab my equipment. This warranted a personal investigation, I decided. If this 'monster' was in there and could move as freely as the letter implied, the city itself was in a heap of trouble. It'd been a week since I received the tip from the League regarding the mysterious artifact hidden in the mines, and now that we were so close to where the scans indicated, this suddenly shows up? I don't believe in coincidences, and I certainly don't believe the League would tell me everything they knew about the damned thing.

I began to pack up the tools of my trade. Slinging my rucksack over my shoulder, I slipped out of my office and began to make my way down the hall. As I passed the horrified and silent faces of the miners, some of which were twice my age, I could hear them whispering to one another about how brave or how foolish I was. A grin came to my face. This was the thing I loved the most about my job. Adventure, discovery, and most importantly, the chance to show off my skills and set myself even further from the pack.

Pausing at the entrance, I examined the logo that simply read "Grand Master Explorer" with the name "Ezreal" beneath it. Leaning closer, I exhaled on the polished metal before wiping it with my sleeve. It was good to be the boss.

As the Grand Master Explorer left his office, I reached up to the special sun glasses I'd purchased from the Headmaster at the Yordle Academy. As he'd promised, the lenses immediately snagged on to his physical attributes and began showing me the trail to where I wanted to go.

I gripped my weapon Mercy tightly. I wouldn't fail again, not this time. That monster Thresh would pay for what he did to my darling Senna. As Ezreal continued on his business, I made sure to stick to the shadows of the crowds, darting through alley ways when there were none.

Thankfully, he had no idea I was following him, which meant that I could let the fool lead me directly to Senna's Light Pistol: Retribution. It had been a long time since the two had been reunited, and I intended to use everything that she sacrificed to finish our work. One last job, I swore, one last abomination to put back in the ground where it belongs.

I uttered a quiet prayer to the Gods. They would hear my pleas and bless me with the skills I needed in order to complete my quest. Thresh had made a big mistake when he'd taken away my wife. I loved her with all my heart, and now that she was gone, I'd ceased to have one. There would be no hesitation, no chance at redemption. All of the warmth I'd once had was snuffed like a candle along with Senna's life. I hated Thresh, more than I'd ever hated anything.

He would be damned to the Nine Hells if it was the last thing I did. The only mercy Thresh would receive was the sweet merciful embrace of death when I placed a shot right between his damned eye sockets.

As Ezreal slipped into the entrance of the cave, I took a deep breath. He wouldn't get in my way, I already decided. I'd take Retribution and if he tried to stop me, I'd show him just how much 'mercy' I still had left.

Deep beneath the city, I stared at my hand. My aura was already starting to flicker weakly. This wasn't good. I had to stop leaving handprints before I used all of it up. See, Summoner's magic doesn't work the same as a Champion's typically does. While they use the mana that's created within the Fields of Justice, it was decided long ago that Summoners would not face the same problem that had nearly destroyed the world during the Rune Wars.

Being a Summoner required one to use the mana stored in one's own body: their aura. This came with its benefits and its drawbacks. Typically, my magic was more powerful than a Champion's. It'd have to be in order to be able to draw from their power efficiently during a match. But because I was drawing the energy from myself, I could easily take too much resulting in my atoms rubbing against one another frantically. The result would be nothing short of Spontaneous Human Combustion.

I'd only seen it happen once, during a training video at the Institute of War that had been taken from a new recruit at the beginning of the League's foundation who decided to wantonly use his spells to assist his champion without worrying about the consequences. My aura recharged of course, in time. But it took much longer than it would if I pulled the mana out of the world around me.

"If you're wondering what you use that for, it's for spanking your monkey." Jinx cackled in front of me. Every now and then, the criminal had paused to turn her head back and stick her tongue out at me before continuing ahead again.

"I beg your pardon?"

"Spanking your monkey! You know, rubbing one off? Jacking it? Dancing with the left-handed stranger? Going on a date with Jill? Making the banana cry?"

"Yes, I knew what you were talking about Jinx, I'm well aware of what masturbation is."

She let out a groan, covering her ears. "Gods, you're even straight laced when you're talking about fucking! Look at me, look at me." She stopped, turning to stare me straight in the eyes, her expression surprisingly serious. "I want you look me dead in the eye and say 'fuck me right in the pussy'. Say it."

"You're out of your damned mind."

"Say it!" She barked as the sound of her gun charging up could be heard in her hand behind her. Ugh, this woman was a nuisance. I swear, if I ever caught her off guard, I'd strangle her to death, stupid grin and all.

It became evident she was not going to let this go so with a sigh of defeat, I finally muttered, "Fuck me right in the pussy."

"Louder."

"Seriously?"

"This is for your benefit, Straight Lace! You think your girlfriend is going to want you going on about how exquisite your missionary sexual intercourse was? Gods, it kills my lady boner just to say that."

I rolled my eyes. "Fine, fuck me right in the pussy. Can we please keep going now?" I could hear the tired whine of the electricity powering down as she tucked it back into her holster.

"Nope. Now you have to say 'Oh baby, oh baby, let me pop your cherry like a pouch of Kool-Aid.' Followed by 'Whatever you like. I am a meat popsicle.' Then…"

I pushed past her with an annoyed grunt as she laughed, following after me before once more taking the lead. That was when I caught a glimpse of something: one of my handprints! She'd led us in a giant circle?! We'd been walking down here for hours! My suspicions were confirmed, surely enough, when we arrived at the same ladder of the manhole cover. "What now, criminal mastermind? We climb up the same hole we climbed down? I'll be honest, I'm a little disappointed by your so called 'ingenuisness'. I thought you'd be a bit more creative than just wasting my time."

"Don't give up on me yet, lover boy." She grinned; that creepy unnerving grin. Walking past the ladder to the sewer grate on the wall beside it, she grabbed hold and parted it revealing it to be another one of her ridiculous tarps. "Well? Come in, come in."

I huffed, following her through the ridiculous illusion to find myself in a large open room. Wanted posters that had clearly been written in her hand with a crayon littered the ground, accenting the weathered pile of crates off to the side next to the cot made of rags on the ground. "Oh Gods…" I muttered as I realized where we were.

"Welcome to Chez Jinx!" She greeted in her most posh voice she could. "As you can see we have the dining room over here, and the kitchen over here." She gestured extravagantly with her arms before pointing at my feet. "And the bathroom is precisely where you're standing."

Out of reflex, I quickly leapt from my spot, causing her to giggle wildly. "Are we done now? Can I please just go back home? I'll admit, at first this insanity was a little cute in a toddler sort of way, but it's getting old now."

"Sure."

"That's it?"

"Yep."

My fist clenched and unclenched as I tried to keep control of myself. "We've been down here for five hours and you're just...letting me go. No strings attached."

"That's about right."

I thought to give her a stern lecture about wasting my time, but then I realized that it would probably just go over her head anyway. As I turned to leave, she called after me.

"There is just one last thing."

I stopped. "Of course there is," I grumbled, turning around to face her. My patience, what very little of it remained (which was a feat in and of itself), was beginning to wear thin.

"I just need you to sit on this stool," she grinned, gesturing towards an inconspicuous chair. I stared at it intently. What sort of game was she playing at? "Well?"

"Well, I don't plan on sitting on that stool. In fact, at this point, if you told me to save a drowning puppy, I'd probably let it die, because for all I know you stuffed its ass with vials of nitroglycerine." Grabbing a blank piece of paper she began to scribble it down. "Don't write it down!" I snapped, causing her to hold up her hands in surrender.

"Sheesh. Fine. I'll let you take credit for that one. I'm just saying, it was a good idea. Look, I swear to you, no one will get hurt from you sitting on the stool. Alright?" I stared at her intently in an attempt to try to read her features. Instead, all I got was another stupid grin. "Honest! Cross my heart and hope to become an upstanding member of society."

"Fine." I surrendered, walking over to it. What did she do to the damned thing? It looked solid enough. She probably sawed off one of the legs in an attempt to make one last bit of slapstick. That seemed like something she'd do. Sitting down on the chair, I was surprised when nothing happened.

"Tick, tick, boom!"

Just as she finished her cackle, a loud resounding explosion rocked the roof above the sewers as a small hole opened up in the ceiling below. Holding out her arms, she managed to catch her minigun and her rocket launcher.

What the hell did she just do? I stood up, swiftly grabbing her and throwing her against the wall before she could react.

"Ooh...you got off the stool. That's bad." Her eyes gleamed impishly as an even louder peal rolled through the sewers from further away. I turned back to her, seething in rage. I'd had enough, now!

"You bitch! I swear to you, I'm dragging your ass back to prison where it belongs. We'll see how everyone likes your stupid jokes from behind a cell!"

"What prison?" She teased as I cocked back my fist to punch her. "Wait!" She finally cried holding up her hands. "I'm sorry, alright? I'll turn myself in. Just don't hit me."

"What?"

"Nah, I'm just fucking with you. You should have seen the look on your face!"

I growled at her before a searing pain dropped me to my knees. Placing her feel on my forehead she kicked me on to my back.

"Oh, I also needed to charge up my shock pistol. Sorry about that." She began to pace around me as I struggled to regain control of my muscles. "Now then, let's talk about what you've done today. Pay attention, there's a quiz after. So let's start: you tried to push yours truly out of the way in order to help me escape the cops."

"Not true."

"Then you helped to spring me from prison."

"Also not true," I interjected.

"Hush. Quit interrupting. We talked about lots of important things, you and I. Mysteries of the universe around you and what not. Normally I don't think about things like that except when I'm in the shower, so it's nice to have someone to bounce ideas off of."

"Is there a point to this…?"

"What did I just say? I'm not kidding about that quiz. It's a doozy. You got to kiss a gorgeous and curvaceous woman." She shot me a glare after I scoffed. "I mean, knowing you Straight Lace, I'd guess it was your first. Not bad, I'd rate yours a 6/10. We talked about the birds and the bees. And now, you've just committed your first felony!" I opened my mouth to protest, but she cut me off with a tsk. "Don't deny it. You sat on the dynamite plunger, you're the one who blew up the Sheriff's station. Worse you got off of it meaning that all of those abandoned warehouses were destroyed too. Now when you look from the Sheriff's rubble, towards the Warehouse District, you can see 'Jinks wuz hear suckaz', written in the burning fires and rubble. The spelling adds to the humiliation."

I tightened my fist, finally starting to be able to move again. "You lied to me."

"No, I didn't. I said 'No one would be hurt if you sat on the stool' and I was telling the truth. Those warehouses were empty, well save the billions of dollars in damages. Wait, do you count cheaply made furniture as people? Nah, forget I asked."

"How did you even set all this up? You had no way of knowing I'd…" My eyes widened as I realized what her plan was. "That's why you led me all around the sewers! You were planting your stupid explosives."

"Ooh! You get a cookie!" She clapped. "Really, I'm impressed that you figured it out. I'll be honest, I had a blast Straight Lace, you really came through! It's been a while since I've had so much fun."

"What is the point?!" I demanded. "You just get your jollies off on blowing shit up? Why?"

She rolled her eyes. "Please! I tried to show you a good time. Make you loosen up a little. Right now you're so uptight you've probably got diamonds forming between your ass cheeks."

"Why not just kill me? Isn't that what you always do?"

"Of course not!" I was stunned by her protest. "Don't get all sappy, Straight Lace. I don't have any qualms with killing people. But think about it rationally for a second, will ya? What am I to Hat Lady and Fat Hands, huh? I'm just a nuisance. A destructive gadfly that they can't ever seem to swat. Now imagine if I were to go on a murder spree? Who'd be next? Some ragtag group of adventurers? Maybe some soldiers from Demacia? Even the League may step in, and as brilliant as I am, even I know I can't outwit the entire world at once. So I don't kill anyone. Well, I don't kill anyone for no reason. That way, nothing ever escalates and they've no need to call for reinforcements, because they don't want to have to admit that they can't handle one little girl. Get it?"

"Your father must have done something really bad to you." I countered, causing her to shrug and take aim with her rocket launcher. "Wait…"

"Well, it's been fun Straight Lace, but end of the line. Can't exactly have you blabbing my secret base, now can I? I'd have to move all my stuff." Just as she pulled the trigger, I braced myself as the rocket bounced out of the barrel and rolled next to me. "Kidding! I wouldn't kill you Straight Lace. However, I do have that quiz for you! Ready, there's only one question on it: How do you feel about Fox-Girl?"

"...what?"

"How do you feel about her? We talked about it earlier and you lied to me. I want you to think really hard and deep and tell me how you really feel." She hoisted herself up on top of a crate and swung her legs in anticipation.

A little shaken by the ordeal, I played along. My thoughts went to her. The way it felt when I woke up to see her snuggled against me was surreal. At first, I'd even thought she'd used her charm on me when I slept, but in reality, I was just really glad she was there. I jumped between her and Ashe's arrow because I cared about her, not just because she was my champion. Then on the ferry, when we sat beside each other and I watched her bawl her eyes out...it was one of the most heart wrenching things I'd ever experienced. "I care about her." I finally stated. My confidence in the declaration made Jinx's head perk up. "It's been a long time, I have to admit. I act like I care about everyone else, and in my own way, I do. But it's not for their sake, it's for mine. I like the attention I get from everyone because of my age, even if I don't like others making fun of it. But with Ahri, I genuinely care about her. Not because of the attention she gives me. Hell, half the time I'm sure she doesn't even know I exist. But I'm certain about it: I care about her."

"Do you love her?"

Again, I hesitated. I didn't know what 'love' even truly was. Taking a deep breath, I honestly answered, "I don't know."

Jinx pondered it for a moment. "Ah well, I tried." She reached up to a hidden lever and yanked it hard, causing the floor to part beneath me, sending me hurtling roughly into a mine cart. "Teach you to call my jokes stupid." She giggled, as the mine cart began to slowly roll down the steep track. As light began to disappear from the view behind me, I couldn't help but to release a stream of profanities befitting for a sailor.

To be continued...