So...my writings really slowed down a lot. That being said I am still writing, and it should speed up at some point over the next two months or so. In the meantime...you get this. As for Valentines Day I might write something about that sooner or later. Just not now.
Also I'm dedicating this chapter to Byforceofwill for absolutely no reason whatsoever.
With Syndra's attempts at slam-dunking Vi into the floor with her magic having failed miserably as she was dragged along behind her, she was dropped to the ground just seconds before she started a tirade about the ugly and clearly borderline useless gloves.
Not that being dropped was any improvement.
"Clumsy oaf! How dare you drag me behind you like that!"
"You're the one tha' wasn't moving!"
"Only because you weren't letting me go!"
"Just shut up for a minute will ya? The easier it is for me, the less bruises ya'll have tomorrow!"
Assuming the barbarian would be able to open the door in front of them, Syndra wondered if she had set her expectations too high. Then, using one finger that was the size of Syndra's entire forearm Vi tapped the door. There was a pause. Syndra rolled her eyes. Another two taps, each one causing echoes to boom down the hallway they had just walked through.
Then someone on the other side of the door shouted out a reply.
"What is it?"
"Someone's asked for a trial!"
"Well bring them in then!"
If her magic hadn't been nullified for some annoying reason Syndra probably would have thrown Caitlyn across the room just to see what would happen. Unfortunately with Vi standing behind her she couldn't even speak out of line, so simply had to put up with staring at the most pathetic excuse for a Captain of the Guard that she had ever seen.
No weapon? No armor? No guards? And you call yourself a warrior.
Caitlyn looked exactly as thrilled to see Syndra as Syndra did to see her.
"Take a seat. You are considering a trial for your crimes?"
"I want to leave this nuthouse."
"I'll take that as a yes. And you believe that you are not guilty of this assault?"
"I want. To leave. Thi-"
"You are not answering my question. Did you-"
"Trial. NOW. "
After several seconds of the two of them staring each other down, Caitlyn got up from her seat and walked over to the door which Syndra had just entered.
"Vi! Take Syndra to the lawyer."
Syndra's smile vanished.
Lawyor? What on Runeterra is a lawyo-"
Then Vi threw Syndra over her shoulder and left the office, completely oblivious to Syndra clawing at her back and screeching the most vile threats she could think of.
Running was not an option.
The Solari, everyone she knew, represented a threat.
The buildings in which she had learned to walk, she couldn't take a step in without having to look behind her.
She wanted to kill every Solari that she saw, to raze their homes to the ground,
But with a strange new blade in her hand that she wanted to study rather than wield, fighting was not an option either.
Another step. Before her, the hallway split at 90 degrees and she knew without a doubt that this would likely be her death.
Another step.
But it wasn't like she had any regrets anyway.
If she could just die like a warrior…
"I have a weapon and I'm not afraid to use it!"
Then an enormous group of soldiers sprinted around the corner with their weapons raised.
…Well maybe a little…
With growing desperation, she finally gathered the confidence to swing her blade at the soldiers only when the first of them was directly on top of her. There was a flash of light. Something crashed into her. There was unimaginable pain….
But she was still standing. And all of the soldiers that had charged her were dead.
"Have you ever broken your nose before?"
Shocked out of her stupor by Soraka's question it took Diana a few seconds to realise she had brought herself to the checkup, and absolutely no time to remember why.
"Wha-What was that?"
"It's just that it's still a little out of pla….
"Yes. Once. It hurt a lot less this time than it did that time though. Is that…."
"And somebody did this to you on purpose?"
"I'll deal with i-"
Apparently frowning made the pain worse, which was messing with Diana more than the injury itself.
"Ow."
"I don't think…."
"I'll talk about it with Kolmi-you know. Councillor woman. Anyway, thanks for helping. I guess."
Knowing that Soraka wouldn't have approved with her having no intention of having that Rakkor pursued, Diana decided lying wouldn't hurt. What she intended to do now was a lot simpler than that.
Syndra was either in the middle of a remarkably well designed trap, or this lawyor was far less dangerous than she thought. With the only way out locked, only one other person in the room and a seat available, she sat down sceptically.
"If you try anything, I will kill you."
Bluffing wasn't apparently her strong point anymore because Morgana simply laughed at her.
"Somebody didn't get the script,"
"What script?"
"It's a figure of speech."
Unimpressed, Syndra snarled and leaned over the table.
"Get on with it, woman. Why are you here?"
"I'm a lawyer. I help people out of crimes that they have definitely committed."
"You. Help people. "
"My sister's the judiciator."
"And you hate your sister."
"It's not like there's anything better to do."
To Syndra, that actually made an alarming amount of sense.
"Well if you're so good at it, help me."
"Under Ionian law, for kidnap, assault and coercion, the punishment is death."
"The League wouldn't go through with that."
"They could just expel you and hand you over to the Ionians. Or Kayle could just sentence you to death anyway. Or you could get locked up for days on end. Or…"
After about another 5 options, Syndra decided to interrupt Morgana talking before she fell asleep.
"And your point is….."
"Join Noxus."
"Excuse me?"
"Join…"
"I heard what you said!"
"And you're sure about-"
"Yes!"
"And you realise that if you…"
"I'm not joining Noxus! I'm an Ionian! And I like being Ionian! And you invaded us for a decade! So there!"
"I thought it was 7 years…"
"That's what I meant!"
After a bizarre silence, with Morgana glaring at Syndra and Syndra glaring back at her for daring to suggest joining what might as well have been an uncultured cesspool, Morgana coughed.
"Well considering you probably aren't powerful enough for that option…"
Even though her magic was supposedly completely unusable in her current state Syndra still attempted to throw her chair at Morgana with it, only for it to skitter into the table.
"You dare underestimatemy POWER!? How dare you?!"
As the chair continued to skitter around the room, the lack of a reaction from Morgana only incensed Syndra further.
"I'll kill your family when I get my powers back! I'll kill you! I'll kill your sister! I'll kill your friends! I'll…"
Turning her gaze to the table in front of her for something smaller to throw Syndra only noticed a scroll of paper and a quill, and remembered in a flash who was calling her weak.
"The Noxians think I'm weak, do they?! They will snivel before my feet! I will show them how powerful I am, and- Give me that contract!- and if they disagree I will kill them all!"
Scribbling her name in a blur, Syndra threw the completed contract up in the air and watched as it immediately vanished back to its writers. Turning around, she saw Morgana, who had clearly been either staring at her in awe or trying not to laugh.
"And now, BEGONE!"
"You do realise you're still technically in prison right?!"
"Fu-"
If Diana had any faith in the moon before she was punched in the face, she'd lost all if it and then a bit extra after finding out that being "injured" prevented her from entering the Rift. Or leaving the Institute. Which meant that her list of things that she should probably do in the daytime instead of nighttime had completely disappeared.
And that left her ridiculously, mind-numbingly bored.
Still, at least her bed was comfortable.
I should get up.
And do what?
Go to the library?
If she had any self confidence before her nose broke, she definitely didn't have any now. And that meant avoiding contact. Especially with anyone who was at the gym at the time, and that meant that visiting the bar was completely out of the question, which was the only place she talked to people. Except of course for Syndra but she had pretty much disappeared….
Oh right. She's in jail.
Syndra had of course deserved a jail term, at the very least to teach her how to be responsible, so feeling guilty for her sentence was out of the question.
Feeling guilty because she didn't feel guilty about how Syndra had been locked up, however...
Mercifully for Diana, for the first time that she could remember since joining the league, something knocked on her front door.
"You've got the wr-"
Upon seeing Irelia in the doorway Diana discreetly failed to cover her nose with her hand, and then tried to act as if nothing had happened.
"Hello Diana."
Irelia seemed to be in an excellent mood, at least for someone who didn't and had never treated Diana as a friend in any way.
"Irelia! Nice to see you….Do you want to…umm…come…in?
"Thankyou, Diana."
"This is a surprise to say the least."
Diana had no idea why Irelia was in her apartment but if she wanted to be friends, well, she could probably make it work.
"Syndra's become a Noxian as of today."
That was definitely a good enough reason.
"You cannot be serious."
"I know. It's wonderful!"
"You're celebrating?"
"She's not my responsibility anymore!"
"And that's why you're here."
"Who else am I meant to celebrate with?"
If no other Ionians were celebrating, that at least meant they all hadn't lost their minds.
And Diana wasn't going to get worried for Ionia's sake. Well not yet, at least.
"You're not even worried?"
"That can come later. Are you going to leave me to celebrate by myself?"
Diana was so bored she actually wanted to hug Irelia at this point for coming up with something to do.
"Of course not! Do you have a plan for where to go!"
"I thought you might ask that. Follow me!"
Less than an hour after officially joining Noxus, Syndra was wondering if she might have made a slight mistake. Not that she had looked for anything interesting, but it was looking more and more likely she would die of complete embarrassment.
"You look wonderful! That dresssss darling really compliments your eyessss…"
Considering it was one of the only dresses she owned and by far her favourite Syndra would have silenced the lamia herself if she dare thought otherwise. Not that repeated, obvious compliments on how brilliant she looked were any better.
"Can I just ask how…"
"Questionsssss can wait until after the party. We really don't want Ssssswain to get impatient, do we Morgana?"
"I wouldn't mind that much. Can you imagine the look on his…"
"Sssssaysssss the harpie with magic immunity."
While Syndra had been considering whether Noxus was the right place, she certainly wasn't after that reminder.
"Total magic immunity shouldn't even be possible!"
Then someone knocked on the door and Cass pulled her out of the room hissing at the top of her voice.
"Great work Morgana, you've gone and made usssss fucking late!
Despite being more open to new experiences than her entire culture, Diana was still a little bit more hesitant about Irelia's idea than she knew she should have been. Not that she'd let that stop her from being cynical, however.
"Meditation."
"You have a problem with meditating?"
"Is this…usually what you do to celebrate things?"
"No, but I'm not taking you to an Ionian theatre just yet. So meditation it is."
"And nobody else is celebrating with us, surely."
"I tried to drag them along but they all seemed to be worried for some odd reason."
Wonder what that would have been…
"So how do you…meditate exactly?"
"Just follow what I do and listen to what I say."
Still sceptical but confident that Irelia wouldn't notice if she screwed up, Diana shut her eyes.
"Breathe in... breathe out. Just keep breathing in…and out. Focus on the rhythm of our breaths. Does it remind you of anything?"
"No.."
"Don't answer the question. Just relax and think about it more. You might be surprised…"
What felt like an eternity passed, with Diana listening to Irelia breathe in and out and feeling surprisingly relaxed. Not that she could remember anything like Irelia wanted to, but that didn't seem like a massive problem. Or could she…?
"Fight! Fight! Fight!...Fight! Fight! Fight!"
The chant echoed on all around her, endless, high pitched and taunting, daring her to make the first move while all she could do was stare back with no idea what she was supposed to do. She had left her home, left the reading behind in a rare act of defiance and walked down the slopes towards the lower part of the mountain. A party had caught her eye, all of children about her age, they were yelling in excitement enjoying themselves on the day before the holy day , of all things! And two of them had drawn weapons and fought each other to their knees!
By the time she realised they were staring at her it was too late. And now, it wasn't looking good.
"I…I don't know how to fight!"
One of the children, by far the tallest, head and shoulders over her and the only one that seemed to have a face, sneered at her.
"How can you be a Rakkor and not know how to fight? Coward! Sissy!"
"I'm not a Rakkor! I'm a Solari!"
"So you are a coward! I knew it! I bet you're just going to get on your knees and cry like a baby!"
"In a motion so fluid that it surprised all of the children, including herself, Diana picked up the sword lying on the ground. Feeling it settle comfortably in one hand, her nerves steadied. She could do this. She was taller than the person she was fighting, and looked stronger as well. How hard could this be?
Then, so fast that she could barely comprehend it, her opponent swung the sword straight at her. There was a clang of metal against metal, and Diana silently released a sigh of relief, only for the sword to crash straight into the back of her neck.
As she hit the ground, for a split second she wondered if she was dying.
She certainly hoped she was.
"Something wrong?"
Far too proud to admit to failing meditation of all things, Dianasimply shrugged. .
"What….No, no of course not."
"You were clutching the back of your neck….Are you injured?"
"I'm fine."
"Clearly it was just a bad experience then."
"And you say that because…."
"You're embarrassed, aren't you?"
"No! I just…"
"Would it help if I said I've had bad experiences too?"
"You're just saying that to make me feel better."
"Of course I'm not!"
Refraining from making a complete fool of herself anymore than she just had, Diana was about to say her farewells when Irelia's next question caught her by surprise.
"Do you want to grab something to eat for dinner?"
"…Is that what you do after having one of those experiences?"
"Usually it helps."
"…Fine. But only if you don't mention this fuckup to anyone else. Understood?"
"I think I can manage that."
Living on the tip of a resource starved mountain for most of her life meant Diana was perfectly content to leave the restaurant choice up to Irelia, who seemed to come up with a decision almost instantly. But then her curiosity got the better of her.
"So,..this place we're going to…what's it like?"
"It's….hard to explain. But you'll like it when you see it. You can trust me on that."
