Well that took a bit longer than I intended but here it is!
between real life stuff and holidays I didn't get enough time but I did it!
Enjoy!
Chapter 7
Esdese rode as fast as she could, while the four at the carriage were tending to Rain who was beginning to feel a bit better.
"I'm fine, for the love of the gods, I just need to rest a bit" Rain said while trying to calm the three.
"Sisi, you should drink more water!" Lulu proclaimed
"Where's the food we packed!? She needs to eat!" Diana yelled.
"She should sleep a bit" the three were fighting whose option would be better, completely ignoring from the summoner who just sat by and began to laugh.
"This is not funny Rain!" the three of them yelled.
"It is, plus I'm fine. I'm starting to feel better, so there's nothing to worry about." She assured them, or at least tried.
They continued to protest when the carriage came to a sudden stop.
"Esdese, what's wrong? Why are we stopping" Rain asked
"Dead master, the road…is blocked" The Dullahan replied from outside.
Rain opened the door and the four passengers went outside to see who or what was blocking their path. A large branch from a tree was laid on the middle of the road.
"How the hell did that get here?" Diana inquired and got closer to the branch in order to examine.
Esdese joined Diana and noticed the clean cut at the end of the branch. "However it got here, it wasn't there when we got to Noxus, and that cut…."
They suddenly felt an unfamiliar presence and regrouped immediately. Out of the woods came six leather-armored men, daggers drawn and ready to go.
"Halt, the Noxian Black Rose is here to…." Rain suddenly cut him off.
"Cut the bulshit will you? Noxians are a lot of things but amateurs, and they never attack in these numbers or reveal themselves to their targets." She grinned with a cocky smirk.
"Well than, no need to pretend we're those scums anymore." A new voice said from behind the branch.
This one was dressed in a Kinkou ninja outfit, only the colors were not that of the Kinkou order like Rain knew them. The colors of his outfit were dark blue with deep red attire, on his head an open horned mask.
"Please to meet you, master-summoner Rain Celeborn, I'm here to claim that thing" he pointed at Syndra.
Rain looked at him; this guy was clearly over-confident with himself. "And why would I let you do that?" She asked with a hostile tone.
He looked at her and merely grinned. "You're in the possession of Ionian government property. The sovereign belongs to us, and it will be dealt with once and for all."
Syndra was beginning to get angry, really angry. "I am not their toy! You can tell your elders the next time they see me, it will be as their executioner!" She roared and was about to unleash herself at that commander, but was held back by Diana and Esdese.
"Not yet…" Diana whispered to her "Wait for the right moment…"
Syndra looked at her angrily, but calmed down and restrained her fury, for now.
"You do realize Syndra is a champion of the league right? She's protected by an international law; the league is responsible to her now. Unless Ionia is wants to ignore her treaties with the Institute and start a war?" Rain asked with every intention to show him this is going to end very badly.
"We couldn't care less about you or your institute, whore! We fight for the purity of Ionia, and if you will stand in our way you will just perish as well!"
Out from behind Rain, Esdese's gaze grew darker. "Calling my master a whore, are you? Do you expect me to let you live?" She said as a massive black scythe formed in her hands. "I'm afraid your death won't be a quick one."
"Esdese, stand down." Rain ordered and the Dullahan obeyed instantly, but she did not remove her eyes from the man.
"I'm afraid my orders are to get rid of you as well summoner, and the rest your party." He said, smiling mockingly at the Rain.
"I'm going to give you one chance to turn around and walk away." Rain warned. "Do so, and I may consider letting this go and forgetting all about this." She added, making Syndra raise an eyebrow at the irony of being on the other side of that warning.
The commander simply laughed and snapped his fingers, signaling the rest of his men to appear. "Are you insane? There are fifteen elite assassins including myself and only five of you. We outnumber you, and that is not even needed."
"True…" Diana suddenly said.
"But we outrank you." Rain completed Diana's sentence, making the commander signal his men to attack.
"Heh. I love it when they put a fight! Attack!" He ordered and added. "Try to leave them alive! We might get something good out of this!"
At that moment, Rain and her party jumped toward the assassins. Diana summoned her crescent blade and jumped with Esdese, repelling back five of them.
Rain and Syndra fought side by side, covering each other blind spots.
Syndra summoned her three spheres and launched them each at an assassin, stunning them out for a second. She immediately threw a shock wave sending them flying back and to the trees. "I love to watch them fly" She smiled.
"Die Sovereign!" One of the assassins jumped from one of the trees and was about to strike Syndra, but before he even reached her Rain jumped in front and summoned a black wall. Once the ninja passed through it, nothing but bones came from the other side.
"Thanks for the save." Syndra said with a small smile.
"Thank me in bed later, for now let's kill them!" Rain replied and made Syndra's face turn a bright pink from that comment. She was clearly using her imagination.
Meanwhile, Diana and Esdese had their hands full as well. Diana jumped from one ninja to the other, cutting them fast and effectively, making sure each cut was a deadly one.
"Esdese how many did you get?" Diana said cutting down another assassin.
"With that, I believe five." Esdese replied.
"Heh I guess I should-omph!" Diana felt a huge blow to her gut and flew a few meters until she was knocked on the ground.
"Lady Diana!" Esdese screamed at the sight of Diana knocked on the ground
"Diana!" Rain yelled but couldn't reach her, as her hands were full with her own battle.
"Shit that was… dirty blow" She said and grabbed her side only to see that it was bleeding a bit. Trying to gain the air back to her lungs, she looked up to find that there were three of them surrounding her. Esdese tried to reach her but was pushed back by two others.
"Now die!" They were about to attack but came to a stop when a new figure stood before them, and a tiny figure at that.
"You will not pass! You will not touch her!" Lulu yelled and aimed her staff high.
"Lulu…. Get away!" Diana said getting up, the blow making it difficult for her to speak normally, and held her hand on her side to slow and hopefully stop the bleeding.
"Little shrimp, out of the way!" One of them yelled and was about to knock aside Lulu as Diana tried to stop him.
Both were not as fast as Lulu, who acted first. "You! Shall become! …Something!" With that, she swept her staff on the ground and the three assassins became small fury and fluffy black kittens.
"Meow?" The three kittens moaned and yelped at the sight of Lulu and how much larger she was compared to them.
"Dust them Pix!" She and Pix let out a double bolt of energy and blew the kittens away before laughing as they fled, making Diana jaw drop and stand in awe.
"Well I'll be damned" Was all she managed to say as Lulu rushed toward her.
"Let me see that wound." Diana sat up so the Yordle could have a look. The moment Lulu touched her wound, it began to heal.
"Thanks Lulu." Diana said with a smile.
Syndra, Rain, and Esdese finished off the rest of the assassins, but, when all of them were dealt with, Syndra was not. In fact, she was even angrier than before. She walked to the commander, who tried to crawl away, grabbed his head and smashed it into the ground.
"Where!? Who sent you this time!?" She roared at him. "Answer me!"
"Please…. I don't know anything." He was trying to play dumb, but Syndra was anything but naïve and saw right through it. She slammed his head to the ground again, harder this time.
"Your death will be slower and with a lot more pain! Answer the fucking questions!" She said with a bright, red face, slamming his head to the ground the third time.
"Zelle…. She is one of my masters… now please let me go" He pleaded, begging for his life.
"You chose the wrong master." She answered coldly and broke his neck with a swift snap.
"Zelle…" She said as she rose up. "She's next, and this time I won't stop with one elder…" Her voice grew darker and filled with venom.
Rain went to try to calm her down. "Syndra relax, we-"
"NO! She will die! I will not be haunted by her kind anymore! I-"
"Syndra!" Rain yelled and hugged her. "It's ok…" She whispered softly.
Syndra shocked. Being held in another's arms, in Rain's arms no less, and that gave her peace, an inner calm. She felt her rage slowly dying away with every second she was in her embrace.
"What a mess" Esdese said while collecting the souls of all the fallen assassins.
Rain and Syndra returned to group and Rain gave her attention to Diana. "Are you ok? Does it still hurt?" She asked as she looked at Diana's side to check her wound, only to find it was completely healed.
"I'm fine Rain, Lulu healed me." Diana replied with a smile, and Lulu gave Rain a thumbs up.
"Don't you ever scare me like that again." She said as she pressed their foreheads together.
"Promise." Diana said with a small smile.
A sudden ring from Rains pocket made everyone jump. "Let me get that".
"Answer." Rain said and Skarf came up worried sick.
"Rain!? Rain, are you ok!? What happened?! We saw on the monitor that Syndra's, Diana's and Lulu's magic suddenly jumped!" He sounded really worried.
"Skarf, relax we're ok, we were attacked by Ionian elite assassins, as they called themselves." She tried to calm him down, but when she mentioned the attack that did the exact opposite.
"Attacked?! By assassins!? Why!?" He was more nervous than before.
"They were a group of Ionian assassins who tried to disguise themselves as Noxian assassins, they're dead now."
"Ionians? This can't be a coincidence…" His tone was calmed down from before.
"What do you mean?" She inquired.
"Two elders just got here, they're with chancellor Tenshin now in his office demanding to know where Aren is, and it's getting really bad…"
"I'll teleport to the Institute immediately; you and the others get there now." She closed the transmission and murmured loud enough for the four to hear. "Ionian assassins, and now two elders are coming to the Institute asking about Aren…
"Everyone, to the carriage. I'm going to teleport us back." She ordered and they all did as she said. Before Syndra entered the carriage, Rain grabbed her hand and gave her a comforting smile. "I'm not letting them near you…" She said, and Syndra gave her a quick smile as they both entered the carriage.
Arch-summoner office
"You listen here, and listen well! I want to know where Aren is! If you think I'm buying the story of his removal, your age must be getting the better of you!" A middle aged man dressed in Ionian traditional robe yelled at Tenshin.
"Elder Kion, relax as I said this-"
"No! You better listen! I promise you if Aren does not show up here in the next few minutes, you will pay for this insolence!" he roared.
"Elder Kion, please calm yourself. I will not stand silent if you will not calm yourself." Tenshin said a bit angrily.
"You…" Elder Kion snarled, just before he was about to strike to elder summoner, Skarf Savos, Rain and Katy entered the room along with Rain's party.
"What's the meaning of this!?" Skarf roared silencing the entire room and making the elder back off from Tenshin.
As they entered the room, the second elder noticed Rain was holding a rather large sack, though she had no time to question about the sacks contents as master-summoner Skarf began to speak. "What kind of elder threatens a summoner!? And an old man in that!" he asked angrily.
"Stay out of this and know your place, boy!" he shot back at Skarf.
"Careful now, don't want to get blood on your pretty white robe" Rain added from the side, making the elder shut is mouth.
Tenshin sat back in his chair and calmed "Elder Kion, as I was saying; Aren was removed from the Institute after we discovered he was committing actions that threatens the security of the Institute and of the lands."
Kion frowned but tried to remain calm now that the full council stood in the room. "I demand to see him now, traitor or not he's…."
"I'm afraid that won't happen." Rain butted in. "He's dead." She added coldy.
The two elders were shocked "D-dead? How?"
"I killed him, after I was done interrogating him, he was quite the talker" she said with a bland tone.
"K-Killed him…" elder Kion was surprised by that straightforward statement.
"Did he tell you… something to reveal the identity of the ones he was working for" the second elder asked suspiciously.
"We know enough at this point to take the actions necessary to put a stop to these people" Tenshin added.
"That's right, oh and there is one other thing…" Rain moved to the sack she was carrying grabbing everyone's attention, she pulled out the head of the assassin's commander and place it on the desk, making everyone hold their breath.
"wh-what is that supposed to be?" the female elder asked rather disgusted by the sight.
"The last person who tried to attack Syndra, he was also ordered to kill me and those who traveled with me as well" she looked at the elders with a cold stare,
"You can see what that got him; he was a part of a group that called the 'elite assassins"
"Impossible! That group was long disbanded!" the elder yelled.
"Yet here they are, trying to kill a league summoner and champions, how do you think that looks like to us?" Rain was pushing the female summoner back, making her nervous, she was about to push more when elder Kion stepped in.
"A lot of groups want to put an end to the sovereign menace, it has many enemies" he shot a dirty look at Syndra who returned the glare.
"Ok, the next Ionian in this room to refer to Syndra as 'it' loses his tongue!" Rain yelled, silencing the room.
"Elder Kion, I believe you have your answer, send this information to the Ionian elder council" Tenshin ordered, trying to lighten the mood the room and put an end to this conflict.
"Yes well, we'll take our leave now, Zelle let's go" they move to the door when Syndra's eyes light up.
'Zelle' she moved to jump on the elder but was stopped by Rain who held her hand and talked to her in their mental link.
"Don't Syndra, I know but for now….let it go" she gave her a comforting look that was also pleading at the same time, and Syndra stood down.
The elders took their leave and everyone exhaled in the room.
"Well that could have been worse, by the way Tenshin, how did you know I was bluffing?" Rain Inquired.
"I was not made the arch-summoner for nothing, my dear" he smiled to her and turned his attention to all the members in the room.
"We might still don't know the full details of the people behind all of this, but we know some of the Ionian elders are involved in this" Skarf said with a worried look.
"Hmph, I wouldn't be surprised if all of them were involved" Syndra butted in.
"One of the assassins said one of his masters was Zelle, and she did seemed nervous when she talked" Rain added
"For now we'll keep an eye on them, this is a mission I trust to the six of us alone" Tenshin stated and the members of the council nodded, all but Katy.
"Arch-summoner, why did you say 'six' when there are only five council members including yourself" She inquired.
"Because I have five councilors, master-summoner Katy" He said with a warm smile, leaving the black haired girl speechless.
"Wha…I …you…. Council…" she was trying to find the right words.
"I was hoping to give you the position on more pleasant winds, but this will do as well" he handed her a purple robe with golden attires at its shoulders, robes that was made only for the council members.
Katy took the robes, still shocked she looked around here, Skarf was smiling and gave her thumbs up, Savos nodded and smile, Rain putted her hand behind her head.
"Don't look at me, I simply filled the recommendation on you" she said with a smile.
"Thank you, really thank you all…. This….this…." she was at the verge of tears from the happiness.
"You deserve it" Skarf said, putting his hand on her shoulder.
"Will be nice having you around more Kat" Savos said.
"Hey don't get any ideas Savos, she has a boyfriend" Rain jessed and they all laughed.
"Well than that will be all for now, dismissed" Tenshin said and they all took their leave.
As they exited the office Skarf stopped them "well it's obvious we have to celebrate, where should we…" he was cut off by flying missile, its target: him.
"Skarfyyyyy~" he caught her and span around a few times before getting back his balance, and a quick kiss.
"J-Jinx? Where did you come from?" he said with happy tone while trying to catch his breath.
"Doesn't matter, Right now I need you-"
"JINX! There you are you little Psychopath!" Vi and Caitlyn were just a few steps behind
"Come here you little trouble maker!" Caitlyn roared followed by Vi Roars as well, they were both tired beyond compare, as Jinx got them to chase her through all of Piltover as well as the Instituted.
"Well shit…" She said as Vi grabbed a hold on her.
"I'm….Gonna….Kill you…." Vi said while trying to regain the oxygen back to her lungs.
"Aww come on Fathands, you swore to mom you'll always protect and cherish me" she said trying to put on an innocent look at her sister.
"And I'm starting to regret those words really fucking fast…" Vi said as she tighten her grip so that the blue-haired girl won't get away this time.
"Skarfyyy, big mean Fathands is being mean to meeee" she whines like a little kid, while Skarf finds it adorable, right now, he felt nothing but embarrassment as the rest of the group held there laugh for a limited time.
"Sheriff what did she do this time? Blow up another tower? Jinx how many times I have to tell you…" Skarf exhaled and began to lecture her as Caitlyn stopped him
"No it's not something like that…" she began to blush
"The hell it is! It's even worse!" Vi roared as she began to have a slight blush as well
"For the love of the moon, what is it?!" Diana demanded and everyone looked at the two policewomen.
"She…. She took pictures of me and Cupcake…making out….. near our room" Vi said quietly, the hallway went silent and Jinx simply giggled.
"But you guys were so adorable! I had to take pictures! Otherwise Fishbones and Pow-Pow wouldn't believe me!" Jinx said cheerily.
"I also got pictures of Hatlady giving you a massage in your room sis…" she added, and that moment everyone became red, but not nearly as red as the piltover finest became.
"You're so fucking DEAD!" Vi Raised her Gauntlet back and was about to paunch her when Skarf came between them
"Wait! Vi please!" Vi stopped mid-air, Skarf then turned to Jinx.
"Jinx, give me the pictures please" he asked with a smile.
"Why? What the big deal? It's not like I'm gonna post them or anything! This is my sister and it's for me alone" she said with a devious smile and made Vi and Caitlyn shrugged at the thought.
"Jinx, it's their privacy, and if you love your sister you should respect that privacy" Skarf explain and she gave him a frown look "Jinx, I won't hug you or kiss you for a week" he then threw that at her, making her shocked.
"You wouldn't dare!"
"Want to try me?" Skarf said with a smile and Jinx pouted.
"Fine! Whatever! Here!" she handed him the photos and crossed her hand with a frown face.
"Thank you sweetie" he smiled back at her, making her blush and everyone else shocked to the point their hearts almost stopped.
"Did he just make her… listen?" Rain asked amazed
"The hell he just did…" Katy answered
"By the moon…" Diana said and Syndra agreed "nice one…"
"I don't get what's the big deal" Esdese said plainly clearly out of the loop.
"Here you go, and once again I apologize of her behalf" Skarf handed Caitlyn the photos and smiled to the two, who returned it than Caitlyn turned her attention to Jinx.
"He's a keeper Jinx" Jinx smiled quickly and turned her head away so no one would see her blush, with that they turned and took their leave
"Bye Fathands! Bye Hatlady! I'll see you soon!" she waved at them, and then pulled Skarf's hand.
"Hey, hey, you were just joking about the no hugging stuff right?" she said quietly
"We'll see…" he said and made Jinx kick him lightly
"Meanie meanie! You big stupid, stupid-head!" Everyone tried not to laugh at Jinx weird choice of insults, and to the sight of Skarf trying to make her stop hitting him.
She finally stopped when he gave up and hugged her, making her smile stupidly.
"So we meet at a bar or something? I know a good one in piltover…" Skarf suggested.
"I approve" Rain said followed by Katy and Savos agreement as well
"Awesome I'll send you the address later, we'll see you there" Skarf said and started to walk down the hallway, arms-lock with Jinx "see ya later Ladyball!" she screamed and Syndra waved back at her.
Everyone went their way; Katy hugged Rain and made plans for the evening before Katy teleported away, leaving Rain and her party alone in the hallway.
"So shall we go to the resort to rest a bit? Or do you have other things to do" Diana asked Rain who was about to answer when she noticed Syndra holding her arm and looking at her with a pleading look, as if she wanted to speak with her alone.
Rain gave her a smile and turned to Diana "you guys go on ahead, we'll be there shortly"
"Sisi…." Lulu was still worried about Rain condition "Its ok Lulu, I'm fine now, I'll come soon ok" Rain comfort her and gave her pat on the head.
"Don't too long" Diana said, turning her gaze and winked at her, as if telling her "good luck".
It was just the two of them, alone in the hallway; Rain reached to the nearby window and looked over the courtyard "What did you want to talk about".
"About the thing… in the carriage" Syndra answered, blushing at the memory of it.
Rain turned to her, and smiled "Syndra, at first you wanted to kill me, or at least beat me to death, now you fell in love with me?"
"It's not like that ok!? At first yeah, I wanted to fight you! But then…." She still hesitated, like a teenaged girl experiencing her first crush.
"Then?" Rain inquired
"Then you became close to me! You showed me things! Even when I had every intention of breaking you apart once the keeper thing was over you were kind to me! You were the only one who ever actually gave a shit about me!" she screamed tears started to come down her cheeks.
"And…. And I know I'm a monster ok? I know I've done terrible things, while I don't regret them, I know you might not want anything to do with me!
"And that kiss, that kiss was me taking the risk hoping that I might have a chance…" she couldn't take it anymore, too her surprised Rain started to laugh.
"Why are you laughing? I'm trying to be serious here!" She said a bit annoyed
Rain calmed down a bit and looked at her "what gave you the impression, I was turning you down? What made you think I didn't enjoy that kiss?" she looked at her with a soft looked.
"I don't know…. You didn't….kiss back…" Syndra said quietly avoiding her gaze; she didn't notice Rain approached her until they were a few inches away from each other.
Rain place her hand on Syndra cheek making the mage look at her directly, before Syndra could say anything, Rain pressed their lips together for a long deep kiss.
Syndra was intoxicated, as Rains tongue danced in her mouth along with hers, she closed her eyes and let that moment last for as long as it could.
Finally breaking apart they were both blushing, Rain had a warm smile on her face, Syndra was still lost but quickly gain back her senses "how was that for 'kissing back?"
"More…." Syndra said shyly.
"Syndra….to you love me?" Rain asked "I want to hear it from you clearly"
"Do you love me?" Syndra asked back
"I thought I was pretty clear" Rain joked "I do"
Syndra smiled at her, for the first time in a long time she finally smiled fully and meant it.
"I do too" she said "I guess now, we're a couple?..." she asked shyly
"One condition…." Rain said quietly and closed the distance between them.
"What is it?" Syndra inquired and Rain smiled as their lips were a few inches away from each other.
"I get to be the girlfriend…." And the two closed in for another kiss.
