Why did I stay up so late to finish this? I don't know, but it's here. Why did I stay up even later to finish the next chapter? I don't know, but I'll tell you one thing, I must be either really dedicated to this story, or I love you guys a lot. Next chapter will come out whenever I wake up tomorrow.

Tuesday, December 5th - After Midnight; Ahri's place, Runeterra

Flynt woke up in a cold sweat. He patted his arms and head to find that he wasn't on fire. It was just a dream. He hated dreams, he was just fine without them during the majority of his life, and now they suddenly come back after he died. As if dying wasn't bad enough, now he had to re-life the very life he died from. He glanced around and noticed two things: it was in the middle of the night, and he'd fallen into the crater in Ahri's floor at some point during his slumber. It was odd, but it wasn't as odd as the dream he'd just experienced. Normally he dreamed from his point of view, but that wasn't the case this time. He felt like he was Garrison, and he recalled a specific scene from that fire-story thing. It was when the story version of him turned and stared at him through Garrison's view. He remembered that day, he remembered turning around on that rooftop and seeing an old man dressed in robes. He remembered the market as well; it was the market in Prentice, contrary to what Garrison or the children believed. Flynt came to the conclusion that this story was the reason his infamy spread so widely; the elders contorted and manipulated the truth of what happened. They conveniently left out the part where the Elders tried to harvest his power for their own use, and what came after Flynt was defeated.

Flynt yawned and was beginning to fall back asleep when he heard the groaning of wood on the floor: someone's poor attempt at sneaking into the house to kill him no doubt. The creaking continued after a few seconds, and it got closer to the hole where Flynt now stood on his toes, with his knees bent and his hand on his katana. As soon as the creaking sounded close enough, Flynt leaped from the hole and pushed the attacker against the wall.

He held the katana to the attacker's throat and hissed, "Who are you, and why are you here?" Once he actually got a chance to see the attacker's face, he regretted his rash thinking. Flynt released Ahri from his grasp and sheathed his sword. "Damnit Ahri, why are you creeping around? You know I'm paranoid."

Ahri swallowed her short-term fear and replied, "Because this is my house, I assumed I could walk around in it." She started to edge away from Flynt, possibly out of fear of another blind attack. "And I didn't know you were that light of a sleeper… or that paranoid."

"I wasn't asleep, I just woke up a few minutes ago."

"Oh," Ahri shrugged. "Well I couldn't sleep, so I thought I might take a walk or something to clear my head."

"Why?"

"Bad dreams, I've been having them for a while now, ever since…"

"Ever since what?"

"Since you showed up."

Flynt frowned, "Interesting." It could have been a coincidence. Yeah, the fact that Ahri's bad dreams started on the same night that his dreams started is a random event.

"What?"

"Nothing."

"Tell me."

"No, it's nothing."

"Flynt… you're in my house. I could kick you out if I wanted to."

"You wouldn't"

"Try me."

The staring contest that took place was legendary. It was Flynt who lost when he turned away and said, "Fine, it's just, ever since I was ten, I haven't dreamed. Not once. I just fell asleep and woke up the next morning, and I don't know how or why it happened that way, but it just did. After I died I found myself here and landed where I did. I started dreaming again as soon as I fell asleep that first day."

"And what? you think there's a connection?"

"I don't know, but it definitely seems odd, don't you think?"

"Flynt, I don't know. I'm tired and I can't sleep. I was about to take a walk to clear my head, and then you drop all this confusing dream stuff on me."

"Sorry"

"Yeah, whatever" Ahri started walking to the door. "You can join me if you'd like. It sounds like you've got some things on your mind as well."

Flynt shrugged, "You have no idea."

The beach outside Ahri's place

Ahri walked ahead of him. It made sense since she knew where they were going and he didn't, but she didn't like it. To be honest, she still didn't trust him. She didn't know what it was about him that she didn't trust, maybe it was his lack of emotion or his rash decision making or maybe even his hair color. She couldn't figure out what it was, but despite this, she couldn't feel safer with him right behind her. She knew how far he'd go to protect his friends from the wounds he received trying to save that Samantha girl. Reflecting on that, she considered herself lucky to even be in the grey-area leaning towards the friend side of things as opposed to being an enemy of his. She glanced back at him, and he smiled a little before his face went right back to the usual blank expression.

For some reason it brought back the dream she'd just had, and she wished she hadn't remembered it. It was awful, if she could delete it from her memory she would.

Dreamland: Ahri

~A young man stood chained to the floor of a dark room. The floor itself was composed of some sort of stone and the walls were made of the same material. The one window in the room let in light from the outside, and allowed a constant draft to flow whenever the door opened. The man was wearing what was left of a shirt, it was more like a tattered cloth that hung from his neck by now. It didn't even reach his chest or shoulders. By the light of the window Ahri could see a large dark stain on the floor that surrounded the man. She didn't want to think about what it was. The man didn't struggle against his bonds. In fact, he didn't move at all. Upon further inspection, Ahri could tell that the man's hair was messy and light grey, but that could have been from a lack of washing. His face had a scar that ran from his right eye down to his cheek. Ahri couldn't seem to move from her view in the corner of the room, so she couldn't see his back, or anything behind him.

~The door to the left of Ahri opened and a man wearing a crown walked in. He laughed and spat at the chained man's feet. "Are you ready to cooperate?"

~The man said nothing.

~The crowned man sighed, "I wonder how long you'll be able to last." He laughed and left the room. Ahri could hear him shouting things from where she was.

~Another man, one she recognised from her earlier dreams as someone named James Ackwel. Apparently he was the prince who didn't like being a prince. James was wearing simple brown clothing and he was holding a thin rope that was coiled around itself. "Why don't you just give up? How long are you going to keep this going? We've finally been able to figure out how to finish what the others have started and all we need is a small display of your power."

~The chained man still didn't respond.

~"You're a damn idiot, you know that? I'm trying to make this easier for you and you don't have anything to say?" James grabbed the man's face. "Listen to me! Or can you not understand me because you don't speak our language? I expect nothing less from a freak like you."

~James released the man's face and started walking around him. He stopped behind the man and let the rope fall so that he was holding the end of it. Ahri realized that he was holding a whip.

~"How about now!?" Ahri saw the glint of the metal tips of the whip as it extended into nine individual tails that raked the man's back as James swung the handle.

~The man immediately fell to the floor, but he didn't make a sound. James continued slashing his back away with the cat of nine tails and the man suffered in silence. Occasionally the man would squirm in an effort to move away from the source of pain, but he soon stopped the futile act. The entire time, Ahri watched with tears flowing down her cheeks. This was wrong, what had he done to deserve this? The torture lasted for a few minutes, but it felt like hours passed by as the man continued to squirm in pain to no avail.

~Once James felt like the man had enough, he smirked and walked over to the door. "Maybe that will make you rethink things freak." He left the room and closed the door. His laughter could be heard echoing through the room even after he was gone.

~Ahri could do nothing but stare at the man's now visible back. It was red. Everything was red and the stain underneath him had received a new coat. Blood continued to flow out of his back as he lay on his stomach. He was still, and Ahri thought the man was whipped to death until he started crying. She heard him taking quick shallow breaths and sniffing. It felt like she was intruding since he obviously didn't know she was watching him. Though she was sure there was a reason for this… punishment. Ahri couldn't help but feel sorry for the man. She found herself suddenly able to move and rushed to his side. When she reached out to place her hand on his shoulder her hand went right through him. She glanced at her hands and noticed that they had a yellow glow to them. Ahri shook her head and glanced back to the man and gasped. She jumped up and stared at the man while he stared right back at her. He didn't seem to be crying anymore, he actually had traces of a weak smile on his face.

~"Thank you." The man said, and he turned his back to her.

An unmarked path

Ahri shuddered, she didn't want to think about it anymore. She didn't want to have dreams anymore. She was almost afraid to sleep. Ahri looked up from the ground she was staring at. She saw where she wanted to go and quickened her pace.

They walked on until Ahri stopped at the top of a cliff. She turned back and saw that Flynt was still following her. She sat at the edge of the cliff and stared off in the distance. Flynt stepped behind her and stared as well.

Ahri broke the silence, "Why are you so quiet?"

Flynt glanced down to her, "Excuse me?"

"I mean, when you're here it's almost like you're not here. You don't say anything, you don't mumble or whistle or hum. I'm beginning to think you don't breathe."

"Ahri, I am a man of few words."

"I've noticed."

Flynt sighed, "I prefer to think to myself rather than starting a conversation that might lead to nowhere. For instance, I would stand here and stare at the night sky for hours, taking in all the glory that it has to offer. The way the stars twinkle against the background of the night, the way shooting stars cut through the darkness, I'd take it all in."

"So you'd rather stay locked up inside your head, staring at something beautiful without ever hearing anyone else's opinion about it?"

Flynt shrugged, "I was alone for a long time Ahri, both before and after I was branded what I am today. Who was I supposed to share my opinions with? Who was there to tell me their opinions? Nobody was, so I got used to being alone, and I'm comfortable with staying in my head."

Ahri paused for a second before continuing, "Would you like to hear my opinions?"

"Why not?" Flynt sat down beside Ahri. "Please, tell me what goes on inside your mind."

"I think… I think you're scared."

"I think you're wrong, I'm not scared of anything."

"You're scared of rejection, you're scared of being alone. You're scared that if you put yourself out there and try to interact with people you'll get shut down and shut out."

"I don't want to talk about this."

"Listen to yourself, why don't you want to talk about it?"

"Because I don't. Just change the subject."

"Because it's true?"

Flynt stood up and started pacing around Ahri, "No, because I just don't want to talk about it or this or that or what happened in the past or how this happened or why or who I am or where I come from alright!" Flynt's voice had steadily rose to a yell. After he calmed down he continued, "Look, maybe you're right. Maybe I hate people because I'm afraid that people hate me, but that's because it's true. The only time I ever felt wanted or needed… or loved…" Flynt stopped walking and stared at the floor. "It was all fake. I wasn't me, and I'm still not me. I don't even know who me is. My name's not Flynt, I'm not the good guy in this story. I'm the bad guy. I'm the one who terrorizes the people and eats children for a living."

Ahri was turned to face him. She was shocked at his sudden outburst, but she stayed where she was."Flynt, I want you to listen to me. Listen and listen good because I'm only going to say this once. What happened in the past doesn't matter, especially since I know you didn't do those things."

"How do you know?"

"Because a man who would nearly die for his friend that he forgave for betraying him doesn't eat children. The point is, you need to let go of that place and the past. Start thinking about who you are now." Ahri stood and grabbed Flynt's shoulders. "And right now, your name is Flynt, and you're the man who saved my life, twice." She hugged him, let him go, and returned to her spot on the cliff, staring into the distance.

Flynt walked to her and sat beside her. They sat in silence for a while before Flynt spoke, "How does the sky look to you?"

That poor kid, I'm that was just some random thing the author put in there, and it has nothing to do with the plot at all. *wink wink*

In brighter news... a review... finally. *fanfare* I feel so loved. In all seriousness, thank you. Who says begging doesn't accomplish anything? (speaking of which... please?)

In other news, I understand that the flashback count is high; I'll work on that. Flynt's Judgement will be in the next chapter, and it will be interesting.

I hope you had fun.