"We know absolutely nothing about Zed," Shen said to Kennen, surveying his timeline of Zed's actions. A board that stood in front of him was smothered in pictures of the last time Zed and Syndra had been in public. Single strings of yarn connected each picture as more and more of the pair's schemes had come into light.

"Ever since Zed was seen stealing the book," Kennen said, tapping the picture of the book, "he's become sedentary. He and Syndra plotted to capture Akali, but their reason for kidnapping her is unknown. The Lotus monks are currently gathering as much information as they can to prevent the summoning of the creature. Our information might be outdated or inaccurate since the book hasn't been opened in decades."

The duo stood mutely and eyed each thread on the board, looking for more connections. Save for a few strings, the bulletin board was virtually barren, much to the ninja's frustration. They knew exactly what Zed's goal was, but without the book, they were absolutely less than useless in stopping him.

The only thing that Shen felt at that moment was pure annoyance, annoyance at the fact that his training as the Eye of Twilight to maintain order was futile in saving his very best friend. His grueling years of discipline had amounted to absolutely nothing. Shen was, to his knowledge, the Eye of Twilight, yet he had nothing to show for it as he sat around helplessly in his home and prayed for someone to find Akali. Shen was no closer to finding Akali than he was four weeks ago when she had disappeared without a trace. For Heaven's sake, he didn't even know if she was alive, or if Zed even had her! If only he could have a quick glimpse of Akali. Then he'd be certain that she was alive, and maybe he could deduce her location. It was a shame that it was physically impossible to achieve such a feat.

Yet Shen didn't feel lost. In fact, in the midst of his thinking, an idea popped into his mind. "I wonder…" he whispered to himself, but the Yordle had caught his words.

"What did you say Shen?"

"Come with me! I will explain on the way," Shen spoke purposefully. If it worked, his idea could save Akali and locate Zed's headquarters! Right now, he had to meet with someone for assistance.

"Where are we going?!" Kennen said as he snatched his jacket and followed a restless Shen out the door.

"To see the Enlightened One!"

The taxi that had picked up Shen and Kennen slowed to a stop in front of a pristine house in the outskirts of the city. It was pitch black inside, contrasting to its very colorful exterior. After Shen uttered his gratitude to the cabdriver and paid his dues, he hesitantly walked up each step until he reached the door. Oddly enough, there was no doorbell, so the Yordle jumped four feet into the air and positioned his fist to knock on the door. Before he could rap on it vigorously, the sapphire door creaked open by itself.

"Come in." The sultry female voice beckoned for them in the dark, and as if under a spell, the pair mutely stepped in. There was a round table in the first room they encountered, and seated in one of three chairs was the Enlightened One herself.

"Good evening, Shen and Kennen," she greeted soothingly, gesturing to the two vacant seats.

"Evening, Karma," Shen replied, taking the seat opposite her. A clueless Kennen followed suit.

"Pardon the lack of light inside, but it is of utmost importance that I be able to fully concentrate." Karma's eyes never left Shen. "You informed me about Akali and I'm given to understand that you want me to help locate her, correct?"

"Yes," the ninjas both answered.

She nodded approvingly. "I know of a spell that is perfect for this occasion." Closing her eyelids, she inhaled and exhaled deeply a few times and her lips began to move with the words of an unfamiliar mantra.

"Lath Rian Oune Vi."

A sudden chill passed through the room. Karma opened her eyes, only to reveal the shocking viridian shade that lay underneath. Similar viridian circles decorated with ornate patterns opened up underneath Kennen and Shen, nearly swallowing them whole. The amount of energy that poured within the beacon of light ignited an inner flame within Shen, enhancing every sense in his body. He had never felt so alive.

"You must follow my exact words," Karma instructed carefully. "You are now in what is called a clairvoyant aura, which allows you to see any place in any part of the world for only five minutes. To locate your friend, you must vividly imagine the place as if you are physically there and your spirit will be projected in that location. However, you cannot contact her in any way, only see her. Keep in mind that you each only have five minutes, so choose your destination wisely."

Karma's eyes darted back and forth between the two visitors. "Understood?" They nodded in unison, determined to rescue their friend. She couldn't help but smile at their loyalty as she chanted more incoherent words. A blinding light enveloped Shen and Kennen, slowly drawing out their spirits.

"Have you two envisioned your location yet?" she asked.

Shen wasn't sure where Kennen had chosen, but he knew exactly where he wanted to search. Confidence surged within Shen as he nodded his head—never before had he felt so sure of a decision.

"Sae Eleisa Tera Vi!"

And in the blink of an eye, the ninjas' spirits teleported to separate locations, though their bodies remained inside the room under the watchful eye of Karma. Surveying their spiritless bodies, Karma rose from her seat and walked into the kitchen to make some tea for her clients. She couldn't even begin to imagine how much exhaustion the men would feel once they returned.

X X X

As his spirit teleported to the prisons of the Kinkou Temple, Shen felt extremely lightheaded, and the myriad of colors that surrounded him as he floated in a spinning vortex made him dizzier. Flashes of neon pigments whizzed right past Shen's eyes, so quickly that he didn't know whether he had truly seen them or merely imagined them. Perhaps this was what it felt like to be intoxicated.

In a matter of seconds, the tunnel reached a pitch black end and Shen's body was hurled into the dark and empty space. Then came the heart-stopping, never-ending plunge into eternal darkness that made Shen regret the entire clairvoyance session with Karma.

Just when he was beginning to think that he would never land, his body collided painfully against something rigid. He squeezed his eyes shut to numb the excruciating pain, but when he finally gained the courage to open them up again, he realized he had collided against a stone floor. In fact, he had landed in a dilapidated hallway with moldy, broken, and filthy tiles. Cobwebs littered every available crevice of the hallway. Shen could only imagine the god awful stench of what was left of the Kinkou Temple prisons.

Wasting no further time, he ardently struggled to stand up and walk around. Shen could easily navigate the halls as he slowly began to remember the lay out of the prison with each passing cell. The temple had been long abandoned ever since Zed's attack, so most of the prison doors had already rotted with age.

"Three minutes have passed," Karma's voice said in his mind.

Trying to ignore the growing tension within his mind, Shen began to weave through the halls expertly until he came across the only prison cell with a closed door. He almost stopped breathing (if a spirit could breathe in the first place) when he heard a familiar heart wrenching cry from the cell.

Akali?!

With only a minute left on the clock, Shen ran through the metal door. The sight of a bloody, underfed Akali chained to a wall made his blood heat with rage and terror. Never before had he seen Akali so…anemic. Her skin was a sickly sallow yellow, and her cheeks were visibly sunken in. Shen could see her ribcage as she imperceptibly inhaled and exhaled. It seemed that at any given moment, she would die, never to see the skies of the outside world again.

He wanted to scream for her. He wanted to hug her and promise that she was safe.

He wanted to see the blood of Zed and Syndra.

"Akali! I'll come back for you! I promise!" he screamed as loud as he could, even though he was fully aware that she couldn't hear him. That was all he could utter before Akali and the entire Kinkou Temple was ripped away from him. Shen didn't notice when or how he returned to Karma's house, nor did he notice the single tear droplet cascade down his cheek.

"I found her," he said hastily, fidgeting in his seat. "We must go to the Kin…" His lips stopped moving on their own accord, and when he tried to speak yet again, they still wouldn't budge. His arms went limp, and suddenly he felt enervated. Desperately, Shen looked to Karma for an explanation.

"Having your spirit leave your body and re-enter again can prove to be very trying on the body." She pointed at Kennen who was sound asleep in his chair.

"You need to rest a bit before leaving. I've made some black tea to help your spirit settle into your body faster." Shen's eyes traveled to the cup of steaming tea before him and eyed it like it was a roach.

Karma huffed in an annoyed manner. "The longer you delay drinking the tea, the later you will be to rescue Akali."

In one gigantic gulp, Shen downed the tea at a frightening speed. Pouring another full cup of tea, Karma stood up from her chair and walked to her telephone.

"You said she was at the Kinkou Temple right?" After witnessing Shen's pathetic nod, she turned back to her phone and dialed in a number.

"I think Caitlyn will be more than happy to give you a ride."

The frequent visits of Zed became a daily adventure, not one that Akali would have liked to welcome especially since she was confined to a dingy cell. Empathy was something Zed was incapable of feeling, and as he sauntered into Akali's cell every day, he made sure that she knew that. He'd step into the cell to give Akali her daily dose of abuse, and his crimson irises became all the more menacing.

Speaking of Zed, thunderous footsteps approached her door, drilling fear into Akali's mind. Her heart dropped with dread as the door swung open.

"Afternoon, darling," he said, holding out a tray of food for her. It was one of her favorite meals, spaghetti, even cooked to perfection like the way Akali had taught him. She could practically taste the delectable tomato sauce on the tip of her tongue, which was surprising considering how long it had been since she had last eaten. No matter how much she wanted to reach out and gorge herself, she knew that Zed had a sick, demented trick up his sleeve as he always did. Zed inched closer and closer to her chained and disheveled body until his lips were almost touching hers but turned at the last second to whisper in her ear.

"You know what to do," he urged gently, but Akali saw right through his deceptive façade. He slowly reached up to unlock her chains. Akali relished the feeling of freedom, though she could not taste true freedom until she was out of Zed's hair.

Oh god, how she wanted to eat the plateful of food before her.

"I…" A hand reached up to caress her cheek lovingly, but Akali cringed in revulsion.

If she surrendered to her hunger, she'd be admitting defeat and giving Zed even more control over her body and soul, something she couldn't afford to happen. However, it had been more than a week since Akali had last eaten, and she could feel the life gradually abandoning her body—it wouldn't be long before she perished from starvation. Her eyes screwed shut as she pondered her options, limited as they were.

"Well, sweet pea?" His voice dragged her out of her mildly pleasant thoughts into the deplorable world of reality.

There was nothing more she hated than his deranged nicknames. "I hope you go to hell," she hissed. "I would rather die of starvation than lie and say that I have feelings for you."

The cell fell silent with her words. The anger that manifested on his face made Akali look away, but Zed's hand wouldn't allow her.

"Die?" he repeated, his words echoing through the murky room. "If you're going to wish death upon yourself, you might as well tell the truth. I know for a fact that you still love me and that a part of your naïve little mind wishes that Zevach was still here." The distasteful tone upon his mention of Zevach was hard to ignore, especially with the laugh that ensued.

"It's quite a shame that Shen hasn't come for you yet. I'm not sure how much longer your brittle body will last in this prison."

If drowning in evil was possible, was this how it felt like?

"At least I know he will come for me because he is a true man with pride, so unlike you, an embittered, lonely, pathetic shadow who has only wanted recognition for powers that are not even his own. Is that why you've captured me? To grab his attention? When he comes, Shen will kill you and Syndra and I will be watching you as you take your final breath. Whatever you have planned out in your sick mind will only terminate in failure, like the rest of your dismal life."

Well that was fun.

Her words, truthful to every harsh letter, struck a nerve. His face contorted with such furor that Akali feared for her life, but Zed gradually relaxed his muscles and instead smiled. "So much talk from an anemic prisoner who can barely stand." The low but furious timbre in his voice drilled terror into her mind which only grew as she listened to the rest of his threat.

"I will make you regret saying those words."

And thus, the lion began to drive its helpless prey into the corner, anticipating the perfect time to pounce and take the kill.

The iron grip on her cheek loosened considerably, and Akali took this chance to stretch her jaw. However, she didn't see Zed's hands travel straight to the hem of her tattered pants, pulling them down ever so slowly. Her hands immediately encircled his wrists to stop him from proceeding any further, but he ignored her weak protests.

"Don't." Tears pooled in the corner of her eyes, but Akali felt absolutely nothing as they dripped down her cheeks. She looked into the shadow master's eyes for any indication of humanity and compassion, but this was Zed, the man who had killed her own father and hundreds of people at the Kinkou Temple. The raw fear within her left her body as cold as a corpse, but the idea of dying didn't seem all that bad to her.

To at least numb the pain of the experience, Akali tried to think of all the happy memories that she had experienced with Zed, but they all seemed to forsake her at that very moment. The seemingly caring and trustworthy man whom she gave her virginity to was about to become the senile monster who violated her as her second time. She felt like throwing up as he thoroughly defiled her, and she especially noted the amused glint in his eye as if he was happy to inflict such pain on her; she wanted nothing more than to claw out her own impure flesh and be left alone to die. What made the experience worse was the fact that Zed cradled her fragile body with care, as if she was his long lost lover. It all seemed like a fantasy, a cruel, twisted fantasy, yet the iron grip on her hips that would surely leave bruises was enough to reassure her of the sick reality she was in.

Akali felt pulsing within herself, although it wasn't from her body. It seemed as if Zed was almost done, to which Akali was grateful for until a very massive problem popped into her mind.

"Zed, please pull out," she futilely begged. Being the sadistic, ruthless murderer that he was, the unfazed Zed paid no attention to her pleas, and in his eyes remained a carnal desire. She didn't stop beseeching until warmth shot within her body, triggering a barrage of tears. Just like that, the world shattered into a million pieces. After he finished his wicked deed, Zed dropped her body with horror, the diabolic sheen of red now gone from his eyes, as he realized what he had done. Akali's limp body collapsed roughly against the cell floor, her head banging against the concrete. His eyes held fearful hysteria as they saw the blood ooze from her head wound.

"So the devil feels after all," she sputtered out venomously, reaching up to touch her injury.

"I-I…" was all she could hear as her mind began to slip into unconsciousness. She either didn't notice or didn't care as Zed dropped onto his knees and cautiously cradled her almost lifeless body.

"Don't touch me!" She wanted to scream at his beautiful monstrous face but her body was already slipping into unconsciousness. The warmth that resonated from Zed was unnervingly soothing, forcing Akali's thoughts back to the dinner at the French restaurant and the utter bliss the felt that night—where was all that happiness and joy now?

Due to her head trauma, Akali's body began to slowly shut down to greet Death himself, but unlike most people, she didn't fear death. As a matter of fact, she was eager, eager to reunite with her father and eager to escape the hell she'd been living. All Akali wanted was to be free from Zed's grasp, and only in the form of death would she be liberated.

Only a certain fiery-red eyed man was not just yet prepared to let her go.

A biting slap to the cheek greeted Akali from her almost-death. The slap made her entire cheek throb with a pulsating heat, causing her to instinctively caress her freshly-bruised face. The familiar clinking of the chains was supposed to pierce her ears, but the silence that followed was deafening. Furthermore, Akali didn't feel the stone wall digging into her back, or shackles around her wrist. Instead, a constricting bandage had been placed around her head, and someone had put her on a bed, judging from the overall softness and comfort of the plane.

Damn. Guess I'm still alive after all. Death had failed her.

Disrupting her thoughts was another stinging smack. Given only a few seconds to recompose herself, Akali forced her eyes open to meet the eyes of the perpetrator, and a long annoyed groan left her cracking lips as she met a pair of dark purple eyes.

"You know," Akali began with a hoarse voice, "not seeing your grotesque face was supposed to be an advantage of dying."

Her remark elicited no response from Syndra, who merely pressed her lips together firmly and glared down at her.

"I see someone got up on the wrong side of the bed this morning," Akali commented humorously, cracking the tiniest smile.

"And I see dying has brought out the comical side of you," Syndra responded, furrowing her eyebrows in an ineffable fury, which was far more emotion than Akali was used to seeing.

"Ah. So I did die."

Akali turned her body onto its side and used her wobbly arms to sit up on the bed, but a light blow to her vulnerable back was enough to send her body crashing back down onto the bed.

"W-Why so mad, lad?" she sputtered out, severely testing Syndra's patience. "Did Zed not give you the pony you had always wanted for your birthday? You know, I hear Hecarim knows a few-"

Syndra's hand flew straight to Akali's neck, forcing her to stop midsentence. She used her talon-like fingers to hoist Akali's entire body up from the bed by the scruff of her neck, but Akali responded by touching the tip of her tongue to the inside of her cheek, thereby preventing loss of oxygen. Her chipped and bloody finger nails began to claw at Syndra's wrists desperately, yet Syndra did not blink an eye.

"Apparently, tasting death was not enough to satisfy you, Akali," she whispered menacingly into Akali's ear, "but you need not worry anymore, because I will fulfill your wish to die." With a fluid flick of her wrist, Akali's body was hurled to the other side of the cell before colliding against the wall and eventually crashing onto the ground. Akali was rendered immobile with the wind knocked out of her, and the lightheadedness she experienced in that moment almost made her faint. The previous damage to her body inflicted by Zed had already been too great to bear, and with the new injuries she was getting at an alarming rate, no doubt that with time she would actually be able to dance with the devil. The sound of Syndra's heels clacking obnoxiously loudly against the floor created a fresh new wave of pain in Akali, this time in her brains.

"W-What the hell is wrong with you?!" Akali spat, blood dribbling from her lips. "I did absolutely nothing to you, yet you still have the nerve to come in here and abuse an already dying prisoner! Have you no shame, you worthless wench?!"

Syndra bent down, purposely demonstrating the control she exercised over the nearly unconscious Akali as she gently twirled a tendril of Akali's dark brown hair.

"You did something to him. I don't know what you did or how you did it, but somehow you have instilled a sense of doubt within him. He doesn't want to admit it, but yesterday, I saw ambiguity clouding his mind, an uncertainty I have never witnessed before."

Yesterday? After he raped me?

Akali almost erupted into laughter. "Zed would never-"

Abruptly, Syndra balled the hand within Akali's hair into a fist and jerked her body up into a shaky sitting position. Tears sprung in Akali's eyes, but she bit her lip to suppress her cries. "He never hesitates to massacre people, nor does he flinch from slaughtering thousands if not millions for our cause. Yet, just yesterday, I saw doubt within him just by the mention of your name. He is no longer interested in our work, and has lost all passion for it. Now, I am only going to ask you once for your sake: what did you do to him?"

Akali glared dead into purple eyes. "I did nothing."

"Oddly enough, I don't believe you," Syndra smirked before grabbing Akali's hair and throwing her to the other side of the room. The bones in Akali's body all seemed to crack upon impact, so much so that now it even hurt to breathe. The bandage felt oddly warm, and she fought to keep her eyes open.

One more hit, and I'm done for.

"I have done nothing to him. I couldn't even move around in that prison because I was always chained to the wall."

"I'm not talking about your time in that disgusting cell."

Akali rudely scoffed at her remark before spitting out some more blood. "Then what the hell are you-"

"After Zed returned to the temple after staying with you for only a week, his entire personality had changed. He avoided all conversations regarding our plan and spoke with me less every day. It's quite simple to tell that he was still pining for a certain someone, however misguided his feelings may be. Naturally, I had to do something." An unflattering sneer broke out onto Syndra's visage.

Coldness swept over Akali's body, chilling every fiber of her body. She felt like throwing up as she pondered the implications of Syndra's words, and an animalistic growl resounded from the back of her throat.

"What did you do to him?"

It was obvious that Syndra was very much enjoying riling Akali up, especially with such a sensitive subject like Zed. She liked seeing her prey squirm with anxiety; it was the best part before a kill. "Did you know, it's actually very simple to influence a mind when it is confused and in doubt? Lost minds are vulnerable minds, and Zed's was extremely torn between being with you and in the process abandoning all of his past and returning to me." Laughter ensued. "I had already invested too much into our plans, so I wasn't just about to let him throw everything away just to be with a shrew. All I had to do was give him a little push in the right direction and he came crawling back to me."

"You brain-washed him?"

Syndra peered thoughtfully at the ceiling, tapping her finger against her chin. "I merely convinced him of doing the right thing and turning against you."

Akali's body trembled violently in response to her words. Akali's heart soared great heights as her mind realized that he had wanted to stay with her. If it weren't for the fact that Syndra had been poisoning his mind all those weeks, she could have been back in the sanctity of her own home. No wonder Zed had forced himself onto her; he wasn't even himself!

"Before I die, I am going to murder you," Akali seethed through clenched teeth.

"You could have delayed your inevitable death a bit longer if you hadn't rescued him in the alley. That night, I was the one who freed him from the prison. He was supposed to report directly to me. Unfortunately, he had a run-in with some goons, but it was ultimately your fault that you ended up here, that I had to "persuade" him to come back to me. This is your entire fault, Akali. You put yourself in this dingy damp cell by re-entering our lives. You had a chance to walk away that night when you were in the alley, but you decided to take an injured stranger under your wing like a good girl and nurse him back to health, not knowing in actuality that it was Zed, the man you have always loathed with all your heart."

Syndra let out a dry laugh. "Now, because you had wheedled your way into our lives, my plans for destruction have been hindered considerably, and Zed is no longer a loyal puppet."

Dark spheres materialized around Akali, inching closer and closer to her. They flew in every direction towards Akali, knocking and pinning her to the wall and temporarily stunning her. The dark spheres squeezed her neck tighter and tighter until her face grew red. No matter how loud her mind was screaming for her to move, none of her limbs would budge.

From the corner of her eye, Akali could see Syndra conjure an additional three spheres that circled around in the palm of her hand. "I should have done this a long time ago."

As the spheres shot towards her defenseless body, Akali's eyes shut tightly, her body unable to do anything else.

This time, there would be no escaping death.

Wow.

The last time I updated was in November. I honestly have no legitimate excuses for not updating, except for school, which has killed almost all my passion for writing. I write only when I have bursts of inspiration, and if I don't get it down on paper or wherever it may be, I feel like…exploding? LOL I'm not sure if that's the correct way to explain it, and I know that's no excuse for not updating in almost three months, but once I lose that inspiration, I lose all will to write. If I do try to write when I'm unmotivated, the words I write are equal to, if not worse than, shit, and I know you guys don't want to read a bunch of nonsensical words that even excrement cannot match. So yea.

To those of you who understand, thank you. To those of you who don't, I am truly sorry. I'm willing to bet most of the people who follow this fanfiction have already forgotten that it exists (but it's totally my fault so I'm not complaining), but I still feel as if I owe you guys an apology.

Thanks for being patient with me and have a sunshiny day. c;