She didn't feel anything. A little anticlimactic, considering her near-corpse was strung across the wall practically screaming for death, which Syndra would have gladly given to her on a silver platter. Maybe she had already died due to blood loss before Syndra's spheres could work their magic.
At least the bitch won't have the satisfaction of seeing me suffer further.
If that was the case, why did Akali hear faint and rather unpleasant choking noises? Her curiosity getting the best of her, Akali forced her eyes open, and her jaw nearly dropped to the ground with both shock and horror. There, standing in front of her, was the shadow master himself, holding Syndra by the scruff of her neck as if she was a dog. Her face had grown to match her outfit due to the deficit of oxygen, a sight that almost brought a smile to Akali's face, but the scene unfolding before her very eyes only raised more questions than it answered.
The rage that contorted Zed's face made itself known through the bulging veins in his neck. The raw fear within the purple mage's eyes caused a pit of pity to grow within Akali, as much as she hated the reincarnation of the devil herself.
"I told you not to touch her," he snarled lowly, ignoring the fact that Syndra's eyeballs were starting to roll into the back of her head. A demon from the fiery pits of hell seemed to possess Zed at that very second as he tossed her body across the room like she was a sack of potatoes. The dark sovereign collided into the wall with a sickening crack and crumpled into a pathetic heap of…human. The room fell silent, save Syndra's faint and troubled breathing.
What just happened?
Akali wasn't given the chance to think clearly before the spheres biting into her arms evaporated into thin air. Realizing what predicament she was in, Akali screwed her eyes shut and grit her teeth to prepare for the pain that accompanied kissing the filthy floor. Seconds before crashing into the ground, a pair of arms reached out and caught her. Fear immediately took control of her body upon contact, making her body convulse wildly.
"Get away from me," she growled meekly without opening her eyes, trying to pretend like she wasn't a trapped mouse in the manipulative paws of a cat. She struggled to clamber out of Zed's grasp, but due to all the physical and mental torture her body had suffered, she didn't even scratch him; her feeble attempts to escape from this wretched shadow of a man just made Zed secure his grip tighter.
She couldn't even look at him. Searing tears welled in her eyes from both dread and anger as she tried to claw her way out of his iron grasp until she finally gave up. She would never be free from him.
Akali buried her sticky face into Zed's chest, more to ruin his cloak than to muffle her sobbing.
"I fucking hate you."
He didn't even spare a breath at her vehement words and merely kept peering at the shattering woman in his arms, the woman that he had damaged irreparably.
"You should have let me die, you coward! You've accomplished your mission already! I'm broken!" she screamed as loud as she could, abandoning the last ounce of dignity she once contained.
There was no use in feigning strength before Zed. He had seen every part of her, physically and mentally. There was only so much she could endure before crumbling, and she was well past her breaking point. Nothing in the world seemed to make sense in Akali's cluttered mind; all she knew was that she had to escape from Zed's perennial grasp over her soul.
A dim glint of light from within Zed's cloak disturbed her thoughts. Akali tried to focus her blurring vision on the light.
A shuriken.
Suddenly, the thoughts of her own near-demise manifested deep within the unconscious of Akali's mind. The only way to rid herself of the monster currently holding her was to seal the deal and kill herself, even if it was with Zed's own blade—there simply was no other alternative. The shuriken would solve everything. Everything.
It's the only way, Akali had managed to convince herself as she chanted these words in her head.
Her hands shot up from their dead-like state and reached for the shuriken hidden in Zed's cloak, but the shadow master reacted quicker and swiped the blade from Akali's fingertips, making it fly across the room. Shouting again in frustration as she heard the shuriken clatter against the ground, Akali pounded her fists against her sworn enemy's chest, fully aware that her blows wouldn't have harmed an ant.
"You should have let me die! Isn't that what you've wanted all this time?! To see me suffer and drive me on the brink of insanity?! To feel powerful?! You fucking destroyed me, and now you're in here saving me from that wench and touching me like we're long lost lovers! To hell with you and your fucked up mind, and to hell with the fact that my heart is still beating!"
She didn't notice the way Zed tensed at her words as she cried until only her eyes were spilling stray tears—her mind was far too drained to expend any more energy and shed more. Her eyelids drooped dangerously low from exhaustion, and suddenly she just didn't give a damn about the hell she was living in.
No, she screamed at herself. Don't leave yourself vulnerable!
It's a little too late for that, another cynical voice spat in response.
In just a few minutes, she had finally drifted into an unwanted but very much needed sleep. Amidst her unconscious state, she didn't notice Zed's sweltering scrutiny of her blood-matted skin and arms, or the way he replaced her bandages, or the portal of engulfing darkness that opened up within the floor.
And somehow, once again, Akali was forced by none other than Zed into the darkness that welcomed her.
Shen's heart nearly leapt out of its confines several times during the car ride to the Kinkou temples. The patrol car that Caitlyn had driven was flying at a good one hundred and twenty miles per hour, the maniacal driving the source of all Shen's distress and irregular heart palpitations. Kennen, however, loved the possibility of dying in a fiery car crash. Soon, Shen's anxiety was forgotten as the faint outline of the temples entered his line of vision. He tried to suppress a cold shudder as shivers traversed his spine uncomfortably.
"How much longer until we arrive?" Shen called out over the loud hum of the engine
"Fifteen minutes, give or take three."
His breath hitched. Was Akali still in the temple? More importantly, was she still alive? The possibility that the answers to both questions were "no" startled Shen, causing his stomach to do nauseating flips.
He had to focus his attention on something else, anything else…
A warm liquid pooled on his hand. The hairs on the back of Shen's neck jumped upon contact, and he slowly sunk back into the cushion of the seat with revulsion. Turning his head, the Eye of Twilight reluctantly met the clueless gaze of a hulking German Shepard and cringed inwardly as his eyes followed the puddle of liquid on his hand to the copious amounts of saliva escaping the dog's mouth.
"His name is Nasus," the sheriff said, disturbing the relative silence. "He was a gift from an acquaintance of mine and he's been in the K-9 unit ever since."
The K-9 unit?
"Right…" came his tentative reply. He shifted his gaze toward the front at the sheriff, the humorous glint in his eyes now replaced with a serious one.
"Thank you for helping us, Caitlyn. Kennen and I really appreciate this favor, as does Akali, I'm sure."
Kennen mumbled a short "yes, yes, yes" in agreement with his words, eliciting a curt laugh from Piltover's finest.
"It's my pleasure. The officers back in Piltover have had the most difficult time trying to apprehend Zed for his crimes against humanity. I used to laugh at their troubles, until the task was finally assigned to me. Long story short, it's hard to arrest a shadow."
"Tell me about it," Shen muttered under his breath.
He spent the next few moments ardently cursing Zed's existence with a few dishonorable mentions of Syndra.
He was disrupted abruptly as Caitlyn's solemn voice cut into the tense atmosphere. "We're here."
Reluctant to finally discover the truth, Shen's eyes sluggishly travelled to the abandoned Kinkou temple that stood before him. Parts of the temple had been subject to much erosion, with the once finely cut slabs of stone now weathered and moldy. Its exterior perfectly matched the dismal interior that Shen had seen in his clairvoyant aura.
This is it, alright.
His numb fingers touched the cool handle of the car and opened the door. The damp and murky air immediately reached his nose, and Shen crinkled it in disgust. Disbelief wasn't even the word to describe his state of mind. It had only been less than three minutes that Shen had been here, and he already yearned to run from the dingy temple—how could Akali stand weeks in this hellish temple?
The irony, he snorted to himself.
Behind him, the Yordle was gawking at the deplorable conditions of the once highly-revered temple. There was a long and uncomfortable silence between the trio, until the sound of a click rang through the air. Shen turned his head sharply and peered at Caitlyn loading a rifle as tall as her. The ninja gaped at the size of the weapon, and Caitlyn sheepishly shrugged in response.
"I have the tools for the job. This one right here is my favorite," the sheriff beamed, brandishing her rifle proudly. "Anyway, we can't waste any more time. Let's investigate."
With the massive rifle in hand and Nasus walking abreast her, Caitlyn marched into the temple without faltering. The two ninjas behind her mutely followed her into the dim entrance, apprehensive to discover what lay in store for them.
Upon encountering bifurcating hallways, Caitlyn ordered, "Keep a wary eye out, boys. Shadows lurk in every corner."
She rummaged for something in her pocket and threw it at Shen. "We'll keep in touch using these," she said, pointing to the walkie talkie in his hands. "Press the button on the right to contact me if you're in trouble. I have some officers on their way here in case something unspeakably horrible happens."
Dipping his head in a curt nod, Shen took the left hallway with Kennen by his side. After some aimless wandering, Shen noticed the subtle changes in his surroundings—the walls became even grimier than usual, and the sound of mice scurrying across the moldy floor rang in his ears. As the ninjas ventured farther into the temple, they were met with the repulsive sight of decaying skeletons, a telltale sign of where this hallway was leading them. All of this was nothing new to Shen, because he had seen it before. He knew exactly where this route was leading them to: the prisons.
"We're here," Shen stated monotonously after a few minutes. "Leave no prison cell unchecked, and be vigilant of the shadows."
The pair flung open each door with a loud crash, releasing sighs of relief as none of the cells revealed their possibly dead best friend. However, Shen's heart dropped unexpectedly as he stepped in front of a door; his mind just knew before his eyes could register the sight before him. If the blood on the door wasn't screaming loudly enough at Shen to move, then the chains Shen had glimpsed at through the door were. With a faintly trembling hand, he pushed open the metal door, flinching at the cacophonous creak it made.
There were so many spots of blood in the room that Shen had to muster the strength not to look away. Hot tears pricked his eyes as he tried to deny that the blood was Akali's, but they disappeared as quickly as they formed when he saw Kennen dip a finger into the dried blood.
"Based on how dry it is, the blood looks to be more than three days old."
He brought his paw to his nose. Being that he was a Yordle, he had a much more advanced sense of smell compared to that of a human, and with one whiff of the blood, he knew exactly which being had shed it.
"I know this scent like the back of my hand," he whispered, his voice on the verge of cracking. "It's Akali's," he continued with a solemn expression.
Shen's heart had half a mind to shatter into millions of pathetic little scraps.
"Were we too late?" the little Yordle whimpered quietly, but Shen couldn't bring himself to physically say anything, for doing so somehow meant that he accepted the truth behind Akali's disappearance, and that was something he could and would never do.
They weren't too late. They couldn't have been too late. Just a day ago, he had seen Akali ruthlessly chained across the wall, bloody and anemic. She couldn't have been gone within a day!
Akali is strong, Shen attempted to comfort himself. There is no way in hell she would let Zed kill her.
Yet, if this was the case, why couldn't he believe his own words?
He reminisced to the very start of this whole predicament, the very beginning that ultimately left him wondering whether or not his best friend was alive. This entire situation could have been avoided had he been stricter with her that night, when Zed slipped past all of Akali's barriers and destroyed her. If only he had realized that fate would be cruelly ironic and reintroduce Zed back into their lives after they had actually found peace. If only he had remembered that the game of life had been evil to all three of them since the second they had been born, and that same demented fate would come back to bite. If only he had been more adamant against Zed's stay, because maybe, just maybe, Shen could have protected her, at least for a little longer.
If only...
His vision began to cloud with an oncoming wave of new tears as the truth finally sunk into his skull, nearly squeezing all the breath from his lungs. It wasn't fair. Zed and Syndra had won because of his failure, and Akali had to pay the price with her life.
"I'm so sorry, Akali," he murmured into thin air. "I have failed you."
With nothing more to do except tell Caitlyn of their findings, Shen sluggishly turned his back to the blood on the floor and trudged out of the empty cell. So caught up with wallowing in his sorrow was he that Shen didn't notice the walkie talkie in Kennen's paws hum to life until the Yordle tapped him on his shoulder. Kennen delicately placed the talkie with shaking hands to Shen's own trembling ones. He wasn't ready for this. He wasn't ready to lament Akali's death, not at least without seeing her corpse.
"Caitlyn," Shen swallowed the lump in his throat, "Akali is-"
"Hold onto your hats, gentlemen," she cut in.
Her British sayings never failed to befuddle Shen. The two ninjas looked at each other quizzically with tear-stained eyes, but a new sense of hope surged through their bodies at that very second.
"I've found something I think you should see."
When Akali came to, she saw darkness. Literal, perpetual, all-consuming darkness that stifled her breath. Her eyes darted about her, but the more she looked for any hints to reveal her location, the darker it seemed to grow. The air was deadly still, and the eternal silence in her surroundings save the pounding in her ears was eerie. Was she in hell?
That's odd. I don't remember dying.
This wasn't how she envisioned hell. Besides, the persistent obscurity and stillness of this place was all too familiar. There was only one man capable of creating this shadowed world.
But why did he bring me here of all places?
"I see you have awakened," a soft voice called from the enveloping dark.
Akali boldly snorted despite the carnal fear gnawing at her racing heart. "I'm glad to know your eyes aren't failing you at such a young age."
For a minute, Akali thought Zed had abandoned her because of her unnecessary sarcasm (especially since she was in no position whatsoever to taunt him), but the soft sigh that left him told her otherwise. She didn't even know how close he was until his warm hand lightly grazed her shoulder. Within no time, Akali had flung his slimy grip off her with utter panic and run to the farthest corner of the godforsaken darkness.
"Don't touch me," she snarled lowly as memories of that event rushed into her mind.
"Why can't I see you?" she asked cautiously, constantly looking behind her for Zed even though it was impossible to locate a shadow among a sea of darkness.
"I don't want you to see me."
"I was tortured and raped by you. The least you can do is give me some delusion of safety," echoed her bitter reply.
After a moment of silence, the veil of darkness lifted, and there, sitting cross-legged a few feet away from Akali was the shadow master himself...partially. Something had possessed him. No longer was the man who walked tall and confident; instead, a meek stranger had taken his place. The great Zed had been reduced to practically a shell of a human, but what exactly had induced this change, and why now?
"What the hell happened to you?" she asked bluntly, not caring about the heartless demeanor in her voice.
What the hell happened to me?
Since when was Akali this audacious in front of the man who single-handedly left her a blubbering baby after he had skipped off into the sunset with a certain purple witch?
"I..." his voice trailed off into the distance as Zed stared at his hands. If she had not known of his malevolent interior, Akali would have honestly pitied his sorrowful exterior.
"I'm lost."
For the first time in her life, Akali knew he was telling the truth.
"I don't want to hurt you anymore," he forced out.
Akali nearly laughed at his answer. "You don't want to hurt me anymore? I think we both know it's too late for that, especially after every deranged thing you have done to me. You're going to need a better excuse than that one, because I for one cannot believe that a murderer such as yourself doesn't want to hurt a sitting duck like me."
Zed flinched at her words, and his eyebrows furrowed with even more sadness. Even more interesting to Akali was the demonic red sheen in his eyes that was now seemingly permanently gone as if it never existed.
What happened to you, Zed?
Akali left him no time to reply to her words and asked, "Where am I?"
Zed robotically answered, "This is the alternate world of shadows I created to escape reality. No one can come here without me."
"Why did you bring me here?" she shot another question.
"I-" he stopped midsentence. Slowly, his eyes travelled up to meet hers, but she merely gave him a pressing look.
"I wanted to talk to you," he weakly replied. "I know you have a lot of unanswered questions, and I think now, in the sanctity of this place, is a good time to answer all of those questions."
There was truth to his statement; Akali had roughly about a thousand questions within her mind and was more than ready to finally have them answered. But the shadow master never offered anything without a price.
Akali felt no qualms about bluntly asking him his fee, so to speak; it was the coming answer that made dread blossom within her stomach. "What's the catch?"
What more could Akali possibly have that Zed wanted after everything was taken from her, sanity included?
My life. My body.
Even days after, she flinched whenever something brushed against the tender bruises on her hips and she wanted nothing more than to forget his vile touches. In sheer revulsion, she stepped back ten feet from the shadow manipulator, noting the bewildered expression that crossed Zed's face as she did so.
"I don't understand the quest-"
"I'm not so idiotic as to think that you're going to answer all my questions for free, so what exactly do you want in return?" Her words held an accusing tone to them.
Whatever remained of Akali's spirit slowly disintegrated as she contemplated all the different answers that Zed could have said. She merely watched him narrow his eyes in concentration before finally arriving at an answer.
Never did she expect the murderer before her to murmur, "Your forgiveness."
The tension in the abysmal atmosphere increased tenfold as laughter rang through the air. It came from none other than Akali herself, and for some strange reason, it wouldn't die down, much to Zed's discomfort. Maybe it was the absurdity of his request, given that he had murdered her father in front of her, destroyed her home while slaughtering hundreds (if not thousands) in the process, and violated her mind and body, or maybe it was the ever-present suspicion that Zed would lunge at her and slice her neck clean with a hidden shuriken, thereby making this entire conversation meaningless.
It was only after humorous tears pricked her eyes that Akali was able to regain her composure and wheeze out, "It's going to take a lot more than just answering a few questions to earn my forgiveness."
Zed dipped his head in a curt nod, as if agreeing with her words, and mutely looked up into her eyes. To eliminate the awkwardness between them, Akali slowly but safely sat herself down onto the ground as well, her eyes never leaving Zed's.
"First question," she began, "when did you realize you were Zed?"
Thoughtfully, he replied, "When I read the newspaper article about my escape from the prison, I recognized my name. With time, everything clicked together."
Somehow, Akali felt relief in the fact that he hadn't been faking his amnesia for his entire stay in her house.
"Okay," Akali said, accepting his reply as genuine. "Next question: why did you kidnap me?"
Taking much longer to ponder his answer than he did with the previous question, Zed furrowed his eyebrows before finally confessing, "Syndra plans to wreak havoc upon the city, and she knows that the famous trio of balance will come to its rescue. I've always known Shen has had a weak spot for you, so I kidnapped you to make him and the Yordle lose their focus on saving their beloved city and to weaken the impact of any efforts to save it."
So I'm nothing but a pawn in this game, just like I was to my mother.
"What is Syndra going to do to the city?"
"That is something I cannot and will not answer," were his only words, making Akali frown with disapproval.
Disappointed with his reply, Akali narrowed her eyes. "Then answer this. Are you going to help Syndra terrorize the city?"
It was obvious by the way Zed tensed that Akali had questioned a taboo subject.
"During a time when I was vulnerable and torn between staying with you and remaining with her, she manipulated me as skillfully as I manipulate the shadows to make me stay by her side. For now, I will watch from the shadows as an oblivious and ignorant bystander."
Well, Akali somewhat comforted herself, at least he's not helping her anymore.
Akali's mind drifted back to the day Syndra had almost successfully murdered her until Zed had interfered and in turn nearly killed Syndra. The entire paradoxical situation of how one evil man nearly killed his evil buddy to save his enemy still baffled Akali to that very moment. Just thinking back to that day made her heart pound against her chest with great force.
"That day when Syndra was about to murder me," her voice began uncertainly, "why did you rescue me? Wouldn't my death distract Shen and Kennen just as well as my kidnapping?"
The soft look in Zed's blood-tinted eyes disappeared as soon as it manifested, leaving Akali to wonder if what she had seen was real or imagined. Considering the amount of blood loss she had suffered, the latter seemed more reasonable.
Zed cleared his throat, signifying his discomfort with the question, but answered it no less. "Keeping you alive gives them hope. If you were to die, they would do everything in their power to save the city to honor your death, and Syndra wants no opposition. I...warned her not to kill you or it would dwindle her chances of success."
Her instinct knew he hadn't told the whole truth, if the transfixion his eyes had with the ground wasn't telling enough. There was something more to this than Zed had confessed, but Akali decided against pressing the matter further.
"Will you let me leave?"
The question hung dead in the ensuing silence. Just a few minutes before, Akali was certain the awkward atmosphere between Zed and her couldn't possibly grow more uncomfortable, but with those five words, the air seemed to change.
"If you forgive me, you may leave."
Immediately, she sprung up and said, "I for-"
Her own mind cut her lips off. The idea of telling the biggest lie of the century didn't sit well with Akali. How could she ever forgive Zed, especially after the immense pain and loss she suffered because of him?
Dad.
Her heart constricted with sorrow. He was an innocent victim of Zed's who had done absolutely nothing to deserve an excruciating death. In the time that he was alive, Akali loved him dearly. What would he have to say about everything? He would probably curse Zed's existence and cut him down right where he stood.
No.
The murderous image of her father that Akali had imagined created a hint of disgust. Her father was a strong and wise man, arguably the most prudent among the temple defenders, but hateful never was he. Her father was a forgiving man even to the most corrupt of people, even to people like Zed.
But how can I possibly forgive a heartless, cold-blooded murderer?
A memory of some sort invaded her thoughts like poison. A younger version of Akali was in front of the Kinkou temple, slashing through countless of bodies without second thoughts. All the faceless people she had killed seeped into the tiniest crevices of her mind, haunting her thoughts. There must have been hundreds of corpses, and only one woman with two blood-soaked kamas stood above them all.
Despite desperately trying to repent for her sins by becoming a nurse, her past still existed, and the lives she had taken would stay extinguished. Akali was no better than Zed; they were both ruthless murderers at one point in their lives, and the blood on their hands could never be washed away. There she was, vehemently cursing Zed for being a cruel murderer when she had done the same to be the Fist of Shadow. She was nothing but a hypocrite.
Doubt decided to settle in Akali's gut during her rather huge epiphany. Zed had nearly destroyed her for his own sick reasons. He didn't deserve her forgiveness in the slightest.
But he had also saved her from Syndra. Right then, he was giving her the chance to finally get the answers she needed. Of course, answering a few questions was nowhere near compensation for everything she had endured…
In the midst of her inner turmoil, Akali's eyes shifted back to Zed, who still remained sitting and waiting for her reply with bated breath. She could see his breathing was irregular, the vein on his neck was pulsating, and a sheen of sweat was forming on his face. He was nervous, tormented even.
He was genuinely distressed about the next few words that came out of her mouth.
The Zed she had known years ago was callous, inhumane, and merciless, but the one before her in that very moment was concerned with earning her forgiveness. Akali didn't know what had happened to Zed, but she knew something within him changed, so perhaps it was her turn to change as well. After years of carrying unrelenting and bitter hatred, she was more than ready to forget about the past and the agony she had been forced to brave.
He hadn't expected her face to break out into a smile, so his face contorted into an expression of pure horror.
"I forgive you."
After those three words were spoken, the weight of the burdens of the past was suddenly lifted from her chest. Akali inhaled deeply, enjoying how light and free she now felt. She hadn't realized that her rancor for Zed had been restraining her all these years, and it felt damned great to be free from it.
Zed knew Akali wasn't lying. Her heartbeat was normal, and she looked content, as if she had just accomplished something great.
He held out his hand towards Akali, who stared at it blankly. Despite her colossal realization, she still felt uneasy about the Shadow Master. After she realized that Zed wasn't going to back down, she delicately placed her own blood-caked hand in his, trying to suppress the familiar fluttering within her stomach as she did so.
"Close your eyes," he murmured gently.
Convincing herself that it was safe, her eyelids shut. She felt a breeze of air and unconsciously clutched Zed, not noticing the way he made his body taut. Within seconds, Zed teleported the both of them to the entrance of the abandoned Kinkou temple. Even though it was murky outside, the feeling of fresh air delighted Akali.
Akali didn't bother to question why a police car was stationed outside the temple.
"Thank you for-" Akali began, but Zed was nowhere to be seen. It was only the dead air and her.
The sounds of light footsteps and barking roused her from her thoughts.
Why is the Sheriff of Piltover here? And with a dog?
The only answer that came to her drained mind was that she was hallucinating. She was definitely imagining Caitlyn stare at her, mouth agape, and reach into her pocket for a walkie talkie. The sheriff murmured a few words into it before clicking it shut and ran to her car, emerging with a bottle of water. Akali gratefully accepted it and gulped down the entire bottle within seconds.
One, no, two more different pairs of footsteps caught her attention. Running out from the entrance were her two very best friends. Just the sight of them made tears well up in her eyes as she did her best to meet them halfway. Immediately, Akali was engulfed in their tears and hugs, almost to the point of suffocation, but she didn't mind.
She was finally safe.
Holy shit. I am so bad at updating. ;-; but on the bright side (I think), it's 5380 words excluding the A/N :D
I'm so sorry guys. I really am. I know I always return back to the excuse of "school" because it has all but killed my inspiration, but now that it's summertime I can write more often and yea…
I had a lot of trouble writing the scene between Zed and Akali, because I don't know how I would react in that situation if I were Akali, but I firmly believe forgiveness is crucial at times. Don't hate, appreciate!
A lot has happened to me in the few months I've been MIA. Failure, disappointment, loss, you name it. But you know what, just being able to write and share my ideas with you guys makes me a fraction of a bit happier, and I honestly love you guys for it.
Thank you, and have a sunshiny day. c;
