(I really should finish this story soon I feel like it's dragging out.)
"I swear if this leads me to Vladimir..." Wukong continued to follow the faint blood trail but stopped when it continued through a portal "Huh, he went to Ionia?" Once he went through the portal he was standing in the capitol of Ionia, the Placidium "So he's here somewhere." With the trail gone Wukong wondered on where he should start searching
"I have no clue where to start." He was familiar with his surroundings but it still was a large place "Maybe I could go to-"
"There you are!" A voice called to him "I've been looking for you for a while now." Ahri rushed up to Wukong "Did you know that Darren is here? He was stumbling around, hurt."
Now that he could confirm Darren's presence in Ionia, he asked "Where is he? Did you speak to him?"
She placed her palm to her face "What do you think?" Wukong was silent "Yes I spoke to him. I even helped him out with that injury he had, I told him to wait for me somewhere while I looked for you." Ahri's eyes wandered around "He said that he heard that you live here."
Darren was partially correct, Wukong didn't exactly have a permanent home as he slept wherever he felt comfortable at, usually in the jungles of Ionia "Mind taking me to him?" Wukong asked "I really need to see him."
Ahri began walking away "Come on." She motioned for him to follow her to the location
Darren pulled the journal he picked up earlier and began reading it "Woah." He was surprised at the amount of entries in it, it dated as far back as 3 years but he skimmed through it hoping to find something related to him and eventually he found an entry and read it carefully
"I've been hearing that the project I abandoned a long time ago is still alive but how is that possible? It should have died when I left it in that forest, this isn't good." The rest of that entry was him rambling on about how he should handle the issue so Darren started to look for another page involving him and once again, he found one "Damn it, he is alive. I spotted him with two others when I came to Piltover for supplies. But it shouldn't be a problem for much longer, I've just hired a group of marauders to follow them around and if they have a chance, to kill him."
After he read that part he checked when it was written "January 5th, two years ago." Darren felt saddened when he realized that the date was a day before his adoptive parents were killed "It was because of him that they died?" He began getting angry at the now dead Valus "...What else is in here?" Darren tried to stop thinking about it "Here it is!" He finally found the page he was looking for
"Today is the day I go through with my plan, I have found his apparent home. At least I hope I did. So I'll go in there and kill him, as simple as that." Darren questioned why the man would write this down "And if he somehow overwhelms me, I will retreat then return prepared to take him down." Darren was right he would have returned. The rest of the entry was extremely detailed and he continued reading it
"...And there he is." Darren looked up when he heard Ahri's voice
"Darren?" Wukong ran up to his friend and examined him "Are you okay?" He was obviously concerned "I went to visit you and at your place-"
"There was a body."
Wukong seemed confused "How did you...?" Darren then embraced him
"I. I did it." Darren was nearly crying "I had too, I was just scared he- he was going to..."
"Uh h-hey!" Wukong put his arm around Darren to reassure him then realized that Darren actually killed the man "It was you?"
Darren backed away "I had to, he was trying to kill me." He pleaded to Wukong "Please you have to believe me."
It took Wukong a moment to sigh and say "I believe you. But why did you run from there?" He asked Darren who was looking through the journal to find the page talking about Valus's plan to kill him "Why didn't you just stay and explain to them what happened?"
"I...I don't know. I wasn't thinking properly at the time and look," Darren handed him the journal "He had it planned out and everything."
"Okay good." He just had to show this to Vi and hopefully she would handle it "We have to go back and find a certain person."
"But what if-" Darren was worried to go back there
"Trust me." After Darren nodded, they began heading back to meet with Vi
"Where is he?" Vi grumbled attracting the attention of Caitlyn "He better get here soon."
"What was that?" Caitlyn turned to her "Do you have a question?"
"Uh no, I just said that I was tired." She hoped that Caitlyn would fall for her excuse
"Don't worry once we finish up here I just have to order a city-wide search for him." She continued to give orders to the guards around them "Then you can leave and do whatever you do but I need you here for now just in case he decides to show his face again."
"And show his face he did." Vi said quietly enough for no one to hear her "I'll be right back." She walked away to approach the now present Wukong
"Where are you going?!" Caitlyn shouted "Come back!"
"Calm down Cait, I'll be back in a moment." She came close enough to Wukong and was about to say something when she noticed Darren "Hey you found doggy boy." She playfully patted Darren's head much to his annoyance "So...did he do it?"
Darren coyly looked at Wukong and took out the journal "He did but-"
"Wow he killed the guy?" Vi slightly laughed and grinned "I didn't think you had the nerve to do something like that but seeing as you bothered to come back, you must've had a reason to do it." She nervously looked at Wukong "He did have a good reason, right?"
"Read this." Darren showed Vi the page and she read most of it
"I guess this should be enough to get Caitlyn off your back." Darren placed the journal in the palm of one of her large gauntlets "I'll just..." She was quiet when she heard a familiar noise "What is she...move!" Vi shoved Darren out of the way just in time to stop him from being caught in a net shot from some device "What are you doing Cait?!" Vi shouted
"I thought you were distracting him so I could capture him!" Caitlyn shouted "Why are you helping a murderer?" She stood up straight "I thought that you said your criminal days were behind you!" She seemed to have a look of disappointment on her face
"They are behind me just- ugh, just listen to me." Vi sounded annoyed "He didn't just straight out murder a man for fun like you think he did, he did it because his life was in danger come here and read-"
"Enough of your excuses!" Caitlyn stopped Vi's protest "Since you are aiding a criminal I have no choice but to take you in as well!"
Vi groaned "Don't be daft Caitlyn!" She slowly approached her ally "What's up with you? You have been acting strange lately." Vi looked at her partner's face noticing the dark bags under her eyes which were the result of many sleepless nights "Maybe you just need a break." She smiled at her "Now calm down and... Oh you're shooting at me?"
Caitlyn shot a round at Vi but she deflected it easily with one of her gauntlets "Vi please don't make this difficult."
Darren told her "Maybe we should just do what she says it'll make things a lot quicker, no?"
Vi looked over her shoulder at Darren "I'll handle this don't worry." She cleared her throat and announced "Caitlyn stop now or I will make you stop!"
"You want to do it like that, eh Vi?" Caitlyn reloaded her weapon and focused on Vi "So be it."
