There was something I wanted to put here.


Tuesday, December 5th - Night; The War Room, Paragon's Castle, Prentice, Mund

James Ackwel sat at the end of the table opposite his father, Paragon Ackwel. Though his father was old, he insisted on continuing his rule over Prentice. This was quite infuriating since the two had very different ideas when it came to running their land. His father wanted to rule the entirety of Mund while James simply wanted to stay within the current borders and not agitate anyone. The two never got along, and only once did they work together to reach a common goal. That goal had twice, no three times, escaped their grasp. James wished to be anywhere but here, at this war meeting. His father had decided to go on with the war plans to take over Mund after James's failure to apprehend the Shadow's Thrall.

"Three strikes, you're done" His father's voice echoed in his head.

What a stupid saying. No one ever used that saying except his father, as if anything revolved around exactly three mistakes. James was against the war plans because they weren't powerful enough, and there were never going to be powerful enough unless they captured Flyn- The Shadow's Thrall. They were going to be stopped, because when people are threatened by a powerful common enemy, they join forces and defeat it. James was the only person who seemed to know this, even though every time the Thrall appeared, people forgot about their differences and tried to kill him- it. He hated the fact that he had to be present at this meeting because it was "required to provide your royal aid to the situation." Bullshit, his father probably just didn't want him gallivanting around after his failure and this was his way of preventing him from doing that. He should be in the city, or even in the town doing something, anything that wasn't this. He should be with Molly and Sam-. Damnit, if Flynt would have just stayed wherever the hell he went to, Samantha would still be alive.

"I got it!" James cried out.

His father looked at him in confusion, "What the hell are you talking about?"

"Father, I need to speak to you, I know how we're going to finally get him."

Paragon stood up and walked to his son, ignoring the confused faces of the elders and council members. "Wait for me in the hall, I'll be out in a minute."

James turned to leave.

"And son… this is your last chance. Mess up again and you're going to become a hell of a lot more familiar with those commoners than you've ever wanted to be."


Wednesday, December 6th - Morning; Ahri's Thinking Cliff, Runeterra

The two stargazers ended up falling asleep next to each other. Somehow Flynt ended up using Ahri's tails as a pillow and Ahri was facing him; her head rested on her arm. A figure squatted in the grass and stared at the two of them. The sun had risen a while ago and the squatting figure had been sitting there for a while.

He sighed and reached out with a gloved hand, poking Flynt on the forehead. "Now isn't this just sweet?"

Flynt grabbed the man's hand and pulled. The resulting force sent the man flying off the cliff into the water below, or so he thought. The man Flynt threw over disappeared in a puff of smoke as soon as he hit a rock below. Flynt turned, drew his sword and came face to face with a man in sinister looking armor and a helmet that resembled a mask. He looked like a cross between a ninja and a knight.

"May I help you?" Flynt asked.

"Who the hell are you?" The man asked.

"I could ask you the same."

"You could, but you won't get the chance to if you don't tell me who you are in the next five seconds."

"Intimidation, well I don't know who you think you're speaking to but I don't fear you." Flynt couldn't stop the feeling that something was familiar about this man.

"I know what you do fear Flynt. You fear being alone." He glanced to Ahri. "Would you like me to let you feel that fear again?"

"I suppose it was you that was following us last night then? and you in the house?"

Two blades came out of the man's arm plating. "Possibly." He started walking to Ahri, who was awake by now and watching with interest.

Flynt shrugged, "You've got it all wrong."

"Do I? Does that mean you don't care about her? Whether she lives or dies?"

Ahri looked to Flynt with a hint of worry in her eyes.

Flynt shrugged, "Fine." He sheathed his katana, "Do what you want, I have an appointment today."

"Flynt!" Ahri cried out.

The man placed one of his arm blades to Ahri's neck. Flynt turned his back.

"Very well Flynt, it seems you care for nothing in this world, I can respect that. Unfortunately I must keep to my word and put poor Ahri's life to an end." The man chuckled.

Flynt grabbed his katana, turned, and swung his sword as he drew the blade from its scabbard. The sword connected with the man's blade, knocking it away from Ahri's neck.

The man chuckled, "I knew it, you have some good in you, and some attachment to this fox-woman. That gives you a weakness, a weakness that I may exploit someday."

The man started to back up, but Flynt advanced on him.

"You want to party eh? Fine."

The man slashed with a blade, and Flynt dodged. Flynt responded with a slash to the man's upper arm. The man was fast, and he blocked the strike with his other blade. Flynt soon realized he was outmatched when the man landed a cut to his side. Flynt grabbed the scabbard and detached it from his belt. He now had a second weapon, to even out the odds a little. Flynt and the man continued the fight, neither landing another blow on the other because they read each other's moves as if they knew each other for years. All Ahri could do was watch and hope that neither of them killed the other.

The man blocked another strike from Flynt and kicked him away. "Enough!" He grabbed Ahri again. "This ends now." The man positioned Ahri so that she was between him and Flynt.

"I agree" Ahri said as she stomped the man's foot. Ahri turned and summoned three small fireballs, all of which slammed into the man.

While he was distracted, Flynt slammed into him and placed his katana up to an opening in the man's armor. "Attachments like this don't make me weaker. It gives me something to fight for." Flynt raised his sword.

"Flynt wait!" Ahri yelled. "You can't kill him."

"Why the hell not?"

"Because he's a champion, he'll just come back in a few seconds." Ahri sighed. "Flynt, this is Zed, self proclaimed Master of Shadows."

Flynt glanced back at Zed and was surprised to see that he had just disappeared from under his knee. A few feet away he could hear slow clapping.

"Bravo Flynt, you have exceeded my expectations, despite the fact that you had a bit of help. I also understand that you too have some control over shadows. I look forward to seeing who's better at controlling them on the field sometime." Zed chuckled and walked off.

"Thanks for the help by the way, better late than never." Flynt said once Zed was gone.

"You were going to let me die, consider it as payback."

"I never intended to let him kill you, besides wouldn't you just come back like he would have?"

"That's not the point. The point is that you almost let him cut me open." She glared at him.

"You're really holding that against me? It was obviously a failed attempt to get him to leave without fighting him."

"It was a stupid attempt."

"Ahri, you can try to hold this against me all you want, but the fact remains that I did 'save' you in the end right?"

Ahri's glare broke into a smile, "I suppose, but it was still bad mannered."

Flynt sighed, "Yeah, I get it. Shouldn't we head back to your place now? My judgement awaits."

Ahri nodded, "Of course, but first, I'd like to sit here, and do things your way."

"My way?"

"Yeah, staring at something in silence, thinking about it." She started to stare at the horizon.

That lasted for a bit more than ten minutes; Flynt was proud of her.


Mid-Day; Institute of War

After the walk back to Ahri's place and the unnecessarily long time it took Ahri to get ready, to which she reasoned "It takes time to look this good," the two of them were walking towards the center building once again. Of course they ran into King Kong again, who wanted to use Ahri again. Thankfully, she declined his offer, but Kong decided to tag along. The walk wasn't cheerful, but it wasn't depressing either. Wukong and Ahri already knew what Flynt was going to experience, but Flynt had no idea what he was about to face. They didn't talk much, and that was likely the reason why.

When they reached the building, Flynt entered it alone and walked down the familiar hallway and entered the familiar eerie room. Lito stood there waiting for him.

"Ah, finally, now we can begin. I trust that no one has told you about what you are to expect here," Lito said.

Flynt nodded.

"Swell, let's begin shall we?" He pointed to a glass on the table beside him that contained a purple liquid. "Please, drink it, and drink it all."

Flynt took the glass, hesitated and then downed the liquid. He immediately felt himself gain a headache and stumble to the table. He knocked it over and fell to the floor.

"This is normal, it shall pass very soon." When Flynt stood up again, Lito continued, "See? Now, please stand here in the middle of the room and we shall begin."

Flynt stepped into the chalk circle that someone, probably Lito, drew on the ground. For a while nothing happened, then Flynt felt himself get dizzy, and he fell to the floor.


Judgement-Land, Flynt

When he woke, he glanced around, and found himself back home, surrounded by faces he knew. Faces he regretted. Everyone he'd ever killed in self defense or otherwise stood in a circle around him. He saw Ramm, the first person who tried to kill him at age ten, he was the first three elders that had taught him. He saw members of the Fez and various members of the King's personal guard. They all began to chant something, and as they gradually synchronized their chant, Flynt heard "monster" "freak" and "outcast" over and over again. He pushed himself through the crowd and came face to face with Molly.

Her eyes were wide, and she screamed, "Get away!" She raised a small knife at him.

Ace walked up beside her and placed his arm around her, as if protecting her from Flynt. "Mine now Thrall." He started laughing. Flynt could see in his hands was a length of thin rope, the instrument that caused him countless days of pain.

He backed away from Ace and bumped into something behind him. He turned and noticed he was in a jail cell. Ace walked through the cell door and chuckled. The rope uncoiled into a whip and Ace raised it. Flynt ran right through Ace and ran out of the door. He found himself in darkness. Complete darkness without a sense of gravity.

"Flynt!" He turned and saw someone running away from him. They were illuminated by the only source of light in the darkness.

Flynt found the floor and began running after the person who continued to call his name. Every time he got close, they'd get just a little bit farther. Flynt ran with all the speed he could, but he stopped when he saw the person fall to the ground. He approached Samantha and fell to his knees.

"She died because of you Flynt." Flynt turned to face Elder Garrison. He noticed that they were now on the Elder's stage before he destroyed it. "Had you not returned, she would still be alive today."

"No, your men killed her, Ace killed her, I tried to protect-"

"Why do you lie to yourself!? You continue with these lies and it does nothing, no one believes you! No one ever has, and no one ever will." Garrison grew huge and grabbed Flynt by the ankle with his thumb and index finger. "Watch yourself, and tell me you're still innocent" Flynt was hanging upside down but he could see himself land in the ground by the stage. It was the day that he revealed himself. He saw himself burning with black flame, and he saw inhuman eyes when he turned to face himself. The eyes were red and glowing, they struck fear into himself.

"That's not me."

"Of course it is Thrall."

"Exactly, I'm not the Shadow's Thrall, I'm Flynt. I'm me"

"Is that so? Was that you?"

The Thrall turned to face villagers and began to slash them apart with both his sword and his shadow slashes. He burned a few with the flame that surrounded him.

"That wasn't me! I didn't do anything that bad! I just… I just killed the Fez."

"So you killed them?"

"Yes, but they were going to kill me, it was self-defense."

"Lies! Lies that no one believes!"

"Someone believes me."

"And she's dead."

"No, someone else."

Garrison laughed in his face. "You would have me believe that someone believes that you're a good person?"

"Yes."

Garrison laughed even harder, and he was soon joined by Ace, Molly, and King Paragon.

"Stop."

They didn't.

"Stop laughing."

They didn't heed his warning.

"I said, Stop laughing!"

Flynt released himself from Garrison's grip, drew his katana, and lashed out at the four giants, sending a shadow blade through them all. The illusions disappeared into mist and Flynt was lost in the darkness again. He felt cold, and his head was killing him. He suddenly had a hard time breathing. He thought he was going to die when he felt something blast him, something very powerful. It sent a wave of energy through his body, a wave that disrupted the agreement of his organs. He then felt a burning sensation, and he felt very tired He wanted to sleep, but he knew he couldn't. He had to pass judgement. Too bad his eyes had other plans.


Approaching Afternoon; Institute of War

Ahri wondered what was taking so long. She honestly wasn't sure he could handle this, after what happened last night, his outburst about the past and stuff, and she just mentioned it. She didn't want to think about what reliving an experience would be like for him.

"He's going to do fine, I'm sure of it. Worst case scenario, he's denied and you two go home. I'm sure he'll be fine." Wukong offered.

"I hope so, I'm worried about him." Ahri replied.

"Worried? about him? Why? He seems like he can handle it."

"Yeah, he looks dark and menacing on the outside, but he's different on the inside, he's kind, and caring, and sensitive… in his own way I guess. Besides, his past has got to be horrible judging by his outburst last night."

"Ahri, everyone's past was horrible, that's why we're here. He'll be fine"

They both saw and heard the flash of golden light come down from the sky into the roof of the grand building. It sounded like a lightning strike multiplied several times.

"Damnit" Ahri opened the doors and started running inside.

"Ahri, wait, you can't-" Wukong sighed.

She ran across the hall and threw open the doors. What she saw sent her falling to her knees. She turned back to Wukong and yelled, "Get a damn medic or something!"

"Which one!?"

"All of them!"


... please?

I hope you had fun.