A Boy and His Fox: Redux Ch. 21
AN: Good news my friends! I have recently found a job! Starting July 3rd, I will be a Data Administrator for Reynolds and Reynolds. I know it's taboo to talk paychecks, but I'll be making more money than I did as a full time teacher. This means: new computer to start playing League again, able to pay for editing to publish more books, able to hire artists for the webcomic I've been designing. I still would love all of your support, as much as you're willing to give. You can find me on Patron at Kiba Elunal or if you want to just make a one time donation, you can contact me on Skype for a link to my . My book is still available on Amazon. Warren High: An Elephant Never Forgets by J. C. Roberts. If you would like to read it, but don't have the means to buy it, please feel free to contact me on Skype. I'll be giving out free digital copies to the first 15 people who contact me. Even if you're not one of the fifteen, I'll provide you with a link to my website, where you can read samples of my original WIP. You will also get exclusive fan chapters and one shots that I don't publish on Fanfiction. You can also join our skype group, which has other fanfiction authors, like ADamnGoodName, Alsodef, Fil03, Veraduxxz, and more. We're always willing to help new authors, so if you're interested, please don't hesitate (just as a warning though, we get really weird). Thank you all again for your support. It means a lot to me. -Kiba
That night, I had the most awful nightmare. I was floating over all of Valoran, looking down upon the many countries and cities. The Institute of War was burning. The League had been utterly destroyed. Demacia, too, was in flames. Who could have done such a horrible thing?
My eyes naturally turned towards my bitter enemies. Sure enough, the country of Noxus still stood. There were hardly any signs of a struggle at all. Kal and Ahri were wrong, they were evil. It was up to me to destroy them. To get justice for every Demacian who's life was lost at their cruel hands.
My body began to charge up energy preparing to rain down fierce my just wrath upon the unsuspecting country in the form of burning beams of light. They would pay for what they'd done! They'd pay for…
My spell stopped as I suddenly found myself staring at the streets. Children were playing and laughing. They had no idea of the outside world. I watched for a moment, a smile coming to my face as Kal stepped outside of one of the buildings, only to be swarmed by the kids.
Suddenly, one of the children pointed towards the sky. Following his tiny finger, I realized what he was looking at. It was me! I was still charging up the attack. "NO!" I tried to scream. "Kal! You have to get them out of here! Please, you have to run!" Even still, no noise would escape my throat. It was as if I weren't even there.
"Lux," he whispered hoarsely. The expression on his face was one of heartbreak. I'd hoped to never see that look on him. Blinding beams of radiance struck down, turning the children to ash. They tried to run, screaming in pain as their little bodies burned away into nothing.
One, a little girl with blonde curls and piercing blue eyes, one I recognized as Kal's child...and mine, screamed as her father threw her to the ground and attempted to shield her with his body. "No, Kal! Please!"
My begs and cries meant nothing as I watched both incinerate before my eyes. Their bodies lay there, nothing more than a smoldering pile of ash and bones. Hot, salty tears streamed down my cheeks as I watched helplessly.
Kal's skull turned to regard me, bits of crisp flesh still dripping from his features. "Lux, why? Why did you do this to me? I thought you loved me."
"I do!" I swore. "I do love you, Kal! Please, it was an accident. It was! I would never…"
"I hate you. You will rot in the Nine Hells for your crime. If you don't, I'd gladly go instead, so long as I could be away from you in the afterlife. Nothing could be worse torture than having to spend it with you."
When I awoke, I was drenched in an icy sweat. I pulled my knees to my chest, trembling in fear like a small girl. I'd never had a nightmare so intense before. Was that truly my destiny? To destroy the things I cared so deeply for? What if I was the one who destroyed Demacia and the League?
Crawling out of my tent, I stared up at the night sky, hoping to find some comfort from the stars. There was none. Only one place I knew now would comfort me, and looking to his tent, I debated for a moment whether or not to seek it. Unable to help myself, I crawled into the tent where Kal slept peacefully.
I watched him for a few moments, a soft smile coming to my lips. Even while he was asleep, he looked so handsome. Lifting up the cover of his bed roll, I found him naked save for his boxers. A chill in the air rolled through, causing him to shiver, so I quickly slid beneath the covers and pressed my body against his.
The warmth between us made him fall still, and as I stared into his slumbering face, he wrapped his arms around me and drew me closer to him in his sleep. I'd never felt such bliss before, so I placed a gentle kiss on his neck before closing my eyes. "Sweet dreams, Kal," I whispered to him.
"Sweet...dreams…" he repeated sleepily.
I knew he was unaware, but his wish brought me the comfort that I had sought. It took no time at all to fall asleep there in his arms.
"Kal? Are you awake yet?" A voice hummed from outside of my tent. I gave a soft groan, my eyes opening to find the beautiful young blonde that had traveled with us right before me. I let out a yelp of surprise, scrambling out of the tent without even putting clothes on.
"What's wrong?" Ahri asked, catching me.
I turned to look at her, eyes full of panic as the situation came crashing down on me. This was bad, really bad. "Kal, do we have to get up now? Just a few more minutes…" Lux groaned as she emerged from my tent. Her hair was tussled, and the strap of her night top was pulled down her shoulder.
Now it looked even worse than it was! "Ahri, wait, I can explain…!" I tried, but she shoved me down hard, tears in her eyes as she began to storm off to pack up her tent. "Ahri, wait!"
"Something wrong?" Lucian asked as he emerged from his own sleeping quarters before seeing the full scene in front of him. When he spotted my state of undress, as well as Luxanna's, he had to cover his mouth to hide his laugh. He'd figured it out already.
"Lux, why in the hells are you in my tent?!" I cried.
"Oh, sure, Kal. Play dumb!" Ahri growled without even looking over her shoulder. "I can't fucking believe this." As she began to tear down her tent, I tried to explain that nothing happened.
"I had a nightmare," Lux answered, placing her finger to her lips. "I was scared, and I couldn't sleep, so I went to your tent. I didn't think you'd mind."
"Of course, I mind! Lux, you're...and I'm…" I tried to talk but I couldn't come up with anything. I didn't want to berate her. The innocence she was showing with her confession made it seem as if she didn't do anything wrong. But, damn it, I didn't do anything wrong either! "You can't just come barging into people's tents in the middle of the night! Ahri, I swear, nothing happened, it's not what it looks like!"
"Oh? And tell me Kal, what does it look like? Clearly I'm too stupid to know what I see, so maybe you should explain it in front of your girlfriend."
"Ahri, don't be like that," Lucian tried. "You don't understand he really…"
"Shut up!" she hissed, wheeling on him, flames forming in her palm. "Not another damned word. I just want to find this little girl, bring her home safe, then go about the next fifteen years of my life feeling like a damned idiot!"
"Sheesh, you sure are a suspicious bitch," Lux snidely commented.
"What did you say?!"
"Do you really have so little faith in Kal? I mean, hell. If you love him so much, why do you keep accusing him of such horrible things, huh? He says he didn't do it, so he didn't do it!"
Ahri was up and ready to fight now. Her claws had extended from her nails as she stormed towards Lux, ready to rip her hair from her scalp and tear her to ribbons. "You listen to me you prepubescent pathetic excuse of a bimbo! I've had just about enough out of you! Kal is my summoner, not yours! He will never be yours, so unless you want to wake up with your blood out of your body and your hair on fire, you will stay the hell away from him!"
"How dare you!" she countered. "You don't own him, Ahri! He's not yours, he doesn't belong to anyone! He's a person, and you should treat him like one instead of a piece of property! If you treated him better, maybe he would have been in your tent, instead of me being in his, did you ever consider that?!"
"ENOUGH!" I shouted, moving between the two of them. "That's enough! Both of you! I am sick and tired of this childish bullshit!" My fury had grown so great that my arms erupted into my trademark green flames.
"But...Kal…" Lux began.
Wheeling on her I cut her off. "You! Take down your tent and pack up your things, now! So help me, if you ever pull a stunt like this again, I will send you straight home, on the authority of the League of Legends itself!"
"Thank you!" Ahri gasped, but I wasn't anywhere close to being done.
"And you…!" I seethed, pointing a finger at her. "What would it take for just a little bit of faith from you, huh?! I understand that Magnus hurt you, but Gods damn it, I am not him! How long will it take for you to get it through your thick skull that I am not a bad person? What will it take to get you to trust me?"
The pain and anger I felt began to fade as my magic waned. Lucian came to me and put his hands on my shoulders to try to calm me down. "Easy, Kal. Come on, let's take a walk. Leave these two to pack for travel, okay? Just take a breather."
I began to breathe deeply, trying desperately to ease my temper. "No, I'm fine," I told him, though it was far from the truth. Let's just pack up camp and get ready to keep going. The longer we wait around here, the longer the girl goes missing. If she was picked up by the Rakkor, she may be dead by now, and I'm not willing to let any more time slip away on this mission over petty squabbles."
With that, I entered my tent again to get dressed. Outside, the camp was completely silent. I could hear the sounds of their tents being collapsed, but otherwise, no words were spoken. Good, maybe it'll stay this way.
Once I was finally clothed, I took a step outside, only to find that both of the girls were gone. Lucian stood, leaning against a tree, arms crossed over his chest, and staring at me. "What?" I huffed.
"Well, I couldn't get you to leave so we could talk, so I sent the girls to gather some water from the stream. You and I need to have a chat, Kal."
"Oh Gods," I groaned. "I swear Lucian, if you confess that you love me, I'm seriously going to consider shoving my own sword through my gut."
"Ha. If only. This is about your little outburst."
"Seriously? You think my behavior was poor? Considering I woke up to a strange woman in my bed and my partner immediately blamed me for it, I'd say I was behaving with perfect rationality."
"I'm not saying you're unreasonable. I'm saying to get a grip. Those girls are not you, Kal. You cannot expect everyone to think and act like you do."
"And I don't! I'm not asking them to be different I'm asking them not to drag me into the middle of their childish feud."
"Tell me, Kal. If you saw me coming half-naked out of Ahri's tent, wouldn't you jump to conclusions? Don't give me this shit about trust. Trust has nothing to do with it and you know it. Trust doesn't cause us to ignore our senses. I may trust you Kal, but if you're holding a sword against my throat, you really think I wouldn't defend myself out of trust?"
"That's entirely different," I argued.
"No, it's not. Ahri saw you in bed with another woman. I'm not saying it's your fault, but I am saying that she had a right to act the way she did."
"All right, fine. I'll concede to that point. So Ahri wasn't in the wrong. Doesn't change that Lux was. You can't possibly justify a grown woman slipping into a man's bed without his permission on the sake of 'having a nightmare'."
Lucian shook his head in disappointment. "You just don't get it, Kal."
"Don't get what?"
"You have the exact opposite problem Ahri has, you know that? She's not able to see Lux as a woman. You're not able to see her as a child. That's the damn problem. You should know that maturity isn't a black and white ordeal. Luxanna is somewhere in between and right now, you're shaping her. You may not be intentionally doing it, but you are."
"Then let me shape her by condoning her bad behavior!"
"Pick your battles, Kal."
"Pick my...are you out of your damned mind?!"
"Let me tell you a little bit about Lux. You should know her story."
"I don't care, Lucian. This isn't about her this is about…"
His anger boiled over as he raised his voice. "She is exactly what this is about! For once shut your damn mouth and realize you're not necessarily the smartest person on this mountain!" That silenced me quickly. I hadn't seen him so angry since we'd fought against Thresh. "Lux was inducted into the Demacian military when she was just thirteen years old. Her entire life, her family has pushed her towards being a member of the glorious revolution, just like her big brother. For the last five years, she has been used as if she were nothing more than a tool, and the worst part is, her family encourages it. You want to know why she likes you so much, Kal? It's because she sees herself in you. She sees someone who went through the hoops and came out a normal person with friends and people who love them."
"What are you talking about? How does this have anything to do with her sleeping in my bed?"
"When Luxanna had nightmares as a child, how do you think her brother treated her when she came to him? Hmm? Do you think he took her in his arms and told her everything was going to be okay?" When I didn't say anything, he continued. "If you thought that, you'd be wrong. He'd tell her to grow up. Tears are for the weak. If she was ever going to mean anything to anybody she'd have to learn to pull herself together and to stop being such a child. Her parents weren't much better."
"Okay. That sucks but what does that have to do with me?"
"You comfort her, Kal. That's a new feeling for her. Compassion, affection, understanding, these are all things that Lux doesn't understand because she's never had them before. By scolding her the way you did, you have basically told her that she should never expect anyone to care about her feelings. You lost your cool and you didn't even stop to think for a moment about how anyone but yourself feels about the situation."
Staring at the ground for a long while, I gave an irritated groan. "Gods damn it all. How did I end up being the bad guy in this?"
"You're not the bad guy, Kal. You're just blind to the whole story. As for this Magnus guy…"
I looked up at him in surprise. "How do you know about Magnus?"
Lucian's eyes widened. "You stupid son of a bitch. You're the one who mentioned him by name. You said, and I quote, 'I understand that Magnus hurt you, but I'm not him.' Please tell me you didn't just name drop something personal for Ahri out of anger."
"Oh Gods...I'm in deep shit now."
"You're damn right you are. Spill. Who is this guy? Bad ex boyfriend?"
"At the bare minimum." With that, I began to explain our journey since we'd last parted ways.
As the kid and I stood by the river filling up the water skins, we didn't say much. Honestly, I was grateful. It hasn't escaped my notice that Kal had used Magnus to deliver another low blow. Part of me knew, however, that I deserved it.
Kal was right. I should have trusted him. Even if he had done something with Lux, so what? We weren't an item. We expressly said that we were putting it on hold until after the mission. It would definitely change my thoughts on the situation between us, but that was something to discuss later, not in front of the entire camp.
"Who is Magnus?" Lux asked beside me suddenly.
"I don't want to talk about it. Especially not with you."
"I dated a guy once in the military. It...didn't work out. He was hoping to use my name for a promotion. I was lucky I found out early, but then again I was also really young then. Was it something similar?"
"I said, 'I don't want to talk about it.'"
She finished the first water skin and screwed the cap back onto the canteen before setting it on the ground, she pat the grass next to her to indicate for me to sit as well. When I looked at her with a glare, she replied, "We don't have to talk about it. But I think we should talk. Lucian was right about that, I think."
If it would keep her from asking more about Magnus, I realized it was something I was willing to put up with. Folding my legs beneath me, I sat beside her and put aside the newly filled canteen I'd been working on. "Fine. What should we talk about?"
"Kal?"
"What about him?"
"You really like him, don't you?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
I looked at her like she was crazy. "What do you mean, 'why'?"
"I'm just saying you're awfully protective over him."
"I'm his Champion. I'm supposed to protect him."
She brushed a strand of hair from her face. "Well, if you don't like him, you should really stop stringing him along."
"Excuse me?"
"I'm just saying, I understand you like having guys drooling over you, but not everyone belongs to you."
"And you think Kal belongs to you?" I challenged.
"No. As I said, he doesn't belong to anyone. He's a person."
For a moment, there was another awkward pause between us. There had to be, otherwise I would tear off Lux's head all over again. The last thing I wanted was to have to send Kal back after her. "I've already almost lost him," I said finally. "Long story short, I fudged the test to bind myself to Kal. I wanted someone I wouldn't fall in love with, and I made a mistake. Worse, I wasn't the only one in love with him. There was another girl, one he probably would have prefered to be with over me. She was going to confess her love to him, but she died before she could. I told him, but...well, it hardly matters how he felt about her now."
"I do love him."
"Sorry?"
"I mean...I think I love him anyway. I've never felt the way I do about him. It feels like what love should be. What do you think love is?"
Taking a deep breath, I went to fill the next bottle. "I'm not sure I'm the best person to answer that question. My love life can be summed up in three steps. I didn't care, he didn't care, I don't know if he cares."
"Is Magnus the 'he' that didn't care?" Lux questioned.
"Didn't I already say how I felt about talking about it?"
"I'll take that as a 'yes' then."
"Just drop it Lux. Please, for the sake of us just getting along for the rest of this trip if for no other reason."
"My point still stands, Ahri. I love, Kal. If you're not willing to love him, then I'm not going to just watch you cut him off from me. I didn't get as far as I have by giving up. I'm not giving up on this, either."
"I don't blame you for loving him," I finally confessed. "I mean, he's a kind soul. He may act like a jerk sometimes, but he's always seemed to put other's needs before his own. His motto is 'Rely on me the way I rely on you', did you know that? He's such a strange person. There are times I can't stand him. I just want to wring his neck and tell him how much I hate him. Other times, I can't help but to follow him around like a puppy."
The blonde gave a giggle. "He is rather dreamy, isn't he? He has such beautiful eyes. I mean, he doesn't have a physique anywhere close to my brother, but what he lacks in muscles, he makes up for in his mind."
"He is rather smart. Too much for his own good, I'd say."
"See? So we can find common ground," Lux offered with a smile.
For once, I returned it. I was glad to find that I wasn't the only one able to see what I saw in Kal. "Listen, Lux. The truth is, Kal and I aren't an item. Okay? I felt like I had to work for his love. In the end, he stabbed me in the back and broke my heart. I don't want that to happen again. I can't stop you from flirting with him. I can't stop him if he falls for you, either. But if he does, well...then it'd just save me a lot of struggle and heartache."
"I know that feeling," she sighed. "My brother is the same way. I once broke my arm in basic training, and he visited me in the hospital to tell me that he was disappointed. He didn't even congratulate me when I became a champion. It's always felt like I've never been good enough for him, so I know where you're coming from. The way I see it though...if you find someone who thinks you're good enough already, why wouldn't you fight for that?"
"Maybe you weren't aware just how close I was to tearing your hair out this morning," I teased.
"If I promise that I won't bad mouth you in front of Kal, will you promise not to try to force us apart?" Lux asked with complete sincerity. "I enjoyed sleeping next to him. It'd been a long time since anyone held me the way he did, even if he did only do it in his sleep."
"I probably should warn you that Kal doesn't like being disturbed while he's sleeping. He's kind of like a bear. He mostly growls and grumbles a lot, but to be honest, I don't think he's really as angry at you as he pretends to be."
"That's good, maybe I still have a chance then."
"May the best woman win," I smirked, the both of us shaking hands before giving a giggle. Finishing up on the canteens, we walked back to the camp ground.
The moment we got there, though, Kal walked up to me and grabbed my hand, pulling me away from the campsite.
"K-kal?" I asked in confusion.
"We need to talk," he said flatly.
My heart pounded fiercely. Oh Gods, this was it, wasn't it? It didn't matter what conversations I had with Lux, this was the moment he was going to leave me once and for all. I had to get him to understand. I had to take it all back. "Listen, Kal, I…"
"I'm sorry for yelling at you," he interrupted, causing me to stop my apology. "It was wrong of me to bring up Magnus. I know you trust me, and I'm sorry I keep using your past against you. It's not right, and I really hope you can forgive me."
"Kal…?"
He looked into my eyes, his own full of shame. "I had to explain some things to Lucian. He knows most of it, but he swears he won't breathe a word of it to Lux. I didn't mean to tell him your secret. I know you may have changed your mind about after the mission but, honestly, I have no feelings for Lux. She really did come to my tent for just a nightmare, and I really didn't know that she did until I woke up. You have no reason to believe me, I know, but…"
I shut him up by wrapping my arms around him and planting a kiss on his lips. My ears twitched in excitement that my own fears hadn't been realized. As we pulled away I gave a nervous laugh. "I was scared that you'd tell me that you didn't want to be with me anymore," I confessed. "Lux and I had a talk of our own as well, about you. That poor girl is head over heels for you, you know? You may need to be a bit more gentle, though I still advise you set some boundaries."
The look he flashed me was filled with pride and relief. "Yeah, Lucian explained some things to me about Lux. Maybe I've given her too much credit."
"Maybe I've not given her enough. The girl has a pretty good head on her shoulders."
"I intend on apologizing to her next. But before I do, there's something I want to talk to you about. Something really important. I know that I said we should wait until after the mission, but I want to set something straight. I'm not looking for someone to replace you, Ahri. As far as I'm concerned, we are together. I want to be your boyfriend, and I want you to be my girlfriend."
"I want that too," I admitted.
"More importantly, though. I want you to be able to trust me. Should something happen without my knowledge like, Lux crawling into my tent, just as a wild example,I want you to know that you are my number one priority. Maybe that's wrong, given our mission, but...I can't help it. I love you."
"What are you saying, Kal?"
"I'm saying, I want to go back on our...arrangement. I don't want to put this on hold anymore. Will you be my girlfriend? If you have to think about it, I'd understand. But just know that…"
Again, I silenced him with a kiss. This time, it was much more raw and passionate. I clung to him tightly, slipping my tongue into his mouth and sucking on his lips with a feverish hunger. "Yes. Gods, yes. Seriously, putting this whole thing off was such a stupid idea in the first place. Why would we even think we could keep our hands off of each other?"
"Just for the record, it was your stupid idea," he teased.
"Oh really? Because if I recall, you were the one who first suggested it."
"But you said you wanted to suggest the same thing, so…"
"So maybe we're both idiots."
Kal shrugged his shoulders with a grin. "Love makes people do stupid things, I guess."
Taking his hand in mine, I gladly pulled him back towards the camp. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't wipe the giant smile off of my face. Yes, this was definitely better. I knew that technically nothing had changed between us, but it didn't stop me from feeling like I was walking on air.
I decided I wouldn't tell Lux. Let the girl try, for all I cared. Knowing that Kal and I were together was more than enough to dissuade me from any fears that she'd actually succeed. When we arrived at the camp though, something was definitely wrong. Luxanna and Lucian were bound and gagged, laying on the ground.
When they saw us, they began to scream into their gags, and before I could even react, there was a heavy thud as Kal fell to the ground beside me. Seeing a large man in ancient looking armor, I quickly began to charge up my fox fire. I had to protect Kal!
Unfortunately though, it was too late. The moment I wheeled around, the butt of a spear came down onto my head, and I found myself on the ground, my vision spinning as someone worked to restrain me.
My eyes met Kal's. His mouth moved to form the words 'I love you', just before a black bag was shoved over my head, sending me into pitch black darkness.
To be continued...