Chapter 21: For you
Mishelle stared at the mirror to look at herself and smirked. It was a long time since she wore her traditional Ionian ninja uniform. She strapped her katana on her back. She could put her mask on, but decided not to, and just tied her hair in a ponytail style. As she did, she began to strategize all of the moves she should do at the match.
The news about the duel and the relationship between her and Lux has spread in a flash when Jarvan, Shen and Grand Summoner Kolminye arranged the match. It really surprise Mishelle that news here on summoner's rift just spread so fast. She sighed and put that thought aside. Suddenly, she heard a light knock on her door.
"Come in!" Mishelle called. The door opened to reveal that the visitor was Shen.
"Are you ready Mishelle?" Shen said as he entered.
"Hell yeah I am, this match is gonna easy. I can tell." Mishelle smirked. The Eye of twilight sighed, obviously a little bit irritated at her cockiness.
"Alright Mishelle. Remember, and do please remember, please be at your best behavior. When you wear that uniform, it is now not only for the sake of your problem, but for the sake of Ionia and the Kinkou Order's image."
"Aww. Then there's no fun to it, master. C'mon, man."
"Mishelle!" Shen called with a firm, serious voice.
"Alright, alright. Cheese and fries man, I'll behave."
"You know, I remembered when you suddenly shouted at me and said that you have a girlfriend. I thought you were joking around. I guess I am wrong. But if you did try to make it a secret that time, why did said that to me out of the blue?" Shen asked, confused. At this, Mishelle just looked down and scratched her cheek, trying to think of why did she did do it.
"I uhh… I dunno. Got carried away cause it was fun that time, I guess."
Shen wore his mask, so it didn't show his face completely, but Mishelle thought that he smiled for a second there. His tense shoulders also relaxed a little. "Hmph. You always get carried away when you're having fun. Are you ready?"
"Yeah, I'm-" then another knock was heard, and Mishelle tilted her head, thinking who it is.
"You can come in! It's not locked!" The person outside did as he was told. It was a summoner. The summoner put out her robe to reveal her face.
"Hello. My name is May, a high class summoner and a guard of the Shadow Isles teleporting chambers. You're… Miss Mishelle right? I need to speak with you privately. I have news."
"Yup, that's me. No need to call me "Miss". Mishelle replied.
"I'll just be outside, then." Shen called. Mishelle nodded. Once the Eye of Twilight was out of the room, May began to talk.
"I'll get straight to the point. The Spider Queen is back." Mishelle's eyes went wide at the information.
"Wait! What!? That's Bull-" Mishelle stopped herself and she continued. "-I mean, shitake mushrooms! No way! Are you kidding me!?"
"Oh no, I'm not kidding. Also, the reason why I wanted to talk to you privately is because it was she who told me to give this message to you. She requested to tell this to you, and you only. She wanted to talk to you alone at her room. She is waiting for you."
"Gods damnit… alright, I'll be there. Tell her I'm just gonna do something first. It'll be quick." May nodded as she exited the room. Mishelle stared at the mirror again, taking her time to calm herself. Then she went out from her room and saw Shen waiting for her.
"I'm good, let's go." Shen nodded as he touched Mishelle's arm and they teleported to the training hall. Once the two transported in the hall, Mishelle saw that a few people, mostly summoners, were already here. There were also some Ionian champions like Jax, Akali, Kennen, Varus, and Soraka with a medical kit ready at her side, and Demacian champions like Fiora, Jarvan, Garen, Lux, and four other Demacains that she could not recognize. They were wearing expensive looking armor and clothing, almost shining just from the lights coming from the hall.
"Huh, they must be the Devereux Family, I'm guessing?" Mishelle asked.
"Yes." Shen replied.
"Where are Lux's parents, though?"
"They said they could not come because they have duties to fulfill tonight."
"Tch! So fucking obvious." Mishelle spat. "They don't won't wanna come here because they are so confident that this guy is gonna win." Mishelle then looked at her left to see her opponent at the near distance. The man was wearing the Vanguard armor, his helmet under his shoulders and his face exposed, so his long straight, beautiful long blonde ponytail, bright green eyes and rigid jawline was publically seen.
"Hmph, pretty boy." Mishelle muttered
"Mishelle. Best behavior." Shen warned.
"Okay, okay. You don't have to sound like a broken recorder." Shen just sighed as she walked to where Akali was sitting, and sat beside her.
Mishelle then walked at the middle of the hall. The man in front of her did the same. For a while, they faced each other quietly.
"So!" Mishelle suddenly said out loud. "You must be Johnathan! Sup, bro?"
Johnathan furrowed his fabulous eyebrows. "You must be Mishelle, the one who dared to steal the love that is rightfully mine. Do you not know a thing about love at all? You should be with a man, not another woman. You, in a relationship with a woman, Luxanna, no less, is wrong."
Mishelle raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms. "Well, don't tell me what to do with my life. I'll do whatever what I want and I'll be gay if I want, and FYI bro, you two haven't even met, let alone talk! What is this? What life are you living in?! Disney!?"
"What?" Johnathan asked, confused at her statement.
"Ugh. Whatever. Let's just fight. And be ready to get your ass kicked." Mishelle then noticed his broad sword, which was as tall as him.
"Ha! Nice sword, bro! Are you compensating on something?! Haha!" Then Mishelle heard some laughs from the audience as they tried to hold it, which obviously failed. As for Kennen, he laughed very loudly. She even saw Lux snickered at it. Johnathan was casting murderous looks. As for the Eye Twilight, he just face-palmed.
"I told her to be at her best behavior! What part of that does she not understand?!" Shen groaned, as Akali and Kennen just smiled and patted Shen at the back.
Then one summoner walked to the center of the two. She must have been the referee.
"Alright, you two. I want a respectable, fair fight, and NO trash-talk." The referee said, particularly looking at Mishelle.
"Hey, I don't trash-talk. Just saying the truth." Mishelle talked back.
"Uh, yeah. Right." the summoner said as she pulled off her hood. She was a brunette, and Mishelle recognized her from the green eyes that looked like she wanted to murder Mishelle.
"Yo! Grand Summoner Anna! Hey! How yah doing?! Also, no hard feelings when I beat you at the first day of the Pentakill Tournament, alright?" Mishelle gave a fist bump to Anna, but she just left Mishelle hanging.
"I see you're still bragging till this day that you just beat a grand summoner. Personally, I do not want to be here. I am just under orders. And really wanted those front row seats" Anna said with a controlled, but annoyed tone.
Johnathan smiled, though it was not friendly. "Looks like you have a reputation here. A very bad one, at that. I do hope your skills are as bad as your ego. Make it easy for me, will you?" Johnathan said as he took a few steps back. He put down his helmet and readied himself with his hand on his sword handle.
"Oh, I'll make it easy, alright. Easy for you to lose." Mishelle muttered, as she too took a few steps back and positioned herself.
"Ready!" the referee said as she also took a few steps back. At this, Mishelle took her sheathed katana from her back, stood sideways while still making eye contact to her competitor, put one foot forward, and placed her weapon near her left waist, her right hand now holding the blade's handle. Her stance was ready.
"Set!" Grand summoner Anna shouted, as Johnathan then gripped his sword's handle.
"Fight!" Anna said at last.
When Johnathan dashed forward as he pulled his sword to do an upward strike, Mishelle already noticed one weakness of his: he was slow.
"That's what you get for having a big-ass sword and heavy armor." Mishelle thought.
She then also dashed as Johnathan brought down his sword in a slash. It hit the ground hard, creating a fissure, but missed Mishelle as she was now face-to-face with him. Before Johnathan could react, she pulled out her blade fast upward, using it's buttcap to hit Johnathan's forehead. Johnathan fell back. The referee ran to see what happened. She couldn't believe what she saw.
Johnathan was knocked out cold, a huge welt appearing on his forehead. She hated to say this, but Anna said irritably, "Mishelle wins." The audience was shocked, their mouth agape at what they had witnessed. The match only lasted about five seconds. Then there was applause at the Ionian side of the hall. Garen and Jarvan were also applauding at the Demacian side.
"Pfft. pathetic." Mishelle spat as Soraka quickly ran to the noble to provide first aid. Mishelle then walked to the Demacian's side of the hall, with a big, cocky smile on her face. She looked at the Devereux Family first, giving them the smuggest grin that she could make, then averted her eyes to Lux. She also looked stunned by what she saw, but fortunately, she was smiling.
"So Lux, I need to go. Seriously, I really need to go. Nature calls, if you know what I mean." Lux then blinked a few times as she realize Mishelle was talking to her.
"Oh! Umm, Uuh, yeah! Sure, I'll uhh, call you then."
"Yeah. See yah later, love!" Mishelle then walked to the referee.
"Yo! Grand summoner! Can I use teleport? I really, really need to go!" Mishelle said, hugging her stomach. Anna gave her a look of rage, but eventually nodded.
"Hell yeah! Thanks, grand summoner!" Mishelle strapped her katana at her back, then muttered a few words to cast the spell, and after a few moments she finally teleported to her destination: in front of Elise's quarters. Mishelle sighed as she looked down.
"I'm so sorry for lying to you, Lux. I promise this will be the last." Mishelle muttered. She unstrapped her katana and held it at her left hand as she knocked on the door three times.
"Yo! Spidy! It's me, Mishelle!" She said as she waited. After a few minutes, the door finally opened and Mishelle saw Elise, her eyes sore from crying. But Elise tried to keep her composure and her face neutral.
"Why are you dressed like that? And what took you so long?" Elise asked, her voice soft, but cracking.
"It's kinda a long story. Got busy. Anyway, can I come in?" the spider mage nodded as she let the summoner enter. Mishelle took noticed that all of the spiderlings were gone. She then saw Elise passed by, just staring at nothing. her back facing Mishelle.
"An opportunity, at last." Mishelle thought.
"This is weird. Hey, spidy. Where are your spiderlings?"
"I dismissed them with my magic. I… don't want them to see me like this" Elise replied, still not looking at her.
"Oh. Ok. So… you wanna talk? Though I can't do that if you're looking over there. C'mon woman, face me if you wanna talk."
"Do you think that… Zyra still loves me?" Elise asked, as if she didn't hear what Mishelle said. The summoner just sighed in a annoyed tone as she spoke.
"Look, I don't know why you ran away, and before I answer your question, cheese and fries woman, this is not you! You've change! I should know. You don't run away! Never! It's cowardly woman. I've been with you longer than most. But I guess you're still dense as always. You faced your fear before, right? But now you're still scared to lose Planty. Well, guess what? She's scared to lose you too. Gods, woman! She still loves you! You really think that Zyra will come back to an asshole like Aaron? And my oh my, I can tell that you haven't been in a relationship before, haha"
She can now hear Elise crying. But she must not waver.
"C'mon now. I can't comfort you if you keep facing the wall. Turn around so I can hug you. Then let's find her in the gardens"
"You… you really think so? She'll… still come back to me?" Elise asked.
"Didn't you call me so you can have reassurance from me? And that I'll help you face Planty again? Don't worry, I'll be here."
"Al-alright. I trust you. And by far, the only mortal that I trust, you know." Elise then turned to face Mishelle.
Then something unexpected happened. The Spider Queen had absolutely no warning, no chance, never even thought of it happening, as the summoner dashed forward and used the end of her blade handle to hit Elise's stomach. Elise chocked from the sheer force of it, pain flaring up, suddenly suffocating, her stomach barely producing air. She looked at Mishelle in surprise, but saw that it wasn't the Mishelle that she knew. Mishelle's face looked devoid of emotion, which was so unlike her.
The spider mage knelt as she clenched her abdomen, trying to breathe.
"M-Mishelle... W-what... is the meaning... of... thi-"
When Elise looked up, the last thing that she saw was Mishelle unsheathing her katana, and hitting her head using the back of her weapon, knocking her out cold.
"You don't know how long I am waiting for the opportunity to do this. How long to wait for this perfect moment. And be thankful that I'm this merciful to make you unconscious, so you won't feel the pain when I'm through with you." Mishelle then position herself in front of the spider mage and her blade, holding the handle firmly with two of her hands as she placed the blade's tip merely inches away from the Spider Queen's chest, ready to end Elise's beating blackened heart. Her once cocky, cheerful, beautiful, light red eyes had turned into an emotionless gaze to go with her emotionless expression.
"For you... mother." Mishelle muttered as one of her eyes shed a tear.