'You know…they say that there are just some things that are uncontrollable…it's based in destiny…decided by fate once we are born.'

…

'That's a load of garbage.'

In his early childhood, Ekko was routinely beat by his father and told that he was worse than trash. His older brother was supposed to be the 'true heir to Zaun'. There was no reason for Ekko's existence, and yet he kept going. No one thought Ekko could succeed, and yet he finally achieved something significant. Even though Ekko was the one to get selected to become a student at the Champions Academy, his parents still hated him. Ekko sometimes wondered why he even bothered some days. What was his purpose? What does he want to accomplish?

Ekko realized that his past was something that he couldn't change. Moreover, he didn't want to change it. Ekko thought that being able to withstand this pain was necessary for him to live his life without regrets.

When Ekko spent time with Janna and got to learn more about her, he wondered why she could not get over her past. It was very obvious that Janna had some great power hidden within her, but she was unwilling to release it. Before the 3rd round began, he asked Janna one more time, "Why do you fight at all, if you aren't willing to fight for yourself?"

Janna didn't understand what Ekko meant and ignored him.

Ekko held onto Janna's arm, and refused to let her go. "Don't you think this is what your Uncle wanted? He wanted do destroy your will so that you would be obedient to him, right?"

"Let go, Ekko…" Janna started getting angry, but Ekko still held onto her arm.

"You got this far fighting just to not lose, but do you really want that? You spent so much time putting on a fake persona around people to make them hate you, but do you REALLY want that?"

Janna started to hover slightly over Ezreal, and her hair started waving sporadically. "Last chance…let me go, Ekko."

Ekko yelled, "TELL ME HOW YOU FEEL!"

Janna ran her fist right to Ekko's nose and stopped; her hand started shaking up and down as Janna let herself fall to the ground.

Ekko's eyes widened, as he thought to himself as the scene developed, 'I...I really wondered how you hid this long…I can really start to see how much you care now. I promise you it's not for nothing.'

Although Ekko was stubborn by nature, he had a problem with people who he thought were acting 'fake'. As the tournament went on, he had a feeling that Ezreal became even more serious about his goal to reach the top. What he didn't understand, however, was that his attitude towards competition was nearly opposite before this tournament. Ekko wondered if something serious had happened that made Ezreal want to separate himself from others. He never had much time to talk to him, so instead he decided to wait it out. His classmates, however, didn't want to wait for answers. Before Riven's match against Talon began, Ahri asked Ekko if he could talk to him near the entrance. He agreed, and followed her outside.

"What's going on with Ezreal?" Ahri didn't waste any time at all. She wanted to know what Ekko made of Ezreal's attitude during the tournament.

Ekko scratched his head. "I hate to say it, but I've really got nothing. I think he's just really stressed and wants to win, so he seems more off-putting than usual."

"But what I don't get…" Ahri thought about Ezreal outside the tournament, and even while they were here. "…I feel like Ezreal isn't even happy to be here. He is the highest seed in the tournament, but that doesn't seem to be enough for him. On top of that, I rarely get to talk to him anymore. If this tournament wasn't going on, I'm certain he would be coming to me instead."

Ekko agreed that something was off. "We can't be sure what is going on with him until he reveals something, unfortunately. I'd talk to him, but I'm sure you've tried already and haven't had great results."

Ahri tilted her head downwards and grabbed her hair. "It feels so hopeless…"

Ekko, trying to not ruin the mood, said, "It's not worth getting upset over! Instead, we should go back out there and cheer for our class!"

Even though she didn't gain any new info, she was still glad Ekko came to her side. Ahri was still extremely cautious around her class and wasn't comfortable talking with a lot of them, but she knew that Ekko was somewhat close to Ezreal outside this tournament so she trusted him. They decided to go back and check in on the match.

As they got back to the bench, they noticed Riven being pelted with daggers. She was on her knees and covered in blood.

"W-WHAT?!"

Riven got to her feet, but was struck down by Talon from behind.

Ekko jumped out of his seat. "RIVEN, STAND YOUR GROUND!"

Talon planted his foot on Riven's back as she was trembling on the ground. "Pathetic little girl, you have a lot of guts to call yourself a warrior. You wouldn't survive a week in Noxus with skills like this."

Ezreal shuddered a bit. "That guy is the 53rd seed but he's so strong…"

Riven managed to get out of Talon's hold, but she looked very weak. "Agh…D-Don't think you've won this just yet…" Riven immediately dropped her broken sword and covered her mouth, where she started violently coughing up blood.

Akali got to her feet and went to stand with Ekko. "YOU CAN'T LOSE HERE!" Eventually, Ekko and Akali were greeted by everyone else getting up from their seats.

Riven was standing tall and saw everyone from the 4-A class cheering her on. "Heh, looks like everyone's counting on me!" Talon immediately swooped onto Riven, but he was countered swiftly. Riven realized that Talon's knife was attached to a weapon on his arm, so she struck his arm and broke it in half.

Talon jumped away from Riven. "How can you still move after all those blows!?"

Riven dropped her blade. "You're not wrong, this still stings like hell…but I have my friends by my side, and they give me the strength to keep on fighting. Without them, there's no way I'd be able to keep my composure. A coward of a fighter like you wouldn't understand how great it feels to have people by your side who care about you and want to see you grow."

Ekko noticed Janna managing to smile a little bit, and it made him feel warm inside.

Riven dashed towards Talon and gave him an uppercut that took him clean out of the fight.

Xeno announced, "AND THAT'S THE MATCH! What an incredible comeback from 4A's own #5 seed, Riven!"

Ekko high-fived Riven as she came back to the stands. He said, "You better fight like that in our match when we meet!"

Tournament officials had announced that they would delay the next round for an extra 10 minutes to set up the new field. Ezreal and some of the others decided to stay at the bench. The next match was going to be Janna against Olaf.

Ahri asked, "That ruthless Olaf, I met him once before coming to this academy. His physical strength is un-matched, and he got the best placement in a class full of top seeds. Are you not worried at all, Janna?"

Janna shook her head. "No, I will be fine."

Riven exclaimed, "That's the spirit!"

Ezreal scoffed at Janna's statement. "Delusional."

"E-EZREAL!" Lux looked at him with disdain. "You shouldn't say such a thing!"

Up until this point, Janna did not have the drive to win any of her matches. Instead, she wanted to avoid any harmful confrontation. The only reason that she won her matches was because the opposition each time was slightly weaker. Truthfully, Janna would have been fine with losing in the first round if it meant that she could somehow leave the academy. However, there was no way for her to escape her traumatic past. Her way of dealing with it led to her isolation from the world.

That had finally ended for her. She was done running for once.

"He's not wrong," Janna answered. "I am the embodiment of the world 'delusional'. I thought I could keep you all away from me." She looked over to Ekko, who laughed to himself. "I thought that by doing nothing, I could avoid giving any satisfaction to my damn Uncle. If I just did the minimal and made you all hate me, I could live a life of solace by myself..."

Akali started to feel her eyes become heavy. 'I want to say I'm not convinced, but I feel so pathetic for how I've treated you now…d-damn it!'

Ezreal held up Janna. "Hey, I'm sorry. That was uncalled for."

Janna looked irritated. "Why apologize to me?"

'Huh…?' Ezreal had no idea what Janna meant, even though it was very obvious what she was implying. Many of Ezreal's classmates felt troubled with the way that he was changing the entire tournament. While he was always out to compete with others, he enjoyed the company of others and built friendships.

Ever since Ryze had met with Ezreal before the tournament, Ezreal had constantly thought that he needed to continually improve and get stronger if he wanted any chance of becoming a champion. While he had no reason to believe he was getting weaker just by having friends, he felt an impulse to act lavishly for many reasons. He had to prove himself, Ezreal thought, in front of Professor Ryze, his parents, his classmates, and most importantly the Institute of War.

"Riven…" Ezreal called out as he sat down slowly.

"Hmm?" Riven sat by him. "Why do you look so out of it? Cheer up silly!" She pushed him while laughing but Ezreal just looked neutral.

"Can you tell me how you became so strong?"

Riven didn't really enjoy this question. She started playing with her hair and thinking silently. "I…well, I don't think I'm strong."

Ezreal came to his senses. "Are you serious? You just took out that Noxian assassin in one hit, and you think you're weak? Ri-" Ezreal stopped, as he started seeing Riven catch her breath as she held back her emotions.

It took a second, but Riven finally became calm. "Ah, I'm sorry. I know it's probably weird for you and everyone else to see me upset since I'm a very charismatic person. I didn't realize it but you all don't really know me very well. I think when we first met I told you all I was a Noxian soldier. That wasn't a lie, but…I think I misled you a bit. I went to Noxus because I was very young, and I was on my own."

Jayce stopped her. "Wait, you mean you had no guardians with you?"

Riven attempted a very poor smile, and said, "That's right. I've been an orphan my whole life. I have no clue who my parents are. I really identify with Janna a lot, because I felt like I was abused by Noxus and made into an object of war. I left Noxus after the war, and sort of…just went wherever. I met Terrence Ivanci at a council meeting in Ionia a few years ago, and was recommended by Noxian soldiers to attend the Champions Academy. I refused at first because I didn't think I could do it. I hadn't fought in so long and wasn't confident in my ability to fight. I was somehow reasoned with by Terrence another year later."

Ezreal asked, "Then, why do you always seem so happy? You have a very chaotic past it seems."

Riven finally conjured a real smile. "Because I love you all."

The whole crowd became silent. Pantheon asked abruptly, "How can you love people you do not know?"

Riven laughed and playfully knocked on Pantheon's head. "It's not what you think, I guess. The way I see it, I'm surrounded by people that I can call my friends. I have lived so much of my life on my own that I just wanted to be able to say that someone else is watching me."

Lux walked over to where Riven was sitting, and hugged her tightly. "You're so incredible, Riven!"

"Haha, hey come on now!" Lux's chest was tightening over Riven's face. "Like…really…I can't breathe…"

Ekko was laughing lightly while watching, and Jayce slammed on his head. "Get your mind out of the gutter, rich boy."

"You're one to talk!" Ekko retorted.

Ezreal smiled once more, and started to get a feel for why Riven was like this. It felt so odd that Ezreal was one of the only few in his class that lived a normal life. It humbled him massively. "If it means anything, Riven, I think you are strong. Your relentless effort to win is proof of that."

Riven laughed. "You're a real charmer, Ezreal. I'm interested to see where I will fit within your harem!"

Both Ezreal and Ahri stared at Riven with embarrassment. They said in unison, "T-THAT'S NOT HOW IT IS!"

Everyone else started laughing violently until the match had finally begun. Janna stood at the end of the river, where she was being charged at by the heavy barbarian of class 2A, Olaf.

"You should've surrendered while you had the chance, little girl! HYEEEEEEEEEEE!" Olaf swung both his axes into the ground, and Janna barely dodged. He was met with a brutal kick to the stomach.

Akali flinched. 'I feel like that just brought back pain to me.'

Janna stood her ground with her fists high. "Want to try that again, big boy?"

Olaf spit on the ground and screeched loudly. "You have a fighting side to you, do you?" Olaf dropped his axes and ran full speed at Janna. "I'LL BEAT YOU DOWN, THEN!"

He was only half-way to Janna when he was kicked into the air.

Xeno was stunned. "WHOA, WHAT AN INTERCEPTION BY 4A's JANNA! OLAF IS WIDE OPEN!"

"Take note…" Janna came right above Olaf and spun her body in the opposite direction. "Don't judge a book by it's cover." She took out her right arm and slammed him in the stomach, sending him straight into the ground. It looked like the ground exploded with smoke, so Janna blew away the debris to reveal her looking over Olaf. "I will choose my own life."

Kayle analyzed Olaf's body, and determined he could no longer walk. "The match is over."

Ezreal was in awe. 'You and Riven…not with any great individual strength but a great attachment to the people around you. Maybe the only one being delusional up to this point was me…I want to see for myself when I battle you, Ahri.'