Not much to say here. Tags: Annie, Janna, mystery, Horror.
"That was a very good match, Annie! You did great!"
The little fire mage beams at the kind wind mage's praise and so Annie shyly starts rotating her upper body right and left as Janna leans down to give the short pyromaniac toddler a little pat on the head.
"Does that mean you will bring me sweets after dinner?!" The Dark Child exclaims, the girl's squeaky tone of voice overflowing with hope and excitement and Janna finds herself nodding before she even considers the little fire mage's request.
"Yay!" The green-eyed child cheers in response, small little arms happily rising to wrap around the lithe blonde wind mage's waist. Janna releases a quick mirthful chuckle and pats Annie's head one last time before the young fire mage proceeds to skip away heading for the crowded mess hall, one of Tibber's brown cotton feet soundlessly dragging against the cold marble floor as Annie disappears into an empty hallway.
…
Janna grimaces as she hurriedly floats towards the Dark Child's door, the white pieces of fabric attached to her ivory belt gently flowing behind her as the wind mage hastily navigates the empty hallways heading for poor little Annie's personal chambers.
"Poor little Annie." The ashamed blonde mage whispers, sky blue eyes clearly conveying the young lithe woman's distress. Janna had promised Annie sweets and then the kind wind mage had completely forgotten about it. Now the little fire mage would have to sleep without eating dessert and with the bitter taste of disappointment stuck in her mouth. Unless Janna managed to reach the little pyromaniac mage before Annie fell asleep of course, and then the blonde Zaunite somehow salvaged the situation!
Janna's journey is silent and swift like the gentle wind traveling across the scorched Shuriman land soothing and caressing the exerted faces of lone travelers and hardworking farmers alike. The ashamed blonde wind mage doesn't encounter any problems while roaming the empty corridors and abandoned torch lit hallways of the Institute and soon enough Janna is standing before the Dark Child's door with an apologetic smile on her lips and a small plate containing two slices of delicious apple pie in her hands, brought here to be offered to the pyromaniac toddler as a sincere form of apology.
Pale knuckles brush against the sturdy wooden door. Silence, Janna starts fidgeting after a couple of moments spent in front of the silent door and the blonde mage pauses before she attempts again, her sincere faint smile slowly slipping from her lips as the Dark Child refuses to acknowledge her very existence.
"Hey Annie are you in there? It's me, Janna. I brought you the apple pie I have promised!"
There is no answer. The Dark Child is either asleep or ignores her, but Janna can faintly hear the muffled voices of a hextech screen coming from behind the unmoving wooden barrier. So maybe little Annie wasn't asleep after all. Janna could still make this right!
The blonde wind mage once again taps her delicate pale knuckles against the hard wood of the door and the kind Zaunite woman smiles in relief when Annie's door finally slides open.
"There you are! Annie?"
Janna's polite smile vanishes when the little fire mage fails to appear on the other side of the door. Janna hesitantly floats inside the room, sky blue eyes revealing the young Zaunite's confusion as she tentatively follows the now louder voices of the buzzing hextech screen until Janna finds herself inside Annie's living room and finally spots the apparently preoccupied toddler.
"Annie?"
The Dark Child blatantly ignores her, her green gaze intently focused on the noisy show playing on the hextech screen and Janna takes a quick peek at the colorful cartoon characters that seem to be dancing and singing just to confirm that Annie isn't watching anything inappropriate.
"I've brought you some apple pie.."
The Dark Child remains silent, the cartoons on the glowing hextech screen keep dancing and singing and shouting. Janna awkwardly runs the fingers of her right hand against her flowing golden trenches.
"Annie.. I am going to eat this apple pie myself if you don't really want it.."
Janna exaggeratedly slices and then stabs a small piece of apple pie with her fork before raising the eating utensil towards her lips threateningly. Nothing. Annie once again blatantly ignores her.
The blonde support sighs as she slowly places the plate on the table in front of the brooding fire mage and gently places a soothing hand against the small rigid shoulder of the moody Dark Child.
"I am sorry for coming here so late- Annie?!" Sky blue eyes abruptly widen in alarm when the motionless toddler before her suddenly slides across the lilac-colored couch like a lifeless puppet whose strings have been cut. Janna instantly stops floating and kneels beside the little fire mage, her usually calm kind eyes now overflowing with anxiety and fear.
The blonde support doesn't notice the weird texture of the child's skin at first. Oh no, Janna is entirely too focused on Annie's dull soulless gaze and her complete lack of motion to wonder about the hard texture of the Dark Child's skin. And she is also too busy checking the small toddler for injuries to pay attention to the ominous sound of the front door slowly creaking shut behind her. But that unfortunately doesn't last long and so Janna soon feels the suffocating silence of the room spreading under the humorous dialogues of the cartoon characters that are currently staring at her from their colorful glowing perch inside the hextech device.
The living room now feels like a prison, the closed doors of the apartment like deadly traps with dangerous beasts lying in wait behind them. Janna soon realizes what's wrong with Annie's skin. It is its texture. The Dark Child's skin is smooth to the touch, but also cold and hard like some kind of ceramic or porcelain. Janna's gaze climbs on the Annie-doll's eyes and the painted green marbles that seemingly return her stare causing Janna's blood to suddenly turn to ice.
The wind mage is trembling, eyes wide open helplessly staring at the lifeless and motionless Annie-doll. Janna starts taking deep shaky breathes while she tries to force herself to calm down. The cartoon characters are laughing hysterically. Mere seconds later and the hyperventilating wind mage somehow finds herself staring at the porcelain doll's rigid hands and her gaze is for some reason drawn to its pale open fingers.
Janna's breathing is a ragged noisy mess, still knelt next to the lifeless Annie-doll the agitated wind mage silently contemplates why those pale empty hands evoke such strong feelings of terror in her. And then she realizes it. Tibbers, Annie's favorite toy and eternal companion in all kind of childish adventures is currently missing.
"Hello Janna." Annie's voice giggles from somewhere behind the startled wind mage, but it is not vibrant green eyes that meet Janna's scared gaze when the horrified blonde female abruptly turns to face the speaker. Because the thing has no real gaze for Janna to meet, only an ugly patch of thick brown strings crossed to form a small x on one empty eye socket and a tiny red button to serve as an eye on the other one. The doomed wind mage screams, her frightened voice smothered by the mindless giggling of the dancing cartoon characters as the sentient teddy bear slowly approaches her.
…
"Janna?"
"Hmm?"
The kind wind mage smiles as she turns to face her Demacian teammate and Lux seems puzzled for a moment before she offers the other blonde mage a playful smile.
"Nothing, you just seemed lost in your thoughts and I wanted to make sure that everything's alright."
The Zaunite spell caster doesn't reply to her, but the support's smile widens as her gaze lowers to the small brown toy clutched in her hands. Her delicate pale fingers casually stroking the teddy bear's fur absentmindedly.
"Everything is alright. Everything is… perfect."
Lux merely raises a thin eyebrow before she just shrugs and leaves, heading for the mid lane. The faded painted eyes of Janna's glare intently follow the young Demacian for a couple of seconds before the pale blonde porcelain puppet is forced to abandon the magical fountain. Tibbers small form still held between pulse-less fingers.
The End
Writer's notes: A friend of mine and I were recently discussing horror game plots and that reminded me of the trailer of a movie that's called 'The boy'. Now, I haven't watched or will ever attempt watching the movie, but the puppet in the trailer is still giving me the creeps every time I recall of the trailer. So anyways, I remembered the trailer and jokingly said to my friend: Imagine if Annie was actually the real puppet and Tibbers was the one controlling her body instead of the other way around in secret. A few days later and I am trying to write something more family friendly than torture and lemons so I end up writing about soul-stealing dolls, identity theft and sentient creepy teddy bears that get away with murder…
… Wait a minute, that's not family friendly either! Damn.. Er.. Tibbers is stealing all of those souls in order to keep his half-brother Volibear alive when the white bear suddenly goes into a coma. He kills people out of love, because he is not the brother Volibear deserves, but the teddy bear he needs.
Optional: you can listen to 'How to save a life' from The Fray, read the story again and imagine Tibbers crying while killing Janna and Annie to turn this story into angst. Annie is Tibbers' only friend, but he has to save Voli Onii-chan! But secretly Voli is a hit-bear and he has tricked Tibbers into taking care of his contracts.
"I trusted you!" Tibbers screams at the top of his nonexistent lungs as his cotton paws rise towards the bloody sky.
"KUkukukukuku." Was Volibear Onii-chan's only response as he presses a paw against the hilt of his black katana. "You are foolish, oh half-brother of mine. Don't you know that the salmon is always tastier at the other riverbank?!"
Tibbers just frantically shakes his head as his Annie and Janna-dolls move to stand before him. A thunder splits the sky and the clouds start crying as if to accentuate and convey the small brown teddy bear's immense sorrow.
"This is where you are wrong Volibear Onii-Chan." Tibbers can't really cry, but the first raindrop that rolls down his soft cotton face could as well have been a bitter tear of disappointment. "The salmon can only taste worse when there is blood staining your paws. It gets coppery! Crimson! And salty!"
The black Katana darts out of its sheath as the champion-dolls lunge at the enraged white bear and the sky flashes red as the ground around the fighters shatters and the scene disappears.
…
…
And a hidden red teddy bear with familiar bright green eyes is calmly watching the exchange from the scope of its hextech sniper rifle. The barrel of the gun briefly switches between the two bear brothers before Annie grins and suddenly pulls the iron trigger.
Bang!