Chapter 25: Bloody Affairs
She knew the Institute was big, but the garden itself was about the size of the library, if not more so. "Overwhelmed yet?" Irannius asked Mikki as she gazed though the trees while walking along the path way to the fountains in the center of the place. "Overwhelmed isn't quite the word I was looking for." She poked back at him as she looked up around the canopy of the trees that lined the concrete path. "It's like being surrounded by books, before they became books." She mused, pulling a bit of a chuckle from him.
The path they were on had several groups of summoners grouped up socializing over breakfast. Mikki and Irannius already grabbed something from the cafeteria, Mikki getting the most curious of looks after what transpired last night while they ate before setting off around the institute. "I think some of these summoners would love to see you on the Fields of Justice when you decide to join." Mikki gave him a mixed look of irritation and worry as she frowned at him. "I told you I'm not a champion. I really don't have that kind of conviction to be out there." Yes, she was strong in a sense, but she didn't have the heart to go through with what most others would do if they were in her shoes. Last night was proof of that.
Irannius ruffled at her hair, pulling a bit of it out of her loose pony tail and watched as she pulled it back into place. "No wonder he gets to you. You're easy to tease." A blush formed on her cheeks as she looked away from him as they slowly approached the center of the garden area. It was a fairly active area, with various summoners clumped together in front of the fountains. A particularly large group was in front of the Urf the Manatee fountain, all watching what looked like red water swirling about a tall figure with white hair. On closer inspection, Mikki realized it was Vladimir entertaining some of the summoners with his hemomancy. "Does stuff like this happen all the time here?" She questioned as Irannius grimaced lightly before nodding. "Of course, all champions have a second home here at the Institute as well as their respective homes outside."
Glancing at the crimson reaper then the Adjudicator next to her, she tilted her head lightly to the side in curiosity. "Something wrong?" He shook his head at her and waved it off. "It's the past now." He muttered as they started to walk around the crowd that surrounded Vlad. Just as they slowly passed the crowd, a flash of red flew in front of their faces, making them both reel back to avoid the blood projectile. There was laughter coming from the crowd as they both looked dazed and annoyed about the blood flying across their faces. "That was uncalled for, Vladimir." Irannius called out to the champion as he gave them a deep chuckle of amusement and beckoned them closer with a clawed hand.
"Come now, Irannius, Miss Halsnight. It's been a while since we've spoken last and let us put all this bad blood behind us." His puns never ceased to exist, even when he so eloquently phrased them. Vlad motioned for his fans to move along for the time being, obviously bored with the usual crowd, as both the librarian and the Adjudicator stepped up to the crimson reaper with some wary caution. Mikki peered once more between them before looking up to Vlad. "I'm assuming that last part was meant for him?" She asked, pointing unnecessarily to Irannius who sighed and tilted her head with his hand. "Of course, but since he didn't tell you, I won't as well, just to be courteous." Irannius gave him a slight nod of approval as Mikki pouted at the two of them for withholding information.
Vladimir looked them over before smirking at the librarian first. "You look much better than you did a couple weeks ago." Mikki smiled a bit and bowed lightly to him. "Thanks to you. Who knows what would have happened if you weren't passing by after that." He gave her an all knowing smirk as he willed the thin line of blood to flow freely between his fingers. "There are quite a few things the Deceiver could have done if given more time, though, I noticed she couldn't really aim for any lethal vital spots on your person." With a swift motion, he moved up to Mikki's right side and pulled up her right hand and examined the cast appendage. "A broken hand, for example, is not life threatening, but a good strike to the heart would have ended your life quickly enough." Mikki tried to pull her hand away, but Vlad kept a firm grip and slowly moved his free hand over her hand. She started to feel the blood underneath the skin move much more freely as the tips of her fingers were no longer cold from not being wrapped up in her other hand.
"Vlad, what are you doing with her hand?" Irannius stepped up to stop him, but he merely waltzed around with Mikki, keeping her between them as he continued to improve circulation in her hand. "You needn't worry, Irannius." Grinning, he spun Mikki into Irannius's arms and watched them stumble for a moment. "Now, don't you two look cute together." He chuckled as Mikki was hanging tightly to Irannius's robes for support as he held the sides of her arms gently before they both let go of each other and looked away from one another. "That wasn't funny, Vlad." Irannius muttered through gritted teeth as Mikki was just blushing furiously from being thrown into the Adjudicator like that. The crimson reaper's grin grew wider as he started to chuckled a bit louder over their reaction.
Mikki flexed her fingers around the cast and noticed they felt much better than before as she bowed her head to Vlad in thanks while Irannius looked at him with a wary eye as he listened to Vlad's chuckling. "Is there something you wish to tell us there?" He inquired as Vladimir strolled back next to the fountain, looking up at it with faux curiosity before gazing at Irannius from the corner of his eyes. "For someone who denounced himself from being the Tactician's prime summoner, you sure like to keep close to those who still are in good graces with him." He looked to the librarian, who was listening intently to what Vlad was saying as she raised an eye brow at the statement. Irannius made a furious sound at the accusation Vlad was making in front of Mikki. "I'm just concerned for her safety. She doesn't deserve to be treated like a toy as I have before her. Especially by him!"
Mikki was a bit shocked at what he was saying and suddenly felt worried for him cause he was bound to put himself in harm's way for her if she wasn't careful herself. "Irannius…" She walked over to him and tugged his sleeve to get his attention, but his focus was on Vladimir. The reaper laughed as he stared at the two of them with a devilish grin. "I get it now. You like her and want to keep Swain from taking her for himself, is that it?" He was teasing the Adjudicator at this point as Irannius made a move to slug Vlad, but finally noticed Mikki pulling his arm back away from the champion and reluctantly stopped to looked at the girl clinging to his arm. "It's not that, I swear." He muttered to her as she sighed at him softly. "I know, but I can't be watched all the time. I can defend myself, I just need to not be caught off guard." She told him, releasing his arm from her grip and stepped back.
"You all mean well, but it's become bothersome." She said softly as she looked between the champion and the Adjudicator with weary eyes. Irannius seemed a bit shocked at what she said while Vlad nodded lightly and smiled at the librarian. "That's the Noxian blood speaking. Though, I always wonder how you manage both sides of your heritage?" He curiously mused as Mikki raised an eye brow at the question, slightly confused for a moment before she placed her left hand over her face in realization. The same thought hit Irannius as well as he realized she acted more like a Demancian when around champions like Lux and Jarven, but acted more Noxian when around Vlad and Swain. What would happen if both side where to be in the same room with her? Which side would be more prominent in that situation? "You're asking me something I can't quite explain myself, Vlad." She told him as she crossed her arms over her chest lightly.
Irannius stepped up to Mikki and placed a hand on her shoulder and slowly pulled her away from Vladimir. "We'll figure it out later, but right now, let's just relax and explore the rest of the Institute like we planned, alright?" He asked as he turned to Vlad. "We thank you for the small chat, but we must get going." The champion chuckled as he took a seat at the edge of the fountain. "Of course. I'm sure you two have lots to discuss while on your little 'date'." Both Mikki and Irannius twitched at the last word as they walked away from the crimson reaper and the fountain area and back onto a path leading to another section of the institute.
The path way was starting to become cluttered with even more summoners as they neared the new section of the Institute. "Where are we now?" Mikki murmured to Irannius as he kept a hand on her small shoulder to make sure they weren't separated in the crowd. "This is where all the summoning happen. I figured you'd like to see what it's like for a summoner to summon champions to the Fields of Justice." He told her as she nodded lightly and tried to see around the mass of purple in front of them. A slight tug around the group lead them around to a viewing platform where several reflective pools showed various battles being held in real time. The librarian stood in awe as she leaned on the railing to see what was going on. While she knew a fair amount of the champions personally, she still had some trouble recognizing some of the others as team fights broke out in each of the games being watched.
"How many champions are there now?" She wondered openly as she watched a Ryze snare down and unsuspecting Malzahar, giggling a bit at how similar it was to their time in the Shurima Desert. "Almost a hundred and ten champions so far." Irannius answered her as he saw what she was giggling at and smiled. "Good times?" He mused as Mikki glanced back at him and narrowed her eyes a bit at him. "Not really, considering the grief we put up with in that desert, then the days after that." He gave her a nervous laugh before gently pulling her away from the viewing pools. "Come on, I'll show you where the champions recall back to the institute after the round is over."
This peaked Mikki's interest as she closely followed the Adjudicator through the halls and down a set of stairs, leading to a basement like area where there were easily over a hundred platforms as they saw a couple of the champions spawn on top of them, looking exhausted from battle. "The more dangerous champions are sent straight to their holding cells in another part of the Institute, but the rest are ported here." He explained to her as she scanned around to see if she recognized any of the champions that just came back. The librarian did indeed spot a familiar face as he stumbled a bit off the platform and was walking their way to leave, but stopped short when he saw Mikki looking in the room and stepped up to them.
"Mikki, what brings you here?" Ezreal asked as he ignored Irannius and gave Mikki a hug in greeting. She gave him a slight chuckle and patted his back as she hug him before releasing him. "I though she'd enjoy a tour of the Institute instead of staying at the library all the time." Irannius told the explorer as the champion looked at the Adjudicator with curious eyes. "Really? You're friends with Mikki?" Irannius nodded as Mikki also nodded to confirm his answer. "He was just concerned I wasn't getting enough time to myself." She added to Irannius's reasoning for Ezreal as the champion gave a small 'ah' of acknowledgement before looking between the two of them. "It's still quite a surprise to see you here of all places." He said as they stood off to the side of the entryway of the spawn room.
They shared a collective laugh as Mikki asked both the guys who was who as the champions spawned in from the various games. "There really hasn't been any new Noxian champions since Darius and Draven's introduction." Irannius muttered as they watched the brothers walk by without giving the small group a glance. "But there's been plenty from Ionia, Piltover or just neutral champions as of late." Ez added as Mikki listened to the two of them chatter about it. After a while, they started getting weird looks from some of the champions and they slowly moved away from the area and headed back towards the cafeteria to grab lunch.
It was around mid afternoon before they parted ways with Ezreal and started off in another direction of the Institute. "I'm glad things have started to look up for us. Not as stressed as earlier, huh?" Mikki looked up at the Adjudicator and smiled a bit, obviously embarrassed that she really was much less irritated and stressed as opposed to last night or earlier this morning. "I guess so, huh?" He smiled as well and ruffled her hair again, watching the librarian fix it once more with care. "Would you stop that?" She pouted at him as he gave a small chuckle. "You're just so much more relaxed than most Noxians, it's hard to not to tease you." Irannius said as he gently tugged her down a deserted hallway. "But, to make up for it, I'm going to show you something not many know about here."
She tilted her head as she followed him down the hallway, watching as they pass by various doors each with different labels before he stopped in front of a elaborate double door. "I think you'd like this." He pushed open one of the doors and motioned for her to step inside. The room was highly decorated with various pieces of furniture and tables around the expansive room, several people were just sitting around, each wearing the same kind of robes Irannius was using. "Welcome to the Adjudicator's Lounge." He whispered in her ear as he guided her to a small mini bar in the area and got them a couple drinks. It was much quieter than the cafeteria and no one was really paying attention to them here. "This is an awfully nice lounge room for such a small group of people." Mikki muttered to him as he was sipping away at his drink. "Well, we are much more than just summoners, you know." He remarked as the librarian continued to glance about the room.
"I didn't know they had their own room till I was inducted as an adjudicator." Irannius added, watching the small group of fellow adjudicators chat amongst themselves. Mikki turned to him, looking in bit of a panic. "Shouldn't I leave? I mean, I'm not a summoner nor an adjudicator, so I probably shouldn't be here." She started to ramble, wringing her right hand fingers with her left hand as she glanced back around the room. He chuckled and patted her shoulder in assurance. "You're fine. Not only do you have me with you, you still have that Judgment that's still being held off till you're ready. So technically, you're considered a champion here and they can go to any lounge room they want, even this one." Mikki wanted to cover her face with her palm, but was too stunned at what she had going for her to make the effort.
The door opened once again across the lounge as a familiar figure walked through the door with purpose, his raven sitting on his shoulder and his cane held tightly in his hand as he gaze about the room till his red eyes fell upon the two of them at the bar. Mikki stiffened when she noticed who it was that was staring in their direction while Irannius narrowed his eyes at the man that was now walking over to them. "Swain." Irannius murmured as he made a move to put himself in between him and Mikki, watching the tactician stop just a couple feet short of him. "I see you've become an Adjudicator, Irannius. Guess you used what you've learned under my command to get to where you are now. I'm proud." Swain said in a patronizing tone as the adjudicator gritted his teeth at him. "I see you're as condescending as ever." He retorted back as Mikki was shaking her head and tugging his robes to keep him from provoking Swain further.
The few other Adjudicators in the lounge each watched the scene unfold as Swain looked to the librarian and narrowed his eyes at her, then looked back at the adjudicator in between them. "You think you're helping her by bringing her here?" He inquired as Irannius stood his ground in front of Mikki, who was shaking against his back as she held tightly to his robes. "You're the one that's been using her for your selfish needs. I'm trying to give her the freedom you don't seem to let her have." Swain scoffed at the statement and laughed. "Freedom, you say. Yet, here you are, babysitting her like you're her wet nurse." A couple of the people in the lounge chuckled a bit at the word play going on between Irannius and Swain as Mikki let go of Irannius's robes, feeling guilty about the whole thing.
"Now, I'm sure you know the reason I'm even here and I would like to have Mikki returned back to the library where she should be." Swain continued, motioning to her as she glanced up at him with sorry eyes and started to move around Irannius, but couldn't as he put his arm in front of her. "No, I promised her the rest of the day here till tomorrow. You're not going to take her away that easily." Mikki muttered his name in worry as she glanced back at Swain, his eyes showing irritation at the Adjudicator's stubbornness to let go what was his. "Perhaps I should take back what's mine by force then?" It was more of a statement than a question as he stepped closer to the pair. "Over my dead body!" Irannius readied himself for what ever was to come as Swain chuckled at the effort to hold him off. "If you insist."
"Swain, don't!" Mikki finally spoke as she pulled Irannius away from the tactician and managed to step in front of him and faced Swain, still looking very worried and scared as she kept a hand on Irannius's chest to hold him off. "Please, Swain, just let me have the rest of the day here and I'll return back to the library in the morning before opening." She begged him as Irannius looked at her, bewildered at the fact she's trying to ask for permission to stay just to keep him safe. Swain glared at the girl as she held his gaze, though with much difficulty. "What else is there to see around here? I'm sure you've seen all the Institute that you'd be allowed to see already." He was right at this point. They did visit all the areas possible to relax and just chat. Mikki glanced away, obviously she knew there was no getting around what Swain wants. Her.
"She could talk to some of the champions around here and get them to tell their tales to her so she can scribe them for the library." Irannius told him as Mikki glanced back at him with wide eyes. He wanted her to stay and he knew she liked taking notes of stories of various champions so that she could make small biographies for each of them. Swain raised an eye brow at the suggestion that there was still a reason to keep her here. "She's already spoken to several different fellow champions and I'm sure she would be thrilled to speak with even more of them." Mikki nodded her head as she glanced back at Swain with renewed vigor to stay with Irannius for the rest of the day.
The tactician's red eyes narrowed in frustration before stepping up on Mikki and grabbed her chin with his free hand so she was looking at him. "I want you to return tonight." He told her, seeing the fear that lingered in her eyes as he continued to hold her chin as he leaned forward next to her ear. "Ten o'clock at my estate, not your library." He whispered to her so only she heard as she nodded in his grip. He leaned back and let go as Irannius pulled her to him and glared at him. "Ten o'clock is when she's to return to me, Irannius. You will do well to make sure that happens." He said to him as he gripped at her shoulders as Swain turned to leave the lounge, leaving the pair stunned in his wake as the rest of the Adjudicators relaxed once the tension was gone.
Irannius gritted his teeth in frustration as Mikki glanced up at him with a worried look as she felt his hands tighten around her shoulders, making her wince slightly. "Irannius…" She whispered as he realized they were still being watch and let go of her and looked at her. "Let's go." Was all he said as she followed him out of the lounge and back down the halls to the Adjudicator's quarters to his room. He motioned for her to walk in before him as he pulled the door shut and locked it. Mikki was still shaken from their encounter with Swain and the way Irannius was acting was still making her more nervous as he turned to face her. "Irannius, what's wrong?" She asked him gently as he had a hand placed over his face, hiding his expression from her.
Without warning, he grabbed at her right wrist, grasping the bit of cast that prevented her from bending her wrist around. "You either tell me what he needs you for…" He started to say as Mikki tried to pull away from him, but to no avail. "You know I don't know!" She gasped at him as she glared at him and saw a growing hunger behind his eyes as his bore into her's, making her look away in disgust. "I need you to find out for me, Mikki. He needs to be stopped and you're the only one that can help me with this." He told her, his voice becoming a bit more distressed with each word. "Irannius, I can't do that." She muttered as he pulled her closer to him, wrapping his arms around her, holding her tightly in a bear hug. "I think you will." He whispered, his words like poisonous honey as she struggled in his grasp.
"I can't." She continued to say as he was now chuckling darkly in her ear, making her shudder in fear as she tried to pull her arms between them, but couldn't. "You will if you want your precious library to stay standing." Mikki's eyes widened as she stopped struggling and stood there, stunned at the words she just heard. "What…?" He gave her a maniacal chuckle as he slowly released her from his hold, but kept a hold on her wrist. "That's right. Your library is at stake here, Mikki. You wouldn't want to see it disappear from your life, would you?" She looked like she was on the verge of tears as she looked to the ground in defeat. "No…"
He still had a tight grip on her wrist as she glanced up at him with caution. He was watching her closely, making sure he still had the upper hand as she glanced back down at the ground. She needed to get away and he locked the door, but there was only one way for her to get out. "I'm not sorry for this!" She screamed, startling him as she placed a red rune under him, stunning him which loosened his grip on her wrist allowing her to pull away as a purple now formed under her. "Mikki!" He yelled as he watched her disappear from his room. Both the runes disappeared as Irannius glared at where she was before she ported. "Wrong choice, librarian."