Chapter 28: Reclusion

Unlike her return from the hospital with her arm in a sling and greeted by good friends and employees, this time around shocked everyone that saw her upon arrival in front of the library. Mikki didn't try to hide the fact she was upset or that her face wasn't how it was a couple days earlier. This scared her employees as they were cleaning up for the night as Mikki dismissed them and gave them the week off as an apology to them. The following days were filled with patrons asking what happened and each and every one of those answers never came to light as the librarian would ignore and dismiss any questions pertaining to her current situation. Even with word spreading to the usual champions that visit on occasion were brushed off the same way. "I'm not in the mood to discuss why my face is covered in patches."

Also during that week, not a word came from Swain or Irannius and that further disturbed her as she was certain that at least one of them would try to talk her out of this. But no one came as the rest of the month passed by without issues and the patches were no longer used as now three red scars lined down her face, showing all the wounds that grace her face. Her shoulder was thankfully always hidden under her daily robes but the occasion twinge would happened whenever someone tapped it or clasped their hand down on the scars. She knew she was worrying her employees as they brought sweets to share with her when they noticed she was just blankly staring around at nothing in particular.

Around late January, Mikki started taking open naps in the lounge room as she felt drained of any energy, despite not being disturbed by anyone. By early February, she paid the Noxian hospital a visit to remove the cast from her right hand at last, letting her see the old stitching scars they had to make when fixing up the bones in her hand. All the scars in such a short time, yet it stopped almost instantly when she walked away from Swain that day. Her thoughts were a mess over it and it was driving her insane because no matter where she looked, she saw the marks that they left on her. 'What am I going to do?'


~Alone Mikki stood in a room with one side covered in red and the other in blue, unable to move or speak as she stared blankly at the white door that stands before her. She had no clothes on and her hair hung loosely around the small of her back, exposing all the scars and bruising she had acquired just a couple months ago. A pair of hands gripped her own as she saw from the corner of her eyes Swain on her left and Irannius on her right, both smiling gently at her. 'Not again.' She thought as she felt them tug her towards them, like a human tug of war. 'Why must they act like this?' The librarian tried to tell them to stop, but her words never came out as they pulled her harder, trying to bring her to their side. 'No, I don't want any part of it!' A dark flash flared beneath them as a blood curling scream issued from her mouth at last.~


"Mikki!" Rosaley yelled as she walked into the lounge room where the librarian was laying back across one of the couches, shielding her eyes with her left arm. The red head pouted at the sight as she turned to the two champions behind her who stood just outside the archway to the room. "I'm so sorry about this, you two. She's been out of it for weeks now." Ezreal just smiled and waved his hand gently at Rose. "Don't worry about, I'm sure she's just resting her eyes." With a slow nod she looked to the second champion and raised an eye brow in curiosity as to why he was here as well. "It just…seems a bit odd that you'd want to visit Mikki, Prince Jarven." She muttered softly as the prince scowled lightly.

"It's not your concern, young summoner." He told her as Ezreal walked up to the librarian's still form and looked down at her. The explorer smiled lightly to himself before nudging her left hand gently, watching it twitch in response, but didn't 'wake' her. "Mikki, there's a special guest to speak with you if you would give us your time." He whispered as she murmured at him incoherently, still keeping her eyes covered with her left arm. Ezreal looked over the lounging girl before him and spied her right hand laying across her stomach. A quick glance to see if she was paying attention, he reached over and gently touched the scars that lined the back of her hand.

His hand was caught by Mikki's left hand as he looked at her face to see her grimacing at him. "I really wish you wouldn't do that." She whispered to him as she released his hand and started to sit up, her hair flowing back over her shoulders as she no longer wore her usual pony tail. Ezreal gave her a weak smile as he watched her turn her attention to the Demancian Prince that stood behind them. Jarven looked shocked to see the girl's face the way it was now, no longer unblemished, but scarred and worn. "What's wrong? You act as though you haven't seen scars before." She said to the prince, obviously not amused by his reaction to her current look. She got up and straightened out her robe with her hands before turning back to Ezreal. "What are you trying to do by bringing him here?" She questioned him as she rubbed at her eyes to wipe away the sleep that still lingered.

"He wanted to cheer you up." Jarven answered for the explorer as the librarian turned back on him and looked at him with wary eyes. "He told me you like to scribe our adventures as champions." This made her look a bit more relaxed as her eye brows raised ever so slightly. The whole idea was for Mikki to stop moping as she has been and get back to how she was before everything happened to her, or at least, that's what Ezreal was aiming for.

The prince and the librarian's last encounter with each other wasn't on the best of terms as they were staring each other down in the Institute's cafeteria area, yet here they stand facing each other in Mikki's domain. She tilted her head slightly and nodded to what Jarven told her, the edge of her mouth twitching slowly into a weak smile. "I suppose it's been a while since I had a good scribing session with a different champion." She mused softly as Ezreal beamed happily at her and gave Jarven a thumbs up for making his plan work. "Let me grab my quill and a stack of paper, then." She said as she strolled past the two champions and up towards her apartment.

As the librarian turned the corner from the lounge room, Prince Jarven turned to Ezreal who now took a seat at one of the chairs in front of a coffee table and narrowed his eyes at him. "You sure this is a good idea?" He muttered as he moved and took a chair next to the explorer as the blonde nodded. "It may seem odd at first, but she really defines the opposite of what a Noxian is to most of us." He explained as he looked up at the ceiling above. "I, too, found it odd when she greeted me like a good friend when I first came here about a year ago. But, as I started visiting more often, I found she always expresses herself like that, till just recently." He voice softened and frowned at the ceiling above.

"So what did happen to the girl then?" He inquired the younger champion as Ezreal shrugged. "The most from what anyone can gather from her is that it had to do with Swain, but she won't speak a word of it." Jarven gritted his teeth at the mention of the tactician as he leaned back into the firm plush chair. "Those scars were probably created with his twisted abomination of a raven form." He muttered quietly, knowing the form all too well himself. Ezreal peered at the prince and sighed softly. "Just don't mention it to Mikki when she gets back. She had a panic attack the last time I brought up Swain or her friend I saw her with back at the Institute." Jarven nodded in agreement as they sat in silence waiting for the librarian to return.

Moments passed before Mikki returned, paper and her quill and ink set in hand on a small portable writing surface. "Sorry for the wait." She said as she moved to the couch that was on the other side of Jarven and sat down, setting up her little writing area on her lap. The champions both looked to the librarian and noticed she straightened and pulled her hair back and washed her face off, making her look much less dreary than before. They both watched as she pulled aside a single sheet of paper, uncapped the inkwell and dipped her quill into it then looked to Jarven, showing eagerness in beginning. Ezreal nudge the prince and nodded. "She's all set to start, so pick a story and just go with it." The younger champion whispered as Jarven cleared his throat and began.


Several hours passed as Mikki eloquently wrote down word per word of what Jarven said as he recounted his time on the fields of battle. The whole scene attracted some of the usual patrons as they sat around and listened to Jarven, entranced with his stories. Ezreal's plan seemed to work as the librarian kept a gentle smile the whole time as she continued to illustrate Jarven's tales onto paper. With a quick glance at the time, Mikki sighed softly as Jarven answered some of the questions of the on looking patrons. "It's about closing time." She said as she looked to Ezreal, who moved to sit beside her after the first story was told.

He looked as well and nodded, but then smiled at the librarian. "Perhaps, but I'm sure today was a good day, right?" He asked her as she nodded slowly. "Yes, it was." Mikki yawned as she stretched her legs under the portable surface and picked it up so she could stand. Ezreal got up with her and gently lifted the surface with all the paper and ink set from her hands. "I'll take this back up for you if you wish to speak with Jarven a bit longer till you kick everyone out for the night." Mikki gave him a bit of a 'but..but…', but he was already heading upstairs to her apartment with it as she sighed at his back while he turned the corner out of the lounge.

While still talking with the patrons, Jarven watched what Ezreal pulled on Mikki and gave a slight chuckle at the sight of the bewildered librarian. "Alright, alright, I think that's enough question answering for today." He told the crowd as they sighed and awed at him as he stepped up behind the librarian and tapped her right shoulder gently. Mikki glanced back and up at Jarven, still looking a bit flustered with what the explorer did. "Done already?" She asked as she turned to face him properly while keeping her gaze up at his face. He nodded and gave a small huff of disbelief at her. "I never thought I'd see you again but, yet, here I am telling you my little adventures." Mikki raised her right hand over her mouth and giggled lightly at what he told her. "I would have to agree but I'm glad you and Ezreal came today. I haven't felt this happy in a while." She gave him a grateful smile, holding her hands behind her back as she rocked on her feet slightly from the feeling.

Jarven gave the girl a bit of a perplexed look as he watched her. "Guess Lux and Ezreal were right about you, but something Ez mentioned seemed a bit odd. He told me you haven't been yourself lately and I think I know why." He told her as Mikki's smile slipped at the mention on her current inner turmoil. "You should talk to someone who knows the situation of what you're going though. It's not healthy to dwell on the past that left marks." He advised her, the librarian's expression slowly turned to a grimace as she now stared at his chest.

"I wish I could." She murmured softly as she turned away from him. "But the moment I leave the library, something will happen. I just know it." The sickening feeling was starting to swell inside of her as she spoke to the prince. Her mind was slowly becoming a mess of memories as she wrapped her arms about herself, trying to shield the horrid feeling away. With her eyes tightly closed, she didn't notice Ezreal returned from dropping off her stuff as he pulled her into a tight hug and leaned his head next to her's. "Nothing will happen to you if you don't let it." He whispered to her as she tried to pull away from his grip.

Ezreal let her go as she stumbled a bit backwards, but slowly recovered her stance as she looked to the explorer with sad eyes. "I'm sorry, Ez. Still jittery over physical contact." Her voice was shaky with nerves as she looked around to see if anyone was watching before spying the clock on the wall and sighed. "It's time for me to lock up for the night." She muttered to the champions as they nodded lightly. "Of course. We'll leave you to your tasks then." Jarven said as Ezreal gave her a weak wave while they walked out the front door.

With the last of the patrons out of the library as well, Mikki started to feel lonely once more as the feelings dredged up from the talk with Jarven started to take hold once more on her mind. She leaned against the closed front door and started to cry silently to herself. Pitiful and weak, that's what she felt. Hiding in the library was doing her no good, even with the occasional good day, it wasn't enough for the emotions that now ran rampant through her thoughts. Tears streamed down her face as she slowly moved away from the door, but not before a knock was made, startling her. The librarian whirled around and peered though the peep hole and shuddered, obviously not in a good way.

"No."