"How long until he arrives?"

"Don't know. Don't ask."

Irelia rolled her eyes. "Fine, kid. Won't ask again."

"You said so last time and yet—"

"This time it's for real." Irelia said, hoping that would shut him up.

It did.

Riven and her were walking on a rooftop, following Ekko as he strolled throughout the Zaunite slums, alone, waiting for Mundo to appear.

"It would be great if he appeared already, though," They heard Vi's voice on the comm, reminding them that Vi and Caitlyn were also there, hiding somewhere, even if they didn't know where.

They heard Ekko scoff, "You'd better stay quiet, sellout."

Irelia raised her brows, surprised at how Ekko talked to Vi.

And how Vi replied with silence.

"You've still got my crestblades, Vi?" She asked, trying to lighten the mood a bit.

She heard a chuckle, before Vi's voice came alive in her ear, "Of course I do. Safe and sound, in my gauntlets' compartment, but you'll only need the clearly superior ones I made you."

Irelia laughed, ready to retort—

"I think I said quiet."

And that's how Ekko made them all shut up.

Maybe adding him onto our communication hadn't been a very wise idea.

After Ekko agreed to help them, they handed him a comm which he quickly turned on and started using while they hid from plain sight.

And ever since then, he hadn't stopped trash talking both Caitlyn and Vi.

Caitlyn ignored him out of boredom; both Riven and Irelia knew her well enough already that they knew her silence was due to her deeming him not important enough that she'd have to answer.

But Vi…

Vi's silence was not out of a pointed ignorance.

Vi's silence was out of discomfort; they hadn't known her for long enough, that was true, but it was the first time in all the moments they had spent with the Enforcer that they heard her being so quiet.

So small.

So meek.

Where did all your feistiness go to, Vi?

Irelia guessed she could ask her later, if she really wanted to know.

Truth be told, she was curious about what the deal was between that Ekko boy and her.

Now was not the right time to ask, though.

And, stealing one glance at Riven, she knew she had someone else to worry about.

She turned off her communicator for a second, stretching her fingers to Riven's and turning hers off too, before she said, "What's troubling you?"

Riven looked at her, raising a brow, "What's troubling me?"

But Irelia knew better; she had seen it on the way her eyes were on the ground, a frown on her expression as she bit the inside of her cheek.

So, after a long no-nonsense look from her Captain, Riven sighed.

"I guess I don't feel ready to deal with him yet." She looked up at the dark, smoggy sky, before sighing and saying, "Truth be told, I doubt I'll ever feel ready, though, so I might as well deal with him now, you know?"

"You're not ready to face Singed?"

Riven shook her head, "To be fair, I don't know how I feel about that one," She said as she scrunched up her nose, "The one I know I'm not ready to face yet is Cyrus." She sighed, "There's a lot that the simple fact of knowing we're eventually going to deal with him makes me think of."

Irelia raised a brow at that. "What do you think of?"

"I'd rather not talk about it, Irelia." Riven said, an apologetic look on her face, "I'm sorry."

Irelia's gaze softened a bit, "I see," She simply said, before looking ahead and nodding her head, Riven occupying her thoughts.

A few seconds passed before Riven felt the need to talk again, if only to change the topic, "What a weird kid, this Ekko boy, no?"

Irelia snapped out of it, nodding her head vigorously. "He's completely insane, if you ask me. I mean," She took the stopwatch the boy had given her from her pocket and inspected it. "What on all of Valoran did he mean by use it when you feel like stopping?"

Riven took a look at it, noticing the position the minute hand was in: it was set exactly on the number ten, as if it had been used before, but no one bothered to reset it.

"Beats me," She said, responding to Irelia's question, "He gave you a faulty stopwatch," Riven mused out loud, "Or, at least, he didn't set it back to zero." She moved her hand towards it, "Maybe you should—"

"No," Irelia sentenced, pulling the watch away, "He didn't tell me to reset it, so we are definitely not resetting it."

Riven raised a brow, "So what? You're just going to press a button whenever you feel like it?"

Irelia shrugged, before nodding her head, "Yeah, I'll press a button whenever I feel like stopping, like he so kindly advised me."

Riven chuckled as she shook her head, "If you say so."

Irelia kept inspecting it, "But yeah, I agree," She said, making Riven look at her, "He is a weird kid."

"He was about to give me the watch," Riven remembered with a frown, "But then he decided against it and gave it to you. What's up with that?"

Irelia shrugged, "Maybe he trusts that I will remember to stop, at some point, and knows that you wouldn't use it properly."

Riven rolled her eyes, "As if there were a wrong way of using a stopwatch."

"You were about to reset it. If someone is unfit to keep it and follow his instructions, it's definitely you."

"And he already knew that, so that's why he chose you over me, huh?" Riven said, raising a brow, a smug, no-nonsense look to her eye as she laughed Irelia off, "Sure."

Irelia shrugged, "It's as possible as it is not possible." She heard Riven hum in reluctant agreement, before she added, "Or maybe he simply found me nicer and he gave it to me because he fancied me better."

Riven let out a bark of a laugh, "That's definitely it."

Irelia laughed with her, sharing a long look, a bit of quiet silence.

Then, Riven's vow of silence broke. "He makes me think of myself."

Irelia simply looked at her.

In the quiet, Riven continued, "I feel like facing him is a way of facing myself," She thought of it for a second, "My old self," She clarified, "The Noxian that wanted Ionia destroyed." She sighed, "The thing I got living inside my head."

Irelia frowned, "The thing?"

Riven looked at her, "You know…" She looked nervous about it, "When I lose it?"

It took Irelia a few seconds, but she eventually got what Riven meant. "Oh."

The runic madness.

Riven looked away, "He makes me think of all of that."

Irelia nodded her head, "I see." She thought for a second, searching for what to say, before a thought struck her, "It's logical for all of these things to haunt you, Riven." She told her, "You just got out of a bad place and you're already hurtling yourself to another one. It's only fair that your mind is afraid, therefore conjuring up such thoughts."

Riven nodded, "I know, but I wish it would stop."

"It won't stop anytime soon, Riven," Irelia told her, a sad look in her eye, "I'm telling you this from experience," She confessed, "But there is something that I do, whenever I feel surrounded by my fears."

She stopped walking, grabbing Riven by the arm, making her stop, too.

Then Irelia placed both of her hands on the Noxian's shoulders and, while staring at her in the eye, a glare on her face, she said, "I mold all of my fears into a human shape. I put a face on them, the face I want to defeat, and then I say I'm bigger than you, over and over again, until my image of myself in my head is big enough to stomp my fears out, until they're nothing but dust on the ground." She released Riven, "Last time I did so, I used Zed's face."

Riven snorted, "Zed? The Kinkou ninja that had been giving you trouble?"

Irelia nodded her head, "What can I say? I hate him."

Riven smirked, "I can tell."

Irelia shrugged, before she remembered what they were doing there, "I guess we should turn our communicators on again, wouldn't want them noticing we've been gone for this long."

Riven nodded her head, "You're right."

But before Irelia could turn hers on, she pulled her in by her hood as she gripped its' sides with both hands, kissing her once, letting out a small, "Thank you for that," As she pulled away, "I needed it."

Irelia stared, before slowly nodding her head, "Yeah, it was no problem," She said in a light tone, as if she had forgotten what they were talking about in the first place.

Riven chuckled at the image, before letting her go.

And as they turned them on again, they were expecting to hear them chatting a bit.

What they weren't expecting was to hear them screaming at them.

Amongst their screaming, Irelia stopped them all by letting out a loud, "What's going on!?"

"Finally you two decide to appear!" They heard Vi's voice on the other side of the comm, "Stop being idiots and come closer, Mundo is already here!"

"Shit," Riven cursed between teeth, "Let's go," She said as they both ran on the rooftops, following Vi's instructions, until they ended up above a dead end.

On the rooftop opposite to theirs, they saw both Vi and Caitlyn; the Enforcer in full armor, ready to spring into action. The Sheriff, on the other hand, was positioned, sniper rifle at the ready, her eye on its' scope.

"Not yet," They heard Caitlyn's voice on the comm, the women too far away to speak to them without shouting, "Only Mundo arrived."

"We must wait until Singed gets here," Vi added.

"Got it," Irelia said, as she and Riven both crouched, getting as out of vision as possible as they watched the scene underneath them.

Mundo was a gigantic monster, they decided.

Irelia and Riven watched how Ekko fought Mundo off, basically playing with the big, bouldering, purple man; they saw him move around the monstrous figure, like a fly which teases someone who's about to sleep; almost at reach, but always away enough that's safe.

Irelia frowned as she studied him; Ekko looked tired and hurt but then he blinked out of reach, disappearing and reappearing on a position where he had been a few seconds ago, and suddenly he was no longer looking tired nor hurt.

That's uncanny.

But no one made a comment about it, so she decided to be quiet about it.

She guessed there were more pressing matters than the fightstyle of some boy.

She heard Riven's breathing as the woman inhaled and exhaled slowly and deeply through her mouth, so she turned to look at her, only to find her staring at Ekko with a furrowed brow and twitching hands.

She wasn't nervous; she was desperate.

Her lips were moving, so Irelia's eyes naturally fell on them.

Like a mantra, she was mouthing the same words, over and over again.

I am bigger than you, I'm bigger than you, I'm bigger than you.

And besides feeling proud of herself, for how she had helped the former Noxian, Irelia couldn't help but wonder.

What's the face your fears have?

"Hey," Irelia called for her, placing a hand on the woman's shoulder, trying not to overthink when Riven flinched, before moving those red eyes to her, "It's going to be okay."

Riven shook her head, "I don't know about that," She confessed, "I think it won't be that easy." She looked at Irelia in the eye, concern evident in her own as she said, "I just hope I don't lose it again."

Irelia raised her brows, "Lose it?"

Riven nodded her head, "I keep having these flashes of that night inside my head," She shut her eyes, her voice quieter when she said, "I try to will them away, but—"

"Those are just intrusive thoughts, Riven," Caitlyn's calm voice came from the other side of the communication, reminding them that they were being heard, "They are there just to pester you, but they won't bring you any harm if you can see them for what they are: rubbish your mind has trouble taking out."

"Yeah, listen to her," Irelia said, moving closer, "It's nothing but trash your mind is trying to take out." She told her in a gentle voice, repeating Caitlyn's train of thought, "Pay it no mind."

Riven tried to slow down her breathing. "Okay," She said, still looking a bit nervous.

"It's okay," Irelia repeated, "I guess that knowing we will face Singed soon is messing with you," She explained, taking off the hood of her hextech armor, "But don't worry. This time," She made Riven look at her again, before pulling her closer, her forehead against Irelia's, "We're both on the same side of history."

Riven's breathing finally slowed to a normal pace, "That's true," She said, nodding her head a bit, "Thank you," Upon seeing confusion on Irelia's face, she added, "For being the one that keeps her head cool."

"You have nothing to thank me for." Irelia said, before releasing her, "Now," She got her hood on again, "Let's—"

"There!" They heard Vi's voice on the comm, making them both look at her, watching as one of those big gauntlets moved, a mechanical finger pointing at the fighting happening underneath them. "Look there!"

They followed the finger's aim.

Riven's breath hitched.

A slender, tall man, with no hair on his head, a mask hiding the lower half of his face, a big amphora strapped to his back.

Riven didn't need to see him from up close to know that it was him.

Singed.

"Shit," They were all quite surprised to hear Caitlyn swear and she knew as much, so she explained, "Look behind him."

And it was then that they understood what had prompted her to curse.

Slowly, as if crawling into the light, they saw a whole sea of bodies moving towards Ekko and Mundo.

Three arms, or maybe three legs. One without limbs.

"Urgot's army of deformed people."

"Vi," Caitlyn said her name in a scolding tone, "Please. That's rude."

"Okay, my bad." She apologized, "Urgot's group of enhanced followers."

"That's better."

"There's too many of them," Irelia said, her eyes on their freakish forms, "I think we should—"

But she couldn't finish her sentence, for she saw Riven moving towards the edge of the rooftop.

She saw what the woman intended to do, panic flashing through her eyes as she tried to stop her, "Riven—"

But she didn't manage to catch her as the former Noxian jumped into the fight.

A sigh escaped her lips as her eyes followed Riven, as the warrior landed on the ground, standing up, all eyes on her.

She ignored Mundo and Ekko as she marched, step after step, her lips moving fast as she kept repeating I'm bigger than you underneath her breath over and over again.

Her eyes were on Singed, too busy focusing on him to see anything of what was happening around her.

I'm bigger than you, I'm bigger than you, I'm bigger than you.

And, truth be told, she wasn't imagining Singed's face as her fear's face.

She was imagining her own.

She had always imagined her own.

So, ignoring how Mundo and Ekko resumed their fighting, she kept marching towards Singed, her eyes on him.

And when he finally laid his eyes on her, he raised his brows, and did the one thing he could do that could make Riven mad.

He turned and ran.

Gritting her teeth, growling in anger, she started running after him.

But Urgot's followers were still there, approaching Mundo and Ekko, who said, "A little help, here?"

"We'll help him out," Vi told Irelia through the comm as she jumped into the fight, "Follow them!"

So, without needing anything else to proceed, Irelia started running after Riven and Singed.

"Riven!" She roared on her comm as she sprinted after them, still on the rooftops, "Stop!"

But Riven was having none of it, "If I stop, he escapes," She let out between jagged breaths, still running after him. "I won't let it happen."

So Irelia had no choice but to follow after Riven, who followed after Singed.

She jumped into the air and willed her hextech blades underneath herself, riding them in the air as she tried to catch up with them.

She caught up with Riven in no time, grabbing her by the arm and bringing her up onto her blades with her, but Singed was a far different story.

"How is he so fast?" She asked Riven as they tried to speed up, tried to reach him, but to no avail, as the man ran like crazy.

"I don't know," Riven said, "But go faster."

"I'm trying," Irelia growled at her, "It's not that easy, you know?"

Riven rolled her eyes, "So much for gnarly blade."

Irelia glared at her, unsure whether Riven was actually playing with her or was being serious, but Riven's eyes were on Singed, so she was too busy staring at him to even notice.

Irelia looked ahead again, some of her anger already dissipating.

Guess there's too much going on in her head to add one more thing.

They followed him, street after street, turn after turn, watching him run like a madman, falling short and never reaching him, but managing to never lose sight of him.

It was then that they entered a very narrow, long alleyway, almost like a tunnel.

And it was then that Singed looked back at them once.

Then, as he turned to look ahead again, they saw as a few vents located on the amphora opened, releasing some sort of purple gas into the air.

A gas thick enough that it remained in place, right where he had released it.

And they were running straight to it.

There was no time to try and dodge it.

Riven tried covering her mouth and nose with her hand, while Irelia used the side of her cape as they entered the thick cloud of purple smoke, both of them having inhaled a big gulp of fresh air, holding it in for as long as they could.

Well, fresh. As fresh as it could be, being in Zaun.

During the first few seconds inside the cloud, they managed just fine, with Riven's eyes burning and Irelia's managing to be spared from such pain as her hood's visor protected them from the toxic smoke.

It was after a little bit that they couldn't keep the air in no longer.

Riven started to let the air in her lungs out as slowly as possible, knowing this could maybe help her keep herself from breathing in for longer.

Irelia saw her and mimicked her, despite knowing she lacked that level of discipline.

They kept speeding through the cloud of toxicity basically blind, with Riven's eyes burning, teary and closed, with Irelia's wide open, though the thickness of the gas didn't let her see anything.

And it proved to be quite problematic.

So desperate were they to leave the cloud of toxic gas that they didn't think that maybe there obstacles hidden in it, with them.

So, when Irelia saw the wall —the alley's dead end —it was already too late for her to try and stop before clashing against it, for they were just a hair's breadth away from it.

They impacted it and fell to the ground, her blades along with them.

And the impact made them both lose the breath they were so slowly exhaling.

They didn't mean to, but the startle they suffered, along with the way they both stared at the dead end, confused as to where Singed had gone, made them forget, if only for a brief second, that they shouldn't be breathing.

And as they both inhaled, they both suffered the consequences.

As if breathing a fire's smoke, it was like they couldn't get any oxygen from the purple gas, only something that made their insides itchy and painful as it travelled to their lungs.

But they couldn't keep that toxic air in either, for it forced them to cough it out, thus trapping them in a constant loop of inhaling, coughing it out, inhaling again.

While in coughing fits, they both moved towards the wall that trapped them, quickly discovering it wasn't a wall, but what looked like the entry to a warehouse.

Singed could have only gone one way, then.

Irelia couldn't focus enough to bring her blades up, which left her only with her hands as she desperately used them to search the wall, the door, in hopes of finding a button, something, that would open it up.

Riven was not helping.

She turned to look at her, only to find her on all fours, coughing on the ground, before desperately crawling towards the entry and attempting the same thing she had been trying herself.

Only faster.

She really wanted to get out of the smoke.

Seconds kept passing, though they felt like hours.

No avail.

But then, as Irelia slid down to the ground, her consciousness being lost to the dizzy fog of her brain, the product of Singed's toxic air, she saw Riven wasn't affected as she was.

With what little focus remained in her brain, she concentrated on the former Noxian.

She found her breathing rapidly, with no coughing to interrupt her, as if it didn't affect her, anymore.

She moved her eyes from Riven's mouth to her eyes—

She saw them closed.

She moved her hand to Riven's shoulder—

She opened them and was looking at her.

They were green.

She quickly stood, which prompted Irelia to get up, too, even if it proved to be quite a difficult task.

Riven slid her hand down through her blade, making it display its' final, deadliest form.

Grabbing Irelia by the collar of her cape, she moved her behind her and, ferociously, she began striking the entry to the warehouse.

And there was no form to her attempts, no grace, no calculation whatsoever.

What Riven was doing was a full display of brutality.

And, in her ferocious rage, in her desire to break through and get in, she was managing to break the door down.

Irelia watched as Riven lost her wits against the obstacle that prevented them from reaching Singed and trapped them in a cloud of deadly smoke.

And she watched as, with one final hit, the entry to the warehouse was finally destroyed as Riven managed to make it snap, bending its' metal in with her strength.

She turned and grabbed Irelia by the collar again, this time pulling her in with her as she moved into the new area, away from the smoke, pushing the metal open with her body as she did so.

As they got away from the alley, Riven turned and closed the metal again, so as not to let the smoke in.

And, in the new, breathable area, Irelia allowed herself to take desperate gulps of air, coughing out what she could of Singed's toxic attack.

She watched Riven as her ragged breathing slowly calmed down.

She approached Riven as she fell on her knees.

She kept her eyes on Riven's as she saw them close.

When Riven's breathing finally calmed down, she opened them again.

And the green dissipated into red.

What the Hell was that.

Riven kept breathing, her eyes on Irelia's, "Still there, even if it's fading," She whispered. "But trust me, I feel it: not long until it's really gone." She got up on her feet and offered Irelia her hand.

Irelia took it, letting Riven pull her onto her feet, with a lot of questions and no answers.

She can control it?

She remembered that one time they fought against each other, which ended with both of them with blades against their necks.

She had controlled it, then.

Come to think about it, she had always controlled it, save for that time after her blade got destroyed.

Not long until it's really gone.

Maybe she can feel it fading away, maybe it's not as strong as it was before.

Maybe that was the last time she could call upon her runic power.

It would have been too short of a time if she had already, completely cured herself of it.

And, if she was honest, Riven's curse had just proved to, sometimes, be a blessing.

She decided she could interrogate the former Noxian later. There were more pressing matters at the moment.

Neither of them were too sure of what Singed's gas had done to them but one thing was certain: as soon as they were breathing fresh air once more, the symptoms they felt —the coughing, the slowly approaching loss of consciousness —disappeared.

But their bodies were too weak, barely able to stand.

The brain fog remained, at least for Irelia.

And it was only then that she noticed that her new blades had been left outside.

Shit.

She tried to will them to obey, tried to will them to come towards her, but Vi's blades had one flaw when analyzed in comparison to hers; if she didn't have clear sight of them, the neuronal connection that allowed her to move them could not be made.

"You should have done the sensible thing and remained dead, Captain."

His voice was nothing but an echo that reverberated through the dark warehouse, but it still brought a shiver down Riven's spine, even if she did not let it show, masking her emotions with the anger she felt.

Irelia looked at her, concern forming a frown on her face, the uncertainty that clouded her already cloudy mind making her feel the need to tell her to turn back, to open that damned entry, to let her pick her blades again.

But she knew Riven wouldn't listen.

Not now, not with things the way they were at the moment.

And Vi has my crestblades.

She bit the inside of her cheek only to keep herself from groaning out loud.

Weaponless, she had no other choice but to grab her own from outside. If not, she was practically useless.

She had to warn Riven about it, there was no other way.

"Come out," Riven growled, well aware that he already knew her exact location. "Let's have a chat."

Irelia moved closer to her, "Riven—"

Laughter was heard, carried to every corner of the dark room as it bounced from wall to wall, getting more and more distorted with each second that passed. "I guess I could entertain you, considering the amount of poison you've inhaled will kill you in a few minutes."

That alerted both of them.

Riven growled, "That's a lie!"

"It's quite true, Captain." He said, "Don't you feel how your body slowly gets number?"

Irelia looked at her own, trembling hands.

When was the last time she could properly feel her fingers?

They wouldn't fully bend, either.

He's telling the truth.

We're both dead.

Riven roared, "Come out!"

"I'm right here."

And, at his words, the lights in the warehouse were turned on.

They weren't inside some storage room of sorts.

They were in his lab.

A big, humongous laboratory, with a second level and a high ceiling. To their right, a corpse hung limply in the air, chains holding him from his every limb, his body modified and altered, looking nothing like a human being anymore. To their left, Singed's table, stacked with different potions and poisons, utensils he probably used to torture his experiment and who knows what else. At the far end of the laboratory, a green-gas chamber, empty.

And right in the middle of the room, Singed.

They couldn't see his face, but they both knew he was smiling.

"Come and get me, Captain."

And Riven didn't have to be told twice.

With a battle cry, she ran towards him, sword at the ready.

Singed didn't even move.

It all felt too easy to Irelia. Nevermind the inevitable death that loomed over them, upon breathing the scientist's poison.

Riven was only a few feet away from him, Singed still didn't move.

She jumped in the air, got her sword ready—

Irelia felt her heart stopping as she saw an arrow hit Riven.

Right on her armor's hextech engine.

Irelia looked up at the laboratory's second level.

There was a man.

He was pulling from a bow's string.

Cyrus.

Irelia felt panic rushing through her body.

It was a trap.

She looked at Riven again, watching as Singed moved a side, the former Noxian turning her head to look at her—

Irelia couldn't help the scream that escaped her throat as she saw a second arrow land on Riven, this time piercing her flesh, entering one side of her neck, its' tip coming out from the other.

Riven fell to her knees, before falling face first to the ground, the arrow that had been stuck in her chest finally being pushed in, coming out of her body through her back, the armor's resistance gone as it had been rendered useless.

And just like that, with just two arrows and the abuse of her own stubbornness, Riven was dead.

"Hopefully, now you will remain dead, Captain," Singed said, before his eyes moved to Irelia. "And now, what to do about your friend?"

But Irelia wasn't listening to him, to his taunting, to his voice.

She could only hear silence as she stared at Riven's lifeless body.

She felt a presence that urged her to look up and, after putting some effort on, she managed to move her eyes upwards.

Cyrus was aiming at her.

It reminded her of the fiery arrow that killed her friends, that killed Riven's friends.

Her hand moved towards her pocket.

She found the stopwatch.

Whenever I feel like stopping.

The arrow was released.

And right before it hit her on the neck, the one weak spot of both Riven's armor and hers, Irelia decided she felt like stopping.

She pressed the stopwatch's button.

Stop.

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Wait that didn't go as planned