Past me was a lazy bastard and didn't put anything here so now I have to. Good thing I don't actually have anything to say.
Let's get on with the chapter.
Chapter 61: Low-Point
I figured I still had a few minutes left to confront Zoh before he left for the negotiations. It wouldn't be enough if I let him get into a story, so I was just going to demand he tell me what the hell that alien was and reiterate that question until he was honest.
Shoving open the door to the apartment, I headed directly for his room and strode in. He was getting dressed when I went in, wearing only trousers, but I wasn't going to wait for him to get dressed before answering me.
"Zoh, why the hell was I just attacked by a four-armed alien spouting some nonsense about an empire and heretics?"
"Nice to see you too. Anyway, I'd assume it's because you've pissed off an empire of four-armed aliens."
"Care to tell me who they are and how I annoyed them?"
"Um… I assume you're talking about the same aliens who we killed back when you were going by 'Arckani'. Unfortunately, that means I can't help you. All I can tell you is that they didn't come from explored space."
"How the hell did they get here then?"
"Again, I don't know. Regular teleportation technology is incredibly inaccurate at that sort of range. That's why long-range ships aren't equipped with teleporters. It becomes more efficient to just fly at faster-than-light speeds."
"Zoh, you don't have to explain the intricacies of galactic travel to me. Just make sure no-one from off-planet can teleport to me. I don't want to get stabbed in my sleep."
He went over to a pile of creations and passed me small cube that was beyond pitch-black.
"And… you're good. Can I get ready now?"
"Wait one more second." I stated while chucking the cube back into the pile, adding: "Can you tense your stomach please?"
He sighed and did as asked, allowing me a chance to run my hand over his abs a few times. It worked wonders for easing away some of my stress.
"Okay, you can get ready now."
Zoh's POV:
A few minutes later (19:05):
They were still talking…
… Maybe suicide wasn't such a bad idea after all.
Ahri's POV:
The next day (13th February 09:55):
"So, what should we do today?"
"Uh… I guess we could do a bunch of menial stuff to make sure that people know the author isn't completely unaware of how humans work."
"So… should I be groaning about my period?"
"Yeah. And… uh… I sorted out the taxes today. Income tax was three percent lower than normal because the brackets were shifted."
"I… messed up on my make-up so I had to redo it."
"We ran out of bread and toothpaste yesterday, so I popped down to the shop to get some."
"I got us the forms to reenroll in the League's pension scheme if… you know… that comes back."
"Good, good. Thinking ahead… Planning for the future…"
We sat there, occasionally coughing or sighing, for a few seconds Zoh ordered: "Let's go set something on fire."
"Can I say my last one first?"
"Okay."
"I organised all of the drawers in the house."
"Dude…" He paused for a second, consideration clear on his face, before giving me a polite golf-clap.
A little while later (10:35):
We'd been out there for a few minutes trying to set things up. There was this huge dead tree in the middle of nowhere that Zoh thought would be a perfect thing to put a bunch of fireworks in. I normally would have tried to be the voice of reason, but I liked fireworks and he seemed genuinely excited for once, so I was happy to let it slide.
After managing to set himself on fire at least half a dozen times, he dived out of the tree and slammed into the ground. Picking himself up and wiping the dust off, he turned to me: "The ground looks a lot softer from above."
"Oh, I know the feeling. I would suggest we start catching each other more but..." I paused for emphasis: "I think we can agree I'd be drawing the short straw."
"I can swallow a bunch of helium if you want, not that I would ever condone such an action. I've been betrayed by helium one too many times…"
"How do you get betrayed by an element?"
"I don't remember much about what happened that night, but there was a spud-gun involved and I'm pretty sure I had a good time."
"Spud-guns aren't even that fun."
"They can be if you know how to use them. I don't, but I know a guy whose cousin met a lady on the internet who said she did. That's gotta count for something."
I put my hand on his shoulder and sighed, stating: "You are lucky you're so hot."
"And funny."
"Yeaaaaaahhhhh… just set off the fireworks."
"Hey, I have my moments!"
"Oh, you do? Must have them when I'm not around."
"Meanie." He grumbled, slamming his hand on the 'fucking explode already' button that he had custom-made after a few failed tests. After an eternity-long moment, green fireworks exploded from every branch, as smaller brown ones shot up the trunk. Life returned to that long-dead tree for a fleeting moment, before the air settled and what was left of it crumbled to a heap on the ground.
"That was impressive pretty impressive. Gotta wonder why it took you so long to set up."
"Well, there were quite a few fireworks that didn't go off…"
I looked over at him, a twinge of sadness on his face. Sitting myself down on the ground, I waited for him to follow suit before gently putting my hand on his.
"You shouldn't get upset over some fireworks."
"Ahri, I can't even set up something like this anymore. Half of the goddamn fireworks didn't go off and I don't understand why. When I try to think of where I messed up I'm brought back to that day… and it hurts as much as it did then. How am I supposed to stop this world and its people from tearing themselves apart, when I can't even look at myself in the mirror?"
"I think you've done your part for Runeterra, Zoh. You think the rest of us could have taken down the Head Summoner without you? Hell, the only reason I'm alive, the only reason any of the Champions in that first battle are alive is because you took the brunt of the ability. You don't owe us anything. Let other people carry the burden this time."
"But what about Noxus and Demacia's demands?"
"We have a space dragon that makes stars on a daily basis, I'm sure he can shove a couple mountains around, and Heimerdinger could build Noxus' machine in the morning while he does his hair. Let them deal with that stuff while you deal with your own issues."
"But what if they get it wrong?"
"Look, you're going to have to start trusting people eventually. Just because you're the smartest person around, doesn't mean that everyone else is incompetent. We're not children Zoh, we can handle responsibility. The universe survived for god-knows how long before you turned up, and it'll continue to survive after you're gone."
He sighed and laid on his back, conceding: "Fine, we will do it your way."
I smiled at him and crawled on top of him, leaning down to place a kiss on his forehead.
"This will be good for you. Now you'll have all the time in the world to work out what's making you like this and sort it out."
"I almost hope this doesn't work, just so you don't get to gloat about being right. Again."
"Surely you must have learned by now that me getting my way has some… benefits for you." I muttered while leaning in close.
"Trust me, I know." He smirked before drawing me into a kiss. His hand grabbed my leg and slid to my thigh, hiking my skirt up. I reached down to guide his hand over to my ass while slowly leaning out of the kiss.
"Do you remember our first time?"
"Of course. It was pretty hard to forget."
"Truly unforgettable. Not entirely for the right reasons, though."
"Yeah… I think the step-by-step guide to the various parts of a women's… parts might have messed with the romance."
"You did need it though. The confusion on your face when I got naked was funny and exceedingly obvious."
"There was a whole lot of stuff I didn't understand. Like why there was one more hole than I expected."
I giggled at him for a moment before giving him a quick kiss as an apology.
"Oh, and remember later on when you asked me if it was okay to go again?"
"Well, sorry I didn't know the customs of having sex. For a while I thought that I would need to shake your hand at the end."
I burst out laughing, quickly covering my mouth with my hand and dropping my face to his chest.
"Surely you can see my logic? After any group project you shake each other's hand for a job well-done."
I started laughing so hard I had to roll off of him and stopped even trying to cover it, exclaiming through it: "Group fucking project!"
"Okay, maybe that wasn't the correct terminology, but I feel like the sentiment behind it is still correct!"
It took me a few more seconds to calm down enough to string together a coherent sentence: "You should try speaking less. You've got a talent for making things worse for yourself when you do."
"Only when I'm around you. Now, before I go hide for a few months until you've forgotten about this conversation, are there any other embarrassing moments you'd like to remind me of?"
"Well, there was the second time around when you poked me in the eye."
"Yeeaaahhh, sorry about that."
"Oh don't worry about it. It's got nothing on the time we thought that shower sex was somehow a good idea."
"I think I've still got bruises from that…"
"Or when I said something… I, argh I can't remember what it was, but we had to stop for an hour cause we couldn't stop laughing."
"Yeah, it was… oh, come on I can't have forgotten too! It was so funny! This is going to haunt me to my grave, I swear."
"You know what's gonna happen, too. One of us will remember but by the time we find the other to tell them we'll have forgotten it."
"Mhmm… I wish I could get a refund on the bit of my brain that remembers things. It's a shoddy product, I tell you."
"Zoh, if you had better memory you'd be a little too perfect. I'd have to check if I'm getting punked for a TV show."
"How can you say that after seeing my acting?"
"Good point, it's as bad as your singing."
"I wouldn't go that far. Plus, singing is your thing. I don't have to be good at it."
"Singing's not really 'my thing'. I'm not even that good at it."
"Ahri, your shower-singing was enough to convince the League to invest a huge amount of money into setting up a tour for you. They wouldn't do that solely to put those on display." He assured while poking one of my boobs.
"It doesn't really matter. It was just a one-time thing."
"Oh I'm sure." He smirked.
"What, do you really think they're going to bother doing that again?"
"You really think they won't? I guess you never saw the sales numbers."
"No, I didn't. Were they really so good?"
"To put it into perspective, merchandising alone covered the expenses. And then some. And then some more. Imagine what would have happened if they sold body-pillows…"
"What's that?"
"If I told you, you'd work out what people would use them for and… it's best you don't know."
"Well… if the League comes back and they do decide to make me do that again, I'm getting to help write the songs. They were utter nonsense last time around."
"True. However, we won't have to think about it for a while. If by some magic or dumb luck the League returns in a similar style to what it used to be, I have a list of demands for things we've got to do before we start with anything like music tours."
"Oh, making demands now, are we?"
"I figure they owe me enough to at least listen to what I think we need to do."
"Go on then, don't leave me in suspense. What are they?"
"The main idea is that we do more to benefit actual people. Until just recently, I was completely unaware that some places here don't even have clean water! That is the most basic human right there is."
"Okay, that seems just. What are the other ones?"
"Another big one is combatting racism, sexism and the like. I get that a lot of places here are very old fashioned, but the way I've seen people look at Shurimans is simply unacceptable."
"I was kinda hoping for more entertaining or jokey demands, but these are all good enough. Anything else?"
"Only other notable ones are elections for the Council and a general shift towards being more open about what the League is doing at any one time and…"
"And…?"
"It would be spoilers to say, but I'll leave you with the small hint that it's something you said you'd like."
"I've said that about a lot of things."
"If you'd only said it about one thing, it wouldn't be much of a 'small hint'."
I looked over at him with an eyebrow raised, whispering: "Touché."
He stared back at me and smiled, his hand beckoning me over. I was more than happy to crawl back onto him, immediately taking his lips into mine. He rested his hands on my waist and caressed my sides for a few blissful moments before someone coughed behind me. Apparently, even in the middle of nowhere, having told no-one where we were, someone had still found a way to interrupt us just as it was getting good. I probably should have been expecting it, considering our track record when it came to getting interrupted.
What I couldn't have expected, though, was who the culprit was. I guessed Shen but, after sitting up, I turned to find someone I'd never seen before standing there. It was a woman, probably in her early thirties, wearing black, form-fitting clothes with a white cape. She had short, black hair and white eyes. From the look of her, that was the first time she'd seen the sun in… ever.
"Hello… can I help you?"
"You most certainly cannot. He, however, can."
How to offend me in two sentences.
Zoh started to speak but I put a finger against his lips and asked: "Tell me: what is it that he can help you with, exactly?"
"Oh spare me your childish jealousy. I do not have time for it. I am here to speak to the adult about matters that are of no concern to you."
"They've just become my concern. Speak."
She glared at me for a few seconds before relenting: "Fine. I have been sent to discuss the recent deaths of two Spirits. You knew one of them as 'Dis'."
Zoh patted me on the leg, so I got to my feet and helped him up. I made sure to stand very close to him as he asked: "Okay, so what do you want to know?"
"You could begin with explaining just how you, a mortal, managed to kill one of the strongest among us."
"I hit him with my axe. Really hard. With the sharp bit."
"No. That's impossible. You could not strike down the weakest among us with such an unrefined and blunt weapon."
Zoh's axe appeared in his hand, allowing him to display it to the Spirit.
"I wouldn't call it blunt. I can demonstrate if you've got an arm you're not using or something."
She stepped closer and pricked her finger on the blade.
"That must be made of… no… Who created this for you?"
"I did. Why do you ask?"
"You made that weapon and have the skills to use it?"
"Yes."
"Dis has gone too far this time. His little pet projects were always supposed to have a weakness, but I suppose he forgot about that part of the treaty." She turned slightly and waved her arm behind her, opening a portal to fuck-knows where. Before leaving, she looked over at Zoh and pointed at him: "I will return and, luck be good, it will be with a warrant to destroy you."
I stepped forward and dared: "You can fucking try."
She shook her head and left through the portal, shortly before it fizzled out of existence. I looked over at Zoh, who knew the answer I was looking for: "We won't have to worry about that for some time. A year to their kind is an hour to ours."
He turned to me and shrugged: "Plus, you know how these kinds of people are. I'm not going to worry about getting stabbed in my sleep."
"When she comes back, let me get a punch in. I didn't like her tone."
"Yeah, you made that fact quite obvious." Zoh smiled while stepping towards me, reaching out and stroking my cheek.
I lightly swatted his hand away while grumbling: "We can't do that now. I'm frustrated."
"Oh, but when I'm frustrated it's 'there's nothing better than frustrated sex'."
"Well… when have I ever really played by my own rules?"
"Uhm, I think you did one time a few months ago. Although that was the same day that Mr. Oinkers the prize-winning pig took flight, so I might have just dreamt it."
"Right then, so we're agreed, we'll do something else."
"When the hell did I become the one who wants sex but is being denied it?"
"A few seconds ago."
He considered for a second before shrugging: "Okay then, I guess we'll just wait here for someone to conveniently appear with something for us to do for a while."
A couple seconds passed in silence before Garen appeared from fuck-knows where.
"You two! I need help smuggling myself into Noxus!"
I turned to Garen and asked: "Why do you need our help getting in?"
"They have installed a temporary teleportation-blocking field. I have been tasked with finding out why."
"Don't take this the wrong way but, you're not the best person for stealth missions."
"I know, but Quinn is away on an even more important assignment. Plus, I was already planning on visiting Noxus for personal reasons."
"'Personal reasons'? Zoh prefers the term 'group projects'."
Garen looked over at Zoh with an eyebrow raised.
"Please, don't ask."
"To be quite honest, I don't want to know. So, will you help me?"
Zoh and I glanced at each other, shrugging in tandem before I answered: "Okay. But you're gonna have to take the shining gold armour off. It's a tad bit distinctive."
He put a hand on his chest and stared, surprised, at me.
"But- but… I like this armour."
"Oh, don't start whining about it. Where you're going, you won't need armour. Or clothes, for that matter."
He began to remove his armour but I had to quickly disrupt him to add: "Just so we're clear, keep your clothes on until you are in Katarina's house."
"Please, I'm not Shen."
"I know, but everyone around here is pretty weird, so I had to make sure."
A few hours later (14:00):
The main hurdle we had to clear to get into Noxus was not being recognised. Not to brag, but we were all household names at that point, and even the impoverished masses of Noxus would be able to tell us apart from just more random passers-by; the old posters plastered around the city made sure of that.
The obvious solution to our major problem was disguises. Unfortunately, only I had any level of useful experience in using disguises. Zoh had worn a few disguises in his time, but they could all be summed up by the phrase 'different armour'. Even he admitted that any armour he could use would attract a lot of attention.
So, we decided on a backstory and gathered everything needed from a few unwilling Noxian soldiers who were patrolling the border. We were going to be three soldiers returning to the city on leave that we earned by killing a bunch of people. It was... well…
I hoped we wouldn't have to explain it to anyone.
We had spent a few minutes watching what people did when they entered through the main gate and finally felt confident that we could copy them.
As we approached the gate, I realised just how hard my job was going to be. We had to take the uniform of a… larger fellow, so that I would have space to hide my tails. That did, however, mean that I was having to use my tails to fill all the extra space I was not taking up. Holding the cumbersome shield and spear didn't particularly help. Focusing on so many things at once was a pain in my fucking ass.
Zoh's POV:
Upon reaching the gate, I stepped over to one of the guards and did the weird fist-chest-smack salute thing before putting on my best Noxian accent:
"Greetings, brother. My comrades and I have been awarded a short leave for the successful sacking of a border village."
"Why stop with just the one? If you were successful, surely you should be off raiding another?"
"Can't raid another when only the three of us survived. We're waiting on reinforcements before we can go after another."
"I am sorry to hear that, brother. We've had reports of increased casualties across all raiding parties."
"I suppose the Demacians have finally caught on to what we're doing. Not that it'll help."
"Correct you are. Enjoy your leave."
We saluted each other and I beckoned Garen and Ahri over. Heading through the gates and across the bridge, we got a glimpse at the destruction that had befallen the slums. The majority of the shacks that served as the most of people's houses had been flattened entirely, but there were no more people sleeping in the streets than before. Noxus had effectively evicted almost all of the population, forcing them to set up villages in the surrounding countryside.
I assumed that the teleportation-blockers and mass-eviction were related, but I didn't have much evidence for it at that time.
To be brutally honest, the walk across that bridge was one of the most depressing experiences I'd had in a long time. Below me was a devastated ghost town, void of human life and covered in rubble. Yet, the bridge hadn't changed in the slightest. Trading caravans, regiments of soldiers and travellers from all corners of Valoran made their way across it. I could see it in the eyes of the people around us, they all saw what was below, but not one acknowledged it. If I didn't know any better, I'd think saying a word of what lay below was a crime.
The only things still standing in the ruins were the pylons that dotted the landscape, billowing a dirty green smoke into the sky. The plumes of smoke stopped abruptly above the city, coalescing into a malformed and constantly shifting dome. No doubt, that was how they were preventing teleportation, as rudimentary of a system as it was.
We found more of the pylons when we reached the upper city. They really had just planted them wherever there was space, which I could appreciate from a practical perspective, but it irritated me nonetheless.
Luckily, Ahri remembered the way to the Zaunite embassy. Seeing as there wasn't a chance in hell that the Noxians build those machines themselves, the embassy was our best source of information for it.
As expected, the front door was under constant guard and. Seeing as the standard Noxian soldier would not be allowed into such an important place without a warrant, we were going to have to find our own way in.
Heading round back by way of an alley, we discovered that there was a small, open window on the top floor. It was only three floors up and the alley we were in was surrounding on all sides by windowless buildings, so no-one would see unless they came through the way we did.
"Okay, someone needs to get up there. It's the only way in that's not out in the open."
Garen and I immediately turned to Ahri, who already knew that she was the only logical choice.
"Fine. But I'm taking this outfit off! It stinks, and it won't help me if I get caught anyway."
I put my hands up by my head and assured: "You'll get no argument from me."
She threw off the outfit and put it in one of the nearby dumpsters, before clambering up the wall. It was slow progress; there was very little for her to climb with. She was barely a story up when a couple of Noxian soldiers wandered into the alley. It was lucky that those damn helmets blocked vision so much, or they'd have easily seen her.
"Brothers, what are you doing skulking around these parts?"
"Guard duty."
"Are these dumpsters really so important?"
"I don't know. It's a rare day when we get told what we're guarding. A rarer one when it's actually important."
"Funny, we were just looking over the deployment board and didn't see mention of this place anywhere."
My grip on my sword tightened and I thought up a plan of attack in the few seconds that passed before they both chuckled and shook their heads: "We're just messing with you, brothers. We came here to bunk-off too. You can only patrol the same street for so long before you need a break."
I let go of the sword-handle and joined in their light laughter: "Apologies, I was worried you were that type of soldier."
"'Assholes'. The word for them is 'assholes'."
"I generally try to avoid insulting my brothers. Don't want that other type telling the people I'm insulting."
"Well, you have nothing to fear from me or my quiet friend here. So then, what do you brothers think of those new pylons they shoved up a while ago"
"Bloody annoying is what I think. The least they could've done is put them in the middle of the damn roads. I lost count of the amount of times I've turned a corner and smacked my head on those things."
"Agreed. You know Brensonn? The lieutenant?"
"Course."
"He broke his nose on one. Was running to catch a thief or something and smashed right into it."
"Guess the helmets have a use after all."
"You wouldn't think so when you're fighting in the damn things. It's like they don't want us to see things attacking from above."
"Thankfully, Demacians can't fly."
"Not all of them. Shyvana is a real bitch to fight."
"You fought her? And lived?"
"Me? No. Mr. Quiet here did."
"Is that why he's…?"
"She turned back into a human specifically to rip out his tongue for yelling an insult."
"I'm almost impressed, to be honest. Must've been quite the insult."
"I wish I could've seen it too. Ahh, well, we better get back on patrol before someone notices." He started as they both took a couple steps backwards. The chatty one stopped abruptly and pointed at us: "What's your unit designation? I'd love to talk again sometime."
"I uh… we…"
I looked to Garen to help but he was as clueless as I was.
"Oh, fuck it." I gave up while throwing off my helmet and drawing my sword. Garen did the same and it took the best part of a second for the Noxian to exclaim: "Oh shit!"
They drew their weapons and squared-up.
The second I had to actually fight with that damn sword, I realised why I used axes. I suddenly had to parry. And deflect. Who the fuck came up with that? With an axe you just swing it so hard that they can dodge or die.
He was the first to make a move, slashing for my neck. I dodged backwards, barely avoiding the tip of his sword. He didn't give me a chance to make a move, immediately following his attack with a kick. I stumbled backwards as he charged at me, looking to stab me through the chest. After knocking his sword out of the way, I punched him across the face. The helmet hurt my hand a bit, but the force was enough to prevent him doing anything for a quarter of a second, giving me a chance to charge him, picking him up over my shoulder and slamming him to the ground. I brought my sword down upon him, but the Noxian rolled out of the way and was on his feet in a moment.
I sighed as he came at me again, slicing rapidly from every direction. I managed to block all of them thanks to how telegraphed his strikes were. He did managed to push me back to the wall and lock his blade against mine. I could have pushed him off with ease, but instead I used him as leverage to push myself against the wall and bring my feet up, delivering a two-footed kick to his gut. I dropped to my ass and hurried to my feet, just in time to dodge out of the way of his thrust. Smacking his sword-hand to the side, I grabbed him by the shoulders and kneed him in the stomach. He brought his hand back, having lost his sword, and smashed me across the face, following up with an elbow to the back of my head. I hit the ground but realised where his legs were, allowing me to sweep them out from under him. In the fall, I lost my weapon, so I jumped onto him and flung his helmet off. I was much stronger than him, so he was helpless to defend against the continuous stream of punches. After a while, I realised that he was beyond dead, so I stopped.
Getting to my feet just in time to see the final few seconds of Garen's fight, I watched him end their duel with a decapitating slice. Walking over to him, I was about to ask what to do with the bodies when he pointed to something on my chest. When I looked down, I realised that I hadn't dodged all of those attacks. There was one long, light cut across my chest, right where my heart was.
After checking that it was definitely not serious, I took a long breath and smiled at him: "Too fucking close, man."
"Yeah, I'd stick with your armour if I were you."
"Trust me, I plan to. On the bright side, I get a cool scar eventually."
"If Ahri lets you."
"Yeah, I'll probably get to keep it for a week at best."
I heard something drop to the floor next to us and turned, finding myself looking at Ahri.
"Hey. I assume you were successful."
"Very." She boasted, handing a folder over to Garen. "They're converting the entire lower city into military installations. They think the Demacians are planning for war and want to be prepared."
"Did you find out why they think the Demacians will attack?"
"I think Garen should answer that for you."
I looked at him and raised an eyebrow.
"I'm sorry Zoh, but I am not at liberty to discuss such things with you."
"Garen, you know that I can find out in a matter of minutes if I want to, and I want to. But, I'd rather hear it from you and spare myself the trouble."
"Fine, but don't tell anyone, no matter how much you trust them."
"You have my word."
"We've been rapidly rebuilding our military forces since you killed the Head Summoner. We have already surpassed pre-war levels."
"Why?"
"The borders are more malleable now than they have ever been before. The frequency of Noxian raids has rose well beyond their previous peak. We cannot allow them to steal Demacian lands."
I shook my head and sighed, rubbing my forehead with my hand.
"Fine. Just another reason to get these damn negotiations to produce something of value. Go to Katarina, Ahri and I will make our own way out."
Ahri's POV:
Later (18:00):
After quickly realising that baseball was going to be horribly one-sided no matter what we did, it was decided that we would ban the use of abilities and instead play football. Or soccer. Or whatever the hell I was supposed to call it.
The team were Braum, Alistar, Darius, Tristana, and Twisted Fate verses Me, Akali, Kassadin, Sona, and Illaoi. The audience was made up of Zoh's skeletons and a few Champions who didn't want to play.
It wasn't a particularly eventful first match. We were still trying to adapt to the idea that we had to get past a wall of meat if we wanted a shot at scoring a goal, and even then we would have to get the ball past Braum. Luckily, he didn't have his shield with him.
Somehow, I wasn't surprised that we lost in the last few minutes. Twisted Fate got the ball and we all learned that putting Sona in goal was a horrible idea. I wasn't entirely sure why we put her there in the first place. It didn't really make any sense.
So, the first game didn't go well. But, it was a best of three, and I was confident that we could pull it back in our favour.
At the start of the second game, something must have possessed Akali, because she immediately scored a goal. Then, after some fancy passing between Twisted Fate and Tristana, they managed to equalise. That goal made me realise how passive I was being and, as one of the strikers, I had to make a change.
The second the ball got to me, I went as hard as I could. I still wasn't used to the feeling of running while keeping the ball with me, but I still managed to get it by Tristana by just kicking it over her. As soon as I was on their side, the defenders came at me. Alistar should have been easy to get past, being as slow and lumbering as ever. But, we was just so damn huge that I had to run it all the way around him while he tried his hardest to get in my way. I did eventually get the ball and myself beyond him, but by that point Darius was right on top of me. I'd have to do some seriously skilful stuff to get past him myself, but I wasn't very good at the game, so I booted it to Akali. That would've been a perfectly fine plan, but she wasn't paying attention, so it smacked her in the face. Through sheer force of luck, it bounced off and flew through the air, falling into the corner of the net.
Everyone, myself included, was laughing as I ran up to Akali to make sure she was okay. The blow had knocked her to the floor, and I could see from a distance that half of her face was as red as a tomato. When I knelt down next to her, I saw that she was laughing with us.
Once Akali was okay to continue, we got back to the match. The rest of that match was mostly uneventful, with my team managing to keep our lead until it finished. Once we had all taken a little while to catch our breaths, we got into the last match.
Almost immediately, we realised that the exhaustion had taken a toll on the overall level of play. We were all too tired to defend properly, so the occasional bursts of movement almost all resulted in goals. Before the first half was even done the score was five to three in their favour. We managed to get one more goal in thanks to a goal-kick from Illaoi. She managed to boot it from one end of the pitch to the other and actually score a goal. Sure, it was still a much smaller pitch than usual, but it was still damn impressive.
After switching sides, we got right back to it. I was beyond relieved when we decided that I would go in goal. Not because I was good at it or anything, just because it required less running.
To my credit, I was better at the actual defending part than Illaoi was. I wasn't about to score any across-the-pitch goals, but I didn't let nearly as many in as I thought I would.
A little while through the second half, the worst possible situation arose. Tristana and Braum got past my defenders. Braum took the first shot which I barely managed to block by getting my leg in the way. It bounced back to Braum who went again, firing it at the other end of the goal. After diving over and batting it away with my hands, it landed at Tristana's feet. I managed to get up in time to take it to the gut, actually managing to bring my hands down and get a hold on it. After coughing up any air that was left in my lungs, I kicked it over to Sona who managed to get it to the other side and away from me.
Resting my head on one of the posts, I swore repeatedly under my breath about how much everything hurt. I only got a few seconds to groan before Shen appeared next to me.
"Ahri, you've got to come quickly! It's Zoh, he…"
He knew his tone said as much as his words ever could.
Late that night (23:00):
It was a bit chilly in the apartment. I normally would have taken it as an excuse to cuddle-up to Zoh but… well…
I looked over at Zoh, but he didn't look back. He didn't even acknowledge me. I wasn't sure he even noticed. He just kept that empty stare on his face, focused on nothing.
"Are we gonna… talk about it?"
"No."
"But if you tell me what happened maybe I can help."
"Oh I'm sorry, I didn't realise you'd found the time to get a psychology diploma."
"I don't need to be a psychologist to help."
"Look, if whatever the fuck is wrong with me is more than I can deal with, then there's no amount of sweet words that you can spout which will make a miniscule fucking difference. There's not a single person on this crumbling pile of shit you people call a planet who can help me, because they've got the collective intelligence of a brain-dead fly! I'm going to bed."
He got up and left, leaving me with my thoughts. I sighed and laid down on the sofa. Eventually, I would go to bed, but only when I was sure he was asleep.
A few minutes later, I wasn't sure how long, I guessed that Zoh was asleep. I got up just as someone knocked on the door. Whoever was knocking at that time must have had something important, so I went over and opened it.
"Hey Nocturne." I mumbled, my hopes that it was a surprise pizza delivery dashed.
"Hello. May I come in?"
I opened the door wide and left it there as I returned to the sofa. He followed me in and closed the door before dropping himself on the armchair.
"How is he holding up?"
"The only times he's said more than a word since was to say that everyone on Runeterra is an idiot."
"That bad?"
I nodded and stared at the floor.
"Has he had any more episodes?"
"Nope. Since we got back he's just stared at that wall."
"You know, if you don't feel safe, we can get you another room."
"I'll be fine, thank you. He would never hurt me, and I can deal with it if he tries."
"Everyone knows that Zoh would never hurt you, but he's not himself right now. At least sleep in your own room."
"Nocturne, the last thing he needs is to feel even more isolated."
He sighed and wiped his face.
"Okay, if you're sure. But if something happens I get to say I told you so until my throat is raw. But anyway, I almost forgot why I came here. As you likely expected, Zoh has been given forced leave from the negotiations and Soraka has been brought on to take his place…"
"There's something else."
"Yeah… you see, we've had a lot of requests for Zoh to stay in this apartment. But I know as well as you do that no-one can truly keep him here if he wants to leave."
"I understand people's reasoning. If the general public saw him like this it could have consequences we can't even imagine. I'll try to keep him here, but I'm not making any promises."
"That's all I can ask for. Thank you for your time."
He got up and went to the door, but stopped just shy of it. Turning, he added: "There is one more thing. You probably don't care at this point but, your team won. The football match, I mean."
I smiled weakly at him and shrugged: "Bright side, I guess."
He left without another words, relieving me of my last reason to stay up any longer. After a day like that, my bed was the oasis in the middle of the desert.
The days following that one blended together to the point where I couldn't even tell what day it was. Each one was exactly the same. I'd wake up early, amuse myself until midday when Zoh would finally get up, then try to still enjoy myself with him around, despite how hard he made it. He'd go to sleep at no later than eight without so much as a hug and I'd help Shen for a few hours. I'd never felt like such a burden before.
A few days later (19th February 20:00):
"Have you done anything fun today?"
"There's nothing fun to do."
"You could build something. You always used to enjoy that."
"Used to."
He trudged past me and into the bedroom, somehow in a worse mood than he was before I opened my mouth. I followed him in and started to get undressed with him.
It took a while for me to get to sleep, but when I did I had a dream that I was by the sea. It was night and the rain was coming down hard. I didn't really notice it as I stepped up to the water. I stared into it for a while for reasons I couldn't explain, I just had to look into it. Thunder blasted behind me, forcing my attention to it for a split second. By the time I looked back, I was underwater, drowning. The thunder came again, and again, and again, as I struggled to reach the surface. But no matter how hard I swam, I never got any closer to the air.
I opened my eyes and found Zoh on top of me, strangling the life out of me as tears fell from his face.
"You killed them! The only family I had left and you took them away from me!"
No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't rip his hands away from my throat. My strength was so far gone I could hardly hold my arms up. The corners of my vision were fading and I couldn't use my magic.
The last bit of strength I had left went into reaching my hand up to his face. I only managed to lightly touch his cheek, but the hatred on his face disappeared in an instant. His expression turned to pure anguish as he released his grip and jumped off me. He bolted to the door and I heard the front door slam shut.
As soon as I got my breath back, I left to find him. If he had another outburst, the next person might not have been as lucky.
Jogging through the halls, it didn't take me long to find him. I could hear him sobbing, and found him curled up next to the door to the council chambers. No-one else was in there but me and him.
Approaching carefully, I sat down next to him and let him cry on my shoulder. I curled my tails around him and whispered things like 'It'll be okay'.
After a few minutes, I heard him mumble something.
"What was that?"
"I'll get help."
Never before, in all my life, had three words filled me with such relief and happiness.
I'm just gonna leave it there.
I hope you all enjoyed the chapter and I will hopefully see you in the next one.
