A/N: Confusing previous chapter? As one reader pointed out, it is indeed out of place for a reason. I think only one person caught the reason behind it though it is obscure.
"Will she be okay?"
A heavy weight settled on her body and a haze in her mind, but she forced her eyes open. A worry-stricken blonde filled her vision with an equally concerned duelist behind her, and it took all of her effort not to vomit from so much light pouring into the room.
Someone laid her flat on her back.
"She's awake."
"Oui, we were lucky Nera caught her in time."
Eyrin couldn't remember what happened exactly. Sitting up proved near impossible, aided by a firm hand on her chest. "You need to stay still – Nera is... doing something to help you."
The raven-haired woman realized warm hands were placed on either side of her ears. The steady thrum of a heartbeat soothed any tumultuous thought threatening to break through. "What happened?"
Fiora and Lux glanced at each other. The duelist nodded once, and Lux turned back to Eyrin.
"This might be a bit of a long story..."
Earlier that day...
Lux frowned when the point of her dueling partner's foil connected with her chest piece. She evaded nearly every lunge Fiora aimed at her, but parrying escaped her grasp yet again. She lifted her weapon up and bared her palms towards the duelist. "I yield."
Fiora tucked her weapon under her arm before unlatching her face guard. "You are faster, but lost your form. Have you been practicing?"
"Sort of," Lux admitted quietly. Between the Illuminators dispatching her on relief missions and enduring grueling practice sessions with the Laurents, sleep was a miracle let alone practice. And Augatha's insistence on some promising results wore on her resiliency; every day that passed without substantial 'incriminating' evidence, she grew more and more suspicious of the blonde's authenticity. "I mean I try, but time is valuable and I've not a lot of it presently."
The duelist stared at her, curiously quiet. Lux tried not to fidget under such a scrutinizing gaze, especially with her being sweaty and completely un-ladylike.
Why was she so quiet? Especially now of all times.
A gloved hand squeezed her shoulder. "This is important as well. Else I would not take time out of my day to offer this."
Lux brushed the duelist off. "You consider your time more valuable than those around you?"
"Absolutely not," Fiora retorted, glaring at Lux as if she offended her name. "All time is valuable."
Lux opened her mouth in an attempt to retort, but the duelist turned her attention away from her. She followed her line of sight to the two women sparring on the other side of the room. Teal eyes melted with a quiet reverence, and she noticed Fiora's grip tighten on the pommel of her weapon. "And I know you believe the same."
Skepticism flooded Lux's mind. She eyed Fiora uneasily when the duelist hit a little close to home. "Do you really think, for a second, you understand me?"
The haunting smile that lined the duelist's lips set off red flags.
And yet, for a brief moment, also filled her with hope.
"I do, perhaps more than you know."
Nera rolled her shoulders in an attempt to rid the tightness knotted in her back. Today's sparring session started off just like any other – warm ups, some basic combat sequences before moving on to help the raven-haired woman perfect a weaker technique. About halfway through one of their warm ups, the snowy-haired woman registered something off-kilter and at least twice she swore she saw faint traces of black miasma emanating from Eyrin's skin.
"Easy on the punches," she warned when the blows started to make her hand numb. Impressive, given she had practice pads and they absorbed a fair amount.
"..." The lack of response alarmed Nera, but she didn't press her silence.
Nera studied her form and followed her movements closely. She adjusted so her own frame absorbed the blows a little better, when a pattern emerged. These weren't practiced or controlled – Eyrin tapped into something deeper and it affected her combat. When her fist glanced off Nera's arm instead of landing on one of the pads, a wave of nausea hit the snowy-haired woman.
A strange power whittled through her mind, snagged a memory from deep within, and forced it to surface with no rhyme or reason. The two separated in that brief moment.
Eyrin's face contorted slightly as if in pain, but it vanished with a few shakes of her head.
On the other hand, Nera struggled to keep herself composed. What was that...?
"Who is this Noxian?" The snowy-haired woman barely blocked the punch aimed for her face, caught off guard by the sudden question. Eyrin recovered quickly, but only just. "Better yet, why is there a Noxian involved?"
"I'm afraid I don't know what you mean, Eyrin." She blocked a few more blows and some kicks. Dancing around Eyrin was easier when they had a routine but the new, erratic movements forced Nera into a defensive posture. "Why are you asking such a question?"
"I saw it."
Nera feigned ignorance. "Saw what?"
"The folder. You had it in your hands."
Telepathy? "I deal much with milady's businesses and handle many documents on her behalf. I would recall something as unique as such. How did you see this?"
A fist slipped past her guard and Nera grunted when it made contact with her chest.
"Don't lie to me."
The snowy-haired woman saw stars when said fist angled up and connected straight into her jaw. Another memory surged though this time it felt forced. She collapsed when it hit harder than the physical blow. Her vision swam as vague figures danced around the room, weaving in and out of the light like shadows in the night. She heard whispers and disconnected sentences but couldn't fully grasp any of them before they fled her mind.
"Nera!" The snowy-haired woman struggled to her feet with Fiora's help. At some point, the two duelists stopped their own training and joined them. "Are you alright?"
"Oui." Perhaps a little winded, shaken, and sore, but intact for the most part. She rubbed her jaw to test it and found nothing broken or fractured.
Eyrin was on her knees, hands clutching her head. It seemed the brief contact affected them both.
Fiora appeared pensive, given her servant's less-than-ideal state. Nera's expression darkened slightly as she continued in low tones. "She confirms my theory."
"Now is not the time for that. You need to sit down somewhere properly." Nera winced when she took a step and felt her leg buckle under her own weight. Fiora frowned and tried to get the other woman to lean a little more on her.
Part of her fatigue came from having her spirit nearly knocked out of her. The other part however...
"It's not me Fiora." Nera gestured towards the two women. "Can you feel it?"
The furrowed brows on the duelist's face answered her question. "Magic."
And a lot of it coming from Eyrin.
Eyrin covered her eyes with her palms, fingers combed through her hair in a solid grip.
Lux fell to her knees as well, wrapping her arms around the raven-haired woman. "Hey, it's okay. I'm here."
"Make them stop," the older woman begged, looked up with tear-stricken eyes. The despair hit her hard, and Lux felt helpless in stopping whatever tormented her friend. "Please, I can't take it anymore."
"Eyrin, you can do this. You're stronger than they are." She knew of the ghosts haunting Eyrin shortly after stopping the petricite elixirs. She'd seen the terror in her eyes whenever Augatha demanded her presence, and the hollow expression whenever she came back to Lux. Every time the voices surfaced they took longer and longer to depart.
She wished she could stop the nightmares.
"Lady Crownguard, I highly advise you step away from Eyrin. She's currently unstable."
Lux ignored Nera's pleading. She cupped Eyrin's cheek, watching her eyes flicker from brown to green and back. "Come back to me." It pained her to see the older woman struggle with the demons burrowed in her mind.
Worse yet, she could see her losing.
"Lady Crownguard-" Nera tried once more.
"She'll be fine-" Lux was firm in her determination.
"Lux." The blonde's head snapped in Fiora's direction, her sharp voice cleaving through desperation. She had her hands on both of her arms.
Lux frowned and yanked an arm from the duelist's grip. "I can handle this." She dealt with worse, it was simply a matter of expelling the plague from Eyrin's conscience.
Unfortunately, she missed the miasma oozing off her frame and the solid objects forming within.
A painful scream pierced the atmosphere as black magic surged forth from the raven-haired woman. It exploded out in sickly spears, embedding themselves in the wall and seeking anything in their paths to destroy. Instinct kicked in before her rationale, and Fiora roughly jerked Lux out of the direct line of fire. She wrapped her arms tightly around the blonde with only one goal in mind – protect. Teals transformed into swirling maelstroms of violet, the same colored energy emerging and coating every inch of her skin. Every bolt ricocheting off her aura threatened to crumble her hastily placed defenses.
She hoped it wouldn't come down to having to protect Lux with her physical body.
Lux's eyes were as wide as tea saucers. Her momentary awe quickly gave way to sharp pain as some magic tore through her arm, drawing blood and forcing her to shrink herself down as much as she could.
It didn't go unnoticed – Fiora tried to draw them away from the source only to end up with a couple of black spears embedded in her arm. Violet magic flickered in and out of existence.
Lux warred with herself. Whatever barrier Fiora put up wouldn't last much longer.
But my secret...
One glance at Fiora gave her the push she needed.
No... it's too late to hide.
She closed her eyes and whispered a prayer, mostly for herself as she steeled her resolve. Gods help me through this. The blonde held up her hand, mind zeroing in on an artifact hidden within her bag somewhere in the room. A streak of metal whizzed through the air and she snatched it before it collided with her. Without skipping a beat, light magic poured forth from her hands and into the catalyst.
Warmth washed over them as chaos faded away momentarily. Gold danced within purple as the barrier reformed into something much more solid. The duelist stared down at Lux, with wand in hand and tears in her eyes.
Between the violet of Fiora's eyes and the golden shimmer of Lux's hair, a singular thought connected them.
She knows magic.
Nera grabbed a shield off the racks just as dark magic flooded the room. It glanced off her protection as she braced herself, each bolt pinging off it and sending sparks flying.
It was one thing to sense it by an occasional brush of their skin. But this?
She felt another burst of magic in the air, recognizing it immediately from the years she spent with Fiora. And then another originating from none other than the blonde herself.
Well... So much for keeping secrets now. The sheer magnitude of concentrated magic weighed on her like a heavy blanket. The wall behind her groaned and cracked under the expansive force. They wouldn't hold up much longer if she didn't do something.
The snowy-haired woman gritted her teeth and charged forward, swinging in an arc towards Eyrin. Green eyes followed her movements and Eyrin's magic followed suit. It shot forward and wrapped around her arms and legs, pinning her to the ground. Her shield clattered off to the side, out of reach but she still resisted in attempts to retrieve it. Voices flooded her mind as she struggled against her restraints, watching the raven-haired woman approach her.
A twisted scythe manifested at her side. "If you didn't exist..."
Nera's eyes widened. She recognized that echoing tenor. "Eyrin, listen to me carefully-"
"...if you didn't give us this much trouble..." A hand gripped the scythe and it hung loosely against Eyrin's side.
Nera watched as she raised it above her head slowly, magic brimming at her skin as her muscles tensed.
"...then she wouldn't have to suffer."
Nera barely rolled to her side, forcing her shackles to obey her command. The scythe cut her arm deeply instead of decapitating her. Dark magic clashed with the one pumping through her veins, and the conflict was enough to flood her mind with screams and crying, hysterical laughter and terror.
Blood soaked the mats but she ignored the pulsing pain. "Eyrin, don't let Augatha control you like this."
Eyrin froze in her place as Nera stared up at her, hand reaching up to slowly grip the scythe's edge. It cut her hand just from touching it, but she forced the pain out of her head. Crimson liquid slowly traveled up the black weapon and carved red lines in their path. Nera's eyes went from their usual soft brown to a deadly crimson when her magic took hold. "Don't let her do this."
Just a little more... Nera placed her other hand on the handle of the scythe and the red rivulets increased. As they got closer to Eyrin's hand, she retracted it to keep them from touching her. Damnit... Come on!
"Nera...?" Green slowly faded as brown returned, and the snowy-haired woman pressed her advantage.
"Focus on my voice, Eyrin. Let me help you."
Tears brimmed and fell from those pained, haunted eyes. "Nera, I can't. They're too loud."
"They're only ghosts. Nothing is the truth there. We are here."
Eyrin shook her head. Despite her hesitation, Nera could see the light brimming within.
"I believe in you." Eyrin's eyes widened in shock when perfect Noxian slipped from the snowy-haired woman's lips. Her voice cut through the heavy fog and shattered the mirage around them.
Her magic sank into the floor and slowly dissipated into nothingness.
And Eyrin let herself fall to the Void.
Present time...
The long stretch of silence that ensued made everyone incredibly awkward. For Eyrin, she lacked the energy to protest or argue. For Lux, she feared speaking would spark another reaction. For Fiora-
-well, she had no appropriate response given everything that transpired.
"My sincerest apologies, to everyone in this room." Everyone stared at Nera, voice soft and so filled with regret it didn't belong. "We, Ionians, are deeply connected to the natural world and the magic entrenched in the land. I can sense magic on a spiritual level, though some are harder to find than others." The pointed look she gave Lux said it all.
She knew from day one... The day Lux tapped Nera with her magic had been months ago. And yet she never made mention of it.
"I designed my training to help release and control Eyrin's magic, not restrain it. I didn't know her capacity for magic, nor the origins of such."
No one was certain where she went with this.
Nera slowly opened her eyes and retracted her hands, balling them up into fists on her thighs. "I endangered everyone by my blind decisions. I hope you can find it within yourselves to forgive my arrogance."
…..
…..
…..
"We have much to discuss, all of us." Fiora's unreadable expression made the other three uneasy. "My office, when you feel well enough to move again."
Her command brokered no argument – they really did have a lot to go over.
Afterthoughts: This chapter and the previous happened in the same instance of time. The difference being is that the previous chapter is Eyrin's warped reality and this one is what actually transpired. Both are still very interconnected however as both memories/flashbacks are referenced in this chapter as well as mirroring interactions. They were designed with the intent to give a little more insight on, for a lack of a better way to put it, Eyrin's mind under the influence. To the reader who recognized the importance of the ghosts in the previous chapter, I applaud you catching a significant detail.
With that being said, the rest of the story should not be heavily focused on OCs, though they will have plot influences for the main pairing. This also served as a dual purpose to introduce some more aspects of Eyrin that will have later appearances as well as implement the major turning point I had sitting on the burner for a while.
On a side-note: holy cow. Well over 3k views. Granted that's probably nothing compared to other stories, it still humbles me you guys would still stick it out and read through my writing. And I always appreciate it, since I'm writing through stressful days at work and struggling with illness.
