Chapter 25 – Survival and Killer Instincts
She fought to regain control of herself as she flew through the air. She had screamed initially upon being blown away, but the immediate shock had been overcome. Now, she was concentrating on the ground below her.
She was beginning to decelerate, and gravity finally took its course. Arms back. Feet forward. Head focused ahead of her. It was going to be a rough landing, but it was nothing that she hadn't done before in some capacity. She gritted her teeth as the ground finally met her feet. With her knees bent and hands now in front of her, she entered a forward roll before flopping onto her back and rolling onto her side, travelling over a hundred metres across the coarse sand, until finally coming to a stop.
She closed her eyes and breathed heavily, waiting for her dizziness to calm down moderately. Although she was exhausted, and her head was still spinning, she managed to sit up. Her hands, knees and elbows where grazed, and she ached all over, but she was alive and not fatally wounded. The landing had been a success. 'Nailed it.'
Yang felt her stomach throb. Whatever was sitting in it yearned to escape. She gagged and retched until a puddle of murky brown had been ejected. Yang moaned and lay back down. She murmured something inaudible. Even she herself did not know what it meant, but it was probably a hint of feeling weak.
She dozed for ten minutes, forgetting everything around her. It was only until she eventually reopened her eyes and sat up again when she remembered what had happened and an alarming awareness that she had no idea where she was or what had happened to everyone else who had been aboard Ironwood's ship.
'Ruby! Blake! Weiss! Hello! Anyone out there?!'
Yang feebly stood up and took in her surroundings. Instantly she was given an unnerving sensation. There was nothing around her but sand, dirt and rock. The air was moderately chilling as a cool wind blew through the area.
In no direction could Yang see anything in the distance that looked remotely interesting or worth heading towards. Her decision on which direction she would go was based on where she had presumably come from. Yang retraced her steps to where she had initially landed. 'We were all travelling to Ionia. Shen had said that it was the easternmost point of Runeterra. So, assuming that I'm still in Runeterra, I would've either gone west, north or south.'
It was not entirely sound logic, since Yang had never seen a map of Runeterra and was clueless about its layout, but it was a form of inductive reasoning which might help her find a way back to Ionia or the gang. She could not be sure of its size, but Runeterra was most certainly finite.
After the ship had been destroyed, Yang had lost all sense of direction and time. She wasn't sure how long it had taken her to get from Ionia to here. She could not tell how far away she was from Ionia or where the nearest settlement lay. But roughly heading in the general direction of where she had come from would hopefully get her closer to help. If anything, food and water were the most imperative things she could hope to get her hands on.
With no reason to stay where she was, Yang began walking, hoping that luck would dowse her.
Yang became more perturbed. She had no idea how long she had been walking for, but it felt like ages. Dusk was approaching, and she had still not stumbled upon anywhere to take shelter or nourish. Furthermore, she could not be sure if she was still going straight. It was hard to tell with no indicators.
Yang clenched her fists in frustration. 'This just had to happen.' she said out loud. 'A dragon just had to come out of nowhere and screw us all over.'
She briefly wondered if this had been set up by anyone, but dismissed the idea. Ryze, Shen and Pantheon had been at Beacon to help them, and they had been flying to Ionia at just the wrong time. Could they have foreseen or pre-empted Ao Shin's descent? Probably not.
Although she was annoyed and on the verge of panicking, Yang recognised that it was this state of mind which caused her to think unhealthily. She had to focus on the practical side of things and not lose hope just yet.
'I need to get in contact with someone. Where could everyone else be… wait a sec!'
Yang slapped herself on the forehead before she reached into her pocket and found her scroll. She deployed it and searched for her teammates.
*Out of Signal*
'Not surprising…'
She shook her head and sighed. Nothing was in her favour. She could continue until she found something, or until she collapsed from exhaustion. Although she was completely alone, she did not trust the idea of sleeping out in the open – exposed to dangers that she may not be aware of. It was the fear of the unknown and the desire to be with her companions again that drove her to keep walking.
How long could she keep up her bravado though? The injuries that Yang had sustained from the fall finally caught up to her. The aching in her body returned, accompanied by stiffness. The sun's light had almost entirely disappeared too. It would be foolish to continue for much longer.
Yang came to a stop. She eased herself to her knees. There was nothing more that she could do. In reality, she could not be sure if she had helped her situation by moving away from where she had landed. What if she had only brought herself into worse peril? Maybe she would have been easier to track, had she remained in the same spot. 'Sustenance is what matters though.' Yang said to herself. 'I've expended so much energy to end up nowhere, yet I must be closer to someone, at the very least. There's gotta be some good to come out of this mess...'
Yang succumbed to her fatigue. There was no point in going any further, because at the rate she was going, the choice to sleep where she stood was not different to continue onwards and find nowhere else any better. She gathered sand from around her with her hands and feet to create a soft mound where she could lie down.
She put her hands on her hips and grimaced at the sight of her makeshift bed. It was abysmal. She had nothing to cushion her head, no blanket to keep her warm and no roof over her head.
The temperature was dropping rapidly and there was every chance that rain would make an unwanted splash.
'Ugh…' Yang groaned. She lay herself down straight on her back. The mound of sand did not fully belie the rocky ground beneath. She shivered and curled her knees to her front, but it did not mask the cold. Even pulling up her socks as far as they could go made virtually no improvement. Falling asleep was going to be borderline impossible in those conditions. Still though, Yang closed her eyes.
Despite her tiredness, Yang's mind was still racing. She feared for her team and her friends. If Yang had ended up in a different place to everyone else, what had become of them? Did they survive the fall? Had they found a place of respite, which Yang had not? Was Ruby okay?
Yang's sisterly love coursed through her body. She knew that Ruby could take care of herself, but was nonetheless terribly worried about her. Could she have been misfortunate enough to fall into the grasp of a situation far worse than Yang's? She dared not dwell on the idea, and instead hoped that she was at least somewhere safe, with someone who had her back.
Moreover though, Yang yearned for someone to be watching hers. She had felt collected in the daylight, but at night, where vision was not on her side, she felt vulnerable. It was the exact reason why she had walked so far, to not be forced to sleep amongst the barren nature. Even if she only had a rock or tree to sleep against that could break the wind, it would've been something.
At last, Yang found sleep. Her mind switched off, and the feeling of the environment's unpleasantries slowly backed off.
Yang held a frisbee in her hand and waggled it high above her head. 'Look Zwei! You want it?'
Woof, Woof!
'Fetch!' She threw it sideways and it flew off towards the closest bush in their back garden.
Zwei scampered for it on his adorable little legs. He leaped high into the air and successfully caught it in his mouth as he hurdled over the bush, landing on the other side.
'Nice one, Zwei!' said Yang proudly. She beamed as Zwei ran back with the frisbee. He placed it by her feet and barked. 'You want another go?'
Woof!
'Alright then. Go for it!' She cast it again, this time with a tad more force.
This time, Zwei ran pre-emptively, looking up and behind him at the frisbee as he went.
It soared across: but a bit too high this time. It flew and disappeared into the trees at the edge of the garden. Zwei ran back and barked.
'Whoops. Guess I tossed it a bit too hard. I'll climb up and get it, and I won't do that again, okay?'
Woof!
Yang jogged to the trees and looked up. It had vanished into the leaves. This was a piece of cake though. She put her hands and feet around the trunk and then pulled herself upwards, coordinating her limbs to get to the top. Within no time, she was inside the dome of leaves. She looked around until she found the frisbee resting atop a thin branch. It was a similar colour to the leaves, but it still hadn't been to hard to locate. Yang carefully balanced herself on top of the branch and inched her way towards the it. Her mind was focused purely on the frisbee. She did not want to keep her beloved dog waiting.
'Almost got it, Zwei!' Yang called out. 'Just a bit further!'
The creaking sound did not register. Without warning, the branch snapped. Yang gasped and dropped. She accelerated, and within less than two seconds, the ground met her body, and she jerked up in a fright. Yang opened her eyes and could see nothing but a night sky. She grunted. It had been a while since she'd had one of those involuntary muscle twitches in her sleep: the one which made her feel like she was falling all of a sudden. It was undoubtedly one of the worst ways to have your sleep interrupted.
Yang grunted again, knowing that she probably would not get back to sleep that night. She turned herself over, on to her left. 'Woah…' she murmured. The shattered moon of Remnant was shining faintly in the sky. Even more remarkably though, was the moon of Runeterra, right next to it. This was the first time Yang had seen both of them together, simultaneously. Their combined light illuminated the area with a gorgeous nightlight. Dim though it was, the fact that Yang could at least see her hands in front of her face was comforting.
She reattempted to go back to sleep; she closed her eyes and curled up once again.
Surprisingly, she was feeling drowsy and quickly lost awareness of herself. Until a rasping sound caught the attention of her ears.
Yang reopened her eyes. 'What was that?'
It occurred again.
Yang stood up and bended her knees slightly – her instincts, kicking into gear. She listened astutely. Although she wasn't sure what is was yet, something was definitely wrong…
A new sound: one that instantly made her adrenaline rush and her nerves tense up. Footsteps.
Yang reached into her pocket for her scroll and turned on the flashlight function. She shone it in everyone direction she could. Nothing was revealed.
She forced herself to take deep breaths. 'Be ready Yang.'
Ten seconds passed. The sound of footsteps again. Yang pointed her scroll at the ground. Then she saw it. Footprints – something with four claws or sharp toes. They had appeared from the front and had circled to her right. She turned around and her heart sprung out of her chest. Something screeched and lunged at her. She only just managed to dive out of the way in time.
Yang sprung back onto her feet and spun to face it, but it was no longer there. She raised her fists, ready to fire her gauntlets at whatever was hunting her. It was moving. Yang could hear its feet and that nasty rasp.
It re-emerged from thin air, this time from Yang's left. She jumped out of its way and fired a blast in return. It hit the creature on its side and it cried out, yet still managed to land on its feet. In the moonlight, Yang could briefly digest what she was dealing with. A gigantic bug-like creature, with wings, spikes on its back and a pair of razor-sharp, knives as arms. It faced Yang, with glowing yellow eyes and blood drooling from its mouth.
Yang fired another blast from her gauntlets, but it jumped out of the way with even better reflexes than Yang's, and instantly disappeared from sight again. 'Invisibility!'
Yang had never faced something capable of this. She began to run, knowing that staying still would get her killed for sure. The creature was no doubt chasing her though.
For the third time, it became visible and pounced at her. Yang threw herself away from it, but cried out as she felt its razor scrape her right ankle. Her aura had protected her, but the pain was just as real as actually being cut.
'Die running!' it suddenly said.
Yang scrambled to her feet. 'What do you want?!' she said.
'To eat you!'
Its voice was bone chilling.
'Well too bad, I'm not letting you then!'
'Worthy prey, I shall devour you!'
The creature suddenly shot its spikes straight at her.
Yang did not notice quick enough and did not evade them in time. Had her semblance not been there, three of them would have impaled her on her front. Again though, the pain was not reduced.
It went invisible for a forth time. Yang kept running, but this time moved erratically. She partially knew its tricks, but was still the prey in this encounter, and she could tell that direct combat with it would result in her being sliced apart. She had to fire at it from a distance and make every shot count.
Screech. It pounced, this time from directly above. Yang punched upwards, and fired a blast from her right gauntlet.
The bug blocked the shot with its razors, leaving Yang with just enough of a window to dodge out of the way.
It snarled at Yang, becoming increasingly agitated. 'Death from afar!' For a fifth time it entered stealth.
There was no possible way that she could keep it up for much longer: not when she was sleep deprived and injured. The bug's endurance was sure to be her end. 'Just give it up already!' she shouted.
Screech. At an awkward angle from behind, the bug jumped. It slashed its razor through the air, directed at Yang's neck.
She hurled forward, saving the thread of her life within a centimetre of being severed. As she retrieved her footing, she then noticed that her head felt unusually light. The bug was looking a few metres to Yang's left in amusement. Yang followed its gaze, then finally reached behind her head, only to find nothing there…
'You… MONSTER!' Yang erupted in a blaze of fury. She dashed forward, straight towards the bug with her fist clenched and with her entire strength behind it.
It jumped back out of the way, sensing the anger in Yang's red eyes. She fired her gauntlets ferociously without even aiming them.
The bug disappeared repositioned itself behind Yang, who was still shooting in front of her. It pounced.
Its razors connected with her shoulders and it pushed her to the ground.
Yang roared. With her anger and her Semblance fuelling her, she blindly punched upwards, hitting the bug squarely in the mouth. It ate the shot with full force. Yang felt its hold weaken, and she stood up again, elbowing the bug off her back. She ignored the searing pain of the razors being wrenched out of her shoulders and turned to confront it again, but the bug had regained composure quicker than Yang, and it thrust its right razor down.
Yang held up her arms defensively just in time for her gauntlets to take the hit as she was knocked down by the bug's sheer strength. Her wrists had been saved, but the gauntlets had not been so fortunate. It went straight through armguard layers and cracked the bullet chambers.
She hit her head as she went down. Yang's strength was dwindling, and her anger was being replaced with debilitation. She struggled to raise her head as the blood was pounding in her head.
The bug was standing over her and laughing. 'Ready to reap you!'
Yang made on last feeble attempt to fight back. She raised her left hand and fired. The bug watched as the shot flew far to its right. She had not even been close.
The bug readied it razors, with the tips pointed straight at Yang's heart.
She gritted her teeth and closed her eyes.
A beam of purple flew across the desert and made a direct hit on the bug. It screamed and reared back, as though the beam was a white-hot knife to it. Yang squinted. She saw that a bright, purple mark had been made on the bug's side.
Without warning, something rocketed at lightspeed towards the bug, instantly stopping in front of it, between the bug and Yang.
Although she could not make out what was going on, Yang noticed pellets of purple rain from the back of the thing that had just entered the fray. They showered the bug, and it screamed even more.
The thing fired shots of even more purple energy from its hands.
Clearly the bug was weak to whatever this energy was. It screamed, turned invisible, and this time it did not reappear for another attempt on Yang's life.
Yang looked at whatever what made the bug flee. The moons were in front of her, so she could not discern what it was. But Yang could see what looked like a pair of engines on its back. It turned its attention to her, and Yang was instantly frightened by its head. It had three purple lines running across its face, like some sort of visor.
'Are you hurt?' it suddenly asked. Its voice was filtered.
'W-what, are you?' Yang asked, unsure of what to do.
The thing walked towards Yang and knelt beside her. Now, Yang could see it in more detail. She noticed that was rather humanoid in shape, but had the skin of some sort of creature, which Yang could not name.
It pressed a finger to its head. Yang gasped. Its visor began to fizzle and vanished: to reveal a woman.
'Don't move. Just relax.' She ordered. The woman began examined Yang's shoulders. 'Deep cuts. Not good… Have you been hit anywhere else?'
'My ankle, I think.' Yang replied.
'Please excuse me.' said the woman as she pulled off Yang's right boot and sock. 'Nothing but a gash through your footwear. You're lucky in that regard, but I'd keep it off for now.'
'Okay.'
'Anywhere else?'
'No, I don't think so.'
'Good then. Can you sit up?'
'I should be able t-arggh!'
Yang pressed down on her hands as she attempted to sit up. A splintering pain shot through her forearms and she fell back down.
'What is it?' the woman asked.
'My- my arms. They hurt…'
'Let me take a look.' said the woman. 'I'll be gentle. I just need to remove your gloves and your… gauntlets. They're really cool looking, I must say.'
'Thanks.' said Yang with a whiff of a smile.
It took around twenty seconds for her to remove each gauntlet, through Yang's winces of pain. 'They took a bit of a beating, I'm afraid.' she said. 'That Void creature's slicers are not to be trifled with. But anyway, I can see your wrists. Deep cut across the top of them, and I think your bones are fractured.'
'Are you sure?' Yang asked nervously.
'Try sitting up again.'
'Ow!' Yang cried out, now feeling the injury in her shoulders too.
'Yep, definitely a bone fracture.' The woman sighed. She sat herself down next to Yang in a cross-legged position.
In the moonlight, Yang could now see her in a bit more detail. She had a couple of markings on her cheeks and forehead, but she was very pretty and had dark, wavy hair. She couldn't have been much older than Yang herself. In spite of this though, Yang could not draw here attention away from the woman's nonhuman skin.
'Does my appearance frighten you?' the woman asked.
'Uh, no…' said Yang.
She chuckled. 'It's okay. You're far from the first to have that reaction towards me.'
'I-I'm sorry. I know its not polite to stare. I'm just a bit intrigued by your suit.'
'I've gotten used to it, and there's no need to hide your reactions. Instincts are what we use to survive. If something, like me, looks threatening, it's only natural that you would flee or fight.'
'It was just that visor thing at first, which scared me. You're really beautiful though. Just keep it off and guys will be chasing you all the time.'
'Hah, thanks.' The woman replied. 'If only it were that simple out here. You're very pretty too. I like the short hairstyle.'
'Wait, what?!' Yang asked.
'Oh, I'm sorry. Do you not like it that way?'
'No. That thing, it cut off my hair.'
'Huh?'
Yang unconsciously made a strenuous effort to get up and search for hair, but instantly collapsed under the weight of her own injuries.
'Please, calm down.' the woman insisted. 'I think I can see your hair over there. I'll bring it here if you want.'
'Yeah, please do.' said Yang fervently.
The woman got up and scooped up as many strands as she could and brought them over to Yang. There was not much point though, since Yang could not move without hurting herself. To Yang, her hair was the one thing that no one should mess with under any circumstances. Simply pulling out a thread made her angry. To have the entirety of its length cut to be above her shoulders was unspeakable.
The woman seemed to notice how self-conscious Yang was. 'It's a good look, honestly.' she said earnestly.
Yang exhaled. It was not a big concern right then and there. 'Umm, thanks by the way. You seriously just saved my skin from being torn off.'
'It's not a problem, sister. But it leads me to ask, what on earth are you doing out here on your own?'
'Er…' Yang hesitated. What was she supposed to say to this woman? Would she even believe her if she responded truthfully? 'I was travelling with my friends to Ionia, and… a dragon came down from the sky and blew us all away. Sometime later and I ended up here. I then began walking in the direction I came from, but I didn't find anything, so I had no choice but to stay here during the night.' she explained.
'A dragon? And you found yourself all the way down here?' she said, perplexed.
'Are you, by any chance, familiar with anyone called "Ryze", "Shen" or "Pantheon"?' Yang asked.
'"Ryze", "Shen", "Pantheon"… No I don't, unfortunately.'
'Oh well. It's fine. I was just wondering. In any case, do you know where we are? I literally have no idea?'
The woman looked at Yang with concern. 'We're in the forbidden wastelands surrounding Icathia, far too south of the border of Shurima.'
To Yang, the names of "Icathia" and "Shurima" meant nothing, but "forbidden wastelands" certainly put a chill down her spine, and the information of it being south already crossed a few more boxes off the list of where she could be.
'And do you know how far away Ionia is from here?'
''Ionia? The name rings a bell… but I associate nothing with it, and I have never seen that land before, so I could not tell you.'
'In that case, how about yourself? Where are you from, and how come you're out here like me?'
The woman brushed her shoulders before speaking. 'Are you familiar with the Void?' she asked.
'The- Void?' Yang repeated.
'I presume not then. Well, it's a horror that I would not wish upon my worst enemy. Adequately describing it isn't really possible, but I can try my best.'
'How horrible are we talking about?' Yang asked.
'The Void is a place of unknowable nothingness. Its existence deteriorates the physical world around it, and it spawns eldritch abominations, which are the antithesis of life in our world. The one which attacked you is one of many that exist due to the Void's power. I have seen it before, but have not been able to slay it. In the tribal language of the Sai Kahleek region in Shurima, that particular creature is referred to as "Kha'Zix". The Void leaches from the flourishing life of this world, restlessly drawing everything into oblivion.'
Yang stared upwards at the woman. 'This world is about to end?!' she asked, panicking.
'Not today, thankfully. The Void's power is tremendous, but its negative matter is still relatively weak compared to that of the natural world. I just happened to be unlucky enough to get caught in it myself.'
'What do you mean?' Yang asked, noticing the melancholic tone in her voice.
'I do not remember exactly how long ago it was, but when I was a child, I fell into the Void and was unable to escape. This suit is the carcass of a Void-spawn, which grew on my body after I had killed it. Its body became a part of me, giving me access to some of the offensive powers that the Void possesses. I fought for so long to get out of the Void, killing the creatures without thought and eating anything that would keep me alive, and I finally did. After years of survival and killer instincts, I found a way out to the world that I called home. But I had seen the horrors of the Void myself, and knew that this world was in danger of the creatures that stir from within it. Now, I go between the opening of the Void and the base of Shurima, constantly fighting off the creatures which keep showing up with their ugly heads.
'Foolish people are drawn to the Void's power, completely unaware of what lies in store for them. But even the smartest people in the tribes of Southern Shurima have fallen victim to the so-called "Prophet" of the Void, who lures them into its "nether grasp" as though it is the emissary of the Void's corruption. Therefore, it's my self-appointed duty to make sure that no one suffers the same fate that I had to endure for so many years. That's the reason why you being here of all places has me extremely concerned. Did someone approach you and talk about the treasures of a world where there is none at all?'
'No one has. You can be sure of that.' said Yang.
'That's good to hear. You haven't been hypnotised by the Prophet. Thank the heavens.'
'But dang, I'm so sorry to hear about how tragic your life has been. I mean, I've trained and fought monsters for a long time myself, but I've always had friends and family to back me up, and time to relax.'
'I definitely envy you then. I don't know what became of my childhood friends, or my family for that matter. They probably searched for me initially when I disappeared from home, but they probably gave up a long time ago when it seemed like I was gone forever. Still though, I've been looking for my mother and father ever since I returned to the real world. But the tribes at the base of Shurima fear my presence. They associate me with the spawn of the Void, and refer to me through a pejorative of my own birth name.'
'That was something I was meaning to ask.' said Yang. 'You saved me from certain death. Who do I owe the thanks to?'
'My birth name was "Kaisa", but since my return, I have been treated like a void-spawn. Therefore, my name has become "Kai'Sa". At first, I was upset and offended by it, but over time I've gotten used to it, and it has kind of grown on me – perhaps literally. So, my name is Kai'Sa.'
'Well Kai'Sa, I'm Yang. It's great to meet you.'
'It's great to meet you too, Yang.' Kai'Sa returned, warmheartedly.
'Do you think your family is still out there?' Yang asked.
'I think so.' said Kai'Sa. 'It's funny to say this, but memories of my father come at the strangest moments. Even in the Void, I was not entirely alone, because my memories comforted me like the closest companion I could possibly have.'
'Well, I'm sure you'll find your parents one day, Kai'Sa, and I bet they would be very proud of you.'
'Thanks, Yang. I do hope for that to be the case eventually.'
'I'm still looking for my mom.' Yang added without thinking about it.
'Oh… what happened, if I may ask?' said Kai'Sa, surprised by Yang suddenly mentioning this.
'I don't have too much to say about it, but my mom left me and my family one day, when I was just a toddler. I'm still searching for clues of where she could've gone, or for what reason. There's nothing really to it, but you talked about finding your family, so I just kinda thought I'd mention that I'm searching for a relative of mine too.'
'I understand, Yang. I can tell that you're a strong person. Keep your memories and happy thoughts close to you, and they'll carry you further than you could even imagine.'
'Thanks, Kai'Sa.'
'Oh, I was just thinking: when was the last time you had something to eat or drink?'
The question immediately made Yang's stomach rumble, and she also noticed how dry her throat was. 'Not since yesterday afternoon, I think.' she replied.
'Well then. I have something here which might hold you over for the time being.' Kai'Sa pulled out a small pouch from behind her. 'If you wanted to survive in a desolate wasteland, with horrors all around you, how would you cope with peaches as your comfort food?'
'Peaches?' Yang thought to herself. It only just occurred to her that food in Runeterra could be completely different to food in Remnant. Were peaches the same as what she knew them as? 'What are peaches again?' she asked.
Kai'Sa opened the pouch and presented a round, pink-orange fruit that would sit comfortably in a person's hand. 'Peaches: my absolute favourite. They're both sweet and nutritious.' She held it in front of Yang's mouth, which allowed her to take a healthy bit out of it.
Yang rolled her tongue over the fruit, savouring the taste and feeling its texture. She had not eaten peaches often before, but she recognised the flavour, and its sweetness was amplified by tenfold through her hunger. 'It's delicious.' she said. 'Thanks for that.'
'It's my pleasure.' Kai'Sa smiled. 'I can't do anything about water unfortunately, but once the sun's risen, we can make a move. It'll take a while, but I'll get you to the nearest settlement and ensure that you get refreshed up there.'
'Are you going to stay here then?' Yang asked.
'Of course I am. I can't just leave you here. We'll both try and get some sleep. Hopefully you'll feel marginally better by this morning.'
'Kai'Sa, like, seriously. I can't thank you enough.'
'Don't mention it Yang.' Kai'Sa smiled. 'I can't thank you enough for not running away at just the sight of me. It makes me feel more human again.'
'You're more human that a lot of people I've met.' said Yang reassuringly, thinking of two people in particular as she said that.
'And I can certainly say the same about you.' said Kai'Sa cheerfully. She shuffled around and starred in the direction of the two moons. 'I do admit that, although appearance of this second moon is troubling, I am mesmerised by its beauty.' she said.
'Huh? Oh, uh, me too.' said Yang. She had refrained from telling Kai'Sa that she was from another world. Her brief description of the Void had made her hesitant from saying that included the words "another world".
Kai'Sa did not seem to notice Yang's hesitancy in her words. 'I've got your gauntlets with me.' she said.
'That's fine.' Yang replied, remembering that Kha'Zix had broken them. But it was not a concern to be worried about just now. She just hoped that she could get them fixed somewhere.
'Do you want your sock and shoe back on?'
'Yes please.'
Kai'Sa gently rolled Yang's sock over her feet and up her leg before replacing her boot. 'All better now.'
'Thanks.'
'No problem. It's pretty cold right now. Maybe we should stay close together.'
'Yeah, that sounds like a good idea.' Yang agreed.
Kai'Sa created another soft mound from the sand. She helped Yang move onto hers before she laid down on her own.
'Just try and forget about everything if you can and don't worry about any sort of attack from anything. I've got your back.'
'I'll say it again. Thank you, Kai'Sa.'
'It's alright, Yang. Have a good night's sleep.'
'You too.'
Yang closed her eyes for the final time that night, unbelievably thankful that she had been fortunate enough to encounter someone who was willing to take care of her with so much compassion.
Kai'Sa did so too, unbelievably humbled that she had found someone who treated her with so much humanity.
