Notes: Many have commented on how strange it is that everyone seems so stoked on Hadrian by the time of the last chapter and have asked about conflicts with others. To that I say that Hadrian is a wartime leader. He is smart, quick with his wit, and charismatic. On top of that he is a great fighter and a mage. In times of conflict he is exactly the type of person people want to follow.

The trouble, however, for someone like this is in times of peace. That is when others have the time to look at what he has and decide they deserve it more. When the war ends, the struggle for control begins. Mwahahahahaha.

Part Seven - Blood Red Shores

Grayson stared at the shore on the horizon, ignoring the sting of the sea salt in her eyes as she did. This 'river' was fed directly from the ocean, and it's variety of sea life was one of the reasons these docks existed. She was stood on the deck of the first landing craft, waiting to be cast off, as beside her, Caitlyn checked the function of her rifle's slide for the eighth time in ten minutes, and behind her hundreds of enforcers loaded into other river crafts.

In the back of her mind she knew it would not matter. Each one could hold ten men and women, twelve if they forewent armor, and there was only enough space of smooth sailing in this water for two boats to row abreast. Most of these soldiers didn't know it, but they were sailing to their doom.

Deciding to take her mind off of these morbid thoughts, the sheriff ripped the ranged weapon out of her subordinate's hands. Over the younger woman's protests, she said, "You've checked this weapon more than enough. I'd wager it's cleaner than any in stock at the barracks." Then she slipped a long knife into her empty hands. "Take this and get a feel for it. When the fighting starts it will serve you better in the melee this is sure to turn into."

The girl started to reach once more for her weapon, but changed her mind when it was drawn further away from her. Instead choosing to swish her new blade back and forth. Practicing new motions of stabbing and slicing. When she felt she had a handle on the weight, the girl said, "Fighting at close range, in their territory, doesn't seem wise Sheriff Grayson. Was there nothing we could have said or done to change the council's mind?"

She sighed. "No girl. They are too set up in their lofty tower to think about the true price of this action. In their minds the Zaunites are weak, and we are strong, so of course we must be victorious. They've been the strong for too long to see things any other way."

"Seeing my mother speak and act the way she did at that meeting… She's always been opinionated, but that was something else."

Grayson placed a comforting hand on her shoulder as she returned the rifle. "It's never easy seeing new sides of our parents. We think we know them better than anyone, and each new revelation makes us question if we ever really knew them at all. The only advice I can give is to take some time and reflect on what you know now. Things will make sense again eventually."

Caitlyn smiled up at her steel haired mentor. From the moment she'd first taken her under her wing she'd seemed to know just what she needed to hear to get through her problems. Weather they were shit assignment details, overbearing mothers, or discovering that her city was not as pristine as she'd been raised to believe.

"Casting off!" A bearded man at the back of their boat called as their mooring lines were loosed and their boat slipped out into the open water of the river.

The young woman took in a shaky breath and adjusted the strap of the rifle on her shoulder. Fifteen minutes. That was how long it would take to reach the shore of Zaun. It was how long it would take before she was drowned in combat for the first time in her young life. She wasn't ready, and she knew it, but if others were being sent to fight, then she couldn't just sit by and do nothing to help. She was a citizen of Piltover, and she would do her part.

Shore of Zaun

Harry stared at the oncoming ships. Two in front, dozens more being let off behind. In just a few moments they'd be in firing range. He turned to the row of fighters behind him, and his own riflers behind them and gave his orders.

"First rank, Shiver up, second form a pincushion. I want constant fire on those boats the moment they enter our waters. Don't worry about return fire, I'll take care of it."

The others nodded and proceeded to carry out his words. The first row took out vials of purple, luminescent, liquid, popped the caps and drank deeply. The riflers set up their pincushion formation. The first row lying prone, the second kneeling, and the third standing. Each weapon aimed at the approaching crafts.

Behind them were hundreds more. Men, women, and even some older children like Powder. They were armed with swords, knives, pipes, clubs, there were even some with pots and pans. It almost seemed like the entire population of the trenches had risen to fight this day.

Violet came up beside him. Freshly forged gauntlets covering her hands up to her elbows, and a sheathed sword under her arm. She'd volunteered to hold it for him until the enemy landed on their shores.

"They're almost here Hadrian.' She was stating the obvious he noted. A sure sign of her nerves.

"Yes they are." He agreed. "Is everyone in place? Vander with the brawlers? Dad with the cutters? Powder with the grenadiers?"

The nod this time was more confident, yet sad. "They are, and they say they're just waiting for your signal. I do wish you'd have agreed to send Powder home. She doesn't need to see this."

"Yes she does." Hadrian's voice was flat. "Everyone needs to see what happens here, or at least they should. They should see the great enforcers of Piltover beaten by a motley group of trenchers like the tin cans they really are. As far as Powder…. I couldn't keep her away if I tried Vi. You know that. If I'd told her to stay away she'd just have followed me anyway, and then who knows what she'd get up to. And you know she only responds to Jinx now. You need to get used to saying it."

Violet sighed, "You're right again, as always." Suddenly she perked up, "She's gotten awfully attached to you babe. Do I need to worry about having to share you with her in the future?"

He laughed as the ships finally came in range. "That sounds like a conversation for another time Love. Besides, wouldn't you be angry if I was with anyone besides you?"

She raised a brow. "Not If I approved of the partner."

With a laugh that slowly tapered off into a serious frown, he raised his only hand toward the incoming ships and focused his will. "It's time."

The River - Lead Troop Transport

"Rifles at the ready!" Grayson could see them. Hundreds, no, thousands of Zaunites waiting for them at the shore. At their head was a tall man with a top hat and one arm raised toward them. His other sleeve was flapping uselessly in the breeze. A pang of regret hit her like a hammer, but nevertheless she yelled "Fire!"

Twenty rifles went off like thunder, deadly projectiles screaming across the distance between sea and sand. Until they stopped.

If she hadn't seen it for herself she never would have believed it. Every bullet was held motionless in the air, feet away from the dock. As she looked closer she saw the same slight mist texture that had surrounded the Red Eye at the bar when he'd contained the explosion. A moment later those bullets fell mutely into the water, and a crash of thunder signaled a return volley as she screamed at her enforcers to get down.

All around her wood shredded, shrapnel rained, and the rowers stopped moving. The lack of forward momentum caused the boats behind them to crash into their craft, and the four continued to approach the new shore in a clump of gunfire, wood, and terrified men and women.

"I thought intelligence said the Zaunites had no ranged weapons?!" Caitlyn screamed above the noise.

"It did!" Grayson replied. "Clearly it was wrong!"

Suddenly the bullets stopped being aimed at them, and began to light up the boats behind them. A quick look over the rail showed the sheriff that they were seconds away from landing.

"On me!" She screamed as she took her position with pistol and knife raised. Caitlyn stood beside her, knife level with her chest, and the others on the craft following suit. The crunch of sand and gravel announced their arrival and the landing ramp crashed down. "For Piltover!" She screamed.

"For Piltover!" Her troops cried as they rushed onto the beach and formed a defensive line.

All around gun fire continued on the approaching craft but the sheriff couldn't focus on that. Not when, against all logic or reason, there were over a dozen giant, purple veined, men, women, and the Red Eye all marching toward them.

To her troops she yelled, "Knives at the Ready!" To Caitlyn she said more quietly, "Stay beside me." She didn't have a chance to see or hear her acknowledgment before the monsters before them arrived. Hell came with them.

She fired five shots into the first beast and nothing happened. The bullets simply bounced off of their skin! So she ordered her enforcers to do the same until their chambers ran empty.

As if some unspoken signal was reached by the clicking of empty triggers, the warriors behind the behemoths, a swarm of men and women with melee weapons and rage on their faces, swarmed into the fray as well. Each screaming "Zaun!"

Behind her, boats crashed into the ones left behind and fresh enforcers started scrambling over the older ships to join her own on the beach head, dodging bullets constantly as they went. "Hold!" She screamed as the attackers came on. If they could just last long enough for the next batch to reach them they could keep doing so. "Hold!" The enemy was almost on them and their war cries were shaking the morale of her men. "Have at them!"

The two factions crashed together and the melee truly began. Grayson drove her palm into a bearded man's larynx, kicked another's balls into his throat, and drove a knife into a blond woman's throat.

A quick look showed her subordinate was doing similarly well. Caitlyn had a blank look on her face, but two bodies at her feet. First combat is a terrible thing, Grayson was just happy that she hadn't frozen.

Then the reinforcements came, and they pushed. Oh her forces pushed and tried to find a foothold on the ground. None was to be had however. All around her, enforcers died. Blood and armor muddied the dirt as bodies hit the ground and the screams of the dying lit the air.

Still she thought there was hope. Still she thought they could hold and claim the beachhead if only they stood their ground. More enforcers came to help them and by now they numbered at least three hundred, but they hadn't advanced a step. Then three blasts of a horn sounded.

Grayson's head whipped around and her greatest fears were realized. To the sides of the 'belt' at least ten ships had been pulled off course into the rapids, sealing the fate of every soldier on board to a watery grave, and the rest had turned around in a retreat. Her forces were now stranded, and alone.

"Fall back to the boats!" She ordered her forces, hoping to use the wood as a makeshift barricade to buy time. If they could turn this into a true battle of attrition they might make the Zaunites bleed enough to let them go. It wasn't to be.

From the other side of the ragtag army a series of small objects were launched through the air to land on their landing craft. Fire broke out in a sudden conflagration that devoured their only defense. Somehow these Zaunites had gotten their hands on Liquid Fire Grenades!

They needed a new path! A new route! She turned to search for the nearest alley but they were all boarded up. Every street entrance was full of attackers. There was nowhere to go.

Then the Zaunites were amongst them. Screaming, stabbing, shooting, and murdering. Grayson saw her quartermaster gutted. Her first Lieutenant stabbed in the back.

After dispatching her nearest foe she turned to find Caitlin on the ground, holding up a hand to protect her face as the red headed girl from the bar raised a heavy gauntleted fist overhead to strike a finishing blow.

"Stop!" A male voice shouted over the tumult, miraculously causing all violence to cease. Even amongst her own men. When the sheriff finally found the source of the voice she wasn't the least bit surprised to see Red Eye walking toward her. His signature top hat still on his head, a broadsword in his grip, and blood covering his front.

She stepped up to meet him, with hands raised high, hoping to negotiate for the lives of the enforcers she had left alive, but he just walked past her and up to the red head. No, it wasn't the red head he was walking toward, it was Caitlyn. Hardly believing her eyes Grayson watched as the young man squatted down in front of her subordinate. She watched as he developed a twitch in his brow that seemed to get worse the longer he stared, and asked a question she did not hear. She watched as he set his sword down to remove his hat and wipe his brow when he didn't seem to like the answer. Finally, she watched as a look of pure shock and recognition alit in the young Kiramman's eyes and his own responded.

The girl tried to speak once more to him, even reached out with a shaking hand, but he stood back up before she could. He said something to the red head that sent her running before shouting for all to hear, "The battle is won! These prisoners shall be brought the refinery for confinement and ransom!" As everyone cheered he pointed first at Caitlyn, and then at the sheriff, "These two are coming with me. Now see to the bodies of our enemies, and the burials of our friends. A great victory has been won today and I am proud to have served beside you. Now we must prepare for tomorrow."

As the sheriff watched in horror at what the day had become, the red head returned with Vander and Silko in tow. Both were covered in blood, and wore dark smiles of triumph. The scarred man's knife was at her throat in an instant. "Hello sheriff. Fancy seeing you here."

She gulped. "Silko. I would like to officially offer you my surrender, and negotiate for proper treatment of my men."

"Your men will be ransomed back to Piltover eventually. Their safety is assured until then. You however, have been offered my son's hospitality until such time as your council meets our terms." The knife disappeared, but the dark smile didn't. "Come on then, there's a nice cellar and set of chains waiting with your name on them."

He bound her hands in front of her before leading her off down the newly vacated street. She looked back and saw Vander doing the same with Caitlyn as the citizens of Zaun began looting her dead. If she hadn't been as hardened as she was, the sight would have sickened her.

They led them through side street after side street until they reached what looked like a run down apartment building. The two then took them inside, down to the basement, and chained them both to a support beam before leaving them alone in the dark.

'Finally' Grayson thought. "Are you all right Caitlyn?"

The girl didn't answer, though the older woman could hear slight sobbing from the other side of the beam.

She sighed, "It's never easing taking a life. Especially your first. Just try to remember that it was war, and if you hadn't killed them, they'd have killed you."

The sobbing slowly wound down into shaking hiccups. "It's not that." She finally managed to whisper, in a voice just loud enough to carry.

Grayson was confused, "What's wrong then? The fact that we're captives? I'm sure we'll be ransomed soon enough."

"No." The girl denied, "It's him. The Red Eye."

The sheriff suddenly remembered seeing them exchange words before. "That's right. He said something to you. What was it?"

The girl didn't say anything for a few moments, almost as if she were collecting herself. "I was helpless. That red haired girl was so fast, and she put me on the ground like it was nothing." An inquisitive tone entered her voice then, "Do you know what it is sheriff, to see your death, right there before your eyes? To know without a shadow of a doubt that the breath you were currently taking would be your last? I do, I know it now. That girl was going to kill me. She wanted to with every fiber of her being. But then…" She swallowed, "He was there."

"I saw the Red Eye stop his girl from killing you. What did he say?" Normally the aged enforcer hated repeating herself, but she could understand the trauma of what her subordinate had experienced and decided to be lenient.

"He said I looked familiar. He wanted to know why." She laughed in the most unamused tone she had ever heard. "I told I him I didn't know, and there was no chance I'd have met a murdering psychopath like him. Then he took his hat off-" a fresh sob, "and I saw it."

Grayson frowned, "What did you see?"

"His scar."

"The one on his eye? What about it?"

"No. Not that one. There's another, from his forehead to his brow. It's shaped like a lightning bolt." For a moment she seemed about to sob again, but she eventually got a hold of herself. "I've seen that scar before. The younger brother of a friend of mine had it. He was the sweetest child. Kind, friendly," A sad chuckle escaped her, "and he tried to hide it, but he had a bit of a crush on me. Then he died, in maybe the worst way I can imagine. When I saw the same scar on Red Eye I couldn't help but call him by the name I knew. He reacted sheriff. He knew my face and reacted to his name. I don't know how but the Red Eye is the same boy I knew all those years ago."

Grayson was floored. The Red Eye, the hero of Zaun, possibly the single greatest threat to Piltover… was from Piltover? "Are you sure?" She asked in as calm a voice as she could manage. "What happened to him that made you think he died?"

"The massacre on the bridge six and a half years ago. We were there."

"What happened that day?"

"We just wanted to see it. Jayce and I. We thought it just a protest so we went running into the smoke, and of course Hadrian followed. We got lost inside, I fell over and hit my head, and when I could finally think clearly again we were back in the city, and he was gone. Jayce said he fell off the bridge." The sobs were back now and Grayson couldn't fault her.

She knew that the girl had experienced a loss, and that it had led to her career in the enforcers, but this was something else.

She eventually asked, "So his name was Hadrian?"

"Yes. He was such a sweet boy. Now he walks around covered in blood with one arm. I don't know what happened to him."

Melancholy entered her voice then, overpowering in its sadness, "Jayce never really recovered from that day. He blamed himself for not being able to save his brother, and threw himself into his research and study. I think I saw him a grand total of three times over the course of that next year. And you already know what I did."

Grayson absorbed these words in silent contemplation for several moments before asking, "If you do know this man, then what is his goal here? What is his next move?"

"I don't know ma'am. This isn't the Hadrian I knew."

Grayson sighed. "We all change with enough time Caitlyn. I guess all we can do now is wait."

Three Hours Later - Hadrian's Apartment

Water sloshed around the edge of the bathtub as Violet scrubbed the sponge over his back. They'd been in the tub long enough for its heat to turn lukewarm, but neither wanted to leave. The adrenaline of the battle had left them both shaking and weak, so they'd marched home as fast as possible and collapsed into the bathtub, hoping the heat and cuddling would help. For the most part, it did. Their shivering had stopped, and their weakness was abating.

"What happened today Love?" Violet asked as she lightly moved the sponge from his back to the still angry skin over his shoulder wound. "We were set to finish those enforcers off, and you stopped us. Then there was that thing with the girl. What was that?"

Hadrian was silent for a while, and then he said, "I know her. I don't how, I don't know from where, but I know that I know her face. I saw her on the ground, bleeding, and about to die and I just acted. There was something inside me that would not, could not, let her die." He sunk down to his neck in the water, "I don't know what's wrong with me babe. We won sure, but what if the battle hadn't been going so well? What if I'd stopped us at a critical point and destroyed our advantage? I could have ruined us."

Violet reached forward and pulled her man into her chest. Holding him tight. "There's nothing wrong with you love. Clearly there's a connection here, so you need to explore it. We'll finish up here and in the morning you can go down and talk to her so you can figure out what is between you." She kissed the back of his neck. "Maybe it has something to do with your early years. You know, the ones you can't remember?"

He sighed. "I don't know if I want to know about that time. I have a good life here. A father I love, people I care for, and a beautiful woman I adore." He squeezed her hand in his good one. "What if learning about where I came from ruins all that?"

"You're being silly Hadrian. Nothing in your past can change your father's love. Nor will it change how your people see you, or how much I adore you in return. But I do think that if you don't find out what you can now it will haunt you forever."

The man sighed and leaned back into his love. "As always, you're right babe. What would I do without you?"

She kissed his neck again. "Probably die. Or lose your other arm." She dug her nail into the tender flesh of his amputation as an emphasis. "I'm still mad about this by the way."

Wincing in discomfort at the prodding, Hadrian replied, "I couldn't just let that grenade explode freely Vi. Powder was there, so were Sevika and my dad. I couldn't let them be at risk if I could stop it."

"That self sacrificing attitude of yours is going to be your end one day love. And I refuse to be a widow. I forbid you to die."

Hadrian raised an eyebrow. "Widow? Are you proposing Vi?"

She blushed. "Sorry, that just slipped out. I didn't mean to imply anything or put any pressure on you, but I did kind of think that was where we were heading. Were you thinking otherwise?"

The Red Eye turned around to face his woman in the tub, smiling warmly into her eyes and cupping her face with his hand. "Violet, I love you with everything that I am, and everything I will be. You raise me up when I need the support, put me in my place when I'm being an idiot, and always speak your mind. To place my hand in yours for all time would be the greatest joy of my life. So how about it, will you marry me?"

Violet literally squealed her "Yes!" in delight and embraced her new fiancee in a bone crushing hug. She kissed every inch of his face she could find, and soon enough water was once again sloshing over the brim of the tub. Only, it wasn't from the washing this time.

The Next Morning - Apartment Building Basement

The door at the top of the stairs opened, admitting Hadrian to the basement of his building. He carried two bags full of breakfast sandwiches and bottles of water that he laid at the feet of his captives before taking a seat across from the younger woman.

She ripped open her meal's packaging and took several hurried bites before becoming aware of the mismatched eyes staring at her and stopping. "Do you have to stare at me while I eat?"

He didn't move. "Sorry, but I'm trying to figure something out. Just act like I'm not even here."

Caitlyn really wanted to argue, but her rumbling stomach made an alternate decision for her. She bit back into her sandwich and inhaled it, along with the bottle of water her jailor had provided.

When she was finally finished, he spoke. "You're familiar to me woman. Why? Who are you?"

The woman glared at the top hat hiding her jailor's scar. "Take off your hat and I'll tell you."

The man seemed mildly confused, but still acceded to her request. The hat was removed, and she focused on the scar the removal revealed. She had been right, it was the exact same scar, in the exact same place as the boy she'd known.

"Is it really you Hadrian?" She asked, a fresh tear rolling down her cheek.

"You know my name, but I still don't know yours. Who are you?"

She frowned. "Do you really not remember me Hadrian? Do you not remember the long afternoons we spent in Jayce's lab watching him work?" She saw his eye begin to twitch so she continued, "Do you really not remember those mornings you convinced me to eat ice cream for breakfast instead of oatmeal?" the twitching continued, and now a crease was forming in his brow. "I had a headache the rest of the day every time because of that. But it made you smile so I kept doing it. Do you not remember picking me flowers, or that time we nursed a wounded squirrel back to healt-"

"Caitlyn." Hadrain was holding a hand to his head, as if he were holding back a staggering headache. "Your name is Caitlyn Kiramman." His hand came down and a look of pure confusion could be seen. "Why do I know that? Who are you to me?"

For the first time in almost forty-eight hours, Caitlyn smiled. "I was your friend Hadrian. Probably the best one you had besides your brother."

The man stared. "I have a brother?" Caitlyn stared back. "You really don't remember anything do you?"

Hadrian sighed and gestured at the ruined side of his face and eye. "When my father found me in the trenches I had this and a giant lump on my head. Nearest we could tell, when I was dropped off of the bridge I had my cranium knocked around a few times. I couldn't remember anything before that moment." His hand came away, that disconcerting red eye glaring into her soul. "Now what was that about a brother?"

Caitlyn nodded. "Of course, his name is Jayce and he's a student at the Piltover Academy. Oh he's going to be so happy to hear you survived. And your mother! Oh she's going to be overjoyed."

"Mother… I- I have a mother?"

Sympathy came into the woman's eyes then. "I'm so sorry Hadrian. This must be so horrible for you. Yes you have a mother. Her name is Claire, and she loves you dearly. Do you remember her?"

"No. I'm trying but I can't see her face." A tear of his own started falling down Hadrian's face and he stood back up. "I think I need a minute to absorb this. I'll back later with your lunch."

He quickly ascended the stairs and slammed the door closed behind him. Sealing his prisoners in darkness once more.

"Well," Grayson commented for the first time since the interaction began. "that was certainly enlightening. I guess there's no doubt that he's the boy from your childhood now. What do you plan to do about him?"

Caitlyn didn't even hesitate. "I'm going to fix him. I'm going to remind him of everything he forgot, and then I'm bringing him home."

The sheriff wasn't convinced. "He seems pretty set in his ways here. Why would he want to leave? Especially considering he's literally at war with us."

The younger woman shook her head, her long hair swaying erratically, "I don't have all the answers, but I need to try. He has a family that loves him and misses him every day. They deserve a chance to know he's alive."

"Also, I failed him once. That day on the bridge… I was older. I should have been looking out for him, but I didn't. It was my mistake that made him the way he is, and I need to answer for that."

Piltover Council Chamber

"Do you know why you are here Jayce?" Councilor Kiramman asked in a clearly strained voice.

He stood before the round table, his back straight and hands behind his back. Hermione and Viktor stood behind him with notes and folders in their arms. "I can honestly say I have no idea councilor." He replied evenly.

"Councilor Heimerdinger says you have been working on a method of arcane travel called a warpgate. Is that so?"

He frowned. "It is. What of it?"

Kiramman sagged in her chair, relief plain in her features. "Good. Very good. We need you to create one large enough for a cargo vessel to travel through safely." She waved him off then, as if her request was the easiest thing in the world.

He was having none of it. "Excuse me ma'am, but if you've spoken to Professor Heimerdinger, then you know that our research is purely theoretical now. We don't have enough data to safely make a gate. To do so without the proper testing would be unethical-"

"Enough!" Kiramman was on her feet again and she was pissed. "I don't care! Don't you understand? Our assault force failed to retake Zaun! We are stranded away from all sources of food! If you do not build this gate then the citizens of Piltover are going to starve!"

Heimerdinger stood then. "Or, as I suggested, we could just give the Zaunites what they want to end the hostilities. We gain nothing by continuing the fight."

The council woman spun on the Yordle and screamed at him, "In case you need reminding, you were outvoted! And we keep ourselves from looking weak by not capitulating."

Her rage filled eyes turned to her sponsored student next. "Build us that gate Jayce. Do it within the month or you will find yourself expelled from the Academy. Dismissed."

Hoping to keep his friends from receiving the same ultimatum he received, Jayce spun on his heel and marched out the door. Hermione and Viktor close behind.

"Vhat Now Jayce?" Viktor asked as he struggled to catch up to his partner on his bad leg and crutch.

Immediately feeling guilty for taxing the weaker man, Jayce slowed down to address both of his partners. "We've been pushed against the wall. So let's double check our math and experiments, then make this thing. As rude as Kiramman was, it doesn't change the fact that without us, Piltover will starve."


Next Time:

-Zaun sends a list of demands and hostages to the council.

-Jayce builds a warpgate.

-Hadrian learns more about his past.

-Vander learns about his daughter's engagement.

-News of Zaun's mage is heard by interested ears.