The thing between life and me

by Axeex

Giving up her own life wasn't something that had ever passed by Lux's mind, let alone running away to find if her being had some control over it. [Long fic] (On Hiatus.)

5. I'm going to tell you a secret

Hello, here's what you've been waiting for, or well, at least some people.

Just to you know, I'm not re-reading chapters! After finishing them, I publish! Not editing anything let alone reading these insanely long chapters till summer! My summer, don't get puzzled! Just two more weeks!

5. I'm Going to Tell You A Secret

The world lightened up again, making her eyes to snap open harshly and to blink a couple of times. Air was accepted by her lungs effortlessly and she found herself completely disoriented. It took her some moments to remember what just happened. Then, her eyes went wide open.

She quickly tried to reincorporate, her forehead being meted by the drawer of the boat in loud-impact meeting.

"Ah!" She cried painfully, her body being rejected into the realm of the walkers and being forced back again on the boat, her head being again smashed into the hard wood.

She stood there in silence, trying to digest all the shame. She crawled on her back, moving in zigzag just enough to being able to stand up again. When her hand grabbed tightly one of the edges of the boat to pull herself up, she already felt the dizziness tormenting her head. She couldn't help but rest almost completely on it, her truly weak state taking her by surprise. Lux breathed deeply and, when she felt how the world went clear enough, she slowly turned around to the interior part. The first thing she noticed was she actually was completely alone, floating on the sea. The waters were calm and the sun hasn't hid yet. The afternoon was on middle way of its career. Puzzlement overcame her.

"What… happened…?" She thought to herself, not even being able to think correctly.

She checked on her magic, feeling very uncomfortable because she wasn't able to define what was exactly happening inside of her. Her nature magic… was still there and working, but just barely. She couldn't use it anymore, not till after a good rest. Her light magic… felt exactly the same way, which was no sense. Both magic weren't interacting with each other at all, as though they just noticed they were completely strangers. She ignored the scared feeling crawling on her back. That won't help.

Her head lazily turned around at the mini-map, founding out it wasn't working correctly, signal interference taking over it. She breathed deeply again, really needing it, and looked this time at the combustible indicator. It was almost full; she barely used it, about five minutes while escaping. The boat had turned off itself. She has been floating on the ocean, like, a couple of hours.

Lux trailed with her feet at the steering wheel, founding the keys already on the same place she left them. She raised her gaze up, looking for the starts to guide her way. Even with the very sun up there, she could easily differentiate sun's light with star's ones. In just some seconds of watching, she knew where she was: actually not that far away from Ionia. She turned her gaze down, still not knowing how she missed the hundreds and hundreds of different magic trails coming from the horizon in front of her, obviously Ionia's doing. She looked at her sides, also finding small ones truly to the ocean. Why was it so easy now to see them? She didn't knew.

As she turned on the boat and started moving again, she tried to find a logical explanation about what happened in Noxus' coasts, quickly failing. But very deep, she knew what that was about.

"It happened again…" She said, her voice sore dry.

Her hands started to tremble slightly, but never losing care of the rubber in her hands.

"A shadow fades before light, a shadow fades before light…" She repeated mechanically, over and over. "A shadow fades before light…"

The effect wasn't immediate, but it always worked. After all, she hadn't used it in a long while.

"A shadow… fades… before light…"

She felt how her hands got stronger, as well her gaze, her body, her demeanour and mantra.

""A shadow fades before light."

She smiled. She was alright. Light was still with her, no matter what. After all, she still has some hours of trip left. No one will chase her now.

…

As the hours went by, Lux felt how the tenseness in both her body and mind slowly melted away with the waters. While standing up driving the boat, she enjoyed the sight of the crystalline waters and the beautiful sun, a smile peeking over her mouth. She felt how the past memories were buried deep into her mind, and allowed herself to store the new ones. The first one: the sight of freedom.

While advancing at Ionia, the dizziness didn't disappear at all, but she got used to it. After all, she only has to stand still and move the steering wheel to dodge some waves or, once in a while, some curious animals she faced. When her stomach felt like It was about to commit suicide and start eating himself, she knew she has to stop and eat something. Fortunately for her, the boat had a small chest in the opposite side of where she was driving, storing a small amount of survival food. She managed to find a small place where some sea plants grouped below and stopped there, feeling like a warm bath. Sat down and relaxed, she slowly munched the food bar, trying to swallow it without tasting too much. Her magic nature reserves increased a little bit, but she didn't allow herself to even interact with her magic; only when inside of Ionia. So the dizziness kept on.

Leaning above where exactly the enemy torpedoes hit, she saw how a big chunk of boat were lost. Lux chuckled to herself. Turns out those brick walls she paid attention before was actually a second reinforcement layer. She was blessed.

For the first time in days, tiredness showed off on her eyes. It was true that she wasn't able to sleep correctly since the first day she ran away, but the last days while she was fenced by everyone were more… stressful. Plus, her bladder was about to blow up! And she refused to pee on the ocean. That isn't ladylike.

She did know where to go to hit Ionia, but she wasn't sure where she would land. She was known in Ionia, like, a lot. So stopping in any big city was discarded. It wasn't something it bothered her, though; she was tired of seeing people, so being alone would be just perfect. She needed some time alone to recompose herself. Besides, she was tired of hiding.

The streams of magic started to be more usual as she approached the continent. Her eyes shined in excitement at seeing at the distance the silhouette of Ionia. This is when she stopped advancing on a straight direction and slightly spun the boat to the left, preparing herself to make a round around the island and to avoid hit on the south provinces. If she would dare to appear on any of Galrin, Navori or Shon-Xan provinces, she was asking to be caught. For now, she needed to take advantage of her own faked death. She could be anyone she wants, but in other place!

She took a lot of space between Ionia, not wanting to be detected. So, the trip went peaceful as always, her only distracting being her magic, which she suspected it was having a party inside of her, and the sun slowly approaching its end for the day. Her stomach complained, with her legs and feet supporting it as well, but she dismissed them. She couldn't stop for food now, not when she was close.

Another couple of hours went by. As she approached the northwest of Ionia, where its seashores showed off proudly its beaches, she enjoyed the last breeze of sea in her face. The peacefulness she felt in the ocean only increased when she had the first gaze of the beaches. Her hand slowly pulled back the throttle, slowing down more and more as she turned the boat to park it alongside the coast. She took the keys and turned it off, paying attention at the fuel gauge. It still had more than half of combustible inside. She shrugged happily.

She turned her head around back again to the beach and then allowed herself to be amazed with the beauty of the place. The beach remembered her exactly as the one she visited when kid. Completely clean, its sand almost shining in gold, its beginning having mosaics of different colourful shells and small stones.

When her hands grabbed the edge of the boat, they were trembling. She smiled joyfully, her eyes getting wet. She jumped out of the boat, her boots smashing against the sand and splashing some water around. She walked around the coast, taking her time to see and admire everything. She stopped for a moment, gazing down and taking notice of the stones slightly sunken on the sand. She took the first one she liked the most: the white one. It remembered to her the first glance of her own light. Then, her eyes followed the next one. Her fingers went down again into the water and took out the dark one. Because even herself needed some dark in her own life. She learned it through strife.

She unzipped her back, paying attention for the first time in what it seemed years at the wedding dress. She sighed. "I need to fix it somehow…" She muttered, putting the stones inside and closing it again. She then turned around at the sunset as sat down on the sand, avoiding sitting over the water.

The sun seemed to shine while under the effects of the approaching darkness of the night. She paid attention at the last rays of light coming out from the big star with a soft smile as the dizziness disappeared slowly. Lux blinked at the sun finally vanished, lips frowned. Then she turned around, her legs twisting an instant later. Her eyes caught the sight of a bush right after the beach, when a forest started to appear. She did her best to stand up and ran as fast as possible right to it, hiding behind and doing what she really needed to do.

Some minutes later, she came out of it leaving behind a "pew" sound; her face looking way more relaxed than before. Then, she blinked.

"What now?" She asked to the sky, the shining stars not answering.

It was true she ran away to Ionia in order to changer her magic imprint… But everyone now think she's actually dead, and who will ever think she is hiding on the island? It was an height lifted off of her shoulders; at least she wasn't in some kind of time trial. And the best part it was that the magic around Ionia created a shield, splitting her up from the rest of the world. So, in the stupid and minimal case of anyone trying to summon, contact or do something which involved her magic, they wouldn't find anything.

"It bugs me thinking all of this was for nothing…" She choked in her own words, her tongue feeling bitter just saying them. "…still better…."

She kept staring at those four strange stars above. The sky was definitely the most beautiful she ever saw. The stars shone in a stream that seemed to appear from the north, accompanied by a blue ocean of she would like to call it stardust. It was magnificent. But those stars shined the most. One blue, another green, purple, and finally, red, the four of them shining on the sea of the starry space. It was mesmerizing.

But as they came, they vanished in sight in a matter of an instant. She saw with disappointed now, in her opinion, the empty sky, and of course, uncertainty.

"Maybe it's the magic of the place." She tried to reason.

Nonetheless, it was a beautiful sight. It reassured her and the doubts disappeared. She turned around, raising slowly her hands and trying to tame her magic. She smiled tentatively as she allowed the magic to flow slowly into her fingers. Carefully, she let the tiniest part of it out in the air. She squirmed in excitement at seeing the familiar and so-missed light shining coming out of her nails and dispersing with some green sparks, its particular sound melting with the atmosphere of the forest. Her eyes admired it every second possible, and she only snapped out when it completely disappeared.

Lux closed her hand abruptly after a second, heart troubled.

"…Maybe if I try again…"

She did try again. Her hand opened up again and she tried to repeat what she just did, but this time excluding the nature magic. Unfortunately, her magic didn't was planning on obeying: her eyebrows raised up as she caught in sight of her hand glowed furiously in light and yellow magic. She screamed just a little and with the help of her other arm, she grabbed her wrist to try to control the shakiness. Just a couple of moments went by which her hand's warm rose stupidly almost in a level that hurtled, when a green laser came out of it. It came out in front of her and pierced through an unfortunate tree on its way. Hands free, she watched how everything in its way was completely melted, and how the laser got lost in the sky. And then, right where the all the damage was done, such like the tree's cores and some dry leaves, the same green light from the laser glowed and started to regenerate almost all the slaughter.

"Oh, they're definitely mixed up!" She said to herself, clapping both hands frantically. "Could it be I'm that close?" She asked to the three she just chopped off.

She didn't know why she waited for an answer. But she did.

"…You're angry…?" She pouted, walking to the wood and stroking carefully its cortex. "Or I'm losing it? Maybe both, uh-uh."

Lux tapped a couple of times the wood before turning around and holding back the need of trying on her magic again. She needed to find somewhere safe to spend the night first.

So she started moving. The forest was actually a little bit different than Demacia's and Noxus'. By every step she took, the place gave her new feelings over and over. The sounds of small animals got along with her as she walked slowly in the night, Lux not feeling the particular urge to rest yet. Instead, as her feet moved, she couldn't help but notice all the possible meals for her to eat. From the dark berries on a big bush a couple of meters away from her, to the strange fruits that were hanging on the different kind of trees. She approached curiously at one of them, analysing the fruit, or whatever was that. The most accurate description she could give it was that actually it looked like a hanging lamp. It had three white small conduits coming out from the three, twirling some centimetres on the way before a pink flower erupted from each one of them at the end, pointing upwards. Inside of the flower, there was tons of blue stuff, similar to berries, which looked eatable.´

She spun her head to another tree: not much taller than her, brown, bright leaves, and growing on it the weirdest fruits she ever saw. Basically, all of them were perfect red rectangles, hanging over thanks to its green stem. They were about her palm size, and of course, they looked delicious and beautiful.

"I can't recognize any single of them!" She thought shocked as she reached up from one of it. The effort needed was almost inexistent; the fruit detached from the tree without any problem. "I'm going to call you… fruitangle . Oh, yes, such a good name!"

In celebration, she leaned over it and grabbed a bite. It was spicy and sweet, and it felt like eating watermelon but more consistent but yet it seemed to melt on her mouth. Her tongue smashed all of it inside, trying to taste all of it before swallowing. It didn't go by too much time before another nibble attacked the fruit. She devoured every single bit of it, feeling how her stomach went rather full.

Her teeth bit the last piece of red skin and flesh before letting out a small burp of satisfaction. She sighed happily and threw away the stem; it will get one with the ground anytime soon. She rocked back and forth on her heels before deciding to grab more of those fruits and saving them in her bag just in case. She frowned and her mouth twitched, spilling out a small red seed on her lips.

"You and I will become best friends!" She said to hit, cleaning it up with her shirt and also saving it on her bag.

Done with food, she walked away from the tree, breathing deeply the fresh air and getting deep into the forest.

…

Her back leaned over the wide tree, receiving it and comforting all of her muscles. She re-accommodated her butt on the grass and stared calmly at the small fire burning in front of her, relaxing her body for the first time in what it felt like years.

After pace around some time in the forest, picking up the dry wood she could find, Lux eventually hit a small clearing big enough to put some rocks on the middle and start a bonfire. The warmth of it comforted her cramped muscles, which were started to feel the coldness of the night paying off painfully.

She couldn't wait any longer. Taking out another fruitangle absently, she closed her eyes, focusing in nothing but her magic. The black void highlighted two colours: yellow with white shades and deep green. Frowning, she readjusted herself uncomfortably on her position, still not knowing what to think at seeing both magic strangely mixed within. That didn't sound like "connect with nature" as the book said; and in order to summon her bag which contained it, she needed to use her light magic only. Her sceptre would be enough help.

She spent the next fifteen minutes trying to separate both magic. She frowned, staggered and cried in frustration at feeling a weird resistance from part of them. It felt like trying to separate water and alcohol. Another five minutes went by, which Lux used to relieve some stress by biting her lip. She managed to create and small space inside and absorbed as much light magic she could. Nature magic seemed like it noticed what she was doing and rushed to not be ditched. The space closed like a strongbox, and she smiled out of joy. Opening up her eyes, she raised slowly her hand and allowed light to flow through her arm. It shined yellow, and it lasted a couple of seconds before feeling the familiar weight on her palm. The light vanished and she stared it speechless.

Her crosier looked as always: brown wood that held magical properties, with two opposite s "reels" made out of a candy-colored metal. And, at both ends, one yellowish pedestal in half crown-shape that allowed magic to flow through it. However the light that came out of it was slightly green, but she didn't feel nothing wrong with her light magic.

Her grip on it tightened, and she proceeded to gather again more magic from her mess inside. This time, it was way easier. Her staff worked out as a filter "small enough" to wave off everything she didn't want. A couple of seconds, unlike before when she could collect every single bit of magic in an instant, she managed to carry out the same spell her staff had and summoned her bag. The heaviness made itself notice in her arm, the relief hitting her like a thousand slaps in her face. She carefully placed her staff aside her in the grass and rushed to grab the bag with both hands. She unzipped it and sighed happily. Not only the bag was just as green and complete as before, but everything she saved into was there as well.

Fingers twitching in excitement, she reached up for The Magic of Elements and took it out in a flash. Lux eyed it up, still not knowing why she still hasn't taking some seconds to appreciate it. Her eyes went completely wide at seeing another and new completely book. Rather than the old notebook than before, now it was white and with gold patrons that dispersed on each cover. A locked glowed out of nowhere and it seemed like it was blocking the opening. But it still was as slim as before. She spun it over, making sure that the other side was the same before staring at the title wrote, now shining and the letters having light sparkles that pumped all the way every letter used on the cover.

She smiled; it didn't matter at the end. She spun it again and opened touched the locket in shape of a golden chain with strange easiness. She stared at the white page in front of her, astonished. Where it should be the presentation, and the little story the man wrote, it was empty. Every single word disappeared. Lux blinked, feeling uneasy.

"I did something wrong while summoning it…?" She asked to herself, not believing at all she made a mistake, but she still held it as a possibility because the book was different than before.

She held the book with just one hand and sent the other one to pick up something random inside the bag. Her hand came back, the portrait with Garen and her in the beach greeting her gaze in perfect state. She was taken aback a little by just staring at it.

She really did miss Garen, and Janna, and Ezreal, Noz, even Ekko. Miles away from where she was, far away enough to not see them ever again, probably.

The portrait disappeared inside the bag again. She didn't want to faint now.

"At least nothing's wrong with the book…" She muttered, feeling homesick.

The attention was now again on the magic book. She furrowed her lips, staring again at the white page. She sighed and switched to the next one. To her surprise, there was a kind of index on the next sheet, almost empty. The page was light golden with a frame that followed all the sides of the sheet in a flower-like way. Wrote suspiciously in a perfect way, the simply word "Index" was marked in the same elegant handwriting as before right at the top. Lux wasn't surprised. It would be stupid of her to be. At this stage, it was something normal.

Her eyes went down to the words below the Index, right into the upper-left corner. There was the tittle of the first subject, putted simply as: NATURE MAGIC with a pretty green flower beside, in the page number three. She followed below: the page number four had the tittle "What is nature magic?" the next one was "Types of nature magic" which flied her to the moon, because she thought there was just the nature magic itself and nothing else. The next one talked about the basics and then it followed one that caught her full amazement: 'Nature mode.'

Her smile widened almost creepily. But then, as if the odds just hit, all the sleepiness leaned over her head, especially her on the eyelids. She struggled without any success at it, not wanting to get some sleep, not with such knowledge in front of her.

…But the grass seemed so comfortable… Her head bumped into the tree, already deciding for her. Lux sighed and closed the book. Saving it into the bag again, she made it disappear and made sure to hug tightly her staff before lay down and the ground. Lux enjoyed the sight of the warm fire before trying to calm herself.

Fifteen minutes went by, and only with that she allowed her mind to start to fade slowly. No one was following her, no one will jump out the shadows and treat her; she actually hadn't anything to worry about; nothing immediate. And with that, her eyes closed.

She slept in calm for the first time since she could remember.

….

The calmness of the forest danced around his sensed while he jumped above the branches high in the sky. He expertly slipped with the help of his feet across the strong brown branch. Almost at the end, he jumped right to the next tree in from of him, using both hands to grab tightly another piece of wood and leaves, pulling himself up. His muscles did the job as he effortlessly spun around in order to stand up again and move.

The way at the heart of the tree was rewarded with juicy fruits that served him acting by the so-needed meal. His sharp fangs bit across the nut-looking fruit, smashing it powerfully against the rest of the teeth. Her legs rocked back and forth on the branch, using barely just one hand to hold him against the fall, and enjoying the peacefulness of the forest. Bite and bite, the time went by rather quietly. The last piece was always the best, but as soon he was about to devour it, the presence appeared.

He went still for an instant, still not knowing how anyone could sneak the senses he has among the place. His fox-shaped twitched up and moved with the rest of the head slightly below. A single blonde and petite woman was walking on the roots. He barely could have a sight of her, but even from high above he could guess she seemed tired by just looking at her posture.

"A human?" The thought echoed through his mind, angriness showing bit by bit. But he figured something out. "No… something is different. The forest… is not wary of her. It's welcoming her as though she was an old friend."

He watched how she dragged her feet through the grass and dirt, raising them just enough to avoid a giant root and keep going, not without letting out a small sigh almost every time she did it.

But the forest wasn't tired of her, not the slightest.

The fruit entered by his mouth and disappeared into the void of his stomach. Satisfied by the cheap meal, he grabbed the branch and pumped himself below.

Steady breath broke free from Lux's lips and she kept on walking. The weight on her shoulder thanks to her bag didn't make the process any easier. She switched it to the other shoulder, complaining with long-tired sighs. Then, her mind decided it was done. She fell down on the grass, bumping her butt on the ground painfully. A tree held her back magically and her head as well. She allowed her eyelids to squint just a little, making the sunlight way nicer to see. Her staff rolled out to her side.

It has been more than two weeks since Lux got to Ionia through its coast, and since then, the most important thing she had done was just trying to tame her magic again. She did manage to summon her staff and the other bag, but that was the only important spell her light magic seemed to allow her to do. The days went by just reading her cool book about elements and writing on her diary. The rest was just eating, doing her dirty stuff after that (God, she was so ashamed) and sleeping on the ground. Whenever she found a river or a stream big enough, she washed her clothes and body.

"I'm not liking this." She muttered, remembering those times when she was sent to missions that involved forest and a long stay on them.

It wasn't like she now didn't like forest, but…

"GOD, I need a warm bath!" Lux cried almost with to sorrow. "And a BED."

She was no longer used to live like this. She had lost her mission-shape. When camping would seem like a piece of cake to the old Lux, the new one loosened up and decided she rather a good bed than sleeping on the dirty ground. Yes, she may have the feeling to just plant her feet in the dirt and go on with it before, but she was actually feeling bad for getting tired and tired of the same stuff 24/7.

The wind howled, briefly touching her smooth skin that managed to survive to the devastation. Lux felt sad.

"Don't waste your time with me." She spoke aloud, almost not high enough to be qualified as strong words. The forest did enough for just accepting her.

"Why should I?"

Lux snapped out harshly and almost horribly from her spacing-out time. Her hand shot to her staff and picked it up along with her body, turning around where the voice came from, her tiredness evaporating immediately. Her serious face twisted at seeing what was in front of her.

What it seemed like a male version of Ahri, was actually just a meters away from her, with the difference that it didn't had too much human features. He had, like, nine tails that were swaying, white as snow. All of his skin was covered with white and tiny animal hair, and of course, the whiskers and the fox ears. Nonetheless, it was one of the most beautiful men she had ever seen. She feel how oddly, second by second, the more she gazed at him, the more she felt attracted. The word started to get pink.

"But he could be the enemy! Put yourself together!" The voice inside her head stabbed right into her logic sense, kicking back into her senses again.

Lux's posture changed to a fading one; to one she would call it as a… safer one. Something in his eyes changed, recognizing what she just did. The mage narrowed her eyes, looking at the playful smile on his sweet-looking lips. Did she just almost fell for a charming spell?

"Who are you and why you tried to jinx me?" She asked steadily, pointing dangerously her staff at the fox, who raised both hands in self-defence.

"Woah, chill down, girl." He said, his voice sounding good as well. That fact didn't surprise Lux. Did he was made to be so handsome, just like Ahri? "You see… I was just walking and it slipped out. Yeah, that."

Lux resisted the urge to curse at his poor excuse, but she couldn't help to frown. She analysed again the man, or animal. She had seen people like him before, not just in her old missions, but even more when she got into the League of Legends. Nami, for example, was a mermaid, or at least that was the closest word to describe her. Then, there was Malphite: a bunch of living rocks (hurt). She shouldn't be surprised, but yet, the man had something different from the rest. He didn't seem hostile, though.

"I wasn't born yesterday. What do you want?" Lux answered; the warm light no longer coming out from her staff, her arms closed. "Are you trying to kill me?"

"Well that's what I do to all humans I run into." He admitted without any shame, shrugging. Lux's lips frowned. "The way they twist magic gets me sick. But you are different."

"Different how?" She asked, raising an eyebrow.

The fox smirked with sharp teeth, right after disappearing in a burst of spiral blue flames. Lux didn't feel surprised at feeling his voice right behind her, his left arm hugging her upper front.

"Different… interesting." He spoke, sighing. The blonde's demeanour fell apart in a flash and a pink blush covered her cheeks. "As if, I could totally like you."

"Uh…" She rambled. "Sorry but… Uh- I'm not into animals, you know."

The forest howled with the wind, making the silence that came up after more… dense. At not hearing a response, Lux turned around and took one step away for him, watching the dumb face of the guy. He stared at her some seconds, not seeming to process what she just said.

"Animal?" He muttered, the words coming out from his breath sounding extremely offended. His eyes snapped out from confusion, to something Lux wasn't entirely sure. "Well, you're pretty badmouthed, I see."

"What?!" She cried, looking for safeness again into her staff. "Says the one who charmed me to do whatever kind of stuff you were planning to do!"

"You're so full of yourself, did you know?" He teased, the tails behind him rocking, as if they were in synchrony with his cockiness.

"You just said you liked me." She pointed out, annoyed.

"Did I? Well, I guess I did it." He dismissed her words like they were just wind.

Lux stood there, glaring at him for a couple of seconds, not knowing what to really say. He stood there as well, smirking at her. She blinked.

"Well, if that's it, then I'm leaving." She spoke, picking her bag from the ground that fell off her shoulder after standing up abruptly, everything in front of his surprised eyes. "Bye."

"Hold a sec!" He called out, reaching up from her wrist and stopping her to take even one step. Lux turned around and paid him just one glance before switching at the hand on her skin. Her face twisted funnily and slapped it away with her free hand. "Auch."

"What? I really need to go."

"What's your name?" He asked, using another charming smile of his own.

Lux frowned for what it seemed like the hundred time of that day.

"You can call me Lux. Happy? I gotta go!" She feinted to turn around, but again she was stopped, this time with two tails surprisingly long enough to block her path. Her hand found itself right stroking it without any intentions to do it. It was soft.

She was pulled back and turned around.

"Alright, Lux, where are you going?" He asked, watching with amusement at the somewhat raped face of the blonde.

"Do you always interrogate your preys or what?" She asked sassily, breaking free from the tails with not too much force as she would like. They were too flawless to even try and damage them.

"No, I usually just kill them and I'm done." The words came out from his mouth naturally. Lux cringed a little, showing away bad memories coming from her mind. "But you ain't filthy. You're way better than them."

"Um," She smiled half-heartily, the wave of compliments getting her uneasy. "How come?"

His blue eyebrows raised slightly, a hint of knowing showing all in the eyes.

"…More attractive, of course."

As son the words were registered by Lux's ears, she took three steps away from him in order to calm down the unnerving feeling pumping out of her eyes. Her postured switched to the most awkward she held in her repertory and raised her finger, pointing at him.

"Quit it! Whatever you're planning, it won't work!" She chirped, the man in front of her smiling at her in response. The mage took a deep breath and straightened her back, gathering her normal senses back again. "Anyways! Why do you even care? It's not like I'll answer you just like that."

"Well, you see," He hummed gracefully, scratching his head with one tail in a way she would call so damn cocky. "I've got this feeling your lost, yeah."

Awareness smashed painfully on her consciousness, forcing her to stare at her dirty clothes and some scratches on them. She spotted her messy hair and how her stomach was actually getting nauseous of just eating fruit and vegetables. And of course, there was that faint smell that could be sensed if one got too close.

Somehow, the shame wasn't big enough this time to make her blush. She simply managed to reject the embarrassing blood on her cheeks. Her unhappy face said the opposite, though.

"Fine, mock on me. I'll just stand here." She choked almost in a nasty way.

"You think that bad of me?" He asked, putting both hands in where it was supposed to be his heart. Lux couldn't tell, though, he was so rude.

"Why, yes!" She pouted.

He snickered brightly, shaking her hair slightly. Lux touched unconsciously her hair, stroking it with attention as she gazed the perfect locks of blue hair of the dude in front of her. She was now one hundred present his hair was better than hers.

"So tell me ASAP where you going!" He insisted again. The blonde glared at him, bluffed.

Again, she couldn't feel nothing wrong about him.

"I'm just looking for some, uh, urbanization?" She said slowly, still not knowing what she was exactly looking for. The frowned expression of him made her wary. "What?"

"Do you realize that the closest city is about, I don't know, eighty kilometres away from here?" He said, fighting against the need of laugh at the dumbstruck face of Lux. "Where are still close to the coast."

"What?!" She screamed high-pitched. He covered his ears with some tails instantly, furrowing his features. "It couldn't be! I've been walking two weeks all here!"

His analysing eyes went unnoticed by her, lost in the realization she may've walking on circles all along. He had a pretty good explanation of it, but it was better to just swallow it.

"Wanna ride? Not every day such a sexy man walks you, uh?" He said, making a cool pose with flexing arms and face

"Will you take me with you?" She asked, hope tinting her words. "By the end of the day? I mean, you can use that cool move with your flames! Right?!"

"Sure thing!" He said, smiling. But then he raised his eyes up, watching the sky and how the sun was making its way towards the horizon. "But it's getting late; and I'm not skipping my sleeping hours, nope!"

"Wait, what?" She asked dumbfolly, staring at the sky as well. "But it isn't that late, we should keep on!" She pleaded, reaching up for his arm and starting to try drag him, but it was impossible. He stood there like a statue.

"Ah, don't be like that." He mocked her, patting Lux's head. "We'll get up at the first sunray of tomorrow."

Lux then proceeded to drop the limb as if it was venom and crossed her arms tightly below her breast, receiving a curious stare. She could pretty much ditch the furry guy and keep moving; the night didn't bother her at all and she was sure she could stay awake for a couple of hours more.

"But we've been here two weeks and we still hadn't got out of here." She countered her own thoughts, and she has to agree with.

It was stupidly ironic that her, out of all people whom could possible got dumped down into this forest, was actually having trouble finding the exit. Every corner of it seemed the same, and her magic wasn't cooperating. The farthest she could sense vibrations didn't reach the end of the woods, and despite she has been moving, she hasn't got any progress. Something was up, and it frustrated her to be unable to figure it out.

A sigh escaped from her lips, showing up her agreement. He cheered in response, his tails mimicking his behaviour.

"Alright, but you better not be lying!" She warned.

"Yes, ma'am!"

Lux nodded, satisfied with the answer and spun around. Her mind quickly analysed the environment, looking for possibly places to hit the hay, to make some fire and even thinking about where to put her bag. As she tried spot some dry wood, he got ahead on work and strolled through the place, till stopping right in front of a random brown and big tree.

"Here is a good place, come!" He called out for her, rising one hand. Lux snapped out of her frenzy and sighted him. "Come, come!"

She walked at him, watching in confusion the tree. She expected a secret trapdoor to open and lead both right into the fox realm, but nothing happened. He just sat down and used his tails to make a confortable spot to rest. He then looked up at her and patted the ground right beside him, where a couple of tails made another spot, allegedly for her.

"What are you doing?" She asked, raising one eyebrow. "Do you really expect us sleeping there?"

"Of course, it's really comfy!" He answered and patted down the ground hardly this time. "Just get down there already. This spot it's just for you."

"I don't see my name on it." She replied stubbornly, shaking her head. "Neither yours; wait, you still hadn't told your name to me. How's it?"

He smiled at her playfully.

"I'll tell you if you come. Deal?"

Lux's lips frowned, not liking a bit what she was hearing. At the end, she was forced to do as he said. Sighing dramatically, she crouched down and got to the grass using her hands as support, putting her bag beside her. She hugged her legs and pushed them against her chest. She twisted a little her head and paid a glance to him and then to the tails, asking silently again if it was okay. He nodded. Lux dragged her both on the grass and leaned over the tails with extreme delicacy, afraid of breaking them. Not only had they felt strong, but soft. So soft.

"Takeo. My name is Takeo." He spoke aloud, getting himself comfortable on his own space.

Lux shoot him a glance, expecting a lying sing somewhere on his face, but or either it was hidden or either it was true. She side-tracked her eyes, facing the green shining grass. The tiredness hit her and decided to take her to sleep. Back rested on the tails, and feeling a little surprised to accepting them so easily, she decided to close her eyes, hoping to fall asleep soon.

Takeo eyed her out through the corner of his eye, taking notice of her still body and how her face seemed way more peaceful than before. Then, his eyes shined blue just slightly and all the word around him flashed white just in one instant before dozens and dozens of colours appeared in the air. A great deal were about green streams going over the place, dancing around the trees and getting itself lost on the leaves or sinking in the earth. But all of those green streams never did their stuff before moving close to Lux.

He admired with fascination a white, pure light orb right inside Lux. It shined on and on, and it was interacting in a strange way somehow with a dark energy around it. It was an obscure cape that got chunks of it burned by light rays every second, and yet as some disappeared, some appeared again. Despite this, Takeo wouldn't categorize it as… a fight between both magic. He has never seen something like that before; not only light and dark magic in the same place before nothing blowing up, but also the green magic rotating around it, trying to approached carefully, as if it feared to be rejected. It was like seeing a weird solar system, a beautiful one. Some sparks actually managed to overcome the dark and light magic presence, and joined them together, disappearing inside the orb.

"Such a control in magic…" He mused, completely stunned. "And she is not even trying… The magic is doing this by itself?"

He smiled, his lips dry. He stopped for his own sake, closing his eyes and switching back to the normal sight. Eyes open again, he eyed her up.

"Damn, I never thought I would be ever attracted to another woman."

If Lux mind wasn't that withered enough to allow her to sleep quickly, she wouldn't be able to hear another couple of words released in the air.

"You've always been this… talented in magic?" He started talking, the words tasting raspy in Lux's mouth.

She didn't open her eyes right away. She waited for her mind to turn on before toss around the tails. The eyelids finally rose up, leaving a lazy gaze on sight. Why he was talking now, after insisting so much on sleep? Was he trying to get to know her? But as her mind turned on, she decided to put it on standby. She was getting a headache.

"That's correct. I've been called a prodigy since I was born." She answered idly, not feeling the need to lie. "And I assume you can sense or see magic, right? I don't remember telling you nothing about it."

She didn't have to turn around to know he was smiling.

"You're quite clever." He praised. She buffed. "Yeah, yeah, you're right."

"This is an ability you only have? Or it isn't that rare?" She muttered, grabbing tentatively one piece of white fur with her fingers. She didn't miss the soft purr coming out from his lips in response. It was actually adorable.

"Well, it's indeed very common on our kind." He finally continued the chat, hiding the blush on his cheeks.

"What do you mean by that?" She laid it on the lane, frowning. "Fox… kind?"

"No, pretty much everyone here in, well, the woods. Those… non-human." He mumbled.

Lux tried to cope with the fact that he wasn't telling her everything. She failed.

"What aren't you telling me?" She spoke up to him, turning around but not daring to leave the grass below. Both eyes connected: light-blue and blue. "Tell me."

"You're not from here, I assume…" He rambled. "Well, you know. Have you ever seen people half human and half animal?"

"Wait, what? I've never- Wait." She stopped in middle tracks.

Has she ever seen people like that? She found herself very surprised at thinking her answer: of course. Mostly in her time while in the League of Legends. Champions like Nami, Rengar, Wukong are some obvious examples; God, even Ahri. As far she knew, all of them were from Ionia, but Nami. Do they have abilities like that? Rengar and Wukong were a little doubtful, but Nami and Ahri could perfectly fit on that accusation.

"I've actually seen them!" She said excitedly at the thought of learning more. "But surely not all of them have got this magic sense ability, right?"

"That's right." Takeo smiled, nodding. "Some have it, some not. Mine's quite better than everyone's. Not all of them can see magic as easily as I can, but yes, even in a small capacity."

"And all Vastaya people are from Ionia?" She said with curiosity.

"Every single of them emerged right from here, but not all of them are actually here right now. Some flee away and found other places to stay, away from the humans." He explained slowly, this time his voice changing at the final words. "The humans had… repressed us since long time ago, and nowadays we're still having trouble dealing with them."

"But wait," Lux cut him off, this time sitting correctly and paying him attention. "You sound like this problem has now tons of years on it. How old are the Vastaya?"

"We've born in the Great Void War, when a group of humans fled into the forest and met our kind. But before that, we're called Vastashai'rei." Takeo responded patiently. "Or at least that's what I was taught."

After finishing speaking, the fox watched with attention how the information seemed to go inside Lux's ears and how it pored over the info with an unnerving intensity. He could even imagine the gears running inside her head at seeing those eyes. And when it seemed she was about to speak again, he end her up first.

"We should sleep now. The sun is almost gone." He hummed absently, letting his head fall on the tails and closing his eyes without doubting.

Left in middle speaking, Lux shot him an annoyed glance before snorting and resting down as well. Her hands lied down on her lap and she fought her worn out eyes. She paid a last glance above her, the delightful sight of the trees and its leaves calming her down. The last she saw was the sun hiding again.

"I can't believe he cut me off." The though popped up before sleeping.

Eyes closed, she allowed the surrounding and new darkness taking control of her without hesitation. She felt oddly how her consciousness was being taken away and being replaced by a comforting sensation. It was only her, sat down, in the darkness. Her ears ringed and a tiny oppression appeared on her eyeballs. A couple of seconds later, without her noticing, her eyes went open again.

Lux breathed deeply through her nose, but silently. The first thing she noticed she was actually lying down on the ground, her head resting on one white tail, sideways. She twisted her body, stretching every limb of it and got on her butt, making sure to not crush any tail, still afraid. She turned her head around and watched the sleepy face of Takeo lying down just like her seconds ago. She didn't know why she thought she would be very much alone at the moment she'd wake up, but yet her suspicions were dumb.

She snapped out and looked around for her green bag, taking out one fruitangle. Her stomach kicked annoyingly inside, tired of eating the same stuff, but her tongue protested loudly. The flavour was still exceptional. She grabbed a bite and then swallowed. She sighed. They needed to move.

Switching the fruit to her free hand, she used the other one to approach just a little closer to Takeo to clap his cheek softly. She may did it more than needed, but his face was really soft. Maybe softer than hers. She frowned, this time caressing quietly his cheekbones.

"Let me know when you're done."

Lux's hand was slapped back with an invisible force that she may imagine. The intruder were hugged between her breast as she stared nervously as how the fox stretched like her before lazily sitting down with the help of his tails. He gave her a morning smile.

"You know, if you wanna touch me, you just should've asked." He teased, stealing a scandalized stare from her.

"I-it wasn't like that!" She chirped in response, breaking eye contact with him. She fished out another fruitangle from her bag and handled it over to him maybe too fast. "Just eat this, and we keep going."

"Oh, cool!" He answered cheerily, receiving the fruit and devouring it with his fangs lively. Such a sight that in any case wouldn't be pleasant. But the privileges of being beautiful did its charms.

Lux's gaze turned away as she stood up, finishing to stretch her body. The blonde tried really hard to find something to dawdle with, but the forest was already getting on her nerves. So she chose instead to watch again at the fellow. The way he ate, the way the tails moved and the gracefully way he just existed. All of it just screamed Ahri.

"Hey, just out of curiosity…"She said suddenly, the bug of curiosity infecting her from inside. He, half way eating the meal, paid her a glance. "It could be that… you have a sibling? A sister, maybe?" She asked.

She didn't miss the dumbstruck expression Takeo gave her.

"What? Where did that come from?" He questioned, forgetting completely the fruit and proceeding to scrutinize her silhouette. He suddenly went up and in front of her, staring.

Lux immediately felt smaller and instinctively tensed, magic focusing on the end of her fingers, ready to fight. She waited a couple of seconds, but it wasn't a tail which came down aiming for her; she just faced another surprised face.

"Woah, sorry, I didn't mean upset you!" He apologized quickly, taking one step back and raising both hands in defeat, his eyes focused not on hers but her chest. And something could tell that he wasn't looking at her breasts (thank God?).

She puzzled.

"It's okay…" She breathed woozy, clapping slightly her head with one hand. "I-I don't know what happened. Sorry, I just… thought I went too far. I won't ask you anymore." She assured, smiling weakly.

"Don't worry," he said nonchalantly, but not doing any attempt to move closer to talk in a proper way.

The guilt tossed all around her heart, making it to ache slightly. She was really damaged, wasn't she? What are the odds, making to believe her brain that every single person out there is dangerous, and that she should be always prepared to strike back?

"No, wait!" She cried, deleting again the odd distance between them. "I really mean it! I should really make it up to you!" She beamed, standing up right in front of him. "Tell me! What do you want?"

Takeo shifted a little, self-conscious. His senses twitched, feeling how the aura that she gave off changed from dangerous to a one he couldn't decipher. The magic she exuded was tempting him in not a good way.

"She is not even noticing it. This only will get her in trouble" he thought uncomfortably, smiling nonetheless. "Don't sweat it; I'm fine."

That answer seemed to annoy even more the girl. She stood there, cramming him intensely by her stare.

"Liar!" She screamed, shaking off any thought about even believing him. She smiled with foreboding. "You look curious, pretty much! I can tell because of your look seconds ago!" The words were barked off her mouth.

Takeo grimaced.

"You're so cheeky, did you know?" He answered grumpily, crossing arms. "It doesn't matters. I know what already need to know."

"Wait, no, this is supposed when I pay you back." She said, her mouth spread open with drama. "You can't fool me. What do you know? Tell me. Maybe you know her name is…"She paused on porpused, trying to catch his attention. Failed. "…Ahri?"

His head rose up like a bullet being shot.

"What did you just said?" He asked in a unbelievable way, leaning over just a little. "Ahri? What, she?"

Lux dangled lazily on her feet, rocking along a Sona's random song inside her head, satisfaction slithering all over her back. While she enjoyed being now the little universe of Takeo's attention, his mind, in the other hand, were a mass of frenetic thoughts about Lux.

Ahri wasn't a normal name, of course. He remembered his tribe had a very old tradition about naming its members with special names that always held a meaning with. Of course, names with a special meaning weren't anything new; specifically in Ionia, but their names were different thanks to a simple fact: they were made out of his own tribe's language. And of course, the fact that he barely remembered about having a sister helped out his currently thoughts.

Ahri meant graceful and elegant, in a twisted way. Her sister was graceful and elegant, right? That was enough. He thought everyone else was dead. Why she hasn't showed up? Has she been looking for him? Just like he used to do before giving up?

"Yesss." She answered innocently, her eyes sparkling. "And she is like your clone, but feminine!" Lux said in a hushed voice, as if she was saying the gossip of the year. "What, you're acting like you've never seen her! What's the matter?"

Every word squeezed its way into Takeo's ear, triggering him deeply. He did his best trying to hide it.

"Uh…" He messed up.

"What?! Really?! That's impossible!" The blonde beamed almost angrily, waving her hands off and not standing still at all. "She's at the League of Legends! After she joined, she had been staying there pretty much." She explained. And of course, she saved to herself her own suspicions about why Ahri prowled around there often. Maybe because the Institute gave her the so-loved human essence she liked so much. It was disturbing, but not impossible.

"The what?"

Lux stopped her explosive state of emotions and gazed him with one eyebrow raised. He was joking?

"The League of Legends." She said, this time way slower in order to allow him to understand.

"I'm rather sure I've never heard that name before." He stated firmly.

Something weighted down her stomach after hearing that. Lux hugged it and stared at Takeo as if he was insane, mental, stupid, dumb, a prankster. Something was wrong.

"You seriously don't know them?" She asked, completely baffled. She leaned her head a little over her side, making the question more powerful. "Do you live in a box?"

Takeo seemed offended for the first time she met him.

"Hey, no need to be rude!" He complained, trying to sound loud to make his presence bigger, but his soft voice was troublesome. "Of course I don't know that League of what! First time I hear of them."

Lux almost followed with another question filled with incredulity, but her mind kicked in and stopped her right in tracks. There's no way someone hadn't never heard about the League of Legends, especially because they had been out there for a while. Maybe the first days after their first appearance, but now? Enough time went by; how come it?

"Maybe he's just a little dumb." She thought, trying to answer the predicament. "He may be a hermit of the forest."

"That's no sense. Look at his clothes: those definitely aren't homemade. They're too much elaborated." The voice inside answered. Lux paid attention: He was wearing some delicate-looking white shorts that taken up barely enough to cover up to his knees. Its borders were skirted with an additional layer of red fabric with yellow inscriptions on it. His upper body's clothing was connected with the shorts in an elegant way thanks to and golden and red belt that held a medium-sized emblem on his left side. His shirt was completely made out of red layers that moved on each other consequently, covering up his entire chest, and switching to white ones nearing the collarbones. His arms were naked but his forearms, which were being used by red and white muff with the same style of the belt, its rear being pointy and golden. His arms used fingerless white gloves that attached very well to the skin. And lastly, he was wearing red-white sandals with just a little of platform.

Takeo raised one eyebrow at her unapologetic eyeing-up.

"Maybe he's just very good at tailoring." Lux argued. "Maybe his family gave them to him."

"He doesn't seem to have a family, judging by his reaction before. Just quit it and shut it down. You don't have anything to do with the League of Legends now."

"Maybe I got it wrong…?" She said, her face changing completely to a confused one in a perfect way. "I could've sworn…" She said, puffed.

"You could?" He said in a mockingly way. Lux's analysis told her he didn't buy it. "So where's this League of Legends?"

"ABORT MISSION." She said to herself, her façade almost fainting. She swallowed back a sigh, deciding to ignore what the voice inside her head said. She was supposed to stop acting like that. "It's very far away from here; but hey, you know what? As a payment, I'll take you there someday." Lux said, waving it off nonchalantly. "It doesn't seem like you care that much."

"Damn, you're cold, uh." Takeo whined painfully, his tails swaying to his beat.

She smiled crookedly.

"I've been told a lot." He answered, assuring her bag onto her shoulder. "Now let's go at once!"

The fox trilled tiredly, nodding with her. He raised both his arms to her.

"Alright. Get on."

Lux stared and him, then peered down at his arms. Then she stared at him questioningly, raising one eyebrow. She wasn't getting carried by bridal-style. The irony would appear and smash her to the ground in a homesick way.

"Come on, this way is faster." He insisted, rocking both arms slightly in a poor intent to encourage her to do it.

"I can walk perfectly." She countered stubbornly, frowning. "You don't have to worry. Let's just move." She dismissed him and strode throughout the way, passing by Takeo and getting ready to swarm up on a particular big root.

She did the job successfully, but frowned again at not feeling anyone behind her. Lux wheezed in annoyance and spun around, finding none other than the sight of a human-fox smirking at her, still in the same spot.

"Are you serious?!" She screamed, walking all the way back with some trouble. She resisted the desire to swipe Takeo's face full of mock glee.

"Don't be a wimp." He chocked in laughter. "My arms are veery comfy."

Her face twisted in a tired tantrum, her body shuddering in annoyance. Her mind got fed up and came up with tons of sarcastic comments and even cruel and insulting words. But she stopped herself right in time. Old Lux, go away. She could be… nicer.

"...Fine." She muttered, not having enough energy to put up with him.

Takeo raised one brow. She ignored it. Lux approached him and stared with doubt both his arms. She took one step closer, and walked in between them, twisting a little, not very sure what to do next. She spun around, no longer facing him and rested her hand on his shoulder, pulling her body upwards just a little. Takeo grabbed her quickly and she was being carried bridal-style. Sickness punched her.

"You won. Do whatever you want." Lux hissed venomously, pressing her lips together as she frowned.

"Aw, don't get angry. Just hold tight." He said devilishly, and flexed his legs. What?

At the moment when her whole sight twisted thanks to the sudden move downwards and then upwards, Lux screamed loudly at feeling the air pressing against her face. Her hands reached up for something to hold on and grabbed the Takeo's neck in a death grip. She didn't feel how her nails sunk just a little into his skin, and how his face twitched a bit, she was more focused on her stare at below, right where she was seconds ago.

She was a couple of meters above, in the high trees, and moving. Her mind almost blacked out, trying to understand what just happened, when she caught the frame of a couple of tails pressing against the wood, and pulling both of them forwards speedy. Then, blue magic surrounded them out of blue, the same patron of spirals dancing around. Lux's lips got shaped in a perfect "o".

"The spirit rush!" Lux cried excitedly inside her head as she moved her head around, blue eyes sparkling with innocence.

The tails swarmed up some branches, dodged the giant trees that got in their way and moved in harmony with the cool breeze that was against their direction. All around her switched to lights out to beautiful lit thanks to the sunrays coming from above, some of them blocked by the coloured domes out of leaves.

They didn't stop after a couple of minutes. Lux enjoyed the sight as she piled up the best moments in her mind. Third place was that one moment went they almost bumped in right into a flock of blue and green birds; Takeo dodged them flawlessly with a move of his tails, sending them high in the air, coming out from the trees momentarily. The second moment was that one, when she admired the sun hitting her face like drunk hangnail, but the intensity of the feeling twisted in a good way. The first and best moment snapped on her right after starting falling from the sky, getting inside the trees again. The area was a new whole zone of trees. The rate as they feel slowed down a little, and she sighted tons of trees that had a bunch of freckled colours in every leave, almost making her think they were shining. Her ears registered absently the sound of a river somewhere close to them as they glided in the air.

An infinitely amount of colours flooded up her eyes, getting her dizzy to the bone. The trees started to get precarious; so much that she turned her head around to sneak over Takeo's shoulder to behind her. Her eyes felt hypnotic, and she didn't stopped gazing back till they suddenly stopped moving.

Lux frowned and made her eyes fit questioningly to the fox. He raised one eyebrow.

"We're here. Don't you feel like to get down?" He said slowly.

Lux shook her head.

"No-no, another round, please!" She asked with a excited smiled, stirring her body and getting even more comfortable on his grip somehow.

He stared at the woman, which minutes ago, was extremely reluctant to even approach him, showing off her puppy-eyes in an attempt to convince him.

"You choose. You get down or I drop you." He smiled unapologetically. Lux snorted.

She dropped her grip out of his neck as if suddenly it was somehow hurting her and buzzed away from him. Paying attention around for the first time, she then noticed that the forest-like trees, the ones who have got those weird magic feeling, and delicious fruits growing up on them, were almost gone. Instead, green-normal ones started appearing, some brown, some oranges, but something that she would qualify as plain simple. Below her there was a stone path that covered up two directions: one into the forest where she came from, and another to keep going into the clearing, nearing the end of it.

And finally she could breathe freely. The feeling of the woods on her dissipated just enough to starting being comfortable and not… mood changing.

Lux frowned.

"We weren't that close to the exit of the forest, right?" She asked aloud, still looking around.

He chuckled.

"Well, spiritually, no." He answered cryptically. "Yep, the forest really likes you."

Lux's eyes went wide open, realization washing all over her senses. She couldn't help but glare into the forest accusingly, almost blurting out the need to an explanation. Thank God she resisted, or else she'll start to make herself famous for not being a spy, but a plant-talker.

"That explains why I couldn't reach the end, despite walking days and days, and me being someone who does not ever walk in circles." She muttered, annoyed.

But she couldn't stay angry. She sighed. He smiled, already sensing her magic around her. He peeked at the orb inside again. It was pretty much the same, but the nature magic stopped running around of the orb, and instead crammed around it. She was storing some magic up.

"Well, it's done already." She sighed, spinning her body and gazing at the open area again. Sharpening her gaze enough, she could even see good glimpses of a city, not too much far away. Joyfulness bubbled up all through her chest. She couldn't wait.

"Before I go, I want to give you something." She spoke, facing again the fox, smiling.

Not waiting for an answer, she gathered some nature magic warily, still not having the whole control on it back again. Takeo watched with entertainment how she ducked down and injected some green magic on the grass. A couple of seconds later, slowly and gradually, a green flower started growing up. Lux's face fought against the tiredness, being ridiculously way harder to grow a tiny flower than a root as she thought. The flower rose up and it took the similar aspect of a daisy, its petals being green and sparkling-like. The flower shined a couple of moments before the gloom fading away. Lux grabbed it delicately by the stalk and took it out of the earth without making any sound, as if the plant wasn't attached to it in first place.

Takeo's ears perked up when she handled it over to him. He could feel magic on the flower.

"Here, it'll get you together even in the toughest times." She said, excited.

He stared it a couple of seconds before stretching his arm to grab receive it. The flower fell onto his hand and immediately he felt something changing inside. His curiosity, eagerness and all kind of feeling that could possibly get him out of tracks calmed down significantly. They were still there, but he was calm. He smiled.

"Thanks." He said, putting the flower on his air to avoid breaking it.

"Oh, right, it won't break so easily; you can pocket it if you want." The blonde said upon seeing the flower on his head. "But I guess it makes you prettier."

"Even prettier than before? I thought that was impossible." He replied cockily, making her sigh. "I like it there, anyways. And I guess I can't let you go before giving you something, too."

Lux paid him a surprised glance at him and clapped both hands frenetically, a shriek coming out from her mouth.

"Cool! What's like? It shines on? Like a diamond?!" She blew up on him. "I want to see it!"

Takeo backed off a bit, taken aback by the sudden burst of her. He regained his composure and raised his hand; opening it up and making the palm face the sky.

"Loosen up a bit and gimme a sec."

Lux did as she was told. She nodded and got back normally on her feet, watching with attention. It started with a flash of blue light, the same magic acting as before. The outline of medium-sized orb started to appear magically in the air, a dreamy sound forming out of it. The transparency of it made it clear immediately as it covered up almost the triple of the size of Takeo's hand. She watched with awe the two perfect pieces fitted on each other flawlessly, forming a mark of a half-moon with a curled rug. The orb shined before blue magic took control all over it, making it to flare intensely in a blue mass of magic.

"Just like Ahri's orb." She pondered, delighted.

Takeo's free hand danced around the orb while the other "held" it. His fingers stopped at some point which she was unable to see before taking out a small blue mass of magic, which quickly turned into a small wild fire. He pushed the orb aside of him, making it to simply float on the air up and down, as he focused on the fire. His hands curled up around it just a little, doing something she wasn't very sure of. Then, out of blue, he handled it over.

"Here." He spoke.

Lux blinked, puzzled.

"What?" She said, her eyes narrowing just a little, showing off her doubt.

"Well, you gave me something of your magic hence I'll give you mine's." He answered nonchalantly, as if it was the most logic course of action.

Despite knowing that something was off, the blonde didn't find any flaw on the logic. He wasn't exactly wrong, for sure.

She pressed her lips together and extended both her hands, opening both hands slowly. Takeo's fingers encouraged the flame to move to its new owner, and it did so, floating the couple of centimetres between his fingers to Lux's. Immediately, she couldn't help but notice the sudden small wave of new magic going on all her body; Takeo's. Her mouth got on an "o" shape.

"Godness…" She breathed a sigh, puffed out beyond.

Shyly, and with fear to make the flame fan out, she rocked her hands a little, watching how effectively the blue magic kept up with her.

"Don't worry, it won't vanish." He assured with a tiny smile. "It will stand with you forever either you reject it or either I decide the opposite."

Lux laughed in pure joy, now the only thing inside her head was how beautiful it was the blue fire she was holding. All inhibited feeling faded away as she played with it, making it bounce in the air along with her arms. The warmness wasn't dangerous, just plain comfortable, and it reminded her of him.

"This is… so good!" She cried, actually touched by the gift. "Thank you… I love it."

"...It's nothing. You're welcome." He said, a little embarrassed at her reaction. "Glad you liked it."

Lux's smile gradually decreased, becoming a sad one. She stopped messing around and grabbed the flame with her left hand, smashing it against her chest a second later. What it seemed like she indeed wiped it out, the magic injected in and stored inside, all under Takeo's amazed gaze. Lux sighed.

"I guess this is the goodbye." She snapped out suddenly.

He eyed her up with a blank expression, his tails stopping as well and falling down on the grass.

"I… really enjoyed this. Thanks for being my… "She stopped in middle way, unsure."…friend." She said somewhat ashamedly, not believing it.

"…No problem…" Takeo replied warily, taken aback by the change. It was obvious to him she was pained by something "I guess I'll see you around, then?" The words came out with a hope taste. After all, she has been the only person in a long time he'd been talking with this… freely.

Lux couldn't have honoured her name better. Her face got washed up by light that seemed to come from the very heavens; the smile that followed after was even brighter. That awful, heart-aching feeling that remarked horribly her face vanished in a flash of light.

She was happy.

"Of course! We'll see again!" She burst in a joyful-like appearance, jumping slightly on her feet. "This is definitely not the goodbye!"

Takeo did what was the most logical thing. Smile back and feel the same.

"It's already set on stone." He joked, moving his tails playfully.

Lux smiled again, her body being hit back again by insecurity. He didn't have any time to wonder about it before being surprised by a bone-breaker bug from her. Her arms enclosed around his chest tightly, as if she was afraid he would go. Before he could do anything, she backed off, looking relieved.

"Alright. Do not forget me or else I'll be very mad!" She cried, puzzling him even more.

She turned around and started walking away, following the stone path direction. He stood there, frozen and not feeling like to snap out of it. He watched slowly as how she disappeared from his life, wondering why she did what she did. His arms itched; she didn't let him hug her; way too slow. But…

"And you better not forget me, neither!" He screamed back, using his hands as a bullhorn.

Lux, already a small figure on the horizon, turned her head around to watch him, smiling.

"I won't!" She replied, starting to wave him off as she moved, getting farther.

Takeo watched her long enough to make it harder to even recognize her blonde hair, that's when he blinked and turned around. The forest received him again; but it didn't felt as alone as before.

Lux, stood on the grass, watched this time how his figure got lost into the woods again. She didn't let herself to feel sad; they'll be seeing each other again. Maybe tomorrow, in one week, a year; it didn't matter. The promise to see again her first friend on here was enough.

When she spun around, she focused on enjoying the walk and the breeze that came from her front. She raised both arms in the air and allowed the wind to play around them as she looked at the daisies, dandelions and weird weed growing up, some of them being non-identifiable under her gaze.

The mage tried to focus on the city and not on how it became harder and harder to see in front of her nose. Then, the dizziness kicked in her head and her whole body, making her tremble before falling apart on the stone painfully. A deep and erratic breath tried to get into her mouth, the need of oxygen being ridiculous necessary. The word started to fade.

She tried to reach for her light, desperate for help, but something happened inside. She couldn't reach it, canalize it, nothing. It just… vanished.

"There it goes my happy ending." She thought dryly before darkness sucked her.

The ground beneath her disappeared and a whole new world out of blackness, which was inside her head as she assumed, appeared. Nothing past her nose could be seen and yet she could see everything. It was odd, it was like the place was being washed with light and yet it wasn't. She floated on the darkness, feeling lost. She sighed.

She wasn't afraid as the first time it happened when she was thirteen years old. That was the time which she was different, when the standard of do good and loyal to the light was buried deep into her head. The time when she thought Demacia was over everyone else, the time when she thought all people from them were right and others wrong. But now? Darkness just made her uncomfortable. Light was her first choice as always, but darkness it is necessary in some degree. Her true colours weren't immaculate as some people may think. The solo thought almost made her laugh. She wasn't innocent. She was bad.

It was becoming usual since she run away; it was like a routine. Why such a thing would become a routine to her? Things like this shouldn't be happening right now. This whole drama to get away from everyone was supposed to start with a clean slate. She didn't spend tons of hours risking her life to get a little bite of peace in her life for now having to put up with this.

But she had the opportunity to change now; this won't take her down. She had faced worst before; this was just… odd. Nothing she could handle.

"Mother was right… Magic can be a pain sometimes" She muttered, her hands hugging her legs against her chest as she back flipped slowly in the darkness , her hair expanding all over the space, suspended "But I can't hate it. I can't get blind…"

The pitch darkness went tint a faint blue out of blue. She blinked, her eyes blurry, used to see nothing before peering down at the same blue fire Takeo gifted her a couple of minutes ago. She tried to feel surprise, but she couldn't feel anything. Her fingers manoeuvred to it unconsciously, barely stroking it before it buzzed away quickly.

"Wait!" She cried, frowning, her voice echoing through the nothing.

Opposite to her beliefs, the flame didn't run away from her life as she feared; it just moved a couple of meters away, where the darkness felt strange. Suddenly, it stopped as if it was on a dead end, and then exploded brightly. Before realization could even hit her, a small and familiar light portal conjured itself not too much far away from her out of the blue light.

"…?!"

There was an exit.

She didn't think it twice before unravel herself from her own pity nest and starting to move, her body shuddering. She did everything she could come up to it. She swum, floated, and even tried to do some magic to get away from the darkness and closer to the light. She didn't want to stay long enough to get used to it, to change. She didn't want to commit any more mistakes. She was tired of that Lux.

She approached more and more to the portal, feeling how bit by bit the uneasy feeling abandoned her. His pale fingertips almost touched it. It wasn't warm, or cold as one could even think, it just gave her the feeling she needed in this moment. Some hope; the hope that has been taken off of her long time ago.

"I won't give up!" She breathed the scream that supposed to come out, fainting, and being replaced by those almost silently, but powerful words.

A horrendous shiver slipped all across her spine, sending a wave of pure uneasiness over her body. Her hand fainted.

She looked behind her, the features on her face twisting in fear, stopping moving, her fingers being just less than a centimetre away from the light. The darkness behind changed. It looked the same and yet it didn't. Something was there, close.

"No…" She whispered in dread, trembling.

A silhouette appeared between the dark. It was reaching for her; it was getting closer; it was about to take her back to black.

Green threads appeared from behind her; she only sighted them when they were already tangled around her chest. They started to pull her back into the portal. Her eyes orbits saw something purple before fading into the light. It wasn't something evil as she expected. She just had the foreboding.

When she snapped back again into the realm of the living, the sun almost burned up her corneas in a degree that grazed the ironic. Her arms went up immediately and made up a makeshift shield, saving her for a good pain. A deep breath got in and she was back.

The first thing she saw was the blue fire beside her, floating quietly in the air, accompanying her. She stared at it dumbfound, still pinned at the ground before noticing a leave appearing in her sight, then another and another. Lux blinked before looking around, noticing a small group of dry-yellowish leaves dancing around her gracefully, apparently doing the same as the fire.

She stood there; lay down for a moment, understanding what just happened.

"Even if I don't have anyone else to rely on, my magic will never ditch me." She though, seeing how the blue fire finally dissipated at her will. She made sure to store it very close to her.

The leaves' weird behaviour came to an end. They swirled around her for one last time before flying quickly back into the forest, leaving her; not alone anymore.

Lux sighed, stretching all over. The city was waiting for her.

...

Walking into the city of Eríni was certainly a new whole experience for her.

She only had been on Ionia just once in her life under the façade of taking some well-deserved short vacations paid by Demacia, when actually she was having one of the most difficult missions of her life being nosy in Noxus' invasion. She didn't give a second thought to the place; she knew she hadn't place for any mistake; or else she would get herself killed.

Lux didn't remember the place being so… magical.

As she walked across one of the mains streets made out of brilliant green-like stone, her magic already hidden plus a small spell on her face to went unnoticed, the only thought of being on the city and feeling almost as much magic as like being in the forest got her on the edge. It was utopic, and just as how she exactly wanted to live.

The nature and the city were almost one. Her feet strode, almost jumping a bit, gazing around all the people… and Vastayas. The word echoed trhough her head as she paid attention to a one woman feline-like standing behind a fruit stand on the left side of the street, blurting convincing words to go and buy some fruits. The image of the woman she bought some fruits long time ago popped up on her mind; the comparison being inevitable.

No one was looking at the cat woman, not even paying her a small bit of attention; or at least the attention she would call like "a surprised one." It was pretty much normal here. She recalled the first time she saw someone like them; she screamed, and very loud. And let's not even talk about first time seeing a yordle. Of course, with some time, she got somewhat used to them, but never at the degree of the Vastaya people at the League. People like Nami were constant in her life. There wasn't one single time in the week she didn't see her, either on the Institute or a random match.

But here, those strange people proliferate.

The heaviness on her jean pockets made itself clearer as she gazed around all the different stands. From fruits, she switched to dolls, then to books, to some beautiful Jewellery (still not better than her grandma's necklace), and even a creepy stand which sold potions.

The marked zone didn't last as much as she may want. Swarming through the crowd, she moved to the circular and silver fountain that was in the middle of the street, marking the end of market. She sat down on one of the edges, crossing her edges as she watched the people going back and forth, enjoying herself.

Those fruits in her bag won't last forever; and she was already getting tired of eating them. Right now, she was homeless and practically a poor. A job would come in handy.

But what and where? She can't imagine herself working on something that wasn't being a spy or at least fighting people over and over. That was what she did in the League of Legends, after all.

"A normal job would be great…" She hummed, caressing her fake black hair under her light magic. Her face was still the same, her sloppy light magic's doing.

She looked around the place. She was still in the commerce zone; there was a lot of movement here. A couple of gazes and she already saw one restaurant specialized on fish, tons of kiosk quite separated from each other and some fancy boutiques. All of them being potential places to work.

"Well, time to get on it."

…

Her first attempt was miserable.

She may have been a little egoist at only choosing places she personally liked at first sight, but after a first glance at one creepy and horrendous-smelling like bar, she knew a place like that won't do any good. So, after abandoning the fountain, she steadied her grab on her bag and started moving through the people. Her first try was that restaurant specialized in fishes. It looked elegant and cleaned; a place she could work with. She moved at the main door, looking through the glasses inside and, effectively, catching with sight a sing which said "employee wanted."

After gathering some courage watching the green tree into a small stone square on the dirt in front of the windows, she grabbed the yellow doorknob and spun it slightly, opening the door to outside. A small bell sound ringed through her ears, and she entered in. A first glance through the place told her that it was medium-sized.

She walked somehow weirdly, dodging the brown tables and chairs on the floor. Some people eyed her up, some didn't. She plasticized her trustworthy smile on her face and walked to the old-looking bar zone, passing by the chandelier on the stone arc above. She spotted a man that was cleaning up the marble from the other side. His bored face said everything.

"Excuse me…"

As soon as her words left her mouth, the man's gaze went up quickly. Then, she noticed the slightest of frowns on his brows. A normal person wouldn't ever be able to saw through his neutral face, but yet she wasn't normal.

"I'm here because the sign on the door." She continued at seeing she wasn't a response. Just that stare that irritated even more. What he was even looking?

"Oh, it's that?" He said, looking away and grabbing one empty coup to clean it. She was fairly sure it was clean, and that he just did it to not see her. "I'm sorry." He eyed her up with his brown eyes, shaking slightly his head. Rude. "You don't fit."

Lux's faked face twisted in hidden anger. She resisted the urge to blow up on him and tried to calm himself.

"I didn't even get a proper interview." She almost hissed, her smile fading. Her stern face shone. "It's unfair."

"As I've told you before…"He started, even daring to spread some sarcasm on his words. "You simply don't fit in a place like this. You're… precarious."

Her mask exploded painfully on his pride. She peered down and then noticed her clothes, horribly damaged thanks to the amazing but vindictive trip to here. She actually looked like a poor, even so that her grandma's collar didn't do justice. Well, it just was turned around, and it looked plain simple from behind.

"Still…" She thought, narrowing her eyes. Her hand moved slowly back to hide in front of her butt. "I understood. Sorry for wasting your time." She said emotionlessly.

She turned around and walked away with loud steps. She grimaced dangerously like Cassiopeia at one couple who glared at her, and stormed out the place without looking back.

"I'm not getting paid for dealing with this, damn." The bartender complained to himself, amused. "Can't believe she thought we would hire a poor."

A sharp sound crashed right behind him, making his back twitch in surprise. Some people peered at the bar as he turned around; the sight that greeted him got him sick.

Splashed against the floor, there were pairs of one of the most expensive wines and alcohol bottles of the restaurant. Wide-mouthed, he looked at the half-empty racks on the mosaic wall, specifically at the root which appeared from nowhere, broke through the wall and pushed out the bottles.

"What the fuck?!"

…

Lux lost control on her body and allowed it to bump on the bench beside the shining streetlight, her muscles immediately aching in some satisfaction at getting rest. She sighed, her light spell fading away. Her hair went blond and all her face features softened. No one gazed to catch her red-handed, and she was very much glad for it.

Her head rested on the board and stared into the stellated sky, feeling sick.

Her job hunt turned out to be a complete disaster. Every single place she got off to, her presence seemed to create an unpleasant aura that made every possible boss reject her. She hated admitting it, but she hadn't the most expensive clothes on her, and her face actually looked bad. Plus, she might admit that she's got a little smell.

"Oh my God. I can't go looking around for a job like this…" She whined, her face wagging painfully. Her arm raised and she approached to it tentatively with her nose leading the way. She backed off, pale. "…"

Her arm fell into the bench again; she didn't care that it hurt. Another sigh broke free from her lips, forcing her neck back again into its normal place again. She stared into the darkness, wondering if she whether would find a job or fail miserably and starve. Then, a streetlight flickered.

Her eyes practically dragged throughout her basins, lazier as she would've liked. A saloon in the middle of the street block suddenly made itself aware into her head. She glanced to it, straightening and can't help but drilling with her eyes the very simple "hiring" sing. Her mind told her no, but her hungry body told her yes.

She got up to her feet and strode a couple of steps, stopping just a couple of steps in front of it, ignoring the people she almost bumped into. Some folks paid her a curious glance, clearly attracted to her shining appearance, to then just end it in a grimace thanks to the smell. But she couldn't care less at this point. She would regret at the moment she get a proper shower, though.

The tavern was actually the place, and a big one. She climbed the couple of stairs to the main double wooden door and peeked around the gothic walls. Even from outside, she could hear all the noise going on inside along with constant glass knocks and laughter.

Lux looked around with doubt. The place she currently was standing was a… neighbourhood to maybe be afraid of. She turned around and gazed all-over. Unlike Zaun or Noxus, she didn't see an immediate madness to gape at and scream aloud 'oh, my God.' The street wasn't exactly empty but it was full enough to be comfortable to her standards; not like Demacia, where she could even swear people smelled her butt. She didn't see any miserable children starving on one alleyway without anyone giving a damn about it, and not a single one scary and bad smelling bulky man prowling around, seeking for trouble. Actually, she may be the only person in there that smell bad.

She held one stare from one woman who curiously gazed at her odd behaviour. Her surprised reaction amused Lux, and even more when the woman grabbed quickly the arm of her lover and hushed him to trot away.

She may've being overreacting. Mother wouldn't be pleased with this place at all, but it didn't matter; she would scream if she knew her daughter was actually working and not getting married to a wealthy man. Well, that won't happen.

She did a last check on the people waking by, making sure that no one was watching her before snapping her fingers as most silently as she could, changing again her blonde hair back to black in a fraction of second, along with her face just slightly as well. Her bath wasn't necessary, not when you force your magic to cope with you. It could rest later.

The blonde spun on her heels and snatched the hiring sing onto her hands, paying it some attention. A grin leaned out her lips. Her face went up determinately, almost reaching for one grip into the door before she was scooted aside by a bigger body, almost pushing her out of the stairs.

"Move, girl! Are you getting inside or what?" A fat, hairy man spoke harshly. Her nose immediately registered his bad smell as well; also the uniform that he was wearing: it resembled one of the marine she saw long time ago. She couldn't help but feel better at not being the only one smelling bad. "This brats nowadays, always being snippy! Goddammit!"

Her head followed his path through the doors left open. That was great. That's right; she wasn't Luxanna Crownguard, Demacia's princess there. She was just a girl, a girl with a bright future! And good-smelling, she hoped.

Smiling widely, she moved her legs this time without any hesitation. Her body got in right into the building and her first impression was… that it was big.

The reception was just small and made out of wood and stone just like the rest of the structure. She walked a couple of steps on the smooth wooden, passing below a brown arc that was followed again for another couple of stairs to the level below. She slipped her hand as support across the fences as she exited the small cubicle, descending on the stairs and facing directly the bar. The place was actually half-full; some people sat down on the stools drinking and eating some fries and burgers. The bar was brown but lit with some cozy faint white lights that warmed the environment. She looked to her right, ditching the bar and looking straight into the series of tables and chairs. They were mostly brown and dark; some people were eating and drinking as well, while some were playing poker or just talking loudly. At the end, not too far of her, there was a medium-sized stage with some red curtains behind a two light steps to swarm up. As she scrutinized everything, she couldn't help but loosen up under the soft but cool tune in the jukebox playing in.

Lux immediately started looking for someone with some enough authority to show off "I work here." The only person there was a white-blonde waitress at the corner of the saloon, holding a big tray while serving some big and frightening men. She waited patiently a couple of seconds, but at seeing that the woman was almost comfortable while starting to talk with them as loudly as everyone here, she snapped and decided to move.

She walked away from the entry and started dodging across all the people sat down, making sure to even twist her body if necessary in order to not touch and disturber a single soul there. Plus, some of the men were smiling at her creepily.

"Excuse me." She talked slyly, repeating the same sentence for what it seemed like the hundredth time in the day.

The blonde woman, with her back turned against Lux, seemed almost startled at hearing her voice. As she turned around to face the mage, Lux resisted perfectly the piercing stares of the giant men in the other side of the table. She raised her hand and pointed her finger at the sign, opening her lips to start speaking.

"Oh! You're finally here." She said sassily, standing up quickly from the chair and waving dismissively the man behind, starting walk to the bar and taking Lux with her. "Hurry up, put an apron on and attend table six! They're waiting some salads. They surely will be ready; kitchen!"

Lux blinked, very puzzled, and a little offended. She fought steadily throughout all the noise around, trying to not run into anything. Her mind turned off that part of her body that was about to whisper a defensive spell and decided to wait.

"Uh, miss, I beg your pardon?" She asked patiently, nearing the end of the table zone and walking on the small "hall" that was in front of the bar. "I think there's a mistake here, and I'd like to…"

"Don't sweat it, blondie." She cut off her again, walking at the bar corner closest of the exit and opening up the small table that was connected to the wall and the marble. Lux grimaced. "Just put this apron on and deliver people's food to their tables. I'll keep an eye on the bar and also help you out." She explained quickly, tossing the apron to her. She then walked up to Lux and caught the hiring sign with her hands. "I'll take this with me. Once you hear Saul, go to the kitchen and pick up the food!"

And with that, she grabbed some beers with her that were below the marble, into some sort of freezer and trotted away. Lux spun around and stared a couple of seconds the woman's back. She blinked when she stopped in tracks.

"Ah, right, I'm Regina. It's a pleasure; you'll tell me your name later when we'll be finished."

And with that, she ditched her. Lux's gears inside started to work immediately, giving as result one word: nonsense. She peered down at her empty hand. Maybe she did something this time? It was that easy all along?"

"Who's Saul, anyways?" She thought aloud.

"Here's Saul."

Lux's head twitched in surprise and turned around slightly, watching a man's brown head popping out from a wall through a rectangular hole. He seemed tired.

"Take those to table four, the closest one to the entry." He ordered, bringing up two plates filled with food at the wooden surface, followed with a full breadbin. "What are you waiting for? Go." He said at seeing that Lux was still standing on her place, frozen.

Lux's staring space went empty as Saul moved back again into the kitchen, not saying anything afterwards. She walked slowly into the other side of the bard, putting gradually the apron on and knotting it perfectly behind her neck and waist, giving everything up and sighing.

"I'm way too tired to keep questioning everything." She thought, reaching for a tray below the hole and putting the food onto carefully. "I hope the pay's good. Well, better than nothing."

She grabbed it with both hands and smiled thoughtfully. She needed to make a good impression in her first day.

"Alright. Here goes nothing."

…

The chair could've complained aloud if alive thanks to the giant bulk of heaviness that knocked against its surface. Lux, emaciated, showed off almost alarming sings of have grown up a couple of years in just one night. Her apron hung across her neck, half unknotted and dirty. Her elbows rested on the table close to the bar as she used both hands to put her head on, trying to blow away the giant headache that was killing her brain. Her muscles stirred and she was in pain.

"This is not possible…" She sighed choppily.

What a work night could possibly do to her? She didn't sing for a destroying session, but it was her fault anyways. She did leaned quite a lot into the magic of the Institute of War, where she didn't have to exercise in order to stay in fit in the fields. She wasn't actually fat, but now, her physical appearance looked cringe, especially to her. Just one night burned her out. She became a cripple and it was eating her out!

"You really look horrible, girl." Regina's voice appeared beside her, putting a glass filed in water for her to drink. The girl didn't answer, but accepted the gest by drinking it. "Aren't you daddy's spoilt little princess? I should've known." She teased, sitting on the chair beside her, legs crossed.

"No!" Lux almost screamed, her glass finished. She putted it aside and stared her, taking a couple of moments to recover herself, and because her body forced her to. "It just took me by surprise. This is good; it just told me I need to do some exercise, that." She explained, breathing deeply and chilling. "I just need a moment."

Regina showed at her a tiny smile, shaking her head left and right slightly.

"Alright, I can already feeling it." Lux said, smiling just a little and her demeanour changing completely in almost a scary way. She was back in the game, and she ignored the voice inside her head that told her 'what game?' "I didn't tell you before, my name. Remember?"

"Oh, that's right!" Regina cracked up with style, her whole face telling her she was reminding her first encounter. "I've totally got you as Blondie in my head, ha, ha!"

Lux smiled slightly, also recalling that her nickname for her was also blond; maybe not Blondie or something like that. The mage straightened and blinked a couple of times.

"My name is Lucy." She lied, smiling and actually feeling some guilty inside. "Which is good. At least I can't do it as emotionlessly as before."

"Lucy?" Regina uttered, nodding to herself a little. "Uh-huh." She muttered, looking away.

"What?" Lux questioned, cursing herself immediately after that mentally for being so eager to know everything.

"Well, nothing, that I didn't think that was your kind of name." She said to herself, taking a candy out of her brown coat and eating it. "You seem like… a Taylor. That's right. Taylor."

Lux raised one eyebrow but a satisfied one. At least she didn't say she had a face of "Luxanna Crownguard, light mage and a great saviour of Ionia."

"Taylor is a weird name." She frowned. "Where did you hear it?"

"Oh, forget it." She said quickly. "When you're finished, go check the door at kitchen's right bottom side. You'll enter a small flat; shower and sleep in." She beamed, standing up and walking to the bar, taking a fancy green bag out of nowhere and putting it on her shoulder.

"What?" Lux asked, following her with the gaze as Regina walked away. "How did you know…? Well, that?"

"When you come from the streets, you have this… sense to tell when someone's from there, too." She laughed at the mage's bluffed face. "Also you've got that smell." She blurted, hiding her grin behind her hands.

Lux blushed.

"Don't worry, I've smelled worse." She assured. "So you better work you ass off to get out of it, anyways, you don't belong in there."

"Working my ass off got me in 'there' in first place." Lux grunted, crossing her arms.

"…but there's still work to do, right?" Regina asked with a smile.

Lux blinked at her, but didn't answer. It wasn't necessary anyways.

"I'll see you tomorrow; don't bother waking up too early. Your job starts usually at five, six o' clock." She lastly said before spinning around and walking away to the exit.

"Hold on!" Lux cried. Regina stopped and turned just her head to look at her back with a questioning look in her eyes. "Does that mean I get the job?" She asked hopefully, partly because she wasn't starving in a near future anymore and party because she did work for a day. That paying wasn't getting away from her.

"I didn't make you work here with a bunch of smelly fatty guys for nothing, of course." She joked, answering. "It's set on stone."

Lux smiled with relief, leaning back on the chair and relaxing.

"If that's everything, then I'll be on my way out. I'll catch you tomorrow!" Regina yelled as she opened the door, waving her back one last time.

"Alright, bye!"

The door closed. Lux stared into the wood, recalculating everything that happened on the day. Getting a job in just a bunch of hours and having a place to shower and sleep was nearly stupidly for her mind to understand, but it was ok. She's supposed to stop crazing out.

"Well, that was easy." She spoke herself alone in the night, standing up and stretching her body a little. "But not less painful…"

Her head turned around, catching the swing door at the bottom at the other side behind the marble. She quietly walked up, swung to one side the wooden bar blocking the way, picked her bag that suddenly appeared hung in one wall coatrack, and pushed the door back, entering the kitchen. Her eyes couldn't help but look around at the place she entered in maybe too many times in a row as for to not memorize it, at least for her.

The door closed itself after swaying forth and on for some moments. The mage started moving again, right through the worktops and kitchens. She passed within one big silver table at the middle and a giant refrigerator before stopping in front of white rickety door that seemed way older than most of doors… she noticed.

"Idiot."

Her hand grabbed the knob and turned open the door, walking through it and closing it behind her. She found herself in a narrow hallway almost completely under darkness. Looking around for a switch, she didn't feel as disappointed as she would think at not finding one. Her fate chosen, she walked.

I took her at least more than a couple of steps till hitting a long rainbow-like curtain blocking the way. Her hand pushed it aside as she sneaked in, moving it back into its original place. When she spotted a small switch right beside her, she decided darkness was really bugging her. Her fingers pressed it on, and the room lit.

It was a simply but cozy living room. The light wasn't that bright but it did it as she inspected around the place, sighting the bathroom with its door already open and another small hallway that probably leaded to the dormitories. Lux leaved her bag on one of the twos armchairs and almost run straight at the bathroom, shutting the room tightly. She might be borrowing some clothes. And also hoping that there was some of them, too.

….

"Lucy, wake up. Girl! Come on!… I'm not doing this, get up. Seriously. Why am I doing this? Lucy. Lucy… LUCY!"

Lux's body snapped awake brutally from the marble, trembling around for a little before taking some sight. Her blurred eyes deviated from the nothing, tho Regina's wrinkled face.

"Wow, you can't be that tired, are you?" She asked chuckling, palming slightly the mage's back.

Lux sighed.

"Sorry. I had a nightmare." She apologized, blinking for more than a second before slowly starting to stand up. "It was horrible. Something kept chasing me and I wasn't able to leave it behind." She spoke, turning around to steal some coffee from the coffee maker a couple of steps away in the back of the bar.

"Sounds pretty bad." Regina commented. "Mine was about our word fighting Gods. We lose."

Lux took a sip of the coffee and tasted it closely with her mouth, deciding that the flavour of Regina's words were bitter.

"That's horrible."

"Something we had done to anger the Gods, don't you think?" She wondered aloud. Lux stood quietly, but the woman talked again without giving her time to response. "Anyway, someone wants to see you."

"What?" She said, puzzled. "Who?"

"A hottie." Lux could've sworn that she'd seen Regina's tongue twisting funnily. "I never thought you were a manizer, ooh, yes." She played, smiling with complicity.

Lux's mind got lost after "hottie," but the rest of the sentence did make it to her ears.

"What?!" She yelled silently, looking quickly around from someone, him, failing, before looking back at Regina. "I'm not like that! This is just my first day."

"It's your second one!" Regina beamed excitedly.

"My first official one."

"Then it's even better! No need to be humble. I'm proud; it took me at least five days before hooking up. Go catch him up." She answered dismissively, pinning her hands onto Lux's shoulders and pushing her to the exit to the other side. "A silver-haired one; screaming!"

Lux's heart skipped a beat for a moment, but as soon she detected it, it disappeared. Her neck turned and she shot daggers by her eyes at Regina's dreamy face. Once she was out, the woman closed the entry and signalled discreetly at one table at the very end of the saloon, where someone with a cloak was waiting.

"He's over there, at the corner. Pretty self-contained, uh?"

Lux didn't respond and instead she did her best to analyse from her spot at whoever was waiting for her. She failed, of course.

"What are you waiting for?! Go!" She yelled 'silently', giving Lux one last push.

"Alright, alright!"

The yellow blonde sighed as she glared at Regina, frowning. She recomposed herself and breathed deeply for a couple of seconds, chilling down a bit.

"What are the odds?"

And with that, she strode. Her legs took her throughout the nearly empty bar, still way too early to people coming. Someone greeted her by a yell a couple of tables away and she responded with a smile, waving back again, not having any clue who that person was, but not greeting back was impolitely.

Finally she hit her objective. Standing a couple of steps behind the person, now clearily a man, judging for the shape of the cloak, she looked behind looking for reassurance. Regina gave her two thumbs up from the distance and she knew for sure it didn't help her out a little.

"Sir? Did you call for me?" She asked, almost muttered.

The man didn't seem surprised for the sudden voice -she made sure to be as quiet as possible- and instead nodded and beckoned her to take a seat in front of him with his hand, which was pale.

"What are the odds? What are the odds? What are the odds?" She repeated over and over her new-acquired make-shift mantra.

Across her short wait to the chair, she noticed the short locks of silver hair that popped out of the dark cloak . There were only two persons she knew had silver hair. She hoped it was the one she was thinking.

But accommodated uncomfortably on the chair, she putted both her hands on her legs and stood frozen in her place, waiting for something. The man in front of her straightened and raised his hands to grab the cloak. He pulled her back maybe too slowly and then the word blurred. The face of Dante Buffardersi, the League of Legends' funder stared at her, and then she stared back, completely blacked out.

Her body didn't respond at all, but her mind was still there, nonetheless. She expected to a bunch of cloaked up people to jump in and shoot some magic to restrain her hardly and cruelly in order to take her back. That didn't happen. Her frozenness showed off on her face.

Dante, at seeing the shocked expression of Lux, softened his not-so old features.

"First of all, I apologize for showing by all of sudden." He said flawlessly, analysing Lux's eyes. 'Why would you apologize at catching a criminal?' was probably her current thoughts, so he fastened his words. "I'm not here to take you back."

Lux blinked and it seemed that his words gave her some oil to the gears inside her head. The awareness and consciousness came back at an amazing rate. Her face twisted and the man knew she didn't believe him a single bit. Her body tensed and trembled slightly, ready for anything. He could already sense light magic accumulating in her palm, swiftly and almost summoning her staff if it was necessary.

"Lies." She hissed, taken aback and nervous. "You're here because I broke the contract between me and the League of Legends; because of treason."

"I can understand your feelings, Miss Lux. That is the most logical path to follow." He granted, the piercing eyes of Lux never leaving his face and movements. It unnerved him. "But I am here just to inform you something, and to propose something as well."

"What it could possibly be that?" The black-haired girl argued, gaining her composure back bit by bit. "Are you here to give me a chance of redemption? Or maybe to join the League's quarters to feed their corruption within?"

The smirk that decorated Dante's lips made Lux feel like she shouldn't have said that. But she wasn't taking it back.

"You are very smart, of course." He said, taking a small sip from his drink, probably beer. Lux didn't notice it. "Of course you found out about that. It was just matter of time to everyone finding out about our… within issues."

"Get to the point."

He seemed a little troubled with keeping up, but he spoke.

"The League of Legends has dissolved."

Lux didn't say anything for a moment, too busy assimilating the words. Her lips stood still some seconds before speaking again.

"Master Dante, what is the meaning of this?" She said emotionlessly and completely stoic. "Did you come here to hoax me?"

"I seriously do not have time to explain everything, and I feel you do not either because this place is going to get full in a couple of minutes." Dante blurted out of blue, moving his drink aside. "We will do this as fast as possible. I know what you have been doing with your magic, Miss Lux, and I have to say it is pretty clever of you. Our magic seal in your core was not unable to tell us at all your location. It just gave us small hints wherever you slipped out some light magic or in critical situations of yours. But using nature magic to confuse and hiding was something that did not cross my mind."

Lux cursed internally.

"You may stop forcing nature magic into your body. In the long run, it would just poison you badly. I take you have feel your light magic acting weirdly, am I right?" He questioned. Lux didn't answer. "That is the natural response of it. You learned nature magic incredibly fast at the point that it seems to follow you around. Almost… willingly."

Dante stopped for two seconds, breathing some air. Lux wondered if that was the answer for some of the strange stuff that happened to her while running away. Had the magic done all of it?

"That simply 'got on the nerves' of your light magic. And if that was not enough, you pushed more and more nature magic, pushing away your light. Just like you are doing right now. I can see it. The amount of nature magic that is running throughout every single cell of your body is overwhelming. You are nowhere close to fully control it, but you learned it faster than anyone I could think. It is surprising."

"Why are you saying me this?" She said, starting to get tired of mind. Her head was starting to hurt really badly.

"Well... Being honest," He said. "I let you escape."

Lux couldn't have it anymore. The cringe feeling she was being toyed again took over, and she was done.

"This is giving me a serious aching in my head." Lux whined sincerely. "I… don't understand. Elaborate, please."

"You did a good job hiding your magic. My fellow high-level trackers were baffled and even angry at first because you simply vanished from our radars. I could have had tracked you by my own personal and very efforts, but as I have said, I did not want to. I assume you know which your first mistake was?"

"In the city of Shanti." She replied immediately and bitterly. "Those women were talking about me. I don't know what happened, I just couldn't resist it. I ran away and I took the attention with me as I did. That doesn't answer my question."

"Patience, Miss Lux. We are almost there." He smiled softly. "You are right. And from that, we did not lose your track. Practically everyone was chasing you. It was logical, but I congratulate you for keeping yourself hid that long."

"Keep talking."

"What you said before about… our corruption…" He started somewhat ashamedly, she couldn't tell because he was as good as her masking feelings. "I am very aware of that. In fact, everything started falling apart at the very following day the League of Legends did its first appearance."

"..."

At not seeing response, he kept up. "Tell me, Miss Lux, do you believe in prophecies?"

"What?" She asked, raising one eyebrow. "Well, their trustworthy have been questioned since I can remember; for Scientifics, especially. "She recalled. "But there actually are some proofs that favoured some of them. Supposedly, there was a prophecy that warned everyone of… the Delphian War, and another one, I think, about that."

"That is correct. Sometimes, depending off which person says it, prophecies have a chance to be true."

"What does it have to do with this?" She pressured the matter, crossed arms on her chest as she started tapping the floor nervously. "I don't like this."

"The book you stole," He stated almost harshly, making Lux to smile extremely nervous. "that simple-looking notebook, belonged to a Legend forgotten throughout the years, protagonist of one prophecy. I do not care about the other book; I have more than enough of that one, but that notebook is very special. I assume you already know what I am talking about, is that right?"

"Yes." She replied, almost whispered. "I felt that the first second I saw it. I think I didn't even notice it was just a notebook. I was only focused on, well, escaping…"

Dante smiled.

"The book belonged to a man who used to be called 'The Elementalist.' There are very little and none records of him, not even in books. Only in scrolls and old rune inscriptions in places far, far away from here. What I know about of him is that he was the very first human on earth to acknowledge and learn magic at its full potential. That man was the cornerstone for us to have won that war against the Gods."

Lux's eyes widened in surprise, suddenly feeling the empty space on her shoulder were her bag is usually.

"That explains a lot." She thought.

The silence that followed wasn't recognised by her mind. Impromptu, the annoying space where the answers should be inside her mind connected to the logic and then she realized.

"No, no, no…!" She yelled, her body twitching involuntarily. "You can't possibly being asking ME what I'm thinking! Are you?"

Dante denied quickly with both his hands.

"Please calm down, Miss Lux. I still have not asked you anything." The silver-haired man answered. "What I am trying to say it is that… the book only opens to someone who is capable of learn more than one kind of magic; elemental magic. And right now, I am seeing… three kinds of different magic being wield for you."

Lux sweated cold.

"Light, nature… and Dark." He said gloomily, stopping for a moment after spelling the 'dark' word. "I only have seen people empowering not more than two different kind of magic; and those are very special cases. You are the most special, along The Elementalist. You are blessed, Miss Lux, and I can see that there is still more things hidden on you."

Lux's hands sought rest on the table in front of her, nearly dropping her whole body on it. She breathed deeply and tried to cope with the knowledge she just received. Dante went silent for her own sake, willing to give as much time she needed to.

"Is this… another responsibility?" She asked in extreme disgust and repulsion, so much that the powerfulness of the words shocked slightly the man. "Something that I need to attend?"

"No."

Lux's head rose up a little, the faintest of the surprise barely showing on her pupils that suddenly had seemed to darken.

"You are not obligated to do anything. Prophecies not always are true. Besides, this is not your problem, right?" He tried to smile reassuringly.

The gastric juice that threatened to break free from her throat fanned out. The oxygen squeezed its way again into her blood and she feel like thinking straight again. The black-haired gathered some strength on her arms and pushed herself back again onto the char. She tried really hard to believe him.

"You still haven't said to me why the League has 'suddenly disappeared'." She muttered.

Dante's lips furrowed, but he listened.

"The old prophecy spoke of how a man powerful enough stood up for every single person and animal of the world, saving us for the horrendous fate the Gods decided for us. The less known fact is that the Gods got angered ironically by him. After The Elementalist, no one was even near of being capable of use magic in that superior level. I am afraid that the story will repeat again."

Lux frowned and closed her eyes.

"Keep on, please."

"Back in that time, both human and God sides were inexperienced. As idiotic as it sounds, the Gods underestimated the power of the humans and one of them knowing how to use magic and teaching it. The humans' flaw was their lack of a strong alliance. They all surely joined up and formed one, but way too late. They won, but the ravages were horrible. That needs to be fixed."

"So let me get this straight." Lux snapped, her face pale but not less strong. "If I keep learning more and more, inevitably learning the four elements, just like that… prophecy says, because it's obvious, the Gods will be angry."

Dante smiled.

"Well, that-"

"Why aren't they getting angry by all those people besides me learning magic? There is more than one single being that is able to use magic." She stated, annoyed. "It's ridiculous! I'm having a hard time believing it."

Dante stared at her, offended for being cut off, but he ignored it.

"The Gods are not the most… understandable deities." He admitted. "More than one of them is seeking for revenge. I am not going overboard with saying that you probably are the reincarnation of The Elementalist; that is enough. Tell me, did you read something in the notebook that could have possible told you something? Maybe a similarity between you two?"

"Well, the book was indeed very expressive." She said sarcastically, remembering the strange introduction and the kind of ritual she did back in her room long time ago. "…He said he assumed I was a light mage. Does he was one?"

Dante smiled pleasantly in a way that gave Lux almost enough confidence to scoot over the table and smack it away from his face.

"He was. That is one of the few things I know about him." He said. Lux face deadpanned. "Light mages are very rare, Miss Lux, and I am sure you know that. There is a difference between using the light magic around and wielding it, like Leona, the Radiant Dawn, than being able to produce very own light. Just like you. You have a light of your own."

"How convenient." She said with a frown.

"I do not know why they suddenly went missing. You are the only know left, so it is either you or you." He shrugged.

Lux's glance pierced through Dante's eyes at seeing him losing all the professionalism for one second, and also how he grabbed his beer and drank some of it. Lux's finger started to tap against her arm, still doubting.

"Did you expect me to collaborate?" She asked deadly, frowning. "I run away from home because I was sick of people always telling me what to do and what not. And now you flash in with this."

Dante seemed ashamed.

"I can't turn this down. And you knew it."

"Remember, it is up to you, Miss Lux." He tried somehow to get her loosened a little. Lux snorted. "Well, it may seem like there is no other option."

"Of course there's none." The girl hissed, looking aside with shade. "If I say no, then it's likely us to lose this imminent war. What a drag."

"This is the… good part about this." Dante said hesitantly. Lux gave him a look, asking him if he just dared to say that. "There is no rush for you to do anything right now…. Just keep doing what you were doing."

"If you say so, then I'm not complaining it." Lux said really dismissively, massaging her nose a little while her eyes were closed. "Just one last thing. How did you manage to get rid of the League of Legends? I'm sure you didn't come up a day saying 'Hey, guys, got tired of this. From now on, you're on your own.' Right?"

"Of course not; I wish it could've been done that easily." Dante sighed as he drank more from his bottle. "It is actually simple, but it sounds a little… crazy saying aloud."

"I'm all ears."

"Well, to put it simple... Memory washing."

Lux blinked. Then, she frowned.

"With help, of course." The man said upon seeing the face of Lux. "I was not unable to do it by my own. My magic was not sufficient to host a spell of that scale. Have you ever heard about those rumours about me being able to mind-reading?"

"Yes, I have." She replied, surprised. "Can you?"

"No, that is far beyond my reach." He admitted. Lux facepalmed. "But I do have some knowledge about the magic related to one' mind, but mostly in a… physic way. With those bases, I confused everyone' brains with a few exceptions."

"Who helped you out and why there are exceptions?" The girl asked as she grimaced at Regina's poor attempt to ask her from the bar if everything was alright. She muttered a 'yes', and the blonde woman somehow understood her because she smiled brightly. Lux sighed.

"Aurelion Sol."

Lux's head twisted immediately at him, gaping.

"What…?" She asked half-shocked, half-amused. "THAT sassy dragon helped you? The most arrogant being in the whole universe?"

"That is correct." Dante said.

"Hold on a second. Now I think about it, can't he just deal with the Gods? I mean, isn't he extremely powerful?"

"I asked him the same question, but the answer was not that good." The man frowned. "He told me that Gods exist only because people believe in them. The more who believe, the more powerful they get. It is very uneventful for us. The only other way is to killing all humans, but I think we all refuse that path."

Lux's fingers found a good spot on her temples to massage. She fought really hard.

"I just can't even." Lux said. "I have so many questions, but I'm done for today. Let's call it a night, shall we?"

"I agree…Even if it is a little earlier." Dante simply said, taking the last sip of his bottle before stretching a little. "We will keep in contact. And please, do not forget that there is no need to rush anything. Keep living your life; I will contact you in the future. It is better to live without having to worry about the prophecy; it will catch up to you by itself."

Lux's whole face wrinkled.

"If you say so."

The last thing she saw of him was simply his hand waving at her before turning around and starting walk off. Her senses got aware of everything around and she noticed that the place was almost completely filled with people. She blinked.

"Lucy!" The screaming voice of Regina scared the hell out of her, making her body to jump over the chair a little. "What did you two talked?! Oh my Gods, you both surely spent some time here, uh!"

"What do you mean? It was barely ten minutes."

Regina gave her a look.

"You were here, like, an hour. You feeling good?"

Lux's mouth opened slightly. But she shook it off.

"I'm fine. Hey, do we have some cake left? I'm feeling like getting fat."

Regina chuckled, nodding. She didn't comment at her change of subject.

"We have. Light vanilla?"

"More like… heavy, sweet chocolate." She smirked.

"You're on."

…..

That night she had dreams about a war. It was completely blurry and unintelligible. She dreamt about forest catching on fire, tsunamis drowning everything and tornados spinning deadly across every single place on Valoran. She dreamt abouth horrible storms harassing the seas and everything freezing it to death. Butterflies speeding at her and eating every bit of flesh; the earth itself opening and devouring her into the very magma. Then, everything getting dark and hopeless. In that dream, she wasn't finding any light, and it seemed like everyone has vanished out of the existence. She didn't find any hope, or at least not until she woke up with the sight of Regina's face.

Lux revolved uncomfortably around the sheets of the bed and found out that she was covered in sweat.

"Morning! This is for you!" Regina squeaked joyfully, awaking Lux a little more as she handled an orange box with a ribbon.

"What? What is this?" Lux asked sleepily, rubbing her eyes with her hands a little.

"A birthday present. Wait, it isn't your birthday today? I could've sworn…" She answered. Lux shot her a surprised gaze.

"What day is today?"

"October 24, the day of not drinking soda, of course."

"Twenty- what? Does that day really exist?"

"No, but it really helps out with the diet. It's the best."

Lux smiled weakly. She moved off the sheets, revealing the borrowed pyjama Regina tossed to her last night before sleep. The black haired girl stared at the wooden floor before speaking.

"My birthday was five days ago. Crazy!" She sighed to herself, hugging her chest a little. "I can't believe I forgot it."

"Well, I wasn't that wrong. I just got the feeling." The blonde woman said delighted. She pushed the gift again into her arms. "Open it! I hope you like it. If you not, well, I'm not taking it back."

Lux blinked but accepted the gift after muttering a silent 'thanks'. She unknotted the ribbon and pulled up the cover. She didn't expect finding one pretty glasses inside with dark hinges.

"I noticed before that you actually have some problem with your eyes, like when you had to lean a lot in order to read the orders of the clients. So I talked with some people and I found this for you; and the woman who sold it to me said they were a little special. It will erase the problem till you don't have to use them anymore."

Lux listened to it and nodded slowly, still a little shocked. Her hands grabbed the glassed and raised them slowly. She paid Regina a last glance before putting them hesitantly above her nose and holding them onto her ears. The new weight felt weird, and she felt like falling over the floor. However, she found herself having the vision sharpening and even more shocked that she didn't notice she was having vision problems before.

"Oh my-"She stopped herself in middle tracks. She wasn't saying that not ever again. "… Wow. I never noticed I had this kind of problem before."

"C'mon! See through the mirror!" Regina hurried her up, grabbing her arm and taking her out of bed.

They stormed out of the bedroom and rushed to the bathroom. Lux was pinned right in front of the mirror, smiley.

"How do I look?" She asked, posing in a very much straightened pose.

Regina shot her an odd look, but she laughed it off.

"Like a soldier." She said mockingly. Lux's face fell. "Why don't you try showing off your butt and posing sexy?" She demanded, getting in formation. "Like this!" Her back twisted like a parabola.

The mage frowned and nodded determinately. She switched her hands; one onto behind her head and another one on her left hip.

"Good, you're balancing between your back and boobs! Awesome!" Regina complimented cheerfully.

Lux smiled weakly before returning to her normal shape. Regina's body pushed her slightly as she went down, opening the little door below the sink, taking out one bag.

"Now shower and put these!" She yelled quickly, smashing the bag onto Lux's chest, who still was recovering from the shove. "We're buying some stuff today to celebrate your birthday. Get ready, we're going clothes hunting."

"Wait, what?" Lux half-said, peeking at the bag. There were some clothes inside, Regina's. "What about the bar? Don't you have to open it?"

"Pfft! Bob got ours back today."

"Who's Bob?"

"The owner." She answered with a look. Lux blinked.

"I thought you were the owner! Why I haven't seen him?"

"He was on a trip all over Ionia because of holidays or something like that, but he's back now and he said I was free for today! He also wanted to meet you, but that's for later. I saw those perfect earrings on the store and wanna grab them before they get sell!"

"WAIT, did you just accepted me without consulting him?" The mage asked bewildered. "Regina! That's not right!"

"ALL I hear is bla-bla-bla, and not a single this!" She said, mimicking somehow a sponge sound cleaning the skin. "I'm off! I'll be waiting at kitchen!"

Lux's mouth opened to try and say something, but the blonde woman ran away like in a marathon.

"… Well, I've already said that I wasn't questioning stuff that much anymore." She said to herself, turning around and putting the clothes above the small table pinned to the wall.

…

"Holy Goodness, they're so perfect." Regina beamed with satisfaction, staring the oval silver earrings on her hand. She didn't waste any further second and hurried to put them on her ears. "How do I look?" The parabola pose.

Lux's gave her the most annoying look ever possible, holding tight the bags on her hands and forearms.

"Fine." She answered, trying to be kind. Her grimace betrayed her, though.

Regina snorted and walked away from the door of the jewellery store at Eríni's commerce zone, pushing her friend's back with her hand. They both managed around the swarm of people en some vastayas, finding their way into the principal avenue.

"Oh, you're such a joy-killer." Regina whined while guiding her somewhere. "Have a little fun today! And you be better prepared for tonight, we're partying with the guys."

"Fine, fine! Just for today!" The girl agreed with a sigh, stopping walking just as Regina. She looked around: they were in some nice little plaza near the tavern.

"Regina? Hey!"

A sound come out of Regina's mouth which Lux could classify it like painful. The blonde woman flashed a freeze smile at another woman waving at them a couple of meters away and turned her head to face Lux.

"Oh my God, I cannot stand this puta. Always fucking my boyfriends and borrowing money." She said bitterly to Lux, making her to pokerface. "Hey, baby girl!"

The woman, probably at Regina's age, stopped in front of her and greeted the blonde woman with a loud miss on both cheeks. Lux straightened and looked away a little uncomfortable.

"Long time no see! What have you been up to?" She asked, pushing her hair back and somehow rocking her hips at the same time.

"Uh, nothing, the usual." Regina said. Then she turned to Lux. "This is Lucy, my new friend."

"Oh, hey girl." She answered idly. "I've heard you're being thrown a party tonight. I'll be there." She winked.

Regina's face contorted. Lux didn't respond.

"Oh, my, you still haven't said anything to her? My bad. Oops." The woman said, not a single bit ashamed and not hiding it that much.

"It doesn't matter. We gotta go, bye!"

And with that, Regina stormed away, grabbing Lux by her arm. They practically trotted in direction at the tavern, taking one street that took them away from the crowded place.

"Oh my Gods! I can't believe she said that!" She cursed all over. "I'm sorry, that's why I dislike her. She's such a pain."

"It's okay. It's pretty nice of you." She said, dodging the people and trying to held the bags at the same time. "It isn't like I do this that much."

Regina sighed and slowed down a bit. She snatched some bags and carried them on her forearms, trying to smile.

"It's okay, now go to the tavern and get primp. If you want to work some it's fine, but we're celebrating your birthday after midnight, alright?"

Lux smiled with a warm feeling inside her chest. It remembered of her old friends. The thought of them forgetting her hit, but she blacked her mind out.

"Thank you."

…

Lux stared herself at the mirror of the bathroom, eyeing up his new short green dress she chose. It didn't go further than her knees and it had a neckline on her back. It had a dark bow on her hips and the neckline on her bust was fine as well. Her eyes switched to her grandma's necklace and the new earrings leave-shaped Regina forced her onto her ears. Her black hair fell freely onto her bare shoulders as she wondered how on the world the dress wasn't falling over. Everything looked pretty but she couldn't help but think that everything would look ridiculous with an apron on.

'We're celebrating your birthday after midnight.'

She smiled softly at remembering her friend's words. The silence of the flat felt almost overwhelming as she just stared herself on and on. Her pupils slowly deviated from her own opposite eyes of the reflection to the dark corner where the light of the light didn't reach. A purple eerie light flashed with oddly a familiar face and she cringed in her own skin, feeling ashamed. The smile slowly faded away as she spun over her black heels, walking away from the mirror and making sure to not even glance at that direction again.

…

Lux pushed aside the rainbow curtain and strode through the narrow hallway at the bar's door somewhat uncomfortably, used to her filthy boots and not to the way-too high heels. Her troubled feelings suddenly disappeared at hearing loud music coming from the other side. She blinked and approached at a faster rate at the door, noticing glimpses of lights sliding through the below border of the door. She stopped in front of the exit and peered down, noticing different shades of gold and oddly vivid light. The taste crept to her mouth and she immediately found out that light wasn't normal.

Her hand shot to the knob and forced the door open. A stream of gold light and loud music stalked her whole senses, enough to stun her for some moments. Her frown ceased and she gazed around. The rhythmic pumped through her ears as she saw one of the most handsome men ever dancing on the stage she believed was in no use. She noticed, even that far away from the heart of the noise, he was a good dancer. His golden feather-cape seemed alive, and more, it shined with him and followed his body around as if it was under his command.

The more she watched him, the more she got mesmerized by his everything. But just as he, the man, did a strange but amazing looking movement, she saw below his hips. Right were should be a set of human legs, there was indeed two legs but skinnier covered with tight kind of pants, where dark brown feathers slipped out at its borders. Instead of two human foots, there was two tarsus, each one connected with three fingers also covered on feathers, resembling a bird's feet. It was when started to think that nothing of it fucking mattered, that he was still some sort of a God, that she knew something was bad with her judging. Then, she snapped out.

"Charming magic." She thought surprised, amazed and slightly annoyed with her luck at running on another man being able to use charming magic.

It seemed like the golden light that irritatingly forced onto her skin and mind sighed on sadness and shrank away, now only surrounding the man and those who were still under its effects. He was still one hell of a man, but she hadn't the feeling she would rip his pants off in any moment. The light magic she canalized inside her blood acted as a purifier as she slowly walked out the bar that was left open, noticing Regina's blonde hair right next sat down on one of the tables. She moved quietly to her, switching between the spectacle and the suspect at the corner. At first, Lux analysed her expression before doing anything. Her pupils seemed that they won't stand still; like having a visual orgasm at just seeing him, always focused on the way he moved and that how now snatched away one random woman of the surrounding crow of him to dance with.

Regina's face disturbed her enough, so she gazed around again. The small crowd around the stage, mostly women, were cheering and fangirling at the Vastaya above it, because it has to be one of them, with those animal legs and furry ears, also pointy. She even caught some men doing so as well, some whom she though they were pretty though. The few people who were sat down simply didn't take away their focus of the personality distracting. Something was fishy, her tongue felt pretty bitter.

She didn't was surprised at seeing, maybe catching because it was almost hidden, one figure, with a purple feather cape and with the same ears on the head of dark purple hair, sitting down lonely at the same corner she spoke with Dante yesterday. Whoever it was, not only seemed completely unfazed to the handsome man's charming, but also didn't order anything unlike everyone else. There was not a burger o beer on that table, but a map. And she saw that figure writing down some things before grabbing some red, a pencil maybe, and doing an X sing on picture of someone. Lux panicked.

Her attention focused now on sat down close to Regina and use her hand to inject enough light magic inside Regina's body to snap her out of the trance. Her eyes that moved scarily by someone's will come to a halt after a couple of seconds. The woman blinked a couple of times, as if she was recovering from some sort of coma before turning her head around to Lux at seeing her presence.

"…Lucy? Hey, what did it take so long in there?" She asked slowly, not even near at her usual normal speech. She smiled goofily and did not wait her to respond. "Hey, did you see that cutie on there dancing? What a man."

Lux's lips got pretty slim as she pumped a little bit more of light magic. Still not enough.

"Regina, this is important. I need you to listen to me. Are you?" She said quickly on a demanding tone, her face slightly stern.

Regina shot her a puzzled and funny look, but nodded.

"What's the matter?"

"That man dancing has got everyone under a charming spell." She spilled.

Regina's eyes widened.

"What?"

"Please listen to me. Think about now and before. Didn't you just feel extremely obsessive about him a couple of seconds ago?"

"But…" The woman tried to say, confused. "That's, that's, oh my Gods… I was… having, oh my Gods."

"I think he's with that in the corner." She kept talking, pointing with her finger at the same cloaked figure as before, who was still writing something. "They'll kill someone tonight. I need you to go out seek help."

"They what?!" She yelled a little, the scream being engulfed in the jukebox's music and laugher and cheers of the people. "What about you? No! How do you know this?"

"Just go! We don't have any more time!" She commanded. "Go!"

Regina's face contorted in hesitance, but Lux flashed a reassuring look. She seemed really troubled.

"I'll be fine. Go." She said again.

Regina breathed deeply but nodded slowly. She got up the chair and walked at the exit discretely on the sly, making sure to not being noticed by anyone. The black breathed on relief at seeing the wooden door finally closing.

Lux's teeth slammed within, her magic already canalizing on her hand ready to summon her staff if necessary, not losing attention of the act. She wasn't killing anyone nor let anyone innocent die on her watch.

"Hell yeah! Shake that body!" The Vastaya screamed to the woman he was dancing with, or maybe just tossing around as he danced wildly around her. The poor woman couldn't keep up with him. "Show me your human moves!"

The mage saw how he twirled her around and moved the girl with his arms to the point that it was too overwhelming and maybe a little rude. He was just having fun with toying her. But that woman simply didn't care. She seemed happy touching his bare muscular chest (she just noticed) time by time.

The act was just as ridiculous as funny, and she weirdly found herself having fun by just staring, but she caught by the corner of her eye the purple-cape figure suddenly standing up. It turned around enough to walk out between the chair and the table and, after picking everything up off the table and saving it somewhere on her; Lux noticed it was a woman. It definitely had the same features of the man currently dancing, but instead of golden, it was purple.

Her mind started to blur slightly, thinking really fast at seeing how the woman took out of nowhere some feathers induced with magic and hold them like projectiles. She danced across the people who didn't give a thought about her, following one single direction. Lux tried and predicted, her sight falling on finally in one group of three men with Ionian Guard uniforms.

"Regina, where are you?!" She screamed mentally, losing focus on herself and only making sure to have magic at hand.

She didn't want to act unless completely necessary, but she was getting out of time. The Vastaya man danced even louder and more distracting; the woman feathers seemed to have sharpened and Lux's mind come up with all kind of possibly scenarios. Maybe she should shoot a laser, or maybe a light bomb to blind everyone and take out to safely those men? What about a shield? All those years fighting inside a simulator for the Institute of War weren't paying off. She couldn't afford a mistake. One and she'd find again blood on her hands. Maybe she wasn't looking out for people like back in Demacia, but she also couldn't ditch people to die. What she could do?

No one was paying attention at her. After stopping behind the guard, the woman nonchalantly raised her right arm, three feathers on hand, and aimed. The arm took some space back to charge the shoot. Her expression was bold and bored, as if doing killing was a normal day doing. One second later, a root erupted out of the floor almost beside the woman and quickly twirled around, aiming for the arm of the Vastaya. The girl's head turned and her eyes widened on surprise. Her reflexes got her to duck just in time to avoid being crushed by the root, but her forearm wasn't that lucky. The root practically slapped away her hand and forced the feathers to fly erratically, leaving a trail of neon purple behind and not impacting anyone. The woman cried back in pain and took some steps away, holding her hand that seemed twisted oddly.

Everything stopped. The music died out and the Vastaya man appeared beside the girl skidding on the air with a whirl of golden feathers, wearing one of the most worrying looks Lux ever saw on someone's face.

"BABE! Are you alright?!" He screamed, his magic reaching up for her and helping the woman on a stood pose quickly, not ever peering away before analysing her injury. The impatience of an answer got out not the good side of him because his golden eyes pierced on Lux's alongside her hand glowing green intensely. "Humans…" He hissed. "Hold on, Xayah. I need to take care of that piece of shit."

Lux blew up on a face of disbelief. She frowned and focused light magic on her hands, ready to summon her staff.

"I'd like to see you trying, rooster!" She yelled, not liking at all his tone. "I won't let you harm anyone."

He smiled in a mix of excitement and anger, VERY OFFENDED, taking one step closer.

"Don't." The woman said severely, her good hand reaching up for his arm. "Let's withdrawal, the guards will be here in any moment."

"I won't let this slip out." He barked at her, still having his gaze on Lux. "Girl needs to be punished!"

"Rakan!" She insisted, looking around and seeing the people starting to break out of the charm spell. "Out, NOW!"

The door of the tavern burst open and six guards stormed in, their eyes looking everywhere before stopping at the middle of the fight. Most of the people where still under the charming's leftover effects, but the few people who were conscious stood frozen in their places, staring.

"Them!" Regina ran in, pushing some guards on the way. She pointed at the Vastaya pair that were currently staring at them. "Those are the people who caused trouble!" She shouted, her eyes inevitably drawing away to the gigantic root coming out of the floor. "Holy shit! I bet they also did that! Arrest them!" She cried, horrified. Lux immediately hid her hands.

"Dammit!" The Vastaya man cursed, He twirled around the girl and wrapped his cap around her. He then looked at the mage. "You messed with my girl. Watch out." He warned to Lux bitterly before exploding on a beam of golden light and feathers.

"But I was just protecting an innocent!" She screamed way too late.

The flash of light blinded everyone for some seconds before it vanished. Two seconds of silence went by where some feathers unnerved everyone.

"Close the tavern in this moment!" One of the guards, probably the leader, called out fiercely to one group of three men. "The others call backup and follow me! Those Vastayas have a warrant!"

Lux stopped paying attention at her surroundings. She fell on her knees and breathed tiredly, resting her head obn her hand. Not even a week on Ionia and she already has got new enemies.

"How fun."

…

"Hey, are you alright?"

Lux felt a weight sitting down beside the bed of the room; it snapped her. Regina patted her back a couple of times but she didn't answer. Her eyes were lost of focus.

"Those men were really annoying, uh? They never stopped asking questions." The blonde woman joked swiftly, smiling. Lux grimaced a little. That only brought back memories of Demacia. "What really happened there? Did they talk to you? They threatened you? I mean those Vastaya."

"…Kind of." She finally talked, stretching her lips. "I just… feel really sad. I wasn't expecting having trouble here."

Regina's brow rose.

"…I get it. Then what did you expect being here, Lucy?"

"I don't know. Some peace and that…" She answered, sighing. Regina's hand felt now encouraging. "This wasn't anything I planned to happen."

"Even Ionia has its flaws. It is not as peaceful as some people put it." Regina said quietly, shaking her head. "We've got our problems as well. But don't worry; they aren't getting here anytime soon. The guards said they'll watch over the tavern just if they decide to show in again."

Lux smiled softly. It's been long time since someone has solaced her.

"Thank you." She said. "I hope so."

Regina smiled as well.

"And if they come and try to harm anyone, then I'll have no choice but fight them." She thought. "…Why I'm like this?"

"Up for some cake?"

Lux's eyes widened.

"Always."

…

The trip high above on the trees went silent. Rakan jumped tree on tree, dodging branches and leaves, always making sure to hold on tightly the body of his lover on the back. His expression was drawn permanently on stress and worrying. Not a single word was said since they run away from the city of Eríni into the woods, let alone a signal that Xayah was still with him conscious. But she was, and he knew very well that something was troubling her. It was possibly the same thing as him.

He didn't know how much he moved, but once he didn't hear any human-made sound, his legs stopped gracefully on a very tall tree. He got the woman on his arms and placed her flawlessly on the cortex, sitting her down on the giant branch. She fell on it painfully, still not letting her hand go. But she wasn't focusing on that; it was merely an instinct.

"Xayah." He spoke softly, worried, caressing her face with his long fingers. "Are you alright?"

Her features twitched on recognition, her lips opening just a little in order to exhale away the air she was holding inside.

"I'm alright." She replied. He knew she was lying.

"No, you're not. Show me you hand." He commanded.

She shook her head stubbornly, using her good hand to cover the bad one.

"Seriously, it's nothing, cut it off."

The man grunted on exasperation, barely avoiding just snatching away her hand to give it a proper look. He kneeled down in front of her and raised his hand to her chin. A small force was enough to move up Xayah's face to him. He stared at her.

"Please just let me give it a look." He pleaded, starting to feel desperate. He didn't like the way the hand was twisted.

Any kind of fierce expression on her vanished in sight at hearing his broken tone. She looked down and, after some seconds, the way to her hand was free. Rakan quickly got on the job, canalizing his inner magic onto Xayah's hand. The golden beam shot out of his hand and wrapped Xayah's warmly, going all over the way to her forearm and reaching inside it. Rakan's face fell.

"Your wrist is broken." He said gloomily, anger hidden on his voice. Xayah didn't say anything. His magic stayed on her arm a little more before vanishing. "I've tended the swelling, but you'll need to keep it safe with a splint." He spoke again, grabbing his cape and ripping off some long feathers.

"Wait, you don't have to-"

"Don't talk." He cut her off immediately, stretching the feathers and putting the three of them around Xayah's wrist. He filled them with some magic and the feathers ironed tightly around it, making it impossible to move. "It won't last that long. We need to go home so they can tend you."

"We're not going back."

"Why not?" He asked, annoyed. "Xayah, you need to rest! It's enough already!"

"You didn't see her, Rakan?" Xayah yelled, taking back her arm onto her lap. "Don't fuck with me! She was using our magic! She was profaning what we're fighting for!"

"I saw it, okay?!" He admitted heavily, his eyes flashing furiously. Xayah gritted her teeth, narrowing her gaze. "… but you got injured. It's wrong of me being worried about you? Does it bother you? Don't you want me to feel this way?"

Her frenetic state wiped out as soon as she heard his voice. Xayah t'ched and looked away, breathing deeply.

"That human used the wild magic of ours; she's no different from those shadow idiots." She beamed, losing her nerves at the last words. "We cannot do anything. Are you with me?"

Rakan snorted.

"What kind of question is that? I'll be always with you." He answered honestly. "But please promise me you'll take care of yourself."

Xayah avoided his gaze.

"…Fine." She said quietly. "I'm sorry."

…

So…. It was shorter than I wanted it to be, but with the release of this new champion Zoe, all my plans with the story kinda messed up, so I had to finish this and publish it. This means that, throughout the time writing this, new champions also have a chance to appear, especially this little kid. She, for example, is something that I can't ignore.

I hope you're liking the plot.

11/07/17: I forgot to tell you guys how next chapter is going to be called. So, depending on its length, the name could be either "Wild Magic" or "Prism" Bye!