Chapter 8: Confrontation

Shyvana stood there, her eyes hard, but passive. Once again, she was clad in her crimson armor, metal-tail helmet, and her skin was back to its pale ash-blue tone, her eyes their full draconic yellow.

It was her own quarters in the League Hall. Sylus was unconscious on the bed, against which she stood.

It's a painful confusion, isn't it?

Her eyes closed, and she bowed her head. Why was she ashamed? They had each done their best. He had weakened the spell enough for her to overpower it, and she had done all she could for him. Yet, she felt a complete failure. Despite the high summoners' assurances, she sensed there was a danger he wouldn't wake up… or that he wouldn't be the same when he did.

This was a very different sensation than her respect for Jarvan IV, or other champions. She did respect Sylus in his way, but there was more to it. She was protective of him, and if he suffered, she felt it keenly. More than just fury at a comrade being harmed, it was almost like part of her was being cut into.

Her right hand drifted out, despite the armor talons, and gently caressed his close cheek with the backs of her fingers. His frame seemed to ease subtly at her touch.

Her voice followed in a disciplined whisper, "You did well."

A soft knock on the door made her eyes snap up.

"Shyvana? It's Riven." The human warrior's voice was controlled to a quiet tone, mindful of the injured occupant.

Shyvana came to the door, listened for any signs of something amiss that Riven couldn't warn her about, and then opened it for the other champion. "Is something wrong?" she asked, her voice cold, but not angry.

Riven offered a shrug at first. "It seems we've hit a roadblock on tracking Stalk. The high summoners seem to think Sylus is the best chance of tracking his whereabouts because of that spell battle they had." Then her expression softened, and she tipped her head. "I'm also using it as an excuse to check on you both. How are you doing?"

Shyvana seemed consternated, but turned, and waved for Riven to step in after her. The human closed the door softly in her wake, casting a concerned glance to Sylus on the bed.

Shyvana finally replied, "Not well, I'll confess. There is some way his mental conflict with Stalk would allow him to follow the dark summoner's spell paths?" She was facing the blinds-closed window at the moment, as if there were something to stare out upon.

Riven started to nod, adding aloud, "So they say." Frowning a bit, she eased toward the dragoness. "To affect you so, it must have been a particularly brutal contest."

"I wouldn't know," Shyvana admitted, her head bowing. The frigid waves of pain in her tone caught Riven's ear. "I only saw him struggle against the spell that was attacking me, and after I broke free, he collapsed. He had… pushed himself past his limit."

Riven tilted her head. So it's seeing him like this, worrying about him, that's doing this to her. Though it pains me for them, it's a remarkable change in her. I simply never would have seen this in her, she mused to herself, her eyes dancing over the prone summoner again. "He is a brave man. I can see how he would win your respect."

Shyvana's eyes clenched as she faced away. "…I think he would say that he does his best."

Riven half-smiled, eyeing the dragon sidelong. "I imagine he would." Starting afresh, she turned fully to the other champion. "Ralhe said it should be safe to wake him about this time. Do you want to try? I can step outside, if you prefer?"

Shyvana's head faintly turned. Not enough to see or look into Riven's eyes, but an acknowledgement. "I see. There is no need for you to leave the room, Riven. In fact… perhaps you should try?"

Riven raised an eyebrow. "…Shyvana."

The firmer tone made Shyvana turn enough to give the human woman a stare, darkly expectant.

"He'd want it to be you."

Riven turned, and simply walked out of the room, closing the door in her wake.

Shyvana grimaced at the floor. All this, and she was still afraid of these emotions. It was infuriating!

Have patience with yourself.

His voice drifted back into her mind from memory, and her anger calmed in a slow, steadying breath. She was still adapting, still learning. Like a hatchling still new to flight. It was a different gust, a new disruption, but the same methods. Shyvana nodded to herself, and walked toward the bed again, on the other side this time.

She wasn't sure why she actually sat down onto the bed first. Her hand came out, gripped his shoulder, and shook in a firm, but not violent manner. "Sylus? Can you hear me?"

He stirred faintly, a little grunt in his throat.

"Sylus?" she called, her voice firmer.

His head rattled a little, and his eyes danced open, blinking quickly as he tried to make himself aware. "Mm-wha…" His eyes focused, finding her quickly. "Shyvana!" he became alert. "Is everything alright? Are we…?" he started to trail off and calm as he glanced around, starting to recognize her room.

She offered him a half-smile, her hand still on his shoulder. "We are fine, for the moment, summoner. Do you remember what happened?" She controlled the fear creeping into her thoughts.

Sylus eased back onto the pillow, still feeling the drain of his effort it seemed. "Y-yes. You're sure you're alright? I couldn't really see if you got injured by his fragmentation array before I blacked out."

So concerned he was. Shyvana was looking into his eyes for a moment, and then her smile, though subtle, formed whole. "I am unharmed, Sylus. My thanks for your effort. Forgive me for waking you so soon, but the high summoners believed it was safe, and there is a need for your expertise."

Sylus blinked. "They need me?"

She chuckled, and started to stand away from the bed. "Apparently you are their only hope for tracking Stalk, due to your battle with him. Do you think it is so?" Her tone remained casual, not accusatory or forcing.

The summoner wiped some sleep from his eyes, and started to sit up, awkwardly sliding to the edge of the bed toward her. "It makes sense, yes. I'll need to go back to the site of the spell to properly try, though. I need the traces to connect back into the matrices."

An crimson-armored hand appeared before him, open and waiting. Sylus blinked up at her, momentarily taken by the calm, yet somehow sorrowful smile on her face as she waited to help him stand. Slowly, his hand came up, rested in her own, and she hefted him to his feet.

It pulled the two very close for a moment, and neither immediately pulled away, both eyes locked and reading.

Sylus let his own concern became more clear as he gazed up into her fiery pools. "Are you alright?" he whispered.

They were so close he could watch her slitted pupils dilate faintly as they scanned over his features. It was simultaneously alien and mesmerizing.

There was a full pause before she actually answered, "I was afraid you were hurt. Hurt in ways I can't understand. You may still be."

His eyebrows rose up. It was such a clear and honest admission. He started to smile gently, and reached up to hold her shoulder. "My apologies for worrying you so, my lady. I am well. Simply tired. I knew I couldn't properly explain as I was collapsing, and I am sorry for the undue fear it caused you. …I marvel at your ability to adapt, Shyvana."

She blinked at his last sentence. "I don't follow."

"I know the type of courage it takes for you to say something like that so clearly. I do not think I could match it, were the situations equal."

She bowed her head with a smirk and faint laugh. Part of her was deeply appreciative that he realized how hard it was for her to do these things. The rest of her knew he was giving her too much credit. Without Riven's push… Exhaling a bit, Shyvana replied, looking back into his eyes, "You faced down our enemy without a second thought, Sylus. I have seen your courage, and it is true. Now…" she shifted tones, squaring her shoulders and finally easing back to a natural space between them. "Are you certain you are well enough to attempt tracking Stalk?"

"I think so. I can't be certain, but time is of the essence. I am as confident as I reasonably can be," he clarified to her dry look.

Appeased, she tipped her head, and waved for him to follow.

Riven was waiting outside, and gave them both a warm smile. "Good to see you on your feet, Sylus."

He gave a soft bow. "Honored, my lady."

She giggled a bit, and tossed a nod down the hall. "They've got a rally-crystal set back up. This'll be quick."

"Excellent. Lead on?" Sylus asked, glancing between both Champions.

Shyvana agreed with a nod, and Riven turned to do exactly that.

(At the house…)

It was clear to Shyvana that Sylus was putting on a brave show. The straightness of his back and shoulders was unnatural to him as he walked along the maximum security hall. The dragoness and Riven had fallen in behind him as a default escort, since he knew just as well where to go, and his witness was the purpose of the trip. The only question for Shyvana was whether he was putting on a show because of so many people present, or if he was trying to hide how drained he still was. Did he know she could see through it?

Ralhe and a few other summoners were still in the cell once they arrived. The bulk of the champions and leaders in the manor were waiting on word of the results.

"Ah, Summoner Hale. Good of you to come." Ralhe's tone was so neutral it as hard to tell if she was sincere or dryly reprimanding him for sleeping on the job.

"Honored to be of assistance, high summoner," Sylus replied with a bow. "Shall I begin?"

Ralhe waved him forward, and the others spread away from the focus of the spell field that had captured Shyvana at the start of the mess.

Shyvana and Riven remained back, the human woman watchful while at-ease, the dragoness stern, arms crossed.

Sylus stood near the spell area, and raised his hands, closing his eyes to focus. Runes and ribbons of light, blue, green, gold, and purple started to writhe off his hands and dance in the air. Shyvana recognized the similar crystalline pattern to the original spell itself as they settled and danced anew.

Sylus' gestures seemed to mimic pouring over a large map or painting immediately before him, his hands drawing over the air ahead of him, his head angling this way and that. He unconsciously muttered, "Strange…" as he continued to work.

Shyvana and Riven glanced to the other summoners, but when even Ralhe didn't move to ask what Sylus had noticed, each champion realized it was likely critical not to interrupt Sylus' work.

After a few more moments, Sylus paused, completely still. His eyes slowly pulled open, and his voice came out in a strained, rasping rush, "Fourth-degree seals, high summoner. When the tertiary matrix forms."

Riven and Shyvana shared a confused look, but watched Ralhe and her fellow summoners snap into action, forming a ring around Sylus, weaving intricate spells through the air with their hands.

"Ready," Ralhe firmly declared, herself and each other summoner poised, hands open and out, magic writhing and eager for action all around them.

Sylus' hands and head moved again, but faster. Whatever he was doing, it demanded rigid focus.

In a rush, Sylus wrenched his hands to the sides and back, his eyes opening. "NOW!"

Ralhe and her fellows snapped their hands forward, Shyvana recognizing the pose from when Sylus had helped her against the original spell. Sylus flung himself back with a grunt as energy erupted from the floor, and the runes and energy from the high summoners caught it rigidly in fragmented, hard-angled prisms of power.

Sylus was softly startled when he realized someone caught him, and blinked up into Shyvana's yellow eyes. She seemed to ease when it was clear he was still fully aware, and helped him stand with a simple heft and soft shove back to his center of gravity.

The mid-level summoner wanted to turn and thank her, but the situation demanded their attention as the high summoners warred with the energies trying to erupt out of control.

Finally, it was clear their efforts were winning. The energy was easing and fading back down into the spell's base, their own countermeasures shimmering and collapsing further and further. Soon, it was flush with the floor, and then all the summoners eased, many catching their breath.

Ralhe smoothed her robes down, and focused on Sylus. Shyvana noticed the woman was appraising him quietly, both troubled and impressed.

"A wise warning, Summoner Hale. We wouldn't have been able to resist that without preparation," Ralhe explained aloud.

Sylus bowed. "I sensed I was close to the source, but it was too easy for someone like me. There had to be some kind of feedback trap, and with the powers Stalk had shown, nothing short of fourth-level seals would do the job."

"What did you learn?" Riven asked, her voice calm and actually rather gentle. It seemed she felt guilty somehow for interrupting.

Sylus turned to her immediately. "Troubling news. I do have his location. He's under the main League Hall. It's an area I'd never known about."

"Under?" Ralhe immediately confirmed, her eyes alarmed.

"I saw a large nexus, and he's surrounded by… something. Loyal servants, but their natures were masked to me. Is it one of the League's vaults?" Sylus replied.

Ralhe hissed a curse down to one side, getting surprised looks from the other high summoners. "…The research lab. We used it to test Valhan's… Stalk's spells."

"Is there a way for us to get there quickly?" Shyvana asked, her voice powerful and stern. She was ready for battle.

"Not without him seeing us coming," Ralhe explained, her face grim.

Riven fingered the tip of her blade casually, "I think we just announced ourselves to him anyway. Just show us the door, so to speak."

"Back to the League then. The entrance is shielded so that it can only be approached from inside… at least for most normal summoners."

As the group started to mobilize, some summoners rushing ahead to notify the champions assembled of the destination, Shyvana actually hung back to make sure she was with Sylus as they joined the procession.

"Well done," she chose to say quietly.

Sylus glanced at her, a bit meek. "Thank you. I'm glad it worked."

"Ralhe seems impressed with you for it." She gave him a sidelong glance. They were going to battle, so her mask was already up. It left her manner harder than she would have normally offered to him.

Sylus blushed a bit. "I think that's more to do with underestimating mid-level summoners than actual talent on my part. I've just been applying normal spell structures and rules. It seems no one really expects anyone to pay attention these days."

Shyvana was able to smirk. "I think this entire disaster is proof of that much, summoner."

Sylus rolled his eyes. "You're right. If any of the councilors had really stopped and thought about what Valhan was doing, this would never have happened."

"So he really didn't try any tricks beyond that trap at the end?"

Sylus started to chuckle. "Well he directed the trace-path to my own house, first. It would have made me the prime suspect again, because if you didn't know to check—or trust me enough to—you never would have looked past it. I don't think he expected little, mid-level summoner Sylus to be one of the agents who came to call on his cell."

Shyvana reached up, patting his back like a comrade in arms. "Keep an eye out for those opportunities, yet. He knows these high summoners and councilors, but not you. Keep using that to your advantage."

Sylus smiled at her, grateful for her trust.

(To the lair…)

There were many things the underground lair could be compared to, but 'research lab' was not the first to spring to mind. A dark cave, surprisingly vast, with a haphazard floor of natural, black rock, and clusters of accoutrements for summoning research at stations around the back perimeter, it seemed more like a dungeon than a research space.

Shyvana was at the front of an army of champions and summoners marching and spreading out through the chamber from the large, runed double-doors at the front. Riven and Ashe were just to either side of her, high summoners and dozens of other champions flowing forward with them. Sylus was a bit back, trying not to make his presence obvious yet. If he could help, it would be by surprise.

Opposite the League army, Meridian Stalk stood out in the open, his back to the large nexus used to power the chamber's work in the furthest-back part of the dark wall. Though his pale patient uniform was now exchanged for luxurious, black summoner's robes, he was otherwise unchanged, his dark smile twisting his slim face.

He was also not alone. Hooded 'summoners' were all around him, and there were clearly dozens of mercenaries from the same company that had been used for the bridge-ambush and holding Valein House.

"How good of you to come!" he greeted, arms out wide. "I have such astonishing things to show you all!"

Shyvana and the other champions let Ralhe, Ikan, and other councilors come forward at this point. Ralhe retorted, "Stand down and surrender, Stalk! You're out-gunned! Even you must see that."

Meridian laughed, and ran a hand back over his silver hair. "Ah, Ralhe. Such a stuck-up little tart you always were. You should know better than that! For a summoner, resources are a matter of FOCUS!"

His hands snapped forward, his hooded minions lunging out with his gesture as one force, and the center of the chamber exploded into summoning and void magic. Prisms of power, shockwaves of energy, evanescing storms of light, and warped monstrosities came churning forward like an animate wall.

The League summoners reacted in kind, vast arrays of runic power erupting to meet the vile surge. They were assisted by unlikely allies in this effort, as Malzahar and Kassadin worked together as they normally never would.

The prophet of the void rushed forward, his eyes burning as his hands danced. Void portals snapped shut, others opened, and waves of swarming void-power caught and disrupted the void creatures Stalk's forces were pulling forward.

"You insult the void with your childish grasping," Malzahar hissed as he charged.

Kassadin said nothing. Instead, he ripped through the spells and voidlings alike, rushing for the closest mercenaries and Stalk-summoners he could reach.

Ralhe and Ikan strained, and finally forced a hole open in the center of the conflicting magic.

"NOW!" Ralhe roared through her focus.

Shyvana lunged into a sprint, leading the rest of the champions forward. Burning over her eyes and limbs, she leapt through the hole, her draconic form erupting into flight with a full-bodied roar. She took a rank of mercenaries down before their crossbow shots could let loose.

As she whipped around to wing-slap another handful of mercenaries aside, she saw Riven shoot forward, engulfed in her green ki, and cut down a group of mercenaries herself. At the same time, a volley of arrows from Ashe weaved between the League forces, and lanced into the dark summoners and mercenaries all around them.

Kha'zix trilled and roared as he ripped through the air, and cut down one of the summoners.

There was an awkward pause when he twisted to see Rengar taking down another summoner and a couple of mercs just a few meters away. The bitter rivals shared a hard look, but then refocused on their immediate task.

Ashe was just twisting to unleash a fresh volley to her left as the League forces advanced, down on one knee, when she felt something rush over her. She jerked, but watched Katarina swirl like a dancer through the air over her head, and land toward Stalk's forces, unleashing a storm of knives into his minions.

"You can do better than that, ice-queen," Katarina quipped over her shoulder at the Freljord leader, smirking, and then shimmered out of sight to continue her assault.

Ashe raised an eyebrow, but re-aimed, and dropped another group of mercenaries.

Garen and Darius shared a rare moment of camaraderie as they waded into the small army of mercenaries together, their massive weapons cleaving through the ranks in their unique styles.

They both then awkwardly watched the summoner they were working toward drop from a flying axe lodged in his chest.

"Move faster, ladies," Draven taunted, leaping between the two, catching his axe out of the dead summoner, and shooting off to the side before they could actually respond.

Garen gave the larger, axe-wielding Noxian a dry look.

Darius shrugged. "Brothers."

Both men twitched, Garen twisting to face a summoner that seemed to pour out of the ground with energy bleeding from his hands toward them, but they never had a chance to strike him. A bolt lodged in his chest along with a blue hawk ramming down into his head.

Quinn shot forward, Valor landing on her shoulder. "Watch your back, Garen," she said quickly before flitting away, firing more bolts into the mercenaries beyond.

Darius chuckled, and joined Garen in wading further into the fight.

Jarvan IV and Swain made another tense and unlikely pair near the center of the line. Swain sent waves of power out in his fully transfigured bird-hybrid form, while Jarvan unleashed his segmented spear in lashing waves.

"This is almost entertaining!" Swain roared. "I just pretend each one is one of your pathetic soldiers, Princeling!"

Jarvan wrenched around, and rammed his spear through a line of mercenaries who hadn't coordinated properly. "Are you joking? These dogs have more fight than your Noxian pups."

(With Riven…)

Riven had cut a path deep into the enemy line herself, shocking foes away, cutting assailants down, and flashing her ki-shield over herself when necessary. As always, her combat had the strangest mixture of elegance and brutality, flowing like water, hammering like thunder. One mercenary actually stopped and stared as she one-hand-twirled her massive, if shattered, weapon into a downward chop at his sword, shattering his own to small pieces. She booted him in the chest to knock him out of the way.

That was when a rush on the air caught her ear, and she twisted down, landing flat on the ground.

A planar disruption wave tore into the rock just behind her, leaving pieces of shattered stone floating unnaturally while the rest simply vanished.

The mad summoner from Valein House was one of the dark minions. He was striding forward, power bleeding off his hands and eyes. "They never would let me summon you, exile. I was so eager to taste your energy! Now they can't get in my way!" His hands ripped up, power surging more violently over them.

Riven raised an eyebrow, but shoved herself up and twisted just as his bolts let fly. Her body swirled flawlessly between them, their power tugging on her tunic and knotted hair. At the same time, still spinning in the air, her sword swept out, green ki bled over her frame, and she let out a roar. The shards of her broken blade ripped back into existence, slamming together into a massive, cleaving weapon almost bigger than her own body.

"I know your reach!" the summoner rasped as she started to land with her broad, back-hand slash.

"No," she whispered, "you don't."

Her sweep unleashed a shockwave of green power mixed with runic metal forged from her very will. The fanning blast of cutting metal and willpower ripped out, and the summoner shouted as they cut him in half at the waist.

His hands were still crackling as his top half hit the ground.

Riven, her sword still unified for the moment, leapt forward, cleaving and swiping through more mercenaries and dark summoners, her true power unleashed as rarely seen, her body dancing as her sword churned the battlefield.

(Near the Nexus…)

Stalk was watching with almost bored disinterest on his face. The champions were cleaving deep into his line, some almost upon his own position. "Almost," he muttered.

Shyvana, still in her full dragon form, punched through a group of mercenaries, one of her claws pinning a dark summoner to the ground through his gut. "Stalk!" she roared, glaring fire at him.

His eyes locked on hers, and he smirked a bit.

The dragoness ripped forward, tail lashing as fire ignited and swirled around her powerful body, a fresh roar seeming to carry her through the air.

"Perfect," Stalk whispered, his hand snapping up.

The chamber surged in an instant. Runes ignited across every crease and mark in the floor, walls, ceiling, and even across the double-doors at the far side.

Prisms of summoning magic snapped up like a forest of glowing pillars, seizing every League champion and summoner in the blink of an eye. Malzahar showed rare shock on his own face as he found himself (and his void magic) flawlessly contained. Ashe was caught with an arrow in mid-release, Riven trying to dive aside, but frozen in mid-gesture, her eyes locking across the field on Stalk with angry frustration.

Shyvana, however, recognized the sensation in the same instant. It was the same trick he'd used on her in his cell at the house. The dragoness was twisting and diving aside as his arm rose, and she dodged her would-be prison of light.

"I can smell your magic now, coward!" she roared at him, already wrenching herself upon him by her wing-claws, fiery maw open.

"I've got more than that!" he snapped back, rushing into a kind of combat stance, magic burning over his hands, one snapping toward her again.

Purple and green energy was lashing out toward the dragon's heart, and it was clear she couldn't dodge it for its speed. Shyvana started to exhale, fire bursting forth at similar speed. Stalk's other hand was starting to raise a shield over his frame.

And suddenly Shyvana's body was engulfed in a glistening, yellow orb of summoning light. Stalk's blast hit it, started to eat through immediately, but the bubble softened the strike enough to barely singe Shyvana's scales and armor on her chest as she finally landed, engulfing Stalk's position in an inferno from her gullet.

His own shield held, and Shyvana shared a glare with the mad summoner through the dispersing flames.

"Damn lizard!" he cursed, snapping his hands up.

It was a raw force blast, and it rammed Shyvana's head up and back, forcing her to stumble aside in recovery. As she did, he drew one hand back, black energy sharpening into a blade in his palm, ready to lunge at her.

"You've not ruining anything else!" Meridian hissed, his body rushing forward.

He halted, his eyes twitching.

Shyvana focused, seeing green-gold runes wrapped tightly around Meridian's stabbing hand.

"That's the third time you've ignored me," Sylus announced, standing just off to the right, his hands clenched toward the dark leader.

Stalk's face contorted with rage finally. "You monstrous little upstart! You think watered-down containment like that can stop me!? I'll-!?"

His eyes were forced forward as Shyvana's wing-claw impaled him at full ramming speed. He folded around the tremendous limb, her claws sticking out of his black robes as she roared and carried him all the way to the nexus at the back of the chamber.

Stalk gripped the claw impaling him, and looked up into Shyvana's smoldering gaze with a grimace of pain and anger.

"You… used your little pet… well," he rasped.

"On the contrary," Shyvana growled. "Your genius is only surpassed by your arrogance. You defeated yourself. For the innocents you slaughtered, however…"

Her maw surged down, and she bit his head and most of his upper-torso clean off, spitting it out to the side. She then fire-blasted the rest of his body off her claw to clean it.

With his death, the prisms of light holding the League's army fell, and the dark summoners lost control of their sanity once more. Many of them just fell over screaming, the violent ones almost immediately put down by high summoners and champions while they were too mad to think and strategize.

The mercenaries dropped their weapons and raised their hands just a moment later.

Shyvana let herself pour down into her human form, spitting down to the side as she cringed from the taste of Stalk's body. "I should've just torn his head off with my other claw," she muttered.

"Sorry I couldn't help more, my lady," Sylus said gently from behind her.

The dragoness turned, meeting his eyes. "More? You struck at precisely the right time, Sylus. You used your resources very well. I'll make a flyer of you yet, young hatchling."

They shared a wry smile. It was also clear to each of them that they were utterly exhausted. Sylus had never fully recovered from his ordeal at the house, and Shyvana hadn't rested yet.

"You are a magnificent creature, Shyvana," Sylus chose to say while they had an almost-private moment.

Other champions and summoners were starting to get closer to the back of the room, busy with arresting and recording the dead in most cases. Ashe and Riven were concerned for their friends near the nexus, but when they saw the pair talking, each champion opted to hang back a bit.

Shyvana did blush a little, but she just bowed her head with a faint smile. "I'm pleased you think so, Sylus." Glancing up and around, she let her usual sardonic smile show. A victorious battle, and the monster who had slaughtered so many for no real reason was gone. She could ease, breathe.

She eased closer, as if to just walk with him toward the others. "Sylus, you said you were fond of me, yes?"

He blinked, blushing abruptly, but nodded.

Her hand reached out, gripped his collar, and pulled him into a kiss.

Ashe and Riven blinked, and then shared an amused look before playfully turning and walking back to the other champions and summoners to give the pair some more privacy, Riven almost laughing outright.

Sylus was frozen with surprise for a heart-beat, and then melted, practically hanging from her hand clenching his shirt, their kiss holding softly. Her scent filled his frame, her warm lips so surprisingly tender as they caressed his.

Shyvana gently broke the kiss, looking into his softly opening eyes. "I am fond of you as well," she added with a faint smirk.

Sylus smiled brightly. "I am very glad of that, my lady."

"This situation is… complex," she added, gently releasing his shirt and making sure he was steady on his feet, "and we have much clean up to address here, but… I would like to talk with you later. When we can have privacy."

Sylus nodded. "I would very much like that, Shyvana. And you're right, of course. Come on, let's get this mess tidied up?"

She chuckled, nodding, and they moved to join the others at last.

Riven had to give Shyvana a knowing smirk, and was rewarded with a silent, disgruntled blush by the dragoness. The swordswoman giggled, and got back to work as well.

(Author's Note)

I'll admit it, I couldn't resist the grab-and-kiss cliché. It just fit too perfectly. I'm sorry! …Okay, I'm not sorry at all, I loved it.

Stalk's finish was also a moment I relish. Particularly the impale and bite-chomp. I hope Sylus' help was both believable and didn't make him look more than he is. The whole point of Sylus' success is that he's underestimated by everyone except Shyvana, Riven, and Ashe (who know him, and understand his value).

The 'unlikely pairs' during the battle probably strain believability for most players of the League. That's a bit intentional. These were all pairs that would normally be trying to kill each other, but for a brief moment are willing to ignore each other enough to deal with the meddling Summoner that inconvenienced them all.

Riven's particular cameo with her fully formed sword was a gem for me. I'm pleased with how it came out, and I hope it works for Riven fans, too.

The opening of the chapter allowed me to show that Shyvana is coming to terms with herself, but still very much new to this whole 'emotion' thing ('soft emotion' anyway). I find that scenes that appear as 'backpeddling' for a character often help cement the believability. We rarely get things right after one attempt, so a little failing as the character moves forward struck me as natural and enriching. Hopefully, it didn't annoy any readers.

Thanks again, all! The reviews are greatly appreciated, and keep me going!