Author's note: Hello everyone! I'm back with another chapter. Sorry I took so long, be the very next day that I told myself «one week, a chapter of my novel, next a chapter of the fanfic » my boss asked us to made a fuck load of over time and ended up wit 10 hour shifts and came back home dead tired, so I only wrote on weekends but most of them were already filled with stuff: friends, family, events, etc. Seeing the beginning of schoolyear approach, I had to rush my writing and ended up writing over 3000 words last weekend and finished correcting today, the day I returned to school. On a final note, I know the whole concept of nature energy is really close to the one in Naruto, but I guaranty you, I had the Idea WAY before I even started watching the series.
Chapter 17
Max was cold, freezing even. His heart hurt like hell and his lungs were burning. All of his limps felt weak and numb. His head was heavy and he had a seriously painful headache. His stomach was upside down, menacing to throw away its content at any moment. Despite all these uncomfortable disorders, he began to feel a warm, comforting feeling on the back of his head and another warm, tickling sensation in his hair.
The Elemental slowly opened his eyes, filled with dizziness and strangely sleepy. His vision was blurred, unfocused to the point he wasn't able to recognise the face less than thirty centimeters away, although he could see color spots of red and white and a bit of black over the skin color of the face. The young man blinked several time slowly and his vision stared to focus. Over his face, the other person's body slowly became tangible as the spots of colors converged to reveal the familiar face of Ahri over him. The fox woman was caressing the Elemental's brown hair as his head rested upon her laps.
Passed his friend's face, the sun was nowhere to be seen and the sky, now nearly as dark as her raven black hair, featured the cosmic luminescence of the billions of stars above, drawing constellations unknown to him. Among the clouds of glittering blazes, the moon was shining its spectral light upon the interior garden they were occupying, its massive crescent hanging over the land in a perfect "c" shape. A soft, fresh breeze was flowing in the small clearing, blowing in the leaves and producing the nature's melody. Turning his head toward her, he caught a glimpse of a wooden gazebo in the middle of the garden. The young man could also hear, in the far back of the green space, the faith lapping of a small stream following the wall behind some flower arrangements and bushes. Many other plants were placed around the little resting area, among which was an ancient looking tree, really large with long branches even if it wasn't very tall. A stone path embellished the park feeling, starting at the door leading inside the institute and branching in a "Y' when it reached the gazebo. One side leaded to a simple bench on the bank of the stream while the other was going to the old tree upon which a swing was hanged.
Max's gaze lowered from the pretty woman's face down to her chest and felt there a warm, familiar feeling. Without really thinking about it, the Elemental reached for her bosom with his lips faintly spelling:
«Give it to me.
- Oh no, you don't! Ahri slapped his hand away. You told us just yesterday you weren't going to have sex with us again!
- Ahri, please… Max pleaded
- Han! Han! Ain't happening!
- My necklace, give it to me, his voice was becoming more and more wheezy.
- Oh! Right! I still have that! Sorry! Ahri reached in the cleavage of her breasts and revealed Max's crystalline necklace.
- Thank you. » Max took his possession back.
The moment his hand curled around the piece of crystal, his breath returned to normal and the warm feeling spread throughout his entire body. The young man laid back on the ground, having lifted his torso a little to reach Ahri's hand. His head, following his body, rested on her laps and she continued to caress his hair. They stayed in this position for several minutes before Max finally regained enough strength to sit. Assisted by his friend, he managed to sit but he needed to have his back supported by a post of the gazebo. After passing his necklace over his head, he asked her:
«So, how long have I been out?
- I'd say about half an hour? When I found you I tough you had fall asleep in the middle of the hallway so I took you to the garden right next to you. I didn't count time tough.
- Thank, if you hadn't passed by, things could have gotten much, much worse.
- How come, you're awake right?
- Yeah, and that's what I mean. I could have been asleep for years if you were an hour later. I can't be away from my necklace for very long, or else I'd lose my powers and my body would go in hibernation.
- I'm so sorry! I never tough you would get so bad because you were separate from it! If I had known, I would have been more careful about returning it to you right away, but I completely forgot with the competition and all!
- It's all right, don't sweet it. I forgot too. Plus, it shouldn't be that bad, I think I still have my powers. »
The Elemental tried to create a crystal in his hand, but all that came out was some very weak, pale, bluish lights instead of the usual strong vibrant blue. In normal circumstances, the lights would have condensed in a solid crystal, but at that moment, they barely touched before vanishing.
«Well shit, I lost my powers…
- Oh my god! What are you gonna do now! Ahri was really feeling bad now.
- I'm gonna wait. It should start to come back gradually in about two mounts, maybe three… or four… Fuck my life… Max threw his arms to the sky.
- Don't worry! We'll help you out! We're all going to go ask the head summoners for help, if they can speed up your recovery or at least suspend your matches, the foxy woman was trying to cheer her friend.
- Thanks Ahri, I was sure you would be there to support your friends if they had problems, you're really a kind person. I still can't believe some peoples don't like you, she blushed at his comment.
- N… No problem, friends are there for that after all! a wide smile was spread on her lovely, faintly red face.
- Anyway, I need to go back to my room now, I'll recover a little quicker if I sleep, plus, he curled his fist but had no force in it, I need a bare minimum of strength back. Right now, I wouldn't even be able to feel that lovely chest of yours, he winked in her direction.
- Hey! What did I say? No! What did you say? You're not getting any of this! Ahri was laughing the whole time she spoke, but also punching Max on his left shoulder.
- Ouch! Stop it, that hurt! I was just kidding, Ahri!
- I know, I just take advantage of you while I can! Now I get to be the big sister for once, not the one being protected, her smile was plastered on her happy face, and being the big sister means I get the right to punch you if you go out of lines.
- Ok, ok, big sis! I understand now, stop hitting me, it's really starting to hurt.
- Ok, if you say so. I'll let you go back to your room now, but remember to stay in lines when it comes to your big sisters!
- Yes ma'am!
- No, you got to call me big sister from now on!
- Ok, Ahri-nee! (yes big sister Ahri!)
- Yeah! »
Max tried to stand up, but his legs were too weak to lift him up. Ahri lend him a hand as he supported part of his weight on the gazebo. His legs were shaking, barely managing to support his weight. Finally, Ahri helped Max to his room and, after many attempts to make Max let her to, she stayed in his room with him, like the good big sister she wanted to be for him. When Max went to sleep, she stayed by his side several minutes just looking at him before returning to the living room and slept on the couch.
The next morning, Ahri woke up to a delicious sent. She rose up and looked over the couch's backrest to see Max cooking one of his famous breakfast. The Elemental was in front of his oven which had three pans on top of it. The one on the front right hob contained eggs and while bacon was coking in the pan on the back left hob. Next to the bacon, a small cauldron was cooking beans (fèves au lard, look it up on google, Quebec thing) while the last pan was used to make French toasts. All those delicious smells kept her from thinking for two or three second before she came back to her senses and quickly leapt over the back of the couch and put her hands on her hips before speaking with sisterly authority.
«And what do you think you're doing young man?
- Preparing breakfast? Max answered as if it was the most normal thing in the world and, frankly, it was.
- You are not well and need to rest. Go back in bed and let me finish that.
- But I just finished! Max exclaimed with a bit of whining at the end.
- Oh! Well… Just go sit at the table. I'll bring the food.
- Yes, Ahri, he returned in an annoyed tone.
- Hey…
- Yes, big sis… the Elemental corrected his previous sentence.
- And don't use that tone with me.
- Sorry, but I'm not that bad anymore, just as he said that, his left knee slacked under him.
- See, just sit there, you've done enough already.
- Thanks Ahri-nee.
- Now that's a good boy. I'll be right there. »
Max sat down on his chair with a small grunt of annoyance. The day before he was the most powerful being in the universe and now he was back to being a little boy under his big sister's authority. Never the less, he was still enjoying having a big sister, him being the oldest sibling in his home world.
Ahri broke his chain of thoughts when she laid a plate down in front of him and smiled at him. She then sat in front of the young man with her own plate. They started eating their meal. Max tried to go to his stove to take more food, but Ahri stopped him and filled his plate for him. After he finished his second serving, Ahri finally broke the silence.
«Now that I look at you without that aura of power you normally have, you seem quite young for being 21 years old.
- Yeah, my body stopped maturing at 18 years old and so did my mind. Most of the time, I'm no more mature than an 18 years old boy. And they used to say «Stay young in the mind! », seems I took it very literally, a smile crossed his face as he chuckled at the end.
- Well that explains a lot, Ahri seemed lost in thoughts.
- Anyway, I was planning on starting my big project today, power or not!
- Wait, wha…?
- I'm finally starting my house. All my plans are finish, well almost all, I am now the owner of a land and I finally have time off…
- Who said you had time off? Ahri interrupt him.
- Didn't you said you were going to speak to the head summoners about a suspension of my matches?
- Yeah! But we didn't even inform them of it yet, but I guess the sooner the better.
- Then let's go! What are we waiting for?
- That I finish eating, maybe? It's not because you've already finish two plates that I've finish my first.
- Oh… oh, yeah right! Sorry about that. »
After Ahri finished her breakfast, they got ready to leave and came face to face with Shadow as Max opened his door. After explaining the situation to him, the summoner decided to follow them to the head summoners' office. As bureaucracy would have it, they couldn't just walk up to Zarikan and ask him a suspension of matches for Max. They had to fill countless forms, four in fact, but the were long as hell, before taking a rendezvous with the head summoners and finally wait three and a half hours in uncomfortable chairs. By the time they were accepted in the office, Max's stomach was already growling for food. The audience with the big bosses of the Institute of War went rather smoothly, except Max could only have a maximum of one month off. Of course he kept arguing for longer until they threated to cut his break down to two weeks. He shut his mouth and said one month was plenty even tough he cruelly knew it wasn't even half the time necessary for the beginning of a recovery in the best of his predictions.
«Well, I suppose I have one month to make myself battle ready, Max told his friends when they got out.
- Are you really going to pull that one off? Shadow asked.
- Yeah, all I need is a good weapon and a bit of training and I should at least be able to give resistance to the other melee champions, but don't expect me to go toe to toe with the mages and range champions for a while.
- That means I get to beat you next time we meet, Ahri had a very evil looking smile on her face.
- Yeah… no, I'm top, you're mid, Max quickly returned, really concerned about losing his reputation if he lost to anyone.
- Ahhh! You're no fun, Max!
- So, you're going to build yourself a home, right? Shadow asked his friend.
- Yeah, it's something I'm gonna take great pride in. I'm gonna build everything myself without using any of my powers, only the science that has always been my ally over the short course of my life. Plus, it's no fun if the whole thing is completed in two weeks!
- Talking about two weeks, don't you still need to finish a building in Piltover for like two weeks from now?
- Oh fuck! How am I going to lift the roof without any powers? God damn it! Science, please help me!
- You're weird… Ahri's word struck Max dead in the feelings.
- That was mean, Ahri-nee…
- I'm not gonna comment on that sister thing… »
For the rest of the day, Max returned to his room, madly thinking about his problem with the roof… and founded no way to bring it up alone. He ended up falling asleep on his table over tens of sketches of (im)possible concepts.
Waking up the next morning, Max found himself on the floor with papers everywhere around him, testimony of his eventful night. The Elemental stood up and picked up his sketches to put them back on the table before walking to his bedroom and change clothes. Ready to start his day, Max left his room and restraint at the last second his habit of jumping of the window and reluctantly opted for the stairs. Coming out of the dormitories, the young man left the grounds of the institute of war and headed toward Piltover… on foot.
After an hour of walking, he was still in the middle of the forest and the edge was still far off in the distance. Starting to realize the sheer stupidity if his idea, he stopped to lean on a tree near the dirt road. Barely had his back touch the rugged bark that he saw a charrette making its way down the road and passed by him. He decided to walk up to the man at the front and ask him where he was going. When the middle aged man answered that he was traveling toward a village near the Ironspike Mountains, Max hopped in. During the long traveling, Max learned about the culture of Runeterra and spoke about his own world too. When the sun was starting to go down, they reached the village. Less than five kilometers north east were the Ironspike Mountains. Thanking his benefactor, Max took off toward Piltover. He spent the rest of the evening climbing the mountains, following a rocky mountain path and managed to reach the mountain pass by the time it was dark. Not feeling tired at all, Max decided to continue until he reached the base of the mountain. He heard several wolves howling, but none were close enough to pose a threat to him. Also, he encountered other peoples along the way and stopped to talk to them a bit. They were camping about halfway between the bass and the pass and were in the middle of their supper when Max arrived and they were kind enough to give have a bit. Max gave them money for compensation, but they refused, saying it was natural for mountain travelers to help each others.
The Elemental managed to get some hours of sleep under a tree before continuing with a second day of walking toward Piltover. This time, he wasn't lucky enough to encounter a charrette or a chariot, so he ended up walking all day long under the burning sun. He ate some fruits he picked up from trees and bought dried meat in a village for his diner. That night, he slept in an inn. The third day was exactly the same as the second, except that he was able to see the far away lights of Piltover when he went to sleep. By the end of the forth day, he was finally in Piltover and sleeping in an inn near the edges of the city.
Five days after he left the Institute of War, he was at last ready, almost, to finish the building and finally touch his money from the bet. When he reached the construction site, Zarky welcomed him back and told him the final parts were there and Max told him casually that he lost his powers… Zarky laughed a lot but reassured him.
«Don't worry about it, we had a crane all along, but you never needed it so I never bothered to tell you.
- Great! Except I don't know how to use a crane…
- Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! I'll teach you. By the end of the day, you'll be able to use it to lift the roof.
- Thanks! But isn't that kindda like illegal or something?
- Only if others found out, Zarky's winked in his partner's direction.
- Hey hey, I like your style. » Max's eyes took a malicious glow and so did Zarky's.
They spent the day in the crane, Zarky teaching Max how to basically operate the crane without bothering with all the regulations and safety procedures because they were the only ones there and it was only for a couple of manipulations (don't do that in the real world though). They returned to their respective places and returned the next day to finish the building. Max climbed up the crane after having solidly attached the first part of the picked roof, Chrysler tower styled roof, to the hook. Cautiously, he lifted it up and brought it over the tower before slowly lowering it. He then climbed down the crane to go to the roof and rotating it in place before tying it up so it wouldn't move to much. He lowered it more and finally passed the screw to bolt it in place before lowering it completely and torqueing the bolts. He repeated the operation with all pieces and, at 23h47, finished the building and fulfil this end of the contract.
The Elemental went to sleep at the same hotel for the third night in a row before heading back to the institute. Finally, he would have had only two weeks for his home. When he went down to the front desk to check out, some wheat blond hairs caught his eyes. His friend Ezreal was in the hall sitting at a table sipping a cup of coffee. After checking out, Max went to his friend and sat opposite to him.
«Yo! Ez! What are you doing here? Max asked, excitement in his voice.
- Max! Where the fuck where you for the last week? Ezreal seemed really relieved to see his friend.
- Hum… On the road between the institute and here?
- How dumb can you be? Why did you used the road! Never heard of trains?
- There's trains here?
- Duh! The steam engine's been known for about half a century now. There's a railroad that goes from Piltover to a village at the edge of the forest surrounding the institute.
- How the hell was I supposed to know about that?
- Everyone here in Runeterra knows about it…
- I've only been here for two weeks and a half!
- Oh! Yeah! You're right… Sorry, I forgot you've only been with us for less than a month. Anyway, Ahri sent me here to look for you. She figured you'd be here for your job, but because you normally do the trip to and back in one day, she thought you were using the train.
- No, actually I was flying to and from the institute. But now that I've lost my powers, I can no longer do that.
- Ah! That explains why you didn't returned right away! So, how long did you took to come here?
- Four days I think. I had a transport on the first day than spend the whole night in the mountains. After, it was three days of walking.
- I command your determination. Before we had trains, peoples rarely travelled between cities because of the time it took to do it. Those that would do what you did would be considered pilgrims.
- No kidding, I was kindda discouraged about the whole walking back thing.
- Don't worry, if we take the train back, we'll be back in less than three hours.
- And when does the next train leaves?
- Lets see, trains depart from here every two hours and a half, so the next will be in, Ezreal looks at the clock on the wall which showed 8:53, SEVEN MINUTES!
- How much to…
- Shut up and come with me! » Ezreal grabbed his arm and dragged him down the streets running like his life depended on it, which was kind of the case.
«If you don't come back with Max tomorrow, I'm gonna rip your balls off » Ahri's words as she pushed him on the train resounded in his head.
The two friends arrived on the platform as a man called the departure. They rushed to him and gave money for the trip after receiving a glare saying «You're late». They took a bench and catch their breath and laughed together. The return trip was quiet and seemed to take longer than the three hours Ezreal talked about. Max asked about what happened during his time away and Ezreal told him that nothing particularly interesting happened, a couple of matches, Ahri worrying about Max along with their other female friends, that kind of stuff. Their terminus came into view and they disembark. Sure enough, Ahri was there waiting for them.
As she saw them coming down from the train, she walked in their direction. Before either of the two friends could greet her, Ahri pinched Max's ear like a sister scolding her sibling.
«Aye! Aye! Aye! Aye! Aye! Aye! Aye! Ahri! What are you doing!
- It's Ahri-nee for you! And where were you for the last week!? Ahri asked him with an authoritarian tone while pulling more on his ear.
- Aye! I was in Piltover finishing my job! Let me go! It hurts!
- I caught him, girls, she yields toward the train station. Why did you vanished like that without telling any of us and for one week on top of that?
- Because I can't fly anymore! Max was sobbing from the pain.
- Maybe if you'd stayed put, you would be able to now.
- No, not for at least two months at best! Let me go now, it really hurts! Ez, I hate you, why did you brought me back to that, the Elemental waved his fist toward the blond explorer.
- Sorry, bro! I didn't know you would end up like this! I swear! She threatened to rip my balls, man! Ezreal was in shock to she Ahri mistreat his friend like that.
- So you're back now, Morgana turned the corner coming from the station. You worried your sisters, young man, her voice was as authoritarian as Ahri's, but she an older sibling feel to it.
- Ah! Being your big sister is such a pain sometime… Sarah followed the Fallen Angel but had a more exasperated voice.
- Max! You're finally back! Janna was pretty happy to see him.
- If you do that again, I'll have to tie you up or have my spiderlings watch over you, Elise didn't seem to be kidding about that.
- Oh god no! Not that! Max was scared to death earing the words spiderlings and watch over in the same phrase.
- If you don't want that, I 'll chase you down next time you run off somewhere without telling your big sisters, Sivir had a malicious grin glued to her face.
- I'm not gonna say anything after that, Fiora just shook her shoulders with her palms facing upward.
- I'm so glad to see you're all right, Sona's melodious voice sounded in their heads.
- Sona, help me please, Max pleaded for his liberation.
- Sorry, Max. That's what you get for disappearing on us, she giggled at the end.
- Bou hou hou, I thought you liked me, Sona.
- Stop whimpering, you're a man are you not? Now act like one, Fiora imposed silence to Max. Ahri, let him go.
- All right, Ahri let go of his right ear just for Fiora to pinch the left one a second later.
- I'll take him to the institute. And you follow too, she directed at Ezreal who was about to pee in his pants from the display of mistreatment of his usually powerful friend.
- Yes ma'am! » he replied military like.
The group left the village with Fiora dragging Max by the ear while he kept pleading and squirming for his liberation. Ezreal kept far to the side with his hands on his ears, not wanting to have them pinched. Finally, Fiora released the Elemental on the promise that he told them each time he went somewhere outside the institute, at least until his powers came back. After that, Max was almost forced to tell them about his journey to Piltover. They would ask him questions and for more details. When they reached the gates of the Institute of War, the girls went their separate ways.
«Ez, Max started, do you know if there is any carpentry shop in the Institute?
- Yes, there is one. Want me to take you to it?
- Yes, please! I'm gonna need some tools if I want to build my home.
- Cool, follow me then. »
Max and Ezreal entered the main building and navigated to the mall. The carpentry shop wasn't the smallest, but it wasn't the biggest either, it was among the middle sided one. On the walls and shelves where many types of tools and accessories of all kinds, most of which had usages completely unknown to the two friends. Max came out with many saws, different planes, screwdrivers, a brace and bit, a sculpting kit, three wooden mallets, one metal mallet, one metal hammer, different types of limes, some burnishers, cutting guides and sand paper. Ezreal was helping him carry everything and the two made their way to the hall. On the way, they passed in front of Morgana's bakery and Max told her he was heading to his land to start building his house and she respond with a simple «Be careful out there! » while waving her hand. Arriving at the main gate, Ezreal gave Max the tools he was carrying and wished his friend good lock to which Max answered to come by anytime and to tell the others the same thing.
Max started his walk in the forest, his arms full of carpentry tools. Many times, some of them would fall and it would be a glorious pain to pick them up. After many falling tools and obstacle, Max reach his destination, the cliff looming over the big lake. He dropped his tools and faced the lake.
«All right! Let's do this! »
Author's note: Hello again, so in this chapter, you've learn about one of Max's greatest weakness. Because of him losing his powers, Ahri and the other girls started treating him as their little brother, but they seem to take a mischievous pleasure in abusing his condition, but I assure you, they care for him, like big sisters! Final though, Max is finally start his house and there's gonna be a time skip soon. I'm starting school again and this session is supposed to be one of the biggest, and it is with 9 courses instead of 6 or 7, plus I'm gonna start writing my Freezing fic, but I'm not releasing it right away. It's going to be the sequel to The league's new champion. I just want to have a bunch of chapters done so I can apply the same psychological principals as your mobile games: give a lot right off the bat than sparse session to make sure you never get bored, tough you might get bored of waiting… Until next time, The Elemental_Qc, out!
