"Zed?!" The shadow ninja heard his own voice ringing out through the hills in the form of Syndra's voice. Immediately, he broke into a full tilt sprint, straining to get back to her as quickly as possible. As soon as he reached the tent again, he tore open the curtains and found Syndra inside, putting on her headdress and bracers. When she heard him enter she whirled around, conjuring a black ball of magic and slamming Zed in the chest with it. Zed was knocked back through the tent flap by the force of the hit and was knocked onto his back. He groaned and shakily got back to his feet.

"Syndra, what the hell?"

Syndra burst from the tent after him and marched straight up, grabbing Zed by the mask and yanking. Zed wasn't about to stop her so he allowed his face to be lowered to eye level with her. "Where the hell did you go last night Zed? I woke up and you were gone."

Zed tried to stand back up but Syndra gave a strong pull on the mask, keeping him hunched over. "Syndra I went out to find the man that Shen was talking to yesterday before we arrived. I found him."

Syndra glared, "And? Why do you even care?"

Zed grabbed her wrist in his hand and lowered it away from his mask, keeping it in his grasp before responding, "If Shen was willing to leave his temple to talk to this man, I figured it would be worth a midnight stroll to find out why."

Syndra didn't seem convinced, "So who was he?"

Zed shrugged, "It was a black market looter or dealer of some kind but it's what he told Shen that interests me. He says that after the destruction of the temple when I left five years ago and everyone evacuated, no looters came and stole away the box. It's not destroyed! It's still out there."

"And how do you know that?"

"Because if Shen didn't know where it was, he clearly didn't destroy it and if the looters didn't take it, it must still be around somewhere!"

Syndra looked at him carefully, "Zed, if all that is true, then nobody moved it at all. It would still be in the same place and you know that it won't be there. Shen would have had it if it was never moved. It's still out of your reach and it still may be destroyed."

Zed let go of her hand and turned away, shaking his fist with a mixture of excitement and agitation at her dismissive response. "But we don't know that. Syndra, my love, imagine the possibilities! Think of what we could achieve if I had that box again!"

Syndra sighed, "I thought it would be over with Shen dead. I was busy thinking of the possibilities of us without him hanging over our heads as a threat."

Zed groaned and stomped a few feet before turning and pointing at Syndra, "Imagine us with no threats hanging over us at all! Imagine if I could control every shadow in the world! I mean, I just got a glimpse of what was inside. My mastery is but a fraction of the full potential!"

"But do you really need the full potential?"

Zed stepped slowly back over to her and raised his hand up to touch his mask. "Syndra," he spoke as he removed the dark grey metal that covered his scarred face. "Think of what we could do together with this power. Nobody else would ever have to die from war. Our takeover would be instantaneous! There would be no clash of armies if everyone knew that their very shadow could strike them down at any moment. We could save thousands of lives with just a little more work." Syndra was taken aback by the sudden shift in Zed's tone. She let slip a slight smile as she gazed into the eyes of a man whose face she had almost forgotten after weeks of never taking off the mask. Zed had jet-black hair and deep brown eyes that almost seemed to glow when he looked at her. His skin was pale and scarred with one particularly deep cut that stretched diagonally from his right eye to his left cheek, leaving a deep indentation across his face. Nevertheless, Zed was handsome and youthful looking despite this.

"Fine," Syndra finally replied, "I'll help you find the box if it means avoiding more bloodshed. But after that, promise me that that's the end. We won't have to do anything else. It will just be us ruling the world together."

Zed smiled and leaned in to kiss Syndra softly on the lips, "Of course my love, until the end of time."

As the grand city of Demacia came into view on the horizon, Yasuo looked at Riven next to him keeping her steady stride even and her eyes focused on the objective. "How does it feel to be a Noxian going to Demacia?"

Riven took a moment to respond, looking at the ground with a pensive stare. "It's strange. So many years I had been manipulated to believe it to be a horrible place, a cancer to be severed from the world. Though I no longer feel that hatred, I know its citizens have every right to hold such animosity towards me."

Yasuo smirked, "Yes, I forgot, you're the white knight of Noxus." Yasuo cracked his knuckles and quickened his pace, turning to walk backwards in front of Riven. "Well, when you were with Noxus, running around slaughtering the elderly and framing the innocent, Demacia was somewhat of an ally for Ionia. Plus, the prince and I are friends. I saved his life once from your friend Katarina so I'm sure he'll help us arrange a ride to the Shadow Isles."

Riven turned away from Yasuo, clearly ashamed of the truth he spat at her "Though I cannot deny what I've done in the past, at least I look towards the future with desire," Riven lifted her head, "I once felt empty, uncertain of my own worth as a human being, but I did not wallow in despair. I rose up and decided that I would not fade standing still!"

Yasuo laughed and shook his head, "Well aren't you just extra special," he chuckled, pivoting in place and continuing forwards towards the city. He walked for a moment without saying a word before turning back around. "You know, I would have gone to the end of the world to find you. I did go to the end of the world and people died for it, good people." Yasuo's mind wandered to the though of this good friend and mentor, Jax, who had paid with his life for the mistakes of Riven and Yasuo. "You may not be the hardened Noxian killer that I set out to destroy but damn it Riven, stop pretending you're better than I am. You're just another Noxian in a struggle for power."

Riven glared at Yasuo "Better than you!? What do you think you are, some kind of saint!? Don't act like you haven't killed the innocent or the just! And another thing I'm not acting righteous because I want to impose myself upon others, I act this way because it is what I believe. I follow my convictions not only for myself, but also for the people I wish to save. Noxus is broken and I will set it on the right course."

"Yes, I'm sure that with you, the righteous assassin who kills people who can't fight back, in charge, things will run much smoother. I mean, I'm sure crimes committed by senior citizens will be at an all time low!"

"That's enough!" Riven swung her fist aiming for Yasuo's side.

Yasuo didn't bother trying to evade the hit and grunted in pain as Riven's fist caught him in the ribs, making him stumble a few feet before righting himself. "Oh, did I touch a nerve?" Yasuo shrugged off the hit and continued to walk backwards in front of her, grinning, "We're finally getting to know each other!" Riven just rolled her eyes and picked up her pace, just trying to annoy him. However, as she tried to make her way past Yasuo but was abruptly halted by arm being extended in her path, blocking her, "Ah ah ah! Nope! We're not finished yet Riven."

"You may be enjoying your little game of twenty questions, but I'm done with this!" Riven proceeded to shove Yasuo's arm out of her way and keep marching.

Yasuo let her past with a smirk but turned to follow her, swiping his hand to the side. At his command, a small gust of wind flew at Riven's legs, making her stumble back. Yasuo reached out and grabbed onto her arm, steadying her but not letting go. "Woah there, Riven. We wouldn't want you to fall, would we?" He chuckled, enjoying her obvious annoyance.

"Get off me creep!" Riven growled angrily as she pushed Yasuo away from her and continued to storm forward.

Yasuo smirked and increased his speed to keep up with Riven as she moved. "That's okay Riven, I just won't catch you next time!" Yasuo knew how childish he was acting but he had to admit, it was rather fun to be this petty with Riven, the girl who ruined his life. Although he had decided that she was not worthy of death for her crimes, she did deserve some sort of punishment. Even beyond the obvious issue of killing his elder and framing him, she had lead him on a wild goose chase through most of the world and by proxy, caused the death of his brother and countless other people! In addition, her choices nearly lead to the rise of a monster in the Shadow Isles known as Thresh. Thresh was a being made up of souls and for each soul he had, he gained power. During Yasuo's previous journey, he had inadvertently begun collecting souls which he would eventually feed to Thresh. Riven had helped him by accidentally becoming bait, luring Yasuo to what probably should have been his demise. However, because of the heroics of Jax, Yasuo was able to defeat Thresh narrowly, preventing him from becoming the most powerful creature on the planet, and escape with Riven.

He had done his best to ensure that Riven knew he was not going to kill her and suggested that he might want to ask her some questions but as they arrived back in Demacia, Riven fled, leaving Yasuo empty handed and without the closure that he desperately wanted. Yasuo was still better over that fact.

"I'd rather have it that way!" Riven snapped back without so much as glancing in his general direction. "I don't need you to catch me when I fall." Riven was vehement not to require help from Yasuo. All that she knew of him was that he was a hardened, drunken killer who was willing to slaughter any and all in his path to achieve his goals. She had seen him kill people, one of which being her only friend in the world after fleeing Noxus. She couldn't just let him walk all over her. She had the moral high ground! But despite fighting back, in the back of her mind she knew that Yasuo was the only way she would be able to make it to the Shadow Isles. If nothing else, she needed whatever help Prince Jarvan could give and without Yasuo, there was little chance of that happening. She had endured so much in the past five years; the frivolous remarks of a drunkard would not cause her to waver from her mission. Or at least she hoped that was the case.

Authors notes: Thanks for reading chapter three! So I think we'll stick with this new format for a little while. These smaller chapters are a lot more manageable for us and it makes it a lot easier to keep the quality as high as possible.

Next up, see where Zed and Syndra's journey will take them as they return to Zed's clan of shadow ninjas and what happens when Riven and Yasuo arrive in Demiacia and meet up with Prince Jarvan.

If you haven't read The Unforgiven, please let me know if there is anything I can clarify for you in future chapters or author's notes. If you ask a question, I promise I will answer it. I want to make sure that the story is as enjoyable as possible even if you didn't read the original and it's relatively difficult to make everything easily understandable because well, I already know what happens in The Unforgiven so I don't have the same questions running through my mind as a new reader.

Anyway, let me know what you think and if you have any questions and I hope to see you next time.