SORRY FOR THE DELAY! (I don't know what else to say -/-)
Now, a few things you need to know:
1st: When I first started this story, Riot didn't post the new lore of the champions yet, just the fact that they were going to remove summoners of cannon. Recently, I started reading some of them and if I have to be completely honest with everyone and myself…
…I fell in love with it.
No shit, with every story I read, meaning mostly Diana, Leona, Vi, Jinx, Caitlyn, The void and Demacia, not to mention, the vastaya and the new theory for the Summoner's rift, it felt like if Riot was answering all of my fanfictionist (is that a word? Well it is now) pleas! Now I know what Moses felt when he saw the promised land.
And by this, I mean that since I already started the story with the old lore, I'm going to adapt the rest of it so it would fit more the new lore without having to rewrite everything I already wrote.
2nd: For all the people that read the last chapter soon (and I'm sure there's at least one of them) you will know that I made my OC Aaron, to fight with a scythe BEFORE Riot said that the next champion (Kayn) would use a scythe as well. And when I read the news, I was like:
"…Shit"
And after that, I saw the appearance Kayn would have (the long black hair tied on a long braid, blue eyes… or the natural one at least, and his complexion), which was almost the same I planned for Aaron and I was like:
"Well… SHIT"
WTF Riot?! You know, I like to joke about me possibility of me being a psychic for a few similar things that happened in the past but THIS?!
Now I'm afraid to go to church! –exaggerating-.
And if that wasn't enough, there's the fact his scythe is actually a darkin.
I won't tell you why this upset me because I don't want to spoil you anything but if you want a clue, read my other story KFA Bleach, in which the LOL events that affect their world, belong to the timeline of this story.
Anyway, that really hit me hard, but I thought of something that might make the story work without having to pretend that Kayn never existed. Nothing very elaborated or with much suspense but I think it will work.
3rd: Before uploading this chapter, I'm going to change the end of chapter 4… really; I don't know what I was thinking then. I can only say that if you are new and didn't get to read the first version… god must have blessed you -_-.
Jhin! I mean… 4th: (This is mostly to the ones that follow my Bleach story) Say the word and I'll post the global coordinates of my hose for you to throw MOABs and nukes to me but… I'm removing Fiora from the poll.
I know I said I didn't know how to make her fit but that was before reading her new lore! And it gave me even more ideas that will fit even better with the ones I already had so… sorry ok? But you won't get empty handed because I'll add Nidalee instead and If I get enough requests, I'll make a lemon one-shot with Ichigo and Fiora (outside the main story of course)
That's it for now, I hope you like it
…
Chapter 7
The time passes, the heart remains
The duo lay on the ground for a few seconds after introducing themselves, just watching the clouds. Then they heard several people approaching.
With all the strength he had left, Wu lifted his head and met the concerned eyes of his friends.
"Don't take this the wrong way but for your sake, I hope you have an explanation of your tantrum" the monkey joked.
"It's ok, and don't worry I do" Aaron answered.
"Good" they just waited for them to arrive since they could hardly move.
"Wu!" Ahri called her friend.
"Hey vixen! What's up-(mph!)" he was interrupted when she hugged his head close.
"Thank Ark that's over! You got me so worried you know. We are going to have a serious chat about certain things but later. You were amazing there! You even made my heart race and not in the usual way! It was as if you were more alive and hot than ever and… and… AWWW I just want to hold you like this forever!" she said swaying him from side to side.
"Umm, miss?" Aaron called her with a worried look.
"Yeeees~?" she sang without stopping.
"Ahri he needs air too remember?" Karma asked with a hand on her face.
"Huh?" she looked down and only then she realized she had been hugging the monkey king's head between her assets tightly, thus, suffocating him.
She instantly dropped him.
"Ahhhhhh, mother is that you?" he gasped
"Aw please, like you weren't enjoying it" Ahri said smugly.
"I admit I would have enjoyed it a bit if at least my nose was free" Wukong said between breaths.
'I knew it!' fox squealed in her mind at the monkeys words.
"Now if I may" Karma started "I think it's time for explanations" she widened her eyes when the man in question looking for something "what is it?"
"Have you seen Vanille?" he asked concerned.
"Vanille?" Soraka parroted.
"Yip!" they heard and then the cream scarf weasel ran from behind them towards Aaron.
"You're still here; for a moment I thought you finally left me" the creature hit him on his cheek as if chastising him "yes; I should stop saying things like that" he got up and Vanille rested around his neck.
"Now I think it would be better if we return to the house; it would be more comfortable there"
"Of course, as long as someone don't break a wall this time" Ahri said sarcastically.
"Huh? Someone broke a wall? Who did that?" Wukong asked confused.
"IT WAS YOU, YOU KNUCKLEHEAD MONKEY!" she yelled annoyed.
"Oh, now that you mention it I do remember something allusive to that, but what's the big deal?"
A vein popped in the fox forehead.
"Youuu…"
"Ok, that's enough" Yi called them "before you begin bickering and I lose patience, we will listen our guest's story"
"His name is Aaron" Wukong interjected.
"So Aaron, huh?"
"Yes, Aaron De'rose is my name" Yi widened his eyes behind his helmet.
"De'rose? Now I really want to hear you, let's go"
They all went inside the house by the second entrance that Wukong so kindly installed.
Karma offered Aaron to sit on the couch and he accepted.
"I'm sorry, I didn't ask your names; please forgive me" he bowed his head.
"Although that's the less offending thing you've done today" Yi said making him lower his head in shame but smiled soon after "call me master Yi for the time being"
"In my case you can call me just Karma" she looked a bit reproachfully at Yi.
"I'm Soraka, I'm the sub-director of master Karma's hospital" the starchild smiled warmly.
"The name of the goddess in front of you is Ahri, as long as you don't lose a screw again you can ask me for anything… anything" she finished sultry.
"Clichéeee" Wukong whispered, earning a slap on the back head by the fox.
"One more thing; before we do anything else I'll treat your wounds" no one argued Soraka and waited until the two fighters were healed.
"Well, what would you like to know first?" he asked when Soraka ended while caressing Vanille.
"Maybe the basics; who are you specifically?" the illuminated asked.
"I'm Aaron De'rose; last child of the once great De'rose family of Noxus, second only to the Du'couteau family and as far as I know, the only one left" everyone looked at him with pity.
"Sorry man" Wukong placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Then I was right" Yi spoke "you are a member of the family that possessed 'that' magic"
"Which are you talking about?"
"The one that guaranteed them a high position in the noxian hierarchy for more than a century, though I don't know it's name and I only have a general idea of what it does" everyone turned to Aaron.
He put his hands together like in a pray and then he separated them, revealing dozens of green, translucent tendrils between them.
"Wow" Ahri and Wukong said in unison.
"It's called Yggdrasil, the most versatile magic of Runaterra; it basic nature consists on conducting your mana in tendrils called roots. The roots can thin, widen, bend, stick to objects, group in any shape and even conduct different types of magic and since they are made of pure energy, they cannot be broken. The things you can do with it are only limited by the imagination and the level of skill of course"
He made a small demonstration by bending the strings in different shapes and gave them the form of a dog, a bird and finally a tree.
"That's so cool" the monkey king said in awe.
"Oh, I have a question if you don't mind, it's pretty direct" Ahri started with a smile.
"Of course, ask" Ahri nodded at this and opened her mouth to…
"WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO YOU BACK THEN?!" she yelled angry and panted after.
"Oi vixen, that wasn't…"
"No, it's ok" Aaron interrupted Wu with a pained expression "you have the right to know but… it's not a nice story"
"We will handle it" Yi reassured him and he sighed.
"Well then, how do I put this…" he thought for a bit "I was used… as a lab rat" everyone widened their eyes.
"What? How?" Soraka asked.
"I don't know if you have guessed already, but I really didn't fit in Noxus; life there was… tolerable for a while but then they did something that was the last straw. I rebelled and tried to escape but they caught me in the end, I was sure they will execute me at worse but then they decided that 'the strongest user of the Yggdrasil ever can't be wasted' so they decided to use me as subject for something called 'the metuas diem project' it means fear of death. The idea consisted…"
The pain he was suffering by just remembering it was evident since he started trembling a bit.
"Are you alright?" Wukong asked a bit wary.
"I… am" he shoved the pain away a bit "the idea was to create a soldier incapable of feeling fear but whose presence alone could paralyze with fear the enemy.
"Yeah, I can see that" Ahri trembled slightly.
"But how could they do that?"
"I don't really know but… they had this… idol? Of a man screaming in agony and… and…" he was fighting the tears, and losing.
"Hey" Ahri sat next to him and placed a hand on his shoulder "don't worry, you are safe here now"
Aaron looked at her, both relieved and guilty.
"That thing possessed… something inside of it; it wasn't magic or anything I felt before but whatever it was…" he stiffly opened and closed his fists, but talked again before anyone could console him.
"They forced that thing inside my body and soul" he finally spoke.
"…What?" Wukong voiced everyone's thoughts.
"They found a way to take out the contents of the idol and put them inside me, day and night, until I got it all"
Everyone was too confused, shocked or both to respond. They could only wait for him to continue.
"At that time and with the daily tests I only knew pain; pain in every fiber of my body, and at night I got horrible nightmares from which I couldn't wake up"
Some of the occupants of the room started to feel rage rise inside them, others were just confused by the story, but one in specific just wanted to change the subject somehow.
So Soraka asked a question that plagued her mind for a while "and… that thing on your body, what is it?"
The look on the man's face told her that that wasn't a pleasant subject either.
"After a few days of that routine I… couldn't stand it anymore and tried to take my life by the only way I got left; I used Yggdrasil to open wounds on my body from the inside in a desperate attempt to die"
"S-sorry I asked" the healer blushed in embarrassment.
"It's ok; I would be curious about something like this too" Aaron tried to cheer her up, while being the one that they should be cheering up.
"So that thing keeps you from using your magic to harm you?" Karma deduced.
"Correct, and also…" he pulled up his sleeves to reveal two dispensers of some kind on his sleeves.
He pointed his hands up and suddenly three knifes were shot from each dispenser and stopped two and a half meters suspended in the air by a string of Aaron's magic.
"Wow! How come you didn't used that when we fought?" Wukong asked amazed.
"I couldn't tell you; nothing seems clear when I'm in that state" he replied.
"So how many knives you have in there?" Ahri asked genuinely curious.
"Now that you mention it, I don't know; but these are connected to their own pocket dimension so they could be hundreds or even more"
"That's COOL!" Wukong said with stars in his eyes.
"Could you pretend you don't have 10 years old at least for now?" Ahri rolled her eyes.
"Hey, I'll stop being immature when you…"
"Wu, you know as well as I that she won't do that" Yi interjected.
"Huh? What do you mean?" Ahri asked confused.
"Ahhh, you're right. Ok I'll try being more mature but I make no promises" Wukong sighed in defeat.
"Oi! Don't ignore me!" she yelled frustrated.
"Ok let's continue" Wu said with a clap. Ahri's face went deep red in anger but then sighed in frustration; she wasn't going to get her answer now.
But she will get it.
Damn right, she would.
"Why don't you tell us now how you escaped from there? That… that has to be a happier story right?" Wukong asked hopefully.
"Oh, it's happier… in a way" the rest could detect a sad smile behind his mask, which was an improvement of the last reactions.
"Maybe I should start saying that Noxus didn't get many results in trying to control the curse they planted in me, and obviously, they wouldn't replicate it without doing it, so they cancelled the project and left me to die in my cell but…"
He thought that telling this part would be more difficult but there was something in the people around him that soothed his pain, one of them in particular.
"I don't know if this was an accident or not but they kept the life supporters remain on; I couldn't move at all and it was hard to breath but my body didn't decayed and I was fully conscious"
"What?" Yi asked dangerously.
"Is that even possible?" Karma added.
"Apparently it is; from what I got is like a weaker version of stasis, it's called D.O.O.R 'Device Of Omni Restriction' but I don't know how it works… and I don't want to know"
"How… how long have you been there?" Soraka needed to know, but at the same time, she didn't want to hear.
"…20 years… 20 exact years till the date I've been released"
A heavy silence fell on them.
The rest of the people in the room had their own share of the world's cruelty, but each revelation this man gave them, they felt more and more naives.
"How did you… remain sane?" Wu posted an excellent question.
"I don't think I did; I don't remember much about how I used to act before all of this but what I do remember doesn't match with how I act now at all"
"Still…" everyone could notice Aaron smiled warmly at this.
"Maybe I did went completely insane but… after a few months of silent struggle and crying, I started wishing I was never born and then… I started to hear something… like two voices"
"Really? What did they said?"
"Nothing at all; the female one hummed softly and the male grumbled but with the same smoothness… I don't know if they were real or not but they made me feel I wasn't alone… they helped me a lot"
Karma and Yi widened their eyes at this; they had a suspicion of who he heard but decided not tell him until they was completely sure.
"Thanks to them the first year went easy, considering that I wouldn't have survived a day more alone, but at the first anniversary of being abandoned, I noticed something amazing"
He looked at his hands.
"My fingers twitched a bit. At the beginning I couldn't move at all to the point I sometimes doubted I still had my body but after a year… my efforts started to give fruits"
"Heh, good for you then! That's how you got out I assume?" Wukong asked happily.
"No" the monkey got confused again "If I had kept struggling like that I'm sure I indeed would have set myself free, maybe in twenty years more"
"Then someone got you out?" Soraka asked hopefully.
"They did" tears swelled on him at the memory but they were tears of happiness. "You know; after the first year I started the tradition of promise one more thing to Ark on each anniversary of my abandon. A few days ago, I promised that if ever got out of there, I wouldn't seek revenge against the ones that caused me pain. And a second after that, someone arrived the facilities where I was locked… and an hour after that… one of them opened the D.O.O.R"
"That's good. Do you know who they were?" Yi asked with relief in his voice.
"I think they were two noxian assassins; their names were Talon and Katarina"
"…"
"…Is there something wrong?" he was confused at their dumbfounded faces.
"…Well… how about that? He-he" Ahri said nervously.
"Huh?"
"It's complicated" Yi intervened, deciding to leave the matter for latter "what happened next?"
Aaron thought about the answer for a moment.
"I knew from the start that their intention wasn't freeing me; they probably were sent to found out what happened to the people that were sent before them. I… get a bit angry when the anniversary gets close so… I guess the metuas diem killed them" he sighed.
"So they came, and one of them, Katarina, turned off the D.O.O.R and I started descending from the machines before realizing what happened. When I asked her, she said that she indeed set me free… I didn't need anything else and I put her to sleep so I wouldn't hurt her"
"The satisfaction of being free came slowly but stronger with each step. Then I climbed through the elevator tunnel…"
…
Flashback
Talon awaited for Katarina on the upper floor; you can tell the shadow's blade is sickly nervous if he starts walking from one point of the room to the other like if he was some caged lion.
He looked at the watch on his wrist.
'Time is getting slower and slower' he grunted in frustration "I knew this was a bad idea; I should have come alone, I should…"
His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the elevator doors being opened by force.
'Katarina doesn't have the strength or the need to do that' was the first thing talon thought.
Talon's mind began racing at the possible outcome of what would bring the arrival of the approaching footsteps.
He could hear them with enough clarity to calculate the exact place where they were standing, so if he remained with his back to him he was perfectly capable of taking them by surprise. Then again, if the note on the wall was any indication, whatever was down there should know a thing or two about them. So he could just prepare his mind for what would undoubtedly end in a fight with a serious disadvantage for him.
The footsteps stopped at the start of the hallway that Katarina took.
He knew he was looking at him, and he presented he was going to say something.
"…You are the one who accompanied the woman" the stranger finally said, his tone revealing nothing.
"And you are the one she found" Talon said getting around to see him "where is Katarina?" he said unfazed by his appearance.
"That's her name? Katarina…" he closed his eyes as the name resounded in his head.
"Didn't you hear me?" talon was begging to lose patience, or so he told himself, because he would never admit he was nervous "I asked you…!"
"She is not injured" Aaron interrupted "I put her to sleep after she set me free, she is still on the lowest level; you should get her out" he headed to the exit.
Talon stepped in his way "where do you think you're going?"
"Out" he said simply.
"Sorry to disappoint you then, but if you are the one behind all this…" he gestured the bodies of the Crimsons.
"…I'm afraid I am" he said ashamed.
"Then you'll understand why I can't let you go, and since you also did a number on my head you simply won't go" he wielded his blade.
"I understand, but still, I beg you to leave; your friend needs you more right now" the man begged.
"Another reason to end you quickly, Swain be dammed" he slowly went for one of his throwing blades hidden in his cape.
"Please" he raised his hand at him (for a moment Talon thought that he had seen his movement) "you are as responsible for my freedom as she is… I don't want to hurt you"
Talon blinked.
"…Ok" he quickly threw three blades at him and dropped a smoke bomb obscuring his vision immediately after that, and quickly dashed behind Aaron.
When he managed to get a few feet behind him he started wondering why he did not heard his blades hitting him or the floor.
He got his answer when he had to dodge one of those blades to save his throat.
'What the…?!' if it wasn't for years of training his reflexes he would be…
"Argh!" he grunted in pain when another blade dug in his left shoulder.
'What was that?' he said trying to yank the blade from his arm; did he throw the first to catch him with the second?
But his instincts didn't allowed him to dwell too much on the matter and remembered him he still had another blade.
He quickly spotted him at his left, where he'd been standing all the time, and saw how he made a throwing motion to the side, where Talon's back was facing.
Again, years of surviving alone and training with the general Du'couteau screamed danger inside his head, so he just dropped to the floor without thinking it. Just in time to hear the distinctive sound of steel clashing, and not even a second before he saw the blade spinning past his face and digging in the opposite wall….
Talon fell on his back and remained there for a second.
…a blade that would have digged on his skull instead if he hadn't let himself fall.
He took a second to process what happened, and he didn't like it a bit.
'Did he just make the blade bounce on the beam?'
The man remained where he stood unfazed.
The shadow blade quickly got on his feet.
He was one of the deadliest and most skilled assassin in the strongest nation of Valoran, only two people could match him in that area.
One of them was apparently unconscious after evidently not putting much of a fight.
If he had reached this far it because he had natural talent for battle, improvising and planning at least 20 possible scenarios of a situation in an instant.
But now? He felt like a second-class newbie, those creepy black stained eyes seemed to be blocking his ability to improvise, and he couldn't even see a single outcome of what he got himself in.
He just could see a man with a body and a look scarred by years of torment, both physical and psychological standing between him and the way out.
Almost like an impenetrable wall between him and…
…her
'No way I'll let her have another of my preys' he smiled weakly.
The decision was made.
One way or another, he was getting out of here.
He got into stance once more, pulling each lesson the general taught him from his mind and readied himself for whatever may come next.
Just by looking at the man he knew that he wouldn't make the first move, so he just dashed towards him.
Just when he was about to slash his throat, Aaron dodged to the left and went for talon's neck with his right hand.
"Never assume you know the exact movement of your opponent; always take as many steps forwards as possible"
He remembered that day as if it had been yesterday; he thought he was about to block his sword but his real intention was…
Without even bothering to look down he intercepted the punch to his stomach that Aaron was about to give him.
This seemed to take him by surprise, because he didn't react when Talon spun around, using the momentum of his hit and his weight against him to throw him to the floor.
"You must always know when it's wiser to take risks, or taking a slower but more reliable approach"
Talon could have taken the chance and go for the kill, but no matter how determinate he was right now, it would have only taken him to his death against this man.
So instead, he took a leap back while he prepared another smoke bomb; even if it couldn't blind him, after hitting the floor he would most likely be gasping for air right now. So he expertly aimed the bomb to his face and indeed, Talon heard cough a bit.
Thinking quickly, the shadow blade decided he should remind both of them how he got that nickname. He grabbed as many of his special throwing blades as he could (even if he missed he could pick them again from all over the place) and threw three of them directly at Aaron and immediately after that he threw six more around him.
Even if these didn't hit him, they had a special trick in them; they had two magnetic devices inside. The first one activated a few moments after throwing the blades, keeping them suspended in air, and the second with a switch he had on his favorite blade, which made all of them return to his hand.
As he predicted the first three didn't hit him as he bent backwards to dodge them. He rushed then towards him attempting to slice his throat once more.
Aaron immediately got up and caught his arm but Talon kneeled and immediately hit the switch, attracting all the blades he threw moments before.
The man quickly noticed that all the blades around him were now returning to Talon with him on the way, so he had no other choice than leap in the air to avoid them.
Just like Talon expected, as he leaped after him at the same time with his blade pointing at his heart.
'It's over' he thought in his head centimeters from piercing the man's chest.
Time seemed to slow down as he noticed something odd: the adrenaline in his veins that was burning his skin before was now starting to freeze as confusion grew in his mind made fractions of seconds feel like minutes before realizing his opponent was no longer there.
But all that confusion turned into shock when he heard a familiar buzzing sound behind him, and a thin string tightening around his arm.
'Shunpo!' Talon yelled in his head as the string pulled him up and kept him suspended in the air.
Talon struggled to break free of the bind but was no use, and even if he had his blade arm free, he doubted it would cut the thin wire for some reason.
He spotted instead the man standing a few meters behind him, with one string emanating from each one of his index fingers.
He followed the right one to the roof and then towards his bounded arm and the left one to the floor and then to his arm as well.
The man brought both of his palms a few inches closer and talon immediately felt the strings tightening around his arm, almost cutting his circulation.
Talon eyed the man with newfound feelings now, his eyes remained pitch black and his face impassive.
He braced himself; he knew what would come next.
The man clapped his hands together instantly and Talon fell to the floor with a loud scream, his severed arm landing close to him.
He tried the best he could to push away enough pain to try to make a makeshift tourniquet with his clothes; considering that in the rift the pain didn't disappear at all it wasn't that hard but the wounds didn't heal nearly as easy so he needed to hurry.
Meanwhile, Aaron could hear something within the confines of his mind; a noise he was too familiar with.
Wails of agony
That sound awakened something primal inside of him that he only felt with the Katarina woman on the lab below, but the instinct was more desperate this time.
Enough to push the blackness of his eyes enough to regain control.
He saw the man from before suddenly trying to stop the bleeding from a severed arm and didn't waste a second in thinking how it happened.
Instead, he recovered his hand with strings forming a glove. As he got close to him, he started channeling the slight amount of heat he could produce through the strings, accumulating the heat between them until the glove was live red.
Talon noticed him only when he kneeled before him and prepared for another attack but instead, he neared his other arm to his face.
"Bite" he said with sorrow in his voice and face.
The assassin was confused at first but then noticed the red glowing hand near his injured arm and understood.
"What's your name?" Aaron asked.
"…Talon" he said after a short pause.
"Mine is Aaron… and I apologize"
He sighed 'this could have gone smoother' he chastised himself and did as he was told.
Aaron used his heated glove to cauterize the wound making Talon scream in pain, digging his teeth deep into Aaron's arm but he remained concerned for the man he hurt and freed him. He actually was glad he pierced his flesh; now the strings he enhanced with an anesthetic spell will spread further through his mouth.
When he finished sealing the wound Talon was already unconscious but he will live.
Aaron would have liked to complete the treatment but he was short on resources and time.
'They probably didn't come alone; after all, the men I killed were from the crimsons…' he pushed the old and the even older memories aside, for now at least.
He made one last apologetic bow to talon and headed outside.
Of course, he had to pass the other corpses on the first floor.
Men and woman of science who dedicated their life to strengthen their minds beyond their bodies.
He pushed them all to insanity, some of them to the point of suicide.
And he of course noticed the wounds he gave them; the same he inflicted to himself.
Maybe he inflicted them on purpose or in the middle of a nightmare, it didn't matter; their blood and the visions they must had was over them.
He made a plea to Ark for their souls as he shed a single tear.
As he walked outside, he found his legs weaken again but he pushed himself forward; he shouldn't start thinking he was free yet… maybe he never should, just in case.
When exited the cave he found a group of men with nervous auras and odd uniforms. Then again, he had been away for more than two decades, asking was worth the shot.
"Are you soldiers of Noxus?" he asked them, making the notice his presence.
"Who are you? Did you come out of that place?! I order you to answer!" the one with a slightly fancier uniform said.
'That's a yes' Aaron thought "the two that were sent inside are still alive but unconscious, only the man was injured you should take him…"
"You will answer stranger!" the other man spoke, charging at him with his sword raised.
There was cruelty and cowardice in his voice.
The black in Aaron's eyes flickered. In a moment, his strings made almost all the men stop in their places. A second later, their bodies bent backwards, breaking their spines with audible crack.
He recovered after having confirmed their deaths and closed eyes, feeling tears swell in them.
People died all the time, he knew that, but if he had remembered whom he was talking to, he would have scared them from the start, not reasoning with them.
Noxians never answered well to reason.
He sighed and turned to the last man alive: his uniform had no armor pieces and carried no weapons but a suitcase. Also, despite being scared for his life, his eyes glued to the backs of his comrades in an analytic way.
'Only one?' Aaron was surprised, despite knowing he shouldn't have expected different.
He stood before the medic and thankfully, the fear paralyzed him instead of making him run.
"As I said before, the woman in unharmed but the man lost his arm, he is stable but I would like you to finish the process, so he won't be in pain, do you understand me?"
He didn't answer at first but one scowl was enough to make him regain his senses.
"I-I understand!" he said fearfully.
"Good. Also, you should call for back up; you'll need them to transport the man to a hospital and pull the woman out of the basement"
"A-a-alright, I'll do that" he stood and went to do as he was told.
Aaron wasn't surprised; after all, Noxus didn't know teaching their medics how to deal with intimidation could be useful as well.
As soon as the other man was out of sight, he took a pause analyze the situation before doing anything else.
"The wind" he close his eyes at the slight breeze.
"The earth" he clenched his naked feet on the ground.
"It's too ordinary for a dream… I'm out…" he started trembling as his knees gave in "I'm really out" he couldn't hold it anymore and burst into tears.
He cried for about twenty minutes and then took ten more to calm down before standing again.
He took deep breaths before realizing that he had to keep moving.
Aaron looked around at the cave he was in "they've must've looted the mansion already… luckily I didn't stored anything important there" he said to himself.
He departed to the exterior towards the many caves that would take them to the outside… which wasn't easy because of all the rubbish in front of him.
"What happened? An attack?" but he had to discard that option since the destruction was too random to be organized.
'They weren't dissolved, or not entirely at least, because they wouldn't have sent anyone for me, so where did everyone go?'
Finally, he managed to reach the outside and the first thing he did was looking at the sky.
It was a bit cloudy and the moon would be full in a few more days but he couldn't see many stars… at first. Then he sighted one, and after that, dozens of them appeared one after one.
Aaron smiled; he never knew if it really happened this way or if it was just some kind of illusion but he and Sabrina used to joke about how the sky wanted us to find the first star so they could see the rest.
He would want nothing more than dwell into the memory but he had to move.
Then he noticed it 'why can I smell the bourbon from here?'
He walked to the edge of the cliff and emitted a loud gasp.
"What… happened?" he asked aloud at the sight of the city flooded by the pestilent liquid that should serve as a wall.
There wasn't anything left of the most humble buildings and the most luxurious were now inhabitable on the best case.
Aaron had the feeling that many people didn't have the chance to escape.
"No" he chastised himself "they had the subterranean paths for emergency; even if the attack was immediate they still could save many… most of…"
He tried to think in a better consolation but ended making a minute of silence instead.
"Ok" he sighed, "my storage was in a cave almost a bit above the base of the mountain so it should be safe"
Aaron walked to the place in the edge of the cliff where he would be just above the cave and just slide down there through the mountain.
He landed almost perfectly at the spot where he wanted and faced the mountain wall.
At first sight and touch, he only had rock in front of it but with a gesture, the rock dissipated into many strings of his magic like a curtain.
It took him many weeks of gradually preparing the spell so it would maintain even without his connection and many more of secretly digging the cave after that. And judging by the fact that his strings hadn't been touched since last time, it was worth it.
He was about to enter when he noticed another presence behind him.
Reflexively, he prepared many strings around it before looking at it.
That was when he realized the one stalking him was nothing more than a scarf weasel with a curious look on its face.
Aaron was surprised for a moment but then sighed in relief, for not hurting an innocent animal.
He pulled the strings back "I apologize, little one: I guess imprisonment got me a bit paranoid"
The weasel lifted its head, suddenly interested.
The man frowned "It's a long story. Let's just say I've been… caged in darkness for many years"
The weasel dropped its ears and Aaron widened his eyes a bit.
"No offense but you are smarter than you look" he said "and I appreciate your pity… don't mind where we are; I really do"
"Yip!" the little creature said happy.
"Well, I'll be going now, and you should do the same; this land has become inhabitable" he turned to the cave and walked into it.
"Yip" the weasel followed him closely behind.
"Is there a problem?" he asked but the weasel just climbed to his shoulder.
"A-are you sure? I mean, I had planned to remain away from conflict but I can't guarantee…" the little thing slapped his forehead with its paw.
Aaron seemed doubtful but then resigned "I won't lie, I could use a friend right now" he thought for a moment "the color of your hair is quite unique, and you are too small for being a male… can I call you Vanille?"
"Yip!" Vanille said happy and Aaron laughed.
"Ok Vanille, my name is Aaron De'rose, and I'm glad to be your friend. Now let's get out of here"
He walked down the hallway until he reached a door at the end. It was a sliding door and was quite big. It also had the glyph of a tree on the center that worked as a magic lock, aside from that; it looked like a block of concrete.
He placed his hand on the surface of the glyph and extended his roots trough the mechanisms beneath it.
Soon after that, the door started opening by sinking on the ground. At first, it looked like the 25x25m room and its contents were made of pure gold, but as soon as the door reached the bottom, it returned to its normal state of a rock cave, with shelves filled with diverse objects.
"Who needs a fridge when you have a stasis chamber right?" he asked his companion.
"Yip"
He walked between the shelves trying to look for the most essential things; after so much time, he only had a general idea of how they were organized.
First, he dressed with normal cotton grey pants and a black jacket that Sabrina designed for him to make him mad.
How? By not using conventional buttons or zippers and using the same belts used for straitjackets (aside from that it was no different from a normal jacket, please) but joke was for her, he thought, since he actually liked it.
Next, he found a bag and filled it with two extra sets of clothing and all the food it could carry (since it was in stasis it couldn't rot).
And now, the awkward part. He looked for a mirror because he knew he should have a bit of… missing skin on his face and needed to know how bad it was.
He found it and looked at himself.
'…I'll be honest; I expected worse but still'
"This could be a problem" he passed his hand through his injured cheek.
"Yip!" Vanille climbed to an upper shelf as soon as he saw him worried for his face and now brought a lower-face mask for him.
"Hey, good idea!" he put it on "now let's hope this are still on fashion" he joked.
After that, he took a nearby knife and grabbed his long hair ready to cut it.
But he hesitated, and then looked back at the mirror.
"After I'm cured" he dropped the knife "I can't forget till then"
He used his magic to tie his hair in a braid and then moved to last part.
The only thing he couldn't leave behind.
He walked to an ornamented closet at the bottom of the room, kneeled before it and put his hands together like praying before opening it.
Inside, there was the scythe with bindweed patterns he used before.
'Aaron, no matter how wicked the person may look, they were all just as innocent as you at some point' he remembered her father's words when he gifted it to him 'remember, or you will be the one who becomes a twisted tree'
He took the scythe and with a mental command, it transform into a sword with similar decorations.
"Seed, let's see what we grow into"
Flashback ends
…
"The rest of the story was really quiet; I spent a couple of weeks traveling to nearest port and took the first ship that would take me to Ionia since I thought it would be a good place to start looking for a cure my… situation"
"So you took a ship, cut through the forest to reach Navori faster and since, like you said, haven't slept for months you fall unconscious on the river" Yi said.
"Pretty much"
"Sucks to be you" Wukong said.
"Hey!" Ahri grabbed his ear "don't be rude"
"It's ok; I don't really mind" Aaron said, a bit dumbfounded.
"Ow! See? He doesn't mind, now drop!" Wu said as Ahri dropped him "so I guess now we have to find a way for him to stay right?"
"What? Just like that? I mean I did try to…"
"No" Karma said "it's more than evident that it was hard for you as well, and you can trust me when I say that I know that better than anyone; even if I didn't believed the rest of your story, you'd still have my sympathy"
"And It's not like we can just let you unguarded if what happened today repeats, also, you'll have to remain close if you want to get rid of this… spirit" Yi said in all seriousness.
"I agree" Aaron said.
"So it's settled! He is staying with m-us! Right?"
Everyone looked uncertain.
"Don't worry, I'll watch her" Wukong said so Karma and Yi reluctantly agree "but there's one more thing I still don't get"
"What would be?"
"What happened to your face?" everyone tensed at the question, feeling it could be a delicate subject as well, but this time, Aaron didn't seem especially distressed, just uneasy.
He looked at the occupants of the room; they've helped him after he tried to hurt them but that didn't change the fact that he knew almost nothing about any of them.
Except for one, perhaps.
Aaron looked at Wukong again, 'he did manage to dispel it, by putting his own life on the line. And he wasn't affected by it; there's only one way that could be possible' he sighed.
"Can we talk in private?" he addressed Wukong.
"Err, sure? But what for?"
"That's what I want to discuss" he said cryptically, but Wu didn't hesitate.
"Alright, we can go to my room, if you don't mind the mess" Aaron nodded.
Wu saw that some of his companions were worried for some reason and smile warmly to them.
"Don't worry, if I start wailing in agony you'll come to me in a blink" he looked at Yi "Or less than half a blink?" Ahri held back a laugh and them they left.
"So what now?" Soraka said.
"You heard Wukong, we wait"
…
A while later
"How long do you think it will take them?" Ahri asked serious.
"Please calm down, it's only been around ten minutes" Karma said.
"But…" before she could say anything Wukong entered again.
The expression on his face gave her bad memories, so she quickly ran to him.
"Wu! Are you alright? What happened there?"
As soon as he heard her, Wukong forced a smile.
"Hey vixen, what's up?"
"Don't what's-up-me! What happened to Aaron?!"
"Oh, double-A? He hasn't slept enough already so telling… the story drained the last of his energy"
"I… see"
"So what did he say?" Yi asked.
Wukong's smile dropped.
"…he said he leaves me to choose if people get to know the rest. He said it was because he trusted me more than himself, for some reason"
"I see" the master mused "so what would it be?"
Now the monkey's sad smile was genuine.
"Sorry, but I think that would be troublesome given Valoran current… circumstances"
Everyone widened their eyes at this; Karma and Soraka because there was information that could made things more difficult than they already were, and for better or worse, they wouldn't know.
But Ahri and Yi were surprised because their hardheaded monkey took such a mature decision.
They smiled at each other at this.
"Ok, don't think I don't want you in my house but it was a long day and I think we all could use some rest, and yes, I mean 'actual rest' alright? Now bye~!"
"Alright, you know what to do if anything happens, gil'ah" she saluted them in the old language.
"Goodbye, my friends" Soraka bowed respectfully as usual.
"Just relax a bit, bananas" Wukong said, making her blush.
"Take care you two" Yi said simply and Wu bowed back respectfully for a change with Ahri following suit.
"You should go to sleep too, I know it must have been hard for you" he said to her but she remained concerned.
"Wu seriously, is something bothering you? You know you can tell…" she halted when he put his hand on her head.
"I know, just get some rest ok?"
"O-ok" the fox replied, trying to hide her blush.
After she rushed to her room Wukong stayed alone on the living room, thinking.
'Valoran current situation' he remembered his own words.
And what Aaron told him.
"Was that really a bad thing?"
…
(Too ashamed for apologies)
Now what else… for starters, I want to clarify right now that I won't use the cannon Varus. I don't anything against gay people ok? But there's a difference between being homosexual and being complicated as ***** (if two a guy chatting with one entity inside of his head is difficult for me to write, imagine two ¿-_-?) but don't worry, here, Varus in the end will be gay as well.
Second, I think I am re-opening the season actually writing but first, I'll be working with my Fairy tail story of my other channel. Say what you want, but the only reason I stop writing something (most of the times) is because I'm simply lazy, meaning that my stories have a special place in my heart and just like you would do with a pet: I won't abandon them just because I feel like it!
Also, you may think my OC turned to be too op, but I want to clarify that that's the point in him; he is a character that can decimate most warriors when he wants, the only problem being that he never wants. And in case you haven't noticed already, his curse gives him a huge power up for assassination only, meaning that if he were to have a battle were killing is not an option, he would be a burden more than anything.
And it's not like Talon was good match of in skills nor the shadow blade will remain like that forever XD.
And that's it, better start working on other things before I lose the will (the next story of this channel will also be the Fairy tail one)
Never "goodbye" better "until later"
PS: Sorry for the mistakes, I don't have the patience to revise the whole chapter