I want to apologize for the wait, I don't want make excuses, it was mostly being lazy and not being motivated. So now that that is done, this is the third chapter, to be honest I wasn't sure if I was going to continue this since I haven't been motivated lately and stopped playing league months ago. But people seemed to like it at least a little so I wanted to continue for those people because I hate it when I'm reading a story and the author decides to stop just because they want to. That being said, if someone wants to take over this story I wouldn't exactly mind that much if you are willing to continue the story.
Luxanna 'Lux,' Crownguard continued to put Riven off balance as they entered the giant mess hall and settled down for a meal together. There were times where the girl would unleash a string of rapid, seemingly unrelated questions at the Noxian, Riven almost started to think the strategist was a fool. She knew better of course, Lux's intelligence was something of a legend in any army and the information of what she rattled off of what knew of Riven was almost scary. Still, Riven was unbalanced by the ease the Demacian got under her walls and snuck in to surprise her. Lux would maintain her airheaded persona for several minutes only to shock Riven with a statement she learned from the few word answers Riven gave her.
The other thing that surprised Riven was how easy it was to talk to Lux. In the past few years, there had been weeks that Riven went without saying a single word. Even when she did say anything it was normally short sentences with few words to an inn keeper or passing trader. Yet to this bright Demacian the words seemed to spill out, and even though it was a foreign feeling to her, Riven was surprised just how much she liked talking. She had thought it had been something she had buried under years of solitude, but surprise, surprise she actually enjoyed speaking with Lux. They talked more than just about Noxus and Demacia, they talked about the league, what they liked to eat, music, and more. Lux even managed to make Riven laugh once or twice to the Exile's surprise, but all things would come to an end.
It started when they were talking about each other's love lives, much to Riven's chagrin. "So when and who was your first kiss," Lux asked suddenly making Riven chock on the water she was drinking.
"What," Riven coughed spilling her water which she then tried to clean up.
"Yeah, your first kiss," Lux asked putting her hands on her cheeks to give Riven a Cheshire Cat grin. "Who was it?"
"I've never been kissed," Riven hissed at her through blushing cheeks.
"Really," Lux practically shouted in surprise, "you're certainly shy, but I never would have guessed you were a virgin seeing as you don't exactly have the same virginal glow like I do."
"I said I've never been kissed before," Riven said a bit harsher than she intended, "that doesn't meant that I've never had sex," she corrected. When she saw Lux's confused face she sighed and elaborated. "In my youth, as you pointed out I was something of a celebrity, even before I joined the Crimson Elites. There were other people famous in Noxus though, one woman in particular was famed for her skill in battle. Technically, she wasn't part of Noxus, she was a mercenary who just happen to have a long contract with my country. But she had been a under Noxian employment for years so the brass and the government considered her one of us and treated her with the privileges of one of our wealthy and elite. She came looking for me actually, this was before the war of course; she told me when we were between the sheets that she always liked finding pretty or expensive things, rare items for her to claim. And since I was the face of Noxus' military, I was worth enough to make that list. She was beautiful and strong," Riven said with a sigh, "but at times cold. Like I said, she was my first time, but we never kissed while we were together, I guess it was a relationship of some sort, if not a romantic one. She used me, and when the war started she left Noxus and we weren't together anymore, that's it," Riven said making it clear she didn't want to talk about it.
They sat in silence for a moment, until Lux started to glow a soft blue color, several other champions in the mess hall were doing the same, though in different colors. "I'm sorry Riven," Lux said with a sigh, "It looks like I have a match coming up," she really did sound sad. "I need to go, but…" she let the last word continue.
She didn't want Riven to think she was running away as they were discussing such a serious topic. Riven just put her hand on Lux's, "it's okay Lux I understand. Go and win your match," she said wishing her… friend luck. 'Is that what they were,' Riven wondered, but she didn't dwell on it long.
Breaking out into a smile Lux threw her hands around Riven embracing her with a surprising amount of strength Riven wasn't prepared for. "Thank you soooo much Riven I promise to make it up to you," she said and before Riven could collect herself Lux disappeared in a shimmer of light and was gone.
"No problem," Riven said aloud to no one in particular dazed in a good way as she thought about the strategist's warm embrace. But she shook herself to clear her head, when she realized she was alone at the table and the mess hall was significantly emptier than it was moments ago, she got up to leave. 'Why had she told Lux all of that,' she wondered. She had barely thought about that mercenary in years, why had she told this girl she had just met? She walked out of the hall to think about her actions, and the girl that had confused her so while making her spill her guts.
She entered one of the lesser courtyards of the institute, which was empty luckily. It was quite a pretty picture, a grassy field and a couple of trees. Riven had come to this place when she wanted to get away from the noise of the league. But it wouldn't stay peaceful for long, Riven was being followed and she knew it. She pulled out her shattered sword and brought it across her knees to examine it. Even in its broken form it was heavy and beautiful to her, that was the one way her once proud sword didn't reflect its owner, she thought. With a final sigh she stood up and put her sword to her shoulder, "Ionia or Noxian," she shouted into the morning air. "I know you're out there, come out and face me if you dare, I don't have time to wait for your convenience," that was a lie actually, she had nothing but time, but she didn't want to waste the time she had on assassins.
After a moment of silence, several figures, 6 in all, stepped out of the scenery dressed like ninjas, 'that means Ionians,' Riven thought. But surprisingly they weren't dressed quite in the manner of the Kinkou Order, which meant either they were normal of Ionians dressed like ninja to kill her, or they were splinters of their order who left to become common assassins. Regardless, they would be different to fight than Noxians, they would still use poison and sneak attacks, but when they would try to kill her finish her off they would at least do it to her face. "You are skilled Noxian," the one Riven took to be the leader said. "I suppose that's what kept you alive against our noble forces long enough for your death weapons to finish them off," he said turning cold.
"I know it won't change anything, but I suffered at the hands of Noxus and Singed as well," Riven said knowing from experience that even if they would hear what she had to say, they wouldn't listen.
Without any other words her assassins started their attack. The leader dashed backwards while the remaining five charged at her weapons drawn. The five moved like wolves, their metal fangs slashed at her over and over again, dodging each time her heavy sword would meet the earth with a thundering boom. This was all a trick on both sides; for the Ionians, the five charging at her acted like they meant to take her life, and given the chance they would, but that wasn't their objective. They were supposed to get her off balance, tire her out, and give the remaining killer time to learn her moves for when the time was right to finish her off. It was a common tactic of Ionian killers, one Riven Knew all too well seeing as they went after her personally during her years of exile. Which was where Riven's trick came into play, she knew that her opponents were watching her, learning what she could do in preparation, which was why she was telegraphing her moves, making each strike of her sword look like it took twice the energy to swing it. It was a risky tactic since it made her fight in ways she was unaccustomed to, but she was confident that she could out last these assassins like the countless number she had before. The assassins had a handicap, by attacking her in broad daylight they ran the risk of someone stumbling on to them and ruing their plans.
The first group started to get desperate, slashing at her and making risky moves in hopes of getting a cut in. Two of them jumped her directly and though she managed to ward them off it put her off balance, leaving one of the remaining to strike at her open back. He or she managed to make a shallow cut on her, but paid for it with an elbow to the face. Almost immediately though Riven felt the effects of whatever was on the blade, she wasn't sure if it was poison, but it made her dizzy and slowed her movements. Sensing the end, the remaining four of the group jumped on her stomachs rumbling for an easy kill.
Riven knew she couldn't keep doing what she was doing, and dropped the act of weakness, since the real weakness creeping through her muscles would spell the end of her if she didn't. Before the assassins could land their blows the Exile gathered her Ki all around her then moved it into her sword, and in a wide horizontal slash she cut down all four. When she did it normally it didn't take much out of her and she could do another in a few minutes, but now she felt like she had been fighting for days and she could barely keep herself up after that attack. She managed to prop herself up with her sword, but half a dozen knives stabbed into her back, most didn't breach her armor, but one cut a deep gash into her shoulder and another cut into her hip, and the force of the blows knocked her to the ground.
"You fought well Noxian," the remaining assassin said as he towered over her, "but this is the end of you, this is when my people are avenged," he snarled and brought his blade down to killer her. 'This is how I die?' Riven asked herself, had she really survived all these lonely years only to die when she finally found a place where she might belong? She thought of Lux, her golden hair, her bright blue eyes that sparkled like sapphires, her sweet smile that she wasn't sure if it was mocking of sincere. Was the Lady of Luminosity truly when she said she was in love with her? Riven didn't know, but she knew she wanted the time to find out, she didn't want to die.
Luckily, he never got the chance to finish her off. He was interrupted by a spinning blade, it cut his arm off and he fell to his knees, "well well well, what do we have here," a steely female voice asked from across the courtyard. Riven managed to get to a knee and looked to the voice, it was a voice she knew well, Sivir the Battle Mistress walked through the battleground as if she was born to be there. She walked over to the remaining man who screamed at the loss of his hand and slit his throat with her magnificent blade without pausing to hear what he was screaming.
"If I had known that it was just a bunch of boring Ionian assassins I would have just stood aside and let it go down. But I suppose," she said turning to Riven with a "having another champion owe me a favor is worth my time," she said, but she stopped talking when she saw Riven lying on the ground. "Oh sweet one," she said stroking the Exile's face, "I had heard that you survived the Ionian campaign, but I never thought I would see you again. Shh," Sivir said pointing her finger to her lips when Riven tried to speak, "I'll take you to the medical bay and they'll patch you up right away. We will talk then," and before Riven could respond Sivir picked her up gently like a bride and carried her as if she weighed nothing and she blacked out before long.
So I'm not sure how this stacked up, I'm tired while writing this and not completely motivated to write it, but I wanted to continue it. I'm also not sure how the fight scene went over, it was mainly a device used to get Riven hurt and have Sivir intervene to swoop in and save her. The writer in me felt like the fight scene wasn't needed or that it had to be that important, I almost wrote that, 'the fight happened and that Riven got hurt, but managed to take out a few of them before she was weakened too much to keep fighting. Then Sivir attacked the assassins,' but the writer and martial artist in me couldn't let that happen so this terribly written fight scene happened. In case you were wondering, Sivir was Riven's old lover years ago, I also realize that the Lux Riven conversation that moved to Riven's love life was also more of a device than a real conversation, but I wanted it to move that way. Sivir was my main character when I played league and also my favorite, she is underused, I don't think there's a single Sivir story, but there wasn't months ago, so I thought I would use her in my story. I hope that even though it was a rushed chapter that you enjoyed it nonetheless, and I hope that the next update won't as long as the previous one.