Hey there dear readers. It's a bittersweet moment for me to say that this is, indeed, the last chapter of the story.

I know, I know. You all wanted so much more. So did I. But some stories are great because they have endings. If I continued this more, I'd get lost. I don't want to ruin what quality it has right now by elongating it needlessly. This chapter is the ending, and I've made it short and, hopefully, sweet.

I hope you've all enjoyed reading this as much as I have writing this. But, everything must have an ending. And for this story, this is it. I could've done more, made this chapter much more extravagant or awesome, but I don't know what came over me... This just... This just felt right, you know?

Thanks for reading it upto this point, you guys make writing stories worth it. Look out for my other stories. I might even plan to write a sequel to this, or atleast, another Zed x Akali story, most likely AU.

The Shadow that Watches

Epilogue

...

Perhaps it really is possible for someone to be the same person you knew for decades on the inside, even if he has turned into something completely different on the outside.

Years ago, he had been a curiousity for my young mind. Such a mysterious, closed off individual who wielded so much power and authority at such an young age. I wanted to know everything about him, even if he didn't share all of it with me at once. It took time. At first, I thought his lack of human nature was odd. He never changed that monotone voice of his unless needed to. He never really got angry at my early clumsiness nor annoyed. He was patient about teaching and passionate about strength, but through my young eyes, still clean of the crimson I would soon see later in my life, I saw the loneliness he harbored.

He had a thirst for power. Each of his movements and words pronounced a sense of arrogance and power, though he backed those up with the skills needed to prove it. With time, however, I peeled away layer after layer. Arrogance. Contempt. Anger. Jealousy. Bitterness. Resentment. Hatred. Until finally, I reached the person at the core. A person who never allowed anyone to come close for fear of losing them once he had warmed up to them. The pain he had brewing inside was evident, but the self-loathing he had was even more. He regretted all the blood on his hands, but his decision was made and he was not someone to go back on his decision. In his anger, he saw his actions as just, his victims as people who got what they deserved. But in his soul, he knew the grave prices he had paid to attain such power.

He got closer to me as well, much closer than anyone else I had ever allowed to come. I was beginning to understand him, his passion for strength and serenity, the rare glimpses of his morbid sense of humor as well as his overall control. I admired him. I looked up to him… And I felt something very deep inside.

But, like the man I was striving to become more like, I had to face my own blinding tragedy. My mother was dead, killed under the roof of the very man who had sworn to protect her. Killed by a person trained by that exact same man. My eyes saw nothing but the blood of my mother. My soul had closed itself off. My heart had frozen solid. In my grief and anger, I did not see how, as I left, I took a part of his soul with me.

The part that contained his heart.

The destruction that had followed in my wake was devastating. I had left him in more pain and anger than he had ever felt, for I had given him a loss which he knew not how to recover from. Everywhere, I heard of ninja orders falling. Every ninja who did not accept his art were brutally killed. Before, his forces only hunted those who openly opposed him or tried to stop him. Now, they hunted down everyone who denied him and his art. There was even a moment where I had gone to sleep within a place I might've started to call a new home, only to wake up and see that everyone I had met a few hours prior had been killed. Only I was untouched.

My hatred for him increased. I would use the skills he had given me to kill him. Then, I met Shen. The eye of Twilight, he was known as. He knew of the man and his atrocities, and though Shen obviously had a deep seated hate for the man, he was oddly calm about it. He decided to protect me by taking me into the small family of ninjas that he had. I trained in his art, the art of balance. My previous training came back to me and merged with this new art, giving me my own mixed style. Shen was much like the person I had fled from, except Shen was much more compassionate. He was kind, calm and very caring in his own way. But like the man before, I found Shen to have a bitter past.

I found out that Shen had his father killed by Him. The same father who had trained both Shen and Him. I was outraged. Never before had I wanted to kill someone so badly. Then came the moment that stopped my life for a few moments. I had asked him if he wanted to help me hunt down and kill Him. He refused…

…Even after all the friends he had lost, all the people who had been slaughtered, including his own father, Shen did not want to see Him dead. Shen believed that He was a man lost in his own shadows. He had pulled himself into his own darkness, lost without light or guidance. Shen believed this man was still the man he had once called brother… He only needed guidance. Only then, did I realize how wrong I had been to have abandoned Him in such a way.

The years had rolled by and the Institute had made its place inbetween all the wars. For the first time in a long time, the deaths had stopped. All 3 of us joined it to help with the peace keeping. Shen, Kennen and I. But after a few months of working at the League, another ninja had joined. None other than Him.

I could recognize his armor at first glance. He did not recognize me at first, however. I waited eagerly for our first match. I did not wish to kill him anymore, but I still held anger. Oddly, I also held a small desire to impress him with the skills I had obtained.

My plans were wiped clean, however. He was strong, so strong. I could not compete with him. He had devastated all those who stood in his way. He had, however, recognized my fighting style before recognizing me. His eyes had softened before hardening into frigid ice.

We had fought each other multiple times after that, but only recently did I manage to take his helmet off. His face was similar to how it was when he was younger, only older and more mature. His hair was longer, although still having the tousled look to it. His eyes, however, had changed. Before, their glow had a small hint of warmth to it. But now, it held nothing but predatory intent. The intent to kill me.

But he had not killed me. He had seen the look on my face and incapacitated me instead of killing me. The league's magic worked the same way, incapacitation or death.

Days. Weeks. Perhaps a few months had passed since that fateful battle. Yet again, he had opened up to me like a slow blooming flower. Time and training had wiped away my anger at him, knowing that he did what he did out of pure emotion. It was not right, but what had been done was done. Now, we are inseparable. I have done what I did not when I was young, that is; to stay with him. His presence is a familiar ease for my mind, like a part of my soul had returned to me that I did not know was lost.

He was so much easier now. He did not shove people off when they tried to near him anymore, although he was still unwilling to speak unless required. He did not have his insane thirst for power anymore, as I had helped him focus on me instead of that. I had taught him to see the beauty of life again, to see the present for what it was and the future for what it could be. I had taught him to not look back at the past again, for some bloody trails were best left unnoticed until they finally ended and faded from view. I had become his guide in the darkness of shadows that had plagued his life for so long. I had become his companion, someone who held his hand, supporting him as much as he supported me, in a world where everything outside of our periphery was danger.

And he had become the boy I had known once in my life. The boy I had been curious about. The boy I had fallen in love with. The boy who had promised to marry me under a shooting star. That was a childish notion, of course. I didn't really expect him to do so. But the way things were looking so far, I was happy. Happier than I had ever been in my life. My mother would be proud for I had found peace and a sense of belonging. I had learned to forgive and let live, to move on without dwelling on regrets and anger. Now, he had done so too.

And that brings us to where we were at the moment, sitting on the large grassy field, looking up at the night sky. I shifted in my red kimono, burying the side of my head in the crook of his neck as his slender hand pulled me closer against him, giving my waist a reassuring squeeze.

"Akali… I have something to ask you." Zed said, his voice a bit lower than he usually spoke in.

"Hmm?" I replied, wondering what was on Zed's mind. He was silent for a few moments, so I turned around to look at him. He looked troubled. Nervous. "What is it, Zed?" I asked with a small frown of concern.

"It's… It's not something I would normally say." Zed muttered darkly, his eyes darkening at the thought. I recognized his look, but it wasn't one filled with hatred or malice. Zed was simply thinking against what he wanted to say.

"You can tell me anything, Zed." I said, giving him a reassuring smile before leaning up to kiss him. My gentle kiss was responded to by his passion, his arm pulling me against him as he leaned into the kiss. It wasn't a lustful kiss, however. I did not feel any desire in it from either me or him. It was just a kiss. But it held meaning.

Finally, our lips parted, my breath intermingling with his, my nose picking up the musky, spicy scent of him that made my inner self weak at the knees. Zed's eyes seemed to harden with resolve as he then said, "Do you still trust me?"

"Of course I do, why would you ask me that?" I answered, giving a small giggle at his apprehension. Finally, a small smirk played upon his lips, causing me to give him an amused look, waiting for his next sentence. But when he did speak, his words blew my mind into blankness…

"Do you remember a promise…?"

...

The End.