Whoa, a lot is happening here. I actually rethought some things and slightly changed my original idea. With my new plot, this will get longer by at least 2 chapters, which is awesome. I hope you enjoy. (this is kind of bloody but not gory, just saying).
EDIT: I'm publishing it earlier, because I'll be busy and I'm not sure if I would be able to post it in time.
Chapter IV
It was another rough night for Nasus. The day before, when he returned home, he almost instantly threw himself on the bed, but he didn't fall asleep fast. Many thoughts has been entering his mind, asking desperately one simple question. Who am I?
Nasus was slightly awake, or at least felt that way. His eyelids were too heavy to open yet, so he decided to remain like that for a moment. He could hear quiet talking from outside, so he presumed it was noon. "Great, waking up late again.", he thought. Suddenly, he felt some kind of deja vu. He felt someone's presence.
"Wakey wakey…", a familiar sound spoke. Nasus knew too good what happened the last time he heard that. With a loud gasp, he raised like a bolt and sat, panting slightly. When he looked higher, he noticed his brother Renekton. His surprised expression made Nasus calm down a little, but he still was a little startled and sweaty.
"Jeez, I was just trying to wake you up, not scare you.", Renekton said, mocking Nasus a little. He just scratched his head, he was glad that it wasn't that awful dream again.
"Sorry, I thought it was a dream.", Nasus explained. Renekton, still standing at the door, said.
"You know...if there's something happening, then...you can just tell me.". Nasus realised himself that he wasn't particularly the same person as before, but he didn't know that it was that visible.
"I know, but everything's fine.", he replied. Even if he wanted to talk to him about his problem, he wanted to assure himself that it isn't some kind of phase or confusion. He had to be sure before he even tackled this topic.
"You know, you were not so "Nasus" recently. You go to sleep late, eat poorly, and those shadows under your eyes...it's just…".
"It's fine, believe me.", Nasus replied before Renekton could say anything else. He just sighed and nodded. He forced a little smile and left, leaving Nasus alone. He looked at a mirror, his shadows were darker than yesterday, but still not that much visible through his dark, chocolate fur. He got up from his bed and he stretched out. He didn't bother looking at a clock, he knew it was late.
There were many days like this particular one. Every day Nasus would wake up slightly later with bigger shadows under his eyes. He even started to sleep during days. Many other champions started to be concerned about him, they were worried, but he would always make up another excuse.
"Sup.", Nasus spoke when he returned home after his match. Renekton looked at him confused. "What? Is something wrong?".
"Yeah, like, you never say "sup".", he said.
"I don't? Well, now I do.", he replied nonchalantly. He came closer to the sink in the kitchen and poured some water into a cup and drank it in one gulp. Renekton looked at him again. Nasus would always scold him for drinking like that, claiming that it's unhealthy, yet he just did it himself. Something was not okay and he knew it.
"Nasus,", Renekton started, "I see that something is wrong.". Nasus just looked at him.
"You're wrong, everything's fi-".
"No, nothing is fine! Don't you see how you're behaving recently? You don't eat, sleep during days, heck, you even stopped reading! Do you seriously think that I'm blind?!", Renekton bursted, finally sharing his true thoughts about him. Nasus just stood there in silence. He was right, all he was doing was hurting himself and others.
"No...I'm sorry Renekton. I never meant to hurt you.", he replied quietly. Renekton placed his hand on his shoulder, trying to comfort him.
"Let's sit and you'll tell me everything.", Renekton spoke to him. Nasus removed his hand gently and slightly upset, replied.
"The thing is, I don't know how to say that. I'm not even sure if it's true or not.". He wasn't lying, he didn't know.
"Well, maybe I'll know the answer?", Renekton suggested and smiled slightly. Nasus chuckled lightly.
"Oh believe me, you don't.".
"How can you know if you didn't ask?", he insisted.
"Because it doesn't concern you. It's entirely about me.", Nasus said, trying to make Renekton step back, but he wasn't going to anytime soon.
"But we're brothers, we share many things.".
"But not that one. Just...let it go, Renekton.". Even though he knew he had good intentions, he was slightly annoyed by him. He just wanted to relax after a match.
"But how can I let it go when I see my brother in pieces?", Renekton was pushing. He was worried.
"I'm not in pieces. I'm adult, I know what to do!", Nasus said it a little louder than he wanted, but Renekton himself was starting to talk louder himself.
"But maybe you should-".
"But maybe you should finally shut up!", Nasus literally barked at him. He immediately regretted it when he realised what he just said. Renekton was silent, his words really struck him.
"...kay then…", he mumbled and turned away.
"Renekton, wait!", Nasus called him and grabbed his hand, but he escaped him with a ferocious swing. He looked behind and looked at Nasus. Renekton was upset, but also very angry, it could be seen just from his eyes. Nasus looked down, he felt terrible. Renekton sighed, he knew that Nasus wasn't serious, but it hurt like it was.
"I'm going on a walk…", he said and left, Nasus didn't stop him. He clenched his fists and growled.
"Fucking hell!", he shouted as loud as he could and hit a table with his hand. Good thing that the walls in every room are magically soundproof, otherwise he would scare and confuse everybody outside. You can be heard only if the owner wants to be heard, and Nasus most definitely didn't want it. His angry expression turned slowly into sorrow, he felt powerless. He sat down and started thinking about what to tell Renekton when he returns.
Someone touched his shoulder. Nasus slowly raised his head and opened his eyes, it looks like he fell asleep with his head on a table. Then when his vision started working properly, he saw Renekton. Nasus immediately stood up and started apologising.
"Renekton I'm so sorry I didn't mean to say that, I was just tense and had a bad match and-", he stopped when Renekton hugged him. He gasped quietly, he shed a single tear. He was so happy that Renekton wasn't mad at him anymore.
"Just...stop Nasus. You're my brother, I won't abandon you.", he said to Nasus. He returned a hug. After a moment they both sat down, Nasus made up his mind, he deserved to know, he is his brother after all.
"I have to tell you something.".
"Yep, you have.", he chuckled slightly to improve the mood.
"Heh, yeah, that was rather obvious. So…", Nasus replied. Talking about this stuff on the other hand appeared to be hard, especially when he knew what Renekton was feeling about gays.
"Take your time, I'm not going anywhere.", he calmed Nasus down. He nodded.
"Okay. So it has happened a couple of days after I started visiting Warwick.", he started. "Then I started...feeling something. I can't really explain that, I'm so, so confused by it, because I would never, ever expect that myself.", he stopped, it was hard to speak it out.
"And…?", Renekton asked. Nasus sighed nervously, there was no point in delaying that.
"Oh Renekton please don't hate me for that. I think...I think that I might be...gay…", he said the last word very quiet, yet Renekton understood it. He opened his mouth for a moment and spoke quiet "Oh". He definitely didn't expect that. "Well, or at least bi, but I guess it doesn't change much…", he added to clarify. They remained silent for a moment. It was the most painful silence in Nasus' life. After a moment, Renekton spoke.
"Well, I didn't see that coming.". Nasus snorted and laughed quietly.
"That was a terrible pun.", he said. Renekton looked at him confused, but then he turned red.
"That wasn't a pun, moron! I was serious!", he spoke. But then after a moment they both laughed. They looked at each other.
"Nasus, I don't hate you. Thanks to Rengar and Kha'Zix I realised that I was mostly wrong. I was prejudged.", he explained. Nasus was relieved.
"Thank you Renekton.", he said. He smiled, but then he looked closer at his face.
"Shit, you're bleeding.", Renekton spoke and went for a handkerchief.
"What?", Nasus spoke, but then he touched his nose. He had a nosebleed. "Shit.", he commented.
"And that's what you get for not being healthy.", he spoke while handing him a handkerchief. Nasus chuckled and swept his nose and blocked the blood from dripping.
"Well, maybe I'm not the best person to talk about it, but how do you feel about being...you know.", Renekton asked.
"Well...definitely confused, like hell. Next, probably kind of scared, but not that much anymore.", he explained.
"It's Warwick I presume?", Renekton asked. Nasus just nodded.
"Yeah, it's him.". It was weird talking about that kind of stuff with his own, straight brother, but he knew that whatever happens, he would support him.
"Shit, I would have never guessed to be encouraging that, but...go for it then.", Renekton said. Nasus looked at him, his eyes wide open. Renekton laughed. "What? Isn't it what you want?". Nasus sighed.
"And that's the point. I don't know. And even if, Warwick isn't gay.". Renekton facepalmed.
"Right...I never asked that. Well, now you have a problem. One sided love is painful, I know myself.", he chuckled. Nasus got slightly red on his face.
"I-I don't l-love him! I think I don't…", he replied.
"Well okay, one sided crush.", Renekton mocked him. Maybe he was right, maybe he really felt something towards Warwick. All he was trying to do so far was pushing this thought out of his head, he never truly tried to understand it.
"Maybe you're right, maybe that's what I feel…", he admitted.
"See? Even if it's entirely about you, I knew the answer.", Renekton chuckled. "But I think you knew it, too, but you were too afraid to admit it.". Nasus smiled, he was right. He knew that would be the case but he didn't want it to be. Thanks to Renekton, he finally accepted himself.
"Thank you so much brother.", Nasus said. Renekton just chuckled.
"I know, I'm the best.", he smiled widely and made a victorious pose. Nasus literally burst in laughter. Even though he never admitted it, his jokes would always make his day better.
The next day Nasus woke up early, as he used to. After shower and breakfast, Renekton was still sleeping. Nasus smiled, things were starting to return to normal. Suddenly his phone vibrated, he got a message. He took his phone out of his pocket and checked it. Warwick texted him. He was asking if he wanted to come over. Nasus smiled and replied positively. Ten minutes later he was on his way.
"Hi, I brought some new books with me, I think you'll like them.", Nasus spoke to Warwick.
"Sure.". Nasus came in, he wasn't there for three days, Warwick himself noticed earlier that something was wrong with Nasus and forced him to take same free time.
"Are you feeling better?", Warwick asked him. Nasus nodded.
"Yeah, I am. I've sorted some things out and talked with my brother about it.", he said, making Warwick happy.
"That's good. It was hard seeing you like that.", he chuckled. Nasus chuckled, too.
"Well, so anything interesting happened when I was gone?".
"Yeah, I found a book, very similar to that we were talking about a week ago, about this guy with two souls.", Warwick replied. Nasus' eyes started sparkling.
"Really? Let's not waste more time then!", he replied eagerly. Warwick laughed slightly and prepared some tea for them.
A good three hours has passed and they were still talking about literature, but not only. They drank a lot of tea, talked about many books, gossiped about many champions.
"I'm starting to feel hungry, wanna help me with cooking?", Warwick asked.
"You don't have to ask twice.", Nasus replied. "Just let me hide some books.". He started packing his books into his backpack. Most of them were old and dusty. After packing some of them, Nasus couldn't hold back and sneezed because of a dust on them.
"You okay?", Warwick asked from the kitchen.
"Yeah, just a little bit of dust.", Nasus replied and packed the last book. Warwick came closer to pick up their cups.
"It better be dust. I would be mad if you were ill and-", Warwick stopped suddenly. He literally froze in one place. Nasus looked at him confused.
"Is something wrong?", Nasus asked. He felt something wet under his nose. Then he touched it and looked at it. His eyes widened and his heart started beating faster when he saw blood on his fingers.
"Oh shit!", he said and stood up. Warwick must have smelled it. He swept it with his arm. He came closer to Warwick.
"Calm down Warwick, it's nothi-", he was interrupted by his arm. He pushed Nasus away from him, with other hand he grabbed his head. He was trembling. The green fluid started getting orange and red. Warwick growled slightly, pain and struggle written all over his face. He looked at Nasus.
"P-please...run-n…". It was the only thing he managed to say. The needle on top of his back started raising. He knew what it meant. Everytime it pierced him on the Rift, he would be enraged. He slowly backed off and went towards the door, even though it was hard for him to leave Warwick like that. When he came closer, he realised there were no keys. If he left, Warwick would escape and potentially hurt someone. Or even kill. Without hesitation he looked around, searching for keys. He searched everywhere, but he didn't succeed. He cursed and ran towards Warwick.
"Where are the keys?! I can't leave you unlocked!", he yelled at Warwick, trying to reach the remaining parts of him. He managed to look at him.
"I…in...in the-ARGH!", he couldn't finish his sentence, because the needle collapsed and pierced Warwick's back, pumping chemicals into his body. His body fell on the ground, he howled, but it sounded like a robotic howl. Nasus didn't know what to do. He wanted to run, but on the other hand someone might get hurt if he did. Before he could decide, Warwick stood up. He slowly raised his head. His eyes were pure red, he had a malicious smile on his face. Nasus has no other choice.
"Warwick, it's m-", Nasus wanted to try to reach Warwick, but he suddenly jumped at him. He dodged him in a last moment. Warwick landed on a couch, his long, metal claws pierced it like a butter. Nasus gulped, that might have been him. Warwick turned around. He jumped again. Nasus rolled to the left, dodging him once again. But the moment he turned to Warwick, he was already flying towards Nasus. He quickly prepared to grab his wrists. He managed to do it, stopping Warwick from cutting him. At the same time, he tucked his legs between him and Warwick. When his body landed on them, he rolled back and pushed them really hard, launching Warwick in the air through the hall. He landed on his back, the needle pushed even harder. Warwick growled out of pain and anger.
"Fuck! Sorry!", Nasus shouted. It only complicated things. He thought that he could knock him out somehow or tire him, but he just angered him even more. Warwick stood up, ready to run at full speed. Nasus raised his hand, he then casted Wither. Warwick ran towards him, but not that fast, yet his curse wasn't working as good as he wanted. His speed was similar to fast walking. Nasus quickly thought what to do. He looked around, searching for anything that could be a weapon or at least a shield, but there was nothing alike. Before he realised, Warwick was free from his curse and jumped at him. Nasus didn't see him and collapsed under his weight. His claws pierced his left shoulder, pinning him to the floor.
"Argh!", Nasus yelled when he felt his flesh being pierced. It was painful. The blood started flowing out, slowly making a little pool of blood. He looked at Warwick that was lying on him. He was smiling, pure anger on his face. At that moment Nasus was scared, scared that he might die there.
"Warwick...please…", he spoke quietly. He didn't know what to do. Without his weapon, in that position, he was helpless. Warwick raised his second hand, probably ready to end his life. Nasus eyes widened, tears started flowing. He was almost sure it was the end. But then he noticed that Warwick's hand slowed down. He looked at his face, at his eyes. Nasus noticed a small tear in the corner of his eyes. He realised that Warwick was still there, somewhere, locked deep inside the beast.
"Hey, Warwick...I know you're still in there…", Nasus started talking, not sure if it would bring any result. "I just wanted to tell you...that I'm sorry...for not keeping the promise. I failed you. I allowed it to happen.", he swallowed. Warwick's hand was high enough, he could strike at any moment.
"And I wanted to tell you...that I'm not mad at you...I know that it isn't you who is doing it…". Nasus was hoping that he would stop Warwick, but it seemed impossible. Suddenly, his hand twitched, he was sure he was about to attack. And he was right. But the moment he did it, he raised his body, forcing his shoulder to slide up on his bladed claws, and with the second hand he wrapped his neck, hugging him. Warwick froze, his claws inches from Nasus' neck.
"Please...stop it…", Nasus whispered into his ear. That moment felt like eternity. Suddenly, the same hand that almost killed him, wrapped him, too. Nasus was shocked, but also relieved. He was almost sure he was about to die. Suddenly Warwick snapped out of it. His eyes stopped being red, the red fluid slowly turning green. He looked at Nasus, he was petrified.
"What have I done?!", he shouted. Nasus forced a chuckle.
"Hey, it worked…". Even though he was terrified a moment ago, he managed to calm down. Warwick's lips trembled.
"I told you idiot to run! Why didn't you...listen…", Warwick said, but couldn't end his sentence. He started crying.
"Well...I couldn't let you hurt anyone else. I told you I'm good at disarming bom-", Nasus said, but got slapped by Warwick. Nasus touched his cheek, he didn't expect that. Warwick was angry, but not ferociously. He was angry at himself and Nasus. Then he realised he was still piercing his shoulder. Nasus followed his eyes, he forgot about it. When he saw it, it started hurting him again. Nasus sucked the air through his teeth.
"I'll count on three...and I'll hide them...ready?", Warwick spoke to Nasus.
"Mhm…", was the only thing he could say.
"Okay...one…", Nasus closed his eyes, preparing himself for a little more pain. He then shouted and exhaled his lungs out. Warwick hid them without warning.
"Fuck!", Nasus yelled. He was panting from the pain.
"That's for not listening to me.", Warwick said. Nasus smiled slightly, he knew he deserved it. "Wait, I'll take some bandages.". He took his medkit and took out a needle and bandages.
"That won't be necessary.", Nasus said when he was looking at the needle. "Ascended bodies heal better than normal ones, just stop the bleeding and it will be okay.". As told, Warwick bandaged him. Nasus sat and looked around. He was sitting in a pool of blood.
"Shit. Wait, won't you…", Nasus spoke, scared that Warwick could do it again. He shook his head.
"No. Here it works differently than on the Rift. Here the same blood will not work on me for like thirty minutes. But after what just happened, I doubt it will work in an hour or so…". They were silent for a moment, but then Warwick spoke.
"Nasus...please, don't ever come back…". Nasus looked at him. He knew that Warwick would say it. This time he fucked up. He didn't realise that it could be that random. An innocent nosebleed almost costed him his life.
"I…", Nasus spoke, he didn't want it, but he didn't want to expose Warwick to more stress. He gave up. "Okay…".
"Nasus, I know that you care about me, but I also care about you. That's why we can't-".
"I know...I know...I understand.", Nasus said. Even if Warwick was exaggerating, he definitely needed a break. "Do you need any help?".
"No...There might still be a chance that I'll get angry again. I don't know if this time you would survive…", Warwick replied. Nasus looked down, he was right. He looked at his clothes. Shredded shirt and bloody trousers. Warwick noticed it.
"I'll give you my trousers, but I doubt you will find any shirts here…", Warwick said.
"Well, if that means I have to return with bloodied bandages on me, I guess it doesn't make a difference if I go with my trousers or yours.", Nasus replied. He had a point, Warwick thought. "I'll be going then.". He stood up with Warwick's help. When he was about to leave, Warwick spoke.
"I'm sorry…". Nasus smiled faintly.
"And I thank you…for everything.". He pushed the handle and left.
And that was exactly my new idea. It would not be my style if I just let them be together without any troubles. If I were to write Best Enemy once again, I would make Rengar and Kha'Zix more of an enemies than friends at the beginning, but it's already too late. Also expect an additional bonus chapter about how Renekton forgave Nasus (or maybe it will be a new story?). Anyway, see you next Sunday :)
