So this time around, someone gets even and some new things are found out about certain Champions. Some fun is had...but again, not everything is sunshine and roses.

Chapter XII

One month later…

The day dawned early and bright, the sun shining through the windows and the birds sang and chirped.

Helios yawned, stretching under the covers. "Hello me," he said to the rising sun. "Could've waited a few more minutes, but I guess it's fine."

SQUAWK!

Helios froze at the sound. If that was what he thought it was…

He looked up just to see his whole room filled with pigeons and seagulls. All clamoring together in what could only be likened to an orchestra of Hell.

He blanched. "No. Anything but this."

Helios moved to get out of bed, hopefully he could get out before...he brushed against something. Almost like a spiderweb. He brushed it aside.

Big mistake.

A bucket, attached to the tripwire dumped its contents over him. If he wasn't awake, he sure was now as a sticky, almost syrupy mixture dumped over him. Blinded, he tried to wipe his eyes and try to get out from the shower of syrup…

When the second bucket tipped over. Sending a shower of birdseed over him, sticking to the syrup. The room exploded with feathers as if someone had broken a pillow. Sky rats of every shape and size beelined for him, pecking at him to get the seeds...only to get caught and stuck in the syrup, making Helios nothing more than a mess of feathers and beating wings.

"I feel so violated," he whimpered. "Leona, you monster."

Then he saw the cameras.

He sighed, then got out of bed. "I suppose there's only one thing to do in this situation, then."

He snapped his fingers at the sky. "Music, please."

And that was how he began his morning doing the chicken dance.


"So...I get that you wanted to see me and all that, but...couldn't this have waited a bit longer?"

Aneria could see his point. She wouldn't have wanted to meet with them either, if she'd been covered in feathers like he was. Regardless, the prank war between he and Cira warranted their attention. If anything, this newest incident was proof of that.

"It is quite disruptive, you two's war," she stated, looking at both deity and his Aspect.

Surprisingly, her face didn't give off that she was guilty of anything. Save for the slight glimmer of amusement in those blue and gold eyes.

Helios quirked a brow. "If you're expecting this to end anytime soon, don't. I have no intention of stopping, and neither does she." He pointed at Leona.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Leona said sweetly, "I haven't done anything,"

"Me on the other hand…" Cira chuckled maliciously.

"I don't know who turned him into a Thanksgiving Turkey, but it wasn't me," Leona smiled, "Though, if he stops, I will,"

"Just...keep your pranks to each other and not the Institute," Apollyon sighed, pinching his nose, "Though, from what I have seen...the chaos has only begun,"

"No promises." Helios shrugged. "Restraining myself wouldn't be as fun."

"Gods preserve us…" Aneria groaned covering her face with her hands, "Go on and go back out there. Just leave us out of it,"

"Okay." Helios folded his arms behind him and turned to leave, with a little spring in his step. "I've got an anime bingewatch with my girl to get to, anyways."

Leona gave a bow before the Tribunal, putting her fist over her heart before also turning to leave. She had three kids to take care of and spoil after all.

"So, what exactly did you cover me in?" He asked, as they walked down the halls. Summoners and champions alike snickered at his appearance, but he paid them no mind. "It didn't take long for these feathers to stick."

"That's for me to know and you to never find out," Cira grinned, "Let's just say I had Apolla's help. Poor girl is about a good a cook as Leo and Arthur put together,"

"So just random crap, then?"

"Pretty much,"

"Well, nicely done." He gave her a thump on the shoulder. "I'll have to lay low for a few days, but I can deal with that."

"The birds were Krista's idea," Leona said, "Cira came up with the whole sticky situation. I had nothing to do with this. It was them,"

Her eyes flashed blue.

"Tattletale!" Cira scolded.

He laughed. "I can always count on my favorite representative, can't I?"

"She's just afraid that you're going to dish it out on her," Cira snorted, "Leo, whatever he does is going to happen to both of us, remember? We're the same person?"

She gave a laugh.

"Eh, point taken...it might be more geared towards me than you. But you and I both know there's only one thing that would make our lives Hell for a little bit. And we're not going to speak of it should it happen!"

"What a shame," he said, uncharacteristically uninterested. "I guess I'll have to make do with what I already know."

"Oh please make it interesting. I'll be disappointed if you don't,"

"Wouldn't want that, now would we?" He said.

His face brightened, as he saw Ahri waiting for him at her bedroom door. She fixed him with a mild grin, crossing her arms and leaning on her hip.

"Don't chicken out on your date," Cira smirked, patting him on the shoulder once before walking off.

"I'm not late, am I?" He asked.

"Late no… covered in…" she stared at him for a moment, "something, yes." Her tails twitched in slight amusement, but it was obvious that they were moving nowhere near the mass of feathers.

He sagged. "Why did this have to happen today of all days?"

She shrugged. "Did a certain someone know we'd be watching anime today?"

Cira was halfway down the hall, but her sharp hearing caught it. She turned around, gave an angelic smile and drew a halo over her head before giving a dramatic bow and continuing on her way. Shattering into shards of sunlight as she was whisked away to a match.

Helios's eye twitched. "Okay, that's it. I'm hitting below the belt next time."

She tilted her head in confusion, then shook her head. "You want to stop talking about it?"

He deflated. "For now, yes. I don't know what kind of gunk Apolla whipped up, but I'm hoping that a hot shower will get most of it off."

He looked at her as they went inside. "I mean, if you don't mind."

She shrugged. "Go ahead. I'll just watch some Soul Eater while I wait."

"Ha! As if! I bet you're just trying to establish an alibi!" He teased. "That way you can just peek at me while I'm naked in your shower."

Her cheeks turned a pale pink as she suddenly turned her attention to her tv, pulling a blanket over her. Her biggest mistake here was probably the damning silence that came from her choice to not respond.

He laughed, stepping into her bathroom. To his dismay, he wasn't able to get the gunk off completely. He'd had to rip some of the feathers out by force, and that had led to a decent amount of bleeding. Gods, what had Apolla added to that stuff? He was lucky that he healed relatively quickly from small wounds, because Ahri would've thrown a fit if he didn't. He was also lucky that blood was easy to rinse off, because she wouldn't have liked her shower stained red.

He turned the water off when he'd removed as much of the muck as he could, putting on a fresh set of clothes (courtesy of his powers). Ahri was bundled up in her bed when he exited the room, snacks piled up around her as she lounged in front of the television.

"I miss anything good?" He asked, throwing the covers over him and sitting next to her.

She blinks as she sees a feather sticking out of his hair then laughs. "A portion of your hair while you were in the shower, I think."

He looked up at where she pointed, snorting. "If Rakan can pull it off, so can I."

She smiled sweetly before pausing the TV. "So… what do you want to watch? Ariel had me get a bunch of these… Haven't watched most of them yet."

"I was going to suggest Darling in the Franxx as a start," said Helios, "but now that I'm in dire need of revenge, Sailor Moon is going to have to be the first pick."

"Sailor Moon," she hummed. "I guess that's fine." She squirmed her way out from under the blankets, one of her tails brushing against him as she grabbed a DVD case and began to put it in.

"Fair warning though, this series can get a bit...weird," he said, as she slipped back in. "I normally wouldn't put you through this, but I have to take a few notes for my revenge."

A shrug. "As if our whole life of being Champions isn't weird. I think I'll be fine. She leaned over and kissed him. "Don't torture poor Cira too badly though, alright?"

"I'll do my best, but that really depends on where the line is."

She sighed and held out an open palm to him as the show started. He chuckled, taking it and kissing the back of the palm. She appreciated the gesture, snuggling into his side. Helios started jotting down little notes in his mind as they progressed through the episodes, making observations on how the outfits and hair were designed. Part of him was just glad that the design would be intentional this time. The last time he'd watched this series, he'd had to sneak the results into the Institute as skins, which had been extremely difficult, but ultimately manageable.

Five episodes in, his phone buzzed, making him groan with annoyance. Ahri was equally peeved, but didn't protest as he pressed pause and brought the device to his ear.

"Yeah?" He asked.

"Hello, brother dear," Selene said. "I'm aware that you're currently busy, but now that I've mostly regained my sanity, I remembered something that I ought to bring to your attention."

"And you thought it was so important that you had to interrupt my date?"

"Syndra's open to the possibility of having a spar with you."

"...Go on."

He could already see her smug expression on her end of the line. "She showed openness to the idea a short while before you pulled the ordeal with the mustache, and I finally lost it. You should formally make the offer when you're finished for the day. You might actually have some fun."

"Alright, is that all?" He asked.

"Just about. See you later."

"Yeah, you too." He stuffed his phone back into his pocket, putting his arm back around Ahri's shoulders. "Apparently, Syndra wants to throw down sometime," he told her.

One of her tails wrapped around him. "You aren't leaving right now. You promised anime binging." One of the fox's eyes twinkled blue in the dim light that the TV provided in the room.

"I know," he said. "I don't plan on leaving anytime soon. I wouldn't miss a date with you for the world."

She smiled and settled back down, though the tail remained around him. She used it as an opportunity to snuggle closer to him.

"So, this is kind of random," he said, "but do you know anybody who'd be willing to get a job working for me?"

She tilted her head. "What do you mean by that?"

"I'm probably gonna need a new representative after this next prank."


BOOM!

The walls of Andrew's office shook, and he jumped in his chair.

"What in blazes?!" He demanded, getting out of his chair.

Only a few things could cause the room to do that. One: Leona and Vi were sparring again. Two: Syndra found a sparring partner. Likely the former...

BOOM!

The ceiling shuddered, expunging bits of debris, a few of which landed on Andrew's head. Another tremor knocked over a cup of coffee that was half-full, spilling dark liquid all over his desk… and his paperwork for organizing the day's matches.

"I'm going to offline some Projects…" Andrew growled.

He got up and started heading to the source of the noise. As he suspected, it was coming from one of the training rooms. He groaned, as he pictured the extra paperwork he'd have to do to arrange for repairs.

To his surprise, he encountered Leona just down the hall, while Zed was heading in the same direction a little ways behind him.

"Wait...if it's not you and Vi…" Andrew blinked.

"Syndra and Silvia have been having fun," came Zed's voice as the other Project came up.

"They've been hogging the training room," Violet huffed, smacking her fist into her palm, "I've had some frustrations I wanted to vent to my sparring buddy but noooooooo,"

"We'll get in eventually," Cira shrugged, "Heh, maybe you'll manage to make a dent this time with how mad you are, Violet,"

"Bring it on, Old-Timer!" came the challenge.

"Who in the worlds is Syndra fighting?" Andrew demanded.

"Mister Sunshiny Memelord," Cira told him, "Though he's still covered in feathers and it makes it oh so much better for me to watch,"

"...What…?" Andrew asked.

"He humiliated me, I figured it was only a matter of time that I took my revenge on him," she said sweetly.

"One of these days you two are going to go too far," Andrew warned.

"Please," she snorted, "I'll stop when he does. He started it,"

"Did he start this?" Andrew asked, looking at Zed, who shifted his arms to better hold Aiko, who was giggling as she snuggled into her father's chest.

"Silvia and Syndra wanted to fight him in the first place," Zayne shrugged, "He just agreed,"

A training dummy smashed through the wall next to them, making them jump.

"OI! LEAVE THE DUMMIES OUT OF THIS!" Helios's voice yelled from the other side. "THEY DON'T GET PAID ENOUGH FOR THIS!"

Zayne gave a grin as he heard the shout.

"You said go all out!" came Syndra's voice, "Everything is fair game!"

CRASH!

"I don't know if I want to go in there…" Andrew muttered.

"HA! WHAT A PANSY!" Helios yelled, apparently able to hear him. "NO WONDER LEO DOES ALL HIS DIRTY WORK FOR HIM!"

"This coming from the guy who does the same," Silvia retorted, "And has her play diplomat/representative while he sits and does the chicken dance all day long. BAWK BAWK BAWK!"

"That was just cruel. ...I'm impressed."

"I've had to learn quick," the Chosen preened, "Now take this!"

WHAM!

They finally peeked through the hole, and discovered that Syndra had just sucker-punched him in the gut. The force of the blow had been amplified by her magic, and the god actually coughed up blood in response.

He wrinkled his nose at the mess on the floor. "Euch. While I'm thrilled that someone's finally making me work for my money, that was unpleasant."

"HEY LEO, LOOK!" He pointed to it. "SHE ACTUALLY MADE ME BLEED!"

"Oh I hurt your pride. It's Syndra and she had hers amplified by magic," Leona shrugged, "I just hit you in the nose with my shield. Ask her to do it without magic. I doubt she'd be able to do that again,"

"She's not wrong," Syndra smirked.

"Your dainty little fingers would probably snap like twigs, wouldn't they?"

"Oh I don't doubt it. This however…" she kicked him square in the gut, "Won't,"

"Hey!" He rasped. "That's cheap, going for the same place twice!" He was actually impressed, more than anything else.

He lunged forward, slamming his fists against her ears. She cried out as her vision went white, a cacophonous buzzing overloading her senses. He jumped and twisted midair, swinging a kick shrouded in flames down into her face. She faceplanted so hard that she crushed the floor beneath her, taking a chunk out of the stone.

"And you call me cheap!" she groaned, struggling to get back up, spitting some of her ivory locks out of her mouth.

"I was just returning the favor," he said, spreading his arms unapologetically. "Thou shalt reap what thou sowed, and all that."

Her eyes flared as the ground rumbled and chunks of the floor came up. She flicked her hand and all of the chunks shot forwards.

"HA!" she yelled.

Every single one of them was aimed with pinpoint accuracy at his face. Once they'd stopped, he was left with a poker face and a bloody nose.

"Oh, cool!" He exclaimed, wiping a hand across his face to stare at his blood. "It's been a while since I got one of these."

"You done or you want me to give you more," Syndra teased.

"I dunno. How much more you got?"

"You'd be surprised!" she grinned savagely, a sphere of dark energy forming in her hand.

She hurled it at him, tearing up more of the floor and hurling everything at him. He staggered back, cuts and bruises tearing open across his skin, while his clothes were torn to shreds.

"Hey! I just bought these!" He complained.

"Oh don't act like you aren't looking for the opportunity to show your bae," Silvia smirked, "And besides...I think I took out a few feathers there!"

"Yes, yes, thank you." He wiped the dust off the fabric. "Also: why don't you try it?"

Twin jets of flame exploded from his hands, enveloping her instantly. When they subsided, she was hunched over and panting, her clothing partially burnt off. A few embers flickered in her hair.

"Aren't you two going to stop them?" Andrew demanded.

"Do you have a death wish?" Leona asked while Zed said nothing, just staring at his wife while Aiko babbled, smacking her hand against his shoulder with a light 'ping'.

Helios wolf-whistled. "You know, I never really understood why you dressed so scandalously Syndra, but after seeing the way Zed's looking at you, I think I get it now."

"Paws off she's mine!" Zayne yelled, circuits blazing.

"If you're going to, ah, mark your territory, best do it in private," he replied deviously. "I don't think Aiko's ready to know about that kinda stuff yet."

He received a dark orb to the face as a result.

"Okay, to be fair, I deserved that one," he conceded from the floor.

"Ma! Ma! Ma!" Aiko chirped, getting a grin from Syndra.

"Yep, that's your Mom," Zayne smiled, "Totally amazing,"

"Trying to score brownie points, huh?" Silvia teased.

"Can you blame me?"

"Hold up now!" Helios jerked his head up. "...Was that her first word?"

"Yep, she's been babbling until now," Silvia preened, "I am Mom, fear me,"

"Little kid probably won't shut up after that," Violet smirked, "If Mya's kids were anything to go by,"

"SURPRISE ATTACK!"

Helios suddenly rammed his forehead into Syndra's. They stumbled away from each other, spewing out curses that made Zed cover Aiko's ears.

"Ow, ow, ow," Helios groaned, massaging the throbbing bruise that had swelled across his temples. "Oh, that was a stupid idea."

Cira bit her lip, trying to keep the retort to herself, but the smirk on her face still voiced it.

"You didn't realize that it causes both of us pain if you do that?" Syndra demanded, rubbing her own forehead.

"I don't know, I thought it'd look cool," he admitted. "I don't really think that far ahead when I'm fighting. 'Hit them in the face and win' is pretty much my go-to strategy."

"...Oh dear heavens there's two of you," Andrew groaned, as Vi snickered.

"Wanna make fun of Cait's British clichés later?" He asked her.

"Sounds good to me!" she grinned.

"Welp, that's another one for the army."

Oh gods, it's getting bigger, Cira and Andrew realized, briefly greeted by apocalyptic visions.

"First Vasher, now you," Cira sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose.

"You forget that I'm billions of years old, Leona." He gave her a flat stare. "If anything, I came first."

"Was talking about Miss Overly Aggressive here," came the sigh.

"Oh come on, you know I never miss an opportunity to tease her!" Vi smirked, "she squished my cheeks when she saw me like this, remember?"

"Oh yeah, I remember," Cira nodded, "That was right after I embedded you three inches into the concrete because you tried charging me."

"You told me to come at you!"

"You needed to learn to be a tad bit indirect," Leona shrugged.

"Subtlety's only useful for pranks Leo," Helios said. "In combat, it's go in guns blazing or don't go in at all."

"Heck yeah!" Vi agreed.

"Wasn't that what landed you in your predicament in the first place, Vi," the other project pointed out, "You went into that building without Caitlyn and ended up getting yourself blown up by hextech bombs that nearly killed you?"

"...I'm still here though!" Vi countered.

"Gotta try everything at least once, right?" He offered.

"Stop encouraging her," Leona scolded.

"That's no fun at all."

"I'll set Krista on you if you keep going," the Solari threatened. "I reined her in last time...I won't this time if you keep doing that,"

"Hey Vi, we should go smash stuff later."

Leona's eyes narrowed before she turned to Vi.

"Go ahead...I'll just tell a certain someone about a certain Project liking them,"

Vi's face went between pasty white and scarlet in two seconds.

"You wouldn't dare!" She hissed, "how do you even know?!"

"You're kinda talkative when you're punch drunk," Leona smiled sweetly, "I've had enough practice deciphering drunk speak with Yasuo and his bad days,"

Everyone felt the sinister aura of Helios's grin before they even saw it.

"No!" Vi panicked, "don't you freaking dare!"

"Oh I'm not going to say anything to them if you don't go break things," Cira smiled, "it's him you've got to worry about now,"

"You know what Syndra, I'm gonna have to call this off for now," he told her. "This is the start of a beautiful friendship, of course, but you know how it is. Priorities."

Vi looked like she was going to cry.

"We are going to finish this," she pointed out as she came to her husband and took her daughter...but not before patting his cheek, "let's go home, Aiko's tired. I'm not quite yet though,"

The Master of Shadows blinked and mutely nodded, still in shock.

"I have the sinking feeling that three is going to become four soon," Cira mused as the family left.

Helios felt inclined to agree. "I mean, I can get Ahri, and we can just make sure they-"

"No," Cira hissed, "You've been dabbling in people's romantic lives far too much. Those two don't need encouraging...they've had it rough enough,"

"I bet they like it that way too."

"Honestly! You're insufferable today!"

"Or maybe you're just a cranky old lady who can't take a joke."

"And who is the one currently imitating Birdio?"

"At least I'm rolling with it. You couldn't even handle a mustache."

"You couldn't handle cleaning up after yourself,"

"It was going to wash off in the rain! But noooooooooo, you just couldn't let us have our fun, could you?"

Andrew and Vi slowly backed away.

"I wasn't mad about the drawing. I was mad that you basically told my kids it was alright to disregard parental authority. I just got them back."

"Should've beaten me to the punch and found something to do, then. It's not my fault you don't know how to have fun."

"You're right. It is my fault. It's my fault I wanted them to stay away from me until I got fixed. It's my fault they got sent away in the first place!" she snapped, "So yeah, you're right,"

He blinked. "That's… not what I meant." He swallowed, looking away. "Sorry."

She pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed.

"No, I'm sorry...I shouldn't have snapped. It's just hitting me that I'm not going to be me for much longer. I lost my temper and I'm sorry,"

Helios huffed. "No, no, it's fine. It's to be expected, anyways. My representatives have always had a tendency to be a little…" He made an attempt at helpful gestures. "You know."

"Wonder whose fault that is?" She teased.

He chuckled. "It's a package deal, I'm afraid. Just the way it is."

"So can we use the room now?" Vi asked, "been a while since I've had a sparring partner."

"Sure, go right ahead." He smirked. "Just try not to feel inadequate."

"He doesn't realize that the room's probably repaired itself by now, does he?" Andrew muttered, getting a snort from Cira.

"You're a god," Vi deadpanned, "If I was able to outdo you, there'd be issues,"

"So what, you don't wanna go head-to-head just for kicks sometime?"

"I'm having violent flashbacks of when you first got turned," Cira muttered, "Poor Leon came up to me completely confused saying that Vi was going around the whole Institute wanting people to fight her,"

"He's a raid boss!" Violet protested, "Everyone knows you don't let a Nasus stay in toplane and farm. I wanted to give him a run for his money!"

"And you thought that farming champions was somehow going to work. What is this, a Nightblue video?"

"Hey, death is the best cc!" she grinned clapping Leona on the shoulder, "And I've got the queen of cc as my sparring partner,"

"Sometimes I wonder about you…" Leona sighed.


"That's your tenth pole Shy," Helios said, exasperated.

"I don't normally use these when fishing," she huffed, tossing the broken pieces aside, "I'm used to using my hands...or mouth…"

He shrugged. "I know. To be honest, I'm not really sure why I suggested this." He stared across the lake, bored. "You were finally free, and all that."

The two of them had decided to meet up on the outskirts of the city, after Shyvana had finished with her duties for the day. It was supposed to be a good fishing spot, according to word of mouth, and offered an abundance of fish at this time of year.

"I get to spend time with my only living family member who isn't on my husband's side. I'm happy,"

"Ha." He smiled. "I'll bet that isn't the only reason."

His eyes drifted down to her stomach. "Been getting a little pudgier lately, haven't you?"

She put her hands on it, a faint blush coloring her cheeks.

"...Doctor says it's more than one," she muttered.

"Yeah?" He smiled. "How many?"

"...Three,"

His breath caught, then he slowly exhaled. "Wow. So you're gonna be extra fat then, huh?"

"Shut up!" she groaned, shoving him.

"HA! Just wait until you try to transform!" He gave a toothy grin. "It'll be like looking at a beached whale!"

"Nope, get that far and they'll 'disable' me," Sonja smirked, "Happened with Leo, happened with Ashe and every other female champion. Doesn't mean I'm not going to go stir crazy though…"

"You know you should do once it gets to that point?" He asked. "Whatever the hell you want. Then you can just say that it's the hormones, and no one will be able to prove otherwise."

"Even with that, I'm still queen and have to act like a lady," she huffed with a small amount of disgust.

"Right. That." He grunted. "The in-laws been treating you alright?"

"They're afraid they'll get burned by either me or you," she shrugged.

He nodded. "As they should be. What about your duties as queen? You been handling them okay?"

"Yep," she nodded, "it's not as bad as I thought it would be,"

"That's good to hear." He set his pole down, reclining on his elbows. "Being half-dragon must come in handy for dealing with bureaucracy."

"More like they're afraid of a god…"

"Which also applies to you," he pointed out. "Don't forget that as my granddaughter, you have divine blood. That makes you a demigoddess."

"Didn't demigods and demigoddess never have happy endings though?" Sonja asked, "the only one I know of that had one was Perseus,"

Once again, he looked down at the bump in her stomach.

"I'd say that you're future's pretty bright," he said. "Besides, I'll be there with you every step of the way. You'll be fine, I promise."

"Thank you," she smiled.

"Hey, it's no big deal, you know that I love you," he replied. "I'd do anything for you."

"I know," she nodded, "I'm just afraid of what will happen when this curse comes back...Demacia under that was very anti-magic. They barely tolerated me when I was just a guard. I'm afraid of what they'll do when they realize I'm their queen...and carrying three heirs,"

"You're strong. I know you'll be okay." He picked up his pole and tossed out the line, watching as it punctured the surface of the water. "You've proven that you can handle yourself. Don't sell yourself short."

"Alright, I trust you. Besides...I'll have you and I won't be alone,"

"Never," he agreed.

The line suddenly jerked, yanking him off his rump toward the water. He grunted, trying to pull it back.

"Think I got a big one!" He exclaimed, clearly experiencing difficulties. Considering his strength, that wasn't something to be taken lightly.

"Reel it in!"

"I'm trying!" He replied. "It's just...this damn...fish-"

The pole snapped in two.

Helios gasped indignantly. "OH, HELL NO! YOU ARE NOT GETTING AWAY THAT EASY!"

"Shy, strip down to your skivvies!" He commanded, pulling off his shirt. "We're doing this the old-fashioned way!"

The newly made queen praised her lucky stars that she actually thought of putting a swimsuit on under her clothes and started freeing herself before hopping into the water. Luckily for her, dragons were exempt from the "No Swimming While Pregnant" rule.

"Just, y'know, try not to strain yourself too much," Helios said. "I don't want to get the triplets hurt."

"Please," she rolled her eyes, "I'm tougher than I look. So are they,"

"Alright, alright, just checking," he replied. "It's my job to make sure you stay safe, and all that."

After around ten minutes of wrestling with their prey underwater, they staggered out of the lake, hauling a bass the size of a house behind them.

"This should adequately feed you and the kids for the week, I think," Helios said.

"...I dunno...the way Jarvan eats puts me to shame. I give it maybe two days," she hummed.

"I'll make sure to ask him to save some for you, then." He tossed the bass overhead, and it fell to the shore with a massive WHOMP. "Fairly certain that there's a rule about saving food for the lady somewhere."

"There is, but food is food,"

"Well, alright," he said, "he is my grandson-in-law, I guess. Still, just give me a heads-up if you have any-"

The air rippled, and he was overcome with a sensation completely foreign to him. His legs buckled, and he fell to his hands and knees, gasping for breath.

"Helios!?" Sonja panicked, rushing to him.

He couldn't speak. He was too overwhelmed. His body felt unbearably heavy. His face felt hot, drenched with sweat. His vision blurred, tainted with nausea.

"HELIOS!" she shook him for a couple seconds, worry over her face.

And then, just as quickly as the wave of pallidness had come, it left.

He gasped, his face returning to its normal color as his lungs finally tasted air. "What-" He broke down into a coughing fit, Shyvana holding him steady. "What the hell-"

"Are you ok?" she asked.

"Fine now," he replied, panting. "Did you feel that too, or was it just me?"

"I didn't feel anything," Sonja shook her head, "Shyv?"

Her eyes flickered amber and she also shook her head.

"I don't exactly remember," Shyvana admitted, "The first thing I saw was you normal, now you are on the ground,"

"I felt…" He trailed off. "It felt like it came from-"

His eyes widened. "We need to go. Something's wrong."

"What?" Shyvana blinked.

"It felt like it came from Targon, Shy."


The sun shone on the Mountain, even in the grassy plateaus that graced it. A loud whinny echoed off the stones as a large black warhorse trotted off the rocky path and into the grass.

The two riders on its back looked around the area with appreciation. Pantheon urged the massive creature forwards for a few more paces before pulling on the reins with a soft 'whoa'.

Ares giggled happily as his father dismounted and picked him up, setting the four year old back on the ground.

Ares immediately bolted off, frolicking through the grass that was so high that it came up to his waist and sending butterflies flying into the air in bursts of color.

"Ares, come here!" Pantheon called, laughing.

The boy giggled and sprinted towards his father, who scooped him up and nuzzled his curls as he hugged him tightly.

"What's wrong, Daddy?" Ares asked.

"Nothing, I'm just glad I'm with you," Arthur told his son, setting him back down and ruffling his hair, "So, what do you want to do?"

"Um…" Ares hummed before picking up a stick and poking his father, "Gotcha! You dead!"

"Oh really?" Pantheon grinned, grabbing his shield and spear off of the horse's back, "Try that again!"

Ares shrieked as his father chased him around the meadow with his spear wrapped in his cloak so that he wouldn't hurt his son by accident. The two 'fought' each other. Ares diving between his father's legs and kicking the backs of his knees, throwing the Artisan of War off balance slightly. Arthur gently bopped his son on the head with his spear cackling as Ares squealed and ran off farther down the meadow. The boy set his feet, his bronze/silver glow burning brightly around him as he held his little spear.

Pantheon grinned and started forwards…only to stop. The meadow was gone, replaced with an arena of stone.

"Ares?" he called out, only for a tall young man with dark hair and fiery amber eyes to come towards him.

Pantheon froze, staring at the newcomer. An aura of dread came over him as he looked, something was not right about that man. The man whirled his own spear, going behind his shield, almost daring Pantheon to come at him. Where was Ares?

"Did you take my son?" Pantheon growled, his grip on his spear tightening.

The man said nothing, but there was a flash of brilliant white teeth, almost mocking. The Aspect of War slammed the butt of his spear into the ground.

"ANSWER ME!" he roared.

Again, no answer. Pantheon charged forwards, jabbing his spear at the man.

"Panth! STOP!" Arthur yelled.

If he wouldn't tell him where Ares was, he'd make him!

"PANTHEON!" the Chosen roared, desperately trying to take control, "PANTH LISTEN! KNOCK IT OFF!"

But Pantheon ignored his Chosen. Arthur had his heart in the right place at times, but sometimes…it needed a bit more of a wild touch. Pantheon wanted his son. And Arthur's protests would get in the way of that.

The Artisan of War jabbed his spear again. The man dodged, clumsily, falling on his rear. Pantheon came up to him and raised his spear, starting to plunge down…

When something large and hard slammed into him, knocking him far away. Pantheon got to his feet to see Aurelion curled protectively around the man, fangs bared and starfire flickering within his maw as he snarled.

Pantheon started forwards only for Aurelion to smack him down to the ground again, pinning him with a large paw.

"AURELION!" he roared, "RELEASE ME!"

"No," came the snarl from the dragon, whose eyes were differing shades of blue as Champion and Chosen were in perfect sync.

"You dare…"

"L-Lion!" came a child's hysterical wail.

Pantheon's head snapped towards the man…who suddenly did not look like a man at all. But a child. The blood ran out of his face as his grip on his weapons went slack. Ares was clinging to the star dragon, tears streaking down his tanned face while his golden eyes were dark with absolute terror.

"…I tried to stop you…" Arthur said, "But you…Panth I think you had a relapse into the curse…"

"Ares…" Pantheon whispered, "Aurelion I…please, let me up,"

"Why should I trust you," Hailey snapped, "You nearly killed Ares,"

"It wasn't me…it was that…" he gave a defeated sigh, "Take Ares to Leona, please. I will follow on horseback,"

Aurelion gave a low rumbling growl, but he reached around, gently picking Ares up with his teeth and setting him on his back before letting Pantheon up. The Star Dragon started to move off…but didn't miss the opportunity to smack the Artisan of War with his tail as he took off.

"I deserved that…" Pantheon sighed, sitting and putting his head on his knees as cold flooded his chest, "Arthur…I am sorry. I do not know what came over me,"

"It wasn't you, Panth. It was that curse. I don't blame you…but I'm afraid that you will stop listening to me and Ares and the kids will get hurt,"

"…That scares me as well," he muttered, "Stars above, what are we going to do?"

"…I don't know, Panth…I really don't know,"

Fire coalesced in the skies above, and a pillar of flame thrust down in front of the group, halting Aurelion in his tracks.

"What happened?" Helios said, stepping out with Shyvana in tow.

"Pantheon tried to kill Ares," Aurelion growled, looking back at the child, who was currently still trembling and crying as he buried his head into the dragon's scales.

"He did what?"

"I'm taking him to his mother," Hailey said, throwing a scathing glare at the Aspect, who was unmoving on the ground, "If you want to know, ask him,"

"I already know why," he said, gritting his teeth as he looked at him. "It's coming back already, isn't it?"

Pantheon said nothing, he looked absolutely crushed.

"Get me Andrew," he seethed. "Now."

The Curse is slowly taking hold, but it looks like Helios is getting affected as well, this can't be good. Next, there'll be some serious stuff happening, but don't worry, we'll have some fun stuff in there. It's Helios after all...

Chosens Used (We Are Warriors)
Leona- Cira Noble (Jonson)

Pantheon-Arthur Jonson

Aurelion Sol-Hailey Cannon

Kalista-Krista Rhon

Ahri-Ariel Royal

Syndra-Silvia Lazar

Shyvana-Sonja Chadayev

Chosens Used (We Are Chosen)

Kindred-Dianne Faye

Lucian-Arthur Jonson (Senna-Cira Noble)

Leona-Janie Noble

...And then there are Helios and Selene.

Anyway, hope you liked it. If you did, please let me know!

Qui vállë tóquetë, ván tecë (If no review comes from y'all; no story comes from me)

Máriessë ar mára tecië

Farewell and fair writing

Elhini Prime signing off.