Hi everyone !

Here comes a longer OS, dedicated to Idiot Anonymous ! Seriously, check his/her last piece, it's long but it totally worth it !

For the few who don't know Idiot Anonymous or didn't guessed already, this OS is about Vladimir and Ezreal ! It might be lightly gore but don't worry, there's nothing too graphic since I'm not into gore at all D:

I'm terrible at ending my OS lately, so don't worry if the ending is unsatisfying, you may not be the only one to think that !

As usual, feel free to leave reviews, commentary or corrections (this text is unbeta'd) !

Please enjoy !

Bloody ruins

'Before we even start, why would you seek my help, while you're always saying you hate Noxians, hum ?'

'It's simply a joke, don't get so worked up over it.'

I groaned. That was a reason. Not a good one, though. No matter how I looked at him, that boy seemed pesky, and probably nosy as well. Not very tall, filthy goggles amidst his messy blond hair, with his leather jacket shoulders covered with a thin layer of dust and torn up pants, Ezreal definitely looked to me like someone that couldn't be trusted. That childish spark in his bright blue eyes left me with the feeling he was up to no good. Yet, he had been looking for me, while everyone else carefully avoided me, so for know, the young man had my attention. However, if he didn't become serious soon, he might not have it any longer.

'What do you want from me ?'

'Show me the ruins where you became an hemomancer.'

I had to laugh. And I had a very thunderous laugh, which startled most of the other people in the bar, but not the man sitting in front of me. He had done some researches. Admirable, regarding the reduced numbered of texts about our art or the number of known hemomancers. Even Dmitri didn't know many hemomancers before he met me : his own master and a fleeting other person which he probably consumed himself during his formation. I would be curious to know how he heard about us, and our ruins. But was he for this sole motive worth an entry fee ? Of course not.

'I hope you have something else to offer than just trying to impress me because you heard a few rumors.'

He frowned. He should have expected me to play hard to get.

'I already arranged everything with the Institute. You won't be able to be summoned for the next week, starting tomorrow.'

'You simply expect me to follow you around because you took care of the paperwork for me ?'

'Well, to be honest, I want you to guide me, not to follow me around.'

'Don't push your luck.'

He crossed his arms. His pulse was surprisingly steady and calm, like my threat didn't have the slightest effect. My initial curiosity was slowly shifting into a more irritating feeling. Something about that young man was disturbing me. I couldn't pinpoint what yet. I wasn't one to yield, but I couldn't let that nag me all week long, could I ?

'I'll guide you there.'

'And your compensation ?'

'You are a very peculiar man. And by peculiar, I mean stupid.'

'It wouldn't be fair if you didn't get anything in return, don't you think ?'

Was that Ezreal Demacian ? I almost wanted to choke him with his own kindness. But I guess I could make an effort if I could benefit from his expedition as well. I still had to find how, however. I may have appeared perplexed, yet he seemed rather relaxed all of a sudden. He rose quickly and ordered something that plastered a mocking smile on the barman's face. The explorer came back as quickly as he left, with a pinkish beverage in hand. He took a sip with an amused glint in the eyes. He kept the glass close to his lips, until he couldn't hold back his laugh anymore. The white mark above his upper lip left next to no doubt about the glass' content.

'If you're so curious, why don't you taste some ?'

'Curious ? You're the curious one here. You are in a bar in the suburb of Noxus and you ask for some milk ?'

'Some milk with strawberry syrup !'

That had to be the most absurd and asinine words I heard from a person older than fifteen. Wait, was he really older than fifteen, anyway ? I suddenly highly doubted it after a good look at his youthful face. And seeing him gulp down the remaining drink at unhuman speed only reinforced that intuition.

'Do you have anything to pack before we go ?'

'As long as I have a living being I can draw blood from, I can go wherever I please.'

'We're leaving now, then !'

'The sun is down, you don't have any exploring equipment nor supplies. Where do you think you are going ?'

'To the ruin where you became an hemomancer.'

'What did I got myself into ?' Thought Vladimir.

And we indeed left, under the black shroud of night, the boundaries and frail light of the city quickly disappearing behind us. For someone with such a slim build, Ezreal was for sure full of energy. I gave him directions and he would always be ahead, although I was supposed to guide him. As we headed south, the surroundings began to dry and the scenery slowly changed to an ochre plain. The Great Barrier showed its first peaks with the rising sun. The last villages in the area could be our only way to get some food. And I wasn't taking a day long walking journey without something to eat. Hopefully, he figured it out by himself and packed several canteen of water. He gave me one before we resumed our journey and told me I could take another whenever I needed it. Thinking about it, it was his responsibility to buy everything we would need, yet I couldn't help but be astonished by the easiness he had to give the goods which he paid for.

'We won't be leaving until dusk. As long as you don't kill people, I guess we can stay around the village. I'll take a nap somewhere, and maybe we'll lunch afterwards. How does that sound to you ?'

So that guy knew killing people and emptying them of their blood was almost a hobby to me.

Still, he was traveling with me, on his own, to a place no one really knew about, in the middle of nowhere.

And he just left me, in a poorly defended village, that no one in Nexus has probably ever heard about, telling me he would sleep a bit, thus leaving me without proper surveillance and the perfect occasion to end his life.

That guy had serious guts. Or was completely insane. Maybe both.

He probably was insane, though.

And still, something else in him was bugging me. Something I couldn't place just yet, but involving more than simply being annoyed with him.

I kept a safe distance between the villagers and me, simply watching from afar. Seeing people chat, laugh, play together was alien to me. I was convinced I should envy them, yet I felt nothing. Not even the will to find a kin. It was like we were on different planes of existence : we saw each other, but weren't concerned by what happened to the other. It was boring, actually. So I searched for the crazy man who brought me here in the first place. He was soundly asleep, in the shadow of a massive rock. He wouldn't even notice if I pricked him and drew blood. And indeed, he didn't. I examined the droplet I extracted from him. It was a rich crimson, but it had otherwise nothing noteworthy. In spite of that disappointing conclusion, I would have experimented further if he hadn't woken up. He rubbed his eyes, stretched, looked at me with sleepy eyes, stretched again, waved his hand at me and began rummaging through the bag. He got a sandwich out and closed the bag. As he was about to take his first bite, I cleared my throat. He turned towards me with his mouth half-open. Our eyes met. His seemed a little tired, but genuinely confused. I almost heard the cogs turn in his brain as he tried to make some sense out of our situation. Finally, everything clicked.

'Is there a misunderstanding, Vlad ?'

'I can sustain on blood if needed, in the direst situation. I still need to eat.'

'I stand corrected. Take this one, I'll go buy some more.'

He checked his jacket's breast pocket, leaving me head-to-head with the piece of food he had tried to eat but a couple of seconds before. I had second thoughts. An half would have been sufficient. I felt neither tiredness nor regret had clouded his judgment. He intended to give me the whole sandwich. Because he somehow didn't fear me, or at least, that was what I believed. He came back as I was slowly munching on my second mouthful, pensive. He sat with a sigh and ate happily.

'Hey, are you from Demacia ?'

'I'm from Piltover. Why Demacia ?'

'Because of your artlessness. And your ever-smiling face. And your childish behavior. You lack some hextech or mechanical enhancement for a Piltoverite.'

'Well, I'm not interested in technology, much to my parents disappointment. Besides, who needs hextech when you have such an awesome glove !'

He paused a moment to show me the shining gem set in a silver bezel on the back of his hand. It diffused a cyan light, obviously of magical nature. It was relaxing to look at. In the back of my head, however, I was alert. The thing that intrigued me was getting closer. I dismissed the glove immediately, as I would have reacted more strongly if it was. Ezreal noticed my disturbance and thusly, his expression went from proud to surprised. When he saw no additional reactions, he simply resume eating. We finished a little before sunset and consequently left.

With long strides, we reached the temple, encased in the mountain, by the afternoon of the next day. Ezreal became ecstatic and began running for the door as soon as the building as in his line of sight. He lost his momentum when he saw the corpses. To be honest, the scene was rather nauseating. The dry biome as well as the obvious lack of blood had limited the putrefaction, but the dead bodies were nonetheless in a very bad shape. Some necrophagous birds had ripped off the remaining flesh, leaving the bones at the mercy of the hot winds, slowly gnawing at them. The intrepid explorer seemed a lot more careful, suddenly. Colors had drained from his face, and I honestly wondered if he was going to make it to the temple's stairs. As I walked, one of the corpses caught my attention because it gave off a strange vibe of familiarity. I crouched next to it and recognized my first victim when I officially an hemomancer. I poked at his right cheekbone with the tip of my claw, out of morbid fascination. A wicked smile barely got the time to stretch my lips before my traveling companion snatched me by the arm and led me all the way to the stairs.

'You can't do that ! Show them some respect !'

'Haven't you noticed they're all exsanguine ? Whose work could that be besides ours ?'

'It still isn't a reason to defile their dead bodies ! Come on, let's get in.'

We climbed the stairs at a slow pace. Him probably because he still needed some time to calm his stomach, me because I saw images and spoken words flashing through my mind. They didn't make any sense to me but when we stopped by the door, or at least where the door was supposed to be, Dmitri's words became clearer in my mind :

'Only Hemomancers can enter the temple. I shall teach you outside until you can change into a puddle or mist.'

Only then did I discerned the small aperture at the bottom of the wall. As Dmitri once told me, it was barely higher than a half-centimeter and wider than three. Unless Ezreal had the ability to shrink, he would have to return to Piltover empty-handed. He was already feeling the wall, probably for a button. He moved back and considered the building side as a whole.

'How thick is the wall, Vlad ?'

'You won't be able to destroy it with your shiny glove, believe me. I would say... seven to ten centimeters.'

'That isn't what I intended to do. Any obstacles behind ?'

'Everything is flat inside, yet the ceiling could have caved in since the temple is abandoned. I'll check inside and come back.'

'Vlad, just get in, I'll be right behind you.'

I hated trusting someone. His resoluteness left me no other choice, however. My body began to melt, my skin for an instant keeping the primordial soup of cell I became trapped inside before it combined with it, and my clothes followed suit. It used to be horrendously painful. And even horrendous or his friend excruciating were deficient words to describe the pain. Sentience was hard to maintain in this form, but I only used it for several second at best. I sneaked in the opening and reformed on the other side. The first time I managed to change into a pool, Dmitri had looked at me, and said with his hard tone :

'You need a strong sense of self to reform, Vladimir.'

Of course, at that time, it didn't really made any sense. I finished my training, absorbed my master and suddenly, I had to fight several spirits tearing my mind apart when I tried to regain a body. Some of the most stubborn still try to come back to life to this day, which amazed me more than the ability I had to put every organ in its right place without a chart to show me where they were supposed to go. Those details aside, I waited for Ezreal to show me its magic trick. A dot of yellow light appeared, flashed and the explorer simply stood in its place when the light dissipated.

'Looks like your masters didn't expected short-range teleportation when they enchanted the place.'

He sounded rather serious and knowledgeable about enchanting. And then...

'Man, that place is huge ! Look at those engravings ! And the stairs ! Where do they lead to ? Vlad ! Vlad ! Tell me !'

He lost it. Completely. His glove was providing light and his ravenous eyes began charting the entire place, incessantly switching between walls to scribble something on a notebook and I feared he might fall down the stairs since he was running around like he would die if he stopped. I went after him to retrieve the supplies and busied myself on the ground floor. Seeing it littered with rocks somehow made me somehow sad. Sometimes, the blond would came back, drag me to a door and ask with childish excitement :

'What is there behind ?'

Often, the rooms were empty, dusty and uninteresting. Never did it deterred him to continue his exploration. By the end of the first day, he was spent, happy, and had a detailed map of the whole temple. He wolfed down his sandwich, made himself comfortable against a rock with a blanket and slept. I should have done the same. His glove suddenly became alluring. It was calling out to me. I got it off his hand with ease, without waking him. I held it close to my face, examining it in the dim moonlight. Everything happened like the tear of blood I took from him. It seemed interesting at first but I realized it was yet again not what I was looking for. Irritated, I gave the glove back to its owner and sat next to him. I should have expected he would move in his slumber. Yet, I couldn't explain how he managed to sleep with his back resting against my shoulder, nor how I didn't woke up when he shuffled. I hoped I could have moved him away from me before he woke, but I had no such chance. Thankfully, he didn't even seem to realized. His enthusiasm had subdued leaving in his wake only a sober and scientific interest in the ruins. He took notes in every room he returned to, doodled more precisely some pattern appearing on the borders, completed his map for two straight days. He showed it to him and I realized he hadn't seen the last basement. It was better this way. Dmitri always warned me about this place, saying it contained something unspeakable that even the former masters were forbidden to approach. I strongly believed that whatever was inside, it was dead by now, since not even one of the five last hemomancers opened the door to this room. Thus, I didn't need to tell Ezreal about it. The blond man has grown quiet. I tried to discuss with him when we ate, but he was distant. He didn't seemed hurt, but I saw a lingering feeling in his eyes. And the next day, he finally broke his ice shell, albeit with uneasiness.

'You would tell me if you had decided on a compensation, Vlad ?'

'Of course. Why such a question ?'

'Well, we will probably leave in a day or two. I have some questions to ask you about hemomancy.'

'You're eluding my question, Ezreal.'

'When we were at the village, I remarked I had a small cut on my left forearm. And three days ago, did you do something with my glove ? I mean... we're on our own here, so if something got it off my hand, it's you.'

'I examined it. I still haven't found what deeply disturb me about you. It's not a feeling, it wouldn't nag me as much. It's something far more carnal...'

'Carnal ?'

'As in related to the flesh. Not in the sexual sense. Your blood doesn't have anything special, though. I'm... confused.'

We simply stayed seated in uneasy silence. He interviewed me on subjects like 'How did you became an hemomancer ?', 'How was the training ?', 'Did you lived here ?' ,'Can you tell me about your master ?'. My answer always stayed evasive. He must have figured out I didn't like to talk about me and my life in general. What he probably didn't realized was that I was doing him a favor. I wouldn't even have bothered and killed whomever would have been asking the same question. And I seriously considered killing him when he asked the fated question.

'So you're telling me you're basically the vessel for all the former hemomancers ? Does that make them immortal ?'

'I guess.'

'What is the difference between vampires and hemomancers ?'

'Isn't it obvious ? They're beasts, we are magi. They're savage, we're simply bloodthirsty. We do art, they do massacre.' Stressed Vladimir.

'Tense subject, I see.'

'Of course ! Everyone mistake us for them.' Ezreal seemed rather unconvinced. 'Look, if I were a vampire, you would be in tiny bloody pieces and I would eat you for dinner.'

He quickly stopped asking question after that tame outburst. I though I had vexed him for good when he spend several hours in the lower floors. I felt something dark emerge when he was downstairs. I dismissed it as one of the masters showing me his disapproval of having a foreigner survey the corridors. I couldn't care less. He was harmless compared to pillager or some of Nexus politicians who offered me to buy that place so it could become a kind of hemomancy military school. I would have had happy to serve my country, but alas, that isn't how our path work. You can't become an hemomancer, you're born as one. The only people who entered the temple either were or were future hemomancers. Or were dead. That was the rule. But as the only blood mage left and no one to call me out on that decision, I decided that Ezreal shall be an exception. In hindsight, I had became quite found of him. It showed when he came back from the lower floors white as a sheet. I didn't exactly rush to his side, but his state left me worried.

'I discovered a new basement, Vlad. The door was half-opened. I didn't realized it until I blinked inside. The room was filled with a dark aura yet it was empty. Do you think I released something ?'

'Most likely not. Get some rest for today, I'll see for myself. Unless you're too scared and want me to stay ?'

'Come back fast, please.'

I walked down the stairs until I reached the final floor. Everything was as he described it. I noticed nothing unusual so I came back calmly. Ezreal was eating one of the remaining sandwich with cautiousness, like he expected something to jump from the shadows to slit his throat. He soon after fell into an agitated slumber, which became more peaceful when I sat next to him. The following day, everything was back to normal and dusk rang the end of Ezreal latest expedition. As we were about to go, Ezreal stopped, put the bag on the floor and with his back to me, asked :

'Hey Vlad, to acquire blood, do you kiss, suck or lick ?'

'The only kiss I give is the kiss of Death. I absolutely suck at making friends or relationship in general. And I lick fools with a weird sense of humor.'

'In that case, you may want to take me against that wall. Or on the floor. I don't mind it if you're rough.'

I had my doubt when he first opened his mouth. An intuition. And that was why I snapped early, because I might have been wrong. But the way he had had to sway his hips, coil his arm around my neck like I was his long-time boyfriend, smile and talk to me seductively definitely gave off something was up. I realized it too late. Something stabbed me in the side. Taken aback, I slumped into Ezreal arms, apparently still possessed. He moved his arms around my waist, seemingly lost in that weird fantasy. And suddenly, he threw me on the floor violently and blinked away from our opponent. As I thought, a vampire : a strange hybrid between a massive human and a bat. As large and tall as two men, wingless, a reddish membrane joining his sides and his hairy, muscular arms, his body was covered in gray fur with pointy ears, small murderous blood red eyes and a gigantic maw fit with, among sharp teeth, four canine as long as for my pointer finger. To a mere mortal, it probably was a terrifying sight. Ezreal's adventures gave him more nerves than I gave him credit for. As regards myself, I simply felt a rush of adrenaline. The explorer began unleashing the tricks he used on Summoner's Rift, plus some others that were nothing more than flashy spells to me. As he distracted the beast, I gathered my globe of blood from my fresh wound and concentrated on my next move. Ezreal spells barely scorched the vampire's fur, so I guessed all we had left was to fight fire with fire.

'Ez, get out of here, immediately ! Close your mouth, your eyes and don't touch anything that look like blood !'

He nodded and blinked outside. The vampire instantly focused on me, obviously because it smelled my blood. All I had to do was cut it somewhere and throw some blood in the wound to show it what us hemomancers call the Hemoplague. Not the pale imitation they let me use on the Field of Justice. The real, infectious, rampant, destructive one. I charged, claws shining under the new moonlight. The creature reacted fast enough to dodge my attack entirely. However, rabid as it was, it almost impaled its paw on my claws while trying to slash at me. It simply gashed its palm and I added some blood of my own. It took several second, but his members began to shake violently until he feel on the floor, crying out in pure agony. It coughed blood on the floor for a short time and it seemed some of the crimson liquid made his way to his lungs and simply drown the beast. I absorbed some of its blood and purified the rest before rejecting it on the corpse. I had no use for it, I simply wanted to keep our plague as concealed as possible. Ezreal patiently waited outside, ears against the wall, although he listened to all my other guidelines.

'The beast is no more, Ezreal.'

'I figured out. I wonder what you did to it. It sounded really painful.'

'Believe me, you don't even want to know. Give me a canteen.'

I imprisoned some of the purified beast blood inside. Ezreal deserved a reward. Vampire blood greatly increased sight, smell, and gave night vision for several hours if consumed a single tear at a time. I trusted the explorer to use it responsibly. He seemed reassured to see me in a single piece. It made me want to smile. Did I even remember how to do that ? Even if I indeed remember, it wasn't the time to. Concern lingered in my younger companion's eyes.

'You are still hurt, aren't you ?'

'It will eventually heal by itself. Let's go back to Noxus.'

'Wait ! I can heal that. I haven't healed anything for some time but I'm sure I can do it. Please ?'

'Alright, but only this time.'

He boomed with joy and pointed at my wound. A golden energy wave made its way to my side. I felt nothing different for several seconds. Then, I felt like throwing up. My blood flow accelerated around my wound but followed a steady rate everywhere else. When you were used to control every droplet, it was purely and simply nauseating. I fell to my knee, simply waiting for the wound to close up. I was relieved when it finally stopped. I rose, he quickly got back inside to retrieve his bag and we departed. Along the way, walking side by side, Ezreal still appeared bothered. And I had my idea on what was making him tense.

'You remember what you told me when you were possessed, don't you ?'

'I guess it work like any possession and thus you're always truthful in that state ? Well, I think you must look handsome beneath those layers of clothes, anyway. But I'm still sorry for what happened.'

'Keep in mind that they always tend to make their puppets use words that could really work with the person they're trying to lure. Make of that what you want.'

We chuckled. The following silence wasn't as awkward as one may think. It sure wasn't the kind of thing two male friends would say to each other. But we weren't friends. Merely acquaintances. I'll probably never knew what disturbed me so much about him, and we'll probably never meet again outside the Institute. In the end, he got to explore the temple's ruins and got out alive and I got a week away from Summoners and their antics. That time wasn't entirely lost.