I'm a bit sceptical about this chapter because I feel like the backstory is a bit... off. But please tell me what you think.
It was cold and dark in the dungeon, just as he liked it. It send shivers up the spines of his victims, a tiny bit of extra torture that he liked to provide. The dungeons were pretty much his home. After all, he spend 95% of his time here when he wasn't at the institute.
This place was his home and he felt the most confident here, as it should be. It was the place where he could ponder his thoughts without being disturbed. Especially now, with Zaphara out to explore the isles he could do his work without being disturbed. He currently sat on his very own chair in front of his desk. His lantern was hovering closely beside him, silently playing its song of moans and chirps of souls. In the warden's hands was a green orb that chirped occasionally. It sat still in his hands, only swaying from side to side occasionally. Thresh was staring intently inside of it, searching for something. He could see what others could not. The memories of the soul. They flashed inside the soul like a movie on fast forward.
'It had to be somewhere', he thought to himself. 'It must have an explanation'. There couldn't be any other way. He scrolled through the memories until he got to the person's childhood. The memory projected a playground. The person was currently swinging on a swing, looking around curiously to what was happening around it. Finally its gaze fell on a lone boy that sat on a bench, looking at the children with a loathing expression on his face. The boy had bright blue eyes and black hair. The person's gaze fell on a woman that was standing by the swing, smiling at her.
''Who is that mommy?'' A small high pitched voice asked. The woman looked at the boy the girl was previously looking at. Upon seeing him she softly frowned. She turned back to the child with an incredibly fake smile, but the girl wouldn't know any better. ''Nobody you should concern yourself with, dear''.
The memory started swirling as Thresh skipped a part, not entirely interested in the girl. He stopped when he saw a close up of the boy. It seemed the girl had approached him and was now sitting beside him on the bench. ''Here you go'' she said as she extended a small piece of a chocolate bar. ''It's really tasty. It's my favourite'' she said as she practically shoved it in his hand. The boy took the piece and took a small bite, nibbling on it slowly. A ghost of a smile passed over his lips and the girl giggled in glee.
Something disturbed the warden upon seeing these memories. The first thing that disturbed him was the kindness of the girl, which he absolutely detested. But the second and foremost was the fact that he felt a pull at his chest. He knew that boy from somewhere. Somewhere in the back of his mind his subconscious was nagging at him, pleading for him to remember, but he could not.
Trying to find more clues he skipped the memories again. He could see flashes of the boy throughout her memories as they were both growing up. Suddenly as he skimmed through the memories he could hear something odd. It was like there was static that was blocking out most of the sound. It was hard to hear anything of the memories that followed. Curiosity made him go back to where the static started. When he saw the image he noticed that it was blurred incredibly and he had to squint his eyes in order not to go dizzy. He could not see much, for it was all blurred together but he could make out two bodies entwined in a tight embrace. They pulled back and stared at each other. He could see their mouths move but could not hear what they were saying. The static was too loud and was overpowering all sound. It was like the owner did not want him to see this memory.
He skipped forward again in the hope that the memories would once again become clear. He stopped when he suddenly felt an overwhelming amount of sadness coming from one particular memory. Nearly the entire image was covered in white except for a few people who added some beige smudges. He could only guess it was some kind of hospital. He could hear them talking but it was hard to make out the words. He could only hear 'Noxus', 'captured' and 'dead'. When the person was done talking he could feel an immense sadness coming from the memory and he could hear the owner start to cry. ''Redmond...'' was the last cry he heard.
That nagging feeling in the back of his mind reared up as he heard the name. Thresh flinched and let go of the soul favouring to grasp his head that had suddenly flared up with pain. His flames roared up as it mimicked the pain, roaring around recklessly in his neck. It was like something was trying to force its way to the front of his mind, something that he thought he had long forgotten. He could hear the name over and over again by the same female voice, but it sounded happier. ''Redmond. Redmond. Redmond!''.
Suddenly his eyes sprung wide open and images flashed before them. He felt disgusted to find that his memories were the same ones he had just seen, but from a different perspective. He had always thought these memories were forever lost, but somehow they had crawled back to the front of his mind, painfully so. The images were playing in front of his eyes in fast forward. an embrace, a confession, a kiss, an explosion, screams then darkness.
He was forced to re-watch the memories he thought he had lost. They made him feel... anger, hatred, fear but above all... remorse. The images slowed. For a moment there was only darkness until he saw a face. ''Welcome. How are you feeling?'' it was an old man. He had a long white bird with a matching moustache. He was bald and had many wrinkles on his face. He was obviously very old. ''I'm fine. Just a headache'' he could hear himself respond. ''What happened to me?''.
The old man frowned slightly. ''I found you on the border of the country while I was travelling. You were badly injured so I brought you here to heal. Could you be a survivor from the battle between noxus and demacia?'' There was a moment of silence when he finally replied. ''I don't know... I can't remember anything. Not even my name...'' ''Well won't do. What would you like to be called, my son?'' He could almost hear himself think in the memory as he thought of a name. Finally he uttered one word. ''Thresh''.
The spectre roared out as he fell out of his chair and onto his knees, still clutching his head and now closing his eyes tightly. He wanted this pain to stop. There were too many memories crashing down upon him and he could not make any sense of it. He could only feel confusion and frustration. It only stopped when he felt a hand on his shoulder and a voice fill his ears. ''Thresh?'' she asked questioningly. He looked up to see the familiar face of Zaphara looking down at him with a worried expression. Suddenly her face looked more alive than usual, the face of the girl in his memories. Suddenly the feeling of joy filled him. It was such an unfamiliar feeling that it was making him yell in pain. He went back to clutching his head as his entire form started shaking.
Zaphara worriedly wrapped her arms around him, not knowing that her comfort was the last thing he wanted right now, but just the thing he needed. After a few moments his quivering stopped. His flames that had roared up during his attack started to calm down slowly. When he thought he finally regained his senses he swatted away the hands that were around him, not wanting to show any more signs weakness. He stood up on his own two feet, staring down at the woman. ''I thought you were out?'' he said more menacingly than he meant to. But Zaphara did not flinch at his tone. ''It has been several hours since I've been gone. I just got back when I heard screaming'' again she looked at him with worry. ''are you all right?''. If Thresh had a proper face it would turn up in mild surprise. He could never get used to her display of emotions. It was unnatural for an undead. Again her face flashed with the image of the woman from his memories. Another headache flared in his head. He grasped it momentarily, clamping his mouth shut.
Her hand was instantly on his head to comfort him, but instead of swatting it away like last time he gently pushed it away. ''I'm fine. Just a headache'' he said. He could see her face scrunch up in thought, showing that she knew that he should not be able to have 'just headaches', but she did not push it which he was thankful for. Thresh turned around to look at his desk where the soul still floated. The soul had grown dimmer since the start of his examination, which surprised him. But what surprised him even more was the fact that it had not tried to escape. It would have been the perfect opportunity, yet it still stayed there. He took it up in his hand and placed it inside his lantern without a second glance.
He turned back to the woman who had tried to glance around him to see what he was doing. He frowned down at her. For a few moments there was an awkward silence between the two. Thresh could feel his eyes wander up and down her frame. It was only then that he noticed that she had quite the body for a woman. Her cheeks were angular and there was a tiny hint of red on them. Her chin was perfect. Her neck was slender and her collarbone stood out on the dress she currently wore. The dress also gave him a full frontal view of her generous chest. She was lucky to have such a sustained body after death. He quickly shook his head to not let his mind wander to places it has not been ever since his death. It confused him to have all these thoughts again and it even slightly scared him. ''You should go'' He said strained, as if he was struggling to control his temper.
Zaphara knew when she was not wanted in the presence of the chain warden and so she smartly turned around and left the chamber. He could hear the faint clicking of her shoes on the stones before they faded into silence.
He placed both his hands on his desk and leaned on them, thinking once again. He could not find the answer he was looking for but one question was finally answered. One he has asked himself ever since he woke up that one day. What happened to him. The memories still swirled in his head and made it ache. He rubbed a hand over his bony face and sighed. He had noticed that the memories awakened even more feelings in him than Zaphara alone had and it made him furious. He growled loudly before he slammed his fist into his desk, cracking the wood considerably, almost breaking it. He knew this was going to be a long day full of torture. He just wondered who would be tortured. Him or his victims.
I know that Redmond was not his name when he was alive, but I had to give him something that made him recognize it was him in the memories. If you didn't like the name do not worry. You won't see it appear too often. Maybe once or twice. I might have twisted his real backstory a bit (the one one at least), but only the bits I could find nothing about. And since this fit perfectly with the story I decided to go with this. The reason I chose this kind of past is because I wanted to give Thresh a reason to grow his feelings for her and for Zaphara to do the same when she finds out. The reason the memories are blurred and has static is because she has shut this memory out when she was alive, Something not many people can do.
Please tell me in a review or a message what you think of this backstory for the two. I just randomly thought of this while writing this chapter and thought it fit.