Chapter 7: Annie's Team
As Annie wandered aimlessly through the league, she met all manner of champions. She met a big scary man in large armor wielding a sinister looking axe, an fierce woman wearing only a small female loincloth and bra made of animal fur, wielding a spear that looked to be made in the forest, and a few other interesting champions.
Annie ran into Meril,who appeared to be in a good mood, "Annie! Are you going to watch the upcoming tournament qualification battles?"
Annie shook her head, "What's that?"
"Jeez," Meril stated surprised, "Everyone's been talking about it, but I'll explain it to you thoroughly. The League was formed because of the Great Rune wars which ravaged all of Avaron. Basically what happens here is factions that are enemies will battle in the League to decide who will have bargaining power. These battles within the league determine battles in that would normally happen outside these walls. Basically by fighting in here saves millions of soldiers' lives out there. For example, Demacia won the League tournament last year, and as a result they liberated Bandle City from Noxia, as it had been under Noxian control. However, anyone with five members can enter, as some people such as the Bilgewater team fight strictly for money. When they won the tournament two years ago, they used the power to receive royalties of 5,000,000 from Noxia and Demacia. Everyone has something to gain by fighting in the League. The tournament is run in a single elimination bracket. Some years its an 8-man bracket and others its a 16. Anyone can make a team, and as of right now we have 11 teams! If you want to join a team Annie, I can show you the draft sheet."
"What's a draft sheet?"
"Basically some neutral teams fight to maintain balance and prevent either side from getting the edge. I know Master Yi does, despite his hatred of Noxia, Nssus and Soraka also fight neutrally."
Annie shook her head, "I don't want to fight in it! It doesn't sound like fun."
Meril, taken aback by her response, "But why wouldn't you want to fight for a faction. There could even be an opening for you on the Institute's team. Think about it."
"I did. And it doesn't seem fun, so I don't want to do it."
"Well. Okay the, you still have to fight in your two matches daily, but if you change your mind, there is still time until the sign-ups."
Little did Annie know, she would be entering in the tournament before the end of the day.
Ezreal leaned back in his seat in the library, "No way. Hastur. That would mean she's part of the-"
Ezreal slowly reread the paragraph in the Noxian criminal archives, The Hastur's are charged with multiple accounts of illegal arcane knowledge, insubordination, and treachery by refusing to share the knowledge with Noxian officials. For these crimes against the Noxian government the High Order hereby sentences Gregori Hastur and Amoline Hastur to death. Gregori Hastur, as a warlock will be placed in the arcane draining chamber and will have his powers drained until he is dead. Amoline Hastur will as a Witch shall be purned on the Ancient Pyre. THeir secret organization,, the Gray Order shall be taken control of by the Noxian High Order and all knowledge and research shall be transfered from the members of their Order to the Noxian military for use against the Demacian enemy. Let it also be known that the Grey Order has followers in many different regions and factions, from lands as far as the Voodoo Lands and Great Barrier to lands as close as Bandle City and even Demacia.
Ezreal shook his head, "What have I gotten myself into?"
He opened a weathered, old manuscript that he had recently went on a small expedition to find, "I need to know more about this Grey Order."
He opened the book and began to read the ancient language written there, The Grey Order is an ancient society which controlled most of the world and was lead by two men; Malzahar DeNoxious and Hayton Demaca. These two men lead the Order in all endeavors of the land and had begun researching the greatest of arcane abilities. However, while researching Malzahar discovered an a hellfire arcane ability that he wished to keep a secret from his brother, and for a long time Malzahar did. Malzahar hid these secrets in his servant's body, Malvinci Hastur. These abilities attached to Hastur's very being, and unbeknownst to Malzahar, he would later pass these arcane abilities off to his son. However, when Hayton discovered what his brother was doing he demanded to know more about these hellfire abilities. Malzahar refused and in anger his brother began a battle with him. The battle was so great the entire building in which the Grey Order was housed was destroyed. Enraged with each other they both traveled in separate directions and formed two kingdoms, Malzahar decided to name his kingdom Noxia, while Hayton decided on Demacia. Malzahar escaped without showing his brother his secrets but the two were locked in a battle that would surely span years.
More like millenniums, Ezreal thought sarcastically as he finished reading the page. Ezreal was left with a tough choice, deciding whether or not to tell Annie of her heritage, as well as the fate of her family. This Grey Order though, I'm surprised they haven't tried contacting her or something, anything.
Annie was skipping down the hall towards Tristana's room when she ran into Ezreal, who appeared out of breathe, "What's wrong Ez?"
"I have a lot to tell you about your family. We should go somewhere private, where is your room?"
Annie cocked her head to the side a little, "it's down the hall a little further, what's wrong Ez?"
"I'll explain everything inside, we just shouldn't talk about this out here, just in case."
Annie wouldn't look at Ez, she couldn't concentrate on what he was saying about the Grey Order after he told her about her parents. She could already feel the tears running down her cheeks. They felt cold and foreign. She didn't like it and wanted it to stop. Ezreal kept talking about this Grey Order and some alliance, and Annie tried to focus on him, but her mind was too busy. All she could think of was some of her fondest memories with her mother and father. Picking flowers in the forest with her mother; learning to hone her abilities with her father. So many memories flashed through her mind and she slowly watched them fade away in her mind. For the first time in awhile,even with Ezreal sitting right next to her, Annie felt alone. She felt completely alone. Her despair was slowly replaced by rage at her parents' Noxian killers. Annie suddenly felt herself fall backward and she felt a similar sensation as when she was summoned. She realized as her body hit the floor that she was being summoned.
Annie looked around at the usually base and nexus in front of her. She remembered what she had been told, after you'd been in the League long enough the summoners could summon you from anywhere. The thought left her mind and she was so angry she grabbed the first thing the shopkeeper handed her; a scepter of some sort. As she ran towards the middle lane she heard his yell something about an abyss to her. Annie felt a few tears run down her face as she reached the middle of the lane. She heard a crow screech and looked at her opponent, hobbling towards her.
"Swain," escaped her lips before she could no longer concentrate, and felt herself rush towards him, fireballs forming in each hand as she charged. She used one of her fireballs to disintegrate Swain's crow as it flew towards her. Swain's gaze never changed as he watched his prized bird fall to the ground in a heap of charred flesh and bone.
Annie felt something grab her ankles, and looked down to see crow's talons had risen from the ground and ensnared her feet.
"TIIBERS!" Annie screamed, and as the bear was summoned underneath her, the talons were shattered and the bear rushed towards Swain.
Swain slowly hunched his shoulders and hid his face for a moment, but when his head arose a crow's form had replaced his head and body. Tibbers rammed Swain's body, but Swain managed to stop the blow, locking with Tibbers. Letting loose an enraged scream, Annie fired multiple fireballs at the hulking crow-form, burning Swain badly. As Swain staggered back, his crow form dissipated and Swain watched expressionless as Annie jumped off Tibbers and landed on him-with her hand blasting through his chest.
Swain coughed and looked at the gaping wound in his chest from her fireball. He dropped to his knees without a word and died. Annie looked up and screamed at the top of her lungs. To her right she heard the distant sound of an axe, and a muffled grunt which she immediately realized to be Darius's voice.
She tore through the brush, burning a trail behind her and charged towards the top lane. When she arrived she saw one of her teammates with an arrow through her chest, lying motionless on the ground. As Annie charged she saw Darius swing his axe and pierce into Nautilus's, one of her allies, chest. Nautilus turned his head as he saw Annie charge. Gripping Darius's axe tightly so he couldn't pull away, Nautilus rooted him to the spot. Darius was enraged, and as he looked to where Nautilus was looking and saw Annie he realized in horror what was about to happen.
"Fuck! Nooooo!" Darius screamed as Annie leapt through the air forming a large fireball in her hand and blasting Darius in his face.
As her flame died, she watched Darius fall to the ground, only a charred skull remaining of what was once his face. Nautilus, nodded his head slightly, fell forward on his face, also dead. Annie continued her warpath, charging through the top lane, destroying towers with reckless abandon, crushing minions with extreme prejudice, and leaving the earth beneath her scorched in her anger.
As she arrived at the enemy base she saw a teammate, a woman with a green aura surrounding her, and what appeared to be a headdress floating behind her head. Annie charged recklessly-directly into a trap. She felt her body unable to move. Suddenly she was transported a short distance, swapping position with a half man half machine creature. Unable to move she watched as a flurry of arrows rained on her, making it impossible for her to move at her regular speed.
Unable to move out of the way she watched the creature move in close to execute her, but just as she was about to fall she felt a force wash over her and realized this woman with the strange headdress, had cast her arcane powers into Annie's body. Fueled, Annie rolled out of the way as the Urgot brought his axe down on the ground next to her.
Annie summoned Tibbers once more, who lowered himself to all fours and tackled Urgot to the ground. Unable to stand Urgot watched in horror as TIbbers brought his foot down on Urgot's head, crushing it and killing him.
The enemy team's sole survivor, Varus, swiftly retreated, realizing the battle was lost. Annie and the strange woman quickly destroyed the Nexus, securing victory.
Annie opened her eyes slowly, her gaze blank and her usual smile replaced by an emotionless straight face.
Ezreal, whose face had became pale and horrified, "A-Annie. What was that out there?"
Annie rubbed her eye, "I don't like them! I hate them so much! They're the reason mom and dad are gone."
Ezreal swallowed, her brutality in that fight was sure to gather her some notoriety around the league. He was worried about the type of people she was going to attract.
Ezreal sighed, "You should take a nap Annie. It's a lot to take in, and I don't know how to console you properly."
Annie nodded her head and laid down in her bed clutching Tibbers tightly. When she awoke, Ezreal wasn't there, and a rumbling in her stomach convinced her it was time to go eat. However as she walked down the hallway, she ran into the woman from the match she was in earlier.
"Hello," the woman began, her voice soft and soothing, "My name is Karma. I believe we met on the battlefield earlier today."
"Hi," Annie said less than enthusiastically, she just wasn't feeling herself right now, "My name is Annie."
"Indeed Hastur," Karma started, "I know you quite well. Come, we have much to talk about, I have important things to tell you."
In a more discreet location, Karma turned to Annie and began, "Have you ever heard of an organization called the Grey Order?"
Annie nodded her head, "my friend told me a little about it."
"Good, I'll spare you some of the petty details. I witnessed your battle prowess today. I was going to wait until you were older to confront you about joining our ranks, but that performance convinced me that you are more than ready to join us. Your parents were the previous leaders of our order and under their leadership we have expanded as far as the voodoo lands, and our following has increased an immense amount, Even in death, they are still instrumental in the Order."
Annie's mouth gaped open, she had remembered her parents telling her about the Grey Order, but she did not know they were this important, "But why? Why is the order fighting in the league?"
"You're a sharp one Annie," Karma began smiling lightly, "You remind me of myself at your age. The reason we are entering the tournament is to use our increased support and number of champions to fight for the right to create our own country, one to oppose Noxia and Demacia. We wish to create a society that pledges allegiance to neither side. By winning this championship, we can take land from the two factions to create space for our own society to develop."
Annie smiled, "So we get to take something from Noxia, the same way they took my parents away? I want in."
Karma felt a little uneasy as a dark smile played across Annie's lips, however she ignored it, "Great. The team we are bringing into the tournament is Myself, Graves, Vi, Taric, and now you. I'll introduce you to everyone, and we'll train vigorously so we can handle ourselves properly in the tournament."
Annie nodded, barely hearing Karma's words, her mind focusing more on taking revenge on her Noxian enemies.
Chapter 8: The Encounter
The second assassin squad attacked them after the pair left the Freljord. Lux, already annoyed at their lateness, made short work of the Freljordian assassins, blasting light through their bodies, and altering the light itself to force the assassins to make fall as Ashe put arrows in their heads.
"These guys are pathetic," Lux said, "Katarina was a much bigger difficulty."
Ashe nodded in agreement and the two continued the long journey back from the Freljord. After they had dispatched the previous two hit squads it was a relatively quiet trip back to the league. Upon their arrival, Lux headed to her room to rest for the rest of the day as it was a long journey. Of course as she arrived at her bedroom she was summoned to a match. As she felt her essence pulled from her body, she sighed.
She blinked twice and looked around at the rift, "Nothing's changed I see." She glanced to her left and saw Darius and Fizz, and to her right Ezreal and Graves, "what a strange team."
Everyone looked at each other, confused as to why they had been paired up.
Darius roared, "What is with this. Lux you Demacian bastard. And Ezreal you pansy armed little boy. What is that little blue guy?"
Fizz cocked his head, "I think it might be feeding time."
Darius growled at him and lifted his axe threateningly, "You wanna die?"
Lux glared at Darius, "Shut up! Ezreal come with me on bottom, we can work well together, I think. Fizz you go middle. Graves go top and for you Darius. You can die for all I care."
With that Ezreal and her ran towards bot and towards what would be an intense battle, leaving Darius glaring at her back. While they sprinted towards the middle of the arena, Lux could feel Ezreal hadn't taken his eyes off of her the entire time.
"As much as I agree we should get to know each other to work well together, is there a reason you're just staring at me?"
Ezreal shook his head, "I was just impressed. I've never seen anyone stand up to Darius, most people are scared of him."
"Yea well, he's not that powerful."
"Yea, I guess you're right," Ezreal shuddered, remembering his charred skull from Darius's match against Annie (*A/N: This match is occurring after Annie's match in the previous chapter. It occurs shortly after Annie was pulled away by Karma).
As they arrived in the clearing, Ezreal turned to Lux, "I know a little about you, but not much. I'd like to get to know you better."
"And now is the time you want to? You sure know how to catch a ladies attention."
As she finished she rolled, narrowly dodging the huge bolt that thudded into the tree behind her, Vayne stepped out of the brush and loaded another bolt.
"Well I like to learn things in a dangerous environment! I am an explorer and archaeologist. And be-" he started as a hand flew from the bushes and grabbed him. "Oh fuck you Blitzcrank," Ezrel growled as he fired a bolt of energy into the robots chest, forcing the robot to drop him.
"You never finished that thought," Lux said, firing a bolt of binding energy at Blitzcrank, rooting him to the spot as Ezreal flashed back and fired a bolt behind Lux at Vayne, clipping Vayne and sending her spinning to the ground.
"Good move," Lux said rolling under another arrow and firing a ball of light bending energy at her. The bolt connected, and Vayne's movement was slowed and blood spurted from her stomach.
"Thanks, I'm full of 'em," Ezreal replied, firing another bolt from his glove at Vayne, knocking her off her feet, "In fact," he rolled towards Lux and stopped; his glove pointed directly over her shoulder, his face inches from hers. He fired a large bolt of energy that blasted through the bushes and sliced the enemy hiding in the bushes in half, "we should get dinner sometime. I promise it'll be quite the adventure."
Lux stood surprised and motionless, staring into Ezreal's eyes, they are such a wonderful shade of blue, she thought, looking down at the blade that had been thrown through her stomach. She dropped to her knees in front of Ezreal, who stood above her, looking around for blitzcrank.
"That's not good, Draven managed to get that axe in you pretty good, but if we fall back we can use the base to heal your wound, give me your hand."
Lux, who could barely see at this point, felt for his hand, grabbed it, and the two quickly retreated. The run back was difficult for her, and Ezreal had to help her up multiple times, but they managed to return to base.
As the wound closed, Lux looked at Ezreal, "Thanks. You really saved me back there."
"You can repay me by going to that dinner," Ezreal said flirtasiously.
"I want to, but I'm kind of seeing someone. I just can't do that to him," again she added in her head, not proud of her moment with Ashe.
"Ah right, you're still seeing that Xin guy right?" Ezreal said as the two left the base and headed for the enemy's base.
Lux nodded her head and the two ran silently towards the enemy base. Uppon arrival they noticed Darius lying on the ground with several spear wounds through his chest.
"Those are definitely Xin's," Lux stated, "be careful, he couuld come from anywhere, his talon strike is dea-"
Ezreal fired a bolt, but it was too late, the spear had driven itself through Lux's chest. Lux looked down, horrified.
"L-Lux!" she heard Xin say, "I didn't realize it was you. I-I'm so sorry!"
Lux fell to her knees, and Ezreal used the opportunity to fire a large bolt directly over her head, slicing Zhao's head clean off.
Lux fell to the ground, her body growing numb, the spear still pprotruding from her chest, "I-I don't think we'll make it back to base this time," Ezreal said, "I'm gonna end this match right now, we'll win."
He slowly readied another bolt from his glove and fired at the nexus, finally taking it down.
Lux came to to Xin, standing in her room, "I'm sorry about the match."
Lux glared at him, "I know we were on opposite teams,but its not okay. You just flashed in there all quickly and went right for me. You are the worst kind of person, all I was doing was supporting Ez."
"Yea this Ez guy, I don't like him. You shouldn't talk to him."
Lux stared at him, mouth ajar, frustration beginning to surface, "You're NOT my father. You don't get to choose who I can and can't talk to. I choose, and in fact I'm chosing to not talk to you. I don't want anything to do with you, and I hope you have a great life, I won't be any part of it, anymore."
"Let's not be brash," Xin replied, "I'm one of Demacia's greatest soldiers, and you are the best assassin, we are very lucky to have each other."
Lux cocked his head a little, "Get out of my room. I'm done with you." and with that she turned away from Xin, and ignored his continued pleas for her forgiveness.
Lux soon drifted to sleep, thoughts of her match and teamwork with Ezreal the only ones in her head. She decided to go out with him on that dinner. She was definitely going to say yes when she saw him tomorrow.
A/N:Yea, sorry about the long time between chapters, I've been busy. I hope you see the direction I'm going with this story, it should be rather interesting, I've been flying by the seat of my pants on this. I hope its been making sense to everyone so far, and feel free to let me know of any discrepancies you notice while you're reading.