"I heard everyone loves Kha'Zix more than Ahri." –Brand
Demacia: a city of glory, home to those who believed in unity through an established order that stood against villainy. Where darkness lies, Demacia traverses through with a shining beacon in its hands. Lines of soldiers specialized to take on certain tasks protected the city and eradicated threats that persisted in its borders… and sometimes outside of it.
Prince Jarvan Lightshield the Fourth, a talented warrior and leader, held power and responsibility as a result of his status and title. As a Lightshield, he carried the name of the royal Demacian family that let the country remain safe from skirmishes and battles, and as a prince, he had the honor of being a prime example of a Demacian leader.
And another day had come for him to do nothing in particular.
Sitting in his dormitory, which he sacrificed to establish a Demacian meeting room to get together with both valuable comrades and treasured friends, the prince sat at a round table, staring off into the ceiling blankly. Garen, his most trusted friend and ally, read through a magazine covering details on obsolete weapons next to him. A bunch of others all loitered around without doing anything productive for Demacia.
At last, they had nothing to be productive for during the day and age of the Institute of War's steadfast presence on Runeterra. As champions of the League, they were to remain as active as possible within the Institute's boundaries. Of course, the places they could go to were not necessarily restricted, but considering that they had quite the luggage of fame with them, many summoners excitedly wanted to participate in League matches with the Demacian champions. It was only natural for all of them to stay in the Institute most of the time.
That did nothing to explain why Jarvan's spear-wielding comrade, Xin Zhao, sat in front of a television and mash buttons on a controller to cleave through warriors that mysteriously resembled Noxians of the old. The Seneschal of Demacia was, without a doubt, one of the most competent warriors in the Fields of Justice, being able to singlehandedly smash away foes around him to take down targets he puts his focus on. Outside of the Summoner's Rift, he got his own share of combat-heavy fun through video game consoles.
Quinn and Valor, the Wings of Demacia, simply watched Xin Zhao play video games without saying much. Despite boasting an ability to spray onslaughts of arrows in the Summoner's Rift, Quinn did not move much outside of it. She preferred conserving her energy to keep herself at top condition… though, Jarvan had recently begun to suspect that it was just an excuse to not do anything strenuous. Valor followed Quinn around, so there was not much to be said to her loyal bird companion.
A gargoyle sat next to Garen, his eyes closed and his stony body unmoving. Although genuinely frightening to face in battle, Galio had an almost souped up version of Quinn's trait of being inactive. He would sleep… and just sleep for most of the day unless he felt like eating or following important orders. Once in a while, Galio would depart and search for Poppy to see if her quest in finding the owner of her legendary hammer had come to an end.
Being the only yordle of the Demacian champions, Poppy was usually outside of the meeting room to either mess around with her friends or continue her quest to find her hammer's owner. Literally everyone told her that she was the destined one to wield the hammer, but the naïve Keeper of the Hammer continuously denied such allegations- even in front of the most convincing of evidence.
There were several others that had yet to show up for the day, yet Jarvan had a feeling he would meet some of them very soon. With that in mind, the prince straightened himself up as he broke his train of thoughts.
"Every single time I get to a save point with low health," Xin Zhao complained to nobody in particular as he muttered under his breath, "there's always some gigantic boss waiting to kick my ass with a marble pillar. How JOYFUL! GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!"
Xin Zhao was one of Jarvan's best friends. The Exemplar of Demacia repeatedly told himself that as the Seneschal of Demacia growled furiously.
"Garen, I'm going to go and talk to Fiora on settling matters in Kalamanda," Jarvan said as he got up.
"Take your time."
Donning his gloriously shiny armor, Jarvan Lightshield left the Demacian meeting room as he adjusted his crown.
Truthfully, Jarvan was quite an easygoing man, but his status as prince called for a serious one. Although once in a while he would get a bit overboard with competing against Swain, his actions tended to determine how his friends would act for a short or long period of time.
Strolling down the second floor lobby in the Champions' Break, Jarvan took a deep breath.
"…Where the heck did Fiora go anyway?" He mumbled as he looked around the vacant lobby. It had been two whole days since she had left the Champions' Break since she claimed she had to set off for a "friendly family reunion" with all of her combat equipment in hand.
He took several steps forward as he made a turn to a staircase, only to find a certain Maven of Strings enter his field of view.
Oh, it's Sona!
His heart fluttered at her very name. Yes, he was not one to be too judgmental about looks, which explained why Galio even became a part of the Demacians in the first place, but… she was just gorgeous in both her looks and personality. A delicate and respectful maiden who played beautiful music and held others' safety above her own…
I must give her a greeting before I look for Fiora, he thought as a smile entered his once idle expression. As the cyan-haired maiden walked up a staircase to the third floor, the Exemplar of Demacia followed her.
Much to his surprise, she continued to keep going up the stairs. Up, up, and up she went, and soon the prince found himself blinking at how endlessly she continued to walk. Most of the champions lived up to the third floor of the Champions' Break, so her going past the fourth floor in itself was strange.
I want to call out to her, but this does pique my curiosity, he thought as he continued to go up the stairs.
Soon, he reached the top floor.
…Wait.
The top floor. It was a floor that recently had one of the old champions return to. If memory served him right, Garen told him about a returning veteran occupying the top floor of the Champions' Break.
And that veteran was none other than-
"H-Hello, Lord Mordekaiser."
"Ah, if it isn't the Maven of Strings? Forgive me for looking impatient but I was just on a killing spree in a lovely competition of shooting games. What do you want?"
Standing in the hall was Sona, with Mordekaiser, the Master of Metal, right behind the entrance of a metallic dormitory. Jarvan's jaw fell at such a sight, but his eyes nearly popped out of its sockets when she asked,
"If it would not bother you… may I come in for a moment?"
"…Eh, fine. Just don't empty my fridge while you're here."
Jarvan Lightshield watched Sona gently walk into the dormitory, with Mordekaiser standing by the entrance with crossed arms and an annoyed look. The iron man promptly slammed the door shut in the roughest way possible after the Maven of Strings slipped in.
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The first thing that came into Jarvan's mind was a big, fat,
"W-What the fu-"
"AND SO, WE WILL BEGIN OUR MEETING FOR TODAY!"
Jarvan slammed his hands against the round table that sat within the Demacian meeting room, his eyes wide in alarm.
Everyone in the room took their seats at the round table. Shyvana, the Half-Dragon, and Luxanna Crownguard, the Lady of Luminosity, both respectively sat next to Jarvan and Garen as soon as they entered the room. Jarvan had sent out a distress signal to his officers, though some of them like Fiora and Shauna Vayne were highly likely to ignore him for reasons unknown.
"Today, I had witnessed something frightening," Jarvan stated after he cleared his throat, his tone barely composed and filled with concern. "Today, I have seen Lady Buvelle enter the dormitory of none other than Mordekaiser."
"…Uh, Jarvan?" Shyvana asked as she blinked at the Lightshield's confusion. "I heard that Sona is trying to befriend him, and judging by how she's still alive, it might just be working."
"S-Still!"
A sigh escaped from the prince's lips as he shook his head. "I, in no way, would prefer not to presume that the lord of undead is accepting of new friendships. As a leader of Demacia, however, I am still aware that he has attacked some of our people, and most importantly, manipulated their souls into harming others."
Xin Zhao raised his hand. Noticing that he was still holding a grip on his controller, he quickly tossed the thing away before raising his hand again.
"Yes, Xin Zhao?"
"Is this important?"
"…Yes."
Garen's bright little sister raised her hand as she asked with a beaming smile, "Why are we still talking about this?" And to make matters worse, Garen, who usually sided with Jarvan's points, seemed reluctant on whether to question the purpose of the prince's suspicions or not.
"E-Everyone," the Exemplar of Demacia spoke again as he coughed. "Please hear me out."
The Demacians stared at Jarvan intently, their eyes wide with genuine curiosity.
"I am proposing," Jarvan said after he finally calmed everyone down, "that we watch over Sona for the next few days."
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"…Jarvan?"
"Yes?"
Xin Zhao slid his hand over his hair as he bluntly told his leader with a deadpan look,
"That's fucking creepy."
"Yes," Garen agreed, coughing as he blushed for some really odd reason that unnerved Lux. "T-That may be… taking things a bit too far."
Shyvana's eyes glowed as she glared daggers at Jarvan, the ever-quiet Quinn doing the same. Right before Jarvan was able to ask why they gave him such a menacing look, Poppy entered the room with a big lollipop in hand.
"Hey guys!" She chirped with a big smile as she lifted the candy. "I'm baaaaaack~!"
Turning to the happy yordle, the Half-Dragon, the Lady of Luminosity, and the Wing of Demacia felt lightbulbs appear over their heads.
"Hey, Poppy," Shyvana almost seethed as she asked, "what do you think about putting Sona under surveillance for three days straight?"
At first, a look of confusion washed over the yordle's bright smile. Her confusion slowly contorted into a disturbed frown as she muttered, "That's kinda creepy. Who would think about something like that?"
The Exemplar of Demacia raised his hand as he confessed, "I have."
"…O-Oh. It's, uh… It's kinda creepy, buuuuuuut I guess there's a… good p-point in doing so?"
"It's fucking creepy."
"Xin, don't say that in front of Poppy," Garen berated the Seneschal of Demacia. Ironic, considering how old Xin was compared to the Might of Demacia.
Letting a hand slam against the table to catch everyone's attention again, Jarvan cleared his throat as he took a deep breath.
"Everyone," he clarified, "I am not saying that we should spy on the Maven of Strings. I am proposing that we should take a look at her surroundings and what she does with the other champions for just a few days. It is for her safety, of course, but it is also to alleviate any doubts her friends and I could feel about her actions."
Being a prince made him very, very convincing. The Demacian champions' eyes shined at his brilliance.
"Dear gods," Xin Zhao whispered, "that makes a whole lot of sense even though it's still fucking creepy."
"DON'T SAY THAT IN FRONT OF POPPY!"
"OKAY FINE, GEEZ!"
The next day, Sona Buvelle gently walked down the Champions' Break with her etwahl. After a defeat to her summoner's opposing team that left much to be desired, her spirits fell a bit. She and her summoners had fallen into some sort of "losing spree," and while Sona herself was patient with the concept of defeat, her summoners all seemed to feel greatly discouraged to continue using Support champions at every loss.
She hoped that fate would grant her a few victories to make the people around her feel better.
As the Maven of Strings went through the entrance of the Champions' Break, a group of familiar Demacians poked their heads out behind the doors. They had hidden in nearby bushes until the maiden walked into the Break.
"Like I said, this is really, REALLY creepy," Xin repeated for the hundredth time, turning to Jarvan with a deadpan expression.
"Just give us a moment and we'll be at a better position," the Exemplar of Demacia reassured.
"That's not assuring at all, Jarvan."
"…"
Shyvana jabbed at Xin with an annoyed frown, mouthing him to shut up. Garen and Lux blinked at the oblivious Maven of Strings' path in an identical fashion, and Quinn pretended to listen to Jarvan as she examined his handsome features. Poppy ran off to mess around in the bustling center of the Institute of War, but nobody said anything about it.
Why Galio ran off with her as well, nobody could explain in any form.
"Well, let's follow her, then," Lux chirped brightly as she took a step away from the entrance.
"Wait."
Startled, the Demacians whirled around and found none other than Master Yi, the Wuju Swordsman, standing behind them.
"Y-Yi?" Garen said as he made an awkward grin. "Well, um… You see, we're-"
"No need to explain it," the Ionian warrior said with a serious tone as he nodded once. "I understand your troubled thoughts, and I believe I can give you all assistance."
"Any kind of assistance is appreciated," Jarvan blurted out before any of the Demacians were able to question whether or not Yi knew about what they were doing. "Is there something strange with Sona as of recent days?"
The master of Wuju stroked his beard as he put up a thoughtful look shielded by his visor. "I know of a dark secret," he admitted, catching the attentions of the Demacians quickly.
"A… dark secret?"
"From Sona?!"
"What could it be? Tell us!"
"This does seem to be quite troublesome."
Master Yi nodded gravely.
"Sona has been hanging out with Mordekaiser recently."
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"…We all know that already."
After being severely disappointed by Master Yi's "revelation," the Demacians continued to follow and watch Sona from afar. Fortunately for them, the Maven of Strings was far too occupied with trying to keep her thoughts from clouding her mind.
And so, she decided to shoo away her dark thoughts! The cyan-haired maiden went to her dormitory and cleaned everything in sight, but the thoughts lingered! She tried to exercise by jogging down the lobby, but she was unable to go further than one pathetically slow lap.
Dressed in a blue tank top and sky-blue training pants, she sat at the bench as she took deep breaths, a thin layer of sweat glistening on her beautifully healthy skin. The Demacians watched her recover, Jarvan, Xin Zhao, and Garen staring rather intently at the tired Maven of Strings.
Lux smashed her brother's head with her staff. Quinn and Shyvana slammed Jarvan and Xin Zhao's heads against each other.
As she continued to compose herself, however, Sona eventually heard a voice that belonged to a certain Shadow Isles general.
"Is that… the Maven of Strings?" Mordekaiser mumbled to himself from afar, catching the maiden's attention as he walked over to her with a dead horse slung over his shoulder. Why he had a dead horse over his shoulder, she did not want to know.
"Well, if it isn't the Maven of Strings," the Iron Revenant cackled with the dead animal remaining still on his armor. "I suppose you were working out, perhaps?"
"Y-Yes… Hello, Lord Mordekaiser."
"Is that thing next to you the Ed Wall thingy-majigger?"
The maiden glanced at the instrument she left on the bench she sat at. She forgot to leave it in her dormitory…
"Yes," Sona answered gently without pointing out that her instrument was called an etwahl and not an Ed Wall.
"I knew it. Woman!" Mordekaiser boomed as he pointed an index finger at her, "I demand you to- Ah, hold on. Lemme get rid of this… horse."
Rushing over to a gigantic furnace room usually used to heat things up, the lord of undead threw away the dead horse in a raging fire as he returned to the lobby. The Demacians watched in silence and concern as the hulking figure walked over to Sona.
Mordekaiser opened his mouth to say something, only to find no words slip out of him. He remained still for a few good seconds before he confessed,
"I forgot what to say."
Everybody except for the Master of Metal and the Maven of Strings slammed their faces into the palms of their hands.
"…Anyway, move over. I'm gonna lie down."
"A-Ah."
Some people made their actions vague to avoid looking disrespectful to others. Mordekaiser had little to no respect to anything and clearly preferred to treat everything depending on how he himself was treated by them. So when Sona scooted over for him, she knew that he was not trying his hardest to be rude to her or anything along that line.
The lord of undead found the mix of metal and wood to be impressive in the sense that it did not make him bolt away from the lack of metal. Although nothing could compare to his flawless sofa, having a change of furniture was not bad once in a while.
…Except the bench was not his, and it was far from being "furniture" to anybody. There was also the fact that he just got kicked out of his own dormitory by Vi because he called her "fat hands" and triggered the Piltover Enforcer way too hard.
The Maven of Strings glanced at the lord of undead, who stared at the high ceiling.
He was far from gentle, but something about the iron-clad warrior made her feel at peace. Around her, his talk of violence lessened. He spoke excitedly about music instead, the one thing both of them share heartfelt passion for. Whereas he delved frequently into the realm of more modern, yet obscure music such as rock and metal, she knew most about instruments with long histories to them.
He intentionally adjusted what he talked about around her without explicitly telling her about said adjustments, and that let Sona know he was nicer than most people made him out to be.
Sometimes he would just randomly throw a mace at a fly in his dormitory and leave a huge crack on a metal wall, however, so he still had a long way to go.
He was still a great friend to have.
"Woman," the Iron Revenant muttered as he peered up at her. "You seem to be deep in thought."
Startled by his sudden statement, the Maven of Strings flinched as she put up a nervous smile before sighing dejectedly. As much as she wanted to hide her emotions, the lord of undead was almost a god at reading them. It reminded her of Karma and Soraka's talent in deciphering even the most complicated of emotions, though the iron man did not seem to care as much about such a trait.
"My… matches have not been going well as of recently," the Demacian maiden admitted, her eyes half-open as she held back a frown from taking over her idle expression. "I believe my losses have been affecting both my fans and summoners negatively. And I am still quite lost on what to do…"
As she spoke, the Demacians fell silent from their bickering. As weird as all of them hiding behind a giant plant vase was, they knew that Sona was one to easily feel guilty about those who feel bad about underperforming even with her assistance. The woman who played the etwahl had a soft heart, and her confidence was just as fragile.
Jarvan's heart fell at the thought of the maiden not speaking to anybody about her issues. She rarely shared them to anybody else due to her not wanting to trouble others about her own concerns and worries.
But the lord of undead turned out to be a strange case to her.
Sitting up, the Master of Metal turned to her and simply stared at her without moving an inch. Sona blinked, her eyes widening as the Iron Revenant slowly leaned into her with squinted red eyes.
"Maven of Strings," the iron man muttered as he peered into her cerulean eyes, "as much as I want to tell you to 'git gud,' I'll tell you to just keep trying."
"…?"
"Just try. Try! Try to kick more asses. Try to… support more asses or something. Heal asses. Anything as long as you're doing anything to carry the idiots who keep throwing your games! I'm sure you'll find out what mistakes your summoners make and talk down the little shits into actually winning.
"Of course nobody's good consistently and slumps roll in once in a while. Except me. I'm legitimately overpowered as balls, and the League holds me back to make me look slightly weaker than a fed Rammus. HA!"
The Demacians wondered what the heck the lord of undead was exactly talking about, but the Maven of Strings smiled at the boast he snuck into his advice.
"…I'M BEING SERIOUS HERE, STOP LOOKING AT ME LIKE THAT!"
Much to the surprise of the champions of Demacia, the maiden stifled a silent giggle as she looked away from the angered Master of Metal.
As the lord of undead crossed his arms while mumbling about how everybody respected and feared him in his older days, Shyvana poked at Jarvan with her gauntlets equipped. "I've never seen her like that," the Half-Dragon remarked.
"Neither have I," the Exemplar of Demacia agreed. "Neither have I, but I…"
A small smile formed on the prince's face. Mordekaiser was an emblem of destruction, tyranny, and chaos. At least, the emblem people had constructed based on his general actions and beliefs displayed in the public said so. And while the prince of Demacia was not one to laxly let the Master of Metal out of his perception, he realized a trait within the grumpy Shadow Isles warlord.
But his comrades would not understand just yet. After all, the prince himself shared a bit of interesting history with the Iron Revenant. What mattered at the moment, however, was that Sona was not in big danger for the time being.
Before Xin Zhao suggested that they sniped Mordekaiser with an AWP, the Exemplar of Demacia spoke quietly, "I believe we should back off for now."
"Wha- but Prince Jarvan," Garen said, looking between the prince and the Iron Revenant, "I think we're witnessing what could follow into anything at this point. I suggest-"
"He's right!" Lux gushed excitedly with sparkling eyes as she barely contained her volume. "This could lead to a… a… A… HUG! THAT'LL BE SO CUTE!"
"Or they could just screw each other. Right out here in the open where we can see them-"
WHACK!
"HOGEUHGAGH-"
Lux smashed her light stick against Xin's head so hard, he fainted. Quinn took out a cup of salt and poured it over his wound. Jarvan attempted to calm everyone down but again, none of them were able to be silenced quickly.
At that point, both Mordekaiser and Sona had become aware of the Demacians' presence. Rolling his eyes, the iron man grumbled to the maiden, "Looks like your 'friends' are fighting in a pretty Noxian way. Go check it out."
The Maven of Strings nodded as she got up, no longer exhausted from her underwhelming exercise. Facing the Master of Metal, she bowed politely as she gave him a small smile.
"Thank you, Lord Mordekaiser," she said, her expression noticeably brighter than before. "I hope we speak with each other more soon."
"Hmph."
And thus, the Demacian maiden scuttled off to relieve the Demacians of their panic, only to frighten them even further when she revealed that she had noticed them following her. Mordekaiser closed his eyes as he enjoyed the sweet tones of fear and confusion… but he ended up rolling off the bench to walk away due to how obnoxious Lux's screams were.
That day, the Maven of Strings got a bit closer with the armored warlord of the Shadow Isles.
Author's Notes:
Jarvan isn't a butt-butt. Ye.
Next chapter - "Wrath of the Blood Moon!" Featuring a lazy Vi pitted against a Kalista wearing a Hannya in a not-so-battle-like battle(?).
Also… Steel Revolution will soon receive a webtoon-styled comic for a portion of its first chapter! It'll probably be released later when I feel like completing it, but for now all I can say is that it's rather unpolished and (literally) sketchy. Mordekaiser in a colorful page sounds pretty interesting, don't you think?
I have no idea where to upload the thing once it's done though so bear with me.
-NK-