Darius left soon after Draven. Bidding everyone good night, he stepped out into the chill night air and headed towards the Champion residences. The Champions' housing was provided by the League, whereas Summoners came and went; the League had a hotel for Summoners on a short visit, and most Summoners lived near the League complex. Darius and Draven, being brothers, chose to share rooms when they joined the League as Champions. With Darius being a former Noxian army general and Draven an executioner, they were often referred to together as the Blood Brothers.

Darius found Draven waiting for him not that far from the tavern.

"What was the mess in the bar all about? You were closer than me."

"Long story, short, Ahri came in with some Summoner's boyfriend and they quarrelled over it. That Helen girl joined the fray and got Ahri to leave her. Ahri then suggested a contest of sorts."

"Typical Ahri. What kind of contest?"

"A seduction contest. They suggested some Champions to each other, but in the end Ahri told Helen to try to do you in. Jinx agreed with Ahri. I did too, honestly."

"You have got to be kidding. Don't tell me you thought she was my type."

"Hey, I saw you looking at her during that match. Don't think I wasn't watching you. At the surrender attempt, remember?"

"Well..."

Darius hesitated, before Draven continued ranting: "Looked clear enough to me. And the chat you two had after the match...you looked good together. I'm pretty sure she's your type."

"Just, shut up, will you, Draven?" Darius told him, then snapped out moments later, "But first, why didn't she do it anyway? "

" She said it was a matter of respect. But I don't totally believe her. Do you?"

"We're almost at the appartment and I will hear no more of it."

"Fine then, but I'm telling you, I can see something happening between both of you."

Darius just sighed and ignored Draven for the rest of the walk. And the night.

Helen could hardly sleep out of excitement of being Silver. Over a year had passed since she was able to participate in a competitive level, and throught this time she had risen up from Bronze IV, where she had started, only to strand at Bronze I and fail four promotion series, each of five matches. Finally, she had made it to Silver. The following day, she went to the League complex at eight in the morning, which was incredibly early for her doing.

It should be said that although out of the five roles, she was best at AD carry, she enjoyed playing support and jungler from time to time. She arrived and thought herself too excited to be an adequate marksman. Instead she opted to play her favorite jungler, Vi, the Piltover Enforcer. As she entered the Summoner room she was startled to find the Summoner of Darius in her previous match on the opposing team. And sure enough, while the chosen Champions were being Summoned is became clear that he would be controlling Darius again.

With Helen playing as Vi, she was joined by Irelia in top, Zed in mid, and Twitch and Alistar in bot, facing Darius top, Malzahar mid, Tristana and Lux bot and Evelynn jungle. With what was according to what she had seen previously the best Darius player in the world, along with their strong team composition, she feared her first Silver match might come to her first Silver loss as well, but as it turns out, her team ended up winning, with Darius in possesion of the only positive score.

Helen's ganks almost always resulted in a kill. And it was with her score of three kills and one death that she made what she would later consider her best play of the match.

Darius was the only one who had won his lane and destroyed a turret, and at 5 kills he was a force to be reckoned with. He was fighting Irelia, and dominating the lane. Helen finished her golems and rushed over to top lane. However, Irelia was low enough for Darius to ult her, and so he did, getting his sixth kill.

Happy with his domination, he prepared to recall not so far from his turret, except that Vi managed to get her ult off on Darius seconds earlier, interrupting his dunk. Darius got knocked to the wall, and together with Helen on Vi, they bought Darius down.

" Shut down. "

" Haha! Late.. But better than never. And as I always say: If you hit a wall, hit it hard! "

The fact that she was sniped by a Lux ult while recalling put a downer on Helen's euforia, but she was still proud of engaging Darius without a single damage being layed on her from him.

Sadly, her Vi game proved the only victory for her that day. Playing as Vi and Jinx intermittently, a combination of Summoners leaving because of unforseen circumstances, feeding by her teammates and, it must be said, more bad plays from her than she wanted. When she left after five-something games of this, she was dejected and frustrated, keeping on thinking what went wrong to lose so many games in a row.

"Let's see, first there was that Xin Zhao that got 2 kills in mid and top and then steamrolled us bot. Little I could there. Then there was that Nami who kept dying to Lucian. After two deaths she should have known to stay behind the minions for the Thresh hooks."

Well, I suppose you get the idea of her thoughts.

"I wish Hyper was back from his holiday already. Good supports are hard to come by."

Hyper referred to her main bot lane partner, who she had played with often. Sadly, he was on a three-week vacation and she had to do without.

She stopped at the tavern, finding it empty aside from Gragas. Drinks in the tavern for Champions were free, but Summoners had to pay for their consumption. Don't worry, Summoners were paid to do their jobs, and the tavern was the only restaurant within an hour's walk from the League complex. The money earned there was used solely for maintenance of the complex as the main contractors for the tavern delivered the drinks and food for free (Or they would risk having 120 Champions turned against them).

Gragas was a drunkard and spent most of his time not on the Fields, but in the tavern. He even slept there most of the time. Well, he was now anyway.

Helen approached the counter and ordered a drink, waking Gragas while doing so.

"Gragas? Wake up dude."

"Uhhhh...I keep forgetting there's a reason Drunken Rage has a cooldown," he uttered, "Ah, screw it. " Then he noticed that Helen was the one to wake him up. "I didn't think anyone came in at this hour. Least of all Summoners," he said, the booze still thickening his voice. "Hey, aren't you that girl who...ehm..." said Gragas as he struggled to remember, "...ehm...did that backdoor thing and got a penta doing it?"

"Yeah," Helen answered, happy to have someone to talk to, even if it was a drunk fat guy, "Though the Penta wasn't mine."

"Well, what are you doing here at this hour?" He said, moving over to her, "I rarely see anyone here at..." He looked at the clock, "... 3PM."

"Let's just say that the backdoor glory is over. I lost five games in a row and none of those were my fault. "

"Ah well, shit happens. I bet you're here for a drink to put that miserable day behing you, eh?"

"Yeah, I guess. Just one little glass though."

Gragas held out his hand.

"What?" Helen asked.

"Money before booze, girl. You know the drill."

"Ok, ok, let me just find my..." that was when she realized she had forgotten her wallet at home in the excitement.

"Ah shit, forgot my wallet."

"Then I can't help you, girl. No money, no drinks."

"Oh come on, Gragas, I'll pay you in a few hours."

"Nope, I need that money in advance."

She banged her fist on the bar, then crawled to the counter. "PLEASE GRAGY!"

"No means no."

She was about to give up when something flashed into her mind. "Hey Gragas." He grunted an answer. "Do you accept any currency other than gold?"

"Depends on the currency."

"I might have something you're interested in," she said, getting closer to him, biting her lower lip.

"I wasn't talking about that sort of currency," Gragas protested.

" Ah come on. Even people like Aatrox and Jax fell for my charm. "

"No, girl, it isn't going to happen. If I gave free drinks to every girl who tried that I'd be out of business by now." Dejected, Helen backed off and just slumped.

"Nice try though," a voice beside her said.

Saying that she was startled would be an understatement. She almost fell off her chair and managed to stay put only by grabbing the bar as she fell. Aided by the voice's owner she got back on her chair and when she looked at him she saw the black eyes belonging to Darius.

"Scared you?"

"Kind of... I'm not hurt, so its fine."

"What were you pulling with Gragas there?"

"I forgot my wallet and I had no change. Never seen anyone so hungry for gold."

"You know how he is. When he needs gold he's always sober. Ahri's contest did effect you huh?"

" Draven told you, did he? "

" Who else would? "

"Well, what Ahri said did come to mind. That I'm sexier than I think. Anyway, what are you doing here? I thought only Gragas would be here at this hour," Helen said.

Darius asked the same thing back.

"Well, I had a bad day. Lost five games in a row. I just got too fed up."

"How'd you lose them?"

"See, that's the problem. None of them were my fault. Just people leaving, feeding and bad plays."

"That does suck," Darius said, and after a brief pause, "Let me just buy you that drink."

"You would?"

"I don't joke easily, Helen. Besides, noone as good as you should have that kind of misfortune."

"Thanks. I wouldn't have thought you gave compliments like that."

"They're not really compliments. I'm just stating facts."

"Still, thanks. But you didn't tell me why are you here?"

"Nothing, Draven's just being his usual insufferable self."

"Tell me about it."

They just sat there for a while, until Helen finished her drink and bid her regards to Darius.

"Well, thank you so much for the drink. I do feel better now."

"No big deal, it's the same for me."

"No, really, I owe you one."

"Then bring your wallet next time," he said, granting her a smile as she left the place.

The silence that followed was interrupted, once again, by Gragas's alcohol-induced snoring.