A/N: Oof! This is my personal favorite chapter I've done so far, and I tried really hard to make their drama reasonable. Safe to say, I absolutely adore angst in my fics!

Remember to rate and review, and as always thanks for enjoying!

He had not even known Kai'Sa for that long, but the girl should have been paying rent for how long she spent on his mind.

While Ezreal knew that she was more than competent enough to handle herself against anything Shurima had to offer, it did nothing to soothe the nagging paranoia persistently bunkering down at the back of his mind. Ezreal was probably more worried about the threat of Rengar than she was.

You know, despite not being one who was being hunted for sport.

Every minute passed with as much speed as a tortoise's walk. He sat alone at the table with their dinner wrapped in paper bags, swirling a cup in one hand and fiddling with his pen in the other. The boy scoffed as the pen slipped out of his grasp, dropping onto the ground. He had a feeling Kai'Sa would have scoffed at how much he was worrying about her.

"Ugh." Ezreal pinches at his nose, trying to clear his brow of furrows. "Where is that girl?"

On cue, his roommate bursts into the room.

"Oh. You're back, finally I-"

His words cut.

Kai'Sa leaned on the doorframe for a moment, before pulling herself into the room with one claw and slamming it shut with the other. Both of her cannons coughed plumes of smoke from their muzzles. Her human face is flushed a light shade of red, black armor covered in small scratches and wounds. The various scars looked like they could have only been made by powerful swipes of a blade.

The very same blade that Ezreal himself had nearly fallen victim to the night before.

"Oh my Gods, what happened?"

"It does not matter."

"Yes it is! You're hurt!"

"I will live."

Both watch as Kai'Sa's living armor trembles, weakly shuddering as cracks open along her chest.

The human skin below was a ravaged battleground: pale skin illuminated by the dark blood of a Voidborn. Like the craters on the face of the Moon. Worse still were the bruises, large dark patches that stood out against her complexion. Kai'Sa willed her armor's scales back into place a second too late.

"Wh-who did this? Was it Rengar? Did he hurt you?!"

"Forget it. We cannot stay here." She insisted. "We have to go."

"Go? Go?! You look like you can barely move-"

"It does not matter. There is someone dangerous out there. My condition is not your problem."

"Well guess what? We're friends! That kind of thing is exactly my problem! J-just let me help you for once!"

Ezreal didn't know when he had started shouting, but the explorer managed to calm himself down with a few deep breaths. His first instinct is to grab a potion pushing it into her hands. Kai'Sa had the nerve to look down at it, remaining frustratingly apathetic to her own condition.

"Aren't you going to drink it?"

"Why are you so upset?"

Her living mask clicks over her injuries. Despite the distortion of her voice, Kai'Sa almost sounded concerned at his emotional state. Ezreal swallows his frustration, ignoring his pain in favor of doing something right for once.

"Mad? I'm not mad. Nope, not at all."

"Your unstable emotions will not help us in battle, they will only distract us."

"I-I know that, that's why I'm trying to not-"

"Tell me."

"Ok, fine, look now is not the time - you're right, this is not about what I feel and like you said we have to go and -"

"You could not have helped even if you were there. "

The wrap of bandages he was holding drops to the ground, rolling off to one corner of the room. As usual, Kai'Sa hit her mark - and that only served to further infuriate the boy. His chest shudders with a rattling breath, foot dragging across the floor.

"You don't need to rub it in my face."

"I am not."

"Oh you kind of are-" Ezreal tore a long strip of bandages, using both his arms and teeth. "Just saying."

"It is not your fault, I left you behind to protect you."

"Did you? Or did you really do it because you think I'm not good enough?"

"Good enough?"

"Don't play dumb."

In a burst of emotion, his hands slam onto the table.

"What? You think I don't see it?" He spat frustratedly, rage directed at none other than at himself. "Do you know how it feels to be helpless? Ever since we've been going on this Void trip, all I've done is screw up over and over again! It-it's like I can't do anything right, and you - you're always risking your ass to bail me out! I-I just can't take it! What have I even done right?!"

Her unfeeling mask hides whatever emotions Kai'Sa had at the moment, if she even had any. The potion bottle rolls, then shatters on the floor; shards and red spilling onto the rocks.

"I- I need a moment. Alone."

And with the courage of the Number One Explorer, Ezreal blinked out of the room.

He didn't care where he was going to, but he could no longer stomach staying anywhere near the Palace of Dreams.

And seeing his friend hurt because of him.

His journey took him past the city walls, and into a dried oasis. Gauntlet overheating from constant use, Ezreal allowed himself a break; slumping onto one of the many boulders in the area. The night was quiet, crickets in the bushes chirping peacefully under the tapestry that was the star-filled Shuriman sky.

A familiar bark consoles him.

Kog'Maw chirps attentively as it nearly runs him over eagerly. The Void monster nuzzles at his hand - wagging its stubby little tail. Sensing his lack of energy, it crossed its legs: ruffling its scales and taking a seat next to him. Kog'Maw chirped reassuringly before laying down his head, napping on the sand.

"Thanks pal. I needed that."

He calms himself. Ezreal took a deep breath, letting the rampant emotions run their course. There was no time. Kai'Sa was in danger, and this was not helping either of them find a way out.

"Ok. I'm fine now, all good." He sighs to himself. "Time to focus. First step, going back and apologizing. Shouldn't be too hard-"

A familiar purple missile explodes on the creature's side: sending chunks of armor and flesh into the air.

She was here.

In the darkness of the night, it was hard to remember that Kai'Sa was still human beneath her armor. Her claws flexed dangerously as Kog'Maw huddled behind him, whimpering worriedly and looking to the explorer for protection.

"Just go Bud! I can handle this!"

Ezreal could not in fact handle this, but he had to try. Heeding his words, The Voidborn flees into the bushes: only for a sudden row of plasma missiles to send it careening to the ground. Its little legs flailed helplessly as Kog'Maw screamed on its side. Her cannons glow with plasma as she readies another barrage; even as Ezreal moves to stand in-between Kai'Sa and her target.

"J-just calm down - I know what I'm doing, just trust me -"

"Why should I?"

"I-Come on, we don't have to do this-"

Ignoring him completely, Kai'Sa pushed him to the ground with surprising force. As Ezreal skids across the sand on his back, the girl's eyespots dilate in what looked like shock. Her hand moved outward as if to help him up, but the claws snap shut as fast as they are offered.

A blood-curdling shriek broke the calm.

Glowing a similar shade of purple as the huntress, Kog'Maw unleashes a barrage of acidic bullets; packing enough force to disintegrate trees and impact craters into the barren rock of the former oasis. His instincts pushing him onwards, Ezreal rolled onto his feet and blinked to safety. He didn't stop running as the sand shook, the Voidborn's berserker rage destroying the entire oasis.

"Kai'Sa!"

The huntress was dodging between the artillery shots with expert grace, beautiful even in the midst of battle. Ezreal stopped to marvel at the sight, until her cannons abruptly changed direction in mid-air.

"No! Stop!"

She closed the distance to his rabid companion in record time: grabbing at Kog'Maw's tongue and forcing it to the ground with a sickening crack. The brutal manuver spreads acid all over the ground, the Voidborn's howls of anger turn to shrill panicked shrieks. Using her legs and free claw, Kai'Sa spread the creature's jaws to their full length: and pulled on its tongue with enough force to crack bone. Ezreal could almost hear her growling behind her mask.

Kog'Maw howled in pain, an attempt to appeal for mercy to someone who did not have any to give.

But before she can finish the job, the explorer just managed to find an opening in the barrage: teleporting closer and blinking them both backwards. Kai'Sa shook off his grip with surprising force - leaving a rash on Ezreal's palm through the glove. The boy grabbed her arm a second time, but the force of her glare was enough to make him relinquish his grip.

"I-"

"Get out of my way."

Undeterred, he blinked forward: putting himself firmly in between the huntress and her prey. Kai'Sa regarded him apathetically, cracks of violently crackling plasma criss-crossing over her obsidian armor.

"Stop. Please." Ezreal wheezed, holding his hands up placatingly. "We don't have to-"

Kai'Sa fired without hesitation, plasma missiles curving around his body.

With one last shriek, his beloved friend fell to the sand. Ezreal blinked, his mind unable to rationalize what had just happened. His hands begin to tremble - raging in the name of vengeance.

"Do you really not understand how dangerous it is?"

"I - Kog'Maw has never hurt me once. H-he was my friend. He was peaceful."

"Peace? You are a fool if you truly think a Voidborn would understand peace."

"Look, I know that you - you lost people to the Void."

Ezreal immediately regretted mentioning that from the way it made the huntress flinch: but his growing outrage overpowered his restraint. Kai'Sa had killed his friend. She deserved it.

"B-but have you ever actually even tried to empathize with them? To see if maybe, just maybe, they weren't all bad? Kog'Maw wasn't that bad, I mean he-"

"You do not get to lecture me on the Void."

"And I am not doing that." Ezreal tried one more time to calm down, but his cheek marks burned with brilliant light at his true emotions. "All I am saying is that maybe, just maybe Kog'Maw specifically wasn't a bad Voidborn. Maybe, if you actually listened to other people instead of going at it like alone-"

"I have always worked alone." She emphasized condescendingly. "Until you chose to come with me."

"I-I mean- we're a team aren't we? And teams work together, at least I think they do."

"It does not matter. The Voidborn had to die."

"Did you even hear me? Actually, actually - do you even care what I think? Because, you're not doing a-"

"Now is not the time for your tantrum!"

She shouted. At him. Kai'Sa still dared to be angry at him after what she did to Kog'Maw, his friend. The girl paused as if hesitant, but her tone returned to being cold rather than comforting. It was like she didn't care about him at all. Ezreal's jaw tenses with a flood of outrage.

"Let us get this over with and go."

"Tantrum?! You know, you're making me sound unreasonable after you just beat an innocent creature to death! Look at what you did to him! D-do you even care about other people? You didn't even listen to me when I told you to stop! Didn't even hesitate to butcher and maim my friend?! What kind of partnership is that?"

Kai'Sa didn't even flinch. It was like talking to a wall, his volume and temper rising even higher.

"I did what was necessary."

"Necessary? Necessary?! T-tha-"

"It was for your own good, what is so hard to understand about that?"

"H-how do you even know?!" He fired back, pointing again at the dying innocent creature. "I had it all under control until you came along and ruined everything, heck I could have settled it if not for you always rushing in without giving a damn about what I say! H-how can I trust you with doing anything after what you did to my friend!"

"That is not your friend."

"Well neither are you!"

The anger in his own words stuns even himself.

His rage flickered out when the girl's mask dropped.

It was clear to Ezreal, too late, that Kai'Sa had been listening. The girl looked aghast and shocked, an expression of vulnerability that was hidden beneath her cold glare. Her frown was tense yet trembling, drawn so tight that it looked like her muscles could snap.

"I-I- just forget that." He stammered. "You're hurt - here-"

The vial is slapped out of his hands. As venomous and intimidating as Kai'Sa tried to make herself sound, her voice was shaking - filled with repressed hurt. Ezreal blinked back his shock as the potion leaked onto the sand, staining it red.

"Save it for your friend."

Before he could try to fix things, Kai'Sa was already gone.