Crescendo, Chapter II:

Way too much trouble

All things considered the settlement of Krexor didn't seem too bad a place. There was a bit of an initial culture shock at just how little technology these people had – even the lanes had been more advanced for crying out loud – especially since Piltover was still just around the corner. Evidently though Pilties didn't like to share their advancements, not with Zaun and certainly not with the rest of the world. To their credit, sharing anything with Noxus didn't seem like the best idea given the recent attempted invasion. Jinx had never been one for politics, yet she couldn't help but feel a certain animosity towards this "empire", that had attacked them just when she thought she might have a shot at having a family again. Flashes of Isha shot through her brain and her left hand briefly twitched in anticipation, trying to grab a weapon no longer attached to her side before she forced it back.

Afte the airship had landed Jinx had left the settlement as quickly as she could, desperate to put some distance between herself and the inhabitants. Finding out that it was part of Noxus had been easy enough,given they were literally greeted by a soldier wearing extremely familiar red and golden armour welcoming them briefly into the "great empire of Noxus". Bunch of krugshit that was. It had already been late in the evening then so making camp in the outskirts had seemed like the best idea. Being able to let out some steam without anybody noticing had been a nice side though she was leaning against a tree, trying desperately to calm her mind.

Feelings of guilt and regret had always been like a constant background noise, an ocean for her to drown in, even though she had struggled to stay afloat for years. Ishas death had been what finally made her give up and let herself drown, and weirdly enough there had been a strange sense of calm through it, a numbness to everything that didn't require her to keep on struggling. She didn't give in to that sensation ultimately, and fighting for your life had a funny way of keeping even the most scattered mind focused. Now however she had nothing but time and she could feel her mind beginning to rage against her once again. It had always been like this, whenever the day came to a close and there was no other way of keeping her head occupied, that's when the demons would return. Sleeping was not her favorite pastime to put it mildly. It didn't feel quite as bad as it used to, although whether that was a sign of her doing better she did not know. It felt more like the voices became less loud and aggressive, and more tempting, trying to coax her into following through with her initial plans and ending her suffering for good. She started to hate these voices even more than the loud ones.

Pulling her knees up to her chin she clutched her legs and looked around the patch of forest she had claimed for the night. Some of the trees looked a little worse for wear, courtesy of a shimmer induced rage session when she got here, but all in all it was a calm and rather peaceful place. The air was clean, almost disturbingly so. Jinx didn't think she had ever breathed air so clean before in her life, not even in the upper city. Then again, she didn't think she had ever seen more than a handful of trees in the same place either, so maybe there was some connection there. Slowly letting go of her legs her left hand instead touched her neck, unconsciously looking for one of her braids to pull on, only to find nothing. That had been a stupid call, hadn't it? Ridding herself of herhair thinking she would never have to look in a mirror again, yet here she was looking like she made a bet with a gutter rat and won the fur, for all the world to see. She could hear a chuckle and assumed it to be hers. At least this would make it harder for people to recognize her, if anyone was even looking for her here to begin with. That would probably be a good thing to start with tomorrow, look around for any posters or other indications she was a wanted criminal here.

The loud rumbling of her stomach caught her attention. Right, she hadn't eaten in ... three days? So that was probably up there on the list, which did raise another important question, how was she going to get food? She had no money – never needed any before – and ultimately nothing of value on her person. All of her guns and equipment were destroyed during her escape. She could steal it, sure. She had already done that to get the airship ticket in the first place. But then there hadn't been much of a risk in Piltover. What would they have done had they caught her? Called her a criminal, put out a bunch of wanted posters and locked her up? Been there done that. If she wasn't being looked for here though, was that a risk she was willing to take on her first day? It seemed like a bad start for a new beginning. Her stomach protested loudly though, arguing that starving would also make for rather bad start. It raised a good point. With an annoyed sigh Jinx fell back down onto the mossy forest ground.

"Being honest is way too much trouble."

It was the first time in a few days she had heard her own voice outside her head. Had it always been so devoid of energy? Maybe she was simply tired, it had been a long couple of days. Looking up at the dark treetops she could just make out the sparkling of a few stars. A strange sense of calm overcame her, unlike the numbness from before, thinking back on her decision. She had put herself in an absurdly bad position here, in the middle of nowhere, completely on her own, with nothing on her person but some torn clothes. And yet, for perhaps the first time in her life she was certain to have done the right thing. Everyone she knew would be off better now, she just knew it. Lingering on that thought Jinx tried and failed to stifle a yawn that threatened to dislocate her jaw, before eventually closing her eyes and drifting off to a fitful sleep.

The midday sun mercilessly burned down on her simple hood, the thin material doing little to protect her pale skin. Scouting the town in the early morning had shown no sign of her being searched for, however since there evidently existed a regular transportation between here and Piltover Jinx chose to stay hidden as much as possible. She was getting enough weird looks as it was with her torn up and dusty clothes, plus some of the damn graffiti still hadn't come off yet so she was walking around town looking like a rainbowy unicorn fart. Why did she paint all over herself again? Damn her and her inclination for dramatic entrances.

Apart from finding no indication of her being wanted she also didn't find much else. The town itself was small, especially so in comparison to her old home. She estimated not more than 2000 people could be living here, and it took her just about an hour to see most of it already. The technological differences still surprised her, with some even showing in architectural abilities. While all the buildings where at least made out of stone, they mostly appeared to be simple one story houses, with an occasional outlier. There were no big towers reaching for the sky, no elevators or unicycles. What did seem strange was the number of soldiers roaming the streets, there seemed to be almost 1 soldier for every 4 people. That seemed a bit excessive, even during the sheriff's dictator phase there hadn't been such disproportional numbers of enforcers in Zaun.

Maybe they're just having a parade soon or something, it's not my problem anyway!

Her problem was indeed way more immediate, as shown by her stomach loadly protesting. Even not being recognized she certainly stood out like a sore thumb among the crowd of either simply dressed noxian common folk, red and gold soldiers or way better dressed Piltover refugees. Which obviously meant everyone was looking at her in suspicion, making it way harder to get some food. Sure she grew up a street rat, stealing came as easy to her as walking, when everybody's constantly looking your way though that worsened her chances of success significantly. Additionally, even if she managed to swipe something from one of the market stands, the second anybody would notice something's missing they would suspect her anyway. She's been there often enough in the past. Naturally no one wanted to just give her any food out of the kindness of their hearts, so short of begging for food her only options seemed to be to venture into the forest and hunt something or find some way to get money. She was already beginning to feel somewhat light headed and did not want to find out how long she could run on the shimmer in her blood alone.

It's a shame you know nothing about hunting, do you? You probably couldn't even catch a horned rabbit!

Oh zip it, as if you would know, they all spent their lifes in a huge city for crying out loud. But how hard could it be? Plus she could probably catch up to a rabbit easily. The only real problem was how to track one down in the first place. She didn't exactly fancy the idea of blindly running through the woods for hours. Weighing her options she eventually came to a halt not too far away from the marketplace she scouted before, in front of a somewhat bigger single story building with a very unassuming look, multiple broken windows and a sign above marking it as the "Guillotine". Charming. Jinx had walked passed it twice already but had refused to enter as she didn't want to risk too many memories from the Last Drop resurfacing. Looking at it now though that seemed unlikely, even at the worst of times the Last Drop had never looked remotely as run down as this place. Still, run down or not, if she learned anything from living in a tavern for most her life, it was by far the easiest point to get some information.

Steeling herself for another moment she pushed the somewhat moldy door open and stepped inside, only to force back a gag from the smell of alcohol, vomit and some other unsavory liquids that had seeped into the floorboards for decades, being brought up by the heat of the midday sun. So much for not awakening memories, this kind of stench could send some Zaunites packing. Stifling a cough Jinx pressed on and took in the entire tavern.

It was about as disappointing as she had assumed, with maybe half a dozen simple sturdy wooden tables and stools positioned throughout the place and a small counter to the left, as far from the entrance as possible. Considering the amount of broken furniture and windows it made sense to keep the counter far away from the entrance where fights were likely to break out.

Doesn't seem to help too much though, it looks just as busted up as everything else.

Feeling some confidence return in this somewhat familiar environment Jinx sauntered up to the counter that was currently unstaffed and plopped down on the incredibly uncomfortable barstool. There were some audible noises coming from the small door past the bar, presumably the kitchen, yet no one seemed to come out to check on the tavern. Come to think of it, a quick look confirmed that she had the place all to herself. Not that she could do much with it, there was nothing here but rundown furniture and cheap booze. So she did the only sensible thing, sat on the barstool created in hell as her personal punishment and waited patiently for someone to notice her presence like a good and law-abiding citizen.

For about 15 seconds.

"This must be the famous noxian hospitality I heard so much about! I have to say I had my doubts but you guys have customer service down, don't ya?"

The clanging in the kitchen stopped abruptly. Good, she hadn't been sure she shouted it loud enough.

"Oh I'm terribly sorry, we don't open until later in the day young lady."

The stool creaked before tipping over and crashing on the floor with a dull thump as Jinx lept up and backwards, eyes wide and heart beating rapidly.

"Everything okay there little one? You look like you've seen a ghost!" the concerned Vander said as he rounded the corner and began walking towards her. She backed off further, desperately trying to slow down her heartbeat. Closing her eyes she took a few slow breaths, trying her best to ignore the concerned voice of the approaching figure.

Vander is gone. You know that. You tried your best to help him but he's gone. He can't be here, it's just your mind playing tricks. Focus!

Her eyes snapped back open when a burly hand came down on her left shoulder. Reacting faster than any normal human should be capable off she grabbed the hand with her right hand and dashed past her attacker, twisting their arm and pushing them down on their shoulder blade to force them to the ground.

"Ow. Alright, point taken, you're fine. I'm sorry I didn't mean to scare you."

Jinx blinked, the purple in her eyes fading slightly. Shit. She immediately let go of the man that definitely wasn't Vander and took a few steps backwards as he slowly got up massaging his right shoulder.

"Whoops, sorry about that, must've checked out for a moment there, the heat's been driving me crazy all day" she lied with a nervous chuckle. The last thing she needed was for this guy to report her to the authorities. Luckily for her the man simply gave a hearty, if somewhat pained laugh.

"Not at all, it's my fault for walking up on someone who's clearly distressed. You'd really think working in a tavern for decades would give a man some sense of self preservation."

The man smiled kindly at her despite his words. He was roughly the same age as Vander would be but that was where the similarities ended. He was barely taller than her, but roughly five times as wide, with short grey hair and a small mustache that he wasn't really pulling off. After dusting himself off he seemed to give her a quick once over before raising an eyebrow.

"Despite that impressive show of skill I must say that you do not look too goodthough. How about you sit back down for a moment, I promise to stay a far distance away." he continued with the same friendly smile.

Jinx didn't trust friendly. The friendliest people were usually the ones that stabbed you in the back first. But he was right, she was not exactly in great shape right now. Besides, she did almost dislocate his shoulder, so she assumed she could humour him for a moment. Her lips formed into a playful smirk.

"Didn't you just say you're closed though? Wouldn't wanna keep you from your important work back there." she said, pointing to the small door he exited from. "Besides, you don't exactly look your best right now either, and I'm pretty sure I felt some ligaments snap. They tear so easily at your age after all!"

His answer was another laugh. "Well how about we both sit down for a moment and catch our breath then? And while I take care of my aging body you can tell me what brought you to my fine establishment in the first place."

"I was told this place would leave me gasping for air. To be honest though I didn't think they meant it so literally."

"I'll have you know the smell is very much part of the Guillotines charm! Well that and it is mostly being frequented by soldiers after their shifts at the garrison. They have to be disciplined and obedient all day, so they like to blow off some steam in the evening." the man gestured around at the broken furniture and busted windows. "Take a few decades of that and you'll find it difficult to keep a place squeaky clean."

Jinx gave a noncommital shrug at that. She had seen the garrison on her tour. It was by far the largest structure in the area on the far west outside of town. She had stayed away from it for obvious reasons though.

"Why not just punch some sense into them? If they'd come into my place and mess everything up I would pummel them into oblivion." she said with the confidence of someone who had done just that recently. Her statement was met with soft laughter however.

"Now that's an easy way to go out of business, or way worse. But enough about me. What brings you here? Besides the stellar reputation out on the street."

She intended to answer with another snarky comment but instead answered with her stomach. The growling sound it made would undoubtedly feed legends about a mysterious beast traversing the small town for the next months. She clamped her mouth shot and gave him something between a shrug and a lopsided smile. His response came with a knowing grin.

"Ah, I see. I feel like I can help with that."


The sun was standing high in the sky over the giant fortress whose name alone was enough to strike fear into the hearts of Noxus' enemies. The capital of the empire was by far it's largest city, and the namegiving bastion at it's heart was as imposing a sight as it was awe-inspiring. Hundreds of people roamed the floors of the tall building at any time, advisors to the noxian leaders and high ranked generals of the army scurrying to deliver latest reports or rushing to some strategy meeting. The eastern block of the Immortal Bastion was a bit more quiet in comparison, as it was reserved for an organization few among their ranks even knew of. He was honoured to be among the select few who helped shape Noxus from the shadows. He had sacrificed everything for a chance to be part of the inner circle, right down to his own name, but to be at the forefront of those who design the future made all those sacrifices worth it.

"The Medarda child showed a surprising resilience and thwarted my attempts to guide her further down our path. But she is young and inexperienced in her power and the consequences thereof. She knows about the influence we have and will not stand against now it appears she chose to return home and will find living up to the Medarda name challenging. I deem her of no importance for the immedtiate future but will keep an eye on her. I have no doubt she will seek us out when the time is right."

The voice belonged to the great matron of the Black Rose. She wasn't here of course, no one had ever truly seen her face, yet her presence could be felt within every corner of the luxurious room they were sitting in.

Everybody nodded along to the matrons words. It was foolish to assume any of them would have thought of a strategy that she hadn't already thought of, so all matters of high importance were hers and hers alone. She had no need to justify her decision, merely inform them of the results and consequences so they could adjust accordingly. He felt her presence focus on him and was instantly both nervous and excited. This was only the second time she spoke to him directly and he was desperate to show off his abilities.

"And speaking of young rebels, how is your plan coming along to catch our young escapee, brother?"

He shivered slightly at being called brother, before quickly licking his lips and beginning to speak with only a small stutter,

"It is coming along nicely, matron. We have laid out a trail to one of our garrisons, where she believes some of her peers are being held captive. The mercenary and her crew have been dispatched to intercept her there and have been equippedwith countermeasures to her powers. According to our informants she is expected to engage our forces tomorrow during the evening or the night."

The plan hadn't been that complicated truly. For all the power she wielded she was, after all still only a young girl with an anger to the world and easily followed along the path they set out for her.

"She will be back in our control within tomorrow."

The matron said nothing for a moment, with no way of telling whether she was impressed with him or disappointed.

"Very well brother, I look forward to having a chat with her then." with that he felt her focus drift to the next person in the chamber and released a breath he hadn't realized he was holding. This was his chance to prove himself, and he had made sure everything would go exactly as planned.

"Now sister, what is the current situation of our missing weapon?"

It had been worth every sacrifice indeed.


Authors note:

Hey there reader and thanks for making it this far. Not too much to say for this one, as not a lot has happened I suppose. I spent a lot of the first two chapters going into great detail about Jinx's thoughts and problems, which slows the progress but I feel it's necessary seeing the events from Arcane are meant to be not even 4 days ago. That beeing said I am planning to gradually try and give the outside of her head some more screentime so that we're not stuck in the same place for 20 chapters without anything really happening.

I also tried to show her thoughtsas being all over the place, switching from panic to indifferent to bantering in seconds as that to me feels the way she would cope with things. I hope it didn't come out too forced though, as she is definitely not an easy character to write.

With all that being said thanks again for reading and have a great day. Also obvious disclaimer, I do not own Arcane, League of Legends or any of their characters, they belong to Riot Games.