Forge of worlds - League of legends fanfic

Chapter 22 - Chasing dreams

'We should not be doing this.'
The sound of laughter had disturbed the silence and serenity in the gardens, located in Ionia. Blossoms and water lilies were in bloom, glistening in the light of fireflies crossing the pond. Cherry trees grew tall over the small, wooden bridge, petals of all shades pink fluttered down, leaving ripples gliding smoothly over the surface of the water. Two shadows crossed the bridge, dragging along a gentle wind to blow the petals into the sky, creating a canvas of paint drops and the full moon.
Memories of the resort were still fresh to him, as if it had been just yesterday he had visited Ionia to explore the mountains, only to stumble upon a place that promised him relaxation. Surely Ezreal did not let an opportunity like that slip through his fingers. He remembered the concentrated, carbonated water that they served freshly, warm blankets and towels, a geyser that offered as a hot spring for all visitors to let their sore bones and muscles soak in, to top it all of the women were pleasing to the eye. But not as the woman he were chasing now, her darkened hair with a haze of purple shimmering in the pale moonlight. Freed from her second skin, of her duties, she ran as if she had never been a prison to her own ideals. She laughed like no other would, was one of the few that realised how unbound she was to anything, to any rules. Maybe that was why he were so interested in her, because just like him, no rule could contain her. With a quick jump had he broken another one when he warped right in front of her, catching her in his arms. Though the blow was even to hard for him to stay on both feet, so they tumbled down a small hill into a bed of lost petals. Laughing like the child in them had awakened, Ezreal could not help but to hold onto his chest when he no longer could breathe out of laughter, seeking support from the ground to lift both of them up. What for a moment seemed like Kai'Sa had fallen onto him, resting on his lap, turned in the blink of an eye into the girl he considered to be really part of his dreams.
Lux smiled, wrapping her arms around his neck to seek for support herself. Brushing through his hair on the back of his head her ocean blue eyes looked dreamy to the explorer, with an occasional giggle rolling from her tongue. 'Thank you for taking me here.'
Nothing could turn this dream into anything else, Ezreal thought to himself, feeling a lot more safe than how it originally wanted to follow it's route. He did not worry around Lux, because deep within it did not bother him what she thought of him, he could say anything and repeat it again, without the consequence of losing her. Not many thought that Ezreal knew that she had no interest in him, but that was exactly the reason why he kept chasing her. When she would finally give in to him, the game would be over and he no longer had to fight for her.
He shook his head, pushing back a strand of hair to let it rest behind her ear, his thumb pressed against her bottom lip. 'My pleasure.' And just like any dream that involved her, their kiss was bound to happen again, imagined for a millionth time, in the hopes to eventually get used to it, to finally revisit the time where he thought their kiss would be special. He prayed to himself, his future, anything that could read his mind to finally let him have a night where he did not think of his friend. Alas, like every other time he tried to replace her with Lux, did he not feel anything, no improvements to his problems. It would have been another dream journal that he had to fill with disappointments and no progress. Just like she had kissed him in the chambers of Zoe's tower, did he only taste the texture of her lips and the occasional slip of her tongue. Not even a single second was enjoyable to him, until he tried to make the best out of it and closed his eyes. Lux stopped to draw for air and he only awaited for it to resume, so he could soon wake up again and think of another plan to get himself out of this curse. Never had he thought that the worst curses of all would be bound to restless nights where he expressed his feelings to perhaps the only friend he trusted so far.
When Lux's leaned in to resume their kiss, Ezreal was taken by surprise when the texture of her lips felt much softer, as if she were actually kissing him this time. His hands dropped from her chin to her shoulders, eventually resting on her hips as their kiss had deepend. Their kiss felt warmer, had a sweeter undertone to it. He no longer focused on the taste of her lips, but the sensational feeling of victory after so many trials. Feeling the tips of her fingers stroking over the skin of his neck he felt a pleasurable shiver running over his spine, it confused him even more so how nothing felt like they were crossing a line or moving things up. Their kiss started with a pure longing for lust, to feed their curiosity, to still the fire within them, but it meant so much more to finally tame the hunger within them. Ezreal frowned at the realisation that he were satisfied with her just being there, closing the night's chapter with just a kiss. He had no idea how to describe what he felt right in that moment, it was all too new for him, what would he write? What would his words from? What would the person that read any of this think of his dream journal? A guy with serious issues?
After a while he fell out of breath, leaving one more kiss before he pulled back to look at the girl he thought he no longer had feelings for. When his own head had gotten to him again. The ocean blue eyes were replaced by lavender, almost hidden in the width of her pupils. Just like his, did her chest move too quickly, gasping for air. Another dream fell to defeat, he had kissed her again and felt more for her than just the friendship he had hoped he could cling himself back onto. What was wrong with him? He did not even know of her existence up until two months ago and even then were he captivated by her, curiosity for her being, curious for the way she had fought, curious to why she had saved him, curious to why she would go out of her own way to travel along with him, to assure his safety.
He gave up, even if he would wake himself from yet another dream, nothing would change the fact that history would repeat itself over and over again, the only curse that he could not break. 'What are you doing to me?' He whispered, examining every detail of her face. From a third person's view, did they only notice the couple staring at each other in utter silence, almost one in the serene atmosphere of the Ionian garden. A painting left unfinished.
Kai'Sa pulled her hands back from his neck, staring at them in embarrassment. 'I'm sorry.' Even her apologies were sincere, like anything in this dream: it felt real. Ezreal for once did not know what to do and when that usually happened he rolled with the dices and would see what would happen next, but whatever dice he would roll, the same fate kept unravelling.
He would try to find for anything that could repel him from seeing Kai'Sa ever again, but even at that he failed. There was nothing that stopped him, not even when he let go of the tear of the goddess to rather save her then get out himself. It was nothing that he were used to and neither was she. Speechless he stared into her eyes, defeated by his own dreams. Endlessly fighting was too much of a drag to him, he had to let go of running and accept what had become of him by getting involved. You burned yourself on the only rule you set up for yourself, good job, Ez. With both hands he would brush away the hair that covered her face, cupping her cheeks into his palms. Flustered by his sudden touch she smiled, caressing both hands with her own. Instead of his desire to kiss her, he instead pulled her in close for a last embrace before he would wake himself again. He could finally admit that there were some things that he would never understand, restriction, danger and what he had developed for the girl in his arms. Out of all, he always had to pick the most dangerous one. Things would have been so much easier if it were Lux,

maybe that is why she was a perfect fit to him.

A chill had woken up Ezreal before he could have done it himself, the air had become a lot thicker, making it more difficult for him to breathe. Something was wrong, but he did not know what. The room felt empty, even though he slept in it alone. He could not feel the excentric presence of Neeko anywhere. With a quick glance around the room he jumped out of bed, brushing the wrinkles out of his shirt as he collected all the little things. Rushing out of his own dorm he flung the door open that led to Neeko's, but just as he had suspected was it left empty. It did not take him long to figure out where she could have been, a trail of water drew a line towards him, leading to the stairs. Her kidnappers had not even taken the time to clean up their mess and had dragged her along.
'Shit, shit, shit!' He cursed aloud, warping to the staircase to jump the distance from the top on the main floor. A glimpse of her tail twitched when her kidnappers had pulled her in an alley, hoping to have fled without a hint of notice of the explorer. With his jaw locked onto each other he ran after the two, wide set men, not even taking the time to negotiate with them. If Ahri would find out that Neeko were gone, AGAIN, he surely would rip off his head and the last thing he wanted was to be in an argument with her, there were already too many than he could count.
Sharpening the string of blue essence that bolted from his gauntlet he fired an arcane shot at one of the men, but they dodged his aim and reached the gate of the city. Ezreal knew that in this heat Neeko had no chance to fight back when there was no humidity to protect her.
'Get back here you idiots, a fox is going to kill me if anything happens to her!' But the men laughed even harder and fastened their pace. Ezreal grunted and fired another arcane shot, running what felt like half of the desert, but to no avail did he even get near them. A sting of pain poked into his side, his body were yet too sore to resume the chase, although a fate where she were safe around him was better than Ahri making him look a crossed the desert to find her back.
Before his body could succumb to it's exhaustion, missiles of purple light were fired in the direction of the men, creating a curtain of sand to hinder their vision. Ezreal's heart clawed itself onto his chest, beating against his ribcage, not to his lack of oxygen, but the knowledge of who had shot the barrels. A dark shadow dashed in the mist of the sand, the figure that fought the two men, releasing the chameleon of their clutches. When the sand were finally drafted from their spot, the two criminals looked up to the person who dared to oppose them. Not only did silence fell among all five of them, it was as if even the desert feared her presence. Her mask that kept her identity underneath safe from their eyes, driving fear into their minds. Even the strongest of men had heard the rumours of the void worshipper and none wanted to have their blood dripping from her hands. The men squealed, ran for the hills as Kai'Sa stood tall, two head smaller than her opponents, yet ten times stronger. Neeko's kidnappers ran until they had disappeared into the horizon, now that even the village could pose a treat.
Ezreal took a deep breath when the mask had turned it's menacing gaze towards him. While he had not seen her for a week, to her it must have been longer since he had been to space. Did she grow cold of him, bitter that he were gone for that long?
'You came back.' The distorted voice of the mask could not even hide the surprise in the tone of her own, she really thought that he would not come back.
With a simple nod he took her being in his mind again, he had thought that like his dreams, he would have the urge to kiss her. Instead, he rather wanted to spend as much time as he had left with her. 'I was looking for you. We made a promise, remember?'
Neeko sat near Kai'Sa, frightened that she had grown cold towards the presence of humans. Instead, the cracking sound of skin and bones would pull back onto her mask, revealing her face. A frown had brought wrinkles into the soft texture of her skin, confusion and wonder that were trying to fight for a spot in her eyes. It was as if she did not believe that they were there, as if all of it were a dream.
'This is real, Kai'Sa.'
As if it were the confirmation that she needed all of her defences were let down, rushing towards the friend she had managed to keep in her life. All of her fear, all of her doubts, just like the sand had it drifted away. When she thought that everything she had been through were just a fraction in the moment, it had proved her wrong and never had she felt more happy to not be right. Wrapping her arms around his neck she took him in an embrace, no matter the heat that warmed on them.
As if Ezreal could finally, fully breathe and function did he inhale deeply. He had missed her more than he dared to admit. She were still alive, stronger than before, faster than he could remember.
'I thought you forgot about me, in all honesty.' Though her laugh was to brush off the sadness she had felt every time the thought had crossed her mind, Ezreal's expression became more serious. 'I forget a lot of things, unless they gave me a great set of memories-'

'I would never forget you.'