Forge of worlds - League of legends fanfic

Chapter 23 - Reunited

She opened her eyes, void. She closed her eyes, darkness. A ritual that kept repeating itself for days on end since she had returned from her great travel to Piltover. No time for thinking, no time to stand still, every move she made reflected upon the future. If she slacked down, it meant that three more villages would fall prey just like her, had it been selfish of her to leave then? She often wondered, while fighting a swarm of voidlings that had grown bigger in her absence.
Every second she wasted resting, every opportunity to catch her breath, all of those moments flashed back on her life outside of the suit. Her father, wandering void territory as a child, rescuing a village where she had met the first human who were not afraid of her, a mere child. Every time regret and doubt crept to her mind she often punished herself for slacking off, giving up on memories that could lead her to leave everything behind and let a cruel destiny live on the future of others. After many moons not seeing her friend, she thought it were for the best that perhaps it was not the best idea to have someone who knew how to get you out. But she contradicted herself when screams had gathered on the mainland, what she assumed must have been an attack of the void, lead her to two criminals holding onto an old friend, Neeko. Her heart sunk when she had noticed she were not alone in the criminal act. No, it wasn't real, he was not here. She told herself when Ezreal shot light to the two men. Her skin growled as it expanded and exposed the flesh underneath the armour, even the voidling she wielded wanted her to go help them. With her jaw locked onto each other she unleashed an Icathia rain to shower upon the ground, missing by the length of an hair, she kept onto her promise: whatever would happen, humans would not fall prey to anyone.
Sans scattered and created a wall of dust and particles, hindering their vision to see who the attacker was. When Kai'Sa had noticed the arm around Neeko was pull back, she dashed in at light speed to catch her before she could hit her head to the ground. The chameleon smiled thankfully to her, petting the cheek of the mask. The daughter of the void could not help but to feel overwhelmed that she did not react to her second skin, as if even then Kai'Sa were still human. Once the sands and dust had drifted way in the morning wind of the desert, her appearance would show again to normal folk. Unlike Ezreal and Neeko had the two men yelled and begged for their life, hitting the roads before they could realise Kai'Sa was on all sides, as long as her friends remained unharmed. Their body's fell into the horizon, even with the enhanced vision Kai'Sa were granted did they no longer were in her range. Withholding herself from running to her friend, she felt her doubts and worries creep back onto her, cling their nails onto her ribcage to harm her heart.
When he had driven away all of her negative thoughts and reason to punish herself more, told her that he would never forget about and that he would stay, all of his words had cleared the darkness from her mind and she rushed into his arms for another embrace.
You're not alone, Kai'Sa. Not any more.

Their reunion was celebrated shortly as Neeko were in grave danger exposed to the heat without any humidity to protect her skin. Kai'Sa had lead them to an oasis that was not far from their location.
The trip was spent catching up with all the events and things that neither of them were able to see for themselves, Ezreal told in a distinctive way how he had rescued his old friends, while keeping the guardians out of the story. While it were just her daily job, she shared every bit of her fight with the void, from the large ones to the smaller, more evolved ones. Never had she ever seen a human look at her in amazement like that, she always assumed people would look at her as if she were one of those horrid creatures that brought havoc on the lands.
Once they had reached the oasis, neither Neeko and Ezreal thought it were real. Stories of visions caused by drought could be the most pleasurable images and the beauty they were to witness felt like one of those. As if even the desert had acknowledged their beauty, a mountain served as a wall around it.
'This place is wonderful! So colourful,' Neeko exclaimed happily as she ran towards the clear waters that fell into the shadow of the mountain. The chameleon quickly dipped into the water, drinking out of it as if she had never had more than a sip of water.
Ezreal sighed out of relief when he could let his guard down again, spared from another argument with Ahri. With his hands dug into his pockets he watched as Neeko played around with the water like an overjoyed pet.
'I see that sacrifices had to be made.' Another beat hit too close to his ribcage and Ezreal immediately rubbed over the spot when Kai'Sa spoke to him directly, had he missed her so bad?
'What sacrifices?' Ezreal asked in wonder.
Kai'Sa walked closer to him, the blood underneath his skin that got warmer when she reached out her gloved hand to pull on the sleeve of his shirt. 'Your jacket.'
Only now had he realised that he left the jacket at the inn, he groaned deeply and kicked a patch of sand away. He did not have to waste time running back, it's long gone now. The pain of his loss was softened when Kai'Sa broke into laughter at his little tantrum. Her laughter echoed in his mind, recalling his most recent dream where he chased for her, unlike with Lux, was this one more like a trip of discovery how far they could go.
'Quite a lot has happened, hasn't it.' Noticing the blur he had in his stare, he nodded.
'I had a nightmare where you died after a void attack, there was nothing that I could have done to save you.'
'That sounds unlikely.' With the palm of her second skin resting on his upper arm she pinched him back into reality. 'I'm a big girl, as long as I have this skin and we both respect our needs, nothing can stop me.'
Ezreal focused on every little detail, a twitch of her own skin, her lips mouthing the words, a faint beating against the skin in her neck. Just like in his dreams were he captivated by her, in a strange, new way. He saw a friend in her, a companion, his person of trust and so much more but he still did not want to fully give in to it. 'After this nightmare my friends tried to patch me up, because it haunted me every single day afterwards.'
'Did it work?'
Ezreal shook his shoulders, ready to ruin a friendship he was sure that would last longer if he did not share his dreams that came afterwards. 'They absolutely did, but now those dreams are chasing me.'
With both eyebrows lifted Kai'Sa turned towards her friend, curious to what his dreams were. Take on more good look at her Ezreal, would she really leave you if you told her? Kaisa, her original timeline, did not get angry at him and she had the same memories as this Kai'Sa. 'Every dream I had after that one, we kissed.' The daughter of the void needed a few seconds to think it through, the closest memory she had of a kiss when she were younger and her father would kiss her forehead to express his love for her, she did not know that others had the same way of expressing theirs.
A big smile lit up her face as she gestured Ezreal to come closer. The explorer felt his heart pressing against his ribcage, not sure what she were about to do to him.
Kai'Sa chuckled when fear and anxiousness was driven into his friend at her sudden reaction. 'Don't worry, I'm not going to hurt you.' If only she had an idea what really went on in his head.  Grabbing a hold of his chin she pulled him in closer, but just when Ezreal thought she were actually about to kiss him, she fell on her toes to press her lips against his forehead. Even the slightest touch of her lips, despite not being on his, had felt so gentle and heart warming.
When she fell down on her feet, her lavender eyes reflected her happiness. 'Whenever I were scared, lost or in deep thought, my father would always calm me down with a peck on my forehead. He told me that it were his way of showing appreciation and care to the people that mean something to you, to him I was his little flower,' She had not noticed that a memory so close to her heart had drawn a few tears, never had she shared her memories aloud. 'He took care of me, showed me affection and taught me all about humanity, but to really protect his flower, he also made sure her roots were dug deep, so no one, not even the seasons would harm her.'
A silence fell in between them, the splashing of water and laughter that kept playing in the background. Ezreal's usual grin had faded slowly, for the first time in his life, where he had no comments to possibly ruin the moment so their focus was laid onto something else. Every time Kai'Sa shared memories of her father, had made him feel closer to his parents, in her presence it gave him all the more hope they were still alive. The corner of his lips curled up in a smile, he sighed as if he had held his breath since the news of his loss and could finally breathe again. Resting his index finger underneath her chin as his thumb caressed over her bottom lip, he turned her head to press his lips against her cheek.
A gasp came out with a hint of a giggle when he leaned back, a tear that had slipped his barrier and rolled over his cheek. 'My parents often kissed me on the cheek before they left anywhere or told me stories about their adventures, they taught me to always do my best and not be discouraged by any failures.'
The tip of Kai'Sa's nose slowly became red as a curtain or tears had formed before her eyes. Ezreal laughed back, covering his sniff with a quick breath. 'Why are you crying, crybaby.'
Kai'Sa bared her teeth into a wide smile as she dried both hers and his. 'Why are you crying?'
She said, emphasizing you to catch him in the act.
Ezreal took a deep breath and rubbed his nose, standing straight as he glanced towards Neeko. With the lower half of her body resting in the water, the other half rested on land.
He knew that he had to take her back to Ixtal, there we no rush for him to get to the temple now after he drained all of his emotions in just a minute time.
'She needs to get out of Shurima, it's too dry here for her to wander around.'
Kai'Sa blinked, helping Neeko to get on his back,  careful enough to not wake her up. 'Why did you bring her here?'
A few strands of blonde hair fell in front of his eyes, blowing them out of sight he held onto the back of her knees so she would not fall. 'I found a catacomb near the sun disk, if my calculations are right there should be a tomb where they treasure all the riches and fortune of past successors who traded their loyalty for gold,' He gestured to Kai'Sa for her to walk ahead. 'We promised to do this more often, you really think I'd let an opportunity for a sidekick down?'

Neeko woke up after what felt like an hour, stretching her arms out on the back of the explorer as she realised that they were on the road again. Her golden eyes widened and she caught the wind in her blue hair. 'Where is pretty boy taking Neeko?'
'I'm taking you back to the border, you can't survive here.' The chameleon jumped off of his back and took her place right beside the pair.
'Good, because Neeko does not like warm sandbox, too dry.'
Kai'Sa chuckled and looked past Ezreal to show she were genuinely sorry she were taken this far from her land. Neeko waved her apology away, to her it was important she helped her friends and even though it had taken such a toll from her, she enjoyed the team building that she and Ezreal had done. He was one of the few that did not want to do with anything else and for a moment she thought that he were like this because he did not know how to handle with certain situation. This trip through the desert she put her life into the hands of her so called teammate and he had proven her wrong, trying to keep her hydrated from any opposing threat. She always wanted to every glimpse of Runeterra, the last thing she expected was an enormous sandbox that was too warm throughout the day and too cold during the night. It was no place for her species to live there, she was always homesick since the loss of her tribe, for the first time in her life she could consider the jungles of Ixtal her official, new home.
'I never knew pretty boy and void lady had the same shoma.' Neeko said out of nowhere when all three of them had enjoyed the silence for as long as it lasted. Ezreal frowned and looked at Neeko again, expecting her to joke around of how she found that both of them had deeper desires than just being friends. 'Your foundation is different, like fire and water, but what is inside, is like mirror.'
'On the inside?' Kai'Sa asked, the sound of their feet digging into the sand in the background.
'Yes! Everyone thinks that fire and water are each others opposite, when they are very alike! Just like water, do flames dance like waves. When a water drop falls, it spreads over ground like fire,' Neeko got on all four, taking a leap ahead. 'When water turns in ice, it burns too! They learn a lot from each other! Fire even breathes water.'
There was likely a moment where Ezreal followed up with Neeko, since she always spoke in poems and cryptic languages, she had taken him by surprise a second time.
'I take fire, since-' Pausing intentionally in his sentence the explorer dashed forward. '-I'm the dashing, hot one.'
'Void lady is more beautiful than you!'
Kai'Sa chuckled when the two of them broke out in a little argument who looked better from the pair. 'You're just saying that because you like women.'
'I am not! Neeko thinks void lady is way prettier than you!' The daughter of the void walked passed them, hoping that they would not be too caught up in their argument for them to lose her while she walked ahead.

After walking until the very last beams of the sun had faded, all three of them had decided to call it a night and set a camp for Neeko to stay safe in. Kai'Sa had lead them to a cave that granted all the minimal needs they required to go through the night without any harm. Everyone had chosen their spot to sleep and assumed that they all had closed their eyes, aligned and synched to sleep out their exhaustion. Kai'Sa were never really good at following a plan, she did what felt best to her and guarding over her friends seemed more important, it was not like she had any sleep after picking up what was left with Ezreal. Whenever he were around, she felt like she were getting sick. Her pulse would rise, the blood in her veins became warmer, her cheeks more red. A deep longing for breath came as a request from her lungs, but something deep inside declined it. Strands of darkened hair wandered lost before her face. Her teeth bit on the lower half of her lip when she imagined her dear friend leaning into her, his scent that lingered on her own skin, numbed her sense other senses aside from that one.
The touch of the soft texture of his lips had cost her her breath, exhaling deeply she managed to mask it with a giggle. She felt like she had gotten stronger after the voidling had grown back onto her, yet she always fell prey to Ezreal.
Kai'Sa closed her eyes when the chilly wind of the evening stroke her hair back, caressing the soft facial features of her skin.

Everything is fine, Kai'Sa. Don't think too much about it.