A Search Through Runeterra (Arcane)

"The balance of power must be preserved."~ Kassadin, The Void Walker

What quotes were you expecting for Kassadin? Slurs? This is all I got.

WARNING! The next chapter can be skipped. It is heavy. And not the emotional kind.

Atakhan lore dropping in a week and a new cinematic as well. Lets hope he is actually just a demon and I haven't jumped the gun to make a bad decision.

Also, I'm moving countries. Hopefully everything is smooth for me so that I can keep writing.

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Gregori stayed awake the whole night.

He watched over the little girl as she finally fell asleep. And sleep she did. All the way till midday. The entire time Gregori kept watch.

He had even covered the child with a blanket.

For a while he had just kept watch, alternating between the two entrances to the room and the window.

As the hours passed, he decided to drop that. While keeping an eye on the sleeping girl, he reached for the two sets of sheets that he hadn't looked at before.

The first set pointed to Roseguard Academy. The name itself set off alarm bells in Gregori's mind.

ROSEguard?

They did not even try to be subtle. 

The newer recruits must be halfwits to name the school that. 

He flipped through the papers, noting the names and the portraits of the people of importance in the school. The headmistress was Bellare Reys. There was no picture of her though. But it was known that she was an heir to a fallen noble house.

A noble house can only fall when they are not able to contribute to Noxus or when they run out of gold. A descendant of a fallen house has only one goal. Bring the house back to prosperity.

This woman took an interesting route there. Choosing to marry an up and coming soldier who had managed to rack up a few notable achievements in battle. She could raise her family to its original position through her husband's merits.

But he was moved away from the battlefields and never called forward again.

That was probably why she had taken up her position as headmistress.

She also seemed to have a daughter.

Gregori looked quite impressed at the information in front of him. It was practically a character study. Talon was quite thorough with his work. Very respectable.

He looked at its location. It was quite out of the way but still under what he would consider acceptable, if he considered the position of the star. And it was connected to the outer wall of the Bastion. If he pushed his magic hard enough, he could probably rip the part of the wall out and just enter or exit.

An overlay of the school was also available.

If Annie was there, it would a simple walk in the park to get her and leave Noxus.

If she wasn't.....

His eyes moved to the second set.

Ravenbloom Conservatory.

Another idiot named this. Why stick to the flower motif if your goal is to hide? It was extremely counterproductive.

These lot didn't even think.

He remembered his training under the Black Rose. They seemed extremely smart. Staying in complete secrecy. Not ruffling any feathers.

Seriously? RavenBLOOM?

Idiots.

Snorting, he turned the page and his eyes widened. He unconsciously clenched the sheets and his eyes darted through the paper.

Staring back at him was a portrait.

A portrait of a woman.

The same woman whose face was at the manor.

The one he challenged.

The one carrying a younger Amoline.

Her mother.

He read the name. Headmistress Telsi. No last name.

Things fell into place instantly. Why Amoline had not mentioned her family. Why she had insisted that they leave Noxus Prime. Why they stayed hidden and far away. Why she had never told him anything about her younger years.

He read through the papers. She had been the headmistress for a very long time. Nearly two decades. It fit the situation. She was Amoline's mother and she had been overseeing the experiments on her.

And it would only make sense that she would do the same to Annie. 

The experiments that connected and Tybaluk would mostly be under scrutiny. The chances of anything bad being done to her were not high. They would keep Annie under watch. To see if she exhibited great magical abilities.

And considering the aftermath of their home, she would definitely show abnormal magic capabilities.

That would keep her off the hook.

Considering the fact the they would have had to teach her magic formally. And teaching something like magic from scratch takes time.

She would be safe.

If she wasn't her demon bear would move. Now that he even thought it..... a demon bear. It made no sense.

The same toy that her mother had sewn for her, turning out to be a flaming demonic shadow bear. It was mind boggling.

But any security was good security.

He flipped back to the first page and looked at the portrait.

It seemed he had a long overdue meeting with the In-Laws.

He turned his head to look at the sleeping girl once more, noticing her big eyes peeking through the top of the blanket he had draped over her.

"How do you feel Briar? Any pain?" He asked.

Briar replied by furiously shaking her head.

"Okay then, will you let me check if everything is alright?" He asked.

She nodded in reply.

"Fine then. Stand up and I'll check for any issues." He stated as he turned fully to face the girl.

She stood up shyly. 

"Not on the bed Briar." Gregori said. "You shouldn't stand in a place you sleep."

"Okay..." She said as she jumped down from the bed.

Inspecting her, Gregori noticed quite a few changes. Her bottom half had gotten considerably smaller. Something suitable to her age. Still a little on the larger size but it was better. She looked more proportional.

Her ears hadn't gotten back to their original state. Instead lengthening and growing sharper at the ends. If she was going to her original state, then she was probably part Ionian. He didn't know which species specifically but there were some with long ears.

And some color had also returned to her body. Looking less like a dead body and more like a generally sick person. A very good improvement. Skin condition often dictated how long one could handle the sun. And he had a worry in the back of his mind that she might have been an albino. The sun was deadly for them. But she wasn't. That was good.

Her hair remained the pale white color but the ends of it had mostly lost the red tinge it had.

Another big change he noticed was her teeth had gained some human elements. Gone were most of those sharp animal like teeth. She face was more human.

Including the eyes. Their size had reduced a little. Not too much. They might not even get any smaller but it was fine.

Now there was only one test.

Control.

He grabbed the hunter knife and ran the flat of his palm over it, causing a small cut. Blood slowly oozed out.

Her eyes instantly shot to the blood but she just stared and did not move.

"Are you in control?" He asked.

She nodded... but slowly.

Gregori looked at her and reached for one of the clothes her had cut. He wrapped his hand with it. "Briar."

Her eyes turned toward him but he could tell that she was struggling to do so.

"You will see blood a lot. You cannot go after it. It is the blood magic telling you what to do." He said sternly, "Do you understand?"

She nodded extremely quickly.

Gregori gave her a small smile. "Okay then. Do you feel hungry?"

She nodded.

"Wait here. I will go get you something to eat." Gregori said, as he finished he saw her look toward the bed longingly. "You can go to bed Briar. You only need to get up when I bring the food." No sooner than her finished, she leapt back into the bed. Right on top of the blanket.

Gregori walked toward her and gently tugged the blanket from under her. "That goes over you." He said as he draped it over her.

"Now wait here okay?"

She nodded from under the blanket. It was a little odd since, her entire head was covered by the blanket. But he accepted it.

Quickly, he went to Harris and asked him for food and specifically told him that he would like to eat in his room. When Harris gave him a look, he said, "I had nothing to do with what happened yesterday. I just want to mourn today."

Harris gave him a sympathetic look and presented the food to him as soon as possible.

"Leave the bowl and plate outside your door. I'll have someone pick it up." Harris called out to him as he walked up the stairs with the food.

Gregori just nodded in his direction.

He opened the room and looked in the direction of the bed, only to see Briar look in his direction still under the blanket.

"Simple tomato soup and bread today Briar." He said as he sat in the chair with the food.

She sat up and stared at the food. She then sniffed at it confusedly.

"No blood or meat?" She asked.

"You have only ever had blood and raw meat?" He asked.

She nodded.

Gregori felt the urge to murder the researchers. Who denied food for a child and made her entire diet be blood and raw meat?

"Never again Briar. We eat food okay." He took a spoonful of the soup, blew at it and lifted it to her, "Open your mouth a little."

As she did, he slid the spoon inside, "Drink it."

Her eyes shot wide open and an excited expression appeared on it.

"You like it?" He asked.

She nodded very quick.

Watching this he smiled inwardly and reached for the piece of bread. He ripped the bread in half and dipped it in the soup. "Something different now, you have to chew this okay?" He lifted the bread to her mouth and moved the soul bowl under it to prevent any of the soul from falling onto the bed.

She opened her mouth and waited.

"Bite into the bread slowly Briar." He advised.

Briar did just that. And she smiled. Like a little child, she smiled with a mouthful of bread. She chewed for a long time.

"Its just bread Briar you can swallow it after chewing a few times."

She nodded.

"Now lets complete the whole meal shall we?" He said and spent the time feeding this child. The child whose physical age did not match her mental age.

And he wondered, "What is one more child to care for?"

Looking down at the girl's feet, "We also need to get you some shoes." He stated.