Hi. I've decided since I was bored in holidays to write some of this, hopefully I'll be doing more. To make things less of a mouthful I'm just going to cut down the chapter size, I think looking at ~6k words was a bit daunting and might have put me off.

Fingers crossed I'm not lazy and forget about this again :)

By the time they had started heading back, after dragging Ahri away from an absurdly expensive dress that both she and the shop clerk insisted was made especially for her, the sky was beginning to darken as night-time fell upon the Shadow Isles. The sun had long since set, but it was still bright enough for everyone to see their way ahead, and to keep some of the seedier residents of the Shadow Isles out of sight for the moment. Still, Sona remembered in the back of her mind when Mordekaiser had reminded her that the Shadow Isles were not like Demacia, and that it wasn't particularly safe to be wondering around at this time of night. She instinctively stuck closer to Hecarim as they walked, half wishing that Mordekaiser were here with them, but quickly dismissing the idea from her mind.

"And then Lux just rejected him, right in front of everybody! Ezreal was so embarrassed, poor thing, but I can't say I disagree with her decision." Ahri finished spilling information that clearly wasn't hers to spread, to people who clearly weren't listening to what she had to say. "I mean, a guy like that, even I could beat him in a punch out. I've got a mean right hook, you know? Wanna see?" The fox made some very enthusiastic hand gestures towards Riven, who merely huffed and batted a fist away.

"Please stop that, you'll take somebody's eye out." She sighed.

"Well duh, that's what a good right hook does, gives you a free two week stay at the local hospital."

"Speaking of places to stay. . ." Hecarim scratched the back of his head as he spoke, "Where are you two planning on staying tonight? It'll get a bit too late to get back to your own places from here, and it's not exactly safe out here."

"Oh, I hadn't even thought of that." Ahri mumbled. She shared a worried glance with Riven, which was returned with a casual shrug. She twiddled her thumbs, Riven was supposed to be the responsible one here, what had she been doing all this time?

"There must be some kind of hotel nearby." Riven suggested, but Hecarim shook his head.

"We generally don't have a lot of visitors, so something like that hasn't been built yet. Of course, I'd allow to stay with me, but. . . Long story short, Thresh and high volumes of explosives do not mix well, so it's a real big mess." Ahri thought to ask about that in more detail, but it sounded like a long story, and they really did need somewhere to stay.

"Ah, I know!" Hecarim exclaimed a little too loudly, "Why don't we all just stay at Morde's place? It'll be fun, all of us together."

"A-are you sure that would be alright, Sir Hecarim?" Sona asked hesitantly, remembering she was already on relatively thin ice with the knight after that incident at the supermarket, and then their run in with Hecarim. But then, it was more important that Ahri and Riven had somewhere to sleep than whether Mordekaiser scolded her a little. It still didn't help qualm her creeping nervousness.

"Sure, sure, it's totally fine! I know it doesn't seem like it, but Morde's a big old softie, he just doesn't like to show it. As long as you protest enough and make it seem like he tried to be mean, he'll go along with anything." Riven made a disapproving humming sound that said she didn't agree, but stayed silent otherwise.

"Trust me", he grinned whilst knocking on the large iron door, "just let me do the talking and everything will be fine."

The door opened to reveal a familiar intimidating metal figure, and Sona mused to herself that she might never get used to being greeted with the intense glare he always wore. For one reason or another, in the time they'd spent out Mordekaiser had managed to become half undressed, his broad chest and muscular arms bared for all to see, although his gauntlets still covered his hands. Sona also barely noticed a blood red guitar still leaning against a nearby wall, but was too focused on… other things, or other people rather, to pay it much attention. Her soft eyes briefly met Mordekaiser's hardened ones, before the maven hurriedly looked away in embarrassment, only just realising that her ogling had not been subtle in the slightest.

"What is it, maven?" Mordekaiser asked gruffly, unable despite his best efforts to make eye contact with the Demacian, who was suddenly very interested in the floor.

"O-oh, ah, it is nothing, L-lord Mordekaiser." She plucked her etwahl softly, hoping her embarrassment was not quite as obvious as she thought it was. Riven and Hecarim exchanged confused glances, but Sona was jogged out of her thoughts by Ahri's elbow, and a look from the fox which clearly said 'I'll embarrass you about this later :) '. Mordekaiser shrugged, seemingly satisfied with her answer, and waited somewhat awkwardly whilst people he expected to leave, didn't.

"Did you need something?" He tried to not sound so aggressive in asking the question, which didn't end up working very well. Everyone seemed to stare at Hecarim, and Mordekaiser sighed, already knowing how talented the horseman was at making his life more difficult than was necessary. Before Hecarim could speak, Mordekaiser made a gesture to follow him inside, and prepared to deal with whatever problem he had brought with him this time.

Ahri watched with great wonder (and a touch of concern) as Hecarim was dragged off into the terrors of the metallic mansion, quietly observing the very unhappy faces he was making as Mordekaiser lectured him about something. Since the knight wasn't talking in his usual obnoxiously loud voice, she could only guess what they could be saying.

"This kind of reminds me of a student getting chewed out by their teacher." The fox said to herself as Hecarim made wild hand gestures in protest of something. "Hecarim probably should have done his homework."

"I'm not sure I'd even turn up for class if he were my teacher." Riven replied.

"What would Mordekaiser even teach, anyway? I can just imagine the class name now, 'how to take up an entire doorway with your needlessly large presence, a guide for beginners'".

"Do you think Hecarim will succeed in convincing him?" Riven's eyes flittered between Ahri's gaze and the conversation at hand, which didn't seem to be reaching an agreement any time soon. From observing his clenched fists and tension raised in broad shoulders, Mordekaiser seemed to be making a decent effort to not make any physical outburst or raise his voice.

"I think so…?" Ahri pondered, hands on hips in deep thought. "I mean, he can't be that mean to send us out. Probably."

"It might have helped if you didn't go out of your way to annoy him-"

"Come on, it was just a joke! Right, Sona? …Sona?" Ahri's frown turned into a grin as she once again found the maven staring at something in a trance, and she had a good idea of what that something was.

"Enjoying the view?" Ahri said in that overly sweet way only she could manage, which seemed to do the trick in getting Sona's attention.

"Excuse me?" She asked softly, and Ahri rolled her eyes as Sona turned to give her a very unconvincing surprised face.

"My dear maven, for all the class and musical talent you have, you are unfortunately as sly as one of Teemo's mushrooms under a pink ward when it comes to boy-watching."

"I have… n-no idea what you are talking about, Ahri." She argued, not supported by her reddening face and the fact she could not even make eye contact with the fox.

"What are you two talking about?" Riven stared bewildered between the pair of them. Realising that Sona was likely never going to come clean about her new found interest, Ahri decided she would let her off the hook.

…

For now.

"Just girl talk." Ahri waved a hand dismissively, before turning to Riven and adding, "you wouldn't understand." Riven opened her mouth to make a snarky comment, before seeing the two Shadow Isles champions make their way back towards them, and decided it could wait for later.

"Hecarim has informed me of the… arrangements" Mordekaiser told them after a long pause, looking like he was trying to decide who was to blame as he briefly glowered at everyone. Beside him, Hecarim was giving a sheepish smile, trying to assure them all that no one would die just yet.

"Yeah, uh, sorry about… this." Ahri finally spoke up, since no one else seemed keen on doing so. Riven nodded in agreement, and Sona merely continued to stare at the floor.

"As you should be." Mordekaiser bluntly informed her. "But it is of no matter now. Before you set one foot closer, I have some ground rules." He frowned as everyone made a collective groaning noise, as if he were the one being unreasonable!

"If you'd rather sleep on the floor outside, you won't have to bother with silly rules anymore." He boomed. That seemed to do a good job of silencing everyone. Ahri thought she saw a hint of a smile inside that rusty helmet, and could almost imagine Mordekaiser enjoying their misery.

"As I said on your first visit, no touching anything if you don't know what it is, no loud noises, no bothering me about trivial girl voodoo, and last of all", he paused to add extra effect, bringing a hand over his face in exasperation, "just no being stupid."

"Why is he looking at me when he says that?" Ahri whispered to Riven, who very wisely chose not to answer that question.

"Since some of - no, all of you have proven to be very talented at creating troublesome situations for me to deal with, we shall all reside in the same room so I can keep an eye on things." There was another collective groan and Mordekaiser did his utmost to not throw them all out through the door. It didn't matter, he wasn't here to make friends, tomorrow he'd kick most of them out and somewhere down the line Sona would go too, and only then would Mordekaiser finally get the peace and quiet he so desperately needed-

"So what do we do until then?" Mordekaiser felt a migraine coming on from Hecarim's repeated disregard for his authority.

"I just told you. We are going to sleep, and then you can all skedaddle to wherever you want, provided it's well away from me."

"You want us to sleep at nine thirty?" Ahri asked with an arched eyebrow. While it was very early, first dealing with Karthus and the others had already tired him out, but then this motley crew would be the end of him.

"Do what you like." The knight waved a hand dismissively, attempting to leave before he was dragged into any more shenanigans. "Just remember the rules and I don't care."

"But who's going to stop us from causing trouble if you're not there?" Hecarim sighed sadly, Ahri having to stifle a giggle at the comment. Mordekaiser made a groaning noise that clearly said he didn't want to stay, but unfortunately Ahri continued Hecarim's thought process.

"How silly of me, I've forgotten the rules already. What was the first one again, touch everything in sight?" The way Mordekaiser's fists clenched so tightly, anyone would have thought he were having a heart attack. It wasn't that far from the truth, and Mordekaiser wouldn't be surprised if he had one before this night was over.

All in all, Lux was having a pretty good day. First, she'd won two consecutive games of Uno, and managed to rub this fact into her competitive brother's idiotic face. Second, being a millisecond faster than Quinn, she'd snagged the front seat at the last second, meaning she was getting the front seat, and road trip rules dictated that she would be able to set the music.

"Jarvan, you were on snack duty, right?" Quinn nudged his arm, eager to get first pick before the car had even started. "What you got for us?"

The four of them cramped in a car was quite the sight to behold. Garen, being the only one who had thought to learn to drive in case such a situation occurred, was in the front, leaving Jarvan and Quinn stuck in the back, as Fiora had elected the whole trip would be a waste of time.

"The usual I suppose." He shifted the bag of food away from Quinn's eager eyes. "Crisps-"

"What flavour?" The ranger asked slowly.

"Does it matter?"

"Of course it matters!" Lux stuck her head out from the front seat to glower at him. "Last time we all went out like this, Garen bought cheese and onion thinking they'd be edible. It was disgusting." Jarvan looked out the window and decided not to answer.

"You… You didn't get cheese and onion, did you?" Lux whispered.

"I… might have done." He confessed. Quinn uncaringly reached for a bag and offered one to Lux, who simply slapped it out of her hand in disgust and tried hard to not make it look like she was sulking.

"Cheer up, sunshine." Garen consoled her as he started the car and began to move forward. "You still get to choose the songs." Lux mumbled something unintelligible under her breath when they set of as she reached for the small black "ON" button at the front of the car, and everyone's ears were met with the blaring music of Carly Rae Jepsen, causing everyone to jump.

"HEY I JUST MET YOU-"

"LUX TURN IT DOWN!" Someone yelled from the back seat.

"AND THIS IS CRAZY"

"WHAAAAAAT? I CAN'T HEAR YOU THE MUSIC IS TOO LOUD!"

"SO HERE'S MY-"

"TURN THE KNOB, THE KNOB!" With one hand over her ear, Lux twisted the knob hard to the left with her free hand, and sunk into her chair with relief when the noise died down. Garen had stopped abruptly, Quinn and Valor therefore becoming a tangled mess of bird, girl and seatbelt in the back seat with crisps flying everywhere.

"Hey, I was listening to that." She complained from her odd position, and then laughed at her own joke.

"Someone must have set the volume high as a prank." Garen explained, glaring at Quinn whilst she feigned innocence and turned her head away to face the window. "Luxanna, do you have any idea who would have done this?"

"I'm no snake!" She snapped back. "I wouldn't be surprised if it were you, it sounds exactly like your music taste."

"D-don't be ridiculous, I-"

"Hey, is that Justin Bieber's new album in the glove compartment-"

"LET'S DRIVE, SHALL WE?"

After a while of walking around Mordekaiser's ridiculously large house and only getting lost three times, Ahri, Sona, Riven and Hecarim had found the creepiest room they could and sat huddled in a circle, passing around a torch and attempting to scare each other, since their last game of "Who could knock on Mordekaiser's door without dying" didn't go so well when Ahri was caught on her first try and narrowly escaped with her life.

"And then, she looked under the bed…" Ahri whispered hoarsely, a torch placed under her chin to give off an eerie lighting. "And her eyes followed the damp black hairs to the girl's face, and she screamed so loud the whole town heard her, but no one. Came. To help. Some say at midnight every year on December 1st, you can hear her wail at midnight." She held her position and breath for a few seconds before giving a cheery smile.

"So, how was that? Scary enough for you?" Her face dropped when the only response she got was Riven yawning as she was slumped against the wall.

"I think I've read scarier things on the back of my cornflakes packet." Riven joked, only laughing harder when Ahri whacked her on the arm with the torch.

"I thought it was very scary, Ahri." Hecarim tried to cheer her up, but it wasn't very convincing when the horseman was struggling to restrain a cheesy grin. He'd laughed at every story told so far as if they were the best joke he'd ever heard. Ahri sighed, propping her chin up on one knee and caught Sona's eye, who appeared to be very frightened indeed, hiding her head in her arms. That wasn't saying much, though, it was raining outside and the maven would give a little jump each time she heard thunder. Still, at least someone appreciated her story telling.

"Come on, you're from the Shadow Isles, surely you should have something remotely scary?" The fox grinned back.

"W-well I didn't want to tell anything too scary, we've got to sleep after this." He laughed.

"Hey, do you guys hear that?" Riven asked quietly.

"Knock it off, Riven." Ahri snorted, "I know there's nothing-"

"No, really, can any of you hear footsteps?" They all held their breath and leant towards the doorway, and sure enough, the slow plodding of footsteps could be heard in the distance. Everyone exchanged nervous glances, Sona unconsciously shuffling closer to Hecarim.

"It's her." She whispered, shivering ever so slightly, "it's the girl with the black hair Ahri mentioned!"

"We're gonna die!" Hecarim wailed as the two held each other in the corner furthest away from the door. Riven gave them both a look of sheer disbelief and wasn't sure whether to laugh or be concerned.

"There's nothing there." She said calmly, despite the footsteps becoming much more audible now. "Besides, Ahri just made that story up, didn't you?" Riven looked to where Ahri had previously been sitting, and was more than surprised to find her huddled in the corner with the other two, fingers shaking as she pointed the torch at the door.

"She's here, she's here!" The fox cried, and Riven found herself being less and less sure that Ahri was even lying about that story.

"Look, I'm sure it's nothing, so-"

"If you think it's nothing, go out and check." Hecarim told Riven, the others next to him all nodding their head in agreement. Riven paused for a while, trying to think up an excuse as to why she couldn't go out there.

"I – no, I don't want to."

"Because she's real!" Ahri said a little too loudly, and then squeaked and went back to nervously staring at the door. For one reason or another, and definitely not because she was scared, Riven ended up with the nervous pile of shivers in the corner of the room, keeping her eyes locked on the small circle on the door illuminated by the torch. As the footsteps outside got louder and louder, a wicked bolt of lightning crashed down outside, and the torch suddenly went out.

"Not now, now of all times!" Ahri cried desperately as she hit the torch with her other hand, begging for it to turn back on, only to lose the batteries rolling across the floor.

"Where's the light switch?" Riven asked, eyes darting around but not being able to see anything in the darkness.

"I just want you guys to know," Hecarim whispered, "I'm glad I could spend my last moments with all of you."

"Me too!" Ahri wailed as the footsteps outside stopped and the door slammed on its hinges.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH-"

"WHY ARE YOU ALL MAKING SO MUCH NOISE!?" A familiar voice thundered, and everyone stopped screaming as they looked up to see two very angry looking red eyes glaring back at them. Two very familiar eyes. There were a few moments of silence before a collective shaky breath was released, the light switching on to reveal Mordekaiser's large form in the doorway, angry expression replaced by a half confused, half amused one as he looked down at the gutless dogpile before him.

"What are you all doing?" He asked slowly.

"Nothing!" Ahri answered a little too quickly, getting to her feet and encouraging the others to do the same.

"In fact we were just going to sleep." She lied.

"Really now." Mordekaiser raised an eyebrow, and Ahri, deciding she didn't want to hear any mocking comments the knight might have to say to her, sped past him with her head down. Mordekaiser decided he couldn't and didn't really care about what had been going on, and instead motioned for the rest of them to follow him.

None of them ended up getting much sleep.