"Hey, brother.
Do you still believe in one another?
Hey, sister.
Do you still believe in love, I wonder?

Ooooooh, if the sky comes falling down.
For you, there's nothing in this world I wouldn't do."

- "Hey Brother" by Avicii

Heat has finally struck down the last of the chill of Northern spirits as Valoran embraced a new season of fishing, beach parties, and celebrations. In Demacia, parasols with blue and white strips bloomed in the city, outside the shops; one by one they created circles of shades for lovers and families that perched beneath, safe from the blaze of a summer sun.

Silently the feeling came, and silently it left. Lux has been recovering from the void incident with the help of her family and Soraka, but whenever she tried to speak, there would be a tickle in her vocal chords, and then no more. When she finished her daily therapy, she would often wonder if this is how Sona, the Maven, felt all the time; Words that tickled, but refused to let out a laugh, a giggle, anything at all. These days all she had was her smile to brighten up those around her. They must be happy now, the people who complained about my voice and laugh, Sometimes she would think to herself bitterly. What an annoying laugh you have, Crownguard. Can't you shut up?

She hadn't participated in League for about a week now. Thankfully however, her pay will be sapped from Malzahar's. The League had decided the Prophet would be fully responsible for her condition, and so the according penalty will be Malzahar's alone. Lux doubted the Prophet would care for such insignificant loss; after all, you don't need gold in Icathia, you won't need it after the void has taken Valoran either.

The entire experience was still a blur to her, but nonetheless real. Garen had taken a different attitude towards her ever since, he was more patient and caring for her, which Lux did not expect but appreciated anyway. She knew her brother was really just like her, burdened by the weight of honor their name carried and hid away who they really were. I guess something does run in the family, Lux smiled to herself and finished up her paper craft to join the family dinner.

She opened her door and her mouth opened in a silent "O." A hooded man stood in the hallway and gazed at her. She could smell the reek of death and sewers on him, immediately she shut the door and locked it as she searched for her baton.

A few seconds later, she heard gentle knocks. "Lux," A familiar voice called, "Please open the door. It's Jarvan."

J-Jarvan? She was confused. Why is he here and what's with the smell and the hood?

"Please, Lux. Before anyone else sees me."

Cautiously she unlocked the door and let him in as she backed away from him. The light from her baton illuminated his face; had she not known Jarvan since youth, she wouldn't have recognized this man with long and dirty dark hair and beard that casted a shadow down his neck. He pulled off the hood and stared at her with weary eyes, appearing much older than he actually was. "Lux… it's…it's so good to see you again." Lux swore she saw tears in his eyes, but she was too in shock to establish that detail. "I couldn't risk finding Garen, he's been in and out in the court too much… so I took the short cut through the servant's quarters during break hours."

Lux nodded slowly and approached him. She opened her mouth and closed it again before grabbing her writing pad. "I'm in recovery, I can't talk. I don't understand?" To emphasize she made the last question mark larger than the rest. Jarvan looked to the pad and back at her with solemn eyes. "You all have been lied to and deceived. The Prince you thought escaped Noxian imprisonment… wasn't me." He took a short pause to let the fact sink in to Lux, then, he began slowly, "I am the real Jarvan….and I have finally escaped after…I don't know how long. A dark clone of mine was sent back here in my place, and I believe he lingers. We have to stop him before he gets word from Noxus and flees!"

Lux watched his face contort in a mix of emotions. This was the real Jarvan, the Jarvan she grew up with. This wasn't the Jarvan that blindly started a war and acted indifferent to her. She carefully wrote down "You need to stay hidden, when Garen comes back we will figure something out and catch the impersonator."

"I don't know what to say, Lux. Thank you. I knew I could count on you."

Jarvan lifted his hand, he wanted to touch her cheek, but stopped himself as he saw the mud and dirt on his fingers. Lux noticed his gesture and hurried him to her bathroom, she pointed him where fresh towels were kept and smiled at him as she nodded. Jarvan muttered another thanks before closing the bathroom door.

Lux waited patiently and pondered. Now everything made some sense to her. Jarvan's change in character after the capture and his actions in League, the War… pieces of information that bothered her were important after all. His frenzy about wild hunts? Even Garen agreed with her that it was not something Jarvan would do, and even if he did enjoy hunting, the enthusiasm did not strike them as normal. Jarvan was practically obsessed with the wilds, as if he was convinced and determined to find something. A lot of Demacian soldiers also gave their lives during the expedition, surviving ones simply refused to speak of what had happened.

The water stopped running and soon Jarvan emerged from the shower. He put on his dirty clothes again, to which Lux felt embarrassed that she forgot to find him new clothes to wear. "I will be right back, Garen might have some clothes you can wear." She wrote on the pad and left it with Jarvan as she secured the door. Searching through Garen's wardrobe was an odd experience for her, but she believed her brother would understand her little friendly intrusion. It was to help out both of their friend, after all.

When she came back, she saw Jarvan flipping through the notepad for the things she had written in the past week. A slight blush appeared on her face as she remembered she might have doodled something for Vladimir on it. Jarvan noticed her and placed the pad down quickly, "I'm sorry, I was curious." He took the clothes from her and thanked her again.

As he changed before her, he began telling her about the torture and imprisonment. "Some days I just wanted it to end, but then I thought of you, and Garen, and all of Demacia. I couldn't give up, there is so much I must come back to and make right again." He scratched the bush of beard beneath his chin and continued, "Tell me Lux, what did the clone do while I was away?"

So Lux gave him an entire page of words and descriptions, among them a line or two of her own feelings about the situation. After reading, Jarvan sighed and stared at her determined. "We must end this. Whatever that clone did in the wilds, it was not good news. If the soldiers refuse to talk, we must find out some other way. I…" He looked down, "I'm sorry I wasn't here to defend Demacia during the slaughter. I will make Noxus pay for this."

Lux bit her lip as she wrote down, hesitating, "I wasn't here, either."

Jarvan wanted to ask more, but he decided to wait, right now there are more pressing matters. "Something is in the planning… I know it. It has something to do with Swain… and that bird of his. If it's Demacia that he wanted, he could have captured the city a long time ago with his clone Prince…. But no, he is still waiting for something… Darkwill's assassination…. Swain's ascension… I can't piece it together yet."

Lux listened and tried her best to keep up with his thoughts. Her eyes widened as she remembered something. "Vayne hasn't been back, not in League either. She just disappeared." The memories of her friend made Lux upset again.

"Shauna Vayne, the Night Hunter? I thought I saw her on my way wandering through the forests… my memories might have been false, it was a long and tiring journey. If it is true then… taking out the vigilante of Demacia is perfect for perpetrators. We would have suffered less casualties if she was here…"

After a long silence, Jarvan fisted his hands and frowned. "Damn it, I don't understand. Something is missing." He closed his eyes in defeat.

"We can find out more once we've captured the impostor." She jotted down on the pad and showed it to Jarvan as she put a hand on his shoulder to reassure him.

Jarvan looked to her and smiled faintly, "You're right." He took her hand and held it in his briefly before letting it go. "I still feel like this is all a dream, and when I wake up I would be back at that cold cell again."

"Don't worry" She wrote, "Welcome home, Prince Jarvan."

It rained for a while near the Tempest Flats that evening. When Vladimir stepped outside his residence he could smell in the humid air a mix of grass and rain. After Lux left, Vladimir felt the growing itch of bloodlust inside him, and it was beyond his control. He simply needed to kill. He didn't know why he hasn't been killing, perhaps the luminous girl's presence was helping. Now that she's gone again, his inner demon craved release.

Funny. He never paused to wonder about the relationship between them. Well, he thought he had never, but he could count the times she had been on his mind when he should be lost in the thrill of killing. It was as if she served as a moral compass, a broken one. When she points him to the North, he would try convincing himself it was the South. He didn't know just how long would he last in this journey with her, it seemed the longer he held on, the harder to let her go.

"Curse you." His words came out softly, without menace.

Oh yes. The little witch placing her spell on you again. It is a shame to see you fall to influences so easily, Vladimir.

"Why are you still here? I am surprised that I haven't spent all of you as my battling resource." Dmitri was as pestering as ever, but Vladimir grew used to his whispers.

You and I are one. The ghost inside him spoke, Dear apprentice, you should be studying with the Ancient One instead of loitering with meaningless thoughts.

His words made Vladimir shiver. Vladimir remembered the unimaginable power within the Creature's blood he once held so briefly. He would do anything to feel it again.

Yes…crave it. Seek it. Call to it. The Ancient One will commune with you.

Vladimir knew that he should back off with these thoughts before anything happens, but it was too late. His desire had transformed into a calling, a language in pulses and crimson shades, and he knew It heard him.

In the distance he spotted wolves running towards him, shadows in the forest approaching, many of them. When they reached the edge of the forest, Vladimir counted five wolves and a dozen of critters making their way to him. All of them stared at him dead in the eyes, almost zombie-like, and their body was very stiff, as if they were under compulsion.

And then the incredible happened.

Vladimir had his eyes on a pure white rabbit. At first he thought its eyes were shimmering, but soon enough he found out there were blood swimming beneath its eyelids. One drop fell and stained its white fur, then another, and another. The rest of the animals began to bleed from the pores on their skin, thick blood wetted their fur and soon the weight brought them down. One by one they bled out right in front of him, forming a circle of blood that seemed to have a life of its own.

Astonishing. Dmitri admired and witnessed the event through Vladimir's eyes.

The pool of blood built up beneath the bodies of the animals and reached out to Vladimir's boots. He watched all of this in awe, but he did not move. He could taste the magic in the air, it smelled ancient like it once did in that cave. Soon the pool shrank and grew upward in millions of small vessels, building a familiar outline of Vayne's figure. It grew rapidly and now almost reached Vladimir's height; muscles and bones miraculously came to being as the rest of the figure manifest.

"Your call was desperate, Reaper." A hole in the blood elemental's face spoke. It soon shaped into Vayne's mouth with the out of character grin. The transformation had completed, and before Vladimir stood the possessed Vayne.

"Keeper, it was only a thought." He lied. Even as she stood there he knew all he wanted was to have that power for himself.

"You seek knowledge of Hemomancy, as all other Reapers do. It is nature, it is destined." Vayne looked down at the circle of dead animals around her before kneeling down and whispering words into the earth. Blood seeped through the dirt at her spell and flowed back into the bodies in a gentle transfusion. "This world is full of life and vigor. Look beneath the surface and you will see the blood of Valoran; the very fuel of all life I have been appointed to protect." She stood back up as the animals rose one by one, now exiting their fugue state and appear frightened, as they backed and scattered away from the two. "Sometimes, sacrifices must be made to ensure the balance of all life."

Vladimir had never imagined resurrection through blood magic. The best he had ever done was re-animating dead bodies, but never bringing them back to life. He had never intended to bring anything back to life either, because it would defeat the purpose of killing. "It is amusing seeing you give life just as easy as you take it away." He smiled.

"There is no wisdom in mindless slaughter. I preserve the balance in Valoran, and I shall not stand idly by and watch you destroy yourselves." Vayne frowned. For one second Vladimir thought the Night Hunter broke free of the Keeper's spell, but soon he realized it was merely a familiar expression of hers he had recognized.

"Do elaborate, Keeper. How exactly are we 'destroying ourselves'?"

You do not ask question here, foolish apprentice. Dmitri was admiring the creature, too. Vladimir felt the power of his master over him increase whenever the Keeper was around. You are unable to comprehend the ability of the Keeper.

"Look around you and you will understand, Reaper. Look into the souls of the animals, the earth, then look into the souls of humans. The taint is embedded deep in every single one of them, even yourself." Vayne narrowed her eyes at Vladimir.

"Come hunting with me, Reaper, and I shall show you."

Vladimir hesitated, but agreed to follow as he glanced back at his home for one last time.