Writing this at 2 in the morning. I did run through for grammar and such but any errors just point out and I will fix it right up. Here we go, my Amumu and Riven friendship story.
Edited on 10/29/12 (took me long enough)
Reforging a Past
As the sounds of battle rang out from around Riven, her grip tightened on her sword. Her company had been attacked just moments ago, an ambush, and she didn't see it coming. How could she have, her mind was to busy thinking of the war to have noticed anything odd about her surroundings.
All she could do was stand there, looking around the battlefield that had suddenly erupted into chaos. Explosions from Zaun technology were busy melting away anyone that they happened to hit, friend or foe. And she was in the middle of it all.
Standing there.
Frozen.
Her comrade's screams could be heard from all sides, ear piercing cries of pain and the sounds of explosion made it impossible for her to collect any kind of thoughts.
"Riven! Look out above you!" She heard someone say, her gaze was still looking at the battlefield, but as she looked upward, it was just in time to see one of the Zaun bombs collide with her.
Riven awoke in a fright, gasping for the breath that had escaped her at her moment of death. She found herself sweating and wiped her forehead off. She looked around and remembered she had fallen asleep after her latest match on summoners rift.
"Same nightmare..." She said in a shaky voice, it wasn't rare for those to find her while she slept. She moved to sit on the edge of her bed, putting her hands on her head and letting some tears fall. She didn't like remembering that day, it was a day that was burned into her memory. Her cries didn't echo much in her room, they didn't get the biggest rooms at the Institute of War, but she was worried about waking her neighbors.
She wiped her eyes and stood up, "I won't be getting back to sleep tonight..." Her words sounded shaky and quiet as she headed for the door. She wasn't sure what to do or where to go, but she did feel like getting some fresh air. She hadn't even realized how dark it had gotten out, or how long she must have been asleep. She didn't even change out of her battle attire from the previous fight. Moonlight from the window was all that lit up her tiny room, causing objects to cast shadows onto the floorboards. The darkness and loneliness of her room was another reason why she would rather wander the halls by herself.
She was used to being alone, an exile; walking down the lonesome hallways reminded her of this. The only thing to comfort her in the darkened halls was her broken blade at her side, even if it reminded her of that day. It wasn't unusual for her to have sleepless nights because of that nightmare, the day that plagues her. But the walking helped a bit, it would help her think about other things. Like the Institute of War, it was a great place for her to settle down for a bit. Her self imposed exile took a lot out of her, and she could use the rest. The fighting even kept her mind off of it, so caught up in that situation she would forget all of her troubles.
She quickly stopped and her hand went to her blade, out of reflex possibly, when she heard a noise. She wasn't sure what it was or where it came from, but she knew that she wasn't the only one awake at this hour. She relaxed a bit from her defensive position and tried to hear where the noise was coming from, but it seemed to echo off of the lonesome walls of the halls. She slowly started to continue the way she was aimlessly walking, although not aimless anymore, and the noise was slowly getting a louder and louder.
As she neared the end of the hallway, she saw the door that lead out to the Institute's garden. It was a nice little piece of the outside world that was centered in the whole building. As she stepped into the garden, she could see someone sitting under the only tree in there, the moonlight providing enough light for her to see. Then she recognized the sound, the person was crying. She involuntarily wiped as the dry tears in her eyes. She wasn't sure if it was the cool night air or that she had walked in on someone in this state, but a chill ran down her spine.
"Hello?" Her voice sounded quiet and she wasn't sure why she announced her presence. Maybe she understood how the person crying was feeling, sitting here alone under a tree. She was slowly walking towards the figure. It was small, almost like a child and the crying didn't stop when she had talked to it. "Are you okay?" She asked again, hoping the child wasn't injured or hurt.
"I'm fine." A sad and lonely voice said to her and she immediately knew who it was under the tree. It was Amumu, one of the first and more well known champions of the league. This seemed to calm her down a bit since he was known for his sadness. She was now standing next to him, the little yordle mummy must have been sitting there crying for quite some time. The ground had felt wet and muddy as she stepped near him.
"Oh." She wasn't sure how to respond, everyone knew Amumu and his 'past'. The fact that he didn't remember anything or anyone from it, something that Riven wished she could do. Maybe then she could get a good nights sleep for once. "You couldn't sleep either?" She felt it awkward to just stand there while he cried so she felt like asking something, anything to break the awkwardness.
"I don't sleep." He answered back, sniffing a bit as he answered but soon went back to crying again.
"You don't sleep." She said to herself, just realizing that the undead might not need to do that anymore.
"You don't sleep either?" He asked, looking up towards her. His water soaked bandages made his eyes look even bigger, almost like a puppy. A bit of her wanted to cry from that sight alone; he was known for doing that to anyone he met.
"I can sleep, I just couldn't tonight." She had looked away from him and focused on the stars above. The look on his face seemed to be looking into her very soul, bringing all of her sadness onto the surface.
"You couldn't?" He was starting to sound like a child, questioning every answer she gave him.
"Yeah, I had a nightmare." She was still looking away from him, but it wasn't helping her from thinking back to the nightmare. The screams, the pain, the death that happened all around her.
Not to her though.
Why not her?
"A nightmare?" He asked another question.
"You don't know what a nightmare is?" She asked, although she didn't need to see him shake his head to know his answer. "It's just a bad dream, like imagining something bad happen to your friends or family." As soon as the word 'family' left her mouth, she knew she had made a mistake. She quickly looked at him and said, "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to say that." But it was too late, the sad mummy was crying again. Her heart sank as she just stood there, she wasn't sure what to say or do.
"Amumu," She crouched down next to the sad mummy, "Listen, I didn't mean to say that." She put her hand on his shoulder and it seemed to calm him down a bit.
"I just wish that I could remember them," He said through his tears and cries, "Or remember anything at all." She sat there for a minute with her hand on his shoulder, not sure how to respond. She wanted to say something encouraging about the past, but she didn't like hers at all. In fact, she felt a little envious towards the sad mummy and how he didn't have to remember.
"Sometimes it isn't good to remember, sometimes your past is filled with pain." It sounded a bit dark for her to say in this situation, but her mind was starting to speak for itself. The mummy stopped crying for a second and looked over at the girl that was trying to comfort him.
"You sound like the past is a bad thing. Almost like it doesn't matter." The mummy sounded like he didn't know of her past.
"Let's just say that my past isn't the happiest." She wanted to just leave it at that, but she knew from how the mummy had been asking questions all night it wouldn't end at that.
"It isn't? But at least you remember it."
"Yeah, but sometimes I just wish I could forget." She was now seated next to him, arms behind her, holding her up as she looked towards the stars. Some tears had started to form in her eyes as she talked, "I just wish I didn't remember that day." She was talking as though no one was next to her.
"What happened?" The mummy was now curious, his crying had died down a bit. He was looking at her now as she sat next to him, but she kept her gaze away from him.
"I... We..." She wasn't sure where to start, or if she even wanted to.
"Does it hurt that much to remember?"
"Yeah." She chocked out, a lump was forming in her throat as her mind started to relive that moment. She snapped back to reality when she felt something grab her, someone was hugging her. It was Amumu.
"Let me give you a hug." He said to her, she was a bit confused as to why he was doing this.
"Amumu?" She asked, not returning the hug.
"People hug others when they are sad, it seems to cheer them up." He told her.
"Oh, well thank you." She managed a smile and he let go to sat back down next to her. "Sorry about that. It's just that I had a lot of friends die that day."
"You have friends?" The question didn't mean to sound so rude, and she knew that.
"Yeah, I had lots of friends," She wiped the tears out of her eyes and looked at him; that was a mistake. He looked just as sad as before, or even sadder if that was possible.
"I wish I had some friends..." He started to cry into his hands again.
'This is not what I was looking forward to the entire night...' Riven thought to herself as she sat here, in the middle of the garden, trying to comfort the saddest being in the universe. She looked up at the stars and wanted to ask them why this was how she would spend her night, although it was better then walking aimlessly for a few hours.
"What do you mean that you don't have any friends? I bet you have plenty of them here."
"No I don't," He continued to cry, "No one likes me because I make them sad." She remembered this now, the aura of sadness that seemed to follow him wherever he went. That would explain why she was openly crying.
"Well, I'll be your friend." She told him, the only thing that could come to mind. It seemed to work, his crying calmed down and he looked up at her, his puppy dog eyes still as sad as ever.
"Really?" A small smile formed on his lips.
"Yeah, really."
"I don't scare you?"
"No, Amumu, you don't." She chuckled on the inside a bit. All of his questions were starting to get annoying, so she decided to ask one herself. "So, what would you do if you could remember your past?"
"I wouldn't even know what to do. I would want to learn more about my family, my friends, what kind of person I use to be..." The mummy trailed off, listing multiple things; it was clear he had given this quite some thought. "After I remember, I just hope I won't be sad anymore."
"Well, everyone gets sad every now and then. It's a part of life." She wished she could just shut up every now and then, comments like that wouldn't help keep him happy.
"Yeah, but at least I won't be crying about my past. I know my friend and family are probably dead already, but I just want to remember them. Remember the good things about my past and move on." The mummy sounded like had given this more then just some thought, but he soon started crying again.
Riven would of tried to give him some helpful advice, but something Amumu said was ringing through her mind. 'Remember the good things about my past and move on.'
"Move on..." She said to herself as she sat next to the crying mummy.
"What?" He asked, again, his crying almost hiding his voice.
"I think that's it. I think we need to just move on from our pasts. Think about the future." She looked over at him. "We are thinking about the past too much."
"But, doesn't the past make us who we are?" It was a smart question.
"Well," She wasn't sure how to answer at first, "Well, that might not apply to you. You don't have a past that you can remember. So you can either sit here and try to remember or look to the future. Make a past for yourself that you can remember, something that can be called a past for yourself."
"But what about you?"
"I think... I think I need to learn how to move on too." She looked back at the sky, the stars seemed to be giving her the answers now. "It will take time, but maybe I can learn to move on from that day."
The mummy went silent for a little bit, she looked over at him, and he seemed to be thinking about what she had said. It was a lot to take in at once, even for her. She knew she needed to try and move on, but could she? That's something that only time would tell.
"But I want to remember who I was." He soon answered.
"You can always try and find out, but don't let your past control you." She was now talking for both of them, "We can get past this together."
She was offering quite a bit to the young mummy; a friendship, a helping hand, someone to help overcome their pasts. She pulled the tiny mummy into a hug and she rested her head on top of his. "We can get past this together." She said once more, just a bit quieter.
"Thank you Riven." He returned her hug and started to cry again. "I finally have a friend, I'm so happy." She heard him say, maybe to her but it didn't matter. He was getting her clothes all wet now, but she wasn't worried.
'I finally have a friend too.' She even cried a bit at the thought of that.
They might not have had such a happy past, but now they could have a happy future; one they could forge together.
