Ahri staggered to her feet. She placed a hand on the trunk of a nearby tree and siphoned off just enough of its life energy to heal her snapped ribs. She winced as she felt them slide back into place with a series of muffled cracks.

Her head pounded and her body was wracked with pain, but her heart was full. For the first time in her life, she had a direction. She walked over to a large pool of water, and was briefly reminded of the first time she had caught sight of her reflection, seemingly a lifetime ago.

She slowly took in her own tattered clothing and battered body. Clothes could be mended, and her wounds would heal, but one thing that could never be fixed was all the suffering she had caused. She knew that in her heart.

Her face was covered in blood and grime, and tears had carved tracks down her cheeks. But she was alive. The strange man that had called himself Shen had shown her mercy and held Akali's hand.

She looked at her own hands, and all the death they had wrought. She recalled all the times she might have shown mercy, and hadn't.

Nothing could ever make that right. But if this Institute of War, whatever it was, could make use of her, maybe she could try. Try to wash the blood off her hands.

"Mercy is a human luxury . . . and responsibility." She whispered softly to herself. Her morality, her choices, that was what made her human.

What had Irelia said the night of the Festival? "We must all face that in ourselves that we would rather keep hidden, so that it may be cast out, thus making us stronger."

She would remove everything that made her anything less than human. She would destroy the part of herself that had thrived on fear and blood.

No matter what she had done in the past, who she was now was whoever she decided to be. She was done being a thief and a murderer.

She glanced at the ears on top of her head, the whisker marks on her face, and the nine white-furred tales that curled around her. At first, she had expected them to disappear as she became more human, but she knew now that it was irrelevant. It was her heart that was slowly changing into a true human's, not her body. That was why she felt pain at taking another human's life. She had felt guilt for the first time in her entire existence, and had not known it until now.

Above her, the rain was letting up.

She moved out into a small clearing between some trees, and found herself atop another cliff. In the distance, the sun was rising over the horizon. The first rays of light shone on her face, and the gale of the storm had subsided to a soft breeze that tugged at her hair. She smiled in contentment.

Then she started walking.

Author's Note:

That's it! I'm so glad I got the chance to put a new spin on my leading lady of League of Legends. Because after all, there's so much more to this foxy sorceress than the skanky prom date so many make her out to be. Look out for the Sequel, Just Cause, coming soon.