Cock, cockroach?
Was she talking about me?
With half her body still buried in the dirt, Kai'Sa froze. All her earlier confusion over why a girl like this had appeared in front of her vanished because of that single line. She just stared blankly at the other girl, the corner of her mouth twitching slightly.
Me... a cockroach?!
"Talk. Are you human or Voidborn?" Jinx held her laser pistol pointed straight at Kai'Sa's head. If the other woman could communicate and talk like a normal person, then Jinx was willing to consider sparing her. But if she bared her teeth and lunged at her, well, sorry about that~
Only I get to hiss. Anybody else who tries it dies!
As for whether Jinx felt nervous seeing a woman this strange, not even a little.
After all, Vander looked way scarier than this. And besides, wasn't she just kind of cockroach-shaped? There were plenty of people in Zaun now who had modified themselves into things halfway between human and monster, but whenever they saw Jinx, they still bowed their heads.
And after traveling so many places with Logan, Jinx had seen way too many "monsters" already. So in her eyes, Kai'Sa was not scary at all. If anything, she looked beautiful.
So Jinx stared at her seriously. When Kai'Sa stayed silent, Jinx stamped her foot in annoyance and gave the pistol two little shakes.
"..."
"The thing in your hand, is that a weapon?"
After a moment of silence, Kai'Sa looked at the delicate little blue stick and finally spoke.
"Yep. A weapon. The kind that can blow a hole straight through your big cockroach head with one shot. So if you want to stay alive, behave yourself. I ask the questions, you answer them." Jinx nodded. Since the other woman could speak and looked calm, and because she did not carry that same presence as the Void creatures, Jinx decided she was human.
And besides, Jinx had the gun.
"...I'm not a cockroach. My name is Kai'Sa. I'm from Shurima." After hesitating, Kai'Sa finally lifted her head from the dirt and answered.
Jinx crouched down, spread her arms in a loose, lazy way, and moved the pistol away from Kai'Sa's face. Looking at her, she said, "Then what's with this layer on your skin? And I've never heard of Shurimans growing two pod-shaped egg sacs either. Those things on your shoulders look exactly like cockroach egg cases. You're still saying you're not some evolved cockroach?"
"Can you stop bringing up cockroaches?" Kai'Sa snapped, getting a little angry at the running commentary.
She kept going on and on about cockroaches. Seriously, did Kai'Sa not have a temper? What part of her looked like a cockroach anyway?
Seeing that she was getting upset, Jinx gave two little hums, backed up a bit, and said, "Get out first. Then we can talk."
Kai'Sa nodded. She had been in the world of the Void for six or seven years now. If the Xer'Sai had not started tunneling on such a large scale this time, giving her a chance to escape, she probably would have had to stay underground even longer.
Ever since she had accidentally fallen into that world at barely more than ten years old, Kai'Sa had spent a very long stretch of time completely alone in that sunless underworld. So now, seeing a living, breathing human being in front of her, even if that person kept calling her a cockroach, Kai'Sa still found it hard to feel any resentment toward her.
If anything, she was excited.
She just forced herself to keep it under control with reason.
At least after all these years, I still haven't forgotten how to talk.
Kai'Sa pushed with both arms and pulled herself free of the ground. Once she emerged into the daylight, Jinx blinked and took in her appearance.
Beautiful black hair draped softly down her back. Her face was small and oval-shaped, her features sharp and refined, much more defined than Jinx's, especially those eyes, full of spirit and strength. Her brows were delicate, but her eyes had a striking, heroic edge to them.
Their shape was long, the outer corners tipped slightly upward, and her lashes fluttered like little fans. Her pink-purple irises were unbelievably pretty.
But lower down, once Jinx's eyes moved from her face to the rest of her body, that beauty took on a dangerous edge.
Her whole body was covered in purple carapace. Jagged spikes jutted irregularly from it, sometimes even shifting and twitching. Tiny purple barbs ran across her chest, stomach, arms, thighs, calves, almost every part of her.
Looking at her like that, Jinx could not help asking, "So how'd you come up from underground? And are you really not a Void creature? This stuff on you, is it clothes, or is it your skin?"
"I'm not exactly human, but I'm not a Void creature either." After hesitating, Kai'Sa answered with certainty.
She looked at Jinx seriously and said, "My situation is... unusual. But I can promise you, I'm not with them. On the contrary, I hunt them. The Void is my enemy."
"As for why I turned into this..." Kai'Sa let out a sigh and lowered her head to look at her own hand. Her palm was purple-black, her nails long enough to look frightening, and her forearm looked as though it were wrapped in armored gauntlets. The truth was obvious. She was no longer truly human.
"I became like this because of this skin. It turned me into... something neither human nor monster. But it's also the reason I survived in that place."
Jinx blinked. While Kai'Sa was speaking, she stepped forward and suddenly reached out to touch Kai'Sa's arm.
"Ow!"
With a cry of pain, Jinx jerked her hand back. The pad of her finger had split open and was bleeding. She looked at Kai'Sa in shock and shouted, "It, it bit me just now, didn't it?!"
"..."
Seeing Jinx panic like that, Kai'Sa's face remained expressionless, but inside, she felt miserable.
This was the first human being she had seen since crawling out of the underground world. Sure, she was a weird person, but she was still the first person to speak to her at all.
Kai'Sa was strong, yes, but in the end she was still just a girl who had only recently come of age. After so many years without seeing another human, loneliness and isolation were unavoidable. If she hadn't still had things she needed to do, there had even been times down in the underground world when she had considered killing herself.
And now that she had finally met someone, of course she had been happy.
But... was this where it ended?
That's enough, Kai'Sa. Don't be sad.
This is your fate.
Just look at yourself now. What right do you have to expect someone to stay and talk with you? The fact that she didn't run away the moment she saw you means she's already... a very kind person, doesn't it?
Don't want too much, Kai'Sa. You're carrying too much already.
"I think... I should go." Kai'Sa did not answer Jinx's question. Instead, she suddenly said that.
Then she turned to leave, spreading her arms slightly, ready to fly off.
Because staying with Jinx would only bring Jinx trouble.
Kai'Sa might be a hunter, but at the same time, she was prey.
If those creatures caught her scent, they could burst up from underground at any moment. In the form she wore now, she could no longer live among humans. Staying far away from them was the only choice she should make.
Just like she'd said, she belonged neither to humanity nor to the Void.
It seemed there was no place left in the world for her.
That was what she was thinking, her emotions finally settling down, when suddenly a hand grabbed her arm.
"Damn it! I knew it, that thing really was biting me!"
The girl's weird shriek rang out beside her, making Kai'Sa turn around speechlessly. Then she saw that the girl's palm was already covered in blood.
Kai'Sa was just about to say something when, the next second, a ball of green light covered the girl's hand. The blood vanished, the wound healed shut, and all that remained was a soft, pale pink-white palm.
Kai'Sa stared.
Magic?
But looking at Jinx, she had a hard time imagining a carefree, adorable girl like this using magic...
Then again, anyone who dared to show up alone in a place like this had to be powerful.
"What are you in such a rush for? Do you even have anywhere to go right now?" Jinx rubbed her palm and asked.
Kai'Sa shook her head.
"Then do you have any family left?"
Kai'Sa parted her lips as though to speak, then shook her head again.
She had no family anymore. Everything familiar, everyone she had ever known, had fallen into that underground world on that day and vanished.
Just like the name she had once carried, it had already become history, a piece of history no one knew.
"Or do you have something urgent you need to deal with right now?"
Kai'Sa still shook her head.
"Well then, there you go!" Jinx folded her arms and said in a matter-of-fact tone, "You're coming with me. Logan said weirdos like you need to be packed up and hauled back to Zaun. You survived all those years underground dealing with the Xer'Sai and other Void creatures, so you've got to be strong, right?"
"I don't know whether I count as strong, exactly, but ordinary Void creatures aren't a match for me," Kai'Sa said quietly.
A possibility rose in her heart, but she still hesitated over it.
"Good enough. You're coming with me. You don't have anywhere to go anyway, so I'm taking you somewhere better."
"I don't..." Kai'Sa started.
"Don't waste your breath. I wasn't asking for your opinion," Jinx cut her off with a rude wave of her hand.
Please. She was not Logan.
Logan had the patience to get along with someone first and then invite them nicely, but Jinx had no patience for that at all.
"Janna, bring her."
"Got it," said the goddess.
The moment she heard Janna's voice, Kai'Sa tensed up and looked around warily. Then she saw a beautiful blue bird appear out of nowhere and instantly grow larger.
Jinx hopped onto it like she had done it a hundred times before, patted the bird's back, looked at Kai'Sa, and said, "Get on."
"What, what is that?" Kai'Sa did not dare move. She had never seen such a huge bird in her life.
Her father had been widely traveled and incredibly knowledgeable, someone who had seen many places. But even he had never told Kai'Sa there were birds this huge in Shurima.
"Janna, do it."
"..."
The goddess sounded extremely speechless, but she still helped Jinx with her little kidnapping operation. A current of wind wrapped around Kai'Sa and lifted her onto Janna's back.
Then Janna spread her wings and shot into the sky, climbing to an altitude of a thousand meters in an instant as she flew toward Mount Targon.
"AAAAAHHH!"
Up in the air, Kai'Sa screamed for the first time in her life. She had just discovered something new about herself.
She was afraid of heights.
Which made no sense, because she could fly too. Not for long periods, but short bursts of flight, even slipping through space itself, were things Kai'Sa could do.
"Relax, you're not gonna fall," Jinx cackled from the front as Kai'Sa screamed behind her.
Then she asked, "Hey, question. You've been in that underground world for years, right? So... does that mean you haven't taken a bath the whole time?"
"I, I don't need to bathe!" Kai'Sa shouted back.
"Ugh. Suddenly you're not as pretty anymore." Jinx turned her head and looked at Kai'Sa with open disgust.
Kai'Sa really was beautiful, with a strange, dangerous kind of beauty, heroic and wild and full of raw natural appeal. Jinx had to admit, too, that Kai'Sa's ass was honestly in the same league as Ahri's chest or Sarah Fortune's. It was one of those absurd features that made a girl stand out on sight, the kind you noticed even when you really, really did not want to be noticing it. But once Jinx started thinking about a gorgeous woman going six or seven years without bathing, she felt a little sick.
Were those shell plates on her body actually just layers of dirt?
Did she never clean herself after using the bathroom? Did she never brush her teeth?
Apparently guessing what Jinx was thinking, Kai'Sa's face turned a little red. She explained seriously, "This skin consumes the things my body secretes. I don't need to use the bathroom, and I don't need to eat either. Once it's fed, it transfers energy to me."
"Please stop explaining. The more you explain, the grosser it gets..." Jinx said after thinking about it.
"You!"
At Mount Targon's mid-slope, Logan and Jax were sitting inside a tent. A wool carpet had been spread across the floor, and all around them were all sorts of objects, a finely made teapot, fur-lined coats, and all kinds of small decorative pieces.
From the look of them, those decorations came from all over the world. Logan had been to the Freljord, so he recognized one carved wooden ornament at a glance as northern craftsmanship. A black quenched dagger was clearly of Noxian make. Demacia, Ionia, Zaun, Piltover, Shurima, Bilgewater...
This little tent felt as if it contained the whole world.
"Here, have some tea."
Soraka lifted the tent flap and walked in carrying a teapot, a peaceful smile on her face. She came over to Logan and Jax.
"As for those Aspects, once I finish making arrangements, I'll let you know. They won't attack Runeterra again, but they also won't help Runeterra oppose the celestial host. They're not like me. They haven't left the celestial host."
"Soraka, you should understand that what I want from leaving them alive isn't just that," Logan said, raising a Demacian teacup to his lips and taking a sip. His eyes brightened a little at once.
Logan often went to Jayce and Mel's place for tea, but what they drank there was nowhere near this good.
If he brought this back to the Twin Cities and packaged it right, they could make a killing.
"I'm not finished."
Soraka went on, "They won't fight the Aspects, but they can help Runeterra fight demons, the Darkin, and even... the spirit realm."
Logan narrowed his eyes. "No conditions?"
"Of course not. You already spared their lives. What conditions would there need to be?"
"You were the one who stepped in and drove Xineos away," Logan said suddenly.
"That's a separate matter." Soraka smiled. Her golden eyes flashed, and she said softly, "Your wife is here."
Three seconds later, Logan sensed Janna and Jinx too, and... another unfamiliar presence?
He glanced at Soraka.
Three seconds was enough time for Janna, at her current speed, to fly from Zaun all the way to Bilgewater. So Soraka had not just sensed Janna three seconds earlier than he had, she had sensed her from tens of thousands of miles farther away.
And as for that unfamiliar presence, well...
Compared to Logan, it was not especially strong. But compared to Vander, it was much stronger than Vander.
Still, it was completely unfamiliar.
Just as Logan was thinking that, Jinx's voice rang out from outside the tent.
"Logan!"
Logan stood up to go greet her, and then Jinx shouted again.
"Logan! I caught a big cockroach for you!"
Logan froze mid-step, and a strange look crossed his face.
A... big cockroach?
That unfamiliar presence immediately took shape in his mind.
Black hair, purple eyes, a flawless figure, a beautiful face...
A champion League players loved to call the wheelchair ADC, and at the same time the LPL's emergency savior and last shred of dignity.
And along with all those titles, she also had another nickname, one that fit her Rift image perfectly well.
Roach Lady.
Logan did not know whether to laugh or cry.
Good lord, Jinx had actually captured Kai'Sa?!
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