Chapter Text
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kai’sa knew something was wrong when her consciousness began to slowly return. Her body felt heavy, her mind was slow and empty of thought, her eyes refused to open, alongside a sickening ache in her body.
Most concerning of all however was her skin which would ordinarily alert her to her surroundings, letting her know everything that was around her or even waking her up if someone got too near. Something poor Ezreal found out the hard way when he tried waking her for breakfast when she was leading him out of the desert. Only to nearly slice his head off out of reaction when her skin alerted her to what it thought was a threat.
The scare alone was enough to make boastful Ezreal wet himself, and though she didn’t admit it, she wet herself as well.
The scare was enough that Ezreal never got within five feet of her unless he got her attention first. A fact that made her feel immensely guilty for weeks, even after they had gone their separate ways.
After this scare kai’sa began to work to control her instincts so she would not risk hurting another innocent. After all what if she reacted that way to someone who wasn’t as spritely as Ezreal. A random stronger or passer-by who might come upon her while sleeping thinking she was in trouble. She could actually kill someone the next time someone startled her, something she needed to control if she was to actually save people.
Yet unlike before when her skin would react at a hair-trigger and feel weightless on her body as it gave her strength. Now she couldn’t sense anything,
Normally even with her eyes closed, she could sense her surroundings akin to a bat being able to tell what was around her. An ability that was very useful when in the near pitch black of the tunnels under Sharima. For the first time since gaining these accursed powers, she felt truly blind powerless even her body refused to cooperate with her wants.
This realization left a feeling in her chest that she hadn’t felt in years, fear, she was afraid.
After what felt like an eternity she finally managed to force her eyes open. At first, she saw nothing but a sickening kaleidoscope of images that swirled around her vision. Yet this quickly passed though she almost wished it didn’t for what she saw was nothing like she had ever seen before only compounding her fear.
All around her were walls made of a blurry mess of dull gray metal.
It was painfully small Her body curled up into a ball due to how small it was. While the walls were barely tall enough for her to sit up comfortably not that she could with how she felt right now. The only light coming into the room was a small slit in the metal box that she was now confined to, greeting her only just enough light to see.
While it took her a minute to comprehend what she was seeing it did not take long for her to realize where she was… in a cage.
Panic surged through her, kai’sa had run-ins with people before. Humans, a handful of vestia, minotaurs, even a Yordal once due to a misunderstanding. But never had she ever been captured before. Most who saw or came after she tried to kill her on sight or tried scaring her off. The closest she ever got to capture was a deranged Yordal who thought she was a new species of void to study, hence the misunderstanding. But being genuinely captured was new.
Not long after as her mind began to return to her nose was assaulted by a rancid smell of sweat, urine, and other bodily odors no doubt coming from herself.
While the smell made her cringe she was largely able to ignore it having to deal with far worse over the years. Rather she was more concerned by what the smell meant in regards to her health, as well as time.
‘Just how long have I been out?’ she wondered groggily. ‘The last thing I remember was checking out a void presence in a village. then’
“Aggg!” she moaned in pain as she tried to move.
A fiery exploded pain in her left side just above the navel. It felt like she had a sharp heavy stone in her gut stabbing her from the inside. It was so great she could feel tears in her eyes making her vision blur for a moment, so great was the pain.
She knew what this pain was having felt it only once before fighting a void spawn. It was the one time her steel-like skin wasn’t enough to protect her.
Bringing a hand to the wound was almost impossible as her body refused to move combined with the pain she was in that was near paralyzing. Every little movement hurt, even breathing hurt like someone held a hot iron to her chest. Forcing her to clench her teeth hissing loudly as she fought through the pain while trying to check the wound. Yet as her void-covered fingers touched the wound kai’sa was reminded of the single flaw with her steely skin.
While it kept her from feeling pain, it also prevented her from getting used to pain. In short, whenever she did get injured or felt true pain of any sort, it was near crippling.
But with the grit of a warrior who survived the void, she touched her wound as hard as she dare.
It was hard to say what she was feeling through her void-covered fingers, her sense of touch not being what it once was. But what she did feel was concerning as she felt what must have been a large gash the width of two of her fingers, and just as long stripping the void skin away. While above it she felt what must have been a large menagerie of bandages around her middle binding the wound.
It was a sloppy job but it was enough she felt to keep her alive, or she hoped it was. However, that still left the question of where she was. Much less why she was here, in a metal box in a puddle of her own bodily fluids for who knows how long.
‘Just what’s going on?’
As if to answer her question loud metallic bang outside the cage got her attention. The sound startled Kai’sa from her thoughts. It sounded almost like a door had been opened, though she could not be sure having never seen this much metal before in her life. Not a moment later the sound of foot’s steps could be heard echoing off of yet more metal.
‘How much metal is this building made out of?’
She was given little time to ponder anything else as the sound of something scraping upon metal graded in her ear. Soon followed by the grunting sounds of a man alongside a second pair of feet upon the metallic ground.
“Oh there you are boss.’ a gruff male voice said in surprise, I was just about to send for ya. Little lass just woke up from the sounds of it.’
Kai’say felt insulted by being called little much less being referred to as a lass as nothing could be further from the truth. She was the protector of Sharima, defending the sandy realm from the void where ever it may be. She was a warrior, not some little girl or lady in wait that needed protecting.
The other man meanwhile grunted in recognition, “is that so? She woke up sooner than I expected, but she is some sort of void thing so I guess we should expect some surprises.” the man remarked intelligently in a cold tone as metallic and lifeless as her prison sending a shiver down her spine.
‘Who is this man?’ she wondered as she practically felt his cruelty in his words
The first man no doubt the one guarding her prison let out of a laugh, “ha I’ll say she killed almost a dozen of the mercs we higher before we finally managed to down her. Heck, she drank half the drug store once we forced that weird helmet thing upon and got the tube down her throat before she finally went down.
It was at this she was made aware of the bitter taste in her mouth begging for water to wash it away. ‘So I was drugged, that explains why my void skin is acting up.’ she was not aware of any substance that could sedate a spawn of the void, but it was the only thing that made any sense. ‘Whatever they used must have been absorbed through my skin into the void.
“That may be the case but she is still dangerous and you would do well to be warry.” the man warned. “she can think unlike those mindless beasts we normally go after. She didn’t kill so many of my men because she is powerful she killed them because she is smart.”
“So under no circumstance do you let your guard down, and at the first sign of trouble flood that box with gas to knock her out again we don’t need her escaping.”
The other man grumbled something she had trouble making out but sounded something like whatever.
The boss let out a dangerous hiss, followed by a slam of something hitting her box making the box shake. Her head rang painfully from the metallic echo radiating through the metal confines making her wonder what was going on outside.
“I mean it.” the boss said threatening. “You let her escape and I’ll throw you into an even smaller box.”
This seemed to get the desired response as the man groaned painfully, “ok, ok, you got it boss’ the guard returned submissivly.
For a moment all was quiet leaving Kai’sa to wonder what was going on outside. Wear it not for the drug affecting her void powers she might even know. But as she was all she could do was a guess.
Eventually, the movement of feet could be heard as one said, she assumed the boss walked away.
It was at this she thought that it was over, only to be proven wrong when the guard spoke again. “Just one question boss.” he began presumably getting the boss’s attention.
“What?” the boss returned.
“What do we do if she does escape in the city she is awake a lot sooner than plained. She might even give those Noxians who hired us to nab the fabled void woman of the desert some trouble. I mean I know they are used to dealing with tough customers for the gladiatorial ring but what happens to us?”
For a moment the boss was slight before an icy cold chortle left his lips at the words. “Now Mr becket don’t you worry, so long as she escapes after we weigh anchor once we drop her off in Piltover it’s no longer our concern.”
His words made her eyes bulge in their sockets ‘Piltover? That’s where Ezeral lives.’
A thought of dread filled her at this thought ‘did Ezreal sell me out, did he go back to the city and pay someone off to have me captured?... no. no no he wouldn’t.’ she reasoned hopefully.
‘I need to have more faith in him, Ezreal is arrogant but not traitorous he is more concerned about getting his parent’s attention, not money or ambition. Besides this boss said that someone called the Noxians paid him to capture me, he even called me a myth. That means people beyond the sands of my home know of me.’
‘Oh I am such a fool’ Her eyes closed in defeat fists clenching in anger towards herself
She felt a painful pit in her gut more painful than the wound in her chest. She felt so stupid, as not only did she let her guard down enough to allow a group of normal people to capture her. As well as being so careless in how she was letting people beyond the sands hear of her presence. People who may want her or her powers for their own ambition.
As she heard the man walk away out the door she thought about the hopelessness of her situation. kai’sa knew she needed to escape but that would be easier said than done given her condition.
It was then she remembered how the boss said something about weighing anchor. While she had never seen a ship she had heard enough about them around sharima, as well as Ezreal to know what they were. Large vessels made from wood or metal that floated on water or even air to get around. While she didn’t know how any of that was possible it was a place to start forming her escape plan.
‘Ok think, your on a ship of some kind on your way to Piltover.’ she thought to herself.
‘Escaping now is a waste of time I don’t know how to swim and there is no telling where we are, much less which way Sharma is. Even if I could escape there is nowhere to run. There is also the fact that this ship is full of people, I can’t fight them all in this state.’
A pained sigh left her lips at the realization that she had but one option. And not a very good one at that given her dislike of chance. ‘My best bet is to wait till we make it ashore in Pilt over and see if I can find Ezreal.’ the idea coming to her begrudgingly hating the idea of going to him in this state.
While she would not mind seeing the boy again, the young blonde being one of the few people to treat her well. She didn’t want to put him in harm’s way by potentially leading bounty hunters to his front down. If the first and only person to treat her like a human being got hurt due to her actions she would never forgive herself.
But all the same, she had little choice in the matter. Her knowledge of Piltover came only from scattering rumors and Ezreal’s first-hand accounts. or at least she hoped she did. His accounts were a bit stylized and as she thought about it doubted the truth of much of it.
Even so what she knew was not enough to find medicine for her wounds, much less a way back to Sharima on her own. Knowing her luck she had just as much chance going to the wrong ship back by mistake as she did the right one.
‘Would they even let me on a ship without money?’ the thought nagging at her painfully as she realized just how little she knew of the world outside hunting the void. ‘Why must civilized people be so complicated?’ she thought dry with a slight shake of her head.
‘Still, at least I have a plan, even a poor one. I need to escape into the city. I Need to avoid detection, I need to find Ezreals home. And hopefully, recruit his help with my wounds and get me back to Sharima.’
With her course of action set all she had to do was wait, wait and hope that she could escape when the time came. Though at the same time she couldn’t help but worry about something.
‘I just hope Ezreal isn’t on another expedition when we arrive in Piltover or Ezreal might have a void spawn with my skeleton inside waiting in his home for him.’