Work Text:
Zed stared down the lane over the heads of the short soldiers and mages adorned in red armor and robes, his amber eyes a burning red through his mask, staring pits into the skull of the opponent before him. He had faced her before, and she was no easy matchup.
Akali twirled a dagger and surveyed her enemy from the corner of her eye. Zed knew she was confident when she fought him; she usually bullied him easily early on. But Zed always managed to get ahead when he retrieved a dirk from the shop. As was the case with most matchups, really.
As the laning phase went on, Zed took a few bad trades and had to play safe until he had enough gold to recall and buy his power spike item.
When the two faced off again, Akali seemed much more calculating than usual. Instead of taking too many trades, the two bided their time until level 6. But Zed was a master of whittling down his enemies until he got his ultimate, and playing safe against him never went well for anyone except him.
Akali threw a shuriken; the weapon flew between two soldiers and struck Zed in the shoulder. Before he could react, Akali soared over their armies and kicked the man down to the ground.
Zed fell into a shadow on the ground, and Akali was suddenly surrounded in darkness. Two shadows and Zed himself appeared around her, throwing shurikens at her from all sides and slashing at her arms and torso with armblades. Though he couldn't see her, Zed knew by the blood flying that she had been hit several times.
Akali stumbled backwards, then turned to run to safety, but between her tower and where she stood was the real Zed holding a magical flame above his palm. Before the shadow assassin could ignite the woman, however, a blue light descended from the sky, creating a shield around her that blocked the rest of Zed's ultimate damage.
"What the hell?" Zed hissed under his breath, confused as he turned his attention to the sky.
A man covered in sturdy leather and light plate armor fell in between Zed and Akali, appearing from a portal above. "Go," came an unfamiliar voice.
Before Zed knew what hit him, he was thrown into a nearby wall of rock, knocking the air from his lungs. Dazed, the assassin watched in dismay as Akali fled underneath her distant towers and begun her recall.
Zed's distraction was cut short as a fist met his metal mask. His ears rang, and he looked up at the man who kept him pinned to the wall. "Who..?" The man wore blue armor that matched the bright, icy blue glow of his eyes, his face hidden by a two-piece metal helmet. Zed had never seen this man before. Was he a new champion?
The man responded with another punch. Shit, this guy can hit. Zed grimaced, head spinning, but glad that his face was covered so he didn't break anything. For now. Quickly, Zed dug the blades on his arms into the other man's stomach, but the armor that protected him was difficult to breach. Realizing this, Zed opted to fall back into the shadows instead. He reappeared several feet away.
Wounded from his fight with Akali, and then faced with this mysterious newcomer, the master of shadows turned to leave instead of re-engaging. He recalled shortly after arriving at his tower.
The next time he encountered the blue warrior was only a few minutes later during another close fight with Akali. Akali disappeared into the nearby jungle when her savior appeared, who had once again thrown Zed with the strength of a bear. The assassin had landed on his back on the ground, shocked and completely vulnerable. The last thing he saw was a glowing blade headed straight for his throat. Then his vision went black.
Zed respawned moments later in the fountain. The shopkeeper gave him an inquisitive look. Irritated--no, furious now that his lane was completely ruined and Akali had a decent advantage over him, Zed ignored the vastaya's questions after upgrading his weapons and armor and rushed back to his lane.
Instead of trading, Zed shoved the blue army back under their turret and slipped into the jungle. He was going to teach this blue guy a lesson.
On the edge of the top lane, Zed hid and waited for the perfect moment. His top laner, Camille, had gotten the blue warrior pretty weak, and he was holding fort under his tower.
"Shove the wave in," Zed murmured through comms. Camille happily obliged, and Zed slipped from the shadows to dive the masked man.
But when Zed cast his ultimate onto him, he somehow knew exactly where the assassin was going to reappear, and slammed him into the side of the tower. Camille peeled the man away, but Zed was taking shots from the powerful gun at the top of the turret and was forced to retreat. His shadows did minimal damage at best, but in the end, Camille secured a kill.
Mildly embarrassed, but satisfied for the most part, Zed returned to his lane after healing until Master Yi called him over to help secure the Rift Herald's eye. Knowing it was a 50/50, since Camille was ahead but Zed had been pushed behind, Zed decided to go anyway, figuring a coin flip could put him in the lead against Akali.
It did not turn out in Zed's favor. Master Yi secured the Herald and left, and Camille returned to her lane, but Zed was caught off guard when Akali descended from the trees and crashed into him, digging the blade of her kama into his shoulder.
With a growl, Zed dipped into the shadows and vanished. He reappeared behind her and threw shurikens at her back; his shadow threw them at her head, and she was forced to duck, taking deep cuts into her shoulders and sides from the shurikens the real Zed had thrown. Then he charged her, slashing his arm blade against her cheek, barely missing her throat.
A kunai barely missed him, forcing Akali to retreat. Zed was glad that his damage still matched hers and that his skill surpassed her. And now he would finally secure the kill he needed to snowball the lane. The thought made the corner of his lips twitch into an excited smile.
But as Zed chased after her, the glowing shield appeared again. No! Anger and desperation made Zed lunge, valiantly trying to set Akali ablaze so she would die before the blue warrior got there, but she was just out of reach.
Something slammed into Zed, knocking him down in the shallow river. Water splashed up around him, drenching his armor. With the weight on his chest and water around his head, filling his mask and hood, for a second, he couldn't breathe.
He was quickly lifted up by the front of his chestpiece. The man who held him ripped his mask off, revealing Zed's scarred face and white hair but also allowing him to breathe easier.
Zed recognized the helmet of the stranger from top lane instantly. Zed glowered at him, gripping his wrist while he still held the assassin above water. "Who are you?" Zed asked, tone laced with frustration. The man didn't reply, preparing a fist to finish Zed off instead. The assassin sighed loudly in exasperation. "You've ruined everything for me. At least give me a name!"
Zed heard one calmly uttered word before he blacked out again. "Shen."
Several minutes later...
"Don't."
Zed glared daggers at the vastayan shopkeeper who clearly had many questions on his tongue judging by his cheeky smile and the mischief glimmering in his eyes. Zed was 0/3/1 now. Akali had gotten a kill on him just a minute ago with the help of her jungler. Zed had had enough. He was ready to give up the lane and just shove and roam. It had done more for him than anything else so far.
With revenge at the front of his mind, Zed crept into the shallow river and made his way west and into the opposing jungle, searching for the jungler who had recently been seen near the Rift Herald's pit, low on health.
What he found in the river was not a weakened Xin Zhao, though. Instead, he spotted Shen placing a ward in the bush at the edge of his lane. Camille was still back at base.
Zed wondered if he could fight Shen one on one. The blue warrior wasn't doing very well against Camille, but he had still earned a lot of gold from the soldiers he had killed and the assists he had secured. He was also straight bigger than Zed. But Zed resolved that with his shadow magic, he could match Shen's power.
He was wrong. Very wrong. Shen's fists packed strong punches, but Zed could deal with them. The man's swords, however--one normal, and one brimming with a mysterious energy--and his skill with them were unmatched. The magic sword blocked every melee-range jab and slash Zed could throw at him, and the assassin's shurikens, though capable of cutting through metal, did very little and were often dodged.
As the tip of Shen's regular sword flew toward Zed's face, the assassin barely managed to leap away in time to save his throat. Instead, the blade caught the side of his mask and ripped it from his hood, demonstrating the sheer force and strength of the blue warrior. Shen lunged at the assassin then, catching him off guard and shoving him against a rocky wall.
Exhausted and resigned to his fate, with humiliation burning on his ears, Zed didn't even meet the man's gaze as he prepared himself for another black out.
Absolutely nothing could've prepared Zed for what came next. Shen pulled the bottom cover of his own helmet away, revealing everything on his face below the nose, and leaned in to give the assassin a kiss on the lips long enough for Zed to taste something sweet.
Startled, Zed's eyes snapped back, wide in surprise and confusion, that burning sensation moving from his ears to his cheeks. But instead of elaborating, Shen took a step away, pressed a fist against an open palm, and channeled his own spiritual energy elsewhere. He vanished within seconds, using his ultimate to rescue an ally far away... and, for whatever reason, granting Zed mercy.
Zed stared blankly at the spot on the ground where Shen had stood. The sounds of the jungle filled the air around him; birds chirping, bugs buzzing, and the water of the river flowing slowly downstream. And once Zed recovered from the shock, he spoke, too.
"What?"