Chapter Text
The water is warm. Warm, splayed across the floor in a thin layer that wraps the surface like plastic, rippling open with every slow step that Dalisay took. Her blade jounced between the cracks of the asphalt and dirt, singing and vibrating under the endless chatter and metal grinding in Zaun. She spread the infectious light of her weapon throughout the shallow river, which led to the little opening of a broken pipe. It seemed to have dripped from a gash in a downspout, making an acute rusty stain that formed into a triangle over what may have been decades of erosion. Dalisay’s eyes trailed up the pipe, watching as its neck continued to grow upwards until it was only shrouded by the darkness of the black sky. The sky. One so devoid of life. She always expected to see the void speckled with stars, gazing down at her, piercing her with needles, but no; this was a hollow world, one she should’ve known but didn’t need to anymore. Zaun was alien. But so was Piltover. She didn’t know why.
She folded a few small strings around in her palm, feeling its scalding warmth as it anchored herself in her own sanity. She had no reason to fear this place, which may well have been her second home. She wanted to feel bad for what could just be seen as Piltover’s basement, and from a quick scan, anyone would feel some kind of remorse, even if the problem wasn’t theirs to begin with. Dalisay fixed problems. She vowed to fix anything, anyone, anywhere. It was her job, hell, her whole damn life. Whatever is happening here, she’s part of it now, and she has to figure out what, why, how, and when. She didn’t know where to start.
I’m not even here to fix anything.
She was back in the mindset. Don’t try to help a place that you don’t remember. That’s why you’re here, to remember. Remember what world you lived in when you were younger, when you were much younger. Remember the feeling of your mattress, lying down in front of the window to watch the sky spark alive in the night. Remember the pedestrians that walk the street, some sitting down to talk with tea or food. Remember the cracks in the floor. Remember the darkness you couldn’t have. Piltover was always illuminated, but you’re down in Zaun instead of being up in your home city because you’re too afraid to meet the people again, the common passerby again, your family again, a family that’s probably already sleeping in the ground. Don’t think about that. Just focus, and look forward. Step, step, step, step, step. Hold your cape, and keep yourself clean. She was human, she was bound to think like this.
Her unguided steps pushed her to breach the corner of the piped building, and as she watched the edge of the wall reveal the other side, she could see someone. A little body, one that was clearly much shorter than her. Is it lost? She helps people. She had to do something. Don’t get comfortable. The shadows speak volumes, this may well be a threat. She had to speak for herself and not rely on the sky.
The figure stumbled forward.
Her feet slowed down to a halt as she gazed down at the figure, hiding her sword between her legs and her cape. Her fingers rubbed against her palm, anticipating some kind of attack.
“Ma’am…?”
They speak.
Dalisay felt a little less stiff hearing what could have only been a human voice, or at least an imitation of one. The arm that she held in front of her chest slowly unfolded down to her side. She tried to adjust her vision to the darkness to see the body, and their head was looking down in, maybe, guilt.
“Ma’am.”
Her body turned to face them. “Hello?”
“May you…” Two steps forward. They breathed loud enough for Dalisay to hear from maybe 20 feet away. “May you help me?” They coughed gingerly, seeming to hide some other voice.
This was no crook, right?
This person had to be like her, in some way. They were both humans.
“Tell me your name.”
The figure needed to think. “...Chër, ma’am,” they muttered quickly.
“Chër. Tell me, what’s wrong, child?” Dalisay called everyone that. She adopted the speech pattern from her somewhat adoptive father, Kerino, and she is very aware of her bulky, aged appearance, so it’s become warranted. “Speak up.”
The little body’s crossed arms clapped to its sides. “There’s something in there and I need to…” they mumbled, barely discernible to Dalisay. The trembling voice trailed off slowly as they scratched at their fingers. Dalisay looked down at the figure’s palms, feeling that there was something wrong. Like a darker shadow… or a darker arm. It twitched with every stroke of the other arm, like the movement of a near-dead body. The color spread up their arm, beneath little circular extensions that poked through their skin, and faded back to normal, where the arm was wrapped tightly with cloth. Is this a human?
“Please, let me hear you,” she prodded, stepping her leg out. The blue light of the sharp blade pricked between her legs, shining onto Chër’s face. They raised their hands to shield their eyes from the burn, but it brought them to think. What is that? All they could see was a sliver of blue sticking out from the woman’s pants and shining a light on something else behind it. They needed to look closer, to get their hands on it.
A larger step.
Dalisay gasped quietly. With her hand now up to her chest, she threw her arm out to tie the person’s arms to their torso. The tether that spun around Chër led to the woman’s hand, emerging from her palm. That’s not of Zaun.
Chër, now intrigued by the mysterious girl, tilted their head up to look at their face. Their eyes were yellow, like shining bulbs. It made Dalisay’s eyes widen a little, which Chër caught from the light now burning from the tether and casting a mask of blue on her face. This couldn’t have been any…human. The thought made Chër chuckle.
“Don’t step forward. And don’t mock me.”
“P-Please, ma’am, I didn’t do anything!” Chër whimpered with unusual force. It couldn’t get through Dalisay, not now.
“Why should I believe that?”
“I-” Their snickering engulfed their words, but their face contorted into a sick, worried look. “I can’t negotiate with a deity!”
“...”
She wasn’t a god. No, she wasn’t. She had the aspects of one, but… she’s a human. Like them.
“I am what you are,” Dalisay declared, almost hesitating. “A human, a natural one, just… given another purpose.”
The word ‘human’ left a sour taste in Chër’s mouth, especially directed at them. “I am… not…”
“You, and I, we’re of the same kind. I only wish to help. That’s who I am.”
“You…” The string was too tight. Too much, too much warmth, too much. “I- …only want you to help find somebody. Please. Please. Pleaaasseee,” They quivered. “In- in the morgue. They’re in…” They struggled, trying to point but not being able to. “...In the morgue. I just want help.”
Dalisay looked between the threads. Chër themself was dressed like a morgue patient. Was… no, humans remain in death. This is, this… it’s not happening. This is a human. Help them.
“I’ll… I’ll try to, child.” She only made one slow step forward, but the figure tilted their head down, encasing the light of their eyes in their head, illuminating the drool that dripped between their rows of teeth and down their chin. Dalisay could only see it faintly.
And they took the chance.
Dalisay felt the sharp piercing of their teeth push into her shoulder, her entire body pushed to the floor as the figure attacked her. All she could see in that moment was the person’s fume-exhaling extensions on their arm pushed against her cheek. Chër could only get a little bit into her skin before being pulled back by the tether, pressing scalding lines into their stomach before slamming them against the cold concrete wall.
Breathe. Breathe. Breathe, Dalisay. Stand. Stand. Stand. Now. Breathe.
Her whole body shook with fear and coldness and frustration, topped with a stinging feeling that made her left shoulder heavy. Her right arm trembled across her chest to feel her shoulder, and it burned. It wasn’t warm. Even the slightest touch made her groan in pain. Her coat wasn’t red. It was something else, some other color that was blackened by the dark. She didn’t recognize it. Breathe. Breathe.
Chër’s entire body violently shook around in the confinements of the tether, grinding their teeth, trying to gnaw at the string until it snapped. It was burning them, through their clothes, making a giant burn mark across their torso and arms, singing into their flesh. Oh god, oh god, no panic, just break through, out out out, now! Come here! Please, please, hurry, please, no, please!
Dalisay couldn’t bring herself to look away. Their entire body was now in sight, hooked up with gadgets and some kind of pinkish fluids that surged into their body. Dammit, they were a mess. She didn’t know what the mess was exactly, but it couldn’t be any less than urgent. Did they bring this upon themselves? Why would humans accept this-… Dalisay had to. She’s human. But, were they? Even in her state, she had to know. She would know it all. Her left arm swept the cape out from under her and she pushed her body back up with her right hand, almost falling back down when she reached up. Her arm leaned down and she gripped tightly onto the handle of her sword, coming to life by her touch and letting out shining dust all about itself. She waltzed toward the squirming person whom she could no longer describe with a newfound curiosity. She knew there was something missing. Maybe this is just stupid, she thought, considering her lack of familiarity. This could well be any person. Should it matter if this is ‘any person’? This one is still clearly off. She can judge normalcy, it’s fine.
She didn’t even realize that her hand was reaching forward as she drew closer, maybe trying to pick at their scabs, to pull out the gadgets smashed into their body and inspect it closely, like pulling apart a robot. This was no robot, this was…
Chër looks furious. They didn’t look too familiar with the feeling, and that was to be expected. No human- …no person, could ever recognize it. But they weren’t just mad as they squirmed and shook, they seemed to laugh. They laughed with a sneer on their face, looking to their side, ear pressed up to the wall, for some reason. Dalisay stared down with a concerned look. Chër saw her face and began to snicker at her. She kept walking, but it all felt like a mistake, like a sin of some kind. There was something waiting.
She only wanted to take them apart.
They only wanted to tear her apart.
The figure smiled.
Chër’s body rushed forward, clawing through the rope and tearing it off the wall, taking rubble along with it. The strings dissolved in the air and illuminated their world as Chër once again sunk their teeth into Dalisay, now into her upper arm. She exploded with a roar of pain, making her entire arm shake with pain and fear. Her body was frozen in time, only connected to her shaky arm now being torn apart by flesh. Her anger rushed to her head, her body trying to take control of the little bastard and toss them across the floor. She tried to throw her arm away to pull them off of it, but it only made their teeth dig deeper and deeper, making Dalisay shriek even louder. Her free arm desperately bashed against Chër’s head, but they just wouldn’t budge, only seeming to try and hit the bone. In a moment of desperateness, Dalisay gripped the scruff on Chër’s neck and pulled back, which made them let go and crushed their body back onto the wall, pushing their chest out. Little bits of her flesh scattered to the floor, some even still in Chër’s mouth, falling out with bits of drool. Dalisay, now in control, took her strong hand and slammed it against Chër’s neck, holding their head and body above the ground. Chër could no longer get their teeth onto Dalisay, and the rest of his body was no help hanging above the ground, so all they could think to try was to pry her giant fist off of their neck. They had practically no ability to use any of their strength, only brushing against the dry, textured skin. Dalisay was completely stone at the moment, gritting her teeth as she choked the life out of this person. The adrenaline made her lose focus of the pain that ached in the missing part of her arm. She was all rage, and headache, and tears, consumed by madness, trying to put an end to this so-called ‘person’. Who? Why? Nevermind. Push harder on their neck. Kill them.
Chër felt words being pushed out from their neck as Dalisay tightened her grip. “You-” they went into a coughing fit. “Can’t… be human, neithe- Ghk…!”
Shut up, shut up, shut up! Stop! I am human! I have feelings, I grow, I am a person with remorse, I…
Can’t…
Feel.
There was nothing in her. She couldn’t even see herself. The shadows that enveloped her eyes when she donned her coat made her unrecognizable. She lives in hiding from a family that doesn’t want to hide her. She is killing… what she is. She’s not human…? Kerino, I-... Oh, god dammit! Fuck! Kerino had no view of her. Only this goddamn black tent was in the way. Fuck, no. There was nothing wrong. She’s a human! I am! I am a human! Shut up! Stop laughing!
Her eyes wandered away from Chër’s face, losing herself. Her grip was a little less tight, but still not enough to pry open the fingers. If she could just disappear from her body, flop onto the floor, and never come back, then he could help them get out and deal with this freak. Bleh! Maybe they can kick her in the stomach or something, or spit into her eyes, or-
In the morgue.
Dalisay snapped out of it as she heard the sound of sharpening metal and clanging pieces, faintly rumbling the ground beneath her. They both looked over to the source. Dalisay had no clue what was going on, but Chër seemed very happy as they laughed even louder with a horrible smile stretching across their face, as if they were proud of themself. This couldn’t be the person they were talking about.
Dalisay looked at the mess she had almost torn apart and choked until they went limp, but something in her told her that she had been unbecoming. Stop.
And she did, as she pushed the body against the wall away from her, letting it fall to the floor and recoil back up. She threw a single tether back at the body to hold it back for long enough, and she quickly pulled herself away from the morgue and back to where she last remembered being.
She landed back on her feet running as she looked back in human-like curiosity, watching as Chër’s body contorted up and down with every breath, trying to keep alive before falling to the floor and almost falling apart. Another figure hid them, looking down at the poor one and seeming to talk. The dust that emerged from the tether spread across, just enough to reveal the larger figure. They were the color of the little one’s arm.
I need to leave, she thought, wanting to forget everything all over again. Out, out out out…
Before she could completely escape from the situation, the little body looked back at her, pointing at her with its glowing eyes. Their glowing, burning, piercing, horrible, eyes. Burning her. Shining a spotlight on her. Showing who she truly was… an inhuman creature. And it all went back into the dark.