don't burn without me

Dark Devastation

Ezreal looked down at the coffee table a foot away from his legs. A single lamp illuminated the area, the whole house a sea of darkness. He hadn't moved since the others left, and hadn't bothered to turn on any other lights. Being a relay, all he had to do was chill out. He could certainly continue being a relay, even if he was fighting, but staying in one spot helped everyone determine the range of communications.

He didn't need to pop from one side of Valoran City to the other, and mess everyone's connection up.

He stood up, Yuuto yawning on his shoulder as he did so, climbing the staircase of the Darkened house to find his room. Finding more comfort to lay on his own bed. Well, compared to staring at a dim lamp.

He fell backward to his bed with a grunt. Yuuto leapt off his shoulders to float down to his stomach to rest peacefully. His eyes wandered to the side window, fully open to let the cool air rush in. He found the moon hanging in the sky, its light overwhelming the many stars above. The city lights did a better job of that than the moon did, really. It wasn't necessarily a bad thing, not to Ezreal anyway.

Humans, Vastaya and Yordles all found comfort in the light. Perhaps it had something to do with the theory that all life was born from stardust. That, when a star would reach a supernova, all the material built up within would be flung out into open space, to collect with other debris. From there, life was a chance gifted unto those who were lucky enough to experience it.

Ezreal had often pondered, were they granted the power of the stars, because once upon a time, they were all part of that celestial entity?

He smiled at the thought. The expression 'there's a star in all of us' was a bit literal in that case, though, he was sure there had to be more to the selection process to become a Star Guardian.

Rakan and Xayah came to the forefront of his mind. He winced; looking away with a downcast expression.

Darkened. That was the term Ahri used. Yet, Ezreal felt that wasn't right. Maybe in Xayah's case, from how apathetic she had acted when she'd met the blonde. But anger didn't make anyone 'dark'. In the same way that, happiness didn't make anyone 'light'.

Rakan was different. He was warm, and comforting. Hells, he even tried to give Ezreal romance advice to a guy he'd known for all of five minutes. But Ahri had said he wasn't as deep into the darkness like Xayah was. Their Darkened state must have been either forced onto them, or they had chosen to take it.

If it was the former, then all Ezreal could feel was pity and anger. Someone who would take other peoples star gems, their souls, and twist it against their will were truly detestable.

If it was the latter, then Ezreal didn't know what to feel. He'd gather that it would be Xayah who would make the decisions, and Rakan would willingly follow along, just for her.

Either way, it had left them Darkened. And if that meant they would attack the Star Guardians, then that must've implied they were against the First Star.

'But why?' Ezreal's brows curled further. Two people, both in love with one another, acting against the First Star's wishes. If they could feel love then why were they Darkened?

Ezreal sighed, unable to find the answer. His focus flicked to his wardrobe. His uncle's large coat hanging out, the sleeve waving softly in the cool air of his open window. He'd had two uncles, one on each of his parent's sides. His mother was apparently from the Freljord, while the other was from Piltover. Besides that, he didn't know much about his family, which apparently wasn't too uncommon for a lot of Star Guardians. The only person on either team he knew that had familial connections was Lux.