Chapter 1: A Wanderer and a Secret Weapon

My head is spinning, I can barely breathe, and there is a horrible stench in the air.

I open my eyes and see nothing, but darkness. I turn my head slightly to the left, a single torch laid on the ground, the fire coming from it being the only light in wherever I am.

I tried standing up, but my legs felt like they were on fire and I fell back onto the floor. I instead crawl to the torch and try to reach it, something pulls me back, a chain that keeps me from going any forward, the torch just right outside my grasp.

Suddenly a door opens filling the room slightly with light coming from it, the light blinds me for a second and I cover my eyes with my arm.

I hear the sound of footsteps approaching me, someone is walking up to me.

The footsteps stop right in front of me and a sinister voice whispers in my ear,

"You're finished."

-Riven-

A soft, but firm shake wakes me from my dream.

"Ma'am?" A much gentler voice spoke in a hushed voice.

I raise my head, I feel like crap, the room is slightly spinning and I want to vomit.

"You look like you're finished, you should go home."

My memory starts to come back to me, I'm in some bar in some village that I didn't even know the name to getting drunk. The empty mugs in front of me show that I had a little more than my usual limit of drinking usually is, I forget why I had drunk so much though, I don't normally do this.

"Excuse me?" The voice says again, making me remember that I'm not alone here.

I raise my head more and see a woman, the owner of this bar most likely, looking down at me with an unreadable look on her face. "I think you had enough for tonight, you don't look too good."

I try to respond, but I feel too much like crap to even do that and instead just pay for the drinks and stumble out of the bar, I could feel the woman's eyes on me the entire time. It was humiliating being in such a drunken state that I could barely speak or walk properly, but hey, this was my life now. She said to go home, but I had no home, small taverns and bars in random villages were my home in a way. I spent most my time in them and they are usually the place I pass out at. It's sad how my life is this way, but I had little to no money and couldn't afford my own place. Turns out you don't get paid that much for being a fucking champion of the League, even though they make that title seem like such a big thing.

Luckily it seems that most of the people in the village were asleep or too busy doing their own thing to notice me stumble down the dirt road with my sword, I'm glad since it saves me even more embarrassment.

To think, one of Noxus's greatest warriors reduced to being some nobody wanderer traveling from bar to bar in search of a drink and a place to rest my head.

I shook my head, this was my decision, I can never return to Noxus, that Noxus wasn't the Noxus I believed in, not the one I was taught to believe in.

My head starts to hurt more, a normal person would've collapsed from the pain. Everyone knows about Noxus and Zaun's close relationship with each other, the city-state has allied with Noxus in most of its major wars, the one I was in wasn't any different.

That war though…it wasn't a war, there was no glory in death, no honor, I don't think I ever had to lift my sword against one person. It was all over the news the next day too, "Zaun uses experimental biochemical weapons on Ionian forces." What the news forgot to mention was that this…monstrosity of a thing that Zaun made was also used on Noxus's own troops…my unit. There was no honor, no glory to be found in a death like that, I just barely escaped with my life, bastards, firing on their own allies, who does that!?

Their faces and their screams still haunt me at times. I try to keep their memory alive in me, I refuse to allow myself to believe they died a honorable death like so many people believe.

I never returned to Noxus again, something about that day, that "war", changed me. I venture out across Valoran seeking some sort of fruitless way to bring back the true Noxian vision I had been taught to believe in, to seek some sort of atonement for my involvement in that massacre.

So far I have made no progress on either and just spend my days fighting pointless battles in the league, getting drunk, and sleeping. I move from village to village, town to town, seeking…something, I don't know, redemption for being part of that battle with Ionia? A way to change Noxus? I had no idea and still have no idea what it was that I think I will find by wandering all over Valoran. I feel if I keep walking I will find the answers I'm looking for.

The road came to a crossroad, I took a right and found what I had been looking for, an inn. I pull out a small bag from my pocket and untie the knot that closed it. I turned it upside down and dumped the contents into my hand.

"Hm, should be enough to get a room for the night." I sighed.

I really needed to get a job, I made sure to bring as much as I could with me before exiling myself form Noxus, but most of my supplies were running thin, including my money.

I put the small bag back into my pocket and walk to the inn. The building was small, wooden, and smelt of things…I didn't even want to wonder what it was I smelt as I walked into the building. It was obviously an inn made for poorer people, I didn't even need to step inside the building to notice this. The "lobby" was bare and had a lot of empty space, there was only really the front desk where a very frail old man stood at. I wasn't picky on where I stayed, I didn't have enough money to be picky so I walked up to the old man.

"One room please."

The old man looked at me for a few minutes, I didn't know if he was staring at me or if he died standing up like that. He was barely breathing and looked like a skeleton. Eventually he did speak quelling my suspicions of him being dead.

"Ten…gold." His voice was more of a whisper and he wheezed between his words.

I counted the money I still had in my hand.

Twenty two…crap, I really need to get more money soon…

I sighed and placed the gold on the counter. For a skeleton he sure did grab the gold surprisingly quickly. He must've counted it three times before he walked behind him and grabbed a key off the wall.

"Your room number 23 , second floor to the far left…" He mumbled as he counted the gold one last time.

I looked at him for another second then walked up the stairs nearby. The stairs creaked with every step and it felt like I would fall through them any minute, thankfully the gods spared me from that embarrassing fate and I made it up the stairs just fine.

Once I made it to the top I looked for my room, ignoring the sounds and occasional moaning coming from the other rooms. I found my room and unlocked the door with the key.

The room looked exactly like every other part of the inn, horrible and smelly. There was only a small closet, a door that lead to what I assume is the bathroom (won't even dare going in there), a rug (what are those stains?), a nightstand with a cheap lamp that provided the only source of light for the room, and finally, the only thing that really mattered to me: a bed.

There was no windows or even an attempt to make the room look more decent like other inns do. It was really a sign of where my life ended up, the garbage.

I shut the door and tried to lock it, surprise, the lock doesn't work. Someone could just walk in here while I'm asleep and kill me…wonderful. At least the last inn I stayed at had a working lock.

Not that I was afraid of dying, I was trained out of that fear a long time ago. I would probably be more annoyed if I died, especially in that way, I could never save the true Noxian way if I was to die.

I walked to the bed and place a cautious hand on the blanket and ran my hand all over it. It was surprisingly decent, not too many stains and it wasn't sticky. I pulled the cover back and almost instantly put it back up.

Apparently the cover was the only clean part of this bed.

Okay, sleeping on top of the cover, got it.

I groaned as I laid on the bed with my sword still in hand, I hadn't realized how much my back had been killing me. I had to thank my aching back, it helped me forget where I was and the bed I had to sleep on.

I kept my clothes and armor on and kept my sword in bed with me, just in case someone tries to take advantage of that broken lock…

I let out a yawn and allowed to darkness of sleep to wash over me.

Tomorrow is another day Riven, let's hope I get close to…whatever I'm trying to look for.

….

Before I knew it, I was back on the road again. I left the village I stayed at the previous night behind and continued my pointless journey.

This is how my life was ever since I left Noxus, stayed at one village or small town for the night, maybe do a small job here and there if I run out of money, then it's off to the next place. The jobs were small and I was always done with them by the time I head off the next day, if there was one thing that being a champion had going for me was that it seemed people were more than willing to give me a job due to my status. Thankfully they don't tend to get into my private business and ask what someone like me is doing looking for jobs like this and don't question when I have to disappear the next day.

However, there was one job where I worked for more than one day, and it wasn't something small like cleaning dishes in a bar or helping some poor farmer paying for an extra hand. This was a big one and I normally wouldn't work a job more than a day or two, or at a place as big as this.

Circumstances for this one were different though and I found myself staying there longer than I would've wanted to...I guess, looking back at it now, it wasn't all that bad though despite the location being Zaun, a city I hoped never to come across again.

…I did meet him there.

-Zac-

(A/N: unlike Riven's point of view, Zac's will be told in third person)

"He deserves to be free!"

"He? HE!? This thing isn't a he! It isn't a person!"

"His name is Zac, and he's just as much as a person as you and me!"

"Bullshit Mrs. Clara!"

"He has feelings, ambitions, and thoughts just like any other living person."

"In case you haven't noticed he-it, isn't exactly like you and me."

"Does that make him less of a person? Does that he mean he should be kept in that lab every day like a prisoner? He wants to be free professor."

"We are done discussing this matter Mrs. Clara, and if you and your husband disrupt my work any longer I will have both of you fired, do you understand?"

"…"

"I said, do you understand Mrs-"

"I do, okay?"

"Good, now let's speak of this subject no more, don't let that thing get to you. It may be able to replicate emotions and thought and it might have convinced you that it should be let free, but don't let it fool you into doing something you will regret."

"I won't."

"Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Zac, happy birthday to you!" Two people, a man and woman in their fifties stood at a kitchen table with their son next to them, in front of their son was a cake, a symbol of his coming of age. Eighteen years old, the big one. Long gone are the days of adolescence and being called a kid, eighteen is the time some consider life "truly starts."

It was a heartwarming scene, two proud parents with their son in their kitchen celebrating their son's birthday. The difference between normal happy birthday scenes are one, their son doesn't really have an age, but he was created on this day, and second, their "son" is actually a giant, humanoid, artificial life form made of a green jelly like substance and this creature went by the name of Zac.

Zac was an interesting being, he considered himself to be more human than what he actually was, he spoke like a male human, he could joke like a human, he could think like one.

Zac was very tall and very strong, if you didn't know him and know how kind and goofy the blob could be at times you would mistaken him for some monstrous creature from a horror flick. The people of Zaun, including his "parents", knew though that Zac being a monster was a hilarious thought. Zac literally wouldn't hurt something as small as an insect if he didn't have to. The most violent thing he does is fight for the League of Legends, but he has noble intentions behind his fighting in the league and doesn't do it simply because he likes to hurt people.

Another thing to note, which should be obvious, but the people standing next to him aren't his parents. Zac was never technically "born" more created in a secret lab underground, Zac was raised in this lab for six years and he hated every minute of it. The people he considered his parents were the only ones who sympathized with him and spoke to him like a person, they were also the ones to save him from that lab.

Zac would never forget that day, the people from that lab obviously tried to hunt them down for taking him, but he protected his parents from their attacks and after "convincing" them(If by convincing you mean scaring them away with his incredible strength) eventually they left him and his adoptive parents alone.

The fondness he had for the two eventually grew to a love a son would have for his parents and he stayed with them and every year, even though Zac is ageless, they celebrated his "birthday" like a normal family would.

"Make a wish sweetie!" Zoe Clara, Zac's mother, spoke giddily. Zac's father, Noah Clara, nodded a silent approval and smiled. Noah didn't speak much compared to his wife…then again, comparing how much anyone speaks to Zoe wouldn't be fair.

"Make sure it's a good one, it's you eighteenth birthday!" She squealed, pulling out a camera to take a photo of the event, like she has every year.

Zac chuckled, sometimes he thought his mother was more excited for his birthdays than he was. He closed his eyes and thought, what should his wish be? He didn't really have anything to wish for, his life was perfect. He had two loving parents, a good job (the league), and there wasn't a single thing he could think of…except maybe one thing.

I wish I had a friend.

Zac opened his eyes and blew out the candles, he could hear the snap of his mother's camera as he did so and a soft squeal following afterwards. She did that a lot.

"What did you wish for, what did you wish for!?"

"It's a secret." Zac said with a smile.

Zoe rolled her eyes, but smiled back.

For the rest of the day Zac spent his time with his parents eating some of the cake, talking, and at the end of the day they simply found themselves sitting at the couch watching TV. It was a comedic view if watching form an outside view, Zac easily towered over his parents, especially his mother being the short woman she was.

Words were barely spoken and if there was it was usually Zoe or Zac, especially Zoe. It was very enjoyable for Zac though, the new jobs his parents got after helping him escape from the lab have his father working in the morning and his mother at night, so they don't get much time to spend all together.

Zac wasn't really paying attention to the TV though, his thoughts were lingering on other things, most involving the future. Would his folks expect him to move out now? No, probably not, where would he go? Sure he could live at the league like some champions do, but he didn't want to do that unless it came to that.

Another thing that came into mind was his birthday wish, he had wished for a friend. He loved his parents and all, but Zac never had any real friends in Zaun, or anywhere to be honest. He talked with Twitch sometimes, but he hasn't seen the rodent around in awhile, heard he got in trouble or something. There was Singed, surprisingly he was really friendly with him, but he would never want to be friends with Singed, something about him just wasn't right. The people of Zaun were nice also (if that was out of them respecting Zac or being afraid of him he will probably never know) and some even started conversations with him, but he hasn't formed any real bonds with any of them.

Maybe it's time to change that.

Zac had made it his goal to make at least one friend tomorrow, waiting around for a wish to come true would take too long.

Zac was curious about what brought up this want for a friend, he had been perfectly okay with just having his parents for company, what changed.

Maybe it's part of growing up. Zac chuckled to himself. Of course he couldn't actually "grow up" he was technically created an adult, but for now Zac would just go with that answer.

Night had come and before Zac and his parents knew it it was almost midnight.

"Oh my, we should head to bed, don't you have to work tomorrow dear?" Zoe asked Noah who had been sitting in between her and Zac the whole time. Noah with a look of realization on his face nodded and got up from the couch. Before he left the room he turned back to Zac and said,

"Happy birthday Zac."

Zac grinned.

"Thank you, goodnight dad."

It was nice hearing his father's voice, he rarely spoke and whenever he did Zac and Zoe listened. His father had always been more of a man of action than words.

"Are you going to sleep mom?" Zac turned his head from Noah to his mom.

"Hm…naaah, let the old man get his sleep." Zoe smiled. "Actually I wanted to speak with you in private."

Zac would've raised an eyebrow if he had one.

"What is it mom?" Zac asked, the way his mother said that last part was so serious and just like how his father rarely talked, Zac rarely saw his mother get serious.

"I know how hard it must be for you to live like this…"

Zac sighed, he saw where this was going.

"Mom, I told you a hundred times, I love living with you and dad."

Zoe shook her head.

"That's not it Zac…Zac, you do realize how…different you are from other people, right?"

"Really? I always thought all people looked like me!" Zac laughed sarcastically.

"I'm being serious Zac."

Zac stopped laughing almost instantly and kept quiet as his mother spoke.

"Listen Zac, I love you, your father loves you, we both do…but, Zac have you thought…have you thought about what you would do if both of us were to…to…"

"Die?"

Zoe flinched at the word, but nodded.

"I think about it almost every other day, it's very scary to think about it…what, is it bothering you too?"

"Yes, very much so, if something were to happen to us tomorrow, where would you go? You couldn't stay in Zaun anymore, even though those men stopped coming after us they would get word of our deaths and come after you to take…take you back."

"They would never take me back, I wouldn't let them." Zac's eyes narrowed at the memory of those men, those…monsters back at the lab and all the horrible tests they did to him. "I would kill them…"

"Zac you and I both know that you wouldn't do that, you couldn't, pointless killing isn't who you are, you aren't some monster Zac, that's the whole reason I got you out of that place in the first place."

Zac sighed and placed a hand over his face, his mom was right as always.

"If the men from the lab don't get me, I could go live at the league, I have a room there I could stay in if…something happened." Zac placed his large hand on his mother's, despite the hand not feeling like the warm skin of a human's, Zoe found comfort in this. "It's not good to think about these things though mom, if I have a say in it you will live to one thousand years old!"

Zoe smiled.

"Wouldn't that be something."

The two sat together in silence, Zac could see his mom was thinking greatly of something, probably what they were just talking about. Finally, after a few minutes, Zoe sighed and said,

"I think I will be alright now, I just worry about the future sometimes, thanks for listening sweetie."

"I'm always here for you mom…and dad too even if he wouldn't be as vocal with his problems."

"Ha, don't even get me started about how much that man talked when I first met him."

"Why doesn't he talk as much anymore?"

Zoe shrugged.

"Don't know, too tired to care." Zoe said with a long yawn and stretched out her arms.

"Get some rest mom."

"I will, goodnight Zac." Zoe stood up from the couch.

"Night mom."

It was now just Zac, alone in the dark living room, the only light coming from the television set that was still on. Zac stretched his arm out for the remote then turned off the TV, allowing the room to be fully enveloped in darkness.

A/N: Thanks for reading my story, I've been absent from for awhile now and I hope to get back into writing now.
This isn't my first time writing, but it has been awhile so I hope I'm not too rusty ^_^ .

Feedback, both praise and criticism, is appreciated so be sure to review with your thoughts!

And also, have a great day/night!