Long synopsis: All her life, Akali has been a staunch adherent of the Kinkou order's doctrine of balance. However, when Noxus and Demacia fall to a terrifying invasion from the Void, Akali realizes that the Order's doctrine is flawed.
She secretly begins studying the forbidden Art of Shadow, like Zed before her. But when terror strikes the heart of Ionia, Akali hesitates to use the forbidden power - and Shen dies because of it. Her hesitation turns into guilt - which turns into ire and bloodlust, vowing to slay every single Void creature.
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Zed has never believed in anything - except in his own lust for power and revenge. He cares not much for the Void's invasion invasion of Runeterra, believing himself to be strong enough to fend off every single one of them. But he is forced to flee from his own order after his disciples, one by one, are consumed.
Sensing her terrifying power, Zed saves Akali at the last moment before she, like Shen, is killed by Cho'Gath.
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Amidst ruins after ruins, Zed and Akali are, once more, each other's closest ally. Struggling with their pasts, they must fight to uncover who unleashed the Void upon Runeterra.

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The Void.

Until recent years ago, no one had known it existed. Its creatures were rather frightening, to say the least. And powerful, no doubt. Truly, these creatures were an enigma. Every nation and city-state - Demacia and Noxus, especially - sought to use the power of the Void for their own benefits. Thinking they could control such power. Utterly foolish.

The creatures invaded Noxus, the first city-state to seek the Void's power, and completely consumed all its inhabitants, leaving the former glory of the city-state in ruins. Then, Demacia shared that same fate.

On that terrible day, all - human, yordle and darkin alike - witnessed the terror at the hands of the Void;

And the humiliation of being its creatures' prey.

Prologue: Balance's fall

"…Most kingdoms…fallen….."

"….devoured…"

"….brink…Ionia…"

"Akali, what do you think we should do?" the voice, belonging to Shen – the Eye of Twilight – asked neutrally, but with a tint of worry and nervousness; something unexpected from the Eye of Twilight himself.

"Akali…?"

She did not respond. He inspected her more closely – her hands were clenched into fists, her head sunk down, and her body was shaking faintly.

Her head shot up in surprise, searching for Shen's ever-glowing eyes. Her breath hitched, her body tensed up even more. "I'm… sorry… Shen.. I…" Struggling to explain herself, she refused to meet Shen's gaze.

"This is unlike you, Fist of Shadow..." he commented neutrally, "Where is your attentiveness today? Our home is in danger."

"Yes… I know, Shen. I apologize." Penitently, she turned her attention towards discussing how to fend off the new, terrifying threat that was endangering all of Ionia.

"I'm sorry, Shen…"

The night had come.

Everything was quiet and peaceful, slumbering. But not Akali. She knew this peace would not last very long; a false peace, it was.

Making sure Shen and the Kinkou's disciples were all asleep, Akali got up and walked away, sneakily and stealthily. She regarded Shen with a guilty stare, her eyes reeking of pain and guilt.

She shook her head. No, it had to be done. It had to. For the sake of their home.

Akali quietly slid the wooden door shut and walked outside, shivering as the cold, nightly wind brushed her skin. She suppressed her discomfort and arduously walked south, towards an old and abandoned house within the Kinkou grounds.

"Shen…" she murmured to herself, looking back to where she had just left.

Ardously, she continued to walk; there was not a moment where she did not think of Shen, the order, or the future of her home, or even all of Valoran.

There she stood; her destination.

"Archives of the Kinkou Order", it read on the wooden entrance, carved into the door. Akali's breath quickened, as did her heartbeat; it surprised her that she even had the audacity to do such a thing.

Akali slid the wooden door open and lit the lamp. Carefully, she walked around, gazing at all kinds of documents the order had in their possession: The history of Ionia, ancient ninja techniques, spiritual books, papers about the order's doctrine of balance – back, way back, carefully hidden in a dark corner, she found the dark scrolls she searched for.

She gulped, feeling a lump was in her throat; she could not believe she was really doing this. She walked towards the scrolls, touching them, holding them carefully, wanting to lift them up – but her body did not obey her. There was still a figment of hesitation in her, yelling 'Stop!' inside her mind, over and over again.

'It has to be done.' Akali firmly shot back inside her mind, trying to placate her fears and guilt. 'It has to.'

With that finality, Akali lifted up the biggest dark scroll and placed it onto the ground, rolling it open. Grimly she inspected the words written upon it.

"Introduction into the Art of Shadow"

Unbeknownst to her, a small shadow was watching her.

"Forgive me, Shen… forgive me…."

"W-what…."

"They're here."

Akali looked at Shen in utter terror and disbelief. When did the Void advance this far?

"They.. they couldn't have…" she managed to breathe out, looking at the ground, utter terror and fear shaking her inmost being. Akali had fought many battles, as did Shen. But this… this was something entirely different.

"How are we supposed to fight them, Shen!?", she suddenly yelled at him in desperation. The Eye of Twilight did not answer. "If they overran even the best warriors of Ionia, guarding the Elders… then we..-"

"Do not succumb to despair, Akali." Shen reminded her in a warning tone. "We will find a way to fight them – we will not succumb like Demacia and Noxus did."

Akali gulped. "Y-yes, Shen." With the knowledge she had amassed nights before, she could fight the Void monsters. But she doubted herself. The forbidden arts were very new for her, and she was lacking the willpower to not succumb to their very darkness. She wondered how Zed was able to subdue the power – surely he was more talented than she.

"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!"

"What in the-"

"AKALI!" Shen yelled, pushing her away from him as stony spikes pierced Shen's legs.

"SHEN!" she screamed, inhaling sharply, activating her signature technique – her Twilight Shroud. Her breaths were quick and shallow, struggling to support Shen; she knew she had to think very quickly. "Wait, that technique-"

It dawned upon her. The only one capable of making spikes appear from the ground in a circle was-

"Cho'Gath." she hissed under her breath. The Terror of the Void smashed the door open with his monstrous head and laughed manically before the two Kinkou ninjas.

"Akali…" Shen breathed, throwing a blade into the Void monster as he struggled to get on his feet. A green aura engulfed Shen and the wounds on his legs started to close. He still breathed shallowly, but felt secure enough to dash towards Cho'Gath and taunt him. He also activated his shield and slashed repeatedly into the body of his foe.

Akali felt another presence near Cho'Gath; she realized that he didn't come alone. The ground began to rumor loudly, shaking and reeling. Shen was busy dodging Cho'Gath's following ruptures with his dashes.

Another creature burst from the ground, hissing loudly and monstrously as it threw Shen in the air again, biting him whilst Cho'Gath unleashed his feral scream. Akali could only watch in terror. Fighting two of these creatures?

'Do something.'

'Do something.'

'DO SOMETHING!'

Akali shut her eyes. The inner voice screamed inside her head. But she could only watch as the two Void monsters beat up the Kinkou's strongest ninja. He fought back the best he could, using all of his techniques to injure the monsters, but they proved to be very overwhelming.

"A….kali…" Shen whispered behind him, sensing his comrade's inner turmoil. "Get… away…"
"Shen, no!" she yelled in refusal. "I can't leave you behind like this…"

Akali desperately prayed to all gods that this wouldn't be the end of them. She could only watch with panic in her eyes as Shen received blow after blow, letting out sounds of pain – not even his signature taunts seemed to do much to turn the tide to his favor.

'What do I do… what do i…' The scroll sprung up in her mind.

'Use it.' her inner voice spoke again.

'N-no, I can't possibly- not in front of Shen..'

'Use it.'

'I have no mastery over this! Shen could die..'

'Use it.'

"AAAAAAGHH!" a scream snapped Akali out of her agonizing 'conversation' with her inner voice.

"Shen, no- SHEEEEEEEN!"

He fell down harshly, his blood staining the ground. Akali, with panic in her eyes, dashed towards her friend, absolutely mortified at the wound in Shen's chest.

"Aka…li.." he struggled to say her name. He looked inside her eyes, his own vision blurry and weak; he noticed that tears fell from her cheeks onto his hand, which she was firmly holding.

"Shen… why…" She was struggling to speak. Her voice was tearing up, sounding incoherent as she sobbed.

"I'm… sorry.. Akali…" he managed to get out, interrupted by his sudden cough of blood. "I…"

"No, Shen.. you… you can't- you can't!" Horrified, Akali realized what was about to happen; Her friend Shen, the Eye of Twilight, was in his final moments.

"Akali… I… love-" he couldn't finish. His heartbeat gave out.

"Shen… Shen… wake up.. SHEN!" She shook him, slapped his face in futile attempts to wake him. "Shen… Shen.. Shen.. Shen.." Like a mantra, she repeated his name over and over and over again; the fangs of despair slowly engulfed her.

"Shen, I would like to introduce you to someone." the voice, belonging to Shen's father, said softly. The young boy interrupted his solitary training and walked towards his father with an eyebrow raised.

"You may enter." Shen's father directed his voice towards the wooden door, which promptly opened at that command.

Shen immediately noticed a young, nervous and somewhat apathetic girl, having her hair tied up in a ponytail, wearing a green kimono and having her gaze averted from Shen and his father.

"I… I am Akali… inductee to the Kinkou Order." the girl spoke nervously, still averting her gaze from Shen. She bowed respectfully before him and his father, but it was apparent that she was not doing so freely.

Young Shen walked towards the frightened girl and gently patted her on the head. "It's nice to meet you, Akali. My name is Shen, the future Eye of Twilight."

Right on cue, Akali made eye contact with him, still looking nervously at him. She forced a small smile on her lips and giggled.

'Hesitation is the seed of defeat.' Akali narrowed her eyes in ire. Her inner voice was mocking her, that much was clear. 'You had the power to save him. And you didn't.'

'No.. no, I didn't..' she defended herself.

'Did you search for the Forbidden Arts, only to run from them like a coward?'

'That's not true.. I have no control over-'

'Lies! You have it in you- that power would have make you unstoppable. Even Shen would have no choice but to commend you!'

'No… Shen would have banished me.. he would rather die than be saved by the same dark arts… that corrupted Zed!'

'Balance is a fool's master. Fight.'

'N-no, I can't-'

'Fight.'

'FIGHT!'

Akali lost herself. Her gaze was fixated onto the Terror of the Void and his burrowing partner. An ire she never knew existed overtook her, staining her eyes from her normal brownish red into a bright, bloody red.

Unbeknownst to her, she summoned her own reflection as shadows around the Void monsters, circling around them, each holding the signature Kamas. A strange darkness engulfed the room, obscuring Akali from vision; only her piercing red eyes were visible.

"Be gone." she spoke with a voice so full of ice and venom and lunged her Kamas towards Cho'Gath and the Void burrower. Right on cue, the shadows started to dance around them, dashing in and out of them, stabbing their bodies with Kamas.

The Void monsters screeched, unable to fight back; the shadows were simply too fast for them. The shadows continued to dance around them, stabbing them. Soon, their blood poured onto the floor. The Void burrower tried to escape by summoning tunnels, but Akali had foreseen this.

"There is no escape." her icy, venomous voice spoke in the darkness. Coldly she stared at the hissing Void burrower for a moment before she swapped places with one of her shadows, thrusting her Kama inside the monster. Red-glowing, dark marks appeared all over the monster as the darkness engulfed it, swirling around as the shadows dashed towards the monster.

A loud shriek sounded as a deep sting penetrated the chest of the Void burrower, causing the monster to disintegrate. All marks exploded, staining the ground with the burrower's blood.

Akali smiled in satisfaction, not noticing that her vision turned blurry; her consciousness slowly drifted away as she felt her strength leave her body. The shadows disappeared, and a wave of ruptures rose from the ground.

She knew: this was the end of her. She grinned fatalistically. She simply wasn't strong enough to fight both of them – her skill was so pitiful compared to… compared to Zed's…

A dark shadow engulfed her, suddenly, carrying her away from the rupture at the last moment, out of the main building of the Kinkou order. Akali felt light-headed, barely conscious, and yet the chilly wind stung against her skin.

Glowing, red eyes stared intensely inside hers. Akali knew she was in someone's arms, but couldn't figure out whose – her vision was still blurry. She narrowed her eyes, trying to make out who was carrying her. And it dawned upon her.

"Z…Zed….."

As soon as these words passed from her lips, her consciousness gave out.

A/N: So, how do you like it? The idea for this story came from WingsOfRequiem's Zed/Akali story "The Shadow that Watches", where Akali dreamt of a Void invasion.. so in a way, this story is dedicated to him :)

And I apologize if my fights look really sloppy.. I simply have no talent writing fight scenes, but I try my best.

Please leave reviews, as I would like to know what I could improve, and plot ideas are always welcome.

Until next time…