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FRACTAL SHEAR
"You're late."
Kayn was focused on the statement that was on a paper. He felt the presence of what he called a "time traveler" in the middle of his room, but he didn't turn around. He was already so used to that boy coming and going from his office that he had to remember the hours, minutes and seconds counting down to his return.
"Hmm? I’m never late.” Ezreal chuckled, approaching the protective degrees of the platform Kayn was standing on.
"Yup. Five milliseconds.” He turned to the boy, leaning his back against the cold window that overlooked the entire space surrounding the ship.
Oh yes, in addition to hours, minutes and seconds, Kayn also counted milliseconds - which was a bit useless, but he couldn't contain his excitement at seeing the traveler again.
"What…?" Ezreal had to check Pearl to look for any data about milliseconds, a little confusing. “Do you also count that, Pearl?”
Kayn crossed his arms, his gaze fixed on Ezreal as if analyzing every inch of what he was with the scanner in his eye. Ezreal wasn't afraid of the Ordinal, however. As soon as Ezreal felt that was being stared at, he stared back, but with a friendlier air than the man on the platform.
“Okay, okay, maybe I was a liiiittle late.” He scratches the back of his head, apparently embarrassed. Not that Kayn was upset about his 'delay', but he had never really taken his time. “Anyway… Is everything okay here?”
The Ordinal directs its gaze at its own boots. "Yes." His tone didn't seem very excited, he was more tired than actually interested in talking about it. “I guess I'm just bothered by the letter I received. Nothing more."
“That doesn’t seem to be what bothers you, Shie.”
Shie. Ezreal was just a time traveler and treated the person with the highest charge in the Demaxian empire as if he had known him for a long time. He really seemed to have known Kayn for a long time, and probably did. Paradoxes and time jumps were too complicated for the Ordinal or anyone in the Fractal Shear to understand.
“I’m just… thinking.” Kayn rested his arms on the platform's protective bar, bending his body. He looked at Ezreal, who looked very small even just a few feet away. “Ezreal, if you travel through every timeline possible, why do you keep coming back to this one? What’s special about it that makes you spend those time jumps in this galaxy?”
He will leave you if you keep saying these things.
Kayn tried to ignore the distant voice in his head.
“Ah, uh…” Ezreal pondered for a bit until he clicked his tongue and smiled. "Because of you."
The Ordinal blinked quickly a few times, straightening its posture. "...Sorry?"
“You, Kayn. I say, Mr. Ordinal.”
“...You can just call me Kayn.”
Ezreal smiled once again. “Okay, Kayn.” And he walked slowly up the platform, staying just a few steps away from the Ordinal. “But this is for you, Kayn. I’m here for you.”
"I don't understand."
Kayn looked at the ground in confusion, but his gaze returned to Ezreal as he walked over and grabbed his large hands, interlacing their fingers.
“Heh, I know. But don't worry, it's not something you need to worry about. There are already too many things in these galaxies for you to take care of, I don’t want you to worry about my feelings and everything…”
Oh.
Kayn was terrible with feelings, he wasn't created to show what he felt, he was just created for war and to command everything he would have. Ezreal made him feel things, it was obvious the difference in the Ordinal's tone of voice talking about trivial things on the ship and talking about the time traveler who every now and then appeared in his office - and that no one should see him because he was very dangerous to touch, something like that. A little lie to get them to stay out of his way. Kayn actually felt something, but he didn't know how to expel those feelings. Nor how to accept someone's feelings.
“Ezreal….”
But if it were up to Ezreal, he would do everything he could to understand what those feelings were and how to keep them in his heart forever.
“I just think you forgot too easily that day you blocked Keelo from entering in your office just to… Kiss me.”
What a lovely boy.
Kayn cleared his throat a little embarrassed, especially after the mysterious voice's comment. He let go of Ezreal's hand and held his face as gently as he could. The traveler's cheeks reddened almost instantly and his eyes focused on Kayn's. They were awkwardly very close to each other.
"I did not forget. There’s no way I can forget you.”
Ezreal's clear eyes tried to look for any trace of lies in Kayn's words, but it was in vain. When he realized, he was already on tiptoe, with his lips pressed against Kayn's and his fingers gently holding the back of his head to balance himself. The Ordinal's hands were a little confused; One held his arm to give him more support and the other held his waist considerably tighter, as if begging Ezreal not to leave.
Ezreal couldn't leave.
“By the way… I did it again…” The Ordinal admitted as soon as the kiss ended, pressing his forehead to Ezreal's, who laughed at the situation.
“You’re a little mean to him.”
"You think?" He smiled, pulling your face away.
"A little. I like it anyway.”
He liked it, anyway, and it made Kayn's heart warm. Everything he felt with the boy by his side was inexplicable.
“Ez, you… Can you tell me one of the realities in which you know me?”
Ezreal pouted, sighing shortly afterwards. “In one, we are… Members of a band. You have short pink hair and I have green, a little big hair. Ever wonder? I? With green hair? Pff.”
Kayn smiled. “I like your hair like that.” I like you. He thought these were the most appropriate words, but he preferred not to speak. “And I have pink hair? Please… You must have made me do this.”
Ezreal laughed, shaking his head. “I believe the only thing I would make you get is a decent haircut.”
"Hey!"
They both laughed.
“And in this reality of the band… Are we friends?”
Ezreal held his breath. He tried to remember everything he saw about Kayn and Ezreal being members of a band, videos they recorded together, stage performances, interviews... How Ezreal envied these moments that weren't necessarily his — or were they? He let out his breath and hugged Kayn's torso not so much tightly, the Ordinal was very muscular and any attempt at strength by Ezreal was useless.
“We are happy by each other’s side.”
Kayn had no reaction. They were happy, but Kayn wanted to be happy with Ezreal in this timeline too. Why did it only seem so difficult? All Ezreal had to do was stop jumping through time and stay in the Fractal with him, he didn't even need to have skills or training, no contract to stay, Kayn would find a way to place him in a high position or create a new position just for him. But Ezreal would never accept it. His addiction was traveling and destroying timelines, he was not fit for a “normal” life.
Kayn hugged Ezreal's waist without much force, hiding his face in the other's blonde locks – fragrant, as Kayn remembered. “...We can live in this reality, can’t we?”
“No, Kayn… But I really wanted to.” Ezreal's words obviously came out painful to the point where they trailed off a little. If Kayn could guess, he would say that Ezreal was about to cry, so he did what the blonde once said he thought was cute: He left a quick kiss on the top of his head and lightly stroked his locks, keeping the room quiet, without any traces of sadness or any other bad feeling. But Kayn couldn't stay quiet, he couldn't think of the phrase that haunted the back of his mind for weeks — mostly because of the deep voice he spoke from time to time.
It would hurt, but some things need to hurt sometimes.
“Ez… Have you ever seen me die?”
Ezreal stopped. It just became hard as a rock. “I-I… Kayn…” His breathing became heavy and rapid. They felt like they had fatally shot him in the heart with a Hextech energy weapon — not that he knew what the pain of that felt like, of course not — he could feel the blood dripping from his chest and blood stuck to his hands, but that blood wasn't from him. Ezreal turned away from the Ordinal, his hand on his chest. Flashbacks passed through his vision quickly, showing the times that Kayn went into a state of madness due to a scythe with an eye; showing the times that Kayn had this scythe stuck in his chest and transformed into something completely different from a human being. He saw everything around him shake and blur. “I-I need to go now, I’ve been here for a long time.”
Oh no… You asked the wrong question.
“Ezreal, wait-!” Before he could even cry out, Ezreal simply disappeared in a light blue beam.
Silence. Only Kayn's heavy and uneven breathing was heard for several minutes. He was angry, but not at Ezreal, but at himself for needing to demonstrate that he was insecure, for demonstrating that he had no filter, and for hearing that damn voice whispering things in his ear that made Kayn feel so bad. to the point of literally wanting to die.
It's all your fault.
"SHUT UP!" He screamed, covering both ears with his hands. “THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT, YOUR DAMN VOICE!”
Kayn screamed in anger, starting to walk around the office to destroy some things. It didn't take long for him to find a cosmic ceramic vase, throwing the piece on the floor, stepping hard on the shards, taking out one percent of his anger. This anger made him try to leave as soon as he heard a “beep”. On the other side of the room, a printed paper came out of the office's intergalactic printer, sent by Nakuri, a first-class officer of the Demaxian empire — and friend of Kayn.
“Ordinal, this is urgent. We found the weapon you were looking for.”
TIMEWINDER
One, two, three, four... Five. Yes, it's right here.
Ezreal slammed his arms against the walls as he entered Ekko's cramped house, not paying attention to the floor. He wanted to understand where he was going, but his vision was blurred by tears that he didn't usually show to anyone. Finding himself in the living room, Ezreal covered his face with his arms, sobbing.
He remembered all the mistakes he had made and would make and there was no way to undo them; He remembered the people he didn't save, the people he couldn't save, and he even thought about the times he almost didn't save himself. But it was Kayn who didn't leave his thoughts. Ezreal has watched the Ordinal die so many times that he has lost count and hope of, in some timeline, being able to save him.
Ezreal sat on the floor, covering his entire face with his hands. He was a mess. He liked his life before he ended up in the “Kayn Ordinal” timeline, where his only concern was stealing and not caring about anyone else but himself. Now it was Kayn all the time, taking over a very important part that Ezreal could be using for trivial things. But no, it was just Shieda Kayn, Shieda Kayn and Shieda Kayn in his mind. The traveler hit his head a few times with his own fists while he drew up his legs and cursed himself with cold, painful words. It wasn't fair. Nothing seemed fair in any universe, so what was the point of them all existing?
Ezreal only managed to stop knocking when he heard the front door opening. He hugged his legs and hid his face between them. He didn't want his friend to see him like that, not now, when he promised he would never go back to that house again.
"You're late." Ekko muttered as soon as he entered the room, throwing things on the table. When he got no response, he stared at the boy on the ground, now curled up like a caterpillar about to turn into a butterfly. “Ezreal…?”
There was an uncomfortable silence before a tearful sigh from Ezreal. “I… I think I fell in love with a person from another timeline…” He said, head down.
Silence.
"...Stupid." Ekko flicked the top of the blonde's head, and he jumped up, scared, and touched his head, confused.
"Ouch! Hey, you told me that you can’t control love!”
“I regretted it. You are so stupid." Ekko sighed, scratching her forehead like a disappointed mother. "Who is she?"
"He." Ezreal took the gauntlet off his arm with difficulty. Pearl warned that the gauntlet was disconnected. “It’s that guy who forgets about me every time… By the way, did you manage to find out what it was?”
“I didn’t even go after it.”
"I imagined. Great friend…"
Ekko clicked his tongue. Bad habit he picked up from Ezreal. “Let me see your gauntlet.” Without waiting for a response, Ekko easily took the gauntlet from Ezreal's hands. It was a little heavy, but nothing he wasn't used to since the carrier was a complete animal and Ekko needed to fix something here and there every time the blonde showed up at his house. Ekko placed the gauntlet on top of a mint plate, where he could access all the jumps, all the locations and dates that Ezreal had burned since the last check. Everything in perfect condition, apart from a few scratches that were no longer Ekko's responsibility, until he saw the time:
Three hours and forty-one minutes in the afternoon. In fact, it was almost four o'clock already.
“Ezreal… I think your device is late.”
Ezreal raised an eyebrow. “Wait, is that possible!?”
“Rare, but possible.” He glanced at any of the various clocks on the minty walls as his hands seemed to work easily on the gauntlet's monitor without needing his eyes. “I can't tell if it was because of all those irresponsible jumps you've burned since you met the Ordinal or if it was, at some point, the course of the ship that changed and affected your gauntlet. All I know is that you were ten minutes late.”
Ten minutes? Ezreal looked at Ekko in disbelief, his mouth open in shock. Then minutes was simply too much. In ten minutes, Ezreal could become the new president of Piltover, command for years, see the coliseum being built and quickly passed through millions of different dimensions. He might as well have enjoyed ten minutes of his life. Ten minutes that would one day be greatly missed.
“Ten minutes… Which universe were you surfing in? The one you try to save your boyfriend from?”
Like a switch turning on a light in a room. Kayn. Ezreal jumped up. Ekko, understanding what was coming next, threw the gauntlet into the other's hands.
"I need to go."
One millisecond, two milliseconds, three, four, five… Why does this take so long?
FRACTAL SHEAR
The Fractal was empty. The metal corridors of the ship beeped red, bringing a feeling of anxiety to Ezreal, who realized after a few seconds that he had traveled to the main floor of the ship in his desperation to get to Kayn.
Kayn!
Ezreal quickly followed the yellow markings on the floor of the ship that led to the hall, empty, without a living soul doing the usual things. Quite confused, he turned around a few times in the middle of the room looking for some clues, but absolutely nothing. It's as if no one existed, as if that ship had been stolen and recently looted, however, with no sign of blood or dirt in the place. He thought that Pearl had got the year wrong and that this could be Fractal on its last day of construction, but no, that was exactly where he wanted to go. Weird…
“Uhm… Hello?” He shouted into the void, obviously without an answer. Ezreal placed his hands on his hips. If it was some kind of training, the windows would be covered with Ora protection so that no one could hit it and generate expenses, in addition to Ezreal knowing, he was actively aware of Fractal's routine from Ordinal himself. An important event? A surprise attack? An invasion of a new planet? Ezreal would know everything. Nothing escaped his eyes and ears.
Maybe just a giant shadow outside.
But nothing really escaped his ears: Ezreal was startled when a thick, impactful voice resounded in the back of his head.
It's over for your general, traveler.
"Who's there!?" Frightened, Ezreal got into an attack position, placing his gauntlet to charge any type of heavy fire. His eyes looked around the place, the doors, everything.
A red flash appeared outside the ship, reflecting off the windows. Ezreal heard a scream, then a laugh, and a scream of agony. Agony that didn't seem to end. He ran to one of the windows, leaning against it. The sky of the planet that Fractal was on was red like blood, the ground was yellowish with large rocks, such rocks dirty with a crimson red liquid scattered around and bodies of dead humans and half-humans, lying as if they had just been thrown from the sky. It was almost a massacre. Ezreal could tell that these people were Fractal crew members and, among them, Nakuri, one of the most trustworthy men Ezreal had ever had the opportunity to meet. But a gleam in the midst of all that misfortune caught his attention, something that Ezreal knew from other times and couldn't stop looking at. Kayn. He had killed them all with Rhaast, the scythe that killed him in every universe.
"No…"
The Ordinal held the scythe and wasn't letting go anytime soon. His free hand was in front of his bleeding eye, his body bent down as if he had just run and was catching his breath. Even though he couldn't hear, Ezreal knew that Kayn was laughing uncontrollably from the movements of his mouth, but he also knew that he was crying from the tears marking his cheeks. And once again, Ezreal saw Shieda Kayn fall into suffering and pain, and he couldn't do anything to stop it because he was too late for someone who didn't have time.