Chapter 8: Forfeit The Match
Zed encountered Akali in the Infirmary. Instinctively reacting, Akali reached for a nearby syringe a nurse left, before pointing it threateningly at Zed. Her heart thumped in her throat. What if he overpowered her while she was still injured? Could he still overpower her even when she was in full health and uninjured? However, she wouldn’t let him think of her as vulnerable prey who would cower underneath his shadow, like a mouse underneath the paw of a sadistic cat.

“What do you want?’

“I thought it would be in your best interest to forfeit the match,” Zed said.

He was stripped of his armor and mask. The grace and poise of a predator lined his body, with rippling power underneath his powerful muscles in his sleek build. He trained just as hard and devotedly as Shen every day, muscles sculpting his form like a marble statue of Adonis or some other Grecian hero. His red eyes glinted dangerously towards her, and Akali felt stalked and vulnerable.

“Why would I do that?” Akali said. “I’m not scared of dying.”

“That kind of foolishness is going to lead to your ultimate humiliation,” Zed said patiently as though he were lecturing a child. “A shinobi learns to survive no matter what. They don’t head recklessly into battle hoping to die, do they? That’s what warriors and martyrs do.”

So Zed lectured her again. What kind of game was he playing here? Akali thought about Shen and held onto the image of Shen in her mind. Though Zed was making things difficult here as he intruded on her personal space. It almost made her recall…back then…but now…no, Shen trusted her with this. She wouldn’t be lulled in by Zed’s seduction or honeyed words. She will never forgive him for what he did—she swore she would fight him in the mid-lane and take him down. For her honor. For Shen’s honor. No. What she wanted was to…let go of the past. And everything it meant to her.

“I am a shinobi of my word,” Akali said solemnly. “I will fight you mid-lane. And I’m going to surpass you.”

Her determination steeled up her body. If Zed wanted a fight so soon, he would get it. Though Zed relaxed a bit, despite the chilly killing aura from Akali. Did he seem to be…disappointed? Somehow this stung more than it should. If only Akali could let go of the past--if only she couldn’t see the vestiges of the old Zed within him right now. What was she thinking? Her heart pulsed in her ears and Zed crept closer, as though confident she wouldn’t slice him down where he stood. She should’ve. She would’ve…if only he didn’t do something so uncharacteristic out of a man that killed Shen’s father in cold blood. He tapped her on the forehead like he used to do when he mentored her.

“As you are right now, you are still weak,” Zed breathed. “If you continued your training with me instead of siding with Shen, you would’ve reached your full potential. It’s unfortunate, but they’ve softened you.”

“I was young and naive back then,” Akali whispered.

Zed took an apple from the bowl of fruit someone gave her for a swift recovery. Akali then cleaved the apple right in half before Zed could eat it. Zed smirked at that as he let the apple drop to the floor, its halves cleaved neatly.

“You do have a bloodthirsty side,” Zed said as though he marveled at Akali’s wish to cleave him in half as she did with the apple. “You will have eventually become the perfect ninja once you defeat me. That was my only wish for you, Akali.”

“You never had my best interests at heart,” Akali narrowed her eyes towards Zed while he stepped closer, almost kissing distance away. “You only care about yourself. Why else did you kill Shen’s father?”

Zed remained silent for a while before he shook his head slowly. “Still aching for the past, Akali? If you don’t move on from that, then you’ll never hope to defeat me. Take a step forward into the future, instead of wallowing in misery in things that can’t be changed.”

Akali glared at Zed. “Is that all you wanted to tell me?”

“I suppose so,” He leaned away from Akali and gave that damn irritable smirk in her direction. “If you step foot on the Fields today…I will destroy everything about you.”

With that, Zed departed. Akali let out a sigh, realizing the tension in the room rose like blood pressure. Just somehow, Zed managed to elicit certain emotions in her; a desire for revenge, and something else she dare not admit. She couldn’t possibly think about that right. If she did, then everything the Kinkou worked so hard to attain could fall to pieces. She didn’t want that to happen. She had to remain strong.

“I’m not going to let him get to me,” Akali said to the empty room.

Though something in her heart broke when Zed mentioned the past.

—x—

Shen saw her before the match. Akali felt butterflies fluttering in her stomach at the anticipation of facing Zed. She would pay him back for everything he said. Though some part of her also felt a little doubt in the back of her head. What if Zed did have her best interests at heart? Were the Kinkou ninjas as noble and honorable as they said they are? They once treated Zed like their own, while he was in the fold, and Akali fell in love with him back then. He promised her she had talent, that she had the potential to overtake Shen and even himself. Akali would watch Zed and Shen spar together on the training grounds, closer than brothers. Why did that all have to change?

Akali sighed. What is done is done, she supposed. She had nothing to do with it now. Now she must face her mentor on the battlegrounds. She was determined to win. If she didn’t, then everything would be lost.

“I’ll keep an eye on you in mid-lane,” Shen said as he patted Akali reassuringly. “I trust that everything is well?”

“Oh, everything is fine,” Akali said trying not to worry Shen.

She smoothed the furrow out of her brow and smiled at Shen, to which he gave her a slight smile back in return. He put on his mask, full shinobi garb equipped onto his body, including his twin blades. Akali adjusted her mask as well,

The gathering crowd anticipated this match. Summoners watched from a safe distance in the Institute through a magical orb that showed the Summoners in the Rift. Akali was at the base with Shen, exchanging a few whispered words, before she departed for mid-lane. She hid in the shadows, peering over the ledge to see if her opponent was beyond it. Zed managed to keep himself well hidden, of course. He was the master of Shadows, after all.

Akali waited by her tower until the minions started spawning. Once the minions spawned, she went towards the center of the lane where the opposing minions would crash in the middle, fighting their wars. Akali gathered some gold by throwing her kama, keeping a safe distance from Zed while Zed farmed with his shurikens. He said nothing, but he watched her intently and suddenly Akali felt naked and exposed underneath his gaze.

He's trying to pressure me, Akali thought. I won’t cave in. All I have to do is just get some farm, and then wait for the right opportunity to pick him off. That’s my job as an Assassin.

When Zed landed a Shuriken on a minion he was trying to farm, Akali threw her kama at him to harass him. Zed’s eyes narrowed at her through the slits in his mask, though he didn’t do anything about it and continued to keep farming. Somehow, his calm silence and his determination to just farm the minions were bothering her. Was he planning on killing her? He didn’t even bother to harass her in the lane while she took the farm and harassed him accordingly. What was up with that?

“Zed,” Akali said as she started to feel her temper flare. “You’re insulting me by not giving it your all.”

“Why should I do that on a second-rate ninja?” Zed asked.

Akali tried to keep her cool, though her arm trembled with anger and she missed a minion with her kama, her aim off-kilter.

“You will regret those words,” Akali said.

She reached level 6 and started to all in him. He was starting to feel the pressure now as she dashed towards him and he retreated towards his tower for safety. This time he blew all his cooldowns just to give Akali some return damage and to also use his shadow to escape a step ahead of her. When he was safely at the tower, he then waited until the cannon minion reached his turret, killed it under the safety of his tower, and then backed.

That should keep him in line. Akali continued to farm, growing a cs lead, at least, though alarms went off in Akali’s head when Zed coordinated with the jungler to gank bot lane. Akali reached as fast as she could down there, and Shen even used his ultimate to protect Varus alongside Thresh, though Zed mercilessly slaughtered the man along with Jarvan. Thresh was in low health, and their eyes met when Akali saw Varus’s dead body on the ground.

“Curious when one dies,” Thresh said in response with slight regret in his voice for not saving his partner. “Akali, you ganked too late.”

“I know,” Akali said while feeling awful about her misplay.

However, Zed, fed off the one kill he got on Varus, proceeded to go ham and target Akali. It seemed like his laser focus was on Akali and only Akali, and Akali didn’t have her dashes or even her shroud to use to defend herself. Shen and Thresh also had their cooldowns blown from trying to save Varus, and when Akali tried to reach the safety of the turret, Zed mockingly cut off her hair before he decided to land the final blow to kill her.

Everything went black.