Chapter 16: Rivals
Akali was acting strangely. Zed knew her intimately enough that he could tell that whoever was this Akali look-a-like in the League filling in her role and matches, Zed knew it was a fake. He watched her carefully all this time; he made sure that he noted her mannerisms and little quirks and how she acted and interacted with other people. Zed took note of it all. When Akali didn’t even bother throwing vitriol his way, he knew that something was up. He tried to mock her as usual, though Akali didn’t respond to him like she usually would. She would usually furrow her brow in frustration or throw a kama at him if her anger, in particular, was roused, though the cold glint in Akali’s eye when she ignored him had been more chilling than anything. Zed usually liked it when he stirred up anger within Akali—it meant that she was alive, that she was feeling emotions, though this new Akali was emotionless and cold. He didn’t know what happened to her, though something suspicious happened to her. He wondered if Shen noticed the difference in Akali as well. He would be a fool not to. Shen was very close to Akali, as intimate with her as he had once been.

Shen confronted Zed about it one day, knowing that something was up. Zed and Shen no longer shared any love between them anymore, though Shen wanted an alternative perspective and went to see it from his enemy’s view. Shen always tried to be neutral and enlightened; he took in broad perspectives from various sources and calmly and objectively reviewed them all with patience and keen intelligence that the eye of Twilight was known to have.

“Something is wrong with Akali,” Shen said in a stiff formal greeting to Zed, to which Zed brandished his blades.

“And whose fault is that, do you think?” Zed said.

“Are you implying that this entire matter is my fault?” Shen said in a toneless voice.

“What if I am?”

Shen remained silent for a moment, before saying, “I think you also played a role in this, Zed. Did you ever truly care for her?”

Zed’s temper rose. “Shen, who was the one who didn’t put his full trust in Akali and treated her like a child? I may have mocked her and tried to push her buttons, but I know that Akali is capable and you hold her back.”

Shen’s expression showed nothing, though there seemed to be despair in his voice when he said, “Zed, you can’t understand. I’m trying to protect her.”

Protect her? That was laughable! For all his protection, what good did it do to Akali? This left them with a fake Akali that walked and acted as though everything was normal, except for the fact that there were subtle differences in her mannerisms that indicated she wasn’t the real Akali. Or at least the Akali that Zed knew. Ever since Akali became obsessed with Thresh and pursued some line of investigation that would lead her to something that would make her regret her actions, Zed knew that there was something about the Summoners that were trying to keep things hush. That Akali, the real Akali, was actually somewhere else, confined somewhere, where they couldn’t see. Zed couldn’t interrogate the Summoners, but he could interrogate the one person who was good at gathering information and secrets such as he—the one he would’ve called brother, a friend, Shen.

“And what did that do? It led her to go somewhere she shouldn’t have and now she’s changed. I say this is your fault, Shen. You have to take responsibility for this.”

“You can’t possibly understand,” Shen said, as he now brandished his twin blades as a gesture of warning towards Zed. “I love her.”

Love her. Hah, there it is. Those were fighting words, Shen, and his former brother would regret ever saying those words around him. Because if he truly loved her as he said, would he have allowed this outcome to happen, when he could’ve prevented it? Some enlightened being that Shen was.

“You think I never did?” Zed said, to which he also raised his weapons towards Shen. “You always acted so self-righteously and you refuse to admit your wrong because you believe yourself to be more objective and enlightened than other people. But Shen, I know that you’re swayed by your emotions more than you let on. We were once like brothers, after all.”

“Don't…” Shen said in a warning whisper. “Don’t talk about the past. That is behind us now.”

“It seems that you and Akali both can’t let go of the past and accept me for who I am,” Zed said, closing his eyes and shaking his head. “Looks like I need to beat some sense into you.”

“Likewise,” Shen said, and then they dashed towards one another in a mighty clash.

Zed overpowered Shen, though Shen still held sturdy and his own because he was a tank rather than an outright attack damage beast. No matter how much Zed beat Shen down, Shen used his shields and innate sturdiness to endure Zed’s punishment, and Shen in turn began to wear down Zed’s stamina with his freakish endurance. Zed spun and slashed Shen, while Shen blocked his slash with his twin swords, and taunted him so that Zed would be focusing him in an outright duel and couldn’t escape. Their swords clinked and clashed with maddening ferocity, and Zed wanted nothing more than to tear Shen down, while Shen expressed the same sentiment.

“You think you can beat me?” Zed taunted. “I’ve attained a higher power. For all your enlightenment, Shen, you never could realize the power of the shadows that I’ve manifested and molded into my own being.”

“Do you understand why such power was contained?” Shen said. “You have become something entirely different, Zed, ever since your pursued your mastery over the shadows. But know this—there comes a price with power, and a certain responsibility with it. I’ll admit my wrongdoings—I may have human emotions here and there when I’m supposed to be impartial in matters. But with Akali…how do you think I’m supposed to stay neutral and unswayed by emotion? She loved you, Zed, and you broke her heart by doing what you did.”

“She needed to understand the harsh reality,” Zed murmured, though he shook his head. He would not feel regret here for his actions, even if they hurt his former brother and comrade and his former lover. “If you shun me and revile me, then go ahead. I have a greater agenda than to conform to people liking and loving me. You always wanted to be loved, Shen, and that was a weakness that crippled you.”

“You’ve become callous,” Shen said in distaste. “How could you care for Akali if you’re the one who is manipulating things from the shadows, spying on her, and trying to drive her to the depths of despair? What is your objective, Zed? Why do you do the things you do?”

Zed threw his blade out towards Shen, who blocked it.

“My reasons are my own, fool. Don’t think that I will tell you the greater mechanisms behind my plans.”

“If only you trusted us,” Shen said sadly before he continued to clash blades with Zed.

No matter how Zed used his trickery and shadows, Shen would always be able to see right through him. They knew the other one’s techniques very well. They used to train together all the time, honing their skills, trying to best one another, and Zed suddenly felt regret and wished for the past as well. Though in battle, he felt that his emotions and whatnot could be expressed clearly in battle, and Zed's cold steel anger got through to Shen, while Shen’s frustration and despair clanged in his swords.

“The only thing we can agree upon is fighting,” Zed said. “Even if we end up killing one another, we will know one another’s convictions. Which one is stronger? Which one has the stronger ties to Akali? Which one has the right to go save her?”

“You think you can save her, Zed?” Shen said. “Your blades have the intent to kill. How do you expect me to save Akali if you’re trying to make me die?”

“Haha,” Zed said, and maybe there was a kind of manic grin behind his mask, though there was something about this clash of blades that reminded him of old times. “This is like when we trained together. But do know this. My technique is far superior to yours—the first strike, first kill. If you do not aim to kill, then your enemy has the gall to rise up again and ruin everything again. If you do not strike against me with an intent to kill, then how can you expect to kill the one who’s running this masquerade?”

“I can kill you,” Shen said softly. “Perhaps I should have, in greater conscience. But some part of me wishes that…maybe some part of the old you will return, Zed.”

“I don’t hope to be forgiven,” Zed said, snarling. “And I don’t plan on having your soft heart spare me. Strike with every intent to kill that you have. If you don’t, then -I- will kill you, on the same scar that I left on your chest.”

The match ended in a tiebreaker. The two men nearly killed one another, and the Summoners had to intervene to break them apart.

“Enough of this,” one Summoner said. “Zed, we expected trouble from you, though Shen, we expected better out of you. We’re going to penalize you for fighting one another off the Summoner’s Rift so that you can reflect on your sins.”

Zed and Shen went obediently. They didn’t argue with the Summoners, didn’t resist, didn’t do anything. The emotions they exhausted through their battle s till clanged and rang to the marrow of their bones. They were too worn to do anything else.

Zed and Shen were led into two separate cells that were next to one another. Zed back into one corner while Shen went to the other, apparently trying to meditate to calm his mind, while Zed was scheming a way to get out. Though first, he had a plan, though he wasn’t sure if Shen would go along with it. Though Zed decided that he needed all the help that he could get, he needed the others to trust him first…

Zed figured it would be a long day in the cell.