"Shen..... the spirits..... What are you planning?" Kennen, The Heart of the Tempest
I had people over for the past two days and that's why you didn't get a chapter.
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Gregori blinked as the ceiling slowly came into focus. His head hurt. A lot. His body felt weak and cold. He didn't need to look in a mirror to know that he was pale.
"Ugh." He grunted as he rubbed his face with his palm and then frowned due to the feeling. Pulling his hand away, he glanced at it.
Ah.
It is permanently changed.
He sighed. The price for transforming had been so far away all this while that he hadn't really given it any thought. But now that his body sported permanent changes..... he would be lying if he didn't feel an ache thinking about his good old arms and legs.
Gregori tilted his head and looked over the room.
The room he had occupied in the Last Drop. Beside his bed laid a wrapped Caalyx and further away lay Styraatu.
Frowning, Gregori wondered. Who wrapped Caalyx? He had lost consciousness from the blood loss while holding onto Caalyx.
Despite regaining consciousness, he wasn't able to think as fast as he would have liked to, he recognized that. And he did not enjoy the feeling.
Briar.
That was probably who wrapped the spear. No one else could touch it without losing themselves and Caalyx would have been nice enough to not harm Briar if there was any accidental contact.
Pushing himself up, he slid his legs off the bed and observed them.
Where his feet used to be, there now remained only claw like appendages made of bone and flesh. A claw stretched out from the back of his leg, facing away form the rest of his toes. A line of white bone travelled up the center of his leg to his knees where the transformation ended.
He looked at his arms noticing the same thing, hands replaced with claws and a single spike to bone jutted out from under his elbow at an angle that disappeared into his arm when he held it out straight. Slowly bending the arm revealed the bone.
The scars on his torso looked more red than usual. The loss of blood probably making his scars look red against the now ridiculously pale skin of his, almost yellowish in tone.
Standing felt different. Moving felt different. The feeling of staying on his feet was different from the one in his memories. The natural way. He had balance that did not change.
It was like wearing tight shoes over your feet but you can feel what the shoe would feel.
It felt like that little itch in the center of the feet that everyone ignores.
Every movement reminded him of that. His new toes were not as responsive as the old ones. The same with his hands. It was obvious that he would be losing a lot of his dexterity as a result of these changes. The claws weren't the best for gripping things. Even clenching his fists felt wrong, the sharp claws dug into his skin but not the usual way. A sharper hit but not fully closing due to the change in the length of his fingers. Bending his four fingers down, he noticed them easily reach the wrist. And the thickness of his new fingers also made his feel like he was constantly holding his palms open.
A couple steps of reorienting himself, Gregori reached for the door and turned the knob.
Or tried to.
His fingers did not close around the knob normally.
"Tch." He clicked his tongue and reached around with the other hand, using the pinky and thumb to grip the knob he flicked it.
CLICK
The door opened.
He stepped out into the..... bar?
Gregori's eyes widened as he looked at the usually empty Last Drop, now filled to the brim with people.
He raised an eyebrow as he watched Faye and Annie waltz around with mugs of alcohol in their hands, handing it out to the patrons.
Sevika stood at the bar, her metal arm holding a glass and her normal arm cleaning it.
"How'd you feel?"
Gregori glanced to the side, "Weak."
Sydell leaned forward and out of the shadows, "Makes sense. Not enough blood. You have been asleep for a week and a half. Briar was afraid you wouldn't be waking up at all."
"Where is everyone?" He asked.
"Well, other than those here, the rest are up in Piltover." Sydell answered, "Caitlin and Vi make quite the power couple. And together with Jayce and Mel, they are doing some pretty heavy duty work in trying to unite the two cities once and for all."
"Why didn't you go?" Gregori asked. It seemed out of character for Sydell to stay behind in something that could affect two entire cities.
Sydell smiled, "I don't need to go there to know what's happening father. And I'm currently helping Jinx and her little sidekick Isha complete taking over Zaun for a smooth hand off."
"The other Chembarons." Gregori noted.
"Yep." Sydell answered as he looked his father up and down, "Most of the remaining ones.... the newer ones.... they came over to our side once they realized how profitable this change would be. The ones who didn't were part of the mines and participated in the previous uprising. They need to be handled differently. Which is what Jinx and I are doing."
Gregori noticed his son's eyes, a smile sprouted on his face, "Just ask."
"Those are permanent..." Sydell stated.
He nodded before pointing to his torso, "Get me a shirt while I drink some water."
Sydell moved quickly and disappeared into the stair leading down.
"Water." Gregori said as he slid into a bar stool.
Sevika placed a couple glasses of water next to him, "Indulge." She then looked past him and waved to the girls walking around, "Girls! Here!"
"Daddy!" The two sprinted toward him and pushed themselves against the bar as they inspected him.
Gregori smiled, "How are you two?"
"Good." Faye replied.
"Good." Annie answered, "But Tibbers is angry with you."
"Me?" Gregori looked taken aback, "Why?"
"He doesn't like being ordered." Annie answered as she pushed herself up against him.
Faye did the same.
Gregori placed an arm around each daughter and brought them close, "I suppose I should apologize then." His claws remained a safe distance from their bodies, just in case they harmed them.
"These are permanent then?" Faye asked as she noticed his actions.
Gregori nodded.
"If you use the same wrapping as Briar.... would it go?" She asked.
Gregori shook his head, "Not anymore. It was more of a preventative measure. You cannot prevent something when it has already happened."
"But you wore it all this time." Faye pushed.
He nodded, "And that was the reason I lasted as long as I did. I was transformed for almost an entire hour Faye. The longest I've ever been. I had only been fully transformed for a quarter of that time against Naga and half that time against Joraal. If I wasn't prepared I wouldn't have been able to change back."
Annie's arms clutched his body, "And you won't be transforming again."
"I cannot promise that Annie." Gregori refused.
Her voice shook as she repeated, "No. You won't be transforming again."
Gregori looked at the tears forming in her eyes as her entire body shook trying to hold back her tears, "I'm sorry firefly."
She pulled back and sprinted down the stairs. Faye looked at her and then at him. He nodded. She chased after Annie.
"I'm sorry." He repeated as he stared at the stairs.
"Drink up." Sevika nudged him, "You haven't touched your glasses yet."
"Could have given me one glass and refilled it once it was empty." Gregori said as he drank from a glass.
And then it came into perspective how thirsty he actually was. He reached for the other glass and downed it.
He looked up and the other glass had been refilled.
"Keep going." Sevika said as he grabbed the glass out of his hand, "You've been asleep for a while and whatever food your children forced down your throat was not followed by water."
"Could have choked." Gregori said as he started downing another glass.
"Slow down." Sevika reached forward and held his glass, "And choking wouldn't have been a problem."
Gregori frowned.
"Your children are pretty smart." She snorted as she looked at him, "Daani transformed his hands into like.... flesh contraptions that helped control your breathing so the food wouldn't go down the wrong pipe and Faye sent the food slowly."
"I suppose I have to thank them." Gregori muttered as he sipped the water.
Sevika shook her head, "I don't think they would like that. They want you to rely on them more. Its all they spoke about when you were out. They feel like burdens."
"I..-" Gregori tried to speak.
"And they are right." Sevika interrupted, "What we faced that day... before your arrival our lives were all hinging on one plan. One stupid plan that was likely to fail. Our lives were as good as gone." She shivered, "I have nightmares. And I've seen a lot of the shit the world's got to show. What do you think the children are going through?"
Gregori's grip on the glass tightened.
CRACK
Cracks spiderwebbed throughout the glass.
THUMP
Another glass of water hit the table.
"Don't break any more glasses." Sevika stated, "We don't have more."
"I apologize." Gregori sighed as he placed the cracked glass on the bar. But his mind was occupied on her words.
His children had seen a lot. Their initial childhoods weren't great. And after all these years of relatively safe lives the sudden situation they found themselves in was never going to turn out to be easy.
The enemy might have been out of their scope from the very beginning but that feeling of powerlessness would stick with them.
Gregori's mind was hardened from the years of constant fighting and his own innate battle with his identity. But the children? Even with their childhoods would have some sort of trauma relating to this incident.
"I've got a lot to take care of." Gregori muttered before raising his head, "What's for food?"