Chapter Text
Winged Reign divided among the four seasons with each corresponding court to govern the harmony of Faeries.
Ezreal was among the court that governs over the Summer. He was borned under the bright, heating sun with his undeniable thirst for exploration. Summer Faeries are known to be borned under the heat of the vibrant summer, all born with individual talents but each talent caters to their seasonal Regin. One day he caught the eyes of the Queen with his ability to create and explore beyond a regular tinker and so he was appointed Lord of the Summer court by the Queen herself which shocked the Faeries across the Winged Reign.
However, he hated where he stood. A Faerie is known to their duties wistfully but he has wished so desperately to abandon his duties to explore the vast land of Winged Reign, to go beyond the wicked mountains that concealed them in, the thirst was unquenchable and he strives to fulfill it. His trusty assistant and sitter has always kept him in place in order for the Summer to thrive– and by the order of the Queen.
Ezreal felt like a locked up damsel in distress waiting for the day he could kiss this Reign goodbye but that won't happen. As much as the duties piled up and much as the Summer Faeries loved or loathed him, he rather mourn than see the lost faces of his own kind get ridiculed by other Faeries.
He's too good, he believes.
“The Winter Court requests your presence tomorrow, Ezreal.” Seraphine flies into his office with a weird contraction in her hands, Ezreal looks up at her but ultimately his attention focuses on the weird contraction. It seems to have screws wired around with a cork in the middle, interesting , he thought.
She waves her hand getting the attention back onto her, when she does grab it, she clears her throat and gestures something at him. He squints in response before mouthing an ‘oh’ and clearing his throat as well.
“Uh, why does the Winter Court request my presence?” He asks, a little sheepishly.
Seraphine gives a small frown, she replaces the weird contraction to her other hand to grab a clipboard out of her bag. “It's going to be the Eclipsed Moon festival soon, Lady Katarina wants to ensure the other seasons are accommodated, especially the Summer Faeries when they cross over.”
Ezreal nods his head, definitely not from the fact he entirely forgot about that event.
Eclipsed Moon is a festival held to witness an incredible moment in Faerie history, its a tale told that when the moon is eclipsed the Faeries are granted wishes that bestows onto their life and be used very carefully or the wishes will take the moon away from them so they celebrate it to gain wishes but also show the moon that its still very much loved.
But the past Queens deems it otherwise, they believe it was a prophecy that the moon will come down and bestow danger to the Faeries, in order for the Queen's anxiety to dissipate, the past Court created this festival under the disguise to keep all the Faeries in place. In any case of an attack, the Queen will ensure their safety in one spot.
The festival takes place in different seasons every eclipse, this time it's the Winter in charge of the festival.
He groans, he doesn’t want to deal with the festival, sure, he had his fair share of fun with it sometimes but currently he would rather be off researching relics or desperately getting permission from the Queen to adventure off to god knows where, etc.
Seraphine, already seeing the mental toll of her boss, hops over– fluttering her wings in light motions– she puts the contraction on his desk, giving a small smile. “Please see Lady Katarina tomorrow. I made this with the things out of the Lost Pit, I think you might have figured it out together.”
Ezreal perks up and immediately takes the contraction in his hands, examining it from top to bottom, she notices the eyes glitter with curiosity. ‘ That's Lord Ezreal for you.. ’ Seraphine leaves him alone to his own devices, knowing the other wouldn't respond to him anyways.
Lady Katarina was not a fun person to talk to. She isn't the Lady of Winter for a reason but behind her cold nature, she's awfully an anxious person. Rather than intimidated, Ezreal is awkward around her– well more like they don't know how to match each other's energy he justifies himself.
“Lord Ezreal.. Are you listening?” Katarina asks as she watches the man examine another ice statue her kind has placed in the heat of creating the festival. Catching himself from making things worse, he awkwardly laughs. “O-Oh yeah! I was just thinking the… The ice is nice!”
He stands there, seeing that Katarina's expression didn't budge, he changes topic.
“S-So uh, my Faeries will do fine with your conditions!” The Winter Faerie slowly nods her head and continues walking to show him around. Ezreal follows behind her as he tries not to get distracted, Winter Faeries are crazy talented to create things with snow and ice so he couldn't help but be amazed everytime.
After a couple of interactions of the different booths, one booth catches his eye.
“Lady Katarina.”
Katarina, caught off guard, turns her head to Ezreal who points at a rather empty booth with a single Faerie in it. She pauses to answer him but the man was already heading over, she hesitates in her stride before flying over to see what caught the Summer Faerie's attention.
“Lord Ezreal, it's an honor to be of your acquaintance! What can I do for you?” The Faerie raises her brow in surprise.
“Oh well, your booth was empty so I was wondering what you had planned.” Ezreal exclaims, maybe he'll find something fun out of this empty booth. The Faerie looks at him before mouthing an ‘o’, she gives him a smile.
“My booth isn’t empty, I'll tell you about the tales of the Moon buried in snow.” And, Ezreal immediately loses interest, he mentally sighs, he might as well indulge himself. He gives her a smile.
“Tales of the Moon buried in snow huh? Does that ring a bell Lady Katarina?” His voice was hidden by boredom. Katarina glances over to him before humming, “it's a popular tale amongst the younger Winter Faeries.”
Taken back from the response, he wasn't expecting Katarina– the Lady of Winter– to indulge in such tales.
The Faerie nods her head, she kneels down and shuffling was heard behind the booth before she pops back up and with a makeshift of different gold things into a crescent moon.
“It's practically impossible to make the actual crescent moon but the tale begins when a Faerie long ago went pass beyond the Winter border and beyond the Winged Reign where the endless of snow continuously buried the lands further and further but they persisted until one day the Moon appeared so high on the sky that it descended down to the Faerie, till this day, the Faerie never told us what the Moon was like but the Moon asked a simple question, ‘are you lost?’ and the Faerie would nod her head and answer, ‘I want to go back home.’ The Faerie woke up back in her home and their surroundings were as if they never had left the very next day. But next to the Faerie was a crescent moon just like this, shining so brightly..” The Faerie explained excitedly as she held the crescent moon in her hands.
Ezreal looks at Katarina who solemnly nods her head. ‘ Oh? So it's true? ’ He grins at the opportunity.
“Thank you for the lovely explanation, Lady Katarina and I have to get going. I wish you luck on your story-telling!” He rushes Katarina away from the booth, gesturing for her to get a move on. The Faerie waves them goodbye.
“Lady Katarina..”
“Lord Ezreal, you have heard it many times from the Queen herself, you are not allowed past beyond Winged Reign. Moreover, a Summer Faerie like you, won't survive in the Winter.” Katarina hands the man a cup of warm tea as they settle themselves down on a balcony overlooking the Winter area and all of the Winged Regin in the distance.
Ezreals scoffs, he accepts the cup and takes a sip in annoyance. It was worth a shot to indulge just a little bit of hope of Katarina being the odd one out even if they weren't buddy-buddy with each other. He submits and slumps on his seat, Katarina takes notice and gives him a small frown barely visibly.
Katarina looks out in the distance, taking in the cold winds breezing through the air, fluttering her wings in slight dismay before putting her attention back to the gloomy bundled up Faerie. She clears her throat, “you are one curious Faerie. The Queen acknowledges your work immensely, Lord Ezreal.”
The Faerie gives her an off putting look.
“I already know that, I don't need another lecture, Lady Katarina.” He takes another sip of his drink.
“I'm not lecturing you, nor am I going to. I'm telling you that even you can go beyond the Queen's expectations.” She flutters her wings again; Ezreal raises his brow at her, not knowing how to respond to it, he sits in silence with Katarina for the rest of the time.
He arrives back at his regin with the sun barely peeking out of the horizon. Instead of going back to his office, here he is in the library. The Summer Library isn't as big as the Winged Library but it still contains the same amount of information, he made sure of it. He scrambles himself to the shelves and finds him a set of books to look over.
Katarina wasn't wrong when she said he’s curious and he doesn't want to admit but he was a little curious about the tales of the Moon. They should have some information about the legitimacy of this supposed ‘Moon’. Looking through the set of books he has at hand, he flips through the pages and scans anything interesting. Which in return, nothing appealed to him.
He closed the last book and sighed, an actual crescent moon like that would be nice to discover, hopping out of his seat, he might as well head back to his house. He looks up in the sky to see the moon decorate itself among the other stars. If only there was a way to just sneak pass while everyone is distracted.
Oh wait, as if there was a lightbulb that appeared above his head, Ezreal grins with an idea popping up. He sure will make this festival one hell of a blast.
The day of the festival was booming with Faeries all over, mingling with each other and having a grand ol’ time. Winter didn't impose any problems as all the warm Faeries were very well accommodated, Queen Karma was the center of attention, flooded by many Faeries. The court was to accompany the Queen throughout the entirety of the festival until the Great Dine, the Great Dine was a feast with all the Faeries to sing songs and enjoy the rest of the night together.
The Great Dine was when Ezreal will execute his plan.
“Lord Ezreal.” Snapping out of his thoughts he turned his attention to the Queen. She was one of beauty, every Faerie was aware of the light she brings to the festival but it still struck him everytime he saw her. Slightly choking on his drink, he clears his throat before speaking up, “Your majesty, do you need me?”
She shakes her head and gives him a small smile and gestures to him.
“I'm surprised you haven't left to do your own endeavor.”
Ezreal groans, “even if I did your majesty, Lady Kalista would drag me back.”
She chuckles before looking over to the crowd, gathering to begin the Great Dine, she looks back at him. “Let's celebrate the night together and hope our wishes shall be granted.”
Ezreal watches her gather with the crowd and sees Katarina land next to him– her wings glistening against the moonlight– giving him an unreadable expression before it settles to her usual stoic face.
“Shall we go, Lord Ezreal?” He nods and joins among the crowd.
The Great Dine begins and every Faerie is occupied with the singing, eating and getting their shots to speak with the Queen. Ezreal munches on kebabs containing some kind of meat and green that he wasn't sure what they were but they tasted good, he watched from afar.
As he watches the air get lighter with joy and cheers, it's a perfect time to dip out and steal his chance to get out of here, ensuring that Kalista is distracted with the Queen and the guards were drinking away to their heart's content, slipping away from the venue, he rushes out to the cart he sneaked in when crossing over with his Faeries. He bundles up even more and looks at the wildcat he snatched up to pull his cart, “let's finally get out of here!”
The wildcat perks up and starts pulling the cart off to the direction Ezreal points at. They begin traveling towards the border and Ezreal can make out the line between Winged Regin and the land beyond. The forest started to fade and the Winter crystals falling from the sky started to become harsher.
That's when the wildcat made a complete stop and Ezreal looked out at the barren wasteland of snow. There was a void of white and a storm so strong, Katarina was right, he had no way of surviving out here but that's the thrill of adventure. Besides, once he's out of the Winter, he'll see lands of fire, big pools of water, and even rain from the trees.
He hops out of the cart and gathers up his supplies that he made sure to pack for the trip. He makes sure his wings are tucked in securely for the safety of not getting them frosted over. He pets the wildcat and begins transversing through the thick snow.
He was extremely cold despite the amount of heavy clothing he has packed on himself. The dark sky was not helping his case either, Katarina always said to beware of the Winter storm that blazes itself in the night, maybe he should've listened to her closely.
He didn't know how long he walked for, he was getting rather tired from the storm and from the walk. He had to admit, he was stupid to think getting a relic like the crescent moon of a supposed ‘Moon’ would get him anywhere, especially if he's gonna freeze and die then die heroically. He breathes out and a gust of cold air blows its way out to the wind.
He's really tired.
He trips over the snow and lands face first into it, enticing more coldness into his body. He lays there before turning over to stare up at the sky, his wings tucked in feels the frosted slowly building up. The moon was high up in the sky, a crescent moon, one that got him to his deathbed in the first place. He closes his eyes to take in the Winter storm through his ears and feels the snow bury him.
That was until, he was suddenly no longer buried. He snaps his eyes open and realizes he was lifted off the ground, he checks his wings to see they're still tucked in and sighs in relief but finally takes in his surroundings. Sitting up now, he looks down to see a rather rough and scarred ground with indented lines that ends at the edges, he looks up to see five pillars curved at a tall angle, he stares in confusion. He turns around to see more but catches his head scale upwards to come face to face with an overbearing tall figure.
At that moment, Ezreal realizes the figure was terrifyingly big but also handsome– he'll push those thoughts aside for now. He stares at the piercing blue and red eyes that stare down on him like an insect, he might as well be because from the way he looks.
The figure doesn't speak, he watches as the man raises a brow at him in curiosity. Has he perhaps not seen a Faerie before?
“U-uh.. Hi. Thank you for saving me.” Ezreal yells out, the man tilts his head– cute– before the weapon he holds in hand strikes down to the ground. Ezreal stares in shock and fear from the massive weapon the man holds. Distracted, he doesn't notice the other hand coming towards him and before he could react, the hand begins to stroke him gently. Caught off guard, he lets the man feed in his curiosity and even indulges him by barely grasping on the finger that touches him.
“Um.. I'm Ezreal! A Summer Faerie in the Winged Regin.” He introduces himself, the glare the man slowly unraveled itself to a more lightened look.
“A Faerie?” The man speaks and the deep voice rumbles to the depths of his tiny body, catching him off guard again, Ezreal stares up at him and nods his head hesitantly.
The man continues to manhandle him gently, the many layers of jackets seamlessly coming off of him revealing his vibrant colorful wings that flutter upon release. The curiosity returns tenfold as the man starts to brush lightly on the sensitive wings. Ezreal shivers from the cold touch and from the fact his wings were being teasingly touched.
Wait. Quick as a flash, he turned to see his wings were warm, they no longer felt frosted. He slowly flutters them to see their condition but they act as if they were never in the Winter. He grasps onto the man's finger and wobbles his way up before standing perfectly fine. His body was slightly cold but he didn't see any major injuries.
He flaps his wings and takes off the ground to do a fly test. Swirling, leaving some dust behind, he lands back down in awe. Ezreal then felt his wings be touched again and looked up at the man still adoring his curious look.
“..Faeries shouldn't be out here.” Ezreal sheepishly breaks eye contact as he rubs the back of his neck.
“W-well, I was just curious about the tales I was hearing about a crescent moon and meeting the Moon.. haha..” He watches the man's brows slant down and the curious expression dissipates like snowflakes once it reaches the ground.
Ezreal takes a step back to take in the man's appearance, he was definitely not from the Winged Reign, his blue and red eyes glow in the dark, his tied up dark hair was blending in with the sky, his eyes drifted down to the opened chest and looks away with flushed cheeks.
“..Are you cold?” He asks, in response he quickly shakes his head making him slightly dizzy.
“I'm better now that I'm no longer, down there!” He flies up to see off the edge but he takes in that he's very high up, what he thought was snow the entire time, it was actually the clouds.
“Your wings..” At the mention of his wings, he panicky turns around to see them but doesn't spot any issues or problems. He gently touches them, he looks up at the man confused before a chuckle escapes the man's mouth, shocking him.
“They're beautiful, Faerie..” Oh. He feels his cheeks warming up, he wishes he can curl up in a ball and scream into his arms.
“M-my name is Ezreal! Not Faerie… Yours is?” He thought he might as well ask. For the supposed Moon he was rather scary and intimidating beyond what he heard about.
“Ezreal..? Hm.. Kayn.” Kayn gives Ezreal a small soft smile, one that can rival any Faerie's first laughter. He picks up the pace with his wings as he feels embarrassed from just hearing his name. “Do you want to go home, Ezreal?”
Snapping out of his state, he stares up at him before breaking it away and looking off to see the Winged Regin beyond its visible eye. He could go back and be caged in forever by his duties or he could have anything imaginable with the adventures he'll go on. He closes his eyes and sighs, he never thought he would hesitate like this.
“You can always come back.”
He slowly opens his eyes and turns back to look up at Kayn, the voice that passes through his ears like a whisper made him come to a conclusion. He glances at his wings before flying up– nervously– to come face to face with the man.
“..Can I see you again then?” The man looks at him in awe before giving another smile this time for Ezreal's eyes to take in. With one of his hands, the palm lands on Ezreal’s feet and pushes him closer to him.
“Of course.. Go home Ezreal, I'll see you soon.” Ezreal hesitates, thinking everywhere and anywhere all at once, he leans in and places his hands on the man's nose, he stares up before giving Kayn a smile and fully letting himself lean in and place his forehead against the bridge of his nose. He felt something brush against his hair and wings gently, he closed his eyes to take in the quietness of the night and light from the moon.
“Goodbye Kayn..”
“Goodnight my Faerie.”
He opened his eyes back at his home, sitting up, he looked around to find himself laying on his bed in his room and the only thing filling his ears was the busy Faeries outside doing their usual work. He sighs and grips on the blanket to get up when he accidentally brushes against something. Surprised, he looks down to see a crescent moon, twinkling, neatly besides him. He grabs the moon and wraps it around his arms, hugging it tightly.
He now had another reason to go beyond the walls of the Winged Reign.
He can't wait to see him soon.