Leona sighed again.. maybe.. maybe Leona was only seeing what she wanted.. she shook her head slightly before turning back to the lunar warrior, a sad look in her eyes

"Would it hurt so much to allow me such blissful ignorance?"

she said flatly

Diana couldn't understand it. Leona wanted to live in such a life? That gave her the motivation she needed to finally stand, stretching her legs out before turning to the Solari with a piercing gaze. Her mask gracing her expression once more, her crest glowing faintly as she observed the other woman for a few moments. "Blissful ignorance.." There was nothing blissful about a shading your eyes to the truth willingly. There was no respite.

"I lived in ignorance for too long, as have you. You know now the errors of the Elders, and yet, you stand strong to your faith. Unwavering, as the Avatar of the Sun should. You stand by the blood traitors, and you stand by the Sun who wishes to burn its own brethren."

While her voice remained steady, her tone was growing stronger. The same force flooding through it as she struggled to contain the past within her memory. Diana was wrong. She admitted it. She was wrong in believing that Leona could have been someone she could trust. To allow someone to ignore the truth.. to grant them that which she despised the most. Leona may not have meant anything by it, but the Lunari's eyes had been opened once again. To the truth, and she embraced it.

"So long as you continue to do so, there can be no peace between us. The Sun and the Moon are forever locked in a dance, an eternal struggle. The Moon will rise, but with it, you must fall. That is how it is meant to be. How it was always supposed to be." Diana turned now, taking a deep breath. "I'm sorry."

Leona closed her eyes tight.. wishing to block out Diana's words... but she couldn't, no matter how hard she wanted to, they still washed over her, cutting her deeper than any blade ever could. She turned back to the river, staring blankly into it, her own reflection looking back at her

"No..." She finally spoke after a minuet "I am sorry.. you trusted me.. and I failed you.."

Leona grit her teeth against her own words as the bitter taste of salt washed over her lips.. she didn't even realize she was crying.

"But you are wrong about one thing.. the Sun does not burn it's own. It never has. The Sun does not own the Moon, it gives it's light to her out of love. For she is the only one it will do that for."

Leona looked back towards the Moon.. it was just as beautiful now as it was when Diana took her to the rocks with the telescope. She then shook her head simply, staring into the water once more. She wiped the stray tears from her face and stood, slipping her heels back on, regardless of her soaked feet

"What you see as slavery, I see as an act of love." Leona spoke, still keeping her back turned to the other, she then gave a sad sigh, closing her eyes tight again then reopening them, as if she were trying to wake up from a dream, as if to return to a simpler life.. time, was a cruel mistress however.

She looked towards the Moon once more "However, I do not think you hold the same thoughts in your mind.."

What Leona was attempting to tell her no longer clouded her judgement. Her mind was as clear as a cloudless night, the Moon's light washing over her cleanly. The Solari warrior was talking, moving, but Diana kept her breaths steady. Her body was in a state of total serenity, even if she knew that her 'friend' had turned on the waterworks once again. It always amused her, how quick to tears Leona was. But there was no amusement now. She was simply being. Existing.

Diana chose her words slowly, but her resolve was strong. "No, you are. If the Sun loved the Moon so, then why did its people massacre the Lunari?" She knew now that her words would have made no sense to an outsider who did not believe in the manifestation of the Sun and Moon's powers. But she knew that the Sun could have stopped the Solari. By way of message, or something... anything. The Sun did not love the Moon - it wanted to find and hold onto control.

She continued to breath evenly, her eyes opening now to the darkened tree-line, and to the glowing flowers beneath her feet. On the opposite side, the sunflowers, with their faces pointed away from the sky. They could not drink the 'false light'. Diana could not help but smirk inwardly. Of course. The Sun was the only light they could trust and take nourishment from. That it what they were taught, and what they were grown to trust in. Typical.

"What you see as an act of love.. includes a fiery ball that burns all that stares at it for too long." Diana shrugged, not knowing if Leona could see her and finding that she did not care either way. "I suppose the Elders thought it was out of love to punish me for questioning our submission to the Sun, and I suppose that I was to be executed out of love too?" Leona was starting to aggravate her again, muttering about such concepts.

Diana trusted her family, the Solari. Her friend, Leona. She had been betrayed. Labelled as an outcast. So what can one do, when you cannot even put your faith in those closest to you? She believed there was love - but the only love to be hand, the only love that could be trusted was with the Moon. The one who had broken her bonds, opened her eyes to the truth and given her the ability to overcome those that would have executed her. That she could ever hope to love or trust anything but the celestial orb of argent... laughable.

"Your hand of friendship was not meant to be, this night." Diana said curtly, "As the Moon shall rise without fail, the Sun too shall cease its tyranny once and for all. So long as you continue to stand by it, then you stand in my way." Thus was her final word, her resolve and conscience unwavering as she turned to leave the clearing.

((http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4tOr...feature=relmfu))

Leona stood, looking away from Diana as she spoke. She did not know why the Sun had allowed it, nor did she really care. She did not blame the Sun for the acts of man.

"The Elders did not love you.. the Elders are just as stubborn as you. They do not know the true meaning of the Sun, only I, it's Avatar can know such a thing."

All of a sudden, Leona's eyes flared gold and her voice changed on the spot as anger filled her at Diana's words and at her attempt to leave her. In an instant she was in front of Lunar warrior

"The Sun is not tyrannical. To call it that would be to call me that" Leona pointed her finger at the Lunari "And you of all people know that is not true"

Leona approached Diana until her face was only inches from the others, she stared into Diana's silver eyes with her now golden ones "I have tried to make you see.. I have tried to reason, I have pleaded, I have broken myself down more than one time. It is as I have said before, you accuse me of being blind when you are too thick minded to open your own eyes" Leona thumped Diana on her forehead in aggravation as she spoke

"And you claim to have your eyes open, to see truth, but all you see is death, destruction, pain, suffering, coldness, loathing" Leona walked forward, forcing Diana back as she did, her voice growing in emotion, she stopped when Diana hit the river bank, her gentle features had longed turned to ones of determination and anger, anger at herself for letting this come to pass, and anger at Diana for not accepting her, despite all Leona had done "Diana... as you so wish to be called.. Di.. I now see, is long dead.. but no matter what you do or say, I will always love you. And if you so wish to see me dead, then oppose me, force my hand to cut you down.. because for me to do so would be a fate worse than death."

Leona then turned on her heel, and began walking away, Sunlight sparking off of every step she took

It was almost laughable, the way Leona had gone from a sobbing maid to that filled with the Sun's fury. But Diana could not be intimidated - her eyes latched onto Leona's own, stopping in her tracks as she visibly stopped herself from slapping the Solari. Her previous state of serenity had been shattered but still she stood to listen to whatever absurdities the other had to offer. The point of a finger did not sway her, but she did eye it with bitter amusement. "Then clearly I've been mislead." Diana responded simply. "If the Sun is not tyrannical then clearly the deceased Lunari are merely playing an extravagant joke on the world."

The second Leona raised her hand, Diana stepped away, rending the act useless. "I would prefer if one such as yourself no longer touch me." It was not because the Lunari was disgusted. No, more so that she no longer felt it necessary to pursue such baseless relations with one she would have to destroy. She narrowed her eyes at the other warrior, "As for your accusations, I suppose it is difficult for you to understand what it was like. You were embraced by your people, adopted because this was your true calling. Yet even my own family could not look me in the eye, simply because I felt differently. The Solari in the past could not respect the Moon, nor the Solari in the present. Are you to tell me that the entirety of the Solari line is so corrupt that they cannot see differently?" Diana let out a small laugh, "The Sun calls them to act, and you, Avatar, is being played as the fool you are."

Diana had no choice but to step in unison with Leona, though her emotion was kept cool. "That is not the truth? Runeterra is a mass of corruption. All you see are innocents to be protected. What if they do not want or need your protection? There will come a time where you are no longer necessary. When chivalry is dead. What you do not see - what you are incapable of seeing - is that the world is vicious. Perhaps you have forgotten the violence of your birthplace, the Rakkor. How you failed to protect those you have claimed to love. No matter what you do now it will never heal the past. What is done is done."

The Lunari circled around Leona before she met the water so that her back was now facing the tree line once more. "I am afraid that you will have to rephrase your claim. You wish to bring me down, but one that is currently out of your reach, Leona. I will oppose you so long as you stand by the Solari - so long as they have yet to pay for their sins against my people, I shall forever wage combat against their Avatar. You fight for the innocents, yet your people and your precious Sun murdered countless of innocents. They would have added another to that count, had the Moon not come to my aid. You expect me to follow you, and to agree with what you say, yet even you did not come when I needed you the most."

But Leona had begun to leave, and Diana did not follow suit as the other brushed by.

Leona stopped dead in her tracks as Diana uttered her last words.. she was right. Leona had failed her, and her childhood friends. She shook her head slightly before looking back the Lunari. Her eyes and voice had returned to normal

"I do not ignore the violence, I choose to look past it, to find peace even in war-torn grounds.. that is something you will never understand.. and you cannot blame the Sun for the acts of man."

Leona stared back at her former friend. Her features had turned cold

"I will always care for you, that will never change... yes, I failed you, yes, no mere apology will ever suffice. That is why I have gone above and beyond to be kind and compassionate to you. Something you fail.. no, refuse to see.. if you wish to wallow in your revenge, then so be it."

Leona turned back around, but kept her head turned to the other "I may care for you.. but if you do oppose me.. I will strike you down.. that is my promise to you." she then stormed off, back to the institute

[Endo]