A Small Step
Veigar stood still, looking into the mirror, hardly recognizing himself in the reflection. His normal dark, spiked apparel had been replaced. A white tuxedo now covered him, his giant claw/glove had been removed and now he merely wore two pure white gloves to match his outfit. A top hat of the same color as his other apparel sat upon his head, casting the familiar shadow over him, obscuring his facial features from view. He blinked once, the pure white plates in the mirror mimicking the action. With careful movements, he tightened around his neck a simple blue tie until it hung loosely. With stiff movements, the dark mage angrily flipped his collar down. He did not like white, he hated white in fact. But she had insisted, and he had decided not to argue.
His eyes looked over the myriad of details once more, scarcely believing the apparel he was wearing. He felt a feeling growing in his stomach, something he hadn’t felt for a long time. Uncertainty. He blinked once more and a steely look of determination came over his face, he knew this was what he wanted to do, but some part of him was arguing the point, fighting over it like a lion over the last piece of meat. Some lonely friendless part, that thought it knew the way to happiness even though it had never led him there before.
A big part.
The tiny master of evil sighed and glanced to his nearby staff, the steady companion which had accompanied him into the league, and had seen him through it as well. Next to it was a wooden one, about the same size, but teeming with magic that was world’s apart from it’s counterpart. In between the two lightning would occasionally dart from one to the other, the two volatile magics always fighting a constant war with each other. If the inanimate objects couldn’t even get along, what hope was there for the living owners of them?
The evil yordle was reaching to undo his necktie when a knock came at the door, he whirled around and raised an eyebrow, a fact only he would know. “What?!” He called, dark magic flowing at the ready to his hands. Something outside that door made him even more on edge, even more anxious. Which, of course, meant it had to be the voice of reason. Which was, quite frankly, something he didn't want to listen to right then.
“You ready buddy?” Came the voice from the other side of the wood. Despite it’s muffled nature, the owner of the voice was painfully obvious. It was the one Veigar had chosen for his best man. Having lacked any real friends to speak of, Veigar had chosen the yordle with whom he had spent the most time, even if they had hated each other whenever they were thrown into meeting situations.
“Yes Teemo, I’ll be right out.” It was a reluctant statement, but it seemed to be good enough for the swift scout as the sounds of his footsteps retreated down the hall. Veigar took one last glance in the mirror before he exited the room, letting his gaze linger on his shaded face, just one more secret, and he had somehow found a wife who didn’t care about his secrets, who didn’t care about his past, only about their future. So, with a smile no one could see, he left the room.
His steps were heard by everyone as he approached, as his metal boots were the one thing he wouldn’t get rid of, a fact to which everyone in the audience disliked and tried to ignore. He admitted himself into the wedding ceremony, which was already underway, and proceeded to not care if he were doing it incorrectly. No one had briefed him on how weddings were supposed to work and he hadn’t cared enough to look into it, it was merely a formality, after all. As he took his position at the front of the room he looked behind him for a moment and spotted Teemo smiling back at him, to which he ignored and turned to face the door expectantly.
Teemo took no offense at the action, he could hardly blame him in fact. They had had quite a history, and Veigar was entitled to his anger, so long as he could contain it. Teemo looked on the event with a form of respectful awe. Out of everyone Teemo could have ever imagined, he never would have so much as thought that Veigar would get married, it was completely against his former self. He had been selfish and bragging, he would use others as tools to his own ends and would do anything possible to win.
Now though, now that was gone, or at least covered under a lead tarp. Veigar had taken a big step, one that Teemo had to admire him for. He had fallen in love and managed to admit his feelings, especially after she had admitted hers, though she had needed some encouragement. Everyone was awash with mixtures of fear and joy. Fear knowing the duo could probably take over all of valoran if they really put their minds to it, joy for the fact they didn’t seem interested in doing that.
Teemo’s musings were interrupted as music began to play and the door swung open by the purple magic that gripped them. He smiled at the approaching bride-to-be, and she smiled back, but she was always smiling. That was Lulu’s way, a manic grin a day makes the doctor run away as fast as he possible can. Quite a stark contrast to Veigar, who really only smiled when he had crushed someone’s hopes and dreams under his gauntlet’d fist. Whereas Lulu just seemed naturally happy about everything.
She looked amazing in her outfit, the train of her wedding dress was being held aloft by a fairy named Pix, Lulu’s life long friend, and her dress itself was something to behold. At first glance it looked to be silk, but it was quickly obvious that it was pure spider silk. And it was such an amazing white that it made everything else seem grey in comparison. So fantastic was her appearance that Veigar was struck with awe, another feeling that had been gone for a long time.
As she approached the front, with rhythmic bouncing steps, Teemo took an opportunity to look at the audience of the event. Several league champions had shown up, including all the yordles who fell into that department. Ziggs, Heimerdinger, Corki, Poppy, Tristana, Rumble, Kennen... Amumu had even shown up, crying his eyes out in the back of the pews with an odd mixture of joy and sadness.
Lulu at last came to her position, standing and smiling at Veigar, who was too struck with silence to answer. A cough came from the front of the room, and both of the almost-weds looked towards the source. A middle-aged man, dressed in white, looked back with a polite smile, silence fell with the slight exception of Amumu’s lingering sniffles. “Go ahead Marc.” Stated Veigar, a tinge of anger in his voice that had been there ever since his mental snap, something he couldn’t quite seem to get rid of, despite the current events.
Marc nodded. “We are gathered together today-”
“I DO!” Shouted Lulu, interrupting the man with her outburst then turning expectantly to Veigar. Who seemed confused about what had just happened. She looked at him and her face began to turn sad. Everyone else, meanwhile, had absolutely no idea what was going on. Realizing that she was thinking he had had a change of mind, the tiny of master decided that the choice was obvious.
“I do as well!” Veigar responded immediately, and much to his relief Lulu’s face sprung back to it’s usual smile. A shower of rose petals came from above as Pix threw them up in the air, which was followed by a shower of rice.
“We’re husband and wife, weeeee!” Lulu said, grabbing Vegiar by his hands and dragging him out of the room, leaving a stunned audience behind, not to mention an Amumu who had started crying at full strength again. Once they were outside the room, she let go of one of Veigar’s hands, whipping him out at arms length before pulling him back in against her chest and hugging him tightly.
“So where are we going for our Honeymoon?!” She said, releasing Veigar from his prison in favor of bouncing up and down excitedly. “Teemo said you had somewhere specific in mind but he wouldn’t tell me what it was, and that’s just rude.” Veigar didn't respond, opting instead to grasp Lulu’s hand tightly. The act forced her to stop bouncing and match Veigar's stance, the still and motionless one he would take occasionally. He breathed out, all the worry for the wedding leaving his body with the air, and letting his mind come to back to full working order. With a tap of his metal foot his clothing was instantly replaced with his regular attire, an act that Lulu followed as well, her spider silk dress disappearing and revealing she had been wearing her normal outfit beneath it the entire time.
With an invisible grin, Veigar began to run with Lulu down the hall, Pix following dutifully after her. Outside they could hear the gathering of photographers who were struggling to get a look inside the building, hoping to get a picture before the wedding was done and hopefully a few more afterwards. They didn’t know it yet but if they were trying to get a picture of the duo they would have to wait a few days. Not caring about the paparazzi and their misfortune, the pair ran into Veigar’s room, where both their staves rested. It felt good for both of them to have their weapons back in hand, they had had them for a long time after all, they were almost like an arm to them. Lulu took a quick glance at the staff, looking for flaws, and was quite surprised when she saw Veigar swing his against the mirror.
Instead of shattering, like it should have, the mirror began to twist and turn. Lulu looked at it in wonder, then looked to her husband, who’s face was slightly illuminated by the magic roiling in front of them, the genuine, sane smile on his face made her own smile even wider. He glanced at her, and she glanced back. And then, with a simultaneous nod, they jumped into the mirror like the two insane yordles that they were.
It was only moments later when Marc entered the room. He looked to the mirror and face palmed. With a sigh he took a small device from his pocket and turned it on. “Tell them to inform our summoners that Veigar and Lulu are temporarily disabled due to a bug or something.” A response came through the line, muffled, and Marc sighed again. “They’re in a different dimension, I’d say that if anyone tried to summon them, it would definetely qualify as a bug, wouldn’t you?” A short reply. “Yea, I thought so, we’re done here.” He turned the device off and exited the room. He looked towards the doors, crowded with cameras and for the third time in about as many minutes, he sighed. “And now to inform the masses.”
Deep within the mirror, the pair tumbled end over end, but managed to keep hold of each other's hands. It was a disorienting form of transport, and one that had taken Veigar a long time to set up, as well as some threats of personal harm to the right people. It was complicated, the bending of laws of nature, but Veigar wasn't known for playing by the rules. He did what he wanted, and the rules would often be rewritten so they didn't apply. Besides, noone wanted to stand up to the crazy dark mage who could murder you in under two seconds.
Amongst the chaos, Lulu managed to steal a kiss from him. Something she hadn't managed to do up until that point, having been forbade by him to ever do such a thing. “Hey!” Veigar shouted and Lulu began to laugh like a maniac.
“Oh, come on hubby. It’s a kiss secured.” She winked at him and he felt himself blush, a fact which he was happy to discover his permanent shadow hid. With surprising abruptness their tumble ended and they found themselves on the ground, both of them somehow managing to land on their feet. All around them a crowd had gathered, their original intent being to watch the twisting and turning magic in the sky. Now though, it was to look at the two beings who had just come through it.
Lulu’s face began to twist into one of untainted ecstasy as she looked at the crowd, each of them uncomfortable about the manic, dancing eyes that had turned to look at them. Her exclamation turned from a shout to a squeal and Veigar couldn’t help but feel proud as her joy hit the air in the form of speech.
“THEY’RE ALL PONIES!”