Work Text:
Faker stares Scout down from across the battlefield, his red cape fluttering in the wind. “Yechan-ah,” he says, infuriatingly calm. “Good luck. Let’s give it our all.” His words from earlier echo in Scout’s head as they take their positions. If you want to be the best, you’ll have to beat me first.
—
Scout really didn’t expect the match to go this badly. For starters, he expected to actually win, so finding himself and his team losing a disgustingly one-sided battle comes as an unwelcome surprise.
The battle starts going wrong when Hang swings his heavy iron hook around and lets it fly, hitting one of their opponents for the first time. That hook is usually a death sentence when it wraps itself around an enemy, spectral chains preventing them from breaking free as Hang pulls them in, but it doesn’t work nearly as well this time. Hang’s hook connects with Zeus as he swings his hammer, and the support pulls him in only to have Zeus’s hammer throw Gala into the stone face of the Rift like a ragdoll. Gala hits the mountain face with a sickening crunch, then slumps to the ground. He doesn’t hit stasis just yet, but Scout severely doubts he’s going to be able to recover much from that. Shit.
With Gala almost out of the battle, the rest of LNG are forced to shift their positions to cover him, adopting a more defensive formation. If they can buy enough time, Gala’s Void symbiote will allow him to recover enough to rejoin the fight. Zika summons his Hallowed Mist, which cloaks the battlefield and shields him from one of the shurikens that Faker throws his way. It also makes it a bit harder to see, but Scout’s used to fighting in Flandre’s smoke.
Evidently, T1 are similarly adapted, because Oner comes flying through the haze with no hesitation, followed by Faker. Scout doesn’t get the chance to swear before Faker is on him, blades aimed for his throat.
Scout raises his hands, intent on using his magic to drain Faker’s energy, but the other mid laner just dodges into the shadows. A moment later, he feels a presence behind him, and only just manages to knock Faker away with a blast of energy. He’s uninjured for now, yes, but Scout already feels his heart sinking in his chest. He knows when he’s outmatched.
You’re doomed, crows a little voice in his head that sounds suspiciously like Showmaker’s.
Shut up, Showmaker. At least I made it to quarterfinals, Scout thinks to himself. We can still win this.
Of course, Tarzan chooses that moment to prove him wrong as he charges forward, swinging his club wildly at Faker. The club swings right over Faker’s head, and Oner kicks Tarzan so hard he stumbles forward—right onto Faker’s blade. Tarzan lets out a choked noise, and then Faker’s second blade slashes right through his throat. The Rift’s aura shimmers over his skin a moment later.
It’s all downhill from there. While Keria scrambles away from a rogue energy blast, Gala gets to his feet and charges Gumayusi with Hang, only for a magically enhanced bullet to pierce straight through his chest and send him into stasis too. Zika gets hit by an electrified blast from Zeus and Hang falls from another shot from Gumayusi, leaving only Scout against all five members of T1.
Faker already knows he’s won. Scout can see it in his eyes as he approaches him, blades gleaming in the sunlight. “You fought well,” he says. “Better luck next year.” Then he’s moving again, faster than even the shadows he wields.
The next thing Scout knows, he’s falling.
—
Approximately forty-eight hours of moping later, Scout exits his hotel room and finds Showmaker waiting for him outside. Showmaker pauses in shuffling his cards as he looks up, opening his mouth.
“Here to rub it in?” Scout asks before he can speak, pushing past Showmaker and starting to stalk down the hallway.
Showmaker doesn’t make any move to follow him. “The elevator’s the other way,” he says, his smirk almost audible. “And I wasn’t planning on it, by the way. I’m actually here to help you out.”
“You’re here to help me out?” Scout scoffs, but he turns back anyway. “What are you gonna do, make me a knife or a ring that magically puts me back on the Rift?”
“I already told you, I don’t do freebies for non-teammates. And if I could make something that could do that, I would have used it myself.” Showmaker looks away, and it’s only then that Scout notices the redness to his eyes. He almost starts to feel bad before Showmaker clears his throat, crosses his arms and says, “Anyway, I owe someone a favor, so I’m here to take you to Hanwha Life HQ.”
“Who—” Scout doesn’t get to finish his question as Showmaker grabs his arm. The world spins, and when Scout’s vision returns to normal, he finds himself in a room too orange for him to be anywhere but in HLE’s headquarters. By the time he processes, Showmaker has already let go of his arm, stepping away to teleport off. “Wait, if I’m here, does that mean…”
Showmaker rolls his eyes. “Yeah. They’re waiting for you in the living room. And you’re welcome, by the way.” He doesn’t even bother telling Scout where the hell the living room is before he’s gone in a soft flash.
“Huh,” Scout says to empty air, and sets off to find the living room.
Ten minutes later, he manages to find the room he’s looking for thanks to the loud laughter that occasionally echoes through the halls. Loud, familiar laughter. Scout feels himself start to smile as he pushes the door open, listening to the sound of (slightly unhinged) cackling.
The room goes silent as Scout steps inside and five pairs of eyes turn to him. Scout’s smile widens as he stares at his old teammates—his friends. They’re in different uniforms now, with only Jiejie and Meiko still sporting their blue dragon-scale armor. Viper’s bluish glow contrasts horribly with his orange shirt collar, but he still looks far more intimidating than Junjia, who doesn’t even have a championship glow, and Flandre, who’s wearing a plain white t-shirt and sweatpants.
“Look who finally decided to show up,” Meiko says with a lazy smirk. He’s twirling a familiar knife around his fingers, but Scout’s not really focused on that right now.
“Your hair,” Scout blurts. “It’s blond.”
Meiko raises an eyebrow. “Is it?” he asks, dark brown covering up the blond hair in an instant. Hmph. Shapeshifting is cheating.
Jiejie yawns rather pointedly. “It’s good to see you too,” he says, crossing his arms with no real malice. He looks less pale than he usually does as far as Scout can remember, but then again, they haven’t spent much time together since the Ruination.
“Oops,” Scout mutters. He turns to look at the others, giving them a sheepish wave. “Hi, guys. Good to see you.”
Rolling his eyes, Viper sits up a little straighter and holds out his arms. “Just come here.” Scout nearly jumps for joy. After all, he’s pretty sure he can count the number of times Viper’s given him a hug on one hand. (Okay, maybe two hands. But still.)
Scout leans in to hug Viper, patting him awkwardly on the back before moving on to Meiko, whose hair has turned blond again. Once he’s hugged all of his ex-teammates, he sits down in one of the open armchairs and rests his feet in the other one. Meiko raises his eyebrow, but says nothing.
“So,” Jiejie begins, then falls silent, like he’s not sure if he’s allowed to say what’s on his mind. Which is stupid. They’re not in China right now. Freedom of speech.
“Worlds,” Junjia finishes. “How did it go?”
Scout sighs. “I mean, you guys watched the match, didn’t you?” The winces he gets in return are enough of an answer, because they’re not the guilty winces of friends who didn’t bother watching his match. They’re the sympathetic winces of friends who watched him get his ass handed to him by his former mentor and a bunch of kids. “Yeah, I figured. Did you hear what Faker said to me at the end?”
Viper nods. The others stare at him.
Oh, right. Korean. “He told me that I fought well,” Scout says. That’s… debatable as far as he’s concerned. “And he wished me better luck next year.”
Flandre makes a face. “How can someone be so kind yet so condescending?”
“He wasn’t being condescending,” Scout protests, because hey, that’s his hyung Flandre’s talking about. “He was being nice. In an accidentally condescending way.”
The others stare at him in near-disbelief. “We should get Showmaker back in here,” Meiko says. “Then at least you can hold your fan club meeting without disturbing us.”
“It is not— ” Scout cuts off, knowing this is a lost cause already. Maybe that wasn’t the right idea, actually, since Meiko is now smirking like that’s a victory. He hastily searches for a topic to change the conversation to. “Uh, anyway, does anyone have any plans for next year?”
“My contract lasts until the end of 2024,” Meiko says. “So does Jiejie’s. That said, there have been… a few offers. Nothing concrete yet, so we’ll probably both stay with EDG.”
“Same for me, but with PSG,” Junjia says.
Flandre waves his hand in what Scout assumes is an I have no clue sort of gesture. They turn to Viper, who stares back at them like a deer in headlights.
“Viper?” Meiko prompts gently.
Viper visibly gulps. “I was thinking about extending my contract with HLE,” he mumbles.
Scout blinks. With how Viper was acting, he thought Viper was about to say he was retiring or maybe even going to North America. Meiko seems to feel the same way. “Oh,” he says with a sigh of relief. “That makes sense. You performed well this year with them, after all.”
“I really didn’t,” Viper sighs. Then he frowns. “You’re not upset that I’m not coming back to EDG? Last time you seemed pretty… well, you didn’t react well.”
“I was half possessed,” Meiko says dryly. He scans Viper’s expression and seems to realize that Viper could take his words the wrong way. “I’d love to have you back, of course. Gods know we could use a good ADC right about now, one that doesn’t flame Jiejie or try to hire a prosti—”
“Meiko,” Scout coughs.
“Sorry,” Meiko says with a completely unapologetic grin. “As I was saying, I would be happy to have you with EDG again. But that doesn’t mean I’ll be upset if you stay with Hanwha. We’re your friends, Viper. We’ll be happy wherever you go as long as you’re happy.”
Viper takes a moment to process, staring at Meiko the entire time. “Oh. Thank you.”
“Scout, on the other hand…”
“Hey!” Scout squawks. “We’ve talked about this!”
Flandre snorts, shaking his head as he checks his phone. “You tore this family apart,” he teases. “First you had to divorce EDG, then you left Meiko with the kid…”
Snickering. Even Scout laughs. Then Jiejie frowns. “Wait, I’m the kid?”
“Technically it should be Junjia,” Meiko says. “It could even be Viper, but we have no clue when his birthday is. But… yes. You’re the kid.”
“Yeah, you definitely need parental supervision,” Scout adds. He grins. “Remember the boat incident?”
Jiejie gives him a look. “Fuck you guys,” he says. Meiko and Scout gasp with mock horror at the same time. “That water was ice-cold, and falling hurt. A little sympathy would be nice.” Even as he says it, he’s smiling. Probably because the boat incident was, in fact, fucking hilarious.
“See, at least Junjia is self-sufficient. He basically carried his team to Worlds by himself.” Flandre reaches over to try to pinch Junjia’s cheeks.
Junjia summons a golden force field just to hold Flandre at bay. “I didn’t carry them,” he protests.
“You carried them,” Meiko and Flandre say at the same time.
Jiejie nods in agreement. “I watched play-ins. It was traumatizing.”
Junjia looks at Scout with a silent plea in his eyes, but Scout isn’t all that helpful either. “Maple was decent,” he says. “He’s always decent. But you totally carried.”
“Viper?” Junjia begs.
Viper raises an eyebrow. “Do you want me to agree with you, or do you want me to tell the truth?”
At that, Junjia seems to accept defeat, sinking into the sofa cushions. Actually, maybe he has some fight left in him after all, because he mutters, “You guys talk a lot of shit for Summoners who can’t even make Worlds.”
All hell breaks loose right after he says it. His force field can keep him safe from Flandre's hands, but it can’t protect him from the accent pillows that Jiejie, Meiko and Flandre throw at his head. They each hit him with a soft thud, and just as Junjia digs himself out from under them, Viper tosses a fourth at him.
“Okay, I deserved that,” Junjia groans, not bothering to remove the pillow from his face. “But I expected better from you, Viper. The other three, not so much, but really? You?”
Viper shrugs. “Skill issue.”
Meiko’s head turns almost comedically slowly so he can gawk at Viper. “What did you just say?”
Viper looks blankly back at him. “What? I learned it from Spica.”
“What the fuck,” Scout says. “What has this world come to? Junjia’s living in what’s basically still the Shadow Isles, Flandre’s jobless, Meiko’s blond, Jiejie is—well, Jiejie was always fucking weird—”
“Hey!”
“I’m washed up, and Viper is quoting memes.” Scout shakes his head. “I don’t even recognize us anymore.”
Meiko frowns. “You’re not washed up,” he says.
“Did we watch the same match? Sanghyeok hyung shit on me.” Scout thinks about it for a second. “But I guess that’s not saying much. He is the best mid laner in the world. Objectively.”
“Do you know what that word means?” Viper asks. Scout doesn’t, not really, but he glares at Viper anyway.
Flandre stops them before another argument can break out. “Have you guys watched the match between NRG and G2 yet?”
Meiko yawns. “I don’t watch minor regions.” Junjia gives him a look, but says nothing.
“You have to see it,” Flandre says, a shit-eating grin on his face as he starts typing something on his phone. “It’s the worst match ever. I don’t even know how they managed it.”
They settle down to watch the match, which Flandre apparently hasn’t been exaggerating about. G2 is probably the only European team any of them can take seriously, but they look like a completely different team as they struggle to fight NRG. By the time Mikyx goes down, they’re all already laughing.
Sure, he just got eliminated from Worlds, but Scout isn’t even thinking about it anymore. He’s with his friends, after all, and for now, that’s all he needs.
Shit, Scout thinks. I think I owe Showmaker big time.