Kidnapped?

Blood, flesh and bones were scattered throughout the audience seats and pit or so what would have happened if Art was a psychopath.

Nothing crazy happened, he was just a little angry when the host refused to give his money back and when he learned of the reason for his disqualification.

He found it unbelievable. He had been following what Lambert taught him; there is no such thing as fair fights and no such thing as cheap shots. And from what he had seen in the previous fights before, it was true as people took every opportunity they could to win and it was quite entertaining to watch.

But, according to the judges, the dirt that he had used to distract the opponent was a weapon and as a result, he was disqualified.

It was a bullshit call and it made no sense whatsoever, considering there were fighters that fought dirtier than him. Some even had metal prosthetic arms and legs.

That is not fucking fair. A weapon? Seriously? How is dirt a weapon? Art thought before coming to a sudden realization. Could it be the judges disqualified me just because they don't want a kid entering?

The more he thought about this, the more reasonable it sounded. "They probably didn't take into account a kid like me had the balls to enter," he said to himself. "At least I now know the Undercity isn't like what the Enforcers paint it to be."

With a sigh, Art got off the ring and began walking over to Violet who he could see her trying to hold back her laughter. He soon arrived in front of her and sat on his previous seat beside her.

"Good job," Violet said, hiding the beautiful smile on her face with her hand.

"At least I won the fight," Art pouted, trying to comfort himself.

"That you did. But don't forget, you also wasted 100 Bronze Washers," Violet reminded.

Art nodded, trying to look sad as he frowned a little. He didn't want Violet to find out that 100 Bronze Washers was nothing to him and to his 50 Silver Cog weekly allowance. If she knew, she would get suspicious of him and with the relationship between Piltover and the Undercity, she may even start a fight with him or stop talking to him.

Thankfully, Violet fell for it and patted Art's head seeing his expression. It seemed she had a soft spot for children and she could not bear it to see him like this. "Don't be sad. How about you guys come over to my house? I'll treat you and Ezreal for dinner."

Violet had a gist of their personalities and found them fun to be around, but that wasn't all. She asked the two boys to come over because she wanted to show her gratitude for treating her to lunch earlier and most importantly, she wanted them to befriend her little sister as she needed more friends at her age.

"Sure," Art happily replied as he had nothing to do at home anyways. He knew if he went home now, all that was left waiting was magic training which was far less important than getting close to a beauty like Violet.

"Great," Violet clapped her hands and said. "After I'm done with my fights, we'll go and I'll bring you guys to my house."

"Alright," Art replied. "I'll go and see if Ezreal wants to come. "

He turned around and went off to find the blondie...

***

Ezreal POV

"Haha, he got disqualified!"

Watching from the audience seats, Ezreal held his stomach, kicked his legs around as he teared up a little and laughed at Art for being disqualified.

Soon, he stopped after seeing Art step out of the pit. "I better shut my mouth before Art finds out I was laughing at him, or else I'll get my ass whooped."

After wiping the tears off his eyes, Ezreal made his way through the crowd to Art. He wanted to explore the Undercity some more before going home.

"Excuse, excuse me--"

However, it was at that moment, Ezreal bumped into somebody. It was the merchant he flaunted his big bag of coins earlier, and behind him was a group of thugs.

"Well, well, well, look who we have here," the merchant said, his voice rising with excitement.

***

Art was walking through the audience seats as people recognized him and gave him friendly gestures. He simply smiled as a response before he found himself where he had seen Ezreal sitting. But once he got there, the blondie was nowhere to be found... maybe he went to take a piss? Maybe she will know?

"Excuse me, do you know where the kid that sat here went off to?" Art asked the nearest person next to him.

The person was an adorable girl around his age. She had ocean short blue hair styled in a rather unique way and light blue eyes. The clothes she wore, as expected, was a little worn out. But compared to the other kids he saw in the streets, her clothes could even be considered a luxury.

"Do you mean the blonde-haired boy that was laughing at you after you got disqualified?" the girl said shyly.

"He was laughing?" Art asked, his eyes twitching in annoyance... that little shit.

The girl nodded.

Art took a deep breath to calm his nerves. "Anyway," he sighed, "do you know where he is now?"

"Hmm, he told me to save his seat after bumping into a man a few minutes ago and leaving with him," the girl said pointed towards the direction where Ezreal had gone.

Wait, could it be? Art had a bad feeling and hurriedly asked. "By any chance did this man a beard?"

"Yeah."

"Dark circles under his eyes?"

"Hmm."

"A crooked nose?"

She nodded again.

Oh god, Ezreal got kidnapped. Art thought, shocked before quickly snapping back to reality. "Can you save these seats for me? I'll be back soon"

"No problem," The girl replied excitedly.

"Thanks so much, I'll be right back." After thanking the girl, Art didn't waste any time and hurriedly ran off to the direction where Ezreal had been kidnapped. He was worried for the blondie's safety and didn't to return home with a dead body in his hands.

Meanwhile, the girl let out a sigh of relief as her cheeks began to redden after Art left. She cupped her cheeks with her hands and said. "Wow, I can't believe I talked to him."

A few minutes later, Art could be seen running through the streets of the Undercity. He ran at full speed and was following Ezreal's magical signature.

Just like fingerprints, a magical signature was something unique to every individual and those who had a talent for magic usually emitted stronger signals.

This was something similar to Bluetooth.

It was because of this that Art brought Ezreal as he could always tell where he was. But he didn't think this situation he was in would ever happen.

Art didn't think Ezreal was stupid enough to get himself kidnapped, especially in a large crowd... How the fuck did he get himself kidnapped in the first place?! Couldn't he have just screamed for help? he thought.

More time passed and Art finally arrived at the place where Ezreal had been taken into.

It was an abandoned factory. Its walls were riddled with graffiti, the glass windows were broken, and the metal doors that led inside were covered in rust. Two men carrying blades stood before the doors, their hulking figure blocking anyone from entering or exiting.

How should I do this? stealthily? Or should I just go in there? Art thought about it for a while before coming to a decision. "Stealth it is, but how am I going to pass those doors... Oh wait, I have magic lol."

Art lifted the two guards up in the air and slammed their heads against each other, enough to knock them out. If he had done this a few years back, he was sure with his lack of control he would have accidentally killed them and turned them into meat paste.

Quietly opening the door, Art was immediately greeted by hundreds of animals trapped in cages of varying sizes, and more of the merchant's goons. He sneak his way towards Ezreal and as he did, he ignored the animals.

It wasn't because he was heartless, rather letting them free would only cause chaos in the Undercity. Some of these animals were dangerous and could easily kill a man or two with their sharp claws.

And so Art continued to get closer to Ezreal, and those who were lucky enough to spot him would have their mouths with [Telekinesis Magic] shut before suffocating them to sleep.

It wasn't long before the only thing separating Art and Ezreal was a door. He carefully opened the door, expecting the worst-case scenario which was a dead body or two laying on the ground.

However, the only thing Art saw made him furious. "What is happening here?"

The merchant was treating Ezreal like a VIP. He was sitting at a table, nibbling on some biscuits while being served a cup of tea.

"Oh, hey Art," Ezreal said nonchalantly.

"Is that all you have to say?"

"What do you mean?" Ezreal tilted his head in confusion.

This guy… Art rubbed his temples, trying to hold back his anger. "You could have at least told me where you were going. And why are you with this guy? Did he try to rob you?"

"What? No, he's friendly. He's acquainted with my parents and wanted to know why I was here," Ezreal explained. "He also said something about wanting to open a zoo in the topside in the future."

(A/N: Same zoo in the Get Jinxed music video.)

"A zoo?" Art repeated… now that I think about it, none of those animals wasn't mistreated in any way besides being trapped in a cage. Wait, what am I thinking? "What has this gotta do… you know what, it doesn't matter," He shook his head. "You still haven't explained why you left without saying a word."

"Oh about that, I just forgot to tell you," Ezreal said guiltily, causing Art to facepalm. "How did you find me anyway?"

"Ahem, I asked people for some directions," Art coughed before turning his gaze towards the merchant to avoid the subject. "And you."

"Me?" The merchant pointed at himself.

"You need to shave and get some sleep. I thought you were in the slave trade business with your looks," Art berated.

"Oh sorry, I just love animals so much that I have no time for myself."

At this, Art was confused and said. "If you love them so much, why did you poach..."

"Poach? I did no such thing," the merchant denied. "I bought them all with my own money."

"All of them?" asked Art.

The merchant nodded. "Yes, I sold my home on the topside and bought all of these animals for the zoo I'm currently building. Young master Ezreal parents are one of my sponsors and I wanted to apologise for my rude behaviour earlier."

"Apology accepted, there you've been forgiven, now we can go," Art replied as he walked towards Ezreal and patted his shoulder. "We have somewhere to go and please don't tell anyone you've seen us. Good luck with your Zoo, maybe we'll come and visit in the future."

"Where are we going?" Ezreal asked as he got up.

"We've been invited for dinner," Art began walking to the door.

"By Violet?" the blondie guessed.

Art nodded.

"Please wait," the merchant called out. "Do you mind if I ask who you are?"

Art was silent for a moment before speaking. "Since you already know Ezreal, I guess there is no use keeping my identity a secret. I'm Art Truefall, just a son of a tailor."

"Truefall!" The merchant exclaimed, "I should've known, I'm sorry…"

Art had expected this reaction, considering his family was very famous and was just below the mercantile families who ran Piltover. But as he didn't want to waste any more time, he raised his hand and interrupted. "No need, we'll be going now," he started heading for the door again.

"Wait," the merchant called out again. "It's dangerous out there, how about I send two of my people to accompany you?"

Art stopped in his tracks and asked. "You mean those two at the front?"

"Yes," the merchant quickly replied.

I nearly forgot about those two, Art thought before coughing... "Ahem, I don't think they won't be able to move anytime soon. I just saw them fall down and knock their heads on the ground," he said guiltily before giving the man 2 Golden Hexes. "Here is some money, you should take them somewhere to get treated."

"This is too much," the merchant tried to refuse, but Art was persistent and placed the gold coin in his hands. He had too much money saved from his weekly allowance over these past few years. He felt bad and wanted to pay for the hospital fees of the two guards he had beaten up.

"Take it," said Art. "We can take care of ourselves. Just don't tell anyone we've been here."

The merchant felt something was off, but he didn't ask. "Alright, please contact me if you ever need help or if you ever want to buy a pet for yourself. "

"Hmm, actually, before we go, can I take that with me," Art pointed at the metal box full of biscuits on the table. He had remembered the blue-haired girl saving Ezreal's seat back at the tournament and wanted to get her something as thanks.