(first off: i've got several issues w S2 that i'd like to rectify/expand upon in this story. fortunately i'm actually having fun forcing myself to work within the limits that the series placed on itself)
ok a bit of context: slight AU i suppose (in that i've taken bits from league lore pre-arcane) where mel's father is killed during a war of succession within house medarda (plot point inspired by the upcoming ambessa-centric prequel book) and jago is house medarda's rep in piltover before mel so he takes her under his wing following her exile from noxus (he dies before S1, placing mel on the council). meanwhile viktor's father is killed in a factory incident + mother dies from an illness caused by the grey so he's sent to the hope house orphanage as a child/tween and he never formally enrolls as a student at the academy (but does lie his way into an assistantship of sorts w heimerdinger). jayce's father is similarly killed in a forge incident.
and now a bare bones outline. it'll (hopefully) be three parts:
first part is set in piltover+zaun post-arcane, showing the immediate aftermath of the battle w a big focus on mel's political prowess (i'd like to include an emergency referendum of sorts, let mel seize this opportunity to reexamine+reimagine the council) and reactions from the people of pnz (to each other, to noxus, to the herald, to the council, etc). mel is largely suppressing her grief for the sake of pnz's future at this point.
random bits: firelights lead the rescue+restoration efforts since enforcer numbers have been essentially decimated by noxus; referendum/vote (giving a choice/voice to the people) comes from mel's research+planning during S2 in support of jayce's S1 proposal for peace. cameos by cast (ekko, sevika, caitlyn, vi, ximena, etc) + new faces (noxians).
(i'm still toying w the exact wording/nature of the vote. imo, at the very heart of the series is the question–can you still love me, despite everything between us? if who i was is dead and gone, can you learn to love who i've become, who i am now? and can i do the same for you? jinx+vi, ekko+jinx, cait+vi, meljayvik, mel+ambessa, etc and pnz, especially post-battle. so is the vote for independence? jinx leaves vi so should zaun leave piltover? at any other point in the series, i think that question would've gotten a generally undisputed answer from zaun–yes! of course that's the vote–but in the wake of the S2 finale... i don't really care for the trope of two opposing forces (oppressor and oppressed in this case) joining together against a common enemy but that's what we've got so. anyway)
second part is set on the open seas aboard the flagship of the medarda armada, a month or two post-battle, showing mel grappling w her (mother's) legacy, her status as the new head of house medarda, and her imminent return to noxus, her first home, for the first time in a decade.
random bits: trip from piltover to noxus prime takes abt twenty days but mel stops in ironwater to meet w jae (jago's adventuring son in league lore; i really want to explore the dynamics of their house); more of those new (noxian) faces, who are guiding mel as she refamiliarizes herself w noxian norms.
third part is, of course, set in noxus (prime). personally i am incredibly excited to get to this part, noxus seems like such an interestingly fucked up place (huge fan of brutalist architecture too). the woman who returns is not the girl who left. in my mind, mel returns out of a twisted sense of responsibility/accountability to pnz (she could just disappear, yes, renounce her claim as heir, transfer her personnel, donate her (remaining) funds, but then who would protect the fledging pnz, reeling from war, on the brink of unity, from foreign intervention? from noxus?) as well as a desperate curiosity abt her powers, abt the black rose. of course, her plans to reintegrate herself into noxian society are quickly derailed when jericho swain, recently disgraced from the war in ionia, comes knocking w not only a vision of the future (emporer darkwill dead at their feet, noxus free to grow into a powerful meritocracy under their watchful eye) but a funny little bauble too, useless to him but perhaps of some worth to her? (the acceleration rune. hi jayce hi viktor) :) w cameos by noxian champions/characters (katarina, darius, leblanc, etc)
bit disorganized + open ended atm but i hope to have a solid outline soon and, slowly but surely, start writing again
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