Mel

Mel’s story

Mother,

A soldier gave me the gift of your mask today.

Mindlessly, I traced the cracks, taking in every dent, every scar from the countless battles where you emerged victorious—and the one battle you did not.

Only now, as our ship crosses the waters to Noxus, has reality begun to set in. You are gone, again. But this time, I can no longer hope for your return.

I know you wouldn't want me to dwell on this. You'd tell me to be proud—I finally became “the Wolf” you so desperately desired. Still, I wonder, did I become what you hoped for? Or just what you needed me to be?

So much has changed, and yet part of me is as lost as I was over ten years ago. When I think back on it, the air of cousin Jago's greeting when I first arrived in Piltover—it reeked of pity. You'd made it clear that I was being delivered, handed off, and that you wouldn't be coming back for me. Even so, for years, I would fall asleep longing for you as any daughter longs for her mother—despite everything you'd done. Every morning, I awoke to the emptiness you left behind. I've spent my life trying to fill that emptiness, to prove myself worthy of my own mother's love.

I have lived the only way I know how—as the Fox, swift and cunning. I earned the Council's trust, and nearly had Piltover in the palm of my hand. If only you had trusted me, Mother. I wouldn't be left with this mess. I wouldn't have had to

No. It's not that simple.

I know now you were trying to protect me, in your own way. I never could have imagined such magic lay dormant within me, but there are many things about my past I hadn't considered before your passing. Truthfully, it is overwhelming—and all the more reason I wish I could have fought at your side. I cannot begin to imagine what you must have felt, being hunted by the Black Rose for all those years. But I do know that if you were ever afraid, it wasn't for yourself. It was for Kino, and for me. And in the end, I was your undoing. Perhaps you knew all along that I was the one to fear.

I'm sorry, Mother, but I don't regret protecting my city. With strength, comes sacrifice—isn't that what you always said? Your creed, your excuse for everything. Did you ever care what it did to me? To us? Was it worth it? I'm the one left bearing the cost of it all.

You kept so much hidden from me. The truth about my father. Kino's murderer. And, perhaps most pressing of all, this vendetta the Black Rose had against you—that now entangles me. I imagine these merely scratch the surface of your lies, and those of this “Deceiver.”

I plan to uncover everything you've kept from me.

It pains me that these words will never reach you, but I hope you're watching from Volrachnun. I will cast this letter overboard, so it may be drawn into the depths and become one with the waters off Rokrund's shores, where you once defeated death itself.

I'm soon to arrive as an outsider in the land where I was born. Our own guards do not truly see me as a Medarda, even if the distrust within their hearts dares not escape their lips. A nation that prizes strength, yet thrives on bloodshed, is not one I can proudly call my own—and I will not stand idly by as the chaos continues. You taught me how to survive, Mother. I taught myself how to live. And while you pushed me to embrace the Wolf, I will never abandon the ways of the Fox.

It may not be in the way you intended… but I'm coming home, Mother.

And I will make a difference here.

Until my heart no longer beats,

Your daughter, Mel