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Vi wasn’t sure how long she lay on the creaking metal of the broken fan. Tears trailed down her dirt and blood-smeared cheeks as the anguish in her heart burst forth through her yells. Deep down below she could hear the hissing of air escaping broken pipes, metal groaning and crashing as the Hexcore vents break apart and fall further down. Vi can’t see a fire but a faint smell of smoke rises to her. She refuses to look down and see for herself. If she doesn’t see it; it’s not there.
Jinx.
Vander.
Gone.
Another yell escapes her and she clenches her eyes tight shut, hot tears spilling, the throbbing pain in her arm numb to the one in her chest. She uses her good arm to raise her hand and wipes at her face, removing the blurriness from her eyes and seeing what's above her. Dark clouds parted against an orange and pink sky through the opening created by Jayce and whatever it was that passed as Viktor. A brief thought passes through her mind wondering what’s happened up there. There weren't any sounds of fighting. Has Jayce succeeded? Her thoughts are interrupted by metal scraping against metal along the domed roof above her. Wincing in agony, she carefully sits up, her eyes tracking the noise along the top and her broken arm lays useless across her chest. The blade of the fan groans under her weight and fear spikes in her stomach.
The scraping noise above stops, only for it to be replaced by the wiring sounds of smaller fans when suddenly Ekko appears on his hoverboard, coming through the gap and heading towards her.
“Vi!” He shouts, the green trail following behind him as he gets closer. “Don’t move, I’m coming.”
Vi nods, and her stomach lurches again when the fan bends and she loses balance slightly. She moves her arms behind her to catch herself, well one arm catches her, the other moves an inch and she yells out, curling it into her chest.
“Shit,” she hisses, feeling the fan dip further.
The gauntlet starts to slide down and Vi can only watch as the weight pushes the fan beyond its limit and the whole blade jolts suddenly…and drops.
Her freefall doesn’t last too long when she feels Ekko slam into her, catching her around her waist and knocking the wind out of her. The hoverboard wobbles slightly with her added weight but Ekko gets her situated on the front of it and slows them down.
“Vi,” Ekko says, his brown eyes searching hers. “What happened? Where’s Jinx?”
Vi gulps, tears welling up in her eyes once more and with a slight tip of her head, indicates the explosion down below. Ekko follows her direction and his eyes widen at the sight.
“No,” he murmurs, shaking his head, the white dreads moving with the motion.
“Sh-she saved me from Vander. I didn’t want to let him go and he attacked and Jinx…They fell.”
A sob slips out and her vision is obscured again but not by too many tears this time. Instead, her vision vanishes in the comfort of Ekko’s embrace as he wraps his arms around her and she buries her face in his shoulder. Vi feels Ekko’s body shake, the sniffs by her ear, and the warm tears landing on her back. She wraps her arm around him, holding her little brother close, and the two of them mourn together. Jinx, Vander, Mylo, Claggor, Benzo. Their family had once been so big and now they were just two.
Eventually, the pair move apart from one another, Ekko wipes his nose with the back of his hand and Vi wipes her face again.
“Is your arm alright?” He asks, tentative, reaching out with gentle hands to check it.
Vi lets out a ‘psshh’ between her lips. “Landed on it heavily, pretty sure it’s busted.” Indeed her arm was starting to swell and bruise.
Ekko lets out a heavy sigh. “We need to get back down there. Find out what’s happening.”
She finds herself nodding, the motion numb. She knows it's the right thing to do and she can’t stay here forever. Ekko gets the hoverboard moving and Vi jolts at the acceleration, she regains her balance with a little help from Ekko and crouches down to hold onto the board as it flies higher. The pit in her stomach tightens and she swallows down the bile in her throat. The gap in the roof gets closer and Vi can’t help but look down. Wreckage and ruin. Pink smoke. No Vander. No Jinx.
The two exit out of the dome and it’s gone.
They fly over the top and Vi can see the remains of the battle that took place up here. She sees one localised area and what looks like the base of Jayce’s hammer but there is no sign of him.
“Where’s Jayce?” Vi asks, turning her head back to look at Ekko. “Viktor?”
Ekko shakes his head. “I’m not entirely sure. I used the Z-Drive and the blast knocked me out. When I came too, they were both gone.”
Vi isn’t sure what to make of that information. Viktor had tried to save Vander but how much of that version of him had been the man he once was or the beginnings of a corrupted being? Jayce was a good man, he let her keep the gauntlets after all, and he was a good friend of Cait’s. If they were gone, she hoped for their return soon, and if they were gone for good, she hoped they rested easy.
Ekko guided them down to the ground, the main area where most Enforcers and Zaunites located in a bustle of activity. Noxian soldiers were standing off to the side, statue still, with their spears at their sides, surrendered and waiting for orders. Everyone else was lining the fallen onto the courtyard, tending to the wounded and taking them to the hospital in the Enforcer trucks and carriages. The floor was paved with streaks of blood, large pieces of rubble and debris were scattered everywhere, and smoke and dust filled the air.
They hopped off the hoverboard near the docks and Ekko patted her on the shoulder. He nodded his head towards the stairs where Scar was lifting one of the bodies of an Enforcer. Vi gave a nod and the two of them jogged over to help. The moment Scar saw his friend, he smiled in relief, and Ekko gave him a pat on the arm before lifting the legs of the deceased. Vi left them behind, hurrying up the stairs to see if there was any sign of Caitlyn anywhere.
The pit in her stomach was suddenly back in full force. She couldn’t see Cait anywhere. If she had survived she would be here, giving out orders. Her eyes scanned over the numerous bodies but there were too many to tell if she was there. Wild grey eyes scanned the area, her breathing getting erratic, her hands beginning to shake. The bile in her stomach was rising again. Where was Cait? Sevika was dragging the artificial bodies of the hextech followers into a separate pile, Jericho was lifting a large broken part of the building out of the way of a doorway, and Steb was helping a Zaunite hobble over to one of the vehicles. Vi was about to run over to him when she heard a voice call through the dust to her far left.
“I need volunteers to begin making headway to the upper levels and search for survivors. Bodies are to be brought down with the others. Anyone who is injured, please head to the back of the clock tower. Vehicles are waiting to take you to Piltover General.”
The commanding voice of Mel Medarda boomed out for everyone to hear and Vi quickly made her way over to where a group of people were gathering close by to volunteer.
“Mel!” She croaked out, and the dark-skinned, golden-freckled woman turned around with a look of surprise.
“Violet! What happened? Are you alright? Your arm-,”
“Where’s Cait?” Vi implored, begging for answers and hoping to see them written on Mel’s face.
Mel’s line of questions stopped and her eyes widened. “We’ve just loaded her into one of the carriages. She’s on her way to the hospital. If you’re quick, you might be able to catch her.”
Vi was already running. She barely heard Mel’s shout about which vehicle Caitlyn was in as she legged it around the clock tower. She ignored the pathways, running over the ruined gardens, to the lines of multiple Enforcer trucks and public carriages to take the injured away. She didn’t know what Cait’s condition was but whatever it was, she was going to be by her side. Vi looked through the lines of cars and just spotted the vehicle Cait was in as it was beginning to drive away.
“Hey! Wait!” She yelled, running after it.
It must have been pure luck that the Enforcer saw her in the rearview mirror and recognised her enough to see she wasn’t some deranged lunatic, as he slowed down the truck enough for her to catch up. One of the back doors opened and Vi jumped into the enclosed space. It was crowded inside. Three Enforcers sat on the benches, two on the left and one on the right. One had an arrow in their calf with a tourniquet wrapped tightly around their thigh, another had a large bandage wrapped around their head where blood was seeping through on the forehead, and the third had a broken leg if the odd angle it rested at was anything to go by. Despite all their injuries, all of their focus was on the person lying flat in the footwell between them and keeping them alive.
Caitlyn lay, fading in and out of consciousness, on the floor of the truck. Blood seeped from an open stab wound on her side and Vi felt her heart drop at the sight. Her eyes took in the rest of her and she couldn’t stop the gasp when she saw Caitlyn’s bleeding eye.
“Archer, Lawson, keep firm pressure on that wound!” Barked a tall ginger-haired woman, and Vi vaguely recognised her as one of Jinx’s guards. The Enforcers nodded their heads, pressing further down on Cait’s stab wound, making her groan slightly. The taller woman was doing the same, as best as she could, over Caitlyn’s eye.
“Cait…” Vi whispered, and the ginger-haired Enforcer glanced up at her.
“She was asking for you. Here, take a seat, and hold her hand. Try and keep her conscious,” she said, and Vi nodded mutely, moving to sit on the bench next to her. She reached down her hand to grasp Cait’s cold nimble fingers. She couldn’t believe what she was seeing. How did this happen? She cursed herself wishing she had been there to help, but she knew it would have been impossible given what had happened during the battle. Losing Jinx and Vander was crushing her but if she lost Cait too…
“Cupcake?” She started, tentatively. “It’s me, it’s Vi. You better stay with me now because if you leave me with all this bullshit to deal with then I will kick your ass.”
She isn’t sure what to expect but her plummeted heart does lift ever so slightly seeing a faint wry grin appear on Caitlyn’s lips.
“Can’t…have…that now…can we?” She murmured, a beautiful blue eye opening an inch to look at her.
Vi smiled, watery, tears brimming her eyes again. “Yeah, well, I hate cleaning up. Just keep holding my hand. We’ll be at the hospital soon.”
Caitlyn closes her eye and hums through a groan. “Vi…I…can’t…”
Her face contorts with a wince, and Vi gently squeezes her hand, worry filling her. “It’s alright. I’m with you, Cupcake. Just take it easy.”
Vi watches as Caitlyn takes a few steady breaths, seemingly doing as she’s told. Even though she doesn’t say anything else for the rest of the short journey, her blue eye barely opens now and then focused entirely on Vi. The pink-haired brawler continues to gently hold her hand, running her fingers over the soft skin. She keeps her exterior calm, she has to for Caitlyn’s sake, but her mind is running rampant with so many different thoughts and fears. Don’t leave me, don’t leave me, don’t leave me. I’m not strong enough for that.
“It’ll be okay, Cait, it’ll be okay,” she says, unsure who she’s trying to reassure.
The whole drive takes close to ten minutes and when the truck pulls to a stop, the back double doors are immediately opened and doctors and nurses are waiting with a stretcher. Vi knows she needs to get out first so she’s quick to press a kiss on Caitlyn’s hand.
“I’ll be right with you,” she promises, and Caitlyn faintly nods her head.
Placing Cait’s hand down by her side, Vi quickly gets out of the vehicle and the other three Enforcers follow suit, the two helping the one with the broken leg out. Once the truck is clear the emergency response team are quick to lift Caitlyn onto the stretcher and Vi has to fight her instinct to punch one of them when they move her in a way that makes her yell out. The doors of the truck are slammed shut and it takes off back in the direction of the battle. Vi hurries alongside the hospital staff as they rush through the large doors of the hospital and the corridors to the ward that read surgery on the lit-up board above.
“Miss, you’ll have to wait here,” one of the nurses informs, holding a hand up to stop Vi from going past the doors.
Vi stops, and she watches through the small window on the door as Caitlyn is carted off and out of sight.
-
She finds herself pacing around the waiting room. It’s been a couple of hours and she’s watched more and more people from the fight being brought in. Some of them were on stretchers too, some quiet, some screaming, others walked or limped in and those with serious injuries were guided to the help they needed while the rest of them were told to wait. The waiting room was full of people. Vi keeps walking around the room, she’s probably driving numerous people insane, but she couldn’t give a flying fuck what they thought.
It’s nearing the third hour when she spots a familiar figure with dark blue hair.
“Mr Kiramman?” She asks, surprised to see him here.
Caitlyn’s father looks up around and his features turn to recognition at the sight of her. He looked more presentable from the last time she had seen him, closer to how he was when she first met him, but the beard was slightly longer and completely grey. Slowly, he made his way over to her.
“Miss Vi,” he greets.
Vi grimaces at the word miss. “Just Vi, please. What are you doing here? Do you know Caitlyn is in surgery?”
Tobias nods, the firm face softening slightly. “I’m aware. I was already here when she was brought in. I offered, along with many others, to volunteer to keep an eye on patients unable to be evacuated to ease the workload on the staff for the many who would be brought in today. I checked with a doctor and they told me Caitlyn is still in surgery. It could still be a few more hours. She…”
He struggles to find the words, his dark eyes shimmering. “She’s a tough girl, just like her mother.”
Vi nods her head, unsure what to say. Tobias clears his throat, quickly bringing his thumb and finger up to pinch at his eyes and wipe away the beginning of tears. He takes a deep breath, drying his fingers on his trousers and casts a scrutinising gaze over Vi. She isn’t sure what he’s looking for but she holds his stare. Eventually, he lets out a heavy sigh.
“Are you and my daughter friends again?”
Vi’s mind flashes to her and Caitlyn’s time in the cell yesterday and she has to fight herself mentally for her face not to flush.
“Umm, yeah. We are,” she answers, lamely.
His eyes narrow ever so slightly. Vi winces because if Tobias is half as intuitive as his daughter then she knows he’s probably figured out there’s something more to them now.
Eventually, he nods, accepting. “The doctor told me that Caitlyn was calling for you before she went under. It’s nice to know she was thinking of a friend.”
Vi doesn’t know what to do with that information but her heart clenches thinking of Caitlyn alone, calling out to her, and being unable to be with her.
Tobias moves his gaze further down and frowns, looking back up at Vi. “Has anyone come to check your arm yet?”
Vi glances down at her arm, swollen and bruised, resting against her chest. “No, not yet.”
He nods his head. “Why don’t you come with me? I can get a doctor to x-ray it for you.”
Vi lets out a sigh, reluctantly nodding her head. She wants to wait and be there when Caitlyn is out of surgery but if it’s still going to be a while then she might as well get bandaged up. She’s thankful to Tobias for wanting to help her out. She didn’t think the man liked her but Vi guesses given the circumstances, as he can’t look after his daughter, he’s taking care of his daughter's friend. Girlfriend? Lover? Tobias takes her to the radiology department and hands her over to the care of Doctor Dargoon to get her arm fixed up.
“I will find you when there’s news on Caitlyn,” says Tobias, and Vi thanks him.
It takes roughly an hour for the doctor to get the x-ray done, to tell her she has a fracture, and to get her arm set in a cast and resting in a sling. He also cleans and bandages up some of the cuts on her face.
When everything is finished up, Vi heads back to the waiting room and paces.
-
Five hours, sixteen minutes, and twenty-three seconds.
That’s how long it took since they arrived at the hospital for Tobias to enter the busy waiting room again. Vi was still roaming around the room, unable to sit still, and she headed over to him when she noticed him approaching.
Tobias gives her a small relieved smile. “Caitlyn is out of surgery and is doing well. If you would like to follow me I’ll take you to her recovery room.”
Vi nods, eagerly, following Caitlyn’s father. They head to a quieter portion of the hospital apart from the beeps of machines and voices speaking softly. Arriving at one of the many rooms she’s led inside the sterile, warmly lit room. There’s a large window facing them with the blinds closed shutting out the night sky, a couple of chairs sit on either side of a small circular table underneath the windowsill, and there’s an open door leading into a small bathroom. In the middle of the room is a large bed and Caitlyn rests upon it, blankets covering her, and a nurse stands on the further side checking over her vitals.
As Vi approaches she can see an IV drip connected to the back of her hand, and a few more tubes connected somewhere under the blanket, the two small cuts on her forehead and cheek were stitched up, but the biggest gut punch was the dressing covering her left eye.
Vi looks over at Tobias standing beside her, looking heartbroken. “D-did they remove it? It couldn’t be saved?”
He shakes his head. “There was too much damage and nothing could have been done to save it. The surgery on her stomach was more extensive as the blade had pierced her large intestine. The doctors said they’ll keep checking on her each hour until she wakes up.”
Vi nods, crestfallen. She moves to the side of the bed and her hand reaches up to brush a few strands of dark blue hair off her forehead. Caitlyn looks peaceful as she sleeps, paler than usual, but her chest slowly rises and falls and the relief causes Vi’s lip to wobble and her eyes to burn with unshed tears. Tobias stands on the other side of the bed and takes Caitlyn’s hand in his own.
Vi pulls a chair over for Tobias to sit on and drags the second one over to the other side. Finally, she sits down.
She holds Caitlyn’s other hand, her thumb stroking across the smooth skin, silently hoping for her to wake up soon.
Tobias and Vi don’t say anything to each other, just watch and wait.
It doesn’t take long for the exhaustion of the day to catch up with her and she soon falls asleep with her head resting on the bed.
Her dreams show the familiar faces of her family and distorted memories of the battle between moments of darkness. She’s dreaming of herself as a child, wrapped up in her mother’s embrace, a hand running through her short pink spikes when it starts to feel too real. Her mother's watch should be ticking near her ear but instead, it’s a steady beep, the dream seems a bit too bright, and her eyes start to open.
Immediately she’s hit with a beam of sunlight shining into her eyes and she closes her eyes against it, annoyed at the rude awakening from the sun. The beeping doesn’t stop and she slowly realises it’s the sound of Caitlyn’s heart monitor. She feels a hand playing with her hair, nails lightly flicking through the shaved portion before threading their fingers through longer locks. Vi frowns, unsure of what is going on. Her mind hadn’t caught up until a few seconds later when the memories of yesterday came rushing back.
She gasps and sits up, the hand disappearing, as Vi turns and spots Caitlyn lying slightly propped up in the bed watching her with a tired smile.
“Cait!” She breathes, smiling back, overjoyed to see her awake. She moves closer and gently presses her forehead against Caitlyn’s. Caitlyn brings her hands up and cups the sides of Vi’s face, comforted by Vi’s warm skin beneath her fingers.
“Violet,” she murmurs, her voice a little croaky. She smiles back, brushing the long strand of pink hair out of Vi’s face.
“How long have you been awake?” Vi asks, pressing a quick kiss to Cait’s lips. Caitlyn kisses her back, light and soft.
“Just over an hour. My father was here and we talked but he had to go back and watch over the other patients,” she explains. Her eye searches Vi’s face, checking each cut and bruise, and glances down at her cast.
“Your arm,” she says, concerned, reaching out to run her hand along the cast.
Vi laughs, breathy and ludicrously. “You’re worried about my arm?”
Caitlyn blinks. “Well yes, what happened to it?”
Vi just shakes her head. “Never mind me, what about you?”
She leans back, bringing her hand up to cup the left side of Caitlyn’s face, her thumb just brushing under the bandage. “Your eye…”
Caitlyn slowly lowers her gaze, taking a deep breath. “It was worth it,” she nods, factual, blinking back tears. Vi shifts to sit on the edge of the bed, being mindful of the wires, and takes Caitlyn’s slender hand in her rougher one, entwining their fingers.
“It’s okay to be upset,” she assures, knowing how much of a loss it is for Cait.
Caitlyn meets her eyes, a watery smile on her lips. “I know,” she says, softly. “I am. I don’t believe it’s quite sunk in yet. The cost was worth the price. We stopped Ambessa.”
“Can you tell me what happened?” Vi asks, gently.
Caitlyn nods and describes the sequence of events that happened in order. Vi sits, listening patiently, fighting the different emotions that arise. She can’t help the initial reaction of blind rage hearing about Maddie Nolen by tightly squeezing Caitlyn’s hand on accident. Caitlyn pauses to run a reassuring and calming hand through her hair and rests it on Vi’s cheek. Vi leans into it, taking some steadying breaths, until she’s ready to hear the rest of it. It doesn’t get easier to hear about how close it came to Caitlyn dying. Vi vows to get Mel the biggest bouquet she can find. Caitlyn finishes telling her side of things and Vi is quiet for a moment, thinking how incredible Caitlyn is to remove a goddamn knife from herself to cut away the runes on Ambessa’s weapon and lose an eye in the process.
“I can’t believe that traitorous bitch,” she growls out.
Caitlyn tilts her head, sheepish. “Talk about your bad exes.”
Vi’s eyes widened, remembering what Cait had told her yesterday. “Wait, Maddie was who you were seeing?”
Caitlyn looks uncomfortable and gives a small shrug. “It was on and off. I wasn’t wholly into her and now I know she was using me for Ambessa’s sake.”
Vi takes in that bit of information, rather surprised, but she ends up with a small smirk. “No offence, Cupcake, but you could have done way better.”
She expects Cait to roll her eyes, but Caitlyn holds her gaze, squeezing her hand, and smiles softly.
“Well, I certainly am now,” she says, with complete and utter sincerity.
Vi feels Caitlyn urging her closer with the hand on her cheek and she leans forward, meeting Caitlyn in the middle and kissing her. She wants Caitlyn to know how much she cares for her, how much she’s fallen head over heels for her, how much she’s been worried about her, and how much she wants to be by her side so nothing like this ever happens again. The heart monitor starts to beep a little quicker and they pull apart with small chuckles. The beeps slow down as they remain close to each other, Vi not wanting to move further back from Cait.
Caitlyn shifts a little on the bed, looking a bit nervous. “Vi…I… I need to tell you something,” she admits, eyes downcast. “When Maddie was about to execute me…I was so sure that that would be it, that I was about to die.” Vi watches her throat move as she gulps and her blue eye begins to water. “All I could think of was you,” she admits, a tear trailing down her cheek. “I was terrified to leave you without letting you know how much you mean to me.”
Tears were flowing quickly now and alarmed at how upset Caitlyn was getting, Vi instantly wrapped her arm around Caitlyn and brought her in for a comforting hug.
“I know, Cupcake, I know. It’s okay, I’m here,” she promises, pressing a kiss onto the side of Cait’s head. Caitlyn buries her face into Vi’s shoulder and sobs, her hands clutching the back of Vi’s top, letting it all out. Vi ran her hand up and down along Caitlyn’s back, reassuring and present, doing her best to let her know she was there.
After a good while Caitlyn moves away from her shoulder and Vi inches back slightly too.
“Would you mind passing me a tissue?” Caitlyn asks, sniffing.
Vi nods, getting up to grab the box of tissues from the small table and returning them to Caitlyn. She takes one out of the box, gently blows her nose and dries her eyes. When she finishes, she looks a little embarrassed but Vi cups her cheek, leans forward and presses their foreheads together.
She takes a deep, shaky breath. “I feel it too, Cupcake.”
Caitlyn smiles, leaning in to kiss her once more.
When they pull apart Caitlyn palms Vi’s cheek. “Will you tell me what happened? I can see there’s something you don’t want to say. What happened up there, Violet?”
Vi’s breath quickens, thinking back to Jinx and Vander, and she pulls away from Caitlyn. The nauseating pit in her stomach returns and the room starts to feel like it is closing in. There’s a ringing in her ears and she can’t get a full breath in.
“-breathe, Vi, deep breaths.”
Caitlyn's voice breaks through the ringing and Vi forces herself to take several deep breaths and her anxiety begins to ease with time. Caitlyn is rubbing Vi’s arm, and keeping eye contact, taking breaths with her.
“I lost them,” Vi croaks, and she tells Caitlyn what occurred at the top of the Hexgates. Caitlyn listens, patient as Vi struggles to get out the words sometimes, and by the time she’s finished, she wants to throw up. She wipes at her sore eyes and faces the ground. “They’re gone, Cait.”
Caitlyn shakes her head. “I’ll get Mel to get a search and rescue team up there as soon as possible. Maybe there’s-,”
Vi’s face shoots up to look at her. “Cait, please, I can’t,” she shakes her head, gripping her hair. “I can’t bear the thought of a possibility of hope. I hoped I would find my sister after I got out of Stillwater and she wasn’t who I thought she would be. I hoped we could save Vander and it ended in disaster. Please don’t give hope because I can’t take it if everything goes wrong. Not anymore.”
Caitlyn doesn’t say anything for a while, Vi doesn’t know what she’s thinking, but there’s probably a million thoughts running through her head. It wouldn’t surprise her if Caitlyn got a search and rescue team up there immediately. She knows there would have to be at some point so they could start fixing the damage or deconstructing the building. Vi doesn’t want to know what they’ll find. She knows in her heart that her sister and father are gone.
“Okay.”
Vi lifts her head, meeting Caitlyn’s gaze. Yeah, Vi can tell that Caitlyn will get someone to look, she wouldn’t leave unanswered questions behind, but she appreciates that Caitlyn isn’t pressing her on it.
“Thank you,” she says, sitting up straight.
Vi isn’t sure what’s to come now that the storm has passed but she knows there’s going to be a lot of recovery, sleepless nights, long talks, mourning, and change. She also knows that with Caitlyn by her side, she could get through this.
She wasn’t going anywhere.