Chapter Text
"It’s funny when mortals pretend to be gods. Deciding who is needed to save the world, and who will destroy it. Every time humanity takes upon itself the burden of the divine, they miss something in the celestial pattern. Viktor believed that Jayce alone was needed to save the world. That if he was sent back to our main universe to kill Viktor and his commune and destroy the Hexgates, the world would be saved, and humanity would continue. However, as is human nature, Viktor let his affections blind him to reality. Yes, Jayce was needed to save the world, but he was not the only player on the board. He cannot take the reins of salvation alone. There is another who must take up arms, to fight for the future after losing everyone in their past. The bluebird’s wings have been clipped for so long. Her winds smothered and the past, present, and future have been locked into a cage of the oppressors' design. Only through flight and freedom can the world be saved. The prince must free her, or humanity will fall.
Save the bluebird, and you’ll save yourselves."
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Janna floated through past, present, and future searching for those she deemed necessary to save the world.
She flitted through the years, from the founding of Piltover and Zaun to the far future, searching, planning, devising the best possible combinations of people with whom the world could be saved. Satisfied with her decisions, she separated them by years, determining when they should enter her grand design.
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“Oh, you did put that idiot on his ass though, right?” Vander asked, trying to alleviate the tension between himself and Violet. He didn’t like lecturing her, but aggravating Topside in direct violation of the truce he has with Grayson is something he can’t let slide. He doesn’t want to relive another bridge massacre, having to go home with orphans in his arms and the stench of burning flesh clogging his nostrils.
As Vander walked up the stairs out of the kids’ room, he tripped. Not over his feet, not up the steps, but as if the wind itself caused his instability. Falling to his knees with a loud grunt, he, the mighty Hound of the Underground, had tripped.
Yes, he was getting older, greyer, and weighed down by muscle and fat, but he was as spry as he had been in his youth.
Vi had never seen him act this way. She’d seen him break down in tears after the bridge massacre, but that had been the only time he’d shown any sort of weakness. Seeing him fall awoke something in her, a deep well of protectiveness she only reserved for Powder. She ran to him, hands shaking as she got closer and saw him still on his knees.
Vander could only watch as a gust of wind took her too. Vi didn’t trip or fall like he did, instead the wind laid her down softly, as if to avoid harming her in any way. Vander reached out, worrying that if the wind was strong enough to knock him down, the wind must have damaged Vi’s bones and muscles. He grabbed her and felt along her head, neck and spine, but everything felt normal, her breathing steady. It was as if she had fallen asleep.
As his eyes closed and sleep took him, he heard more bodies falling to the ground. Vander worried over his pups, but he knew if Vi was alive, so would they.
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Benzo gathered his booklet, bags, and his metal pipe as he left the shop.
“Little man, I’m heading out to fetch collections. Keep an eye on the shop, and don’t leave until I return.” Benzo yells, hoping Ekko can hear him from his room. Sure, Benzo doesn’t know exactly where Ekko is, but he knows Ekko hasn’t left the store, at least out of any entrances that he knows of. He listened for a reply. That was one of his boy’s strong suits. Always replying immediately, and always on time.
*Crash* “Boy, what happened? What was that noise?”
Silence was his only reply. Benzo doesn’t panic easily, but after promising Inna and Wyeth to look after their kid, he didn’t want to renege on that promise. His body chilled and as he ran up the stairs, a current of air hit him from behind. He fell belly first and as he looked up, a soft light shone upon him as the world fell away.
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Heimerdinger’s lab blazed with blue light and floating objects as Hextech finally worked. Jayce and Viktor had done it. They stabilised the crystal and flew. For the first time in centuries magic returned to the people of Piltover.
“Will you please stop hovering?” Professor Heimerdinger demands. While he is terrified of magic, there is a small part of him, buried deep beneath his age and the trauma that comes from the Rune war that admires his pupils. Jayce and Viktor took the impossible… and made it possible. Magic was achieved through science. The enforcers separate to let Mel enter the room to stand by Heimerdinger.
Suddenly, a bright light, not that of Hextech blue that had heralded in a new age, but that of storming winds roared around the scientists and their onlookers, absconding them.
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“What the hell happened? We were just in the Last Drop, why the fuck were we summoned to wherever this is?” Vi demands. It’s unlike anything the Zaunites have seen before.
Plush couches, what they assume are loveseats, more fruit and clean water than they’ve ever seen in their lifetimes, and corridors to other parts of the “house” they inhabit.
“This must be some Piltie mansion. We should explore, make back all our stolen valuables because Miss Incompetence threw our loot into the Pilt.” Mylo drawled.
Sure, insulting Powder would be a one-way ticket to the Vi punching station, especially in a new environment, but luckily, they’re all too distracted to call him out. Laughing, he searched through the main room and side rooms. Mylo felt strange as he looked around at everything. “Um, there’s nothing here!” He yells out of the doorway to the last room, “No gold, no silver, no jewels. Sure, there are tables, chairs, and beds, but it’s not like we can bring those back to The Last Drop or sell to Benzo.
The winds come out of nowhere, buffeting Mylo back into the main room where Vi, Claggor, Benzo, Ekko, and Vander were trapped, unable to move from where they were sitting.
“Benzo!” Ekko cried out, scared of why the wind was pushing him down and he couldn’t move.
“It’s gonna be okay Ekko, don’t worry.” The big man wrapped his arm around the boy in an effort to calm him down.
The wind coalesced into a woman. Bathed in light, Janna in all her glory appeared. Every Zaunite knows her, and most have prayed to her at one point or another. The Hound and his children are an exception.
When Powder was young, soon after being adopted by Vander, a Janna cultist grabbed her by the braid and dragged her through a crowd, trying to put her on a pedestal to demonstrate Janna hadn't abandoned them, even though the bridge massacre led to such death and destruction.
They had claimed she was the new bluebird. The one that would lead them all to freedom. One started to hold her up as she screamed and begged for her mother and father. The cultist was lucky to survive by the time Vander was done breaking bones. Since then, Janna has been seen as dangerous and a curse on the Hound’s family, not their patron goddess.
“My children, long have I awaited meeting you.”
“Who are you?” Claggor asked. Usually, he would’ve stayed quiet in situations like this, letting his father or sister speak out, but the past day had been too weird for him to stick to normal behaviour.”
"I’ve gone by many titles, given to me by the godly and the heretic. The Shurimans, my home nation, titled me Jan’ahrem, but my children of Zaun, my chosen city, have named me Janna."
“Why should we care? Janna cult nutters have only ever made our lives difficult. They harassed the little lady. She had nightmares for weeks because of your worshippers.” Benzo snarled, using his voice in a way he hadn’t since before the bridge massacre.
"They are not my worshippers. Those heretics have perverted my tenants, corrupted them to fit man-made divisions in Zaun. I am Janna, the guardian of Zaun, not her divider."
She didn't walk nor glide as she made her way through the room. It was strange and yet beautiful to watch. "What you will witness is not your future set in stone, but it is a future. A future we must avoid for if we do not, you will fall."
“Where is Powder? Why didn’t she come with us?” Vi demanded. Vi needed to know she was safe, or at least why she hadn’t been abducted with them. She could hardly bear the thought of abandoning her sister, much less her little sister being alone while her family was in gods know where.
"Don’t worry little one, she is safe. She will be joining us before long. You will reunite once more. Janna moved to address the group, I will return. There is much to be done before we meet again."
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“Is everyone alright?” Mel stood up looking around.
“I’m fine.” Jayce said and went to Viktor, “Viktor?”
Viktor waved him off, but allowed him to help him up, “I’m alright. Just a bit winded it seems.” He straightens his tie as they look around the room. “Professor?”
Heimerdinger shook himself off a bit as he took stock of the room. “I warned you! I warned you what came of messing with magic. I told you magic was dangerous and- “
“Caitlyn!” They started realizing there were other occupants and noticed the Kiramman family and the sheriff of Piltover. Cassandra Kiramman had gone to Caitlyn pulling her into a hug looking her over. “Are you alright? Are you hurt?”
“I’m fine mother.” Caitlyn huffed a bit as she looked around the living room that was a bit bare compared to their usual stuff. “But where are we?”
It looks like a foyer to a mansion, a long hallway leads into what they think is a sitting room, but this is no mansion any of the Piltovans have ever been in.
Before her parents or the sheriff could say anything the wind rushes in, and they all look at the woman who enters.
“Greetings.” She smiled as she noticed the flash of recognition behind Viktor’s eyes. “Some of you may know me, some of you may not, but I know all of you. Jayce Talis, Mel Medarda, Cassandra Kiramman, Caitlyn Kiramman, Cecil B. Heimerdinger, Grayson of Piltover, and Viktor of Zaun.”
She stood tall and proud as they stared at her in fear and in awe. Viktor attempted to kneel, but Janna held up a celestial hand to stop him. “My name is Janna, the wind goddess of Shurima and patron goddess of Zaun.”
“What is Zaun?”
“Why were we summoned?”
“How do we get back?”
“Are other people here?”
Questions flew out of half a dozen mouths. “Let me speak” Janna holds up her hand, silencing them with her divine winds. The air wouldn’t carry their voices. Janna’s hair moved as if she was standing upon a mountain as the winds blew before her, “I have summoned you to witness the fruits of your inaction in the Undercity. While guilt does not lie solely on your shoulders, the conditions for the caging of my bluebird are mostly due to your ignorance.”
She moves closer towards them, “This is why I have summoned you, Councilors Heimerdinger, Kiramman, and Medarda. You three are the most sympathetic to the plight of the Undercity and can change the course of events leading to the caging of my bluebird and the end of the world.” A great sorrow crosses her face as she looks at them.
Embarrassment, fear, shame, pride, and other emotions flit across the various Piltovan faces as Viktor looks upon with disguised smugness. “You will face moments where Piltover’s power is unequal, where the City of Progress lives up to its name, but you will also witness moments that scrape off the veneer of progress and demonstrate the inequality and prejudice ingrained in your society. You need to be prepared to see both sides of the two cities."
Where some tears would be on a normal person, small swirls of typhoons rush down her face. “The futures I will show you are one of majesty and travesty, victory and death, vengeance and love. It is a tale sparked by 200 years of oppression and the fallout of war. I have taken each of you from catalysts and divergence points to show you what your actions will reap and how to go down the golden path I have set. Pay attention to what I will show you lest the future become worse.”
“Now, you are not alone here. There are others who have joined from your time, and you must meet them."
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Silco awoke in a barren room. Clothed only in what he wore during Jinx’s cursed ‘family’ tea party, the winds buffeted him and entered his very soul.
“Where am I? Is this the afterlife? Some hell I’ve been sent to?”
Suddenly the winds stopped. The whiplash from being buffeted by winds to having no wind at all caused him to shake his head, convinced that this must be some hallucination brought upon by the bullets in his chest. Though when he looked down there were no entry wounds. Just a clean vest.
The wind started again, but not to force him around, instead to form a humanoid being. He would recognize that body anywhere. He had prayed to her for as long as he believed in Zaun. Janna, the patron goddess of Zaun.
He would have knelt, but instead was held fast by invisible chains as Janna glided towards him.
“I have been tied up twice in a combined 4 hours. It would be quite pleasant to be free of restraints. It’s not like I can go anywhere.” Silco muttered, both to himself and to Janna.
“You have done great harm to Zaun. Your motivations were noble, desiring freedom for my chosen people, but your methods were inhumane. Selling Shimmer as an addictive substance to finance your own aspirations twisted you, twisted your dream. What is there to rule when your city is that of drug addicts and infighting?”
Silco was immediately angered by her proclamation. “I did what had to be done! You claim to love Zaun so much but where were you when we were choking on the Grey? Where were your winds when Piltover gassed and shot us on the bridge? Where were you when Vander tried to kill me? Piltover had Hextech, a monopoly on violence, and the resources to crush us. Shimmer was our only solution. Vander’s pacifism led to nothing but failure and stagnation. And look at my accomplishments, I achieved Zaun’s independence. We were almost free. We had it all.”
Janna glared at him and moved closer, “But it involved giving up Jinx. Which you couldn’t do. If you were not important to her you would not be here, but I am giving you another lease on life. I will show you the fruits of your labour and what your training and lessons led to. I will warn you, Vander and his clan will be there, so prepare yourself for another reunion.”
Silco stuttered as he looked at her. “Jinx. I can see my daughter again?”
Janna steps up and leans down closely. Her mouth didn’t move but her voice was soft and gentle, like that of a spring breeze yet filled with harshness “Not the way you know her. Be prepared Silco, this is your one chance. Prove to me you can change your ways, or you will not return to Runeterra. I am not known for giving mercy twice.”
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Sevika tromped into her apartment. Another day of arguing, appeasing, and no small amount of implied violence directed towards her fellow councilors. She might have been loyal to the dream, but there were times, like today, where she wished someone else had taken the seat. Sure, the options were ‘Ms. Fuck the Police’ or the idealist ‘Boy Saviour’, but between the three of them they could share the load.
Sevika took her boots off, slid into her slippers and walked to a cabinet containing her special cigars. Say what you will about Silco, but he had good tastes in whiskey and cigars. The day was exhausting, but the control of the Kiramman vents was finally handed over to Zaun. Even a small victory such as this deserved celebration.
As she lit up a cigar to relax, the smoke solidified into a person. A few months ago, this would have been a shock, but after the clusterfuck with Viktor, nothing magical surprised her.
“Sure, a magic smoke person coming out of my cigar. What do you want?”
A breathy laugh floats from the cigar as the smoke finally coalesces into a human. “Is that anyway to treat your benefactor?”
“You’re Janna, aren’t you? Fuck, I knew Viktor’s bullshit would cause some weird things to happen, but I was hoping it would happen after my death or retirement, not right now.”
For the fourth time, Janna made her declaration.
“I’m aware Jinx gets on your nerves and that you have a contentious relationship at times, but you are loyal to the dream. You’ve followed every harbinger of freedom, from Vander, to Silco, to Jinx, to yourself. I am summoning you because, while she’ll never say it out loud, Jinx needs you. Every time she’s gone astray, every time the bluebird has been lost you have guided her home. You will not be alone, you will see those long deceased, one who has died prematurely, and those who still live. I entrust you, Sevika of Zaun, to keep the peace when bonds fracture and conversations devolve. Not everyone will recognize you, and a few are from an earlier time in this universe. Do not hold future actions against those who are from the past. There will be another from your time. I do not ask you to guard her, but she will not know of what she speaks. Ensure she doesn’t until enough time has passed.”
Sevika grunted, “Same shit different day? Had to keep the peace under Vander, Silco, Jinx, the damned Councilors, and now wherever the fuck you’re taking me to. There better be a damn reward at the end of this.”
“There will be no material reward, but your family will be made whole.”
“Please tell me this mystery person isn’t who I think it is.”
Janna laughed, not the breathy sound from before but a richer, more human laugh. “I’m sorry Sevika, but it is.”
Sevika moaned “Do you have to bring her here? I know she and Jinx were friends and that her presence helped with Zaun’s legitimization on the international scale, but she doesn’t know Jinx that well.”
Janna answered her not with words, but with a thunderclap. A blonde thorn in Sevika’s side landed in a heap next to her.
“Luxanna Crownguard, I was hesitant to bring you here. You are important to my Bluebird, and have been a good friend to her, Sevika, and Isha but you are neither of Piltover or Zaun. You are unaware of the hundreds of years of oppression. You know some, what you learned from the queen of Zaun is passable, but you do not know enough. Saying that, you have been a valuable friend and ally in legitimising Zaun. I will give you access to the Bluebirds memories. I give you two commands. For the first part of your collective meeting, you will listen and learn. You can comment on what you see, but as you do not have the history everyone else has, there is much for you to understand. My second command applies to both of you. Do not speak of the future. You may speak of some things, like how you know Jinx and the others in the room, but you may not speak of events that haven’t transpired in the year 200 after the founding of Piltover and Zaun. Now, I will take you away from here to join the rest of those who must witness our bluebird’s journey.”
And with that the winds shifted once more.