Chapter Text
Chapter One
-X- -X-
Not for the first time did Vi regret sneaking down to the undercity – figuring out where the firelights were based hadn’t been an enormous challenge after her previous visit, even with the blindfold, and she’d figured she would just be fast and check on things – make sure little man was alright, ask about Jinx and then hopefully sneak out before anyone else could notice her. She hadn’t expected to be dragged into his hunt for salvation or whatever and as she followed the three men of science down into the vault she had to wonder just what she was even doing here. Vi wasn’t an inventor, wasn’t a scientist or some genius creative type. You need an ass beat then she’s your gal, spontaneous violence or maybe a distraction? Sure.
The point being she wasn’t the technical type. Of course her worst skill had to be her ability to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, however, and apparently that was enough to make up for her complete lack of scientific knowledge. Case in point. “I still don’t know why you need me here.” She grumbled, absently stretching out her tight shoulders as she followed the ‘man of progress’ and his fellow councillor. “What’s the point? I could be out there right now, doing something. Stopping Jinx!”
The argument worked well with Caitlyn but apparently Jayce was a little different. Since the council building had been bombed her girlfriend had become obsessed with stopping Pow- Jinx from hurting anyone else – apparently the other councillors didn’t care so much though, and didn’t it just figure that the people in power up in the city of progress wouldn’t give a shit about even the people they worked with? “You’ve been exposed to Hextech since it was first weaponized.” Jayce sighed, like the act of explaining himself was beneath him or something. “And sometimes you need a child in the room to see what the adults can’t.”
She stopped. “Did you just call me a child?” Her brow twitched as he shrugged, as though the statement were obvious in and of itself and when Ekko smirked back at her she just grunted, marching after them and sparing a second to slap the other boy across the shoulder. If she’d known little man would grow up to become such a brat maybe she’d have given him a few more cuffs around the back of the head when they were younger.
“Well, you are one of the youngest people here.” Heimerdinger chirped, as though they could all expect to live to a thousand or whatever like he had.
Ekko chuckled, the sound tense despite his apparent levity. “And mentally speaking you’re definitely the youngest.” He offered up, running a hand through his white dreads as he sped up to match her gait. “Keep up kid.” He murmured, casually dodging the second playful bat of her hand and Vi found her lips twitching upward.
“Brat.” She whispered back. Both jolted when Jayce Talis came to a halt and she clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth when she realized they’d stumbled into an elevator without her even noticing. “So your big invention’s down here huh?”
“Be honoured, not many people have seen this.” Jayce huffed, frowning when she merely offered a lackadaisical shrug of her shoulders in return. As he turned back to the other councillor she tried to let herself relax a little.
With a sudden judder that she could swear sent up a plume of dust the elevator began to descend. And descend. And descend. “Jeez,” Little man piped up, roaming over the myriad pipes and channels curved into the gold-on-white walls and just this once Vi kept her contempt in her head. “We must be at least two hundred feet below the surface.”
Jayce hummed. “The entire structure is a channel, focusing the Hextech energy into a precise beam.”
“Hm.” The words must have meant something to Ekko as he fell silent, attention fully on the outside of the elevator and when they finally arrived at a tunnel she quietly released a deep breath. After years of being confined to a cell she wasn’t exactly fond of being in tight, enclosed spaces.
As the doors swung open they continued on and yet even as Ekko began to speak she could hardly hear his words, mind instead wandering. They were supposed to be chasing up a tip on Jinx today, finding the loose cannon and putting her down for good and yet here she was, stuck at the whimsy of this silver spoon fed prick even as cupcake and their motley group of idiots tried to hunt down a threat they were nowhere near ready for.
She’d tried to tell Caitlyn before that the others were holding them back, that they’d be faster and find her quicker without them but she’d refused to listen and now she was probably out there, chasing shadows while Jinx remained at large.
She refused to acknowledge the part of her that hoped, desperately, that today wasn’t the day she lost her sister for good.
“These are the same utility ducts that carry our water!” Ekko’s voice raised, pulling her back to the present and she winced as his words registered. Had they been living with this thing right next to them the whole time, was that what he was saying? “And facilitate our ventilation!”
The reminder of the undercity’s air crisis earned another wince and she turned away from the argument between the two, instead taking in the strange domed structure in front of her. Even at a glance she could see its importance and yet for once it wasn’t inlaid with gold and there was nary a speck of white to be found. The thing lit up. “Uh, guys?” She pointed, turning her gaze back to the arguing pair.
“Inconceivable.” Heimerdinger murmured and she swallowed nervously. So it wasn’t just her worrying over nothing then, this definitely wasn’t supposed to happen.
“Guys!” Before she could utter another word the thing pulsed, a strange reverberation that sent a tingle through her teeth and set her hair on end and then-
White.
“What the…?” Jayce’s words echoed across the expanse of the void they’d suddenly found themselves in and she grit her teeth. If he’d just managed to trap them in this place forever she was gonna kill him, man of progress or no.
Another pulse. A cold chill ran down her spine and she moved in sync with Ekko, years of living on the edge warning her to turn, to fight or to run. “Is that a wild rune?” Ekko spoke, clearly referencing something he’d talked with Talis about prior and she grimaced as she saw the man’s face, frozen in disbelief.
Perhaps it was the years of dealing with mouthy idiots or maybe she just had an innate sense of knowing just when someone had fucked up; either way somehow she knew the words that would leave his mouth before he even moved his lips. “I have no idea what that is.” He spoke and immediately she regretted leaving her gauntlets behind.
The thing pulsed again and suddenly there was colour, like a million lights reflected in a thousand windows and all she knew was she had to move now.
A desperate gasp escaped as she flung herself away and she could see Ekko try to do the same, fingers outstretched as he slowed and a spike of something shot between them, bouncing and juddering as it sparked and echoed and- Vi opened her eyes. Dry lips fell shut as she heard the remnants of her parting gasp fade into the air and she immediately fell to her knees, heaving as she threw up whatever she’d drank last night. “What the hell?” She rasped, forcing herself up.
Her vision was blurry at first but slowly things came into focus, becoming clearer by the second. Vibrant pink-and-red hues covered the rusted metal she’d landed on, a console and rusted pipes framed by dilapidated railings and winding tubes.
“Vi?” She jerked, narrowing in on the pale, freckled face (purple irises, like the shimmer that stole Vander, liquid poison-) gazing across the landing, framed by choppy blue strands-
“JINX!” Vi shot to her feet, stumbling towards her sister and when she spied Ekko’s downed form cradled within the girl’s waifish arms her ire only grew. “GET AWAY FROM HIM! HAVEN’T YOU RUINED ENOUGH!?”
Jinx stared back, something sparking behind her eyes as her lips trembled and Vi didn’t wait for whatever mocking rhetoric she might spew (-“Here’s to the new us, sis.”) as she rocketed forward, slamming her fist home against Pow- Jinx’s cheek and knocking her away from Ekko in the process.
She didn’t wait as she went after her, movements almost rote after years of repetition and again and again she struck, heavy blows landing wherever she can get – a glancing blow against her cheek, a vicious strike across the temple and when Jinx fell back with a stifled gasp Vi immediately made to follow, hand curling around the girl’s throat as she hammered her torso with a punch and went for the face again. “Damn you!” She hissed between clenched teeth, vision blurring as she finally paused, fist raised overhead.
Ragged, choked sobs escaped her sister’s battered form as she waited for the next blow that wouldn’t come (“VIOLET!”) and slowly the haze of red that had come over her began to lift. Her breathing was fast, heart racing in her chest as she hovered over Jinx (Powder?) and slowly the girl below her opened her eyes.
“Get off her!” She didn’t resist as little man grabbed her, letting herself get thrown aside as she numbly met blue irises and she couldn’t move, could barely even breath as Powder struggled to her feet. “Powder, shit, lemme-”
Whatever Ekko had planned on doing didn’t seem to matter to her sister as Powder flung herself forward and Vi tensed, tears gathering as she waited to be disappointed again. “Vi!” A warbling cry, thin arms sliding around her wide shoulders and something warm and soft swelled in her chest as her sister- her sister burrowed into her shirt, wild locks tickling the underside of her chin.
“Powder?” She finally gasped after a few seconds of enduring the girl’s hold and there was still so much she needed to say, to do, she couldn’t just forgive her after everything she’d done, the world didn’t work like that but- “Powder!”
Even if she had wanted to she couldn’t have stopped herself as her arms slid around her sister’s waist, clenching her tight as she took her in and for a brief moment the past ceased to exist, years of prison and weeks of searching and suffering falling away as she took in the familiar scent of oil and ash. “P-Powder, she-” “It’s fine!” Her sister, her Powder, gasped as she pulled away, knees resting against Vi’s stomach as she leaned against her shoulder. “Ekko, go get Vander, now!”
“Vander?” The name fell from her lips and her slack form began to tense. “Is- is this some sort of sick trick? Some cruel joke? You-”
Ekko’s face twisted into a glare as he made to step towards them and Powder hurriedly shook her head, loose bangs brushing against Vi’s nose in a way they hadn’t since they were kids. The smell of that one fruit Vander used to import scratched at her senses and the familiarity hit her like a jab to the stomach. What was this? Some horrible nightmare or-
A dream?
Abruptly the void flitted through her mind, an endless expanse of white inhabited only by that strange pulsing thing taking up space and slowly she fell back, supporting both her and Powder’s combined weight with her arms. “This is a dream, isn’t it?” She murmured.
Her sister stilled, something clearly hovering on the tip of her tongue before, with a growl, she spun to look at little man. “Go, now!” She commanded him and when Ekko hesitated she sat up, wincing in a way that made guilt surge through her. “Trust me, please?”
With a strangled yell Ekko spun, turning on his heel as he ran. “Fine!”
Wasn’t it funny? Even after years her mind could still summon up that one look Powder always used to get her way and despite the circumstance she couldn’t help the small chuckle that escaped, rumbling in her chest beneath her sister’s warmth. “Vi-”
“I miss you so much.” She confessed, sliding against Powder’s slight figure and soaking in as much of her as she could. “Even after everything I guess I still…”
Powder stared, silent as she shook and finally Vi felt her slowly sink against her, practically melting into her embrace as she buried her face in Vi’s chest. “I’ve dreamed about this so much.” She mumbled and even though it wasn’t real she tried to savour every word, licking dry lips as she drank in the sight of the other girl.
Short blue hair, choppy and dyed with traces of pink, a pair of hoops around one of the girl’s ears and when she finally looked up Vi took in the freckles littering her high cheeks, the worried furrow of her brow and the pout of her lips. As a kid Powder had always had that look to her, that constant worry lurking behind every glance and frown as though she were afraid that no matter what she did it wouldn’t be good enough.
“After you died…” Powder paused, looking away. “I blamed myself. Oh sure, I’d say that the guy shouldn’t have had those gems, that little man gave us the tip, but I knew the truth. If it weren’t for me you’d still be alive.”
“I am alive, Pow.” Even as she knew the girl was merely a figment of her overactive imagination she still tried to console her, reaching down to brush the girl’s bruising cheek with the pad of her thumb and Powder tensed, biting her lower lip as she leaned into the touch just like she had when they were kids. “It was never your fault, any of it.”
Powder trembled, tears at the corners of her eyes and Vi swallowed as she spied a hint of red beading above her sister’s lips. “I wish I could believe that.” Her sister’s voice cracked, a whimper lingering beneath the regret colouring her tone and Vi shuddered, her grasp on the younger girl tightening.
It hurt, seeing her so broken and yet, selfishly, she was so happy that for just a few moments she could pretend that everything wasn’t going terribly, that she had the girl Powder once was back and that things weren’t falling apart.
She knew that she had to move, to wake up and get back to the real world but if she were asked to make a choice, in that moment, she’d definitely have chosen to stay like that forever.
