Chapter Text
Caitlyn held her breath as the lift descends down to the bunker keys in hand for Jinx’s cell. The moment she had sent the guards away after telling Vi exactly where to find her sister she knew it wouldn’t be long before Vi let her go. It was why she had waited to send them away until after she had spoken with Jinx, she trusted Vi and her judgement; But she also wanted to see it for herself. She hadn’t been disappointed in her faith in Vi, it was almost shocking how similar they were. Like two sides to the same coin, it had nearly caused her knees to buckle when the realization hit her. Staggered her with the weight of her actions these past few months, she had become everything she hated and wanted to fight against. Just as Jinx had done the same. Now all the both of them could do was strive to make things better.
The moment Jinx was behind those bars she had thought she would feel relieved, vindicated, justified. Instead, she felt empty. She hated herself as much as she hated Jinx. She had hurt the only woman she had ever truly cared about, all while blinded by grief and rage. She had to let it go; she might never be able to forgive Jinx for her actions but she cares about Vi more. So she made it easy, gave Vi the choice and the chance to have her family back. To try and bring back the smile she had seen on her face before everything had gone to shit again. Even if it could mean that she would never see it again.
There were a few ways this situation could play out. She could come down the hall and find both Vi and Jinx together and talking, which is unlikely but she can hope. She could come down the hall and find the cell empty with the sisters disappearing into the Undercity with Caitlyn never knowing where they went. That one would hurt but she would accept it, take comfort in the knowledge that Vi is happy. Or Jinx may have left and Vi stayed, which could also have a variety of reasons for this outcome.
As the lift comes to a halt and the doors open, Caitlyn takes a deep breath. Steeling herself for whatever awaits her at the end of the hall, a quick glance at the guard’s desk shows that the keys are missing and she already knew Vi wasn’t in the manor having watched her leave before her immediate summons to the council room. She had even dallied after the meeting and dismissed Maddie to her duties to give Vi more than enough time to do whatever she needed to do down here. Caitlyn squeezes her eyes shut, bracing herself for what is about to occur before making her way down the hall.
Her heart cracks in two the minute the cell comes into view. The keys are hanging from the lock; The door is open. The cell is empty.
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She hadn’t wanted to believe that Vi would run from a fight but she can’t blame her for doing it. Vi had fought more than enough in her life, she deserved peace now. Caitlyn only hopes that her and Jinx had gotten out of the Undercity and ran far incase they failed to repel Noxus and Viktor. She takes a deep breath before canon fire goes off shaking the ground beneath her feet. She can’t focus on Vi right now, she can wallow in her heartbreak later. Right now, what is most important is preventing the fall of Piltover. She had asked Jayce to fix Vi’s gauntlets had even placed them nearby the fighting, the hexgems safely stowed in the pouch on her leg ready to hand over to Vi, in case she showed up. Caitlyn still held hope that maybe Jinx and Vi would show up and help. Even if it was unlikely, at this point all she had was hope and Loris seemed certain Vi would show up.
She adjusts her scope as she takes aim, finally having Ambessa in her sights before taking a breath in slowing her heart down and finally firing. The shot is perfect, but green energy engulfs her absorbing the hextech and Caitlyn tsk’s in mild annoyance but reloads and fires a second shot regardless hoping to break through. A third follows quickly after before she is pulling back as a canon is aimed up at her location and she begins making her way to a different location, Maddie on her heels. A new crack in the wall allows her to detach her scope and look out, seeing the orb Viktor is contained in being dragged by shimmered up Noxians. A gasp leaves her lips as she nods to Maddie quickly moving off to join the ground forces for backup, they just have to buy Jayce enough time to shut the hex gates down. If he can get it shut down maybe they can stop this.
The ground force moves efficiently through the rubble, Maddie having handed off the bomb she was carrying, so they could maybe stop this themselves, to the person who was going to be in charge of delivering it to its final destination. The rest of their objective was to get them to Viktor, the teams put on their masks before the flares full of grey are unloaded into the Noxian forces. Providing a smoke screen and providing them an advantage all in one. All of them go charging in, repelling them as Caitlyn puts all her training with Ambessa to good use dispatching Noxian after Noxian. She watches as Steb grabs the bomb placing it on the shell and nods to her. She pulls the body of the dead Noxian she is holding onto over her and braces waiting for the explosion but it doesn’t come. She is so surprised by the lack of explosion she can’t react to the person behind her as a blow is delivered to the back of her head. She briefly makes out a blurry figure in a gas mask with her fading vision before another blow hits and she is knocked unconscious.
Shrill ringing brings her back from unconsciousness as she is shoved to her knees, a quick look around and she can see the rest of her team across the courtyard from her similarly on their knees in front of Noxian crossbows. They had lost. Caitlyn gasps as she tries to bring in clean air to her lungs to purge the lingering Grey from them as she hears Ambessa and her army make their way up the steps towards the hex gates. A quick glance over her shoulder makes her want to throw up, seeing who is aiming her gun at her. Fucking traitor. She knew something was off with Maddie but had ignored it, thinking Maddie was just overly infatuated with her and the offness was due to Caitlyn’s self-loathing of trying to fill the hole Vi had left in her heart. As Ambessa comes towards them, Maddie lowers the gun to salute her with a fist to her chest that Caitlyn had always hated. Ambessa places a hand on her shoulder looking proudly at her before Maddie hands over her gun to Ambessa who smirks smugly while Maddie pulls out her own rifle. Aiming it back to the back of her head.
With almost no effort, Caitlyn watches Ambessa walk away while disassembling her gun making it hard for her to even grab it and quickly shoot. She would have to come up with a different solution and quickly if she wanted to end this war pig where she stood.
“I warned you of the hazards of professional entanglement.” Ambessa gloats and Caitlyn wants to wipe that smirk from her face as she removes her mask taking a deep breath in victory.
Caitlyn moves, dodging to the side and grabbing the end of Maddie’s rifle as it goes off missing her entirely. She shoves back hitting her in the nose with the butt of it before smoothing yanking it from her grasp in her surprise. A yank down reloads it as she immediately brings it up ready to fire, only to have Ambessa grab the end of the barrel moving it away while she fires and stepping into her. Fire erupts from her side, freezing her in place as her grip slackens on the rifle so Ambessa can pull it from her hands. Her hands instead going to cover her side where a knife protrudes from her side.
“Desperation is the doorway to oblivion, child.” Ambessa states as Caitlyn drops to her knees her hands shaking as her heart pounds and adrenaline surges through her. “Let’s get this over with.” Ambessa continues sounding bored as she throws the gun back over towards Maddie.
Caitlyn didn’t think things could get worse, a moment later she is proven wrong though. While she is trying to acclimatize to the pain in her side and her mind moves a mile a minute trying to devise a way out of this situation, things get worse than she could ever dream they could be.
The pain in her side is eclipsed by a pain in her heart as another soldier comes forward dragging Vi, whose arms are bound by ropes behind her with a gag in her mouth. Vi is shoved to her knees in front of her but out of reach and Caitlyn wants to cry at the look in Vi’s eyes as they take each other in. Vi doesn’t look beaten at least, though she had definitely not been handled with any kind of care for her most recent injuries. Her eyes are worried and scared in a way Caitlyn hasn’t seen in a very long time as they skate over her before they lock gazes and she sees it. The guilt, the apology and Caitlyn wants to soothe it away. To explain everything, to tell her it is ok. That Vi hadn’t done anything wrong, that it isn’t her fault; because if Caitlyn knows nothing else about Vi, she knows that she would blame herself for how they ended up here. But first she needs to get them both out of this and she doesn’t know how.
She hears Maddie fit the rifle to her shoulder and her heart plummets before she mouths ‘I love you’ to Vi. Caitlyn watches her eyes widen as tears spring to them before she struggles against the hold on her, fighting to free herself. Caitlyn hears the rifle cock and knows this is the end.
“I did appreciate your warmth.” Maddie says tauntingly, and Caitlyn wishes it was Vi’s voice that would be the last thing she would ever hear not Maddie.
She tries instead to give Vi a better last image of her and smiles softly at her, feeling the tears in her eyes pool and knowing this is the end all while wishing they had more time together. The crack of a rifle erupts through the courtyard, at the same time as Vi’s muffled scream.