Chapter Text
"The salvation of a single soul is more important than the production or preservation of all the epics and tragedies in the world." - C. S. Lewis
Part 1: Falling
Chapter 1: The Morning After
“Silco,” a voice whispers.
He grumbles, not wanting to be roused from his sleep. A shake now accompanies the whisper.
“Silco. I’m thirsty.”
He grunts and opens his eyes, still in that state of half-asleep and half-awake. A child sits on her knees next to him on the bed. She’s wearing one of his dress shirts.
Jinx, that’s her name.
“I’m thirsty,” she whispers again.
“Okay,” he whispers too.
He stumbles out of the bedroom into the kitchen. He fills a glass of water from the kettle of boiled water that is cool by now. He brings it back to her and she drinks all of it. Then she flops backwards on the mattress. Feeling thirsty himself, he drinks a glass of water too.
When he crawls back into bed, she turns and curls up against his side, using his shoulder as a pillow. He hugs her with one arm and falls asleep.
——————
“Silco,” she calls.
Already coming awake on his own, he opens his eyes.
“I’m hungry.”
He checks the time, afraid he might be running late. He has a couple of hours before some of his new men will show up at the front door.
“I’ll make you breakfast,” he says gruffly, rubbing sleep out of his good eye.
He notices her wince as she shifts around, unable to find a comfortable sitting position.
"Sore?" he asks in sympathy.
"A little," she says.
"I'm sorry, sweetheart," he says, squeezing her hand gently. "You'll feel better tomorrow."
He forces himself to get up and out of bed. After taking a piss, he puts on his robe to ward off the chill. Taking a pillow, he places it on one of the wooden chairs to make it softer for her.
Then he concentrates on frying some bacon and eggs, refusing to think any more about what he did last night. He turns on the old but still functional coffee machine and pops some sliced bread into the equally old but still functional toaster.
He pours her a glass of cold milk that he uses for his coffee from the fridge. She’s seated at the table and is staring at him wide-eyed. In the brighter lights of the kitchen, he finally sees the bruises.
"Jinx!" he says, moving around the table to her. "What happened to your face?"
He tilts her head by the chin to inspect the damage.
"Violet hit me," she mumbles.
Incensed, he moves the sister to the top of his shit list.
He smells something burning and he swears, hurrying to save the protein.
He serves Jinx a plate of food and hands her a fork.
“Dig in. I'll get you some ice for that bruise after you eat," he says.
Noticing that her glass is empty, he pours her more milk. By the time he sits down with his own plate and a cup of coffee, which isn’t long, she’s already through a quarter of her portion.
She eats faster than she can chew, stuffing her cheeks full.
“Hey, slow down. You’ll make yourself sick by eating that fast,” he says.
She freezes and looks up at him like she’s been caught. She glances left and right towards the front door and the door to the bedroom. Then she grips the side of the plate tightly and hunches over it, but she does eat at a slower pace.
That’s food guarding behavior. He used to do that when food was scarce and was worried about other people stealing it.
“Did Vander not feed you enough?” Silco asks, thinking back to the kids he saw last night.
They looked healthy despite growing up in Zaun.
Jinx looks up at him again, still working through the large bite in her mouth. He waits her out, taking a sip of his coffee.
“He fed us,” she finally says.
So, one of the kids used to steal her food. He bets it’s the fat one who’s dead now, so there’s no point in bringing him up.
“Obviously not enough,” Silco sneers, leaning forward. “Listen to me, Jinx. You will always have enough to eat now that you’re with me.”
He pats her hand to loosen her grip on the plate.
“I’ll take care of you,” he promises.
She looks at him some more before she nods. He picks up his own fork and they eat steadily while making light conversation. He asks her where she’s seen the orbs of light before and she launches into the story of doing the job in Piltover last week that he already knows about.
“There were these glowing, blue crystals in a chest. Whoever lived there was coming back so I took all of them and put them in my pouch. One of them dropped and rolled away. I think the repetitive force from rolling caused it to explode,” she muses, biting into some toast.
If one of those crystals blew a hole in the side of a building and took the balcony with it, then how many did she use last night? he thinks, astonished.
“And then what happened with the job?” he asks, deciding to stick with one event at a time.
She tells him about encountering Deckard and his friends. Silco clenches his jaw at hearing how she was in danger of being hit by one of the boys. Silco decides then that the boy’s remaining days are numbered.
“So I lost our haul and Mylo said something always goes wrong when I’m with them,” Jinx says dejectedly, playing with the crumbs on her empty plate. “He said the only thing I can do right is—” she cuts herself off.
“Is?” Silco asks, pushing what’s left of his breakfast towards her.
She brightens immediately, biting happily into a strip of bacon. He smiles.
“Mylo said the only thing you can do right is what?” he prompts.
She stops and thinks fast. “Is uh…my aim!”
He narrows his eyes slightly. That’s not it but he doesn’t want to upset her more by getting the truth out of her. So he lets it go for now.
“Your aim. Like shooting a gun?” he clarifies.
“Yeah.”
“Where did you get a gun?” he asks, alarmed.
“Oh, it’s a fake gun. You know where the old arcade is topside? We practice there.”
He visibly relaxes.
“Did you think it was a real gun?” she asks with a giggle. “I wish I could shoot a real gun.”
“That can be arranged,” he says, feeling indulgent.
He has a few firearms hidden away from the rebellion days that weren't confiscated by the enforcers.
“Really?” she asks excitedly.
“Really.”
She squeals and runs around the table to hug him from the side.
“You’re the best soulmate ever,” she says.
He chuckles and hugs her back. He likes how she’s easy to please.
"Normally I would say I'm your only soulmate but that's not true, is it?" he jokes.
"Nuh-uh," she says, shaking her head.
Speaking of soulmates, that reminds him.
"Remember I said you can't tell other people what we did?"
She nods her head 'yes.'
"Well, you can't tell other people about your second soulmark either, okay?"
"But why?" she asks.
He pushes his chair back so she can sit sideways on his lap while he explains.
"You see, soulmates are meant to do great things together and with two soulmarks, the three of us might even rule Runeterra. Other people will get jealous and want that power for themselves. But they don’t understand that soulmates have to be together to accomplish those great things. I'm scared someone will kidnap you to hurt me. Or they could kidnap you and keep you around until you meet our other soulmate since you're small and young which makes you easier to control."
She pouts and whimpers fretfully, clutching the front of his robes. He shushes her and rocks her from side to side in comfort while sighing internally. He hates having to do this. She ends up being upset anyway but this is important and can’t be put off.
“I’ll kill anyone who tries to hurt you,” he swears solemnly.
“I’ll learn how to fight and make it harder for them to get me,” she declares.
“Good idea. I'll arrange that too.”
He kisses her forehead and lays his cheek on top, holding her close. She makes him so vulnerable but he’s glad he has this. He wouldn’t give her up for anything.
She lifts her head off his chest and looks him in the eye. “I won’t tell anyone. I promise,” she says.
“Good girl,” he says, tucking her hair behind her ear. “Not even Darlene, okay?”
“Who’s that?”
“She’s kind of like my step-mom. She took me in after my mom died.”
“Oh.”
“You’ll like her,” he says, dropping a final kiss on her unbruised cheek before putting her down. “Now finish your breakfast and get dressed. We’re going out.”