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Caitlyn hears Vi's cry of pain and her stomach drops like a stone into water, heavy and sinking. She drops the shot she has lined up and races to Vi's side, slamming to one knee as soon as she's close enough and grabbing Vi's upper arm. The other girl sways at the touch, clutching at her side with one hand. Her face is screwed up in pain.
Oh, no. She's been hit. And knowing how well Vi takes damage, it's probably serious.
Caitlyn has barely dragged Vi to her feet when she hears a scream behind them. The voice is familiar, and so is the agonized grief - it's the same sound Jinx made the night she killed Silco. The night she attacked the Council. The night she killed Caitlyn's mother.
Caitlyn's hands itch for her rifle, but if she lets go, Vi might fall. And despite the... tumultuous state of their relationship, there's no way in hell Caitlyn's risking Vi going down in the middle of this battle. She knows what Noxus is capable of; falling here would be a death sentence.
Vi turns, pulling Caitlyn around with her, and Caitlyn feels her blood run cold. The little girl who had been in the greenhouse with Jinx and the beast, the very same child who had pulled a gun on Vi and used her own body to shield Jinx of all people, skids to a stop beneath the rampaging monster. She's holding a pistol that looks far too large for her little hands and, as they stare in horror, she loads two Hextech gems into it.
Arcane blue lightning crackles around her. The creature roars above her. Jinx is still screaming, even as she lunges forward and reaches for the little girl.
Vi tears away from Caitlyn's hold, stumbling unevenly until she's right behind Jinx, and then throws her arms around the younger woman's ribs and hauls her bodily backwards. Jinx screams and struggles and reaches for the child.
The little girl smiles sadly at the two sisters, aims the pistol at the sky, and fires.
There is a split second in which arcane energy crackles through the chaos; every hair on Caitlyn's body stands on end; ozone drenches the air. She can see Vi and Jinx not far from her, struggling against each other. Then Vi curls herself around her sister, shielding her with her own body.
Caitlyn has just enough foresight to hit the ground and squeeze her eyes shut.
Then the explosion hits.
Even through her eyelids, Caitlyn can see the blinding white light that swallows the area like a star going supernova. It flares hot against her exposed skin, singeing the back of her uniform and making the metal of her rifle go uncomfortably warm in her grip.
Then the light fades out, taking the flare of heat with it and leaving only a ringing silence in its wake.
Cautiously, Caitlyn peels open her eyes. It's dark - she can see some lingering dim lights, out-of-focus but still visible - and so still that she almost thinks the explosion might have just killed everyone, leaving only her still alive.
She shakes the morbid thought. The likelihood of her being the only survivor is practically nothing. She may have been better shielded by her position on the ground, but --
Shielded.
Vi.
Caitlyn scrambles to her feet, ignoring the way the high-pitched ringing in her ears sends her balance tilting precariously, and squints through the haze of darkness. There are limp figures all around her - Noxian soldiers, either unconscious or dead - but she's only looking for one.
She finds two.
Someone is sobbing, harsh and wrenching, without a care who might hear her. As Caitlyn slowly creeps toward the sound, she hears a familiar voice whimper, "Isha? Vander?"
There's no response, and the girl sobs again, with enough force that Caitlyn has the absurd image of her lungs just collapsing in grief. It sounds the way Caitlyn had felt after her mother died.
After Jinx killed her.
Caitlyn swings her rifle into her hands and flips off the safety just as Jinx whimpers, "Vi?"
There's no response.
Caitlyn's blood turns to ice in her veins; she suddenly can't breathe.
A little more frantically, Jinx says, "Vi? Vi, wake up."
There's still no response. Caitlyn's vision is adjusting to the darkness enough to see Jinx leaning over Vi's motionless form, shaking her shoulder with something like desperation. Vi doesn't react to the touch at all, and Jinx makes a fearful, almost childlike noise.
"Vander?" she croaks, looking back over her shoulder at where the beast and the child had been, at the epicenter of the explosion. "Isha?"
Caitlyn follows her gaze. It's still so dark; whatever had been providing the artificial light down here is gone. But there is no movement where the explosion had triggered, only a massive, hulking form laid out on the ground with spears still sticking up from it at multiple angles.
Caitlyn feels a sort of pity mixed in with her relief. Whatever the monster was, it is no longer a threat. No longer a weapon that Ambessa can turn against them. But even in the midst of a battle, Caitlyn could see the creature's fear and pain. At the very least, it's no longer suffering.
But she can't help but remember the way Jinx had run to the creature after Rictus had pinned her down. The way the little girl had stood between it and the Noxians. The way Vi's terror had melted into relief when she saw Jinx and the beast unharmed. The way Vi had touched the creature's face with the utmost tenderness. The way Vi's face had softened into a beautiful, fragile smile as she looked at the beast and the child and Jinx.
Jinx is still sobbing, choking on air as she blubbers and babbles for 'Vander' and 'Isha' and 'Vi.' Caitlyn quashes her sympathy for the dead monster and focuses on the one in front of her, the one who is leaning over a motionless and vulnerable Vi, the one who may be unarmed but is still dangerous.
Jinx sucks in a ragged breath and snivels, "Vi, please, please. Wake up. Vi --"
Caitlyn cocks her rifle.
She hears Jinx's breath catch, sees the flash of unnaturally purple eyes as the girl raises her head. For a long moment, they stare at each other in dead silence, Jinx's eyes wide and watery and Caitlyn's narrowed as she looks through the scope of her rifle.
Then Jinx takes a wet, shuddering breath and ducks her head again to look down at the motionless form beside her. "Vi," she whimpers, "please. Please, wake up."
Caitlyn wants to scream at her, to demand to see her hands, to order her to get the hell away from Vi. But no matter how hard she looks, Caitlyn can't see the monster that she knows Jinx is. She can only see the way she had tried to save the little girl and the way Vi had shielded her from the explosion.
She can only see another girl grieving her family.
She hasn't managed to force herself to lower her gun when Jinx's head snaps up again and the girl says, "Help her. Please, she's hurt, help her, please."
In her darkest moments, Caitlyn has imagined this scene. Her rifle in her hands. Staring down the barrel with her finger just kissing the trigger. Jinx, on her knees and begging. Finally putting a bullet between those Shimmer-purple eyes and avenging her mother.
But not like this. Never like this.
She might never have this opportunity again. Jinx may escape. Vi may get between them again. Caitlyn might fall to Ambessa's wrath. She might never have this opportunity again.
Caitlyn lowers her rifle and flips the safety back on. Then she slings her gun onto her back, drops to her knees, and reaches for Vi.
There is something frantic and almost grateful in Jinx's eyes as Caitlyn presses her fingers to Vi's throat, feeling her pulse thrum beneath the skin. Caitlyn's breath bursts out of her in a sigh of relief, and her enemy echoes the sound.
Unfortunately, Vi breathing is pretty much the only good news.
When Caitlyn goes to roll her... friend over, her fingers brush the back of her jacket and feel leather burnt tight and crisp. Her stomach turns - had Vi been wearing a thinner material, the heat would have seared through to her skin. It very well may have.
Wincing in sympathy, Caitlyn rolls Vi a little further and tries to ignore the gentleness with which Jinx supports her sister's lolling head. She instead focuses her attention on the gash in Vi's ribs. The wound is long, but thankfully not too deep, and the bleeding is moderate. A problem, but not an immediately deadly one.
Most concerning and inconvenient is the unconsciousness. They are surrounded by Noxians, and Ambessa Medarda is still nearby, and Caitlyn has no doubt that the General with meet this betrayal with wrath and vengeance. And Caitlyn can't get Vi out on her own.
She looks up to see Jinx brushing her sister's hair - dark and greasy and too long - out of her face, and Caitlyn's heart twists in her chest. Then Jinx raises her head and meets Caitlyn's eyes. There are tears still pouring down the younger girl's face.
Caitlyn swallows hard. "I can't carry her on my own. Take her other arm."
To her surprise, Jinx doesn't argue. She just silently obeys, helping Caitlyn drag the unconscious woman upright and pulling her arms over their shoulders. Vi hangs limp between them; this close, Caitlyn can hear her shallow breathing. But even with all the jostling of hauling her to her feet, Vi doesn't even stir.
"Come on," Caitlyn says, voice as sharp and hard as a blade. She's not sure if it's her hatred for Jinx or her worry for Vi, but it doesn't matter. They don't have time for her to worry about her tone or its cause. She just begins to pull them away from the battlefield in the direction she hopes is away from Ambessa and her remaining forces.
They end up not getting very far. Vi is deadweight and Jinx is lagging, and Caitlyn thinks she might remember the younger girl being thrown back by the beast and hitting the ground hard. She's also still crying, quiet but audible, breath hitching around little sobs of "Isha" and "Vander."
Caitlyn drags the three of them into one of the strange spherical buildings that the cult seem to have been using as a storage space of sorts. As soon as Vi is safely on the ground, Caitlyn turns to secure the door, shoving a stack of heavy wooden crates in front of it. There aren't any other entrances - this being a storage shed seems to have required it to be dark and cool, so it lacks the strange windows of the surrounding buildings - so when she's done that, Caitlyn turns back to the others.
Jinx is holding a lighter in one hand, the little flame lighting up the space around her enough for Caitlyn to see the way she's leaning over Vi again, clutching her hand and quietly begging her to wake up.
The vulnerability, the obvious expression of emotions that Caitlyn had convinced herself that Jinx didn't even have... it makes Caitlyn feel like the entire world has shifted beneath her feet. It's harder to see a monster when it looks like a girl worrying over her sister.
Caitlyn grits her teeth and clenches her fists. The creak of leather seems to catch Jinx's attention, because the girl raises her head and meets her eyes.
For a long moment, neither of them speaks. Caitlyn's hands itch for her rifle, if only to make her feel less vulnerable while facing down her mother's murderer. But drawing it would be a provocation, and she's seen how unnaturally quick Jinx can be. Even unarmed, she's dangerous.
And Vi needs help.
Caitlyn stumbles forward and sinks to her knees beside Vi. She doesn't know what to do; they have no medical supplies, no bandages or antibiotics. They don't even have clean water. Vi still shows no sign of waking - being unconscious for too long is a very bad sign, Caitlyn's reasonably sure - and, while her breathing is steady, it's still shallow and quick.
Caitlyn takes a deep breath to slow her own breathing, and inhales the scent of sweat and burnt leather.
Jinx is watching her, a spark of something frantic in her eyes. Her hand is still wrapped around Vi's so tightly that her knuckles are ghost-white.
"We need to take off her jacket," Caitlyn says. Her voice is firm and steady, with no trace of the terror coursing through her. You cannot show weakness in front of an enemy. You cannot show fear in front of a wild animal.
Jinx doesn't argue, just quietly helps Caitlyn maneuver Vi upright. They lean her forward, propping her against Caitlyn so that Jinx can begin to work the jacket off of her arms. Caitlyn tries not to notice how gentle Jinx's touch is as she peels the burnt leather away from Vi's back with a soft hiss between her teeth.
The reaction is actually quite fitting. The jacket, thank goodness, isn't quite burned to the exposed parts of Vi's skin, but it does cling and it leaves the places it touched red and raw. There are spots on the back of Vi's neck and head where the skin and hair are singed.
This, Caitlyn thinks as she looks over the raw skin, was because of Jinx.
She glances over at the other girl. Jinx looks stricken, her eyes wide and her face pale and her gaze fixed on the damage like she's unable to look away. Emotions, Caitlyn thinks, that a monster should not have.
None of the burns are open wounds, so Caitlyn lowers Vi back to the floor and ignores the way Jinx guides her sister's head to not let it strike the stone. Then she turns her attention to the gash in Vi's side.
It somehow looks worse than it did just a few minutes ago, and Caitlyn's stomach flips. The fabric around it is soaked in red, and the injury is still weeping blood, slowly but steadily. Worse still, the wraps around the wound are worn and dirty and smell of old sweat; they aren't clean enough to be in contact with an injury like this. The risk of infection, Caitlyn realizes with a chill, is high. And they have no way to treat it down here.
She pulls a clean handkerchief out of her pocket and lays it over the wound. "Put pressure on that," she snaps at Jinx. "I'm going to see what supplies they have."
The girl, again, doesn't argue, and it sends a chill skittering up Caitlyn's spine. Jinx is a monster and a murderer, not some quietly obedient child. Not some frightened little girl. There is no reason for her to listen to Caitlyn, unless perhaps she is trying to lull her into a false sense of security.
Caitlyn's rifle is still on her back and Jinx is still unarmed. She takes comfort in that as she pulls out her flashlight and begins to open crates and dig through them for any type of medical supplies.
Behind her, Jinx starts weeping again, quiet but interspersed with little gasps and whimpers of "Isha" and "Vander" and "Vi." Caitlyn swallows against the tightening in her own throat.
There is nothing in the crates but preserved food; apparently, the members of this cult had no concerns about injury or illness. Swearing beneath her breath, Caitlyn turns back to the others and meets Jinx's eyes.
"Nothing," she grinds out, despising the fearful worry in her enemy's eyes with every fiber of her being. There are emotions that monsters should not have.
Jinx chews on her lower lip, looking down at Vi, still motionless and unresponsive and bleeding. "I can go look --"
Caitlyn's hackles go up in an instant. "You're not going anywhere," she snarls. "You have to face judgment for your crimes. I'm not letting you out of my sight."
Jinx's purple eyes flash dangerously, and Caitlyn's hands itch for her weapon.
"You think I won't come back?" Jinx spits. She gestures at Vi. "That's my sister."
Caitlyn scoffs. "You tried to kill her."
Jinx shoves herself to her feet. "And you left her," she scorns, voice like poison. "At least I came back."
Caitlyn carefully does not flinch. "You're not going anywhere."
Jinx throws her hands up. "Then are we both going? Are we leaving her by herself?" Her tone is beginning to border on hysterical. "Great idea. I'm sure she'll be fine waking up alone again."
This time, Caitlyn does flinch. It's been a year. Surely... surely, Vi moved on too? She has to have. She can't have been alone this whole time... right?
She grits her teeth and swallows hard. "Fine," she snaps finally. "Go. If you don't come back --"
Thankfully, she doesn't have to come up with a threat because Jinx practically snarls, "I'm not abandoning her again. She's my sister." So suddenly that it catches Caitlyn off-guard, her voices drops to something soft and grief-stricken. "She's... she's all I have left."
Again, Caitlyn's mind flashes back to Jinx and Vi and the little girl and the beast, and the way they had looked at each other. The tenderness and relief and affection.
And now it's just Vi and Jinx. Sisters. Enemies. All they each have left.
Before Caitlyn can say anything, Jinx shifts the crates away from the door, casts one last glance at Vi, and slips out into the night. In her wake, there is only darkness and the sound of Vi's shallow breathing.
Caitlyn sets her flashlight on the ground; it doesn't do much to illuminate the room, but it does provide enough light for her to see what she's doing as she slowly takes the two steps to Vi's side and sinks down next to her.
It's been a year, and they only knew each other for a few weeks before that. So much has changed. Caitlyn has changed. So why does she so desperately want to reach out and touch something that she surrendered all claim to? Why does she so deeply desire to feel Vi's skin against her own? Why does she suddenly have the urge to abandon everything else - her quest for revenge, her position in Piltover, her relationship with Maddie - and let herself have only this.
Hesitantly, Cailtyn reaches out. When her fingers are only a hairsbreadth from Vi's face, she stops. She has no right to this; she gave this up. Vi wasn't hers before and she sure as hell isn't now.
Caitlyn withdraws her hand.
Tears sting her eyes, and she doesn't even bother to wipe them away. It's not as if anyone here will judge her - at least, no more than she deserves. She reaches for Vi again, but this time only lets herself touch the wraps around her ribs, carefully peeling the bloody fabric away from the wound.
A soft tap at the door has Caitlyn startling so violently that it's a near miracle that Vi doesn't react. She whips around, seizing her rifle and aiming at the entrance just as the door cracks open and Jinx slips silently inside.
The younger girl meets her eyes, not quite startled but still a little caught off-guard. "Why would I --?" she hisses, sounding almost offended. "I knocked."
Caitlyn ignores that, keeping her rifle trained on Jinx's head. "Did you find anything?"
Jinx huffs, but the exasperation is clearly fake; her eyes are still puffy and her cheeks are wet. "Bandages," she rasps, holding up a thick roll of gauze and a corked jug, "and water."
Slowly, Caitlyn lowers her rifle and sets it aside. Jinx moves toward Vi and sinks down next to her, gently brushing the dyed hair out of her sister's face, and Caitlyn carefully does not think about how Jinx is allowed the kind of contact that Caitlyn wants with every fiber of her being but cannot actually have.
Without speaking to each other, they unwind the wraps Vi is already wearing enough to clean the wound and rewrap it with fresh bandages. When that's done, Caitlyn sits back and tries not to ache as she watches Jinx carefully brush her fingers over Vi's knuckles.
"She protected me," the girl whispers with something like incomprehension. It is a sentiment that Caitlyn wants to agree with - Jinx doesn't deserve that kind of devotion - but, a cruel voice in the back of her mind whispers, Vi never did devote herself to people who deserve it.
Caitlyn grits her teeth. Vi and all of her stupid selflessness, all of her undeserved loyalty, all of her love like weeds growing up through the pavement, always coming back no matter how many times they're trampled.
"Why?" Jinx breathes as she once again brushes her fingertips through Vi's hair.
Caitlyn thinks of the way the four mismatched figures had looked at each other in the greenhouse. The tenderness. The hope. The love.
"I don't know," Caitlyn says. The anger in her voice is easy. The lie is not.
Jinx sniffles, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. Then she pushes herself to her feet, either ignoring or not noticing the way Caitlyn reaches for her rifle.
"Those Noxian guys are still out there," Jinx says. "I'm gonna - I'm gonna go see what they're doing."
Caitlyn doesn't answer, and Jinx doesn't wait for her to. She just cracks open the door and slips back out into the night.
It's very quiet. If the Noxians are recovering from the battle, they're being subtle about it. Maybe there are too many injured to make a full recovery attempt. Maybe their forces will be spread too thin for them to even be able to track Caitlyn and her... allies down.
Caitlyn has the sudden visual of Jinx flagging the Noxians down and leading them back to herself and Vi. But she somehow knows that's not going to happen, and it's not because Ambessa is after Jinx too.
There's no one here, no witnesses to judge her, so Caitlyn hesitantly reaches out again and, after a long moment, lets her fingertips brush very lightly over the back of Vi's hand. Guilt bubbles up in her chest like tar, thick and sticky and clinging to her ribs like it'll never fully come off. She rejected this. She gave this up.
Caitlyn draws her hand back but, as she does, Vi begins to stir.
Caitlyn's breath catches as the other woman's face tightens in discomfort, as she shifts and then winces at the movement, as she slowly peels her eyes open and squints around the dim space.
"...Powder?" Vi rasps and, before Caitlyn can answer, rolls her head to the side, meets her eyes, and says, "Caitlyn?"
Caitlyn swallows against the lump in her throat. "I'm here," she says. "It's alright."
Vi's gaze flickers around the space, something almost frantic growing in her eyes. She looks back at Caitlyn. "Where's my sister?" Then her eyes go wide and her breath chokes off and she whispers, "What did you do?"
Caitlyn's blood runs cold. She's heard those same words before in that same horrified tone, as Jinx carried out a covered platter and set it before her sister at that sick parody of a family dinner a year ago. That had been when they were just realizing what monstrosities Jinx was capable of.
To have that same terror directed at her makes Caitlyn feel sick.
She opens her mouth to reply, but her voice trips and falls silent in her throat.
Vi's breathing picks up speed, too fast and shallow to get her enough air. She levers herself upright, face twisting in pain, and her hand comes up to press against the gash in her side, fingers digging into the fresh bandages. She stares at Caitlyn, grey eyes blown wide with horror.
"You didn't," she begs, voice strangled. "Tell me you didn't."
Caitlyn swallows, then manges, "Vi, no, I --"
There's a soft sound from the door and then Jinx is there, staring down at them with something between irritation and confusion.
"What did you do to her?" the girl snarls at Caitlyn as she drops down to crouch on Vi's other side.
Anger flares through Caitlyn and she opens her mouth to respond --
Vi twists toward her sister and lets out a sob of relief. "You're okay."
Jinx's gaze immediately shifts from Caitlyn's to Vi's and her entire face seems to change, expression going soft in a way that makes her look so very young. Her eyes widen slightly in surprise, the hard edges of her mouth soften as she opens her mouth as if to speak.
But then Vi's arms are around her, holding her like she's something precious, something worthy of affection and devotion and protection, even if it means using her own body as a human shield. Caitlyn's stomach twists.
For her part, Jinx looks absolutely stunned as Vi holds her, sitting statue-still for all of three seconds before slowly bringing her arms up to hug Vi back. After another two seconds, the younger girl practically melts into her sister's embrace, clutching back with the same desperation.
Suddenly feeling like she's intruding, Caitlyn forces herself to look away, even as something hot flares up behind her breastbone with all the rapid fierceness of a wildfire. Anger, perhaps. Or jealousy.
She shakes herself. Whatever she and Vi had is over. She's moved on. She has no reason nor right to feel jealous. Caitlyn is the one who walked away, who forfeited all right to Vi's affection.
She hears Jinx sniffle and then the soft sound of motion and, when she glances over, Caitlyn sees Vi brush Jinx's hair back and then bring her hand down to cup her sister's cheek in a single smooth movement. Tears are spilling down Jinx's face; Vi wipes them away with her thumb as they fall.
Caitlyn's heart aches with loss.
When she can't stand it anymore, Caitlyn clears her throat softly and says, "I'm going to... to keep watch."
They both turn to her, but Caitlyn can only look at Vi as those soft grey eyes catch hers. The other woman nods slightly, but Caitlyn isn't certain if it's in acknowledgment or apology or some twisted sort of gratitude. The not-knowing sets her off-kilter, like someone has ripped the ground out from under her and sent her balance tumbling into the void.
Caitlyn swallows hard and manages a stiff nod in return. Then she grabs her rifle, pushes herself to her feet, and heads for the door.
She doesn't allow herself look back until the door is as closed as she dares to let it be, stopping it just before it can latch to keep it from making noise.
For a few moments, she distracts herself by watching their surroundings through the scope of her rifle - there is no movement within the compound aside from the little on the battlefield, where Ambessa's forces are slowly gathering what looks like weapons and bodies. Caitlyn thinks she sees a few of them picking at the monster's motionless form like vultures scavenging for scraps, and the image of the beast resting its forehead against Vi's blazes through her mind like a dying star. She looks away from the soldiers defiling the corpse.
There's no one immediately searching for them, so Caitlyn busies herself looking over her rifle as much as she can in the darkness. She doesn't dare take it apart to clean and inspect it, not with enemies so close, but she examines every inch of it twice and tries desperately not to think about the mess she's gotten herself into.
It's a cruel twist of fate to find Jinx now, after searching for so long. To find Vi again now, after burning the bridge between them. To have everything she's been looking for finally in reach, but to be unable to grab ahold of it. Her revenge and her hopes, right there and yet slipping through her fingers.
Or maybe it's just exactly what she deserves. She doesn't know anymore.
She was so sure of everything a year ago.
Tears prickle at the backs of her eyes; she brushes them away impatiently, straining to listen for any sign of a threat approaching.
Instead, she hears a hushed whisper through the cracked in the door behind her.
"Isha... Vander... they're - they --"
"...yeah," Vi responds, just as softly. Just as brokenly.
Jinx sniffles and then chokes, "I'm sorry. I didn't --" There's a muffled sob, and then "I'm sorry."
"Hey," Vi says, her own voice thick with tears. "It wasn't your fault. Look at me. It wasn't your fault."
"Isha --"
"I know. I know. I'm so sorry."
Jinx sobs again, and it's muffled, like she's really trying to be quiet. "She was - she's gone --"
"Hey," Vi murmurs. "You gotta breathe, Pow- Jinx. You have to breathe."
There's a sharp gasp, and then Jinx chokes, "And Vander - He's - He --" And then she dissolves into quiet but wracking sobs.
Caitlyn can hear Vi's voice, low and soothing, but she can't make out the words. There's a tremor to them though, like Vi is barely holding back tears of her own, and Caitlyn finds herself wondering how many times she's lost family like this.
How many times have she and Jinx been the only ones left?
Jinx's voice is muffled, like she's talking against something solid, as she says, "I brought them into this and now they're - It's my fault again. I - I killed them --'
"No," Vi says, quiet but firm. Unyielding. "You didn't kill them. This wasn't your fault." There's a beat of silence and then, "It wasn't your fault."
"Why did you stop me?" Jinx says, and Caitlyn gets the feeling she would be wailing if they didn't have to be quiet. "I could've --"
"You couldn't have saved them, Powder," Vi says, her voice soft and sad and certain. "You would've died too."
Jinx sobs again. "Why didn't you just leave me?"
Caitlyn can hear Vi's breathing, wet and ragged like an open wound. "I'm not leaving you again," she says, voice breaking over the words. "You're my sister."
Jinx keens. "I'm not - I'm not Powder. I'm not Jinx. I - I don't know who I am anymore."
She says it like a confession, like she's begging to be forgiven for a sin that only Vi can forgive. And as much as Caitlyn hates it, she knows the feeling.
"You're my sister," Vi says. Her voice is still a broken, trembling thing, but there is no uncertainty in her words. "Nothing is ever going to change that."
Jinx makes a ragged, desperate noise, and Vi shushes her. There's a long stretch of quiet crying from inside the storage shed. Outside it, Caitlyn blinks away tears of her own and buries her face in her hands and tries to remember what it's like to not have hope clawing its way into the depths of her being.
Because if Vi can forgive Jinx... she might forgive Caitlyn. But asking would mean getting an answer, and Caitlyn is fairly certain that a refusal would be something she could never recover from. Losing Vi more than she already has would be a wound that would never heal.
And the hope, her mind whispers, will be no different.
As Caitlyn struggles to get her own breathing under control, she hears Jinx whisper, "What about her?"
Vi doesn't answer for a few seconds. Then she softly says, "What about her?"
"Are you going back topside with her?"
"I --" Vi pauses, swallows hard, and then admits, "I don't know."
Jinx's voice is worn out, but there's something knowing in it as she says, "You're still sweet on her."
Vi heaves a heavy sigh. "It doesn't matter. It - It was never gonna work anyway."
Caitlyn's heart seizes just as Jinx asks, "Why not?"
Vi takes a ragged breath. "Some things just... aren't meant to be."
And Caitlyn's heart just about breaks. Topside and Bottom. Oil and water. Wasn't meant to be.
It's quiet for a long time. Then Vi sighs, and it sounds as weary and broken as Caitlyn feels. "If - If they need help up there..."
"You're going," Jinx says. It's not a question.
"Yeah," Vi answers hoarsely. She swallows hard and then adds, "You could come too. Use that explosive potential of yours for good. Maybe we could rewrite your story."
Jinx is silent for a long moment. "...We?"
"Yeah," Vi whispers. "I'm not losing you again. I - I'm done losing people."
"...Okay," Jinx finally says, so softly that Caitlyn almost misses it. "Okay."
Neither of them speaks again, so Caitlyn waits, listening as the rustling of movement settles into silence, as the two ragged breaths quiet into the deep evenness of sleep, and then even longer. When she's absolutely certain that they are both asleep, Caitlyn slips back into the shed and barricades the door again, before lying down to try to get some rest.
For the barest fraction of a second, she thinks she sees a pair of Shimmer purple eyes watching her from the other side of the dark room but, when she blinks, they're gone. It doesn't really matter, she tells herself as she closes her eyes and tries to ignore the burn of tears behind them, if Jinx knows that she was listening. It doesn't change anything.
Even if they defeat Ambessa, even if they drive Noxus out of Piltover, even if Caitlyn finally surrenders her title and hands power back to the Council, even if everything goes as well as it possibly can...
It doesn't change anything.
She left Vi. She moved on. And now Vi has given up on her.
It doesn't change anything.
Caitlyn rolls to face away from the other two, curls in on herself, and covers her mouth to muffle her quiet sobs as she cries herself to sleep.
It doesn't change anything.