Chapter Text
Cold, heavy, reeking of death and crime. Zaun, Noxus, it all blurs together. The slums of the two cities sitting like sisters, their haunted, wretched streets walked by ghosts, both dead and alive.
Whether it's the prostitution, the brutality, or the overall darkness, Zivana could lose track of what nation she was in with ease, if not for the needles and broken vials that still glinted purple. Shimmer serving as a sharp reminder that this was Zaun.
Zivana, a new face in the Undercity, yet just as tired and worn as every other. Noxus had torn away what little love and comfort she was born with, leaving her to struggle through her teenage years like a stray, beaten and starving. Begging for money from people who wouldn't look at her for fear of being associated with her kind.
Running. Escaping. Fleeing. That was the only possible way to avoid a painful death by the hands of Noxian soldiers. Money posed the biggest issue in Zivana's plans to escape.
Especially when she factored in the cost of bringing her daughter with her to.. wherever they ended up escaping to.
For every 'regime' child who lived, who escaped and ran and hid, another died. That was a fact that Zivana had accepted as a child. Fleeing into the cold Noxus night as soldiers hauled away her parents, her neighbors, her community.
Of course, Zivana hadn't been prepared for the trade off of her life to be her daughters. Returning to the pitiful place she called home, only to find her daughter's head left in the center of the shambled little community they had managed to wedge their way into.
Not a single one of her neighbors dared to approach her sobbing form. The fear of associating themselves with a 'regime' woman leaving Zivana under the weight of their gazes, without a single word of comfort to be heard. Not in the daylight, at least.
The rest of the money she needed to flee Noxus for good was in her hands by the end of the week. Dirty, bloody, sweat soaked coins that bought her a hidden, one way trip to wherever the trade ship was going.
Zaun. Shimmer infested, smog filled, blood soaked, Zaun.