Chapter Text
“While you’re there, darling, please don’t wander for too long. The doors open at eight this year and they don’t like stragglers.”
“You know, you’re starting to sound a lot like-”
“Don’t you dare.”
Vi smiled as she laced her boots. “Your dad.”
A sock hit the side of her head. Vi laughed and picked it up. Blue with stripes, her favorite pair. She’d thought it was lost to the labyrinth of this house. “Nice. I was looking for this one.”
“It was in your dresser,” the voice drawled pointedly behind her, “hidden beneath the pile of twenty other mismatched socks.”
“Huh.” Vi mindlessly stuffed it in her back pocket. “Another mystery solved, Sheriff. You’re on a hot streak.”
Caitlyn hardly resisted Vi’s tightening hold on her waist, the kiss against her jaw, her neck, or even Vi’s hands drifting to her ass. “You’re not very worried about the time, are you?”
Vi felt her melt in her arms, her body still warm from the shower. If anything, the time constraint was working for her. She reached for the drawstring of Caitlyn's lounge pants and tugged. “Oh I make good use of every second.”
“In what-” Caitlyn felt Vi’s tongue on her neck and wavered, but, by some divine resolve she lacked on most days, she managed to grasp Vi’s wrist. “In what world do you think I would let you take my clothes off before the fundraiser?”
Vi nuzzled her neck. “Mmm I was hoping for this one.”
Caitlyn smiled before pushing her away. They’d never get anything done if she didn’t. “Try hoping for something more likely, Violet.”
“Ah…” Vi took her jacket from the armchair and checked for the bathysphere ticket. Apparently she wasn’t allowed to get her pants dirty tonight. Something about being on her best behavior at this party. But a portion of the money raised would benefit Zaun, and with that in mind, Vi could stand to take a slow cable car instead of her favorite way down. “More likely than… what was it you said the last time we went to this shindig?”
She walked to the front door, acutely aware Caitlyn was following her. It was a beautiful evening out, the sky turning a golden hue. Vi stopped on the stoop.
“Oh yeah, I remember.” She kissed Caitlyn’s cheek innocently enough that a passerby would see a simple goodbye, and then brought her mouth close to her ear. “Take my dress off in the middle of the ballroom for all I care… and fuck me through the night.”
“That was-” Caitlyn’s cheeks turned a healthy shade of pink as she glanced toward the street. For someone not particularly shy in the bedroom, she sure acted the part in public. “Couldn’t you use that memory of yours to recall where your socks are?”
“Selective memory, cupcake—does me just fine. Besides, you’re the one who wears half my shit anyway.”
“One jacket weeks ago.”
Vi stole another kiss. She didn’t mind the thieving—Caitlyn looked good in all her clothes.
“See you tonight.”
“Eight sharp,” Caitlyn reminded her.
“I know.”
“Wait.”
Vi stopped at the front gate. If Caitlyn had gotten used to her eyepatch by now, it didn’t keep her from fiddling with the elastic behind her ear. When it got worse than usual, Vi knew trouble was brewing.
“Are we… about yesterday…”
Vi tensed, feeling like their perfectly nice evening would turn. “We’re good.”
Caitlyn took her hand and squeezed it. “I know it’s not easy for you. I’d just like us to discuss it soon. My father will be here next week and-”
“I said we’re good,” Vi snapped, then pinched the bridge of her nose. “Cait, I’m sorry, but-”
“No, it was foolish to bring it up now. Go. I’ll see you tonight.”
“We’ll talk about it. I promise.”
Caitlyn cupped her cheek and gave her a soft kiss. “Go, darling. Come back to me in one piece.”
True to its nature, the bathysphere creaked its way down into Zaun. Vi sat in the corner, looking out the window at the people ambling along the streets. Zaun had changed as much as a city could change in five years. Sevika’s voice on the council had moved some things along, but the work to be done remained a colossal venture.
New laws for the factories and refineries had reduced the smog in the air, and Ekko had led the effort to make better use of the vents, thanks to the Kiramman blueprint, but the Chem-Barons had regrouped and still had a stranglehold of the streets. Piltover’s council had lost all say in their schemings, though it was in the interest of both parties to maintain cordial communication. Chaos didn’t benefit their industries. The way Vi saw it, it was a political shitshow either way.
She left the station and made her way to the Lanes, aware of the time passing but in no rush to leave Zaun. She would make it back for eight. Easy.
The Last Drop hadn’t changed much in the last few years either, though Vi had long ago torn down the neon eye that had made bile rise in her throat. With a little help from the Kiramman House, she’d gotten the deed and the keys, but, well, Scar ran the show just fine without her. Vi didn’t have the drive for the business end of it, but it was the last piece of Vander, of them, she had, and she’d be damned if she let a Chem-Baron buy her out.
She found Ekko at a table talking to Scar, both of them enjoying the quiet tunes and chatter before the factory workers poured in. Vi dropped a pouch on the table.
“You owe me big for this one, Little Man. Had to sweet talk Piltover’s richest for days.”
Ekko opened it and found a hefty amount of seeds. “You won’t be sorry,” he grinned before carefully tucking it in his coat.
Vi pulled out a chair. “So what’s it for? You a green thumb now?”
“Have you ever read about vertical farming?”
“My girlfriend does the reading.” She thanked Scar for the beer he slid her way and drank a generous sip. “Don’t you need a shit ton of water for that?”
“We’re working something out.”
“Anything I can do?”
Ekko shook his head. “I’ll be asking soon enough. You just stay on your girlfriend’s good side.”
“Doing all right so far.”
Ekko seemed hesitant. “There is… something, though.”
“Spit it out.”
“Do you remember the mines? The entrance near their mural?”
Vi felt the tension in her shoulders again. She hadn’t been there since- “What about it?”
“We thought we shut it down a long time ago, put on bars and everything, but some kids managed to sneak in through a pipe last week. Got lost for hours and came back at night raving about a light in the wall.”
Vi waited for the other shoe to drop. Those mines were full of fucked up flora but that wasn’t cause for alarm, as long as they didn’t make a sandwich out of it.
“I know what you’re thinking, but they started passing this around...” Ekko pulled out a piece of paper and showed Vi what looked like oval shapes drawn tightly in the middle of the page. She stilled, trying to understand what she was looking at.
“It’s just a bunch of circles, Ekko.”
“Yeah, at first glance.” He turned the page around and used his pencil to draw a faint sphere englobing the shapes, making it look like a cratered moon. “But that’s an anomaly.”
Vi frowned, the word almost forgotten to her now. Maybe she still didn’t comprehend the scientific mumbo jumbo behind that thing, but she knew what mattered.
“Another one?”
“No,” Ekko stressed, lowering his voice. “That’s the point. I looked everywhere for it or anything like it, but that whole place is dying. Just dark, cold and empty. The kids couldn’t even tell me where they saw it. Besides, it—it’s impossible. They must’ve found old sketches and tried to scare each other.”
“Some monster. What happened to crabs and slugs?”
Ekko chuckled softly. “Not as cool, I guess. Anyway there’s been chatter. Nothing loud, but you know how stories spread. I don’t want enforcers getting anxious and breathing down our necks, that’s all.”
“Cait would’ve said something.”
“There’s nothing to say. I’d just… keep my ear to the ground.”
Vi sighed. Another one of the million things on the list. “Does Sevika know?”
“Not yet.”
“Keep it that way.” She finished her beer and stood up.
“Wait, where are you going?”
“I’ve got… a thing.”
Ekko noticed the fitted shirt beneath her jacket and her black pants, accented with a gold stripe down the sides. “Looking clean.”
“Shut up.”
“I'm serious, you look good.”
“Yeah, well, playing the part.”
Ekko smiled. “You know, you don’t have to pretend to hate it. It’s okay to enjoy yourself, Vi.”
“Now you sound like Cait.”
“Better looking though.”
“Not sure, I’d have to see you in a uniform.”
Ekko looked like he’d been slapped with rotten fish. “Over my dead body.”
Vi laughed and went to check on Scar and Chuck, grateful they were holding down the fort. Tomorrow she’d be back in the full grind, but tonight she had a date, and she liked the sound of it.
Vi didn’t… wander… exactly. She just took the longer path to the bathysphere, and if she got distracted along the way, it was only because the sky was clear this evening and the dark purples of the sunset were painting the walls of Zaun. She couldn’t remember ever seeing it this way. It wasn’t the same in Piltover. The sky was… a constant you could take for granted. If she dug through her memories as a kid, Vi only saw the greys and greens of sickly fumes spewed out from refineries. She'd never dreamed of her city looking like this.
But if wandering meant looking at the station and then turning back to take a lift deeper, then yes, Vi was guilty. In her defense, she’d still be on time.
The mural hadn’t changed much. Moss had covered a corner of it, and the colors had faded, but Jinx still towered over Piltover with her fist raised, and Vander was still immortalized in his halo of flowers. Vi stood staring at it until the wind picked up and she felt the moisture in the air change. Rain soon. If she didn’t move fast, she’d arrive at the party looking like a wet dog.
But Ekko’s story gnawed at her. She didn’t like the idea of kids playing in that toxic shithole of a mine, let alone stumbling upon things they didn't understand. Kids around here had active imaginations, but they usually didn’t make stories up from scratch. Vi wasn’t sure what compelled her to check it out.
Maybe because the mines felt so tied up with her own stories. Maybe because the last time she’d set foot in there, she’d found her family again, and she still felt that singular ache deep in her bones.
Vi found the pipe near the barred entrance and pulled the cover off. It wasn’t anything she wouldn’t have done as a kid, but it was a tighter fit than she would’ve liked. At least the pipe was dry, which was fortunate for the sake of her damn pants. She climbed inside and dropped down into the shaft of the mine, landing in the middle of the tracks.
The air was heavy and acrid. Vi thought she’d be used to it, but this was different. Like an oily film enveloping her. She clapped her hands and sighed, feeling like an idiot. The fungi on the walls barely glowed, pulsing faintly or not at all. Ekko was right: This place was dying.
She followed the tracks one way and then the other, back and forth until there was nowhere else to go. Her fingers brushed against the steel door to the workers’ room, over the claw marks carved in long ago. Even if the rusted hinges were close to falling off, Vi didn’t open it. Whether the room had been cleaned out or not, she never wanted to know.
Her ears started ringing and she twisted around, on alert but unsure where to look. A bright light blinded her and vanished just as quickly. Vi shook her head, but the high-pitched sound in her ears grew louder.
Another beam of light painted the walls before dimming to nothing. One after the other, the bulbous fungi squelched, releasing their glow until they looked hollow and dark.
Vi realized the place wasn’t just dying, it was dying fucking fast and she was in the middle of it.
She bolted, grunting when her vision blurred and the ringing made her ears feel like they were bleeding. The walls warped and expanded, releasing a putrid gas.
Disoriented, Vi's shoulder knocked into sharp rock. She stumbled backward and reached for a crag in the wall, but felt something burn her fingers. She recoiled, stepping into a puddle, only to notice the sock in her pocket had fallen in it, where a bubbling started melting it like grease in a searing pan.
The sludge morphed, turning into a fractal of colors Vi never even knew existed, oval in shape, then shifting, taking over, until there was nothing left of the sock.
Vi scrammed, gunning for the exit, but it was as if the air itself was slowing her down, growing hotter and denser. What felt like a hammer knocked the wind out of her, and the blinding pain in her gut brought the world to a screeching halt.
Tinnitus faded into the faint thumping of music.
The blinding neon of the fungi dimmed into the warm hue of coals in a stove.
Vi groaned as she ran a hand over her face. So much for one piece.
Her stomach turned and she rolled over, puking on the floor. Only the floor wasn’t hard rock and dirt, but wood.
She looked up and realized she wasn’t in the mine but in a room not unlike her old digs, with bottles on the floor and clothes piled up in a corner. She squeezed her eyes shut, her mind too scrambled to make sense of anything. But when she peeked around again, nothing changed. Immediately she noticed her pants: Stripes on grey and a sleeveless top that definitely wasn’t fundraiser-approved.
Jolting up, she looked at herself in the broken mirror hanging near the sink. Shorter red hair with streaks of black, scrapes all over her face and a nasty cut on her nose. It was like looking at the past. Only this was now, today, and if she was delirious in the mine somewhere, imagining this, why was she able to taste booze on her tongue and feel the pain of one too many fights?
And how the hell had she wound up here looking like this?
Ekko would know, she thought. He was the smart one. Though her head wouldn’t stop pounding, Vi made her way to the club she lived above and left through a back door. She felt nausea gripe her insides again and threw up in the alley. It was starting to feel like a bad hangover and not the shifty, confusing aftermath of inhaling poisonous gas.
“You okay, kid?”
She froze, frowning at the lumbering man coming toward her. It couldn’t be.
“Loris?”
He put a jacket over her shoulders, his large hands gentle with her. “You forgot this.”
She blinked, then threw herself in his arms. Loris engulfed her in the embrace without hesitating, his arms more protective than a shield. “I’ve got you.”
Vi pulled back, befuddlement taking over again. “You’re—I don’t understand—you died.”
Loris smiled sadly. “All right, champ. Why don’t you sleep it off? I’ll take you upstairs and come find you in the morning.”
“Loris, I-” A flash of saturated colors sent a painful throb in her head. “I need to find Ekko,” she gritted out.
“Ekko?"
"He was at the Drop; I have to-"
"Ekko's up top, kid, and it's a long way in your state.”
“Up top? Where?”
“Hm, he'd be on academy grounds at this time."
Vi pushed past him. “I have to go.”
“Vi!”
It wasn’t him. It couldn’t be. She'd watched him die; been to his funeral and watched as they'd lowered his casket. That mine was playing tricks on her.
Vi’s vision felt hazy the whole way to the station, but the further up she went, the more she noticed how Zaun had changed.
Enforcers sitting at open bars, chatting and laughing with the bartender. Kids dressed in clean clothes, with real toys that weren’t cut-up tin cans and sticks. The sky cleared of all fumes, vast and bright—and were those stars?
She couldn’t wrap her head around it. All that and yet here she was, feeling like she’d drunk her weight in booze. She waited in line at the station, painfully aware of the way people looked at her. How a mother kept her kid behind her. How an old man sneered.
It was like she didn’t belong at all.
“Up or down?”
Vi stared at the station agent in the booth. It was the same expression in his eyes, a mix of mistrust and annoyance.
“Up.”
He extended his hand. Vi frowned, then searched through the pockets of her jacket.
“Uh.” She found a coin stained with dried blood.
The agent rolled his eyes and took it, sliding over a ticket in exchange. “Next.”
Vi sat in a corner of the cable car, trying not to retch when it started gliding up. She didn’t need these people judging her any harder. When she got off, she realized the bathysphere hadn’t squeaked or rattled once.
Piltover looked… like Piltover. Prosperous, tall and immaculate. Vi stuck out even more, feeling like a grease ball rolling into a glass shop. It shouldn’t have been like this anymore. She’d gotten over this—the not belonging—except right now it felt like a spotlight was suddenly aimed at her, exposing every wound, flaw and speck of dirt.
If there was no feeling of home for her at all, either in Zaun or in Piltover, where did she slot in? They’d never let her on Academy grounds, not like this. Come to think of it, she didn't have a clue why Ekko would've gone there after the Drop.
“Cait,” she whispered, the only harbor she had left. Caitlyn would know how to find Ekko. She knew this city like the tatt on Vi’s back—every line, bolt and pin. She’d be pissed, mad with worry, but she’d help her fix this. She always did.
If Vi could’ve changed at the Kiramman residence, she would’ve. But the two enforcers smoking and chatting at the gate dissuaded her from even trying it. Another thing she didn’t have the energy to confront yet.
She kept out of sight in the emptier streets as she made her way toward the estate the fundraiser was taking place in. They wouldn’t welcome her with open arms, but she was with a Kiramman, and that’d be enough.
Vi braced herself against the walls to close her eyes and steady her breathing, still carrying around a deep-rooted discomfort. It was a tension in her body; a complete unease with herself and the world around her. The ringing in her ears came and went without rhyme or reason.
All she needed was to find Caitlyn. They’d leave together and she would drag her ass to a doctor, Ekko, and maybe a shower. They’d seal off the mines for good and she’d sleep off whatever fucked up delusions her mind was conjuring.
The estate hadn’t changed, which was a relief in itself. The glass dome atop the mansion looked over a sprawling garden, and the carpeted stairway led up to the tall, wide-open doors. Guests walked past the front gates in their finest clothes, nodding their greetings at the few enforcers on guard.
Vi glanced up at the intricate clock right below the dome. Evidently the event didn’t start at eight sharp, it started at nine. She huffed, feeling both duped and impressed. “Good one, cupcake.”
She stood at the end of the small queue, waiting for her turn with the attendant managing the guest list. They could stare for all she cared, nothing would keep her from going inside.
The attendant glanced up and down at her before clearing his throat. “Welcome, miss…?”
“I’m under Kiramman. Vi.”
His brow furrowed as he briefly scanned the list. “Right, well, I don’t know what bottle you’ve fallen out of, but we don’t want any of that here.”
“Check again.”
“There’s only one Kiramman and you don’t look the part.”
Vi felt a twinge in her jaw. “I know what I look like, I just need to find her.”
“I’m afraid you’re at the wrong place. Now get out before I get you escorted out.”
An enforcer built like a prison warden stood next to the attendant. “Invitation only.”
“I’m on that list.”
The attendant shook his head at the enforcer. He put his hand on the handle of his baton and stepped between them. “Nobody wants a scene.”
Sweat started beading over Vi’s brow and she groaned as another flash of color stung her eyes. “I don’t have time for this, asshole.”
The enforcer’s demeanor immediately shifted. “All right, time to go.”
He gripped her shoulder tightly and pushed her off the property, stepping back when she jerked her arm away.
“Thought you goons learned manners.”
He reached for the handle of his baton again, standing firmly in front of the gates. “Do you want to rethink this or do you want a night in a cell?”
Vi flipped him off.
She retraced her steps around the expansive property, trying to find a quieter area at the back of the estate. She pulled herself over the tall brick wall and landed in an immense, lush garden. Pain spread to her sides and she winced at the distant swell of music, glasses clinking, and laughter.
She slunk through the garden and stood flush against the wall of the mansion, peeking through the large glass window that gave into the ballroom. It was opulence itself, with chandeliers casting a bright light and perfectly manicured vegetation climbing the walls inside. The guests trickled in, mingling with the already sizable crowd.
At least this looked like what she’d expected. Her eyes swept the room countless times, hoping to spot cobalt hair. It felt like her legs would give out beneath her at any moment.
And then the world stilled.
Vi felt her heart finally settle. The flashes, the colors, the distortions—all disappeared.
Caitlyn walked into the room like she’d already won it over. Her midnight blue dress clung to every curve of her body, with a slit up to her thigh and gold accents on her shoulders. Her hair was up, showing off her neck and the jewelry on it. She looked… rich. Dripping in Kiramman wealth and exuding the power that went with it. If her smile didn’t already charm everyone, that dress would do the work for her. When she laughed, the people with her joined in. When she took a sip, the waiter appeared from thin air to top up her glass.
It was her, all right. If only she still had her eyepatch.
Vi tried to run all the possibilities through her head, but dizzy and drunk hardly mixed with clear thinking.
For a long time Caitlyn spoke with the Houses in attendance, giving each her undivided attention. Then, she walked out with a guest on the terrace. Vi hurried around the mansion and stuck to the shadows as she overheard the two converse.
“Surely we could find a way to bring everyone back to the table.”
“We will, but equity must remain.” Caitlyn's voice was authoritative, measured and to the point.
“The merchant guild has grown since-”
“The merchant guild retains the same claim to the seas as Zaun.”
The other woman inclined her head, though clearly frustrated. “Times are changing, as are the population’s needs. I merely suggest revisiting past agreements-”
Caitlyn looked away, toward the garden. Vi held her breath, swearing for a moment that their eyes met, but Caitlyn continued the conversation smoothly.
“You will find no favor with me, Amara. I’ve been quite clear. We are to increase our investments in Zaun, not encroach on their territory.”
“I wouldn’t dare suggest otherwise,” Amara conceded with a thin smile before retreating back inside.
Slowly, Caitlyn’s body unwound. Her eyes closed, fatigue betraying her for the first time. She massaged the nape of her neck and sighed, then stepped away.
Vi crept toward the terrace but found it empty. “Cait!” she called out.
A rustling reached her ears too late. Vi found herself shoved against the wall with her arm twisted behind her back. She groaned, but she’d recognize that style anywhere.
“Pretty sure it’s not my fault you forgot my name on that list.”
“You’re the drunk they stopped at the door,” Caitlyn said flatly.
“Trust me, I wish I was just sloshed.”
Caitlyn released her to turn her around, but was quick to press her arm against her collarbone. “Would you stoop so low as to steal donations?”
Vi tried to find any semblance of tenderness in those eyes, but Caitlyn looked at her like a stranger. “All right, cupcake, I’m getting really fucking confused.”
The word didn’t have its usual effect. Instead, Caitlyn pushed her arm up tighter. She had the right moves, but in any other situation Vi would’ve found it easy to turn the tables on her. There was no muscle in that arm.
“That makes both of us. Who are you?”
Vi felt her heart drop like a rock. A sudden sharp sting shot through her body. Caitlyn released her grip as soon as she cried out, unsure if she’d been the one to hurt her.
“What are you-”
Vi fell to the ground and puked out whatever filth was messing up her insides again. She dug her fingers into the dirt beneath her, struggling to breathe. Sweat dripped down her forehead and nose as her head spun, the garden around her blurring into a mass of greens.
“She needs a doctor,” Caitlyn yelled at someone behind her. “Go!”
“Yes, Councilor!”
Councilor, Vi thought to herself, so delirious she saw the grass move like waves between her fingers. ‘Who are you?’ Caitlyn's voice echoed in her skull. Every part of her body hurt but nothing could’ve cut deeper than that. She felt heavier by the second, like she was turning into a burning stone. Councilor… she repeated, and then keeled over face first in the grass.
Where the hell am I?