Chapter Text
There are infinite timelines. Infinite possibilities. Where a single decision can alter the future for everyone. In one timeline, Viktor found his way back to his family and Zaun finally became its own independent nation. In another...
“Kid! Kid, wait! Don’t go there!” had Viktor been paying attention, he would have seen the massive drop he was heading straight towards. The Enforcer dashed after him. His arm reaching out to grab Viktor before he fell. He was unfortunately too late. Viktor vanished from his sight tumbling over the edge. His scream echoing as he fell. The Enforcer could only stare in horror. “KID!” he bellowed over the edge, hoping desperately that the boy would answer him back.
.
.
.
Viktor didn’t.
---
In the first assault on the bridge, Vander lost Silco. The turmoil of losing their pup had driven his Alpha instincts haywire. Causing him to become feral. An unstoppable force that could only be stopped when put down like a mad dog. Silco had managed to bring him back from the brink, but it had cost the Omega one of his eyes.
Vander never forgot that night. Never forgot Silco’s injured face. Losing Viktor had broken him. Losing Silco had nearly destroyed him. He had hoped Silco would one day return. Perhaps finding Vander’s letter and they could rebuild what they had lost. But Silco never walked through the doors of the Last Drop again.
In the second assault of the bridge, Vander lost Felicia and Connal. His best friends. His family in all but blood.
After the failure of the first bridge assault, Zaun had gone into a state of muted survival. To regroup and reform. It took another few years before Zaun’s anger against Piltover boiled over once more. Vander took arm in aid only to protect those who couldn’t defend themselves. Felicia and Connal weren’t even supposed to be on the bridge that day. But the couple had gotten roped into joining the fight when rumors spread about another Enforcer raid. Another threat to their young daughters.
So they went.
And they died on that bridge.
Vander fought like hell till no Enforcer dared to come near him. Red smoke billowed up to the sky in thick clouds obstructing the noonday sun. He slammed his gauntlets into the head of another Enforcer. Not caring if the other man lived or died. Too many good people had died that day. No one that Piltover would ever care about.
He was close to going feral once more, moments away from letting the anger consume him, when her heard it.
Dear friend across the river, my hands are cold and bare
Dear friend across the river, I’ll take what you can spare
Vander felt the anger recede, leaving behind only cold realisation. That was Felcia’s lullaby. The same lullaby she had sung to her daughters.
I ask of you a penny, I ask you without envy
We raise no mighty towers; our homes are built of stone
So come across the river, and find...
The song drifted to a close without finishing. Through the haze of smoke and flames, Vander spotted them. Violet and Powder. Hand in hand in the middle of the devastation. Powder had tears running down her cheeks though she seemed numb to everything. Violet as the eldest put on a brave face till she saw how many dead lay on the bridge.
Vander carefully walked towards the two children. Violet looked up at him, the silent question of the fate of their parents hung in the air. Vander closed his eyes gesturing with his head. Felicia and Connal laid motionless on the bridge a few feet away. They were gone.
The older sister fell to her knees sobbing while the younger clung to her. Vander looked down at the Gauntlets that still adorned his hands and made a decision. He had failed Viktor. He had failed Silco.
He would not fail Violet and Powder.
He threw the gauntlets off and picked the two girls into his arms. Carrying them off the bridge and back into Zaun. They were all he had left. Of course, they could never replace the son he lost. But he would protect them to the best of his ability.
---
Violet gripped the ledges on the building. “We’re almost there” she called down to the others. Climbing up behind her were Powder, Claggor, and Milo. The four eventually made it to the top of Piltover’s skyline where the air was clear and the sky was a bright blue. The difference between Piltover and Zaun was impossible to ignore. “Hey Powder. Come take a look”
“Woah” was all her little sister could say
It had been two years since the girls had lost their parents. In that time they had grown under the careful watch of Vander. The once feared Hound of the Undercity. Despite his reputation, Vander was a loving man who treated the girls, as well as Claggor and Milo, as his own. Under his tutelage, Violet or Vi as she preferred to go by, lead the others as a four-man team of thieves that stole from Piltover’s upper class. It wasn’t honest work by a long shot, but it paid better than most gigs in the Undercity.
“Yeah. It’s good to get above it all” Vi said looking across Piltover’s glittering gold and marble skyline. In the distance they could see Piltover’s famous Council Chambers.
An airship flew overhead heading for Piltover’s air docks. Powder grinned brightly “One day, I’m gonna ride in one of those things”
Milo added “And one day, I’m gonna shoot one of them down”
“Vi, are you sure about this?” asked Claggor nervously “If we get caught-”
“We’re not gonna get caught” she cut him off leading them onto another rooftop “We’ll be in and out before anyone notices. Alright everybody, just follow me and don’t look down”
---
Back at the Last Drop, Vander was getting a late start to the day. He hadn’t slept the night before. He never slept well this time of year. The memories, the grief, the phantom ache in his arm rearing its ugly head. Vander stood in his bathroom scrubbing his face. Hoping to wash away the exhaustion he was feeling. He leaned on the sink looking at his tired reflection in the cracked mirror. He was debating on trimming his beard when his mind played its dirty tricks on him again. Faint laughter, followed by the click of a cane on the floorboards, had him snapping his head to the doorway. His shoulders sagged when he saw no one there.
When he looked back at his reflection, he saw a ghostly image of Silco from that night—soaked from the river and rain. Face twisted and scarred from what Vander did to him. One eye missing replaced with a glowing white void. The image had his arms around Vander. Expression just as haunted as his.
Vander jumped away from the sink with a frightened gasp. In a blink, the image was gone. Vander was left standing in his bathroom panting and shaking. When he finally caught his breath, Vander grabbed a towel “I hate this time of year”
Meanwhile, Vi had broken the balcony door lock allowing the four inside their target’s home. The building they had broken into was the student accommodations that connected to the Science Academy. The apartment was fashioned into a home lab with machinery and gadgets none of them could figure out.
“For once, you were right Claggor. We are definitely not supposed to be here” Milo commented already stealing whatever looked expensive or useful. In the Undercity, trade was the commodity, not coin. Anything of value could be traded for goods and services with cogs being the main currency.
Vi took note of the chalkboard on the wall covered in numbers and equations “Must be an inventor”
“Woah. I think this is a real Valdiani” Powder said picking up an object from the shelf.
“Oh yeah? What about this?” asked Milo proudly brandishing something he found on the desk
Powder rolled her eyes “That’s a nose hair trimmer”
“Keep an eye out for anything valuable, Powder. Before Milo fills the bag with junk”
Suddenly, Claggor called for them “Uh... guys?” he pushed aside papers on the desk, pointing out a strange device with a glowing blue orb. “Vi, where the hell did we find this place?”
“It was a tip from Little Man” she answered. Little Man referred to Ekko. A boy Powder’s age back in the Undercity. “Just leave it. And keep looking”
Powder had found her way into the bedroom of the apartment. It was just as cluttered and messy as the rest of the dorm with books stacked to the celling and machinery on the desk. Powder grinned when she saw two sandwiches on the desk just waiting to be eaten. She didn’t hesitate to take a massive bite out of one. They didn’t get food like this in Zaun.
That’s when she saw the box.
Inside were six glowing blue crystals. They thrummed with an energy she couldn’t describe. Powder held one up to the light to see better. The crystals matched her eyes almost perfectly.
“Powder, we gotta go!” Vi appeared in the doorway, whisper-yelling for her to follow. Powder scooped the crystals into her pocket. One accidentally falling onto the floor. Outside the door to the dorm. They could hear a man’s voice asking who was in there. Milo had propped a chair underneath the door but the man on the other side would no doubt get in eventually.
The fallen crystal hit the wall underneath the bed, shattering apart. The following explosion blew the group off their feet. Unharmed but shaken. The explosion caused the building’s structure to become unstable, causing a massive hole to be left behind. Rubble crashing to the street below. “Move! Move!” Vi ordered pointing to the roof
“Hey! Get back here!” an Enforcer from below shouted
---
In a small, quiet office, a young man with brown hair and mole-dotted pale skin sipped his tea while going over the paperwork Heimerdinger assigned him. It was far from the life he had envisioned when he snuck his way into the Academy years ago. He’d studied to be an engineer. A scientist who would help people. Not to end up the Dean’s assistant who was also the Head of the Council. Still, it paid the bills and allowed him to remain in Piltover despite his Zaun nationality.
His name was Viktor, and he was mid-way through a trade proposal when he felt the ground tremble. “What the-?” his voice thick with accent said aloud as his golden eyes darted to his office balcony. He grabbed his cane to help him walk towards the balcony. He threw the glass doors open just in time to see four teens from Zaun being chased through the streets by Enforcers. When Viktor looked in the direction of where they had come from, his eyes went wide at the sight of the massive smouldering hole left behind. If memory served right, that particular apartment belonged to Jayce Talis.
“Wonderful. More paperwork” he sighed