Chapter Text
"I'm glad it's you..."
Vi, who'd been more than ready to deliver the final blow moments earlier, faltered. The little voice in the back of her head had grown too loud to ignore. She didn't move the gauntlet, only held it midair, pausing to stare down at Jinx one last time.
"...had to be you."
Jinx's eyes rolled back in defeat, loosening her grip around the gauntlet at her neck. Vi's eyes widened a fraction at the sight. Breathing heavily, she shook her head, letting out a desperate grunt of denial. She fought with all her power to drown out the voice, but she couldn't. She couldn't do it.
When Jinx didn't immediately feel the cold press of death tightening around her throat or bashing into her skull, her eyes slid back down in apprehension. She stiffened at the look on Vi's face, almost as if she could read the thoughts behind them. Meeting her gaze, she stared up at Vi with a mix of trepidation and something akin to hope. Vi's gauntlet popped and hissed, slowly releasing its hold on Jinx's neck. The realization that Vi had been running from for so long finally slammed into her like a bullet.
She's my sister.
I could never, ever kill her.
The loud, whirring roar of a Hextech bullet cut through the silence. A brilliant flash of blue streaked through the temple in front of Vi, forcing her to reel back. The faint scent of something burning swirled beneath her nose. After a beat of silence, she blinked away the haze and glanced back down. She froze.
Beneath her, Jinx laid perfectly still, just as before. But her mouth was ajar. Her hands were limp. The vibrant hue of her eyes, pink as Vi's hair, dulled to a faded magenta.
And it was only one eye.
The bullet had disintegrated the entire upper right part of Jinx's skull, leaving only a few cracks of blue lightning in its wake. Blood bloomed across the altar, dripping into the cracks, while organs and brain matter spilled out over severed bone. Vi still didn't move.
Caitlyn lowered her smoking rifle and limped closer to the scene. Before she could reach Vi, both women looked up as a strange mewling noise echoed in the distance. Cait spun and raised her gun, peering through the scope. To her surprise, she only found a small girl bawling and thrashing in the weak grip of Sevika, who leaned against a wall with exhaustion from her fight with Cait.
Vi met eyes with the one-armed woman, expecting to find rage or even grief in her gaze. Instead, Sevika gave her a look of sheer disappointment, like she'd truly expected Vi to do something different. Before Vi could blink, Sevika reached under a ledge in the wall she was leaning against and tugged. Within the next few moments, Vi and Cait were flying.
In the split second before they were airborne, Cait had made a mad dash toward Vi, but both of her gauntlets had already been occupied with Jinx's body. Now Cait and Vi tumbled through the air, smashing into walls and spinning wildly. Both of them eventually managed to grab hold of something solid to avoid flying into the fan above them. Just before either of them lost their grip, the air finally settled around them.
Despite Vi's best efforts to protect her sister's body, Jinx had been unable to hold out against the force of the flying debris during their flight. When the three of them landed, Jinx was barely recognizable, arms bent back awkwardly and legs twisted in all the wrong directions. Vi lowered the body to the ground and quickly turned away, unable to handle the sight of her sister's mangled corpse. She began pacing up and down in the new space, forgetting that Cait was even there until she spoke.
"Vi."
Vi didn't answer, only hastened her steps.
"Vi."
With her eyes trained on the ground, Vi paused in her strides. "You killed her."
Cait's brows furrowed, a mix of worry and exasperation. "...I had to. I had the shot."
"She was my sister."
Cait blinked. "She killed so many people, Vi. She was too far gone. I thought you were past this—"
"Cait, she was my sister."
Cait didn't respond for a moment. Then, she scoffed. "What's wrong with you?"
Instead of replying, Vi continued staring at the ground. She shook her head vigorously, resuming her pacing and muttering frantically. Cait took a tentative step closer to hear the words.
"...for nothing. All of it was for nothing. Putting on this damn uniform, gassing my own people, hunting down my own fucking sister, for what? I did everything, I gave up everything, just to..." Vi paused, taking a shaky breath and finally looking up at Cait. "What's the point if I can't do it with her?"
When the two met eyes, Cait's lips pressed into a thin line. And by Vi's last sentence, she was glaring— sneering, even. Vi recoiled at the sight. Cait had never looked at her like that before, like she was... less than.
"What kind of... animals?" Cait had shouted.
Vi swallowed. Maybe Cait had looked at her like that before— looked down on her— but maybe she'd been too blind to see it.
Cait's hard gaze bore into her, then turned away with a bitter laugh. "I keep telling myself that you're different, but you're not."
She stopped just before the ladder, looking back just enough for Vi to hear her words. "It's her blood in your veins."
"Then why were you the one acting like her?" Vi spat, lunging forward to grab Cait's arm. Cait went deathly still at the movement. Vi blinked, realizing what she was doing. She softened her grip and moved her hand lower. Vi tried to peer around Cait's messy hair to catch a glimpse of what she was thinking. Cait still didn't move, only taking a few ragged breaths and gritting her teeth. Vi opened her mouth, about to cautiously pry for a response, then—
Only due to her years upon years of training, of experience, of ingraining it into her head until it was muscle memory, was Vi able to move fast enough. She caught the butt of Cait's rifle in her hand, only a hair's breadth away from meeting its mark on her chest.
Both women froze.
"...Caitlyn."
She didn't respond.
"Caitlyn, you tried to hit me."
"No... no, Vi, that's not what—"
Vi stepped back, raking a hand through her hair, a pained look on her face. "Oh my god, you were gonna hit me."
Shocked by her own actions, Caitlyn backed up as well, watching as Vi's breaths turned ragged and uneven. An ache beyond the physical, the loss of everything she held dear, speared through Vi until she stumbled and fell to the ground. She clutched a hand to her heart and let out a choked sob.
Everyone in my life has changed.
Caitlyn watched in silence. Her hands trembled in horror. Instantly, she felt the guilt, the rush of sorrow, the need to drop to her knees and comfort Vi. But then her gaze slid to the disfigured corpse beside Vi, and it hardened.
Why should I feel bad?
Why should I regret it?
To dispose of a bloodthirsty murderer, why wouldn't I use any means necessary?
Vi's gasps began to slow, only long enough for her to lift her gaze and catch the look on Caitlyn's face. The upright woman's jaw was clenched with newfound determination, fingers tightening around the gun once more. She slung the rifle over her back. Vi watched her face crumple for a moment, a single tear dripping to the ground, the last remnant of the Caitlyn she'd known. The Cait she'd loved.
Then Caitlyn turned, hoisting herself up the ladder without a single glance back. With her out of sight, Vi's eyes dropped back down and clouded with tears once more. Her sobs echoed in the cavern, heard by no one but herself and her sister's corpse beside her, with a familiar emptiness sinking in her gut.
I choose wrong every time.
And because of it,
I've lost everyone.