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In the smoking remains of Piltover's shopping district, Vi was having a hard time seeing through the thick ashy smog. Coughing, she waved the worst of the dust away from her face and snapped her goggles down over her eyes, and what little she could see plunged into a yellow tint.
The stench of smouldering rubble and blood was thick in the air, and Vi wrinkled her nose distastefully. Jinx had returned in a (literal) blaze. While this was just a source of amusement for the outlaw, people had died. The whole area was a bloody mess, and it was her fault. Heaving a sigh, which did nothing other than cause another coughing fit, Vi started making her way through the heavy cloud of ash. The only source of light were the fires that still burned, and above the crackling, the brawler could hear crying.
The wail of police sirens and ambulances were muffled by the haze, but at least that meant Vi could focus on…what was she focusing on? The brawler put on gauntlet to her head and drew it away finding fresh blood on the metal. She closed her eyes and shook her head lightly. It was something important…someone important.
“Oh.” She said, a simple word, barely even a word, that held no hint of the impact it meant to Vi.
The brawler staggered through the cloud, eyes straining through the ash and the tint of her goggles. The wreckage of a building, blackened with ash enough to be unrecognizable, swam into view. Mind still hazy as to what had happened, Vi made her way slowly to the ruin. It looked to have sustained the worst amount of damage, from what Vi could tell.
She made her way through the rubble, moving blocks out of the way with ease. Yeah, they had been here. Vi vaguely remembered being in this area, amidst the chaos of fleeing shoppers, air filled with Jinx’s crazed laughter, Caitlyn trying in vain to ensure the safety of citizens, despite it already being compromised by the outlaw’s very presence.
Then there was the explosion.
Her body grew cold and sluggish, she already knew what had happened. Possessions were scattered in the debris, and Vi had difficulty removing the gun from between two blocks of stone that may have once been pillars, standing proud and strong. The gun was large, and unsettlingly familiar, though it had a layer of dust over it, and one of the three glass eyesights was cracked, the other two absent completely. Vi’s vision became blurry, and a hazy realisation that wearing goggles whilst crying was probably not a good idea, and she pulled them off. Maybe she was seeing things, maybe getting rid of the tint would reveal the gun as not being hers. Maybe Jinx had made a replica of it to taunt “Hatlady” with?
But no, that was definitely Caitlyn’s gun. Despite the large, heavy machinery, Vi held the weapon in her gauntlets like a child, carrying it slowly away from the remains. Choking back a sob, the brawler sank to her knees, clutching the gun to her chest. Tears spilled freely over both hextech and rifle.
“I-I’ll,” Vi started, not sure who she was talking to or why she was talking, but was unable to finish the sentence. What would she do? Bringing Jinx to justice wouldn’t bring Caitlyn back, nor did she believe herself capable of such a task without the sheriff. She was certain she was alone now, Caitlyn didn’t just drop her gun.
Finally, the smog started to clear. This didn’t improve matters, Vi could see the whole district was in ruins, flames still licking along a skyline of broken buildings. Citizens, those she was meant to protect, lay injured on the streets or worse. And Vi was alone.
She didn’t know how long she spent sobbing, but she had run out of tears to cry. She waved paramedics away, unable to speak. Finally, Vi stood, eyes red and raw. Still carrying Caitlyn’s gun, the brawler made her way to the police vans, unable to rub her eyes against the cold metal of her gauntlets, so her vision was still blurry. She didn’t recognise the figure, leaning heavily on a crutch and talking slowly to a police officer. When they registered Vi’s approach, they turned.
“B-but…your g-gun,” Vi stuttered, going weak at the knees. Caitlyn was there, standing, bloodied and limping but alive, reporting to the police as if nothing had happened to her, logical like the Caitlyn she knew. Vi then found out she hadn’t run out of tears.
For the sheriff’s part, she had been worried about her deputy too. Caitlyn gathered the brawler in her arms, stroking her hair, hushing Vi like a mother would a child. Vi sputtered and her body racked with sobs, returning the hug fiercely.
“C-cupcake, d-don’t do that again, okay?”