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'Of course she couldn't stop herself from fucking everything up, not even for a single fucking day.'
Everything Vi touched just seemed to crumble; was it any wonder she had a penchant for breaking her fists on anything in her way?
Even Cait, gorgeous, righteous, topsider Cupcake. Laying, forgotten, against the far wall of the cell.
'Probably about to spend her last hours here. With Vi.'
A bitter sigh drips from Vi's lips, tattered and small.
Cait had followed Vi, the criminal she'd risked everything to work with, took a chance on. Trusted. And here she was, unconscious in a cell.
Vi hadn't just failed her, she'd fucking demolished Cait's trust.
And Powder.
'It's Jinx, now.'
'Powder fell down a well!'
"Fuck."
Vi can feel the weight of it all catch up to her as she crosses the few steps to Cait's side. She falls, silently, collapsing against the wall like the dreams she'd just let herself start to want.
Why had she expected anything else.
Vi felt like crying.
It fucking hurt, the weight of it all. She could feel crushing on her spine; trying to bend her, to break her.
She wanted to give up, let the weight drag her down into the dark. Vi was no stranger to the broken heartbreak of those without hope. Six years she'd spent among the forgotten, the nameless, the ones topside liked to pretend weren't human.
Little wonder so many down here had fallen into the hypnotic sway of Shimmer, letting it take it all away. Even now Vi could feel the pulsing heat of it burning through her veins.
Vi wasn't stupid.
She knew how she was alive, standing here in this fucking cage.
She could see how much that shining rifle meant to Cait. She knew the kinds of deals that were made down here in the midnight fissures.
'The gun would have been more useful, all things considered.'
Vi's tears are spilling to the floor, now; the low sound as loud as the chatter of Pow-Jinx's gun.
A choked laugh, more sob than anything else, rips from Vi's throat, wet and horrible. That monstrosity was bigger than Jinx. Her little sister always had reached for bigger, louder.
As loud as the violet fringe falling over her eyes, now.
As loud as the violent, violet lightning of Jinx's tracer rounds.
Vi wondered, distantly, what it all meant. Was this Pow-Pow reaching out, screaming for her big sister's guidance?
Or did Jinx just see the violet explosion that ruined their lives, the violet hate in her sister's eyes the last time she'd seen her.
The sister that hurt her. That left her in the hands of Vander's killer. That let her go, again.
'Sister, thought I missed her?!'
It fucking ached, the manic fear and pain she had heard in Jinx's voice. Vi wished she had been strong enough to hold her, then, hold Powder together and never let her go.
But Vi knew Jinx was wrong about one thing.
She had missed Powder. Powder, the only thing she had left in the world. Powder, the sister Vi had pushed into that well, that Silco had bricked over, sealed with the cruelty of life.
And Vi wanted to just give up, let the weight drag her to the gentle dark and never have to stand up again. Never have to take another hit, another heartbreak.
She couldn't. Jinx, Powder - her sister needed her.
Everything Vi touched crumbled. And she'd fucking use it. Vi would lash out, scream and punch til her hands were bloody pulp, if she had to. She'd crush walls, people, anyone, anything. It didn't matter. Vi was going to break whatever kept Powder in that well. She would reach out, again, hold Jinx so softly, let her fall apart in her big sister's arms. That was it, the last thread she had; hope, to see the woman her sister had become, would become.
And that had to be enough.
A gentle pressure on her cheek, fingers brush lightly over the tattoo on her cheek.
Vi opens her eyes.
She wonders what Cait must think, to be touching her like this. She wonders at the care, the concern so present in Cait's eyes. She wonders how anyone could look at the fragile, twisted mess she is, and still touch her, so soflty.
But Cait does.
And maybe Vi hadn't fucked everything up.
She had to be brave, now. She needed to get back up, to fight. Jinx needed her. Cait needed her. But she couldn't do it alone, not again. She never could. That was what cost Vander his life. And Mylo, and Claggor. And probably Cait and Jinx too, now.
Vi had to be brave, ask for help.
"Cupcake - Caitlyn. Hold me, please."
There isn't a moment of hesitation; Cait drops her arm, curls into Vi's side, arms at rest around her broad shoulders.
And Vi knows she was right to trust Caitlyn. Her cupcake. The one thing she hadn't fucked up.
Vi lifts her arms, wrapping, squeezing around the smaller woman at her side. Gentle pressure from Cait is her reward, and it takes Vi back.
Back to a different place, a different time, a different girl wrapped in her arms. Powder had always hung on tight, and the isolation of prison, of being ripped away from her sister, her home;
It nearly killed Vi.
Her tears have stopped, now. Even a six year drought wasn't enough to keep them going for long. Vi shifts, flexes; feels Cait's hold a little tighter. She rises, lifting Caitlyn with her from the floor.
Vi was strong enough to try, at least.
For Caitlyn, who took a chance on a forgotten girl from the undercity.
For her sister; Powder that she lost, Jinx that she wanted to find.
For herself.
Vi would stand up, shoulder the weight once more.
She'd try. She had to.