Chapter Text
Caitlyn watched the building where Vi met with Jinx burn, but she couldn’t just stand there watching her hopes burn and do nothing, could she? Of course not, she ran inside looking for any sign of Vi or Jinx. It was possible that they’d left before Jinx set it all ablaze but how could she be sure? ‘Vi, I need you. I can’t live without you, I can’t not ever see you again.’ All those thoughts raced through Caitlyn's mind as she rushed through the flames of the crumbling building. ‘Please be okay, please be alive, please Vi, please please, please, gods, whoever just let her come back to me. There is nothing I wouldn’t do for her just, please.’
“Well, well, well… What do we have here? An overcooked cupcake, I see.” Jinx coughed, and for the first time ever Caitlyn was glad to see her because she was holding the one person she’d die for in an instant.
“Jinx, let me…” Caitlyn started and Jinx growled.
“Stay the fuck away!” Jinx yelled standing in front of the desk where Vi lay.
“Let me help, you’ll burn to a crisp otherwise, Jinx.” Caitlyn coughed, the smoke was starting to get in her lungs as well.
“Fuck you. If we die we’ll at least die together,” she said, pointing at Caitlyn with her gun, as her free hand held onto her sister’s unconscious body.
“You’re literally more stubborn than your sister,” Caitlyn reprimanded.
“Yes, and?” Jinx scoffed.
“You’re kidding me,” Caitlyn whispered under her breath, groaning as one of the building’s columns gave in, falling in between her and the two sisters. “Fuck my life!” she exclaimed.
On the other side, Jinx kept pointing her gun at Caitlyn through the dust, eyes shining with anger as she picked up Vi and moved further away among the debris.
Caitlyn wanted to move, wanted to run after them, but her legs froze up beneath her in shock and she only stared as Vi was taken away. A strange device rolled at her feet and she gasped, then coughed. A moment passed, then another, the grenade didn’t go off. ‘What?’ Caitlyn crouched and picked it up, but it fell apart into a million little bugs that clouded her vision. She yelped and jerked awake.
She sat up in a swift motion, she was sweating, she held her hand over her heart, felt it pounding in her chest, and breathed heavily searching blindly with her hand for Vi, but she was alone in bed. It wasn’t only a nightmare. Vi was gone, Jinx had taken her and there hadn’t been anything Caitlyn could do to stop it. Caitlyn was so angry she could scream… And she had, two days ago when everything went down, but right now she got up and got ready to go to the station. Her only focus was finding Vi.
There was a task force that was still investigating the explosion at the gala and coming to no conclusions. And though Caitlyn was forced to work on her own given the off-the-record nature of the mission she and Vi had gone through with, she was used to working solo. She just needed the facilities to regroup her own thoughts and the coffee maker was her only partner. When Vi wasn’t in for several days people started asking questions and Caitlyn knew couldn’t blame it on the flu forever, she ought to get answers soon.
*
After the days turned to weeks, Caitlyn had finally decided to go on an undercover mission to the Lanes. On record she said she’d just be following through with the initiative to support the Undercity community. She and Vi had been advocating for it for months before the gala and had started doing some groundwork. Before Vi had been taken they’d started interviewing people as part of their research for the program. Talking to the people here was very different than talking to people in her usual environment, but Caitlyn had done her best to learn and mimic whatever she could from Vi as she investigated the Shimmer production and tried to get any clues that would get her closer to finding her girlfriend.
She didn’t know what to expect when she entered ‘The Last Drop’, a nightclub that had recently been turned back to a pub, but it wasn’t to find exactly who she was looking for behind the counter tending the bar and glancing over at her as if she didn’t spend the last eight months living and working and spending almost every waking and sleeping moment together. Caitlyn swallowed hard. This had to be another one of her nightmares, but she didn’t remember going to sleep. She braced herself, walking over to where Vi was cleaning the bartop, asking the customers if they wanted a refill.
“I’ll be right with you,” Vi said in her general direction.
“Uh… Vi?” Caitlyn muttered, confused.
“Yes?” She glanced at Caitlyn with a curious expression but no recognition whatsoever. This wasn’t the soulful and stirring, deep-felt reunion Caitlyn had hoped for when she finally found her.
“I’ll be with you in a second,” Vi said after a moment of silence. Caitlyn nodded, she was confused, she didn’t understand how the fuck Vi was acting so casual after going missing in such a scary and traumatic way.
“Alright,” Vi said heading her way. “What can I do for you?”
“Y-you… do you know who I am?” Caitlyn asked pushing her lips together into a thin line.
“Uh… no?” Vi said leaning on the bar scanning her eyes over the woman before her, she was attractive alright, seemed like she was hoping Vi would remember her from somewhere but she couldn’t. “But… I’d like to,” she said with a tiny smirk.
“You don’t know me…” Caitlyn whispered mostly to herself. “And you’re… working here?” She gave Vi a confused look.
“Uh, yeah...” Vi started as someone from the other side of the counter requested the bartender’s attention. “Listen… uh, Cupcake, I’ll be off in an hour if you wanna talk to me,” Vi said hopefully, noticing how the nickname made the other woman’s breath catch in her throat. It kinda suited her, in Vi’s opinion.
“Sure,” she said and Vi smiled before rushing to tend to the other customers.
“Hey, Kiramman isn’t it?” A voice called from behind Caitlyn and she turned around, recognizing the woman immediately. She was sitting at a booth by herself with a big glass of golden liquid in her hand.
“You’re the goon who attacked Vi back when we were searching the Lanes for the Hexstone,” Caitlyn accused.
“Sevika’s the name,” the big muscular woman said. “Could I have a word?”
“Fine, but I came here to get Vi and I won’t let you stop me,” Caitlyn said and walked over, sitting down across from her.
“Trust me, I won’t try to stop you, but you should really reconsider,” Sevika said.
“And why is that?” Caitlyn questioned folding her arms over her chest.
“Did she recognize you?” Sevika asked.
“Uh… no, but… she must have hit her head and is experiencing memory loss,” Caitlyn rationalized.
“That ain’t it, princess,” Sevika stated as she took a long swig from the bubbly liquid in her glass.
“What do you mean?” Caitlyn asked.
“Listen, I don’t know what you think you and Vi had but, it’s gone. She has a second chance to be there for her little sister and make up for the lost time. Do you really wanna take that from her?” Sevika asked, giving Caitlyn a pointed look.
“I…” Caitlyn stared and glanced to where Vi stood behind the bar. “I don’t want to take anything from her.”
“Then don’t,” Sevika said dryly.
“You’re working with Jinx, aren’t you?” Caitlyn asked, turning her gaze back to Sevika. Sevika pursed her lips raising her chin, sizing her up.
“Why?” She replied with a question of her own.
“Because if I find out Jinx is hurting her, I will make sure you pay for it too,” Caitlyn said severely.
When Sevika didn’t respond, Caitlyn continued; “I want you to tell Jinx I will be coming back, we are going to get to the bottom of this Shimmer production crime net, and that has nothing to do with me and Vi.” She then stood up and walked out of the bar, giving a final longing glance towards the pink-haired woman serving drinks.
It felt wrong, so wrong to leave Vi, to not be able to hold onto her at night when she was feeling this sad. Granted, if Vi was there with her she’d have no reason to be sad. She didn’t want to go to bed and have nightmares, she finally understood what Vi went through those first months when she’d moved in with her. It was so much easier to just drink, drink and forget than to stay in bed writhing around and thinking about the things she’d done wrong, the things she couldn’t change.
Caitlyn went out to ‘The Hole in the Wall’ pub that night, even if she had to face purple curls alone she needed to do something to soothe her pain, something that made her feel at least a little closer to Vi.
“Hi, are you going to wait or do you want to order?” Purple curls approached her as soon as she’d been seated.
“I’m going to be alone tonight, just bring the usual.” Caitlyn replied, not even looking at the waiter or the menu she’d slid across the table to her.
“Oh… okay…” the waiter responded, taking the menu back, returning shortly after with her usual dark beer.
“Thanks.” Caitlyn took a sip letting the taste linger on her tongue taking a deep breath as she closed her eyes.
She could see Vi in her memory quite vividly, she could also imagine the taste of her beer-flavored lips, she smiled and took gulp after gulp asking purple curls to keep them coming. By the end of the night, she’d gotten pretty drunk. She wondered how Vi could find her way home after a long night out, but she then considered their level of tolerance was probably wildly different.
She had to call someone to pick her up, but she could not call her parents, and seeing as Vi didn’t even know who she was anymore, she couldn’t call her. So she decided to call Jayce instead. He’d surely be glad to see what Caitlyn looked like drunk, proof that she was a normal human being. He often teased her for being too rigid and strict, a bore and a buzzkill.
“Who’s the uptight little bitch now?” Caitlyn slurred when Jayce scolded her for worrying him with a call so late at night.
“It’s Monday, Caitlyn, who gets drunk on a Monday?” Jayce questioned but quickly gave up trying to reason with her and just helped her step out of her booth and walk out of the pub.
“I gotta say I was very surprised to get your call, how come you are here alone? Is Vi still unwell?” Jayce asked once they were in his car, on their way to the Kiramman manor.
“Who… How do you know about that?” Caitlyn asked, even in her drunken state she was sure she hadn’t said anything to Jayce about Vi.
“I check in with the police station regularly, I like to keep in touch since you know…” Caitlyn knew he was referring to what happened with Marcus. “And my contact there shared their concerns for Vi. They said she’d been missing work for over two weeks, but she hasn’t been to the doctor, has she? I know she’s a tough cookie or whatever but I don’t think she shouldn’t just tough it out if she’s really that sick.”
“She’s… she isn’t sick Jayce, I messed up… I messed up so bad,” Caitlyn said, admitting her blame out loud for the first time. She had been impatient, she should have waited and followed the protocols, but she’d gotten cocky and greedy, and for what? For nothing. They didn’t get any answers, didn’t get Jinx, and now she’d lost Vi too.
“What happened to her?” Jayce asked.
“Can we talk tomorrow? I just-I just don’t think I can talk about this right now,” Caitlyn mumbled.
“Yeah, sure that’s okay, I’ll come to meet you at the station first thing tomorrow,” Jayce said.
Caitlyn nodded. “Thanks.”
*
The next day Jayce was at the station as promised, he was sitting across from Caitlyn at her desk, with the office door closed. She was only slightly hungover thanks to the gallons of water she’d consumed before going to bed, and the aspirin she took with her breakfast wasn’t hurting either.
“What I’m about to tell you is extremely confidential. I-we did something to try and move forward the investigation around the gala attack.” Caitlyn explained. Jayce could barely believe this was the same woman who’d called him up drunk the prior night.
“The one at Piltover’s Progress Day?” Jayce asked. She nodded. “I thought there weren’t any new leads.” He said.
“That was what the public was told, and what the rest of the force thinks as well but, it’s not the whole truth.” Caitlyn paused, watching Jayce carefully as she said the next part.
“Vi and I found some evidence and we have reason to believe someone at the gala was involved in the attack. That’s why we need to keep this confidential. It's pretty serious, I know, but if we are right, we can stop them from doing more damage. Can I trust you with this?” She asked.
“If what you’re saying is true then it’s even more important that I am aware. You can trust me Cait, of course.” He nodded. She let out a sigh of relief.
“We did something really dangerous and in hindsight reckless.” Caitlyn prefaced.
“Okay…” Jayce said, watching her expectantly.
Retelling the story was almost harder than having to live through it. She’d gone through it in her head a million times over but this was definitely worse than silently reliving the mistakes that had led to where they were now, Vi was away from her and didn’t even remember her. Putting it into words, having to explain to someone else every single stupid mistake they’d committed was excruciating. But it was too late to cry over spilled milk.
“How much did she forget?” Jayce asked when Caitlyn finished telling him everything.
“I have no idea, I barely exchanged two sentences with her.” It broke her heart even just thinking about it.
“But that woman, Sevika, she hinted at something didn’t she?” Jayce wondered.
“I suggested Vi had lost her memories due to an injury and she seemed to be sure that wasn’t the case,” Caitlyn recalled. “But what does that even mean?”
“Could they be artificially altering her memories?” Jayce asked.
“What? Do you think they’re able to do that, to alter her mind?” Caitlyn asked, taken aback.
“I mean, what else could it mean?” Jayce replied.
“Is it possible to alter someone’s memories like that? With, like Shimmer or… Hextech?” Caitlyn wondered.
“There could be some studies I can look into for you. But… in the meantime I want to thank you for trusting me with this, and also… I want to meet your therapist friend, she seems very capable,” Jayce requested.
“I can get you her contact for sure…So… does this mean you’ll help out with the case?” Caitlyn inquired.
“I’m no detective, Cait, but if I can do anything, and I mean anything at all to help you I will. I want to make sure we help the people in our sister city, they have suffered so much for so long, and I know you and Vi have been doing so much in terms of bringing awareness and actually trying to make a change. I couldn’t justify denying my help just to protect the selfish interests of the Council.”
“Thanks, Jayce. ” She said standing up and walking around the desk to give him a tight hug. “Thank you so much, I… I really needed to hear that.” Caitlyn said softly and pulled back
“You’re welcome. Oh and next time you plan to go get drunk alone, at least invite me to get a couple of drinks too,” Jayce teased.
“Shut up.” Caitlyn rolled her eyes and shoved at his arm lightly.
*
Jayce asked Caitlyn to meet with him and a friend that evening at the University. He did say that he would look into it but it was way sooner than she’d expected to hear back.
“Turns out there is some research about meddling with the mind using Arcane powers,” Jayce’s friend said.
“Who is this?” Caitlyn asked.
“Oh right, sorry, this is Viktor. Viktor, Caitlyn.”
“Hi Caitlyn, I’ve heard so much about you,” Viktor said, giving the woman a slight glance and a nod before returning to his book.
“Likewise,” Caitlyn said though she just vaguely remembered Jayce mentioning the man.
“Well, uh, theoretically it is possible to chemically alter the brain and artificially manipulate what you want the person you are doing the alterations on to believe. Although some work with PTSD patients was done, this paper shows that the results were inconclusive at best. In the majority of cases, its use has been known to be highly unethical, and basically, borderline taboo. There is too much liability on the person performing the memory manipulation. Why do you want to know about this kind of magic, Caitlyn?”
“I… I need a moment with Jayce,” Caitlyn said softly, pulling Jayce aside.
“Why did you bring someone else into this? I told you it was confidential,” she asked once out of earshot from Viktor.
“You can trust Viktor, he won’t tell a soul, he hates bureaucracy,” Jayce assured her.
She gave him a contemplative look.
“Caitlyn, you wanted answers, I don’t know what you want me to say, I got you the answers you needed, now we know what’s possible we are like ten steps closer to getting to the bottom of how you can get Vi back.”
“Alright, fine. If you think he is trustworthy I believe you,” Caitlyn agreed.
“I’m from the Lanes too,” Viktor interjected as he walked by them to rummage through another pile of books. “Like your friend, the pink-haired woman you’re partnered with.”
“You are?” Caitlyn asked, scanning him one more time, and there it was she could see it as clear as day, she could see the hint of a resemblance, the way he moved and he held himself. There was something about the people from the Undercity, that if you looked close enough, you were able to spot, Caitlyn couldn’t pinpoint or describe it, though.
“It isn’t that shocking when you realize, is it?” Viktor said, fully able to read her expression of recognition. “Anyway, why isn’t she with you? I thought you worked cases together.”
“She’s the one who’s got her memory tampered with,” Caitlyn responded.
“Oh…” Viktor said, meeting Caitlyn’s eyes for the first time.
“Is there a way to undo it?” she asked.
“There are some ways, it all depends on the way the spell or procedure was performed. If you wanna get more technical about it,” Viktor explained.
“Why does it matter?” Caitlyn questioned.
“The intention is key in these kinds of things. Spells are like science, in a way, but there are always trade-offs. If whoever did it knew what they were doing and didn’t want it to be reversible there is little we can do to help her.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me, you’re telling me that Vi is never getting her memory back then? I don’t know what Jinx did but I doubt she wanted it to be reversible,” Caitlyn said in an urgent tone, starting to pace around the room.
“Who is Jinx…?” Viktor wondered.
“You don’t know who Jinx is? She’s a wanted criminal, from the Undercity. She was Silco’s protegee?” Caitlyn replied.
“Oh, yeah, but I meant more like who is she to Vi? It seems to be a very personal and targeted attack to take someone hostage and alter their memories,” Viktor elaborated.
“She… she’s Vi’s sister,” Caitlyn whispered.
“What!?” Jayce exclaimed.
“She’s Vi’s little sister… That’s why this is so much more complicated Jayce. It’s been so hard for Vi… now you know why she had to see a therapist after shooting the person who’d attacked me,” she said sadly.
“Shit…” Jayce cursed, things just got way clearer, and also more fucked up than he’d thought originally.
“Yes.” Caitlyn sighed. “It sucks.”