Chapter Text
“Bravo, sis.”
That was the last thing Vi heard before the sharp sting on her nape knocked her out. Instantly, her world faded to black.
***
Bright orange sparks sprouted into her vision as she slowly opened her eyes. The warm light was barely strong enough for her to make out what was in front of her; broken wooden planks and rubble piled up in a dark room.
She glanced down and noticed the rope tying her to a chair. She writhed her wrists, struggling against the rough texture.
“Really thought I buried this place,” a voice called out from far behind. Even with the distance, Vi knew who it was. She would never forget this voice. Never.
“But! I should’ve known better.”
Vi looked up, trying to find her sister in the vast room that smelled of ash and dust.
“Powder—“
“Nothing ever stays dead.”
Vi shuddered at the eerie tone in her little sister’s voice, slow and dead. With nothing to say, she continued to glance around.
“Are we alone?” She asked, not even trying to hide the unsteadiness of her voice.
“For now,” Powder replied, still with the eerie rasp. “Maybe forever.”
How Vi wished they could be alone forever—with no care for the world outside. Just them and nobody else to get in their way. She wondered if Powder meant that… or if she had something different in mind.
“Wanna know a secret?” Powder continued, her voice inching closer with each second. “Silco thinks he made Jinx. With all his rants and his hard-won lessons. Excise your doubts, Jinx! Be what they fear, Jinx! Like everything was the same as when Vander left him. But he didn’t make Jinx.”
There was a swift pause.
“You did.”
Vi really didn’t know what to say. Words for apology? Lame. Not enough. Words of love? She didn’t deserve to say those to Powder anymore. They’re all useless. Every word she would say would be utterly useless.
What better way to let her precious little sister know that she still cared than to tell her the truth? Spill everything, she told herself, even if they can’t bring back the lives she was too weak to protect. Even if they can’t distinguish the pain Powder had experienced because she wasn’t there for her. For everyone.
“I’m so sorry, Powder. I never meant to leave you,” she said, on the verge of tears. She let the words gush out of her mouth like a river. Everything she had thought until now, she would tell Powder. She will make it up to her, even if it takes an entire lifetime. Even if it takes up her afterlife as well.
“You never left,” Powder replied. She seemed to be close to crying, too. “I always heard you. Shadows in the streets, prickles in the back of my neck, your voice… pushing me, picking me up when all the colors were black. You’re the reason I’m still alive.”
You’re the reason why I’m alive as well, Vi wanted to say. Despite how Powder had showcased her hate and spite to Vi recently, Vi still couldn’t help but be glad that her voices in Powder’s head were picking her up, not dragging her down.
The fact that Powder had also hallucinated about her was disturbing yet somehow reassuring, because every night people had “talks” with her in Stillwater, she had seen Powder as well. Hiding behind the corners of the wall, peeking through and gazing at her with those innocent blue eyes, crying…
“Are we still… sisters?”
“Always. Nothing will ever change that.”
A candle flickered to life in front of her, and for the first time since she got here, Vi could see her little sister’s face. Beautiful though covered in dirt, lively but still filled with sadness. Everything about her: perfect.
“I’d always knew you’d come back,” Powder said, reaching for the chair’s arm and turning it around.
“What’s going on?”
The candles on the long table in front of her suddenly began to light up as well. Silco laid limp on the other side, a gag in his mouth.
“He took everything from us,” Powder said, her voice with a hint of resentment. “Right here, he stabbed Vander in the back, just like he planned to with me. All the time saying you abandoned me even though he knew the truth… liar.”
Her stance immediately did a flip, turning from tense to laid back. “Hm,” she looked around. “We’re missing someone.”
Vi watched in silence as Powder strolled out of sight and brought out a steaming silver plate with a lid.
She placed the plate onto the table and put two slender fingers neatly on the lid. “I paid your girlfriend a visit this morning,” she said. Seeing that Vi remained quiet, she continued. “And then I made her a snack!”
Vi told herself to remain calm. Powder knew that she cared for Caitlyn. She would never hurt her, right? Even so, she knew that her expression was giving off something when her little sister suddenly looked hurt. She steeled her face and tried to appear not worried, afraid to hurt her sister’s feelings.
Powder silently switched between looking at the lid and her sister’s expression. In an instant, she lifted the lid to reveal a freshly baked cupcake with purple frosting and the glowing blue hextech gem as the “cherry-on-top”.
“Wow, sis!” Powder exclaimed. “And here I thought that you’d be scared. Maybe I underestimated you!” She happily threw the lid away and skipped out of sight again, only to drag a frightened Caitlyn out of the shadows.
Now this is where Vi began to worry. “Powder,” she said softly, like trying to coax a stubborn child. “Please, leave her out of this.”
Powder glided smoothly next to her and scanned the table that she had set up especially for this event.
“Now, where should I sit?” She looked at Vi. “It’s your choice, really.”
On either side of the table, there was an empty seat. One labeled “Powder” and the other, “Jinx”.
Vi shook her head, frantic and confused. “I don’t care,” she said. “Sit where you want, but just know that I was there for you. Only you. You don’t need to do this. I’ll stay with you no matter what.”
A gun was placed into her hands.
“Make her go away, please. Send her on her way in.” Powder turned to Caitlyn, who was trembling in her seat. “And… you can have Powder back.”
Now Vi understood. Her little sister wanted her to kill Caitlyn. Cupcake. Her little sister wanted her to kill her! That… she didn’t even need to pause to think.
“I can’t,” Vi protested. “You really don’t need to do this, Powder. W-we can just go. We’ll leave and never come back.”
Powder started breathing heavily. “But… where will we go?” She suddenly started shaking her head and seemingly spoke to no one. “No, no, no!”
“It’s true,” Vi answered. “We’ll put this behind us, you'll never have to see him again.”
Across the table, Silco had woken up and was starting to retaliate.
Powder walked over and roughly pulled off the gag. “What do you have to say about that?”
Silco turned to Vi. “Her name is Jinx!” Then he directed his attention to Powder and softened his tone.
“She’s lying. You’ll be with her for a day before she realizes you aren’t that girl anymore and turns her back on you.”
Powder looked towards Vi again with unshed tears and a wavering voice. “You aren’t lying, are you? You wouldn’t lie to me… not again.”
“I'm not lying,” Vi said with no hesitation. “I will not abandon you again, I promise. Even if you’ve changed… forget about that! As long as you’re with me, I’ll never leave. Not again.”
Without warning, Powder shot the mannequin of… Mylo on one side of the table. “Shut up!! We’re talking!”
Silco ignored the abnormal behavior like it was normal and began to reassure her. Yapping about things that Vi should be telling Powder, spouting words sweeter than sugar when really he just wanted to use her. Jinx, Powder, who cared anymore. They’re both the same person. They’re both her sister!
A crash sounded on Caitlyn’s side of the table. “Drop the gun!” Caitlyn ordered, lifting Powder’s cannon towards her.
Vi squirmed in her seat, her heart rate rising. “No… please…”
There was a moment of silence before Powder lifted her gun at Caitlyn. Bullets from the cannon came flying out immediately, straight at Powder—straight at her sister.
“No! Stop!” Vi yelled, helpless in her seat. The action came to a halt.
“Drop the gun,” Caitlyn repeated.
“No… please… she’s my sister!”
“Vi, she’s too far gone!”
“No! Don’t you see? She’s right here! The same flesh and blood, the same blue hair, no matter how I look at it, she’s still my sister!”
Powder glanced at Vi briefly before letting out a nervous chuckle. She side stepped closer to the table and placed the gun in front of Silco and put both hands in the air.
Caitlyn stiffened and raised the cannon again.
“No!” Vi interrupted. “Caitlyn, please. Put it down.”
Caitlyn’s eyes narrowed but she slowly lowered the cannon. She crouched down slightly, ready to put it down when Powder’s eyes glowed a menacing magenta.
Powder zoomed forward, faster than she’s ever been, and grabbed the cannon, lifting it and knocking Caitlyn out.
“You see,” Silco urged. “Now finish it.”
“Damn it, Powder!” Vi yelled. “Don’t do this! We’ll leave now, to somewhere different. A completely new place to start a completely new life. Powder!”
Silco edged closer to the edge of his chair and began yelling at the top of his lungs. “Don’t listen to her!”
“Powder! Listen to me! Remember Vander? Remember our family? They would want you to be happy!”
Before Vi could say anything more, a gun was shot towards her, impelling her right in her chest.
All was quiet.
“No… no…”
The cannon that Powder was holding crashed onto the floor, discarded. Her long blue braids trailed behind her as she slipped towards Vi’s seat and dropped onto her knees, eyes blown wide in shock.
“Don’t…” her hands reached for Vi’s face, trailing down her neck and to the giant wound in her chest. Her eyes reflected red with her older sister’s flowing blood.
“Don’t leave me again!” She shrieked. “You said you wouldn’t leave, you said so! You’re a liar!”
Vi knew this was the end. Yet, even with that knowledge, she only knew to smile.
“I’m sorry, Powder… I was a bad sister…”
“No! Violet! Don’t leave me—I need you!”
“I know Silco loves you,” Vi’s voice was barely a whisper now. “I know you love him too. I just… wish I had the chance to love you as long as he does…”
“Don’t do this, Vi. Stop it. Stop it. Make it stop!”
“You’re right, Powder,” Vi whimpers. “I shouldn’t do this. I must tell you straight on.”
Vi presses her forehead gently against her precious little sister’s. Her pride and joy, her reason for living, her biggest motivation, and everything positive in her life.
“I love Powder. I love Jinx. I love you.”
Satisfied with her last words, she let her heart slow to a stop.
She hoped her last words would be her voice in her sister’s head.
She hoped that her sister’s hallucinations of her would only be good memories.
She hoped that her sister understood her message.
She did.
***
Powder stood up from where she was kneeling, her head lowered and her eyes dull like stone. They lacked the shine that the shimmer was supposed to provide.
“Don’t cry,” Silco tried to help, knowing that she was unstable at that moment. “You’re perfect, Jinx. How you are. You don’t need to change to her liking.”
Powder let out a heavy sigh, and turned around for Silco to see. Her eyes were no longer even the color of shimmer. They were a translucent blue, the eyes that Vi used to gaze into and love.
Silco furrowed his brows, worried. “Jinx?”
A deep inhale. “It’s Powder now.”
Silco leaned back into his chair, surprised.
“Jinx… was shot along with Vi.”
“What—“
“And Powder has resurfaced from the well.”
And Powder was ready for revenge.