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Caitlyn liked the idea of soulmates.
She liked the idea that there was some predetermined other half out there, it was orderly and precise. For people born with a soulmark, there was no question of if but a when. It just made sense to her.
On nights when she was curled up in bed too big for one person, utterly exhausted from all the extra extra-curriculars, she would trace those letters tattooed on her wrist and imagine the person who would speak those words.
Caitlyn had only entertained the thought of ending up with a boy for a short while. She realized pretty early on in life that her soul mate was a ‘she’ not a ‘he’. She tells herself she would’ve figured it out sooner had it not been for the atrocious handwriting on her wrist- it looked nothing like the beautiful cursive of the girls in her class.
She imagined meeting this girl at a party, one her parents had thrown. They’d meet halfway out the back door as they both had the idea to sneak away from the pretentious atmosphere and boring conversations. Caitlyn would offer to show her the best hiding spaces in the back garden and she would teach Caitlyn how to properly dance to the faint music still playing from the hall.
Or perhaps they’d meet at school, the new girl would show up late to lunchtime. She would take the seat to Caitlyn’s left and even before they spoke those fated words, they would just know.
Sometimes she would practice what words she would say, something sophisticated or charming that would immediately give her that smile she’s been waiting her whole life to see.
Though Caitlyn loved the idea of soulmates that didn’t mean she liked the words she was given.
“Move it, Cupcake” was haphazardly scrawled in messy letters across her forearm in black ink.
Her eyebrows furrowed every time she thought too hard about the meaning,
“Who starts a conversation like that?” she caught herself thinking more than once.
Maybe it was a response to something she said? She spent hours wondering what in the world she could possibly say that would prompt that response.
Much to her embarrassment, it didn’t stop her from loitering around the dessert table at parties on more than one occasion.
“You really went to the Undercity to get these? Weren’t you afraid?” Caitlyn questioned as she walked down the hallway towards her friend’s apartment, the box brimming with gadgets she could barely describe much less name
Jayce gave her that charming smile of his, “A little danger is worth the risk, don't you think?”
Caitlyn smiled back in agreement. In her moment of distraction, a small tool tipped over the edge of the container and fell to the floor with a sharp clatter. She stopped to kneel down, all the while trying to not spill the rest of the box’s contents.
“Uh careful, that’s your parents' money you're dropping.” He laughed as he went to unlock the door to his apartment.
As she retrieved the item, Jayce began frantically trying to unlock the door to his apartment. She made to assist him but everything happened in an instant.
One moment Jayce was kicking the door.
The next there was a flash of light and the door flew open- Jayce along with it.
Caitlyn dropped the box and shielded her eyes from the explosion. The force of the blast caused her to stumble backwards and end up sprawled out on the hallway floor
Through the cloud of dust, she watched four figures emerge from the broken doorway. A pink-haired girl in the lead gestured desperately with one hand for the others to follow as she sprinted down the hall.
Blue eyes met gray, both sets locking in on the other with mirrored panic, the girl let out a frustrated growl as she ran towards Caitlyn.
“Move it, Cupcake!”
Caitlyn didn’t even have time to register the action of tucking her feet in before the group barrelled past her, the pink-haired girl not giving her a second glance as she lept over the discarded gadgets that littered the hallway. In less time than it took for Caitlyn to catch her breath, the group had already sprinted past her and threw themselves off the balcony at the other end.
She scrambled to her feet and ran towards the window, her fingers gripping the railing as she searched desperately for any sign of the group.
Nothing but a crowd of onlookers staring up at the crumbling building and enforcers trying to mediate the crowd. She saw a few of the officers take off running towards the bridge and she felt her stomach fill with dread. There was no chance she could even think to catch up with the group now.
A groan pulled Caitlyn out of her trance, she whipped her head around to watch Jayce slump against the wall. She ran over to him and checked to see the extent of his injuries, carefully positioning him onto his back the way her father had shown her a million times before.
The sound of heavy footsteps muffled by thick carpet alerted her to the Enforcers arrival. An older woman kneeled beside her and gently asked, “Are you alright kid?”
It was then Caitlyn realized she hadn’t said a word since the explosion.
To her soulmate.
The soulmate who was now miles away with no way to know they just met and no reason to come back looking for her.
“No… not at all.”
Vi liked to pretend she didn’t like the idea of soulmates.
To be fair, she didn’t like the idea of being told what to do, anyone who’s met her on a bad day could have told you that.
They probably would tell you that if they met her on a good day too.
Soulmates made things complicated but Vi hated to admit it made her hopeful.
She loved the family that Vandor patchworked together, as dysfunctional as they are. She wouldn’t change anything about them: not Mylo’s whining, or Claggors insecurities, not Vandor’s perpetual need to lecture or Powder’s childness. She would throw herself headfirst into a fight for any one of them.
And to think that there was someone out there who would love her the same way, someone the universe picked out just for her.
Well what was one more reason to fight for?
Sometimes when she was rewrapping the bandages that covered her forearms, she would admire the letters tattooed on her skin. She hadn’t seen many soul markings before, people tended to keep them hidden; it was too intimate, too easy for someone to take those words and twist them against you.
But the soulmarks she had seen never had letters as nice as these, soft swooping cursive letters. Maybe her soulmate was an artist? .
“I took a look at your file.”
Vi didn’t have the slightest clue what that meant. FIle, what file? They had reputations not records in the Lanes. And there was no way in hell she was making it into a Piltover university. Powder maybe, but her- not a chance in hell.
Maybe she was presenting evidence to someone, a file she dropped off on some poor sops desk about all the ways this city’s been screwed over. Vi snorts at the thought, there’s not enough paper in the world.
Maybe she just overhears it from someone, it’s not a common way to meet your soulmate but she’s heard of that happening before. So she tries not to think about it, whatever mysterious file this is, she’ll have to wait and find out.
For now she’s content at the thought that her soulmate is out there, waiting for her too.
Vi hears the familiar grinding of steel as the elevator doors open and mentally prepares herself for whatever follow-up punishment the warden prepared for her. She doesn’t stop her assault on the concrete walls as she waits for the approaching figure to stop outside her cell. Once it does, the shadow that fills the room is much smaller than the warden’s.
Someone new then.
She pauses mid-set and glances over her shoulder at the enforcer standing on the other side of the gate. It’s a woman about her age with shoulder length blue hair and a face she certainly would have remembered. The expression on that face is neutral if not a bit indignant- typical of an enforcer.
It pisses her off.
“Who the hell are you?”
The Enforcer doesn’t react to her obvious disdain, without missing a beat she responds with an authoritative tone as prominent as her Piltovian accent.
“I took a look at your file. There is no record of you or your crimes. What are you here for?”
Vi pauses at that and almost does a double-take. There’s no way…
She looks the Enforcer in the eye and sees no sign of recognition or even acknowledgement to Vi’s original statement. Vi focuses on the relief and pointedly ignores the small pang of something close to disappointment that settled in her chest.
She half-smirks and does nothing to hide her contempt, “My sunny personality”
Vi has one hand thrown over Caitlyn’s shoulder, the other pressed against the gaping wound on her side. She’s grateful for the bitter smell of oil and smoke that seems to hover over the whole of the Lanes. It's a welcome distraction that’s almost more nostalgic than the taste of blood currently sitting in the back of her throat.
“You okay? Do we need to slow down?”
Vi glances up at Caitlyn who is already looking back, her eyes full of unmasked worry. Vi wants to hate it so much. Instead she manages to give a pained half-smile.
“Can’t risk it.”
The Enforcer hesitates before giving a small nod. They both knew the answer before she even asked the question. Sevika was probably at Silco’s office as they spoke, gathering reinforcements to finish what Caitlyn’s bullets so politely interrupted. It was nice thought though, sitting down to rest.
Vi presses the wound a bit deeper and takes in a sharp breath, she tries to focus on the oily air that is now mixed with the scent of Caitlyn’s soap.
“Is there anything I can do to help?”
Vi feels the hand supporting her uninjured side grip just a little bit tighter. She tries not to take any comfort in the feeling.
“Not much you can do for me right now, Cupcake. Thanks though.”
The couple continues along the dark path, Vi can feel the exhaustion creeping in. The adrenaline from the fight seeps out of her limbs with every step. Her foot slips on a loose stone and she feels the arms tighten around her once again.
“What about talking, would that help?”
“I look that bad, huh?” She gives the woman another pained smile, “Yeah, talking would help.”
Caitlyn pauses a moment trying to think of something to fill the silence.
“Have you met your soulmate?”
Despite the pain and the exhaustion, Vi can’t stop herself from giving a sharp laugh.
“You really don’t pull your punches do you?”
Despite the low light of the trenches, Vi still has the pleasure of watching Caitlyn’s face turn a wonderful shade of red.
“I wasn’t trying to make you uncomfortable, I just know many people find talking about their soulmates sooth-”
Vi waves her off with the hand thrown over the taller woman’s shoulder, “No I’ve haven’t met my soulmate.”
She’s suddenly unsure if that makes Caitlyn more or less embarrassed.
“Ah… I’m sorry to hear that.”
“I’m not.”
Caitlyn looks surprised, “You don’t want to meet your soulmate?”
“I’ve been at Stillwater the last seven years, you know the type of people who end up locked up there.”
She earns a laugh out of the taller woman, “Oh can you imagine, someone who’s dangerous enough to end up in prison? What a scandal.”
“Exactly. My soulmate is delicate.”
“Mhm, delicate like concrete, I’m sure.”
“See you get it.”
Vi doesn’t need to even look over to see Caitlyn's eyes roll. She sneaks a glance anyways.
“What about you?”
“Me?”
Vi simply gives her a look that could only be interpreted as “who else?”
“I suppose that’s a fair question,” Caitlyn seems to hesitate before answering, “Yes, I’ve met my soulmate.”
Maybe it was because of the bravery she’d seen from the enforcer that toed the line of ‘a complete lack of self-preservation’ or Caitlyn’s previous silence on the subject of soulmates but the answer takes Vi by surprise.
“Your words weren’t ‘Who the hell are you?’ were they?”, she can't stop herself from asking.
Caitlyn laughs, obviously not expecting the question, “No, unfortunately not.”
Vi doesn’t think she’s been more grateful for a stab wound in her life. It’s a lot easier to convince herself that the pain is from the injury on her side.
“So don’t mention the brothel, got it.”
Caitlyn’s smile turns into a grimace, “No need, there’s no one at home waiting for me.”
Vi feels her stomach drop, “Caitlyn, I am so sor-”
It’s the taller woman’s turn to wave her off.
“They’re not dead if that’s what you’re thinking, well at least I assume they’re not.” She pauses, her hesitation obvious.
“Hey, you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to. I get it.”
The enforcer contemplates a moment in silence before she sighs and readjusts her grip as they push forward down the path.
“She said my words and disappeared before I could say mine. Everything happened so fast and it’s been so long that I wouldn’t even know how to begin searching. It’s better to just move on.”
Vi almost regrets asking the question, she couldn’t imagine the pain of meeting your soulmate and losing them in the same moment. The regret every time your friends recounted their tales of falling in love, every time someone asked when you thought you would meet yours. It’d be almost unbearable.
She’s sure Caitlyn has heard every sympathy before. Well meaning but misplaced apologies; the same question rephrased over and over again asking if she’s really sure the other person said her words or if maybe she misheard. So she says the only thing she would want to hear.
“That sucks.”
Despite the lingering sadness Caitlyn still gives a soft smile, “Yeah. It really does.”
“I have a friend on the council. Let me take the gemstone to him. He’ll listen to me, your people wouldn’t have to hide anymore.”
The silence that hangs in the air of the Firelights commune is thick with tension. Caitlyn finds herself holding her breath despite herself.
“One condition,” Ekko stares down the enforcer with a distrust and determination that Caitlyn has seen far too often in the Lanes, “I’m the one who takes it to him.”
She holds his gaze as she nods, “I understand.”
Ekko stares at her just a moment longer before turning his back and heads towards one of the older buildings, “I’ll grab my board and we’ll head out. If we’re going to do this, then we do it quick.”
Caitlyn watches him go before turning back to the girl standing next to her. Vi stares back at her with emotion she can’t quite place. If she was a more conceited woman, she would call it admiration.
“You really believe it’ll work?”
She glances at the large tree centered in the courtyard like a beacon of light, or hope, she supposes.
“It has to.”
The shorter woman shakes her head and smiles, shoving her hands in her jacket pockets.
Caitlyn spares another glance at the hideout and her heart aches for the people here. The battles they fought for the safety of this small village caught as collateral in the hidden war between Undercity and Topside. And despite it all, it was flourishing. There was laughter and an enthusiasm that was contagious, there was something bigger here that Caitlyn only hoped she could begin to understand some day.
She smiles to herself as she pulls her gaze away from the treetop. Turning towards the exit, her eyes linger on the mural-
Her breath catches in her throat and she freezes.
The face that haunted every sleepless night for years stares back at her.
Vi notices her hesitation, “You good, Cupcake?”
“Who is that?” she breathes.
Vi looks up at the mural, and a sigh escapes her.
“...It’s people who died at the hands of Silco and Enforcers. People they lost fighting for Lanes. ”
Caitlyn can feel her throat closing and she catches herself blinking back tears.
So her soulmate really is dead.
She had made peace with that fact long ago- that their paths would never cross again but having it confirmed…
“What’s their name?” she manages to choke out.
“Their names?” Vi says as she’s pulled out of her own train of thought, “I don’t know most of them towards the bottom but…”
Caitlyn can hear the fondness in the shorter girl’s voice as she points towards the figure furthest up the wall, “That’s Claggor at the top, him and Mylo, that’s the spikey haired kid towards the middle, were my brothers. They’d both have your back in a heartbeat, though you’d hear about it for the rest of the week from Mylo.”
She shifts her gaze and moves her hand lower, “The top center is Benzo, that was Ekko’s old man. He looks soft but he had a mean right hook when he wanted to, he was Vander’s right hand.”
“Vander,” her voice lowers as she motions to the man in the upper right corner, “took me and Powder in when our parents died. He watched over the Lanes, he cared about protecting the people in it.”
“And there’s Powder.” Vi’s voice falters and she clears her throat, “My sister. The only thought that got me through Stillwater.”
She feels ache in her heart for Vi, for all the loss she went through. Caitlyn feels the devastation of losing a person she never met, she can’t imagine the pain of losing each person now painted against that wall.
Caitlyn waits for the woman to continue but after a few moments of silence, forces herself to ask.
“And her?”
Vi glances in confusion towards Caitlyn’s hand pointing towards the girl in the center of the mural.
Despite the heaviness of the topic, Vi sounds amused.
“C’mon Cupcake, I don’t look that different.”
Caitlyn drops her hand and stares at the woman beside her who in turn is staring fondly up at the mural, looking back in time at the people she loved.
Caitlyn can’t breathe.
All this time she spent wishing to do it all over again, the sleepless nights she spent sobbing into her pillow begging for a second chance and here it was standing right in front of her this whole time.
Through a set of bars.
Pinning her to a wall.
Pressed against her side.
Blindfolded in a back room.
She feels blind and utterly foolish for not seeing it earlier.
In her only defense, those eyes are so much more piercing when they’re not filled with fear. The girl in her mind hadn’t aged into the woman next to her with hair that dark and muscles that pronounced.
And just as quickly as it came, her elation leaves and the all-too familiar hollow dread comes seeping in.
Because while Caitlyn had met her soulmate: Vi hadn't met hers.
Ekko’s silhouette appears from the doorway with the hover board in hand. He does not offer the pair a smile as he approaches, unaware of the turmoil inside Caitlyn’s head.
“Let’s go.” He says without breaking stride and gestures to the exit.
Vi tears her eyes away from the mural and locks eyes with Caitlyn’s.
“Ready to go, Cupcake?”
Cupcake.
Caitlyn could smack herself right now.
Not trusting herself to speak she just nods and walks ahead towards the exit, Vi trailing behind her.
“You can’t change her.”
The group is stopped at the bridge, their faces glowing in the dim light of the lanterns.
“I have to try”
Ekko scoffs and approaches Vi, looking more annoyed than he sounds as he envelops the woman in a hug, “Don’t get yourself killed.”
Vi chuckles, “No promises”
Her gray eyes glance up and catch blue.
Caitlyn barely waits for him to step away before throwing her arms around the shorter woman, burying her face against her neck.
Vi melts into the embrace, pulling her close, “It’s been real, Cupcake. Thanks. For everything.”
They’d made it all the way from the bottom of the Undercity to the bridge and a confession hovered on the tip of Caitlyn’s tongue the whole way.
It was you. This whole time it was you.
Now she’s here and she doesn’t know when and if they’ll ever cross paths again.
Don’t leave, please.
Not again.
Selfishly she wants to stay wrapped up in these arms and this moment forever. It’d be so easy to confess, beg Vi to lie to her and say that it’s Caitlyn’s handwriting tattooed on her skin.
Despite every cell in her body screaming at her to speak, the words stay caught in her throat. How could she even think to ask Vi to stay? She’d be asking her to trade one cell for another.
If she would even agree too. Caitlyn knows Jinx is beyond saving as much as Vi doesn’t. But seeing the sadness in those gray eyes as she gazed up at that girl in the mural. She couldn’t bear to add to that.
She feels the arms around her slack and Vi pull back, a bandaged hand lingers in the air gently brushing her cheek.
It takes all Caitlyn’s self restraint not to reach up and grab it.
The woman spares her the smallest bittersweet smile before turning to head back the way they came. The fog feels less like mist and more like a solid wall between them.
And just like the first time they met, Caitlyn lets her go without a single word.
“Your shower is bigger than my cell was, you know that?”
“Mhm” Caitlyn agrees distractedly.
Vi approaches her, dressed in the same clothes that thanks to the staff, had significantly less blood on it. She peers over Caitlyn who has taken a seat cross-legged at the foot of the bed, shuffling through the papers on her lap.
“You okay, Cupcake?”
“Of course not! We’ve got barely four hours until our meeting with the council and I haven’t the slightest clue of what to say!” She growls in frustration and crumples up the paper she’d been writing on. She doesn’t look as she tosses it in the direction of the trashcan. To Vi’s amazement, the paper still makes it in.
“Four hours is a long time, we’ll come up with something.”
Caitlyn pinches the bridge of her nose, “I know you’re right but I still can’t help but worry. There’s so much at stake here- for Piltover but more-so the Undercity and I just…. want to do them right.”
Vi can’t help the soft smile that settles on her face. For all the initial distrust she had of the enforcer, she can’t help but be continually grateful to have not written her off. She has more respect for the people of a city she’s barely known than some Trenchers that have lived their whole lives in it.
She sits next to Caitlyn on the bed and gently touches her shoulder. The woman exhales deeply and looks up, her expression losing its sharp edges.
“I know you do, and we will.”
Vi lets her fingers trail off Caitlyn’s shoulder and onto her knee. She gives her a quick pat before standing up and walking over to the trash can. She picks up the most recent crumpled paper and unfurls it, smoothing out the creases against her thigh.
“We just have to convince a few rich assholes that there’s more to life than making money, that can’t be hard.”
“I’ll remind you that one of those ‘rich assholes’ is my mother.”
“Good, you have experience then.”
Caitlyn gives a snort that sounds more like a laugh than disapproval. Vi considers it a win.
She returns back to her seat on the bed and begins to read where Caitlyn left off. The letter is very formal and without too much fanfare- it’s direct and to the point in the only way Caitlyn knows how to be.
It talks about Silco’s plots and Marcus’s betrayal, the discrepancies between the Lanes and topside, the distribution of Shimmer and its plague on the Undercity. It should have Vi’s full attention, it says everything she’s wanted to scream at the council since she was a kid. It expresses her pain in a way she never could without using her fists.
But it doesn’t. She’s too distracted by the cursive ‘f’ in ‘firelight’ has the same familiar swoop as the one on her arm that says ‘file’
She glances at Caitlyn who sighs and takes the paper back and smooths it on the clipboard.
“I’m getting to my own head, I know it’s not awful. It’s a good foundation, I just need to clean it up a little.”
She begins to reread the sheet, crossing out words and inserting comments in the margins, completely oblivious to Vi’s internal panic.
Because that could only mean one thing.
And it couldn’t because…
Because Caitlyn met her soulmate.
And Caitlyn would recognize her soulmate, right? She said it had been years but….
Vi can’t help but glance down at the familiar leather bracing of the Enforcer’s uniform that covered the woman’s forearms.
What if…
“Hey Cupcake?”
Caitlyn hums in acknowledgement, not looking up from her writing.
“You remember when we were down in the Lanes, after my fight with Sevika and we headed towards the fissures”
“When I had to carry you as you nearly bled out on me?” she responds, her voice laced with amusement.
“That’s the one”
“I recall, yes.”
Vi hesitates just a moment.
“.....and you asked me about my soulmate.”
Caitlyn freezes halfway through a letter, It reminds Vi of a mouse caught in the center of a room when someone flicks on the light.
It takes a full two breaths before she responds in a whisper.
“I remember.”
Vi pauses, trying to find the words that won’t shatter them both.
“It was a serious question… when I asked you if what I said in Stillwater was written on your wrist.”
Caitlyn finally looks up, her eyes filled with a hope that Vi is sure is reflected in her own.
Vi reaches down and begins to unwrap the bandages covering her forearms. Without hesitation, she extends her bare arm towards Caitlyn.
I took a look at your file.
Caitlyn stares at it in disbelief, her eyes flick up to catch Vi’s.
“You want to tell me the story of how you met your soulmate, Cupcake?”
As if the nickname ended her trance, the taller girl nods and shakily begins to remove the leather coverings from her arms.
“I met my soulmate about seven years ago… She and three others broke into my friend's apartment and made off with some early prototypes of Hextech. When they fled, one of them caused an explosion.”
Vi suddenly recalls that day. The inventor's apartment, the panic as the bomb went off, seeing a man go down and fleeing down the hall past-
“I was far enough away I didn’t get hurt, just knocked over which inconveniently blocked their escape route.”
Caitlyn finishes removing the covering and white glove beneath it.
Move it, Cupcake
It’s Vi’s turn to stare up at Caitlyn in shock, Caitlyn smiles and gives a small breathy laugh.
“And after all these years of wondering what happened to her, if she was dead or alive… if I’d ever even find out her name… and then yesterday, clear as I remember, there she was. Staring back at me in a mural.”
Vi’s breath catches, Caitlyn doesn’t wait for her to ask the question
“You hadn’t met your soulmate, and I didn’t recall you reacting to my words. I thought maybe…. maybe I was wrong. That you were my soulmate but I wasn’t yours..” Her gaze goes back to Vi’s wrist, memorizing each letter, “Or that I couldn't ask you to stay.”
Vi reaches over and gently takes Caitlyn’s wrist in her hands. She traces her thumb over the letters, feeling the woman’s pulse beneath her touch. She looks up and Caitlyn is staring back, her blue eyes filled with uncertainty.
“You could ask me now.”
Caitlyn rotates the hand Vi was holding and interlocks their fingers. She turns towards the other girl so that their knees are touching- it still feels like too much distance.
“Would you, Vi? Stay here with me?”
“Wouldn’t want to be anywhere else, Cupcake.”
A smile breaks across Caitlyn’s face that causes the butterflies in Vi’s stomach to go haywire.
“Would it be too forward to ask to kiss you now?”
Vi doesn’t dignify the question with a response, Letting go of Caitlyn’s hand, she reaches up to cup the back of her neck and pull their lips together.
It’s soft and sweet and more than Vi could have ever imagined. Caitlyn tastes like roses and everything she’s ever wanted.
Vi begins to pull away but doesn’t get far before Caitlyn grabs the front of her shirt and drags her back in; kissing her desperately as if she could make up for years of lost time. Vi kisses back with as much passion, letting her fingers get tangle up blue hair.
Once they find themselves out of breath, Caitlyn pulls away and Vi lets her hands trail from the taller girls neck down to her waist.
They sit in the quietness of their thoughts, Caitlyn traces her fingers along the tattoos trailing down the other woman’s arm, taking extra care when she reaches the soulmark.
After a few moments, Vi breaks the silence, “I have a question…”
Caitlyn smiles and lets her hands trail Vi’s soulmark, “Yes, darling.”
“Did you think Cupcake was a common term?”
Caitlyn let’s out a soft laugh and presses another kiss to the corner of Vi’s lips
“I just thought everyone thought I was this sweet.”