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She dominated. She destroyed. Vi was the best fighter in Piltover and the new Zaun, and everyone knew it; even if they didn’t know it was her. She channeled all of her emotions; her rage and misery, and used it all to turn herself into the most powerful she’d ever been. Hextech? Guns? Who needed those? Her muscles were her magic, and her fists were her bullets.
But there was only so long that could last. It was only so long that she could feel all of those feelings and not suffer from them. Well, she never actually could avoid the suffering. But the satisfaction of releasing all that rage onto her opponents was enough to drown it.
More importantly, there was only so much she could drink without drowning; only so many times she could dunk her face to keep herself awake without drowning. All the pained attempts to drown the feelings she always hated to fucking feel. The blackouts, the vomiting, the repetitive, monotonous days that faded from her memory amidst all the poison she’d poured into her brain; pretending that she could keep doing it and doing everything she could to drown that lie. Now she was losing. Losing her fights. Her reputation. Her mind.
There was only so many times she could drown in the blue hair that plagued her every thought. Only so many times she could see it lying to her. Only so long she could keep going without it being real.
“Vi?” she woke abruptly; jumping off the crates she called a bed and lifting her fists, even in her hungover stupor. She wasn’t supposed to be hearing that name... This was not good. The door creaked open. “Vi, I’ve been looking all over for you.”
That accent... She blinked the sleepy blur from her eyes and... Saw... that hair...
“Caitlyn?” her voice was soft, and broken and cracking.
“Vi...” Caitlyn’s voice so sweet, as she ran to embrace her.
Vi’s heart pounded as she felt the warm arms around her bandaged torso; her arms hung at her side, suddenly unsure how to move. Her breath became abhorrently ragged, and rough through phlegm. Her body shook with nerves as she felt Caitlyn’s arms shuffling around her cold back.
“Are... Are you real?” her voice was soft and high.
Caitlyn pulled away, smiling softly at her, cupping Vi's face between her hands and thumbing her cheek. “Of course. You had me worried sick. Though... Looking at you, I still am... What in the world have you been doing?”
“I...” her voice tearfully cracked. “Why are you here? I... It was my fault....”
She pulled away from Caitlyn, and then—careful to use only her arms—pushed the woman of her torment away. Caitlyn looked on; a hint of a confusion in her eyes, but fundamentally knowing. Vi’s body shook violently, and she lifted her hands and stared at her fists.
“It’s always my fault.” her breath started to heave. “I hurt everyone. The only reason I exist. I hurt Powder... Mylo, Claggor, Vander... It’s all my fault. You. Why are you here? A-all I’ve done since you came into my life is hurt you. Your mom... The council—”
“Vi.” Cait shook her head; she wasn’t even sure what Vi was talking about. “Shut up. I know. But who the fuck cares anymore? I... What I care about is you. And I hate seeing you like... This.”
Cait looked around and gestured to the miserable, tiny room Vi lived in; crates for a bed, no sheets... Alcohol littering the room. The blackened hair and tear stained makeup. Vi was not well...
“Come with me. I don’t care about all of that. I need to know you’re safe. Just... Forget all of this and come with me. Please?” Caitlyn asked tearfully.
“No... It’s all I do... I can’t hurt you again...”
Caitlyn pulled back, her posture straightening.
“VIOLET.” she commanded with a stern face; shaking Vi to her core. “You’re coming with me. Right. Now.”
Vi stared, feeling inexplicably controlled by Caitlyn’s demand. But Caitlyn’s shoulders quickly fell, as did her voice, and a smile quickly returned, stepping toward Vi and embracing her again. Vi stared open mouthed at the soft hair against her face; tears starting to fall, despite her vigilant effort to never cry in front of anyone.
“Caitlyn...” her voice a bare squeak. “I... I’m sorry... I..”
“Shh...” Caitlyn caressed her cheek. “It’s alright... It’ll be alright...”
Vi’s arms, finally, tightly wrapped around Caitlyn’s slender frame. Her breath hitched, feeling the warm body giving her comfort, and she couldn’t even help as her hands felt every inch of Caitlyn’s back.
“Shh... Leave this place with me... We’ll be alright.”
“I’m so sorry... I just break everything.”
Cait pulled back, staring into Vi’s eyes as her hands gripped her waist. “Shut up. Just shut up.” She embraced her again. “Just... stop... None of it matters. It’s over... We have to move forward. We’ll leave it all behind...”
“No... Leave me behind...”
Caitlyn pulled back once more. “I told you to shut up.”
She wrapped her arms around Vi’s neck, and pulled the broken girl’s lips to hers. Vi envisioned pushing her away; pulling away... But she couldn’t. She melted into the warm kiss and willed for time to stop forever. She felt... whole. As whole as she ever could feel again. Her arms had turned to jelly, and hung at her side, but she leaned into the kiss; wanting nothing more than to feel Caitlyn’s unimaginably soft lips push against hers as hard as they could; hard enough until they bruised. A far better bruise than the others she had. Vi would have stayed in that kiss until she died, but Caitlyn finally pulled away, and looked on at Vi with the softest love Vi had ever wanted.
“Caitlyn...” her voice still rough and cracking; the tears now streaming down her cheeks. “I’m drowning... Every day...”
“It’s okay...” Cait whispered, brushing her fingers through Vi’s hair. “We’ll make it better. Come with me? Please?”
Caitlyn extended her hand, and Vi’s moved on it’s own; slowly reaching to grasp that hand she craved so much. She looked between the two, so different hands, and her breath was so ragged and barely able to breath as her rough and dirty, damaged fingers opened and took the slender fingers of Caitlyn Kiramman herself into them; those loving digits squeezing Vi’s broken hands and squeezing out all the liquid that drowned her lungs every fucking day of this miserable fucking life that she barely knew why she lived or why she existed. For all her damage and all her breaking, Violet could not resist the request of this unimaginably-inside-and-out-beautiful girl that had plagued her thoughts since that fateful day behind bars.
“Caitlyn...” her voice so high and so scared. “I-I love you...”
Cait looked at her with the softest smile she’d ever seen.
But then she blinked, and all she saw was a wall. Just another dream. She curled her body, trying to warm the frigid misery from herself as she shook, and the soft sobs poured tears through the remnant makeup on her cheeks.