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The moonlight spilled softly through the half-open curtains, painting their bed in pale silver hues. It was quiet now, the distant hum of the city below muffled by the heavy walls of the Kiramman estate. Caitlyn lay on her side, her fingers trailing absentmindedly over the firm, scarred muscle of Vi’s arm. She marveled at how strong it felt beneath her touch, how it had held her, protected her, and yet, how gentle it could be.
Vi, propped slightly on her elbow, watched Caitlyn with quiet intensity. Her hand rested against Caitlyn’s face, thumb tracing the delicate curve of her cheek and the faint ridge of the scar that led to the place where her left eye once was. Caitlyn closed her remaining eye at the touch, leaning subtly into Vi’s palm.
The room carried a stillness, not heavy but tender, like the calm after a long storm. Neither spoke at first, content to exist in the safety of each other’s presence.
“Does it still hurt?” Vi asked softly, her voice husky but gentle.
Caitlyn opened her eye, finding Vi’s gaze locked on hers. She shook her head, her lips curving into a faint smile. “Not anymore,” she replied, though her voice carried the weight of something unspoken.
Vi’s thumb moved again, brushing just under the empty socket, leaning down to press a lingering kiss to Caitlyn’s forehead before settling back into place. For a while, they remained quiet, their touches slow and comforting, until Vi broke it with a soft murmur.
“I was thinking,” she began, her voice low but steady. “Tomorrow… we should head up to that spot on the cliffs. You know, the one where you said you wanted to try shooting again. Could be a good place to… reset.”
Caitlyn tilted her head slightly, her brow arching. “Reset?”
Vi’s lips curved in a faint, almost self-conscious smile. “Yeah. Just… something different. I don’t know. It reminds me of something we used to do when we were kids.” Her voice softened, a tinge of wistfulness creeping in. “Powder and I, we’d go up to this old warehouse rooftop. It was tall enough that you could see most of Zaun from up there. We’d bring snacks, or at least what passed for snacks, and just sit there for hours. Sometimes we’d race to see who could spot the most weird stuff happening in the streets below. Other times, we’d make up stories about the people we saw.”
Caitlyn watched her closely, her hand still tracing along Vi’s arm. “What kind of stories?”
“Ridiculous ones,” Vi said with a soft laugh. “Powder was the creative one. She’d see a guy carrying a bunch of pipes and decide he was a secret inventor building a flying machine. Or she’d point at some lady in a cloak and say she was a spy on her way to stop a heist. I’d just… play along.”
There was a long pause as Vi’s smile faltered, her gaze drifting to a spot just beyond Caitlyn’s shoulder. “It’s funny, thinking about it now. We didn’t have much, but up there, it felt like we had the whole world to ourselves. Like nothing could touch us.”
Caitlyn’s fingers lingered around Vi’s arm. “It sounds… beautiful, in its own way.”
Vi nodded, her voice growing quieter. “It was. And I guess… I just want something like that again. Even if it’s just for a moment. You and me, looking out at the world, away from all this shit.”
Caitlyn’s lips curved into a faint smile. “That sounds perfect.”
Vi looked down at her, a flicker of gratitude crossing her features before she leaned in, pressing a soft kiss to Caitlyn’s eye.
Caitlyn let Vi’s words settle between them for a moment, her hand stilling on Vi’s arm. Her gaze softened as she traced faint patterns against Vi’s skin, her lips parting as if to speak, but it took her a moment to find the words.
“I didn’t have siblings,” she began softly, her voice carrying a warmth laced with sadness. “But Jayce… he was as close to a brother as I ever had. Even when we were kids, he made sure I wasn’t left out. I was rarely allowed to wander too far from my parents’ watchful eyes, but Jayce… he’d find ways to include me. He’d smuggle me into his workshop or bring his latest invention to our garden just so I could see it.”
Vi turned her attention fully to Caitlyn, her hand still caressing her face, her eyes filled with quiet understanding.
Caitlyn smiled faintly, her expression tinged with nostalgia. “He was always so excited, showing off whatever he was working on, rambling about magic this or runes that. I didn’t understand half of it, but I pretended to. We’d banter—he’d tease me about being a spoiled Kiramman, and I’d call him a glorified tinkerer. But he taught me so much. How to see the world differently, how to question it. He always believed things could be better, that we could make them better.”
Her voice faltered for a moment, and she exhaled a shaky breath, her fingers briefly gripping Vi’s arm as if grounding herself. “And now… he’s gone. I don’t even know where he is, or if he’s…”
Vi shifted closer, her brow furrowing as she rested her forehead gently against Caitlyn’s. “Cait…”
“I just…” Caitlyn’s voice cracked slightly, and she closed her eye, swallowing hard. “I miss him. Even when he frustrated me, even when we didn’t see eye to eye, he was always there. And now…”
She trailed off, her gaze unfocused as she stared past Vi. A few tears welled up in her eye but didn’t fall, and she shook her head as if trying to push the grief aside.
Vi cupped her face more firmly, her thumb brushing away the tear that threatened to spill. “I’m sorry,” she murmured, her voice low but steady.
Caitlyn leaned into Vi’s touch, her breathing evening out as she found comfort in the steady presence before her. “Me too,” she whispered, her voice barely audible. “It’s just… hard.”
Vi nodded, pressing a tender kiss to Caitlyn’s temple before pulling back slightly to meet her gaze. “Whatever happens, I’m here. I got you. Always.”
Caitlyn’s lips curved into a faint smile, her hand moving to rest atop Vi’s. “And I’ve got you,” she replied softly.
They stayed like that for a long moment, the pain of loss and the solace of connection intertwining as they held onto each other, finding strength in their shared presence amidst the ache of their separate griefs.
Vi leaned her head back against the headboard, her hand still idly brushing along Caitlyn’s arm as she spoke, her tone thoughtful. “You know, I never really spent much time in Piltover before. Whenever I did, it was just passing through. But every time, I’d look at this city and wonder what it’d be like to actually live here. Seemed so shiny and out of reach.” She chuckled softly, but there was a tinge of disbelief in her voice. “It’s crazy, though. I never thought… after the explosion, I never thought I’d end up here for real.”
Caitlyn’s hand paused mid-caress, her brow furrowing. “Explosion?” she asked, her voice laced with confusion.
Vi stilled, her body tensing slightly. She glanced at Caitlyn, guilt flickering in her eyes. “Oh… you must’ve heard about it. The explosion in the city, years ago.” Her voice wavered as she added, “That was me… Pow, Mylo, Claggor. A heist went wrong. Turns out it was someone from the academy.” Her jaw tightened. “The enforcers were hunting us for weeks after. That’s what led to… everything.”
“That was you?” Caitlyn breathed, her tone disbelieving, her single eye wide.
“Yeah.” Vi’s gaze dropped, her voice thick with guilt. “That was me. I didn’t know…”
“I was there.”
The words came quietly but with weight, stopping Vi in her tracks. Her head snapped up, her face a mixture of shock and confusion. “What?”
“The explosion,” Caitlyn repeated, her tone even, almost distant. “I was there that day. Right outside the door.”
Vi’s jaw slackened, her brow knitting as if she couldn’t process what Caitlyn had just said. “No fucking way,” she murmured, leaning forward slightly.
Caitlyn nodded, her gaze steady. “It was one of my parents’ estates. They had lent it to Jayce as a workshop. I was helping him carry some of his equipment that day—”
“You dropped something,” Vi interrupted, her eyes wide, voice suddenly tinged with realization.
Caitlyn froze, her eyebrows drawing together. “Yeah, I dropped something. How did you know that?”
Vi shook her head, a faint chuckle slipping past her lips. “You really are my hero, Cupcake.”
“What?” Caitlyn asked, tilting her head, her confusion only growing.
Vi exhaled a short laugh, her eyes scanning Caitlyn’s face as if she could hardly believe it herself. “You dropping something was the reason I knew someone was coming,” she explained.
Caitlyn’s mouth opened slightly, her confusion turning to expectation as she waited for Vi to elaborate.
Vi stared at the ceiling, her expression a mix of guilt and disbelief. “I still don’t know how it happened,” she murmured, her voice soft and trembling. “But I’m glad you were okay.”
Caitlyn was silent for a moment, her thumb idly tracing along Vi’s arm. Then she exhaled deeply, her voice quiet but steady as she began to speak. “I don’t really know what happened either… not fully,” she admitted, her brows furrowing as the memory surfaced. “I just remember Jayce struggling with the door. He was trying to open it, but something was stuck. I’d never seen him so frantic. He started slamming his shoulder into it, yelling, trying to break it down.”
Her voice grew distant as she continued, her gaze unfocused, lost in the details. “I was down the hall at first. I’d dropped one of his tools—some kind of device he’d been working on. It was loud, clanging against the floor. I thought I’d scratched it, and I panicked. I bent down to pick it up, thinking he’d be upset if it was damaged.”
She shook her head slowly, her lips pressing into a tight line. “And then... it happened. This deafening boom. The entire building shook. I didn’t even know what it was at first, just this blinding flash of light and the sound of glass shattering everywhere. I fell back against the wall, stunned. For a moment, I couldn’t hear anything but this horrible ringing in my ears.”
Vi turned her head to look at Caitlyn, her expression pained but focused, taking in every word.
“When I got my bearings, I saw Jayce,” Caitlyn continued, her voice cracking slightly. “He was slumped against the wall, unconscious. He’d taken the brunt of it. There was debris everywhere, and smoke. I ran to him, shaking him, yelling at him to wake up, but he wouldn’t move.” Her voice wavered as she paused, swallowing hard. “I thought... I thought he was dead.”
Vi’s hand tightened gently on Caitlyn’s waist, grounding her as she spoke.
“I didn’t really get hurt,” Caitlyn added after a moment, her tone quieter. “I was far enough down the hall that all I got were a few scratches. Nothing serious. I remember finding some bandages for the cuts on my hands, but that was it. Jayce… he got the worst of it.” She shook her head, her lips twitching into a faint, bitter smile. “And my parents? They were furious. Furious at him for putting me in danger, furious at me for being there in the first place. They didn’t let me see him for weeks after that.”
She turned her gaze back to Vi, her eye glistening with unshed tears. “I didn’t even know what caused the explosion. No one would tell me anything. They just kept saying it was a lab accident, that I was lucky to be alive. And now, hearing that it was you…”
Her words trailed off, leaving a heavy silence between them. Vi’s expression was stricken, guilt etched into every line of her face.
Caitlyn reached up, brushing her fingertips along Vi’s cheek, her touch light but steady. Her thumb moved gently across Vi’s jawline, grounding them both. “Don’t,” she said softly, her voice tender, as if reading the storm of guilt brewing in Vi’s mind. “Don’t do that to yourself. You didn’t mean for it to happen. You were just… a kid.”
Vi closed her eyes for a moment, leaning into Caitlyn’s touch, as if it could absolve her of the weight she’d carried for years. But Caitlyn wasn’t done. Her hand moved slightly, her fingers tracing the curve of Vi’s cheekbone, her touch deliberate and comforting.
“And…” Caitlyn continued, her voice dropping to a quiet murmur, “… you shouldn’t apologize for surviving. You shouldn’t apologize for trying to protect and provide for the people you love.”
Vi’s lips parted, as though she wanted to argue, but Caitlyn’s hand shifted, her palm cradling Vi’s face, her thumb brushing gently over her freckled skin. “You don’t owe me an apology for what happened that day. Not now, not ever.”
Caitlyn shifted, lying back down beside Vi and curling into her side. Her arm draped lightly across Vi’s waist, her touch gentle but grounding. “I’m glad you were all okay too… despite what happened after.”
That part of the story was already familiar—Vi had shared it before.
For a moment, they both fell silent again, their breaths steady and synchronized. The weight of the shared memory hung between them, but it didn’t feel heavy. It felt… strangely comforting.
“Our paths were intertwined way before we ever realized,” Caitlyn breathed, her voice no more than a whisper.
Vi pressed a kiss to the top of Caitlyn’s head, her lips lingering as her arms tightened around her. “Guess we were always meant to find each other,” she murmured.
The room was quiet save for the soft rustle of the sheets and the gentle hum of the city beyond the window. Together, they lay there, two hearts stitched together by the echoes of a shared past and the promise of a future they’d fight for—no matter what.