Chapter Text
At first, she knew that all around her were fierce screams, walls being destroyed, punches thrown, gunshots and explosions. Then, a shock ran violently throughout her body, specially her scars, at the same time as someone was on top of her, pushing her hard against the ground. Fury radiated from both sides, neither giving up the fight.
And then, suddenly there was nothing around her. She only knows that she felt pain, she felt like she was being torn apart, it was terrible.
There were bright, confusing flashes, something weird, big and round, colorful. An anomaly.
She needed to wake up from that nightmare.
Sevika woke up from her trance with a short strangled scream, jumping to her feet at once. She staggered a little, but managed to steady her feet quickly. Her chest rose and fell with force as she struggled to draw air in and regain stability.
Gradually, her vision became less blurred and her breathing became more regular. She took one last deep breath and then looked around, frenetic and still full of adrenaline from the fight, looking for any sign of the blue-haired piltie she was fighting just a moment ago. However, that was not what she saw at all. Looking around, she realized she was in a living room, considering the sofa behind her positioned in front of a large window and a door, the coffee table and a large piece of furniture full of decorations, picture frames and drawings. Through the window, she could see that it was daytime, a very bright and seemingly peaceful day.
That wasn't the cave where she fought just seconds ago, it wasn't her home, it wasn't The Last Drop. She didn't know that place. Even so, the atmosphere seemed very pleasant and peaceful; anyway, she tried not to let her guard down.
Frustrated and confused, she raised her left arm to wipe her sweaty forehead. A choice she soon considered stupid, remembering that the arm Jinx had built for her wasn't functional at all for this kind of thing.
“Uh?!”
Startled at herself, her eyes grew wider than ever as she looked at her left arm. It was right there, still connected to her body, whole, flesh and bone. Sevika opened and closed her left hand a few times in disbelief. Her right hand went to her left arm and she squeezed it. She closed her eyes tightly for a while, not knowing what to think about everything, whatever ‘everything’ was. She opened her eyes again and took another look around the room, slowly lowering her arms. There was a hallway in front of her, behind the furniture that probably leaves to the kitchen, she thought. And at her left, there was a flight of stairs.
Approaching the furniture full of objects, she soon spotted a small blue and silver hand mirror, wasting no time in picking it up. Lifting it up to her face, she was in shock at what she saw.
Her hair was very short, so short that she never even imagined how such a style would look on her, but, well, it wasn't bad. She liked it. In her right ear was a golden earring, a medium circle where it attached to the ear and diamond-shaped lower down. On the left, just the golden circle. On her face, besides the familiar black lipstick, the blue scars from the fateful day she lost her arm were gone. Sevika brought her unoccupied hand to her face and traced the spot where the scars should be, going down her neck, stopping when the clothes stopped her.
Speaking of clothes, her look has also undergone changes. She still wore dark shades, but her usual shoulder pads were gone, leaving her only in a tight black tank top with gold details. The pants were very similar to the usual ones, but with more pockets and colorful details that didn't look like they were made in a store, clearly someone had painted them there. On her feet, nothing, she was barefoot. Weird. Well, everything was weird.
“What the fuck is going on?” She muttered to herself, dropping the mirror back where she found it.
Sevika wrinkled her nose, frowned, and looked around one last time. Whatever happened, it was wrong and she needed to get out of there. That wasn't her place, it wasn't her life. She huffed in irritation and confusion and then turned around, seeing the door that would lead her to the exit. Determined, she took firm steps towards the door, ready to find some way to get back to where she belonged.
Although, as soon as she put her right hand on the doorknob, something stopped her.
“Vika?”
Her body froze in place, the hand on the doorknob holding it tightly. Her wide eyes ran frantically in various directions, but her body didn't move. Her breathing hitched, it was difficult to inhale.
That voice.
“Vika, what's going on?”
The big, round thing flashing before her eyes. It hurts.
Sevika swallowed hard and found the strength to let go of the doorknob, mentally debating whether to abandon her initial goal and turn around. It couldn't be. Her mind was betraying her, someone was purposely dragging her to stay there, the place was disturbing her, obviously. That voice couldn't be real, after all, its owner was dead. You were dead.
Still, even though she knew it was a trick to make her fail, to weaken her and distract her from finding a way out, she wanted to turn around. She allowed herself for a moment.
As she turned around, she gasped audibly, feeling her body tremble. Tears welling up in her grayish eyes, wanting to fall at all costs. She looked your figure up and down. Your outfit was also very different from what she remembered, but it was still you. Older, and clearly healthier.
You looked at her with clear concern on your face, looking for any sign that showed that Sevika was hurt or in pain, noticing how her body was shaking a little and judging her unusual silence when you were together, not to mention her desolate look. Just as you were about to call out to her again, you were surprised by Sevika running up to you and hugging you tightly, almost lifting you off the ground.
You opened your eyes wide and stood still for a few seconds, but it didn't take long for you to squeeze back, trying to convey some comfort even though you didn't have the slightest knowledge of why she was acting like that, feeling her shrink into you when you reciprocated.
Sevika's face buried itself in your neck, where she smelled you. Damn, that same perfume you loved to wear, the one she was always making fun of you for being an “old man” perfume. It always ended with you laughing.
“Vika.”
That nickname you always used with her, no one else.
The day you died, months ago, crossed Sevika's mind aggressively. She still remembered every detail of that day with unwanted clarity. Sevika remembered the spear of a Firelight, seeing you holding your stomach tightly as the blood spread across your clothes and hands, how you looked at her with watery eyes, how you called her one last time. Your broken voice filled with fear and pain. How life drained from your eyes with frightening speed.
Sevika's heart felt like it would jump out of her chest. It was beating so hard, it was agonizing. She heard nothing, just something pounding in her mind and ears. Was it her heart? Far gunshots? Was it that giant thing?
“Hey, hey.” You called in a gentle and concerned tone.
You pulled away just enough to see her better and cupped her face with both hands, feeling when she didn't take her hands off of you and placed them on your waist. You gave her a thorough look, still inspecting her for any injuries. When you found nothing, you sighed softly and looked into her eyes, giving her a small, loving smile.
“What happened?”
“You’re alive.”
She babbled without stopping looking into your eyes, looking for any clue in your irises that you were a hallucination.
Tears still shining in her eyes and her heart slowly stabilizing its beats, along with her sanity.
“Uhhh… Yes?” You laughed, shook your head in denial and let go of her face, now holding onto her shoulders. “Very funny, madam. But now, seriously, you can tell me what happened. You look scared.”
“I just…” Sevika looked away and thought about telling you the truth, but for what?
It was obvious that you had no idea what she was going through, you wouldn't know how to help her. And besides, you were right there in front of her. Alive.
With her silence, you quickly returned to hold her face and gently caressed her with your left thumb, watching as she pursued the touch, burying her face in the hand that caressed her.
“It’s okay if you don’t want to tell me. Just… Are you in pain?” You asked, worried again.
Sevika sighed and allowed herself to relax more, blinking a few times to try to keep the tears away. Fuck it if this was a trick, she just wanted to enjoy more time with you. She didn't want to miss this for anything.
She smiled small and shook her head left and right at your question, feeling her heart speed up a little again when your smile began to grow and widen. You kissed her cheek and ran to the door.
“Then let’s go!”
Standing right next to the door, you grabbed boots for Sevika, then ran back to her and placed them in front of her so she could put them on, and so she did, as quickly as she could given her current situation.
When she finished, you held her hand and opened the door.
“I want to see if I can find out what Powder is planning for the party.”
Sevika frowned as she was pulled, letting herself be guided out of the house.
She immediately realized the name as her mind went blank and she couldn't even hear you speaking anymore. Powder, Jinx's old name. She only heard it once, many years ago, and then never again.
You knew Jinx when you were alive, but you never knew about the name she had before, so how the hell were you talking about her?
Another name came out of your mouth that also caught her attention.
“...she did… Ekko tried to find out, but even he couldn't! Probably…”
Ekko. Sevika has already spotted him around Zaun when he was still a child, playing with Jinx, Vi and their brothers. The last time she heard of him was because the boy tried to save Jinx and she chased him away in a less than friendly way, according to Silco. Back at the time she didn't try to understand anything, irritated enough by Jinx's pranks and all the work to do, so she only remembers that since then, she never heard of him again.
You were still chatting as you walked through the streets, but she ended up not hearing much. Not that you minded, still worried about her current state and understanding that she couldn't always keep up with all your chatter.
Only when you stopped walking and talking, Sevika came out of her thoughts, automatically stopping along with you. As she looked forward, her eyebrows arched and her eyes widened a little. It was The Last Drop. Much better cared for, looking much more alive.
“C'mon.”
Without letting go of your hands, you entered, finding four random customers, the waitress and the bartender. Looking closer, she noticed that the bartender was… Vander. What the hell was going on? Sevika swallowed hard when she saw him there, alive, safe and sound. From where he was, the man managed to see her and gave her a brief, friendly wave, which she returned in the most casual way she could, not missing how his eyes narrowed a little, but an understanding and amused smile crossed his face after.
At the back of the bar, there were four more figures sitting together at a table.
Sevika didn't need to focus much to quickly recognize Jinx. Or Powder. How unfamiliar was seeing the girl without her long long hair, her braids. She seems so happy and stable. The blue-haired girl had a wide smile on her face when she recognized the two of you, waving excitedly for you to come to the group.
As you two walked towards them, Sevika took the opportunity to take a better look around the room, appreciating how beautiful, clean, bright and fresh the bar was. A small appreciative smile appeared on her face.
“Hey yall.” You greeted everyone with a smile.
Sevika just gave them a nod with her head and her free hand, a little more withdrawn, but with a friendly expression.
Powder, Mylo and Claggor reciprocated and started talking to you, although Sevika didn't pay much attention, now focusing on who she thought was Ekko.
The boy drew frantically in a notebook with various notes, so fast that it seemed automatic and involuntary. He even seemed to feel pain or some agony. Paying more attention to the drawing, the same flashes from before she woke up and when she heard your voice appeared in her mind, stronger. It was painful, strange, scary. She flinched a little and her eyes wavered as did her expression, trying to look normal but failing and retreating whenever the quick images came to mind.
They both seemed to be caught up in it, agitated and involuntarily attracted to it.
Suddenly, Sevika felt a weight on the side of her body where you were holding her hand. It was exactly you. You used an arm to wrap around the same arm of hers that you were holding her hand, holding onto her bicep and resting your body on that side of hers. With the other hand, you continued to hold her hand, this time intertwining your fingers and giving it a light squeeze. This made her return to reality for a few moments.
Sevika quickly looked at you, doing her best to look fine, giving a weird, forced giggle when she heard Powder say an “awww” and Claggor and Mylo laughing and rolling their eyes.
Ekko seemed to snap out of it too, scratching his throat and pretending to be engrossed in the conversation.
Astute and observant as she always was, Powder didn't take long to notice Sevika and Ekko's similar, unusual and strange attitudes.
“Looks like these two got off on the wrong foot today.”
She said, getting more laughs from the two boys and this time from you. The tone she used was not accusatory or sarcastic, in fact there was a hint of concern in her voice, but she said it in a relaxed and fun way. Something to try to make them regain consciousness to the moment and fit in.
Sevika laughed a little, and when the four started talking again, she looked away, this time at Ekko. The woman was surprised when she found him already looking at her. He seemed intrigued, his eyes ran over her face quickly, studying her.
The gears turned in Ekko's head and he finally realized, his eyes widening. She was in the same situation as his.
Ekko hated Sevika. She served Silco, they have fought several times, the most recent being over the export of Shimmer. But since Silco died, the boy has never fought or heard much of her again. He remembers hearing about how she was now with Jinx, as if she was taking on the same role she had with Silco. He hated her, but she didn't know he was the leader of the Firelights and he didn't intend to tell her. Shit, he shouldn't even think about helping her, but something in his core pushed him to, told him he had to. And besides… He couldn't help but feel kinda bad for her because of you. He knew you were dead by one of his teammates, and he realized that you weren't involved in the fight too late. As the same as Powder was there, fine and happy, so were you.
Ekko sighed and gave a small, discreet nod to Sevika, which given the circumstances and his actions, she immediately recognized and understood, returning the nod.
They had to get out of there.
You laughed at something Mylo said and lightly threw yourself against Sevika, placing your face on her arm as you laughed. She swallowed hard as she watched you. So happy, so safe. Everything there seemed so right... But Sevika knew that no matter whatever brought her, she didn't belong there. As much as it hurt, as much as her whole dream was to live with you in such a welcoming place, as much as she wanted to see you alive, she knew she needed to come back.