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Vi shutters a breath through sore ribs. Fighting and hitting the ground does not do wonders for the body.
But her aching ribs did not compare to the fire burning in her side where Caitlyn had hit her. It didn’t physically hurt that much; she had a body that could take things much worse than a butt of a rifle, but emotionally, it hurt so much more.
The betrayal that the impact made burned in her mind, making a weak sob come out of her mouth; she had supported Caitlyn through her worst and stopped her from killing a kid that would haunt her for the rest of her life. She tried talking her down from a decision that Caitlyn would regret for the rest of her life. But in the end, she had to grab her rifle for her to make the shot go off course and hit the ground.
She reaches for one of the ladder bars as leverage to pull herself up as she does every time. She groans at the effort- the task feeling monumental on her legs. She reaches full height.
Her back faces the rest of the room as she rests her head against the arm resting the she has resting on one of the bars that make up the ladder. Her sense overwhelms her; the subtle creak in the fan that’s high above her feels like a gun shrieking right next to her ear, and her shirt- that fucking blue shirt feels way too tight to her.
The shirt was constricting her torso, making it impossible for her to breathe fully- it was too small for her, but she never mentioned it to Caitlyn- she needed Vi to be there for her- so she resolved it by binding her chest- albeit poorly. Still, it was enough for the shirt to fit her without the shirt looking ridiculous on her.
In a moment of frustration, she grabs the shirt and pulls it over her head. She throws it across the room, landing i. Her bindings still hold strong and act as her top now. The next thing she grabs is the badge that’s attached to her belt. She rips the badge and stares; miraculously, it still holds the shine that allows her to clearly see her face in its reflection. And to her, she looks tired.
That one word sums up her existence perfectly. Vi is tired. She has been constantly on edge since her youth, from Stillwater to learning how the world works again to hunting down her own sister. All her life, she has never had the chance to truly rest, to take a moment to close her eyes and relax. Sure, she had moments of peace with her family, but there was always tension in her body; she was always ready to act.
And now she’s here alone- well, upon reflection, she had been alone for a long time- she had nothing to protect or fight for.
Exhaustion crept into her body like a slow poison, yet she welcomed it—letting herself close her eyes and relax her hand, letting the badge fall to the ground with a clatter.
It dawns on her that she’s exhausted—too tired to keep going, to keep living on. She has nothing to fight for anymore, and she doubts she’ll find anything truly meaningful to continue fighting for. She resigns herself to the knowledge that there’s nothing left for her.
Her mind calms as whispers settle. She takes in the silence, not willing to move yet.
As she stays in the silence, she hears distinctive
Footsteps echoed from a sewer pipe that was several metres above the ground.
She breathes deeply and turns to the Side to look at the large pipe as the sound of multiple pairs of footsteps comes closer to her.
.
.
.
‘Well, that was shit-’ Jinxes thinks to herself as she walks through the maze of the sewer system; it hadn’t gone as planned- Vi was supposed to. She cuts herself off with a tisk, Making Isha glance at her with a questioning glance.
“I’m fine, kid; there’s no need to stress.” She sniffs out as she wipes her bloody nose. She continues to walk in silence, following Sevika’s lead as they navigate through the tunnels.
She starts to reflect on the fight- and how it went- she was angry at how it ended. It wasn’t how she wanted to go- but strangely enough, she wouldn’t have the outcome changed. They made it out alive; Isha made it out alive- thanks to Vi.
Despite being a piltie goon, she did the right thing and protected Isha- it was so disgustingly her to stand between a gun and a target.
As she kept absentmindedly walking, Not paying close attention, when Sevika slowed to a stop, and Jinx bumps into Isha which snaps her out and focus on the situation
Her face tenses as she looks out from the apparent dead end of the sewer tunnel that connects to a manhole that she swears looks familiar, and standing near the ladder is Vi herself.
A pause of deafening silence fills the room as the two sisters stare at each other, no emotions showing on either faces.
Vi is the first to break the silence
“Hey,” Vi says incredulously, now turning to fully face the three standing in the connecting pipe.
“Hey.” She says back in a near-mocking tone
“You look like shit.” As she takes in Vi’s bruised and battered form as she starts pacing to use the unwanted energy that the uncomfortable atmosphere had created.
Vi scoffs, Shaking her head. “Have you ever looked in a mirror yet?”
Jinx’s face scrunches up. “Last I checked, there aren’t any mirrors in a sewer system.”
“I’m just saying you look way worse”, Vi states. Jinx decides to rise to the taunt-
“Oh really? How’s the bruise on your face?” Jinx snips back, putting her hands on her hip as she waits for Vi’s response.
“Better than a bullet wound would be, which” Vi makes a dramatic show of looking at her body. “I don’t seem to have any! Talk about shit aim.”
Three shots rang out, echoing throughout the system.
Three shots missed.
Jinx then tries to shoot a fourth time, but her gun doesn’t produce a shot. “Shit”, she mutters, realising she is out of ammo.
“Well.. do you wanna finish this or not?” Vi shouts out to her and makes Jinx sneer at her. Vi’s hand is raised, and her fingers are flexing towards herself.
In the blink of an eye, Jinx is nearly meters away from Vi, going in for a punch.
Vi immediately blocks the punch and sends one back to her, pushing back so she’s not up against a wall.
The next moments were filled with screeching, punching, kicking, and bitting- to the point it wasn’t looking Like a proper fight, more like a scrap-up between two high school girls.
Vi lands a good punch to Jinx’s face, which makes her stumble back in a daze. Vi then takes the opportunity to charge in and give more blows.
As it looked like Vi was getting the upper hand in the fight- Isha took a step forward, but Sevika put her prosthetic arm out to block her- when they looked at each other, Sevika shook her head and looked back to the fight.
As Vi was about to deliver another punch Jinx zips behind her and stomps onto the back on her knees making Vi cry out and fall to the ground as she lost her balanced- Jinx then hit her in the Side of the head making her completely go down.
Jinx then quickly tackles Vi and wraps her hands around her throat, ready to finish it all. Vi coughs and scratches at her arms and tries to throw Jinx off, but it’s no use, and Jinx’s hands tighten around Vi’s throat; Vi’s hand loosen around Jinx’s wrists; she closes her eyes and rasps out with a wheezy laugh “guess you win” that makes Jinx pause and stare at her bloodied sister In shock, Vi slowly blinks, getting one last look at her sister “I’ve realised I’m too tired to go on” with her eyes closed she finally rasps out “I’m ready.” Her hands fully let go of Jinx’s wrists and softly thud to the ground. Jinx’s mind echos her own voice as Vi uttered those words, knowing what they meant and how it didn’t make sense why Vi, of all people, to say it
This… was different… very different; Jinx’s mind starts to race with thoughts compiling in an overwhelming manner.
What the hell.? What does she mean by she’s too tired to keep going? But she’s Vi! She’s always ready to fight! Well, she knew Vi was traumatised as well, but she never stopped and thought how deeply it affected Vi, their parent’s death, the brother’s deaths, and her imprisonment. But Vi was a fighter- that’s how she remembered her! Her strong- takes no shit sister- so why is she saying she’s tired?!
Jinxes mind races with questions begging for an answer as she looks down at her sister’s face and sees the dark circles under her eyes, her brows close together, and her jaw clenched; she analyses the tension in her face and realises that Vi always looks like this. Ever since she could remember, Vi always had this tension in her body and face.
Her hands loosen from their chokehold on Vi’s neck in stunned silence.
Jinx then slid back till she was seated on the ground between Vi’s legs. She then pulls her sister into a sitting position and hugs her.
“you can’t yet. You still need to fight for yourself,” she whispers, her words only for Vi to hear.
Vi opens her eyes and stares blankly, and in shock, she then wraps her arms around her sister. Holding her tightly and resting her head on her shoulder.