Chapter Text
A strange dream. A familiar nightmare, but up close and personal this time. Usually Vi dreamed of the organic and yet mystical patterns of the anomaly from a distance, the way they had haunted Piltover for days to come after– well, after everything. Tonight the anomaly choked her out of her sleep, sending her rocketing up in bed, flashes of purple and green still lingering against the back of her eyelids.
She blinked against the light coming in through their bedroom window and searched for the form beside her only to find the bed empty. At least she hadn’t woken Caitlyn then but she was disappointed Cait had just left her. Looking down herself she realised she must have gone to bed in her street clothes. She tried to remember last night and her head pounded. Had she been drinking? Why was she still wearing her shoes?
She rubbed her eyes and got up. No point in wondering about things her brain clearly wanted to keep buried. Might as well go for breakfast first, figuring out what had happened last night could come later. On her way down to the kitchen she came across Caitlyn’s office, door slightly ajar. Through that gap Vi spotted the back of her girlfriend's head hunched over some papers. Vi rolled her eyes. Typical of Caitlyn to be doing paperwork during what was supposed to be their time off. And after a night of drinking no less.
Making a spontaneous choice for mischief Vi slipped soundlessly through the gap in the door and approached her girlfriend with a knowing smile. When Caitlyn was focused on her work she disappeared into it. Even if Vi didn’t sneak she’d ended up startling Cait before. A little spook was the least she deserved for not waking her up. Probably she thought she was being nice but hell, waking up without her by her side always gave her just a second of pain in her chest.
Vi was nearly by Cait then and she wondered where all this paperwork had even come from. Maybe she’d have to have a word with Sevika, she figured this had to be on her somehow. Leaning down to the height of Caitlyn’s ear she said: “Getting an early start on the day, cupcake?”
When Vi startled Cait she usually got an eye roll and a shove. She’d even gotten a bit of a slap before, always followed by a chuckle and good natured complaints. Vi did not expect an elbow to the face. She hit the floor gracelessly, tasting blood, quickly attempting to reorient herself. “Cait, what the-”
Before she could even finish her sentence Caitlyn was on her, driving her knee into her back and air from her lungs. She grabbed both her wrists and had them wrenched behind her back before she could suck in enough air again.
“Caitlyn! What the fuck, it’s me! It’s Vi, what are you doing!?”
“That’s Sheriff Kiramman to you, thief!”, Caitlyn spat. “I don’t know who you are or what game you think you’re playing breaking into the house of a councilor. But I’m sure some time at Stillwater will impress upon you that it was the wrong choice!”
“Wha- Sheriff? Councilor!? What is going on!?” Vi struggled as handcuffs clicked closed around her wrists.
“You’re under arrest”, Caitlyn announced coldly.
Vi was sick of this. She twisted her shoulders and hips in opposite directions, leveraging herself against Caitlyn’s knee holding her and turning over onto her back. Her hands were trapped uncomfortably by the cuffs but she barely felt it as she finally saw Caitlyn’s face and– her eyes.
Eyes. Plural. Caitlyn looked at her with eyes filled with suspicion just like on the day she’d first seen them through the bars of her cell at Stillwater. Cold rushed down Vi’s back.
“You’re not Caitlyn.”
“It’s Sheriff Kiramman, don’t make me remind you again”, Caitlyn said, hauling Vi up by the collar of her jacket. Vi let her. She was struggling to process what was happening. Who was this person? Where was her Cait? Earlier, did she say–
“Councilor– do you mean your mom!?”
“Finally catching up, are we?”
This was impossible. Caitlyn’s mother was dead. Which could only mean– Ekko had mentioned this. A tall tale, Vi had thought, but then again all their tales were. It wasn’t that she hadn’t believed him. She just couldn’t believe she was actually–
Vi struggled in Caitlyn’s grip. “I can explain! I’m not supposed to be here!”
Caitlyn raised an eyebrow. “You don’t say. I’m certain you’ll feel much more at home down at the station until we can get you processed.”
Then Vi was being pushed through Caitlyn’s office door, down the winding steps of the estate. This was bad. If she ended up in Stillwater again she didn’t stand a chance of making it back home, back to her Cait!
“Wait!” Vi planted her feet firmly, resisting Caitlyn’s pushing, Cait’s hand firmly grasping her jacket.
“What?”, Cait didn’t seem in any mood to humour her. “More crazy talk before I put you away?”
“You’re not even a little bit curious why I did this?” It was a desperate bid but worth a shot. “Why I came into your home and just… snuck up on you?”
Cait stopped her attempts to keep Vi moving. Vi could feel her heart hammering as she waited for three agonising seconds. Then Cait stepped around her to face her. She looked at Vi like she was vermin – it was oddly nostalgic.
“Fine. Enlighten me.”
Vi couldn’t help but smirk. “It’ll be my pleasure to.” Caitlyn was still holding on to the back of her jacket, needing to stay close to keep hold of her. Vi didn’t have much time to overthink, she had to act now. “I’m real sorry about this, cupcake”, she said. Then she leaned forward and kissed her.
Caitlyn recoiled the moment Vi’s lips brushed hers which – Vi was surprised to find out – hurt. Even if it wasn’t her Cait. But she had no time to dwell on that, as this moment of distraction was what she needed to step out of Caitlyn’s grasp, hand on her jacket loosened by the shock and not quick enough to grab her again. Vi was running, bracing for impact as she slammed into the front door to force it open, hesitating only for a few seconds once outside to crack the handcuffs and leave them behind. Then she kept running, doing her best to orient herself.
Easier said than done. Instantly this Piltover felt off somehow. She ran past buildings that shouldn’t exist anymore, dodged people that felt out of place. Not a trace of the anomaly was anywhere and of course looking up at the skyline there was no Hexgate Memorial and Institute. Vi had no idea where she was going. Instinct drove her toward Zaun, finding the nearest bridge to it teeming with life and merriment, even so early in the morning. Not a hint of tension. Vi felt very out of place rushing through near non-existent shadows with her hood up and her eyes always on the lookout for a trouble these streets probably wouldn’t have.
“Find Ekko”, Vi muttered to herself. Except it wouldn’t be her Ekko, would it? But what other options did she have? Did this universe have a Professor Heimerdinger? A Jayce? It didn’t have Hextech, that much was clear. Vi wished she’d asked Ekko more questions about it but he’d never seemed like he particularly wanted to talk about it. And how should she have known this would happen? How had this happened?
Ah fuck. Nothing to do but move forward. Hopping a rail on her way to her descent into the fissures she instinctively reached into her jacket’s pocket to fish out a little mechanical toy shark – the latest of the bunch – and place it under the railing she’d just cleared only to hesitate. She looked around the street, the other citizens milling about giving her odd glances. She was in another universe. What were the odds that she would be here too? Vi put the toy back in her pocket. She had to get back home, soon.
If she’d felt Piltover was different, the undercity was utterly unrecognisable. People jeered her on her descent, complaining of the dirt she left on their roofs. When she reached the street they were clean of rubble and other garbage. No one was huddled into the corners, not a single junky glared at her like he was considering his chances of mugging her. Everyone was relatively well dressed, passing each other with kind remarks or simple indifference. It was still the lanes, still full of punks and experimental tech and expressive street art. But it looked… nice. There just wasn’t another word for it. It reminded her of Ekko’s Firelights hideout. More and more this universe felt like Ekko’s.
Her feet carried her through the lanes on autopilot and before she realised it she was headed toward The Last Drop – which stood in its former glory just how she remembered it from childhood. Open, pleasant, perhaps with even more of an easy atmosphere. Her steps slowed and she dipped into a side alley before she got too close. Leaned against a wall she took a few deep breaths. Looked back at the bar’s front. Leaned back against that wall. She couldn’t go in there. She had no idea what – or who – she would find. No Hextech, did that mean… she couldn’t do it.
She was just turning to head back the way she’d come, when she froze mid-step. Ten paces ahead of her Vander was equally frozen, dropping a crate he’d been carrying with a worrying crash. For two infinite seconds Vi did nothing but stare upon those painfully familiar features. Then she turned on her heels and ran. Nope. Not now. Not like this. Down a different alley she ran away from The Last Drop, away from the memories and the guilt and the pain she’d thought had dimmed and that face. She kept seeing it in her mind's eye, kept seeing him look human and old. White streaks in his hair, wrinkles around his mouth and eyes, the wrinkles of a man who smiled every day. She ended up in the pipes, headed down a path that she briefly worried wasn’t the right one. There were no attempts to keep it hidden, no barriers she had to push past as she might have back home. Water splashed under her feet as she exited the pipe into the open space of the Firelights’ hideout – or where said hideout would have been in her universe.
Here the tree stretched magnificently towards the light shining down into the fissure, limbs unburdened by the structures the Firelights had built in her universe. The space she knew as teeming with fighters, workers and refugees was empty, herself and some frogs the only ones there standing in the shallow water covering the floor. The whole space was untouched – except for the Mural of the Lost Children of Zaun. There the wall was covered in paint but instead of a multitude of faces there was only one.
Hers.
Not some other version of her either. It was her: Her tattoos, her scars, her old jacket, her haircut which she hadn’t changed much in the past two years. She supposed it wasn’t impossible that this universe's Vi looked just like her somehow but she kept seeing Vander’s face. His un-disfigured, old, human face full of life but looking at her also full of… grief. And shock. Not like he’d seen a daughter who should be busy elsewhere but like he’d seen a ghost. This mural had Ekko all over it, her Ekko, giving this universe a piece of her that it had been missing.
Because in this universe Vi was dead, she was fairly certain now.
She wasn’t sure if it would make things more or less difficult. She wasn’t even sure how she was supposed to process all this. As far as she could tell she was stuck here, needing to find someone who could help get her home when she didn't even know how she had ended up here in the first place. She was stuck in another universe where nobody knew her and she didn’t know anybody – not really. It wasn’t her Cait, not her Ekko… not her Vander.
Vi walked over to the ledge by the memorial wall and collapsed onto it, arm draped over her eyes. She was so screwed. Attempting to breathe evenly she took toward making her peace with this situation, finding the calm she needed to handle it all. Not her universe, not her friends, not her family – there was no point to grieving them all over again. These were just strangers with familiar faces. What-could-have-beens that she couldn’t let herself be tormented by if she wanted to stay sane.
Vi wasn’t sure how long she stayed there like that, turning from side to side, breathing shakily, slamming her fist against the painted wall occasionally to get out her frustration. Thoughts racing as she lay on that ledge, eyes shielded from the light that it still felt too early for, she didn’t hear the approaching footsteps. Didn’t realize she wasn’t alone anymore until the quiet, hesitant voice asked: “Vi?”
Her heart slammed against her ribcage and she nearly fell down into the dirt in her hurry to right herself on that ledge, looking wild eyed at the source of that familiar voice that she hadn’t heard in years – had come to terms with probably never hearing again. It wasn’t her, it couldn’t be. But she was in a different universe, so it had to be–
Short hair up in messy buns, bangs covering no more than her forehead. Bare arms unmarked by tattoos or scars. Vi was dizzy, remaining leaned against the ledge of the memorial in order not to tip over from her shock as that impossible person, that mirage of another world approached her cautiously. When she was close enough that Vi could finally make out her face she saw an inpossible hope and unimaginable grief in those blue eyes.
Her own voice felt raw in her throat when she finally managed to say: “Powder?”
Then Powder was rushing toward her and before Vi knew it she had those unscarred arms wrapped around her. Powder. It was Powder. Vi struggled to breathe evenly, struggled not to let tears fall from her eyes at this stranger she couldn’t help but love. Her own hands hovering she couldn’t help but think of Jinx. Would she hate this? Would it kill her to know Vi stood here nearly embracing a version of her that wasn’t quite so broken? Vi loved her sister more than anything. Jinx or Powder, broken or whole, it didn’t matter to her. Jinx was her sister but this person, this girl clinging to her now… she had enough room in her heart. She would always love her sister, any version of her. Carefully, reverently, she wrapped her arms around Powder and hugged her back.
It might as well have been an eternity before Powder let go again, though intellectually Vi knew it had only been seconds after she had returned the hug. Powder stepped back almost hastily, wiping at her eyes.
“I’m sorry”, she said instantly and the absurdity of that nearly made Vi laugh. “I know you’re not– I mean… my Vi. You’re–”
Powder’s watery eyes roved over Vi’s features with such a desperate haste, like Vi could dissolve at any moment. Vi was drinking in the sight of Powder right back. There was such joy behind the grief, such an openness she had seen so rarely with Jinx. Finally Powder gestured helplessly to the mural.
“You’re from his universe, aren’t you?”, Powder asked. “The other Ekko’s.”
“Funny”, Vi said, looking back at the mural herself, smiling. “I was thinking of this universe as his– the one he travelled to that one time.”
At the sound of a muffled sob Vi turned back to Powder, who was covering her mouth with one hand as she clearly fought more tears.
“What?”, Vi asked, feeling dumb and helpless. “What’s wrong?” She wanted to reach out for her but didn’t know that she should.
“It’s just–” Powder struggled breathing even as her face broke into a smile. “It’s just, it’s really you. Your face, your– your voice. I–” Powder’s eyes darted to the ground, suddenly avoiding Vi’s. She was fidgeting with the strap of her bag. “I know you have your own sister. And you’re not my Vi, it’s not the same… but…”
It was both heartbreaking and reassuring to hear Vi’s own jumbled thoughts and conflicts spoken by someone else. She wasn’t her sister, she couldn’t stay here, she had a million different reasons not to engage with this, not to let herself feel for this place, care about these people.
And yet.
She grabbed Powder’s hand, startling her, drawing crying eyes back onto her. “Hey”, she said, slowly reaching up to wipe a tear from Powder’s face. “It’s okay. I’m not your Vi. You’re not my Powder. But that doesn’t mean I can’t care about you.” Because of course she did. The sooner she admitted it the better: She couldn’t not. She couldn’t not care for the girl with her sister’s face, her sister’s heart.
Powder’s face tensed with barely contained emotion, her hand coming up to cradle Vi’s face as well, to run gentle fingers over the scars her Vi hadn’t gotten the time to receive.
“Whatever this is, however this happened”, Vi continued, her heart both clenching and soaring, in her throat and yet down deep in her stomach. “Let’s just make the most of it.”
Powder’s smile was like the first beam of light after a storm and then they were hugging again, holding each other. Holding on to the echoes of memories long thought lost. They would hold on tight, however long this echo lasted.