Chapter Text
Quiet. Eerily so. Sure there were the distant sounds of alarms and barked orders from enforcers scattering to keep some semblance of control on the situation under the command of whoever was next in charge after the sheriff's death. But the streets were empty, not a single step pattering over the steel and concrete, all of Piltover's inhabitants confined to their homes either by fear or by an order from whatever remnants of authority there were.
And then there was of course their labored breathing, as they made their way down the dark yet pristine looking roads, limping and bloodied and aching.
Their first destination had been of course the tower, but they were stopped by enforcers positioned all around. The barrels of guns greeted them before one officer recognized Caitlyn, demeanor immediately doing a one eighty.
"Acting councilor Kiramman."
The title made Caitlin clench her jaw until she felt what was surely a bruise on her jaw flare up and send a jolt of pain through the entire left side of her face. She felt Vi tighten her grip on her waist at the low wince that followed.
"Let us through," she demanded, voice straining with sobs she stubbornly refused to allow into existence.
The enforcer grimaced, yet his eyes weren't devoid of empathy even while giving Vi a suspicious onceover. "We can't do that, there's too much rubble everywhere. It's unsafe." The unspoken we can't risk you potentially dying too hit the worst.
Caitlyn partly disentangled herself from Vi's arms, ready to give the man a piece of her mind. She almost stumbled, heels be damned, and another two officers getting ready to catch her before Vi pulled her back against her body.
"Your father is waiting at home," the man said, a pathetic attempt to deflect the rage that was no doubt coming his way.
Though it did work, at least partially. At the mention of her dad, the anger faltered, a shuddering exhale making its way past dry and cracked lips. Caitlyn looked at Vi, clothes dirty and bloodied by hidden wounds, scratches and bruises adorning her face and pretty much any other visible inch of skin. She looked in much worse shape compared to Caitlyn's throbbing headache and standing there in the streets would do neither of them any good. With a heavy sigh she informed the enforces that they'd be heading to the estate, begrudgingly accepting the two officers that jumped to escort them. Whatever danger they thought lurked the streets was long gone, disappearing like mist in the night, death and suffering left in her wake.
Vi was uncharacteristically quiet on the way there, little more than a strong presence by her side. They both held onto each other, yet the light limp in her step and the occasional wince was obvious despite her efforts to conceal the pain. There was even a badly wiped train of dried blood making its way down from her mouth and nose, staining the shiny metal of her nose piercing. The lightheadedness made it rather hard for Caitlyn to be even somewhat subtle and her inspection gained her a halfhearted chuckle once Vi noticed her gaze. She shook her head in response, regretting it immediately when a small wave of nausea made her vision fuzzy for a few agonizing seconds.
Luckily enough, the Kiramman home wasn't terribly far and the journey didn't take long despite their slow pace. Caitlyn's father ran to embrace her the moment he noticed them all but stumbling through the tall doors, his eyes shiny with recently shed tears. Vi tried to step away, somewhat awkwardly, in an attempt to give the two some space, but Caitlyn's hand found hers in a grip that told her everything she needed to know to not go too far. They were both leaning on each other at that moment, in more ways than one, so close to snapping and crumbling into a mess of grief and pain and tears. It felt like their mental stability was tied together by thin hairs.
"We'll- we'll go patch up," Caitlyn said, begrudgingly disentangling herself from her father's hug. He didn't hold on, despite the obvious desire to, instead he placed a featherlight kiss on his daughter's temple and nodded. Vi had a suspicion that he simply did not trust his voice not to break into a million pieces had he attempted to speak, but didn't dwell on it when she felt herself gently pulled down the hallway that led to Caitlyn's bedroom.
Once inside the brightly lit room, they both seemed to breathe just the slightest bit easier, shoulders slumping with what they knew to be a fake sense of safety. Caitlyn didn't even bother to step around the map and documents spread on the floor, paper crumpling under the low heels of her boots as she walked to the bed. Vi was slightly more courteous, stepping around the hard work and information accumulated over god knows how long before joining her on the foot of the bed. Caitlyn let her head fall in her hands, hair like a curtain around her bruised cheeks and shoulders rising with deep controlled breaths, while Vi sat back on her hands, some wounds pulling painfully at the actions but she couldn't bring herself to care nor react, too exhausted.
Vi looked around the spacious room, not quite knowing where to place herself in the elegant space. She focused on the wilting flowers tucked on one side, some in worse shape than others, some placed in vases while others more discarded to the floor than anything, some accompanied by unopened cards. Her little inspection was interrupted by shuffling to her side when Caitlyn rose back to her feet and approached a drawer, pulling out far more medical supplies than they possibly needed. She was pretty sure that at least neither of them needed stitches. Vi almost jumped to catch her when Caitlyn sank to her knees, before realizing it was a deliberate action as opposed to the other girl just falling like a log in front of her.
"Show me where you're hurt," she demanded, though in a soft and almost tentative voice, while slender fingers grabbed at the hem of the tattered crimson jacket.
"Woah cupcake, you don't need to find an excuse to see me naked."
It was a halfhearted attempt to lighten the mood, but Vi was somewhat happy about it nonetheless when Caitlyn's lips pulled into a small smile and she shook her head, momentarily amused. It was short lived however, as their eyes met and there was an odd intensity behind the deep blue, thrashing and desperate and tightly contained.
"Just-... just let me help you," she pleaded. And Vi let her.
She let herself be helped with the jacket, sliding off strong shoulders to reveal the intricate tattoos together with dark bruises and bloodied scraps. Her shirt was next, then her pants, leaving her only in grey undergarments that frankly she wouldn't mind changing. Later perhaps.
Caitlyn's face was unreadable, aside from a faint blush that adorned her otherwise pale face, at odds with the dark circles underneath her eyes. Her eyebrows were pulled in a frown that only deepened with each layer of clothing removed, revealing more bruises and wounds. There were no cuts, at least none deep enough to need anything beyond some surgical tape, but a lot of the bruising was bad enough to break skin, mixing purple and green hues with crimson in a painful blend that left Vi stifling winces at sudden movements. She almost wanted to check for broken bones too, but she doubted they would've made it this far with cracked ribs or any fractures.
Caitlyn opened the package of a sterile wipe, one of the many from a box sitting open on top of the covers. She started cleaning the first scratches her eyes landed on, up muscular arms and littered among tattooed gears and intricate lines. The alcohol that the wipes were soaked in made Vi hiss at the contact with her skin, but she didn't move otherwise, letting Caitlyn fall into the rhythm of cleaning the wounds, unpacking a bandage bigger or smaller according to what was needed, and gently applying it.
Vi had endured far worse with not even half this number of medical supplies, but she didn't quite have the heart to protest. It was clear as day that beyond the genuine care, Caitlyn was also in desperate need of some sort of distraction from the absolute hell of a day they’ve gone through. And if methodically tending to every little scrape and bruise on Vi's body was her choice of distraction then so be it. Besides, Vi would be lying if she said that having gentle hands on her skin, as opposed to rough and violent like she was so used to, didn't make warmth flood her chest and cheeks.
Her small inner reverie was rudely interrupted by a jolt of pain when a fresh wipe was brought over a cut on her thigh, where the Sevika's blade had grazed her skin. Not deep enough for any actual damage, but enough to send a jolt of pain through her nerves when the stinging alcohol made contact.
"Sorry," Caitlyn said softly yet confused. "How did you even get this?" Blue eyes scanned over the burned edges of the cut, unable to fathom what could've possibly done it. Surely Vi wasn’t reckless enough to both try to cauterize a cut and fail.
"Remember my old friend Sevika?" Her voice had its trademark cocky tone, but it was still strained.
Caitlyn sighed deeply, yet didn't stop her movements, going over the bruised flesh as gently as she could. That was answer enough. "Did you win?"
At that Vi snorted, taken by surprise. " Duh. " The memory of finally ripping that arm off, metal and wires snapping, together with the annoying smug look on the woman's face, made her smile momentarily and even the other girl chuckled.
With most of the worse off and bleeding injuries taken care of, Caitlyn gave her a onceover, just in case she'd missed anything else major. "What else?" She decided that asking was a safe enough bet, just in case there were any injuries she couldn't see.
Vi grimaced, gulping down the mix of saliva and blood pooling in her mouth. Her tongue went over the pulsing gap where a molar had been not long ago, that got knocked out courtesy of her old friend . It made her entire jaw hurt, pain coming in waves rhythmically to her heartbeat and it was sure to get swollen later on.
"You don't have a dentist on speed dial do you?"
"You're joking," Caitlyn snapped her head at her, blue eyes wide open in bewilderment.
"Yeah," Vi replied with a sheepish smile. "For now."
The other girl begrudgingly let go of that, continuing with the smaller injuries.The rest of the cuts and scrapes were tended to without much trouble, making Vi resemble a band aid dalmatian by the time she was done. There were still purple patches of skin visible, but not much could be done with bandages for those unfortunately, so Caitlyn offered to fetch an ice pack. She didn't quite wait for an answer though, slipping out and grabbing two from the freezer, just in case, and being back within a minute.
"Hey," Vi grabbed her wrist the moment it was within range. She moved backwards on the soft covers, gently pulling Caitlyn with her until she was sitting between her legs, not touching but close enough for the proximity to be both comforting and cause blushes that went unquestioned, by an unspoken accord. "Where are you hurt?"
Caitlyn scoffed, her own injuries seeming nothing all things considered. Though the question made her uncomfortably aware of the damp bandage on her leg, sticking to the skin from under her tight boots. And her headache was starting to evolve into regular waves of dizziness. Probably getting knocked out multiple times over the span of about two days wasn't doing wonders to her. Still, nothing worthy of fussing over.
"I'll just- get a painkiller and change the dressing on my leg. It's nothing," she said, pinching the bridge of her nose in a futile attempt to alleviate the headache. Yet she didn't try to move away, either not trusting herself to walk or not wanting to get away from the little bit of comfort she found. Probably both.
That didn't escape Vi, who balanced one of the ice packs on her aching shoulder while the other she brought gingerly to Caitlyn's jaw. The other girl hissed through clenched teeth when the cold pack made contact with the red and scraped side of her face, where she got hit only a couple hours prior. It made her eyes sting with tears for a couple seconds, until the coolness started to actually become soothing instead of painful. It made Vi chuckle lightly.
"Let me help," she said, one hand brushing lightly over Caitlyn's thigh, where the uniform gave way too tall leather boots.
It took a total of three seconds to decide, one hand holding the ice pack to her face while the other started undoing the zipper and buckles of her boots, with minimal aid from Vi who helped slide them off, leaving her with the short black socks she usually wore. The boots were then unceremoniously pushed off the bed, landing on the floor with a dull thud. She let out a deep sigh as Vi wasted no time in grabbing a pair of scissors and cutting away the bandage, grimacing when she noticed the coagulated blood stuck to it.
"This is gonna sting a little," she said, slowly lifting the white cloth and pulling with it the crust.
It did sting. Far more than a little. Pain flared through her nerves for a moment when Vi did quick work of ripping the bandage off. "Fuck," she groaned, looking down at the exposed flesh. It didn't get much better with the cleaning, feeling like ants under her skin from the alcoholic wipes. But Vi was unsurprisingly skilled at patching wounds, quickly changing the dressing for a clean square taped over the wound in order to sit slightly elevated and prevent the blood from sticking to it again.
And then, with no more wounds to fix, they sat in silence for what felt like entirely too long. Eyes not meeting, with vacant looks each lost somewhere in the depths of their own thoughts. Vi remembering her sister, all those years ago, bright eyed and full of so much love that wouldn't survive in the world they lived in. It was her fault that so much had gone wrong. Had she not dragged her family to Piltover that day to steal some useless junk that they lost anyways none of this would have happened. Her reckless wish to impress Vander was the little dreadful piece that started this whole domino game of death and pain.
One of her hands absentmindedly found its way to Caitlyn's waist, trying to hold onto the one person she cared for that she was sure was alive. Alive and somewhat well, at least physically. Caitlyn, whose thoughts kept desperately going over every possible outcome of the bomb that hit the council. Maybe its trajectory had been slightly off and the council room wasn't hit head on. Maybe they were running late because of some stupid fancy wine tasting that they often deemed more important than actually leading the city. Maybe the bomb hit its mark but they had survived. Maybe they were just injured. Maybe they were caught under broken stone and glass, holding onto their last breaths. Or maybe there was no way anyone could have survived such a thing, with rubble being blown out all around the tower like the world's most gruesome firework and she would never get to see neither her mother nor her best friend ever again.
She leaned into Vi's touch, arms snaking their way around her torso and her face coming to hide in the crook of her neck, just by the gear tattooed there. Vi's grasp on her was returned with equal barely contained desperation, burying her face in navy messy hair. Movements slow and mindful of injuries, their bodies came to rest against each other.
They weren't sure who let out the first sniffle, though frankly neither really cared. It wasn't long before Vi was uselessly swallowing down a lump in her throat while tears clouded her vision only to fall down her cheeks and leaving trails in the dust that covered them. Her shoulders jerked occasionally with a quiet sob. It felt like choking. She couldn't remember the last time she cried, the last time she allowed herself to cry, and now that she was there it felt so foreign and unfamiliar. It only made her grip on Caitlyn tighten, a shaky hand coming to comb through dark hair when she felt her form shake with a sob of her own. Caitlyn's eyes were squeezed shut against Vi's warm skin, but it did little to stop the tears from escaping. Her cheeks were damp and lower lip split from where she had bitten down on it to keep herself somewhat quiet.
The hand slowly petting her hair kept her grounded enough to not dissolve in a mess right then and there. She wanted to return the gesture, the last remnants of clarity enough to move her hands on the scarred and tattooed skin of Vi’s back and start rubbing slow comforting circles in between her shoulder blades. She wasn't sure how helpful it was, but she considered the slight tightening of her arm around her waist a good sign.
It was long before either of them moved a muscle, asite from comforting caresses, a shuddering breath or a stifled hiccup that shook their body. By the time Caitlyn noticed that Vi was shivering slightly, the distant alarms outside almost quieted down completely and the sky visible in between the curtains of her window was a starless black with heavy clouds that only brought a splash of slightly lighter grey to the darkness.
"I'll-... I'll get you some clothes," she said, leaving the warmth of Vi's arms. The other girl didn't protest much, averting her gaze and wiping her face with calloused fingers.
Caitlyn shuffled over to a drawer where she kept more comfortable clothing that never really saw the light of day outside of her bedroom. It was full of sweatpants in varying colors, with loose shirts and tank tops. She grabbed a pair of black pants for Vi -they would probably pool just a bit at her ankles but there was not much she could do about that- together with a red shirt and matching greys for herself. Her steps were heavy and tired when she made her way back, passing the clothes to Vi.
"I didn't think you knew what sweatpants looked like," Vi joked, voice rough and raspy from the time spent crying that neither of them wanted to acknowledge.
Caitlyn chuckled, throat just as sore. "Would you prefer a dress?"
" Heavens no ," she breathed out as she pulled up the garments.
Too exhausted to be shy, Caitlyn started to peel off her uniform. It felt stuck to her skin, dirty with dust and sweat. They both probably needed a good shower but she felt a surge of dread at the mere thought of stepping inside her bathroom and Vi looked like she would much rather use some sleep instead. Later. They'd get cleaned later. Right now her priority was pulling up her pants. Tie a knot at the front, there, task accomplished. Now onto the buttons of her jacket and its ruffled collar that felt as if it was choking her. Her fingers shaked on the damn things, making her let out a small frustrated growl.
"Hey, c'mere."
Vi's voice was soft, albeit still wavering, but still incredibly compelling and Caitlyn had no energy left to even attempt to fight it. She just turned and sat back down in front of the other girl, whose cheeks adorned a light blush. Vi's fingers were surprisingly defty with the small buttons keeping her jacket together, up to the collar that was loosened until she finally felt like breathing came naturally again. Her shoulders slumped when it was finally off, sliding down her arms and finally discarded to the floor to reunite with her boots.
"Thank you," she whispered once she finally put on the shirt, loose and comfortable and most importantly clean . "I think I'll go talk to dad. You stay here and get some rest and just-" Caitlyn paused to take in a shuddering breath. "-just please don't run off." And leave me alone with this mess.
Her eyes darted to the window for a moment, well aware that Vi was more than capable of climbing her way down if she wished to, even in her state. Maybe a day ago she could have made peace with parting ways, never to see each other again, but after the looks of horror they shared during the tea party, while tied to chairs and feeling the sense of doom make its way into their very bones, the thought of Vi walking away just made loneliness and dread creep up her spine.
And Vi's eyes looked soft and vulnerable when they met hers, betraying similar feelings. She's never been good with her words, most of her life needing to punch her way through things rather than talk through them, but she hoped the featherlight brush of her fingers on Caitlyn's cheek, together with a small smile, came across as sincere enough.
"Don't worry."
She didn't fight it when Caitlyn leaned in the slightest bit. No, she inched closer, their lips tentatively meeting halfway. Vi tasted of copper and Caitlyn actually considered that dentist for a moment, but she wasn't much better with the split that she had bitten into her lip earlier. The kiss was so much unlike what they've experienced together, soft and gentle, a carefully placed touch to bruises and scars. It didn't last long either, both pulling back only to rest their foreheads against each other in a moment of stillness. Nothing existed beyond them in that small fleeting moment, and they reveled in it, until reality came crashing down on them again.
"I'll be back soon," Caitlyn whispered against her lips, before leaving another peck there and rising to her feet.