Chapter Text
To Caitlyn’s credit, she handled the medicine pretty well.
She knocked it back like a champ and threatened to heave it all up for only a few minutes. Not bad for a picky girl who had yet to stomach any real food.
Then a miracle happened. She immediately wanted something to eat—if only to get the taste out of her mouth. Vi was more than happy to oblige. Following Vander’s advice, she gave Caitlyn a tame carcass broth to nurse at her own pace.
Caitlyn finished the whole thing in record time. Afterwards she promptly passed out and hadn’t moved since.
Vi stretched out on the couch with a yawn, grimacing at the twinge in her spine. Her legs were sore from running the Lanes and her back ached from hauling Vander’s collections all day. But it was a good pain—one she’d missed and readily welcomed.
The cellar door opened and Vi didn’t need to look up to recognize Mylo’s slinking gait. He slipped into the room with sweeping arms, lifting his chin at Vi in wordless greeting before stopping by the bunk. He braced his hands on his knees to peer in.
“She finally kick it?” he wondered aloud, as if Caitlyn wasn’t inches away dead asleep. Not that it mattered—not even the blaring of Piltover’s klaxon could wake her.
Vi scowled. “Don’t you have work to do?”
“Only once Vander notices I’m gone.”
Much to her disappointment, Mylo moved over to the couch where she lay, having come down here with the sole aim of bothering her. She sat up with a weary groan as he leaned onto the backing.
“Has he mentioned anything weird about the streets?” Vi asked before Mylo had a chance to speak.
Mylo clicked his mouth shut and gave her a weird look. “No? Why would he?” He leaned in obnoxiously close, nearly balancing on his belly. “Where did you go, Vi? What’d you see?”
He grunted in annoyance when she braced her hand against his forehead to push him out of her space. “Vander just asked me to run the rounds. It’s not a big deal.”
“Then why were you acting weird?”
“I wasn’t acting weird.” Mylo narrowed his gaze and Vi sighed. “I just . . . spotted an enforcer in the Lanes.”
“An enforcer?”
“Yeah, Mylo, we pretty much kidnapped a Piltie. We’re gonna see a patrol or two down here.” She kept the part about the officer’s strange departure from protocol to herself, as well as the rumors spilling from topside—he’d hear about the latter soon enough on his own, anyway. Vi jabbed a finger into his chest. “And we’ll see a lot more if you don’t keep your mouth shut.”
Mylo stepped away with his hands in the air. “Hey, I know the drill. Outside of this room the princess doesn’t exist.”
Vi nodded. Her nerves were just giving him a hard time. She trusted her brothers to stay in line. Powder, too.
“Hey,” Mylo began, a smidge more serious. Seriousness never suited him—it didn’t fit his face. “You’d tell us if we were in trouble, right?”
“Of course I would.” And it was only half a lie. They weren’t in trouble—but that didn’t mean he needed to worry about what kind of trouble it would be if they were. “We’re fine, promise. Now leave me alone.”
“Whatever you say.” Mylo pointed at Caitlyn. “Get your girlfriend on her feet soon, yeah? Tired of her Piltie stink in this room.”
“Smells a hell of a lot better than you, sump breath. Prettier too.”
He branded his crooked teeth in a grin as he headed back up the stairs. “You saw Little Man, right?” One glance at Vi’s face made him snicker. “He knows, doesn’t he?”
“You know Ekko. Eavesdropping little shit.”
The door opened again, nearly knocking Mylo off his feet. Claggor stuck his head in and frowned at their younger brother.
“You—”
“I’m coming!” Mylo groaned, rolling his eyes and pushing Claggor out of the way. “What, I can’t take a break once in a while?”
Their arguing turned muffled as the door shut behind them. But now that Vi was up she didn’t really feel like laying back down.
A day in the streets had really spoiled her.
Caitlyn thought she was done waking up ravenously thirsty, but her mouth was as arid as a wasteland.
She blindly reached for her water flask, eyes too heavy to open. It was in the same spot it always was—nestled against the bunk wall—but it clinked against something when she went to raise it to her lips. The respirator was on, she realized before swiftly removing it, cracking her eyelids open just long enough to do so.
The sight before her made her pause. “What are you doing?”
Vi fixed Caitlyn with a mildly surprised look as she caught her breath. Maybe she hadn’t expected to have an audience. “What’s it look like?” She brought her fists back up and resumed striking empty space, rhythmically shifting her weight from foot to foot between flurries.
“It looks like you’re having a disagreement with the dust in the air.”
Vi wiped at her forehead with the back of her hand. “You’re not the only one bored out of their mind.”
Caitlyn didn’t quite see the entertainment value in whatever Vi was doing so she chalked it up as being another undercity thing she didn’t understand. It was quite a hypnotic display, though. Vi moved with a surprising amount of grace despite the tautness of her body, eyes intensely focused on some invisible target in front of her. Her shoulders and hips twisted in unison with every movement, arms like coiled springs. Caitlyn found herself transfixed.
“You’re quite handsome, you know.”
Vi nearly lost her balance on a swing as she stumbled. “What?”
“I said—”
“No, I heard you.” Vi stared at her like she’d grown a second head. “A little forward, don’t you think?”
Caitlyn blinked, confused. “What do you mean?”
Vi inhaled to respond but clamped her mouth shut with an inquisitive frown. She suddenly reached forward and took Caitlyn’s chin in hand, holding her still as she pressed the other to her forehead. The furrow in her brow deepened and she used a thumb to tug at Caitlyn’s eyelid.
After a few tense seconds, Vi released her and pulled back with a roll of her eyes. “Go back to sleep.”
Caitlyn, who released the breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding, grumbled in protest. “I don’t want to.”
“You’re blitzed off the meds. You don’t know what you’re saying.”
That wasn’t true—she felt fine. A little dizzy and very thirsty, but otherwise fine. Vi turned away and scrubbed a hand down her face. Caitlyn tracked a bead of sweat crawling down her neck before disappearing into her neckline.
It took her a moment to realize nothing more was coming out of her flask. She popped it out of her mouth and turned it over with a disappointed whine.
Hearing the sound, Vi glanced over her shoulder and swiped the flask from Caitlyn’s hand before she could even ask. “Just hang on,” she muttered with a short gesture.
“Did I offend you?” Caitlyn blurted before Vi could get very far. Vi’s head lolled back onto her shoulders as she sighed loudly.
“Depends. Do you hit on all the girls who wait on you hand and foot?”
“It was just an observation,” Caitlyn insisted. Surely she wasn’t the first one to make it? It was plain as day. Her mind drifted like a cloud from one thought to another. “Actually, I don’t get to interact with many others my age. You’re kind of a first.”
Vi grunted impatiently. “Lucky me.” Faint curiosity held her in place a moment longer. “What about that friend of yours—Jay?”
“Jayce,” Caitlyn corrected, the name coming out a slurred yawn as she nestled back down into the sheets. They felt really nice today. “And he’s almost ten years my senior.”
Her eyes closed before she even finished speaking. She was asleep before Vi made it up the stairs.
The room was dark the next time Caitlyn opened her eyes.
Her tongue was still sandpaper but she felt more like herself—the fog in her head was mostly gone and she could breathe easier. But she was freezing. Without the feverish heat warding away every chill, the cellar’s air was no longer a mercy on her skin—now it was just tortuously cold.
Caitlyn reached for the flask’s usual place and found it full. It shook in her grasp as she brought it to her lips, nearly draining the whole thing before setting it back down. Her arms slid to encircle herself, pulling her legs in as tightly as she could bear before disturbing her injuries.
Snores drifted over from the corner where the boys slept. Caitlyn tried to control the noisy chattering of her teeth, wishing more than anything for the embrace of her warm bed back home. She had no idea how she was going to get any more sleep like this.
A sudden soft weight landing on her side made her head jerk up with a start. Caitlyn blinked blearily down her body at the patchy blanket pooling halfway off her hip. She twisted a little more in time to see Vi retreating back to her usual spot on the sofa.
“How can you stand this?” Caitlyn half-whispered as she fumbled to stretch the blanket over the rest of her. It was old, worn, and not very soft, but it was her favorite thing in the world at the moment.
Vi, with her bare arms and shirt even looser than hers, shrugged like it was some big mystery. “I don’t know. It’s almost like I live here.”
Caitlyn realized it was indeed a stupid question and quickly averted her gaze. “Well. Thank you,” she mumbled.
Vi stretched over the sofa and picked up the book that was spread face down on the table, resuming where she’d left off.
Caitlyn tried not to grimace at the improper handling. “Oh, you read?”
Somehow Vi was even less enthused by this question and she eyed Caitlyn with clear exasperation over the pages, expression made harsher by the shadows cast by the nearby lamp. “Do you think I’m stupid?”
“No, of course not.” Caitlyn burrowed deeper into her blanket, wishing it’d swallow her up. Maybe she should just stop talking. “It didn’t even cross my mind. You just strike me as someone who . . .”
Prefers hitting things. But Caitlyn clamped her mouth shut before her foot could shove any deeper. Vi rolled her eyes and shifted lower so that the book blocked her view of Caitlyn.
And Caitlyn, for all her time spent awake, realized she’d never seen Vi sleep.
There was a muffled crash.
“You okay in there?” Vi call through the door, straining to hear if she needed to come to the rescue. Part of her itched to do just that without waiting for an answer—because she was getting really damn tired of patching this girl up.
For a moment, only the continuous stream of running water answered her. “I’m fine,” Caitlyn eventually said back, voice small but with no shortage of frustration.
It didn’t sound like Caitlyn herself had fallen, so she must have knocked something over. Relaxing, Vi settled back against the wall, posted like the Piltie’s personal security detail. Her siblings watched from across the taproom with varying levels of amusement on their faces but all three of them immediately resumed their chores as soon as she glanced their way.
This was so stupid.
But Vi was not one to go back on her word, and there was no better reason to let Caitlyn out of bed than a chance to properly clean up.
Except that Caitlyn was vehemently against Vi helping in any capacity when using the facilities past getting her there. It was the one thing Vi didn’t press on—because she sure as hell wasn’t eager about the idea either. But it also meant Caitlyn took for-fucking-ever for even the simplest tasks, let alone a shower. Vi even dragged a chair in for her.
But hearing Caitlyn’s initial shocked yelped through the door made the whole thing worth it.
Eventually Vi heard the water stop and, after a painfully long wait, Caitlyn finally emerged, still slightly damp but redressed. Her silky hair fell like an indigo curtain onto the towel draped across her shoulders. All of Powder’s braids were gone.
“No hot water whatsoever is just barbaric,” Caitlyn growled through her shivering, making no effort to hide just how infuriated she was. It was the most alert and alive Vi had seen her yet.
Rather than take offense—because the look on Caitlyn’s face was reward enough—Vi just shrugged. “You'll get used to it.”
A moment passed where Caitlyn looked like she might explode but her focus shifted to maintaining her balance on one foot. Vi could see she’d done a decent job at keeping her splint dry. Vi moved to lift her into her arms but Caitlyn stopped her with a hand on her chest. “Don’t,” Caitlyn said sternly, refusing to let go of the doorframe. “Please, not again.”
“You don’t learn, do you?” Vi said, brushing Caitlyn’s hand away. “It’s like you’re allergic to healing.”
The indignation in Caitlyn’s eyes melted to discomfort, her gaze flicking towards the taproom where the others worked. “Do you have any idea,” Caitlyn whispered, biting through each word with her teeth, “how humiliating this is? I can’t even go to the washroom on my own. Spare me this one dignity.”
“Are you crazy? I’m not letting you walk.”
Caitlyn threw down the gauntlet the moment she reached past Vi to brace herself against the wall. “You’re not letting me do anything. You are my peer—not some grand authority. Move aside.”
Vi watched her shimmy clumsily along the wall for a few paces. Caitlyn flinched every time her bad foot touched the floor even for the briefest of seconds, but she was too stubborn to slow, let alone stop. “If that leg sets badly, you’ll have a limp, and then you’ll be closer kin with us trencher trash than your folks back home. You wouldn’t want that, would you?”
“Brute,” Caitlyn hissed venomously under her breath. The exertion and pain were already straining her ability to speak.
With calculated patience, Vi rolled her shoulder and waited for Caitlyn to shift her weight into the next step. “Yeah, well—”
She surged forward and kicked Caitlyn’s leg out from under her, catching and flipping her on the fall in what was probably the smoothest grapple she’d ever made. Vander would be proud.
“—your chariot awaits, sweetheart.”
“Vi!” Caitlyn shrieked. “Put me down!”
Vi ignored Caitlyn’s furious pounding against her back as she swiftly marched towards the cellar, one arm holding Caitlyn in place over her shoulder. Her siblings at least had the courtesy to wait until she’d made it down the stairs before breaking into hollering laughter.
Caitlyn, thoroughly humbled, had stopped her angry squirming by the time Vi stepped into the cellar. She was completely red in the face and wouldn’t look Vi in the eye.
“What’s your deal today?” Vi snapped as soon as her hands were free. “Since when do you give a shit what a couple of trenchers think?”
Caitlyn pulled the blanket around her shoulders and dropped her gaze into her lap. “What does them being trenchers have to do with it?” she asked quietly.
“Well, you’ll get better, eventually go home, and then never think about us again. Like all topsiders do.”
A humorless smile tugged at the corners of Caitlyn’s lips and Vi swore she saw a single tear escape the corner of her eye, but Caitlyn wiped it away in a flash. Vi wasn’t sure what to think anymore, a bit thrown by this sudden shift in emotion.
Caitlyn’s voice was paper thin. “I was just really looking forward to a hot shower.”