Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Vi grabbed the chair next to the hospital bed and turned it around, landing herself on the seat and resting her arms crossed over the back of the chair.

Tobias had been keeping Caitlyn company while Vi went and showered, cleaning her own cuts and rinsing away all the blood that had caked on her skin. She looked at her pink hands that had been covered in blood for 15 hours, Cait’s blood . She nearly scrubbed her skin raw.

Tobias was holding a clipboard, observing Caitlyn’s vitals on the other side of the hospital bed. 

Caitlyn still hadn’t woken up since coming out of surgery 12 hours ago. Vi only knew that they were keeping her sedated for a little while longer to help with the recovery process. Her eye was a huge loss, there was no way that they could reverse the damage that Ambessa had inflicted. Vi made sure she looked away whenever that particular wound was being tended to, she knew Caitlyn wouldn’t want her to see it. 

The bruising around her face had begun to change colour to a deep purple, her right cheek was especially bruised after taking several hits. The stab wound in her side is longer now after the surgeons had to cut it open further to repair internal damage that had occurred as a result of the blade. Her right knee was also elevated, just outside of the blankets from Ambessa kicking Caitlyn’s leg in, dislocating her knee. And then there were all the tubes and wires…

“Does she really need all of this?” Vi asked, softly. Tobias didn’t read the question as patronising, but more so as an uneducated concern. Vi was genuinely curious, and concerned, at the number of IV bags that surrounded Caitlyn. 

“Yes,” Tobias confirmed, “we have fluids, an antibiotic, a liquid form of regular pain medicine, and this is a long-lasting pain medicine that will hopefully keep Caitlyn comfortable for the next 24 hours once it has been completely administered.”

Vi followed Tobias’ hand as he explained. He missed the fifth bag, but Vi knew it was blood. Caitlyn had lost a lot when she was on the battlefield. Everyone was frantic for blood in the triage tent in the town square. Vi begged the medics to take her blood for Caitlyn, but there was no way of confirming in time if they were a match, or even relatively close enough. 

“It could do more harm than good,” one medic had said, but that infuriated Vi. Given the circumstances, shouldn’t it be worth the risk? Caitlyn was dying. Her wounds weren’t the only source of blood loss, the commander had started coughing it up, her neck coated in red.

Vi grabbed the medic by his shirt, their noses almost touching as she gritted her teeth and roared. This was absurd. Caitlyn needed blood urgently and Vi had blood to give, what about that wasn’t good enough?

“Dr Kiramman!” A medic bellowed as Tobias stumbled into the tent, frantically looking for his daughter.

“Where is she?” He asked, desperately. Vi let go of the medic that she had by the collar and pushed him away revealing Caitlyn behind them. Tobias pushed past to be at his daughter’s bedside.

One of the medics filled Tobias in on the extent of Caitlyn’s injuries; a stab wound with internal injuries, the damage to her eye, a possible brain injury - a concussion at least, a dislocated knee, broken ribs…

Vi’s attention started to fade, recalling Mel earlier confirming the same injuries, learning that they all were at the hands of Ambessa. One person did all of this damage while Vi was in a tower fighting two different armies. One person did more damage than two armies.

The moment the plan went out the window, Vi should have made it her priority to find Caitlyn. To fight alongside her, to protect her. Jinx would have followed. Maybe she would still be alive and maybe Caitlyn would be okay. 

Coming back to the present, Vi followed the tubes back to Caitlyn’s resting body. The closer Caitlyn was to waking up, the less comfortable she was beginning to look and this broke Vi. She didn’t want Caitlyn to feel what was about to hit her.

“Back in the triage tent,” Vi began, “it was because I’m from the undercity, right? That’s why they wouldn’t take my blood?”

Tobias lowered his head, not making eye contact with the fighter. That was confirmation enough for Vi.

“So, my blood is dirty?”

“I wouldn’t put it so harshly, but you have been exposed to environments, bacteria, viruses, many things that could have affected Caitlyn’s body accepting the blood,” he stated, “we could use your blood to help injured soldiers from the undercity.”

Silence lingered after that. Vi sat with her chin resting on her crossed arms, watching Caitlyn and Tobias stood, pretending that he was still checking Caitlyn’s vitals.

“How is your wound?” He asks, still not making eye contact.

Vi keeps her eyes on Caitlyn as she shrugs, “It’s fine.”

“We can remove the new stitches in a few days if you keep up with resting as you have been.”

Vi scoffed, “I’m not resting. I’m just not leaving Cait’s side.”

“Well, if that keeps you healing well,” he looked at Vi and gave a small smile.

She shrugs again. What does she care anyway? There was no way she could prioritise herself right now, not when the woman she loves is in such poor condition.

Tobias puts down the clipboard that had been used regularly over the past 12 hours to log Caitlyn’s vitals and moves towards the door to the hospital room, dimming the lights down. He noticed that Vi still hadn’t taken her eyes off of his daughter. Watching over her, protecting her , even when the war is over.

“It might still be some time before she wakes. You should get some rest too, Vi.”

“Maybe later,” she responded. With that, Tobias nodded and left the room. 

The truth is that Vi was tired. There were a couple of moments in the past 12 hours where she drifted for just a moment and then came back, fearing that Caitlyn's health had declined in that time.

She had to stay now. She had to be here when Tobias couldn’t be. Caitlyn needed to wake up to see the face of someone who loves her with all their heart, not some nurse or doctor.

But her eyes were heavy and after an hour of listening to the monitors and oxygen hissing, she started to drift into a slumber with her cheek resting on her arms.

Suddenly it was 15 hours earlier. It was so loud that Vi was wincing at the noise and the sun was blaring down on her from up above. She used her arm to shield her eyes as she raced to where all of the commotion was happening. She had just gotten herself out of the darkness of the tower, out from under the heavy weight of grief she was feeling, that she still feels, but then she remembered she still had someone else she loved in this war.

Mel spotted her coming from a mile away and ran to meet her at the bottom of the steps, arms outstretched.

“Vi, just wait!” Mel begged, her hands on Vi’s shoulders now.

“Why?” Vi questioned, “Where’s Cait?”

“She doesn’t want you to see her this way,” Mel announced.

“What way? What’s going on?” Vi asked, growing increasingly frustrated now.

“Caitlyn and I went up against Ambessa together. I did everything I could to protect her,” Mel tried, her own emotions making her voice thick.

“Let me go!” Vi roared as she shoved Mel away and ran up the stairs.

“Vi!” Mel called after her.

The image at the top of the stairs was far worse than what she could have imagined. Caitlyn was half-laying on the ground, half-resting against Steb, one of the enforcers from her strike team. He had his arms beneath her armpits, propping her up and leaning her head upright against his body. In a moment, Vi found out why. Caitlyn was coughing, and gagging, up blood. Steb was trying to protect her airway.

There were two medics on her right side, tending to a deep wound. Her right leg looked stiff and odd, her face… there was blood all over her face. Cuts on her forehead, her cheek, and her left eye had blood consistently flowing from it, all of the blood that was coming from her mouth, down her neck, and meeting her shirt. 

Vi was paralysed with fear. Her lungs were paralysed, she couldn’t breathe at the sight before her. 

“Vi, breathe,” Mel gently prompted, placing a hand on the fighter's cheek. At the touch, Vi inhaled deeply, as if it was the first breath she had taken in minutes. She was panting now, panicking. 

She stumbled towards Caitlyn, she was afraid to touch her.

“Cait?” She called, grabbing her hand and touching her shoulder, “cupcake, can you hear me?”

“Violet?” The fighter almost missed the faint response. The soldier’s right eye was unfocused and dazed. She probably couldn’t even see that Vi was right next to her.

“I’m right here, I’m not leaving you,” Vi promised, kissing her hand. She looked at Steb and asked if she could take his place. They carefully maneuvered so that Vi could slip into his place without burdening Caitlyn too much. Vi gently pulled Caitlyn into her, one hand snaked under her left armpit and resting on her chest, above her breast, resting on her heart . And the other hand she placed just under Caitlyn’s chin, holding her head upright even though all Vi could feel was warm, thick blood and bloody saliva. 

“I’ve got you,” Vi said, her voice thick with tears.

Vi could hear Mel yelling at the medics, asking why Caitlyn still wasn’t stable enough to move. They were yelling back, assuring the mage that the bleeding had almost come to a stop from the wound in the enforcer’s side.

Steb was splinting his commander’s right leg while the arguing continued. Vi lost herself for just a moment, realising that she had just lost her father and her sister again and now she was caressing her severely injured lover’s body while people were fighting over how to save her life. She was only a moment away from losing everything.

Vi was knocked out of her thoughts when she felt warm liquid pool over her hand beneath Caitlyn’s chin. While she disappeared for a minute, Caitlyn had gagged up more blood. 

“I’ve got you, Cait, I’ve got you!” She repeated, tightening her grip on her.

“Somebody do something !” She roared, hitting her own limit with the arguing.

“She needs to be moved, now!” Mel agreed. At the same time, one of the medics confirmed the bleeding had stopped and the commander could be moved to the triage tent.

Just as fast as the order came, Vi was suddenly on the ground without Caitlyn. They had grabbed her and rushed her away in an instant. There was only a second to process her thoughts before Mel rushed back to pull Vi off the ground.

“Come on, they’re taking her to the triage tent,” Mel informed her. Vi ran after Mel as they followed the medical team to the town square where several triage tents had been set up. They were all chaotic and busy, swimming with wounded soldiers and only a couple handfuls of doctors and medics. The ratio was impossible. But luckily Caitlyn already had three medics with her, including Steb.

“What can I do?” Vi begged. There had to be something she could do. She didn’t need to hold Caitlyn up anymore, the bed was doing it for them. They were already unclipping the armour and cutting her shirt open. Two medics on either side cut her sleeves and started placing IVs in both her arms. Steb had put an oxygen mask over Caitlyn’s face.

Vi felt like she couldn’t even see Caitlyn anymore.

“Now we wait,” Mel said, standing next to the fighter. 

“Mel…” Vi started, already so overwhelmed, “What happened?”

“Vi.”

The image of Caitlyn bloodied and bruised started to get further and further away from Vi. She began to panic, was she being pulled away?

“Vi.”

The familiar voice startled Vi awake. She pulled her head up from her crossed arms in an instant. She was back in the hospital room. Cait’s hospital room.

“Vi,” the weak voice groaned one more time.

Coming out of her daze, Vi was at Caitlyn’s side in almost an instant.

“Oh my god, Cait!” She whimpered. She placed one hand carefully on Caitlyn’s left cheek and placed a kiss on her right, careful not to bump the cannula that was hissing oxygen through Caitlyn’s nose, “it’s so good to hear your voice.”

“Where..?” Caitlyn spoke, her breath short.

“You’re in the hospital. Your dad wants to transfer you back home with all the medical equipment you need as soon as possible, but we have to wait 48 hours first,” Vi explained, her thumb still lightly brushing Caitlyn’s cheek.

“Don’t let me…” Caitlyn began, exhaustion already starting to take over.

“What’s that, cupcake?” Vi asked.

“Fall asleep,” she finished, fighting her heavy eyelid.

“You need to rest,” Vi comforted her, “the more you rest, the faster you’re going to get better, Cait.”

Vi watched as Caitlyn tried to lift her left arm, but it was stiff with an IV secured in the crook of her elbow for the blood transfusions and another IV bandaged to her hand where the antibiotics were being pumped into her vein.

“Don’t let me fall asleep,” Caitlyn huffed one more time before succumbing to the darkness that started to engulf her again. Her head drifted to her right side, her left cheek leaving Vi’s caress. 

Vi stood there for some time, watching the only piece of life that she had left rest and, hopefully, heal. 

“I love you so much, Cait.”

Chapter Text

Caitlyn’s hearing had become muffled and pained after grabbing Maddie’s rifle, resulting in a misfire right beside her right ear, but she was determined to take her only opportunity at possibly putting Ambessa down. 

In a swift moment she reloaded the rifle and aimed at Ambessa's head, but her enemy was faster. She felt the blade before she was shoulder-to-shoulder with Ambessa in a split moment.

She had never been stabbed before, she didn’t know what to expect, but she thought of Vi. Vi had been stabbed, slashed, beaten, tortured, and she got back up every time. It was time for Caitlyn to do that. The ache and burning sensation coming from the wound was overwhelming, but she wouldn’t let Ambessa or Maddie see her crumble in pain.

As Maddie reloaded her rifle, the sound of the shell case hitting the ground sounded far and distant, but Caitlyn knew that wasn’t the case. She was about to die and all she could do was stay strong in front of her team, die honourably. Unafraid. But she was so afraid.

A strange sound came after the bullet was released and suddenly Maddie was collapsing on Caitlyn’s shoulder, the impact slightly shifting the blade in her wound sending another wave of burning through her body.

The scream left Vi gasping as she was pulled out of her slumber again. She instantly brought her hand up to her neck, wondering if the sound had come from herself.

The source was much worse, it was coming from Caitlyn. 

“Cait, what’s wrong?” Vi asked desperately. 

Her midnight blue hair was soaked to her skin, her breathing was unsteady and frantic, and she had her hands pressed to her wounded side.

“She- She stabbed me,” Caitlyn huffed, “she stabbed me, Vi.”

“I know, Cait, I know,” Vi nodded, trying to understand the situation. 

“Why did you take it out?” She cried, “I’m going to die!”

Vi was taken aback by the panic before her. She had never seen Caitlyn so scared and upset. Her breathing was laboured and heavy. She was working her body too hard in this state.

Cait thinks she’s still on the battlefield.

She was feeling pain, not because she had just been stabbed, but because she was holding pressure to her newly stitched wound.

“Cait, you’re safe,” she promised, “you’re in the hospital, you’re safe. Your wound has been stitched, you need to take the pressure off.”

Vi tried to gently take Caitlyn’s hands away from her side, but the enforcer had her hands locked in place, firm.

“No, I’ll die, Vi! The bleeding is already too much!” Caitlyn fought. 

“Cait,” Vi tried, caressing her face, “you’re safe in hospital, you need to let up on the pressure. You’re not bleeding out, the doctors fixed you up. Your dad made sure you got the best care. Please, you need to stop, you’re hurting yourself.”

Caitlyn released a quiet gasp, “my father?”

Vi noticed that her body began to loosen, the pressure she was forcing down with her hands finally letting up.

A doctor and a nurse had come stumbling into the hospital room at this point, surely in response to the same scream that woke Vi from her own nightmare.

“Yes, yes, your dad. He’s not here right now, but he should be back soon,” Vi promised, her eyes not leaving Caitlyn’s, “you’re okay.”

After observing the situation, the doctor nodded for the nurse to draw a solution into a syringe.

“I’m sorry,” Caitlyn exhaled, “I thought…”

Vi kept Caitlyn’s attention on her and away from the nurse as she administered the sedative.

“It’s okay, it was just a bad dream. I’m right here.”

Caitlyn’s breathing began to return to a calm rhythm and the monitors slowly followed. She was still watching Vi, though her eyelid was beginning to fall heavy.

“I don’t want you to go,” she spoke softly.

“I won’t,” Vi assured her, gently combing her fingers through Caitlyn’s damp hair, “you’re not going to get rid of me that easily.”

Caitlyn had passed out before Vi finished her sentence. 

“We need to check her stitches,” the doctor explained to Vi.

“I’ll do it,” Vi said. She lifted Caitlyn’s arm and pulled the blankets away. She lifted the hospital gown to check the wound bandage and sighed when she saw what they expected, “Cait…”

It wasn’t a lot, but there was blood peering through the bandage, she may have pulled a stitch or two. Vi moved aside and let the doctor and the nurse tend to the wound. 

She waited patiently at the end of the hospital bed, arms crossed. She wished she had someone to talk to, anyone. She was used to being her own company, but she could feel herself beginning to drown in grief. Ekko had returned to Zaun soon after the war, Mel was preparing to leave for Noxus, Jayce and Loris were… gone. There were still a few hours until sunrise, so she didn’t think she was going to see Tobias anytime soon either.

She just wanted to talk to Caitlyn. Caitlyn didn’t even know Vander, Jinx, Loris and Jayce were gone. Her best friend was dead and she had not a clue. Would she be strong enough to learn about his death so soon?

The doctor and nurse finished cleaning the wound and logged Caitlyn’s vitals. Vi was getting used to hearing about blood pressure, but didn’t know what it meant when they mentioned it being low the past couple of logs. They didn’t seem too concerned, so Vi trusted that Caitlyn was doing okay considering.

But she couldn’t go back to sleep after seeing Caitlyn in distress, believing she was still on the battlefield and Ambessa had just stabbed her, believing she was saving herself only to be hurting herself instead.

What if it happened again, but this time she doesn’t scream and Vi doesn’t wake up? 

So she sat and she waited, watching the commander sleep, her hand twitching every now and then as if she was trying to reach for something or pulling a trigger.

Vi hadn’t realised hours had passed and the sun had risen when Tobias walked through the door. He took in Vi, sitting in the same spot, the same position. Chair backwards, arms crossed over the back, watching his daughter.

“It would distress me greatly if you have not moved an inch since I left in the evening,” he spoke. 

Vi jumped at his sudden entrance, but eased when she recognised it was Tobias.

“I slept some,” she stated, “Cait woke up a few hours ago, she was… erratic. She thought she was on the battlefield.”

Tobias grabbed the clipboard and reviewed the logs from overnight. He hummed and squinted at the data he was reading.

“Is something wrong?” Vi asked, mildly concerned, “the doctor didn’t mention anything earlier.”

“His writing… it’s absurd,” Tobias shook his head, “Caitlyn’s blood pressure has been low during the night but I see they have started another blood transfusion which should help.”

Vi nodded, somewhat understanding.

“It might explain the erratic episode, sometimes patients don’t seem like themselves when their blood pressure is low,” he explained, “I see the doctor opted for sedation. I would have too.”

“It was intense,” Vi confessed, resting her chin on her crossed arms and continuing to watch Caitlyn, “she pulled a couple of stitches holding pressure to the wound, believing she was still bleeding.”

Tobias hummed again, but this time it sounded low and sad, like it pained him to know Caitlyn was hurting. He seated himself in a chair on the other side of Caitlyn’s bed, the sun coming through the curtains behind him.

“You should go back to the house and rest. I will stay with Caitlyn until your return.”

“I promised her I wouldn’t go anywhere.”

“Vi,” Tobias started, “Caitlyn’s recovery is going to be long and exhausting, not only for her but for us, too. You can’t burn yourself out at the beginning. Caitlyn would understand.”

But she promised.

“I… can’t,” she sighed, “I can’t leave her.”

He gave a small nod in return, “would you consider-”

“What are you two talking about?” A soft voice interrupted.

Vi couldn’t help the smile that grew across her face. She made her way over to the bed and kissed Caitlyn’s cheek, before leaning her forehead against the enforcer’s.

Up close, Vi noticed she was more pale than usual and her skin was clammy. She didn’t look well, though she was putting on a good front.

“Nothing important, darling. Are you feeling okay?” Tobias asked, also mildly concerned. Vi pulled her chair closer to the bed and sat down, caressing Caitlyn’s hand.

“I’m fine, father,” Caitlyn responded. She wasn’t harsh or dismissive, but more so that she didn’t want to be a burden.

“You’re not fine, Cait,” Vi countered gently, “is it the pain?”

“No,” Caitlyn quickly reacted, “no, I’m fine.”

Vi looked towards Tobias who was watching his daughter closely. 

“Dr Kiramman?” Another doctor called from the door, indicating that he wanted to talk to Tobias outside. Tobias gave Caitlyn’s arm a gentle squeeze before slipping out of the room.

“What’s going on?” Vi was genuinely worried at this point, “you can talk to me.”

Caitlyn was growing frustrated, unable to find a comfortable position with the pain that was shooting from her knee and wound site, and the pressure in her head behind her now lost eye wasn’t letting up. The nausea in her stomach was making matters worse.

Vi was making it difficult for Caitlyn to stay strong with her kindness and empathy. She only wanted to help the enforcer, and Caitlyn knew this, but Vi never asked for help. Vi was tough, she never showed weakness. The fighter fought in a war just days after being wounded herself. She didn’t look pathetic or weak, she was storming around the Kiramman mansion not even 48 hours later.

“Can I help?” Vi offered, noticing Caitlyn’s discomfort.

“No, just-” Vi gasped when Caitlyn was cut off by her own stomach betraying her, expelling its contents on her gown and blankets. She inhaled sharply, her wound site punishing her muscles for contracting.

“Shit.” Vi started looking around for something, anything, to help.

“Please go!” Caitlyn shot.

I don’t want you to go.

A part of Vi wanted to respect Caitlyn’s boundaries and leave, but she knew if the roles were reversed, she would want Caitlyn to stay, even if she was begging her to leave. 

“No, Cait. I need you too,” Vi confessed, “you’re all that I have left.”

Through all the pain and discomfort, Caitlyn paused to recognise Vi’s pain and discomfort. She could see that the fighter was hurting too, that she was feeling useless.

“It all hurts,” Caitlyn finally confessed quietly, “everything. Nothing feels right.”

Tobias re-entered the room with Caitlyn’s doctor.

“Caitlyn!” He exclaimed, noticing the sick and Caitlyn’s defeated front. Caitlyn looked at Vi pathetically and Tobias followed her glance.

“It’s the pain,” Vi confirmed, “she can have more medicine, right?”

Tobias gave Vi a subtle look of concern, “why don’t you come outside with me while the nurse changes Caitlyn’s gown and blanket.”

“I can do it,” Vi insisted.

“It’s okay Vi,” Caitlyn gave the best smile she could muster, which wasn’t much, “go.”

Vi followed Tobias, but looked back before disappearing just outside the room. Though she was only outside the room, she felt an inkling of guilt, like she was still abandoning Caitlyn somehow.

“Are you still feeling nauseous?” The doctor asked kindly while the nurse started removing the vomit-covered blankets. Caitlyn went red, feeling embarrassed that this was happening to her. A commander… the face of House Kiramman on the council, and a nurse was cleaning up her sick. 

“Commander?” 

“Yes, I am,” she sighed, “but you’re rationing the pain medicine, aren’t you? That’s what the private conversations are about?”

The doctor gave an empathetic nod, “we’re going to change your bandages, check for signs of infection and give you medicine for the nausea that will hopefully help.”

Caitlyn nodded in return, the nurse already removing the bandage from her side, but the muffled conversation coming from just outside her room kept her distracted. Vi definitely sounded distressed.

“We wait? We’re just meant to sit here while she’s uncomfortable?” Vi shot at Tobias, “while she’s sick from the pain?”

“These are hard times, Vi. Do you think I want to watch my daughter suffer?” Tobias cried hushed.

“Then why are we?” Vi was growing incredibly frustrated. Tears were prickling at the corner of her eyes, “there has to be something we can do other than one dose a day?”

“I am taking care of it,” Mel said from behind Vi and Tobias. They both turned to see the Noxus leader standing before them, draped in red and silver, “I sent a ship to Noxus last evening to retrieve medicines and other medical supplies.”

“When can we expect the ship to return?” Tobias asked.

“A few days,” Mel confirmed.

“A few days?!” Vi exclaimed, “Cait needs the medicine now!”

“Sorry to interrupt,” the doctor met the trio just outside the room, “we changed her bandages and checked for signs of infection, but everything seems to be looking good. I gave her some medicine to help with the nausea-”

“Oh, perfect. Or are we rationing that too?” Vi spat.

“Vi, please,” Mel spoke.

The doctor sighed and then continued, “we’ll continue to log her vitals every other hour and we’ll administer more pain medicine early evening to hopefully help her rest.”

“Thank you, doctor,” Tobias offered a small smile.

The doctor looked towards Vi, who had her arms crossed and was staring at the ground, trying to contain her rage, “the Commander is asking for you.”

Vi felt her muscles loosen at the mention of Caitlyn asking for her and she didn’t hesitate to slip through the small gap in the door.

“You’re upset,” Caitlyn frowned, trying to reach for Vi’s hand. Vi took her hand as soon as she got to the bed and sat in her chair feeling defeated.

“Of course I am, and I’m sure you know why.”

Caitlyn cleared her throat, subtly wincing at the pain behind her eye socket, “there are soldiers and civilians who are sicker and hurting more than I am. I’ll be okay.”

“You’re the strongest person I know, cupcake.”

This took Caitlyn by surprise. Vi, calling her the strongest person? That couldn’t be right. Especially not after today.

“When I saw you, after Ambessa…” Vi paused, refusing to meet Caitlyn’s eye but instead staring at their hands together.

“I didn’t want you to see me,” Caitlyn confessed softly.

“But I did, and the strength you have… How hard you fought against Ambessa with Mel, and then how hard you fought to stay alive,” Vi didn’t know she was crying until she felt Caitlyn’s thumb catch her tears, “your strength is what keeps me going, Cait.”

And then it hit her.

“Vi,” Caitlyn started, “who did we lose?”

Vi finally looked up and met Caitlyn’s gaze, her eyes blurred from the tears. She started with Loris, killed at the torrent trying to destroy the Noxus ships, then Jinx’s sacrifice to save Vi from Vander resulting in losing them both, and finally, Jayce.

Caitlyn knew she was upset, but her body was overwhelmed with other sensations that she could feel the grief yet. She just felt sad about the news.

“Come lay with me,” she ordered Vi, tapping the hand on her left side on the bed.

“No, Cait, we need to keep you comfortable while the medicines are being rationed,” Vi stated.

“Please, Vi,” she almost begged. She just wanted to hold Vi, feel her body close, feel the life radiating from her. To feel something other than pain and nothingness. 

Vi reluctantly stood and made her way to the other side of the bed. Caitlyn tried to move herself over a little, her side and knee sending a shooting pain up her right side. She groaned and Vi flinched at the sound, but caved when Caitlyn lifted her left arm, careful that her IV tubings were out of the way so that Vi could lay against her.

Vi carefully laid on her side, facing Caitlyn and nuzzled her face into the crook of Caitlyn’s neck, allowing the enforcer to bring her left arm down and rest her hand on Vi’s bicep.

Feeling Vi’s quiet sobs against her neck left Caitlyn feeling her own tears begin to fall. Vi’s grief was suddenly a part of her just by having her so close. Their losses were one and the same. And even after the war, they were fighting the same battle of feeling weak and useless.

“I love you too, Violet.”

Chapter Text

Caitlyn had fallen asleep soon after Vi joined her in bed. The first tell was the sudden absence of Caitlyn’s hand on Vi’s bicep and then the small sounds that would escape her lips now and then. 

Tobias hadn’t returned to the room since the discussion about the medicine rationing earlier, Vi could only suspect that he was giving them some space.

Vi slowly and gently pulled herself away from Caitlyn, swinging her legs off the bed and getting up. She delicately moved Caitlyn’s left arm closer to her body now that Vi wasn’t accommodating the space any longer and pulled the blanket up to keep the enforcer warm.

The new bandage over her eye was smaller with less gauze and the doctor had removed the oxygen cannula as well. Finally, Caitlyn was starting to look like herself.

Tobias opened the door and greeted Vi quietly when he noticed his daughter was resting.

“How long has she been asleep?” He whispered.

“Not long,” Vi answered, “she just fell asleep.”

“Her body has been through a lot, the little time she was awake would be more than enough to exhaust her right now,” Tobias explained. He handed Vi a brown paper bag and she nearly fell into the chair right there and then when she saw the sandwich inside. She hadn’t realised how hungry she was. She moved to the other side of the bed, her side , and sat down with the sandwich.

“Thanks,” she offered Tobias a small smile. 

“I also brought these.” He held up a fresh bandage and some medicated cream. Vi rolled her eyes and released a small groan of her own.

“I’m fine,” she argued.

Tobias revealed a small smirk, “You’re starting to sound like my daughter.”

Vi held her hand out, “I can take care of my wound.”

Tobias handed over the wound care supplies and sighed when Vi dropped the contents in her sandwich bag. Not such a sterile environment, but he also wasn’t surprised.

“Sorry about before,” Vi apologised, “I, uh, lost my sister yesterday…”

Tobias shared a saddened look, but Vi didn’t meet his eyes, she kept hers on the ground.

“Cait is all that I have left. It’s like my whole family is waiting for me somewhere else and Cait is the only thing that’s stopping me from getting to that place. My parents, my sister, Vander, Benzo, Mylo, Claggor… My whole family.”

She couldn’t help but imagine them all sitting at a table, enjoying a meal together. There are no wars or worries where they are. Her parents are very much alive, Powder is laughing with Claggor at some silly joke that Mylo told because they forgave her for what happened that night. Vander and Benzo are bantering over beer and there’s an empty chair at the table just for her. Sometimes she imagined herself grabbing the chair to pull it back, but would she be able to fight the temptation to sit in it. But then Caitlyn is in her arms again on the battlefield, fighting to live so Vi had to do the same.

“Seeing Cait like this, I’ve never felt so useless,” she sighed, “she’s always been there for me. When I was stabbed in Zaun, she traded her rifle so that I could be healed. And then when I was wounded days ago, she made sure I made it here. She saved me, again. And what have I done so far? Nothing.”

“My daughter would scold you for saying such a thing,” Tobias stated, “it was you who kept her safe, not only in the undercity but in almost every challenge or battle afterward. It was you who supported her during her deepest moments of grief, not I, as I should have.”

“I wasn’t there when it mattered the most. I couldn’t protect her from Ambessa,” Vi confessed.

Tobias hummed, sharing the guilt with Vi on that one. He had been so deep in his own grief that Caitlyn stopped talking to him about council matters. He didn’t even notice that his daughter was under the wing of a monster. A monster that Cassandra shared her doubts about over tea just hours before her untimely death.

Vi excused herself to the bathroom in Caitlyn’s hospital room and pulled the bandage and medicated cream out of the sandwich bag. She lifted her shirt and removed her old, relatively clean, bandage. She ran her fingers along the new stitches, remembering the makeshift waiting room that she, Mel, and Tobias had been accommodating while Caitlyn was in surgery. Vi had unclipped her body armour and didn’t even realise the bloody patch that had stained her shirt beneath it. The stitches on the far left of her wound had split at some point during the war, but she had been running on adrenaline. She didn’t even notice. 

After numerous rejections, Vi finally caved and let Tobias take her back to the triage tents where they found a bed and some wound care supplies. He cleaned her wound and fixed the stitches that had split. It was the closest she had ever been to Caitlyn’s dad. They didn’t have much of an opinion of each other, but they both shared great love for Caitlyn.

The wound looked good, she thought as she used some of the cream and put the new bandage on. Alone, in a moment of silence, she realised just how tired she was. Her muscles were fatigued and sore, her eyes had started burning a bit when she was applying the new bandage. She was just… tired . 

She splashed water on her face and around her neck. She didn’t have time to feel tired, she didn’t have a reason to feel this fatigued, not when Caitlyn was suffering on the other side of the bathroom door.

When Vi exited the bathroom, Tobias caught a glance of the fighter, noticing that the day was beginning to weigh heavy on her. Before she could take her usual seat, he offered, “Why don’t you come sit over here?”

With Caitlyn moved to the right side of the bed, there was little room for Vi to be able to put her head down to rest. Tobias knew she had no plan to leave his daughter's side, so the best he could offer was a soft place to rest her head.

“I’m fine over here,” Vi responded, “but, thanks.”

“Vi, please,” he softly begged, “you should rest when Caitlyn does. You need sleep too, otherwise, it’ll do you both no good. I know my daughter, she will worry.”

Vi sighed and dragged her feet around the bed to accommodate Tobias’ chair. It was already scooted close enough to the hospital bed so that Vi could rest her head over her crossed arms. But she pulled her right hand out to rest on Caitlyn’s left arm that was under the blankets where Vi had placed it earlier.

Tobias continued to hum as he checked on Caitlyn’s vitals, a constant job that Vi was grateful for. Tobias was double-checking every time a nurse or doctor came in to update Caitlyn’s log. He was involved in every conversation and every number that was written on the clipboard he was holding. Vi didn’t understand most of the medical jargon that would be thrown around whenever a medical professional entered the room and Tobias never appeared to be annoyed when Vi expected him to translate what was going on. They were slowly finding their middle ground.

Vi could feel her eyelids growing heavy and her body giving in to the fatigue. 

Just for a moment , she thought, then slipped into unconsciousness. 

When Caitlyn came to, there was commotion all around her. The sun was blinding her and she instinctively clenched her eyes shut to protect her pupils from the brightness, but her left eye sent a searing pain through her skull and she cried out. She used what strength she had to bring her hand up and touch her cheek, right beneath her eye socket, which was smothered in sticky, drying blood. It was when she couldn’t open her eye that she knew it was gone. Physically, it was still there, but it was useless. She knew the loss would be almost definitive when she chose to sacrifice it to cut the runes from Ambessa’s arm.

She could feel the pressure of someone applying force to the lower right side of her abdomen, where Ambessa had impaled her with a blade, but she didn’t feel any pain.

“Caitlyn! Can you hear me?” A familiar voice called, their hands touching Caitlyn’s face and their silhouette conveniently blocked sunlight from blinding her good eye. When she opened it, she was face to face with Mel.

“Mel?” She gasped, grateful to see a familiar face and thankful that Mel was okay and the plan had worked.

“Stay with us, Caitlyn,” Mel ordered, “you’re going to be okay.”

Caitlyn lifted her head weakly and saw not one, but two medics, applying pressure to the wound in her abdomen. But still, she felt no pain. This isn’t good.

“Caitlyn, stay with me,” Mel repeated, bringing Caitlyn’s attention back to the mage’s face. Then Steb slid to a stop next to her.

“Steb,” she breathed. This isn’t good, she thought again as she felt her airway becoming thinner. She tried to cough, but couldn’t. She wanted to bring her hand up to her throat to show Mel and Steb that she was struggling, but couldn’t. That’s when she felt the blood crawling up her throat and she was finally able to cough it up.

Steb and Mel both pulled her up by her upper arms and Steb scooted in behind her to support her. Now that her head was up and leaning against Steb, she could see all the blood that she just painted over her armour and the medics working on her wound that she couldn’t feel. She could see her fingers twitching and her left foot moving the smallest bit as she tried moving all her extremities, relief washing over her to know she wasn’t paralysed. Her right foot protested the test though, and she still couldn’t feel any pain from the wound in her side.

She spluttered more blood over herself and Steb, fear slowly starting to overwhelm her. 

“Mel?” She coughed.

“I’m here, Caitlyn, whatever you need,” Mel assured her.

“Don’t…” Caitlyn started, trying to catch her breath, “Don’t let Vi see me like this.”

She caught Mel nodding in return, but they shared the same feared glance. The towers, where Vi was stationed, were so damaged and the bodies of soldiers that had fallen to their deaths after Viktor used his powers on everyone during the battle surrounded the towers. Vi may not be alive to protect from the sight of Caitlyn.

Caitlyn could feel herself begin to give up at the thought of Vi possibly being gone. Suddenly, keeping her eye open didn’t feel like a war she wanted to win, so she let it fall.

“Cait?” She heard a voice call out, her favourite voice . It was Vi, and she was alive, “cupcake, can you hear me?”

“Violet?” She responded with as much strength as she could muster. It was a challenge to open her eye, everything was appearing blurry and she couldn’t focus around her.

“I’m right here, I’m not leaving you,” she heard Vi promise. She could feel that her hand was encased in someone else’s. Suddenly, she felt herself being propped up again as Steb moved out from behind her and Vi had taken his place.

No, she thought, I don’t want you to see me like this, Vi.

But Vi’s hands against the skin on her neck and over her chest gave her an urgency to fight, almost as if Vi’s skin contact was pulsing life back into her. 

“I’ve got you,” Vi said. Caitlyn swore she could hear tears in Vi’s voice like she was drowning in tears just as Caitlyn was drowning in her blood.

“Vi,” she tried to call out, but the commotion of Mel yelling at the medics overpowered her voice.

“Vi…” she tried again. She couldn’t feel physical pain as Steb splinted her right leg and the medics kept packing the wound, but she felt the emotional pain of not being able to see Vi’s face at that moment. The fight Vi had given her had already begun to disintegrate. Caitlyn could feel herself fading, dying without seeing Vi’s face again.

But she decided it was enough to be held by the fighter as the darkness began to take over. She was leaving the world in the arms of her greatest love, what more could she ask for?

She coughed, expelling more blood, and then everything faded into darkness.

I’ve got you, Cait.

She was gasping before she could open her eye, her hand over her throat as she began coughing, imagining she was still drowning in her blood. 

She cried out at the pain that was pulsing through her body from both wounds.

The commotion from her nightmare seemed to be bleeding into her reality. 

“Cait!”

“Caitlyn?”

She could hear voices calling out to her and monitors blaring alarms right beside her. 

“Make it stop!” She roared in regard to the alarms, still flinching away from the noise.

She heard her father say, “Darling, you have to calm down. Once you do, the alarms will stop.”

“Cait,” she heard Vi and felt gentle hands caress her face as she opened her eye to gaze into a set of grey-blue eyes, “breathe.”

Watching Vi’s lips, she started to breathe along with her rhythm. She still gritted her teeth at the pain, but she kept trying to calm down with Vi.

“That’s it, you’re almost there,” Vi assured her, glancing at the monitor behind Caitlyn, watching the numbers slowly come down. Did Vi actually know how to read the numbers or was she just trying to comfort her? Either way, Caitlyn was grateful when the alarms stopped after a few more lungfuls of air.

“You’re all right, darling,” her father confirmed. He grabbed a cloth from her bedside and disappeared out of view.

Vi gave her cheek a stroke and planted a kiss on her forehead, “how are you feeling?”

“Always better when you’re here,” Caitlyn responded lowly. 

Vi chuckled and moved aside as Tobias placed a cold, wet cloth over her forehead. 

“You’ll have to give the doctors a better response than that,” Vi smiled.

“Says who?” Caitlyn challenged, thankful that the cold cloth was dulling the sharpness of the pain behind her eye socket. 

“We have to talk about the next few hours,” Tobias started. He had appeared next to Vi so that Caitlyn didn’t have to move to see him, “the long-lasting pain medicine that was administered shortly after your surgery will be depleted soon. It has been preventing you from feeling the full extent of your injuries.”

Vi twitched, feeling uncomfortable listening to Tobias talk about the reality ahead.

“The doctor will administer regular pain medicine as soon as the other depletes to keep you comfortable enough to hopefully rest for some time this evening. Regular pain medicine can last anywhere from 3-6 hours, in some cases longer, but until the ship from Noxus returns with more supplies, you will only be able to have one dose of regular pain medicine this evening and next evening.”

Vi hadn’t realised she had her hands balled into fists until she felt a hand trying to work its way into hers. She loosened her fist and allowed Caitlyn’s hand to fill the gap instead.

“How long until the Noxus ship returns?” Caitlyn asked. 

“A couple of days, at least,” Tobias answered in a defeated tone.

Caitlyn exhaled deeply. The same fear she could see growing in Vi had started to grow within her too. But she squeezed Vi’s hand and said, “It’ll be okay.”

Chapter Text

The next few hours came and went faster than Vi was hoping. Caitlyn seemed to be in a comfortable place since she woke up last, smiling every now and then, jesting with Tobias about his medical opinions, and finally eating some soup, her first meal since being in the hospital.

But Vi could see the signs that Caitlyn’s injuries were starting to weigh on her. She was constantly shifting in the last half hour, the vein in her neck that would only pop out every so often was now prominent the entire time. Her skin had a light sheen to it as if she was mildly overheating under the summer’s sun.

“How are you feeling?” Vi would ask from time to time.

“I’m okay,” Caitlyn would say, sounding less and less convincing each time. Vi would look toward Tobias to gauge if she should be worried or not. The last time, he gave her a concerned nod. 

“But,” Caitlyn continued this time, “Could you tie my hair up for me?”

“Me?” Vi asked, pointing at herself.

“Yes, Vi,” Caitlyn chuckled before wincing at a short, sharp pain, “Surely a hair tie would still be with my… things.”

Vi looked at the short cabinet that was next to Caitlyn’s bed. She hadn’t thought about Caitlyn’s belongings from that day. She stood frozen for a moment, could she tell Caitlyn that she wasn’t ready to see her blood-stained clothing? That it felt too soon?

“Vi?” Caitlyn called softly, bringing her back to the present.

“Yeah, I’ll check,” Vi gave a small smile. She knelt down, opened the cabinet, and was greeted with 2 separate bags. One bag, which was painted with blood on the inside, held Caitlyn’s clothing. The other bag held everything else, her shoes, her gloves, her hair tie.

Vi opened that bag and fished the hair tie out, closing the cabinet as fast as she could to not see the other bag again. She held the hair tie in an open hand, and looked at it.

“I don’t really know what to do,” She confessed, mildly embarrassed.

“You never tied up your hair?” Caitlyn was genuinely surprised.

“I never had hair long enough.”

“What about…” Caitlyn cut herself off, don’t say her name , “What about your sister?”

“Powder already knew how to do it,” Vi confirmed, now playing with the hair tie between her hands, getting to know the feel of the elastic. 

“Okay, well, you remember my high ponytail?”

Vi tensed up. How could she forget? She remembered Caitlyn’s high ponytail from when they were in the jail cell together a couple days ago, but the same ponytail was branded in her memory when Caitlyn was in her arms, dying.

“Yeah,” she said.

“You just group the hair together and then pull the hair through the elastic, crisscrossing after each time, two or three times,” Caitlyn explained, “I would do it, but these IVs make it hard to bend my elbows.”

“Sure,” Vi agreed, putting the elastic hair tie around her wrist. Caitlyn let out a gentle cry as she shifted herself forward to help Vi get all her hair together.

Vi was embarrassed. It never occurred to her that something as simple as tying up hair would feel so complicated.

“Try it on yourself, first,” Caitlyn encouraged.

“What?”

“Your hair is long enough now. Group your hair together in a low ponytail and try looping it through the hair tie until it feels secure,” she explained.

Caitlyn watched as Vi pulled her arms back to group her hair into a ponytail. Her very, very , toned biceps flexed unintentionally as she managed to secure her hair with the hair tie.

“Cait?” 

“Huh?” Caitlyn responded in a daze.

“Did I do it right?” Vi asked for what seemed a second time. She was partially turned so that Caitlyn could see her hair.

“Yeah, you got it,” Caitlyn confirmed. 

Vi pulled the hair tie out and stretched it back over her wrist. This one, small task, almost felt as intimate as their jail cell shenanigans. Caitlyn’s hair, usually smooth and soft, was still matted with blood in some spots and a bit oily, once again, reminding Vi of how traumatic that day was.

“I hope I’m not hurting you,” Vi spoke as she grouped Caitlyn’s hair into a high ponytail, trying to pull it through the elastic as gently as possible each time. Caitlyn flinched a few times, Vi was a little rough, but it warmed her heart that Vi did it for her.

“Okay, it looks good,” Vi nodded, proud of her work. The ponytail wasn’t as neat and tidy as it would be if Caitlyn did it herself, but the hair was successfully up and secure. She glanced at Tobias who looked up from the paper he was reading and gave a surprised nod.

“Thank you,” Caitlyn gave a small smile as she leaned back into her pillow. Vi could see the pain written over her face, though she tried to hide it well.

A few moments later, the doctor waltzed into the room with a vial and syringe in his hand.

“It’s time for the pain medicine,” he announced, “And just to remind everyone, this is just a regular pain medicine. It will only take the edge off.”

Vi turned to Caitlyn who was already watching the fighter with a small smile that repeated, it’ll be okay .

“Before I administer the pain medicine, let’s remove some of these IVs.”

Vi looked toward Tobias again for reassurance, but he was already taking some of the empty IV bags down.

“Are you sure she doesn’t need them anymore?” Vi asked quickly as the doctor already started removing the blood transfusion IV from the crook of Caitlyn’s left elbow, replacing it with a small bandage.

“We will keep the IVs for the regular pain medicine and fluids, but with the rationing, the long-lasting pain medicine and antibiotics can be removed,” the doctor explained, “Commander Kiramman may not need them when the inventory arrives.”

“But-”

“Vi, you can trust the doctor,” Tobias interrupted, giving her a look of reassurance that he agrees with the doctor. The doctor removed the other two IVs and began drawing the regular pain medicine into the syringe. He removed the needle next, disposing of it, and twisted the syringe to the correct IV port. Before he administered the medicine, he watched Caitlyn closely.

“When you wake up, everything is going to feel sensitive,” he began, “Best case scenario is that your wounds hurt a little more than they do now, but you should be prepared that the pain might be overwhelming, to say the least.”

“But we’ll be here the entire time,” Tobias promised her, “Vi and I, we’ll be here. You won’t be alone.”

Vi brushed Caitlyn's cheek with the back of her fingers.

“It’ll be okay,” Caitlyn repeated, as she had been for the past few hours.

“No, daughter,” Tobias sighed, “It won’t be, but you’ll make it through. You’re a Kiramman.”

The doctor looked toward Tobias who gave the nod of approval to administer the medicine. Once the syringe was exhausted, he removed it and gave Caitlyn a small smile before leaving the room.

“Are you comfortable?” Vi asked, knowing the medicine was going to kick in soon enough and Caitlyn would gradually become tired until she finally fell asleep.

“I think so,” Caitlyn said. She looked to the ceiling, not having noticed the gilded gold mural painting that was up there prior. She couldn’t stop the tear that slipped from the corner of her eye.

“Hey,” Vi softly brushed the tear away.

“I think I’m scared,” Caitlyn admitted. 

Vi rested her forehead against Caitlyn’s and closed her eyes. I’m scared too , she thought. 

Vi had tried to fall asleep once Caitlyn had slipped into unconsciousness, but it was proving difficult, even after Tobias had also fallen asleep. Her thoughts were so vivid and loud. She thought of everyone again, Vander, Jinx, Loris, and Jayce. First Loris, with multiple arrows protruding from his back and neck, then Vander and Jinx, falling together into the hexgate, the explosion… And Jayce, who disintegrated into thin air without a trace. Are they all just… nowhere now?

No, not nowhere , she thought as she opened her eyes to find herself at that table.

“Always stubborn, sis,” Jinx jested next to Vi, “Always gotta be the last one standing.”

Vi touched her chair at the table again, “Are you at peace, Pow Pow?”

“This is all in your noggin’, sis, whatever you think, right?” She quipped, leaving Vi to return to her own seat at the table.

“I think I want to sit down,” Vi thought aloud. 

“No one’s stopping you, kid. It’s about time you let yourself rest,” Vander spoke from the chair next to her, “You fought well.”

Vi slowly pulled the chair back, “What will happen if I sit down?”

“That’s for you to find out,” Vander answered.

“Yeah, Vi, come on. Take a seat, eat with us!” Mylo hollered, holding up a chicken leg before devouring it.

“We have so much to catch up on,” Felicia smiled as she appeared in the chair across from Vander, on Vi’s right. Vi’s vision became blurred, having her so close that she could touch her. 

“It’s just a meal, right?” Vi asked, beginning to lower herself into the chair as she watched Felicia watching her.

“It’s whatever you want it to be, honey,” Felicia said. Vi made contact with the seat. She was sitting at the table and suddenly it was empty. Everyone disappeared on her again. But when she blinked, everyone was back in their spots, only dead. She saw her parents’ bodies at the other end of the table, bloodied and covered in dirt, like they were that night on the bridge. 

“No,” Vi’s breathing hitched.

Mylo was slumped forward, impaled by a pole. Claggor was covered in blood, dirt and bruises as if he had been crushed by debris. Vander was huge, his veins pulsing purple with shimmer, also bloodied and bruised, from the first night he died all those years back.

“Take care of Powder,” she heard echoing in the distance. And then there was Jinx. Bloodied, broken, covered in soot from the explosion, her iris’ pale and her expression blank. Vi couldn’t hold back the sob that escaped from her throat. She was the common denominator in all the deaths at the table. Her parents, protecting Powder and Vi during the war against the enforcers. Vander, inevitably dying after taking the fall for her mistake in Piltover. Mylo and Claggor for joining her on the mission to save Vander and Jinx, saving her after a moment of weakness.

Then there was a sudden weight on her right shoulder. Someone had been sitting right next to her.

She knew the scent in a heartbeat. Caitlyn .

“No,” she repeated, refusing to look at Caitlyn, “You’re alive.”

There was a wet sensation dripping from her shoulder and down her arm. When she glanced down, she saw that it was blood, blood that was coming from Caitlyn. She jumped from her chair in an instant and suddenly the table was lively again. Laughter, banter, happiness.

What’s happening? 

When Caitlyn woke hours later, the atmosphere felt like it was weighing down on her. The wound from her abdomen pulsing with a deep ache and sharp pain every time she took in a breath. She would then flinch at the pain, which would trigger the wound where her left eye once was to send a shooting pain through her head. It was already a vicious cycle.

“Cait,” she heard Vi mutter quietly. Caitlyn looked over at Vi who was fast asleep in her usual chair, “Cait, please.”

“Vi,” she tried to call out, but her throat suddenly felt raw and raspy. The fighter didn’t move, she was still in a restless sleep muttering Caitlyn’s name.

“Vi,” she tried again, her voice loud to her ears this time, causing her to flinch at the sensitivity.

“Are you all right, daughter?” She heard her father ask, but she couldn’t see him from her left side. 

“You need to wake Vi,” Caitlyn told him, “I think she’s having a nightmare.”

Suddenly Tobias was in her vision as he approached Vi, who was resting her head over the back of the chair. 

“Vi?” He touched her shoulder in an attempt to rouse her awake. 

Caitlyn was worried about Vi, but her body had other ideas now that the medicine was as good as worn off.

The ache from her side was only getting worse along with the headache and her breathing was only becoming faster and heavier as she tried to breathe through the pain, but it was setting off the cycle and she was hitting an unbearable level already. 

The monitor beside her bed let Tobias know that she was beginning to struggle. 

“Caitlyn?” He approached the bed, noticing the distress his daughter was in, “Are you all right?”

She knew that her father was right there and that he was talking to her, but the pain was too loud, the lighting was too bright for her agonising headache, and she was finding herself in the midst of a panic attack.

“Cait?” Vi stumbled into view for only a moment before Caitlyn was flinching away from the light again.

“What’s happening?” She heard Vi ask, incredibly distressed herself.

She wanted to tell Vi that it was lights, if only someone could turn them off. That it was the noise, if only she could calm down. That it was the pain, if only someone could make it stop.

“I think we should turn the lights off,” Vi said as she grabbed a few clean wash clothes from the top of the cabinet next to Caitlyn’s bed. Tobias dimmed the lights as low as they could go while Vi rinsed the wash clothes under water in the bathroom.

When she emerged from the bathroom, she could hear Tobias talking to Caitlyn, encouraging her to try and calm down as the monitor was still alarming everyone that Caitlyn’s heart rate was too fast and her blood pressure was up.

“It’s the pain,” he had told Vi.

She placed two wash clothes over Caitlyn’s chest at the base of her neck. She gently lifted Caitlyn’s head, the movement as minimal as possible as she slipped a wash cloth around the nape of her neck as well. And finally, rested the last one across her forehead. 

“This is the beginning, right?” Vi asked.

Tobias nodded, “Yes. Yes it is.”

Chapter Text

Vi flinched as Caitlyn retched for the fifth time in a row. This had become the new normal for the past couple of hours. She kept one hand on Caitlyn’s back, rubbing circles and the other one held the container that Caitlyn would heave into every half hour or so. Any soup that she had left in her body was expelled by the second episode an hour ago, and any water that she would drink between episodes was the first out when the next one would start. Now it was just painful retching with nothing left to bring up.

Tobias was doing the rounds dampening the wash cloths, helping Caitlyn with sips of water, watching the monitors and having the tough conversations with the doctor and nurses as they would come and go with no news on the medical supplies. Only the promise that Caitlyn would be able to have more pain medicine in the evening.

Vi began to unravel hours ago and she was fighting not to lose her cool during this painful process. The anti-nausea medicine didn’t seem to make a difference at this point and Caitlyn was miserable.

“This is insane!” Vi exclaimed, “You can’t tell me that there are that many people in worse condition that deserve the medicine more. Look at her!”

Tobias was briefly taken aback before his face became distorted in disgust.

“There are burn victims from the explosions, soldiers that fell tens of feet, some even a hundred, to solid ground shattering multiple bones in their bodies, there are people in worse condition,” Tobias seethed with anger, “She is my daughter, my world! Do you not think I would have the medicine here with us if I could?”

Vi glared back at him, angry that she didn’t receive the response she wanted. As unrealistic and silly as it seemed, she had hoped realisation would hit Tobias, he would agree and then race off to get the pain medicine that Caitlyn needed because she deserved it. She didn’t deserve what was happening to her just because a war broke the city. 

She saved Piltover. She cut the ruins from Ambessa’s arm. She disarmed Piltover’s greatest threat. They would all be dead if she hadn’t and Piltover would have been claimed by Noxus. And as thanks, she’s left here to suffer.

“You’re sure there’s no trace of shimmer in the city?” Vi asked lowly.

Tobias paused what he was doing and glanced at Vi again. They had discussed shimmer the day before, when news of the rationing was announced. Tobias had said that there was no shimmer in Piltover. Singed was strictly here as a prisoner to help find the beast. No shimmer had been produced within the limits of Piltover. And finding shimmer in the undercity would nearly take as long as the ship from Noxus with Vi moving on foot. 

Not to mention Tobias had been completely against the idea of entrusting a synthetic serum to heal his daughter, especially referring to the population in the undercity that had grown addicted to it.

But his response now came as a surprise to Vi, “if I had any doubts, I would have found it myself.”

Vi knew that if Caitlyn was in any condition to have an opinion on shimmer, she would rather die than risk becoming like Jinx. But Vi was selfish and desperate, as was Tobias, to cure her pain.

“How much longer?” Caitlyn asked, her voice hoarse and quiet. Vi put the container to the side and helped Caitlyn lower into her pillow.

“Still some hours, daughter,” Tobias confessed. 

“Hours?” Vi’s closed her eyes at how small and defeated Caitlyn’s sounded in that moment. She hadn’t realised her hand was clenched in a fist atop Caitlyn’s pillow until the enforcer removed the damp cloth from her forehead to look back towards Vi.

“Are you okay?” She asked.

“Yeah,” Vi gave a small smile, releasing her fist, “I’m fine.”

The fighter took the cloth and started folding it again. Once Caitlyn got comfortable, Vi rested the cloth back on her forehead. Caitlyn brought the cloth down to cover her eyes, hoping the coolness would help dull some of the migraine she was barely tolerating.

Vi watched her closely, grateful that another break in the discomfort had arrived before the next wave. But she also began drifting into the negative thoughts again. She was feeling more useless as the days and hours went by. She never thought she would be someone who would sit idly by as a loved one suffered. She could have made it to Zaun and back with shimmer if she left as soon as she found Caitlyn. If she kept running, only stopping for the serum, maybe, just maybe, she would’ve made it back by now.

“Vi.” A hand landed on her shoulder and she flinched away, surprised to see Tobias at her side. She stared at him questioningly. He nodded towards her hand atop Caitlyn’s pillow. She didn’t realise she had clenched it into a fist again, but this time she clenched it so hard that her nails drew blood in her hand. She opened it to see the streaks of blood that had been soaking into Caitlyn’s pillow. It was the same hand that had collided with the brick wall in the jail cell a few days ago. She had forgotten that she hadn’t wrapped it since Caitlyn brought her back to Piltover.

“Sorry,” Vi apologised. She went into the bathroom and gripped the sink, her hand now leaving a bloodied print against the white porcelain.

“Don’t lose control,” she told herself as she started trembling with rage. She wanted to rip the sink from the wall and smash it on the ground. She wanted to shatter every tile on the wall with her fist. She wanted to scream until her throat was raw and sore. She wanted to feel pain, she deserved it. She needed it. 

The only thing that was stopping her from destroying herself in this bathroom was knowing that Caitlyn was on the other side of the door. So, she clenched her fists again, as hard as she could, biting down on her leather arm guard to muffle the quiet scream.

After a minute, she released her hands and saw the damage she had made. She had 4 small wounds in each hand from her nails, blood slowly building up. She knew she wouldn’t bleed for long from this location and that she could wrap her hands when she got a chance.

This pain is nothing , she told herself, thinking of Caitlyn.

She turned the tap and rinsed her hands under the water, the sting a comfort to her. 

After a minute of running water over the small wounds, she heard a light tap on the door.

“I’m fine,” she said.

“Mel is here. She wanted to talk to the both of us,” Tobias explained from the other side.

Vi sighed and turned the water off. She grabbed a cloth and dabbed her wounds with it. Once she had dabbed the wounds dry, Vi could see the real damage. The flesh of the wounds visible. She left the cloth at the sink and opened the door, several stinging sensations travelling up her arm.

Tobias was standing on the other side, Mel visible from the door of Caitlyn’s room. Vi looked over at Caitlyn who appeared to have passed out, the damp cloth still over her eyes. Vi and Tobias followed Mel just outside the room.

“Has it been that awful?” Mel asked, genuinely, noticing how beat Vi and Tobias were looking.

“Yeah,” was all Vi could muster in her tired state.

“Is there word that the ship has arrived at Noxus?” Tobias questioned.

Mel’s demeanor instantly changed at the question.

“I’ve come with good news,” Mel smiled, “the ship I sent away made contact with Noxus and they were able to prepare a ship there with medical supplies to leave at dawn this morning. We could see the ship's arrival within 24 hours.”

It took a moment for the good news to sink in for both Vi and Tobias.

“This is wonderful news, Mel!” Tobias cheered and pulled her in for a hug.

“So, this time tomorrow, Cait will be able to have more pain medicine and antibiotics?” Vi asked.

Mel pulled away from Tobias and put a hand on Vi’s shoulder.

“Yes. The rationing rule will be lifted,” she confirmed with a small smile, “Caitlyn will have everything she needs.”

Vi and Tobias locked eyes, sharing a look of relief. 

Vi wrapped her arms around herself. This nightmare was coming to an end. There was a light at the end of the tunnel. Caitlyn just needed to hold on for a little while longer.

“Is it alright if I have a word with Tobias, Vi?” Mel asked.

“Sure,” Vi responded, turning around to return to Caitlyn’s room. The enforcer was still unconscious for the time being, so Vi sat in her chair and rested her eyes.

Mel’s good news brought the mood up for Tobias and Vi, but Caitlyn remained miserable. Vi was sure she was barely conscious when Tobias told his daughter the good news of the medicine’s arrival. What they didn’t realise was that Caitlyn couldn’t hear them over her pain most of the time. If she wasn’t externally writhing in pain, she was definitely screaming internally. This was a pain that she wished upon Jinx for the longest time, but now, she realised she wouldn’t wish it upon anyone.

It felt like her entire body was on fire all the time and the pain would get to an unbearable limit where her brain would try to send signals to release serotonin, only to make her nauseous and sick instead. 

Her room was dark most of the time, she wasn’t sure how Vi and her father tolerated being cooped up in a space small and dark, similar to that of a jail cell. But they did. Whenever she opened her eyes, at least one of them was there, but usually both greeted her.

She wasn’t sure how much time had passed since she last passed out, but Tobias appeared chirpy and Vi had a distant smile, but seemed better than earlier. Caitlyn couldn’t understand what her father was talking about, though. The pain was already pulling her into unconsciousness again.

When she awoke the next time, it seemed at least a couple of hours had passed. The sun had set and she could hear rain pattering against her window, her hearing sensitivity still in overdrive.

A fresh, damp cloth was dabbing its way around her face and she looked to her right to see Vi standing over her.

“Hey, you,” Vi greeted, putting the cloth aside and stroking Caitlyn’s cheek with the back of her fingers, “The doctor came in not too long ago and gave you some pain medicine.”

She had noticed that she wasn’t on the verge of throwing up the non-existent food and fluids that lived in her stomach. She felt okay . The pain was still there, but dulled. She was exhausted, though. She wanted to smile and enjoy Vi’s presence, but found herself in a mood where she also wanted to pull away again, humiliated and embarrassed by her situation.

“What’s wrong?” Vi asked, moving her hand to brush her thumb along Caitlyn’s other cheek, below her injury. Caitlyn caught her hand, “Are you still in a lot of pain?”

“No,” Caitlyn answered bluntly, letting it go. She turned away from Vi’s gaze, wishing for some space for the first time.

Vi surrendered instantly, keeping her hands to herself. She sat down and watched Caitlyn purposely not look over in her direction.

They sat in some moments of silence before Vi mentioned something she had been meaning to bring up, “You haven’t asked about your injuries.”

“I know about them. I remember how it all happened,” Caitlyn spoke, not taking her eye off the rain streaks on the window to her left. 

“Would you like to talk about it?”

“About what? The horrific loss of my eye? The beating I got because my knee failed me? Or, how I was stabbed so that Ambessa could control me one last time before executing me?” Caitlyn spat, looking at Vi now, “well, which one?”

“Cait…” Vi spoke softly, startled by the response, “I’m just trying to-”

“Help? Because a trip down memory lane is obviously what I need.”

“I’m just trying to be here for you ,” Vi finished, “for whatever you need from me.”

Caitlyn was growing increasingly frustrated, “great, now I’m just a bitch, is that what it is?”

“Cait-”

“Stop Cait-ing me!” She yelled.

“You’re in a lot of pain, I get it. If I could trade our places, I would in a heartbeat.”

“Such a convenient thing to say when you know it’s not possible,” Caitlyn scoffed, “You should’ve just let me die.”

Vi was stunned at the words that escaped Caitlyn’s lips. She stared at the enforcer, concern written all over her face. She wanted to cry, she wanted to scream, she wanted to punch the walls in this god forsaken box of a room. But she just sat there.

“You don’t mean that,” was all she could muster.

“I do,” Caitlyn said tearfully, looking away from Vi again. 

“I love you, Caitlyn. I’ve never loved someone the way that I love you,” Vi started, “Can you look at me, please?”

Caitlyn closed her eye and sighed heavily before turning to look at Vi. She didn’t look angry anymore, just sad and defeated. Vi could see tears brimming along her lower eyelid.

“I’m not expecting you to say it back, especially not right now. It’s not my intention to make your recovery harder for you. If you want me to leave, I will. If you truly believe that will help, I’ll go. But, please, don’t ever say that I should’ve let you die.”

Vi didn’t realise that tears were sliding down her cheeks until Caitlyn’s expression softened completely, longing in her eyes to reach over and wipe Vi’s tears away.

“I thought you were going to die. I still do, every damn minute. It’s like you’re fine, and then you’re dying all over again. You’re smiling, and then you’re in so much pain that you’re passing out.”

Vi reached out to touch Caitlyn’s hand again. This time Caitlyn didn’t pull away, she held Vi’s hand back.

“You found shimmer to heal me all those months ago, and then you brought me here to the hospital when I was injured almost a week ago. I can only try and comfort you, and I’m sorry if that’s not what you want right now.”

“I don’t like you to see me this way,” Caitlyn confessed again, “I’m pathetic, and weak, and- and my hair is disgusting.”

“You’re telling the ‘angry oil slick’,” Vi chuckled, “You’re so strong, Cait.”

“I’m not,” Caitlyn looked down at their hands, “I’m just lucky.”

Vi could’ve challenged Caitlyn all night about what she claimed as her lack of strength. Vi had only seen a fighter, before the war and even more so now. But she knew Caitlyn wasn’t in a place where she was ready to hear that. So, instead, she sat in Caitlyn’s company until the medicine pulled her into a deep, comfortable slumber before another 12-hour day of pain and distress. The arrival of the Noxus ship being the only thing keeping her calm right now.

Chapter Text

It had been a few hours since Caitlyn had fallen asleep, but no matter how long Vi had been trying to, she struggled to fall asleep this night. Instead, she brought Tobias’ chair over so that she had somewhere to put her legs up in an attempt to get more comfortable. Tobias had left earlier in the night to get some rest back at the house, stating that both he and Vi can’t keep going on minimal sleep and food. He had insisted that Vi be the one to go back to the house to shower, eat and get some rest, but she declined. Her place was here with Caitlyn, especially right now.

She looked down at her hands, frowning at the purple colouring that had started to surround the small wounds. They were still raw, struggling to heal when her hands were constantly in use. She went to the small bag that Tobias had brought a couple days ago to treat Vi’s wound and grabbed some gauze pads and the medicated cream. She put some cream over her wounds and then gently folded her fingers into her palms to keep the gauze in there snug.

She felt embarrassed and frustrated that she had hurt herself this way. What was I thinking? She would scold herself. It was only a matter of time before someone noticed. And she couldn’t easily access bandages to wrap her hands when the hospital was rationing everything. She considered asking Tobias, but thought against it almost instantly. She didn’t trust him that way, and she knew he didn’t trust her either.

But as embarrassing and frustrating as it was, it did shamefully give her some relief to feel pain, even if it didn’t remotely come close to Caitlyn’s. She was feeling something other than grief and hopelessness. Her anger lessened when she felt the sting and burn of her skin splitting. But the aftermath was hard to hide and she was left feeling foolish.

She waited some time before throwing the gauze away and leaving her hands open for the air to dry out her wounds, even though they would inevitably split back open the next time she needed to use her hands. She slumped down into the chair, put her legs up on Tobias’ chair again, and closed her eyes, listening to the repetitive noise coming from Caitlyn’s monitor. 

A couple hours later, Vi was, at last, closing in on deep sleep when she heard something crackling and then someone saying her name.

“Vi.” The voice was low and hoarse, followed by a deep cough that mimicked the crackling noise she could hear in her sleepy daze. When she woke, she noticed it was only Caitlyn and herself in the room still. 

“Cait? Are you okay?” She asked, noticing that the enforcer’s pallor had ashened and her breathing was laboured. Her cheeks were flushed in a feverish pink.

“Something’s wrong,” Caitlyn huffed. Vi’s hand could feel the heat radiating from Caitlyn’s forehead before she even placed it.

“I think you have a fever,” Vi said, her voice thick with concern, “I’m going to get someone, okay?”

“Okay,” Caitlyn agreed, coughing deeply again.

Vi pushed the door open with such force that she almost tripped herself. The nurse that had been standing at the nurses station approached her cautiously, “are you alright?”

“It’s Cait, I think something is wrong,” Vi announced desperately. The nurse returned to the station and asked for the doctor on call to be summoned, then followed Vi back into Caitlyn’s room. The nurse studied the monitor first and then grabbed some equipment from the drawers beneath it. She rested a small, slim device over Caitlyn’s forehead, that began bouncing numbers on a digital screen. She then put her stethoscope on and lifted Caitlyn’s gown to listen to her chest. A few seconds later, the small device started flashing red and the doctor entered the room in a rush.

“Heart rate has increased, blood pressure is low, temperature is 104.2 and there’s crackling in her chest,” the nurse confirmed to the doctor who shared a concerned look and then sighed.

“Let’s start her on antibiotics again as soon as possible, and let’s get some more of that pain medicine. Increase the IV fluid rate as well,” he ordered, using his own stethoscope to listen now, “and let’s draw some blood.”

“I’m going to put you back on supplemental oxygen, Commander. It looks like you’ve developed a post-op chest infection called pneumonia,” he told the enforcer empathetically, “your body can’t fight this alone, you’re going to need some help.”

Caitlyn looked at Vi, her expression full of worry. Vi was sure she was giving the same look back to Caitlyn. She didn’t understand what all this meant, and Tobias would definitely be asleep in these early hours of the morning. As soon as the nurse moved to get the oxygen ready, Vi slipped into her place and took Caitlyn’s hand in her own. She could feel Caitlyn lightly running her fingers along the small wounds, recognising that something was there.

“So, the Noxus ship has made it back?” Vi asked the doctor.

“No,” he sighed, “the Commander is now on this list of patients to prioritise.”

Vi’s heart sank. She had been begging for Caitlyn to receive the medicine she needed during the rationing period, but not like this, not because she had fallen ill enough for her condition to be considered serious.

Once the nurse had turned the lever on the oxygen tank, the doctor placed the oxygen cannula in Caitlyn’s nose and tucked it behind her ears. He treated her with such care that it left Vi wondering if all doctors were this caring. There were only makeshift doctors in Zaun, they didn’t have the education or equipment that they needed down there, only just shimmer. And Vi had nearly gone her whole life without needing a doctor, no thanks to her lengthy prison time.

“Have you had anything to eat or drink since you saw me last, Commander?” He asked Caitlyn while the nurse updated the log in her clipboard.

“No,” she responded, releasing another deep, crackling cough.

“The pain makes her sick,” Vi finished for her.

The doctor nodded as he took the log from the nurse and observed it, “it could be the pain, or it could’ve been the beginning of this infection. We’re going to start a new IV for the antibiotics now, get you on a regular schedule with the pain medicine, give you something to help with the fever, and I’d like to try food and fluids orally in a few hours. We need to see you getting stronger.”

“Someone should get my father,” Caitlyn suggested, looking towards Vi.

“We’ll take care of that,” the doctor smiled. The nurse lifted the sleeve of Caitlyn’s gown and administered a syringe of medicine into her arm, “that’s for the fever.”

“How worried should we be?” Vi dared to ask.

“Commander Kiramman is young and strong, her body should respond to the medicine and antibiotics. We’ll hopefully start to see some improvements within a day or two,” he said, sharing another small smile, but Vi wasn’t sure if she believed him as he turned and started to whisper to the nurse.

Vi looked down at Caitlyn’s hand caressed in both of hers. She observed the small bruise surrounding a tiny needle hole where the last antibiotics IV lived, the one that Vi didn’t want them to remove. She gently brushed her thumb over it and then looked at Caitlyn, the tubing from the cannula running across the bandage over her eye socket again. Vi couldn’t help but feel defeated, it felt like they were right back to where they started with all the tubes and concerns.

You should’ve just let me die.

The doctor had mentioned that the nurse would send someone for Tobias and would return with the antibiotics and pain medicine. It wasn’t until the doctor had said her name while holding the new IV kit that Vi realised she was in the way.

She moved over to the side of the bed that she usually accommodated. Caitlyn flinched at the pinch of the needle in her arm and noticed Vi looking distant next to her.

“Hey,” she said, reaching for Vi’s hand, “what happened to your hand?”

“Nothing,” Vi answered instantly, putting a hand atop Caitlyn’s head and the other on Caitlyn’s shoulder before the enforcer could grasp well enough to feel the wounds again, “they’re just a bit blistered from the gauntlets. The leather braces between the gauntlets and my skin weren’t such a good idea after all.”

“How’s your pain?” the doctor asked after Caitlyn coughed harshly into her hand.

“Tolerable,” she responded honestly. The nurse walked into the room with two IV bags and handed the antibiotics to the doctor to connect and hang. She went to the other side, behind Vi, and connected the pain medicine.

“Hopefully we’ll see it reduce to comfortable soon,” he smiled kindly as everything was set up. He opened the draw next to Caitlyn’s bed and took a blood testing kit. He was fast and gentle, just as he was with the IV kit, when injecting the cannula into the crook of Caitlyn’s elbow before draining blood into a small vial. Once he was satisfied, he dropped the vial into a small container then stood, removed his gloves and mask, and grabbed the clipboard again, making a few more notes on Caitlyn’s log while glancing at the monitor. Vi still didn’t understand what the numbers meant, she relied on Tobias to translate everything and didn’t realise how much she depended on him until this moment.

“So, what happens now?” She asked the doctor.

“Now we wait,” he said, shifting his gaze to Caitlyn, “but I am concerned. Sometimes this type of pneumonia can be resistant to antibiotics, which is why I decided to draw some blood. We’ll send it off as soon as possible so we know what we’re facing. In the meantime, your pain will be managed going forward, you’ll stay on antibiotics for now just in case we get lucky and they work, and we’ll keep a close eye on the infection and your symptoms. Right now, your fever is too high for comfort, but hopefully the medicine will start taking effect within the hour and we’ll see some improvement there.”

“And what happens if the antibiotics don’t work?” Vi challenged.

“We’ll worry about that if the results show resistance,” the doctor assured her. He picked up the container and left the room with the nurse.

“Come here,” Caitlyn spoke softly, indicating for Vi to join her on the bed. 

Vi shook her head, feeling defeated after hearing everything the doctor had to say, “I don’t want to hurt you.” 

“You won’t,” Caitlyn promised, “please, I need you.”

Vi knew she couldn’t argue with that. She had been feeling torn this entire time whether her presence was doing Caitlyn any good or whether Caitlyn even wanted her there. They were in a consistent tennis match where Caitlyn would want her, then she would tell Vi to leave. But then she would want her again and it would go on. Vi knew it was the pain talking and not Caitlyn, but it still made her feel like she was becoming more of a burden each time, like she was the pain that Caitlyn was tolerating.

She slowly got herself comfortable on the bed, ensuring she didn’t lay on any tubes, and Caitlyn slipped her left hand down Vi’s forearm to her hand. Vi quickly turned her hand inwards and held the tips of Caitlyn’s fingers, brushing her thumb over the enforcer’s knuckles. Caitlyn reached her right hand over to touch Vi’s bicep and then rested the side of her head on the fighter's shoulder.

Caitlyn could see the rapid flutters that were coming from beneath Vi’s top. She moved her hand from Vi’s bicep and gently placed it over her chest.

“Your heart is racing,” she told Vi.

“I’m worried. And please don’t say that it’ll be okay.”

“I’m worried about you,” Caitlyn admitted. She kept her eye on her hand over Vi’s chest, feeling the pace pick up again.

“I’m fine,” Vi released a short chuckle, “we need to focus on your recovery.”

“What about yours?” Caitlyn asked.

“I’m fine,” she repeated softly. Caitlyn pulled her hand away from Vi’s chest and turned away to cover another coughing fit. Vi lifted her own hand to her chest, missing the absence of Caitlyn’s and then reached over to check Caitlyn’s warm, sweaty forehead as if her fever may have changed in the small amount of time they’ve been talking.

Caitlyn turned back towards Vi and tucked her hand into herself, not wanting to touch Vi after expelling germs into it. Her left hand was still being brushed by Vi’s thumb. She wanted to get inside Vi’s hand, to really hold it, but she knew blisters weren’t actually blisters and Vi didn’t want her close right now.

“Please don’t let it destroy your hands.”

Vi’s grip twitched for a brief moment before she finally relaxed her hand and let Caitlyn in. Caitlyn ran her fingers down from Vi’s wrist, pausing when she felt the small wounds. Vi’s hand twitched again, Caitlyn’s touch on the open wounds sending a stinging sensation through her hand and up her arm.

Caitlyn moved her fingers past the wounds and interlaced them with Vi’s. She melted into the grasp and let herself surrender to the fatigue that was weighing on her.

Chapter Text

When Tobias opened the door to Caitlyn’s room, he spotted Vi lying awake in the hospital bed, Caitlyn snug against her sleeping soundly. Vi looked from the mural on the ceiling to Tobias at the door and started to carefully remove herself from Caitlyn and off the bed. 

Tobias closed the door and approached Caitlyn, stopping next to her to feel her forehead. Vi took in the visual of a father wanting to check on his sick daughter, as she is sure he would have many, many times before. But she was especially watching him now, trying to gauge his reaction.

“Can you please pass me the log?” He asked. 

“Sure,” Vi answered, reaching past the monitor to grab the clipboard. In the moment she was reaching, Tobias noticed the discolouration inside her hand, but looked away before she turned to hand the clipboard over. He took it, with a nod of thanks and began skimming the recent logs while he had been gone.

Vi continued to watch him closely.

“How long were you planning to hide those wounds?” He asked Vi, not taking his eyes from the logs.

“What?” She countered, expecting to hear something about Caitlyn.

“Your hand,” he noted, looking up from the log now, “are they from the battle?”

“I’m fine,” she responded.

He hummed, “been hearing that a lot from you lately. Most times, people will say that when they’re not fine.”

“I’m not most people,” Vi shrugged.

“You’re not,” he agreed, “But you’re also not fine, Vi.”

“I’m not your concern.” Vi could feel herself getting defensive, “and my hands aren’t relevant right now.”

“Hands?” He asked, “you have them on both hands? Are they from the gauntlets?”

“It doesn’t matter,” Vi exclaimed, growing frustrated. Caitlyn stirred slightly at Vi’s reaction.

Tobias put the clipboard down in Vi’s chair and nodded towards the door, indicating the conversation should continue outside. Vi sighed heavily and followed him out to the chairs in the ward waiting room. She slumped down in one, arms crossed, and Tobias took a seat next to her.

“You’ve become a concern for me,” he confessed, “dare I say that I’m even worried?”

Vi gave a short chuckle, “worried about someone like me?”

“Why do you find that so hard to believe?” Tobias challenged.

“Is that a serious question?”

“Yes,” he nodded, waiting for an answer. Vi scoffed and looked away. 

“Forget it.”

“Vi,” he started, “you’re consumed by caring for my daughter and I can’t fault you for that, but the self-inflicted neglect is concerning.”

Vi rolled her eyes, “can you just tell me what the doctor said about Cait?”

“I will after this conversation,” he promised.

“Are you kidding? You’re just going to hold Cait’s medical information hostage from me because I won’t talk about feelings with you?”

“It wouldn’t usually be like this, but Caitlyn would want me to check-in. It would pain her to know that you’re deprived and hurt with her as the price,” Tobias stated. 

Vi shook her head and kept looking away from Tobias, refusing to make eye contact.

“Vi,” he tried again, “you don’t eat unless I bring you food. You’ll pour Caitlyn water, but you won’t pour any for yourself. You’ll rest your eyes, but you won’t sleep. I understand the tunnel-vision, but you can’t help Caitlyn with her recovery if you’re not recovering too. You’re burning out fast.”

“So?” She scoffed again.

“So, Caitlyn would want you to go home and get some rest,” Tobias concluded.

“You can’t expect me to do that now?” Vi fought.

“It’s true that Caitlyn is doing poorly, her logs are concerning, but the results came back and her infection isn’t resistant to antibiotics, which means she should slowly start to improve, we just need to be patient,” he informed the fighter, “I’m only asking you to eat some food, stay hydrated, and rest for a few hours. I will be here and I will send someone for you if anything changes.”

“I’ve been here every time she has woken up,” Vi’s voice quivered, “what if she needs me?”

“Then I will send someone to get you and she will be okay until you get here.”

Vi exhaled softly, looking down at her hands turned upright on her thighs.

“Being here, there’s no place for me to direct my anger when everything gets too overwhelming. I could only fold in on myself. It just… happened,” she confessed. Tobias could see the damage better up close and held a hand out.

“Can I take a closer look?” He asked. Vi didn’t make eye contact still, but lifted her left hand into his. He gently uncurled her fingers and squinted while he observed the wounds. They were deep and raw, and Vi was at risk of a minor infection.

“You need a stitch in the first three wounds at least,” he announced, “and I assume your right hand is much the same?”

“Yeah,” she said softly.

“I can get another doctor to do it if that would make you feel more comfortable?”

“No,” she insisted, “you’re already here, so.”

Tobias released her hand and stood up to return to Caitlyn’s room. Vi stayed in the waiting room for a little while longer feeling both humiliated and warm. Tobias had every reason to hate her. All of this death and misery originated from the actions of her own sister, most notably, the death of Cassandra. If Vi would have left Caitlyn on the bridge that day, maybe everything would have been different. Maybe she could have talked Powder out of it all. 

But she didn’t. And now everyone she loved was either dead or hurting. She looked at the damage to her hands one last time before making her way back to Caitlyn’s room.

When she entered, the nurse was finishing up with Caitlyn’s wound care, replacing the old bandages with new ones. Everything was still healing well and Caitlyn’s pain was managed comfortably. Although the enforcer was sickly and feverish, she still looked more like herself than she had in the midst of all the pain.

“Her fever is being stubborn, but it has come down a bit. I’ve requested for ice packs to help,” he informed Vi, putting the clipboard away. He opened the equipment drawers and pulled out a couple of suturing kits, a syringe of clear solution, gloves, gauze, and bandages. He nodded to Vi’s chair, indicating that he wanted her to sit down while he got everything ready.

She sat down and started to remove the bandages that remained on her forearms. She sees her arms bare frequently enough, but this time she felt different, as if she didn’t feel the want or need to wrap her arms again. The events of the past week had changed her. Maybe she didn’t want to be a fighter anymore. 

Tobias lifted a small table from the corner of the room and placed it carefully in front of Vi and then carried his own chair over. He washed his hands thoroughly in the bathroom and then slipped the gloves on. Vi watched him open all the kits and line everything up. 

“The ship still hasn’t arrived so I can’t numb the area,” he confessed, “will you be okay?”

Vi nodded. She had sutured herself in the past, so things had been worse. Tobias taped on the table, requesting one of her hands. She put her left hand on the table, facing upwards. He carefully straightened her fingers and she gritted her teeth at the skin pulling. He grabbed the water-filled syringe and cleaned the four wounds before starting the process of suturing. 

They sat in silence for most of it, Tobias asking if she was okay from time to time. Once the three open wounds on her left hand were sutured, one stitch in each, he applied some medicated cream and then laid a small sheet of gauze down before wrapping her hand.

When she put her right hand up, he discovered that she only needed stitches in two of the wounds. He continued the process, again, asking from time to time if she was okay. After he wrapped her right hand, he pulled all the waste together and disposed of it.

“Thank you,” she said after some time in silence. He gave her a small nod and smile indicating that she was in a safe place with safe people who cared about her.

“The house-keepers are expecting you. Please, let yourself in and make yourself comfortable. Your things will be in Caitlyn’s room, I know she would want you in there. Should there be anything that you need that is not there, just ask them.”

Vi felt strange being offered such services. She wouldn’t ask them for anything, but Tobias listing her as a member of the household made that warm feeling flare again. But she couldn’t shake the feeling of being an intruder in this city at the same time. She didn’t belong here.

“Thanks,” she said again. She stood and touched Caitlyn’s hand before leaning down and planting a kiss on her forehead. The bruising on her forehead and cheek had started to fade from a deep purple to a light purple with yellow on the outskirts. It comforted her to know some things were healing during all of this.

She locked eyes with Tobias one last time and he knew exactly what she was saying.

“I will send someone, I promise,” he assured her.

When Caitlyn opened her eyes, she could see the purple drapes coming from her bed moving with the wind from her window. It was early morning, the orange glow illuminating her room as the sunrose. Her vision was so clear and so wide . She instantly reached her hand up and gently touched her left eye. Her eyelid instinctively fliched to the touch to protect her eyeball. 

She gasped, how is that possible?

Next, she pushed her blankets down and lifted her sleep shirt to find that there was no wound in her lower abdomen. She bent her knee up, no pain . Her arms and hands were free from IVs.

She was perfectly fine. Was it all just a bad dream?

She got out of bed effortlessly and studied her bedroom as she made her way to the doors. Nothing seemed out of place or different. Through the windows, the city seemed intact and bustling. It was the subtle boom of the Hexgate that made her pause at her doors.

That’s not right, it was destroyed, she thought to herself. 

When she walked through the door, she found herself on the battlefield, the sun blistering down on her. She lifted her gloved hand up to block the glare of the sun and realised she was in her battle gear from that day . 

“Commander?” She heard a weak voice call out to her. She looked to her left and saw Loris struggle to crawl towards her, arrows protruding from his back and neck, blood endlessly dripping from his mouth. He was reaching for her, begging for her help.

Caitlyn launched herself towards her fellow soldier. She slid on her knees catching his head as he collapsed and gave in to his injuries.

“Loris?” She called, lightly tapping his cheek to get his attention, but his eyes were low and distant. A stare that she had grown familiar with. He was already gone.

“No,” she gasped, her vision blurring with tears. Loris had done so much for her. He had been there since day 1 of the strike team’s assemble. He protected her through many battles. He watched over Vi in Zaun and in Piltover for her. He was one of the most loyal soldiers that she had, “I’m sorry, Loris.”

“Cait!” She heard another voice call out for her. She turned and saw Jayce in the distance.

“Cait, quick! It’s going to take me!” 

“Jayce!” She called back, breaking into a sprint.

“Cait!” He cried again. She noticed that his legs had started to disintegrate, disappearing as if they were never there. She tried to run faster, but she couldn’t run fast enough to get to Jayce before his body vanished to dust. He was gone like he was never there in the first place.

“Jayce!” She yelled, searching for him. But she was met with quiet in return.

“Caitlyn.” The next voice sent shivers down her spine. She straightened up before she turned to meet cerulean blue eyes. Her eyes .

“Mother?” She exhaled sharply. Cassandra was standing within arms distance, in her council uniform, looking very alive, “am I dead?”

Cassandra shook her head with a small, endearing smile. Caitlyn closed the distance instantly, doing the one thing she wished she had done more when her mother was alive, and embraced her.

“Now you die,” a deep voice hissed in her ear and she felt a sharp pain in her lower abdomen again. She stumbled backward and saw a familiar blade embedded in her. She looked up, panting in pain, and saw Ambessa beginning to tower over her as she got closer.

“Look at what you’ve done, child.” Ambessa grabbed Caitlyn by her jaw and turned her around. Caitlyn felt her back crash against Ambessa behind her, but when she opened her eyes she was overwhelmed with devastation. There were so many bodies. So many dead soldiers that had presumably died in the war. She saw Vander as Warwick before he was resurrected, dead in the field of bodies. She saw bright blue hair with a pink streak peering out from under bodies. Jinx . She saw Isha. She saw her mother. She saw so many innocent civilian bodies. All of the deaths that stemmed from her poor decisions, especially the decisions made after her mother’s death that were based on grief and pure hate.

“Look at them all,” Ambessa spat, “all of the innocent deaths from your actions. Children, parents, brothers, sisters. How heavy this must feel.”

Heavy was an understatement. Caitlyn was being crushed under the weight of all this devastation. How could she be so naive? She was a clever person, raised to be inquisitive and sharp. But looking out at the mass grave of collateral damage, she became the villain. 

She closed her eyes so that she couldn’t see the bodies anymore, but Ambessa tightened her grip on Caitlyn’s jaw, “ Look . This was your war, Commander Kiramman, not hers .”

Caitlyn opened her eyes, tears spilling out as she did. She was overwhelmed with nausea when she saw pink hair in the center of all the bodies. Vi was lying face up, her eyes dull and clouded staring into nothingness, her skin pale and greying. She collapsed from Ambessa’s grasp, her kneecaps hitting the ground harshly. 

“This isn’t real,” she exhaled, using her hands to help stand back up. Her legs were shaking, but she had to get to Vi. She stumbled through the bodies until she arrived in front of the fighter. Vi looked so small, her face gaunt, the muscle from her arms and body depleted. She looked starved, malnourished. Smaller than the day that Caitlyn found her in the Stillwater Hold prison cell. She reached down and touched Vi’s face, tears falling from her cheeks. 

“ You’re killing her too, child.” 

Caitlyn could feel the rage building inside her chest. She grabbed the blade and ripped it out, turning to impale Ambessa, but the Noxian was faster. In that time, Ambessa had disarmed Caitlyn and used the blade to slit her throat, leaving the enforcer choking as blood poured from her neck. She gripped her right hand over the deep, long cut and used her other arm to crawl closer to Vi’s body. She slumped against the fighter's torso, fear and panic consuming her when she realised she couldn’t breathe anymore. She was suffocating, choking on her blood. 

Darkness slowly consumed her vision as she continued to fight for air.

“Caitlyn!” A familiar voice yelled, “Caitlyn, you need to breathe.”

She inhaled sharply, a familiar ceiling mural greeting her. She was back in the hospital.

She coughed aggressively, struggling for air. She could feel a mask being held over her nose and mouth, cool air traveling down to her lungs. When she would catch her breath, another coughing fit would line up to start. She was shivering uncontrollably, feeling a level of cold she had never experienced before, especially around her neck and chest. 

“That’s it, daughter,” Tobias exclaimed, relieved. Usually, Vi would announce herself by now, if not verbally than physically, but Caitlyn couldn’t see her with her limited vision and she couldn’t feel her.

After a few minutes, the nurse removed the oxygen mask and left her with just the nasal cannula. She was finally able to look around and noticed that Vi wasn’t in the room. She also noticed that the freezing sensations were coming from ice packs on her.

“What happened?” She asked Tobias, who had been in a low conversation with the doctor right next to her.

“Your oxygen levels dropped fast, you really scared us for a moment, but you’re doing much better now,” he gave a small smile. 

She still felt like she had just run laps around Piltover, her breathing still irregular and becoming caught in coughs.

“Where’s Vi?” She asked.

“She’s at home, resting,” Tobias informed her, “I’m going to send someone for her now.”

“No,” Caitlyn interfered, “no, please let her rest.”

“Are you sure? I fear she may become upset when she finds out I didn’t send someone for her.”

Caitlyn released another harsh cough, flinching at the pain that traveled through her skull from her eye socket, proving it was still healing and sensitive.

“Leave her be, please?” She begged, already exhausted. Tobias nodded and took his daughter's hand. She tried to fight the exhaustion that was pulling her back under. All she could see when she closed her eyes was Vi, dead in the sea of bodies.

You’re killing her too, child.

Present tense, though it was Vi’s corpse she was leaning against in the final moment of the nightmare. The darkness proceeded to take over until she finally surrendered to sleep.

You’re killing her too.

Chapter Text

Vi awoke to the setting sun blinding her through the small gap in the curtains. She threw her arm over her eyes and turned to face the other direction, toward Cait’s side of the bed . No matter how harsh the heat from the sun would be hitting the glass on Caitlyn’s windows, her room always remained at a comfortable temperature. In fact, the entire mansion was always at a comfortable temperature. Vi wondered how much money they were spending on this system and how much electricity it was using. 

It was incredibly rare to stumble across a building with an air cooling system in Zaun. The winters were always long and harsh, as were the summers. You just had to persevere and ride it out. Now, Vi was laying in a luxurious bed, with soft sheets and fancy pillows, in the middle of summer, feeling cool and comfortable. How did she get here?

She sat up and took in the quiet room. Everything was where Caitlyn had left it before the war. Her silk nightgown hung over a chair in the corner of the room that sat crooked in front of a desk, papers scattered everywhere. Her trophy cabinet opposite to the desk on the other side of the room was partially bare after Caitlyn had grabbed some of the trophies in a moment of rage and smashed them into the wall beside the double-doors that night. The housekeepers had come in and removed the damaged trophies from the floor, but the holes in the wall remained still.

What Vi would give in this moment to see more than a memory of Caitlyn standing in front of her reading paperwork and destroying trophies. She decided to get out of bed and approach the dresser to her right, opening a drawer that Caitlyn had specified her personal items would be housed in. She saw her black jacket first, the back of it completely burnt and torn to shreds after Isha’s explosive end to Warwick. Vi, although seriously wounded, remembered grabbing Jinx in her arms and protecting her from the blast. If she hadn't been wearing this jacket, she could only imagine the damage it would’ve done to her.

She put the black jacket aside and then was surprised to see her entire outfit from before the strike team deployment. Before Caitlyn charged the stock of her rifle into Vi’s stomach. Before everything had changed.

Vi grabbed her red jacket and her white and black hooded top. She thought about showering, but with her hands only just stitched hours ago, she decided against it and instead changed tops. When she went to slip the jacket on, the fit was more snug than before. She hadn’t realised how much muscle she had gained over the past few months until now. The jacket still went over her biceps, but she definitely wouldn’t be able to fight in it like she did in the past.

She didn’t know where to put her other shirt, so she just carried it with her as she left the room. She followed the foyer to the kitchen where housekeepers were setting up what looked to be a buffet. Just for me? She thought. They had done the same thing when she arrived earlier that day and she had taken it upon herself to have a decent meal for breakfast before going to bed, but now, realising they do this for every meal, she felt shy. 

“I, uh, didn’t know where to put my shirt?” She spoke up as one of the housekeepers approached her.

“I’ll take that,” the woman said kindly and then disappeared from the kitchen. Vi made eye contact with the other housekeeper who shared a brief smile before returning to her duties.

Vi felt bad, but she grabbed only an apple and then went on her way.

It was nightfall by the time that she made it to the hospital. It was close considering, but still a decent walk from the Kiramman mansion. She took the stairs and came out on the third floor where Caitlyn’s ward was located. She let her hood fall back and made her way past the familiar nurses at the station, sharing a small smile but only if they offered one first.

She opened the door and took in the calm of the room. Caitlyn was fast asleep, no alarms were screeching from the monitor, Tobias was in his chair sipping on tea and reading a book. It was so quiet and tranquil.

Tobias looked up when she closed the door and removed his reading glasses. 

“You look well,” he said softly, “did you have some food and get some rest?”

She placed her fingers on Caitlyn’s forehead, now that her hands were wrapped, and still felt warmth, but definitely better than when she had left. 

“Yeah,” she started, pulling her chair forward to take a seat, “thank you, I didn’t realise how much I needed that sleep.”

“I’d like to profess it was the doctor in me, but my daughter would scold me for taking her credit,” he smirked.

“How is she?”

“Well, she’s doing okay,” he said, toying with his glasses.

“But?” Vi pressed, sensing that there was something Tobias wasn’t saying.

“Caitlyn went into something we call respiratory distress. There was a moment where oxygen wasn’t getting to her lungs-”

Vi stood aggressively, the chair threatening to collapse to the floor, “you promised me!”

“She was treated very quickly and we were able to get her oxygen levels under control. By the time I could ask for someone to be sent, she opposed. She was okay and being closely monitored, and she insisted that you rest,” Tobias explained, hands raised as to calm Vi’s anger, “if I didn’t think she was out of danger, I would have certainly sent someone for you.”

“I don’t care!” She silently roared through gritted teeth, “you promised.”

“ Caitlyn didn’t want me to do it,” Tobias repeated, emphasising on Caitlyn being in control.

“I. Don’t. Give. A. Shit,” Vi fought, “we had a deal. You said anything .”

“I’m sorry I didn’t keep my word,” he genuinely apologised, “but I’m not sorry that I didn’t summon you here when Caitlyn was stable and resting and so were you.”

“Don’t make this about me,” she scoffed.

“Why shouldn’t it be about you? You’re both wounded soldiers in recovery,” he challenged.

“What are you talking about? You keep referencing recovery towards me, but I am fine!”

“You are carrying an enormous amount of pain and survivors guilt, especially guilt towards Caitlyn. You are suffering, Vi. We can see it in the way that you continue to hurt and torment yourself,” Tobias stated, “the sooner you accept that you’re not fine, the sooner we can help you.”

“We? We who?” Vi chuckled.

Tobias considered his next response. He was beginning to feel frustrated as well. He didn’t want to give her more reasons to feel guilty, but he also needed Vi to understand that her neglectful attitude was affecting more than just herself.

“She couldn’t breathe today,” Tobias said, voice trembling, “She couldn’t breathe and you were still her first thought. She went through something traumatising and terrifying, but it didn’t even soak in because she was asking about you.”

Vi stood in silence, still seething with anger but also feeling an overwhelming sense of guilt towards Tobias now.

“My daughter is the type of person who will light herself on fire just to keep others warm. You’re the first person she searches for when she wakes up, not only because she cares deeply for you, but because she knows that you’re hurting everyday too.”

He could see that Vi was listening to him, actually taking in his words and considering them.

“Vi, just because your pain isn’t represented in wounds or illness doesn’t mean that they’re invisible. We see you .”

The silence from Vi continued as she let Tobias’ words sink in. She knew that Caitlyn was showing concern towards her, but she thought most of it was to deflect her own pain, a means to take her mind off of it. 

“I’m sorry,” Vi apologised, “I’m just so scared I’m going to lose her too.”

“And she of you,” Tobias said, “this war has changed both of your lives. It has taken things from both of you. But everything is going to be okay, I just need you to believe it.”

“I can hear you both, you know?” a soft voice interrupted, “you’re not very quiet.”

“Sorry,” Vi apologised again, guilt washing over her, “how are you feeling?”

“I’m okay,” Caitlyn responded, clearing her throat, “Father, could you give us a moment?”

“Of course,” he smiled, touching her hand before leaving. Caitlyn waited until she heard the door click, confirming that they were alone.

“You’re upset that I didn’t let him send someone for you,” she acknowledged.

“Yeah,” was all that escaped Vi’s lips even though she wanted to say so much more. She was still furious and she wanted everyone to know so that the next time something happened, there was no way they weren’t going to come get her.

“There was no one else I wanted here more than you,” Caitlyn promised, “but you were finally resting in a bed.”

Vi turned and pulled her chair in closer to Caitlyn’s bed so that she could sit down and hold the enforcer’s hand.

“Your dad has helped me realise that I need to take better care of myself, but Cait… What happened to you earlier this morning,” Vi paused, looking pained, “I need you to let someone come get me when that happens.”

“I was fine,” Caitlyn said, a small reassuring smile on her face.

“I don’t think you were. It sounded really serious,” Vi said lowly, remembering her conversation with Tobias, “it sounded like you stopped breathing.”

Caitlyn’s smile fell as she remembered lying against Vi’s dead body, her throat slashed, choking on her own blood. She couldn't breathe in the nightmare, but that’s all it was. It wasn’t real .

Until it was.

She began to have flashes of the medical team around her earlier that morning, Tobias on her left side begging her to breathe. The look of relief on his face when she did. She hadn’t seen him look so concerned as he told her about her oxygen levels plummeting. 

“Are you okay?” Vi asked softly, noticing Caitlyn’s attention had gone adrift.

“I think I was dying this morning,” Caitlyn confessed, her voice barely above a whisper, “I don’t think I’m okay, Vi.”

“Cait?” Vi leaned forward to catch a falling tears on Caitlyn’s cheek as she made eye contact with the fighter.

“I don’t dream of my mother, but I did this morning, at that time. She was so real, so close. I held her for a moment. I wondered if I was dying…”

Vi flinched at the word being said again, standing in an instant and turning to face away from Caitlyn. She wanted to cover her ears and pretend this conversation never started. This was not how today was supposed to go. She was meant to go back to the Kiramman mansion, appease her appetite, get some rest, return to the hospital and help mend Caitlyn to good health, just as she had been doing the past few days.

What she wasn’t prepared for was to find out that Caitlyn stopped breathing this morning and was so close to death. Her greatest fear was in motion and she had not a clue. Just like on the battlefield. What if she had arrived at the hospital, just as she arrived on the battlefield, only Caitlyn didn’t make it this time? What if she was already gone?

“No,” Vi said, mostly to herself as she tried to shake the thought.

Caitlyn noticed Vi’s struggle, but she was also consumed by her own. She brought her hand to her throat, feeling it tighten itself on her.

“I need to get out of here,” she coughed, pulling the oxygen off of her face.

“What are you doing?” Vi questioned, watching Caitlyn wince as she began to pull her IVs out one by one, little bubbles of blood collecting at the needle sites, “you need all of this, Cait.”

“No, I need to get out of here, Vi!” Caitlyn exclaimed, peeling the patches from her chest, sending the monitor into a constant alarm. She coughed harshly again, the lack of oxygen already becoming evident.

It wasn’t until she guided her injured leg off the bed that Vi interfered.

“You’re still sick and injured!” Vi challenged, “please, Cait, please stay in bed.”

Tobias barged through the door at the sound of the alarms, a nurse on his heel. Caitlyn was already attempting to stand up, partially hanging on to Vi who had just caught her. Vi was trying to carry most of her weight so that her knee wouldn’t be too painful.

“What’s going on?” Tobias demanded, grabbing Caitlyn’s other arm to hold her steady.

“Let me go home, father. I can’t be here any longer.”

“Please, Commander, you must get back into bed,” the nurse pleaded.

“Caitlyn, you’re not ready,” Tobias announced regretfully.

“I don’t need your permission, I can discharge myself,” Caitlyn panted. Vi could see the beads of sweat already forming on Caitlyn’s forehead. The stitches in her hands pinched against the pressure of trying to carry almost all of Caitlyn’s weight now.

Tobias and Vi exchanged looks of deep concern. Caitlyn was in no shape to leave right now.

“Caitlyn, please,” he urged, “we can arrange something, but right now is too soon.”

“Please listen to your father, Cait. For me,” Vi begged. She kept her left arm wrapped tightly, but  carefully, around Caitlyn’s waist and brought her right hand to the enforcer’s face, guiding her eye to meet her own.

Caitlyn took her left arm from Tobias and wrapped herself around Vi. It took Vi a moment to melt into Caitlyn’s embrace, not having held her like this for almost a week. The Kiramman was naturally petite, but she suddenly felt smaller.

“I’m so tired,” Caitlyn sobbed into the nape of her neck. Vi kept a hold of the enforcer’s weight, trying to ensure that she was hurting as little as possible at this moment. But she understood all too well what Caitlyn meant. 

Vi stroked Caitlyn’s ponytail before saying, “me too.”