Archive of Our Own ^beta

Vander only comes to realize the gravity of the situation that's currently facing the Undercity when it's already far too late to halt the momentum of change. To waylay the reckoning he recognizes standing in front of him, the familiar and now terrifying visage of a man he'd once considered a brother.

Now reduced to nothing but a harbinger of death.

Terrifying, because both Cornelia and Benzo's broken bodies are laid broken at his feet, strewn out across the cobblestone. The now former sheriff is laying there, her leg twisted at an odd angle with blood slowly pooling beneath her still, lifeless form where she'd landed after being flung through the window to Benzo's shop mere moments earlier. And Benzo... gods above Vander couldn't even identify his mutilated corpse if he hadn't watched the monstrous, mutated form of a boy that Vander can only vaguely recognize turn his body into mulch.

Terrifying, because standing there in the middle of the street he can still hear Violet's heart wrenching screams sounding from deep within the pawn shop behind him. A reminder that there are still far too many things that Silco can come to claim from him, things he couldn't possibly allow him to taint with his bloodlust.

You could argue if he, Vander, deserved what was about to transpire, but he'd be damned if he let Silco go after his kids, after her kids, without a fucking fight.

Knowing it's over but desperate to at least try, to get them far enough away Silco and the monsters backing him won't be able to hear Vi calling for him, Vander launches himself forward with a roar. Ducks past the glowing purple fists and maddened eyes in a rush, his eyes locked onto the figure responsible for the carnage surrounding them. Desperate to end this before anymore of his people's blood, their people's blood, is pointlessly spilt upon the pavement.

But he's no match. Not for the beast of Silco's design. The puppet that was once a growing boy and is now nothing but a violent husk in the hands of a mad man.

His skull is split on the cobblestone, vision swimming dangerously as he desperately clings to consciousness when rough, cruel hands make quick work of collecting his near lifeless form and begin to drag him away from the crime scene. Taking him away to parts unknown.

The last thing he sees before his vision dims as he blacks out from the blow is the carnage that's left behind in their wake... and all he can hope to do is pray that his children somehow survive the nightmare that's to come.

The Ethos is clear.

He must be banished from Piltover

...

All those in favor?

And one too many hands raise.

"Mother-"

"I can't," Her mother speaks softly, trying to placate Caitlyn's growing indignation, her growing panic, at least until they're outside of the council chambers. Away from prying eyes and well attuned ears. "Come, let's speak in my office. It will take the Enforcers a few minutes to escort him to the holding cell anyway before you can see him."

Caitlyn does as she's told in spite of the voice in her head telling her to continue to argue the point. She follows closely behind her mother, used to allowing the older woman to navigate them through crowded rooms with an air of authority that made people leap out of the way to accommodate them.

That fact that her mother's wrapping an arm around her back and publicly reassuring her in any capacity has Caitlyn's panic reaching new heights. Because they're Kirammans. They have a certain image to uphold and if her mother's defaulting to reassuring her instead of scolding her breech in decorum then that means this situation really is just as bad as it had sounded.

Jayce is going to be banished from Piltover.

No. Jayce has already been summarily banished from Piltover.

Caitlyn's fingers curl into fists as she desperately tries to keep her hands from shaking, the mixture of anger and fear currently that's percolating through her system causing her body to flood with adrenaline with no proper outlet for release.

As soon as they've got a closed door placed firmly between them and the outside world Caitlyn breaks a little. Her breath coming in ragged and tears slowly pooling but refusing to fall from her eyes as the word bounces cruelly from one corner of her mind to the other. Twisting and turning and breaking until it's lost all meaning except for pure and utter despair.

Banished.

Jayce, her only friend in the entire world, has just been banished from their lifelong home in Piltover.

Forever.

"Good heavens," her mother reaches forward, having pulled a handkerchief from her pocket to catch the tears that Caitlyn isn't able to prevent from falling only moments later. "Enough of that, dear. You won't have much time to spend with Jayce before he is... sent away. You don't want to waste it all blubbering on about it"

Caitlyn nods, sniffing down the rest of her tears and trying to compose herself before she's scolded further. "But-"

"If there were anything I could do to help you dear, you know that I would," her mother says, her voice soft but firm as she dabs away the last of Caitlyn's tears, pressing the handkerchief into her hand with a small, apologetic narrowing of her eyes. "I fear that Jayce's crimes are too great for even I to save him now."

Cassandra Kiramman leans down and presses a soft kiss against her heir's hairline. An act of affection that Caitlyn can count the number of times has occurred (outside of the confines of their home at least) on her fingers with a number of them left to spare.

"Take a moment to compose yourself, Caitlyn," her mother squeezes her shoulders lightly. "I'll... make preparations so that he's not just thrown out into the wilderness with the clothes on his back and ensure that you're allowed to stay with him until he's due to depart in the morning."

It's more than most people could ever hope for in her position, and yet it doesn't feel like nearly enough.

"Jayce!" Caitlyn launches herself up into his arms, retroactively grateful that he is no longer handcuffed as he catches her around the waist with ease. Picking her up and spinning her in a circle like he normally does in greeting and for one, singular second she can almost convince herself that today's just a day like any other.

Like her world isn't currently imploding around her.

"Cait," Jayce sounds so relieved as he holds her close, breathing her name into the side of her hair as his arms squeeze tightly her around her before slowly lowering her back to the ground. "I'm so sorry Cait, I didn't mean for this to happen or-"

"Shush," Caitlyn shakes her head, burying her face in his chest and refusing to let him go. "W-we'll fix this, okay? There's... there has to be something..."

"I don't think there's going to be any fixing it this time, sprout," Jayce says softly.

"Then I'll come with you," Caitlyn pulls back, the tears she'd just barely managed to contain on the walk over already beginning to streak down her face as she clings to the front of his shirt, decorum be damned for all she cares. It's just her and Jayce right now. "If we can't convince them to let you stay here in Piltover then we can go... I don't know, have you ever visited Ionia? You know I have family there."

"I get the feeling your mother wouldn't be a big fan of me running off with her heir and only kid," Jayce ruffles her hair with a sad grin. "We probably wouldn't get very far with a whole army of Enforcers on our tails, huh?"

She hates that he's probably right.

"Well, then we'll have to make them let you stay," Caitlyn nods, squaring her shoulders and setting her jaw defiantly. Blue eyes hardening to ice as she pokes Jayce once, twice, thrice in the center of the chest for emphasis as she speaks. "I am not. Losing my best friend. Because of your illegal... science experiments!"

"Ouch! Jeesh, Cait," Jayce rubs at the spot she'd poked him with the palm of his hand, wincing heavily through his watery grin. Big baby. "Look, sprout. With the hextech crystals still missing in the Undercity there's no way they're going to be convinced. They need someone to blame for this mess and it's my fault they were in the city to begin with and even then that's a long shot at this point since I've already been convicted. You should just forget about this whole mess and try to move on, Cait."

"Well then we'll just have to get those... hextech crystal things back!" Caitlyn pointedly ignores the last part. She just needs an actionable plan, she can't sit here twiddling her thumbs waiting for Jayce and his life's work to be thrown away by witless politicians who can't recognize the brilliance they're so boldly tossing aside. Caitlyn pauses, finally processing his words and realizing that she's clearly missing still some pertinent information. "And what even is a bloody hextech crystal?"

"They're the little magic energy sources I was using to power my research," Jayce sighs, collapsing down into a heap on the tiny single person bed tucked away in the back of the room, dropping his face into his hands and now unable to see the calculating gleam in Caitlyn's eyes as he spills his confession into the space between them. "I kept a whole case full of them in the lab, but when I looked over the recovered inventory there were five of them missing, and the explosion at the lab was only big enough for one or maybe two of them to have caused it."

"So to clarify there are more of these explosive magical crystals and they're now all located somewhere down in the Undercity? Fantastic, let's go take a look 'round for them then, I'll simply bribe whomever took the crystals in order to get them to hand them over. Then we simply have to take them to the council and everything will be fine," Caitlyn's already spun around and taken a couple of steps towards the door when Jayce's amused voice suddenly stops her.

"Uh, Cait?" She pauses, turns back to see him watching her with a small, sad grin from where he's still sitting on the bed. "I can't exactly leave. I'm under arrest pending my expulsion from the city. Sheriff's words, not mine," he grins slightly wider, clearly trying to make a joke and lighten the mood, though Caitlyn can't bring herself to laugh, staring down at her boots, her thoughts racing. "Seriously, it's okay. I got myself into this mess Cait, and... we're just going to have to accept that I'm not getting out of it at this point. We can still write?"

Jayce isn't wrong.

Of course he can't go find his hextech crystals on his own, she obviously isn't thinking clearly if she's forgotten that tidbit so quickly. She takes a couple of deep breaths, allowing herself a moment of quiet deliberation before nodding slightly. A brief look of heartbroken relief overtakes Jayce's face right before Caitlyn takes another step back, her hand already reaching behind her for the door handle. More than able to anticipate what Jayce's next move will be before the words have even begun to leave her mouth.

"Very well, I'll head down and collect them myself then," Jayce's eyes go wide and he starts to leap back onto his feet, but Caitlyn's already swung the door open and stepped back outside in the time it takes for him to take a single step towards her.

"Caitlyn, don't! It's too dan-"

"I'll be back shortly," she promptly closes the door in his face, locking it behind her as she hears him slam against it. She's grateful that the guards were either nice enough to give them privacy... or more likely lazy enough to wander off given how little of a threat Jayce is, because there's no one there to stop her from leaving or to get upset with Jayce's yelling. "Please do try to refrain from getting yourself into anymore trouble while I'm away!"

She calls the last line though the door before turning and speed walking away from Jayce's cell. She doesn't have time to dilly dally. It's already mid afternoon and Jayce will be sent away come morning, giving her approximately eighteen hours, give or take, to find Jayce's missing hextech crystal things and present them to the council. From there she can demand his sentence be remanded to the courts and lessened due to extenuating circumstances... or something like that.

She's got eighteen hours to fully flush out out that angle as well.

She cannot lose him.

Caitlyn had returned home briefly before setting out, comfortable in the knowledge that both her mother and father would be working long hours today and wouldn't be around to question why she wasn't currently with Jayce. She'd collected her hunting rifle and changed into something more befitting a trip to the Undercity, some of her older hunting gear, and stopped and bought herself a plain brown cloak to further obfuscate her identity and thick woolen scarf to help shield her lungs from the polluted air during her trip beneath the city's surface.

And then, one short gondola ride later, she steps foot into the congested, buzzing streets of the Undercity.

Her first thought as she begins pushing through the crowded platform out onto the cobblestone streets, is that the Undercity itself appears to be nothing like Caitlyn would have ever imagined previously. From the way people talk about about the Undercity in Piltover, Caitlyn was frankly prepared to need to defend herself at every turn. To bare witness to untold violence and the sorts of shady dealings that have no business occurring in the light of day.

Instead, she's greeted by understandably dusty but otherwise clean streets, and while the people bustling to and fro around her do so with an anxious edge to every step, there isn't really anything off putting about being down in the Undercity. Jayce's bemused expression when she'd ask about his trips down here in the past are suddenly making so much more sense with this revelation.

The Undercity's just... another part of Piltover, albeit a tad darker and dustier than the part that Caitlyn lives in, but it's Piltover through and through nonetheless.

It's a startling realization to make and Caitlyn can't help cursing in some far-flung corner of her mind at the fact that this knowledge has been kept from her. Intentionally or otherwise, this is also her city and she should have understood this about it by now. She should know it's living, breathing pulse the same way she knows it when she's traveling across the city's surface.

It might make her search a little easier if she did.

It's the nervous feeling in the atmosphere that she's most uncertain of. It's almost like the air itself is holding its breath at the precipice of disaster. It permeates through every nook and cranny of every single street that Caitlyn walks down as she dives deeper into the city's depths. Skittish eyes meeting hers only for a moment before dipping deeper beneath pulled hoods, white-knuckles clutching the hilts of knifes and pistols as strangers pass her by. Weapons that are never ever once drawn, but always prepared for the need to be.

Small groups are huddled in dark corners looking like herds of frightened animals, the near silence except for the shuffling of feet and low murmurs passed between friends and colleagues on the streets barely loud enough to cause the static buzz of conversation to float around her. In spite of the heavy tension in the air, there's also a notable lack of hostility between the people out on the streets, which is fascinating enough to Caitlyn in and of itself.

Even as a newcomer Caitlyn can feel that this isn't normal, though she's entirely unsure what to do about it. Largely because she can't for the life of her pinpoint the cause of said tension.

The fact that something dangerous was stolen from the lab and brought down here isn't exactly common knowledge. She herself hadn't fully understood the severity of the situation despite being on the scene when said theft had occurred until Jayce had informed her just a hour ago. So it's not as if they're concerned that someone's going to cause a chain of explosions in the Undercity. That happening could potentially threaten to collapse the entire cavern system that it's been carved out of, which certainly could cause some unrest if it was known... but even then based on what Jayce had told her and her own experience with them, she's fairly certain they'd have to be deployed intentionally and maliciously to have that result. The explosion she'd experienced and witnessed the aftermath of had only taken out parts of the wall in a single room. Even well placed, they might struggle to bring down the entirety of one of the lower districts without some additional explosive ordnance considering the number that were reported stolen.

But if that is what they are worried about, they wouldn't have a reason to refuse to cooperate with the Enforcers investigating the theft. A roadblock she'd overheard was at least part of what was slowing the search down a fortnight ago, back when this was just a moderate annoyance and she didn't know what exactly they were looking for. Before this nightmare became life shattering devastation incarnate.

She sighs mutely, pulling her scarf more tightly around her nose to ward off the slight sting as she breathes in the fissure air. She doesn't want to do anything that might draw unwanted attention to herself, like having a coughing fit when most of the people down here are accustomed to the poor air quality, as she slowly picks her way down what seems to be one of the main thoroughfares through the marketplace district she's found herself in. The few individuals she's tried speaking with thus far have been less than forthcoming, each of them watching her warily as they'd denied knowing anything. The feeling of narrowed eyes trailing after her long after she'd left causing gooseflesh to rise along her arms and the back of her neck.

Intimidating, but not dissuading.

Feeling somewhat stumped with her stomach now informing her that it's around dinnertime, Caitlyn begins eyeing the stalls and stands lining the streets, looking for somewhere she might eat. And hopefully, if she's lucky, build enough of a rapport with someone to get finally uncover something resembling a lead.

She spots a fire noodle stand ahead of her as the road she's following bends awkwardly around a corner, the menu behind the middle-aged Ionian man running it featuring handwritten common and Ionia script, the blocky red lettering standing out against the sandy wooden board it's been painted on. Caitlyn's lip upticks slightly before she schools her expression back to impassive and redirects her feet in that direction.

Yes, this'll do nicely on both accounts.

Common ground is always a good place to start when approaching a diplomatic situation where you're at a disadvantage. If the general populace is wary of her for being from across the bridge, then perhaps she simply needs to approach garnering some of their trust from another angle.

Caitlyn has to force herself not to wince at the realization that she's currently following her mother's advise from one of their many lessons from her youth... though she's fairly certain this isn't at all what her head of house had had in mind in during those particularly brutal diplomacy lessons.

Still, if it will assist her in saving Jayce, then it really doesn't matter what she has to do or whose lessons she'll need to heed.

She cannot lose the only friend that she has.

Caitlyn has to hop up slightly to slide onto one of the high, worn barstools lining the front of little fire noddle stand, leveraging herself up with some assistance from the counter and for the millionth time in her nearly seventeen years of living she curses the fact that she seemingly hasn't inherited either of her parent's height genes. The gentleman behind the counter gives her a small, slightly amused smile over the pot of noodles he's stirring. "Hungry friend?" He asks her in perfectly unaccented Ionian.

There's a slight loosening in Caitlyn's posture as she nods, allowing some additional enthusiasm to leak into the action, finally earning her a small chuckle. "Very much so, and I've heard tale topside that the only decent places to find fire noodles in the city are down here, so I figured I might as well indulge in some proper Ionian cuisine while I'm visiting."

"Well, I certainly won't claim they're as good as my Nona's, but I like to think I'm able to whip up a mean pot," his easy grin even after Caitlyn's confirmed that she's from the other side of the river feels like a hard won victory and she has to give it to her mother, this is in fact going better than her previous attempts.

"I'm certain they're wonderful," Caitlyn gives him a well practiced warm smile in return, though she hardly has to put any effort into it given how genuinely excited she is at the thought of having dinner. "Though I must ask, do you practice the traditional Navori or Zhyun regional style for fire noodles?"

The beaming smile she gets in return informs her that her plan is working perfectly as he launches into a long spiel about the cooking methods that've been passed down through his family while Caitlyn happily slurps down her noodles.

Let the record show that the answer is absolutely Zhyun style.

By the time she's finished eating, she's actually enjoying her conversation with Mr. Wan and finds herself almost disappointed to have to leave. She makes a mental note of the name and the approximate location of the stall so she can bring Jayce by once she's finished... and not just so she can laugh at his attempts at eating some real spicy food. Because this is what the experience of eating fire noodles is supposed to be like... so hot that you lose a layer of epidermis in your mouth just from the broth hitting your tongue.

Not the umami stuff that they try to pass as proper fire noodles topside.

"Before I go, if I might ask you a quick question in regard to my mission down here?" Caitlyn intentionally switches back to the common tongue, hoping that by using the language everyone around them speaks instead of hiding the conversation that he might see her as more genuine. "I'm sure that you've heard by now about the explosion that occurred topside and all the mess that's ensued as a result?"

Mr. Wan's eyes narrow slightly, but unlike with Caitlyn's previous attempts at getting information she's not instantly sent on her way which she takes as a win. "Yes I have," he nods slowly.

"I'm friends with the person who was burglarized," Caitlyn sticks to the story that she'd decided to use on her way down into the Undercity. "I truly don't care about the majority of what was taken, but there was a small collection of items that were stolen with significant sentimental value to us that I'm personally hoping to recover before they're sold. I don't mind paying for them either. In fact, I'm willing to pay handsomely enough for the culprits to easily flee the city and start anew elsewhere to avoid the authorities, I simply need our items returned."

Mr. Wan's head tilts to the side, his eyes becoming distant while he seems to think. He words are slow and a little cautious as they slide off his tongue, like he's trying to help without giving away something that she can't quite place. "I'm not sure I can give you anything too helpful, but if you're looking for information you might try asking around at The Last Drop. Vander won't turn any of our people in, that's a rule you don't break in the Undercity..."

Well at least that explains why the Enforcers aren't getting anywhere asking around down here. It's a matter of principle.

"...but him or his kids might be able to get word around to whoever did it before they sell anything, if you're lucky," Mr. Wan points up and to the left of them with one hand while the other fiddles around with something behind the counter. "The Last Drop is a lot closer to topside than this though, you're down in the Entresol level right now. You'll need to start heading back up towards the Promenade find it. If you get lost on your way up just show this to someone and tell 'em I told you to go speak with Vander and they'll point you in the right direction."

Redirecting her eyes from where they'd followed Mr. Wan's pointing finger, she finds him now holding out a couple of slips of paper for her to take, which she recognizes after a moment as a pair of coupons. She accepts them with a gracious smile. "Thank you so much! I'll be sure to stop by again with my friend, your fire noodles truly are wonderful."

"Thank you and travel safe topsider... and be careful not to let any Enforcers catch you walking around looking like that," Mr. Wan warns her ominously, his tone shifting slightly as he gives her a hard once over before having his attention dragged away by a newly approaching customer. Leaving Caitlyn to walk away in a daze a moment later, rolling that warning around in her mind's eye with a furrowed brow. Why would she need too look out for Enforcers? To start, she doesn't physically match the descriptions of any of the supposed suspects in the case, the closest was suspected to be between 8 and 10 years old with short, light blue hair. Of which the only matching part of the description was their blue hair, though not a soul in existence would consider Caitlyn's hair 'light' by any stretch of the imagination.

Perhaps, far more importantly, Caitlyn had heard word that all of the Enforcers were ordered back topside after an incident the previous day and that an ultimatum was issued to the Undercity's leadership as a result, although she's uncertain of the exact details of said ultimatum. But it's certainly not been enough time for her to need to worry about any Enforcers complicating matters for her while she's traversing through the Undercity tonight.

In the worst case scenario for her, she's caught and dragged back to her mother empty handed in which case Jayce is forced to leave in the morning in spite of her efforts and she'd have squandered the last of their time together.

And well... that's certainly not happening.

She won't let it happen.

Unfortunately, the universe doesn't simply bow to the whims of a Kiramman, even when it really, really should.

The Undercity is easy to get turned around in. While topside they have dedicated architects and city planners to ensure ease of travel through the cobblestone streets, here in the Undercity the roads were paves through old, opened up mines. Twisting and turning at nature's whim, denoting where they'd dug in search of all the materials they needed to innovate in the city above.

It takes until her third time asking someone for directions to realize that Mr. Wan had done something to the coupons she'd been given. A small mark up near the top corner she begins to notice folks looking for before they'll give her any information. One that makes them relax slightly as they point and direct her upwards to the best of their ability.

So when she stumbles into them, she's not exactly sure where she's at, but she's certainly still in the Undercity right now. And unlike the pair of Enforcers standing in front of her, who're thankfully facing away from her right now, she's at least technically allowed to be here even if her mother wouldn't approve in the slightest.

She's already taken a step back, intending to turn around and find another way up before her mind finally finishes processing what she's seeing and her blood goes cold as Mr. Wan's words of warning suddenly spring to the front of her mind.

Travel safe topsider, don't let the Enforcers catch you looking like that.

That she's suddenly horrified to realize means someone from the Undercity.

Or rather, a kid or teenager in the Undercity.

There are three kids pinned between the Enforcers and the stone walls of the cavern around them. The oldest appearing one is a girl with dark skin and hair, who's currently being  literally pinned to the wall by one of the two Enforcers, her fingers digging into the thin material of the younger teenagers' shirt as she holds her against the wall with a forearm to her throat as she hisses something that Caitlyn can't make out at the glaring teen. The other Enforcer is holding off the other two kids, one with a buzz cut and the other with a fuzzy mop of pale jade, preventing them from trying to get to the struggling older one. Although "holding off" is a rather generous description of what is happening, the male Enforcer's fingers are tangled in the one kid's hair, pulling them up onto their toes so they can't wriggle away while the other one is on the ground, a boot pressing into his chest preventing him from doing anything besides wheezing as he begs the woman not to hurt the girl.

And just as quickly as it had gone cold, Caitlyn's blood starts to boil instead. There is no conscious thought in her actions, no part of her that is able to recognize the risks because what in the actual hells is the sheriff doing? Allowing their policing force treat her civilians in such a vile manner.

"You'd better have a bloody good explanation for what exactly it is you think you're doing down here if you still plan on having a job come morning," Caitlyn watches as five pairs of eyes snap to her and widen in unison, all trained on her rifle, which she's snapped into place and has leveled in the direction of the man, seeing as he's got two of the kids to the woman's one.

"You've got some nerve kid," and Caitlyn hates the condescending tone, the sneer on the woman's face, as though Caitlyn is somehow the one beneath her.

As if.

"It's Caitlyn," Caitlyn sneers in return, enjoying the moment where it seems to finally register, at least to the man present, who it is exactly that's just walked up to bare witness to their transgressions. "Caitlyn Kiramman, to be precise, and as so far I've yet to hear a single viable excuse out of either of you, I'd suggest you unhand the lot of them this instant, unless you intend to have me make you."

The man instantly drops the kid he's holding and steps back from the other one, his partner looking at him like he's gone temporarily insane before finally following his lead after he shakes his head at her. She's not worth it. She sees him mouth to her, the Enforcer's eyebrows furrowing in confusion as she glances between Caitlyn and her partner.

"Now, you're going to return topside and report exactly what it is that you've done here to Sheriff Grayson, which I'll insure that you did when she and I have our weekly tea this upcoming Sunday," Caitlyn doesn't pay the other kids that much mind while she's speaking, vaguely aware of the two younger ones launching themselves at the older one, who holds them tight, her suspicious eyes never leaving Caitlyn as she speaks to the Enforcers and makes them listen to her. "And you don't want to know what'll happen if I learn you didn't."

"Who do you..."

"Don't," the man hisses wildly, grabbing his partner's arm and pulling her back, Caitlyn only just barely making out the words as she reads his lips. "Look at the crest on her rifle." Interestingly, Caitlyn notices the girl's eyes dart to her rifle as soon as he's said it along with his partner and Caitlyn suspects that she's not the only one here who's proficient in lip reading.

Unfortunate, but she still might get them to talk to her once they're finished here and even if they don't she truly can't bring herself to regret it.

She also sees the recognition finally flicker across the woman's face and Caitlyn's sneer deepens as she puffs her chest out on instinct, making herself seem larger than she is, trying to intimidate them similarly to a bird guarding it's roost from a pair of ravenous vipers.

Only her roost is the entire bloody city and she's left standing there staring down a couple of snakes who're purportedly meant to protect them.

"Now, are you going to make me repeat myself or-"

"No, no," the man holds his hands up as if to placate her. "We're heading out right away, Miss Kiramman, ma'am."

"Good," Mr. Wan's words from earlier continue to twist around in Caitlyn's mind, something about the warning still bothering her. She bites her lip, a thought coming to mind as they begin to back away and she decides to test it. Better safe than sorry and all. "...and do be sure you drag any of the other vagrants that you came down here with back to the Hall of Law with you, I will be rather displeased if I run into anymore of you lot during my travels tonight."

"Of course, ma'am," he gives her a small bow while the woman next to him continues glaring daggers at her. "We'll leave at once, come on Connie," the last part is hissed under his breath towards his partner who he ends up grabbing in order to urge her into motion. Finally, several moments longer than Caitlyn would have liked, they finally fall back and disappear around the corner.

The corridor around them falls silent in the Enforcer's absence.

There's a beat, two. The only sounds the quiet sniffles of the two smaller kids clinging to the other girl present. Caitlyn finally stows away her rifle after a moment, slipping it back into its holster across her back, hidden beneath her cloak. "Are you three alright?" Caitlyn asks, finally turning fully away from the direction the Enforcers left in to speak with the kids they left behind, her voice losing the edge of authority she'd forced into it.

"Yes, thank you," the girl continues watching her, a little wary still but the majority of the tension in her body had flooded from her muscles as soon as Caitlyn put her rifle away. "You didn't need to do that... though I do appreciate it."

"It's no matter," Caitlyn waves the accolades away. "They were operating outside the scope of their station, and as someone who's above their station, it's my duty to remind them of that," she's unable to keep the half growl out of her voice as she glares back in the direction they left.

The two younger kids still aren't speaking, just trembling while clinging to the older girl, occasionally glancing back at Caitlyn in a mixture of apprehension and blatant curiosity. Realizing they're going to be the girl's primary focus until they're calmed down, Caitlyn reaches into her side pouch where she'd stored a few smaller items and pulls out a couple of granola bars. They're not exactly candy but they are sweet... plus now that she's taking the trio in front of her in better all three of them look a bit malnourished, so maybe the healthy option's better anyway.

"Here," Caitlyn takes a couple of steps forward, the younger kids tensing up before she drops down to one knee to be close to their level, holding out a granola bar in each hand for them to take. "I know having something sweet always helps me feel better after something scary happens, and well... I don't have any candy on me but I promise they're still good."

It takes a little coaxing from the girl but finally after a couple of minutes the two smaller children are calmed down and happily munching on their snacks, leaving Caitlyn to speak with the girl in peace.

"I know I stated who I was already, but since we're to have proper introductions allow me to start again," Caitlyn reaches out a hand for her to shake. "My name is Caitlyn, it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance."

The girl chuckles lightly. "Gert, nice to meet you too," she gives Caitlyn a once over. "So, what's a girl like you doing down here in the pits fighting off blue bloods?"

"Well, I'm sure you've heard about what's happening topside..."

Gert was, shockingly, a lot more willing to assist her than Caitlyn had originally feared she'd be, the trio of kids happily folding Caitlyn into their circle and leading her through the winding maze of an urban environment with seemingly practiced ease after learning about her mission down here.

The younger two kids, who's names she's learned are Zax and Dorian, are running around on the rooftops of all places as they walk and Caitlyn watches them in a mixture of fear and awe while she and Gert talk on the ground. "Honestly, it might be worth checking Benzo's 'fore heading up to The Last Drop," Gert's saying as they walk. "Benzo's got a pawn shop in the lower portion of the Promenade, and it's not unheard of for stolen goods to pass through shops like that if someone's trying to dump their loot. You might find that what you're looking for's already been sold there. Plus it's sorta on the way, or at least you won't have to back track a ton to stop by if Vander can't help you."

"I see," Caitlyn nods along, beyond grateful to now have people more familiar with the ins and outs of the Undercity willing to act as guides. "That sounds like a good plan and I'll trust your judgement on the logistics. This is only my first time down here so I'm getting myself turned around just trying to walk in a straight line."

Gert chuckles lightly, thankfully seeming more amused than frustrated by Caitlyn's ignorance when it comes to this portion of her city. "Yeah, we don't tend to stick to the streets all that much, roof running's a lot faster and it makes it harder to get lost with how wacky everything's been laid out down here."

"Is that what they're doing then?" Caitlyn asks curiosity momentarily taking over as she points up to Zax and Dorian.

"Yep, it's a whole lot faster than taking the streets, but I'm not about to make a Piltie roof run with no practice on her first time down here," Gert chuckles but Caitlyn's already watching the younger kids more closely, analyzing their movements and trying to figure out how to replicate them with her longer limbs.

"But it would be faster than walking the streets?" Caitlyn verifies, watching as Gert raises an an eyebrow at her, a large grin slowly overtaking her face as she throws her head back, bellowing out a laugh.

"Well you sure are full of surprises, huh topside?" Gert chuckles, shaking her head. "Alright, we'll give it a go. You did say you're in a rush. Oi Zax! Dorian! Come back down here, topside's gonna try to roof run with us up to the Promenade."

"Really?" Zax asks as they skid to a stop, staring down at them with a grin. Dorian is already a couple of roofs ahead of the pack and drops down onto the street to run back to them.

"Yep," Gert calls back, grinning before turning back to Caitlyn as Dorain bounces up to them with a wide grin of his own plastered on his face. "Alright, since this is your first time and we don't have time for proper lessons if we're getting you back topside before dawn, you're going to follow Zax while we're running, they're the smallest of us and still growing so they've gotta take the easier routes still, so it should be easier for you than following me or Dor."

"I see," Caitlyn nods, once again willing to trust the experts but also happy that there's a faster way to handle this. Jayce truly doesn't have the time for her to lolly gag while trying to figure out where she's going like she's been doing. "Very well, lead the way and I'll follow."

"We're gonna stop by Benzo's on the way up," Gert informs the other two. "We'll check n' see if he's got anything like what our new friend here's looking for before heading over to see Vander."

Caitlyn can't help wondering who this 'Vander' fellow is that everyone keeps mentioning. Clearly someone important, if everyone in the Undercity is familiar with him and people think he might be able to help her. Yet also someone whose name she herself hasn't heard mention of once in all her years involved, even loosely, in her mother's political sphere.

Caitlyn has to suppress an amused huff at the thought. Now wouldn't that be something, Caitlyn being the one to introduce her mother to an important political figure in the city for a change. A bit of a fever dream, but an amusing one to consider nonetheless.

Caitlyn forces herself to focus as they prepared to alight, locking in on following Zax's lead as they start to scale the building next to them, calling instructions to her just loud enough to be heard clearly as they make sure she knows where to grab on the ascent. The next thing she knows they're standing next to each other on the roof of the building and they're sharing a high five while Gert and Dorian applaud, only half teasingly from the rooftop in front of them.

"Not too bad topside," Gert grins over at her and there's a part of Caitlyn that's starting to wonder if this is what hanging out with other kids is meant to feel like, fun and carefree even when the situation is stressful as hell. "Now you've just gotta keep up."

Roof running, as it turns out, is significantly faster than walking on the street even if Caitlyn is still a novice at it... and if she's being entirely honest with herself, it's also significantly more enjoyable to partake in.

They make it back above ground to the Promenade in record time and Caitlyn feels a sting of anxiety rip through her at the realization that it's already almost dark out. The sunlight that's able to force its way through the grey having largely receded while she was below ground.

She really hopes that the two leads she has managed to uncover thus far aren't totally bust... though the Undercity isn't like the other half of Piltover in many ways, one of which being that it never truly slumbers, meaning she'll at least be able to reasonably continue to investigate throughout the night if nothing else.

"Here," Gert says as they come to a stop atop a seemingly random roof, the area around them looking just about the same to her as any other part of the Undercity that Caitlyn had seen thus far. Gert points to one of the building below them, once again there's nothing particularly notable about it other than the fact it's being pointed out to her. "That's Benzo's shop, come on, let's jump down and see if him or Ek-"

The front door suddenly swings open and all three of the others drop to their stomachs in an instant as they all recognize the telltale blue and gold Enforcer uniform stepping out of the shop. Before Caitlyn can think to move, quicker hands reach out to grab her and yank her down with them and just as quickly Caitlyn's grabbing the rifle off of her back.

Just in case.

Another man steps out behind the Enforcer, clearly from the Lanes and upset about whatever's transpiring down on the street level.

"What on-" Caitlyn's whispered words are cut short as her eyes widen, recognizing the next figure to step out of the shop.

Sheriff Grayson. Leading a man out in cuffs, the pair quietly conversing and while she's not able to catch all of it she catches the basics and puts the rest together herself. This man is innocent and he's turning himself in to protect someone from the council...

"Vander?" Gert whispers, stunned next to her and Caitlyn's eyes dart to her and find her eyes locked on the man in cuffs. Vander... as in the one she's supposed to find after this? Gert meets her inquisitive gaze and that's all the confirmation that she needs.

Well hell.

Then several things start to happen all at once.

A figure steps out onto the otherwise empty street in front of the congregation of adults below and everyone except for Sheriff Grayson freezes at the sight of him, including the other Enforcer. Mr. Vander says something that Caitlyn doesn't recognize the shape of and that causes Sheriff Grayson to freeze next to him. Her eyes widening in something that looks a lot like horrified understanding and she's already reaching for the quick release on his cuffs before the other Undercity man starts to shout at the newly revealed figure.

"You animal! Go crawl back into whatever hole you came out of!" Before Caitlyn even has the chance to process his words, the man is laying dead on the ground. A hulking beast in the form of the most deformed human being Caitlyn's ever had the misfortune to bare witness to now standing over his frame. Its fists are dripping with fresh blood as it pulls itself back up to standing. The thing's veins glowing an eerie iridescent purple as it pulls away from the brutalized corpse of the man, its head snapping towards Sheriff Grayson and Mr. Vander.

Above them a multitude of hands rush to clamp over unmoving mouths as Caitlyn, Gert, Zax, and Dorian all rush to make sure that none of the others make a sound. It would be almost comical if they weren't currently witnessing something so horrific play out in front of them.

The purple beast launches itself forward towards Sheriff Grayson, who's trapped between it and Mr. Vander's own hulking form, only for a solid fist to make impact against the thing's face, sending it sprawling backwards long enough for Sheriff Grayson to duck beneath the man's huge arms and out of the way. She draws her service pistol in an instant and Caitlyn watches on in horror, her own finger resting against the trigger of her now unfolded rifle, as Sheriff Grayson unloads a full round into the purple beast's chest, only for it to barely slow it's onslaught as it continues launching itself at her and Mr. Vander like it's been possessed.

Gert's hand comes to rest over the top of her rifle, drawing Caitlyn's attention away long enough for her to shake her head. Don't she mouths and Caitlyn nods in acknowledgement, turning back to the fight just in time to see the beast shove past Mr. Vander and mange to grab a hold of Sheriff Grayson's arm.

From there it was over in an instant.

The purple beast launches her through the window of the shop, barely straining from the effort and Caitlyn clamps a hand over her own mouth to prevent the scream she feels try to rip its way from her throat at the sight of her mentor's lifeless body being flung through the air like a ragdoll.

Mr. Vander looks between Sheriff Grayson and the dead trencher with a snarl before his eyes snap up towards the first man who'd appeared in the street. Completely ignoring the purple beast, dodging beneath it's ruthless swings as he launches himself at the slight man further up the cobblestone. But he's not fast enough, the purple creature is back on him in an instant, grabbing a hold of him by the hair and slamming his head into the tiled path below.

Caitlyn waits, anticipating the moment that the purple beast turns on the last Enforcer and obliterates him as well and is instead shocked to watch as he's completely ignored, the purple beast twisting it's fingers deeper into Mr. Vander's hair and starting to drag him off down the street. The other man walks up to the remaining Enforcer and Caitlyn's breath hitches as he drops a pouch in his hands, patting the stunned man good naturedly on the shoulder before following after the beast a moment later.

Caitlyn's breath hitches at the sight.

He betrayed Sheriff Grayson.

It's the only thing buzzing through Caitlyn's mind watching this all play out. As she watches the other man quickly disappear around the corner with Mr. Vander's lifeless form, leaving the lone Enforcer standing their amongst the carnage wrought by his betrayal. Caitlyn waits for an antagonizingly long time, counts evenly up to thirty before finally shifting to standing, wanting to ensure that any help is to far away as she levels her rifle at the Enforcer below her and orders him to "freeze!"

He immediately drops the coin purse to the ground, golden hexes flying out across the cobblestone as he looks up at her in alarm. Caitlyn's immediately grateful for the Undercity kids reaction times as Gert manages to pull her down and out of the way when the man chooses to pull his own service pistol and fire on her instead of heeding her instructions.

A rather large mistake on his part.

Caitlyn's barely stopped moving for a millisecond before she's lining up a shot of her own and returning fire. His yelp of pain is oddly satisfying as he drops his pistol to the ground, now missing two fingers from where Caitlyn's bullet had torn through both his trigger and middle fingers. He turns and flees and Caitlyn takes one last pot shot at him in the hopes of slowing him down, grinning slightly as the second bullet lodges itself firmly in his shin, causing him to stumble with a shout before disappearing around a corner.

"W-what the hell's happening?" Gert asks, somehow looking even more scared than when they'd first met barely an hour earlier. Caitlyn takes a deep breath, forcibly calming her emotions before speaking. Knowing in her heart that it's now her responsibility to ensure that the kids helping her are safe and at least somewhat secure in that knowledge and to make sure that word of what happened here reaches the proper authorities topside.

"I'm not entirely sure," Caitlyn admits, grinding her teeth together. "Come on, we... we should check on them before making a plan."

Just in case.

The man outside is dead. Caitlyn doesn't really need to check check his vitals to confirm that based on the state of him, but she does so for good measure anyway, offering to do it herself while Gert offers to check on Sheriff Grayson for her, Zax and Dorian having followed behind her numbly while avoiding looking at the man on the ground. A mutual attempt to ease whatever pain they may suffer seeing a familiar face in such a state.

It's still a rather gruesome sight to behold even if the man is unfamiliar to her and Caitlyn's not sure if it's made better or worse by her having seen the attack take place.

Knowing what he'd looked like before... this.

"Caitlyn! She's still alive in here!" Caitlyn jumps at the unexpected noise, so engrossed in trying to process her feelings about the brutal scene surrounding her that it takes her several seconds to fully process the words being shouted to her. She jerks away from the man's mutilated body as if struck from a trance, leaping to her feet and rushing inside.

Gert's kneeling beside Sheriff Grayson's body, her apparently alive body and Caitlyn skids across the bloodstained floor to her side. Unable to bring herself to care about the blood, the sheriff's blood, that's soaking through the knees of her pants because she's alive and that's truly all that matters right now.

"Look around for anything that can be used as bandages. Are any of you familiar with how to make a splint?" Dorian raises his hand, him and Zax having tucked themselves behind the counter but watching them both with wide eyes. "Okay, can you find me a couple of appropriately sized implements to immobilize her leg with? Anything we can use to keep the bone in place once I've finished resetting it."

"Wait, do you know how to reset a bone?" Gert asks, not exactly looking wary, but perhaps a bit apprehensive at the thought. Probably scared of getting in trouble if this goes poorly.

"My father's a doctor," Caitlyn admits, her voice coming out more clipped than she'd have liked due to how focused she is on the task in front of her. "He thought it important that I was at least familiar with first aid, so I've had extensive training... he told me that he's seen far too many preventable disasters in his career because there wasn't a train first responder 'round to help and he wasn't about to have me be the ignorant one in these sort of situations... said it would hurt his reputation," she manages to at least earn a few giggles from the younger kids and an amused shake of her head out of Gert which Caitlyn takes as the small victory it is.

"Fair enough," Gert chuckles, getting up and helping Zax look for bandages, though halfway through she instead finds a bottle of some type of hard liquor (Caitlyn's not entirely sure what it is, which is genuinely impressive given her education even at her age) and passes it to Caitlyn, who uses it to disinfect what she can find of Sheriff Grayson's injuries before wrapping them with the clean bedsheets they tear apart to form some makeshift bandages.

It takes them several minutes of work but they manage to get everything they can patched up except for her leg. Preventing her from bleeding out any further if nothing else. "Okay," Caitlyn says softly. "This is going to be the hard part. I'm going to need the three of you to help hold her down while I reset this, thankfully it's not too bad so we should be able do it in the field without any specialty equipment. If she's not out, out however the pain will surely wake her. Dax, would you mind if I borrow that belt of yours? We need something to put in her mouth for her to bite down on so she doesn't accidentally take her tongue off."

Dax nods as she's speaking already tugging the worn leather free from around their waist before she's started the explanation for why she needs it, holding it out to her with a slightly nervous grin as she takes it, grinning back at them reassuringly.

"I can handle her arms, you two just keep her from kicking, okay?" Gert tells the younger two kids, who nod along, clearly putting their full trust in the ancient, wizened teenagers that are currently leading them. Caitlyn hands the belt off to Gert, who pries Sheriff Grayson's mouth open just far enough to slip the leather belt between her teeth before they take their positions around her.

"Is everyone ready?" Caitlyn asks softly, waiting until there are nods across the board before continuing. "Okay then, on three. One. Two. Three."

Caitlyn breathes out as she carefully snaps Sheriff Grayson's leg back into place and she's not sure if it's relief or hurt that floods her at the sound of the sheriff's cry of pain as she's suddenly forced awake. "Easy, easy," Caitlyn calls, hoping Sheriff Grayson will be able to recognize her voice through the pain. "Your leg's broken, I've had to reset it, but you're okay now."

The leather's spat from between Sheriff Grayson's lips a moment later, her unfocused eyes darting around trying to take in her surroundings as she settles. "Caitlyn?" She gasps lightly, her already thick accent coming out even heavier given her current state.

"Yes, it's me sheriff, I'm right here," Caitlyn reassures her. "You and my mother can scold me later," she adds, huffing out a sigh of relief and resting back on her haunches to watch with wide, alert eyes as Gert and Dorian jump up, the latter helping ease Sheriff Grayson up into a sitting position facing her.

"I need to get back to the Hall of Law, I... I have to get Enforcers down here to go after him," Sheriff Grayson hisses as she tries to force herself to stand up and Gert does what Caitlyn's leaping forward to do, holding her down by the shoulders and keeping her from possibly injuring herself further trying to stand prematurely.

"You aren't going anywhere until I've finished splinting this, you won't be able to walk otherwise," Caitlyn knows that Sheriff Grayson should know this and notes to herself that she likely has a concussion from being thrown around while she starts quickly building the splint from the gathered supplies so they can at least get out of the immediate area. "And we're not going to get the Enforcers involved right now," Caitlyn states firmly, earning her a confused raising of the eyebrow from her sheriff.

"Wh-"

"Because there are several of them still down here ignoring orders trying to stir up tensions... and the one that was with you was being paid off by the man who attacked you," Caitlyn informs her, watches as Sheriff Grayson goes still, her eyes sharpening in spite of the pain and concussion as she looks at Caitlyn with an expression stuck somewhere between shock and fury. "We saw him accept money from the man who ordered the attack on you, presumably in return for delivering you and that man your were arresting to him."

"Vander," Sheriff Grayson whispers his name like she hadn't meant to breathe life into the word, her eyes swimming with emotion as she glances at the door. Caitlyn's head tilts to the side, curious. This wasn't a stranger, they knew each other. And clearly she cares a great deal if her first response upon waking was to try to go after him... which makes the fact she was arresting him prior to the attack even more confusing in Caitlyn's mind. "W-we need to get to The Last Drop."

That place again.

"The establishment that the gentleman who was kidnapped owns?" Sheriff Grayson gives her a look that makes her think that's not something she'd be expected to know about, but then the sheriff's eyes shift between her and the three Undercity kids with her and she sighs lightly. Clearly having put together by now that Caitlyn's not exactly down here for a casual evening stroll.

"Yes," Sheriff Grayson nods slightly. "Help me up, we can walk and talk at the same time... Vander's likely running out of it as we speak, given who has him."

Caitlyn nods, secretly glad that there's now an awake, if not likely concussed, adult here to listen to and she jumps over to Sheriff Grayson's other side. Her and Gert both getting one of the sheriff's arms slung over their shoulders so they can help pull her up onto her feet.

"You know the man who was responsible for this?" Caitlyn asks, putting the sheriff's words together in her mind as the group of them begin to stumble back outside and into the bloodied streets. Sheriff Grayson's lips curl back at the sight and Caitlyn can read the weight of failure well on the other woman's face.

"Yes," Sheriff Grayson says after a moment, looking a little winded just from standing up and walking outside. "Silco. I've never come face-to-face with the man previously myself, but Vander's warned me about him," Sheriff Grayson pauses, like she's trying to decide if she should fill Caitlyn in on something important. "I'll go over the details with you later, if you so desire, for now we should focus out efforts on trying to get somewhere safer than out on the streets... especially if we know there isn't going to be any aid coming to us from across the river."

Caitlyn chews on her lip, an idea sparking to life in her mind at the sheriff's words, but one she's unsure she's willing to entertain. That is until she looks back at Zax and Dorian's scared but chiseled into brave faces, and that all but makes the decision for her. "Actually, I have a plan," she pulls them to a stop and waits to back away from Sheriff Grayson until she's sure that Gert has a hold of her, taking a step forward and kneeling down in front of the younger kids. "Okay... here's what I need you both to do."

Zax and Dorian dash off minutes later, their mission in hand and Caitlyn's right hand now a little lighter. She reclaims her spot on Sheriff Grayson's right side and after checking to make sure that she's ready to start moving again they once again begin the long, slow trudge up towards The Last Drop, where they'll hopefully, gods willing, find some type of help.

She can't sit still.

How.

How could she sit still?

Knowing that.

Knowing that Vi is out there risking her life to save Vander.

She's only got Mylo and Claggor.

The brutes, all of them.

She loves them. She loves her.

Why did she leave me?

Powder knows she was told to stay... but! She can help! She has the exploding gems now, her monkey bombs will work.

They'll finally see.

She can help.

She can help!

I can help!

Powder leaves the house quick and quiet as a mouse.

No one will suspect a thing.

No one will...

People.

It's strange. They're strange.

It takes she a second to recognize them. Vi and Ekko's earlier warnings echoing through her ears.

The gasped out explanation of what happened to Benzo.

What happened to Vander.

There are a couple of Pilties looking for them.

Including the sheriff that was trying to arrest Vi.

Who did arrest Vander.

Can't trust them.

Gotta run.

Gotta find Vi.

I have to protect her.

Cornelia is, overall, not having the greatest day of her life.

To put it mildly.

Being slung between two teenagers and getting dragged around the Undercity while half dead should be the low point of the day, but that is sadly the most relieving thing to happen so far.

Not that she'd ever be willing to admit to any living soul that she'd been relieved to hear Caitlyn's voice upon waking. But especially after learning of Marcus' betrayal, she can't help feeling a little better knowing there's at least a skilled riflewoman, who's loyalties aren't hanging in the balance, standing by her side while they're trying to sort through this mess of a situation. Through the wake of the brutality that's being inflicted on the city they all call home.

She just hopes that Caitlyn's plan works and that they're able to find Vander before Silco does the unthinkable to him. But even with that thought encompassing every corner of her mind, she can't help also thinking about how she can spin this to protect the kids.

His kids.

Because while Vander's morals might have kept him from throwing one of his own people under the bus, something she secretly deeply respects him for even though it's making protecting his family nigh impossible... well, Silco's no longer one of his people. And Marcus is one of hers and unlike Vander, she has absolutely zero qualms about throwing the book at a traitor, especially not to help protect Vander's family of all the people in Piltover.

If she can just figure out how to spin this whole situation as Silco trying to target Vander. If she can convince everyone that he'd had Marcus create a fake trail of some variety to target them. Then she might be able to end this situation with tensions even lower than they were when this mess all started and with Vander and his kids all safe and walking free.

She just doesn't have the mental fortitude needed at the moment to figure out how to spin that story together. She's certain that once her mind stops spinning she'll be able to figure it out. She knows that the pieces are all there, waiting for her. She just can't concentrate well enough through her concussion to piece them all together properly right this moment.

Thankfully, Caitlyn ends up beating her too it. Thankfully, the girl's always been a little too perceptive when it comes to these things.

Or at least, that's what the rumors flitting around high society says topside. How she's always a little off during their galas and other such functions. A little to sharp and a little to pointed in her observations. Cornelia thinks she'd make a fine investigator, if she could ever convince her to join up without Councilor Kiramman losing her mind with worry, that is. "You'd mentioned that you had more information about this Silco character, what can you tell us about him? I've picked up enough about this Vander fellow you were working with to tell he's a prominent political figure down here. Is that why he's being targeted?"

"Well," Cornelia starts carefully, not wanting to say something entirely untrue or that she won't be able to take back, but knowing it's also not fair to leave the two young woman helping her completely in the dark. "I can't say for certain when it comes to his motives why he'd target Vander and his family, but they were close once before Vander exiled him to... well we'd assumed out of Piltover, but it seems based on recent happenings that he'd simply gone to ground."

"Vander exiled him?" The girl with Caitlyn, Gert, Cornelia remembers after taking a moment to scour her fuzzy memory, asks her with a slight frown.

"Yes, with my authorization on the legal end," feeling the pair of curious eyes on her, she continues without pausing, even when both of her companions start from her words. "Silco was the one responsible for the riots on the bridge seven years ago during the protests by the miners in the Undercity. He was the one who instigated the violence that turned said  peaceful protests into something sinister and left so many innocent people dead in the aftermath."

There's a moment of silence while they take this information in, the only sound three pairs of awkwardly shuffling feet as they continue to push forward down the street.

"Do you mean to tell me," Caitlyn hums, her eyes darting back and forth in front of her, like she's looking over the facts that Cornelia has put in front of her and organizing them into the puzzle Cornelia hadn't finished putting together herself. "That this individual has now weaponized the Enforcers for a second time in less than a decade in order to cause harm to the people here in the Undercity?"

"...yes," Cornelia realizes that this plan might actually work better than she had thought, and though a part of her feels bad leading Caitlyn somewhat astray on the matter, she knows it's what's going to be best for the city's stability in the long run. "And the man that was with me was my deputy sheriff, Marcus... he was also the Enforcer on the scene of the explosion in Mr. Talis' lab who was responsible for giving us the descriptions of the children responsible for the destruction of said lab."

The pieces start sliding into place properly then, she can see it on Caitlyn's face. An expression she shares with many an investigator that Cornelia's known and worked with in her decades of working on the force.

"This Silco has personal history with you friend, correct?" Caitlyn asks and Cornelia has to stop herself from physically reacting to the word 'friend' before sighing and nodding. It not as though pretending she doesn't care for Vander is going to help either of them out here, not with Caitlyn of all people asking her.

"Yes, as I said they were close before the incident on the bridge. I don't know all the details myself, Vander never really wanted to speak on it, but I know they fought in the aftermath and Vander won. He forced Silco into exile, or rather into hiding I suppose, and he and I have been working to keep things from getting any worse between the two halves of the city ever since."

Caitlyn clicks her tongue, her eyes glazed over as she stares off into the distance.

"So there's a random attack topside where the reporting officer just so happens to be on the payroll of a known criminal element in the Undercity," Cornelia gets the feeling Caitlyn's not speaking to either of them in particular as they walk, rather working the things out in her head aloud. Cornelia keeps quiet as she watches Caitlyn put together the pieces that have been handed her until they form the full and vibrant picture Cornelia had just been trying to figure out how to form herself. "Who happens to point to the offspring of a gentleman in the Undercity as the culprit who just so happens to have a history with said criminal element?"

"Yes, those do appear to be the facts we're working with at the moment," Cornelia confirms at Caitlyn's questioning gaze.

"Which in turn allowed him to have Enforcers sent after his family, circumventing any protection either you or his status in the Undercity would have otherwise afforded him," Caitlyn surmises just as the familiar visage of The Last Drop finally comes into view further down the street. Cornelia lets out a relieved sigh at the sight in spite of herself before responding.

"I wish my detectives were half as good at evidence review as you," Cornelia squeezes her around the shoulders, feeling Caitlyn stand a little straighter at the praise, the girl barely concealing a smile. "The Last Drop's just ahead, hopefully Vander's kids are still here and not hiding out elsewhere in the Undercity, given the current situation."

They really don't have the time or resources to go looking for them at this point.

But damn it she can't let anything happen to them either.

Luck, fate, whatever it may be clearly isn't on her side as it seems. The Last Drop is entirely abandoned when the trio of them stumble inside, the usual patrons she's used to seeing scattered amongst the tables long gone. There are no warm greetings from behind the bar or kind, mischievous eyes following her through the establishment as she makes her way towards the main counter to speak with the proprietor.

It feels viscerally... wrong, not having Vander there.

Gert checks the downstairs while Caitlyn helps to situate her at the bar, and returns with her frown even deeper than before as she shakes her head at Cornelia's silent question. "Damn it," she hisses as Caitlyn moves around behind the counter and starts digging through the contents of the bar. "Would you mind doing a sweep outside? We want to make sure no one followed us up, we aren't exactly able to be inconspicuous like this."

"Yeah, sure thing," Gert gives them both a tight grin, worry lining her expression as she nods. "I'll be right back."

She steps outside a moment later, leaving Cornelia and Caitlyn alone and Cornelia finally allows herself to sink into the fog of exhaustion blanketing her entire being just a little bit more. The bone deep ache and the spinning in her mind that she's otherwise been trying to ignore overtaking her for a moment. She has to push through though this, at least until she can find everyone she needs to and get them all to safety, but for the moment she can at least allow herself to feel at ease in Vander's home.

Caitlyn glances at her over the counter, her eyes narrowing. "How bad is it?"

"I wish I could honestly tell you that I've experienced worse, but I think this might actually be it," Cornelia admits. It's easier somehow, something about the young Kiramman heir's presence allowing her to claim the moments of weakness as they come.

"May I ask..." Caitlyn bites her her lip grabbing what appears to be a first aid kit from under the counter and spinning back around the bar to hop up next to Cornelia so she can retend to her injuries with proper equipment. "How close are you and this man? Mr. Vander?"

Caitlyn's doing an impressive job at keeping her expression impassive as she disinfects and re-bandages the large gash across her forehead, but her eyes are alight with curiosity as she works.

"As close as we can be," Cornelia's not intentionally trying to act mysterious about it. It's largely just the simple truth of the matter. They both have duties that makes even the bare bones friendship they've maintained over the years tumultuous at best, but the care's there, regardless. "Given the positions we hold."

Caitlyn nods, the Kiramman heir clearly not needing to have someone explain the concept of duty to her. "I understand."

And so does Cornelia.

It just doesn't make it any easier given the situation they're currently in.

You had better hold on.

We're coming, Vander.

Cassandra was already having a particularly horrible day before things went to hell.

Between the ongoing manhunt for the individuals responsible for the explosion in the Academy, Jayce being summarily exiled from Piltover, and having to comfort her now heartbroken heir, things shouldn't have been able to get any worse for her or her house.

And then Jayce had sent word, though he hadn't been able to do so until one of the guards had brought him his dinner several hours too late to do anything, that Caitlyn had somehow gotten it into her mind that she could get the council to change their minds if she somehow went down to the Undercity and retrieved some of the items that had been stolen from the lab and turned them in to the authorities. She's still been unable to track her logic, but she supposes that's what she gets for expecting any manner of logic or reasoning out of a panicking teenager.

She should have known that Caitlyn wasn't going to simply this verdict lying down.

Cassandra's already starting to regret not simply packing up the pair of them and shipping them off to Ionia to stay with Tobias' family as soon as the council's decision had been reached. Then at the very least she'd know that Caitlyn was safe in that case.

And probably happier, all things considered.

Under normal circumstances, Cassandra would have a number of options at her disposal to bring her distraught, wayward daughter safely home. But as it stands Sheriff Grayson and her deputy sheriff are both currently missing in action during a crisis and the Enforcers are naturally in total disarray as a result. Making matters worse, tensions with the Undercity are presently so high that simply taking a team, even House Kiramman's private security team, down there herself might very well lead to the type of rioting that she currently fears and can't risk having Caitlyn get caught in the middle of.

She feels trapped, and Cassandra absolutely loathes feeling trapped.

Captain Taryk, the head of House Kiramman's private security company, stands in the room with her and Tobias, the three of them pouring over numerous maps of the Undercity while trying to make a plan to find and extract Caitlyn before anything unthinkable happens to her deep within the bowels of the city beneath them.

"I actually have an ongoing project that could provide us with entry in and out of the Undercity discreetly," Cassandra counters the captain's most recent point, more than understanding his concern about just marching a small private army down onto the Promenade. The bald, heavily tattooed man raises a questioning eyebrow. "It's a simple ventilation system, not yet completed but there are a number access points all throughout the Undercity we could use which would allow us some amount of discretion."

Before either of the men in the room can respond, however, there's a gentle knock on the door and the soft, melodic voice of their butler, Meredith, drifts into the room. "Forgive the intrusion, ma'am, but there are a couple of individuals here wishing to speak with you, they claim to have some information about Miss Caitlyn, but they are only willing to speak to you directly on the matter."

Cassandra straightens up hearing that, "excuse me, gentlemen," she doesn't say anything more but both Tobias and Captain Taryk shuffle out of the office behind her. Meredith gives the three of them a short bow before turning and falling into step beside Cassandra as they begin trekking through the mansion back towards the lounge. "Did you get the impression they actually have information or are they simply fishing for a reward?"

"Unforunately, ma'am," Meredith swallows hard. "They wouldn't really speak to me much on the matter, aside from asking for you... but they were speaking to one another as if they'd been sent to you by Miss Caitlyn rather than simply having information on her whereabouts."

Before Cassandra can fully finish processing that information, she finds herself standing at the entrance to the lounge, where there are two very small kids happily eating their way through the platter of sandwiches that's been left for them on the table. The older one notices her first, freezing for a moment before shouldering the younger one and then they're both looking at her, frozen like a pair of deer caught in her sights.

"Hello, my name is Cassandra Kiramman. I was told you have information about my missing daughter?" The kids share a glance before the younger of the two speaks up.

"Do you have your uh... sigil ring?"

It takes Cassandra half a moment to piece together that they meant signet ring.

"Yes, of course I do."

There's a beat where none of them move aside from breathing, Cassandra still trying to figure out what these kid's angle is when the older one speaks up. "Uh... can we see it? Topside said it was really important not to speak to anyone but her ma about this and she said only her mom and pop would have one."

It's years of diplomatic experience that keeps her reactions held inside, the mixture of relief, worry, and frustration threatening to explode as she schools her expression into something more inviting but kept ever neutral.

If these kids have any information at all about what's happening with Caitlyn, she needs them to tell her.

So she crosses the room and allows the two kids to inspect the ring currently adorning her right ring finger, where it's rested since she was first gifted it by her own mother on her fifth nameday, many, many years ago. The younger one nods upon inspecting it and the pair exchange a look that very nearly had Cassandra demanding they cough up whatever information they claim to have. But before she can the younger one holds out their hand, their palm up and open and Cassandra freezes at the sight.

Because laying in the center of their tiny hand is Caitlyn's ring. Something that no member of the family would ever willing part with outside of a serious emergency.

"Okay," Cassandra nods, suddenly unable to do anything beside taking the pair beyond seriously now. "Who are you and what exactly can you tell me about my daughter's current situation?"

The older one speaks up first. "I'm Dorian and this is my younger sibling, Zax. We were getting attacked by a couple of Enforcers when..."

And then the pair fill her in, Captain Taryk disappearing the moment the kids get to the part about the ongoing Enforcer coup and the sheriff's current state while Tobias trembles, clinging to her arm. His face pale and twisted with a fear that she so desperately wishes she could purge from him, but isn't even able to control within herself.

Good gods, what has Caitlyn gotten herself into this time?

Nothing has changed by the time she's finished applying the proper clean dressings to Sheriff Grayson's wounds. Gert returns with confirmation they don't seem to have picked up a tail and that at least allows some of the tension to drain from the haggard sheriff's shoulders. The older woman looking more and more like she's going to collapse the longer that they spend waiting around trying to figure out what to do.

Only they have nowhere to start.

Mr. Vander was taken to places unknown and his children are currently missing in action... and Sheriff Grayson's just now informing her that Mr. Vander's second in command was the man who was killed outside of the shop, Benzo, Caitlyn finally puts together, so that's another avenue that's currently unavailable to them.

"Okay, so we're not going to be able to do anything from down here then," Caitlyn sighs, rubbing at her temple to ward off the headache that's threatening to form. "We should try to make our way back topside then, we'll need more people to try and search the entire underground and you, frankly, need to be seen by a proper doctor."

Sheriff Grayson gives her a small, almost amused smile but nods slightly in agreement. "I suppose I can hardly argue that, considering I still need your help to walk."

Thankfully, with Sheriff Grayson's leg now properly secured Caitlyn's able to handle helping her walk on her own, which in turn frees Gert to climb up onto the rooftops to act as a lookout for them while they slowly trudge their way though the winding streets towards the bridge to take them back across the river.

She really hopes that her mother listens to Dorian and Zax. She'd known it was a risk, allowing someone to run off with one of her family's signet rings, but it was the only way she could think to impress upon her mother the severity of the situation that they are currently facing as a city as a whole in this moment.

Because as much as she hates to admit it, this situation has turned out to be significantly larger than simply Jayce and his freedom. She owes it to her people to put her personal feelings and issues aside to try to help keep them safe. Even if all she can really do is make sure that Sheriff Grayson safely gets back topside so she can handle the mess of a conspiracy that they've uncovered over the last few hours.

The closer they get to the river the shorter the buildings get and the further across they're spaced and eventually Gert ends up joining them back down on the street again. Shortly thereafter Caitlyn is able to just make out the sounds of waves lapping against the shoreline in the distance, the River Pilt beating rhythmically against the rocky shoreline, the sound as familiar on this side of the river as it is where she's lived her entire life.

Some things she supposes are the same on both sides.

The night's almost eerily quiet otherwise, or maybe after all the revelations the night's wrought it simply feels too quiet. Her mind abuzz with everything she's seen and heard and felt over the last twelve-ish hours contrasting harshly with the night holding its breath in suspense around them.

It's like standing at-

An explosion rocks the ground beneath her feet and Caitlyn nearly pitches over from the force of it but just barely manages to stay upright. Gert jumps over to Sheriff Grayson's other side and manages to prevent her from toppling over on her injured leg, her balance far better than either of theirs. Caitlyn's eyes immediately snap to the right, instantly locking onto where the sound had originated from and watching as an entire warehouse abruptly erupts into flames.

The blue lightning that's streaking the through the flames are achingly familiar and Caitlyn's stomach lurches with the realization there's no way any of the hextech crystals would have survived an explosion that size, it would take all of the remaining ones and some additional explosive ordinance to simply blow up a building of that size.

"Vander," Sheriff Grayson breathes under her breath as they stare at aftermath, flames leaping high in the air as secondary and tertiary explosions rock the dockside beneath them. It's only then that Caitlyn connects the missing hextech crystals to the man that took Sheriff Grayson's friend, and she desperately hopes that his kids weren't on the scene as well. For Sheriff Grayson's sake if nothing else.

"Gert," Caitlyn says firmly. "I need you to get Sheriff Grayson back topside to organize our response and receive medical care. I'll go investigate th-"

"Absolutely not," Sheriff Grayson shakes her head adamantly in spite of the dazed expression that's been affixed to her face since leaving The Last Drop. "Caitlyn, you know I can't simply allow you to go off and investigate a crime scene on your own. What would your mother say?"

Caitlyn, frankly, doesn't particularly care what her mother would say right now, but hums in acknowledgement. They don't have time to argue the point, not if they're going to make it there in time to help anyone who might have survived the blast. "Okay, Gert you go topside to inform my mother where we are headed, I'll take the sheriff and we'll check and see if there are any survivors and bring them back to the estate should we find any," Sheriff Grayson looks as though she's going to continue to protest, so Caitlyn presses onward. "I'm going either way, I'm the only one of us who's armed and you're not in any condition to be trying to play at heroics right now."

"...you really are your mother's daughter," Sheriff Grayson chuckles under her breath, clearly fond beneath the exasperation. "Very well, let's make this quick."

Gert claps her on the shoulder good naturedly and gives Sheriff Grayson a quick nod before darting off in the direction of the bridge. Caitlyn watches her go for a moment before she reorients herself, pulling Sheriff Grayson's arm more securely around shoulders as she begins to quickly trudge her way in the direction of the explosion. Sheriff Grayson moving at an almost a normal pace with her assistance as she grits her teeth and powers through the pain so they can keep moving as quickly as possible to where Vander was (hopefully) taken.

They have a tragedy to witness.

Things aren't exactly going well per se, but at least they're surviving.

And sometimes, a lot of the time, that's the best you can hope for in the Lanes.

But she's held off the worst of... who ever the fuck this skinny punk is that Sevika's apparently taking orders from now's new goons. People she recognizes, people she'd once thought were like her family, because that's how it's supposed to be down here. The enemy is supposed to be topside and the damned Enforcers and yet here she is. Stuck fighting against her own people all while desperately trying to protect her actual family from their bloodlust.

Then things start to fall apart.

Or well... they start to fall apart even more.

She can barely recognize the boy that she and the other's had fought off mere days earlier as he steps out onto the steel bridge. Is only able to truly piece it together in her mind in the aftermath with how deformed he's become. The monstrous form he's taken under the murderous toothpick's orders.

Whatever it was that was done to him, he doesn't seem human anymore. The strength now rippling through him enough to send even the most skilled fighters flying. Not even taking a lick of a hit of his own in the process.

In the end the only choice she has is to retreat.

But it's fine. More than fine, really. Mylo's nearly done freeing Vander, only his right arm is still secured to the chair and he's giving her a small, reassuring smile as she holds the door shut, bracing her body weight against it to give them whatever extra seconds she can. Further behind them, Claggor's nearly finished bashing a hole through the back wall.

As soon as Vander's free, they'll all be free.

Even if monster blondie follows them, once they're back in the Lanes proper they'll be able to call for back up. There'll be a million and one ways to get out of this mess. Hell, between the four of them they might even be able to take him on by themselves if he chases them down into the Undercity without backup from Sevika's men.

The iron band around Vander's wrist comes loose a moment later and something in Vi's chest loosens with it. Relief floods her, just knowing he's now able to join the fight with her more than enough to make Vi feel safe in spite of their current circumstances.

And then the world shatters around her.

The building collapses around them as an explosion unlike any she's ever witnessed, much less lived through, rips straight through the structure and dumps a metric ton of rubble directly on their heads. Vi feels something crunch and splinter in her shoulder and nearly unbearable pain radiates from the injury throughout her entire body. She can barely think through the pain as she desperately tries to take in her now upended surroundings.

She's barely able to make out Vander's massive frame charging out into the fray through the haze of hurt encompassing her body. Vander now facing off against the blonde boy in her stead, protecting her and the boys until they can get themselves pulled from the rubble to help him.

The boys.

Vi instantly wishes she hadn't looked for them. The sight of their broaken, mangled forms buried beneath stone and wood and ash drawing a strangled sob from deep within her soul.

No, no, no.

More burning, more pain.

The blonde boy in his monstrous state pushes into the room while she's distracted, Vander gone and hope gone along with him only to reappear again moments later. Vander, now glowing an deformed himself, his veins lit with the same horrible purple glow as blondie and then he's dead. The boy smashed to a pulp under Vander's fists just as easily as a man could squash an ant into the dirt.

SILCO!

The word, which she's later informed is the toothpick's name, rips from Vander's throat. Whatever he's taken having clearly effected his mental state as she watches on in horror while he seems to struggles against the urges caused by whatever he did to allow himself to defeat the deformed teen laying on the ground at his feet.

Another explosion rocks the foundation of the building, the flames leaping higher and higher around her and it's all Vi can try to do trying to take air into her lungs instead of smoke. Vi realizes with horrifc clarity that she's probably about to die along with the boys and sends a quiet apology to Powder for accidentally abandoning her as well...

And then Vander's there one again, his bulging arms ripping away the beam pinning her to the floor and dragging her up into them in a single movement. She can breathe again, choked, gasped half sobs as her broken body jostles when they hit the street below. Vander using his own body to shield her from the worst of the impact and no, no, please no.

There's nothing to do. Nothing she can do but sob quietly into his chest as she hears and feels Vander draw his last breath. His final words lingering in the air around her as she screams her despair into the night sky.

He's gone. Vander's gone. Mylo and Claggor are gone too. Hell, even Benzo's gone now.

And then the other shoe drops.

Powder's here.

Powder's here because Powder didn't listen. Didn't stay home where she was supposed to and now everyone's dead because she blew up the building. Powder blew up the building and killed their entire family for the second time. Because she didn't. Fucking. Listen.

Vi's hit her before she has time to think about the action. It's not even technically all that hard considering what Vi is capable of doing with her fists, but between it and the venom that hisses from between her teeth it's enough to snap her out of it. She can't be here. She's going to have to handle Powder now, she's all the kid's got left in the world but she can't be trusted with her. Not right now. Not until she's gotten her emotions back in check. Until she can figure out what the hell she does from here.

So she walks away. Ignores Powder's pleas as she stumbles away and into an alleyway nearby where she finally collapses into an overwhelmed heap against the cold cobblestone streets below. Curling in on herself and breaking down sobbing as the weight of the night's events threat to crush her beneath them just as much as the collapsing warehouse had only minutes earlier.

She doesn't know what to do.

She's finally pulled out of her thoughts a few seconds later by the sound of off-tempo footsteps approaching her. They're from behind her, however, instead of from the direction of the fire and Vi's not sure what exactly she's expecting to find. But the last thing she'd have ever expected when she looks up is coming face-to-face with the Sheriff of Piltover herself, who's hobbling slowly down the alleyway towards her with the help of a dark haired topsider girl that looks around Vi's age.

Guarded grey meets horrified blue for the first time as the pair take in the sight of her and the carnage that's surrounding them and then the sheriff finally speaks, her gravelly voice far softer than Vi would have expected out of her, especially given the situation.

"Where's Vander?" The sheriff sounds weary and exhausted and looks about the same. Vi's never thought she'd feel anything positive towards an Enforcer, much less one that had tried to arrest her only a couple of hours earlier, but some part of her can't help the small kernel of warmth that extents to the woman hearing that. The heart wrenching realization that she's come this far in her banged up state just to try to help him.

She can also tell that the expression on her own face is all the answer the other woman needs as her face crumples slightly, trying and failing to hide how much that information hurts her. Her tone echoing the heartbreak that Vi's currently struggling under the weight of as she stumbles half a step towards her.

"We're too late."

Caitlyn had figured as much based on the pink haired girl's expression, but hearing the words directly from Sheriff Grayson's lips makes Caitlyn's knees start to go weak. They... they can't be too late. Caitlyn remembers seeing him, the figure of a man who had seemed so much larger than life as he'd protected Sheriff Grayson out there on the streets only hours earlier.

The girl, who Caitlyn surmises must be Vander's eldest based off the rough descriptions she has of them and Sheriff Grayson's earlier question, looks overwhelmed and heart achingly mistrustful of them. She can hardly blame her, all things considered, and when she flinches away from Sheriff Grayson when they hobble over to her she can see something in the sheriff's expression break as well.

Sheriff Grayson drops to the ground next to the pick haired girl, fully ignoring her own injuries in order to start trying to tend to the younger girl's. Said girl flinches slightly at the movement, but doesn't try to push the sheriff away when the older woman gently pokes at her shoulder, which even to Caitlyn's barely trained eye has clearly been badly damaged. Caitlyn glaces up and over at the now blazing warehouse, looking for any further clues as to what may have happened here... and perhaps secretly hoping that she might find some remnants of the hextech crystals to show for her efforts.

Only instead her blood runs cold as her gaze catches against a figure in the distance and she instantly recognizes the figure of the man lingering in front of the warehouse, her blood running cold. Silco's standing there, hunched over another young, crying girl with a dagger drawn and Caitlyn's already started shouting a warning before she can consciously think the action through. Clumsy, suddenly shaking fingers dart behind her back beneath her cloak, reaching for the rifle that's slung across it. She's only just managed to unfold it and is in the process of lining up the shot through the sights when the older of the sisters, hearing Caitlyn's warning, suddenly leaps up onto her feet next to her. Her movement jostling Caitlyn's arm out of place as she suddenly throws herself forward towards the armed and dangerous man standing over her sister and all at once everything happening around Caitlyn seems to slow to a crawl and happen all at once simultaneously.

A one-armed woman with dark skin and hair appears out of the fire like a specter of death, intercepting the older sibling before she can get more than half way there and grappling her into what would probably constitute as a fairly solid headlock if she hadn't clearly just lost her arm in the explosion. At the same time the younger girl looks back and, upon seeing the man towering over her prone form with the clear intent to kill, screams and desperately tries to dart away from him, only for Silco to reach out and snatch her up by the back of her shirt and drag her back towards him before she can. The older man is clearly struggling to maintain his grip on the blue haired girl while she tries to kick and bite and claw and scratch at him, desperate to get away to safety. The animalistic instinct to simply survive having taken over all higher reasoning in that instant.

And Caitlyn...

Caitlyn freezes.

Her eyes dart between the two girls in slow motion as she levels her rifle towards the figures attacking them, but she just can't bring herself to pull the trigger and shoot.

There's just too much movement in front of her, too many innocent people standing between her and the man she needs to lay low in order to stop him.

She can't take the shot.

How could she possibly take that shot? How could she, knowing that missing could hurt, could kill someone innocent? Could turn an already bad situation even worse and how can she even try to trust herself to make that shot. She's frozen in fear, realizing that she can't trust her own stellar marksman skills when she needs them most, but truly however could she?

The case of marksmanship trophies in her room were all bought. The medals and ribbons paid for by her mother because she doesn't trust that Caitlyn could make those shots.

Shots that were far, far easier in comparison to the one she desperately needs to make now in this moment.

Those being a single target with nothing, with no one, standing between her and it to concern herself with.

So how in the world can she...

And then it's over. Before she can try to think further, try to plan beyond this horrific moment in time, time resumes around her and a pair of piercing screams echo through the night as the dagger strikes home. Sinking deep into the ribcage of the younger girl, who screams in pain while her sister screams in anguish in front of her. A heart wrenching sound that will haunt Caitlyn for the rest of her natural life and she watches the smaller girl's body drop lifelessly to the ground at her killer's feet.

Dead in an instant.

Caitlyn's still frozen in shock and doesn't even try to put up a fight when Sheriff Grayson yanks the rifle out of her hands a second later in order to start firing shots in the direction of the woman currently grappling with the elder sibling. The older girl, who is sent flying into a fury half a second later as she fully registers what's happened, tries and actually manages to succeed in shoving the other woman back and away from them when one of Sheriff Grayson's shots land home.

She glances back at Caitlyn and Sheriff Grayson for a moment, her eyes wide and wild illuminated by the fire still raging next to them, her gaze lingers on Caitlyn before she winces slightly as she rolls her shoulder and takes up a fighting stance in front of the pair of them. Caitlyn's breath hitches and starts coming in faster as more and more individuals continue stumbling out of the destroyed factory and into the streets around them, escaping one by one from the ever burning warehouse.

It only takes a single look at the rigid posture of the girl in front of her for Caitlyn to feel absolutely certain that not a single one of them are going to be on their side if this turns into a scuffle.

Which it probably will considering how the night's going.

This is... this is really bad.

"Well now, this has certainly gotten a bit... messier than planned, but I suppose it's all worked out in the end," Silco clicks his tongue with a frown, his mismatched eyes trained directly on Sheriff Grayson as he speaks. "Finish them off, we certainly can't afford to have word of what's happened here tonight spreading back across the river and I don't want any loose ends getting in the way."

Almost instantly when he's done speaking, a couple of the men start approaching the girl standing in front of her, though Caitlyn notes there's an obvious weariness in them. Notes how they've already clearly been brutalized by someone and if their skittish behavior is anything to go off of, she's willing to bet that the girl in front of her was the one responsible.

She'll have the wherewithal to feel impressed later.

She's already reaching for the pistol that's strapped to her thigh, far from her weapon of choice but she's certainly not going to try fist fighting anyone like the girl in front of her is (not unless there's no other choice), when one of the approaching men's shoulders suddenly explodes in a cloud of crimson and he instantly collapses in a heap on the ground with a scream of pain. An unseen bullet ripping straight through flesh and bone with zero remorse and Caitlyn's eyes are drawn up to where the shot sounded from, a mixture of relief and awe-struck confusion flooding her at the sight.

She truly didn't think they'd be this fast.

But Taryk's already started storming his way onto the street when she looks over, leading half a dozen others in full riot gear emblazoned with the Kiramman crest to use their shields to form a protective barrier between the three of them and Silco and his men as they arrive. What's truly shocking to Caitlyn however is the sight of her own mother, who's equally decked out for battle, standing up on a rooftop with a grimacing Gert and a handful of other marksmen also decked out in riot gear. Caitlyn can just make out the smoke drifting off the tip of her mother's rifle at this distance from the shot she'd just taken against the man about to attack Vander's eldest.

Her mother being here at all, much less this quickly, is certainly a development, but it's one that Caitlyn can hardly bring herself to be upset about.

She's largely just relieved to see her, even if she's likely to get into even more trouble since her mother can actually see how bad the situation is.

Far better that than dying though, she supposes.

Thankfully (or not, depending on your view) Silco and his people aren't anywhere near dumb enough to try to fight House Kiramman's private security company on a whim without backup or a plan, and while they skirmish against each other for a long minute, it's only in order to guard their retreat as they dive back into the depths of the underground where they'll have trouble following them.

Another explosion rocks the ground beneath them and Caitlyn's attention is drawn to the older girl as she stumbles, rushing over to her younger sister's side. She's completely ignoring the fighting still happening around them as she cradles her small, broken and bloodied form against her chest, sobbing into her light blue hair. Clinging tightly to her body as she whimpers words to her between her hiccuped sobs that Caitlyn can't make out with the distance between her own tears, overwhelmed by the situation in front of her.

There's still fighting in the streets nearby, but Caitlyn's largely ignoring it at this point, her eyes drifting from Sheriff Grayson's slumped, exhausted form kneeling in the center of the street to the sobbing girl clinging to her sibling's lifeless body to the horribly mutilated corpse that it takes her another horrifyingly long moment to recognize as Vander, the man she'd seen with Sheriff Grayson just a few hours earlier, alive and healthy.

Caitlyn finally stumbles forward herself as if she's drawn in by an invisible string towards the grief-riddled figure in front of her. She realizes as she does so that the girl's way too close to what Caitlyn's finally consciously realizing is some form of factory warehouse... and that whatever's in there is clearly still volatile as additional, smaller explosions continue to tear through the night around them. Caitlyn can make out scorch marks across the older sister's back and shoulders as she approaches, further evidence that she's way too close to the flames leaping out of the building.

"We need to move," the words are far shakier than she'd like for them to be as she drops to the girl's side, who seems too lost to hear Caitlyn standing next to her or feel the hand that Caitlyn curls carefully around her good shoulder. "This structure is unstable, we need to-"

Caitlyn glances over at the warehouse and some deeply ingrained instinct tells her that it's already too late. She sees familiar blue arcs of magical energy dancing in the flames and knows it'll hurt a ton being this close so if they don't move now... only the girl still isn't moving, is so lost in her grief that the world's fallen away and Caitlyn rushes down to her without further thought.

There's nothing to think about really.

Caitlyn throws herself over top of her, shielding her with her own body when the next explosion rumbles through the air. She might've failed to save the younger one, but she can at least try to protect the older one while she's grieving if nothing else.

Instantly pain lances through Caitlyn's body as her own back is torn up in the pink haired girl's stead. Her arms tightening around sinewy muscle as she clings to her, fighting through her own pain in order to maintain a tight hold on the girl below. Hopes that some part of her finds it comforting as well as protective as Caitlyn collapses against, slumping somewhat over her back and desperately trying not to pass out as the searing feeling intensifies. Then there are even more people there, faceless figures grabbing and dragging them out of harms way. Ignoring the younger girl's protests in a way that only someone with more physical strength than Caitlyn could ever hope to manage.

"Caitlyn!" And then suddenly her mother's there with worried eyes and soft hands and Caitlyn's not sure she's ever seen this side of her in all her years of living. Lips press against her forehead and she knows she's not seen this. Her mother's not a publicly affectionate woman, fear alone driving her to hold Caitlyn as close as she can while she brushes her fingers through her hair and she cradles her close. Not letting Caitlyn go the entire time as she and Sheriff Grayson start exchanging information over her head once she's been convinced that Caitlyn's as alright as she can be before they can get to a doctor.

Of course she's worried, she knew I wasn't good enough to handle this.

Vander's girl, whose name Caitlyn really needs to learn as soon as possible, is completely despondent beside her. Growing more and more comatose the longer that Sheriff Grayson and her mother speak, their words barely tangible to Caitlyn's own rapidly numbing mind.

Caitlyn reaches for her blindly, not entirely sure which of them she's trying to comfort when she takes her hand in her own and gives it a gentle squeeze.

She's almost surprised by the relief that floods her when the girl's trembling fingers silently squeeze hers back. Hopefully taking some small comfort from Caitlyn's touch.

It grounds her, gives Caitlyn purpose in the midst of this tragedy. She's already failed her once, she's not going to do so again.

Even if the only thing she can do right now is hold her hand.

Cornelia tries her hardest to avoid looking at his body.

It's difficult, given how much space Vander's mutilated form takes up in the too narrow street, but she manages. Focuses instead on trying to fill Council Kiramman in on the recent goings on through the concussed haze that's flooding her senses with fuzz. Thankfully, the younger children had filled her in on the broad strokes before she'd even set foot in the Undercity and Gert had seemingly caught her up on the jog over here so there's actually very little that Cornelia has to add.

Cassandra's fingers card gently through Caitlyn's hair while Caitlyn leans her full weight against her mother's side, her eyes closed as she's tended to by a field medic who's bandaging up the burns across her back as best they can with their limited supplies. Cornelia feels a twinge of guilt watching the teens, knowing that they'd have never been in this mess in the first place if she'd just found some way of getting the Council to leave well enough alone.

If she'd just had a little more time, she could have found a way to make sure everyone got out of this alive and happy... and now...

Her eyes drift over to Vi, to Vander's eldest and now only living child, and something cracks open in her chest at the sight of her. The girl's eyes now dulled and as lifeless as her father's as she stares out unseeingly into the darkness. In fact there's barely a single sign of life from the girl aside from the worryingly steady rise and fall of her chest as she breathes. Shock some distant part of her, the part that's trained for situations like this, supplies helpfully though her own concussion.

Cornelia doesn't stop her conversation with Councilor Kiramman, now filling in what little she knows about Silco and his history with Vander and the Undercity, as she maneuvers herself around slightly so she's sitting directly next to Vi. Her uninjured side carefully pressing against the teen's uninjured side before she carefully removes the jacket of her uniform and drapes it as carefully as she can around the girl's shoulders, slowly curling her arm around them afterward, careful not to jostle the damaged one while trying and hopefully succeeding in offering her some small semblance of comfort.

Vi, shockingly given what Vander's told her about his kids, doesn't put up any sort of fight as she does so. In fact, she allows Cornelia to encourage her head to drop against her shoulder as she tugs her jacket tighter around Vi when she shivers, the late evening chill blowing in off the River Pilt creeping beneath the worn, damaged rags currently masquerading as the younger girl's clothes.

"He was responsible for the riots?" It's so quiet that Cornelia barely hears her speak, but she pauses her explanation to the councilor to glance down at the younger girl. She finds Vi looking up as her, the spark of a flame dancing behind her eyes, buried deep beneath the dead stare and the heartbroken cracks, but not yet put out. A sputtering, dying ember in need of fuel to be coaxed back to life.

She remembers then, with startling clarity, how exactly it was that Vander had ended up raising four kids in the first place.

All four of his children had been orphaned during those very riots.

"Yes," Cornelia nods slightly. "I don't know exactly what happened, I'm not sure that anyone living does at this point, but all of the reports I received from this side of the river say that he and his ilk were the ones responsible for turning the protests violent in the first place last time around."

There's a long pause while all the parties gathered take in that information.

"This is the second time," Caitlyn's voice is soft as she speaks but when Cornelia glances over at her where she's tucked under her mother's chin, she's surprised by the fury she finds rapidly hardening her expression. "That this monster," she spits the word out and Cornelia shares an almost concerned glance with Councilor Kiramman at the uncharacteristically cold, hard tone that her voice is slowly taking on as she speaks. "Has managed to weaponize the Enforcers in order to wreak havoc on our civilian population."

Cornelia feels Vi's injured arm tense and glancing down realizes that at some point her and Caitlyn had grasped onto one another in their shock. Their hands clutched together in an effort to comfort each other in the face of... well everything that's happened tonight.

"Perhaps it would be better to have that particular discussion at a later date," Councilor Kiramman says, her words soft but with a sense of finality behind them. "There's nothing we can do about this situation at present and quite frankly, all three of your look rather dreadful. We can-"

They are interrupted by the return of the Kiramman's head of security, though Cornelia can't recall his name for the life of her as he steps up to address the councilor. "Ma'am, we attempted to track the man and his people deeper into the Undercity, but they managed to escape. They know the streets too well for us to keep track and we can't follow them onto the rooftops."

"That's fine," Councilor Kiramman waves his concerns away. "We aren't in any condition to do anything about this Silco or anyone working for him at the present moment regardless. We should get back topside and regroup before trying to plan any further actions. We have wounded that need tending to and a precinct full of Enforcers that may or may not be loyal to Piltover that we'll need to address first anyhow."

"Of course, ma'am," the bald man nods, glancing between Cornelia and the broken forms of the two teenagers that are huddled together on the ground. "Should I send someone ahead to Piltover General or..."

"No," Councilor Kiramman shakes her head, giving Caitlyn's shoulders one last squeeze before carefully righting her and standing up to dust herself off. "Again, without knowing how deep the coup runs within the Enforcers ranks I don't want to risk anything until the sheriff is back on her feet and able to take charge of the situation. We'll have our family physician look them all over and I'll assign some of your units to guard Sheriff Grayson's home while she recovers and begins an audit of our Enforcer's ranks."

Cornelia has half a mind to protest being assigned security, but in truth the councilor's plan is sound and if she's going to follow through with her own plan that's slowly started taking shape in her mind as they've been speaking... well she's hardly foolish enough to turn down the added protection.

She's not the only person she needs to be thinking about right now after all.

"Very well," Cornelia groans slightly as she shifts up, her own body protesting the idea of having to stand back up and move around again, but she persists through the pain. "We also shouldn't linger down here for long, people are going to start congregating to investigate the explosion and we don't want Silco to show back up with more of his people either. We don't actually know how large his operation is down here at this point and until I've been able to sort through the mess that my department's become we won't have the manpower to risk a proper search or investigation."

Councilor Kiramman nods her head in agreement. "Come along then, we'll figure out where to go from here once we're back at the estate and you've all received proper medical care and been fed and properly rested," she looks pointedly between the three of them, all looking worse for wear.

Caitlyn's the first to move after that, wincing as she awkwardly gets her feet beneath her and Cornelia can't help wincing herself at the sight of the younger girl's back. Her shirt's been soaked through with blood and there's a criss crossing of glowing blue marks now scattered across her back, visible where the explosion she'd thrown herself in front of had torn away chunks of said shirt to expose the flesh below.

Caitlyn looks between her and Vi for half a second before the burly security officer reaches out a hand to help Cornelia up, the larger man easily dragging her up onto her feet and looping her arm around his shoulders to take the weight off of her damaged leg. Vi doesn't start to move, doesn't start preparing to leave until Caitlyn reaches down and silently tugs on her vest, drawing her eyes up until they meet.

Cornelia watches them with a small, sad smile as Vi seems to finally process that she's a part of the 'everyone' that's going to get medical treatment. Blinking at Caitlyn's outstretched hand for half a beat too long before slowly taking it and allowing the young Kiramman heir to pull her up onto her feet with a slight wince.

Without another word on the matter, they start walking, Caitlyn dragging a dazed Vi along behind her the entire way across the bridge and into the grandeur of topside.

It's a sight that'll one day be familiar, but for now only makes Cornelia's heart clinch in her chest.

Cornelia never imagined she'd be quite this happy at the sight of the Kiramman's estate, but after the day she's had it's a more than welcome fortress greeting her as their troupe of exhausted figures stumbles through the gates.

She insists that they check on the teens first. Caitlyn had done a commendable job with her first aid both according to the doctor that helps Cornelia after they've been treated and Dr. Kiramman, so she's not in a rush. Broken bones heal best with time after all, and both of the girls injuries require more immediate tending to.

Then the bad news starts coming in.

"She's going to need surgery," Dr. Kiramman informs them from where he's been gently prodding at Vi's horribly bruised shoulder for the last couple of minutes. "Her shoulder joint sustained heavy damage and seems to have torn her rotator cuff apart," he gently pats her other shoulder. "I can put it in a sling for the night, but we really shouldn't put off getting it fixed, if it heals improperly you'll have issues with it for the rest of your life," the last part is directed at Vi, who looks even more out of it than earlier due to the pain of having her injuries checked over.

Obviously the painkillers she'd been given haven't quite kicked in yet.

"Surgery?" Vi asks, murmuring more than saying, shaking her head with a frown. "Can't 'fford it."

"Nonsense," Caitlyn speaks from the couch across from Vi and her father, which she's been stretched out across while the Kiramman's family physician tends to (or at least tries) the glowing wounds that are now carved directly into her back. "We'll take care of it."

Cornelia watches as Councilor Kiramman and her husband share a somewhat amused look over their heir's head, the family's matriarch speaking up before Vi can try to protest, giving her daughter an almost gentle smile even though she can't see it with her face buried in the couch. "Yes of course, House Kiramman will be handling all of your medical expenses right now, all things considered."

It occurs to Cornelia as Vi makes eye contact with her from across the room that she really needs to make sure Vi knows the cover story she's woven together for her, that Silco had framed her and her siblings for the robbery, before she accidentally says something that implicated her in said robbery. Unfortunately, she's not exactly sure how good her poker face is, and she doesn't want to say something only for Vi to accidentally refute it while not realizing that Cornelia's covering for her.

"And if they weren't," Cornelia says carefully, hoping the young girl will at least recognize her her words for the olive branch that they are. "There are other avenues we'd be able to explore. I'm not leaving you in need of serious surgery... Vander'd haunt me for an eternity if I did."

The attempt at levity works to an extent, Vi simultaneously chuckling as a couple of tears streak down her face and Dr. Kiramman hands her a handkerchief seemingly on reflex. "Yeah, he would," Vi agrees, sniffling slightly and awkwardly wiping her tears away with the proffered handkerchief while Dr. Kiramman pats her comfortingly on the knee.

Taryk, the Kiramman's security head whose name Cornelia has finally learned after some deep reconnaissance (waiting for someone to say it), returns from his trip back down to the Undercity, entering the room with a cough. His arms are crossed loosely over his chest as he addresses the room, filling everyone in. "We've recovered the bodies of the deceased as requested for funeral arrangements," he informs the room and Cornelia nods slightly in acknowledgement, but doesn't say anything herself, allowing the councilor to have her floor.

"Good, and the fire?"

"Contained," he coughs again slightly, his eyes darting between Vi, Cornelia and Councilor Kiramman before continuing. "We also managed to recover a couple of items from the deceased for any next of kin, but there's not much left inside of the warehouse. It'd take an entire forensics team to even find traces of whatever operation was going on in there."

Well that's... rather unfortunate.

"Given that," Cornelia sits up a little straighter, the eyes darting between Vi and Caitlyn as she speaks. "It's going to be particularly important that I get detailed reports from both of you and from the children who were helping Miss Kiramman. I'm not sure how they were able to create that creature that attacked us but..."

"Deckard," Vi murmurs softly, her voice barely above a whisper but echoing easily through the room around them. "His name was Deckard before they did... whatever that was to him..."

"That was a person?" Caitlyn gasps from her spot on the couch, sitting up even as the doctor tending her protests and tries to get her to lay back down. "That... that thing was..."

"When did you see him?" Vi's eyebrows scrunch in confusion. "Vander killed him before getting me out of the warehouse..."

"Miss Kiramman witnessed the attack when Silco had first taken Vander and witnessed what he did there, along with the other kids from the Undercity that were helping her with her investigation at the time," Cornelia explains and she can see the gears turning in Vi's brain, the far away look in her eye leaving her to assume that the teenager is replaying through the events of the night in her mind's eye and figuring out where Caitlyn fit in.

It's in that exact moment Cornelia becomes consciously aware of just how severe her concussion is.

She'd completely forgotten that Vander had locked Vi in the basement of the building when she'd had to arrest him. She'd been trying so hard to find his kids and had completely forgotten that she had one of them locked up literally a floor below her, not able to go anywhere when she'd first awoke.

It's something she'll admonish herself for forgetting about far more heavily later, when she has the capacity to do, unlike right now.

"To be clear, you're saying that the mutated individual who was responsible for the physical attacks is dead and is no longer a threat to the city?" Councilor Kiramman clarifies and Vi nods slightly.

"Y-yeah, dad, Vander, he..." Vi's eyebrows narrow, like she's suddenly remembering something particularly unpleasant. "Whatever they did to Deckard wasn't permanent," how Cornelia can just barely hear Caitlyn murmur under her breath and while she doesn't interrupt, she can't help but agree with the sentiment. "I'm not sure what happened, I couldn't see and was... I got half buried in rubble when the roof collapsed, that's what fucked up my shoulder..."

Cornelia, seeing the way that Vi's breathing is starting to hitch, makes the executive decision that she's going to be sitting on that particular couch now and hobbles over to sit beside her. Reaching up she gently squeezes Vi's good shoulder, encouraging her to continue.

"Deckard walked in and I assumed that he'd beaten Vander... he probably did," Vi's voice hitches again. "Cuz 'fore he could grab me Vander showed back up but he... whatever they'd done to Deckard had happened to Vander and he just..." Vi smacks her fist into her open palm. "Killed him."

Cornelia remembers the sight of Vander's deformed figure splayed out on the cobblestone, having been unable to burn the image from her mind. At least the strange purple glowing makes sense now. "And then?" She asks softly.

"The... the warehouse was about to collapse. He chose to save me, instead of stopping Silco..." she whispers the words like it's a confession, letting them linger in the air.

"Well good," Councilor Kiramman says a few moments later, nodding sharply from her place by the fire, which she's been staring into for the duration of the conversation. "No parent should choose vengeance over the life of their child."

Vi's, frankly, got no idea what's going on.

She feels numb. Like the entire world's gone gray and she's left to drown in that sea of nothingness. Vander's gone. Powder's gone. Mylo and Claggor are gone. Hell, even Benzo's gone. Everyone gone in a single, violent night.

All because of her.

Because of Vi and her stupid, impulsive decisions and...

"It's getting late," the older woman that the sheriff answers to (Vi'll care enough to figure out and remember who the hell these people are just... later...) informs them. Looking between Vi, her daughter, and the sheriff with a slight frown. Probably thinking about how badly her daughter was hurt thanks to all of Vi's fuck ups lately. "We'll set you both up with rooms for the night, we'll reconvene in the morning to continue planning."

She doesn't leave room for discussion and Vi really doesn't feel like arguing.

She considers the fact she's being offered a bed instead of a prison cell a miracle in and of itself. Though she supposes that the whole 'Enforcer coup' thing might be keeping them from doing so. They'll want her alive to testify and she can't do that if someone's paid off to well... off her.

Though the way the sheriff keeps acting confuses her.

There had been something urgent in her gaze when she'd mentioned Vander. Like she was trying to tell Vi something she just doesn't have the brain cells needed to devote to figuring out. I'm not leaving you in need of serious surgery... Vander'd haunt me for an eternity. The words were a mask, not untrue but there was something there...

Actually... if Vi was being completely honest with herself, there's a fondness in her eyes whenever she's mentioned Vander so far. A softening in her tone that Vi's almost certain she recognizes but isn't really sure how to make mesh with her view of the world. Because the Sheriff of Piltover having any sort of feelings for her old man is strange as hell but is also just about the only logical explanation she can think of for how weird she's acting.

As if realizing that she's thinking about her, the sheriff looks up from where she'd stopped to whisper with the boss lady to meet her gaze, gesturing her over. "It's going to take them a minute to get things set up for us," the sheriff informs her as she approaches and boss lady gives her a slight nod of acknowledgement before moving away to give them some privacy, moving to once again fuss over her injured daughter. "Councilor Kiramman has had some sleep clothes brought down for you, given the state of your arm I figure you could use some assistance... and might appreciate it being someone you're vaguely familiar with."

This time at least Vi's able to read the older woman clear as day. Her expression is neutral but her eyes are signaling the importance of the request. They need to talk, in private. Right now.

"Yeah, alright, thanks," Vi nods stiffly and the sheriff leads her out of the room, using a crutch that she'd been provided with in order to move on her own as she leads Vi a couple of doors down to an empty study. Vi notices the aforementioned articles of clothing sitting on the desk but the sheriff doesn't move to grab them. Instead she leans against the desk, watching Vi closely for a moment before speaking, her voice just barely above a whisper.

"Can you keep an ear out?"

Oh... it's this type of talk.

"Yeah," Vi swallows hard, squaring her shoulders and trying hard not to give away how nervous this situation is making her. She wants to run, there's a window behind the sheriff she could probably scale down the building from without issue even with her arm messed up, it's only the 2nd floor... though that would mean somehow getting around the sheriff and then outrunning the private security company owned by the damn rich lady outside, which is much less likely to happen without her getting hurt somehow.

"Good," the sheriff glaces at the bottom of the door and keeps her gaze locked there for the entirety of the time she's speaking, watchful for any shadows flitting by. "We can discuss this in more detail later, but I need to make sure you do not say anything that might implicate yourself or your family members in the robbery a few days ago, do you understand me?"

And okay... now this is starting to take a bit of a turn. Is she getting blackmailed?

"Yeah... why? You already know it was me," Vi returns, speaking just as softly but unable to keep the snarl out of her voice, her teeth bared without thought against the threat she can't seem to understand. The sheriff gives her a frankly unamused look in return, raising an eyebrow at her.

"Because I'm the only one who knows it was you and we're going to keep it that way," the sheriff informs her with a soft sigh, her exasperated expression melting into exhaustion as she rubs at her temple with her free hand. "Given everything that's happened tonight, it's been rather easy to claim the break in was a frame job done by Silco in order to go after Vander, you, and your siblings."

She's starting to get a better idea of what exactly that look the sheriff was giving her earlier meant, although she's still at a loss as to why she's acting this way. There's nothing that Vi, an orphan twice over now, could realistically offer the sheriff in return. Sure, she's good in a fight, but basically all of her connections in the Undercity were just wiped and she's not so good at fighting that you couldn't find another decent brawler to replace her.

And well, the other option she's considering seems so out there she just can't justify entertaining it.

"Why?" It's the only thing she can think to respond, hating the confusion that's boiling over in her mind, making it impossible to know how to proceed from here.

Because why in the universe is the fucking Sheriff of Piltover lying to who she's just now registering the sheriff had said was a goddamned Councilor about some trencher trash breaking into and (very much accidentally) blowing up a building.

"Because I cared for Vander," the older woman states rather bluntly and Vi has to blink the confusion away as her mind starts scrambling to neatly put pieces together. She remembers Ekko oh gods Ekko is he even still alive mentioning that the sheriff had told Vander to give her a scapegoat and she'd make the whole thing go away. Vi'd originally assumed it was because they wanted to resolve it quickly but... "I'm not about to risk his only surviving child being sentenced to life in Stillwater for doing something stupid that was only partly her fault in the first place."

Vi opens and closes her mouth a couple of times, watching her with wide eyes, unsure of what to say until the words slip, quiet and unbidden from the depths of her soul. Some part of her she doesn't want to listen to, doesn't want to believe is right, bursting to life and forcing the words out before she can stop them. Sounding almost accusatory as she asks "did you love him?"

The sheriff's eyes widen almost comically at the question and she takes a sharp breath through her nose before releasing it in a small, huffed laugh. Hardly the response Vi was expecting to such an outrageous question. "Not exactly, Violet," Vi tries hard not to visibly jolt at the use of her full name, the knowledge that Vander had trusted her with it further cementing what she's now begun to suspect in spite of everything in her tell her she's wrong. "But in another life? Perhaps."

Vi has to bite her lip to keep herself from saying out loud that that sounds an awfully lot like a yes with extra steps.

But at least... well, at least now she gets it.

Sorta.

"Okay..." Vi crosses her arms, staring at the sheriff's shoes for a long moment before sighing quietly, what little fight remained fleeing her, leaving Vi feeling sore and exhausted. "Okay."

Vi can't sleep.

She's laying here sprawled out across the largest, comfiest bed she's even so much as seen, much less laid down in, and she yet can't sleep a wink. She can't, how could she possibly try, when all she sees every time she closes her eyes is Vander's deformed figure taking his last breaths? When all she can hear are Powder's screams of pain as a dagger implanted itself between her ribs, the sickening, amplified crunch of bones shattering beneath a collapsed roof as Mylo and Claggor were crushed to death beside her?

She almost wishes that the painkillers the rich doctor dude had given her didn't work as well as they are. At the very least the pain would be grounding, instead of having her feel like she's floating around in the clouds a bit. Unfortunately, or thankfully depending on how she's feeling at any given second, the councilor spares no expense when it comes to her family's person medical care and Vi is, somehow, currently receiving access to said medical care.

Which means that the painkillers are legit. Not the watered down shit she's sometimes had to pop after a particularly brutal fight once Vander'd finished patching the worst of her injuries up. It's-

Her dazed musing is suddenly interrupted by a soft knock at the door.

Vi freezes slightly, her eyes darting over to the door and waiting for it to open. Waiting to see who on Runeterra's coming to visit her in the middle of the night when the whole house has already gone to bed.

After a moment, it occurs to her that, unlike at home with her family, it's probably considered a bit rude to just barge into a stranger's room in the middle of the night when a second knock sounds.

"Vi?" A soft voice calls, one that Vi easily places as the quiet rifle girl who'd shown up with Grayson and tried to help save her and Powder. Who had helped protect her in the end, earning a vast web of strange, glowing scars across her back as a reward. "It's Caitlyn, are you awake?"

Ah that's her name. It had been so dumbly sweet of her, Vi can't help thinking as she shoves off the mountain of blankets she was hiding under (screw her, it's a lot colder topside than it is in the fissures) and stumbles over to the door. It really hadn't been worth it, jumping between her and the blast like that, Vi's already used to getting the shit kicked out of her. She could handle some extra, well warranted scarring and the agony that came with the recovery.

The seemingly innocent topsider girl who had stumbled down into the Lanes for some fucking reason in the middle of all this certainly didn't deserve to pay the blood price for Vi's mistakes.

Vi yanks the door open with her free hand and finds the girl, Caitlyn, she'd just said her name was, standing there with her hand raised awkwardly in the air like she was about to knock again. Her other arm is busy attempting to balance a tray full of food stuffs that Vi's too distracted by the presence of the girl in front of her to bother consciously identifying.

"Hello," she says awkwardly, giving Vi a small, tight-lipped and slightly lopsided smile. "I um..." she clears her throat before straightening up, schooling her expression into something that looks, frankly, unnatural on her. "I figured that if I was having trouble sleeping you likely were as well..."

Well, she's certainly got her there.

"Yeah," Vi says hoarsely in return, still not completely sure what's happening.

"I know that sweets tend to help me feel better after a bad day and well... bad is clearly an understatement at the moment. Regardless I figured that if you weren't sleeping we could..." she cuts herself off, biting her lip nervously as she readjusts the tray so she's holding it with both hands again.

"Keep each other company?" Vi asks, finishing the thought for her. She can't deny it, the thought of eating some sweets with a nice girl while trying to ignore the aching in her chest didn't seem like a particularly terrible idea right now. Especially since she can't seem to sleep herself.

"Precisely," Caitlyn nods slightly, some of the tension easing from her body the longer that they stand there. "Do you like to read? I've personally found that fiction novels tend to serve as a nice distraction when you're trying to get your mind off of something."

"Yeah, I do," Vi admits quietly, sharing a small grin with Caitlyn at discovering this shared hobby of theirs. "Not sure where we'd find any this time of night though, unless you've got some tucked away."

This causes Caitlyn to perk up, her eyes shining slightly as her grin widens, the expression much more natural than the forced stoicism. "Oh, I've got my whole library upstairs, I'm certain there'll be something you'll enjoy in my collection," it takes Vi a moment to process the nuances of that sentence.

"Wait, you have a library in your house?" Vi whisper shouts the last words, her eyes wide while Caitlyn suddenly flushes red, her bare face doing absolutely nothing to hide the ruddy color quickly overtaking her cheeks.

"We have two, actually," she sounds almost embarrassed saying so and Vi gets the feeling that she'd be awkwardly scratching at the back of her neck if she had a hand free to do so. "One of them is my family's; it's a lot of historical and political works related to our work in government and urban planning."

While they're talking, Caitlyn takes a step back, gesturing with her head for Vi to follow her, which Vi does thoughtlessly. The older girl easily leading her back to the grand entryway that Vi'd first arrived through earlier in the evening and then leading her upstairs to the third floor. "The other one however is my personal archive, that's why it's in my wing of the house..." Caitlyn turns back to her, the grin on her face suddenly turning cheeky. "It's also why none of the boring books are in there."

That statement startles a bark of laughter out of Vi, the pair of them freezing in the hallway as the sound echos down the otherwise silent corridor.

They watch each other for several long moments before dissolving into a fit of notably quiet giggles when there's no reaction to Vi's unexpected outburst. After a moment, in which they both manage to compose themselves, they continue down the hallway until Caitlyn stops in front of a door, frowning between the handle and the tray in her hands before turning to Vi in a silent plea for assistance, which Vi readily provides. Pushing the door all the way open so Caitlyn can step inside without running into it and risking spilling all their snacks on the floor.

Caitlyn sweeps into the room and drops the tray onto a coffee table located in the corner of the room set aside as a reading space. An oversized green couch, clearly chosen for comfort over style, unlike most of the furnishing Vi's seen so far outside of the bed she'd failed to sleep on, which is placed in front of a fireplace with the coffee table in between them.

"So, what types of books do you typically like to read?" Caitlyn asks, wincing slightly as she straightens back out, clearly irritating the damage on her back with the movement. "I've read pretty much everything in here at least once, so I can recommend some that you might enjoy so you don't have to go digging through all of them."

Which... yeah actually sounds like a good idea, Vi agrees as she stops watching Caitlyn to take in the vast expanse of leather bound tombs lining the walls and the ceiling high shelves standing at attention and filling in the space on the other side of the room.

"I uh..." Vi bites her lip, suddenly a bit nervous. She's never really talked to anyone about her love of reading before. It didn't fit her image in the Undercity, and she needs her reputation, and she'd just never really wanted to deal with Mylo's teasing, if she's being completely honest. "I've always been happy reading whatever I could get my hands on, to be honest," Vi rubs the back of her neck. "But I've always enjoyed the really epic ones that didn't take place here."

"In Piltover?" Caitlyn asks, her eyes going a bit distant as she takes in Vi's words and darting around the room as she speaks, eyeing certain tombs on the various shelves like she's evaluating them.

"On Runeterra," Vi clarifies. "I just... like the idea. Of there being other worlds out there with all their own shitty problems to deal with."

"Hmm," Caitlyn bites her lip, spinning her entire body around to look at one of the bookcases that's on the wall next to them. "I've a thought, though given the current circumstances I feel I should warn you the main protagonist has some... well she'd relate to a degree with what you've gone through tonight."

Vi's breath hitches slightly, wondering if Caitlyn's implying what she thinks she's implying. "You mean..."

"Her siblings are all killed fairly early on in the narrative and it's an extremely important part of her character arc," Caitlyn sighs slightly. "Frankly, we don't know each other well enough for me to know if you'd find it cathartic or not, but it's one of my favorite series and many the issues they're dealing with in their world are different from ours, to a degree."

Vi bites her lip slightly, it doesn't sound bad and hell, maybe cathartic is what she needs right now. "You said it's one of your favorites?" Caitlyn nods slightly, watching her carefully. "What do you like about it?"

Caitlyn clearly wasn't expecting that response, blinking the surprise away before Vi's fully able to finish registering it. "I... the main protagonist is a fairly complicated, morally grey woman who starts a very bloody war in an effort to save humanity," Caitlyn pauses slightly, considering her words. "I can't remember the direct quote right now, my mind's a bit scattered, but the message is something that's stuck with me for years. At one point while speaking with one of her advisors, she discusses how prior to staring the war she had weighed the blood cost of said war against the long term blood cost of inaction and that she found that the price of inaction was far too high to pay. That in the long run the status quo was only hurting her people more than a singular war ever could and that she wasn't afraid to bloody her own hands to try to provide them with a better future."

That... actually sounds kinda nice. A leader willing to get in the trenches and fight to protect her people instead of letting them suffer even if it's the hard path? Now that truly sounds like a fantasy novel. A small grin overtakes Vi's face as she realizes that's basically exactly what this girl was doing when they met, dragging herself into a situation she didn't have to in order to try to protect someone down in the Lanes. She can totally see why she'd like this character.

"And if I'm being quiet honest, I can enjoy a well written enemies to lovers arc."

Vi chuckles lightly cuz well, Vi's certainly never turned down one of the raunchy romance novels that she'd sometimes managed to hunt down, normally third or fourth hand by the time Vi got ahold of them. All of which were hidden well away from anywhere that anyone might stumble upon her collection of novels that had inevitably trickled down into the Undercity from topside.

"Yeah, alright, I'll give it a go."

Caitlyn's shoulders visibly drop in relief, though Vi hadn't noticed them slowly creeping up towards her ears and she gives Vi a small, excited smile before darting over to the bookshelf that Vi notes is the closest to the couch, pulling a couple of books off of it before dropping down onto said couch and patting the spot next to her for Vi to sit down with her.

"Here," she hands Vi one of the two books that she's holding once she's stepped over and plopped down next to her. "I'm actually in the middle of rereading the series myself, although I'm on the third one at the moment so we can still read together."

"Thanks," Vi takes the book gingerly from her and while it's not in poor condition by any stretch of the imagination, it's also clearly been well loved by the girl sitting next to her. Vi flips the book over to read the back while Caitlyn starts messing with the large tea pot she'd been struggling to balance earlier.

She pours them both some tea, interrupting Vi long enough to ask how she prefers it, and unwraps the plates of snacks... though Vi's not sure she'd call two plates full of sandwiches (that don't have crust on them for some fucking reason?) and a plate of cupcakes a "snack" by any stretch of the imagination.

She steals one of the crustless sandwich halves and starts nibbling at it while reading the back cover. The sandwich a simple mixture of a creamy cheese, some type of white meat that's not quite chicken but not quite not chicken, and some slices of cucumber.

Vi hums, Caitlyn's description mixed with the blurb more than enough to pique her interest in the novel, so she cracks it open without another word and starts reading, leaning back against the couch with her sandwich in one hand and the book in the other as she starts trying to distract herself from everything while Caitlyn follows suit next to her a moment later.

Sometimes, when she fears that she's lost sight of what truly matters through the bloody haze of disjointed memories and all consuming pain, Princess Edelgard von Hresvelg will spend an evening attempting to paint her siblings portraits from memory... she always fails.

About an hour into their shared reading session, Vi finally realizes that Caitlyn's started squirming slightly beside her and it only takes her shifting around few times before Vi recognizes that she's trying to find a way to comfortably read while not putting any pressure directly against the burns now covering her back. Vi puts her book down for a moment, even though she's admittedly invested enough that she doesn't want to, especially since she doesn't have to try to hide the fact she is enjoying herself reading, to turn to Caitlyn with a small smile.

"You should lay down," Vi says softly, startling the other girl out of her own novel. "Your back's messing with you," she explains like Caitlyn is unaware of her own discomfort.

"I also cannot sleep at present," Caitlyn points out, clearly missing Vi's point in the process.

"No just like, on the couch," Vi makes an effort and manages not to roll her eyes. "Just like..." she gently pushes Caitlyn's shoulder away from her, careful not to hit where she recalls the marks are. The memory of the doctor peeling her shirt away to reveal the damage forever seared into Vi's mind. "On your stomach so it stops touching the back of this thing, you flinch every time you do."

"I can't, you're in the way," Caitlyn points out, cocking an eyebrow at her. "I'm not quite short enough for that."

"Just put your legs in my lap, it'll be fine."

Caitlyn looks like she's about to try to argue with Vi (which isn't a fight she's going to win) before simply sighing in defeat with a nod, collapsing onto her stomach and letting Vi shift her legs until they're both now resting comfortably on the couch.

"See?"

"...I suppose you do have a point."

Vi chuckles at that and returns to her book, resting the back of it against Caitlyn's shins as she dives back into the ever expanding world and plot that has overtaken her recent thoughts. A welcome distraction, just as Caitlyn had claimed it would be and, admittedly, a somewhat cathartic one.

Or at least, she hopes it is. It'll really suck if Edelgard doesn't get to kill the bastards responsible for her family being slaughtered like that.

She returns to the paragraph she was on and continues reading.

“You are walking a dangerous path," the older woman nods lightly, her fingers drumming absentmindedly over the glass orb beside her on the table as she stares into it. "A dark path. It will consume you if you aren't careful, young princess."

Edelgard's eyes snap to the woman. She had never mentioned who she was and had, perhaps foolishly, hoped that she would go unrecognized while within the Abyss. "I beg your pardon?"

"It is easy after all, to find yourself lost in the darkness," the old soothsayer hums, continuing on as if Edelgard hadn't interrupted her. "You must look for the light, if you're to survive the bloodshed to come."

Edelgard stands abruptly, her heart thrumming wildly in her chest at the implication. There are only five people beside herself who know of their plans and not a single one of them would risk that knowledge reaching the church before they were ready. It was foolish to come here. "I'm afraid that-"

"You will have to trust your heart not to lead you astray..." the older woman finally tears her eyes away from the crystal ball in front of her to meet Edelgard's gaze and her breath hitches as she's drawn into an endless, swirling pool of white and lavender. "Or you will meet your end by her hand."

Vi could get used to this, not necessarily all the rich people shit, but getting to curl up in the peace and quiet with enough food to last for days within arms reach. Getting to read to her heart's content, knowing that there's someone else right there enjoying the peace alongside her.

It's just... kinda nice.

It's been another hour or two, the clock tower in the distance having struck midnight awhile ago but not having struck since, when a distant explosion causes the both of them to jump in their seats. Vi sees painfully familiar blue arcs light up the night sky for a single moment before everything goes dark. Caitlyn doesn't even have time to sit up enough to see what's happening before it's gone and the night goes silent once more.

"What was..."

"I'm not sure," Vi shrugs. She's not sure she's supposed to know about the glowing blue gems, so it's not like she can say someone just blew up something else topside. "Sounded like an explosion though."

Caitlyn grumbles slightly under her breath, leaning over and grabbing another sandwich before plopping back down onto her forearms like she's been since Vi encouraged her to lay down. "I am so done with getting blown up right now."

"Once enough for you, Cupcake?" She teases slightly, the look she shoots her is far too amused to actually convince Vi that she's upset with the jab.

"Twice," Caitlyn responds wryly. "I was actually in the building when the first explosion occurred as well."

Shit. Vi tenses slightly before forcing her body to relax. Now she somehow feels even worse about the heist gone wrong. "Sorry," the word slips out unbidden and Caitlyn shakes her head before she's even finished the word.

"It's not your fault," it is though. "And even if you had been the one to break in, the objects responsible for causing these explosions were brought into the city illegally. Any magic in Piltover is against the ethos, so there was no reason to assume they were dangerous, even for whomever Silco sent to impersonate you."

Magic.

Well no wonder everything went to shit so fast.

"Still, I'm sorry you got hurt," Vi says softly. "Both times."

"I'm not," Caitlyn says after a long moment, the statement confusing Vi more than anything. "It was a small price to pay for enlightenment... getting blown up, that is."

Caitlyn sits up suddenly, turning to Vi with a soft grin and somewhat glassy eyes.

"The only regret that I have is that I wasn't able to stop my best friend from getting banished... but at the same time after everything I've seen tonight I can't help being slightly furious with him as well," Caitlyn bites her lip, like she's trying to contain the words but can't. "I'm not angry at him for wanting to innovate, this is the City of Progress, we need to push the limits of what we're capable of if we're to compete with the major nations in the world... both economically and militarily."

That's... admittedly not something Vi's given much thought to in the past and she tells Caitlyn as much when she pauses to breath. For some reason this makes Caitlyn grin slightly before she settles back to her somber expression.

"It's not really something most folks need to think about," Caitlyn shrugs slightly, a grin tugging at the edge of her lips. "It's our responsibility to make sure that you don't unless there is a conflict. Which is why I can't help feeling somewhat upset with Jayce right now. He knew he was handling dangerous materials and didn't keep them properly secured and as a result, many of our people have been either hurt or killed within the last few days."

A topsider holding an other topsider accountable for... literally anything? This really is a strange night.

"It's hardly the first time something like this has happened," Vi sighs, her mind flashing back to that night without permission. She starts as soft, slender fingers slid in between hers, Caitlyn giving them a soft squeeze as she fixes Vi with a sad smile.

"That doesn't make it right."

They sit in silence for several minutes after that before Caitlyn's back starts bothering her again and Vi encourages her to lay back down. Both of them eventually settling back into their respective novels as the night passes them by. And Vi continues reading long into the night, the only sounds the whoosh of turning pages and the occasional word shared between her and Caitlyn whenever they need to shuffle around when one of them wants a snack from the table.

It's nice, so calm and peaceful here.

And eventually?

Vi passes out, closing the book that she's just finished speeding through and leaning back. Just planning to close her eyes for a moment, intending to ask Caitlyn if she can read the next book, but not getting there as her exhaustion takes advantage of her distracted state to drag her straight under.

She, somehow, doesn't dream a single dream that night.

Cornelia wakes up with a migraine and immediately wishes she didn't desperately need to go into work today.

It's going to take her months, if she's lucky, to clean up this mess and she's not going to put off getting started. All of the people of Piltover deserve that much. Vander deserves that much and his heir deserves proper protection, since she'll likely be targeted by Silco and the people working for him after this.

Loose ends and all.

With a groan Cornelia forces herself up and out of bed. Her uniform wasn't in any condition to be used again, but naturally Councilor Kiramman had had a replacement brought in for her overnight, which she finds hanging next to the bed, and a proper weight-baring crutch has replaced the temporary one that Dr. Kiramman had set her up with the previous evening.

Hobbling out of her room stiffly, the first thing that Cornelia notices is that the door to the room next to hers, the one that Vi was supposed to be resting in, is now hanging wide open. A quick peek inside confirms that the girl isn't in there and a jolt of dread shoots through Cornelia.

Shit, what if she left.

Trying to find her right now would be difficult, though not impossible, if she'd returned to the Undercity. With Silco still out there though it's far more likely that the wrong person would find her first and she'd promised Vander that if worse came to worse she'd make sure his kids were okay.

And there's only one of them left at this point.

Continuing on she hopes that perhaps Vi had simply gotten up early and was simply with the others already. Those hopes are quickly dashed, however, as she enters the Kiramman's breakfast nook and finds only the elder two Kirammans are present, the married couple speaking quietly to one another as they enjoy their morning tea together.

Councilor Kiramman notices her first, giving her a small but genuine smile as she steps into the room. "Ah good, I was hoping you'd awaken soon. I was just discussing what our next moves should be with Tobias, but all things considered I feel it rather prudent to include you as well since we'll be ones responsible for handling this mess."

"Of course," Cornelia lowers herself into the seat that Dr. Kiramman offers her with a soft hiss. "Have either of you seen young Vi this morning? She was already gone from her room when I woke up. Considering her experiences with people from this side of the river, I'm concerned she might've decided to return to the Undercity during the night."

Councilor Kiramman looks up from where she's preparing Cornelia's tea, already well aware of her tea preferences after years of early morning meetings while working together. "Experiences?"

Cornelia accepts the proffered tea and takes a small sip before answering. "All four of Vander's children were orphaned during the bridge riots, it's why he took them in," Cornelia debates for half a second if the next bit is relevant before deciding it is. "From what he'd told me, Violet was actually on the bridge and saw what happened that night with her own eyes. She would have been around eight at the time."

"Good heavens," Dr. Kiramman looks appropriately alarmed at that knowledge and while his wife keeps her expression neutral, there is something in her eyes that gives away how much that information unsettles her as well. "I can't imagine witnessing something so horrific at such a young age."

"That's why she reacted the way she did to the knowledge that this Silco character was responsible for them turning violent," Councilor Kiramman notes with a hum. Not a question but a statement of newfound understanding.

Cornelia has to bite back a curse that wouldn't be entirely appropriate given the present company, though she supposes Councilor Kiramman would forgive the momentary break in decorum given the circumstances.

She hadn't even considered the possibility that Vi might be going after him on some sort of revenge quest.

Shit.

A couple of vaguely familiar individuals enter the room, as Cornelia's only somewhat acquainted with the Kiramman's house staff, with a number of trays of food, which they begin serving up while the three of them continue talking.

"How well do you know the girl personally, sheriff?" Dr. Kiramman asks, the furrow of his brow giving away his similar line of thought before he voices it. "Do you think she'd try to go after him on her own? He did kill her entire family last night."

"I'm not certain," Cornelia admits, eyes darting between the two aristocrats. "I'd never met her personally before last night, but I worked with her adoptive father a great deal to help restore peace to the city after the riots ended and he'd speak about his kids regularly whenever we were working together."

"Well, first things first lets see if we can find her somewhere topside first," Councilor Kiramman sighs. "She'll likely just get herself killed before even finding them if she's attempting to take her revenge in her current state."

"Pardon me, ma'am," one of the chefs speaks up from just behind Cornelia, having just finished scooping some eggs and potatoes onto her plate though looking to Councilor Kiramman as he speaks. "Are you looking for the young pink haired girl that came in with you and the sheriff last night?"

"We are, Horace. Have you heard anything?"

"Yes ma'am, I overheard Gretchen mention to Meredith earlier this morning that she'd found her and Miss Caitlyn sleeping together upstairs in the library when she'd brought Miss Caitlyn's laundry up to her room," Horace informs them.

Well... at least that's better than her going after Silco.

"Ah, I see," Councilor Kiramman puts her silverware down and begins to stand, the look that crosses her face nearly mischievous as she looks to Cornelia. "Well, since we'll need to speak with the both of them anyway, I suppose we should retrieve them for breakfast."

"Would you like me to send someone for them, ma'am?"

"Oh there's no need for that, Horace," Councilor Kiramman waves him away gently. "I'm sure that the sheriff and I can manage wrangling our teenagers to breakfast on our own," Cornelia takes the hint and joins the councilor, standing and following her out of the room, leaving her husband behind to continue conversing light heartedly with the staff members still serving breakfast.

Cornelia's only been to this portion of the estate a limited number of times in her life, typically when Caitlyn was dragging her away from a gala to show her all of the latest additions to her trophy case, and follows Councilor Kiramman's lead down the barely familiar hallway. Finally they come to a stop outside of an already open door and the councilor accompanying her freezes at the threshold for a singular moment. The next a small huff escapes through her nose imbued with the semblance of a laugh as she steps further inside, gesturing Cornelia in after her as she does so.

It's exactly as was said. Caitlyn's laid out on her stomach on the couch, her face literally buried in a book while her shins are draped neatly over Vi's lap. Vi on the other hand had carefully collapsed against the arm of the couch, curling herself around it to keep her bad shoulder from getting crushed by her body weight, another book clutched loosely to her chest as she sleeps.

"I suppose we need to wake them," Cornelia can't keep the slight grin off her face, taking in Vi's uncharacteristically relaxed posture and the youthfulness that's clear on her sleeping face, unmarred by the shear weight of the trauma that she's already endured in her short life.

Cornelia had already made up her mind the night before while speaking with the elder Kirammans after Vi'd (supposedly now) gone to bed, but seeing the girl like this solidifies those plans into a burgeoning future.

She'll just have to get Violet on board.

Vi wakes up in a flurry of movement.

One moment she's drifting, deep and boundless in her dreamless sleep and the next she can sense it. Someone close, someone reaching out to touch...

Vi's hand snaps out to grasp a delicate wrist, eyes not so much as flickering open as she instinctively prevents the intruder from touching her bunkmate, her words tumbling out in a barely awake grumble. "Fuck off, Mylo. Leave 'er alone, she needs 'er sleep," Vi yawns, letting her brother go and curling up deeper into bed. "She's a growing baby."

There's a deep and only slightly familiar chuckle from somewhere behind her, though the sound is more pained than amused. "I'm afraid your brother's not here, Vi."

Vi's eyes snap open hearing that and she tenses, her eyes going wide and darting wildly around the unfamiliar space as she tries and fails to leap to her feet, suddenly realizing that there is an actual person sort of using her as a pillow. Hands, her own, reach out in a blind panic to keep her from accidentally throwing the other girl off the couch thanks to Vi's sudden, jolting movement as she's assaulted by conciousness.

"Sorry dear, we didn't mean to startle you awake," a hand, one she's able to place half a second later when everything comes flooding back, grasps her uninjured shoulder lightly. "However, we didn't want for you or Caitlyn to miss out on breakfast. You'll need your strength while you're recovering."

Vi rubs the sleep out of her eyes and reassesses the situation, recalling where she's at. Caitlyn's awake and somewhat awkwardly detangling herself from Vi so she can sit up, not that they were particularly tangled together in the first place, with her mom's help. Her mom, a councilor, who Vi might've just told to fuck off if she's reading the amusement from the adults in the room correctly.

Yep, never mentioning this again.

"Did you sleep alright?" Grayson asks after Vi mumbles out an it's okay in response, Vi still trying to wipe the sleep from her eyes and finding them heavy with exhaustion and grief.

"Yeah, once I passed out," Vi yawns, holding up the book as she clutching to her like a doll. "I read this whole thing 'fore that happened though."

Vi holds the book up for inspection, ignores the surprised look on Caitlyn's mom's face and focuses instead on the way that Caitlyn brightens hearing that, despite being hunched over slightly in pain, her meds clearly having worn off at some point while they were resting. "So you enjoyed it then?"

"Oh, yeah, it was good," Vi stretches as best she can with her arm in a sling, her spine popping loudly as it realigns itself after sleeping in such an awkward position all night. "You look like you're gonna pass out though, is your back alright?"

Vi really hopes that she didn't accidentally hurt her in her panic after waking up as Caitlyn makes a so-so gesture with her hand.

"The medication I was given has certainly worn off already, but I suspect I'll feel fine once father administers my next dose," she hisses slightly as she stands, her mom reaching out to steady her as she rises to her feet. Vi can't help the twang of guilt at the sight, remembering that Caitlyn wouldn't even be hurt if she hadn't jumped between Vi and an exploding building. "I assume we overslept?"

"Indeed," her mom nods, the movement sharp. "But we took a late breakfast since we were all up late last night anyway, so it's only just now being served."

Vi, taking the hint, slowly drags herself to her feet as well and shuffles out of the room after the adults, though only once she's feeling comfortable about Caitlyn's stability trying to walk on her own. She purposefully walks in front of her down the stairs in case she trips so Vi can at least try to pay her back for everything that happened to her yesterday and keep her from tumbling down them.

When they enter the dining area Vi finds herself being dragged over to one side of the frankly huge table by Caitlyn, who pulls out a chair for her and waits for her to sit before doing so herself like some noble weirdo which Vi's starting to suspect she might actually be.

"Please tell me you have my medication," she hears Caitlyn whisper to her father, who's sitting on her other side, keeping a close eye on his daughter from the moment she enters the room. "I'm pretty sure if I try to eat anything like this it won't stay down."

"Yes, of course, dear," Caitlyn's father starts flittering around his pockets while Vi's attention is pulled away by someone trying to feed her. Or at least figure out what she wants to eat because apparently there are options and oh man she can count the number of times she's had steak on her hands and it's certainly never been on the menu for breakfast of all meals.

The fact that they, a total stranger, precut it for her since she can't use a knife at the moment is a level of luxury she's not sure she'd ever be able to get used to. Even if she greatly appreciates it so she's not stuck making a fool of herself trying to cut it on her own in front of all the fancy rich people she's currently having breakfast with.

She only comes up for air (and starts paying attention to the conversation that's happening around her) after she's finished her first plate and is being offered seconds. Choosing to get a bit adventurous and trying a little bit of everything that's being served when it's offered.

She might as well gorge herself while she still has the opportunity. She's not sure when, exactly, all of this is going to go away, but she knows that without Vander and her siblings around, next meals aren't going to be remotely guaranteed things.

Not for a long while anyway.

"So Violet," Vi visibly jolts when Caitlyn's dad uses her full name to address her. It makes her feel like she's in trouble for some reason. "As I mentioned last night, given the state of your arm it's probably best that we don't delay treatment long. I've got a former colleague over in Demacia who specializes in joint reconstruction that I wrote to last night. It'll take him about a week or so to get here, but this isn't the type of procedure that you'd want anyone but an expert to undertake as you could end up in far worse shape than if we simply left it alone otherwise."

That's... a lot to take in. They're bringing in a doctor from a whole other nation just to handle fixing her shoulder. That's... well. There's no way that's cheap. Surely there's someone topside good enough to be worth the risk so they don't have to pay that type of money for a trencher they met like... less than a day ago.

Caitlyn's dad continues, seeming to take her lack of response as her not having any questions. "In the meantime you'll want to keep it immobilized to prevent the damage from getting any worse. You're only cleared for light activities at the most until it's fully recovered."

Yeah... she's not sure that's particularly realistic. Not living down in the Lanes.

She'll be lucky if she doesn't have to fight anyone while recovering, much less stick to whatever 'light activities' means up here. She's pretty certain roof running alone doesn't count as light by any stretch of the imagination, and that's a normal day-to-day activity for her.

"That's... not exactly the easiest thing to pull off in the underground," Vi explains carefully.

"Well you're hardly going back down there any time soon, so that shouldn't be an issue," Grayson says, something about her tone catching Vi off guard. If she didn't know better she'd say she sounds protective of her when she says it. "You're hurt, rather badly I might add, and we know for a fact that Silco wants you dead, he said as much last night. He doesn't want any loose ends and you're Vander's heir, you're about as much of a loose end for him as you can possibly get."

"So you'll be protecting her then, right?" Caitlyn joins the conversation, giving Grayson and her mom a hard but not exactly antagonist look.

Stern might be the word for it, Vi's not completely sure.

It's pretty sweet though, if Vi's being honest with herself.

"Of course," her mom responds, the look on her face clearly meant to pacify her daughter more than anything.

"We went over some of the details last night after you both retired for the night," Grayson explains and well... obviously this is news to Vi, but she frankly didn't think there was going to be an actual plan. She'd figured they were all going to play this by ear, but in retrospect she supposes that's not really the topsider way of doing things. "Councilor Kiramman's going to get the paperwork in order this morning for me to be appointed as your legal guardian until you come of age."

...huh.

"You know I'm only like... fifteen, right? You lot don't consider someone an 'adult' until they're like... eighteen."

"I'm well aware," Grayson looks more amused than anything as she speaks. "I am the Sheriff of Piltover after all, I'd certainly hope I'm familiar with our laws. But I'd made a vow to Vander that if anything were to happen to him, I would ensure that you and your siblings were safe and taken care of... and this was many years ago, when you were far, far younger than you are now."

"Oh," it's all she can really think to say to that. Vander'd never even mentioned that he was working with the sheriff to begin with until she found out on her own and now the more Vi learns about their partnership the more questions she feels like she has about it.

"I know this must come as a bit of a shock to you," Grayson continues and Vi's not sure if she's doing a bad job of hiding her feelings or if Grayson's just that good at reading her as she continues. "Vander and I kept most of our dealings together rather discreet. With how high tensions were running in the city after the riots, people would have lost a great deal of respect for him if our work together became public knowledge, it was safer and more beneficial to the city for us to be working together in secret rather than in the open."

Vi remembers her own reaction to finding out about their deal and yeah... she was pissed off and Vander was her fucking godfather and adoptive father. She can't imagine how the rest of the Lanes would have reacted to that news... or rather she can and knows that she has a point. "That's... fair, actually," Vi takes a couple more bites of her food in a daze, not even enjoying the rich flavors properly as she tries to digest this information.

"It's also going to take some time for things to settle in the Undercity," Caitlyn's mom continues. "We're already getting reports of violence spreading throughout the Promenade due to the power vacuum that's been left behind, and with the Enforcers loyalty in limbo our options to respond are beyond limited at the present moment."

"I get the distinct impression," strangely it's Caitlyn who responds to her mom's comment instead of any of the adults currently gathered around the table. "Simply based on my own experiences down there yesterday, that sending in Enforcers of any variety would only lead to further problems, even if we didn't have concerns about their loyalties to the city."

"She's right," Grayson says, Vi nodding along in agreement.

Sometimes it's better to shut up and let someone else do the talking, and out of the three of them, she's pretty sure that Caitlyn and Grayson are the ones her mom are the most likely to listen to. Not that Vi can help herself from tacking on her thoughts once they've spoken.

"None of us would trust a damned Enforcer with anything, no offense," she shoots Grayson a barely apologetic smile, earning a wry one in return. "You don't get to waltz around beating people up just for existing for years and then demand they trust you to protect them when it suits you, it doesn't work like that."

"Beat..." Caitlyn's dad looks alarmed, while her mother's lips thin as she otherwise keeps her expression neutral. How could they possibly not know how bad it is down there? "Sheriff?"

It's again Caitlyn who speaks up, her shoulders squared and a venom in her tone that feels uncharacteristic even though Vi's known her for, at best, about eighteen hours. "Oh, just wait until I'm through filing my complaints about what I saw while I was down there," her mom cocks an eyebrow at her. "You recall the other children from the Undercity who helped us last night? I met them when they were being brutalized by a pair of Enforcers on a power trip, who mind you weren't even meant to be in the Undercity yesterday. I had to threaten them with both my name and my rifle to get them to leave the four of us alone."

"Do you know who they were?" And now Mama Caitlyn's mask breaks slightly, an anger simmering just beneath the surface at the knowledge her daughter was threatened.

Typical, but useful.

"I could pick them out of a line up and the woman was named Connie, which I assume narrows it down significantly," Caitlyn shifts in her chair, wincing slightly as she does so before continuing. "However, I also know that they weren't the only ones who'd disobeyed orders in order to go down there and abuse their authority against the civilians down there. Mr. Wan warned me to stay away from all of them and the ones that I did run into didn't rebuke me when I told them to gather their companions as they left, so there were presumably several pairs of them participating in the same pattern of illicit behaviors yesterday. Which mind you is also not going to help with the present situation."

There's something almost... proud? On Caitlyn's mom's face as she listens to her report in on her, fairly accurate thus far, impressions of the underground and their relationship with the Enforcers.

"So how would you all suggest proceeding then?" Caitlyn's mom asks, her eyes darting between the three of them. "I'll have to report these matters in to the rest of the council this morning and the final say on how we'll act will come to a vote, but I would of course value any insights you have on the matter before speaking with them."

"I think," Vi sighs after a long moment of silence stretches out over the table. "That it's already too late to stop this... the only person I can think of who might be able to get enough support to calm things down quickly would be me, but given the state my arm's in I wouldn't be able to do much in terms of like... fighting right now, which is the only way to come out on top down there."

"I see... then perhaps," Caitlyn's mom hums, her eyes far away as she considers Vi's words. "There is a way to play this to minimize further violence spreading throughout the city and to keep this Silco fellow from gaining any further traction in the Undercity while we figure out what our next moves are. Would you feel up to joining me and Sheriff Grayson today, Violet?"

"Um..." Vi looks at Grayson, who's staring at Caitlyn's mother with her eyebrow cocked but an otherwise neutral expression on her face. "Sure, but uh... what's the plan?"

"Simple. To tell the truth," the older woman pushes away from the table slightly and as if cued more people appear out of the woodwork and start clearing away the dishes from the table, though they thankfully leave Vi's food alone since she's not done with it. "We publicly denounce Silco and his operation and admit that he'd managed to infiltrate our ranks to stir up greater tensions between the two halves of the city, both now and during the riots. We'll also make it a point to have Marcus and anyone who was following him within the Enforcers charged with treason and ensure they receive proper punishment for their actions."

"I'm still not sure I follow," Vi admits, rubbing at the back of her neck. "That's all well and good, but it doesn't stop the people that are trying to grab power right now."

"That's true. As you said there's likely little we can do immediately to quell it. However, you've also pointed out that you're the best shot we have at unity. If you back these claims while we leak that you're now in protective custody because your father's killer, one of said people trying to grab power, is after you as well, it might lessen tensions enough for myself and the council to step in and calm the unrest amongst the general population at the very least."

Vi's not sure how she feels. She doesn't love the idea of working with topside, they're supposed to be the enemy, after all. But at the very least this plan doesn't involve Enforcers and riot gear... and maybe she can play this right for herself. Guilt all the topsiders into actually doing something to help with the conditions she's been stuck living in all her life.

She remembers Sevika, grabbing her around the waist and stopping her from saving Powder. Remembers the faces of each and every one of the people that betrayed them and maybe? Maybe Vander was right, in a way. Maybe there's something to be said about working together and unity and all that shit.

Caitlyn gives her a small, hopeful smile from her spot next to her and Vi remembers the fire she'd seen moments ago when she'd talked about the conditions in the Undercity. Remembers Grayson covering for her and doing her best to save Vander, even if she'd failed to in the end.

She has people up here that are in her corner now.

Something she can't even say for certain about her own home anymore.

Well shit.

"Alright," Vi nods, holding up her hand to stop any premature celebrations. "I'll help... but on one condition."

Caitlyn's mom gives her an almost amused look, gesturing for her to continue while Vi tries to avoid the other eyes that are staring at her from around the table as she offers her terms.

"Vander's second in command? Benzo? He had a kid too and he'll have a target on his back the same as me," Vi crosses her arms over her chest, trying to make herself seem larger than she feels right now, surrounded by all the rich and powerful people at the table. "You want my help, we find Ekko and get him somewhere safe too."

"Deal," Sheriff Grayson speaks before the councilor has the chance. "He can stay with me as well, although I'm uncertain how quickly we'll be able to get more than a couple of undercover operatives searching for him, given the situation in the Undercity at the moment."

"If you haven't found him by the time I'm recovered," Vi gestured down to her arm and the sling it's currently trapped in. "I'm going down there after him myself."

"Fair enough," Sheriff Grayson shrugs, finishing off the last of her tea before moving to stand. "But if it comes down to that you won't be going down there alone. Either myself or one of my officers from the Undercity will accompany you for your safety. I should have the department sorted out by then anyway."

That's... actually probably a really good deal for her, all things considered.

"Agreed," Vi nods and grabs her mug and takes a long drink of the horribly black coffee just to give herself something to do.

"Well then..." Caitlyn's mother coughs slightly and glancing up Vi's relieved to see her looking between her and the sheriff, unable to fully mask the amused twinkle in her eyes. "Now that we're through negotiating, shall we get started?"

Caitlyn visits Vi every single day that she's in the hospital recovering from surgery.

The first time she'd told herself that she was simply wanting to make sure everything had gone well; in an official capacity, that is. But Vi was on a concoction of medications that had left her loose and giggly and only mildly aware of her surroundings, so Caitlyn had taken it upon herself to give Sheriff Grayson and her brother the opportunity to go home to sleep and shower while she'd stood guard in their stead. Not that she'd been allowed to bring her rifle with her to the hospital, but they weren't exactly checking her for weapons and she is a decent shot with her hand pistol, even if it's not her preferred style of armament.

It's her duty to make sure that the younger girl's well tended to and most importantly safe, after all... and Caitlyn won't hold her shot if she's in danger again.

Her frequent visits to the hospital certainly don't have anything to do with how amusing she finds Vi nor with how intrigued she is by this girl from another world. One that's only ever been a river's swim away, yet still seems as foreign to her as Shurima or Bilgewater does. These seemingly dangerous places full of live and adventure the likes of which she's only ever read or heard stories about.

Not the type of place she's been allowed to visit. To know and understand like she does Piltover or Ionia or even Noxus up to the north.

There's so much she wants to understand.

About Vi. About the world at large.

She holds Vi's hand when she wakes up from a nightmare. Helps cut up her food since she's down an arm so she can eat... and then drops by the cafeteria to make sure that they'll be doing so for her in the future and if she subtly reminds them who's paying their wages when they look like they want to argue, well... that's between her and the gods. Waits patiently for her eyes to clear, for the fog to lift as her dosages slowly lower and then they talk.

Not every time, but when Vi's strength is up and Caitlyn can't contain her enthusiasm any longer, Vi answers her questions with a slight grin gracing her features. Vi asks some of her own in turn, most of them about the sheriff, which Caitlyn supposes makes sense given that she's her legal guardian now. Eventually, however, she asks if Caitlyn will bring her a couple of books to read and suddenly that's all they can talk about for the last week and a half until Vi's finally released.

The entire time Caitlyn struggles with her own nightmares. Memories of that night haunting her, driving her to find a way do better.

To be better.

Vi deserves that much at least.

They all do.

Once the numbness finally fades away, Vi's not sure if the pain or the anger is the worse part.

It takes time to get there. The never ending, drug induced haze of recovery is unfamiliar to her and allows her emotional reckoning to be pushed back for a time. She spends the first four or so weeks after moving in with Grayson (who's at least managed to convince her to drop her title in casual conversations) sleeping on the couch while Grayson and her younger brother Gerald take turns keeping an eye on her.

Taking turns standing over her, making sure that she's not assassinated in her sleep by the figures that now haunt her never ending nightmares. Silco's face appearing before her more times than she can count, a silent specter of death and destruction. Sevika's snarling, her heated breath against the back of Vi's neck, the feeling of arms pinning hers to her sides while the older woman sneers poison into her veins. Her goons, his goons now, the ones that would hang around The Last Drop laughing and playing with her and Powder when they were little, now wielding bloodied daggers and crimson-stained rags as they advance on her.

She really hates how easy it is for him to calm her down afterwards, Grayson's brother.

Hates how he'll make her this thick, rich chocolate drink that she could have only dreamt of in the past to help brighten her spirits. How he'll wrap a fresh blanket, one that's not soaked through with her sweat, around her shoulders while keeping his voice calm and low as he reassures her that everything's alright now. Hates that it reminds her so much of Vander in the days following her parents deaths. How the older man checks over her bandages and reapplies the ones she'd managed to rip outta place during her panicked thrashing with a soothing touch.

It's during the fifth week that Vi's allowed to finally ween herself fully off of the pain meds that Dr. Kiramman's friend had gotten her. And with that her coordination slowly returns, allowing her to finally get up and down the stairs without tripping over them and get around to exploring the rest of the house that she's now supposed to call home.

...which means that, six weeks into living with Grayson, Vi finds herself being led into her new bedroom. The room is almost as large as the entirety of the living space that she'd shared with her family of five only a couple of months ago and she doesn't know what to make of it, all of that room set aside for Vi alone... she's really not sure what to do with all of it.

Actually, once they find Ekko (which still hasn't happened, in spite of Grayson's purported efforts to do so, which Vi's praying to Janna means he's just being smart and gone into hiding instead of the alternative) she's sure they can figure out how to fill it between the two of them.

He'd probably love to have a workstation for all his little tools and gadgets.

Grayson has thankfully gotten her a bed already, which is set up in the center of the room and far larger than any she's ever slept on out outside of the one night at Caitlyn's place... where she'd passed out on a couch instead. But so far that's all Vi can see that's in the room as Grayson leads her further into it.

"Once we're both feeling a little bit better," Grayson is saying as Vi gingerly sits on the foot of the bed, testing the mattress and trying to preserve her dignity and not to show too much joy at how it bounces under her weight. "We can go out to the markets and acquire proper furnishings and such for your room... and of course you're free to decorate and rearrange things as you'd like."

"Oh cool, thanks," Vi flops back onto the bed to escape the awkwardness she tends to feel when speaking with the sheriff, her body happily sinking into the plain grey sheets that had been stretched across it. It is, admittedly, one of the most comfortable beds Vi's ever laid on aside from the one over at Caitlyn's place.

"And once we've found young Ekko," Grayson continues on, barely acknowledging Vi's awkwardly delivered gratitude beyond a small smile. "I've already got the room across from yours set up for him as well. I figured you'd both feel more comfortable being in the same part of the house instead of having your own wings."

Well, there went Vi's plans for her room.

"I also took the liberty of having one of my officers go down to The Last Drop to pack up whatever they could find of your family's belongings before the place could be looted," Vi... hadn't even really considered it yet and in spite of herself she can't help feeling a small kernel of gratitude towards the older woman for thinking of it for her. "I also have the box of items that they were... able to collect from the scene of the warehouse fire that are rightfully yours as well."

Vi freezes slightly at that, the only movement the rise and fall of her chest as she glances up and over at Grayson. She can tell even before her eyes start to water that she's not doing a good job of hiding how that news makes her feel.

"It's okay it you aren't ready to go through any of it," Grayson reassures her. The sheriff's large, warm hand engulfing her good shoulder to squeeze it gently. "I just wanted you to know that it's ready for you whenever you are."

"Thank you," Vi murmurs slightly, sniffing as quietly as she can as she wipes her nose across the sleeve of her linens. "I-I hadn't even thought about it yet."

"You don't need to," Grayson reassures her. "That's what you've got us adults for, alright? You just need to focus on trying to recover from everything. Dr. Wartsen said you should be cleared for light activity soon and current reports coming in from the Undercity indicate that the worst of the unrest has begun to settle so..."

"I can go look for Ekko soon?"

It's the first time in weeks that Vi feels like there's something she can try to do other than just wasting away topside while her body tries to knit itself back together.

"Indeed. I have a couple of officers I've already cleared to work with you on it. They're going to come over for dinner at some point in the next couple of nights so I can make introductions. Officers Asako and Boone are both from the Undercity as promised and have been leading the search for Ekko thus far, so they'll be able to fill you in on their efforts as well."

Does Vi really want to have dinner with a couple of Enforcers? Not particularly.

Does the fact they're both from the Undercity and are going to help her find Ekko make up for it?

Maybe?

Kinda?

Hopefully.

As it seems it does, in fact, make up for it. Vi can't help thinking as much as she stands outside the Grayson Estate, flanked by two younger men who are dressed similarly to her, only unlike Vi they're covered from head to toe in ink. Tattoos spilling over necklines and creeping along their skin from beneath worn sleeves.

Grayson's repeating her warnings from night prior from where she's stood in front of them, though Vi can barely hear her over the blood pounding in her own ears. She's so close to getting back down there. So close to diving back into the depths of her home in search of the only family she's got left.

"...back up here immediately," Grayson's saying as Vi manages to wrangle her emotions in check long enough to tune back in. "This isn't the time to be a hero and we're still uncertain as to the size of his operation."

"And we still haven't caught the former Deputy Lorde either," Zayne Asako, the bald officer with a full head of tattoos covering his skull, points out. "My sources state that he's been cut loose, but no one seems to have any clue where he's at now which has me worried."

"Why?" Vi scoffs, looking up at him with an eyebrow raised. "It's not like he's going to have any other friends down there, right? He's as good as dead if he's not working for Silco anymore."

Zayne shrugs. "Desperate people find a way. I'm just saying we should keep an eye out for him as well. If he's looking to get back into Silco's good graces, taking you out might be the best opportunity that he has... and that's assuming my sources are correct."

"Guess I can't really argue that," Vi shrugs, grinning casually as she glances between her companions. "You lot haven't been up here too long, right? Still know how to move 'round? I don't wanna get slowed down by some old men."

Alec snorts, reaching down and ruffling her hair, leaving Vi to futilely try to bat his webbed hands away. "We're undercover most of the time kid, we can't work undercover in the Undercity and not know how to roof run, we'd get caught out in an instant."

"And do you know of any trencher who could walk that couldn't by the age of seven?" Zayne tacks on, grinning down at her. "Don't worry, we'll be fine."

And they are fine, but the deeper they get into the Undercity? The further away from topside and the protection it offers? The more obvious it is that's not been the case down here, the signs of recent conflict carved deep into the landscape.

Bullet holes riddling the sides of buildings. Chunks missing out of the sidewalks from explosives detonating in the streets. Piles of bodies left to rot in the alleyways they deftly avoid.

The blood. The stench of iron that seems to linger in the air for the amount of it that's seeped into the earth below.

A pit opens in Vi's gut the more they witness, a pit that's slowly filled with fire as the day progresses. Carnage surrounding them in the aftermath of Vander's death, but there's not a single sign of Ekko to be found. She hates this. She hates him, more than she's ever hated anyone in her life.

More than she hates the Enforcers who killed her parents.

The ones he tricked into attacking them, all those years ago.

As they eventually give it up for the night and start to return topside, Vi catches sight of the hollowed out shell her family died in and instantly freezes. Her mind going blank as she stares at the wreckage for several long moments before Zayne finally notices she'd stop and turns back to her, his eyes darting between Vi and the warehouse, his mouth a grim line as he watches her.

"Did you know..." Vi starts quietly, not certain if this was meant to be a secret still or if that part of the plan has already been put into motion, but she needs to rip the poison out. Needs to give it name and shape before it consumes her. "That he was responsible for what happened on the bridge seven years ago?"

Alec swallows hard, his face hardening slightly behind Zayne as he turns to look out onto the bridge. His expression twists up into something achingly familiar as Zayne takes a couple of steps back to stand next to Vi, gently wrapping an arm around her recently healed shoulders and giving her a short one-armed squeeze.

"I didn't," Zayne admits as he releases her. "Who was taken from you that time 'round?"

Vi inhales sharply at the question, tears stinging her eyes and she can't tell if it's because she's angry or heartbroken. "My parents," she says quietly. "Vander was my godfather... he was there too. Realized my sister and I were still out there when the fighting was finally dying down... he grabbed us both, picked us straight up off the cobblestone and carried us back home..."

There's a long moment of silence between the three of them.

"Both of my sisters died in those riots," Alec says after a moment, pulling a cigar out of his pocket and lighting it up. "It's why I joined the force when Sheriff Grayson took over. Said she was going to do whatever it took to make sure nothing like that happened again and now look where we are..."

"She tried," Vi says softly, probably surprising herself more than either of the men present by defending the sheriff. "She knew something was wrong and tried to push back, but the council wasn't willing to budge."

"I know," Alec sighs, rubbing at his temple like he's got a headache and taking a long draw from his cigar. "She wouldn't stop bitching about it afterwards she was so pissed off. Zayne and I got cleared to keep working pretty early on when they started auditing the department and she was so damn angry 'bout it all behind closed doors."

"And when they were open too," Zayne chuckles, the sound torn between amusement and pain. "I heard she chewed out the council while high off her ass on her pain meds a few weeks back. Just walked in, demanded an audience and then spent an hour telling them all the ways they'd failed the city."

Vi sputters slightly. "And they let her?"

"Apparently," Zayne grins slightly down at her, his eyes alight with amusement. "Councilor Kiramman wouldn't let anyone interrupt her while she was going on, said they all needed to hear it."

"Didn't her kid almost get killed in all this? I can't imagine she'd be happy about that," Alec points out and Vi shakes her head before thinking about it.

"She really wasn't," Vi grins slightly. "She's kinda scary, but boy was I happy to see her when she showed up."

Vi quickly learns that Councilor Kiramman did not make her appearance during the admittedly short fight (once she arrived at least) publicly known and Vi happily distracts herself from the dark turn her thoughts have taken by regaling them with the story of the Councilor's flight down into the Undercity to save her daughter as they continue the return trip topside for the night. Intentionally leaving all of the more horrific, or illegal on her end, parts of the story out and focusing more on what Councilor Kiramman and Grayson had done in the aftermath.

She figures that it's not exactly part of the plan they'd came up with, but if telling the truth about what happened that night will help them with the whole city unity thing, then why not share a maybe slightly embarrassing(?) story with some trusted Enforcers? Vi's not actually sure why Caitlyn's mom's part in this isn't public knowledge, but she figures it makes the councilor look good to other trenchers if nothing else.

Family's important in the underground, so hearing about how Cassandra Kiramman's a human being who loves her daughter enough to personally come dive into the Undercity to protect her? That's going to mean something, especially when paired with the work that Vi's hearing rumblings about her performing with the council since... like the stint with Grayson Vi's just learned of.

And well... Vi's got no issue helping shore up her reputation amongst the folks on Vi's side of the river if that's all she's gotta do to help right now... even if it's just with the other flipsiders like her for the time being.

It's hard, watching the girl slowly withering away.

It was easier when she was still deep in recovery, when the vast array of medication she was on was keeping her emotions subdued. When the grief couldn't permeate the thick fog and leave her a lingering husk haunting the estate.

Cornelia didn't know Vi personally before she'd found the teenager living with her, so she's not entirely sure how best to handle this. They'd never even met prior to Vander's death, one of the many things that she's had time to regret in recent weeks. One of a million different 'what ifs' to have rolled around in her mind, slowly torturing herself going over all the ways this could have been avoided if she'd been born just a little bit braver.

If she'd loved him out loud, if she hadn't feared the backlash she'd face amongst her peers, none of his kids would have felt the need to steal to put food on the table in the first place. All of this madness could have been avoided in its entirety.

Cornelia finds herself lingering outside of Vi's room, the box of items the girl'd requested clutched loosely under her arm while she works up the courage to knock. Or at least as she prepares herself mentally for the conversation that may or may not happen once she enters, depending on Vi's mood.

Because that's the other big issue.

Vi doesn't actually trust her. Not entirely at the very least. There's always the slightest hesitation when it comes to their interactions, a lingering something that's yet to be spoken aloud that Cornelia isn't really sure how to approach with her either.

She'd never planned on having kids. It's always seemed cruel, considering how dedicated she is to her work. It's also one of the many excuses she's used over the years. She's never really been a family woman, aside from her brother and a couple of cousins living in Noxus she's not even sure she could list any of her other relatives, much less have a relationship with them.

She's got her siblings in arms on the force; it's all she's ever really needed aside from Gerald and Corinth.

Even if many of said siblings have historically been in dire need of admonishment.

She's working on it.

Desperately.

Her bum leg is starting to hurt a bit from just idly standing there, so she sighs under her breath and knocks, her cane clutched in her fist as she forces the action through before her conscious mind can continue overthinking the action.

Only a moment passes before Vi's voice calls back inviting her in, the younger girl's voice somewhat scratchy from lack of use. She rarely leave her room unless she's headed down to the Undercity with Officer's Asako and Boone looking for the missing boy and when Caitlyn visits, which is only on the weekends when she doesn't have school or some social function to attend with her family.

Cornelia doesn't have the heart to confront Vi with the devastating truth... that if they haven't found the boy by now he's probably already dead. There's only so much a twelve year old can do to survive on their own, after all. But the only time that someone has dared utter it a loud, which she only knows about because Officer Asako informed her during his debrief, Vi had shut them down immediately and aggressively, absolutely certain that her twelve year old was built differently than you average kid. Had insisted that he's still alive and given that Cornelia can barely even get her to eat half of the time, she isn't willing to squash that flicker of hope in her prematurely.

Not until she feels confident Vi can handle it.

"Hello, Vi," Cornelia forces her self not to wince at the sound of her own voice, the words feeling clunky as they spill out of her mouth. "I retrieved the items you asked for from the storage unit this morning, but you and Officer Asako were still out when I returned."

Vi perks up slightly as her words, something that might have held the essence of a grin causing the corner of her mouth to twitch as she sits up from bed. She puts the book she's reading (one of many that Caitlyn has brought over for her during the handful of visits they've had thus far) aside as her eyes dart to the box. "Oh, thanks."

Cornelia nods a little sharper than she means to as she places the box on Vi's bedside table and the teen starts rifling through it without a word, pulling items out and tossing them onto the bed next to her until everything in the medium-sized box is now laid out across it.

There isn't anything fancy inside, simply a number of obviously sentimental items to her. A poster of a dark haired woman Cornelia doesn't recognize, a slightly dented saxophone, a pair of worn boxing gloves that had probably been pretty nice when they were new.

Vi pauses as she starts to pull the final item out of the box, her breath hitching slightly as she lifts a small off-white stuffed bunny from within it. Unlike the other items, Vi pauses with the bunny in her lap, her fingers running over the short, rough-hewn fabric fashioning it's fur.

Cornelia feels like she's intruding and is half a second away from excusing herself to let Vi process whatever it is that she's feeling in peace when a soft sniffle causes her to freeze in place instead. "My mom gave this to me before she died," Vi says softly. "I gave it to Pow... when I gonna turn myself in."

Cornelia swallows hard and hobbles the rest of the way over to the bed, carefully lowering herself to sit on Vi's other side, away from the belongings that she's strung out over the rest of the space. She's not sure where this conversation is going and she's still not sure how to help... but she's gotta try, right?

Thankfully, Vi continues on her own when Cornelia doesn't interrupt her. "I just..." she sniffles harder, curling slightly in on herself and staring at the wall in front of her with unseeing eyes.

"Yes?" Cornelia asks her after she's paused long enough it feels like she'll need the push.

"I told her to stay behind," Vi says after another moment, her voice barely above a whisper. "After Silco took Vander, Ekko and I ran back to The Last Drop to warn everyone what had happened and I told both of them to go to ground and not come back up until the danger had passed or me or one of the boys came looking for them."

Which then of course begs the question, why was the younger girl at the warehouse in that case?

"A sensible decision given the circumstances," Cornelia doesn't point out that, ideally, none of the teenagers would have been involved either, considering that she'd intended to ask them to do exactly that that night. "Do you know... would you like to talk about what happened?"

Vi sighs, deflating slightly as she pulls her knees against her chest, wrapping her arms around her shins. "I-I don't know," Vi says weakly as she presses her forehead against her knees. "She killed them."

That gives Cornelia some pause, but Vi continues before she can say anything.

"She had a bunch of those explosive rock things you told me about," Vi continues quietly. "She was obsessed with trying make this little bombs. Monkey Bombs, she'd call them."

Cornelia remembers the blue lightning that had drawn her and Caitlyn's attention during those perilous hours only a handful of months ago. She has a bad idea she knows where this is headed, she already knows how it ends after all. "She tried to come and help you save Vander," Cornelia guesses correctly as Vi responds with the slightest jerk of her head.

"Yeah," Vi sniffs. "And you want to know what the worst part is?" Cornelia can tell it's a rhetorical question and Vi plows on without encouragement, the words seeming to punch themselves out of her now that they've been allowed to surface. "We'd almost got him out. We were so fucking close to getting away when the explosion happened."

Vi doesn't seem to notice the tears that escape, looking a little bemused when Cornelia offers her the handkerchief out of her pocket, but accepting it and wiping the tears away regardless. "The last thing I did before she died was break her nose a-and call her a jinx."

She whispers it like a confession and Cornelia doesn't feel like there are words that could possibly help with this. What could she possibly say to take the sting of grief away, when it's weighing so heavily on such young shoulders?

"But it was my fault. It was my job to make sure they were okay and I led them into a damned mess and somehow was the only one to survive it... I got them all killed."

There's... way too much to begin unpacking there and Cornelia isn't prideful enough to think she alone is going to be able to help her through this. Still, she can't bring herself to stay silent on the matter.

"You are not responsible for the events that occurred that night. No, listen to me," Cornelia holds up a hand when Vi opens her mouth like she's going to interrupt her and she can hear it when her teeth clack shut. "The sad reality is that you and your siblings got caught up in something far larger than any one of you and we could go around in circles forever blaming everyone and ourselves for what happened. I've certainly blamed myself plenty," Cornelia confesses, hopes that knowing that they're in the same boat will help take the sting out even a little. "But at the end of the day, there was one man responsible for the tragedy that befell your family."

There's a long pause while Vi seems to consider her words.

"It's easier," Vi says once she's ready, her voice so soft that Cornelia would struggle to hear her if it wasn't for their proximity and the silence permeating the room. "Blaming myself... then I could have done better. I could have been better."

Cornelia sighs lightly, being careful not to voice it in case Vi mistakes it for annoyance at her and not at the situation. She tentatively reaches over and gingerly wraps her arm around Vi's recently recovered shoulders. The teen freezes slightly at the touch before slowly leaning into it, her body tense as Cornelia pulls her a little more securely against her side, the awkwardness in the room slowly dissipating the longer they remain there.

They stay like that, silent and unmoving for several minutes while Vi quietly cries, leaning her head against Cornelia's shoulder. Vi's body wracked with tension from the effort it takes not to let herself be consumed by the sobs that she's still refusing to allow to escape.

It's progress, if nothing else. Better than the numbness and anger that have been the majority of what anyone's been able to pull from the younger girl thus far. She makes a note to herself to send out a missive to Dr. Kiramman to see if he's got anyone, a professional of some variety, that she can send Vi to to help her sort through this mess of feelings that she's dealing with.

It's the very least she can do for her right now.

After her frankly embarrassing breakdown in front of the sheriff, Grayson starts joining her on the trips down to the Undercity to look for Ekko whenever she has the time. It's kinda nice, though it's hard for Vi to admit even to herself that she's warming up to her.

It's helped spending the last few months listening to Grayson share the shockingly numerous stories about her and Vander's adventures in keeping the peace in their fractured city. It's made her appreciate them both a bit more, the amount of work that she's realizing they'd put into keeping things from boiling over (on both sides) after the riots ended.

She's also pretty sure she's not supposed to know that much about the goings on in Piltover's politics, but she's also fairly certain that the older woman is doing her best to cheer her up with the more lighthearted or action-packed stories she's shared, so she doesn't point that out.

This afternoon they're heading back down into the Lanes proper to search for Ekko, taking advantage of the long hours of a late summer night. Alec's not been coming with them lately, though she's not been clued in on whatever assignment he's currently working on. She's fairly certain he's gone undercover somewhere and won't be joining them for a while, however, based on the bits and pieces she's put together.

So today it's just her, Zayne, and Grayson heading across the river in the Undercity, hoping to follow up on some of the vague leads they acquired last time when they went down and scoured the sumps the previous weekend. She tries not to think too hard about how the searches have been decreasing in frequency, the adults around her unwilling to broach the idea that this is pointless even when Vi's starting to believe so herself.

Or at least, that's what Vi thought the plan was until they arrive at the bridge and she spots two of the people she would have least expected to ever find lingering at the entrance to the Undercity... currently lingering at the entrance to the Undercity.

Caitlyn's dressed up similarly to the day they first met, her hunting clothes, Vi'd been informed during one of Caitlyn's occasional visits whenever her load at school let up enough for her to have some free time. Next to her, and far more surprising, is her mom... aka: a fucking councilor, dressed up similarly to her daughter and greeting Grayson with one of those weird Piltie hellos you give someone when you like them but don't want to like... publicly acknowledge it?

Pilties are really weird sometimes.

"It's good to see you out and about Cornelia, how is your leg feeling?"

"Much better now, thank you Councilor Kiramman," Grayson chuckles slightly. "The surgeon your husband recommended did a wonderful job with the bone reconstruction, although I've been told the first aid I received kept his job from being too difficult."

Caitlyn flushes slightly when both Grayson and her mother give her pointed, slightly proud looks, her eyes darting to the pavement in embarrassment from the praise.

Vi's unfortunately too distracted trying to figure out what the hell they're doing here to fully appreciate it. Her first thought had been that they were going to tell them it's time to give up the search, but that thought is quickly rejected thanks to their clothing choice...at least unless this is just a really weird pit stop on the way out to their hunting property. Caitlyn mentioned she'd be out of school for the summer soon, so maybe she's following through on her threats to spend the next three months living in the woods away from everyone else.

Just me, my rifle, and my target, she'd said, going through the motions as if she'd gone through the motions of lifting her rifle against her shoulder, taking aim, and firing a shot at the IV drip that had been feeding Vi's meds directly into her veins at the time... which had led to Vi dramatically pretending to bleed out while Caitlyn tried (and failed) to muffle her giggles at Vi's antics while she was high out of her mind.

Vi pointedly ignores how the thought of not seeing Caitlyn for that long makes her stomach drop. Tries to ignore her racing thoughts and keep up with the conversation that's happening in front of her and manages to tune in just in time to piece together that they're coming with them.

Into the Undercity.

Because apparently, when asked what she wanted to do this summer, Caitlyn had sat her parents down and given them an very detailed presentation about how helping them search for Ekko would look good on her resume... and had then threatened to go by herself again if they said no.

So apparently that's that, and here they are.

For some reason, Vi finds it that much easier to breathe, knowing she's got Caitlyn's support at the very least.

It feels a lot less lonely this way.

Caitlyn's mom doesn't come with them every time. Sometimes its her her dad that joins them (though they don't tend to get super far when he's there, the older man somehow getting side tracked trying to offer medical aid to half the city when he's there with them) and sometimes it's just them with either Grayson or Zayne depending on who's free during the weekend.

There's something about Caitlyn's presence that reinvigorates her. The obsessive focus she offers to the task, unwavering in her devotion to the mission. Like she also can't imagine a world where failure's an option. Like she has faith in Vi's assessment that Ekko's alive so there isn't any other end, like it's only a matter of finding him.

Her faith in turn helps to renew Vi's, helps to drag her out of the pit of caustic toxicity that her mind's threatened to become lately. Helps to keep her focused on the task at hand and makes blocking out the pitying looks she gets from the adults as the summer drags on all the easier.

In the end, however, they end up finding him entirely on accident just a few weeks before Caitlyn's due to start school again and Vi's set to start working with a tutor that Grayson's set her up with.

Or rather, Ekko manages to find them.

It starts with Vi not paying enough attention to their surroundings, distracted by her ongoing conversation with Caitlyn about the latest book they've been reading as they're heading back topside. Six months ago, she'd have been the one picking some oblivious topsider's pocket and running off with the loot.

Now, Vi's the one left sputtering, blindsided as a kid rushes past one of her topsiders, bumping into Cailtyn hard enough for her to stumble forward and leaving Vi to lunge forward to steady her as she watches the kid palm her coin purse and take off into one of the nearby alleyways with it.

Shit.

Vi darts after the kid half a second later, as soon as she's instinctively aware that Caitlyn's got her footing again. She's only vaguely aware of Grayson shouting something behind her and the long strides of Caitlyn taking off after her a moment later as her eyes scan the buildings on either side of her, her mind cataloguing the best ways to get up onto the rooftops in case she loses sight of the kid.

Not that that information ends up being super relevant as she turns the corner and freezes at the sight in front of her, her blood boiling and running cold simultaneously at the familiar sight of dark skin and black hair, a cigarette hanging from between smirking lips and half a dozen familiar faces backing her up.

Of course it was a trap.

The now familiar sound of a safety being disengaged reaches Vi ears from behind her, a second click sounding soon after as (she assumes) Grayson catches up with her and Caitlyn. Vi doesn't look, doesn't take her eyes off of Sevika's no longer broken form, her missing arm having been replaced, now sporting a brutal looking prosthetic with horrifyingly purple veins running through it.

"So the rumors really are true, you are Piltover's dog now."

"Don't you fucking talk to me, traitor," Vi spits in return, her lips curled back into a snarl as she bares her canines at the older woman. "By the time I'm done smashing your face in your own mother won't recognize you, bitch."

Sevika huffs out a small laugh. "Cute," she lets the cigarette fall to the ground and puts it out with her boot, not taking her eyes off of Vi for a second. "But you're not escaping the Lanes alive again, kid. You and Vander have fucked up shit enough down here already. It's time for Zaun to claim its place in the world and your little stunts topside are making matters... difficult for us."

Vi grins. Good. She wants to make their lives difficult.

"Then it sounds like I'm doing my job perfectly."

Sevika's eyes narrow, a low growl ripping from her throat just loud enough to be heard bouncing down the alleyway as she takes half a step towards Vi. She's tensing, preparing to launch herself into a fight when several things happen around her all at once.

First, something's thrown from one of the nearby rooftops into the middle of the group of goons following Sevika. A small canister that Vi's barely aware of being flung, much less has time to make note of before it starts spewing some type of thick black substance into the air, like an evil smoke bomb.

Secondly, there's a strange rattling behind her and to the right, the same direction that the smoke bomb(?) had come from. Vi doesn't look, doesn't hear any alarmed or warning voices calling to her from her companions so she remains facing the known threat in front of her. Taking a couple of tentative steps back as Sevika's people start coughing and gagging on whatever they're slowly being enveloped by.

She's definitely not getting caught in the middle of that shit.

Finally though her attention is fully pulled away from the fight when a heart wrenchingly familiar voice calls down to her from the roofs above. The words as familiar as the sound of his voice as Ekko yells down to the three of them to "fucking move it!" to the fire escape he's released, the rusty ladder now hanging a mere couple of feet off the ground.

"Ekko!" Caitlyn calls back, tone dripping with relief as she darts to the ladder and Vi'll take the time to be impressed how quickly she puts it together later when they aren't in danger.

"Who the fuck are you?!"

Vi can't hear Caitlyn's response since she's already halfway up the ladder by the time Vi looks back at Sevika to find her blindly charging towards her, tears streaming down her face from whatever it was that Ekko did to the group of them. Vi'd seen Grayson starting towards the ladder as well, so she doesn't bother trying to find a way to give her an angle to take a shot. Just ducks underneath Sevika's wild haymaker and lands two quick jabs to her stomach followed by a weak uppercut, just enough to knock her off balance long enough for Vi to make her own wild dash over to the ladder.

Because as much as she'd love to use the opportunity to beat Sevika's traitorous ass to a bloody pulp, she's got a lot higher priorities right now than she did thirty seconds ago and she knows,deep down that even in her current state she's unlikely to actually beat Sevika in a fight.

Vi takes a running leap at the ladder and grabs onto one of the rungs closer to the top, not even bothering to use her feet as she pulls herself up, hand over hand with her legs tucked up to keep anyone from grabbing a hold of her. A couple of shots fire from above her and then she's rolling up the top of the rusted ladder, spinning around and giving it a couple of harsh kicks until the equally rusty bolts holding it into place tear free, leaving the ladder to collapse into the alleyway below, smashing directly into the man who'd been trying to climb up after her and sending him sprawling out against the cobblestone below, groaning as he's crushed beneath unyielding iron.

"Come on we gotta go," Ekko grabs Vi's sleeve and tugs her hard, his wimpy kids arms unable to budge her but the plea in his voice easily dragging her body forward without thought, all of her conscious efforts going into not launching herself at him and crushing the poor boy in her arms like a scrawny little grape.

Ekko leads them through the back alleys with the efficiency of someone who's lived in the Lanes his entire life. He shoots nervous glances in Grayson and Caitlyn's direction from time to time as they travel, but Vi takes and squeezes his hand reassuringly when she gets the opportunity. A silent promise both to explain and that everything's alright and he doesn't question her.

Ekko leads them back to his base, a brightly lit area with grass sprouting out of the necrotic earth with a large sapling that has no business sprouting down here growing in the center. They collapse around it and Vi finally drags Ekko into her arms, sobbing into his hair as she clutches him close. Huge choked sounds heaving out of her as her lungs struggle to bring in enough oxygen. She can't even think to bring herself to feel embarrassed about it as Ekko clings to her in turn, his tiny fists balling into the back of her shirt as his tears quickly soak through the front.

Everything's a mess right now but if nothing else at least she's finally found him.

Caitlyn already struggled to enjoy attending the parties and galas hosted by her family before the incident in the Undercity with Sheriff Grayson, but now they're just downright miserable. If she hears one more fellow aristocrat congratulate her on a job well done before not-so-subtly trying to goad her into spilling the details of the night she's going to go insane... and not in the fun, quirky way.

She'd failed.

She doesn't deserve accolades for that.

Not when five innocent people had died on her watch.

Not when she didn't take the bloody shot. Not when she had the chance, the opportunity, to have saved Vi's sister and managed to completely squander it. Freezing up and allowing Silco to not only kill her, but to escape punishment in the aftermath... during the chaos that followed her disastrous attempts to help, when all she'd really managed to do was make things even worse.

Yes, Caitlyn really doesn't deserve their praises.

The front doors open and glancing up from where she's stood next to her mother, Caitlyn feels relief flood her system as she recognizes her only saving grace for the evening waltzing in only a moment later, the announcer calling attention to the latest arrivals as they step foot into the ballroom.

Sheriff Grayson's in her dress uniform as she steps inside with Vi and Ekko's now fairly familiar facades trailing behind her, the pair talking quietly as they take turns messing with each other's bow ties, though Caitlyn can't tell if they're trying to straighten them or simply mess with one another. The pair clean up well though, dressed in matching cut suits, although Vi's is plain and black where Ekko's is green and even from a distance Caitlyn can make out a swirling black pattern pressed into the fabric.

"Pardon me, mother," Caitlyn says softly, drawing her mother's attention from her conversation with Councilor Medarda, gesturing to the door as she speaks, drawing both of the older women's attention to the recent arrivals. "I'm going to go and greet our guests."

"Oh, thank you, dear," Cassandra nods, glancing back at Caitlyn with a quizzical look on her face. "If you wouldn't mind sending Sheriff Grayson over to speak with us about the latest reforms we've been discussing, I'm sure that her wards would enjoy getting to see the gardens. They don't have a lot of flora down in the Undercity."

Caitlyn recognizes her mother's subtle attempt to give her a way out of the gala, one that she's eternally grateful for as she nods in return, forcing her smile to remain as neutral as possible.

"They are rather impressive," Councilor Medarda nods along in agreement, her eyes on Vi and Ekko as she speaks. "I remember seeing them for the first time after I arrived from Noxus, and let me assure you, their beauty is almost overwhelming when you're unaccustomed to such sights. Enough to bring a man to tears, I reckon."

"Then I'll be certain to bring my handkerchief along," Caitlyn grins slightly, her heart fluttering in her chest as that pulls a seemingly genuine chuckle from the older woman. "I'll see you later mother. Have a good evening, Councilor."

"And you as well," Councilor Medarda gives her a small handshake before turning back to her conversation with mother and Caitlyn makes a break for the entryway as soon as their eyes are off of her.

She doesn't want to seem too excited.

Caitlyn finds herself standing in front of the sheriff and her wards only a couple of seconds later and Vi looks about as happy to see her as Caitlyn is to see Vi, the tension that Caitlyn's now close enough to see in Vi's shoulders dissipating immediately at the sight of her.

"Good evening everyone, welcome," Caitlyn tries her best to at least attempt to act like a proper host, considering that's what she's excused herself to do. "I hope you're trip over was smooth."

"Well, we managed not to get jumped by the fashion brigade on the way over so, so far so good," Vi grins, her arm thrown loosely around Ekko's shoulders while Sheriff Grayson's face twitches like she's trying her hardest not to smile at their antics herself.

"Well that's certainly a relief," Caitlyn doesn't bother hiding her responding grin as she turns to the sheriff. "My mother and Councilor Medarda were hoping to speak with you about the reforms you are all working on."

"Ah yes, duty calls then," Sheriff Grayson looks between her and Vi and Ekko, clearly not wanting to abandon them this quickly to the snakes that are high society, but knowing that she can't simply say no to two councilors summoning her.

"Mother suggested you might enjoy getting to see the gardens while they're busy," Caitlyn addresses Vi and Ekko, politely and indirectly assuaging Sheriff Grayson's concerns as she lowers her voice and leans in conspiratorially. "And you can be rest assured it's considerably less boring than staying in here."

Ekko laughs at her assessment while Sheriff Grayson shakes her head in amusement, ruffling his hair playfully. "Okay then, you kids go have fun, I'll come find you when the party's over and it's time to head home."

Caitlyn still hasn't spent that much time with Ekko thus far.

It's only been a month or so since they found Ekko and Vi convinced him to come back to Piltover with them all, something she'd admitted to Caitlyn in private that she'd expected would be considerably harder considering their shared history, and Caitlyn's done her best to give them space to reconnect in the weeks since.

"What're these?" Ekko asks as he points to one of the vast variety of plants littering the walkway, as he's done with every tree, shrub, flower, or vine wall he's found remotely fascinating as they've walked further and further away from the party.

This particular one's an easily recognized species of flowering vines.

"That's a Climbing Rose," Caitlyn informs him. "It's an engineered species of flowering vines which was created by a Demacian botanist named Gregor Vynce for the royal family's garden's a little over two hundred years ago."

"Someone paid to create a new type of flower?" Vi scoffs, clearly finding the idea a little ridiculous, which Caitlyn supposes is fair when you grew up just trying to make sure you've got enough money to put food in your belly.

"Yes, and as a result during the Decamian-Freljord conflict twenty years later, several Freljord assassins were able to use them in order to scale the walls and kill the then king, which led to his son outlawing them and banishing the creator from the kingdom."

"Holy shit..."

"Indeed," Caitlyn nods gravely as they continue walking, Ekko walking slightly ahead of them and paying more attention to their surroundings than the conversation. "Mx. Vynce ended up settling in Piltover afterward during the early years of our existence and was responsible for many of Piltover's agricultural advancements during that time. It's actually considered good luck to have them growing in the gardens here in Piltover."

"As long as you don't stick 'em on the walls at least," Vi laughs and Caitlyn finds herself laughing along with her without restraint. Not even consciously aware that she's letting her guard down, forgetting to even cover her teeth with her hand as her own barks of laughter are exuberant enough to expose them.

"Yes, you'll notice they're rather pointedly placed in the central portion of the gardens."

"Touche," Vi chuckles.

"What about this one?" Ekko points to a somewhat less familiar shrub, the mixture of green and orange fronds erupting from the ground.

"That's an Autumn Fern," Caitlyn responds after a moment, having to sort through the index of flora in her mind to place it. "They're a rather resilient species, difficult to kill off and native to the Freljord. If you pull one of them up so you can see underneath, there are going to be these bright red spores along the underside this time of year."

Ekko does exactly that, a soft cool escaping from between his lips as he collects some of the aforementioned spores on his fingertips.

It only takes another minute of walking for them to reach Caitlyn's favorite part of the garden, and she tries (and likely fails) not to beam at their wide eyes as they're taking in the vast field of purple blooms in front of them. Allows them a few moments to take it in in silence before speaking.

"This is my favorite section of the garden," Caitlyn informs them, unable to keep the pride out of her voice. "There's still more I can show you, of course, but I figure we could stop here and eat first," Caitlyn nods to the basket of treats they'd snagged from the kitchen on their way out, which Vi's been silently carrying around for them as they've caroused the garden.

"Aw hell yeah, I could eat," Vi's expression of awe morphs into a small grin as she glances over at Caitlyn, meeting her eyes for just a second before pulling away to look for a bench for them to eat on, of which there are several to choose from.

"What're these?" Ekko points to the flowers that are surrounding them and Caitlyn takes a moment to pluck one of the blooms and tuck it behind Ekko's ear, earning her another grin, before responding.

"These are violets," Caitlyn explains, watching as Ekko's eyes go wide and his grin turns mischievous. "They're my favorite type of flower, which is why there are so many of them. Mother had them planted for me so I'd stop sneaking off to the city terrarium when I was little."

Ekko cackles and Caitlyn has the distinct impression that she's missing something important as he turns to Vi. Vi who, now that Caitlyn's attention has been drawn back to her, has turned bright red while they were talking and is now digging through the contents of their picnic basket as if her life depends on it.

"Did you hear that?" Ekko's voice sounds teasing and Caitlyn's not really sure what's wrong with liking violets until he speaks again and oh now her cheeks are suddenly starting to heat up as well. "Her favorite flowers are violets, Vi."

Wait a minute.

"Hold- is that what Vi's short for?"

"Maybe," Vi grumbles while Ekko continues laughing at their expense. Enjoying the teens embarrassment.

"Why didn't I think of Violet," Caitlyn murmurs softly to herself though still loud enough both of the others can hear her, feeling like the world just shook loose around her. "I was certain it was going to be like... Vivian or something."

"You thought my fucking name was Vivian?"

Vi actually sounds a little offended hearing that.

"I'd figured out that Vi was a nickname when you were still in the hospital and there aren't many names to choose from that start with those letters, so assuming it wasn't made up entirely by your parents there were only a few options."

And I wasn't going to jump to the conclusion you were named after my favorite type of flower.

"Well, it's short for Violet, definitely not Vivian," Vi gags a little before turning to Ekko, her eyes wide and a little wild as she looks at him pleadingly. "Tell me the truth lil man, do I look like a fucking Vivian to you?"

Ekko tilts his head to the side, giving her a once over before he shrugs and makes a so-so gesture with his hand. "I dunno, you could prolly pull it off."

"Traitor," Vi grumbles under her breath as she goes back to sorting through their snacks with a huff. Caitlyn decides to take pity on her, teasingly fearful of what might happen with that much blood rushing to Vi's face so quickly.

"Well then, Vi" Caitlyn sighs dramatically, plucking another flower from the field as she strides over to Violet, tucking the second flower behind her ear. "I suppose that makes you my favorite too."

She's not willing to admit it yet, but that might very well be the truth.

The fourth time the Cornelia comes home and finds Vi's knuckles bloody and bruised with a poorly patched hole punched into her bedroom wall, she knows that this, what they're doing right now, isn't going to work.

Now that they've found Ekko Vi can't exactly distract herself with the search, which has unfortunately left the poor girl with more than enough time to overthink everything that's happened. Even with the tutor that she's working with taking up most of her mornings while Cornelia's at work, she's still left with the entire afternoon free to get trapped up in her own thoughts, something Cornelia's realized over the last several months that she struggles with a great deal.

Like each of the previous times this has happened thus far, Cornelia leads her into the bathroom and carefully cleans the cuts on her hands and helps her rebandage the wraps on her arms, soaking the now blood-stained bandages that she'd been wearing in the sink while getting Vi to down some pain killers to help with the inflammation.

"You can't keep going on like this, Vi," Cornelia says as gently as she can manage, trying to remember and use all the lessons and tools the therapist she's been seeing had given her for this exact sort of situation. "Hurting yourself while lashing out isn't going to help anyone, including yourself."

"I know I..." Vi's face crumbles a little. "I just feel so..." she makes a frustrated motion with her hands, the emotions she's trying to describe clearly too big for her to handle given her delicate state of mind. "I just... I want someone to hurt."

"But it shouldn't be you," Cornelia says easily, keeping her tone firm but gentle. "Tell me, if you were feeling this way a year ago, how would you have handled it?"

Vi pauses picking at her wraps to consider the question for a moment. "I mean, honestly? I'd have gone and gotten into a fight, or like a bunch of fights, to vent steam til I felt better. I just... I can't do that up here but it's all I wanna do half the time and I can't let myself lose control so I just... I've gotta..."

Punch holes in the wall so you don't punch the next person to ask you a bunch of invasive questions about your upbringing, or worse, your family's deaths.

Because Cornelia understands why she's not comfortable hanging out around town. She just wishes people would be a little less invasive so she'd have options other than hiding away in her room all day. It's clearly just making matters worse for her, being cooped up with little to do aside from making sure Ekko was fed and did his homework... which also isn't her job.

"I may have an idea, but this'll only work if you agree to both parts," Cornelia explains, figuring that this is as good a chance as any to bring up the tentative plan that she's been working on while Vi nods, her head tilting towards her indicating that she's listening even if she won't make eye contact with her. "I want to have you start seeing a specialist to help you sort through the emotions you're dealing with right now. I'm also seeing one and it's been rather helpful coming to terms with what's happened... and I think if you agree we could get Ekko some help in that regard as well... he saw his guardian's death as well and is likely struggling with it as much as you are."

Using the boy is a bit of a low blow, she'll admit, but she's figured Vi out pretty well by now after living with her for this long. And Vi? Vi's willing to do just about anything to help her family, and right now that's pretty much just Ekko.

"And the other part?" Vi looks like she's bracing herself for something bad and Cornelia's feeling good about her choice to start with the less pleasant one instead of the other way around.

"I've been asking around and I've managed to secure you membership on one of Piltover's junior boxing teams," this time Vi perks up, her eyes going wide in barely contained excitement at the prospect. "In fact, I didn't have to do much to find you one. Between your credentials as a combatant and my seal of approval you've actually received a couple of offers to consider, so you can pick a team to join."

"Wait, really?" Vi asks, looking almost as happy as the day they'd found Ekko... actually Vi had spent most of that particular day in tears, so she actually looks happier right about now.

"Yes," Cornelia nods, biting back the wide grin that's threatening to explode across her face and keeping it to a slight smile. "I'm not comfortable with you going in the ring with your mind all twisted up like this, I don't want you or someone else getting hurt because of it... but between the therapist and the physical outlet I think it would be really good for your mental and physical well being."

Vi sighs and leans her head against Cornelia's shoulder like she had previously, although this time around Vi's posture is far more loose and relaxed with her than the last time.

"Alright, I trust you... if you think it'll help me and Ekko out I'll do it."

For someone who had never wanted or intended to help raise kids, Cornelia feels abnormally light hearing that.

Caitlyn still hasn't fully decided if this is actually a good or a bad idea yet, but it's a little too late to stop now... Jayce and Viktor are already expecting them and Ekko at the very least seems overjoyed.

When Caitlyn had learned during lunch the afternoon after she'd met Vi that Jayce had broken out of his cell after she'd left with the help of Professor Heimerdinger's assistant, she's just about had a calf while trying to think of literally anything that could stop this from getting any worst for him... they'd already banished him from the city after all.

Then came the elation-filled gut punch that was finding out that he'd somehow managed to prove his theory right in a single night, earning the support of House Medarda which along with House Kiramman's support had allowed them to get his banishment overturned and the Council fully invested in the future of his magic technology stuff.

It's Hextech, Cait! Jayce's voice beams happily in her head.

Considering that it was his lab blowing up that set everything into motion, however, she's not really sure how Vi and Ekko are going to feel about him or his work. Then again, they might appreciate getting to meet someone else who'd moved up to Piltover from the Undercity, and Viktor had seemed genuinely excited at the prospect of having them over for tea.

Especially once she'd explained that Ekko's a bit of an inventor himself and might enjoy a tour of the lab they're currently working out of, for the moment at least.

Vi hasn't said much, although Caitlyn's still uncertain if it's because she's upset or just not as into the science-y stuff like Ekko. But she's grinning softly and nodding along as he excitedly talks about the prototype that he'd been working on and is bringing along to show them. Some type of flying board thing that he's been trying to figure out how to make work.

Okay... and maybe Caitlyn also doesn't exactly share his enthusiasm for the science stuff and that's part of the issue. She's well educated, sure, but half of the stuff Jayce talks about when he's working sounds completely foreign to her and maybe she's been avoiding hanging out with him and Viktor on purpose and she's dragging Vi and Ekko along as a buffer as much as for a proper introduction.

She just ends up feeling like the third wheel the entire time when she goes to visit them alone, like Jayce has finally found a best friend that's actually on his level and able to keep up with him and all his brilliance... unlike Caitlyn.

It hurts a little, but at least she's got Vi and (typically) Ekko now, case in point, to keep her company, so it doesn't hurt like it once might've in the past. Back when she was still largely alone, too jaded and entirely untrusting of her classmates intentions and left with no one else to turn to aside from her parents and the sheriff for companionship.

Caitlyn shakes the thoughts away as they reach the hallway that Jayce and Viktor's lab is located off of and she fixes a slight smile onto her face as they approach. "Right this way, the lab's just through here."

She holds the door open for them to enter as they arrive and follows behind them a moment later. She enters just in time to watch as Jayce turns a dial on whatever device he's currently working on and a bolt of familiar blue energy lashes out and snaps at him, causing Jayce to leap away from the dial and topple over onto the floor with a yelp of pain while Viktor watches on from a safe distance away on the other side of the room, his expression unchanging as he quietly sips on a cup of tea.

"I don't think that worked."

Jayce looks up and over at his lab mate from his spot on the floor, hissing slightly as he shakily goes to stand up. "Yeah, I'm inclined to ag-uff." Caitlyn cuts him off as she barrels into Jayce's chest, nearly sending him sprawling back onto ground before pulling away just as quickly to check him over for injuries.

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine sprout," Jayce reaches up and goes to pat her on the head like he did when she was little before noticing the grease currently staining his hand and refraining at the last moment. "Just uh... science-ing a little too close to the sun, I suppose."

"What's wrong with it?" Ekko asks from the entryway, jumping forward excitedly while Vi lingers by the door, quietly observing them with a neutral expression plastered across her face. "What's it supposed to do?"

Jayce looks up and seems to remember that Caitlyn was bringing guests.

"Oh, sorry, one second let me just..." Jayce jumps back onto his feet, swaying dangerously for a second as he pulls a cloth out of his pocket to clean the grease off before holding out a hand for Ekko to shake. "Hi! I'm Jayce Talis, and this is my partner Viktor. You must be Ekko."

"And to answer your questions," Viktor pipes up before Ekko can do more than nod. "We're still uncertain as to what's causing the issue. As for what it does however..."

"And you must be Vi! Cait talks about you all the time whenever she drops by to visit," Jayce beams as Vi shakes his hand, a small smile gracing her features as Caitlyn shouts Jayce's name in a tone more befitting a toddler than a teenager. Viktor meanwhile continues speaking to Ekko as if the rest of them aren't even there.

"...the Council has asked us to utilize Hextech to find a way to accomplish instantaneous long distance travel. We've managed to prove it's theoretically possible during our earlier experiments, but presently it's unreliable and can only travel a short distance."

"Jayce will you shut up?"

"Woah," Ekko looks at the device with renewed interest while a blushing Caitlyn tries to physically bully a laughing Jayce away from Vi, only sort of paying attention to Ekko and Viktor's conversation at this point as Vi's laughter harmonizes with Jayce's. "And I thought making a flying board would be cool."

"No can do, sprout, this is my responsibility as the closest thing you've got to an older sibling," Jayce teases and Caitlyn finds herself unable to make him budge as she tries to push him away from Vi.

"Are you trying to make a flying board?"

"Can confirm, it's definitely an older sibling thing," Vi grins, shrugging at the look of betrayal Caitlyn shoots her over her shoulder, having managed to wedge herself firmly between the two at least.

"Yeah... I actually brought it with me, I was hoping you might take a look at it?"

"You two are going to act like a couple of absolute imbeciles together, aren't you?" Caitlyn hates how fond her tones comes out in spite of herself.

"I would be delighted to... and I believe Jayce may be a little too preoccupied to continue with our own project at the moment anyhow."

Considering that both Viktor and Jayce are wanting to find a sponsor to get Ekko into the academy when he's old enough to enroll by the end of the meeting, Caitlyn feels rather accomplished for the day... even if it was at the expense of her own dignity.

After that, Ekko starts spending a few days a week helping Jayce and Viktor out around the lab. Mostly he's helping them out with smaller tasks, handing them tools and holding things in place for them while they work. But Jayce had boasted, rather loudly and proudly at a gala they were both forced to attend, to the council members present about how he'd figured out a solution for whatever issue they were having (something about copper not conducting magic well and them needing an alternative material for the wiring apparently?) and that they'd been able to make great strides in their research since then.

It also means that Caitlyn's once again largely spending all of her free time with Vi, whom she's starting to realize may in fact be the closest friend that she's ever had who was anywhere near close to her own age.

She tries not to really think too hard about that.

Right now they're hanging out at the estate while her mother and the sheriff are holed up in the office upstairs doing further work on the Enforcer reform project they've been trying to untangle for months now. Not that Caitlyn's thinking too much about it, distracted by Vi's presence in her living space while they lounge around in the library just talking about whatever happens to come up.

"...she also grabbed my sax which was great. It's a bit dinged up but she said that we'd take it to someone that makes instruments to get it fixed."

And now that's an absolutely wonderful tidbit of information to glean.

"I didn't know you could play an instrument," Caitlyn props her chin against her palm as she grins over at Vi, who shrugs while her cheeks pinken slightly.

"I never like... got lessons or anything, just tried to figure out how to play the songs that Vander had on the jukebox is all."

"You say that as if it's not impressive in it's own right. I'm a classically trained pianist and couldn't do that," Caitlyn shakes her head, standing up and holding out a hand to help drag Vi up onto her feet. "Come on, I want to hear you play."

"What?" Vi sputters as she's dragged out of the room. "I-I don't have it with me right now."

"We have at least one saxophone you can use in the music room," Caitlyn can't keep the excitement out of her voice. "Don't worry, I'll play something for you too," Caitlyn gasps, her eyes somehow going even wider. "We could play something together."

"Okay, okay," Vi fumbles slightly as she's dragged down the hall by an overly excited Caitlyn. "Just, don't expect me to be like... good at it or anything."

Vi is, in fact, pretty good at it once her nerves decide to give her a break. She plays Caitlyn a song that was apparently one of her mother's favorites when Vi was young and Caitlyn plays her a traditional Ionian melody that she'd been taught when she'd first started playing, her fingers dancing over the keys on instinct as she'd honed in on Vi's own reaction.

When their parent/guardian find them several hours later, they've somehow managed to put together the most disjointed, technically flawed piece that Caitlyn's ever heard and she's hard pressed to remember the last time in her life she's had this much fun simply spending time with another person.

"Do you mean to tell me," her mother groans at the sight of them, pinching the bridge of her nose in faux exasperation. "That all these years I just needed to find you a dueting partner to get you to take up the piano again."

Caitlyn's pretty sure that's just Vi making the whole experience wonderful, but she doesn't tell her mother that.

Some things are better kept close to the chest.

Vi's never been to a fancy Piltovan shooting competition and she's certainly never seen snow before, but out of all their weird rich people parties she's gotten dragged to (all three of them) this one seems the most promising... and she's not just saying that because Caitlyn's been nervously clinging to her arm for the last several hours ever since winning the earlier competition, narrowly beating out Grayson during the finals of their shoot off.

Vi's not sure what exactly's throwing her off, because while Caitlyn definitely hates parties it's not normally this bad... though she certainly doesn't mind standing guard next to her the entire night. Getting to munch on finger food and sipping away on the single glass of wine that they were each allowed for the occasion while discreetly making faces at each other from the unfamiliar burn coating their throats whenever they're allow.

Actually, if these random people (who are clearly making Caitlyn uncomfortable when they approach) would just leave them alone to goof off in peace Vi would greatly appreciate it.

Especially the ones that keep on casually bringing up her family's death. The ones that try to ask them prying questions about one of the worst days in Vi's fairly short life. Who congratulate Caitlyn for saving Grayson with one breath (something Vi's fairly grateful for as well at this point) and then hurtling sharp insults about her home with the next.

Actually, the longer this goes on the more uncomfortable Vi's becoming as well.

Thankfully, Caitlyn manages to snag Jayce and drag him into a conversation with them about an hour in and while people still approach them to congratulate Caitlyn on her win in the competition, they don't seem willing to harass the two teens with a notable adult standing there conversing with them. So for once Vi doesn't exactly mind sharing Caitlyn's attention with Jayce while he's in the room with them... like seriously why is everyone so obsessed with him... sure he's nice enough and conventionally attractive if your into that and all rich and famous or what ever (okay she's starting to see it) but also she's Caitlyn's best friend now.

After all, pretty boy's stole her kid brother already, so now she's gonna get to steal his kid sister.

Fair's fair and all.

"If you want to dip out, I can go distract your mom," Jayce offers them quietly, clearly having picked up on Caitlyn's discomfort as well while he's been standing there with them. "I left my room unlocked if you want to go hide out in there for a bit, I doubt anyone would think to look for you there and I've been meaning to talk to her and Mel about trying to get Ekko into the academy in a couple of years when he turns eighteen."

"That would be lovely, thank you, Jayce," Caitlyn breathes out a soft sigh of relief and Vi shoots him a grateful look over her head. "I'm just... really not in the mood for their accolades tonight."

"Hey, it's no problem, sprout," Jayce returns Vi's grin when Caitlyn leans over to give him a quick one armed hug. "Just go wait by the entrance and once you see that she's distracted you can make a break for it."

Vi's starting to feel more like she's committing a crime than dipping out of a party early, but she supposes she's good for crime too if that's what Caitlyn needs from her right now.

Vi's already got the experience for it after all.

She and Caitlyn watch as nonchalantly as possible as Jayce slides up to Caitlyn's mom with a beaming grin and the dramatic hand movements she's grown accustom to from the taller man. They wait until she's fully engrossed in their conversation before giving each other a quick side eye and just as quickly dash around the corner and out of sight.

The pair of them make a break for Jayce's room hidden away deeper in the lodge as soon as they couldn't see the party any more, home free.

Caitlyn feels like she can breath again once they get inside of Jayce's room at the lodge.

She'd known it would be bad, had all but begged her mother not to ask her to compete this year. But family pride had won out in the end and Caitlyn had found herself once again on the course, picking up a rifle to compete for the first time since that night and somehow still managing to come in first. Even ignoring the fact that Sheriff Grayson always lets her win in the finals between them, she can't help the press of guilt and shame that bubbles up in her chest seeing that unearned trophy as it was handed to her.

If she'd truly deserved it, Powder would still be alive.

Caitlyn collapses onto Jayce's four poster with a soft groan, her legs flopping out behind her as she buries her face in Jayce's pillow. The lingering scent of his shampoo mixed with oil grease somehow enough to help calm her racing heart as she feels Vi tentatively settle onto the bed next to her.

A long minute of silence stretches out between them while Caitlyn's focused on trying to keep her lingering anxiety attack at bay. "You okay?" Vi asks her softly, the warm press of her palm against Caitlyn's back grounding instead of suffocating like it might have felt if someone else were the one trying to comfort her.

"Better now," Caitlyn admits, rolling onto her side so she can meet Vi''s concerned gaze. It's sweet of her, worrying about Caitlyn of all people, like she wasn't the one being asked a bunch of insensitive questions about the deaths of her family just a few minutes ago. "It's like this every event now, it's all they seem to want to ask me about."

"Your daring heroics?" Vi teases slightly though her eyes are empathetic as she flops down beside Caitlyn. Caitlyn, who scoffs at the thought, shaking her head.

"That's the problem," Caitlyn groans, pinching the bridge of her nose between thumb and forefinger. Not that she's willing to tell Vi what exactly the problem is, that's Caitlyn's burden to bear and she saw how uncomfortable Vi was when the folks at the party mentioned that night to them. It's simply better to leave it in the past... at least until Vi inevitably is ready to confront her about it. "It's just... I feel like I can't connect to them anymore. I was never good at it in the past, but after what I've witnessed I just feel like... like..."

Vi reaches over silently, her fingers pulling Caitlyn's away from where her nails are digging into her bicep and holding it between them. Gives them a squeeze and her a soft, encouraging smile. Allows her a moment to process her feelings without judgement so Caitlyn can continue.

"They don't feel real," Caitlyn tries to explain. "Their lives, their problems, none of them feel real. The world doesn't feel real to me anymore, like the days are passing by but none of them matter. It's like I need to-" fix this. "I don't know..."

"Cait..."

It's the first time Vi's called her that and a small, wet smile crawls its way into her expression in spite of the overwhelming pain that's been burrowing deeper and deeper into her chest. That has been with each passing moment for the last year.

"The only thing in the universe that feels real anymore is you."

Vi doesn't laugh or otherwise try to diminish the weight of Caitlyn's confession. She simply lifts an arm and Caitlyn slowly scoots forward until she's tucked underneath Vi's proffered limb, tucking herself under Vi's chin and melting into the comfort she's offering.

"So..." Vi whispers conspiratorially into her ear after a long moment, squeezing Caitlyn firmly around the shoulders. "Does that mean I'm officially your best friend now?"

"Hmm..." Caitlyn pretends to think about it for a moment, ignoring the flutter in her chest at the question as she nuzzles closer. "I suppose so."

"Aw hell yeah, take that, pretty boy."

Caitlyn takes the day off from school to spend with Vi, something they're both a little surprised her mom lets her get away with but are too grateful for to really question . Vi really hadn't want to be alone today and Ekko's busy distracting himself working with Jayce and Viktor in the labs while Grayson's being forced to work until a bit later in the afternoon. So if it wasn't for Caitlyn right now she would be forced to spend most of the day alone with her thoughts, which sounds like an actual living nightmare.

Caitlyn shows up early in the morning dressed for the unusually cool spring they're currently having. She's got a basket tucked under one arm and a whole thing of really fancy looking flowers in the other. Vi takes the basket in one hand and grabs Caitlyn's now free hand in her other one as they walk down the cobblestone streets towards the outskirts of the city in an easy, companionable silence.

There's still a low fog clinging to the morning when they arrive at the cemetery, giving the place an almost haunted vibe that probably shouldn't feel as comforting to her as it is. But it's not like she's really got a reason to fear the spirits that they're here visiting today.

Vi takes the thin but densely padded quilt out of the basket and spreads it out beneath a large oak tree settled across from the tombstones, while Caitlyn begins to unpack the various food items, books, and other things that she'd packed for them. While she's busy, Vi kneels in front of a collection of familiar headstones, brushing away what little dirt and debris she's able to convince herself is clinging to the (relatively) freshly carved stone.

Seven tombstones are arranged in a semi-circle around the tree, each adorned with a familiar name marking the final resting places of the majority of her loved ones. She'd been surprised when Grayson brought her here about a month or so into them living together in order to show her their graves. The tombstones for Vander, Benzo, and her siblings were nice enough, but Vi'll admit she'd actually cried a bit that night after she realized that Grayson had included ones for her parents as well.

Giving Vi somewhere that she can visit her entire family whenever she wants to do so.

She returns to Caitlyn and is handed a sandwich as soon as she sits down, which she digs into with ease while Caitlyn grabs a cupcake (which Vi teases her for packing instead of something more appropriate for breakfast, like a muffin) and starts breaking off bite sized pieces and popping them into her mouth. Once they're done, Vi walks Caitlyn up to each tombstone, one after another, and introduces her to the members of her family.

She starts with Benzo and keeps it brief. Ekko'll probably want to introduce at least him and Powder to her at some point and she'll let him take care of Benzo's side. But she tells Caitlyn a little about him, tells her about the time she'd helped him track down some kids who'd been dumb enough to rob his shop and they were forced to lay down the law of the Lanes.

Then she introduces Caitlyn to her parents. Admits that she can hardly remember them anymore, that it's only her mother's face she can even try to remember and that even then it's been fading as time goes on. But she can recall the warmth of her childhood. Remembers the little shed in the depths of the Undercity they'd lived in, how they had nothing material, but their hearts were full of such love she'd never truly felt impoverished.

After them it's Mylo and Claggor's turn and Vi spend nearly thirty minutes describing the adventures the three of them got up to in their earlier teens. Before Powder was old enough to convince them to let her tag along more often, regularly leaving her with Ekko and Benzo while the three of them works odd jobs around the Lanes for whoever had some coin to toss their way.

She contemplates the final two headstones for half a second before pulling Caitlyn over to Powder's, choosing to save Vander for last. She describes her sister, the life in her eyes and the brilliance of her mind. She proudly talks about her inventions and her friendship with Ekko and how they were always getting into trouble accidentally blowing things up. Grins down at Caitlyn and tells her about how she loved to shoot, about how they'd have probably been friends with how smart they both are.

Were.

Finally, she introduces Caitlyn to Vander. Tells her about how he took them all in and made sure they didn't end up on the streets. About how he taught her to fight, how to defend herself and the others from the dangers on the streets. Tells her how he was godfather and the one to name her, how he and her parents had been friends for years before she was ever born.

By the time they're done and stretching back out across the quilt, it's a little after noon. They eat the lunch Caitlyn had packed that morning and when Vi finishes before Caitlyn does she grabs the book they've been reading from the basket and starts reading it out loud, picking up where they'd left off that weekend and trading off with Caitlyn at the end of the chapter so she can read them the next one.

Ekko shows up about an hour later with both Jayce and, somewhat surprisingly considering the length of the trip, Viktor in tow. Ekko drags Caitlyn away for a moment for his own introductions, though he only takes the time for Benzo, Powder and a quick stop with Mylo and Claggor before sending her back to Vi and going through the rest with just Jayce and Viktor.

They hadn't discussed it, but she knows he's giving her priority with the others since she was closer to them and she loves him for it.

They leave shortly after to get back to the academy and Vi spends the afternoon laying beneath a grey sky with Caitlyn pressed up next to her, taking turns reading their book to each other or just chatting about whatever came to mind after they'd finished it.

She feels content by the time Grayson shows up in the earlier part of the evening. Not exactly happy, but the horrible weight she'd woken up with that morning crushing her chest in isn't as heavy anymore after spending several hours in quiet, peaceful mourning with Caitlyn by her side.

The older woman takes a few moments alone with Vander before they head back into the city. Caitlyn's hand not leaving hers as they walk through the now far busier streets until they get back home. Grayson makes everyone dinner, something with a rich gravy that's made of meat and potatoes that her cousin in Noxus had apparently taught her to make last time she visited. Ekko arrives halfway through preparations and is sent straight upstairs to wash off more grease than Vi's ever seen him covered in, which is in fact saying something.

Caitlyn stays for dinner and then stays the night without anyone saying a word about it. She's the one who's able to calm Vi down when she inevitably has a nightmare and Vi's the one to pull her out of hers, something she didn't even know that Caitlyn has, only an hour or two later.

Things aren't perfect, in fact, things are far from perfect.

But a year later, Vi's at least starting to heal.