Silent As A Mouse (Arcane League of Legends Vi X Reader)

Shimmer Begone

          "Did you know him?"

          My arms were crossed loosely in front of me, my eyes planted on the ground. Vi and I had snuck off to the side for a minute to collect our thoughts together while Jayce remained with the unnamed boy while the enforcers cleaned up our mess. A few passed between us as I slowly looked up at Vi, my tears long gone with their trails stained against my cheeks. Vi was leaning against a pile of crates behind her, and I was doing the same to a pile on the other side of her. The only thing keeping us apart was a small five-foot walkway where enforcers would come every now and then to clean up the bodies from the room to the left of us.

          "I did," I murmured, watching Whiskers nestle a little closer to Vi's neck. "He was a good kid."

          "What was his name?"

          I squeezed my eyes shut, for once hoping for a Twitch to appear. But nevertheless, my head never snapped to the side and my vision didn't flash over with blue and pink. I was--empty.

          "I--I can't remember," I stuttered out, shaking my head a little as I pulled my metal hand up and pinched the bridge of my nose. "I remember him with Jin--Powder. We babysat him from time to time when his mother talked to Silco and she wanted privacy. He was a good kid."

          Vi pushed off the crates she was leaning against as I pressed my lips together. Vi moved up to my side as I continued to look down at the ground, focused on trying to remember his name when her arm began slipping over my shoulder. I sighed, leaning my head into her some as she stood at my side while looking straight ahead as well as I did.

          "I'm sorry," she mumbled out finally as her thumb began dancing over the bare skin of my bicep. I closed my eyes, nestling a little closer to her as she wrapped her fingers around my arm before squeezing gently. "I'm sorry."

          "Barely knew him," I whispered, trying to make her feel a little better--and also myself. "I--I didn't really know him at all."

           Of course, this was when a Twitch took over and snapped my head to the side as a memory danced over my vision.

          "Ha! Beat you!"

          The boy laughed as I smiled to myself, laying across the ground in the Last Drop on my back. I began slowly picking myself up, smiling a little brighter at the sight of the boy standing proudly with his cardboard sword held high in the air.

          "Good job."

           Jinx began clapping from behind the bar, turning my attention to her as she grinned at the two of us.

          "What's next for our little hellion?"

          "I want to be like Mouse."

           I grimaced, blinking my eyes as my vision slowly came back to me.

          "You're a horrible liar," Vi mumbled down to me before pressing a soft kiss to my temple. She then gently pushed her fingers under my chin, turning my head so my eyes found her glowing blue ones. "You're not going to like what I have to say next--but it doesn't mean shit, okay? I'm going to talk to Jayce... I need him to believe me. But... don't listen to a word I say, okay? Promise me, Y/n--"

          "Okay," I stopped her short before leaning in and pressing a short kiss against her lips. "I trust you, Vi. You know I do."

          Vi began smiling a little, nodding as Whiskers scurried off her shoulder and perched herself onto mine. Vi then moved away, walking past another group of enforcers as they wheeled out one of the last remaining bodies laying on the ground. Jayce was still knelt down by the boy, his hammer rested a few feet away with the handle sticking upwards in the air. Vi stopped a little ways behind him as I slowly crept forward, watching the scene beginning to unfold from afar.

          "You didn't have a choice," Vi's voice came out a little soft at first, but it grew stronger towards the end. "He knew what he was signing up for."

        My heart bottomed out in my feet as Whiskers seemed to freeze on my shoulder. No--no, he didn't. My head jerked to the side as my lips pulled themselves into a tight line, a memory crowding my head. I remember his mother yelling at him in the Last Drop ordering him to stop fooling around and that was the last time I saw him. Silco said he was working upon his mother's request.

          Jayce rose to his feet while facing Vi, one fist bundled up at his side, "We're done here."

          "We haven't even scratched the surface. Silco's still out there," Vi quickly said while throwing a hand at her side.

          Jayce sighed, shaking his head a little, "Do you not understand? I am part of this now! The next parents who get a message their kid isn't coming home... I don't even know where to take it."

          Jayce's eyes found mine for a split second before I quickly looked down at the ground.

          "Do we just leave him here?" Jayce continued on while turning to Vi.

         "You've always been a part of this," Vi cried as Jayce looked away from her. "You just never had to look it in the eye. One dead kid? There's hundreds more where he came from, thanks to Silco, and thanks to people like you who stuck their heads in the dirt."

            I slowly moved around them, eyes flickering from them to the large container of Shimmer to the side.

          "It's over," Jayce said while shaking his head, going unnoticed by me.

         "Not for me," Vi replied stiffly back. Her fists bundled up at her sides, the gauntlets creaking as they locked into place.

          "Take those off," Jayce growled, and Whiskers squeaked while ducking behind my hair.

          Steam hissed out of her gloves as Jayce wrapped a hand around the handle of his hammer, "Make me."

         Jayce slowly lifted his hammer up, the end of it cracking with blue energy, "I can't let you leave with them."

          My lips bundled up, moving away from the vault as I took Vi's side, "Then I guess you're gonna need to kill two more trenchers," I said as Vi stole a quick glance down at me. But I never broke eye contact with Jayce, my pink eyes beginning to glow as Shimmer pumped through my veins. Jayce looked between us as Vi set her feet, rolling her shoulders a little as she stared at Jayce as well. And then--his hammer clicked, folding back into place before he turned and walked away. I stole a glance over at Vi, watching her eyes follow him towards the end of the room where he stopped.

          "You won't make it alone," Jayce said.

          "Good thing I'm not," Vi spat back. Jayce pressed his lips together before moving away, leaving the two of us in the room by ourselves. Vi stepped away from me, moving up to the boy that lay still on the ground as my eyes caught the vault of Shimmer yet again. Moving to the side, I heard Vi sigh a little as she stood above the boy's frame. "I didn't mean it."

          "I know," I hummed, placing one hand against the glass with an eyebrow raised, "but he meant a lot to me."

          Vi looked up just in time to see me rear back my metal hand before smashing it into the glass holding back the Shimmer.

A/N: Oh, no, I just realized I'm on the last episode :(