THE WORLD BELOW (VixCaitlyn) / a dive into season two

Roots

Vi traced her fingertip over the picture with caution, as though she somehow feared her rough skin could wipe the immortalized faces off the timeworn paper.

"I haven't seen a picture of her in years" she whispered, her eyes still seeking a glimpse of life in her mother's still expression.

"How old were you when..." Caitlyn's soft voice broke before she could finish her sentence, unsure whether her words would bring up more unwelcome demons into Vi's mind.

"When she was killed? I was seven." Vi clenched her one fist on the bedsheet as pictures from the bridge invaded her mind. "Powder was... Three. She was hungry when we woke up that morning, kept bothering me and whining because there was nothing in the pantry."

Instinctually, Caitlyn laid an arm around Vi's shoulder and pulled her closer, until the boxer let her weight drop onto her with a deep sigh.
"We looked for her at the Last Drop but it was deserted. I was scared. Enforcers had been combing the streets in the past months because of some strikes in the mines and I thought that she might have been arrested."

She took a deep breath before she continued: "That's when I saw the bodies coming in. People were shouting in the streets, dragging in the wounded and, mainly, the dead. I knew right away something was terribly wrong, but nothing would have prepared me... I thought, I thought maybe she was hurt, you know? I thought she just needed us to come and bring her home. I thought I could help, that I could save her."

"Vi," Caitlyn soothed her while gently stroking her arm, "I am so sorry you had to go through that... I can't begin to imagine how that must have felt."

"Guess the enforcers didn't care to think that far..." Vi scoffed, but without withdrawing from the topsider's embrace.

"What was she like?" Caitlyn carefully changed the topic. She knew that Vi's anger couldn't be soothed, and she understood that it was her right to feel that way, too. Piltover had wronged her immeasurably since the day she was born, forcing her to watch powerlessly as everyone she loved was torn away from her.

"She was brave. And funny, too." Vi smiled for a second before her face darkened again as she continued: "Powder barely remembers her. I wonder if she would even recognize her."

Caitlyn kept quiet as she moved some red strands aside and tucked them behind Vi's ear, causing her to look up briefly from the photo and lock eyes with her, so that the enforcer could get a glimpse of all the unspoken words that were welling up beneath her thick eyelashes.

"My mom, she would have wanted me to do something. I mean, about... Jinx." Vi spoke in a surprisingly firm and distanced tone. "She needs me. It doesn't matter if I can get through to her, but I have to stop her from causing more death."

"Sometime today I am expecting an advisor from the Undercity to join us. They will be chaperoning our activities in Zaun and make sure we stay out of Sevika's business while we are there."

"Sevika can eat rocks for all I care. I was raised in those streets, I'll be damned if I'm not allowed to walk them as I please." Vi scoffed in response.

"I imagine she just wants to make a show of their newly acquired independence. It's understandable." Caitlyn explained "Can't have Topside snooping about without restraint. And when we discussed this, you weren't exactly in the picture yet."

Vi blushed. She suddenly became embarrassingly aware of how her head was just snuggled into the enforcer's collar, pulling away from her while avoiding her gaze.

The moment just before Caitlyn had left to speak with her father flashed back into her mind, making her heart pound wildly against her ribs.

"So..." she cleared her voice. "This drug your dad picked is going to get me back on my feet?"