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In multiple terms Caitlyn was completely ‘fucked.’ She had been manipulated for months by Ambessa, stoking her fire for revenge and justice for the death of her mother; making reckless and unthought-out decisions about the Undercity uprising, allowing the city to band together under Jinx’s banner of revolution and Ambessa using her soldiers as a display of force that would make her the defacto leader of Piltover amongst the council and the upper echelons of Piltover’s elite.
She had turned away Vi months ago, her former partner left alone in the ventilation shafts after she winded her with her rifle stock. Caitlyn had regretted the decision in private, tears flowing in silence as her memory lingered on the soft face she fell in love with, the pale grey-blue eyes that looked at her with such fondness; the sweet, tender kiss they shared before the fight with Jinx and Sevika. It had torn her to shreds on the inside, making the hole in her heart twice as large.
Without Vi at her side, she had no-one to hold her accountable, calling out her mistakes and using her good heart to protect her from herself.
Loris had left at her promotion to commander, stating that he needed to see his friend, to take care of her, as no-one else would. He had returned months later with grim news of Vi, having been pushed away by Vi, stating that she didn’t need him anymore.
Telling Caitlyn of her drastic image change to hide her identity after her work as an enforcer painted a massive target on her back. The pink-red hair was gone replaced with a murky black; the tattoo on her face was covered in black paint as were her tattoos on her upper body and back. She had also lost weight in that time, making her body much lither but still rippling with muscles.
Caitlyn knew Vi had plenty of muscles, she had felt them under her jacket when she held her close during their kiss in the tunnels, she had seen glimpses of these tattoos but never knew the full range of them, how she longed to see them again, to possibly touch them again, knowing that this was almost an impossibility now, shaking her head from these thoughts, she allowed him to continue recounting the latest few months.
He had seen her descend into self-destruction; from the constant pit fights Vi was participating in, to the ravages of excessive alcohol use to numb the pain of the constant fights. He recounted that Vi was becoming more and more violent as well, not stopping after the opponent was soundly beaten, leaving them a broken bloody mess at her feet, her fists shaking with adrenaline as she let out roars of aggression to the crowd who lapped it up with reckless abandon. The more fights she had the more broken her opponents became; from the broken jaws and noses expected from a bare-knuckle fight, to broken arms and legs with bones jutting out of the skin, letting pools of blood leaking from her opponent sit at her feet and heavy streaks of that blood covering her body. Vi looked more like a wild beast who had just killed a weak animal for sport than an actual person. That was the last time Loris saw Vi, he watched her one more time before he left, making sure that all his facts were correct.
Caitlyn had blanched at the recounting, her former partner descending into drink and violence, no longer the protective, kind, and loyal person she remembered in her memories and dreams. She had become a brutal fighter who was slowly losing herself, pushing everyone away to protect herself from anyone hurting her furthermore. Caitlyn knew that this has all stemmed from her, she had to make this right, make up for all her mistakes, to apologise for everything and see if any part of her former lover remained in the beast, she had become to survive the undercity.
Right now, however, Caitlyn was in a lot of trouble. Herself and her small team were trapped in a small building in Piltover. Two dozen Noxus soldiers were outside, trying to break in and capture them after Caitlyn had disobeyed Ambessa for the last time, finally standing up to her manipulator after months. Loran was holding the main entrance back with his vast strength and the rest of her team backing him up, but their strength was fading after countless attempt’s at breaking the door. Caitlyn herself only had a few bullets left, nowhere near enough to do any meaningful damage to the numbers outside. They needed a miracle to save them at this point.
Caitlyn was shaking as she cursed herself for her own mistakes, for pushing Vi away, for never having the chance making it right between them, for not fully confessing the depths of her feelings for the woman who held such a special place in her heart even after all this time.
“Commander! I don’t know how much longer we can do this!” Loris shouted back as his face was dripping in sweat being pushed back further than he had been since they were cornered in the building.
“Oi! You Noxus fuckers! You want a proper fight?!” a familiar voice to everyone in the building shouted out to the soldiers causing the attempted break in to stop as they diverted their attention in the direction of the new challenger approaching from the dust of battle.
Using the distraction to their advantage, Caitlyn and her team managed to make it to the second floor of the building to watch the scene unfold and take a well-deserved breather from the constant assault.
Caitlyn gasped as she saw from the broken window as she saw Vi in a combination of enforcer gear and her pit fighter appearance square up to face the soldiers. Hexteck gauntlets on her fists, coated in dried blood from previous fights. Looking at Vi through the scope of her rifle she could see the vicious look in her eyes that Loran had seen. Gone was the soft, kind, look that she had known replaced with a fury and aggression fitting her appearance. Caitlyn felt a tear roll down her cheek at the sight knowing this was all her fault.
“Oh yeah!? Who wants this bitch’s blood first!?” the leader let out an open invitation to his men who all growled in approval before one took a step forward and charging towards Vi, spear outstretched aiming for Vi’s heart. Vi caught the spear in her left gauntlet in a smooth motion; snapping it two before launching her other fist into the soldier’s chest with such force causing him to fly through the soldiers into the wall of the building with a sicking crunch, cracking the building from the impact, blood leaking from his mouth in a slow stream before collapsing in a heap on the floor. He was dead.
“Is that the best any of you can do?” Vi chuckled darkly before throwing the broken spear on the ground. “Who’s next?” Vi questioned as she raised her gauntlets in a fighting stance a sick smile on her face, eyes measuring everyone up like prey.
Enraged at seeing one of there own killed by this stranger on the battlefield, two soldiers charged at Vi, each one getting mauled by Vi in quick succession, once suffering a crushed arm from the intense grip from her gauntlets, blood leaking from multiple lacerations before being launched into his comrade knocking them over; regaining their bearings in time to see Vi launching at them with both fists raised, crushing both of their heads in a gruesome display; splattering bone, blood and brain onto the pavement in a fine mist, coating Vi’s face as well with flecks of blood. Removing her gauntlets from the bodies, a slick film of blood coated the fingers of the gauntlets as she readied herself for another wave.
The third wave was a four-man team each charging Vi from all corners, sensing this, she deployed the shields in the gauntlets at the last moment, freezing each of their blades in the forcefield before weaving out of the way allowing them all to impale themselves in their own blades. Vi’s dark laughter was louder this time, doubling down on the violence; she smacked the four bodies together with her gauntlets killing them instantly as the blades were forced as deep as they could. Another massive pool of blood formed on the pavement as coated Vi’s feet as she stalked her way to the building.
“Is this seriously the best you can do! I! said! I! Wanted! A! Proper! Fight!” Vi roared out to the remaining soldiers some of which were trembling at the monster before them, she was just one woman but had the ferocity of a murderous beast that not one of them had ever fought before. “Looks like some of you are ready to piss yourselves right now.” Vi chortled manically eyes them all up. However, her ‘good heart’ made itself know in a small way “Tell you what, since you’ve given me some entertainment, I’ll let the rest of you live if your commander retreats right now. If not, you’re all dead.” The icy tone in her voice wasn’t lost on anyone.
However, the leader of the troops, enraged that his soldiers had been slaughtered so easily by this monster refused to listen. Defying her offer and ordering his men to attack, regardless of the consequences.
“Don’t say I didn’t warn you.” Vi growled out before launching herself against the rest of the soldiers.
What followed next was a bloodbath, Vi’s efficient fighting was replaced with raw, brutal power. Noxus soldiers were left strewn around the pavement, broken and bloodied; many were missing limbs as they were ripped off the bodies, spraying the walls and Vi in a thick sheet of blood, soaking into her clothes staining them permanently. Any soldiers lucky enough to land a successful slash, resulting in only small nicks to Vi’s body ended up enraging the brawler even more, increasing the adrenaline in her system and her bloodlust. Vi’s violent screams of rage as she beat another solider into a bloody pile on the ground, viscera filling the cracks from her repeated punches. Every time the gauntlets reached maximum power, hissing with energy, she launched a solider into the building Caitlyn and her team were in, obliterating the soldiers in singular punches, blue energy ripping through their bodies causing them to die instantly, the impact of the building sealing their fates for good measure.
Glaring through her mask of blood, piercing, cold eyes focused on the leader who was the last one left, frozen in fear looking at the corpses of his fallen soldiers, terror lodged deep in his eyes as Vi stalked her way towards him, each step splashing in the pools of blood in the streets. “You know… it didn’t have to be this way… remember this...I gave you an out.” Vi sneered with a hint of remorse as she charged towards the leader, punching him next to the door of the building before kicking his knees, shattering them under her boots, causing him to let out a pathetic whimper. Vi lined his head up against the wall, blood dripping of her gauntlets, before pulling back and delivering a final punch to his face demolishing his skull into a gruesome paste against her fist, vibrations thundering through the building causing the ceilings to crack and dust to fall; pulling away slowly, thick blood connecting to Vi’s gauntlet until his body slumped down onto the floor with a sickening thud.
Vi’s breathing finally slowed down enough to collect her thoughts after being consumed with bloodlust and adrenaline, it had felt so good to let go, especially against a large group of trained people rather than two-bit thugs in the ring. Especially Noxian soldiers, ones who had been tearing up her home town.
Composing herself the best she could, she called out to the building. “Whoever is in there, it’s safe to come out now. There’s no-one out here but me.” Vi said expecting a Piltover merchant or a family who had got caught in the crossfire of the fighting.
What she did not expect, was her former partner, her former lover to step out of the building followed by Loris and the rest of her former strike team all looking at her with reserved glances of astonishment at the brutality their former teammate had been able to deliver. She knew she looked an utter mess, covered in blood and dust, chest heaving from exhaustion.
Caitlyn had watched the whole scene from the window, a wave of relief had flooded through her veins as her former partner announced herself, it was a divine miracle that she had shown up when she did. That feeling soon turned to confusion as she saw Vi effortlessly kill her first opponent, feeling the first body hit the building with a dull rumble. She had never seen Vi this brutal, she had knocked out anyone who came at them when she was part of the team, however they were always alive, ready to be taken into custody.
The next two opponents she saw them get crushed under Vi’s fist in a gruesome display of violence Caitlyn had never seen before. She looked at Vi’s face covered in flecks of blood, her eyes becoming colder and more focused at the enemies around her. Witnessing the creative way Vi had used her forcefield to kill four more people in very quick succession, she knew something was wrong, they were supposed to protect Vi, not be used to kill others; yet Vi had found a way to do both. Is this what Loris had meant by Vi becoming more violent?
Breaking that train of thought after hearing Vi roar at them for a proper fight, clearly disappointed in the apparent ease in how she defeated the soldiers. However, hearing Vi offer the soldiers mercy after the brutal display they had witnessed, gave a glimmer of hope in Caitlyn’s heart, no matter the situation, Vi still had a good heart; even if it was coated in blood and violence and the threat of death at the end did not reassure that feeling.
Beholding the violence caused by the leader’s foolish decision to not surrender first hand had been horrendous. Witnessing Vi’s efficient fighting turn into brutal powerful brawling. She saw Vi dismantle the whole team in a brutal fashion, hearing the bodies Vi launched at the building with energy infused punches was sickening, the ruthless way Vi broke and tore the limbs off the soldiers; spraying blood over Vi’s body and the pavement outside. Seeing Vi get caught by small slashes made her heart lurch, even if Vi was in total control it still pained her to see her get wounded even though she knew they were superficial at best. Hearing Vi’s screams of rage as she pummelled a solider into a fine paste shocked her, there was a hint of despair in her voice, like she was not happy about becoming this monster, but became one anyway to protect herself. Caitlyn knew she turned her into this monster who had lost all restraint in her fighting.
Caitlyn heard the remorse in Vi’s voice, telling him what a foolish decision it had been and that he had offered him mercy, she watched on as she killed the leader of the team in a vicious manner; the punch causing her to lose her footing at the force of the punch reverberating throughout the building.
After being told the coast was clear from Vi, the squad returned to the ground floor bracing themselves for the sight why would see.
“Cait-…Caitlyn?” Vi stammered out, visibly shaking at seeing the woman who abandoned her months ago.
“Vi… Is that really you?” Caitlyn said as she looked her up and down, covered in blood, sweat and grime. Vi visibly squirmed under the gaze, feeling like she should run away from everyone here.
“Yes… it’s me…this is me nowadays.” Vi chuckled self depreciatingly as she let her bloody gauntlets fall to the floor with a heavy thud and small splash in the blood on the floor, shrugging her shoulders in defeat. Feeling like a small child being reprimanded, not the violent person who had just slaughtered this entire squad without remorse.
Caitlyn looked as the sorry state of her former partner, who she had not seen in months had only one question. “What…what happened to you?” she asked inquisitively with a tone of fear.
‘What happened to her.’ Vi heard these words and an anger filled her body, with tears filling her eyes in quick succession. “You… you happened! I trusted you! I needed you! I begged you not to change and I was left alone after you hit me in the gut with that fucking rifle in your hands right now!” Vi screamed, months of piled up rage and spite flowing in her voice. “I had to fight every day down there to survive! Just to survive! Your face haunted me everywhere I went!” Vi wailed as she descended to her knees in the pool of blood at her feet, tears making a clear line down her bloody face, hands shaking in anger while her body shuddered with sobs. “I tried so hard to forget you… I honestly did…letting my own rage consume me, to burn you from my memories, be the animal you thought I was deep down… but it never worked, never!” Vi punched the ground in anger, her wraps soaking up more blood.
Caitlyn’s heart shattered into a million pieces as she saw her former partner scream her feeling at her. Every statement battering the broken pieces into a fine dust, she was face to face with her biggest mistake and seeing the results of pushing Vi away months ago. Slowing taking a cautious few steps towards Vi with her own tears in her eyes “I am so- so sorry Vi, it probably means nothing right now but I am so sorry, I never wanted any of this to happen, everything has gone to shit since I left you. Without you I had no anchor, no heart. I was ruthless and careless with my decisions, so consumed with revenge that I pushed everyone away.” Choking out the last words in a sob as she knelt in front of Vi, attempting to reach out and seeing Vi flinch away broke her even more.
“Please…please don’t touch me Cait, I don’t deserve it. You’re probably scared of me now as well.” Vi weakly said as she barely looked at Caitlyn. “Look at me Caitlyn…really look at me…look around at what I’ve done…I’m a monster, an animal… I’m not the same person who you remember.” Vi looked down again not daring to meet the woman in the eyes.
Caitlyn truly looked at Vi, she saw the multiple cuts and bruises from her constant fights, the fresh and dried blood coating her body some of which she was sure was Vi’s own, her muscles a lot leaner and more toned since the last time she saw them, her hair was matted, dark and filthy, the hints of her pink-red hair peaking through the dark dye; her powder blue eyes rimmed with red from her crying held little light in them, expressing a tiredness that mirrored Caitlyn’s own from the height of her decent. The clothes she was wearing were torn with various holes and coated in stains.
“Vi, please look at me.” Caitlyn pleaded with a soft tone, she held her breath as she saw Vi look at her, eyes looking at her through her hair. “I’m not scared of you, you are not an animal, you saved all of us when we needed a miracle, that proves to me that you’ve still got a good heart in there. Why else would you have taken on all these soldiers? Because it’s the right thing to do. You didn’t know it was us in there, you chose to save people, in a city that has done nothing to earn your heart.” Caitlyn reached out once again to cup Vi’s face, relief flooded her veins as Vi didn’t flinch away but slowly leaned into her palm, closing her eyes before crying again.
“I never wanted to be…this.” Vi reached her own hand up to hold Caitlyn’s own while her other one reached out to hold Caitlyn’s shoulder, gripping the uniform tightly, keeping her grounded.
“Oh darling… I know… and I’m so sorry that you had to do so to survive. On your own for so long…” Caitlyn said in a soothing tone gently stroking Vi’s face until her tears stopped flowing. “But you’re here now, and I promise that I won’t ever leave you alone again.”
“I’d really like a hug right now, but I don’t think you’d want me staining your outfit.” Vi chucked, gesturing to her bloody and grimy clothes. Before being pulled into the tightest embrace Caitlyn could muster, crushing Vi’s body against her own, startled at the embrace, but relaxing her body and holding Caitlyn back with just as much force her body could muster after her emotional outburst and the recent fight.
“Oh god, I’ve missed you so much, I don’t care about the state you’re in.” Caitlyn sighed out after feeling Vi hug her back. Her own tears rolling down her face before crushing Vi’s lips against her own, tasting just how she did those months ago in the tunnels mixed with the coppery taste of blood and the saltiness of the fresh tears on her face.
Vi melted into the kiss, letting the tension in her body ebb away, she had missed this so much. More than anything she could ever recall.
Pulling away from each other, foreheads resting against each other taking each other’s eyes before being broken from their trance by a cough from behind them. Looking back at the squad with sheepish grins on their faces. Caitlyn rose up and offered her hand to Vi, looking at her with fondness and admiration Vi could get lost in forever.
“Come on, we have a city to save and an army to stop.”
Vi took her hand in a firm grip, pulling herself up and equipping her gauntlets again. Standing straight and proud, no longer burdened with so much guilt and rage that had been building for so long.
“Then let’s get to it, Cupcake.”
FIN