Vi sat on the edge of the roof, her legs dangling over the edge. She fumbled in her coat pocket for a pack of smokes, withdrawing one and fishing her lighter from her right pants pocket. She flicked it, shielding its bright little flame from the wind. She touched it to the end of her cigarette, lighting in, and closed the lighter. The flame vanished.
She stuck her lighter back in her pocket, putting the cigarette in her mouth and inhaling. She breathed out, smoke filling the air in front of her.
You shouldn't smoke.
From memory, her voice echoed in.
Caitlyn wouldn't have wanted her to smoke.
But then, Vi had done a lot of things Caitlyn wouldn't have wanted since that day.
Vi puffed on her cigarette, leaning back and staring into the sky. Dark, ashy clouds covered the sun. It was a gloomy day, which suited her just fine.
It grew darker as the day went on, and the pile of used cigarettes next to her grew.
Her cigarette was a point of light in the darkness, steadily burning.
"You don't smoke."
Vi ignored the voice, thinking it was another memory come back to haunt her.
"Being naughty, are we- fat-hands?"
Vi recognized the voice and received a flash of anger that passed away like rain, leaving only the same, terrible nothing that had been there before. A small figure sat down next to her.
"What, no reaction? Aren't we enemies?"
"That doesn't matter anymore." Vi spoke in a monotone, absolutely no emotion behind the words.
Jinx dropped her old attitude, falling into a mannerism similar to Vi's.
"Nothing matters anymore," She answered, sounding about as dead as Vi felt.
Vi glanced at her, taking in the fact that Jinx's hair was cut short and she was wearing a long, black trench coat. There was a nasty scar over her left eye.
Vi turned away, tossing her cigarette off the roof. She pulled out another one and lit it.
"I don't know why I came here," Jinx began, talking to herself. "I guess I thought that maybe if you saw me and got mad, we could fight, and it would be like the old days again."
"It'll never be the same," Vi said darkly. She blew out smoke and remained still.
"We both lost something that day," Jinx quietly admitted. Vi made a noise that might have been amusement.
A long silence stretched out between them.
"You feel it too, right?" Jinx suddenly interjected. Vi's cigarette burned, a dull orange point against the coming darkness. "That feeling inside, like there's a big hole where something should be?"
"Empty," Vi said. Jinx nodded.
"Empty," she repeated, and hung her head. A single tear glistened on her cheek.
Vi had cried too. She'd cried until she couldn't cry anymore. And then she hadn't felt anything. Not anymore. Vi tossed away her cigarette, pulling out another one.
Vi smoked a lot. It didn't matter anymore.
Jinx suddenly moved, turning sideways and laying her head in Vi's lap. Vi glanced down in surprise, but didn't move to stop it. It didn't matter.
Time passed. Vi placed a hand on top of Jinx, her cigarette continuing to burn as Jinx's prone form occasionally shook from repressed sobs.
The darkness closed in.
Vi walked into the building, Jinx slung over her shoulder. She staggered through the destroyed doorway, finding the filthy mattress in the room and tossing Jinx onto it.
Vi lived in the ruins of old Piltover, in what used to be an inn. It had crumbled and decayed over the years.
It was dirty and falling apart. But that suited her just fine.
She sat in her ruined armchair, drawing her knees to her chest and staring at the wall. Jinx woke up to find her in that position, a smoking cigarette hanging from the corner of her mouth and a vacant look in her eyes.
A few days passed silently. Jinx whittled away her time pacing and thinking, while Vi drifted in and out of the building.
One day Vi came back into the building and poked Jinx.
"Follow," she said quietly, and walked off.
She got a few steps away before Jinx caught up. Vi lit a cigarette, sticking it in her mouth and leading the small girl out of the building, into the ruined city.
They passed silently among the streets, walking in the shadows of the destroyed buildings. All around were the signs of former habitation- abandoned belongings, a few scattered newspapers. A lone shoe rested in the middle of the road.
The landscape didn't change. More ruin, more destruction. Finally, Vi slipped into an alley, following it back to a small lot behind an old factory.
Vi walked to the middle of it, kneeling down. Jinx followed, seeing a small patch of green. A lonely sprout was pushing through the rubble, the only sign of life in the city.
"She planted this," Vi said, her voice heavy with memory. "She was upset when they paved it over. It's still growing, though."
She was silent for a few moments.
"I wish she could have seen this," she finished sadly. She hung her head.
"In a way, she won," Jinx said slowly. "All she ever wanted was peace. It's peaceful now."
Vi stood, placing her hand on Jinx's shoulder.
"Yeah," she admitted. "There's that, at least."
She left Jinx standing there, looking at Caitlyn's plant.
Vi looked up, seeing a woman standing before her.
"You grew up," she muttered. "Got taller since I saw you."
Jinx nodded.
"I was only a teenager," she said. Vi smirked.
"I'll be damned if you aren't still."
"Well into adulthood, I'm afraid," Jinx answered, quietly amused.
"You haven't changed a bit," Vi said, shaking her head. Jinx's smile faltered.
"Yeah. Neither have you. You still look like death." A bitter laugh barked out from Vi, then a coughing fit.
"That's how I feel."
Vi looked terrible. She was thinner than ever, gray almost dominating her once-pink hair. Her eyes were deeply sunken into her skull, and she looked like she hadn't seen the sun for ten years. Her voice sounded weaker, like it'd been through a cheese grater and back.
"Help me up," Vi ordered. Jinx held out a hand, pulling Vi up and supporting her. Slowly, they made their way up to the streets, emerging into the bright sunlight. They navigated the old familiar paths, eventually returning to that plant in the lot. It had grown proud and tall, and had brought grass with it. A strong patch of life in the midst of desolation.
Vi had Jinx lay her down under the tree, breathing deeply the fresh air. She felt the sun on her skin and smiled.
"You turned out alright, kid," she said to Jinx, her voice regaining its old strength. For a moment, an image of the old Vi flashed before Jinx's eyes, reminding her of how strong and proud she had been.
"Thanks to you," Jinx said quietly. For years, she'd labored in Vi's memory, striving to be as strong and gentle-hearted as the Enforcer, helping to rebuild the cities, the lives she'd helped destroy. Vi scoffed and brushed it off.
"How long has it been?" Vi asked.
"Since we last met, or since Caitlyn died?" Jinx asked.
"Both."
Jinx looked up as she thought it out.
"I first ran into you about… a year after Cait died," she said. "Then you wandered off without me and it's been ten years."
"Ten years," Vi echoed, and coughed once. "I wonder how I'm still alive."
"Bull-headed stubbornness would be my guess," Jinx quipped. Vi chuckled quietly.
"Yeah, I suppose. Where did you go?"
"Back. I wanted to rebuild everything I'd torn down." Jinx's voice faltered slightly. "I ripped apart families, Vi. I destroyed their homes. People… People died that day, Vi, and I didn't even know the names behind them, the lives they'd led, the people they knew…"
Vi nodded sagely.
"I'll be damned," she said in mock wonder. "You grew a heart."
Jinx smiled.
"I'm not a kid anymore." The words echoed, melancholy.
"No," Vi observed. "No, you're not. Which means you'll do just fine without me."
Her eyes closed and she relaxed under the tree. Jinx's eyes widened.
"No- no!" She cried. "You can't!"
Vi opened her eyes again.
"You've become a beautiful young woman," she said, smiling. "Thanks for taking me outside. Do me a favor and bury me next to her, will ya?"
Jinx swallowed and nodded.
"Y-yeah. Of course."
"Good." Vi closed her eyes.
"I always looked up to you," Jinx said quietly. "You and her both."
She watched as the breath left Vi's body, as her smile lingered under the warm sun and the bright sky.
There wasn't much of a funeral. Vi would have wanted it that way. She'd had no blood relatives, not very many friends. It was a small group that came to pay their respects.
The sun was setting and Jinx was left alone. They'd buried them both out in the wilds, away from all the cities, in a grassy plain with trees and life all around.
Jinx stooped down and dug, making a little divot in the earth with her hand. She took a seed from her pocket and gently pressed it down, patting the dirt back over it, burying it.
She took one last look around.
"It's peaceful now," she said, and left.
The tree stood tall and proud. It was an old tree now, providing shade for generations of children from the family that had settled nearby. Even now, several children laughed giddily and tumbled around under the tree.
A large, quaint wooden cabin was built not far from the tree. In the shadow of the porch, an old woman with faded blue hair sat contentedly in her comfortable seat, watching them. Another, much younger woman sat across from her, with a quiet, small child in her lap. They all had a bright shade of blue for hair.
"Mommy," the little girl began, "Who planted the tree over there?"
The mother smiled and looked at the older woman.
"Grandma did." The child looked over.
"Grandma, why'd you plant the tree?"
The old woman looked at her and smiled. Her violet eyes crinkled kindly.
"It's for an old friend," she said quietly. "All she ever wanted was peace."
She paused, then looked back at the tree.
"It's peaceful now."