The Halfway House
Vi is going to be here, of course, but I'll try not to focus on her.
Too much.
Also, as a heads up, there is gonna be smut in this fic, a lot of it between teenagers, so consider this an unofficial 'underage' tag. Nothing other than that, though. Just a warning for you all.
This time, there was no ice pack for Riven's swollen cheek, no comforting words for the bruised knuckles, or a sense of victory over the guy she beat. Only metal cuffs around her wrists and the cool leather in the back of the Wardens car. What was she supposed to do? Just let the punk ass kid steal her backpack? The soft pulses of pain in Riven's face were spreading to give her a headache, and the cops in front of the car were talking to the parents of the kid that she beat up. They were demanding her to be jailed, but they all knew that she was too young for that.
After escaping Noxus, all Riven could do was wander. She wandered all across Runeterra, hitchhiking from city to city, scavenging and stealing to survive, and now, after almost fourteen months of freedom, she gets caught trying to protect her belongings from a thief. Finally, after what felt like hours, the officers stepped away from the angry parents, who left after giving Riven a steel glare. One officer got into the back of the car, holding her backpack, and the other sat in the front, quickly starting the car.
"What's your name?" He asked, fastening his own seatbelt.
"...Riven."
"Okay, what's your real name?"
"Riven." The officer sighed deeply and lifted the backpack onto his lap, unzipping it and looking inside. "There's only clothes and a bit of money in there."
"Enough to attack someone over?"
"Wouldn't you stop someone trying to steal your stuff?!" She snapped back, hands straining against the handcuffs. "It's all I fucking have!" Both of the cops shared a look through the rearview mirror.
"Then where are your parents?" Riven ignored that question, turning and looking out of the window. She had already decided that Piltover was a horrible place to be in. "Alright… how old are you?"
"Fourteen." Sighing, the cop zipped up Riven's backpack and put it on the seat next to her.
"Too young to be tried as an adult, but nobody is going to want to take care of a violent teen." That definitely sounded menacing. Riven looked up to the driver's seat, and saw an unsettling smirk on the cop's face in the windshield, which was slightly reflective due to the setting sun. "You thinking what I'm thinking, Price?" The other cop chuckled and nodded.
"Yep. I'll make the call when I get back." That didn't sound good. That didn't sound good at all. Riven looked between their smug faces, heart beating faster in her chest. Were they just going to throw her into a jail cell now? If some rich prick wanted a homeless kid to rot in jail for the rest of her life… She swore softly and kicked the back of the seat, leaning back into her own and groaning.
"Damage the car, and we'll definitely throw you in a cell." Riven shot a glare at Price and fought the urge to spit at him.
"Like I give a fuck." He just rolled his eyes and reached into the pocket of his vest, pulling a phone out and tapping on the screen. Silence stretched through the car as the first officer drove. Riven was biting the inside of her cheek, trying not to scream out in frustration. This was it. She had survived on her own for nearly twenty months in the world, on her own, and now it was over. Just because she stopped some rich brat from stealing everything she had in the world. She rested her head on the window, closing her eyes and feeling the rumbles of the road for the few minutes that the car was moving. How in the world was she going to escape this time? The halt of the vibrations snapped Riven back to reality. The car had stopped, and both officers were getting out.
"Come on, you little brat." The door opened, and one of the officers yanked Riven out of the car by her arm. She swore and barely caught her footing, shooting a glare at the officer, who barely even looked. He walked into the station, basically dragging the teenager along behind him. When they got into the building, the second officer dropped into his desk chair, placing Riven's backpack onto his desk as the first one pushed her into the singular, open cell in the station.
"Put your arms through the bars." He grumbled, obviously uninterested. She hated complying, but Riven wanted the handcuffs off, and did as he said. When they were off, she pulled her arms around herself and grumbled under her breath as she rubbed her wrists. Riven looked around the dull office, with four desks, and an officer at each, who seemed content to ignore her existence. With a defeated sigh, and a glance at the officer that picked up his phone, Riven sat on the threadbare bed in the cell and waited.
As the sky outside started to darken, Riven had accepted her fate. Or what she assumed was her fate. Sitting in a small cell, a few feet away from a few silent officers that were sitting as their desks, tapping on their keyboards. She looked at them occasionally, and they all seemed to pretend that she didn't exist. That is, however, until the door to the main room opened, and a woman walked in. All three of the Wardens stood up at once and walked over to greet her, all smiles and happiness.
"It is good to see you all, too." She raised a hand, and they all stepped back, as if they were under mind control. Riven had always questioned her sexuality, and never really cared to know who she was attracted to, but the sight of this woman took her breath away. Even in a place like this, there was a smile across her face, slightly crinkling the bronze skin around her eyes and on her cheeks. She wore partially heavy makeup, with light green eyeshadow painted on her eyelids, thin eyeliner coming to short points on the corners of her eyes, and short points under the middle of her eyes. The smile dropped when she saw Riven, and a look of disappointment was focused on the officer on her right. "Why in the world is she in a cell?"
"Protocol, ma'am!" He almost sprinted across the room to unlock the cell door. As the metal key turned and 'clunked' in the mechanism, his glare fixed on Riven, and he looked like he was about to bark at her until the woman's hand gently touched his shoulder and moved him away. Her clothes were almost the base definition of 'motherly', as she wore high-waisted jeans, a plain, orange t-shirt tucked into them, slightly heeled sandals on her feet, and a leather bag over her shoulder.
"Hello!" She smiled again and walked into the cell, standing a foot away from Riven. "May I sit down with you?"
"Who are you?" The teenager moved her feet to the floor at the same time she asked the question.
"My name is Karma." She placed her bag at her feet and sat down, smoothing her jeans out. "Have the officers told you anything?"
"Only that they'd throw me in jail if I was old enough." Karma sighed and shook her head.
"You're not going to jail." She raised a hand to gently grip Riven's shoulder, pulling it away as soon as the teenager leaned away. "You are young, and without a home, so I have been asked to bring you into my home and take care of you."
"Why the fuck would you do that?" That answer was not what Karma was expecting. She turned towards the teenager, with a surprised look on her face. "Why the fuck would you take in a kid from the street?"
"Because I believe that every child should grow up in a good home." The smile was back on her face. "I want to help as many children as possible."
"So… what's the catch?"
"There isn't any 'catch'." Riven turned to meet her look, and waited. The silence hung between them for almost two minutes before Karma sighed. "We must go soon, but if you wish to know, I have others living with me. Most of them are around your age."
"I still feel like you're not telling me everything." Karma just smiled and stood up, lifting her handbag onto her shoulder again. "Do I get to keep my stuff, at least?"
"I'm sure that the officers have kept your bag safe." The one that had carried her bag inside lifted it up from next to his chair and placed it in sought, avoiding eye contact. She turned and offered Riven her hand, who was still not sure.
"Well, if it gets me out of this place…"
I'll be back on the road by midnight.
Karma wouldn't get to hear that thought. Riven took her hand and stood up, quickly pulling it out of the older woman's grip before they got out of the cell. Playing along probably a little too much, they passed by the officer's desk picking up the backpack as they passed, and Riven lifted her back onto her shoulder, flipping him off out of Karma's view. Not like they can do anything about it now. They were out of the door before any of them could stand up.
"You don't mind cars, do you?" Karma asked, placing a gentle hand on Riven's shoulder to stop her from walking into the road whilst she was distracted. She looked forward, and was only mildly surprised to see a small, beaten up car in the street.
"Never had one." That wasn't a negative response in Karma's mind, and she unlocked the car with the button. Riven dropped into the passenger seat without another word, hugging her backpack against her chest. The older woman was still smiling softly as she got in and reached into the back seat to place her handbag down.
"Seatbelt, please." For a few moments, Riven stared at her, bristling over the soft smile that was on Karma's face, but grumbled under her breath and pulled the belt over her chest. "Thank you." As the car started, surprisingly smooth for how the outside looked, Karma sighed and finally dropped her smile. "I haven't told the other children that you'll be arriving…"
"Children? How old are these people?" There wasn't an answer as the car started to move. "Am I going to be stuck in a house with toddlers?"
"Not toddlers. A few of them aren't teenagers, but…" Karma exhaled heavily and tightened her grip on the steering wheel. "I don't want you to hold a negative opinion of anyone before you actually meet them, but there's a reason why children in the foster system are placed in my care." Hearing that made Riven tighten the grip she had on her backpack. Getting out of this place as soon as possible was a necessity. Before any of these people hurt her.
Before she knew it, the car slowed to a stop, and Riven turned to look out of the window. Karma had stopped outside of what looked like a pristine temple. It was made of white stone, large, colopured windows, and a garden that looked like it had been tended and nurtured for fifteen years. On the right of the temple was what looked like a mansion, slightly less clean, and a couple of lit rooms. There were a few things littered around the unkempt yard, like broken bicycles and what looked like machine parts.
"No time like the present, is there?" Karma asked, stepping out of the car.
"Is that actually a temple?" Another smile came onto the woman's face as Riven got out of the car.
"Yes, I am a religious figure." The car was locked, and Karma motioned for the teenager to follow her. "If you're worrying about being forced to join, I wouldn't think of asking anything like that of you."
"Good, because I'm not a religious person." As they walked up to the mansion, Riven swung her backpack over her shoulder and shook her head, out of sight of Karma. However, the woman's smile dropped as they got closer to the door, and the sound of yelling became audible. She pushed the door open and inhaled sharply.
"What are you two doing?!" Karma rushed inside and slammed her hand onto the stereo under the window that had its curtains drawn to silence it. Ever the curious kind, Riven stepped into the doorframe and couldn't hold back a laugh at the scene in front of her. Three other teenagers were in the room, two of them on top of bookshelves, and one laid on the couch, phone in hand, and cigarette in mouth. None of them looked like Karma at all; one of the girls on the bookshelves looking nothing but Ionian, with wild black hair that had been tied back, but still stood on end, the other pale like a vampire, tattoos of pink clouds and blue bullets running up her left arm, one long, blue braid that was hanging over her shoulder, and wide, pink eyes. Neither of them looked like they wanted to come down and face Karma's wrath. "Vi! You were supposed to be watching them!"
"I am watching them." With a sigh, Karma stepped over and pulled the cigarette out of the third teen's mouth, who groaned in response and sat up. "They're just playing!" She had bubblegum pink hair, shaved at one side, violet eyes that looked like that cigarette was more than tobacco, and a tattoo of what sounded like her name on her cheek.
"There are foam darts all over the floor!" 'Vi' had stopped listening to Karma, and fixed her eyes on Riven.
"Who's this?" She stood up, rising to her full height and making Riven want to run again. Karma was as tall as the top of her chest, and she looked like she was ready to pounce.
"Oh, fuck off with your intimidation." The Ionian girl huffed, jumping from the bookshelf, plastic gun in hand, and walking to the door. "I've seen you around before. Were you around Ionia?"
"For a while." She just grinned and pulled Riven inside by her sleeve.
"I'm Akali." She announced, kicking the door shut behind them. "Wall of muscle there is Vi, and the insane one is Jinx."
"I'm not officially insane." Jinx replied, laying down on top of the bookshelf instead of getting down.
"That may be, but the three of you need to pick these darts up." Karma announced, stubbing the still-lit cigarette out in the ashtray on the coffee table. The room was large, two of the walls dominated by bookshelves, the one at the back separated from the kitchen by an island surrounded by barstools. In-between each wall of bookshelves, there were closed doors. "I expect to see no orange on this floor by the time I come back down here."
"FIne, fine…" Vi grumbled, pocketing the phone in her hand. "Jinx, c'mon, get down from there."
"You're not the boss of me!" Before she could see any of the fight, Karma took a gentle hold of Riven's arm and led her through one of the closed doors. "There's a bathroom through that door," the door next to the U-shaped stairs was pointed out. "And that one is a quiet room, because I will admit, this house can get quite chaotic." As soon as she said that, someone else jumped over the bannister of the stairs and landed in front of them. All three people looked surprised.
"Karma!" The boy yelled, unsuccessfully trying to hide a third, bright yellow, plastic gun behind his back. He was a lot closer to looking like Karma's child, but the white mohawk, and white hourglass painted on his face were striking. "You brought someone back?"
"Yes, I did. Ekko, this is Riven." He looked uncertain. "If you were wanting to take part in the play fighting, you can go and help them pick up the foam darts."
"I didn't even shoot any!" Ekko shot back. "I was finishing Vi- I mean, my homework!" There wasn't a reaction to that.
"Go on, go help." He grumbled, but complied. "Actually, who else is in the house?"
"Draven's upstairs," That name turned Riven's blood to ice. "Darius is still out… somewhere."
"I'll call him." Karma sighed. "Come on, Riven. I'll make a bed for you." As they walked upstairs, Karma sighed again. "I hoped for a calmer introduction to the house, but… the twins-"
"Twins?" Riven echoed. "Who the fuck are twins in there?"
"I wouldn't be surprised if you don't believe me, but Vi and Jinx are." They reached the top of the stairs before Riven stared, dumbfounded. "Even more, Ekko is their brother."
"You're kidding." Karma chuckled and shook her head.
"Everyone has that reaction when they learn of that fact." The woman walked to one door, with two names on the nameplate, and gently knocked. "Draven?" There was a muffled 'yeah?' on the other side, and Karma opened it. "Do you know when your brother will be back?"
"He's chasing a girl, so fuck knows." Draven replied. Just in case he came to the door, Riven stepped out of view. "Not in a like, creepy way, don't worry."
"I hope so, I taught you all better than that. See if you can call him, okay?" After another moment, she pulled the door closed and turned back to Riven. "You look worried."
"I know those names from Noxus." She replied, rubbing the back of her neck. "I don't know if they'd recognise me."
"If they do, you will have no problems here." Karma, again, placed a gentle hand on Riven's arm and led her to one of the rooms that had no nameplate. "For now, you will have a room of your own. It's a little bare, but I will get you some clothes and decorations, okay?" Despite her initial plan of escape, Riven quickly decided that it might not be too bad to stick around for a while.
I need cute shit, damnit. It needs to be cute!