A/N 1 : Anyone who plays the game knows, or at least supposes, what's going to happen to Viktor. Anyone not playing, however, might still have the surprise. For that reason, I really don't want to spoil it, and I will therefore keep Viktor in the coma this whole fanfic. It's not what I wanted at first, I had plans for him, but it's probably better this way =)

Tic Toc, sound of the clock

- You're sure you want to do this?

Vi took a deep breath. The place looked even more massive and grim from the outside.

- Yeah I am.

- Then let's do it. Let me do the talking.

Vi clutched her fists. The Hextech Gauntlets followed her movements without a single sound, without resistance. Like they were made of silk. A cold, tough, bone-breaking silk. She loved them already. Powder had always been the one with a thing for toys and gadgets, but damn, now she understood the appeal. The only downside was that she couldn't grab Cait's hand with those. Well, she could, but she wouldn't feel it. And most likely break it. Caitlyn still hadn't made a single move anyway, apart from sneaking in her bed to cry or find comfort. Not something she'd take as a token of attraction...

She'd come around, eventually, once grief would be just a scar, not an opened wound. Or at least she hoped. As much as she hated herself for this thought, she couldn't see herself being just a friend. It was all or nothing. She had already wasted too much of her life, buried under this giant castle of horror.

She remembered those gates by heart, four or five times taller than her. She had only passed them twice : on her way in, and on her way out. Still, she remembered the sound they made when she opened like she had created them herself, she dreaded the sound of them closing like it was her worst nightmare. She repressed the cold shiver down her spine, memory of the words of late Sheriff Marcus when he had left her to the warden.

I'm sorry.

Yeah, me too, motherfucker.

The warden was still the same giant bastard. She guessed that they had to get a front guy as massive as the door. His uniform cap was almost too small for his large ugly head. When he saw the ladies enter, the leaned forward, both hands on the table, trying to see through the darkness.

- By my cap! Pink! You're already back! I knew they couldn't keep you roaming free for very long!

His voice was like gravel, his chuckle like the cough of a dying man. Vi raised only one of her metal-covered finger, and pointed at her name tattooed under her left eye.

- Careful what you're saying, you big fat toad, before I...

She was cut by Caitlyn's sudden movement, extending her arm in front of her to shush her. Her blue eyes were as cold and metallic as her gauntlets. Only a gentle, dim smile saved Vi's heart from freezing in her chest.

- Let me do the talking, remember?

Vi grumbled. If she had her way, she'd open that bastard's skull in two before diving to look for the information they needed in the middle of his grey matter, literally.

- Good evening, warden. I need to speak to one of the inmates.

The man laughed.

- Again? Last time you came, you said the exact same words! Next thing I knew, you were taking that public danger out with a forged paperwork!

- I won't deny it, she chuckled. But I'm sure you've seen at least one of the four service notes, and one of the two public speeches from Councilor Talis, naming me Piltover's new Sheriff. With the freedom to do all I deem necessary to bring the terrorist who killed my mother, among others, to your fine establishment.

Despite her polite smile, her voice could have cut through steal, and she had spat the last words like it had been poison in her mouth.

- Now tell me where I can find inmate 2135. Please. Before my partner here gets twitchy.

- I didn't realize there was that many floors underground, said Vi.

- You were on the lowest one when we met. -40. You didn't know?

Vi shrugged.

- I guess that's why they call it the Pit. 40th or 10th doesn't change anything anyway. Neither can see the sun.

Caitlyn shivered.

- Inmate 2135, she recapped, looking at the file in her hand. Dirk Hazimov. That's the guy I wanted to interrogate when I first came here. Warden said you made a number on his face and he couldn't talk.

- Little D, yeah.

- Little D?

Vi shrugged again, sharing an understanding look with her friend. That was a weird nickname to be proud of, specially with a bald head and a face like that, but what the hell.

- So, asked Vi, changing topic again. "Before my partner here gets twitchy"? What was that about?

- I don't know! It just... came out.

- No, I mean, "partner"?

Caitlyn blushed quickly in the dark, not sure what Vi meant. What she had meant. Vi hijacked her thoughts with a chuckle.

- I thought you'd have gone for something like "my subordinate". "My goon". "My employee". After all, you're the boss now.

- Ah shut up.

- As you wish, boss.

Caitlyn laughed, not a sound often heard within this walls.

Little D's cell was empty, as were most, so they had to search for him in the courtyard, escorted by three enforcers. It was of course very, very strange to Vi, as being escorted by uniforms usually meant a beating and some time in the pit. They seemed just as uneasy as her, although she didn't recognize any of them.

Voices stopped in the court, replaced by a wave of whispers at the sight of Vi, famous in this place, following a (cute) enforcer, and equipped with those scary weapons on her hands. Anyone who was in Stillwater at the same time as "Pink", even twenty floors away, had at least heard of her brawling skills. No one doubted the ravages she could do with those.

Then a few whistles rose from the ranks.

- Looking hot, Pink!

- Who's your new friend, Pink?

- Let's have some fun the three of us, Pink!

Caitlyn ignored those morons the best she could, but she was worried that Vi would do something reckless to anyone disrespecting her, protective as she could be, and make their job harder.

But violence was clearly not in Vi's mind. Instead, she beamed and gloated.

- I am looking hot, am I? Look at those babies!

She high-fived an inmate, flexed her arms for another. Winked.

- I didn't realize you were such a star in here... whispered the sheriff

- Only to half of them. The other half... not so much. But I've never stayed in this floor, so I don't see none of my old ennemies. I actually don't know any of those suckers. Well except Little D over here! Hey! Little D! Nice to see you man! I told you we'd meet again !

The said Little D froze like a statue, turning white and grey as a pillar of salt. Despite his size, the tattoos decorating his chest, neck and face, he looked like a little kid caught doing something stupid. His face was still bearing the traces of its encounter with the canteen's metal platter.

- Let's go somewhere private so we can talk, said Caitlyn.

The man didn't even try to fight the guards, just lowered his head and followed them back to his cell.

Locked in with Vi and Caitlyn, with three heavy armored enforcers at the gate, Inmate 2135 was not proud. He waited for the questions, head low, sat on his stone bed. Vi looked around. She hadn't been out for very long, still, those walls felt both like an old memory and the home she expected to return to at night.

- You know why we're here ? asked Cait.

- Yesh.

His jaw was still clearly painful and not fully healed.

- I ain't giving up my bosh! he snarled, shaking his head.

The Sheriff looked at her partner. Clearly, the word of Silco's demise had not yet made his way inside the prison. Consequence of using so many middle-men, not many people in the Underground would know that he's missing, even fewer to know that he was dead and gone.

- Silco, right? insisted the young sharpshooter.

Little D didn't not answer.

- I don't need you to give up Silco, Dirk. We are not wasting our time running after corpses.

The inmate froze for a second, looking in her eyes, searching for a reason to call her bluff.

- Fuck you, he finally said. the bosh aint dead. Can't. Go fuck yourshelf.

Vi stepped forward, her gauntlet scratching the wall. Her proud, gloating figure had left place to a cold and deadly resolution.

- Cupcake, let me remind him his good manners. Cause you remember, right Little D? You remember how I smacked your face when I was just seventeen, do you? One single fucking hit, you weak-ass slime. Now imagine what I could do to your bones with those beauties?

The man coiled but summoned all the bravery he could.

- I ain't snitching, bitch!

Before Vi could jump him, Caitlyn intervened.

- No need, Vi. He's going to talk, because he's got no one to protect anymore. I respect your loyalty, I really do. If there's one thing that I can admire in scumbags like you, it's that. But Silco's dead. I'm sorry. I was here. I saw him, heard his lasts words. You want to know what he said? He said " Don't cry. You're perfect", while he was bleeding out, three bullets in the chest.

- No.

Cait could see the light that sparked in the man's eyes. He had understood on the spot.

- Yes. You know who he was talking to, right? Who I'm talking about? The same one who shot your ass when you were supposed to be on the same side.

- No... She didn't...

- She did, Dirk. She did to protect Vi here, her sister. Oh she regretted it, I'm sure of it, but she sure as hell did.

- She's crazy. That bitch is batshit crazy... We knew she'd be the death of us. We told him again and again.

He was talking to himself more than he was to Caitlyn. For a minute, the big scary man looked like a kid who had lost his parents at the market.

- She's all we want, Dirk. Give us Jinx.

Later, as they sailed from the prison shores back to the city mainland, Vi noticed Caitlyn staring at her.

- What?

- I can't believe that reputation you got there. I don't know if I should be impressed, scared or disgusted.

- Pick the one that will make you take your shirt off tonight.

Caitlyn choked.

- You can't just say thing like that!

Powder's gaze stopped on Silco. He was looking both grim and happy at the same time, an expression she couldn't really grasp.

- What are we doing here? she asked.

- I've heard that you were quite the tinkerer. In here, you can bring life to all your ideas.

- I don't want to make another monkey bomb...

The sound of the explosion resonated in her mind. The awe and excitement she had felt at first had been completely erased by Vi's accusations. She had done it, her, and her stupid monkey.

- Then don't, he said. Make something else. Whatever you want, whatever you like, whatever you think can be useful or exciting. This place is yours. Do as you see fit.

She looked at him with terror.

- You're casting me out...

Despite two weeks spent as his hideout, sharing his meals, occupying his bed, she still had the terror of abandonment that Silco could not get out our her mind. Understandable, but problematic.

He kneeled next to her.

- Look at me.

She did, straight into his black and golden eye.

- You're a true children of Zaun. Smart, genius even. A survivor. Willing to do what's needed.

- I killed my friends...

- They killed themselves, making the wrong choices. You represent our future. I am not casting you out, I want you in. We want you in. You are the future of our cause. You're always welcome to join me, you know where to find me. But I have a lot of work ahead of me, so in the meantime, it would be best for you to create your own home.

Powder sniffled, trying not to cry again.

- You and I are very much alike, girl. Betrayed, left behind by your own family. Left on our own. The sooner you learn to live alone, the stronger you will be.

The young girl looked around, trying to digest and integrate those words. Make them her own. She noticed the boxes of junk laid there in the corner. Her paint bombs, her pens and notebooks, metal scraps, a few monkey bombs that were never finished, and probably never would be. A massive, worn-out leather chair had been brought, and as many tools as one could think of.

Powder started to imagine what the place could look like. Her new workshop, bigger than the whole house their were occupying and sharing with Vi and the others. She tried to ignore the pinch in her heart at this thought. Instead she imagined the colors she could put on the walls. She marched to the edge of the giant blade, looking into the void beneath. This was both exhilarating and terrifying, like the call of freedom, with both its promises and threats. She looked again at Silco. He was not smiling, he never was, but his eyes seemed happy. Behind him, a few of his goons were getting bored, but of course they did their best to hide it. They would never say anything, they wouldn't dare.

- So this place is mine? she asked, trying to wrap her head around it. She would have loved for Violet to be here, help her decorate. Maybe. Violet was a traitor. Traitor traitor traitor! But she would have loved. Maybe.

Vi was scared. She had not come back to the Undercity since the incident with her sister, she was scared of what she would have found. In a way, she missed the security of the prison. The walls keeping you inside were also keeping you safe from the truth. As long as she had been in there, Powder was still Powder. Sweet, smart, annoying but loyal, so eager to help. In prison, Jinx did not exist. Reality was kept outside the gates.

But down there, in the Undercity, Jinx owned the streets. She was born there, made her name here. Vi was scared of what she would find, of what she would see. Rediscovering the streets after years without the protection of Vander, the Last Drop conquered by Silco's goons, its people ravaged by shimmer, had been a traumatic experience, no matter how hard she would try to hide it. But, and she hated to admit it, but things might be even worst without Vander's killer running the streets.

- Are you ready? asked Caitlyn behind her, ripping her away from her dark thoughts.

The Sheriff had put on an extra layer of protection, and carried her long rifle in her hands.

- You ain't gonna be sneaky, carrying that around, noticed Vi.

- You think you will be? she asked back, pointing at her gauntlets.

Vi didn't care about the gauntlets. The only thing she could think of was the gentle smile on Caitlyn's lips. Genuine. Honest. Caring. A smile like she hadn't seen in years in prison, maybe her whole life. In the Lanes, there was always a sadness, or a request, behind every smile. In Caitlyn's there was nothing behind it. Just a smile. And that made her melt inside.

- Alright we better get going.

The night had fallen already, but the Lanes we always quite full of lights, at least in its most populated areas. They were more quiet than usual, though. It was not as bad as the fighter had feared, no rivers of blood in the streets, but still, it felt strange.

- They probably don't know that Silco's gone yet.

- That will come, sooner or later.

- I know. Unless Jinx took over the business.

Vi shook her head. It barely sounded like Powder, and didn't sound like Jinx at all. Leading had never been an interest of hers. All she ever wanted was to amuse herself, and more than anything else, not be alone.

- I actually hope she did take over, insisted the Sheriff. Because if not, I don't want to think about what she's been busy with the past two weeks.

- Yeah. Me neither. Come on, let's go. Has to be this way.

Jinx's hideout was far from the Lanes, deep into the belly of Zaun. The longer they went, the thicker the air. Caitlyn had to use her mask, and while Vi refused to, even she had to admit that breathing was getting harder. She also noticed that people in the streets were fewer and fewer, but their looks were harder, their whispers, louder. None dared approached them, though a few cut-throats were quite hesitant to try their luck. Vi's gauntlets seemed to stop any ill-advised attempts. Caitlyn's sniper, however, attracted a lot of curiosity. The greedy kind. She tried her best to ignore the eyes gazing upon her, feeling like a prey among the wolves.

Little's D directions were surprisingly clear and accurate. The entrance of her little sister's last home was hidden, but also easy to find for anyone who knew where to look. As they passed through the rocky entrance, both enforcers looked in awe. The place, while incredibly scary, was also wonderfully decorated, with flashes of blue, purple, white and red. Doodles all around, funny ones, joyful ones. The metal all around them carried traces of explosions, as Vi would have expected. Still, something felt off. She couldn't explain why.

More surprisingly, the lights were on. Jinx was not there, however.

- Be careful, warned Vi. Powder's always been one for traps, long before she became Jinx. They used to never work, for sure, but...

- She's gotten better.

- Yeah.

To illustrate her statement, Vi pointed at a thin wire crossing their path.

- See? I suppose people from around here know better than to come in here.

- Let's have a look around.

Carefully, paying great attention to where she stepped, Caitlyn started to investigate, her training taking over.

Investigator or not, it was hard to ignore the most obvious. Lying on the workbench, under a small spotlight directly pointed at it, was an old notebook.

- Clearly staged, stated Caitlyn. Careful, Vi, that could be a trap.

Her pink haired friend shook her head.

- I don't think so. Her guns are not here. I don't see any of her monkeys. This box is missing half its tools. She left that for me. I think she gone.

So this was the dreadful impression she had felt coming in. The place was cold. Abandoned. She felt a sting down her throat. Slowly, she took the book in her hands. It looked old and used, but well taken-care of. She turned few pages, noticing nothing of importance at first, until she stopped on a drawing. Her blood turned to ice in her veins. The pictures, drawn by a young, inexperienced hand, showed a family, smiling and happy together, under the sun. She recognized that family. Hers. Next to Mylo and Claggor, were scribbles the words

I'm sorry.

Above the smiling face of Vander.

I'm sorry.

She paled when she read the words above her recognizable pink hair.

A sister would NEVER abandon me!

We were NEVER a family

It's my fault.

Trembling, she turned to the next page. Drawings again, although they looked a bit more recent, more experienced. The portraits of Vander, Claggor and Mylo were heartbreakingly dark.

Vander died because of me

The last words were striked, as if they were a mistake.

Mylo and Claggor too.

Powder killed Vander

Powder died that night too.

Broken, Broken ! We're all broken. I'm no good.

- No... No...

Vi's voice was a beg. Right here on paper she could see Powder disappear, melting into Jinx. And things were worst. Another painting of her, looking angry, staring at the reader.

I miss her. I don't need her. I'll always be with you Powder. So where are you NOW?

And finally, a sad, depressing auto-portrait of Powder.

Sister said I was a Jinx. That's all I am now.

The closed the book, unable to go further.

- Vi? asked her friend's voice, far in the back of her head.

The sting in her throat grew bigger. She was hearing Powder begging, screaming in her ears, like she had done many years ago

Please ! Please don't leave me! DON'T LEAVE ME!

The same word she wanted to scream. To beg. Please Powder don't leave me. Powder, Jinx, I don't care. Just don't leave me.

She bit her bottom lip, hard, but the fight was already lost. So this is what it felt to have voices in the head. They were so loud, so agressive, she could not hear Caitlyn calling her. She let out a silent sob.

Jinx was gone.

The sob turned into a river of tears, the sting in her throat into a loud, soul-shattering cry. She fell on her knees and cried, like she hadn't in forever.

Tic toc, tic toc, the sound of the clock.

Time does not freeze.

Days into weeks.

Tic toc.

6 months pass.

A/N 2 : For all NOT playing the game : there is currently an event in the game which allows you to dive deeper into the lore of Arcane. We learn that Vi arrived in prison (episode 3) roughly at the age of 17, and leaves not before she's 20. Therefore the time-lapse was at least three years. I'm also using the informations from that event a lot, including the nickname 'Pink' and Jinx's diary of drawings.

A/N 3 : I searched a lot, and couldn't find the name of the tattooed goon in the show. So now he's Little D. If I actually just missed it, i'm sorry, now roll with it =)

A/N 4 : I finally know where I want to go with this fanfic! I got the plan laid down, it should take a dozen of chapters, more or less. So stick with me, I hope you won't regret it!