(Disclaimer: Trying new things with this chapter, let me know if it sucks in a review.)
ViLeonce
Chapter 8: Becoming a Problem
Vi's crystalline gaze was so unflinching she missed the criminal right before she had enough time to act. It was so fast. She was just staring at Leona talking to a food vendor on the street and then she heard the scream and it was over. Vi's heart thudded maddeningly when she ran after the guy, but there was no other sound. No yells for help. No pounding of feet on the pavement. Just the heartbeat, and an echo of a sound that came too late for her to notice.
She now stared down, with the same unflinching gaze at the body on the sidewalk laying peacefully as if asleep. Everything seemed slower and more deliberate. Vi could recall blinking a few times, but her eyelids just seemed to drag themselves down until she was covered in black. She was jealous of the false reality behind her eyelids, a world where all was loud and happy and she never made any mistakes. But as soon as they would open, more quickly than they closed, she would be staring at the young woman on the pavement.
She had a slim knife wound in the ribs right below her left breast. The blood had stopped flowing and just lay nest to her in a terrifying scarlet pool. Vi could hear a buzzing, but it came in waves like the tide. They began to pick up momentum and finally they were crashing into her head. Over and over, it was maddening! Vi's eyes widened in fear, she was not breathing. She was holding her breath. 'Good,' she thought, 'Maybe I'll slip into oblivion, unnoticed.'
"VI!" Caitlyn yelled into her ear again.
She finally snapped out of it and looked over to her partner. Caitlyn's look was concerned, but Vi could recognize the fury and pity behind them. She knew her too well.
"What?" she replied dumbly.
Caitlyn just sighed and chewed her lower lip.
She looked uncomfortable, like she was searching for the right words.
"Are, are you alright Vi?" Caitlyn said finally, with half-hearted sincerity.
"Fine," Vi lied and then turned her gaze back to the body on the street. It was different now, another person knelt next to her. It was a man, he was holding her in his arms with an officer behind him trying to pry him away. He was crying. As soon as he looked up all sound bled away into space. The area between him and Vi was the only thing left in the world and all other light and color just faded away. He said something, but she couldn't hear it. But her eyes began to flow with tears so forcefully she thought she might drown, and the entire world went black.
Vi awoke in her bed at home. She bolted upright quietly, barely shifting the sheets. There was a figure sitting by the window, and she first thought it was Leona. After she rubbed her eyes, she saw that it was Caitlyn sitting by the window, and looking out of it into the night sky. She must have heard Vi stirring because she looked over her shoulder at her and frowned.
"How'd I get here?" Vi asked calmly, rubbing her eyes.
"You passed out on the street, Leona carried you home. I let myself in to make sure you were alright," Caitlyn said evenly without averting her eyes.
"Where is Leona now?" she asked.
"I don't know, she left," Caitlyn said, finally taking her icy gaze off of her.
"What happened Vi?" she asked in a tone so cold it made her shiver.
With the one question it all came rushing back as vivid as she had experienced it. The vendor, Leona, the woman, the mugger, the flash and then all became fuzzy after that.
"I think a mugger walked up to a woman and tried to snatch her purse," Vi said, somewhat lazily, "She resisted and he knifed her and then took off."
"Where was the mugger from where you were standing?" Caitlyn asked, still staring out the window.
Vi swallowed hard, her head pounding.
"Across the street, and fifteen feet from where I was," her voice actually cracked and tears began to well up in her eyes again.
"Fifteen feet," Caitlyn said wistfully, "Okay this is what is going to happen."
Caitlyn walked over and sat on the edge of the bed. Vi didn't even move.
"Leona, or the force," she said coldly and quietly.
Vi's heart broke. She wanted to argue, she almost did but Caitlyn held up her hand,
"This is not a negotiation. This is no longer a distraction, this is a problem. The only reason I am not stripping you of your badge and throwing you out in front of the other officers without a word is because you are my best friend. You are my partner, and I NEED to be able to depend on you. Splitting up was a bad idea, that is my fault. And maybe it's my fault I let this partnership slide. But that's not the point now. No Leona, or if you can't, no job with the Piltover police," she finished.
Vi wasn't sobbing but she had a few tears still flowing down her face. She choked, and then tried to look up at Caitlyn but she had already walked to the door.
"I'll give you til tomorrow morning to decide," Caitlyn said, then walked out curtly shutting the door behind her.
With the click of the wood, Vi was left alone in the semi-darkness and the crushing, oppressive silence. She swung her legs out of bed and looked around. Her room was too small. She needed to leave it. She walked all through her house before deciding to go outside for some air.
The air was cold, and the darkness around her was split up by the street lamps. She inhaled deep, the exhaled and a trail of frosty breath came out of her nose. Her mind was clearing, but she had this nagging and painful feeling in her stomach. She hated both ideas but she knew it was a legitimate concern. Her affection for Leona caused her to blank out when someone needed her. That made her a burden, not a savior. But on the other hand, she had just gotten to know Leona, and she wanted to know her even more than ever. When she realized this she felt sick. What was wrong with her?
Vi took a little walk down the street, contemplating. She couldn't really even begin to pick, but she had to by the next morning when Caitlyn got back to work. She needed to talk to Leona. Her absence made everything confusing and muddled, but her presence seemed to clear everything up. But then again, that's what got her in this mess in the first place. Finally she took off running into the night her feet pounding on the sidewalk like before.
She got to Leona's room door out of breath and aching. She couldn't recall stopping the whole way. She pounded on the door with all the might she had left.
"Leona!" she cried, "Leona please open the door!"
She knocked a little harder, making her hand hurt when finally her lock could be heard unlatching and then the door opened to Leona standing there in her nightgown. Her face was tired, but her eyes were clear and her frown deep.
"What?" she asked, not coldly, but more like you talk to a friendly dog that won't leave you alone.
"I just," Vi began but her throat caught. She felt stupid, and miserable.
"I don't know, go back to bed. I'm sorry for waking you up," she finally said before turning around.
Leona grabbed hold of her arm and pulled her back in the house.
"Come on," she said, sighing.
Vi walked in and looked around to Leona's room. It was plain, but for a few plants and a sun shrine on the wall by the window.
"Spit it out," Leona said crossing her arms.
Her passive coldness made Vi hurt even harder, but she knew she deserved it.
"I need your help one more time," she whispered.
"Oh yeah? With what?" Leona asked.
"I have to pick between you and the force," she said, hanging her head.
"I'm surprised you even get the option," Leona said, cocking an eyebrow.
Vi groaned, "I know I messed up, you even warned me! I'm sorry, but, I don't know, help me out here!"
"I'm not going to pick for you. This is your decision, you have to make it. Either way, I am leaving for the Institute tomorrow," she said uncrossing her arms and switching her feet.
"You what?!" Vi asked, shocked, "What do you mean you're leaving? What if I pick you?"
"That's not my problem. I'm not even sure what I'll do if you'll 'pick' me, like I am a prize at a carnival," she spat.
She sighed, "Yeah, okay, I'm sorry for belittling you. I didn't mean it. I just, I feel for you. A lot. But I don't know if I can leave my home and my calling for you."
Leona just shrugged.
"Can I ask you something?" Vi asked.
"Of course you can," Leona said softly, as if out of pity.
"Is there still a chance between us, like a relationship?" Vi asked calmly, "Will you be mine?"
Leona just sighed again, "What do you think?"
Caitlyn sat quietly at her desk with the bustle of the office the only thing drowning out the scratching of her pencil. She was filling out a patrol report and all the while she thougt about her partner. She, for a brief moment, thought she had been too hard on Vi. But then she realized that if she wasn't hard on her, more people might get hurt. She couldn't afford that in this line of work. There was a hush that she almost didn't notice before seeing Vi at her door.
She set her pencil down and stood up, "Hello, officer."
Vi didn't say anything, but came walking up to the desk.
Caitlyn was overjoyed and tried to come around to hug her when she stopped short and laid something down on the table. Caitlyn looked down at it, it was Vi's badge.
"I can't let go, not right now. I don't know when I can," Vi said, with her head hanging.
Caitlyn swallowed the lump in her throat, then replied, "That's fine. I wish you the best of luck with her. She is a great girl. When will she be coming back to Piltover?"
"I'm leaving too," she said quietly.
"What?" she asked, aghast.
"I am going with Leona to join the League of Legends for Piltover. It's somewhere no one will get hurt. If I ever come back, it's been a pleasure here," Vi said then offered her hand.
"So you just came by to say goodbye?" Caitlyn said, shaking her hand, "I see. Well, I'll miss you."
"Me too. Look, before this gets all sappy, thank you for all you've done for me. Pulling me out of the gutter, giving me purpose in life, etcetera. I owe you partner," Vi finished shaking her hand and began to walk out of the door.
"Hey Vi," Caitlyn said, stopping her.
"Not that I don't think they will, but if things don't work out, you are welcome back here anytime," she said hopefully.
Vi just chuckled, "Take care of my house Cupcake."
Outside, Leona was waiting by the carriage that would be taking them to the Institute.
"How'd it go?" Leona asked, smiling, "Was she furious?"
"Well, you know, they lost a star player. I'm sure they'll be fine though," Vi said smiling.
"This is a new chapter of my life Leona," Vi whispered next to her, "I'm glad it's with you."
