Religion had always been one of the staples of Runeterra. It's gods were about as diverse as the people that inhabited it, ranging from massive spider like creatures who were said to gobble up people by the hundreds, to benevolent angels that flew down from on high to protect the innocent, and everything in between. Most people believed in at least one god; how else could they explain the magic, the horrible beasts and monsters that walked the earth, the void. Because of this, even in such a technologically advanced city as Piltover there were churches, places of worship, statues depicting different deities, and so on. Even the most ruthless of criminals usually gave churches a wide birth for this reason, despite what untold wealth they usually contained. They were sacred places after all.
They weren't sacred to Jinx though. No, she would gladly take a circular saw to the steel and gold statues if it meant furthering her goals, which is exactly what she was doing. Sparks flew in all directions, bouncing across her protective face plate like shimmering bugs, excited to be free of the confines of their prison. The statue, a twenty foot tall hunk of titanium, rocked slightly as the blue haired maniac sawed it's left leg with a massive electrical saw, one far to big for her tiny form. The screeching and whirring clicked to a halt and Jinx sighed unhappily. She threw herself back into one of the uncomfortable pews and kicked her feet up on the broken podium she had overturned just a few minutes before. The huge statue leaned hard to one side, it's one good leg straining under the weight of it. "I get everything I want with no resistance" she muttered, plopping her head against one arm.
With a squealing crash the statues one good leg finally gave way, crushing the rows of wooden benches beneath it's massive weight. Shoulders hunched, Jinx stood with another depressed sigh and made her way to the statues now mangled and broken head. Pulling a knife from her belt, she pried the shining gems from it's eye-sockets and weighed them in her hand. "Tanzanite" she said with the same monotone. "Third rarest gemstone in the world, almost ten thousand times harder to find than diamonds" she continued as if she was reading from a book. "Yaaaaaaaaay."
Who was she kidding? Nothing was fun anymore. Even blowing stuff up had lost it's charm to the maniac, much to her dismay. It wasn't the act of stealing that was fun, she had realized bitterly. The chase was what she really loved; as the adrenalin pumped through her veins, the bullets flew past, and the people screamed, only then was Jinx truly happy. Without the chase, without someone trying to punish her for what she did, what was the point of doing it? It was like eating a ton of cake without getting sick after. Sure you had that sweet taste, but half the fun was thinking "Oh gods, why did I do that?"
Jinx screamed exasperatedly and chucked her knife at the dull stained glass window that sat above her, just behind where the statues had been. A satisfying "Crash" filled the room as glass rained down, but Jinx barely felt a thing. "Why don't you fucks come after me!?" she screamed at the broken window, as if speaking to the gods themselves. As always, there was no response. The voices in her head began to whisper louder, talking behind her back about how crazy she was.
"Shut up!" she shouted, grabbing her forehead with one hand. Her knuckles turned white with strain as she squeezed harder and harder. If only her head would burst like a balloon, spewing all those voices out of her neck like the sickness they were. The voices of her old crew, muttering about what a burden she was. The voices of the doctors that had tried to "cure" her after her first breakdown, talking like she was some kind of animal that should be put down. The voices of all the people she passed on the street and stared, or screamed, or ran in fear. The voice of the sister that had abandoned her, left her to fend for herself when she was far to young, so she could go die for her little sisters sins.
Jinx fell to her knees, eyes bulging out of their sockets. "Shut up shut up shut up" she whispered over and over, reciting an incantation that never worked, a chant that did nothing. It was just as useless as she was.
The faintest sound of footsteps echoed though the church. Jinx drew Zap in a flash, the barrel quivering slightly in her shaking hand as she pointed it at the intruder. Jinx's eyes shot around the room, searching furiously for the source, but saw nothing. The slim woman spun silently to her feet, crouching low as she continued to scan the dark room. Someone was there, she just knew it. The voices silenced, listening with her. "Someones there" she said quietly "I heard you. I can feel your heart beat. Won't you come out so I can kill you? It would make me feel oh so much better."
"You won't be killing me today, Jay" a familiar voice echoed though the church. It seemed to come from everywhere, bouncing off the walls until it filled every corner. Jinx spun this way and that, furiously looking for the source.
"I missed you fat hands" she said psychotically, her voice trembling worse than her hands. "I really would enjoy killing you."
"Like I said" Vi's voice echoed again "That's not going to happen. I've got this hunch that you're not going to be killing anyone anymore."
The voices in Jinx's head started up again, only fueling her anger and instability. She holstered Zap and drew Powpow instead, spinning up the barrels preemptively. "But killing people is so much fun" she said, trying in vain to return her voice to it's usual bubbly tone. "It makes me so happy."
"Somehow I doubt that" the voice echoed from behind her. Jinx spun around and sprayed the back wall of the church with gunfire, sending chunks of stone and puffs of dust in all directions. As her gunfire stopped, Vi's voice picked up again, this time from the other side of the church. "You seemed pretty unhappy just a moment ago. What's wrong? Only fun when someone fights back?"
Jinx spun again and sprayed the other wall. Again, Vi's voice continued. "You're just a scared little girl" it said, quieter this time. "looking for someone that'll fight back." Jinx unleashed another storm of bullets, strafing one side of the benches with lead. "and now that no one's fighting back you don't know what to do with yourself." She sprayed the other line of benches. Splinters filled the air, flying around the maniac as her bullets flashed this way and that.
"You couldn't kill me" Vi's voice echoed ominously. Another hail of bullets, this time wildly about the room. "You couldn't kill Caitlyn." Another. "You couldn't even kill your precious sister."
"SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP!" Jinx screamed at the top of her lungs. Powpow spat out bullet after bullet, pot marking the walls, benches, ceiling, doors...
Powpow went click. Empty. Her gun slipped from her shaking hands and clattered to the floor. Her angry face slowly slid into fear as she wrapped her arms around herself. "My sister is dead" she whispered "I killed her. I killed her like I killed the doctors, like I killed the miners, like I killed everyone."
The voice clicked it's tong in disappointment. "Oh you're sister is very much alive, Jinx." it said. "but you don't want her to be, do you? You want her to be dead because she abandoned you. She left you alone. You don't like being alone do you?"
Jinx fell to her knees. "I hate being alone." she whispered.
"Then you should find your sister, Jinx." the voice whispered in her ear, getting closer and closer. "Find her so you can finish the job you started all those years ago. Find me, Jay." she was right in her ear now, burrowing into her eardrum like some sort of bug. "Find your beloved sister."
The voice wasn't in her ears anymore, didn't echo off the walls of the now crumbling church. It had joined the voices in her head now, echoing around her skull and through every inch of her brain. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she realized that it was Violet's voice. "Find me, sister" it whispered. "find me and kill me. The voices will go away if you do. They'll aaaaall just leave you alone."
"I don't want to be alone" she sobbed. "I want you back Violet."
"You already are alone, Jay." Violet replied. "You've been alone from the start."
Holy shit I'm alive! Sorry for the huge wait, everyone. I would love to tell you that I was to busy, but really I was just lazy. That's done for, though; I'll be going back to my schedule of two chapters a week (Monday and Friday) until I leave for Philmont on the 24th, then it'll be a chapter or two every ten days or so.
This chapter took me sooooo long to start. I stared at a blank word document for about an hour before I typed the first words, but once I did, it was finished so quickly. This is probably my favorite chapter as of yet, to be completely honest. This idea of Jinx falling apart more than Vi and Caitlyn has been stuck in my head for a while, and making it come to fruition feels sooooo good.
And we broke ten thousand views! I can't believe so many people read my stuff; it really does make me feel amazing. Ten thousand views on my mediocre writing...it's just hard to believe. Maybe it's my depression, or my lack of self confidence, but I just find it hard to believe that ANYONE likes my stuff. Thank you all so very much for taking the time to read.
As always, if you want to show your support, please just read! If you REALLY want to show support, post a review! And if you REALLY REALLY want to show some support, pop a request for another story into my inbox! I take the time to reply to each PM and review of my stuff (Except the ones that are posted as guests, I actually can't reply to those).
Abe