Vi was tired. No, that was an understatement. She was absolutely ready to drop dead where she stood. Fortuneately, she had managed to drag herself back into the comforts of her apartment until then. As soon as she shut the door behind her, she leaned on it for support. Her head lifted to look up at the cieling. Black spots started to blot out her vision, and her mouth hung out agape, too tired for her jaw.
And speaking of heavy, her gauntlets, which had been dear friends for years, fiercely tugged at her arms. Aided by gravity, they may rip her limbs from their socket. Eventually she crumpled onto her knees, but she still leaned back against the door all the same. She could pass out now, and it would be so easy, but Vi was too stubborn to just lie on the ground. So she smashed a hextech clad fist into the wooden floor (Probably pissing off the neighbor below her) and levered herself up to two feet again.
She rose, and took one shaky step after another to the old black couch smack dab in the middle of her apartment. It had seen better days, the leather still shined when she first got it. But after being crushed by her multiple times, it had finally conformed to her form. The springs could only handle her abuse for so long, and it was sad to say that the old thing used to be a lot more comfortable. Nonetheless, she dropped onto it, not really caring if she damaged it more (How worse could it get?), and proceeded to remove one gauntlet, then the other.
It phased through her mind that maybe she should forgo her usual ritual, of scrubbing and cleaning, and laying her babies nice and flat on the table, and simply going straight to bed. But "No", she thought, no, these dear friends have been with her for too long to stop caring about them now. So she did just that, and even though her eyes drooped lower and lower, she fought the urge, and saw it through to the end. So much conviction, so much care and love. And plenty more to give.
Forgoing her nightly shower however, was a process very often repeated. Perhaps too much, but no one on the squad ever noticed (Or were too scared to say anything). Tonight was another one of those nights, even worse actually. She had been worked to the bone for weeks now, and she doubted she could stand tall long enough for a shower. Besides, your blisters feel funny when cold water hits em. So she would go to sleep once again drenched in sweat. In the middle of winter.
It all started when some pasty white, maniacal grinned, blue haired, trigger happy harlot blew into town on a breeze of mayhem. Thievery, heists, black market trading, gang violence, those she could handle. But senseless nuts causing destruction for the hell of it? For no profit? That was something new. And tiring, very tiring. Vi had been close, oh so many times has she been close, but the brat always disappears a finger-tip away and dashes away through the smoke, leaving a trademark laughter. It pissed the enforcer greatly, and even worse was that the freak seemed to take a liking to her. Great, just great.
So what the punk does, is that she makes a challenge for Vi, and of course she accepts (It's not like she even had a choice, no else on the squad could get close to the building without getting their head blown off). And she's not an idiot, of course she knew it was a trap, but what else could she do? And it's not like knowing a trap was set up makes it not exist, how could she stop an entire fucking building from collapsing on her? And when she finally digs herself out of the rubble, she's surrounded by lights, and catches Caitlyn being chewed out by higher up officials with their head stuck in their asses.
So she got reprimanded, no big deal, really. What was a few months on the graveyard shift to her? Well nothing at first, but evidently those long nights started to take a heavy toll. She could barely get home on the best nights, and on the worse she'd fall asleep on the train and miss her stop. The extra pay was crap too, it might have been worth the long grueling, had they not take skim off the top to "Pay for the repairs of the destroyed treasury". What bullshit.
Caitlyn was slightly resentful about Vi's failure, and though it was hidden behind professionalism, you could feel it in the air. And yet, Vi found that she was okay with this. Let the sheriff be pissy if she wanted, Vi wasn't at fault here. She was the only one who was allowed to enter the treasury, and in each and every encounter, was the closest one to catching that twig-armed basket case. And it wasn't like the sheriff could have done anything anyway, so she could just shove it.
And a small smile graced the enforcer's lips. She had finally stood up to the boss lady, even if it was just in her head, it was one step closer. She was one step closer to escaping (Although a little flutter in her chest remained consistent). The prospect of freedom seemed to have soothed her aching muscles and sore spine. She felt comfortable in her cheap sheets, and wrapped herself in them giddily. While her eyes burned from fatigue, her eyelids brought so much relief when she shut them. Things were looking up for her, feelings be damned (Well, not entirely), and tomorrow was a brand new day. Even if she did wake up the next morning feeling like crap.
A/N: So sorry it's been a while. So I was going to do a Jinx chapter, but decided it would be pretty boring. It would have been exactly the same as every other chapter of this fic, and angst-angst-one-sided-love gets pretty old when done to such an extent. And a lot of you guys, including VulpesVulpix (This chappy was for your birthday sorry it's so late x.x), who had been saying that you can't stand Vi being so hurt all the time. So here she is getting better, and this ties in nicely with the bittersweet ending I have planned, coming soon. Oh hey, I actually have an ending planned!