PROLOGUE

The End's Beginning

"~Dear friend across the river... my hands are cold and bare~"

The bridge was burning.

The air was filled with red smoke, so thick that it would have been hard to breathe if she wasn't used to the air down in the Lanes. She could hear enforcers in the distance finishing off the stragglers, their screams suddenly silenced by point-blank bullets. Spent casings and rubble littered the ground, along with the bodies of trenchers who had had enough of Piltover's tyranny and decided enough was enough. Dead, all of them.

"~Dear friend across the river... I'll take what you can spare~"

Barriers crushed and toppled over. Bodies piled on top of one another. Enforcers and trenchers alike bleeding on the bridge. Red smoke everywhere. Ash raining down like snowflakes.

"~I ask of you a penny... my fortune it will be... I ask you without envy~"

But Violet pressed on, Powder holding her hand. Determined to find her parents. Powder was singing a lullaby their mother had taught them just the other day, and she was dutifully covering her eyes just as her big sister had told her to. Part of Violet wished that she could cover her eyes as well, so she wouldn't have to witness the hellscape that the bridge had turned into. But she needed to find her parents. They all needed to go home.

"~We raise no mighty towers... our homes are built of stone~"

Their father used to take them here. He would lift Powder on his shoulders and ruffle Violet's hair as they all gazed across the bridge and into the heart of Piltover. "We'll all go visit one day," he would say as he bought them ice cream. Their mother would roll her eyes, but nonetheless joined her husband in getting the girls' hopes up. "We'll get out of the lanes and see how the topsiders live," she would say. Powder would always ask if they could live in Piltover, the city of progress' impeccable skyline visible just across the bridge. "Maybe one day," their father would say with a sad smile.

"~So come across the river... and find-"

They stopped walking. Powder waited for them to continue, but when a few moments passed she lowered her hands to see why Violet had stopped.

They were laid atop each other. A bloody smear on the ground suggested that they had crawled towards each other in their final moments. Their eyes, which had always been full of warmth and love, were empty now.

Violet collapsed to her knees, and the tears she had been holding back during the crossing fell freely. She tried to hold in her sobbing, she really did. But she was just a child. A child who had just come to the realization that her parents would not be coming back. They would never again wake her and her sister up in the morning with a breakfast, despite there never being enough food in the Lanes to go around. Never again scold Powder for doodling in class instead of paying attention to her teachers, even as they crooned over how clever she was whenever she fiddled with her mechanical puzzles. Never again stay up late putting homemade ointment on Violet's knuckles, patiently listening to how the boys at the schoolhouse had it coming.

And she would never again be able to tell them how much she loved them.

So Violet cried.

Powder, who had been peeking through her hands, hugged her sister as hard as she could. She couldn't have understood that no matter how tightly she hugged, the crying wouldn't stop. Just as she didn't understand why her parents were sleeping on the ground like that, and why they weren't all heading home now that they had found each other.

Violet latched onto her sister, and in a few moments her crying subsided. She had to be strong now. For Powder. For their parents who just wanted a better life for them, and paid the ultimate price. Something snapped in her head, and it was then and there that Violet decided she would be strong enough for the both of them. Strong enough to protect Powder, strong enough to stand up to the monsters that had killed her parents. And as she stood up to gather her strength, the smoke that had enveloped the bridge began to clear. That's when she saw him.

The Enforcer was staring at them, just a few meters past the corpses of her parents. She couldn't see his face, as it was covered with the re-breather mask and goggles that haunted the nightmares of every child down in the Lanes. His blue uniform was pristine, which the young Violet couldn't help but think was absurd considering the destruction around them. He didn't say a word as he stared them down, but she could hear his strained breathing filtered out from the mask. Violet stared back, slowly putting herself in front of Powder, who was looking at the enforcer with fear. Down in the Lanes, enforcers meant trouble. But here, on this burning bridge, they meant death.

The tension lasted for several moments, before the enforcer cocked the lever of his rifle, and set it against his shoulder to aim the barrel straight at Violet.

The gunshot thundered through the air.

And the two sisters met a monster.

Blood splattered at Violet and Powder's feet, and the enforcer's body collapsed like a puppet whose strings had been cut. The rifle fell from his hands and clattered onto the ground.

The boy was dressed in simple clothes, a dark brown long shirt and biege breeches, and a red scarf was wrapped around his neck. At first glance he was just like any other kid you would find down in the Lanes, he couldn't be any older than Violet. But in his hands was an enforcer rifle, and the barrel was smoking. He tried cocking the lever only to find the magazine empty, so he tossed the weapon onto the ground in frustration. He ran towards the sisters, completely ignoring the enforcer he had just killed not a moment ago. "Hey! Are you two okay?!"

His eyes were a piercing teal-green, and they were wet, as if he had also been crying. Or it could have been from the smoke. Violet noticed that his hands were covered in dirt and blood, and a sheathed knife hung loosely from his hip. It took her a moment to find her words. "We're fine. Thanks for that." She tried very hard not to look at the enforcer that had been about to shoot them. While it wasn't her first time seeing a corpse, it was the first time someone had been killed in front of her. She didn't feel sorry for him in the slightest, but she couldn't help the taste of bile that rose up her throat. She quickly stifled it. She needed to be strong. For Powder.

"Is he going to be okay?" Powder asked, pointing at the enforcer's body.

There was a confused look on the boy's face, before he had a realization and positioned himself between the sisters and the enforcer (and thankfully their parents). "Oh, don't worry about him, he'll get up in a few hours." He lied as easily as breathing. His next question was directed towards Violet. "What are you doing here, it isn't safe!"

"We were looking for our parents. They said they would be home in a few hours..."

The boy's face turned dark. "Yeah. Mine said the same thing."

This was all wrong. This was supposed to be just another protest. Violet wasn't sure how it had devolved into this slaughter, but she could guess. After all, it wasn't the first time that the undercity had tried a peaceful resistance, only for Piltover to push and push and push until violence was the outcome. This wasn't even the worst she'd seen.

But she would remember this one for the rest of her life.

"We can't stay here," the boy said. "we need to get back to the undercity before the rest of the enforcers cross the bridge. Hopefully your parents left before everything turned violent-"

"We already found them." She tried not to cry again. She also tried not to look at their lifeless bodies, but she failed that. "What about you?"

The boy brushed past her, refusing to look her in the eyes. "They... they were on the far end of the bridge."

The red smoke was starting to clear. On the other end of the bridge, Violet could see them - dozens of bodies, all of them looking like they belonged in the undercity. Enforcers were inspecting them, kicking them over like sacks of flour to make sure there were no survivors. Most were looking back at them. A few even readied their rifles.

The boy refused to look back. "Come on. I know a place we can stay."

For a moment, Violet considered her options. There weren't very many, and it wasn't long before she was following the boy and pulling Powder along with her.

"What about mom and dad?" Her sister asked, confusion in her voice.

What was she supposed to say to that? How were you supposed to explain the concept of death to a child? Especially when Violet was a child herself.

"Your mom and dad aren't here anymore," the boy calmly said. "But you'll see them again, one day."

"But why can't we see them now?"

A moment of silence. The boy turned to look at Powder, before he gave her a soft smile. He held out his hand to the smaller girl, who after a second of hesitation took it. "Don't worry, you've got us now. What's your name?"

"My name's Powder," she said shyly. "And this is my big sister Violet!"

He gave her a sincere smile. Now that they were this close, Violet could tell for certain that the boy had been crying, as his eyes were red and puffy. His face was splashed with a fine spatter of red that she hadn't seen from a distance. The blood obviously wasn't his. "It's nice to meet you Powder. My name's Eren."

It took longer to cross the bridge back. They had to avoid more bodies and debris, and Powder was gripping both Violet and Eren's hands like they would disappear if she let them go. A few other survivors were walking back to the undercity here and there. Each of them had the same, defeated look, unbelieving of everything that had just happened. A large crowd had formed at the end of the bridge. Most looked on in horror at the scene before them, and a few looked angry enough to charge back across the bridge, to strike back at their oppressors. But at the sight of the survivors slowly making their way back, despair truly began to settle in. Cries of anguish could be heard, as well as shouts of disbelief.

Violet ignored them all. She refused to look anywhere but straight ahead. To safety. Powder's hand, so fragile and small, kept her anchored, and she tried to focus on that.

They finally made it across the bridge, and she realized she didn't know what to do. The nebulous goal of be strong for Powder didn't really answer the question of where they would go, how they would live each day without their parents, or even how they would survive past the week. She turned to ask Eren about the place he mentioned where they could stay, only to realize he had left their side.

He wasn't very far, just a few meters away, looking back at the bridge. Violet saw where he was looking at. Not at the bridge itself, the bodies littered across the ground, not even the Enforcers which had slowly started marching their way. The red smoke had dissipated just enough that the shining skyline of Piltover was visibile. The grand buildings stood tall over the smoke, their blue, white, and gold colors standing in proud contrast to the destruction just below.

Eren was staring at Piltover. At the city of progress and equality. The city that spat on those unlucky enough to be born in the fissures. The city that pumped pollution and death into the lungs of all who lived in the undercity. Whose enforcers scorned them and decided that they were lesser. Who took their parents away.

Eren Jaeger was glaring at Piltover. And there was a look on his face that shouldn't have belonged on a boy his age, one that promised vengeance. It was of complete and utter hatred.

More than anything, Violet would remember that as the day she should have realized how everything would end. But she didn't. And thousands would suffer because of it.

The bridge was burning.

The air was filled with purple smoke. She struggled to breathe, years of confinement in Stillwater had gotten her used to the topside air. She used to be able to breathe in even the harshest of chemicals as a child. She could hear enforcers in the distance screaming bloody murder, their cries silenced by a sickening crunch and the wet splatter of blood coating the floor. Spent bullets and dismembered topsiders littered the floor, along with anyone foolish enough that dared to stand against her brother. Dead, all of them.

The wall surrounding the Zaun side of the bridge stood tall and proud, completely untouched by the carnage devastating Piltover. Bodies piled on top of one another. Enforcers and civilians alike bleeding on the bridge. Purple smoke everywhere. Ash raining down like snowflakes.

But Vi pressed on, with Jinx following her as she nervously fingered the pin to her grenades. They were determined to find their brother. To Vi's left, Caitlyn was readying her rifle, loading the breech with the last few bullets she had on her, one by one. Part of Vi wished that it hadn't come to this, that they all didn't have to come out and defend Piltover from the man determined to see it razed to the ground. But she needed to find her brother. Even with all he had done, a part of Vi still hoped that they could make things right. That he could be saved and they could all go home and be a family again.

He was standing in the middle of the bridge. He was looking beyond at the carnage he had wrought, not moving a muscle. Surrounded by Jaegerists, each of whom were looking at the onslaught with disgust and horror. I bet you thought he wouldn't go this far, Vi thought. I bet you thought he would stop before he crossed the line. But that's not how he thinks. For him, it's too late to stop.

Vi powered on her gauntlets. The hextech had taken a thrashing against Sevika, but she prayed they would last long enough to do what she had to. "Eren!" she cried out.

The Jaegerists all turned around at her shout. Most pulled out their weapons in order to protect their leader from what they saw as a threat. A few drifted to the sides, their faces blank after witnessing the horrors that Eren had unleashed upon the topsiders. But before anything could happen, Eren turned around to face them, and gestured to his followers to stand down, which they did reluctantly. He took one last look at Piltover, before moving closer to Vi.

"It's good to see you again Violet." Despite the circumstances, Vi was surprised that there was no malice in his voice. In fact, there wasn't much of any emotion in her brother's voice. He just seemed... tired. Eren gave her a wry smile before his gaze landed on Jinx. "You're here too, Powder? I'm sorry you had to see me like this," he said, scratching the back of his head with an almost sheepish expression. Then he noticed Caitlyn. "And you.. I didn't think you were still alive Kirraman. That's good to know."

Caitlyn's hands moved faster than lightning, and her rifle was aimed and cocked at Eren faster than most could blink. All of the Jaegerists fingered their weapons, afraid that any sudden moves would see their leader with a bullet in his skull. The ex-enforcer's face was filled with rage. "Give me one reason I shouldn't, Jaeger."

To Vi's disbelief, Eren actually seemed to think about that. "Hm. You know... I can't really think of one right now." He shrugged his shoulders, and Vi realized that he was being completely serious. "Sorry about that."

"This... this isn't what we wanted." The voice was small, and it took Vi a moment to realize that it was Jinx who had spoken. She turned to find that just like Caitlyn, her sister had her gatling gun trained upon Eren, and there were tears flowing down her face. "Silco wouldn't have wanted this! I don't want this!"

Eren looked down at the ground, refusing to look Powder in the eyes. "Yeah, I know that. He thought he was this close to peace with Piltover, did you know that Powder?" He chuckled to himself. "What a joke."

At that, Jinx's gatling gun started rotating, and Vi could tell that her sister was close to being set off. She looked Jinx dead in the eyes and shook her head. Reluctantly, the gatling gun powered down. Vi turned back to her brother with one last plea, hoping that it would be enough. "You need to stop this Eren. Think about what you're doing. I know Piltover has done terrible things to us, but this-"

"I admire Silco, I really do," Eren interrupted her, as if he hadn't even heard what she said. He looked to the side, towards the murky depths of the Pilt river. "When he told me his plans for Zaun, I thought to myself, I'd follow this man all the way to the end." He made his way to the edge of the bridge. The protective guard rail and been blown off in the chaos, and Eren stood on the very edge of the precipice. He was looking intently into the waters below, and if Vi didn't know any better she'd think that he was close to jumping. "But the more time passed, I realized that his goals wouldn't be achieved for generations. He planned for that of course, but he was hesitant. He would always go on about the base level of violence necessary for change." He let out a scoff. "But I'm not like him."

The knife was in his hands in the blink of an eye. It wasn't anything special, and could hardly even be called a knife. If anything, it looked more like a scalpel. From this distance, he wouldn't be able to threaten them. Vi knew from experience that his throwing skills were shit, so she wasn't sure why he thought such a short-ranged weapon would help him at all. Eren turned back around to face them. His aloof attitude from before was gone, and in it's place was steadfast determination. "The base level of violence isn't good enough! If there's going to be change, real change, then we need to be willing to go further beyond even that!"

"Is that what this is?" Vi grit her teeth. The tension in the air was close to a boiling point. She knew she could only make one last appeal to him. "Eren, this isn't change. This isn't even a war, it's just evil!"

"I'm not like Silco, Violet. He's willing to bargain with our enemies. I disagree with that."

Caitlyn scoffed at that. Her finger hovered just a hair's breath away from the trigger. "So this is your master plan then? To just murder every person topside, no matter if they're innocent or not?!"

A grim look passed Eren's face. "The plan, Kiramman, is the same as it's always been." He slowly started to raise the scalpel, but Vi was surprised to see that instead of pointing it at them, he instead set the sharp edge against the palm of his other hand. There was a moment of silence on the bridge, and for a moment, Vi dared to hope that maybe Eren was thinking about what he was doing. That he was realizing the sheer horrifying scope of what he had done. But then he looked directly at her. His eyes pierced through her very soul. "I will keep moving forward."

With no warning, he jerked the scalpel to the side, and blood splattered onto the bridge. Purple streams of electricity started emanating from his wounded hand, and soon began to cover his entire body.

Powder threw a grenade, and from the pink paintjob Vi could tell it was one of her more lethal designs. Caitlyn let loose a hail of bullets into Eren's chest, but aside from putting a few more holes into him he was unfazed. Vi burst into motion, her hextech gauntlets propelling her forward to end the life of the person she once called her brother.

Eren did nothing. Nothing but whisper to himself as tears fell down his face.

"It's just like I promised you, Historia. I'll keep moving forward. Until our enemies are destroyed."

"I pretended to chase my own monsters away. I'd say… 'No monster's gonna get you when I'm here.' But Eren, when he was with her, the bonehead, he'd say... 'I'll become an even bigger monster, so no one will ever scare you again.' He really took that to heart, I think."