FOREWORD

I have little interest in League of Legends, I have to say. Yet I was intrigued by the news of the cartoon prequel Arcane. It took me quite a while to get to watch it, but at long last, I have watched the first act of the first season, and the remainder of the first season will follow in due course.

I wanted to do a Potterverse crossover ever since I read up on the series, but as one of my Halloween oneshots, I decided to do a Bloodborne crossover. Yes, I know, I tend to write a lot of those. This year alone, I wrote two crossover oneshots with Code Geass, with a longer story in the same crossover potentially on the books.

Yet I felt going through Yharnam could be an interesting (in the cursed sense of the term) formative experience for a certain character. Powder, aka Jinx, is a tragic character for whom fanfic is practically made, if only to prevent her slide into outright villainy, and Yharnam could help her cut through her own madness with its own insanity, and come out the better. In some ways, the Arcane/Library of Ruina crossover This and That by Bighead98 was a formative influence on this work, along with NeonZangetsu's stories, but this, I hope, is its own beast, and I hope you enjoy it.

Anyway, time for the disclaimers. Firstly, there will be annotations, as well as references to dark themes, horror, violence, and the like.

Secondly, there will be spoilers.

Finally, this is a fan-written work. Bloodborne, Arcane, League of Legends, and the characters and scenarios are property of their respective owners. Please, support the official release. Otherwise, Jinx will slap a Chomper to your back…

ZAUNITE HUNTER

Sevika didn't know where it had gone wrong. True, the Firelights were a nuisance, and a potent one at that, but she was expecting destruction of their Shimmer and the rest of their cargo. Like that Sang shit that Silco had begun pushing over the last few months. Shimmer was one thing, but Sang gave Sevika the chills, given that it seemed to make monsters worse than Shimmer ever did.

What she wasn't expecting was her to show up.

The leather-coated figure in the tricorn hat had been making a splash in both Piltover and Zaun for the past month. A figure of urban myth. Rumour had it that she was seen around that Piltie Hextech inventor Jayce and Heimerdinger's assistant Viktor. Someone had certainly attacked Sang and Shimmer reserves with a brutal violence that caused comment even in Zaun, where brutal violence was far from uncommon.

It was during a shipment of Shimmer and Sang that Sevika got her first glimpse of the woman many called the Hunter. The first indication she got that something was wrong was when she heard a commotion in the cargo hold. Some underling of Silco's had been set to guard it. Yet there was a sound of a struggle, and then an explosion. The hatch opened, admitting a billow of smoke, before a shadowy figure appeared, booted footsteps echoing on the deck.

The Hunter was shorter than Sevika thought, even slender, most of her bulk provided by her clothes. Hell, her body language was deceptive, like a skittish young girl having crashed a party in a most conspicuous way. Yet Sevika knew that, despite this skittishness, the way the purple eyes flitted around suggested someone watchful, someone seasoned by combat. Her lower face was concealed by a cloth mask.

"Hi," the Hunter said, her voice surprisingly younger than Sevika thought. A teenager, with a high raspy voice.

Sevika held back from the ensuing fight, hoping to understand how much of a threat this girl posed. True, she looked like a mere slip of a girl, but her instincts were screaming at her. And her instincts were proven correct. What followed couldn't even be called a fight. It was a slaughter.

The Hunter moved like the wind, not a movement wasted. Sometimes, she slashed off heads and limbs. Other times, she somehow summoned tentacles using some sort of slug on her arm. At least once, she slapped a grenade with a mechanical mouth onto one of her subordinates' back, turning much of his torso into mince.

And then, the Hunter was turning to her, her head tilting quizzically. "…I know you, don't I?"

Sevika readied herself to fight. "…I don't think we've met."

"Oh, right, I only saw you a few times at The Last Drop. I've grown a bit since then." But then, the jovial tone became threatening. "I certainly remember hearing your voice at that warehouse…the one you took Vander to!"

Before Sevika could react, the Hunter had dashed forward, cutting off her arm. The prosthetic one, but it didn't stop it from hurting. And with a strength her slender frame belied, the Hunter chokeslammed Sevika onto the floor of the airship. "You betrayed him, you bitch," the Hunter sneered, taking off her hat and her mask, revealing features that Sevika couldn't quite place, though given the blue hair, she had her suspicions. Except THAT was an impossibility. "Vander had his faults, he could have done more than just showing his belly to Piltover, BUT YOU BETRAYED HIM! TO SILCO!"

Sevika choked out, "You can't be her…you died! I saw your corpse!"

"I got better." The Hunter shoved her face into Sevika's own after that deceptively flippant remark. "Now, I want to kill you so badly, I can taste it, but I have a message for Silco that I want you to deliver. I'm coming for him. Whether his death is quick and relatively painless, or slow and agonising, depends on whether he stops peddling Shimmer and Sang first. Especially Sang. That red-eyed monster doesn't know what he's doing, peddling that formless motherfucker's blood on the streets. Got it? Okay, good talk."

The next few minutes passed in a daze, partly because Sevika was suffering from a concussion that the Hunter inflicted on her shortly after her ultimatum. She did see the Hunter meeting with the Firelights, who had just boarded the airship, and spoke to them, before handing them a bell. She did hear the Hunter ordering them to burn the Sang especially. It seemed like the leader of the Firelights seemed to know the Hunter, and was equally surprised to see her alive. They promised to talk later.

Still, as the Shimmer and Sang shipments burned after the Hunter and the Firelights left, Sevika, getting to her feet unsteadily, wondered how the hell she was going to explain this to Silco…


"Hey, guys. Here's more of the shit to analyse. Hey, that rhymes!"

Jayce Talis looked up as a bottle filled with something that resembled blood was placed on his workbench in his private lab. "You know," he said, even as Viktor picked up the bottle and peered at it, "would it hurt you to knock and say hello?"

"Social niceties are for Pilties who like to conceal how rude they really are. Science fact. You're welcome," the Hunter said. "I'm hoping with your Hextech crap, you can find where Silco's getting this shit from. Formless Oedon has to be bringing this stuff into reality somewhere."

"It's still rather fascinating," Viktor said as he peered at the bottle. "The blood of a deity, with healing properties, but at a cost. Incidentally, thank you for your own help given my…" He indicated his body, which, Jayce knew, was gradually healing thanks to the Hunter's very generous donation.

"It's cool. Don't get me wrong, Heimerdinger was more or less right, he's just a bit of an ass the way he says it, and he's old and a Yordle. It doesn't mean you shouldn't research magic and all that crap, just be careful about it. Anyway, the Healing Blood I supply shouldn't be like Sang, but there's only so much I can produce."

"It's okay, I am grateful," Viktor said with a wave of a hand. "It's a shame you cannot make more for Zaun and Piltover. It would be a medical miracle."

"…That's how the Healing Church started, guys, and I saw how they ended up. Besides, I can't produce that much yet. But one day, I will."

Jayce gave the Hunter a reassuring smile. Their acquaintance was a short one (leaving aside the fact that the Hunter and her family did cause the explosion that nearly crippled his inventing career, but Jayce had made his peace with that), but despite her idiosyncrasies and her Zaunite tendency to be suspicious of Piltoverians, she was a good person, someone who had helped him and Viktor make great strides in Hextech, though not without injecting words of caution. They were at least more reasonable than Heimerdinger used to be: she at least gave good reasons that didn't sound like condescension, even if Heimerdinger was well-meaning. The irony was, the Hunter and the Yordle got along swimmingly.

Speaking of which, Jayce was reminded of something. "Now, I have good news to tell you. Your sister is alive and well, as much as she can be under the circumstances," Jayce said.

The Hunter's pink eyes snapped to him. "Vi?! Where is she?!"

"…Formerly, Stillwater Prison," Viktor said. "Currently? Heimerdinger went down there with Caitlyn, and secured her release. They're currently at his chambers, the last we heard, which was just before you arrived. It seems there were irregularities in her arrest."

After a moment, the Hunter laughed, a hoarse, braying thing that, at least this time, held little mirth. "Of course there fucking was. Cupcake aside, most Enforcers would only need a flimsy excuse to send one of us to Stillwater. But Cupcake? She's as much of a unicorn as Grayson was. Okay, well, I'd better head to Heimerdinger's chambers toot sweet. Oh, before I go, I met with an old friend while I was out. I think you two and Heimerdinger would get along swimmingly, he's as good as I am when it comes to tinkering…"


Violet, or rather, 'Vi', wasn't sure what to make of this. That no less august a personage than Head Councillor Cecil B Heimerdinger would come to secure her release was astonishing, and as much as she hated Pilties and the Council, she wasn't going to argue with being released. The fact that the ancient Yordle and his pet Enforcer were being coy about why was annoying. All they would say was that someone close to her had asked them to find her, with Heimerdinger in particular saying it was a surprise.

She doubted there was anyone close to her who'd have enough pull with a Councillor to have her released. Hell, aside from Ekko (and she doubted he had any pull with Heimerdinger), she didn't know of anyone she was close to who was still alive. Vander, Mylo, Claggor…

Powder…

Even now, the events of that night haunted her in her dreams. How Powder came over to her, elated at helping with the explosion, only to realise it had killed Vander, Mylo, and Claggor. Vi's anger, her punching Powder, and screaming at her, calling her a jinx, just like Mylo did.

Yet even as Powder cried, Vi realised something was wrong. And it wasn't just Vi's grief and anger making her lash out at her beloved if clingy sister. Her sister was covered in blood. Powder's own blood. The realisation hit them both at the same time, with Powder's crying dying away into sobs of pain as the adrenaline wore off, and the pain of her fatal wounds, sustained in the explosion she created, came back.

Something in her wanted to run away, to flee her guilty conscience. But as Powder sagged, Vi picked up her sister, and tried to hurry away, calling out for a doctor or even anyone who could help to save her one last loved one. Then, she was ambushed, by that slimy bastard Marcus, the one who sold out Vander, and his own boss, Grayson. The last thing she saw was Powder's body bleeding out in front of her, calling for Vi even as the light faded from her eyes. And the next thing she knew, she was in Stillwater.

Yet here she was, after nearly seven years in prison, hardened and stronger, and yet, still missing something. Something very dear to her heart. All she had left was revenge on Silco and his underlings, for what they did to her and her family.

As they waited in a well-appointed study, Heimerdinger broke the awkward silence by asking, "Miss Violet, did you ever hear of the Hunter while in Stillwater?"

"It's just Vi, and I heard rumours. Some vigilante, almost on a par with the Firelights, targeting Silco and his Chem-Baron underlings. But what does that have to do with anything?"

Heimerdinger leaned forward, the diminutive Yordle's bushy moustache twitching. "It was the Hunter who asked me to seek you out, Vi. She and I have become rather good friends, and indeed, she is helping some promising protégés out with their research. It's rather refreshing to come across a mind as learned as hers, and manages to balance boldness and curiosity with caution and pragmatism. Though she is a touch…eccentric, shall we say?"

"To say the least," Caitlyn said, the dark-haired Enforcer frowning.

Before Vi could ask anything further, she heard a high-pitched voice say from the door, just as it slammed open, "Rejoice, ye mortals, for your friendly neighbourhood vigilante, Hunter, and god has returned! Hold the applause!"

Vi turned to the newcomer, who was dressed in a long leather coat, a leather tricorn, and a mask concealing the bottom half of her face. Yet a pair of twin pigtails swung about as she twirled flamboyantly. She felt her heart stop a beat when she saw that shade of blue. It couldn't be, it just couldn't.

The Hunter, for that was who that was at the bare minimum, stopped her twirling, and looked at Vi. Her pink eyes widened beneath the tricorn, and then, she said, quietly, almost as disbelieving as Vi felt, "Vi?"

"Who the hell are you?" Vi asked, dreading the answer.

"It's me!" The Hunter tore off her hat, lowering her mask, revealing a girl that would've been the age of her sister had she lived. "It's Powder!"

"You're not Powder!" Vi snapped. "You've got the wrong eye colour for one thing, and for another, my sister died!"

The Hunter blinked. After a moment, she said, "Oh, yeah, my eyes changed colour when I…yeah, you wouldn't believe that, even if it is the truth." She hurried over, and clasped her hands in her own, and Vi, despite her impulse to simply slap them away, noticed how strong and firm the grasp is. "Vi, it's me. I know it's hard to believe but…remember that mechanical cymbal-banging monkey that Vander used to use as a warning mechanism at the Last Drop? Or that one time Ekko and I fought over repairing that clock in Benzo's store? Or that I told Mylo off for trying to steal a nose-hair trimmer when we raided that Piltie workshop?"

As Heimerdinger and Caitlyn chuckled, the former in warm amusement, the latter uneasily, Vi gaped. This was impossible. The only three people who would know that last detail aside from herself were dead. Powder released her hands, and Vi carefully touched Powder's face. "…How?"

"…It's a very long story sis. I did die, just like Mylo and Claggor did, because of my own, stupid jinxed bomb," Powder said, grimacing in self-reproach. "But…I woke up elsewhere. Something very powerful and dangerous snatched me up, and dropped me into a place called the Hunter's Dream…"


And so, Powder told her story. It was an insane one to be sure. And yet, it was that sheer insanity that had Vi gradually believing it.

Powder spent years within the Hunter's Dream, a dream world, under the guardianship of a man called Gehrman, and his creation, a living doll. Powder felt more inclined towards the Doll, given the artificial being's gentle nature, though Gehrman treated her well. Then again, the crippled former Hunter had trained her to become a Hunter herself, playing on her desire to do something, to be something other than a jinx.

Years later, she was sent into Yharnam, a city on another world, which had fallen under the aegis of the Healing Church. There, she was to hunt monsters, many of which turned out to be those who succumbed to the Healing Blood peddled by the Church. Said blood was the blood of Formless Oedon, a Great One, a kind of deity-like being.

Powder was further traumatised by loss, by those she failed to save on that long night. True, she saved some, but others weren't, due to her being a jinx, in her words. Vi had always regretted calling her a jinx since shortly before Powder's death, but now, she regretted it even more. Because it was clear those words haunted her sister, despite Yharnam sounding more hellish than Zaun ever was.

Powder slew monsters and Great Ones. She brought down the dying conspiracy around the Healing Church and its offshoots. She brought an end to the dying curse of one Great One, and found a mother figure she never had not only in the Doll, but in her model, Lady Maria of Cainhurst.

Her battles brought her to despair and insanity, and yet, she came out of it, stronger and wiser. Vi didn't envy Powder her experiences, and yet, it had a salutary effect on her. Yet Powder was forced to fight Gehrman, who executed all Hunters who had fulfilled their tasks, and let them wake up in reality. Powder wanted to free the old man from his torment.

And so she did. And she would go on to confront not only his gaoler, but her own. The Moon Presence, a Great One that had spawned the Hunter's Dream, did not die easily. But die it did. And with its death came apotheosis. In other words, Powder became a Great One.

Powder rubbed the back of her head with a sheepish laugh after making that claim. "So, becoming a god, even one with a little 'g', is pretty taxing. It took me a couple of years to get back to something approaching lucidity. I have the Doll to thank for that. But the moment I could, well, I sent myself back here. Or, well, rather an avatar. This body isn't the real me, not anymore, Vi."

Vi, after a moment, hugged her. "It's real enough to me, Powder. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, for calling you a jinx, but…"

"…Vi…you were just telling the truth. I just have to live with that, and think about things better," Powder said sadly. "I got Mylo and Claggor killed, and I nearly got you killed too. But…well, here's the thing. When I became a Great One, I saw things. Quite a lot of things back here, on this world. Vander's alive. Shimmer kept him alive, though he's in a pretty fucked-up way. I dunno where he is, but I think Silco's pet mad scientist has him locked away."

Heimerdinger chose to interject. "Yes, well, if it's who I think it is, then I am not surprised. Singed had a rather relaxed attitude to morals even when I knew him, to say the least."

"Then we'll look for him, together, Powder," Vi said firmly. She didn't know if Powder was telling the truth, but if she was, maybe they could be a family again. Then again, they had each other now. That was more than they had for the past seven years.

Then, something occurred to her. "So, how did you come to be pally with these two?"

"Again, a long story," Powder said. "Remember that place I accidentally blew up with the blue crystal thing?" She indicated Caitlyn. "Cupcake's family owned it, and was renting it out to some inventor. And if you've heard of Jayce Talis in Stillwater, well, that's who we robbed!"

Vi couldn't help but laugh, even if it was a tired, sardonic thing. "Small world. Is it water under the bridge?"

Caitlyn nodded, smiling, and holy shit, it made her gorgeous. "Jayce seems to think so, and he's an old friend. So's Powder now, despite her…eccentricities."

"And Ekko's still kicking. I just met him!" Powder said with a grin. "You won't believe the cool shit he's getting up to."

"Oh? Tell me more," Vi said. This promised to be interesting…

And so, a family had begun to reunite. And out of tragedy and horror was forged something new. An alliance not just against the evil of Silco and his Chem-Barons, but their puppeteer in the shape of Formless Oedon.

Time would tell if they succeeded. But for now, one thing was for certain. Two sisters, torn apart by tragedy, had now reunited. And they would never let themselves be willingly sundered ever again…

THE END

STORY ANNOTATIONS:

So, Powder/Jinx is now the Good Hunter. Silco and his cronies are FUCKED. They just don't know it yet.

After watching the third episode, I'm actually amazed Powder didn't get major injuries from being blasted off a building. There's so much debris that could have hit her, the fall could have injured her, what she landed on…you only have to look at what happens to Mylo (whom I'm not exactly mourning, the whiny little fuck) to see what could have happened. Adrenaline ensured that Powder didn't realise just how badly she had been injured until Vi pasted her. She started bleeding out, and Vi, realising this, didn't flee her, but rather, tried to find a doctor out of desperation. She didn't get far because of Marcus McDouchebag. Powder would have died anyway, but she died knowing that, despite that attack, Vi tried her best to try and save her.

Powder's still somewhat unhinged, but the madness of Yharnam, ironically, mitigated her own madness. She still has PTSD, she still has a touch of schizophrenia, and she is a major attention whore, but she also had Gehrman and the Doll to help her with her issues. It's ironic that Gehrman, who basically made her a child soldier, is a much less toxic guardian than Silco, as genuine as his affections were. And he helped her cope with her problems, though the Doll was a more salutary influence. I considered pairing Powder with the Doll, but actually, I'm going for pairing Ekko with Powder. There's some ship-tease in both the show and the League of Legends games, so why not? I couldn't put it in here, save for Powder alluding to it in passing.

When Powder finally came back to Runeterra, she came across Jayce and Viktor's experiments because, as a nascent Great One, she is sensitive to disturbances in the arcane. She met, they got to talking, and Powder being a smart little cookie when she isn't suffering from her various mental issues. Her experiences in Yharnam means that she's no longer quite as prejudiced towards Pilties as she is in canon, though she's still prejudiced. Soon after they met, Heimerdinger and Powder proved to be salutary influences on each other, with Heimerdinger not only becoming the grandfather she never had, but also opening his eyes to Zaun's plight, as well as Viktor's. I'm not fond of canon Heimerdinger, but I think with the right influence, he can be a far better character sooner. And I love the irony of Powder being friends with Heimerdinger long before she meets Ziggs.

In addition, Powder met Caitlyn through Jayce, and while they're not exactly on the best of terms, this version of Powder recognises she's a good sort, just too stuffy and fond of rules. It says a lot that, once Vi and Caitlyn start dating, all Powder will do is give Caitlyn the shovel speech.

Now, this story is actually set some time before the fourth episode. But I wanted to give a similar sense of how that episode reintroduced Powder, or rather, Jinx, only from Sevika's viewpoint (along with Silco's mooks). As much as I have issues with Vander being overly compromising, Sevika betrayed him to Silco instead of finding another way to oppose Piltover. That says a lot about her moral character, or lack thereof, so having her curbstomped by Powder was satisfying.

The use of 'Sang' (for 'sanguine', which is to do with blood) for the Healing Blood was something I used for my Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas crossover 4 Life, Dreams, and the Old Blood.

I'm posting this in the League of Legends section, partly because I want to do the Arcane section for my longer crossover story. Given how many Arcane stories are in the League of Legends section, well, it's not unreasonable. And hopefully, I've done these characters justice. I hope you enjoyed it.

No numbered annotations this time.