DISCLAIMERS
This chapter is the first of Act VI in the The Unofficial Acts series. It is optional, yet advised, you have read all chapters of TUA Acts IV and V (series here) before proceeding.
While being fanfiction, each chapter was formatted as if it were a 'scene' of a whole episode which is this work, as part of a hypothetical season which is the The Unofficial Acts (TUA) series.
This, once again emphasized here, is a HYPOTHETICAL SCENARIO and UNOFFICIAL, established far before the release of the trailers in 2024, so it shouldn't be taken with severe scrutiny. Care was taken to approach this work as close to the canon element as possible, but there are no guarantees of non-discrepancy, especially in regards to added elements that are introduced here. Some other elements from the original LoL universe (especially but not limited to origin stories) have been altered in as much a sense as they were originally in the series.
The elements depicted here contain multiple SPOILERS from Arcane: League of Legends Season 01. This is a warning to those whom have not completely watched the entire series, prior to start reading this fanfiction.
Elements of graphical violence, angst, psychosis and paranoia might be included across not only this chapter, but also the series. You were warned.
Based on Arcane: League of Legends by Netflix and Fortiche Studios. League of Legends universe and characters by Riot Games.
IF ONLY...
One of the things I was taught of too early - only the air you breathe is for free.
Viktor could see both the tranquility, tension and chaos of the Council the moment Jayce had proposed the independence of the Undercity - a term everyone but him, Jayce and surprisingly Mel had raised in uproar. Cassandra Kiramman, Hoskel, Salo, Bolbok, all protesting for something that frankly was overdue to the fissurefolk. Jayce was even candid to them, how all their chances with the Undercity, the ones they even *squandered, had run out.
And yet, this one simple request in exchange for peace against the threat of Silco, and they rage against it. As if they wanted things to remain the same. Forever and after.
Quite the hypocrisy for the so-called City of Progress...
Because everything else, especially for topside, has a price.
It took minutes for the ranting and protests to quiet down, all as Jayce and Viktor kept inflexible stares.
And especially because Mel had risen from her chair and barked an 'ENOUGH', and Mel's booming voice - especially for one as subtle, calm and diplomatic her - was something rare. And to be *feared*. After all that's happened, it was clear she also have had enough, that was something to take into consideration from a long-standing Council member with a name of such clout as Medarda.
Mel immediately took chance of the opening - as like a wolf before an exposed throat - and immediately started reminding the Councillors of the immediate, imminent danger of war right before them, especially with an adversary such as Silco whom clearly had a large, untested amount of resources such as the wearers of Shimmer-fueled suits that killed almost every enforcer on that reported factory raid, the field report proving to be quite a convincer. It was clear Piltover was anything but prepared for an open conflict this time, as if the episodes at Progress Day and the Bridge blockade weren't enough proof.
That as well as those who'd likely try to take an advantage of this conflict. That one of those just happened to be Mel's mother, a Noxian warlord, was but a detail.
Something you must trade before you can have what you seek. Whether it is too early or far too late.
The voting was put to the table following a brief adjourn. Decision by majority this time. Mel would not take any chances with this particular one, and already she and Jayce were two of the votes confirmed for independence. Thus she called favors owed to both the needed votes for the majority.
Cassandra Kiramman, whom insisted credit be shared for Jayce's invention of Hextech. Even if the Medardas made it possible by covering for them, there was always the golden rule concerning never having enough favors in Piltover.
Hoskel had prior troubles before, concerning some... delicate matters, for one supposed to maintain an image within Piltover. And now, in exchange for helping out, Mel's call was given and Hoskel knew too well the consequences of turning his back on it.
Bolbok sadly was too conservative, too stuck on the past just as he was with the whole Hextech matter. So was Heimerdinger, back then, before that one got kicked out...
Shoola was highly likely to let it out to her relatives, the Ferros, and that'd be an unwelcome attention before the independence was ratified.
And Salo was simply too vain and self-aware to simply answer to Mel's call, in spite of the favors done to him.
At least Mel had those she could count on for the majority. The vote would be cast and carried, and hopefully a nightmare would be averted.
Of course, all were oblivious to what was occurring outside.
Outside the building. Across the river. Into a destroyed cannery, where there was a *party* happening...
And I traded the most. Traded childhood for future. Traded a home at heart for one at the sun. Traded health for Progress...
The vote, as was typical, was a raising of hands followed by a spotlight above being lit up or the retractable rooftop above being opened up in each Councillor chair.
All to spotlight each member voting the 'aye' on each major decision.
And I kept on trading. Kept on paying, in hopes of getting what I sought. Or at least what I thought I wanted...
Mel was the first to raise her hand after laying her family ring down.
Hoskel followed afterwards, being spotlighted.
Cassandra was the third one, to finally settle her debt.
What neither of the four expected was the *others* following through, as well.
Salo, taking part, was the first. Clearly because Hoskel voted for it, and Salo was too jealous to be left out.
Shoola also realized the trend going on and voted as well. For independence.
Bolbok was the last one, voting 'aye' reluctantly.
The result caught both Mel off-guard and Jayce saw a ray of hope, right there.
The motion for independence carried. Unanimously. Something Silco would've approved.
None of them had seen the rocket coming from afar. They only heard the noise when it was too close... and thus too late.
I never realized what it was that I really wanted, and what I had to pay. If only I did earlier...
The warhead, larger than life, came crashing through the supposedly unbreakable window, only a couple of seconds left due to the rocket's high speed.
Jayce didn't even think. He just did.
He climbed the table and jumped at Mel to get her down to the ground. Protect her, as any loved one would. All as something shined from within her, something he didn't notice had activated.
The properties of her Solari-based attire, something both her mother AND father warned her *never* to take it off, unless when bathing or sleeping.
Except when activated, she was in a perfect position to cover Jayce and maybe Viktor if she were only still.
Yet Jayce's heroic jumping, to protect a loved one's life, was exactly what undid these possibilities, the clashing of bodies disrupting it all.
The rocket that crashed through landed past the Council's table and hit near the door, but the shockwave blast followed by the fireball as if the gates of Hell were suddenly blown open, was beyond imagining.
The shockwave yanked Cassandra Kiramman to the wall, the sudden impact at too high a velocity being too much for a woman near her age. Simply too much...
The shockwave also sent Councillor Shoola off flying towards another wall as well as Bolbok, except Shoola fell down as Bolbok's mechanical parts shattered the moment he impacted.
Salo and Hoskel caught both the shockwave and fireball of the blast, becoming scorched by it.
And, as the shockwave didn't get Jayce and Mel, only the fire got them. Viktor *wasn't* as fortunate, as the fireball hit through him across his whole body as he could her some sort of scream.
Not one present in the room, from that attack. One that felt... afar... yet close.
One that felt as much pain as him, as well as a need.
The need to... change. Change to survive.
He felt both the skin searing from the flames, as much as it being peeled off from him.
Being replaced with something else.
If only the others also realized it earlier...
ACT VI
CHAIN REACTION
JINX
If anything, the smell of pure air, not the one from the namesake factories and compared to the usual putrid one of the Lanes, was a bit welcoming to her, as well as the foliage everywhere. But of course, this meant she had to be picky on where to lie down, as it wasn't as comfortable as it was lying down on rafters or cold steel.
Hours had passed since the Balsem formula was injected into the... beast, if anyone could call him that now, and thus Morgana had suggested everyone else remained in a corner for a while as it - or rather 'he' - had calmed down, releasing the vines and branches binding the monstrous creature at last, as 'he' tried to adapt to the new reality of his situation.
But the most astonishing of it all was indeed Jinx, of *all* people, backing up Morgana on it, but it was no product of insanity, as if the situation wasn't uncanny enough. It's that she just knew better. She learned it the hard way on that fateful night, on that cannery. The night that led her, 'him', and about everyone else to that point, steelmug included. Better to wait it out until it... or 'him'... became a bit more receptive.
It was one of the things she hated, and yet had to bear it, this time. That and 'them', planting doubts on her as they always did.
That he'd never forgive her... that he'd leave them hanging out to dry... because she's basically *authored* all that.
And this time they *had* a point, and she *hated* that.
Jinx thus tried to keep distracted as each of them, even Viktor and Ziggs, tried to keep themselves occupied. She checked, time and again, her weapons. Particularly her sidearm, which she felt was time totally needed something new to it, especially after having run out of ammunition like it was in that pharmacy. Definitely it could use the Hextech treatment, using the whole research on runes that allowed her to create Fishbones. And it definitely could be used to project energy, the claw thing Viktor used being proof of that...
Setting her sidearm aside, the Loose Cannon got up and on her feet, taking a deep breath, in preparation. Morgana could clearly interpret it, as all the others have - it was time. It was also decided Jinx was the one to do it, and not just out of familiar bonds. She also needed to at least make those amends, long overdue. 'Rip this bandage off quick', as she simplified.
She went to where 'Vander' had retreated to, close to where he was imprisoned.
He was on a particular corner, lying down by one of the trees that extended as up high as the stuff of concrete back in Piltover, and could sense her coming, glancing at her with a feral, yet contained expression, protecting his corner as any hound would.
Jinx only walked to where 'he' could face her, keeping a solid distance, as she then sit down on the dirt, looking down as she breathed, well aware of the consequences of the wrong words chosen.
"I just wanna make one question.", she started, slowly. "Scratch whatever comes next. The man you were... did he fell down a well, too?", she then stared at the beast.
There was no answer for several seconds before she looked down again.
"If he did... he got pulled out of it.", 'Vander' replied then, in a gravel-filled voice that expressed a cold, bitter rage within him, one it was clear he was keeping in check because of how... civilized the question was. "How dare you..."
Jinx looked at the man-wolf hybrid for one second before she looked down again, ashamed.
"Why?", the beast asked, prompting the blue-braided girl to look back at him, expecting an answer.
An answer to the question she knew which one was - why did she bring Vander, whom was well dead, back into this world.
And yet, all she could do was lightly shrug and shake her head. "I don't know.", she answered.
On hearing the answer, 'Vander' became more lively. And angry. So much so he immediately rose up from his lying down position and roared in a feral way, startling the Loose Cannon whom backed off a bit, and immediately got on her feet, her size still being small in comparison to the menacing, hulking form before her.
"NO BULLSHIT!", the wolf-man bellowed. "Not here! There was a reason you did that, when you could've finished it. I *know* it. What was it?"
The Loose Cannon's heart raced, as she tried to control her breath and adrenaline. She *knew* this wasn't like any other schmuck she's had to deal with, even those far larger than her, such as Urgot.
This was the very Hound of the Underworld himself, of the once feared reputation, talking to the little, innocent girl whom once he adopted... and now she had turned him into that indirectly.
"Maybe I...", Jinx hesitated for a moment, unable to face her once-father. "Maybe I wanted to make up. For what I did."
"And after all that's happened, you *really* hoped that you'd bring me- HIM back, and then it's all forgiven?", 'Vander' retorted, a couple of seconds later. "It's all forgotten?"
Jinx then glanced at 'him' for a moment. "You've little clue of what's been going on 'round here, don'cha?", she asked.
"I've been with the beast.", the monster answered. "I've seen what... he... turned the Lanes into.", he said, as if uttering the name of the one indeed responsible was tantamount to the greatest of all heresies. "But to see what he made of... How could he? How could *she*..."
As 'Vander' looked aside, Jinx's eyes darted as well, both very aware of whom they were talking about.
"Lost count of how much *I* asked that...", she confessed, softly.
"Still, you should've remained with *her*.", the beast stared back at the blue-braided girl. "She fought for you!"
Jinx stared back, then, triggered by that. "She left me!", she then retorted. "Even if for a moment, she did! Just like you left him! Like you left us- no, you SOLD us! You sold us out!", she pointed an accusatory finger at the monster.
"You took quite well from him, didn't you?", 'Vander' retorted, unafraid, almost laughing at it.
"Like sis took well from *you*!", Jinx pushed on. "Even the part of going to bed with top-cops, she did!"
This part caught 'Vander' off-guard, to the point the beast gave pause and stared at Jinx, dumbstruck.
"Oh, yeah, forgot to tell you that.", Jinx shrugged. "Vi's with an enforcer now, a rich one, goes by Caitlyn, 'Cupcake' for privates. And she just moved on from me... Like you did, from us. She replaced me for topside, like you did, with Silco..."
"If only you ever knew...", 'Vander' looked aside, shaking 'his'... head, if one could call it that.
"Knew what?", Jinx asked. "What do I gotta know, from you? Why to even bother, you spewed it more to her than you ever did to me!"
"YOU WERE A...", the beast roared, before pausing and growling, in total frustration. Especially since the excuse, while valid, was nothing more than that, now. 'Vander' took his breath for several seconds. "Why did you bring me?"
"Before all this 'big reveal' deal?", Jinx asked, a second later. "Getcha off the Lanes, make'em less bloody. Now? I don't know. For real, I don't. Maybe... help us out, with this whole Urgot thing..."
'Vander' simply stared at the Loose Cannon for a couple of seconds, with an inflexible stare. "Your problem. Your mess. Not mine.", he then stated.
Jinx simply stared at him, the flashes and their voices coming to harass her on hearing the answer.
'Of course he'd say that.', the Mylo shrugged.
'He won't help?', the Claggor asked.
'Once a coward...', the Silco shook his head in disappointment.
'You wounded him badly...', the Vander said, stoically.
Jinx then shook her head, letting an incredulous breath out. "Of course, comes with the package, doesn't it?", she asked, turning around and leaving. "Why did I even bother..."
"They call you Jinx now, don't they?", 'Vander' asked, before the girl totally left his sight.
Jinx stopped and simply turned her head left-side. "Powder's a goner...", she answered.
"...as is Vander.", the beast answered, one second later. "Now let me. Let me forget..."
Jinx then finally left the beast to itself and rejoined the others back in the grove, totally pissed off.
"And he clearly sent the negative...", Ziggs said, noticing Jinx's expression.
"Oh, you think!?", Jinx asked, in angry sarcasm, as she then stared at Morgana, clearly looking for either an answer or a next move.
"He is clearly too distraught with the new world he woke up to.", the Veil Lady elaborated. "It's evident he won't fight for Zaun anymore."
"It seems he won't fight, at all...", Viktor replied.
"If he will, he'll fight for something else.", Morgana glanced.
"Such as what?", Ziggs asked.
"Himself.", Morgana answered a second later, glancing at the Yordle, and then at Jinx, whom was looking down, mired in her own ocean of lost thoughts.
Notes:
Now to be updated when ready, given we've already reached the treshold of chapters that were ready before, so the previous daily chapter routine is now revoked. Be sure to follow as to not miss this one's releases.