Sunlight filtering through leaves.
Gently swaying branches.
A face framed by hair dark as midnight.
Blue eyes gazing down at her.
A smile.
"You look tired."
Vi's eyes focused on Caitlyn's face as the other woman spoke, shaking herself out of whatever thoughts had been occupying her; she couldn't remember what they had been.
She felt like she was floating. Her head rested in Cait's lap while the sun filtered through the trees and cast a dancing kaleidoscope around them. The fabric of Cait's uniform was soft beneath her head, like a pillow.
They were sat on a slight hill overlooking a large fountain. Vi could hear nothing except the babbling of water, the flittering songs of birds, and the faint rustle of the leaves above them. The fine architecture of Piltover formed a pleasant backdrop for their conversation. Brass and gold architecture mixed with white marble and masonry, making it look like some kind of bizarre wedding cake. Blimps (And Airships, apparently- She'd never quite grasped Caitlyn's insistence that the two were different. They sure looked the same to her.) floated lazily to and fro overhead.
Vi smiled faintly, turning her head away and covering her eyes with one arm.
"Can't remember the last time I wasn't." She admitted, looking up at Cait again as her arm was pushed from her face.
"This probably isn't helping" Caitlyn chided her in a soft but firm voice, holding up an empty bottle. Vi wasn't sure where she'd gotten it, but asking would probably cause more issues.
She groaned and looked away again, opening her mouth to speak. Before she can utter a word she is silenced by the gentle caress of Caitlyn's hand on her cheek. Suddenly, everything felt alright. Calm. Happy. Vi smiled again, gazing up at the face of the woman above her. The woman she loved. Yeah, there, she said it. Vi loved her. Hopelessly and deeply.
She leaned her cheek into the hand and closed her eyes with a sigh, wishing she could stay here forever.
"Neither is this."
Cait's voice grabbed her out of her relaxed state as her thumb ran across a faded bruise on Vi's cheek. Her expression was one of disapproval, but also full of concern, her brows furrowed as she gently stroked the injury. Cait eyes met Vi's and she tutted, shaking her head.
"Are you still taking hits to the face?"
"Hey, they say to stick to what you're good at, right Cupcake?" Vi replied, her tone light and casual.
"Violet."
"I hate it when you call me that."
"I'll stop when you stop calling me 'Cupcake'."
The two of them exchanged a long look before they both burst into laughter, with Vi reaching a hand up to stroke Caitlyn's cheek while the Enforcer gently ran her fingers through Vi's hair.
After a long minute of relaxing silence, Vi sat up so that she was at eye level with Cait. Something was... Off. She couldn't quite put her finger on it, but a faint pain in her stomach stirred and twisted like a knife. Like a specter in the back of her mind, or a person screaming at her from underwater.
"What's wrong?" Caitlyn frowned, her hand finding Vi's and squeezing.
"Nothing. Just a feeling."
Vi scrunched her face up as she tried to chase the feeling, but it was like trying to remember a dream; the harder she tried to remember, the faster it faded away.
"I've missed you," Caitlyn said suddenly, squeezing Vi's hand.
Vi hesitated.
"Me too." She replied finally, looking at the grass beneath them.
"Know what else I've missed?"
Vi looked up again, meeting Caitlyn's gaze. The other woman was smiling invitingly at her, leaning their faces in together.
Vi's breath hitched in her chest, her heart felt as though it was about to burst and her stomach was twisting into knots.
Why was she having such a reaction? Was she really just that happy to see Caitlyn? Or was there something else?
She decided she didn't care either way, allowing Cait's smile to draw her in like a magnet, or a moth to a flame. To be one with her. To feel the touch of Cait's lips against hers, her hands holding her tightly. To see that smile. To hear her laugh one more time.
Vi half-closed her eyes as their lips parted in unison, pausing just inches apart from one another. Her gaze danced across Cait's face, admiring every inch of her. The way her hair fell about her face and the way her cheeks creased when she smiled. Vi wanted for nothing at that moment.
Then their lips met, and the world seemed to explode.
Vi doubled over, the wind driven from her lungs as though someone had just driven a hammer into her gut. Her eyes widened as she looked around. Darkness had fallen, and Caitlyn was nowhere to be seen.
A fluttering sound drew her attention to one of the buildings surrounding the park they had been sitting in. Her heart sank.
Vi found herself looking at an enormous banner that was draped from wall to wall, displaying the words 'PROTECT PILTOVER', and gazing into the face of a stranger.
Promise me you won't change.
She may have been wearing Caitlyn's face, but there was nothing of the woman she had grown to love on that banner.
Her uniform, austere and dark, her face cruel and authoritarian. Every aspect of her intended to inspire fear.
I won't.
Suddenly, she found herself sprawled on a cold, damp concrete floor, shuddering and clothed in rags. The air stank of urine, sweat, and fear. Stillwater. The place she'd spent seven years getting the shit beaten out of her on a daily basis. A place she'd vowed never to return to.
An armored Enforcer stood over her, rifle in hand, masked and anonymous. She raised her hand, but the figure ignored her, slamming the butt of their rifle into her stomach once again and earning a pained wheeze from Vi as she writhed on the ground.
When she looked up again, the Enforcer's helmet was gone. Caitlyn's face sneered down at her with a look of profound disgust.
"Cait... Please," Vi began, her voice more like a whimper.
It's her blood in your veins.
Without hesitating, Caitlyn slammed the rifle down again, and again, and again. Vi had been stabbed, shot, punched, kicked had broken bones, and received a myriad of other injuries, but each strike of that rifle butt put them all to shame. It wasn't just her body that was hurt by Caitlyn.
The cell echoes with the thudding of the impacts, and the faint ringing of laughter.
Jinx's laughter.
Thud thud thud.
With a groan, Vi opened her eyes. The sight before her was scarcely more inviting than that damned prison cell. Her apartment had been a shithole when she'd first arrived, but Vi's tenure had hardly done it any favors. Bottles were scattered around the place, clothes lay discarded in piles across the floor, and the windows were coated with a layer of grime.
Cleaning hadn't exactly been at the top of Vi's list of priorities.
She shook her head and sat up, pressing a fist to her temple and trying to push out the memory of the dream-turned-nightmare. Her mouth felt like someone had rubbed it down with sandpaper- a sensation she was now accustomed to from her heavy drinking.
She'd necked a bottle or two to help her sleep last night; months ago that would have had her head pounding this morning. Now it was simply routine. It was crazy how fast you built up tolerance to the stuff.
Another loud thud.
"Vi. You alive in there?" came the low tones of Loris, her only companion in this hellscape, through the door.
"Yeah, quit banging" she snapped in reply, holding her head and running her hand over her face.
"Well, hurry up. Gotta eat before the fight, right?"
Reluctantly, Vi stood up and crossed the room, grabbing her jacket from the side of her bed.
She caught a glimpse of herself in the cracked mirror. Objectively, she was in the shape of her life; her arms rippled with muscle, as did her abdomen. The food in the Undercity wasn't exactly gourmet, but it beat the hell out of prison food and the results showed.
She could easily lift a man with one arm, punch hard enough to knock out an Ox, and fight for hours on end without tiring.
Yet, as she looked herself over, her face appeared pale and drawn. The black face paint from her previous fight was still smudged across her face, her torso was bruised all over, and her face was, too. Her knuckles were raw and bloody, and she could barely feel them most of the time.
No matter, she thought to herself. Another day, another fight. Another day getting beaten bloody for the entertainment of a mob. After all, what else am I good for?
"Vi?"
"Yeah, I'm coming."
Vi turned from the mirror, grabbing a half-empty bottle from the floor and swigging from it before heading towards the door.