Chapter Text
[Cover of this season one]
ARCO 1: Piltover's Nightmare
This shouldn't be happening.
None of this should have happened in the first place.
It was her day off. The one time in the week where she could sink into her rickety couch and forget about the world. That was until she got a call that was more gasps and halting words than coherent sentences. Because this wasn't supposed to happen, because Urgot was trying to break free.
Urgot. The same damned criminal that had earned her sleepless nights. Fighting and chases down meaningless alleys. The criminal she and Caitlyn had fought so hard to incarcerate.
That Urgot was now at risk of being released by his damned crazed followers.
It should have been simple, with the special team and reinforcements. She almost thought they had it under control.
Then Vi stepped into that reinforced glass dome that was engulfed in utter misery and her eyes met Caitlyn Kiramman's for just a second before the world shattered into hundreds of pieces and the Sheriff who had taken her heartbeat fell into a pile of rubble.
What followed was a pang in the chest. The whole world stopped spinning, the air escaped from her lungs and all she could hear was static.
Then it came all at once. The sweet smell of splattered blood, the sticky heat, the scent of gunpowder that permeated the air and suddenly it was unbearable, the pull on her muscles became too much and at the same time, it wasn't enough.
It wasn´t enough.
She let the anger and all the pain of her deepest fears consume her. Because this couldn't be happening, because she had to make sure Caitlyn Kiramman was okay and all these assholes were standing in her way.
Vi didn't even feel the blow she delivered to Urgot. See, but she didn't feel it until the rumble of a body too big and too heavy ran from the tips of her toes up her spine with cold fingers.
Then the fear came, pure and raw, and it could be nothing but terror as she ran to where she had seen Cait fall and held her in her arms. And thank the gods she was still breathing, and thank the gods she found the blue of his eyes as she searched for them.
Vi wasn't sure what she would have done otherwise.
She couldn't even imagine a world without Caitlyn Kiramman.
No. It was inconceivable. She would never allow it.
She couldn't lose her. Not her too.
Holding Caitlyn in her arms. Realizing it's the first time.... The first time like this
She'd hugged Caitlyn Kiramman many times, maybe a million times in the years they'd worked side by side. They had clung to each other like lifelines when the going got tough, hugged to comfort her in her failures and lifted her in her successes.
Vi had done this hundreds of times.
But she was always greeted with long arms in return.
Caitlyn had once told her that Vi's hugs were warm, but gentle. Almost as if she was too afraid to apply too much pressure, as if a little more force would break her into little pieces. She held her without clinging.
Violet had teased that she could break bones with a bare fist and Cait had laughed too. Of course; Vi hugged as if she could break, because she could. She hugged lovingly, with a hidden fear of squeezing too tightly, as if that would make the Sheriff disappear in her arms.
"I just don't want to hurt you,"
"You're the only one who thinks that" Caitlyn had smiled, burying her cold fingers in her ribs to squeeze with all the strength of her slender arms, "I know you would never hurt me."
And she never would. Because Vi hugged Caitlyn not to hold on. But to protect.
Always to protect
Caitlyn was different, squeezing tightly, burying her nose exuberantly under Vi's chin, tugging at her shirt, burying her fingers in her skin without ever scratching. She held on, arms and sometimes legs, grunting and squeezing harder when she wouldn't let go.
It was the first time Cait hadn't held on. But Vi, her fingers trembling, long since free of the cuffs, her lips struggling to form the words.
She clung to Cait's body, nose buried in indigo hair, knees and arms wrapped around her, as if she could protect her from the horrors of the world, forever.
She was clinging, trembling like a child, still struggling to shake the heavy feeling she got from watching the ground crumble beneath the Sheriff like butter.
The blue-haired girl felt tiny in her arms now, as consciousness slowly seeped through the long, bluish lashes. Her forehead was stained with a clot of blood from a wound lost in her hair, staining a face that was too pale.
- Vi - Cait sighed, her name rising almost like a plea, as if it were something to be worshipped.
Cold fingers dug into the arms around her and she struggled to lift her head. Vi's chest cracked as she heard the fragile voice, threatening to break.
- Here I am, Cupcake. Gotcha - she whispered back, sliding her nose up her boss's chin before kissing her cheek gently.
Cait mumbled something that was lost between the edges of her unconsciousness as she melted further into the embrace, resting her head on her partner's chest. Clinging, because she's Cait and she always clings.
Fingernails scratched the bruised skin, but she didn't care, kissing the Sheriff's forehead as she almost floated in the bubble around her, too focused on the sensation. Because Caitlyn was alive. And safe.
The world could be burning right now and Violet would be watching it all with a smile on her lips.
Her shoulders tightened out of habit when she heard the footsteps approaching, even though she'd heard the unit arrive minutes before. Goosebumps crept up her skin as she heard the voice.
Commander Taylor asked - What happened? -
A dull rage - one that Vi knew wouldn't go away no matter how much she yelled or hit - made the hairs on her neck itch.
- They tried to free Urgot, we kicked their asses and Urgot too in the process. End of my report -
She wanted to complain to him, to tell him that if they had bothered to arrive earlier they might be more useful than this. But even in her unconsciousness she saw Cait as capable of getting up just to challenge her. And almost wished she had.
The commander, a man of medium height, blond hair and green eyes, let out a sigh that would have been funny except that Caitlyn Kiramman was struggling to stay awake in his arms
The man assessed the situation for a second before turning back to the pink-haired - Medical attention will be arriving in 15 minutes -
- Make it 5, the Sheriff is hurt you piece of shit - Vi spat out a warning growl.
She knew she should be relieved that Urgot was unconscious, or comatose, or maybe even dead - She didn't even care as long as he stayed out of combat - But it wouldn't cause her trouble anymore.
Just the thought that Cait might be hurt made her veins burn; all this wouldn't feel like a victory at all, until she could celebrate it beside Caitlyn
Although it looked like Taylor was about to retaliate, he only refrained from doing so. Violet still managed to punch him in the face from her position.
- Vi - Caitlyn complained. Her voice tried to be a scolding
Because of course it's Caitlyn Kiramman. Only a woman like her would scold her in this situation.
It almost made her laugh. Almost.
- You're okay Cupcake, I got you. You're all right -
Caitlyn felt dizzy as the adrenaline left her bloodstream, leaving her drifting with a burning sensation all over her skin, her body too heavy and clumsy, far from the full range of control she was used to.
The only thing she could feel for sure were Vi's fingers in her hair. The years of injuries touching her as if Caitlyn were something precious, something priceless, with the gentleness with which she always touches her, as if she could break her.
But there is something more raw, in the way she holds him against her chest, in the way she buries her fingers in her waist as she wraps her legs around her.
Violet holds on, burying her nose in her scalp, sucking in hard enough that Cait can hear her easily, holding on with everything she's got, like it's all she's left.
It's raw, honest. Gentle when she needs to be, because it's still Vi who wipes away her tears with a feathery touch as she wipes her cheek.
How is it possible that such a tender caress could come from someone who put down Piltover's nightmare with a single blow?
How is it possible that Vi can be so raw, reduced to her instincts to cling, cling and cling to her body like a ship in the middle of the ocean? At the same time that she cares for her, pampering and caressing her as if her skin were porcelain?
Because she is Violet. Only she can bury her fingers in her waist with enough force to leave a bruise and caress her face like a painter caresses his masterpiece.
She feels dizzy, somehow. This balance is exactly what she needs.
She needs to feel Vi there, like a powerful, unstoppable presence, but she also needs the gentle caresses, the gentle promise that everything will be all right.
Vi always makes everything all right.
It was a confused feeling, between her body's struggle to stay awake and her disembodied heart, disturbed in its suicidal effort not to fall into the abyss of gray eyes her companion gives her.
She knew Vi was dangerous from the first moment she chose her to cross the fence from end to end at her side. Caitlyn knew it from the first wink, the first sideways smile, the first time she called her Cupcake, the first time she stumbled across her sea of metal.
Because Violet is attractive. Fucking attractive, and she has a unique personality that would make anyone who had the chance to get to know her fall in love.
But she was her best friend, at least the closest thing she'd had to one in years, years of hard work where she'd been married to her job. For in Piltover, nothing was ever taken too seriously, and she had slowly but steadily drifted away from the world to take on the role of protector of the town.
But now she was here, with the one person who was always by her side. No matter what the tides, no matter what the insomnia, who never let her fall and who lay by her side when she could not get up. I saw how he accompanied her in the morning to bring her coffee and in the evening to lighten her burden.
It was a dangerous fire, one that threatened to consume the Sheriff's world at the touch of a finger.
- The medical team! The Sheriff is hurt!!! -
Caitlyn was about to punch her commander when his voice snapped her out of her thoughts.
Given the choice, she would have chosen the paradise of gray eyelashes and pink hair.
She'd be happy to stay here forever.
Of course, Vi wouldn't let her refuse. Letting go of her cheek, she slipped one arm behind her legs and held the other behind her back, carrying her bridal style and dragging her out of the ditch they'd dug for themselves to the medical team.
She had confused things with her companion.
It was no fire of destruction.
It burned quickly and without warning.
But it never burned to consume her.
I was here to protect her, to keep her warm as the world collapsed on her shoulders.
Her own opinion was confirmed when the warm embrace of her partner was exchanged for the cold, lifeless hands of the medical team.
It was instinct, she would say later, reacting, guided only by her heart, to cling to Vi's arm before she could finish pulling away.
- Stay - she begged barely above a whisper - Don't leave me -
The words felt heavy on her sleepy tongue, but it was fear that burned her eyelashes with piles of unshed tears at the prospect of not being heard.
Vi clasped her hands and kissed the Sheriff's knuckles with a patience that made her shudder.
- I'm here Cupcake -
- Don't let me alone, Vi - Caitlyn demanded.
Fear as the pain cut off her words and her eyelids refused to stay open. Unconsciousness caught her in its cold grip and this time it didn't seem to want to let her escape.
- You'll never be alone, Cupcake, not while I'm alive. -
That answer, along with the butterfly touch of scarred lips on her forehead, was all it took for her fear to fade as quickly as her consciousness.
Her sleepy eyes guarded the last pleasant image she had seen before surrendering to her wounds.
Vi was truly dangerous, much more so than any journal could have warned her.
Especially if she kept smiling at her like that.
NOTE:
Howdy! Yes, your adored - and not so adored - writer is back, this time with a much longer story (maybe 20 chapters) and much less sad than its predecessor.
I just LOVE writing this couple. And I missed posting on AO3, so yes, we're back!
For those of you who don't know me, I'm Enzo, the author of this and a few other stories on this ship. I hope you like this one.
Also, I'll see you every Monday if the stress of school doesn't kill me first.
Have fun!