Joining The Pack
The Bridge of Progress, Piltover
Vi held her sisters hand as she walked and as the two girls did so, they could smell the blood, the heat, the people there that were screaming as Powder began to sing like Vi told her to, “ ♩ Dear friend across the river, ♩ ” She started as they trekked forward, “ ♩ My hands are cold and bare, ♩ ” she sand as there was a boom and a howl, “ ♩ Dear friend across the river, I’ll take what you can spare, ♩ ” she continued.
Powders eyes were covered like Vi told her, her older sister not wanting her to see it as there were more explosions around them, “ ♩ I ask of you a penny, ♩ ” Powder sang as one of The Enforcers executed one of the fallen Zaunites, “ ♩ My fortune it will be, ♩ ” The Enforcer approaching their direction, popping a casing as he continued forward, “ ♩ I ask you without envy, we raise no might towers, ♩ ”
The Enforcer walking by them as they continued to move past the fires and corpses, “ ♩ Our homes are built of stone, ♩ ” she went as they went past Manfred Stoirm, one of the leaders of Zaun, Vi now glad that she told her sister to keep her eyes covered, “ ♩ So come across the river, and find… ♩ ” Powder started before all of a sudden, her sister stopped, making the bluenette confused, looking up and opening her eyes.
She saw that her sister looked shocked, breathing unsteady, so Powder looked where she was and saw something that scared Powder, it was a large Bear, one that they both knew and loved that laid dead, a charred corpse on top and it made Vi tighten her hand around her sisters, Vi’s eyes glowing brighter, her body feeling too small when she started to hear a snarling and metallic clanking.
Turning her head to the left, the older Bracken girl saw that there was a Wolf who was tearing apart an Enforcer, metal over his claws as he ravaged their body in rage, even on the ground, he continued to fight before eventually stopping, the beast he stopped, huffing tired before turning to look behind him, rage in his eyes as his gaze fell on the girls, causing Vi to get Powder behind her to protect her scared sister.
Seeing their fear towards him, the wolf looked down to his claws, down to the silver and blood before he looked back at Vi, the girl anxious, wanting to know where their family was, The Wolf could not give comfort, only look towards the Bear and charred corpse, making the pinkette approach the two with her sister behind her until they saw it, they saw the Bears cloths, the medallion the corpse wore.
Powder kept holding onto her sisters arm, trying to both seek and give comfort while Vi couldn’t help but take more and more shallow breath, her eyes glowing brighter before eventually falling onto her knees, crying her heart out as she realized that their parents were dead, Powder went to hug her sister as The Wolf watched, seeing the loss of them, the grief of the girls, and the weapons he bore, The Wolf did one last thing.
He dropped the gauntlets, his body shrinking and becoming human in form once more, no longer The Wolf of Zaun, now only Vander Ferran as he picked both Bracken girls up and started to walk away, back home from the carnage, not looking back and not thinking on anything but making sure that both of the girls were safe and sound back at The Last Drop.
Vander was unaware that Vi had been looking over his shoulder, watching the Enforcers leave them, it made her angry, it made Vi form a fist as she started to look up, seeing the shining city that was above them and the smoke, it made her angry, it made The Bear in herself start to get angry, to come out and tear them apart, but she wouldn’t, not yet, not while she still had Powder to protect.
______________________________________________________________________
The Last Drop, The Lanes
Vander looked towards the two girls in a single cot, the two of them had fallen asleep after everything that happened… it made the Wolf all the sorrier for what happened to Connol and Felicia, the Werelord went to blow out the candle, hoping that they’d be fine in the dark as he went to head into the bar proper, as he did so, the Wolf saw that there were two people there.
Benzo and one of The Kirramans, Amelie, “What?” he snarled, his Wolf coming out, he was not in the mood for whatever she had schemed, “About the Riot–” “Slaughter.” Vander said, “It was a slaughter, don’t try to make their parents out to be some sort of criminals.” Vander told and hearing that, Amelie nodded, “They’re the reason I’m here, actually.” Amelie said, making both Benzo and Vander look.
“As you know, you and the other three families are in charge of maintaining the peace of Zaun.” Amelie said, knowing to never call it The Undercity ever since her time here as a teen, running with The Underlords as they called themselves, “Manfred is dead, so that means that Silco, his brother, is in command of The Stags territory,” She explained, Vander knowing that, but still he hated it.
“The problem is that Connol and Felicia had no family other than their daughters, which means that both of their territories–” “Amelie,” Vander said, making her snap out of her talk, “Their mum and dad just died, Ams.” he told her, making the woman flinch, “I know… it’s why The Council wanted to know what was going to happen to them, and to Manfred’s children.” she explained.
Hearing the concern that was there, like back when they were younger and he woged in front of her for the first time, “Manfred would have made sure that they were safe, if Silco is still alive, he’ll make sure the three are still and under his protection.” Benzo said and Vander nodded, Silco was a lot of things, a planner, a strategist, passionate and violent, but he also would die for The Future of Zaun, for children like them and–.
“And the girls?” Amelie asked of him, “I’ll protect them,” Vander promised, his eyes glowing as his Wolf started to grow protective once more, Amelie’s own starting to come out as well until Benzo cleared his throat again, snapping the duo out, “Their parents told me if anything ever happened, they’d go to me.” Vander told her, making Amelie nod, “Do you have it in writing? Anything at all?” she asked.
Luckily, they prepared for it, going to the safe where he kept important things, like the will that they made, Vander unlocked and opened it, seeing some photos in there with the will, like the photo Connol took of the three of them back when they were younger, before the kids, ignoring the photo and the memories that came with it, he pulled out the will and handed it to Amelie.
“There you are, the two of them are my responsibility.” Vander said, ready to fight again if The ‘Overlords’ as Felicia liked to call them, tried to take them away, seeing the will and how it had both of their signets on it, making the woman nod, “I’ll give this to my sister.” she said towards the two of them, making Vander smile to her before there was a thought, “How’re your boys?” he asked of the woman.
That made Amelie smile, “Drew’s still competing with his cousin… I haven’t heard from Lucas in a while, but knowing him he’s busy.” she explained, making the man… well he didn’t know what, but he knew that he shouldn’t focus on that, he needed to focus on the girls, “Thanks, Ams.” he told her, making the woman nod towards that, going to kiss him on the cheek, “Take care of yourself.” she said.
“They can’t lose you too.” she added, Vander nodding towards that before he went to make a glass for him, Benzo, and the others that were starting to come in, Amelie going and started to head out, leaving them there, Vander huffed, pouring a a drink for Connol and Felicia, “To those that couldn’t be here.” He thought, clinking the two glasses with his own as they all started to mourn their own ways.
______________________________________________________________________
Kirraman House, North Piltover
Caitlyn Kirraman and her cousin, Drew, had watched as his mother had been talking to Aunt Cassandra, talking about a group that they were calling Underlords, it made the two of them surprised, they never heard of an Underlord before and it made the two curious at what was going on, at least until they saw both Cassandra and Amelie look towards the two of them.
“Drew, Caitlyn, come here.” Caitlyn said, making the two children look towards each other before they had started to come down, the pair of them looked towards each other before they went to sit down, nervous at the sight of the Kirraman adults who were watching them, “I’m sure that the two of you are wondering what happened this night.” Amelie said towards them, making the two children nod towards that.
The pair of them had awoken to the sound of explosions, bullets and seeing the fires that were at the Bridge, “There was a… a protest that The Underlords led, wanting to make conditions better for the people that lived there.” Amelie said towards them, “Unfortunately, three of The Underlords had died on the bridge.” She continued which made Caitlyn look towards her with confusion.
“What’s an… Underlord?” She asked, making Cassandra go to the bookcase that was there, pulling out a old history book that was worn, different from the rest, “As you remember, there were originally Eight Werekings that made up the territory that would be Oshra Va’Zaun, but when The Undercity had been formed, Four of the houses had decided to live in the Undercity.” She explained towards them, showing the two a image.
There were eight animal heads that were there on the it separated into two squares, each animal head making a corner while the symbol of each city was in the center of them, on the Piltover square, there was The Fox of The Kirramans, Councilman Shoola’s Ram, The Goat of House Hoskel and finally Councilor Salo’s Horse was there before them.
On the other end though, there was four different animals, “There were The Wolves.” Cassandra said towards them, pointing towards the Grey Wolf head that was there, “They were in command of The Entresol Level, making sure that there was no unrest, leading The Dogs to protect the people and the interests of Piltover.” Cassandra explained towards them before pointing to The Stag head.
“House Stoirm had worked with our family to protect The Flora and Fauna, making sure that The people of The Undercity would be able to breathe and live comfortable lives.” Cassandra continued, making the two surprised by that as she pointed to the next two, “The Bears are those that had ventured into The Sump, heading deeper to help the miners and deal with any predators that would hurt them.”
Hearing that, Caitlyn had looked towards The Bear, liking the animal if they were ready to venture into the deep dark with those that would venture so deep into the mines for Piltover, “And then there were The Sharks.” Cassandra finished, pointing to the last one, “They controlled the wharf, every vessel that went through Piltover and Zaun had been under their protection from the Bilgewater Pirates.”
Hearing that, the two of them observed the images there and then the concern in their respective mothers faces, “What’s wrong?” Drew asked of them, making the pair of them look towards at each other before Cassandra spoke, “After the protest, there was a loss of Three Werelords,” she reminded the children, “The Wolf and The Stags little brother will make sure things are fine, but there’s the matter of The others.”
“The Bear and The Shark…” Caitlyn said to them, making them nod, “Yes, The Bear had only the leader and their daughters, and unfortunately, The Sharks are all spread out in Runeterra, only the Head of The House and the aforementioned daughters were the only ones who lived here.” Amelie said, hearing that, the two of were surprised and confused, “So what does that mean?” Drew asked, Caitlyn nodding.
“It means that if both girls end up Sharks, than that means that means that the Bears territory will go to The Rats, one of The Werelord families there, and no one wants The Rats to have that much power… and if they’re both Bears, then that means that our waters will have to deal with The Reaver King, and no one but Bosa or The Walruses are brave/greedy enough to try.”
The two of them heard of Bosa, he was a Whale, jovial and worked at The Wharf dealing with ships, their parents never told them about the Walruses, or how Tobias seemed upset at the mention of them, “Let us pray that we are fortunate enough to have neither lost just yet.” Amelie said towards them all, making Cassandra and Tobias agree with that while the children had wondered about that.
“Wait, if there are four Werelords in The Undercity like there are on the Council–” “Five, the Lions.” Caitlyn reminded her cousin who nodded, “Five, then why don’t they have seats? Why aren’t they helping?” Drew asked, looking at the image of the four animal heads and hearing that, Tobias was about to say something before pausing, confused, “I… that’s a good question, Cass.” he said to his wife.
But she didn’t have an answer either, “I don’t know… they’ve just always been there, Manfred had never seemed bothered by it while I was working with the dynamic, but his brother? Vander Ferran and the others? They had all been upset, always sending petition after petition for work conditions, The Shark even coming to the council chamber to argue against how their people were treated.” She said.
“I remember that,” Amelie said, “Vander had to fully woge to get them back to Zaun.” She said, seeming nostalgic towards that while the children were still confused, “That still doesn’t explain why.” Caitlyn said towards them, “Why aren’t they a part of The Council?” she said, “Time,” Amelie answered towards them, “Time and comfort, the more comfortable that Piltover became, the less they wanted to see The Underlords.”
Cass was about to say something towards her statement, “They were a reminder of what we had done, who we sacrificed, what we were before, and The Council didn’t want to remember that they could be as vicious or as dangerous as them.” She said and hearing that, Neither one of them could argue with that before they started to get up, “We can talk more about this later, Caitlyn, Drew.” Cassandra told them.
“But it is late, and there is much that we need to do after… this.” The Councilor said towards them, hearing that, the two children looked towards each other, curious and concerned about what that meant, but seeing the three of them in agreement, the pair of them went to head into their rooms, the cousins giving one last look towards each other before they had each went to bed.
As the two of them did so, they had mulled over what had been told and what was going on, how these Underlords had been down there, Caitlyn was thinking about the Bears in particular about how they would go down so deep to protect the other miners down in there, at the same time, Drew thought of The Wolf and how they might have been like his mother.
______________________________________________________________________
Stoirm House, Cultivair
Silco had covered his left eye, muscling through the pair as he had wanted to tear and rend, wanting to gore Vander and burn everything to the–” “Uncle Silco?” Reinhardt said, Milo and Mia close behind him as they looked towards the man and seeing that, he took a deep breath and looked towards them, making the three children see how his eyes seemed to be different now.
“Where’s da?” Milo had asked, making Silco look to the desk where one of his brother prongs was, he having lost it when they were young and had it turned into a knife, “Your father… during the protest on the bridge, The Enforcers…” he said, unsure how to tell them, “They… they…” he started to say towards them, making the kids get concerned, at the way he seemed unsure what to say.
But Thirteen Year Old Reinhardt seemed to realize what was happening, “He’s gone? The– The Enforcers…?” he asked, making the two of them realize what happened, Milo starting to get upset as he held his little sister, Mia hugging his close now as Reinhardt started to woge, showing his Stag, out of grief, out of anger, Silco didn’t know, but what he did know? Was that they were all in agreement.
“The Enforcers, The Council… they all wish for nothing more than to keep us under their heel, to not be partners but instead to be their servants.” Silco said and hearing that, the three of them glared in anger, Milo’s eyes starting to flash unbidden while Mia spoke, “Are we going to leave?” the little girl asked and hearing that, he shook his head towards that, “No.” he told her.
The man stood up and as he did so, he began to woge as well, his shadow lengthening, making him appear more like a Devil than a stag as he looked down upon the three of them, “We are going to fight, to bring forth The Nation of Zaun that are loved ones had died for.” he said to them and hearing that, the eldest of the three of them stepped over to him, “How can I help?” he asked.
Hearing that, Silco had smiled towards Reinhardt, pressing his hand to his nephews shoulder, “You time will come, Reinhardt.” he promised towards him, “And when it does, Piltover will regret taking out family away from us.” he told them, thinking not just of his brother by blood, but his brothers and sister through bond, the picture he had making nostalgic one last time before going to get to work.
______________________________________________________________________
Wyldland, Sump Level
Corin Reveck had ventured down into The Wyldland, though the Seam like when he had first come into the area, the man taking a breath as he looked around, the man woged and moving on all fours as he headed down further and further into the area until he heard the hissing and clicking of those that he was searching for, those that had lived down here, not a part of Piltover, not a part of Zaun, not even a part of The Sump.
The Ratlord dropped through the crack onto the ground with ease that he learned from his time venturing through the lower levels of Zaun and looked around, seeing The Wyldermen thanks to his vision, “Rat…” one of them rasped, barely a whisper as he had walked over to the one that held a staff with a skull carved into the wood of it, “You… accept?” the Wylderman asked of Corin.
He remembered when he had been approached by them, when he had been told that Orianna could be saved if he had did what they asked, “Yes, I accept the condition.” he told them, making The Wylderman give a clicking sound towards them, a group of other Wyldermen approaching and dragging a large pot that had a glowing purple liquid inside of it, “Take and spread…” The leader ordered.
“Make the many drink of her blood… and your Ori–anna will return… she has foreseen it.” The man said, hearing that, Corin took at the liquid, at what it could cause for him to bring back his daughter, seeing it and knowing what might happen, but he didn’t care, instead he had taken the put and started to wrap it up, “I understand.” he said, making a curt nod that made the Wyldermen start to click in excitement.
“All. Hail. Vala.” the leader said out loud, “All. Hail. Vala.” The others had all said as well, beginning to repeat the chant now, Corin had only watched them for a moment before he turned and went to leave them to their prayer, he did not know if the legends of Vala was true, but what he did know was that this was a step to her return, and he would drown Zaun in this blood if it meant she would live once more.
______________________________________________________________________
The Last Drop, The Lanes
Vi had woken up and as she did so, the pinkette had seen that Powder was still asleep, crying in her sleep, the little girl looked towards her claws and then to her sister, “I promise, Pow–Pow.” She thought, “I won’t let anyone ever hurt you.” Vi promised, she was going to make Vander teach her how to use her Beast, and then she would take down any Piltie that would try to take her family away from her again.