Until she wasn't
The battle was over, it had been over for a while it seemed, and yet the chaos of it remained. Enforcers spread themselves thin, their uniforms tinged red and beige, as they sifted through the living and the dead. Some treated and carried the injured, the rest lugged away the dead. All to the cacophony of orders, barked by no individual or familiar source, from left and right.
Blood and death still lingered in the air. It clung to the skin, suffocating and gritty, squeezing your lungs until it felt like breathing underwater. It was a lot, it was too much, and if it weren’t for Ekko’s presence, his being like an anchor that kept her spirit tethered to her body, Vi might not have been able to keep moving.
She wasn’t sure what else she’d expected. She wasn’t sure why the noise, the busyness, the erratic and panicked movement seemed to hit her so hard. Why it made her stomach twist in on itself, tying knot after knot after knot. It wasn’t like she’d expected normality, or peace or quiet. It wasn’t like she hadn’t seen worse. She wasn’t stupid, she knew war. She knew violence. It wasn’t clean or pretty and it didn’t just end when the fighting stopped. But still, it was nauseating; dizzying.
She’d expected to see her. This was Caitlyn after all, she was strong and smart. She was the sort of person who survived. But as she moved through the chaos, her eyes scanning every erratic enforcer and her ears tuning in to every trailing voice that commanded even a smidge of authority, she could not find her.
Cait was not here.
Her stomach twisted tighter, something heavy settling in her core, and as dread simmered hot beneath her skin, she turned her attention elsewhere. Away from the enforcers, the volunteers, the medics toward those who lay limp. To the bloodied and broken bodies, both conscious and not, and she continued her search.
But still, as her eyes gazed over anything vaguely person-shaped, she did not find her. Cait was gone; vanished. Almost as if her entire existence plucked from the world leaving no trace. Not living, not dead, not anything.
Vi grit her teeth, ignoring the way her body ached and protested every movement. She would find her. She had to be somewhere. This was Cait. Her Cait, her cupcake, and she was strong. She knew how to fight, how to shoot, how to win. She was fine. She just wasn’t here.
Unless she’s—
Vi stopped, squeezing her eyes shut so tight her head began to ache. She refused to even entertain that thought. She refused to let it be true. She’d only just gotten her back, and with all she’d lost to date, she’d be dammed if she lost her too.
“Vi?” Ekko’s reached her muffled, and only when he gave her a gentle shake did she open her eyes, and return herself to the moment.
“I’m fine,” she said before he’d even had the chance to ask, “Let’s keep moving, she’s not here.”
It was Steb who found them. Just as they’d reached the first lot of makeshift medical tents. And Vi knew something serious had happened the second she saw him giving orders as though he were in charge.
It wasn’t that he was incapable, or that leadership seemed out of his character. It was quite the opposite. He was brave and smart and she knew Cait trusted him.
But if he were there, being in charge, that meant that Caitlyn was not. That for some reason, she could not be. That the feeling in her gut, the one that always predicted the very worst, was correct. That something had happened. That Cait was not okay.
And that thought alone was almost enough to push her off the edge, for her body to finally give in.
It took only a few seconds from him spotting the pair to make his way over. Vi opened her mouth to speak, but he got there first.
“She’s alive,” he said, nodding to his left, “In one of those far tents, Dr. Kiramman is with her.”
“Thanks,” she said quickly, wasting no time before she started sprinting towards his vague directions. Ekko shouted for her, but she didn’t stop. She didn’t turn back. He could follow, or he could not. She didn’t care. Her arm ached, a sharp pain shooting from her shoulder down to her fingers. Her heart thrummed in her chest, fighting its way up her throat, as her legs moved so fast she knew she’d pay for it later.
But she did not care. She did not care at all. She kept moving.
Cait was alive. And she was here, somewhere.
She poked her head through curtains hoping to see her, ignoring the nurses as they yelled for her to stop and pushing past stray enforcers as they tried to grab her. She knew she was being irrational. That she should calm down and use her words. But logical thought was no longer tangible. Her mind too fuzzy and hot, too trapped in the tunnel vision of her current mission.
Find Cait.
And she wouldn’t let any of them stop her.
Her hand reached for the flap fifth tent, but someone grabbed her wrist.
An enforcer. Practically a kid.
She would’ve clocked him, her body had moved to do so without conscious command, but her injury stopped the action in its tracks. She yelled out, pain hitting her in a hot flash, and she stumbled backward.
“Shit— I’m sorry— You have to stop,” he said, fumbling for words. He seemed split in to, part of him wanting to reach out to steady Vi, and the other half knowing better. “You can’t—”
“Is she in there?” she asked, and his face morphed from worried to confused. Vi took a step forward, ignoring the pain in her arm.
“Caitlyn. The commander; commander Kiramman— Caitlyn.” she clarified, the words tumbling out of her mouth with increasing vexation. “Is she in there?”
The boy stiffened, his face returning to that of worry before he took a step toward the tent entrance. “You can’t go in there,” he said, “I’m under orders not to let anyone—”
“You wanna try stop me?” she asked, the edge in her tone once more stunning the kid into silence. She scoffed, “Yeah I’d like to see you try,” she said before shoved the kid aside, and pushing through the flap.
And there she was. Caitlyn. Awake and breathing and talking and—
Alive.
Until she wasn’t.