Take My Breath Away

Vi’s fingers rapped against the cool metal of the table in front of her, staring intensely across at Caitlyn who was leaning against the wall in front of her. The captain’s eyes wandered, avoiding Vi’s intense glare, desperately trying to string together something to say to her.

Upon returning to base, the pair had handed over the hard drive to Heimerdinger, and any second now he’d stumble across the plans that the young ladies had discovered just hours before. Vi had deciphered her evening plans quickly, settling on a bottle of Jack Daniels on her bed, but before she could drown her sorrows Caitlyn had grabbed her arm last minute and dragged her into one of the vacant office rooms within the complex.

Even though Cait had instigated the meeting, she had no idea how to address the concerns they both had. Caitlyn was focused mainly on the logistics around what would come next; what Heimerdinger would ask of her and her crew, how many people would be let in on the discovery, if he’d even let people in on it at all. As far as he was aware, Caitlyn and Vi had downloaded the data and got out of there without reviewing it whatsoever.

Vi’s mind, however, was racing with the thoughts of what would happen to Zaun, her family. It was safe to assume that Zaun or Piltover would be the target to a potential blast, and depending how big the weapon was, it could easily have the potential to level the entire capital city. Right where Powder, Vander and Mylo slept peacefully. The pilot’s insides churned with anxiety.

“I wonder what Commander Heimerdinger will make of it.” Caitlyn’s voice cut through the silence, and she briefly made eye contact with Vi, twiddling her pointer finger and thumb together.

Vi huffed. “That’s if he even decides to tell us.”

Shaking her head, Cait broke her gaze away and stared at a single spot on the floor. “I’m sure he will. What good would it do him withholding something like that?”

“Control,” Vi spat. She shot up from her seat, back muscles twitching with anger as she begun pacing up and down uncontrollably. “It’s always been about control with him.” She hesitated for a moment before adding, “They need to evacuate the main cities.”

“You and I both know he definitely won’t do that,” Cait responded sharply.

“Why the fuck not?”

“I’m not the enemy here, Violet!” Caitlyn shouted. She dropped her arms to her side, her eyes boring intensely into the pilot. “Stop being so bloody hostile.”

“Whatever,” Vi scoffed, shaking her head. Strands of her fell into her eyes as she moved. “Figured you’d say something like that.”

“And what makes you say that?” Caitlyn was seething now, her fists balled, eyebrows furrowed as she stared at Vi with intensity.

“Because you see everything in black and white, Cait,” Vi snarled, her lips curling. “You’ve spent your whole career as a desk jockey, categorising everything ever so neatly, up until now. Even with your boots on the ground you still insist on grouping distinctly between right and wrong. You Piltie pen-pushers are all the fuckin’ same.”

The insult tumbled from Vi’s mouth before she had a moment to even realise what she’d said. Caitlyn’s eyes blew wide and her jaw dropped, her expression of anger quickly distorting into disappointment, betrayal.

Before Vi could muster a pathetic excuse for an apology, mouth gaping like a fish out of water, Caitlyn spun on her heels and departed the room, tears stinging at the corner of her eyes.

***

30 MONTHS BEFORE

Booming bassy music seeped through the floors and bled into the walls as Violet Vanderson stood in the stranger’s kitchen, a cheesy drunken grin spread across her lips, surrounded by her rugby sisters.
She didn’t know whose house it was. She’d probably been told, but had soon forgotten; since joining the Piltover Military Academy’s rugby team, Vi had had nearly thirty new names to learn, plus coaching and medical staff. So she was sure she’d be forgiven for forgetting the name of their host just for tonight.

The heavy aura of victory hung sweetly in the air, lingering with the fumes of alcohol and sweaty bodies piled in against each other. It was their first game of the season, and they’d stolen the win triumphantly against Zaun Tech. The first time winning against the Zaunite team in a very, very long time, she’d been informed.

Vi scored the winning try. She was subbed on in the 75th minute by Sevika, after the coach got sick of watching the flanker pace up and down the sidelines relentlessly while the girls on pitch scrabbled and fought with all their might to keep Zaun Tech at bay. Near the opposing tryline, the PMA 8 had gone for a pick and go, slotting it over to Vi on the wing before she touched it down neatly in the right corner.

Vi didn’t know if she’d ever had a feeling that matched up to it. The roar across the stadium, the claps on her shoulders and shouting from her teammates, the pure ecstasy that flooded her body when the referee blew the final whistle and all the players swarmed the pitch to congratulate the newbie on her show-stopping final play.

And now, Vi was being huddled around by all the girls she’d shared a pitch before just hours ago, staring down at the lumpy greyish concoction swirling in the cup someone had shoved into her hands.

One thing Vi was getting used to was the sheer amount of “traditions” the Piltover Military Academy sports teams had. When she’d first heard the phrase, she imagined parades on gameday, or having to march out in her uniform. Not being forced to down a dirty pint in front of what seemed like half the school.

Yet there she was, in an unknown person’s kitchen, still ogling her cup. Just the sight of the drink itself was making her dread the hangover she would most definitely have tomorrow.

“Drink up, virgin,” a voice said to the right of her. Vi turned her head to see their scrum-half, another girl whose name she’d forgotten. If memory served her right, however, she was the one who had poured Bailey’s into the pint, making the already unappetising drink curdle and go lumpy.

With the girls around her chanting, and the music so loud the bass was thumping in her chest, Vi held her nose and began slurping down the drink.

By the time the slimy concoction was emptied from her cup, Vi was retching into the kitchen sink, a shit-eating grin still spread across her lips as she gagged and her teammates jostled her and rubbed her back sarcastically. Their voices practically screamed the house down in delight.

Amidst the chaos, between the crowds of drunk teenagers and strangers, Vi’s stormy eyes scanned the room and landed on the most gorgeous cerulean ocean pair she’d ever seen in her life.

She swore she recognised the girl from somewhere. Was it classes? Perhaps. Had she come with Jayce? Through the intoxicated fog, Vi recalled the young lady rocking up with her friend about a half hour ago, although the rugby player was balls-deep in victory shots by that point.

Jayce and Vi had clicked almost instantly when they first met. He was a walk-on for the men’s rugby team, having not been selected for a scholarship, but eager to prove himself nonetheless; a trait both him and Vi had in common. They played similar positions in the forwards too and had shared interests in engineering and helicopters.

Breaking away from the other rugby girls, Vi spotted Jayce almost instantly, leaning up against the wall nursing a tall can of Budweiser. He noticed Vi approaching and grinned, throwing an arm around the shorter girl. “T’sup, short stack?” he teased.

“Very funny,” Vi shouted back sarcastically against the overbearing noise of the music. She leant up into his ear, scanning the mangled cartilage surrounding the tunnel. Cauliflower ear was one of Vi’s biggest fears, and the main reason she refused to play in the main forwards pack. His skin looked like a 3D render of Mars. “Who’s your friend?” She jutted a thumb at the girl sitting across the room on one of the sofas.

“That’s Caitlyn!” He was so close to Vi she could smell the warm beer on his breath. “She’s shy, go talk to her!”

Vi cleared the booze from her mind from a moment to rationalise her options. In a sane, sober mind, she’d disregard Jayce’s request and continue to party with her friends. Girls had always been a big distraction for her, but these were the years she really had to lock in if she were to get anywhere at both university and within the Army of Piltover. She had dependencies riding on her back, people to make proud, and others to prove wrong.

But the night was young, the alcohol was flowing, and Vi had no other thoughts on her mind anymore but the pretty girl with the striking eyes.

She nodded farewell to Jayce and swaggered over to the sofa, swiping a can of beer off the kitchen countertop as she went, sliding as casually as she could muster in her drunken despair into the seat next to the girl.

Those ocean eyes batted over to her instantly, widening in shock. Vi noticed she was holding a cup of light pink drink, presumably wine, which was dangerously close to the top. “Can I help you?” she asked accusingly in an accent Vi didn’t recognise.

“Did you want a dirty pint as well or were you just staring?” Vi flashed her canines and ran her tongue over her teeth.

A steady red blush crept up the other girl’s neck and onto her cheeks. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she replied, flustered.

“You’re friends with Jayce,” Vi stated obliviously.

“What an observant person you are,” she drawled sarcastically. There was a small smile tugging at the corner of her plump lips.

“So, are you at PMA or the other school?” Vi said the last phrase with a playful tone. No-one really knew where calling the University of Piltover “the other school” came from, but it was tradition for all first year students to refer to UoP as that, regardless.

The other young lady’s eyebrow shot up. “Can you not tell?” she joked.

Vi looked her up and down again. She had a slender build, however her arms and shoulders had a lot of muscular definition to them, the telltale sign that someone looked after their physique- or had a reason to.

Finally, Vi put her finger up and smirked, pointing at her. Through her drunken haze, she realised where she recognised the girl from. “I think you’re in my Mathematics class.”

“Wow,” she drawled sarcastically. “Glad I made that much of an impact on your life.”

The girls laughed, and a sudden but comfortable silence settled between them. Vi finished her drink. She didn’t get up for another.

“I’m Vi, by the way,” Violet said. She set her cup down on the coffee table in front of them. “Vi Vanderson.”

“I know who you are,” the other girl teased playfully. “Anyone who pays remote attention to our school’s athletics does.”

“Huh.” A smirk tugged at the corner of Vi’s lips, flashing her canines briefly. She hated to admit it but the comment inflated her drunken ego slightly. “You never told me your name.”

“You never asked,” she responded flatly. “It’s Caitlyn. Caitlyn Kiramman.”

“Kiramman?” Vi cocked an eyebrow in surprise. “Kiramman, like-“

“Councillor Kiramman, yes.” Caitlyn huffed out a nervous laugh. Her fingers fluttered around the edge of her cup nervously.

The more Vi looked at the other girl, the more the family resemblance became apparent. Caitlyn had the same intense but soft gaze, same sharp facial features, the same glowing cerulean eyes, that Vi recognised from the council’s monthly addresses.

Vi worked quickly to break the awkward silence. “For the record, I think your mother is a decent councillor,” she said, stumbling over her words.

“A good councillor? Perhaps,” Caitlyn replied. “But a good mother? Debatable.”

Vi shrugged casually. “My brother used to love watching her speeches. I think he had a crush.”

Caitlyn laughed. A genuine, full bodied laugh. Vi swore hand-on-heart it was the sweetest noise she’d ever heard in her life. “Maybe I won’t tell her that next time she asks about my studies,” she said, still smiling, flicking a strand of hair out of her face.

“So, what’s it like? Being the daughter of a councillor?” She looked over to Caitlyn.

“It’s… boring.” Caitlyn chuckled. She seemed more relaxed now, her shoulders loosening up, sinking back into the sofa. Was it the alcohol, or was it talking to Vi? “Lots of meetings and such that she’d drag me along to in my youth. It’s how I met my best friend, though.”

“Huh.” Vi stuck out her bottom lip and tilted her head. Maybe now wasn’t the best time to tell her she’d met one of her best friends running from cops in the streets of Zaun. “And what drew you to apply to the academy?”

“I liked the programmes they offered.” Caitlyn said the words dismissively; Vi got the feeling there was another story behind that. “What about you?”

“I’m on a scholarship.” The other young lady tried to say the words with as little pride as possible, although it probably came off with an air of bragging.

“Never would’ve guessed,” replied Cait with a hint of sarcasm. “Although I must say, I’ve not been to a single game yet, sorry.”

“Really?” Vi placed her hand over her heart with mock offence, throwing her head back and scoffing. “That hurts me, it really does.”

“If I wanted to watch eighty minutes of hot sweaty women running into each other, there are websites for that.”

It was Vi’s turn to laugh. She threw her head back again and chuckled, body shaking, putting her hands up in defeat. She too settled back into the couch.

Something about Caitlyn had captivated Vi. Hook, line, and fucking sinker. The way she articulated herself, how she pronounced her words, when she’d speak or smile and the tiniest little gap in her teeth would show. She was an absolute smokeshow, too, but Vi wanted to look past that for once in her life.

She wanted to peel back Caitlyn’s layers and get to know her deep down. What made her tick. What she wanted to do with her life. Who she wanted to do in her life. All her secrets, her fears, her regrets, her fantasies…

The party continued around them but the pair stayed in their own little bubble in the corner, glued into their conversations, much to the whiny protests of Jayce and the calls of “quit trying to get laid” from Vi’s teammates. None of that mattered; nothing around them mattered. Vi felt like she could sink into Caitlyn and stay there forever.

Eventually, the mystery party host came down and began cleaning shit up in the kitchen, the unanimous hint of “get the fuck out now I want to go to sleep”. Before Vi could get up, she looked down to see that Caitlyn had shoved her phone into her hands, a new contacts page open on the screen.

“So I can make sure you get home safe,” she explained.

Vi smirked, tapping in her number and sending herself a message. Her phone buzzed in her pocket. “It was nice to meet you properly, Caitlyn,” she said with a smile. “Goodnight.”

“Goodnight, Vi.”

With that, the two parted ways.