She knew this was for the best. Leaving Vi. But she absolutely hated it. They had spent so much of their time trying to get back to each other and fighting and losing each other over and over that it felt wrong to make this decision for her. But Jinx had to be strong. She had to do what her sister couldn’t. She had to break the cycle.
At first it felt like a vacation. Jinx was finally getting to see the world on an air ship like she always dreamed she would. Some places were better than others. Some places reminded her of Zaun, but none of them felt right. She wasn’t sure what she was looking for in a new home exactly. It was more like a feeling. Jinx was sure she would know once it hit her. But it had been months and none of the places she’d traveled to felt like home. She was starting to think she was the problem.
“You again?,” A man said to Jinx as she stepped on board the air ship.
“Tony! Long time no see old man,” Jinx replied.
“It’s been a month kid. Not long at all. What, this place isn’t doing it for you either?” Tony asked.
Jinx sighed and walked closer to Tony to let the other passengers on, “Something about this place just doesn’t scream home you know?”
“Maybe that’s a sign that you left yours too quickly,” Tony said.
Jinx didn’t like where this was going. She had met Tony the day she left Zaun after the war ended. Apparently he has worked on air ships since he was a teen. The pay was a lot better than anything he would have to steal to survive and a whole lot safer. He had lived in Zaun for most of his life which is probably why Jinx felt comfortable talking to him. After bumping into him for the next year on various air ships and at different ports they were bound to get close. Jinx wouldn’t say it out loud but it was nice to see a familiar face when her newest home search failed to meet her expectations.
“You know why I left Tony.” Jinx said with a hint of annoyance.
“Yeah, and I stand by what I said. You should have stayed.”
“Kinda hypocritically coming from the man who has spent his whole life on air ships heading away from Zaun, don’t ya think?”
“Yeah, but I wasn’t away from my problems. I was building something for myself,” Tony quipped.
“That’s literally what I’m trying to do! I’m trying to build a new life. Start fresh with a new canvas,” Jinx exclaimed.
“No love, you’re trying to paint over the old one,” Tony said softly.
Jinx was not in the mood for this. She didn’t need someone telling her her choices were bad. She already knew that. Every choice she made since she was 12, maybe even before that, have been shit. Jinx wasn’t running away form anything. She was running towards something. And if Tony couldn’t see that she didn’t give a damn. Jinx rolled her eyes and walked away from the old man without another word.
Jinx was at the small desk in her cabin crossing off another city form her list. She paid a little extra coin so she could get a cabin by herself. Jinx may have left Zaun but that didn’t mean her crimes stayed there. She wasn’t sure if people were still looking for her or not but if Caitlyn was still hellbent on killing her, she wouldn’t be surprised if there was a bounty on her head. So it was safer to have a cabin she could lock up at night. Though it’s rather hard to get to sleep when the ship is rocking back and forth so intensely.
“Alright so Bilgewater is out. Got into too many fights with the locals, which was fun but not good for laying low. Demacia was cool for a bit but their rules are wayyy to strict for my liking,” Jinx said to no one. It had been awhile since she had one of her episodes but she’d realized talking out loud helps her think.
Jinx fiddled with Vi’s necklace as searched the map for another back up plan in case Ionia didn’t work out,“ Freeljord? Definitely not! That cold weather doesn’t mesh with my outfits on choice.”
Her pen glided over Bandle City and she giggled,“Vi would love to visit here.”
Jinx thought of that one time she and Vi went to the Zoo with Vander. Vi saw a fluffy Yordal and went nuts. She wouldn’t look at any of the actual animals and almost got them kicked out because she wouldn’t stop trying to hug the poor man.
“No, focus. Don’t imagine doing this with Vi,”Jinx said to herself.
For the next hour Jinx was either crossing off a city from her list of options or falling into another memory about her sister. For such a short time together, Jinx certainly had a lot of happy memories with Vi. It was bittersweet. She wished she didn’t have to do this. Jinx wanted nothing more than to be with her sister, but it was wrong to want that. Wrong to want her if Jinx knew she would be the reason to cause Vi pain. She had to leave, didn’t she?
“Ughhh why is this so hard!” Jinx yelled throwing her pen across the room.
She just wanted a place that was peaceful but not too peaceful. She didn’t want to get bored. It should feel safe but have an hint of danger to it. It should make her feel warm even if it was freezing outside. A tranquil hum that relaxed her like a soothing embrace, but also filled her up with excitement like racing on the rooftops in Zaun. But every place she went was missing something.
She lived in a light house for awhile, close to bildgewater after getting into too many fights with the pirates. It was nice. She was close enough to see the ships coming into port and watch any fights with sea monsters but those were few and far between. The little village she stayed in had friendly enough people but it was too soft. There were no bar fights or night life to speak of. Most of her days were spent doing the most boring mundane things. She went to Noxus for shits and giggles but that quickly became a fight for your life kinda of game so she hightailed it out of there.
The booming voice of the captain erupted from the small horn in the corner of her cabin pulling Jinx from her thoughts, “Attention passengers, the storm outside is getting stronger by the minute. We will make port in Piltover an resume heading to Ionia in the morning for safety reasons. We will land in 20 minutes.”
Jinx just stared up at the horn in disbelief, “You have got to be fucking kidding me.”
Jinx rushed to put all of her things in her bag. She only had 20 minutes to find a way to get off this ship without anyone in Piltover finding out she was back. Jinx rushed out of her cabin to find Tony. She might have been cross with him earlier but he would help her sneak out regardless. It was madness on the ship. Children were crying because of how harshly the ship was swaying in the wind, crew members were rushing around trying to calm people down and get them back in their cabins to prevent anyone falling overboard.
Luckily Jinx was fast enough to evade any crew members who would try to force her back to her room. Tony was on a deck below her. She hoped he was still in his room and not out in this chaos or else she’d have to figure something out on her own.
“Hey kid why are you running around like a chicken with it’s head cut off?”
Jinx spun around as soon as she heard his voice, “Oh thank fuck Tony, I’m glad you did head up to the upper decks yet.”
“I can see that. What’s going on? Don’t tell me you’re afraid of a little stormy weather,” Tony said.
“I wish that was the worse of my problems. You remember what I told you about how I needed to leave Zaun for personal reasons,” Jinx questioned.
“Yeah, you said that you and your family were butting heads and everything always seemed to go to shit when you were around so you decided to up and leave.”
“Yes, well while that is true its not the whole truth. I may or may not bejinxtheonewho blewupthecouncilandstartedtherevolutionforzaunandlikelyhaveabountyonmyhead,” Jinx rushed out.
Tony stared at her for longer than she was comfortable with and was beginning to think Tony wasn’t the man she thought he was when he spoke up.
“Welp that explains why you weren’t to happy about me telling you to go back home huh?” He laughed.
“Uh, ha yeah. Kinda hard to go home when you’re a wanted criminal and all that,” Jinx said lowly.
“Look kid, I know what happened in Zaun was nuts and to be clear I have heard about you but you’re talking to Tony here. I'm a Zaunnite through and through. If you ask me those topsider pussies had it coming for a long time.”
Jinx was relieved that the one friend she made since leaving behind everything she knew didn’t want to true her in to the enforcers. If she wasn’t about to land back in the one place she was sure she’d never see again she would have hugged him but she didn’t have time to be sentimental.
“Same but that’s not the problem. Or well it is but-. I need your help. I can’t just hop off the air ship at Piltover. If anyone sees me it will be chaos and I really need to lay low. So can you help me out?”
Tony’s eyes widen in understanding. He nodded this head and quickly turned around motioning for Jinx to follow. He took her deeper into the under belly of the air ship, and if she wasn’t pressed for time she would have loved to look around. She always loved air ships and seeing all of the mechanics that goes into it Jinx was thinking about making her own. That’ll be a project for another day, i“f she doesn’t get captured by the enforcers as soon as they touch down.
“Here, this is where they
put the luggage. There is a hatch underneath that we use to get in and out of the ship to load everything. We will make port at the the lower docks since its closer. You can sneak out form here but you’re gonna have to drop on one of the buildings before we get to the dock. Think you can handle that?” Tony questioned.
“Pff, my sister taught me how to jump from 4 story buildings when I was 7, I’ll be fine.”
“Good, then get ready, we don’t have much time.”
The landing wasn’t perfect Jinx was sure she sprained her ankle but Jinx didn’t break any bones when she jumped form the ship so she took it as a win. The only problem now was finding some place safe to lie low, and that would be much harder now that she can’t just zip over the rooftops with her bad ankle. She sat on the roof her legs dangling off the edge as she thought of a place she could go to that no one would look for her. Some place as far away form piltover as possible while also keeping away from any “old friends” in Zaun.
“Old friends, huh?,” Jinx was filled with a bittersweet pang in her chest. “Guess I know where i'm going.”
It took her longer than she expected to get down to the fissures but no one tried to stop her so she was at least being stealthy. Jinx wasn’t sure why she deiced to pick this place to hide out at. It will filled with too many sad memories. It didn’t start that way though. Hell she was even able to make some pretty good ones before everything exploded in her face.
As she expected the commune where she first met Viktor was sparely occupied. Most people didn’t come in the fissures on a bad day so makes sense that it would still be isolated. Jinx was slightly afraid to head back here. Not just because this is where she lost Isha but because this was the last place she felt hope. This is the place her sister wanted to make a new life with her. Where she finally had a family back, before it was ripped away from again.
Jinx walked slowly into the commune. The flowers were still blooming even though she was sure the rain didn’t make it all the way down here. Maybe his freaky magic powers were able to do one thing right. Walking further in the strong scent of flowers took over. It smelled like iris’ and lilac and...violets. Jinx took in a deep breath, letting the sweet scent flow her senses. It’s funny. Her sister usually smelled like sweat and leather but there was always a hint of violet there. Like Vi needed to signal to the world who she was even with just a smell.
“Guess that’s why she got that stupid tattoo on her face. I mean really who tattoos their name on their face like that,” Jinx laughed out loud.
Her laughter stopped when she saw the headstone in front of her. It was meager at best only a few stones and stick that Isha’s miner hat hung from. Tears started to prick her eyes at the memories of her and isha playing out here. She moved closer and lightly brushed her fingers over the rim of the hat.
“At least she got a proper burial,” Jinx sniffed.
Jinx turned her head to wipe her eyes and she saw flowers by the stones. They were different from the planted ones. It looked like someone placed them here on purpose. She wasn’t sure how she didn’t notice before. Pushing down the urge to cry she properly took in her surroundings. To the right she saw another pile of rocks but she didn’t see any flowers or mementos left behind. Two the left she saw...her chair?
“Why the fuck is that here?” Jinx asked confused.
“I thought you’d want to be buried next to her,” Vi croaked out, “But there was nothing left to bury.”
Jinx spun around at the sudden voice. Her sister stood in front of her, holding a mixed bouquet of white roses and camellia flowers. Jinx’s favorite. Her sister looked different. Smaller than she remembered. Her reddish pink hair was longer now but lacked its vibrant luster. There were dark circles under her eyes, proof that she hadn’t slept in weeks, maybe more. She looked like a ghost of her usual fiery self.
“Violet?” Jinx gasped.
“Is it really you?” Vi asked.
Jinx saw Vi’s grip tighten around the flowers, as if to snap herself back into reality. Blood trickled down Vi’s hand, cut on the thorns of the roses. Jinx tore her eyes away from the blood and back to her sister’s face. Silent tears slide down her cheeks like a waterfall of sorrow. In an instant Jinx pulled her sister into her arms. Her whole body trembled and Vi dropped the bouquet to return the hug.
“You missed me that much, huh?” Jinx muttered.
“Every. Single. Day.” Vi emphasized.
“You know, maybe you were right. Maybe we should stick together,” Jinx added.
Vi tightened the embrace strong enough for it hurt. It felt like a standing in the eye of a raging storm. Like lazing on the beach in the summer sun. It felt like falling and flying all at the same time. It felt like home. Finally Jinx understood why none of the places she traveled ever felt right. Why it always felt like something was missing. She was looking for a place when her home was person. Vi was and would always be her home.
“I’m sorry I made you wait so long for something you already knew,” Jinx said.
“I don’t care how long its been. I’d wait for you forever,” Vi confessed.