"My stupid fucking asshole of a sister"
Quick note: Everything in italics and bold are thoughts and can be heard by everyone present. All of Isha's dialogues are in sign language.
The adult Vi held her head in her hands, there was a painful pressure on her chest, she was covered in fear and confusion. How had she become an Enforcer? She couldn't do that, she could never attack Zaun but... Was Zaun still her home? She hadn't been there for years and everything had changed. The home she had always known was gone, her loved ones either hated her or had more important matters at hand like Ekko. It felt horrible to admit to herself that she no longer felt comfortable in Zaun but that didn't mean she would seek refuge in Piltover of all places.
According to what Jinx had said, she and Caitlyn were together, they were a couple. She wasn't in love with Caitlyn yet but she could see why she would fall for her, she was beautiful and definitely not her type but she could handle it.
Vi turned his head and saw Caitlyn who had a strange expression on her face, had she really left her city to run into the arms of an Enforcer? She really wanted to believe that there was a good reason why she had worn the blue uniform.
Isha looked at the man on the sofa next to her, waved at him and asked her dad, "Who is he?"
Ekko looked at Benzo who was looking at Isha with a soft smile. "He's my dad, Benzo, your other grandfather."
Upon hearing the name, Isha's face lit up, she got off her father's lap and ran to hug her grandfather Benzo, who welcomed her with open arms.
Pulling away from the hug she looked at her dad. "He has the same name as Beni."
Ekko frowned in confusion, who was Beni? Was that person Jinx and Isha were with before the girl came here?
Ekko's heart ached for a moment, did Jinx have a boyfriend? He wanted to tell himself that it was reasonable for Jinx to be with someone else but that thought made him want to cry.
"Who is Beni?" Ekko asked, afraid of the answer.
Isha looked at him, raised her hands to answer but again remembered her mommy's words, she wasn't supposed to tell anyone about Beni. She lowered her hands and simply shrugged, not knowing what to say to her daddy.
Ekko sighed and nodded accepting the answer, there was no way to get that answer out of Isha, apparently she was as stubborn as Jinx. He really needed to sleep or something, a lot of things had happened but it seemed like no time was passing in the room.
The projector turned back on attracting everyone's attention, Isha returned to her dad's lap and she just hoped that no one would hit her mommy again.
Jinx, Isha and Sevika entered The Last Drop which was empty.
The children and teenagers looked at the place in surprise.
"Is that The Last Drop?" Claggor asked, feeling sad at seeing the place he considered home so changed.
Vander looked at the place in the projection, there were few things that Silco hadn't changed and one of those was the jukebox, the one that Felicia had found a long time ago.
"Ish are you hungry?" Jinx asked, ruffling Isha's curls.
Isha shook her head with a smile. "I want to play."
Jinx smiled as she approached the bar with her daughter. "You can go play, there are some of your toys in Grandpa's office."
Isha looked at her dad and said, "Grandpa always let me play in his office."
Ekko smiled softly with one hand stroking his daughter's hair. "Really?"
Isha nodded vigorously, her curls bouncing. "Grandpa played with me, Aunty Sevika too."
A part of Ekko was glad that Isha had been raised by people who loved her so much, although he found it hard to imagine Silco playing with a little girl.
Isha nodded and went upstairs to get her toys. Sevika sat at the bar with a sigh while Jinx waited until Isha disappeared up the stairs before starting to talk.
"What happened?" The blue-haired girl asked Sevika without looking at her.
"What do you mean?" Sevika asked, pouring herself a drink.
Jinx took a deep breath, trying to keep calm. "The grey."
Sevika looked at her for a moment, Jinx looked like she was about to explode, her fingers were tapping on the bar and her gaze was lost.
"She started coughing and started getting scared, I quickly gave her a respirator and put one on myself, after that, well, we went to get you." Sevika said, she did not like seeing Isha like that with tears and gasping for breath, it was a horrible image.
Ekko's breathing caught for a moment, Isha could have died, she could have choked on the grey. That thought would surely give him nightmares.
The adult Vi swallowed hard, feeling like vomiting, what she had done was almost killing her niece.
Jinx's eyes filled with tears quickly, her heart clenched in fear, her baby hadn't been able to breathe... Oh Janna, her Isha could have died and Vi and Caitlyn were responsible... That thought took away Jinx's fear and anger covered her completely, her damn sister and her whore girlfriend could have killed her daughter, she was not going to allow that.
Caitlyn frowned as she heard Jinx insult her, what had she done to the girl for her to treat her like that? She understood that for some reason she had attacked Zaun, but she didn't think it was that big of a deal after all that much damage they shouldn't have done, Zaun was Piltover's sister city. Piltover would never do so much harm to Zaun, after all they needed Zaun, they had resources that Piltover needed and in return Piltover gave them resources.
She wanted to believe that her mother had done the best for Zaun from her place on the council.
Jinx started walking around the place, she wanted to hit someone, she wanted to kill, she needed to kill... She needed to kill them... She would make them pay, she would show them how her daughter felt, and not just her daughter, all of Zaun.
"She's going to kill you guys," Mylo snorted.
Adult Vi could only think that maybe she deserved whatever Jinx would do to her, an angry mother could be a force of nature.
"I should have done it when I first saw her." Jinx said angrily, her hands shaking from wanting to kill her sister with her own hands.
"And now what are you talking about?" Sevika asked her, she knew that what she had said had sent Jinx into a destructive and surely murderous spiral.
"My stupid fucking asshole of a sister, I should have killed her." Jinx said through gritted teeth, she could feel the doodles approaching her.
The adult Vi closed her eyes for a moment and ruffled her hair, the pressure in her chest wasn't going away it was only getting worse.
Sevika set her drink down on the bar before walking over to Jinx, placing her hand on the younger girl's shoulder. "Isha's upstairs playing, do you want to go check on her?"
Isha... Jinx's head calmed down as she thought of her little girl playing happily. She massaged her forehead for a moment before resting her head on Sevika's chest.
Ekko hugged his daughter wanting to give Jinx a hug, to hold her in his arms and be able to calm her down but he was glad that their daughter could do that.
Sevika sighed and put her hand on Jinx's back. "Listen, if you want to kill her I'll help you, after all you're the boss now."
Jinx felt a pressure in her chest at that reminder, she was the boss, everything that had belonged to Silco was now hers, that included territory, companies and people. She didn't like that, she could never be a leader like Silco or even like Vander, she couldn't do it but here she was now being the queen of this decaying kingdom of iron and coal.
No matter how much love he had for Jinx, Ekko couldn't help but feel uneasy; the Jinx he knew was uncontrolled, impulsive, and deadly. He didn't know how she could lead Zaun, although being the leader of the city was never a fixed position for anyone, the position was taken by whoever was strong enough. Jinx was strong enough, just like Silco and Vander, but strength did not equal leadership, and he himself had a hard time leading the sanctuary.
"I don't like the sound of that," Jinx muttered, closing her eyes.
Sevika sighed, she knew that Jinx didn't want to lead Zaun, that she didn't feel worthy of that but it was the legacy that Silco had left to Jinx and her, after Jinx would come Isha and so on. Vander led the underground city with a gentle but firm hand, permissive and not daring to look beyond. Silco, on the other hand, was not afraid to be ambitious and use everything at his disposal to make Zaun a better place, even if it meant using Shimmer as a resource.
Vander felt frustrated and guilty, he knew he wasn't doing enough for Zaun, he could do more but the fear of losing more loved ones paralyzed him. Yet everything he had done had plunged Zaun into peace, an uneasy and fragile peace.
Jinx was young but very smart, Sevika knew that Silco had taught her how to do his job, who to trust and who not to, she also knew that Jinx had learned things from Vander.
With a little time, patience and hard work Sevika knew Jinx could become a great leader. A king died but a blue-haired princess rose to queen and after her there would be another queen, two generations of matriarchs for Zaun.
Little Ekko looked at Powder with a smile. "You're a queen, Pow."
Powder looked at him and shook her head. "I'm not."
She understood how Jinx felt. Being in charge of an entire city and having them depend on her sounded... terrifying.
Caitlyn didn't understand how government power worked in Zaun, was there a monarchy and she didn't know about it? Kings and queens, princes and princesses, it sounded very strange coming from a poor, underground city. Even Piltover with all its luxuries and riches didn't have a monarchy, the council ran everything and until recently she thought they ran Zaun too, but everything was different there.
"I know you don't, but it's your duty, it's the inheritance your father left you," Sevika said in a soft tone.
Jinx growled as she walked away from Sevika, she just wanted to live in peace with her little girl but now she had an entire city in ruins under her care.
She walked around the bar looking at everything; changes needed to be made, a lot of them.
"We need to get Chuck back." She told Sevika. "I need to know who's still loyal, whoever changed sides you know what to do..."
"Oh, they're so dead." The teenage Vi said, she felt uneasy and uncomfortable seeing the future that awaited her and hoped she could change that.
Sevika stood up straight with a small smile. "Yes, boss."
Jinx nodded and pointed to the stairs. They both went up to Silco's office, which was now hers.
Isha was playing on the floor with her dolls, Jinx looked at her for a moment treasuring that image, her little girl was growing up so fast. She could remember the day she was born so small, covered in blood and yet so beautiful, Isha couldn't speak she only made sounds when necessary but she was perfect. Nothing in the world would make her daughter less perfect.
Isha smiled at her mommy's words, she always felt different from everyone else because she couldn't speak. Whenever she tried to speak, strange sounds came out of her mouth. Her mom had taught her to communicate with her hands and never got upset with her when she forgot something.
Ekko thought about his biological father for a moment, he never allowed himself to think about his biological parents, that place was too dark to go there but his daughter had inherited something from his father. Sign language remained engraved in his mind even though he did not remember much about his parents, those memories were always painful.
Isha looked up smiling happily as she saw her mom and aunt Sevika enter the office, she walked over to the aunt and gave her one of the dolls. Jinx smiled amusedly as she watched Sevika try to play with Isha.
Adult Vi let out a small laugh as she watched Sevika play with dolls, although she would do so too if Isha asked her to.
She walked over to the desk, brushing her fingers over Silco's papers, his jacket still bearing the scent of her father. She pressed the jacket against her nose finding comfort in that familiar scent, she missed him so much.
Vander took a deep breath, Powder did the same with Vi's clothes when they dropped her off at home, she sought comfort in the scents. He wanted to hold his daughter, let her cry in his arms.
Taking a deep breath she dropped his jacket and walked over to the chair, spinning it around several times until she sat down on it.
The chair was hers now, The Last Drop was hers, Zaun was hers and she was not going to allow her sister to continue damaging her home. Piltover couldn't set foot in Zaun and come out of this unscathed, no, she wasn't going to allow it, they were goingto pay for everything and she was going to make sure Vi paid, even if it was the last thing she did.