"What's going on?"
Vander didn't know how to feel about what he saw on the projector, it was too many emotions at once, too much and too little at the same time. He knew that Vi must have had a good reason for doing what she did by becoming an Enforcer or so he wanted to believe. He refused to believe that Vi, his Vi, had done something like that just on a whim, there had to be a good reason. But the grey... Why harm Zaun like that?
He made deals with Enforcers before but he was no fool he knew how they abused their power, he could only hope that Vi would not become someone like them. His little girl, so fragile and so strong, with so much weight on her shoulders, despite everything he felt that he had not done enough for her. Maybe he could change that, maybe.
Adult Vi couldn't look at anyone in the room, her stomach was churning and her chest ached, every breath hurt, but maybe that was a good thing, a small punishment. Guilt and confusion reigned in her head, she had hurt her niece but it hadn't been on purpose... Right? She couldn't have done it on purpose... No... Oh Janna.
She looked at her hands that were tightly squeezing her legs, she had hurt her sister and now her niece. Her sister wanted to kill her, if Jinx showed up right now and tried... She would probably let her do it so the guilt in her chest would go away.
Ekko had his gaze fixed on Isha who had moved to the floor to draw, he knew it wasn't fair to get angry with Vi and Caitlyn, they hadn't done anything yet but... Vi's betrayal hurt a lot. Yes, it hasn't happened yet but somehow it did, right? Isha lived it, Isha coughed, Isha couldn't breathe, Isha... Isha could have died.
Fear ran through his body like a cold sweat, his daughter could have died and in Jinx and Isha's timeline he would never have found out, he doubted Jinx would have told him. And if she had done that it probably wouldn't have ended well, again that pang of anger towards Jinx appeared but it disappeared quickly when he saw Isha, so pretty with her blue curls.
Blue, blue hair, as pretty as her mom's and as bright blue as hers. The smile was also Jinx's, with chubby cheeks that denoted that she was well fed, probably better than most of the children in Zaun, he knew it was because of Silco and his dirty money, a small part of him was glad that Isha had been pampered, like the princess she is.
"What are you drawing, bunny?" Ekko asked Isha, crouching down on the ground beside her.
Isha showed it to him, it was a bunch of scribbles but he understood that the biggest blue figure was Jinx, a small Isha painted orange, himself in green and a small scribble that he didn't understand.
"Who is it?" He asked, pointing at the little blue scribble.
"It's Beni." Isha said with a smile and drew a heart over the one that was Beni. Technically she hadn't told anyone who Beni was, so she continued to listen to her mommy, surely she would give her candy for that. Isha felt happy knowing that her mommy would be very proud of her for keeping the secret and continued drawing without paying attention to her daddy's reaction.
Ekko began to feel a discomfort in the back of his head, Beni, over and over again that name was repeated in his head, who was Beni? The scribble didn't tell him anything about who he was and that bothered him greatly.
He tried to distract himself from it, hoping Isha would tell him at some point, maybe she didn't trust him enough.
He wondered what would happen when all this was over, what would happen to Isha? To Benzo? To himself? To everyone? They were supposed to save Jinx but whatever brought them here hadn't shown them how to do that yet. Maybe the fight against Vi had gone wrong but he quickly dismissed it, Isha had been with her mom and that was after the fight, his mind was blank.
He was afraid that Isha would have to see her mother die, or well, he believed that Jinx had died, what else would they save her from? His heart ached at the thought that Jinx had died, it hurt just to imagine it, despite everything, she was the woman he loved, the one he never stopped loving even though he tried.
The lights in the room began to flicker, the deafening sound of static invaded the place, Ekko quickly took Isha in his arms covering her ears. The uneven ball appeared, its many colors illuminating the place, until it dropped a person.
Vander always felt love for his brother, they had shared so many moments, so many secrets, not only with him but also with Felicia. They were a trio, since they were children they had been running around the lanes, getting dirty, playing with paint, sneaking into Piltover stores and stealing here and there.
The three of them worked together in the mines, causing their lungs to become ill, working until exhaustion for a few miserable coins and all to buy the bar, which before was just an abandoned place. But it was worth it, they cleaned and remodeled the bar, it became a popular place in the underground city and the safe place for all three.
Vander wondered what had happened? When everything went to shit? Was it when Felicia died? Or was it when the three of them fought each other? Felicia and Silco wanted to fight against Piltover, to create a revolution, but he didn't want to, he wanted to stay in the mold with the little they had. In the end Felicia and Silco left with Connol to fight, leaving a little Vi and a Powder who had barely left diapers alone with him.
He would always regret not going with his siblings, not fighting with them, and taking his eyes off Vi and Powder. The moment he did that, he realized he had screwed up, ran with all his might towards the bridge and there he saw it. Felicia and Connol were dead on the ground. Felicia's blue eyes were open and lifeless, Connol had been shot in the forehead and Silco was on the side of the bridge holding his blood covered eye. And the fury blinded him, he blamed Silco for everything, although it wasn't really his fault but he had to blame someone, he tried to kill him and failed, he created a monster.
And now that monster, his brother, his best friend was in front of him. He looked different, older, more mature, elegant and arrogant as he had always been. He had done so much harm to his family but at the same time, he had taken care of his special blue girl and his granddaughter. He had noticed how much love Silco had for Jinx, he had always loved her, she was his daughter in everything but blood. But a part of him felt envy and pain, Jinx looked at Silco in a way she had never looked at him or even Connol. With those bright eyes, so sure that Silco would protect her, that he trusted her and she trusted him, confident enough that she could talk to him about anything, Powder... didn't look at him like that. Maybe she felt left out by her older siblings, he didn't know, in fact now that he thought about it he didn't know much about Powder, that made him feel worse.
Silco was disoriented, he had been at Vander's statue thinking about his daughter and now... he was in a strange room with people who were mostly already dead, his granddaughter and the person who had impregnated his daughter. When Jinx had told him who Isha's father was, he got angry but he had promised her that he wouldn't kill the boy and he would keep his promise, but where was Jinx?
Silco was brought out of his thoughts when his granddaughter came out of her father's arms to run up to him and hug his legs tightly. He picked her up in his arms and hugged her. He didn't understand what was happening, but Isha seemed to be crying, so he rocked her gently like he used to do with Jinx.
"What's going on?" He asked, turning his gaze to Vander. A chill ran down his spine. His brother looked exactly as he had died, as he had killed him.
Maybe Silco had died and was now in hell, but he quickly ruled that out when he saw a small Powder looking at him with big, curious eyes. He had almost forgotten how sweet his daughter was when she was a child, now she was still sweet but she was a threat and he loved her like that.
Vander looked at him, their eyes connected and although he still felt very angry with him he couldn't help but want to hug him, that's what brothers and sisters were like after all, right?