Chapter Text
Jinx is gone. Vi saw it; watched as she fell down, down, down, as the explosion boomed and burned and didn’t even leave any bodies behind. She watched as her sister accepted death with open arms.
Vi lost her. She lost her baby sister, again .
Jinx is gone. Vi knows that. She does.
But when she moves in with Caitlyn, she finds herself setting aside a bedroom just for Jinx. Just in case. The one right beside the room she shares with Cait. She decorates it with Jinx’s things - Sevika led her to Jinx’s workshop and let her take whatever she wanted.
She puts a bunny plushie on the bed, the one that used to be her own all those years ago. She finds Isha’s hat tucked away in a blanket fort and sets it on the desk. A coat that formerly belonged to Silco, one that Sevika claimed Jinx used to sleep with for a few weeks after his passing, hung up in the otherwise empty closet.
Caitlyn allows her to do so without question. She even helps make the bed, dusts off the surfaces in the room every few days so it’s spotless for when Jinx comes back. If she comes back.
“It’s not a waste of a room,” Caitlyn had told her when Vi first brought it up, worried about how she would react. “Please, Vi, look how many rooms we have. This house is far too big. We can set one aside for Jinx.”
That warmed Vi’s heart. She made sure to kiss Cait ‘til she was breathless after that.
The room is more than just a safe place on the off chance Jinx is alive. It’s a memorial. It’s a way to keep Jinx’s memory alive. A way for Vi to still spend time with her sister, even though she’s… gone.
Maybe it’s unhealthy, but Vi hasn’t started going to therapy yet, so no one can tell her it is.
(Caitlyn showed her the maps of the ventilation system. She told her about how maybe, just maybe, Jinx could have gotten out. “She’s a tricky little thing,” Caitlyn had said, and it almost sounded fond. “She might still be out there.”)
Every night before Vi and Cait go to bed, Vi - in a move that is so completely dangerous to her own life - unlocks the window in Jinx’s bedroom. Cait watches as she does with a sad smile, but she doesn’t say anything against it.
Just in case. She knows that Jinx was never a fan of coming in through the front door.
She sets a blue light up on the windowsill as the sun sets so that just in case - just in case - Jinx will know where to come to. Where her home is. Where she’ll be safe, welcomed with open arms.
Two months - sixty-one days - one thousand four-hundred and sixty-four hours after the explosion, after her sister disappeared, Vi wakes up to a loud clatter in the next room. Immediately, her heart spikes. It jumps into her throat, makes it hard to breathe.
It could be anyone. Vi knows both her and Caitlyn have pissed off a lot of people, and it’s not exactly a secret where they live.
Caitlyn stirs next to her, immediately on alert. “Did you hear that?”
Vi nods as she quickly climbs out of bed, eyes scanning their own room for danger. Cait follows suit, reaching under the bed and pulling out her rifle. It gives her momentary pause.
“Has that always been under there?” she asks, and Caitlyn nods. She decides not to push. “Should we just - confront ‘em? I mean, you’re the Sheriff. You’ve got a gun and I’ve got my fists, so…”
“Come on,” Caitlyn murmurs and the two of them sneak out of the room, Caitlyn keeping her rifle pointed up and her finger by the trigger just in case. There’s another brief clatter from the room, and Vi’s muscles tense up. There’s definitely someone in there.
She positions herself in front of the door, looking to Caitlyn for further instructions. She counts down from three with her fingers.
When she reaches one, Vi kicks the door open, holding her fists up while Caitlyn aims her rifle. The light that was previously sitting on the windowsill was now knocked to the ground, spilling blue light at them. There’s a figure standing by the window, hunched over and staring at them in surprise.
Her pink eyes almost seem to glow in the dark. Vi’s breath escapes her body like a gunshot.
“Hey, sis,” Jinx weakly says, flashing a bloody smile at them. “Surprise!”
Vi feels like she’s dreaming. She must be. There’s no way that this is really happening, that Jinx - that her dead baby sister is standing right in front of her.
“Jinx,” Caitlyn breathes out, immediately lowering her rifle. If Vi weren’t so completely thrown off, she would be confused by Cait’s lack of hostility towards the girl who murdered her mother. “You’re - you’re really alive. I looked at the schematics of the ventilation system and I thought maybe you survived, but I wasn’t sure. You’re… you’re truly still alive.”
“What can I say?” Jinx asks. “I’m really hard to kill.” She does a performative bow and immediately winces; that’s when Vi notices the blood on her shirt, the hand pressed against her ribs.
“You’re hurt,” is all Vi can say, her mind still stuck on her living, breathing little sister.
“Yeah,” Jinx shrugs one shoulder as if this is a common occurrence. “Just a li’l bullet. ‘s fine, I’m still, like, 99% shimmer. It’ll heal. Just need to get it out.”
Vi’s brain briefly kickstarts again, registers the whole ‘shimmer’ thing, and feels like her brain short-circuits again. She knows that Jinx had taken shimmer one way or another - her eyes were a dead give away - but the reminder makes her stomach churn nonetheless.
“You were shot ?” Caitlyn asks. “By whom? What happened? What did you do?”
“‘By ‘whom’ – what are you, sixty?” Jinx snorts, and the action makes her wince once more. “Turns out Enforcers aren’t huge fans of stowaways. ‘S not my fault I don’t have any identification, but they weren’t impressed when I told ‘em that.”
“Stowaways?” Vi dumbly repeats. She feels useless, like she’s just a bystander to this conversation. Her mind just keeps screaming at her that Jinx is alive .
“I can regale you with the whole super interesting story, but I kinda have a bullet in me, so…” Jinx looks between the two of them with bright eyes. “Could I, uh, get a first aid kit or something? Tweezers? I mean, I can just stick my fingers in, but I dunno–”
“Alright,” Caitlyn swiftly steps in, “Vi, you take her to the bathroom. I’ll go get our first aid kit.” She levels Jinx with a harsh glare. “Please do not stick your fingers inside of any open wounds.”
Jinx offers a lazy salute with her free hand and a breezy, “Yes ma’am,” before Cait is rushing off.
Vi stands there. She stares at Jinx. Her sister. Her precious baby sister.
Her hair is a bit longer than it was the last time she saw her, now halfway to her shoulders. She looks good. Less pale, less gaunt, less… haunted .
Where had she been? Was she safe? Was she alone? Did she have anyone to look out for her? She’s never been alone before.
“Vi?” Jinx calls, and she sounds strange. Vulnerable. Vi snaps back to reality, realizing she’s been staring at her sister in silence for a good minute. Jinx looks nervous under her gaze, like she’s about to wither away. Like she’s about to run off again.
“Sorry,” Vi quickly says. “I just – I thought you were… and, I missed you so much, I just. Sorry.” She shakes her head, tries to clear her mind. Steps closer to Jinx and warily holds out a hand. “C’mon. Let’s get you to the bathroom.”
Jinx seems to hesitate for a moment before she gingerly takes Vi’s hand. It takes everything in Vi to not wrap her sister up in a hug and squeeze her until she can’t breathe anymore. Until she’s sure Jinx won’t go.
Caitlyn is already waiting for them in the bathroom across the hall, everything she needs carefully spread out on the counter. Vi helps Jinx sit on the closed toilet seat, out of her shirt so they can freely access the wound.
“I can do it myself,” Jinx mumbles, but she doesn’t say anything when Cait snaps on some gloves or when Vi takes her hand and squeezes it. Doesn’t complain when Cait starts to poke around the wound, squeezes Vi’s hand in return when Cait removes it and cleans the wound.
Once the bullet is out, Vi watches with a disgusted awe as the wound stitches itself together. Jinx still winces - it must hurt despite the speed it heals at.
Who did this to you?, she wants to ask, but she feels like that would be crossing a line. Did you do this to yourself? , she wants to know, but she also doesn’t. She doesn’t want to know if her sister fell to the temptations of shimmer while they were separated. Doesn’t want to know if it was forced onto her by Silco, either. Any options make her stomach churn, make her heart ache.
“Vi,” Caitlyn calls, and Vi snaps back to attention, “go get her some clean clothes to change into. Jinx, you’re welcome to take a shower. I’ll clean your clothes while you do so.”
Jinx blinks. She points at the shower beside her with wide eyes. “This thing?” she asks. “You want me to get into this thing? It’s huge. What if I drown?”
Vi laughs - she can’t help it. She remembers how in awe she was when she first saw the size of the showers in the Kiramman household. They’re definitely oversized, bigger than anyone would ever need, but a luxury she definitely appreciates.
“Drown?” Caitlyn repeats as Vi gets up and exits the room. “You have used a shower before, haven’t you?”
“Of course I have!” Jinx exclaims, her voice echoing throughout the halls. Vi scoops up the first shirt and pair of pants she finds in her drawer, unable to stop herself from smiling as she heads back. “Who do you think I am? You think us Zaunites are that gross?”
“What? No! Of course not, I just mean–”
“Cupcake,” Vi calls as she reenters the room, “she’s teasing you.”
Jinx snickers as Vi sets the clothes on the counter. When Vi shoots her a light-hearted glare, Jinx bats her eyelashes innocently. Vi remembers falling for that look time and time again when they were kids.
“Wash that blood off of you, ‘kay? And don’t drown.”
“Roger,” Jinx nods.
“Just leave your dirty clothes outside the door and I’ll wash them,” Caitlyn reminds as they step out of the bathroom. It’s only a matter of seconds before Jinx is chucking her dirty clothes out the door and the shower is running, leaving Cait and Vi standing in the hall in silence.
Her brain kinda shuts down again as she desperately tries to process everything that just happened in such a short amount of time. Her sister - she’s here. In the house. In their shower.
She’s alive .
Vi doesn’t know what to say as she watches Cait gather up the dirty clothes, as she pads after her like a lost puppy as she carries them to the laundry room and then heads back to Jinx’s bedroom.
“You… are you okay with this?” she eventually manages to ask, as Caitlyn picks up the fallen light.
Caitlyn blinks, looks at her with confusion. “Okay with what, love?”
Vi’s heart does something funny at the pet name, as it always does, but that’s not important. “With Jinx. Being here. Being alive . I mean, after she… your mom…”
Caitlyn’s face softens and she steps closer. She cups Vi’s cheek with a gentle hand. “Of course I am, Vi. She’s your family. I know how important she is to you,” she states. Vi feels like she might start sobbing. “Besides, Jinx and I… we talked. After she surrendered herself, while you were still healing. I told her that… I can’t keep hating her. I can’t keep chasing after her for justice. I hate what it did to me, who it turned me into. She said she didn’t know my mother was there - not that she thinks it would change anything, but I appreciate the honesty.” She cracks a smile at that. “And… she’s just a child. A child whom Piltover - whom I have failed countless times. I want to help her get better.”
Gods. Gods . Vi loves Cait. She loves her so fucking much it aches . She leans forwards, closes the distance between them and kisses her.
“Ugh.”
Vi feels Cait tense up, feels herself jolt away from her girlfriend. She looks behind her to find Jinx leaning against the doorframe in Vi’s shirt and pyjama pants, both of which are far too big for her. Her eyes are scanning the room with interest.
“You need a bell,” Vi mutters.
“You need to not stick your tongue down your girlfriend’s throat in… my room, I think?”
“Oh,” Vi blinks. “Yeah. Yeah, this is - it’s for you.” Jinx enters the room, looking at the spare decorations. She wanders over to the desk and gently brushes her hand over Isha’s hat. For some reason, seeing Jinx in the room that Vi made for her makes it hard to breathe. Makes a lump form in her throat. “I just, uh. I thought maybe you’d want a place to come back to. A place to call home. If you came back.”
Jinx looks at Vi, and there’s a strange look on her face. Soft and solemn and full of guilt. Before Vi can even process it, Jinx is wrapped around her in a sudden flash of pink.
“Thank you,” she mumbles, voice muffled against Vi’s shirt. “I… I saw the light, and I thought… maybe it was like the flair. Maybe you wanted me back. So I came.”
Vi finds herself smiling despite the way her eyes burn. “That’s what it was for. To call you home.”
Jinx squeezes her tighter. It hurts, but Vi doesn’t care - couldn’t care less, really. She has her sister in her arms again. “I’m home,” Jinx murmurs, and Vi nods.
“You’re home.”
Jinx doesn’t seem to want to let Vi go, and that’s fine. She feels the same. She allows Jinx to tug her over to the bed, watches as she crawls under the sheets and starts shouting about how soft they are. Caitlyn smothers a laugh, and Vi climbs in after her when Jinx starts excitedly patting the spot at her side.
Vi notices Cait watching the two of them with a fond smile on her face. The three of them together like this, no one trying to kill each other - it fills Vi with a happiness so strong and warm she’s sure she could rival the sun.
“I should go hang your clothes up to dry,” Caitlyn says, politely excusing herself. “Goodnight, Vi. Jinx.”
“Wait,” Jinx blinks up at Caitlyn, “you’re not coming back?”
Caitlyn pauses. Vi’s eyebrows raise as she looks between the two of them.
“...Would you like me to?”
Jinx immediately averts her eyes to the bedsheets, idly plucking at a loose thread. She’s shy, Vi realizes. She can’t recall the last time she’s seen Jinx like this.
“If you wanna,” Jinx mumbles.
Cait looks at Vi for help, but Vi only smiles and shrugs her shoulders. What else can she do? She laughs. “Alright. I’ll return in a bit.”
Jinx seems to perk up at that. “‘Kay,” she cheerily says. Then, as if realizing she’s being too polite, she says, “Don’t trip and fall down the stairs and crack your head open! It’ll probably be really hard to clean up your blood off of your marble floors.”
“They’re granite,” is all Cait says in return, to which Jinx scoffs and rolls her eyes. She flops back on the bed and the mattress bounces, which seems to delight Jinx as she does it once more.
“Holy shit, this is the comfiest thing I’ve ever sat on,” she whispers.
“Don’t bounce too much,” Vi chides, but she can’t stop herself from smiling. “You’ll break the box springs.”
“Oh please ,” Jinx laughs, “we jumped up and down on our bed all the time and it was fine .”
Vi furrows her brows. “The springs ended up piercing the mattress and cutting your arm open.”
“Yeah?” Jinx replies, looking at Vi like she’s dumb. Vi can’t figure out a response to that, so she remains silent and lays down, rolling onto her side to face her sister.
She still can’t believe it. The sight of Jinx laying next to her makes the emotions well up all over again, makes her lungs constrict and her eyes prick and her heart wring itself in her chest. Her sister is alive . Not only alive, but here. In front of her.
“Gods,” she murmurs, reaching out to touch her sister’s face, “I missed you, Jay. I really did. Fuck , I thought I lost you again. I can’t believe you’re really here.”
Jinx rolls onto her side, meeting Vi’s eyes. “Here I am,” she says with a half-hearted smile. “Can’t get rid of me that easily. Like a cockroach.”
“Good,” Vi says. “Stay like that so I don’t lose you again. I can’t… I can’t lose you again.”
Something akin to guilt washes over Jinx’s face and she scrunches her nose. Her eyes dart somewhere over Vi’s shoulder and she squeezes her eyes shut, lets out a small breath. She shuffles closer to Vi.
“Did you know,” she quietly starts, “that Ekko figured out time travel?”
Vi blinks. She didn’t know that. She hadn’t spoken to Little Man in a while - both of them had been busy after that final battle. Both of them had been mourning after that final battle. “I didn’t.”
“He did. He saved me,” Jinx says. “The day you woke up. The day I left.”
“Saved you?” Vi repeats. “From what?”
Jinx laughs to herself, and it sounds bitter. “Blowing myself up,” she replies, and Vi feels her stomach drop, her insides twist themselves into knots. “‘Pparently he had to do it a few times - I’m just that stubborn, huh? He had a fancy machine that could rewind time for four seconds. That’s how we won the final battle; he saved us. But first he had to save me.”
Vi’s throat feels dry. Her eyes still burn, but she refuses to let any tears fall. Not in front of her little sister. “He never said anything.”
Jinx shrugs. She rolls onto her back. “I thought maybe if I left, it’d be easier. For you. For Zaun. For everyone. I just kept… jinxing everything. I thought leaving would fix it.”
“No,” Vi immediately says, “no, Jay, that’s not true–”
“I’m not done ,” Jinx cuts her off, shooting her a sad but teasing smile. “But that’s… that’s the main reason why I left. Why I didn’t come back. Why I let go. I thought if I could go out, then you wouldn’t have to deal with so much shit.”
She remains silent for another moment. Vi wants nothing more than to wrap her sister up in a hug and never ever let her go.
“He said there’s another universe,” Jinx admits, staring up at the ceiling. “Ekko, I mean. He went there when the wild runes freaked out. He said it was what our universe’d be like if HexTech never existed. Vander and Mylo and Claggor were all alive, and I—” She stops, shakes her head, “ Powder was there. Just Powder. Not Jinx, because she didn’t kill anyone. Because Silco and Vander made up. And you… you died in that explosion at that fancy Piltie apartment we robbed.”
Vi can barely wrap her head around that. The idea of an alternate universe - it was always something people talked about, but never something that Vi truly believed in. She never cared enough to look into it. But not only did one exist, but Ekko had gone there ? And Vi’s dad, her brothers, they were alive?
But Vi… Vi wasn’t.
“It made me wonder,” Jinx quietly continues, “if maybe the universe has it out for us. Y’know?” She laughs, a bit forced. “Like… even in another universe, we don’t get to be together. Maybe that’s how it’s supposed to be. So when I survived that explosion, I just… I thought maybe it’d be better if I left. Maybe if we were separated, we’d be okay. Safe. Just kinda seems like everything is pointing at us being apart. At us not being sisters anymore.”
Jinx rolls onto her side again, looks up at Vi with eyes that look so lost . Like she’s just a kid again, looking up at Vi for advice. But she is a kid, Vi remembers. She’s only nineteen, and she’s still Vi’s little sister. Vi wraps her arms around her sister and pulls her close. She can feel her trembling, just the slightest bit, and it breaks her heart.
“Hey,” Vi whispers into Jinx’s hair, pulling her sister closer. “I don’t care whether or not the universe has it out for us. If Janna exists… fuck her , y’hear me? I don’t want to be apart from you again. You’re my sister. You’re the only family I have left. If the universe wants to try to punish us for sticking together, let it. I’m not giving you up. Never again.”
Jinx burrows further into her embrace, wraps her arms around Vi’s back and grips onto her shirt like it’s a lifeline. Vi feels wet spots soaking into her shirt but she remains silent, lets her sister cry. “I don’t wanna be apart from you anymore,” she whispers. “I know we can’t be like how we used to - Vander and Mylo and Claggor and - and Powder are dead, but… I want to be a family again. I want to stay with you.”
“Then stay,” Vi says.
There’s a light knock at the door, and Cait peeks her head through. Her gaze softens at the sight of the two of them, and for a moment she looks like she’s about to head back out.
“Get in here, Cupcake,” Jinx calls with a sniffle. “We’re having a sleepover now. Gotta get to know my future sister-in-law, right?”
“Please don’t call me that,” Cait politely requests as she steps into the room, shutting the door behind her.
“What, future sister-in-law? You don’t plan on marrying Vi? Kinda messed up for you to admit that right in front of her,” Jinx says. “Vi, are you hearing this? Doesn’t seem like a keeper to me.”
Vi laughs as Cait rolls her eye. “I think I can handle it, but thanks.”
To Vi’s surprise, Cait crawls into the bed on Jinx’s other side so she’s effectively sandwiched between them. She doesn’t seem to care much, seeming quite content where she is.
“Thanks for not shooting me,” Jinx murmurs, pressing herself further into Vi’s embrace. Vi watches as Caitlyn smiles - small but fond, one that was usually only meant for Vi.
“Thank you for coming home,” Caitlyn returns, and Vi feels like her heart might just explode.
“Ugh,” Jinx mumbles, lightly whacking Vi’s back, “I told you your sappiness is contagious. It’s spreading. Like a disease.”
Vi smirks. “Is that so? You want us to leave then? Head back to our room and leave you here alone?”
Jinx’s hands tighten the hold they have on the back of Vi’s shirt immediately. “No. Stay. I have a high tolerance. Y’know, since I’ve known you so long. Probably immune by now. So. It’s fine.”
Vi snickers. Caitlyn smiles, and it’s so endearing Vi wants to cry.
“Shut up,” Jinx murmurs, and the three of them fall into a comfortable silence.
The three of them lay in bed, Jinx clinging onto Vi like a koala - just like she always used to when they were kids - and Jinx tells them what kept her away for so long. How she wanted to return but didn’t know if she’d be welcome back, if she’d still be wanted.
“You’re always welcome here,” Cait says, and Vi’s heart just keeps swelling.
Jinx hesitates. “Are you sure?”
“If Vi wants you here, then you’re welcome,” Cait says. “I love Vi, and Vi loves you. I don’t forgive you for what you’ve done - not at all - but I know things aren’t as black and white as I used to believe. I know you’re… struggling , and I want to help.”
“Help,” Jinx repeats quietly. “You think you’ll be able to? Can your fancy topsider shit help with the fact that I’m crazy?”
“Not crazy,” Caitlyn says. “Struggling.”
“Riiight,” Jinx mumbles. “Well, if you can kinda-maybe-not-at-all forgive me, then I guess I can do the same. What’s a little matricide between future sister-in-laws, right?”
“ Jinx! ” Vi hisses, looking up at her girlfriend with wide eyes. Cait doesn’t quite seem to know how to respond to that.
“What? Was that too much?” Jinx asks. “I grew up with Sevika, ‘kay? I dunno what normal people talk about. Besides, I’m struggling , remember?”
Caitlyn clears her throat, blinks a few times. “Well,” she stiltedly says, “matricide is actually the act of murdering your own mother, so…”
“My bad,” Vi feels Jinx shrug. “You wanna hear about Demacia? I spent a few weeks there. Met this girl, Flashlight - she was fun.”
As Jinx chatters on about what she got up to while she was gone, Vi feels her eyes drifting shut. She can’t remember the last time she felt this content, this peaceful. She never thought she’d be able to feel like this again, to hold her sister in her arms like she did when they were kids.
With her sister in her arms and her girlfriend just a few feet away from her, Vi finds herself drifting off with a smile on her face.