Caitlyn's rifle bucked against her shoulder, the soldier on the wrong end of her crosshairs stilled for the briefest of seconds after his head snapped back from the force of the bullet that had punched through his visor and eye socket. Then, almost like a puppet with its strings cut, he crumpled in place, dead before he even hit the ground.
She didn't see him fall. There was no time to linger. No time to dwell on the lives that she cut short. In a single smooth action, she pulled back the hammer to her rifle and slotted in another bullet, while her crosshair found another Noxian warrior in the streets of her home. The warrior peeked her head up, a crossbow braced against her shoulder, taking aim at a group of Enforcers that were determined to block the Noxian advance. Before the bolt could be released, Caitlyn pulled the trigger again.
The Noxian’s strawberry blonde hair was dyed red in an instant, her head snapping back from the bullet that saw her falling behind cover.
Caitlyn had no idea how many times she had pulled the trigger. Only that her shoulder felt like it was bruised down to the bone, her trigger fingers ached, and she was exhausted in a way that had nothing to do with a lack of sleep. Today was the first time she had ever killed someone, and she couldn’t even remember what he looked like. Just that he had peeked around a corner and that she had been waiting for someone to do exactly that.
She didn't know how many people she had killed in the hours since the wall of Piltover crumpled like a house of cards, allowing the enemy inside the city. Nor did she know how many she would kill before her squad received the order to either fall back… or they were overwhelmed. Caitlyn genuinely had no idea which would happen first.
The building under her trembled as an explosion echoed out somewhere nearby. The air was filled with the sounds of gunshots and the hissing of air where lasers and plasma bolts streaked by. They intermixed with the screams of the dying, and the smell of dust and death. It had felt like she had stared into the Void back when she bore witness to the horrors of Sukuna's cult, but that had only been a taste of it.
If she didn't die today, Caitlyn expected to see this mundane and run-down street in Piltover that she probably passed by a thousand times before without even noticing it… she was going to see it in every nightmare until either the Lamb or the Wolf took her.
Caitlyn fired a third time, killing another Noxian soldier that hadn't crouched low enough behind a barricade. Her rifle felt light in her hands, telling her that she needed ammo, so she ducked down behind the railing of a balcony. The penthouse apartment had been converted into a stockpile and forward base. There were three people around a table that had a map of Piltover on it, and they were marking it as information flowed in from the radio.
“They've breached the sewers! Sectors eight through twelve need to relocate forces for containment!” One shouted out, grabbing a map of the sewers, “Main lines E-one through E-three need to be collapsed!”
“We're losing ground a block over! We're at risk of being flanked!” Another called out.
“Our depot is in flames! Resupply is delayed!”
The room was every bit as chaotic as the battlefield. A constant back and forth of orders in an attempt to control an uncontrollable force. Slamming another magazine into her weapon, she sorted through the noise to understand what wasn't being said.
They were losing. Street by street, alley by alley, they were being pushed back, flanked, and overwhelmed. It wasn't unsurprising. According to her mother, the Council knew that they wouldn't be able to hold back the sheer weight of numbers. A plan was in place that worked off the premise that they just couldn't hold their ground.
Gritting her teeth, she started to rise up once more, but the moment her eyes cleared the railing she saw something hurling towards them- “Get down!” She shouted, ducking for cover. A split second later, the world became heat, noise, and a vague sensation of falling that abruptly ended when she slammed into the ground.
Her ears rang, the white noise drowning everything out, and it took a second for Caitlyn to remember how to control her limbs. Peeling her eyes open, she found that she landed on the street below after falling from a few stories up. The only reason she was still alive was because of a canopy that they had deployed in case they needed to jump from the penthouse to rapidly redeploy. Her limbs felt like they belonged to someone else, but with the help of a wall, Caitlyn managed to get her feet underneath her.
Her stomach clenched when she saw the remains of those that had been on the balcony with her -- their bodies torn apart from the explosion, or crumpled under the rubble. Bile rose in the back of her throat, but she swallowed it down and focused. Looking beyond the bodies, she found her rifle that had been ripped from her grasp. The weight felt in her hands, and leaning a bit too heavily on the wall, she turned the corner to see that the Noxian's were making a concentrated push up the road.
Caitlyn was only aware that she pulled the trigger when she felt the kick to her shoulder and the soldier she had been aiming at flinched when a bullet bounced off his helmet. She forced herself to breathe through the growing pain in her side and pulled the trigger once more, this time making an advancing soldier drop like a sack of rocks.
The resistance in the street was fracturing under the surge of pressure. Without their overwatch to keep them at bay, the Noxians were overwhelming their positions. She watched as Noxians tore into Enforcers, their halberds and axes parting their armor like it wasn't even there. Faster than she realized, Caitlyn emptied her rifle, trying to save as many as she could. Only for them to fall anyway.
Enforcers were falling back in a disorganized mess, fleeing to the next fall back position, but the Noxians weren't relenting. Gripping her rifle like a club, she limped out of the alley, taking a wild swing at a Noxian warrior that happened to be running by, only for the blow to be blocked by a massive sword. Caitlyn caught a glimpse of bright green runes before her attack was rebuffed with a push that sent her sprawling back.
The Noxian that she attacked lowered the blade, revealing a well muscled white haired girl. Caitlyn found her footing, raising her weapon once again, only for the Noxian woman to glance down. After a beat, Caitlyn followed her gaze-
“Oh,” Caitlyn muttered, and it was as if the muted sounds and numbness were suddenly cranked up to eleven. A shard of wood was buried in her side, staining her coat and pants with blood. All of a sudden the growing pain flared to the point that it was the only thing that she could feel. She wilted, using the rifle as a crutches just to remain standing and grit her teeth against a scream that tried to tear its way out of her throat.
Yet, all the same, she glared in defiance.
“Heh,” the white haired girl chuckled, shouldering the massive blade. “I'd offer to take your surrender, but you're the type to rather die than bend the knee. I respect it. So, I won't ask.”
Caitlyn felt fear rising in the back of her throat, and despite herself, she closed her eyes as the large blade descended.
‘Cinder…’
…
Cinder fully expected Caitlyn to leave her in the days following her… injury. She was crippled. Missing an arm, a leg, and an eye. By all estimations, she was worthless. Law had all but set her aside after her failure to fully break Starlight, and all the consequences that followed. She fully expected that Caitlyn would visit once, maybe twice, or even three times because of the work Cinder had put into building up the lie of their relationship.
But, eventually, Caitlyn would stop visiting. It would start slow. Visits cut short. Excuses given why she hadn't been by in a while. Then, she would just stop showing up -- partly because Cinder had nothing to offer her anymore, and partly because of guilt for not visiting.
Cinder hadn't cared. Not really. If anything, she looked forward to it so Cinder wouldn't have to put on the veneer of who Caitlyn thought she was. Each day following her maiming, Cinder expected for Caitlyn to stop coming. But a week went by, and Caitlyn was the only one by her bedside. By two weeks, it became grating. And by the third, Cinder's frustrations boiled over.
She screamed. Cursed. Said whatever she thought would make Caitlyn leave her alone so she could be miserable in peace. But, without missing a beat, Caitlyn arrived the very next day and held her, saying sweet nothings that Cinder couldn't even remember. Only that Caitlyn was there for her and she would continue to be there. Even if Cinder didn't want her to be.
That had been the first time Cinder had cried since her days as a helpless slave living under the tyranny of her stepmother and stepsister.
Love was for fools. Cinder’s thoughts on that hadn't changed in the slightest.
What had changed was that she was willing to accept being a fool.
“Get!” A roar ripped from her throat, her Semblance superheating her prosthetic arm to become a blade at the elbow. The white haired woman wielding an oversized blade shifted her weight, aborting the swing that would have decapitated Caitlyn, and moving to defend herself. “Away!”
Their weapons clashed in a shower of sparks. Cinder reshaped her leg to make a blade shoot out of her knee that the white haired girl just barely managed to dodge by jerking her head back when Cinder backflipped. Landing lightly on her feet, positioning herself between the white haired woman and Caitlyn.
“A mage?” the white haired girl said, watching as Cinder's leg reshaped itself with cautious eyes. “I thought Piltover hated magic as much as Demacia?” She wiped away blood from a nick at the bottom of her chin.
“Caitlyn?” Cinder said, not lowering her guard, but their position here was untenable. She could see Noxian soldiers sweeping up the street, overwhelming positions, and the Enforcers were in a full retreat.
“You came…” Caitlyn breathed, sliding down the wall of the alley. The sheer relief made something deep inside of Cinder clench.
“Ah. You're Cinder then? Name's Riven,” Riven introduced herself with an air of confidence. “And based on that arm and leg of yours… I'm guessing you're the one who has been slaughtering our men.”
She didn't care about the battle. Law would see this city saved or annihilated. Neither concerned her. Caitlyn did. The fool was convinced that she could make a difference. That she had some duty to uphold because of a few oaths that everyone else was content to forget as soon as it was convenient. Cinder swore the same oaths, and she couldn't even recall what they were anymore.
Because she didn’t care.
Caitlyn did, though.
So, Cinder fought. Not for the city, but to make sure Caitlyn didn't get herself killed. And the idiot managed to almost do exactly that.
“We're leaving. If you get in my way, I'll slaughter you all to a man,” Cinder warned, her lips twisting into a snarl when Riven shifted her weight into what was unmistakably a battle stance. “You won't get another warning.”
“I'm sorry about your girlfriend, but I can't let an enemy retreat to kill more of my people-” Riven started, but Cinder didn't care. She was in the way, so she needed to be removed.
An explosion of heat erupted from underneath Riven, forcing her to jump back. The shards of stone and concrete melded together into shards that Cinder unleashed in her direction. Any other time, Cinder would have reduced her to ash. But instead, Cinder pivoted on a heel to scoop Caitlyn up and break into a sprint. Riven emerged from the dust unscathed, but Cinder was already moving on, leaping to a rooftop.
“I knew you'd come,” Caitlyn whispered, her head rolled against Cinder's shoulder. Cinder glanced down to see what looked like it had once been a chair leg embedded in her stomach. It was a bad wound.
‘Aura?’ It would speed up her healing, but would it be enough? Caitlyn would have questions, but that didn’t matter. She had to live. So long as she lived, Cinder could come up with a convincing enough lie for Caitlyn to believe. That she would believe because… because Caitlyn loved her.
“From ash I rise, unbroken, unchained. Let the fire within me awaken. Not to protect, but to conquer. Not to endure, but to burn brighter than all. By my soul ignite, and become kindling for my flame,” Cinder chanted, her Aura bringing Caitlyn's to the surface and awakening it from its slumber. Caitlyn's breathing hitched, sensing the distance, but while her bleeding slowed…
A whistle in the air warned Cinder of the attack, making her dip down to avoid the spinning blade that nearly tore through her and Caitlyn both. The large blade cut a path into the rooftop they were running across before the runes etched into the blade flashed green. With a telekinetic grip on the blade, it flew back to Riven's waiting hand.
Three others joined her in the pursuit, making Cinder tsk to herself. She couldn’t fight with Caitlyn in her arms. She couldn’t set her down to fight either. Meaning that there was nothing to do but run. Retreat far enough that they felt like they couldn’t follow. What's more-
Three arrows flew through the air towards them -- two leading, with one intent to be a kill shot or to open up a flank for another. Cinder countered by ducking low and pivoting to catch Riven closing in from behind. Her heel caught the edge of her oversized glowing sword that she used to kick off of, flipping back out of danger. Caitlyn hissed in pain, her head rolling back as she slipped into unconsciousness. Cinder's heart clenched along with her teeth.
“I don't have time to waste on you trash!” She snapped, her Semblance flaring. The roof tiles exploded into shrapnel while the wood beams ignited. Screaming began below as the Enforcers suddenly found themselves engulfed in flames. Yet, through the smoke, Riven pressed on with a swing of her sword.
“You're killing your own men!” She shouted, her voice hoarse with outrage.
Cinder stepped out of the way of the slash, her irritation flating before she threw herself back and over the alley. The other three were closing in. “I only have so much room in my heart. Everyone else doesn't matter.” The moment that she touched down on the other roof, she ignited the building, superheating it down to its foundations, causing the ammo depot to explode.
There might have been a time when that could have been different. Before she was sold to that family, where she was treated worse than a slave. Like she was some kind of animal forced to survive on stale bread salvaged from the trash with a shock collar around her neck. But maybe even after. Rhodes, the Huntsman who trained her… maybe if he had been something more than a willfully blind fool, maybe she could have turned out differently.
But she hadn't.
Instead, her heart had shrunk and there was only enough room inside for herself. No other. Nothing. She chose to serve Salem because Salem promised her power. The power to choose her own fate, regardless of what anyone did to stop her. Then she chose to work with Law to the very same end.
It was almost maddening how Cinder found herself caring about a useless slip of a girl. A girl so tooth-rottingly sweet, who knew nothing of the harsh realities outside her door because she grew up in one of the most powerful families in the city. Cinder should feel nothing but contempt for Caitlyn. She should despise her. Hate her.
But Caitlyn had carved room for herself in Cinder's heart of stone, because she had been there. By her bedside, nursing her wounds. Not Law. Not Robin. Not Yoruichi. Or Nora or anyone else. Just Caitlyn, while her wounds mended. When she was relearning how to walk or pick up a glass. Who called her beautiful even when half of her face was scar tissue.
Caitlyn had made room for herself in Cinder's heart, and she would murder everyone on the face of the planet down to the last infant in its crib for her sake.
Cinder dug her heel into a burning support beam before throwing herself forward with all of her strength. She had a single goal driving her forward, even as Riven and her team were intent on chasing her deeper into the city. She paid them no mind. Even when they closed in to take shots at her, forcing her to dodge and deflect. Her oath didn't deviate and at the other end of it, she saw another approaching.
One of Jinx's toys. Tifa Lockhart.
The red eyed woman raced forward, the strange Dust-like substance called Materia lodged into her gauntlets. Flames gathered around them when she leapt through the air, clashing with Riven to stop the white haired girl cold. The other three started to pursue, only to be cut off by a well placed bullet from Tifa's sister toy, Jessie. She was crouched a building over with a laser rifle braced against her shoulder, with the Noxian that she shot falling to the ground and screaming in agony.
Cinder said nothing to either of them, simply passing them by to race towards the one person who could help Caitlyn.
Law.
Cinder slammed through the doors, blitzing past the security, to find him standing before a monitoring station that looked like it was made out of ice. She paid it no mind, stumbling forward before a single word ripped itself from her throat.
“Please,” Cinder hated how she sounded. Hated Caitlyn for managing to reduce her to the point that she was willing to beg for her sake. “I'll do anything. Please…!”
Law glanced over his shoulder, as if he hadn't known that they were coming. Turning away from the monitors, he walked over to them both -- Cinder on her knees and cradling Caitlyn to her body, but even awakening her aura hadn't done enough to stop the bleeding.
“Anything?” Law questioned, leaning in with a smile that could be mistaken for kind. She had always known what kind of monster he was. She hadn't cared. She still didn't. But he was a man with power and he was willing to leverage it against anyone and anything. “That's a little broad, Cinder. I thought you weren't the type to make bargains like that.”
She wasn't. She hadn't been.
“What do you want me to do?” She pressed, trying to not show any weakness but everything about her screamed weak. Pitiful. Desperate to make any bargain if it meant that Caitlyn…
“Hm…” Law seemed to think about it for a few seconds, his gaze lingering on Caitlyn. Something in her heart twisted at the gleam in his eyes. Then, with a gesture and with what felt like magic, the shrapnel that skewered Caitlyn was removed, and before her very eyes, Cinder watched the location wound heal like it had never been there in the first place. “Things have always been a bit different between us, Cinder. Our relationship has never quite been like what I have with Robin or Yoruichi. But we did have some good times together, and I'm not so petty as to extort you while you're desperate.”
‘Yes, you are,’ Cinder thought with absolutely certainty. Caitlyn had been saved. She was healed. She was fine. But Cinder was under no delusion that his help came free or devoid of strings attached. “I… am in your debt,” she acknowledged.
“It's just like I told you, Cinder. I like this new side of you,” Law replied, seeing right through her. She still didn't know what to make of that remark. “But, if you feel so indebted, then perhaps you could help me with a little project I've been stuck on.”
There it was. “Of course,” she agreed before Caitlyn was lifted up by an invisible force.
“The infirmary is on the way,” Law said, expecting her to follow in step behind him. And, somewhat begrudgingly, she did.
However, as they left the observation room, she glanced at the monitors that displayed a dozen different battles that it flicked through every few seconds. She had a question, but she swallowed it down. Not that it mattered, because Law glanced over his shoulder with a smirk, “Curious why I'm letting the invasion continue?”
It was like he read her mind. And for all she knew, he had. Law's powers had always been ill-defined. She had ideas of what he could do, but these days… he felt stronger than ever. Like he had shaken off the few limits he did have.
And that was frustrating.
It felt like she had been completely left behind. Not just by him, but everyone else, those that she could have called peers or rivals… they had moved on while she had been stuck in place.
“The thought did cross my mind,” she admitted.
“I'm testing some things,” he admitted, gesturing at one monitor in particular. One of Ambessa Medarda clashing against a cyborg woman. As well as a video of Mel Medarda, Ambessa's daughter, grasping at straws in the council chamber, arguing back and forth with the remaining Councilors. She couldn't hear what was being said, but she could guess.
“There are some people in this world that have potential that I want to nurture,” Law admitted carelessly as they left the room behind. “They just need a little nudge to take shape. Call it a trial by fire to see if they're worth recruiting.”
A simmer of resentment flared in her chest at the idea. More followers meant that her position would come under threat when those ambitious followers would seek to supplant her. Yet, that simmering resentment was quelled with a single thought -- what position? What position did she hold anymore?
She had managed to convince Law not to carry out whatever plans he had for Caitlyn, but she didn’t know where that left them. He hadn’t visited her beyond that first day. Hadn’t consulted her. Hadn’t brought her up to speed with his schemes and plots or plans. She had all been cast aside because of her failures. Because of Starlight.
“And I want the army to get really stuck in when we start deploying our own,” Law continued, seemingly oblivious or uncaring to her thoughts. She followed him through the halls that lead deeper and deeper into a hidden sanctum he had carved out for himself when the city of Piltover was piecing itself together after his fight with Asami. “So, it works out better this way. Puts more pressure on some potential recruits, and I get to see what Swain is capable of both when he has the advantage and is on the backfoot.”
It was a stark reminder of the difference in power between them. That he had the power that she craved. An entire city with everyone inside it dancing in the palm of his hand, and at any point, he could choose to cut the music or turn up the volume.
“But, I suspect that it won’t be too long before Mel makes her decision. And with it, the curtain will fall,” Law continued, a little grin in his voice. They arrived before a door that slid open, greeting them with the scent of antiseptic and sterile surfaces. Law made a gesture before Caitlyn was carried to one of the beds by his powers. “She’ll rest for a bit. My brand of healing can cause some fatigue, but when she wakes up, she’ll be just fine.”
“As for me?” Cinder questioned, her tone sharper than she would have preferred.
“As for you,” Law agreed, stepping closer, and she hated how her body responded. Memories of frenzied pleasure in El Dorado, of the passionate embraces that left her with cum flowing out of her, down her thighs and into a puddle between her legs. On reflex, Cinder took a half step back and-
He approved. She saw it in the gleam in his eyes. And that was maddening. She had offered her body freely and willingly, intent on seducing him. So he would place her on the same pedestal that Robin and Yoruichi had found themselves on. And he accepted every time, but the one time she refused him, he approved?
Cinder swallowed the urge to punch him, knowing that it wouldn’t do any good. But the urge was still there.
“Let me show you,” Law said, snapping his fingers, and the room vanished. In its place was a vaguely familiar lab-...
“I had wondered where they went,” Cinder admitted, seeing the slumbering forms of a few familiar people. Rumi Usagiyama, the dark skinned bunny girl, slept away on a soft bed. An IV attached to her arm likely filled with something to ensure that she stayed that way. Alongside her were a ginger haired girl that she didn’t recognize, but the third… Cinder recognized her, even if she was covered in burn scars.
The girl who had attacked her alongside Starlight.
“What I need from you is a feeling,” Law began, gesturing towards a memory lounge. “What you feel for Caitlyn. That moment when disdain became something… more. I hope you don’t mind?” Law asked, but he wore the wrong smile if he wanted to be convincing.
Cinder approached the sleeping girl, the burn scars having faded slightly, but they were still prominent. They likely always would be. With a finger, she brushed away the dark green hair to reveal more of her face. She was younger than Cinder had initially assumed. Somewhere in her late teens at most. The moment that Law said the words, she knew exactly what he intended to do with her.
Law would impress her experiences, her emotions, and her revelations onto her. To make the girl love him the same way that she… loved Caitlyn. No matter how little sense it made. Regardless of how frustrating it might be.
And she…
Didn’t care.
“I’m not averse to the idea,” she admitted. It would mean exposing her innermost thoughts and feelings to Law, but Cinder was certain that he already knew. He always seemed to know.
“But?” Law prompted, sounding like he didn’t mind her bargaining.
“Caitlyn,” Cinder began as she caressed the sleeping girl’s face. “For a reason I struggle to fathom, she cares about this city. I wouldn’t see her inherit a pile or rubble. I want her to receive her due.”
“And for you to receive yours as well, hm?” Law prodded, but there was a smile on his face. Before she could wonder if he was right about that or not, he offered a dismissive shrug. “I can work with that. But, if Caitlyn is going to keep what is hers, then she is going to need to fight for it.”
“Of course,” Cinder agreed, a ghost of a smile tugging at her own lips. She would make sure that Caitlyn got what was hers. She would teach Caitlyn the way, bit by bit. And, together, they would rule this city.
“I would expect nothing less.”