Chapter Text
AN: This is my first ever fanfiction guys. I've been reading a few Arcane fictions recently and wanted to have a go writing my own. It might not be any good and I may not do anymore than this, we'll see if anybody actually reads it! It isn't very long, but like I said, it's my first time writing something like this. Let me know what you think.
Chapter One
You never know who you’ll bump into at a memorial. In Zaun, it’s not usually anybody of note, things like that are personal and the only people there are family members. But this? This is certainly a spectacle the likes of which Vi has never seen; she wouldn’t even be here seeing it now if it wasn’t for Powder’s begging and Silco dragging her along. But here she stands, listening to a speech by some Piltie councillor droning on about a disaster that happened over a decade ago. A disaster that had claimed the lives of hundreds of Zaunites, including the parents that she had adored. A disaster that hadn’t affected them half as badly as it had her people, they hadn’t seemed to care when it happened. So why now? It left a sour taste in her mouth.
Her thoughts are broken by the sound of applause and dropping of a large curtain at the front of the crowd.
“Come on Vi, let’s go and find mom and dad’s names on the plaque. I want to see where they are.” Powder doesn’t wait for a response before grabbing hold of her hand and dragging her towards the monument the council had just unveiled. Vi lets her, she can give her sister this. For everything Vi had lost, powder had lost even more. She doesn’t have a lot of memories of their parents; she was barely 4 when they died. She doesn’t remember them coming home with huge smiles on their faces, their dad swinging her round in the living room as Vi greeted their mother. Doesn’t recall helping to cook the stew she used to love so much or the way their mother would scrunch her nose and rub it against theirs to make them giggle. Equally though she doesn’t remember that night. Feeling the ground rumble and shake the whole of Zaun. Doesn’t know what it felt like to sit and wait for their mother to walk through the door and wrap them in one of her hugs and tell them it would all be okay. She doesn’t remember crying and screaming when their uncle Silco came instead and told them that the mine shaft had collapsed, that their parents weren’t coming back, or Vander having to carry her out of their little house because she was too exhausted from all her tears to walk on her own.
Vi is again broken from her thoughts, only this time by a girl crashing straight into her. Sending them both to a heap on the floor.
“Hey, watch where you’re walking toots. You almost flattened my sister.” Powder turned on the stranger, looking almost ready for a fight. Vi just shakes her head at her.
“Excuse-me? I Hardly flattened anybody. If anything, you bumped into me!” Vi takes in the girl, her navy eyebrows are drawn low over the most beautiful blue eyes she has ever seen. It takes her a second to compose herself and stop staring, shaking her head as she stands and dusts off her pants before offering the Blue haired girl her hand.
“I’m sorry, we’re just gonna-” she points to the monument and grabs Powder by the shoulder, pushing her towards the plaques. She turns to watch the stranger roll her eyes and walk in the other direction. Vi has always known she liked girls, it’s definitely not a secret with some of the posters hanging on her bedroom wall, but she’s never seen someone as pretty as that before.
“Hey space-cadet. I found ‘em. You wanna see? Or are you too busy undressing that Posh Piltie with your eyes.”
“Oh, Ha Ha Powder. I was just checking she was okay.” Powder gestures to her lip with her finger.
“You got a little bit of drool right there sis.” Vi rolls her eyes at her sister’s antics, trying to hold back her grin as Powder cackles at her expense.
“Show me these names you little pest. Gotta check they gave mom and dad a good spot.”
As much as she hates to admit it, even to herself, the Pilties have made a beautiful monument, little plaques around the stone base have the names of every man, woman and child that died or went missing that day. People are leaving pictures and flowers, Vi even spots a couple of teddy bears and some toys around the plinth. She wishes she had thought to bring something. They don’t have much of their parents, but she could have bought some flowers for Powder to put down. The sudden stab of guilt brings tears to her eyes.
“Right here. Second Plaque in. Felicia Lanes and Connell Lanes. They’re next to each other. Together for always…... I think that’s nice, right Vi. That they can always be right there for each other, so they’re not alone.”
Vi Doesn’t answer right away, lost in thought, running her fingers over first her father’s name, then her mother’s. She looks up at the statue to fully take it in. It’s a miner’s oil lamp as tall as she is standing atop a great stone, an orange glow coming from within. The exact same lamp her mother used to carry home and light in her and Powder’s little bedroom to use as their nightlight, keeping all the monsters at bay. A set of mining gauntlets rest against the plinth on one side, the other has an old miner’s helmet, Vander has the matching ones hanging from the rafters at The Last Drop. He had stopped mining and opened the bar when he took in the girls and hung them as a reminder to all his patrons. It’s a simple design, but still moves most of the people gathered in some way. Vi can see the tears in Powder’s eyes start to spill down her cheeks. She wraps an arm round her shoulders, pulling her close.
“Yeah Pow-Pow. They’ve got each other. Just like us……. I’m sorry I didn’t think to bring any flowers to leave for them. We can come back with some anytime okay?” The only response she receives is a nod against her shoulder and a small sniffle.
They stand in the glow of the statue for a while. Not needing to say anything, just silently supporting each other in their grief. It may have been almost 12 years but you never fill the hole losing a parent leaves. And on days like this it rips open all jagged and sore and feels like it’s swallowing you whole. Like an ocean wave, washing you out to sea and leaving you to drown. Vi remembers Vander telling her a long time ago that Grief changes shape sometimes, but it never goes. And that’s okay. Because as long as it’s there, she can live to make her parents proud of her. She starts humming a tune their mother used to sing to them, the words long forgotten, softly swaying in her hug with her sister.
Vi loses track of how long they stand there, but the sky is starting to turn pink when Silco finds them. He taps Vi’s shoulder, pulling her from her thoughts.
“Girls we need to be heading back. I’m sorry, we can come back another time. Vander’s expecting you home before he opens the Drop and you know how he can worry.”
Vi nods and turns to follow him, Powder still tucked under her arm. She hadn’t realised how few people were left, nor how chilly it had gotten. Pulling her jacket from her arms she drapes it round Pow’s shoulders, rubbing them to warm her up. She doesn’t notice the curious gaze of one of the few bystanders left from the ceremony. Doesn’t see the Sapphire eyes that follow her as she walks across the bridge, back towards Zaun.