Archive of Our Own ^beta

It's not really a new feeling for Vi. Kind of fuzzy, kind of dizzy, overall just weird. Usually when this feeling shows up, she lays down, twitches a little or feels her eyes roll back, and then she's fine. There really isn't a reason to tell anyone. As long as she doesn't get hit in the head, she’s fine for the most part.

Today though, Vi has a feeling that she's going to regret that decision. Her and her siblings had done a raid on Piltover earlier today, and it turned south. First, the penthouse blew up…? Vi has no idea how that happened, but it did mean that she got hit with multiple pieces of shrapnel. In the face. Ouch. Everybody made it back to Zaun alright, and then another group of kids decided that they wanted the loot that Vi and her siblings stole fair and square. While Vi had tossed the loot to Powder and instructed her to run, that doesn't mean that the kids just left. Vi caught multiple hits to the face, though Mylo and Claggor helped keep most of the kids busy.

…And all of that just for Powder to be forced to toss the loot into the lake. She's alright, at least. A bit scraped up, but Vi’s pretty sure that was more so from running from Enforcers than that lone scrawny kid that followed her. Mylo is bitching about it, but he always is. Claggor seems unusually quiet though.

“Vander hears none of this. Understand?” Vi groans, her voice slightly slurred as she sinks into the couch in the basement. Her head is pounding as she hears her siblings small chorus of agreement. Mylo opens his mouth to snark about how there's nothing to tell Vander anyways, but Vi is too focused on how fuzzy she's feeling all of the sudden. She almost audibly groans in irritation when she realizes just what that means. Something about it feels different this time, though.

Vi can't put her finger on it (literally, she can't feel her fingers), but she knows that her palms are tingling, and she doesn't normally feel that. Her vision starts to spin, and she hears more ringing than anything else. She's vaguely aware of her own heavy breathing, and the way Powder has started leaning over her. She can't see them that well, but Claggor and Mylo are both staring at her with wide eyes. Shakily, Vi stands up, only vaguely aware of her slurring voice. She doesn't remember what she says, but she doesn't think the floor is supposed to be getting bigger.

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Vander is just having a normal, average day. He’s working in the bar, preparing for when he opens up tonight. He’s vaguely heard of an explosion in Piltover, but he’ll have to go chew out his kids after he opens up. Even then, things are still normal and average. They're always getting up into shit, and Vander is always cleaning up after them. He chuckles fondly at the thought of whatever shenanigans they've gotten into today, though the laugh grows a tad exasperated when he remembers that this supposedly happened in Piltover.

Things stop being a normal, average day when a thud sounds from downstairs and Powder's wail echoes through the whole place. Vander pauses a second, waiting to see if it's just Mylo being an asshole. It's not, based on how the thuds continue and he can faintly hear Claggor and Mylo panicked voices. Vander damn near throws his rag down and bolts for the stairs. He nearly topples over Powder, who's in hysterics.

“Hey, hey. Easy there…” Vander lays his hands on her cheeks, trying to soothe her into coherency. It normally works, but now all Powder does is shake her head and sob.

“It’s- Vi!” Is basically the only thing that Powder can get out. The thuds continue, and his sons panicked voices only increase in desperation. He looks from Powder to the door, then sighs.

“Stay here.” Vander doesn't wait for her answer, letting go and bounding down the stairs. Mylo is pacing behind one of the couches, and Claggor is crouched down by the coffee table. Claggor’s hand is cupped around one of the legs, and a choking noise accompanies the thuds. Ah, there she is. Vander quickly pushes past Mylo, and brushes Claggor away, taking the boy's place. Vi’s eyes are still wide open, her whole body stiff yet flailing. Her lips are blue as she chokes on her saliva. Claggor had been shielding her head from hitting against the coffee table’s metal leg, but Vi’s head is jerking and throwing itself around harsh enough to hurt herself anyways. Not only that, but based on the way Claggor is nervously looking between Vi and his own hand, she's probably bruised him as well.

“I- what's going on?!” Mylo’s voice is shrill in panic, his eyes wide as he watches Vi in confused horror. Vander doesn't look up to him, thinking for a minute.

“How long has she been going?” Vander ignores Mylo’s question.

“About- about two minutes maybe?” It's Powder who answers, having timidly come back downstairs. She watches Vander instead of Vi.

“Everyone, out.” Vander speaks as softly as his tense voice can allow.

“What?! No!” Mylo sputters, bristling.

“Out!” Vander snaps, and suddenly there's no resistance to his request.

Now that there's no panicked children underfoot (except for one, though Vi probably doesn't count.), Vander reaches forward, grabbing a pillow from the couch. Vi’s jerks are beginning to slow down, but they're still harsh enough for her to lift her head off the ground for long enough for Vander to shove a pillow under her. Vi continues to sputter and gasp for air, the sounds of her choking filling the room. Otherwise, though, she's completely silent. Vander shouldn't touch her. He really, really shouldn't. But he isn't sure how long she's going to keep seizing. Isn't sure how long she hasn't been able to breathe for. So, as gently as he can, Vander flips Vi onto her side. Of course, its assistance only keeps her from choking on more saliva. Her breath still crackles as she breathes through the saliva and mucus trapped in her throat.

Vander is personally agnostic, but he’s internally thanking every God he can name when Vi finally slumps against the ground. When she finally stills, he can see just how labored her breathing is, and why she had rather abruptly gone quiet. She must've passed out halfway through. A part of Vander is grateful for that. After a tense few minutes (moments, Vander reminds himself), Vi starts to stir. Tentatively, Vander squeezes her shoulder.

“Vi?” Vi doesn't answer at first, though her eyes start to flicker open. Vander gives her a gentle jostle, speaking a little more firmly than he intended.

“Violet. Can you hear me?” Vi groans in response, shakily trying to roll onto her stomach to push herself up, no doubt. Vander keeps a firm hold on her shoulder to keep her from doing so. She tries to tilt her head up to look at him, but her eyes roll back and she falls limp again. Her breathing grows quieter, but her lips are still a shade too blue for his liking. Vander sighs softly, giving her another jostle.

“Come on, kid. Need you up now.” Yet another long few moments pass until Vi’s eyes flicker open again. She groans quietly, pained as she reaches a shaky arm up to rub at her no doubt sore neck. Vander slowly sits her up, wincing in sympathy as she gags and retches out the spit and mucus previously trapped in her throat onto herself. Well, she’d have had to change anyways, Vander notes to himself, doing his best to not draw too much attention to one of the more embarrassing side effects of a seizure. Based on the grimace on Vi’s face, she's clearly noticed her body's betrayal. Vi shifts to try and hide the wet spot on her pants, muttering.

“...s’rry. Made a mess.” Vander fondly rolls his eyes at her apology.

“Don't be. Now, come on. I need to see your face.” Vi hesitates before turning to Vander. Sure enough, one of her pupils is blown out. Vander sighs, taking her jaw into one of his hands and examining the various cuts and bruises on her face. With his free hand, he grabs a napkin from the table and wipes off Vi’s face as he grumbles. “Christ… What did you do?”

Vi hums softly in acknowledgement, but otherwise doesn't speak. Her body still trembling. She murmurs.

“...I’m tired.”

“I’d believe it. But you're not going to bed covered in vomit and piss.” Vander snorts, hooking his arms under Vi’s and slowly lifting her to her feet. He carries most of her weight. Vi doesn't resist like she normally would've. She needs help changing of course, but other than her constant murmured apologies it's rather quick and easy. Vander lays Vi into bed just as he did when she was a wee girl. He leans down, pressing a kiss to her forehead as he speaks. “If you need anything, yell for me. Yeah?” Vi’s already fallen asleep before he can finish the sentence.

Vander would linger, would make sure she’s okay and stable… But he can hear two of his three other kids crying upstairs. He quickly walks up as soon as he's certain Vi is settled. Powder is sitting at the bar, head in her arms as she quietly sobs. Mylo is pacing again, eyes full of unshed tears. Though based on how puffy his eyes are, Vander would venture to guess that he's already cried. Claggor is leaning against the wall, not crying, though he has bloodied his lip. All three of them snap their attention to Vander when he appears. There's an emotional flurry of questions, until Vander sticks his hand up for silence.

“What happened?” Vander says it more like a statement than a question. The three look at each other, before Claggor pipes up.

“You- uh… You heard about Piltover, I’m assuming?” Vander feels a gray hair coming in as well as a migraine, and pinches the bridge of his hand.

“If you mean the explosion up North presumably caused by four children, then yes I’ve heard. Why the hell would you even go up there?”

“Little Man said there was a good place to rob…” Powder pipes up, staring up at Vander like a deer in headlights. Vander resists asking her the question of ‘If Little Man jumped off a bridge, would you?’ because he has a feeling he knows the answer to that question.

“Enough about that!” Mylo glares at Powder, elbowing her before looking back to Vander. “What about Vi?! Is she alright?!”

“Yes, she’ll be alright. But let this be a lesson to all of you to not go Topside anymore, and to not go on missions without telling me. Vi is concussed, though I'm unsure if that's what caused the seizure…” Vander watches all three of them tense up at the word. “She's very fucking lucky to have been at home when she had that seizure. What if you had all been in Piltover? Or if you had been doing something dangerous? We’ll find out more about exactly what happened when she wakes up, but for now… I need you all to go clean up the carpet in the living room.” Vander can handle watching someone puke just fine… But if he cleans it up, he's going to puke too. Claggor sighs, but wanders off to the closet of cleaning supplies. Mylo and Powder start arguing about who cleans what, and Vander suddenly gets the feeling that's all he's going to be hearing for the rest of the night.