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Caitlyn Kiramman stared out of the window of her enormous bedroom in Kiramman Manor, the city still rebuilding after the war with Viktor and Ambessa's forces. Things were much more peaceful now with the current crisis now over, and yet, Caitlyn knew that the war of Piltover and Zaun was going to be one they'd all bear the scars of... especially her. She reached up and touched the eye-patch that covered her now-lost left eye, a constant reminder of what she'd lost.
She had barely left the mansion since the final battle. Officially, she was still the current commander of the Enforcers, though she had obviously stepped down from the role of Piltover's Military Governor now that the council had been fully restored. She had merely told those concerned that she was just on leave to recover from her injuries. But Cait wasn't sure if it was right for her to come back.
Over the last while, it had dawned on her just how... monstrous she had been when put in such a position of power, a position she never wanted to find herself in again. While obviously she didn't want to deal with people staring at her injury, she also truthfully didn't want to go out and be a living reminder of what the cities had been through to get to this new state of admittedly fragile peace.
At least in this vast house, she had pleasant company, someone who had gladly wanted to be at her side.
As she observed the street below, Caitlyn felt a pair of large muscular arms wrap around her waist and chest, the torso of a shorter yet bulkier woman pressing against her from behind. It was Vi, as always. They'd both been to hell and back, lost friends and loved ones... and even at the end of everything, they still had each other. Caitlyn let out a sigh as she reached up and held one of Vi's hands on her chest.
"I take it you don't have anything better to do?" Cait remarked with a smile.
"Cupcake, you are the better thing to do," Vi flirted.
Caitlyn blushed. Vi was always so forward and its one of the many things she loved about her. God, she had fallen so deeply for her. Even though they hadn't known each other long by the time they'd found themselves thrust into the city's crisis, she knew that Vi was the woman who had taken her heart... and yet, Cait had treated her worst out of anyone. She didn't have an excuse for a lot of her actions during the conflict.
One could perhaps blame Ambessa for how ruthless Cait had been during her time as Governor but... both of them had their own shades of grey and Ambessa had been doing what she did because she wanted a united Piltover under her command to deal with her own enemies. But none of that would ever excuse the woman Cait had allowed herself to become.
But for Cait personally? The worst thing that still clung to her was her mistreatment of Vi... pushing her away like that when they'd failed to capture Jinx. No, that was something she'd never been able to forgive herself for and why she insisted on being better to Vi when they met again sometime afterwards. Maybe things had gone a bit too fast, but dammit, she wasn't going to waste this second chance. And yet, whenever she looked Vi in the eye, she remembered that heartbroken look on her face right after she hit her with the butt of her rifle.
Her guilt overtaking her, Caitlyn pulled herself out of the hug, holding herself. "I don't deserve you, Vi. No woman like me deserves the love of a noble brave soul like you. I've learned the hard way that the evils of our cities have a habit of creating the worst monsters... and I am no different from that."
"You need to stop blaming yourself, Cait," Vi insisted. "Letting all that go through your head is only going to mess you up even more."
"I can't help it!" Cait argued. "They may have called me Commander, but I was no better than a dictator, a tyrant. It didn't matter that I had noble goals of peace and justice, absolute power corrupts absolutely... and I was thoroughly corrupted by that power when Ambessa thrust it upon me. Then again, perhaps it was fate for me. After all, I am from one of the noble houses, my family helped build this city in the first place and keep its status quo. Then I became an enforcer, one ordered to maintain that status quo, even after you showed me what life was like in Zaun... and even if there is peace between our two cities now, what is to stop all this happening again in a generation? You told me you lost your parents in the uprising all those years ago... how many more lives are going to be ruined by all of this?"
Caitlyn turned and looked at Vi. "Do you still love me, Vi? Am I still the woman you want to spend the rest of your days with? Because you have every damn right to walk away and go right back to Zaun and forget about me. I put you through so much pain the last thing I want is to be yet another burden on your shoulders."
Vi plopped down on the nearby bed. "Cait... I won't lie to you how hurt I was when you left. You hit me. You broke my heart and it took me so, so long for me to even TRY to piece it back together. I went down a dark spiral that I felt I was never going to pull myself out of."
"I... knew about you fighting in the pits," Cait admitted. "When I heard rumours about it, I considered going to see you but... I felt we were done and I'd moved on to Maddie."
"And that ended well," Vi snarked, before she realised she'd probably gone a bit too far. "I'm sorry... that was kind of a fucked up thing to say, especially since Maddie was nice to me too."
Cait nodded. "You're fine... though, I still hate myself for not realising she was a spy sooner. There's so much now I wish I had done differently, wish I had been able to see things more clearly... and now?" She reached up and touched her eye-patch again.
She knew the deep irony of her statement, for she was likely never to see things the same way again. Adjusting to life with only one eye hadn't exactly been easy for her but Vi has been helping her through it. And if Cait was honest, she could have easily lost a lot more than just an eye in that last battle. She walked over to the bed and sat down next to Vi, looking at the love of her life.
Vi reached over and held Cait's hand tightly. Caitlyn let out a sigh. "Vi, I'm... so, so fucking sorry for everything. For how I acted, for what I did. I know words might not be good enough to ever truly apologise for all of it, what I did in the name of justice. Even after what you had shown me about what life in Zaun was like, I still became the worst oppressor they had ever known... and I fully expect to be remembered in infamy for the rest of history."
"Yeah... you're right, you're probably not exactly going to be a popular person," Vi admitted. "And even with the peace, people are still going to hate your guts. But even if they won't forgive you... I will, because I love you and everyone deserves a chance to be better if they get it. Jinx told me how I didn't need to feel guilty about wanting to be happy, that I deserved to be with you.. and I want this life with you more than anything and if anyone gives you any fucking grief, I will be at your side to protect you. Because it's not just what I want, it's what my sister would have wanted."
Cait melted and felt Vi caress her cheek. "That sister of yours is quite a remarkable woman."
"Was a remarkable woman," Vi corrected.
"No I..." Cait wasn't sure if she should tell Vi what she was suspecting. She didn't want to give her girlfriend any false hope that Jinx may have been alive but... in the end, she knew it would go a long way to further mending her and Vi's bond. "I've been looking over the schematics of the Hexgate Tower. I noticed that there were a few air ducts leading off the main shaft that Jinx and Vander fell into. Perhaps if they got sucked into one of those ducts then... your sister might still be alive. Perhaps she just wanted to fake her death so we could all move on from what she did." Cait sighed. "I know that probably doesn't give you a lot of hope and there's no real definitive evidence either way but I thought you would at least appreciate it."
Vi blinked and a few tears ran down her face. Cait was right, it didn't give her a lot of hope but... it was better than having none at all and truly accepting her sister was gone. "I... thank you." She wrapped her arms around Cait again, pulling her into a hug.
"It's... the least I can do," Cait admitted. "And just one thing on the very long list of everything I have to make amends for."
"Well, we can go through that list together, can't we?" Vi said, before she cupped her girlfriend's cheeks and kissed her deeply.
Cait melted into the kiss, letting Vi push her onto the bed. For all their trials and tribulations of the last few months, at least they had each other.