League of Legends If Route: Bond of Dawn ~The Two Not Chosen by Fate~ - Betrayal, Shimmer, and Vi's Blood

The darkness before dawn in the border zone was far deeper than usual. Gaslight bled into the fog, casting orange mottled patterns across the cobblestones. At the very top of the clock tower, Luca pressed a finger to his prosthetic eye. Deep within the silver iris, a faint blue light flickered. Accumulated data streamed directly into his brain through his fingertip. "...So that's it." Luca's voice vanished, swallowed by the empty room. Jillian Vero. Her true objective wasn't the destruction of Piltover. Deep beneath Zaun—below the Slag Factory District, in a place not found on any map—there existed a colossal shimmer reaction furnace. The third sublevel of the old Treva Refinery. Built long ago for shimmer refinement, that furnace should have been sealed after the explosion accident fifteen years ago. But the furnace was still alive. And now, it was approaching its limit. Conventional shutdown methods wouldn't be fast enough anymore. Jillian's left arm—a chemtech prosthetic with a miniaturized reaction furnace built into it. If she detonated it right next to the core, the chain reaction would force the entire furnace to shut down. However, the person who triggered the detonation would— "Self-sacrifice... I have to tell Cait." Luca pulled his finger away from his prosthetic eye and reached for his hex communication terminal. But Caitlyn's line wouldn't connect. No matter how many times he tried, only static, lifeless noise answered him. (She's already headed for Zaun, isn't she?) Luca looked down from the clock tower window. He could see three shadows walking across the border zone's cobblestones. Caitlyn's deep blue ponytail. Vi's pink hair. And Jillian's silver-gray short cut. "...I'm coming. Wait for me, Cait." Luca threw on a thin coat and opened the door. That was when it happened. On the narrow stairwell landing of the clock tower, two men stood waiting. Black suits. Expressionless. Not the uniforms of Piltover Wardens. But not mere thugs either. The killing intent soaked into their bodies belonged to trained assassins. "...Shadow agents of the Council, then." The men didn't answer. They simply closed the distance in silence. Luca stepped back. His right hand unconsciously moved to protect his prosthetic eye. "You want the information? Impossible. This is heavier than my life." The first strike came from the man on the right. A fist sank into Luca's side. His breath caught. A second blow struck his shoulder, and a third tried to shatter his knee. Luca barely managed to evade, but fighting in the narrow stairwell was far too disadvantageous. The man on the left launched a kick from the stairs above. The sole of his shoe caught Luca square in the chest. A dull thud. His body slammed against the wall. The taste of iron spread through his mouth. Blood. "...Not yet." Luca pressed a hand against the wall and stood up. His right eye—the prosthetic—he had to protect it, no matter what. Inside it was the entirety of Jillian's plan. He had to deliver this to Caitlyn— One of the men silently produced an iron rod. The moment it swung down, Luca twisted his body and tumbled down the stairs. His back and shoulders slammed against step after step. Pain exploded white across his vision. Still, he never let go of the hand shielding his prosthetic eye. He crashed onto the ground floor. Luca immediately scrambled to his feet and bolted into the alley. He ran through the thin fog. His right leg might have been fractured; he couldn't put his full weight on it. Two sets of footsteps pursued from behind. Deep in the alley, Luca pressed a hand against the wall. The fog was too thick—he couldn't see ahead. The footsteps drew closer. (Sorry, Cait—I can't deliver it yet.) One more blow. Impact raced through the back of his head, and his consciousness cut out there. Luca's body slowly collapsed onto the alley's cobblestones. Only the blue light of his prosthetic eye continued to shine, refusing to fade until the very end. The path to Zaun's deepest level was like an entrance to hell. The walls of the abandoned mine shaft were damp, thick with green mold. The air reeked of iron, and the acrid stench of shimmer stung the nose. Caitlyn gripped her hex rifle and glared at Jillian's back as she walked ahead. "Oh my, staring so intently. Is my back really that lovely?" Jillian spoke without turning around. Just from her voice, Caitlyn could tell the right corner of her mouth was curled upward. "Not taking my eyes off an enemy's back is basic procedure for a Warden." "Enemy, huh." Jillian let out a small laugh. Between the two of them, Vi shook her head uneasily. Her pink hair looked terribly vivid in the green-tinged haze. "Hey, you two. Aren't you extra on edge today?" "It's always like this." "Always like this." Their voices overlapped. "See! Totally in sync!" "In what way!" Caitlyn raised her voice without thinking. Vi ducked her head. (Why are you always like this!) She screamed inside her heart. It was always the same. Vi didn't understand anything. She had no idea how much this situation was tearing Caitlyn apart inside. Suddenly, Jillian placed a hand on Vi's arm. "Hey, Vi. Do you remember? Back then, the two of us were always going to dark places like this." "Yeah! We did, we did! I wasn't scared back then, though. Probably 'cause you were with me, Jil." Vi laughed, completely unguarded. A sharp pain squeezed Caitlyn's chest. Jealousy. She knew it herself. This was utterly unprofessional. But she couldn't stop it. (It ends. Today, this ends. And when it does, will I... be able to say something to Vi?) Inside Caitlyn, she murmured to herself. At that moment, Jillian drew up alongside Caitlyn. Unusually, she said nothing. Her short silver-gray hair was singed and frizzed at the tips from chemtech chemicals. Her amber eyes stared straight ahead. "Your marksmanship is the real thing, you know." Jillian spoke quietly. "...What are you trying to say?" Caitlyn asked, on guard. "Nothing." Jillian said only that and faced forward again. This unnatural stillness left a faint snag in Caitlyn's detective instincts. But the flames of jealousy in her chest swept that instinct away. The third sublevel of the old Treva Refinery was especially horrific, even among ruins. A massive, rusted cauldron lay toppled over, pipes bent at grotesque angles. Puddles of green liquid—residual shimmer—pooled across the floor. Corroded metal fragments hung from the ceiling, looking ready to fall at any moment. "The last bomb is behind that cauldron." Jillian raised her prosthetic hand. A faint green light leaked from its fingertips. The three of them advanced cautiously deeper into the abandoned factory. Their footsteps echoed through the hollow space, returning an eerie reverberation. Caitlyn stared hard at Jillian's prosthetic hand. That prosthetic—shimmer circulated through its thin tubes. She felt like its vibration had grown slightly stronger than before. "Wait. That... is the reaction furnace's output increasing?" Jillian's movements froze for just an instant. "...You're imagining things." Her voice wasn't in its usual provocative tone. It was slightly lower, flat. "Hey, Cait." Vi whispered close to Caitlyn's ear. Too close. Her breath brushed against Caitlyn's ear. "Doesn't Jillian seem kinda off today?" That quiet whisper made her heart leap. Vi had spoken so only she could hear. In a situation like this—and because it was a situation like this—warmth flooded her chest. But there was no time to dwell on it. Jillian indicated the location of the last bomb with the tip of her prosthetic. Behind the giant cauldron, in a gap between rusted pipes. A chemical time bomb assembled from old Zaunite parts emitted a faint green glow. "I'll teach you the disarming procedure. Open the detonator cover, pull out the shimmer conduit inside. That will stop the explosive chain." Caitlyn nodded. Vi, too, had wiped away her usual light expression and listened with a serious face. The three of them began the work. Caitlyn opened the cover, Vi supported the conduit, and Jillian indicated the precise positions. Their movements were perfectly coordinated. A distorted but undeniable teamwork, built up over four episodes. They were just moments away from removing the detonator. Jillian suddenly stopped her hands. "...This is goodbye to you two." It was a voice stripped of all emotion. Caitlyn looked up. Jillian pressed her prosthetic hand to her chest and slowly put distance between herself and the other two. Her amber eyes held something unfathomable. "Jillian, what are you—" She couldn't finish. Jillian swung her left prosthetic. A small shimmer capsule shot from her fingertips. Scattering green light, it traced an arc straight toward Caitlyn. "Gh—!" Caitlyn tried to dodge on reflex. But her foot caught on a pipe on the floor. She lost her balance. The capsule hit the ground. In that instant— A green flash erupted. The shimmer inside the capsule reacted with the chemtech chemicals lingering on the floor, triggering a chain explosion. A roar. A shockwave. Metal shards flew everywhere. "Cait!!" Vi's scream. And then, her vision was covered by Vi's back. Vi moved her body before she could think. She shielded Caitlyn, taking the full force of the blast and the spray of shimmer directly on her back. Green smoke hung heavy in the abandoned factory as the explosion subsided. Caitlyn opened her eyes. Vi's body was slumped over hers. "Vi... Vi!" No answer. Caitlyn desperately pulled Vi's body up into her arms. Her hands were soaked with a warm liquid. Blood. Vi's blood. Shimmer spray had hit her back and left arm, and her skin was visibly discoloring by the second. "Vi, answer me! Please!" Caitlyn screamed. Her voice trembled. Her professional mask crumbled away with an audible crack. Vi's eyes opened faintly. Her steel-gray irises found Caitlyn. "Cait... you okay...?" Saying only that, Vi's consciousness drifted away. "Vi! No, open your eyes! Vi!" Caitlyn clutched Vi's body and kept screaming. Her hands were stained red with blood. She had sworn to protect her. She had vowed it in her heart, over and over, that she would protect Vi. (I... because of me—) The tears wouldn't stop. Jillian was already gone. She had fled. Deep within the abandoned factory, shrouded in green smoke, only Caitlyn and Vi remained. With trembling hands, Caitlyn operated her hex communication terminal. An emergency line to Luca. Please connect. Please. But only lifeless static answered her. Luca was, at that very moment, lying bleeding in a border zone alley. Caitlyn didn't know that. "Someone... someone help...!" Caitlyn's cry was swallowed by the walls of the abandoned factory and vanished. The green smoke slowly enveloped the two of them. Vi's breathing was weak, and Caitlyn's tears wouldn't stop. The exit was far. No help was coming. Just the two of them. Everything was closing in with despair. Caitlyn hoisted Vi onto her shoulder and staggered to her feet. Her legs trembled. Her heart felt like it might break. But deep within her chest— (I will never forgive this.) Her rage toward Jillian had begun to burn quietly at the bottom of her despair. In the darkness of the abandoned factory, only Caitlyn's eyes gleamed—dark, and fiercely bright.

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Episode 4

Name: League of Legends If Route: Bond of Dawn ~The Two Not Chosen by Fate~
Author: Novelia

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