[27 - A lightning strike]

[Stillwater hold]

Her fist slammed into the cold stone, the thumping sound echoing across her cell's interior.

She switched hands.

Another dull thud.

Again.

The same rigorous, repetitive mantra. Over and over.

Her knuckles ached, screaming for relief.

But the pain was jarring. Grounding.

How long had it been?

She sunk to the ground, her back sliding down the textured stone wall.

The teen curled into a ball, her limbs trembling from the repeated physical trauma and lack of proper nutrition.

Her thoughts warped now that the pain had left her, the poisonous hatred that had been cultivated in the blackness of her cell eating away at her mind.

The misplaced anger felt bitter in her mouth. Or maybe that was just the blood on her lips.

Either way, she knew she should not blame him for her shortcomings.

But it was hard not to.

So hard.

He was somehow always there, somehow having crawled into the centre of her life - no, their lives.

So annoyingly present.

But she had respected him. She had respected his strength. She had respected the uncanny connection he had with her sister. She had let him in without complaint.

But the one time they actually needed him, he was nowhere to be found.

It was not fair.

The teenager stared down at the wraps covering both of her hands, denying the existence of the burning sensation growing behind her eyes.

"You, I'm afraid to say, do not have that kind of resolve."

She refused to blink, refused to let her tears fall.

There were no tears.

She would not prove him right.

Her thoughts wandered, searching for any sort of distraction. Anything to make her forget.

She focused on her hands.

It was an odd fact, that the guards hadn't confiscated the wraps he had gifted her.

Even after the wardens had stripped her down and replaced her clothes with the prison's uniform, they still hadn't even batted an eyelid in their direction.

Almost like they couldn't see them at all.

Was it magic?

Well, it didn't matter now.

She played with the wraps, running her fingers along the emblem emboldened in each, along the rough stitching.

She could wrap her hands properly now. She didn't need his help anymore.

"So, you can learn at least."

Something heavy fell from her eye, splashing down onto her open palm.

"Fuck." She blinked, sending another two droplets down onto her hands.

"Callian Bright. I hate you." She said, slowly pushing herself up, nearly tripping over in the darkness.

A lie.

The feeling of inadequacy that had haunted her since that day grew stronger.

"But I hate myself more." She continued, her voice cracking. "So much more."

"Our ability to think is what separates us from common animals, and yet you abandon this trait in favour of stumbling around in the dark."

And in tandem with it, did her resolve.

Her will to improve.

Violet's eyes burned bright. Her blood was on fire.

She could think clearly now.

Thinking was all she could do in this pit of a prison.

"One day, Silco." She vowed, her sorrow replaced with a quickly maturing rage. "I will get out of here." *

She drew back her arm and punched the wall.

Again.

Again.

Again.

"One. Fucking. Day."

Again.

Until she no longer had the strength to move.

"One day." She whispered. "I will be strong. Strong enough to kill you with my bare hands. Strong so that no one will be able to take from me again."

Never again.

—

[The Serpentine Delta - A week later]

It was raining. Hard.

It had been like this for the past week.

Callian sighed.

Ixtal was still, by far, the most annoying continent in Runterra.

The weather was always either abysmally wet or abysmally hot, sometimes even both. What a ridiculous climate.

"Ohhhhh. Look." The man was distracted from his thoughts as Zeri's voice sounded across the deck. She pointed at the group of luscious islands ahead. "Neeko definitely wants to visit there someday."

The ship was entering the Serpentine Delta now; the large collection of islands that served as the bottleneck that separated the Ixtal River from the ocean beyond.

Callian stole a glance at the transformed Vastaya, who was completely unbothered by the rain.

He wasn't surprised that Zeri had allowed the creature to copy her form. There was an odd sense of innate kinship that everyone surrounding the Vastaya agreed on - a feeling Callian believed was due to the 'Soul reading' she did.

It felt similar to a two-way connection at times, inducing complete and total honesty between two parties.

It was… Fascinating.

"I've never been in a forest before," Zeri commented, joining Callian and Neeko at the railing. "It looks... Peaceful."

The Vastaya's jaw dropped in utter shock.

"No forests?" She said incredulously. "But you said you lived underground. Did you never come up before?"

Zeri laughed at her friend's silly question.

"No. I never did. Not that there were any forests in Piltover anyway."

Neeko looked positively outraged.

She huffed. "No forests she says."

Thunder suddenly crackled overhead, the sound causing the masked teen to jump in fright.

"I hate that," Zeri complained. "Actually I'm beginning to hate rain too. I haven't been properly dry in days."

"You could stay below deck with the rest of the crew." Said Callian dryly. "Though, I also dislike it quite a bit."

"Don't we all." The teen grumbled back. "But you and Arthur are always out here no matter how wet it gets. Not sure why though."

"Arthur is the lookout." Said Callian. "It is his job, whether he likes it or not."

Zeri didn't press his deflection, even though the man knew she had noticed it.

The girl was getting smarter by the day - stronger too. Someone as talented as this was wasted on useless parents. Being an orphan would have been better for her.

No, it was better for her. He had already proved that.

"Neeko would be a great lookout!" Chimed in the Vastaya, before taking on a slightly contemplative look. She then grinned widely. "Neeko would be a great Arthur too."

Callian felt her magical presence swell as she morphed into the teenage lookout who was sitting far, far above them in the nest.

The creature sidled over to Zeri and wrapped her arms around her torso, pulling the girl into a bone-crushing hug.

"Neeko can like-like Zeri too." She said slyly. "Just like Arthur does."

The teen averted her yellow eyes at Neeko's words.

She didn't try and separate herself from the Vastaya however, no matter how uncomfortable she looked.

She knew how Arthur felt about her. She just didn't know how to respond to it - yet.

Callian caught Zeri's eye, before tilting his head to the side owlishly. His face broadened into a wicked grin; which was so unlike him that it caused his apprentice to flush a deep red and turn away, unused to being teased in such a manner.

"Poor Neeko." He muttered loudly, raising his eyes to the stormy heavens above. "All left out."

It was the Vastaya's eyes that widened now, and she slowly pivoted her head around to stare at the man in confusion.

It was the most obvious, 'How do you know that?' look that Callian had ever seen.

Her childlike innocence reminded him of another he had known.

How nostalgic.

Callian's gaze suddenly blanked as a jagged arc of white lightning smashed down onto the crow's nest above them.

Both Neeko and Zeri jumped a foot into the air, whipping around in search of what had caused the ear-splitting noise. They stared up at the burning mast in alarm.

Callian was completely blindsided, falling back against the railing heavily, having unintentionally stared directly into the blazing light.

The nest, wrecked by the strike, detached itself from the mast and fell apart in the air.

The man's burned retinas began to heal immediately, his damaged vision tinting from a blank white to an unnaturally dark purple.

Large wooden debris fell crashing to the deck, sending blackened fragments careering outward in all directions.

 "Arthur?!"

Zeri's shout echoed across the deck, and Callian opened his eyes to see her cradling the boy's unconscious figure in the middle of the deck.

She had caught him midair, alone. It seemed like her aspect's protection extended to others too, at least when she wanted it to. He wouldn't still be in one piece otherwise.

"Wake up." She shouted, shaking his head violently. "Arthur!"

"His Sho'ma is fading," Neeko said unhappily, shaking her head as she looked across at the boy. "He's gone Zeri."

Callian rubbed his eyes once, sending thin purple tendrils snaking across his vision.

How irritating.

He then walked forward, coming to kneel down beside the shell-shocked girl.

Even at such a proximity, the man could sense no heartbeat from the boy. Cardiac arrest - instant death.

"Fuck." The masked girl whispered, her arms starting to shake. "Just like that?"

Callian didn't reply to her words.

He instead turned to address Neeko, his words slow and clear; barely audible over the showering rain.

"Neeko, take them both below deck. Davros will need to be informed that we no longer have a lookout."

"No..." Said Zeri, cradling the still-warm corpse in her arms.

Neeko's transformation melted away, revealing her original tribal appearance. The Vastaya's hair and body were quickly drenched underneath the opposing downpour.

"Come on Zeri." She muttered soothingly, placing her hands on the girl's cloaked shoulders. "There's nothing we can do about it now."

There it was again, that same adult-like maturity.

But Neeko's switch in attitude didn't seem to matter. Zeri didn't even react to her words; she just stared down at Arthur, yellow eyes refusing to leave his now unmoving ones.

Callian rose to his feet, lifting a hand to slick back the strand of dark blue hair that had fallen out of place; his violet eyes scanning what was left of the shattered crow's nest.

Zeri let go of Arthur's body, watching as Neeko stood up and slung the boy's corpse over her shoulder.

"Come on Sparky." She repeated softly, holding out a scaled hand and grabbing Zeri's own. "Let's go inside."

Neeko flung the hold's door open, gently ushering the green-haired girl inside where they were quickly greeted by a deckhand who rushed to take Arthur from them.

The heavy door swung closed, leaving Callian alone on the deck.

The rain intensified, showering even more heavy droplets that beat down on his short figure.

The man walked forward, piecing the crow's nest back together in his mind. He simulated the hit, the fall, the crash.

Here, it should be here.

Callian bent down, his fingers tracing what had been one of the floorboards in the nest.

He overturned it; revealing a small, crudely scratched symbol embedded onto its wooden surface.

The rune of attraction glowed an eerie jade green, the power contained within still feebly prevalent even after it had been consumed.

Callian used his finger armour to cut through the wooden plank, separating the rune from the rest of the debris.

He stood back up, crushing the wooden fragment into splinters with his palm.

The man walked to the edge of the ship, placing his free hand on the railing.

Callian dropped the remaining splinters into the stormy ocean below, watching as they disappeared beneath its dark surface.

It was a shame. A real shame.

—

(Total word count: 2001)

* Something that a lot of people don't seem to realise is that Vi and Powder didn't meet Silco for the first time at the docks when Vander died. He was a close family friend, having known Felicia (Their mother) personally.

The two may have even considered him an uncle, as they did with Vander.

Silco was estranged from them due to his clash with Vander, but this is the reason why Powder latched onto Silco as soon as she saw him, because she knew about him and trusted him beforehand.