Author's Notes: Chapter edited and corrected by Scott Fellman.
Jinx Pov.
Somehow, I had made it to Mom's house in Zaun. I barely remember what happened the next few days. I remember telling Mom everything. It was a flood of tears on my part, and murderous intent on Mom's part when I told her about Ekko and Vi.
I had locked myself in my room at Mom's house for the last few days. I barely felt like moving.
"Jinx, darling?" I heard Mom's voice as she slowly opened the Gate and carefully poked her head inside.
"Mom." I said, simply glancing at her out of the corner of my eye. I didn't even get out of bed. Mom took the answer as a cue to come in. She opened the Gate and approached my bed. She carefully sat down next to me.
"How are you?" I ask carefully.
" Ugh, like, the last 10 times you asked." I responded dryly. Mom hummed.
"I was afraid of that," Mom said simply. "Unfortunately, it's time for you to leave this house," Mom said. My eyes widened, and I sat bolt upright, staring at her as if one of my weapons had been kicked away.
"What? Why?" I complained to her. Mom sighed.
"Unfortunately, you're still a minor, Violet… she's the one who has custody of you, or at least the one Piltover cares about. And knowing your sister, she's more than capable of descending on Zaun with a group of Enforcers and coming after you under false pretenses of kidnapping," Mom said coldly.
"Vi, wouldn't dare— " I stopped dead in my tracks at the pain that shot through my chest. "Yeah... she'd be able to do it, wouldn't she? " I spat out contemptuously. "So what? Do I have to go back and pretend everything's okay? " I snapped. Mom laughed mockingly.
"Of course not," Mom said dismissively. "You can be angry with Violet and… Ekko. You're more than justified, and even if you aren't, you're capable of feeling any way you want. You don't have to talk to them or pretend to be nice to them. You just need to publicly show that you're completely fine so they can't legally force you into anything," Mom said simply.
"So, what, I go, ignore them, move on with my life, and I can come back here?" I asked quickly. Mom shrugged.
"If that's what you want, yes. Go to the academy. Don't skip any classes for now. Try to keep the trouble in Piltover to a minimum. Then you can spend your time with Viktor and Jayce in their lab or come here." Mom said easily. I groaned loudly.
"It'll be a pain," I complained. Mom laughed lightly.
"Maybe, but it'll only be for a few months. Once you're of age, things can change," Mom said simply. I groaned loudly; there were at least four months left until then.
" Okay, I'll do it. But if any of them come closer, I'll punch them in the face." I growled angrily.
"I'd rather you didn't do it in public, and in a place that wouldn't leave visible wounds, especially on Ekko. He's still a man, and you don't need that attention right now." Mom chided, and I rolled my eyes.
" Okay, hidden blows to Ekko, and punches to the face to Vi. Understood." I corrected myself.
"That's my girl," Mom said playfully. I snorted. "I can also get a new apartment if you want," Mom said. I considered it.
"No, there's no need. I'll go back to the Kiramman estate. That way, Vi won't have anything to complain about. She works all day, so I only need to ignore her for a few hours, if I even run into her." I sighed.
"If that's what you want," Mom said simply as she stood up. "Get ready to go out, and take a shower, you stink," Mom said carelessly.
"Yeah, because a shower was at the top of my list when I'm depressed," I scoffed. Mom didn't respond; she just started walking out of the room before stopping and looking over my shoulder at me.
"And Jinx?" Mom's gaze grew more intense. "If at any point you want to leave and not go through with it? Come back immediately. You can stay as long as you need. It doesn't matter if the Enforcers come or if all of Piltover wants to take you. We'll fight them with everything we've got. You matter. You're not negotiable." Mom said firmly before leaving.
For the first time in a couple of days, I allowed myself to smile as a warm feeling formed in my chest.
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October 10th, six months before entering UA - Jinx POV
The months passed quickly and at the same time terribly slowly.
Every day was a damn chore, trying to avoid and ignore two people. I had to ignore Ekko at the academy, who followed me around like a bloodhound and appeared everywhere I went.
Ekko's attitude began to change as time passed. At first, he seemed to feel genuine regret, or at least he faked it well enough to act calmly and carefully, walking around me on tiptoes. But I couldn't care less.
But as the weeks went by, I could tell his frustration was growing, and he was starting to lash out instead of continuing to try to get me to forgive him. Idiot.
Although it may have to do with the new brutality with which Mom's employees and I began attacking the Firelights. Now that they didn't have the advantage of inside information on my side, we were at a greater advantage.
That meant a beating for the Firelights, something that Ekko definitely wasn't liking.
At home, I had to ignore Vi, who kept insisting. It was annoying, terribly annoying. The pain had mostly subsided; only the annoyance remained. Even more so because Vi tried to involve Vandra, Claggor, and Milo, and they'd obviously be on the same side—the side that I had to change, that I had to get away from Mom.
It hurt, it hurt to know that the rest of my family expected me to change, to distance myself from my mother, as if they had any say in it. But at this point, it had all become more of an annoyance than anything else.
Phone messages, calls from unknown numbers, 'casual' encounters with any of them, practically anywhere. It was exasperating.
At this point, I was practically ignoring them no longer, not entirely; I was responding sarcastically, mockingly, the pain was there, but it had cooled enough to keep it there.
Oh, we definitely weren't as close as we'd been in the beginning, but I didn't really care anymore. Once I came of age, I'd follow Mom into her work. Everyone believed Mom was dangerous, evil. And maybe she was, but they didn't understand either. Someone had to do the job, and Mom had taken up that now blood-covered mantle for the good of Zaun.
Going back to the months of annoyance, I spent a lot more time with Viktor and Jayce, at least there they couldn't bother me, luckily the pair of scientists were more focused on creating new things or researching something than trying to convince me to abandon Mom. However, it was also nice that they didn't choose any side and the subject was seldom brought up.
The only interesting thing, besides that, was that, although I didn't know how it happened, I started getting along famously with Vi's mother-in-law. Cassandra was a tough woman, one that even Mom respected, and from what Mom had told me, she was one of those who genuinely cared for the people of Zaun.
I wanted to believe we got along, but I was unsure if she was using me to annoy Vi or her daughter. It was amusing to see my sister get frustrated whenever we did something together.
Caitlyn, on the other hand, although there were looks of suspicion at first, now seemed terribly happy for us. It was disgusting, really, how my brute sister had ended up with someone like Caitlyn was beyond me.
Suffice it to say that my relationship with her improved slightly when my sister was not around.
Finally, my birthday arrived. Obviously, I planned to spend it in Zaun with Mom. This led to another huge argument with Vi when she found out. She banned me 30 different ways and issued several threats.
I gritted my teeth and had no choice but to accept. So here we were, in the Kiramman mansion, watching my 'guests' arrive. This only made me angrier.
"You invited that idiot to my birthday party!?" I hissed at my stupid sister. We'd all been in the living room when Ekko and his stupid new girlfriend, Zeri, walked in like nothing was wrong. I recognized her almost immediately as one of his stupid Firelights. Great.
I didn't even give them a chance to speak before dragging my sister into one of the next aisles.
"Who? Ekko? Of course, I invited him." Vi said, almost confused. I could feel my eye twitching. "You two need to fix your problems already." Vi said, almost as if it were an order. I instinctively growled in annoyance.
"I told you, I don't want anything to do with that bastard. Let's see if you can get it through your fucking head." I said slowly, narrowing my eyes at Vi. Vi frowned.
" Pow- " I ignored her and started walking. I saw Vi about to grab my arm just as I slipped away. I entered the room once more, almost hitting them hard. The Gates slammed open. I was about to start screaming when I saw everyone in complete silence.
On one side were the party hosts, the Kirammans: Cassandra, Tobias, Caitlyn, Viktor, and Jayce, along with their respective partners, Sky and Mel. The party had to be held at the Kiramman mansion without my permission, even though I'd already planned something at home with Mom. Now it all made sense.
At the other end, I could see Vandra, along with Mylo, Claggor, and that idiot Ekko and Zeri. All of that group looked completely solemn as their gazes turned to one of the Gates.
Everyone was looking at two people, Mother and Sevika. A feeling of relief washed over me.
"Mom!" I couldn't help but blurt out in relief as I approached her. When Mom saw me, she smiled slightly, just at the corners of her lips, almost imperceptible to everyone else, but I could see the wrinkles around her eyes loosen somewhat. I immediately walked over and wrapped her in a tight hug.
"Jinx, my girl, happy birthday." Silvia said as one of her arms gently wrapped around me. I could feel her kiss the top of my head, and I sighed in relief once again.
"Hello to you, too, brat." Sevika growled from behind Mom, and I snorted.
" Hey, Ogre." I said playfully. Mom laughed at the exchange.
"Your gifts are at home. Once we're done, we'll give them to you there." Mom said while smiling slightly, and I nodded with a smile.
"Silvia, what are you doing here?" My sister's voice hissed behind me. I bristled once more and pulled away from Mom.
"Violet." Silvia said slowly, raising an eyebrow, and with a slight movement, she stood in front of me, placing me protectively behind her.
"Go away, nobody invited you," Vi said, baring her teeth aggressively. Mom just raised an eyebrow.
"I have an invitation," Mom said, taking out a small invitation card. Vi wrinkled her nose.
"Well, it doesn't matter. Get out of this house," Vi snapped.
"Violet," interrupted Cassandra Kiramman's cold voice as she approached. "Refrain from kicking my guests out of MY house," Cassandra said coldly. Vi looked at her incredulously.
"You... invited Silvia?" I asked incredulously. In fact, the others seemed surprised too, except for Tobias.
"Of course, Jinx asked me, it's her birthday, it's normal for her mother to be there," Cassandra said easily as she looked at Silvia, and I nodded.
"Thanks, Cass!" I chirped behind Mom while smiling widely at her. Cassandra just looked at me and smiled slightly. I could see Vi's eye twitch.
Oh, it was terrific how frustrated Vi could get whenever she saw me getting along with her mother-in-law. For some reason, Cassa ignored me, to the point of almost despising spending time with Vi. It probably had something to do with her sleeping with her daughter, but oh well, that wasn't my problem.
I just find it funny how angry she got.
"Greetings, Councilwoman Kiramman, thank you for the invitation," Mom said politely.
"Only Cassandra off the council." Cassandra said simply as she nodded.
"Then I'll insist that you call me Silvia," Mom said easily.
"What's going on?" Vi interrupted incredulously.
"I'm welcoming a guest," Cassandra said easily.
"She's a murderer! She let hundreds of people die! " Vi exclaimed furiously.
"The basic violence necessary for change," Mom said, unfazed, lifting her chin. "Thanks to that, Zaun sits on equal terms with Piltover. Thanks to that, Zaun is recognized as its own nation worldwide. Thanks to that, thousands of Zaunites have better rights and better lives."
"But at what cost!?" Vi snapped.
"The necessary one," said Mom without wavering.
The Night of the Broken Gates. The day Zaun gained its independence from Piltover.
The gates are dangerous, the gates are deadly, and people die in the dungeons. Piltover didn't like that. Enforcers, also known as police or heroes, avoided operating within the dungeons whenever possible. The low and weak number of guilds and hunters made the gates a problem as they began to emerge.
The solution? Send Zaunites to close the gates, or have them die trying. The Zaunites became the hunters by default, almost obligatory. The Zaunites had to close the gates at the cost of their lives, and worst of all, there was no pay for them.
Everything collected from the gates went directly to Piltover, with just a handful for the Zaunites who risked their lives. And those who couldn't fight in the dungeons had to work at the Dust refinery if they wanted to earn money.
The conditions were horrible, and the work extremely dangerous; the risk of exploding if the dust was not handled carefully or dying from dust-related diseases was extremely high, many times higher than now.
Zaun was never an organized city, so each Zaunite worked practically alone inside the dungeons or in the factories, and posed no danger to Piltover… until Mother arrived.
She forcibly created the first and only guild in Zaun and forcibly absorbed all Zaunite hunters under her banner, subduing those who opposed her. She forced them to work together.
She tried to negotiate better terms with Piltover, but as expected from Piltover, they didn't listen, they didn't budge, and as always, they only cared about money. Mom finally got tired of negotiating.
10 years ago, Mom refused to send more hunters unless Piltover gave in.
Mom entrenched her hunters around every Gate that opened for a whole week.
There were 7 gates. She threatened the councilors that she would let the gates be broken into Piltover if they didn't give in to her demands. They didn't listen. Then Mother kept her word. 3 gates were broken that night, and they invaded Piltover. The Zaunites didn't lift a finger.
Piltover grew complacent, assuming the Zaun hunters would close the gates for them, leaving them without sufficiently competent hunters. As a result, the Enforcers were easily outmatched, and the deaths began to come. The threat and danger of the three broken gates and four more waiting to be broken finally made Piltover give in.
And Mom's hunters acted, closing the broken Gates and entering the others, closing them before they broke. Zaun had its independence, better conditions, and better pay to do their work.
While Piltover had hundreds of deaths that night. Oh, the Pilties rightly hate Mother, condemning her to death, and many assassination attempts can be traced back to the Pilties in power, but that didn't matter; she took all the blame, even with several official statements.
Even 10 years after that night, the people of Piltover still harbor a grudge against her. Still, the general population had mellowed out toward the average person in Zaun thanks to Mom's reforms.
They still view all hunters in Zaun with suspicion, barely trusting them, but the idiots still let Zaun clean and clear the gates. At the same time, Mom oversees everything from Zaun for one simple fact: she was effective, she was profitable, and she made money for Piltover.
Yes, more guilds and more hunters began to be created by Piltover, but when Zaunitas still operated the Dust factories, yes, Mom was everywhere and wasn't afraid to wipe out those who wanted to break that balance.
"Hundreds of deaths were necessary?" Vi spat.
"You're in Piltover, aren't you?" Mom asked simply. "You have citizenship in Piltover, you live in Piltover, you eat their food, you work with them, you're married to one of them. All thanks to those deaths, thanks to the laws that emerged from that day. It was necessary." Mom emphasized each word as she stared at Vi. Vi gritted her teeth.
"You-"
"Okay, enough!" Vandra chimed in, her voice deep and solemn. "We're here to celebrate Jinx's birthday, not to fight," Vandra said firmly as she looked at Mom and Vi. Vi was just glaring at Mom. "Vi, stop," Vandra said once more. Vi snarled before clicking her tongue.
"Vandra." Mom said as she greeted her ex-wife.
"Silvia," Vandra said bitterly with a sigh. Truly, losing Dad had changed them both. She had few memories of that time, and it was mentally jarring to see how different they were when they were together then and see them now.
"Very well, please, let's go to the dining room, dinner is about to be served," Cassandra said, clapping lightly, unfazed by the recent confrontation. It was something she saw every day at the council. I groaned.
"A formal dinner? Whose idea was it to have a formal dinner for my birthday? It's ridiculous," I complained, but I started walking anyway.
Dinner was really tense; I could literally cut the air with a knife, or well, I could if I cared. I ignored the tension, which meant I ignored Vi and Ekko and the rest of my family, focusing instead on talking to most of them, except for Vi and Ekko, for most of dinner.
Every time I spoke to Mom, I could hear Vi's teeth gritting. I rolled my eyes and ignored her.
"Okay, enough." Vi said, and I sighed.
"Now what?" I asked tiredly.
"I have an announcement," Vi said, staring at me. For some reason, I flinched slightly and became more alert. I didn't like that look, I didn't like it at all. "I've signed you up for college," Vi announced. I blinked as the entire table fell silent.
"You signed me up for what?" I asked slowly. Vi's gaze didn't waver.
"A university," Vi repeated. "A university in Japan, at UA," Vi finally said. I could feel the dizziness coming on, and we were all silent.
"YOU DID WHAT?!" I roared as I slammed the table and stood up. Vi crossed her arms.
"You have to get away from Silvia, Powder. You have to change. This is the only option," Vi said firmly.
"The only option?! The only option?! You can't enroll me in a university!! I'm of legal age!!" I yelled across the table.
"I remind you that I'm your legal representative. I can sign on your behalf. I sent the paperwork last week. Everything has already been accepted." Vi said, gritting her teeth so hard.
"Fuck you! I'm not going anywhere, you can't make me! Go fuck yourself, Violet!" I yelled before throwing the chair back, ignoring how it fell to the floor heavily, and ran out of the dining room. Stupid Vi, how dare she!
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