The Good Life: Recruitment (ch. 121) (Patreon)

Time only seemed to resume for Mel when she was half yanked off her feet as Rictus pulled her behind him. Her mother was on her feet in an instant, throwing her goblet of wine to the side and flipping the table over to reveal a short sword before she lifted it entirely to use it as a makeshift shield. 

The suddenness of the commotion had her heart thumping in her throat, but from between the two, she saw a sight that simply didn't make sense to her. The red haired woman was effortlessly held aloft in Law's grip, her kicks at his stomach accomplishing nothing, nor did her clawing at the hand that was wrapped around her throat. Her breathing hitched when she saw blood… but it wasn't from Law. It was from the assassin breaking her fingernails on Law's skin. 

“Ohoh? Now that's interesting,” Law continued with a tilt of his head, paying no one else any mind. “I couldn't detect you at all! No wonder you assassinated my imposter. Is it a technique? Magic? Both? Neither? Ah, I suppose it's difficult to talk with a hand around your throat.” 

Law was brilliant. The kind of genius that made him so very dangerous to all of her dreams and ambitions that she couldn't bring herself to work with him. And he threw away that impression along with the assassin, who landed in a crouch with her blades bared like fangs. He’d had the assassin in his hands and he’d let her go. “That's better, right? Now, don't be rude and answer.” 

He sounded like he honestly expected an answer. For her part, the assassin looked to him, then subtly shifted to run past them all and towards the balcony. At that moment, the room was filled with weight. 

It was more than a pressure on her shoulders, as if gravity was working overtime on her. The very air felt thick and suffocating, yet overwhelmingly crushing. Her legs wobbled, and she found herself leaning on Rictus, clutching at him like a young girl who’d had a nightmare. Air refused to enter her lungs, a cold sweat raced down her back -- all of it was overshadowed by how small she felt. She felt like an ant with a boot looming overhead that belonged to some impossibly large and unknowable creature who was just deciding if it felt like crushing her underfoot or not. 

‘This is what I felt that day.’ The day that Piltover was shattered like glass. The day that her city became a battleground between forces that she knew nothing about. Forces that still lingered in her city, be it in the depths of the Undercity… or in the lofty heights of Piltover. 

The assassin was similarly affected, her expression going bloodless while she clenched at her curved dagger with white knuckles. Her lips parted to answer, only for them to press together as if to swallow her words before her gaze narrowed into a glare. 

“Well, I suppose you wouldn't be a master assassin if you answered my questions so easily,” Law mused, sounding delighted with her stubbornness. “Still, you have to understand your position, right? You missed your shot at me. If you want another, then you just have to answer a few questions for me- Don't worry! I won't ask pointless ones like ‘who do you work for’ or ‘who sent you’.” 

The assassin didn't drop her guard, but her gaze became searching. “Why?” She spat the word out through clenched teeth. 

“Why what? Why would I give you another chance to kill me?” Law questioned before throwing his hands up in a dismissive shrug. “I don't take stuff like that personally. Honestly, if you don't have a couple attempts on your life a year, are you even living?” He asked with a laugh, and that oppressive feeling became heavier. 

Heavy enough that the assassin's legs wobbled before she collapsed to a knee, something that shocked her based on her expression. A similar shock cut through Mel down to the bone -- the oppressive feeling that radiated from Law like a miasma, the feeling that was suffocating Mel to the point she couldn't muster up the will to even breathe… it wasn't being directed at her. It was focused on the assassin, and what she was experiencing was a by-product. 

Mel's own legs wobbled at the revelation, and she soon found herself collapsing to her knees with none of the refined elegance or stubborn pride she cultivated over the long years in Piltover. 

“Plus, I get the feeling that something interesting will happen if I let you go. Like I told a friend of mine once -- you have to let the minnows go so they can return as fully grown fish.” Law continued without a care. Mel looked up at her mother, the greatest warrior she had ever known, a woman who embodied the ideals of Noxus -- strength through violence and rights earned with power. Only now, Mel saw the same cold sweat dripping down her neck with her jaw clenched so hard that her teeth could shatter. “So, if you won't tell me your secrets… How about your name, then? Not a bad trade, is it? Unless you just really feel like dying here and now, but that just seems like such an unnecessary waste to me.” 

There was a very loud silence that was only broken by the barest of whispers. 

“...Katarina.” The assassin named herself, and almost like a blanket being ripped off, the oppressive air in the room lifted. Katarina reacted first, finding her strength and racing towards the balcony. With a jump, she threw herself over it, where she hopefully died on the rocks below, but more likely had simply vanished into the ocean. 

“Katarina, huh?” Law mused with a smile and a chuckle. “I have a feeling I'm going to be seeing her again-” 

“Heartless,” Mel heard the word uttered softly, and it took a moment to realize that it came from her. Law's gaze slid to her, his expression betraying no reaction beyond amusement. She almost looked away, swallowing whatever she had to say and feigning ignorance. Instead, she found the strength to rise to her feet, even if her legs felt like they belonged to someone else. 

She was putting the pieces together as she rose to her feet. There wasn't much evidence. Not truly. All of it was circumstantial, but she trusted her instincts. Standing tall and on her own, she lifted her chin in a way that felt defiant. “You're Heartless, aren't you?” 

Mel expected him to deny it. He had nothing to gain by confessing the truth. Yet, Law smiled in a way that froze the blood in her veins. “That I am,” he confessed so easily. As if it didn't matter. “But you don't get any points for the revelation. I did show my hand a little too much there.” 

Heartless. Heartless. The man who’d destroyed Piltover in a battle that had nothing to do with their city. 

He was also Law… the man who their continued survival was completely dependent on. If not because of his war innovations, then because he was the face of resistance. The moment he had ‘died’ was the moment that Piltover lost the will to fight. 

Mel felt sick to her stomach as the implications crashed down upon her like a tidal wave. She grasped the situation the instant he confessed. How they were at the mercy of a monster. 

“That's a pretty rude expression there, Mel,” Law observed, completely unbothered, before he fell into a couch across from them. Their weapons were bared, but he didn't even seem to notice them, simply tucking one arm back on the couch and giving them a lazy smile. “I expected you to figure it out eventually -- both of you. You're both just sharp enough to put the pieces together with the motivation to. Admittedly, this wasn't how I expected you to learn, but it works well enough for me.” 

Mel didn't have the words. She was left truly speechless. The words to convey her horror didn't yet exist. Nor her rage at being so thoroughly outmaneuvered and duped. So great was it that she couldn't even tell if it was directed at Law or at herself. Her mother, Ambessa, had no such troubles. With a thunk, she dropped the makeshift shield before taking a seat upon the couch once more with her blade resting across her lap. 

“Then you were not taken by the Black Rose,” Ambessa observed.  

“Literally never heard of them until you dropped their name, but I like the sound of them. A secret society of mages was exactly the kind of thing I had hoped to find in this world,” Law admitted with a casual ease that made her heart squeeze in her chest. 

“To what end?” Ambessa questioned sharply, and Law just smiled away. 

“To any end, really. Maybe recruit the ones I find interesting and destroy the ones I don't. Perhaps I'll offer them resources and opportunities. Or, maybe, I'll rip what makes them so special away to give it to those loyal to me. It's all the same to me.” He chuckled as if he said something funny. “That doesn't just apply to the Black Rose, of course.” 

Ambessa offered a tight-lipped smile, “You speak of us.” 

“You and Mel are the kind of people that I like,” Law continued, being brutally honest in a way that made her skin crawl. “You're ambitious. You know what you want, and you take it -- fuck anyone who gets in your way or tries to stop you. No matter what mountain is out there, neither of you will settle for being second best. I'm a big fan of that kind of attitude, so I like offering a helping hand where I can.” 

“Why?” Mel blurted, stressing the word with hands curling into tightly clenched fists. 

Law made a show of thinking about it for a moment, tilting his head as his brow furrowed. “Ah… well, it's basically my hobby?” 

Small. The words made Mel feel smaller than she ever had before. “Your… hobby?” She echoed in a strangled tone, almost as if he had wrapped his hands around her throat and was squeezing. “Everything you've done… Piltover destroyed, playing these little games of influence- all of it is your hobby?” 

“Some of it is work, of course,” Law shrugged. “Can't really run an empire without a little bit of work, even if I am doing what I love. But, for you and your mother? That's pure pleasure -- you want to rule Piltover with a velvet fist. Your mother wants to rule Noxus with an iron one. I've been helping you both towards those dreams of yours- no strings attached, of course. I just like to see how far you can go. If you succeed? Great! Love to see it!” 

His smile grew sharper and the air felt a bit colder. “And if you crash and burn? Well, I've always liked watching things go up in flames.” 

“You-” 

“Get a hold of yourself, girl,” Ambessa snapped at her before she could snap at Law. “Consider your position. Consider his.” There was a part of Mel that shirked at the rebuke, but it was at least familiar in a setting that was rapidly becoming something she couldn't recognize. It grounded her. 

Enough so that she collected herself and sat down next to her mother, her hands in her lap, and her shoulders and jaw were set. A practiced pose to maintain her dignity. Yet, it was a fragile thing, and she almost wished that the smile that tugged on Law's lips was mocking. At least she would know how to handle that. 

“I'm curious,” Mel began, strangling the emotion in her voice to let nothing slip out. “What exactly is your plan going forward? Now that your… nature has been revealed?” 

“Nothing has changed on my end,” Law replied, and the words almost felt unfair. “I have some toys that I want to test out on the Noxian army, so that's going to get handled one way or another. As for Piltover -- I'm still going to play the part of the eccentric genius worming his way into everyone's good graces. The only thing that this little revelation changes is what comes next for you two.” 

Could she stomach that? Watching Law play the part of the savior for disasters that he caused? She asked herself the question directly, and with but a moment of reflection… Mel wasn't sure if she was happy with the answer. 

“This empire of yours,” Ambessa started, leaning forward with a gleam in her eye that Mel recognized too well. “It must be vast to treat the full might of Noxus as a plaything.” 

“In the grand scheme of things, it's pretty small. Barely a few planets, and some of them are real fixer-uppers to boot,” Law confessed, making Mel still. Planets. Not continents. Not kingdoms. Planets. “It's a little embarrassing, honestly. But, we're in the early stages yet, and on the cusp of rapid expansion!” 

He knew what he was doing. Her mother gave no outward reaction, but Mel knew her. A plan was taking shape in the back of her mind. A plan to use Law for all that he was worth before planting a dagger so deep into his back that it pierced his black heart. 

And Mel was her mother's daughter because she was planning the exact same thing. 

“And how does this empire reward dutiful service?” She asked rather tellingly. Mel would have been more subtle about it. 

“Immortality, a serum that gives superpowers, or bestowing them magic, to name a few,” Law answered, a gleam in his eye that told Mel that he knew every thought that just ran through their heads. And in the silence that followed, Mel felt that they all understood where they stood with each other. Because the truth of the matter was… 

Mel had done business with worse people.

…

Jinx knew she was a broken person. She didn't know when she broke exactly -- maybe when she killed her brothers Mylo and Claggor. When she got Vander killed. Maybe it was when Vi abandoned her. Or maybe it was earlier than that, all the way back when they walked that smoke-covered bridge, searching for their parents and finding their corpses. Maybe she was just… born this way, with itty bitty tiny tiny cracks that shattered the moment you put any pressure on them. 

“I'm not nervous,” Jinx told herself, resting her head between Tifa's ginormous honkers and squishing them around her ears. “I had years to prepare for this. I'm totally ready. I practiced on so many Vis that I'm totally overprepared.” 

Jinx wasn't sure when she realized how unwell she was either. There was no grand revelation. No moment of sudden clarity that had her looking inward to see what she was. She felt like she had been vaguely aware of it back with Silco, but she tried not to be. She’d loved Silco. She’d loved him as much as she had Vander. He took her in, shaped her, believed in her, and had total faith that she would become who he wanted her to be despite piles of evidence to the contrary. 

But he’d also killed Vander. Her first adoptive father. The big burly bear of a man that took her and Vi in, who always made her a cup of sweet juice when she had a nightmare and would sometimes sing her to sleep. 

It felt like she gained more awareness of it back in Final Fantasy - or Gaia to the locals. Not initially though. She was reeling from Silco's death and Vi's return for… a while. Or maybe it would be better to say that her willful blindness was pulled back. Law didn't mind that she was broken. He didn't care how she was trying to fit the pieces of herself together, even when most of them didn't feel like they fit. 

So she hadn't cared either. No- that wasn't true. Jinx wanted to be broken. Boring girls like Cinder or Caitlyn didn't keep Law's attention. Dangerous girls like Yoruichi or Robin had his love. But girls like Taylor got more than that. They got his love, his attention, and he would look at them with eyes that sparkled with delight and joy and admiration. She craved that. With Silco gone, Law was all that she had, so Jinx wanted to break and break and break until he always looked at her with those wondrous eyes. 

An idea had struck her during their first year together in a new world -- Vi was the key. If she did something with Vi, he would look at her like that. So, she started practicing. She found people that were like Vi and started turning them into her. People like Tifa -- the good meaning but rough around the edges tomboy that liked to talk with her fists. 

And it was with Tifa that she learned how to break her dearest big sister. Guilt. Guilt and shame and good intention. 

“I just gotta… do it. First step is the hardest, after all! All the others will be easier!” Jinx tried to reassure herself, smothering her face in Tifa's massive boobs for a moment, trying to muster up the courage. She was nervous. Scared. Part of her felt like that little girl in the alley again, watching Vi leave. “And if she doesn't do what I want… if she tries to leave me again… I'll just break her legs!” 

Feeling a surge of motivation, she motorboated Tifa's sweater puppies to get her engine revving before leaping to her feet. Tifa just watched her go, realizing once again just what she had gotten herself into for the next hundred years while Jinx bent her knees and looked up at her home away from home. The old crevice that she’d turned into her room. 

With a little hop, she was fifty feet in the air, her foot finding an outcropping on the rough-hewn cavern walls that she used to kick off of. The serum that Law gave her was the good stuff. Jinx never had much of a reason to use all that extra power that it gave her, but it sure was nice to have. Especially when she thumbed a gravity materia that let her next hop clear the crevice entirely. 

She knew exactly where Vi was in the city. Law had his own things to do, a ton of em, but Jinx only had eyes for her dear sister. Bouncing between the vertical buildings of the Undercity, a mask keeping the Gray at bay, was easy. She went unnoticed, her feet barely touching the ground before she was flying off once more and the people below were too distracted to look up. 

The Undercity was half a budding riot, half a celebration, and half in mourning. Word was spreading of Law's return, but without seeing the man himself, most thought it was a trick or a rumor. Those who believed were getting drunk because they were happy. Those who didn't were drinking because they were angry or sad. Either way, the booze flowed in rivers ,and the Undercity was full of sops. Yet her attention was on one sop in particular, landing lightly on a railing just in time to see her stumble out of a bar. 

Jinx felt her heart doing tricks in her chest -- full on flips and somersaults and spins before landing flat on its face before falling to her stomach. Vi looked exactly as she did ten years ago. Well, mostly. 

“Shouldn’t drink so much, sis. Bad for your liver,” Jinx muttered to herself, taking a dark comfort in how rough Vi appeared. Her pink hair was disheveled, the bags underneath her eyes told Jinx that she hadn’t slept right in days, and growing up in a bar, Jinx knew all the signs of someone going on a days-long bender. Vi probably hadn’t been sober since she killed Silco, and the way that reassured her made Jinx’s guts curl into knots. 

It’d also make the next part easier if her big sis was drunk as a swamp rat. 

Vi saw that the streets were crowded, so she stumbled into an alley on the side of the bar to make her way to either her home or another bar. She strode right past the three no do-gooders at the edge of the alley, all of whom shared a glance and a single thought: ‘Easy prey.’ Without missing a beat, they followed Vi into the alley. 

Jinx hopped down from the sky above, and no one bothered to spare her a second glance as she crossed the street, her keen ears filtering out the general chaos for the sounds of pain and fists hitting faces. By the time she got through the crowd, Vi was already done with two of the thugs and was in the process of finishing off the third. 

Vi sloppily blocked a hook but took an equally sloppy head butt to the chin before she kneed the guy in the balls so hard that she probably brought his family line to an end. When he fell to his knees, she followed it up with a knee that flattened his nose and snapped his head back, knocking him unconscious. 

“Fucker!” Vi spat blood on him before dropping down and patting his pockets, finding a flask in his jacket pocket that she wasted no time unscrewing and taking a sip. Only to immediately regret it. “Ah- fuck! That stings,” she hissed, but apparently it was good enough for another sip all the same. 

Jinx positioned herself perfectly at the entrance of the alley, knowing that Vi wasn’t drunk enough to forget every lesson that Vander taught them. And one of them was to always check for reinforcements. She braced herself for Vi glancing her way, their eyes meeting, but Jinx found her heart jumping up from the depths of her stomach to try to escape out of her throat. 

Time seemed to freeze for just a second, making it last for an eternity before Vi managed to utter a single word. “Powder?” 

Powder. Most of the time, that name felt like it belonged to an entirely different person. 

“Hey ya’ Vi. Still blockin’ with your face I see,” Jinx tried to put on her usual airs. The casual indifference like she was above it all. But her legs felt like they were filled with lead and her voice felt too tight. 

Vi took a step forward, her mouth opening to say something, but she couldn’t get the words out so she just gestured with her hands before she caught herself doing it. “Yo-... you’re… I-” Vi wavered, managing to take another step forward. “I’m so sorry, Powder.” She said with a heaving breath, the words blurring together. “I-”

“I know,” Jinx replied softly, seeing with her own eyes how fragile Vi was. To her, their reunion was mere days ago. Jinx knew she was missing a couple of screws, and maybe a few cogs, but she’d had ten years to prepare for this meeting. “Silco… he took me in after… after Vander. He wasn’t a good guy, but he did care about me. In his own way.”

“The last thing I saw was him taking you away,” Vi found it in her to take another step. “That- that fucking Enforcer took me away. Knocked me out before I could get to you and tossed me in Stillwater-”

“Do you blame me?” Jinx interjected softly, knowing that all already. Vi had said it before, but at the time, it fell on deaf ears. She just saw Silco die at the hands of her sister, who came back into her life in the worst possible way. That half-completed explanation had tormented her over the years. She’d spent years kicking herself for not staying a little longer or asking a single question, just to learn a little more before her extended vacation. 

Vi wavered, and so did Jinx’s heart. “You were just trying to help, Powder.” The words sounded like a lie. 

“Jinx,” she corrected, making a flicker of pain cross Vi’s face as she took another step. “My name is Jinx.” She could see it that Vi wanted to argue. To protest. To apologise. But, when her lips parted to do so, Jinx dove in and wrapped her arms around her sister in a hug that probably cracked a few ribs. 

Vi shuddered, hugging her back and Jinx smiled in the crook of her neck. 

No matter what, Jinx wouldn’t let her sister leave her again. Even if she had to cut off her arms and legs, and have Tifa carry her around like a cute little ornament. 

They would be together again. 

Forever.