Arcane: Thicker Than Blood

Outside the pillar of fire, Sevika struggled to her feet, gasping for breath. Heat waves distorted her vision. All around her, the sound of structures collapsing and materials warping under extreme temperatures created a strange of scene.

Behind her, Vander and Silco had arrived, their eyes locked onto the towering flames. Silco's pupils shrank, his grip tightening as he refused to accept what he already understood.

"Sevika, what happened? Where's Cipher?" Vander's voice was dark, his face grim as he yanked Sevika up from the ground.

He already knew.

The explosion... this level of destruction... only Cipher had the grenades for it. The grenades had gone off, but what about him?

Blood trickled from Sevika's temple as she steadied herself. "It happened... so fast."

Vander's grip tightened on Sevika's shoulders. "What exactly did you see?"

"A fully augmented woman came to assassinate him. I've never seen anything like her. When I got there, he pulled the pin on a Glory Grenade. I couldn't save him."

"He wouldn't do that!" Vander shook his head violently.

"Vander, I saw him pull the pin. He looked at me, he knew what he was doing," Sevika insisted.

"I don't believe it! He was too smart for that!" Vander's voice cracked. His vision blurred as his heart pounded in his skull. 

His skin turned deathly pale.

In the inferno, he could almost see Cipher, reaching out, screaming: Save me!

His jaw clenched until his teeth nearly shattered. Without thinking, he charged forward. "I can hear him. He's calling for me."

"Are you insane?!" Sevika lunged, grabbing him before he could do something reckless.

"I know you can't take this. Neither can I. But Cipher is gone. He's dead. Do you understand?" Her voice broke as she held onto him, her sobs barely suppressed.

"Let go of me! My son isn't dead! He's waiting for me! I can hear him!" Vander roared like a wounded beast.

His strength was terrifying. A seasoned fighter, his instincts took over. With a sharp pull and shove, he broke free, sending Sevika to the ground.

Just as he turned to rush into the flames, Silco moved with unexpected speed, stepping in front of him. His strange stare stopped Vander in his tracks.

Then, smack, a hard slap across his face.

And another.

Not pleading, not reasoning, just the sharp sting of reality.

"Are you awake now?" Silco's voice was ice.

"That was my son! My son!" Vander grabbed Silco by the shoulders, shaking him violently, his grief pouring out in a desperate howl.

"He was my family too! And he's dead! Dead, Vander! Dead!" Silco shouted, his mechanical eye glowing brighter, reflecting his internal rage. "Do you understand? He is gone, killed by a Piltie assassin!"

"And what now? You're going to burn yourself alive as some noble sacrifice? You'd rather die than fight for him? For our people? For our dream?"

Vander let out a scream, and collapsed to his knees. Then he slammed his fists against the ground.

Silco's words didn't stop. "We've been friends, no, brothers for decades. I know you. You think dying is the easy way out, that it'll make the pain stop."

"Just like the Day of Ashes."

"You've been running your whole life. When Piltover came for your family, what did you do? Compromise."

"When our people died on that bridge, where were you? Hiding. You weren't there, Vander. You didn't see them fall. You didn't hear the screams."

"So many friends died on that bridge... You never avenged them."

Vander's voice was hoarse as he replied, "I was trying—"

Silco cut him off sharply. "Anything!" 

He slammed his fist against his chest. "Anything but hide while they slaughtered our people. I still see their faces at night, every single one of them. Do you?"

"You didn't fight for them, and now, instead of fighting for Cipher, all you can think about is running away again."

"When will you finally stand up?"

His grip tightened around the vial of shimmer in his hand. Watching Vander break like this filled him with nothing but disappointment and fury.

"You couldn't protect the Undercity as a leader. You couldn't protect your people as a friend. You couldn't even protect your own daughters. And now, your son was killed in front of you."

"Do you know why?" He shoved Vander, sending him sprawling again. "Because you've spent all these years running instead of fighting."

Though he wasn't as strong, the sheer force of his determination sent Vander collapsing to the ground.

"Cipher put Zaun on the path to rising, and that path is soaked in blood. There will be countless more sacrifices. He was the first to bleed. The next could be you. It could be me. It could be any of us."

"If we all throw ourselves into the grave every time one of our own dies, how will we ever see Zaun rise? How will we fight every battle needed for our people?"

Silco grabbed Vander by the collar, dragging him up. His grip was tight, his face inches from Vander's. "Their blood will not be shed in vain. Cipher will not have died for nothing." His voice grew louder, filled with conviction. "We will fight. We will take revenge. We will get justice for him!"

"Do you hear me, Vander? You will stand with us. Pick up your gun. Strap on the grenades. Call upon every Zaunite willing to fight. We march across that bridge."

"Even if we die, we will die charging at Piltover!"

The flames roared behind them, flickering shadows on Silco's face as he turned toward the raging inferno. He paused, then calmly whispered, "Cipher is dead. Piltover will pay in blood."

Footsteps approached. Viktor limping forward with unexpected speed, Heimerdinger struggling to keep pace. Behind them, the silhouettes of Vi and Powder materialized from the smoke, followed by Mylo, Claggor, and Ekko.

They had heard everything.

"No..." Viktor whispered.

Heimerdinger's ears drooped as he lowered his head. "Such terrible violence. Such senseless loss."

Neither had imagined that in just a single day, Piltover would send an assassin to kill Cipher. A cold suspicion crept into Viktor's mind as he thought through the day's events, Mel's interest in seeing Zaun, her questions about Cipher, her too-perfect timing.

Mel... was it you?

Powder stood frozen. "Dead? Cipher… is dead?"

The small rabbit plushie slipped from her trembling fingers and hit the ground as her knees gave out.

A suffocating cold wrapped around her.

Her tiny body curled up, shaking as the tremors hit her again and again. Those bright blue eyes that usually sparkled with life and mischief now just stared blankly at the towering flames, going empty and dull.

Cipher's voice called out from somewhere within the inferno, but everything was too loud. She couldn't catch a single word.

Her mouth stretched open in what should have been a scream, but nothing came out, not even a whimper. Tears welled up and spilled over, one after another.

She wanted to scream so badly.

She wanted to cry out.

She wanted to say his name.

But it felt like someone had dragged her down to the bottom of the deepest ocean. Down where pressure crushed your lungs and no sound could ever escape.

She couldn't even whisper anymore.

"I'm here. Don't be scared. I'm here... I'm right here with you..."

Unlike Powder, who was crumbling, Vi was older, stronger, and could bear the weight of pain somewhat better.

She noticed her state immediately. Swallowing back her own tears, she knelt down, wrapping her sister in a tight embrace.

"We'll get through this," Vi whispered, her own tears falling into Powder's hair.

Her gaze stayed on the fire, her cheek pressing against Powder's. She tried to ease Powder's fear, tried to steady her trembling body.

Mylo's usual snark was replaced by silence, Claggor's large frame seemed smaller, and Ekko, always so bright and curious, now stood motionless, his face streaked with tears.

None of them could believe it.

Cipher was gone.

He was their rock, their problem-solver. No challenge had ever been too great for him. He always came through with a plan when everyone else was lost.

His mind worked differently, seeing solutions where others saw only dead ends. But now, that brilliant mind was extinguished forever.

As the suffocating sorrow settled over them, the only sound that remained in the silent night was the crackling of flames.

Then, suddenly, clink, clink.

A sharp metallic sound echoed in the air.

Boots.

Metal scraping against the hardened ground.

"Ah… so all of you are here."

On the other side of the fire, a figure came out, stepping through the wall of fire as if it were merely a curtain. It was the one who had been blasted away by the grenade.

She dusted herself off, and smiled softly.

A shimmering energy shield flickered around her body, the flames parting around it, not a single hair out of place.

Aside from looking a little worse for wear, she was completely unharmed.