1Author's Note: I just wanted to write something inspired by The Agonist's song "Days Before the World Wept" because holy shit it's good. Needless to say the title comes from the lyrics.
Warning: violence.
Disclaimer: Don't own neither Arcane or the song, but damn the inspiration.
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Wow, Vi! I wanna know how to punch that hard! Teach me!
Vi grunted, her fists shut tight against the concrete, holding her weight up until the baton dropped against her back again and threw her to the floor. The guard didn't stop, throwing it a couple more times for good measure and leaving her coughing to catch her breath.
"Now isn't that making you feel calmer already?" the guard mocked, snarling out a cocky laugh. His partner was waiting outside the cell while he finished his 'chat'. "Everytime you feel like you need to beat the rage out of you, be sure to call before you randomly start throwing punches around other inmates. Got a lot more where these came from!"
Vi screwed up her face, disgust and disdain and rage as she looked up to the guard while he placed the baton back on his belt. He had a superior look on his face that got under her skin, so Vi did the only thing she could do.
"Fuck you."
She knew it was coming but she didn't care. Even though she prepared for it, the impact of the fist on her jaw was so strong she was sent flying and it took a moment for the pain to explode, numbing all her other senses except for that deafening ringing in her ears for what seemed like a small eternity.
Stop, Vi. Just for a bit, stop. Walk this one out.
Powder...
Vi groaned, coughing and spitting out the iron on her mouth. She felt dizzy.
"-fucking undercity rat!" the rumbling voice of the guard was hovering closer somewhere over her.
Please, Vi.
"Come on. That's enough already," the voice of the other guard sounded as Vi recovered a bit of her hearing, making out the shuffling of footsteps closing in. Her voice was coming out in grunts as she tried to roll over her shoulder and get up to her elbows again for round three, or four, or whatever the fuck it was.
"Stubborn little shit," the guard spat. "This one doesn't learn-"
Please, Vi, stop.
Vi grit her bloodied teeth and felt the strain on her arms and the waves of throbbing pain that made it hard to breathe. Finally, her body gave in and she fell down again, and this time stayed down.
For Powder. For Powder.
Had Powder ever actually said that? Vi didn't remember. Was she just imagining it, what she wished she could hear? Why would she want to hear to back down from a fight?
She didn't want to hear that. She wanted to hear Powder. She wanted...
Vi wanted to fight, but this was the only way right now. If she ever was to hear Powder's voice again.
...please don't leave me. That's what she had said, before... God, before...
Vi felt the muscle memory of her arms and hands itch to punch something, anything to numb this and make it feel better, but her body responded to her newest attempt to stand up by falling down on her back, knocking the air off her lungs and making her stay there.
At some point, the guards vanished, and alone in the cell she could let all that fall over her, she had no way of stopping it. She couldn't fight it with her fists, and there was no way she could win against it.
She never should've left, she never should've left, not even for one minute, she shouldn't... if only she hadn't... if only...
God, she wanted to hear Powder's voice again so much, so much, she wanted to see how much she'd grown up, how much she smiled at all the wonderful little things, she wanted to make sure she was alright.
Vi had to stay alive, for Powder. She had to stay alive another day, each new day was a new promise that someday... she would to see Powder again, she had to. She had to see she was well and hold her, hug her again, tell all the things she shouldn't have said...
...but she had seen Silco's cutout shape against the flames, standing over her, a knife in his hand.
No, no, no.
Vi's chest sank, her throat clenched, she couldn't deal with this.
...are you even alive, Powder?
No, no no no, she had to be alive, she had to be alive, Vi had to see her again, she had to know she was alright. She couldn't think that the last thing she'd ever told her little sister was...
Vi threw her arm over her face, gritting her teeth so hard she felt as though they'd break, wished they would, that something would physically break because at least that pain she knew how to handle, knew she could recover from. If something bled she'd know where to patch herself up and begin to heal, but this... this wound didn't heal.
That's why she'd beat every single on of Silco's goons that happened to cross her path in Stillwater, she'd beat them with all the rage she had of Silco by proxy to relieve something, anything of the that pain that didn't fade and didn't stop. Vi only had violence left, and he'd taken everything from her that made it bearable, that made it alright.
Because her famiily was always there, Powder was always there after a fight, when Vi's cuts and bruises bled and ached, Powder was there, safe, smiling at her and keeping her strong, giving her hugs and cuddles and showing her all the wonderful inventions her brilliant mind had to give the world, giving her that promise of another day.
He'd taken that away from her.
...Vi had thrown that away.
A tear fell from the corner her eye, heavier and more painful than the guard's beating. She just wanted it to stop, she didn't know how to deal with this pain, not without Powder, not without the promise of hearing her voice again, even if was just to hear her say I hate you.
Please be alive, Powder. Please.
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the end
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Author's Note: Thanks for reading, do yourself a favor and listen to the song especially if you like melodeath.