Arcane: World Two - AU (Non-binary reader)

A/N: Shorter Chapter, I want to spend more time on chapter seven.

***

The sound of wheels turning muffles through the barred window displaying the cold landscape. You're on a train heading towards the Juvenile prison. It's located far from Zaun, far from Piltover, far from your family. Your hands are cuffed together as you sit shoulder-to-shoulder with people of a similar age. Vander had told you how to survive a prison so you kept your gaze to yourself and your emotions invisible. 

The thought of your family being safe from invasion helps control your feelings but the knowledge that you see them, the people farthest from you, as your family racks at your heart. You don't plan to try and escape, waiting until your sentence is over was your best call. 

As the train rolls through the snowscape, people on horseback watch from up the hill - this snowy part of Runeterra is home to a small town named 'Bastro'. A place stuck in a time of gunslingers and cowboys - They have no business with the train and only watch, yet their presence causes an ominous shadow to fall over the carriage. The train rides on towards the juvenile prison you'll be spending the next year in.

***

The bar is closed and the environment is hollow. Claggor has been eating the pain away while Mylo has been drinking it. Vander is spending his time looking for some sort of loophole to get you out but it has no avail, even if they somehow come up with a high price for bail, they have to wait until you've spent a year in the slammer before they can free you. Vi has been punching walls to keep her mind off it but it barely keeps her head straight. Powder spends most of the day water-boarding the blade your mother had given you with her tears.

The door opens, ringing a bell: "How ya doing, Vander" Benzo says as Ekko follows behind him, rings around his eyes and holding a box in his arms. "Ekko went to that spot the kids all hung out, grabbed anything personal to y/n" Ekko comes over to the bar and puts the box on top of it.

Vander puts down the legal document he was holding and meanders to the box: "Thanks kid" He opens the box and lifts out small trinkets like the toy gun you broke after losing the shooting range too many times, a ring you used to wear but stopped because it rubbed your skin when you tried to put your hands in your pockets and some other little things from your past. He eventually lifts out something that garners everyone's attention: the jacket you used to wear before you met them. You'd outgrown it now and wear, or had worn, a larger one. He brings it to his nose and gently smells it, your scent still lingers on it. Powder comes over and does the same, tears shed down her cheek as she steps away.

Vander still clutches onto it as he sees how Ekko looks at it, you'd first met wearing that and you'd almost taught him everything he couldn't learn from Benzo or Vi. You never would've admitted it but you were always willing to listen to his problems. Vander tosses the jacket to Ekko: "It's yours, kid" 

Ekko puts the jacket on, it's too big but that's not an issue for him: "Thank you, sir" He leaves to sit with Powder, they don't speak but they understand each other's emotions.

Benzo turns to Vander: "You need any help, just let me know"

Vander replies after a moment of thinking to himself: "Could you take out the trash? I first met y/n by the dumpster" Benzo simply nods as he goes to help Vander.

***

In Silco's office, Marcus walks in: "Vander's kid is on the way to jail, they'll have arrived there shortly"

Silco is the opposite of Vander, his voice almost elevated at Vander's sorrow: "Good, with his sour attitude, people should begin to turn on him"

Marcus has a daughter, and hearing his words causes him to imagine if the roles were reversed: "With all due respect, sir, this is collateral damage. They're only a kid"

Silco's tone dies slightly: "A necessary evil, Marcus. Excuse yourself"

Marcus lightly bows at his order before turning around and leaving.

***

You're thrown into your cell, you look around and only see a bed, a toilet, a sink and a few books. Your head is pounding and your bones are sore. You crash onto the uncomfortable bed and as you feel yourself drift to slumber, you hear someone, your mother: "y/n?" You know it's a hallucination but her voice doesn't stop, you turn your head to see her standing over you: "y/n, you lazy child!" You remember hearing her say that many years ago, she had asked you to wake up early to help her with errands and she came into your room to see you passed out on your bed.

"People are waiting for you" She had said this when you'd been taking too long to meet your friends to walk to school with them. You see what she's saying now though, who these "people" are, your brothers and sisters, your dad and your friends. Her voice fades slowly, and so does your consciousness.

*** 

For the first time since you were arrested, the Last Drop is opened. People enter the bar, complaining about how the bar has been closed for weeks. They also complain about the possible invasion. Vander hears about this and gathers the bar's attention: "Oi, everyone!" They don't hear him: "Hey!" 

Vi grabs a bottle and smashes it against the bar: "Listen up!" This grabs the attention of everyone, who turn their heads to Vander.

Vander clears his throat: "There will be no invasion. I closed the bar because... because my child, y/n, handed themself in. They won't be back for a long time because they sacrificed themselves for us!"

The people in the bar go quiet at Vander's words. There's tension in the air until someone raises a glass. A total stranger: "To y/n" The bar collectively follows their lead and does the same while chanting your name: "To y/n. Who saved Zaun!" The sight makes Vander shed a tear that falls to his hand. That night, every drink is free and dedicated to you.

You're currently lying in bed, in a juvenile prison with no contact with the outside world and yet you can feel a sense of warmth, you don't know where it's coming from but you enjoy it.