Part 1/4: A Song For Violet
Pairings: Cait x Vi, Powder x Ekko
Summary: Caitvi mermaid/siren x pirate au
A/N: This has been requested by MANY people, so I really hope I did them justice🤞💜 (enemies in love for you darlings!) Added some TimeBomb too!
Flecks of salt and sea foam graced Violets tongue until it was numb and tasteless. The furious sun beat down hard enough on the pirates galley to make more than one of the crew members faint sweating and miserable. Only a few of the more durable crew mates, ergo Violet, Powder and sevika withstood the heat while they worked their asses off on deck. It was always the same, rough rope biting into skin hard enough to bleed, splinters accompanied with salt, blood, sweat and heat. There were a good five weeks left to this voyage, illegal Shimmer shipments to Demacia in the name of the king of the under city: Silco.
Transporting Shimmer back and forth between city and slum had become normal for the tight knit family that contributed on deck. Silco never let them off work, breaks didnt exist and sleep only blessed them with its presence for 1 or 2 hours at a time. Sure, Silco had a soft spot for Powder, seeing her as a sort of daughter he could never have, but it was clear everyone else was on their own.
As the sun left them behind and night graced the seas, vi retreated to her small shared cabin. Ekko and Powder were already at each others throats, arguing over routes, bickering back and forth.
"So your grand master plan, is to lead us into a suicide mission?" Powder deadpanned. "Great," she mumbled.
"Its not a suicide mission, powder. It's either passing through Noxian territory or going through the siren's lair! Doesn't that feel like a no-brainer to you Pow?" Ekko desperately tried to explain, but Powder was having none of it.
Vi tuned them out, every day felt more and more draining. She didnt need more stress. She walked behind the antique bamboo screen they had stolen from Piltie Noblemans and pulled her now transparent from sweat white shirt over her head, replacing it with a brown night shirt. As soon as she walked out, she was faced with the rest of the crew, a withered map spread on ekkos bed and multiple tools like compasses, pens and magnifying glasses in use. Vi sighed, why couldn't this day end?
"So? What do you think vi?" powder asked, chewing on the end of a pencil that had definitely seen better days.
"Wha- what?" Vi half slurred, God her brain wasnt functioning.
"We've planned out two possible routes we can survive," sevika explained impatiently "a small pass between Noxian waters, and the lair of the sirens."
The sirens. Or the Noxians. Half drunk from the heat, Vi tried to make a decision.
Being seduced to death by gorgeous mermaids with melodious voices, or being executed with a heavy duty axe in front of the public?
"I think we should take the sirens, better chance of survival." Vi mumble-slurred before collapsing in her bed and dozing off. Ekko, Powder and Sevika were still arguing in the background, but at this rate, that was still better than no sleep at all.
Golden sunlight crept through the miserably small windows of the crews cabin, still bathing the wooden room in an almost ethereal glow. For a while, violet could ignore the inevitable danger up ahead, watching the people she loved most sleep peacefully- not entirely peaceful, Powders snores could wake all of Zaun- next to her. It was a few more minutes before the rest of Silcos goons were stomping around overhead, making the wood creak and dust motes fly. The crew woke up and steeled themselves for the day, if they weren't so desperate for money, vi would never choose to risk her life delivering drugs to Demacia for minimal wage.
As soon as they walked onto the deck, they were hoarded with tasks. Vi was soon able to discover that Silco planned on capturing as many sirens as possible as a bonus on their journey, then cutting off their tails and selling the pearl scales to merchants at the dock. This seemed a little excessive to vi, she assumed if they just glided silently across the siren lair, the sleeping creatures might not notice them and they may pass through unharmed, but of course, more bucks for Silco meant more bucks for vi, so she didnt complain.
Soon, they approached deader waters, the sea turning more black than blue, the salt morphing into nothingness. They spotted the very cave they were supposed to pass up ahead, so with a steady sail, as soon as they entered the lagoon, they were hit with a spicy, sweet, honeyed aphrodisiac-like smell that made Vi's head swim. The water was a clear blue, the cave adorned with stalactites of purple and black gemstones. It wasnt long before vi noticed an elegant shape gliding along the water. She was the first to notice, she had been given clear instructions to drop the fishing net on the first siren she saw, but she couldn't bring herself to. Her hands went limp and she dropped the net to the ground.
She heard a song, a soft, sweet melody that made her heart pound and ears indulge in delight. It was a language she couldn't understand, and after looking around, it was apparent vi was the only one who could hear the song currently. God, it made her want to jump in.
The siren singing to vi lifted her head out of the water, a lovely sheet of plum hair cascading over her shoulders, with gentle, porcelain features and soft wide eyes that locked into Vi's, she could feel herself falling, she reached out, fingertips stretching to feel the beauty, all while the siren kept singing to her. The siren reached out her hand too, her fingertips brushing lightly against vi's larger ones. Vi leaned in closer, and closer, until her face was inches away from the beauty in the water. The siren stopped singing, placing a slender hand on Vis cheek, caressing it as vi leaned closer, their breaths mingling and eyes filled with longing.
"What's your name?" The siren sang.
"I- I'm Violet" she panted out.
"Violet... come with me, stay with me," the siren breathed out softly. "My... I'm caitl-"
Before vi could hear the rest of her name, she felt someone grab her waist and pull her back on the deck. She snapped her neck around to see Powder tumbling onto the floor with her, her eyes wild and panicked, men ran around the deck, hauling barrels and pulling various ropes. The chaos proved to be too much for the young woman, who's head was still spinning from her encounter with what must have been an angel descended from heaven.
"Wh-what the fuck were you thinking, Vi?" Powder rasped out. Her voice was desperate, the crew was desperate, something was wrong. "Four of our men already jumped off the deck and drowned! You were... you were gonna...I- i cant lose you Vi!"
No, no. She didnt- she wasnt. Surely vi wasnt about to...Vi couldn't process this.
Once her vision cleared slightly, she looked across the deck. Two sirens, tangled in fishnets, hands tied behind their backs.
"Pow, they- they're gonna sell their scales, they're gonna kill them, they..." vi stuttered. She didnt like this at all. What was happening? It was like she was dead and dumb and blind all at once.
Vi made an impulsive decision. She swore she didnt mean to. But she had to do it for Cait. Yes, Cait, the siren she had only known for 45 seconds. But she still knew there was something, anything. There had to be.
So she reached for her belt, pulling out the small silver pocket dagger she always carried, and she stumbled to the tied up sirens. Eyes closed, heart racing. She couldn't let this happen. She grabbed the rough ropes, cutting as fast as possible before any if silcos men noticed.
"Vi, what are you..." powder cried, she knew it was her sister or nothing.
Vi looked back at her. "I have to, Pow. I have to."
One, three, seven ropes. Snapping one by one until the thrashing sirens had an opening. Their beautiful vibrant orange and turquoise tails moving gracefully like a cloth in the wind as they dove back in the water. Back to their group. Back to Cait.
When they docked at Demacia, Vi had well passed out. They had done their part for now. Silcos men would handle the trades and bargaining.
Even when she woke, all she could think about was the siren. No, there wasnt anything special. She thought. They're sirens, they're supposed to lure you in, make you drown. They don't care about you. But no matter how much she tried telling herself that, she felt a soft of fondness towards Cait that she'd rarely felt anywhere else.
In the evening, she walked down to the shore of the beach, where the water ran clear and cool and the sand white. Maybe there she could clear her head.
Maybe there, she could try and find Cait.
