Silco x Reader

Twenty-Six

It was hard to tell how much time had passed since you started working. Time passed differently in the lanes than in Piltover, and underground it was even worse.

Maybe only a few minutes had passed, a few hours. Or maybe it had been days.

Fatigue came and went, sometimes a terrible headache stabbed you in the skull like a thousand knives. Your brain felt tough, it hurt to think.

Swallowing hard, you tried to moisten your lips with your tongue, but there was no more spit in your throat.

Out of the corner of your eye you could see Renni's son lurking around the cauldrons. She had disappeared some time ago, accompanied by Finn, leaving the little one behind to take care of you.

Granted, a child was not a good guard, but there was something about that boy that made you shudder. That sparkle in his eyes made him look so mischievous, so little human, that you believed he was capable of much worse than his age suggested.

He also seemed to enjoy making fun of the suffering of others.

At the beginning he had offered you something to drink, only to spill it all over your clothes whenever you had tried to reach for it. When you began to learn, he changed his tactics and diluted the samples of shimmer with water to destroy your progress each time.

"Little bastard...", you hissed and shoved a rope into the sleeve of your shirt.

You didn't have to wait long for the boy to come closer again. The grin on his face made it clear that he was about to play one of his stupid pranks again.

The sheer actions of this kid were enough to show that he was his mothers child, cruel and maybe even a bit insane.
You hurriedly looked through the cave, making sure that no one was around.

One moment of carelessness from him and you grabbed his collar with a quick jerk of your hand.

Startled, he wanted to scream, his arms jerked up and he tied to resist.

But your hand pressed on his mouth and stifled the sound. You pulled him close to you and brought your lips to his ear.

"Now listen here, you little shit...", you growled in a threatening manner. "You're going to untie me now and then you're going to keep your mouth shut until I'm gone. Otherwise we two will have a big problem and your mother a dead son. Do we understand each other?"

Trembling, he froze. His little heart began to beat like crazy while his little eyes jumped through the room, looking for his mother or anyone who could have helped him. But he was all alone.

It was his misery, but your luck.

When the threat reached his ears, his body tensed. With a frightened look on his face, he turned to you, his mouth clenched into a thin line and pulled a knife from his pocket.

The tip pointed at your face but, he hesitated and reconsidered as your grip on his tender shoulder tightened.

His hands trembled as he cut the rope.

The threads loosened, tore apart as tough as honey. It was so slow that it made you feel like you were going insane.

Tense, your eyes jumped from one coroner to another, from shadow to shadow, fearing someone might appear out of nothing and ruin this one opportunity.

Finally, the ties broke and set your hands free.

Nimbly, you showed the rope from your sleeve and wrapped it around his hands, tight enough to prevent escape, but not so tight that it hurt him.

Trembling, he squatted on the floor. The cruelty had disappeared from his eyes. Now, all there was to find was the fear of a child who was desperately longing for his mothers help.

"Sorry kid.", you rubbed your sore wrists. "I didn't choose this either. Now keep it quite until I'm gone."

He nodded, but didn't dare to say a single word.

As quick as possible, you gathered all the things, including some scraps of the raw material that still looked usable and some of the changed shimmer Renni wanted.

One last time you glanced over your shoulder to check on the boy who was about to start crying and disappeared into the shadows.

Unfortunately for you, there was only one door and it was heavily guarded. The good new thigh were, there were still the same two men who had granted you entry.

Surprised, the two looked at you, lips pressed tightly together as you stepped out the door.

You gifted them a hateful look.

"You sons of whores better let me go without saying a word.", you growled and walked past them. "I'll let you keep the money."

But when you were already a few steps inside the tunnel, something moved behind you. Shifting, you turned around.

"What about Renni's son?", one of them asked.

"Tied him up.", you shrugged. "Don't worry, he's fine. Untie him and pretend I escaped."

They shook their heads.

"We could never explain that.", the smaller one took a threatening step towards you. "We have to hold you. Sorry, it's nothing personal, but we have to save our own skins."

Growling, you backed away a step. You could have run away, but probably that wasn't so easy against the two of them. They followed you as you took another step back. And a third.

"I don't think this is a wise idea.", a calm female voice suddenly warned.

Confused, you glanced over your shoulder.

"Sevika!", you sounded almost relieved when you saw her bored face.

She greeted you with a nod, while a cigarette hung loosely from the corner of her mouth.

"I see I showed up at just the right time.", she said challengingly, standing at your side and flashing her metal arm briefly. "We don't have a problem, do we?"

Intimidated, the two men backed away.

"We... we didn't do our job properly...", the taller one muttered. "The prisoner got away from us... how careless."

Satisfied, she nodded, took a deep drag on her cigarette and let the smoke drift in her direction.

"Then I wish you a pleasant day. And before I forget, we never met. I was never here."

The two nodded.