Hex

Purple Veins

Jinx had come back to the Hextech prototype, trying to get it to stabilise.

Sevika, her mechanic arm shot and dripping with shimmer, was limping up the stairs to Silco's office.

Jinx was etching the runes she'd tried to decipher into the base of the machine.

"You're making a mess" Silco said slyly to Sevika, not even looking at her.

"The sister," Sevika said between deep breaths, "she's back"

Jinx had finally gotten the machine to work and spun around in her chair, throwing her hands up into the air in celebration.

Silco spun around in his chair, eyes wide.

"Back? From the dead?!"

Meanwhile, Hex was still lying on the floor of the back room, passed out, her wounds reopened and bleeding through her bandages.

...

"Hex! Hex!!!"

From very far away, she heard the words. She felt someone's arms shaking her, but none of it registered. Everything was black and, after another couple of screams of her name, everything fell silent for what felt like a long time.

Then, as sudden as a explosion (and about as painful), feeling came flooding back. So did the light, as Hex opened her eyes.

Everything hurt. She sprung up, her back arching, taking a deep breath. She was trying to hold in a scream.

Either because her eyes had been closed for so long, or because of the pain, everything seemed too bright, even a little blurry. She felt her eyes water.

She felt a comforting hand on her back and one on her shoulder, trying to guide her back into a laying position.

As the pain eased slightly, she obeyed and slouched down, closing her eyes.

"You scared me for a second there," she heard an all-too-familiar voice, "even though I was going to have to call dad over... or even Singed" Jinx said.

There was a little pause, in which Hex's breathing slowed down slightly.

"But a little shimmer does the trick," Jinx said, clapping her hands together and jumping up.

As Hex opened her eyes again, she saw an empty glass vile laying on the floor. And she knew those all too well.

"Why shimmer, J?" she asked, her voice a little horse.

"What do you mean? Would you like Singed to have given you the stronger stuff?" Jinx said with a little giggle.

"No, I... Never mind..." Hex mumbled, sitting up a little higher.

She saw that some of her bandages were extremely bloodied, soaked from the inside. And her veins had turned a glowing sickly pink.

She had rarely used shimmer, she wasn't sure why. Practically everyone in the undercity was using it, and she had it available, her father being the top dealer.

But she always felt like if she fought while on shimmer, it meant that she wasn't strong enough to fight without it.

Silco had said that this was a stupid thought, that if she didn't take strength and power, nobody would give it to her. But she still felt strange, looking down at her purple veins.

"She's back," she said.

Jinx halted, as though knowing exactly who Hex'd meant.

"Vi. Vi is... back" Hex said, her voice breaking.