Chapter 7

Vander was going through the worst day he ever has in his entire life. Not only does he feel like he personally killed a hundred innocent people, he is pretty sure he has his brother in all but blood to blame for it.

That is why he is standing outside of a shack on the coast of the undercity lake district.

A pitiful rundown place primarily used only for black market import and dumping of unneeded chemicals into the lake, this dumping has turned the lake into a cocktail of toxins and chemicals too poisonous for anything but the most terrifying creatures to survive in.

Vander walks up to the shack's slightly ajar door and pushes it open with his faintly shaking hand.

He doesn't want to believe that Silco is truly the reason behind why the Enforcers were waiting for them. Even if Silco was, there must be a good reason behind it.

Silco's his brother, he wouldn't do anything knowing it would endanger him.

Vander, high on fragile hope, steps into the shack.

"Silco? You here?"

A series of quick movements come from behind the door to what he remembered as the shack's study.

The door slowly opens revealing Silco's sodden face with an unfitting look of excitement in his eyes, "Vander, what are you doing here, shouldn't you be down at your pub dealing with our loss?"

Vander decides to wait a bit before confronting him, mainly because he was curious about the reason behind what Silco's excitement.

"Everyone's left already, everyone was too crushed from the amount of loss we suffered to stay," Vander sighs.

Silco's face grows gloomy, "Let's just hope they still work with us, I think I thought up our next set of plans for dealing with Piltover."

Vander's face warps in disbelief, "What do you mean? Our dream of Zaun is finished."

"No, I realized today that we were going the wrong way for creating Zaun. The Enforcers are stronger than I thought, so instead of fighting head we aim our fight at the Councillors themselves," Silco prattles off.

"Silco…" Vander groans out.

"If we instead turn our eyes to impacting them with hijacking their precious commodities, sneak in unnoticed, we might be able to kidnap or hold hostage one of the Councillors and demand Zaun's sovereignty."

"Silco," Vander says louder this time.

Silco, still lost in planning continues, "No… that might not work, how about instead we use the councilor's illegal imports as leverage and blackmail them?"

"Silco!" Vander finally snaps.

In response, Silco jumps slightly, "Yes?"

"Listen… The amount of death that happened today, no one is going to ally with us in any more revolutionist movements. I think the vision of Zaun will have to wait for another day to become real," Vander says with a heavy heart, for both those that died, and for the crushed expression Silco now has.

Silco pauses, then asks morosely, "What are you saying?"

"I made a deal with the new Enforcers' sheriff; they will leave us alone if we do the same for them."

Silco's face quickly grows blank, "After all we've done, after all I've done, you're betraying me?"

Vander snaps right back, "Think of the children Silco, the children that thanks to today are without their parents."

"Think of the freedom, Zaun would bring about more freedom than they could ever have in what the fissure currently. Any loss and death are worth the sacrifice if it means bringing about the freedom for all in Undercity. Just like today, any loss is worth it."

Vander stops his retort quickly, reflecting on what was just said, "It's not worth it if kid's have to grow up without the ones they love, we lived through that. Why would you ever want that on anyone else?"

Silco's calm facade dissolves into a yell, "because the plan for Zaun needs the sacrifice to fight against a superior enemy!"

"What do you mean by plan? Our plan was for a peaceful outcry for our independence," Vander questions.

Silco chuckles, "that plan would have never worked, they would have just ignored our pleas and most likely send more Enforcers into the Lanes to prevent us from unifying again."

"So, it was you, you are the one who told the Enforcers about our walk into Piltover," Vander said, already knowing the answer.

Silco nods, "Yes, but I didn't think that the Enforcer's would destroy us so well. And the stupid thug I hired causing the fire on your bridge was an accide-" Silco cuts himself off, realizing he had gotten too emotional and said too much.

It wasn't long before he felt a fist collide with his left eye, sending him flying into a wall.

The wall gave way and Silco went flying out onto the lake's coast.

Vander, face broken with rage, quickly jumps out of the hole he just made.

He arrives next to Silco, thrashing around in the muddy dirt grasping his bloody eye.

Too angry to have any conscious thought, he just picks Silco up from the mud, carries him over into the water, and forcefully lowers him under.

Silco doubles his thrashing as the toxic water touches his bleeding eye and cheek.

A minute of thrashing passes, and Silco finally ceases his struggling. Only to pull Vander's knife from its sheath on his hip and slash it across Vander's arm.

Vander, unprepared for the attack, along with the toxic water covering the blade, gasps back in shock and pain grasping his arm.

Silco uses this to his advantage and tries to make a run for it only to have Vander manage to grab a hold of him.

Silco gets pulled back towards Vander only to use the knife again to stab Vander's other arm.

This final attack gives him enough space to run off and out of the polluted lake.

As Silco gets away Vander, with his pain drowning out his anger, is finally given enough time to think.

The main thought going through his head was this, 'Why did I try and kill him,'

Why did he try and kill his own brother? Silco was doing what he believed was right, a belief he personally had to agree had some merit.

Vander tried to do the same thing Silco was doing, and yes Vander has killed before, but this was his own brother…

(AmA)

Silco just kept on running, fueled on the feeling of betrayal, pain, and anger.

He was running towards a man he had a few connections with who dealt with injuries and probably the only person who could deal with his toxic infused mess of a left eye. A man who called himself the doctor.

As Silco was running, his mind was still racing with the pain of Vander's betrayal.

Silco was doing it all for Undercity, for Vander, for those who lived.

Why didn't Vander see that?

No, its not that Vander didn't see it, it's that Vander didn't care for it.

No, he was making peace with them. Since he started caring for the kids apart of his revolutionist idea for unifying the Undercity, he's only cared for peace.

He'd much rather become lapdog to the topsiders.

We had to live off scraps, bury friends and loved ones all while those from topside laughed at us or sent in the Enforcers to rile us up. And now Vander makes peace with them.

He can't see beyond those suffering now. It doesn't matter if a few suffer today, because without the topsider's influence Zaun will be paradise.

No starving on the streets, no lack of coin, and no lack of power to stand up for ourselves.

Silco stops for a moment, still feeling the almost insanity inducing pain of the muddy, toxic mess of an eye. He realizes something.

The epiphany he had before leaving the bridge comes back and he finally understands it fully.

It's not 'acting less then human' which controls them. It is becoming the embodiment of their fear which allows them to be controlled.

And control is the only way to fight against a superior enemy.

Silco looks back towards the Undercity with conviction, he will no longer run. All he's done is run away. He was weak, so today he will be reborn stronger with this understanding, for he will no longer run.

(I honestly don't know if this is good or not… Please help if you spot anything you think could be better.)