Second Chances Don't Always Go As Planned

[Kylia Quilor]

Author's Notes: A few bits of Admin to get out of the way

First, I am always open to criticism or critique of my plotting, pacing, characterization, character voices, getting lore details (of the show) wrong, etc. I may not always agree with any given critique, but if it's given in good faith I will always listen in good faith. So if you have an issue, bring it to me. I'm not perfect, and this is my first fic in the fandom.

Secondly, I would prefer it if readers did not engage in extended Spelling and Grammar nitpicking. If it's something that really makes it hard to understand what I'm saying, or something that really gets in the way, sure, but if it's clear what the sentence/etc actually means, I would prefer not to have nitpicking in the comments over it.

Third, due to the very narrow lens the show gives us on life in Piltover and Zaun, etc, I am no doubt going to borrow elements from League Lore here and there. But while I will do it, I won't hold myself fast to any of it - so borrowing one thing may not mean I'm borrowing other stuff related to, and I may repurpose the League of Legends Lore as I see fit rather than adapt it one to one to my fic. Please feel free to draw attention to things I get wrong, but I may be doing so deliberately. Though I may not. Sometimes I just get things wrong.

Finally, this fic is not going to be particularly friendly to Silco. I don't exactly hate Silco though I tend to think he's ultimately a negative force on the lives of both Powder/Jinx and the people of Zaun in general, but he's definitely a complex and nuanced character. However this fic is not really going to be fair to him due to how things will go, and how Caitlyn feels about him (which isn't very positive, to say the least) and how that will slant both her narration and slant the information about the future she eventually provides to people. Not really deliberately, just, how she sees him. Silco fans will probably not enjoy this fic, in many cases.

Thanks are extended to UnMaddieCaited and Catpower 23 for beta-reading this chapter and giving it a look over.

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Breakfast in Kiramman Manor was, for Cassandra, usually a quiet affair, a chance to spend some time with Tobias before dealing with the various tasks of the day. She woke up before her husband to see to her schedule and prioritize the most vital matters, then - barring emergencies - she would eat with her husband, and they would both take their time, enjoying intermittent and usually mild conversation, discuss plans for both the day and in general, and of course, discuss their daughter (who usually took breakfast in her suite in the east wing of the manor) - though by mutual agreement they usually pushed the more contentious matters involving Caitlyn to the evenings.

Fortunately, apart from her recent desire to become an Enforcer, there weren't that many contentious matters relating to Caitlyn that needed discussing. Cassandra clashed with her daughter often enough - too often, sometimes - but they were usually easily resolved within a few days once passions had cooled, often with Tobias playing peacemaker.

So she wasn't given to worrying about her daughter all that often, really.

Well, like any good parent she worried about her daughter's safety and health and well-being in general. She worried about Caitlyn's future in the general sense, but Caitlyn was a mostly well-behaved, studious and reserved girl. She was a little more socially withdrawn than Cassandra would have liked, but she was also brilliant and clever, and was ably learning how to navigate Piltover's high society as she grew older.

And, just as importantly, Caitlyn was not slavishly obedient to rules simply because they were rules, which boded well for her daughter's future as head of House Kiramman and a member of the Council. Both roles required a certain flexibility about both rules and laws, and while Caitlyn - as anyone should - tended to follow the rules and laws as a general principle, she always tried to understand the underlying reason - and she was willing and able to argue rationally against them when she found them poor. She'd even managed to convince Cassandra and Tobias to relax or remove certain rules through careful, reasoned argument in some cases.

So it was perhaps more accurate to say Cassandra was not used to feeling specifically worried about Caitlyn, but she was now, as one of their maids hurried into the private dining room. The maid that usually attended to Caitlyn's needs in the morning, including bringing her breakfast.

"Forgive the interruption, Mrs. Kiramman, but I'm - I'm worried about the young miss." The maid - Anne - said quickly. "She - she yelled at me when I tried to bring her her breakfast. She's never done that!" Anne smoothed down the front of her uniform as she spoke, then started biting her lip.

Cassandra placed her teacup down on its saucer more quickly than she preferred, the clinking sound echoing in the mostly quiet room, and Tobias looked up from his own meal quickly.

"That is quite unlike her." Cassandra could think of only two times when her daughter had yelled at the staff in all sixteen years of her life. Once when she was six and having what could really only be called a tantrum, and once two years ago when one of the staff - recently hired - tried to steal papers from Cassandra's office, and Caitlyn had caught him doing so. She'd quite enjoyed rubbing it in Councillor Salo's face at the next function, since the odious man had been the one behind the would-be spy. Not with an accusation, of course, but that was never how things were done.

"What exactly happened?"

"I was bringing her breakfast, like I always do. I heard her moving around quickly, muttering to herself, she sounded upset and agitated," Anne began hesitantly, smoothing down the front of her uniform again, even though it didn't need it. "I opened the door - the room was in disarray, at least compared to how she usually keeps it. Blankets were thrown off the bed onto the floor, several of her drawers were hanging open, she'd knocked things off her desk..." Anne shook her head, mouth open as she trailed off. "And when she saw me setting her breakfast down on the little table by the door she yelled at me! I've - I've never heard her yell at anyone."

"It's not a common occurrence for her, but she's been known to do it," Tobias looked at Cassandra with a small uptick at the corner of his mouth, a spark of mirth twinkling in his eye.

The one time Caitlyn could be expected to raise her voice was when she argued with Cassandra. Tobias always said, with a fond smile, that Caitlyn had inherited Cassandra's strong will and fierce conviction, which made them clash even harder when they disagreed. Cassandra couldn't really dispute the claim, and she knew that those two things were good for her daughter to possess...

If she could just wait a few more years before being quite so vehement and pick better convictions to defend so loudly than her desire to be an Enforcer and her fascination with the Undercity (among other things), Cassandra would be quite pleased.

"Did she yell anything in particular at you?" Cassandra asked Anne, masking the tension she felt easily. Not only did Caitlyn not yell at the staff, barring those two exceptions, but she almost never had harsh words for the staff or really anyone of lower social status, as a general rule. A Kiramman was of the highest levels of Piltover, but it was gauche to be rude or disrespectful to your social lessers, and that was something Caitlyn had always taken to heart. Compared to the horror stories she heard about Salo's niece or Hoskel's son and how they treated their family's employees or the employees of any establishment they decided to 'patronize'...

There was a difference between exercising one's authority as a member of a Great House of Piltover, and an almost Noxian treatment of one's social inferiors.

"She demanded to know who I was and what I was doing in her room, as if she hadn't seen me almost every morning for the last three years!" Anne shook her head, "She asked where 'Vi' was, I said I had no idea who she was talking about and she demanded I leave her room..." she swallowed, "So, I left. I - I didn't - and then I came straight here, Mrs. Kiramman."

"You are not in trouble," Cassandra assured Anne. Capable, trustworthy staff were not something one threw away without a very good reason, and Anne had done nothing wrong. If she remembered correctly, Anne was due to be married in a few weeks, and there was nothing to be gained by adding to the young woman's stress at a time like this, leaving her worried about her employment. "I've no idea what's come over Caitlyn, though I intend to find out shortly. As for you, if you need a break to collect yourself, please, take as long as you need before resuming your normal duties for the rest of the day."

"Yes ma'am," Anne curtsied and left the private dining room. Cassandra turned to Tobias. "I don't suppose you have any idea what's gotten into Caitlyn? She confides in you more than she does me."

Tobias shook her head, looking as confused as Cassandra felt. "I have no idea what could have brought this one. Unless Caitlyn has experienced some sort of memory loss, I can't imagine what could have happened. The only way to find out would be to talk to her." Tobias stood up from his chair, and Cassandra set her napkin down and did the same.

"True. There's no reason to delay, especially if something is wrong with Caitlyn." They left the private dining room together, heading for Caitlyn's wing of the Manor. "What about the name 'Vi'? It is presumably a diminutive of some sort, most likely Violet. Has she mentioned anyone by the name? One of her paramours perhaps?" Cassandra made a face - she didn't care for diminutives, either using them or hearing them be used.

"One of her paramours?" Tobias laughed, "You make our daughter sound like she's some sort of lothario sailor with a girl in every port!"

"She's snuck at least four different girls in through the window over the last year," Cassandra countered. "Caitlyn seems to have an easier time convincing young women to kiss her than she does making friends with them." Sneaking girls in through her window was one of those things that Caitlyn did that was against the rules, but it was a rule Cassandra had decided - at Tobias's urging - wasn't worth enforcing.

As long as Caitlyn kept things discreet - which she had - and refrained from actually having sex with any of these girls until she was at least eighteen - Cassandra was content to look the other way. Caitlyn deserved some trust, so long as she didn't violate it.

"It's not as if Caitlyn is just finding random girls at taverns and taking them home, Cassandra," Tobias chided as they climbed stairs up. "She's just a teenager moving from potential relationship to potential relationship. It's perfectly normal to decide someone isn't suitable."

"I might wish she decided someone was unsuitable before she snuck them in through her window, but it's a battle in which I've accepted defeat for the time being."

"While you didn't sneak me in through your window, I do remember more than a few furtive moments alone during our courtship, Cassandra," Tobias said with a grin. Cassandra allowed herself a small smile. "As to this 'Vi', again, we really can only ask her."

They reached the door to Caitlyn's suite and Cassandra knocked on the door firmly, "Caitlyn?" There was a moment of silence, a gasp, and then the doors were flung open and Caitlyn, still wearing her sleeping gown, was throwing her arms around Cassandra, hugging her tightly.

"Mother!"

"Caitlyn!" Cassandra said again, raising her voice a touch, eyes wide, stiff for a long second before she returned her daughter's hug, somewhat awkwardly. Cassandra wasn't one for physical displays like this, and she couldn't quite remember the last time Caitlyn had hugged her, certainly not so enthusiastically. "What's gotten into you?!" Caitlyn pulled back, hands still on Cassandra's arms, clutching her, as if afraid Cassandra would poof out of existence at any moment.

She searched her daughter's expression, hoping to find answers - Caitlyn looked like she'd slept poorly - a redness in her eyes - well, eye, as Caitlyn hadn't brushed her hair away from the left side of her face yet, so it hung down, covering her left eye. Cassandra reached up and tucked some of the hair in question behind Caitlyn's ear., or rather, tried to - as she moved to do so, something she'd done literally hundreds of times with her daughter - if not lately - Caitlyn recoiled, flinching and pulling back, as if Cassandra's touch to the left side of her head was anathema.

"I'm sorry," Caitlyn said, managing a more level tone. "I -" she hesitated for a moment, lips parted just a touch and then she exhaled, "I had a rather vivid nightmare... in which you were dead." Caitlyn paused, stiff for a moment, inhaling, obviously collecting herself. "It was - it was intense, and- I was disoriented for a bit, after I woke up."

Cassandra didn't see any sign her daughter was lying - and she couldn't imagine Caitlyn would - but for a nightmare, even a vivid one, even one where she died, to have such an impact on her daughter... it seemed difficult to believe. It would explain why Caitlyn had hugged her so tightly out of seemingly nowhere, especially if Cassandra's passing had been abrupt or unexpected in this nightmare.

"And that would be why you yelled at poor Anne when she bought your breakfast?" Caitlyn was sixteen, not six. She should be able to handle a bad dream better than this, but clearly not. Either Caitlyn wasn't the resilient girl she'd raised, or the nightmare had been even worse than Caitlyn was saying, to affect her so severely.

The latter was obviously the case.

"Anne" Caitlyn started, eyes narrowed, brow furrowed as if confused, then her mouth opened in a small 'o' and she nodded. "Yes. That is why I yelled at her. I - as I said, I was disoriented and I didn't quite grasp that it had all just been a dream." Caitlyn moved around behind Cassandra to Tobias to hug her father, a sight much more familiar to all three of them.

"I will have to apologize to her," Caitlyn added after she pulled back from hugging Tobias."

"I should say so! The poor girl looked like she was afraid she was going to be let go." Tobias scolded gently. "She's going to be married in a few weeks. Imagine how that would be for it, to lose her job at a time like that?"

Caitlyn nodded, "You are right, father."

"You haven't had a nightmare since you were six," Tobias noted. "Do you have any idea what might have brought this on?" His tone was both concerned and clinical, a doctor and a father.

"I have actually had other nightmares in the last ten years," Caitlyn corrected, "They just haven't been worth mentioning."

"It would seem this one is," Cassandra looked at her daughter, and held back a frown as she saw the way she was standing - Caitlyn wasn't quite as good at schooling her reactions as Cassansdra was, not yet anyway - she'd get there, she had years to develop those skills of course - and when she was uncomfortable at a social event, surrounded by people she didn't know, Caitlyn had a tendency to stand with her shoulders angled inward, tense, but not hunched. That was how Caitlyn was standing now, and so for all that she was calmer now, she was clearly still affected by the nightmare she'd had. Cassandra gestured for all of them to actually enter Caitlyn's suite, rather than standing out in the hall and once they were inside, Cassandra closed the doors behind them. She took a moment to look around the room.

It was as Anne had described - disarray. By Caitlyn's standards, a mess. She'd knocked most things off her desk, left drawers open or askew, and flung her blankets all over the floor in the process of getting out of her bed. It was quite unlike her daughter, but then...

"How did I die in this dream, Caitlyn?" Cassandra asked after a moment, looking back at Caitlyn. Her daughter had brushed her hair away from her left eye, and she was angling her body in a rightward way towards them, that same inward tension in her shoulders. "Did you see it happen?"

She couldn't say for sure, but she had to guess for the nightmare to impact Caitlyn so deeply, it couldn't just be dreaming of her mother dying peacefully in her bed at a ripe old age.

Caitlyn hesitated to answer, lips parted, eyes darting around the room, between her and Tobias and the silence was so long Cassandra was about to withdraw the question when Caitlyn finally answered.

"I didn't see it. But - in the dream. There was - an attack on the Academy. The Council Tower. I - I was in a position to stop it before it happened, to take a shot at the culprit and - I didn't." Caitlyn swallowed, "You died, Mother, and - you weren't the only one." Caitlyn's expression crumpled, and Cassandra bit her own lip, concern and decorum warring in her chest as she saw guilt and shame on her daughter's face.

"Oh, Caitlyn." Tobias said softly, closing the distance between himself and their daughter quickly and pulling her in for another tighter hug. Once Tobias pulled back from the hug, Cassandra put a hand on Caitlyn's left shoulder, and held back another frown at Caitlyn visibly suppressing a flinch.

"I can appreciate that that would be a difficult thing to dream of," Cassandra said softly. Not just her death, but being in a position to stop it by - presumably - killing another person, not doing so because... it was taking the life of someone and then suffering the consequences for one's humanity by the death of your own mother.

Cassandra Kiramman, like her own mother and grandmother before her, was a very good shot, though Caitlyn was the best shot House Kiramman had ever produced and would only get better. But Cassandra had never taken the life of another person, or even fired a gun at a person - she'd shot targets and she'd gone hunting and that was all. And that was all she wanted from her daughter, Caitlyn's ridiculous ambition to join the Enforcers notwithstanding.

"Given that, Caitlyn, I would understand entirely if you wanted to be left alone for a while to feel better or perhaps spend the day with myself or your father." Cassandra let her arm fall by her side. "I can tell Jayce-"

"Jayce?" Caitlyn's eyes widened.

"I know you were looking forward to seeing him working in his lab today, I understand he acquired some new equipment," Jayce diligently submitted regular copies of any receipts or invoices for things he spent the funds they afforded him for his research, "But if-"

"No, no, I'm-" Caitlyn started quickly, and there was a familiar spark of excitement at seeing Jayce in Caitlyn's expression and tone. Her daughter was not going to be a scientist or inventor, but she did have an interest in the topic, as she should, and she was enormously fond of Jayce, seeing him as a sort of surrogate older brother - had she not known her daughter was exclusively interested in women, she might have assumed Caitlyn had a crush on the young man.

As it was, Cassandra largely approved of Caitlyn's friendship with Jayce - he was a brilliant scientist, an ambitious inventor with real potential, and a well-behaved young man from a good family. The young man's insistence on calling Calityn 'Cait' (and Caitlyn's acceptance of it) was one of his few notable flaws as far as Cassandra was concerned.

"Are you sure? I'm sure Jayce would be more than willing to reschedule-" Tobias stated but Caitlyn shook her head.

"I'm fine enough, and - the nightmare was upsetting, but that's all it was. It - it would be good to get out of the manor for a bit." She took a breath, "There isn't going to be an attack on the Academy, and you're not going to die, mother." For a moment it seemed as though Caitlyn was promising that those two things weren't going to happen, as if she was going to personally prevent them, but of course they weren't going to happen and Caitlyn wouldn't be in a position to prevent them.

"Well, I have no plans to die any time soon either, I can assure you," she promised her daughter. "Piltover has been at peace for decades and if I should fall sick," she looked over at her husband with a small smile, "it is fortunate that I married the best doctor in the city, isn't it?"

"I knew there was a reason you proposed to me. I'm on to your schemes," Tobias with a mock-grave expression.

"Mother, the Bridge Massacre was only five years ago," Caitlyn corrected, raising her voice a little. "There's hardly been peace for 'decades'."

Cassanda furrowed her brow, "'Bridge Massacre?' Caitlyn, what have your tutors been teaching you about recent history? The riots five years ago were a minor labor action that sadly turned violent, hardly worth mentioning and hardly a massacre. A few works and a few enforcers lost their lives, and that is unfortunate, but -"

"Ten enforcers died, though dozens were wounded," Caitlyn interrupted, raising her voice even more - not yelling, but her passion was raised. She stepped back a pace and turned her head so she could easily see both Tobias and Cassandra without turning her head. "And at least a hundred and fourteen Z- residents of the undercity died, and hundreds more were wounded, many of them crippled for life and unable to work, left to starve! If you weren't so narrow-minded and selfish, playing the same pointless political games all the time, trying to get richer just for the sake of having more money, you might have noticed that, Mother!"

Cassandra stared at her daughter, seeing the way she was leaning forward just a little, hands closed into fists. Caitlyn's words - apart from the absurd figures she raised for the losses of the riots - felt familiar. Caitlyn's passion for her beliefs were quite familiar, and her daughter's fascination with the undercity had obviously led her to believing lies spread by undercity agitators and rabble-rousers, the same ones who had caused that labor action in the first place.

While she hadn't had this specific argument with her daughter before, arguing with her about the way House Kiramman operated, and the realities of business and politics was ground that Cassandra knew well.

Still. Familiar or not, her daughter could not simply be allowed to have that tone with her without some sort of response. And she would be speaking to Caitlyn's tutors.

"Caitlyn! I don't know where you're getting those numbers, but I can assure you that there were not even close to that many deaths that day, and insulting me is not an effective way to make your point, regardless."

"It's not an insult if it's true, Mother! You created the ventilation system for the Gray, but you've done nothing for the people of the undercity since, and the rest of the Council doesn't give a shit-"

"Caitlyn!" Cassandra interrupted again. "Mind your language! You're acting as though the ventilation system is some minor thing. It cost a fortune and was the work of several years, and it has raised the quality of life across the river immeasurably."

"And the people there were still willing to fight and die to improve their situation. Think about that," Caitlyn said in a more level tone, though there was still anger underlying every word. She turned away, heading for her walk-in closet. "I need to get dressed before Jayce gets here, and apologize to Anne." Cassandra opened her mouth to say something more, but Tobias put a hand on her shoulder as Caitlyn stepped into her closet, closing it behind her.

"Arguing with her when she's this passionate won't get either of you anywhere, dear, you know that." Cassandra closed her mouth, lips a thin line, but she slowly nodded, because Tobias had a point. He went in. "Especially when she's still agitated from that nightmare."

"She's so relieved to see me alive she hugs me for the first time in years, and then starts yelling at me over lies from undercity agitators," Cassandra murmured.

"She's a teenager, Cassandra. Mood swings are to be expected." Tobias pointed out, a fond smile on his face. "Come, let's finish up breakfast. Maybe you can meet in the gardens later and talk it out."

"Tobias, you know very well the only reason we don't argue in the gardens is specifically because we avoid controversial topics there," Cassandra reminded her husband. "No. I'll talk to her tutors and find out who is giving her these ridiculous ideas, and then I'll speak to her on the subject after that."

"Of course dear," Tobias accepted.