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"Is it a matter of choice?"
Seraphine tilted her head slightly, trying to understand.
Seeing her expression, Camille nodded subtly and added,
"Jinx and Vi... it's all about choices. A good sister either disappears forever or always stands by her sibling. Vi made choices for her sister, yet she never truly chose for herself."
Seraphine blinked, her thoughts whirring. She hesitated before asking, "But isn't choosing to destroy also a choice?"
Camille's lips curved into a faint frown.
"It is a choice," she replied coolly.
"But it's as futile as wishing for a remedy to regret."
Her sharp gaze rested on Seraphine as she continued,
"When one grows up, they expect their younger sibling to remain the innocent child they once were, without ever considering why they changed in the first place. Worse, they often attribute that change to shallow, incomplete reasons. That is not how a sister should behave."
Her voice grew colder.
"Take me, for example. For decades, my brother, Stevan, has struggled with his own burdens. But I never entertained the idea of turning him back into the naive boy he once was. As the eldest, having love alone is insufficient. You must also possess clarity of purpose. An older sibling must always lead."
Camille's detached tone carried an air of finality, her words unwavering.
Seraphine listened intently, the weight of Camille's words pressing into her thoughts. Slowly, clarity emerged in her mind, shaping a new understanding.
The reason Powder had become Jinx wasn't just the result of a single accident. That event had been merely the spark; the foundations for her transformation had long been laid in years of neglect and misunderstandings.
But Seraphine hesitated to place blame solely on either Vi or Jinx. Not everyone could be like Camille, born with such a resolute mind.
Vi had never been an older sister, and Powder had never been a younger sister.
In Zaun's harsh environment, perhaps their tragic trajectory had been inevitable.
As these thoughts formed, a new question occurred to her:
"Why did Vi leave Zaun? She doesn't need to stay with Councilor Kiramman. If she really wanted to take down Silco, wouldn't she have stayed in Zaun?"
"Escape," Ryan interjected, his voice quiet but firm.
"Escape?" Seraphine repeated, her eyes widening.
Camille's lips curved into a faint, knowing smile.
She lifted her teacup, the rich aroma wafting between them as she took a deliberate sip. Then she explained,
"Zaun is a sad place for Vi. All her memories of home were destroyed that night. The Zaun she knew no longer exists. Now, Zaun has no Powder, only Jinx."
Seraphine's mind drifted to the memory of Vi's singing—the soul of her voice carrying a lament for a past life filled with unbearable pain.
"So..." Seraphine murmured softly, "she would rather fight for Piltover?"
Camille's smile widened faintly, a sharpness glinting in her eyes.
"Vi is the perfect blade for Piltover, shaped by the struggles of Zaun. Feed her a dream of a better life, and she will cling to it. When she finds Zaun lacking, she'll fight for the ideals she's built in her heart rather than the reality."
Seraphine whispered, almost to herself,
"Focusing on a fantasy... trapped in the past, disconnected from the present."
Her thoughts lingered on her own family. Her parents, too, had left Zaun, seeking a better life in Piltover.
But their relationship with Zaun had always felt different to her.
Even after leaving, they still discussed Zaun quietly at home, debating whether they could send a material support back to their old community.
They thought they hid these conversations from her, but her ability to hear their souls made such secrets impossible.
These moments had only deepened her connection to Zaun, compelling her to see the place for herself—to uncover the real Zaun beyond her parents' stories.
But Vi's experience was entirely different. Everything good she had in Zaun was destroyed, leaving behind only a sea of painful memories.
Although she still held the identity of a Zaunite and had numerous acquaintances there, the truth was bitter: if her sister hadn't lost herself to madness, Vi would have fled rather than remain.
The best Zaun she could imagine had already become an impossibility the day Vander died.
Seraphine fell into silence, her gaze drifting to the window as though mourning this tragic story once more.
Perhaps, in the eyes of someone like Camille, this story might reach its conclusion the day Jinx meets her end.
But Seraphine knew, deep in her heart, that the story was far from over. It might have just begun.
Their lives were like the carefully positioned chess pieces before Ryan and Camille—motionless yet carefully planned, with paths already charted out in the minds of their players.
Perhaps this was the lesson Teacher Ryan sought to impart to her today.
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Zaun, on the roof of Last Drop.
Viktor and Silco stood side by side, gazing out toward Piltover's skyline.
"I remember the first time I saw you here. You were so humble in front of Lord Ryan," Viktor said, his cold, metallic voice resonating faintly.
"But even then, I could see your love for this land."
His Hex-enhanced eyes remained fixed on Silco, who stood silent by his side.
Over the past few months, countless events had unfolded.
Everything in Zaun was progressing according to plan, and a brighter future seemed closer than ever.
Silco continued to stare toward Piltover, his expression inscrutable. Finally, he broke the silence, his voice low and tinged with weariness.
"Humble, domineering, ruthless, decisive... Every day, we live behind masks, forgetting who we really are. Viktor, the future of this land is clearer now than it's ever been. And in these final days of my life, I want to shed that mask. I need to see who I truly am."
Viktor tilted his head slightly, a faint smile crossing his lips.
"Your expression now... it's the same as mine once was."
He didn't raise his hands, but the mechanical claws on his shoulders pointed toward Piltover's academy tower—his old laboratory.
"I used to stand here, staring at that place, torn by countless struggles. Finally, I resolved to leave behind my identity as a Piltover scholar and begin anew here in Zaun. And so... I returned."
Silco chuckled, though there was a weight to his tone.
"That's the difference between mortals like me and visionaries like you, Viktor. We claw our way from the depths, chasing traces of hope. But people like you... you create hope. You can simply choose a path without worrying about whether you'll have food on the table tomorrow."
Viktor turned toward him, his Hextech eyes meeting Silco's mismatched gaze.
In that shared glance, they both understood each other's thoughts. And then, unexpectedly, they laughed together.
"It's hard to imagine that I'd entrust Zaun's future to someone else one day," Silco admitted, a faint smile lingering on his lips.
These recent days had been the best of his life. The weight of responsibility had eased, and he could watch Zaun grow stronger and more vibrant every day.
But Silco knew the truth: Zaun no longer needed him.
The time had come for him to pursue a life he had never even dared to dream of.
He could finally understand a part of Vander's mindset—not the man's passive and naive defense strategies, but the deep love he had held for his family.
The moment Silco learned Jinx had been arrested, he understood what his final mission would be.
In the end, the only legacy he could leave to Zaun was to take his sins and burdens with him to the grave.
Zaun needed a great and untarnished leader, someone flawless in the eyes of the people.
Silco knew his mistakes could not and should not become the burdens of those who would lead after him.
The crimes he had committed for Zaun's sake were his alone to bear.