Everyone had left.
Vi left to grab food, even though she said she wouldn't. Powder went with her for a bit before branching off on her own and Caitlyn had already returned to Piltover.
"Nobody's going to recognize me after seven years in prison," Vi snorted, waving a hand in front of her face. "I look totally different from when I was a kid. I'll be back in a few."
Honestly, random thugs are more likely to recognize Powder than Vi.
So it was just Vander and Xander in the Arcade.
One writhing in a corner by a boxing ring, haunted by terrible memories and dull pain pulsing through his body. The other slouched and sprawled out in a chair, wrapped in bandaged wounds.
Xander's tired eyes lifted toward the twitching hulk in the corner.
I'm stuck with a guy who might rip me to pieces.
He was so close to drifting off, even through the pain, when Vander's deep, rumbling voice cut through the silence.
"How long?"
"What…?" Xander slurred, rolling his head toward Vander and froze. Even from across the room, he could see Vander's eyes were open wide, burning holes into him.
"How long have you been taking care of Powder?" Vander asked, clearer now, his voice low and warped but still unmistakably him.
"Not long," Xander said after a beat. "A few days at most."
"Why does she… trust… you so much?"
Xander shrugged.
"We just had a few common goals. Saving Vi and you."
"Thank you, but…" Vander twitched, his body spasming as he gritted his teeth. "Stay… away from my daughters… after all this is finished…"
Vander wheezed between words, his trembling body straining to hold a coherent sentence.
"I don't trust you."
Xander frowned, his hand unconsciously brushing the armrest, body tensing. The man across from him looked one second away from sprinting across the room to strangle him to death
-----------
"Vander, we're back!"
Vi and Powder burst through the door side-by-side, both smiling for the first time in years.
"We got loads of extra treats!" Powder said brightly, rummaging through her brown bag. "When they realized who was back we scored marinated slugs, crunchy lizards, gooey roaches—"
Vi giggled. "We even got normal meat."
Their smiles faded as they looked around.
Vander was still hunched in his corner, panting and trembling but the other side of the room was wrecked. The medicine bottle was shattered, glass scattered across the floor. The table was flipped and the chair Xander had been sitting in was missing a leg.
Xander himself was leaned up against the wall, fast asleep with his mask on.
"What happened?" Powder asked, glancing between them.
Vi frowned and crouched by Vander, noticing his bloodied fingers and then turning her gaze back to Xander's sleeping figure.
---------------
Yeah, he snapped.
Xander sighed inwardly as he woke.
How he couldn't hurt me but that creature could is beyond me. Hell, Powder shot me in the head several times already and I wasn't hurt.
After that tense exchange of words earlier, Vander had snapped.
One second Xander was dozing off, the next the table was flying and Vander was lifting the chair like a weapon. Xander barely had time to scramble off his chair with his mask let alone roll again before it smashed against the floor.
He scrambled back, arms raised defensively for the next swing but nothing came.
At first Xander was confused. He could hear Vander's ragged screams of rage, sense the power building up for a massive strike but when he was about to strike he stopped mid-swing.
Vander froze, his wild eyes darting over Xander's mask. Then came a guttural, broken scream as he clawed at his head, stumbling back to his corner.
Xander blinked before releasing a relieved sigh.
A strange calm washed over him like a weight had finally lifted before he then simply… fell asleep.
Now awake again, Xander caught the faint smell of cooked food drifting through the air. When Xander's gaze rose, he saw Vander asleep, curled up in the corner again.
"Ouch!"
A metal ladle cracked him on the head. He blinked, looking up to see Powder glaring down at him.
"What happened?! We were only gone a few hours!"
Somewhere past her, Vi's angry voice rang out too. "Why are you wearing that mask again?! Are you trying to trigger our dad?"
"Uh, I think you two got it backwards," Xander muttered, rubbing his head. "My mask was off but he snapped. The mask's what made him back off."
"Do you know why he snapped?" Powder demanded, crossing her arms.
"Well… he said he doesn't trust me near you," Xander said flatly, "and then he snapped."
After answering, he pulled the mask off with a tired sigh. Powder's expression flickered, her usual irritation replaced by an emotion he couldn't quite identify.
His gaze began to wander absently until he felt something soft brush through his hair.
"Huh?"
He looked back up. Powder jerked her hand back like she'd been caught doing something forbidden, her face going red.
"D-don't fall back asleep!" she blurted, spinning around so fast her braids smacked him across the face. "Food's almost ready."
She hurried off toward the back corner of the Arcade, a dusty, half-open storage unit where old boxes were stacked behind a rusted grated metal fence.
Then came the furious whispering.
"Right now? Seriously?! Wrong time Powder!"
"Stop it, I know that! I couldn't help it!"
"How are you— You know what, never mind. The noodles are overcooking! Help me drain this!"
There was a loud clatter, a splash of water, and muffled cursing.
They rigged up a kitchen back there? Xander thought, half amused. I guess if there's a sink…
"OUCH! HOT! AAAA!"
Somewhere on that side, sounding like outside the building, someone screamed in pain.
No fucking way… did they pour it out a window?
He snorted softly and shook his head before his gaze drifted back to Vander who twitched and muttered in his sleep.
"Oh well."