When they reached the Lanes, Logan told Jinx to head back first. Later, he'd bring Vander back to the Spirit Blossom Gang.
Jinx immediately said she wanted to come along too—but Vi looped an arm around her neck and hauled her back, gripping her as she said she had something to talk about.
She completely ignored Jinx's shouted, "Help—help—Logan, help me!"
Logan just laughed his head off and left with Silco and Vander.
Vi was basically obsessed with her sister anyway—she wasn't really going to do anything to Jinx.
And honestly, Logan thought this was a good thing. Vander showing up had thawed the ice between the sisters. As Jinx's bedmate, Logan knew exactly how much Jinx cared about Vi. On the surface she acted like she couldn't be bothered, but deep down, her love for Vi ran straight into the bone.
Tsundere Jinx.
Forgen Tavern.
At dusk, Sevika had cleared the place out. But to be fair, Silco didn't exactly rely on Forgen Tavern to make money. Keeping it was more about sentiment than anything else.
As for what, exactly, Silco was nostalgic about—he couldn't explain it himself. And even if he could, he wouldn't.
He was the kind of man who didn't let emotions spill out.
Vander stepped into Forgen Tavern and looked around with a complicated expression before saying, "Silco… you really didn't tear this place down?"
"Tear it down? Too much trouble," Silco replied.
He glanced at the bar and saw the long table covered in Jinx's graffiti and drawings—memories that belonged to him and Jinx. But beyond that, there were also memories at that table that once belonged to Zaun's trio.
"'Too much trouble'—you're unbelievable," Vander scoffed. "That rotten mouth of yours still can't say a single nice thing."
Vander walked up to the bar. Standing there, he reached out with a huge claw and touched the tabletop. Logan followed and stood behind him, hearing Vander's voice.
There was self-mockery in it, but also a thread of warmth. "If she were still alive… I wonder what she'd think, seeing us now."
"Her two best friends. Partners who wanted the same dream. Now one of us has a ruined face, and the other isn't even human anymore. Funny, isn't it?"
"Is that so?" Silco came in behind the bar from the side, pulled out a pile of bottles and three glasses, and started mixing without another word. "Then I'm guessing I'd be more popular with her than you two."
He set a drink down.
Vander split his massive mouth in a grin—though honestly, the smell coming out of it was awful. No wonder Jinx said starting today she was brushing his teeth every single day.
That stench… was genuinely bloody and fishy.
Vander picked up the glass and poured it down his throat, then frowned. "Still no taste."
"I think I've lost my sense of taste. All I can smell is blood."
Silco acted like he hadn't heard him and poured another. Vander didn't talk either—he just grabbed it and drank.
After three glasses each, Silco lowered his eyes and fell silent.
Vander looked at him, and that ugly huge face twisted into a grin. He lifted a claw and started slapping the table, shouting, "Hey—don't think you can just do that and be done!"
"Vander, don't push your luck," Silco said, eyes still lowered as he lifted his lids to look.
"I am pushing my luck. What are you gonna do about it?" Vander tapped the tabletop with a claw—and with a single tap, he poked a hole straight through it. "Those monsters you made? I think the current me could beat a hundred of them."
"...Hah." Silco looked up at Vander, raked a hand through his hair, and messed it into a chaotic tangle. A strand of black hair fell over his forehead—making him look, for a moment, almost like Jinx.
He grabbed his glass, knocked it back in one hard swallow, and said in a low voice, "Fine. I'll apologize."
"I'm sorry I killed you, Vander."
"If you can't let it go, then after I finish what I'm doing… you can take revenge. I'll wait for it," Silco said calmly.
Vander didn't even respond. He just looked at Logan, awkwardly hooked his glass with his claws, and clinked it against Logan's.
"How's it been so many years and he's still this damn twisted?" Vander asked Logan with a baffled expression.
"Tell me about it." Logan nodded.
"I'm not joking!" Silco's forehead veins practically pulsed. He clenched his fist and slammed the table, barking, "Once we beat Piltover and Zaun becomes autonomous and independent, you can take my life whenever you want!"
"The hell do I want your shitty life for?" Vander stared at Silco like he'd lost his mind, then looked back at Logan. "Logan, don't mind him. He's always been like this. I just didn't expect he'd get old and still be this ridiculous."
"He thinks everyone's like him—puts hatred first, chooses the most extreme option every time." Vander's lip curled with disdain. "But only a lunatic lives like that."
"I thought he'd change at least a little."
"Makes sense." Logan nodded again.
"You two…" Silco took a deep breath, irritation flashing in his eyes.
"Is there anything to eat?" Vander suddenly asked.
Silco lifted his head to the ceiling for a second, then lowered it and started rummaging around.
A moment later, he pulled out some bar snacks from under the counter and set them down.
Vander chuckled. "Back then, I was the one behind this bar. This stuff was my job."
Silco acted like he hadn't heard.
Vander chewed on what was on the plate and muttered again that he still couldn't taste anything.
Then those two started drinking in gloomy silence, leaving Logan standing there feeling helpless.
"Alright. You two elders—can we actually talk this out?" Logan said. "Can we stop wasting time? I still have to go back and cook later."
"Cook for Jinx?" Silco asked.
"Logan, what exactly is going on between you and Powder?" Vander asked at the same time.
The two men paused and looked at each other.
Logan sighed and shrugged. "Can you two hurry up? Once we settle your mess, we need to talk about Piltover. I'm a man with a curfew. You get that, right?"
"If I'm not back before nine, Jinx won't see me—and she'll make a scene."
"…"
The two old men were speechless. Then Silco finally set his pride aside and put his glass down.
"I was wrong, Vander. I admit it. Your idea back then wasn't wrong." Silco's voice stayed steady. "In the years you were gone, I took in Jinx. I raised her myself. And now… I understand your thinking back then."
"Having a daughter really is a headache," Silco said seriously.
Vander stared at him in surprise. He set his glass down, eyes shifting slightly, then said, "She's my daughter."
"…" Silco inhaled hard, put his glass down, wiped his hands, stood up, and walked out from behind the bar toward the stairs to the second floor.
"Alright, I'm not kidding anymore," Vander called out to stop him.
Silco turned back and met Vander's gaze.
"I'm sorry," Silco said. "For killing you."
"It's fine." Vander smiled. "Besides, I did plenty of things to wrong you too. People change."
"Back then, you couldn't understand why I chose compromise. And I couldn't understand why, after seeing all that misery, you still refused to give up." Vander's voice softened. "But now… maybe I can understand you."
"So I owe you an apology too, brother. For betraying you."
Vander lifted his glass and drank.
"But for Zaun's future… like she used to say—one of the most important lessons in life is to…"
Silco narrowed his eyes. In his mind, her figure surfaced—Vi and Jinx's mother, Vander's closest friend, Silco's companion… a woman who'd always been a little vain.
Silco finished the sentence for him:
"Learn to let go."
//Check out my P@tre0n for 10 extra free chapters //[email protected]/Razeil0810