Song: Play with fire (Sam Tinnesz)
When they left the office, all three of them wore medallions bearing the Mikaelson family crest.
They were not merely medallions.
They were identification badges, recognized by both Enforcers and ordinary citizens.
More importantly, the medallions displayed the status of the clan to which their bearer belonged.
The ones they wore were black, scattered with tiny points of light.
Together, they resembled a star-filled night sky.
It was the highest rank a clan could possess, surpassed only by that of the Council families themselves.
Later, they would visit authorized tailors and craftsmen who could imprint the family crest onto any clothing they desired.
Naturally, the appearance of those emblems—and their color—turned heads.
Especially when people noticed the medallion hanging around Jinx’s neck.
The looks they received were stunned.
Fortunately, few people paid enough attention.
And when they glanced again, the medallions had become silver.
An ordinary color, though still superior to bronze.
Most passersby assumed they had imagined what they had seen and returned to their business.
Meanwhile, the members of the newly established clan disappeared into the crowd.
Two months later
Jinx POV
“I’m telling you, all you have to do is sign the damn papers and they’ll stop bothering you,” Jinx said.
She was sitting in a corner of the bar, trying to convince a few patrons that officially registering a clan would give them more rights.
She had seen the reality of the situation.
Since the clan’s creation, Hope had the family crest embroidered onto many of their clothes.
Every time Jinx saw the emblem on the jackets she wore, she felt a strange sense of joy.
The feeling of belonging somewhere.
Of having a home.
She hadn’t felt that since her older sister Vi.
She was even surprised she could think that name now.
Before, the mere mention of her sister would have triggered an episode.
But now, although she could still suffer from panic attacks, the hallucinations were gone.
When she realized that, she had wrapped Hope in her arms.
That woman—that beautiful woman—had given her a new life.
Over the past two months, Hope had spent her time investing their money in various Piltovan businesses.
According to her, if they wanted to improve life in the Undercity, they first needed to establish themselves firmly within Piltover’s landscape and then become indispensable.
The Mikaelson name was being heard more and more often, but the clan head and its members remained discreet.
They preferred to work through intermediaries and stay out of sight.
In Piltover, that wasn’t considered unusual.
Why do something yourself when you could pay someone else to do it?
Meanwhile, Jinx had been forced to come to terms with the fact that this fortune now belonged to her as well.
And for a Zaunite, that was a lot to process.
She rolled her eyes as she remembered Hope’s lecture:
“How to Be Rich and Stay Rich 101.”
But the most shocking thing had been the change in attitude from the Pilties whenever she showed her emblem.
They never smiled at her.
But they also no longer looked at her as though she were dirt stuck to the bottom of their shoe.
The prices were the same as everyone else’s.
Sometimes she even felt that if she changed the way she dressed, they might be friendlier.
Jinx was angry.
Angry at the Councilors and the elites who maintained the gulf between the two cities for their own benefit.
She hated those Pilties who judged people simply because they didn’t belong to an officially recognized clan.
She was angry.
All the time.
Her family was the only thing keeping her afloat.
Because she was certain that under different circumstances, she would have found a way to make those Councilors disappear.
Fuck the Kirammans.
Fuck the Medardas.
Fuck the damn Council.
So, in order to feel like she was changing something, she had started informing Zaunites about their rights.
It wasn’t going very well.
Her audience shook their heads and stared into their drinks as though she hadn’t said a word.
She had forgotten just how stubborn Zaunites could be.
“Jinx!”
She turned toward Silco, who was gesturing for her to come to his office.
When she sat down, he sighed.
“What exactly do you think you’re doing?
Talking to them about rights, freedoms, and Pilties?”
“But it’s true, Silco.
With a clan, they can own property.
They don’t have to end up in Stillwater Prison with nobody even knowing what happened to them!”
“Enough!” he snapped.
“I forgave you for ruining an important shipment.
That was my mistake.
I said nothing when you confessed that you’d married a woman you still haven’t introduced me to.
When exactly am I going to meet this ‘Hope’ you talk about so much?
Or is she just another hallucination?
Or maybe she’s too much of a coward to meet me.”
The instant those words left his mouth, the barrel of a pistol was pressed against his forehead.
“One more word about Hope.
Just one.
And I’ll forget that you raised me.”
Her voice was cold.
“I don’t care if you talk about my hallucinations.
I really don’t.
But Hope is off-limits.”
“Fine.
Fine.
I won’t say another word about her.”
He sighed.
“But try seeing this from my perspective.
My beloved daughter gets married without telling me to some mysterious woman I’ve never met.
She burns down my property—it was money, Jinx.
Money that could have brought us closer to independence.
Not only do you destroy my warehouse, but now you’re talking about officially registering clans.
What comes next?
Are you going to attend one of their balls?
You know perfectly well that official clans aren’t part of our traditions.”
“They aren’t Zaunite because it’s easier for them to make us invisible!” Jinx shouted.
“When are you going to realize you’re playing their game, Silco?”
“I know!” he yelled back, rising to his feet.
“Do you think I don’t know their laws?
I know their secrets.
Their disgusting manipulations.
I know, Jinx.”
She stared at him in disbelief.
“Then why?”
“Why don’t I say anything?” he replied.
“Because most people in this city will never have enough money to make it a reality.”
“If they save—”
“They don’t even have enough money to feed their children,” he interrupted.
“And you want to give them another burden?”
He sat back down.
“Having a clan won’t erase the hatred between our cities.
We are sister cities that cannot be reconciled.
Zaun wants its freedom.
Its own laws.
That’s my hope for the future.”
“But Shimmer isn’t going to give us that independence.
It’s poison.
It’s rotting our own roots.
You know it.”
“Maybe.
But it’s a beginning.
Money.
Jobs in my factories.
A future that doesn’t depend on Piltover.”
Jinx sighed.
She refused to believe that drug trafficking was the answer.
How long would it take before things truly changed?
Decades?
She would live a long time.
A very long time, if what Landon had written was true.
But she didn’t want to become Heimerdinger—someone who let time solve everything and passed the burden onto the next generation.
“I know that look.
You feel powerless.
It’s how I felt my entire life.
Maybe I’m getting too old.”
Jinx clenched her fists in frustration.
“I’m not giving up.
And if it doesn’t work the first time, I’ll try again.
Something has to change.
She’ll find a way.
She always finds a way.”
“Hope.
Always Hope,” Silco said.
“When are you finally going to introduce me to her?”
A faint smile appeared on Jinx’s lips.
“I want to meet the person who puts that smile on my daughter’s face.”
“Fine.
I’m inviting you to dinner tomorrow night.
Wait for me at the entrance at seven o’clock.
Don’t be late.”
She paused.
“And please, Silco, keep an open mind.
You’re not the best father in the world, but you’re not the worst either.”
The last part sounded almost like an afterthought as she left the room.
She didn’t hear Silco’s reply.
“Oh, Felicia.
That child has your fire.
I only hope no one extinguishes hers the way yours was extinguished.”
He murmured the words into the empty room.
Jinx walked through the streets of the city before slipping into an alleyway.
When she reappeared, she was standing in front of a large gate.
She looked up at the manor that had become her home.
Here and there, the clan crest could be seen, lending the estate an air of power.
At first, she had refused to move.
Especially if it meant living like a Piltie.
The tent lacked privacy now that Klaus was their roommate.
Her old hideout could return to its original purpose—being a workshop rather than both a home and a workshop.
And she could return there whenever she wanted thanks to a teleportation spell.
She had wanted to learn the spell herself, but it was far too complicated for a beginner.
Her medallion served as an anchor point and was linked to three locations: the alleyway near the bar, her hideout, and the manor.
That way, she wouldn’t be cut off from her roots.
And she could still blow things up in her hideout without having to endure one of Hope’s lectures.
That woman could talk…
For a very long time.
Eventually, Jinx had grown to love the house.
For reasons she would never admit out loud.
The private wing reserved for the two of them.
The soundproofing spell.
She wanted to hear her wife scream her name as often as she liked without having to worry about meeting Klaus’s gaze the next morning.
And the bathroom.
Daily showers had stopped being a luxury and become a necessity.
She had become thoroughly spoiled.
She walked through the hallways before stopping in front of a door.
She knocked softly.
“Come in, my love.”
Hope was sitting in front of an easel, a paintbrush in her hand.
Jinx stepped up behind her and wrapped her arms around her, burying her face in her beloved’s neck.
“Who are they?” Jinx asked, looking at the portrait of two girls, one brunette and one blonde.
“Josie and Lizzie.
My friends,” Hope replied in a melancholy tone.
“You miss them.”
“Yes.
And yet we all tried to kill each other at least once.”
Hope smiled faintly.
“I killed Lizzie.
The only reason she survived was because she had drunk my blood beforehand and turned into a vampire.”
“I’ve learned that turning your enemies into friends is a Mikaelson family tradition.”
A soft laugh escaped Hope.
“You’re not wrong.”
Her smile faded slightly.
“I just hope they’re okay.
Even if I eventually become fully attuned to this world, I don’t know if I’ll ever see them again.”
“I’m sure that somehow, someday, you’ll be reunited.”
“Is that a premonition?” Hope asked before pressing a kiss to her cheek.
“No.
An intuition.”
“Then I hope you’re right.”
Hope set down her brush and turned slightly toward her.
“Now, can you tell me why I felt a tremendous amount of anger from you earlier, followed by a great deal of sadness?”
Her expression softened.
“You know you can talk to me, Jinx.”
Jinx looked around the room that Hope had slowly transformed into an art studio.
She had discovered that art was another thing they had in common, even if their styles were very different.
“I like what you’ve done with this place.
It’s like, whenever I open the door, I step into Hope’s world.”
She smiled softly.
“It’s a world I love.
Just like I love you.”
“And I love you too,” Hope replied.
“But you’re trying to change the subject, sweetheart.
What’s wrong?”
Jinx sighed.
“He knew, Hope.
Silco knew about the clans.”
Her jaw tightened.
“But he didn’t do anything about it.”
She looked away.
“And…
and I can’t even blame him.”
“The Zaunites are too poor.
They’re already struggling just to survive.
How can I ask them to make that kind of sacrifice for such a small result?”
“Even if they become officially recognized, Piltover isn’t suddenly going to give them better jobs.”
“They die in those mines for a few copper coins, and when they ask for more, they get eliminated.”
She clenched her fists.
“And Silco’s plan only pushes them deeper into poverty.
With no future, they become easy prey for Shimmer dealers.”
Hope gently kissed her and smiled.
“If Piltover’s clans won’t offer them opportunities, then let our clan carry that burden.”
She took Jinx’s hands in her own.
“We’ll help them.”
“Until they’re ready to rise up and claim their place.”
“Whether that happens through Zaun’s independence or by some other path.”
“Hope Mikaelson, why do you always find a way to make me fall even more in love with you?” Jinx said with a smile.
Hope always managed to pull her out of whatever dark hole she had trapped herself in.
“It’s the Mikaelson charm,” Hope replied with a wink.
“Oh, by the way, I invited Silco to dinner tomorrow night,” Jinx added casually.
A scream echoed through the halls of the manor.
“YOU DID WHAT?!”