Layla

I sat at J's desk in another spinning chair, resting my feet on the desk in front of me while helping her work on trying to activate the gemstone. She left a couple minutes ago to go get us drinks from downstairs, she grabbed one of her pink smoke bombs before going. Probably going to mess with the bartender working the night shift. I flipped through the pages of the instruction book to see if I could find how far I need to turn the knob to contain the gemstone from releasing too much energy like it did for J the other day. She's been working on this for days now and when I'm not with Ekko or at work, I come here to spend time with the younger girl.

Silco had told me to help her so she doesn't accidentally go too far and blow it up, no matter how powerful and cold he acts I know he feels deeply for the girl. He would never want to lose her, just like me, he wants to protect her. But he thinks the love he gives her is good, but he made her into the girl version of himself. He cares for her, they're closer than her and Vander ever were, but it's slowly killing her inside with him putting things in her head that isn't true. I try telling her the opposite, the truth about Vi's intentions towards the girl, but Silco is the virus in her head that makes her believe anything he says.

I'm the only one who has kept the tiny part of Powder left in her, I only see that part come out when it's just us. Just like Ekko is my brother, she will always be a little sister to me. I'll protect her from him, she's better when he's not breathing down her neck but his affection is fake, his feelings towards her deep down are real. But he wants to erase Vander from her mind just like he did in his, he wants to shape her and morph her into something that will never be her.

"So if this connects to here, this should contain it from becoming too powerful like the other day." I said nonchalantly as she waltzed in with a cheeky smile on her face. I held the book open on the desk with one hand, while reaching out to grab my drink from her outstretched hand. I was mad at her for acting impulsively and making a scene in Piltover to get this thing, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't intrigued with this gemstone. Plus it gives her something to do other than listen to Silcos "words of wisdom" and keeps her from terrorizing the citizens of Piltover.

If she goes after one of Silcos men, I obviously join her and find the same humor in freaking them out a bit. But I try my best to keep her focused on letting all her pent up energy on his guys than our people, most of them are innocent after all. His men though? They deserve every hurtful prank that we give them, that's what they get for working for the enemy.

"Sweet, let's fire this bad boy up." She said before sitting down in the chair next to me. I took my feet off the desk before leaning forward towards the device. I handed her the gemstone so she could put it in its place so we could test it out.

She pulled back and we both put on our goggles, my hands grew clammy as I nervously set my hand on the knob. "Here goes nothing."

I twisted it to the right just like the book said, the machine started up and started spinning. I bit my lip in anticipation as we watched it contain the energy the gemstone gave off, particles started bouncing around the room spinning in circles matching the machine.

It's working!

We laughed maniacally before fluttering our fingers together and spinning around in our chairs.  Her braids wrapped around her arms as she spun and I leaned my head back closing my eyes in relief, thank god it worked I really didn't want to die today.

I felt the energy coursing from the machine throughout the entire room, it gave me goosebumps as my skin began to tingle. We just sat there watching the magic we made before J stopped spinning and looked at me, her eyes lighting up from the electricity lights.

"It worked! Agh let's go show Silco! He's gonna be so pleased." J jumped up from her seat and started skipping towards the door, I turned the knob to shut off the machine. She turned around when she saw I wasn't following, I grabbed my bag and put it on my back.

"Silco went up to Piltover to talk to Marcus, but I don't think he took his pet." She smiled at me wickedly at my statement, rubbing her hands together like some evil witch who was gonna cast a spell on our favorite one-armed lady. I rolled my eyes at her, "Just don't kill the woman. I have to get to work so I sadly can't join."

"Ugh you're gonna miss all the fun." She whined before coming over to me and sticking out her hand to do our handshake. We ended with a lame fist explosion and started walking down the stairs. I playfully pushed her after she made a crude joke about one of my coworkers and she responded by ruffling my hair. We laughed before saying goodbye, I screamed at her about how I love her until she finally said it back.

I walked out of the Last Drop and headed towards the club, the sky dimmed as I got closer letting me know it's sundown. I smiled as Shimmer and Shine came into view, teenagers were lined up all around the corner. All of them eager to get inside, I walked towards the front doors and my bouncers, Luk and Ty, lit up when they saw me.

"L-Dawg! Where've you been gorgeous?" Luk shouted as Ty rolled his eyes, I laughed at his usual flirty self.

"Hey, Laybug." Ty said as he continued standing with his hands held in front of him, he's the one who's all serious while Luk is a class clown, but both have the looks of a god. They're both extremely good looking, if I were straight I'd take one of them for myself.

"How are my two favorite bodyguards?" I teased them as I walked through the door they were holding open for me, both of them groaned and hid their grins. I turned back around real quick to see them both giving my back the finger, I barked out a laugh. They hate it when I use that word to describe them, it's hilarious. I walked backwards and joked, "I could always move you guys to in here..."

Ty quickly dropped his finger and turned back around, Luk put a hand to his chest and gasped appalled that I would say such a thing. "You wouldn't dare!"

I turned back around and giggled mischievously as I walked farther into my club, the song "Alter Ego" by Doechii blasted through the speakers, making the building shake. I waved at Freida and Hunter behind the bar, they smiled and waved back. I walked around the crowd, smiling and thanking the partiers who complemented my club and said hi. I love that everyone knows me, it makes me so happy that people are comfortable enough to say hi to me out of nowhere.

I continued up the stairs with the LED lights lighting them up to the second floor. Still walking around the men in jeans and nice shirts and women in extremely small pieces of clothing, everyone looking like they're having a good time. I used my key to open up the "employee's only" door on the back wall above the stage. I took off my jacket and sat down in my ratty chair, I ran my hands down my face as I tried finding the strength to start the mountain of paperwork I had on my desk. After a minute I scooted closer to my desk and started working on bills and going through job applicants for bartenders, dancers and performers.

Now for years, I've been the only main performer here but I finally put up the help wanted sign. Since Nicks has been inviting me to more of his parties, his generous payment has been helping both the Firelights and us here. Even though nobody is happy about me finding new singers, I can't be the only performer here forever. I told them to suck it up and Fran threw his shoe at me, again.

I looked at the broken clock that read 12 am, so really it's almost 10 because that clock is over two hours ahead. I've just never gotten the chance or had the energy to fix it. I stretched my hands over my head and yawned before getting up, I walked over to the spiral staircase that led down to backstage where my dancers got ready. Squeals and laughter filled the air as I walked into the chaotic dressing area, no one noticed me yet so I could stand here and look around until they did. I saw Fran kicking the band out to the stage to go set up while the girls got dressed, JuJu blew a kiss to her boyfriend and our lead guitarist, Nile.

Fran turned around looking overwhelmed but he put his hands up in sarcastic glee, "OMG as I live and breathe. The famous Layla Bear has finally come home to us." I laughed at his passive aggressive attitude, he's one of my best friends and hates that I'm not always around now that I'm the boss. He hates being left to deal with our coworkers alone, even though they all love him, he can be so grumpy at times when he hasn't gotten laid in a while.

The girls all turned to the stairs and screamed, Luna took my hand and brought me down off the steps as the girls gave me a group hug. I laughed as they asked me a million questions at once, it's so funny how similar they are to the Firelight kids as they welcome me home.

"Hey girl!"

"We've missed you!"

"Lay does this corset look too tight?"

"My costume ripped earlier today, do you think you could fix it?"

"Please tell me you're here to perform!" Zuri screamed, making the girls go nuts as I shook my head and tried calming them down.

"No, no I'm just here to check on everything and say hi." I said and the room went silent, the girls gave me a look and I tried not to show how much I was dying to say yes. I haven't performed with my crew in a while, I've been so busy that I barely get time to come down here anymore. Fran came through the girls and put a hand on his hip, he gave me a sassy look and I rolled my eyes in defeat. "Well maybe just one song..."

The girls all cheered and I told them to get ready, Fran smiled widely before putting his arm over mine. "Welcome back love bug, I missed you. Now let's make you sexy-ier than you already are."

I laughed as he brought us into the wardrobe room, "Nice save, Franklin." He gasped at my use of his legal name and smacked me in the arm, I laughed and ran away from him to find an outfit.

I let out a tiny squeal in excitement as I thought of which song to sing.

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Hello my loves! I included a video of the performance from my fav movie, Burlesque. Now just picture this scene happening but with a more run down look and less flashy, just like how the Undercity is.