Chapter Text
“What’s the full story, Ekko? You’ve been acting weird today,” Scar bluntly asked. Outwardly, he kept his face cool. Inwardly, his mind was swimming. If it weren’t for his leader and best friend talking extra fancy, he’d be worried the other man started experimenting. He was pretty confident that Shimmer didn’t make someone talk like a Piltie though.
“I-. I think you are going to need to sit down and also give me more time to stall and figure out how to explain this without sounding-.” Scar slowly sat down when Ekko spewed something that he didn’t understand.
“Without sounding what? What the hell, man?” Maybe Ekko was on something.
Ekko stared up at him aghast from his spot on the other bench. “Janna, this universe sucks,” he moaned. “No one even taught you how to swear in-. Kurva.”
“No idea what that word is either. Ekko, what is going on?”
“Right. I’m just going to say it and hope you don’t think I’ve gone insane. You know how I talked about that fucking magic bomb? While Heimer and I are pretty certain it can swap you with your alternate self from another universe. Oh, and apparently move you through time because I seem to be a year in the fucking past, too. That or I’m having the most fucked up nightmare of my life and will wake up to my nieces jumping on me.”
Scar slowly blinked a few times before deadpanning, “What.”
“Yeah, went to sleep in bed and woke up in the fucking HexGates with a fucking magical bomb next to me. Our best guess is that your Ekko and Heimer got too close to the thing, and it swapped us. We are hoping they are in our native universe. I have no idea how to prove it to you. Mel was easier because your Ekko did not know her, and I knew too much about her.”
“Mel? Who the hell were you talking to earlier?”
“Mel Medarda.”
“What?”
Ekko leaned back with his arms crossed. “She’s married to a Zaunite in my universe. My and Heimer’s working thesis is that everything has gone to shit in this universe because my hot older brother figure either died young or was never born,” was muttered tiredly. He sighed mournfully and pushed his hair out of his face.
“Ekko doesn’t have a big brother.” Scar would know. They bonded over losing their families all those years ago. There had been no mentions of siblings outside of the bonds forged at the Firelight Tree.
“Viktor and Mel adopted me the day after Benzo was murdered. I talk more like a Piltie because I had to move to Piltover when I was eleven to keep me safe from Silco. V’s a Zaunite who grew up in the Fissures, so he doesn’t speak the Zaunite dialect of PIltovan. He grew up speaking Old Zaunite and would be appalled you don’t even know how to swear-. Right. He taught me starting when I was seven, and I taught my Firelight friends. Does me being fluent in Old Zaunite make me more credible?”
“You using the word credible makes you more credible. Ekko doesn’t talk like that, man. Smartest guy I know, but he doesn’t talk like that.”
“My brother is a giant nerd. Blame him. I’ve known him since I was five. He’s the most consistent adult in my life.”
Definitely not his leader then. “Say I believe you. What should we be doing?”
“I don’t know. I need more information. I was going to tell you the truth even before I realized I had no chance of faking being your Ekko. I just know this Zaun is a mess because my brother doesn’t seem to exist. That or he died young. Zaun’s not the safest place, and he was on his own at ten. I always knew he was influential, but I never appreciated how much.”
“His name is Viktor?” Scar asked and scratched his chin.
“Yeah, just Viktor before he married.”
“Mmhm. I might have an idea. How’d he end up Topside anyway?”
“Heimer went to fix an air filter and found Viktor finishing up the job. Basically adopted him and sponsored him at the Academy. He was eighteen.” That would do it.
“I mean, what if Viktor finished his repairs before the yordle got here? Have you considered your brother just didn’t make it Topside here? He could be down here somewhere.”
Ekko gave him a skeptical look with the littlest sparks of hope. “I… guess that is possible. I met him through Benzo though! Viktor comes off as intimidating, but he’s really kind. He wouldn’t have abandoned my other self! He wouldn’t!”
“Maybe he wasn’t close to Benzo here? It was pretty well known he was Vander’s friend and an enemy of Silco. Would he have a reason to keep his head down if he stayed down here?” Scar could see himself being way bolder if he spent most of his time Topside.
Ekko immediately made a disgruntled face of realization. It was almost comforting seeing the familiar expression. “Right. Right. I suppose my trans brother with several significant health issues would try to avoid the turf war without Heimer’s and eventually Mel’s protection. He does use a wheelchair on his bad leg days.”
Scar politely did not mention he was surprised this Viktor survived that long in Ekko’s universe. Assuming this was real. It didn’t change the fact that traffickers liked targeting transmen, and it sounded like this Viktor would be easy pickings.
Yeah, they were going to have to do a search for this guy. He might need a rescue. Scar was always more than happy to raid traffickers and free the victims. “How are your art skills?”
The other Ekko pursed his lips, another familiar expression that meant the younger guy felt awkward. “I have a degree in Fine Arts from the Academy. I feel the need to mention I used my big fancy senior project to educate Pilties on graffiti and the importance of street art in Zaun. Mel thinks it would’ve ended up at in at least the temporary exhibits at the museum if Jinx hadn’t graffitied it. After we finish our initial plans, can you explain to me what the fuck is going on with Jinx, by the way? I saw the wanted posters, and the Jinx I know didn’t do anything to warrant that much heat. She’s been pardoned,” was rambled.
Scar took a moment to consider a world where a counselor married a trencher. Things were hopefully very different. “It’s a long story, but she’s currently like The symbol for the revolution.”
“I… guess I will awkwardly add now that Zaun is recognized as a territory within Piltover with its own council and leader. A revolution was unnecessary. Piltover has a, uh, monarchy now after all but two of the Piltie Councilors were taken out of commission. Zaun’s leader reports to the monarch.”
“A monarchy.”
“Um, from what V told me, Mel was looking to simply be like the overall executive to make final decisions and deal with diplomatic bullshit, but Councilor Hoskel pushed to establish the Medarda monarchy.”
“Zaun was okay with that?” Scar asked skeptically. A monarchy? What was this? Demacia 2.0?
“Mel worked really hard to earn Zaun’s respect over the years. She was quick to get busy once Viktor opened her eyes. First Topsider to really give a damn about our nation. One of the first things she did as monarch was recognize Zaun as a mostly independent territory and completely freeing them from the rest of the Piltie Council. It lets Zaun pretty much self-govern while still having access to Piltover’s resources we still need. Eve sits on the Zaun Council.”
“I see you didn’t look at our mural. Jinx killed Eve a couple months ago.” He… had mixed feelings about blue-haired symbol, but even Scar could agree Jinx was their best bet if they ever wanted free of Piltover’s tyranny. They were basically at war with Piltover right now.
Brown eyes stared at him in shock and horror. Ekko hastily wiped away his unshed tears and whispered, “Oh. I-. I wasn’t really ready to look at that. I’m so sorry, man.”
“I… appreciate it. I just hope we don’t have to add my leader.”
“Yeah… If you couldn’t guess, you’re the Firelight leader in my world. I’m the Firelight’s mechanic.”
“I guess I need to keep stepping up then. Who is Zaun’s leader?” It sounded like someone they should seek out.
“My brother. It doesn’t hurt that the monarch and the current leader are happily married,” was the wry response. Of fucking course. No wonder this Ekko was so fixated on the absence of his brother. It wasn’t just personal. Man was important.
“Okay. What do you do? I can’t see a Piltie nepo baby just acting as our mechanic. No offense.”
Ekko waved him off. “I’m good at science and engineering, but my focus is continuing my family’s efforts to improve Zaun. I, uh, have already been tapped as Zaun’s next leader. I’m taking over as soon as we all feel I’m ready. Vik’s an academic, not a politician. He just happens to be the only person who wasn’t going to get immediately ganked.” Huh, Scar could see his best friend leading their people now that the other Ekko mentioned it.
More importantly, they needed to see if they could find this brother. Maybe if they found him more resources, their Viktor could also help Zaun. Assuming the man was still alive and not completely traumatized, of course.
“Right, we got off-track. Can you make up some posters, so we can start asking around? I want to see if we can find anything on this guy. Maybe ask Medarda, too, if you think it’s smart to keep talking to her.”
“I’ll ask. She’s going to search for Jayce for us. What the hell is going on up there anyways? I’m going to need more time to pry it out of Mel. I know how to work her, but it takes time on my own.”
“Caitlyn Kiramman has gone off her rocker and terrorizing our people after Jinx bombed the council.”
Ekko opened and shut his mouth. “That-. That explains the wanted posters. Right, bigger issues right now. You can fill Heimer and me in more later if we have a moment. I’ll get busy drawing my brother. As long as you’re cool with it, I want to poke around my other self’s workshop and see if I can better utilize what you have. I… know I could end up a liability in the field, so I want to see how I can help in the background.”
“A liability?” In what world was Ekko a liability?
“I have a lot of self-defense training, but I never really needed to use it. I… had a pretty sheltered life since my adoption,” was muttered with definite guilt. At least he was self-aware and didn’t have his head up his own ass.
Scar clicked his tongue as pieces fell into place. “You’re basically Zaun’s prince, ain’t you?”
“I’d rather not be called that. Legally, no. Zaun has three princesses and one prince, A.K.A my nieces and nephew. Semantically, yeah. Unfortunately. I’ve been called the Diamond’s Heir for years now. I do what I can to help. I’ve been making the Firelights’ gear since I was like thirteen. I think that’s when we met? I was really excited to have people use my inventions.”
“…Ekko wasn’t able to finish the hoverboards until he was fifteen.” It was hard to find the time and resources to focus on them when they had other priorities like not dying.
“He also didn’t have access to a state-of-the-art lab, pretty much unlimited funding, and a genius brother-father who let him do pretty much whatever he wanted in the lab as long as he wasn’t being a reckless dumbass.”
“Posters first.”
“Aye, aye, boss man. You know these Firelights better than me. I’ll leave it up to you to decide what all they should know. I’ll start brainstorming more and making a list of shit we need to address.”
“Sounds like a plan. Workshop is in the bunker. You know where that is?”
“Yeah. Sounds like it’s the same place as my workshop back at my tree.” Brown eyes gave him a hesitant look before holding out his fist. Scar narrowed his eyes and started their secret handshake. Up, down, left, right, zigzag, bam. Huh. Same secret handshake.
Ekko gave him a small smile and left the room, heading towards the workshop. Janna, he even walked different.
What was he going to do? Scar knew he had some decisions to make. First, he needed to update the Firelights. His crew were going to clock Ekko. The more Scar was around him, the more it became obvious that this was not their Ekko.
Might as well get this over with. Fuck, how was he going to explain this without sounding insane?
~~~
Edna clapped her hands in front of her happily. Her bestest friends in the whole world were seated in front of her and ready for their miss-in.
“Now don’t forget your secret earrings!” she said to Noodle the Snake, Fuzzy the Spider, and Charlie the Dragon. She double checked that the fancy earrings she “found” in Uncle Ekko’s things were secured by their super-secret headbands. Hopefully Tata didn’t realize why she asked for black clothes for her friends. They needed to be extra super sneaky.
With a devious little giggle, she carefully packed her friends into her bookbag and adjusted her own secret earring. Edna still wasn’t sure how they worked, but she knew she needed them to secretly talk to her friends.
Miss-in Spy on Grandpa and Uncle Ekko was a go! Hopefully, she didn’t miss too much! The toddler quickly moved through the estate’s secret passages as quietly as she could. She was a sneaky spider, so it was easy! The hard part was holding back her giggles.
After double-checking the coast was clear, Edna cracked the door open just enough to check that her uncle and grandpa were actually there. She didn’t know why they were talking in secret, and Edna did not like not knowing secrets! All the secrets belonged to Edi! Didn’t they know that? Even Mama knew not to keep secrets from her!
Uncle Ekko was acting funny anyways, and her big sissy kept complaining that Grandpa wasn’t giving her new lessons. It was weird. They were keeping something from her! Her! She was Princess Edna Ximena Medarda-Talis! That meant she got to know everything she wanted! And she wanted to know everything!
Edna pulled out a cup and pressed it against the door. It was a trick Auntie Lora taught her!
“While I am disappointed to see my other self was also removed from the Council, I must admit I can appreciate it seems to be temporary after he was overworking himself,” she could make out Grandpa C saying. …other self?
“Scar had to protect me from fan girls, Heimer! Fan girls!” Uncle Ekko muttered. He sounded kind of crazy if Edna was being honest. And Mama said it’s always good to be honest. Unless lying would get you what you needed for your plans, of course! What Tata didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him. Edna knew lots of things Tata didn’t know like Grampy Rin creating Shimmer.
“I admit I was taken aback when I learned about the monarchy, but I can’t deny that it seems Piltover and Zaun are in good hands.”
“Was it the lack of gas masks or children safely playing in the streets?” Uncle Ekko sounded he had his sassy pants on! Why was he being sassy?
“That and so much more. Queen Mel made several justice reforms I would like to borrow. And I need to see if Viktor and Jayce would be willing to share the schematics for HexMail. It is very convenient!”
“I’m confused, besties,” Edna whispered to her plushie gang. She pulled Charlie out of her bag as back-up, hugging her dragon to her chest. Something felt weird. Biting her lip, she pulled out the super-secret spy recorder Papa made for her birthday. Tata tried to take it because he thought she was too young for miss-ins, but Tatas who forgot to change their passcodes didn’t get a say. Silly Tata never changed his safe room code from Aunt Jinx’s birthday.
She strapped the recorder to Fuzzy because Fuzzy was a spider. Spiders made the best spies! It’s why they were called spiders!
“I agree this world is strange, my boy, but I’ve yet to see anything I would stop,” Grandpa stated. …this world?
“Janna, I wish our world was like this one, Heimer. It’s… nice not being responsible for everything for once,” Uncle Ekko muttered. He sounded really tired which was weird. Edna was a good girl and didn’t wake him up last night. She promised Mama she’d let him sleep.
“I suppose you aren’t able to take proper breaks back home, are you?” Grandpa sounded sad. Why did Grandpa sound sad? And what does he mean back home? Uncle Ekko was home, and she and Sissy had a twelve-step plan to get Grandpa to move in.
“I-. I can tell the other Ekko still gets shit done, but he-. I don’t want to sound ungrateful to my crew. We all work hard. It’s-. It’s been eye opening having actual authority figures on my side. Do you think it’s worth talking to our Mel when we get home?”
“We can try, lad, but I fear she won’t be enough. Things have spiraled out of control.”
“We are desperate for more allies, at this point. I don’t think Talis is going to be any help until the native Viktor is found. I’ll arrange a search once we figure out how to get home. Is it bad that a part of me wants to wait a couple more days before we make any big moves?”
“And hope our other selves are taking steps to help our world and bring us home?”
“Yeah. I don’t want to stay here forever, but we should do more, uh, research. Yeah, research. We can learn a lot about this world to help ours.”
Edna had heard enough. Aliens! They were acting weird because they were aliens! Aliens from a planet with their own version of her family and somehow Grandpa and Uncle Ekko got switched! Luckily, she knew exactly what to do!
She turned off her recorder, gathered up her fellow spies, and dashed through the secret corridors.
Golden hazel eyes looked up when Edna burst through the secret passage entrance.
“SISSY! Grandpa and Uncle Ekko got replaced by alien versions of them! I think they’re stuck and not evil but Edi needs help!” she wailed and clung to her big sissy.
“…what?” Cecilia asked and blinked a few times.
“Listen! Listen! They keep talkin’ about another world! They’re aliens! Sissy! Aliens! And they think OUR grandpa and uncle are stuck on their world and don’t want to help getting back home!”
Cecilia accepted the recorder. “Didn’t Tata yell at Papa for making this and took it from you-? Oh, that’s why you gave me your cookie to get Papa to make an explosion last week! You could’ve told me, Edi! I’m your big sissy! I would’ve helped without a cookie!”
“…sorry, sissy.”
“It’s okay. Where’d Tata hide it anyways?”
“His secret room.”
“The one Aunt Jinx warned us about after she found something gross?”
“I was careful!” Who did Cecilia take her for? An am-a-turd? She was Princess Edna Ximena Medarda-Talis!
Edna hugged her stuffed animals and waited for her sister to finish listening to the recording. “Well?” she asked and stared up at her big sister.
Cecilia bobbed her head up and down. “Sounds like aliens, alright! Aliens who don’t know they’re supposed to be teaching me things! I knew Grandpa was acting funny!”
“Alien Ekko wasn’t making funny faces whenever he and Aunt Jinx touched hands or looked at each other too long at the sleepover,” Edna added. She always made sure to look out for it. She wasn’t really sure why he kept doing that, and sometimes Aunt Jinx’s face turned red!
“Isha still laughed at them, so I don’t think she’s an alien-. Their dreams! Alien Ekko and Alien Grandpa had those weird dreams earlier this week that told a story, and Alien Ekko kept staring at Papa like-! Alien Papa was with them, but he didn’t get swapped with our Papa!”
“You think they’re evil?”
“No, worse! I think they’re lazy! Poor Uncle Ekko and Grandpa are on an alien planet, and their alien twins want them to do all the work! Also kind of dumb. What do we do if we see a wild rune, sissy?”
“Run the other way and get Mama, Tata, or Papa in tha’ order.” Tata made sure she understood before she was allowed in the HexLab. No one but Mama or Grandpa Rudo were supposed to go near the wild runes.
“Exactly! I think the aliens were dummies who got too close. Tata did warn us that there’s no way of knowing what a wild rune could do.”
“Uh oh! What do we do, sissy?”
“This sounds like a job for Princess Wizard Knight Cecilia!”
Edna sat on the floor and watched her big sister get ready. Cecilia pulled down her big star-covered magic hat that used to be Papa’s and carefully put one of her tiaras on it.
“Do you need help?” she asked.
“I need a tutu!”
“Okay.” Edna scurried over to Cecilia’s closet and pulled down the biggest, poofiest pink tutu her sister owned. It was almost as big as Edna! She liked purple better, but she knew pink was her sissy’s favorite. Her favorite color would make her sissy stronger! That’s how it worked!
“Thanks, Edi!” Her big sister pulled on the tutu, strapped her sword from Grandma Bessa on her back, and placed the hat on her head. Her big sister was so cool!
Cecilia pulled her sword out and pointed it to the ceiling. “Princess Wizard Knight Cecilia reporting for duty!”