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Go, his eyes say to Vi and her topsider friend. Caitlyn? He wanted to go with them, to show that damn marble to the great and mighty Council himself, but she's here. He has to buy them time. A few minutes to get across the bridge.
He turns back to her. He steels himself, not against the bullets, but against the sight.
Go, a voice that sounds like Claggor, who she killed, says to her. She thinks about it. It's a tempting prospect. She has the stone, so Silco won't be mad when she comes back, fuck him, who cares what he thinks, he's evil evil EVIL and she wants so, so badly to scream Go, then. Fuck you, Vi! You abandoned me and now I'm abandoning you and I'm leaving leaving leaving not coming back I hate you I Hate You, but does she? Vi did come back, it took so long but she's back and she came just like she said but then she left, again but it's not her fault she got taken she couldn't help it maybe leaving me the first time wasn't her fault either of course it wasn't it's mine all mine I'm just a stupid Jinx
The leader of the Firelights moves in front of her as Vi walks away again. He's younger than she realized, about her age. There's something else there, she can see it, some injury he's hiding, but she doesn't know what it is. His pride, maybe? She pushes at that, hoping to weaken him, because how dare he think her sister has to be protected from her she does, everyone she cares about does, she just hurt hurt hurts people.
"Oh look who it is, the boy savior," and that hurts.
He's fought all sorts hopped up on Shimmer, but Jinx might be the most dangerous enemy he's ever faced. And that's without considering his own personal difficulties with her. He tries to remind himself that it's not her, that she died on that damn job he gave them. Tries to remember that Powder is dead and gone and up on the mural where he mourns everyone he's ever cared about. Something in him whispers that Vi's alive, that she came back, so why can't-
Stop. He needs to stop. Remember who she really is, how dangerous she is, how not a few days ago she threw grenades at his comrades with such force it knocked them off an airship-
And then he realizes. Remembers and realizes and knows exactly what he needs to do to stall her. And of course, of course, it's the one thing that would hurt him the most. Because Jinx is made of his failures and brings him nothing but pain and the memories of everything that's been taken from him.
Jinx likes to play pretend. She pretended to be harmless, to be confused, and then she exploded people on either side of him. If he gives her a chance, if he makes the offer, she might even pretend to be Powder again, long enough for Vi to get away.
It hurts, more than anything's hurt since he watched Benzo die, since he killed all of his friends and plunged the entire damn undercity into this hell with a fucking tip about a job , but he has to. For Vi. For the undercity. And for himself. Because as much as it hurts, maybe if he can see Powder's shadow, it'll be worth it.
He smiles, and lets the watch start swinging.
For the first time, she sees him. She knew it, knew there was something familiar about the Firelight leader. The man the boy she used to be friends with has become stands before her, almost ready to fight. But he's not, he's smiling and she sees the watch. He swings it back and forth, the way he always does.
She laughs. It's been so long since she's laughed at anything other than how fragile everyone seems to be, but here she is, laughing at the absurdity of everything. Laughing with happiness that she has one friend left. Does she? She must, right? The watch means it's time to play their game the watch means it's time, that's funny, she laughs more and if they're playing games they must be friends. She gets ready to play, clicks out the cartridge, reloads the gun.
She takes one step back, but the few inches it crosses turn into a decade, and she keeps her eyes on the watch.
The laugh alone hurts more than any of her bullets ever could. He tries to focus. If he wants to win the game, he's going to need to be smart. He remembers all the thing's he's learned, all the thing's he's taught to the newest Firelights. Anyone can dodge bullets. Bullets go where they're pointed, and all you have to do is not be there. Remember, the bullet's not what's trying to kill you, so you don't have to be faster than the bullet. You just have to be faster than the person firing it.
He remembers how the game goes, how she plays, and for a second he could swear he sees Powder, making a V with her fingers and laughing at him. He remembers every time they've ever played this game, sees Powder shooting, Jinx shooting, Powder celebrating her victory. Jinx firing paint at him, Powder's look of concentration and joy on her face. It all flashes through his mind in the moment it takes to swing his watch into his hand and click the button.
He moves. No time for stillness or hesitation, play the game and bullet incoming, duck under it, win, play the game like you've played it a thousand two more coming in, leap over, times before, you know all her moves, push up and wind back and jump oh fuck fuck FUCK.
He didn't account for recoil. The gun doesn't fire paint, it's a real gun, and it pushes her arm far enough that it lines up a perfect shot into his chest. He's dead, he knows he's dead, but he can't do anything to stop it.
He's better than she remembers. He gets so close, but then he jumps and that's a mistake because there's nothing to move against in midair, and she has a perfect shot to the chest. Should she take it? Yes, he's the enemy, he leads the Firelights, you tried to kill him several times already. She decides not to. The paint in the gun wouldn't slow him down enough to stop him from crashing into her, so he'll win either way. Might as well prepare for the impact. That sword staff, staff, the weapon of the enemy is gonna hurt.
She goes down. He doesn't get why she didn't kill him. Must've gotten too lost in pretending. Doesn't matter. Prioritize. Disarm her. The gun goes flying off to the side. Keep her down. He does. Staff across the neck. He half kneels, half falls on top of her. Winds back, punches. Slams the staff across her throat back down. She's lashing out, pushing and slapping at his face. He doesn't notice. He doesn't care. She's bleeding from the hit across the face. He pulls his hand back again, ready to give her a real punch.
He's ready.
He is.
But he can't. Or maybe he just doesn't want to. He should. He really, really, should. It's not her. It's not. It's n o t. It's not and it will never be again and that's all your fault and now it's time to fix your fucking mistake.
But damnit, she's good at pretending. She has to be. Because all he sees, for just a moment, is Powder.
And then he sees something so much worse. He sees Powder's tears. Jinx could never fake those. The only tears Jinx cries are mocking, and Jinx is never scared. The face in front of him is scared, and pleading, and P o w d e r.
And that's all it takes to break him.
He's hammering into her, and it hurts and she deserves it because she's a goddamn good for nothing jinx and no matter how she tries to fight back, nothing works. He pulls back his fist Vi's fist, hitting her for the first time, and it's more painful than she could have ever imagined to punch her, probably hard enough to knock her out.
And then he pauses.
She watches his face shift. It goes from determined anger to recognition to acknowledgement. He sees her, really sees her. And she sees how much it hurts him. So she decides. She gives him a present and a price.
She tries for a smile. There's too much pain, too many fake, cruel smiles built up in her for a full one to work, but she pulls up the corners of her mouth. She wants him to know, at least, that it's not hatred of frustration towards him that drives her next action. She wants him to know she's at peace with what's about to happen.
She hurts, and not from bruises or a broken nose. Being Jinx hurts, when she sees the things Powder cared about.
She wants to stop hurting.
She wants to stop hurting him.
She pulls the pin.
He sees her pull the pin. He dives to the side. And in another world, that's all he does. In another world, he becomes just another person who left her, and she blows herself up, and everything goes wrong and they're stuck fighting forever, the master of time against the monster with something like Shimmer running through her veins.
But here, he has two more seconds. And that's all it takes. There's no time to process what he's doing, there's just him and Powder and his instincts.
He dives to the side.
His fist comes down on her.
It hurts her, when he moves. She was hoping that maybe, maybe if she dies looking at Ekko, it won't hurt as much, because he doesn't want to hurt her.
He's the only one, she realizes. He's the only one left who doesn't want to hurt her. Sevika and the others make no pretense. The topsiders all want her dead. Vi hit her and left her, for blowing up their family. Even Silco, who's lied and pretended for so long, first came to her holding a knife behind his back and she saw it, he thinks she didn't but she did and she remembers it every night when she goes to sleep. Ekko is her enemy, but he's the only person, including all her allies, who never wanted to be.
She wants find peace in his face, but it's gone, and all she has left is two more lonely seconds. And his fist, wrapping around her arm.
And then she's moving, flying up into the air and over him.
She sees his face again, beneath her and filled once more with determination, but unlike before, there's no rage there, no anger.
They turn together, and even though she slams to the ground, it's different. Because there's no force in it, no trying to pin her down. He's coming up and around again, just a bit, getting over her, but he's not pushing her down, the angle's wrong. He wraps himself around her, and the world gets loud.
The explosion hurts. And yet, somehow, he's in less pain then he's been for a decade.
Vi is back. Powder's ok. He didn't kill them. And that knowledge takes so much pain away, it's absence overwhelms anything so small and meaningless as burns and shrapnel.
It's not that easy, of course. Things will never be quite the same again. Scars are cut deep into everyone. But they'll recover, and keep trying, and maybe find something that brings them peace.
The stone will be that something for Piltover and Zaun, he's sure of it.
And their game will be that something for him and for her.