Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It was supposed to be quick and easy. Get in, get all they need and get right back out. Alas, it seems that Ekko was simply too curious and way too nice.

In all technicality, they wanted to get some money in order to buy food and supplies for the Firelights, but then he thought, since he was already in the palace, wouldn’t it be nice to check out this crystal he’s heard so many rumors about. These Piltover Scientists did say something about it being revolutionary and Ekko couldn’t help but wanting to see what exactly it could do and how it might help Zaunites. Maybe (hopefully) it was even powerful enough to power his most problematic project.

So, he convinced the other to go to the chambers in which it was kept safe. Everything was going smoothly, nobody would have noticed the thing was gone until hours later, but then-

“ACHOO!”

“Gesundheit.” In his defense, it has been a reflex and he noticed his mistake the second he said it, which left him scrambling, trying to get out as fast as possible.

Unfortunately, the enforcers were quick to sound the alarm, which obviously made the entire escape a whole lot more complicated.

His carefully planned route was of no use anymore and he and his companions all but stumbled through the streets.

“You just had to make a detour!”, Scar yelled while evading a bola. “If we throw that stupid stone back at them, they’ll probably forget all about us!”

The others grumbled in agreement, but Ekko thought it was a bad idea. If this crystal really was as powerful as it was advertised, he would not want to see it back in the Pilties' hands.

“We’ll just have to make it to Zaun”, he yelled back, ignoring Scar's comments altogether. In the maze that is the undercity they would have the upper hand and everything would be fine.

Scar grumbled unhappily, but didn’t object and neither did the others. They were all focusing on the bridge that slowly came into sight while jumping over carts and avoiding to run into random people.

It was going well, considering the circumstances, until a fucking huge ship showed up that would no doubt need the bridge to be opened. There was a quick calculation to be made here and as much as Ekko trusted in all their abilities, he doubted they would make it in time. He couldn’t risk his friends being caught and losing the supplies.

“Go to the sewers!”, he instructed. “I’ll distract them.” He had the stone after all and he was sure all of these enforcers knew it. It was on him to make sure the other got back to the hideout safely, so he did the only logical thing and ran into the woods.

***

There was a shrill but comforting sound in her head.

No wait.

Jinx opened her eyes, just to be sure and there was the actual very real raven that imprinted on her. Not that she was complaining – she was mostly alone and having an animal companion at least was better than nothing.

“I fell asleep again, right?”, she mumbled while stretching and listening to the sound of her bones cracking. Maybe she should stop falling asleep on the table, it might even make her back stop hurting.

Pascal crowed again, rather loudly too, and Jinx rolled her eyes. “Yeah, yeah, I overslept and you’re hungry, got it”, she grumbled and got up, while the raven made more ruckus. “I’m on it! Would you relax? It takes a while for the blood to flow back into my legs.”

Maybe she should also work on her sitting habits as well.

The raven, despite usually being very obedient, just kept on crowing while picking at one of her books. Jinx ignored it and went to the kitchen part of the little room until she heard a ripping sound.

“NO! Shoo! Bad bird!”, she yelled and physically tried to chase Pascal away before he destroyed her precious books.

He said down at her shoulder and she inspected the page. “Just a small rip”, she observed. “Count yourself lucky, I would’ve had enough explosives here to get my revenge”, she then said towards the raven, who let out a crow that sounded suspiciously like he didn’t believe her. The worst part about that was, that he was right – she could never hurt her precious accidental baby. She would be very pissed, though, if he managed to damage any of her books and this one in particular.

“You are very lucky”, she repeated for her raven before gently touching the picture of the green animal on the page. The book called them firelights – an insect that glowed a vibrant green. There were a lot of stories in here about a bunch of creatures, but this one was her favorite. It was about the little bug being caught and slowly losing its glow and fading away. It needed to be set free for it to shine again.

Jinx was more enticed with the picture than the actual story, however.

Sometimes, she just wanted to jump down the tower, go out and search for each and every one of the animals in the book, starting with the firelight – she so badly wanted to see one.

Absentmindedly, she sat back down at her table and began to copy the picture from the page onto a piece of paper. Pascal might want to destroy the book at some point again and what would she do if the picture was gone then? She needed a backup.

Her drawing wasn’t quite as detailed as in the book, but it would do. Maybe she could color it later to make it more lifelike.

For now, though… wasn’t there something she wanted to do?

Another crow from Pascal, who has been silently watching her draw until now, reminded her of food. In fact, she herself was hungry too.

“Right, sorry”, she said and petted the raven's head apologetically. “Let's make breakfast!”, she declared and went in the direction of the kitchen, again. Until she was interrupted. Again.

“Jinx!”, she heard Silco yell from the bottom of the tower.

Pascal was already making his way up into the rafters to hide, reacting way faster than Jinx ever could, while she sighed. “We’ll get food later then. It’s not  that  important anyway.”

She then hurried to get that drawing and the book back into its hiding place beneath the stairs. Her father is not a big fan of the outside world and she doesn’t want him to be worried about her dreams of seeing all these animals and exploring the world.

“Almost there!”, she yelled back down while she tried not to stumble over her own hair. One quick glance around the room and she deemed it safe enough to allow Silco in here.

So she threw her hair out the window and if there was a lot of dust transported outside as well, then that’s no one's business but her own. It’s just that with the length of her hair, she rarely moves it from the spots it’s lying on. Sue her.

“Is everything alright? You left me waiting a bit longer than usual”, Silco wondered as soon as he was through the window. He looked around as if he suspected Jinx hiding a guy in her closet.

“I’m fine, everything’s fine. I just woke up, is all”, she explained and now his worried glance was on her, which honestly wasn’t a whole lot better.

“Have you been working through the night again?”, he asked.

Jinx waved his concerns away and smiled. “It’s fine, really”, she stated. “I made some plans for a few new weapons. I wanted to get them done by the time you’d be back.” While talking, she ran back to her table to get said plans in order to shove them into her father's face.

He studied them for a few seconds, although he didn’t understand any of it – engineering just wasn’t what he was good at. “They are truly admirable”, he praised her nonetheless. “I will get you the needed materials you listed until the next time I visit.”

“Great! I’m so excited to work on these”, she exclaimed and already eyed her welding machine with giddy energy.

“Now”, Silco said and carefully put the piece of paper away. “There is something else I want to bring you next time and-”

That made Jinx even more excited. “Ooooh, what is it?”, she interrupted, grinning widely.

“You tell me”, her father told her and chuckled shortly. “You’re birthday is in three days after all.”

“It is?” She thought for a few seconds and- damnit, she really forgot her own birthday! Who does that? “It is!”, she repeated in shock. “Oh Janna, it’s my birthday! Fuck! How old am I even getting?”

“Try 18. Are you sure you’re alright?”

“I forgot my birthday!” Granted, Jinx might be panicking a little bit, but she never forgot her birthday before. She forgot a lot of things all the time, but never something like that! Her 18th no less!

Silco put a hand on her shoulder to calm her down. “How about we focus on your present, hm? There is still a lot of time until the day, you haven't missed anything”, he calmly explained and together with some deep breaths, it actually helped ground her.

“Right… what do I want?”, she mumbled and started to think.

She would love to have some proper toys to entertain Pascal, but she couldn’t ask that, since Silco didn’t know about her raven child. Usually, paints were always an option, but she still had so many of them to waste and didn’t need anything new. The same goes for brushes, paper, ink, pens and literally anything else that occasionally needed a refill or replacement.

Her gaze subconsciously went to the staircase.

“Firelights”, she mumbled without even noticing.

“What was that?”, Silco questioned, which kind of made her panic again, but she took another deep breath and made the probably very stupid decision to shoot her shot.

“I want to see a firelight”, she said.

“A firelight?” Her father seemed very confused by her request, which made sense considering that she never asked for an animal before. “Well, I guess I could get you one caught, although I can’t tell if it would be successful. I hear these things are hard to get a hold of.

Well, here goes nothing – fuck literally any of the things she thought earlier. “I don’t want one caught”, she said and now Silco looked less confused and more suspicious, if not even outright … well, not a fan of the idea, to put it lightly. “I want to see them”, she continued. “Outside?”

“Jinx”, he sternly said.

“I know!”, she interrupted him. “I know what you think of the world, but it would just be for a few days and I’ll go right back home. I can handle myself! Please, I promise I won’t make any trouble.”

“No”, her father was quick to deny her.

“But-”

“No buts. You are not leaving. You have no idea how dangerous it is out there, no matter what you might think.” He wasn’t yelling. He wasn’t loud at all, just the usual polished attitude he uses when he talks business. It hurt all the same. He knew when to switch to soft, though. “Do you think I did this to myself?”, he asked and pointed to his eye, which was so damaged not even Jinx’ shimmered hair could fix it. “The world is cruel and everyone out there will betray you. I just don’t want you to get hurt.” She could understand, she really could, but it didn’t change her dream. “I’ll make sure you get to see a firelight, but it will be in here, okay?”

No, it was not. Nothing was. Jinx never really bothered with her being in the same place all the time. It was quite nice actually to be able to focus on what she likes to do at the moment, but sometimes she wonders what grass feels like. Or how the fur of a dog would feel beneath her hands. Or what it looks like when a firelight glows in the night.

“Okay”, she said still. “I guess it’s good enough.” It has to be.

Silco sighed in relief. “Good. I’ll make sure to get you one”, he promised and looked her over once more as if to check that her resolve to get outside had been well and thoroughly broken. When he seemed satisfied, he turned back to the window. “I’ll be back in three days then”, he said with a little smile and Jinx did her best to grin back.

As soon as her father went back down, she stopped trying and simply watched him leave. The next three days will be very depressing.

Pascal flew back down and poked her cheek with his head. For her child, she was able to muster a real, if sad, smile and scratched his belly.

“Let’s get you that breakfast, yeah?”

***

Ekko was tired of running. He’s been doing it for what felt like hours, it had gotten him nowhere closer to a hiding place and the enforcers were getting closer with every step he grew more exhausted.

He couldn’t be caught and let this power fall back into their hands. The others might have escaped with the supplies, but what good did that do if the Pilties were able to build weapons that could destroy all of Zaun?

The trees were getting in his way more and more and he stumbled over his own feet a lot, too. His situation was getting desperate very quickly.

Right when he already thought about giving up after all (before he collapsed on the ground and got left for some animals to devour), he ran into a person. In the middle of the woods. A very big person even, who by the looks of it seemed to be a Zaunite.

“Watch it”, he spat. “Kids are not allowed here, piss off”, he grumbled and shoved him in the direction he came from. Well, he couldn’t go back, but … this looked like a mining site.

He could see more than enough cave entrances, which would provide the perfect hiding opportunity. All he had to do was get past the miners without getting noticed, but with the enforcers on his heels, he didn’t have a lot of time to think about it.

For now, he ran in a direction away from the mines without running into the enforcers, before coming back around eventually and quickly vanishing in an unguarded cave.

A little walk into the darkness later, he chose to make the tiniest break in order to get his breath back under control. People loved to talk about the incompetence of the sheriff, but he had to be doing something right if he and his enforcers could keep up with Ekko this long.

“You’re trespassing”, he heard the gruff voice of that one miner again, which made him tense, but the guy didn’t seem to be talking to Ekko.

“We’re on the lookout for a thief, if you could kindly point in the direction he went, we’ll leave you alone”, a female voice calmly explained, probably one of the enforcers, because who else would be running around in the woods?

He just hoped no one saw him – he was sure he went undetected, but what if he didn’t? He was screwed. Instinctively he walked backwards, deeper into the cave until he could barely hear the others anymore. The grumpy miner said something again, but Ekko couldn’t understand what exactly. Just in case, he ran.

Frankly, he would have expected the cave to be a lot deeper, since mining caves usually are, which was why he was surprised to find light on the other side. There seemed to be some sort of valley in the middle of the mountain here.

Even a whole damn waterfall was there and next to the little river was a tower that looked like an old mill. It seemed old and structurally unsound, which probably meant it was abandoned and he could hide a few hours in peace. By the time he’d make his way back home, the enforcers would hopefully have given up.

There wasn’t even a question about it, this was a good idea since it would keep him safe, so he mustered the last bit of strength he had to climb up there. It took a lot longer than he expected and he was extremely exhausted by the time he made it – his brain really seemed to power down at this point because he thought he smelled pancakes.

Then everything suddenly went black, but Ekko could still feel a dull pain in his skull.

Chapter Text

They are losing time. At this rate, they will actually let the thief escape and Caitlyn won’t stand for that.

Everyone is throwing around some ideas and Marcus looks like he’s going to hit someone soon. Frustration is a feeling she can understand too well, although she is less concerned about losing face than she is about the fact that they lost the most powerful invention of the century.

“He probably ran back to the undercity!”, Marcus then yelled and marched off without waiting for a response, the others quick to scramble after him. “What would he want in the woods, it doesn’t make sense”, he kept on rambling.

Caitlyn was not as eager to follow. Sure, at some point he would have to get back into the city, but for now, it’s way safer to stay out here and hide until things calmed down a bit. She wasn’t going to say it, however. No one listens to her anyway, no matter how many times she’s been right already.

Just as she was thinking about her next course of action, since she was not about to follow her idiot of a superior, she noticed a little twig being broken, only a few trees away from her. It looked fresh and if she was lucky, she might not have lost him yet.

For a short second, she considered notifying the others, but they were already too far ahead and a little voice in her head reminded her that it would be useless anyway. So she separated and decided to hunt the thief down on her own.

The trail of broken twigs and barely noticeable footprints in the dirt and grass eventually led her to what seemed like a mining side. One that she was sure had no legislation to be here, but she could look into that later. She had different priorities for now and all these tunnels seemed like a good enough hiding place for a thief on the run, so she got closer to investigate. Sadly she was not allowed a close enough look as the hugest man she’d ever seen stepped in front of her and stared her down with a suspicious glare.

“You’re trespassing”, he said and crossed his arms and Caitlyn scoffed silently at the disrespect – not that she had expected a lot of it.

She stood a bit taller and tried to sound as authoritative as possible. “We’re on the lookout for a thief, if you could kindly point in the direction he went, we’ll leave you alone”, she answered and hoped that the guy would be nicer, now that she guaranteed him that she wasn’t trying to look into whatever shady business was going on here. 

After a few more seconds of suspicious looks, he did seem to relax a little and nodded in a direction opposite from the side.

Caitlyn found that slightly weird, but if the side was as well guarded as it seemed, it would be possible that the thief couldn't manage to hide here. So she nodded thankfully and went in the direction that was pointed out to her.

Luckily she actually found a few more footprints.

***

“What the fuck?!”, Jinx screeched as she looked at the unconscious figure on the floor. Why can’t the universe not let her have breakfast in peace? “Is he dead?”, she then asked as she waited for Pascal to finish walking all over the guy. The raven shook his head and Jinx wasn’t sure whether or not to be relieved. 

She then stared at the frying pan in her hand and the freshly finished pancakes on the floor – she had been about to transfer them to a plate when she noticed the intruder and well, there really hasn’t been any time for that anymore. 

“What do you say? Do we still eat them?” She stared at Pascal, who sat on the stranger's head and stared at her. “They might be a bit dusty, but what else is new”, she mumbled, to which the raven replied with a loud caw. “Can’t we deal with him  after  we ate?” Another caw and she groaned.

After a bit of contemplation, she crouched down, picked up the pancake and took a bite while inspecting the intruder by poking him with the pan. Who said she couldn't multitask?

He looked almost peaceful, knocked out like this, although she still thought he looked strange. There was a white splotch on his dark face and he had bright white hair that made her question if it was real or dyed. He looked nice, though. Somehow.

She wouldn't forget that he had been technicality breaking in, don’t get her wrong, she was just making observations.

He was also wearing a thick coat and there was a satchel that looked relatively full. Pascal already tried to open it, so Jinx helped a little since she was just as curious as to what the guy had with him.

The thing was surprisingly heavy and when she looked inside, she found an explanation for that – books. Three heavy books. What one needed with so many books while running around in the woods was anyone's guess, but apart from the books, there was also another thing in there that shone in a blue light.

It looked like a crystal or something and she wondered what it was good for. Maybe the guy just thought it was pretty, but that wasn’t an answer that satisfied her, so she got back to the satchel to search for clues. She found some papers and after skimming them a little, she could at least tell that the thing must be some sort of power source.

“Very interesting”, she mumbled. A million ideas already flooded her mind, things she wanted to test and she itched to get some sketches and blueprints done, but as she was about to get up, she noticed the stranger grumbling and moving. In a quick movement, she grabbed the pan again and hit him once more.

Her raven just gave her an unimpressed look. “I panicked”, she justified herself. She had almost forgotten about the intruder, too fascinated by that stone.

She should probably deal with the guy first before getting excited about her projects, but what was she supposed to do with him?

Throw him out the window? No, he’d die and then she would have to explain the dead body.

She could hide him for now, but that won’t do her any good either. He will wake up at some point and then what? Chase him away? Didn’t sound too bad, but what if he told people about her and this place? Which raised the question of what he was doing here in the first place.

Jinx grunted in frustration. Pascal cawed and sat himself on the stranger's head again. She raised an eyebrow at the raven and he nudged the guy's head.

“You want me to talk to him?”, she uttered in disbelief. The raven nodded and flew to the window. An idea dawned in Jinx’s head. Pascal was right, the intruder did come from outside. If she played her cards right, she might get her birthday wish after all. “I love you, you know that right?”, she asked and petted the raven's head.

With a tiny maniacal chuckle, she started to prepare for the stranger's awakening.

***

The first thing that he noticed, as consciousness was creeping back to him, was a very loud, very annoying sound right next to his ear. The second was a growing headache.

As he opened his eyes to figure out where that sound came from, he also noticed the darkness around him and he wondered where he even was. He remembered the mining side and the tower and then it went black.

But first things first – that sound was so near to him, he had the feeling if he just turned his head a little, he could see what …

A crow. There was a crow on his shoulder that screamed in his ear.

As some sort of reflex, he wanted to shoo it away, but he couldn't move his arms for some reason. At least his movements (as limited as they were) seemed to have an effect as the bird stopped its noise and flew away. He couldn't care less about its destination, though, because why couldn't he move?!

Looking down, he saw that he was tied to a chair with … hair?

Weirdly long blue hair.

Slightly scared, he followed the flow of hair from the chair to somewhere in the darkness. So whoever that hair belonged to decided to wait in the dark like a creep? Very reassuring.

Just as he was about to talk to whoever tied him up, wherever they might be, a figure slowly descended from a place in the rafters and slowly walked into the little bit of light there was. As much as he wanted to see the person, the first thing illuminated by light was a pistol pointed directly at him, which was admittedly a bit distracting.

“Who are you? And how did you find this place?”, the figure then asked, drawing his attention away from the gun to the wary-looking face staring at him.

The first thing he noticed was the pink glowing eyes which only added to the entire omninous vibe that was going on. Apart from the inhuman eyes and hair, the girl was also as pale as a ghost, and for a second, he thought about the possibility of him walking into a haunted place, though the crow that landed on her shoulder – the same crow that had been sitting on his shoulder just a minute ago, that was very real – convinced him that the girl must have some physical substance for that to be possible.

As he continued to stare and not answer, she pressed the pistol directly to his face and yeah, real. Very real. She is not  a ghost.

“Who are you? And how did you find this place?”, she asked again, obviously running out of patience. To show cooperation, he cleared his throat and the girl actually took a step back, although she still looked very ready to shoot him.

“Look”, he said nervously, but tried to keep his composure. “I have no clue where I am or who you are and I’d also very much like to leave now, which I’m getting the feeling, you want, too, sooo…?” He looked pointedly at his bindings, but the girl in front of him didn’t seem like she was willing to just let him run free.

“You did not answer my questions”, she pointed out and he sighed.

“Alright, Smurfette-”

“Jinx.”

Ekko took a few seconds to fully comprehend that, but was still left confused. “...what? Okay, whatever”, he mumbled, focusing on the important stuff. “Here’s the thing: I was in a situation, gallivanting through the forest, I came across your tower, and- oh, oh no! Where is my satchel?” Sudden panic struck him, knowing that the gemstone might be gone. Did he lose it on the run? No, he was pretty sure, he still had it when climbing the tower, so it must be here somewhere.

The smug look on the girl's face let him pause. “I’ve hidden it. Somewhere you will never find it”, she exclaimed and he felt calmer than he had all day. She currently reminded him of the children back at the hideout and it was due to these kids that he had become extremely good at finding things.

“You put it in the oven, didn’t you?”, he pointed out rather than asked, after a quick scan through the tower.

Ekko saw it coming, the arm that quickly descended on him, and anticipated the dull pain that followed when the pistol collided with his head and knocked him out once more.

He woke, again, to a shrill sound and this time, he made quick work of getting the crow off of him. “Would you stop that? I’ll lose my hearing at this rate!”, he complained, rubbing his ear against his shoulder as if that would prevent any damage.

“ Now  it’s hidden where you’ll never find it”, the girl said, ignoring him completely and to be fair, this time, he really had no idea where his satchel could be, so he resigned himself to his fate – at least the gemstone was more or less safe. “Now, back to my questions. Who are you? How did you find this place? And what do you want here?”, she repeated, although the last one was new.

“That’s one more!”, he protested.

“All the more reason to answer.”

She might not point her gun at him anymore, having taken a stance with her arms crossed, but he had the feeling that she still wasn’t above shooting him, so he did the only smart thing in this situation and complied.

“My name is Ekko and, as I was saying, I was just stumbling upon your tower – call it a coincidence. As for what I want here, I want to get out of here!”

Her suspicion fell away a bit and made room for confusion, though her intense stare stayed. “Wait… you just … randomly found here? You didn’t search for it?”, she asked as if the concept of that was hard to grasp.

“Why would I search for this place?”, he asked, now confused himself. “This is honestly a sorry excuse for a mill, let alone a living place. What would anyone want here? Look, I was being chased, I saw a tower, I climbed it. End of story.”

The girl looked as if Ekko was the unreasonable one and she seemed genuinely surprised by what he was telling her, but what did she expect? That he wanted to be here? Why?

“You're… telling the truth?”, she asked, the suspicion claiming her features once more as she pointed the gun at him again.

“Yes!” It was almost a desperate scream and for a second, he feared for his life, as she looked utterly unconvinced, but then she turned around to talk to her crow (honestly not the weirdest thing that happened today). Since that also meant that her back was turned to him, he started to frantically look for a way out – who could guarantee that she wouldn't get the urge to shoot him after all?

But then he heard her sigh and she turned back to him and gave him a once over, as her crow stared directly into his soul.

“Okay, Ekko. I’m prepared to offer you a deal”, she announced, not looking in any way surprised or suspicious anymore, but more like a woman discussing business with an important client or partner. Although, tied up with her hair, he did not feel very important right now.

“Deal?” That was the most confusing thing about this. What was she talking about?

She went over to a table and retrieved a piece of paper. “Do you know, what these are?”, she then asked and almost shoved the drawing into his face.

He pulled his head back as far as possible, in order to recognize what was on the paper. “You mean firelights?”, he wanted to clarify because they looked an awful lot like the little bugs, just without color.

“Yes”, she said. “In three days is my birthday and I have decided that it’s time to finally get to see them. You will act as my guide, take me to see these and return me home safely,  before  my actual birthday. Then, and only then, will I return your satchel to you. That is my deal”, she explained and Ekko stared at her for a while, trying to figure out if she might be joking.

Since her serious face didn’t crack, he had to guess, that it was in fact not a joke.

“Yeah, no can do.” He had to break it to her, even if she might break him. “Unfortunately, I am chased by enforcers at the moment, so I won't be taking you anywhere unless you wanna risk being thrown into prison. Besides, firelights don’t always show themselves, there is a good chance, you might not see them, even if I were to take you, so no. Sorry.”

She was obviously not happy about that answer and he prepared for pain, whatever form it might take, but instead, she just gave him an angry look before towing him closer to her with her hair.

“Something brought you here, Ekko. Call it what you will, fate, destiny…”

“Dumb luck?” He did explain how he accidentally ran into this place, right? He distinctly remembered telling her that, more than once, too.

“… so I have made the decision to trust you…”, she kept going and he questioned that decision silently. He was a responsible and trustworthy person, of course, but she couldn't know that – he was just a stranger to her.

At this point, she had tilted the chair he was on, so that they were literally face to face and quite frankly, it was a bit weird, but not in a funny way, it was actually intimidating.

“… but trust me when I tell you this: You can tear this tower apart, brick by brick, but without my help, you will never find your precious satchel.” Ekko shivered at her dark tone and the way she stared at him – it almost made him rethink his decision. “If you won’t guide me or fail, I will keep it and use what’s inside for myself.”

That gave him pause. “You… you looked into the satchel?”

“Of course. I know that stone is valuable, so if you want it back, you better make my birthday wish come true.”

He couldn't leave the stone with her, that much he knew. Ekko didn’t know the girl very well, but there was something about her that made him think, leaving her alone with the gemstone would lead to world destruction.

So, he sighed. “Let me just get this straight… I take you to see the firelights, bring you back home and you’ll give me back my satchel? All within three days?”

“Two. I need to be back before the third.”

Didn’t she say her birthday was in three days and that it was something like her birthday gift or wish or something? Strange. “Fine, whatever. So, firelights, to and back, in two days and I get the stone?” He gave in nonetheless. Two days might be more stressful, but not impossible.

“Yes, I promise”, the girl said and Ekko gave her an unimpressed look, but she just continued to rival her crow's soul-deep stare. “And when I promise something, I never ever break that promise.” He still wasn’t convinced. ”Ever”, she emphasized once more and well, in the end, what other choice did Ekko have anyway?

“Fine! I’ll take you!”

“Really?!”, she exclaimed excitedly and let go of the, still-tilted, chair. His face collided with the ground faster than he had time to scream and he’d have to check later if his nose was broken.

These were going to be long and exhausting two days.

Chapter Text

It certainly proved to be harder than expected to start their journey.

At first, they had to get Ekko out of the hair, which was very obviously not something Jinx had thought about beforehand. It was a very awkward ordeal with the girl’s growing frustration and Ekko’s inability to help. However, when he suggested using scissors, he got a strange glare that he was sure was supposed to kill him. In theory, he had wanted to say something like “The length is impractical anyway”, but he swallowed it down for safety reasons.

Finally, when she somehow got him out, she wasted no more time and all but pushed him out the window – only through a miracle could he avoid certain death.

He then carefully climbed down the tower and naively thought Jinx would simply follow his lead. But no, she had to jump out the window like a maniac, her hair functioning as some sort of rope – if Ekko wouldn’t have been busy with something that felt worryingly close to a heart attack, he would have wondered why he was surprised in the first place.

Thankfully, she was able to come to a halt before she’d break her neck. In fact, her feet didn’t even touch the ground she now stared at.

Ekko took a deep breath and continued his descent while Jinx, now fully on the ground, jumped and screamed like she had never done anything this fun before.

In summary, Ekko has suffered through way too many near-death experiences and several more panic attacks just this morning and there was no hope of things getting better, now that he’d be stuck with Jinx for a while.

“So, you’ve really never been outside before?”, he asked concerned once he had feet on solid ground as well.

Jinx stopped the weird little dance she’d been doing and stared at him like he asked her what the secret of life was. “Why would I have done that?”

Ekko was not sure what he expected, but a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’ would have been great. He didn’t really have an answer for  that  and therefore randomly gestured with his hands, trying to convey something like “What kind of response is that???”, but Jinx didn’t quite seem to grasp that.

“Are you having a stroke?”, she worriedly asked. “Cause … I have to warn ya. I do not know CPR.”

He took a deep breath, refusing to indulge in this. “Let’s just go”, he said while walking past her.

“I do have to advise you to not get into any life-threatening situations. The best I could do would be stitching you back together”, Jinx explained, following him, her bird cawing in agreement.

“If I get into any life-threatening situations, and I get life-threateningly injured, please just let me die”, he grumbled in return because he was pretty sure everything would be better than ending up as Jinx’ patient.

She shrugged. “Kay. I’ll respect your last wish.”

A sigh. “Sure, thanks”, he mumbled and tried to focus on the important stuff again. Like how to avoid the enforcers – once they’re in the undercity, they should be safe since Ekko knew it better than the Pilties ever will, but first, they would have to get through the woods. But even before that, the more pressing matter right now was: “How do we get past the guards on the other side of the tunnel?”

“OH! I got it!”

Truth be told, he had been more or less speaking to himself and did not expect the girl to partake in brainstorming, which, in all fairness, she still didn’t. Instead, she stormed off and left Ekko wondering as to what exactly she was going to do. Even more so considering her crow thing didn’t go with her, which was honestly worrying. All of it caught him by surprise so much, he didn’t even think to run after her or anything.

“Jinx!”, he eventually yelled into the cave once the worry overtook the shock, not caring if someone on the other side might hear him. “What exactly-”

That was about as far as he got when a very loud explosion cut him off. It was not all too hard to guess just who had caused it, which did absolutely nothing to calm Ekko down.

“JINX!”, he yelled again, more panicked than before and now finally using his legs. He was used to a lot of chaos and mischief, but he drew the line at anything that could literally blow up in your face – there was a reason why he chose to perform his more dangerous experiments somewhere only he could get hurt.

Ekko caught up to the girl quickly. She waved at him from the entrance and looked very proud about whatever she had just done. When he got close enough, she simply grabbed his hand and pulled him with her. “Come on! Let’s gooo!”, she screamed, not giving him any chance to say or ask anything.

He took the opportunity of Jinx leading to look around, though. At first, because he was worried someone would see and come after them, but then he got more concerned as he didn’t see anyone, which was probably a lot worse.

“Uh, Jinx?”, he started once she noticed that she had no clue where to go and therefore slowed down. “Where was everybody? When I got here, I saw at least 20 people.”

“Probably took cover once they saw the bomb”, she casually explained before chuckling, while the crow settled down on the girl's head like it was its nest, which he just wasn’t going to comment on. “You seriously worry too much.”

Ekko couldn't believe what he heard. “Well of course! You run off and something explodes! What am I supposed to do?!”

Jinx didn’t look very impressed. “You could say ‘Thank you, Jinx! That was a great idea’ and move on”, she suggested. “Besides, it’s not like you saw any dead bodies, so I guess it’s safe to say they’re all fine and not worth you getting so worked up over it.”

“That is not the point”, Ekko gritted out, but she already wasn’t listening anymore – not like she seemed remotely interested in anything he had to say so far, anyway.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever.” She waved him off. “So thiiiiiis is the outside huh?”, she changed the topic and looked around. “Gonna be honest, I kinda expected it to be more … fancy?”

Ekko took a few seconds to calm himself and resign to the fact, that he would not get through to the girl. “It’s nature. This is as beautiful as it gets.”

She shrugged. “Meh.”

“You’re gonna change your mind once you’ve seen Zaun”, he stated, because, let’s be real, everything looks like paradise compared to the undercity.

“What’s a Zaun?”, Jinx asked, confusion evident on her face.

“You’ll see”, Ekko simply responded. “Let’s just go, we’ve got a tight plan”, he then announced and started to walk, Jinx following a lot more humbly than she’d been behaving this entire time, probably because she knew she’d get lost without him and that thought calmed him greatly. For about five minutes.

The silence started to get suspicious quickly – even the stupid bird had been keeping its beak shut – and Ekko found himself looking back at the girl more often than he focused on the way in front of him, but Jinx didn’t seem to scheme anything. If anything, she looked anxious with her tight grip around her pistol and her eyes wandering everywhere around them. But as long as she didn’t do anything … at all ... it was fine.

“So… where exactly are we going?”, she asked at some point.

“To Zaun, as I told you.”

“Yeah, I still don’t know what that is, smarty pants”, she grumbled and Ekko couldn't help but chuckle a little. He somehow expected her to know much worse insults.

“It’s a city”, she answered shortly. “It’s not all too far from here, but there are most likely still some enforcers running around the woods, so we’re taking a slightly longer route. Don’t worry, I know where to go.” With how nervous Jinx had looked so far, he felt the need to be honest about that.

Sadly, that was not really appreciated as she scoffed. “I wasn’t worried”, she said, not all too convincing. “You can’t even deal with a minor explosion, hell, you got knocked out by a girl. Three times! Stop thinking I’m someWHATWASTHAT?!”

Right in the middle of her little speech, they heard a rustle coming from one of the bushes around them. While Ekko didn’t really think much of it – the animals living here always make some sort of sound – Jinx proceeded to climb atop his shoulder, all the while pointing her gun at the bush in question.

Soon emerged a little Porro in all its innocent glory, a stupidly giddy expression on its face.

“Careful, it might smell fear”, he couldn't help but say in the most sarcastic and unimpressed voice he could muster. “You know, for someone who’s pointing a gun at everything and calmly blows stuff up, you’re surprisingly easy to scare.”

“I’m not scared!”, she protested.

“How about you try that again when you’re not clinging onto me”, he suggested and Jinx promptly jumped down, a slight blush on her face that accented her angered frown.

They watched as the Porro trotted away, none the wiser about the threat that was Jinx’ gun and Ekko wondered if the girl had really thought this through.

“Are you sure you wanna do this? Zaun can be pretty rough”, he carefully asked and watched as a creepy smile grew on Jinx' face.

“Oh I can deal with rough”, she said, menacingly caressing her gun while the bird on her head let out a sound that Ekko guessed was meant to be supportive.

He wasn’t impressed, though. “You just got scared by a Porro”, he answered, just for Jinx to give him a death stare again.

“I wasn’t scared”, she repeated and even with her on solid ground now, it still wasn’t believable.

Yet, he shrugged, not really caring enough to explain to her what exactly rough meant by a Zaunite’s standard. “Fine, suit yourself.”

***

Just a little while ago, she had hope, but now none of that remained. The footprints next to the mining site had led Caitlyn quite a bit into the woods, where, at some point, the guy seemed to have turned around and back to the tunnels. It didn’t make sense, though. With all the guards, it would be impossible for him to actually have hidden there, and yet …

There was nothing else. She had thought about the thief planting the footprints, so he would throw them off his track – she had looked around, searching for more clues, more broken twigs, anything, but there was nothing.

Until an explosion sounded through the woods and rattled the trees.

Of course, there could be lots of reasons for why something would explode near a mining site, but she couldn't shake the feeling that something was off, that it wasn’t planned, that the thief had something to do with it. So, she went back.

When Caitlyn arrived, it was chaos. A lot of people seemed to be bruised or at the very least shaken, but fortunately, she saw no one with any grave injuries. Just a broad woman, yelling something towards the people there and then lighting a cigarette.

Caitlyn didn’t think it wise to get too close in this situation, so she crouched behind a bush and tried to get as close as possible to hear something.

“You morons have no idea what kind of mess you’ve gotten yourself into”, the broad woman continued to berate the others. “Has anyone at least seen anything? I have to tell him something.”

There was some mumbling between the injured and a lot of them shrugged. Caitlyn tried to make sense of the situation, but as it seemed, she was right and that explosion was indeed not part of any mining work. Most of them must have been too busy trying to find cover to see anything, though.

But then the tall guy from before spoke. “There wasn’t much to see. She ran out, threw a bomb in our direction and … I guess she ran while we all tried to hide”, he explained, but it ended up confusing Caitlyn more. Who was  she ?

“Where could she possibly run to?!”, the woman yelled again.

Now another one cleared his throat. “I heard someone scream her name. It didn’t sound like anyone I know from here.”

Now it got interesting.

The woman scrunched up her face, trying to process what had been said. “You mean, someone helped her?”, she then asked.

The tall guy spoke up again. “Some boy was snooping around here this morning. He was searched by some enforcer.”

Bingo! It seemed the thief had found himself a friend.

Caitlyn had heard enough and carefully walked away. She didn’t have a clue why or how, but the thief must have found his way inside those tunnels somehow and whoever he found there is now by his side, and judging by the very loud escape, she cannot be harmless.

As for where they would go? All of these people working here, as well as the thief, are from the undercity. It didn’t take a genius to figure out where they’d go next. Especially since all enforcers are already out of the woods. Except for her, that is.

Chapter Text

“So, you’re homeless”, Jinx summed up what Ekko had told her after she asked a bit about him out of boredom.

“I’m not homeless.”

“But you just said that you live in the sewers. Only homeless people do that.”

He took a deep breath – a habit Jinx had observed a lot in the past hour. “I am not homeless. And I do not live in the sewers, it’s just … you kinda get there through the sewers, it’s a difference. Besides, no one uses them anymore. They’re not dirty or anything”, he explained, a frustrated pinch to his voice.

“I still don’t get why anyone would want to be in a sewer”, she grumbled.

“It’s a long story, but … well, I ran from the enforcers and the old sewer system is practically a maze, so I ran there to lose them and found a great abandoned place.”

Jinx hummed. She still didn’t understand what was so great about this place, Ekko called home. When he first described it, it didn’t sound all too special. Tree, little houses – a bit like her home. But now that she knew where exactly it was located, she understood its greatness less and less.
For now, however, she decided to give the guy a break and simply see for herself later. “You know, you’ve been mentioning these enforcers a lot”, she said instead. “What exactly is that supposed to be, anyway?”

“They … well, they are supposed to make sure that things are orderly and that nobody does crime and such”, he explained awkwardly. “They just don’t really do that.”

“What do they do then?”

“Beat people up, mostly. Well, not everyone, though. Just us.”

“Who’s us?”

He sighed. “The undercity is just one half of a bigger city. And they don’t like us. The people on the other side, however, they mostly get a pass”, he explained, clearly angry about it.

“That doesn’t sound fair”, Jinx mumbled and that was a nice way of putting it – it sounded fucked up and she was sure, Ekko didn’t even tell the whole story. “And they’re chasing you? Why?”

Now the anger vanished and he massaged his neck awkwardly. “Well, I kinda stole something from them.”
“Seems like they had it coming, no need to feel guilty.”

“I know… It’s just, I overdid it a little this time. Took some unnecessary risks”, he explained. “It’s how I ended up here, actually. The enforcers luckily gave chase to me so my friends could get to safety.”

“Hm”, Jinx hummed, thinking about it a little. “That’s brave. I don’t think I would have done that, but then again, I don’t have any friends, so who knows?”

Ekko responded only with a vague sound that Jinx couldn't really decipher, so they ended up walking a bit in silence.

So far, this wasn’t really the experience Jinx had expected. She felt like a bit more adventure wouldn't be all too bad, something more thrilling than walking through the stupid forest with nothing better to do than enjoying the view, which only got repetitive after a while. To sum it up, she was bored. And that was not a state she liked to be in – for everyone's safety.

“Are we there yet?”

To her surprise, the boy chuckled. “I honestly expected you to start asking that a while back already”, he clarified.

“Well, are we?”, she repeated, not dignifying him with a better response.
“Almost. Though, we’re gonna have to walk a good bit more to reach the firelights.”

Jinx wasn’t particularly happy about that – she wasn’t used to this much walking, considering she really only sat somewhere and tinkered her days away, but she’d rather die than admit that to Ekko.

Luckily, Ekko hadn’t been kidding about the almost thing. Just a few minutes later, he dramatically stopped and said “Welcome to the undercity.” There wasn’t much to behold just yet though, so Jinx was not impressed, but not more than a couple steps led them to a cliff overlooking what, honestly, looked like a dump. Still … not impressed – although, it was at least different.

She saw bright lights from almost every corner in too many different colors, and there was green smoke rising to the sky. On top of all that, it smelled.

“This looks like a health hazard”, she mumbled with a slightly disgusted face because it felt like the best response, but she shouldn’t really judge – her experiments were health hazards too and she had wanted an adventure, after all. Before Ekko could say anything, she became more enthusiastic about the entire thing and readied her gun. “Let’s go!”

But for some reason, the boy held her back. “Wait just a second”, he said while she rolled her eyes.
“What?”
“I’m just trying to make sure you won’t get into any trouble. Like I said, it’s rough down there and dangerous.”
“Yeah, yeah, I’ll be fine, don’t worry about me”, she tried to get out of it, as she just wanted to get going already. What could honestly be so bad that she needed a pep talk or whatever this was supposed to be?

“Fine”, the boy then said, which now finally managed to stop her in her tracks.

“Wait, what?”

“Fine, you wanna go? Let’s go”, he repeated, confusing Jinx even more. Why was the guy suddenly so calm and, more importantly, so okay with her just running headfirst into it? “It’s been a long walk though, so how about we stop on the way for a little break. You know, get something to eat and drink? I know a place.”

There was something off about all of this, she was sure of it and this place might be some sort of trap. Not that she thought Ekko would do her any harm – not if he wanted his precious gem back, anyway – so what was the guy planning?

She would be prepared for anything, that much was sure. If the boy wanted to play games with her, he chose the wrong opponent.

Chapter Text

To say he was angry would have been an understatement. He was fuming, yet had to keep a calm appearance, especially since he was simply interrupted – nothing that needed to be harshly punished and therefore was no reason to act that way. However, what made him angrier than an interrupted meeting was the stubbornness of this idiotic goon, who refused to tell him any details. “Sorry, boss, but Sevika said not to say anything”, he had explained as if Sevika – as good of an ally she was – had anything to say or order. 

The audacity aside, though, if Sevika made the decision to get him to the mining side immediately and made sure, he wouldn’t know the reason, it was probably a matter of importance and urgency and would undoubtedly make him angry. Or angrier, at this point. 

Silco was prepared for disaster. 

The feeling of being prepared had made him at least a bit calmer by the time he entered the mining site. 

“What is going on here?”, he asked with that certain undertone in his voice that he knew would make everyone know not to play any games.

“Silco”, said Sevika, emerging from what seemed to be a rather heated discussion. “You’re not going to be happy about this.”

“I already figured as much”, he responded while looking around – the site looked a mess, as if some idiot played with the explosives again.

“We got Jinx to blame for that”, Sevika informed him, noticing his gaze. 

Immediately, Silco stopped assessing the situation and stared at the woman in front of him. “So, what exactly happened?”, he asked, still remotely calm – sure, it was unusual for Jinx to ever get out of the tower, but why make a big deal of a destructive little girl. He wasn’t going to like what his second in command would say, he already knew that much.

“She’s run”, the woman answered curtly. 

“What?” It wasn’t quite yelling yet, but it was close. At least Sevika had the decency to look uneasy.

“Well… the workers say that she bombed them, probably a distraction, and ran away into the woods. Apparently, she must’ve gotten help from some boy. The enforcers also snooped around”, she explained and kept talking, but Silco wasn’t listening anymore, already off through the damaged tunnel towards the old mill.

The first thing he noticed was how oddly quiet it was – usually, Jinx was always making some kind of sound, from welding metal plates together to talking to herself, she couldn't do without noise. Even when she slept, she was loud, snoring like a wild bear. 

He ran to the secret entrance to get inside and made his way upstairs as fast as possible. 

It was dark and silent. 

“Jinx!”, he yelled, not having high hopes, though. He couldn't even make out a single strand of blue hair. No matter how good at hiding she was, her hair was a dead giveaway – no one could hide that amount of hair, which also meant… “Find her”, he said darkly to Sevika who just came in after him. 

“Sir-”, she started, but he wasn’t hearing it. 

“Find her. It can’t be hard to find a girl like Jinx”, he snarled. 

“What about the miners and guards?”, she asked, calm as ever. 

“We’ll talk about punishments later. Let them think they’re off the hook, the more people looking the better.”

The woman simply nodded and quickly vanished again, leaving Silco to himself.

He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself again and not think of the worst case, which there were many of. Despite his alliance with the sheriff, he’d still have a lot of explaining to do should the enforcers get to her, which was a possibility since they had been around here apparently. Then there was Vander to consider and simply pray, he’ll never meet her. Let alone that she wasn’t used to Zaun's dangers and could very well die.

He was gonna keep an open eye himself, but for now, he’d head back and get some more people to look.

As he was turning around, though, something caught his eye, right under the staircase. For a moment, he didn’t think much of it – he knew, Jinx had a tendency to hide things from him – but something about the entirety of this situation made him take a look. And it was interesting indeed. 

The satchel didn’t look it, but it held the key to take revenge on Piltover – a glowing blue gem and the fitting blueprints and notes to it. It must have belonged to the boy or rather thief as it seemed.

Silco couldn't figure out the plans by himself however, he didn’t know much about science after all, but that was just one more reason to get Jinx back. This stone in combination with the plans, she had shown him earlier, would lead him to victory, he was sure.

***

“This is not gonna work”, Ekko stated once they had made it all of ten meters into Zaun and Jinx already had footprints on her hair. “There’s no way we are gonna make it like this. Why is it so long anyway?”

Jinx simply glared at him, while she tried to ball it up into her arms, so she could carry it, but it was too much, half of it still lying on the ground. 

“Fine, got it, no questions about the hair”, he grumbled to himself while trying to think of a solution, but he couldn’t really think of any. He couldn't cut it, he didn’t have the skill to braid it … He sighed and helped pick up the rest of the hair – carrying it, as it seemed, was the only possibility. 

“So, Zaun… different from the woods for sure”, Jinx said awkwardly after a little while. 

“Told you”, he replied. “Little advice, though. When people run, run too. When people creepily come towards you, run. When at any point, you feel uneasy, run. Don’t breathe in too deep and when someone tries to offer you something-”

“Let me guess, run?”

“No. You decline and keep an eye on them. When they do something shady, that’s when you run”, he explained. 

“Got it”, she said with a roll of her eyes. “So, apart from the enforcers being shit, what else went wrong with this place?”

“Industry, mostly”, he tried to remember, but history (or education in general) wasn’t really big down here. “There’s been some accident which landed the entire city underground and Piltover didn’t care enough to help, so it quite literally went to the rats.”

Jinx hummed in acknowledgment but didn’t comment on it any further. She did look around a lot though and so did the crow on her head. Ekko wasn’t sure if she was looking for threats or wanted to take it in.

“So, where are we going exactly? You said you know some place, whatever that means.”

“I do”, he said with a grin, kind of proud of the plan he came up with – he wasn’t going to scare her (he wasn’t even sure that was possible), but he was getting her to someone who might get through to her since Ekko failed at that many times so far. 

“And?”, Jinx kept asking, obviously annoyed. 

“Just let it be a surprise.”

“I don’t like surprises”, she grumbled and he sighed. 

“It’s nothing bad, I promise. Food and drink, nothing else”, he tried to calm her paranoia. “Theoretically it’s a bar, but the owner made a deal with Jericho a couple months back, and ever since it’s been fuller than ever, but I mean, Jericho’s food is soooo good”, he started to ramble a little. He hasn’t had an opportunity to head there yet, too busy working out this morning’s heist, but now was finally the time.

Jinx watched him skeptically for a few seconds. “I’ll hold you to it.”

***

One thing she had to admit: this place made her nervous. Not because Ekko was getting to her or anything, but because it simply didn’t look safe. Nothing about it made the impression of home or safety or even anything close. Not the buildings, or the lights, or the people and whatever substances were on the ground that made her regret not wearing shoes. She didn’t even own any, considering she never was outside in the first place.

But, the way Ekko just couldn't shut up about this food from some guy named Jericho at least made her hope the food here was safe. Though, she already made a vow to herself not to touch anything before it hadn’t been touched by Ekko first. 

At least Pascal was here, helping her out, by being on the lookout for anything that could harm them. Especially since those goddamn lights were starting to hurt her eyes – how could Ekko just be so normal and relaxed?! 

Well, he was used to it, she supposed. Kind of sad, actually. 

To say they walked in silence wouldn't be true. Ekko talked. About what, she didn’t know, having tuned him out for a while now, but he talked. And in a place like this, she wasn’t even sure, silence was a state that could be achieved, anyway. 

The closest she came to that was when Ekko stopped – walking and talking. 

“Here we are!”, he announced dramatically.

Before them was a big building and above the door it said “The Last Drop”. Just underneath that sign was a smaller one stating: “Now provided with food by Jericho”. It certainly seemed to be a big deal, judging by how full it looked through the tainted windows. 

“They seem busy”, she stated, because Ekko looked at her expectantly and honestly, what should she say? It looked just as bright and unsanitary as the rest of this city. 

“That was to be expected, but I’m sure they’ll make space for us”, the guy exclaimed with confidence. 

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, don’t worry, I know the owner.”

How did he manage to surprise Jinx so much? And that did surprise her, after all he told her about living in sewers, it was an unlikely statement to make. Yet, he carried himself confidently as he made his way towards the entrance and inside. Jinx followed carefully. 

Her first impression certainly proved to be right – it was full. Full enough that she held onto her hair tighter.

“It didn’t look that crowded from the outside”, Ekko said with an awkward chuckle while Jinx pushed herself through the masses. 

“Yes, it did”, she growled, not being used to huge gatherings like this – has she ever tested if she was claustrophobic? Cause she might be. Even Pascal seemed to be uncomfortable enough to really hold tight to Jinx, clawing into her hair and skin on her head – it had never hurt so much, though, even during that one thunderstorm, which already had him spooked a lot. 

“Sorry, about that, but I promise, the food is worth it”, he explained looking back at her and running straight into some mean-looking people. 

“Hey, watch it, bug”, the big guy complained lazily and seemed to be leaving it at that. His friends however kept looking at Ekko weirdly. 

“Hey, Karl”, one guy said to the big one. “Isn’t that the bug from the posters?”

Karl motioned to number three who pulled out some piece of paper, but Jinx didn’t get to see much of it, as Ekko tried to vanish in the crowd and she tried to not lose him. Sadly big guys have an easier time pushing people out of the way. 

“Not so fast!” Karl grabbed Ekko. “Isn’t that you on there?” Karl held the paper up for Ekko to see and for some reason Jinx thought, he’d deny it at least. Ekko seemed to have other priorities, though. 

“What?”, he screeched, sounding offended, ripping the paper from Karls's hands. “This is really bad”, he then mumbled, losing Jinx completely. Obviously, a wanted poster wasn’t good.

“The hell are you talking about?”, Karl, also, wanted to know. 

“They just never get it right!”, he yelled, definitely offended, turning the picture around again, showing it to the others.

Jinx stared at it. “Why is there a butterfly?”, she asked, looking in between the poster and Ekko’s face that clearly shows an hourglass.

“Exactly my point!”

“Who cares?!”, Number Two interrupted. “Let’s just take him to the enforcers. I’m sure we can get a bit of money for him.”

With a sudden disregard for her hair, she let go of it to reach for her pistol, pointing it directly at Karl. “I’m afraid, I can’t let you do that”, she said calmly. “You see, he is already taken hostage and since our interests do not align, Karl, let him go.”

There was a short silence before the group of three thugs started to laugh. “And what’s a little girl going to do about it?”, Number Three asked in between breaths and laughs. “Strangle us with your hair?”

Jinx smiled. “Lovely option, but I’m just not that patient.” Having said that, she wasted no time in reducing the three thugs to two, silencing everyone in the room. “I take it back, silence is possible”, she said, noticing the quiet with delight, but no one understood her statement, missing the context of her earlier thoughts.

“What the fuck, kid?”, Karl mumbled shocked, staring at her gun as if he didn’t believe it was real. His dead friend was lying next to him on the floor and being inspected by Pascal. 

“Let. Him. Go”, she simply repeated and this time, her order was fulfilled.

Now, though, she wasn’t sure what to do. Everything stood still, uncertain and since the remaining two thugs were not making any moves, Jinx didn’t see the necessity to do anything either. She had enough common sense to know not to ask if they could eat now, though, so she remained silent, waiting for something to happen. 

And eventually, something did happen. 

“Who didn’t read the sign?”, someone asked with a deep voice, menacing and dark. She saw the owner of that voice once he had made his way through to her – a man as big as he was wide, in his later life probably, a smoking pipe in his mouth. He looked a lot more relaxed than he sounded. He also looked pointedly at her gun and at the dead body, then back at her, but before he could say anything, Ekko jumped in between them. 

“Vander! Hi”, he said awkwardly. “I can explain.”

A few more seconds of just looking. “She’s with you, then?”

“In a way, yeah.” 

More looking, before he sighed. “VI!” Even Jinx had to wince at the volume. Then, from somewhere among the crowd a red-haired woman pushed her way through the crowd. “Take care of her”, Vander simply said and the woman nodded. “Ekko, with me.” 

There was no hesitation in Ekko, he just looked a little sad, but she honestly didn’t really care about that, more important was the fact, that he was gonna leave her here alone.

“Ekko”, she started, not really knowing what she was going to say after that, but he seemed to understand her. 

“It’s fine, I’ll be back, promise. Just stay with Vi, she’s safe!”, he explained shortly, earning a bunch of questioning looks from both Vander and Vi, but since no one said anything, the two men left. 

“Come on”, Vi then said. “We’ll go back there.” 

Jinx picked up what she could of her hair and dutifully followed, even though she had her hesitations. Pascal carefully flew after her, still being very suspicious of everything. At least Vi took her to a much nicer place – it was quieter, and there were barely any people there.

“It’s some sort of VIP lounge, if you wanna call it that”, Vi explained, noticing her stares. Jinx just nodded and kept following to a corner booth, where they sat down. “So, uh … what’s your name?”

“Jinx.”

Vi nodded, watching confused as Pascal sat down in front of Jinx. “You have … really long hair”, she then said. 

“I know.”

“Of course you do, it’s just … not something you see every day.”

Jinx simply nodded and looked around a bit more. Vi also remained silent, which made the entire situation slightly awkward, but Jinx simply didn’t feel the need to talk more to this stranger than necessary. 

She had already gathered that shooting that guy wasn’t one of her best ideas and that Ekko was most likely in trouble, as well as that she shouldn’t cause any more. None of that meant, she had to try and make conversation. Vi seemed to have different priorities anyway. The woman kept looking to the entrance, very obviously impatiently waiting for someone – maybe for this Vander guy to be back. 

At some point, after minutes of silence, the main entrance door at the very front opened and Vi jumped up, to see who was walking through it, while Jinx watched the whole thing like a hawk.

The other woman waved a bit and soon after, two boys were standing next to her. Jinx didn’t even try to hide the fact that she was listening in. 

“Hey, Vi”, greeted the one that had a slight similarity to Vander (at least from the way his body was built). “What’s going on out there?”

“Yeah, looks like a funeral. So many awkward faces”, the scrawny one laughed, not knowing how right he was. 

“It’s … nothing really. Not important, just a little…” Vi looked back at her. “trouble. Anyway, could you man the bar, please?” 

The scrawny guy looked over to Jinx now too. “Why? You busy babysitting?”

“I’m not babysitting”, Vi said with a certain danger in her undertone, and judging by how the little guy backed away a little, he heard it too. “Vander told me to keep an eye on her. More importantly, I’ve been at the bar so far, but with me here and Vander in the back … you see the problem, right?”

“On it”, the bigger one dutifully said and already went to do as Vi asked. 

Scrawny had to roll his eyes first, which apparently made him spot the big pile of hair on the floor. And of course, he had the guts to just pick some strands up. “Whoa… is that … real?”

Jinx was (as one could already guess) not a fan of people touching her hair. “Very”, she replied, slowly reaching for her pistol again. 

“Mylo!”, Vi hissed and hit the guy in the back of his head. “Don’t just grab people’s hair! That’s rude, even for Zaun”, she berated him while the ass rolled his eyes yet again. 

“Gee, it’s just a bunch of dead cells, what’s the big deal?”, he asked like the little brat, he seemed to be. 

Vi took a deep breath. “Let me put it like this: If you keep being rude to our guests, her gun is gonna be the least of your problems.”

That seemed to finally get to Scrawny, as he looked a little spooked. He also made a very not subtle effort to check if Jinx really had a gun, which he quickly confirmed for himself, as she was still holding it, ready to shoot. 

“Got it”, he eventually relented. “I’ll go help Claggor”, he said and quickly vanished. For all his apparent confidence, he ran really fast at the first sight of danger. 

After both the boys were out of sight, Vi sat down in the booth again. “Sorry about him, he’s … he has a hard time with manners.”

Jinx nodded simply, still not sure what to say. In her defense, she hasn’t had a lot of experience talking to others. Only Silco, sometimes Sevika (although talking was the wrong word for their exchanges), Pascal (which was always rather one-sided), and now Ekko, whom she also only had a few real conversations with – most of the other stuff was threatening or him rambling about the food here, which she still hasn’t even seen.

“Ekko said, there was food here”, she finally said something again. 

“Oh”, Vi responded, as if she thought Jinx couldn't speak at all. “Right, yeah… we do.” There was a short pause, in which she seemed to think. “Don’t you wanna wait for Ekko?”

Well, that was suspicious. “Are you afraid, I’m gonna do something while you’re gone?”

Vi made an awkward-looking face. “You just killed someone, so… a little, I guess. And Vander told me to keep an eye on you, so … I couldn't exactly do that while being out there”, she explained equally awkwardly. 

“How do you even know it was me? Just because I was holding a gun, doesn’t mean I shot”, Jinx retorted, but the other woman didn’t look impressed. 

“Nice argument, but … there’s a sign outside that forbids weapons and most people around here listen to Vander’s rules. Besides, guns are not really a common weapon around here, so even if I were to go and check, you’d probably be the only one with a gun”, Vi explained very detective-like.

“What do you mean ‘most people around here’?” Jinx, however, was hung up on something else. She didn’t know why, but that little thing felt a lot like an insult. 

“No offense, but I didn’t think you actually were from Zaun.” Jinx looked down on herself. “Oh, don’t get me wrong, you certainly got the style down, but … you look too proper, if you get what I mean? And also, no one here has hair that long”, she kept explaining. 

Considering how near her home was to Zaun apparently, it wasn’t hard to guess that Silco, Sevika, and all those miners probably lived here. Their fashion had rubbed off on her, so Jinx having ‘the style down’ wasn’t surprising in any way, but… looking too proper? She had been walking through the dirty woods the whole day, let alone how little of a fan she was on cleaning – her dress was probably full of grease and rust and whatever else could come from all her experiments. So no, Jinx didn’t get what Vi meant. 

And since there was no food for her either, time to change the subject. “So, you and those two weirdos work for this Vander guy?”

Vi seemed a little confused again, probably because of the abrupt change of topic. “Uh, kind of. We just help out a little when we’re not busy or Vander’s too busy”, she explained. 

“Uh huh”, Jinx hummed. That didn’t really clear things up for her. 

“It’s a long story”, Vi simply said. 

“Seems like we got time”, Jinx replied. “And I’m bored.”

Vi seemed to contemplate, as she kept looking towards the door as if hoping by some miracle, Vander and Ekko would come in just at this moment, but since nothing happened and Jinx, as well as Pascal now, stared at her expectantly, she sighed. 

“Fine, but… it’s very personal, so no stupid comments, yeah?”, she seemed to try and stare into Jinx's soul – Vi had very intense stares – so Jinx simply nodded. “Good, well… Vander took me and the other two in when we were kids and our parents had died”, she started. “We all lost someone to enforcers, although neither Mylo nor Claggor can remember much from before Vander picked them off the streets. For me, it’s a little different. Vander knew my parents and they were friends, so obviously he took me in too after they died."

Jinx was vaguely aware that Vi might keep her story short for a reason, but unfortunately, she was way too bored and curious. "What happened to them?"

Vi hesitated but sighed in the end. "Well, my dad and Vander fought against the enforcers. He died one night during a riot. As for my mum... she had a terrible pregnancy with my sister." What a plot twist. "And she was taking Shimmer to ease it all a bit and it killed them both in the end. We thought the baby would push through, but... Then it was only me and Dad, and then it was just me."

Vi took a moment to think or get it together or whatever, while Jinx battled her own emotions.

It wasn't even the tragic sadness of it all that she was hung up on, but a tiny mention of something barely relevant.

Shimmer? Does that mean Silco was involved? She knew that he was mining for that stuff and that it’s the reason her hair is so precious, but … killing people was not exactly the experience she had had with that stuff – it heals.

“I’m sorry”, she interrupted after all. “But … what exactly do you mean, Shimmer killed them?”, she had to ask. 

Vi looked towards the door once more, although Jinx suspected this time, it was to make sure no one entered. “It’s a drug. I’ve seen many people ruin their lives because of it. This guy, Silco, marketed it as some sort of … it was supposed to make you feel better, healthier, or stronger even and maybe it did for a little while. But in the end, it always ended with extreme pain, disablement, or even death.”

Jinx hummed, trying to take it in. So, Silco was involved. Maybe he tried to make medicine, but didn’t succeed in the early stages, yet? Maybe she should ask Ekko a bit more about this – she simply cannot imagine Silco causing people this much pain on purpose. 

“Anyway, Vander has raised us since we were kids, so occasionally we help out”, Vi ended her story. 

Jinx nodded. “Fascinating”, she said, half meaning it, but the other half was still hung up about that shimmer thing.

***

“I just wanna say, I’m not mad”, Vander started, not at all reassuring Ekko with this. “It was bound to happen eventually, we don’t have the means to check if anyone carries a weapon, so I’m not mad. Under different circumstances, I would have simply thrown her out, but then you defended her. Why?”

“I’m pretty sure, she was just protecting me. In her own way…” Protecting him because of their deal, but he’d take it. 

Vander sighed. “You’re a smart kid, Ekko. But you come here while being hunted down by enforcers. I’m glad someone protected you, but that’s just drawing more attention to you.” Ekko knew that and he told Jinx that too, sadly he didn’t really have another choice than to risk it, but he wasn’t going to tell Vander that. “I’m just worried about you. If the enforcers catch you, there’s nothing I can do about it.”

“I know. But I know what I’m doing and so far, no one has spotted us, so … if we keep out of public places like these, we should be fine. It’s my fault we’re here in the first place, I thought a bit of food would be nice and… maybe I thought that a crowded room full of criminals might change her attitude a bit. She’s … just way too confident.”

Vander chuckled lowly. “Sounds a lot like Vi. Being confronted certainly hasn’t done her any good.”

Ekko tried to smile. He could see the similarities, but … Jinx was scary, which he couldn't say about Vi. Whereas the redhead had a warm personality, Smurfette was cold. She just murdered someone without so much as a second thought and yes, it scared Ekko a bit. 

“Ekko”, Vander snapped him out of his thoughts. “I trust you. Just be careful,” he said with the most serious tone and face Ekko had ever seen. “I’m not gonna ask about her and why you’re willing to risk so much for her as long as you keep yourself safe. And her out of my bar.”

“Will do”, he promised. No Jerichos for him as it seemed, he would have to wait until Jinx was back in her tower. 

“Now then.” Vander lit his pipe. “Tell me what you’ve been up to, I haven’t seen you in months.”

Finally, a topic that wouldn't make him nervous. 

Chapter Text

Jinx couldn't quite say she was comfortable, only Vi seemed to be. After the initial hesitation she just couldn't stop talking – was there something that made Jinx so popular for ramblings?

The woman talked a lot about Zaun and what to do and what best not to do, for some reason worrying about Jinx – she even mentioned where to hide should the situation call for it. At the very least, Vi was more helpful than Ekko’s “Just run” bit and Jinx honestly tried to listen.

At some point, though, the red-haired woman ran out of things to warn her about.

“So”, she said awkwardly, as there was still no sign of Ekko or Vander. “What’s with the pet?”, she asked, apparently not wanting to talk anymore.

“There was a nest above the window. I don’t know what happened to the parents, but I was there when Pascal hatched and he imprinted on me”, she explained shortly. “Despite being old enough to fly off and make a life of his own, he stayed with me.”

“That’s cute.” The threat of an awkward silence made the woman fidget... “Why’s your hair so long?” …and ask stupid questions. Jinx shot her a glare – her hair was not a topic she wanted to discuss with anyone except her dad and that creepy scientist. “Okay, got it”, Vi said and defensively lifted her hands. “Different question then… uh, where exactly are you from? You’re not from here, but you don’t look like a Piltie either.”

“What’s a Piltie?”

“Oh uh...” Jinx didn’t know why, but Vi looked confused by the question. “It’s just what we like to call the people who live up in Piltover.”

Jinx nodded, while Vi looked like she wanted to ask more questions, but fortunately, she was interrupted by Vander and Ekko finally showing up.

They were laughing and smiling like they had a good time, instead of Ekko getting scolded like it seemed he would. This entire city was a scam.

“Hey”, he greeted them. “I’m sorry for keeping you waiting for so long, but we should leave now”, he said, all but dragging her from her seat.

“What’s the rush?”, Jinx asked suspiciously.

“You just killed someone in here, did you really think we were allowed to stay?”

“The way you hyped this place up?” It was a rhetorical question, but she really didn’t see the problem if murder apparently happened every other  hour .

Ekko, however, just rolled his eyes and kept pushing her towards the exit. At least until they were blocked by the little Vander, which she was headfirst shoved into.

After the initial awkwardness, they got out of the way and gave room to the guy’s anxiety. He was fidgety and looked scared and very obviously tried to find the right words. Everyone looked at him expectantly and confused.

“Enforcers. They are looking for Ekko”, he finally said after a few deep breaths, but at least he seemed slightly more relaxed now. It didn’t hold on for long, though, and vanished the second Vander opened his mouth.

“I’ll take care of it. Vi, get them out.”

Vander walked towards the bar with his miniature trotting behind him. Jinx couldn't help but sneak a look past them – there were a lot of people in blue uniforms, but the one at the front with a drink in his hand had the fanciest of all, probably the leader. She would have loved to watch the exchange, but sadly, she was whisked away quickly.

Vi led them even further into the back of the building while Jinx and Ekko collected her hair again. Eventually, they reached the back door and Vi held it open.

“We’ll stall them as long as we can”, she promised and Ekko nodded.

They didn’t look back as they started running through the streets.

*** 

It took a little while, but she made it to the undercity. Unfortunately, Caitlyn couldn't find any more clues as to where the thief might actually be, which meant she was utterly lost. Sure, she could ask around, but while that may work in Piltover, the people down here didn’t particularly like enforcers and anyone who would answer her questions would be hard to come by.

The only thing she could do was hope for a sign and keep her ears pierced. Maybe she would hear something that would be helpful.

As she walked through the city, she did hear things, crimes, complaints and as much as she would love to deal with all of those as well, they didn’t get her closer to the case she was already on.

Where would she go if she was a thief? Probably home or somewhere safe, but she didn’t know what either of those meant for this guy.

Caitlyn sighed and leaned against a wall after she made sure it was safe and clean. She was frustrated with the constant dead ends, but so far, she always found something.

For now, though, she contented herself with watching the people walk by her and hearing what they had to say.

“That girl gave me the creeps”, said one and shuddered for emphasis. “Did you see how she looked at me?”

The guy next to him nodded slowly, a haunted look on his face. It didn’t seem like he was in any mood to talk.

“And all this for what? Some random thief?”

That made her push herself off the wall. A thief together with a girl was exactly what she was looking for. The only problem was, she didn’t know where they had been last seen.

She hoped they would talk about it a bit more, but the guy seemed to finally understand, that his friend was not up for a chat. So, against her better judgment, she walked over to them – it wouldn't be the first time today a Zaunite would be helpful.

“Excuse me”, she said and the two men looked at her, slightly spooked rather than the anger she was usually confronted with. “I couldn't help but overhear you talk about a thief. I am currently looking for one and was wondering where you have seen him.”

They blinked in obvious confusion, but Caitlyn waited patiently. They then looked at each other in question and the non-talkative one shrugged.

“Are you gonna arrest him?”, the other one asked with suspicion.

Saying yes to such a question was usually not the best idea, but in this case, she suspected it would get her farther than lying. “That is the plan, but I’d have to find him first.”

“And this weird girl he’s with?”

“Yes.” She wasn’t sure about the girl. As far as she knew she was dangerous but hadn’t hurt anyone yet, but it seemed to be a satisfying answer.

Another shared look, a certain hatred in their eyes like a need for revenge, and then: “They’re in the Last Drop.”

“Thank you”, was all she said before making her way there, the two guys leaving in the other direction. She just hoped she wasn’t too late.

Running through the streets, she did get some odd looks, but luckily nobody tried their luck attacking her and without those kinds of distractions, she was able to reach her destination relatively fast. Before she went into the building, though, she had to take in the weird scene.

She heard, while eavesdropping, how well the establishment did lately, but then why was it almost completely empty?

The only way to find out was to go inside and it did indeed answer her question – Marcus somehow beat her to here. A little army of enforcers could scare off even the toughest of people, but unsurprisingly a few remained at their table regardless, watching the situation tensely.

“Don’t fuck with me! I know you know something, you always do!”, the sheriff currently yelled at Vander.

Caitlyn rolled her eyes. She only met the guy once, but he was the last person who would sell his people out.

She stepped closer to hear Vander’s significantly lower voice, when she noticed a red head coming in from the back. She changed her direction.

“Good day”, she greeted politely and to her disappointment, the other woman smiled.

“Cupcake! Long time no see”, she said excitedly. “When did we last see each other?”

“When I saved you from being arrested?”

Vi laughed uncomfortably. “Right...”

Caitlyn sighed, thinking back to that unlucky encounter. Vi had tried to break into the lab of Cait’s best friend and was just unfortunate enough to come face-to-face with the enforcer. All that ended in a few nonsensical explanations, even going so far as trying to flirt her way out of it and calling her ‘Cupcake’. In the end, Caitlyn let her go, without reporting her, because most people in the undercity don’t just steal for no reason and the broad woman didn’t steal  anything . So, except for the damage on the balcony door, there wasn’t even anything to report.

“So… to what do I owe the pleasure?”, Vi ripped her out of her thoughts.

Caitlyn cleared her throat. “To the same thing that brings them here, too, I suppose”, she said, nodding her head toward the other enforcers and still yelling Marcus. “I am looking for a thief. He runs around with a girl.”

Vi hummed. “Those are some vague descriptions.”

“What were you doing in the back just now?”, she retorted, not impressed.

“Just restocking the bar.”

“You didn’t come back with anything.”

They stared at each other for a long while, willing the other to crack, but it never happened. Meanwhile, however, a theory formed in Caitlyn's mind – there was no proof of that of course, but Vi’s false excuse had to come from something or rather someone she tried to protect.

Their little staring contest was eventually interrupted by Marcus, who seemingly finally took notice of her presence.

“Kiramman”, he addressed her. “With us again?”, he asked full of sarcasm as if she had taken a break instead of actually working.

She kept her cool, though. “Yes, sir.”

“Where have you been?”

“I was following up on some clues, sir”, she answered truthfully.

Marcus snickered a bit at that and Caitlyn had to use a lot of willpower not to roll her eyes. “Must have been productive, as it has led you here just like the rest of us.”

She ignored the underlying accusation. “It was, sir. The thief hid for a short time, before acquiring backup. Right now, they have made their escape through the backdoor”, she explained, noticing with pride how some jaws dropped. Knowing Marcus' leadership, she could safely assume, that all they did was run around the woods for a while and then go here because if anyone knew anything, it would be Vander.

With a smile and a polite nod towards Vander, she left to look for that backdoor.

The others didn’t follow her right away, which gave her enough time to look around.

For a moment she felt frustration rise again, but then she saw something – a footstep. The pattern looked exactly like the ones she found in the woods. So by the time her colleagues caught up, she pointed down a street.

“That way!”

This time, no one had second thoughts and they all ran in hopes of catching up with the thief.

***

Sevika had been looking all over town for this little brat. She always told him. Someday she’s gonna leave and there’s gonna be nothing any of his guards/miners could do about it. The girl was smart, after all, too smart for anyone’s good if you’d ask her. It was inevitable that someday, she’d want to go explore. But no, Silco said, he’d make sure that’s never gonna happen and now look at them.

The most annoying thing – besides suppressing her urge to scream “Told ya so!” in Silco’s face – was that there was no sign of the girl. How the hell could anyone oversee 70 feet of blue hair?

At least she was asking herself that until it walked past her and she questioned her senses for a good minute. At least that answered one question – everyone probably just thought they were seeing things and shrugged it off, because how could that be real?

It was very real, though, she knew as she looked after her. With a quick whistle, she alarmed the goons around her before starting to slowly follow. There was no need to alarm her somehow – she’d only get defensive – and who knew what her company might be capable of.

*** 

After bolting through the streets at first, they noticed that the enforcers were not following them, so they slowed down significantly after a short while. There was no need to run if no one was chasing them, after all.

Jinx liked that she didn’t have to run anymore because it made it easier to focus on her thoughts. Silco specifically. She just couldn't stop wondering, not after what Vi told her about him. There’s no way he’s the bad guy in all of this, is there? But if he is … was that the reason he never wanted her to get out here? Because she could find out? That seemed ridiculous.

“Are you okay?”, Ekko asked at some point, looking at her with worry.

“Yeah, sure”, she replied, trying her best to smile. It didn’t convince the boy, though. “It’s just … I had to think of my father.”

“Oh”, Ekko said confused. “Honestly, I was wondering if you even had parents.”

She hit him in the shoulder, losing grip on her hair for a second. “This is serious!”, she complained. Pascal on her head cawed in support, which made Ekko roll his eyes.

“You’ve been awfully mysterious about your life so far. Apart from your living situation and the fact that your hair is a sensitive subject, I know nothing, so you can’t blame me if I wasn’t sure. Quite frankly, I didn’t want to ask either, I mean … I’m even too scared to ask about the crow”, he confessed.

“Raven”, Jinx corrected.

“Nuance”, Ekko shrugged, but before Jinx could defend Pascal, he kept going. “Now that we’re already talking about your father though, here’s my question: What’s he like?”, he then asked, but Jinx just shrugged her shoulders. “What does that mean?”

Now she sighed. “It means, that I don’t know. When he’s there, he’s …listening.” It came out more as a question than it was supposed to be and Ekko looked at her with that suspecting look in her eyes. “What am I supposed to say?”, she asked slightly aggressively.

“Most people would probably say things like: supportive, loving, kind, funny”, he suggested but none of those seemed right to Jinx. “Even if you have shit parents, people can say things about them: mean, aggressive, violent.” She blinked at him. “Seriously?”

“I just don’t think any of them fit him.” She gave it some more thought. “Thinking about it, I’m not sure I know a lot about him.” For example, that he was some kind of gang boss who may or may not have killed people with the same thing that’s supposed to heal them. At this point, it was possible she knew more about Sevika than him.

“Okay, uhm”, Ekko disrupted her thoughts once more. “Different question then.”

“Do you have to?”

“Why did you never think of leaving before?”

She would never admit it, but it was a question she had asked herself for years now. Why did she never leave? Never even made a plan?

Before she could say anything stupid like her feelings on the matter, however, she heard some shuffling behind them and turned around only to see the people in uniform again.

“Uh, Ekko?”, she tried to alarm him to the threat behind them.

His eyes went comically wide before he told her to run, which she did without question. Their way was quickly blocked by another group of people, though, and while Ekko made a dive towards another street, Jinx couldn't help to panic once she recognized the woman at the front.

“What the fuck do they want?”, Ekko asked assumingly himself.

“Long story”, Jinx answered regardless. 

Luckily there was no time to discuss this right now, as they were weaving through a very tight street, which unfortunately ended in a dead end. Before Jinx could panic more, however, Ekko started climbing a rusty ladder attached to the house and Jinx followed as quickly as possible.

As it turned out, long hair was not the best thing to have when running away from someone.

One of the uniformed people grabbed it and because she had to hold on to the ladder, she didn’t have her hands free to shoot at the guy. Luckily Pascal handled it by flying into his face, giving her enough time to make it to the roof where both Ekko and her took her hair back into their arms.

“Pascal!”, she yelled down to signal the bird to leave, while Ekko gave the ladder a good kick, separating it from the wall.

Sadly, just because no one could climb after them now, didn’t mean they weren’t followed anymore. While she couldn't see Sevika anywhere, the enforcers were running right beside them, just on the ground.

“What do we do now?”, she asked Ekko, who didn’t even seem a little out of breath.

“Lose them!”

“And how?!”

The only answer she received was a very familiar sound, followed by a grunt from Ekko as he sank to the ground. For Jinx, it was like time stood still, as she looked down towards the enforcers. One of them had a gun in his hands, smoke was drifting towards the sky and he was currently yelled at by a lady enforcer, but Jinx couldn't care less about that, anger overtaking, already reaching for her own gun.

“Jinx”, Ekko called out to her and for some reason, every bit of her murderous intent vanished.

She kneeled next to him, unsure of what to do, and judging from Ekko’s face, grimacing in pain, he wasn’t going to tell her.

Panicking, she looked around – he was the guide, how was she supposed to know anything?

She checked on the enforcers again, who split up and probably were about to make their way up to them somehow. Jinx usually didn’t mind a little pressure, but this seemed extreme.

Taking a deep breath, she calmed herself enough to think. Their chances to outrun them plummeted down to zero as Ekko could barely stand right now. She should probably do something about the bullet in his arm, but she didn’t have enough time for that right now. Pascal, trying to help, cawed to get her attention and motioned towards something.

Jinx followed the direction with her eyes. He pointed back to where they came from. “We can’t go back”, she said in frustration. No one in the Last Drop could really help them anyway and-

Then it hit her. Vi. She had told her a bunch of hideouts – if they could reach one before the enforcers caught up to them, they would be safe for a little while.

“Okay, okay”, she mumbled, dragging Ekko to his feet. “I have an idea, just hold on”, she told him before looking at Pascal. “Now… where do we go?” With all the corners the boy had cut, she lost orientation, luckily her raven had a better overview and started to fly to guide her, and just in time as the first enforcer reached the roof.

Jinx wasted no time shooting at him this time, which ended with him falling right back down again. Then she quickly gathered as much hair as possible into her arms and ran, Ekko right behind her.

“You good?”, she asked because he was still making a face.

“Not really the word I would use, but… I trust you.”

That came as a surprise to her, but considering the circumstances, she supposed he had to.

***

The words were out of his mouth before he could even properly think about them. Did he really trust her? Ekko did, in a way. He trusted that she had enough reason in herself not to leave her guide alone and as it seemed he was right about that – Jinx looked determined to get them both out of this situation.

The bird flew up front and Jinx followed him with the same faith Ekko put in her.

If he had to be honest, he was too caught up in pain to have any other choice – he would have thought his pain tolerance was bigger, but he was good at avoiding injuries and being shot really wasn’t a pleasant experience.

With how focused he was on saving his wound more damage while running, he didn’t even pay attention to where they were going or where the enforcers were until they suddenly came to a stop before Jinx dragged him behind an abandoned building.

It was silent for a very long time, but maybe it just felt longer because his heart was beating too fast. Eventually, though, they heard heavy boots run past them. They waited out another long silence before finally relaxing.

“So…”, he started, wanting to thank her, but he was interrupted.

“We’re not there yet”, she informed him. “We just had to lose them. Come on.”

Ekko simply sighed, but followed. Luckily it didn’t take them that long to get to their final destination, which was oddly familiar to him. “How did you know to come here?”, he asked full of suspicion as he looked around a rundown arcade.

He walked around while he waited for an answer and ran a finger over a dust-covered boxing machine that he built.

“Vi told me”, Jinx answered eventually. When Ekko turned around to her, she was sitting on the ground taking deep breaths. “I … I am never doing this again”, she said. “How are you not more out of breath?”

Ekko laughed a little. “I do this almost daily”, he explained. “So, Vi? Really?”

“Yeah. I think she was running out of things to talk about and started to ramble about the best places to hide.”

“Sounds like her. She acts tough, but really, she can be the most anxious out of all of us.”

Jinx was slowly regaining a normal breathing pattern and started to calm down, while she petted her crow. Ekko went to sit down next to her and had to grimace as his arm pulsed in pain again.

“Take off your jacket”, Jinx said all of a sudden.

“What?”

She rolled her eyes. “I wanna take a look at that”, she explained poking the bullet stuck in his arm, causing him to cry out.

“Don’t do that!”, he complained.

“Then do what I say.”

Ekko did comply, taking off his jacket and showing off his bare arm to her. Without the fabric above it, the wound looked even worse – worse enough for Jinx to make a face.

As she uncharacteristically carefully extracted the bullet with her fingernails, she looked weirdly cute. Seeing her so focused, with a bit of her tongue sticking out, he would have laughed, but was too scared it would mess up her attempts, so he stayed still, throughout the whole procedure.

“You remember when I said I don’t ever want you to stitch me up?”, he asked silently, remembering their conversation shortly after making it out the mill.

“Mhm”, she hummed.

“I take it back.” That made her stop shortly to look at him in question. “You’re good at this”, he added.

Jinx blinked sheepishly and he could swear, her cheeks turned the slightest shade of pink. “Thanks”, she mumbled, quickly looking down again, continuing her work.

Not long after, she held the bullet in her hand triumphantly.

“Great!”, he cheered. “Now … let me see if I can find something to bandage this with”, he mumbled, but as he tried to stand up, she pulled him down again.

He looked at her, waiting for an explanation, but she only looked awkward.

“There’s no need”, she said eventually and before Ekko could protest, she held up a finger. “Just … just don’t say anything and don’t freak out, got it?” Turning the finger threateningly against him, he just felt confused but nodded regardless.

Jinx took a deep breath and started to wrap her hair around his upper arm.

Ekko would love to ask just what she was doing that for, but he had promised not to say anything, so he didn’t and simply watched as the girl wrapped some more and then began to hum what sounded like an old lullaby. Still questioning what was happening, he almost missed how the hair at the top of her head started to glow purple.

He still remained silent as the glowing purple spread down her hair, but his mouth was open regardless. And even though he promised not to, he did freak out a good bit. Ekko has seen a lot in his admittedly short life, but that … he questioned his sanity.

The crow, who had taken to sitting on his leg, was now illuminated by the glow of Jinx's hair and weirdly enough motioned with his wings that Ekko should calm down.

Taking a deep breath, he watched the glow reach the hair’s tips around his arm. A few seconds later, Jinx stopped humming and the hair stopped glowing.

With a still open mouth and wide eyes, he checked his arm, which had stopped hurting the second the glow had reached it, just to see it fully healed. He has never fainted before in his life, but this might be his moment, hyperventilating as he was.

“Please don’t freak out”, Jinx pleaded again, causing Ekko to take another deep breath.

“I’m not freaking out, are you freaking out? No, I’m just very interested in your hair and the magical qualities that it possesses, how long has it been doing that exactly?”, he rambled all in one breath.

“Uh … Forever, I guess?”, she replied with an awkward shrug. “Father has been trying to figure it out for a while now, but … if there have been results, I wouldn't know. All I do know is that he has always been pretty clear about the dangers of it.”

“Dangers?”

Jinx looked like she wasn’t sure if she wanted to continue, but after another deep breath, she was. “He said, that if people knew about it, they’d try to use it for themselves or might even hurt me. So I was never allowed to leave the tower and … I guess I was too scared to leave before”, she explained with rare vulnerability, which vanished as quickly as it came. “If you make a single comment, I will put your arm back in its previous condition”, she threatened.

“No need”, Ekko said, raising his hands in defense. Now that they were talking about the hair, though, he did have a lot of questions about it. Maybe he should start with a less sensitive one. “But if I may… why have you never cut it? It’s probably a stupid question anyway.”

Jinx turned her gaze away from him, letting it glide over the abandoned arcade. “It loses its abilities when I cut it.” She searched for something in her hair, a strand that was a lot shorter than the rest, while still being considerably long, falling down to her hip. It looked a bit paler than the rest of it too. “Someone tried once”, she explained. “My dad always said that a gift like that is too precious to be lost.”

Ekko hummed in response, not wanting to disagree with her on her parent of all people – healing hair is valuable for sure – but the entire thing felt shady to him. Locking your own kid up and all. One question, though, he couldn't hold back. “You’ve never left and you still wanna go back?”

“No”, came the answer quickly, but Ekko could see the girl falter the second she said it. “Yes? I don’t know, it’s complicated!” He wanted to say something, probably stupid, like how she could live with the Firelights, but he didn’t get that chance. Jinx took a deep breath. “Well, anyway”, she chuckled. “After your little rant about the sewers, I guess that was my entry to the sob story exchange.”

He rolled his eyes. “Oh, my home’s no sob story”, he said – in fact, finding that place was one of the few good things in his life.

Jinx stared at him expectantly. “In that case, you owe me one”, she said, resting her head in her hands, patiently waiting.

Ekko sighed, but smiled. “Well …”, he began and then realized he wasn’t even sure what he was going to tell her, but he just got to see Jinx being vulnerable after she had been on guard the entire time since he got into that tower. Something in him knew she deserved the whole story. “I barely remember my parents, they died in a mining accident when I was about seven. I do remember them to be kind and hardworking people, though. They always wanted to save up enough money to send me to Piltover University, but … well it’s safe to say that didn’t work out.”

He paused as he felt the grief arise. Ekko might not remember them very well, but that didn’t mean he couldn't feel the hole they left in his heart. Looking at Jinx, she was attentively listening, which was new as well – she might think he didn’t notice, but he knew she hadn’t been truly listening to him before.

Clearing his throat, he continued. “I was taken in by Benzo, a friend of Vanders. He was nothing like my parents, all rough around the edges, but he too had a good heart and always let me tinker around with his displays.” He chuckled at the memory and even Jinx smiled. “He was killed by one of Silco’s Shimmer monsters.”

Naturally, Jinx's smile vanished. “What does that mean?”, she asked carefully. “Vi told me about Silco, but...”

“A few years ago, he sold a variant of shimmer that would transform you. You would be strong, which is why people bought it, but you’d also lose complete control over yourself”, he explained and Jinx simply nodded. Taking a deep breath he decided to get back to the original topic. “Anyway, after that, I was found by Scar. We found our sanctuary together and formed the Firelights.”

“Firelights?”

“Yeah, we named ourselves after the bugs”, he explained sheepishly. “Have I not mentioned that?”

“No.” Jinx smirked. “But uh, I guess your story had a happy ending or sorts.”

Ekko opened his mouth, but once more nothing came out of it – that was not at all how he would have described this outcome. Dumb luck, maybe, but somehow she had a point. After all the tragedies, he somehow created a safe space.

“I guess”, he mumbled. “There’s still a lot to do, though. People still die on missions and the rest of Zaun still doesn’t have  their  happy end.”

Jinx looked at him with a face, she had not made yet. “You really care, huh?”, she asked eventually and he realized it was a look of wonder.

“Of course. No one deserves to live like that”, he said and motioned around. He hesitated a quick second, wondering if he should say what was on his mind, before deciding: Why not? “And you don’t deserve to be locked up in a tower.”

Now it was Jinx's turn to open her mouth and not say anything. Eventually, she just shook her head and stood up. “We should probably eat something”, she announced randomly. “It’s been a long day after all. I uh, I’ll look around.”

And with that she was gone, leaving Ekko behind.

He knew the chances of her finding anything around here were slim, but he let her walk off regardless, giving her a chance to cool down.

Chapter Text

“Are you out of your mind?”, Caitlyn yelled, more angry than she had ever felt. “Why would you shoot him?! This guy has been through the woods, in mines, the Last Drop – there’s a good chance he hid the gem somewhere, and how, pray tell, are we supposed to find it with him dead?!”

“Relax, Kiramman”, Marcus cut in, only riling her up more, but sadly she couldn't yell at him. “Who cares about the gem? We’re only here to get the thief.”

Caitlyn didn’t even know how to respond. She tried to get a coherent sentence out a few times before she finally succeeded. “This gemstone”, she began, talking slowly, as if trying to explain things to a toddler, which in a way, she was. “… is incredibly powerful and dangerous in the wrong hands. We can’t just let anyone have it.”

“We have orders, Kiramman. I know you’re used to having your way, but here we have a chain of command. So get. In. Line.”

This was wrong – Marcus was wrong, but he was also right. She couldn't just disobey orders.

There usually wasn’t a point in arguing with Marcus already, but in the rare times she felt it was her duty to try, he would always pull that card – he was the sheriff, and she just had to listen. She hated it.

So, as she dutifully nodded and gritted her teeth, she came to a conclusion – it had been wrong to catch up with the others. She had been far more productive when she had been alone and now, that she also knew that their objective wasn’t the crystal, she didn’t feel like she had much of a choice either.

Her job, first and foremost, was to keep people safe and that didn’t always mean to put criminals behind bars. Sometimes – this time – it meant to make sure a very magical and very dangerous orb didn’t fall into the wrong hands.

Slowly, almost subconsciously, she started to fall back as the enforcers went back to searching the streets. The further she fell behind, the more she paid attention to the others, checking if they might get suspicious, but no one did. And then, finally, she could watch them go on without her.

Caitlyn didn’t waste any more time. She turned around and went back to the last place they saw the two partners in crime.

She knew she didn’t have to worry about her colleagues – they wouldn’t miss her and most importantly, they wouldn't get in her way.

***

Sevika never left.

She had moved closer to the shadows, giving up her hunt the second she spotted the enforcers. If those Pilites had taken notice of her group, it could’ve ruined everything and only made the topsiders more suspicious of their business.

So, she had watched the kids run away, debating every few minutes if she should step in before Jinx gets herself arrested, but she never had to. The girl was a menace, annoying and impossible to be around and yet Sevika had to say that she was impressed – for a girl who never truly had to defend herself, she was surprisingly good at it.

But in the end, that didn’t matter. She would go back to that mill and continue to be a great source of shimmer and a lab rat for Singed – if she didn’t hate the girl so much, Sevika would almost pity her.

The kids stopped at some point and the enforcers left, which was Sevika's queue to send some of her goons to search for Silco, while she kept waiting and watching.

She couldn't understand a word they said, being too far away, but they seemed to be getting along quite well. The most alarming thing, however, was to see Jinx reveal her secret to the strange boy. It made her even more cautious, while the few henchmen still with her couldn't believe their eyes – sure, they knew that they were guarding something Shimmer-related, but the exact details had been only reserved for the people Silco trusted, which he could count on one hand.

He was gonna be furious and Sevika already dreaded telling him.

As if on cue, he suddenly showed up next to her. Being so focused and shocked by the casual display of Jinx's ability, she didn’t even notice him come near, but then again, he had always been quiet as a snake. At least now, she wouldn't have to tell him the news.

“Should we kill him?”, she asked instead, skipping the pleasantries along the way.

“No”, he responded, oddly calm. “Not yet. I just need to talk to her. Alone.”

Good luck, she thought but didn’t say it out loud. If not for a convenient toilet break, she doubted the two would separate anytime soon.

Silco didn’t say anything else and simply watched like everyone else. He had this certain look on his face, like he knew everything would work out in his favor – and it usually did, which did nothing but infuriate Sevika.

And indeed, after a few more minutes, Jinx left the boy, face red and never looking back. Was she angry?

She came close to where they were standing, but with how dark it was and how agitated Jinx was, she didn’t notice them at all.

Silco gave her a few seconds before he stepped out of the shadows.

“I already thought you were glued together”, he said, effectively startling the girl, who had thought she was alone.

She stuttered something, not able to put together a full sentence. There was a mix of emotions on her face – mostly confusion, but also a little bit of fear, Sevika noticed.

“But I- I don’t … How did you find me?”, she finally managed.

Silco went in to hug Jinx, who only stiffened. “Oh, it was easy, really. I just listened to the sound of complete and utter betrayal and followed that.”

Now, she relaxed a bit with a sigh, but before she could answer anything, Silco already kept talking.

“What were you thinking? I’ve told you, it is not safe out here.”

The girl took a step back. “I- I’m fine. I can defend myself.”

“The enforcers were after you”, Silco argued much more calmly than Jinx.

“So? They’re after everyone. I’m nothing special.”

“But you are.” That made Jinx shut up for a second. “Just imagine what would have happened if they had actually gotten you. They would’ve killed you or worse, done experiments on you. Maybe they would have even sold you.” Since she still didn’t say anything, Silco grabbed her hand. “We’re going home. Now.”

He managed to drag her for three whole seconds before she started to pull back. “You don’t understand. I’ve seen and learned so much. I … I even met someone”, she said with a little smile.

“Yes. The wanted thief, I’m so proud. Come on, now.”

“Wait, I- He’s not just some thief! He … he’s trying to make this a better place and I- I think that’s … nice.”

Silco sighed. “That is nice, yes. But he is still putting you in danger, having his face plastered all around town. Do you really think he cares about you enough to save you from a cruel fate? No, you don’t belong out here in the first place. Now-”

“No!”

Silence followed and Sevika held her breath. She expected a lot of things to happen, but this even shocked Silco into silence – she couldn't recall even one time in which Jinx had outright declined his orders. Compromised and pleaded, sure, but never yelled her objection to such an extreme.

“No?”, he eventually repeated slowly, carefully – oh, he was pissed. “Alright. If that’s what you want, you should play the game correctly”, he said and pulled out the bag they had found back in the mill.

Jinx's eyes went wide. “How did you-”

“This is why he’s here, isn’t he? I’ve told you before, but maybe it’s time to revisit that lesson: you cannot trust the people here. They are selfish and cruel. But maybe it’s not enough to simply hear the stories. Maybe it’s time to make your own mistakes.” He threw the bag at her, which she caught with shaking hands. “Give it to him and you’ll see just how fast he’ll leave you.”

“I will!”, she responded, full of confidence – a challenge always chased her insecurities away.

“Don’t come crying when you see I’m right”, he said at last before vanishing back into the shadows and leaving through the alley he came through without a second thought, the rest of them following, leaving Jinx behind.

***

Jinx stood staring into the dark for a long time. It almost felt like she just dreamt all of this, but the satchel in her hands proved the opposite. Her father found out she was gone and he was here and she actually stood her ground this time.

When she had fully realized that he was actually here, she was determined to somehow bring up these Shimmer Monsters or Shimmer in general, ask him all these questions she started having the minute Vi told her about it, but somehow their talk took an unpleasant turn.

She stared down at the bag – she should give it to Ekko. After everything, she did trust him, but something in her was actually scared that he would grab that thing and run, never to be seen again.

What was she supposed to do then?

“He wouldn't just leave me. Right?”, she quietly asked Pascal, who had settled on her shoulder after he was sure that Silco was gone. He only gave a weak caw and Jinx sighed.

There was no way. They had just discussed some pretty heavy topics and while she didn’t quite know exactly why she even answered him, she definitely could say that it felt right? Somehow?

She barely even knew him and yet, she showed him her secret and talked about her life. There just was something about him. After all, she had trusted him enough to let him guide her. To leave the safety of her tower and to betray her father. So really, what were some childhood stories at this point?

And really, what was a little gemstone?

“Hey, are you okay?”

Definitely too much of a risk, she decided.

“Yeah, sure!”, she answered, panicked.

Jinx couldn't quite say that she was proud of what she just did, but in the heat of the moment, she crammed the satchel into one of the many pockets she had sewn onto the inside of her dress. And just in time, because as she turned around, Ekko was right in front of her.

“Really? You look pale… well, paler than usual”, he commented.

“I’m fine”, she said, definitely not fine. “Just … tired, is all.”

“Alright.” He very obviously did not believe her, but it seemed that at least he wouldn't ask. “It is late, but … if we wanna make it back tomorrow-”

“Oh, that doesn’t matter anymore”, she interrupted, confusing the guy more.

He stared at her for a few seconds. “Did something happen?”

“I just don’t care anymore”, she answered with a shrug. “Let’s sleep a little, okay?” Jinx emphasized her act with a yawn and started to walk off, back towards the arcade.

It was an awkward situation and for some reason, Jinx felt a pang of guilt whenever she felt the satchel hit her leg, but it was better like this. She just needed a bit more time – she wasn’t ready to let go of her few days of freedom yet and now that Silco already knew anyway… she had all the time in the world.

Chapter Text

Jinx barely slept that night – when did she ever? But this time, it wasn’t because of any late-night projects, tinkering or painting away until the sun reminded her just how bad her sleeping habits were.

There was a strange feeling deep in her guts.

For a moment, she thought maybe the hunger was getting to her or something down here poisoned her after all, but eventually she had to realize that it was not her body that was trying to send her a message. No, it was a feeling much worse and rare – guilt. For what, she couldn’t say. Possibly her interaction with Silco, the fact that she had betrayed his trust in the first place, though that hadn’t bothered her up until this point, so why would it now?

But maybe, just maybe – the chances ever so slim – maybe, it was because she had lied to Ekko. Not that she would call it lying, by any means – it wasn’t lying, it was … well, she didn’t really tell him the truth either, did she?

Either way, she couldn't sleep. And it was driving her insane.

Ironically, she was bored out of her mind, despite her mind keeping her too busy to even think of sleep, but only contemplating one's wrong-doings does get a bit stale after a few hours.

She started to busy herself after some time, taking apart machinery and putting it back together, all the while trying to be quiet, so she wouldn't wake Ekko. Not that he had any issues with that – she checked and the guy apparently had a very healthy, deep sleep.

Jinx couldn't help but remember that she had knocked him out several times, blackmailed him into helping her, and killed someone in front of him and yet, he was lying next to her, calm and relaxed and certainly trusting enough to fall asleep in her presence.

Fascinating.

Sadly, that thought only made her own guilt worse. Ekko basically trusted her with his life. Not just now, but the day before too. He had blindly followed her, allowed her to heal him and Jinx? She couldn't even trust him enough to hand over the stupid crystal.

With a sigh, she got up from the ground and looked outside at the place her father had stood mere hours ago. It had just gotten dark then, but now the first sunbeams made their way over the horizon.
Maybe, now that it was a bit more light out, she was trying to see something in the shadows, but as far as she could tell, there was no one there. It was odd to think Silco didn’t even leave a guard dog with her. It became even more odd when she turned back around and felt a shiver run down her spine, like she was being watched, after all.

And maybe it was because she expected someone to be there, or maybe it was the quiet of the early morning – though, as she had discovered, it didn’t get much more silent down here at night, compared to the day – or maybe it was dumb luck, as Ekko had called it at their first encounter. It didn’t really matter what it was, anyway, the only thing that did matter was that Jinx heard it. The suspicious noise of someone walking closer to them.

Someone walking around wasn’t that weird per se, but Jinx wasn’t going to take any chances, not after the day they just had, or the encounter with Silco. What if he changed his mind? It would be odd and unusual, but so was his decision to leave her to her mission.

So, paranoid as she was, she held her gun at the ready and guarded the entrance.

Luckily it was just an enforcer.

***

Ekko was woken very abruptly when he heard a shriek. He immediately got up and readied himself for a fight, only to see that Jinx was already on top of it. Literally.

“Hair pulling is cheating!”, she yelled at the enforcer, that she had pinned under her and that certainly explained where the shriek came from.

“You bit me!”, the enforcer yelled back, struggling to get the upper hand.

“You punched me!”

“You tried to shoot me!”

“You don’t just show up uninvited!”

For a while, Ekko could do nothing but stare and try to understand what the hell was even going on.

The only thing he could tell for sure was what had woken him. It was a bit funny, actually – despite growing up in Zaun’s tough environment, Ekko had always been a heavy sleeper. It took some real effort to wake him out of the depths of his slumber, but Jinx managed with nothing but her voice.

Everything else that might have led to this situation was beyond him, though.

He knew he should probably do a lot more than watch the two wrestle on the ground and scream things at each other, but he didn’t really know what.

Unable to move, he watched it a few seconds longer.

The enforcer eventually managed to kick Jinx in the stomach, giving her a chance to get up again, but Jinx was quick to push the pain aside and went at the other woman again. The two now kept wrestling, punching, and scratching each other while on their feet.

At around that moment, Ekko wondered where Jinx’s gun was, but looking around, he found it on the ground by the boxing machine.

Since the two women didn’t seem to notice him anyway, he snuck over and took it, finally having an idea as to how to stop the two from slicing each other’s throats with nothing but their nails.

“Hey!”, he yelled over, pointing the gun at the enforcer – he had not really a clue how a gun worked, but he wasn’t particularly determined to use it anyhow.

The two looked over to him in confusion. Then the enforcer lifted her hands in the air, while Jinx backed away. Now, with the fighting having stopped, he put the gun down again, but the enforcer was still on edge. Looking back at Jinx, he figured out why. Having picked up what he assumed to be the enforcer’s rifle, she now pointed it at the other woman.

“Jinx”, he hissed, trying to signal that maybe they shouldn’t threaten the newcomer if they wanted to get any information out of her. Besides, seeing the girl with that huge thing made him a lot more nervous than when she had the little, more practical gun.

“What?”, was the unsurprising response, though.

He took a breath – it was way too early for this. “Put down the gun.”

“What?”, she repeated, almost offended.

“Just … trust me, okay?”

There was a clear battle going on in Jinx’s head. Maybe trust wasn’t the best term to use here as she only knew him for a day. Yet, she slowly pointed the rifle to the ground. Jinx didn’t look happy about it, but she still did it.

It did nothing to calm the enforcer, however, who did lower her arms again, but still looked wary.
“I’m sorry about that”, he said, not really meaning it.

“I’m not”, Jinx chimed in and Ekko noticed how tightly she gripped the gun in her hands. He tried to believe, though, that he had nothing to worry about as long as she pointed it at the ground.

“Charming”, the enforcer mumbled.

Ekko sighed. “I have an idea what you’re after and I hate to tell you, but I don’t have the crystal”, he cut straight to the point, not seeing any reason to prolong this.

The woman stared him down as if trying to read his mind and eventually shook her head. “How? You stole it, didn’t you? Otherwise, you wouldn't know about it.”

“Well”, he sighed. “That’s a long story.”

“You know, I can still take you in for interrogation on suspicion alone, right?”, the woman threatened and Ekko had to chuckle.

“You’re all alone. Rather unusual for enforcers. I’m guessing you don’t have backup? Hell, does anyone even know you’re here?” It was a wild guess – it was just as likely that the little group had separated to cover more ground – but her stoic face and long silence proved that his guess wasn’t so wild after all. “Thought so. You have nothing against us, really.”

Jinx laughed, seeing the other woman’s face scrunch up in anger.

Then the enforcer took a deep breath, her face relaxing again. “Look, all I care about is the crystal. As far as I’m aware, you mostly stole food and a few scraps – to sell, maybe. I have no intention of putting anyone behind bars for petty and possibly necessary thievery. I just need the crystal back”, she explained and Ekko thought it unlikely that an enforcer did not want to arrest him, even if he had only stolen necessities and scraps.

But that didn’t matter right now. “I wasn’t lying. I don’t have it.”

“I don’t understand.”

Ekko sighed again. How was he supposed to get out of this? He was not about to tell her anything about himself or Jinx. The girl was currently the only one who actually knew where that crystal was, but it wouldn’t do either of them any good if they told the enforcer as much.

There was no way they could talk it out, either. The enforcer was not going to leave them alone if they couldn’t hand over the gem, that much was already clear when simply looking at her.

Running away was another option that wouldn't work – that enforcer was too close, and it would be too hard to lose her this time.

Killing her was definitely out of the question as well. That would put even more of a target on his back.

But what was left then?

He looked over at Jinx, who stared at him expectantly, but the only option he had left was not really one he liked. Ekko walked over to her, so he could talk to her without the enforcer hearing.

“What do we do with her?”, he whispered and Jinx looked down at the rifle. “No”, he said quickly.

Jinx rolled her eyes. “Then what’s your great idea?”, she whispered back.

“I don’t have one.”

“Really? You can’t think of anything in that big brain of yours?”, she asked, well rather teased, and it threw him off a little. “Oh! Maybe we can wear her down”, she then said. “Maybe she’ll end up liking us so much, she won’t want the crystal anymore.”

“You literally just tried to kill her”, he reminded her, as that was usually not something that made people like someone, but the girl simply rolled her eyes again.

It wasn’t the worst of ideas, though. Ekko didn’t put a lot of hope or faith in Pilties, much less enforcers, but maybe there was a little chance that she would understand how much good they could do with that crystal down here. But maybe, he only tried a little too hard to see the bright side here as it was still the only sensible option they had.

“So, we take her with us?”, he asked, trying to clarify the plan.

“Like a pet”, Jinx answered excitedly and the crow on her head let out an offended caw.

“More like an unwanted supervisor”, he replied in defeat before groaning in frustration and turning to the enforcer again, who looked at them with a lot of suspicion in her eyes. “Alright. If you want the crystal, you’re gonna have to come with us”, he then told the enforcer, who didn’t look sold on the idea. “I’d have to walk all the way back, but I’ve promised the lady here some Firelights for her birthday, so … join the activities and after, we can talk about that crystal again”, he explained without giving anything important away. “Deal?”

The enforcer watched them both carefully, as she came a little closer – it would take a lot to get her to like them. Still, she shook his hand. “Deal.”

“What’s your name, by the way?”, he then asked and earned himself another suspicious glare. He rolled his eyes. “I’m Ekko.”

“Caitlyn”, she now answered – this woman was extremely paranoid. “Can I get my rifle back now?”, she then asked Jinx, who just laughed.

“I think I’ll keep it a little longer.”

Caitlyn groaned. “At least secure it properly”, she snapped.

“How do I do that?”, Jinx asked, looking the gun up and down confusedly.

The enforcer stomped over and simply did it herself. All the while, Jinx held onto the rifle for dear life, probably expecting Caitlyn to try and take it from her.

“Oh, that’s Jinx”, Ekko then finished the introductions and the woman simply nodded in disdain.
He had the fleeting suspicion, that this trip just got a whole lot more exhausting.

At least Caitlyn helped to pack up Jinx’s hair when they were ready to get going and she kept a little distance between her and them, which was also quite nice.

Still, with Jinx playing around with the rifle, obviously trying to rile the enforcer up, it was going to be a long day.

***

Hate is an easy emotion when you’re in pain. So, Sevika turned to it more often than not, but now, being all alone, keeping watch in the dark with no reason around to keep her guard up, she had to admit that hate might be a bit exaggerated.

She didn’t love Jinx by any means. The kid was annoying and a liability, that should have died a long time ago, but there were moments. Like when watching her stand up to Silco or beat down an enforcer. Sevika was proud of the girl. Sometimes. Rarely.

It was easy to see Jinx as nothing but Silco’s little experiment. Just a cheap way to get Shimmer to evolve in a better direction. Seeing her out here, though? It made her realize that Jinx wasn’t a tool. She was a human being, and Sevika hated that more than anything.

With her face showing real emotion, it was hard to forget.

And when it scrunched up in anger and bloodlust, Jinx looked so much like her mother.

Chapter Text

It was infuriating, to say the least. Caitlyn had to trot after the two criminals like she was the delinquent and not them. There wasn’t really another option, though. They, allegedly, didn’t have the crystal with them, so her best bet was to stay close to them in order to find out where it was.

Still, seeing this Jinx girl play around with the mechanisms of her rifle proved to be a little bit too much for her.

“Stop doing that, you'll break it!", she said after a little while and the long-haired girl whipped her head around.

“Will not!”, she replied, holding Caitlyn’s precious rifle closer to her chest.

“We’re almost there!”, Ekko interrupted them before they could even get close to starting an argument, apparently trying to keep the peace.

Caitlyn had been watching them the entire time, trying to figure out what was really going on. She knew he had been alone up until he made it to the mines, where he must have found her. So far, she had assumed the girl might have helped him just because she was kind like that, but that seemed unlikely now that she had been around Jinx a little.

The next theory was that they were old allies, who ran into each other and decided to team up. But regardless of how much the two seemed to trust each other, they still behaved distantly and thanks to bits and pieces of their conversations – they tried to keep quiet, but Caitlyn had a good enough hearing to pick up some of it – it was clear they couldn't have known each other for that long.

It all begged the question of why they worked together in the first place if there was no past between them and certainly no altruistic motives.

Apart from that mystery, she had a whole lot of other questions about the girl specifically. The long hair, unnaturally pink eyes, unhealthily pale skin – Caitlyn had the feeling that there was something wrong about that picture, besides the obvious.

Before she could think any more about it, though, Ekko stopped in front of what might have been an old ventilation system, or sewers maybe.

He took a deep breath before turning around to face the two women in his company. “Okay, we’re here”, he then said.

“What’s here?”, Caitlyn questioned. She had tried to ask before, but the guy was stubbornly refusing to tell her where they were going. As far as she knew, it could be a trap – if push comes to shove, she thought she would just pull Jinx’s hair to get the girl closer and use her as a human shield. Yeah, the help she provided in picking up the girl’s hair was a purely defensive choice and she wasn’t even ashamed of it.

“Yeah, that’s complicated”, was the response from Ekko. “I’m gonna have to get backup because outsiders aren’t allowed in there and … it’ll be easier with another person.”

“Easier to what?”, Jinx now asked, seemingly just as wary of the situation as Caitlyn was.

A sigh. “I’ll have to blindfold you and with the hair carrying it’ll be too hard to guide you on my own”, he then explained.

“Wow”, the girl chuckled humorlessly. “And here I thought you trusted me.”

“I do, it’s just protocol.”

An odd silence followed while the two stared at each other. Caitlyn didn’t quite understand what set this off, but she certainly wasn’t going to interrupt. Trusting her was out of the question anyway, so she didn’t feel a need to chime in.

After a few seconds, Ekko cleared his throat. “I’ll be right back”, he said and left through the tunnels before either of the two could complain about it.

Caitlyn thought that at least she could get a bit of quiet to think and maybe rest a little as she hadn’t slept all night, but Jinx didn’t seem to be one for silence.

“What’s your story?”, she asked and didn’t even look at Caitlyn, instead petting the raven that was always around her for some reason.

She scoffed. “I won’t tell you anything”, she then said.

Deciding that she could at least sit down, she put Jinx’s hair down and sat herself on it – no way was she sitting on this dirty ground. Since it didn’t seem to bother the girl, she properly relaxed.

“Come on! I’m bored and you can ask me stuff too, if you want. Just not about the crystal, obviously”, Jinx offered and Caitlyn stared at her skeptically.

"Alright", she eventually said and decided to ask about the weird things she noticed. "What's the deal with your hair?" An angry stare followed. "Your eyes?" Still a sensitive topic. "How did you two meet?" At this point, Caitlyn could only groan.

“What’s wrong with my eyes?”, Jinx then asked after a few seconds, adding to the pile of questions in Caitlyn’s mind.

“They’re pink”, she said.

“So?”

“That’s not a usual eye color.”

The girl seemed to think about it. “Really?”, she then asked and Caitlyn nodded. “They’ve been pink all my life. I guess I got born like that?”

Caitlyn hummed. This was getting weirder and weirder. She knew that a red or even a slightly pink variation of color could naturally develop in the eyes, but this shade of pink was too bright to be natural. Just like this amount of hair should not be able to grow on a human's head, especially in what can't be more than 17, maybe 18 years.

It appeared, though, that there was no need to ask Jinx about it as she didn't seem to have any explanation for it either.

So, they sat in silence. Though silence was an exaggeration. Apart from the undercity itself being a loud place, Jinx had taken to playing around with Caitlyn’s rifle again while she talked to that raven. There certainly always was a source of entertainment around.

After a few minutes, Jinx stared at her, making her incredibly uncomfortable.

Not entirely sure what the girl wanted from her, she tried to think of something to say. "He'll be back", she said since it was a worry floating around in Caitlyn's mind as well. She was pretty certain he would not leave the long-haired girl behind, though.

Jinx only scoffed. “I know”, she said, but didn’t sound that sure of it. The girl then stared back towards the city, as if looking for something, before turning back to the enforcer. “You were there.”

“Where?”

“When we were chased. You yelled at the guy who shot Ekko”, she recalled.

"Right." Caitlyn remembered. She was still mad about that reckless behavior and then Marcus just brushed it off. She also remembered that Jinx shot someone as well. Luckily for the girl, the guy was mostly alright, but it wasn't like she seemed to care about it, otherwise Caitlyn was sure she would have asked.

The girl still stared at her like she was trying to get a look into her soul. Caitlyn would give a lot to figure out what was going on in the other’s head.

“What’s your story?”, Jinx then asked again and the enforcer had to sigh.

“What exactly do you want to know?”, she asked back.

“I don’t know how anything here works, really”, the girl started to say and Caitlyn filed that away for later. “But I know that enforcers don’t usually work alone, let alone come along with the criminal. So, I wanna know why.”

It was a reasonable request, she supposed. Besides, no matter what she said on the matter, it wasn’t like she could make anyone’s view on enforcers any worse. “The sheriff is an arrogant ass, who thinks he knows everything better, so I took my chances alone. I’m usually more productive that way.”

Jinx smiled now – it was an amused grin like she thought what Caitlyn had said was funny. “I don’t wanna insult you, Caity, but … running off on your own does feel a little like you think you know everything better too”, the girl then said, greatly insulting Caitlyn.

“Never call me that again”, she responded, while still mulling the rest over.

“Whatever, Caity.”

She really should have seen that coming. Taking a deep breath, she chose to ignore that for now. “And, I don’t think I know everything better. I just know I can do my job a lot better than Marcus.” It came out a bit more aggressively than she had intended, but it was hard to stay calm when being offended.

Jinx giggled a little. “Wow, you’re easy to rile up.”

“What do you want from me?”, Caitlyn snapped, starting to grow sincerely frustrated.

Jinx shrugged. “Nothing. I’m just bored.”

“Well, if you’re bored play tic tac toe with your raven or something”, she grumbled.

“Play what?”, Jinx responded, looking honestly confused.

Caitlyn sighed.

***

Jinx wasn't entirely sure what to do or think. She just tried not to let the words of her father get to her and convince herself that Ekko was definitely coming back. He took a lot longer than she had expected, was all.

Talking to Caity didn’t really make the thoughts go away, but it was easier. And it was incredibly funny to see the woman get so aggravated by so little.

It wasn’t until the game that her brain left her alone. Caity was nice enough to explain it to her and play along. The first few times were frustrating because Jinx couldn't quite figure out how to win, but being a fast learner and all, she soon reveled in the losing face of the enforcer.

Caity was a nice opponent, she really gave it her all and her strategy wasn’t half bad. Jinx was simply better.

It was like an easy version of chess and she loved it.

They barely even noticed Ekko come back – it was ironic considering Jinx couldn't stop worrying about it until this game took her mind off it.

“I see you found a way to keep busy”, he said, but Jinx didn’t have time for him right now, waving him away while thinking about her next move.

“I think she wants to finish the game”, Caity said, sounding utterly defeated, it made Jinx laugh a little.

Finally, she drew her x in the upper corner. Caity sighed, drawing her circle and Jinx noticed she couldn't win this one. She would be damned if she let the enforcer win, though, and at least tried to push for a draw.

“You just can’t let me win”, Caity mumbled, seemingly coming to the same realization.

“What would be the fun in that?”

“Not losing against a teenager would be fun for me.”

Jinx giggled, having to think about this morning – sure Ekko dissolved the fight, but Jinx was certain she would have beaten the enforcer even without his help. “Today just isn’t your day then.”

And finally, the draw.

“Seems so”, Caitlyn said before getting up and brushing off her pants, even though the woman sat on Jinx’s hair the entire time. She hadn’t been a fan of it, but apart from starting another fight, Jinx knew there was no way to get the enforcer off it and since Caity was not a threat at the moment, she decided to live with it.

Jinx got up as well and stretched a little.

“I take it, you had fun?”, Ekko then asked her, looking amused.

“Oh yeah!”, she excitedly answered. She didn’t particularly expect it, but they did have fun, weirdly enough.

“That makes one of us”, Caity grumbled, but she didn’t look quite as pissed as she did before Ekko left them. Jinx took that as a win, especially considering their plan to get her to like them.

Now someone cleared their throat and they all shifted their focus to the other guy, Ekko brought with him. A Vastaya, if Jinx wasn’t mistaken and he did not look particularly pleased.

“Ladies, this is Scar", Ekko introduced him and they nodded, both unsure how to act. "If there's nothing else to finish up, I'd say let's go."

With that, Ekko pulled out two blindfolds and both Jinx and Caitlyn were very obviously not into the idea of completely relying on the two guys.

Then she got that weird tingly feeling in her back again. The feeling of being watched just won't leave her as it seemed and it started to freak her out. Her instincts were always something she could rely on – and helped her out a lot when playing hide and seek with Pascal – so she was pretty sure there must be some cause to it, but she couldn't see anyone.

This dreaded feeling did make it a lot easier to go through with the blindfold thing, though. Maybe the feeling would go away in there.

Jinx therefore didn't put up much of a fight, when Ekko blindfolded her, which he did oddly gently, too.

Caity also had to have complied without much of a hassle, as she couldn't hear any struggling from the others.

The only thing that still happened was that Ekko – she just knew it was him – took the rifle from her hand and pressed something else into it. At that, she lifted her blindfold for a second to see that he made a little eye cover for Pascal as well. She giggled before pulling the cloth back down on her eyes and letting herself be led away.

Jinx honestly thought she would feel more restless during all of this, but hearing the footsteps next to her and feeling Ekko's guiding hand on her arm really put her at ease. She also knew someone was carrying her hair again, as it didn’t feel like it dragged over the ground.

Though, with nothing else around, she had to think about the gemstone again. Why is it that she trusted him so much and still wasn’t able to just hand the stupid thing over? She hated this. So, she tried to think of literally anything else. Like … the little Porro they saw the day before or how she actually stopped feeling watched, which did nothing to calm her. But maybe she was just too paranoid. It was probably just the city full of people – she did look strange to most of them, so of course, they would stare at her. Yeah, that must be it.

Luckily it didn't take that long for them to reach … whatever. She heard rhythmic knocking and then something heavy being moved before they kept walking. One thing she could say was that it was bright in here.

Not long after, she was staring directly into the sun, as her blindfold was taken off without any warning. At first, she wanted to complain, but then she noticed how weird it was to have sunlight, as she hadn't seen the sun ever since they'd entered Zaun.

Taking a closer look, she saw the most beautiful thing she had ever laid eyes upon.

“Wow”, Caitlyn breathed out next to her.

“Uh huh”, Jinx mumbled, trying to take it all in. “Wow.”

There was a really big tree right in front of them, lined with what seemed to be little houses. People running around and laughing around the place. More shelter along the walls and so many paintings on everything. One in particular caught her eye – a bunch of faces were on it and she wondered what that was about.

“All the people we lost”, Ekko told her, apparently noticing her gaze. “Enforcers, Shimmer, sickness. It’s a mural.”

“It’s beautiful”, she said, not entirely sure if that might have been insensitive.

She couldn't explain it, but she felt the need to look a little closer at it and when she was standing right in front of it, she saw something really sad – a little baby. It had bright blue eyes and a bit of light blue hair on its head. Cute, but dead.

"How?", she then asked. There were a bunch of possibilities for how a baby could die, but it was so sad, a part of her really couldn't imagine it.

Ekko awkwardly cleared his throat. “Shimmer. The mother took it, neither made it.” He pointed to the picture right next to the baby, a woman with a kind smile and purple hair.

That felt familiar. “Vi”, she mumbled. “It’s her little sister, isn’t it?”

The guy looked utterly confused. “Yeah, how did you know?”

She shrugged. “She told me. Now I feel a bit bad for asking her about it.”

“I’m sure if she was willing to tell you, she wanted to. No need to be sorry.” Silence followed as they both stared at the many faces on the wall. Until Ekko chuckled. “You know, Vi was really nervous about this. She very awkwardly asked if we could put them on here as well, even if it was a long time ago. As if I would say no.”

A question formed in her mind and Jinx already knew she couldn't hold it back. “Did you paint your parents, too?”

Ekko looked at her in surprise and Jinx already wanted to say that it was fine and he didn't need to tell her, but then he pointed at two faces who resembled him a little and Jinx hated herself even more for asking.

It had been a stupid question and she should have just looked on her own for the only two faces that looked like Ekko.

What the hell was she supposed to say now? None of the responses she could come up with seemed good enough. And since she couldn't get anything out of her mouth, she made the instinctual decision to grab his hand. To her surprise, he didn't take a step back in disgust, but rather squeezed her hand, like it was a lifeline.

Then he cleared his throat and let go. “Anyway, wanna see the rest of the place?”

It was a very abrupt change of topic, but Jinx wouldn't dwell on it. “Sure”, she just said and let herself be guided around Ekko’s home, her hand still in his.

He seemed happy while he talked about all they did and all the people they've helped. They build everything themselves, from their shelter to toys for the kids, even trying to cultivate their own crops, which sadly seemed to be a more or less fruitless endeavor so far.

Pascal was having fun too, being back around nature. Even if it only had been a day, Jinx could tell the bird did not particularly like Zaun. Ekko was starting to light up again as well. Caity not really, she just sat on the side and watched everything closely. Jinx rolled her eyes at that – that woman seriously needed to get that stick out of her butt.

All of the fun came to a halting stop, though, when Jinx felt a pain shoot through her head as something was pulling on her hair. Already reaching for her pistol, she turned around and watched a little kid nervously stumble away from her.

Jinx took a deep breath as the kid probably just ran around and didn’t mean to trip over her hair.

“Hey, Isha”, Ekko greeted her and the girl waved awkwardly. “Why don’t you go play with the others?”, he then suggested, probably trying to get her out of Jinx’s range.

The little girl shrugged, but walked away. While Ekko already sighed and went back to whatever he was talking about before this, Jinx kept watching Isha. She did not go play with the others, rather sat down on the side and drew in the dirt with a stick.

When the kid looked up, she spotted Jinx staring at her and waved excitedly. She waved back, although a lot more confused.

“Jinx?” Ekko must have noticed she wasn’t listening.

“I’ll be right back”, she simply said and went over to the little girl, who looked up at her with big questioning eyes. “Isha, right? I’m Jinx”, she then said, holding out her hand, but the girl just slapped it like a weird high five.

Isha kept drawing on the ground, but kept an eye on Jinx regardless. It made her wonder. “Not much of a people person, hm?”, she asked. Now the girl looked startled, pressing her lips together and very obviously trying not to look guilty. Jinx rolled her eyes. “Me neither”, she said and sat down next to Isha, who looked relieved – for what, Jinx wasn’t sure. Maybe because she didn’t try and force the girl into the company of other kids?

Still, the slightly nervous look on the girl's face remained.

“I’m not mad about the hair”, she then said. How could she? It had been an accident, after all. Hadn't been the first time either. Isha now finally looked at her and Jinx realized, she succeeded to get rid of the last bit of insecurity. The girl then traced the length of Jinx’s hair with her eyes. “Yeah, I know. It’s long.”

Isha seemed to think, before eventually getting up and grabbing Jinx’s hand to drag her with her.

The girl made her sit down on the ground before she ran off again. Jinx watched her as the girl carefully laid out her hair on the ground, so it would be less tangled.

“What are you-”, she tried to ask, but Isha shushed her and then began to work.

It took Jinx longer than she liked to admit to figure it out, but after a few minutes of Isha playing around in her hair, Jinx received a small braided strand to hold in her hand. The girl was braiding her hair.

After that realization, Jinx sat very still, only her eyes moving. She couldn't see Ekko around anymore, but then again, her view was a little limited right now. Caity, however, was walking around the base, discovering it and awkwardly avoiding everyone. She also saw Pascal keeping an eye on the enforcer.

Jinx never really was a patient person, but all the while Isha braided and handed her little bits and pieces to hold, before they were integrated into whatever the girl was trying to do, she didn’t feel that gnawing impatience tugging at her. Sitting still was not her forte and yet she didn’t feel the littlest bit restless.

She wasn't entirely sure how long it took, but at some point, Isha was in front of her, smiling brightly and trying to pull Jinx back into a standing position. It was a bit of a struggle, as she hadn't moved for at least an hour, but after stretching a little, she managed to get up.

Isha was very excited for Jinx to see the result, so she was very careful when she took one of the braids in her hands to look at it.

The girl made two big braids and they looked beautiful. So many smaller braids entangled into one and although Jinx wasn’t sure where exactly the flowers came from, they did add some more prettiness to the entire thing.

She crouched down to the girl and smiled. “I love it.”

Isha was seemingly very happy about that, jumping up and down and grinning widely. Weirdly enough, it made Jinx happy too.

Then the girl tugged on her dress and tried to tell her something with her hands. It looked like it was supposed to be the jaw of some monster, then she ran around a little.

Jinx tried to put the pieces together. “You… want to play that a monster is chasing you?”, she guessed and Isha nodded enthusiastically. She gave the suggestion a bit of thought before she had an idea. "You know who would be a great monster?", she asked and the girl expectantly looked at her.

With a grin, Jinx pointed over to Caitlyn and the girl seemed to agree with her, as she ran over and tugged on the enforcer’s pants. The clueless and slightly overwhelmed look on the woman’s face was priceless.

Isha tried to explain what she wanted, but Caity was only incredibly confused – has this woman never been around kids? To be fair, Jinx hadn’t either, but damn Caitlyn was even worse at this than she was.

Finally, Caity spotted the very amused Jinx and walked over with much more confidence than she had with the kid.

“What is going on?”, she then asked, regal as ever, though the uncertain side eye to Isha betrayed her act.

Jinx snorted. “Didn’t the kid tell you?”, she asked, which only got some undecipherable noises out of the enforcer, making Jinx laugh even more.

“Shut up.”

“Hey, not in front of children”, she immediately went to chastise her and cover Isha’s ears, who simply giggled, while Caity rolled her eyes. “We wanna play monster chase and well, we kinda need a monster.”

“Me?”

“Not like you have anything better to do.” She shrugged.

Caity did not like the idea. “Can’t you ask someone else? And why can’t you play the monster?”

Jinx rolled her eyes. “Come on, Caity. It’s not fun with just the two of us.” As if on cue, Isha made a face that could rival a puppy.

It made the enforcer visibly uncomfortable. “I can’t just play around, I’m still on the job”, she tried to talk her way out of it regardless.

“Isn’t it your job to chase me around anyway? What difference does it make if you have a little fun while at it?”

Caity tried to come up with another response, but failed. Her mouth opening and closing, while her eyebrows scrunch closer and closer together was funny to see, though. Eventually, Jinx gave Isha a nod and the girl went over to tap Caitlyn’s arm, before running away.

The enforcer stared at Jinx for an explanation. She, however, took slow steps away from Caitlyn. “I guess that means, you’re it”, she said and chuckled. “Hey, if you catch us, I’ll tell you where the crystal is”, she added, before taking off as well.

At least that gave Caity enough motivation to actually run after them.

***

Caitlyn was completely out of breath. She hadn’t felt that exhausted in a long time.

More and more kids had joined them bit by bit, seeing how much fun they seemed to have and while she had been able to catch some of them, it just got harder with every kid added to the mix. So, at some point Jinx offered to switch sides to help Caitlyn out a bit, which did spoil the entire purpose of her playing along to begin with – with Jinx on her team, she couldn't catch her anymore.

Still, she kept playing until they were all too tired to keep going, collapsing on the ground.

That little girl, who had started it all, curled herself into Jinx’s side. It was a bit odd how quickly this girl bonded with the criminal.

Caitlyn, regardless of her fatigue, went over to them.

“You were never going to tell me where the crystal is.” It didn’t need to be a question, as she already knew the answer. Suspected it from the very start, but still took her chances.

"Hey", the long-haired girl answered. "I am a woman of my word. I just took the practical way out."

Caitlyn didn’t dignify that with an answer, still doubting the girl would have told her anything even if she had caught her before the side switch. It wasn’t like it mattered anymore.

“You still kept playing”, Jinx pointed out, already grinning. “Did you have fun?”

She walked away.

The worst part was that she did have fun. She never really had a lot of friends her age when growing up and while she knew such games existed, it would have been beneath her to play them, at least according to her mother. So, she supposed it was a bit nice to play along. The only thing that bothered her, still, was that she was theoretically working – she should not play around, especially not with the criminals she was supposed to arrest. Not that she would.

She hadn't been lying when she told Ekko that arresting him for petty thievery was not on her list of priorities, but in theory, it would be her duty to bring him in. And maybe a part of her had still considered it at the time, but how could she put someone behind bars who created such a safe haven?

It didn’t quite appear fair to her. She had to abide by the rules, though. Right?

***

Jinx felt great. Playing and running and having fun, all the things she never really got to do. She absolutely loved this place. It felt like home, it had nature and fresh air and so much space – if she knew how to do one, she would do some cartwheels right now. As it was, she could only run and jump around, but it was good enough for her.

Playing with the kids, as exhausting as it was, was also energizing. She loved that all the others joined them and after a short period of calming down, they were right back at it again. Though, now some kids decided they wanted to show Jinx some Zaun music – why did everyone immediately see she wasn’t from here? – and she must say, she loved it.

Isha was great, too. Despite not talking much or at all, they had so much fun together. The girl must feel similar seeing as she was basically glued to Jinx’s side.

At some point, while listening, she just took the girl's hand and started to dance. The other kids were soon joining them again and even some of the adults came to dance along. Jinx really loved it here.

So, they danced and had fun.

Most people stayed a bit farther away from her, though, which was probably smart, with her long braids twirling around – it didn’t take a genius to know they were heavy and would probably hurt, should they hit someone. Jinx tried to be careful not to get too close to anyone either. Isha, however, remained by her side.

More or less. The girl just had fun and didn't seem very aware of her surroundings, or how far or close she was to Jinx. And with everyone so lost in their own enjoyment, she should have seen it coming. How Isha ran straight into someone, stumbled back and fell pretty badly.

Jinx was by her side almost immediately, checking her over. The other person barely even noticed the little girl collapsing with them, but worriedly looked over as well.

Isha seemed mostly fine, just a little scrap on the knee, it barely even bled. Still, Jinx picked up the girl easily and carried her away, ignoring all the worried glances, while looking for a place that would be somewhat hidden and finding a spot behind the tree, just out of sight of everyone.

She put Isha down as gently as possible and tried to stay calm. “Does it hurt?”, she asked, now seeing that the knee had started bleeding a good bit more. The girl shook her head, but whimpered a little. Jinx was determined to fix this. “It’s gonna be fine”, she said, pulling a braid from behind her back, not even thinking about all the risks. “Trust me.”

Isha nodded without hesitation and let Jinx put her braid over her knee.

Then she cleared her throat and began to sing softly.

“Dear friend across the river.” Her hair started to glow and Jinx hoped they were hidden enough for it not to be seen.
“My hands are cold and bare.” Even if someone saw, this girl was worth the risk.
“Dear friend across the river.” It was weird, she only knew her for a few hours and yet she couldn't bear to see her in pain.
"I take what you can spare.” When has she gotten so sentimental all of a sudden?
“I ask you for a penny.” Same with Ekko.
"My fortune it will be." Why did she latch on to these people so quickly?
“I ask you without envy.” Did it even matter now?
“We raise no mighty towers.” She was already happily exposing her secret to the second person.
“Our homes are made of stone.” And she wasn’t even afraid of them knowing.
“So come across the river.” Despite everything that her father had told her.
“And find the world below.” Because maybe he was very wrong about the world outside her tower.

When she was done, she lifted her hair from Isha’s knee and sighed in relief to see it all fixed up and healthy again.

The girl stared at it in wonder.

“This stays between us. Okay?”, Jinx asked carefully. She trusted Isha, but that didn’t go for everyone. Especially Caity shouldn’t know about this.

Isha nodded immediately and went in for a hug. Jinx was startled by that for a second before she carefully put her arms around the girl. Hugging was not a thing she did often, but she had to admit, it was kind of nice.

When the girl let go of her again, she yawned and Jinx had to chuckle.

“I guess it’s time for bed, hm?”

The girl shook her head, pointing back to the others, but Jinx was not going to back down on this one.

"We've run around all day, danced our sorrows away, and had a little secret healing session. That's a lot for one day", she said, taking the girl's hand and pulling her back down into a sitting position. "I think, you're very tired and just too stubborn to admit it." With that, she tickled the girl a little and listened to her giggles.

Another yawn and then Isha motioned with her hands again, putting them together and slowly opening them like a book.

“You want a bedtime story?”, Jinx asked and Isha nodded. She thought for a second, as she did not really know any bedtime stories, but then she thought of something. “Alright”, she agreed. “But for this little menace to hear a bedtime story, she’d have to actually be in bed.”

At that, Isha shot up again, grabbed Jinx’s hand and pulled her along to a little house. There was more than just one bed inside, but it seemed that Isha was the first to go to sleep today, so it was empty right now. The girl quickly got rid of her shoes and tucked herself into the bed.

Jinx could only laugh at that – for someone who didn’t even want to sleep five seconds ago, the girl was pretty fast now.

She sat down on the bed and took a deep breath while enjoying the excited smile the girl had on her face. "Once upon a time", she started because that's how these stories always began, right? "There was a girl trapped in a tower. She had everything, she could ever ask for, her father made sure of that. Just the one thing, she wanted more than anything, he couldn’t provide – her freedom. She was forced to stay inside to make sure no one ever hurt her. But one day, she took a risk.”

She wasn't sure if Isha was actually going to fall asleep to this, she seemed way too excited, but the intervals between each yawn got shorter – maybe there was still hope. So, she kept going.

“That fateful day, a young handsome boy showed up.” She also was not sure, why she felt the need to add that handsome part. “He was her chance to get out, you see? Because he knew the outside world that scared her so much. So, she knocked him out and made a deal with him.” Isha laughed at that. “He was a wanted criminal. All the girl had to do was take his loot and hide it, so that he would be forced to help her to get it back. Of course, he agreed. And that’s how they went on their journey. Through the deepest of woods, battling all the monsters that wanted to attack them and always on the lookout for enforcers. They couldn't let themselves be found by them. But down in Zaun, their luck ran out. The enforcers found them and chased them around, but of course, our heroes could escape. They were smart and capable, after all."

Isha tapped on her leg and formed a little heart with her hands. Jinx felt the blood shoot to her face.

"Well, the boy did get hurt during all of this, and the girl … took care of his wounds. She cared." That seemed to be enough to satisfy her, for now. She also looked close to sleeping. "After he felt better, he took her to his home." She decided to brush over some things. "Where she met the sweetest little kid. And despite being so far from where she lived her entire life, she never felt more at home." Looking at Isha, she seemed to be dozing off. "And who knows… maybe the girl and the boy do fall in love. She certainly likes him."

Jinx sat there for a few more minutes, making sure, Isha was properly asleep, before she left. When some other kids came in, she slowly got up from the bed and put a finger to her lips for the others to understand that Isha already took off to Dreamland.

She made her way outside and firstly looked for her raven. It took a while, but she eventually spotted him on a tree branch with a bunch of other birds. Well, at least he was having fun.

Thinking of something she could do, she spotted Scar and went over to him. “Do you know where Ekko is?”, she asked. She hadn’t seen him for hours.

The man simply pointed towards a lonely building, a good bit away from all the other houses. She shot the guy a quick thanks and went over.

Opening the door carefully, she poked her head inside. Ekko sat at a large table by the window and currently seemed to screw something together. It didn’t look like he noticed her.

When he leaned his body away from her, she came in and took to standing behind him, grinning widely.

“What’cha doing?”, she asked, when he started to turn back around.

Ekko screamed a little and fell from his chair, making Jinx laugh shamelessly. “The fuck?”, he then exclaimed. “I’m pretty sure, I just had a heart attack.”

She scoffed. “Oh, don’t be so dramatic.”

He rolled his eyes and got back on his chair again. “Did you need something?”, he then asked.

“Well, I haven't seen you in hours, so I thought I'd go see what you were up to", she answered, looking around the room. It seemed to be a workshop or something, with spare parts, screws and metal lying around everywhere, as well as some half-finished projects. And she spotted Caitlyn's rifle leaning against a shelf, too.

“Just working on some things”, Ekko said. “I see, Isha braided your hair”, he then pointed out.

Jinx had to smile just thinking about it. “Yeah, it looks great! And so much more practical.”

Ekko smiled too, now, until he spotted something and frowned. “Is that blood?”, he asked slightly panicked, while Jinx checked her braids.

Right where she had put the braid on Isha’s knee, there was a visible blood stain on her hair. “Oh, yeah. Isha fell”, she explained casually.

“You healed her." It sounded a bit like a question, even though there was not really another conclusion to be had here. Jinx simply shrugged, not sure what to say. "That was … nice of you."

“I guess.”

With the conversation coming to an end and no new topic in sight, it started to get awkward and Jinx did not like that. It made her think that maybe things aren't as easy between them as they sometimes seem. All of that reminded her of the crystal again and the decision she couldn't make. They needed something new to talk about.

Jinx opened her mouth to start a sentence at the same time as Ekko tried to say something and despite that making things even more awkward, they had to laugh.

"You first", Jinx said before she was forced to say something stupid.

He cleared his throat. “How do you like it here?”, he then asked.

That she could answer. “I love it. It’s beautiful, honestly a lot more than I expected when you talked about living in the sewers.”

“I told you, it’s not in the sewers, you just have to get through them to end up here”, he explained again, rolling his eyes. “I’m glad you like it, though.”

In fact, she liked it maybe a little too much. The more time she spent here, her desire to never leave grew, but she wasn’t going to tell him that. Not as long as she couldn't figure her shit out. Speaking of which, maybe she should ask Ekko about this thing, that she didn't really care for up until now, but which started to seem important at the moment.

“So, let’s say we can convince Caity not to take the crystal … what did you wanna do with it? Or did you just steal it randomly?” She tried to sound as casual as possible, but she couldn't help but sound a little bit curious.

Ekko hesitated to answer her and went back to whatever he was doing, probably to busy himself. Jinx could see a bit more of it now and it looked a bit like some toy, though she couldn't quite figure out what kind of toy it was supposed to be.

“It’s gonna sound stupid”, he eventually said, finishing up and activating it, letting it walk over the desk.

Jinx was in awe – she had never seen anything like it. A little walking dog. Might be a cat, too, it was hard to see.

After staring at the toy for a few seconds, she turned back to Ekko. “I have magic hair that glows when I sing. Whatever you wanna do can’t be more weird”, she tried to cheer him up.

“Wanna bet?”, he mumbled sarcastically. Then he sighed and leaned back on his chair. “I’m trying to go back in time.”

Okay, that was a lot crazier than magic hair. And she wasn’t entirely sure what to answer, so she simply tried to think about it scientifically. “I mean, this crystal is some sort of magic, right? It could make it possible. I think”, she said awkwardly. “Time travel … it’s pretty ambitious.”

“I know”, was all Ekko said to that.

Jinx sat down on the table on the other side of the room. “Can I ask why?” Weird or not, it was certainly a specific and intense choice for a project.

“Because I could change things. My parents would never die, Silco would never flood the undercity with shimmer”, he explained. “All of these people out there lost someone too. Without shimmer, they’d all be happier. It won’t fix everything, but … it would be a start.”

She nodded. It made sense in a way. It was a very noble endeavor, too. Unlike her own plans when she had first seen that crystal. Not that she would go through with that anymore. The crystal would have been the perfect power source for a cute weapon she had in mind, but … after everything she had learned about her father, she wondered whether that was a good idea anymore. To put another weapon into his hands as if shimmer wasn’t enough.

Ekko, Vi, these people out there – they were all so nice and certainly didn’t deserve to be tortured by this drug. She really didn’t want to add any more pain to it.

Healing Isha had felt so right, despite her father’s warnings. Maybe she was finally going insane or maybe Ekko simply inspired her, but maybe it would be nice to do something good? Heal and create instead of building tools for destruction. Maybe Ekko should get that crystal.

Being the coward she was, however, she did not reach into her pockets to get it out. Instead, she jumped off the table to stand in front of the still very deflated Ekko.

“Don’t worry, we’ll get to keep that crystal and then I’ll help you build your … time machine”, she said instead, confusing the poor guy.

“Help me?”

“Yeah! Between the two of us, I’m sure we can figure it out.” Was it going to be hard? Oh, yes, absolutely. Still, she wanted to try.

Ekko still looked at her full of confusion. “Didn’t you need to get back?”, he asked, making all of the excitement disappear. “We could be working on this for years, Jinx. How is that supposed to work?”

She didn’t answer right away. Leaning against the table, she took a deep breath. “I don’t really want to go back”, she then mumbled. “Can’t I just stay here?”, she asked carefully.

“I would love that”, he said and Jinx could hear the but before he even said it. “But … I have to ask you something. When Sevika was chasing us back there with the enforcers, you said it’s a long story. Why?”

Jinx did not expect this question and she was not eager to answer it. “You know her?”

He sighed. “Everyone knows Silco’s right hand.” Jinx only hummed in response, still not answering his initial question. “Jinx?”, he pressed and she knew she was not getting around this.

“She’s … sort of … my babysitter.” It took so much energy to get that out of her mouth and the furrow between his brows scared her a little bit. “He’s … my father”, she added, feeling her heart speed up with anxiety.

“Oh", Ekko breathed out and she wished he would react a bit more.

“You were right, I don't know anything about him, we're really not that close, he comes by every few days to make sure I'm not dead. I didn't know. I only learned about it yesterday, the Shimmer and all and I honestly think, I'm a little scared of him, now. I don't even miss him, I've never been more happy in my life and-" Jinx rambled in panic until he cut her off by taking her hand. It was warm. Still, he didn't say anything. "Ekko?"

He took a deep breath before finally looking at her again. A lot was happening inside his brain at the moment, she could quite literally see that. "After you healed me, you said he tried to figure out how that works. How?”, he then asked and Jinx didn’t even try to understand the mental gymnastics Ekko had to go through to end up there.

She recalled very vividly all the little tests that creepy doctor friend of her father had performed on her. It was never fun and she dreaded them with a passion, but it wasn’t like the doctor ever really hurt her. Still … “I don’t really wanna talk about that”, she said, a little waver in her voice.

Ekko nodded before sighing. “Fuck that crystal, you’re not going back there”, he then said, confusing the hell out of Jinx.

“What?”, she just asked, being too stunned to say anything else.

"You don't say a lot, but the things I can deduce from everything I do know, do not paint the nicest picture of your life so far", he explained and it wasn't like she could disagree. "You've been literally imprisoned, your only friend is a crow and your father is quite frankly an abusive asshole. Unless you want to, I’m not letting you go back. You said it yourself just now – you’ve never been happier than here, right?”

Jinx was pretty close to crying right now, biting her lip to will the tears away. Eventually, she just nodded and let Ekko hug her when he carefully wrapped his arms around her. It was her second hug ever, and while she felt somewhat uncomfortable, not knowing how to act, she did have to admit that hugs were nice. She thinks, she might like them.

“How are we gonna build your time machine without the crystal?", she asked when the big knot in her throat finally vanished. Caity was another problem, but Jinx didn't feel like talking about her, right now.

Ekko chuckled a little. “We’ll manage.”

"Hey", she then mumbled. "When you go back could you … Please, save me sooner?"

He held her tighter and she leaned into it. “I’ll get you out as early as I can.”

Chapter Text

Ekko wasn’t stupid and ever since their run from the enforcers, he has had an inkling. Not that it was particularly hard to figure it out after these events.

Jinx lived near a shimmer mine, knew Sevika despite living in a tower her whole life and to top it all off, her healing hair looked like it had Shimmer flowing through it.

So yeah, he did kind of already suspect a little that Silco must have been involved in her life one way or the other and while Ekko definitely could come up with some ideas, he thought it better not to theorize too much and let her tell him.

It had been obvious that she didn’t want to talk about it, but he not only wanted to know, he needed to know for the safety of his community. He hated that he had to worry about that, but when she said she wanted to stay with them, he just had to ask himself: What if she would be a threat to the Firelights?

Her reactions were so honest and it pained him that she looked so insecure and scared while rambling and trying to explain herself. Needless to say, it was easy to believe every word she said – letting the last two days replay in his mind, he remembered her sincere cluelessness about anything really. Jinx didn’t know anything about Silco, just like she apparently didn’t know anything about herself. Which had led to the next question. What exactly had happened to her?

Jinx had said that she didn’t know exactly what caused her healing abilities and she had said, it had been like that ever since she was born, which painted a picture of Silco’s cruelty that made Ekko want to throw up.

But she had also said, they were still trying to figure it out and though Ekko did not really want to know any details, the question slipped out of his mouth before he could stop himself.

“I don’t really wanna talk about that”, Jinx said, her voice wavering while she avoided his eyes.

He simply nodded, looking at her. At the pale and slim figure, who had been apparently alone and left to fend for herself, most of the time.

It was the Firelights' mission to care for those in need and if Jinx wanted to stay, who was he to deny that? Alright, he was the leader, but in all honesty, with everything he knew about her life, he could never force her to go back.

He told her as much and her only response was a nod and tears.

Jinx was more important than any crystal or his time travel – he still wanted to try, but there was no guarantee his dream would actually work out. And how could he hold on to that if it meant sacrificing the well-being of someone in need? So, Ekko made a decision.

He went in to hug her and he really enjoyed the calm moment.

In all fairness, maybe his decision was also slightly influenced by his feelings for the girl. Under all the harshness and blood lust, Jinx constantly tried to portray, she was a very kind person.

Ekko had seen her interaction with Isha and while he had been a bit worried, knowing Isha had a hard time connecting with people, they hit it off almost immediately and it warmed his heart. Jinx could do so much good here.

It was hard not to like her when he saw her softness around the kids, or even the worry when he got injured and the playfulness when she played tic tac toe with Caitlyn.

At last, however, their hug had to come to an end. Neither seemed to know what to say or do now.

Ekko sat back down and put the toy aside while Jinx walked through his workshop again, looking at anything and everything he had lying around.

Luckily, the situation didn't stay awkward for long as his door opened once more to let in their newest companion.

The woman reminded Ekko of the little issue he may or may not have forgotten about when deciding not to let Jinx back to that mill – he had only thought about his project, but the enforcer still needed her crystal as well. How were they supposed to do that now?

He sighed, guessing there really only was Jinx’s option left and they had to make her like and trust them.

“Officer”, he greeted the woman, who didn’t look pleased, her arms crossed and a frown on her face.

“Caity!” Jinx was a lot more happy to see the enforcer than anyone had expected.

At least Caitlyn looked utterly confused by the enthusiasm. The woman shook her head. “What are you doing here?”, she then asked.

Now, Ekko was confused. He looked over to Jinx, who simply shrugged. “What are we supposed to be doing?”, he decided to shoot back because what kind of question was that?

Caitlyn looked at them, slightly in shock as if they should know what she wanted from them. “You’re supposed to do whatever it is you need to do, so I can finally take the crystal back to where it belongs.”

Ekko should have guessed. “Yeah, about that-”

“I thought the deal was for you to wait until after my birthday”, Jinx interrupted and Ekko let out a silent sigh of relief because he didn’t have to tell the enforcer quite yet about their change of plans.

“I thought today was your birthday”, Caitlyn responded and yeah, that was probably on him – he could have phrased that a little bit better, but in fairness, back then, he had just woken up and had to stop a fight, he couldn't think of everything.

“Nope, tomorrow”, Jinx clarified that for him.

“I can’t wait until tomorrow, I’m on duty for Progress Day!”, Caitlyn exclaimed and he could all but see the woman try to come up with a solution.

“What’s Progress Day?”, Jinx then asked, obviously not understanding why that would be such a big deal for the enforcer, who stared at her like she was going mad.

But Ekko had an idea. “That’s perfect!”

“What?”, both women asked, their confusion, so far directed at each other, now on Ekko.

He cleared his throat. “Well, we could all go up top”, he suggested. “Jinx can have fun with all the little events, I’ll make sure no one ends up dead and you can still do your job.”

Jinx was quick to agree with him. “Love it!”, she yelled, excitement emanating from her body.

Caitlyn did not look quite as sold on the idea. "Aren't you worried about getting arrested? Or did you forget you're a wanted criminal?", she asked and honestly, Ekko did not ever expect sarcasm to come out of the woman’s mouth.

Ekko shrugged in response. “I’ll just lose the face paint and be careful”, he explained, leaving out the part about enforcers being so stupid, that they most likely won't recognize him without his hourglass. "It's the best compromise we've got", he then added because the enforcer still looked skeptical.

It took a few more seconds of careful consideration, then she sighed. “Fine.”

What followed were only a few seconds of silence before Jinx's voice filled the room once more. "Seriously, though, what's Progress Day?"

***

“No”, she said for what felt like the hundredth time, but was probably not even getting close to ten yet. The big golden puppy eyes in front of her made it even harder to get the count up. “I’m sorry, but you just can’t come”, she explained another time, though with a lot less resolve. This kid was going to be the death of her.

Progress Day, as she had been told, was a fun and cool celebration of everything the topsiders have achieved in the last years – well, fun for Piltover, as the difficult relationship with Zaun made visits to up there just as complicated. And apparently, it was also full of great attractions for kids, to inspire them to do great or something. Jinx kind of stopped listening in favor of daydreaming after the first few explanations.

Worst of all, there was an actual kid, she would love to take with her, but she couldn't risk it. Not with the enforcers around and especially not with whatever or whoever made her instincts act up like this. Jinx was not going to put Isha at risk. If only the kid wasn’t so damn cute.

She forced the kid into a hug, so she didn’t have to see the sad look on her face anymore. “I’m really really sorry, but it’s too dangerous. I just want you to be safe, you get that, don’t you?” She could feel the movement of Isha’s head against her – a nod. Jinx felt safe enough to pull back. “I’ll come back, I promise and we can play some more tomorrow, okay?”

Isha still didn’t seem happy about this, but she nodded again, the pout never leaving her face.

Jinx sighed in relief and continued to sit with the girl while waiting for Ekko.

It still felt so weird to feel so relaxed. Or to think that she was actually still going to be here tomorrow and the day after and the day after that. She still had questions, but she wasn’t holding out hope for her father to answer them anymore. Starting tomorrow, she vowed to learn more about this place and these people and she would help them in any way she could.

A little part of her kind of already missed the tower. Jinx was not sure what to make of that emotion, so she tried to push it away, but whenever she thought about what life here would be like, it was there, making her feel guilty for leaving it all behind.

Was she a bad person because of it?

The thought lingered for a short while before she shook her head. No, Ekko was right. Silco and the people working for him, they were really bad people. And even though she had said it in a panicked frenzy, she found that she hadn’t been lying about him never being there or her very distant relationship with him, which she never wanted to realize before. But most importantly, she didn’t lie about being scared of him. Jinx had never been afraid of anyone, but the fact that her father had made this drug, that ruined so many people's lives – people she could see running around right now – yeah, it made chills run down her spine.

She looked up at the picture of a mother and a baby painted on the mural. Jinx wasn’t going to pretend to be the morally superior person here – she has killed someone without remorse and surely would do it again, but destroying families like this? That went a bit far, even for her.

For a second, she wondered what happened to Isha’s parents.

That thought got cut short when Pascal landed on her lap and eyed the girl next to her.

“Right, Pascal, this is Isha. Isha, this is Pascal, my best friend”, she introduced the two and finally managed to make the girl’s pout vanish. “Be nice”, she then told Pascal only as she didn’t feel the need to tell the girl.

Isha looked at the bird for a few seconds before carefully reaching out to pet him. Pascal shot Jinx a skeptical look, but she only shrugged, leaving the decision up to him. She had kind of expected him to flee, but he actually let the girl pet him.

The kid giggled and an idea made itself present in Jinx.

"Hey, how about you keep an eye on her", she suggested to Pascal, whose answering caw sounded a lot like a protest. "I'll be fine. I'll have Ekko and Caity with me. You enjoy yourself a lot more here in nature anyway and I don’t want the kid to be lonely”, she explained and expectantly looked at the two.

Isha nodded her head enthusiastically, while Pascal took a bit longer, but eventually let out something similar to a sigh before hopping onto Isha’s shoulder.

At that exact moment, she could see Ekko come out of his room while adjusting the bag on his shoulder – time to go.

"Have fun, kids", she said as a goodbye while standing up.

Before leaving for real, though, she ruffled both Pascal's feathers and Isha's hair and both complained about it in their own way.

“Ready?”, Ekko asked her once she had gotten close.

Jinx scoffed. "Me? I've been ready for half an hour now", she responded. "How is it, that I had to get my entire hair re-braided, and yet you managed to take longer?"

Sleep really had destroyed the masterpiece that was Isha’s braids, but luckily the girl was all too happy to do it again. All the while Ekko did who knows what – honestly, his entire getting ready responsibilities consisted of simply not painting his face. One would think, that would make him faster.

Yet, he only sighed. “Where’s Caitlyn?” And deflected.

Jinx rolled her eyes, but let it be. “Over there.” She pointed towards the entrance, or well, now the exit, she supposed. “She’s been very impatient.”

“Well, better not keep her waiting more then.” Ekko rolled his eyes, but sported a smile by the time they reached the enforcer. “Here you go”, he then said and gave Caitlyn her rifle back.

Jinx was a bit sad about that – she would have loved to take it apart and study it some more – but at least Caity was happy. Even though the woman simply nodded and tried to play it cool, Jinx saw the little sigh of relief and the smile tugging at the corner of her lips.

“If everyone is ready, can we finally leave?”, Caity then asked, expectantly staring at her two companions, though her gaze lingered especially on Ekko, who took the hint.

“Sorry, yes we can go”, he halfheartedly apologized and then went to open the entrance once more.

“No blindfolds this time?”, Caity asked skeptically.

“Actually…” When Ekko turned back around, he did fish a strip of fabric out of his pocket.

Caitlyn sighed, but let it happen. When Ekko didn’t move to blindfold Jinx as well, she got curious.

“Do I not get one?”, she asked carefully.

“Oh, no”, came the very short answer from Ekko.

“Why not?”, she asked again. “And don’t say some bullshit like you trust me, again.”

He sighed. “Well, I do trust you, but … I mean, you’re basically one of us now, aren’t you? You should start to learn the way.”

Jinx blinked at him. Despite everything they had discussed yesterday, she did not expect things to move so quickly. “Oh...”, was all she said in the end. He wasn’t wrong, she did want to live here and help them and yeah, she guessed that did mean she was one of them now. Did not make this feel any less weird, though.

“Very cute, can we go now?”, Caitlyn interrupted, getting even more impatient than she already was.

“Yes sir”, Ekko mocked and took the woman by the arm to guide her, Jinx following.

***

It wasn’t a long walk to the bridge, which surprised Caitlyn greatly as she had thought they had been a lot farther from Piltover. Not that she was going to complain, because that also meant she managed to be on duty on time.

Having barely crossed the bridge, Jinx was already extremely excited. The many open questions just became more. The girl acted as if she had never seen the bridge or Piltover before, just like she had sincerely asked what Progress Day was – Caitlyn had initially thought the girl was joking, but no, she really didn’t know.

Right now, and especially today, was however not the right time to investigate any of this. For one, out in public, it felt a bit too dangerous to talk about any of these topics and then, it was Jinx's birthday and Caitlyn had sat through enough of her mother's lectures to know that you don't bother people like this on their birthday.

That did not mean she couldn't bother Ekko, though, who right at this moment tried to sneakily get rid of a wanted poster, throwing it down in the water.

“What?”, he asked, noticing her disapproving stare.

"Someone worked hard to make those. They're here for a reason", she simply mumbled, trying to not attract any unwanted attention.

He scoffed. “I think it would be in both our interests that I don’t get recognized.”

Ekko had a point there, but she still didn’t like it. Any of this. Being complicit in this. In a way, she was kind of harboring and protecting a criminal. Two, if she wanted to be stingy, but in fairness, no one had any awareness of how dangerous Jinx was yet, so in theory, she would not be considered a criminal. And as it seemed, she had no intention of causing any kind of damage today.

Caitlyn still couldn't quite wrap her head around it – the guy, who had the audacity to steal from the academy, turned out to be the leader of some sort of revolution that tried to keep the people of Zaun safe and the maniac, who had killed someone in a bar, was a kid loving goofball.

She tried not to think about it too hard. Just one more day and she never had to deal with the two again.

“What’s that?”, Jinx asked, now suddenly in between them when she had just been a good bit in front of them, and pointed towards the big building in the background.

“The old palace”, Caitlyn responded, seeing as Ekko was a bit too busy to stumble over his words at the sudden contact. “They remodeled it a few decades ago and it’s now the academy.”

“Oh, cool!”, Jinx exclaimed and ran ahead again.

Caitlyn spared another glance at the boy next to her, who took a deep breath and tried to recompose himself. She already had a feeling something was going on between them for a little while now. It had started with the weird silence, shortly before Ekko had left her with Jinx to get his buddy Scar. Ekko had said something and both had stared at each other like teenagers experiencing their first crush, which, considering the circumstances, was entirely possible.

It had then continued last night when she came in and asked what they were doing and she wasn't sure if either of them had noticed, but after the question, both had sported the slightest blush and tried their damnedest not to look at each other.

And now this. If the two weren’t still criminals, she might actually have thought it cute.

As they came closer to the end of the bridge, Jinx was literally jumping up and down while waiting for them to catch up. Once they were close enough, she grabbed Ekko's arm and pulled him with her, making the poor guy almost stumble and fall.

Jinx started to run in different directions, pointing at different attractions, while Ekko still tried to find his footing. Caitlyn stayed a bit behind – it wouldn't do if anyone thought they had some kind of relation or even worse, someone assumed she wasn’t doing her job properly, being here with friends.

“Jinx, Jinx”, Ekko eventually tried to get the girl’s attention. “I don’t think this is gonna work. If you actually want to see something, you need to slow down.”

“I know!”, she responded, still not able to stand still exactly. “Okay, uhm … Oh, over there!”, she then said, dragging the boy with her again, as she ran over to one guy who presented what looked like butterflies.

Caitlyn followed slowly, making it look like she was simply making rounds.

"They're so pretty", she heard Jinx gush. A look over at them told her that the guy who seemingly created the little mechanical bugs was currently busy entertaining some kids, so Jinx and Ekko were pretty much alone to admire the work. "I'm pretty sure I could build some like these."

Ekko hummed. “Doesn’t look all that hard, yeah”, he agreed.

"They look a little similar to firelights. Even have a green butt." Jinx giggled and Ekko choked out a laugh. "You know, you promised me some."

“Yeah, I know. I don’t plan to disappoint.”

“You better not.”

Caitlyn wasn’t looking at them anymore, but could hear the smile in their voices.

Whatever else happened between them, she didn’t know as she saw another enforcer looking at the pair with suspicion in their eyes – the kind of face you make when you know someone, but can’t place it. And Caitlyn needed to make sure the guy wouldn't make the connection – either of them landing in jail would destroy any hope of getting the crystal back, after all.

So, she went over. She didn’t know their name, which already gave her a disadvantage, but she had to do something anyway.

“Hey, how’s it going so far?”, she politely asked, placing herself in the exact opposite direction from Jinx and Ekko.

The guy looked very confused to be talked to, but turned away from the pair regardless. "Oh, well… I mean it's only morning and already too many people. Can't wait for them to get drunk", he grumbled very annoyedly.

Caitlyn hummed in understanding. "I heard they decided to put fewer enforcers on duty this year." That was a lie, it should be the exact same amount as every year. “This will be a lot of work.”

"For real?", the guy asked, slightly angry. "What a bunch of assholes." At that moment, some kid a few stalls down fell and started to cry, making the enforcer in front of her groan. "Gotta take care of that. See ya around."

“Yeah”, she mumbled, unsure about a proper response. At least he seemed to have forgotten about the two criminals, who now also luckily moved on to the next thing.

This is how most of the day goes by for her. Watching Ekko and Jinx, which mostly meant watching them steal glances at each other and a few awkward silences, as well as making sure no other enforcer noticed them and still doing her duty. Luckily, there wasn't much to do – the pair conveniently steered clear of any drunks and the worst Caitlyn had to do was give some directions.

And in all fairness, it was a little entertaining to watch the two. When inspecting inventions, she barely understood half the things they said, but the way they could make any inventor sweat with all their questions was hilarious.

And then they found the games section.

Ekko, who was easily mistaken as scrawny with that big coat of his, quickly handed said coat over to Jinx (who, as Caitlyn could see, sniffed at it a little, giving the woman flashbacks to her own first crush) and showed off his muscles by almost putting the boxing machine out of order.

He won a shark plushie, though, which he of course handed to Jinx, who blushed so intensely, that Caitlyn was afraid she was going to faint.

After that came the shooting game, for which Jinx pushed her shark into Ekko now and readied herself. The vendors shot her look as if trying to say she shouldn’t even try because they very obviously didn’t believe Jinx could shoot.

Caitlyn had the suspicion that the girl could indeed shoot, seeing as she had a pistol of her own and had been very fascinated by Caitlyn’s rifle, though she had to admit, she had not expected Jinx to be this good.

The girl hit bullseye every single time, winning another plushie for them, this time an orange porro. Ekko, weirdly enough, didn’t even seem surprised, just proud.

The pair exchanged their toys, so that going forward Jinx carried the shark won by Ekko and Ekko carried the porro won by Jinx. It was weirdly endearing.

By the time noon rolled around, Caitlyn would have loved to take a lunch break, but Jinx and Ekko didn’t seem to run out of energy. Breaks weren’t really a thing on Progress Day, but no one would yell at you for sitting down for ten minutes to eat something.

The worst part was that they were currently getting closer and closer to the food stalls. With Jinx and Ekko to watch over, though, she really couldn't afford a break.

Or so she thought because only a few minutes later, a hand shoved a cupcake under her face.

Following the arm, it led her to Jinx, who smiled brightly.

“For you!”, the girl told her as if that wasn’t obvious. “Thought you might be hungry.”

They had really thought of her? “Thank you”, Caitlyn said, taking the cupcake.

Jinx somehow managed to smile even brighter, apparently happy that Caitlyn accepted.

Sadly, they couldn't all eat together, as she saw a little group of enforcers patrolling towards them. Jinx and Ekko seemed to see them too, already looking around for a nice hiding spot.

“Over there”, she whispered to them and pointed towards a little nook on the side of one of the buildings. Caitlyn knew from experience that it was a popular make-out spot, so no one would bother to check there – too many awkward encounters.

The two nodded and headed over there while Caitlyn tried to not look too suspicious as she smiled and nodded at the little group. It was only once they were far enough away, that she calmed down and finally bit down on the cupcake in her hand.

Glancing over, she could see the other two giggle and talk. She was too far away to hear what they were talking about, but the more she saw them interact like this, the more she thought they looked really cute together. She didn’t quite know how or when it happened, but she had the sudden thought that they deserved to be happy together, regardless of all their crimes.

She shook her head and went back to duty, aka watching the two love birds and making sure they wouldn't get arrested – what had Caitlyn's life become?

***

“I think I officially love Progress Day", Jinx said happily, as they kept strolling through the streets.

She has had a lot of fun already and the day was just halfway over. It certainly also did a lot for her to momentarily forget all her worries and weird feelings she couldn't quite place. Well, except one. Ekko.

Jinx really didn't know what was going on with her, but there had been several instances in which she felt particularly warm or her chest started to feel odd – she knew she wasn't sick, but she did not know why her body decided to behave so weirdly. All she knew was that it had something to do with Ekko.

“Well, where do you wanna go next?", the boy in question asked and honestly, she didn't know.

“What else is there?", she replied. Despite having been running up and down the entire place and knowing that they certainly hadn't even visited half the attractions, she still was out of ideas. Whatever was left just seemed so boring.

“It’s not exactly part of Progress Day, but we could go to the library”, Ekko suggested after a few seconds of thinking. “It’s probably pretty empty today, might be a nice place to take a break.”

She chuckled. “Why? You need one?”

“I’m just saying. We’ve been running around for hours, a bit of peace and quiet and a chair might not be the worst.”

Now that he mentioned it, her legs did start to hurt a little. “Maybe finding a quiet place might not be soooo bad”, she therefore replied, making Ekko laugh a little. He had a nice laugh – why did that matter again?

The plan was set, so they turned to Caitlyn, who had been keeping her distance the entire day, but still had to keep an eye on them. Jinx somehow doubted the woman would be able to come with them to the library, as it apparently wasn't a part of the Event.

“Hey, we’re at the library real quick”, Ekko told her in a low whisper.

The woman gave them a look – Jinx wasn’t sure what it meant, but it had something suggestive in it and she did not like it. “Don’t steal anything”, was all she replied before turning back around to do whatever it was the enforcer had in her job description.

It was a weirdly chill response, though, considering how Caity hadn't been the biggest fan of them so far. Jinx would argue that whatever form of dislike the woman had felt in the beginning, did already start to fade away, but she had still kept her guard up, up until now at least.

Jinx had been aware of the watchful gaze from the enforcer, which was probably why she could ignore the feeling of being watched – it had been an odd comfort to know it was Caity watching them and not someone dangerous. So, what did the enforcer see while watching them to make her so relaxed?

Well, a question for another day, she decided, as the library took all other thoughts from her.

She had never been in a library, for obvious reasons, and didn't really know what to expect apart from the books portion of it, but damn, those were a lot of books.

“You’re gonna catch flies like that”, Ekko said, which made Jinx realize that her mouth was hanging wide open in shock.

She quickly closed it and punched his arm, which only made him laugh, though. "Shut up", she grumbled and marched up to a random aisle and pulled out a book. Something about a guy getting lost at sea and fighting monsters.

“This is the classic literature section”, some sweet voice said next to her, making her flinch. “Oh, I’m sorry, I did not mean to startle you”, the woman said and pushed her glasses further up her face. “I’m the librarian. Sky. I haven’t seen you before, so I thought I … help out.”

Jinx quickly looked around, searching for Ekko, who had sat down at a reading nook and lazily waved at her. “Uh”, she mumbled, turning back to the woman in front of her. “Yeah, I … I’m new here.”

"Well, if you'd like, I can give you a rundown of where to find things", Sky asked and Jinx simply nodded – it would make this easier, for sure. "Alright, so here, we have classic literature, so all the really old stuff that's been written ages ago. Over there is Fantasy. A bit further to the left are the children's books, and back here is Historical Fiction. Romance over there, mysteries are at that aisle, and Comics are all the way in the corner back there. On the upper floor is anything non-fiction, so any science books, physics, biology, geography, lots of educational and interesting stuff", the woman rambles, and Jinx honestly only got like half of it. "That's the basics, but if you're looking for anything specific, feel free to ask."

Jinx nodded again, and Sky walked off with a smile.

She tried to orient herself in the masses of books, but the woman's explanations had already left her brain again. All she still remembered was fiction down here, non-fiction upstairs.

Jinx had never been much of a fiction gal, though in fairness, her access to any sort of book has been limited so far, so who knew, really? In any way, the non-fiction department seemed a lot more interesting right now, so she grabbed Ekko by the arm, ignored all his protests and went upstairs.

She browsed around a bit, feeling the energy and excitement coming back to her, seeing all of the different books on a lot of different things, she would love to learn about, but she doubted there would be enough time today.

“You know, we could come back here another time, right?”, Ekko called over to her as she pulled out book after book.

“Yeah, right because you’re not a wanted criminal”, she shot back, placing another huge book onto the stack in her arms.

He sighed. “Sure, it’s not gonna be easy, but it’s possible. You’re not gonna get through all of that now anyway.”

Ekko was right and she knew that, but seeing all the rows and rows of books she hadn’t even so much as glanced at, she felt a bit of sadness in her – she really wanted to read them all and she didn’t want to wait ages for it.

Slightly defeated, she dropped what she had on the table Ekko was sitting at. Then she pulled out a huge book that was called “Atlas". She didn't quite know what that meant, but it had a bunch of maps inside. Opening it, she found a map of the entirety of Runeterra and put it in front of Ekko before sitting down next to him.

“Where are we?”, she then asked and he chuckled. “What’s so funny?”

"Nothing, just … I sometimes forget you only started to see the world two days ago. Somehow feels longer", he explained awkwardly, but Jinx knew what he meant. A lot has happened in so little time, it really felt like it's been months since she left. Ekko cleared his throat. "We are here. In Piltover, right across the river from Zaun", he said, pointing at the page.

“Looks small”, she mumbled. Compared to all the land around it, the two cities seemed almost insignificant.

“Well, it’s only two cities, not entire countries.”

“I guess.” She kept looking at the pages. “What’s the rest?”

Jinx had never really had a good sense of time, so she didn't know just how long they had been sitting and going through books like this. Ekko explained in as much detail as he could what all the other countries' names were and what they were up to, though he was just as lost as her on some of them.

They then went through the other books, some on engineering, some on theoretical physics, and a few on biology, which grossed Jinx out relatively quickly – it was interesting, sure, but she sincerely could do without the pictures of all the weird undersea creatures living in her head.

When the sun started to hang low enough to blind them through the windows, they decided it might be best to get back outside and enjoy the rest of the festivities.

On the way downstairs, something caught her eye, though. A dark green cover that felt familiar. So, she went over, grabbed the book and took a closer look at it. It was the same one she had, the one she knew from what firelights were.

“Everything alright?”, Ekko asked and she quickly nodded, going through the pages, trying to find her favorite one.

"I know this book", she said as some sort of explanation before finding what she was looking for. "Here!"

Jinx basically pressed the pages into Ekko’s face, who gently took the book from her, to properly see what she wanted to show him. Slowly, understanding dawned on his face.

“You had this book back there”, he said, though it sounded more like a question.

She nodded again. “Yeah! It was my favorite, though I didn’t care much about the stories, but I always liked these little bugs.”

“It’s a very nice story, though.”

“You know it?” She probably shouldn’t be that surprised.

“Yeah”, he said turning the book around, so she could see the title. “It’s a collection of bedtime stories told to kids up here and in Zaun”, he explained. “I haven’t read the book, exactly, but my parents used to tell me the firelight story. I always liked it. The moral that every living thing needs freedom to shine.”

There was that weird feeling again. “I suppose”, she mumbled, unable to think of any other proper response. “We should probably head back out before Caity misses us too much." Her voice was barely above a whisper and she only now realized how close he was to her.

“You really think she would miss us?”, he asked skeptically.

Jinx shrugged. “Why not? She seemed to warm up to us and she was watching us the entire time, but not in a hostile way.”

“Wait, how do you know that?”

Right, he didn't know yet. "I just do. It's like a weird tingly feeling down my back. Usually, it doesn't feel nice, but cause Caity's not trying to harm us, it has been fine", she tried to explain, aware that this wasn't a thing everyone just experienced.

“Alright”, Ekko said, looking slightly worried, but still somewhat impressed. “Since Caitlyn is apparently warming up, I guess she would want our company.”

“That’s what I said.”

"I didn't have all the knowledge you did", he defended himself, smirking.

They were still so close. And because she didn’t know what to do with that, she turned around. “Let’s go then!”, she exclaimed and walked out of the library.

***

It had been a few hours before Ekko and Jinx came back and Caitlyn was bored out of her mind.

Progress Day had been slow this year, which also meant she was essentially just standing around and had little to nothing to do. In a way, she was glad to see the two criminals emerge again, as it gave her some semblance of purpose.

And as it turned out, she was a lot more invested in the relationship of the two than she probably should be. For example: right now, as Jinx talked circles around some poor academy student who just wanted to show off his work, Ekko stood next to her, a smile on his face as he stared at the girl.

Caitlyn has been called nosy many times in her life, but it was a trait she likely won't get rid of.

“So, what’s going on between you two?”, she therefore asked in low tones, still trying to avoid unwanted attention, but also to keep Jinx from hearing it – she was not going to put the boy on the spot.

The boy looked at her with confusion. “What do you mean?”

She shrugged. "I'm just curious as to what kind of relationship the two of you have", she phrased it a bit fancier.

“I don’t know, we’re … friends, I guess?”, came the unsure reply.

Caitlyn hummed in response, refraining from calling bullshit. The two criminals barely know each other, yet seem to have something holding them together, and on top of that, they are clearly into each other. She wouldn't push anything, though. They would get there soon enough, she was sure of it.

Jinx seemed to be done with the poor student, anyway, so any chance of talking about this had passed.

They moved on until they came past a few musicians, for which Jinx stopped again.

The music was pretty good, even Caitlyn moved her head with the rhythm until Jinx walked off to dance alone in the free space around them. Caitlyn knew she never could have done that, just dancing around all alone, but she guessed someone had to be the first and Jinx apparently made sure that she wasn’t going to be the only one.

The girl grabbed a woman, who had been watching, and they now danced together. She continued to do that, the woman as well, and they both dragged anyone into the circle, all but forcing them to dance along. They all seemed to be having fun, at least.

Caitlyn turned to Ekko again, who looked at the girl in awe – she had to roll her eyes.

“You should join her”, she prompted and watched as his cheeks got painted a bit red.

“Nah, I’m not much of a dancer”, he replied sheepishly.

At that moment, Jinx emerged from the crowd and waved at them, signaling Ekko to get over, but he simply shook his head.

With a slight groan, Caitlyn gave in to the impulse to help the two along and simply pushed the boy into the group. He only managed a look of betrayal before he got dragged off by one of the many people dancing around.

Caitlyn laughed a little, seeing him trying to gain his footing.

For not being much of a dancer, he was doing pretty well, though. And he also started to have some fun after a little while.

She could watch the two trying to reach out to one another a few times, but every time, someone got between them. It was slightly frustrating, but as the music came to an end, they finally found each other and as they did the entire day, they stared into each other's eyes – at this point, Caitlyn was close to scream "Kiss!" at them. But she wouldn't do that, already having meddled more than enough.

As the crowd cheered and slowly dissolved, the two found their way out of each other’s irises and brought a bit more distance between them.

Caitlyn’s disappointed sigh was lost over the first screams about closing time from vendors and enforcers alike.

Chapter Text

Progress Day has come to an end. It was a little bit sad because it had been fun, and despite Caity's constant watchful eye, it had been nice to just have a fun day with Ekko – no running, no awkwardness, no new revelations that filled Jinx with anxiety. Well, maybe except one, but that didn't really make her panic.

Jinx liked Ekko, like really liked him. And as far as she could interpret it, he liked her too. It was a new feeling and certainly something she had not expected to come out of this when she had knocked him out back at the mill tower.

She might have lived isolated her whole life, but even she had been able to acknowledge his good looks, though that didn't make her fall in love at first sight or anything. Jinx was pretty sure that everything that came after they had made their escape was responsible for that feeling now. The kindness, his genuine interest in her, their talks, he was smart, and yeah okay, that he was handsome certainly helped too.

It had taken a while for her to acknowledge just what these odd feelings were. In fact, she had just figured it out a few hours ago, but that didn't matter. Because after she had, she started to notice things she hadn't before – lingering looks, side glances, walking a little too close to each other just so their shoulders could touch briefly. Both of them were doing it and they definitely were not subtle about it.

Caity must have noticed too, which might be the reason she had ditched them, babbling something about an enforcer meeting. So now, it was only Jinx and Ekko and the gorgeously orange sun, painting the entire world in a golden glow as it slowly vanished behind the ocean.

It wasn’t the first sunset she had ever seen, but it certainly was the prettiest.

“She really left us”, Ekko mumbled after a while with a little disbelieving chuckle.

“Told ya, she’s warming up to us”, Jinx responded with a shrug.

“I shall never doubt you again”, he replied overly dramatic and she laughed.

Staring back out towards the sea and sun, the smile never quite left her face. Not just because of the breathtaking beauty in front of her, but because she was truly happy. It was a strange sensation – it wasn’t like she had never been happy ever, it was just … she had never felt this content. Happy in a way of not longing for anything more. She wanted to stay in this moment forever.

But sadly, time moved on and the sun vanished and without the golden glow, the sight was a lot less spectacular, let alone that it was starting to get a bit cold. Not too much, though – or maybe she tried to tell herself that, so she could stay just a little longer. Ekko wasn’t rushing her or anything, it was simply a certainty that they would have to leave at some point. Then again, they couldn't leave without Caity, now could they? Hah, loophole!

They stood on the bridge, neither saying a word nor bringing up the inevitable. And as the last bit of light truly vanished and the stars mirrored themselves in the water below, the sight got better again – a different kind of beauty that Jinx would love to spend hours observing.

“There’s no moon”, she pointed out, carefully breaking the sweet silence.

Ekko tore his gaze away from her – yes, she had noticed him staring – and looked up to the sky. “Seems so”, he replied and Jinx noticed him fidgeting with his hands. He was nervous. “Bad for the scenery, practical for me, though”, he then added.

Jinx now pulled her eyes away from the stars to properly look at him and he was definitely nervous. “What are you planning?”, she asked regardless because she was curious as to what that comment meant.

“Well...”, he started awkwardly, rummaging through the bag he had with him – Jinx had been wondering since the morning why the hell he would need it, but it seemed it had a purpose after all. “I have not forgotten my promise, so I got up at the crack of dawn, and...” He let the sentence fade out as he finally revealed what he had hidden in that bag.

Jinx gasped. “Firelights”, she whispered. She didn’t know why she felt the need to whisper. “You caught me firelights.” She couldn't believe it – there, right in front of her, was a glass full of firelights. They did not look comfortable by any means, but that didn’t do anything to minimize her wonder.

“Happy Birthday”, Ekko said and opened the glass.

The bugs wasted no time to fly outside and around them, engulfing them in their green light. It looked beautiful like the stars came down from the sky to dance around them. One even landed in front of her on the railing of the bridge and she carefully leaned in closer to look at it in detail. Her dream finally came true, she couldn't believe it.

A part of her wanted to put the little guy back in the glass, just to be able to look at it a little bit more, to stay in the moment a little longer, but they had looked so unhappy in there, she wasn't going to do that to them. The story in her book was true – they lose a bit of their shine when they are trapped and have regained it now, being back in freedom.

So, Jinx used the time she had and studied it all. The head, the wings, the patterns on its body, the way their butt glowed. And then it flew away again.

They were still surrounding them, flying across the bridge and back, but one by one, they started to find their way home. It would probably take a while until they all got back, but it was yet another reminder that this moment had to end soon and life would move on.

At least her dream finally came true. That was good, wasn’t it?

Then why did she feel so empty all of a sudden?

“Something wrong?”, Ekko asked, pulling her out of this line of thought.

She tried to regain her smile, thinking about how he really caught her who knows how many firelights before going up for Progress Day and it worked a little. It also brought that nice feeling back.

“No”, she said, shaking her head because things were actually pretty perfect.

He looked at her for a few seconds, obviously doubting her. “You didn’t look too happy just now, is all.”

“I am!”, she answered quickly – she certainly didn’t want him to think that all his efforts were for nothing or that she didn’t appreciate them. Taking a deep breath, she tried to find the right words to explain her feelings. “This… being out here with you, seeing firelights, it’s all I’ve ever wanted. Now that it’s here, I just … I mean, what am I gonna do now?”

Ekko smiled and it relieved her a good bit – he had looked so hurt there for a second, thinking she didn’t love her present. “You go find a new dream, I guess”, he then said, carefully taking her hand in his.

“I guess”, she mirrored, trying to catch his gorgeous brown eyes.

When he finally looked up and their eyes met, she could see the green of the firelights, still swirling around them, reflect in his.

The moment felt weirdly intimate and her heart hammered in her chest. She might have never been outside, but she wasn't that clueless. That was probably what made her so nervous, the fact that she knew what may or may not come next. Or maybe it had nothing to do with that at all, but the gemstone, still hidden in her dress, currently getting as heavy as her conscience.

At that moment, a little thought made itself present, questioning why she still hadn't gotten over with it and that, if what she thought was going to happen, actually happened, she would like to do it with a clean slate.

Besides, Ekko liked her – in whatever way, didn't matter right now – and he surely wouldn't abandon her for this stupid thing. Hell, even if, she could easily find him now, knowing where his hideout was and slap some sense into him if necessary.

So, when he took a step closer, she took one back, making her choice. “You know…”, she breathed – gods, why was she so out of breath? Nothing had even happened yet! “I have a surprise for you too”, she then said and he quirked an eyebrow in confusion.

She leaned down to access the hidden pockets and pulled out the satchel without much fanfare.

He looked … something. Jinx couldn't quite decipher it – maybe it was disappointment, maybe confusion, maybe shock, maybe all three. She didn’t give him a lot of time to decide on one either, as she just started talking again.

“I know, I should have given it to you before, but … I was scared”, she had to admit it, there was no way around it, she had to be absolutely honest about this. “And the thing is, I’m not scared anymore. You know what I mean?” She ended that sentence with a nervous laugh.

Ekko seemed perplexed as he looked between her and the satchel a few times, but eventually, he just laughed and Jinx guessed that was a good sign?

“You’re unbelievable”, he said, still smiling and then stuffed the satchel into his bag as if there was just a little bit of dirt inside and not an incredibly powerful thing. “I could not care less about that stone right now”, he then said, leaning in again until their foreheads touched.

"Oh", was all Jinx managed to say – well, that had been some unnecessary anxiety in the past couple of days.

Seriously, what had she been stressing about? How did she ever think that Ekko would just run and leave her? (She knew why – because Silco had always told her not to trust anyone, but it wasn’t a thought she was willing to entertain in this situation.)

She let out a little sigh of relief, finally relaxing a little. Not even Ekko’s closeness made her the slightest bit nervous anymore. Jinx kind of even felt a bit of anticipation or something like that, but the boy still looked at her as if he was expecting something.

"What are you waiting for?", she therefore asked in a whisper – more wasn't needed, considering that his face was right in front of her.

He looked as if he wasn’t all that sure about it himself. “Permission?”, he settled on eventually.

Jinx had to laugh a little. Ekko was really cute right now. “In that case, permission granted.”

And that's how she found herself with her eyes closed, kissing Ekko. His lips were soft and he moved against her in a slow motion, like he was trying to savor every single second. She got lost in the feeling a little bit. Somehow, her hand found his again, while his other hand rested on her cheek, softly so she could pull away at any time. She didn’t want to, but the option was there and that was nice and sweet.

Her still free hand moved on its own accord, grabbing the back of his neck, not pulling him closer, just resting there, feeling the skin.

Jinx had never felt so safe and relaxed – another moment she didn’t want to stop.

But of course, the universe had other plans for her. She had to pull away suddenly because a feeling of panic was overcoming her and it took her a bit longer than usual to figure out what it was – she was feeling watched again.

Part of her hoped to see Caitlyn’s smirking face in the distance. Hoping her meeting was over and she was ready to join them once more, but the bridge and the streets were empty. Also, it didn’t feel like Caity at all – when the enforcer had watched them, the tingles down her spine did not induce any panic because Jinx knew the woman wouldn't want to harm them.

“Jinx?”, Ekko caught her attention again and he looked worried, probably a mirror of her own face.

“I...", she started, but had to take a few deep breaths before being able to get a coherent sentence out of her mouth. "Someone's watching me and it's not Caitlyn", she then said before taking another deep breath, trying to calm herself because… "I think it's Silco. Or Sevika, maybe." And she remembered there was another little detail she should probably mention. Kinda felt like an important background information right now. "You know, after you've been shot and we thought we had lost everyone, well… we didn't. Sevika must have kept an eye on me and Silco was there that night and I think that maybe she's been watching me ever since. The only time when I didn't feel like this was when we were at the hideout."

Ekko was silent for a few seconds, nodding slowly, seemingly trying to process. “Is that why you acted so weird that night?”, he then asked.

“Probably, is that important?”

“No, sorry”, he said, shaking his head slightly before looking around a little. “I don’t see anyone, but I trust you. Maybe we should head back, get to safety”, he suggested.

“What about Caitlyn?” There was still a promise of a returned gemstone, after all.

Ekko sighed. “I’m sure she’ll understand if we explain, but I’m not risking anything waiting for her. We can get her later.”

Another deep breath. He was right. “Okay.”

So, they quickly started walking. Jinx kept her pistol already in her hands, just in case, while Ekko didn't particularly have any weapons with him – it was supposed to be a peaceful outing, after all – only a knife he had hidden in his shoe. They were both ready to be attacked, though Jinx really hoped it wouldn't come to it.

The Undercity was weirdly empty. Jinx hadn't been here for long and certainly hadn't seen much of it, but so far, the city had been buzzing with life at any point of the day, and yet, the streets were completely abandoned.

She nudged Ekko slightly, trying to convey her uneasiness concerning the situation, and he nodded. She also noticed how he gripped the knife a bit tighter.

It wasn’t that far to the hideout. They had taken less than ten minutes to make it to the bridge in the morning, but ten minutes was already eleven too many if you asked Jinx.

She paid very close attention to her surroundings, wishing a little that Pascal would be here to give them the bird's view. And she also took notice of every little thing her body tried to tell her. It felt like whoever was after them was also all around them and that wasn’t good. That would mean they were trapped, no matter what.

Jinx tried to stay calm despite the situation because she needed to focus. If her feelings were correct, then a single slip-up could mean defeat, so she stayed as vigilant as she could, which proved to be good.

When she sensed a sudden movement behind her, she wasted no time, spun around, and shot before she could even aim properly, letting the feeling inside her guide her. Someone did hit the ground, so she guessed whatever it was that was running through her veins was very accurate.

But now that she had shot first, she also opened the ground for any other idiot who felt a bit bloodthirsty.

As a bunch of thugs, she could recognize as Silco’s, came out of the shadows, Ekko grabbed her hand and dragged her with him into a run.

With their hands connected, it was easy to pull him out of harm's way whenever she felt oncoming danger. Paying attention to that and trying to shoot her way through the masses was a lot to do at once, but she managed pretty well. And if anyone did come too close for comfort, Ekko made quick work of them with his knife. Jinx was pretty sure that between the both of them, they had minimized their enemies down to about half.

And she recognized the street, they were almost by the sewers, which meant they could lose them in the labyrinth of it and-

Something rammed into her, making her lose her grip on her gun, and making both her and Ekko stumble. Shit, she had been so happy, she forgot to focus.

Jinx saw her gun not too far from her, but before she could scramble to get it back, someone had already grabbed her arm, attempting to get her away from Ekko.

Out of a lack of arms, she had to let go of the boy to land a fist in the asshole’s neck.

Being free again, she tried once more to get her gun, which this time succeeded. She made quick work of some more thugs, but then her gaze fell on Ekko, who was struggling against one of the bigger ones.

She really should have learned her lesson not to get distracted because their attackers used her short second of worry to grab her again and this time, they managed a bit better to contain her. Despite her gun still in her hand, she couldn't move enough to actually point it at anyone.

Jinx thrashed around, trying to squirm out of the dead grip she was in, but there was no way out. And Ekko…

Ekko was the only thing that made her stop her attempts completely. He lay on the street, not moving a muscle and Jinx couldn't even tell if he was still breathing.

“Don't worry, he's still alive", said a silky voice she knew all too well and the will to fight came back to her. She saw him roll his eyes. "Don't bother. It doesn't matter how much Shimmer runs through you, you won't get out of this one."

And she froze again. "What?" It was barely above a whisper. For a second, she wondered if she had made a sound at all.

Silco answered something, but she couldn't hear him over the thoughts running through her mind.

He had said he didn't know what was going on with her. She felt stupid to have believed him and she felt even dumber for not figuring it out sooner – it was his entire deal, for fucks sake! Jinx might have only learned about it recently, but it really shouldn't have been that hard to draw a connection. After everything she had learned about him, why did it even surprise her that she was apparently full of a drug that killed hundreds of people?!

Silco had stopped talking, she noticed, and waited impatiently for her to listen again.

So, when she finally looked up, he smiled knowingly. “With us again?”, he asked and she hated that he knew her so well. How many times did he have to get her out of her own head or wait for her to snap out of it herself? Too many, she decided.

“No”, she then said, spat almost. “I’m not with you, I don’t wanna be anywhere near you!”, she yelled, trying to fight her way out of the hold again, but these assholes just tightened their grip.

Silco sighed. “That’s too bad, but I’m afraid you don’t have a choice”, he said, already turning around, ready to leave, barely sparing a glance at Ekko. “Your little adventure is over now and I fear your boyfriend has an important meeting with the sheriff to attend to.” He snapped his fingers and a few of the remaining thugs picked up Ekko.

All the while, the goons who still had her gripped tightly, started to walk after Silco, their pace steady, regardless of how much she kicked and squirmed and screamed, and oh did she scream loudly. Mostly, it was incoherent, the other big part was Ekko's name, hoping to stir him awake so he could at least save himself, but he didn't. He remained limp in the thugs' arms and then she lost sight of him way too soon. That didn't stop her from trying to break free or screaming until her throat hurt and her lungs burned and even then, she kept going.

It was only when her sobs and tears became too strong that she had to stop.

Chapter Text

Sevika lit her cigarette and leaned back against the wall, trying to shut her brain off. She remembered that when Jinx had been around 12 and couldn't sleep, she had asked Sevika – who had had the unpleasant assignment to babysit – what she could do to make it better. She had told the brat to simply not think and the girl had laughed in her face at the sheer impossibility of it.

Now, she understood. When the thoughts were this intent on plaguing you, there was no shutting it off.

With a groan of frustration, she stomped out her barely lit cigarette. That wouldn't help her now anyway.

She wasn't sure when it had happened, when she started to care, but she did. Watching Jinx bond with that enforcer, playing around on Progress Day, the obvious longing between her and the boy, and eventually the kiss. It must have been sometime around then that she truly started to care.

If she had to bet money on it, she would say it was the romance of it all that made Sevika feel so sorry for the girl – a grim reminder of her own experiences with love.

Might have also been the reason she hadn’t participated in the fight. She probably should have, certainly was supposed to, but she was willing to give Jinx a real fighting chance.

Sevika had watched it all from the side and only turned her eyes away when Jinx had started crying, her screams turning into pitiful sobs. She could count on one hand the number of times she had seen that girl cry and each time, she had truly been at rock bottom, though this was probably the lowest she had ever seen her.

The brat wasn’t even fighting anymore, which was already incredibly concerning.

Jinx had not been brought back to her tower – too many difficulties as she refused to walk and someone therefore needed to carry her, but the little staircase was not wide enough to actually do that. So, she had been locked up somewhere near the doctor's lab. Unsurprisingly, the guy had enough cells ready to be filled.

Sevika was watching her and quite frankly, she might as well be watching a corpse.

Jinx had not moved in almost an entire day after being thrown in there. She stared somewhere at a wall, her gaze empty, devoid of anything – fight, sadness, anger, goddamn it, even defiance or straight-up life. She also didn't eat or drink anything and while Sevika was sure that the shimmer would keep her alive even without anything else, she doubted it could be healthy.

It was a pitiful sight, no scratch that, it was downright depressing. The brat didn't even make any noise. Sometimes, Sevika wondered if she even still breathed.

However, none of that could even come close to when she did do something.

Sometimes, she moved her eyes away from the wall and onto her hair – the two admittedly beautiful braids had already started to detangle during the fight, but by now, there was barely anything left of them. And Jinx looked at the loose stands with a disturbing kind of longing.

Sevika had seen that kind of look before – usually, people tended to look like that at their last hope and she was pretty sure the girl probably thought about hanging herself on her hair and if she could get away with it.

She always got ready for action when she saw Jinx's eyes move down to her hair because as much as she would love to save the girl from this, it was not going to happen through suicide.

She paused. Was that really a thought right now? She would love to save the girl from this?

Thinking about it a bit more, she found it to be true. No one deserved what Silco and Singed were probably currently discussing to do, not even a brat like Jinx, especially not after finally getting out and finding happiness.

Sighing, she could not believe the direction her thoughts were taking her.

She couldn't save Jinx, not on her own, but… if she got that enforcer on board, she could get the boy out of prison and maybe then they would actually have a chance.

Letting out a groan of frustration, she pushed herself off the wall and walked over to the cell with Jinx in it. The girl didn’t even dignify her with a flicker of her eyes.

Another sigh, trying to stall the inevitable – there was really something wrong if she, of all people, wanted to help Jinx, but in a way, she knew where this sudden affection was coming from – it had always been there, she had simply been too good at pushing it away all these years.

“Alright, listen and listen good”, she hissed into the cage, hoping no one would hear her. Jinx still didn’t look at her. “I’m going to get you out of here. I’m going to get some help”, she said and now the girl’s eyes at least showed a bit of confusion. “Don’t get the wrong idea. I’m not doing this for you. I’m doing this for your mother.”

And with that, she turned around to leave, only stopping shortly to try one last time to get some life into the brat. "Hang in there”, she told her and then left.

Knowing that Silco would definitely get suspicious if he saw her wandering around and not guarding Jinx like she was supposed to, she was extra careful while trying to sneak away. Luckily, she knew the place, the others and their routes pretty well, so while she wouldn't say it was easy, it wasn't too hard either. Now, she only had to find the enforcer.

***

So, Sevika ran into a couple of problems quickly.

Namely that she didn't know where to find the enforcer, nor how to ask around for her as she didn't know her name, or lastly, how she was supposed to convince a complete stranger, who had no idea what relation she had with Jinx, to help her.

She was once again reminded why she had always been a follower – she was shit at making plans. People like Vander or Silco had always been better at that. It wasn't even that she lacked strategic thinking, quite the opposite. It was usually her pointing out the flaws in the plans. No, it was more due to her lack of creativity. She was able to work with what she was given, but coming up with something off of the top of her head? Might as well let her lay down and die.

And yet, here she was trying. For Jinx of all people.

Back when the girl was taken by Silco, she swore to herself that the brat wouldn’t get to her, that nothing that happened before mattered and it was easy to convince herself of that when Jinx had been nothing more than an occasional nuisance. It became even easier when in the few days, they had to spend together, Jinx always angered her – it was the simplest thing to hate her. And she should with so many terrible incidents surrounding the brat, the many scars she had gotten, not to mention that one time, Jinx had almost managed to blow off Sevika’s arm with one of her stupid pranks.

For some reason, it made her chuckle now. She supposed she never really hated the girl and the things that happened 18 years ago mattered after all.

Speaking of memories, it seemed her aimless wandering had led her close to the Last Drop and honestly, Sevika was this close to just walking in and asking Vander for help. That would come with its own set of issues, but at this point, she was growing antsy enough to take the risks of revealing the truth.

The thought made her feel weird. Guilt, if she had to guess, though she didn’t quite understand it – why did her conscience feel the need to act up now that her mistakes were already long in the past?

She should have just denied Silco’s order to keep an eye on Jinx and she wouldn't have to deal with all of this now. Sevika would give a lot to keep pretending, but it seemed the past had finally caught up with her.

With a sigh, she made the last few steps towards the Last Drop. Maybe for Jinx, Vander and his kids would reschedule her execution.

The bar was almost empty with only a few patrons sitting in the booths, but that was to be expected – this early in the morning, only really sad people felt the need for an alcoholic burn down their throats.

It, however, also made it easier to stand out and the second she entered, everyone looked at her like they had seen a ghost and to be fair, she might as well have been one. They hadn’t seen each other since she had last stepped foot in here almost 20 years ago. God, she was getting old.

Before anyone could start to insult her, kick her out, yell at her or whatever else, Sevika noticed the one person who was even more out of place – the enforcer she had been looking for. And she had Jinx’s pistol with her, which also meant she must be at least somewhat aware of the girl’s kidnapping.

It all threw her straight into the problem of how to convince her, but if there was one thing Sevika could do very well, it was being confident, even if she had no clue what to do.

“That’s Jinx’s”, she pointed out, nodding at the gun, catching everyone off guard. Alright, that was odd. The enforcer she understood, but why would anyone else care?

After the initial shock had worn off, they all took a defensive stance – well, all except the two guys in the corner booth who had nothing to do with this, just wanting to enjoy a beer and currently looking incredibly confused.

“What do you know about her?”, the enforcer asked, while mustering her carefully as if she was trying to figure out if she knew Sevika.

Well, here went nothing. “I know where she is and that she needs your help”, she said, trying to sound casual. The last thing she wanted to let show here was how much Jinx’s state still freaked her out.

"Why does that not surprise me?", the redhead grumbled – Violet if Sevika recalled correctly.

“How is she? What happened?” The enforcer didn’t let the hostility of the others influence her – or she simply didn’t notice, who knew? – instead, worry was overtaking her.

Sevika didn't know how to answer any of that. In short, Jinx was suicidal because she was ripped away from any happiness she ever had in her life and it was in part Sevika's fault. She couldn't say any of that, though. "She's fine, for now. I don't know what Silco plans to do with her, though”, was what she settled on eventually. Fine might be an exaggeration, but she was alive and mostly unharmed, at least.

“Let me get this straight", Vander spoke up now, coming out from behind the bar and putting a hand on Violet's shoulder. "Silco has Jinx and, did I get this right, Ekko is in prison?" That last part was mostly directed at the enforcer, who seemingly has had a similar idea as Sevika in getting this family's help and must have filled Vander in on some stuff already. "I'm guessing that's also on Silco?" This was solely directed at Sevika again.

She nodded, assuming Ekko was the boy Jinx had been running around with.

“Is Silco the person who … well, raised her?”, the enforcer now asked and even though Sevika didn’t quite know the purpose of the question, she still nodded again. “And Silco attacked them last night?" Another nod. "Alright, so tell me if I'm wrong, but from the way Jinx has acted, it always seemed like she has never been outside, and honestly, that's kind of the only explanation for any of this. Silco kept her hidden, Ekko somehow found her and, for some reason, helped her escape. I get why he would attack them to get her back, but I just cannot work out why he kept her hidden in the first place. And what good does it do to him to have Ekko imprisoned, apart from keeping him from saving Jinx?”

The enforcer was smart, so much was sure. Sevika sighed. “That’s gonna be a long story”, she groaned.

“Make it short”, Violet grumbled right back and got smacked slightly by Vander.

“Well, to make it short..." She sent a pointed look towards the red-head. "… she's got a bunch of Shimmer running through her body and Silco has tried for years to figure out how it works. He cannot risk her running off and losing the potential. As for the boy, I guess he wants to make sure there is really no one around anymore to get her out again. Also, the Firelights have been a thorn in his eye for a while and the boy's obviously a part of the gang."

“Wait, what do you mean there’s shimmer in her body?”, Vander asked shocked.

“Does explain the eyes, though”, one of the boys in the background spoke up.

“So what? He’s been using her as some experiment?”, the enforcer asked, making a face like she was going to throw up any second.

“Basically", she answered and the woman had to sit down at the nearest booth.

“I don’t get it, how is that even possible?”, Violet asked. “Like, did she take too much Shimmer?”

Sevika took a deep breath, knowing that if any of them were smart enough to put one and one together, she was doomed. “No, she didn’t take any shimmer, didn’t have to. She was born like this. I cannot tell you how it works, that’s the problem Silco tried to solve.”

Violet narrowed her eyes. “What do you mean born with it? How does someone get born with Shimmer flowing around in their body?!”

Time to hammer the last nail in her coffin. “Her mother took it. To ease the pregnancy. She died, Jinx lived and if I had to take a guess, the Shimmer in her body did a great deal for her to survive”, she explained, hoping a little that the girl was dumb.

Vander, who now walked towards her with a scowl on his face, was not dumb, though. “She better not be who I think she is”, he growled lowly, but Sevika held her ground.

She wasn’t entirely sure if he was referring to Jinx’s or her mother’s identity – not that it would make much of a difference. Her continued silence seemed to tell him what he needed anyway, as she could watch his muscles twitch.

"Who… are we talking about?", the enforcer carefully questioned silently, but in the tense atmosphere, she was heard nonetheless.

“She’s Felicia’s kid, isn’t she?”, Vander asked her instead of responding to the other woman. Sevika barely nodded before the man threw a “How could you?!” at her face.

That was enough to make her angry as well. "I didn't do shit!", she spat back. "She took the Shimmer, didn't even tell anyone about it. What was I supposed to do?"

“You could have at least let the girl grow up with her family!”

“Wait”, Violet interjected before the two could throw hands. “Are you trying to say that Jinx…?” She let the sentence trail off. Maybe she was too scared to say it out loud or too unsure if she understood correctly. Either way, she looked paler than usual.

Vander simply looked at Sevika, waiting for her to drop the bomb. “Yes”, she said eventually. “She’s your long-lost sister.”

“Oh damn”, escaped the enforcer’s mouth which now stood wide open.

Sevika couldn't dwell on that too long, though, as Violet now stomped over to her, grabbed her collar and was probably about to punch, but held herself back to yell a bit more.

“You knew all along who she was, obviously never even thought about getting her to safety, to her family and now you waltz in her acting all concerned for her?!” There were tears building up in her eyes and Sevika really did feel sorry.

She knew it was a lame excuse to say that she couldn't have done anything or that she never thought about it or that she hadn’t realized how awful Silco had been. No, she knew and she could have done something, but decided not to. Decided to convince herself that it had nothing to do with her and that she hated the brat for things that were beyond her control.

Before she mutter any sorry excuses though, a hand on Violet's shoulder pulled her away from Sevika. It was the enforcer.

"How about we put all of this aside for now, maybe discuss it when Jinx is around as I think she deserves to know too. Assuming she doesn't know yet?" Turning to Sevika, she once again nodded. " For now, Jinx and Ekko are still in danger. Getting them so safety should be our priority.” She looked around to see everyone agree with her, some more reluctantly than others.

Once she was satisfied, she took a breath and did what Sevika couldn't – make a plan. “Alright, I think we should get Ekko first. For one, it is going to be the easier part and I also think that he should be there when we get Jinx. He was quite worried about her." She paused shortly, then shook her head as if trying to rid herself of a bad memory. "Then we are going to need a plan for Jinx." She turned to Sevika and awkwardly paused.

It took her a few seconds to realize why. “Sevika”, she provided.

"Caitlyn", the enforcer responded quickly before continuing. "Sevika hopefully knows the ins and outs and will be able to assist. Another reason why Ekko would probably be helpful. I know you like to fight, Vi, and I know Vander also has battle experience, but Ekko has done it a lot more recently and strategically." Caitlyn shot an apologetic smile towards Violet, who simply shrugged.

“Great, so how do we get him out of jail?”, one of the boys asked again, getting closer to their little circle.

"He is currently held in a holding cell. I don't think we have much to worry about in terms of Stillwater yet, as for that, he would have to get a trial first and the council tends to be slow on these things." A little disdain was heard from her voice. "He was probably already moved into the … let's call it soon-to-be-trialed cells in the council building, which might make this more difficult."

“Nothing we can’t handle, right guys?”, Violet asked and agreements were made vocal by her family.

“Good. I have some sort of plan already, but it hugely depends on timing”, Caitlyn said and started to explain.

Sevika already knew this was going to be a long day.

Chapter Text

Jinx felt … something. That in itself was already a miracle as she had spent who knows how long disassociating from her situation.

In a sad way, she wished she could go back to her indifferent state, but as she lay on the ground, staring at the ceiling, she soon had to face reality – her brain had started to think and there was no coming back from that.

All because of that stupid ogre.

After being ripped out of her disassociation by the aggravating voice, her first thought had been something along the lines of “She’s kidding, right?”, but then the woman didn’t come back. It would also be really out of character for Sevika to joke about something like that. Or joke at all, for that matter.

It was only logical to assume that the ogre had told the truth and yet, Jinx couldn't quite bring herself to believe it. Still, this nagging feeling of hope dared to settle within her. She hated it and didn’t want it – all of this would be so much easier if she could just wallow in misery.

Stupid ogre and stupid brain for wandering to things she did not want to think about.

Like Ekko. He was probably in a similar situation as her right now, behind bars and all. She wondered if he was doing better than her.

With a sigh, she tried to think about something else that hopefully wouldn't make her want to cry.

Absentmindedly, she weaved her fingers through her hair and decided to wonder about that. Despite having an affinity for science, she had never really questioned why her hair could magically heal people. Possibly because she couldn't really experiment with it as she wasn't allowed to cut it, so she had accepted it as it was.

The new knowledge that Silco had bestowed upon her put it all in a new light and not just her hair. Thinking back on everything, a lot of things have been weird and she never really questioned it.

But one thing at a time. She still remembered how she found out she could heal. She must have been five or something and her only friends were the little critters running around at the tower and one of them had gotten hurt. Jinx had only sung the lullaby to soothe the little thing and suddenly her hair started to glow and because it touched the animal a bit, it got healed. Trying to remember more, she asked herself if her hair ever started to glow before when she had hummed the song.

She sat up with new inspiration, which was admittedly not the best idea since she hadn’t moved for a while, but after a bit of stretching and hearing her bones crack back into place, she hoped it would be fine.

Then, just to be safe, she tried to peek out the door as much as she could, but no one was to be seen. Great! Time for a few experiments.

After all, it didn’t make a whole lot of sense for her healing abilities to develop at a certain age, and activating a drug with a random lullaby also sounded unlikely, so the song must not be the main ingredient here. Jinx had first tried to soothe a critter with it, so maybe it had worked as a sort of psychological bridge – she had wanted her song to help so badly, that it activated something in her that had already been there.

Only one way to find out! Taking a deep breath and closing her eyes, she tried to focus on this something. In theory, she should be able to access it without singing.

Opening her eyes carefully, she saw her hair dimly glowing. Not as bright and effective as with the song, but proving her theory, so she took the win!

Now, that still didn’t explain exactly why the Shimmer was in her hair.

Silco would probably forbid her this next part, but at this point, fuck that and give her something sharp. Sadly, they obviously wouldn't just let a knife lie around her.

"Aha!", she exclaimed when she spotted a shard of glass lying not too far from her cell.

After making sure no one had heard her, she crawled to the bars and tried to reach the glass. It was a struggle, but eventually, she managed to get barely close enough to grab it.

Jinx cut a strand of hair without much fanfare or thought and watched the weirdest thing happen. A small wave of Shimmer just streamed out – it was honestly a bit disgusting.

It’s too bad that she had been a literal baby when her hair got cut for the first time, but she wondered if this had happened then too.

Interesting, though. She was storing those thoughts for later. Now, she had another mystery to solve.

In an impulsive moment, she also cut a little bit of her arm – for science. Her blood always had a weird glittering quality to it, another thing she never questioned before, then again hers was the only blood she had ever seen up close until three days ago, so she just assumed it was normal.

Not the point, though. The point was, the Shimmer seemed to be deeply intertwined with her blood and as it seemed, skin as well. It also healed quickly, too quickly maybe – more stuff she should have questioned. Before it healed fully, though, she could clearly see the little traces of Shimmer in her skin tissue and everywhere, really.

Now, why wasn’t it that intertwined with her hair and just fell out when cut? Like it had no purpose in there… wait. If she recalled correctly (biology never being a big interest of hers), hair was nothing more than dead cells, so obviously Shimmer would have nothing to do there.

Back to the question of why was it in her hair to begin with? It felt almost like it was just … storage. And maybe it was.

As intertwined as the Shimmer was in her body, it felt safe to assume her body produced it, and what does your body do with shit you have too much of? Store it for bad days. Well, it seemed if fat was stored under your skin, Shimmer gets stored in your hair.

A new thought entered her brain: She could have cut her hair all along!

A groan escaped her as she lay back down again. "This is so stupid", she grumbled bitterly. To think that Silco could have had his Shimmer variant ready to be filled into bottles years ago if only he had cut her fucking hair. If her situation wouldn't be so terrible, the irony of it would have been slightly hilarious.

Though no matter how terrible all of this was, right now she simply felt relief knowing she could finally cut her hair! Thank Janna.

She was honestly tempted to do it right now, but that would be a dumb idea. Thinking back to her thoughts about that very first haircut – if Silco could have gotten his greedy hands on this variant by it simply flowing out, he would have never forbidden everyone to even touch it, so that meant he didn’t know her body stored it in there. Jinx possibly hadn’t produced enough for storage yet when she was that small.

So, what? Silco made one cut on a strand and decided to be done with it? Well, he did mention that it turned a lighter shade of blue, which might have actually been enough to scare the old man.

Either way, she decided that, in case Sevika failed to get her out – which realistically speaking she probably would – to postpone the big haircut for a more climactic moment. So, she put the glass shard back down for now.

Speaking of Sevika, where was that ogre? Jinx didn’t have the best sense of time, never did and disassociating certainly didn’t help that, but she was getting nervous as to how long it took the woman to come back. Maybe she was lying after all and would never come back.

Jinx decided she needed a battle plan. Just in case.

The chances that Silco and the doctor came back before the ogre were pretty high, so how was she supposed to avoid becoming another creepy decoration in this room?

She had knowledge, which probably wouldn't help her. Even if she told them that cutting her hair would give them the S himmer variant they always wanted (if they would believe her at all), she doubted that would be enough for them. Maybe for Silco, but he wouldn't care about what would happen to her after and she was sure the doctor would still want to figure out even the tiniest detail and she was not really up for that.

So, sharing what she knew now was out of the question.

Escaping on her own would probably be a lost cause as well. She might be able to get away from Singed and Silco, but she had a feeling that she wouldn't get much further.

She didn't have her gun – and now, thinking about it, she didn't even know where it was – and she didn't have any bombs either, nor the materials to craft something here. All she had was a shard of glass.

Jinx might not be able to escape on her own, but she knew that wouldn't stop her from trying. And even if she failed, she would have at least bought some more time for Sevika, if she should still show up.

***

Ekko was pacing, trying to come up with something. His brain was torn between his thoughts of worry about Jinx and his rationality hoping to find a way out of here.

He was once again reminded why he hated Piltover. After being knocked out by some thug sneaking up on him from behind, he woke up in a cell surrounded by a bunch of bored enforcers and sadly, none of them were Caitlyn. Once he recalled what happened before his blackout, he shot up in a panic, trying to explain to the officer that a girl was in danger, having been kidnapped by a drug lord, but they just laughed in his face.

Just a bit later, the sheriff decided to visit him for something that could potentially be called an interrogation. The guy had questions about why Ekko had stolen the gemstone or who had been with him when he did, but he refused to answer any of it. He also tried not to be too disappointed by the fact that the Pilties had their gemstone back.

Instead, he tried again to plead his case about Jinx, even going so far as to say that they didn't even have to let him out as long as they helped her, but again, no one seemed interested.

By the time they wanted to transfer him into a cell near the council for his upcoming trial the next day, he has had it with the diplomatic approach and tried to fight his way out of this, but he hadn’t made it very far – there simply were too many enforcers and not enough Ekkos.

They basically had to carry him from there on because he was not going to make this any easier for them and simply refused to walk. The enforcers did not like that, but at least Ekko got a little bit of satisfaction out of the fact that a dozen enforcers had to carefully carry him up the stairs – the stares they received from any passengers were hilarious.

Now, though, walking back and forth in the small room, the worry and dread returned to him quickly and would not leave him alone. He had to get out of here, but he also knew how impossible that was going to be. Even if he somehow cracked the lock on the door and managed to knock out all the enforcers possibly behind it – the exact number unknown to him because there were no bars in this cell, but a pretty solid door, which meant he had no way of knowing how many guards he had.

So, even if he got that far, he still had to fight his way through all the other enforcers stationed in the halls and somehow navigate the labyrinth that was this building.

He was doomed and he hated it. After his earlier stunt, he couldn't even hope for a chance at escape when being taken to his trial – he would probably be heavily guarded then.

All he could really do now was wait to be shipped off to Stillwater, Jinx’s fate forever unknown to him. If he wouldn't hate to give these Pilties any kind of satisfaction, Ekko would want to cry right about now. And maybe, after he had gotten his dinner and was sure no one would bother him again, he did a little.

In a predictable turn of events, sleep evaded him – a slightly masochistic and sleep-deprived part of him wished for someone to knock him out again, but like he already said, he was not going to give any enforcer this pleasure.

So, instead, he tossed and turned on the sorry excuse for a bed and couldn't help but think about Jinx. He was determined to think about good stuff only, like the nice day they had had, all the little moments and glances, the bridge, but eventually he began to wander away from that. Ekko wondered how she was doing, if she could sleep, or if maybe Silco had already decided to torture her.

His only hope at the moment was the way too optimistic belief that Caitlyn might have noticed their absence and thought it strange enough to investigate and save Jinx. Though, as much as the girl had insisted that the enforcer had taken a liking to them, she was still an enforcer and a Piltie, and Ekko's more rational part of the brain told him just how unlikely it was that Caitlyn of all people would come to anyone's rescue.

At some point – he had no idea when, too lost in his own thoughts and the window too small to see any indication of time – he heard a noise outside the door. Ekko figured it must be a shift change or something, but then the noise got louder and started to sound like a fight.

Naturally, he moved towards the door and tried to see something through the keyhole, but he couldn't make out much more than a few legs. After only a few minutes, things died down outside, though a few of the legs were still standing.

And then the door window opened and he met two brown eyes that felt awfully familiar.

"Password, please", a voice said, making Ekko rack his brain for why he felt like he knew it.

“What?”, was the only response he could muster in his confusion.

“Wrong, man”, the voice answered with a roll of their eyes.

“Stop fooling around, Mylo!”, a whisper shout came from the other side and it clicked in Ekko’s brain – the reason for the familiarity was because the idiot behind the door was family.

Then the confusion hit him again. “Mylo?” What the hell was he doing here?

“Wrong again”, the annoying guy answered.

Luckily, someone came to Ekko’s rescue – he couldn't see exactly who, but they pushed the other boy away and started to unlock the cell door. It opened and he came face to face with…

"Caitlyn", he said, somewhat in shock as the woman shrugged nonchalantly. "I'm sorry for underestimating you", he then added, considering his earlier thoughts – he really should have given the woman more credit.

Said woman stared at him in confusion, but he simply shook his head and walked out of the small room and into the carnage that was in front of it. His thoughts about being heavily guarded have not been wrong and what must be at least ten enforcers lay motionless on the floor.

Ekko looked around and saw Vi, Claggor and Vander in the background, who seemingly made sure that the enforcers wouldn't get up any time soon. Next to him were Mylo and Caitlyn and behind the enforcer was – to his absolute shock and surprise – Sevika.

“What’s she doing here?”, he therefore asked.

Sevika scoffed and Caitlyn sighed. “She wants to help, details to follow”, she explained.

As he wasn’t getting anything else, apparently, he nodded and turned to his family. “Not that I’m not grateful, but what are you doing here?”

“Trying to save my sister, details to follow”, Vi mimicked Caitlyn as she and the others came closer.

Ekko’s mind went blank. “Sister?!”

“Details to follow”, the guys chanted in unison and Ekko decided to let it go for now, for his own sanity. Still, he hoped he would get some answers soon because the more he thought about it, the more he felt the need to ask.

“Alright!”, Caitlyn caught everyone’s attention. “Part A of the plan is done, now for part B.”

“What’s part B?”, Ekko asked while everyone else nodded like they had rehearsed it. He assumed part A was getting him out, but that didn’t tell him what exactly would happen now.

“We need to sneak out. By now I’m sure reinforcements have been alarmed and are on the way. Getting in was easy, now for the hard part”, the enforcer explained.

Mylo scoffed. “Getting in was easy? I almost fell to death. Hell, I threw up. Twice!”, he complained.

“I told you not to eat that sandwich. Fighting on a full stomach is so stupid, that I thought even you would know that”, Vi chastised.

“Kids, not the time”, Vander reminded and gave a nod to Caitlyn, who graciously nodded back.

“We have to stay out of the direct path of any enforcers. As this is a prison break, the prison portion of the building will be prioritized. And the direct path heading to it. So, we should head through to the academy. A lot less enforcers around and the worst that we can encounter is a sleepy student”, she explained and while Ekko still tried to fully understand, he was already dragged along by Vi as they followed Caitlyn.

Usually, he was faster, but after spending the entire day worrying and trying to reason with Pilties and then more worrying, his brain was pretty fried. Though, with the protection of his friends and the peace of mind that came with knowing that they would rescue Jinx (he presumed at least that she was the sister Vi had talked about), maybe he could rest his mind a little, so that it could function when things got important.

They weaved their way through the wide halls of the building. Ekko honestly hadn’t been aware that the academy and council were in the same building, but he guessed it made sense – this had been the old palace and though it got heavily remodeled and repurposed, it had been the seat for the government for a long time and it would be weird to relocate it all of a sudden.

Thanks to Caitlyn’s quiet ramblings about the absurdity of this build, he learned a lot more about it. She must have spent quite some time here as a kid, the way she acted so familiar with the ways and basically performed a guided tour while smuggling a prisoner outside.

Since they didn't have a royal family anymore, the council really only inhabited the old throne room and left everything else for the academy. However, walking through the empty halls, all shiny and golden, he wondered how much of the palace was actually still palace and how much belonged to the heavy remodeling. Ekko, for one, was pretty sure that the palace did not have the now-council-room and prison originally built on the top floor.

What had definitely been a new addition was the many staircases that were to be found every few corners. That was the most passionate rant the enforcer whispered to them – it seemed that while the original intention of so many stairs had been to make access to different parts of the building easier. This way one didn't have to walk all the way into another wing just to change floors, but according to Caitlyn, it ended in a lot of confusion instead as so many options were disorienting.

Ekko could see why because he had no clue where the hell they were at this point.

They had already descended a few flights of stairs and walked through more halls – he supposed they were also taking a long way just to be safe and avoid any potential patrols. He only hoped Caitlyn knew this building as well as she claimed.

"We're almost out", Caitlyn whispered at some point. "These are the laboratories, which are probably still inhabited at this hour, so we should be extra quiet", she said, even though her rants had been the only noise any of them had made this entire time.

Still, they all nodded dutifully and followed.

When the next set of stairs came in sight, the worst-case scenario actually happened. They heard loud chatter and a set of footsteps creeping closer. Caitlyn quickly tried to signal the others to hide behind the corner. They barely made it when the door opened and a tired, but huge man stepped through.

That was the only glimpse Ekko got before being shoved against a wall to avoid being seen. From here, they could only hear the conversation between the two.

“Cait?”, the man asked confused.

Caitlyn awkwardly cleared her throat. “Jayce! You’re working late?”

A tired chuckle. “Yeah, Viktor insisted, saying we’re too close to breakthrough, but uh…” He paused and lowered his voice. “Well, he said that five hours ago.”

Caitlyn responded with a knowing laugh. “Sounds like him.”

“You know how he is. Easily obsessed with an idea.” Jayce laughed along with her for a few seconds. “Say, what are you doing here? I wasn’t aware you were posted for a night shift.”

“Oh, uh...”, Caitlyn fumbled and Ekko prayed to any god who might listen that she could come up with a convincing lie. “You know, Marcus hates me, the usual.”

Jayce gave an acknowledging hum. “Well, I don’t wanna get you into any more trouble”, he then said. “I would like to say have fun, but...", he trailed off with a chuckle and started to walk again.

And, Ekko noticed with dread, into their direction. There was nowhere to go, though. No nook to hide in or anything. If this guy rounded the corner, they were done.

“Jayce!”, another voice yelled and the footsteps stopped.

“Yes?”, the man called back carefully, waiting for something.

“Come back, I got it!”

“But… the coffee?”

There was a scoff to be heard. “Forget the coffee, I can do a few more hours without it.”

Jayce sighed. “More hours without coffee?”, he mumbled pathetically, but silent enough that the other man did apparently not hear it.

The footsteps started again, but this time they moved away from the hidden crew – it seemed Jayce had accepted his fate. Caitlyn chuckled a little, but soon the doors closed again and everyone let out a relieved sigh.

“That was close”, Vi mumbled, coming out from around the corner.

“Better not stick around then", Claggor advised and Ekko had to agree. If there were more late-night workers around who randomly wanted to go out for a coffee, they could really get into trouble.

So, with everyone agreeing to get out as fast as possible, they hurried down the hall and stairs and more halls and stairs, and seriously, Piltover had too much money and too little taste – who would seriously approve this labyrinth?

After a few more minutes and corners, they finally made it to the entrance, which was surprisingly not guarded.

“Did they forget to position someone at the front door?”, Mylo asked in equal confusion.

Caitlyn sighed. "They don't have to because several routes patrol this street", she explained. "That is if they patrol the street. Most take the night shift as an opportunity to sit around and gossip", she added with disdain.

With that in mind, they went outside, but as their luck would have it, someone did patrol the streets tonight. They stopped, staring at each other for a few seconds before the guy's face scrunched up.

“Hey”, he said, not particularly forceful, but slowly realizing what was happening.

The crew of Zaunites didn’t need much more than that to start running and it seemed Caitlyn had enough common sense to get to the same conclusion.

“Uh”, was heard behind them. “I need help! Prisoner on the loose!”, he then yelled loud enough for any lounging patrol to make it back to their feet in an attempt to stop them.

Ekko saw flailing arms, heard some unintelligible shouts and way too many footsteps for comfort. They had actually made it outside unharmed and this was when it was falling apart? The universe really made him walk all those steps down just so he could walk them back up again.

Sevika was surprisingly helpful, though. She punched a few guys who came too close, which seemed to discourage some of the enforcers from trying the same. And, well, when Vi started to help her catch the strays, he could swear he saw them fall back on purpose.

Once they made it to the bridge, they seemed to regain a new sense of urgency, though, and came nearer again.

“Keep going”, Caitlyn said and stopped in the middle of the bridge.

Her orders were pretty much completely ignored by the rest, too curious to see what she was doing. The enforcer took Jinx's gun – wherever that came from – and fired it into the sky, which made the group of officers stop dead in their tracks. Then, Caitlyn aimed at her coworkers.

“Kiramman?”, someone uttered in confusion. “What are you doing?”

"My job", the woman said with so much conviction even Ekko was taken aback. "And if any of you try to stop me, I will not be responsible for my actions."

As the other enforcers obviously didn’t really know what to do or how to react, Caitlyn waved at her own crew to keep going, which this time they did, the woman slowly following.

Sevika and Vi sent some mean glances to the other side of the bridge – as well as Mylo, who for some reason felt like showing off, even though he stumbled more times than he could count and Ekko could swear it was him who had screeched like a scared kitten – and seeing so much hostility, the enforcers finally left them alone for good.

From here, it was a rather quick trip down the Lanes and into the Last Drop where they all took a minute to rest. Except Vander, who poured something to drink for everyone and even pulled up some cold leftovers for Ekko to eat, which he was eternally grateful for.

It also reminded him that he had never actually gotten Jinx something from Jericho, and that reminded him of all his questions.

“So”, he said, watching all the others sitting in booths or on chairs, taking a breath. “Can someone explain the details that were supposed to follow, now?”

“How about we start chronologically?”, Caitlyn suggested. “What happened last night?”

Ekko sighed. "We were waiting for you on the bridge and … Jinx said that she felt watched, so I thought we should get somewhere safe. We started to walk towards the hideout and were ambushed. I don't exactly know what happened to Jinx because some asshole knocked me out and the next thing I know, I'm sitting in a cell", he explained shortly.

Caitlyn nodded. "Yeah, I found you there this morning", she awkwardly said. "Been running around all night. I thought you ditched me. In the morning, I came in as usual and spotted you in one of the holding cells."

“I didn’t see you.”

“You have been busy yelling at Todd, telling him what an idiot he is and you desperately tried to make them help Jinx”, Caitlyn deadpanned. “It’s fine, though, he is an idiot.” She cleared her throat. “I have to be honest, I did not think of trying to get deeper into Zaun to find a clue about your whereabouts until then, so after hearing you talk, I went over the bridge and eventually found the remnants of a fight and Jinx’s pistol”, she said and held up the weapon in question – that explained how she got it. “I tried to find clues about her, but to no avail. I went here, hoping to find help, which was this afternoon when Sevika came in and told us. Then we went to rescue you.”

Now Sevika stood up straighter and … guiltier than he had ever seen her. "Silco locked her up in Singed's lab. When I left, they were still trying to come up with a strategy that would make Jinx possibly complacent enough to willingly participate in the experiments and what those experiments should be ideally, though the first one honestly might not have needed much of a discussion. She had been pretty unresponsive last I saw her.”

“What’s that mean?”, Vi asked and it seemed it wasn’t only him that missed a bit of information.

“It means that she hasn't moved, slept, eaten, or drank something in at least 24 hours", Sevika cut straight to the point and it did nothing to ease Ekko's worries – or anyone else's as it seemed.

Now Vander cleared his throat. “There was also a revelation that Jinx’s body produces S himmer and that she is apparently Vi's sister, but we decided to postpone that conversation until Jinx is safe and can hear it too."

Made sense, but didn't stifle his nosey curiosity. There was one other question left unanswered, though. "Okay, but why do you want to help now ?”, he asked, looking at Sevika, who nervously balled and unballed her hands into fists.

“I’ve failed to be there for her mother. I’ve failed to be there for Jinx, most of her life. It might be late, but I’m trying to do the right thing”, she said and he already opened his mouth to ask for more clarification, but she silenced him with a stern glare. “I have a lot of conflicted feelings right now and it makes me very angry, do not test me, lover boy.”

Ekko decided to answer with a curt nod while everyone else stared daggers into him because of the nickname. Well, everyone except Caitlyn, who smiled smugly.

“So, we’re saving Jinx. How?”, he steered the subject away from the underlying implication before anyone had a chance to open their mouth.

Caitlyn and Sevika shared a look and the battle planning started.

Chapter Text

Isha didn’t know a lot of things. Like how long a Progress Day was, though by the name she had assumed one day. And yet, more than two days have gone by and none of them had come back yet.

Pascal was fun to be around, she had to admit that, but the longer it took for them to come back, the more worried she got. She knew Ekko had to come back, he was a very important guy around here, though she hadn’t quite figured out what exactly he did. He always went into a room with some other people around her, looking all grim and serious for some talking. Sometimes, they all would go somewhere and come back completely out of breath or injured, and sometimes, not all of them came back.

Maybe that’s what happened this time, too.

No, that was ridiculous. Ekko had to come back, he always did. The older woman had wanted to leave, that much she gathered, but Jinx would have to come back, too. She said she was coming back and Isha refused to believe that the nice girl who had made her feel better would just leave without saying goodbye.

Isha only had Jinx for a day, but if anything happened to her … well, she didn’t know what she would do then, but she would do something!

She had tried to ask when they would be back, but no one had an answer for her.

So, when the door finally opened, she was the first to excitedly await who came in from the other side. The raven sat equally excited on her head, not minding her bouncing at all, it seemed.

However, it wasn't exactly what she had expected. Ekko was back, sure, but instead of Jinx, there was some other pink-haired woman. Both of them also looked like someone died. Wait a second.

She ran up to Ekko and tugged on his pants while he talked to someone she couldn't bother to remember the name of. He stopped talking for a second to look down at her and his eyes widened in shock.

Then he cleared his throat and tried to fake a smile. “Jinx will be back, I promise”, he said before ushering her away to keep talking with the other guy.

Isha smelled bullshit. There was obviously something going on and if she read the signs correctly, it had something to do with Jinx. Well, Isha would not just stand aside and leave the fate of her favorite person in the hands of these (admittedly very competent) people. She wanted to help and she would.

It took one look at the raven to know that he was in.

Slowly and carefully, she snuck closer to the group again, hiding behind one of the large roots of the tree.

There was one advantage that she had over the other kids – she was quiet. That meant that, for some reason, all the adults thought she was well-behaved. That naturally meant that no one ever expected her to spy on them, so barely anyone ever noticed her around. Why would they? It wasn’t like they were looking for her.

Being around here, with all the nice people, she didn’t do it as often anymore, but she would do it again for Jinx.

“Okay, let me get this straight”, the big bat guy said. “The girl you’ve been running around with and has blackmailed you is actually Silco’s daughter, but she’s not really. She’s Vi’s sister and Silco holds her prisoner for … her hair?”

“I know it sounds strange, but yes”, Ekko responded.

“I would like to say that stranger things have happened, but I cannot think of a single thing that would be weirder.”

“Is that important?", the pink-haired woman snapped. "My sister is in danger, are you helping us, or not?"

“A sister you thought was dead until last night”, the big guy mumbled and Isha saw the woman clench her fists and march over to him, but Ekko stepped in between.

“Scar, please. You know damn well how much this means to her”, he said, his eyes pleading with his friend.

Then the big guy sighed. "You do realize how dangerous it's going to be just marching into Silco's base of operation, right? You also realize that Sevika could just as well lead us into a trap?"

Tense silence. "She won't", Ekko then said. "Besides, having the chance to wipe Silco out forever? I don't need you to care for Jinx, but even you have to admit that this is a too good opportunity to pass up."

The big guy made a sound that resembled a growl. “I’ll try to round up some people, but I’m not gonna force them if they won’t take the risk”, he said and already sauntered off.

“I’ll help”, the woman mumbled and followed, leaving only Ekko who let out a defeated sigh.

He just stood there for a while, which made Isha nervous. What was going to happen now? Then he turned around to the mural and started to stare at it, before touching a face that Isha couldn't see from her angle.

“It’ll be alright”, he murmured. “You’ll be alright.” Then he left, too.

Isha came out of hiding to stare at the mural. It was a strange thing that she didn’t really understand the purpose of. Someone had explained to her that they painted everyone they had lost on this, but what good did that do? People just got really sad when looking at it and that didn’t seem like a good thing to her. So yeah, she didn’t get it at all. Maybe when Jinx was back, she could explain it to her better.

Right, Jinx. Trying to focus again, she looked for Ekko and the pink-haired woman again and found them rounding up a group of people.

They would probably leave through the main entrance, but Isha knew they wouldn't let her through as well. She couldn't hide among the crowd because they would surely notice her, but if she tried to get out any later, the guard would see her. But she wanted to help Jinx!

Suddenly, there was a tug on her hair, and she already stared angrily at Pascal, but then he motioned with his head upwards to another exit. There were a bunch around, but only three on the ground level, two of them barricaded, leaving only one actually functional, but no one had gone to the trouble of sealing the upper ones.

She understood immediately and started to run up the stairs. Isha was a good climber, she knew that, so once she reached the top level, she made her way to the branches and tried to get closer to the exit. It wasn’t easy since the tree didn’t actually reach it and she had to find every bit of bravery within her to dare and jump the last bit.

She leaped from the branch and shut her eyes tightly, but she quickly met the metal of the pipe.

Letting out a sigh of relief, she got back on her feet and followed Pascal, who led her to a little opening in the pipe through which shined some sunlight. The raven flew out and Isha soon followed, though she had a bit more issues pulling herself up and pushing her body outside.

Next was climbing the labyrinth of pipes down to the ground. Pascal stayed with her closely, always keeping an eye on her, but she wasn’t sure what he was planning to do if she would lose her footing – there was no way he could actually stop her fall.

Luck seemed to be on her side though, as she made it down completely unharmed.

Then Pascal flew off, guiding her around the streets until they found the group of Firelights again. They were in some building and there were also a few other people she did not know – she only recognized one, the older woman that came with Ekko and Jinx to the hideout.

It seemed like they were discussing something serious. Of course, they were, Jinx needed to be saved even if Isha still didn't know from what exactly. They took a while to finish their talking and Isha got a little bored, to be honest, so she drew some random stuff into the ground.

She tried to draw Jinx, which came out more like a cow. Then she tried to draw Pascal, which looked… well, it looked close enough to a bird if you asked her.

When Pascal tugged on her hair again, she looked up and tried to carefully peak past the corner of the alleyway she had been hiding in. It seemed like whatever they were doing was finally going to start.

The group walked off into the streets with Isha carefully following them.

***

Jinx didn’t sleep that night either. With no idea how late it was exactly, she could only estimate the time she’d gone without sleep to more or less about 50 hours. Plus/minus ten, she really wasn’t good at guessing.

She felt tired for sure, but weirdly enough, not at all exhausted. Logically, she knew that she needed sleep and the rhythm that she had more or less followed for years drilled the want to sleep into her, but it seemed like her body didn’t particularly care for it.

Not like she could sleep, even if she wanted to. She couldn't risk being surprised. The thought that she dozed off and would suddenly be startled by the cell door creaking and be too shaken to fight whatever the doctor would do with her… that’s what kept her awake, her eyes glued to the door, the shard of glass in hand. Oh, she was ready to push that thing into someone’s flesh – preferably Silco’s, probably Singed’s.

But they didn't show up. Who did show up was one of the goons, that Ekko had hit with his knife, to bring her food. Though, when she had laughed – admittedly, it had been more of a cackle – at the sight of the freshly bandaged arm and leg, along with the blue eye, he had thrown it straight into the trashcan by the door.

Ass, but to be fair, she would have done the same. It was only a shame because, after more than two days, she was starting to get hungry. Well, she would survive. She hoped.

It was nerve-wracking, to say the least, to be waiting for her rescue and/or torture session. She didn’t know which one would arrive sooner, but she sincerely prayed for the former.

Her prayers were not answered. She wasn't sure who to curse at this moment when she heard the voice of her worst nightmare inch closer – the gods, who obviously didn't give a fuck about her, or Sevika, who was unreliable as always.

Despite her heart beating so hard breathing became a problem, she tried to keep a straight face when the two men walked it.

Singed looked creepy as usual and Silco looked disappointed, and for some reason, that stupid face still had an effect on her. Her instincts wanted to avert her eyes and cower, but she forced herself to keep them glued to his scarred face.

Eventually, it was him breaking eye contact with a sigh. "Don't look at me like this. You brought this upon yourself.”

She only dignified that with a scoff and gripped the shard hidden in her skirt tighter.

“Shall we begin?”, Singed asked.

“Of course”, Silco answered smoothly.

No one asked her, of course. Why would they? It seemed neither of them had ever seen her as a full human being to begin with. It still hurt.

Jinx took a deep breath. She needed to focus now.

Obviously, neither of them expected much fighting from her – possibly due to her unresponsive state for most of the last days – but they really didn't know her all that well if they thought she wouldn't at least try a little.

So, when Singed opened the cell, she lunged forward and rammed the glass into some part of him – she didn’t have the time to really calculate where or pay much attention to him after she noticed that it went through some layers of skin. Hell, she barely waited for him to scream before she bolted outside.

Silco, smart as he was, didn’t try to come near her as long as she was armed and very willing to hurt people. That obviously wasn’t something everyone else possessed and she was soon swarmed by a bunch of goons. The ones that were already hurt, she simply kicked and punched into their wounds. The others were hit with her glass.

In the end, though, she knew it was a losing battle. The entire time, she just prayed again that Sevika hurry the fuck up, because she barely had five minutes left before Jinx would be strapped to one of the already bloody tables.

The entire fight felt like hours but was probably just a few minutes, she probably didn’t even make it to the estimated five.

Sooner than she liked, she lost her glass shard and got manhandled, again, and could only squirm in the tight grip.

Silco sauntered outside, elegantly as always, to stand before her and she couldn’t hold back the roll of her eyes. “Are you done?”, he then asked, as he leaned down to take a look at her weapon of choice. Her time was out.

“Never”, she spat back, trying to kick him, but the guy saw it coming and took a step back just in time.

“Well”, he said with his disappointed voice again. “I’m afraid that will only make this more painful for you.” His voice held so much sadness that she could almost believe he actually didn’t want her to be hurt, but sadly, she knew that he was faking it. Like he had been her entire life. “Oh, I almost forgot. Do you have any possible idea where Sevika ended up?”

Jinx might not like the woman, but she was not a snitch. Mostly. “I wish”, she scoffed with a hint of anger because she really did wish she knew where the ogre was right now – she hoped somewhere close.

Silco let out another one of his sighs before nodding towards the lab, a sign for his goons to drag her back inside. Naturally, she kicked and screamed the entire way and even tried to hold onto the doorframe with her legs. It sufficed to say that it didn’t work.

Once inside, one of the uglies asked where to put her and Singed the creepy bastard just told them to keep Jinx still.

For a moment, she wondered why, but that was quickly answered when the doctor put shackles around her wrists that she soon learned were tied to the wall. Great.

She also learned that he still had a chance to 'shorten the leash', so to say, which he did until her fingertips could easily brush against the stone behind her. It also meant she could barely move. That didn't stop her from trying to break free, though.

“How about a sedative?”, she heard Silco ask then. “Might make things easier.”

"We've talked about this", Singed answered. "We don't know how the Shimmer will react to it. It might meddle with the results."

It dawned on her that he would actually perform all his creepy experiments on her while she was fully awake – she had known that was likely going to happen, but now it was actually going to happen .

“Actually, I don’t mind a sedative”, she said, not quite pleading, but close enough and she ended it all with an awkward laugh.

Silco looked between her and the doctor with a face that said “See? Wanna reconsider?”, but the scientist didn’t even dignify either of them with so much as a look.

"The answer is no", was all he said, and when he turned around to her with a knife in his hands, she squirmed harder, but there was no escape.

Jinx didn’t even fully register what was happening with her heart pumping so fast, it was hard to focus on anything else. What she did notice, though, was how for a moment her leash was getting longer, but she couldn't use that opportunity because too soon did a fucking cold hand tightly grip her wrist, and then there was the pain. The pain of a knife cutting deeply into her palm.

She couldn't hold the scream back that the riffled knife caused – not even one with a clean, straight edge because why would you if you could go for the most painful option that existed?!

When she started to calm down again, she noticed that the guy didn’t fill her blood into some vial to study it, but instead pressed it to his shoulder. It took her a minute to realize that he was healing himself from the injury she had given him.

When he finally let her go, she could already feel her palm closing on its own.

"My apologies", Singed then said, rolling his shoulder a little to test it. "See it as a warm-up."

“At least use a proper knife, you psychopath”, she growled and the guy had the audacity to look at the knife in question as if he only now saw all the tiny edges that made this more painful than necessary.

“Oh”, he mumbled. “I apologize”, he repeated and put the knife away to grab a new one. “You see, what you need to understand is that a certain level of pain, as could be caused by a piece of glass for example, can lead to an oversight of sorts. I promise it won't happen again. Maybe we'll call it even."

She felt the dread in her chest return even stronger at the reminder of her previous actions. “You’re gonna enjoy this, aren’t you?”, she carelessly aired her thoughts – she didn’t have the mental capacity for a functioning filter anymore – but the doctor obviously still thought of a reply.

“Maybe a little”, was what he settled on as he stepped closer again.

Once again, she found herself praying for Sevika to hurry the fuck up.

***

Isha followed the group, always a few steps behind, staying out of sight, which got a lot harder once they made it outside of Zaun. At first, she got a little distracted by all the trees and nature. Sure, she knew the tree in the hideout, but living in the streets of dirty Zaun, that was a rare occurrence, so she hadn't expected there to be so much of that rarity just a bit outside of it.

She had never gotten far out of the depths of the fissures before being found by the Firelights and she tried to take it all in. Pascal urged her on because she was starting to lose the group.

Quickly, she hurried after them and hid behind trees instead of alleys now. That also made it harder because not all trees were big and wide. Some were just as thick as her arm, which is to say very thin and it made for a terrible hiding spot.

She tried to make do with bushes, but they were too loud, so she had no other choice than to let the group trail far ahead at times, so that she could properly switch from tree to tree and be fully hidden.

At some point, the group stopped and thanks to terrible calculation on her part, she was very close to them when they did. Not expecting them to stop moving, she almost ran into the last person – some lanky dude with a messy hairstyle.

She quickly moved behind the next best tree and hoped that nobody had spotted her. At least she was able to hear them because she was so close.

They didn’t say anything at first and it was eerily quiet. Then there was mumbling up front and Isha really strained her ears.

“Weren’t there more people around last time? This does not look good”, Ekko whispered worriedly.

“At this point, Silco must have noticed I’m gone. Probably suspects something”, a deep female voice then said.

“That means we're at a disadvantage", another female voice said and Isha thought it was the pink-haired woman.

There was more discussion, battle planning, strategies – Isha didn’t quite care for it all, so she carefully snuck away from the group. A lot farther away than she thought she had to, but if she still wanted to be unseen, she had to take the long route.

Now, with the group not in the way, she could finally see where they were. She could recognize it as a mine, similar to the ones they had down in the fissures, but still different. One thing she knew about mines was that there always was more than one entrance, so she searched for another way in.

Maybe she could find something to help the others. Ekko would be mad that she followed them, but it was for the greater good. She was sure he wouldn't be too mad.

Eventually, Pascal cawed and sat atop a little hole a bit higher up. There was no way Isha could jump and reach for it. She needed something to climb on. Just a few centimeters.

Oh! She quickly took off her hat and placed it carefully on the ground before stepping on it. Taking a deep breath, she jumped and actually managed to grab onto the opening with her little fingers. Pascal came to her aid by grabbing her shirt and trying to pull her upwards. It wasn’t much of a help, but she appreciated it anyway, so when she was safely in the hole, she patted his head.

Then, she crawled down the path. It didn’t take long for her to hear voices, though this time they were not at all familiar.

"Fascinating", someone mumbled and it echoed a little through the cave.

“Did you find something?”, another voice asked. It was smooth, almost bored.

“It seems the Shimmer is tied closely into the mechanism of her body”, the first voice said again. “My hypothesis is that the Shimmer isn’t made alongside her other cells, but it’s deeply intertwined in them.”

“Meaning?” The bored voice.

"If I'm correct, that means we cannot separate the Shimmer from her." A short pause. "I can try, but I suspect the chances for success will be slim.”

“Is there any other way this could be accomplished, doctor?"

The voices became clearer. Isha must be getting closer to them.

“There are always other ways. We cannot reach the variant once the cells are already built, but the Shimmer has to be produced somewhere inside her body. We just need to figure out where. That could be a long and painful process. Not for me, obviously."

There it was! Light. Isha crawled a bit more carefully. She did not want to be noticed by whoever these two men were.

When she made it to the end of the hole, she ducked her head and only barely looked over the edge. Both men were heavily scarred – one had a bad eye and the other had an entire bad face. And then on the side, chained to a wall, she noticed, was Jinx.

She looked … okay. Sick somehow, but at least not injured. And the two men now looked at her.

The one with the eye looked away first. “Isn’t there a more humane option?”, he asked. He was the bored voice one.

Jinx in the corner scoffed and rolled her eyes. “You call this humane?”, she challenged and Isha had to suppress a giggle at the sight of Jinx staying so cool in the moment.

“I think you underestimate the conditions in which I usually perform my experiments”, the bad face one said almost absentmindedly as he rummaged through his tools.

Jinx opened her mouth to retort something, but was interrupted by the very loud opening of the door that slammed against the wall hard enough to make Isha feel the impact on the other side of the room.

“Boss, uh… there … the boy is back”, the guy awkwardly mumbled and the bored guy got mad.

“Deal with them”, he growled and ushered the messenger outside again. After a deep breath, he seemed to have calmed down again. “Doctor, I suspect we need to move the procedure elsewhere.”

The doctor sighed. “I already expected as much. That’s why I usually don’t work on humans”, he mumbled and really started packing. The bored guy seemed to help him.

Isha assumed that the commotion outside must have been caused by Ekko and the others, so her original plan to get some information back to them had failed, but now she had a new mission, which was kind of the old mission, which was to make sure that Jinx is safe. The bad guys leaving before Ekko or someone else found her could not happen.

Looking back at Jinx, she found the girl staring back at her in shock – how did she notice Isha was here? No, that didn't matter. She quickly tried to sign something that hopefully told Jinx that she was here to help. Whether the girl understood or not was unsure, in any case, she shook her head and motioned Isha to leave.

She wanted to complain, but before their silent conversation could continue, Jinx looked back to the two men. The bored one now looked at the girl again.

“That boy is persistent, I give him that. However, I’m afraid I can’t have him run after you all the time”, he said while examining a knife before strapping it on his belt. He then walked towards Jinx with a piece of fabric in hand.

“No!”, she screamed, but was ignored as the guy gagged her despite her attempt to evade him.

“I really am sorry, but you only have yourself to blame. If you had never run away, we really wouldn’t be here right now.” He said it in a voice that Isha could almost describe as caring, but the context really made that hard to believe. The guy stepped away from Jinx, who still trashed around and screamed, though whatever she was saying was muffled by the cloth around her mouth. “Doctor”, the guy then said. “Why don’t you go ahead? We’ll be there”, he suggested, though it sounded a lot more like an order.

The doctor didn’t protest and simply packed the last of his things before vanishing somewhere to the back – Isha supposed there must be another entrance/exit that she just hadn’t found.

Then the bored guy took the knife back in hand and positioned himself next to the door, in the shadows.

Jinx still tried to escape and Isha desperately wanted to do something, but she didn’t know what. Looking at Pascal, he didn’t seem to have any ideas either. In the end, she just kept on waiting. For what she didn’t know, but she was ready to jump in and help should the opportunity present itself.

***

Jinx was in so much pain, she was sure at this point, it was overriding her common sense. Apart from the many, many phantom pains she still felt at all the places the doctor had cut her open, she also felt her eyes sting with tears and her wrists ache from her attempts to miraculously break the shackles. Her legs had also fallen asleep in this position. Let alone the pain in her chest that came with knowing what Silco was planning.

Ekko was here – she suspected she had Sevika to thank for that and she might actually should they all get out of this alive. He was here to save her and now he was going to die.

The worst part was that Silco was right. Had she just thrown him out the window the second he had broken into her tower, they wouldn't be here. Hell, she could have just let him leave, told him "Sorry, but the tower is already occupied, look somewhere else", but no. She had to blackmail him, had to let him guide her toward her dream and, of course, she had to fall in love with the first boy she ever met.

She had gotten her dream, she had gotten a taste of freedom, and for what? Only to drag Ekko into this mess and get him killed? To become an endlessly tortured experiment? At least before, she had been blissfully unaware of it and it had involved a lot less torture.

Still, her fault or not, she was not giving up. She might not be able to talk right now, or gesture, but maybe if she screamed her throat raw, Ekko would get the message.

So, when the door opened carefully, she formed the words “Ekko, get out!”, but not even she could fully understand herself and it seemed that Ekko couldn't either.

For a moment, she felt happy to see him, but it was quickly replaced with an intense panic she had never felt before when the knife in Silco's hand reflected the light for one second.

Ekko, however, was unaware of that and no matter how much she screamed, he just didn't get it and she had to watch his relieved smile turn into confusion and then a pained grimace as a knife was harshly rammed into his abdomen.

Somehow, Jinx found the strength in herself to try and get away from that stupid wall even harder, while the tears that had already stung in her eyes now flowed freely down her face.

She was trying to reach out to him, scream his name, but she couldn't do either. Jinx could just watch. Look at the blood slowly pooling below him, his hand pressing down at the wound.

Someone would find him here, right? There were others, she could see and hear it through the opened door. They would help him. They wouldn't let him die. He couldn't die here. Not in this creepy lab. Not for her.

Jinx barely noticed Silco closing the door, dropping the knife back on the table and coming to get her. She only really registered it when she was able to gain a few centimeters towards Ekko because Silco took the chains off the wall and couldn't handle her strength. He did manage to hold his ground against her, though.

Then again, she hadn’t slept in a while and was severely in pain, it might affect her in some way. That did not make her any less willing to fight and she also had to admit that she would gladly cut open her wrists on these shackles if it meant she could help Ekko.

“Now look what you’ve done”, Silco chastised and she was not falling for it. “Don’t worry, everything will be alright. We’ll be going where no one will ever find you again.” His sentence came out broken as he tried to pull her with him bit by bit. “Jinx, really, enough already!”, he then yelled, but her brain was too occupied with Ekko to be even a bit frightened by the loud noise. “Stop fighting me.”

It was an order that some part of her found honestly hilarious, but this wasn’t a laughing matter. She already had an answer on her lips, but that stupid cloth was still on her face, though she could feel it slip. Shaking her head violently, to at least answer him that way, was all that was needed to get rid of it.

“No!", she yelled back, making the man stop in his tracks just as an idea came to her. She stopped, too, letting it sink in for a second before making up her mind. It was a terrible idea, but if it meant she could save Ekko, she would do it. "I won't stop", she said a bit quieter, but still with enough force to show that she meant it. "For every minute for the rest of my life, I will fight. I will never stop trying to get away from you", she threatened. "But… if you let me save him, I will go with you."

The was a strained "No!" in the background, which broke her heart a little, but it was either him or her, and she was determined to not let him die.

Silco looked slightly surprised, but didn’t say anything, so she kept going, hoping to convince him. “I won’t fight you, or the doctor. I won’t try to escape. Just let me heal him and … we can just go back to what it was. I’ll make any weapon for you, I’ll let the doctor cut me open. Anything you want, just please, let me heal him.”

Jinx didn't think she ever pleaded so earnestly with anyone. Playfully sure, sometimes just to be a brat, but this was different.

Silco really took his sweet time thinking about it. Despite all the things she obviously didn’t know about him, she hoped that at least she knew him well enough to know that the offer was too good to ignore.

Eventually, he sighed, but Jinx didn't let herself be relieved yet. "If this is a trick, he’s dead for sure”, he threatened and she nodded.

Only then did he free her from her shackles and she hissed as the metal once again rubbed against her sore wrists. He took them over to Ekko, binding him to the wall, barely leaving enough freedom for him to press his palm onto his stomach.

“In case you get any ideas about following us”, Silco explained to him, though Jinx wasn’t sure if the boy even noticed.

The second the man stepped away, Jinx stumbled over to Ekko, examining the damage.

“Oh, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry. Everything is gonna be okay”, she mumbled, quickly gathering her hair to put it on top of his wound, but Ekko weakly pushed it away.

“No”, he said, barely even there anymore.

He was not going to die. Not on her watch. “You just have to trust me. Come on, breathe”, she tried to soothe him, but his free hand still tried to keep her hair off of him. “Ekko, please.”

“I can’t let you do this.” He slurred the words a little, his eyelids dropping close, but he fought the darkness overcoming him.

She didn’t have much more time. “And I can’t let you die.”

He frowned. "But if you do this, then … you will die."

Jinx pressed her lips tightly together to hold back her sobs. She knew that. She was fully aware of the consequences of her offer. Still, she tried to smile. “It’s gonna be alright”, she lied and looked to the side. She couldn't meet his eyes.

Turned out her lie brought something good with it. She spotted the glass shard she had lost and completely forgotten about lying not too far from the door. A new plan quickly formed in her head – maybe this didn’t have to be the end for them, maybe if she played her cards right, she could still escape.

Her thoughts raced. Silco knew now that the Shimmer ran through her entire body, but was inseparable from her. She wasn't sure if that defeated his years-long belief that cutting her hair was bad, but considering that she knew what that would look like – the Shimmer literally flowing out of her hair – it should still read to him as her destroying his only chance at getting the variant.

Should she take the risk? Could she risk Ekko's life like that for a chance to save them both?

“As cute as this is, you might want to hurry up”, Silco commented helpfully, interrupting her thought process.

Panicked, she quickly looked back at the glass, which was now lying right next to her, surprisingly, which was quickly explained when she spotted Pascal hiding out in the darkness. She felt another pair of eyes on her, but that was not important right now. Focus. It was now or never.

“Ekko? Hey, stay with me”, she begged as she looked back at the boy and saw him lose his consciousness more and more.

She took a deep breath and made her choice.

Jinx grabbed the shard with one hand and placed her hair on Ekko with the other. His hand was no longer stopping her.

“Don’t”, he still mumbled, though, which meant he was still somewhat conscious.

“Trust me”, she said with a real smile this time.

With the next breath, she gathered her hair in her hand and cut it quickly without a second thought.

For one moment, it was absolutely silent except for the platter of the Shimmer hitting the ground. She really hoped she hadn’t miscalculated.

“No!”, Silco finally cut through the silence after a few seconds. “What have you done?!”

He tried walking towards her, but Pascal flew straight to his face, protecting her. She could also swear that she saw a little body jump from her hiding place because of course she didn’t leave when Jinx had told her to.

The next part happened rather fast and Jinx was way too exhausted and shocked to do much about it. Pascal’s attack on Silco’s face left the man pretty much blinded while Isha snuck behind him and made him fall straight into Singed's work table, where he got himself some acid burns that made Jinx flinch before he stumbled and fell one of the natural spikes of the cave, effectively impaling himself.

At least Isha had managed to turn away and cover her eyes because Jinx was not quick enough. She doubted that she could heal that and so she had to watch the only father she had ever known die a painful death – the noises he emitted would probably hunt her for years. He might have been a terrible person and she would have been fine never seeing him again, but this… this was a bit much.

A cough ripped her away from that picture and she remembered with growing panic that Ekko was still not taken care of.

She shook his shoulders far harder than she needed to, but at least it got a reaction out of him. “No no no no no, Ekko, look at me, I’m right here. Come on, stay with me!”

“It’s okay”, he croaked out, somehow managing to open his eyes again. “I admit, I really wanted to live. I don’t need the past as long as I have you. At least you’re safe.”

She let out a sigh that she really wanted to sound annoyed, but kind of came out dreamy. Can you blame her when he says cute shit like that? “Shut up”, she told him softly as she picked up a strand of her hair that was lying next to them.

As her earlier experiments had shown, the Shimmer doesn't vanish just because the hair isn't connected to her anymore. She let a good bit of it flow into her hand before she pressed it down on Ekko's wound, hoping it wasn't too late. Jinx even thought about singing for good measure, but she was too busy holding her breath.

For the longest time, nothing happened and she already started crying again, but then all of a sudden, Ekko sat up with a deep breath. They looked at each other in shock before simultaneously looking down to his stomach. While his shirt was still stained with blood, his skin looked completely unharmed.

“You know what?”, she asked quietly, her body not having quite decided on what emotion to live out – happiness, relief, worry, probably a lot more that she couldn't name. “You are my new dream”, she mumbled, recalling the last time they had seen each other, when they had been on the bridge. If he was allowed to be sappy, so was she.

A smile spread across his face and before she fully knew what was happening, she was engulfed in a hug. “And you are mine”, he mumbled into her shoulder.

Jinx had no clue how long they stayed like this. She only knew that at some point, she had started to hug him back, though she could not remember moving her arms.

“Jinx?”, he asked eventually, breaking the hug to look at her.

"Ekko?", she replied unsure and curious about what he wanted from her.

He looked at her a second longer. “Did I ever tell you I have a thing for blue eyes?”

Jinx was too tired to even think about what the hell he meant with that. She just laughed and impulsively leaned in to kiss him. At first, he was a bit frozen, obviously not expecting this, but then he held her tight again, kissing her like it would be the last time and, well considering the circumstances, she kind of understood where that might be coming from.

At some point, they went back to simply hugging until something crashed into them. Breaking apart a little bit, they found Isha had joined the hug with Pascal on her head, both grinning widely – even if birds could not grin, he somehow made it work.

"Isha?", Ekko asked in full-on confusion. "What are you doing here?"

The girl's eyes widen momentarily, caught red-handed. It only took her seconds to regain her composure and shrug nonchalantly like she just ripped a page in a book and didn’t get herself in danger without anyone knowing.

Ekko sighed. "We'll talk about this later", he warned, but pulled the girl into their hug because right now all that mattered was that they were all okay. Well, apart from the emotional scars, but they would deal with that later, too.

For now, Jinx allowed herself to relax and enjoy.

Chapter Text

The rest of the day happened kind of in a blur for Ekko.

Jinx and Isha had both fallen asleep in his arms now that the horror was over and they were soon found by Sevika, who volunteered to carry Jinx even though nobody had asked her to. Ekko would have done it, too, but if he had to be honest, he was glad he didn’t need to because he felt like passing out as well.

The second Jinx was moved, she stirred a little and mumbled something about her hair.

Ekko didn’t really think about what he was doing, but he put Isha into a confused Vi’s arms and went to pick up the cut strands. When he did, he noticed something eerily similar to shimmer drip out. He wasn’t all too sure what that meant, but he knew that he could not let Shimmer leak all over the place, so he tied the two ends together tightly, so nothing could flow out anymore.

Pascal flew next to Sevika and Jinx, always keeping an eye on the girl, which Ekko was grateful for as he was very focused on not tripping.

They all went back to the hideout – Sevika too, even if some people were still very suspicious of her, but in the end, she did help them and Silco was dead, so logically they didn’t have much to fear from her anymore.

He threw the hair into his workshop for now, deciding to wait for Jinx to tell him what to do with it. Isha was taken to bed by one of the Firelights, who greeted them and all the guests were shown to their temporary sleeping places. He let Sevika carry Jinx to his room to sleep, while he crashed out on the floor.

Not a very pleasant experience, but still better than dying, so he wasn’t going to complain.

It has been two entire days now and the group still discussed the events of the other day. And that included his near-death experience, which had worried most. It had been difficult to explain why he was fine now, which was the unbelievable story of Jinx's weird healing abilities, all of which made little to no sense. If the glowing hair was already unbelievable, it was even harder to wrap your mind around the fact that she had still healed him without it.

There were a lot of open questions, mostly for Jinx, who was still passed out.

And there was Vi. “How long is she going to sleep?”, she asked, not exactly angry, but slowly growing frustrated.

Ekko kind of understood as she was just waiting for a chance to properly meet her sister, but he also didn’t have it in him to wake Jinx. He wondered if he even could, considering how she slept through being somewhat carelessly carried by Sevika, all but thrown down on the bed, not to mention the relatively loud environment produced by the kids. He was never able to oversleep the sunrise by much.

"Give her time", Sevika grumbled, trying to act nonchalant, but her constant glances toward Ekko's room betrayed her – she was worried. "She hasn't slept in a while and it must have been really exhausting for her.”

“I know”, Vi groaned, still pacing in front of them.

“Vi, you’re driving me up a wall at this rate”, Caitlyn chastised. She was also still here, refusing to leave. "Jinx will wake up soon. She's tough, she'll be fine", she added in a much softer tone when Vi had looked at her with big hurt puppy eyes, and the redhead sat down.

“It’s just … what if she’s not okay and we don’t know because she can’t talk”, she voiced more of her concerns.

“She seemed alright”, Caitlyn offered. “There were no injuries to her and quite frankly, she looked healthier than she did in all the days I’ve known her so far.”

She did look healthier, which was another weird thing that begged for an explanation. Her skin started to get some color, making her look less pale and she was warmer – he noticed when he tried to check her pulse in the morning. The weirdest thing by far, however, was the color of her eyes. Instead of the pink, he had gotten so used to, they were now blue.

“Still worrying, huh?”, Vander now asked as he came by and sat down with a groan of pain – the kids had really wanted to play with him and of course, he obliged. Ekko would bet money on the man's back aching tomorrow. "I'm getting old", he mumbled in a sad voice and earned some laughs.

“How can I not worry?”, Vi asked, the lack of pacing as an energy outlet making her sound angrier than she probably meant it.

“How about instead of going mad, you try and think of a way to tell her you’re related”, Vander suggested and pulled out his pipe.

“No smoking, we’re trying to be role models for the kids”, Ekko warned softly. He didn’t actually mind, it was more a habit formed by reminding all the newbies to behave.

The man sighed and put it away regardless. “That’s fair”, he said before looking back at Vi.

“What do you mean?”, she asked, now at least confused instead of worried.

“How would you feel if some random woman you have only met once in your life would tell you without warning that she’s your sister?”

Vi opened her mouth confidently, but nothing came out. She tried again after a few seconds, only to keep her mouth shut once more. “Well, how would you do it?”, she then snapped.

“Maybe Sevika could do it”, Caitlyn then suggested and earned herself a glare that surely was meant to kill her from the woman in question.

“Why should I?”, she growled.

"Well", Caitlyn started awkwardly and cleared her throat to gain some confidence back. "She knows you the longest, all of this is kind of partly your fault, and she trusts you."

"No, she doesn't", Sevika quipped back. "The girl hates me. She's gonna think I'm messing with her. There is absolutely no way she's actually gonna believe me."

As a next option, all eyes moved to Ekko. "I'm not telling her", he stated. He already had too much to discuss with Jinx, he did not need to add something that he wasn't even remotely involved in.

“Objectively, she trusts you the most”, Vander exclaimed with a shrug.

“Why don’t you tell her? Everyone trusts you”, he argued because it was true – there was just something about the guy that screamed ‘safe space’.

“You people are ridiculous”, Caitlyn mumbled, interrupting the conversation. “I’ll do it, alright?”

A short, confused silence spread over the group. Of course, it was Vi who would break it. "No offense, cupcake, but why you?"

The enforcer sighed. “You don’t want to tell her because you’re strangers.” She pointed at Vander and Vi. “You don’t want to tell her because you think she won’t believe you.” She said to Sevika. “You just refuse.” Ekko rolled his eyes. “So, it’s only me left. I think she likes me well enough. She certainly will believe me. Just don’t complain when Jinx finds it a bit odd and judges you for it.”

Ekko was fine with that, to be honest, so he shrugged to signal that Caitlyn should do whatever she thought was right. The others didn't seem that convinced, but before anyone could further discuss this, a tug on his leg and frantic hand movements by Isha took everyone's attention.

The girl had been watching over Jinx along with Pascal so far – he let her, mostly because she screamed and kicked when he had tried to get her out earlier. Miraculously, that hadn't woken Jinx either, but he wasn't going to risk it, so he let the girl stay.

That she was here now, meant only one thing. So, he quickly got up and noticed everyone else did the same.

He cleared his throat. “Do you want to scare her back into a coma?”, he asked somewhat sarcastically, but after the previous events, he wasn’t sure how Jinx would react to an army greeting her.

They all sighed with varying degrees of dramatics before sitting back down again. With a slight roll of his eyes, he went to his room with only Isha in tow.

When they got there, he was a bit nervous, but overall just relieved to know that after about 48 hours, she finally woke up. And it seemed she quickly got back on her feet, too, because when he opened the door, he found her standing by the small mirror, he owned.

As he closed the door, she noticed the two and turned around. “I have blue eyes”, she said and while that may not have been the strangest thing for her to say, it also wasn’t what he had expected to be the first thing to come out of her mouth.

He didn’t know how to respond to that gracefully. “Yes?”

Her eyes widened. “Where is my hair?”, she asked with a slight panic in her voice.

“I got it, don’t worry”, he said as calmly as he could. “You made some noises when we left and I carried it here.”

She let out a breath, obviously relieved. “Good”, she said. “That’s good.”

“Jinx”, he said, trying to find a way to start this conversation. “How are you feeling?”

A scoff. “I’m fine.”

“I’m not saying that you aren’t. I’m just making sure”, he clarified. “I still have a hard time understanding what exactly happened two days ago.”

“Two days?!” The question was loud enough to produce a small ringing in his ears.

“I think that was to be expected. According to Sevika, you haven't really slept. Or eaten. And you've been through a lot", he tried to calm her down again. "Do you want to talk about it?”

“Do I have to?”

“No”, he said quickly. “You don’t have to, but I want you to know that if you ever want to talk about it, I’ll listen.”

Jinx smiled and that set off an entire new wave of relief in him. “You’re sweet”, she said and blushed a little.

The following silence was about to get a bit awkward if the tiny laugh hadn’t interrupted it and reminded Ekko that they weren’t alone.

“Young lady, I still got a talk on my to-do list with you, too", he reminded Isha, who quickly ran out of the room to avoid being scolded. He chuckled a little. Was scaring a little kid for a bit of privacy mean? Probably. At least the crow went with her, so she would have some company and comfort.

“Too?”, Jinx questioned a bit insecurely.

“It’s nothing bad, I swear”, he exclaimed. “It’s just that a lot of weird shit happened.”

Jinx seemed to think about that for a second. Then she sat down on the bed and patted the spot next to her that Ekko took silently. “Are you okay?”, she then asked while pushing her hair out of her face, but with it being so short, it fell right back. Her frown was both cute and funny, but the question hanging in the air didn't let him laugh.

“Almost dying was certainly an experience”, he said slowly. He barely remembered anything of it apart from the pain and the slow fading away of the world around him. “But, I’m all good now.” She nodded, somewhat satisfied. "We really don't have to talk about it right now."

“No, it’s fine. As long as I remain the right to refuse to answer”, she said, or rather compromised and that was alright with him.

“Okay”, he said and tried to think of the first thing to talk about. Well, he could just start at the beginning. “Uh, why were all the people already injured when we got there?”

It had been weird. In theory, their rescue group had been outnumbered, but since everyone on Silco’s side looked like they already went through a fight, they had been pretty equally matched.

That made her chuckle a little. “You don’t really think, I just patiently waited for you”, she teased. “Tried to injure as many as possible.”

Honestly, what had he expected? “It certainly made our job easier”, he mumbled. “Okay, uh how exactly did you heal me after you cut your hair?” He had a theory, but he wasn’t sure how ridiculous it was.

“Long story, but uh, it seems my body stores Shimmer in my hair, there was still a bunch around to use, I mean… I’ve had a lot of hair.”

Okay, so he was correct – after trying to pick it up back there and seeing the Shimmer leak out, he thought that she must have used that. But… “How did you figure that out?”

“Maybe I’ll tell you someday”, she evaded and he nodded, respecting her decisions.

“Right”, he said. “You mumbled about your hair and obviously want it here, why?”

“Well, most importantly, the doctor ran the second you guys started attacking and I did not think that leaving it there to let it be found by that psychopath would be a good idea”, she explained. “Also, it’s medicine, I’m sure you’ll find use for it.”

“Fair”, he agreed. “Okay, last question for now. Do you know what happens now? I mean, no offense, but you look a little different.”

“I’ve noticed.”

"And… I mean, should I be worried, or what is happening?"

She thought about it for a few moments. "I don't know for sure, but my guess is that me growing out my hair that much wasn’t healthy and now that it’s off, my body is readjusting to the right dose of Shimmer.”

“I think I’m gonna need you to elaborate on that”, he awkwardly requested because the way she phrased that did not calm his nerves at all.

"I need Shimmer, it seems, and something in my body produces it? I mean, it's literally everywhere, it might actually be part of my DNA, but I can't be sure", she explained calmly and matter-of-factly. "All I do know is that whenever my body produces a bit too much of it, it apparently gets stored in my hair. I guess, in theory, I should have regular haircuts to avoid overdose, but because Silco was a paranoid old man, who thought that the Shimmer was only in my hair and would be irreversibly lost when cut, I guess I kind of accidentally overdosed for years, so now that the excess Shimmer is gone, I think my body will return to something resembling a healthy human being.”

Ekko nodded and took a few minutes to fully process everything that she had said. “But … I remember when I got shot and we talked, you showed me that one strand was actually lighter and shorter than the others because it was cut”, he then said, not being able to form a proper question, instead letting the statement hang in the air between them, hoping Jinx would understand.

“That thing got cut when I was like… three? Four? So, realistically speaking, that strand held about four years less of Shimmer, which might have affected the color and growth of it, but I don’t know”, she guessed, accentuating it with a shrug. “But I mean, my hair does look lighter now, overall?” They looked at it for a few seconds. It might be, actually. “In any case, looking at the bright side, whenever I get a haircut, you guys get free medicine!"

Ekko couldn't help but chuckle – at least the previous events didn’t take her excitement away.

“Hey, Ekko?”, she then asked a bit more solemnly. He turned his focus back to her, as it seemed she had questions too. “What about us?”, she then asked, staring at her toes.

He wasn’t sure he fully understood. “What about us?”

She took a deep breath. “I don’t know if you remember, but when you were… you know… you said something. And I just...” The sentence trailed out, but Ekko waited patiently for her to gather her thoughts. “I know- We talked about your dream and what you wanted to do with the crystal, which … well, we can't do that now anyway, but … back there, you said that you didn't need the past anymore or something and I was just wondering what that meant", she pretty much rambled, looking anywhere in the room, but him.

Ekko could only really nod for now. He did not remember that, to be completely honest, but he could imagine saying a lot of things in the heat of dying. That didn’t necessarily mean it wasn't true. In fact, he found that he couldn't really deny it. In the last few days, all he really thought about was her and saving her, so that she could have a future, possibly even with him.

It wasn't like he suddenly got over all the heartbreak of his past, but if he had to choose between returning to what he had lost and living with what he had, he could not see himself choosing the past.

Seeing Jinx alive and healthy, knowing that Silco was dead, things were really looking up. He might even say he was a bit happy. Would he still want to give it all up to return to the past? Because being realistic, he would lose it all. If he went back to get rid of Silco before any of this started, Jinx might not have even been born. If he saved his parents and Benzo, he would have never founded the Firelights. And even if he only stopped Silco after Jinx was born, she would grow up with Vi and their dad. She and Ekko might never even meet.

He found that he might finally like his life enough that he didn’t want to give it up. How the tides have shifted.

"I think", he finally said. "I meant exactly what I said. I think, I wanna try to build something new." He might not have sounded the most confident in that statement, but deep down, he knew he meant it.

Jinx awkwardly looked around again. “With me?”

“Of course", he said like that should be obvious, but then it hit him that maybe it wasn't. They had kissed twice, there had been a few confessions, and he undeniably liked her, maybe even loved her, but that was probably not enough to be sure they would spend their future together. "I like you, Jinx", he therefore added. "And I have been terrified of the thought that I might not ever see you again. I don't know where the future will take us, but I do know that I want to find out. With you."

“You’re a real romantic, aren’t you?” She obviously tried to sound sarcastic, but the blush on her cheeks betrayed her.

“I try”, he replied smugly.

Jinx giggled a little and placed her hand over his. “I already told you. You’re my dream now and there’s no way you’ll get rid of me.”

“That sounds nice.”

He leaned toward her slightly, if only to be a bit closer to her while a little voice in his head reminded him that they made it – Silco was dead, Jinx was safe, and Ekko still alive. Truly a happy ever after.

His heart skipped a beat when she leaned in as well, but before their lips could meet, a knock on the door interrupted them harshly.

***

Jinx was going to kill whoever dared to interrupt what might be the best moment of her life. It wasn’t even that their kiss got interrupted, but because they had just talked about a lot of important things and Ekko had been the sweetest during all of it, and now the knock had ruined it, plunging them back into reality.

It better be sweet little Isha behind that door.

When Ekko went to open the door, it wasn’t Isha, but Caitlyn, which confused Jinx so much that she forgot about her rampaging plans. The hell was Caity doing here? It’s not like they still had the gemstone.

“I really don’t want to bother you”, she said, politely as always. “But uh… I think the others are getting even more restless, so I wanted to check how you are doing.” The woman stumbled over her words a little, which seemed unusual for her. Weird.

Ekko now looked back at her, which was even weirder. The talk between the two seemed more like some conspiracy.

“What’s going on?”, she asked, suspiciously eyeing the two.

Ekko went wide-eyed and held his hands up in surrender. "I'm done, she's all yours", he said quickly before patting Caity on the shoulder and all but running out of the room.

Caity appeared just as surprised as her, but eventually sighed and went over to the bed, Jinx was still sitting on. “May I?”, she asked and pointed towards the empty space beside Jinx.

She simply nodded, because what else was she supposed to do at this point? Her only hope was that Caity could tell her what the hell was going on. The woman didn't say anything at all, however, so Jinx took it into her own impatient hands.

“Hi, I’m fine, thank you for asking. For any medical detail refer to Ekko. Or don’t, I don’t care”, she said, only half lying. Fine might be stretching it – seems that all the healed cuts somehow still hurt, and feeling her body adjust to being healthy also didn’t feel particularly nice, but Caity didn’t need to know all that. “Great, now what the fuck was that?”, she therefore asked, pointing back at the door where Ekko had run away like a kid who knew they did something wrong.

Caity looked at her with surprise, her mouth opening and closing as she seemingly tried to process everything that just came out of Jinx's mouth. "I'm glad you're doing alright", she then said before looking back at the door herself. Longingly, like she wanted to run too. "Well, there's uh… some things you should know."

"Uh huh", Jinx hummed, unimpressed. "Like?”

The woman sighed. “It’s complicated and I don’t want you to freak out. It might be a lot.”

Jinx blinked lazily. “I just spent at least two days in a dirty cell without food or sleep, making a lot of interesting and terrifying discoveries. I think I’ll manage. Now spit it out, Caity.”

Caity nodded slowly, still not seeming particularly motivated, but eventually, she took a deep breath and … "Vi is your sister."

A few seconds passed in which both just stared at each other, not moving, not even blinking. This had to be some fucked up joke, right? “What?”, she bit out eventually, waiting for the punchline.

At least Caity seemed a bit more relaxed now. “It seems that you were taken from your family as a baby and Vi had thought you were dead the entire time, but it turns out, you were not.”

Jinx still hoped for some bit at the end telling her it was all just a joke. But it didn't come. Caitlyn just looked at her expectantly, waiting for a reaction of some sort.

Okay, here’s the thing: Jinx always knew that Silco wasn’t her biological dad, but she never really thought about what happened to her real family, just assuming they were all dead and Silco had found her on the street or something.

Her face must have twisted itself into a confused frown at some point because Caity stumbled over herself again to explain a bit more. "I wish I could give you some more information, but that's sadly all I know. I guess if you have questions, you should ask Sevika."

"Sevika?", she mumbled. What the hell did the ogre have to do with this?

"Yeah, I mean, she told us about it in the first place. It seems she had been involved back then", Caity explained casually while Jinx's mind worked overtime to connect it all.

Suddenly, she remembered the weird thing that the ogre had told her back in Singed’s lab. Something about her mum. Jinx had been pretty out of it at the time, so she had forgotten about it relatively quickly, but now…

She was out of the room before she had even formed a full thought. As she descended down the stairs, she ignored Caity running after her and screaming her name.

It wasn’t hard to spot the group at one of the tables by one of the bigger buildings. The group also spotted her, which resulted in various reactions that she did not particularly care for. Except for one maybe, that being Isha grinning ear to ear and basically attaching herself to Jinx's hip.

She stopped for one second to calm herself enough to talk to the kid. “Hey, wanna let the adults talk for a minute?”, she asked as sweetly as she could muster, which wasn’t as much as she would have liked. But that probably added to Isha’s quick agreement to run off and play with Pascal and some other kids.

Another breath and one look at the woman in front of her and Jinx was raging. She had barely a clue when or how she had gotten close enough to Sevika, but she did know that she currently lifted the woman a good centimeter above ground, holding her by the shirt.

“I guess you know then”, was all the ogre had to say about this situation. Everyone else was frozen in their seats, she noticed out of the corner of her eyes.

“You are going to tell me everything, now. And I swear to any deity who’s willing to listen, it better be plausible or I’ll kill you myself”, she threatened without a second thought.

“Fair", Sevika responded uncharacteristically carefully.

Jinx stared her down a second more before letting her go again and sitting down next to Ekko. Everyone was still staring at her. "What?", she snapped and most of them acted like nothing had happened.

So she looked at Ekko. “Your eyes… they kinda turned pink again. For a moment”, he explained.

She nodded. Thinking about it, it made sense, actually. She must have activated the Shimmer or something. Later, she would have to experiment a bit with that, but lifting Sevika was most likely only possible thanks to Shimmer.

Either way, she wasn’t going to start a discussion on it right now, instead looking over to the ogre, waiting for her to talk. Underneath the table, she felt Ekko grab her hand, which she took gladly, having a feeling that she certainly won’t like the story to come.

“Alright, uhm...", the woman then finally started, obviously not feeling comfortable, which Jinx took just the slightest bit of pleasure in. "I've known your mum. We were friends, all of us. Vander, Silco, me, Felicia and Connol. That was until Silco started to get a different idea about what to do with Zaun. I was kinda switching between working for him and Vander. I didn't fully agree with either of them, but … I stuck around for Felicia." Awkward pause, like she was reminiscing or something. "By the time she got pregnant with you, Silco was already working on Shimmer, though it was still a prototype. I mostly took care of Feli during it all. Connol and Vander were too busy keeping Zaun afloat and taking care of Vi. Anyway, she started to run into some problems pretty early. Things had gone pretty smoothly with Vi, but for some reason, you were always a pain in the ass."

The joke didn’t quite land as well as Sevika would have probably liked. Her unease also didn’t get better because of it, like she already feared the reaction that Jinx might have.

Clearing her throat, she continued. “It didn’t look good for her and … I don’t know how she got her hands on it, but she secretly took Shimmer to ease the pregnancy a bit. I only found out when it was too late”, she explained. “She was still somewhat in contact with Silco, I guess he must have given it to her. Why, though, I cannot tell you. Maybe he thought it could save you both, but … it didn’t.” Now that was odd, Vander (at least Jinx thought that was his name) put a soothing hand on her shoulder, even though he didn't look all too happy either. "When you were born, it was just me and Feli. No one expected anything, you weren't supposed to come out for another three weeks, I think. I tried my best, but it was a long and painful process and she was already weak from the months before. Had to bring the news later that day. I wasn't sure what to expect, but usually when the new kid kills the mum, the reception doesn't tend to be that warm, but in your case it was. I won't lie, I felt guilty for not being able to save Feli, so I volunteered to babysit, which is when I noticed the Shimmer. I guess, I might have mentioned it offhandedly to Silco at some point, but I did not expect the guy to go and kidnap you. Didn't really know how to explain your disappearance either, so I just… left."

And with that ended the explanation. Everyone now stared at Jinx again, waiting for something.

What exactly, she didn't know and she didn't care because right now, she didn't know anything. She didn't know what to feel or think, or even what all of this meant for her. Having the information was great, but now she didn't quite know what to do with it.

Jinx had expected to get more angry or something, but she didn’t. It’s not like Sevika had outright done something bad, just something stupid. And the one person she could be mad at was already dead, so she just sat there and stared into nothing.

Eventually, she got up and left again. She needed a bit of quiet and a lot less staring.

***

She fled back into Ekko’s room and gazed into the darkness that was slowly overcoming the room as the sun began to set.

Eventually, the door carefully opened again and she half expected Ekko to bring her some food or ask her to come downstairs again, but instead, a tiny head with a raven on top peaked inside. The picture made Jinx chuckle a bit.

Isha closed the door dutifully behind her and then drew a sad smiley face in the air.

“I’m not sad, I’m just thinking”, Jinx told the girl and tried to muster a smile.

The girl gave her a skeptical look before climbing up on the bed and Jinx remembered that Isha had also been through some stuff. Has anyone talked to her about it yet?

"How are you doing?", she decided to ask before any follow-up questions could be formed on her own emotional state.

Isha shrugged.

“What happened was scary, huh?” A nod. “For me too.”

The girl frowned and mimicked how Jinx had fought and struggled and talked back.

"Yeah, well, I like to act tough", she explained. "I didn't want them to see how scared I was. It gives them power. But trust me, I was terrified." She saw Isha mull it over. "I was also scared for you. I'm happy you came to help. Without you and Pascal, I don't think we would have gotten out of there. Still, that was pretty dangerous."

She nodded, although reluctantly. Then she tapped on her stomach and made a stabbing motion with her fist and grimaced.

Jinx hummed empathetically. “That was really scary. I’m pretty sure I cried.”

Isha made a motion that she thought had to mean something like “Me too.” She kept motioning with her hands and Jinx tried her best to interpret.

“When you are sleeping?”, she talked along to make sure she got it right. Isha nodded. “You get nightmares?” Another nod. Yeah, that made sense. Apart from the fact that it was overall a life-threatening situation, the girl had also seen two people die, even if one was able to be saved at the last minute.

Before Jinx could come up with a solution, though, Isha kept signing.

"You want to sleep here?" Very enthusiastic nodding followed. Jinx thought about it. She supposed sleeping in close company with people you trust could help. "Alright", she relented. "But, you'll also have to ask Ekko. It's his room, after all."

Isha placed her hand against her forehand in a salute and Jinx snorted at the ridiculous picture before her. Then she made the sad smiley face again.

“I told you, I’m not sad.”

Isha tilted her head, obviously not believing her.

Jinx sighed. "I just … I learned something about myself. And my family… and I don't know what to do right now", she tried to explain without disclosing more possibly traumatic things to this kid.

She didn’t seem to care about vagueness, however. Frowning, she looked up at Jinx with expectant eyes.

“It’s complicated”, she said, not satisfying the girl at all. “Feelings tend to be, I think.”

Isha shook her head. She painted another face. A smiling one, now. Next to it another sad one. Then she motioned her hands as if saying, one or the other. Either happy or sad, nothing complicated at all.

Jinx tried and failed to suppress a smile. “What if it’s both?”, she asked, but the girl shook her head again. Impossible. It seemed Jinx would have to find something she could relate it to. “I think, it can be. Like the day before. Most of it has been terrible, but you are happy that everything went okay. So the day has both, right?”

Isha thought about it, long and hard and ended up rolling her eyes, unwilling to outright agree.

"That's how I feel. A lot of it had been terrible news, but there was this tiny part of it that might be nice. Then it might not be, I don't know for sure."

The girl casually pointed to the door. Get out and find out.

She hummed. “See, that’s the thing. Finding out is scary. I want it to be nice, but what if it’s not?”

A shrug was the answer. It was the kind of shrug that seemed to say “So? Who cares?” and it made Jinx actually stop and think about it again.

Most of the information she had received was just that. Nice to know, but not all that impactful. The only thing that was, was the fact that she still had one remaining family member in her sister.

In the end, she had already decided not to be mad at Sevika because, again, most of it wasn’t her fault to begin with. Could she have told Vander about the kidnapping to avoid everything that came after? Sure, but the ogre wasn’t that smart to think things through. Besides, she had been under a lot of pressure, playing both sides and with the looming threat of a furious father and sister.

Don’t get her wrong, she wasn’t forgiving the ogre, and okay, maybe she was still a bit mad at her because Jinx didn’t have to go through so much shit if the woman had made better choices. It was just that Jinx was still so goddamn tired and quite frankly, she didn’t want to waste her energy on an ogre like Sevika.

The only thing left to really think about was the issue of her sister. Jinx had met Vi when they had been at the Last Drop, which felt like ages ago. She had been awkward, but nice enough. That was it, though. That was all she knew about her sister, some awkward ramblings that she could barely even remember anymore.

But, maybe Isha, in her childlike nativity, was right. Jinx didn’t have a sister before and the sheer fact that Vi had part of the same blood as her, did not automatically make her family. She could just try, see how it goes and either she now had a sister, or she would not be worse off than before.

Jinx moved her attention back to Isha, who had taken to playing with Pascal. “You’re pretty smart, you know?”

Isha nodded confidently, making Jinx laugh again.

When she got up, she patted the girl’s and then Pascal’s head. “I’ll tell Ekko that you got something to discuss with him, kay? Don’t worry, I’ll be back before bedtime”, she promised and went outside again.

The group table hasn’t changed all that much, except that now they all had food. When Jinx had made her way back downstairs, everyone looked at her expectantly.

First things first. “Isha wants to talk to you”, she told Ekko. “Has she eaten yet? She might want some”, she then added.

"Uh, I don't think so?", he mumbled, caught off guard a little. "I'll bring her some. There's also one for you. What does she want to talk about?", he then asked.

"She'll tell you", she answered and took the bowl she received from him. It did look delicious and her stomach immediately reminded her that she hadn't eaten in about four days now. Loudly.

Ekko got up with a smirk. “There’s a second filling if you need it”, he told her before making his way to his room.

She should probably use the time. Oh well, she could multitask. So, she went around the table to stand next to Vi, who made a face like she walked in on someone naked. “I’m ready”, she told her.

Her sister froze mid-chew. "For what?", she then asked, confused and looking a bit scared even.

Jinx rolled her eyes. “To talk”, she said like it should be obvious because it should. “Come on, before I change my mind”, she added before walking off and over to a bench on the side, far away from everyone. It was bad enough that they were still able to easily watch, but they didn’t need to hear as well.

Vi scrambled after her, almost spilling her food everywhere. At least they were both equally nervous, that was nice to know.

They sat next to each other in silence for a while and Jinx used the time to eat a bit, her stomach being very happy about that. She should say something, obviously, but in all her overthinking, she hadn't bothered to think about how to go about this. It seems neither had Vi.

Still, it was the redhead who started. “So… how are-”

“I’m fine”, Jinx interrupted with a roll of her eyes. “Shit happened, no big deal.” It was kind of a big deal, which was probably why everyone was so worried about her, but she really didn’t want to talk about it. She talked about it with Ekko (a bit) and that was about enough.

“You know, we don’t have to do this right now. We could wait until you’re a bit more rested”, Vi then carefully suggested and Jinx sighed.

“I like to get shit done and if you want me to rest, we should get this out of the way", she explained as nicely as she could. Snapping at her probably wasn't the best way to go about this, she would admit it.

“Right, okay." Vi moved pieces of vegetables around inside her bowl. "Maybe I could tell you a bit about myself?", she then suggested.

“Sure, that might be good”, Jinx answered. Getting to know each other did sound like the right way to go.

“Okay, uh … I already told you a bit back when we met”, she said and chuckled awkwardly. “So yeah, I kinda have two adopted idiot brothers. You obviously have no obligation to be nice to them or get to know them. I work at the Last Drop mostly, but uh… don’t tell Vander, but I occasionally go down to the fight pits.”

“What’s that?”

“It’s a place where you fight someone else for money. People can bet on you and if you win, you can really earn a lot”, Vi explained. “I don’t do it that often, but I don’t know, it’s fun and a nice outlet.”

Jinx hummed. So her sister was a fighter. Interesting. And she had some anger problems, maybe? She would find out eventually, she supposed.

“And what do you like to do?”, Vi prompted, again rather awkwardly.

She thought about it for a second. "I like to build things. Tinker, learn. Not biology, though, most of that stuff is absolutely disgusting", she said, earning herself a little chuckle – small wins and whatnot. "I also cook. Sometimes. Out of necessity, more than anything, it's not like I like it. I also paint."

“You got some hobbies”, Vi commented.

Jinx shrugged. “I get bored easily and living alone has not been helping.”

“Right.” Great, it got awkward again.

She tried to come up with something to say, to take some initiative, as it's been mostly Vi talking and asking stuff. "Where are the two idiots, anyway?”, she therefore asked, out of curiosity because they were nowhere around to be seen.

“Oh, they’re at the Last Drop. Business doesn’t stop down here”, Vi explained with a certain hint of frustration.

And they were back in a slump. Jinx pushed a few more spoonfuls into her mouth, while thinking about what to talk about next. Getting to know one another was really hard – how did people normally do that? Well, she got to know Ekko and Caity mostly due to casually spending time together. Traveling, running, playing games.

Jinx might have an idea. “Your advice was helpful”, she said. “We had to hide out at the arcade you told me about.”

At least, Vi smiled a bit. “Yeah? I’m glad.”

“Uh, I was thinking… maybe we could fix it up and… hang out?”, she suggested.

Now, Vi looked surprised, but was still smiling. “Yeah! That’d be great!”, she said, nodding. “I’m not very handy, though.”

"That's okay." She shrugged. "Me and Ekko could take a look at it, and … you could swing by with some food? I still haven't tried Jericho's, I've been promised it's good." She had completely forgotten about that, too. Speaking of food, she dug into her bowl again.

Vi chuckled. “It’s the best”, she corrected. “Sounds like a plan.”

Great! And hopefully, being able to actually do something would help them a bit.

They let the silence return while they ate the rest of their food. It was still a bit awkward – okay, a lot – but Jinx hoped it would get better with time. Getting to know each other with just a bit of talking was a challenge, especially when both their pasts were not easy to talk about with what was practically a stranger.

“Did you name me Jinx?", she then asked, as the thought came to her. She didn't hate her name – quite the opposite actually – but it was strange to think that someone had given her a name like that. Also, if they had named her Jinx, then shouldn't Vi have recognized her?

“No”, Vi said quickly and offended, which was to be expected when Jinx really thought about it. “Of course not. Dad named you Powder.”

She blinked, slightly confused because who names their kid Powder? “I think I’m gonna stick with Jinx”, she said, hoping not to offend her sister even more, but even if Silco gave her that name for some fucked up reasons, it was still better than Powder.

“Well, you’re eyes were- are, again now, powder blue. Like mum’s. I guess that’s why”, Vi explained.

Okay, that was kind of cute and under those circumstances, she might accept her birth name. Still didn't mean she was going to go by it.

Luckily, this time, before any awkward silences could creep in, Ekko came over. “Sorry to interrupt, but Isha’s getting tired and she was talking about some promise?”, he said and Jinx sighed.

"Yeah, I said I'd be back by bedtime." She kind of meant her own, but the girl had nightmares and Jinx was not about to leave her alone during it all. So, she got up. "I'll see you tomorrow?", she asked towards Vi, who nodded happily.

As they walked away, Ekko took the empty bowl from her. A second filling might have actually been nice, but Isha had the bigger priority here. Besides, she was a bit tired herself. Shimmer or not, not sleeping for three days or whatever had not been a good idea, even if she had already made up for two of them.

“So, you allowed it, then?”, she asked after Ekko put the bowl back in, what she assumed to be, the kitchen area, and they made their way upstairs.

He sighed. “It’s hard to say no to her.” A slightly malicious laugh left her. “You didn’t tell her no either”, he pointed out.

“I know.” She shrugged. “But it’s not my room and I told her that you had the final word.”

Ekko only hummed unimpressed, shaking his head slightly, but there was a small tug to his lips that told her he wasn't mad or annoyed.

When they got back to his room, once more that day, Isha already sat on the bed, waiting. Jinx spotted Pascal by the window, already sleeping. It had been some exhausting few days for all of them.

She quickly and carefully stroked his feathers before plopping down on the bed, ready to sleep as well. Isha promptly snuggled into her side. Ekko, however, turned the other way.

“What are you doing?", she asked, frowning. Isha turned around again to look at him, too.

“Trying to get a bit more comfort than the last two nights”, he explained absolutely nothing.

Though, it slowly dawned on Jinx what was happening. "You've been sleeping on the floor?", she asked, full of confusion.

"Well, yeah." He shrugged like it wasn't a big deal. It wasn't per se, but it was simply unnecessary.

“Why?”, she asked, trying to understand better because Ekko seemed to think his actions made sense while they really didn’t.

At least he stopped preparing the ground with the thinnest blankets she had ever seen, momentarily. “It’s just the polite thing to do. You take the bed, I take the floor.”

“It’s your bed.” She still didn’t get it.

“I’m not making you sleep on the floor.”

“I don’t want you to sleep on the floor, either.”

He opened his mouth, but nothing came out. Then he sighed and looked around like the answer was found somewhere in the cracks on the walls. Why was he so weird all of a sudden?

Jinx, for some reason, looked at Isha, hoping she might get it. The girl pointed at both of them and then formed a heart, confusing her even more. Yeah, she and Ekko liked each other, but what did that have to do with- oh.

She slapped a hand against her own forehead in annoyance before looking back at the guy. “Ekko, get in the bed, now. There’s nothing indecent going on. We’re sleeping for Janna’s sake”, she snapped.

“But-”

“I get why you chose the floor before”, she interrupted. “Consent and that stuff, which is great, but seriously, you're not doing that again."

“I just don’t wanna make you feel uncomfortable”, he told her and it was really sweet, but she was way too tired for this discussion.

"I'm not. I'm tired and according to this very wise… eight-year-old?" She looked at Isha, who shook her head, pointing downwards. "Seven?" A nod. "According to this very wise seven-year-old", she restarted. "Sleeping works best with more emotional support, so get your ass over here and cuddle."

The girl nodded enthusiastically at her little speech and Ekko eventually just sighed and accepted his fate.

It was nice, Jinx had to admit. Not that she had expected it to be terrible. But really, Isha had a point – it was soothing to feel two other people next to her. To have someone around should something happen, like a nightmare, for example.

She hoped she could have this for the rest of her life. Having been living essentially alone for 18 years, she hadn't known what she had missed, but now she wanted to keep it. All this warmth and the good feelings.

It was nice and if she fell asleep smiling, that was no one’s business but her own.

Chapter Text

It has been a few months. Caitlyn had been busy and unable to visit as much as she would have liked, but with all the political changes going on, she really had to focus on bringing some order back into the chaos.

Months, she kept thinking. It didn't feel like it. With how rapidly everything had happened, it felt like days and years alike.

Either way, she was glad to finally have a day off and meet her friend. It was about time. They had promised many things before they had parted, like that they would find the time to meet and talk or at least write to each other, but none of it had happened.

Caitlyn had barely even had time to sleep for weeks on end, as she investigated Marcus with Sevika’s help, while also doing diplomatic work in the council, since they were freaking out about the leader change in the undercity. Then she had to get used to her new duties as sheriff, which had filled a large portion of her time.

At least through Sevika and her ongoing cooperation, she got to know that Jinx had been equally busy recovering and finding her place in the little community of the Firelights.

She was beyond excited. Jinx was surely an unusual friend and no one she would have ever expected she would be so close with, but somehow it had happened.

When Jinx showed up, Caitlyn only recognized her due to the unmistakable blue hair. Everything else about her had changed – for the better, in her humble opinion. Jinx looked like a proper human, with rosy cheeks and awake blue eyes, even some more meat on those bones. Her hair had gotten longer, so the girl wore it in a ponytail now. She looked happy.

It was easy to fall back into their banter when she met the girl on the bridge. They didn’t talk about anything substantial on the way to the bakery, that she had hyped up to Jinx, mostly just making fun of Marcus or Jinx complaining about being bored out of her mind.

Then inside the shop, they were distracted by the cakes. Well, Jinx was. Caitlyn has been here often enough, but the girl was absolutely in awe of all the options and the smell and coziness of it all. It was endearing, really.

Caitlyn went ahead and bought a piece of everything that Jinx pointed at. She herself only got one piece of her favorite cake. At first, she thought that while a lot would go to waste, she still wanted to treat her friend to a taste of everything, but then the girl devoured three of her slices while Caitlyn barely got three bites – maybe she shouldn’t worry about anything going to waste, after all.

“So”, she then decided to get into a proper conversation. “How’s it going?”, she asked.

“How’s what going?”, Jinx responded absentmindedly as she fit a whole piece of cake into her mouth.

“Your life", she clarified. "What were you doing? How are Pascal and Isha? How's Ekko?" She couldn't help but smirk at the last question.

It made Jinx stop eating and send a glare her way. “Caitlyn, that’s none of your business”, she mumbled around her full mouth.

Caitlyn almost wanted to say something about proper etiquette, but didn't actually care enough to do so. There were more important things to discuss. And Jinx, using her full name, wasn't going to stop her either. "I was there from day one. I have a right to know how it's going", she argued.

Jinx didn't seem convinced. "Pascal is a traitor", she answered the other, less pressing question. "He spends more time hanging out with Isha than with me. It's like he doesn't like me anymore."

“I’m sure that’s not true”, Caitlyn tried to comfort the other. “He just has another friend now.”

Jinx grumbled something that she didn't understand, but before she could ask, the girl kept talking. "Apart from that, it's … nice, I guess."

“Very convincing”, she mumbled with a little chuckle.

“Well, there have been a few complications”, the other pressed out and stuffed her mouth with cake again.

Caitlyn wasn’t sure what that meant. “What kind of complications?”, she asked, trying to not worry as long as she didn’t know what it was about.

After a long minute, Jinx sighed. “The medical person has diagnosed me with a bunch of shit, which is whatever, I guess, but she also kept an eye on my physical health, which seems to be less than ideal."

“I guess that makes sense”, Caitlyn said. After a lifetime of being high on Shimmer, she hadn’t expected it to be different. “But… there are solutions?”

“Sorta”, Jinx mumbled, taking another bite. “I just feel so weird. Calm. I hate it. The medical person said I have withdrawal symptoms and now Ekko locks his workshop where my hair is, so I can’t lick at it or something.”

That was oddly specific. “Has that happened?”, she asked in shock.

“I tried”, the girl easily told her. “But it’s really not that bad”, she then said in annoyance. “It’s fine most of the time, it’s just that sometimes I get a bit antsy.”

“You are way too calm about this”, Caitlyn pointed out. Most people would be freaking out, but it really didn’t seem to bother the other all that much.

"I mean, it makes sense. It was probably to be expected and it'll pass. Eventually", Jinx said with a shrug. "The only thing that really drives me mad is Ekko. Ever since the medical person told me that I should try to stay as calm as possible so I don't pump more Shimmer through my body than necessary, he is so careful around me and tries to avoid getting me angry, which is so annoying, it actually does make me angry", she rambled then.

It made Caitlyn wonder if she had talked to anyone about this yet.

“And then there was the thought of getting the Shimmer out of me completely, but the current theory is that I’ll die without it, which also isn’t helping Ekko to be less anxious”, the girl kept going, talking herself into rage.

Caitlyn eventually intervened when she saw the slightest hint of pink in Jinx’s eyes. “So, have you talked to him about this?”, she asked, not changing the topic completely as that would be suspicious.

It made her stop, though. “I tried”, she sighed. “I just don’t know what to tell him. He makes good points and I get it, you know?”

"Well, you should definitely make him listen to you. Otherwise, you'll only stain your relationship." Not that she had a lot of experience in that department, but still, she wanted to help somehow. “Don’t let him interrupt you. Get it all out.”

Jinx nodded. “That’s easier said than done. I’m not good at this”, she mumbled.

Caitlyn had to smile. “I think you are”, she said. “Now that I think about it, I don’t think I’ve ever heard you talk about your feelings so much before. You got this.” There had definitely been a lot of improvement all around when it came to Jinx’s life.

“If you say so.” The girl didn’t sound all that convinced. “I can try, I guess.” She stabbed her fork into the next cake, which at least lifted her mood a bit.

“Speaking of your relationship”, Caitlyn then started. “Last I checked, no one really knew about it. Did you tell them?” She mostly referred to Vi here. But when they had last seen each other, Caitlyn and Sevika were pretty much the only people in the loop.

Jinx snorted loudly. "Nope", she then said. "It's not like we're subtle. If they can't figure it out, that's not on me."

She sighed. “But shouldn’t Vi know at least?”

The girl rolled her eyes. “She comes by every week. The entire base knows. We started repairing the arcade and I’m pretty sure we kissed in front of everyone like five times. She could know.”

That was fair in a way, but still a bit mean. “How are things going with Vi?”, she asked instead of appealing to the girl.

“Weird”, the other mumbled. “We just don’t have a lot in common.”

“As long as there is something, I guess-”

“Sorry, I meant, we don’t have anything in common”, Jinx interrupted with a correction. “Apart from parents, apparently.”

“Oh… That’s… not great”, Caitlyn mumbled, unsure how to answer this.

“Yeah”, Jinx agreed. “I kinda avoided her lately whenever she comes by. I’d rather sit with the medical person. At least we have something to talk about.”

Even though it really wasn’t funny, Caitlyn couldn’t help but laugh at that. Maybe because she could understand it. That's what it felt like with her mother. Mostly, they didn't have much to say to each other or many shared interests. It wasn't quite as bad as with the sisters, but she could relate.

Jinx quickly changed the topic, talking about Isha and their little adventures together. Turns out, the girl was surprisingly good with kids and took over the afternoons of childcare in the community after having her doctor’s appointments in the morning. It seemed the routine did her some good and taught her a little about emotional vulnerability.

Caitlyn also talked about her life, informing Jinx of the several political changes ever since Vander had taken over again, leading with Sevika's help. She was also glad to tell the girl that Marcus would spend a few years as a lowly guard in Stillwater. It was a bit disappointing that he wouldn't spend his time there as a prisoner, as it should have been, but too many councilors voted for a lesser sentence.

The image of the man cleaning toilets in the less-than-sanitary prison was acceptable enough for her, though.

After Jinx had finished all her cakes, they went on to spend the day together. Caitlyn really wanted to see how the girl did on a shooting range.

***

Vi didn't quite know what to think of her sister. She had barely known her for a few months before she had been taken away, and now she was already an adult. And she was certainly a character. Always ready for violence, but still sweet to the people she cared about. Jinx was undoubtedly genius and could be so clueless at the same time, though Vi guessed the latter might be due to the years of solitude.

The girl was like a squirrel on crack, always bouncing around, doing something, and sometimes several things at once.

And Vi had no idea how to deal with that.

They also couldn't seem to find any common ground between them. The only things Jinx could comfortably talk about were her inventions or projects, which Vi didn't understand at all, but she tried to listen anyway. Similarly, Jinx had little interest in Vi's hobbies. Her talking about her brothers' antics seemed to bore the girl to death, and while brawling was somewhat exciting to her, it never lasted long.

Over the course of the last few months, Vi was steadily losing her mind as she tried to come up with something that could make them less awkward.

She had a lot of time to think about that, because they barely saw each other. Jinx was always busy with her recovery and treatment, which was good, of course, but Vi only got some updates thanks to Ekko. For example that Jinx was purposefully prolonging everything because she didn't trust her doctor (or medical person, as she liked to call it). Then it turned out, Jinx had a lot of issues – Ekko had mentioned something about trauma and her physical health having suffered from her reliance on Shimmer for so long. All of that meant longer treatment.

Vi was fine with that, technically. She wanted her sister to get all the time and care she needed, but she would admit that the fact that the girl practically lived down the street and still coincidentally wasn't available whenever Vi came by was slowly driving her mad. She just wanted to get to know her sister.

Luckily, Jinx's restlessness came to benefit her eventually. When the girl had had enough of sitting in the same place constantly, she reached out about their plan to fix up the arcade. Without thinking, Vi had obviously agreed and roped her brothers into it as well.

Was she maybe a bit overzealous? Sure, but can you blame her? Well, Vander could, as he needed to find someone to help him run the bar while all his kids were out. He wasn't mad about it, per se, he just would have liked a heads-up.

While repairing the arcade, at least they talked. They planned to be more exact. It wasn't talking in a getting to know each other kind of way, but it was talking nonetheless. Still, despite spending so much time in the same space, Vi couldn't get a better insight into who the other was.

She really tried, asking questions about what she did, if she found any new hobbies, or how recovery was going. But Jinx only answered shortly and she never asked Vi anything in return.

“You gotta stop trying so hard”, Mylo told her at some point when they took a break, she and her brothers sitting in one corner, Jinx and Ekko in another. “I had more meaningful conversations with her and we barely talk at all.”

She sighed. “I just don’t know what to do anymore.”

“Stop trying”, he repeated with a hit to her arm. “Just be chill.”

Claggor nodded. “She probably thinks you’re weird. You do act weird around her. Like she’s some alien.” He took another bite of the bread while she processed that. “You’re not even that awkward around Caitlyn and that says something.”

Vi scoffed and decided to ignore her brothers’ bullying. She simply decided to leave them alone and went over to the other corner, a decision she questioned the moment she had taken all of three steps, but it was too late to turn around now.

When she sat down next to Jinx and Ekko, there was a moment of awkwardness before the conversation picked back up. From what Vi understood, they were talking about their progress in turning the Shimmer in Jinx's hair into actual medicine. Much more she couldn't decipher. She never thought she was particularly stupid, but she sure felt like it when these two geniuses talked to each other.

It was interesting how effortlessly they talked and changed topics. Soon, they mapped out improvements in the base and then the arcade.

“What do you think?”, Ekko then tried to involve her and she almost choked on a spoonful of soup she had put in her mouth just a second before.

Truth be told, she had kind of given up on listening at that point. What was she supposed to think of what?

Luckily, Jinx saved her. “I don’t think it’s a good idea”, she then said, tapping her spoon against her chin in thought. “Air pressure might be a nice concept in theory, but practically, that thing will fall apart.”

Ekko hummed. “We should probably do the math before making a decision.”

Jinx rolled her eyes, but didn’t say anything to disagree with him. “So, why are you here?”, she asked towards Vi instead.

She blinked in confusion a few times before she understood what the question was about. "Oh, they were annoying, so I changed seats", she said, like it was not a big deal, which it wasn't. "What's next?", she tried to keep a conversation going, still taking the advice to be a bit more chill.

“You clean up, I fix the lights”, was the short answer. Honestly, she didn’t know what she had expected here.

“Do you even know anything about lights?”, Ekko snorted.

Jinx looked offended. "More than you. Besides, those connections need someone gentle and you and your workout routine aren't exactly that."

“Don’t pretend like you don’t love my workout routine”, the boy quipped back.

Jinx stuck out her tongue at that and Vi thought that it was nice that her sister had at least one friend who wasn't completely awkward.

Soon after, they got back to work, which meant that Ekko, Claggor and Vi took care of the heavy lifting while Mylo didn't do anything at all, and Jinx vanished somewhere in a backroom to fix the lights. That would be a great improvement, considering that it was already pretty dark in the undercity and the slowly incoming nightfall kept forcing them to stop in the middle of progress.

Vi decided to use her chance to get Ekko alone, though. “Hey”, she started to get his attention. “You and Jinx seem close.”

The boy stiffened for a second before letting out a sigh of relief. “Did you finally notice?”

She furrowed her brows. “Notice what?”, she asked.

“Nothing”, he responded quickly. A bit too quickly. “You were saying?”

Vi contemplated for a second if she wanted to throw away her original plan and interrogate him about that weirdness just now, but decided that she desperately needed help. Whatever else was going on here could wait. "I don't know what to do with her. We can barely hold a conversation for two minutes, and it feels like she hates me." She hated how vulnerable that sounded, especially when Ekko started to laugh.

“She doesn’t hate you”, he told her then. “She just thinks you’re exhausting.”

“How is that better?”

He sighed. “Look, Jinx is a very blunt person who has no idea how to work through emotions. You make her feel uncomfortable and instead of confronting you about it, she runs. Which is weird because she's more of a fight person. If I had to guess, I'd say it's because she doesn't want to fight with you. It would help greatly if you could find something you have in common, but you should also stop trying so hard. She and Caitlyn became friends because the woman just gave up on trying to reason with Jinx. And because they both shoot and Jinx can really bring out her childish side. Seems like Caitlyn was never really allowed to be a kid, who knew?"

As he rambled on with fondness, Vi tried to make sense of what he said. She didn’t make much progress on that front, which Ekko seemed to notice eventually.

“My point is, she and Caitlyn actually found common ground, even if it didn't look like they would have any", he summarized for her. "Find something to do with her. Anything. She's lived in a tower her entire life. She's curious about everything."

Not about anything Vi was interested in, though. She didn't say that and only nodded, internally giving up already. But maybe that wasn't a bad thing – Ekko did say something about Caitlyn having to give up, too, before she became friends with Jinx.

***

Jinx had about two options here. Activate her Shimmer or ask for help. She would like to use the first option, but the medical person would be mad at her, not to mention Ekko. With a sigh, she crawled back over the boxes to the door.

“I need some muscle!”, she yelled out and unsurprisingly, Vi jumped at the opportunity. Jinx would have preferred Ekko, but as long as she got those lights working, she didn’t care much.

What was surprising was that the woman didn’t make any attempts at weird small talk. She simply asked what the problem was, silently climbed over the boxes towards the electricity corner and waited for instructions.

"I don't know what idiot threw a wrench in there, but it needs to go", was all she said and waved vaguely in the direction of where it was currently lodged between cables and fuses.

Vi nodded and pulled the thing out. It took a couple of tries, and she changed her footing several times, but she got it out. "Anything else?", she then asked, looking inside the hole in the wall like she would find a screwdriver, too.

This was a different type of weird than usual. Not weird as is awkward, but weird as in different.

“No”, she said and watched closely what the other was doing.

Vi nodded again, put the wrench on a box somewhere, looking a bit unsure about that action, but didn’t say or ask anything either. Then she made her way back. Weird. She shook her head and went back to the lights.

Back in the tower, the fuses would burn through constantly, so she had some experience with old, useless conductors and got some of it running relatively quickly. They would need some replacements for the other stuff, but for now, they should have enough light to work a bit more effectively.

Since that was done, she went back to the others, wrote down all the parts they would need and went for the next best piece of machinery she found, which happened to be some rundown shooting range.

Walking through it, she knew she could definitely boost the mechanism a bit, so it wouldn’t be so laughably easy to hit the targets. Speaking of, they could use a paint job.

As she worked on that, also roping Mylo’s lazy ass into it, making him hand her tools – which he was useless at at first, but slowly learned the terms – she kept glancing over to Vi, who was still oddly distant. What was going on? She didn’t have time for psychology, though she could ask Caitlyn to bring her a book on it. Might be interesting.

To her surprise, it took days to get the range cleaned, fixed, and painted. She was exhausted by the time she was done, her hands slightly trembling, but she felt proud enough that she didn't care about that.

It was late, then, and the others were packing up, but she filled the toy gun with ammo, excited to try it out.

"Seriously?", Mylo mocked. "A five-year-old could beat that."

She scoffed, not wanting to let this guy question her abilities. “You wanna try then?”, she asked and watched him nervously fumble his response. “You’ll be out in a minute since it’s so easy”, she told him sarcastically, which seemed to awaken some sense of competitiveness in him.

He ripped the gun from her and she activated her creation. It was needless to say that he didn’t hit even once. Everyone laughed at him.

“You try!”, he challenged the amused onlookers and threw the gun at Vi, who caught it effortlessly.

She snorted. “Okay. I can’t be worse than you”, she said and came over, trying her luck.

To be fair, Vi was not worse than Mylo, hitting two whole targets, but it was still sad. Despite having failed much worse, the boy still found the audacity to cackle.

“Is this even possible?”, Claggor then asked, looking at Jinx.

“I bet Caity could do it”, she said and grabbed the gun from her sister, refilling it. “Well, and me of course”, she announced shortly before activating the range again and hitting every target perfectly. “Maybe if I invite Caity here, you could finally make a move."

Vi choked on her spit then, while the others laughed again.

“Or she on you… considering”, she mumbled, awkwardly patting the woman’s back.

"Considering what?", she asked, like it wasn't obvious.

“You’re awkward”, Mylo suggested.

“And oblivious”, Ekko added.

"And you're terrible at flirting", Claggor ended the insults strongly.

Vi stared in open-mouthed shock. Mostly at Claggor. “Excuse me? How many dates have you had?” The boy didn’t answer. “Thought so.”

“Keep that attitude. I’m not entirely sure, but I’d bet Caity is into that”, Jinx chimed in again. Her sister at least didn’t start choking again, but she did turn incredibly red. “Do you need medical help?”

“No, what I need is for you people to stay out of my love life”, she grumbled and moved away to start packing their stuff together.

Jinx only shrugged. “Since you’re staying out of mine, I guess that’s fair”, she said, grabbing the paint she had brought today. She shouldn't let that stand around and dry out – that stuff was expensive.

“What?”

That made her look over to Vi again, who had her brows furrowed in confusion. She sighed. "You still haven't noticed? Ekko was right, you are oblivious", she mumbled, going back to cleaning up. Then again, would they need the paint tomorrow? Maybe dragging it back, only to bring it here again, is not as smart as she thought. But they might get stolen. Yeah, she should risk the extra work before risking having to buy new ones.

“Noticed what?” For fucks sake.

“That Ekko and I are together.” She didn’t have the nerves for this anymore. It was fun seeing Vi be so oblivious, but at this point, Jinx was not going out of her way to hide it. Not that she ever had.

“What? Since when?”, the woman then asked, her pitch high and she stared Ekko down for some reason.

“Uh… the day before Silco died, I think”, she answered, ignoring whatever Vi was attempting over there.

“Really?" To her surprise, it was Mylo asking. "I thought it happened after."

“You knew?” Vi now focused her anger at her brother.

The guy lifted his hands in defense and backed away a little bit. “They were not subtle, I thought you knew, too.”

“Evidently not”, Ekko mumbled, though he also took a step back to avoid Vi’s wrath.

“We are going to have a conversation”, the woman threatened.

"About what?", Jinx then asked, stepping in between them. She didn't wait for Vi to answer, though. "I'm an adult. I don't need you to protect me, and if he hurts me, I'll just shoot him. Don't act like we have an actual relationship.”

Admittedly, it may have been a bit harsh, but it did piss her off a little that the woman was trying so awkwardly to make a connection happen, which didn't work, only to act like they were never separated the second she had a boyfriend. Like Vi had any right to want to protect Jinx.

She grabbed Ekko’s hand and dragged him back out onto the street and towards the base. The paint was forgotten, and so was anything else they might have left behind, but who cared? It was more important to get out right now.

“She’s trying her best”, Ekko said eventually after they had rounded three corners already and it became evident that nobody was following them.

“It’s not working very well”, she grumbled in response. “We have nothing in common, which could be fine. We don’t need to have any shared interests or whatever. We could just hang out, play a board game or whatever, but instead she’s trying to force some weird idea of a sibling relationship when we barely even have chances at being friends.”

She looked over at him and he had that weird look in his eyes again that told her, he was close to trying to calm her down again.

“And you”, she therefore kept going before he had a chance to say anything. “Need to stop, too.”

"Me? What am I doing?", he asked, full of confusion, like he didn't expect to be next in her line of grudges.

“You are so obsessed with keeping me calm that it makes me angry!”, she yelled at him, not caring that other people walking down the street were giving them weird glances. “I understand that you’re worried, but if I can’t let my anger out, I’ll explode!”

They stood in silence for a moment, as Ekko processed the words and Jinx sighed in relief. Ever since she had met up with Caitlyn, she had been meaning to talk to him, just like her friend had told her to, but she was always being interrupted. Both of them were busy people, and one of them always had to rush somewhere, and she didn't want to have that conversation in the arcade surrounded by her idiots of a family, so she kept putting it off.

"I didn't realize", he mumbled eventually. "I was just trying to make the entire withdrawal thing easier for you, but I made it harder, didn't I?" It didn't really sound like a question, so she didn't bother with an answer. "I'll try to not be so overly … intense about all this. But you do need to learn to keep your cool.”

She scoffed. "You think I didn't keep my cool just now?", she asked, pointing back to where the arcade was.

He considered it for a moment. “Okay, I’ll admit, you were surprisingly calm about it all, though I’m pretty sure I just saw a little pink”, he pointed out and flicked her forehead. Jinx punched him in the arm for that. There was not enough active Shimmer running through her to actually hurt him, but he still dramatically pretended to be in pain.

With a roll of her eyes, she laced their fingers together again and kept walking. “We both try, how about that?”

“Sounds good”, he laughed.

***

Vi, after standing in shock for a few seconds, maybe minutes, did decide to run after the two and… she wasn’t sure what her plan was. Maybe argue, maybe apologize, maybe punch a wall. The plan, however, was not to eavesdrop, and yet that's what she ended up doing.

Hearing that Jinx had absolutely no hope they would ever be friends was soul-crushing, but she did take the hint with the board games. If she apologized the next time they saw each other, and somehow managed to initiate a game, they could at least build something. And considering they were fixing up the arcade and had already played a bit today, it shouldn't be too hard to rope Jinx into a round of some game or another. Get friendly, at least.

The next part was a bit more shocking, though. Ekko mentioned it so offhandedly that she barely registered it. Jinx was experiencing withdrawals. And Vi didn't know about it, because the girl didn't trust her enough with that kind of information.

Well… they would inevitably see each other again, and she would apologize, and if Jinx gave her another chance, she would be doing better. Not trying so hard, being chill and normal and just hanging out. Casual. She could do that. She would do that.

Even if Jinx never saw them as sisters, Vi still wanted to have the girl in her life. Somehow. At the very least, she wanted to be invited to the wedding.