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i.
"Are we sure Powder’s not lying about having a soulmate?”
Forcing her eyes away from the red string tied around her little finger, Powder turns to glare at Mylo.
Vi, who is helping Ekko train on the boxing machine, is interrupted by the comment, too. She pauses the machine. "Shut up, Mylo.”
Mylo raises both hands, his palms towards Vi. "Hey, I think it would be a positive thing if she didn’t have a soulmate!” he continues. "That way she can’t jinx her own fate.”
He turns to Powder and smirks at her like he had just delivered a sick burn or something. Powder inhales but is unable to say anything back, the insulting accusation hitting deep.
Vi’s voice gets louder. "Didn’t I tell you to shut it?”
"Yeah, but —”
"No buts, do I look like I’m in the mood for this right now?”
"No, but…”
Claggor leans closer to Powder and whispers, "He’s just jealous ’cause he doesn’t have a soulmate.”
"I heard that!” Mylo whines. "And by the way, I do. Have a soulmate. Yeah.”
"We all know that’s bullsh—”
"And”, he starts again, cutting Vi off, "unlike Powder, I’m not lying about it.”
"I am not lying”, Powder says.
"Alright, prove it then.”
Ekko turns to look at her. She notices how his gaze moves to her left hand and she wonders if he also thinks she’s lying.
Powder lets out a frustrated huff. She doesn’t know how to prove it, how to convince everyone that the string tied snuggly around her left pinky is shiny and new and very real, how to explain that it is blood-red and squirming around the room like a snake.
Even though her red string of fate only appeared for the first time last week, Powder can’t imagine not being able to see it, the thought of a soulmate comforting. When she’s not spending time with Vi or Ekko or trying to get her home-made bombs to work, she’s staring at her finger, wondering where the thread leads to.
Powder holds up her hand and points at the finger the string is attached to, but there’s nothing she can do.
The only person who can see her red string of fate is her.
Mylo squints, looking at the finger she’s pointing. "Nope, can’t see it!”
"No, it is there”, Ekko pipes up. "I can see it.”
The arcade falls silent.
The older kids turn to stare at Ekko.
"What?" He frowns. "What did I say?”
When realization finally hits her, Powder’s mouth falls open.
The only two people in the world who can see Powder’s red string of fate are Powder herself and her soulmate.
vi.
Fighting the Firelights is always fun, especially when she gets the chance to use her beloved handgun on them.
And it seems she’s in luck today.
Jinx disarms one of the Firelights, knocks another one unconscious. Biting her lip to stifle her giggles, she aims the gun at the Firelight lying motionless on the ground.
"No, please, stop!”
Without lowering her weapon, Jinx turns her gaze to the other Firelight who is on their knees, pleading. She wants to knock the ugly fox mask off their face.
"Please, he’s my —” The disarmed Firelight pauses and gestures to their left hand.
For a moment, the desperation in the Firelight’s voice makes Jinx feel powerful. Then she realizes what the person is implying.
As her body starts to shake, Jinx can’t stop herself from glancing at her own hand that’s holding the gun. There’s no red, no string, no soulmate wrapped around her little finger anymore. She should be used to the emptiness by now, to the almost constant dull ache, but her mind darkens instantly, craving to see how red the Firelights’ blood will be once she’s done with them.
Looking back at the fox-masked Firelight, Jinx tilts her head, glaring at their raised pinky. "Nope, don’t see anything.”
She pulls the trigger.
Before the unarmed Firelight can scream, before Jinx can celebrate, before the bullet can hit its target, there’s a loud clank as someone rushes between Jinx and the unconscious Firelight, shielding him from the bullet.
She should have known he would show up to save the day.
Jinx is no longer having fun. Suddenly, Mylo is laughing in her ear. She can’t think straight.
It’s clear Ekko is not trying to fight her, instead deciding to focus on helping his teammates while she’s too busy being frozen, tormented by the voice inside her head.
I was right, Mylo singsongs in a mocking tone. Knew you’d ruin the one blessing life gave you.
Jinx doesn’t need a reminder, she’s heard it all before. She doesn’t want to look at Ekko’s hand and see that it’s just as empty as hers, doesn’t want to think about the fact that he doesn’t care.
"C’mon, we have to leave.”
His voice brings Jinx back to the present. She watches as he lifts the fox Firelight back up on their feet and helps his unconscious friend onto his hoverboard.
But she’s not done with him yet.
Screaming at the top of her lungs, Jinx aims at his stupid mask, fires twice. Ekko dodges. She fires a third time, tells herself she’s not being sloppy on purpose.
All three get away from her.
A lonely crow flies past her. Jinx shoots it down before throwing her gun to the ground with a cry.
The Firelights are like pests, thorns in Silco’s side.
Ekko has been a personal thorn in her side, one she fails to completely get rid of time and time again.
ii.
Sitting with her arms around her knees, Powder waits for Vi to sit down beside her so that they can look at the night sky glinting above Piltover together. But if she’s being honest, she doesn’t really feel like stargazing right now.
"You okay?” Vi asks as she sits down on the edge of the roof.
Powder shrugs. She can feel her sister’s eyes on her.
"Guess you didn’t expect to find out so soon, huh?”
Powder shakes her head.
Vi turns her gaze towards the city. "You’re the first one to figure out who you’re meant to be with. It’s a lot to take in, I get it.” She’s quiet for a few seconds before continuing, "You know, mine also popped up when I was eleven.”
How could Powder forget, that had been such a huge moment in her sister’s life. She expects Vi to say something more, but all her sister does is sigh.
Powder leans her chin against her knees. Her string runs down from the roof, wandering through the narrow alleys, leading straight to Ekko, wherever he is right now.
To distract herself from her own situation, Powder looks at Vi’s left pinky and then follows her sister’s gaze to the city. "Does yours still lead to Piltover?”
Vi gives her an inhaled yeah. There’s nothing Powder hates more than seeing how melancholic Vi gets whenever she thinks about her soulmate.
Powder’s quite sure there’s a frown on her face because when Vi looks back at her she perks up immediately and wraps an arm around her. "Hey, I bet my soulmate is someone super cool! She probably did something impressive that seriously pissed off the enforcers and then she got arrested.”
"You think your soulmate is in prison in Piltover?”
"Yep!”
Powder smiles, but the smile fades when the events that took place in their arcade come back to her again.
The change doesn’t go unnoticed by Vi. "What is it?”
Powder swallows. "You believed me when I first told you I had a soulmate… right?”
"Of course I did.” Vi pulls her closer. "Besides, you’ve been staring at your little finger with a dreamy smile on your face for a week now. It’s like you were in love with that thing.”
If the warmth of her sister’s embrace wasn’t so soothing, Powder would have pushed her away out of embarrassment.
"Did you really not notice that you could see the red string around his finger?”
"No”, she answers. "I guess I was too excited about being able to see my own.”
It’s not like she doesn’t know how special this is, how rare. Some go through their whole lives without ever meeting their soulmate. Many do not have a soulmate at all.
"It’s strange, that’s all”, she mumbles.
"What is?”
Powder struggles to put her thoughts into words. "Little Man’s my friend.”
"And?”
"And I don’t know if I”, she pauses to take a deep breath and whispers, "if I want to kiss him or anything like that.”
Vi blinks. Then she bursts into laughter and Powder feels stupid for even thinking about bringing this topic up.
But Vi doesn’t let go of her, doesn’t pull away. If anything, she squeezes her little sister even tighter.
"Well”, she starts, "soulmates don’t necessarily have to be limited to a romantic connection. The red string connects those who are meant to be together, including best friends.”
"You’re my best friend.”
"And you’re mine, Pow-Pow.” Powder thinks she could live off the smile Vi shows her, for the rest of her life. "But you can have more than one best friend. Look at it this way: you like Ekko, right?”
"Yeah?”
"He’s nice and kind to you?”
"Yeah.”
"You both share the same passion for inventing and creating new things.” Before Powder can remind her that Ekko’s inventions actually work, Vi keeps going, "You laugh a lot when you’re with him, just hanging out. You get to be kids. I like seeing you so happy.”
The words get Powder to pause, to think.
Vi smiles. "Do you like spending time with him?”
"Yeah, of course I do.”
Gently, Vi caresses her cheek. Powder instantly leans into the touch.
"That’s more than enough for now. Nothing needs to change.”
"What do you mean?”
"All you two need to do is be friends. Just remember that he’s someone who’s always going to have your back, just like I am always going to be there for you.”
Powder nods, smiles, some of the weight lifted off her shoulders by Vi's words. Maybe she can just ignore the scariest part, lock it in a box and never think about it again.
Eventually, Vi pulls away. She lies down, back against the rooftop, and pats the empty space next to her. "Lie down. Come on.”
Powder does as she’s told.
The sky is vast and full of tiny white dots. Just like this rooftop, for a short moment, the starry sky belongs only to the sisters.
Closing her eyes, Powder thinks about the huge smile that spread across Ekko’s face once the confusion disappeared and he realized what being able to see her string meant. But Mylo’s words still haunt her, crowding her mind with conflicted thoughts. She doesn’t know how to lock the box.
But now she has enough courage to voice what’s actually bothering her, "What if I jinx it?”
"You won’t.”
Powder wishes she could believe in herself as much as Vi does.
vii.
The part of her skin the string used to touch burns from time to time. The skin turns red, the same red the string used to be. Nothing actually happens, but it feels like invisible flames melting the skin off her bones. Her soul — although Jinx is unsure if she even has one anymore — is boiling, but all she can do is throw her head back and laugh like a maniac alone in her lab as tears stream down her cheeks.
Jinx welcomes the torture but with as much hatred in her heart as she can muster in the moment. What else is she supposed to feel when her soulmate is her enemy.
Correction, former soulmate. Which even as a concept shouldn’t be possible.
Against her will, Jinx dreams about him often. She tries to avoid sleep as much as possible, but whenever her mind and body succumb to the darkness, Ekko is there, waiting.
Sometimes they are just kids with war paint on their faces, two little soldiers ready to fight each other to the death. The past never fails to taste bitter.
Sometimes her braids touch the ground and he’s hiding behind the Firelight mask. Just like in real life, Ekko refuses to talk to her, but she still wants to run to him, wants to wrap her arms around him, wants him dead so he’d finally leave her alone.
No matter the scenario, his left hand is always bleeding, she’s always carrying a destructive weapon with her, the timebomb ticking. The dreams never end well, nothing ever does.
When she wakes up and Mylo is screaming in the background, a sense of relief washes over her. At least Ekko is not a voice in her head, she doesn’t even want to imagine how vicious he would be.
iii.
It’s been a quiet day. Vi and the boys have been playing a three player card game with a stolen deck of cards, and Powder’s been colouring her newest bomb, trying to come up with a good name for it. A large number of enforcers are coming down, and Vander told them to stay inside for safety reasons.
Suddenly, the door to their room is slammed open and someone bursts in.
"Hi, guys!” Ekko greets them. Then he turns to Powder. "Hi, Powder!”
Powder waves back at him, slightly flustered that he greeted her separately.
"Ekko? What are you doing here?” Vi asks.
"I wanted to hang out with you guys, duh.”
"It’s not safe outside.”
"So?” he says without a care in the world and sits down on the couch next to Powder. "When has that ever stopped me?”
Vi shrugs but with a grin on her face, she both understands and approves.
The older kids get back to their game.
Ekko nods towards the blue and green bomb Powder’s holding. "I like the colours.”
"Thanks.”
Even though she tries not to, she looks at his left hand that’s resting on his lap, looks at the string that’s wrapped around his finger. She knows he’s looking at her hand, too. Their shared string pours down to the floor, it’s so long it looks like the whole room is swimming in it.
Yep, they’re still soulmates. Yep, it still feels strange.
When Powder looks back up, Ekko is smiling at her. Which isn’t unusual, but the red surrounding them adds more weight to everything he does now.
"Sooo…” Ekko starts but trails off when they both realize that the room has gone completely silent and that they’re being watched.
Powder turns her head to see her sister, Claggor and Mylo all staring at them. At least they have the decency to look ashamed once they get caught. Vi coughs, Mylo turns to stare at the ceiling, Claggor pretends to be interested in the cards in his hands.
Powder and Ekko share a look. He raises an eyebrow, Unbelievable. She raises both of hers and shrugs, I don’t get them either.
Clearing her throat, Vi gets up. "I just remembered that there’s something Claggor, Mylo and I need to do.”
Claggor gets up as well. "Vi’s right, I think we should go take care of that thing instantly.”
"You two stay right here.” Noticing that Powder is about to protest, Vi shakes her head. "It won’t take long.”
Mylo looks confused when Vi grabs his arm and forces him to his feet. "Wait, where are we going?”
Sighing, Vi chooses not to answer and starts dragging the boy towards the door.
Ekko and Powder both shake their heads frantically.
"No, you don’t have to —”
"Wait, Vi —”
The door closes. The two soulmates are alone.
"Fuckers”, Ekko mutters under his breath.
It makes her laugh.
"So”, he starts again, "I guess we’re soulmates then.”
The laughter stops as quickly as it started. This is the first time they’ve had the chance to discuss their situation, but her nerves get the better of her and all Powder can do is hum and lower her gaze. Ekko is looking at her with an easy smile, waiting for something more, expecting her to say something, but she doesn’t trust her voice.
He must notice she’s tense because after a few seconds of silence, he reaches for her left hand. She lets him take it, lets him caress her hand with his thumb. The gentleness of the motion has the same calming effect on her as Vi’s hugs.
Their threads touch, and Powder swears she can feel it in her soul.
"I’m glad it’s you”, Ekko confesses. His eyes are fixed on the string around her finger. "I can’t really imagine my soulmate being a stranger, someone random I’d just meet one day and then I'd realize there’s something red on their finger.”
He just described the average soulmate story: two strangers, suddenly brought together by fate. It is what’s going to happen to Vi as well.
Now that Powder thinks about it more carefully, she doesn’t like the thought either.
"That would be weird. But you make sense”, Ekko finishes.
"Same here”, she says and means it. "I’m glad you’re not some stranger.”
"Yeah?”
"Yeah.”
Probably for the first time ever, Powder becomes aware of how easy being with Ekko is, how they fit together, always have. She can hear Vi’s voice in her head, reminding her that nothing has to change. It puts her at ease.
As if reading her mind, Ekko offers her the little finger the string is tied to. "Best friends?”
Powder doesn’t hesitate wrapping her pinky around his. "Forever?”
"Deal.”
Thread against thread, they both grin. It’s beautiful, their red string of friendship.
As the floor around them drowns in red, Powder pretends she doesn’t remember that the string is supposed to get shorter and shorter the closer you are to your soulmate. Her and Ekko’s red string of fate is long despite them sitting on the same couch, fingers locked, promise on their lips. The string cannot even be confined to the room as it worms its way out the window and into the street.
Ekko doesn’t bring it up either, but there’s no way he hasn’t noticed the abnormal length.
"Wanna go test my new nailbombs?” Powder suggests, not caring about Vander’s orders.
Ekko nods. "Let’s take my circle bike and if we see any enforcers, you can throw your bombs at them.”
Maybe she does want to kiss him a little bit after all. "Agreed.”
Just as she’s about to go gather all her gadgets, Ekko starts jumping up and down. "Oh, oh, right! I need to tell you and Vi about this one dumbass that came into the shop the other day. I think you should go steal from him.”
viii.
"Get out of my way”, Ekko says through the mask, voice distorted.
"Ohhh, so you can speak.”
He doesn’t answer, and Jinx is sure he’s only silent to irritate her further.
She was on her way home from the bar, the drink Chuck gave her still in her hand, when she bumped into him. It seems they both slip into the shadows of the Undercity when needed.
Jinx eyes him, wonders if he sees a stranger every time he looks at her.
Because that is how she sees him.
Ten years ago, if someone had asked her what he was doing there in the shadows, she would have said that he’s there to track someone down like the little stalker he is. But now, who knows. He’s got a lot of nerve showing his face in a place where he knows they might cross paths, in a place she considers Ekko-free.
She’s never really free of him.
Jinx takes a step closer, Ekko takes a step back. He gets in the way of Silco’s plans as often as he and his wackos can, but whenever the two of them come across each other, he suddenly turns into Mister I-don’t-want-to-escalate-the-situation.
It’s clear that he’s alone. No hoverboard. Jinx scans his body for weapons, but they must be hidden. Then she looks down at the knife attached to her hip.
It would be quick, personal. Silco would be thrilled to get rid of the leader of the Firelights, it would make her look strong.
In spite of everything, she doesn’t want to do it.
Silco has repeatedly told her about the importance of letting go of your soulmate, but not even Silco’s soulmate string is gone. There’s no one who understands her more, but Jinx isn’t sure if even he would understand this.
But her name wouldn’t be Jinx if she didn’t take the opportunity to poke the bear.
"Won’t you talk to me, hm?” She smirks at her former soulmate and raises her empty pinky, wiggling it for good measure.
Ekko's shoulders tense.
Jinx knows this is stupid because mocking what they used to have feels like she’s plunging her knife into her own chest. It’s been a long time since she and Ekko last shared anything so they might as well share the misery.
"Shouldn’t you talk to your best friend, Boy Saviour?”
Ekko just stares at her. It frustrates her that she can’t see the look on his face.
Finally, he speaks, "You were the one who decided to cut ties.”
Despite walking right into that one, Jinx is still taken aback. She opens her mouth like a fish out of water, but before she can form any words, Ekko raises his hand to stop her.
"You’ve done me a favour”, he says. ”I’d like to choose my own soulmate anyway.”
And it sure as hell wouldn’t be you, she hears him continue even if he doesn’t say it out loud.
Whatever first tied her and Ekko together was wrong about them. The unconditional love between them turned sour so fast that it shouldn’t have been possible for two people who were supposedly soulmates. Jinx knows she made the right decision, being the first person in recorded history to literally destroy fate. She can’t understand why she’s being punished for the one justified action she’s ever done in her life.
Mylo starts flickering in the back of her vision. The knife she’s carrying no longer feels too intimidating to be used against her oldest friend and enemy.
Before Jinx can grab the knife, before Ekko can say any more hurtful words, her soulmate finger is set on fire.
Jinx drops to her knees. Gasps for breath. Overwhelmed by the pain, she almost misses how Ekko mirrors her movements.
He cries out, loses his balance. Tears prick her eyes, but through the haze she notices how he grips his left wrist, the hissing sounds he’s making reaching her ears.
All this time she thought she was the only one who was suffering because of what she did. It didn’t even occur to her that Ekko could be going through the same physical pain as her.
Turns out she was wrong. They have been sharing the same agony since the day Jinx decided that Powder’s soulmate had nothing to do with her.
iv.
She has been with Silco for about a month.
It’s been the longest, foggiest month of her life. Any little thing can trigger a mental breakdown. The red around her finger only reminds her of the death and fire that surrounded her.
Silco has given her her own room, but she prefers to spend most of her time hiding in his office so that she doesn’t have to be alone. Silco lets her stay, gives her space, offers her a quiet environment. It helps to have company even if they don’t talk much.
One day, as Powder sits on Silco’s desk, hugging her knees as he works, he catches her staring at her left hand.
"Jinx.”
The girl flinches.
Powder, Jinx. It’s taking her some time to adjust to the new name, flashes of Vi and the punch and the pain still going through her whenever someone calls her that.
It seems to be easy for Silco, though.
"Tell me, can you see your red string of fate?”
She nods.
"Do you know who is at the other end?”
Another nod.
Setting his pencil aside, Silco rests his chin against his hands. "I had a soulmate once”, he tells her. "That person is gone now.”
Without realizing she’s doing it, Powder clutches her left hand and presses it against her chest as if to protect the string.
"The day that I decided to let go of my soulmate for good, the day that he died, was also the day I was finally set free. I refused to be bound by some mystical string to the person who betrayed me.” He pauses to lean closer. "Do you know what happens when your soulmate dies?”
"The string turns black?”
Humming, Silco leans back in his chair again. "The death of a soulmate leaves a scar. The string of fate cannot be cut in half and so I will have to live with the charred remains of my soulmate string for the rest of my life.”
As he raises his hand to look at it, Powder wishes she was able to see it, see his blackened string.
"To many, the permanent black brings grief”, he continues. "To me, it is a reminder of how I was reborn. Rejecting my red string of fate got me where I am now. And it brought me to you.”
Silco offers her his left hand. Powder offers her right one in return. But he shakes his head, waiting as she hesitates. Eventually, she lets him take her left hand in his.
"What you need to do is let go.” He squeezes her hand, gentle. "Everything that connects you to your old life needs to die. Unless you do that, you will never truly be yourself.”
Powder averts her eyes. There’s a part of her that still wants to reconnect with Ekko. She has not seen him since… that day, but there’s no one else left.
Silco can sense her hesitation. "We both know what happened with your sister. Who’s to say the same won’t happen with your soulmate.”
The words are like a stab through the heart.
She must look frightened because Silco softens and gives her a smile. "It’s just you and me, Jinx. We can’t trust anyone else.”
Without wanting to, she thinks about Ekko, she thinks about Vi.
Powder squeezes her eyes shut.
She shouldn’t think about Vi. Something glitches in her brain whenever she thinks about her sister.
Silco must be right. The solution is for her to convince herself that she wants nothing to do with her soulmate, in the same way that Vi wants nothing to do with her. After all, she’s a bad luck charm. Maybe it’s time for her to finally embrace that.
ix.
Vi’s been back for a day or two and she has already left Jinx for an enforcer. The three of them meet on the bridge where everything’s dead; dead parents, dead enforcers, dead sisterhood. Jinx doesn’t think it could get any worse.
Then he shows up, adding dead friendship to the list.
Like the saviour he thinks he is, Ekko puts himself between Vi and Caitlyn and his old soulmate. Jinx gives her sister one last glare and then focuses her attention on him.
Ekko is not wearing his mask, which is rare, and Jinx doesn’t want to think about how long it has been since she last saw him without it. On his face he has the exact same war paint from their childhood, from her cursed dreams.
Seeing him feels like being shot in the head, and so she laughs and she taunts and she mocks, hoping that her words hurt him as much as just looking at him hurts her.
For a moment, it seems like her words really do affect him. Then he surprises her by indicating he wants to challenge her to their old game. As per usual, he doesn’t actually say anything, but he doesn’t need to.
She accepts, confident of her inevitable victory because she never lost to him as a child, too skilled with a gun for him to stand a chance.
Ekko surprises her a second time when he dodges all her bullets. She doesn't have time to be impressed.
He beats her up all bloody and battered but in the end can’t bring himself to deal a death blow. Jinx doesn’t know if it’s because of pity or friendship or animosity or the fact that they were once meant to be, but Ekko hesitates. He could end her right then and there, but instead, he looks at her and he recognizes her.
And she recognizes him.
Heavens above, he’s so beautiful.
Jinx stops struggling as a twinge of fondness shoots through her. All this time she thought that there was no one left to remember her. This is what her heart has been longing for, all it wants is for Ekko to look at her and not despise her for what she has become.
She doesn’t want to think about how they got here, far from all the promises.
Lowering his fist, Ekko’s features soften, but all that she can think about is staying in this feeling, forever. God, she’s so tired.
Well, what’s a little murder-suicide between ex-soulmates?
Before she can set the grenade off, Ekko’s body stiffens above her. Something akin to fear appears in his eyes. Then he gasps and scrambles backwards.
Jinx follows his gaze to see what could possibly shock him at this point and realizes that he’s staring at her left hand.
Panic sets in immediately. Because she knows, she just knows.
Turning her head, she prays not to see red, anything but red, please no no no she can’t go through this again.
There is no red. Instead, an extremely thin thread that’s glowing green like the firelights has wrapped itself around her little finger. The green gradually turns turquoise and then blue the closer it gets to Ekko’s hand. He’s wearing gloves, but that can’t hide the fact that the string leads inside the left one.
Breathing hard, Ekko removes the glove.
Jinx feels sick at the sight of the gleaming blue on his finger. The string is tied so tightly around their fingers it must have cut off circulation.
But that’s not the worst part.
Ekko eyes her for a moment as she bleeds the colour neither of them misses. Then, slowly, he brings his left hand closer to hers and they both watch in horror as the string does something it never did when they were children.
The already short string becomes even shorter.
v.
No one around her has called her by her birth name for over two months and just as she’s starting to get used to her new name, someone sneaks up on her, grabs her arm and whispers, "Powder.”
She whirls around, the shock of hearing his voice after what feels like a lifetime causing her mouth to hang open.
When their eyes meet, Ekko lets out a sigh of relief, and it hits her how much she has missed him. For a brief moment, everything is back to normal. She’s just Powder, Ekko is her best friend, they are soulmates. In reality, nothing can ever be that simple again because only one of those things is still true.
Once he starts dragging her out of the room, she’s forced to free herself from his grasp.
Ekko’s eyes are blown wide. "What are you doing? We have to hurry before those people come back!”
"How did you find me?”
"I saw you with that man and followed you.”
She doesn’t appreciate the tone of his voice when he mentions Silco.
"I came to get you”, Ekko continues. "I know what happened, to Vander and Mylo and Claggor…”
Wincing, she wonders if he knows she’s the one who ruined everything.
Then, Ekko looks around the room. "Where’s Vi?”
She recoils immediately, backing away.
It’s too much. The need to hit her head against a concrete wall, to add more self-inflicted injuries to her body, grows.
"Powder?”
A sob rips through her, her hands flying to her face as she tries to hit herself as hard as she can, commanding herself to stop thinking about her sister.
Ekko rushes to place his hands on her shoulders. "What is it? What’s wrong?”
"No, no, no.” She pushes him away, shaking. "Please, don’t.”
"Huh? ’Don’t’ wha—?”
The sudden muffled voices coming from the room closest to them make them jump. Alarmed, they look at each other, knowing that time is running out.
Ekko offers her his hand, expecting her to take it without hesitation, and for a second she does consider it. But when her eyes find the red string around his finger and she sees how it fills the room, something in her freezes.
We both know what happened with your sister. Who’s to say the same won’t happen with your soulmate.
She takes a step back, tells herself that the confusion that appears in his eyes doesn’t have an effect on her.
Powder and Ekko were soulmates. The new her has nothing to do with it.
"Powder?”
He thinks she’s so weak and fragile, doesn’t he? Poor, helpless little Powder who can’t do anything on her own, always needs someone to look after her.
"Did you come here to save me?” She doesn’t hide the bitterness. "You just wanted to become a saviour so badly, didn’t you?”
She’s fine without Vi. She’ll be fine without Ekko.
"What? Powder —”
"Powder is dead.”
There’s a pause.
"What are you saying? I, I don’t understand.” Ekko stammers for a moment before tapping his little finger, showing her the red string. "Powder, we are soulmates. You’re my best friend. Come with me, please.”
Soulmates, the root of all evil. Just lies told by people who promise to love you forever, promise you they won’t leave.
"No, Ekko”, she starts, knowing now what needs to be done. "We are not soulmates.”
Then, she pulls out the knife Silco gifted her a week prior. Taking hold of the string with steady fingers, she brings the edge of the knife to it. She should be surprised the knife doesn’t go right through the string even though the string is virtually an invisible hologram that nothing is supposed to be able to touch, but no, she’s not surprised. No one has ever managed to forcefully sever their soulmate string, but then again, none of them has ever been her.
It’s Ekko’s time to back away. "Powder?”
The more he calls her that the more she starts to loathe him. Her happiness is not tied to Ekko, or Vi, and it sure as hell is not tied to being Powder.
And then, as if she had stolen Sevika’s lighter, she sets the string of fate on fire with her knife.
Both kids fall to the ground, screaming.
There’s nothing but blinding pain as it swallows her in an instant. She tries to breathe but can’t. Somewhere far away, she can hear Ekko gasping for air. Maybe he’s dying just like she is because the heartache she feels is something she can’t even articulate, it is beyond words, the feeling of a soul screaming as it is literally torn in half.
Even though she’s about to pass out from the agony, the sensations are pleasant at the same time. The pain proves that this wasn’t destiny, this was something she chose for herself.
And she won. There’s nothing tied around their fingers, nothing connecting the two of them together anymore. No red, no black, just emptiness.
Silco was wrong. With the power of a soulless jinx, the string of fate can, indeed, be cut in half.
Still trying to catch his breath, Ekko gets up, legs trembling. Never before has he looked at her like he doesn’t recognize her. "Powder, what did you do?”
Now, they are both free. Ekko is free to hate her and she’s free of his inevitable betrayal. Finally, she’s certain she never wants to be Powder again.
And she doesn’t do friends anymore.
"Powder is dead”, Jinx repeats. "Go away, Boy Saviour, I don’t want you here. If I ever see you again, I’ll kill more than just our red string of fate.”
x.
They sit in the shadows under the bridge, both injured; Ekko after being shot at by Marcus and surviving her Firelight bombs; Jinx after being repeatedly punched in the face by Ekko.
Jinx refuses to look at the cursed cord around her finger. But she can’t bring herself to leave, either.
Ekko, on the other hand, can’t seem to take his eyes off the string. "It doesn’t hurt anymore.”
Jinx looks up at him and realizes that he’s right. The never-ending dull ache is gone.
The street lights from the bridge touch her string, the green and blue catching her attention. Her eyes betray her as they move to look at the short string between them.
It is unfair how lovely the thread is to look at and how nauseous it makes her feel at the same time. The string is back, and yet again she has failed to actually achieve anything. It has been so long that she’s forgotten how comforting the thought of having Ekko as her soulmate was because this weakness for sure isn’t the same feeling. The string shouldn’t be this special, it shouldn’t pull them closer to each other.
She locks eyes with him and knows that there’s only one question on both their minds: why?
It’s something they could figure out together. Neither of them dares to suggest it.
Ekko breaks the silence once again. "Why did you do it?”
Knowing exactly what he’s referring to, Jinx bites her swollen lip, causing the already existing cut to start bleeding again.
She did it because she believed it was the right thing to do. Because she wasn’t his Powder anymore. Because she would have ruined everything eventually anyway, so what would have been the point of prolonging the inevitable.
There was no logic in how she managed to get rid of the red string of fate the first time. She started anew, she let go of her past life, her name, her sister and soulmate, but it didn’t work. The decision has haunted her dreams ever since, pestering inside her like an infected wound.
Ekko sighs when she doesn’t say anything. "I know that it was a long time ago and we’ve both moved on, but I still feel like you owe me an explanation. Nevermind being fated soulmates, what happened to the promise of being best friends? I thought our friendship if anything was real.”
Maybe what we’ve become proves that it was never real, she replies in her head. But then she looks at the returned soulmate string, doubts filling her head.
Friends. Soulmates. Enemies. And now what?
"Say something”, he pleads.
"I did it because I didn’t need you.”
"Did it ever cross your mind that I would have needed you?”
Her breathing stops.
Ekko scoffs. "Why do you look so surprised? Did you really think none of it affected me at all? Did you ever even pause to think about how I felt? I didn’t just lose one friend that night, I lost my whole family! I lost every single one of you!”
Jinx squeezes her eyes shut, feeling her insecurities coming to the surface.
"And when I found out you were alive, I was —” Ekko cuts himself off and shakes his head. "I just wanted you back, but no, you’d rather live with a tyrant and become a terrorist than be with me.”
She brings her hands to her head, the string brushing her cheek, featherlight.
"And I was so angry at you for what you did to me, what you’ve been doing to my —”
"Stop”, she says, her voice weak.
Ekko stops.
Twenty minutes ago, they were trying to kill each other. In her opinion, the best thing would be to put them both out of their misery, but her minigun is still up there on the bridge.
Her head feels like it’s about to explode, but Ekko lets her take her time. Slowly, she calms down.
When she finally looks up again, letting her guard down a bit, her ex-soulmate — no, just soulmate now — still seems agitated. She understands where he’s coming from because she has also spent years hating him.
As Jinx looks at him, hatred is the last feeling that emerges inside her.
Ekko studies her. "Are you okay?”
It is this little question that overwhelms Jinx the most, the realization that Ekko still cares about her.
She nods.
Ekko nods back before raising his left hand. The string is almost invisible but there’s no denying that it is there.
"I never tried to ’save’ you. I wanted to help you because I loved you”, he says, making her throat close up again. "I mourned you like you were dead.”
"Powder is dead.”
"No.” The firmness in his voice annoys her. "You’re Powder. And you’re not dead.”
She opens her mouth to protest but he’s faster. "I’m not telling you which name to use, what I mean is that even after everything you’ve said and done, after everything that has happened between us… I saw you on that bridge. You. My old best friend.”
The memory of the fury on his face transforming into fondness flashes through her mind. She imagines him as a 10-year-old boy, his fluffy hair and crazy inventions, her best friend who used to be nothing but a positive force in her life.
Ekko is staring at her. Jinx meets his eyes, doesn’t back down. He’s being sincere and vulnerable, she owes him the same. Always equals despite always being at each other’s throats.
Ekko leans closer. Jinx doesn’t move, her instincts telling her to run away.
"If you ache, I ache. You see me for what I am, I see you for what you are”, he says. "You burn, I burn.”
She doesn’t understand why she’s fighting back tears. Someone who’s a walking talking jinx doesn’t deserve a soulmate. But even Mylo’s ghost is silent, giving her this opportunity, even at the risk of her heart bleeding out.
"Are we too complicated?” she asks, voice shaking.
Maybe, Ekko’s eyes say, but as he holds his hand out, Jinx knows he believes in second chances. And she must, too, otherwise the string of fate wouldn’t have reappeared.
Staring at her oldest friend, staring at the blue string tied around his finger, Jinx can’t ignore the dread in her heart. But maybe she doesn’t have to. For years, she was convinced that Ekko and her could never become anything, lying to herself she didn’t long for him, awake and asleep, the invisible burns always reminding her of what she lost. She has no idea how this will turn out because there's no way she’s leaving Silco. But the last thing she wants is to lose Ekko again.
So when Ekko offers her his little finger, Jinx accepts, linking their fingers and taking a leap of faith, leaving her soul in his care.
