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Ekko glances at Heimerdinger before he stiffly nods. Powder looks back at Ekko.
“Well,” Ekko clears his throat before trying to pull together what he should tell Powder and what he probably shouldn’t. “This machine! Uh, it’s..” Heimerdinger narrows his eyes up at him. With Ekko’s reaction, he could tell he was affected by how powder would potentially react.
Ekko sighs. “It’s a Time Machine,” he says. “What you saw right now, what was in that , was an anomaly.” Ekko took a few steps to be beside the now powered-off machine, looking down.
“This isn’t my universe.” Ekko looks back up at Powder. Heimerdinger is in utter, complete silence. Ekko could probably put his finger on why, though. Traitor.
The space fell into an uncomfortably long silence that had Ekko shifting awkwardly in his stance.
“… so you’re telling me that you’re not the ‘real’ Ekko of my universe?” She asked, air quoting the real , but damn, her tone and her face were unreadable, or maybe that was because he put his head down. After all, he couldn’t bear to see her face. Fuck, this was bad.
Ekko rubs the back of his neck. “Yeah.” He sighed out. He noticed the panicked look on her face and turned to Heimerdinger for help.
“But! But,” Heimerdinger starts, “he’s still conscious in every alternative universe.”
Heimerdinger starts pacing his little legs back and forth. “And I know that because I’ve been in this universe for quite some time,” he looks up at Powder, “approximately three years.”
Powder’s eyes widened. “Wait, so you’re not,” gesturing toward Heimerdinger, “and you’re not from this universe..” pointing to Ekko. He nods in agreement with her realization.
She stills. “Then where’s the Ekko of my universe?” Ekko opens his mouth to say something but Heimerdinger beats him to it. “The Ekko we have here with us is technically your Ekko,” he explains, “This may get a little technical, however, I’ll do my best to help you understand.” Heimerdinger stands in front of the machine. “The Ekko of your universe, Powder, is still the Ekko from his alternative universe. And because of that, Ekko’s existence isn’t contingent upon the actions within other universes that are not necessarily his.”
Powder nods at every word that comes out of Heimerdinger’s mouth, trying to make sense of it all . Ekko let out a sharp breath when Powder shifted her gaze from Heimerdinger to his own with narrowing eyes.
“It should also be noted that although his actions in one universe do not reflect on any other alternative reality, he still pays the price with constant delusions, dizziness, paranoia, and —” Ekko cut him off before he could start naming thousands of ways being in this universe, specifically, had its thorns. Many, many thorns.
But which doesn’t.
“That’s enough, I don’t want you naming every single condition that I possibly could have,” Ekko coughs. “But he’s right. Every universe has its consequences if you happen to be in the wrong one. It’s just different for each universe.” Powder looks at him sideways.
“And before you give me that look,” Ekko grumbled, “I am him, and he is I .” He emphasized the last part by putting his hand on his chest. “We aren’t different halves of each other, yet, we … are? ” He says, confused at the multiverse loopholes.
Powder falls silent for what feels like the umpteenth time. “…. Can — can you go? Just for a few, Heimerdinger,” She looks at Ekko with an indifferent expression. “I need to have a one-on-one talk with Ekko.” Just when Heimerdinger is about to protest, Powder promptly cuts him off. “ Alone.” With a look or tone, he hadn’t seen her use in .. well, ever.
Heimerdinger looks at Ekko and Powder and sighs.
“I’ll be on my way now,” he walks to the exit of Powder’s space. “Best of luck, you two.” You’ll be needing it, he thinks.
— ⏳💣 —
“Why didn’t you tell me this earlier, before we —” she paused. “On the rooftop.”
I can see her trying to decipher what to think or make of this situation. I just didn’t know how to run it by her in a way that didn’t feel as if I betrayed her trust even though I already had.
“Did you not trust me?” Her voice cracked. You quickly reassure her against her thoughts and overthinking. “No!” You, quite loudly, responded. “I mean yes. Or, no —” way to make yourself sound and look even worse.
“I do trust you,” you continued, “I just didn’t want you to feel hurt by the whole ‘not-in-the-right-universe-and-I’m-not-‘your’-Ekko,’ thing.” I guess I should tell her, huh?
“I .. really do like you, Powder. I always have. It doesn’t matter which universe I’m in. I will always like you,” You take her hands within yours. “and I’m so, so sorry if I had made you feel as if I didn’t.”
Powder’s eyes light up as she focuses her gaze on you. You both were looking at each other, tension similar to the one when the both of you were on that rooftop.
You raise your hand to her face, slowly caressing her as déjà vu serves as a reminder of the parallels of what was currently happening between the both of you in the back of your mind, but you don’t care.
She pulls you in for a tight embrace. She tucks her head on your shoulder and says .. something? You honestly couldn’t catch what she had said.
“What?” You asked out of genuine concern and curiosity. She grumbles annoyedly and slightly shifts herself to lift her head to repeat what she had previously said. “I … love you, too.” She hugs you tighter, perhaps out of embarrassment of admitting something like that or the intimacy of it all — she just couldn’t tell.
Well, if it’s like that, then…
“I love you too, Powder.” You say as you slightly move yourself from her embrace to get a better look at her. “Always have, and I always will.”
She returns to her spot on your shoulder, seemingly flushed at your admission and at that, you chuckled.
“I'll love you in every universe, Powder.”
I'll love you in every universe, Jinx.