Chapter Text
Vander's claws grazed her skin like blades so hard, his weight so intense that Jinx felt her body would be torn in two.
She knew Violet's arm was broken; she caught the nauseating sound of the bone snapping when Vi fell, and with only one hand, she couldn't pull her up, especially with Vander pulling her down.
Violet gasped and cursed as she held her, but the weight was too intense. The metal structure was being held together by only one pin, and with each passing second it was closer to collapsing. They would die.
Jinx looked at Vander, who was slowly climbing her body to reach the top, and then looked at Violet, her blue eyes shining with despair, searching for any alternative to save her sister.
Seeing her older sister so vulnerable, a sense of calm welled up in her veins, and for the first time in months, Jinx was able to reason clearly.
She didn't need to think twice before making her decision.
"Always with you, sis."
When her hand struck the hextech stone of Vi's gauntlet, Jinx fell.
Violet's scream echoed.
Jinx knew Violet might forever blame herself for her death, but she knew her sister would move on, she wasn't alone, she had never been alone. And also, for the first time in her life, Jinx was repaying everything Vi had ever done for her.
She would die for her sister as many times as necessary.
Vander's claws gripped her waist tightly, and as they fell, it was as if time had slowed down. The wind was intense and lashed her eyes, drawing tears from them, which she was almost certain she was already shedding. She turned to face her father, and delicately, held his face between her hands.
Vander was unrecognizable, she knew the man who had once been her father was gone forever, his bestial eyes stared at her with deep hatred, and from his mouth full of sharp teeth, echoed a brutal roar.
But when his hand reached its face, tears streamed down the beast's cheeks.
Jinx smiled, strangely happy to know that she would die with her father by her side, she would finally see her parents again, she would see Silco again.
She would find Isha.
Her hand reached for the chomper, holding the pump in her hands, as if she were showing her father: Vander, I did it, my pumps finally work!
Jinx closed her eyes as she pulled the pin.
The last memory that came to her mind was of Vander singing a lullaby, when Jinx and Violet were still so small that they could share a bed. She knew her sister was already fast asleep, but as Vander tucked them in and wished them goodnight, gently stroking their hair, sleep consumed her.
And she felt at peace.
Jinx had dreamed of death many times, in various aspects.
Curiosity, desire, dissatisfaction, but mostly, she dreamed of death as an escape route.
Clinging to Vander when her bomb exploded, Jinx felt the fire burn her flesh for a few seconds until everything stopped. Yes, everything simply stopped, the sound, the fire, the wind. It stopped. A deafening silence took over her mind and vision. And then, little by little, she could hear the sound of voices, an argument, actually.
She knew she was dead, she was sure of it.
Jinx just didn't expect death to be so… noisy.
Don't wake her!
It's past noon, she should be up!
She's tired, Mylo, leave her alone!
Mylo?
Seriously? Not even in death could she get rid of her annoying brother? Honestly, maybe Jinx was in hell.
Powder!
That damn name.
Powder!
Don't call her that!
Powder, wake up.
"Powder! Get up!"
The cold wind kissed her skin as the blanket was ripped from her. Jinx hissed like a wild animal, drawing her legs up to her chest and shielding her eyes from the brightness of the room.
"Mylo! I told you to leave her alone!" Vi said, her voice thick with irritation.
"Vander doesn't allow any of us to sleep this late, so why is she the only exception?" Mylo complained, and Jinx put her hands to her ears, trying to ignore him, even though he wasn't speaking directly to her, which was strange to say the least.
Stopping to think about it, Jinx opened her eyes.
"She's a child, for God's sake! How old are you to be comparing yourself to her? Eight?"
Jinx's vision took a few seconds to adjust; she could see Mylo holding a blanket in his hands, arms crossed, glaring at Vi. And it was when she fixed her eyes on Violet that Jinx concluded that perhaps she was in hell and her mind was playing tricks on her again.
The Violet in front of her was fifteen years old, her face still clean of scars, her frame short, and her arms nowhere near as muscular as the twenty-four-year-old Vi had. Her face was young, as if she were still losing her baby fat, and her hair still had a pinkish tone, nowhere near the reddish-pink it had become in adulthood. She stared at Mylo with that same irritated expression she had given her the last time they argued in the tunnels, causing a strange feeling of familiarity in Jinx. How long had it been since Vi had the peace of mind to express a basic irritation without actually being furious or upset?
Jinx blinked, rubbing her eyes so she could observe her surroundings more calmly. She was in her childhood bedroom, the one she shared with her brothers when she was twelve; the bunk beds both messy, the coffee table and chairs around it worn, the yellowish light in the room, a small bucket in the corner for the leaky pipe whose source they never managed to discover.
"Mylo, please, Vander will be opening the bar soon. Let's not start an argument now, okay?" Violet sighed, pressing her bandaged hand to her temples. "You've already woken Powder, satisfied? I'm going to help Claggor." She turned to Jinx. "Please, don't argue now, I'm out of patience."
Vi turned away, looking too tired to endure a future fight between her brothers.
"I bet she's on her period," Mylo teased, and Vi just flipped her the middle finger before slamming the door shut. "Break it!"
Silence filled the room until Mylo looked at Jinx. She unconsciously stepped back, expecting to hear a barrage of nasty words from him, but he merely stared at her with a raised eyebrow.
"What was that? You look like you saw a ghost" he murmured and threw the sheet at her. "Don't go back to sleep, soon Vander will come looking for you thinking you're dead."
Jinx looked at the sheet and then at Mylo, unsure how to react. She was genuinely confused and disoriented; she hadn't expected death to be like this, strangely familiar and homely, even peaceful. It was as if everything she had lived had been nothing more than…
A dream.
Suddenly awake, Jinx raised her hands and counted her fingers, horrified to realize that all her fingers were there, intact, without a single prosthesis. And the strangest thing of all was that her hands were small, as small as those of a twelve-year-old child.
Jinx jumped out of bed and tripped over the blanket, running to the mirror near the window. Her movements were slow and clumsy, as if she were moving in slow motion; her vision and hearing were irritatingly buzzing, as if her senses had been covered by a blanket that left her strangely vulnerable.
When she reached the mirror, the air left her lungs. The image reflected back was little Powder from seven years ago. Her bluish hair was braided in a single braid, with her completely uneven bangs held back by clips that refused to stay down. Her face still had the little bits of baby fat and her strangely large eyes, which made her look like a doll. Her body was frail and skinny from the malnutrition she suffered at the time, her pale-gray skin clean and free of tattoos and scars.
And her eyes… her eyes reflected that bluish tone again, completely opposite to the pink corrupted by the shimmer.
"What the hell…?!"
Jinx stepped back, tripping on the blanket wrapped around her heels and falling to the floor, feeling her hip throb with the impact. Her stomach churned with a horrible feeling of nausea, her brain processing so many things at once that it made her head ache. She brought her hands to her head, pressing her skull tightly while murmuring things incomprehensible even to herself.
"What's gotten into you?" Mylo asked beside her, and Jinx shook her head, trying to push his voice away.
"Not now, damn it!"
She grabbed the first thing her little fingers could reach and threw it at Mylo's hallucination, hearing him curse when the object hit something.
"Have you gone crazy? What's gotten into you this morning?" Mylo exclaimed, annoyed. He also seemed surprised by the gratuitous curse. "Are you freaking out just because I woke you up?"
Jinx was willing to ignore him, as she was very focused on trying to understand what was happening. Feeling her stomach churn, she took a deep breath and tugged at her bluish hair, while her hands trembled.
Stay calm, Jinx, think.
"Okay, Powder, you're scaring me, what's gotten into you?" Mylo approached, touching her shoulder.
Jinx's breath caught in her throat.
Paralyzed and too shocked to respond, she looked with a certain horror at her shoulder, seeing Mylo's hand touch her shoulder, his expression with a rare concern directed at her; but her irises were focused on her adoptive brother's thin hand resting on her shoulder, her skin tingling with the touch that was definitely real.
Damn it, he touched her.
Jinx doubled over and vomited.