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Ekko sat alone on the weathered rooftop, the same one where dreams of "what if" had flickered. Zaun's skyline smoldered below, victory's haze mixing with the acrid tang of spent hextech and funeral pyres. In his calloused hand, a scrap of paper curled at the edges, Jinx scrawled in his uneven script, a final tether to the girl who'd slipped through time and madness.
He closed his eyes, the match unlit between his fingers. Memories crashed in like rewound time:
Her hands clutching his hoverboard, giggling as they zipped through Zaun's alleys, outracing enforcers when they were younger.
Or when she was passing him tools with that infectious grin while they tinkered on gadgets, grease-streaked faces close as they dreamed up inventions to topple Piltover's shine.
Stolen moments in hidden corners, braiding wildflowers into her blue hair, sharing stolen sump-sweet bread under starless skies, her head on his shoulder as they watched chem-clouds drift, whispering promises of a better Zaun.
Then, the fevered nights preparing for war: Powder by his side in the Firelight hideout, her nimble fingers packing monkey bombs with powder charges, testing hoverboard mods under flickering lanterns, their shoulders brushing as they mapped enforcer patrols on scarred tabletops. Fierce determination in her eyes, still Powder then, fighting for their Zaun before the shadows claimed her.
A tear traced the grime on his cheek. He struck the match, the flame dancing like her wild grin once did. The paper caught, orange edges blackening, ready to join the sky's ash confetti.
"Ekko."
Her voice raspy, alive, impossible, froze the fire midway. He whipped around, heart slamming like a hoverboard crash
"Jinx...?"
Jinx emerges from the shadows with visible burns. Reddened, blistered skin on her arms, hands, and cheek, clothes charred at the edges, and hair singed in uneven patches.
At first, He couldn't believe it, but there she was. He recognizes the wide-eyed girl with smudged cheeks and boundless spark. A moment ago, he was sitting alone by the rooftop, and now she's here.
His best friend, his...lover in another universe.
"Jinx...?" He widened his eyes in disbelief.
"You... you're..." His voice cracked, paper fluttering from numb fingers, ember dying in the dust. Jinx stepped closer, smirking weakly through the grime. "Miss me, Boy Savior?"
Not a ghost. Not a rewind.
Ekko didn't know how the hell she survived, but he was relieved to find her here.
"Oh my god..." He reached up to caress her cheek and Jinx opens her eyes to look at him, a smile tugging at the corner of her lips. "i-it really is you..."
It's so difficult to contain himself when his childhood best friend is here. He pulls her in a tight embrace, "Oh I missed you."
Even after the explosion, she still managed to look ravishing. Pain flickered in her eyes,
"i...I missed you too."
Heavy-hearted, Ekko's dark eyes searched hers, thumb rough against her soot-streaked jaw. "Thought the explosion took you for good, Jinx. Everyone thought you were dead! Hell, Vi... thought you died..."
Blue paint flaked as tears carved tracks. "I-i know..."
"but..I don't want to see her right now."
Ekko's heart raced, "but...why?"
"Because if she sees me like this..." Jinx’s voice cracked, her hands trembling as she held Ekko's hand, "...she’ll suffer Ekko..."
Ekko watched her, the heavy silence of the workshop punctuated only by the distant hum of Zaun. He didn't move closer, he knew better than to crowd her when the voices were loud, but his brow furrowed.
"Jinx... she's your blood. She was devastated because she thought you died.!"
"I know! " She spun around, a manic spark in her eyes that wasn't rage, but a desperate kind of hope. "But every time Vi looks at me, she’s mourning. I’m a walking ghost to her, Ekko. I see the way her face falls when I don't say the 'right' thing or when I laugh too loud...I'm the echo of everything she lost."
"Powder’s dead, and if I come back? I’ll just drag her down with me."
She wiped a streak of grease across her cheek, looking past him at the sprawling, neon chaos of Zaun.
"Vi's finally happy. She has everything she deserves to have. If she knows I’m alive, she’ll drop it all to 'save' me. Chain herself to my mess forever. I won’t let her. This way... she grieves once, then moves on. I get to build something new here, without haunting her."
His jaw tightened, eyes softening with that quiet understanding. He stepped closer, just enough to rest a calloused hand on her shoulder. "You're choosing her freedom over yours, Jinx...and that's love."
Her laugh cracked like shattering glass but it broke into a sob, "I know. I-it hurts but...I want her to be happy."
Ekko lets her tremble against him, "I know." Zaun's chaos faded; for a breath, it was just them, two survivors rewriting the wreckage.
He gripped her shoulders gently, "If you're doing this, starting all over again, I'm with you. We build that new life together."
Tears carved clean tracks through the grease on her cheeks as she clutched his shirt, trembling. "Y-You mean that..?"
"Every word." He nodded.