Chapter Text
Ekko didn’t have a clue what was going. All he knew was that his body was being pulled in so many different directions. He felt as though the world was tearing itself apart around him. It was some kind of anomaly, he came to the conclusion and he was being pulled in every direction because of him.
Then suddenly, everything stopped. He felt his body go still. When he opened his eyes, he looked down at his hands and he was shocked to his core to see the size of them. These weren’t his hands, they were too small.
He suddenly looked down at the desk and saw blueprints laid out in front of him. He didn’t even take a glance at them. He rushed out of his chair, his body in panic wondering what was on earth was going on.
He found a reflective glass and rushed over to it. He felt himself go completely still when he saw his own reflection. The problem was it wasn’t the reflection of his 19-year-old self, the reflection in front of him was of a boy no older than 11.
What the hell had happened to him? What had the anomaly done to him? Did it put him back into his child’s body?
The professor was right, there were so many dangers with Hextech. He couldn’t even begin to process what had happened.
However, his questions were answered more, when he finally took the time to look over his surroundings. This place. It was Benzo’s shop, he could’ve recognised the familiar, yet so distant, smell from anywhere. This place had been his home for half of his childhood, before everything went wrong.
That’s also when it hit him too, he wasn’t just in his child’s body, he had somehow been taken back in time. Benzo’s shop wasn’t the abandoned shop he had known for years. This place was lived in.
His mind raced as memories crashed into him all at once, as he took in his surroundings more. This place meant so much to him. There was the same musty smell that he loved about this place. He knew this place like the back of his hand. Every crooked shelf, every broken gear and every rusted tool.
And most importantly, the glass he was seeing his reflection in. It was the grandfather clock he had spent so much time fixing up. It used to go off randomly and it always made Ekko jump when it did. He had decided to fix it. He had lost of the hours he had spent tinkering with it to fix it and eventually he did succeed. His stomach twisted with the memories.
He felt a sudden shove to his shoulder that made him jump.
“Gotcha!” A painfully familiar voice giggled behind him.
He spun around so fast he nearly lost his balance. As soon as he saw her greyish eyes, he felt himself freeze. He just stared into him for what felt like forever. He had missed those eyes so much. The eyes of his best friend and then he saw her mischievous grin.
Powder.
That name held so much love and pain for him. It was the name of the girl that for the longest time he had a crush on. He remembered being mystified by her bright smile and those eyes, her laugh. He remembered how much he loved that innocent laugh of hers. A sharp contrast of the laugh of the girl that once was Powder had now.
But he couldn’t forget the pain that came along with that name. Powder was dead. But she wasn’t dead in the way a dead person was dead. She hadn’t tragically died at a young age and he could have mourned for her for the rest of his life. No, her death was something far worse.
It was the death of her personality, of everything that made her her. Another girl had come to inhabit her body. Powder was dead but Jinx was alive. He had had to watch the girl he had loved turn into his greatest enemy. Each encounter that they had, every time he tried to get her back, it was like going to her funeral every damn time. He went to get Powder but all he ever got was Jinx.
Powder burst out laughing at seeing him just stare at her. The way his brown eyes were fixated on her.
“Whoa!” She said between giggles. “You should’ve seen your face!” She then tilted her head, noticing the strange look on his face.
“Uh… Earth to Little Man?” she said, waving a hand in front of him. “You okay?”
Ekko just couldn’t move from where he was standing. He just took in everything Powder was doing. He knew he had missed her, but he didn’t know until now how much. Seeing her again after seven years was overwhelming.
Before he even realized what he was doing, he stepped forward and he grabbed her. She let out a small yelp as Ekko wrapped his arms around her in a tight hug. She froze, as her hands hovered awkwardly in the air.
He could feel her small shoulders beneath his arms and her confused breathing. Ekko shut his eyes. He had missed her so much it felt like his chest might break open.
Ekko held on like she might disappear if he let go, because in his mind, she would. He felt that he had lost her so many times. First was after that the worst night of his life, after everybody he loved had died. He had remembered waiting for hours for Vi and the others to come back with Vander. He was so full of grief over Benzo, he had lost his father. He was so overwhelmed by grief for what seemed like hours.
He waited in the basement of Benzo’s shop for hours, waiting for somebody to come for him. Vi had left him there to go and get the others so they could save Vander. He remembered the twist in his gut as he heard the grandfather clock’s bell chimed every hour. The longer they were gone, the more Ekko had a very bad feeling.
He finally took the plunge and went to investigate on his own. He knew where the cannery was, where Silco had taken Vander. Where the others would have been going. He felt his whole world end for the second time that night when he saw the burning cannery in the distance.
He remembered the worst decision he ever made by investigating what had happened, seeing the horrifying and gruesome sight of Mylo and Claggor’s, two of his best friends, bodies crumbled on the floor. Then there was Vander’s body in the alley. Seeing him was a blur, he needed to get out of there, before Silco and his crew caught him.
That was the first time he had grieved for Powder. He couldn’t find Vi or Powder’s bodies, but he assumed that they had perished too that night. He was left all alone.
That was until he had heard whispers of a blue haired girl living with the new Eye of Zaun. He just knew who that was. Powder. Silco had taken her and was doing Janna knows what to her. Ekko couldn’t bare the thought.
It took him months, but he finally got to Powder. However, the girl he loved had changed. She said her name was Jinx now, that Powder was dead and when he tried to pull her out of there, she slapped him. She then branded him with the cruel nickname, ‘the boy savior’. He left, tears stinging his eyes. He didn’t know what had happened, but that girl wasn’t Powder. That was the second time he grieved for her.
He didn’t give up, over the years, he tried to get her to come with him, to leave Silco. But it was always to no avail. That was when he understood he couldn’t get through to Powder. Powder was gone and Jinx was only loyal to Silco. He grieved her every time, until eventually, he painted her on the mural. Powder. It was easier to believe Powder had died that night along with the others.
Then slowly, she hugged him back. Her voice came out muffled against his shoulder.
“Okaaay…” she said slowly, confused. “This is new.”
Ekko finally pulled back. Powder had her eyebrow raised as she looked up at him with a puzzled expression.
“What’s gotten into you?” She asked.
Before Ekko had the chance to come up with a reply, the door behind them swung open.
“Morning, kids!” The very familiar voice hit Ekko like a punch to the chest.
Ekko turned straight over to see the man who had meant so much to him. The man who had been his father. He couldn’t believe that he had the chance to see him again.
Benzo stepped into the shop carrying a crate of scrap parts. He just paused when he saw the look on Ekko’s face. Powder looked between them and just looked so confused. She didn’t have the first idea of what was going on. Ekko just looked like he had seen a ghost.
Benzo raised an eyebrow in confusion. “…Did I miss something?”
Ekko still couldn’t bring himself to speak. He just took in the big man who was standing in front of him. He dreamt about Benzo a lot. Sometimes, it was some of the many happy memories he shared with the older man. Other times, it was seeing that ‘thing’, that creature, he didn’t know what else to call it, tear Benzo down. Seeing Benzo’s bloodied body was something that would always been itched into his mind, no matter how hard he tried to forget and that was the last time he had seen him.
But now, Benzo was alive and right in front of him. Ekko couldn’t take it anymore, he rushed forward and threw his arms around him. The crate clattered to the floor. Benzo blinked in surprise.
“Well.” he said after a moment, chuckling. “This is a first.”
Benzo eventually wrapped one arm around Ekko and gave him a firm pat on the back.
“You feeling alright, lad?” he asked gently.
Ekko tried to speak, desperately wanting to. But his voice caught when he tried to.
“…I just—” He stuttered. He felt his throat tightened, but he tried again. “I just—”
Benzo gently pushed Ekko off him. He studied the boy for a moment with a confused expression on his face. He came to the conclusion that it was best not to push the boy. If Ekko wanted to talk to him, he would.
“Well,” he said eventually, smiling slightly. “Good to see you too.”
Powder crossed her arms and stared at them. What the hell had gotten into Ekko?
“OK.” she said. “What is going on today?”
She was staring at Ekko like he had completely lost his mind. Ekko wiped at his face frantically, noticing that there were tears in his eyes. He turned away slightly, trying to hide them from Powder.
She squinted at him. “Ok.” She said slowly. “You’re being really weird today. Weirder than usual.”
Benzo bent down to pick up the crate he had dropped, metal scraps clinking together as he lifted it onto the shop’s counter.
“Kids have weird days.” Benzo said with a shrug. “Part of the job description.”
Powder didn’t look convinced. She stepped closer to Ekko and leaned sideways to try and see his face. Something was going on with him and she was determined to find out what it was.
“You sure you didn’t bonk your head?” she asked suspiciously.
“I’m fine.” Ekko said too quickly, which Powder noticed straight away.
She narrowed her eyes. “Uh huh.” She glanced at Benzo, clearly expecting him to back her up.
However, Benzo was already sorting through the crate of parts, humming quietly to himself. Ekko forced himself to breathe slowly. He told himself that he needed to stay calm. Powder was always very perceptive and when she got an idea in her head, it would be very hard for her to let it go. That was something he loved about her, even if he did find it a bit annoying at the time.
Powder suddenly clapped her hands together, her eyes lighting up with excitement.
“I’ve got an idea!”
Ekko blinked, confused until he saw Powder darting past him toward one of the boxes on one of the shelves. She rummaged through it trying to find what she was looking for.
She popped back up holding a familiar wooden sword in one hand and a battered paintgun in the other. Her helmet was tucked under her arm and so was his ‘armour’.
Ekko stared at them. His chest tightened as he realised she wanted to play their game. He knew as soon as she went to that shelf. Seeing her with the paintgun and wooden sword made his heart tightened with the pain of the memories.
It might have been years since they were best friends playing that game, but they had played it recently. On the bridge. After years, just for one moment, it felt like they were kids again, even though the truth was far from that.
Powder shoved the sword and his armour into his hands.
“Come on!” she grinned excitedly. “You’ve been spacing out all morning. Let’s play!”
Ekko looked down at the sword. The wood was worn smooth from years of use. He remembered every scratch. He remembered seeing it again when he recently (well in the future technically) went back to Benzo’s shop with Heimerdinger. Being back here brought up so many kinds of memories, some which he confided in the Professor about, but he didn’t mention the sword. He wanted to keep that pain to himself.
He remembered every scratch and every dent. And how it never got used for its intent purpose, tapping Powder on the shoulder as he dodged every one of her shots. The problem was that Powder had always won. Every single time. Apart from that once, but that wasn’t Powder, he told himself. He couldn’t think about that now.
Benzo leaned back against the counter, watching them with amusement.
“If you two are gonna start swinging that thing around, take it outside.”
Powder was already grabbing Ekko’s arm. “Too late!” She started dragging him toward the door.
Ekko barely had time to glance back. He wanted to spend some more time with Benzo, but he needed to find a way to compose himself first. Right now, he couldn’t even speak to him without the urge to never stop hugging him, never wanting to let him go. It had been years. At least with Powder, she was keeping him distracted with their game.
Benzo gave him a small smile. It wasn’t a suspicious or worried smile, it was the warmest smile he had always remembered his father figure had. Ekko swallowed hard, taking in the smile as Powder swung open the door to the shop and pulled him into the Lanes.
Walking through the Lanes was a surreal experience. It was the Lanes he had grown up in as a kid, a distant memory washed away by Shimmer. The streets of Zaun in his present day was a completely different tale than this.
They were alive, the community feel that Ekko remembered and cherished was alive. There weren’t addicts in every corner, waiting for their next fix. There weren’t thugs beating up the smaller guy and there weren’t gang fights everywhere he turned.
Seeing his home get turned into the hell it was now made Ekko’s anger burn. He remembered when the Lanes was a community, where people looked out for one another, that is what Vander and Benzo had accomplished.
There were children running between market stalls, as vendors shouted over one another. This was his home.
Powder pulled him by his arm into an alley. She looked around, surveying the area and weighting it up. He saw the concentration in her face as she scrunched up her face. She dropped the items she was carrying into the corner of the alley. Normally they needed a longer alley, but this would do for now. It was long enough, but she’d have to shoot quick.
She looked at him and pointed at him to the corner. “Go over there, Little Man.” She then smiled at him. “Let the best player win. And by the best player, I mean me.” She laughed, a wholesome laugh that tugged at Ekko’s heartstrings. It had been so long.
Ekko got into position and put his wooden chest plate on.
Powder hummed as she thought to herself. “We need symbols!”
Ekko froze for a moment. As soon as Powder mentioned symbols, that damn monkey symbol was locked in his mind. The monkey symbol, Jinx’s symbol, he had seen that all over Zaun for years. When he saw it, he knew Jinx had been there.
Powder ran off from the alley, leaving Ekko for a few moments. He was left with his thoughts. He was still processing what he was going through. He was somehow back in the past, before everything went wrong. Was it a dream, a hallucination brought on by the Hexcore or an anomaly that really sent him back in time?
Soon enough, Powder came back, carrying two small buckets of paint and two paint brushes in her hands. When she saw Ekko’s confused look, she giggled again and dropped the paint buckets and brushes to the ground. She went over to him and nudged him playfully on the arm.
“Hey, you could’ve helped a girl out.” She joked, gesturing to the paint buckets. “I had to go all the way back to Benzo’s to get them.”
Ekko felt himself smile for the first time since he had gotten here. “You didn’t even give me a chance, Pow.” The name slipped off this tongue. It had been years since he had spoke it.
Powder opened the paint bucket and threw a brush over to him. She didn’t bother with the brush herself and dipped two fingers into the pink paint she had brought. She painted two lines on her cheek, just under her eyes. It was a symbol Ekko remembered all too well. However this must have been the first time she had ever wore it.
It would mean if he had really gone back in time, he would be back a year before that night.
Powder got some white chalk from her pocket. She started on his nose.
“I’ve got just the symbol for you, Little Man.” She laughed.
Ekko felt the chalk going across the bridge of his nose. He knew exactly what she was painting. His signature hourglass. Even though it was his symbol for the Firelights, he had never forgotten where he had originally gotten it from. His game with Powder. Maybe deep down, that was some of the reason he had decided to take it as his symbol again. He was almost commiserating his game with Powder, his life with Powder.
“An hourglass looks perfect on you. What with your fascination with that stupid pocket watch.” Powder piped up. “What do you think, time boy?” How ironic was that now.
Ekko smiled. “What’s with the nicknames? I feel there’s a new one every day.”
“Everybody uses Little Man. Your best friend should have her own.”
For a moment, Ekko had forgotten all about his predicament and that continued when Powder ran to the other side of the alley.
“This is our battlefield!” She declared proudly as she put on the pan that was her helmet.
Ekko laughed, she always said that. He took this as a sign to start the game. He got his pocket watch out of his pocket and dropped it, using his hand to slide it from side to side. This was something he had done very recently too. He remembered seeing the surprise on Jinx’s face when he did it but then she let out a little laugh, loaded her gun and got into position.
Powder did almost the game, getting her paintgun ready and letting it rest at her side. She giggled again and then did her usual bunny ear symbol to signal Ekko that it was time to start. Oh, how he had missed this.
He brought the pocket watch up to his hand and started the timer. Ekko started to run with his sword clenched in his hand as Powder shot her first shot from her paintgun. As always, Ekko dodged lower. Something he did almost every time they played. It was the only the odd time he was caught with the first attempt. And he never heard the end of it from Powder when he had. She had taunted him for days about it.
Ekko knew all her moves now though. He had learned them so well that he had won this game of theirs on the bridge. The next two shots were back-to-back. A move that Powder always thought was so clever. He remembered he often got caught with those shots too.
However Ekko did exactly what he did on the bridge. A move he didn’t even know he could do as a kid. But he had to remember he was his adult self in his child self’s body. He did a backflip, missing the two shots that were back-to-back, just like he did on the bridge.
When he saw the shocked look on Powder’s face, he smiled to himself. He had missed her so much. Powder didn’t giggle though. She just stared at him, absolutely shocked at his moves. Because of her shock, she didn’t even fire the last shot.
Ekko surged forward and with one smooth motion, he tapped the wooden sword against her shoulder, signalling his first win ever. Powder just froze.
Ekko lowered the sword. “…Got you.”
Powder stared at him, then at the sword and then back at him.
She furrowed her brows in annoyance. “You cheated!”
“I didn’t. I was just following your moves.” He smiled.
“That’s cheating!”
“I don’t think so, Pow. You’re just a sore loser.” He laughed.
“If you followed my moves, then I’ll change my moves.” She then started to mutter to herself. “If I switch the angle and fake the first shot—”
Ekko watched her and suddenly he froze when a strange, but terrifying, thought hit him. If Powder changed her patterns now, then the future would change too. The bridge fight might not go the same way. He might not be able to predict her moves. His smile faded at that thought.
But then suddenly, it hit him. Why didn’t it come to him before? If that moment could change the future. Then he had the chance to change everything.
The heist. The explosion. Benzo. Vander. Mylo. Claggor. Silco. All of it. He could change all of it.
He stared at Powder as she excitedly redesigned their game in her head and suddenly the idea slammed into him like lightning. He could save everyone, everybody he loved. He could save the Lanes and the Undercity from Silco’s tyranny and from Shimmer.
Powder grabbed his arm again, she was still muttering to herself though but snapped out of it.
“Come on!” She said happily.
Ekko blinked, confused. “What?”
“We’re going back to the Last Drop.” She said. “I need to tell Vi you cheated.”
Ekko let himself be dragged along, but his mind was spinning. Because for the first time since he was thrown into the past, he was thinking of what a privilege he had been granted. He could change the fate of everyone he cared about and save his city…