A/N: I recommend Austin Wintory - Journey OST to go with this one. Or anything really :)

It was nearly two weeks later that he saw her again.

The encounter itself was rather funny if not creepy. The circumstances however were not.

One morning at around 4 pm Undine knocked on his living room window where he had fallen asleep at his workbench. He only nearly fell off his stool, mainly because his neck was so stiff from sleeping with his head on the worktop that he couldn't move enough yet.

He rubbed his sore and swollen eyes and with a bit of effort opened the rusty old window.

The waiting girl hopped down from the small window sill and straightened up.

Their eyes locked in the dark, and they stood still for what felt like an eternity, the cold air from the open window swirling around them.

Finally Undine broke the silence.

"I heard about... ",her voice gave in and she tried again. "I heard about Ajuna. I'm sorry. Really."

Ekko just turned around and sat down again.

"I don't wanna talk about it right now.", he said.

"That's ok, I understand."

Undine lightly placed a hand on his shoulder. It was trembling slightly.

"Ekko.", she said quietly.

"Ekko." Again, more urgent this time. "Please come with me. There is something I want you to... You should see... I.. I want to show you something."

He gave no response.

"Please just come with me for now."

They walked in silence through empty alleys and down deserted streets. This was not really the time to be out and about in Zaun, you had to be careful. But neither of them felt like small talk anyway.

Ajuna had been killed a mere two days ago.

Ekko still hadn't really gotten over the shock yet. Deep down, he felt like it was HIS fault and the guilt and loss were eating away at him. The first day he had mainly spent crying, it just wouldn't stop. The day after, this very day, he didn't even have the energy to cry any more. He had started fixing the z-drive, finished and just randomly tightened some screws for the rest of the day, simply to keep his hands busy. He must have fallen asleep at some point.

There were things after all that even he didn't have enough time for, he thought bitterly. Never enough time to grieve.

Despite his dark brooding, the walking cleared his mind. Simply putting one foot in front of the other eased the strain on his heart. After a few minutes he had calmed down enough to notice for the first time that he was clinging to Undine's hand. Resisting the first reflex to just drop it instantly, he instead savoured the warm that went out from it and spread up all the way into his shoulder. Ekko was already grudgingly thankful for having been dragged outside at this point. But Undine had said she wanted to show him something? Whatever it was, she was leading him there and if nothing else, not having to make any decisions himself for a while was a relief.

It took them a total of 19minutes to get to where Undine had been headed. The last few meters had been a mix of steep alleys and stairs and both nightly wanderers were a little out of breath by the end of the walk.

"This is where you wanted to come to?", Ekko asked, turning to view the surroundings. Just a little square surrounded by small houses on one side and wasteland going downhill on the other.

"Haha, not quiet. This plaza on its own is not very entertaining, I do admit.", Undine chuckled. "No, I wanted to show you something else, Ekko."

The way she said his name made him shudder a little. Without noticing, she continued. "Turn on your z-drive. We will need it in a bit and I… say, do you think, you can take me with you?"

"Why would you want that?", he asked surprised. "It would just make you age a few extra seconds or minutes. There's no real gain in it, for you."

"It's because I don't want to forget.", she said quietly. "Even though it's a lot more like: never having known in the first place. So, can you?"

"I think so. Never tried it. It has to be similar to your thing, touch all travellers somehow and I must want to take you with me. The reach is limited and it involves a certain intentionality.", he shrugged.

So she pulled the strap of his z-drive up and over her shoulder and adjusted it to hang next to their hips. He pulled the handle and the blue glow enveloped them.

They were nearly uncomfortably close now, already standing together. Their bodies were touching. But now Undine wrapped her arms around his waist, like she had done so many times in front of the burning house (only one of which she could remember) and pulled him even closer. This time it felt a lot more intimate.

Ekko swallowed hard. And then hoped she hadn't noticed. This was for sure not the first time he'd been this close to a girl, but he'd never felt nervous about it. Maybe he had for his first kiss.

But to hell with it, he was feeling shite and needed a hug. Ekko lifted his arms and placed them around her shoulders, pulling Undine in even closer. He buried his face at the nape of her neck, breathing in the clean smell of her skin. God, this was a mile better than bawling his eyes out.

Undine started to lightly trace up and down his spine. Instantly he felt his throat tighten like he was about to cry again at the warm gesture. But thankfully Undine chose this very moment inhale deeply and start flickering. Ekko kept his head on her shoulder and his eyes closed. He didn't know if there was something cool to be seen during flickering but the nauseating experience itself suggested a view that would make him even more… well… he guessed you could call it motion-sick.

They were flickering repeatedly. Ekko counted five… six … seven times until Undine whispered "Look up." into his ear.

Ekko lifted his head and opened his eyes just as they flickered another time. Apparently there were no special effects at all. Meh, disappointment.

The next moment, his jaw dropped in surprise, shock, awe - he couldn't decide. They were currently at least 15 meter above the ground, high in the air above Zaun and it's smog clouds. They were also slowly accelerating downwards. Ekko was about to panic, but Undine just flickered them back up.

Suddenly light pierced his eyes.

The first rays of sunlight were appearing just above the horizon.

The air in Zaun was so terribly polluted that actual unfiltered sunlight rarely touched the ground. Ekko had never thought of sunlight as something important or necessary but with the first bright rays inching their way upwards and onto this world it looked like magic. The crooked factories with their chimneys and small towers, barely poking out from the smog, were bather in red, gold and orange. He noticed a few lights in houses going on underneath them, people getting ready to go about their everyday lives.

The wind up here was fresh and cold, regardless of the warm light on their faces. Unconsciously he held Undine even tighter, his breath caught in his throat.

"This.. this is..", he stammered.

"This, Ekko, is what you strive to protect every single day.", the girl in his arms whispered. Her embrace had lost a lot of its former strength but Ekko was too absorbed in the view to notice. "Ajuna fought with you, you know. He'd never want to see you give up. Especially not because of a bloody Piltie." He fought hard to suppress a sob, instead just nodded.

The white haired boy had lost all sense of time [hah, pun intended] staring at this – HIS – city looking this beautiful for once. He faintly recalled feeling the yanking sensation of flickering a couple of times, maybe another six. All in all, that was quiet a lot actually. As soon as he realized this, he started to pick up on a faint voice in his ear.

"Ek.. ko - can't… do it… agai..!", Undine breathed out. And this time the downwards acceleration was not stopped and they did not reappear at the highest spot as before. Ekko's stomach seemed to stay behind though.

He turned his head to look at the girl in his arms. Undine's face was ghostly pale and she seemed unable to support the weight of her own head any more. It was rolling back and forth with the fall. Her hands were rapidly losing their grip on his shirt, so he held on even tighter. Now that Undine didn't control the fall any more their drop straight down turned into a roller-coaster of twists and turns. In panic he could see the ground coming closer and closer. They must have already fallen halfway down, when he finally felt the z-drive bump into his side (how could he have forgotten?!) and tried to reach his right hand with his left without letting go of the girl in his arms. He looked at Undine again to check up on her, but of course she was still pale as death. She mouthed the word 'back' at him and it took him a lot to not shout "I'M TRYING!", back at her.

Finally, finally, he was able to grip the dial on his glove when they were a mere 4 meters from the ground. At the same time felt Undine's hand inch to his right shoulder blade. She weakly moved her head towards him and mouthed something else, which he didn't understand. He flicked the switch and at the same time, just before the chronobreak actually set in, she closed the small distance between their faces and touched their lips together.

Hers were cold.

If his stomach were still with him, it might have done a flip. After only the fracture of a second the chronobreak yanked them apart again and back up into the air. Not even for a heartbeat Ekko found himself staring at the sunrise yet again and then they were back on the ground safely. The z-drive gave one last turn and whirring sound and turned itself off.

Instantly Undine collapsed.

Ekko was still holding onto her, but when her knees suddenly gave in all he could do was prevent himself from toppling down onto her. Instead they fell down onto their knees next to each other. Undine turned away from him and threw up on the cobble stones from the exhaustion.

Ekko felt pretty helpless. Should he do something, hold her hair back (she was wearing a ponytail again) or get her a glass of water (impossible)? In the end he settled for placing a reassuring hand on her shoulder and holding her fringe back with the other.

It didn't take long but afterwards he held her still for another little while until the convulsions had stopped and she was able sit up straight again.

"Sorry.", she rasped. "That kinda went how I didn't want it to go." And then gave a small shaky smile. Undine still looked tired and worn out, her skin see-through but not as pale any more.

"No, you don't have to apologise! I really appreciate what you did for me today. Showing me this and.. and... stuff." He drifted off for a second. Had the kiss been the thing she didn't want to forget? Had it even been intentional? Well, at least the double time-travel had worked. "I really needed that pick-me-up."

"Any time.", she said and leaned over to rest her head on his shoulder, though she was slumped down so much that she only reached his chest. Undine closed her eyes and listened to the sound of Ekko's breathing.

"I'll be ready to go soon. Just give me a minute.", she whispered apologetically.
Ekko just nodded and lifted his hand to comfortingly pat her head. Of course it took her longer than a minute but the silence was a very comfortable one.
Slowly Undine lifted her head. The place was not spinning any more and there was nothing left for her to throw up, so she figured she was good to go.
Sitting more upright she unexpectedly found herself nose to nose with the boy in front of her yet again. Their eyes locked.
"Oh.", was all Undine could say.

Her breath caught in her throat.

She could do it again, lean forward and press her lips onto his. Her eyes fell shut and before she could decide if she wanted to take the chance again, she felt him move, a hand under her chin pulling her face up, towards him, to touch their lips together.
The contact sent sparks through her. But when his lips started moving against hers, oh so softly, she pulled back like she'd just been bitten.
Ekko blinked at her in surprise and dejection.

"Oh no, I didn't mean it like that!", she laughed awkwardly, waving her hands in front of her face. "I'd rather brush my teeth first, ya know?"
She softly put a hand on his cheek and ran her thumb over it. Ekko smiled, though still a little off.

"Can you help me walk back?", she asked. "I'm probably still a little wobbly on my feet."

"Sure thing." He placed his arm around her waist and she slung one over his shoulder. Like two friends heading home from a night at the pub they walked and occasionally stumbled back to Ekko's apartment.

"Where do you actually live, Undine?", he asked somewhere about half of the way back.
"Pretty much on the other side of town.", she replied. "It is quiet a walk. Otherwise I wouldn't dare to imply snagging a toothbrush off you."

"Do you still live with your parents? Your apartment is so tiny but just too well stocked for a teenager."
"What do you mean teenager? I'm legally of age, that's pretty grown up. And I do live on my own! My parents live in a company sponsored apartment block. And they're always working anyways."
"I'd love to meet them someday."
"Uhhh. I'd rather you not."
"Hihi."
"What about your family?"
"Ekko… I… can we not talk about this? Maybe ever?"
"Oh.. Ok."

"How old are you by the way, Undine?"
"One does not ask a girl her age!"
"Ow, you didn't have to hit me for that!"
"22... One shouldn't be looking this surprised either. Yo, unlock the door. It is your place after all."