Hello! Haven't posted in a while, but rest assured I am not dead yet. Enjoy this chapter!

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OwO: I will continue to write this one to the end (Promise, might just take awhile), Im glad you enjoy it! I hope this chapter makes things more interesting... xD

"Get out of here Piltie!" My wrist flared up at the words, tracing those very letters hidden underneath my glove. I never thought hearing those words out loud would make my heart stop. I expected the first encounter to be a lot less dire than the circumstances I was facing currently. I glanced at the boy leaning heavily against the wall, his arm holding his sword loosely by his side, and the other one clutching his side from the fight. The blood coating the side of his right leg stood out more starkly than when he was initially hit, but I could clearly see at least three bullet entry wounds. With that amount of blood pooling on the ground, he could end up bleeding out in about an hour without any medical attention. My soulmate. I don't even know his name!

He glanced up and motioned to the staff, "The staff, it could destroy this place. Get it out of here." He slid against the wall, until he was sitting on the ground. He leaned his head back to rest on the bricks, closing his eyes, chest still heaving from the run. The staff felt too heavy suddenly. If it could destroy this place, I did need to get it out of Zaun, but I also needed to get him help. My throat felt tight.

"I didn't know he had a friend to help." I turned on my heel, looking for the source of the voice. It was a female. A warrior, considering the massive broken sword in her hand. Her red eyes meet mine, "He was helping me steal back the staff, I was going to bring it to the elders in Ionia." She made no move to take it by force from me.

"Why?" I asked, trying to determine if I could believe her or not.

"To pay for my own sins, I guess. Also, to stop Singed for personal reasons." Her voice was hard and bitter. A small noise escaped the boy who saved my life. Something between a sob and a groan. I glanced down, and his eyes were open, trying to focus on us. They were filled with tears. I passed her the staff without a second thought. I didn't even notice she made a swift exit.

I crouched down to eye-level with my soulmate. His chocolate eyes couldn't focus on much, probably from the stress and blood loss. His white Mohawk was still in place, and if he wasn't about to die, I probably would try to touch it. His dark beautiful skin was turning a sickly color. I forced back tears of my own, and choked out, "Come on. I'm going to get you out of here."

His eyes met mine, "Too late, my pasts… they've caught up." His head drops down to his chest, unresponsive. A wave of pure panic races through every nerve ending in my body.

"NO!" I grabbed his shoulder, trying to shake him awake, "I will save you goddammit! I will get to annoy the hell out of you as your soulmate for more than two minutes!" The tears that burned my eyes slid hotly down my cheeks. His head rolled to the side as his eyes slide open a fraction. I could feel his heartbeat as I grabbed his wrist to check. I scrubbed the tears away angrily; I had no time to emotionally process this right now. I need to get my soulmate to Piltover. We have the best doctors, and they will be able to save his life.

I pulled his sword from his limp hand before sliding it into his sheath. I placed my hands carefully underneath his knees and under his lower back, carrying him bridal style. I pressed his injured side against my stomach, hoping to help stop the blood flow. I turned towards Piltover and began to walk as fast as I could. My soulmate was pretty light, but over the next couple of miles to the border, my arms were shaking with effort. I eventually reached the border, and to my disappointment the police were guarding it. I shouldn't have been surprised. They rarely left, but I thought I'd get lucky and could sneak back into Piltover. I raced up to one of the entering stations.

"Do you have your paper- Ezreal?" A familiar voice came out of the entry booth. I glanced up, and saw familiar pink hair. I was flooded with relief. Vi will understand. She leaned out, "You look pale, are you…?"

She glanced down at the prone figure in my arms. She gasped. "Ekko?" She was on her feet in a minute, looking at the apparently familiar white Mohawk. She exited the booth the next second, shutting down the lights and closing the booth.

"You know him?" I gasped out, exhausted from my journey out here. Vi nodded, her gaunt-less hands hovering over his prone form. "Please. I know Zaunites aren't allowed into Piltover without an invitation, but Vi…" I clutched my arms tighter around my soulmate, "He'll die without a hospital."

She bit her bottom lip, thinking for a second, before finally saying, "Okay, okay. We'll get him to a hospital. I'll forge an invitation later, but we have to hurry."

I then followed her to the police car sitting nearby as Vi flicked on the lights and sped through the city to the nearest hospital. Nurses pulled him from my arms the second we walked through the door. I let them. The nurse placed his sword in my hands as well as the shattered remains of some sort of power cell that he wore around his waist. Vi placed a hand on my shoulder. "Come on Ezreal. I need to get a statement from you about how this all happened."

I nodded, letting myself be led to the police station and into an interrogation room. Vi brought me some warm apple cider and placed it on the table in front of me. I didn't glace up and I picked at the edges of my clothes. Large patches of blood covered parts of it. His blood. I did not even truly meet the guy yet, and his wellbeing was the only thing in the forefront of my mind.

"How did you come across Ekko? What lead up to him being shot?" Vi asked.

I swallowed hard saying quietly, "He saved my life. He was shot when we were escaping."

Vi leaned forward on her elbows, "Escaping? Escaping who?"

"Singed. He sent thugs after me when I was doing a temple raid. He stole a Shuriman staff from me. I was trying to steal it back. But the escape went wrong. He appeared seemingly out of nowhere and saved my life. I don't know why he would risk his own life for me, we don't really know each other very well. Apparently Singed was going to do something bad to Zaun with it."

Vi nodded as she listened to my story, "I'm not surprised Ekko helped then, he was always protective of Zaun. It sounds like he knows something about this staff and what Singed is planning, so I guess we will question him when he's stable enough. Where is the staff now?"

"I don't know." I said, sipping my cider. Vi raised her eyebrows at me. I cleared my throat, "Well this one woman showed up. She said she was on a quest to return the staff to Ionia. That's all."

Vi sighed. "Do you at least know her name?"

"No?" I winced guiltily, "She had bright white hair and red eyes, carrying a broken sword. She was wearing a green cloak if that helps at all."

Vi groaned running her hand through her pink locks, "I will have to ask Ekko about all this tomorrow. The hospital said he will be okay, and should be able to be questioned tomorrow afternoon."

"Can I come with?"

Vi shot me a questioning look.

I quickly explained, "I… he saved my life. I wanted to thank him, and return his sword and things."

Vi nodded, "Yes, you can come with me tomorrow, but go and get some rest tonight. I'll pick you up."

"Yes ma'am." I two figured mock-saluted her before taking off into the town again, Ekko's things in my hands.

I arrived back into my apartment, carefully placing Ekko's supplies on my desk. I sat down at the chair with a heavy sigh, running a hand through my blonde locks. I picked up his sword, studying the length. When he rescued me from being shot, he basically used this as a baseball bat, but it glowed with a soft blue light. I waved it back and forth through the air. It hummed slightly. It had to be powered by the blue rectangle that he was carrying. I eyed the busted container. Should I try to fix it? I was no engineer, but maybe.

I reached in between the broken glass and touched a shard. Ice hot pain raced up my entire arm from a single finger touch. I quickly withdrew my hand with a cry. Okay, that's some serious power. I'll let my soulmate fix that. I smiled lightly. I hoped that our second encounter would go a lot smoother. When he wakes up in the hospital, he'll realize that I'm his soulmate. I fell asleep that night hopeful.

The next morning Vi drove me to the hospital. Her radio crackled on the way over. "Got a situation, at the jail… Jinx is wreaking havoc again, will need your backup Vi."

"Yeah, I'm on my way cupcake." Vi slammed the radio down after responding, turning a hard left and blaring her sirens. I gripped the seat a little tighter, as we almost slammed into several civilian cars.

"Small detour Ezreal. Sit tight in the car, we don't need you jumping into the fight." She slammed on the brake in front of the jail. It was on fire. I stared in awe, still clutching Ekko's things in my hands. Fire licked-up the side of the jail and a huge column of smoke curled into the air.

Vi tugged on the front of my shirt, bringing up nose-to-nose, "I mean it Ezreal, you have to stay put. I don't need your shenanigans in this mess."

"You don't need to worry about me! I'm an archeologist!" I cried.

"Yeah, so you claim." Vi smirked at me before releasing my shirt and jumping out the car. The frame shook from the force she used to shut the door. She raced to help the fire-fighters and disappeared from sight. I watched the burning jail with interest. Slightly out of boredom as well.

Two figures flying out of a window caught my attention. One had two long bubble gum blue braids and was armed to the teeth. The other had an unmistakable white mohawk. My heart sank. My soulmate was with Jinx. He was laughing along with something she told him. He must have snuck out of the hospital to wreak havoc with her. My worst fears were true. He was a criminal. No. I clutched his weapon tighter in my hands. There has to be an explanation, and I was going to get one.