Hey everyone! It's me and I'm back with a chapter NOT a month later this time, so that's pretty cool. Even though this chapter was pretty fuckin tough to write, touching on stuff that I really didn't want to mess up, I pushed through and got this done.

Hope you enjoy it, and I'll see you at the end.

Three weeks.

It had been three weeks since Jinx killed her third father, since she had walked away from her sister, since she had begun her work on spreading Hextech across Zaun. Three weeks since the Enforcers and the Firelights joined together to fight the Chembarons who had all gone to war with each other, fighting for land and resources across the whole of the Undercity. Three weeks since she'd locked herself away in her underground home, tinkering and crying and arguing with Mylo and Silco, whenever the latter felt like talking to her.

Mylo kept calling her a coward, telling her to jump. She tried to ignore him most days, but there were moments when she wondered if shouldn't just do it, but Silco's disappointed eyes prevented her from finding peace every single time.

Jinx wouldn't let him down. Not after everything he'd done for her.

So here she was, sitting at her workbench with tears streaming down her cheeks as she desperately tried to ignore the ghost hovering over her shoulder, pale fingers running up and down her arms as she gripped her tools in trembling hands.

"Leave me alone." Powder whispered, drawing in a deep breath. She whimpered as those same icy fingers latched painfully onto her forearms, a warning and a punishment all at once, but she didn't back down. "Go away." She snarled as her heart beat heavily in her chest. Jinx's vision was hazy, her sickly lilac eyes burning as she fought to keep her gaze forward.

She couldn't help but shudder as Mylo's twisted and broken body pressed up against her back, something wet and cold seeping through her clothes and onto her skin. "You know what you need to do to make that happen." Powder's brother whispered into her ear as he hunched down behind her, Mylo's icy chest dragging down the length of her body. His lips hovered just before her ear and Powder shivered as his breath hit her skin, dropping her tools on the table and wrapping her arms protectively around her midriff.

"Then stop talking." Jinx let out, her nails digging painfully into her skin. "I don't want you here."

"But you need me, don't you Pow-Pow?" Mylo laughed, his inhumanly long tongue flicking over her earlobe and she recoiled away from him in disgust. Jinx knew he was trying to rile her up, trying to make her throw a fit and prove him right, because that was all he really cared about. In life, he'd tried to warn their family that she would ruin everything, and ever since Powder killed him he'd stopped at nothing to make sure she knew it too. He was wasting his time though, because deep down she'd always known he was correct. Maybe he just liked rubbing it in. "Look at all this." He continued with his little game, gesturing to her workbench with a clawed and veiny hand. "Your old man told you to give Hextech to the people, right? What the fuck is this?"

He was talking about her work, and not just what was on her desk. Mylo was insulting everything Powder built after she'd killed Silco, her second and final good deed in life, and red hot rage began to burn beneath her skin. Jinx wiped her tears away with gritted teeth as she fought the urge to lash out at her brother, but only because she knew the others would be watching. Powder didn't know who it would be, she hadn't seen everyone together since the night at the cannery three weeks ago, but someone would, and she didn't want to get angry in front of them.

They all knew she was a monster and there was no denying that, but couldn't she just pretend? Was it so wrong to want her family and friends to see her as she wanted to be, not as the sick and deranged girl she'd become? Jinx never meant to hurt them. Powder loved them so much; they were her whole world, and now they wanted her dead. That was okay, though. She'd finish her work and then she'd go, and they would never have to see her again.

But until then Jinx would be the woman they'd have wanted her to be, even if it was a pointless and futile endeavour. What else did she have, other than a goal that marked the end of her life?

"You have me, Jinx." Mylo promised in a tender voice, running slender fingers across her scalp and down her twin braids, and against her own better judgement Powder leaned into the contact. "I've always been by your side, haven't I?"

Powder didn't want to hear it. He was all honeyed words and promises of love and friendship, but it was always a lie.

"Lie?" The voice of her brother called out, sounding genuinely offended. "For the first month after you moved down here and you couldn't sleep, who stayed by your side? Who kept you company the days when Silco couldn't come and see you? When you were tired, who kept you going and pushed you to build bigger, and build better?"

Jinx shut her eyes and willed herself not to listen to him, because all he did was twist things! He twisted his words to suit his own agenda, twisted her heart so Powder would listen to him. She'd take in the venomous words of her older brother but all they'd do is make her sad, and she couldn't be sad because she needed to work.

Mylo let out a caustic laugh and tugged on her braids, tilting her head back forcefully and making her cry out in pain. Powder met his eyes, dark caverns that seemed to take in all light, leaving nothing but empty orbs that she couldn't look away from. "You say I'm venomous, but when have I ever lied to you?"

When? That didn't matter!

"Of course it matters!" He shouted, spinning her chair around and making him face her. His body, black and grey and covered in pale white blood, shifted unnaturally as he spoke. "I tell you the truth; you just don't like it!"

Jinx slammed her hands down the arms of her chair, tears running once more. "You c-call me a monster and a-a freak!" She screamed, her voice cracking. "You tell me I should kill myself like you don't even care!" Powder pressed her palms to her face, rubbing frantically at her skin and hating the way it felt. It didn't feel right. She didn't feel right, in body and mind and heart.

"Of course I care about you…" Mylo trailed off in a breathy whisper, coming down to one knee and reaching up to her cheek with a gaunt hand.

"No, no, you don't, you don't get to say that to me!" She cried in a croaky voice, letting out a sob as she did. "You don't care about me, okay! You never have!"

"I'm the only one who cares about you, and you know it." He growled in a monstrous voice, his maw shifting and filling with wicked fangs. "Who else here talks to you? Mommy and Daddy? Vander and Claggor? They can barely stand to look at you whenever they're here."

Powder looked away from Mylo and down to the floor, the steel flooring of her suspended fan filling her vision. She pressed her hands together, her knuckles aching as her nose ran. "I don't care. I love them…"

"They don't love you! How could anyone love you?" He asked, and Powder found she had no answer to that. "You've hurt and killed too many people for that, don't you see?"

"Silco loves me…"

"Silco? Silco?" Mylo asked, like he couldn't believe what he was hearing. "You're a tool to him, that's all you ever were."

Powder wanted to keep calm and collected but she was quickly losing herself, she knew that much. No matter how much she tried to keep it down, Mylo knew how to push her buttons like no one else could. "He loves me…"

"He's. Not. Here! How can he love you if he isn't even around?" Mylo ground out, grabbing her by the top of her head and pulling her forward. "He only comes here when he needs something from you."

She swatted his hand away, the fury that had been building within escaping through her teeth. "Then why are you here? You don't need anything from me, so fuck off!" She wailed, no longer caring about how desperate she sounded.

The pale form of her brother darted forward, getting up in her face faster than was humanly possible. He was so close that his nose was nearly touching hers, the empty void of his eyes taking up most of her vision. It was almost hypnotising, like she was staring at the space between stars. "I need you to go!" Mylo roared. "I need you to finish your work so we can all be free!"

"Then just leave me alone!" She shouted, spinning her chair back towards the desk. Powder linked her fingers together and tried to stop her hands shaking, but the trembling just kept getting worse.

"I can, but I won't." Mylo denied her and Powder had to force herself not to scream. She just wanted to work but this asshole wouldn't leave her alone! She braced herself for him to grab her again or for him to start shouting again, but he didn't do any of those things. She could feel him behind her, standing stock still as he gazed intently at the back of her skull. "I'll stay because you don't want me to go."

What? How did that make any sense? Powder pressed her hands to her ears, doing her best to block him out. All she'd done the past few minutes was beg for him to leave her alone. Where did Mylo get off telling her that she wanted him here?

"Oh, please." Mylo drawled, and Powder could practically see him rolling his eyes even though she was looking away. "No matter what I do or what I say you'll always want me around, and I'll tell you why." He promised and her heart dropped.

Please don't. Powder thought, because deep down she knew what he was going to say.

"You, Jinx, are alone."

No I'm not…

"You've been alone since your parents died."

I had Vi…

"You were a burden on Vi, and on the rest of us as well. When we died and Vi left you, who did you have left?"

I had Silco…

"And you killed him. If he loved you so much, why did you choose Vi over him? The sister who abandoned you eight years ago? The sister who walked away from you on the bridge?"

Please stop…

"Why should I? You know it's all true." Mylo said, his hand coming to rest on her shoulder. Her brother's palm was warm, and when she looked down she saw healthy, tan skin, and she brought her hand up to rest over his. A sob wracked her body, her face contorting as tears spilled forth. "I've stayed by your side for as long as either of us can remember. Without me, who would talk to you? Who would keep you grounded when you let everything get to your head? Who would watch over you as you slept, and help you find the truth in this world of lies?" He trailed off, his thumb gently running up and down across her shoulder

Mylo was trying to upset her, and to get her hopes up all to tear her down again. He did it the night she came back three weeks ago, like he'd done nearly every night since then. It was what he did - he hated her and he wanted her dead. The worst part was that he was right; she was alone. She was desperately, utterly alone, and they were all she had left.

And no matter what Mylo said, how he insulted and belittled her, he was still the only one who would talk to her. The rest would stand and stare at her with damning eyes, and Silco wouldn't even appear unless he wanted her to do something different with her work.

"That's right…" Mylo whispered, wrapping his other arm around her, and Powder's breath caught in her throat. She looked down and saw familiar hands with bruised knuckles, along with strong arms covered by a red leather jacket. She was… she was being hugged. Oh god… the feeling of it was indescribable. It was so warm and comforting, telling her that things would be okay through touch alone, and Powder wept at the feel of it. It was just like when Vi had hugged her after their reunion, back on the roof looking over the Undercity. It hadn't even been a month since then but it felt like years to Powder. Was she really that desperate? "Desperate doesn't even begin to describe it." He answered.

Mylo was the only company she had down here in this lonely pit, and even if he despised her, he was the only bit of human interaction she'd get before she finished her work and took her own life.

"You need me because you're lonely."

I am…

"You need me to keep you sane, to keep you grounded in reality and not whatever delusions you're having."

I do…

"Then why are you pushing me away?"

Because she was scared. Because she was terrified that he was right, and that he'd keep telling her truths she didn't want to hear. Powder wanted to believe she was loved and that she wasn't alone, and that was easier when her family refused to speak to her. She could pretend those frowns were smiles, and that their eyes were filled with affection instead of hate, and she wouldn't have to feel the weight of her sins on her shoulders.

Those gentle hands moved to her shoulders, his thumbs rubbing soft circles into her skin and she shut her eyes, letting out a long and weary sigh. "I think I'm going to go now." Mylo said conversationally, like his words hadn't just stolen the air from her lungs.

Powder jerked in fear and tried to turn round to him, but her brother's delicate touch turned into a painful grip, and even with her body being enhanced by Shimmer he easily held her in place. "Wh-what? What, no, no please don't!" She cried, panic rising in her like a storm. "I told you the truth, I-I admitted I need you! Don't leave me!" Powder begged, and she was taken back to the burning alley all those years ago when she'd pleaded with Vi to come back. Now here she was, doing it once more with the brother she'd murdered.

Mylo tutted from behind her, letting out a harsh laugh as her breathing grew rapid and shaky. "You really are pathetic, aren't you?" He mocked her, sharp nails digging painfully into her skin. "You were begging me to go just a couple minutes ago, and now you want me to stay? I'd tell you to make up your mind, but your mind is a lost cause by now."

Her heart was beating out of control, thumping against her chest like it was trying to tear its way out of her body. "No no no, please!" Powder shouted, twisting her body to try and break free of Mylo's grip. "Don't go! I need you to stay!" Her voice was breaking, growing scratchy and achy as she cried. Her vision was getting blurry even as she thrashed about in her chair, though she didn't bother wiping the tears away. She was too busy trying to get out of her brother's grip, scratching at his leathery fingers and hands with animalistic intensity.

"Do you ever think about what I need?" Mylo asked her quietly, though it did nothing to hide his rage. It churned beneath the surface of his voice, his words coming out shaky and slow - like he was holding something back. "Do you ever think about what I want? Do you think about the life I could've lived if you'd just stayed behind? All the good things I could've done for the Undercity?"

"Please don't go…" Powder sobbed and she knew she was beyond reason at that point. For all that his words hit her like a wrench to the face, both coming from people she loved dearly, it felt like she wasn't able to process them properly. Jinx was a creature kept together by rage and sadness and grief, an animal incapable of anything other than violence, and none of his questions mattered because she needed him to stay. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry for everything… Please don't go…"

"Give me one good reason to stay!"

"I'm so lonely!" Powder shrieked. "I don't have anyone else! It's just, it's just you!" The pain in her shoulders grew agonising as his claws broke through her skin, though she didn't appear to be bleeding, and Powder let out an anguished scream. "You said you cared about me!"

"I hate you!" Her brother roared, his hands reaching up towards her throat. His claws pressed against her windpipe, and Powder knew all it would take to end her life was a single, swift movement. "I want you dead and gone! I want you to die alone and terrified, just like I did! Just like everyone you've ever loved has done, or will do sooner or later! You're a curse and a jinx; just you being around is enough to make everything go wrong! Why don't you just do the world a favour and die already?"

This was the angriest Powder had ever seen Mylo, even before she'd killed him, and she pressed her shaking hands over her eyes, her palms quickly growing wet with tears. "Please don't leave me!"

Her head was spinning, her breath coming in short, frightened gasps, and it felt like too much was happening all at once. The silent room was too loud for her, especially with the two of them shouting at each other, and Powder wasn't sure what was going on.

Powder felt like she was losing herself, but that couldn't be right; she'd lost herself long ago.

"Finish your work and just fucking end it." Mylo spoke at last, though she struggled to hear it over the sound of her own heartbeat. Her breathing grew rapid and Powder worried for a moment that she was hyperventilating, but she stopped caring about that when Mylo drew away from her. "See you never, hopefully." He said as his arms disappeared from her view.

She spun in her chair and faced the dim cavern of her home, desperate words on the top of her tongue, but he was gone by the time she turned around.

Jinx drew in a breath through clenched teeth, fighting to keep her emotions in check.

It's okay, it's okay, it's okay, it's okay… She repeated the mantra in her head, trying to quell the storm growing inside her. But things weren't okay. Mylo had played with her head and her heart again, and Powder had just let it happen because she wanted to be loved so badly. It was like there was a void in her chest, vast and cold and ever-growing, and she was trying to fill it with whatever she could before it consumed her entirely. It felt like she was stuck in a burning forest and all she had was a half filled bucket of water to help.

It was all pointless.

Jinx pressed her hands to the sides of her head and screamed, the anguished cry echoing off the stone surrounding her and down into the depths below. She then drew a hand back, holding her breath before driving her fist into her temple, her blood burning painfully, incredibly, in her veins. In the three weeks since she'd been injected with Shimmer, Jinx had learned to tell when she was being affected by the drug as it wasn't always active, per se, and right now her skin felt like it was on fire.

She hit herself again, using her other hand to keep her head in place as she tried to beat herself into unconsciousness. She wasn't even feeling it though, and she wasn't just talking about the lack of pain. The sensation of her knuckles meeting her skin was muted, distant even, and it was so frustrating because Jinx could bend steel with her bare hands, yet she couldn't even lay herself out? What was the fucking point of having enhanced strength if she couldn't do that much?

Still, Jinx punched herself a few more times before giving up entirely, spinning back to her workbench where bits of Hextech lay strewn about its surface. That wasn't what she was looking for, though, her gaze falling to some of the grenades she finished building that morning. Snatching one up with shaking hands, Jinx pulled the pin with a snarl and tossed it away from her, sending it down past the fan blade she lived on and into the darkness. In her moment of rage, however, she forgot her own strength, and instead of falling in a downward arc the bomb was launched like a bullet into the cavern walls.

The sound of tempered steel hitting stone echoed through the cave, the crack of rocks breaking and falling like music to her ears, and Jinx let out a shaky little laugh. The sound mixed with the sobs that forced their way out of her throat, and Jinx clenched her jaw in an effort to stifle the noise of her grief. Explosions were fun, and they had never failed to put a spring in her step, but now it just felt pointless. The bright light and the flash of heat still felt good in the moment, but it just wasn't doing anything for her anymore.

She felt empty, like the cold remnants of the girl she used to be had dripped down and out of her, leaving behind a hollow corpse in the guise of a woman. The only thing left in her was this endless sorrow, twisting and tearing her chest to bloody ribbons, and Jinx was so sick of it. All this pain and heartache, and for what? A painful march to an end of her own making?

It was times like this Jinx wished she really was empty and hollow, because then she wouldn't have to feel like this. She wouldn't have to endure this long slog towards death, a lonely and terrifying path without anybody to hold her hand, because she could just get it over with.

She wanted to rest…

Powder pressed the heel of her hands to her eyes and tried to wipe away her tears, blocking her vision even as she continued to cry. She brought her hands down a moment later, her sight still somewhat blurry, but even so she could make out the two figures now standing at the edges of the fan blade in front of her.

Vander, with his feral eyes and his hulking body, clawed hands held down at his sides, and Claggor, hunched with his arms held across his chest, his eyes downcast. They were dead yet here they were, standing there with hate in their hearts and judgement in their eyes.

Something old and ugly welled up within Jinx, escaping her lips before she could do anything to stop it. "Oh, so now you're here too!" She raged, her fists clenching futilely. With a surge of energy Jinx shot to her feet, teeth bared at the ghosts of her family. "If you've got something to say, then fucking say it alread!" The words spilled from her like hot bile, her eyes darting rapidly between Vander and Claggor.

Just as she took the first step towards them, however, though she wasn't sure why moved at all, her brother and father turned away from her entirely. Instead, they locked blank eyes with one another, ignoring her presence. "H-Hey, what are you - what are you doing?" She stuttered as they both took a single step back, coming dangerously close to the edge of the fan blade. They then held their arms up wide, looking up to the roof of the cavern. "Wait, wait, hold on…" Jinx pleaded, holding her hands out before her. Claggor and Vander then leaned back, not even sparing her a glance as they fell from the platform. "Wait!"

As fast and strong as she'd become, as much as she yearned to save them, it was all too little too late and by the time she'd broken into a sprint, they'd disappeared into the depths of the world.

Jinx came to a stop with her arm held out, like even now she was still trying to reach them, for all the good it would do. She lost track of how long she stood there, rooted in place by the anger and grief that just kept coming back, until she let out a breath she didn't remember taking and turned away.

This wouldn't stop them. Death hadn't stopped them before, and they'd probably be back to torment her before the day was out.

Still, seeing them fall was hard because… what if they wanted her to follow them? What if that was an invitation to let go of her work and go home, joining them in peaceful oblivion or whatever came next? This could be her way out, a shortcut to the ending she'd been working towards for weeks now. She could leave the Hextech she'd made here for anyone to find and that way her work could spread across the Undercity, one way or another?

Maybe she was moving the goalposts that Silco had set her, but hadn't she done enough?

Jinx looked down at her hands, trembling and covered in blood not her own, and she wiped her palms on her trousers but the blood remained. She kept wiping, pressing her hands into the fabric hard enough that they started to ache. Her hands remained red even after she spent a whole minute cleaning them, though, and she shoved her hands in her pockets with a snarl.

No, she wouldn't give up. She wouldn't!

I'm just having a bad day. Powder thought with a sniffle, turning around as her head hung low. Yeah… I just need to take a moment and, and gather myself. That sounds about right…

Powder walked back to the central space of her home, heading past her workbench and her dressing area with the small, cracked mirror, before stepping onto the adjacent blade. She was greeted by spray painted steel, old wardrobes and a small, two person bed. This was her bedroom, or at least the closest thing she had to one. It was the part of her home she spent the least amount of time in, especially after Silco's death, but everyone needed a place to sleep, and if she was being honest it had become something of a safe space for her.

She nearly tripped over an empty black powder box as she stripped off, her tears obscuring the better part of her vision, before Powder jumped onto her bed in only her underwear. The lower levels of the Undercity had always been hot, especially in confined underground spaces like this one, and while Powder had grown used to the heat she'd never bothered to wear pajamas in bed. There was never anyone else down here to see her like that and, besides, she liked the feel of the covers against her skin.

It was like a warm, all encompassing hug, and most nights that was enough to lull her to sleep. She'd even dream sometimes, if she was lucky, a warm gift in the night that would shine through the horrors she usually endured. They were short glimpses into the life she could've had, if she hadn't broken every good thing she'd been given. Sometimes she saw what it would've been like if she'd gotten to grow up with Vi, truly being sisters instead of whatever fucked up relationship they had now. Sometimes she'd be running jobs with Mylo and Claggor, the two of them looking older than they ever got to be, and Powder would prove that she wasn't a burden at all; that she could be useful. Once or twice she'd even find herself in The Last Drop with Vander and her parents. Sometimes she'd be working the bar, others she'd be tinkering at a table while they all talked, but she'd always be happy. Sometimes Silco would be there too, the rift between him and Vander having miraculously healed. It didn't make much sense, but they were her fantasies - they could be whatever she needed them to be.

There was one dream that stuck with Powder, however, even though a year had passed since she'd had it. She was with Ekko in his little workshop above Benzo's, the place they'd tinkered and played in for so long as children, but they were older in this world. They looked like they did now, enemies rather than friends, but the little marks they'd gathered over the years had disappeared. Gone were the small scars dotted across Ekko's arms, along with his hourglass face paint, and the tattoos of smoke across her body had vanished, too. It was just the two of them, guards lowered with their hair down, and they spent hours working on something that Powder could no longer remember. Then, when the sun set, Ekko took her to bed and held her until she fell asleep. Unlike all the others she'd only had that dream once, but it was still something special to her, something she could keep close to her heart - a beautiful vision of the love she could've had.

Ekko brought a singular kind of pain for Jinx, something similar yet so very different to how she felt about her sister. Violet embodied the loss of something she'd had since birth, a bond that she should've cherished until the day she'd died, but instead she'd let it shatter and wither away. What she had with Ekko had been built over the course of years, starting back when the two of them had been shy kids with minds and dreams larger than themselves, and they'd bonded through shared interests and ideals. That was a relationship she'd made herself, building it from the ground up, piece by piece. Now it was broken beyond repair, just like the relationship she once had with Vi.

She supposed the death of those dreams should've hurt, the end of those beautiful glimpses into a better life serving to tear her up inside, but Jinx had a good memory. Even if the details got fuzzy, the definition getting blurred with time, she would never forget the feeling of love and hope that accompanied each dream.

Sometimes, in the rare moments she had alone over the past three weeks, she would imagine what it might be like to be the girl in her dreams. This alternate version of herself, someone who was kind and loved and whole, with clean hands and an unburdened heart. If she truly existed in some far off world, if she wasn't just a product of Jinx's damaged psyche, did she know how much Jinx would give just to live her life for a day? For an hour? No price was too much, if it meant she could be with her family and friends one last time.

Jinx had pretended, once or twice, that when she met her end at the bottom of this cavern, she'd wake up as this better version of her. The pain and loneliness would be nothing more than a fading dream.

It was an impossible thing to hope for, a monster like her had no right to happiness, but even she deserved a nice dream like that, right?

Powder wasn't sure she deserved anything if she was being honest, but that wasn't important. It was the only coping mechanism she had left, the only way she could escape from all the pain in her heart, other than the item she'd come to her bedroom for.

Reaching a hand under her bed, Powder's hand found soft and plump fabric and she gripped it hard, pulling out a light blue pillow that was about as long as she was tall, and about as wide too. Powder then shuffled underneath the covers, dragging the pillow with her before clutching it close to her chest.

Powder wrapped her arms around the cool pillow, pressing her face deep into the fabric and shutting her weary eyes. Then she delved deep into her imagination, just like she'd done every time the world got a bit too much after she killed Silco.

She wasn't lying in bed while hugging a pillow, alone in her home which would soon become her tomb. No, she was in her old bunk in the basement of The Last Drop, and it was Vi in her arms. She pictured strong arms wrapping around her torso, along with a calloused hand that ran through her azure hair. She imagined the feeling of her warm body next to hers, back when they used to share a bed, back when Vi had held her after eight years apart, and Powder let herself sink into the memories.

"I miss you so much…" Powder let out a choked sob, the words muffled as she pressed her head into the pillo- into Violet's chest. Vi's hand ran softly down her back, her fingers tracing little circles into her skin, and Powder smiled tearfully.

Vi would… Vi would probably say something encouraging, something about how she was always thinking about her. What was it she said, back at her party in the cannery?

The only thing that kept me going was the thought of getting back to you…

It was that single minded determination to keep going that had gotten Vi out of Stillwater, a strength that Powder had always admired. It didn't matter that Powder, feeling angry and betrayed, had thrown it back in her face. In moments like that, it was the effort that mattered, or so Powder would tell herself. If that wasn't true, then her life had even less meaning than she thought. All the mistakes and horrible things she'd done, she'd done them because… because she only wanted to help. That desire had to be worth something?

Powder snuggled in close to Vi, reaching up and wiping the tears from closed eyes. "I'm not strong like you, not in any way that matters…" She whispered, her grip tightening. "I can't live with this. I have to do it."

The warm caress on the small of her back stopped, the body pressed against her growing tense.

We can just go, we'll leave and never come back.

Powder pressed her brow into Vi's chest, shaking her head with a deep frown. "I'll only hurt you, Vi. It's all I've ever done to you, and to everyone else. It's best if I, if I stay away, and let you live your life from now on." Powder explained, though she knew this was more to convince herself than Violet. "It looks like you've got a good thing going on, even if I hate how you've gone about it, Deputy." She said in a mocking voice, because hadn't that been a surprise? Vi, the Piltover Enforcer…

You did what you had to do to survive. Me too.

"I know. I know… I just wish that things were different." Powder admitted wistfully, letting go of Vi briefly to wipe her eyes and cheeks. "I wish that I could be the sister that you deserve, not this thing that I've become." She trailed off, her fists clenching in the fabric of Vi's jacket. "If only I wasn't a, a…"

Because you're a jinx, do you hear me? Mylo was right!

"He was… but I'll make it right - I promise." Powder said under her breath, both her sister's words and her own stinging like needles. She then took a deep breath and looked to where her sister's face would be, meeting her gaze with shut eyes. "I love you so-"

A loud ringing sound pierced her ears and Jinx jerked back, rolling over and looking towards the source of the noise. At the center of the fan's base, on the other side of the structure where Jinx's workshop was located, her alarm clock was going off. Jinx shook her head with a wry grin before turning back to Vi-

Her blue pillow stared back at her, a large patch of its case stained by tears. Jinx just stared at it for a moment before letting out a monumental sigh, reaching out and tucking the pillow under the covers, like a mother might do for their child.

"Guess I got a bit carried away there, huh?" She said to no one in particular, her voice immediately drowned out by the blare of her alarm.

She'd always had an active imagination, something Vi had complimented her on when they were kids, but situations like this made her realise just how pathetic she was.

Imagining her pillow to be her sister was a low she never thought she'd reach, but her self imposed isolation hadn't been easy. It had been far from that, with her family pushing and seeking to sabotage all at once, and this was the only way she could think of to keep herself sane.

Powder went to Vi when she needed emotional support; an ear to listen or a shoulder to cry on, someone who would give her the love she craved so deeply. She never talked back, how could she when she wasn't real, but when had that ever stopped Jinx? It wasn't only Vi, though. Sometimes Powder pretended that it was Ekko in her arms, if she needed friendship or someone to help when her Hextech was growing complicated or finicky.

She let out a huff as her thoughts turned to her former best friend, her eyes welling up as her frustration grew.

Sometime when she was sixteen she'd run into Ekko, the boy who held a special and solitary place in her heart, for the first time since she'd lost her family, but they weren't the people they used to be. He was the leader of a group of ragtag thugs fighting against the Chembarons, while she'd become their most dangerous weapon. Of course, she hadn't known it was him at the time since he was wearing that stupid owl mask of his, but he'd recognised her instantly.

Jinx could remember laughing when froze at the sight of her, like he'd been paralysed by fear, but she soon learned it was something else when, weeks later, they had another confrontation. It was a shootout in one of the lower level Shimmer factories, with the Firelights flying around on their little hoverboards while Sevika tried to organise an effective response. All the while, Jinx had been trying to shoot the Firelights down with her minigun, getting more and more frustrated as the little bugs evaded every bullet she sent her way.

Then the leader tackled her off the platform she was on, sending them tumbling down and into another section of the facility, one with no one else inside. Most of the fighting had taken place on the main factory floor, so a few of the adjacent storage rooms had been empty at the time. Right before Jinx could gun him down for daring to touch her, Ekko had thrown his mask aside and opened his arms to her. He'd begged and pleaded with her, telling her that it wasn't too late, that she could come and be with them - that they could work together to clean the streets of Shimmer. Jinx had been so conflicted, Mylo's voice barking like a drum in her ears, but then he called Powder, asked her why she was working for a monster like Silco.

She gave him a bullet in the shoulder for his troubles, and it was only his Vastayan buddy's quick intervention that saved his life. Still, the poor bastard tried to convince her the next time they met, and the time after that, and a few more times too. But for all of his hope and optimism, Ekko only had so much to give, and he stopped trying after a while. Jinx was glad about that at the time, and Silco had been so proud of her for letting go of her past like she did, but now she couldn't help but wonder what would've happened if she'd just gone with him.

Well, she didn't need to wonder at all, now did she? Powder probably would've been happy, one way or another, but she'd gotten so many chances for that in her life and she'd thrown them all away.

Jinx made her bed, and now Powder would lie in it.

Stooping down and snatching her discarded clothes from the floor, Jinx dressed herself hurriedly and strode back to her workshop, her discordant clock still ringing. She reached it after a moment, throwing herself into her chair as she snatched up her clock, turning off the alarm with the flick of a switch. Jinx then checked the time and saw that, yep, it had just turned eleven thirty. Her alarm had rung at exactly when she'd set it to, she'd just… forgotten about it.

She had about thirty minutes before her little "appointment", so if she left now she'd get there early. Just as Jinx was about to do that, however, something caught her eye, its blue glow reflecting off the metal workbench and she picked it up.

It was a cylindrical and hollow piece of iron, just a little larger than her thumb, with two raised steel plates on each end. The device was heavier than it looked though not by a huge amount, but what had caught her eye were the bright blue runes carved into the metal.

This right here was the first of her major innovations with Hextech: the Hextech Battery.

See, when Jinx had been reading through the Piltie scientist's notes on Hextech, back when Silco had asked her to recreate the technology, she had learned some genuinely interesting things. Sure, she'd dismissed most of it as useless until she'd learned how to work with Hextech herself, but there were one or two pages that she'd marked because they could prove important later on; one of those pages detailing the power source of the Hexgate.

They were just general ideas going by the notes themselves, not anything concrete like schematics or blueprints, but the concept of the system itself was what interested her - not the mechanics. It seemed that when the Hexgate was first being devised, there wasn't any way of powering Hextech on a large scale. That made sense because, according to the book, the extent of Hextech at the time had been using those unstable gemstones to power smaller devices, so they had nothing capable of powering something as tall as a skyscraper. According to Talis' notes, which she could tell were his because the fucker signed every damn page, the Council had them on a strict timeframe so designing a sizeable power source was off the table.

To get around this, they decided to construct a case capable of holding and siphoning the energy of multiple gemstones at once, and utilising these devices in bulk to power the Hexgate.

That idea was what interested Jinx the most, as she only had the one Hextech Gemstone and lacked the knowledge to make more, so she devised a way to create smaller, expendable stores of arcane energy. Soon after that, the Hextech Battery was born. It took four or five days and a few restarts on the design to actually accomplish, but truth be told the final design wasn't all that complicated. Take something like, say, empty bullet casings and line the insides with some copper wire, then cap the ends with small steel plates and you're nearly done. After that all you've gotta do is carve over two dozen tiny, individual runes onto the metal exterior, and then it's a job well done!

You've gotta be careful when carving those runes, though. Make a mistake with the size or spacing of them, or stars forbid get one wrong, and you've got a recipe for an unstable energy containment field.

To put a long story short: kablooe. Lots of kablooe, especially for something so tiny.

Jinx had learned that the hard way during her first attempt at storing magical energy in a battery, where she nearly lost two fingers in the resulting explosion. The only thing that saved her was her Shimmer-enhanced reactions, though that hadn't stopped Mylo from teasing her incessantly about it.

Still, Jinx thought as she turned over the Hextech Battery in her hand, looking over the runes that shone blue with arcane light, now I can build as much Hextech shit as I want, even with the one gemstone. Until that runs out, that is, but I have no idea when that'll happen which makes it a problem for future me.

Relying on these batteries meant she needed a reliable way of charging them, though, and speaking of…

Jinx reached down and to the right where she kept her safe, a strong and square bit of steel just by the side of her workbench, and entered the code to open it. Leaning down and slotting her fingers under the base of the device, Jinx slowly drew out her creation and lay it atop the table.

A round and bronze-coloured metal plate stared back at her, multilayered and shrinking down into a point, glowing arcane runes etched into every inch of steel. It was a little wider than a dinner plate, with two alloyed struts that rose and curved in, black wires and power cables curving around them and down towards the base. Floating in between the tips of the struts was the Hextech Gemstone, shining bright like a blue star as it fed power down the cables, lighting the runes carved into them as energy reached the three round metal plates built into the base.

Standing upright on those plates were three other Hextech Batteries, held to the device with electromagnets as they charged, and Jinx quickly snatched them up and inspected them. Judging by the intense glow of the runes on the case, the batteries were now fully charged and Jinx carefully placed them down next to the charger. Then she reached down into the safe once more and produced two cardboard shoe boxes, slightly torn and damp at the edges and set them on her workbench. One was filled to the brim with empty Hextech Batteries, around fifty or sixty, she hadn't really kept count, while the other held only half that. The two dozen or so batteries here were fully charged, however, all shining with arcane potential.

Jinx tossed the three fully charged batteries into the shoe box and placed it back into the safe, though she kept the one she'd had originally. She then took three empty batteries from the other box and placed them back on the Hextech charger, smiling as they began to glow ever so slightly. They'd be done in a few hours or so, and with that Jinx placed both the charger and the second shoe box back into the safe, making sure to close and lock it afterwards.

Taking a deep breath, Jinx opened a drawer underneath her work table and drew out her pistol, laying it down on the table and looking over it thoughtfully.

I'm not going anywhere dangerous, Jinx reasoned before shaking her head, but better safe than sorry.

She picked up her pistol and pressed a switch on the underside of the barrel, unlocking the frame and letting the barrel hang open on its hinge. Three weeks ago she'd have found a custom made cylinder, capable of holding eight 10mm rounds, but all she saw now was a mess of components, wires and runes, along with a single bullet held in an individual chamber. That and an empty slot near the bottom of the contraption with a metal plate at the end, which Jinx then placed the Hextech Battery inside.

Snapping the pistol shut, Jinx watched as the series of runes she'd carved into the metal began to shine with azure light, the weapon humming with energy and power.

This was the second project she'd undertaken, and the one which had taken the longest by far. So long, in fact, that she'd gotten bored of working on it at one point, starting and finishing an entirely new project before resuming her research.

Once Jinx had finished the Hextech Batteries she'd realised that, with Silco dead, his Chembarons might get a bit uppity, and so she'd decided that it may be time for them to go. Jinx could've managed the job alone using her normal arsenal of weapons, especially with her newly constructed rocket launcher, but Silco had charged her with giving Hextech to the people of Zaun, so that they could fight back against Piltover.

In the end she chose to kill two birds with one stone and set her sights on empowering her weapons, and Jinx felt she'd done a pretty fucking good job of it.

When it came to her three firearms, her pistol, her minigun and her rocket launcher, actual firepower wasn't an issue, so instead she'd looked for a way to augment what was already there. The first thing she did was look at what she'd done with her rocket launcher, taking a mundane explosive device and boosting it ten times over with magic. That had taken all of two days to do with her pistol and minigun, having already done the brunt of the research before Silco's death, but then she realised it wasn't enough.

This was about innovation, about creating something new that would allow Zaun to tear its way out of the muck, overtaking Piltover and finally getting the respect they deserved.

So she'd turned to the Piltie's notebook one more time, back to the first page she'd marked down, and it was there she found her inspiration.

Apparently on the night Talis and his "partner", whatever that meant, managed to stabilise a Hextech Gemstone they created some sort of gravitational anomaly, allowing them to float through the air like fish in water. One thing that Talis had analysed a lot, though, was what happened when he pushed a small cog through the nexus of arcane sigils and concentric rings that had appeared in the room. Simply put, the cog was hit with some form of electricity and teleported from one end of the nexus to the other.

The Piltie had two theories for this. One was that the cog had been accelerated to previously unheard of speeds, reaching the opposite side of the nexus in an instant. This, and something Talis referred to as "the first encounter", appeared to be a major inspiration for the design of the Hexgate, which effectively had only two main functions. First was creating a stable tunnel that would allow for travel at such ridiculous speeds without self-destructing, something invisible which would only last until the matter had been transported. Then it was just an issue of accelerating the object to such speeds in the first place.

The second theory was that the cog was somehow transformed into raw energy and then recreated in a different location, something which was disregarded when designing the Hexgate as the logistics and energy requirements would be a bit too much for what they could produce at the time.

Something like this had potential, though, just on a much smaller scale. What Jinx had spent nearly two weeks devising was a way to effectively "clone" an object, turning raw arcane energy into a perfect copy of whatever item she wanted. At this point in its development anything Jinx transmuted, which was the technical term as far as she knew, would vanish after two or three minutes depending on the size and complexity of the item. Bad for anything permanent like a weapon, but more than perfect for ammunition. All she needed was to keep a single piece of ammo in each weapon to act as a template, then the Hextech would draw energy from the battery within and produce ammo every time she pulled the trigger.

One full battery in her pistol would get her about seventy shots of magically enhanced bullets, though that was after a lot of testing and adjustments, and if Jinx was being honest that was still the least resource-intensive weapon she had at her disposal. She'd fitted her minigun and rocket launcher with similar technology but they both needed three Hextech Batteries at a time to even be worthwhile. The minigun could fire for about three minutes continuously before she needed to switch out the batteries, which she supposed was pretty good all things considered, but her rocket launcher needed three batteries for a single shot.

Rockets were far more structurally complex than bullets so that made sense, but still, one fucking shot? Sure, a single one of those missiles could do an obscene amount of damage, especially with Hextech backing it, but it was a serious damper on her enthusiasm. She'd just have to save it as a last resort, ultimate attack type thing, if that made any sense at all.

Still, now she had an arsenal of Hextech weapons, along with some incredible research potential in the line of programmable fucking matter, so she was happy with the progress she'd made.

Even if Mylo had spent all of that morning mocking her as she tried to apply this technology to her grenades, causing her breakdown earlier. Even if Silco told her she was going about this in the wrong way, that she should be focusing on building things to help the people of Zaun, not weapons to tear them down, causing an argument they still hadn't recovered from.

What the hell did he know, though?

Fight the good fight, then die.

That was what he'd told her and that was what she was going to do, but if she was going to give Hextech to the Undercity, shouldn't she get rid of the people who'd use it for their own gain? That felt like the right thing to do.

If that pissed him off then so be it. What difference did it make if everyone already hated her?

Jinx checked her clock once more before holstering her pistol, standing up after a moment and moving towards the dressing area with the cracked mirror, where she'd tended her wounds after the confrontation with the Firelights. Resting atop the counter was a grey steel rod, two feet in length with small struts protruding horizontally from each end. There was a flat disc in the middle with a little hatch, held down by worn screws, and Jinx snatched the device up in her hand.

As she headed towards her home's exit, stepping onto the corresponding fan blade, Jinx pressed the button on the underside of the device's central disc and tossed it to the floor ahead of her. Right before it impacted the steel flooring however, the runes that she had meticulously carved into its length erupted into light, a flat plane of solid blue energy forming around the base of the device, leaving a solid three and a half foot platform that hovered softly in the air.

That was the other device she'd made, a Hextech hoverboard. She built this when she'd been having problems upgrading and retrofitting her weapons, and honestly she wasn't sure what to think of it. At the time making a hoverboard seemed like a cool and fun idea, even though she wasn't supposed to be doing stuff like that anymore, and it hadn't been all that tough to make. Some anti-gravity generators and hard light projectors and it was good to go, with one Hextech Battery giving it enough charge for four hours of flight.

Still, as Jinx hopped up onto her hoverboard, the device wobbling slightly in the air for a moment as it took her weight, she couldn't help but wonder if she wasn't just projecting. If she hadn't built this device for utility and transport like she told herself, but to feel alive in whatever small way she still could.

Jinx didn't know, but she did know what Ekko would say if he ever saw her on this thing. Something about copycats and knockoffs, if he didn't just try and kill her on sight. If it came down to it, she'd probably let him…

Taking a deep breath, Jinx leaned forward and grinned as the hoverboard beneath her feet rocketed forward, taking her through the tunnels and out of her home.

…

Twenty or so minutes later, Jinx was sitting on the edge of a rooftop with a sandwich in one hand and a telescope in the other, looking out over the Lanes.

Taking a bite of the sandwich she'd definitely made and not stolen, Jinx tilted back with a smile, enjoying the "fresh" air of the Undercity.

This was one of the spots she remembered from her youth, running across and atop the Lanes with Vi, Claggor and Mylo. They'd always stop up here for a breather or to have some food, or in particularly desperate moments to hide from people they'd stolen from. She hadn't actually come back here until after Vi got out of Stillwater and everything went… everything went wrong. She needed somewhere to practice with her hoverboard though, and there wasn't really a better place than this. It was high enough that people wouldn't disturb her, with lots of open air above and rooftops that would catch her if she fell.

Jinx hadn't yet, but there was a first time for everything, or so people said.

But there was one other reason she came up here, something she'd discovered on her second practice run with her hoverboard, and it was why she felt so guilty every time she came here.

She finished the bite of her sandwich and brought the telescope up to her eye, carefully setting her lunch down next to her in the plastic bag it had come in. Looking a dozen or so buildings away, in a marketplace at the edge of one of the Lane's platforms, Jinx spied a small food stand with a large fish tank attached to the side. Even from this far away, with her telescope and a clear line of sight, Jinx could see every inch of Jericho's little food parlour, even the back of the Vastayan owner himself, though considering his size that wasn't as impressive as it sounded.

Sitting on a stool just in front of the food stand though, in a bright red leather jacket with two massive Hextech gauntlets resting either side of her, was Vi.

Jinx's entire body relaxed at the sight of her, just like it always did, but it did nothing to stop the rush of guilt from flooding over her heart.

Powder had sworn that she'd leave Vi alone, that she'd never hurt her again, yet here she was watching over her from a thousand meters away, all because she missed her.

It had started some weeks ago, when she'd been on her second practice run with her hoverboard and, remembering how it was possible to see Jericho's from that roof, she'd decided to take a look. When Powder saw Vi there, gloves off with a bowl of food in her hand, fucking chatting with a group of Enforcers like it was nothing, she had honestly broke down in tears.

It was Vi, it was her sister, and she was alive! She was… different. In the days after Powder had left her and the Kiramman whore in the factory, Vi must've joined up with the Enforcers for some reason. Knowing Vi, it was probably some selfless attempt to help deal with the fallout of Silco's death, or maybe she was only trying to get in Caitlyn's pants, but the why didn't matter.

She was one of them now, and Jinx should've hated them for that.

Powder, though; sweet, naive, lonely Powder - she was just happy to see her.

She'd come to this spot every day after that, using whatever excuse she could to get out of that fucking hole in the ground and to see the last person in the world who maybe still cared for her. Vi was never alone though. Some days it was her and a group of Enforcers, but Jinx didn't care to check if it was the same group or not, and other days it was her, Ekko and a bunch of the Firelights. Once or twice, the two different groups had even come together, and wasn't that a fucking surprise! Firelights and Enforcers eating together, Jinx had to pinch herself to make sure she wasn't dreaming when she saw that.

It hadn't taken long for Jinx to realise why Vi kept coming here. This was right by what most people down here called the heart of the Lanes, and since Vi was clearly leading patrols of some kind, it made sense she'd stop by someplace familiar and convenient for lunch.

As much as it hurt to see Vi acting all chummy with the Enforcers, she was happy to know that her sister was doing alright, that she'd managed to make something decent from this shitty situation.

The only problem was that it meant seeing Caitlyn Kiramman, heiress and Sheriff supreme, as it seemed her and Vi were joined at the fucking hips! Jinx could stomach it. She could stomach it…

Jinx was stomaching it just fine then, seeing her and Vi next to each other, chatting just across the counter from where Jericho was chopping some meat or whatever it was he was cooking. Then Vi turned and looked just across the walkway, to where her little band of Enforcers were gathered by a railing and eating some food, before turning back to the Kiramman.

Then she leaned forward and kissed her, and Jinx's stomach fell.

The Sheriff pushed Vi back, looking towards the Enforcers to see if they'd noticed before turning back to her sister. She was probably about to reprimand her, something about displays of affection near coworkers, but Jinx had seen enough and she lowered her telescope.

Powder's mind toiled uncertainty, trying to sort through and process everything she had seen just then, but she just came up empty.

Don't get her wrong, she was honestly expecting this to happen sooner or later, but that didn't stop the rising feeling of hurt within her.

Violet was finding happiness, in a new job with friends and even a girlfriend, someone she could trust to stand by her side. Powder was happy for her, she was happy!

All it meant was that, Vi… she was leaving her behind.

It wasn't her fault. Jinx would ruin any happiness she found, they both knew that much, but having the proof of it shoved in her face like that, it was almost more than she could take…

Before Jinx could look back through her telescope, however, as the cataclysmic boom of an explosion washed over her, probably nine or ten blocks away.

Jinx covered her ears and recoiled, nearly dropping her telescope in her haste, before looking down at the streets below. Masses of people were running for their lives right as gunfire began to bark loudly. She quickly brought up her telescope once more and looked towards Jericho's only to see Vi and Caitlyn already on their feet, shouting something to the Enforcers with them as her sister threw on her gauntlets. They then ran towards the sound of conflict, leaving their food and Jinx behind.

For a single, short moment Powder considered giving chase, hopping on her hoverboard and rushing to whatever fight had broken out, but she didn't move an inch.

Whatever was going on down there, she'd only make it worse. It was all she ever did.

Instead, she tossed the remnants of her sandwich over the edge of the building and stood, hopping back onto the roof and picking up her hoverboard's frame. Activating the device, she quickly jumped on and left without looking back. Her work with Hextech was worth more than dying in some random firefight, no matter how much that idea appealed to her.

Duty called for them all, it seemed.

There we go! That's the timeskip I mentioned at the end of last chapter, and it was something I'd planned to have from the beginning of this fic. I want this story to show the long term effects of the character's actions and choices, and that means time will have to pass for the consequences to come to fruition. It's either that or write every single day from the perspective of every single character, which I don't want to write and I'm pretty sure no one wants to read. Obviously we didn't get a lot of information about what happened in the past three weeks this chapter since Jinx is pretty damn far out of the loop, but we'll learn more when we get to Vi next chapter, as she's pretty much at the centre of everything that's been going on.

Anyways, I really hope you all enjoyed this, and I'll see you next time.