Inspired by the prompt from tumblr promptlyprompting

Prompt:
"Who invited you to my pity party?"

Ekko knew something was amiss when Jinx missed the third shimmer raid that intel had said she would be on security for.

Don't get him wrong, she was his enemy most of the time, but she was also a child of Zuan.

A child he wasn't able to get out from Silco's rule.

It's not hard for him to find her hideouts and bolt holes, and while she had many, he'd calculated she probably only had a handful he didn't know about. That is to say she could very easily know of all the firelights corners and bolts just as easily.

His only hope was that the Sanctuary was still a secret from her.

Once he's cleaned up and checked in with Scar, Ekko takes off towards the west end and the abandoned warehouse he's seen her frequent a number of times. It was a good enough place to start his search for the wayward marksman.

When he doesn't find her there, he starts an outward sweep of her hideaways and places he's seen her slip through like the ghost many had believed her to be.

He's almost done searching the bricked off cellar that was once an underground bar before the last resistance in the war with Piltover came to a close, when he hears her approach. Glancing around the room at the decaying décor and broken bottles and relics of a time he's never been, Ekko makes the split decision to take the wall across from the bar, eyes able to see the room and the exit should things get dicey.

Once Jinx is down and secured the entrance, Ekko knows it's only a few moments away before she knows she's not alone, and any other day, she'd have sensed him long before trapping them in together. He can see the hitch in her breath , a plastic bag clutched into her hands as she spots him, his back to one of her walls, body relaxed, attempting to show her that he wasn't here to fight.

Her gaze finally breaks from him, lips pursed as she moves further into the decaying room, bag dropped on the last table standing, "Who invited you to my pity party, boy savior?"

Ekko can only shrug eyes still following her. He studies her, certain now he'd made the right choice to come. There was something unsettling about seeing her like this, the bags around her eyes making her gaunt appearance more apparent, it left an uneasy feeling in his gut.

"Well, you can leave." Jinx mutters, "Shut up."

Ekko isn't startled by the bite, or the command, he simply holds his tongue; this is not the first time she's talked to ghost around him, and it won't be the last he was certain, "You been busy?"

Jinx's eyes return to him, something curious hidden in the depths now, "Were you worried about little old me?" she smirked, "Why how considerate of you."

"If I was?" He challenged, there was little reason to deny her claim after all.

"What did you think someone offed me before you could?" Jinx's smile was cruel, before turning vicious as she spun behind her, words hissed out of clenched teeth to quiet for Ekko to make out.

Ekko turns away, her ghosts weren't his to judge, nor were they there for him to speak with, "That's not it and you know it."

Jinx laughs humorlessly, "Right, boy savior can't kill lil old Jinxy now that he knows the ugly little secret."

"In case you missed it on the bridge, I hadn't been able to do it then either." He hissed back, "Your bomb was the least of the problem."

He's glaring back at her, her shimmer-colored eyes are trained on him once more, ghosts forgotten for the moment "You need to figure it out then." She says, fight leaving her eyes, "Cause otherwise your going to lose all your friends out there. You think they haven't noticed you firelights aren't aiming to kill anymore- that you aren't. I don't get that luxury. Just like I don't get the luxury of dying in this war."

Ekko swallows thickly, he knows this, he does. Doesn't make it any easier, "That's not a luxury Jinx. They shouldn't be taking away your choices like that. Not to fight, not to kill, not to- not to die. What they did to you, when they saved you- against your will, that isn't okay."

Jinx watches him her eyes searching for anything that could be a lie, that he doesn't mean. And Ekko isn't positive he means it all, but he does know that she should have the choice and to have the say what happens to her and what goes into her body.

"I don't want to kill you, but I can't make you live either." Ekko whispers breaking the silence that had descended over them.

"You'd really let me die?"

Ekko can't bring himself to break her gaze this time, it's not an option with how afraid she is. He can't say one way or the other if his next words are the right ones, but he has to hope she understands anyways. "I don't want to see you dead. But I could never force you through the pain of resurrection to live this half-life again either."

Jinx doesn't say anything for a while, and Ekko, Ekko has to be content to wait here. He came to check on her this time, not to fight about it all.

"They're going to use me against you." She whispers.

"I know."

Jinx whisper turns hysteric, "I'm going to let them."

"I know." Ekko says, a little more certain, and a lot more determined to give her peace, this isn't his enemy, he isn't sure that she ever has been one to begin with, not truly.

"Ekko-" Jinx's voice cracks, pained and desperate.

"I know Jinx, okay, I do. That doesn't mean I didn't come here to make sure you were okay and to see if you needed anything. Pity party aside, just talk to me here, please."

Jinx nods slowly before dropping down onto the ratty couch, all the tension in her frame draining away for the moment. Though Ekko doesn't leave his wall, only slides down to sit on the dusty ground, unwilling to break the peace this time.

"Have you studied particle theory of displacement and distribution before?"

Ekko is a little surprised this is what she decided to talk about, though he hadn't been very specific when he was all but begging her a bit ago to talk to him. "Can't say that I have."

Jinx stares dead ahead, eyes glazed over, "You should think about it. What with your obsession with time and all. Time is a flowing construct that moves unobstructed to the naked eye, the particles of the universe and the fabric of reality interact, and change based on the atomic level structure of an object. Things like mass, velocity, kinetic energy, the thermals of the situation all play a part. Taking into account particle theory..."

Ekko let himself sink further into his own mind, it had been a long time since he had buried his best friend, and far less time since he found her still alive within his enemy. But today, today he gets to hear her as she theorizes time, and he wonders if she missed him just as much as he did her.

"How does one see particle theory in demonstration?"

"Depends on I guess; I always just use explosives. How else can you understand the displacement and redistribution of particles on a visual scale that doesn't take expensive tools or incredible patience?"

Ekko can't stop himself from laughing there, "Alright, alright, tell me more, I think I got a few things on time elements that might disrupt your theory though."

It didn't have to make sense to them. But right then, it was like the world hadn't changed, and innocence hadn't been lost all those years ago as they talked for hours about things most would claim as impossible or unobtainable.

Just two kids on opposite sides of a war, that neither wanted to keep fighting that night.

Authors Note:

I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it.

I love the idea of Jinx using explosives for legitimate science experiments and applying them to things she'd be able to connect to her childhood friend, especially during the time when she isn't aware of his survival. [whether that's shortly after the explosion that took her family away or the one on the bridge]

October treated me well and I have a lot of material to edit and plots to write into stories.

Until next time,

-Eden