A/N: This chapter has a scene that's a little spicy so close your eyes if you are 12!
EKKO V
Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. The stopwatch oscillated like a pendulum before the floodlight, dredging up old memories that were long forgotten. With every swing, the clock winded back until a time when it was only a game with paint guns and cardboard swords. The illusion was so warm and sweet that just for a moment, she could be hypnotized to believe that it was reality. He dashed at her with fury in his eyes while she shot at him with a smile on her face. He dodged the first three bullets beautifully, but he should have learned better. It was always the fourth shot she won with.
As Ekko leaped through the air with his clockhand winded back, Jinx raised her pistol. It would be blood not paint that coats his chest this time. As her finger went to squeeze the trigger, pictures of their childhood memories flashed before her eyes. Pieces of emotions that she thought she had burned materialized out of the ashes and the girl that Silco had drowned resurfaced. She could not do it.
The metal pipe slammed into her head and made her ears ring. She tried to defend herself but her gun was knocked out of her hand and she was thrown onto the ground. She was no match for him in a melee and he let her know as he hammered his fists into her. Blood ran down her broken nose and she tasted iron in her mouth. The voices mocked her for being so weak and pathetic but she no longer cared.
Their eyes connected and in that split second, he saw that the fight had long left her eyes. Her last remaining hope had walked away from her and she had nothing left to lose. This was not his victory but her resignation. That was her last gift to him, to allow him to have his fill of violent retribution before she called it quits. His blows stopped as he could no longer bring himself to hurt her and with a smile, she gave him one last warning before pulling the grenade ping.
You're too kind.
Clink.
…
Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. The stopwatch oscillated like a pendulum before the floodlight, conjuring up old memories that were long forgotten. With every swing, the clock winded back until a time when it was only a game with paint guns and cardboard swords. He steeled himself to not fall into that illusion for it was so much sweeter than the reality they were in. He dashed at her with fury in his eyes while she shot at him with a smile on her face. She shot the way she always did, just like he remembered, but she should have learned better. She would have no time for a fourth shot.
As Ekko leaped through the air with his clockhand winded back, Jinx raised her pistol. It would be his win this time. As he swung his weapon, pictures of someone else's memories flashed before his eyes. Pieces of emotions that he had yet to experience flooded into his heart and he could no longer bring himself to hurt her. The metal pipe stopped an inch away from her head and the two of them stared at each other as they both refused to complete their attacks.
"How did you know I wasn't going to shoot?" she asked with a raw voice.
He didn't have an answer for her, only a feeling that this was a chance to fix something that was broken, and he said the only thing that made sense to him, "Because you didn't before." BANG! A shot went off but it wasn't from her gun. Blood coated her chest as she reached out to him for help but before he could catch her, she fell to the ground. "Powder!"
I woke up in a cold sweat as fresh tears rolled down the side of my cheek. I sat up in a state of panic and only when I saw the real Powder sleeping peacefully beside me was I sure that I was really me. I whispered a silent prayer, "Please, just let these be bad dreams." These strange visions occurred more and more frequently, showing me lives that I never lived, and the more that I saw, the less I was sure what was real or not. It was getting to the point where I was losing track of which memories were actually mine. "What does this all mean? What the hell is happening to me?"
A hand reached up and gently cupped my face, "Hey, you okay?" asked Powder with concern in her blue eyes.
"Sorry, did I wake you up?"
"You don't need to apologize," she said as she pulled me down for a kiss. "I've woken you up plenty of times before, haven't I?" I surrendered to her embrace and pulled her closer into my arms. She was soft as a pillow and her warmth kept the cold night air at bay. Our bodies fitted together like two pieces of a puzzle as she nuzzled the crook of my neck and at that moment, life was perfect. I could relive this every day for the rest of my life and it still wouldn't be enough.
"You're perfect, you know that?"
"You could stand to say it more," she giggled as I showered her with affection.
I sighed contently, "The best part about all of this is that I don't have to hold back anymore."
"Maybe if you didn't hold back for so long, we could have started sooner."
"Yeah, that's true," I said as I held her gaze. "I just…didn't want to take advantage of you. I felt like if all you had was me, you would have felt pressured to say yes whether you felt the same way or not."
"You're too kind." My heart sank as I heard those familiar words and my expression must have as well because her smile immediately dropped. "Did I say something wrong?"
"No, it's not you, I-" Hesitation beset me as I tried to put my worries into words. I feared that by speaking of it out loud, it would make it more than just a figment of my unconscious imagination.
"Talk to me, we're a team, aren't we?"
She waited patiently for me to gather my thoughts and after a long think, I finally spoke, "I keep getting these…visions of my life in other realities or timelines. I don't know if they're real, if they're trying to tell me something, or if I need to be doing something to prevent it from happening."
"Prevent what from happening?"
"Losing you," I whispered as I closed my eyes and lowered my head. Even now, I could still see her sad smile as she pulled the grenade pin or her trembling hand as she reached for me. "No matter the circumstances or how hard I tried, I lost you every single time."
"Hey, I'm right here and I'm not going anywhere." I felt her head lean against mine as she raised my face back up. "I told you, didn't I? I'm not letting you go. You're still going to be stuck with me when I'm an eighty-year-old granny."
I laughed as I pictured her just as energetic at eighty as she was now and it made me feel better to be able to imagine a happy ending rather than the sad ones I've been seeing. "I love you," I said as I kissed her deeply. For a long time, I thought I needed to be the strong one but she was an oasis for me as much as I was one for her. When we pulled apart, her cheeks were flushed and she did a lip bite that stirred my heart in all kinds of ways.
"Can we…" She didn't need to finish that sentence as I pressed my lips over hers again with carnal urgency. A small moan escaped her mouth as I teased her softly with my tongue and she pressed herself closer to me. My hands went to her hips as she straddled me and lifted the oversized shirt over her head. My mind went blank as I stared at her beautiful body and a small grin spread over her face as she watched my eyes worship her. "My eyes are up here."
"Powder…"
Her pupils dilated with desire as she heard the need in my voice. "Okay, enough foreplay," she said breathlessly as her hand trailed down my chest and stomach before reaching my boxers. I could feel her arousal as much as she could feel mine and just as she was about to take me in, a loud knock on our door interrupted our love-making. "Go away!" she yelled with annoyance as both of our bodies were so edged it felt like we were on fire.
"I'm sorry for interrupting but you two need to come right now," said Ava in a serious tone, "we have a problem."
I clenched my jaw and let out a frustrated sigh, "What is it?"
"It's Chross."
An old gentleman with slick-back hair and a fancy white suit stood in front of about a hundred men armed with guns. Originally hailing from Piltover, Chross moved his arms-dealing business to the undercity when he saw the opportunity that came with Vander's death. His business thrived at the cost of trencher lives but, fortunately for the businessman, life was cheap down here. With his ruthlessness and cunning, he became the leader of one of the most organized and dangerous gangs in Zaun, right up there with Silco.
"You took so long to come I was afraid I was going to die of old age," Chross chuckled as I walked up.
"What do you want?" I asked bluntly as I looked at the people behind him and got a measure of their firepower. We were outnumbered but if push came to shove, we had some cards up our sleeves too.
"Why so serious, Owl, you won't humor an old man with some conversation? Or would you prefer I call you Ekko instead?" A moment passed before he continued, "Citizen registries aren't as up to date as they are on the other side of the river but with enough eyes looking, I was able to find you. So why don't you two take off that silly masks and we can speak to each other like civilized people."
"You talk a lot, use all these honeyed words, but all you really want is to get a better read of me, right?" I laughed lightly as I took off the mask and stared him right in the eye. "You could have just asked."
"You are certainly as eccentric as they say. How old are you now? 18? To think that you built all of this from such a young age, it's quite impressive. Had you been born in Piltover, there is no telling what you would have been able to achieve," said Chross with a small smile that made the wrinkles around his eyes show.
"Thank you, I appreciate that," I said as I returned the sarcastic smile, "but I couldn't have done it without people like you and Silco. Remember? After all, it was you guys who flooded the streets with guns and drugs and turned the undercity into this shithole. Can you imagine how I would have turned out had my life not been so difficult?"
"I understand your trepidations against me," he said with a sympathetic tone. "I'm a businessman from Piltover and you think we're all here to exploit the people of Zaun for profit. Honest folks like your parents."
I clenched my jaw and tightened my grip on the clockhand, "Be careful what you say next."
"Did you really think it was a workplace accident that killed them?"
The blood in my veins froze. "What are you talking about?"
"Isn't it convenient that all the people opposing Vander's revolution all disappeared the week before he crossed that bridge? Haven't you ever wondered why Benzo showed up at your door so soon after your parents died?"
"They were old friends," I replied mechanically.
"Come on now, you're smarter than that. For years, Silco fanned the hatred between Piltover and Zaun. The death of the matron of Clan Tyrell, the house that tried to open the hospital, was also his work. He knew his brother wouldn't go through with the rebellion if the agreement wasn't unanimous so he took care of the dissident groups, one way or another."
"My parents were never involved in that stuff!"
"What did your parents want most? What were they slaving all those hours at the factories for? Was it not for you to one day join an upside clan and be accepted at the Academy? What would have become of that dream if Piltover and Zaun went to war?"
"You're making it up," I said as I shook my head and took a deep breath. "You just want the Firelights to fight Silco for you and you're trying to get me riled up." I didn't know who I was trying to convince, him or myself. The stitches of that old memory were being ripped open and I was reliving that rainy night all over again. My little genius. Tears welled up in my eyes as I recalled my mother's gentle voice and my father's proud smile. They sacrificed everything so that I could have a shot at living a better life and they were murdered for it? My heart raced in my chest and the more I thought about it, the more my body shook with anger.
All these years I've blamed misfortune for their death but that misfortune had a name. He was still walking around while they lay beneath the ground. He still had goals and ambitions while theirs were snuffed out. He still had a name while theirs were forgotten. Silco. "I got a tip of where he is holding his next meeting with the chembarons. We're going to prepare an ambush for him and end this madness once and for all. He is an extremist with delusions of grandeur and he would burn this city to the ground if he could be king of the ashes. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, Ekko. Bring him down with me and you'll have justice for your parents," said Chross as he held out his hand.
I looked down and at that moment, every fiber of my being wanted to take it. How many others have suffered at his hand? Powder. Wengo. Ava. The list goes on for miles and it was time he paid for what he has done to this city, not in gold but blood. I wanted to dye my hands with it and be the last person he ever saw with his devil eye. It would feel like the right thing to do. But who are you willing to lose? My hands stopped in its track as Benzo's voice echoed in the back of my mind. Ava? Wengo? Powder? The dream of her death flashed before my eyes and a war waged within my heart. Love or hatred. Silco or Powder.
"This isn't the life your parents would have wanted for you," Chross added as he saw the pause. "I would pay you and your crew very well. You could buy a new home in Piltover, start fresh and become the inventor your parents always hoped you would be."
I painted the image he described in my head: an easy life in Piltover where I wouldn't have to worry about if I would die tomorrow or where my next meal would come from. A life that would give meaning to my parents' sacrifice. But at what cost? That life of luxury would be paid for in the blood of my comrades, the people I swore to protect. It would be a life that stripped all meaning to the sacrifices we made so far. At that moment, the answer was clear. "And leave my people and Zaun behind in your greedy hands?" I asked as I raised my chin defiantly.
"I am its rightful ruler." His tone darkened as he noticed my attitude shift. "If Silco didn't have Singed on his side, I would have been king long ago. Don't make the mistake of betting on the wrong horse."
"You've spent the last few years down here but you still don't get it. In your heart, you are still a topsider, all you know is take, take and take. You don't know what it's like to lose and when you do, you will break. Zaun deserves someone better."
"You're a coward, boy" he spat out.
"My decision is final, I suggest you leave," I said as I donned my owl mask.
"And if I don't?"
I looked him dead in the eye, "Then Silco will be the one ruling the undercity tomorrow."
As I began walking away, Chross said one last thing, "It's a shame this couldn't work out but you weren't the only one I found, perhaps your little blue-haired friend will be more useful to me." I paused and turned around as I reached for the Flashbinder. "Relax, I only did the same thing I did for you. I simply provided her with some information that she may find interesting, that's all." He tapped his cane on the ground and his men began to retreat. "The ambush happens next week, I recommend you give my proposal a second thought. If I can't tempt you with honey, the next time we see each other, it'll be something less sweet."
"What did he want?" asked Wengo as he came up with the rest of the Firelights.
"Call a meeting at the treehouse, we have something we need to discuss tonight," I said as I looked around for Powder before turning to Ava. "Where did she go?"
I found her sitting alone in the scrapyard overlooking the city. A portion of the fence was ripped out and she was dangling her legs over the edge as she stared up at the moon. I took a seat next to her and for a long time, we just sat there in silence. "Vi took me here to make me feel better after I jinxed that job. I thought I'd give it a try but I guess it was the person, not the place that did the trick." She paused for a moment before continuing, "Chross gave me the name of the enforcer who killed her. Marcus. He's a sheriff now. Lives in a big ol' apartment with his cute little daughter."
"What are you going to do?" I asked.
"I'm not sure yet. That's why I came here. Thought maybe her ghost or something could give me some guidance," she said as she played with a toy rabbit in her hand and reminisced on memories past. "She always wanted to be recognized as more than just a girl born in the undercity. She used to say, 'One day, this city is going to respect us.'" She smiled bitterly as a tear dropped on the stuffed animal. " She didn't deserve to die like that."
"What about you, what do you want?"
She turned and looked at me, "To be happy."
"And are you?"
"When I'm with you." I wrapped my arm around her shoulder and she leaned into me. "I thought the voices would be encouraging me to go kill him but they're surprisingly quiet. I think they know that if I do, we will never have the life that we want. If that's the cost of my revenge, I don't know if I can pay it. Do you think Vi would resent me for that?"
I looked into her eyes and saw the guilt that was weighing her down. "I think she would have wanted you to be happy."
Her body shook as sobs racked her body. "I want to make him pay so fucking bad."
"I know," I said as I clenched my fist and pulled her in closer. "I know." Was the world so unfair that neither of us could avenge our past loved ones without losing our current ones? Wasn't there anything we could do? I looked forward to the utopia that is Piltover and that's when the idea hit me. The wheels in my mind began turning and anger turned to motivation. "Killing him may not solve anything but something else might." I picked up a small pin that was laying nearby and held it up to the sky. "You know, Progress Day is coming up, Piltover is celebrating its 200th anniversary."
Something flashed in her eyes as she looked up at me and I could see her brain coming to the same conclusion. A wicked smile grew on her face as she sat up, "Are you saying what I think you're saying?"
"I'm saying we go up there and show those Pilties what they've been too blind to see," I said as I stood up and felt hope fill my heart again. Benzo was right, 'If you change nothing, nothing will change.' "After all, progress doesn't only belong to one city."
A/N: This concludes Act I of The Ink Is Dry. Act II has a lot more Caitlyn/Vi so for those who clicked on the work for that, I promise I will deliver. For everyone who has reviewed, followed, and favorited this work, thank you so much for all your support so far and I hope my writing can continue to be something you can look forward to every week!
Sm0keyPanda: That little dialogue made me smile way more than it should have.
Voraces Lector: Ayyy happy to see you again and glad you are still enjoying the story!
TheGreenVex: They just kissed and you want babies already?! (maybe soon with what they've been up to XD)
Warlocktoungue: Thanks again for leaving a review every single chapter, I cannot express how much it motivates me to keep writing when I see readers coming back each week. It's crazy to think that you've been here consistently for over two months now! Whether you stick with this story until the end or not, I just wanted to say…may the force be with you XD