So uh... after that ending in Arcane Season 2 I fell into a slump and had to give myself two days of not writing to recover from everything that happened. I needed to process what I just witnessed and though hindsight has helped develop a better opinion towards that ending, it won't change the fact that I was genuinely upset and couldn't write a word for two days.

Then, I saw a post on the timebomb subreddit that seeded this idea that I thought might actually be an interesting premise. I'm taking bits and pieces of old LoL's lore that I found to help shape this AU but I don't intend to make this too canon-compliant. Just an idea that I was wondering if I can pull off in the long run.

(What am I signing myself up for... aaaaa why brain?!)

Prologue Side B

The fantastical summaries of Claggor's enthusiasm for his books bespoke of happy endings for the heroes who saves his loved ones. Whether it was the tale of the two princes or the ol' adventurers' guild; whenever there was a loved one kidnapped, it was only natural the hero would always save them in the end.

Jinx had only ever come to realise that happy endings do not exist outside of Claggor and Vander's stories just at the shy age of twelve. Even after Silco took over The Last Drop, the child refused to take a step closer to the stairs; afraid of the dead that now follow her; taunting her of things she had done. The reluctant chase of cat and mouse had left to Sevika finding her sleeping in odd places rather than the bed. Before she knew it, Silco offered her a place to make her own nest. An abandoned balloon that got caught between a rift of two man-made cliffs. An open space for the child to succumb to fight the demons that torment her in the form of violent outbursts and vile, verbal fencing.

The man gave her an empty book; told her it might be worth writing or sketching her thoughts onto the pages to help sort out her flaws. Oh, how that method backfired almost immediately. Before the child knew it, the graffiti travelled from the journal to the main pillar; down to engraving and painting the very propellers that held the balloon in place. She made her marks like it was her territory; her place to scream and talk to the ghosts in her head. Methods of madness that any parent who isn't dead would be screaming in horror at the sight.

Powder is a jinx. She realised it herself. If her sister or her brothers' fates was anything to go by, she was already as good as a criminal deserving of punishment. And yet, Silco saw things differently. He would embrace this little criminal into his arms, told her that she did what she believed was right; thus would she be absolved of all crimes. He was kind in a twisted sort of way. His show of strength; his eloquence to turn a bargain to his favour; he showed her ways in which the wrongs were justifiable for a greater cause.

But she also knew that he was wrong; but in that wrongness, she found solace in knowing she can be broken with him. He gave her purpose; he gave her a home. He gave her duties to pass the time and praised her for that brilliant mind of hers. Burying her sins by killing more never seemed to stop; but at the very least, he showed her that no matter the crime, he'll always be there.

And so with that alone, can a girl be truly blamed for how petrified; terrified and ashamed she was the moment Ekko arrived at her lair. The burdens of her sins came crashing down on her psyche at the sight of his presence.

"Powder!" his brown eyes gleamed as he crossed the propeller bridge.

No. Why are you here?

"We don't have much time," the echo of his steps grew louder as he came closer. "Follow me!"

"How did you find me?" her feet shuffled back.

"No time to explain, we gotta go or else-" he reached for her hand and wrenched her from her place.

"Ekko wait!"

Before she knew it, they ran. He dragged her out of her lair; dragged her out through the crevices that had once been a mining shaft. Unable to protest quick enough that even her ghosts were silenced in the midst of their running.

Let me go. You can't be here!

But the warmth of that hand was far too comforting; far too enticing; far too homely familiar that for a moment she was back to that state of innocence. She never realised how much she missed him. It had been a year since they last met and already, she was weak to the grip of that nostalgia. Before she knew it, the tunnel opened up and the first thing that greeted them was the sight of his monocycle.

"Get on!" he said, releasing her hand as he began to make his preparations.

"Ekko-"

"We've only got-" he checked on his pocket-watch- "ten minutes before any more of his goons arrive."

"I can't go," she said.

Her friend then ceased for a moment and turned her way. She lowered her gaze to the ground, her feet slowly shuffling back.

"Powder-"

"It's Jinx now, Ekko! You can't save me-"

"Sshhh!" he turned his head from side to side, now wary. "Enforcers might hear-"

"-then leave! Don't come back! You can't save me Ekko!"

He winced at her words; his wariness now forgotten as he drew closer; grasping her hand that had curled into a frightened fist.

"I don't care if you killed Laces' goons, he made you kill his enemies!" this time, he was yelling. "You didn't even know he was the reason Vander got taken away! He's trying to make you his and I'm not going to let him have his way. Not again!"

"Over there, I can hear them!" voices from a distance shouted.

"Shit," the boy then dragged her once again closer to the monocycle, hopped onto the seat urged; "Pow- Jinx. You have to trust me on this. You have to! Come with me and we can start things over! Vi is alive! She's in Stillwater and nothing is lost just yet!"

The shock of the news brought her wide-eyed and stunned. Before her ghosts could taunt her, she could hear approaching footsteps coming their way. Her blue gaze met his determined brown eyes. Gone was the clumsy kid who fumbled in his steps. That was enough to convince the girl to take up her seat behind his monocycle.

Without any further hesitance, Ekko kickstarted the motor and drove them out of the entrance and into the Lanes. Powder still felt the uncertainty weighing her down but if what he said was true-

"Stop them!" she could hear some of the men screaming.

"Hang on tight!" Ekko yelled as he accelerated onto the roads.

They flew past the shops. Flew past the entrance of the Last Drop. Flew past all of what made the Lanes familiar and like looking through the clear spyglass, she realised how much things have changed in a year. Purple-eyed stragglers. Crowds fighting in the streets; more raggedy folks on the grounds. As the cold wind caressed her cheeks; she saw what the world had become.

And it was her bombs that accelerated it.

Ekko turned a corner into an isolated alleyway; Jinx- no, Powder looked back to find that there were not only enforcers running in pursuit, but men in the bodies of monsters. Their eyes aglow in purple shimmer. Their inhuman speed was catching up quick-

"Ekko! They're coming closer!" she yelled.

"Hang on, just a little more!"

She could feel the gears set on overdrive in her seat as he drove them as fast as it could. Already began to see how the belt of the wheel had begun to buckle at the friction. Powder dared to hope. Dared to dream that maybe they could make it. Dared to wish once again to be free of the things she had done. Dared to dream of seeing the day they can find fun together again.

And then fate flips its coin once more. For the chain and belt that held the monocycle together buckled once again; this time causing the wheel to flip before they crashed onto the ground. The two children rolled on the floor hard, her vision a blur for a moment before the pain began to set. Ekko recovered first and limped his way towards her, dragging her up from the ground. Her head a daze before she could register the fact that the shimmered monster was still after them.

"Please, Janna," Ekko pleaded with gritted teeth. "Save us. Don't let them take her away from me again."

Then, for whatever reason there was, a strong gust of wind blew passed them, billowing the shimmered man off his footing and onto the ground. The same breeze made their steps feel lighter as they limped away in haste; as if the proverbial goddess had heard his plea. They made their broken strides forward, the wind at their side and-

A gunshot rang out in the open air. And the one pillar of strength Powder had leaned on fell to the ground; bringing her down with him.

What followed came in broken segments.

A scream.

A cry so loud, she could feel her throat breaking.

It never occurred to her that scream came from her and her alone. Not when she was once again dragged away; not by Ekko but a chirean and fellow youths that ranged from her age to their late teens. The blackness of unconsciousness came over her once again and awakened to a world full of vivid green and light.

That was how Powder- no, Jinx became a Firelight. Alone in a world where neither sister nor Ekko was present.

Prologue Side A

Ekko had begun to question if this was truly a lost cause. No matter how many times he rewound the clock, he would still lose her again. This was the fifteenth time.

New route: ventilation shaft.

He swivelled his hoverboard as he flew, riding the winds as he sought to reach her. Through the open vents of the Hexgate, he zoomed through the narrow paths; heart accelerating with the sole purpose to save her. And at the cusp of it, he bore witness to seconds before the tragedy would set itself in place.

Her short, twin tailed braids flying in the air as she shoved the beast away from her sister.

"Jinx!" he screamed as he dove towards her falling figure.

But the pin of her grenade was faster.

Explosions hit; and he dialled the clock back again.

Sixteenth became seventeen.

Over and over again, Ekko tried to rewind the clock but whatever god decided that this was her fate was far too cruel to even grant him this gift. The pin always comes loose faster before he could reach her. If not the pin, the wolfish creature coined 'Warwick' would maul her first. If not her, it had to be both sisters.

At the turn of the twenty-fifth loop, Warwick breaks the Z-drive just as his hand reached for Jinx's falling figure. Ekko immediately knew this was his last and final chance.

Even as he finally caught her skinny arm; even as he shoved Warwick away.

Fate flips a coin when the last of the beast's strength lands her a fatal wound on her back before the beast plummeted onto the deepest depths of this abandoned mining hole. Vi's screams shook the walls as Ekko struggled to carry his friend with his arm. When they reached solid ground, he quickly laid her down, hands in panic as he began to tear a strip of cloth off his shirt to bind the torn flesh from the beast's claws.

"E-Ekko," she grunted.

"I've got you, Jinx. I've finally got you," he said as tried to lift her up and began winding the strip around her torso. But no matter how much he tried, the pool of blood kept spreading.

No, no, no, no!

"The boy saviour to the end," her voice cracked, her chest heaving.

"Stay with me, Jinx. I swear to god-"

"I'm tired, Ekko. I just need to-"

"Please no," his hands were shaking as he secured the cloth around her. "We still have tomorrow to look forward to."

Vi who stood there, frozen in place, couldn't say a word. Her eyes shimmering with tears as she watched her sister bleeding out despite his efforts.

"Ekko… I'm sorry. I don't think I can make it to the victory party," with a weak hand she tried to reach for his cheek. Ekko grasped her hand and felt it grow cold. "I'm so tired. I might sleep through it all…"

With her last breath, her hand slipped through his fingers, falling onto her lap. He cradled her in his arms; sobbing into her lifeless shoulder.

The days that passed he dedicated to fixing whatever's left of the Z-drive. Finding shards of hexgems wasn't as simple as swiping loose coins on the ground in the lanes. Even with Silco gone and the new head of the Chembarons Renata Glasc, Ekko found that Zaun's current state felt like drowning in a shallow pool of toxic waste; trapped in a stasis of tension between the two cities. That was also the last time he saw Vi.

Their argument being their last exchange before she abandoned Zaun for good; disheartened and broken from the last thread that was the death of her sister. Ekko wanted to mourn. Wanted to scream and spend the rest of his days in his hard bed. The things he could have said. The things he should've told her.

These thoughts he pushed back; his grief converted to fuel to strive for a better tomorrow. On the days when he wasn't fixing the z-drive, he painted another face on the wall. Marked her likeness onto the mural whenever he could. And upon finished the final touches to Jinx's face, he struck a match and lights a candle he bought for a cog too high; setting it next to the many others that lay there.

The beast lay dead, but the scars remained. Ekko looked up to her painted visage, regret stains the tip of his tongue as the words he wanted to say came loose.

"I missed you, Powder."

He lays a hand over her face before he turned his heel to go back to the hideout. Ekko allowed himself this much; for every second that passes remain wasted if couldn't move forward. He has to; for his friends. For her. For Zaun.