Thank you for waiting and thanks again for all the follows/kudos and feedback :D
I guess I never mentioned it here on any of my author's notes but, I'd like to clarify that I never once intended to write this in the angle of the whole 'Ekko loves AU Powder, not Jinx' argument I've been seeing on the net. But more to the form of Makoto Shinkai/Spiderverse angle for this slow burn fic.
Just another AU about AUs... if that makes sense.
Anyways, enough of my prattling, enjoy o7
Side A
The plan was simple, straightforward and direct.
Head over to Topside without being seen.
Attempt to negotiate a meeting with the famed professor to solve his issue with the z-drive.
That was the plan.
But even as he stuck to the shadows; parkour over the roofs rather than sticking to the alleyways and abandoned pipelines, something caught his attention. Down below, he saw a group of well-dressed punks chasing after a kid. The child in question was slippery as an eel, wearing a mining helmet apart from the usual Zaunite rags.
Ekko couldn't stop himself as he warily observed the situation.
The punks in question were dressed far too cleanly for Zaun's standards.
Those are Glasc's goons, he realised.
…
Shit.
He figured out the child in question must've been an indentured child, sold by relatives to work for one of Glasc's factories.
A detour can't hurt.
He leapt at the chance, giving chase from the rooftop. He followed the kid's movements, timing his steps before he could predict where the kid would head over next. And wouldn't he know it, the kid ended up running into a corner without a means of escape.
Inaudible bouts could be heard from one of the goons before they lunged at the kid. The child then climbed onto the stacks of boxes.
Upon scaling down the wall, he hollered; "Over here!"
The kid looked up in panic, her amber eyes glanced at his outstretched hand and grabbed it. Ekko wrenches her up and out of reach from the goons who scrambled over each other to catch her.
"Come back here!" one of them screamed.
He succeeds to haul her up and onto the guard railing where he stood. Without missing a beat, he kickstarted his hoverboard, hauled the child over his shoulder and rode the winds on his board.
"Hang tight, its gonna get rough," he said to the kid, worried her sudden movements might throw off his balance.
They flew through the streets, realising he was drawing farther and farther away from the Bridge of Progress. Whether or not he could decide if it was a good thing, he hadn't considered the next step after all this.
Alright then, new plan. Get this kid somewhere safe.
Then, fate flips a coin to his fortune.
A bionic arm from below clawed at his hoverboard's edge, throwing off his balance as he found himself and the child falling in the air. Instincts and old habits had him pull the chain to his device, setting him back seconds before the claw grappled his board. He swerved in the air, only for the claw-hand to latch onto the hoverboard from a different angle. At the third reset, the same results followed.
At the turn of his forth reset, the headaches came.
Shit. Not now!
Visions came at a blur. He could hear the child screaming. The clawed arm in question succeeded to grab him; causing his arms to loosen his hold of the kid.
"No!" he tried to catch her, but the velocity of the claw's pull was faster.
He saw the sky above as he gets pulled away, visuals shifting from grey smog to a clear blue sky, only to return to a familiar cloud of green. The agony of that punishing spike in his head was driving him insane. And in a moment of pained lucidity, he dared to crank the dial back.
The pain ceased; his visions returned in a blur as the owner of the claw hand now dangled the boy in his grip. Ekko blinked a few times before clarity returned, finding himself staring back at yet another one of his heavily augmented bullies.
"The Herald demands for your cooperation," the man-machine said. "He invites you at the commune for further study."
The vice-like grip on his sides began to hurt. Seething through it, Ekko spat; "How many times do I have to say the same damn thing to all you people? I. Am. Not. Interested."
He swung his body to land his foot onto the machine-man's shoulder; throwing a hard kick at the joint connected to the retractable arm. Just like loosening a pin to a hinge, the claw loosened its hold on Ekko, allowing him to swing his bat onto the vulnerable gap of the joint. The impact broke the entire mechanized arm off the shoulder, allowing him the opportunity to run.
Without a sense of direction, he kept running and immediately felt the ground beneath him shake. He glanced over his shoulder to find the thug chasing him with every thud in his steps.
"Give me a break!" he angrily said.
A loud shot of a gun rang in the air. The thug immediately fell to the ground; a bullet hole marked square between the eyes. Ekko stopped in his tracks, eyes widening as he turned his head from side to side.
Who? Where?
Then he remembered-
Where did she fall?!
"Shit," he felt his skin growing cold.
Don't be dead. Don't be dead, I swear to Janna don't-
He blindly ran forward, ignoring the strange commotion from the other side of the alleyway. Then within his periphery, he found the familiar minor helmet on that small body, who was now hugging someone by the neck.
"Hey, you alright-"
The hood fell back on the stranger's head; revealing a shade of powder blue locks upon her head.
Time froze at the sight.
That heart-shaped face; those blue-twin-tailed braids tucked beneath her coat.
Her skin shown more colour as opposed to her usual pale-moon skin. Even the choice of donning that over-sized coat; she had always preferred clothes that exposed her blue smoked tattoos. And those eyes-
"…Ekko?"
Her voice. Even her eyes were blue as the old days when she once called herself-
"-Powder."
Ekko couldn't even correct himself as he saw her stand up after prying the child's arms away from her neck. Her bright blue gaze stared back at him, stunned as he felt. Ekko dared to take one step. One foot after another. Light-headed and stunned, he hadn't realised he was already within an arm's reach.
And then, he wrapped his arms around her, clutching her tightly into his chest. His body shook, his eyes now began to well-up. Even with that thick barrier of clothes between them, he felt her warmth against his skin. Nothing makes sense. How is she still here? How is she alive-
"NO!"
She pushed him away, breaking him from his stupor as she shuffled back; her breath growing erratic.
"No, this- you can't. This isn't-" her hand dropped the gun to the floor before she pressed her fists to the side of her face. Her stance curled into an arch. "You aren't real. You can't be!"
"Jinx-"
"Stop playing with me!" she yelled. "You died! You're dead! You can't be real! Why? Why?!"
For a moment, he caught a glimpse of her, mirroring the same reaction to the day he found out about Silco's death from her. Panicked. Distressed. Losing it the same way when she revealed Warwick had mauled the man to death. His mind began to reel.
Is this the past? Have I rewound so far back that I-
"-Jinx," he swallowed hard, trying his damned hardest not to breakdown. "Is Silco alive?"
"What's that supposed to mean?" she spat, wincing before she clutched her head again. "No, no, you aren't real. Why would you even ask something like-"
"I need to know," he pleaded. "I have to know, Jinx."
"What, so he can send more enforcers on you?" she retorted.
That confirmed one fact.
Then I must've really gone back-
"Over there! It's her!"
He turned around and spotted two enforcers pointing their fingers at their direction. He glanced at her, who's eyes widened at the sight of their uniforms.
Weren't enforcers answering to Silco when he was alive?
She picked up the gun from the floor, suddenly composed as she readied her weapon.
"Well done, genius, you finally jinxed yourself," she said to herself. "Ask for a dead friend and he appears twice as tall and handsome with a cherry on top. Oh, Bird Lady's gonna lose the crazy award by the time I get back."
"Jinx, what are you-?"
"Shut it, I've got an enforcer to scare off."
She takes a shot at one of the metal bars that held a hanging sign by the one of the alleyway's buildings. The bullet breaks its hold, causing the sign to collapse by its own weight before it landed just ajar from where Ekko stood. Ekko jolted at the impact.
"Relax jumpy, you're already dead. Not like a falling sign could kill a ghost," she pulled her hood over her head and trailed off. "Ghostly residents have increased to four. Maybe I should start charging rent."
He stood there, dumbfounded as he watched her walk away; her back facing him as the gap between them grew. That small back of hers; once open and fatally wounded by Warwick's claws now dresses herself in a coat that seemed far too big for her lithe figure. The memory of her warmth in his arms lingered in his skin.
I… Is this really the past?
He felt the tug on his arm, bringing him to realise the kid from earlier was now shaking him for his attention. He glanced over the shoulder and saw the enforcers closing in. Seconds later, a burst of colourful smoke explodes, bringing the enforcers to start coughing up and staggering back. Ekko took it as an opportunity to turn his heel and run, only for the kid to tug at his arm again.
"What is it?"
The kid looked at him eagerly, then tried to raise the hoverboard with her other arm.
"Oh, thanks," he tapped the helmet on her head.
She gave him a toothy smile as she handed it over.
"You there," the enforcers turned their attention to him. "You were talking to that blue hair earlier. I'm going to need you to-"
He grabbed the kid and hopped onto his board, taking to the skies once again. The enforcer yelled something inaudible at him before he saw the glint of their guns within his periphery.
Ekko shook his head as he said to the kid; "Sorry. Looks like I dragged you into all of this."
The kid didn't say anything, only held onto him tightly. Ekko flew them higher and out of the enforcers' shooting range, feeling the pressure of wind in his ears. Now aloft and out of their hair, he tried to process the situation in his mind's eye. His mind turned to the weight of his z-drive strapped to his back. Recalled the steps that led them here in the first place.
Ekko swerved his hoverboard to land on one of the rooftops. Setting his feet onto solid ground, he turned to the city below. The streets looked nothing like he knew; twice more disorderly and crowded compared to the days after Warwick's death. He recognized its semblance to the days when shimmer was the commodity that poisoned the city. Renata Glasc was everything he hated about Zaun; but to see the Fissures like this jogged his memories back to the jaded years with his feud with Jinx.
What to do?
His options now seemed non-existent if he's stuck in the past.
No wait. Maybe there is a way.
Side B
She didn't want to think about it.
Didn't want to entertain the thought. She winced at the idea when she felt the ghost of that warmth on her.
"This is a mistake," she willed herself not to cry. "This is a mistake. I should've listened. Scar was right, I should've stayed behind-"
Ekko is dead. Ekko died the day he dragged her out of Silco's grasp. He ruined her life by dying after all that promise to start over. And in that sacrifice, he gave her his friends for her to rely on. People who looked after her. People who saw her and gave her purpose outside of crafting weapons.
Was that not his body that lay on the ground that night? Was that real? How much of the weight of her satchel real? How much of the sores on her shoulder real?
She ran. Ran as fast as she could take it. Ran till her sides hurt. Her breaths thinning as she welcomed the pain in her muscles. She let the winds take her breath; letting the cold drag-air freeze her cheeks. Impulses rose out of her system; needing something or doing something to take her mind out of it.
He's gone, Powder, she could hear the clarity of Vi's voice scolding her.
He got shot because of you like the jinx that you are, Mylo taunted.
He shouldn't have tried, Claggor added.
"I know," she gasped in breath, tears blurring her sights. "You shouldn't have died!"
"Wait!"
Sure enough, the ghost in question dived right in and flew in front of her, blocking her way. Jinx stopped with bated breath; saw how different he looked contrary to her memories. Older and taller; all those softer features she saw in him as kids could barely hold a candle to the one who stood before her. How terrible it was to be amazed at what her mind could concoct after years of yearning to hear his voice among the many who haunt her. He hopped onto the ground and set the kid down before he latched the hovercraft on his back.
This isn't real. Even the kid's gotta be fake-
"Go away," her voice quivered. "I can't deal with you right now."
"I need to talk to you," he insisted.
"Why should I be talking to a dead guy?"
"Dead? Jinx, I'm here! I'm right here in front of you-"
"I saw you dead!" she spat all her venom into her words. "You died and now you show up? After everything?"
His face fell.
She cackled mirthlessly. "You don't even know? You're all in my head and you don't even realise it?"
Ghost Ekko then stepped forward, making her shuffle back.
"-Powder- Jinx." He said cautiously. "I need you to-"
"What? Ask me how you died? The enforcers shot you. Silco's enforcers shot you. What more do you want-"
"Listen to me!" he grabbed her shoulders. The mere tightness of his grip shook her nerves. His hands squeezed hard enough it almost hurt. "Please, Jinx. I'm just as lost as you are in this."
She heaved her breath, trying to process what's happening. The weight of his hands on her almost made her stumble back. Her eyes searched for something in his features. When their gazes met, she saw those warm brown eyes glistening with tears.
"Do you see me?" he asked, his voice now soft and quivering. "Am I reaching you?"
"Are you real?" her voice cracked in the question. "I'm not seeing things again like-"
He shook his head, face contorted into a sob as his hands that rested on her shoulders trembled.
She raised her hand, hesitantly reaching for the side of his face. From her palm to the pads of her fingertips, she could feel the heat of his skin; felt the tears that trickle over her fingers. The touch made her gasp, retreating her hand until he caught it, feeling the rough callouses of his palm on her skin. He pulled her into his chest and wrapped his arms around her, squeezing her tightly she could barely breathe.
That was enough for the dam to break as she returned his embrace, crying over his shoulder as she clawed at the fabric of his shirt. He is real. This Ekko is real. Warm, alive and real. And any semblance of reason and rational could not justify that fact. In a moment, the world is lost to her and the one friend who trapped her in his arms was the only thing that mattered.
"You're still here," she barely missed the words he murmured on her shoulder. "-Alive."
Then it started to feel wrong to trust her senses. Those long years of grief and mourning teetered her to the brink of insanity, had it not been for the firelights whom she was entrusted to by him. They fought so hard to salvage her from herself, she feared this moment may very well undo their efforts. For all her five senses; from his trembling warmth that clung to her; to the scent of metals and hints of smoke; pointed to the conclusion this Ekko stood among the living.
It took a sudden grip on her pants did she withdraw from him and looked down. There, the same kid who fell on top of her tugged at both of them by the fabric of their pants.
Jinx sniffled, wiping her face with the back of her sleeves. She found Ekko using his scarf to do the same. She almost wanted to laugh; her mind still not caught up to the reality of the moment.
"Ekko-"
"Jinx, I-"
They both said in unison, only to fall back to silence.
She snorted, shaking her head, unable to decide where to even start. It was laughable, truly.
"Scar's gonna looove this."
"Scar's alive?"
Jinx raised a brow, feeling that 'wrongness' as Bird Lady often worded it. She looked down at the child who glanced at them both expectantly.
"Who's the kid?"
"Just someone who got caught in the wrong crowd- Jinx, what do you mean I died?"
"-What's with you saying I'm alive?"
They stared at each other; bewildered and almost afraid at what answers either of them would get.
There's only one way to get to the bottom of this.
She grabbed his wrist and tugged; "Follow me."
"Where?"
"Where else-" she paused, then realised, "No, no. Bad idea. Really bad idea."
"-Jinx?"
"Shut it, for a sec, I need to think."
He frowned, withdrawing from her grasp before folding his arms against his chest, almost as if he was pouting. She knew better than anyone else that there were those among the gang who revered him like a martyr. Hell, their base motivations were made in honour of him. To suddenly show up at the hideout with the apparently not-dead Ekko by the entry sounded like a bad party trick, even by her standards.
It would've been easier if she had her old lair back. But knowing the old man practically gave her that lair meant that was already a no-go. Which left her with the other option.
If he isn't real, she can at least endure the humiliation of being called insane when she comes back. If he is real-
She turned her attention back to him, frowned and immediately took off the coat from her and threw it over his head.
"Jinx, what the hell?!" he sputtered, taking the heavy jacket off his head.
"Huh, so you're really real," she muttered.
"That's what I've been trying to say, dammit!"
Her heart quickened at the confirmation; elated yet distressed to realise the truth of it. That was enough to lunge at him and squeezed him tight by his waist, feeling that tandem rhythm that was beating beneath his layers of clothing. She felt his hand cradling the back of her head, returning the embrace.
Side A
The walk was silent. Painfully so, that the soles of their boots did the talking in their stead as they entered the tunnels. The kid continued to follow him around, somehow insistent that she carried his hoverboard in his stead even when he didn't ask. He wondered why Jinx insisted that he wear the overcoat instead of her with the hood pulled over his head.
The things he wanted to ask.
Things he wanted to say.
All lost in the reverberating sound of their boots clanging as they entered the darkest part of the path. A few scuffling later, a quiet green light glowed in the void, revealing a lamp powdered by some alchemic concoction in Jinx's hands.
She turned to him, eyeing his figure before she resumed to lead the way.
"You really aren't dead," she said.
"You keep saying that. What's that supposed to mean?"
"Five years, Ekko," she began. "You were dead for five years. How am I supposed to take that when you suddenly show up, flying in front of me after everything."
"…Five years… that doesn't add up."
She scoffed; "And seeing you dead wasn't?"
"Trust me, I'm just as lost as you here," he insisted. "What happened in these past five years?"
For a while, silence answered in her stead, the green lamp shedding light on the contours of her features. The cloud tattoos he knew her for seemed to show subtle silver lines of scars.
"Firebugs wanted to carry on with your wishes," she finally said. "Wanted to take the city back from Silco. After I gave them the tip on where all the shimmer factories were they… everyone got too eager and tried to raid one of them. That went to shit. We lost Crow. Then Hatter. Then the old man figured I'm still alive and now all of the Undercity's out for a girl with blue hair. Everyone's decided that laying low's the idea and attacking shipments was the next best thing."
Ekko stared at his feet, taking in her words bit by bit.
"…How did I die?"
She stopped in her tracks, not facing him.
"You really don't know, do you, Little Man?"
He held a tight lip, shaking his head, waiting for her to answer the question.
"You died the day you dragged me out of Silco's hair. Shot in the back," -she turned around, finger gun pointed at him- "Pew! Like that."
She held his gaze at him, saw the gleam in her eyes and the hint of her swelling eyelids from the tears earlier. He wanted to correct her; tell her there was no way he ever remembered an outcome like that.
"You shouldn't have tried," her voice grew sombre. "I could have just- slapped you in the face before you dragged me out of there. Maybe- at least that would've been enough to keep you alive a while longer."
"But you did," he said.
Her lips tightened to a thin line.
He took a step forward; "That's how it was for me. I tried to rescue you. Then you refused, saying you're Jinx now."
"That's not how-"
"-I grabbed your arm and tried to get you but you slapped me. You slapped me so hard you got exactly what you wanted. Since then, we were at each other's throats for years."
Under the green light of her lamp, her brows knitted; jaw clenched before she shook her head in denial. It was clear to him now that whatever it was that the z-drive had warped him into wasn't just something as simple as travelling into the past.
"I know it's a lot to take in, Jinx. But you have to believe me."
Then the kid tugged at Jinx once again, breaking whatever tension they held between them. Jinx looked down at the kid, who then grunted as she pointed her finger at the darkened path.
"Relax, kiddo. I haven't forgotten," Jinx said, then glanced his way briefly.
They resumed their strides, following the path until he could see the light at the end of the tunnel. The sounds of laughter echoed from a distance; followed by the sound of singing.
Singing?
Even in the past, he never recalled anyone in the hideout having a knack for such a talent. A gentle breeze blew through them, as if it greeted their arrival. Then a black bird swooped in and landed right in front of Jinx, cawing at her with a hop.
"Not now, mister bird," she dismissed the corvid. "Go bother Bird Lady or eat rocks or something."
The bird cawed at her again.
Ekko eyed it suspiciously, reminded of the bird that bothered him before. The crow hopped along, then flew on top of the kid's helmet. The child in question jerked, making the bird fly off again towards the light.
As they slowly reached the end, his chest panged at the nostalgic sight. Leaves curtailed every branch; its trunk a deep brown hue. The things he lost to time and tragedy now present before his eyes. Ekko found themselves standing from an overview of the hideout; not unlike the usual entrance from the level below. Thought crossed his mind;
"You live here now?" he asked.
"Wow, mister. You really are slow on the uptake," she deadpanned.
"No, its just… the you I know- never mind."
Jinx shrugged, "Save it for the workroom. You're gonna freak everyone out if they see you. Y'know, cause you're supposed to be dead?"
She then began to climb down and jumped onto one of the sturdy branches of the tree. The kid then followed without question, jumping down only for Jinx to catch her midfall. Jinx then looked up at him, tilting her head.
He never remembered going through an entrance like this at the hideout he knew. Without another word, he followed her lead, weaving between every bushel of leaves and protruding branches.
From below, he could hear the songstress singing clearly;
"-I live to tell and sing the songs;
'Mong mortal men, I follow along.
For winds I fly and winds I flee;
No ferry and leaf can carry me.
For I, the ship that ride the sails;
No sea nor land I claim to hail.
So fear me not, for I'm unseen;
'Except for eyes who're sharp and keen-"
Light-hearted laughter followed, piquing his curiosity. "Who's that?"
"Oh, pff. Just some crazy lady who's got a knack at talking to birds," Jinx replied as they continued to climb down through the tree. "Weird how you're the only other person who noticed."
A quiet breeze followed, cooling his skin as they reached the first platform of the hideout. Jinx lead them down into the very room he had treated as his own workroom back there and shut the door behind him. Contrary to the way he arranged his space, the walls were full of scribbles and pins that pegged cloths of her own designs of weapons and gadgetry.
"Wouldn't paper be easier to draw up your plans?" he pointed.
"Can't be stingy if you can't go out so easily without being seen," she then walked over to sit at the edge of the bed in the room. "Scar's orders. After all that blue-hair hunt."
The kid's eyes wandered around the room, awed at the sight of the colours all around.
"Like what you see?" Jinx smirked.
The kid wandered around the area excitedly.
Having to settle down on one of the crates, Ekko took off the coat and set it aside, unlatching the z-drive from his back to have it sit on his lap. That brought Jinx's attention to him.
"I'm not sure what's going on exactly," he began. "But, right now. I think you're the only one right now who I can think of who could help."
She glanced at the device, curiosity apparent on her features.
Ekko gave out a long breath before he said; "It's a time-loop."
I will admit, this was a hard chapter to write. Had to rewrite a total of three drafts before settling for this. I am worried about how this pacing can come off and am rather worried if I've handled Jinx's momentary breakdown too carelessly. For starters, Jinx saw him die as a kid, not like how Vi disappeared. So, I was worried if I made it overly dramatized or wrote this carelessly. A meeting like this wasn't gonna be that smooth sailing, all things considered in context, but I still prod over things like this if it means meeting folks' expectations and then some.