"Whaddya think?" Jinx laughed as the center of her lair detatched from the base, the propeller lifting them into the air.

"You mean this thing flies?" Ekko asked in disbelief.

She shrugged. "I've thought of everything."

Light had begun to fill the sky, with the sun yet to show. Ekko had no idea what day or time it was, but he knew they needed to get to Piltover. He wondered for a moment what Jayce had experienced when they'd all been transported by the Arcane.

Heimerdinger had been in the other universe for roughly three years before he had even shown up. There was no mention or knowledge of Jayce in that dimension. It made the boy wonder if he'd even gone to the same universe as they had. Maybe he was there before or after them? Ekko didn't know.

Jinx's smile from flying the airship out of her base had long disappeared. A frown was prominently etched onto her face. What had happened to her since he last saw her at the bridge?

From what he could see, her hair was cut, now scarily resembling the haircut of the Powder from the other universe. Her eyes weren't the deep blue he remembered, and her face seemed even more sullen than before. There was a hallow look in her eyes that he hadn't seen before.

"Benzo never told you it's rude to stare, or what?" Jinx said.

He snapped out of his daze, his eyes darting away from her.

"Sorry. Just... you look…" his voice trailed off, "different."

"Heh, he's smart, too," Jinx said, pretending to talk to someone who wasn't next to her.

Or maybe there was a person… at least in her mind there could be. Ekko wasn't really sure how much of Powder's mind was still there. Or Jinx's for that matter. She could go from seeming perfectly normal to completely insane in a matter of seconds.

Jinx pulled a lever here, a lever there. She turned the wheel a touch before making sure everything was working properly, then left steering to sit cross legged across from Ekko. He followed suite, propping a knee up and resting his arm on it.

"Spill," was all she said.

Where was he supposed to start? When Heimerdinger showed up after their fight? Did she even know he wasn't on the council anymore? Or.. that he died? Of course she didn't know that. Only he did. Ekko rubbed his temples, taking a deep breath before he began.

"It's hard to really explain how it happened, but I somehow got transported to another reality. It was the same people, just different outcomes."

Jinx rolled her eyes, nodding and sarcastically saying, 'sure.'

Ekko pulled the strap of the machine off his shoulder, tilting it so that Jinx could once more see the familiar monkeys all around it.

"You noticed this yourself, I know you might not be all there," he pointed to his head, "but I think we can both agree you weren't the one who helped me build this."

She swallowed. "Okay."

"Things were different. Really different. Benzo was alive. Mylo and Clagger were alive… and—and so was Vander. Oh, and he and Silco were actually friends! And you—"

Ekko stopped rambling. He had been so eager to finally share his experience with someone from his world that he hadn't noticed Jinx was nearly hyperventilating. Of course she was. He just mentioned a load of people whose deaths Jinx blamed herself for. She dug her nails into her hands, picking at the skin below her nails and drawing blood. Ekko chose his next words wisely.

"We weren't in the undercity anymore. We didn't have to fight to survive. Hextech didn't exist."

Jinx's breathing started to even out. Her twitching came to a halt and her rigid posture relaxed. Her interest peaked at Ekko's description of this other world. One where her mistakes wouldn't cost the people she cared about's lives? She almost wished she'd been the one to experience it.

"What was Vi like?" Jinx asked quietly.

Ekko's gaze fell. "I guess that was the catch. Vi... died the day you guys went on that mission in Piltover."

Jinx's eyebrows raised slightly. "She was… dead?"

She tugged on a few strands of hair, separating them and tugging hard enough to pull them out. She pulled her legs to her chest, tightly wrapping her arms around them.

"Was it because of me?"

Ekko's eyes softened. "No."

He wanted to reach out to her, place a hand on her shoulder her or comfort her in some way. But a part of him knew he was mixing the Powder he'd met with the Jinx in front of him. She wouldn't react the same. He thought it would be best to leave her be right now.

"I asked the same question actually. To you." Ekko laughed, "you didn't appreciate it much."

Jinx slowly lifted her head. "What was I like?"

Ekko smiled. "Like the Powder I always knew you could be."

He didn't mind when she scoffed at his use of her former name.

"Your hair was actually really similar to how it looks now. You had a pink stripe in it for Vi. You were kind… softer," Ekko didn't realize how giddy he seemed until he saw the strange look Jinx was giving him.

They locked eyes. "There was no Jinx in that universe."

She blew the bangs away from her face. Ekko was surprised when she didn't have a snarky remark to what he'd said. She was pondering his words, and he didn't dare interrupt her thoughts if it meant she was thinking about a possibility of giving up Jinx in this world.

"There was no Vi either, though," she said.

Ekko nodded lightly. "No, there wasn't."

They sat in silence for a few moments. Jinx picked at the dirt under her finger nails while Ekko adjusted his gloves. Neither looked at each other. Neither spoke. Jinx had nothing to say and Ekko didn't know what to say.

"If you could've just seen it," he breathed.

Jinx shrugged. Her fingers ran over the cool floor of her airborne lair. "Why'd you come back, Ekko?"

"What?"

"If that world really was as good as it sounds... why would you leave?"

He smiled at her. It wasn't an easy decision, that was for sure. Every fiber in his being wanted him to stay. It was as if he almost had everything he'd ever wanted there. But he knew he'd be taking away the Ekko they'd known. It wasn't his choice to take over that version of Ekko's life. That, and...

"The Powder from my world needed me."

Jinx rolled her eyes at him, but he could see the way the corners of her mouth had slightly twitched upwards. She playfully kicked her leg out at his, and Ekko didn't hide the small laugh that left his lips. Her expression grew somber. So did his.

"How can you and Vi still see any potential good in me?"

If Ekko was asked that yesterday he would've said how he had given up on Jinx. On Powder. He held onto the hope that she was still in there for so long, but after their fight on the bridge, he lost all hope. That was, until he'd experienced the other universe.

'I've never seen you give up on anything, Ekko'

Powder's words rang clear in his head. Maybe Jinx wasn't the only one who hadn't lived up to their full potential in this world. The version of him there seemed to be more optimistic and persistent than he was. It was always so easy to blame Jinx for a lot of his problems and traumas, but maybe he was responsible for a few of them, too. Was it after their fight on the bridge that he'd given up on her? Or was it before that?

"Do you remember... when I thought Silco was holding you hostage here? When I showed up thinking I was saving you?" Ekko asked.

Jinx sniffed and wiped her nose. "What about it?"

"I think I did give up on you after that. You hit me... and said you chose to stay with him. I was so mad at you after that. A part of me still is. And in some twisted turn of events, you, from another dimension, said you never saw me give up on anything. Maybe... If i just tried harder that night, then-"

"-Ekko," Jinx warned. "Don't."

"I shouldn't have given up on you, Powder," Ekko said, desperation evident in his voice.

"Don't call me that," she said while grabbing a fistful of hair.

"I should've stayed. Should've begged you to come back. I never should've left you-"

"-I said stop!"

Jinx grabbed a broken shard of glass that had been just inches from her. She took a chunk of her hair, tugging it and slicing near her scalp. Ekko didn't have time to react before a massive patch of her hair was now missing from her head. She persisted, grabbing more hair and sawing at it with the glass shard.

"Powd-Jinx stop," Ekko reached for her.

She stood quickly, pulling away from him and continuing to cut away her blue hair. it fell to the floor before the wind picked it up. Ekko watched as strands of the blue hair he'd come to love and admire blew away. Jinx spent a few more minutes going at it, only stopping when she was left with bangs that covered the front half of her face.

Ekko sighed, glad that Jinx had dropped the glass shard and refocusing on their main goal. "We gotta focus on the present now, and getting to Piltover."

Jinx dusted the hair from her shoulders. Somehow her voice sounded normal. You couldn't tell she'd had some sort of manic episode just a minute ago. "Relax, we'll get there. But not looking like this we won't."

Ekko looked at himself. "I'm not cutting my hair."

Jinx chuckled. "If I'm agreeing to do this for you, then I need you to agree to do something for me."

Jinx turned around, opening a chest and rummaging through it. She pulled stuff out, eyeing it before tossing it over the edge and inspecting the contents of the chest once more. Ekko's brows knit in confusion.

"I'm sorry, agree to what exactly?" He asked.

"Aha!" Jinx exclaimed.

Ekko barely had time to react, instinctively catching the bottle that was thrown at him. He turned it over, the label revealing what he was holding.

Paint

Hi friends!

Thanks so much for tuning in on this chapter. I find Jinx is very hard to write lol. Let me know what you think! I will post the next chapter at 8 reviews ❤︎