A/N
Welcome to the final chapter, everyone!
I was going to wait before posting so more people could see the update, but with how everything is playing out, I've decided to just go ahead and update the final chapter.
Please take your time to enjoy it.
Chapter 29 - Stand By Me Act 6 (End)
Naruto exhaled sharply, letting his twin blades fall from his grasp as he stumbled back, his chest rising and falling in deep, ragged breaths. His core still flickered, pulsing between blue and green, but something inside him felt… wrong.
Ambessa Medarda lay lifeless. The weight of revenge had been carried out, her blood staining his hands, his blades, and the battlefield.
So why did he feel so empty?
He swallowed thickly, his throat dry as he turned to Caitlyn. She was still slumped on the ground, one hand pressed to her stomach where blood trickled from her wound. Her uniform was now dirtied with sweat, dust, and blood.
Naruto sighed and dropped down beside her, his hands resting on his knees.
"You need a medic," he muttered, his voice hoarse from the fight.
Caitlyn huffed out a weak laugh, shaking her head. "I'm fine."
He arched a brow. "You just coughed up blood."
Caitlyn winced as she wiped her mouth, the red streaking against her glove. "Okay… maybe not fine, but I'll live."
Naruto leaned his head back against the wall behind them, his fingers curling into his palms as he stared up at the darkened sky.
"Then why do I still feel like this?" he whispered.
Caitlyn turned her head slightly to look at him. "Like what?"
"Like nothing changed," Naruto admitted. His jaw clenched, his nails digging into his skin. "I got my revenge. I killed the woman who took Isha away. But it doesn't feel… good. It doesn't feel like anything."
Caitlyn let out a slow breath. "Because revenge isn't always the right path."
Naruto frowned. "Then what the hell was I supposed to do? Let her live?"
Caitlyn closed her eyes for a moment, collecting her thoughts.
"No," she said finally. "Some people deserve to answer for their crimes. But revenge? It doesn't bring them back, Naruto."
His stomach twisted.
Isha, Silco, his family. Everyone he had lost.
They were still gone. And now, no matter how much blood he spilled, they weren't coming back.
"Look at me," Caitlyn continued, her voice softer now. She gave him a weak smile, tinged with exhaustion. "I wanted revenge on you and Jinx once." She coughed again, her body trembling slightly. "And now? Here you are… saving my life for the second time."
Naruto turned to her, brows furrowed.
"It was nothing," he said, brushing it off.
But Caitlyn shook her head.
"No, it wasn't," she said firmly, looking at him with tired but sincere eyes. "That wasn't the Demon of Zaun out there, Naruto. That wasn't some warlord seeking vengeance." She offered him the smallest, almost bittersweet smile. "That was the little brother I've been hoping to save from the very beginning."
Naruto's eyes widened.
Little brother?
Before he could say anything, before he could even process those words...
An explosion ripped through the air in the distance.
Naruto's head snapped up, his eyes instantly locking onto the direction of the blast—
Jinx?
His heartbeat hammered in his chest.
Caitlyn grimaced, pushing herself up slightly. "Go," she said, voice strained but firm. "Help Vi too. She'll need you."
Naruto didn't hesitate.
He stood, his core flaring to life as lightning crackled around him.
"I'll do my best," he promised.
And in the blink of an eye he was gone.
The wreckage of the airship smouldered, bits of flame flickering against the rain slicked debris. Jinx groaned, pushing herself up from the twisted metal, her body aching from the impact. Beside her, Vi coughed, shaking the dust from her hair as she stumbled to her feet.
They stood back to back, tense, ready.
Jinx's grip tightened on her gun. "I swear to god, if I almost died just to get crushed by a piece of flaming wreckage—"
A low, mechanical hum cut through the chaos.
From the hexgate failsafe, an anomaly twisted into existence, warping the air around it. Viktor's staff glowed as he shrank the anomaly, curling its swirling energy into the crook of his metallic fingers.
Then, he rose.
Jinx's breath caught in her throat as she watched Viktor levitate upward, his form outlined in an arcane glow.
Jayce, who had been thrown aside during the battle, barely had time to react before the gravitational field suspended him midair. He twisted, struggling against the weightless pull before he aimed his cannon downward, firing a blast that launched him upwards after Viktor.
"Shit," Vi muttered.
As Warwick came from the shadows.
Jinx fired without thinking, her bullets tearing through the air, but Warwick didn't even flinch.
His mutated form lunged, claws slashing. Vi barely had time to react before she grabbed Jinx, twisting them both away as Warwick's attack shattered the debris beneath them.
The gravitational pull expanded, everything shifted.
Suddenly, Jinx's feet weren't touching the ground.
They were floating.
Viktor and Jayce ascended through the tower shaft, locked in combat, but their battle was affecting everything around them.
Vi twisted in the air, trying to stabilize herself. Jinx's breath was shallow, her grip unsteady.
Jayce swung his hammer, but Viktor's laser caught him in the throat, cutting off his momentum. Their fight was pulling them higher and higher, straight through the roof of the tower.
Jinx felt her stomach drop.
Because they weren't alone.
The roof was already occupied.
Dozens of Viktor's robots stood in a perfect spiral formation, their eyes glowing in eerie synchronization. As Viktor rose above them, the anomaly now a swirling mass of power began to pulse.
Then it expanded.
Lightning cracked through the sky as a massive arcane storm erupted, blotting out the clouds above Piltover. The pulse rippled outward, twisting the air itself, leaving behind trails of corruption.
Then came the tendrils.
Glowing filaments of arcane energy descended from the sky, snaking through the battlefield like veins of light. One by one, they latched onto people.
The soldiers, Mel, Caitlyn.
Their eyes darkened. Their bodies stilled.
Jinx saw it too late. A tendril shot towards her.
Before she could react, Warwick grabbed her by the throat.
She gasped, struggling against his iron grip. Beside her, Vi was caught too, her arms pinned.
The tendrils reached them. As a pulse of arcane energy surged through their bodies and everything faded.
Naruto arrived too late. His boots hit the wet ground, his eyes instantly locking onto the destruction ahead of him.
The battle had changed.
Where there had been chaos, now there was silence. Too much silence.
The soldiers, the enforcers, even the ones who had been fighting to the death moments ago they were still.
Tendrils of arcane corruption wrapped around their skulls, pulsing faintly.
They were trapped. Naruto's stomach twisted. His breath came faster, his hands clenching into fists.
He scanned the battlefield, searching Jinx an Vi.
Then, he saw them. Suspended midair, unmoving, eyes vacant.
No…
A figure stirred from the wreckage behind him.
The younger man gasped awake, coughing, gripping his ribs. He barely had time to react before something caught his eye. The hands of the clock.
Ekko's breath hitched.
He knew what this meant. Time was breaking.
And if they didn't stop it now, the world was next.
The air at the top of the tower was thick, unnatural.
The storm raged above, pulsing with arcane energy, its tendrils stretching downward like grotesque veins, connecting to the bodies below. The sky itself felt alive, watching, waiting.
Jayce was on his knees, frozen. His grip on the Mercury Hammer was slack, his gaze empty. He knelt just like the corpse he had seen in the other world.
Viktor stood before him, silent, his clawed fingers pressing against Jayce's forehead.
A deep hum resonated through the tower. Jayce's body tensed then went still.
His consciousness vanished into the void.
Inside the arcane dreamscape, Jayce found himself floating.
Bodies drifted around him countless, lifeless figures suspended in the eerie abyss. A sea of lost souls.
Viktor's voice was everywhere and nowhere.
"You see it now, don't you? The conflict within mankind their endless war between emotion and reason. That is their doom."
Jayce turned, searching for the voice.
"I have freed them from it."
From the void, Viktor emerged. But he was different complete.
His body shimmered with arcane brilliance, no longer twisted by sickness or weakness. He radiated control, balance perfection.
But Jayce wasn't convinced.
He stared at the lifeless figures around him, his fingers curling into fists.
"You call this freedom?" Jayce muttered. "You call this peace?"
Viktor tilted his head. "There is beauty in perfection, Jayce. No suffering. No pain."
Jayce's chest tightened, his heartbeat slow and steady, as if his body was already surrendering.
But as he closed his eyes, he saw it, the faces of the ones he fought for.
Caitlyn. Vi. Ekko. Naruto… Piltover.
Mel…
He opened his eyes, glaring at Viktor. "There's no beauty in something that has no soul."
Far below, Naruto clung tightly to Ekko's hoverboard as they shot through the battlefield, dodging debris and weaving between the wreckage.
"Faster!" Naruto shouted over the wind.
Ekko gritted his teeth, twisting the board as they shot upward toward the tower.
As they ascended, the battlefield beneath them stretched out a warzone bathed in chaos. Smoke and arcane corruption curled through the air, flashes of combat illuminating the streets of Piltover like a dying star.
As they reached the top of the tower, the sight ahead of them made Naruto's breath hitch.
Hundreds of robots stood in perfect synchronization, locked forward. An army of the soulless.
Behind them Viktor loomed over Jayce.
Ekko's fist tightened. "Shit, we're too late."
Naruto felt it too.
The weight of everything. The crushing reality that if they failed here, there was no second chance.
Ekko swallowed hard, eyes flicking between the battlefield and the tower. "We need to get to Viktor, fast."
Naruto exhaled sharply, his core flickering to life. The blue glow in his chest pulsed, veins of energy crackling outward like lightning.
He stepped off the hoverboard, floating briefly in the air before landing on the edge of the tower.
Naruto turned to Ekko, smirking slightly. "I'll make you a path."
Ekko hesitated. "Naruto…"
Naruto's core ignited fully, his new arm glowing with burning crimson runes. Electricity crackled around his body, his twin blades humming with power.
Ekko saw the determination in his eyes. As Naruto already knew what he had to do.
He grinned. "Just don't take too long, yeah?"
Ekko sighed, shaking his head. "You're a pain in my ass, you know that?"
Naruto chuckled. "Yeah, but I grow on you."
Then, he moved. A crimson blur, as Naruto exploded forward, blades flashing.
The first wave of robots barely had time to react before he tore through them.
Lightning arced through the air, his movements unpredictable, untouchable. He vanished, reappeared, struck down enemy after enemy.
Like a one man army.
Ekko took a deep breath. This was his chance, Naruto was buying him time.
So he took it.
Ekko shot through the sky like a comet, his hoverboard thrumming beneath his feet. The battlefield was chaos incarnate, Naruto and the robots was locked in combat, arcane lightning arcing through the air.
But he didn't have time to focus on any of it.
His eyes were locked on Viktor.
The mad genius stood at behind of it all, the anomaly pulsing above him like a living entity, twisting and expanding, warping reality itself.
Ekko gritted his teeth. This was his moment, with the Z-Drive clenched in his grip, he swung at Viktor.
But he never reached him.
A metal fist slammed into his ribs, knocking him clean off his board.
Ekko hit the ground hard, rolling to a stop, coughing as pain flared in his chest. His vision blurred for half a second before.
Rewind..
Everything snapped back, as Ekko was back on his board.
Back in the sky.
Back in the same moment.
This time, he knew it was coming. The robot swung for him Ekko twisted his body at the last second, dodging the blow.
His board dipped, he nearly lost control.
Rewind…
The next time, he dodged the strike cleanly. He was getting closer.
He raised the Z-Drive, twisting in mid-air, ready to take another swing at Viktor, but another robot struck him from behind.
Ekko hit the floor again, gasping for breath.
Rewind…
He dodged the first, then the second, twisting through the battlefield like a ghost every mistake erased, every failure undone.
But it wasn't enough.
No matter how many times he reset, there were too many of them.
The robots adapted.
The moment he thought he had them figured out, they shifted new patterns, new attacks.
And then something grabbed him.
Cold, unrelenting hands clamped down on his arms and legs, pinning him mid-air.
He rewound immediately, but four seconds had already passed.
It was to late…
He couldn't undo it…
Ekko thrashed against the grip, panic rising in his chest.
The machines lifted him into the air, and the arcane tendrils descended from the sky, creeping toward his face.
The trance. They were going to take him, he fought, kicked, screamed. But it was over.
His mind was slipping his body going numb.
A loud war cry could be heard as Ekko saw flash of crimson.
Naruto tore through the battlefield like a demon.
His twin blades sang, cutting through metal like paper, his core blazing brighter than ever.
Ekko saw it.
For the first time since everything began, Naruto's core was fully alive.
He was burning.
A streak of lightning red and blue.
Naruto ripped through the robots like they were nothing.
Ekko gasped, the trance momentarily breaking.
The machines tried to stop Naruto. but they couldn't.
His rage was absolute. Naruto moved faster than they could process, teleporting, striking, killing, again and again and again.
The battlefield shifted, for one moment… just one.
It seemed like they could win.
As The storm pulsed. A tendril of pure arcane energy slammed into Naruto's chest.
His body convulsed his core flickered.
Another hit, then another.
Then all of them at once.
The robots swarmed him, pinning him beneath an ocean of steel.
Naruto fought, but even he couldn't hold back the tide.
Ekko watched in horror as Naruto was buried beneath the weight of the enemy.
He saw Naruto's face just before he disappeared.
The sheer anguish in his eyes. The realization.
They had lost…
As Darkness consumed Naruto.
Ekko's breaths came in sharp, ragged gasps. His mind felt like it was slipping away, drowning in static, his vision clouded with streaks of neon light as the arcane tendrils crept ever closer. His limbs, once so quick, so sharp, felt sluggish, weighted down by the trance trying to consume him, to pull him under.
His body was no longer his own. He could hear the hum of the machines tightening their grip, the whisper of Viktor's voice in his head, a promise of order, of peace, of control.
But all Ekko felt was rage. His eyes snapped to Naruto. Beneath the swarm of metal, beneath the wreckage of the battle, Naruto was gone.
They had buried him.
Drowned him.
Like he was nothing.
A fire ignited in Ekko's chest.
They wouldn't take him too.
He gritted his teeth, forcing every ounce of willpower into his fingers, feeling the weight of the Z-Drive trembling in his grip.
Four seconds.
That was all he had ever been able to take back.
Four seconds of control.
Four seconds to fix a mistake.
But it wasn't enough. Not this time.
Naruto was gone. Jinx was still fighting, still trapped in the chaos, still clinging onto what little hope she had left.
And if Viktor wasn't stopped everyone would be lost.
The Z-Drive pulsed violently. He had never tried to push it further before.
Had never risked breaking it, shattering the delicate balance of time itself.
But what did it matter?
If I fail, there won't be a world left to fix.
Ekko let out a shaky breath, fingers tightening around the device.
And then he shoved everything he had into it.
The Z-Drive screamed.
A jagged crack tore through the battlefield, warping reality as time fractured, splitting apart like shattered glass.
The pain was instant.
Ekko's mind felt like it was ripping in half, his body caught between past, present, and future.
For a moment, he saw everything.
Naruto standing before him, laughing, whole before he ever became the demon of Zaun.
Jinx as Powder, younger, smiling, reaching for his hand.
Vander, Benzo, Mylo, Claggor alive.
For one fleeting second, he saw a world where everything had been okay.
Then it was gone.
Replaced by the chaos of now.
The Z-Drive cracked violently in his hands, energy pulsing out of control. It couldn't handle this.
Ekko didn't care.
Let it break.
He reared back, every ounce of strength, every piece of his soul, poured into this final act.
Rewind…
Ekko went back and reappeared behind Victor.
As he threw the Z-drive at him.
The Z-Drive soared through the air, warping the space around it, time itself bending and screaming in protest.
Viktor turned just in time to see it.
His eyes widened.
For the first time, true panic flickered across his face.
He raised his claw too slow.
The Z-Drive detonated on impact.
The explosion tore through the battlefield, a shockwave of pure, raw distortion ripping everything apart.
Everything froze.
The arcane tendrils shrivelled, recoiling like dying vines.
And Viktor, his body convulsed violently, his face splitting open, circuits bursting apart as the energy consumed him and Jayce.
Viktor stood at the centre of the swirling void, his body flickering between metal and flesh, between godhood and mortality. The dreamscape pulsed with raw energy, fracturing at the seams, arcs of violet lightning snapping through the air.
He watched Jayce approach, battered, broken, yet still standing.
"Why?" Viktor's voice was barely above a whisper, his form trembling, flickering between the man he once was and the machine he had become. His claws twitched as though he wanted to reach out, to push Jayce away to keep him from coming any closer.
He felt everything at once.
The weight of all his choices.
The path that had led him here.
The corpses left in his wake.
The dream of a perfect world his world shattered.
His legs gave out as Jayce caught him.
Pulled him in. The moment their bodies collided, it all came rushing in.
A flood of memories, a maelstrom of time and space, bursting into Viktor's mind like a tidal wave.
He saw what Jayce saw.
A war-torn future a desolate Piltover, drowning in darkness, its buildings crumbling beneath storms of wild arcane energy.
The mage standing at the centre of it all his older self.
A Viktor who had traversed countless universes, searching for one that could change, searching for the one possibility where he didn't fall.
And in each of those universes, there was always one thing.
One constant.
Jayce…
Jayce surviving, thriving, reaching out to him.
Always believing in him. The war-torn Naruto had been right. It was always going to be Jayce who made or broke him.
The rune. The meeting. The birth of hextech. The first step to all of this.
Viktor's breath hitched. "No…"
The truth dug into his soul like fire.
The glorious evolution had never been his alone.
It had always been built on Jayce.
On the friendship they once had.
And now… it was too late.
Or was it?
Viktor clutched his head.
He looked up at Jayce, eyes filled with something he hadn't felt in a long time.
"Go." Viktor's voice broke. "Get out of here, Jayce."
Jayce, stubborn as ever, shook his head. "Not without you."
He reached up, gripping the rune from his wrist the same one Viktor had given him as a child and pressed it into Viktor's chest.
The dreamscape exploded with light.
Runes swirled, magic surged, arcs of blue and violet flashing like a supernova.
Reality collapsed inward.
And in that final moment they saw each other clearly.
Jayce, the boy who had never stopped believing in him.
Viktor, the man who had almost lost himself completely.
But maybe… just maybe, he wasn't lost yet.
The last thing Viktor saw was Jayce's determined, unwavering eyes.
Then darkness, as the crystal shattered.
And they were gone.
The wind had finally stilled. The chaos, the screams, the endless clash of steel and magic it was over.
Naruto stood amidst the wreckage, every breath a battle of its own. His body screamed in protest, each movement laced with agony. He could taste the copper tang of blood in his mouth, feel the sharp throb of his bruised ribs with every inhale.
He had no idea how he was still standing.
But he was.
And so was Ekko.
Naruto found him near the ruins of the tower, standing at the edge, looking out over the city. His hoverboard was discarded at his feet, his frame still tense as if he expected time itself to snap back and undo everything.
Naruto approached, slow and steady, each step a struggle.
"Looks like you did it," Naruto muttered.
Ekko didn't turn immediately. His eyes were locked on the sky, on the city, on the world they had just barely saved.
"If it wasn't for you." Ekko exhaled, shaking his head. "I don't know if we would've made it."
Naruto let out a breathless laugh. "Nah, that was all you."
Ekko finally looked at him, raising a brow.
"You're the boy saviour," Naruto said, offering a smirk despite the pain wracking his body. "The kid who shattered time."
For a second, silence.
Then, Ekko grinned.
Maybe he hadn't felt like that person in a long time. Maybe he had forgotten who he was in the fight to stay alive.
But Naruto hadn't. With a smirk, Ekko raised his fist.
As the duo fist bumped.
A silent promise. A moment that neither of them would forget.
Naruto let his hand drop, sighing. "I need to check on Jinx."
Ekko nodded, but his eyes drifted back to the sky. He looked exhausted. Like he had spent too much time rewriting fate and not enough living in it.
Naruto hesitated, then glanced back at him. "You coming?"
Ekko shook his head. "I think I'm just gonna sit here for a while. Take a breather."
Naruto stared at him for a moment before nodding. "Alright. Just… take it easy, okay?"
Ekko just smiled.
Naruto turned, walking away, leaving Ekko alone with the ruins of time.
Jinx's body slammed onto one of the platforms jutting out from the shattered machinery below. Vi and Warwick crashed onto another. Sparks and smoke filled the air, metal groaning under the stress of their weight.
Jinx coughed, clutching her ribs as she sat up. Her eyes darted to Vi, who was on her hands and knees, gasping for breath. The platform beneath her was crumbling.
"Vi!" Jinx called out, panic rising in her voice. "Jump to the next one before it breaks!"
Vi didn't listen. Instead, she turned to Warwick's unmoving body.
She stared down at him, breathing heavily. Something in her chest twisted was he really gone? Could he have been saved?
Jinx felt her blood run cold.
"Vi don't!" she pleaded, eyes wide with terror. "It's not Vander! He's gone! Please, you have to trust me!"
Vi ignored her. She dropped to her knees, cradling Warwick's face.
"Come on…" she muttered. "I know you're in there… I know you're still—"
His eyes snapped open.
With a deafening roar, Warwick lunged.
Jinx reacted on instinct, hurling herself across the gap. She slammed into Warwick's side, the impact sending both of them over the edge.
Vi's heart stopped.
"Jinx!"
She threw herself forward, just barely catching Jinx's wrist. Jinx's other arm flailed wildly, Warwick gripping her leg, dragging them both further down.
A second later, Naruto arrived.
He skidded to a stop on the crumbling ledge, eyes wide in horror as he saw Jinx dangling over the abyss.
"Hold on!" he shouted, scrambling to get closer.
His legs felt like lead, his body screaming in protest. He had nothing left to give but this wasn't an option. He had to reach her.
Jinx's breathing hitched when she saw Vi's face. The desperation. The pleading.
She knew what was coming.
"Vi…" Jinx whispered, her fingers twitching.
Vi shook her head. "No don't you dare say it."
"Look after Naruto for me."
Jinx clenched her teeth and raised her free arm, her gauntlet primed.
"NO!"
Before she could punch it loose, Naruto grabbed her wrist. His grip was like iron, his body shaking from sheer will alone.
"Not happening." His voice was raw, desperate.
Jinx gritted her teeth, tears building in her eyes.
"Naruto, don't be stupid! If you pull me up, Vander will just kill us all! We can't beat him like this!"
Naruto's gaze burned into hers. His wrist runes began to glow, pulsating crimson energy.
"Do you trust me?" he asked, voice low but filled with certainty.
Jinx didn't hesitate.
"Always."
Naruto nodded, turning to Vi. "Hold on to her. Tightly."
The red lightning crackled, blinding them. Naruto slammed his free hand downward, sending a violent shockwave through the air.
The blast struck Warwick, throwing him back with a monstrous growl.
But the momentum pulled Jinx down hard.
And she nearly dragged Vi and Naruto down with her.
Their bodies jerked.
Vi cried out, struggling to keep her grip. Naruto's arm burned from the sheer weight. His feet began to slip.
"Let me go!" Jinx sobbed, struggling against them. "It's no use!"
"No way." Naruto's voice was firm, unshakable.
She looked at him then, really looked at him. His face bloodied, battered, exhausted but his eyes were burning.
He was holding on like his life depended on it.
Because it did.
Because she was his life.
She was the only thing he had left.
Jinx broke down. A choked sob escaped her lips. She looked at Vi, then back at Naruto, so much love and pain in her eyes.
"It's the only way…" she whispered.
"Bullshit!" Naruto snapped. "There's always another way!"
Jinx shook her head, smiling softly through her tears.
"I love you."
Then, she let go, punching the gauntlet, hitting the hex crystal as it popped loose.
Vi's gauntlet died, losing power. And just like that she slipped from their hands.
"No!"
Naruto lunged forward, fingers grasping nothing but air.
Jinx plummeted, the wind ripping past her as Warwick fell with her.
Naruto didn't hesitate, he jumped down following them.
Jinx's eyes widened in shock as Naruto wrapped his arms around her.
"You idiot!" she screamed, hitting his chest.
Naruto held her tight.
"If you're falling," he muttered, voice shaking. "Then so am I."
Jinx couldn't stop crying.
Warwick snarled, reaching for them.
Naruto acted fast, with the last of his strength, he kicked Jinx upward, just enough to separate them from Warwick.
Jinx watched in horror as Naruto twisted midair, launching a kick directly into Warwick's chest.
The beast roared, spiralling away from them but Naruto wasn't done.
He grabbed the grenade from Jinx's belt and let it fall.
It landed directly onto Warwick, as a blinding explosion erupted midair.
Naruto felt the heat lick his skin, the pressure sending him reeling back into Jinx
Warwick's form was consumed by the void, his monstrous body vanishing into nothingness.
As Jinx and Naruto were still falling.
The wind whipped violently around them, tearing at their clothes, their hair, their skin. The air burned, heavy with the scent of smoke and blood. Gravity had won.
Jinx turned her head, her pink eyes locked onto Naruto's. She wasn't scared anymore.
She smiled. A real, genuine, heart breaking smile.
"Guess this is the end, huh?" she whispered, her voice barely reaching over the deafening wind.
Naruto held onto her tighter, their bodies pressed close as they tumbled through the abyss. His arms trembled, his breathing uneven, but he refused to let go.
"No," he murmured. His voice was hoarse, filled with pain and desperation. "It's not over yet."
Jinx laughed softly, her fingers brushing against his face.
"You always say that…"
Naruto gritted his teeth.
"Because it's true," he muttered, but even he knew the odds. The ground was rushing towards them, and there was no miracle left to save them.
They both knew it. Jinx tilted her head, leaning in close. "Not looking too great, lover boy," she teased.
Naruto chuckled weakly, pressing his forehead against hers.
"Yeah… not really," he admitted.
Their bodies twisted in the air, spinning as the explosion swallowed them whole.
Jinx sighed, closing her eyes.
"You know what?" she murmured. "I don't care how this ends. As long as I'm with you."
Naruto's heart ached, his chest tightening.
His grip on her tightened too.
"Jinx…"
She opened her beautiful, pink eyes.
He smiled.
"I love you."
Jinx smiled back, eyes brimming with tears.
"I love you too."
Then, their lips met.
A soft, fleeting kiss. One last stolen moment in the chaos of their ruin.
A surge of light erupted from below them, streaks of pink and blue lightning crackling through the air, dancing like shattered stars.
The void devoured them.
The explosion swallowed everything whole.
Far above, Vi stood frozen at the hexgate, her hands clenched into trembling fists. Her chest rose and fell rapidly, her heartbeat pounding in her ears.
Her legs gave out, as she hit the floor.
A scream ripped from her throat.
It echoed through Piltover, shaking the very foundation of the city.
Her world had just collapsed.
The battle had ended, but the scars it left behind remained.
The streets of Piltover and Zaun were quieter now. Not in a way that meant peace but in the way that meant grief.
The air was thick with the scent of burning paper as the people of both cities gathered, lighting slips of parchment marked with the names of the fallen. The embers rose like fireflies, drifting into the night sky, a sea of flickering lights that carried the memories of the lost.
At the Bridge of Progress, a solemn ceremony was held. Families clutched each other tightly, whispering prayers, some staring blankly at the water below, lost in their grief.
Ekko stood apart from the crowd, his hands steady as he lit a slip of two pieces of paper. The name Naruto was written across one while the other had his name.
He watched the flame consume them until there was nothing left but ash.
Somewhere, he liked to believe, Naruto was still out there.
Watching.
Waiting.
And laughing his stupid, annoying laugh.
Shoola as the only remaining councillor, Piltover's Council had been repopulated. The once rigid structure of aristocratic control had shifted.
Representatives from Piltover's notable houses were given seats, but in a surprising turn, Sevika from Zaun was among them.
For the first time in history, Zaun had a voice in Piltover's rule.
Some called it progress. Others called it desperation.
But whatever it was, it was a start. High above the ruins of the Hexgate Tower, a lone raven landed.
It tilted its head, its feathers rustling in the wind, before hopping forward.
Its beak pecked at the rubble, searching.
A shimmer of blue light flickered beneath the dust.
The raven's six red eyes glowed faintly as it pried loose a hex crystal from the remains of Jayce's hammer.
And then, with a flap of its wings, it vanished into the sky.
Mel stood at the docks, her golden eyes scanning the horizon.
The Noxian fleet had been prepared. The banners of her mother's army were being lowered folded away like they had never been here at all.
The war was over.
But she knew better.
Wars never ended.
They simply changed shape.
With one last glance at Piltover, Mel boarded the ship, disappearing into the mist with the remaining Noxian soldiers.
Inside her office, Caitlyn sat alone.
The plans for the Hexgates lay spread across her desk, but she wasn't looking at them.
Instead, her fingers gently traced the charred remains of a grenade fragment.
Jinx's grenade. Her brow furrowed as something clicked in her mind.
The tower's ventilation system.
She exhaled sharply, gripping the fragment.
Maybe just maybe they wasn't dead.
Later that night, Caitlyn found Vi in the lounge. The fire crackled softly, casting shadows against the walls.
Caitlyn leaned against the doorway, her voice quiet.
"You still in this fight?"
Vi didn't even hesitate. "I am the dirt under your nails, Cupcake," she said, smirking. "Nothing's gonna clean me out."
Caitlyn smiled as the pair kissed.
Neither of them was going anywhere.
As small airship drifted through the sky, its engines softly humming as it cut through the clouds.
Inside, two voices chattered lazily, basking in the warmth of the setting sun.
"So… where we gonna go?"
"I dunno."
"Well, I wanna go somewhere with lots of sun."
"Hm. I don't know… maybe somewhere without any Noxian soldiers."
"You can say that again."
A comfortable silence stretched between them before the first voice chuckled.
"Guess we'll just go with the flow, huh?"
"Yeah."
The second voice was softer now, more at ease.
A hand reached out, intertwining with another.
"I love you, Jinx."
A soft giggle.
"I love you too, Naruto."
And as the airship disappeared into the horizon, the sun finally set, painting the sky in streaks of pink and blue.
Monsters are made, not born.
That was the truth of their story.
Jinx and Naruto two souls never meant for peace, yet drawn together in the chaos. Their story was not one of heroes and villains, nor good and evil. It was a story of survival, of loss, and of the unrelenting fight to find redemption in a world that never offered it freely.
They met in flames and ruin, in the aftermath of an explosion that should have killed Naruto. He had been blown out of a window, sent tumbling into the unknown, only to be found by a girl with blue hair.
From that moment, their fates had been intertwined.
They lived together at the Last Drop, two misfits in a world that never wanted them. They fought for a place to belong, clinging to the scraps of love and family they found in the underbelly of Zaun.
Vander had been their first loss.
They tried to save him. Tried to be heroes.
But they had failed.
And in that failure, they had been swept into the arms of Silco, the man who would raise them in the darkness, mold them into something greater, something feared.
Jinx, his little project. And Naruto, his heir.
For a time, they ruled the underworld, believing that if they controlled Zaun, they could protect it.
But power was a hollow thing.
Silco's death left a void they were never meant to fill. Naruto tried.
But he was just a boy... a boy who kept losing everyone close to him.
He fought battle after battle against Piltover's task force, against the enforcers at Stillwater, against anyone who tried to take away what little he had left.
He lost his arm.
He lost Isha.
And in that moment, something inside him broke.
Jinx was there, as she always had been.
She was there when he screamed his rage at the world, when he sank into the abyss of his own grief.
She was there when he gave up.
When he let the pain take him.
And when he died.
But Jinx had never let go of him.
She brought him back.
With her hands covered in his blood, with tears streaming down her face, she refused to lose him too.
Naruto had opened his eyes to find her there, whispering apologies, begging him not to leave her alone.
They had come back together, to fight for the city that once hunted them, to stand beside those who had given them another chance.
Because that was the truth of their story.
Not that they were monsters. Not that they were beyond saving.
But a person is not defined by their worst moments.
That redemption is not something given, it is something fought for.
That no matter how far someone falls, they can always stand up again.
They just have to keep trying.
Jinx and Naruto had survived everything.
And now, together, they would see what the world had left to offer them.
Chapter 29 - Stand By Me Act 6 The End
A/N
Monsters are made, not born… The end.
So, how do I begin?
I started this story simply because I loved Jinx as a character. This story was planned way back when Arcane Season One had just ended, but truthfully, I had only outlined it up to the end of that season. That's why the story followed canon so closely afterward I want to say sorry for that.
To everyone who has read from the very start to now, I want to give a final thank you. I hope it was a good read.
As for the ending, I've left it somewhat open ended for you all… maybe I'll return to this story after Welcome to Noxus? Who knows?
Until then...
This is the end.
byebye!