ONE MONTH LATER...

Young Jinx was looking at her small but swollen belly in the mirror. She slowly stroked it up and down, imagining what her baby would look like. Whether it would look like her or its father, but for her, that wasn't the most important thing. The important thing was that it be born alive.

"Why do you look at yourself in the mirror so much?" asked Sevika, who arrived at Jinx's den.

"Not for nothing, what you're carrying there is food," the young woman commented, since the older woman was carrying some bags with her.

"If it's for you and Isha, by the way, where is it?"

"She's taking a nap, I don't want to disturb her," Jinx said as she opened the bags of food.

"Well, since the baby isn't here, I have to talk to you about something," Sevika mentioned to Jinx. "It's about your sister."

Jinx stopped what she was doing and looked at Sevika.

-- What... is she still with the pilti-idiots up there?

-- No, apparently he's not one of the top dogs anymore; now he's fighting in underground fights.

-- Yeah, apparently his "girlfriend" got bored of her easily. How happy and sad to know that Vi is lonelier than I am now. Jinx commented as she began to eat.

-- You're gaining a lot of weight, aren't you? A week ago, I noticed your belly is growing. Sevika leaned a little closer to Jinx, and the latter covered her belly with her hands. "Tell me something, you're pregnant, aren't you? Because if there's one thing I remember well, in the years I've known you, you've never gained weight, and it's strange that you suddenly gain a few pounds, but only around your belly."

Jinx remained static because of what Sevika had told her. Now, no matter how much she hid it, sooner or later her pregnancy was going to become very noticeable.

"Well, yes, I'm pregnant. Is that a problem?" the blue-haired girl asked.

"No, not one, just whose baby you're carrying."

"HAHAHA, I'm not going to tell you that. It's something only I'm going to know."

"Your privacy is fine, but now what are you doing with two children? Do you think you're capable of taking care of both of them?"

"Yes, I'm capable enough to take care of someone else. I'm not useless. By the way, where can I find my sister?"

Sevika was surprised by the last thing Jinx said, although it was normal for Jinx to want to know something about her older sister.

(•••)

That same night, Jinx, wearing a black hoodie, headed to the place where Sevika had told her she could find her sister.

Standing in front of so many people screaming desperately to see the next fight, it was her sister's fight with a guy bigger and more muscular than Vi. Jinx had bet that her sister would win.

A few minutes later, the fight started, but it didn't last long, as the pink-haired girl quickly knocked the guy down. Everyone was euphoric about what had just happened. Jinx smiled slightly as a way of congratulating her sister.

"You fought well," she said in a whisper.

Jinx received a few coins after betting on Vi. The young Zaunite woman left the place and, as she walked through the streets, accidentally found a book. Upon examining it closely, she realized it was a book about learning to speak sign language. Although it might not seem like it, Jinx wanted to understand Isha a little better since she was only mute, but it was still difficult for her to understand Isha at times.

The young woman grabbed the book and took it home to start practicing and teaching Isha how to sign. Upon arriving at her hiding place, Jinx saw the adorable girl trying to make a weapon for herself.

"Hey, kid, I have something for you," Jinx said. Isha gestured to find out what it was.

The blue-haired girl approached the girl and showed her the book. At first, Isha didn't understand what it was.

"This is a sign language book. You and I are going to learn it so I can understand you much better when you want to tell me something, okay?" Jinx commented. The girl just nodded. "We'll start tomorrow, okay, now it's time to go to sleep."

They both went to sleep peacefully on Jinx's couch, although they'd soon have to sleep on something bigger since she'd have a little company.

The next day, both Jinx and Isha were practicing using the book to learn sign language. The first thing they both wanted to learn was the letters of the alphabet.

"Look, this is A," Jinx said as she traced the letter with her fingers. "This is B, and the next one is C, okay. We have to learn little by little so that you, more than anything, can communicate with me in a friendly way."

Isha raised her left thumb in the YES sign.

"Very good, practice these letters a few times and then move on to others." Jinx got up from the floor and went to the mirror to look at her face. She had noticed that she had very noticeable dark circles under her eyes. But above all, she felt that her belly was a beautiful thing on her.

Jinx had been thinking about talking to him about her pregnancy for a while. Although she had been refusing to speak to the young man for a long time, she felt it was time to face this.

"I'm going out for a moment, I'll be there soon," Jinx told the girl as she left.

After a few minutes, the young woman arrived at the place where she used to meet Ekko on occasion. Almost every day, the young man went there to unwind a little, just like her. Jinx still remembered going to that same place with her sister when they were younger.

After almost an hour of being there, Jinx felt somewhat disappointed not to see Ekko around. Just as she was about to leave, she heard footsteps approaching her. The young woman smiled and got up from the ground.

"Hmm... I thought I wouldn't see you around here today." Jinx turned around to come face to face with Ekko, but was surprised to see that it wasn't him, but her friend Scar.

"I knew you were the girl Ekko was secretly seeing," the young man mentioned.

"You're his friend, what's your name? That's what Scar used to tell me about you."

"Same here. And what are you doing here?"

"I came to see if I could find him here. I needed to tell him something."

"I think you don't know anything, right?" Scar asked Jinx.

"Know what?" Jinx answered, confused.

"Exactly a month ago, Ekko disappeared, and we don't know anything about him."

"What do you mean, disappeared?"

"I don't even know. He went with a friend he met to investigate something, but they never came back, and since your sister's girlfriend is now the leader of those above, we suspect she did something bad to him. Everyone at the base believes that he..." Scar looked down, a little sadly. "That he's dead. We believe that woman did something to him."

At that moment, Jinx's heart shattered into a thousand pieces. She couldn't believe what Scar had told her. Ekko couldn't be dead.

— He can't be... no, he just can't.

— There's no other way he could have disappeared overnight. I can't go upstairs to investigate why things are so messed up. And I suggest you don't either, because the one they're mainly looking for is you.

— Don't worry, I'm not stupid enough to go back upstairs. Thanks for the information, I have to go now.

Jinx left that place without another word. Her mind was in complete chaos at that moment; she didn't know how to react to what Scar had told her. But no, it wasn't true that Ekko was dead; he couldn't be.

Before they got home,

Jinx sat on the ground in an alley and began to cry uncontrollably. Now she was alone, with no one to help her take care of a baby.

"WHAT WILL I DO WITHOUT HIM!" the young woman said between sobs. "What will I do without you, Ekko?"