Prologue

Ekko was in for a rough night. Then again, that happens when you're being chased by Shimmer thugs through the sewers of the Undercity.

Now, I bet some of you are wondering why a eleven year old dark skinned, silver haired boy is being chased by thugs?

Well, it all has to do with the fact that Ekko has made it one of his personal missions in life to disrupt the Chem-Barons of Zaun's business and at the moment, that meant destroying their Shimmer drug supply any way a young boy like him could.

And while he may have some friends to give him help, because they hate Shimmer and more importantly, the Eye of Zaun, Silco himself, Ekko thought that his friends should split up when it comes to running from the Chem-Baron thugs so they could ensure the thugs don't find their hideout.

However, tonight, these thugs seemed to be more persistent in chasing him, in fact, the boy was pretty sure the thugs stayed in one big group to chase him and not his friends.

Well, at least his friends would be okay.

The same can't really be said for him. Like mentioned before, these thugs seemed to be more persistent in chasing him compared to the others.

Grunting, Ekko jumped across the ledge and he grabbed at the ledge of the pipe across from him. Ekko grunted as he tried to climb and pull himself up, but his shoes kept on slipping on the wall and his grip was slipping.

Ekko scrambled but it wasn't enough and so he slipped back and fell into the fog below-

Only to collide with the ground after falling less than ten feet. Ekko grimaced and hissed in pain, holding the back of his head as he rose to stand up. He looked around at the fog before waving his hand, blowing the fog back and finding out that he had nothing to worry about when falling. For the ground was all solid, Ekko didn't luck out in landing on a platform.

Ekko glanced up at the pipe he had fallen from. "Huh. Okay then." Ekko muttered to himself before he heard the footsteps of the thugs coming closer above him.

Ekko gasped and started running in a random direction.

"There he is! Shoot him!"

Ekko's eyes widened as he ducked his head as the bullets fired raced past him, though they were dangerously close to hitting their mark on him. But then one did find its way through his shoulder.

"Fuck!" Ekko shouted, stumbling before catching himself on the wall, gritting his teeth before forcing himself to continue running.

Seeing another tunnel up ahead, Ekko dove into it, head first, only to find out that the tunnel went straight down.

"Woah!" Ekko shouted as he somersaulted so that he didn't land on his head and landed on his rear.

Ekko panted before dusting himself as if checking for more injuries before sighing heavily. No other injuries besides the one on his shoulder.

"Run, boy, run." one of the thugs spoke to taunt Ekko as they walked. Ekko cursed under his breath and then kept running in the tunnel. It didn't take long to hear them jumping down after him.

Ekko ran for what felt like an hour before the tunnel was filled with a very bright light. He grimaced at the light before he saw that it was sunlight that managed to find its way from a crack or something up on the surface high above.

But that's not what caught Ekko's attention. It was the large massive tree in front of him with a small batch of tall green grass in front of it, surrounded by a little creek of water coming from the small pipes and the ground like a natural spring.

Ekko stared at the scene before with in awe and disbelief. How was this possible?

". . . The blood loss must be making me see things," he muttered to himself.

And just then, his adrenaline faded and he felt woozy, dizzy and weak. His shoulder burned in pain and he wanted to collapse but he caught himself with the pipe he had been using as a cane.

Ekko bit his lip to bite back his groan of pain. He limped over to the tree and then fell down.

A part of him asked himself one word. Why? Then he asked himself, why does he do this? Why was he risking his life like this? Why was he going against Silco and his Shimmer operations when he just had two friends his age to help him while Silco practically owned the Undercity? Then his mind drifted off to how he met his two friends.

Two months ago.

Ekko was running. He's been running a lot lately. It's like the only thing he knows how to do these days.

Now, with more than a handful of Enforcers on his tail, he doesn't know for how long he'd be able to keep it up. What he does know is that he has to lay low for a while, what with that man — Silco — lurking in the shadows, and it's not like there are friendly Enforcers either, so he has to be careful about them too.

But he's just been so hungry. Food has been a struggle ever since. . . it doesn't matter; coming up here to Topside has been a mistake, but he's gotten away with it before, and it wasn't like there was much to steal from his fellow Trenchers.

Besides, Topsiders were usually so air-headed they wouldn't notice some food missing.

Still, if only he'd been more careful. As in not sitting down at an empty table after the Topsiders left their seats in the fancy restaurant's outdoor tables.

Stupid, stupid, stupid echoed in his head.

He thought he'd lose them once he jumped down here on the roofs, but despite their excessive stumbling and clumsy gait, they were close enough behind her that Ekko didn't like his low chances of getting off scott-free.

But he's done it before and while it doesn't come naturally to him like it did for Vi, or Powder, Ekko knows what he's doing; he jumps from roof to roof, runs along the metal beams and slides down the many ladders until he gets back on solid ground, which only means that she has to run even faster if he ever hopes to get rid of those annoying Piltie goons.

It was hard to believe that his life had ever been more than a game of survival, but the truth is he used to have so much, and while life in the Undercity has always been hard, there was nothing like running knowing nobody's got your back.

Adrenaline was rushing through his veins; he was panting, and his lungs were burning; he thought his legs must be separated from her body. There was just no way he could move so fast when every fiber of his being was screaming at him to give up.

Well, not really.

There were a couple of small voices in his mind — which really weren't small at all, quite the opposite actually — that were telling him to "Keep going, don't look back. Just run. Run as fast as you can, Little Man." Along with "Don't let them catch you; you can do it, Tuff Tuff."

And how he wishes for those voices to be real, for his best friend and her sister to be more than a voice whispering in his ear. But all that's left of his family are memories, and as the Enforcers catch up to him while he attempts to climb back onto one of the lower buildings, Ekko thinks that maybe that'd be lost too.

Still, there was a chance for him to get away if only he could-

But his grand escape plan was interrupted by a pair of long legs connected to the body of a young Chirean that came swinging from a broken pipe, knocking out one of the Enforcers before a human girl was jumping on the other.

The Chirean and human girl that came to his rescue used their weight to send the uniformed men reeling towards one of the walls, then the girl bashed the Enforcer's head against it and the Chirean used his body to launch himself into the air and towards the window sill that Ekko was holding on for dear life.

"Are you hurt?" Asked the Chirean, and Ekko could only shake his head, still a little bit in awe of what he had just witnessed.

"Then let's get away from here." His voice was urgent and Ekko barely had time to blink before he wrapped an arm around his middle and jumped once more, this time bringing her along.

Unsure of whether he was being rescued or kidnapped (but more inclined to believe it was the former) Ekko held tightly onto the stranger as they leapt towards the pipe from where he appeared just moments ago.

Once they landed, the Chirean let go of Ekko, and with a "Follow us," thrown over his shoulder and a bit of hesitance on Ekko's part, the three of them started walking. For a split second, he thought the girl was Vi, she had the same hair but that's where the resemblance ended.

Inside the pipe, it was low enough that they had to hunch over — the Chirean more than Ekko and the girl — so as not to hit their heads, which led to an uncomfortable trek through the dark that lasted until they had to slide down a sudden slope that spewed them out in the back of a decrepit alley.

"Who are you?" Asked Ekko, climbing back to his feet and trying to brush off the dust covering his clothes.

Neither the Chirean or the girl answered him, instead following a question of their own. "Why were those Enforcers chasing you?" Asked the Chirean and his harsh tone made Ekko feel even more embarrassed about the whole ordeal.

While he had gone Topside a couple of times in these past few weeks, he'd stuck to the periphery of the glistening city, scavenging in their overflowing dumpsters and pick-pocketing any Piltie that wandered too close.

But today he was the one who crossed the bridge, and he got caught. Why did he go there? Because he was still looking for them. That was the real answer, it wasn't just hunger, it was desperation. He'd seen Vander's deformed body just as it was taken away, he'd seen Mylo and Claggor's corpses. But he hasn't seen them.

Vi and Powder.

That meant they could be alive, or maybe their lifeless bodies were buried under the rubble, or their corpses had been taken away before he arrived, but no, they could be alive. He'd seen Enforcers in that area and thought that maybe, maybe they'd been arrested, maybe they weren't dead after all.

It was a feeble attempt at coping; it wasn't like he could just barge into Stillwater and get them out even if it turned out they were there, but that didn't matter at the moment; he just needed them to be alive.

Ekko wasn't sure he even believed himself, but there was little that kept her going, so he clung to whatever he could.

"Why do you care?" he challenged defensively, wrapping his arms around himself and looking at his surroundings in search of an escape route in case he needed one.

But the Chirean just looked irritated, brows furrowed and mouth set into a thin line. "I don't." He said through gritted teeth before turning around.

"Then why did you two save me?" Ekko snapped back; he had no business being so angry at him for taking on those Topside pigs, but it was that or admitting that he had needed help.

"If us Trenchers don't help each other out, then who will?" the girl asked.

"Besides, one Enforcer down is one Enforcer less to worry about." the Chirean added his own two cents.

Ekko couldn't see their faces fully but their voices were laced with the same righteousness that reminded him of Vi whenever she got worked up over the injustice of it all.

It's us against them. That's what she had said.

The three of them were both silent for a long moment; then Ekko heard the Chirean sigh before he turned his head to look at him; his bright green eyes made him feel like an insect under his scrutiny. "Look, kid, I don't know what the fuck you were doing, but don't try it again, alright?"

Ekko bit him lip and hesitated — it felt more and more like he was one wrong step away from falling into oblivion, a place of no return — and just as he and the girl were about to walk away he called after them, "W-wait!" his voice was barely loud enough to be heard but the two stopped, the Chirean's ears twitching ever so slightly ". . . Thank you."

This time the two kids turned around to face him fully, and Ekko could see the hard set of Chirean's jaw loosening, his perpetual scowl nowhere in sight. "You look hungry; when was the last time you ate anything?" he asked.

While Ekko makes do with the little money he gets from fixing trash and then selling it, sometimes it's just not enough. "Two. . . three days ago?" he answers unsure.

The Chirean and the girl glance at each other before the latter makes a beckoning gesture with her hand. "Come on, we'll treat you to some Jericho's." she offers, but Ekko doesn't move.

"You guys don't work for Silco, do you?" Asked Ekko suspiciously, he can't afford to trust anyone, not with Silco basically taking over the Lanes.

The Chirean's face contorted in rage. "Silco?" He spits the name like a curse, and the venom in his voice only grows the more he talks, "What does this have to do with that bastard?"

"He. . . he killed my family." It wasn't the whole truth, Ekko knew that there was more to it than that but he couldn't think about it right now. Not about how Powder must have been involved, or how he could have stopped it. If only he had gone with them. Or stopped them from going.

But what does it matter? They are dead.

The Chirean's next words were slightly less angry but coated with a bitterness that made it abundantly clear that Ekko wasn't the only one who had their life ripped apart by Silco. "Believe me, I am not any more fond of him than you are."

"Got a name? Or just a death wish?" the girl asked while Ekko hung around his shoulders which turned out to be a makeshift cloak.

"I asked you first." Retorted Ekko scowling.

"Call me Scar." He told him briskly and started walking away.

"The name's Eve," the girl said before she turned away and followed Scar.

The young boy scrambled to follow. "I'm Ekko." he said once he caught up with them.

Ekko couldn't help but think that maybe he was making a mistake, still he trailed after them through the Shimmer-riddled streets of the Undercity, and the more they walked, the more he felt like he finally got a couple of allies, at least for a while.

"Eve, what are we doing?" Scar asked Eve angrily as he dropped a couple cogs on the counter of Jericho's stall.

"Helping a kid out, the same way I did you," Eve replied. Which was true, Eve and Scar met one another the same way they had just met Ekko. Scar was an orphan but Eve had a mother that was working in the mines.

The boy was sitting on one of the stools. He was small, not smaller than any other child of the Undercity but he was alone and clearly looking for trouble.

Enforcers chasing children were certainly not unheard of, but recently, they've been weirdly hard to spot. So today's encounter has been something of a surprise.

Still, Scar felt that he and Eve shouldn't have intervened; he knew they wouldn't be able to just leave him after that, not if he was on his own, which seemed to be the case.

'He killed my family.ʼ Of course he had; Scar doesn't know from what Hell that Silco crawled up from, but he only brought trouble with him.

Now that this drug of his was taking up the market, the enforcers were the least of Eve and Scar's worries. Shimmer was poisoning the Undercity and its people, and nobody was doing anything about it; with Vander gone, the Lanes were left at Silco's mercy.

As he watched Jericho readying the food Scar thought about the late pseudo-leader of the Lanes and his sudden death as well as the disappearance of his children, all presumed dead with his close friend Benzo but maybe. . .

Jericho placed three bowls of food in front of Scar who took one while Eve took the other two with a nod and moved to sit next to Ekko.

She offered him one of them and he accepted it with a hasty, "Thanks" before he started to dig in. He was hungry, alright, and Scar, like most of the people down here, knew what it was like to go without food for days at a time. But if Scar's suspicions turned out to be true then the kid was in deeper shit than a few missed meals.

"You are one of Vander's, aren't you?" Asked Scar in a low voice, he doubted Jericho, of all people, would snitch on them, but it was better to be sure than sorry.

Ekko was nearly startled out of eating but he took his time to swallow a couple more bites before answering. ". . . I was Benzo's." he confirmed, not taking his eyes away from the half-empty bowl in his hand.

In the Undercity, everyone knew pretty much everyone. You may not have a name, but you'd at least have a vague description, and from the looks of it, he was the youngest of that bunch.

And the only one left, Scar would admit he was curious as to how he escaped the same fate as the rest of them but ultimately decided not to ask.

"So you're on your own, huh?" Eve asked. Scar rolled his eyes. She was doing it again, wasn't she? Getting tangled up in things that shouldn't be her concern but what else could they do? Leave him alone while he was probably being hunted down by Silco's goons?

". . . I guess." he looked defeated, head bowed and hands holding tightly onto the stool. Well, now Scar knew he didn't have the heart to just walk away.

"You don't have to be." Eve said conversationally, finishing off what was left of her fish stew.

". . . What?" Ekko looked up at him, head tilted to the side like a bird that got lost underground.

"We could team up." Scar clarified, thumb tracing the rim of the bowl he was still holding.

"I don't think I'd be of any help." was his dejected response, but Scar was relentless. "I'm sure we'd find something."

At that, he started to violently shake his head. "No, you don't get it." his voice was unsteady, and Scar could see tears gather in her big brown eyes. "They are dead because of me."

Eve furrowed her brows. "I thought you said-"

"Yes, but-" he trailed off, teeth gnawing at his lower lip, knuckles white from the force of his grip.

"But what?" Scar asked. The boy wasn't making any sense, but then again, grief makes us behave in strange ways.

His breathing was getting frantic now. "I. . . I don't know. It all just fell apart after I gave them a tip for a steal from Topside." His babbling was just loud enough to attract the attention of passersby, but though they did nothing more than look their way, Scar knew he had to calm him down as soon as possible.

"Hey, hey ki- Ekko, you need to calm down." He leaned slightly forward and placed his hand on the boy's shoulder.

Eve moved to sit next to the boy and hugs him. "I don't know what happened but it doesn't matter. We all mess up sometimes; down here, we all blame ourselves for the loss of someone." A single tear rolled down his face, and she brushed it away with her thumb. "Life's tough, but you gotta keep living."

Ekko was still struggling for air, but he closed his eyes, and with each second that passed, he regained more control of his body till she finally seemed to have come down from her panic.

He reached to pat Scar and Eve's hands with his own, and they pulled their hands away a few seconds later. "I'm sorry." he apologized with a sheepish look on his face.

"Don't be." he reassured her before getting back to his and Eve's offer from earlier "So? What do you say?"

"I'd like that." he told him, a grateful smile on his lips.

And that's just how things are in the Undercity, you build your family from scratch.

But now here he was, a lone kid bleeding out with the thugs closing in on his location and no one to help him. Guess it was a bad idea to split up from Scar and Eve and run into the sewers.

On one hand, death wasn't going to be pretty. The Chem-Baron thugs were unlikely to let him die from blood loss. They'd probably butcher him. Scar and Eve probably wouldn't find him down here until days later.

On the other hand, he'd be seeing Benzo, Vander, Mylo and Claggor. And hopefully, Powder and Vi very soon. That's not so bad, right?

Ekko looked up at the tree above him as the sun was setting up on the surface. Firelights were starting to fly about now, giving it the look of a Christmas tree or something. It was beautiful.

Well, thank you, Janna, for letting me see something as beautiful as this tree before I leave this world, Ekko thought to himself before looking ahead to the pipe where he knows the thugs will come out. The tree was like out of one of his dreams that he had shared with Powder. A dream that the Undercity would look like this place.

But then another thought came to him. If a tree could survive down here, in a place where it shouldn't be possible, then why couldn't he? Why couldn't Scar and Eve? Why did he have to die like this when he found something like a tree growing deep underground?

Ekko forced himself to stand with new determination as the thugs stepped into view from the sewer pipe. He held up his pipe in his hands with a glare.

"Let's get this shit over with," Ekko spat. "Come on, you want a fight? Come and get it!"

Most of the thugs laughed mockingly at him. A few even threw their mocking jeers and insults at him.

"Leave the boy alone."

Ekko blinked in surprise and confusion as a man walked into view from the shadows behind the tree. He was dressed in black clothes and he looked just as old as Vander or Benzo, maybe older. He wasn't big and muscular as Vander and Benzo, just more lean with dark brown hair that was turning gray with a matching beard that covered the lower half of his face.

And he had one leg that seemed to be made out of wood and metal.

"And get off my property," the man said in a cold tone as he stood before the thugs. "You're all trespassing."

The thugs were surprised at the old man's presence, but they weren't all that intimidated. The thug leader looked at his friends, jabbing a thumb at the old man. "You get a load of this guy?"

"Must be senile to think he can tell us what to do," jeered one of the thugs.

"I'm not going to tell you again, leave. Now." the old man said firmly, the glare evident in his tone.

"You ain't the boss of us, Grandpa," the thug leader said to the man mockingly. "We have our own boss."

"Then perhaps I should let one of you live and take me to them so I can tell them politely to leave my property and children like the one behind me alone," the old man said.

"You threatening us, Old Man?" the leader asked, narrowing his eyes. "You think we should be scared of you?"

A spine-chilling growl suddenly sounded off from the shadows.

"It's not me you should fear," the old man said and then the shadows moved.

A figure stepped into view on top of a large boulder. At first, it resembled nothing more than a mere shadow, but with each passing moment, the shadow began to grow bigger and bigger. It finally took the form of a massive beast, who stood at the base of the rock that overlooked Ekko and the Chem-Baron thugs.

Ekko noticed that the beast had thick scaly hide, black as night, four limbs each equipped with claws that looked to be covered in black steel, a long tail that flickered from behind the rock, and two large wings draped over the sides of its body. At the top rested a salamander-like head and face, growling at those beneath its shadow and in front of the old man. Additionally, its head was adorned with fin-horn-like protrusions twitching atop the creature's curved head and snout, which started to exhale a frosty breath from its nostrils. But that wasn't what caught Ekko's attention the most.

It was the eyes. Those glowing, emerald eyes. They looked like nothing Ekko had seen in the animals that dwelled in the Undercity. There was a weird feeling that gave Ekko a suggestion that there was some intelligence behind those menacing eyes. It wasn't like a predator stalking prey. Rather, it was almost a more curious look. Studying, scrutinizing, judging, perhaps?

However, as the cat-like slits darted rapidly, gazing upon the thugs, Ekko now started to see that those eyes now started to reflect some kind of spark. A spark that Ekko had recognized before. He had seen in Vi whenever somebody had messed with her sister or even when they got into some scraps with other kids. Even in some Enforcers that didn't have their face masks on.

A spark of rage.

Pure unbridled rage.

Not towards him, but towards the thugs. As its gaze was more focused on the thugs than the boy, or the old man for that matter. Ekko could tell, just by how it was eyeing the thugs with unconditional hate. And it only made Ekko shiver even further.

The thugs treaded backward as the volume of the beast's growls increased. Even the leader was taken aback slightly.

A blade encased in flame suddenly snapped into the air in the old man's hand. "You had your chance." he said as the dragon stopped growling before the beast flared its wings and unleashed a bone-rattling roar that announced its arrival. And promising Ekko, the thugs behind him and the world of Runeterra that this was only the beginning. And nothing would be able to escape its fury.

The old man glanced back at Ekko with his left emerald eye. "You might not want to see this, son." he said in a more friendly tone. "Trust me."

"Come on, Bats, Eve! I have something to show you!" Ekko hasn't been so excited in a long while but this was worth the fuss.

He ran through the convoluted sewer system of the Undercity, water splashing all around him while Scar and Eve followed at a much more sedated pace though they still managed to keep up with him thanks to their height.

It's been months since they saved him from those enforcers and they've stuck together ever since. There were times where Ekko felt like a burden than a companion, but to be fair, he felt like that once when he started living with Benzo. But Scar taught him how to punch, where to hit and when to run, what he fixes he and Eve sell, and his gadgets are getting better by the day though they have yet to work.

What Scar said was right, he found his use, and yesterday, he found something truly amazing.

"Here." Said Ekko impatiently, gesturing for Scar and Eve to hurry up. The tunnel they were in was different from the one he had came in. It had a big metal gate.

"Cover your eyes." he said over his shoulder but neither Eve nor Scar listened, keeping their arms alongside their bodies and still looking at Ekko as he struggled to get it to open.

"You sure you don't need any help?" Scar asked.

"I'm fine, just don't look, alright?" Powder insisted, staring at him until Scar reluctantly raised one hand to cover his eyes. Eve rolled her eyes before following his lead.

It took him a minute to get it to budge, but with the gate out of the way, he grabbed Scar by his arm and dragged him and Eve through the short tunnel and towards the treasure he found between all this grime.

Ekko nudged them both, "Now you can look." he said enthusiastically, and they lowered their hands, pausing midway the moment they realized what they was seeing.

In the middle of the sewer, surrounded by water and illuminated by the golden sunlight that poured through the large hole in the top was a tree so big Eve had trouble taking it all in. It looked healthy and it was hard to believe that it could thrive in such a place, yet here it was, paradise underground.

"Not to brag or anything but it's cool as fuck, isn't it?" Said Ekko proudly, this place was beautiful and a huge improvement from the dingy abandoned buildings they've been using as shelter.

At least he thought so, but Scar was silent beside him as was Eve, and Ekko was getting more nervous by the second.

"Right. . . ?" he asked anxiously, but the next thing he knew, Scar grabbed him by the ankles and thrust him onto his shoulders, a joyful laugh resounding all around. "It's amazing, Little Man!"

Ekko's never heard him sound so happy before but he felt his smile freeze at the use of that nickname.

Powder. She would've loved it, as would the rest. Especially Powder, she was like him who always got so excited over the little weeds that sprouted from the cracks in the concrete.

At least he wasn't alone, at least there was Scar and Eve.

"So you like it? We'd have to get rid of a lot of the water but I am sure I can come up with something." Ekko said confidently.

"You kidding? It's perfect." Eve breathed out. "I just can't believe something this amazing has been here the whole time." They came to a stop once they reached the small stretch of ground surrounding the tree that hadn't been swallowed by the water. She knelt down to touch the grass with an awe filled expression.

"We could make it home." Continued Scar in a wistful whisper, as if he was afraid that if he dared say it out loud, this too may get taken away from them.

"We could." Said Ekko, equally quiet.

"Glad to think others can agree," the old man said as he walked into view of Ekko and his two friends, his dragon walking in view from around the corner. He gives the kids a warm smile and the dragon gives a friendly coo.

Ekko returns the smile and looks up at the tree.

This place could be a home and a fortress. It could be what The Last Drop used to be before everything went to shit.

He could make Silco pay for what he has done. He could make Benzo, Powder, Vi, Vander, Mylo and Claggor proud. Maybe all hope wasn't lost, maybe it all started with this place.

"So," Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III crosses his arms at the kids, the roars of other dragons are heard all around them. "You want me to teach you how to train a dragon?"

This was originally going to be a story about Hiccup in the world of Arcane, but then I read a RWBY/HTTYD crossover subtitled "The Legend of the Grimmwalker" which at the moment featured Toothless as a Night Fury dragon (Not a Faunus) in RWBY and I got this idea of Ekko with a Night Fury.

I decided to put Old Man Hiccup in this story so he could teach Ekko and the founding Firelights to be Dragon Riders. At this point in time, he's as old as Stoick was. And because of that, that means that Toothless is most likely a Titan Wing Night Fury at this point or soon will be in the future.

I can't decide if I should have Old Man Hiccup speak to Silco or not. What do you think?

Other than that, this will have heavy cannon divergence, will be my second Timebomb fanfic, and I took some inspiration from other fanfics I've read both on Ao3 and here on Wattpad.