Chapter Text
* * *
I think the cycle only ends when you find the will to walk away.
Jinx wasn’t walking.
She was falling.
Her eyes closed, tears drifting upwards as she fell past them, Vander’s claws around her torso the closest thing she’d ever feel to a hug again.
Guess it’s right that I’ll be killing my family one last time . . .
The chomper was in her hands, loaded with a hexgem and ready to blow . . . but Jinx wasn’t falling through the air, she was falling through water.
“Have you had enough yet?” Silco asked.
I have . . .
She’d had enough for a long time already. She didn’t want to even be there, in that final fight. Didn’t want to go to Stillwater. Didn’t want to fight Vi and her Piltie squeeze before that, either.
But she had.
Things kept dragging her back into it . . . but there was nothing now. Vi was too far upward, Vander was going to be too dead. She was the same-
Until a great force caught her under the armpits and lifted! Jinx screamed in pain as she was cause between Vander’s claws and whatever new thing had grabbed her-
And then she was free-
Her finger pulled the pin-
The chomper ticked as Vander fell-
As Jinx flew away from them, a trail of green light behind her-
BOOM!
The flare of a hextech explosion filled the area with blue smoke and sparkles. If there was one mercy it gave Jinx, it was that she didn’t see what happened to Vander . . . and Vi didn’t see what happened to either of them.
That didn’t stop her from screaming.
Jinx’s scream, though, was muted as she was suddenly in a side-channel of the Hexgate tower -something that Caitlyn would only see when reviewing the blueprints a good while later!
Then glass shattered around her, and she was in the open sky above Piltover!
“No, no, NO!” Jinx screamed.
She struggled against the arms around her, trying to throw herself off! It wasn’t too late, the ground so far below was rock and concrete, it’d do-
But then yellow crystals grew around her feet, anchoring her to the hoverboard and rendering any attempt to get off dead in the water.
And warm arms wrapped around her.
“I’m sorry,” Ekko murmured.
Jinx just collapsed into sobs. Thick, pink-tinged tears fell down her cheeks, staining Ekko’s jacket while she shuddered. Her shoulders quaked, and all Ekko could do was hold her and whisper what cold comforts he could.
Until Jinx finally sucked in a deep breath, and looked into Ekko’s.
“I’m tryin’ to end this!” Jinx pleaded. “Everythin’ that I’ve done wrong -you all should just be free of me, an’ I can finally get some sleep . . .”
“We don’t wanna be free of you,” Ekko replied. “Not anymore.”
“You gotta be!” Jinx’s voice cracked with her desperation. “This cycle, it only ends when you find the will to walk away . . .”
“Walk away? That’s what you’ve been doin’ this whole time, Jinx!” Ekko protested. “When turf wars were eatin’ the undercity alive an’ those Pilties were goin’ around an’ blowin’ shit up, you weren’t a part of it ‘til the very end -then you came back an’ did good. Inspired the whole damn city!”
Jinx shook her head-
“Then you went layin’ low again,” Ekko replied. “Just like you told me, you tore apart Fishbones an’ Pow-Pow and just stuck with Isha in your lair. You walked away! Then you came back an’ freed so many people from Stillwater! You found Vander or he found you, you got Vi to him, you tried to figure all that shit out an’ it was good.”
Jinx inhaled sharply, blinking away tears-
“Then, when Vi let you out, you tried to walk away one more time,” Ekko murmured, holding her closer. “An’ then you came back an’ saved the fuckin’ world with me. So don’t you dare say we’re better off if you’re gone. Don’t you dare say it’ll end the cycle or some shit -the cycle ended here because you came to the fight an’ brought everyone else along.”
Jinx looked away, her mind burning with too many thoughts-
As a pair of eyes looked at her from beyond either of them. A tall, thin man looked over the ruins of what war caused, and then locked eyes with Jinx.
“I killed Vander, and it did not stop the cycle. You killed me, and it did not stop the cycle,” Silco shared. “Perhaps the cycle does not end in our deaths . . .”
Jinx growled -what Silco told her before couldn’t be wrong! Silco was never wrong!
But this ain’t Silco . . . it’s just my own damn head . . .
And that’s never been right.
A sudden burst of motion caught Jinx’s gaze as a young girl went flying through the air! Jinx’s heart clenched, but it wasn’t an explosion that flew her! No, she had leapt from a tall Piltovian spire, her blue braids sticking out behind her, her helmet falling from her head as Isha flew alongside them!
Jinx’s greedy eyes took in every detail of Isha’s face as she went by, as Isha’s own eyes stared back at her and her little hands made a finger gun and-
Her lips said, “pow!”
Then Isha landed on a balcony, and Ekko’s hoverboard took Jinx past the spire Isha landed on and stole her from Jinx’s sight.
Gone again . . .
But she died for me . . . and I was gonna throw my life away . . .
Jinx looked up at Ekko again, seeing his dark eyes look into her own as the crystals around her feet broke and fell away.
“Why?” Jinx whispered, her voice cracking. “Vi never gave up on me, but that’s from guilt an’ duty. Silco never gave up on me, but that’s ‘cause he was only a little less broken than me. But you . . . you gave up on me, then you came back. Why?”
“I saw what a happy ending looks like,” Ekko said, his voice raw and soulful. “She’s dancin’ in a white dress.”
* * *
The sanctuary wasn’t what it once was.
To Ekko, it didn’t seem like a sanctuary at all anymore. It was supposed to be an underground utopia, insulated from the rest of the undercity . . . but then came that wild rune. Then came Piltover’s occupation. And the Firelights all learned once more that they could never be truly separate.
“So this where all the bugs come home to nest?” Jinx asked lowly, her gaze following a young girl that only she saw run across the branches. “Kinda expected more . . .”
Ekko sighed, his gaze staring at the tree. It looked dead, branches sagging and leaves falling. Corruption moved up and down the bark now . . . it didn’t seem that different from any other plant life in the undercity now.
And it was dirtier than Ekko left it. The buildings were more run-down, a couple of them even half-collapsed. After his departure, and when Piltover and the Noxians tightened their grip over the undercity . . . people just didn’t love living there as much as they used to. It wasn’t a perfect paradise they had to maintain -no, it was just like everywhere else in the undercity.
The sanctuary was dying with the tree.
And the whole place just felt emptier.
“Guess I shouldn’t’ve,” Jinx muttered with a sigh as Isha disappeared behind a building. “This world is a wasteland where nothin’ can grow.”
Ekko inhaled sharply. “This tree grew. An’ it’s gonna grow again. You could-”
“I can’t,” Jinx denied, looking away with her shoulders slumped. “I dunno who you think you saved, but there’s nothin’ left in me to give.”
“There’s so much more,” Ekko replied.
“Then I just don’t wanna? Is that it?” Jinx asked bitterly. “I’m tired of people sayin’ that shit. Tired of people tryin’ to drag me back to what they say I should be doin’.”
Ekko looked away. “When I disappeared a while, I went to another world. Saw another . . . everythin’. Saw another you. She was always gettin’ told she could do more, she was wastin’ her potential. I didn’t much like that, ‘cause she was doin’ a lot. She brought my dreams to life . . . an’ she got me back here. Sometimes, people are doin’ a lot that no one else sees.”
“So?” Jinx said archly. “You already said I was doin’ jack shit before, when I tried to walk away.”
“You weren’t doin’ jack shit,” Ekko replied. “You had chances to finally be you -not Vi’s sister, not Silco’s daughter. You had nothin’ to do but what you wanted. An’ here, you can walk away some more if you want. I can look after myself, I can look after this place -there’s nothin’ to fight or protect here. So you can rest, for now. Until you feel ready to come back -whenever that is.”
“An’ if I never do?” Jinx questioned.
Ekko gave her a level look. “I know you too well for that.”
Jinx couldn’t hold the eye contact, looking away. “Sounds like a good idea . . . got somewhere I can sleep?”
It was with a smooth motion that Ekko pulled the hoverboard form his back and hopped on, then offered her a hand. Jinx just stared at it for a second before stepping on herself and leaving his hand hanging in the air.
“I’ve gotta hold you so you don’t fall,” Ekko warned.
“Fine,” Jinx allowed shortly.
Ekko wrapped his arms around her stomach in a loose hold before kicking the hoverboard to life and starting to ascend! Jinx didn’t expect the board to shoot up to a forty-five degree angle, and her eyes widened as she slid back-
Then her back hit Ekko’s chest, his arms around her tightened, and she was safe from falling once more! But the flight was disorienting, and Jinx closed her eyes against the whipping winds! The rest of the world seemed to fall away, and all Jinx could feel was the chaos and uncertainty of the world around . . . contrasted with the solid warmth of Ekko around and behind her.
He was just so . . . there.
A constant in her life, be it as a friend or an enemy.
The world drifted to stillness with her in his arms. For a long moment, things were just . . . steady.
And when those arms seperated, Jinx let out a whine of disappointment as she tried to grab his arms and put them around her again-
“We’re here,” Ekko said.
Jinx’s eyes shot open to see that they hovered over a tree branch so broad that she could lie down lengthwise with her arms extended and still barely feel it curve under her! And ahead, tucked against the trunk of the tree was a house made of wood and scrap metal. It was a small place, no more than one room, but had a little chimney poking out the side.
Ekko stepped off the hoverboard, then extended Jinx a hand . . . and this time, she took it. And didn’t let it go as Ekko led her to the house itself, opening the door to expose a simple interior.
In one corner was a bed. In a second, a table with two chairs. A third had a stove near some pipes for water, and the fourth had a curtained-off toilet.
“Ain’t much, but it’s home,” Ekko murmured.
“Your home?” Jinx asked, eyes lingering on a young girl curled up on the bed that she knew Ekko couldn’t see.
Ekko blushed, rubbing the back of the head. “Dunno where else to put you. It’ll do.”
“Any bed works for me,” Jinx replied as Isha yawned, looked at her, and smiled. “Feel like I could sleep forever.”
“Sleep as much as you want,” Ekko invited.
Jinx walked to the bed . . . then just fell into it. Like a puppet with her strings cut, Jinx ragdolled onto the soft blankets and mattress. But her arms found a pillow and wrapped around it, pulling it close to her body and hugging it snugly. Hugging her snugly.
“Don’t wanna get your boots off first?” Ekko asked wryly.
All that answered him was a snore.
Ekko chuckled, then knelt down and softly worked the boots off Jinx’s feet, before swinging them into bed. After that, he draped a blanket over her, then tucked her in. But he couldn’t dislodge the pillow from her arms even if he tried, so he left it there.
For a moment, Ekko just looked at her. Her features were relaxed in sleep, the war paint rubbed away, her hair spread slightly over the pillow . . .
“I miss your braids,” Ekko whispered-
Then blinked.
Braids.
Not braid, braids.
Ekko shook his head, and turned away.
I saw her. She was so . . . everything.
But she wasn’t Jinx.
Ekko sighed as he opened the door-
Only to be greeted by a gray-skinned man with large bat ears on either side of his face, who had his arms crossed as he gave Ekko a flat look.
“Scar!” Ekko gasped, almost jumping in shock.
“Her?” Scar asked -more growled, in fact!
Ekko stepped out of his house and closed the door behind him before looking up at his tall, lanky friend.
“She saved everyone’s asses,” Ekko defended. “If it wasn’t for her, we wouldn’t’ve showed up at the fight an’ we’d all be walkin’ statues.”
“If it wasn’t for you, we’d all be walkin’ statues,” Scar pointed out, then looked away. “You’ve been down this road before. An’ Piper paid the price for thinkin’ you could fix her.”
“It’s different now,” Ekko replied. “Silco’s dead, shimmer’s gone, an’ I’d like to see topside try an’ keep us down without the Noxians. She’s got nothin’ now . . . just like us when we started this, just like so many other people who’ve joined.”
“She’s got some big, fuck-off guns an’ more bombs than I’d know what to do with,” Scar warned.
“An’ no reason to use ‘em,” Ekko retorted.
“Fine,” Scar acquiesced. “We’ll do it your way. Not like there’ll be all too many people here for her to kill anyways.”
Ekko’s gaze fell. “How many did we lose?”
“There weren’t enough of us there to lose many,” Scar pointed out. “Hell, there aren’t enough of us left at all to lose many.”
“What happened?” Ekko murmured.
Scar looked over Ekko’s shoulder, at the trunk of the tree and the corruption that was spreading across its bark.
“We lost our symbol,” Scar replied, his gaze falling back to Ekko as he put a hand on his shoulder. “We lost you. We had strength . . . we just ran out of hope.”
“I’ll find out some way to fix the tree,” Ekko promised. “But before that, let’s get things in order here again.”
“I can handle that,” Scar said. “You’ll have your hands full.”
Ekko shook his head. “Please. I just . . . I gotta fix somethin’.”
“C’mon, then,” Scar murmured.
They walked together toward their waiting hoverboards.
“D’you really think she can change?” Scar asked grimly.
“She’s been changin’ this whole time,” Ekko pointed out. “Scar, she tried to kill herself to take out Vander an’ save Vi. She rode to Piltover’s rescue for fuck’s sake! Sure, it was for everyone . . . but the Jinx of a few days ago coulda let everyone die ‘cause she just didn’t care.”
“Maybe you’re right,” Scar acknowledged. “But what do you want out of all this?”
Ekko closed his eyes before tears could well. “I wanna see her dancin’ in a white dress.”