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Everything goes back to the way it was after that night.
Ekko doesn’t know how to explain all these missing days and conversations he never had; Powder laughs it off in front of others. After all, even her doesn’t know how to explain it.
And she doesn’t want to.
If she tries to think about it, every little clue Ekko – the other Ekko – left during their talks she’ll have too many questions. Why was he so afraid of her at first? Why did he tear up talking about Benzo one night? Is there a place where Vi is still alive? Her stomach sinks every time she thinks about this one. It wakes her at night, and she only calms down remembering them in their little bed when they were little – comparing monsters until Powder felt it became too real. Vi always reassured her. Maybe she still does somewhere; somewhere Powder can’t reach.
Vander notices her subtle doubts and troubling thoughts when she goes quiet for too long. He tries to talk about it, but she doesn’t budge. Nothing special happened, and Ekko just had a bad fall at her place that made him forget a lot of days – she really should tidy her room or else someone would fall to their death. If she repeats it, she’ll believe it too soon enough. At least, she thinks so.
After a week in bed because of his headache, Ekko returns to her place to work on their initial project. He talks animatedly, like he always does on this subject, and she listens from her couch drawing a prototype. Working with Heirmerdinger helped her work through some of her hesitations.
“Pow, did you draw this ?” asks Ekko, lifting his notebook in front of her. “It’s trippy, I like it.”
She recognizes it immediately. It wasn’t her.
“Yeah”, she says anyway. It’s the anomaly Ekko and Heirmerdinger talked about. She thought she destroyed their research after his return. “Can I borrow it for one second?”
"Even four or five." Ekko throws it in her hands. “If it can help you crack our stabilizing problem.”
“Don’t think any of my drawings will do that”, she snorts.
Ekko growls and puts his head in his hand. “I’m too hungry to think. Do you want to go to the Last Drop ?”
“Go ahead, I’ll join you in a minute.”
He must be really hungry because he leaves without any resistance. Or maybe he is sure that she’ll follow soon.
Alone, she looks at the drawing that she recognizes as their creation. Ekko really does have a talent for drawing too. It’s precise and realistic, and it shows his analytical way of seeing the world. She is glad to know that it’s something both Ekko possesses. She looks at his notes but she recognizes his current research until she turns the page.
There she sees her face in a corner of the page. Her - smiling like she often does with him. But she knows it isn’t her Ekko. He likes to draw her like a comic book character, something to make her laugh when she goes to read his ideas. This one is too meticulous, even more than his drawing of the anomaly. And she finds more as she continues; her, in some many angles, and always smiling. She never noticed him drawing her when they were together. He seemed so focused and determined to make his creation work. Maybe he was also a bit focused on her.
She likes the way he drew her. With care. And perhaps, affection.
Next to a drawing of her drinking juice, she notices that his handwriting seems a bit different. The letters are more compact, and it’s written in a hurry.
I’ll remember Powder
He must have left it for her to see. And still, it’s only a small sentence written so close to everything else. The black ink almost gets lost on the page, next to his crazy equations. She could have missed it and never seen it.
But she would have remembered too. She doesn’t know exactly what type of relationship they have in this other universe, but she’s sure of what they shared. Even in different timelines, they worked together. They had each other back.
She puts this page in her drawer, with all the things she doesn’t want to forget but keeps to herself. She goes out to join Ekko.
She doesn’t want to waste any time with him.