Chapter Text
“WAIT!” Ekko yells, as he steps on one of the fan blades.
Jinx could feel herself still breathing. She looks down at the bomb in her palms and sees that the pin remains unpulled.
“I just wanna talk to- ”
“Get out of here, Ekko,” Jinx interrupts sadly.
Jinx pulls on the pin again, and like a time loop, the pin remains unpulled.
“I just wanna talk to you, Pow- ” Ekko corrects himself. “Jinx”
Jinx glances at his direction and pulls the pin again. She hears it going off and sees the bomb igniting. But somehow, time reverses and the pin remain intact. This time, however, she notices blood dripping from Ekko’s eyebrows.
“You’re too late, Ekko,” Jinx mutters as she pulls the pin again, ignoring Ekko’s pleas for her to wait.
The same rewind happens again, and Jinx bitterly wonders if she’ll fail at ending her life too. Ekko is now hunched over, holding on to the railing to keep his body steady. His face has all sorts of cuts on it, and he breathes heavily, trying to catch his breath.
“Always a dance with you…” Ekko quips tiredly, “I think I’m just gonna sit here a minute. Y’know, catch my breath. See if I can talk an old friend out of blowing us up”
Friend.
Jinx never had many friends. Vi, Mylo, and Claggor, they were her siblings, not friends. And Ekko? That friendship ended when she chose Silco, when she became Jinx. She knew it ended especially when she attacked the Firelights. Her only remaining friend was Isha, and Isha is dead. There was nothing left anymore.
Jinx runs her thumbs over the bomb, and glances at Ekko’s battered face. She feels the faintest twinge of regret. So, as a final act of kindness towards her so-called ‘friend’, she jumps off the fan blades.
“No!” Ekko screams while pulling the chain on his Z-drive. Suddenly, time snaps back and Jinx finds herself back on the fan blade.
“I… I heard about Isha” Ekko starts off, walking slowly towards Jinx, unsure of what she’ll do next, “I’m sorry. I know you loved her. I know what she meant to you.”
Jinx doesn’t respond, her eyes fixed on the bomb.
Ekko takes another step closer. “Isha wouldn’t want this. She saw you, Jinx. The real you. Not the girl that the voices tell you are, not the monster you think you’ve become. She saw the same person I see—the one who always cared too much, who just wanted to protect the people she loved. You just… you lost your way. I know what that’s like.
“You know, I learned from someone, very special, that no matter what happened in the past, it’s never too late to build something new. Someone worth building it for.”
The cymbal-banging miniature monkeys in Ekko’s Z-drive slow to a soft hum, the sound echoing faintly around them. Jinx lifts her eyes and meets Ekko’s. She looks down at the bomb a final time, her grip tightening on it before her fingers slowly loosen.
Ekko watches her carefully, taking a step closer, though he doesn’t reach out. His voice is soft, not wanting to break the fragile moment between them.
“I have somewhere I wanna show you,” he says finally.
She lets out a defeated sigh. She’s unsure if she’s making the right decision but reluctantly follows him anyway. She wonders if she’ll soon regret her decision of hearing an old friend out.
Ekko pushes open the heavy metal doors, the creak of rusted hinges breaking the silence. There, at the center, reveals a massive tree. Sunlight illuminates through the leaves and branches, casting a pattern down upon Jinx’s face. She squints at the warm rays reflecting on her face.
Ekko grimaces at the tree’s condition. The leaves are now curled and withered at the edges, streaked with unnatural purple splotches. The branches look thin and brittle. Ekko breathes a sigh of relief that despite its dire state, the tree was still there clinging on its last thread of life.
“Is that a real tree?” Jinx asks in awe. The undercity was no place for natural life to grow. Sunlight barely reached the depths of the undercity, and with how polluted the air and water is, it’s nearly impossible for trees to grow.
“After shimmer was flooded into the lanes, we escaped here. A seed must’ve fallen down the ravine and somehow, it managed to grow. This tree is a symbol of hope for all of us, that if a single seed can manage to grow despite these conditions, then maybe we can grow and create a better life for us too.”
A sudden snap draws their attention as a branch breaks, crashing to the ground with a dry, hollow thud. Ekko flinches, watching pieces of bark crumble like ash.
“But it’s dying,” Ekko admits quietly. “I tried to go to Jayce for help, but still, I don’t know how to save it.”
Before Jinx can respond, they hear a shout coming from a familiar voice.
“You!”
Ekko turns around and sees Scar, his second-in-command, marching towards the pair with a fierce expression. Quickly, Ekko tries to defuse the situation.
“Listen, Jinx is with me now. She’s - ”
Before he can finish, Scar wraps his arm around in a tight embrace. Ekko freezes, blinking in confusion.
“I missed you,” Scar says. “Where’d you run off to?”
“Wait... What?” Ekko stammers, shocked at how Scar paid no attention to Jinx. “What about - ”
“Oh, Jinx? She’s okay with us now. She saved all of us when we were locked up in Stillwater”
Ekko’s jaw practically drops. He turns to Jinx, his eyes wide with disbelief. She meets his stare with a wide, mischievous grin.
“What can I say?” Jinx shrugs. “While you were gone, I was off playing hero”
Ekko opens his mouth to say something but finds himself at a loss for words. Instead, he lets out a half-hearted, incredulous laugh, shaking his head.
“Of course you were,” he mutters under his breath, the tension in his shoulders easing just slightly.
“Don’t look so surprised. Even I’ve got a heart - sometimes.”
“hm,” Ekko smiles softly, “I believe that”
“How sure are you that the limit is four seconds?” Jinx asks, as her fingers move lazily over the exposed components of Ekko’s Z-drive.
Jinx and Ekko were tucked away in one of the rooms nestled within the hollow base of the tree. Blackboards lined the walls, covered edge to edge with a chaotic mix of calculations, sketches, and haphazard notes.
Ekko adjusts the lens in the microscope he was using and carefully observes a brittle, discolored leaf. “Trust me, it’s four seconds”
Jinx leaned closer to the Z-drive, her eyes darting over the tiny gears and flickering wires. She looks at the blue crystal that slightly illuminates in the Z-drive chamber.
“You know, I’ve seen this before, when I was trying to stabilize the Hexgems for Silco – the acceleration rune.”
Ekko looks up from his microscope, “I came upon it when I was playing with inversions on Jayce’s rune. It’s what powers the Z-drive.”
“I was wondering…,” Jinx begins. “We know the limit is four seconds, and afterwards, time resumes as if what occurs within those four seconds never existed, right?”
“Right,” Ekko confirms, unsure where Jinx is going with this.
“Well, what if we’re able to go back four seconds, but hold time there?’
“Like freezing time?”
“If we’re somehow able to pause the acceleration rune, maybe we can keep the tree from further decaying. At least, until we figure out how to reverse the corruption.”
Ekko catches on, “If we build a bigger Z-drive, powered by multiple runes to account for its size, and if we’re able to hold the chain from retracting…”
“I guess the boy savior will be saving his tree after all then, huh?” Jinx teases, before taking on a serious tone. “I still don’t know how to reverse the arcane’s corruption on the tree”
“It might have something to do with the Hexcore. We can get Jayce’s help for that, after we deal with this first,” Ekko turns to Jinx and grabs her hand, “We’ll figure it out. Together.”
“Well, then let’s get to building,” Jinx says, now determined.
Jinx stands in front of the base of the tree, marveling at the mural that lays before her. She sees the vibrant brushstrokes that makes up the painting of Benzo, Mylo, Claggor, and Vander. She sees Vi too.
Then, to the right of Vi, she sees the drawing of herself. Well, a drawing of Powder. The figure feels alien to her now, like staring at the ghost of someone she vaguely remembers. The painful memories creep back up, and she begins to remember the day when she lost her family. She remembers how distant that life is now, how it’s almost nonexistent, but the pain associated with it is just the same.
“That red-haired one,” a voice interrupts her thoughts, “she packs quite a heavy punch.”
Jinx turns to her right and sees a man standing next to her. He towered over hers, with his broad shoulders filling out his rugged frame. A bandana is tied across his forehead just above thick, dark eyebrows. The man also had a beard, rough and scruffy, that reminds her of Vander’s.
“You know her?” Jinx eyes him carefully, wondering if he knows that Vi is her sister.
“I was there when she… spiraled,” The man’s voice laced with regret, “She was the best pit-fighter I’d ever seen but she suffered from a broken heart. She was drunk all the time and always angry. She fought like she was trying to get rid of something, but whatever it was, it wouldn’t let her go.”
“hm, sounds about right,” Jinx mutters.
The man gives a small, hollow chuckle, shaking his head. “At first, I thought I could stick around, help her somehow. But... you can’t save someone who doesn’t want to be saved. I had to choose myself in the end.” He pauses. “Still, I wonder what she’s up to these days. I hope she’s doing fine.”
Jinx looks back at the mural, her eyes lingering on Powder’s innocent face next to Vi’s. The figure feels so distant, but it stirs something inside her.
“Yeah,” she finally says. “I hope so, too.”
“Loris!” Ekko calls out as he walks up to them, holding a bundle of paper in his hands. “I have blueprints for the upper west-end of the tree. You need the hoverboards to build it.”
“About time, man. I’ll get started,” Loris says as he takes the blueprints and heads off.
Ekko turns to Jinx and catches her staring at the mural absent mindedly.
“Hey Jinx, I was thinking…” Ekko pauses, scratching the back of his neck. Nervousness seeps into his tone as he glances at the mural, then back to her. “We’ve still got a couple of paint cans in storage. And, you know, if you’re comfortable with it…”
He clears his throat. “We could, uh, maybe paint Isha. When we’re taking a break from building the Tree-drive. As a way to remember her.”
Ekko shifts his gaze from the ground and looks up at Jinx, nervous at what her reaction would be.
Jinx expression softens, “I think that’s a great idea.”
Jinx looks into Ekko’s eyes, her voice soft, “Thank you. I mean it”
Ekko blinks, surprised by the vulnerability in her voice.
“Anytime,” he replies.
It didn’t take long for Vi to find Ambessa’s camp. Even after being locked away in Stillwater for seven years, she knew the undercity like the back of her hand. Vi hides behind some boulders, her forearm aching from holding up her gauntlets. She remembers how the hex-powered gauntlets had a feature to help her lift them up and misses it deeply.
Her eyes locked on the grotesque scene before her: Vander floating inside a chamber with tubes sticking out of it. The chamber pulsated with a sinister mixture of purple, green, and orange liquids, each one pumping relentlessly into his body. Vander’s eyes were closed, his body looking lifeless.
“How much longer until he’s complete?” Ambessa demands.
“If you want the man completely eradicated from the beast, I’m afraid that it’ll take some time. He has what you would call it, a formidable will,” Singed sighs, as he puts more tubes into the chamber. “I can have him ready in a day or two. After Viktor’s death, I’m certain that there is no more Vander in Warwick. That little girl sure did a number on him, though, so if you don’t want him dying again, I’d suggest you have some patience, General.”
Ambessa clenches her jaw and turns to walk into the main tent. Vi follows her, tucking away between some large rocks outside. Sliding silently between the rocks, Vi positioned herself near the tent, careful to keep out of sight. She pressed her ear against the coarse fabric, straining to catch the muffled conversation within.
“But General, the longer we wait, the longer Piltover has to prepare – ”
“Do you think I don’t know that, soldier?” Ambessa snapped, her tone laced with irritation. “I’m no more pleased with this delay than you are. But the doctor assures me that the process cannot be rushed. But fear not, I have a contingency plan”
Vi shifts closer, her breath shallow.
“I’ve made Sevika an offer she cannot refuse,” Ambessa said. “But should she be foolish enough to refuse my offer, I’ll send Warwick after Jinx. In his current state, he’ll either capture her... or kill her. Either way, we win. If she dies, we’ve eliminated the need to rely on hextech entirely. Instead, we can focus on creating an army of Warwicks - beasts loyal only to us”
There was a pause, followed by the scrape of Ambessa’s boots across the floor. Then, with a chilling finality, she adds, “As a final test to determine just how formidable a father’s will is toward his daughter.”
Vi’s fists tighten, her heart pounding in her chest. She pushes herself to her feet and dashes out of the camp, determined to find Jinx and warn her. As she sprints, she collides with someone, sending them both crashing to the ground. A sharp metal clank echoes as the other person hits the floor.
“Sevika,” Vi snarls.