Work Text:
Ekko sees Jinx
Nothing prepares you for the pain.
Hooded, hidden among dozens of moving bodies- he’s seen her before, her fire burning in every Jinxer, rallying and rioting with and without cause- all in her name, her memory. Her eyes in Vi- so similar- so much hurt and regret, an unbearable pressure in the chest, unable to think of anything else except the way it feels, the way her hand wraps around his heart and squeezes until it bursts. Her laugh, her joy, her rage, in everything she left behind. Half built gadgets, amalgamations of guns new and old- a sketchbook with her ideas and stills of all that she had lost- crude, but kept tucked away in his room, safe from the harsh reality that nothing else could ever be added.
Ekko had seen her before, he had been turned around by a flurry of blue hair, by an uncontrollable laugh or a raspy voice. But it’s never her, it’s never her, ‘It never will be.’ He tells himself, ‘she’s gone, ledger washed clean, died a hero- she wouldn’t have wanted that.’
Wandering the streets of Zaun, planning of all things- a trade deal with Piltover- 'Where the hell are we going to put a farm down here- how do you even trade a farm?'
The crowd is thicker now- Zaunites moving up and Pilties moving down, meeting in the middle- an imperfect union.
Yet he still spots her, her face blank as she takes one step after another. And he feels that familiar pressure as his mind plays what can’t be anything but a trick on him. He watches as she ducks behind a large, tattooed man, then blends in with the dark blanket another wore around their shoulder- then into an alley. It’s her, alive, whole, with scars covering her arm and running from under her chin to her scalp, splitting her brow right at the end but missing her eye completely. She’s…here. In Zaun, just a few feet away.
Her eyes, glowing and frantic, lighting up her face.
She looks around, searching, searching, searching, until they land on him.
Then, she grins. Not a terrifying one- not a manic, uncontrollable, pained grin. But a peaceful one. One of joy and familiarity.
She nods in a quick movement, bringing her hand up and pressing the back of it to her forehead, wiggling two fingers in his direction.
Then she’s gone- but her hand, gripping his heart, squeezing and pulling and prodding with long painted nails, releases, if only a little. And a warm embrace replaces it, cradling, wiping blood away from crescent shaped wounds, easing the bruises.
He took a breath- her hair was resting on her shoulders, then flipped in an expressive way as she turned. She pulled her hood up, back facing Ekko for a long moment before she takes one step into the pitch black darkness of the alley- then another, and another, until she was gone.
Ekko can do nothing, a soft, short laugh leaves him, but that's all. He can’t chase her, he can’t talk to her, he can’t hold her, but he can remember her and he can love her.
She was gone- as she wanted to be.