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Ekko was desperate, it was the fourth attempt. Something made him feel that the future was fixed, unchangeable. No, there had to be some way for him to be able to change it, even with a few seconds, he could make her change her mind.
"You know, I learned from someone..."
She looked away from the bomb and focused on him. At least that. Even if this was a permanent event, he was willing to try to end this endless loop.
"...very special, that no matter what happened in the past, it's never too late to build something new. Someone worth building it for."
Jinx didn't say anything, she looked back at the bomb, as if she would make it explode again. Ekko couldn't take it anymore, there had to be a way to convince her. When he was about to go back to the past again, Jinx dropped the bomb.
"Why are you here?"
Ekko came to... actually, he didn't know exactly. Part of him believed he would go to her to ask for her help in the war. However, it was more than that, the events that happened in that alternate timeline had a big effect on him, on what he thought. Maybe it was a bit of both. At least, he was in the right place at the right time.
"I want to talk with you."
"I'm not in the mood for this, please get out."
"No! I'm not leaving while you're like this."
Jinx leaned over to throw herself off the edge, but Ekko stopped her. He could have turned back time a few seconds, but what good would it do? He would never make any progress if he kept going like this.
It just made her angry.
"What's gotten into you? Why do you suddenly care about me?" She tried to free herself from his hand.
"I have always cared about you."
He was still holding her arm. He expected her to continue fighting it, but she remained in the same place.
"But it took me a while to realize that."
Jinx then met his eyes and stepped away from the edge. But she still didn't seem calm.
"You should leave, before something happens." Ekko wasn't liking this, she started breathing heavier
"I'm not leaving."
"Go away, please... GO!"
Jinx took her arm out of his hand. She started crying, but not only that, she started having a panic attack. Jinx had knelt down, repeating several times for the voices to stop. This was painful to watch.
He knelt down as well, and placed his hands on her shoulders. "Hey, I'm here, don't need to worry."
Ekko didn't know how to proceed, what he should do to calm her down, until she suddenly hugged him. He wasn't expecting it, but he hugged her back anyway.
He wondered if he would have done the same thing if he hadn't been in that other universe, but then Ekko realized that yes, he would have saved her regardless. As much as he had spent these last few years trying to convince himself, he still cared about her, he couldn't let go of the feeling, long before he went to that timeline.
Still, something had happened to her, he wanted to know but it was obviously not the ideal time for that. Besides that, Jinx didn't want to say anything.
Ekko didn't know how much time passed, he didn't even care really. Jinx managed to calm down.
"Why don't we go over there?" He urgently wanted to get her away from that edge.
She seemed to accept, or just didn't have the strength to resist. He placed her in the chair at her desk, she continued to avoid looking at him, staring at the broken mirror in front of her.
Only now, after all the adrenaline, could he notice more closely that she had cut her hair. Her braids were so distinctive, now she had short hair, it only reminded him of the other Powder. The differences had diminished, or, perhaps, they had never even existed. Beneath all the mask she insisted on putting on, they had always been the same person. Maybe that's why Ekko couldn't let go of the feeling.
"I liked the new hair."
He thought she would argue with him after his comment, but she didn't. "Thanks... Ekko."
Jinx was holding a bunny ear headband, staring at it as if it triggered a memory. Ekko got the confirmation when she almost started crying again, but held herself back. "You still haven't answered why you're still here, why are you suddenly acting like this towards me."
She had a point, but how was he going to say it was to an alternate universe that opened his eyes? "I've been... in a place lately, not like I wanted to be there, but, I was forced to stay for a while. It was a completely different place than what I'm used to, but a good one. And in it I met someone... well, actually, I already knew her."
Ekko sat down next to her, on her desk were several pieces of art supplies, she never let go of her artistic side and that brought a small smile to his face. From the various paints scattered around, he found a pencil and a piece of paper. He was always better at drawing or painting than actual words.
"I don't know where you're going with this."
"The point is, she showed me what I had been ignoring all this time." He continued drawing, relying on his photographic memory. "And I keep thinking, if I tried harder, if I could save you, things could be similar to that place.
"You like to think you are the boy savior huh? But there is no way to change what has already happened." She didn't complain after saying that he could save her. Like when Powder was taken by Silco, he thought she had been kidnapped and rushed to rescue her, only to get a slap in the face by Jinx.
"I know. I can't copy that place here, but we can at least try to do something different. Like I said before, starting from now."
Ekko was initially sketching the face of the alternative Powder, exactly like the last time he saw her. He thought she wouldn't like it and decided to draw Jinx who was in front of him, trying to draw her smiling, but he felt something was still wrong. In the end, the only thing he didn't erase was her face, but he drew a different hair, something more unique, not knowing exactly why.
She ended up taking the drawing before it was finished, and analyzed it carefully. He was afraid that she wouldn't like it. But she smiled, even if it was small, she smiled.
She looked for something on her desk until she found a hair clipper.
"What? I don't even know why I drew it."
"I cut my braids because I felt like they were holding me back. But didn't think about anything after. "
"Are you going to cut it now?"
She answered the question when she started cutting. She was actually following his drawing, but she couldn't get the machine to cut it right.
"Let me help."
And she let him do it. For a moment, it was as if nothing had happened, as if she hadn't been on the edge, as if they hadn't fought. It was as if they were kids again, just having fun, which they hadn't experienced in a long time.
It turned out, it wasn't exactly as it was on paper, but she seemed to like it. Her hair was now shorter, with the left side shaved and the right side still with bangs. She was mesmerized by her new appearance, staring into the mirror. And Ekko couldn't be more fascinated by her.
"You look beautiful."
"What?"
His words just came out of his mouth without even thinking. And he soon realized what he had said.
"No, I mean, you're okay, you look good."
She looked at him confused, but smiled.
"How are you feeling now?" Ekko asked.
She didn't answer at first, she still seemed lost in her thoughts. "Ah... I don't know exactly. It's not the same weight I was in before. Maybe it will come back, but I feel lighter now."
As happy as Ekko was to help her, something was bothering him. The war, Noxus was about to invade in full force. They needed all the help they could get, and that was counting on her. He didn't want to say it now, because she would think he showed up just for that, but he did.
"I also came to tell you something that's happening."
She turned her attention away from the mirror to look at him.
"A war is coming, you know that, Noxus will invade allies with a great power."
And with that, her small smile disappeared from her face. "Ahhh, you came here because you want my help. Of couse..."
Even with the tone of her voice, she sounded more upset than angry. And this worried him, because she thought he came just to ask for her help.
"It's not quite like that, I came here for you. But I can't ignore that Noxus is going to end everything. I know you can prevent that."
"That this is not my problem." She turned her chair so her back was to him.
"The moment they reach the hexagates, Piltover and Zaun are doomed."
"Listen, I'm not a savior."
"Why not? You managed to unite Zaun with just your presence, no one has been able to do this before. You can bring everyone together again, turn this war around. Whether you like it or not, everyone is waiting to see what you're going to do."
"Ekko, I'm tired, I don't want to continue in this."
"I know, but..." Surprisingly, she didn't want to be there. Not because she didn't want to help, but because she didn't want to participate. Ekko couldn't force her, but she was needed. "Okay, I get that I can't convince you. But just know you can still do things differently."
She seemed lost in her own thoughts. Still staring at the bunny ears headband, he didn't understand what it meant to her, but he felt like she might have lost someone important. Ekko was worried, she looked like she was going to have another panic attack.
Then her face became serious. "Maybe... I can do this, one last time."
They were making good progress. She came up with the idea of turning her space into a hot air balloon, she had planned this before, but never put it into practice. This would serve as a way for her to make an announcement throughout Zaun and conduct an air strike. This attack would not be efficient alone, so Ekko came up with the idea of calling in the Firelights to be more effective. Overall, they were having a lot of fun: designing, building, painting. It was as if he forgot about the world outside.
Since they were almost done, she was left with the painting part. Ekko said it wouldn't matter, but she insisted. Well, he couldn't say no. In doing so, she ended up getting paint all over her clothes.
"I should probably put on some other clothes. I'll be right back."
Ekko also thought about what he was wearing, he also needed to put on something different. As he was making the final repairs, she came up behind him and painted an pink X on his arm.
"Hey!" He turned around, she was wearing different clothes now. She changed her pants to black ones, her bust was wrapped with bandages and she was wearing a purple hood of some kind of monster.
He didn't care about her new clothes and tried to put some paint on her.
"I just got dressed."
"You started it"
They ended up continuing to paint themselves, Ekko wasn't bothered by it, it was being fun. This reminded him of when they would paint their faces before starting their duels.
In the end, Ekko had a big pink X on his body and Jinx had some hourglasses drawn on her.
The work was practically finished, they could now take off. She prepared her weapons, while she took one last look at a tent on the other side made up of sheets and pillows.
"Ekko, what exactly is this?" She had noticed what he was carrying before, but forgot to ask.
Ekko thought about lying, he still felt a little suspicious, but there was no reason for her to try anything now. "It's a small version of hexcore, it can go back in time, but only for a few seconds."
She looked closer at the small core, her eyes had shone when he talked about going back in time, but was disappointed when he spoke of a few seconds.
"Did you try to make it go further back in time?"
"No, it's too small for big time jumps." For some reason she was interested in that. He then remembered that he didn't ask what happened to her.
"I know it might not be a good idea for me to ask, but what happened?"
Her smile soon disappeared. As if remembering again. "I..."
"It's okay, I just wanted to know–'
"I met a little girl." She started, he didn't expect her to speak. "She appeared out of nowhere in my way. At first, I ignored, but she stuck to me. She had nowhere to go, so I let her live with me."
As she spoke, tears welled up in her eyes again. "I didn't want to, but how could I not get attached to her, she was so sweet, she was so innocent, she was... everything."
Ekko didn't need to hear anything else, and he hugged her. It was better than words.
"Thanks... Ekko." After a while, she pulled away and wiped away her tears. "That's why I'm doing it one last time, for her, for Isha."