Chapter Text
Act I: Easier to Stay Alone (Kinda Want My Life to End)
The truth is, she doesn’t mean to fake her death.
She’s falling with Vander, the Hextech Gemstone pulsing within the Chomper in her hands. His grasp on her is like iron, leaving no escape as his howl fills her ears.
A part of her says that she’s ready to die. Better this way. For Vi.
Jinx closes her eyes. Reaches for the pin.
She can almost feel Ekko’s embrace for a ghost of a second, holding her (and the bomb) in his hands the way he did in her hideout. A memory that’s burned into her body, into her very soul.
It’s that singular moment that changes her mind.
The Chomper goes off and Jinx fights to stay conscious as the shockwave roars out. Oh, it hurts. It burns. It would be so easy to give in and escape the pain.
But Vander’s grip loosens an instant later and she pulls her feet up. Finds the massive palm with her heels and with a burst of Shimmer, lunges away to an opening in the corner of her eye. The blast flings her across metal and she crashes, gasping in pain.
Jinx’s ears ring as she stares up at nothing. She’s breathing. Her body is super fucked, even with the Shimmer working overtime to keep her alive.
She just can’t die. Heh.
Stupid Ekko, she thinks fondly.
As the ringing in her ears fades, she becomes aware of someone howling. For a moment, she thinks it’s Vander (The big hairball can’t seem to die, either, it must run in the family), but then she hears a sob and knows it’s Vi.
That pushes her to roll over onto her stomach. To crawl away, at least until her body finds enough strength to get back up and run. Or until she’s out of earshot from Vi’s screams.
It’s better this way, she tells herself. Over and over and over again.
Jinx becomes dizzy and her fractured mind decides that she’s crawled far enough.
She blacks out.
When she comes to, she still feels like shit. Which really shouldn’t be a surprise given that it’s her second go at blowing herself up.
But she can stand. Jinx staggers, dizzy again, but she’s back on her feet. A few minutes of steadying herself and…
She throws up. Gross.
But she feels a bit better. Takes a step. Then another, and another.
She’s in a pipe. A vent? Airflow, definitely a vent. Also explains why she’s so fucking cold.
Jinx ventures along until she finds an exit. Ladders for maintenance. That’s good. She doesn’t feel like breaking her legs with a hundred-foot drop.
Sun’s still out when she glimpses daylight. She couldn’t have been unconscious for long. But it sounds like all the fighting is over. Means Piltover will be busy with injured people and stuff. No one’ll notice if she just skedaddles her way into the shadows. Takes a little time to recover a bit more.
She slips away.
Jinx sneaks onto the first airship out of Piltover two days after the war ends.
She’s gotten some new clothes. Repaired her pistol. Tied it all off with a new cloak and hood to hide her face. Officially, she’s heard that Piltover thinks she’s dead. Excellent.
She’s terrified when the ship first rises into the air. Not of the height, but what it means.
She’s leaving. She’s leaving all of it. Everything. Everyone.
But Vi is better off without her. She’ll never be able to stay happy with Caitlyn so long as Jinx is around to lurk in the dark. That’s—that’s hard, but she can do it.
The one thing that almost draws her back is Ekko. They had just started patching things up. She knows he’s alive, but nothing else.
Once again, in the aftermath of their world being turned upside-down, she leaves him behind. And Jinx—she doesn’t want to. She really, really doesn’t want to.
But Scar has the letter she wrote. She didn’t know if she’d make it out alive, but either way, she asked him to give the letter to Ekko afterwards. She was too scared to do it herself. Too scared of jinxing it.
She ventured back to the Firelight base only briefly after the war. Slipped the hourglass pin Ekko made for her into one of his drawers. Once he reads the letter, he’ll find that. Know for sure that she’s alive.
She’s hurting him. She knows she is. Again.
But she knew before the fight that she needed to leave if she made it out alive. For a while, at least. Maybe forever. She doesn’t know yet.
It’s something she has to do alone. She has to untangle the shit in her life before she can even think of coming back.
It scares the fuck out of her, tears a few new holes into her rotten heart. She cries and purple teardrops scatter to the wind.
But she does not change her mind.
The ship lands at some town in the middle of bumfuck nowhere. Good enough.
Jinx sneaks off to figure out where she is. And to eat. And to decide where she’ll go next.
The airship has a longer destination in mind, it turns out. It’s just stopping to refuel and get more goods. The long-term goal is Ionia.
Farmers. Nature. The wilderness. Probably mosquitos. Definitely monsters.
Well, she’ll fit right in with those, won’t she?
So Jinx restocks and jumps ship again.
It takes like two weeks to get there. Jinx is bored to tears by the time they arrive.
Fuck, she’s never riding in one of those things again. Ionia greets her with a lungful of clean, crisp air.
Oh good, it’s cold.
First order of business; buy (or better yet, steal) something warm. Find a place in town to stay for a night, at least.
Who the fuck knows what’ll come after that.
The bed is scratchy and moth-eaten, but it’s better than sleeping on the wooden floor of the airship. She’s slept in worse.
Jinx takes out a map she pilfered and hums, finger twirling over the drawings.
What to do? Where to go?
The thing about “finding yourself” and all that bullshit is there’s no clear path for it. No one to tell her what to do, to give her a clear objective and goal. Everything is muddled, but at least the Scribbles have been quiet.
There are temples and stuff scattered across Ionia. Monks. She’s not about to join a cult, fuck that. But it can’t hurt to check and see if she finds some wise-ass old person, right? Someone to give her an idea of what to do with herself. Isn’t that like a thing people do when they’re finding themselves, or some shit?
Her fingers are itching to move. She wants to paint. To tinker.
Jinx grumbles and settles for dismantling and reassembling her pistol a few dozen times before she falls asleep.
She winds up traveling with some farmer gal. This chick with her horse-drawn, rickety carriage full of hay who was asking around for someone to help safeguard her singular bag of goodies she bought in town.
She may as well get a little more money. It’s on the road to the nearest temple, anyway.
Farmer gal won’t shut up. She’s a little too bright and cheerful for Jinx’s liking. But she breaks up the monotony, and Jinx kills time by asking her about the country and stuff. Gotta learn the lay of the land and all that.
“A lot of the temples are doubling as orphanages right now,” Farmer gal admits.
“What for?”
“A lot of people died during the Noxian campaign twelve years back. Lots of kids without homes left.”
…Why the fuck did she even leave Zaun?
Farmer gal is right; the first temple Jinx finds is loaded with little rugrats. She almost runs for the hills as she comes up on the place, they’re everywhere.
“Can I help you?”
Jinx pauses and looks further up the plain stone steps. For a second, she’s not really sure what she’s looking at.
It’s a man (maybe) in a black bodysuit. He’s got a sword. Armor. He stands out in a way that puts her on edge.
“What are you, a ninja?” Jinx snarks.
“I am Shen. I serve as leader of the Kinkou.”
“So you’re a cult leader.”
His head tilts a little. “I suppose that is… a way of looking at it. The Kinkou guard Ionia. But you never answered my question: Can I help you?”
“I dunno, you got any answers for tons of childhood trauma, accidentally murdering your family, voices screaming in your head, and turning everyone in your life against you?”
“Shen” stares at her for a few moments in utter silence. Jinx shifts her weight, fingers dancing near her pistol.
“If you’re about to tell me I belong in the loony bin, just say so and I’ll take off.”
Something about his rigid, unmoving (seriously, how the fuck can someone stay that still?) posture seems to unwind a fraction.
“You are tired of fighting.”
“Don’t think I can’t kick your ass, buddy.”
Shen is silent a moment more and inclines his head in the direction of the temple up on the hill. “Come. You may stay, if you wish.”
Jinx isn’t sure if she trusts that or not. The Scribbles are louder than they’ve been since she first left Piltover.
But if she doesn’t take this step, why did she leave at all?
She takes a breath and follows Shen despite the scratching in her ears.
She’ll give Shen just this one thing; he makes a great wall.
He doesn’t really judge…as far as she can tell. She doesn’t care about that, anyway. But Jinx talks to him, tells him all the fucked up shit that’s happened over the course of her life.
Not all at once. She doesn’t trust him that much. But she starts talking with him whenever he sees her around the temple, and sometimes the floodgates open up. And the more she thinks about it, the more she realizes it doesn’t matter if he knows because she’s not going to stay forever. So what does it matter?
She can talk and he listens.
Jinx is doing them little favors here and there in exchange for letting her stick around. Fixing things. There’s not a lot of tech in this place, but she knows her way around steel and such. That, at least, she can help with.
Shen’s only rule for her stay is that the gun remains with him. Jinx hates that rule. But he has it on him every time she sees him, even lets her disassemble and reassemble it so long as he’s right there to watch her.
So she can deal with that.
Eventually, after weeks of verbally throwing her many, many issues at Shen, Jinx runs out of things to say. She almost shudders as she realizes how completely she’s laid herself bare. She feels like a little girl again, cringing under Vander or Silco’s stern expressions after being caught making mischief.
Shen digests the rotten life she’s led with that damned mask keeping him as stoic as ever.
“You aren’t evil, you know.”
Her jaw clenches. “Did you hear a word I’ve said?”
“I heard every word. I have seen evil before. It even uses tools you would find familiar,” Shen’s gaze drops fractionally to rest on the gun half-built in her hands.
“So is something just not clicking for you?”
“You have done wrong. This I will agree with. But evil? No. Evil does not compromise. Evil does not try to destroy itself to safeguard those it loves, if indeed it ‘loves’ at all. It certainly does not have the capacity to take in a child and give them happiness.”
That stings at her heart. “And look where being with me got her. She’s dead.”
“She is,” he agrees. “And yet she loved you all the same. Just as you loved her.”
Jinx averts her eyes, sets the gun aside without finishing it. She bites her bottom lip. Hard.
“I miss her,” she hates that her voice cracks.
Shen waits. He’s good at that. Sometimes he reminds her of Silco. But his hard edges are…softened in different ways. He doesn’t twist words, just gives her his thoughts straight out. He’s a bit like Vander, in that regard.
“The circumstances of your life were not kind. They were not easy. You did wrong, but also you did good.”
“So what, I did a couple of good things and even if I screwed up anyway, it washes away all the bad shit?”
“I do not think so. They are not to be forgotten, but nor do they undo the damage you’ve done. And that you understand you’ve made mistakes—that you regret them, even—tells me your heart is not so rotten as you believe it to be.
“I think you may begin to find peace with all that has happened by learning to accept it,” Shen muses. “Do not forget, but do not allow it to haunt your every waking moment. If you truly want to heal, I believe you must look your demons in the eye.”
“You want me to go back? I can’t–no, I can’t.”
“Not yet, no. I can see you aren’t ready for that. But that is something you must do in time, if you want this peace you seek.”
“So what do I do now?” Jinx asks desperately.
“That is…largely up to you. Everyone walks a different path in life. No two travelers will ever venture identical trails, no matter that the path before them may be the same. Sometimes they stumble. They fall. One walks or runs faster than another.”
She scoffs, frustrated. “I don’t know where to go. What to do—I have to do something.”
“You are very much like Akali,” Shen sounds almost fond. “Always on the move. But that too, is a path to be traveled.”
He is quiet for a moment.
“I think you will not find what you are looking for here,” Shen admits. “This temple—it is better suited for those who seek rest. Sanctuary. You…you are a tempest. It is in your nature to move. Being here will not give you peace; it will only make you restless.”
“So you’re kicking me out?”
“Of course not. You may stay if you so choose,” Shen replies. “But looking at you…I think you’ve already decided.”
Jinx frowns. Opens her mouth—
“These choices must be yours to decide, Jinx. You’ve lived a long time in the shadow of the adults in your life. In some ways, you are still that little girl. You’ve never grown up.”
And that pisses her off—
“But that changed with Isha,” the way Shen says her name (softly, like she’s one of the kids in the temple he pretends not to be so fond of) stops the anger forming in her throat.
“I had to change. For her,” Jinx says instead. She presses a hand to her forehead. “She deserved that. She deserved better.”
“You had a special bond with her. And with your own struggles as a child…Perhaps that is a path you should look upon.”
“You wanna trust me with another kid?”
She’s killed three of them. Is he actually insane under that mask?
Shen hums. “Ultimately, the choice is yours.”
She leaves Ionia after Winter passes them by.
Jinx wanders briefly through the countryside, but this place is not for her. The people move, they live and grow and fight, but something about the land is…too still. The forests and mountains—they aren’t what she needs.
She needs civilization. Craves it.
Jinx waits until another airship arrives and jumps on board.
The ship bores the hell out of her. She didn’t think this through.
Shen had one thing right at least; Jinx is gonna go nuts if she doesn’t move. Hiding out in the cargo room is making her crazy.
She has to mix it up.
Eventually, the ship lands in some little town to the southwest of Ionia. It’s in the process of venturing back to Piltover.
Jinx has other plans.
The crew will be shitting themselves when they find their fucking boat gone in the morning.
She takes the airship out to another town, sells all the shit she can, and buys a bunch of paint and other useful tools.
Jinx is sick of how slow it travels. How bland the colors are. How…uninspired the design is.
She spends two weeks decking that motherfucker out. Builds some upgrades. Economizes the fuel system, sheesh. Count on Pilties to design something so spectacularly wasteful.
By the time she’s done, it’s a thing of beauty. The paint job is sick, full of blue clouds and splashes of reds and greens. She gives the main sail a pair of big blue and pink bunny ears.
Isha would’ve loved this thing. She dubs her new flying home The Bunny.
Jinx gets into the captain’s seat and cranks the ship to life. The sound of gears whirring puts a grin on her face.
She spins in her chair towards the map on the back wall. Piltover is correctly dubbed, “Rich Bitch City”. Zaun is “Home Sweet Hell”. Ionia has a picture of Shen’s mask with “Life Advice Ninjas” in parentheses.
Jinx snatches a dart she put together specifically for this exact purpose and squints at the map. “Eenie, meenie, miney…”
She throws the dart and it lands with a thump.
Jinx stares.
“Well, fuck.”
Noxus.
Of all places, it just had to be Noxus.
She is actually cursed.
She thinks about throwing the dart again, but she kind of burned all her money redoing the airship and she needs some cash. Robbing Noxians would…not be her smartest choice, but honestly, fuck them.
Jinx grumbles, spins in her chair, and turns The Bunny’s wheel westward.
She winds up flying south a ways along the rivers, steering clear of their major landmarks and cities. Jinx wants absolutely nothing to do with the Immortal Bastion, no sir.
But despite Noxus being one of the worst places ever, luck seems to finally be on her side. The moment she lands at the town she plans on robbing, there’s a fight going down. Like, a big one.
Admittedly, she doesn’t really want to fight, but she’ll happily take advantage of the chaos.
Whoever is doing this packs a serious punch. Jinx swears the earth is shaking, ripped asunder by some ridiculous force. She dives into a couple of shops and starts pilfering what she can while the inhabitants scramble to get away from… whatever this is.
She leans around a window and blinks as a huge spire of rock and steel rises from the earth, climbing high before it begins to fall. Thankfully, it’s not falling anywhere near her. But that means there’s definitely a Mage involved, and she does not want that shit pointed in her direction, thank you very much.
Jinx hums, leans out of one shop and ducks into another one. Her bag of coins is already satisfyingly heavy.
Something bellows and she hears a yell. Ok, that’s a little too close.
She empties out the last shop and studies her purse. Eh, good enough.
Jinx runs back to her ship significantly richer and immediately takes off. She peers out the window to try and spot the source of all the hubbub.
She squints as light reflects off a horse–no, that’s fucking stupid. It’s made of metal. It’s a horse made of metal.
Ok, sure. She’s seen weirder shit before.
It has a rider, someone with a wild mane of gold-bronze hair and a big fucking lance. Metal twists and bends, tugged up from the earth below and molded into weapons. Welp, there’s the Mage.
They’re fighting alone against a pretty serious-looking force, though from the sheer number of bodies they’ve turned into pulp, they’re not in any actual trouble.
The Mage lifts their hand and suddenly, the armor of the enemy soldiers crumples in on them.
…Yeah, they’ll be fine.
Jinx hits the accelerator before whoever the fuck that is gets any ideas.
Being alone on the ship is easy. She tinkers with scrap. Paints. Builds stuff.
She’s found a camera among the cargo that was in The Bunny before she hijacked it (one of the few things she didn’t sell) and gets to playing with that. A few upgrades here and there once she’s taken it apart a few times to figure out how it works.
She starts taking pictures. Snaps photos of The Bunny, the places she flies over or lands at if she really likes the look of them. Sticks them into a scrapbook she’s put together.
Sometimes she sits beneath the stars while the autopilot flies The Bunny for her.
Jinx lays back on the deck and stares up at the constellations above her, a veritable sea of light she wishes she could sail across. The wind whistles gently in her ears.
She’s been…doing good. She thinks. The Scribbles have been quiet, even when she does some of that “self-reflection” bullshit Shen told her to try out.
Jinx traces her fingers across the stars as she thinks, draws across constellations and stuff.
Her biggest struggle by far has been coming to terms with her family. Everything she did that ruined them. But…also that sometimes they ruined her, as well.
It starts with Vander.
Jinx loves him, will always love him. But she knows now her circumstances were created by his revolution. His and Silco’s. And that’s–that’s hard for her to accept.
Oh, Piltover has more than its fair share of the blame for pushing them to that point, but mom and dad wouldn’t have died if Vander hadn’t pushed so hard. But then, did he have a choice? Did he feel he had a choice? So many people had backed him.
He did his best. He took responsibility for his fuck-up, took her in with Vi and Mylo and Claggor. Gave them a home and loved them as best he could. Vander isn’t the indomitable figure she always thought him to be, someone who, in Vi’s eyes, could do no wrong. But he was good. He made mistakes, but he was good.
Silco…Silco is different.
Being so far away from Zaun, having to think for herself –the more time passes, the more she realizes how much he manipulated her. And that hurts, but she can’t deny it. Silco took advantage of her anger, her vulnerability, and fractured mind to make something he’d needed; a weapon that kept Zaun beneath his heel. The Shimmer ran his empire, but Jinx made sure nobody would fuck with it.
She remembers all his lessons and lectures. All it took was one bad encounter with Ekko in the aftermath of their failed attempt to save Vander–and it wasn’t his fault, she knows that now, he couldn’t have known she had let go of Powder–and Silco’s words at just the right moment for her to turn against him.
“He could never understand. It is better this way, Jinx. Let him go. There is a new future ahead of you.”
She bites her bottom lip until it bleeds. She doesn’t know how she could’ve been so stupid.
Ekko never left her. She had left him.
Jinx lets out a long breath and her chest is heavy with the way her heart aches. That had been just one of Silco’s manipulations, but it had been the most significant. Ekko had been her last connection to life before she let go of Powder.
Honeyed words and careful guidance had put Silco on a pedestal in her mind, until he could do no wrong. He understood and no one else did. No one else could. He had also been betrayed, he was the only one who knew…
So she had looked away. She didn’t care when he made a deal with the Enforcers, sent them to hunt down anyone in the Lanes who stood against him. Just like Vander, but worse.
He’d paid blood money to the same people who had murdered mom and dad. They had hunted Ekko and his Firelights for…so long. Too long. Hunted them like animals, killed them on Silco’s orders. And sometimes she’d helped them.
Their own kind. It makes her nauseous.
And speaking of the people, she’s realized how futile and pointless the Shimmer industry was. How poisonous.
Oh, it got him money. Made him filthy rich, just like the fat Pilties Topside. Shimmer became the new currency, but it intoxicated their own citizens. Weakened them, whether he wanted to see it or not.
And yeah, he called it a weapon. It had multiple uses. But almost as soon as he’d taken power, Piltover had up and invented Hextech. Chemtech was nothing compared to that.
Silco thought he’d found the answer to creating the nation of Zaun, but in reality he’d taken one step and Piltover had taken ten.
So he’d flooded the Lanes with Shimmer, poisoned and addicted Zaunites all over. Created weapons. Used the Enforcers to kill opposing forces in his place. And despite all of that, he was outpaced in an instant by Hextech and never invented a back-up plan until Jinx took matters into her own hands.
And the second he died, it all fell apart.
Just something else she was blind to; Silco had kept the Chem-Barons united under one banner, (for the most part) but he’d ultimately failed to make them into anything more than rivals. When he was gone, the power struggle for his position was instant.
And really, what had he expected? All that talk about knowing he could die any day, but he’d thought the likes of Finn, or Smeech, or Margot would actually come together and take his place? She doesn’t know how he never saw it. She’d always thought he was so smart, but…
All his work. Gone. He had no backup plan. He hadn’t adapted. Became too hyper-fixated on Shimmer and the belief that Jinx’s Hextech weapon would solve all their problems.
And Jinx had been ready to do anything for him. Fight for him. Kill for him. Die for him.
She doesn’t know if she loved him. Not really. Or if he loved her.
She had needed him, but it was…a dependence thing, she’s come to realize. She’d needed a parent and picked the only one left to her. Jinx hadn’t been a leader as a kid, she’d been a follower. So she’d followed him.
Was that love? She thinks about Isha and…
Tears that she knows shine purple slip from the corners of her eyes. She wipes her face and sniffs.
She’d taught herself to love Silco. But then she’d gotten a taste of the real thing with Isha and no, there’s no comparison. If Jinx loved Silco, it was in a poisonous way. She’d needed guidance and validation and craved approval, and he’d given her those things in exchange for her obedience.
She thinks she might always love him, somehow. And maybe–maybe he’d really loved her at the end. When he’d given up peace with Piltover for her. Maybe.
But he’s gone now. Jinx cries.
She thinks she’s had enough self-reflection for one night.
She’s already heading northwest and she’s a fair bit richer after her little stint in Noxus (she robbed a couple more towns just for good measure), so she bites the proverbial bullet and makes her way towards Demacia.
Her hair’s growing out a little more. She doesn’t know if she wants her twintails back, but for now, she lets it fill out.
Maybe she’ll style it like mom used to.
Jinx squints as something appears ahead of her. She stops spinning in her chair and grabs her scope.
Those…are three very big birds. Much bigger than she’s happy about.
She slaps the autopilot, grabs her pistol and Chompers, and rushes out onto the deck. If those big feathery fucks get any cute ideas–
They circle The Bunny and she’s about ready to start blowing holes in them when she realizes there are people riding the birds. Jinx’s eyes narrow as they come to land on her deck, but she’s got her gun trained on them.
Another bird–smaller, but it’s still a pretty damn big eagle–lands on the mast and leers down at her. Big and blue, with an armored chestplate. Huh.
“You are trespassing in Demacian airspace,” someone on the really big birds shouts above the wind. Jinx scowls. It’s some chick in fancy-pantsy armor. “What is your business here?”
“Literally just passing through,” she drawls.
“Where is the rest of your crew?”
“Me, myself, and I.”
Fancy-bitch doesn’t seem to buy it. “Piltover airships need large crews to pilot them.”
“Well, it’s not a Piltie airship, it’s my airship,” Jinx snarks. “And if your featherballs start shitting on my deck, you’re gonna be the one who scrubs it clean!”
The eagle on the mast screeches at her and Jinx looks up just long enough to flip a bird of her own.
“Your disrespect is unappreciated,” gripes Fancy-bitch.
“You’re unappreciated. What do you want?”
“All foreign airships are to be escorted to the nearest city for business, then escorted out. You do not have permission to fly around our land as you please.”
Wow. She must be fun at parties.
Jinx isn’t in the mood for this shit, but she’s also not that interested in a fight. She hasn’t been interested in a fight for a long time now.
She lowers the gun and sighs.
“Fine.”
Fancy-bitch almost looks surprised for just a second. The way she’s got that crossbow hefted on her hip–yeah, Jinx bets she was expecting hell. Not that she’d have gotten a chance to shoot her shot.
“Good. You will follow us. Any deviations will result in–”
“Lethal force, ship being ripped out of the sky, feed me to the birds, put my head on a spike, blah, blah, blah,” Jinx rolls her eyes and turns to go back inside. “I get it, I’ll follow you. Now get your feathery asses off my deck.”
She doesn’t wait for a reply.
When she lands in High Silvermere, her ship is subjected to a search for illegal cargo.
Unfortunately for Fancy-bitch, she doesn’t find any. Jinx has sold pretty much all the merchandise Piltover had on The Bunny. What’s left is all the food and water she needs, (made easier with rain catchers and some other goodies she’s put together) paint, scrap, and her gun. A few other things, like her camera.
Jinx does have to leave the gun on her ship, though. She gets away with calling the Chompers “accessories” and they’re none the wiser.
“Piltover airships have been arriving with less and less frequency over the last year,” Fancy-bitch tells her, still suspicious.
“I’m not a Piltie.”
That doesn’t seem to satisfy her, but Jinx doesn’t give a fuck. Fancy-bitch has nothing on her, so reluctantly permits her to venture into the city. She’s got a maximum of one month as long as she behaves herself.
Fine with her. She kind of wants to leave already, but Jinx may as well enjoy civilization while she can. She’s not sure where she’ll go next.
She finds an outdoor cafe and is about to sit down when she spots a flurry of motion at a nearby table. Jinx focuses on it.
There’s a woman with long, blue hair shifting her hands in patterns Jinx recognizes as sign language. The waiter trying to take her order seems flustered and maybe a little confused.
She hasn’t seen sign since…
Jinx finds her feet moving before she can think twice.
“Hey,” she gets their attention and directs her focus on the woman. Jinx’s hands move in patterns she memorized for only one person in her life.
What are you trying to order?
Surprise and a little relief fills the woman’s face. She smiles and points at a menu item, then signs some more.
This, but I’d also like…
She goes into specifics the waiter clearly couldn’t figure out and Jinx translates. The waiter is even more relieved and quickly scribbles the order down. “Thank you very much! I’ll have your order out soon, milady!”
He hurries off. The woman looks at Jinx once he’s gone.
Were you about to eat? You could join me. I’ll pay–I really appreciate your help!
Free food? Count her in.
Jinx nods and sits down. The woman beams.
I’m Sona.
Felicia.
Sona offers her a handshake Jinx decides to accept, then flips the menu and slides it across the little table in front of her. She hums and scans her options. What to get…
The waiter comes back to ask Jinx if she’d like a drink and to take her order once she decides. He’s gone and back quickly, bringing a glass of juice she’s content to sip at for a minute.
I’m sorry for the trouble, Sona signs, regaining her attention. I haven’t left Demacia City in a while. I’m too used to my usual cafes knowing what I like.
No big deal, she returns.
Sona eyes her curiously. You’re from the east, aren’t you? It’s been a while since I heard an accent like yours.
She has an accent? Jinx just shrugs. Yeah. Been gone a while. Almost a year, I think.
That’s quite the trip. Planning on going back soon?
She thinks about it.
No. Don’t think I’m ready for that.
Sona doesn’t push the subject and she appreciates that.
So are you just passing through, or…?
Pretty much. Was kind of hoping I could pick up a jukebox or the materials for one. I could use music on my ship. It’s boring, not having some sound.
Light gleams in Sona’s eyes. I could help with that! I’m a musician. I think I know just the place.
Well, color her interested. Jinx nods in acceptance of the offer.
Breakfast comes along. They eat in relative silence as the city bustles around them. Gentle sunlight comes down on her skin. There’s a nice morning breeze. A musician on the street begins playing something warm and uplifting.
Jinx has to admit, she likes it.
Sona foots the bill and the two of them leave once they finish eating. She leads Jinx further into Silvermere. They chat as they go and she finds herself relaxing more and more.
Talking with Sona is good; something about sign just makes it so much easier for Jinx to get her thoughts out. Voicing them is scarier, somehow.
You’ve made music before?
Jinx tilts her head. Sort of? I made lyrics and stuff. Gave it to a musician I liked and they did the work.
Sona looks curious. What sort of music?
She purses her lips. How best to describe “Get Jinxed”…
Chaotic.
A smile tilts her companion’s face. Jinx flashes her a little grin.
Are you going to make more like that?
She twists her lips in thought.
No, she winds up signing. Jinx is still for a moment more before her hands begin to move again.
I’m…tired of that stuff. It hasn’t helped me very much.
Sona nods her head.
I think discord is important in our lives. But too much of it…yes, it makes you tired.
Rough life?
Yes and no? I was born in Ionia. I came here when Noxus invaded way back when.
Jinx whistles. I just took that trip. You’re a long way from home.
She shrugs. Yes, but Demacia is home for me now. I was adopted here. I found a family.
She says nothing for a minute. They keep walking through the streets.
I was adopted, too. A couple of times.
Is that how you learned sign?
Jinx hesitates. Swallows.
No. My…I adopted a kid. My daughter. She couldn’t speak.
Sona’s eyes become sorrowful, but she doesn’t push. Maybe it’s on her face that Isha is gone. Jinx takes a breath and lets go of a little weight on her heart.
They arrive at the shop Sona told her about and Jinx is relieved to find some tech she actually recognizes for once. Good, quality stuff. It’s not as advanced as Piltover’s, but it doesn’t need to be. She can work with this.
They peruse the shop for a while, checking out jukeboxes and the various kinds of equipment Jinx really, really wants to get. She’s even got the money for it; pilfering all those Noxian towns has made her rich enough to have some spending cash.
She finds herself thinking about her collection of music discs back in her old hideout. Then her mind trails to the Firelight base and Ekko’s soundtracks.
Gods, he would love this place.
Sona’s actually super helpful in that regard, telling Jinx a lot about certain designs and such she’s not familiar with. They get into it for over an hour as Jinx picks out what she wants.
She feels good. It’s been…way, way too long since she felt this good.
The shop agrees to help haul her purchases to Jinx’s airship. Sona offers to tag along and she’s happy enough to accept that.
They get everything settled into the ship and Jinx nods, satisfied. The Bunny feels much more comfortable already, just knowing there’s going to be some background noise beyond her singing and talking out loud until her throat aches.
Sona carefully sets down a bag for Jinx and looks up to sign. Do you have any water?
Yeah. Maybe we need to get lunch already, she grins back before bouncing into The Bunny’s kitchen. Sona laughs.
They get a drink, a snack, and relax on the bridge. Sona’s really, really easy to be around. They keep talking about music, get into Jinx’s trip to Ionia and what Sona remembers of the place. A couple more hours go by and they’re both actually hungry again.
She had been kidding about getting lunch, but now she isn’t anymore. Or Sona.
Why don’t we go back to my family’s place? I’m staying there so long as I’m in Silvermere. We can eat there and I’ve got my instruments waiting.
Jinx only hesitates a moment. She wants to keep chasing that good feeling.
Deal.
The whole day flies by after that.
Jinx and Sona eat together again in her family’s big-ass estate. Admittedly, that throws her for a second. She’s reminded a bit of the Pilties, but Sona and her family (or her sister, at least) don’t have a bunch of sticks up their asses. They welcome her into their home without judgement.
They eat and get back into music.
Sona’s got some fancy instrument Jinx has never seen before, with music that just…sends her into a lull. She’s so fucking chilled out, she kind of doesn’t want it to end. Like, ever.
When Sona does stop playing, they wind up playing with lyrics and verses and swap songs. Jinx can’t play, she’s not a great singer, but she has her favorites memorized.
Sona gives her instrumental stuff, the kind of music Jinx could set up in the background and just unwind to.
She debates what to give in return, tapping a pen against her lips as she stares at the empty paper Sona’s lent her on Jinx’s request. She wants to share something. But what to do…
Jinx winds up writing out the lyrics to “Our Love” in the end. Mom’s favorite. Her favorite. Once upon a time, at least. It makes her happy, but it also makes her sad.
She hasn’t heard it in a long time.
Sona seems to love it when she starts reading them. Her head bobs to an invented beat, lips curving up as she imagines it.
When she’s done, she flashes Jinx a wide smile.
I’ve got another I think you’ll like.
I’m all ears, Jinx signs back with a grin.
Before the day ends, Sona invites her for another breakfast at that same cafe. Jinx says yes, of course. She likes having a friend again. They go back to Sona’s place the next day after eating together and play around with music once more.
Before Jinx knows it, three weeks have blown by.
It’s not like Sona’s a free agent all the time. On days when she’s got something keeping her busy, Jinx heads off into Silvermere and wanders. Takes some pictures with her camera (and quite a few pictures of her and Sona hanging out, too) and does a bit more self-reflection.
She didn’t think she was going to like Demacia this much, but the atmosphere of the place is good for her. Not as claustrophobic and dark as Zaun, but not as pompous and stuck-up as Piltover.
She and Sona swap tons more songs. Some of the chaotic numbers Jinx liked, though those are gifted on Sona’s own request. She seems curious of them. Sona plays more pieces on her instrument in exchange, and they go back and forth, over and over and over again.
Jinx has been putting one particular song off. One she’s not wanted to think about because it scares her a little; what it means.
But she finally finds the nerve and writes out “Ma Meilleure Ennemie” for Sona.
She remembers Ekko playing that one on his jukebox in the Firelight base, when he thought she wasn’t listening. Jinx asked him to play it the next day out of sheer curiosity. He’d been nervous.
She’d heard it and understood why.
What they’d had after he’d pulled her back from the edge–it had been so tentative, so nerve-wracking. It had drawn her in and scared the hell out of her all at once.
I love you. I hate you.
She was terrified of finding out which it was. What if he changed his mind? What if she screwed up again? There was a lot between them, tugging them together and pulling them apart.
He never left, even when she deserved it. She’d left him. Twice.
Gods, of course he would hate her. Who is she kidding?
This one pulls Sona’s lips down and she looks back up at Jinx sometimes as she reads it. Maybe it’s written on her face, or maybe the other woman can just tell; Isha had that same gift. Just knew from looking when something was going on with Jinx.
Sona puts the lyrics down and takes a breath. Jinx snorts, a little bitter.
Sorry for killing the mood.
No, it’s a great song. I love this one most, Sona signs. Fuck, she even wipes at her eyes a little. Nice going, Jinx. Knew you’d screw up a perfectly good day eventually.
Who was it?
Jinx stills, hesitates.
Sona gives her a moment and then signs again. You don’t have to tell me. Just…I can tell this means something to you. Music reflects us and this…this one hurts you.
She nods slowly. Takes a deep breath.
His name is Ekko. We were friends. We were enemies.
Something crosses Sona’s face and she frowns just slightly, but it’s gone in a moment.
Can I ask why you left home?
Jinx scoffs. But just like with Shen, what does it matter if Sona knows? She won’t stay in Demacia, no matter that it’s been good to her. She might never stay anywhere for the rest of her life.
I screwed everything up. Pushed my family away, she swallows. My kid–Isha–she died. I wanted to give up. Ekko wouldn’t let me…
Jinx has a feeling Sona is going to freak out, but she’s already in deep. She just makes a quick slice across her throat with her finger and doesn’t look at Sona, instead signing in a flurry.
He pulled me back, but I couldn’t stay. I snuck away. I’m trying to figure all my shit out. I don’t know if I’ll go back or not. I don’t know if I can go back. I ruin everything. They’ll be happier without me.
Sona stands and Jinx figures that that’s it, that’s she’s crossed a line and messed things up again.
She’s not ready for Sona to take a seat beside her and hesitantly pull her into an embrace. But she cracks all the same.
It’s been so, so long since anyone’s just held her. Not since Ekko, when he’d pulled her from the edge, wrapped his arms around her, and didn’t let go.
Jinx doesn’t cry for long, but she needs it. Sona hums lowly, runs slow fingers through her hair.
It reminds her a little of mom. A wispy memory Jinx clings to desperately.
When she pulls back, wipes her eyes, her fingers are shaky as she tries to sign. Sorry.
Sona just shakes her head. Jinx tentatively leans against her and a hand on her shoulder is only supporting.
You miss him.
She nods. And she does. So, so much. They didn’t have a lot of time between Ekko pulling her from the edge and the end of the war.
A week. One week of building together, working on her hideout, her weapons, and bringing Zaun together for a fight.
One week of rebuilding their relationship.
Even when Ekko shattered time, they still didn’t have enough of it. The irony stung.
It was her own choice, and Jinx has come to accept that it was the right one. For her, at least. But Ekko–sometimes she wonders if her letter was enough. He deserved better from her, after everything that had happened between them.
But then, that was part of the reason she left in the first place, wasn’t it?
Sona waits until she’s wiped her eyes again.
Do you want to see him again?
Yes, and on this she doesn't even hesitate, because of course she wants to. But I can’t go back. I haven’t fixed myself yet.
Sona hesitates. She seems to be debating something.
Ekko, she signs slowly. Dark skin. White dreadlocks. Early twenties. He lives in Zaun?
Jinx stills.
How do you know that?
Sona’s eyes squeeze shut and Jinx’s stomach flips. Dread fills her veins.
How does Sona know those things? Jinx has never described Ekko to her in any detail.
Sona takes her hand and squeezes. Tight.
I need you to come with me.
She has no idea where Sona is taking her, but Jinx is scared the whole time. They slip through the streets like wraiths.
Their destination is a building with guards standing outside. Jinx falters.
Sona looks back and seems to think for a moment. Stay here. I’ll be right back.
She hesitates and nods. Her heart is beating uneasily as Sona quickly slips into the building.
Jinx doesn’t know what this place is. It doesn’t look like a prison, but the guards…
Fortunately, Sona is in and out quickly enough. She has a rolled-up paper clasped in one hand. We should go to your ship.
What is that?
Not here, Sona urges.
They hurry back to The Bunny. Jinx shuts the door behind them and Sona leads her to the bridge. Waits until Jinx is facing her.
Only then does she hold out the paper.
Jinx’s first instinct is to stay away from it. She looks at the rolled-up parchment like it’s a snake just waiting to bite her.
Is this him?
Jinx’s lower lip wobbles and she snatches it out of Sona’s hands, almost rips it in half opening it up.
Her stomach plummets.
She recognizes the dreadlocks, the white hourglass painted on his face. The piercings in his ears she did herself on his request. She even recognizes that hard look in his eyes.
The last time she saw them, they’d been soft and warm and so, so close.
What she doesn’t recognize is the painted, oil-black tear-trails running down his face, that Zaunite symbol of deep, deep grief.
And the list below his name–it’s a wanted poster.
Murder. Theft. Resisting arrest. Bombing. Illegal Hextech experimentation–
Jinx chokes and staggers back into the wall, slides down as her breath comes fast and choppy.
This isn’t happening. Not Ekko, no, he’s good, he’s–he’s not, he wouldn’t do these things, there has to be a mistake, no, no, NO–
Sona’s beside her in a flash, brings Jinx into a tight hug as the paper flutters from her nerveless fingers. She can’t breathe. The Scribbles are shrieking in her mind for the first time in a year.
She feels more than hears the wail that is torn from her throat, and then Jinx falls into hysterical sobs.
She’s not sure how long the episode lasts, but Sona stays with her until she’s a bit more stable.
She still can’t talk.
Sona brings water and urges her to drink. Jinx can only obey, too drained and horror-stricken to do anything else.
She waits until Jinx has hydrated herself at least a little. Sona hesitantly signs again.
It came with the last ship from Piltover. Two weeks ago. My sister told me about it.
Jinx gulps. It’s a lie.
Sona can only shrug helplessly. Jinx shakes her head, insistent. She signs and the motions are vehement, desperate.
He saves people. He saved me, even when he had every reason to let me die. This isn’t him, it can’t be him. Ekko is the one good thing left in Zaun.
They think it’s him, Sona replies. Enough that his poster made it as far from Piltover as Demacia.
She doesn’t know how to answer that.
Jinx breathes deep through her nose. Borderline glares at the wanted poster through watery eyes, as if she can scare it into telling her that it’s all bullshit, that it’s all a lie. Because Ekko’s heart is a good thing. He’s the most ridiculously selfless person she’s ever known.
She wipes tears away, presses her palms over her eyes.
“Fuck,” she chokes out.
She has to think for a moment, but there’s already that stirring in her belly. She knows. Jinx looks up at the map on her wall.
Locks onto Zaun. Home Sweet Hell.
She feels like her chest is going to give in from the weight crushing it. But she forces herself to lift her hands up.
I have to go.
Sona nods, unsurprised. She gives Jinx one more hug before pulling back.
Visit me in Demacia City someday. Ask for my family. I’ll give you my address…
She writes down her information and the invitation. Jinx tucks it into a drawer.
She’s going to miss Sona. She really will. But this–
Sona stops at the door as Jinx follows to see her out. She offers Jinx a hopeful look.
You can do this. I know you’re scared, but you have a good heart.
My track record isn’t that great.
Sona shrugs. Keep trying, anyway. It works out eventually. But don’t give up. Never that.
The woman pauses and smiles. And write more music! Putting your soul on paper–into sound–that’s helped me so much. Maybe it’ll help you, too.
Maybe, she returns.
Bring me back some new songs?
Jinx’s mouth curves upwards just a tiny fraction. Sure thing.
She says goodbye to the first real friend she’s made since Isha dropped into her life.
Ready or not, she charts a course for Zaun.
She pushes The Bunny as hard as it can manage for the trip. It still takes months to cross the continent, but she shaves off a lot of time with a few carefully-considered upgrades she invents just to pump more speed out of the ship.
Jinx is impatient. She never thought she couldn’t get home fast enough, but every day that passes leaves her dreading what she’ll find.
She doesn’t understand how this could’ve happened. Someone has to be screwing Ekko over or something. Setting him up.
But if it’s true…
Jinx stands on the deck of her ship and squints eastward against the wind. She pulls her goggles down over her eyes when it gets to be a bit too much.
If Ekko really has gone off the deep end, she has to try and pull him back. She owes him that much.
He did the same for her.
Jinx sets her jaw and runs back to the bridge. She thinks she can coax a little more speed out of The Bunny.
She’s on a time crunch, and she always does her best work under pressure.
When she finally sees Piltover in the distance, Jinx has to fight the urge to turn around and fly as fast as she can in the opposite direction. She is not ready. Not even close.
But she swallows her fear down and orients the ship to loop around Zaun to the southwest. She’s certainly not coming into port.
She’s careful to skirt the edge of the city until evening falls, and only then does she seek out the Firelight base. It’s a tricky job, but she manages to land The Bunny inside the pit.
No one is there. Not a soul.
Jinx disembarks her ship, gun and Chompers handy, and touches Zaun for the first time in over a year. She almost trembles, but forces her gaze to the tree.
It’s still alive. Still green. But she can see the faint shimmer of the leaves indicating it’s afflicted with Arcane runoff. Ekko hadn’t been sure how long that would last.
There are no signs any of the Firelights have been here recently. The buildings are dilapidated and abandoned. She hurries for the treehouse, rushes up the stairs.
Hesitates at the door. Jinx closes her eyes. Inhales. Exhales.
Twists the knob and pushes the door in.
Silence meets her intrusion. No light. No…anything. Her boots are loud on the wood as she ventures inside.
He hasn’t been here for a while, she realizes. There’s no sign he’s restocked his food and water supply. The papers on his desk are scattered haphazardly, some have fallen onto the floor. There’s dust.
Jinx looks around for any hint as to where he might have gone, locks onto a box of scrap beneath his desk. She frowns and pulls it out.
Fuses and wires. There’s even materials she realizes he’d need if he were building explosives. Bombing had been one of the crimes listed on his wanted poster.
“What are you doing, Ekko?” Jinx whispers.
She yanks open the drawers in his desk and starts searching them. Pulls out some papers and–
Her letter. Still sealed. Jinx stares as a black hole starts to form in her belly.
He hasn’t read it.
Before she can think, she moves across the room to that little notch in the tree tucked close to his bed (the sheets and pillow lay untouched, he’s not sleeping here) and reaches inside with fumbling fingers. Pulls out the hourglass buckle he’d made for her before the battle.
He doesn’t know she’s alive.
She wants to scream.
Jinx squeezes the buckle until her knuckles turn white and finally looses a breath that takes away some of the weight from her chest. She shoves it back into the notch.
She’s going to kick his ass.
But first she’s gotta find him.
Sneaking around Zaun is a lot easier when everyone thinks you’re dead. She keeps her cloak up all the time; no sense in advertising her presence and letting everyone know she’s still kicking. But with no one looking for her, the whole secrecy thing is comically easy.
Jinx listens to talk on the street, tries to figure out how the city is working now. It sounds like Sevika is in charge, and her place is nearer to the surface.
She goes there first. Ekko’s wanted posters are on almost every single wall. He’s still alive, she realizes with some relief.
She slips into the run-down office (smaller than The Last Drop was) and finds a door with Sevika’s name on it. Literally; there’s a plate and everything.
Jinx opens it up. There’s a familiar growl.
“What have I told you morons about knocking first? I’ve had a hell of a day–”
Sevika stares as the hood comes off. Her jaw falls open.
Jinx closes the door behind her.
“Hey, lefty. Been a while.”
“You…” Sevika leans back in her chair, speechless.
“Gonna sit there and gawk at me all day?”
“You were dead.”
“Sorry to disappoint you.”
She lets out a breathy scoff, shaking her head. “What is it with your family coming back from the grave?”
“Just can’t seem to die.”
Sevika stares at her some more, like she can’t quite believe her eyes. Jinx steps towards the desk and pulls out the wanted poster, sliding it across the battered wood.
Immediately the older woman’s face twists into a familiar scowl. She reaches up and pinches the bridge of her nose.
“I picked this up in Demacia. What’s going on?” Jinx is quiet, but there’s no hiding the tension in her voice. “What’s happening with Ekko?”
“You don’t want to get involved in this, kid.”
“This is the only reason I dropped by in the first place,” she snaps. “I’m getting involved. This isn’t him, you know he’s not the type to–”
“Oh, it’s him. It’s all him,” Sevika retorts. She sighs, angry and exhausted all at once. She reaches for a box and pulls out a cigar, lights it in one go and takes a puff.
Sevika works her jaw as she thinks, then finally shakes her head. “There’s no sugarcoating it. He’s gone off the deep end.”
“No.”
“Yes,” she replies mulishly. “You want the whole sordid story? Kid slipped hard after the war. Thought he’d starve to death in that treehouse of his. Me and Scar–we tried, but he wasn’t getting back on his feet. Vi finally gave it a go and…I don’t know what happened, but she pissed him off enough that he got back up. Not for the better, though.”
“Vi? But why would–”
“He hates her, kid,” Sevika meets her eyes. “Ekko blames Vi for what happened to you.”
Horror chills her veins. “No– no, it wasn’t her fault!”
“You’re gonna have to be the one to tell him that, ‘cause–’cause he’s not having it from anyone else,” she shakes her head. “When he got back on his feet, he wanted the Chem-Barons. Chross and Margot were raising hell and Piltover didn’t want to get involved in more violence than they needed to, not after they lost so many people in the war.”
Jinx scoffs, unsurprised. Zaun saved their asses and they returned the favor with scraps. Classic Piltover. Sevika just shrugs.
“He went after them–even worked with Vi and Caitlyn a couple of times. But he couldn’t stand the Pilties not pushing harder, so he quit that gig and went solo. Upped the ante. Escalated further and further. Bombs. Chompers.”
She stills and Sevika takes another puff of her cigar. “I told him off for it, but he didn’t want the Chem-Barons trying to use your allegiance to Silco to make themselves more powerful. And maybe he meant that the first few times. I let it slide for a bit.”
“And now?” Jinx tells herself she didn’t hear her voice tremble.
“Put it this way: he hit Chross’s headquarters alone a few months back. Blew it to hell, and I mean completely. Brought about a hundred tons of rock down the cliffs while he was at it. Damn near the entire Undercity was full of dust for two days. He dragged Chross’s body right up to my doorstep like a cat with a mouse.”
A lump fills her throat.
“He’s been playing with Hextech. Rebuilt that device he had during the war. Some new tools, too. Piltover has no idea how the hell he got it. All the Gemstones are locked down. All accounted for.”
“Then how—“
“He…implied that he took the crystals you used. When you did this,” Sevika gestures to her missing arm. Jinx’s breath hitches.
Had fragments of the Hex Crystals actually survived the blast? How did he…
She thinks back to his story of the alternate universe and how he built the Z-Drive. The crystals from that job.
But there were two Hex Crystal explosions in this timeline.
“Ok, but–it’s just the Chem-Barons. Are they seriously making that much of a fuss over Chross and Margot?”
Sevika shakes her head. Jinx’s stomach sinks.
“There’s more?”
“He’s hunting Enforcers,” Sevika sighs. “All of the guys who used to work for Silco and Marcus, anyone he suspects of aligning with the Chem-Barons for some extra cash, he kills them. He’s at nine. That we know of for sure. A few others have disappeared, but none we can tie back to him.”
Her fingers are shaking. Jinx makes a fist to stop the tremors.
“Where is he?”
“Jinx–”
“Where, Sevika? I tried the Firelight base already.”
“Don’t do this. It’s already–” Sevika takes the cigar out of her mouth and shakes her head. “The Council has authorized an official manhunt. Nothing’s worked for months. He won’t listen to reason, he won’t let himself be taken alive.”
“Where is he?!”
Sevika’s shoulders slump.
“Vi and Caitlyn have been authorized to use Hextech weaponry. They’re tracking him now. Reports are saying he’s planning to target the Vex stronghold and take out Margot. They’re waiting for him.”
Jinx leans across the desk and bites her lip to fight the tears trying to build in her eyes.
“Where?”
Sevika looks up at her and shakes her head. “Kid.”
“Tell me where he is. I’ll–I’ll get him out of Zaun and Piltover, you’ll never see him again.”
She stares at Jinx and the pity in her eyes is infuriating.
“You won’t like what you’re gonna find. You don’t know what you’re dealing with, Ekko’s fucking crazy.”
“I have to try. He did the same for me, I–I owe him that. Let me at least try.”
Sevika seems to debate that for a few moments. Then she groans.
“I’m going to regret this.”
She’s racing through the Lanes, deeper and deeper into the fissures. Shimmer surges through her blood like it hasn’t in over a year.
The gas mask on her face is needed when she dives into the Grey, towards the deepest pits where Margot’s been forced to ground. Ekko’s destroyed enough of her territory that she’s gone back to the hellscape she resided in before Silco brought her and the other Chem-Barons into the light.
She finally hears the sounds of a fight, shouts and steel clanging and gunfire. Jinx pushes until her legs and lungs are burning, and finally reaches the source.
It’s a clearer patch of terrain, a little higher elevation than the rest of the Depths such that the factory smog clings to the ground. She can see the wreckage of a Vex stronghold.
But her eyes are locked on the battle below.
Enforcers are littered across the ground, unconscious or dead, she can’t tell. Between them and the ruined Vex base, Ekko is fighting Vi.
They’re swinging to kill. Jinx watches in horror as Vi barely guards against a blow that might’ve split her head open. Ekko somehow flips over a charged punch from her Atlas Gauntlets that could’ve broken him in half.
Caitlyn takes a shot from a ledge some distance away and Ekko ducks past it. The Z-Drive whirs at his hip. He’s got some sort of grenade in his hand that he launches at Caitlyn with his swordbat, who scrambles to avoid the–
Jinx doesn’t know how it works, but the Enforcer is frozen in time when it goes off in a silver-white blast and catches her in the outer edge of its influence. Ekko moves to go after her while she’s immobilized and is stopped as Vi charges him again with an enraged shout.
She has to stop this.
Jinx slides down the ledge and starts moving when Ekko swings his swordbat, catches Vi in her upper arm hard enough that she cries out. He ducks a punch and kicks her legs out, lifts the weapon to try and brain her–
She hears the scuffle of claws on rock, a dreadful howl, and Vander is suddenly just– there.
Time seems to freeze as she watches, but it’s not Ekko’s doing. He’s mid-swing, eyes flashing towards the wolf-man in surprise.
He’s not quick enough to reach for the Z-Drive.
Vander bowls into him and knocks Ekko over. One of the massive hands comes down on his arm as it scrabbles for the Z-Drive’s activation cord and Jinx hears a horrible snap.
Then his jaws find Ekko’s shoulder and she hears the bones crunching right before he starts to scream. Ekko punches and tries desperately to get free, but Vander shakes him like a dog with a rat, clamps harder amidst the shrieks of pain.
Jinx hears Vi howl Vander’s name and the wolf-man pauses. He doesn’t let go. Instead, Vander runs down a nearby tunnel with Ekko still screaming in his jaws.
She gives chase.
He’s fast, but he’s not running at his top speed. Jinx can hear his snarls and Ekko’s agonized cries as the wolf-man flees the scene with his prize.
Jinx finally corners him in a wider section of the tunnel, where he’s come to a stop and let go of Ekko. The wolf-man growls and pins him with his claws, slavering jaws opening wide to bite again.
“VANDER!” Jinx shrieks. “VANDER, NO!”
He jerks his head up in surprise, lips curling into a snarl. Vander growls a warning, but backs off when Jinx gets close enough. He half-drags Ekko for a second before dropping him, so limp that her heart lurches.
“Leave him!” Jinx steps between the wolf-man and Ekko. He snarls and tries to move around her, but she shifts to block his approach. One of her hands rests on her gun.
It won’t stop him, but she won’t let him take Ekko.
“Leave him,” she tries again. “Get out of here!”
Vander grumbles. Blood drips from his muzzle and for a moment, she thinks he’s going to jump her.
He sniffs the air, growls–and stalks away. Jinx watches as he picks up the pace and flees deeper into the caves.
She can only spare one more glance his way before she spins towards Ekko.
He’s a bloody mess; arm broken, a deep bite in his right shoulder, shattered and half-dead. His breaths come fast and weak as the shock of his injuries sets in. Jinx sobs as she falls to her knees beside him.
“No, no, no,” she chokes, scrabbles for her bag and–and there’s nothing she has that is going to stop that kind of trauma from killing him.
The best she can do is take the Z-Drive and rewind every few seconds, try to buy herself some time. It’s been upgraded–she’s not sure to what extent, but enough that she doesn’t make things worse.
It still has those clanging monkeys inside, circling the looping anomaly within.
She doesn’t know how many times she rewinds, how long she keeps him on the edge of death before her panic settles enough to think clearly.
But she finally has an idea.
She rewinds and scrambles through her bag, finds some tubes and makes a rough incision in her own arm, then his. She knows how a transfusion works, though she’s never performed one.
She can’t stop the blood loss enough to matter, (though she stops it as best she can with bandages and her cloak when those aren’t enough) but she’s pumped full of Shimmer from adrenaline.
That might save him.
Jinx gives him enough of her blood that she becomes dizzy, watches as his glassy hazel eyes begin turning purple-pink.
She finally has to stop before she passes out. She feels horribly weak.
He’s not dead. Not yet.
She has to hope it’s enough.