Ekko’s breaths were silent as he strained to parse out as much of their conversation as he could. Rickety, sea-ridden shipping crates happened to be his only cover, but keeping his presence unannounced was something of a skill he’d honed over the years.

“—that they’re just gonna occupy two outer districts and call it a day…?” he heard Sevika say.

“Yes, frankly— many of their enforcers would still have been in diapers the last time Topside levied an assault through the Fissures,” Silco argued. “I don’t believe they’re prepared to accept that level of casualties just yet… no— they’re squeezing us, but when we fail to flinch, they’ll soften the ultimatum. Perhaps they’ll demand only the return of the Kiramman girl…”

“Guess you haven’t bought the rumors about the Noxians putti—“

Ekko had to change positions in order to continue eavesdropping, as they’d begun to move too far away from him.

He crawled along on his belly, careful to grant himself extra clearance for the flying board affixed to his back, as he navigated the underneath of a raised platform.

He caught a glimpse of the vessel docked against the pier, with its gangway still lowered.

‘The ferries have stopped moving…’ he noted to himself — presumably it meant that all of the prisoners they sought to bring back to land had finally all been evacuated from Stillwater.

He and Scar had only managed to spot one of their former Firelight comrades depart from those boats, which left Ekko dismayed at the thought that the others might not have survived their stay in that prison…

’The might’ve gotten themselves out some other way...’ he tried to convince himself.

In any case, Scar was on it — Ekko needed to know what Silco was planning next…

‘Maybe even kill him, here and now...’ he seethed.

He froze, as a gang of Silco’s men marched over the top of him. The disturbed dust from the boards sifted down onto his skin as he lay motionless, waiting for them to pass.

“…seen Chross and Margot satisfied enough that their people have been returned to them, that they’ll lend their strength back to us in defense of The Lanes, without fuss…”

He could only faintly make out Silco’s words…

He resumed crawling, detouring around a patch of light which surely would have given him away. Their voices grew louder once more, as he drew closer.

“…how it is that he hasn’t arrived back with you?” said Silco. “I’d find it unlikely for him to want to remain on the island…”

“I— I don’t know, boss,” Sevika replied, “he seemed to duck out the moment it was done… maybe there were other vessels over there he could’ve commandeered…?”

Silco gave an exasperated sigh.

“I should go check on Jinx…” he muttered.

Ekko felt his blood quicken at the mention of her.

“Sir—“ Sevika protested. “What about our counter-attack…?”

“Not until I find her…” he answered.

Ekko heard him storm off — time to move again.

He thought for a moment.

Maybe he’d go and find her before Silco did…

----------------------------------------

She noticed Garou holding the little girl tightly against his chest as the four of them passed through a frantic crowd of people, stumbling over one another in order to get into the nearby bread factory. Its doors had been broken down, and everybody fought each other to get inside first. She spotted Cheese help somebody up who’d fallen, an unlucky step away from being trampled.

‘They all need to pay — driving this city to desperation like this… Silco, Topside, all of them…’ Vi quietly seethed.

She’d been disappointed to learn that her new ally apparently didn’t share her sentiment, but the fact that he had more than one person that depended on him did challenge what she’d previously thought of him.

“Hey—“ she called to him, getting his attention. “This other girl you’re looking for— you said her name’s Blue…?”

He looked on disinterestedly.

“Eh… it’s what we call her,” Garou answered, seemingly referring to the child.

“Is she… her mother?” Vi wondered.

“Nah— ain’t like that…” he replied. “Never gonna find this one’s real parents unless the little creep starts talkin’, though…”

The girl responded indignantly, sticking a tongue out.

Vi found the dynamic curious, but she’d had another thought she still couldn’t shake…

“Why’d that one at the bar make it seem like Silco’d be mad this ‘Blue’ girl is missing—? Who is she to him…?” she asked.

Garou looked at her over his shoulder. “You really gonna ask me every which thing…?” he grumbled. “This supposed to help find your sister or somethin’…?

Vi sighed. “Whatever…” she muttered, shaking her head.

“…Hey,” Cheese said, drawing nearer to her. “We got a plan for when we find this Silco guy…? I don’t know that we can take this one head on — sounds like he’ll be surrounded by his guys…”

It was a good point — they’d likely have to tail him from afar, until he was somewhere they could capture him. None of it was going to be easy — they needed to maintain the element of surprise…

“…I know, kid, just— go behind there, I’m sure you’ll be fine…” she heard Garou say, letting the girl down to waddle off.

He glanced at Vi, as the trio came to a stop.

“Bathroom break…” he muttered.

She gave a nod, but realized that it would probably be their most opportune moment to break off from him — once Garou delivered his news to Silco, signs pointed to it resulting in the both of them departing to search for this mystery missing girl, wherever she may have been taken. Vi was counting on it — it would give her and Cheese the window they needed to ambush—

She became startled by an object thrown in their direction. She looked over to see Garou reflexively turn and catch it in his hand — a small, metal orb…

Her eyes widened and she immediately backed up, watching the thing rapidly expand around Garou’s arm and body, enveloping him within some sort of golden entanglement of jagged crystals.

She and Cheese bobbed down, as the attacker rushed toward them from the skies — a green glow through the darkness…

The enemy wasn’t there for them — he charged straight toward the temporarily incapacitated Garou, his bludgeon crashing down over his head with—

Garou shattered through the crystal cage at the last moment, twisting his body such that the attacker instead collided with Garou’s extended elbow, sending the person sputtering to the ground.

At a slightly closer look, he seemed to also have white hair…

Vi’s thoughts began to spin inside her head.

The boy swung his bludgeon again from the ground, pulling out another grenade.

“Whoa— HEY, STOP!” Vi suddenly yelled, as Garou loomed over him, fingers curled into a claw.

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

Ekko glanced at her only briefly, as he scrambled backward out of Garou’s reach and up onto his feet.

She wasn’t certain how mussed up with dust and dirt her hair still was, but she figured that he’d still have had plenty of reason to recognize her regardless…

With Garou halted for the moment, Ekko turned to stare at her properly, looking stunned.

“What the fu— Vi…?!” he managed.

A sound from Garou’s direction cause Ekko to twitch with the second grenade ready in his head, but he stopped himself from throwing — it was the child, rushing over to Garou’s side with concern on her little face.

“Ekko—“ she began, holding out a hand, “it’s okay, we don’t have to—“

He turned to her brusquely. “What in the hell are you doing with him?!” he demanded. He then shook his head before she could even answer. “How are you even here…?!”

“Stillwater, Ekko—“ she answered, in a mediating tone, “he got me out— us out. This is Cheese, that’s Garou… I don’t know what you two’ve—“

“Yeah, yeah— I’ll leave ya’s to your little family reunion,” Garou cut in with derision, taking the girl on his back. “Tell the little punk if he swings at me again, I’ll lay him out…”

Vi had to grab Ekko’s arm to stop him from jolting at him in rage.

“Ekko—! Just, talk to me,” she pleaded, hoping he’d calm down. “Where’d you come from just now? What’s that thing you were flying in on?”

He hung his head, finally unclenching his fists, as Garou disappeared down the street.

“Don’t worry about all that—“ he said. “…You were in Stillwater? All this time? Vi… if I’d known, I’d have—”

She pulled him into a hug, preventing him from finishing the thought.

“You would’ve done nothing, Little Man, ‘cause that’d be stupid, and you’d have gotten yourself caught…”

He hugged her back, letting out a stressed sigh.

“What’s happened down here, Ekko—? The airships… Topside…?” she asked him as they parted from one another.

He glanced over at Cheese.

“You guy’s’ve been out there fighting them, haven’t you…?” he surmised, motioning to the shield affixed to Cheese’s back.

Vi let out a breath.

“When did it all start, Ekko…?”

“Tonight— the assault on the prison, it happened all at once,” he answered. “Silco’s been… god— we’ve got too much to catch up on, Vi… you two needa come with me, I’ve got somewhere safe—“

She decided her most pressing question couldn’t wait, though she found herself terrified to ask it.

“I’m down here looking for Powder, Ekko…” She focused in on his eyes, searching them for the answer before it reached his lips. “Please tell me you know where she is…”

She couldn’t discern exactly what his expression was portraying, before he dropped his gaze.

“We really do need to talk… c’mon…”

----------------------------------------

…

….

…..

Her eyelids fluttered open to the faraway sounds of doors opening and shutting, and a flood of green-tinted neon that let her know that she’d forgotten to shutter her window again.

She must’ve fallen asleep in a hurry…

It could wait — she was awake now, in any case…

Jinx sat up, rubbing her eyes, attempting to guess at what time it even was. She slid on her color-dyed night slippers, and lumbered over to her door.

A peek down the corridor outside it revealed nothing out of the ordinary, so she scurried out, down to the wash-up area behind the bar. It relieved her that there wasn’t anybody roaming about to attempt idle chit-chat with her — the few grunts that remained in the bar snoozed in their chairs, with their hats over their heads.

The only person she supposed she wouldn’t have minded running into was the dorky bartender, but he rarely stuck around so late…

A grimace passed her face as a grotesque, red-eyed rat darted from the room the moment it was alerted of her presence. She’d many times woken from nightmares to find her fingers or toes being nibbled upon by the foul creatures…

’Should’ve brought my pistol down with me…’ she internally remarked.

She let out a sigh, draping herself over the cool-box in order to find some reprieve from the oppressively warm and thick air, brought on by the smog outside the building.

After several minutes of resting her eyes, she reminded herself what lay inside the cool-box, and hopped off to open it up.

A few remained, intact and wrapped in foil — the leftover uneaten slices of her birthday cake. She moved herself to the countertop and allowed herself another taste. The sweetness of it was mostly enough to overcome the less than pleasant grittiness she got as she chewed through it — she supposed it also hadn’t helped that she’d burned the icing using her blowtorch to etch a big number twelve in the thing before it had been cut.

She hadn’t been under any impression that Silco had baked it himself or anything, but she’d appreciated the thought of it nonetheless. He seemed to have been paying a particular attention to her mood, however, which she’d found difficult to mask — her recent loneliness, perhaps from lacking of anybody her own age she could spend time with…

These weren’t necessarily things she felt comfortable articulating to him though, as she had a fear the conversation might lead into discussing past events… she wasn’t ready for that, not yet…

It wasn’t just that night, either — the figments of her once family which manifested whenever she found herself alone had begun to follow her seemingly wherever she went…

Even in that moment, she felt Mylo’s eyes on her, as though the way she ate was somehow wrong, and was letting the lot of them down…

She lost the taste for it suddenly, tossing the rest of it in the trash.

She rocked herself back and forth, feeling her face begin to tighten.

‘Stop…’ she silently pleaded.

It felt useless.

She quietly skittered back up the stairs, curling herself onto her bed, atop the covers. A thought occurred to her to reach underneath the bed, where she’d last left it — the gift she’d hoped to forget about…

She tightly shut her eyes as she squeezed the toy bunny against her chest. It was the only tangible reminder she had of her...

While she’d likely never be willing to admit its significance to Silco, she was at least relieved not to have gotten rid of the thing…

Sometimes, she doubted that she even could.

She cracked an eye open suddenly, feeling a slight breeze grace her skin.

It didn’t seem right — she was certain she hadn’t left her actual window open…

She sat up, wary.

It was more than just a little open…

Her pistol was in a small box, on the other side of the room.

She clambered hastily over toward it, growing anxious at the thought of an intruder she could neither hear nor see...

Until she did hear it — an unmistakable creak of the floorboards, behind her.

She spun around to face the creep with her gun drawn—

“Powder…!” he gasped.

She was frozen.

Ekko had his hands out, seeming to wonder if she really might shoot him.

Her arm fell without her input, dropping the weapon on the floor, but still she failed to speak.

“I… was waiting for Silco to leave the building,” he explained, in a hushed tone. “I didn’t mean to scare you…”

His hair was a bit longer than how she’d remembered it, and he’d grown a little taller, but he still had that same boyish expression he’d always had.

“W-where’d you—?” she stammered.

“Across town,” he replied. “I worked out he’s keeping you here after I spotted you a few days ago… I really thought you might’ve been dead…”

He moved toward her, and she hugged him tightly, ignoring the tear welling up in the corner of her eye.

“I’ve got some people that’d be excited to meet you,“ he said as he let her go. “There’s a few of us, now — we’ve found a safe place to live… we’re building it up, we can even grow food… I think you’ll really like it.”

She wiped her face with her sleeve.

“Wh—what people…?” she replied, still a little overcome with emotion.

“People just like us,” he shrugged. “Some our age, some older, some younger — we’re just trying to make it right now, to keep each other safe from enforcers and street thugs... everything’s gone to chaos out here…”

“Oh…” she responded, “and… you told them about me…?”

“I— yeah,” he said, “we all… y’know, we share about our pasts, everything — it’s a part of us, after all… told them all about my memories of you, Vi, Benzo, everyone we knew… I never really expected to see any of you guys again, so… I wanted your memories to live on…”

He paused on a wistful note.

“Sorry— I know you miss them all as much as I do,” he added.

She shifted uncomfortably, stepping away from him slightly.

“Well… they’re all gone now…” she murmured, “so, it doesn’t matter…”

“I mean— I thought you were gone, and…” he trailed. “How long’s Silco been keeping you here…? He hasn’t been hurting you, has he?”

“What—? no, I—“ she responded, furrowing her brow, “I live here…”

His expression changed a little. She became conscious of the fact that she was still holding the stuffed bunny in her other hand.

“Listen— we can bring all your things with us,” he said, a hint of urgency in his tone. “We’ll be gone before he notices anything’s up.”

Her breathing turned sharp — she needed to think…

“It’s okay, Powder,” he said, reaching a hand out, “whatever you think you owe him—“

“—I do owe him…” she interjected pointedly. “He… he saved me.”

Ekko’s face portrayed disbelief.

“…What do you mean—?” he puzzled. “He caused everything that happened to us…? Benzo, Vander, Mylo, Claggor, Vi… he’s the reason that they’re all—”

“—Stop… that’s not true…” she sniffed, as her eyes welled up again — all she could think about was how he might react if she told him who was actually responsible…

He stepped over and grasped her by the shoulders. “Just— come with me,” he pleaded, “forget about all of this — I don’t know what lies he’s told to convince you, but he’s not a good guy, Powder—“

She pulled away from him.

“You don’t know him,” she argued, her voice breaking a little. “He had reasons for what he did — Vander wasn’t protecting us…”

Ekko scrunched up his face.

“…The hell do you mean—?” he responded. “Vander gave himself up to the enforcers to keep us safe, and then Silco got him and Benzo killed — he’s a monster…!”

She glowered at him silently.

“He might be back soon…” she finally said, through gritted teeth. “I don’t want him to find you here…”

He shook his head indignantly. “Powder—“

“And stop calling me that—“ she seethed. “That’s not my name anymore…”

He eventually took a step backward, continuing to stare at her.

She’d just about strangled the poor toy bunny she held behind her back…

“…Vi would’ve wanted me to keep you safe…” Ekko murmured, sounding defeated.

“I am safe,” she shot back, “and Vi’s gone… she abandoned me…”

“She didn—“ he began to reply.

“She did… she left me…” Jinx said, definitively.

He clenched his jaw silently, slowly backing up to the window.

She watched him climb up onto its frame, and she had to keep herself from shaking — the rage had come up out of nowhere…

She saw him open his mouth to utter one last statement to her, but she turned her back to him, instead. She waited until she’d heard him exit before she dared to move again, dead-bolting the window and shuttering the blinds.

With a frustrated exhale, she deposited the stuffed bunny back under her bed and hastily wrapped the covers around herself, letting them soak up her tears.

Memories of her shared childhood with the boy she once called friend flashed behind her closed eyelids, while she desperately willed herself to sleep.

She knew she’d dream of the whole lot of them, as she always did…