Finding shelter
The twin cities were now a shadow behind them. One that lurks on their bodys like an ever present smudge of oil or of dirt.
One more to add to the already full of ash, paint and smoke hiding bodies at the cargo settlement of an airship.
Two little sump rats snuggle together against the boxes and crates not making any noise at all.
The bigger figure of the two made sure to put one of the sheets that she had snagged from one of the boxes over the littles girl's shivering frame. Jinx didn't really feel the cold. The weather and temperature escaped her in this new body, she was sure her body went through the sintoms a normal person with cold or heat will go through even if It was a little slower in appearance. The thing is she didn't feel It, didn't care for it but her little goblin did. And Jinx couldn't think of her girl drifting away in the cold waves like her father.
Jinx let out a long and tired singh while tracing the mess of locks, blue and brown. The spits of blue having little chips from the past events but not dissolving. At least not yet.
She knows the kid is going to beg for her to dyed It again once It wears off.
She also knows if they don't find the materials for the paint, Isha will just shrugged It off like It was not much of a deal, just to not be a burden for Jinx.
When in reality the kid was not a burden at all. Quite the opposite really, Isha was like an ignition.
The feelings the kid pulled out of the criminal were raw, full of determination and hope. Something that someone named Jinx shouldn't be allowed to feel. But since she dropped into her life she had started seeing things so much cleared but so blurry at the same time, blowing the lock of her hair that fell on her right cheek, she thought amused that she should have asked doc an appointment for checking her drugged peepers.
But that amusement fades away when she remembers the things the Doc has done to her, to her family. Her second dad burning from the inside out, thirsting over soldiers that attacked him just seeing an awful blood lusted beast. But the blunette knew that Monster knew that in reality It was just a new form of a person. Someone who has come out of the water in their new era, but their mind was drown so deep in, that It took a shiny looking Fortune cookie to try and take him out of the abyss but her second dad was that abyss so much that in his pain and desorentaited grunts he was fighting all and whining.
And then her brave and stunning girl looped through the battlefield snatching zapper off the floor and feeding It those damn orbs that had started her own changes.
She had thought It was all done, one shit, one blue blur and the only person who cared about this new Jinx would be gone. Just with a snap, just with a pew. Oh how much she had cried, fighting Vi over to get to her kid. But in the end she had fired and Vi and her were sent flying with the cry of the boom. Her oíl pond of a sister had been knocked out, but Jinx had Shimmer and desperation in her veins.
She could feel how they were pumping under her very own skin, her eyes shining with that unnatural hue of purple pinkish. Her grunts and groans were echoing in the field of screams of battle. And now? There were two monsters involved.
She remembers pushing the slang body of her sister over that piltie of hers without thinking. She would be okay with her, better than with Jinx. Jinx stands for Jinx. Everyone who gets close to her ends up dying, and her little friend was not gonna be an exception. But part of her mind, one away from the scribbles, one full of memories of what she said in gestures and her beautiful comforting silence pushed her to stand and run against the dirt to her.
There the wolfman had ended up with half his shoulder and neck almost burnt off. Sparks going out of his meat like she remembers has happened to her finger, she flexes the metal contraption in nerves, huffing and approaching with a wobbelin pace. Vander had fallen down and her eyes scanning over the hexhole that had been formed couldn't see a lot with the dust around, even with her Shimmer senses. Panic rose even more in her. The Noxus tropes lay away from the beast now, unconscious or gone she was not sure but that didn't matter.
Where was her protector?
Silence.
Jinx finally made the gap that existed between the body of Vander and her disappear. She lays on his shoulder clenching the fur of his back like a lifeboat, her eyes burning with fire, spilling out of her corneas like a bursting cascade. Her dad is gone again and…Isha nowhere to be seen aside for her cap dent in the distance. Has the hextech blown her existence? Disintegrated her little body in even more little bits?
Ville rose from her throat, she was gonna vomit, scream and curse. All was gone, all gone. The reason why she thought everything would be different was gone. She had no more reason to fight, no more reason to move.
She stayed there, curled Up on the unmoving body of the hound of Zaun. Two monsters of the lanes suffering.
And then the big one made a groan and Jinx lifted her eyes to him, expecting those pools of lava full of rage. But the heterochromatic colors were back, sad, apologetic and hurted. He moved a little his arms, the meat of his shoulder not deciding if to keep falling apart ot to start healing. When his arm was out of the way Jinx burst out in more tears.
Isha was there, cuddling up against the beast's chest with really awful burns like the ones she had sported herself in the night of the bridge. Vander had recognized her and blocked most of the blast with his body. The girl was panting and barely breathing. But she was breathing. And for Jinx that was everything. Vanders eyes were closing tiredly and Jinx hugged his head against her chest and kissed his forehead probably for the last time. Just like he has done to a little girl sleepy and tired, one who had drowned long ago.
“Thank you dad, thank you so much, even now you are a defender of nightmares, rest, rest, you need to have…a last good dream”
The wolf nuzzles his snout against her neck before slumping in the dirt. His injuries are still present and his breaths are going even more quiet by the moment.
Jinx cleans the moisture from her eyes and untangle the limbs of her dad from her friend, carrying her up in her arms putting her head to her chest with care . Her ears are ringing for her little heartbeat still pumping.
And then she saw Singed in the dome where Vander had been and she had to ask him. She had to do It. She was going away. She couldn't have that. She didn't deserve to be jinxed.
A voice, clearear that all of the others, an eye made out of marble and not childish scribbles looks at her in that piercing blue.
“There's nothing more undoing as a daughter, is It dear?”
And now Jinx understands that phrase, with her girl cuddling up in her body, shivering, panting, being on the edge of life. She can almost hear clicking of hooves, and a low growl far different from her dads. She can almost see the masks of death. No they wouldn't take her, not yet. Not now. Not ever in years to come.
Pushing herself with a surprisingly clear mind she ran to Singed.
The doctor was slumped on the dome's rock bench. This encounter had been more unravaling than he had expected. At least while he was still in the proximity of It all. When he lifted his face he thought that over all odds he had traveled in time and Silco was in front of him begging him to save her daughter, that she could take It. But It was said daughter instead begging for her own, no, demanding. The doctor let out a breath of amusement and was about to deny the “offer” until he felt the barrel of a pistol against him.
“Do It, I Know you don't care about your life doc, I wouldn't either . But i know you have a little special project to end, so if you do want to end It do me a favor and cure her”
Singed looked at the barrel and then at the girl with permanent Shimmer in her veins and the copy of blue in her chest. So she had seen the vault outside, that was bad. He just nodded at the end. Jinx laid the girl on the bench and Signed proceeded to get his equipment.
“You might want to hold her down yourself, i'm afraid we have no ropes around, and not much time till the reinforcements of both bands to come into the picture”
Jinx nods but if she had been listening the doctor can't be sure. She puts her nailed painted hands against the shoulders of the patient holding them down.
Singed pulls out a needle, gives It a tap at the tip and pinches the meat between his fingers injecting the cocotion in the veins of the patient
At first there's no movement and then the kid thrusts and moves around in agony, whines and whimpers go out of her mouth along with wordless screams and gut wrenching ones. Jinx says sorry under her breath just holding her down and putting her forehead against hers. Saying It would be over soon, that she would be okay, that she was such a strong rascal.
Singed just waits by the side observing how the burns of the nerves that had left the explosion glowing in a mix of purple and blue. The hextech? Has the arcane left some traces on her body?
Then the screams died down. A beat passed.
Then honey eyes were opened, they were sparking though. So was all of her body for some moments. Honey against pink were staring at each other. The kid huffed and hugged Jinx by the shoulders sobbing and Jinx hugged her back tightly but carefully unsure if she was in any pain, both cried a lot and Jinx cradled Isha like she was holding the most precious gem in the whole world. Not wanting to, Jinx separated her a little but she still cradled her cheeks against her palms .
“Are you…How are you feeling Isha, all your insides okay?”
Isha looks at her savior and mulls over the question by averting her gaze from her and inspecting those new scars Up her shoulders, she traces them to her temples.’They're like aunty Ogre’. Then she looks back at Jinx Who looks so worried for her. She almost died, didn't she? Isha knew she was gonna, she knew when she decided to jump in front of her guardian and shot. She just wanted to protect, show her she had learned how to. And dying was okay, she had good memories, perfect memories, she could stop surviving and go cause she learned how to live.
But she was still alive. And with Jinx.
So she gestures in the language she only knows, a way of gestures that have borned in the mines and factories due to the fuels being too toxic to speak properly.
[I’m Alive, you okay?]
Jinx laughs now and hugs her again, scooping her Up and twirls in that little space making the little girl giggle and clutch her arms.
“Okay? O you little rascal Im phenomenal you gave me such a scary time though o for Janna’s sake. Don't ever run out like that you dummy big bullies are for me not for you. You stay in your kiddie lane”
Isha huffs out and gives some pats to her upper arms. The cloud girl laughs and just carries her by supporting her by the back and Isha has her legs on her waist. She motions again with her hands rapidly, her fingers still buzzing from pulling the trigger.
“Okey, Okey slow down your yapping kiddo, my eyes are still blurry”
[We are a team. You were in danger, had to help]
“I…yeah, your right kiddo we are the wonder duo”
Jinx lay their foreheads together and Jinx breath in their matching scents, full of gunpowder, dust and caracol paints still present. They were both Alive, they were together.
[Is Vander okey too?]
Jinx glups at that and looks at her girl who is sporting a worried pout.
“Well little bun you put him at rest, he needed a reaaaally long nap…you did help him. I don't know if he would rest forever but you did a good number”
[Is the Lamb coming for him?]
“I don't know Ish, I Hope they are, but now we should fly from here, not a really safe place for us”
[What about grumpy oil?]
“Vi would be okay, she…she is with people that would take care of her. Now we have to take care of each other, yeah?”
Isha nods and extends her hand and they do their characteristic handshake smiling tired at the other. Still carrying her like a monkey. Jinx flew off the scene to their lair.
And from there and out everything was a blur. Ekko coming asking for help, the Fortune cookie going god crazy, her fighting alongside Vi, her sacrifice. Isha waiting for her at the end of a vent on a hoverboard Ekko had taught her how to use in their preparation for war. And they flew, flew away from everything to start anew.
And now they were in this airship going who knows where really. Without the hex gates the travel had been even longer . Jinx went out on deck and stole some lunch from a crew member, when they were hungry, she could go now too but better not. Not when Isha was sleeping against her. She smiled and pulled Isha in a burrito kissing her hair. Her precious, brave girl, Jinx didn't know what to call their relationship. Sisters? That didn't go well with Jinx, she had to literally fake her dead to allow Vi some closure. Silcos voice had said that line. So maybe It was like that.
But It didn't really matter, they were Jinx and Isha. Isha and Jinx. The most boombastic duo ever.
The airship shook violently and Jinx had to hold onto the wall pushing Isha against It to be caged by her body and the wood for her not to fall. That rattle made Isha awoken, she went rigid looking around and feeling the shake of the ship, her hands doing fists into her companions chest. Jinx bit her lip and started to listen overboard. It looked like they were preparing to land and they had caught the start of a really bad storm. The footsteps of the crew were echoing on the walls, the deck was sure filled with activity.
“Don't worry pipsqueak, these guys sure are professionals with all of that noise. We Will land in no time”
Isha doesn't speak with her hands still on fists against the wraps in Jinx's chest. But she does give her a look of doubt.
“O come on you now. If they're chaotic they might have a chance if they were all silent. It meant surrender! They're fighting like a Stinkmaw!”
Isha laughed a little at that and relaxed in the embrace hearing also the chaos of footsteps and rattle of ropes.
In the end the ship came to land. It shook all of the wood and left the both girls underdeck grinding their teeth but they were in solid ground It seemed. Jinx stands and gives her hand to Isha. Both of them start to wall to the far end close to the entrance ready to bolt out once It was open.
Isha gave her a little pull and Jinx looked at her arching a brow in the dark.
[Can’t] “shoush” she made the sound whistling.
Jinx let out and “ow right” and scoop up the girl.
“Hold on tight little bun, Jinx vehicules are really unstable, volatile and fast as fuck. Arms and legs around the vehicle at all times. Got it Isha?”
With a little giggle Isha nodded in Jinx's shoulder tightening her hold. Preparing to flee, Jinx stayed alert. Soon enough the entrance opened and a wet figure started going down mumbeling curses.
“We just flee from a civil war against porcelain dolls and we reach Demacias outskirts in a hellish storm. Well at least Magic here is flipping banned but the captain should have said something about having to land in the middle of nowhere”
Someone was not happy with their travels, poor dude. Jinx shot out in a blur of Pink before the guy entered the chamber fully, giving him a pat on the shoulder when she passed him. The guy let out a squeak but when he turned there was nothing up the stairs
“Bloody hell, now we will be hunted by ghosts?”
And the guy was kinda right about the ghosts.
Jinx was a ghost now. She was sure her death would be in those pilties newspapers. Terrorist turned hero or something corny like that. She didn't care a lot about it. She hadn't gone there to make amends but to try and fix something, built something new like Ekko had said. Running through the Woods now in this rain that somehow smelled clean she started thinking about him. He had seen It, he had finally seen that Powder was gone and was asking Jinx for help. Was willing to accept Jinx as an ally again after all she had done to his little bugs.
Oh Ekko would have loved these trees, that's was she thought when they got past her periphery. Tall and mighty just like the one in his lair. But at the same time she didn't want him to see, he would think that among all these strong trunks his was just a sad twig. And Jinx didn't want him thinking that, he had done so much for so many, he had made a paradise out of nothing.
He said he had turned his back to Zaun as a whole. And yeah. Jinx could see why, wanting to save who he could but not doing shit for the city. But well he had been better than her, a true boy savior against the excuse of a Big fat Hero. He wanted change and she was just put as a symbol because of a whim she had. Maybe she should have at least said goodbye to her friend but…she needed to cut ties, at least for now.
But well things have turned alright. Finally coming to a halt she let Isha down. The kid has been curled up in that flying whale of metal too much. She needed to move her stubby legs a little. Isha stretched and pulled the makeshift cloak around herself shivering, offering Jinx her hand to take, and so they started walking. They had to find a shelter soon if they didn't want to get blown away by the storm.
Isha looked around the woods even if she was really cold she couldn't help but be amazed by It. She pulls down her shark hoodie matching with Jinx's but with floppy bunny ears falling at the sides to block the drops to fall in her face. It reminded her of Tick Tocks hideout, all silent but full of life. Isha liked that place better than the commune. The commune was pretty but It had an odd feeling around It, maybe It was because It was the dream of just one person and not the rest. She still didn't understand a lot of what had happened even though Tick Tock and Jinx had talked about it while preparing. They were too smart for her to follow up. But Jinx had smiled at her and called her a good girl when she had said the thing about one being many. So yeah maybe she was just a tiny bit smart.
Jinx squished her hand and she looked up at her, sneezing when a droplet hit her nose.
“How are you holding up kiddo?”
Isha shrugged with one shoulder smirking at her and giving the squish back, and Jinx smiled softly at her.
“Such a rough bun I have at my side. But I know you're cold, you are shivering like crazy.”
Isha huffs and tries to stop the dumb shivers. Jinx doesnt need to trouble herself over her that much. She can take care, she's strong. She can protect Jinx even! She is tempted to run ahead and find them both a place to stay but looking sideways she can see Jinx with her head low kinda mumbling to herself. Ghost talking.
She does that at times and Isha gets scared that the ghosts will pull her away from her. She's not scared of Jinx, not at all. She's just scared of losing her.
So Isha stays put. And gets even closer to Jinx's leg and squishes harder her palm.
She feels a pat on her hood and Jinx lets out a sigh of relief.
“Isha, I know you are strong, believe me I know. But that's why we stick together. Protect each other okay? I..don't want to lose ya. So let's go slow on this woods, we don't want to burn them just yet”
Isha nods this time. And they keep walking more into the depths of nature. Jinx blows off the wet lock over her eyes and starts going around about what that guy back on the ship said. Demacia. She doesn't know shit about this place, well, at least not important stuff. She recalls vaguely, memories of another girl, stories of knights fighting against dragons for the honor of their country. Sunny skies without toxic humes and shimmering castles instead of neon lights. And stars oh stars. You could see the stars here, there wasn't pollution here to cloud the sight. And a smile tugged at the corner of her lips.
They just had to pass the storm and maybe they could see the spectacle.
The sounds of the forest and Isha nulled the voices. She has been getting them less really but they were still there in the background, always present.
Isha sneezes again and Jinx sprints a little their pace, going through taller grass and flowers she has never seen but they don't have time to stop and look at the scenery unless it is a cave or something.
And then just around some bushes that ripped Ishas cloth a little, they come across a fortress. White pristine walls made of a rock that even if they have fallen long ago are still like the first day the brick was pulled in cleanness. A white so unnormally pure that Jinx's eyes had to adjust to their light even in the cloudy and grey day. Not even Piltover most luceros ballroom could compare to It. Which was amusing as much as was annoying. Jinx was not a fan of white, at least if It wasn't matched with some color. Yeah white was kinda like the conversion of all the others blah blah blah but It was too boring.
Isha did a sound with her tongue of distaste, one that made Jinx laugh. Guess even in that they were on the same page.
“Yeah kiddo you say It. These rocks are painfully boring. They are so lucky that we have arrived, aren't they?”
Isha nods proudly, her hood almost slipping but Jinx accommodates It for her.
“Let's hit the tower seems like the most stubborn piece of chalk”
And so they approach the tower which has partially most of the bricks in place and the door slightly open, blowing with the wind. Must be still day by the little gaps of light that go through the cloudy but the rain does little to be able to know. When they're about to enter Jinx feels a pair of eyes on her, alerted by that, her spine goes cold and she pulls Isha in front of her. The girl wants to retort something for the sudden pull but she stays quiet when she feels something. She isn't sure what but is like one of Jinx's fireworks but holding all the explosive power, purring with it, and the colors are there wanting to be free.
She doesn't know how to explain that feeling to Jinx though. She doesn't look like she is feeling It.
And no, the girl just feels watched, oddly watched. Like all of her body has been captured in a photo for someone to contemplate, like that dumb first assumption people had of camaras, that It took away your soul. But It wasn't stolen. It was being observed, like she would do with her goggles on and the magnifying glass, watching so deeply that she could know the insides and outsides of her toys and mold them like she pleased. Her weapons were not on her, they had to flee fast after. She just had her power up body to defend them if necessary, which would have to do but she made a mental list to acquire new weapons.
Finally being able to pinpoint the stare she rose her head.
And there made of the same rock of all the rest of the castle was a figure bowed and with eyes of marble. One claw gripping their resting place and the other around some kind of rod, wings of pristine gold extended at their back. And their face contorted in a grimace that Jinx couldn't tell was of determination or annoyance.
A gargoyle, a really fancy and big one but just a gargoyle. A funny looking stone to purr out water or just decorate your fancy walls.
Her shoulders relaxed and she made some circles on Isha's shoulder to reassure her that everything was okay.
Isha did a tap with her foot to the door opening It a little more and they entered their temporary hiding resort. Jinx pussed completly the door closed even when the hitches argued with her and It close with a loud click. She Will have to put something behind though for the wind not to come under the gap of the door. Un clicking her cape she made a rumble out of it and put It in the gap. Blowing a whistle she turns around to Isha wandering around the place.
The “cape” still clutch around her body, there were some shelves around with moldy books,
a chimney and a carpet that was supposed to probably have a symbol on It. But to Jinx now It looked like a weasel dancing.
She said It out loud pointing to the carpet and Isha screwed up her face looking at It and shaking her head.
“Oh yeah smarty pants? What does it look like to you?”
Pulling out just one hand out of her cape Isha smiled at her gesturing.
[Mangoose]
“Okey but both are like practically the same kid”
[Really?]
“Probably, they are both long noodles right?”
[So is weasel mongoose]
“So It is, the Wegoose castle! Maybe there are still some running around. We could take down their king and make It our own, don't you think? Were way cooler, Bunny and Hare”
[Bunhare Castle]
“Heck yeah It is”
They both giggle and Jinx looks up the stairs that are part gone.
“Looks like they are three more stops up, but we should stay down while we wait for the rain to cease”
Isha moves her feet wanting to try and explore more but Jinx is right they should wait in the most dry place posible, they were both pretty soaked.
“Isha go sit by the fireplace, we are gonna try and do some shit with those shelves”
Isha went to sit on the carpet of the Wegoose, hugging her knees to her body and wrapping herself up in the cape. The inside did prevent some of the cold from entering and weirdly enough the stone walls felt warm.
Jinx went to the wall and prayed of easily the shelves off, the books on top falling to the ground like moldy carcasses, she put the the now firewood in its place and took out the lighter from her pocket and fighted with it a little till a flame appear on It and she disregarded the most wet wood and just too logs made of the shelves were worth it. But that would do.
A little fire sprinted to live and Isha put out her hands to the warm feeling on her icy fingers gladly.
Jinx plof next to her without any decor at all and lay like a starfish taking their time until she felt the body of the little girl curling up on her lap and she giggled when the girl started playing with her pants.
“You miss playing with my braids kiddo?”
Jinx hugged her up to her chest and Isha did like a half nod then laced her fingers to the lock of blue and purple and her free hand doing a simple gesture.
[Still super pretty]
Jinx ruffles her hair with a soft smile on her lips upon seeing her kid closing her eyes leaning on her touch. Such dangerous hands, and rough with metal on one finger. But Isha searched for her touch like It was a necessity. And Jinx has accommodated to that by now.
She was a touchy person but she had never been so calm with it, not like with Isha.
[What was that statue?]
“Mhm? Oh the big gargoyle? Is a protector I think. Hella cool uh? We even have a guard on our step. Real Royalty we are becoming Isha”
[It felt like your fireworks, was nice]
“The gargoyle?”
“Mhm”
With that sound of affirmation Jinx was about to ask more of the pipsqueak but she was already snoozing away. Jinx just tugged the cape around her with care.
“Like fireworks uh?”
She closed her eyes listening to the cackling of the fire and the calming breaths of the little bunny against her chest. Everything was gonna be fine. They were gonna be fine, even if that feeling of being observed was still rubbing on her the wrong way.
She closed her eyes and went to sleep too.
_____________________________________
Outside the storm was still raining down from the skies tremplin against the white stones without mercy. The night finally came and the moon started to appear between the dark clouds. The light of the silver body shone on the gold of a pair of wings.
And with that the stone of the figure started to peel off like a lizard shedding skin. The grip of claws closed and cracked the sturdy rock where she was placed and with a mighty roar the gargoyle was awake, flexing her golden wings and swinging her lion like tail as it was stretching after a really long nap.
Her previously cemented hair now runs to her shoulders in a mated mane of blonde locks.
Her body is now more of a shade of grey instead of pure wait as before.
The creature ran a parted tongue against her fangs and tusks, tasting the water of the rain that was still descending upon her armor. Clenching the staff on her other hand she cast a look behind her to her fortress.
In her hazy mind she can remember some humans entering the tower, looking for some shelter from the rain. It has been so long since she had visitors.
That was intriguing. She smiled excitedly and her tail swung around along with the sentiment. And then she huffed indignantly upon seeing the state of the tower's roof. Some holes were pouring down rain upon the floors below. Now that wasn't good. Her first humans in a long while were inside and they wouldn't want to stay if this place made them sick. Humans have really weak bodys.
The gargoyle ascended a little doing a flap movement with her wings to put her talons on the rafts. She twirls around her staff and a dim light appears at its tip, giving It a spin she tapped the edge of the hole lightly. Upon doing that a bubble of light was formed around It, transparente and with little rainbow hues in which the raindrops start to bounce off It.
She does the same with the other ones and soon enough the roof goes back to be waterproofed.
Giving a sniff the girl smiles more happily that her visitors have found a way of lighting a fire. But petrice stone could get pretty cold. Especially for mages, they could even get hurt by it. Sensing inside of the walls the Gargoyle didn't feel those souls at being magic, peculiar and fascinating yes, but not magic fueled like her. With a flick of her wrist she made the staff disappear in thin air. And she extends her wings at their full length, running off the roof and gliding around the tower putting her claw to the stone in her wake. The bricks illuminating with a yellow golden power that warms out the exterior once she reaches the floor her Magic has been absorbed by the petrice walls and now was keeping the little humans nice and cozy.
She gave a happy growl at the fortress and draped her wings over her shoulders looking like a cape and bringing her claw to her chin she started to think what would they need. Oh right, food. She could hunt a nice deer for them or something bigger. Giving a nod she started humming and entered the canopy of the forest, her talons leaving a trace that was disappearing with every pour of rain.