"And now you're dead."
Quick note: Everything in italics and bold are thoughts and can be heard by everyone present. All of Isha's dialogues are in sign language.
"Nothing I've done in this life makes me prouder than you," Silco said to Jinx, taking her hands and lovingly stroking her daughter's bandaged fingers.
Jinx looked at him moved, Silco and Vander were her parents, more than Connol as much as it sounded ugly to say it but she didn't remember him. Silco and Vander raised her, made her the woman she is, taught her almost everything she knows, whether good or bad. She was the daughter of both of them, of Felicia, and why not? Of Sevika too, though she wouldn't say it out loud; that's a private matter for her alone.
Silco had been so missed by her, his mere presence was a calming factor, but when she killed him, that was gone, and it was as if the plugs that kept her from hearing the storm had fallen away. The voices and scribbles didn't bother her as much as before, but she couldn't sleep like she used to. She missed him, she missed Vander, she missed Vi (until she didn't anymore), and she missed Ekko.
"I just tried to make your dream come true," Jinx whispered, swallowing hard.
Silco felt that familiar comforting warmth in his chest. "And you did."
He left a soft kiss on his daughter's temple, pulling her to his side. Jinx leaned into his chest, pulling Isha, who was still on her lap, closer. Just like old times, the three of them snuggled up.
She allowed herself to pretend they were at home, on one of those winter days where he didn't work and they could spend the day together, when Silco allowed them to do his hair and makeup, he would read to Isha and then paint Jinx's nails while she just rambled on. Those days where only the three of them existed and there was no one to hurt them.
A soft cough brought her out of her reverie, she turned her head to see Ekko looking at her intensely with those brown eyes that she loved so much. Beni was playfully biting his fingers, maybe he was hungry again, he was eating too much she suspected it was because of the fast metabolism the Shimmer produced in him.
"I think he's hungry," Ekko said with a small laugh.
Jinx separated from her dad and Isha went to his lap, starting to talk to him, moving her hands quickly.
"Give it to me." Jinx said to Ekko, stretching her arms out toward her baby. When she had her baby in her arms she brought him towards her face, rubbing their noses gently.
"Are you hungry, chubby cheeks?" Jinx asked in a funny voice that made Ekko smile. The baby let out a squeal, moving his hands to touch his mother's face.
Ekko looked at his fingers, wet with Beni's drool, and noticed a slight pink glow on them. Shimmer. The fact that Beni had inherited Jinx's shimmer was something that he definitely didn't like, his son seemed to be fine and healthy but that didn't leave him at peace. And they still didn't know who had left Jinx so badly injured, not to say almost dead, that surgery... her screams... It was all a consequence of whatever had happened.
He looked at Jinx, who no longer seemed so distressingly dull; she glowed every time she was with Isha and Beni. She treated Beni with such tenderness and love that he wanted to pick her up and kiss her. To show her all the love he could and would give her. He had hope, after everything he'd seen, that they could be okay.
"I never thought you'd have kids, to be honest," said adult Vi, making Jinx remember that she wasn't alone with Beni in the room.
Jinx pulled her legs up onto the couch, carefully propping Beni up there, and began playing with his little feet. "You already told me."
The adult Vi looked at her in confusion and shook her head. "No, I didn't."
Jinx sighed, placing a small kiss on her son's chubby fingers. "Yeah, it was the other you. I'm still adjusting here."
"Did you and I make up?" asked the older Vi, hopeful that maybe she had managed to fix her relationship with her little sister despite everything.
Jinx thought about that question, looked at Beni and then at Isha who was still entertained with Silco, it hurt her to imagine her children fighting the way she and Vi did. No, they hadn't reconciled, but they'd made progress. There was still too much dust to sweep under the rug. She was still mad, and Vi still didn't understand many things.
"I wouldn't call it that."
The adult Vi's hopes shrank a little at her sister's curt response. "What do you mean?"
"That doesn't matter, you're not her anyway." Jinx said trying to get that fact into her head, this Vi wasn't her Vi and there was no point in being mad at her but she felt like it. She wanted to explode at Vi, scream and cry at her again. But she wouldn't, not yet.
"This is very awkward," Mylo muttered under his breath to the teenage Vi who gently pushed him away.
Although many don't believe it, Jinx was very patient, too patient. Once, she waited eight hours for Sevika to leave the brothel, and she wondered how much energy Sevika had? Eight hours of fucking... Exhausting, if you ask her.
Anyway, the point is that she is a patient person, more so than Ekko who had a very short fuse but she had a limit. Mylo is playing with that limit and if he doesn't stop she'll give him the beating she should have given him years ago, the one Powder should have given him.
Jinx took a deep breath through her nose before pulling up a portion of her shirt to reveal her breast. There was a commotion around her but she paid no attention to it. She brought Beni to her breast and he immediately began to eat, his small gums causing her a slight pain but nothing serious.
"I feel like we shouldn't watch this," said the teenage Vi, looking away, all the teenagers following suit, clearly uncomfortable.
"What's wrong with you?" Jinx asked, looking up to find no one was looking at her except for Ekko, who seemed almost hypnotized. "It's natural, grow up."
Ekko felt terribly embarrassed but he couldn't take his eyes off Jinx, he never thought that something as normal as a woman breastfeeding would be so attractive to him. This woman really made him discover new things about himself.
"Bunch of weirdos," Jinx said, rolling her eyes. And it seemed the cookie didn't like her comment because the projector turned back on. "Shit."
Jinx was pacing around the office, pacing back and forth as she watched Isha draw at her desk. Nerves bubbled in her stomach, her hands sweated, and nausea built in her throat. Sevika informed her that the firelights had reappeared, that they were seen helping out and riding around on their stupid hoverboards around Zaun and she knew it was now or never, she had to tell Ekko, she had to.
Jinx looked away from the projection, not wanting to remember that her Ekko was dead or missing or whatever had happened to him. She just looked at Beni intently, taking a deep breath trying not to get stressed.
Ekko looked at Jinx, he still didn't know what had happened to him, where he had gone or if he had ever returned. And if he hadn't returned, what had his firelights done? Why had they left Zaun helpless? Jinx had taken care of Zaun, but still...
And she would do it now if she weren't so scared, she was afraid of his reaction, she knew that the reasonable thing was for him to react badly but she didn't want it to be like that. Although with his temper they would surely fight.
"My temper?" Ekko asked in surprise, looking at Jinx who coincidentally wasn't looking at him. "What temper are you talking about?"
Jinx raised her eyebrows at Beni. "Your daddy doesn't want to admit that his fuse is actually as short as he is."
Ekko frowned in disbelief at what he was hearing. "First, I don't have a bad temper. Second, we're almost the same height."
"That's not true." Jinx said, shaking her head, causing strands of her hair to brush against Beni's face. Beni let go of her breast and started playing with them. "Right, Beni? No, that's not true."
Ekko sighed, gathering patience because he knew that this would be his life from now on and he loved it.
She couldn't escape anymore, she had to do it, she had to gather her courage and do it, she only hoped that he didn't hate her. She could bear everything except his hatred, she just didn't want to feel that hatred from him again... The hatred from that night... His eyes...
Ekko looked at the projection in confusion before looking at Jinx. "What night?"
Jinx and he in his timeline hadn't fought face to face so she could see his eyes, he was missing something big.
Jinx looked at him, not knowing what else to say to him. "That night, on the bridge."
"What are you talking about?" Ekko asked, more confused. "We never met on the bridge."
Jinx looked at him in surprise, realizing that Ekko didn't know, he hadn't experienced it yet, and Viktor hadn't shown it to him. Viktor really did organize this whole circus in a very stupid way, and now how was she going to explain to Ekko everything that had happened on the bridge? What was she supposed to tell him?
Hey Ekko, remember what Singed did to me? How he filled me with Shimmer until I was bursting at the seams? How I screamed and cried? Yeah? Well, it's both our faults. Funny, right?
No, she couldn't tell him that. So she went the easy way, pretending, and she was great at it.
Jinx shrugged feigning disinterest, Ekko relented but would ask her more questions later.
Jinx shook her head, trying to erase the memory; it was painful. She looked at her daughter, whose hands were stained with paint, and it was smearing her desk, but she loved it.
"Ish~" Jinx hummed, getting her daughter's attention, who looked at her with a big smile. "Are you having fun, love?"
Isha nodded vigorously, gracefully moving her many braids, and handed her drawing to her mother. Jinx took it, staining her fingers with the fresh paint. It was a stick figure, but it was an explosion of colors. She could make out Isha, Sevika, who she thought was Kayn, herself, and someone else.
"Who's that, Ish?" Jinx asked her daughter, pointing at the green stick figure.
"It's Dad," Isha replied with a big smile.
Ekko smiled warmly as he fondly looked at his daughter's drawing... It still sounded strange to even think that he had a daughter and a son, two.
"It's beautiful, Isha."
The little girl looked at her dad with a big smile.
Jinx looked at the drawing again, the green stick figure had no features even though she had drawn it for Isha to meet him. Her daughter didn't know him in person, only in drawings. She didn't know what his voice sounded like, what his bad jokes sounded like, his lack of patience, his great intelligence... No, she didn't know him and that was only Jinx's fault.
"Bad jokes? Lack of patience?" Ekko repeated, almost offended. "Just say you hate me."
Jinx snorted, shaking her head. "Ever since we were kids, you've had some terrible jokes."
"Hey." Little Ekko exclaimed, opening his mouth in offense, and looked at Powder, who was looking at him amused. "My jokes aren't bad, right Pow?"
Powder looked away with a small giggle causing Ekko to playfully push her, both children began to playfully push each other without noticing the looks of their counterparts.
Jinx wanted to hit her head hard, if only she hadn't jinxed everything maybe their relationship would still be the same, laughing and playing, new inventions and sleepovers, kisses and hugs. If only she had gone with him that night when they still had time to grow together... If only...
"It's beautiful." She handed the drawing back to her daughter. "We'll hang it on the wall when we get home, shall we? For now, let it dry."
Isha nodded, leaving the drawing on the side of her desk and taking another sheet of paper to continue drawing.
Sevika entered the office causing Jinx to let out a loud sigh, she was out of preparation time.
"Are you sure what you're going to do?" the older woman asked, sitting on the arm of the sofa. She wouldn't say it out loud but she was afraid that Jinx would get hurt, she didn't want to see her crying over that stupid boy again.
Jinx let out a small, moved laugh. She knew Sevika and her had a strange relationship, but she was glad to know the affection wasn't one-sided. Sevika was the only female figure she had throughout almost her entire growth, from the end of her childhood through her adolescence and into adulthood, she was the only one.
She had taught Jinx almost everything she knew about being a woman and how to grow up as one in a world like this. They were both a pain in the neck for each other but Jinx knew she would kill for Sevika and Sevika would kill for her and her children. It didn't feel right to say that she looked up to Sevika as a mother, but it was true; she was the maternal figure she had been there for. Sevika and Silco had worked so hard to take care of her and ensure that she would lack nothing, when they didn't have to, Sevika more than Silco. But despite Sevika's whining and moaning, she was always looking out for her. Jinx knew that as long as they kept an eye on each other, they wouldn't be dead. Badly hurt? Maybe, but not dead.
Jinx nodded, stroking her belly to try to calm herself. "It's what I have to do. I owe it to him."
Sevika rolled her eyes. "You don't owe anyone anything, kid."
"I killed several of his friends and I know I hurt him, that's the least I can do."
Hearing Jinx admit that was almost like a stab in Ekko's chest, that constant reminder of the deeds she had committed. Although he knew deep down that they had both hurt each other, not in the same way or amount, but they had.
"It's part of the job, he should understand, he also killed some of our men." Sevika said, resigning herself, knowing that Jinx wouldn't give in.
"Did you kill?" Benzo asked, surprised, he looked at his son who looked away in embarrassment.
"I did what I had to do," Ekko replied, unable to look at his father. Killing was a necessary act if they wanted to end Silco's empire, although he wasn't proud of it. Still, he didn't feel guilty, and because of that, he sometimes wondered if he was better than Silco.
"Yeah, no, he won't," Jinx said with a bitter laugh. "Just take care of Ish, I know you will, but..."
Sevika stopped her with a raised hand, these days had not been easy for Jinx, she was up to her neck in work, going from here to there all over Zaun. Repairs, remodeling, treaties, meetings, everything had her very stressed. The pregnancy wasn't being easy on her either, according to what Jinx told her she couldn't stop vomiting, she could barely eat a bite. There were times when she felt a stabbing pain in her belly that scared her terribly, but Jinx somehow knew the baby was okay, something about being connected... Sevika doesn't really understand.
"Pow, that's not normal," said the teenage Vi, looking worriedly at the adult version of her little sister.
Jinx waited for that icy chill that ran through her every time she heard the name 'Powder' but she didn't feel it, she didn't know why and that scared her.
"I know it isn't," Jinx replied, not realizing she hadn't corrected the teenage Vi, but Silco did notice. He looked at her strangely; his daughter had never been so calm about being called by her birth name, and he didn't know how that made him feel.
"Wasn't there a doctor or healer you could see?" Ekko asked worriedly, obviously everything had gone well the test was in Jinx's arms but still.
Jinx rolled her eyes wanting to change the subject, her last pregnancy wasn't something nice to remember but she would do it all again for Beni or Isha or any future child.
"I saw a doctor," she answered vaguely, and then she felt the icy chill that made every hair on her body stand on end. That moment... It was something completely horrible for Jinx, just remembering it made her want to vomit.
Carefully, Jinx removed Beni from her breasts and placed him on her shoulder, patting him gently. She could see a glimpse of a whitish-pink liquid in her son's mouth and wanted to beat Singed to death.
Ekko wanted to say something else but Jinx's gaze was clouded and lost in the projection.
Since they had made the treaty and alliance with Bilgewater they had received from them food, fruits and vegetables that no one in Zaun even knew existed. Miss Fortune had been incredibly generous with the payment for Jinx's weapons. They had also received live animals, which were soon turned into meat, which was distributed equally, or as widely as possible. Zaun gave them weapons—far too many. Jinx had spent days without sleep in order to build, repair and improve everything. She did her best job possible and Miss Fortune rewarded her with another ship full of food, fabrics and a huge box of things just for Jinx. She didn't know what was in that box and she didn't ask Jinx either, she had the right to privacy.
"I was wrong. It seems Bilgewater is a good ally," Vander said, patting himself gently on the leg. He would never have made an alliance with the pirates, It wasn't even a possibility in his head.
Jinx didn't speak, she felt that if she did it wouldn't end well, everything already felt too much and she hadn't seen almost anything.
Silco noticed his daughter's condition, looked at her worriedly and approached her so she could feel his presence by her side; he knew that sometimes that was enough.
"The boy should come later, right?"
Jinx nodded, approaching Isha and hugging her, not caring if she got paint on her clothes, she gently pressed her head into her chest. Isha hugged her mother tightly, breathing in her sweet scent.
"I left you homework in your backpack, there's also your juice and lunch," Jinx said, leaving a kiss on her forehead.
"Why are you giving her homework? She's a child" Mylo asked confused, turning to look at Jinx, who looked at him with raised eyebrows.
"Maybe, just maybe, so she won't be as stupid as you," she replied, narrowing her eyes.
Mylo glared at her, angrily at the insult. "I'm not stupid. Just because you're older doesn't mean you're smarter."
"You're as dumb as a bag of hammers," Jinx said, raising an eyebrow, almost willing the idiot to keep talking.
"Hey guys..." Claggor tried to stop them by timidly raising a hand.
"I may be dumb, but I'm not crazy like you." Mylo said impulsively, not noticing how almost everyone in the room looked at him angrily.
"Mylo!" Vander exclaimed, stopping the boy.
"No, let him keep talking." Jinx said, standing up from her seat and giving the baby to Ekko, who took it with a worried look.
Mylo looked at the woman who was now standing in front of him, her pink eyes shone abnormally and although he didn't want to admit it, he was scared of her, of his little sister.
"Come on, Mymy," Jinx said, waving her hands with a small, bitter laugh. "Dare to say that to my face."
Mylo grimaced at hearing that stupid nickname again, he hated it and she knew it, he had said it to Powder... Well more like yelled it at her.
"You won't say anything?" Jinx asked, putting her hands on her waist. Mylo didn't dare say anything, he just looked away. "Don't you dare tell me how I should raise my daughter when you have yours, which will probably never be the case because... I mean, look at you." She looked him up and down. "There and right there then you can perhaps tell me how to raise a child, until then shut up."
She might have been cruel or maybe not, at this point she couldn't care less. She sighed deeply, feeling the resentment she had held for years slowly go away. Maybe that feeling would never go away like the guilt, but for now she felt content. As if the small, weak Powder inside her had healed a little.
Jinx returned to her seat feeling a little better, she looked at Isha who seemed sleepy on her grandfather's lap and she left a kiss on her cheek.
"If I want parenting advice from anyone, I'll ask. Until then, no one has the right to tell me how to raise my children," Jinx said to everyone in the room. "Well, except for Ekko, I guess."
Ekko snorted and shook his head. He really was in love with this woman, he thought.
"What do you think?" She asked Sevika and Isha, showing them her outfit for today. A black vest that revealed her belly, long flared pants stained with both fresh and dried paint, and low-heeled boots. Her hair was in two braids that rested on her back.
"I want to dress like that." Powder said out loud unconsciously, automatically blushing when she saw Jinx's pink gaze on her.
Vander muttered in disagreement. His daughter was still too young, and Jinx's outfits were too revealing. Oh, Powder's teenage years would be a nightmare.
The adult Vi looked at Vander with amusement. "Good luck, old man."
Isha smiled at her and gave her two thumbs up. Sevika looked at her with a raised eyebrow.
"Put something else on, it's cool outside."
Jinx waved her off. "I'll be fine."
Sevika rolled her eyes and shrugged. "Whatever."
"Okay, I'm off. Wish me luck," Jinx said with a smile, adjusting her Zapper on her belt. She blew Isha a kiss and left the office.
She walked out the back of The Last Drop, not wanting the guards to follow her, never needed to and not needed to now. She walked until she was near one of the ravines near the elevators, she lived on the surface of the dark hole that was Zaun, but she knew that the firelights lived more or less in one of the middle layers. Zaun's infrastructure was truly a headache for any foreigner.
"I still don't understand how Zaun hasn't collapsed," Caitlyn said, shaking her head. "I saw plans of the city, and it's... Too much."
And standing near the edge of the Zaun void Jinx waited, she just waited for the firelights to pass, they always made the same stupid path. There was a very high chance that the firelight that passed by wasn't Ekko, but that wouldn't be a problem, she would get to talk to him no matter what.
"How much do you know about firelights?" Ekko asked in surprise, rocking Beni.
Jinx shrugged, scraping the chipped polish off her nails. "Just enough."
"And it would kill you to tell me how much that is?"
"Why do you want to know?" Jinx asked him making him take a deep breath, maybe what she said was true he didn't have much patience.
"Just tell me."
Jinx looked at him for a moment, thinking, before answering. "Nah."
Ekko pursed his lips, staring in disbelief at the blue-haired woman beside him.
The cold wind made her shiver and she regretted not listening to Sevika; winter was coming more quickly than she expected, although that was better than summer. She rubbed her bare arms trying to regain warmth. And that's when she saw that green trail travel across the sky above her, she quickly pulled out her Zapper and fired, making sure not to hit him.
As soon as the firelight turned to look at her, she recognized the mask; it was Scar, Ekko's right-hand man. She waved for him to come closer.
"Oh, this isn't going well." Ekko muttered, knowing the vastaya's deep dislike for Jinx.
"Yoo-hoo." Jinx hummed, waving her hand. The firelight looked at her for a moment before approaching, taking out a pipe, preparing to fight.
Jinx raised her hands, putting away her Zapper. "Hey, calm down, buddy. I don't want to fight."
"What do you want Jinx?" Scar asked in a deep voice, the vastaya unconsciously flapped his ears. She approached him without fear, quickly noticing how abnormally tall the man was.
"Gods, I should wear higher heels." Jinx complained, seeing how short she looked, trying to say anything to distract herself from what was coming next.
"I want to talk to Ekko, bring him." Jinx said with a smile, putting her hands on her waist.
Scar removed his mask revealing his face to Jinx for the first time, although she already knew him without it but he didn't know that. The expression on the vastaya's face made her feel uncomfortable, it was strange like a mixture of sadness and anger.
"Ekko is missing," he sighed, packing his pipe onto his back next to his hoverboard. "We think he's dead."
"What?" Ekko asked in shock, looking at Jinx who was still scratching her nails. "Jinx..."
She simply shook her head, she hadn't wanted to remember that her Ekko was no longer there and she would never know what had happened to him, or maybe she would if Viktor showed it to them.
Ekko didn't know what to say or what to think, his people thought he was dead. Would his face be on the mural now? Did Ollie know? Did Scar mourn him? Is that why the firelights had disappeared for a couple of months?
Dead.
Dead?
No... No... He... Can't...
Jinx stared at him, eyes wide open, feeling as if someone was standing on her chest, preventing her from breathing. "You're lying."
Scar shook his head. "That's true, Jinx."
Jinx gasped for air, turning around with her back to him, staring into the void below her. Ekko... She jinxed him...
"Jinx." Ekko called out to her to look at him, but she didn't; she kept staring at her nails. "Look at me."
Jinx scraped her nails hard, hurting her cuticle, a drop of glistening blood sliding down her finger. Before she could hurt herself further, Ekko gently took her hand. "Look at me, please."
She looked at him, feeling the warmth of their joined hands, but she didn't speak.
"You need to stop blaming yourself for everything," he said quietly, just for them. "I promise you, what happened to me wasn't your fault."
"And how do you know?" she asked in a whisper, her voice breaking.
"Because I saw it. I saw what happened to me," Ekko whispered back. "You had nothing to do with it. If it's anyone's fault, it's Piltover and the hextech."
She looked at him in surprise, Scar had told her that Ekko had gone to Piltover and never returned but that was all they knew.
"What are you talking about?"
"The wild rune that brought us here, absorbed me or something along with the former councilor Heimerdinger and the man of progress." He whispered, unable to look away from those big pink eyes.
Jinx fell silent, thinking, was it Viktor? He caused that? No, he couldn't have done it, he was already in Zaun. Then she remembered one thing, hextech or hex gems worked in a different way, almost like a hive mind, what happens to the mother affects the daughters. In this case the mother was the hextech aka the wild rune, Viktor had explained enough to her and she deduced the rest. Jayce and Viktor had overexploited magic, and every action has its own reaction.
"It was you." A husky voice whispered in her ear, making her shudder. "It's your fault."
She quickly shook her head, pressing her temple hard.
Mylo felt a pang in his stomach as he heard his own distorted voice. He and Powder had never had a close relationship; she was a child, and he was a jealous child. He wanted the attention and care that she always received, both from Vander and Vi and after Claggor, he felt so jealous that it embarrassed him. And that was reflected in his behavior with Powder, but despite that she was his little sister, a very annoying one but his little sister in the end. So saying that it didn't hurt that Jinx had horrible hallucinations about him was a complete and utter lie.
"What happened?" Jinx asked, putting her hands on her own arms, digging her nails in.
"I don't know why I'm telling you all this, you should be happy, right? He's gone." Scar said with a bitter laugh, his eyes sad.
"Fucking idiot." The teenage Vi said loudly in annoyance.
Jinx turned and at inhuman speed headed towards the vastaya, grabbed him by his coat and pulled him up to her. "You're a fucking idiot if you really think I'd be happy with him dead, you don't know me so don't talk like you do, you stupid bat boy!"
"Fucking asshole." Jinx said, frowning. Scar, her good friend and brother-in-law, Scar, a fucking stupid son of a bitch she'd beat up if she could.
The vastaya wanted to answer, but he saw the pain in Jinx's glowing pink eyes, a deep, piercing pain. He remembered how much Ekko had spoken of her, almost as if she were a goddess. Ekko had been in love with her, even though he'd told her he'd moved on, Scar knew it wasn't true. He could never forget her. Jinx would always be on his brother's mind and it seemed Ekko would always be on Jinx's mind.
Jinx pouted and looked at Ekko, who looked away, feeling his face heat up. "Look at me, silly."
Her heart was completely touched. Scar and she had talked too much about Ekko, more than the vastaya wanted, that was certain. But she just wanted to know more about the man she loved.
His brown eyes turned timidly to look at her, she had never seen him like that since they were children and it made her want to kiss him.
"You're very cute," Jinx whispered, Ekko smiled as he looked down. She brought her body closer until it was touching his and allowed herself to rest her head on his shoulder.
"Let me go." Scar said gently, taking Jinx's hands and pulling them out of his coat. She let go without a word.
He turned around to leave until he heard a question from her.
"You were like his brother, right?"
"Yes, he is... he was my brother." Scar said in a low voice without looking at the blue-haired girl.
She looked at the vastaya's large back feeling pink tears fill her eyes, one of her hands caressed her belly, her chest still ached but she had to say it. Scar was the closest thing to Ekko, his family, he had to know that.
"I'm sorry," Ekko whispered, resting his head on Jinx's. "I don't know what Ekko was thinking, going to that place, but I didn't want to make you suffer."
"You shouldn't apologize for that, I think a little suffering is the least I deserve," Jinx whispered back.
Ekko sighed deeply. "If I didn't have our son in my arms, I'd pull those hairs of yours."
Jinx let out a giggle. "You can do it when we're alone, if you want."
Ekko smiled amusedly. "You really are a nightmare."
"He has a daughter," Jinx said, wiping her tears sharply. Scar looked at her in surprise, trying to figure out whether she was lying or not.
"He never..."
"He didn't know," Jinx said, clearing her throat. "I never told him."
Scar ruffled his hair, taking a deep breath. "And how do you know it's his?"
"And who else would it be?" the adult Vi asked angrily. "Scar really tests my patience."
Ekko grimaced at Scar's question, he really wasn't one to hold back from speaking his mind, though Jinx would probably hit him for it.
Jinx looked at him for a moment, her abnormally bright pink eyes, right now she needed to kill someone. "Do you think I fuck everyone in Zaun or what? Isha is his daughter, the only thing she has of me is her hair, everything else is his, personality, everything."
"Isha..." Scar said with a small pain in his chest, he had a niece, Ekko's blood in the form of a little girl. Oh, Ekko always wanted to have a daughter.
"That's true," Jinx complained, squeezing Ekko's arm. "Nine months in my belly just so she'll look like you."
"Well, she's my daughter, so I'd be worried if she didn't look a little like me," Ekko boasted with a smile, linking his hand with hers, his other arm holding Beni, who was sleeping.
"But it's not fair, they both look just like you, and what about me?" Jinx complained, gently tugging on her hand.
"They look like you too," Ekko replied, amused. They were both in their own little world for just a moment.
"And that's not all." Jinx tugged at a strand of her hair hard, pulling out a few hairs in the process. "I'm pregnant with his baby, obviously."
Scar could only stare at the magenta-eyed woman in front of him, for a moment he thought maybe it was her madness talking but her belly proved otherwise. Ekko had told him the same day he disappeared before leaving for Piltover that he had slept with Jinx, he had pretended seriousness and indifference but Scar could notice the pain in his eyes. Although he believed he had taught his brother how to use protection, he was apparently a brainless fool when it came to Jinx, as always.
Jinx laughed softly, placing a kiss on his cheek. "If we were alone..."
Ekko smiled at her, placing his clasped hands in his lap.
"I wanted to tell him, but, well, you... I guess you're the closest thing to family to him." Jinx's words made him take his eyes off her belly, it looked bigger than the three months he thought she was.
"Can I meet her?" Scar asked, swallowing. His feelings for Jinx were clear, he had no animosity towards her, she had done a lot of damage not only to the firelights but also to Ekko. He wasn't going to forgive her just for giving birth to his little brother's children. There was a long road to travel with her and Scar was willing to do it for Ekko, for his blood, his legacy.
"I knew..." Jinx drawled, her eyes narrowed playfully. "I knew he didn't like me."
They had a difficult relationship, but she believed that despite the poor start, they'd made significant progress. He didn't want to kill her anymore; that was a big step forward. They had laughed together and even danced, she wanted to believe that she was a friend to him now.
Ekko prayed in his head that Scar would love Isha and then Beni, that was something very important to him. Jinx had said Scar was his family, he was his brother, the only one who was there for him when he lost everything.
Jinx looked at him, letting out a sigh before nodding. "Yeah, sure."
She walked past the vastaya and started walking towards The Last Drop, not even checking if he was following her, she trusted that he was. She felt numb, as if she were underwater with her nose and ears blocked, unable to breathe. If she breathed, she might explode and drown; she couldn't allow that. She had to focus on Isha, the baby, and Zaun. Isha and the baby... And Zaun. Isha. Baby. Zaun. Isha. Baby. Isha... Baby...
The adult Vi couldn't help but wonder where the hell was she? Why wasn't she with her sister? She and Jinx had reunited, she knew that, but when? And why hadn't she gone with her sister after the fight at the temple?
She should be with her little sister, with her nephews, taking care of them.
After all, why the hell would she leave Jinx again? Especially for a piltie.
A scream behind her caught their attention, when they turned they saw a badly wounded man with a large bullet wound in his stomach, he soon fell to his knees in front of them. Scar tried to hold him but the man pushed him away.
Almost everyone in the room was startled.
"Everything was too calm," Benzo muttered, shaking his head.
"They're coming..." The man gasped, blood pouring from his mouth. "You have to escape, bluebird."
She looked at him in the state he was in, barely able to process his words until gunshots began to ring out. The man's body fell stiffly into Scar's arms, who gently lowered him. He was dead.
"Enforcers."
"Thanks for that, cupcake." Jinx said sarcastically, Ekko squeezed her hand in silent support.
"I'm not your Caitlyn," Caitlyn defended herself, tired of having to take responsibility for her counterpart's mistakes. "I wouldn't do that, ever."
"You better," Jinx said bitterly.
"I didn't realize," Jinx said sarcastically, rolling her eyes. She couldn't fight in this state, and she wasn't going to endanger the baby. "Let's hurry up and find Isha. My men will take care of it."
"I support any attack on enforcers, but wouldn't it be counterproductive?" the teenage Vi asked, looking at Jinx.
The blue-haired woman shrugged. "In every war there are losses, but there weren't that many. I armed my men to the teeth." She nodded with a smile.
She turned around and started running through the streets of Zaun watching the Zaunites running towards the hidden shelters she had set up, it was a complete pain but she managed it. They were underground conduits that Piltover had previously used to transport resources from Zaun to there, but since the collapses they had been blocked and in disuse. She made them habitable, they weren't the most comfortable but they would keep them safe and that mattered. She made sure they were safe and secret, known only to the true Zaunites who knew how to move through their lands.
"Well done." Silco congratulated her, making her eyes sparkle with joy. Jinx was more prepared to be the queen of Zaun than he had thought, he felt bad for not having trusted her as much as she deserved.
"We should do that when we get back," little Ekko said to Powder, who nodded enthusiastically. The idea of making secret hiding places was exciting for the children.
"I never thought that was possible." Ekko said, admiring Jinx's intelligence, which surprised him more and more.
"Anything is possible if you're resourceful enough," Jinx replied, shrugging her shoulders.
Since they weren't going to fight Piltover yet, she must have had many plans to keep the people of Zaun safe. Before, she didn't care about that because Silco was there, but now he wasn't. And now more than ever, the safety and well-being of Zaun meant that Isha and the new baby would be safe, able to grow up in a better place.
"Just because I'm gone doesn't mean you wouldn't be safe, Jinx," Silco told her, frowning. He didn't like that his daughter didn't feel safe in Zaun.
"But that's exactly what it was, Dad," Jinx replied, looking at him. "They saw the opportunity and tried to take it, lots of them."
"Quick!" Jinx shouted, urging the Zaunites to run toward the conducts. "Chop, chop!"
Scar ran after her trying not to collide with some scared and hurried person. Jinx quickly opened the doors of The Last Drop, finding Isha playing dolls with Chuck and Sevika having a drink with Kayn. Otherwise, the bar was empty.
"Ah Chuck." Jinx sighed, feeling a small happiness at seeing the idiot.
Ekko frowned at her, after finding out that Jinx found that 'chuck' attractive he no longer liked him.
"The enforcers are here," Jinx said hastily, putting everyone on alert. She ran to Isha and picked her up. "We have to get out of here. They'll obviously come here first."
"How do you know that?" Claggor asked.
Jinx laughed maliciously. "Obviously, they just want me dead. Too bad I never die. I'm like a cat."
"Things are that bad, huh?" Claggor said, feeling amused by his little sister's attitude.
"It's the consequences of being so cool, I guess."
Scar could barely look at the little girl in Jinx's arms who looked at him over her shoulder with curiosity. Sevika and Kayn quickly covered the windows with metal shutters and locked the door as much as they could. She had installed many locks but didn't know if they would hold. Chuck turned off the bar's magnetic key, leaving the place in darkness with only the violet emergency lights on.
"Chucky, go to the hiding place under the bar and stay there," Jinx ordered, to which he nodded. "You know what to do."
Without saying a word, he quickly set off towards there.
"We can't go to the house, we won't get there without getting caught," Sevika said, adjusting her arm, preparing to fight if necessary.
Jinx looked at Kayn for a moment. She wanted to tell him to take Isha and carry her through the shadows, but she was terribly selfish and couldn't part from her daughter. She couldn't.
"How does that work?" Ekko asked, curious about Kayn. "His shadows..."
Jinx looked at him and shook her head, she wasn't going to tell them anything about Kayn's powers, that was a secret and she would keep it. Although considering how much of an idiot Vicky is, they would probably see through it all.
"Come with me." Scar said impulsively, Jinx looked at him in surprise and the vastaya also seemed surprised by his own words.
"You can't be serious," Jinx said, hugging Isha to her body. "If the enforcers don't kill me, you bugs will."
"And we would have the right to do so." Scar said, approaching her angrily before being stopped by Kayn, who was almost his height and stood in front of him, challenging him to touch Jinx.
"Don't even think about it."
"They better not hurt you." Ekko muttered a little annoyed by Scar's attitude, he understood gods he should feel the same as his brother but he couldn't, he was weak with Jinx.
"I like Kayn." Powder said softly, she wanted to meet him, he seemed so nice and funny, she wanted to be his friend. She had Ekko as a friend but he was different, they both knew they wouldn't last many more years as friends before becoming something more. Kayn could be her friend, Jinx and he seemed like best friends and she wanted that.
Scar put his hands on his waist, breathing heavily; it was neither the time nor the place.
"I'll take you secretly, there's an entrance that's just for Ekko and me, in case something happens."
"Okay." Jinx said, surprising Sevika and Kayn.
"Jinx, it could be a trap," Sevika said through gritted teeth.
Jinx let out a small laugh. "If it's a trap, he and all his ugly little creatures will remember what I'm capable of."
Her pink eyes challenged Scar's, he knew well what she was capable of and it was in everyone's interest that neither she nor Isha suffered even a scratch in the sanctuary.
Ekko knew that Jinx was quite capable of blowing up the entire sanctuary if she wanted to and all the firelights knew it too, they would never risk it. But a part of him was sure that Jinx wouldn't do anything against them, not as long as they didn't hurt her children.
Jinx knew the way to the firelights perfectly well; she'd even made a map of it for Isha. She wasn't foolish enough to know that if any firelights saw her, it probably wouldn't be a friendly encounter. She thought that maybe some, not everyone, could have changed their minds about her after all she was improving Zaun or so she thought.
"And I was right," Jinx said softly, hugging Ekko's strong arm, her nails tracing the veins on his biceps in a way that made him shudder. "We're friends now."
"Really?" Ekko asked, surprised, stroking her hand. He didn't know if Jinx was being sincere or not, but he wished she were.
Jinx nodded with a small smile. Yes, maybe some didn't like her yet, but the vast majority did. Stillwater helped a lot with that.
She walked with firm steps behind Scar with a large cloak covering her body and Isha who was in her arms. Behind her she could hear the distant gunfire of the enforcers, Sevika had left with Kayn but her men were surely defending Zaun as much as they could.
She just hoped not to have so many casualties, it would be a waste of time to hire more.
"You don't care about them?" Caitlyn asked, incredulous at Jinx's lack of concern.
Jinx didn't even bother to look at the other blue-haired girl. "Of course I care about them. I care about all of my employees, well, almost all of them, but they know the consequences of this job. If you were the boss of something you would understand what a pain in the ass it is to hire new people, but you were just a junior officer right?"
Caitlyn bit the inside of her cheek hard, that reminder had really hurt her ego.
"This way." Scar said, pointing to a sewer that was very well hidden, so this was Scar and Ekko's super secret entrance. The main entrance was on the other side, okay she would give one to the bat boy, this was a good plan.
Ekko smiled softly, remembering how they had both found that entrance. It had been a ridiculous but fun moment. They had argued and, like fools, had fallen and gotten dirty in the gray water.
Scar entered the sewer, signaling her to come down, while she held Isha tightly and slowly went down the slippery metal stairs. The sewers were dark and the floor was covered in greenish water. They smelled bad, but she had smelled worse.
Scar started walking without saying a word to her, she followed him just wanting to get to a warm place so Isha could take her nap. They walked for a while, almost as if they were going around in circles, and Jinx realized too late but realized he was trying to disorient her.
"We can wander around for hours if you want but that won't make me forget the true path." Jinx said with a toothy smile making the vastaya look at her annoyed.
"You don't even know the true path."
"I know all the sewers by heart." Jinx said, giving Scar a small punch in the chest, making him look at her hand in disgust. "The thing is, I have a really, really good memory. I can see a map and bam! It's stuck in my head like gum on a table."
Jinx nodded with a small smile. "I can't forget."
"Nothing?" the teenage Vi asked curiously.
Jinx shook her head. "Nothing at all, everything stays in here." She gently patted her head.
The teenage Vi turned to look at Powder, who was distracted by Ekko, and asked, "Can't you forget either?"
Powder looked at her, surprised by the question. "I don't think so."
Ever since she could remember, Powder remembered everything with an absurd amount of detail, no matter how hard she tried she couldn't forget. This did not prevent her from continuing to make mistakes, but she did not make the same ones.
Every book, every moment, every song, every smell, every face—she remembered it all. It was a punishment. It was hell.
The teenage Vi looked at her little sister in surprise, there were so many things she didn't know about her and she felt like an idiot, she took things for granted so many times with her. But had she ever bothered to ask Powder anything other than her bombs? She had surely grown up, her favorite color was no longer purple, her favorite food was no longer her mom's breaded shrimp, and her favorite person was no longer her.
Scar narrowed his eyes, reminding himself that the infuriating woman in front of him was carrying two children. If not, he would have already hit her.
"Ha! As if he could." Jinx laughed, genuinely amused.
"Just shut your mouth before I do."
"Ew no! I don't like idiots like you." Jinx stuck her tongue out mockingly, as long as he kept circling them in the sewers she would continue to bother him.
Ekko let out a small laugh, shaking his head. "You really do try his patience."
"It's what I do best, honey." Jinx replied with a wink, Ekko couldn't help but leave a kiss on her pale cheek, surprising her. Jinx could feel her face blush and hid it on his shoulder.
The man took several deep breaths; he couldn't believe his brother was in love with that woman. He just hoped bad taste wasn't hereditary.
"How rude," Jinx complained. "He wishes he had taste as good as yours," she said to Ekko.
"Are you flattering yourself?" Ekko asked with a smile.
"Of course, you've seen me?" Jinx asked, gesturing to her body.
Ekko bit his lower lip, staring at her intently. "Yes, I did."
Jinx let out a small giggle, blushing even more.
They continued walking with Scar doing his best not to hit her for how annoying she was being this time singing to Isha who seemed to be dozing in her mother's arms.
And even though he didn't want to admit it, Jinx had a beautiful voice, he could only imagine her voice and Ekko's singing to their children together, his heart ached.
"You always sang beautifully," Silco said to her daughter, who, still hugging Ekko's arm, smiled at him. Jinx's singing always reminded her of Felicia, making her feel sad and happy in equal measure. Felicia couldn't stop singing and dancing when she was happy, just like Jinx.
Both Vi felt a deep pain in their chest, that song that Jinx sang was Mom's song, she sang it before sleeping every night without fail.
They stopped in front of a large metal door that had a huge handle which Scar moved twice to the left, four times to the right and one more time to the left and it opened. He signaled her to be quiet and they walked through the door, soon the smell of wet earth hit Jinx's face.
"Keep your head down," the vastaya whispered, placing a hand on Jinx's back to guide her toward the tree stairs. She could hear people chatting and laughing, children playing, the small meows of a cat, and even the chirping of birds. She desperately wanted to be able to see all of that, a reality so different from what was happening outside.
"I always wanted to see a tree," little Ekko said excitedly.
Pulling back her hood a little in curiosity, Jinx could see from the top of the tree children running and laughing, they seemed to be playing, she imagined Isha playing there with them.
"She will, after all it's her home too." Ekko whispered to Jinx who just smiled at him. She was trying to be as optimistic as possible but she still felt like at any moment everything would disappear and she hated that feeling.
"Go, I'll be right back. Don't do anything or nothing will stop me from locking you up." Scar said, pointing to the last flight of stairs left and turning around, walking down, leaving her alone with Isha.
Jinx rolled her eyes as she walked up the stairs to find a wooden door with flowers around it, some looking fresh and some already wilted. She opened the door to find what appeared to be someone's house, it was an orderly chaos she realized, there were toy boats and airplanes hanging from the ceiling, a boiler on one side that heated the room nicely had small leaks but nothing serious, a large table in the middle of the room with hammers, wrenches, nuts and many other junk.
Ekko looked at his room curiously, everything seemed more messy than last time, apparently he had been busy.
"Wow," exclaimed little Ekko. "I want a place like that."
"This is someone's workshop." Jinx whispered before noticing another door, she shrugged and walked towards it curiously, as soon as she opened it she regretted it.
The first thing she saw was the owl mask hanging from a hook on the wall and she realized that that room, that workshop, belonged to Ekko. Holding her breath, Jinx went further into the room. She could see an unmade bed, a small bookcase, a desk full of papers, pencils and notebooks, underneath it were stacked canvases. There was a closet that didn't look like it was used much because there were clean-looking clothes piled up on the desk chair and in a corner of the room.
"I thought you'd be the tidiest of the two of us," Jinx whispered with a small smile, gently kicking some brown boots that were scattered on the floor.
"You should clean up that room, kid." Benzo scolded Ekko, who nodded.
"Yes, I know." He would probably forget and not do it, but the intention was there.
She carefully placed a sleeping Isha on Ekko's bed, covering her with the soft blankets, and removed her cloak, leaving it next to her daughter. Jinx looked at the room again, she had always imagined being there but in a very different way, now it just felt strange.
Wringing her hands, she approached the desk, and let out a small giggle.
"You messed up on this one, boy genius," Jinx whispered in amusement, his equation was wrong. He was always so smart, but he had a hard time seeing his own mistakes. When they were kids, she would point them out to him and that would make them fight. They were kids anyway, a fight didn't last, not like it does now.
"What?" Ekko asked in surprise, he squinted his eyes trying to see the mistake. "If the load passes through the 10 ohm resistor, and the current is 3 amps... then the voltage drop will be..."
"Thirty volts," she replied with a smug smile.
"No, no. It's... wait..." He trails off, doing mental calculations. "That would be 0.3 vo— What?"
She looked at him incredulously, neither of them noticed the confused looks of the others in the room.. "0.3 volts? Are you multiplying or sneezing on the formula, electric brain?"
Ekko shook his head, letting go of Jinx's hand to type with his finger on his leg. "I'm... uh... wait!" He stared at the imaginary formula on his leg. "Oh, no! I forgot it was 10 ohms, not 0.1!"
"See, silly? How I'm always right," Jinx said with a smug smile.
"Just this." Ekko replied, still writing imaginary formulas on his leg.
"I'm too dumb to understand any of that," said the adult Vi, completely confused.
Jinx removed the clothes from the chair leaving them on the floor and sat down, she moved Ekko's papers reading his notes, the thoughts and ideas he had. His thought process always intrigued her, his intelligence was as quick as lightning while hers was as abrupt as a bomb exploding into thousands of ideas.
When Jinx reached for one of Ekko's hardcover notebooks she accidentally knocked one of them over causing it to fall to the floor, she flinched for a moment looking at Isha, who didn't wake up making her sigh with relief.
Ekko tensed, stopping writing on his leg when he saw his notebooks. He would die of embarrassment if Jinx saw their contents. That was something private, just between the gods and him.
She bent down to pick up the notebook that fell right on the canvases, when she picked it up out of the corner of her eye she saw a trace of blue and left the notebook on the desk.
Curious, she bent down again to look at the canvases, took out several and left them on the floor, most of them looked like incomplete pencil drawings. She noticed that one of them looked like a faceless female figure, but her long hair made it easy to identify—it was her. Ekko had drawn her.
Jinx looked at him out of the corner of her eye, seeing the deep embarrassment on his face, it made her feel tender.
Almost desperately, Jinx searched through the canvases for a finished one, but there were none; they were incomplete. Frustrated, Jinx stood up and stared at the notebooks.
"Maybe..." Jinx whispered, opening one of the notebooks and there she found it, drawings of her. Turning the pages, Jinx realized that there was nothing but pure drawings of her, from different angles, different clothes, different ages, in color and in pencil.
"How romantic." Caitlyn sighed unconsciously; she wanted to be loved and admired like that. It almost seemed like Ekko could kiss the ground beneath Jinx. That kind of love and devotion was something she longed for very much.
There was one page in particular that caught her eye. It was a drawing of that night at Babette's brothel. She was disheveled but beautiful. Is that what she looked like to Ekko?
There was a phrase written under the drawing that she caressed with her fingers. 'La plus belle des malédictions'
Ekko looked at the drawing in surprise, obviously he hadn't drawn it yet, he hadn't experienced that night in the brothel. The Jinx in the drawing looked so beautiful.
Turning the page she saw a drawing. It was from the same night, she seemed to be lying on the bed. 'De toi, j'devrais m'éloigner'
Another page and another drawing, this time her eyes were colored pink and violet in such a beautiful way that she couldn't see when she looked in the mirror. 'Mais comme dit le dicton:
"Plutôt qu'être seul, mieux vaut être mal accompagné" '
"What language is that?" the adult Vi asked curiously.
"I don't know," Caitlyn replied, the language sounding so beautiful, almost poetic.
Another drawing, this time she seemed to be naked but it was not drawn in an erotic way, no, she did not look sensual, she seemed ethereal and fragile. 'Tu sais c'qu'on dit. Sois près d'tes amis les plus chers. Mais aussi'
She traced Ekko's handwriting with a shaky sigh, tears having begun to gently run down her face without her realizing it.
"Encore plus près d'tes adversaires." She whispered, feeling a lump in her throat.
Ekko looked at her in surprise, they both knew French, that lost language that was hardly spoken anywhere in Runeterra. That language he had always used for Jinx, with which he always felt a connection and which they both happened to speak fluently.
"You're an idiot." Jinx took the notebook and clutched it to her chest. "You're a fucking idiot, stupid, with a hero complex."
Ekko watched with a deep pain in his chest as Jinx broke down in tears at the projection, he looked at the woman beside him who didn't look at him. He took her hand again, holding it tightly.
Pink tears wet Jinx's face, her chest ached, she felt like an anvil had fallen on her back making her fall softly to the ground. With one hand she covered her mouth trying to prevent Isha from discovering her crying.
Everything fell upon her. Her father's death, the betrayal and fight with Vi, the pregnancy... Ekko... Everything she ruined. It shouldn't be long before she ruined Zaun as well.
"You won't," Vander said, his throat tightening. He hated seeing his little girl like that; it made him feel powerless. "You have the best of Silco, your mother, and me. You'll never do it."
Jinx looked at her dad with tear-filled eyes.
She gently dropped the notebook and picked up one of Ekko's coat that was on the floor, holding it to her nose, smelling his perfume.
She hugged Ekko's coat tightly. "I always regretted that night."
"I always regretted not going with you," she whispered, her lips pressed against the rough fabric. "We should have raised Isha here."
Ekko closed his eyes trying not to let out the tears that had filled his eyes, hearing those words was like healing an old wound that he didn't know was still open and bleeding. He pulled Jinx's body so that she was pressed against his and rested his forehead on her head.
Her body rocked gently, shaking with desperate sobs. "I never should have left you alone. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry." Her whispers were muffled by the fabric of his coat.
"I'm sorry." Jinx whispered, wrapping an arm around Ekko's waist and hugging him, pink tears covering her face completely. Ekko, with a little care for the sleeping baby in his arm, hugged Jinx.
"You don't have to apologize."
"Yes, I have to." She whispered against his shoulder and repeated. "I never should have left you alone."
"If anything, I owe you an apology, too." He whispered against her blue hair. "I never should have given up on you."
"Don't be stupid, I've practically left you no option." She whispered, pressing her nose against his clothes.
"I took away my options, you didn't do that." Ekko replied leaving a kiss on her hair.
It would be a lie if Silco said Jinx's words hadn't hurt him but he couldn't find the energy to show it, his daughter had been through so much and the least she deserved was to be with the boy she loved.
"And now you're dead," Jinx whispered, then let out a gasp. "You're dead."
Jinx gasped again, placing a hand on her chest and squeezing her vest tightly. She barely registered when Isha's small body collided with hers, hugging her. She just took her daughter in her arms and pressed her face against her neck, unable to stop her crying.
Jinx couldn't see the projection; she hated seeing herself so weak and vulnerable. Ekko simply hugged her tightly.
"I'm sorry, Isha," Jinx whispered, sobbing. The little girl just hugged her mom, her brown eyes filling with tears. It distressed her not knowing why her mom was crying. "It's all my fault, as always."
Isha pulled away from her mother, cupping her face in her small hands and gently wiping away her tears. Jinx's body was still shaking from sobs, but her daughter's gentle touch calmed her.
"Our girl." Ekko whispered, stroking Jinx's cold arm, trying to pass on some of his warmth.
"Can you forgive me?" Jinx whispered, cupping her daughter's face and caressing her chubby cheeks soothingly. Isha didn't understand why she should forgive her mother; she was perfect. She was funny, sang beautifully, cooked well, and always told amazing stories.
"Why should I forgive you, Mommy?"
"Oh," Jinx whispered, tears welling up in her eyes. Her little girl thought so highly of her, it warmed her heart. She didn't know how such a beautiful little person had come out of her.
Vander smiled warmly, he was proud of his daughter despite everything she had been through she had raised a beautiful girl wonderfully.
"I took something from you, my love," Jinx whispered shakily. "And you'll never get it back, I'm sorry."
She had taken Isha's father away from her, taken that part of her life away. She had taken Ekko away from being a part of Isha's life. She had taken something so important from both of them, and she couldn't undo it.
"I never should have done that." She whispered against Ekko's clothes. "You deserved to know."
"What's done is done, Jinx." He tried to comfort her. "Does it bother me? Yes, but that's it. I just want to focus on the family you gave me."
"Stop being so nice to me or I'll bite you." Jinx sobbed, squeezing his side, making him chuckle softly.
"Is that a threat or a proposition?" Ekko asked suggestively, causing Jinx to squeeze him again.
Isha didn't understand, but she wanted to calm her mommy down. "I forgive you, Mommy."
Jinx gasped in relief, small tears welling up in her eyes. "I love you so much."
"I love you too, Mommy."
Jinx placed wet kisses on Isha's cheeks, hugging her. And that's how Scar found them, both of them on the floor, hugging each other. He didn't ask; Jinx's swollen eyes could tell him what had happened.
He just stood there silently watching mother and daughter hug each other with so much love and that was something he couldn't deny about Jinx, she loves Isha.
"I obviously love my daughter, I'd have to be crazy not to," Jinx said, rolling her eyes while still holding Ekko.
Isha... She looked just like Ekko, Jinx was right. Only the blue hair was Jinx's, everything else was Ekko's and that made him want to cry. He could almost see a 12-year-old Ekko, so small and hurt, who barely slept, who had nightmares every night but had so much courage inside that it surprised him. His little brother, the one who cared for him and sheltered him, the one he forced to eat, the one with whom he built a huge community, the one with whom he fought shoulder to shoulder. His family. His daughter's uncle and godfather.
Tears fell down Ekko's cheeks, he couldn't imagine how much it must have hurt Scar to have lost him, he himself couldn't imagine how it would feel to lose Scar. They were each other's only family for so long that imagining themselves without each other was almost impossible. They were brothers. They were family.
The loss of Ekko was a wound that would never heal for the firelights, for him and now for Jinx it seems.