Her Heart Is Tied To Mine
The moment the six arrived at Caitlyn’s, they were hurried over to the living room where Vi had been dressed and ready, Caitlyn herself nowhere to be seen. Ekko remembered what she’d told him, that she and Vi couldn’t see each other until the moment Vi walked down the aisle. Ekko had left his hair wrapped, deciding it best to wait until after he’d gotten dressed to unbind it. Vi was seated in front of Mel with her eyes closed, the latter dabbing some subtly toned makeup on her eyelids and lips. Ekko thought it was the most makeup he had ever seen her wear, and the most he would ever see again. Mel herself wore an emerald green gown that hugged her at the waist and knees to then flare at the calves, accentuating her wide hips and gold filigree. Her hair remained down as it had been last he saw her, and he realized this day was her reason for the unusually regal style compared to the updo she normally wore around.
Pow stood beside him, eyeing the chaos of the room with overwhelm. A young brown haired woman approached her holding a dress, which Pow took in her trembling hands. The dress was simple but very much her style to Ekko’s relief, with a baby pink satin skirt that fell about to the knees, overshadowed by thick black tulle. The bodice itself was low cut at the neck, a simple black rose-patterned corset with two bowed straps over the shoulders and laced up the back, drawing attention to the single pink rose at the waist. He noticed her hesitation to put it on and walked over to her while the kids lingered beside her.
“Feeing alright?” He asked, massaging her shoulder. She instantly relaxed at his touch.
“Just nervous. I just have to wonder about what Piltover has to say about me, knowing that I’m alive and that I’m in the wedding today.” She hung the dress on a hook against the wall, unlacing the back. “They seemed to have a lot to say on the way here.”
“Ignore them,” he said quickly. “Last I checked, their sister isn’t getting married today. Therefore, opinion rejected.”
Pow grinned. “I guess you’re right.”
“Of course I am.”
“Oh, bullshit.”
Ekko shook his head. “Just put the dress on, Pow. I can feel Vi and Mel giving us dirty looks from here, and they’re both behind me.”
Ekko stepped back to let Pow do what she needed to do, and changed quickly into the suit that was laid out for him, unconcerned about changing in the room full of women. It was a simple black jacket and slacks with a pale pink button down shirt that Caitlyn likely got with Pow’s dress in mind. It even came with a black and pink necktie. Ekko untied the knot at the base of his skull and unwrapped his hair, heading to the kitchen sink to quickly wet his ponytail, forgoing the gel in favor of leaving it the way it was. Better not to risk what already looked alright, he decided.
He didn’t need nearly as long to prepare as Pow, so when he was set and ready, he stepped in to get his daughters dressed next. The brown haired girl had given him Idina’s dress first, so after getting her situated around the corner where she would be more secluded, per her request, he helped her out of her nightclothes and into the silky blue gown Caitlyn had bought her. The dress fell to her mid calf and made her brown eyes pop. It seemed the woman had a good eye and a good memory. Lora’s was next, a sparkly gold, sleeveless thing with a fluffy skirt sure to make any little girl happy, complete with a giant bow at the back. And as Ekko thought, she absolutely adored it.
Idina’s hair would be done first. Her’s was considerably longer than Lora’s—though Ekko had always insisted they’d be the same length if the latter’s coils were straightened out—so Ekko opted for a simple braid around her head, long enough to loop twice. Lora’s would be left down; she always cried when anyone tried to style it as it would leave her with tension headaches. It didn’t take long for him to wet and gel her curls so they wouldn’t frizz up the moment she stepped outside later. He smiled when the two beamed at the mirror behind them; they hadn’t ever gotten a chance to dress up, not to this extent.
When they returned to the living room, Pow had been dressed and makeup freshly finished. She smiled at Ekko and at their two daughters, who waited eagerly for whatever came next. The two boys had been changed into their suits, likely by the brown haired girl who was struggling to comb Argus’s hair to the side. Ekko guessed she wasn’t used to his type of hair, given it was still dry. He beckoned to his son and went through the same process as he had with Lora, wetting it with a spray bottle set aside by Mel.
“No,” Pow exclaimed, taking hold of Mel’s wrist. “No braids.”
Ekko looked up at Mel, who had taken three strands of hair at Pow’s temple to start a plait. She looked down at Pow, flustered.
“It’s the most practical style with hair as long as yours. The wind will dishevel it in no time. We can do a wraparound to match your daughter’s, if you want?”
“I said no. We aren’t braiding it. You can find something else. Some fancy ponytail or some shit, I don’t care but braids aren’t an option.”
“You could twist the sides and tie it into a ponytail?” The brown haired girl suggested. “It’ll be away and look really cute. Maybe curl the ends?”
Mel sighed. “Very well, I suppose the wind isn’t so terrible today we can’t manage that.”
Vi gazed at Pow as Mel set to work twisting and pinning. “You wear it braided all the time Pow Pow. What changed?”
Pow bristled. “You didn’t see the looks I got the whole way here. All the taunting. All they see in me now is Jinx. I don’t want to add to that by looking the part. Besides, isn’t the point of this to not wear what I always do?”
Ekko frowned. Despite his best reassurances, he knew the negative attention, the hatred would get to her. He could only do so much and he knew that, he would just have to remain with her for the rest. The room was silent as Mel continued working, the amount of hair his wife had would take longer than everything else and they all knew it, but none complained. As the silence drew on, Ekko noticed Vi becoming more and more tense. She had always been good at hiding it, but his survival for so long had been built on his ability to read people, and even his sister in law wasn’t immune.
Mel got done surprisingly quickly, given the task of Pow’s long hair. The ponytail she wore was tied at her nape, twisted and perfectly slicked at her temples and the loose tail falling in neat waves down to her waist. Her bangs had even been neatly brushed and set, the violet of them perfectly balancing her magenta eyes. She wore little makeup, only a black accent along her lash line and a clear gloss over her lips. Less even than Vi, to his infinite shock. But he supposed that was to be expected when Vi was the bride.
From that point, all there was to do was make their way to the venue, where Caitlyn likely already waited. Mel had given them specific instructions even for that, that Pow would enter the arena on her arm, each being the only members of their respective bridal parties; Pow on Vi’s side and Mel on Caitlyn’s. Vi and Ekko trailed behind them, Ekko with one hand on Vi’s arm and the other on his cane. The walk was uphill, he noticed. Of course it was. And between the four walked the kids, sandwiched in to ensure none got lost or wandered off, Rashi carried by Idina.
The further they walked, the colder and clammier he felt Vi’s arm grow. Her outfit had been similar to his, a blue and gold three piece suit, though with a much longer jacket which fell behind her to her knees. The jacket and shirt, however, were both only half sleeved, leaving her forearm exposed to the elements and to Ekko, and he could see the goosebumps forming along her skin. He could see the way she looked towards the ground, rather than up before her at the altar that loomed a quarter mile away.
“You alright?” He whispered, leaning closer to her, so that their words would stay between them.
Vi quietly hissed, running her free hand along her neck. Not much could have been done for her hair, but it looked to be actually brushed, which was more than could be usually said. “Just nervous, I guess. I’m excited, I really am, but…”
“It’s permanent, and you’re not used to that?”
Vi nodded. “Yeah. I suppose you’d get it. Nothing ever lasted forever, especially not for us. It’s just weird, thinking about getting to settle down and not worry about the gods pulling the rug out from beneath us somehow.”
“I understand. I felt the same way when Powder and I got married. It felt so real it was almost overwhelming. And there are still days I wake up and she’s still there and I just have to ask how?”
“I just never thought I’d get this.” Vi sighed heavily. “Fuck this, I can’t start crying or I’ll ruin the makeup and there’s no chance I’m letting anyone near my face with that shit again.” She shook her head, and Ekko stayed silent, giving her the chance to gather her thoughts. “People have always been temporary. The ones that didn’t end up dead, Powder, Cait, Vander…you…they were always in and out. Here one day and gone the next, then back again just as quick. The idea of someone being in my life to stay was always impossible. Caitlyn was even the one to propose, but I guess it still hadn’t hit me that she was sticking around for good.”
“Until now.”
“Until now,” Vi agreed. “I’m so excited, but I’m so terrified.”
“I bet. Well, I’ll tell you what I told Pow the day we got married. This world has screwed us for so long, the gods have screwed us for so long, yet they don’t have the ability to look us in the eyes and condemn us. But we do, as humans, and instead of furthering that evil, we use our power to hold onto each other as we pick up the broken pieces. And that’s something the world can’t take from us, because no matter how badly things turn out, there will always be those out there who love so strongly that the hate has no bearing. That’s who Pow is to me, and that’s who Caitlyn is to you. And today isn’t going to change that. All this is going to do is announce to the world that you’ve found your solid ground, and that nothing can disrupt that.”
Vi smiled. “That helped, strangely. You’re right. Today is only for the two of us to celebrate what we already have.”
“I’m glad it helped, because we’re about here.”
———————————
The garden was packed with hundreds of people, Piltovian and Zaunite alike. Dozens of rows of white chairs laid out on both sides of a white cloth walkway. Vi’s hands were sweaty as she lingered behind Mel and Powder, the two both walking before her with arms linked. She stood under a shaded awning, and from her vantage point, she couldn’t see the slightest hint of Caitlyn though she knew she waited for her barely 100 feet away, nor could Cait see her. The size of the audience made her clammy, and no amount of reassurance from Ekko could soothe that. Audiences had never bothered her before, not on the streets of Zaun, not in the boxing ring that she’d made her home many years ago. But something about this audience, something about the weight of their presence here. Every one of these people were here to see her.
The man beside her had certainly grown in the past two decades, utterly unrecognizable next to the scrawny, mute little boy she met in Benzo’s shop, and Vi could say with certainty that even if Vander had been here today, she’d want Ekko by her side along with him. Vi remembered when they were only fourteen and nine, and she’d caught on to his crush on Powder for the first time. He hadn’t been receptive to her friendly teasing, and rather than blushing and waving it off like any other kid might’ve, try fruitlessly to deny it, he’d responded in anger. He’d yelled at her, had told her he would never like a girl and never wanted anything to do with that shit, and had walked off back to Benzo’s. She had no idea back then what to make of it. Was it his way of saying without words that he was like her, that he wasn’t interested in the opposite sex, was it a lingering ick that kids tended to carry with the idea of dating? But looking back on the memory now, Vi realized that it may have gone deeper than even that. He had likely been scared, of feeling so attached to one person, of putting himself in a situation that could result in a repeat of what happened between his parents. But despite it all, it seemed he couldn’t stop himself from loving her, and now he seemed more at peace with himself. He had healed and he had let himself love, and he had a fruitful life with Pow. And now he had come back home to walk Vi to her own happy ever after with the woman she, too, had tried her damn best to not let herself love for so long.
The bright light of the midday sun blinded her as the women before her began their walk down the aisleway, Pow on the left, the Piltovian audience, and Mel on the right, the Zaunite crowd. The irony was not lost on Vi, and knowing Mel, this was an intentional show of solidarity between the twin cities. The two walked slowly, Pow not faltering once even as Vi watched the hundreds of pairs of eyes follow her lithe figure move step by step towards the flowered altar. Lilies, not orchids, as Caitlyn had promised her, decorated the lattice over Councilor Shoola’s head as the older woman stood beneath the awning. And when Pow and Mel parted ways to meet their respective sides, Vi was met with the most beautiful sight she’d ever laid eyes on.
Caitlyn’s dress was elaborate yet simple. The white fabric hugged her torso perfectly, the silk bodice creased just so and giving way to the lace chest, all accented by the wide white skirt that fell to her ankles in front and pooled behind her, a train of its own. Even the sleeves were their own decoration, solid at the shoulder and thinning to faded rose patterned lace at the wrists. It wasn’t overly flashy, as was Caitlyn’s preference, but it was perfectly ornate and highlighted the beautiful navy of her hair as it sat back in a delicately pinned bun at her crown. Perfect wasn’t even quite enough to describe the beauty of the woman. And Vi could see the moment Caitlyn lay eyes on her too. Vi smirked at her, but she couldn’t hide the genuine adoration behind her tease.
“You ready for this?” Ekko whispered. Vi nodded, unable to take her eyes off of her bride.
The music changed in that moment that Vi took her first step. It had been a serene, quiet tune, but as soon as she’d left the shade of her awning, Ekko by her side, the sound that hit her ears overwhelmed her, and no attempts to hold her tears back would make any modicum of difference.
Vi and Caitlyn had spent days discussing just this moment, what the two would need to do as Vi approached the altar and even before, and the song choice was barely a fraction of their focus. Cait had told her about that part, that generally a string performance would ensue, something elaborate to emphasize the importance of the moment, and that had been that. Vi had thought nothing of it. But now, as she took step by carefully measured step down the walkway, she couldn’t hold back her smile as she listened to the phonograph punching out the familiar tune of Our Love by Curtis Harding and Jazmine Sullivan, a major hit in years long past and the undisputed favorite song of Vander’s. He’d played it at least once a day in the many years he’d kept the Last Drop open, and in this current moment, she could pretend Vander was on her arm, walking her towards her bride. She could almost hear him singing along in own terribly off key rendition of the tune.
Any bit of nervousness in Vi’s body washed away the moment she stopped before Caitlyn and Ekko found his seat in the front row, Zaunite side, next to his kids. She listened half heartedly as Shoola walked through each step of the ceremony, having rehearsed it all a million and one times in her mirror while Caitlyn slept, fully aware that she had done the same. They’d both been nervous wrecks these past ten months. Then it came time to read wedding vows, which Vi had still not understood. A moment for her and Cait to share their most intimate feelings for each other in front of this large group, which Vi couldn’t name beyond the front row. But Mel had insisted, despite even Caitlyn wishing to bypass it. Vi had agreed to go first, and now she was regretting her choice, but she kept on anyway. Caitlyn had suggested writing it down, and Vi did, but as she took out the paper, she realized she may need some practice with writing as it was hardly legible even to her. She did her best anyhow.
Caitlyn,
We all know I’m shit at this whole emotional thing, but the past years I’ve had with you made me realize things about myself that I never even knew, so maybe I won’t be as bad as I’m thinking I am. When I met you, I hardly gave you a second thought. You were my ticket to freedom, nothing more. But the more time I spent with you, the more I realized that a ticket to freedom extended far beyond the bricks of Stillwater. It was freedom from a past that only existed to hurt me. Freedom from the burden I placed on myself when I no longer needed to carry its weight, freedom from the pressure to be all powerful when I was too young to even fend for myself. You gave me a chance to breathe again, and even when we had our struggles, your presence in my life alone was what drove me to keep going, even it was as an enemy. You’ve given me a life that I never could have dreamed of, and I can’t imagine spending it with anyone else.
Vi remembered that once she had sat down and started writing the words, she couldn’t bring herself to stop, and the eraser marked scribbles of her lovesick rambling still lived on in the paper. Vi wished she could continue on even now, but there was not enough time in the day to tell Caitlyn everything there was to love about her. But she supposed that they had the rest of their lives to say it again and again.
Caitlyn took a deep breath, unfolding a speech of her own, and though Vi could tell she was nervous, she was relieved upon starting her own proclamation that as she spoke, the crowd seemed to fade away. She hoped Caitlyn would be able to say the same, that her nerves didn’t eat her alive as they tended to do.
Violet,
You’re such a loveable fool, and Im grateful each day that I can call you mine. It seems I find something new about you each day to love, even if it’s your obnoxious habit of always leaving your clothes on the floor even though the laundry bin is right by the closet. I didn’t always do a good job of showing how much I cared for you, and my tendency to let my own pride get in the way of us has been a thorn in our sides, of that much I’m sure, but you’ve stayed with me anyway, and I’m eternally grateful because I don’t know who I would be without you.
Caitlyn looked up from her little paper, folding it to slide it back into her dress pocket, and Vi had thought the matter over, but Caitlyn continued.
I too remember the first day we met. But it was not the day I freed you from Stillwater, it was the day you broke into my home and set the chain of events into motion which led us here. I still resent that, because on the other side of the wall that you blew up was my favorite painting, quite hideous looking back, but I had put hours into crafting that and mother insisted she frame it. But I remembered seeing you that day, and even then, you intrigued. You’ve always found ways to worm your way into my life, whether I wanted you to or not, and now I know that there’s nothing I want more. I can’t wait to make it official.
Vi was sure her makeup had been well and truly ruined, but she didn’t care. Not when Caitlyn looked at her like that, spoke to her like that. The rest of Shoola’s words, the final rites, it all ran together, until Caitlyn was sliding that beautiful amethyst ring onto her finger and Vi happily reciprocated, and suddenly her world was lined with diamond, shining, beautiful, and clearer than it had ever been. Caitlyn’s lips had never tasted so sweet, the audience beside them be damned. She couldn’t even remember why she was nervous in the first place, this was bliss.
———————————
Ekko was grateful for his wife’s sake that the wedding reception had kicked off without a hitch. Streamers and warm lights had decorated the atrium of the council building, and several dozen tables had been laid out for guests to sit and nibble on the assortment of treats and snacks displayed along the far wall. A dance floor had been opened at the center of the room where the council’s seating area had been somehow lowered into the floor. Because that made sense, Ekko decided. Cassandra must have been the one to engineer that many years ago.
Ekko stood beside Pow at the head of the dance floor, where a small table had been set for the newlywed women and their bridal parties. Mel and Sevika, the latter only present for the after party of course, had come with a stack of vinyls to keep the music playing well into the night. Champagne had been poured, a bottle for each table, and the many guests had taken to idling amongst each other. None had approached Pow with any questions or kind words, and while it may have meant that there were no questions to be had, he and his wife came to the unspoken understanding that it was more about their lingering distrust towards the both of them. Not just her, as Ekko had been on the receiving end of several underhanded comments of his own as the former Firelight leader.
He was shaken from his foggy headspace when Caitlyn and Vi sat in their reserved seats beside them, Mel taking a microphone in her hand which connected to speakers around the impossibly large room. The only way everyone could wish to hear her.
“Thank you all for coming out tonight, to celebrate my good friend and her new marriage! I truly thought I’d never see the day.”
“Oh hush, Mel. I don’t see a partner on your arm, now do I?” Caitlyn grinned, the microphone only barely picking it up. The tease sent a ripple of laughter through the otherwise silent room.
“Sure, Caitlyn. But before we continue on with the celebration, I just wanted to make a few last announcements.” Mel extended a hand to a long, blue clothed table at the wall, adjacent to the snack tables and punch bar. “If anyone has come with gifts for the brides, they can be left on that table, place them to the left of you wish to see them opened tonight, and to the right if you are unconcerned.”
Guests started standing and making way for the mentioned gift deposit, carrying packages of various sizes. Ekko wasn’t quite sure of the urgency to see them opened, but he supposed some people may have come with personal mementos or humorous gags that they may like to see the reveal of.
“I also want to say that the bar is not open, even though Violet seemed to wish it so—”
“Man, way to call me out, Goldie!”
“That’s not my name and you know it. But with the number of guests we are harboring tonight, I don’t believe there’s enough wine in all of Piltover to host an open bar. Two glasses is the limit, and the bottle of champagne at your tables as well.
“And finally, Violet’s matron of honor has prepared a speech for the night to commemorate the marriage. I ask that you all give Missus Daley your full attention and please, keep your slanderous remarks to yourselves. None of you are sly, and I ask that whatever opinions you may harbor are kept aside for the night. Tonight is about the new Missus Kirammans, not about your personal vendettas.”
Ekko took Pow’s hand in his and gave it a gentle squeeze. Part of him had hoped that the tension in the air would go without acknowledgment, but he was also glad for the relief it seemed to bring his wife, in the subtle drop of her tense shoulders. Having the support of the council may not erase the anger from the public, but it offered a protective shield against any potential conflict. She looked into his eyes, the magenta of her own brimmed with anxiety, and all he could offer her was a kind smile in return, despite the wish to just take the burden from her. He knew how badly she wanted to do this for Vi, after all, and whatever she wanted, he would be there to support her. Behind him, the kids watched with antsy hands as Pow let his go and approached Mel and the microphone.
The room was silent enough to hear the beating of a fly’s wing as Pow took the microphone in her hand. Ekko could feel every pair of eyes that lay on her, on them, and as he looked around the room, he was relieved to find that rather than anger, a large portion of the guests had looked upon her with admiration, with relief. She took one last deep breath and spoke, no written speech in hand.
As the words flowed out of her lips like water over stone, not a person moved, drinks had been set down and conversations halted. She spoke from her own heart and what it expressed in the present moment, rather than from a piece of paper written in the quiet of their room in the night. She spoke of memories long forgotten, moments that even Ekko himself hadn’t been present for, a testament to the relationship she and Vi carried. She acknowledged the audience, acknowledged their fear, and leaned into it, not in a threatening manner but in a resigned tone. She accepted their feelings towards her, didn’t deny the angst she’d wrought, but rather than eat into the facts, the partygoers seemed to be rather eased by the acknowledgements, as if they were simply grateful to hear that Pow had grown and learned from her past mistakes. As Pow spoke, Ekko could feel the atmosphere of the room growing lighter and lighter, as if helium had replaced the oxygen. She shared story after story, and Ekko couldn’t help but smile at her as one in particular garnered genuine laughter from the crowd. They were warming up to her, it seemed. At least in large part.
She spoke and spoke, bringing herself and Vi to tears as the testimonials kept flowing. Ekko himself was floored, as he listened to the fun stories come and go and to her admission of the things she’d kept buried deep. She left no stone unturned, no delicate words unsaid, and Ekko realized that she had stopped speaking to the audience long ago, and had rather been speaking to Vi and Caitlyn directly. Even as her words seemed to engulf the room, her eyes and heart didn’t leave her sisters once. It seemed Ekko had even faded from her mind, and he felt as if he were intruding on a deeply private moment. But there was no doubt in his mind, no possibly denouncing the love that these two girls had for each other. And as Pow spoke her final words, as she seemed to remember the thousands that stood before her in silent admiration, she sent a fond smile Caitlyn’s way, an expression he never thought she’d see exchanged between the two. They truly were opposites, but they were so alike in the ways that mattered, and Ekko was endlessly proud of how far they both had come.
As Pow passed the microphone back to Mel, Caitlyn stood from the table and hugged her tightly. Pow returned the gesture eagerly, and neither one acknowledged the applause from the audience. Vi wormed her way into the hug as well, and Ekko watched the three girls he called family in their own ways embrace each other as if the world could cave around them and they would have no cares at all.
———————————
From that point, the atmosphere of the party was lighter, a breath of fresh air after hours underwater, and Ekko spent much of it seated with the kids and trying to coax them to eat something. Pow made her way around the room with the brides, and he noted with great satisfaction that people had now begun to approach and speak to her. Rashi sat on his lap fiddling with the spoon Ekko had been provided but hadn’t needed, and Idina and the twins sat in their own little chairs with the toys that Mel had offered them. I didn’t expect such a young audience, she had said, but I would be callous not to give them something to enjoy. It’s their day too, after all. Their family is growing.
In all of his twenty seven years, Ekko never expected to find himself in a situation like this. At a wedding, celebrating a councilor, celebrating a sister in law, even in Piltover at all. He’d fully expected to die on the bridge with Jinx, in all honesty, and there were days he wondered if he was living out some dying dream. They’d said that when the body dies, the brain continues on for an additional seven minutes, replaying the body’s life, its memories and greatest wishes, and there were days Ekko wondered if he’d been stuck in that limbo. But even his greatest desires hadn’t encroached so deeply into such forbidden territory. Even his dying wishes couldn’t conjure this up. This was real. And not a day went by where he wasn’t grateful.
“Fancy seeing you here,” a familiar voice spoke. Ekko looked up to see Scar standing beside the table, Carlos at his one side and a big boned, red haired Chirean woman beside him, who’s eyes perfectly matched the boy’s. This must be Scar’s mate. “Made it just in time for the big speech. I gotta say, she really does have a way with words that’ll just get you.”
“She gets that from her father. He would’ve loved to be here tonight.”
“Father? You don’t mean—” Scar paled.
“Vander. Not…the other. I guess I should have clarified, since she did have three fathers over the course of her life. This is the kind of world Vander fought for, back in the day. A world where Zaun was on the map, where Topside and Bottom could exist as one people. A world where his children could thrive. I know he’s watching from wherever he is, and I know he’s proud.”
Scar smiled, his sharp teeth making it look more like a grimace. “I’m sure. Is it true that Vi and Powder had brothers?”
Ekko nodded. “Two. Mylo and Claggor. They were a wild pair of boys, but their love for life was unmatched. If they were here now, Mylo would be teasing the ever loving hell out of Vi for marrying a Piltie, and Claggor would’ve been the one to organize half the ceremony. That one would be much more on your wavelength. Mylo was tough to get along with sometimes, but he really did have a heart of gold.”
“Sounds like it. They’re the two boys you added to the wall next to Vi, I assume? Crazy hair and goggles?”
“Yep, that’s them. No forgetting those caterpillar eyebrows Mylo had on him. I remember the day Pow found him while he was sleeping and used some hellish mix of chewing gum and super glue to rip them off. He woke up at the first yank and he walked around with only one eyebrow for weeks.” Ekko laughed at the memory. There was no saying a word to him, because there was no taking any of his facial expressions seriously with only a single fat eyebrow.
“Hey Little Man!” Vi called from the edge of the dance floor. “We’re doing first dances, get out here!”
Ekko looked down at the toddler in his arms, at the kids beside him watching Scar with a mix of fear and awe. He looked back to Vi and grimaced, but Scar spoke up.
“We can take them,” he said. His mate had already made her way to the other three, and Argus seemed most enraptured of them all when she pulled a handful of throwing jacks from her bag. “Go be with your girls.”
Ekko nodded, passing Rashi over to Scar, the former babbling away at his friend. Ekko stood, approaching Vi where she waited by the edge of the floor. He clicked on the camera around his neck, getting the lens in focus. Vi took his hand and lowered the camera.
“Mel can do that. You’re going out there with Powder.”
Ekko blinked. “But this is you and Caitlyn’s first dance. I was told to film for you guys while Mel covered the music?”
“It’s no problem, Ekko,” Mel said, easing the strap over his neck and adjusting the camera lens herself. She propped the device on the table, focused on the center of the floor. “All I’ll need to do is click a button.”
Caitlyn waited on the floor with Pow, who seemed to be just as confused. Ekko looked back at Vi, something was being planned, he knew it.
“Don’t look so scared, Little Man,” Vi teased. She took his arm and led him out onto the floor next to Pow. “You two got married in a courthouse in a foreign country by yourselves. You’re long past due for a celebration of your own. We already picked out the song, get out there and dance with us.”
Ekko and Pow had both started crying at about the same time. Would he ever stop doing that? But he loved his sister so much, and he was so thankful for her generosity in that moment, her wish to share such an intimate, special moment with him and Pow. He nodded, setting his cane aside as he took his wife’s arm, now left to rely on her for balance. Their dance wouldn’t be quite as perfectly executed as Vi and Caitlyn’s, but it didn’t matter. Vi had wanted them both to join in her special night. And this was a joy that he knew would follow them for many years to come.
The song started quietly and quickly, growing into a steady mezzo forte as the two couples swayed, lost in their own little worlds, the floor empty and the room near silent aside from the ballad playing. It wasn’t something Ekko had ever heard before, and it carried a melancholy undertone, but it seemed to resonate deeply with the brides, and despite the lack of recognition, the emotion it carried struck a chord in Ekko’s own heart.
As the music played, it faded carefully into a tune considerably more foreboding and intimate. Ekko felt a tug towards his wife as the deep notes rang out, filling the space. He could hear he and Pow’s story written in the undertones of every note that played, of love, and loss, and hatred and pain, and reunion and undying bonds that no war could ever break. He hadn’t realized how similar their stories had been, despite the many differences between them, the hurt and the pain and the endless love hadn’t changed whether it resided in the hearts of him and Pow, or in Vi and Caitlyn.
The song ended all too quickly, and Ekko leaned into Pow, the emotions of the moment too great to verbally place. She had done most of the dancing for the two of them, both giggling as he hopped around in an attempt to keep up, and she helped him back off of the floor away from a scene he wished never to leave, back to his cane and his children, to Scar who watched on in pride and kids who teased their mushy parents. Good moments weren’t temporary anymore. They simply led to other good moments. The joy of the party around him, the heightened energy of the room left him elated. He was so glad he decided to come back here. And he could tell Pow was too. She was glowing in a way he had never seen, drinking up the acceptance of those around her. He knew that it was all she had ever wanted; to be loved by the people of the world, to be seen as an equal and as a friend, rather than a lesser enemy. And despite her fears, despite his fears that he kept quiet for her sake, after so many years, the acceptance had finally begun to appear. And as he sat down next to her at their table, watching the kids continue to tinker with the Chireans and their toys, as he gazed upon the rare face-splitting smile Vi wore, he allowed himself one last thought to the Powder of the alternate world. He had left her believing that a world where Vi and Powder could exist together without pain would never come to pass, that the two were not meant for each other despite their shared blood. He believed that a better world wasn’t in the cards for Zaun and Piltover, not in this version of reality. But it had found its way to them, despite every odd, and this one hadn’t demanded the blood of a sister. This one was where he belonged. He thanked the Ekko of the past for his decision to return home. The pain had been all consuming back then, but then’s pain led to now’s joy, and he wouldn’t trade it for anything. Not one moment was wasted, he had made every second count, as he had always sworn to do, and they’d all stacked and shaped into the beautiful scene before him. And he knew that in a heartbeat, he’d do it all again.
———————————
Good afternoon.
I’ll be honest, I had all of this speech written down, but I don’t think I’ll need it. I know many of you didn’t expect to see me here, and honestly, I didn’t even expect to see me here. I also know that many of you didn’t want to see me here. But Vi asked me to do this for her, and after all she’s done for me, I owe her this.
You all know me as Jinx. The master criminal. The terrorist. The revolutionary. The Loose Cannon. Silco’s lapdog. However you may know me, you all know me as Jinx in one way or another. But the truth is, my name is Powder. And despite everything, that is all I’ve ever been to Vi. Typically, according to Caity at least, a matron of honor is supposed to come with all sorts of fun stories and gags about the newlyweds to lift everyone’s inflated spirits. But instead, I want to tell everyone about just how much Vi means to me.
Vi is just as much my mom as she is my sister. She’s raised me ever since our parents died when I was only three, she only nine. She was the one who braided my hair for me every morning, who played catch with me every afternoon, who scrubbed the stains out of my clothes every night. She was the one who offered up her bed so that we could all curl up on one little mattress like a litter of puppies because none of us would admit it, but we all felt safer that way. She was the one who took me out on my very first job: stealing some new shoes to wear since my feet were always getting cut up and bruised black. She was the one who taught me how to speak, which is why my very first words were oh, fuck this. She sacrificed her childhood so I could have one, so our brothers could have one.
She was the one who let me tag along on her little thieving trips every so often, even when our brothers would bitch and moan. Even though I was a jinx who always messed up our jobs. She was the one who tried teaching me how to fight, get this, with pillows. We got aggressive with those things, let me tell ya. It’s how I lost my first tooth; she didn’t realize our brother Mylo had slipped his favorite lock picks into the pillowcase to hide them, and they caught me right in the jaw. I still have the scar on my lip if you look close, it’s not as badass as Vi’s but it’s there. She taught me how to pickpocket, because there were times when we couldn’t get away with stealing, so we needed the occasional note or five. That skill is what introduced me to who is now my husband, but he didn’t hesitate to beat me bloody when he caught me in his pocket. So, I have Vi to thank for my skills, as crudely as I ended up using them, and for the family I have now.
It was also Vi who kept my mind under control. She was the only one who could keep my hallucinations away. And while we were apart, the people who cared for me goaded them on, made me the Jinx you all whispered about. It didn’t happen overnight, but when she found me again, suddenly everything grew quiet. Vi is still, to this day, one of the only two who can truly keep me level. When I was small, she was the one who’d hug me until the shadows in the corner disappeared. Then when I grew up, she was the only one who didn’t run away scared when I started babbling at people who didn’t exist anymore. I could point a gun at her face and she still wouldn’t back up an inch, because she loved me enough to stay with me when I needed her, even if I pretended I didn’t want her.
I share all of this, because I don’t know the first thing about Vi and Caitlyn’s relationship. Up until a few days ago when I first got here, I hated Caitlyn. I resented her for taking my sister from me, because I was afraid that Vi had gotten sick of me, that she wouldn’t be the big sister who did all those things with me anymore. But now that I’m older, now that I’m healthier and my sanity is mostly intact, I can see their relationship for what it is. Vi was everything to me, my whole life, all she did was take care of me and our brothers. Even when they died, even though it was my fault, she still never gave up on me. And Vi never had someone to take care of her that way. Sure, she had our adoptive father to bandage her cuts and teach her how to throw a punch, but she never had someone who was gentle with her. She didn’t have anyone to brush her hair, or scrub the stains from her clothes or teach her how to pickpocket. She never had someone offer her a bed to sleep in or kiss every cut on her fingers. But when she met Caitlyn, she finally had someone who could care for her in the way she cared for everyone else. Did she always want it? Knowing Vi, she probably would’ve given Caity a black eye if she ever put a hand anywhere near her rats nest of a haircut, but I could see the change in my sister when Caitlyn showed up. It made me angry at first, like I said, I was worried that Vi wouldn’t want me anymore. But now I know that Caitlyn gave Vi what she needed: a chance to be vulnerable. And Vi gave Caitlyn what she needed: a person she could trust with even the ugliest of truths. They both complemented each other, and while they did fight occasionally, one of the few moments between them I witnessed was in fact one of these fights, they always worked it out.
Now, I’ll do the one thing that I was told, because this much, I can actually offer. I want to give my thanks to Caitlyn. Even if I wanted you dead for so many years, you gave my sister something that no one else could: stability. A chance to step back and be vulnerable. Someone to hold her up when the world tried to break her. I haven’t seen Vi smiling or laughing as much throughout our whole childhood as I have this past week. I haven’t seen her with a knife in her hand unless she was cutting up vegetables for dinner. I haven’t seen her get aggressive with anyone besides the day we were at the arcade playing skee ball, which I demolished her at, I would just like to say. She’s a whole new person, and Caitlyn, you are 100% of the reason why. So here’s to you, Caity Lady, welcome to the family. Glad I didn’t kill you all those years ago, and thanks for giving Vi what she needed, even if there were days none of us liked you. And to you, Vi, my dear friend across the river, here’s to us, because this life tried its damn hardest, but nothing could keep us apart forever.