4 - Ekko

It was late. I was so, so tired. My eyes were so dry I could barely see, so I dropped my tools and leaned against my working desk, resting my heavy head on my forearm. I didn't know what to do. I swore, I tried everything. Any type of chemtech you could find down here, I used. No results. Not in any trials.

If only I had an arcane crystal, or Hextech, or anything that shined of blue, I'd finish this thing years ago.

There was a time when I fell into a trap of desperation. Thought about travelling back in time  and saving a crystal for myself before all of them were destroyed. So, naturally, I worked on building a time machine for a few years, keeping it a secret the best I could but... it's hard to build a time-machine without a crystal. Eventually, I got caught by Vi, and she talked me out of it. Telling me I was being "selfish" for risking so much: my own life, the lives of my friends, the future of Zaun and Piltover. She was right. I couldn't deny that. Took a bit of convincing and not-so-fun arguments, but, after a while, I stopped the project myself and moved on to another.

I wish Heimerdinger were here.

As I was reminiscing, footsteps approached. I recognized them instantly. Reaching for the door, I opened it for my guest before she got the chance to knock.

"Jeez, you look awful." She said.

I rolled my eyes. "Good day to you too, Vi"

"Actually, more like good night. If you haven't noticed, the sky is pitched black. What the hell are you doing up so late?"

"What the hell are you doing at my place so late?"

I left the door open for her and walked back to my desk. Staring at my notes and diagrams brought a wave of sadness over me. I hated feeling hopeless like this. Vi also joined my side, observing my desk. She sighed in understanding.

"Hey, bud. I know how badly you want this, but it's eating you away. Don't you think it's time?"

I knew what she meant, but acted dumb from irritation. "Time for what?"

"You have to let her go."

I did not like the sound of that. At all. Even regretted that I asked her to clarify. I would argue with her, but I was so damned tired.

"Just because you let her go doesn't mean I should." I spoke softly. "You only loved the old her, I loved her always."

Vi took a step back. The words hurt her, I knew that, but they were true. Even if she didn't think so, they still were true. I felt her breathe heavier. She was getting angry.

"Ekko, she's dead! You can't bring her back! You're wasting your time-"

"I'm not bringing her back! I'm going to her!" I yelled back.

Vi seemed to cool herself off by pinching her nose bridge. "We always fight about this." She said in realization. "How has it been so long and we still fight about this?" She sighed.

I stayed silent.

I agreed with her, though. Ever since Jinx died neither of us have been in the right mind: she convinced herself that she can live without her while I refused, knowing that there's a slight chance I could see her again. Our coping methods diverged, and because these mechanisms were imbedded so strongly in our belief systems, we were constantly at odds. And the saddest part was that this cycle would never change, no matter how eagerly we'd try to fill the gap. It's a strange feeling, really. It's nice to know that someone else is mourning the same person with a love as fierce as mine, but cuts even deeper seeing them process it in an entire different way. I feel isolated in my grief, even though I'm not truly alone.

"Why'd you come here anyway?" I asked, breaking the silence. She was about to spit an insult, but caught herself, realizing I was genuinely asking. 

"Oh, right. My gauntlet broke." She released it from her fist right on top of my work. I let out a quiet sigh, knowing I'll have to reorganize all the perfectly laid out blueprints later.

"Can't you get someone from topside to fix your bitch mittens?" I asked frustrated.

"Firstly, it's Piltover," she corrected me, "secondly, those guys know jackshit about these let alone fix them, and thirdly, you've got some nerve calling them that."

I chuckled. "Thought you liked that name."

"Yeah! But not hearing it from you!" She noogied me playfully. "I'm gonna head out and you better go to bed the moment I close the door."

"Okay mom!" I faked a childish voice, rolling my eyes shortly after.

When she left, I started working on her gauntlet, completely ignoring her suggestion. Wouldn't be able to sleep anyway. I figured I could use a break from my project, and the gauntlet was perfect for it.

I tinkered for a little while, before sleep possessed me and I doze off.

__

The next morning, I found myself laying on my arm at my desk. It was completely numb, so I shook it violently to get the blood circulating. As I slowly came to my senses, events from the previous night started to come back. I still didn't know what to do.

I surveyed my desk: Vi's gauntlet, bottle of shimmer, dirty pipettes, old blueprints, new blueprints, a pencil stuck in a sharpener, a glass of water that now had a mosquito in it (wasn't there the previous night), some screws, slabs of metal, glass... I've used the same materials for years. I needed something to change for the project to progress. If only I had the arcane...

Abandoning the thought, I placed the shimmer and other chemtech reagents in a drawer and locked it up. This stuff was hard to come by nowadays, especially shimmer. It's been claimed illegal and eliminated from Zaun to fight the addiction crisis, but some private labs still produced it. And, surely, they didn't sell it for cheap.

Grabbing my hoverboard, I went out the door, needing to clear my head. The best place for me to think was in the air. But the only though that was spiraling was the thought of her.

Not sure how I ended up at The Last Drop, but I landed there. I didn't come here very often, but with each time that I did, it looked more and more idle. People even started bringing their broken furniture and devices here. A useless place for useless shit. That's what it became.

I went up to the roof, and sat on its edge, watching the sunrise. I looked to the left, reminiscing of that night with her. Sky blue eyes that were so easy to get lost in. Rigid bangs with a purple highlight, so very slight. I felt her gentle, tender touch. A memory so vivid that the outline of her fingers remained imprinted on my cheek... How I wish you were here.

Eventually, I returned to the treehouse to take care of some things around the community. I went over to the Core (we usually carried out meetings there). I walked in and the first thing I saw was Scar's angry expression.

"Hey... What's up with you?" I frowned at him in confusion.

"Where the hell were you? We thought something happened to you, man!"

"I had something to take care of!" I defended myself. "Jeez, relax. I leave this sanctuary for a few hours and you think I died? It's not that big of a deal." I slumped on an empty chair, brushing him off.

"Well, what do you expect me to think when some foreigner comes looking for you and you're nowhere to be found?"

I sent him an immediate stare. "Foreigner?" I repeated.

"They came for an urgent matter about some illegal technology. They refused to tell me anything more. Ekko, are we in trouble? You have possession of any substances?"

Shimmer. Shit shit shit.

"Where are they now?" I asked, ignoring Scar's question.

"I don't know. They left when-"

"I need to go. I'll be back." I interrupted, rushing out the Core. I practically sprinted to my apartment. My hand reached in my pocket for the key, I brought it up to the lock-

It was unlocked. I'm too late. I bit my tongue. This was really, really, really bad. People depend on me here. I could get a life long sentence and they'd have to deal without me. I would have to stop my research and would never get the chance to see her. How will Vi take my arrest? I'm one of the last of her family. And Scar? And his son, Mika? I should have kept the shimmer in a safer place. My lab shouldn't have even been in my home. How could I be so careless? How did they even find my home? Did Scar tell them? He'd just betray me like that?

Thoughts ran absolutely wild. My entire fate depended on what I'd see behind this door. I couldn't stand here forever, though. I had to face my mistakes and consequences eventually. Fearfully, I stepped inside, eyes closed. Here goes nothing.

Silence was the first thing I noticed. Completely quiet. I opened my eyes and my gaze immediately flew to the drawer. The lock was still on. What?

The chair's back was facing me. I looked down, noticing boots. Familiar boots. Oddly familiar boots. Who the hell is this?

"Finally you showed up." I flinched at the female voice. I tried to think of an explanation for this incident, but my mind was blank. The chair started to turn. A mix of anticipation and fear consumed me. 

The foreigner was masked, covering only the top half of her face. The silence was killing me. I suddenly noticed how dry my mouth was when I tried to speak.

"H- hello?" I stuttered. My right eye twitched when her hand reached for her mask. She gave me one last look before removing it. I gasped. The key fell out of my hands.

"Jinx?"

A/N: The moment you've been waiting and waaaaitng and waaaaAAaaAting for. I legit broke a sweat trying to imagine how Ekko felt while writing this lol. I also have no idea how their whole treehouse community thing worked so forgive me if some facts don't match up. But yeah. How are we liking Ekko's perspective? He's such a caring sweetheart, I love him.

Anyways, till next time <3

Word count: 1653