12 - Ekko

Jinx had a late shift today, so I decided to work alone. When packing my bag, I took some toiletries and clean clothes, in case I'd need to stay over at her place. When we had great momentum and worked late, I usually just slept over. 

I also took some nicely wrapped chocolates for Mika. It's been over a month since we stopped talking. I've been trying to get our relationship back to how it was but consistently failed due to his unresponsiveness. It was time to take the matter more seriously.

Scar opened the door immediately after my knock. I informed him about needing to talk to Mika.

"Sure, man. He's in his room." Scar let me in. "He's been hardly talking to me. I hope you can sort things out with him." He tapped my shoulder for good luck.

Mika's door was closed and it used to never be closed. It was a small change, but made me feel uneasy. A small change like this could speak thousands of words. 

I gave a gentle knock on his door before turning the handle and walking in.

"Hey, little man!" I said, nervously. Mika noticed me, acknowledging my presence, and turned back to whatever he was working on. His expression became instantaneously more serious when he recognized me. Ouch. I walked over to him, watching him unscrew the top off of some container.

"What are you working on?" He ignore me. I tried again, with the sweets. "I brought you some chocolates. They're gear shaped. You can form mechanical systems with them. Isn't that cool?"

I placed them on his desk, beside him. He didn't even look at them. An upsetting feeling turned my stomach.

"Mika, you need to talk to me. We're family. You know that, right?" No reaction.

"I don't know how many more times to apologize to you. I'm truly sorry I forced you out that day. What Jinny brought was dangerous, it could hurt you and I wanted you to be safe. I just wanted to keep you safe. That is all."

"I'm not mad at you for kicking me out." He said. I raised my head so quicky I heard a crack in my neck. Hope — it skipped in my mind.

"Wh- What?"

Mika faced me, turning away from his desk. "Ever since that Jinny girl came, we never did anything fun. You replaced me." His words tied guilt around me. It held me too tightly.

"Oh, Mika, I didn't replace you. She needs my help, and I've been busy helping her," I explained.

"See? You replaced me. When was the last time you helped me?"

"No, Mika, that's not what I mean. We can hang out and play whenever you want. You're always welcome to come to my house, anytime, don't you know that? And I will help you with your gadgets, but don't shut me out this way, okay?"

"I don't need your help anymore, Uncle Ekko," He said, turning back to his desk. "I solve problems on my own now."

I could feel the poundings of my heart thicken, my blood ran cold. My presence in his room felt pointless. He stuck himself in his own world so deeply that he wasn't hearing me. I let this go on for way too long. 

The heavy feelings of sadness and defeat told me I had to leave.

I went straight to Jinx's place. Work was always the best distraction.

__

I was just passing by a store next to my building when Vi, suddenly jumped in front of me. It startled me.

"Hey, bud," she began. Out of all the days to talk, she picked today and she picked now. "You know, you've been hard to reach these days."

I continued walking and she walked alongside with me. Great. "How so?"

"Well, you're never home, and you're barely at the Core. Scar said you do your work as quickly as you can and leave."

"Something wrong with that?" I sensed that she didn't like my attitude but she ignored it.

"No, nothing. It's just... strange." I didn't respond. There was nothing to say. "You want to tell me anything?" She asked.

"Tell you what?"

"There must be something that's keeping you from home and work."

"A friend needs my help. That's what."

"I'm not vibing with your mood here." She said, nudging me. I didn't give a damn. "What friend?"

"New friend. Jinny."

"Ah. I heard of her. People love of her at that bar she works at. Can I meet her?"

"Sorry, she's at work. Try another day." I quickened my pace to stop her from following me. Thankfully, it worked.

__

I was cleaning the chalkboard from old calculations when Jinx came home.

"Hey," she said. I greeted her the same way. "Any progress?" She asked.

"Yeah. Finished the flywheel. Maximized its moment of inertia. We just have the main platform left and assembly."

"Wow. We're moving fast, partner." She said, smiling. I wasn't in the mood to match her energy. She noticed. Of course she noticed.

"What's up with you? Woke up on the wrong side of the bed?"

I told her about the conversation I had with Mika. It felt nice to let it off my chest. She was so easy to confide in. I mean, we've spent years apart, majority of our lives were spent away from one another, but even after all the changes, in both, us and the world, it only took us a few weeks to reach such closeness. She became a roommate (considering how much time we spent in her apartment), a best friend and family, all at once. 

"The boy's growing up, Ekko," she said, "You can't be by his side forever."

"I know that, I just don't want him to push me away like this." Looking down to the flood, I let out a deep exhale.

"You know he comes to the Inventor's Lounge sometimes?"

"Really? Why didn't you tell me?"

"I don't know. I didn't want to remind you of him." Jinx came closer and placed her hand on my shoulder to comfort me.

"I'm sure you mean a lot to him. You'll work out the kinks." That phrase felt sharp on my ears even though her voice was cotton candy soft. I've heard her say that before...

My gaze focused on her. She gave me a warm smile. Her ambiance glowed in the dim room, radiating a unique energy that coated me with her amiability. Tender synapses fired in my brain, releasing a serotonin high that I've longed for all these years.

"You know, sometimes I see Powder in you." I said wholeheartedly. Her smile faded. She blinked. Regret replaced the serotonin high. I hated watching her smile dwindle away.

I decided to elaborate. "Kind, gentle, quirky. Jinx is... well, she's hurt. It's like you're purposely keeping a demon inside you. Powder doesn't." She frowned and turned away from me.

"Jinx is strong." She argued. "Powder's an innocent, weak bitch that never gets anything right." 

I winced at her words. "That's not true."

"Where are you going with this?" She asked annoyed. "You wanna call me Powder? Since you hate Jinx so much? Fine. You make and break the rules here, right, buster?"

"Forget it, Jinx." I let it go, mentioning her name to let her know that I wasn't going to call her Powder. I had enough today.

In the heat of the argument, we cleaned up the space quietly. I packed my belongings, about to leave and go home, when I heard something spark behind me.

I turned to the sound, Jinx was looking at the engine, spheres in her eyes.

"Did you see that?" She asked.

"What was that?"

"I wanted to dust the engine but-" Another spark. I saw it this time. A bright blue light beam, resembling a lightning bolt, started at the center of the engine and reached over to her pocket. The expeditious beam disappeared just as fast as it formed. Jinx stepped back, acting on her instincts.

"What's happening?" She looked to me for answers, but I didn't have any to give.

"Take out the gemstones. Slowly. Don't make any sharp movements." She obliged, taking out the small, velvet pouch in which she stored them. She placed it on the ground. We waited. A new spark didn't form.

"False alarm, I guess." She announced, but unlike her, I wasn't going to let this go so quickly.

Very carefully, I picked up the pouch, taking one of the two gemstones out. I slowly brought it closer to the engine. We noticed a few small sparks, but they were so tiny that they were deemed harmless in comparison. 

I suddenly felt a slight force on the gemstone, as if it was resisting the engine. Hmm.

"It must be reacting to the flywheel." I concluded. "There's nothing else in here that could create an electromagnetic field for the stone to behave this way. It's much more powerful than I initially assumed."

"But how? The machine is not even on." Jinx noticed. I shrugged, wishing I knew.

"We can add an insulator. That should boost the resistance." Jinx suggested.

I shook my head. "That would completely isolate the gemstone. The machine just wouldn't power up."

"Semi-conductor?" That was a better idea. Technically speaking, we could even adjust the conductance factor to control the amount of power the engine absorbed. That sounded clever. I adjusted the flywheel to get a better look at it, see if installing a conductor was possible.

As I turned the wheel, the gemstone flew out of my hands and headed straight to the designated compartment we left out for it. I gasped.

The device started crackling and buzzing from the overwhelming cluster of force. Sparks filled the room, giving it a blue glow. Adrenaline burned my insides. My eyes went dry but I couldn't look away.

The flywheel started to spin, accelerating at a rate so rapid, I doubted its velocity could be measured. The gemstone grew brighter and brighter as fear boiled my blood.

And before I knew it, the room has gone blank. A white light, blazing on the furniture, the walls, everything. It blinded my sight, so much so that I couldn't distinguish objects anymore. 

I heard Jinx scream from the tremendous pressure applied on our bodies. I shut my eyes, hoping for the end of this bizarre nightmare, when suddenly, it stopped.

I opened my eyes, seeing the space exactly the way it was before this unimaginable incident. Jinx was on the floor, covering her head with her arms. My lungs worked briskly, trying to deliver oxygen to the parts of my body that were deprived of it. When my senses came back to me, I turned to the engine. It was no longer an engine.

I couldn't believe what was in front of me.

A/N: Sheeeeesh, this chapter got me stressingggg. And yet, another cliffhanger :D don't you love being teased LOL

I'm just curious, whose pov do y'all like more? Let's have a little vote: comment 💚for Ekko and 💙 for Jinx. I've been alternating between them cuz I don't really have a preference, but you have the ƤØŴ€Ř to change that now :O

That's all for now. See ya!

Word count: 1749