emmy ×͜×

This is one of the many reasons why timebomb is such a compelling love story to me, and why I will never understand when people say that Ekko only loved Powder. That claim is almost comical because the animation literally shows us that he essentially sees Jinx when he looks at Powder, shown when he first gets to the AU and we see Jinx as Powder's reflection in the glass. He sees Jinx in Powder and vice versa because at their core, they are the same person...the person he loves.

Throughout his time in the AU, we never really see any sign that Ekko is even considering the thought of staying. The entire time, he is working on finding a way home and dedicated to getting home. If he truly only loved Powder, he would've stayed with her. The AU was essentially everything he had ever wanted, Benzo is alive, Vander, Mylo, and Claggor are alive, the Undercity is prospering and living in harmony with Piltover, and of course, he is romantically involved with Powder. He could've been selfish and tempted by the paradise he had stumbled upon, but we know Ekko isn't a selfish person, so his desire to get back to the Firelights and Jinx never faltered.

In the Odyssey, Calypso tempts Odysseus with life in paradise where he would never have to worry about war or bloodshed ever again, but all Odysseus wants to do is return home to Penelope. This is the same with Ekko. While Powder never directly tempts him or entices him to stay, her character as a whole is a temptation for Ekko. While Ekko convinces himself that Jinx is a lost cause, he still mourns for Powder, and when he's with Powder he's faced with this almost idyllic version of her, only to realize that even she isn't truly happy, and there's a piece of her that's missing. He also knows that not only would he be stealing someone else's life, but Powder would never truly understand him in the way that Jinx can. He and Jinx have both been through hell and can heal together, but with Powder, he would be living a lie.

Powder wakes up to find that Ekko is gone, and she panics when she sees Ekko's letter. She waits and waits, holding onto the hope that he's alive, but he never comes home. She shuts herself off from everyone as she grieves, and starts to hallucinate him. She blames herself for his disappearance and presumed death, and starts going by Jinx.

Eyes are on her to lead the Firelights and decide what to do about fighting Silco. The Firelights become divided over the issue and there's arguments over who should take over as leader. Jinx snaps and basically tells them all that none of them can replace Ekko, and she says that he'll be back, which leads to the Firelights believing she's delusional and undermining her ideas and decisions.

Jinx starts building explosive and recklessly picking fights with Silco's goons and independently attacking shimmer shipments as a outlet for her rage. Eventually, she gets sick of waiting, and decides to go after Silco on her own, just like Ekko did. Her hope that Ekko would ever come home had died, and if she's past the point of caring if she dies, so she figures she may as well try.

She has the advantage of remembering the layout of The Last Drop from when she lived there with Vander, and she uses that knowledge to sneak into the building and get into Silco's office. She drops in on Silco and tries to kill him, but he was prepared and injects her with shimmer.

Silco has her locked up and taunts her by saying that Ekko was dead, and that he had cried for her when he died, but she wasn't there to save him, and now she had nobody to save her.

MEANWHILE...

When Ekko made his attempt to take down Silco, Silco decided not to kill Ekko yet because he knows that under the right circumstances, he can be used as bait to lure Jinx out. He has his goons beat Ekko, and send him to Stillwater instead. While Ekko is in prison, Ekko reunites with Vi, and they spend their time plotting their escape and killing any of Silco or the other chembaron's goons. Both of them are driven by their desire to get back to Powder, and it takes longer than they would like to escape, but after two years of planning, they finally get an opportunity to get out.

Ekko takes Vi back to the Firelight base, and is so relieved to be home, just to find out that Jinx had been captured by Silco. Ekko is furious, and he and Vi go to The Last Drop to confront and kill Silco. When they get there, Vi takes care of all the goons guarding the place, and Ekko searches for Jinx and Silco. He finds Silco, and this time, he's prepared and doesn't hesitate. Ekko attacks Silco and demands to know where Jinx is, Silco refuses to tell him, so Ekko kills him. He decides that he'll take his chances with finding Jinx himself, because he knows Silco can't be trusted anyway.

Downstairs, after killing all of Silco's men, Vi wanders down to the basement that used to be the room she shared with Powder, Mylo, and Claggor when they lived there with Vander. She opens the door and finds Jinx locked in there.

Jinx is still under the influence of shimmer, and is convinced that Vi is just a hallucination until Vi hugs her. Jinx can't even bring herself to care about all the complicated emotions or how Vi is even there, she's just relieved that someone did come to save her. She tries to warn Vi about Silco, and Vi reassures her that she doesn't need to worry anymore and that Ekko was taking care of it.

Despite the fact that as far as she knew, Vi had been dead for nearly a decade and was now holding her and that Vi had no reason to lie to her, Jinx can't stop herself from feeling skeptical. For so long, people had called her crazy and delusional for believing Ekko was still out there somewhere. She still wasn't entirely sure that Vi wasn't just a detailed figment of her imagination, and allowing herself to hope seemed dangerous.