sharky 🦈

Powder's shoulders shook, hands grasping at whatever material she could reach. Including Silco's new suit. Not that it mattered, now that it was covered in a think layer of ash and soot. "It's.. okay." Silco sighed, wrapping his arms hesitantly around the girl, whom had her face buried in his chest; a sobbing mess. It was a strange sight to see such a ruthless, violent, man comforting like Silco, comforting a child. As if he wasn't about to... well, to say it blankly... Kill her. "We'll show them," Silco assures, listening as the girl's cries turned into small hiccups and sniffles. "We'll show them all." ___ It was a strange night for everyone, to say the least. Most of Silco's 'workers' had been putting out the fires, and cleaning up shattered glass. While he was carrying Powder home, if you could even call it that. Though he planned to take over The Last Drop, he couldn't just yet. So instead he'd moved a few things around and given Powder a hideout. In all honesty it was really just an abandoned aircraft. But it worked. Silco quietly settled Powder down onto a couple of pillows, then laying a blanket over her. "Is it... comfortable..?" Silco half forced himself to inquire, though not entirely caring. This whole... parenting thing didn't entirely sit right with him just yet. Powder's dulled eyes avoided his gaze, she pulled the blanket over her shoulders, snuggling into it. A couple stray tears rolling down her cheeks. "...It's- all my fault." Powder mutters, hands lifting to cover her face. Guilt gnawed at her, dragging her lower lip out in a sad attempt to hold back anymore of her cries.

Ekko went months, not addressing anyone about the card he'd received. Was it real? He wanted to believe so, but… it didn't make any sense.

Jinx died 6 years ago.

And it didn't take long for him to forget about the letter either, it sat opened on his desk for what seemed like ages. Until he inevitably threw it out.

Some kids must've messed with him, it happened more often than not.

He'd fallen for the same trick so many times over, why again? He was going to move on, he had to.

It's what she would've wanted.

Though he was unaware of the raw mistake he'd made, the shakiness of her hands as she pulled the crumpled card out of the trash.

The anger filled sob as she tore it apart, throwing it to a random direction.. Her jaw clenched as she fought back tears, nails digging into her palms.

A bitter scoff left her throat, she really expected things to be okay? This wasn't some fantasy…

What happened to her plan of never coming back…? Staying dead for as long as she could? Rewriting her story?

And yet, after all those years of trying to heal, to become a better person..

She ended up here, feet dug into the sand, knees curled to her chest. Her eyes peeking out as she looked over the waves; the way they lapped gently at the shore, the soft white bubbles foaming and sticking to her pale skin.

And as if some cruel coincidence Ekko found himself walking down the shore, he never liked the beach; and yet he always seemed to find himself here-

-bathing in the memories of the way Powder used to drag him here, splash him with the sand and taunt him to race her to the water.

But a flicker of light caught his attention, a subtle yellow glow.

A lantern, sat beside a woman, dressed in a layered coat, presumably for warmth at this time of night. Her face was covered by a hood, and she sat facing the waves.

Before her hands gently reached forward, as she nudged a small metal toy into the water, a little fish. Made from twisted parts and rusted copper.

Ekko followed the small winde-up as it brushed against his ankle, carried by the water.

Picking it up he looked over it's patterns and small splotches of blue and pink colour.. he needed to stop giving himself hope.

"You uh, came here for a break too..?" Ekko mutters, taking a small spot beside them, though keeping a distance.

"You could say that…" The voice replied, their accent a little strange. One he hadn't heard. It almost sounded forced. But who was he to pry?

Ekko hummed, shoulders shagging forward, eyes hesitantly looking in the other person's direction. For a small moment he though he caught their eyes, but it was quick to be broken; their head snapping to the side.

"Do you ever feel like you're… going insane..?" Ekko asked, almost vulnerably. Head dipping as he folded his legs.

"Or you've just… stopped caring?" He answers himself, chuckling silently, yet there wasn't any real joy to his tone…

There was a silent shuffle of the person beside him, they gently nudged their hood down… Eyes burning into his neck.

Ekko looked over, confused. Why did she-

Jinx…

Her hair was a mess, her eyes still held that wild stare… and yet they seemed to be a faded crimson, despite her dazed smile, there was no joy in her face.

"So, you gave up on me too," She says, a hollow laugh escaping her lips.

"Or maybe… you just forgot."

There was a drawn out silence, shock laced the atmosphere. Ekko wanted to pinch himself.

But this was no dream, her gaze burnt all the same as it did. Her bitter chuckles still sent the same shiver up his spine.

It was no ordinary woman sat beside him, it was Jinx.

"Jinx-" Ekko breaths, his voice crackling and failing beneath him.

Her eyes fell, expression dimming with it as her hair fell to the side. It had grown some length back, tied into one messy braid. Sides trimmed into a messy self cut hairstyle.

"Cut it, Ekko." Jinx sighs, her side bang draping over her face as she cocked her head to the side; looking nowhere in particular.

Ekko was stumped for words, where had she been all this time? Why did she come back? Why now?

"Why did you.." He starts, chewing on his lower lip, pupils still dilated and blown wide with thought. He looked down at the little fish toy in his hands, the paint dripping slowly off of the wet metal.

Jinx folded her arms, the short braid swung over her shoulder. "I guess I- wanted things to go back to… how they used to be,"

Her eyes didn't hold the same pink glow, it'd faded. She was… different.

"Without all the.. flaws." She finished, back straightening as she leaned back on her hands.

Ekko's gaze was locked on her every move, as if any second now she would vanish again, and leave him. He didn't know if he was angry… or sad, or- pleased? How was he meant to respond?

"I thought you- died…? I- where'd you even go?" Ekko stumbled over his words, mind swirling in an uncomfortable variety of thoughts.

"Ionia," Jinx murmurs, pointing to the vague direction of the land across the water.

"It was a place I could think.." She hums, taking the winde-up fish from Ekko's hand. "And make these little shits," She chuckles under her breath.

Ionia? That… made sense, he supposed.

"The kids like these.." Jinx throws the toy back to Ekko, which he caught quickly before it could hit him.

This took ages for me to get motivation for but yk 🙏 And yes I wrote Jinx a little too sad but you get it :')

I'm just going to claim it and say she's a little calmer now lol

Anywho, I'm working on a part 3, and I might even do a part 4 if I feel like it needs more. Or if you guys even want that.

And of course, join my community! We're all super nice and don't bite :)

Community link

Also, here's a little sketch I did of Jinx in my au

Ekko was sat looking silently out of his stained glass window. Looking quietly out at the large tree, it's long branches creating soft shadows that draped through the room. In his hands was a letter, no name, no address... nothing. He at first thought it might've been from Vi, considering she usually visited him, often to catch up, or help Cait with a case... But now, he wasn't so sure. Vi's letters were never this... ominous. Ever since the war, things had been... good? Piltover had somewhat created peace with the Zaun now, and things were probably the most peaceful they'd been in years. And yet for Ekko, he just felt... lost. Like a part of him was missing. It drove him insane. He finally got what he wanted, hadn't he? A happy ending. He could relax, and be with the people he cared about. But, he had to realise what the problem really was eventually... He had to realise who this was really about. Jinx. The girl he cared so much about, the girl who had deserved another chance.. was gone. There wasn't a goodbye, there wasn't even one last glance. She had just... slipped from his fingers, vanished from his life, within an instant. He'd been sort of living in shock for the first few months, things had felt all.. weird, dreamy. He couldn't process it, she was gone..? She couldn't just.. die? Even when Vi had told him, the person he'd trust with his life... he still couldn't believe it. He wouldn't. So he didn't, wasting years of his life on some fantasy that she was still out there... somewhere. And he just needed to find her. But never the less, he grew out of that. Forcing himself to recognise how much time he was wasting. He gave up, there was no finding a dead person. He'd spent so long trying to go back to normal, to forget about her, to move on. And when he finally did. He finally felt okay... he finally felt like himself, like he could be released from whatever turmoil was stirring inside of him... This damn letter arrived at his door. He spent days putting it off, he knew it could never be... from her. But he just felt- scared? Excited? Terrified..? Eventually though, Ekko did what any rational person would do. He opened it. His fingers trembled around the paper, chewing on his lower lip as he tugged the card out of it's casing. Stunned as a colourful variety of confetti erupted from inside of the note... settling itself over his desk. There must've been some... event in Piltover, some invite... surely there was something- He felt himself pale slightly as his gaze landed over the page however, soon realising that there weren't many words spread across the paper, maybe a few "hello"s scribbled in blue pen, and rather large "Boom!"s written in red... But it was enough to make his head spin. Those familiar scribbled monkey faces, or quirky little stick figures, drawings of people he could recognise from miles away. It made his heart hurt, this had to be some cruel joke...? Some delusional prank. But he knew otherwise, he'd learnt to memorize the childish lettering, the bright colours... everything that made Jinx... Powder. The part of her that was still in there... the part of her he fell in love with. With an exhaled breath he hadn't realised he was holding, he read over the only coherent text; on the bottom of the page. 'see you in a blink?'

Sevika sighed heavily at the distant clutter and frequent noise coming from the kitchen. It had taken a good amount of begging from both Isha and Jinx to manage Sevika to sit down and wait. For what? She had no idea. Smoke wafted around Sevika's office as she took several small drags from the blunt she held, between her index and her thumb. "Sevikaa!" Jinx mimed, peeking in through the door; braids dragging against the wooden tile beneath her. Isha shadowed behind the blue haired girl, pupils blown wide with excitement, giggling quietly under her breath. "Mh?" Sevika sighs, rolling her shoulder lazily as she cocked a brow, awaiting to see what the two had sneakily gone up to. Jinx snickered, looking down at Isha, giving her a small teasing nudge in the side, before swivelling on her heels, taking a careless seat on Sevika's desk. "You always do the cooking, and not to burst your bubble... but me and Isha thought we'd rather do the job." Isha nods quickly after Jinx's statement, looking between her and Sevika eagerly. "You? Do the cooking?" Sevika almost laughed bitterly, yet there was no real malice in her tone. She sighed, ceasing the flame of her cigar into the ashtray; eyeing the two before rolling her eyes. "What did you make..?" Isha looks up to Jinx, who quickly gives her a signal, to which Isha quickly ran out of the room, giggling fading out as she disappeared back into the kitchen Soon she returned, holding up a covered plate, silver, with a rounded lid on top. "Ta-da!" Jinx beamed, removing the lid. Yet her facial expression dimmed a little at the sight of their "cake"... now nothing more than a hard piece of 'coal'. Sevika just looked at it, then up at Jinx, who wasn't standing so proudly anymore. Then to Isha, who was getting a look glare from Jinx. "I thought you said you knew how long to cook it for..?" Jinx whispered, to which Isha just shrugged, looking back at the black lump. Jinx pouts, before picking at it with her nails, to check if it was also burnt on the inside, it was. So, she chucked it into the bin to the side, crossing her arms and looking off elsewhere. "Cook better than me huh?" Sevika chuckles, rubbing salt harmlessly onto the wound, before standing up and ruffling Isha's hair a little. "Want me to make you a waffle, kid?" Isha nods, smile quickly returning as she looks up at Sevika hopefully, the gap between her teeth peeking out. Jinx's gaze switches over back toward the two, "Me too?" "No, you need to learn how to cook on your own now. Don't you think?" Sevika chimed, before ushering herself and Isha into the kitchen. Jinx rolled her eyes, puffing her side bang off the side of her face; following closely behind the two.

The room was quite, besides the small clinking and clanking noises that came from Sevika and Jinx as they both quietly worked on a little bomb together. Sevika didn't particularly like the idea of Jinx making such weapons at her age, but Silco seemed to encourage it, he found some.. sort of satisfaction seeing the girl's eagerness towards the explosives; so who was Sevika to turn against him? He was the "big man" after all. "Pass me the scissors," Sevika opens her hand, fingers curling around the tool as Jinx quickly passed it to her. Peering over her shoulder to watch her tinker. "Do you think I can use these soon?" Jinx whispers eagerly, legs swaying over the chair she was sat at. Her blue hair draped over her right eye, and she pouted at Sevika's delayed response. Sevika just sighed, looking at the kid, before back down at the explosive. "I doubt you'll be doing more than shadowing for a good couple years, kid." She reminds, catching a glimpse of the girl's frown through her peripheral vision. Jinx's shoulders slumped, and her eyes hardened as she tugged her knees to her chest. She was more than old enough now! She wasn't scared, she could do it...! "But I'm ready now!" Jinx whines, head cocking to the side with irritated confusion. Sevika refused to carry on the conversation, so it remained silent as Jinx's protests trailed off... and she eventually just rested the side of her head against the desk; her hands grabbing a blue crayon and scribbling random lines and figures into the wood. "Look, I'll talk to him, maybe you can watch, or something..." Sevika gave in, though she was tough, and usually couldn't care less. Something about the girl's desperation made her crumble a little. "Really?" "Sure..." Jinx's expression rose quickly back up, discarding the crayon as she chucked in elsewhere. Standing up and wrapping her arms around Sevika's bigger frame. Sevika froze for a brief moment, looking around awkwardly, before ultimately deciding to pat Jinx's back. Her movement was unsure and hesitant, not usually this touchy with anyone. Especially, not kids. "You're the best!" Jinx beamed, over and over. Skipping around the circular desk a couple times before grabbing one of her gutted out bombs, holding it up and then swivelling it around to look at it's silly scribbled on face. She could finally show them.

heyy! hope you liked this! sorry if this was a little short, I do plan on making longer stories in the future! <3

As part of their usual routine, Silco’s calloused fingers worked through Jinx's hair, carefully sectioning it into three parts before braiding it together—though, as gently as he could manage.

Jinx winced as he tugged a little too hard, shooting him a glare, but there was no real malice in her eyes. She sighed, slumping her shoulders as she settled back down, picking up her prototype bomb, which was covered in scribbles that Silco could only assume depicted a cat.

"None of these ever work... not even Whisker," Jinx muttered, pouting as she set the bomb aside, the small golden cuff clicking softly when Silco attached it to one of the finished braids.

"They will, give it time," Silco reassured, starting a second braid. Jinx's hair was still short, just past shoulder length, so it didn't take long to tidy up.

"Maybe I could get Sevika to mess with it?" Silco suggested, his gaze lifting to the girl sitting on the floor, her back resting against his knees.

Jinx’s eyes narrowed in thought, first looking at Whisker, then at Mouser, which was lying on its side, screws loosened and faulty wiring exposed.

Silco knew better than to expect a direct answer from her, so he took her silence as agreement, attaching another golden cuff to the new braid before sitting back to allow her to stand.

"I'll let her know," Silco muttered, his gaze shifting back to his desk, cluttered with Jinx's scribbles and scattered tools. His eyes briefly scanned her unfinished bombs. She had potential.

"She can also teach you how to shoot," Silco added, watching as Jinx's expression shifted, her face briefly contorting as her eyes dimmed with unease.

"Don’t argue with me. It’s necessary."

"But—"

"I don’t want to hear it."

Jinx pouted, climbing onto a cleaner part of his desk, crossing her legs as she settled in front of him. She glanced at him, then at the stack of files covering the surface. Her hair fell over her shoulders as she idly fiddled with her hands in her lap.

"Can I paint your nails...?"