#act3

[a/n] : listen to ma meilleure ennemie while reading this to cry more ;')

The soft hum of "Ma Meilleure Ennemie" filled the small room, looping endlessly, weaving itself into the fabric of the night. It was their song, the one that had accidentally played the night they first danced, awkward and laughing, under flickering string lights. Now, it played again not as a backdrop to laughter, but as a companion to a goodbye they both knew was coming.

Ekko sat cross legged on the floor, his Z-Drive dismantled beside him. He didn’t need it tonight. Tonight was for her. She leaned against the far wall, her silhouette bathed in the dim light of the desk lamp. She looked fragile, as though the slightest gust of wind could carry her away. But her smile, soft and knowing, was as solid as it had always been.

“It’s a weird song to love, don’t you think?” she said, breaking the silence. Her voice was quiet but steady, as if she hadn’t just been crying moments ago.

Ekko glanced at her, a small smile tugging at his lips. “It’s weird because you love it, and you’re weird.”

She laughed soft, barely there, but still enough to make his heart twist. “Says the guy who rewinds time for fun.”

He leaned back on his hands, tilting his head as he watched her. “You’re not gonna let me win this one, are you?”

“Never,” she teased. Then, more gently, “That’s what made us work, though. You challenge everything, and I challenge you.”

He turned his gaze to the Z-Drive. It lay lifeless now, the device that had once given him endless chances. But tonight, there was no rewinding. No second try. This was their moment, fleeting and final, and he wouldn’t waste it.

----

The song played on, its melancholic melody carrying them through their memories.

“Do you remember the first time we met?” she asked suddenly, her voice cutting through the quiet.

Ekko smirked. “You mean when you tried to spray-paint over my work?”

She rolled her eyes, but the smile on her face betrayed her amusement. “It was awful. A galaxy? Really?”

“It was art, thank you very much,” he shot back, feigning offense. “And if I remember correctly, someone decided to fix it by painting stars that looked like fried eggs.”

“They were stars,” she argued, laughing now. “But sure, let’s go with fried eggs.”

He chuckled, shaking his head. “I let you win that argument, too.”

She softened, her gaze meeting his. “No, Ekko. You didn’t let me win. You let me stay. That’s different.”

-----

The song looped again, filling the spaces between words, carrying them to the quieter, heavier memories.

“Do you regret it?” she asked after a long silence. Her voice was small, almost afraid.

He looked at her sharply. “Regret what?”

“Us. This. Loving me.”

His heart twisted. He stood, crossing the room to sit beside her. “Never,” he said firmly. “Not for a second.”

She leaned her head against his shoulder, and for a moment, they sat like that, the song wrapping around them like a fragile cocoon.

“I regret the fights,” she murmured. “The times I pushed you too hard. The times I didn’t say what I really felt.”

“You pushed me because you believed in me,” he said softly. “And that’s what I’ll remember. Not the fights. Not the regrets. Just... you.”

-----

The night wore on, their voices growing softer, their silences longer. The weight of the inevitable hung heavy between them, but neither dared to say it aloud. Not yet.

As the final notes of the song played for the hundredth time, she reached for his hand. Her fingers, once so steady, trembled against his. “Ekko,” she whispered, “promise me something.”

“Anything.”

“Don’t stop living when I’m gone.”

His throat tightened, and he couldn’t speak. She turned to look at him, her eyes bright with unshed tears but full of determination. “You have so much left to do. So much left to give. Don’t let this, don’t let me be the end of you.”

He swallowed hard, nodding. “I promise,” he choked out.

She smiled, leaning her head against his chest as the song began to play again. “Good,” she whispered.

------

When the last notes of the song finally faded, so did she. Her warmth, her weight, her presence all of it slipped away like a fading dream.

Ekko sat there, the silence pressing in around him, his arms empty but his heart full of the love they had shared. The room felt colder, but he didn’t move. He let the quiet settle, let the memory of her linger a little longer.

His gaze drifted to the Z-Drive lying beside him, its cracked surface catching the faint glow of dawn breaking through the window. Gently, almost reverently, he picked it up, his fingers brushing over the fractured casing.

“One rewind,” he whispered, his voice breaking. “Just one.”

He pressed the button, the device sputtering weakly before flickering out completely. It was useless, broken when he needed it most. Time, it seemed, had made its choice.

Ekko clenched the Z-Drive tightly, his knuckles whitening as tears streaked silently down his face. “Why?” he rasped into the empty room. “Why give me this power if I can’t save her?”

The question hung in the air, unanswered.

And yet, deep down, he knew. She wouldn’t have wanted him to rewrite this to steal away the love and the pain that made their final night together real. As much as it hurt, it was theirs. Untouchable. Unchangeable.

The song looped faintly in his mind, the melody carved into his soul. He sat there, the dawn spilling light across the room, his heart breaking but alive with the echoes of her.

“Thank you for loving me,” he whispered again, the Z-Drive slipping from his grasp and clattering softly to the floor.

It wasn’t the ending he wanted, but it was theirs. And in all its beauty and pain, that would have to be enough.

Happy Beyrthday @beyonce 🤍✨

It's been ages since last time I illustrated #QueenB and made this inspired by #Renaissance and #TheBirthofVenus which is, I think, my fave painting ever and just as iconic as she is 😍 BTW can't wait to know #Actiii theme/vibes/sound. Can you?

(Lucanis Dellamorte & Yvonne Mercar/Rook) Yvonis Oil Brush commission for Melody 🥰 It was a pleasure to draw your blorbos again!💞 Celebrating their victory!

proceed at your own risk.

Arcane s2 ending is underwhelming because the show was slowly building up to it (the biggest disappointment of the century)

U can feel it slowly letting go of the class issues that s1 was based on ( arguably the reason why the show was appealing to begin with) foe what seems to be no reason. Cause it seemed that they could've done better with presenting the themes that were already there in the subtext of it all or atleast it was that way for s1 and the first act(s?)

By the 3rd act, it's like they make it a point to stray away from what the show is supposed to be about and maybe that's why there's a lot of distraction going on (*caughs * fan service). In the last act there's just so many loose endings and key points are missing, ones that are usually provided to the whatcher bethey offer needed insight like how jayce decided to touch the arcane or what happened with ekko and jinx when he stopped her. This is a pattern that also shows in s1 and the other acts but the avoidance of clearing things up or providing insight on character's behaviors in this case isn't to get us to think about it and interpret it on our own instead it leaves a feelibg of just accept it for now that's how thongs came to be, and it doesn't even explain it later(would've beena great move tbh).

This lack of insight makes it easier to just accept other shifts that don't actually make sense like the main shift of victor's character when he gave up on doing good for the ppl the moment jayce attacked him and honestly not only did jayce have no business doing that, victor also had no reason to change his ideology for only that. The attack harmed not only him but also the ones connected to him so it does make sense that instead of healing he decided to eliminate all danger but even then it wouldn't make sense for him to agree to forge an army and pick sides for a political war something he aims to demolish.

And then it's not even about his conquest anymore and we get a fairly easy and rushed destruction of the black flower and then back to Victor.... Victor changes his ways and they disappear leaving everyone behind to what? Move on? As if the story is about how humans weren't ready for a progress that fast andbnow they can learn from their mistakes and take their time, as if that insane leap of advancement both biological and technical isn't just a by product of an environment manufactured by classism that pressured and cornered ppl into this extreme reality.

At the end, nothing has changed from the beginning of s1, the counsel just added a physical chair for the undercity instead of the invisible one that silco did hold at some point.

The truth is zaun isn't even a separate nation anymore it's still the undercity who now has a representative in the counsel.

War didn't even unite the ppl in fear and grief because except for the enforcers the fighters were mostly from zaun, this is dangerous because it paints a picture where the unpriveleged lot are fighting someone else's battles while the priveleged (root cause of said battle) get to flee and only comeback when everything is settled to look all bigoted and give side eyes to the representative of the unpriveleged (im looking at u short grandma).