#arcane rewritten

Coughing and grunting could be heards as heavy objects were shoved around by various people, some young, some old, some scarred, others bat-like, it didn't matter who you were down there, nothing about you did, all of you were just worthless and useless pieces of moving meat.

Time from time muffled words escaped the workers mouths, their meaning varied. Some were complaints, others just small talk to make the work at least a bit easier. A shipment of shimmer was already being prepared.

You wiped swear off your forehead and leaned against a barrel you just finished loading, your little child arms supporting the rest. Panting you stared at the ground, your eyes wide and tired, until finally, you collided with the cold, dusty floor.

A bright, orange light triggered your eyes as they started to tear awake, loud noises were muted by your fading sleepiness. You shot awake, climbing up onto your feet. Now your fully open eyes were darting around, panic setting in, you realised what the bright light was. Run.

Adrenaline filled veins shoved blood around your body and into your muscles. Your legs seemed to have a mind of its own, carrying you away from danger. Breathing was hard, you were heavy, still you ran. Head turned right and left. Fire was spreading. Burning figures wailed in the background, you didn't spare them any mind.

Your pace faltered, the exauation getting to you again and making you collapse to the neared building wall, scrambling into your own embrace, trying your best to breathe. Slowly rising shadow covered you, your eyes moved to look in its way, catching only a glimpse of a piltoverian uniform before a sharp pain screamed through the left side of your head. You collapsed again. Fuck.

"I took a look at your file, there's no record of you, or your crimes. What are you here for?"

The blue haired girl said.

"My sunny personality"

Vi let the wall be and came closer to the metal bars, it was kind off menacing, but Vi didn't scare you. The piltie on the other hand...

"You attacked an inmate. Why?"

Of course she did.

"Why not?"

Vi begun to pace around the room, whilst you waited in the shadows, leaned against a wall and listening

"He was a witness in an ongoing investigation."

"Hmm, bummer."

"This was a waste of time."

The piltie sighed and turned to walk away, before Vi spoke again.

"Couldn't have put it better."

She agreed with the girl.

"Hey, give a Silco a kiss on that winning eye of his, will ya?"

You spaced out for a bit, being brought back to reality by a sudden noise made by Vi lunging at the bars after the girl crossed the red line on the floor, that was there for their protection.

"Where did you get this?"

Vi rasped at the girl, looking at something she held up, you couldn't see much of it but it looked like a notebook. Honestly, you were getting kind off bored by their conversation so you just spaced out for most of it. And before you knew it, the piltie was gone.

"Did you have fun?"

You finally spoke, turning your face to Vi.

"I, I don't know what to think about it."

She answered honestly, her face, almost unseeable in the dark of the cell, portrayed a mix of emotions.

"I have a feeling she'll be back"

You almost sung to her and she nodded in answer.

And you were right, the damn piltie did come back, and with release papers, but only for Vi.

"Uh hello? I'm here too ya know?"

You retorted back as the guard pulled Vi out and tried to get out. The guard pushed you back and grunted.

"You're a fucking asshole, hey Vi, don't forget 'bout me 'kay?"

"Wouldn't dream of that."

She replied while the piltie watched the situation silently and then they just walked away. But you weren't too mad about it and just waited for the lift to dissappear with them. When you were sure the coast was clear, you took out a ring with lots of keys on it and swung it on your finger, then you went to unlock the cell door, whistling in the meantime.

The lift came to a stop with a ding and the doors opened. Adrenaline was already pulsing through your veins and you broke into a run towards the exit, hoping to still catch the boat Vi and the piltie probably were on. The guard, three times your size, didn't even get to react and you were already out the front door, speeding towards the water. You didn't waste any moment and plunged into the cold cold liquid that surrounded the Stillwater prison.

"Wait!"

You yelled while pushing through the water.

"Vi!"

Their boat wasn't far, maybe you could reach it still. Someone on the deck ran to the fencing, leaning over it.

"Stop the boat!"

You recognized Vi's voice and started swimming like your life dependency on it, becouse it really did. But you managed to reach the boat before anyone could've catch you. Vi leaned out more and grabbed your outstretched hand, pulling you up just like she did when she was teaching you how to fight.

“What happened to hello? Good morning? How are you?” You protested and shooed the hand out of your hair, faking a frown and folding your arms in front of your chest. Not only to make you look more upset, but also because the chilly outside air was seeping around your body and into your room. Ekko chuckled at your reaction, looking you up and down, as if to only prolong your exposure to the harsh elements of outside instead of already coming in. But then he decided to have mercy on you and his other hand, the one that wasn’t assaulting your hair previously, carrying some cloth or something, took said object and pulled it around your shoulders. “I brought you some warmer clothes, can’t let my favourite Firelight freeze, especially since it snowed last night.”

The Leader of Firelights finally spoke up, bringing your attention to the white glow that was coming from behind him. How did you not notice that before?

“Snowed…?” “You know, the white stuff that falls from the sky when it gets cold?? I mean, I know you spend most of your life in Stillwater, you make sure to remind me of that every chance you get, but c’mon! You gotta know what snow is!” Ekko replied, seeming a little too passionate about you having to know what snow was, was it really that important? Before you replied, your nose started to change color due to the cold and you had decided you had enough of it, so you grabbed the boy’s arm and pulled him inside of your room, shutting the door behind him. “Don’t get your panties in a twist I’m just messing with you, I know what snow is, cold water basically. But what I do not know is why you’re wearing that? Seems like a bold fashion choice.” Your finger was pointed at the ridiculous red hat with white lining that Ekko had stuck over his hair. Not only was it ugly on its own, but the fact that the very leader of the Firelights was wearing it made it ten times more funny. Ekkos eyes widened slightly and he covered his mouth with his hand for a moment before exclaiming: “You don’t know what Christmas is!”

Since that realisation, Ekko made it his personal goal to explain everything about Christmas to you, because there was no way his favourite Firelight, as he himself called you, would be left in the dark about his favourite holiday. Noone really expected Ekko to be big on traditions and all that, but the way the Firelight base always lit up this time of the year, proved everyone wrong. Maybe it was because it made him feel peaceful, maybe it stemmed from the fact that Christmas used to be Powders favourite holiday, it didn’t matter when at the end of the day, you thought your brain would melt from all the information thrown at you, not to mention how Ekko got the both of you tangled into the lights you were helping him put up. However, Ekko wasn’t even nearly done and right now, he was dragging you through a street market place, explaining to you that you were supposed to get gifts for your loved ones and give them on a specific day. You would’ve thought that this made the most sense out of all the things you learned today, if it wasn’t for Ekko buying a piece of some random plant while telling you that.

“So who’s that for? Who in the Firelights would you give something like that to?” You asked, rather confused, though you were getting used to that feeling by now. The boy only chuckled at your question and shook his head, giving you a weird look that you couldn't quite read, but it made you think he was hiding something and that wasn’t really giving your mind the closure it needed.

“It’s not a gift, you aren’t supposed to let others know what you’re giving to anyone, that ruins the surprise, this is for another tradition.” “Oh yeah? Like if there wasn’t enough. Aaaand what tradition would that be then, Ekko?” “You’ll see, you’ll see.” Great, not only did that stupid look not disappear from his face, it got more and more evident that he did in fact have something planned.

The leader's hands were firmly grasping your legs as you sat on his shoulders while Vesp, Scars oldest daughter and your favourite firelight kid, stood on yours, tying another string with the plant attached to it to some pipe high up. It was impressive how Ekko seemed to carry both of you with no struggle whatsoever, but your mind was desperately trying to forget that his head was right there and his hands were on your thighs and focus on keeping Vesp stable. She looked down at you and gave you a thumbs up, when the string was neatly tied and you helped to lower her enough for Ekko to grab and place her safely onto the ground. And right when the little girl's feet hit the ground, she ran off somewhere. “Wanna get down too?” Ekko turned his head upwards as his hands returned back to your thighs, a grin painting his lips. “Yes. Yes I do.”

You replied quickly, not knowing how much longer you could remain in that position without a nosebleed and when you expected Ekko to crouch down so you could get off, he moved his hands to the underside of your legs and pushed you up, catching you mid air and holding you bridal style for a few moments, before he finally stopped torturing you and set you down.

“That was so incredibly unnecessary, I know you’re strong, no need for all that. Showoff.” Ekko scoffed at your comment and rolled his eyes at you while you wiped your pants just to be dramatic. Your eyes were set on your hands and you weren’t paying much attention to Ekko, your heart rate finally returning to the healthy range. That is until Ekko grabbed your cheeks with his hand and brought your face up, turning it into the direction of Vesp and one other little Firelight girl. They were standing under one of the plants on a string the three of you set up around the base and Vesp pointed up at it, making the other kiddo look up and in that moment, Vesp gave her a little peck on the cheek.

“I wonder if that had anything to do with the tradition connected to the mistletoes we bought.”

You furrowed your brows and turned your face in his direction, looking at him with a confused look and your mouth slightly agape. For a moment, you were gonna say something smartass back, but when you noticed Ekkos smug expression and looked up at the mistletoe danglight above you, it was too late to say anything. Ekko moved his hand from your cheek to cover your eyes and before you even got the chance to say anything, you were silenced by the feeling of his lips against yours. Your whole body froze up as he, somehow even after all the hints the poor guy gave you, completely surprised you. And then he pulled away, the warmth he shared with you lingering for a fleeting moment before disappearing completely. His hand peeled off of your face and your eyes met his and the two of you just stood there, looking at each other, both of your lips were slowly twisting upwards. Then a little snicker escaped out of his and you both erupted into laughter. “That was so corny I can’t.”You managed to say in between laughs, but then you stopped and looked at him again, before grabbing the collar of his ugly Christmas sweater and pulling him closer. “My turn tho.”

But you also made sure to be of use to the Firelights, joining various missions, although you did notice a running theme in them. As you saw it, all of the missions you went on, alone or not, involved minimal fighting and mostly just focused on either gathering information, collecting things for the base or taking part in the lookout group. You were almost starting to think that Ekko was keeping you away from the fight on purpose, but who knows. But you weren’t doing only that all the time. So if you weren’t on a mission and couldn’t be found with Fae either, then you were helping in the kitchen and listening to Lyra rand to you about whatever was on their mind, or you were playing with the kids.

One day, Heimerdinger set his mind on making some sort of a gadget, no one except him had the slightest idea what it was even supposed to be, and no one could pry him away from his desk.To be perfectly honest, all of his creations seemed extremely random too. You were here for the whole thing and watched the professor successfully blow up multiple creations with the kids at your side, in your lap, or sitting on your shoulders doing the same as you, all of you sitting on some wooden stairs nearby. Here and there someone hid behind you as another machine exploded and you could do nothing but chuckle at it. Ekko stopped by, exchanging a few words with you and the kids, before he settled down with another group of youngsters on a pile of boxes nearby and the kids gave you teaseful looks.

By the afternoon, Heimerdinger had brought a table and a chair into the open and his unsuccessful creations piled atop of each other next to the table. Finally, Heimerdinger came with another one of his gadgets and set it down onto the ground. The kids walked over to it and Scar’s eldest daughter, Vesp, grabbed your hand, making you come with them. A few of the braver or more curious children started to mess with it, turning the creation on. Ekko was now by the professor's side as Heimerdinger leaned back in his chair, his legs on the table. The machine started to shake and make weird noises. You instinctively put your hand in front of the kids, fully expecting another loud noise followed by a small fire and bits of the gadget flying in various directions while you gave Ekko a worried look. (little note: Vesp comes from vespertilio, which is latin for bat :P)

But much to your and everyone's surprise, after a few moments of nothing happening, which you previously interpreted as the quiet before the storm, the professors creation, oddly too similar looking to a species of little fluffy animals you saw in the undercity here and there, the creatures horns opened and bubbles flew out of while it started to move around. You relaxed and lowered your hands as the kids ran with the machine. “I like your style, professor.” Ekkos voice fell into the background as the kids giggled and shouted at each other, running around as the bubbles filled the air. Vesp was still holding your hand so you had no choice but to join the kids in their shenanigans. But nonetheless you did register Ekkos words, and you couldn’t help but smile at them a little and shake your hand and when you looked back at him, he was smiling back at you. Or more likely, at the whole scene.

He sighed and let his head hang. You waited for him to reply to your guestion with anticipation. His head turned to you and he pointed to something down in the abbys.

"See that old shop?"

You looked intently, spotting a little old shack, it was dirty and empty and looked like it was gonna fall to the ground every second.

"Mhmmm?"

"Well, that's where I stole parts for my first hoverboard. Then I climbed up the pipe right there,"

His finger trailed along a long metal tube, running on one of the buildings surrounding the billboard.

"And jumped onto here."

Ekko pointed to the little platform behind the billboard, sheltered by it from sight of anyone passing by.

"That's where I made it."

You hung on his every word. It was interesting to hear about his past, considering he's been on his own since he was a little kid, just like you, exept you had Vi. He told you about how he had his first flight and how he rammed into the billboard. How he first met Scar when he was a little older and how he found the abandoned sewer with a tree in it. You envied how much he was able to accomplish in a few years, while you were leftto rot in a cell. But weren't jealousy of him, this boy gave you a chance for a new life, if anything, you adored him.

"I wanted you to know that nothing comes free, that's why I took you here."

Your eyes, that were flickering from side to side as he pointed to different things and told you memories that clung onto them, now settled on his face, illuminated by the light of the billboard.

"I wish I had memories to spare like that."

"I know you spend most of your life behind bars, but who's to say that you can't make new memories now?"

You smiled softly at his words and your eyes slipped to the boards laying on the platform.

"That... doesn't sound half bad actually."

You slid off the big sign next to the boards and fired one up.

He fell in beside you and his face was portraying a satisfied smile.

"What did I say about you crawling back to me and begging for more training huh?"

Ekko raised one of his eyebrows and turned his chin up, his arms folded, giving you a face of superiority.

You chuckled and raised your arms in a surrender.

"Fine, fine, you were right."

He took a few steps away from you and offered you a hand, his other one hidden behind his back and he bowed down a little. You stared at him in awe for a good few minutes and he just let you process it all, patiently waiting for your answer. Finally, you shook your head and took his hand with a grin painted onto your lips. “Don’t expect me to be good at it.” You warned him as he pulled you closer to him and put his free hand on your waist. Obviously, you didn’t expect this and your eyes widened as he did so, your mouth left slightly agape. “I taught you how to fight, I think I got this.” Ekko rolled his eyes and raised his eyebrows at you, even if you hadn't meant it that way, this was now a challenge in his eyes, and he wasn’t going to fail.

“You know, you have to put your hand on my shoulder right?” “How could I? I never danced with anyone.” The boy let go of your waist and grabbed your arm, helping you put it into the right position and when your hand rested on his shoulder, he returned his arm back to where it previously was placed. “Excuses is all I hear.” He poked at you back and shrugged, then he looked down at both of your feet, thinking about how to best explain to you how to dance. “So there’s like a lot of traditional dances, but I think you’ll be fine if we start with Waltz, not even you can mess that up.” You nodded in agreement and followed his gaze, looking down too as he lifted one of his feet up and tapped it against the front of yours. “Keep your expectations realistic Ekko, please.” Ekko chuckled a little at your comment and tapped your foot again, now realising it might indicate that you have to do something, you picked up your foot too.

“Look at that, you can read my mind too. Okay, okay, so, at first you’ll have to watch your feet, like a lot, but once you get the grip, you can look up. But for now, just follow what I’m doing okay?” “I can definitely try to do that, yeah.” He nodded and slowly started to drag the foot he had previously tapped yours with against the floor in your direction, and so you did the same, but instead of going in his direction, you went backwards. Ekko made sure to tell you when you did something right and when you did something wrong, and also to have a firm grip on you, since he knew that balance wasn’t your strongest forté and the possibility of you losing it was almost as high as when you were learning to hoverboard. Of course you stepped on his foot more times than you could count, but Ekko didn’t seem like he minded at all, in fact, it almost looked like he was enjoying himself.

When Ekko felt like you had gotten a pretty good grip on how to do the basic steps, he decided to mess with you a little and incorporate a simple spin into it. Which definitely threw you off your balance, just like he suspected it would, and if he wasn’t holding you, you would’ve fallen onto your ass. Not that you’d mind since you were pretty much used to it by this point. But Instead of falling back, you were pulled closer to him, your chest pressed against his. “Careful.” He warned you in a low tone, almost whispering it into your ear and in that moment, you didn’t even register what his words were, your mind busy with concentrating on something completely different at the moment. Ekko seemed to know that, it was like this was his full intention. Or maybe he was just saving you from your clumsiness.

You didn’t try to fight him in any way, having no reason to after all, and followed him out of the room. Ekko locked it when you both were on the other side of the doors and stretched his arms, before turning around and continuing to walk away with you at his side. The air was filled with silence, but it wasn’t the loud, obnoxious, awkward kind, there was calmness in this silence, comfort even. Like an unspoken understanding of the weight that rested on the shoulders of both of you. It was obvious what burned Ekko carried, being the leader of Firelights couldn’t be easy, the size of the responsibility he had put on himself being almost unimaginable to you, however what your weight was, you haven’t figured out, at least not yet.

You didn’t really pay attention to where he led you, you weren’t even trying to follow him consciously, you just did. When you finally snapped back into reality and took in your surroundings, the realisation of how dark it already was set in, and you couldn’t help but feel like it wasn’t dark this early just yesterday. “This is weird.” The silence was broken as you muttered a few words under your breath and Ekko turned his head to look at you. “What’s weird?” “Oh, I dunno, I just feel like it’s dark way too early I guess.” You replied, wondering if what you just said made even the tiniest bit of sense to someone who couldn't see into your head. “Well, yeah? The amount of daylight changes throughout the year. You didn’t know that?” Oh, so you were right, it was dark earlier!

“Well I guess it only makes sense when you spend your years growing up in Stillwater…” It never ceases to amaze you how little you actually knew about the real world. Spending time with Ekko and the Firelights did help a huge amount and if not for them, you’d probably be completely lost right now, but even if you spend all your days looking for things you didn’t know yet, there’d always be something to surprise you. “Hey, are you listening to me?” “Oh right yeah, sorry, I was just thinking, what were you saying?” Ekko chuckled a little and shook his head. It wasn’t the first time you’d done that, but he didn’t really mind, he actually found it quite amusing. “I was asking if you would like to come relax with me. You know what, saying it the second time didn’t really change the fact that it’s such a weird sentence to say out loud.” You giggled a little at his sentence, it sounded like something you’d usually say. Maybe it wasn’t just that his mannerism slightly rubbed off on you, but he himself gained some of your quirks. The brain is such a weird little thing.

“Of course I’d like to come relax with you.” Your reply came quicker this time and without Ekko having to repeat himself,as you were finally mentally present enough to process his question and create a proper response. “Cool, well, I’d suggest you go carefully put away your board, that I so kindly fixed for you. Again. And maybe put on something more comfortable? I don’t really know what you feel the best in, but I find it hard to believe it’s… whatever this is.” “I’m sorry, are you judging my outfit??” “Yeah you’d look better naked.” “WHAT.” “I’m just messing with you, go do your thing and then meet me on my balcony mhm?”

“Don’t look at a different page than this one, please.” “Oh uh, I mean yeah, sure? Why though?”

Ekko gave you a questioning look, before returning to the drawn on paper page, looking over the sketch, his face displaying various emotions as he went through the thought process of making the sketch a reality. “There’s some stuff in there that I don’t want anyone to see.” “Okay, that’s fair.” He shrugged and closed the book with a snap, giving it back to you and then standing up. You took the sketchbook from him again and looked up at Ekko towering over you as his hand stretched towards you, offering to help you up as many times before. Without much hesitation, you accepted it and stood up too, facing him, waiting for the boy to say something and explain why you were standing now.

“Let’s get to work then.” He nodded to you and turned to the door to leave, and you went to take the sketchbook back to your table. Ekko waited for you outside of your room, and then headed towards the staircase, but starting to descend instead of going up, which surprised you. “We’re not going to your room?” “And how would something as big as that fit into my room exactly?” The boy turned his head to face you as you went down the stairs, following him a few paces behind, a smug expression painting his face, before he tripped and almost fell, catching the railing at the last second to stop himself. You laughed at him, waiting for him to regain his balance and continue walking and then answering him. “Karma’s a bitch huh?”

“Welcome to my… I actually don’t know what to call this room, uh, I make bigger things here basically.”

“Why did I have no idea a room like this was here?”

You asked and walked into the room after Ekko, taking in the many tools and almost finished projects, he really had a taste for mess huh. “Probably because you haven’t seen like eighty percent of the base yet.” “That… makes perfect sense actually.” You admitted, watching as the boy moved through the room, pulling out different parts and gathering them into a box. He mumbled something to himself and pulled the box towards a messy desk, probably the place where he worked on his inventions and stuff. “I’m missing some things here,” Ekko stated as he started to lay out the parts from the box on the desk and looked at you for a moment, quickly returning to what he was doing, before he spoke again.

“so I’ll write you a list and you’ll have to go get them, maybe take Heimerdinger with you, he’ll help.”

Metal bolts clattered as Ekko placed them onto the table, you made your way to him carefully, trying to avoid bumping into anything in the process. Ekko pulled out a piece of dirty paper from god knows where and took a pencil off the desk, scribbling down a few words, then he looked into the box again and added something to the list, repeating this a few times. You were watching with interest, before you realized you haven't answered him yet, you shook your head and blinked a few times.

“Yeah, of course.”