Chapter Text
“Powder?” Ekko’s voice is hoarse as he moves in her arms. Her eyes are trained on the empty space where the figure in front of her disappeared moments ago. “What happened?” it takes a moment before she finally looks down at Ekko, speechless.
A rush of satisfaction courses through her at the realisation that she was right, and she had spent these past few weeks with an Ekko from another reality. This other Ekko had opened her eyes to the possibilities of endless dimensions and time travel, he’d made her curious about the events in her world and the impacts they had on the life she lives today, and he’d given her purpose to seek answers to questions she’d given up on long ago. None of it makes any sense as her eyes wander over the skeleton of the machine that once was there, yet it is undeniably true that what lies beyond her universe just got a whole lot bigger.
She’d seen him with her own eyes—the boy who looked so much like the one in her arms, yet felt worlds apart. His hair was different, his clothes unlike anything her Ekko would wear, but his eyes... they were the same. Almost. A little sadder, a little older. And now he’s gone, along with everything they had achieved together.
She thought she’d heard Heimerdinger earlier, but now there’s no trace of the yordle. He must have left with Ekko. Both of them are gone, leaving her behind with a broken machine and too many memories to carry alone.
She can’t stop replaying every moment they’d shared, every word said. Each one feels like a puzzle piece she’s desperate to fit together, to make sense of his world and his choices. Questions swarm her mind, endless and unanswered, with no one here to quiet them.
“My head–” Ekko grimaces as he slowly sits up, clearly disorientated, “...hurts like hell.” Powder can’t bring herself to say anything as the hands that were once holding him drop into her lap. The movement catches his attention and frowns at her. “Powder?” he repeats her name, concern lacing in his brow.
“Ekko,” She lets out a shuddered breath as a small chuckle escapes her lips. Ekko blinks at her, clearly disoriented. “Janna,” she raises a hand to brush away a piece of hair that has fallen in front of her eyes.
He raises his hand to gently pull her hand away. “ Hey, ” his words are as soft as the movement. She lets out a breath, finding comfort in his touch after missing it these past few weeks. His other hand moves to entwine with hers.
“You’re back,” She says, giving him a small smile. His eyes survey the room, lingering on the notes left in chalk behind her, then stopping at the spot where the other Ekko once stood.
“I guess so,” there’s an uneasiness to his voice. He slowly rises to his feet, pulling her up with him. Powder finds herself being led toward what remains of the device. “Did we make this?” He asks, hesitantly.
Powder doesn’t know how to answer that. There’s so much to explain yet she doesn’t know how to start. “What do you remember?” she settles on, tugging on his arm to get him to look at her.
“I have these memories,” He looks at her, brow creased. “But they don’t feel like mine.” Powder sucks in a breath. “There’s bits and pieces–building, talking,” he hesitates, “...dancing, kissing .”
Powder blushes, she can’t help feeling a little guilty over that last part–she doesn’t know the morality of kissing your boyfriend from another timeline. “This is going to sound ridiculous,” she huffs a laugh, moving to take both his hands in hers. “...but for the past few weeks, I believe you from an alternate reality has been existing in your body.” Saying that out loud makes her feel even more insane.
“Oh,” he simply says, his brow creasing. Powder thought he would laugh at her, tell her she’d lost her mind, yet she hadn’t expected him to accept her words like it made perfect sense. “Okay.”
“Okay?” she questions warily. “You believe me?” scepticism in her voice.
“I mean…” he lets go of her to do a brief spin of the room. “It makes sense, I don’t know how to explain it,” he looks at her, shrugging. “These past few days are there in my head, but I don't feel like I was actually there,” he drags his fingers over the remains of the machinery left behind, leaning in to inspect it. “It’s either that or I genuinely need psychiatric help.”
“Forever fighting the mad scientist stereotype,” Powder huffs a laugh, turning back toward the chalkboard as her eyes scan over their calculations. “I knew this wasn’t just about the damn Innovators Competition,” she shakes her head, “well played, Ekko,” she says, more to herself than anything.
“Shit, Powder !” Ekko straightens, “the Innovators Competition.” Ekko bounces over to the workbench. “Where did the blueprints for my device go?” he stresses, scattering papers around the desk in his search.
“ Calm down,” Powder steps forward, fingers brushing against his arm. “They’re back at Benzo’s.” She reaches down to pick up the papers that he’d knocked to the floor. “Don’t worry, it’s not like these are important papers explaining literal time travel.”
“The competition is tomorrow,” he rubs his forehead. “And I’ve got nothing to show for it.” he stops still suddenly, complete horror overtaking his face. “I threw it at the wall.” Powder swallows, looking at Ekko who looks like he could pass out again. “Why would I– no –why would he do that?”
Powder is reminded of the day she realised something was going on with Ekko. She'd been explaining what she believes is causing the issue with the compressor on their energy device when the device in question had come hurtling toward her head. She narrowly dodged it, before it slammed into the wall behind her. She had been surprised the device didn’t break on impact.
“Sometimes your worst enemy is yourself,” Powder watches him as he rubs his temples. She looks at the board again, crossing her arms. “I mean–what’s stopping us from using this?” she steps forward grabbing some chalk. “If we change the input from hextech to–”
“No way,” Ekko interrupts, grabbing the chalk from her hand. “This wasn’t me–I had nothing to do with any of this,” he frowns, dropping the chalk against the table.
“Okay, so you had some help,” Powder rolls her eyes, “That Jayce guy only paved the groundwork–isn’t science just taking what someone else did and doing what they couldn’t,” Powder opens up a drawer and pulls out the discarded invention from a few weeks prior. “If we make a few adjustments, I think we’ve got a real chance here.”
“I’m not talking about that,” Ekko grabs the device from her hand. “All this…” he points at the board, “was someone else.” he tosses the device between his hands. “That was all him. Everything that happened wasn’t me,” he looks up at her and there’s something in his eyes. “This is the only thing that’s mine,” he holds up the unfinished project.
“Okay, Mr Dramatic,” Powder snorts, “he was still you, he’s just a different version of you.” he clearly doesn’t share the same sentiment as he screws up his face at her words.
“If he were me, he would have known how important this was instead of treating it like it was a piece of junk. He did all this work for what? Just to leave us with nothing?” he looks back at the broken remnants of the Z-drive. “Though I guess you seemed to easily move on, yourself,” he looks back at her, a scowl on his face.
“I get you’re upset,” Powder narrows her eyes. She takes a step forward, and he steps back. “But I was just trying to help.” He deflates at that, shame flashing in his eyes. “I’m still trying to help, so what you’re not going to do is blame me for something I had no control over.”
Ekko sighs. “Right, sorry,” he bites his lip. “I just…” Powder takes a tentative step forward again, and this time he doesn’t move. “I don’t know what to do with all this.”
“I don’t either,” Powder admits. For a moment they stand there, silently taking it all in. It’s hard for Powder to look at the boy in front of her—previously the only version of this boy she’d known—and not think of him, the other Ekko. “But this could be truly revolutionary Ekko, we can’t just let it go to waste.”
Ekko looks between her and the board a few times while she stands there, patiently watching him. “You think we can do this in one night?” he asks, hesitantly.
Powder smiles, reaching up to place both hands on either side of his face. “We may as well be Marie and Pierre, baby,” she grins, leaning in to peck him on the lips. Before she can pull away, Ekko wraps his arms around her to hold her in place and deepen the kiss. Though surprised, she falls into his rhythm easily, smiling.
Powder notices how Ekko clings to her, a note of desperation to keep her in this spot. She entertains him for a moment, lightly trailing her hand down his bicep, before placing her hand on his chest and pulling away. She doesn't miss how he chases her lips, though ultimately lets her put the distance between them. She’ll never complain about any affection she receives from Ekko, but something about the kiss felt off, different to what she has come to expect from the boy.
“Are you okay?” she regards him with a creased brow, straightening the collar of his shirt. “We’ll have time for that once we actually have something to show for tomorrow,” she teases, watching him blush.
“Yeah… we should–uh…” he coughs, pulling away from her. Powder tilts her head, giving him a funny look. “We should get started then.” He steps over to the chalkboard, rummaging through blueprints on the bench below it.
“Don’t worry,” Powder follows, walking up next to him. “We can do this,” she reassures him, covering his hand with hers.
He looks down at their hands. “Yeah,” he agrees. “The Pilties won’t know what hit them,” he smiles for the first time since his return.
Powder grins back at him, bumping his shoulder before moving away. “Okay, the first order of business: you go get those blueprints from Benzo’s and I'll see if I can get us coffee.”
At three hours in, they’ve made some significant progress. With a bit of reworking, they’ve discovered that the device can be wired to create energy, even without the use of the hextech crystals. They’ve spent the last hour dissecting the alternate Z-Drive’s schematics, arguing over how much of its properties they could realistically replicate with the resources they have, while changing the goal from time-warping to energy creation. Powder had the idea to route the device’s output through a modified circuit that mimics the Z-Drive’s feedback loops, but Ekko had to tweak the parameters to stabilize it.
Still, they’re getting tired. Powder had already spent the day tinkering with prototypes for unrelated projects, and now she’s pushing into the early hours of the morning. The coffee is starting to fail her, her fingers are cramping from tightening screws and rewiring delicate components, and her shoulders ache from hours hunched over the workbench. She hasn’t pulled an all-nighter in a long time, and her body is quick to remind her of that fact.
Ekko and her took a while to find their rhythm again, but they managed to get back to their usual routine. They’ve still got lots to talk about, but she’s willing to put it aside for after the competition. The last thing she wants is for any of the past weeks to have affected their relationship, but this competition could be life-changing.
“Pass the hammer, will you, Pow?” Ekko holds his hand out toward her, sprawled beneath the device as he carefully threads wires into place, his fingers blackened with grease and solder. Powder moves without a word, leaning down to place it in his hand distractedly as her mind is still focused on the circuit she’s been tweaking. She doesn’t release the hammer until she feels his grip, though as she does, it seems to fall out of his hand anyway, causing a loud clatter on the ground.
She looks down, startled, meeting his eyes. “You okay, butterfingers ?” she grins at him, reaching down to pick the hammer up when he makes no move to. “You’re lucky that didn't land on my foot.”
“You’re wearing the necklace,” he says, still staring at her, making no move to grab the tool. Powder frowns, looking down to see the piece of jewellery has slipped out from under her vest.
“Oh– yeah,” she blushes, slipping it back down her collar to avoid it swinging around while she works. She coughs. “Did you still need the hammer or…?” He takes it from her silently, and Powder focusses back on the task.
“So, you like it,” Ekko says after a few moments have passed. Powder looks at him, raising her brow in question. “The necklace… I mean, you must have if you’re wearing it,” Ekko passes the hammer back and forth between his hands. He’s got that tone of voice he has when he’s trying to sound unbothered, but Powder knows him too well to buy it.
“I… guess,” she says, unsure. “Is that a problem?” When Ekko had given her the necklace, she wasn't one hundred per cent certain that he wasn't her Ekko yet. She of course had her suspicions but part of her was still questioning if she was going insane. With everything that had happened tonight, she’d completely forgotten about it.
“No,” Ekko says quickly. “No problem here,” his voice strained like there was a problem. He busies himself by lightly hammering at the base of the device. “It just seems to be getting in the way.” he puts the hammer down. “A bit big don’t you think?”
“A bit big?” Powder repeats, “Didn’t realise you were suddenly a jewellery connoisseur,” she laughs, raising a brow. “You pierce a boy’s ears and he suddenly thinks he knows everything,” she huffs a laugh, though Ekko doesn't respond as he stares blankly ahead. She narrows her eyes. “I can take it off if it’s bothering you,” she goes to untie the back of it.
“No, don’t,” he waves her off, looking back at her, “it’s fine, really,” he shakes his head. “You like it–so you should wear it.”
“Ekko,” she turns to face him with a sigh, “what’s wrong with the necklace?” she nudges him with her foot.
“Nothing,” he shrugs, standing up. “Look, just forget I said anything,” he brushes himself off, taking a step back to look at their machine in progress.
Powder hums. “Nice try–but I don't think I will,” she spins around on her stool, looking up at him through her lashes. “You should know better than to think I would just let that go,” she stands up, stepping into his space. “So spit it out, we are far from finished with this thing, and we're burning metaphorical daylight.”
Ekko crosses his arms, brushing her off. “I said it’s nothing,” he pouts. Powder gives him an unimpressed look. “Don’t look at me like that.”
Powder pokes him in the chest, and he yelps. “Come on, dude,” she pokes him again. He takes a step back, though she only steps forward with a mischievous grin. “Tell,” poke, “me,” poke, “what’s,” poke, “wrong.” Ekko laughs, backing away while she continues to stalk toward him. She manages to back him up against the railing. “Where are you gonna run now?” she smirks.
With one fluid movement, Ekko grabs onto her and spins her around to swap their positions. Powder laughs in surprise as her back falls against the metal, holding firmly onto his arms. “You were saying?” he grins at her.
“ Hey–that was cheating,” she pushes at his chest playfully, “and hot.” At his smug grin, she kicks her foot up, stubbing his toe. He reels back in pain and she clings onto his arms tighter before he can move too far away from her. “Two can play that game.”
“You know what?” he hops on one foot. “Everyone thinks you’re this angel. I've been threatened by Claggor and Mylo, and lectured by Vander and Silco multiple times on your behalf!” he steps back, dragging her with him by the hand she still has on his bicep. “But where’s the concern for me?”
“Awh, you poor baby,” Powder taunts. “It must be so hard,” drags a finger down her cheek. “Do you hear that?” her hand raises to her ear. “The dark void says you’ll be fine,” she smirks, quickly moving to pinch him on his side.
“Powder!” he flinches, his hand snapping to her wrist as he knocks over a canvas. He stumbles a bit and grabs onto the railing as he falls to the floor with a dull thud. Powder is pulled down with him, conveniently landing in his lap where she wraps her arms around his neck. “You’re a public health and safety concern.” She’s laughing at him as she drops her head against his shoulder.
“Didn’t realise being this strong and tough was illegal,” she places her wrists together in front of him. “Lock me up, man.” he swats her arms away, and she drapes them back over his shoulders. “Zauns gonna have to find someone else to be their saviour and fend off the big bad criminals then?”
“Sure–I’d love to see the day you are a big bad criminal.” Ekko laughs. “Zaun really needs saving from the girl who won’t even take money from the ground.”
“Okay–but I do believe that you should only take it if you need it,” she says quickly. “What if by taking that money, it meant the next person that would have seen it missed out on an important purchase?”
Ekko just smiles at her, and she can’t help feeling a little gooey on the inside at the look he is giving her. She shakes her head, realising he’s managed to distract her from her original point.
“Okay, Mister,” she leans back to look him in the eye. “Enough delaying it. Out with it.” Even as he rolls his eyes, he still wraps his arms around her.
He sighs, knowing there’s no way out of this. “It’s stupid,” he reaches out to hold the pendant that has slipped out again. “It was nice of him to do–the other me,” he meets her gaze. “It just feels like there was this cool guy here making moves on my girl,” he admits, embarrassed. “And she liked it,” he hangs his head.
“Ekko,” she coo’s at him. Her fingers find his chin and she gently lifts it, meeting his eyes again. “You’re so cute.”
Ekko blushes, swatting her hand away. “Okay–that’s the last time you're ever getting anything like that out of me,” he tries to pry her off though she immediately protests, pinning him to the ground.
“No– I’m sorry,” she whines. “I’m not mocking you, promise,” she brings a hand up to rest it on his cheek.
“Well, it sounds like it,” he huffs, glaring at her. She laughs, then covers her mouth with the back of her hand, noting that it probably isn’t helping her case.
“There’s no need to be jealous,” she says rubbing her thumb against his cheek. “Especially of you,” Powder bites her lip to suppress her smile.
“I know that.” Ekko leans his head back against the railing in frustration. “It’s just a weird situation, I don't know how to feel about it.” He rubs his eyes. Powder grabs his hands and entwines them, letting them fall against her lap. “I remember the dance you shared and how he felt.” His admission makes her feel all sorts. The confirmation that the night meant something to Ekko just as much as it has to her is nice.
“So, you’re obsessed with me in every universe?” Powder kisses him on the cheek. “That’s sweet.”
“Powder,” there’s an edge to Ekko’s voice. “I’m being serious.” he stares at her, tension clear on his face. Her smile drops. “I feel like I'm going crazy,” he mumbles, and she frowns at him.
“Okay, I’m sorry,” she removes her hand from his face. “I just don’t understand what the problem is here,” she plays with her wristband, a habit she tends to do when she’s nervous.
“I've been gone for weeks, and you've been spending all this time with someone else–making memories…experiencing feelings,” Ekko raises his brow. “Isn’t that a little…weird?”
Powder stares at him for a moment, an unreadable expression. “Ekko–I was with you,” she says slowly. “You’re acting like I was with some random guy,” she frowns as his arms peel away from her waist. “Plus, it’s not like I looked at you and could tell he was from another reality–I'm not a mind reader.”
“But you knew when you kissed him,” Ekko says quickly. Powder shakes her head, slipping off his lap to put some distance between them.
“I didn’t know–I had my suspicions,” she says defensively. “I only knew for certain when I saw the other Ekko in his own body.”
“Well, now you do know, so what does that mean for you?” he stares at her expectantly. “Do you love him?” Ekko asks bluntly, and Powder can only sit there hopelessly, trying to understand why he's upset.
“Well, he’s you,” Powder looks at him, trying to work out the right thing to say. “So yes, of course I do.” Ekko’s breath shudders and he looks up at the roof. A silence sits between them, and Powder already knows it is the wrong thing to say.
“Right,” Ekko simply says, his tone dejected. “Well, that’s that then,” he pushes himself up onto his feet. Powder immediately protests, jumping up and wrapping her hand around his wrist.
“You’re not seriously mad at me, are you?” Powder says, her frustration building. “You’re being unreasonable,” she lets go of his hand.
“I’m not mad–I get it, okay,” he turns to face her. “You were put in a weird situation and handled it the best way you could.” his words, though in theory should sound reassuring, only upset her more.
“Would you have rathered that I didn't love him?” she flings out her arms either side of her in frustration. “You are one and the same–I can’t love you but not him.” Her arms cross in front of her as she stares at the back of his head.
Ekko turns to glare at her, “he’s a different person.” she follows him in tow as he makes his way back over to the machine. “He has different experiences, a different life, a different relationship with you.” He starts fiddling with parts of their contraption.
Powder rubs her eyes. “Okay–so you’re saying if another version of me showed up you wouldn't love her just the same? That all your feeling for this me,” she points to herself, “...would vanish?”
“I don't know,” he shrugs his shoulders. “it’s complicated.” Ekko runs his fingers across the bench. “But this isn't about what I would hypothetically do, it's about what you did .”
Her hand comes to rest on her waist, shifting her weight onto one leg. “Exactly, you don't know what you would do, so how could you expect me to know?” she points at him. “A version of you from a completely different reality just overtook your body and I had no idea what was happening, you have no idea what that feels like.” her voice is rough, frustrated at this conversation.
“You’re right,” Ekko takes a seat on a stool, his head hung low. “I guess I don’t,” he says simply. Powder feels no satisfaction in the admission. There’s no vindication in winning when all she wants is for them to be okay.
She hates fighting with Ekko, if that’s what this even is. He doesn’t sound mad at her, only upset or disappointed–in a way that’s way worse. She’s exhausted, very little fight left in her after the the events of the past twenty-four hours. The last thing she wants to be doing right now is to be stuck in a disagreement.
She can’t muster up a reply and the silence between them starts to stretch uncomfortably. She doesn't want to leave this hanging in the air, but speaking seems to be doing her no favours.
“I didn’t want to argue about this,” Ekko says quietly, offering her a sideways glance. “It’s unfair of me to judge you for the way you acted. You’ve got a lot of love to give–especially for me,” he slowly turns to look at her. “This is just a me thing.”
“I want to understand,” Powder bites at her lip. It’s a new feeling, not knowing how to help him. They've known each other nearly their whole lives and have been together for what feels like forever, yet this is something that neither of them had been equipped for. “If you just explain it–”
“I think it’s better we finish this conversation when we’ve got a level head,” Ekko cuts in. “We’ve been at this for hours and it’s been a long day.” he reaches out to hold her hand tentatively. “Can we do that?”
A part of Powder is screaming at her to fix this right now, not wanting to leave things so weird between them, yet a bigger part knows he’s right and that they’ll keep going in circles at this rate. “Okay,” she agrees quietly, “but as soon as we're all rested, we’re talking this through,” she holds his gaze.
“Promise,” he squeezes her hand as he lets go. “We should also get back to work.” The two of them eye the work they’ve achieved so far. “I can’t believe you talked me into another one of your crazy ambitious ideas.”
Powder sighs, knowing just how much they still have to do. “I think it's time we both accept the mad scientist title.”