Zaun
Firelight Base
"Hey, Ekko."
Oh? He turned around and saw Vi. The only enforcer allowed into their secret base. "Vi." He turned around from his work. "What are you doing here?"
"It's your name day, Little Man. Think I'd forget?" she said affectionately. "I brought you something."
Ekko looked at the cake she brought. "I don't really need it."
"Oh. Thought you'd like it," she said. "Not a fan of sweet?"
"No." Not a fan of any Piltovan desserts, period. "Thanks for the thought."
"Okay. Don't suppose you want me to forget the load of food I brought too?"
Oh. Good. The Zaun was still inside her.
"I should have done that last year, but I wasn't thinking," she apologized. "It should feed a decent amount of people for you. Now do you want your cake, or am I going to eat the entire thing by myself?"
Well, for that, he better give it a small bite. If not, maybe Heimerdinger would want it later. If he came back soon. He was gone on some kind of 'adventure' right now, and didn't tell him a thing about it. He would just be back whenever he would be back. Anytime for three days to two years, give or take.
Yeah. Like that's not a gaping hole of time unaccounted for.
"What's that thing?" Vi just noticed his Z drive.
"Just an invention." He took a bite. He never actually told Vi about the other universe. She didn't need to know about it, and even though she was a friend, she was literally in bed with the enforcers. They didn't need anything else.
All he ever said to her about everything was 'he found Jinx at the end of her rope, and wound her back to giving things a chance'. Piltover did not need to know about his awesome machine he made with Heimerdinger.
"Yep, okay, not into that." He sat the treat back down. Way too rich, not his style. He got up to look outside.
Now that was a name day present. The stack of food being shared among the base. "That's really cool of you, Vi."
"It's nothing." Vi shrugged. "I'd do it more often if I came down more often."
"It's the curse of being the friend, yet the enemy," Ekko pointed out.
"Can't be helped. I know where I gotta be."
"Yeah, on the opposite side of Zaun." He knew he shouldn't have said it, but it was true. She should have been fighting with the Firelights, instead she was fighting with Piltover. Logic told him several times he should just tell her to stay away. One wrong move, and his whole home would be discovered.
But, she was Big Sister Vi. To him. To everyone. How could he just tell her to stay away?
Another three days later . . .
Laurent's Village
"What's going on?" Anatoly Jr asked as he walked to his father. He hadn't left the bed. "Mom said you needed to see me?" He watched his mother come in.
"Son," his father said. "My power is weakening. I'm using it to survive now."
No. The last phases already? "Why?"
"Everyone's time is different," he assured him. "I can still walk some too, but the more I waste, the sooner the end will happen. You will be handling the power of the whole village now, until your first child."
Oh no. "I don't want to marry Raven!" Damn.
"Anatoly, Honey." His mother came toward his side. "Raven knows her position. She accepts her position. Let her marry you and do what she must. She was raised here, from the beginning, she is the best to wed."
Ugh. "I don't care about her, Mother. She doesn't excite me in any way. She's just so not . . ." Powder-Jinx. "I want the woman Powder-Jinx. I don't want Raven. She is even a temporary mage now, what could be better?"
"Anatoly, she does not want you," his mother told him. "You have to get over this obsession, marry Raven, and do what's best-"
"Marry the woman you want."
What? "Really? I can have Powder-Jinx, Father?"
"What?!" His mother did not agree. "What are you saying? That woman, you know there isn't-"
"It doesn't matter! What matters now is that he is attracted to the woman that he marries. If he marries Raven, she may be willing, but he's going to poke around with her," his father said to counter his mother. "He wants the other one. Come the wedding night alone, we might already have another power holder at play. Even the children, there's no guarantee all of them will have power. Our first two didn't."
"Yes, but they were still loved while they were here," she reminded him.
"An entire village of people depend on us. He will do better with the one that he is attracted to. I'd rather she not know a thing about village leadership and hold his interest than the other way around right now."
His mother still seemed unmoved. "The feelings are not reciprocated. This is not smart. Anatoly."
"Son," his father insisted. "Do you know the people who are her weaknesses?"
Oh. "Yes, I do."
"You might have to lose one or two. Maybe three, but she will come around to you. Make a list of at least ten. Start with the most expendable. She'll come around."
His mother absolutely stomped out of the room.
"I? I don't want to do that." That would hurt her.
"Maybe you won't have to. She'll already know that messing around with your wishes would be bad. She understands the power, she doesn't need to be here for her whole life to understand how important it all is. She even has something similar herself." He grinned. "Your mother was very attractive, and not the one I was supposed to have either. Love is fickle. When it happens, you have to make your choice."
Right. "I want Powder-Jinx. I've wanted PJ. I did everything I could for her. She does have problems, I am sure you will see that now, but I have used the mental healers, she is on meds, working with the practical sorceress and I plan on curing her soon altogether. I am going to-"
"You will do the best you can, Anatoly. Choose with your heart."
PJ was working on the plan for the Firelight base. She had known, thanks to Anatoly, that Piltover had found the way to the Firelights. Someone had followed a trail behind Vi, and a group of enforcers were planning on a surprise attack hidden from Caitlyn Kirrimman.
Then in the morning, they could just say 'oops, our bad'. Not happening. Anatoly was letting her lead the mercenaries one more time so she could visit home.
"Powder!" Steph practically ripped her back door off. "What do you think? Is this nice enough?" She danced around in a dress. "Anatoly never treats us to such pretty trinkets for free, I'm so excited!"
It was easy to see how Steph had been the monkey before her. "Sure, you are working the look." Shields' monkey Hijinx came around the corner and got onto her work.
"What about these, Powder?" Steph brought some flowers to her. "These?"
"These." Bear came through the door. "You like these better, don't you?" He held up some flowers too. "This one goes with the pink."
Uh? "I don't know, I guess." Hijinx the monkey was getting on top of her head. "Love you, but I've got to be able to see. Go back to your momma." She brought him back down and tried to get him to go to Shields.
She was too busy figuring out a plan for the Firelight base. About three months ago someone would start bursting in and ask her questions about the mercenary wedding coming up. Alicia (Piggy) and Michael (Wolfie) were going to be tying the knot, it had been on the schedule for awhile.
A lot of them were excited getting wedding stuff together for it.
"Have you seen the rings yet?" Bear asked.
Jinx looked toward Bear. "Not yet, Piggy hasn't shown me yet."
"Is she bringing it to show you?" Bear asked.
"Not yet."
They both left so she was able to concentrate again.
They would be getting their own surprise attack. The little traitor that ratted it out, was getting taken care of first. No explanations. No sympathy. That traitor was dead on sight.
"Jinx."
It was a little chilling when Anatoly actually called her Jinx. He always preferred Powder and he had tried Powder-Jinx a couple of times, but he had been calling her Jinx more often. She was holding her pencil in her mouth, so she took it out immediately now that he visited her room. "You could try Hijinx, I feel like a Hijinx today."
"I would like to give you something."
"You give me stuff all the time, I never say no to it," she said. Oh. Right, proper. "Sure, that would be nice. What would you like to give me, Anatoly?"
"Your accent and your manners have really come along," he said to her. "You're . . . everything. You are the most perfect woman I've met."
I know a lot of people that would disagree with that. "Thank you for the sweet compliment."
"You are a fighter, a genius, and a lady all rolled into one."
He sure was laying it on thick today. "Thanks again?"
"I want to give you something."
"An update on Zaun and Piltover? Anything new with my sister? Besides the rat, that's old news."
"There is no update, everything is running smoothly."
"Okay. Actual tools to create?" she added quickly. "Part of that smart thing. I tend to be a lot happier when I can create things." It was an area he would not bend on. "If you like my smarts, you'll get a kick out of watching me work." Yeah, that annoyed him. She added the accent and more manners. "If you enjoy watching me using my intelligence, you would certainly enjoy watching a display of my craft in real time." Anything?
"That's still a no. Let's get away from this topic. Let's move to another one."
She rolled her eyes. "Yes, what is it?"
"You have been doing such a splendid, accurate job of learning everything. You have been wonderful as Dr. Jinx. You were great as a lead mercenary, and you were excellent on the missions distribution. The selections. The teams. Just, everything."
Ooh, she felt him touch her forehead.
"Even this. You are not half as daft as when you first showed up."
Daft? "I'm not daft, and I'm not perfectly right in that spot. You can thank my Sword and Shield more than me."
"You have made great progress. You have made enough significant progress, I feel confident of that."
"Okay, thank you."
"You have worked hard enough on it, that your breaks have become much less extensive, so I believe it's time I tell you. You are meeting mother today."
His mom? She never saw them much, too afraid they'd see something wrong with her. Last time she met them face to face was when she started her stand as Dr. Jinx. "You sure?"
"Yes, and now, I give this to you."
He held out a ring box.
Okay, relax. There's no way it's that. He didn't have permission to actually do that. Sure, he was hiding her condition, but his family would find out about that if he did this. Maybe it was just some trinket ring to profess love or whatevs.
She opened it up and bit her lip.
Hard.
"Father agreed that Margo is out. No more Raven. Finally. What do you think, Jinx?"
"Wow. That's a weapon. I could carve with that." She picked up the diamond attached to the ring. The things she could make with that. "Why are you giving me this ring?" I bet it could carve detail.
"Father is unfortunately in bed. He's sick, and . . . that is another reason you are going to see mother. She can't wait to meet her soon-to-be-"
Don't say it!
"Daughter-in-law."
No. Oh no.
"The doctor said it would take a few years for your head at least, but he could give no predictions on when you would be fully better. You? You've outdone even his predictions. The small amount of shimmer that runs through you, he said it was the perfect dose to not interfere badly with you. It might have had a property of two in there helping you too, so there was extra aid. So. In two years, you have hardly heard any voices, you've been able to control yourself, I trust you fully in public, and you have learned to be a lady. A doctor even, helping other people. Everything you wanted. So?"
"Yeah." Yeah.
"Yes. If we get married, I'm sure we'll have three children in five years or so. Hopefully. We will definitely have to at least keep going to get a power holder, Jinx."
What?! You screwed yourself Jinx! You are out of time! "Spring is pretty early, weddings need to be perfect. Maybe Winter's better. Or you know what? Next spring would be the best. Can't I help with the wedding plans? Ladies like being involved in their own weddings."
"It's just our sweet village, not much needs done. A couple of weeks. Oh, and you should probably invite your sister. What better way to prove you are a better person, than to show off your new village? You have indeed built something new. You can invite a few friends too if you wish, Jinx. Our village will open up for the wedding."
Screw this guy! That's not even a month away. Not Powder, not even PJ, he was calling her Jinx. He always called her Powder or Powder-Jinx. Why was he calling her Jinx? Some people called her ridiculous names because of Shields, but why was he doing that? "What's with the name change there, Anatoly? What's wrong with Powder or Powder-Jinx now?"
"Jinx and PJ are always more exciting names than Powder. Mother and father like Powder. It's too poofballish, when you are anything but a poofball."
Not a poofball. "We've only had like three dates." Three weird and awkward dates. She didn't even need more than one to see they weren't compatible at all. "You know, I always dreamed of having a winter wedding festival."
"A winter festival?"
Yes. "Yeah, you know, we could get all dolled up on that day."
"Well? We are having three to five children," he told her.
"Three to five?" She envisioned children crying in the streets with scribbles of demons overlapping over their faces. Screaming. Laughing.
"I am sure for one of those we can have a nice festival during the winter time for you like a baby greeting event."
She just stared ahead, feeling empty. That's not what she wanted to hear. "Don't think so. I'm fine." Not an option.
He was quiet. "I want you to leave and visit the little shops again with your Moe and Joe after you talk to mother. You can trinket shop as much as you want today."
"Go out. Trinket shopping again, huh? Can I trinket shop some tools?" He actually laughed. "Wasn't joking."
"If you see tools as trinkets, of course you can have one," he mentioned.
"Hey, if I am going to bear all your children and be a great wife to you, then why not buy me some real tools?" He didn't look at her as pleasantly since she said it all through gritted teeth, staring him down wide too. "Sorry. I really miss creating." Like a grenade. Right through your forehead!
"Don't be difficult. You will mother our children while you are helping to run our village."
"Oh. My fault. Miss Overachiever that I am."
He pinched her cheek lightly. "You know what I also enjoy about you? Your face betrays your feelings every single time. It's one of the few joys of having a mentally unstable woman in your life. When you are angry, I can tell. When you are calm, I can tell. Worried. Sad. You can't hide anything from me."
"Just a few tools." Shields. Cake. Sword. He didn't say it yet, but she already knew he'd use them to make sure she said yes.
"I do so much for you, I don't know why you think I'd ever let you go and start doing that. I am going to explain this once again. Your creations of your mess are destructive. It is why everything happened to you the way it did. It is the same reason you do not work with grenades and such."
" . . . I don't need to make bombs, I just want to-"
"Now, go with Moe and Joe. They will take you to mother first. Show off your ring, your new status and enjoy some shopping, Jinx."
Don't call me that! When he said it, it felt like dirt was being thrown upon it. Whatever name he calls me, is going to be the name I end up hating the most.
She didn't want that name to be Jinx.
Especially since she felt like she was Jinx more than ever right now.