Ekko moved the hair out of her face, hating how his thinking was going. "What do you think? You got an opinion in there how to do this?" he asked her. Letting her speak would be a good idea.
"She won't get amnesty," Sevika added. "As things are submitted about Zaun and her actions, under her own will, she has a shot at it. You lock her up in prison, it'll never look like she's cooperating. Once she's behind bars, that is where she stays."
"Ekko, help me up," PJ insisted. "At a power of ten, I can move safely with more support."
He didn't like that. "I know you want to get to her. She's being comforted right now by Vi. You can comfort her later. I promise."
"I vote for Ekko and the shimmer factory," Heimerdinger said. "Sevika does too."
Ekko made it more clear. "Me with a shimmer factory. Jinx in my employment. It's not a voting thing, it's a no."
"Ekko my lad. I know that things in this universe are different, and far rougher," Heimerdinger said to him. "I am trying to do this the best way possible. Do you understand?"
"No." He wasn't doing it.
"Well, it's clear that you cannot move one person between jail and elsewhere. So, what'll it be?" Heimerdinger asked. "Sitting in jail with Miss Vi, or working with Ekko. Miss Vi or Ekko. There can only be one destination for her. I vote Ekko because her being loose will get things done quicker, and I'm biased. Very, very biased. I now owe 100 years to that village if I don't get my end done in six months."
Ekko looked over and shared a look with Heimerdinger, right before Pajamas started to want to move again. "PJ, be careful."
"I need to get to her." The pain in those eyes. They were discussing whether she was getting sent to jail. Whether they were freeing her as Silco's Jinx. She heard about herself getting split up, and only getting to remember a little. And all she wanted?
Was to comfort that little girl still. "Okay. I'll help."
"Grab the right arm, I'll sit up this way," she instructed.
"Ekko, that's dangerous," Vi protested. "She's too weak, she'll break something."
"Just be careful, Ekko. Not too much bouncing," Heimerdinger said.
Okay. Not quite as fragile, but she'd still need support. She had been waiting to get to Cake. "I'll support her. I got this."
She moved her shoulder upward, slowly around his shoulder. "Support back there. Move this arm to your shoulder." He put his hand more on her shoulder bone. "Stick this arm out this way." He kept listening to how she wanted to be positoned. "Knee." They moved around until she was in a weird position. More of a half recline, her arm around his neck, and her other arm moved outward some. "Hey?" She called to Cake in that weird position.
Cake turned from Vi lightly, her face still covered in tears.
She held out her arm more. "Extra hungry, where's my snack already?"
Cake shot away from Vi's side so fast, and she ran straight toward PJ!
"Easy!" Ekko warned her. "Holy shit, fuck!" That little girl just barreled straight toward her, getting more than a hug! He heard that break.
Her arm broke.
"Don't move her!" Heimerdinger yelled to Ekko.
Yeah, this was bad.
"PJ?" Cake asked worried.
"Don't worry about it, I'll break my arm happily for a hug," Jinx told her as she squeezed her harder with her broken arm. Cake was crying hard again.
Vi came over, trying to hold her shoulder, while Ekko was trying to figure out what to do. That kid just catapaulted on her! He wanted to yell at it, but Jinx risked it.
"Are you okay, Jinx?" Cake asked.
"Totally fine," Jinx lied while Dr. Swords started-
"Fuck off!" Him and Vi yelled at the same time as he started to pry into her open wound.
"Oh." Heimerdinger said oddly. "Oh, I see."
"See what?!" Ekko asked him rudely.
Doctor Swords stuck her blood in his mouth, then reached in his pocket, threw back some of that magic in his mouth, and then opening the corpse of Shield's mouth, kissed her.
"The hell is wrong with you?!" Vi shouted at him.
"Relax, Miss Shields isn't dead yet," Heimerdinger told them. "Swords is trying to give up his life for hers. Be respectful."
Sword took the rest of the magic and splashed it onto the wound of PJ.
Heimerdinger only glared at Swords. He wasn't supposed to be messing with the magic with her.
The woman Margaret came over toward Shields.
Ekko gritted his teeth, seeing her doing the same thing to PJ, digging into her wound. The hell is going on?
"Margaret, you don't have to," Swords said to her as she drank some potion too. She held his mouth and kissed him as well.
She removed her lips. "It's my son's fault."
"But the sins do not go to you!" Heimerdinger yelled at her.
"Okay? Respectably?" Vi asked. "What the hell just happened?"
"Either Mrs. Margaret or Dr. Swords or a combination of them is going to die soon. It's a sort of roulette among villagers," Heimerdinger muttered. "It's complicated and not pretty. Usually used for family in emergencies."
Heimerdinger always answered just about everything. "Is Jinx part of that roulette?"
"No, just those that tasted infected blood with a high power level currently changing. Then they hit it even harder with an overdose of magic. The unevenness in it all will unclog a power level that is stuck."
Huh. "So can it save someone that was previously dying?" He didn't say Shield's name in it.
"Yes, but that unevenness goes somewhere," he said bitterly.
Strange. "Magic is so strange."
"It's not a plaything," Heimerdinger said. "They both knew the risks. There is a higher probability it will be Mrs. Margaret."
Yeah. The lady that Heimerdinger seemed to have a lot of regrets about. Ekko watched Swords hand a book over to Heimerdinger. He took it, but a little forcefully. Change of subject. "Can we get this kid off now?" Ekko asked.
"Hey," Jinx corrected him sharply. "I broke my arm for this hug, so shut up, Ekko."
For the hug. "Did you have to break a whole arm? If you were doing it to put yourself in pain, wouldn't a finger have worked?" He looked toward Heimerdinger and saw a nod.
"Then what the hell, Powder?" Vi asked her. "You could have broken a finger to do whatever you just did."
"I wanted to hug her," PJ moaned. "Cake needed a hug."
Ekko watched as Shield's face started to get more color in it again. She gasped in Dr. Swords arms.
"Momma?!" Cake gasped too.
Shields just stared at Swords for a little while.
Then, Margaret fell to the ground. Some nearby Firelights went to help her, but she was gone. Blood oozed like black tar from her eyes, like what he had seen with Spritz, his Firelight that had died by Jinx's touch. It was starting to burn through the ship. Firelights tried to put down several blankets to absorb the poison without touching it.
It took a lot more than it should have. That stuff was bad.
"Get Shields something to eat and drink," PJ said. "Her absorption level was reset."
"Anatoly didn't kill her?" Ekko asked.
PJ didn't answer him.
Okay, she didn't want to share it. "Does anybody got anything on them?"
Heimerdinger came over toward Miss Shields and gave her some seeds from a box. "Chew, chew, chew. These will help, it'll help with food and a little water. We'll get you more water soon. I'm sorry, Miss Shields."
Shields face looked absolutely horrified like she realized something.
"Still got one incredible Cake over here," PJ said toward her, but she was really starting to falter. "Okay, Cake, I'm gonna have to pull the reigns on this hug now."
Finally! Ekko called for some Firelights nearby to get some of their stuff from an emergency kit. When Cake let go, he held Jinx's arm steady while they started to bandage it.
"It's fine. I'm shimmer itself," she insisted. "It's fine."
Yeah, right. She went unconscious again.
Ekko continued to hold her for some time as they tried to treat her arm. Her weight did stress his body, but he didn't want to risk anything else happening. Her shimmer and magic combination did kick in though. That bleeding had stopped, and her body was already healing itself.
Still. That was insane. She broke her arm for just a hug.
"Do you want me to hold her now?" Vi offered to Ekko. Cake was mainly sitting over by her mother's lying position near Swords in a corner now.
"No, it would be dangerous to move her for something so simple." He looked toward her.
"Are you sure?" Vi asked. "You know, her arm is getting better. Strong magic. She's probably getting stronger."
"She probably is, which means it will mess up her transformations," Heimerdinger warned them. "Be careful."
"Yeah, I can handle it," Ekko said.
"Really, Little Man?" she said to him. "Your not at all bothered that the low neckline of that ripped up wedding dress is right across your chest, with her slumped on your shoulder, probably breathing on your neck?"
Uh?
"You've been really careful, even with her long legs too, haven't you? You've been so good to my sister, Little Man. Constantly holding her against you."
"Tch. Okay? That's her position she put herself into," he said defending himself.
"It's not bothering you?"
"No. Not a bit."
"Okay. You're such a decent guy, Ekko," Vi complimented him. Then she quit bothering him.
PJ's head was slouching against his other shoulder. In the strange position to work on her arm, her arm needed to be straighter, so she was slumped across his other shoulder oddly.
He could feel the breath of her mouth on his neck lightly, and he was beginning to remember that her wedding dress had some kind of fancy neckline, but that neckline wasn't very high, and it had been pressing against him.
And.
Fuck Vi. He had been so concerned, worried, and thinking about other things like her breaking her arm, but now that Vi drew that all to his attention, he could only seem to concentrate on her breath and her neckline and the fact her body was slumping over him, and a lot of Firelights were always watching him and- "Yes." He looked toward Vi. "Yes, take your sister."
"Hm? What is it, Little Man?"
"Take your sister."
"You sure?" she asked. "I just asked and it seemed to annoy you."
Damn, not- "Vi, take your sister."
"That whole position though she's in, Ekko? It could be tricky to safely take her back. You just pointed that out."
"You can figure it out." Damn. Yes. "Vi, come get your sister, I'm tired of doing your job!" He was trying to stay angry.
"I asked twice." Vi didn't look pleased. "Don't be yelling at me."
Jinx moaned by his neck, and her other free hand that was around his neck, moved slightly.
"Vi, get over here and help me figure this out!"
She had the audacity to smile as she stood up. "Aw, Little Man? What's wrong? Suddenly having problems with a woman draped all over you in a ripped dress? Not sending out the right impression to your team?"
"Screw you, Vi." She knew exactly what she was doing. But, yeah, this set a bad impression. It started with just protecting her, but this was all over the place and it didn't look good.
"Hmm. Maybe if I hold this other shoulder . . ."
It took a good five minutes, and help from others, before she was with her sister safely. As soon as she was freed, he took off.
Vi just shook her head and sat back down with Powder. She was groaning, probably from all the movement. "You okay, Powder?"
"What's with all the jostling? Can't a girl just get some shut eye?" She took a second longer to look at Vi. "Why are you holding me now?"
"Ekko had to go."
"Great. I'm being carried like a baby by my big sister now."
"Oh, poor little Powder," Vi teased. "Ekko could only hang on so long. You are a pretty girl in a dress."
"He didn't care. Still better than my big sister holding me. Don't tease me," she warned her.
"I won't tease you," Vi promised. "How are you feeling?"
"Knowing that I'm soon gonna have just a little time to be normal? I'm not feeling real good about it, but I thought I was gonna be fully wiped out. So, I guess I'm happy I'm still here. Even for a bit. Shields prepared me for this, without telling me, I think. I know that they were all me. They are all me."
"You think she did?" Vi asked. "You said something about it once."
"She wanted me to call myself PJ, so I can make the hard decisions as the child I was, and the teen I became, as the adult that I am. Yeah." Powder laid her head against her chest. "She did prepare me. I guess she knew. Hopefully. She'll get to see me succeed in it." Then, she fell back to sleep.