Arcane: World Two - AU (Non-binary reader)

X - A Second Chance

Ekko leaps across the bar to hug you. He'd missed you more than you thought. You manage to get him off you: "Jesus little man, can't keep calling you that at this rate"

Ekko has a big, goofy smile on his face: "You're here! In front of me!" he sees the large bandage Silco had used to cover your eye: "What happened to your eye?"

Images of that night flash in your mind, and you shake them off: "Just a stray bullet, nothing to worry about" He just chuckles at you, he's overjoyed at your return.

***

Silco has been unresponsive all day. Sevika has been trying to communicate with him but he hasn't been responding. What you said to him seems to have completely grounded him as he's only thinking about how things would be different if he had tried to be in your life harder.

"Just be there, through everything you can. No matter the cost" Your words entered his mind just as you said them, he can't stop thinking about how your mother cast him away from his child. He wants to blame her but pride in who their child had turned out to be stops him, if he'd been there, who knows how you would've turned out?

Marcus walks into his office: "Silco?" He's never seen Silco like this, so under pressure.

Silco takes a deep breath: "You're a father, aren't you?"

Marcus becomes worried, is he going to do something bad with the information Marcus gives him?: "Yes?"

Silco is staring off into space: "How difficult is it for them to forgive?"

Marcus is slightly taken aback by such an intimate question: "Um, it depends on how you change from your mistake" Silco hears Marcus' words and thinks hard about them.

***

There is a celebration in your name at the bar that night. Everyone's so excited that "the saviour of Zaun" has returned safely. The party is downstairs but you're sitting on the roof up above, staring out at the landscape as you reflect. While staring out into the night, you hear Ekko come sit next to you: "Hey y/n"

You smile at him, trying to make it seem as though you weren't lost in thought: "Hey kid, how's the party?"

He takes a sip of his drink: "It's... fun"

You give him a side-eye: "Come on, what aren't you telling me?"

He takes a deep breath: "When you left, I paused on trying to pursue Powder. I just get the feeling she doesn't like me the way she used to" You think about how your last conversation with him had been about advice for him on talking to Powder. You told him you'd tell him another time. "I just wanted some advice from you, she's your sister after all"

You smile at how much he cares for your sister: "Back then, I'd have given you a long plan and directions on what she does and doesn't like" You rest your hand on his shoulder: "But if you're half the man I think you are, she's already head over heels for you. Follow your heart, Ekko"

Ekko looks like a weight has just been lifted off his shoulders: "Have you ever been in love, y/n?"

Your heart races at the thought of Kara, who you never got to tell how you feel: "I met this girl, in juvie, her name was Kara. She had short blond hair and a small tattoo in the crook of her neck. It was of a butterfly. We did everything together, we were meant to be released together but she didn't make it off the train. She stopped me from being shot, at the expense of her own life" A tear rolls down your cheek at the thought of her, Ekko has a look of worry but doesn't cut in. "We were planning to stay here together, she had been locked up for repeated trespassing in Piltover and didn't feel as though she belonged in top-side"

He sees the pain etched into your face, during your time away, he seems to have stepped up and matured rapidly: "She'd be happy that you got back to us. You got a second chance at life and you're not gonna waste it" 

Vander begins to walk over, you turn to Ekko and finish your conversation quickly: "Thanks, Ekko... now go and talk to Powder. I know you won't fuck it up" Ekko smiles at your words before leaving to return to the party.

Vander comes over and stands by you: "We all missed you, it was a shock to find out your bail was paid" You stay quiet. "Any idea who paid it?"

You look at Vander, scrunching your nose: "You know already. You knew for a long time"

Vander's face drops: "I was trying to protect you from him. Just as your mother did"

You struggle to look at him: "I could've had a father. He could've changed"

He speaks in a somber tone: "People like Silco don't change, I'm sorry y/n"

You feel a tear roll down your face, this one's different, it's cold this time: "I have to try. I don't know if I can forgive you"

He looks down at his feet, understanding your feelings: "I understand"

The old you would've spent the rest of your life avoiding his gaze, trying to remain hateful, but you didn't make it off that train only to ruin this chance at life: "But I owe you an attempt to" You can see a shimmer of hope in his eyes.

He just nods and walks away, leaving you to the landscape of the Lanes.

***

In Silco's domain, the sound of metal scrap, radioactive material, leather, stitching and other manufacturing can be heard as they rattle through the halls. Sevika walks in and looks over his work.

"What's this all about?" She asks curiously,

Silco turns to her, goggles still on his face: "It's a peace offering"

***

At the party, Powder is drinking juice at the bar. She always drinks the same juice from the same cup with the same straw. She feels Ekko tap her on the shoulder, she spins in her seat to face him: "Hey Ekko"

Ekko sits on the stool next to her: "Would you... dance with me?" Powder blushes at his request as he puts his hand out for her. She takes it gently and he leads her towards the jukebox, they dance together for a while. Their moves are clunky and thrown together but they care about being with one another.

***

The night stretches on until you finally feel your bed again, the room is just as you had left it. As you drift off to sleep, the hallucinations go silent. For the first time, you don't feel like you are clinging to an image you don't recognise

***

Meanwhile, in the house of Kiramman, a blue-haired girl receives a letter from the family Oman. She reads it out loud: "My dearest Caitlyn, I regret to inform you that our daughter, Kara Oman, was killed by gang members on her way to being released from a juvenile detention centre"

Caitlyn's heart drops upon hearing this. She and Kara had been good friends until she was arrested on her third strike. She continues reading: "We will be holding a funeral at the chapel beside our house on November Thirty-first. We hope you will join us. Yours faithfully, Charles of House Oman"

She begins to cry over the news of her friend's death. She has been under high amounts of pressure ever since her friend, Jayce Talis, was exiled off academy premises a year prior.