EVEN WITHOUT NAMING YOU

CHAPTER 1

Ekko was alone, once again. The lights of Zaun were dimmer that night, as if even the city itself could feel the heavy melancholy weighing on him. He stood before the city, its streets lit by the faint glow of small stars made from burned paper. But tonight, everything felt silent on his side. He felt neither the warmth of the lights nor the excitement of Zaun's new era. Only a cold solitude, an emptiness that even this victory couldn't fill.

In his hands: a crumpled piece of paper, edges torn, covered in childish drawings. He had drawn it years ago. This paper was his last connection to a past he could no longer relive, yet one he could never fully let go of. It was a reminder of Powder. The paper depicted a version of their world that no longer existed, a time of innocence, of hopes, and of broken promises.

She was there, frozen in the drawing, with her big eyes full of hope.

Powder, before she became Jinx. Before the entire world came crashing down around them, before the war, the betrayals, and the impossible choices changed the person she had once been, forever.

Ekko stood there, his fingers trembling, gazing at the image of Powder with painful attention. He still remembered those moments: the two children, their eyes shining with hope, dreaming of a future they would never have. He remembered the small smile she gave him when she showed him her drawings, the spark in her eyes. It felt like it belonged to another life. A different version of himself.

He had found this drawing in a dusty corner of his old workshop, after he had been forced to flee. All that remained of that bygone time was this fragile memory, barely a vestige of who they had been. A simple piece of paper, but for Ekko, it represented everything he had lost.

Grief was a strange thing.

It wasn't just the loss of a person, but the loss of an entire world—one where dreams were possible, where pain was not yet insurmountable, where Powder was not yet lost. When he had first seen this drawing, he hadn't known it would be the last peaceful moment before everything changed. Before they became enemies, survivors, and finally, ghosts to one another.

Ekko's fingers tightened around the paper, a wave of sorrow overwhelming him, deep and unfathomable. He had done his best to save her, but every decision made, every action taken, had dug a wider chasm between them. Every word he had said, every gesture of comfort, had been useless in the face of the suffering she carried within. He had watched her smile fade, replaced by that wild rage. Jinx. That creature of chaos, the woman he both hated and loved at once, a figure his mind tried to push away, but who always returned.

But Powder was still there, deep inside him, as present as the memory of their childhood.

He closed his eyes for a moment, letting the memories flood him. The scene of their final confrontation, their last gaze. He still heard her voice, full of pain, full of rejection. "I'm Jinx now, Ekko." Those words still echoed in his mind, like a bell tolling. It was her final farewell, her last rejection. He never wanted it. He never wanted this end. But he didn't know how to help her, how to save her from her own madness. He hadn't known how to stop her from getting lost in the darkness.

He hated her and he still loved her.

He found himself staring at the paper in his hands, an inner decision slowly forming in his mind. Every fiber of his being told him to leave this memory behind, to burn it, destroy it, so he could finally move on. He had to get rid of this image of her, this part of his past that prevented him from breathing.

He knew he could never truly turn the page as long as he kept this memory. It was like a dead weight, an invisible chain that kept him from breaking free. But at the same time, the simple act of burning this drawing, destroying it, would be a victory over everything he had lost. He would feel freedom settle in, a bitter relief, but a necessary one.