Neutral Through Chaos

Chapter 23: A Hesitant Goodbye

I worked away busily, struggling to tear Jinx from my mind as I did so. We had left her behind, despite not exactly having a choice in the matter, guilt still seeped through me. She probably felt abandoned yet again, alone, it was something she had to endure too often. Once at the Cannery and now this, she never escaped it.

"Hey, can you pass the screwdriver over y/n?" chirped the girl beside me.

The Firelight assisting me in repairing the boards' name had introduced herself as Lark. She was also an engineer, an aspiring one who had only just started. Upon hearing my name she was ecstatic, she had heard of my work around the Undercity before. Smiling as I passed the screwdriver over to her, I paused, hearing knocking sounding on the door.

"Come in!" I yelled.

The door screeched open. I sighed in relief as I saw Ekko with Vi and Caitlyn standing behind him. They were safe.

"We're going back up topside y/n, you coming with?" asked Ekko, folding his arms.

This was odd, they didn't seem to have any reason to be going there.

"Why?" I inquired.

My eyes widened as Ekko outstretched his palm, showing a small blue glowing orb. The hextech crystal.

"Why that face y/n? Did you know about it too?" Vi questioned, looking taken aback .

You could say that. Not only did I know about it, (and personally know the inventor and the thief) but I had tried to develop a weapon using its mystifying properties. Why they had it now was another question, but it was better left unanswered.

"I was at that explosion, I heard that Jinx took it," I explained.

"Don't call her Jinx, she's Powder," Vi corrected me.

"Right sorry, I've just known her as that for a while now," I replied quickly, Ekko catching my eye and nodding firmly.

"You're right though y/n, she's Jinx now, there's no changing that," he insisted as he placed the crystal safely into a canister by his side.

Vi furrowed her brows, her jaw set.

"I can get Powder back," she declared.

"Not this again," sighed Ekko.

Caitlyn placed a tentative hand on Vi's shoulder.

"We have to go now, there's no time to argue over this," the Piltovian muttered.

"True," I replied, turning back to Lark as we exited the building.

I had almost forgotten that she was there, overhearing all of this. A vague sense of amusement was displayed on her face.

"And sorry about that."

"No worries," the Firelight laughed, "It's a bit of entertainment I guess."

The four of us all walked together through the home of the Firelights, Ekko and Caitlyn giving me a rundown of the plans in store. They were going to return the crystal, on the one condition that Ekko would be the one to hand it over. On our small voyage, my attention was turned to Vi as I noticed her lagging behind us. She was staring at the ground and glaring as if she was angry at the world.

"Vi," I murmured, "I'm sorry, I hope you can get Powder back. It's my fault, I let Silco take her I could've-"

I jumped as Vi grabbed my arm firmly, her nails digging in.

"Don't you dare say that y/n," she remarked, "It's my fault. I'm her sister, I was meant to be there for her. Stop blaming yourself, you didn't create this new version of her. Silco did, and we'll take him down."