Being able to draw again was making the time go by a lot faster. Powder would make pictures of just about anything, animals, places in the Lanes and Piltover, what was gonna be hers and Vi's new life in Demacia. One time, she drew a picture of her and Silco, but that made things turn... bad, and Vi tore it up. After she'd calmed down, she drew one of Vander. Seeing him made her feel a lot better, so Vi put him on the wall next to her head.
Then, there was Caitlyn. She never would've expected her to give Mr. Bunny back to her. She'd figured she'd never see him again, but here he was. And it was Caitlyn who brought him back. She hadn't known she'd killed Caitlyn's mom, and it did make everything from that night make a lot of sense. But... she'd forgotten her. And shooting her had been an accident. Hearing her talk about it, it reminded her a bit of that night she and Vi were separated, when she realized what her monkey bomb had done. Caitlyn felt horrible, she could see that. And she'd told her she looked just like Vi, that they had the same eyes. She'd always felt good hearing that, but no one had said it to her in years, never when she was with Silco. She remembered Vander always said that to her, and it was so good to hear it again. Maybe she and Caitlyn could be friends.
A couple days after Caitlyn's visit, Powder was laying in bed drawing as usual when she heard the door open a little. Probably just Ekko checking on her. "Hello?" said a small voice. Definitely not Ekko!
Powder's head shot up to see a boy in the doorway holding a book. Wha-how... No one was supposed to come back here! "H-hi?" she said uneasily.
He came into the room a bit. "Why are you in bed? It's the middle of the day."
Powder looked at his face. He looked like he was a bit younger than she was when she and Vi were separated. Maybe seven? "I-I got hurt. I can't walk now."
"How did you get hurt?"
Powder looked down. "A-an enforcer... shot me in the back."
"Oh!" He looked kinda... shocked? "I-I'm sorry."
She shrugged. "It's fine..."
He came up right next to the bed. "M-my big sister... got shot."
"Oh, yeah? She okay now?"
"Sh-she's..." His eyes suddenly got big, like he was gonna start crying.
Powder took a breath. That explained the shock, he probably thought getting shot meant automatic death. "I'm sorry. Y-you must really miss her." He nodded. "I have a big sister, too. I can't imagine if... something like that happened to her."
He held the book out. "C-can you read this to me? Everyone else is too busy."
"Mm... Sure." She moved her paper and crayons, and took the book.
"Thanks!" He climbed up onto the bed next to her. "By the way, I'm Sen."
"I'm Powder."
Sen opened the book and started flipping through the pages until he was a little more than halfway through. "This story's my favorite. My sister used to read it to me all the time."
Powder smiled. "Alright... You comf..." He laid down with his head resting on top of her arm before she could finish. She giggled. "Okay." She cleared her throat, then started to read out loud to him.
One story turned into two, then three, and then Sen asked to look at some of Powder's drawings. "Can you do one of me sometime?" he asked after a while.
"Mm... Maybe tomorrow," said Powder with a yawn. "I'm kinda tired right now. Okay?"
"Can we maybe read some more tomorrow?"
"Sure." She closed the book and handed it back to him. "Just... don't tell anyone, alright? I don't really want anyone to know I'm here."
"Why not?"
Powder shifted uncomfortably, at least, as much as she could. "Well, I..."
"Sen!" They both looked at the doorway. Ekko was there looking panicked. "What are you doing here?"
Sen looked at him, then at Powder scared. She put a hand on his arm. Vi always did that to make her feel better when she was scared, she turned to Ekko. "He's okay. He just wanted someone to read to him. He knows he can't tell anyone."
Ekko came over to them. "How'd you find her, Sen?"
Sen looked at Powder, then him. "I-I just saw the door was opened, and... I just..."
Powder rubbed his arm. "He's fine, Ekko." She gave Sen a little smile. He smiled back. "Just a little lonely, that's all."
Ekko sighed. "Fine. I want to talk to you for a minute, though, Sen, okay?"
"Am I in trouble?"
"No. No, you're not. Let's... get out of here, though, so Powder can rest. Alright?"
Sen nodded, then leaned down and backwards, and gave Powder a little hug. "Tomorrow?"
Powder looked at Ekko for a second, then smiled and hugged back. "Yeah. Tomorrow." She messed with his hair as he came up again.
"Okay." Sen got up from the bed smiling, then left with Ekko. Powder smiled a little to herself, then cleaned up her crayons and paper as well as she could before closing her eyes. It was nice to have a friend.
The next day, Sen came back around the same time with his book, but there was also someone else with him. "Uh... Who's this?" said Powder.
"Sam," said Sen. "He followed me here. He wants to listen, too. Can he?"
Powder looked at Sam. He was about the same age as Sen, it seemed. "Mmmm... Sure. Just... don't tell Ekko. He gets worried."
"Why?" asked Sam.
"Because he doesn't want anyone to know she's here."
"Why not? Is she in trouble?" Sen just shrugged, then climbed up onto the bed with Powder like the day before. Sam get up and sat on the edge, Sen picked a story, and they started to read.
After a couple stories, Sam went off to play with some other kids, so Powder decided to do that drawing of Sen she'd promised. It turned out just sitting quietly and posing was not that kid's specialty. He had about a million questions for her, and seemed determined to ask them all. "How long have you been here?"
"A few weeks."
"Are you gonna stay here?"
"Nope. My sister and I are just waiting until my back's all better, the bvb we're leaving."
"Leaving? Will you come back?"
"Well, maybe, but I don't know. If we do, it won't be for a really long time."
"Oh... Can I come with you then?"
"I don't think so. Don't you think your parents will miss you?" Sen went quiet, and Powder looked up from her paper to see him looking down. She sighed. "You're all alone, huh?" He nodded. She thought for a second. "Tell you what. I'll talk to my sister and see what we can do. Okay?"
"Really?!"
"Yeah. I, uh... I think Vi might like me to have a friend there. And she, um... Well, she might be happy to have some help with things." A huge smile lit up Sen's face! "Oh, wait, that's perfect ! I'm about to do your face, just... hold it right there!" He laughed, then kept the smile as she drew it.
When it was done and Sen came to have a look, his smile got even bigger! "You like it?" said Powder.
"Yeah!" He turned his smile to her, then looked over at the wall. "Who's that?"
Powder turned her head the same way. "Oh. That's Vander. He was my, uh... m-mine and Vi's dad. Well, kinda. He found us when our parents died and..."
"Was?"
"Yeah. He's been gone for... a-a long time now."
"What happened to him?"
"He... H-he got kidnapped. Vi and our brothers went to go save him... I-I thought I could... I just..."
"You did this?" Vi was looking at her, shocked and upset. Behind her, she could slowly make out the shape of Vander's body sprawled out on the ground. Vi turned her head down and away from her. "Why? Why did you do this?"
Powder sniffled and felt herself tearing up. "I ju... I... I was..."
Something soft came down on her chest, she startled a little. It was Sen's head, she was back in the bed, he was hugging her. "It was really bad?" Powder just nodded, then hugged back. "You saw it?"
She nodded again. "Kinda."
"You miss him?"
Powder looked at her drawing, then sighed. "Yeah. A lot."
"What was he like?"
Powder thought a bit, then fell herself smile. "He was funny. And kind. And he gave the best hugs."
"Like you!"
Powder looked down surprised, then rubbed his back. "No. Way... way better."
Vi didn't know about the idea at first. She said she'd think about it, but seemed to get really interested when Powder told her about Sen helping her come out of her memories. A few days went by, and a couple more kids showed up to hear the stories, and a couple more, and then a couple more. Most of them would sit on the bed, or on the floor, or in the chair, but Sen always had his special spot right next to her. After everyone else left, they'd always draw, or talk, or sometimes play games he'd bring in. Once, Vi even brought them back some candy from topside to share. Powder had a feeling she was warming up to the idea of him going with them.
It didn't really hit that she hadn't told Vi or Ekko about the kids coming in to read... until Vi decides to come back early one day. Powder was in the middle of a story when she suddenly heard the door opening. She stopped reading, and she, Sen, and everyone else turned and looked to see Vi standing in the doorway open-mouthed. Powder gulped a bit. "H-hey, Vi!"
"Hey, Powder," Vi said slowly. She moved her eyes from her to the kids on the floor and bed. "Uh... You... made a friend. Or... seven."
"Yeah, I, uhm... Th-they kinda just..."
"We just wanted to hear the book," one of the girls broke in. Some more of them said the same. Vi didn't say anything, just kept looking around the room.
"It started out as just us, but then, I guess word got around," Powder explained.
"Uh-huh." Vi's face started to look just a bit scared.
"Can we hear the rest?" said a boy. Vi turned to him, then slowly nodded and sat down on the floor. Powder went on reading.
When the story was done, Vi got up and sent all the kids out, even Sen. He looked pretty hurt as he got up and headed to the door, so she told him he could come back in a few minutes. After he left, Powder watched Vi close the door, come over, and sit on the bed. Powder laughed nervously. "Uh... How was work, Vi?"
Her sister seemed to ignore the question. "Are they the only ones that know you're here?"
"Yeah. I think so."
Vi filled her cheeks with air, then let it out really slowly. "No more than them. Okay? No one else can know you're here."
"Vi, it's fine. Don't worry."
"I have to, Powder. If someone... I mean... Someone could find out you're here, and..."
Powder put out a hand and touched her arm. "It'll be fine."
Vi sighed, then put a hand on her cheek. "I just want you to be safe until we can get out of here, okay?"
Powder smiled. "Been a LONG time since that's happened, you know?"
"What?"
"Since I've really been safe. You know?"
Vi rubbed her cheek, then bent forward and kissed her forehead. "Soon."
The next few weeks went by pretty quickly. The kids always came in to read during the day, though Ekko had to divert the attention of anymore who tried to follow them. When the rest of them left, she always had Sen to play and draw with. Maybe this was what having a little brother was like. Sometimes, Ekko would come in, and it didn't take Sen long to figure out what was going on with them. It still kinda caught her off guard when he asked if they were gonna get married, though. Neither of them really knew how to respond to that, but Powder eventually came up with, "Maybe someday". Of course, that just led to him excitedly telling Vi that, "Powder said she and Ekko might get married someday!" The look on her sister's face was priceless, and Powder was torn between awkwardly explaining and holding back laughter!
Before too long, the day came where Ekko took the dressings off her back and told her that the wound was all healed up. They spent most of the morning working on the design for her new wheelchair. When Sen came in, he wanted to help, too. By now, they'd already figured out all the hinges to fold it up and the straps to keep her in, so they let him help decide what to make the chair look like. After a few ideas, they decided it would be a big mix of purples and pinks and blues and greens, and that it would have little stars all over it. Sen's idea, 'cause she liked stars.
"I'm gonna be painting a lot for this," laughed Ekko when they were about done. "That it?"
"Oh, her name!" said Sen. "We have to put her name on there, so people know It's hers!"
Powder bit her lower lip. Her mind went back to the tea party again, the chairs. It still hurt to think about most of that night, but maybe this... Yeah. This was right. "Yeah. He's right. It needs my new on it. Where's the..." She spotted a light pink crayon by her leg, picked it up, and scrawled the letters on the backrest.
"That's your name?" said Sen looking at the writing.
Powder smiled and ruffled his hair a bit. "Yeah. Here, look." She put a finger up and pointed to the letters one at a time. "P, O, W, D, E, R. Powder."
"Cool!"
Powder nodded, keeping her eyes on the word. That was her name, her chair. She could...
"Well, I'd better get going on this then," Ekko cut into her thoughts. Powder looked up at him, gave a nod, and he left with the design.
The next few days were pretty exciting. Now that her wound was healed, Vi felt better about letting her sit up more, and even helped her into the chair when she got back from Piltover. In the mornings before Sen got there, she started asking Ekko for some parts and tools, and started to make some little toys for him. She thought he'd like having some things to play with when they got to Demacia. Most of them, she made to look like his favorite animals, and made them jump, or run, or even follow each other in the case of a family of ducks. A couple of them, though, she decided to make a boat, and an air ship, and she tried to make a little man on a bike, but couldn't quite figure it out. When she heard him coming, she'd have to quickly hide what she was working on. She loved the thought of surprising him when they got to their new house.
Then, one night, a little more than a week after the bandages came off, she was sitting in bed talking to Vi as they ate dinner, when Ekko knocked on the door. "Delivery for a... Powder?" he joked quietly.
Powder giggled. Vi quickly got up and opened the door. After a bit of scolding about joking like that out in the open, she let him in. A second later, Powder saw him pushing her wheelchair up to the bed. It looked even better than the picture! It looked like a part of the night sky, like something right out of the paintings she'd seen of Targon! It was beautiful! "Wow..." she breathed.
"I just finished painting it this morning," said Ekko. "You like it?"
"It's amazing!" She looked at the colors and stars all along the arms and up the back. When she got up near the top, she stopped and looked for a long time at the neat pink letters across it. "C-can I..."
"Of course!" said Vi coming back up to her. She pulled the blankets off her, then picked her up out of the bed.
As she was lifted towards the seat, that night came back to her again. It felt weird to think about now. She'd saved Vi... from Silco, who she knew lied to her... and was trying to keep them apart... and had done something to her with shimmer that, as it turned out, had been killing her... And that had made her feel like she had to be...
She stopped moving. She was in the chair now. "Okay! There we go," said Vi. Ekko helped with strapping her legs, waist, and chest in, a lot, but needed with her having no control over so much of her body now. When it was done, Vi looked at her and smiled. "Alright. Go on and try moving around a bit."
Powder gave a nod, then grabbed the wheels and started pushing herself around the room. She laughed. "Ah... Freedom!"
Vi shook her head and looked at Ekko. "What have you done?"
Powder grinned widely and wheeled over to her sister. "And you thought you'd never have to chase me again!"
Vi looked down and gave her a little smirk. "Yeah, well... There's always this." She put a hand out to tickle under her chin.
Powder quickly backed herself up a bit! "HA! You have no power over me!"
Vi turned and came over to her with a kinds sinister look on her face. She reached forward a little, and Powder heard a tiny "click". As Vi started to walk around behind her, she tried to go forward again, but... couldn't? The wheels wouldn't move. A second later, she felt Vi's hands clapping down on her shoulders. "Oh, I don't, huh?"
For just a second, the words, "The breaks" popped into her head, then she was being tickled and couldn't stop laughing! If her legs could've moved, she was sure she would've kicked Ekko! "EKKO!" she said between laughs. "EKKO, HELP ME! SHE'S TORTU..." She couldn't get the rest of the word out! He just laughed a bit.
After a minute, Vi finally stopped, and wrapped her arms around Powder's chest. "No power over you, hm?" she said smiling, putting her head on his shoulder.
Powder slowly caught her breath and looked up at her sister. "You... Y-you're crazier than me, I think."
"Yeah... I'm a total maniac, aren't I? You gonna start calling me Jinx, maybe?"
Powder gave another little laugh. "No. Trust me, you don't want to be Jinx. I didn't even... want to be Jinx. I mean, that was... I-it was pretty lonely. I-I was..." She looked down.
Vi gave her chest a little squeeze. "Well, you'll never have to worry about that again."
Powder put her hands up and rubbed her arm, then closed her eyes smiling. "Didn't think I'd... be able to switch chairs, you know?" She giggled. "Just needed you to help me into it, I guess."
The next second, she felt Vi kiss her cheek. "I always will."
Of course, the kids all wanted to have a ride on the cool, new chair. Sen was super pleased and excited with how it came out, and before they left, everyone had to have a turn at pushing it around the room, and at riding in Powder's lap. Some of them were too short to see over the back, though, so she had to constantly be doing her best to keep from crashing into the walls... at least a little. When it was all over, she was pretty amazed none of the paint had come off.
The next few days were all about making t travel plans and arrangements. Vi had saved up what was, "surely more than enough money" for the three of them to get by on until she could find a job in Demacia, according to Caitlyn. With Vi's muscles, she was convinced that any farmer would be more than willing to take her on as a hand. Speaking of Caitlyn, she showed up one day with a fresh, new set of clothes for Powder to change into. That was something Powder had never really thought of before, she liked her clothes. Everyone had seen her in them and would know her as Jinx, though, and the new white shirt, brown pants, and purple vest at least felt really nice, and covered up her tattoos. She liked the boots Caitlyn picked out, they matched the vest and she actually thought they looked pretty cool. She finished the last of the toys she'd wanted to make for Sen, for now anyway. Ekko was happy to hide them in his room, and told her she could keep the tools. She figured she'd probably get more ideas once they were there, maybe for even bigger ones! Vi surprised her one evening by getting her a silky blue blanket for her legs. It was softer than just about anything Powder had ever felt, and it looked WAY better than seeing all the straps holding her legs in place.
The night before Vi's last day as an enforcer, Powder was suddenly waken up by Sen opening the door. She was startled at first, but relaxed once she saw it was him. "Hey, buddy," she said quietly enough to not wake up Vi. "What's going on, you have a bad dream?" He nodded. Powder shifted towards the wall as much as she could. "Well, come here. Come on, it's okay." Sen hesitated for a second, then closed the door behind him, came over, and climbed up into the bed. "There we go. Now... you wanna talk about it?"
"M-maybe later."
Powder looked at his face, it was pretty clear he'd been crying. She wiped his eyes. Not as easy without her splints on, her hands hadn't stopped shaking as much as they'd been hoping, but it was still doable. "Was it scary?" He nodded. "Oh..." She hugged him then reached to the other side of her. "You wanna hold Mr. Bunny for a while?"
"Y-yeah."
"Okay." She pulled him over herself and gave him to Sen. He looked a lot more comfortable once he was holding him. She smiled and ran her fingers through his hair.
"Powder?" he said after a few minutes.
"Yeah?"
"When you can walk again, can I ride on your shoulders sometimes? My sister used to let me do that? I really miss it."
Powder bit her lower lip, then swallowed hard. "Sen, I... I-I'd love to, but... Well, I..." She sighed. Why was it so hard to get out? "I'm... never gonna be able to walk again, Sen." Her chest tightened up a little as she said it. She'd known that for a long time, but... having to say it just made it feel... more real, for some reason.
"Wh... Why?"
"Well..." She tried to think of a way to explain it that he would understand. "When I got shot, it... Well, it's kinda like... like it killed part of me. It's like everything below here is dead." She pointed to right under her chest.
Sen sniffled, then put his head on her chest and rubbed the spot she'd pointed to. "I-I hate that enforcer!"
Powder rubbed his back. "No, no... It was an accident, she... She was actually trying to help me." He looked up at her. "She's actually really nice, she just made a mistake."
"Are... A-are you sure?"
"Yeah." She kissed his forehead. "Besides, it, uh... It takes a lot out of you, you know? Hating people. You do it too much, you... don't have enough in you to do anything else, and you end up just hating everybody."
"Well, I could never hate you or Vi."
Powder couldn't help smiling. "You know, I... I'll bet Vi'll give you rides on her shoulders if you ask. She's really good at it, she used to do it with me when I was little."
Really?!"
"Yup!" Sen gave a big smile, then yawned. Powder giggled. "I think it's time for somebody to be getting back to sleep."
"But what if I have that dream again?"
Powder looked around trying to think for a minute, then saw her drawing of Vander on the wall. "You know, um... Seeing my dad up there... Well, it's been making me feel better when I've started getting nervous. Makes me feel like he's... still looking out for me... even though he's gone. Maybe I could... do one of your sister for you? Would you like that?"
Sen's face lit up! "Yeah!" Vi groaned a little.
"Shhhhh... Alright. My paper and crayons are under the bed. Do you think you can help me with my hand splints?" He gave a quick nod, then quietly got her things out for her.
After her splints were on and she had her paper and crayons out, he started telling her what his sister looked like. The more she drew, though, the more uncomfortable she started feeling. This kinda looked like... Nah, it couldn't be! Well, technically, it could, though. She'd killed a lot of people, she could've... "That's what my bad dream was about," said Sen as she was finishing the girl's eyes.
Powder looked up a little. "What?"
"Th... The girl that shot her. Ekko said she's... killed a lot of us. Everyone here is afraid of her."
Powder swallowed hard as she finished the eyes, but nothing went down. "Oh... Wh-what color for her hair?" He handed her a light pink. "S-so, you know who it was, huh?"
"Ekko... says her name is Jinx."
"Nice!" laughed Mylo. "Well, there goes that!" He felt louder than he'd been in a long time. Powder tried to ignore him and just finish the drawing, but he kept getting louder, it seemed.
"Sh-she was looking for me. I tried to hide, but... she found me! She asked me if... i-if I wanted to see my sister again. Then, she..." He hugged Powder tightly, hiding his face.
"Giving kids nightmares... Typical Jinx," teased Mylo.
Powder clenched her teeth and held Sen super tight. "Th-that's not gonna happen, okay? Jinx... Jinx isn't gonna get you. She's not... Sh-she's not gonna get you."
It felt like forever, but she finally got the drawing done. Sen couldn't stop looking at it, he love it. "Can she go up next to Vander?"
"I-I'll ask Vi to do that in the morning, okay?"
Sen nodded, then smiled down at his sister. "She can watch me now, right?" She barely nodded. He helped her get her splints off and her things put away. She hardly noticed. He laid down next to her with Mr. Bunny in his arms. "Good night, Powder."
"G-good night, Sen," she made herself say as normal as possible.
He smiled sleepily. "I love you."
That caught her off guard, she looked at him. He was already asleep. He looked so happy! "Aw! Kid doesn't even know you murdered his sister!" said Mylo. She grabbed at her head, then her eyes fell on the picture. The girl's eyes felt like they would burn a hole right through her! Her throat almost felt like it was closing up. Mylo wouldn't stop teasing her about it, she didn't even try to fall back to sleep.
YOU ARE READING
Prison Break
FanfictionThe most wanted criminal in Piltover, the infamous Jinx, is finally captured, much thanks to the sheriff's partner, Vi. Unfortunately, it happened accidentally, and just as Vi had learned her sister was seriously ill, and was finally starting to ge...
