jinx's new life

5: zaun (ekko)

The breeze blew through the tree as he sat on the ledge. Today was a quiet day, it was always strangely quiet since Silco had died. The only problem they had to face were the chem barons and the occasional enforcer travelling down the lanes, that wasn't as common since Caitlyn became sheriff with Vi as her partner. But lately it has been even quieter, Jinx hadn't shown up in a while. She would usually blow something up at least once a day sometimes once a week if she was busy working on something big. He had to admit it was concerning that she hadn't shown her face in a while. Was she avoiding him?

She had been acting weird since that night. Maybe he should have said something instead of pretending it never happened. At the time he didn't know how to act. He knew shouldn't have drank with her that night and maybe he should have stopped her when she kissed him. But he didn't regret it. He had a crush on her since they were children but he thought he had buried his feelings years ago. Powder was dead. But could he like Jinx? It didn't matter, she didn't like him back. She thought it was a drunken mistake, she proved that when she disappeared the next morning he remembered waking up to the empty space on the roof, surrounded by empty bottles. She probably regretted it. It didn't matter now, he had a job to do.

________________

He was patrolling the lanes. Nothing out of the ordinary. Just random drunks and addicts laying on the streets. The chem barons were weaker without Silco, Most zaunites were split on who to support. Most ran to the person with the most power. Power was the only thing that had any influence in zaun. It gave you respect.

He had gained the respect of many people but that didnt stop some from still seeing him as a child. If he was being honest he never wanted to be a leader. He was forced into him when he was young. He didn't have a choice. But that was just how life in zaun is. He didn't want another child to go through that. He wasn't going to stop until he succeeded. He was going to make a better zaun. The zaun he and Powder dreamed of together.

Jinx still hadn't appeared. He knew he shouldn't care about her. She didn't care about him. But the thought of her dead in some alley scared him. He needed to know if she was ok. Even if she tried to kill him, he had to know.

The lanes were mostly empty apart from the few stalls and homeless people on the streets so he could just sneak away for a bit. But where would he even start looking? He didn't know where she lived. Would she go to the places they used to when they were kids? He would check them first, even if she wasn't there maybe there would be clues to were she was.

He made his way through the streets desperate to see the familiar blue braids. The feeling of worry and confusion increased as he searched. The streets lacked the obnoxiously bright graffiti tags. The more he looked the more he noticed the way the streets were missing the presence of Jinx. The coloured paint would occasionally be washed away to protest against Jinx's chaos. But that wouldn't last long, she would always re mark the walls with her signature art. Something definitely wasn't right.

He ran looking for any trace of Jinx. Briefly stopping outside the old clubhouse as a wave of nostalgia rushed over him. The glass was still scattered across the floor. He carefully walked in, ignoring the sound of the glass crunching under his boots. It was the same as they left it apart from a few fallen things and broken metal. He started his search, slowly looking through everything that could give him answers.

He looked over at the floor to see the skeleton of a bird. It wasn't there when he was last here. But that was years ago and it had been proven many times that things can change.

He wandered deeper into the building. He could remember all the good memories made here, a once bright and happy place left decaying and broken. He remembered fixing the machines with Powder, the petty argument and insults Mylo would offer. He remembered all the times he would sit with Powder, his blushing face and Claggors knowingly smiling. Vi would be on the boxing machine, no one could get her off it apart from Powder. The boxing machine, as he looked at the top of the scoreboard his eyes locked onto the second place.

Pow 4406

She had been here. He didn't know when, but it was still a clue. There was a thick coat of dust covering the machine, so she hadn't been here in a while. Where else would she go? Jinx didn't have any other friends, did she? Would she go to Vi? Probably not but maybe Vi knew something anyway. That would be his next stop. Piltover.

________________

Hiding from the passing enforcers, he jumped from roof to roof. Trying to stay out of view from any onlookers that might draw attention. He easily spotted the place he was headed. He climbed through the unlocked window into the sheriff's office. Surprisingly, Caitlyn wasn't sitting at her desk, the organised pile of paperwork still sat on her desk. Looks like he'll have to wait for them then.  The two of them were always together. If they weren't standing next to each other they wouldn't be far apart.

He waited for 10 minutes before he heard the sounds of boots approaching the office. The distant voices of Vi and Caitlyn getting louder as they got closer. The door was pushed open to reveal the talking women. Their conversation stopped as they stared up at him in surprise. It didn't take long for the shock on Vi's face to morph into a smile.

"Little man, what are you doing here?" She spoke as she wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug.

"I was wondering if you've heard anything about Jinx" the smile on Vi's face changed once again to one of sadness.

Vi was about to speak but caitlyn cut her off first "No she hasn't been to piltover in months. We haven't heard much about zaun. Isn't she there?"

"I haven't heard from her either" ok so she hasn't been in piltover. That narrowed down the options by a lot. "Do you know anywhere where she might have gone?" He looked desperately at Vi as he spoke. She was the only person that might know something.

"No, It's not like her to lay low for so long" Vi was right. He knew Jinx was unpredictable but this was out of character for her. "You don't think something happened to her, do you? I know she can take care of herself but she has a lot of enemies"

He didn't know what happened to her but one thing was for sure, he was going to solve this. "We're going to find her" the determination was clear on his face. He had lost her once he wasn't going to lose her again.

"I'm helping too little man, she's my sister and I'm not giving up on her again" Vi stated with her usual confidence

That was then followed by caitlyn's voice "Then I'm joining too, we'll solve this together"

He knew the firelights wouldn't want to help and he couldn't blame them. Jinx had killed most of their friends. But he had Vi and caitlyn's support and that was all he needed.

They were going to find Jinx and bring her home.