The Sixth | Ekko

Chapter Twelve

The knowledge that Momo was still alive was not something Ekko found himself able to rid his mind of. It was a constant. No matter what he might've been doing, she was there in his head. Her bloodied face, green eyes that attempted to look up at him in her disorientated state.

She was yet another person from his past that had soured, plummeting into the darkness of crime and hate. He found himself wondering what Vander would think of them now. Powd—Jinx and Momo, his two daughters, both having been lost in a world of drugs and violence. One of which had died right after redeeming herself.

With that thought in mind, it was no wonder that he ended up visiting Vander's statue that night.

He was unmasked, not wanting to draw attention to himself as he walked the streets of the Lanes. The same streets he and his friends walked along every day when they were kids.

The Lanes was a complete contrast to what it once was. Crime was harsh enough without the influence of shimmer. But now it had multiplied. Shimmer addicts wandering out in the open, searching for their next fix. Drug deals around just about every corner. Violence. Pain. Suffering.

He missed Vander, and looking up at the deceased man's statue brought an ache to his chest, one that he felt each time he visited. He took a seat on the base of the statue and sat in silence, reflecting on what his life had become. He wondered how different things would be right now if he and Momo hadn't followed that man from Piltover. Hadn't given Vi and the others the tip for that job. It was an ever-present guilt that he refused to let go of. He deserved to feel it. It would be wrong of him to relinquish his culpability. He'd played a role in the destruction of the family. The deaths of his friends and his mentor.

He sat back slightly, looking up at the underside of statue Vander's head before turning his attention downwards. He looked at the place that he signed his own name on the bottom of the statue. He remembered that day. The tears that ran down his cheeks as he grieved for him. Grieved for all of them. He reached out and traced a gloved finger over the sloppy carving, but froze when something caught his eye. A few inches away from his name was the word 'Six' carved into the metal. Six is what Zeri had called Momo during their last encounter, and it's what she signed his coat with. She'd been here. She'd left her mark on Vander's statue too. But as Six rather than Momo.

He wondered about the depth of her new name. Was it like Jinx? Where she abandoned her previous identity to become someone else? Or was it an alias?

If it was an alias, he wasn't sure why she would use 'Six' on Vander's statue instead of her real name.

Weeks went by, and he led the Firelights on countless missions, each of which had the main goal of confronting Momo and her group. He needed to get close to her again. He had so many questions that he needed answers to. But so far, he hadn't had any luck during any of their recent run ins with the group. Momo seemed less set on fighting, and had been acting more defensively, or just avoiding action all together and sneaking around from the sidelines with three other members, while Zeri and Derora fought with electricity and fists.

Even in the instances where he'd gotten caught up in the fights, he was unsuccessful in getting close enough to Momo. She was purposefully keeping her distance from him, and it frustrated him immensely.

He swore that the next time they encountered one another, he would do everything he possibly could to get to her. He needed answers and he was willing to knock her out and drag her away if it meant getting them.

Scar came to him one morning with questions of his own. Ekko still hadn't elaborated on how he knew the woman leader. Their enemy.

Ekko was in his workshop, trying to fix Scar's board after it got blasted by Zeri during their last encounter, when he heard a loud knock on the door. By the intensity of it, he already had a guess of who it was.