Ending the Cycle || A Timebomb Fanfic

XXV

SMUT IN THIS CHAPTER!!! WARNING!!!

Sorry I had to, they FUCKING needed it after everything <3

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Four days had passed since Ekko had woken up, and each day, strength crept back into his body like sunlight slowly spreading over a darkened room. His wound no longer bled, the edges of the gash knitting together with the help of a salve given by the sanctuary healers—a thick, pungent balm that seemed almost magical in its effectiveness. Each morning and night, Jinx would help him apply it, her touch uncharacteristically soft and deliberate as her fingers traced the line of the healing injury.

On this morning, pale sunlight filtered through the cottage window, warming the small space as they sat together on the cot. Jinx dipped her fingers into the salve jar, her movements slow and careful as she worked the balm into his skin. Her brow furrowed in concentration, a stark contrast to the chaotic energy she usually carried like a flame that refused to be tamed. The silence between them was a comfortable one, but Ekko's mind was far from still. He watched her—the way her blue hair fell around her face, the softness of her expression as she focused on him—and he felt the memories pressing against his chest, clawing their way up like ghosts demanding to be heard.

He thought of that night. The night on the bridge when the two of them had fought with everything they had. The sound of gunfire rang faintly in his ears, the echo of her screams twisted with the sharpness of her bullets flying past him. At the time, he'd thought she was trying to kill him. She'd fired so many shots, her aim never faltering. And yet... none of them hit.

The realization struck him now with a clarity that nearly made him gasp. She never wanted to hurt him. Not truly. Even then, when he lunged at her with all the fury he could muster, when he knocked her to the ground and pinned her there, fists flying in anger and desperation, she held back. He could see it now—how she let the bomb roll to the ground rather than stick it to him. The metallic jaws of her bomb could've clamped onto his chest, sealing his fate in seconds. But she didn't do it. She let him go.

His throat tightened as the memories sharpened. He remembered the sound of the explosion, the smoke curling in thick plumes around them. The way he'd staggered back, coughing, only to return to her side moments later. She'd been sprawled on the ground, unconscious, the dirt and soot smudged across her face. He'd checked her pulse, his hands trembling as he brushed the grime away from her cheek. She'd looked so small then, so fragile. And instead of staying, instead of trying to bring her back... he left her there. He'd turned his back on her, convinced that the Powder he once knew was gone, swallowed whole by the chaos of Silco's world.

But now—watching her tend to him with such care, her hands trembling only slightly as she wrapped the gauze around his wound—he realized how wrong he'd been. She had always been in there. Buried beneath the explosions, the madness, and the hurt, Powder had never truly disappeared. She'd just been waiting for someone to see her again. For him to see her.

Ekko swallowed hard, his chest aching as the weight of it all settled over him. "Jinx..." he said softly, his voice breaking the quiet like a ripple over still water.

She glanced up at him, startled, her eyes flicking to his. "What?" she asked, her tone defensive by instinct, as if she expected him to say something stupid.

He held her gaze, his own eyes earnest, searching hers for something she might not even realize was there. "You didn't want to kill me that night on the bridge, did you?"

Jinx froze, her fingers halting mid-movement over his wound. Her expression faltered, her usual smirk vanishing like smoke in the wind. "What are you talking about?" she muttered, her voice lower now, cautious.