The Sixth | Ekko

Chapter Twenty-Six

Ekko went through his days with a lowered sense of awareness. His mind was so full of thoughts about Momo and what happened that he tended to zone out during conversations, having to ask them to repeat themselves. He found himself bumping into things, like doorframes and corners of surfaces. He even attached the wrong piece to a gadget he was tinkering with, mind so gone that he wasn't fully able to comprehend his actions.

He threw the contraption down in frustration and glared at it. Eventually his arms folded in front of him atop his workbench and he rested his head against them, staring aimlessly at the wall. His gaze eventually shifted, spotting Momo's Stillwater folder poking out from under his bed.

Ekko felt ambivalence whenever he caught a glimpse of it now. He wanted to finish reading it, but in doing so knew he'd be delving into her past again without her permission.

Before, this hadn't bothered him. He thought he was justified in snooping around behind her back, because he thought he was helping her. When really, he should've used the opportunities he had during their lessons to ask her about it himself instead. He betrayed her trust, and it caused him to make assumptions that shredded the brittle relationship he had with her.

It wasn't the first time he made erroneous assumptions. He did so with Vi when they first reunited, believing she might've been affiliated with Silco, and again in the alternate timeline when he asked Powder if she was the one who killed Vi. He almost ruined his alternate self's relationship because of it.

But this time, he couldn't paint a mural to make it up to the one he wronged. He wasn't sure if there was anything he could do at all to make it up to her.

But he tried.

Well, he tried to initiate it at least.

Every day, he would try reaching out to her through the walkie talkie three times, the same times every day.

He never received a response.

He stood from his workbench, ignoring the file before collapsing onto his bed.

A month passed without hearing from Momo. Then another.

At one point, his concern grew so suffocating that he found himself standing in front of Ms. LeLock's counter in her shop. He needed confirmation that she was okay—or alive, at least. He wasn't sure if she'd ever be okay again after what he did to her.

Ms. LeLock's wrinkled face set into an unsavoury scowl, her short fingers stopping their scratching atop Pom-Pom, the cat's, head.

"We're closed," she said.

Ekko blinked.

"But the sign in the window says—"

"I said we're closed, or would you like Teeny here to escort you out? You remember her, don't you?"

Teeny grunted.

Ekko cringed at the repeated threat but stood his ground. "Look, I just want to know if Momo—Six is doing okay," he said, having to correct himself and use the name she was known as throughout her community.

"That's none of your concern."

Ekko deflated, a sense of hopelessness rising within him. He came here out of desperation after failing to receive a response from Momo for so long. He hadn't wanted it to come to this, instead intending to not overstep by approaching her or her people in person. But once his concern reached debilitating levels, he couldn't stop himself.

"But—"

"Leave."

Ekko felt something within him pull tight before tearing and snapping completely, his patience dwindling into nothing from the elderly lady's refusal to answer him.