Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The mornings were always the quietest part of his day.

The Last Drop was still hours away from opening, so there were no bustling crowds gathering at tables and counters. And his kids still a few hours from waking, nestled a floor below him in their little cots. It meant there was time to clean and ready the bar for the day before having to put on the dad-hat, which he didn’t mind of course, but it was a tiring thing to do from dusk til dawn.

Across the bar, tucked into a little corner, was a jukebox. It was beaten with age, but caringly tended to. He considered playing something to help him relax and prepare for the long and hard day of work, but looked away with a sigh. It wouldn’t do right now anyway, even if it he could get it to work. Not when Claggor and Powder were such light sleepers. Instead, he kept his attention on cleaning the counter tops and washing the dishes, before settling to re-arrange the bottles and accessories below the counter and set up on the wall behind him.

He was so lost in his work that he hadn’t heard the creaking of the boards behind him. The presence of someone only came to him when he heard a chair scoot back a bit. He threw his drying towel over his shoulder and glanced over his shoulder, across the bar floor.

He smiled at the sight of his youngest sitting at one of the tables tucked away in the corner, head hanging low to the table. He made his way around the counter and towards her, wondering what woke her so early. As he approached, he could hear the clank of metal and saw that she was rolling a piece of junk around on the table. Her head was rested on one arm splayed out on the right side, messy morning hair dangling over her face.

Vander pulled a chair out to sit next to her and reached out to stop her hand from rolling the metal piece. “Powder,” he said quietly, soothingly. It was clear something was bothering her. She did not lift her head to look at him. Yes, definitely. Something had happened. “You should go back to bed, get some rest.” She sighed. He let her hand go to pick up the piece of metal and turned it around as he viewed it. “Alright, so you’re up…tell me what’s wrong.”

She lifted her head to look at him finally. Two wide grey-blue eyes lost in a sea of exhaustion stared right back at him. The pale of her flesh gave way to the dark rings around her eyes. Vander first thought it was the lack of nutrition, and tried to get as much as he could for her and the other kids, but try as he might, those dark circles only seemed to get worse for her. Now he wrestled between it being that she stayed so far below in the Lanes, or because she might be sick. He couldn’t handle the thought of it being the later and tried to always hold the thought back.

It was part of that double-sided coin for him. Most days he knew what keeping peace meant for all of Zaun and his little family, but when he had to see his kids go without food and medicine, or whenever he had to bargain and steal to put clothes on their backs—all while Pilties knew nothing but luxury—Vander would wonder if what he was doing really was the best course of action. Living to suffer didn’t seem quite so pleasing when the thoughts were put down on paper and in words.

“I’m not tired,” she answered him in a quiet voice, lowering her eyes. He sat the little piece of junk back down then and looked her over.

There were things that Vander came to understand about his kids since adopting them; their fears and hopes, what made them happy or sad, and what angered them or placated them. It was just things a parent would naturally pick up, but one of the most important and fulfilling parts of his life as a father. The different ways they all needed to be soothed when afraid or angry, or picked up when sad or feeling inadequate or unsure, became an unforgettable and crucial part of his life.

In that regard, the other kids were easier to deal with when they were conflicted with something. Their emotions were like open books, and how to deal with them was just as easy an answer as reading their problems. Vi had an open heart and usually preferred to talk it out; Mylo preferred the mushy stuff to stay shelved, and appreciated the needed words in the least embarrassing method as possible; Claggor was gentle and listened to everything with eagerness, preferring the longest talks to vent or stretch his emotions. In some ways, they were all ready to talk about what was bothering them, even if it took some fiddling on his part. 

Powder though? Powder was another thing entirely. Whenever he could figure out what was causing her distress—sometimes it was Mylo’s teasing and jabs, other times it was the inoperable state of her latest creation, and other times she just seemed to wake up in a state of distress—it was almost always a see-saw between easy solutions and impossible compromises.

On particularly bad days, she seemed absolutely inconsolable; a tiny thing of immense pain, always crying, always alone even when surrounded by her family. On better days, he could get her to smile and laugh through her issues by giving her sugary drinks or candies he stashed away just for her. Anything that might make her smile and forget, even for a moment. But those things he knew were not solutions, not like how he knew them for her siblings. A sweet distracted her certainly—or so he at least hoped—but it didn’t solve her problems. It always came to Vander with a singe of guilt and despair to know he couldn’t understand her the way he could the other kids and that not understanding her meant it was difficult for him to actually alleviate her problems.

He ran a hand through his hair, pushing it out of his face. One of those difficult days, it seemed. “Not tired, huh?” he asked her gently. He got up. “Since you’re up, do you want to help me ready the bar?” She looked at him then and the smallest smile graced her face. She nodded. “Alright then…” he glanced around the bar, for something she could do. His eyes fell on the jukebox and he smiled. “The jukebox is acting up again; do you want to take a look at it?”

He thought maybe that was just the right thing to cheer her up, since she loved to mess around with anything that ticked, but her eyes widened in despair and she looked back down, one arm reaching up to latch the other. Uncomfortable. “I…what if I break it more?” her voice was meek, unsure. Afraid.

He smiled and reached out to ruffle her hair. “It’s inoperable anyhow, kid. The worst thing you can do is learn something in failure, but that wouldn’t really be all that bad, would it?” that seemed to click with her, and she meekly made her way over to the jukebox.

Vander watched for a moment, a swell of pride forming in his heart, before making his way back to the counter. It wouldn’t do to distract her by watching her like a worried hen—she never seemed to work well under the eyes of others—so he instead prepared something to eat. It wasn’t anything special, but it would be enough he hoped. He prepared a bowl of what could only be described as morning gruel. A pasty brown color full of bumps of anything they had in the fridge. It was not something a Piltie would ever eat or see value in, but in the undercity of Zaun and the Lanes, it was the cheapest and most fulfilling way to eat since it was made of the only things they actually had in abundance. He also filled her cup—decorated in purple stars and other bright, neon cartoon icons—with her favorite citrus-y flavored drink and brought the food over to the nearest table for her.

Powder was already sitting crossed legged on the floor beside the jukebox, hands shoved deep inside the exposed belly of the machine and face so close to the inside it was an inch or do out of view. She reached an arm out and toward a pile of parts he realized she had already taken out of the machine and picked up what looked like a spring and a wheel, and reached back inside of the jukebox.

“Take a small break and come eat first, Powder.” He said, pulling a chair out. She only reached for more parts, seemingly oblivious of him now. “Powder?” but the only response was the soft click and clank of the pieces she moved and fixed.

Well, if she was so determined, he would wait her out. He pulled a chair out and sat down to watch her work. The silence of the room fell completely upon them. He watched her make a face and furrowed her brows heavily, something she always did when deep in work, as if her concentration was so complete the world just evaporated around her.  

It went on for nearly half an hour before she leaned away, biting her lower lip, and closed the side of the jukebox. Vander sat up, waiting. Powder went to the power and turned it on, and it lit up with lights and a small jingle, but that was not the test. He knew it. She pressed a few buttons and they both waited on bated breath to see if the inner arm would lift and grab the disc. After a few seconds of nothing, the arm creaked and lifted up with new vigor and grabbed the disc Powder had entered the number in for, and dropped it right into the player.

When music burst into the room with lively splendor, he smiled. She had selected his favorite song to test it out on. Our Love. Vander laughed and got up to ruffle her hair again. “See, you did it.” There was a little bit of grease smudged across her cheek and nose, and he reached to wipe it away. “You have it in you to do great things, Powder. Do not let others discourage you from pursuing them.”

When she jumped to him and wrapped her arms tightly around his waist and buried her face into his shirt, he was not the least bit surprised. Since he had taken her and Vi in as his own, he became very aware of just how much she craved physical contact. He wasn’t sure exactly what their life was like before the war beyond what he knew of their mother, but sometimes when Vi got closed off or Powder would come up and hug him out of nowhere, he realized it was far more painful than anything he could imagine. Then again, none of his kids came to him fixed. They were all broken, in their own ways.

Vander wrapped his arms around her and held her close, so that whatever it was that was eating at her could shrivel beneath the contact of love and safety. The gentle tremors he felt run through her were almost indiscernible. The indication of a greater pain and fear. He held her tighter, determined to end whatever it was that was bothering her. To see that smile of hers and hear that bright laugh.

He unlatched her arms and held them out to their sides and then did a very crude turn, twirling her into a little dance. Powder giggled as he continued to twirl her around, exaggerating his brutish movement to comical effect as he followed along with the song. The sound of her laughter was infectious. Laughing he let her arms go and she began to dance on her own. Her twirling and steps were unbelievably gentle and soft-footed, a stark contrast to his giant form clamoring about, and another sharp look into the delicate and soft-spoken nature of the child.  

When the music finally gave way to the small click of the track lifting off the player and the arm reaching to restore it to its sleeve, Powder stood breathing just a little hard before him, little giggles breaking free from her smiling lips.

Vander regarded the sight of that smile for a moment, realizing again why keeping the peace between Zaun and Piltover was so important, even despite the struggles. For all of these small moments, where there was only happiness, when there were smiles and laugher despite the endless strife. And Vander knew he wouldn’t trade those moments with his kids for anything in the world.

Chapter Text

The noise of the bar sometimes became too much for Vander to bare. He watched the folk laughing and chattering across the bar for a long moment before sighing and turning away from them. What he would do to get even a few hours of reprieve.

That was not for him, though. The joys of being a single parent!

He went to the liquor dispensers on the left side of the wall behind the counter and checked their levels before reaching for one of the nozzle arms.

Nothing came from the nozzle. “Damn it.” he grumbled quietly as the ruckus of the bar stifled the air around him. Vander pressed the trigger for the liquor dispenser again. It hissed and spat out mostly air. “Not right now.” He pressed the trigger a few more times, but this time, it did nothing. Well, that was it. The patience in him ran dry. He threw his drying towel at the line of dispensers and turned to eye the bar.

It was a slower day than usual, with only about a dozen or so set up at the counters and tables, chatting over their drinks or playing darts in the corner. It was as good as any time for his equipment to break, he supposed.

He walked the length of the bar and clapped his hands together to get their attention. It wasn’t working. He went to the jukebox and turned it off, and only then did they notice something other than their own conversations. All eyes turned to him, even the eyes of his older kids tucked away in a far back corner of the bar.

“Alright everyone, The Last Drop’s done for the day.” At the rise of complaints, he crossed his arms. “It can’t be helped; the damn dispenser is broken. Out now, all of you.” They got to their feet and stumbled out of The Last Drop with mumbles of complaints and grief. They would be back. The Last Drop was the best place to go for a drink, and everything else between.

When the last Zaunite walked out the door, Vander closed it and glanced back to the table at the corner. The kids were already back to their thing, laughing and conversing with the ease only kids and teenagers could really afford to give. He considered asking if one of them wanted to join him on a trip to Benzo’s Shop but stopped when he counted three heads twice over before realizing who was missing from the bunch yet again.

Vander did not want to disturb them, so he quietly made his way across the room and down the stairs to the basement. He went half-way down the stairs before stopping and ducking low to see if he could spot Powder. There she was, lying on her back on her bed, feet up on the wall as she tinkered with something he couldn’t quite make out.  

He clamored his way down the rest of the stairs. The creaking boards gave him away. Her pale grey-blue eyes went to him immediately, solemnly. “There you are, kid. What are you doing down here all alone?” she shrugged and turned her eyes back to her tinkering. Vander could make out the shape of something circular and caught sight of a few bright colors sprayed across it. “What is that you’re making?”

“Nothing,” she mumbled, twisting the head-piece of the strange device a couple times before she sat it aside and rolled away from him to her side. “It doesn’t work…they never do.” The day before had seen yet another failure of her bombs. Mylo didn’t let it slide all day, poking fun at her so incessantly that Vi got annoyed and smacked him beside the head until he finally stopped. Vander could only assume that the gang wasn’t feeling particularly inviting right now for her.

Vander sat down beside her and laid a hand on her little shoulder. “These things take time, Powder. You can’t be expected to figure it all out so fast. No one could.”

Powder said, “No…just me.”

Vander reached to pull her back so that she was lying flat on her back again, able to look at him. “No, not just you. Do you think Mylo knew how to pick-lock the way he does now at your age? It took him years of practice. And your sister? She couldn’t fight around your age either. Everything everyone knows comes with time, Powder. You will get them working one day, you just need to believe you can and keep at it.”

She sniffled. “What do I do until then?”

He smiled and tapped her nose. “You just keep being you.” Vander did not like that look in her eyes, that despairing melancholy glaze over the thought of herself. He wasn’t sure how he would ever break that for her, but he would keep trying. Afterall, what good was a dad if he couldn’t cheer up a lonely child? He became determined then, and knew just what to do to lift her spirits. He rose then and grabbed her hand to lift her up straight. She laughed at that. “Come on, you’re coming with me.”

She stuck her feet over the side of the bed and reached for her boots lying haphazardly at the opening. “Where are we going?”

“Benzo’s.” he said simply, as he marched towards the stairs. He could hear the soft patter of her steps following after him. He smiled. That sound would always lift his spirits.  

When they entered the main floor of the bar, the eyes of the others were on them immediately. Vi stood. “What’s going on?”

“Nothing, we’re just going to Benzo’s.” Vander answered.

“Do you need me to come?” Vi asked him worriedly. He would always respect that about her, the way she wanted to always help, to protect their little family alongside him. He knew he could count on her if anything was ever to happen.

“No need Vi, don’t worry about it.”

Mylo bounced up from his seat at the sight of Powder following closely behind him. “Hey, wait a minute! I was supposed to go next!”

Powder shirked out of sight behind him and Vander reached to grab a nearby cloth off a table to toss it at Mylo. “Maybe next time, if you behave. While we’re out, you guys will clean the place up.” It wasn’t given as a request, but they all tried to give their own reasons why they couldn’t. “None of that. Get The Last Drop to a clean state before I come back.”

It was Vi that pulled them up to the task, as she always did. “Come on guys, let’s just get it done quick.” Claggor was the first to rise and start moving chairs around.

The walk to Benzo’s Shop was a relatively quiet one. People on the street stopped to greet Vander and sometimes even Powder, but most bustled on down the streets. Powder skipped beside him most of the way, humming along to a bright tune only she could hear, stopping only when her eyes caught sight of something of interest, though useless to most others.

Whenever she was like this, Vander felt the pang of reality. Of the way kids in the undercity had to live. The way kids had to kill off that part of them early on in order to survive. And in many ways, he had to help three other kids do that already. With Powder, he hoped things could be different. A start of a new and dramatic change for all of Zaun, undercity or not. And for that, in many ways, he was thankful that she could never seem to keep up with her brothers and sister—that her handful of experiences in minor jobs with them had gone side-ways every single time, one way or another. He hoped it meant she would give up trying to emulate them, to turn to other means of life, but reality was always a crueler thing.

The only way anyone could survive was to fight and steal. Topside made certain of that. And if Powder couldn’t keep up with the rigorous demands… No. That was not something worth considering. The world would need to throw everything it had at him for him to be taken from his kids, for him to not be there when they needed him.

He hadn’t noticed how quiet he had gotten, not until Powder’s voice woke him from his thoughts. He forced his mind to focus his eyes on what was ahead of him and not the thoughts in his head, and saw Ekko outside of Benzo’s Shop, pulling a cart of something only he and Powder could understand the value of.

Powder ran over to him with such elation Vander could do nothing more than stare. She jumped on him with a hug and Ekko laughed as he tried to balance the new shift in weight on the heels of his feet.

“Powder!” he said with a grin that went from ear to ear. “You wanna see what I got this time?”

She let go of him to peer curiously at the large assortment of things he gathered. Her hands quickly went to something orb-like and shiny like gold. Vander couldn’t make a lick of sense of what it could be, but both of their eyes were wide with excitement, so it had to be good. Even if he didn’t understand what it was, there was no mistaking it. Those things had not just come from topside, but from Northside.

Vander stalked over with a frown. “Where did you get these things, Ekko?”

The boy flashed that wide grin of his. “Pilties will throw anything away!”

“You went to Northside?” she asked, astonished. Vander understood in some part her fascination in that. It seemed like everyone around her got to go, except her. At times he would dream that his kids stepped across that bridge for their futures, and not for what they could take to just live.

“Of course,” he said with great pride and in a way that Vander couldn’t help but think was his way of putting on airs. Though for who, he couldn’t quite be sure.

“That was dangerous,” Vander said, glowering at the lad.

Ekko couldn’t even act abashed about it. “They could never catch me,” he jabbed a thumb into his chest proudly. “Besides, they didn’t see a thing.”

Vander sighed and rubbed at the back of his neck, exhausted already. These kids were out growing their shoes way too fast. He would have to talk to Benzo about this, though certainly in private. The risks of theft across the divide would only turn unwanted attention to all of Zaun, topside or not.

“Is Benzo here?” he asked. The two were already too lost in the enormous pile of discarded machinery and tech to care about him anymore though. He chuckled and went into the shop, just as pieces fell off of Ekko’s cart and they knelt in a panic to scoop the pieces up before they could roll off into the nearby gutter.

Inside the shop, he immediately caught sight of Benzo, at the far back. He was moving things around on a shelf, grumbling to himself. At the man’s feet was a box of things that Vander could only assume were items that haven’t sold since arriving and so needed to be put away.

“It’s always such a mess in here,” Vander called out as he closed the door behind him. Benzo turned his way with a scowl but smiled at the sight of his friend. He laughed.

“I suppose so, yes.” He pushed the box under the counter with his foot quickly and then made his way carefully around to the front, resting his fists on his waist. “What brings you here during business hours, anyhow?”

“I need to borrow Ekko for a bit,” he said, knowing it wouldn’t serve his greater agenda well at all if he was completely honest on the why he needed Ekko. He glanced around the shop as he spoke. “All of the dispensers are broken again.” The main show case glass at the counter was full of trinkets that certainly came from topside, across the bridge. Pilties were probably very mad about losing the things here.

Benzo laughed, his stomach shaking a bit at the movement. “He’s off my clock today, friend. It’s not up to me right now.”

Well, Vander didn’t think about that. The boy usually worked every day from early morning to nightfall. Ekko had nowhere else to go too if he wasn’t working, or so Vander thought. “I’ll pay him, then.” Vander knew the kid deserved coin for his hard labor anyhow, and felt bad that he couldn’t pocket out more to the lad.

Benzo chuckled and said, “I don’t think you’re going to need to pay him anything, Vander.” And gestured at something beyond him, on the outside of the shop. Vander turned half way to see whatever it was, and could only see a little bit of the two kids huddled over the cart, smiling.

Vander frowned, unsure of his friend's meaning, and then thanked Benzo for his time before clamoring his way out of the shop. The bell dinged when the door closed behind him, but the noise didn’t detract from the kids’ excitement over their new supplies.

“…you could use this, couldn’t you?” Ekko asked her, voice hushed. He was handing over a cylinder-shaped object to her, roughly the size of his finger. “For your bombs, right?”

She tried to push it back to him. “It’s okay, I don’t have any more wires anyway…”

“No problem!” he dug through the cart and held out a fist-full of whatever he could spot for her. “I got you covered.”

Powder smiled and took the fist-full of wires and held it to her chest, possessively. “Thanks, Little Man!”

Vander approached and laid a hand on Powder’s head, gently scuffing her hair about. “Ekko, you’re off for the day?”

The boy looked at him. “Uh-huh. Why?”

“Would you mind coming over to The Last Drop and taking a look at the dispensers? They’re all acting up again.” It was the third time that week. Powder had tried to fix them with what little she had, but was only ever able to get them operable for a day at most. Ekko was always loaded with materials though, so this was the perfect opportunity to get the dispensers fixed once and for all and to fulfil his little plan.

For a flat second his brown eyes darted from Vander to Powder before he nodded. “Sure.”

Vander reached out to pat his shoulder. “You’re a life saver, kid. Let’s get going, then.” He started to walk away and stopped to glance back when he heard the commotion of the cart moving. Ekko reached to take the wires from Powder with a small smile, saying he’d carry them for her. Powder relented the bundle to him without so much as a word, something Vander only saw her do with Vi. “Come on kids, let’s go!”

At his holler, Ekko jumped and went to the back of the cart to start pushing it. Powder did not race to catch up with Vander, instead keeping a pace with the boy beside her. Vander laughed and pressed on.

When they arrived back at The Last Drop, Vander closed the door after the kids and glanced around the bar, curiously. Vi and the others had successfully cleaned the entire room. The floor was swept and even mopped, and the tables washed down and re-organized with their chairs. However, not a single one of them were within sight. He could make out the muffled sound of their voices below though.

Ekko pushed the heavy cart further into the room. It jostled as it went over cracks and splits in the floor boards. Powder hurried over to the front to help guide it in through the room without so much ruckus.

“Careful now.” Vander said as he walked around them, just as Powder nearly tripped moving backwards. It took just another minute of finessing the cart between tables and chairs up to the counter space, but eventually the two settled it along the little counter lift.

Ekko reached down to put the little locks down on the feet while Powder held it still. Once he was done with the legs, he jumped up and clapped his hands together. “Alright, now to fix some stuff!” he lifted the wooden door up and held it over his head before nudging his head at Powder, who stood at the side of the cart, watching. “Come on, Powder! Whaddya waiting for?” She ducked under the lifted door and stepped out of the way for him to jump forward and release the door. It rattled on impact.

Vander frowned as he took a seat opposite of the counter. “Easy with the merchandise, kid.” Ekko passed him an impish smile before he went over to the liquor dispensers. “That entire wall there is the one acting up,” he added, pointing to the left side wall. “Powder can show you more, though.”

Powder went to the dispensers that were acting up and placed a hand on the cabinets below it. “It’s this one,” she had said it with what Vander took as hesitation. Was she afraid to show him her work on the dispensers? He wanted to tell her how incredible she had done on them with nothing to spare, but he had spent the day she did it telling her that though and didn’t want to impose on the two’s time just yet.

Ekko knelt at the bottom of the dispensers and pulled at the stuck door of the cabinets until it flew up with a pop. He hit his head a bit on the backside of the shelves under the counter. “Ouch!” he rubbed at the back of his head even as Powder helped him back to his feet.

“Are you okay?” she asked him.

He laughed. “Yea, I’m good.” He sat up and dug his gloved hand into the pockets of his trousers until he uncovered a wrench and some screw-drivers.

“Some of them are still full,” Vander warned them as they huddled down by the malfunctioning innards of the dispenser. They were not listening to him. He shrugged and reached over the counter to grab one of the emptier bottles to pour himself a shot.

The kid hmm’d as he fiddled with the parts. After a moment, Powder reached out hesitantly and pointed to something Vander couldn’t see.

“I thought it was the output pipe…” her voice trailed off, unsure.

Ekko looked over whatever it was she was pointing at with a concentrated furrow of his brows. “It could be, but they look good. You replaced these?”

She nodded. “I’m not sure I did it right…”

Ekko smiled. “It looks right to me. Want me to check, just in case?” she thanked him and leaned closer to watch as he worked, not just interested in his methods but learning how he might go about the things she tried her own ways. “See this middle piece?” he tapped at the thicker part of the cylinder part with his tool for her to see. “I think the spring-loaded valve’s just busted.”

“What about the valve ball?” she asked, gesturing to something Vander couldn’t see.

He looked at it. “It does look a bit gunky…”  he agreed on it, and soon they both started on the different projects. Ekko took apart the cylinder housing the spring and dropped the bottom piece of the pipe where the valve ball was into her hands so she could look it over.

He took several short sips of his glass and just listened to the sound of them working together, from the clank of tools smacking into pipes, to screws and bolts dropping to the wooden floor when exchanged between hands. It was a strangely soothing sound, with the quiet around them generally undisturbed except to their hushed whispers of suggesting new ways to figure out the problem before them.

With a small yawn, Vander rested his head in his palm and swished the liquor in his cup around as he watched the strange emotion that had clouded Powder’s expression earlier vanish beneath wide smiles and giggles, and bright shining eyes. Vander watched them with a muted smile. They worked very well together, like peas in a pod.

After some time, as the dark started to settle down on the undercity, Ekko got to his feet with a smile. Powder followed closely after. Their faces were smudged a bit with grease and dirt. “That should do it.”

That made Vander awake from his stupor and leaned to the side to look over them and into the open belly of the dispenser. It looked no different than it had when they first started, or at least to his eyes it didn’t. “Well, does it work?”

“It should,” he said, smiling. He looked at Powder. “You wanna test it first?”

“Yes!” she tippy-toed up to reach the dispensing arm that stood at Vander’s standing height and tugged it free from its little hook. She placed the nozzle into a cup and then reached over to press the release switch. It popped a few times and spat bursts of liquor out into their faces, but after a few seconds it started to spill unobstructed.

Powder giggled and went to wipe the liquor off her face with her arm while Ekko made a sputtering face at the taste of it on his lips. Vander laughed. “Good work, you two. Now I can get this place running again in the morning.” Ekko stiffened when Powder went to wipe the liquor off his face with the cuff of her sleeve. She looked at ease now. It was working. His plan was clearly perfectly planned and executed, but that was to be expected. He was a dad, after all. He would pat himself on the back later, though. There was still a bit more to do.

“Since it’s pretty late, why don’t you stay for the night? We’re about to set down for supper, too.” he asked, and the boy looked at him with wide eyes. Vander couldn’t tell if it was with fear or surprise.

“Stay…as in…?” the words could barely leave him straight.

“Well, it definitely doesn’t mean leave.” he laughed.

And even before Ekko could give his answer about it, Powder gleefully hurried off proclaiming that she would help set up a cot for him. It wasn’t until after the sound of her footsteps drowning out through the walls that Ekko’s face started to go flush.

“Go on then and help her out.” He said it a bit gruff, in an endearing way, and Ekko lowered his eyes and hurried off for the stairs, very clearly pleased. He heard muffled exclamations of ‘Little Man!’ a second later, from everyone. He chuckled and poured himself another shot before he made his way to the basement.

Vander stopped at the halfway mark of the stairs and leaned against the wall to watch the sight before him. Everyone was fussing over their favorite little guy—he was cherished, after all—but it was the mirth in Powder’s eyes while she excitedly showed him all of her new creations dangling off her bed-fort that made him feel as if he succeeded.

Chapter Text

Powder didn’t like the sounds of the bar when it was crowded. Not in the same way as her sister or Mylo and Claggor hated it, or anyone else for that matter. The noise just distracted them. For Powder, it was too uncomfortably familiar, and that's what distracted her.

If it was any other day, she would have escaped to the outside and spend the day searching through the drainage pipes or digging through Ekko’s latest topside haul, or with her sister wherever she might have gone, but the heat outside was too unbearable even for her today.

Vi and the others had already gone down stairs to seek shelter from the noise and heat coming from the additional bodies in the room, but Powder still sat in the cranny in the back of the room, on one of the benches. Vander had brought over an ice-cold cup of her favorite soft drink, but she had already drunk it all and now her mind was stuck on the mechanical problem lying before her on the table yet again.

No matter how hard she tried or tried different ways to tackle the problem, the winder key wouldn’t turn the springs correctly, which wouldn’t trigger the shaft to rotate and so on. She at first thought it was a loose piece, and then a broken one, but when those theories failed, she sighed and laid her head on the table.

Nothing ever seemed to work right for her.

Soft footsteps approached her table then and another cold glass of soft-drink suddenly was placed in front of her. Vander knelt then to look her in the eyes. “You okay, Powder?”

“Yea,” she mumbled, reaching for the cup with the disinterest only an annoyed child could give.

He put a hand to her forehead just to be sure. “Well…alright,” he allowed, in some way convinced she wasn’t sick just from that. “But why don’t you go down stairs? It’s a bit cooler down there.” He ruffled her hair before he left.

It was his gentle way of a parental “suggestion”. She gathered up all the pieces of her contraption under one arm and took her cup with her free hand, and made her way through the crowded floor towards the stairs.

She slowly descended the stairs at the sound of the loud ‘bang! bang!’ and peaked out from the mid-step. Mylo was throwing a rubber ball into the wall, over and over again. Claggor was sitting at the table fiddling with his goggles and her sister was strung horizontal across the single sofa.

The floor boards gave away her presence. Vi lifted her arm and saw her. “Hey, Powder.” Claggor gave a distracted hello. Mylo simply sniffed. “Welcome to the misery.” she added with a small gesture of her hand to nothing in particular.

Powder went to sit down by the foot of the stairs. She sat aside her cup and then her things beside her. She then spread the parts out in front of her and stared deep at the pieces before her, as if they could reveal their secrets to her from an annoyed glare.

Bang! She traded one distracting place for another, it seemed.

She bunched her brows in concentration, trying to ignore the noise. She reached for the winder key again on the back of the circular body she had designed—she was going to call it Whimsy—and removed it. She sat it aside. Next, she reached inside and tore out the main piece where the springs and shaft sat. She tore the shaft out, and tossed it aside, and found another replacement. She carefully placed the springs back in place, making sure the gears sitting below it did not keep it from sitting in the housing correctly, and then carefully fit it back into the housing.

“Ugh, it’s so hot!” a very distracted part of her mind acknowledged who had said it. Bang! “I bet the Pilties got themselves a fountain going right now…”

Powder glanced up from her work to look at him even as Claggor spoke, “Yea…well, what don’t they have?” he did not seem invested in the conversation either, not in a way that differed too much from her own disinterest. She turned her eyes back to her work.

Bang! “Sump-rot,” Mylo answered. “I mean, it’d be great if they had a taste of something bad for once in their pretty lives.” Bang!

Okay, she thought, screwing the winder key back onto the small pipe. You have to work now, you have to. She twisted it a few times and let go. The gears whined but the springs did not move. She sighed and dismantled it all again. This time, she used a different spring set. It was slightly bigger and pressed a bit against the metal housing, but it was the last thing she could think could be causing the problems.

“There’s no use talkin’ about what we don’t got and what they got,” Vi told them. “All you’re doing is annoying everyone.”

She gave it another twist and let go. This time the spring spun, twisting the shaft and turning the gears. She smiled and then quickly closed up the housing with a screw-driver and turned the key again. It made a sharp noise, but did nothing. “Why…” what was she doing wrong?

Somewhere in the back of her mind, she could hear Mylo’s scoff. Bang! “Yea, well, ‘scuuuse me for wishing on for more!” Bang!

“I did it right,” she mumbled. “Why won’t you work?”

“Throw the damn ball again Mylo and I swear...!” her sister’s agitation was the one thing she caught with peaked interest. She glanced up from her work, just for a second, but the distraction made her let go of the spring and it shot out from its place.

“No,” Powder breathed, getting annoyed now.

“What, now I can’t even do this?” he asked. “What’s got you so annoyed, anyhow?”

“You do,” Vi had all but snapped. Claggor’s soft voice burned in the back of her mind. “Probably you.”

Powder fit another spring inside and set it all back up, even as Mylo’s loud scoffing noise and a BANG interrupted her thoughts. She twisted the key again. This time, the key wouldn’t even properly turn. Frustrated, she tore it back down again and took out the spring. What was keeping it from working? Her patience was wearing thin. “This should do it,” she mumbled, replacing the spring with a wider one she had twisted just gently to conform a bit more evenly to the body.

“Why’s what I’m doing so annoying but that isn’t?” Mylo asked. His voice was distinct enough to the noise in her head that she quickly realized she had been speaking out loud this entire time and Mylo was talking about it. She passed him a glare before turning back to her work.

“Because she’s not annoying anyone.” Her sister answered, sounding peeved.

“I beg to differ,” Mylo said. Bang! The noise made her misplace the screw-driver’s pin just as she began to turn a screw in. The screw fell inside of the housing.

“That’s it!” her sister howled. Powder didn’t look up from her work. She shook the housing upside down until the screw fell out just as Vi said, “Give me that!”

“Come on Vi, it’s not bothering anyone! Not really!”

“I beg to differ!” she mocked.

With the screw in hand again, Powder went to close the board back into its place inside the housing. The noise around her began to dissolve back into her mind as she focused on the task. She used a finger to keep the spring in place and with her free hand pressed the cover back into its slot. Just as the cover neared, she removed her finger, allowing it to drop into place.

One more time, she thought, screwing the last piece of the cover into place. She attached the winder key again and gave it several good twists. The contraption began to shake, the gears finally moving. It was working! It was working! She went to press the flat piece on the top to disengage it, but the winding noise kept going. No, no, no! She pressed on the piece again and again, with more and more force, but the gears kept shifting inside.

Suddenly something blew out from the bottom of the housing and sent the entire thing clear across the room in a hissing noise. She winced when it crashed into the back wall above Mylo and exploded. She gasped and hurried to her feet even as the paint cloud began to still around the room.

Mylo was lying stiff with his arms jerked up as if he could have stopped the paint from falling on him. Claggor was just sitting there, covered head to torso in a mix-match of vibrant colors. Powder’s eyes went to her sister and saw that her entire right side had been decorated too.

This was not good.

Mylo was on his feet, face twisted in absolute rage. She had never really that kind of anger on his face before. “Damn it Powder!” she panicked when he moved toward her. She dropped her things and ran up the stairs.

She threw the stairs door open and nearly tripped to her face over the top stair. The door crashed into the wall, alerting Vander and catching the gaze of almost every person nearby. She struggled up to her feet and ran beyond the tables, even as Vander called out to her. “Hey, slow down! Powder, what’s going on?”

Powder did not stop running, not even when she was outside and passing the little gutters and pipes where she found the bulk of her materials. She glanced back only once to see if Mylo was pursuing and then collided right into someone. She flew back and landed hard on her back, smacking her head onto the paved road. Whoever she had ran into gave a loud gasp of equal surprise and hurt.

She pushed herself up by her elbows, pain throbbing already at the back of her head, and saw a pack of boys a few years older standing at a half circle in front of her. The one she had collided into had a wide-set face, missing front teeth and lopsided green eyes.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” she hurried back to her feet and reached to help him up, but he slapped her hands away.

“That’s why ya watch where yer goin’, you idjit!” he snapped, as one of his friends helped him back to his feet.

“I didn’t mean to,” she offered him meekly, glancing behind her, worried that Mylo would be catching up. Facing him right now was the last thing she wanted to do. ‘You’re a screwup’ was probably going to come out through more than just words this time around… “I’m sorry, I am.” she knew she sounded hurried and that it probably was not helping her case.

“What’s yer sorry gonna do?” he demanded. 

“I just—” and even as the words came to her lips, the lad reached out to shove her back. “Umpf!” she fell in almost the same place she had before, though this time her elbows had caught the brunt of the fall.

“Now we’re even.” he said it with a cackle. His friends joined the laughter, some of them sounding like hooting horns rather than people.

“Hey! Leave her alone!”

The boys turned to face the fool stupid enough to challenge them and quieted at the sight of Benzo’s assistant running up to them. They almost collectively turned white as ghosts and scurried off in all different directions, abandoning each other.

Powder pushed herself up straight even as Ekko came to a stop at her feet. “Are you okay, Powder?” he held a hand out for her to take. She let him lift her back to her feet.

“I think so,” she said quietly, reaching to rub at the spot on the back of her head. She winced. Ekko moved her hand out of the way and turned her head to look at the spot. When he touched it, she winced once more.

“I think it’s okay,” he said, letting her go. “What are you even doing out here, Powder?”

She opened her mouth to try and explain what she had done, and then promptly closed it. No. He didn’t need to know what sort of failure she had created this time. Not from her at least. Mylo would be sure to inform him the next time they meet. At least then she wouldn’t have to face the embarrassment first hand. To be 'useless Powder' again. Inept and no good.

The klutz.

The jinx.

Her quiet seemed to provide some sort of answer for him, for he let it go. “I was just about to drop some things off for Benzo. Wanna join me? Pretty hot out here anyhow, y’know.”

Well, there was no way Mylo would mess with her inside of Benzo’s Shop. “Are you sure…? Won’t I get in the way?”

“Yea, I’m sure.” he gave that quirky laugh of his, that boomed higher than it ought to have. “You’re never a bother.” Well, not yet, she knew. Once one of her machinations or creations exploded in his face, she knew he’d feel very different about having her around.

At least it hadn’t happened yet.

“You’re going!” he took her by the arm and started to guide her forward. “Besides, I found something cool I wanna show you after work!”

She unhooked her arm from his so she could better keep up with his pace. “Something cool?” that did sound exciting. She pictured all of the neat things he might have scored from Piltover and topside. Ekko always found the best stuff. “Is it at Benzo’s?”

His wide grin came. “Just wait and see!” he tugged on her arm again. “Come on!”

They arrived at Benzo’s Shop nearly half an hour later.

The heat had stilled their speed some, exhausting them. Ekko had shared his water can with her several times during the walk and had it not been for him, she was sure they would have had to stop someplace to scavenge up something to drink. He was always prepared. In many ways. Powder wished she could be more like that, and less of a nuisance.

Ekko pushed the door open, ringing the bell above, and announced himself with all the character he was known for. “Benzo! I’m back!”

The bulbous man appeared from the back then, carrying a small box of something Powder couldn’t quite see. “Good, good, now where were…” he paused when he saw Powder following after Ekko and smiled. “Ah, Powder! It’s good to see you.”

She waved at him and said, “Hey Mr. Benzo!” Before working her way up to the displays, to look at all of the new stuff Ekko undoubtedly helped in some measure to secure. There was a gold and ruby encrusted walking staff and even a little bird made of gold with sapphire eyes.

Ekko went to the counter and dug a hefty leather pouch out of his pockets and sat it down before the great giant of a man. “That’s all of it.”

Benzo took it and put it inside of the box, without even looking side of it. “I’m sure it is. Anyone give you trouble?” Everyone in the Lanes knew that Ekko sometimes collected on Benzo and Vander’s behalf and if they didn’t know, was either new or knew better than to interfere in something they weren’t certain about. Powder had even seen him outside a few shops sometimes, collecting protection money and the like. It was nice to see that Benzo trusted him completely. “Did you already take a look at the compressors downstairs?”

“No, and yep, did all that this morning.”

Powder’s eyes fell on an object shaped like a key beneath the glass. It was as big as her hand, and two or so inches thick. It looked as if it opened.

“What about the control valves for the water?”

“That too.”

Benzo laughed. “I always forget how thorough you are, Ekko.” He began shuffling his way back to the room he had come from. “Day’s yours, then.”

“Really?” Ekko asked, surprised. Powder lifted her eyes to him and his wide smile.

“Just be sure to try and get back before night fall this time.” He called out from the other room. 

When they were alone, Powder said, “You guys have a lot of neat stuff.” Even she could hear the wistfulness in her tone.

Ekko came to stand beside her at the glass and looked at the few things scattered before her. “Yea, this stuff is great, but the real good stuff? We keep that sealed away, where no one can see it.”

“Real good stuff?”

“I dunno,” he mumbled, rubbing thoughtfully at his chin. “Can you keep a secret?”

“I won’t tell anyone, I promise.”

A mischievous grin took his expression and he pressed a finger to his lips, indicating silence. Powder laughed. He gestured for her to follow him and they made their way up stairs to the attic. There wasn’t a lift or ladder set here, so he helped her up by grabbing her hands and pulling.

The attic was stuffy and stale, and poorly lit. Powder struggled up straight by the entrance way and hit her head on something that was hanging low. Ekko gasped and went over to steady whatever it was she had bumped into, since it began to sway.

“Ooops, sorry about that, kinda forgot it was here.”

That’s when Powder saw it was some sort of mechanical wing, though it was left as an iron skeleton with frayed wires and hanging steel pieces. It was must have been half her height. “What is that thing?”

Ekko shrugged. “Someone came by with it a few weeks ago.” He pressed on through the attic, ducking low. Powder followed after him, careful to keep on after his carefully picked route through boxes and crates of untold treasures and riches. “It’s this way,” he called after a second, pointing ahead to an area beneath a window.

He arrived at the spot ahead of her and began digging through the drawers of a beat-up desk. “It was here somewhere…come on…oh, here it is!” he took out something long and narrow covered in a black cloth and sat it on the table just as she neared. “We got this a month ago. Some weirdo traded it for some fusers.” He unwrapped the cloth, revealing a clear glass case. Inside was a white cushion and sitting on top of it was something that looked an awful lot like a pen. It was golden all over, with silver engravings.

Her eyes widened. “What is it…?”

“Benzo says it’s junk, but I don’t think he would have traded a box of fusers for junk.” Some items were incredibly rare, and illegal, or just illegal. Fusers were insignificant below the Promenade level due to the sheer quantity they existed in, but for topside and especially so across the east-west passage, they were illegal attractions.

Even though it was just a little piece of tech that could bridge power in small devices, topside used them as a short-cut means of a thrill. The toxic material contained inside—the very reason they were illegal in Piltover—could be used in the same effect as any other illicit drug, provided it was opened correctly.

“Wanna hold it?” he whispered, glancing over her shoulder as if he expected Benzo to haul his large frame up into the attic to check on them. She reached for it hesitantly before shaking her head and tucking her arms behind her. “Maybe next time then.” He re-wrapped it and then put it back into the desk. “One more thing I wanna show you.” He turned to the left and started to dig through a large box. “This we picked up a couple weeks ago.”

Ekko turned to her with a small triangular device. It was so smooth it reflected her face off the surface. “Benzo said I could have it if no one comes to buy it by the end of the month.” He twisted something on the bottom a few times and then let go. The piece opened in three sections and a little figurine came out in a twirl, slowly bobbing up and down. Music suddenly began to hum into the quiet of the attic. 

Powder had never seen anything like it. “It’s amazing.”

“Benzo said it’s a Valdiani.” He held it out to her, depositing it in her hands. She cupped her hands around it, to be sure it wouldn’t drop. “I’m not so sure though. I thought they were supposed to be bigger.”

Powder also wasn’t so sure. She had heard Valdianis were large devices for replicating sound, but this was such a dainty thing with such a timid noise it couldn’t possibly be the same thing from the street stories.

Something like this was much too nice for the undercity. It was much too nice for her to be holding it, that was for sure. She thought about how she had destroyed yet another creation and hastily handed it back to him before she dropped it or something.

Ekko frowned. “What’s wrong, don’t like it?”

“No, that’s not…” she breathed. “I didn’t want to break it.” she admitted it and immediately regretted it.

He oh’d and went to put it back. “Well, it wouldn’t matter even if you did. It probably won’t see the light of day here again anyway.” In some weird way, that made her feel a little better. “Alright, let’s go!”

Powder was confused. “Go?”

“To the thing I found,” he reminded her, digging his way back through the collection around them. “Remember?”

She thought this was where the ‘cool thing’ was. “You mean, that wasn’t it?”

He laughed. “Of course not. I see that kinda thing all of the time, gets boring.” Whatever was it that the stuff in Benzo’s Shop seemed ordinary? It must be special, whatever it was.

They made it back to the attic door when noise below them stilled them. Powder most of all.

“Vi?” it was Benzo’s voice. “What’s going on? Vander need something?”

Ekko smiled and looked at her. “Hey, your sister is—” Powder gasped and flung herself at him to cover his mouth. They fell back into some boxes, hitting the floor.

“I’m just looking for Powder…” Vi’s voice seemed leagues away through all of the things between them. Ekko struggled to get out of her hand, hmm’ing dramatically under her hand.

“Oh.” Then came that iconic Benzo laugh. “In that case, she and Ekko went out a bit ago.” There was something said Powder couldn’t quite hear and then, “The way that boy can squeeze into any nook and cranny? No. I’m sorry to be of no help, Vi.”

“That’s fine. If she returns…?”

“Of course, of course.”

After a moment, when the bell dinged again, Powder uncovered Ekko’s mouth and hurried over to the front window of the attic, right over a few boxes and such. Ekko drew himself up to his feet using a few boxes, which had spilled over from the fall.

Powder glanced out the window and watched as her sister went off the other way. She sighed and pressed her forehead to the glass. Ekko came over to stand beside her, with a frown. “What was that about?” he looked out the window in the same direction. “Did you two have a fight?” She closed her eyes and shook her head. “Oh,” he mumbled. He went back to the attic door and said, “Well then, we better go before she comes back then, huh?”

Powder looked at him with a warm smile. “Yea.” Ekko helped her down first, bracing himself against the attic floor so he could lower her with his other arm. When she was down safely, he leapt down after her, landing hard on his feet with an ‘umpf’.

“Ekko? Is that you?” Benzo!

Ekko shushed her and then guided her down the stairs quickly, crouched low. “This way,” he whispered, leading her through a side room and out into the alley way. He carefully closed the door behind him, so that it did not make noise. “We should be good now.”

“Thanks, Little Man.” he would have no idea how grateful she was to not be back at The Last Drop right now.

“So...are you gonna tell me what’s going on?” She adverted her gaze. “Okay, you don’t have to tell me if you don’t feel up to it.” He smiled. “Come on, let me show you what I found.”

Before they left the alley way, Ekka peaked around the corner to make sure that Vi wasn’t heading back their way, and then he waved at Powder to run across. As soon as she was across the street, he raced to join her.

“It’s up this way,” he said, climbing a stone wall to a larger walk-way a couple feet above them. Powder struggled to clear the stone wall, so Ekko reached over to help her up and over. She thanked him for the help, unwilling to walk all back the way towards The Last Drop just to reach the stairs that led to this walk-way. Besides, she did not want to feel even more unnaturally placed in the undercity. Not when life here was all about how you could get from point A to point B in a shorter time. And definitely not since most people were accustomed at an early age to climbing, jumping and even swinging across roof tops or ledges. Unless they liked walking forever, of course.

After a few minutes of following him up a winding slope to the upper reaches of the Entresol level, she began to recognize a lot of the environment around her. The heaviness of the heat lifted her just enough for her to know they had ascended another half mark to the level and when the sight of a great stone wall split in the center came into view, that’s when she knew for sure where they were going.

“We’re going to Sweet Drop?”

He laughed and lifted his arms in mock disappointed. “I was hoping you wouldn’t notice.”

She said, “You’re the one who showed me.”

“That’s true,” he stopped them at a large crook in the wall, at least fifteen feet wide. “But Sweet Drop isn’t the surprise.” He did a comical butler-y bowing gesture for her to go ahead and she laughed at him. “After you!”

The area opened up wide around them, so wide that the distant walls seemed small from where they stood. The ground diminished in varying degrees of elevation to giant pools of water that streamed in from topside through cascading, roaring waterfalls.

The area was covered in kids running around and diving into pools, laughing and hollering. Grateful to be able to get out of the heat wave of the undercity. Ekko passed the cooling waters a brief, wistful glance before shrugging it off and pressing on towards a twisting, dead tree propped again a large piece of metal that fell from the above level decades ago.

“It’s just up here,” he said, climbing the tree to the metal piece. Held a hand out to her when she started to climb the tree. Powder took his hand and allowed him to pull her up to the metal. She hung to the edge and pulled with all her strength to get up with him. Without waiting for her, he climbed over the top of the metal piece and jumped to reach a ledge a foot or so above them. He pulled himself over and out of sight.  

She stood below the ledge, exasperated. He had a good four or five inches on her easy. How did he expect her to reach that, even if she jumped? “Wait!” she said after him. His face poked back over the ledge, amused. It was much too great a height for her to reach on her own. “That’s no fair Ekko, I can’t reach it.”

He gave a hooting laugh from where he was kneeling at the edge, arms resting on his legs. “I guess you gotta keep growing, huh?”

“Ekko!”

“Alright, alright,” he laughed and dropped to his chest against the ledge. He held an arm out and wiggled his fingers. “Let’s go.”

She climbed up to the top and reached for his arm. “Don’t let go.”

“I wouldn’t,” he assured her, lifting halfway before bringing himself to his knees to pull her all the way up. As soon as she was over the edge, she stumbled away from the edge to the flat wall behind them, breathing hard. They had to be at least thirty high!

Ekko scrambled back to his feet, smiling. “We’re almost there.”

Powder gaped. “You mean…we have to go higher?”

“Just a bit more.” He pressed on pass her and squeezed through a narrow space between two slanting pieces of iron and metal. “In through here!” he called from the outside. Resolving herself, she ducked her way through the narrow hole.

On the other side was a wide, flat platform that curved off into a dozen different walk-ways, many of which were too dilapidated to trust walking on. Ekko was standing by the start of one to her right. He smashed his foot into the walk-way hard several times, testing its stability, before recklessly pressing on.

She stopped there though and brought her arms up to wrap around herself. “Are you sure this is safe?”

To answer her, he jumped up and down, turning on the fourth jump to face her. The walk-way only creaked as the metal shifted beneath his weight. “Plenty sure!” well at least there was a wall for her to use. She put one foot out in front of the other and then moved until her back was pressed against the wall. Ekko laughed. “Come on scaredy cat!”

Don’t look down, don’t look down, don’t look down. Her heart was racing wild in her chest. Just don’t look down. She took her steps diligently and slowly, taking a minute or two longer than her friend to reach the end. 

When she stepped onto the large, wide grated floor where Ekko was, he gave a wide smile. “See? It wasn’t so bad.” And then he opened his arms wide, gesturing all around. “And we made it, too.”

Powder looked around them, confused. “Made it where?” the air here was much cooler, and she could feel gentle gusts of wind coming in through the gap in the level above them.

He looped an arm over her shoulder and then turned her around, to face the way they had come. He pointed a gloved finger up towards the hole in the level, where the sky was exposed.

Her breath came to a stop. The towering silhouette of Piltover pierced into the sky over the rim of the level. At this declined level, they could see a lot, though it seemed thousands of miles away by how small the buildings and towers looked.

“I wonder what it’s like,” Ekko said. “to have wind on your face and the sky above you and think it’s nothing special.”

Powder looked at him, feeling the weight of his sadness as if it were her own. Ekko’s parents were near the Sump level, mining almost every minute of their lives to provide for him. Enduring toxic fumes and toxic living conditions just for the chance their son might reach greater heights than the undercity. To reach the golden city of opportunity and progress.

She reached for his hand and squeezed it. “We’ll have it too, one day.” Vander always told them that peace would come, peace that would elevate everyone to a standing equal to that of Piltover. That was something she believed, whenever he said it. Even if he didn’t seem to know when that might happen.

He smiled. “One day…yea.” He took a seat at the edge of the grated flooring and dropped onto his back. “I just wish it was now.”

Powder joined him on the floor a second later, leaning her head onto his shoulder, hand still in his. “Vi says we shouldn’t wait for them to give it to us.”

Ekko said, “Yea, well…it’s punch first ask questions later for Vi too.” Powder laughed so much it hurt her sides. That was definitely Vi alright. “What would you do, if you were living in Northside?” he asked her after a moment, his voice seeming small against the wind. Powder never really thought about it before, but Mylo, Claggor and Vi did. A lot. They all had different ideas on what they would do, or try first. She shrugged and watched as clouds drifted slowly across the view of the opening of the level. “You haven’t thought about it?” he pressed.

“No…not really.” She had enough to think about as is. She didn’t want more in her head than what she had already.

Ekko sat up then and leaned back on his arms. “You’d definitely go to the Academy.”

“Me?” she sat up. “Why me?”

Ekko looked at her, his brown eyes catching the light of the descending sun. “Your stuff would teach them a thing or two on what real tech is. The Zaunite way.” He laughed at that.

“None of my stuff ever works…”

“So?” he asked. “Most of their stuff didn’t work off the bat, either. And your stuff works anyhow, well, sorta. You just gotta iron out some of the kinks, that’s all. And when you get your paint bombs working completely, they’ll be a blast!” he smacked his fist into his hand. “Literally.”

She blushed. “You don’t have to say that…” No one really praised her work for what it was as is and whatever praise she did get came from Vi and Vander—on what it could be. Was there really any good in inoperable contraptions? If Ekko thought so…maybe it was true. He was the smartest person she knew and her best friend. And friends did not lie to each other....right?

He said, “Of course I do.” and then returned his eyes to the setting sun. “What else are friends for?”

She hadn’t thought about it like that. “Thanks, Little Man.” Powder followed his gaze back to the golden horizon with a smile. “You want to play tomorrow?”

He laughed, knowing exactly what she meant. “Definitely.” Powder leaned her head onto his shoulder again and watched the sunset with him, kicking her feet over the edge, forgetting all about Mylo and her mistake.

Chapter Text

The day was an off one for them all.

There were no jobs in sight—and even if there were, Vander was unwilling to let them do it—and the heat became a fire starter for foul moods. Not a single one of them wanted to be cooped up in the cramped space of the basement that day, but not a one of them had anything else to do worth going out into the heat for.

Mylo was laxed over the sofa at the back of the room, throwing a self-made rubber ball at the wall over and over again—certainly getting on everyone’s nerves—while Claggor tinkered with replacing one of the glasses in his goggles at the table. A swinging light made it all the more difficult for him to see the tiny screws.

Vi herself was lying in the single chair, head resting on one of the arms with her legs dangled over the other side. She was trying to stay in the slight cool air drifting in from the pipes coming down from topside. It wasn't going very well. A minute ago, her sister quietly came down stairs, arms full of mechanical nonsense and the other with a drink. They all gave their own form of hellos before everything settled back into silence.

Mylo’s sniff cleared the room of quiet. “Ugh, it’s so hot!” he threw the ball again; the bang made them all wince a bit. “I bet the Pilties got themselves a fountain going right now…” he always seemed envious of what went above, but then again, who wasn’t? Piltovians ate regularly, had access not only to clean water and air, but had the luxury of cool wind during summer days and heat during colder months. 

Vi gently lifted her arm off her face, wanting to tell him to be quiet, but changed her mind. She noticed her sister by the stairs though, just off to the right a bit. She was leaning over one of her latest inventions, crossed legged and mumbling to herself. Well, at least her sister found something to do despite the heat. And the damn noise Mylo loved to torture them with.

Claggor dropped one of his screws and reached for it with a sigh. “Yea…well, what don’t they have?” he asked detachedly as he tried to fit the tiny screw back into its place with his large digits.

“Sump-rot,” Mylo chipped in, as if it were a real question. Claggor groaned at the obliviousness. “I mean, it’d be great if they had a taste of something bad for once in their pretty lives.”

“There’s no use talkin’ about what we don’t got and what they got,” Vi told them, placing her arm back over her head. “All you’re doing is annoying everyone.” in the background, she could hear her sister mumbling to herself. So quiet no one could make out what she was saying, but loud enough to know she was doing it.

Mylo scoffed and threw the ball again. Bang! “Yea, well, ‘scuuuse me for wishing on for more!” He threw it again. Bang!

“Throw the damn ball again Mylo and I swear...!” Vi snapped.

“What, now I can’t even do this?” he asked, pressing the ball to his chest. “What’s got you so annoyed, anyhow?”

“You do,” she said at the same time Claggor said, “Probably you.” He finally managed to finesse the screw into place and fix his goggles.

“Pfft,” he threw the ball again. Bang! Vi closed her eyes and pressed her arm over her head tighter, struggling not to get up and whop him good. For everyone’s benefit. The thing was, it was way too hot to get up, least of all for Mylo. Now it wasn't providing as much comfort as it had before Mylo's interruptions. She threw her arm off her head with an exaggerated sigh and left it dangling off the side of the sofa. Mylo was so lucky it was too hot to get up...

In the background, Powder whispering to herself drew his eyes down the room toward her. She was still messing with the contraption, unaware of the eyes now on her or that she had been mumbling the entire time. “Why’s what I’m doing so annoying but that isn’t?” he said, gesturing at her with the ball in hand.

Vi was not in the mood for this. She said, “Because she’s not annoying anyone.”

“I beg to differ,” he said, throwing the ball again. Bang!

“That’s it!” Vi stormed up and over to where he was lying. Before he could fumble the rubber ball into a protective hold behind him, Vi tore it from his hands. “Give me that!”

“Come on Vi, it’s not bothering anyone! Not really!”

“I beg to differ!” she mocked his earlier words and walked back to her seat with the ball. She fell back into her spot with an annoyed sigh. The room quieted without the continuous bang. All except for the muted noise of tools working against metals and screws and other such things.

It seemed as if all the prickled nerves were beginning to die down again. Vi relaxed into the gentle air while Claggor went to lean back into the foot of the sofa where Mylo lounged across. Finally. Quiet. Peace. She closed her eyes again with a sigh.

A noise that sounded an awful like winding gears crept into the air of the room. Powder’s invention, no doubt. She ignored it for a few seconds. That is, until she remembered where they were. She sprang up to her feet to stop her sister but it was already too late; the device was malfunctioning. Something suddenly blew up from the bottom of the device and sent it flying across the room.

It hit the wall above Mylo and exploded into a thick cloud of pink, blue and green paint, dousing Mylo completely and Claggor from his head down to his chest. The off-shoot hit Vi and colored the entire right side of her body from where she stood.

Powder’s hushed gasp of surprise and fear broke the shocked quiet that followed the explosion. She was on her feet already, staring wide eyed at them from the foot of the stairs. Mylo leapt up to his feet in a fit. “Damn it Powder!” at that, Powder dropped her tools and hurried up the stairs even as the boy tried to clear the distance.

Vi reached out to grab him by the arm and yanked him back. He nearly fell backward. “Leave her alone, Mylo!”

“Are you serious?! Look what she did to us!”

“It’s paint, it’ll wash off,” Claggor said, standing. He wiped a hand over his goggles to clear them up the mixed colored paint. “It was just an accident, anyhow.”

“Accidents are the only things she creates.” he grumbled. “Look at my clothes! Oh man!” he held his shirt out with an exasperated sigh.

“She’s just a kid,” Vi said, slinging her arm to get most of the excess paint off of her. “Get over it.”

“But—"

“Enough Mylo,” Claggor complained, finally having cleared his goggles entirely. “Let it go.” Mylo kicked at a chair, frustrated, but turned away to march off toward his section of the little room to get out of his stained clothes.

They each took a turn washing up in the small cabinet room at the corner of the room where a spare sink and shower sat behind a retractable wall. When they were all through, they tackled the washable paint from the walls and furniture together. Thankfully due to Vander’s insistence, Powder did not use permanent paints in any of her creations—mechanical or otherwise.

Half way through their work, Mylo threw his wash cloth down into a bucket of water and groaned. “Why are we even doing this?” Vi scoffed and scrubbed harder at the paint. “Come on Vi. You know I’m right.”

Claggor begged them with a soft look and asked, “Can we just do this in quiet guys, please?”

“What do you think you’re so right about?” she demanded, slinging the cloth toward him. He leapt out of the way of the drops. Claggor covered his eyes with his hand and sighed.

“Powder,” he said in a matter-of-fact way. “It’s always ‘oops’ that and ‘oops’ this. Over and over again.”

“So what?”

“So…so get her under control for once!” he exclaimed with a puff of annoyance. “She’s your sister.”

Vi sent him a leveled look that made him back his gaze away. “You’re right Mylo.” she threw the cloth down into the bucket. “She’s my sister!” the impact of the cloth slamming into the bucket water caused a splash of the dirty water to spill over onto their boots. “So keep your nose out of it!” and as she stormed off, she could hear Mylo asking what he said and Claggor telling him to shut up.

The main bar was nearly packed—if not over crowded—by this time, a natural result of the heat wave. Without a way to cool themselves, they sought the cool salve of liquor instead. It meant good things for business of course, but above level the noise was so loud Vi could hardly find her own thoughts.

Vander was talking with a short, lanky fellow when she walked up to the counters. At her arrival, Vander sent him off with two drinks and looked at Vi with a frown. “What’s wrong, kid?”

“Did Powder run through?”

He gave a sharp nod as he went to wipe some cups dry. “Yes. She wouldn’t even stop to explain. What happened?” Vi took a moment to detail the untimely paint explosion below stairs and Vander sighed. “I’m sure she’s somewhere nearby.” On hot days in the undercity, everyone needed to be near a source of refreshment, or the thick, hot air could be too much to bare in one given instance.

“I’ll go look for her.” She had half the mind to make Mylo go out into the heat and look for her himself, but she didn’t want him to antagonize her or cow her about her mistake. It seemed a favorite pass-time for him these days. Vander stopped her before she left and tossed her a canteen of water. She tucked it into her belt and threw her hood up before she ducked out into the thick heat of the undercity.

The streets were always so strangely abandoned during days like this that it almost seemed like an entirely different city. Those who still hung outside of their shops or walked by looked ready to drop. There was no sign of her sister among the scattered throng. Vi walked the road heading down the Lanes, pace brisk, keeping an eye out on the gutters and drainage pipes that Powder frequented for discarded materials from topside. Over and over again she found no sign of her sister.

“Powder?” she called down the length of road. A few heads turned at the noise but continued on their way just as quickly. She pressed on down to Benzo’s Shop next. If she went anywhere, it had to be to Ekko.

When she pushed the door open and walked in, she caught sight of Benzo all alone. He was wiping down the displays, mumbling a tune of sorts to himself. The bell alerted him. He turned, obviously expecting someone else entirely.

“Vi?” he sat aside his cloth. “What’s going on? Vander need something?”

She glanced around the shop before answering him. “I’m just looking for Powder…” it was strange she wasn’t even here. She and Ekko were inseparable friends. 

“Oh,” Benzo laughed. “In that case, she and Ekko went out a bit ago.” That relieved a lot of her worries. She asked if he knew where they went and the man shrugged. “The way that boy can squeeze into any nook and cranny? No.” he picked up the cloth again and slung it over his shoulder. “I’m sorry to be of no help, Vi.”

She sighed. “That’s fine.” She said it, but she had hoped… “If she returns…?”

He nodded. “Of course, of course.”

With that, she ducked back out of the shop, feeling a little more nervous than before with Benzo’s Shop granting no success. It panicked her in some form to know there were places in the Undercity that she wasn’t aware her sister went to without her. Why hadn’t she paid more attention to her when she snuck off from the group, or when she went and played with Ekko? She certainly would from now on though, that was for sure.

The next place she could think of was the dumping stations. Even though it walled off by a fifteen-foot wire fencing, it was the last place she could think of. She climbed the fencing when she found she was no longer small enough to squeeze through the holes much younger kids could, and dropped onto the other side.

“Powder?” she called into the dump around her. “Ekko?” Nothing. She pressed on and called out their names in rotating fashion. The echo of her voice lapping off the heaps of garbage was her only answer. “Hello?” She must have walked through eighteen different piles of garbage before she realized that her sister wasn’t here either.

She kicked a piece of metal, flinging it clear across one pile ahead of her. “Come on Powder, you’re not in any trouble! Mylo had it coming anyway!” Still silence. “Powder!” her voice echoed chillingly. With a frustrated sigh, she turned and climbed her way back over the fencing, dropping hard on her feet.

Alright. So Powder’s usual material traps came up empty. And Benzo’s Shop. And the dump sites. Where else could she be? Vi made her way back up the levels of the undercity, feeling anxious. On one hand Vi was wanting to wring her little neck for worrying her but on the other hand she just wanted to see her safe and possibly still squeeze the life out of her regardless, even if it would be through a hug instead.

“This way, come on!” a sharp voice cut through the fog of her mind.

Vi looked up, and caught sight of four kids hurrying toward the western roads. Some of the kids were carrying brightly colored balls and others make-shift floating boards. They were dressed in shorts and trousers or skirts. Fit for the heat, certainly.

Vi knew where they were going. A place where fresh water poured in from topside into a wide area of the undercity, creating pools of cool and sweet water. It had many names, and some of them had come long after she stopped going frequently. She knew it by ‘High Point’, but she had heard that kids refer to it as ‘Sweet Drop’ now. She vaguely remembered hearing it from Ekko…or was it Powder?

With no other places she could think of checking, Vi followed the kids up the western road. It went high, reaching the upper portions of the Entresol level. The sun even cracked through the parting scrap metal, buildings and earth in bright colors, bringing with it sweet, fresh gusts of wind that beat away the rough heat wave set upon Zaun.

As Vi stepped into the wide area, two kids shoved passed her in a race and threw themselves over the edge without hesitation. The splash of water resounded sharply through the area against the laughter and shouts of other kids.

Vi made her way around the large ring of metal, searching the crowds around her for the vibrant blue of her sister’s hair, or the white of Ekko’s. When that turned fruitless, she peered over the ledges into giant pools of clear water, or down make-shift tubes that ran down through waterfalls. A dozen or so different faces, but none of them the ones she was looking for.

Come on, where are you… she turned in place and lifted a hand over her eyes to peer up at the higher ledges where the braver kids ventured. And that’s when she spotted Ekko’s white hair edging along the vaulted dome’s walk-ways towards a larger ledge. Vi moved her eyes down the length of the walk-way opposite of him and finally spotted her sister. She was etching nervously after her friend, pressed tightly against the wall.

Relief flooded through her, and then worry again. With how much of a klutz her little sister was, the thirty feet suddenly looked like a hundred. If Vander knew that she was allowing Powder to do this, there would be hell to pay. And Vander-built punishments tended to be the worst you could possibly get.

She would have to deal with that later. First things first. She had to get her sister. Maybe wallop her for doing something stupid. Maybe just get her to promise not to do it again. Or maybe just let it go. Vi was never really sure what she was going to be doing when it concerned her sister until it happened. Mylo often teased her that she would let Powder get away with anything and spoiled her like she was some baby constantly, and maybe he was right. But wasn’t that what sisters were for?

Powder was all that she had left. Even when Vi was annoyed with her, even when Vi was angry with her, Powder was her little sister and Vi would love her no matter what. That would never change. Not even when Powder got older and older. Because, in Vi’s heart, the eyes that looked back at her would always be the same that stared back at her all those years ago; a small, defenseless baby that needed Vi more than anything in all the world. And that would persist even when Vi had other things she wanted to do, and it would never come second, even if she really wanted it to sometimes.

Sometimes being a sister was difficult.

Vi made her way over to the spot that led up to the higher ledges and began to climb the twisting, dead tree that led up to the first metal cropping.

After a few minutes of forcing her way through entry way equipped only for bodies much smaller than hers, she found herself on the narrow walk-ways leading out to the various upper ledges. She reached into her pocket and dug out a collapsible eyeglass and used it to search the upper levels.

Her eyes went over a dozen different ledges—some scattered with far older kids than those below—but most were empty. She twisted around in the narrow space between the tree and the walk-ways, turning the eye-glass more and more until at least she caught sight of Ekko turning Powder by the shoulders to point at something.  

Powder’s expression shifted from that melancholy gloom that seemed hard-set for her to a shining bright one. They were speaking, but Vi had no idea what went on in either of their heads—probably most thoughts were about gadgets and tech, how could she ever know?—enough to guess.

Vander often said Powder thought on things more deeply than others, but Vi wasn’t even sure what he was trying to say with that. Everyone thought about things deeply at some point, didn’t they? She knew she did; worrying about her sister, about Vander and the boys. About the undercity. About Zaun. About giving her little sister more than she ever knew. It was an almost constant weight in her mind.

That wasn’t the end of the ‘Powder this and that’ from the people around her, though. ‘She’s not like you Vi, she won’t ever be’ Mylo would tell her whenever Powder messed up or got them tripped up during even the weakest heists. ‘Powder shouldn’t have to be ready’ Claggor would tell her in that gentle voice of his whenever they observed the girl from a distance, usually right after something went wrong.

They couldn’t do the things they could do her age, either. Well, she supposed that wasn’t entirely true. They all could do much more at the same age, with far more ease. It wasn’t the same thing though, was it? They weren’t Powder. No, that was true. They weren’t like Powder, but then again, Powder wasn’t like them either. She sighed. Maybe Vander was right. No matter how much she wanted to change something, it wasn’t really up to her in the end. All she could do is try to be there for Powder, for whatever the outcome was.

She’s lucky I don’t have her… she paused and then burst out into laughter when she realized what it was she was seeing. They were lying down on the grated flooring, hand-in-hand, with Powder leaning her head against his shoulder.

Oh.

Oh this was too good.

Her little sister had a crush. And on Little Man, of all kids! Powder, a girl whose seemingly sole interest stemmed from building or drawing, had a crush! Was she even aware of it? Vi tried to remember when she found her first crush and if it was something she just knew, but she couldn't remember. Well, didn't matter, really. Vi would remember for her sister. And oh boy, she could use this to her advantage so easily! A few chores maybe here and there, or maybe to seal her lips when Vi needed to do something Vander considered dangerous. The potential was endless! And yet, just as all the adorable and funny things Vi could do about this little revelation hit her, she noticed the innocent, bright smiles on both of their faces and lowered the spyglass.

No.

No teasing.

Instead, she would threaten the living hell out of Mylo and Claggor to keep their mouths shut if they ever noticed what she was just realizing.

Yea…that’s something a sister would do, right?

Chapter Text

Ekko heard it from Benzo earlier that morning.

Vi and the others had gone out on a job topside. It wasn’t anything serious, or too strenuous, but important nonetheless. Since Vander would never send his kids out unnecessarily—always sure to choose something they could actually do—it meant jobs did not often provide more than basic income. Whatever they scored would come to Benzo’s Shop and coin would be handed out, after providing coin to sources and repairs for various utilities across the Lanes, such as the conveyors and pump stations. It was always enough to get by until the next job, well, almost always.

Ekko would see times when the Vander kids would resort to stealing food or begging on the streets so that they could relieve some of the pressure off of Vander’s back. They never complained, either. Ekko always found that as one of the inspiring things about them. Luckily for Ekko though, Benzo only had to feed himself, so he was more than willing to share some food whenever Ekko didn’t have the funds to do so himself.

Today seemed a special kind of day though, but not in any good way of course. Vi had been the one to convince Vander to send them out again so soon after the last job. And from what Ekko could learn, it was because they had to spend their last earnings on getting a new shipment of alcohol. Which meant no food, for any of them, unless secured off the street somehow. Ekko wished there was more he could do for them, especially whenever he saw Powder on the streets with Mylo, doing the whole ‘My little sister is sick!’ act to score a few coins or scraps of food. Sometimes it worked, most times it didn’t.

“Are they going to be okay?” Ekko asked after Benzo had told him, while they sat at the little table in the back of the shop, before their hot meal. Ekko’s bowl was full of dried meat and dark greens, and he could only think about how Powder might not have had anything to eat in a while.

“Of course they will be okay. They always are, aren’t they?”

That didn’t really make him feel any better though, even if he appreciated Benzo’s attempt. He looked down at his bowl of food and felt guilty. He always did when he knew there was suffering on the outside of the shop, whether it was suffering done on his friends or not. The whole of Zaun knew that pain, day in and day out. And they all deserved better than the run off of Piltover. Powder deserved better.

He felt heat rise to his cheeks when he realized he thought that.

Benzo noticed his gloom. “Something wrong?”

Ekko sighed. “Yea…I can’t do anything about it though.”

Benzo nodded, as if he knew the pain in his heart without having to hear it. “That’s life, I’m afraid. It will tear you down and everyone else, and sometimes there will just be nothing you can do to stop it. All you can do is offer what you can of yourself, and hope by the end of it all, that it was enough to make some difference.”

Offer what he could? He looked at his full bowl again and smiled. “Benzo, do you mind if I leave for the day?”

He chuckled and sat down his cup. “It’s a slow day anyhow. What are you planning on doing?”

Ekko stood, taking the bowl in his hands. “Offering what I can of myself and hoping that it makes a difference.”

Benzo laughed at that and nodded. “Aye, sounds about right for you, huh? Go on then.” He went back to his meal with an amused smile even as Ekko wrapped his bowl with a cloth and hurried out of the shop.

It took only a few minutes to reach The Last Drop. The sign on the front door read ‘closed’ and it would probably remain closed for at least for another day or two—provided they earn enough to cover a new shipment. Ekko peaked through the window of the door to see if anyone was top level to let him in. He spotted Vander sweeping around the counters.

He rapped his knuckles on the door then, until it caught his attention. When the door opened, he looked confused to see him. “Ekko?”

He hurried in. “You’re still here?”

He closed the door after him. “I own the place, so it’d be a bit strange if I wasn’t, wouldn’t it?” but Ekko just walked further in, ignoring him. “What are you doing here anyway? Don’t you have work?”

“Benzo let me off for the day,” he said, turning in place, scanning the entire room.

“I see…the others have already left.” Vander hmm’d and then said, “Oh, are you here for Powder?”

Ekko stiffened as he faced the man. Was it that obvious? “…yea.” He held the bowl closer to his chest. “Is…is she here?” it was most likely that she was. She was rarely allowed to go with them and that generally was regulated to watching only, so when the 'riskier' jobs came along? She was left behind.

He nodded. “She’s downstairs.” He waved a hand at him, dismissively but not rudely. “Go on then, before I put you to work.” Ekko did not take the chance. He knew Vander would definitely make him clean or something. He turned and made his way downstairs.

When he stepped down the last step into the basement, he saw her lying on the floor, doodling on a large sheet of paper, one hand on her cheek. Her left hand was covered in bright, colorful ink and chalk and the other had a few bandages wrapped around several digits. She was kicking her feet behind her, hitting the mattress of her bed in completely unsynchronized strikes, and humming quietly as she drew.

His heart was racing so fiercely over the idea of what to say. He swallowed back a choked ‘Hello!’ and stepped further into the room, giving himself away when he accidentally hit something on the floor and sent it spinning her way. She looked up, confused, and then smiled at the sight of him.

“Ekko?” she sat up and Ekko hoped with all his might that he didn’t look as stupid as he felt he did just standing there like some nitwit staring at her—at that smile. “What are you doing here?” it really was not common at all for him to not be working when he physically could, but today was special…

“I…” he took a breath. “I brought something over for you.” He gestured the bowl toward her and she turned her head to the side, brows arching. He hurried over and held it out to her. “I heard about the accident, with the supplies…” he wasn’t sure if he was rambling. It certainly felt like he was.

Powder gently took the bowl from him and uncovered it. Her eyes widened. “This is for me?”

He struggled with the right words to say to her, though nothing he came up up with seemed right. “Benzo told me you guys had to use all your coin for a new shipment, so I thought…” she sat the bowl down and then reached over to wrap her arms around his neck. The embrace made him feel like puddy.

“Thanks, Ekko.” Her voice was always so soft. She was always so soft. He knew he was blushing when she pulled away, but hoped she wouldn’t notice it. “I’d feel bad if I ate it all though.” She sat the bowl between them. “Share?” He nodded, afraid to speak, and took the first piece. When she wasn’t looking, he quickly put it back, unwilling to take even a bit of it away from her. They started a quiet conversation then and the entire length of it, Powder never noticed he wasn’t actually eating any of the food, as she was too fixated on her drawn blueprints sprawled out before them.

Ekko did a masterful job of faking it of course, and of watching her as her eyes sparkled over her latest crazy-ambitious dream plan for some large automated fighting robot. The current iteration seemed like a mix between a monkey and an otter.  The drawings were compromised of her go-to bright colors and one of them had an arm that shot out and flew back—she said she wasn’t sure how she’d achieve that yet—and a palm that opened up to shoot out fire and a grappling hook, “or some kinda chain!”. With each explanation of a robot’s tool, she did a kung-fu like strike or kick complete with ‘pafoo’ and ‘kyaa’ sound effects for emphasis. Every design, every feature, followed immediately with, ‘Vi could use it for jobs…’ and ‘Vander could use it to keep us all safe’ and so on and so on. Everything she made, she made for them. Or wanted to. Ekko wondered if they all understood that about her, if they liked that about her as much as he did. At times he felt like they didn’t.

After a while, she started work on a new blueprint, and even asked for his input on useful features and ideas. He gave a few with half measure, distracted by how close she was, and laughed whenever she drew a small, cartoony version of him next to the designs. She drew him as ‘Boy Savior’ for a lot of them, complete with the mark on his face and his imaginary glowing sword. And for every drawing she would put herself next to him, usually in her monster helmet with her magical toy gun Zap-Zap. He didn’t know why he liked that so much, but it felt so right, though he knew he felt really foolish for feeling that way.

“What’s this one’s name?” he asked for one of the drawings. He moved the paper out from the pile just enough to see half of it. There was some sort of mechanized creature on it and a small doodle she had scratched over so much the paper was shredded. He didn’t have enough time to look it all over though. Powder hid it away quickly, almost as if she were ashamed of it.

Powder shrugged. “It doesn’t have one…”

He frowned at the realization something he had said or done soured her mood. He looked back at the other drawings deemed complete enough and then reached for one of them. It was one of the smaller creations and if the scale was accurate, roughly Vander’s size. It looked like a fish with a torso, complete with scrawny mechanical arms and legs and a mechanized jaw, with two large ruby eyes with scribbly lines coming out. Clearly indicating lasers. “I like this one! I bet it’s got a great name.”

Powder laughed and took the sheet from him. “That’s Jawbone. He shoots rockets from his mouth.” she wiggled her fingers at him, imitating rockets he thought. He was right though. It had a perfect name. But then again, Powder always came up with awesome names. Ekko took the rest of the pile then, the ones she didn’t scoot away, and flipped through them, acutely aware of the fact that she was watching him.

One of the images was of a clearly mechanized Mylo. There was a giant purple X over his mouth though. He laughed. “What’s with this one?”

Power said, “Mylo. One that doesn’t talk so much.”

Ekko started to laugh. “His head’s way too small to be Mylo.” He grumbled thoughtfully for a second and then snapped his fingers. “You should equip him with a mute button, too. One that self-activates after a few words.” Powder’s laughter made him so nervous. He wasn’t sure when that started, but he was afraid every time she laughed around him, he’d say something goofy and stupid, and spoil everything. “What about for Claggor?” he asked, watching as she dug through the papers for another blueprint she must have recently started on. It was basically just the skeleton portion of a stick figure at this point.

“I was thinking about gun arms.” She aimed her left hand forward and went ‘pshooo’.

“What about an arm that changes into a BIG hammer?”

Powder’s eyes widened. “That does seem cooler.” She took a few of her drawing chalks and scribbled a quick design on the stick-figure version of Claggor. After a few seconds, she revealed the final product; a Claggor equipped with giant cylinder arms colored silver, red and blue. She had drawn in a few bubbles beside the arms showing how they would look expanded into hammer form.

“Awesome! I bet he’d love them.”

“You think?” Powder asked, and then added, “Well, maybe some rocket boots, too.” Claggor was always complaining about having to climb so much when it wasn’t even necessary.

They heard something on the level above them then, interrupting their conversation. The blaring noise of the jukebox playing one of Vander’s favorite songs. She lifted her eyes up from the drawings to the roof. Dust sprinkled down between the floor boards to Vander’s movements above.

“He always plays this song when they leave…” The sound of her voice breaking the silence so suddenly froze him. Ekko didn’t know what to say to that, not when she sounded so sad. Why would that make her sad? Sometimes he couldn’t understand girls at all, but with Powder, he really wanted to try to.

“He’s worried,” Ekko said. Benzo did things out of worry for him as well, whenever he went out for the collections. He would come back to the shop and Benzo would always ask ‘Did it go well?’ or ‘Did anyone give you trouble?’ and things like that. And, worried that he might have said something that would just make her worry as well, added, “It’s gonna be okay. It always is.” Benzo had said that to him earlier, and although it didn’t make him not worry as much, he hoped it would for her.

She smiled, and with a bit more perk than she previously spoke with, said, “And Vi’s with them.” The kids in the Lanes all looked up to Vi—most did at least, and Ekko was one of them—but whenever Powder spoke of her sister, there was always this strong loyalty and adoration in her tone. More than any other had when they spoke of Vi. Ekko sometimes wondered if that was what it was like to have a sibling. One he could love the same way that Powder loved Vi.  

A quietness blossomed between them then as they listened to the music and Vander's dulled movements. The music leaking in through the floors stifled whatever pure silence they might have had otherwise. She didn't seem to mind it at all though, as her eyes were still following the movements above them, as if she could see him.

Ekko felt his heart tighten whenever he looked at her. Why did he feel so stupid looking at her sometimes, as if every thought of his could be heard? Mylo always told him he and Powder could be read like sign posts. He really hoped that wasn’t true though, especially not right now.

Breaking him from his thoughts, Powder suddenly bopped him on the nose with her finger. “Helloooo?”

He clumsily fumbled over his words. “Sorry, the…the music is a little loud.”

She was unphased by his distraction. “Why’re you off work, anyway?”

Well, he couldn’t just say ‘because I wanted to see you’ without looking like an idiot. “The day was slow, so Benzo said I could go.”

“Oh,” she mumbled. “Wanna play something then?” they usually did their playing outside or elsewhere, like in Vander’s office, when the others were here. They didn’t appreciate the ‘loud kid stuff’, as Mylo would put it. Today was the best opportunity they had in days without the bigger kids breathing down their necks with teases and amused laughter at their antics. As if they had never been kids before.

“Sounds good to me!” and before he could get up himself, she got to her feet and pulled him to his. He tried not to concentrate so much on the fact that her hands felt so warm in his. “What should we play? I left all my stuff at Benzo’s.” he hadn’t really thought that he would be spending the day with Powder, or he would have brought them for sure. Powder went to her bed and knelt to bring out a little chest from under it. The chest was decorated in sharped tooth cartoons of creatures and versions of her siblings. A few lines of warnings such as ‘Don’t touch!’ and whatnot were written across the sides and top. Mylo was a snoop, after all.

“I have an idea!” After a few seconds, Powder took a few things out. A toy sword made of soft piping she wrapped over with black foam—it did not have a hilt like his sword, just the ‘blade’ and the handle—and another toy-sword. It was much smaller than the other one, but of the same design. It was obvious it was a second creation of extra parts. He was surprised she didn’t bring out her toy-gun, but then again, playing with a toy-gun that shot paint inside would have probably irritated Vander.

She stuffed the toy swords into his arms and then started collecting the pillows from the beds and the cushions from the sofas. She then pulled the table out from between the sofas and chairs, struggling with the table’s weight for a second. The table now sat in the middle of perimeter of pillows and cushions.

And Ekko suddenly realized what it was they were going to be playing. ‘Pirate Captains’ was the best name they had come up with for it. They usually played it outside of The Last Drop on one of the bar's little terraces—where Powder did all of her biggest, most expressive graffiti—on top of a twelve-inch plank laid on the floor. The plank signified the pirate ship plank of course, and whoever’s boot scoffed off the side first would be counted as a fall into ‘the watery depths of Bilgewater’. It wasn’t ever played on a table before though, but he wasn’t about to say anything. It was one of his favorites to play with her anyhow.

“I bet you’ll fall first.” she climbed up onto the table after taking the shorter sword from him.

“As if!” he climbed up onto the table beside her. “I’ll claim the record, just you wait and see.”

“Okay! Same rules as before?” she mumbled as she took a spot at the back of the table, near the walls. He took his spot at the other end facing the stairs. “The first to fall, loses. And…and…” she thought on what to add for whoever failed and then smiled wickedly. “And has to eat a crag-slug. Whole.”

Ekko shivered, disgusted by the idea of it, but was laughing.  “You better prepare yourself then, because I’m not gonna fall this time.”

“We’ll see!” Powder was always so uncharacteristically confident when they played their games. Ekko found it inspiring, and a little intimidating. “Ready?” Her eyes went to him suddenly and he looked away quickly, abashed. Gosh, her eyes were pretty.

“Yea…ready!” He readied into an exaggerated fighting stance against Powder’s natural stance. “Go!” he said it first—the rules stated the challenged gets to start the first round after all—and swung at her.

Powder swatted the sword out of the way. Ekko fumbled, surprised, and stepped back again. Somehow, he always forgot how quick her reflexes were. He rallied himself and then swung again, with a ‘hyaaa!’ for good effect. Powder simply poked at his chest and pushed before his sword even reached her. Ekko went right over the table and onto the cushions and pillows behind in him a comical flail of his arms and legs.

Powder’s laughter echoed across the room, strangely accented by the blaring music above them. She peaked over the table where he laid sprawled out. “I win!” She smiled at him with that gap-toothed smile that always seemed to make his heart race like crazy. “Powder one, Ekko zero! Go again?” Maybe it was perfectly fitting that she played a pirate so well, the way that smile stole all the breath from him. But how was it any fair she had such a pretty smile? Would anything else disarm him the way that did? 

He laughed as he got back up, thinking on that smile and willing to eat a hundred crag-slugs just to see it a few more times. “You’re on!”

Chapter Text

It was one of the few days that The Last Drop could close for reprieve. Vander had come to rely on these days so much that whenever they came around, he woke up early just to put the sign out so he didn’t have to wake to the sound of people ringing bells at his counter, wondering where he was. It also meant the sweet, sweet sleep in. A few hours extra of rest. When he could snore right through breakfast time, and near into the afternoon.

It sometimes didn’t go according to plan, of course. Sometimes one of his kids got sick. Sometimes they needed the extra coin the bar provided. Sometimes he had things to do, with Benzo or the bar, or even topside and Piltover. He tried to adjust to those unexpected emergencies the best he could, but he was only human and it could get so tiring.

Today was one of those unexpected emergencies. And one that crept on him with more and more frequency. He was asleep in his office up stairs when the cries first reached him. He jolted upright so quickly and in such a disoriented, panicked state he hit his forehead square on the post above his bed.

He swore against the pain but hurried himself out of his little room and down stairs, heart thundering in his chest, breath coming from him in sharp and painful bursts. At the end of the second story stairs, he took an iron pipe from the spot on the railing he kept for emergencies and ran toward the basement entry way.

He kicked the door open and went down the stairs so fast he nearly tripped over himself. When Vander entered the kids’ room, pipe raised ready to swing, he saw that it was all but vacant. All except the girl bent over at her bed-fort, collapsed in on herself, screaming and sobbing at the top of her lungs.

Vander dropped the pipe and went to her side immediately. “Powder, come on kid, it’s me,” he tried to wrap his arms around her and bring her close—the contact sometimes calmed her—but she fought him so fiercely he couldn’t keep a grip on her, not without hurting her. “Come on baby girl, it’s okay, I’m here now, I’m here.” he tried to soothe her, to rock her, but her state was absolutely hysterical. Her little fists pounded on his chest, neck and face, and legs kicked to be free of him.

“Sssh, it’s alright, it’s alright,” he pressed her to him as tightly as he dared to, and took a sharp breath at the violent trembling that soared through her. Try as he might, her cries would not quiet, and the violent struggle she gave only seemed to get worse every second that passed. “Powder please,” he whispered, afraid to hold her any tighter than he already was. “It’s going to be okay. I’m here now. I’m here.” But as always, there was nothing he could do. No way to center her, to bring her back. He would have to sit it through with her, and hope the ride through wouldn’t have her—them—come out of it worse for wear.

Vander could only be thankful that the other kids were not here to see it. Vi especially. The first time Vi had seen it, she was just eleven. It terrified her. Vander had tried to make sure she never had to see it again and was in some measure grateful that these episodes of Powder’s were relatively contained to particularly bad days. Whenever they sprang up was random, but the ones at night seemed the worst. She would wake her siblings screaming and crying, and Vi would try to settle her down. Sometimes that worked, sometimes it didn’t. Vander would try then too, but it never seemed like they could help her leave her terrors behind. It was scary enough, Vander thought, that Mylo didn’t even tease her for it or yell at her for it long after it happened. He supposed they all understood that she was just a kid and that kids’ nightmares could be more terrifying than anything an adult might dream of. And although he still was never really sure what sort of nightmare could set her off like this, he knew he could not leave her. Not like this.

So Vander did the only thing he knew how to; he held her and let her ride out the anguish until she laid in his arms quaking in tears and hoarse cries. The side of his face and his neck already felt sore, but it was a pain he would gladly tolerate, if it imparted some measure of peace to her in these episodes of hers. If he had to take all the pain in the world to help temper her against the torment that spun about in her nightmares, he would.

He smoothed her hair down, soothing her with gentle words, until the tremors finally subsided and all she could do was cry. “You’re okay now,” he whispered, feeling her heart pound against his chest with such ferocity he was afraid it would give in. “Breathe Powder. Breathe. It’s over, it’s all over.” And after a few minutes, she became still in his arms and the little arms that were wrapped so fiercely around him loosened.

Vander gently put one arm under her and the other across her back, and stood. She laid limp in his arms. He knew she was asleep, exhausted so completely her body couldn’t do much else. That’s usually what came after her terror-fits. He wasn’t sure if it was good for her to go back into what set her off in the first place, but he knew it was probably the only thing that could release the stress couped up in her head.

He rubbed his hand up and down her back as he slowly made his way up stairs. He had to get her out of the room before the others returned. He made his way up to the second floor and pushed his door open with a booted foot. His shoulder felt wet from the tears, as if she had cried every part of herself out, and when he laid her down in his bed, the sight of her face froze him. Red, puffy eyes, ringed in black, and scraps and bruises already forming on her cheeks from where she had twisted about and hurt herself long before his arrival.

He knelt beside the bed and gently tucked her in, though he left one hand bare so he could hold it. Her little fingers were scrapped and cut too, with some covered in colorful bandages. They were signs of her constant tinkering—she was very prone to accidents after all—but also signs of her previous nightmares made flesh. He brought her little hand to his lips and kissed it, hoping he could impart the same sort of warmth and love his mother used to give him when he had terrible nightmares or fears.

“Everything’s alright now.” He told the slumbering child, feeling sick that even he knew his words were ultimately useless. Whatever it was that terrorized her so constantly, he was powerless against it. He would tell her that he would chase away all the monsters, but he knew the monsters that haunted her were in a place that he could never reach. What kind of father was he, if he couldn’t even help her with this?

He reached to brush loose hair from her face and then leaned over to kiss her forehead before standing up. “I will be right back.” The pale faced terror that had gripped her so completely just minutes ago now relaxed into a sharp contrast of peace. If he could even describe it as that.

He went out of the room and to the small closet at the end of the hall, where all of the emergency items were kept. He took the little box of medical supplies and then grabbed a roll of medical tape, and made his way back to his room.

She was still asleep.

He sighed, thankful, and knelt back beside his bed. It took out a few cotton balls and dipped them into the antiseptic solution, and then he gently padded them against the scraps and cuts and bruises. She twitched only gently to the administrations, either too exhausted to wake or the antiseptic solution was only an irritating thing more than it was painful. When he was through with that, he ripped little strips of the medical tape off the roll and gently pressed them to the more grievous scraps. By then, the labored breath she had prior dissolved to a gentle, soothing noise that burned all the fear and guilt and anxiety out of him.

After a while of watching her, to make sure the night terrors did not return, Vander left her tucked into his bed to go prepare something to wake himself up. Downstairs, as he brewed his coffee, he rested his forehead against the machine with a winded sigh that pronounced all the exhaustion in him.

Vander wasn’t sure what he was going to do about Powder. He never did. Not even when she wasn’t being bothered by her night and day terrors, but when she begged to go with her siblings or when her creations never seemed to work and it left her into this unbreakable state of despair. Every day was a riddle with her, and he was becoming quickly inept against them as they grew more and more complex. And in so many ways, it terrified him. Would there be a day when holding her couldn’t do anything anymore?

After the cup was brewed, he made his way back upstairs. Each step screamed exhaustion back at him, reminding him over and over again he hadn’t had a good night’s rest in days. When his eyes fell back on the image of Powder in his bed though, he accepted that sleep was far off, if not impossible for him for the day now. He was a dad. And dads suffered so their kids didn’t have to.

Settled on that determination, he pulled a chair near the bed and then sat down to watch her, sipping at his coffee. After a few hours, and long after his coffee was gone, Powder’s gentled mumbles tore him from his tired haze. He rubbed at his eyes and leaned over to take her hand.

“Powder?” tired eyes stared at him through narrowed lids, set upon a face so pale the rings around her eyes looked almost like dark paint. He had spoken softly, afraid that if he made any louder a noise it might startle her. “It’s good to see those pretty little eyes.” He reached out to brush hair from her face and then rested his hand on her forehead, to check her temperature. She was a little clammy, but he was sure she wasn’t sick.  “How are you feeling?” She blinked a few times and that’s when he noticed the tears building in the corners of her eyes. “Hey, hey…it’s alright.” He smiled and reached over to pull her into a hug. Her breathing was a little labored again, but he hoped it was just because she was crying, and not because another terror was upon her. “I have you now. Nothing can hurt you, not here, not while I am around.”

“I’m sorry,” she mumbled into his neck where she had her face pressed, her voice trembling.

He held her closer, soothing her. “None of that now. You don’t have to apologize for anything.” But she did not say anything else after that, she only held onto him so desperately he was afraid to let her go. It dawned him how late it had gotten then though, and that she hadn’t eaten anything yet. He hoped with a full stomach she might feel better. He tried to pry away from her, but she only held on tighter.

“Please don’t leave me,” she cried, and that trembling came again.

Vander patted her back. “I’m not going to leave you, Powder. I would never do that to you. I just need to find you something to eat. It will make you feel better.” He felt her little fingers twist into his shirt for a better hold and frowned. “Alright…alright, I won’t leave. I promise.” But he knew sooner or later, they would need to separate. “How about I walk us down stairs, and you can eat there?” She sniffled and nodded, squeezing her arms more around his neck. “Alright...” he lifted her out of the bed and held her close as he made his way back down the stairs. It came with great relief to see that the other kids had not returned yet. He wasn’t entirely sure what they were doing out there—he certainly didn’t send them on any jobs—but he couldn’t find enough of himself to divide to worry about it, not when he had Powder to worry about. Not when this was so serious.

Vander sat her at one of the tables. “I will be right back.” When he tried to leave, she took his hand. He faced her.

“You…you won’t leave?”

His eyes widened and brushed a hand across her cheek. “As long as I draw breath, I will never leave you, Powder.” He hoped she could believe that—know it in her heart—but when she held his eyes, he feared it was not something she could do. Whether or not it was just the fear of a child or the insecurities of an orphan or something else entirely, he couldn’t know. He ruffled her bangs a little. “What would I even do without you, huh?” Her eyes burned with even more tears and then she reached out to hug him again. He rubbed his hand on her back. “That’s right,” he chuckled. “I’m too much of a sucker for your hugs to leave you.” He felt her smile against the side of his neck. He chuckled then, softly so as not to startle her. “Now, how about we get you something to eat? Do you think you can do that?”

She pulled away and sniffed, rubbing her arm against her nose. “Okay…” she allowed him to leave her then, so that he could cook her something up. It took only a few minutes, but when he returned with a plate covered in scrambled eggs mixed with bacon and cheese, she ate hungrily.

It always astonished how quickly his kids ate, Powder in particular. She was practically skin and bones, and it seemed to only degrade with each passing day. Vi and the boys had come to him at a much older age than Powder had, so it was easy enough to adjust their caloric intake for what their bodies needed. But for a kids like Powder, the rate of growth would pop spontaneously between weeks or months. It was far more important younger kids received nourishment for their development, and looking at her now…he feared he was failing at that. Miserably.

When she was done, he smiled. “There’s more, if you’re hungry?” He knew he would hear endless shit from the other kids about cooking all of their eggs just for Powder, but he didn’t care about that right now.

She looked at the plate with solemn eyes, and then at him. “What about the others?”

He smiled. Always about others with Powder. “They’re big kids, Powder. They can make do without for just one day.” He took the plate without waiting for her answer and came back with another helping. She looked at it shyly before digging in again. Vander leaned back into his chair, arms crossed, as he watched her.

Without a doubt she would have more of her terrors, but he would be there for her for every one of them. Even if they came on sleepless days. Even if they came on happy days. He would give anything in the world to make her feel safe.

Anything at all.

Because that was a father’s duty.

Chapter Text

Ekko sat as rigid as he could for his friend, but the bar stool was unbelievably uncomfortable. She was sitting on a seat in front of him, brows furrowed deeply and teeth biting down on her lower lip. She had that intense face whenever something was serious for her, like a lens focusing the raw energy of the sun down on an object, there was nothing that could get in the way of it.

Her closeness made him so nervous. She smelled of chalk and paint, and vaguely of gasoline from being near The Last Drop’s generators all of the time. The freckles that bridged her nose were entirely visible under the light of the bar, just another feature about her that made him all jittery whenever he noticed it.

“Sit still,” she said, her voice quiet under the gentle beat of the music in the background. Vi and the boys were enjoying a snack next to the jukebox, laughing and half-assing the lyrics of the song. It only made him feel even more nervous to know everyone could see how close they were.

“I’m trying,” he managed to say, watching the way her grey-blue eyes roamed over her current canvas, which just so happened to be his face. The bristle of the paint brush kept ticking his skin, which would make him twitch his face. “It’s itchy.”

She leaned away then, cocking her head to the side, eyes searching him. He was thankful most of his face was being covered by paint. “Hmm…” she bunched up her face, thinking, pressing the end of the paint brush to her lips. She smiled then, realizing something, and then she dipped her brush into a blob of orange on her paint board and began painting on his face again. She kept smiling against giggles, as if that could hold them back completely.

That made him suspicious. “Powder…what are you drawing?”

“Sssshhh,” she mumbled. “You’ll mess me up.”

What had he agreed to? The last time she had drawn a goofy looking clown pattern all over his face and Mylo had teased him about it for hours. He still wasn’t sure if she had done it to tease him or if she was just testing out new designs. It was hard sometimes to tell with her, because she absolutely loved to draw pranks on anything she could get her hands on. It was just one of the many quirky things about her that he had such a crush on.

“Are you almost done, at least?”

“Maaaaybe,” she said, smiling.

He sighed. “Powder, it’s not embarrassing, is it?”

“No,” she said it, but it seemed way too quick of a reply to seem natural. He shifted on his seat a little, even more suspicious. She sat aside her brush a minute later and reached to smear some of the paint on his cheeks with a finger. The pattern he could feel felt like a half circle, but for all he knew, she was just mixing something together.

Her fingers were very warm though, and that made him relax some. After a few minutes, they began to get a crowd. First Vander came over, glass in hand and one brow arched, clearly confused by whatever it was Powder had drawn on his face. Then came Claggor, looking strangely contemplative, and then came Vi. She looked just as confused as Vander. Mylo arrived last, and burst out into laughter at the sight of Ekko.

“Little Man, I can’t believe you let her do this to you all of the time.”

Oh no. What had she done? He was torn between loyalty to his best friend and potential embarrassment.

Powder scowled, annoyed by his comment, but then her expression softened as she turned her eyes to his. He felt like puddy whenever she looked at him like that. “I think it’s cool.” Well, now he couldn’t say what he really felt when he saw it, because it made her so happy already. “Wanna see?”

“Wash it off Little Man, trust me, you don’t want to see this train wreck.” Mylo suggested. Vi slapped his arm hard, quieting him. “What?” he demanded. “Just giving the poor kid fair warning before he gets hit by a Powder flavored ‘accident’.”

Sometimes Mylo irritated him with how much he picked on Powder. He gave the lanky lad his own form of scowl, but it went unnoticed under the constant securitization they were applying to Powder’s efforts on his face.

“Yea,” he answered his friend, heart racing in anxious worry and for the fact that her gap-toothed smile was just so cute. “Let’s see it.” Vander took the mirror that was out of her reach and held it to her. She faced him and shyly held the mirror up for him to see.

He had been given whiskers, and an expanded mouth with razor white teeth and a long red tongue hanging out from the corner of it. His eyes had been painted over with uneven ovals for larger eyes, one bright yellow and the other magenta. The inside of the ovals had dozens of squiggly lines, as if the beast had a crazed look to it.

Well…

It wasn’t embarrassing, at least. He just didn’t know what it was. It did look kind of weirdly cool, though. Whatever the heck it was. She was anxious, he knew. He smiled. “It looks awesome, thanks Powder.”

Mylo puffed out a cackle. “You can’t be serious, you look so—”

“Be quiet, Mylo!” Vi snapped, slapping a hand over his mouth. She looked at Ekko with a half-smile, clearly not really into the lie she was about to say. “Powder’s right, it looks good.”

Mylo shoved out of her hand. “If bad looks good, sure.” Powder’s eyes burned with tears that were split between anger and embarrassment. The pretty happiness evaporated from her immediately. That was it. Mylo would get what’s coming to him, and Ekko was going to be the one to do it.

“Alright,” Vander sounded annoyed. He grabbed Mylo by his ear and pulled him back, getting a loud ‘ouch, ouch!’ from him. “Leave the kids alone now.”

“I don’t care what they think,” he told her after the others started to clear away. “I think it looks great.”

She looked at him. “Really?”

“Really,” he assured her. He would walk through the markets with it on if it would convince her. Everything she did was magic to him. “Want to try another one?”

She smiled. “Yea!” and then she went on to wash away all the old paint, and even the way she scrubbed the paint away with the cloth was gentle. After she was done, she used a different cloth to dry his face.

“Whatcha gonna do next?” he asked as she readjusted her paints. She chewed on her bottom lip thoughtfully.

“Mmm, I don’t know.” She suddenly reached over to his face and grabbed his ears, and wiggled them around. “It’s gotta be something around these goofy ears though.”

The warmth of her fingers seared through him.  “They aren’t goofy!”

She giggled. “They’re a good kinda goofy.” She let him go then, and went back for her brush. His face felt like it was on fire. “I know what to do.” She told him to close his eyes and he closed them immediately. The brush touched his skin a second later, gentle and sure strokes brushing across his forehead down to his nose and upper cheeks bones. A few times the brush went over the same spot, but he wasn’t sure why. He wasn’t an artist.

When she was done, she dropped her brush onto the paint board and then reached for the mirror again. “Readyyyy?” she asked, holding the mirror to her chest. He swallowed back some stupid words, thinking it was cute the way she lengthened some of her words whenever she was happy or excited. Whenever she felt safe enough to just be herself. He nodded. And with a quick flourish, she held the mirror in front of him.

His eyes widened in surprise.

She had painted a variation of his Boy Savior symbol, though with the jittery and erratic lines she loved to use, and had made it neon blue instead of off-set white. It extended wider than his own version too, almost well passed his eyes. Her style was so punkish. So vibrant. There was no denying the attraction of her style.

“Well?” she asked, peaking around the mirror, brows arched.

He smiled. “I love it, Powder.” And he truly did. Before he could offer anything else for her though, Vander called out from the counter.

“Alright, settle down now, it’s time to eat!” he gestured toward them then. “That means you two, too. Powder, put your stuff away while Ekko cleans up.” She sat the mirror down and leapt off her bar stool.

“Wait, Powder.” she paused just as she balanced all of her things on her paint board. “Let me help you.” He jumped down from his seat and took some of the things from her.

Ekko followed her down stairs and waited as she put away her things into the chest under her bed. He took the chance to look around the room as she turned to grab more things out of his arms. He spotted Mylo’s bed, which floated off the wall on a platform held by chains. It hung at least three feet above the ground.

“Done,” she said, closing her box. He was a little distracted. She leaned into his view. “Hello?”

“Oh, sorry, uh…I’ll meet you up there. Gotta clean up.” She gave him a quizzical look but shrugged and hurried off, humming. As soon as he was sure she was gone, he went to work. He dug a wrench out of his pocket and went to Mylo’s bed. He loosened the bolts attached to the platform and once he was sure that he loosened it enough, tucked the wrench back into his pocket and twirled on his heels with a wide, mischievous grin. Once he was back upstairs, he had forgotten all about his face-paint. Vander saw him as he approached the table and corked his brows. He didn’t say anything though, shaking his head and placing a plate in front of him.

And that night, when they all began to tuck into bed, Ekko laid down on the sofa facing Mylos’ wall with a knowing smile. When the boy put all his weight on the platform and fell straight down with a comical screech of surprise, Ekko had won the silent war. Because Powder had seen it and burst out into a fit of laughter, followed immediately by Vi and Claggor.

It worked so well, he decided to make it an unspoken promise between them; tease Powder in front of him, get pranked. Ekko put his arms behind his head and watched with a wide smile as the boy fumed and turned as red as a cherry. Now Ekko was well invested in his game to ever consider abandoning it.

Chapter Text

Vander glanced up from his spot at the counter at the sound of laughter. Ekko and Powder were lying down on the floor below one of the tables, doodling on something he hoped wasn’t his floor. They had been left behind by the bigger kids—as teenagers didn’t have time for kids all of the time—earlier in the day, and although Vander could see that it gnawed at them, they were trying their very best to entertain themselves despite it.

They were the only kids their age within their social group. Any others seemed to irritate the both of them, or so Vander noticed. They never tried to expand beyond Vi, the boys or the other teenagers that seemed to follow Vi around like lost pups. Occasionally he’d see Ekko engage with other kids, but it was always curt, as if he wanted to get away as quickly as possible. And Powder…? Well, Powder was a very different matter. Outside of Ekko and her sister, her only friends were of mechanical origin, or of vibrant colors.

Vander leaned into the counter to watch them, pleased by the way that Powder relaxed so completely around her friend that it made enduring Ekko’s sometimes irritating behavior of ignoring him in front of her easier. Only a little easier, at least. Maybe even less than that.

“Are you kids hungry yet?” he asked them a moment later, when he glanced at the clock just above the dispensers and saw how late into the afternoon it was.  

They weren’t listening to him though, laughing and conversing in hushed excitement over whatever it was they were doing. How long would they even be at this? Were they even capable of getting bored? They started early in the morning, as soon as the others had left, and hadn’t stopped goofing around since. They even tore through every inch of the bar in their games and imaginations, and it seemed it all was going to provide a never-ending fountain of entertainment for them.

He opened his mouth to ask again, but shut it when he saw just how distracted they were. Powder was kicking her legs behind her, occasionally entangling them with his. Ekko kept touching her hands, to take chalk from her or stop her from doodling over his work, his pearly grin practically ear to ear.

Something about that uneased Vander. He cleared his throat and turned for the small kitchen behind the counter area just as they began to fight playfully over chalk and the last open swaths of untouched paper.

At least it was easier on his days off to deal with just them. The older kids could cause more headaches than a room full of children, sometimes. Mylo in particular. With Powder and Ekko, things were easy to manage about, at least at home. Thankfully. Though he suspected that when Ekko and Powder both became late teenagers, they would be more of a handful than Vi and the boys combined. The way they were both so prone to mischief was an early warning sign of it.

Vander took down a bowl from the cabinet above the dingy sink and then went for the cooling fridge at the end of the counter. The inside was almost bare. He would have to send Vi with the boys out to the market for stock when they got back. All that was left was a clear box of fried meat from the markets and a bottle of the older kids’ favorite soft drink. Vander sighed, and took out the meat and began to heat it up.

The jukebox grew louder then, and he could hear their voices getting further and further muffled as it grew louder. Vander soon stood at the small counters in the kitchen, staring into the empty sink before him with a spark of annoyance in him. He couldn’t even hear the heating plate beep at him that it was done, all he could hear was Powder’s soft giggles cutting through the under tones of the music. Giggles he was certain were earned by something Ekko was doing.

Because somehow that boy always knew how to make her laugh. Vander wasn’t entirely sure yet if he was thankful for it, or a little annoyed by it.

He poured the heated meat into the bowl and made his way back to the main section of the bar. It was empty. He sat the bowl down on the counter and leaned down to see below the tables. They were gone. The music was still blasted though. That’s when he heard the muted laughter coming from below him. He grumbled, took the bowl and made his way to the basement.

When he arrived at the mid-step, he saw the two jumping up and down on one of the sofas, laughing. They nearly touched the pipes above with how high they were managing to get. The sofa’s creaking could be heard sharply even under the music clamoring on above level.

“Alright, enough!” but they couldn’t hear a thing over the music. “Before you hurt yourselves!” at last, he was noticed, just as the song above stopped playing.

Powder had seen him first and immediately stopped jumping. Ekko landed hard on the sofa beside her just as she did. The force of the spring going off under her threw her forward and down onto the floor with a loud ‘oooff!’. Ekko flailed about last second to try to stabilize himself on the surface that was no longer resisting him as it had before, but fell anyway. He landed on the table with an equally loud sound of surprise and muted pain.

Vander rubbed a hand hard down his face and walked in to put the bowl down. “This is why I’ve told you two not to do that anymore.”

Powder lifted herself to her elbows and blew hair out of her face before bursting into laughter. Ekko, still strung across the table belly first, joined her just seconds later. Their cheery mood chipped away at his sour one with ease. He chuckled. “Alright, if you two are through giving me grey hair, get over here and eat before I decide to not look the other way about the sofa.”

“Yes, sir,” Ekko said just as Powder said, “Okay.”

Vander sat in the single seat while they gathered up together on the same sofa they were just in the midst of destroying. He exhaled gently as he reclined further into the comfort. His knees immediately started to ease from the dull ache.

Powder started playing with her food by making two blue fish fight each other. Ekko only laughed and watched, that was until she made her remaining fish attack his frog leg. Then Ekko got into the great food-war with his own comical fish attacks.

Their genuine happiness was a relaxing and comforting sound. Vander closed his eyes for just a minute, enjoying the peace of it. He smiled. The greatest thing he had ever done in his life had happened on that bridge all those years ago. He couldn’t imagine his life now without Vi and Powder in it, and of course the boys who had followed just hours after the girls. In moments like this, where life seemed to just depend on their happiness, he wished he had found them all much sooner.

His kids would never understand half of the unconditional love he felt for them until they grew old and boring and had some sprouts of their own.

Which only made him remember his responsibilities as their father. And that three others were bound to return, and that one of them particularly enjoyed annoying another specific sibling. And so since the bar wasn’t going to prepare itself for the morning, nor were his kids going to suddenly be able to provide for themselves, it was time to get back to his feet. Vander groaned as he pushed himself up and made his way back to the stairs, the weight of being a dad breaking down on his shoulders with greater ferocity.

When he got to the first steps and glanced back at them still forcing their food to fight, he laughed and clamored his way up to the first floor, amused that they didn’t even notice him leaving.

It took a few hours for the bar to be swept, mopped, wiped down and re-organized for the start of the new work week. It was a much easier task when he had someone to help, but with Vi and the boys still out and the youngest two now preoccupied, it all fell on his exhausted shoulders and aching knees.

By the time he had finished with the work, it was well passed nightfall and every inch of him screamed for just a minute in a chair. The door opening pulled him from his exhausted stupor. He turned from the counter and saw Vi and the boys walking in.

At last.

Vi noticed the state of him first and frowned as they approached. “Everything okay, Vander?” Claggor’s gentle eyes regarded him from behind those well-maintained goggles and Mylo stood half-cocked to one side, arms crossed, brows furrowed.

“Of course,” he said. As if he would admit to his kids he was getting old. “Just getting ready for the night. Mind telling me where you guys were all day?”

“The market,” Mylo admitted, getting an annoyed look from Vi. Whatever they were doing, she clearly did not want him to know. He sighed. He wasn’t exactly in the mood to deal with it anyway.

“Right, of course,” he nodded. “We’ll talk about it tomorrow. You eat yet?” they all gave their own versions of a yes, each sounding more forced than the last. He purposely left out asking how they managed to pay for that food. “That’s good, at least.” He would have to send them to the markets for food in the morning then. “Oh,” Vander stopped them half way to the counters. “Ekko’s staying for the night.”

Vi looked at him with a raised brow. “Again?” it was the third night in a row. Vander wasn’t sure what she was trying to say.

“it’s too late to send him off,” he explained.

“Alright,” she said. “I’ll help set up a cot for Ekko, then.”

“I’ve got it.” He stopped her. “You and Claggor will lock up and Mylo,” he turned his eyes to the lanky lad itching at his chin with boredom. “Go turn off the generators. I don’t want a repeat of last week.” They had to replace the entire cooling system after it over heated. Mylo tried to offer a complaint but Vander quickly shut him down and gestured to the door to their far right. Mylo walked off, mumbling something about everything not being fair.

With the older kids set about their chores, Vander threw all of his cleaning towels into the little wash bin under the counter and tiredly made his way back down stairs.

Since it was much too late to send Ekko on his way—though the boy had come and gone late at night before, it was not something Vander was particularly fond of encouraging himself—he would need to get the preparations for the night done for the kid before everyone was too exhausted to just want to avoid it altogether. Whenever it came to that, they’d just have him sleep on the sofa. And that was not something Vander wanted. Which meant if he wanted it done right, he had to do it himself.

As he came into view of the basement room, he said, “Alright kids, it’s late and…” He paused. They were still bunched up together on the sofa, only now they were fast asleep. Ekko was still sitting up, but now his head was resting against the back of the seat. Powder was lying down with her head on his lap, with one arm over her chest and the other lying bent up passed her shoulder. Her hand was wound tightly in his.

And that was a resounding nope.

Vander exhaled sharply and prepared himself for a strongly worded rant, but the sight of Powder’s little face actually looking rested stopped him immediately. Why did daughters have to be so difficult and yet just as endearing? He sighed. If Mylo saw this, he would tease the hell out of them both for days.

With great care, he lifted her off the sofa and held her to him as he turned for her bed. She made a quiet noise that came from that state between lucidity and dreams, of pure exhaustion. “It’s late Powder. Go back to sleep.” He kept his voice low, so he did not stir her awake any further or wake the boy across from them.

She mumbled half-heartedly, “But I’m not tired…” but as soon as he laid her down in her bed, she was fast asleep again. He took her boots off and sat them at the end of her bed and then tucked her in. Once he was done, he reached under the bed to pull out the foldable cot and set it up at the end of the girls’ bed, just against the wall.

Vander got Ekko deposited in his cot before the others marched down stairs, so exhausted that they just laid down on their beds without so much as kicking their boots off. Vander laughed as Vi buried her face into her pillow with an exaggerated sigh of relief.

“Tough day there, Vi?” he asked, voice still quiet. She groaned, as if that was an answer he could even understand. He patted her shoulder. “You and me are going to talk in the morning, kiddo.” She picked her pillow up and covered her head with it.

Vander went for the stairs and stopped to glance back. He smiled and turned off the lights. “Night, kids.”

Chapter Text

Ekko couldn’t help himself whenever the opportunity presented itself. Powder would scare so easily—especially whenever she was distracted—that it felt silly not to try. The first time he had startled her was an accident, of course, but she had reacted to it with such overwhelming quirk that it stuck with him in a way he hadn’t anticipated.

She would usually giggle after she realized it was just him, equal parts embarrassed he always seemed to scare her and relieved to know there was nothing to fear in the first place. She never took his pranks as anything more than that, and he was grateful for it. Because Ekko would feel really guilty when it would sometimes go too far and she would cry and be so completely unraveled by the scare that she could do nothing more hug him. The few times it happened though, Ekko had learned. There were times which he could not creep up on her with a prepared, monstrous voice or a slimy, branch to scurry across her arm. Thankfully, those were rare moments.

The right moments were almost constant. And the reactions were always innocent and his intentions always the best.

Such as the times when she was sitting by herself, distracted by her art or her mechanical parts and when she was in the middle of organizing her things. Or when she was humming to herself while her siblings were on their own planet, usually arguing or laughing.

He would creep up on her and shake her with a ‘boo!’ or ‘rah!’ or maybe he would drop a toy version of a bug or creature on her all of the sudden. She would jump up in a cry or a girlish squeal, or sometimes would immediately just shout ‘Ekko!’ because it had become such commonplace that it just had to be him. Or Mylo. But his messing around would usually come with a stark reminder of something more Ekko knew she hated or felt bad over.

Why Ekko liked to scare her took some time for him to realize, too. And when he did finally understand why he just kept at it, he felt foolish. He liked the way she would laugh at him or berate him in complete annoyance over some scare-prank that was ‘so stupid!’. He liked the way she would hold onto him with all her strength as she rode out the fear of what could have been. He especially liked the way her cheeks would turn red and that would make those freckles across her nose stand out like crazy.

He did it for all of her though. For all the ways she was just herself. For the parts of her she thought was good and the parts she thought were bad. For all of the things that was inside and outside of his little scare-pranks, because he cherished all of the ways she expressed herself.

Like when she was at her happiest or her most open, when she would grab his ears and wiggle them while she giggled and joked over their goofiness in a sing-song voice, or when she would bite her lips when she thought or the way she would hum and skip about whenever she was happy. And the way that she liked to throw all of her weight into him for a hug, or those moments where she would come up and rest her chin on the top of his head or shoulder and just watch what he was doing with equal interest.

And the way she smelled like chalk and paint and gasoline, or how she would craft the craziest and the most intricate stories and characters at the drop of a hat and would complete them all with cute, dorky over the top voice overs.

Ekko even enjoyed the parts of she was too afraid to show others or too embarrassed to express in front of people because someone had made her feel bad for it in some way or another, because they were the rawest parts of her. Like whenever she would laugh so hard, she would cry and snort just a little bit, and then immediately turn red all over out of embarrassment. And that gap-toothed smile that Mylo would make fun of sometimes by pointing two fingers down in a dramatic clearance from each other, because it was cute and reminded Ekko of the sun. He even liked the fact that she would sing completely off beat with Vander at the bar when she thought it was just them, or how she would mumble to herself or the way she would angle her feet toward each other whenever she was trying to reach something out of her height.

Ekko wasn’t sure if liking those things about her—her happiness, annoyance, anger, fear, her relief or the quirky ways she presented her real self—was normal or good, but he knew that he cherished them. Because all of those things were just Powder. Sweet and soft-spoken Powder, who loved to draw her brightness onto any capable surface, who loved machinery and tech as much as he did. Powder who gave the best hugs. Powder whose girlish giggles warmed him up. Powder who looked cute even when she was mad or annoyed with people, or even when she would cry.

And there she laid now, beneath the narrow space of the cooler Vander stored the alcohol in, fiddling with a piece that had broken or maybe making adjusts because she loved to try and make things work better—even if they didn’t necessarily have to. She was completely distracted.

It was the opportune moment.

He snuck up on her, grinning from ear to ear as he heard her humming along to the song Vander had put on just a few minutes earlier. An arm popped out from the side suddenly and blindly reached for one of the tools that was spread crazily around her, fingers covered completely in grease and oil. Ekko quickly moved the tool closer to her and then her arm snaked back underneath, continuing on the work without any idea anyone was sneaking up on her.

Vander was at the counter cleaning and drying the mugs and glasses, and singing the lyrics of the song with almost the same sort of distraction Powder had. Ekko bent down, readying his hands to grab at her ankles and shout a ‘boo!’, but stopped when she started to sing the song with Vander, harmonizing the best she could with him, containing her volume just above that of a whisper.

And something stirred in his heart and he couldn’t steal her from that moment. He sat down away from her and listened. It dawned on him there—listening to her and smiling like an idiot at all the things she did—that in all the ways that mattered, he was completely wrapped around her finger, and he found he didn’t mind it one bit.

Chapter Text

Claggor had drawn the short straw while they were all hunched together at their usual booth in The Last Drop, losing to Mylo by a centimeter. The boy had cackled and hooted and triumphed that he ‘wasn’t the sucker this time!’. Vi gave him a soft, understanding look but also looked pleased she hadn’t drawn it.

He twirled the straw between his fingers, thinking, before shrugging. “That’s okay. We’ll have fun.”

Of course, Mylo had something to say and Vi’s temper snapped over it, but eventually they had stormed off looking ready to pummel someone. Claggor was relieved when they were gone. Their arguments got under his skin so much lately that being around them when they were like that was as if he was walking on eggshells. He hated it. He hated thinking one of them was just one word away from a shouting match and a fist fight.

When they were gone, he exhaled sharply. It was as if a massive weight had been lifted right off his shoulders. They were all family. Brothers. Sisters. Why did they all have to fight so much? Mylo was always so ready to start something he knew would stir trouble. Vi was always ready to fight it out, even if it was her own brother she was thinking of clobbering.

He was the only person among them that didn’t engage in it at all, though he could never really fault Powder whenever she did manage to snap back at Mylo (and hilariously enough, her come backs would make Mylo turn pink all over). How Powder managed to keep from clobbering the idiot herself, all of the time, was a mystery to him.

His thoughts stalled on the thought of Powder. He looked down at the straw in his hands and sighed before tossing it. There really was no point in delaying it.

He rounded his shoulders and made his way down stairs. He knocked to make himself know—because, when you lived with sisters, you had to be careful—but she was nowhere in sight. “Powder?” he called out. Silence. He thumped down the stairs, loudly just in case she just wasn’t paying attention, but the only response was the creaking floor boards beneath his boots and the hum of the pipes above him.

“Powder…?” he called again, kneeling down to look under the bed and then peering up into the pipes. Nothing. Great. He hasn’t even been watching her for a minute and she was already gone. Alright, so no biggie. She was probably just hiding somewhere. She did that, a lot. He made his way up to the second story and checked all of the rooms, even Vander’s room. And yet they had turned out empty, too.

Claggor couldn’t screw up this bad his first watch in weeks. He would never hear the end of it from Mylo, or even Vi. There was only one last place to look, before determining she wasn’t in the building anymore. And if that was the case, it probably meant she had snuck off to visit Ekko—even though she knew she wasn’t allowed to do that on her own when Vander wasn’t at the bar.

He calmed himself with deep breaths and made his way back down stairs and to the door underneath that led into the generator room. As soon as he closed the door behind him, everything dulled around him to the sharp rattling and hiss of generators. Three on one wall and one on the other side. The light in the room was pale blue and flickered in and out almost constantly. The space between the generators was less than four feet wide, so narrow that Claggor had to turn side ways to walk it. The roof thankfully soared high above him, so he didn’t have to crank down as well.

“Powder, are you in here?!” he shouted into the disorienting noise, but he knew it was impossible that anyone could hear anything else in the room. He began to check between the generators. The first and second openings had been empty, except for a few boxes of discarded materials from fixing them a thousand times over. The last space was successful.

He paused at the side the generator and stared down at the girl lying there on the metal floor, cramped between the generator and the wall so tightly her left arm went a short measure up the cool surface of the walling. Her other arm was slung over her eyes, but her hand was holding a wrench. A small bucket of bolts and wires sat at her right foot, and it was only because of the colorful markings that he knew it was her own collection of materials. What was she even doing in here?

“Powder!” his shouts fell on deaf ears. “Powder!” still nothing. He bent down as far as he could and grabbed her boot to shake her into attention. It worked. She sat up, surprised, but immediately laid back down when she saw him. She almost looked annoyed to see him. Why? Claggor jiggled her foot again, hoping to convince her without words to leave the room so they could talk, but she only yanked her leg out of his reach curled it up to her chest, turning away from him to face the wall.

“Come on, Powder!” now he was getting a little frustrated with her. It was hot in the room and stuffy, and his legs were starting to cramp from the awkward position. If she wasn’t going to leave the room for him, then he would make the room at least tolerable. He reached an arm over to the same wall she was facing and pulled down on the lever that controlled the generators.

In a wheezing noise that almost popped in around them, the generators began to shut off. It would be okay to have them off for a few minutes; the power wouldn’t immediately go off, nor would their food immediately spoil. At the sound of the generators dying down, Powder rolled back over to face him. Her brows were bunched down in an agitated way, so completely different than her sister’s glare and yet strangely imposing in her own way.

When the noise cleared, Claggor moved his left arm to sit on top of the generator—that felt a little better for him, anyhow—and shook his head. “What’re you doin’ down here, Powder?”

“Nothing…” and somehow, he couldn’t be quite convinced of that.

“You didn’t come in here for nothing, I think,” he said, frowning.

She mumbled her answer and it was almost so quiet he wasn’t sure he heard it right. “It’s quiet in here.”

Claggor stared at her, confused. How was it quiet? He couldn’t even hear himself think when even one of the generators were running, let alone all of them at once. “Okay, well…why don’t you come out? So we can talk without generators drowning each other out?” she shrugged, indifferent to the suggestion.

He was not a Powder-expert, but even he could tell something was bothering her. He shifted on his spot and wished they were in the main room, where it was cool and he could stand in comfort. “Why won’t you come out? Don’t like me much?” Her eyes went to him then, and the way she was looking at him made him uncomfortable. “Or am I not as fun as Vi and Mylo?” he was teasing her, but he wasn’t used to it, and felt stupid for trying it here and now.

“I’m not stupid,” she mumbled, turning her eyes away to stare up at the roof. “I know you didn’t want to stay here with me, either.”

The sudden diversion of subject, and the painful realization that she had heard their arguing in the main room, made his heart lurch painfully in his chest. And filled him with such guilt and unease he felt sick to his stomach. He hated that, because he knew how often she must feel left out and picked on whenever Mylo would turn his gaze to her, or even when Vi failed to talk up fast enough to defend her or even the times when she wouldn’t say a thing at all. And the way that Powder would just look back at her sister in such disbelief and complete betrayal would suffocate him.

Why couldn’t they all just get along? Why did everything have to be so difficult…? He missed the days when they got along so well that their only fights had surrounded candies or food and getting Vander’s attention. When Powder was still nothing more than a toddler, and Mylo had no qualms about her to bicker with Vi over. 

He tried to think of something to say, but the words failed him. What could he say to that? ‘I’m sorry we draw lots to see who deals with you, but you shouldn’t feel bad about that?’ didn’t seem very soothing in his head, nor did ‘I’m sorry we treat you like a chore, but don’t worry, we love you?’ sound very good.

Claggor hated it himself, the way they dealt with her all of the time, and if he had his way, they would never draw straws or anything like that again. He truly didn’t mind watching her, he enjoyed it, well…he did when he got the opportunity. Powder was like a bag of mystery. You always got something different every time.

Mylo hated it though. Hated the way she was so spontaneous and hated the way she could out think him on everything that wasn’t lock-picking. He would complain none stop about how ‘weird’ she was or how it ‘freaked him out’ whenever he caught her talking to herself.

And with Vi, it was more that she just couldn’t understand her sister at all most of the time, and what you couldn’t understand, you tended to avoid. For Vi, it was making sure she never engaged with the parts of Powder that made no sense, embracing only the parts that she could understand—like the way she would draw or something more simplified like that. There were never complaints though. Vi loved her sister to the moon and back, quirks and all, and Claggor was sure that if it had to be done, Vi would gladly pull the moon down from the sky if it meant Powder was safe and happy. There wasn’t a person alive that could deny Vi her affection of her little sister, after all.

In ways, he wondered if that—the way Vi unconditionally doted on Powder—was the problem, or part of the problem at least. Was Mylo just jealous of the attention? But then again, the boy was probably just completely oblivious to the shit he did that he probably didn’t even realize he was an ass to Powder almost constantly. With Mylo, that seemed more likely. His head was thicker than concrete.

Though in the end, did his intentions really matter, when he never tried to emphasis that it was just his way of teasing her like a dopey big brother—that he didn’t mean the things he said, that he just wanted to poke fun? Without those words, how else could she take it? Claggor wasn’t sure how he would feel if he had to hear that kind of stuff all of the time, but he had this sinking feeling that it probably didn’t feel good at all.

“That’s not it at all,” he finally managed to say, softening his voice. “I want to be here.”

Powder’s brows furrowed and her lips quivered as she turned away from his sight. He knew she was crying. She did that whenever she didn’t want them to see, when she didn’t want Mylo to see. “That’s not true and you know it…” he was right; she was crying and doing a very poor job at hiding.

He said, “I think I know how I feel, Powder. I’m here because I want to be, not because I have to be.”

“’Tough luck on the draw, Claggor’,” she repeated Mylo’s words back at him, her voice breaking just enough that he knew she was still crying.

Ah, so she knew they had drawn straws, too. He reached to rub at his neck, unsure of what to say or do for her, to make this better. How could he explain he only participated in it because they made him? How could he convince her he would have stayed even if he drew the best? He knew that the way Mylo treated her made her uncomfortable and sad, and he knew Vi would stay because she had drawn the straw even if she really needed to be someplace else, or wanted to be at least. Vi would never realize it, but it always made her act differently.

And Claggor couldn’t really fault her, either. Vi was a teenager, a kid herself, and sometimes she wanted some time to herself, to do something other than play the big sister. She could reasonably grow tired of being the co-parent—any kid would have, even if they loved the person they had to care for completely. Claggor had moments of something similar himself, that desire to just walk away for an hour or two to clear his head. Fortunately for him, he didn’t have a child completely relying on him, so that was open to him, whereas it wasn’t for Vi. Because in many ways, Vi had to become Powder’s mother, and that must have been the most exhausting, demanding and terrifying thing she ever had to do. Grow up faster than she ought to, learn things she shouldn’t have to yet, care for someone in a way that took everything out of her.

At times, he wasn’t even sure how Vi managed to deal with it.

“I’m sorry,” he offered Powder after a moment, and he really was. That was not something he wanted her to hear or see. That was why he was always trying his hardest to get out of the situations as quickly as he could, not just because it made him so uncomfortable. “I would have stayed anyway.” She did not respond to him. “And you should know that they don’t mean it like that, Powder.”

She reached out to pick at the pealing rust on the walls. “Come on Powder, why don’t we go outside and play something? That will cheer you up.” Or so he hoped it would. He hadn’t played with her since she was six or seven. It had been forever and he wasn’t sure if he still had the capacity to play like a kid, but he knew he didn’t want to just leave her like this, feeling this way. But she just laid there, staring at the wall, picking more and more of it away. He sighed. “Well, okay then. I’ll be in the bar if you change your mind or…” she closed her eyes and curled up closer into herself, and that stalled the words in his throat.

Somehow, it felt wrong to say something right there. He looked her over one last time before turning the generators back on and side-stepping his way out of the room. He closed the door behind him just as all of the generators started to hiss and shake with life.

Claggor backed away from the room with growing unease and uncertainty. He had never really seen her like that before, though something vague in the back of his mind felt as if it was telling him that was her. All of the time.

When he went to sit down at one of the tables facing the door—he didn’t want to give her the chance to slip by and out of the bar without him knowing—it dawned on him that he didn’t actually see her much at all. And really see her. And that was not something he could blame on Mylo or Vi, or anyone else. He sighed and adjusted the goggles resting on his head, ashamed of himself because he was already giving up. But what was Claggor supposed to do? She didn’t want to leave and she seemed completely content with hiding away.

If it were Vander, he would probably just pick her up and walk out of the room and engaged with her until her mood shifted. Their father always seemed to have careful eyes for them, Powder especially, and always knew what to say even if it didn’t erase the problem at hand completely. Claggor wasn’t Vander though.

He then thought of Vi. Vi who somehow always managed to assure Powder of something or guide her back down her emotional highs, who could convince the girl to stay behind or convince her that staying home was okay. He wasn’t Vi, either.

Or Little Man, who seemed to be the only one that could get her to laugh and play as if the world wasn’t burning all around them.

He wished he knew what to do, like they always seemed to know. Except he didn’t, because he was just Claggor. He tore his goggles off, suddenly annoyed by the pressure of it on his head, and dropped them onto the table. Well, since he wasn’t either of them, he just had to figure out the Claggor way and hoped it would be enough.

First things first, he had to figure out a way to get her out of the room…short of pulling a Vander and just picking her up. He wanted to coax her out on her own. The only way he could think of was to entice her out with something to do…but what did she like to do, short of fiddling with machines? It came to him then just how little he truly knew about her. All of these years, and he could chalk down what he knew was Powder to less than a full hand of things. That made him even more ashamed.

Okay then. First steps before first steps. Learn.

He made his way down stairs, a little embarrassed because he wasn’t sure exactly what he was going to be doing. First impression entering the room; art. Her bed was covered in it, and not just in the kind she could draw, but actual creation—dangling lights, carvings into the wood, random stitches and patterns in her blankets and pillows, bobbling contraptions and vibrant graffiti alike. It was all things he had taken in before, certainly, but at the back of his mind. Now he stopped and really stared at it.

Her style was bizarre, weird even. Lines were never even or smooth, but wild and jagged and completely out of borders with surrounding art. The creatures and animals she drew were not soft and cuddly, but wide-eyed, crazed things brought to life in the brightest, most expressive colors she could afford to part with. The few drawings of people were a bit stranger; giant heads in comparison to their bodies and their features made sharp and exaggerated. He didn’t recognize any of them, so he just decided they were random creations.

Claggor marked it all down mentally and knelt by the bed to dig an arm underneath. When he felt the chest, he yanked it out. Even the box was covered in her art, and warnings, which he knew was directed at Mylo. This time the grumpy, large headed figure on the side of the box with giant Vs for eyebrows and rows of sharp teeth was recognizable. A Mylo head with a yellow and red X slashed through it. Under it, read ‘Don’t Touch!’. Mylo never listened, of course, and would snoop and laugh whenever she found out and realized she actually couldn’t do anything to stop him.

Sorry Powder, he thought with a tinge of guilt, and opened the chest. The chest was packed full of things he found no use in. Wires and copper pipes, cables, tapes, a few different kinds of heating and soldering guns, wrenches and screwdrivers of all kinds and sizes, plates of metal and steel, and tons of plastic caps and bottles she salvaged from the streets. A pair of adult-sized gloves were tucked in between her mess and a clear case of brightly colored chalks.

Claggor removed the gloves and moved the case of chalk out of the way, to look under. More ‘garbage’. He put it all back the way he found it, hoping it was exactly how she placed it, and then closed the chest and pushed it back under the bed.

Okay so…art. Or creating, he supposed. But he already knew she really loved that.

He turned on spot, moving his eyes around the room. He couldn’t offer to let her draw around the room, not when he didn’t have the right and not when it would just tick off the others, and Vander. There was of course his bed and his belongings, but the bed was really the only thing he could ask her to draw on. All that he had beyond that were small hand items and clothes.

This was far more difficult than he thought it was going to be. Fine, if he couldn’t find something more here, then he’d find it elsewhere, or make it himself.

He made his way back to the generators’ and was relieved when he saw her little boots sticking out from the end of the walk-way, where the last generator stood. At least she hadn’t run off on him while he was preoccupied. He peaked over the generator and there she still laid, eyes closed, though very clearly not asleep. It looked like she was trying to listen to just the generators.

He nudged her boot and she opened her eyes, and then immediately rolled them and closed them again. He laughed. Sometimes she acted so childish he forgot that she actually was still just a child. He nudged her again until she looked at him and then he motioned to follow him. He really didn’t want to turn off the generators again just to tell her to follow, but if it came to that…

She sat up and said something he couldn’t hear but he just gestured again. This time she furrowed her brows and got up. Success! Happily, Claggor began to side-walk his way back out of the room, glancing over just once to make sure she was following him. She was.

Outside of the noisy room, he went to get his goggles. Powder did not look like she wanted to step out of the room, from where she stood hand on the door, still a step or two away from actually leaving. He smiled. “Let’s go, come on.”

“Go where?” she sounded uneasy. Was it over him? That flattened some of his enthusiasm.

“Anywhere,” he said. “We’re gonna have some fun.”

That seemed to convince her, though he had this feeling when she bunched her face up at him for his words, that she was more curious about what he considered ‘fun’ rather than actually participating in it. When they were outside, he was sure to lock the doors and check them a few times before looking at her.

“Alright,” he clapped his hands, eagerly, hoping he could encourage more enthusiasm in her with it. “Let’s have some fun—the kind that’ll knock ya right out of your boots.”

When he started off, he looked back over his shoulder and frowned when he saw her following after him, head down just a little. He tried not to let her mood detract from it all. He knew she was just upset, and she had every reason to be. He wasn’t going to let her mood convince him of anything except that he needed to cheer her up. He let the silence go on for then, because he wanted her to feel comfortable in the situation to want to talk later.

After some time leading her down the street, the sight of Benzo’s Shop crept into view. Claggor knew they were busy but he also knew how close Little Man and Powder were. And it was hard to miss the way she looked up at the shop.

He stopped them across the street. “Do you want to run in and say hi before we go?”

For the first time that day, she looked at him with something other than loneliness. “I can?”

“Of course,” he said. “It’d be great to see Little Man, anyhow.” She didn’t even wait for him to move, she just took off across the street, dodging around the people scurrying by as if it were nothing. Claggor tried to hurry after her, but she was so much smaller and quicker, that he arrived just as the door closed behind her.

He opened the door and the bell rang above him, but those inside of the shop had no mind for him at the moment. Powder was tippy-toeing over the main display case, looking into the round face of Benzo.

Benzo was smiling and nodding. “Of course. He’s in the back.” At that, Powder dropped back to the flats of her feet and hurried into the other room just as Claggor approached the counter. Benzo laughed and sat down something in his hands. “Babysitter for the day, huh?” he asked. Claggor nodded. “At least you are watching a good one.” He mused aloud, turning away to store what he had into a cabinet.

Claggor looked at him quickly and then focused his eyes on the door Powder had vanished into. Yes. That was true. Powder didn’t really do anything bad or wrong, not on purpose at least. Claggor knew he wasn’t that well-mannered when he was her age, and Mylo and Vi certainly weren’t. At times, he knew it was part of the reason Vander bought her so many artsy crafts and whatnot, because there wasn’t really ever a need to have to say no or punish her. Vander even took her out randomly to the markets to pick out new things to work on, or just to let her visit her best friend.

That only made him realize just how much Powder popped into Benzo’s shop, disrupting business and distracting his only worker. “It’s not a problem we’re here, is it?” he should have thought to ask about that first, before letting an excited, rambunctious child prone to explosive accidents into his shop.

Benzo just laughed. “That girl is never a problem here. She even helps out sometimes.” he turned back to face Claggor. “I keep telling Vander that girl’s going to become something to watch out for, but all he does is keep her couped up in that old bar of his. I could use the extra set of hands here, that’s for sure.” He shook his head then, a smile brightening his old, fat face. “Little Man works harder whenever she’s around too, which only means more work gets done. Bring her around more, I say.”

The way Benzo just praised her so completely made Claggor hesitate. His first thought was about what she had been doing to bother Benzo and that only made him feel even worse. Was that how they all thought about her, every day? Without even realizing it?

It wasn’t as if he viewed Powder’s mistakes as a problem, not in the way that Mylo did or even in the small ways that Vi did. He knew that somewhere along the lines of what Powder was trying to create would require numerous failures—maybe even years of it—before success, so he never complained when a paint bomb exploded on them or she dragged them all out to the terraces to witness the ‘bomb that’s going to work!’ only to watch as it spewed a puff of smoke or did nothing at all.

He didn’t even make a face when she tried and failed to design them tools to help them on their jobs, not even when the wire gun she created to help them clear wide distances snapped and he fell four feet into the slum gutters testing it. He ached and hurt after, sure, and he did tell her it was a good idea, but he never berated her for her failures. Mylo did that enough for them all.

So why was that the first thing he had thought? Was it wrong? He didn’t dislike her for it or anything, he just expected failure. When that thought burned in his head, he turned his eyes from Benzo to the door where the kids were and frowned. The realization of what that meant hurt him so much. Claggor never really expected her stuff to work, and he knew Vi and Mylo didn’t either. Well, aware of it now, he was going to try and change that. And if he could, he would let Vi know, alone. There was no point in telling Mylo—he would just laugh it off.

Claggor let the man work then and walked to the back of the shop.

The room was not nearly as cluttered as he thought it would be, but the space was large and was packed to bursting limits with trinkets and other such treasures to be ogled and sold. He made his way through the lanes Benzo and Ekko had crafted through the junk, searching them for the kids.

He found them nearly at the back of the room, tucked away in a corner beneath a tower of boxes that looked ready to collapse on them. There was a table in their height range covered in tools and such. Little Man’s workshop, definitely.

It was strange how differently he kept his area compared to Powder’s area, though of course she did not have a dedicated space. His things were all organized by container and labeled, and even his table was cleaned and organized. And lacking any colorful graffiti. Powder’s workshop went between her bed and the floor beside it, but whenever she was at work, the area was a mess of tools, materials and even oil crayons and chalk sticks.

At the moment they were both seated on stools, so close to each other that their elbows and knees were touching. They were looking at something on the table, though Claggor couldn’t see what it was. He wasn’t sure if he should just impede on their discussion or moment, not when he could see just how much it meant to Powder to talk with her best friend.

So, he gave them a minute. And then another and another, until he knew he couldn’t wait any longer. He approached.

“…you could always re-wire it,” she mumbled, and Claggor at last could see what they were looking at. Some strange device clearly not of Zaun. It was silver and pulled apart, but square and flat. The inside looked complex, with flat discs, gears, PCB and more. Ekko was pressing the tip of a screw driver to a piece inside, gently.

Ekko considered her advice, respectfully Claggor thought, before saying, “I repaired all of the wires and re-wired what I could, but this one,” he gestured to one with the screwdriver. “just won’t work. I don’t know what it does, ‘cause none of it’s been labeled or done right at all…dumb Pilties.”

Powder reached a finger into the innards of the device, tracing the black wire among a dozen others just like it, eyes focusing intensely. Her finger stopped at a portion of the PCB where the wire she traced dug into the back, out of view. Her eyes went over the surrounding PCB, scanning all of the traces, fingers following again.

Ekko didn’t move or say anything, which confused Claggor. He wanted to jump in and ask what the hell they were doing—what she was doing—but stood still, unwilling to break into their concentration. It was something they both clearly understood, as Ekko’s eyes followed with wide interest.

Her finger stopped at something, just short of it. It looked like a little checker of black, to Claggor’s eyes. “The tracing’s eroded here,” she said. “And these capacitors are burned out.” She tapped on two things north of the black thing.

Ekko’s eyes widened. “I think you’re right…” he reached over to his side and took something out of the bin below him. It looked weird, like a box with a screen on it, with two noodle spiked wires at the end.

Whatever it was, made Powder gasp and reach to take it out of his hands. Ekko just smiled and allowed it. “When did you get one?” she asked, messing with the buttons and dials on the device.

Ekko laughed and said, “A few days ago. Benzo ordered it in for me after I nearly electrocuted myself on live wire.” He chuckled at his almost misfortune before he moved some things around and then asked, “Do you wanna test it out?”

“You wouldn’t mind?” her eyes went to him.

“Not one bit,” he said with a bright smile.

Powder thanked him and started messing with the device, pressing one of the needled ends to the board. Her face lit up as the screen started to display readings. “It’s working!” she declared it with a laugh.

“There’s even an attachment for thermal display and…” for some reason he hesitated and then went the complete opposite way. “If you wanted to Powder, you could borrow it whenever you need it.”

“Really?” she sounded so happy. “Thank you, Little Man!” Ekko’s eyes flickered from the device on the table to her, and the way they held onto her face seemed an awful lot like…

Claggor managed to strangle back a laugh before it was too late. This was definitely not something he was supposed to find out, but now that he saw it, he couldn’t help but think on all their moments. Ekko gifting her things seemingly for no reason or the fact that he would allow her to draw almost anything on his face no matter how goofy made so much sense to him now. It was all so obvious he felt so stupid for not realizing it sooner.

Poor Little Man, he thought as he watched the way the boy followed everything Powder did with the goofiest smile on his face. Claggor remembered what it was like when he got his first crush. It was the most intoxicating thing he had experienced, and yet entirely unfair and painful and embarrassing. It was so clearly the same way for little Ekko.

Was Powder even aware of it?

No, probably not, and Claggor had no intention of just asking her. If not because he feared it would put a strain on their friendship, but because he didn’t want to out Ekko’s crush and spoil anything for him—for them. And besides, today was about getting Powder to feel better, not about finding any embarrassing or cute ammunition to use on them. Little Man clearly needed help anyway and, well, what were older friends for if not to help with this sort of embarrassing thing? It would have to wait for another day, though. His priority today? Be a big brother.

He cleared his throat, letting his presence be known in the room with them. Ekko lifted his eyes from her hands to him and then smiled broadly. “Claggor!” Powder was still messing with the weird device in her hands, way too distracted.

“Hey Little Man!” he went over to scrub a hand through his hair. “What are you two working on now?”

“I’m just showing Powder my new meter.”

Powder finally looked up from the device in her hands, but not at him. No. Her eyes went right to Ekko. “Are you going to fix it now?”

“Hmm, nah.” he mumbled. “Benzo needs me up front today.”

“Oh,” she sounded so broken over that. “After work?”

And before Ekko could spout out any promises—promises which he ultimately could not keep—Claggor spoke up. “We should be going anyway, Powder.” He still wanted to take her out to have fun, and do so before the others got back. He wasn’t supposed to be taking her out, at least not while Vander was off on ‘business’.

The mirth in Ekko’s eyes dissolved immediately at the realization she had to leave. “Wanna come over tomorrow, Powder? We can work on it together. I…I mean if you want to…?”

Powder twirled her stool toward him, setting the device down on the table. “Okay!” she hopped off the stool. “Don’t fix it without me, Ekko!”

He laughed. “I won’t, I promise.” And it was obvious the boy meant it. Powder reached over to hug him, and since he was still on the stool, her face pressed against his chest instead. Claggor smiled at how that made Ekko’s cheeks redden a little. 

As they walked away, Ekko waved goodbye and said, “See ya later, Powder!” She turned half way back to wave back at him, smiling.

When they were finally back outside of the shop, Claggor noticed the shift in her mood immediately.  Well, at least their little stop lifted her spirits and would make his mission easier. “Alright,” he caught her attention. “What’s next on the ‘Powder’s Day of Fun’ list?”

She looked disbelieving. “I can pick?”

“The list doesn’t say Claggor,” he looked over an invisible sheet of paper and fake folded it away back to his pocket, which made her giggle. “So, what’s gonna be next?” he felt bad he couldn’t let her stay any longer at Benzo’s, but those two still had to work, and the day was dropping fast. He wanted her to have fun, more than just a few minutes with her best friend at least.

Powder chewed on her bottom lip, thinking. Her eyes shone. “The arcade?”

Claggor never really understood his siblings’ appeal of the arcade. It was definitely a neat looking place to hang out at, and sometimes it was a great distraction with its games, but the boxing machine was really Vi’s thing, and everything else just seemed to fit between Mylo and Powder.

Which often made the place a little unbearable, because Mylo would challenge her to something, lose, and then claim it’s just because Powder rigged it all. And although Claggor knew that was technically a possibility—since she fixed nearly everything in their lives for them—it didn’t seem like something Powder would do. And the games always seemed to work just fine when it was her turn, so it made it even more unlikely.

This was not his day though, he reminded himself, so it didn’t matter if he liked the arcade or not. But at least it was just them. No chance of a fight. If she wanted to go play at the arcade, then that’s where he would take her. He smiled. “Arcade it is.”

The walk was thankfully not too far. It was just a few minutes passed Benzo’s, down a little street, where the buildings narrowed so drastically the street could only allow two or three people to walk shoulder to shoulder. The street was mostly abandoned, where the few houses actually being lived in was by groups of vagabonds and orphaned children with nowhere to go.

The arcade sat at the end of the street, against a wall that seemed ready to fall down. No one really went inside, apart from them, and some of the orphaned kids who found the games too fun to ignore. That was also part of the reason Powder had to repair the place so much, because those that passed through were not gentle or considerate with the games at all.

When they stepped inside, they weren’t surprised at all to see that, in fact, someone had been there. And left it in an inoperable state. Claggor closed the door behind him with a sigh. This was not what he was hoping to see. Powder just hurried over to the mass of extensions and knelt to inspect some of the damage.

“We should figure out how to lock this place up,” he grumbled as he turned to survey the other damage. The boxing machine seemed to be in a relatively good state, though someone had tugged off the gloves and the plate with Mylo’s head on it, and left the pieces scattered about the game room’s floor. The scoreboard had been forcefully rotated too, erasing all of Vi’s scores.

Powder was still messing with the wires when he came over. They looked like a right mess. Some of them unplugged, others purposely knotted up, and others just ripped entirely. She didn’t seem to mind the work at all though, with the way her eyes focused so completely on her task.

“How’s the damage, Powder?” he asked after a minute of watching her work. He had no idea what she was doing, none at all, but it was oddly interesting to watch her twist little pieces of the cable’s innards together and see the power suddenly start running through the cables again.

She mulled over the question and then shrugged. “Not too bad.”

That was good news. “Anything else damaged?” he asked, just as she rose. Her eyes quickly flew over the room. She went over to the boxing machine next, turned her head as she surveyed the ‘damage’ and then belt down to start retrieving the discarded pieces. Claggor hurried over to help her.

 She fixed what she could reach—he kept forgetting she was so small—and what she couldn’t reach, he tried to fix for her. It took a couple tries before he got the pieces inserted right, but eventually he did everything she needed him to. He even put the gloves back on, and adjusted the covered plates back to their right position. Once he was done, she tightened all of the restraining clips on the back of the machine and adjusted all of the pistons.

“Is it good now?” he asked.

“It should be,” she mumbled.

“Wanna test it out?”

“I’m too small…” and he supposed that was true. The lowest part of the boxing machine she could reach was the large, flat pieces, but even they stood at an awkward height above her shoulders. The arms were nearly two feet taller than her, too, so they were out. It would be a little longer before she could reach them…if she could even get taller.

Claggor looked over the machine and thought for a minute. She was definitely not going to reach any of the machine’s arms. They’d just fly over her head…unless… he hmm’d and then turned to search the room. There was a flat chair to the back, large enough for her to stand on. He hurried over to it, leaving her by the machine. She stared after him.

“If you’re too short, then we just make you taller.” He said, as he came back with the chair. She took a small step out of his way so he could place the chair down in front of the machine. “See?” he patted the chair. “Problem fixed. Come on, let’s test it out.”

After she got up on the chair, he turned the machine to the lowest level it could go and disabled every arm except the one on the far left. “Just try to dodge it for now,” he said, hand over the power lever. “Don’t actually try to strike. You’re not ready for that.” She puffed, a little angrily. “Ready?” when she nodded, he pulled the lever.

The lights buzzed on, and the machine started to rattle and move. At first the arm seemed to be moving a little too fast for her, but she was managing to dodge all of the single strikes with ease, though with none of the grace and skill of her sister. It was sloppy—even he could see that, and he wasn’t a fighter—but he could see that she had been watching her sister with the way she was trying to mimic her. If she kept at it, maybe she could get just as good, with practice and years to strengthen herself of course.

“That’s it,” he laughed. “Vi makes it look like it’s such hard work to not get hit. It isn’t though, is it?” his joke had made her laugh, which distracted her. The arm hit her square on her left shoulder and a little bit of her face. She flew back, right off the chair.

Claggor gasped. “Powder! Shit!” he hurried over to where she was sprawled out on the floor. “Shit, are you okay?”

“I think so,” she mumbled, sitting up.

There didn’t seem to be any real hurt, and no bruise forming. He laughed. “You and Vi really need to learn that those things can be dodged.”

Powder laughed. “You distracted me!”

“I guess I did, yea,” he agreed, helping her to her feet. “Wanna go again?” her eyes widened with mirth.

If this was Vi, that one fall would have sent her into a giant ‘noooo’ rant. Vi didn’t like to let her little sister do things that were dangerous, not until she personally deemed the girl was ready for it. And if she were here now, and saw this? Claggor was certain she would have his skin.

“Yea!” she climbed back up to the chair and began again.

“Quicker!” Claggor offered a few minutes later, when the arm nearly nicked her. Powder was breathing hard by then, just gently trembling from the exertion. Her eyes were narrowed with that same sort of dedication her sister often had when she trained. It was strange to see such a resemblance between the sisters here and now, when every other day one was like fire and the other was like water.

He let her practice with it until her reactions became sluggish and her breathing was too labored to continue. He didn’t want her to get hurt, so he pulled the lever to stop it. When the arms hissed to a stop, she turned to him with a frown.

“That’s enough for now, I think.” He held a hand out so he could help her down. She looked ready to complain, but jumped down anyway. She was still breathing quite hard. “You did pretty good, Powder. I think Vi would be proud.” Even if Vi would be annoyed that Claggor was letting her ‘play’ with such a dangerous machine.

Powder looked so unsure about that as she moped a forearm across her sweaty brow. “I dunno…”

Claggor was taken aback by that. There were so many times Vi would just go on a ramble about her sister and how proud she was to their older group, but he supposed that since Vi spent most of her free time with kids her own age, Powder would never really have the chance to hear it all of the time.

“Of course she’s proud of you,” he said, catching her attention. “Vi says it all of the time.”

A little smile broke across her face. “Really?”

“All. Of. The. Time.” That made her smile even brighter. “Just maybe…don’t tell her I let you use the machine, okay?” that made her laugh and reach a pinky finger out for him. He completed the pinky swear with her. “Now come teach me how to shoot better, huh?”

“I can try,” she said.

“Ouch!” he laughed as she hurried behind the gallery counter to start turning on the machines and fixing the damage done in their absence. It was mostly just a few things here and there; a few cables that had been unplugged and twisted up, and a few over turned dummies. Claggor was beginning to think that someone was messing with the arcade to get at them.

Once she had it powered up, she made her way back to the front where he was standing. The rotating dummies were already making their third round by the time she found the gun and loaded it with the little brightly colored pellets.

“Okay, so…” he aimed a little side-ways down the gallery and Powder laughed.

“Not like that!”

“Oh?” he twisted it the other way, still heavily side-ways. “More like this?”

“Noooo!” she sounded so exasperated. She pulled his arm down, since she couldn’t reach his hands, and then moved the gun around in his hand until it was ‘right’. “Like this.” She had no idea he was teasing her.

“Okay, so then…” he aimed down the gallery and made the worse shot in the world. It bounced off the back of the gallery. “Hmm, are you sure about this position?” another tease, which thankfully made her laugh. “I’m gonna try it like this…!” he turned it side ways and started shooting it Mylo-style and every shot missed their targets. “That’s what I call success.”

“You missed every shot!”

“Pfft, alright then, let’s see what you can do.” He handed the gun over. She took it and quickly refilled the gun with pellets. “Go!” he shouted, when she had readied herself. She fired so fast it was over in just seconds, and not a single shot had missed.

He laughed. “Alright, but that was super slow. Can you do it on a higher speed?”

Her eyes shined with the challenge. “Definitely.”

“That’s some big talk for such a shortie!” he reached over to ruffle her hair, just like the way that Vander always did it. She leaned out of his touch, too preoccupied with her task of refilling the gun again to pay him any attention. When she was done, he pulled the lever at the end of the gallery counter, increasing the speed. “Ready?” he asked her next. Her answer was to turn just a bit and point the gun down the sight of the gallery. Her left arm was outstretched with the shiny little toy-gun, right hand clutching near her wrist. “Go!”

A hellfire of pellets spewed from the toy with alarming speed and accuracy yet again. Each pellet hit the target, spinning the pieces madly, but she kept going, hitting each target twice on their rotating marks even before it could complete a full rotation on the chain belt.

Claggor was left standing, gaping. How the hell did she ever get so good at this?

“Easyyyy!” she laughed it into the air with striking confidence. Something he never really noticed about her, but was going to from now on.

“Okay, short-stack, one more time!” he cranked the speed up even higher. The dummies were moving so fast he was certain this would be her limit. And yet, as she fired again and again and again, Claggor was once again dumbfounded. They had a marksman this talented with them this entire time? He started to laugh. “Damn Powder, you’re way too good with that thing.” She sat the gun down on the counter shyly. “How did you get so good?”

“I practiced,” she said, in a matter-of-factly way.

Now he was curious what else she could do. “Have you ever tested that wicked aim of yours with something else?”

“Something else?”

“Yea! Hold on, lemme see…” he glanced around the room, and then smiled as his eyes fell on the few bottles in the corner. He hurried over to get an arm full of them. She still stood at the counter, watching him with concern. He guessed he did look a little crazy gathering up all the garbage. “With these,” he said, jostling the bundle in his arms as he approached.

Powder laughed. “I can shoot those easy, too.”

“Nah, no shooting this time.” He sat the garbage on the counter and began lining up the bottles with a foot or so gaps. “I wanna see if your arm is just as wicked without a gun.”

Her brows furrowed. “What do I use then?” that’s when he deposited a ball of rubber in her hands. He had taken it from Mylo the night before, when he wouldn’t stop throwing it over his head. “This?”

“Yep.”

“I dunno…”

So, she needed a little bit of convincing. No problem at all. “How about this; you show me you can knock down five bottles, and I’ll…hmmm…I’ll take you to Jericho’s! For anything you want!” Powder looked at him suspiciously. “I swear it! Anything you want at Jericho’s.”

That made her perk up instantly. “You better not be lying, Claggor!” she turned to the bottles and before he could say ‘Go!’ she threw the ball, though even he could tell not with all her strength. It slapped right at the center of the first bottle on the left side and threw it right off the counter. The ball had rolled back toward them and she reached down to grab it.

“Okay, okay, okay! Wait! New rules!” he said it right when she was about to throw it again. “You can’t be this close.”

“I can’t?”

“No. Gotta step back.”

Powder looked around them. “How far?”

“Just keep walking back, I’ll tell you when.” She did as she was told, taking long steps back and back until at last Claggor stopped her. She was at least eleven feet away. “There! That’s good.” No way she can hit them so easily from there. “You can go whenever you’re ready to.”

Powder gauged the distance shortly. He couldn’t tell what the look in her eyes meant. And then she cocked her arm back and ‘fired’. The rubber ball smashed right through the next bottle, once again in the middle. Glass shattered everywhere.

Claggor could only look at her. She met his gaze and then frowned. “Further back?” she asked, and he burst out into laughter. Oh. Mylo was in for it later on. Claggor had to figure out how to get the two into a game though. But oh boy, how this day was turning into such a treasure trove of information? He had no idea how, but he loved it.

“Sure, further back.” He did not specify how much. She picked the ball up again and walked all the way back, to the doors. That had to have been too far for her now. “You can move forward some, Powder.” It had to be at least twenty-five feet. He felt a little bad.

“I’m okay,” she called back to him. He gave himself a wide breadth of the counter and signaled for her to go again. Powder bit down on her bottom lip and threw. The ball raced through the air like a blur, once again smashing through another bottle. “Breaking them counts, right?” she asked from her spot.

Claggor itched at his neck. He probably should have said no the first time, but oh well. Knocking over or destroying… same result in the end, he guessed. “Sure!” She seemed very pleased by that. He found the ball and rolled it toward her. “Next?”

“Two more!” she happily shouted, before throwing the ball again. Another bottle, gone. Claggor was beginning to think maybe Powder had hustled him. He rolled it to her again.

“Okay, how about for the last one, you throw with your non-dominate hand?” Powder swapped the ball from her left hand to the right without hesitation. “Is that too easy?” he asked, astonished. “Fine. How about you—"

“You can’t keep adding rules, Claggor!” she shouted at him, getting very annoyed. “It’s no fair!”

He laughed and lifted his hands. He forgot how annoyed kids could get. “Alright, alright, one more bottle then.” There was really no reason to suspect she couldn’t do it at this point, so when the next bottle was shattered into a thousand little pieces, he simply accepted it. He was going to be shelling out to pay for her insatiable hunger and sweet tooth.

Powder immediately leapt up in triumph and gave a cry of joy. “Yes! Yes!” she stopped jumping when he neared. “We can go to Jericho’s now, right?”

He glanced quickly over to the mess. He’d clean it up later, or just blame it on looters later. “Well, a deal’s a deal, right? Besides, that kinda wicked aim deserves a reward.” And in some ways, he dared to think she ‘shot’ better than Vi threw a punch. And that was saying something!

She took the praise like it was air. She reached over to wrap an arm around his waist. He realized it was probably one of few times she had hugged him.

The last real time he could remember her hugging him was when she was eight. Vi had come down sick and was put to Vander’s room for quarantine. Claggor had woken to Powder crying in her bed. When he tried to calm her down and get her back to sleep, she just held onto him and refused to let go. He ended up sleeping in the bed with her that night. That was the last real ‘hug’ he had gotten.

He patted her back, awkwardly, unsure of what to do or say. Hugging her back seemed so impersonal. Forced even. It wasn’t as if he didn’t want to, though. He settled on nothing at all. “So…you hungry?”

They left the arcade once they figured out a different way of securing the more easily removable pieces of their games. They stashed the pieces under the boards in the shooting gallery, where no one could find them. That way, they didn’t have too much to fix the next time they wanted to come and play.

Once they were through, they made their way to Jericho’s. Claggor felt a little uneasy about it the closer they got. It was just outside the perimeters of the markets, so close to where Vi and Vander were, and Mylo. If Vander caught them, he would be in serious trouble. And if Vi did, she’d for sure clobber him for his irresponsibility involving her sister. Mylo would blackmail him for sure, and Claggor was certain after leaving Jericho’s today, he wasn’t going to have anything left to pay any potential bribes.

As he told Powder though; a deal was a deal. And he couldn’t rightly take it back when she looked so excited over it.

Jericho’s food stall was nearly vacant. It was only Jericho and a single fellow at the far end, slurping at some soup. Claggor let her take a seat first and then dropped down next to her. Her eyes went over the small board above them, scanning the day’s specials.

The green gentle giant turned to them and lit up at the sight of them. He excitedly spoke to them, but Claggor couldn’t really make out any of what he was saying. Sometimes he didn’t even speak in their language, breaking back to his native tongue. Somehow, though, Powder understood him.

“The special please!” he nodded at her first request, as if was expected of her. “Oh, and a bowl of the cheesy sticks, please!”

Jericho chuckled, deeply, before turning his probing eyes to him. Claggor said ‘the special’ and at that the green giant turned back to his work area, laughing and singing in a way that was almost pleasant to hear. There went all his money for sure.

Two bowls of the special—a thick soup with chunks of fish in it—was sat before them, as well as a bowl of Powder’s aforementioned cheesy sticks. Claggor passed over four coins, leaving him with just one. Powder dug in immediately, starting with the steamy soup. It amused him that she used the spoon to eat at all. Any of them, Vi especially, would have just slurped it down. It was just the typical way people ate down in the undercity, after all. With the sole exception of playing with her food sometimes and eating fast, Powder never really ate the same way as the rest of them.

“Easy,” he laughed, reaching over to touch her shoulder. “Slow down before you make yourself sick. If that happens, there’s no keeping this from Vi or Vander.”

Her cheeks went a little pink. “Sorry.” He shrugged before going back to his food. They ate in quiet for a long time, until Powder looked at him. “Claggor?”

“Hm?”

“You were right…” he looked over at her, confused. “…today was fun.”

He smiled and spooned more soup into his mouth. "Good! Let's make it a regular thing, huh?"

She returned his smile. "Okay!" and then she went right back to her food, still smiling. 

"Cool," he said, nodding. "Next time, then."

And Claggor determined then, that if they ever argued over who should have to stay behind with Powder, he'd volunteer without hesitation. 

Chapter Text

Ekko sat with his legs over the pipe he was seated on, just a few inches away from Powder, as they watched Vi and the others discuss their next job with Vander. The wide-shouldered man was explaining how this next one would be tricky—trickier than a lot of their previous heists—but that with immense patience and careful planning, it was doable just as quickly as any other.

This was one of Ekko’s favorite parts of Vander’s briefing moments, the way he commanded so much respect and authority. The way the others looked up to him as if he could do no wrong. He wished he could go with them, but he knew it wasn’t in his expertise, and that his talents laid elsewhere.

Powder had already asked to go earlier, but Vander and Vi told her no at nearly the exact same time. Of course, when Mylo snorted a laugh, Vander and Vi were also quick to tell him to pipe down. That didn’t do much to dispel the disappointment in his friend, Ekko knew. She watched with those big eyes with all the sadness he often saw in them.

“Just don’t rush anything,” Vander told them, arms crossed. “I’ll be here when you guys get back.” With that, Vi and the others got up to prepare for their heist. Vander went back to tend the bar, sure that he said what he needed to be said, and then the bigger kids soon began to leave.

Vi stopped at the stairs and glanced up into the roof where he and Powder were sitting. Her eyes went to her sister with that familial spark of love and worry. “Powder?” the girl beside him did not look to her sister. “I’ll be back before you know it, Pow-Pow. Don’t do anything dangerous. At least not until I’m back, okay?” and then she looked at Ekko. “Take care of her for me, Little Man.” She patted the wall to the stairs before following Mylo and Claggor.

When they were gone, Ekko glanced at the girl beside him. She was sitting cross-legged, arms resting on her bony knees, face in her hands. He knew what was bothering her without having to ask. It was only a few months ago that she was even given the possibility to go with her siblings on their heists, but since then she went out with them for so little, she could count it on two hands. And most of the time, she did nothing but watch them and yet still somehow managed to ‘screw it up’, as Mylo would put it. He didn’t exactly understand why she wanted to do everything they could do, but he could understand that it was important to her. In ways he might not never truly understand.

Powder sighed and then laid so far back she dangled over the back end of the pipe, held up only by her legs. He never liked it when she did things like that. It drove his heart up into his throat with worry. He chided himself over what he was about to do, took a breath and then joined her. Anxious fear bubbled in his heart as he hung down beside her. How far were they from the ground? From hitting their heads…

“Whatchya thinking about?” he asked after a moment, watching a fan spin behind a grate above them. It was graffitied over with fantastical monkey-like faces with razor sharp teeth and sharp lines sparking from its mouth as if it were chatter. The bolts on the grating made the holes in the monkey’s ears.

“Nothing…” she mumbled, watching something he couldn’t quite pin-point. She let her arms hang down passed her head and closed her eyes, as if being an inch or a mere slip away from falling somehow put her at ease. “What about you?”

“The same,” he said. A moment later. “I’m so booooored.” He exaggerated the vowel comically.

Powder laughed. “Me too.” She stretched her arms further down with another sigh. “What do you want to do?”

Ekko thought for a moment. He would offer to play something, but he wasn’t in the mood to play any of their usual games, at least not today. And he had this sinking feeling she wasn’t either or she would have definitely recommended something by now. This also provided the perfect opportunity to help distract her from being left behind again. That’s when the perfect idea clicked. He lifted himself up by grabbing another pipe above him and then used it to steady himself.

“How about we go to the markets?”

Powder pulled herself up. He could see the surprise in her eyes. “What? We’re not supposed to go there alone.”

He grinned. “That’s half the fun, you know.”

“I don’t know…”

“Come on! Aren’t you even the least bit curious?” he arched his brows. He slid down from the pipe and landed on the table below them. She slowly slid down after him, holding onto the pipe until her feet were about a foot or so from the table. Only then did she let go to land beside him.

“What if they find out?”

“Pfft, when I’m like a ghost?” he laughed. “They’ll never know.”

“What about Vander?” she mumbled. Ekko gave a moment’s hesitation to the idea of that. The barkeep could be very terrifying when he was angry. It was like a black cloud built behind him and you could feel his anger like lightning strikes.

“Don’t worry about that.” he slung an arm around her shoulders. “He’ll never have to know!”

That sweet smile he liked so much drew upon her face then. “Okay…let’s go.”

They knew they couldn’t sneak pass Vander, so they decided the best course of action if confronted was…to lie. It was decided also that Powder would be the first to surface. Ekko convinced her that she was the least suspecting person in all of the undercity, and that Vander would definitely believe her if she came up with a lie. She wasn’t too sure about lying to him, but he managed to convince her of that too, saying it was more a ‘white lie’ or maybe an ‘omission, which isn’t the same thing’.

Eventually, Ekko was standing at the top of the stairs, watching from the corner as Powder made her way hesitantly for the door. She was almost there when Vander’s voice cut through the patrons’ bustle.

“Powder?” Ekko gasped and sunk behind the door frame to watch as the muscled man approached his daughter. “Where are you off to?”

He watched her eyes dart nervously between him and Vander for a second. “…outside?” Ekko slapped his head. What was he doing thinking Powder could lie? It wasn’t part of her character, at all.

“Why?” the man asked.

“So we can play,” she mumbled.

Vander looked her over and with Ekko’s suspicious nerves, it looked like was readying himself to deny her. However, he smiled and ruffled her hair a little. “Alright. You kids stay nearby, okay?” when he was gone, Ekko watched as Powder released a breath she had been holding. Her eyes went to him then and it almost looked as if she were scolding him, but instead she waved for him to follow.

Ekko hurried between the tables and drunk patrons, glancing once to where Vander was standing at the counters, before following Powder out of the door. As soon as they were outside, Ekko lead them down the road some.

“I’m not doing that again,” Powder mumbled as they walked. “He knew.”

“He definitely didn’t. Besides, he’d let you do anything.”

Her brows furrowed. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” he asked, smiling. “You’re his youngest.” She still didn’t really understand what that meant. He could tell by the way she looked at him. “That comes with some leverage.”

“Leverage?”

“You know…kid leverage.” He repeated. “Parents can’t resist that.” 

“Fine, next time you lie,” she mumbled, kicking a pebble as they walked, every bit as flustered as she sounded. Ekko couldn’t help but find it funny whenever she was flustered. Funny and cute.

“He’s your dad,” Ekko teased. “And we always play at your place, so, those are the rules. I’d have to lie if it was Benzo, after all.”

Powder puffed an annoyed breath out. “Well, we never get to play at Benzo’s.” Ekko did his best, over the top evil laugh at that. Powder reached over to smack his arm. “It’s not fair. Next time, you lie.” Well, that was only fair. He reached to shake hands on it with her, and that was the end of that. If there was ever a next time a lie was needed to be told, he’d faced The Hound himself.

With that settled, they pressed on to the markets. Ekko stopped them outside of Benzo’s Shop though and climbed in through a window on the side of the building. It took him a few minutes, but he returned with a black bag with something inside. “Now we can go!” he said, dropping down from the metal box with a grin.

“What’re we gonna do?” she asked as they cut through between two buildings. The space was almost too narrow for them to fit. Ekko had to squeeze the bag out in front of him and push, with her in tow.

“Anything we want,” he called back to her. “You’ll see, it’ll be tons of fun.” Her quiet told him she was still not too sure about this plan, but he was sure having their own fun would help take her mind off of not going with her siblings yet again.

After a bit more time squeezing between narrow buildings and crossing a few catwalks, they arrived at the markets. Of course, both of them had seen the markets before—both during the ‘day’ and during night—and Ekko has always come and gone through it without a care in the world, but for Powder, it was a rare opportunity for something completely new.

Any time she had gone through before was at the discretion of Vi or Vander, and there were hardly ever stops to any stalls or shops she was interested in. There was never really time. Ekko heard Vander’s gruff ‘We’re not here for fun’ or ‘Let’s focus kids, please’ a few times before whenever one of the kids asked to stop. Even Vi had adopted the mindset, after a while. Though sometimes Vi would take them to eat at Jericho’s with coin she pilfered from people on the street, or take them to watch street shows or even pit fights (though Ekko suspected that was mostly to do with her interests). Obviously, that was not the same thing, so Ekko wanted to share the bright and exotic joys of the market with his best friend.

Ekko lowered a ladder and tested it first. When he was certain it was safe for her—he shook it hard and everything—he waved for her to follow. It took her a minute longer as she kept glancing down below her to be sure she was about to step on a rung, but eventually she was on the ground with him.

They were now standing in the dim, neon green lights of a shop’s back exit. Thankfully the door looked jammed, so they had nothing to fear on that front. It was the perfect place to dress! He sat the bag down at their feet and knelt to dig through. Powder knelt beside him, curious, and asked him what it was. He revealed two masks.

He held the masks out to her. She took them, unsure. “We can’t let anyone see our faces,” he told her, gesturing to them. Well, he especially couldn’t. His face was well known due to collecting on Benzo and Vander’s behalf. And he also didn’t want to risk anyone recognizing Powder. “So, we need disguises.”

Powder took the black one with the wide, yellow lopsided eyes with the comically long tongue hanging out of its open mouth. He knew she would. She loved those kinds of things a lot. His was a plain orange and red mask, the design of which seemed to be stuck between a fish of some sort and a dog. He helped her put the mask on, clasping the velcro at the back for her.

He burst into laughter at the sight of her. The mask was comically large on her face, so much so that it sagged forward a little even despite how tight he had adjusted the velcro.

“What?” she asked, voice muffled through the mask.

“You…” he couldn’t stop the fit of laughter. “You look so funny!” he leaned onto his knees, the fit of laughter not disrupting at all. Powder shyly adjusted the mask up her face, passed her forehead.

“That’s not my fault. You picked them.” And just as she said it, the mask slipped back down her face. It only made him laugh harder. At least it covered her face!  “Switch with me!” she demanded, reaching to take his, but he held her hands back. “Come on Ekko, switch with me!”

He struggled to keep her hands from his face under his giggles. “Ouch, hey, stop—” a laugh broke his words. “—you look fine, Powder. You don’t need to switch.”

That settled her. She lifted her mask a little. “Really? You aren’t lying?”

He suppressed another laugh behind a cracking smile. “Don’t worry about it, it’s fine.”

She let the mask drop again. “You better not be lying…”

“I wouldn’t,” he said, reaching down for the bag. He slung it back over his shoulder. “Let’s see about that fun now!”

Ekko led them out from the narrow alley way and into a street of the market. Powder followed close behind him, so close she was just a step or two away from bumping into him. A few men walked out in front of them then, bottles in hand, laughing. Ekko stopped short and as he suspected would happen, Powder plowed right into his back.

“Don’t stop so short.” She complained, sticking a hand under her mask to rub at her nose where it had hit the mask upon impact.

Ekko offered a small laugh. “My bad.” He looked around the swath of people pushing by each other. “It’s so crowded here that I can barely walk.” And he never had to do it guiding another person before. That only made it more difficult.

Powder put her hands on his shoulders and tippy-toed to look passed him into the streets. Her breath came out muffled through the mask. “I’ve never seen so many people here before.” And that was saying something, since the market was usually the most crowded part of the undercity.

Ekko said, “That’s ‘cause you guys always come at tamer times.”

“Tamer?” she asked, following as he began to guide them down the side of the street, squeezing passed bustling adults that were too preoccupied with their sales and bargains to notice two kids trying to get passed them.

“Yea! Vander never took you during a market opening, right?” he asked. “It’s basically a really big event where things go on sale or the big merchants from out of Zaun come by. Stuff like that.”

Powder’s surprised noise caught his attention immediately. “Oh! I think Vi said something about it before.” Ekko knew there was a high likelihood she had. Vi was always out with the boys, and the market was the perfect place for teenagers to hang out at.

Ekko wanted to show her so much, but he wasn’t sure where to begin. His eyes darted through the throng of people for one of the market events. “If we’re here in time…there!” he jabbed a finger to their two o’clock, just through a gap of the crowd, toward a large stand adorned with blinking lights. “Come on, you’re gonna love this.”

“There?” she repeated, raising her voice as they began to dig through the people as the noises started to grow around them. “There where?” Oh yea. Ekko forgot she was shorter than him now; she couldn’t possibly see over him. He turned to take her hand and guide her through the crowd, so as to not lose her. If he had and something were to happen, Vander would skin him alive. And that was something he knew was an absolute fact.

After a few seconds, they emerged from the crowd before the stall. The bright, blinking lights read out something he couldn’t quite read due to a few missing pieces, but he knew the stall regardless. He had played it many times before.

Powder came up to stand at his shoulder. “What is it?” she asked after a moment. A stout, balding man stood behind the counter, completely uninterested in everything around him. A few things hung behind the man, ranging from balloons, bottles and other breakable materials. They were on a rotating chain, which was going pretty fast.

Ekko placed a coin on the table before the fellow, catching his attention. “One, please.” The man sighed, rolled his eyes, and reached under the counter for something. He placed an object that looked an awful lot like a gun before him. Ekko handed the gun over to Powder. “It’s just like with your arcade gallery,” he explained, gesturing to the dangling objects. “Only hitting targets here will get you prizes.”

“Really?” she said, her voice sounding bright already. “And I just have to shoot those things?” she pointed at the objects with the gun, unbelievingly. She looked over the gun then, turning it around, inspecting it.

Ekko laughed at her concentration. “Yep. The bottles are the largest scoring objects, followed by the gel capsules and then the balloons. It’ll be tough—” just as he said it, she turned to the gallery before her and began shooting. Each shot struck a glass bottle square at the tip, the most vulnerable part of it. They were all knocked off the rotating chain with such quickness that the chain hadn’t even completed a full rotation. All twelve shots had hit. Ekko could only gap, as well as the fellow behind the counter.

Ekko was very much surprised. “You’re really good with that thing...” almost unnaturally so.

Powder gently placed the gun back on the counter and turned to Ekko. “What do we win?”

The man at the counter laughed. “Damn kids…” he leaned away, no longer completely disinterested in his job at the moment. “Whatever you want, kiddo.” He gestured to a row of items behind him. There were dozens and dozens of things there.

Powder went to peak over the counter at the shelf. Ekko joined her. “What are you gonna pick?” his eyes went to a set of cute stuffed animals and mystical and fantastical creatures he was sure would catch her attention.

Powder mmm’d thoughtfully and then suddenly pointed to something at the far right. “That.” The man at the counter turned, saw the item and looked back at her. Ekko couldn’t see what it was.

“Are you sure? I mean…you could pick anything here, girlie. Anything at all.” To Ekko, it sounded as if he was amused by something.

“I’m sure,” she said, dropping from her toes back to the flat of her feet. The man shrugged and then placed the object before her. That’s when Ekko saw what it was. A giant, plastic tub of cotton candy. He should have known Powder’s sweet tooth would win out any day.

Ekko laughed as she took it. “Why that? You could have picked anything there.” He was certain that the stuffed animals or at the very least the wheel of light-up wire would have interested her.

“I know,” she said, holding the tub to her chest. “But I wouldn’t be able to share anything else with you.” That made his heart race and his cheeks heat up. How thankful was he that he had this mask on!

“You kids want to play again?” the man asked, cutting into the silence caused by Ekko’s embarrassment.

Ekko only had three more coins for spending left. He wanted to have Powder enjoy more than just one part of the experience. When he told the man no and started off again down the length of the street, with Powder in tow, she called after him.

“Didn’t you want to try, too?”

“I’ve tried it before,” he answered. “Besides, there’s more I want to show you.” He forced a man out of the way so she could go by, into a street that twisted off to the right into another section of the market. He wasn’t sure if she liked that game, but he was hoping the next one would impress. Because so far, even he knew this wasn’t the spectacular event he talked it up to be. He not only wanted it to be worth her lying to Vander over, but to try and prove to her that there was fun and interest outside of trying to emulate her siblings.

After a minute of digging their way through the masses, they came into a large, circular opening barred from the crowd with low fencing. There was a lectern at the front gates, where an elderly man stood at the ready. He was distracted by something he was reading when they approached.

As soon as Ekko tried to speak, the man stopped him with an ‘ahh’ and then tapped the lectern with a pen. Ekko’s eyes followed to where he was tapping. A sign read off the time for the game, as well as the cost to enter. A coin per person. Did he think they wouldn’t have the money to pay? Ekko scoffed and put two coins on the lectern, just under his eyes.

The elderly man lifted his dark eyes up, to them. Inspecting. “Just you two, then?” he sighed and reached over to open the little gate. “You get until you run out or you get hit, then you pay more to play more. Got it? Good.” He wanted until they were passed through the gate before letting it swing shut. 

“Run out of what?” she asked when they cleared a good distance from the stall keep. A make-shift tent was set up ahead of them to cover the opening. They could see flashing lights inside, and hear laughter and shouting.

The cat was nearly out of the bag, anyway. “Paint,” he answered, smiling beneath his mask when that caught her attention immediately. He stopped them at a crate just outside of the tent and knelt beside it. “C’mere, I’ll show you.” Powder bent at her knees beside him and peaked into the crate as he dug through it. There were bunches of strange looking gear colored black with spray paint, all bubbly from drying too quickly. “See this?” he held out what was clearly a chest piece. “You wear this like armor.” He handed it over to her. “And these…” he took out some brightly colored ‘guns’. “…are our weapons. It’s just like our game, only we get to fight other people, together.”

“That sounds like fun!” she was very clearly excited about it. “And we get to be on the same team?”

“Yep,” he said. “Same team.” And then, feeling unsure and presumptuous, added, “If you want, we could switch though?”

“It’ll be fun to play with you for once,” she said with a chippy tone. His heart fluttered at how happy she sounded about it.

“Then let’s show ‘em what we’re made of!”

Powder giggled. “We’ll kick their butts!” And there was her exceptional confidence when it came to games. He would give silent prayers for the poor kids they crossed today. She looked over her protective vest then, even as Ekko pulled his on over his head. She struggled with getting it on, as it was much too big for her. “Is this right?” she asked after a moment, after she handed over the tub of cotton candy so he could stash it into his bag.

Ekko looked it over. It was too big. The collar part hung low enough that her upper chest could easily be shot at. And he knew that might hurt. Considerably. “Uh…maybe we should switch?” She oh’d and then they swapped them out. His ended up fitting her far better, though there were still some issues in the length. It looked like the end of the vest might get in the way if she needed to run, as they hung almost as low as her mid-thigh. The vests were very clearly built for teenagers and adults, and not kids.

“That should do it,” he said quietly, finishing adjusting a few straps on her vest so it fit a bit snugger against her chest. “How does that feel?”

Powder wiggled around in it for a few seconds and then shrugged. “I don’t know…big I guess.”

“Everything’s big on you, Powder. You’re like two feet tall and all skin and bones.” His teasing caused her to shove at his arm angrily. “What? It’s true.”

“I am not…” she puffed, adjusting her mask because the sharp movement of following him into the tent caused it to slide further down her face. “You were shorter than me last year…” she irritatingly adjusted the mask yet again. “Why do boys grow so fast, anyway?” Ekko only laughed just as a bell resounded out through the tent, sharp and angrily. Powder covered her ears.

“Oh, sorry. I forgot to warn you about that.”

“Why’s it so loud?” she asked, almost screaming over the bell.

“It’s to warn us it's starting!” he answered, raising his voice higher so she could hear it over the ringing. It stopped abruptly. “Now it’s game time.” He looked over her vest one last time and then, convinced that it was on right, stepped away. “Don’t shoot at anyone’s face, okay? It’s a disqualifier.” He fixed her mask again, too.

“Okay,” she said happily as she readied her paint-gun. “You better not forget to stick together.”

He laughed. “I’ll stick to you like glue Powder, don’t worry.”

It was decided that Powder would lead them, since she was such a sharp shooter. Ekko would lead the rear and be sure no one tried to ambush them. The entire arena was separated in twisting mazes of mirrors and black, sleek walls that just gently reflected objects.

The flashing lights overhead, burning from green all the way to white, had played tricks on them as they moved. Shadows would loom like lunging figures and Ekko would shoot, only to feel mortified whenever Powder would burst into giggles at his mistakes. As if looking like an idiot in front of Powder was the major thing he planned for the day!

Powder excelled at the game as a complete contrast to him. The twisting lights casting misdirections or the cardboard figures that would pop up out of the ground never caught her or surprised her. It was as if she had expected them, or knew about them before. Her focus was pinned down, and there was not a thing in the world that could detract from it.

POP!

The gun would make the sound whenever someone was fool enough to dry and get a drop on them. A giant splattering of bright pink paint would mark her enemies exactly at the heart every single time. It was a strangely entrancing thing to behold, the way her focus would hyper fixate, and her body would react with such quick reflexes he was sometimes not even sure she had even fired the gun.

Ekko had gotten a few shots on some other players—some missed, some hit—but it quickly became a thing of watching rather than playing. He didn’t mind it at all, though. He enjoyed the way she laughed whenever she shot at someone when they would throw their weapon down with loud frustration, or the way she pumped an arm and hooted with a small jump whenever she hit two people in succession. He only wished he could see the eyes that belonged to the girlish laughter rattling him to his bones.

POP!

Another person that had been lurking at a corner had paint burst across his chest as soon as he had surfaced. She blew a short raspberry with her lips and waved at the man as he stormed off, completely cocky in the one field she seemed to excel at beyond reproach.

The screen of rotating text at the center of the roof indicated only two hostiles remained. Ekko was on his guard, determined not to let her lose by being dead weight. Determined to keep her fun going as long as he possibly could.

They came to a junction soon. Each way was identical. One of them could hold both hostiles at the end or none. Or just one, if they were lucky. Powder took the left side without hesitating. He followed close behind her, back almost to hers as he back stepped to keep an eye on their rear. The blinking lights still made it difficult to really catch things that were more than a shadow, but he wasn’t going to lose. Not here. Not now.

Powder stopped them just short of the exit. He turned to her. “What’s wrong?” his whisper sounded oddly terrifying in the muddled noise of the game tent.

She was still like stone though, staring at something ahead of her that he couldn’t see at all. There was only a mass of black in front of them and gentle lights reflecting around them on the smooth walls but nothing else. Ekko strained to hear anything, to know what was causing her to be so quiet, but all he could hear was the loud music of the game house. And then it happened so fast he wasn’t even sure it had happened at all.

Powder swung around and pointed the gun over his shoulder and fired. The lights flickered on at just the right moment for him to see her paint explode over the chest of a teenage boy that had been creeping up on them. Ekko was so surprised, he fumbled with his gun and aimed it down the same way, but just as quickly as the first ambush happened, the next rushed upon them.

Powder shoved him down to the ground and a stray paint bullet slammed into the same boy she had shot at. Blue paint exploded across his midsection. Powder turned again and fired the way they had been going, three times in succession.

POP! POP! POP!

The warning bell resounded sharply in the tent then, mixing annoyingly with the blasted music. Then the lights turned on and that’s when Ekko saw the last contestant. Three perfectly aimed splotches of pink paint darted across the most vital parts of her chest up to her heart. The teenager was standing with her shoulders jerked all the way up, just as surprised as Ekko was, with a face bunched up in a mixture of irritation and strange awe.

Ekko knew he was staring slack-jawed. Powder sat up with a pump of her arms and a cry of triumph. “I got her!” her laughter sounded cute even when it was muffled by her mask and all the annoying music. When she faced him, she had lifted her mask, revealing those bright eyes and that gaped-tooth smile he adored so much.

The way her smile could grow so bright it brought dimples to her cheeks or the way those grey-blue eyes burned like stars made his head spin. Ekko was certain right there, staring into that face illuminated by the dancing colors above them, that she was the cutest girl in all of Zaun.

“Did you see that, Ekko? Did you see it?”

All he could do was nod, too unsure of himself to speak, or risk stumbling over his own tongue. She had her arms around his neck in a hug a second later, giggling. He swallowed the lump in his throat and put his arms around her too. “So, you liked it?”

“It was awesome!” she pulled away then, the mask dropping back down her face. She giggled at that and held it back up over her head. “We should make obstacles for our game, too. Wouldn’t that be cool? I think so…” she got to her feet then, too excited now to stay contained in the coherency of a singular subject. “Is that the end? Do we play again?

Ekko laughed as he got to his feet. She really did like the game. “I could only pay for one game, but next time for sure.”

“Next time I’ll help with the money, too.” she said, and he knew she meant it. Powder did not receive much in the form of allowance, he knew that, and having no part in any of the heists meant she received nothing from the catches either. Whatever she did get, she got from Vander from what he could spare occasionally, or her sister would buy her whatever she needed.

“No, that’s fine,” he told her. “Keep your money, Powder.” He knew she used it to buy herself her paints, chalks and her oil crayons, and even her papers. He would feel horrible if he took away from that.

She made a thoughtful noise then and then shrugged. “Okay, but I gotta pay you back somehow.”

“Powder—”

“It’s decided,” she said, adjusting her mask. “Just gotta think on what.” He thought she said that with a bit more revelation than she intended.

“Okay, fine…but its gotta be equal.” Ekko gave in, knowing there was no way to convince her once her mind was set. He would just have to hope that she would forget about it altogether, but the way her mind worked, he doubted that was even possible. “So nothing more, nothing less.”

She said, “Deal!”

“Let’s get out of this stuff then, I’m getting hot.” Ekko peeled the vest off him in exaggerated annoyance.

Powder agreed. “Good idea. It’s stuffy in here.”

Once they were outside of the game tent, Ekko helped her out of her vest before digging out of his own. He tossed them beside the crate and waited until Powder re-adjusted her mask again, before speaking.

“I have one coin left,” he said, as they began to walk away from the tent. “We could play another game, or we could eat. What do you want to do?”

“Mmm.” she mumbled something under her breath and then said, “I’m hungry. What about you?”

“I’m starving!” he admitted, glad she had decided on that too. He knew she still had the cotton candy, but that wasn’t a meal. They debated on where to go to eat as they dug their way around the markets yet again. Eventually, Powder had won by convincing him to go to Jericho’s. Ekko would have preferred to take her to a place further down the street, but quit halfway in his argument when he remembered he only had one coin left. Jericho’s would be the only affordable place.

When they arrived at his food stall, Ekko was the one to order, as he was afraid the green giant would easily recognize Powder’s voice, since she and her siblings were common customers. He ordered what one coin could afford him; a bucket of various fried creature parts like frog legs, fish and the such, and a cup of soft drink. He went with citrus, since it was Powder’s favorite and he didn’t really have one of his own.

Powder was still standing where he had left her, at the side of the street, out of the way of anyone passing by. She was kneeling down beside a crate with a poro in it, hand reached through the bars to scratch its little face. One eye looked like it was looking a completely different direction than the other, and the tongue sticking out of its mouth completed its stupid look.

Ekko never really understood the appeal of the things. “Those things look so dumb.” He said, standing next to her with the food tray in hand.

Powder gasped and looked up at him, mask jostling a little. “But they’re so cute.” The poro slobbered all over her hand and she laughed. “He didn’t mean it,” she whispered to the creature, getting a blank stare back. She gave it another scratch on the head before following him to a back alley of a shop. They took a stair case that winded slowly up to the roof top.

Powder carried the bag for him so that he wouldn’t drop their food. “What’s in this bag?” she asked half way up the stairs. “It’s so heavy.”

“It’s a secret!” he answered her, looking back quickly to be sure she was still following closely behind. The bag was bunched up messily in her arms against her chest. She could barely see over it. “You’ll see soon enough.”

“It better—” she slipped but caught herself on the railing. “—it better not be full of traps, Ekko.” Her breath was getting a little worked up from climbing with the burden.

He laughed. Even Powder had her limit for those kinds of things. What she carried with her were her little tools in her pouch, and nothing else really. “It’s not, I promise.” Finally, when they arrived at the top, Ekko paused and glanced down the stairs. “We’re here.”

Powder peaked around the bag and saw just an average roof top. “Why didn’t we just eat by Jericho’s?”

He gestured for her to follow by nudging his head. “You’ll see. One last thing for us to do.” He led her to other side of the building, where another building sprung up high above. The wall was perfectly flat and pale in color. He sat the tray down by his feet and turned to take the bag from her, just as she lifted the mask over her face again with one arm, while the other had struggled to keep the bag up. “This is it.”

She looked it over with a furrow of her brows and then turned to him. “It’s just a wall.”

He laughed and dug through the bags, revealing a can of spray paint. “Ta-da!” he shook the can at her, and watched as understanding widened her eyes. “It’s the perfect canvas, isn’t it?” she took the can from him with a smile that lit up her entire face.

“You could have said so,” she said with a laugh.

“That would have ruined the surprise,” he said. “What’re you gonna paint first?”

Powder knelt beside the bag and found other spray cans of different colors. “Hmm.” She took a blue and orange color out, and then went to the wall. She took her mask off completely and sat it down at her feet. Ekko took a red can out and a white one, and joined her, leaving his mask by the bag.

They must have spent half an hour doodling over the surface. Powder went with vibrant creatures with large, expressive mis-colored eyes with uneven, razor teeth. Ekko’s drawings were nowhere near as energetic as hers, but he filled in many of her empty scenes with his own monsters, often making swipes at hers with captions next to it. Powder would just laugh and add more, and so began their game of one upping each other.

When the wall was completed, packed full of creatures and people and neon symbols, Ekko laughed and looked up at the portion of the wall they couldn’t reach. It went on another three feet out of their height. Whoever lived here was going to be so pissed when they found out what happened.

Powder finished her last piece, adding two claws to a pearly looking beast with whirling eyes of yellow and white and a mane of spikey blue hair. Ekko recognized it immediately. Bitz. The creature she drew over her game helmet, and on her occasional larger creations. She had a name for everything. It was one of the many reasons why he thought she was so cool.

Ekko glanced at her next. She had paint all over her fingers and hands now, and splotches of it on her clothes from where she stood too close. It somehow fit her so well to be covered in paint and chalk.

Powder rubbed a hand against her nose, spreading a little bit of pink paint to it, and smiled. “I wish I could do this back home, but Vi and Mylo would be so mad.” He had seen her—well, their—room. Her bed was decorated heavily in her bright art. He always wondered why it hadn’t really broken free from there to dominate the entire room. Now he knew why. The tolerance for childish tagging was as low as he thought it would be.

“Well…” he felt a fool for thinking it. “…what if you did my room?”

Her eyes went to him with uncertainty. “Are you sure? What if you don’t like it?”

“Yea, I’m sure. Your art is awesome, Powder. I’m gonna love it.”

She smiled. “Okay! I can do it whenever you can have me over.”

He would definitely find a way for her to do it tomorrow. Even if he had to bribe Benzo with extra days of work to make it happen. “Cool. I’ll talk to Benzo.” His stomach rumbled then, embarrassing him to no end.

She didn’t laugh at him though; she only sounded guilty when she spoke. “Oh. I forgot about our food.” She sat the empty can in her hands down by her feet. “Sorry.”

“It’s fine,” he said. “It’ll be just as good as when we bought it.” Well. It should be, since Jericho’s food tended to be good hot or cold. It was a worthy sacrifice anyway, with how well it turned out.

They both sat down then in front of their vibrant mural to eat. Ekko put the bucket between them and they ate in silence at first, content for the moment with just eating in the quiet reflection of their art.

Ekko tried to keep from turning red every time they shared the drink, because surely the Boy Savior shouldn’t be going completely heads-over for something so icky, but every time his mouth touched the same straw, his nerves betrayed him and he would feel clammy all over.

Was he always go to feel so dumb in front of her? He really hoped not…

“Who do you think would win?” she asked suddenly, wiggling a cave-slug around in front of her, eyes focused on the slightly crispified body. “A cave-slug or a frog?”

“A frog for sure,” he said with a wide smile. “They get as big as poros.” but if it were a crag-slug, it would be a different matter. They were giant disgusting, oozing creatures that smelled like rotting trash and yet somehow became someone’s delicacy. He took relief in the fact that Powder hated the taste of them as much as he did.

“The slugs can eat them whole though,” she added.

“They’re way too slow to catch a frog.”

“Nuh-uh,” she gave the muted contention before eating the slug in her hand.

“Uh-uh, it’s true. That’s why they get caught up so easily.” He chewed one of the slugs with exaggerated motions, as if that won the debate even more.

She blew her bangs out of her face and shook her head. “I still think a slug would win, but at least they win the taste game easy.”

He had to agree with her on that. They were a very strange delicacy. “True,” he shoved another in his mouth, cheeks puffed comically large. “And they’re easier to chew.” He said it over a full mouth, which made Powder go 'ewww'.

“Hey, you two!” Ekko gave a mouth-full cry of surprise when someone suddenly yanked him by the back of his shirt. He twisted fearfully in the hands of the stranger until his eyes locked onto the blue helmet in terror.

An Enforcer.

“Now now, who would be surprised that two sump-rats are vandalizing property?” he gave Ekko a rough shake, which nearly made him choke over his food.

Powder was already on her feet. “Let him go!”

No! Powder! He tried to breath in after a sharp swallow of unchewed food, but it only stung his throat. Run! The Enforcer only handled him more roughly. He twisted Ekko’s arm up behind him then to force him to his feet. “Stop struggling, boy!” Ekko’s eyes flashed hot white and his ears popped at the brutish strike atop his head. He fell limp to his knees and covered his head instinctively.

“Leave him alone!” Powder’s voice was sharp even against his dulled senses. Sharp and terrified. Ekko opened his eyes, beating them rapidly to clear the blurriness that came, and saw the Enforcer grab her by the arm and sling her back with all his strength.

“Get away from me, you little rat!”

Ekko’s heart stopped when she went over the side of the building. “Powder!” he hurried up to his feet, ignoring the sharp pain that reverberated to him and shrugging out of the Enforcers’ arms when he tried to recatch him. He didn’t care one bit how much he was crying or for his own safety. There wasn’t a part of him that worried for anything else except for his best friend. “Powder!” he cried again as he rushed to the edge of the building. When he looked over, he saw that she had landed on a section of the building about three feet below.

A great fury snapped within him. He turned around and yelled as he rushed into the startled Enforcer. The force of his impact knocked the Enforcer back and straight to the floor, smashing his head into the concrete roof top with a loud ‘bang’.

“You asshole!” he cried, tears streaming down his face as he beat his fists against the Enforcer’s helmet. He managed to knock it off the man’s head, even as the enforcer struggled beneath the suddenly violent display. “You s-stupid asshole!”

“Get off!” The man threw him off at last and struggled to his feet. “Vandalization. Burglary—” he had added that charge simply because he could. “—and now assault? Every bit as scum as your city.” He raised his baton to strike, but just as he did, Ekko rolled over with a spray-can and pressed hard on the tip. A bright orange burst of paint shot off into his eyes and mouth.

The Enforcer gave a pained cry and stumbled back, sobbing as the paint itched and burned on skin and in eyes. Ekko struggled up to his feet and went back to the edge of the building. Powder still laid where she had fallen. He couldn’t see if she was fine, but he knew he didn’t have time no matter how bad she was. He slung his feet over the side of the building and lowered himself as far down as he could before letting go.

He landed a foot away from her. “Powder!” he rushed to her and lifted her head. She mumbled in pain and peered at him through half-closed lids. “Oh, you’re okay!” she gave a sharp cry of pain when he touched her arm to try and lift her.

“Ow!” she cried, pinching her eyes shut.

Ekko was feeling sicker and sicker. What had he done?! Why he had brought her here? “I think your arm is broken.” he said it with a trembling voice, on the verge of tears. Afraid for her and afraid for the fact that he had been the one to cause it all. “Can you stand? We have to get out of here!”

Powder winced when she sat up, as she tried to avoid moving her right arm but it was impossible. “I…I think so.” her eyes were full of tears. He helped steady her to her feet when she almost went limp in his arms, still disoriented from the fall. How lucky was he that this was all she suffered from? Lucky?! He wanted to throw himself off the building next! This was not lucky!

Ekko helped her to the edge of the little overhang they were on, where a few boxes sat a few feet below them. He knew he could have her lower herself. He would have to help her down, or catch her.

Panicking, he turned to her. She was cradling her hurt arm, head down. “Powder, I gotta lower you. Do you think you can handle that, just for a minute?”

She sighed and nodded. “Yea, I can.”

He gave her a minute to ready herself for it and then took her one good arm and lowered her to the boxes with all the strength he could muster. The muscles in his arms strained—burning, aching—but he persevered until she was safely down on the boxes.

When he dropped down after her, he felt even worst at the sight of her.

She hunched in on herself, lips pressed tight against the cry she wanted to release, but instead held on until tears burned in her eyes. He knew it must have hurt unbelievably bad. Her courage could be like steel sometimes.

“We can’t stay here,” he told her, dropping down to the next box and holding his arms out for her, to help again, but she sat at the edge of the box and lowered herself down instead. He knew it was her way of trying to mitigate as much pain as possible.

She followed after him quietly, still hunching a bit over her arm, eyes narrowed through pain she was determined to keep shelved. It wasn’t until they were half way back to The Last Drop that he couldn’t contain his guilt any longer.

He knew there were tears still in his eyes when he faced her. “Powder, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry!” this was not how he had hoped the day would go. The day had soured so quickly into a nightmare.

“It’s not your fault Ekko,” she managed through pinched lips. A part of him knew the fault laid on the Enforcer, but having been the one to drag her out to the markets in the first place? He knew a good part of the blame was on him, too. All because he wanted to…

Wanted to what? Impress her? Make her happy?

All he did was hurt her, which inevitably would lead to her getting in trouble with Vander, as there was no way they could hide this from him.

“It’s not that bad,” she added with a smile, though he could tell it was. He lowered his eyes. He didn’t deserve that smile, or her friendship right now. Not at all. “And…” he glanced up at her through his tears. “I had fun…before the arm thingy.” She mumbled with a little laugh, wiggling her arm a little.

He tearfully went to hug her, which made her cry out a muted ‘oww!’ before he let her go, embarrassed. “Ooops, sorry Powder.”

“What about you? Are you okay?” her eyes went to his head.

He had completely forgotten about his own pain. The throbbing in his head dulled away completely as soon as he saw her go over the side of the building. There was nothing in him then but fear and anger. He lifted a hand to ginger prod the swelling on the back of his head just as he became conscious of the fact that something was dripping down over his eyebrow. There was some blood on his hands when he looked at them.

It hurt really bad, but he wasn’t about to tell her that. “I’m fine, it only stings a little.” He would heal, and Benzo wouldn’t do much more than ask what happened and make him swear to be more careful. “I’m more worried about you…and Vander.”

It was clear she hadn’t thought about that either. She frowned. “Oh yea…”

“I’ll tell Vander everything. That it was all my fault.” He said, hurriedly. “You don’t have to worry about it at all.” They started to walk again, though Ekko paced himself to be beside her instead, worried. He had caused enough trouble for the day. The least he could do was take blame for everything, even the lie. He would march up to Vander, puff his chest, and tell him he had convinced her to go with him after leaving the bar. So that it didn’t have to come out that she had lied to him.

Powder looked relieved to be on their way. “That’s okay,” she told him as The Last Drop appeared in the distance. “You don’t have to.”

“Of course I do,” he argued. “Just let me.” Please let me Powder…please.

“What if he says you can’t come over anymore?”

He hadn’t thought about that at all. Of course, a part of him told him Vander would never do that to them, least of all Powder, but the fear immediately seized his heart. What would he do with his days without his best friend? What fun would there be in racing down the streets in his disc-runner if it wasn’t to show Powder how he adjusted the limiters, or made it capable of new jumps? The point in collecting all of those wires and extra metal canisters and such from topside, if not to share with her?

“I…” what if Vander did? Ekko didn’t want that. He didn’t want it at all. “I don’t know.”

“I’ll tell him it was my fault,” she said after a moment, as the bar grew closer. “I always mess things up anyway.”

Ekko looked at her, feeling even more guilty. She didn’t mess anything up. She never did. Why did she have to say that? “That’s not true, Powder. You make things fun.”

“Until I don’t,” she mumbled, kicking something on the ground ahead of them. He didn’t know how to tell her that was the furthest thing from the truth without sounding like some egghead. “Besides, we can still play and visit if it’s just me being a mess up again.”

“Are you sure?” he asked as he went to open the door for her. She nodded. With a sigh, he pushed the door open and waited for her to pass before entering after her.

Vander lifted his gaze from the counter and saw them. The man’s steel eyes locked onto Powder and it seemed to Ekko as if all the noise of the bar faded away to the judging words that burned in the man’s mind. Vander put the growler in his hands down and made his way towards them. Ekko swallowed back a plea of mercy as the giant came to stand in front of them. His hard eyes went from Ekko to Powder, softening from his unspoken anger as soon as he saw her arm.

“What happened?” he asked quietly. Powder ducked her eyes. He sighed. “Alright. Go upstairs, the both of you, and wait for me.” As Ekko helped Powder up the stairs, he saw that Vander had not moved, his eyes following them. That was The Hound looking at them. Not Vander, the barkeep. It was the opposite side of the fatherhood coin, too. Ekko knew that.

Upstairs, Ekko helped her up onto a chair. Her face bunched in pain as she settled in the chair made for an adult male. “I’m sorry,” he whispered to her, feeling the shame like a punch. “You should let me take the blame.” Powder pressed her fingers to his mouth, shushing him. It took him only a second to realize why. Vander’s unmistakable thumping steps heading towards the door.

The door opened and Vander walked in, carrying a small medical box. He didn’t look at Ekko at all when he went over to her and lifted her face up into the dull light. To check for any injuries there. When he was through there, he gently lifted her arm and she bit down on her lip, stifling a cry.

Vander sighed. “I’m not a doctor, but I’m pretty sure it’s broken.” He sat aside the box and dug through it for a few swabs and some antibiotic solution. He doused the swab liberally and began to clean the scraps over the back of her arm as gently as he could. Ekko felt foolish. He never even noticed them. “Are you going to tell me how this happened?” he asked them, his voice low.

Ekko opened his mouth, to spill the beans, but Powder cut him off. “It’s my fault…” his eyes went to hers, a clear sign to continue. “I—I wanted to play on the roof tops and…”

He nodded, catching what she was saying quickly. “You fell?” she nodded. “How far?”

“A few feet,” Ekko answered, thinking that if he didn’t say anything at all, it would look very suspicious.

“You’re lucky it wasn’t more serious than this, Powder.” he said, putting aside the medical supplies. “You could have killed yourself; do you understand that?”

“I’m sorry.”

“I know you are,” he ruffled her hair a little with a small smile on his face. The look in his eyes betrayed him to a portion of his inner disappointment. “We’ll talk about it all later. You need to see a doctor.” Vander lifted her up from under her arms and placed her to her feet, so as to avoid touching her arm or her having to move it.

Ekko asked, “Can I come?”

Vander’s eyes went to him. “You should probably head home now, Ekko.”

Powder’s eyes widened. “He tried to stop me, but I didn’t listen. Please don’t send him away, it was my fault.”

“Alright, alright,” he calmed her down by lifting his hands. “You two are going to drive me insane one of these days…” he dramatically rubbed a hand across his face, exhausted. “I’ll get the bar ready for lockup. Ekko, help her down, would you?” as Vander walked by Ekko, he scrubbed a hand roughly about his hair. “And don’t think I didn’t notice the blood on you, kid!” he called out as he went down the hall.

Ekko had completely forgotten about his injures. He smacked a hand to his forehead. Powder frowned. “I forgot about that…”

He shrugged. “It’s okay. If he asks, I’ll just figure something out.” He helped her by taking her other arm. “Ready?” he asked, before kneeling a little bit to let her wrap her good arm around his neck.

Each step down the stairs was taken with extra caution. He didn’t want to jostle too much and risk moving her arm or causing her to take too quick of movements. When they arrived at the foot of the stairs, they saw that the bar had been cleared completely, though left in a state of disarray. Vander was finalizing something at the counter when they walked into the main room.

Without turning, he said, “I’ll be done in a minute. Wait outside.”

Ekko carefully turned Powder around and guided her out of the bar. When the door closed behind them, she tightened her arm around his neck and whispered, “He’s angry.”

He knew that was only natural. He was her father. “Dads are supposed to get angry over stuff like this.” She chewed her lip worriedly. “He’s not angry with you,” he said. “It’s not that kind of angry anyway, trust me.”

After a minute or so, Vander appeared. He locked the door behind him. “Well come on, don’t just stand there gaping at me,” he said to Ekko as he walked ahead of them. “Let’s go. And Ekko? Be careful with her, would you?”

As he guided them after the man, Ekko whispered to Powder, “See? He’s not mad at you at all.” And that seemed to lift some of her spirits.

Vander had led them down a street that turned off several minutes from Benzo’s to the south-east. At the end of the street, tucked between two abandoned buildings, was a tall, green-tinged stone building with dying neon lights on the outside reading ‘Medical & Drugs’. Ekko recognized the building, though he had never been inside. Thankfully.

Vander took them to the door and banged hard several times. As they waited, he glanced back at them, as if to be sure they were not running off to do more stupid things. The door opened then and an elderly man poked his head out. His hair was long and white, and tied out of his face with a red wire. One of his eyes were missing.

Vander said something, and the old man’s good eye roamed behind him to Ekko and Powder. It was a quick glance. He nodded and threw the door open. Vander gestured them to follow with a wave of his hand and entered the building. Ekko hurried them up the stone steps and in through the door.

The inside of the building was oddly clean. A few tables lined up at the back of the room stood next to the stairs leading up to the next level. A gurney, pristine, sat opposite. The waiting section was divided from the rest of the room by two poles dangling a white curtain.

The doctor cleared his throat and gestured to the gurney before walking into the other section of the divided room. Vander took over from Ekko, lifting Powder up to the gurney. He sat her down a little too hard, and she jerked from the sudden pain.

“My bad, baby girl.” He leaned over to kiss the top of her head.

“How long has it been?” the doctor asked as he walked back into the room, green gloves on and a single glass now covering his good eye. Vander looked to Ekko for the answer.

He fumbled for a second. “An hour I think.”

“A bit longer,” he corrected, coming to stand before Powder. He took her arm without much care at all and she hissed. “Swelling’s already set in.” he prodded her arm gingerly for a moment, ignoring her spasms of pain, until he touched her elbow. That had made her jerk her arm away with a loud cry. “It’s not broken,” he concluded, letting her arm go. “It is fractured though, from the wrist to the elbow. I will of course still go for a scan to be sure, but it’s clear to me she’s going to need a cast either way.”

Vander sighed. “Fine. Are you able to do this now?”

The doctor nodded. “Of course.” He pushed the singular glass up more as it had slid down a little. “In through the back there, little one.” He gestured passed the division and then walked away, once again not waiting for anyone. Vander helped her back down to her feet and promised that he’d be waiting right here when she got back.

As soon as they were alone, Vander crossed his arms. “You going tell me what really happened?”

Ekko felt ready to run right then and there. There was only one real way out of this situation, and that was to lie. And lie better than Powder had. And a good lie was always based on some truth.

And so he told Vander the same story about Powder falling off the roof tops, only this time, he explained that it was his fault because he had distracted her with his stupid games. “Powder didn’t want to tell you because she thought you’d not want us to play together anymore.” He added, lowering his head. “It was all my fault. I’m sorry Vander, I am.”

He kept his head down, waiting for the sign of whether or not the man believed him. Vander took him by the shoulder then, making him look up. “It’s only because you’re willing to lie to me to help her that I’m not hanging you by your ankles right now, Little Man.”

Ekko knew his eyes gave away his fear. “Yes, sir…”

Vander released him then. “Just be more careful next time, kid.”

“I will sir.”

Vander grumbled something under his breath and went to wait on the sofa. He hung his head over the back, as if every inch of him was exhausted straight through. Ekko did not join him, opting instead to stand off to the side, to await his best friend.

Chapter Text

“That ought to do it, little one.” The doctor’s voice was oddly quiet, a strange contrast to the sharp voice he had in the front in front of her father. He checked the cast once more, nodding. “Yes, it should do just fine.”

Powder looked over her arm. The white form went from her elbow down to her wrist, until it wrapped around her hand, leaving little holes in the cast for her thumb and fingers. The rest of her fingers looked as if they were popping out of a giant piece of marshmallow now. And it itched like crazy.

“You might have it for a month or so,” he continued as he cleared away equipment and supplies from the table beside her. “And don’t get it wet.”

“Okay.” She was only half listening to him. She really wished she could itch underneath. It was driving her insane.

The doctor guided her back to the front with his hand then, pushing her forward by her shoulders. He was very impatient. As soon as they passed through the divider, Vander got up. Powder looked from him to Ekko, who was standing off to the side of the room. His tawny eyes briefly held hers and then he looked away, quickly.

Is he mad at me?

Vander approached. “Does it feel better now, Powder?”

“I’m sorry Vander, I am.”

He sighed. “It’s okay, kid. Ekko told me the truth.” she looked at her friend for just a second before re-focusing on her father’s eyes. “Look, Powder,” he placed a hand on her shoulder and knelt so they were leveled. “I might get angry when these sorts of things happen—that’s my job—but I’d never take your friend away from you. I promise. So…only the truth, okay?”

She nodded and then reached over to wrap her good arm around his neck. He laughed and scrubbed a hand up and down her back. “Alright kid, alright.” He let her go and stood. “Go wait with Ekko. I’ll be done in a minute.”

When he walked away, Powder made her way toward Ekko. He finally lifted his gaze to her when she stopped in front of him.

“You told him?” she asked, having whispered it.

His eyes widened. “No! I mean…sort of. He knew we were lying, so I told him a different lie.” At her expression, he sighed. “I know,” he rubbed nervously at his hands. “but I think he believed this one.” And then he told her what he had said, and she had to admit it wasn’t too different from her own lie.

It was over, at least. Now they just had to deal with the repercussions. At least in this, she wasn’t going to be alone. Ekko would be there.

Ekko reached out to touch the cast, gently so as to not hurt her. “Sorry about the arm…”

She smiled then and held out her arm to him, to show that it wasn’t too bad. “It doesn’t hurt, not right now at least.”

Ekko smiled a little. “At least you’re half way there to a robot arm.”

Powder laughed, and then gasped because she had moved her arm the wrong way. “Oh!”

“I thought you said it didn’t hurt?” he was laughing.

“Well…only a little.” And it was mostly her elbow that hurt, so it was technically somewhat the truth.

They heard Vander’s voice grumbling from the back room. Powder glanced over to see him gesturing a little angrily at the doctor. The doctor just stood there, staring, nodding. She had a feeling he was trying to lower the cost of her cast. She sighed. An inconvenience, yet again.

“Vander’s probably gonna hound us on details later,” he said then.

“I hope not,” she mumbled, feeling sick already just thinking about lying to him again.

“Don’t worry,” he smiled brightly at her. “I’ll get it all figured out. I’m your partner in crime Powder, so I got your back. That’s what we do.”

She was so grateful to have such a great friend. If it was left up to her, she was sure would screw it up again, somehow. “Thanks, Ekko.”

“Anytime, Pow-Pow.”

She lowered her eyes then and scratched at the piece of her cast near her elbow. It really was getting to her. A month with this on was going to be too much. “When does it come off?” he asked her, noticing her tending to it.

“A month,” she told him. “Mylo’s never gonna shut about it…”

“You shouldn’t care what he thinks,” he told her. “Besides, I think it looks rad.”

“Really?”

“Yea, for sure! You’re gonna have a cool story to tell because of it, too. And if you embellish it a bit and say you jumped off a roof top just because you could, then it’ll become a legend for sure.”

“No one would believe that.”

“Mylo would, and then he would jump off to prove he could do it too.”

Powder giggled. “He definitely would.” she wished she was half as funny as Ekko, maybe then she could lift moods the way he could. She scratched at it again, and Ekko laughed and reached over to take her hand.

“You keep scratching it, and it’ll come right off.”

“I wish it would,” she grumbled. “It’s itchy and plain, and annoying.”

“Well, if that’s the problem,” he tapped the cast gently. “It’s perfect for drawing on.”

Powder hadn’t even considered that. She looked it over. The surface was a satisfying texture, too, and the white would soak colors very well. It would be perfect! If only she had some crayons right now, or some paint, she could start immediately.

“You should add your monsters to it,” he said. “They’d look awesome on it.”

Powder’s cheeks reddened. No one really liked her monster art, well, no one but Vi, but Powder knew that her sister probably only said it because they were sisters. Mylo certainly hated them, said they all looked goofy and nonsensical. Vander always looked confused, and Claggor would just ask what they were supposed to be. If Ekko liked them though, that was enough for her.

She wished she had more of his work to look at though. His art was so bold compared to hers, and always so clean looking, like a more ‘proper’ form of art. Her thoughts went to the cast again, and an idea sprang up to her. “Ekko?”

“Hm?”

She felt very silly suddenly. “…would you sign my cast?” and thinking she had not been clear at all, she added, “With your art?”

His tawny eyes widened a little, and then he laughed. “You’d really let me do that? My art blows, ya know.”

“I think your art is g-great,” she stammered.

“Then I’d love to!” That was more than enough for her, and suddenly the cast stopped itching for her.

“Alright,” Vander’s voice cut her from her thoughts. He placed a heavy hand on her shoulder as he glanced about their faces. “You kids ready to go now?”

“Yes, sir,” Ekko said just as Powder said, “Yes.”

“You good to walk it, kid?” he asked her. She felt Ekko’s eyes on her and for some reason it made her very nervous. She nodded and lowered her eyes down to her cast. “You sure? Alright then, let’s go.” He scrubbed a hand through her hair, messily, before walking off.

Ekko laughed as he walked beside her. “He really likes to do that a lot, huh?” When he looked away, Powder quickly went to fix her hair, afraid of how stupid she looked with it all messy.

The walk back to The Last Drop had been relatively quiet. Vander’s imposing presence didn’t leave much for them to want to discuss anything freely, not around his mood at least. She noticed the blood dried to Ekko’s face though, and felt so bad. When she touched his arm to get his attention and pointed at his head, he smiled and shrugged.

“Doesn’t it hurt?” she asked, quietly.

“Only a little,” he answered, keeping his voice just as low. They did not want to walk the mine field that was Vander’s annoyance, not right then and there, by making it seem as if they didn’t understand the seriousness of their mistake. “It was worth it anyway,” he added after a second. Vander’s sigh gave it away that he could hear them whispering. “I had a lot of fun with you today.”

Powder smiled. She had fun too, even if nearly breaking her arm was not fun at all, and quite painful. It was worth it. It was all worth it, just to be with Ekko. It usually was. “I had fun too,” she whispered, taking his hand.

Vander grumbled from ahead of them. “The least you two could do is act like you think I’m gonna punish you.” His words were rough but his voice was light, amused. Powder giggled at him, which only made Ekko laugh.

When they finally arrived at The Last Drop, Powder was relieved. Her arm was really starting to hurt with movement. She must not have noticed that it crept to her expression, because when Vander turned and saw her, he frowned.

“You feeling it, kid?” She couldn’t even deny it. She nodded. He shook his head a little. “This is why you don’t do dangerous things.” He put a hand between her shoulders and gently guided her into the bar. Ekko followed after them, closing the door. “Let’s get you settled down then, and something for you two to eat and drink.”

When they made it to the basement stairs, Vander had helped her down by taking her other arm and guiding her down. When they were ground level, Vander tuned to Ekko. “Help her to the sofa and you,” he turned and pressed a finger gently to her forehead. “Do not move from that seat.”

“But—”

“Powder,” he said it in that warning voice. She sighed and nodded. “Good. I’ll be back in a bit.” Vander gave her another look before stomping his way back up the stairs.

“Come on, better not annoy him any further than we already have.” He gestured for her to follow, and as she sat down on the sofa, her eyes went to the dried blood on his face and running down his hair.

“Ekko,” he looked at her. “You…you still have blood on you.”

“Oh,” he mumbled, lifting a hand to the spot. He winced. “Don’t worry about it, I’ve got it.” He went to the back of the room, where the little rest room was and wet a cloth. “See?” he said, coming back over to sit beside her. “I’m good.” He pressed the cloth to his head and flinched. “Doesn’t even hurt.”

She let out a breathy laugh. He could be so unbelievable sometimes. “You’re such a liar.”

He laughed. “Well, it’s not cool if I tell ya it hurts. It’s a boy thing!”

“You’re not even getting the blood,” she said.

“Pfft, am too.” Powder reached across the little distance between them and tried to take the cloth from him. He took her hand by the wrist suddenly, stopping her. “You…you shouldn’t be moving around,” he mumbled.

“Just let me help, Ekko.” He let her hand go then and she hesitantly took the cloth from him and scooted closer so she could help clean away the dried blood on his face and from his hair. She tried to be gentle but as much as she could manage it, he still grimaced at her scrubbing. 

He hissed out an ‘ouch’ and screwed his eyes closed when she pressed harder on the bump that had been bleeding. “Owww! Powder, not so hard.”

“Sorry,” she offered him. “It’s all dried up, so it’s hard to get out.” She pressed again and he jerked away. “If you keep moving, it will just hurt more!” she hadn’t meant to give such a sharp tone, but when he stopped twitching around and protesting, she found herself grateful for it anyway. After a moment, it was all cleared away and she put the cloth down on the table.

“Thanks Powder,” he said, reaching up to prod at it. He winced. “It feels better already.” It was another lie, but she liked this one, so she said nothing. “Ah, I forgot! Your cast.”

“Huh?”

He laughed. “You still want me to draw on it?”

She had completely forgotten about that. “Oh, right!” she shifted herself up the sofa the best she could with her good arm and glanced over her shoulder as much as she could without completely turning. She pointed to the chest under her bed. “They’re in there.”

Ekko leapt off the sofa and went over to her bed quickly. The twisting about had agitated her elbow, so she turned back the other way and relaxed into the cushions as she listened to him digging through her things. It made her a little nervous. She didn’t like it when people went through her stuff, but this was Ekko, and Ekko knew that. Ekko would not disrupt everything…

After a minute, he came back around to the front of the sofa and sat the clear case of chalks and oil crayons on the table before them. “Whaddya want me to draw first?” She hadn’t thought of that, but anything she knew would be fine. She shrugged. “Okay, I’ll wing it.”

Powder watched him take out a few crayons of various colors and lifted her arm gently over to him. His left hand held her arm up, gently. It stung a little, but she kept the complaint off her face and watched as he doodled on the flat of her arm. She couldn’t see much of what he was drawing, so she watched his face, hoping it would give away something. The little smile that lifted one side of his mouth didn’t reveal much though.

After a minute, he sat aside the crayons and then leaned away with a smile. “There. Like it?”

Powder slowly moved her arm to her and let out a little breath at the sight of the cartoon version of him with his arms pumped up, pointing at a little bubble that read off, ‘rad arm!’. She wasn’t sure why, but it made her feel so happy.

“I love it Ekko, thank you.” and she knew there were tears in her eyes, but she just hoped he wouldn’t notice them. She touched the little version of him with her fingers and smiled.

“Now you gotta add yours,” he said and held a few crayons out to her.

She took some of them slowly, and for the third time that day, felt nervous for reasons she didn’t really understand. She drew more quickly than she normally would have, filling in large parts of the cast with her usual creatures and monkey faces.

When she was through, Ekko laughed. “See? Now your arm is ready for some showage.” She thought it was very cool how he knew so much slang. “Mylo’s gonna be so jealous!”

“What’s gonna make Mylo jealous?” Vander asked as he came down the stairs, before Powder could say anything. He was holding a tray of food.

Ekko answered brightly, “Powder’s cast. It’s awesome.”

Vander sat the tray down on the table and reached over to gently take her arm, to look over the designs drawn all across it. He laughed. “Well, if he says he’s not jealous, that’s when you know he is.” Powder laughed at that. That was very Mylo for sure. “Alright, you two eat up and then you,” he pointed a finger at her. “Need to get some rest.”

Her eyes widened. “But I’m not tired.”

He put something on the tray, a little pill. “You will be when you take that.” He laughed. “Don’t give me that face, kid. It’s for the pain, but it’ll make you drowsy and I don’t want you walking around when it hits.”

“I’ll make sure she stays put, Vander.” Ekko offered.

“Hmm,” he grumbled. “After you’ve both eaten, you’re going to head home, Ekko.”

“But—” Powder tried to interrupt again, even Ekko, but Vander cut them both off.

“It’s not a punishment, kids, I promise. It’s just getting late and Powder’s going to be resting anyway, right?” he passed her a look and she just sunk back into the sofa with a frown. “I’ll check back in a bit.” He went half way up the stairs before turning back to them. “Ekko, make sure she takes that pill.” And then he left.

Powder sunk back even further. “I would have taken it…”

Ekko laughed beside her and then reached over to bring the tray over to sit between them. “At least it’s not too bad, right? He’s mostly just worried.”

She agreed quietly, thankful that a grumpy Vander was all she had to deal with. Powder never really had to experience Vander’s punishments before, but she saw it for Mylo and Vi all of the time. They weren’t cruel, but they were definitely very hard. Mylo had to clean the entire bar—every floor—for a month straight and run all of the most boring errands with Vander. Vi was forced off jobs for a whole month on top of everything else. Vander always made the punishment fit the person, to convince them not do it again. It never really worked.

“You should eat and take the pill, before we do actually make him angry,” he added with a small smile.

They ate together in a quiet at first. Powder felt bad for how the day went for him, so she scrapped her portion of the meat onto his plate. He tried to protest, but she managed to convince him that she wasn’t very hungry anyway. He did make her take the pill though, and it tasted horrible, like copper and soap mixed together, but after a few minutes her arm did stop hurting. Or, she guessed, she stopped feeling it.

“Is it still hurting?” he asked after they had finished eating.

“Mhmmm no,” she mumbled, feeling the drowsiness Vander had mentioned. She didn’t really feel much of her arm right then. It was almost as if she had slept on it and numbed it completely. She closed her eyes for just a second, the hum of the pipes above them strangely relaxing.

Ekko’s little laugh brought her to attention sharply. “You’re falling asleep, Powder.”

“No I’m not,” she argued, but it was pretty hard to keep her eyes open.

“You totally are,” he laughed again.

“I am not,” she managed that contention with a bit more umpf and pushed herself up straight, as if that would push all of the sudden exhaustion right out of her system.

Vander came down the stairs then, so she focused her eyes on him to try and keep awake. He smiled when he saw her though, and she knew she was failing that battle miserably. “I told you it’d hit you.”

Ekko leapt off the sofa grinning and said, “She says she’s not tired.”

“I’m not tired!” she said again.

Vander laughed this time. “Alright ‘I’m not tired’, it’s time for you to rest.” And that meant, she knew, that it was time for her friend to go.

“Can’t Ekko stay? Please?”

“Not tonight, kid. It’s late and you don’t need to be up goofing around with a shattered arm.” His answer didn’t make much sense to her, but she knew not to question it. “Say your goodbyes.”

Powder leaned forward and wrapped her arm around him. “Bye, Ekko.”

“Bye,” he hugged her tighter. He always gave very warm hugs. “I’ll see you tomorrow.” And then he looked up at Vander with a frown. “I can come over tomorrow, right?”

Vander said, “Of course, but let’s not go straight back to playing on roof tops, okay?”

“Yes, sir, I promise.”

When Ekko pulled away, Powder gasped and scooted forward a little bit. “Wait, Ekko, wait.” He turned to her just as she reached to grab one of the oil crayons on the table. “Gimme your arm.” He frowned but held an arm out to her. She wrote ‘IOU’ on the underside of his arm in bright blue. “There.”

Ekko smiled. “I’ll remember.”

“Alright you two,” Vander grabbed Ekko by the shoulder and playfully turned him to the stairs. “Head on home before it gets dark.” Ekko hurried to the stairs and then stopped to turn back and wave at Powder.

“Good bye Powder!”

“Bye Ekko!”

Powder watched the stairs for a minute before looking down at her cast, and the little cartoon version of her friend. Vander sat down beside her then, grumbling about his aching knees, and then wrapped an arm around the back of the sofa and glanced down at her arm.

“You okay, Powder?”

She smiled and looked up at him. “Yea, I’m okay.” She used some of the oil crayons on the table to add something right next to the cartoon Ekko. It was a little version of her, complete with its own little cast. When she was done, she sat the crayons back down and scooted back to lean against Vander’s side.

She yawned and he laughed. “Get some rest, Powder,” he wrapped his arm around her then and tucked her closer, while being careful with her arm so as not to hurt her. She laid her head against his chest and closed her eyes, unable to fight the exhaustion any longer, and thinking of tomorrow and all the fun she and Ekko would have.

Chapter Text

Powder was sitting at the counter, drawing and trying not to listen to her brothers and sister argue at one of the tables behind her. There were no jobs to do, and no need to run any, so it meant a rotating argument on how to spend the boring day.

“Let’s go hang at the markets,” Mylo moaned, rocking back and forth in his chair.

“We have no money,” Vi reminded him.

“So? Let’s take it.”

Claggor offered his input. “Why don’t we check with the others, see what they’re doing?” Powder knew he meant the other teenagers. They hung out so much these days Powder hardly got to see her brothers and sister. Powder decided she didn’t care for the other teenagers pretty quickly. They were very mean and bossed her and Ekko around all of the time, and thought they were soooo funny calling them stupid names. They definitely were not funny, even if Mylo practically burst at the seams with laughter at every joke they made.

“I don’t know,” Vi sounded as if that were the last thing she wanted to do.

“Well, what do you suggest then?” Mylo asked her, annoyed.

“Let’s just get something to eat and take the day off.”

Powder giggled from her seat, still drawing. Her sister really did like to eat and relax. A lot. Vi reminded her so much of Vander sometimes, it was like she was just a shorter girl version of him.

“Why just stick around?” he asked. “We should have fun!”

“Fine,” Vi said, and a noise collected behind Powder. The sound of a chair scooting around. “Powder?” it took her a second to realize she was being spoken to. She twirled her stool around to face her sister. “What do you want to do?”

Powder stared. She was never asked before, so she just stared, thinking. Maybe they could go to Sweet Drop? Or the arcade? Or maybe they could go see Little Man or…

Mylo groaned, again. “No, we’re not getting suggestions from a baby.”

Powder frowned and turned her seat back around. Whatever, she didn’t want to hang out with them anyway. Except she did. She scowled and continued with her drawing.

“No one asked you, Mylo!”

“Come on Vi, you know we’d just be babysitting her.”

“So what? I gotta babysit you all of the time, don’t I?”

Claggor started to laugh, which only made Mylo break out into an even angrier argument. Powder pressed a hand to her ear and leaned her head into the other hand, annoyed.

“Ha-ha guys, very funny!”

Powder sighed and climbed down from the bar stool as the argument grew louder. She took her crayons and papers, and made her way up stairs. Sooner or later, they would either divide up about the bar or head out to the markets anyway, but either way they were not going to quit their argument anytime soon and Powder just wasn’t in the mood to hear it.

She made her way up to Vander’s room. She slowly pushed the door open and peaked inside. The lights were all off. She crept in and closed the door behind her, and then brought her things over to his desk at the center of the room. Vander was asleep on his bed. Carefully, so as not to disturb him, she took the tiny lamp down from the desk and sat it beneath the desk, bringing a soft glow to a small portion of the room when she turned it on.

Powder only drew for a few minutes before the sound of Vander snoring stole her attention. At first, she was annoyed, because she had hoped this would be a quieter place, but the longer she listened, the funnier it got. She sat aside her things and crawled out from under the table to walk over to the bed.

Vander was sprawled lazily about the cot, dirty boots still on and all. His snores sounded like a mixture of a little piggy and a bumblebee were stuck in the back of his throat. Powder giggled and reached over to press a finger to his nose, but it did not wake him. She concluded he was tired. Very tired. She went to his feet and took off his boots and then found the blanket he had kicked off the bed and covered him with it.

“Sweet dreams,” she whispered, and kissed his cheek, before heading back over for her papers. She gathered it all back up and went for the door, stopping when the snores caught her again. She glanced at the crayons in her hands and smiled mischievously. She sat most of her things back down and made her way back over to him. She leaned over the bed and left the message ‘Good morning’ across his forehead with little hearts and faces, and then made her way back out of the room.

Down stairs, when she settled down at the counters in the bar again—which, as expected, had been abandoned—she lost herself to her art. When she heard Vander’s shout of ‘Good morning, Powder!’ a little later, she smiled.

Chapter Text

In the undercity, getting sick was just another part of life. There was not much you could do when you lived in compact, rusty metal and decaying brick houses, where the only escape from the toxic fumes meant pumping stations and breathing apparatuses. There was no fresh water to drink of or clean with either, only thick pools of toxic run-off of factories and topside waste, all run through dozens of filters, if you were lucky enough to possess one.

Any medical attention often came pricey, and focused more on symptom relief than actually removal. It was the attempt to force your body to survive long enough in hopes that it could become strong enough to fight on its own. Because in the undercity, everything always came down to if you had it in you or not to endure what it spat at you, to struggle long enough to see just one more day of surviving. And those that could not, simply ceased to be.

Powder had already been sick twice this year, and the third has not been any easier. Her nose was stuffy and when it wasn’t, it was dry and hard to breathe through. Her chest was sore and hurt, and hurt even worse when she coughed. And there was a headache that ached constantly at the front of her head that just wouldn’t go away no matter what she tried or took. She kept getting cold, really cold, and then very hot in the matter of minutes. She couldn’t even keep food down, not even when Vi had come back with food from Jericho’s and sat with her.  

The only positive was that she was not alone in this suffering. Mylo had come down with it too, though in some ways, it seemed a little worse for him. Or maybe he just didn’t deal well with sickness, Powder didn’t really know, but she felt bad for him.

She was lying on the sofa then, wrapped in her blankets, watching him grumble and sniff loudly as he tried to repair something she couldn’t quite see. His eyes were sunken into black rings. Neither of them had slept in two days, either because they couldn’t breathe quite right or their headaches wouldn’t let them. The noise he was making echoed in her head like someone beating metal drums.

She brought the blanket up and over her head with a sigh.

“Stupid thing,” he grumbled, smashing something, or so she thought. “Work, damnit.” She heard a sharp noise and then he swore in pain. Well. This wasn’t going to end any time soon. She threw the blanket off and sat up to peer better at what he was holding. Oh. His little practical joke toy, the one he kept trying to get people to touch, because it’d shock them and give a sharp, clownish laugh. Vi hated it a lot, but then, so did everyone else. They never bought into it, but Mylo kept pestering them to try and take a piece of the ‘candy’ anyhow. The last time he tried it on Vi, she flicked it at his face and shocked him.

Powder watched him for a minute before she spoke, “What are you doing?”

“Go to sleep, Powder,” he grumbled, swearing again when this time he broke the toy in half. “Damn it.” He tossed it away and picked out the next thing near him to work on. This toy was even worse, though it had the same effect as the other. Only this one you didn’t have to be tricked into touching it. All Mylo had to do was fire it at someone when they weren’t looking. It was a little yellow toy-gun that shot a little pellet at someone, attached to some wires.

Vander had forbidden using it on them after Mylo had jumped up from behind the counter and shot it right at his chest. Vander very rarely lost his temper with any of them, but that day Powder had seen the annoyance walk a fine line with anger. ‘It was dangerous,’ he shouted. ‘Do not let me catch you using it on anyone in this house!’. And Mylo had been good with following that order, but he loved to use it on people walking the markets and cackling when they couldn’t figure out what just happened to them. His ultimate aim, he would tell them with a giant grin, was to get an Enforcer with it, but Powder never saw him dare it. She knew he was too scared to try, and she couldn't blame him. Enforcers were not good people.

“I can’t sleep,” she told him, but did not tell him he was the reason why at the moment.

“Not. My. Problem.” His bushy brows furrowed at his task. There was more twisting and forcing pieces to try and open them, which made her grimace. He really had no idea what he was doing. At all.

“I could fix it for you,” she offered quietly. 

He lifted his eyes to her. “I can do it myself.”

“Are you sure? I could—”

“The last thing I want is to have something explode in my face.”

Powder quieted again and watched him mess with his toy. Until he frustratingly tossed it aside and laid down on his bed facing the wall, grumbling like a kid. He gave up very easily. She laid back down and watched the pipes for a long moment, now too alert to fall asleep.

“God damn it…fine.” She frowned and turned her head from her spot to look at him. He was sitting up, face bunched in agitation. “Fine! You can fix it.”

She excitedly sat up. “Really?”

“Just…just don’t do anything else to it, okay? I don’t need it to fire rockets or something.”

How surprising this was, but didn’t he just say he didn’t need her help? Hmm. She smiled. “Okay. I’ll fix it.” He took the toy and walked towards her. “But I want something in return.”

“What?” he gaped. “No way!”

“Fiiiine!” she said it sing-song and laid back down.

“God…! Fine, fine. What do you want?”

She sat up again, smiling. Victory! “I want to draw on your bed.”

“What? No way, I don’t want that crap all over my stuff!”

“Just a few and—”

“No.”

“Ooooh, okay, okay…just one?”

Mylo’s face bunched a few times in thought and then he sighed. “Alright, alright. One drawing, that’s it! I mean it Powder! If I see more than that, I’m gonna pummel ya good!”

Powder laughed and kicked out of her blankets to take the toy out of his hands. The toy looked very old, and used. She turned it around a few times, looking at how it was put together, and then sat it down to go get her tools from her chest. Mylo was standing at the end of the sofa waiting, sniffing and wiping his arm against his nose every now and then. When she returned, she sat down at the middle of the table on her knees and carefully took out her tools.

“This gonna take long?” he asked.

“I don’t know, maybe?” she began to take it apart. It was a simple and stupid design. Just a few pieces of hard plastic held together by four tiny screws. It was flimsy and the inside was cramped too. The PCB sat against the plastic so much some of the capacitors and such were bent a little. She identified the issue immediately. A singed wire, leading from the trigger to the PCB. An easy enough fix, she had thought. She took a wire out and her little clippers, and clipped the wires.

“Hey! What are you doing?!”

“I’m fixing it,” she mumbled, but he reached down to rip the clippers out of her hands.

“This doesn’t look like fixing!”

“I have to replace it Mylo, it’s burned and—”

“Yea, yea! Likely story!”

Now she was a little annoyed. “Do you want me to fix it or not?” she asked, and he sighed and dropped the clippers back down on the table next to her. She continued to clip the burnt wire and then started to rewire it. It took a few minutes, but once she had the wire all replaced, she checked over the rest of the PCB again very quickly. It looked fine to her eyes.

She sneezed then and rubbed the back of her hand that was holding her tools against her nose. Mylo complained. “Ugh, gross Powder, don’t get your snout all over my stuff.”

“Sorry,” she offered with a little blush.

“Well, are you almost done or what?”

“Almost.” She wasn’t sure if the bent capacitors would be a problem, but she thought they shouldn’t be. So she closed it up and screwed it all back together.

“Does it work?” he asked, impatiently.

Powder loaded it with the little pellet and wire, and aimed ahead of her and shot at the other sofa. The pellet flew out, wires and all, and made its clownish laugh with a small little spark when it hit. She smiled and detached all of the wires attached to the pellet, so he could reload it. “Yep!” she held it up to him and he snatched it.

“Uh…thanks…I guess!” That was a rare thing for Mylo to say, not just to her, but to anyone. It was even rare for him to say it to Vander. Mylo reloaded the toy and then aimed it down the room, toward the metal grating on the wall.

“PEW!” he shouted as he pulled the trigger. The toy hissed and then snapped at the back of the toy, and a spark that flashed white and yellow popped between him and the toy, shocking him. He shouted out—mostly in surprise—and dropped the gun to wave his hand around. “Daaaaamn!” he howled, shaking his hand fast. “What did you do?!” he hissed. His hand was a little red from where the spark had hit him.

Powder was up on her feet immediately. “I…I...I didn’t…” the words froze in her throat.

“You did it on purpose!”

She backed away, wringing her hands together. “No! It was working fine and then…then…” she didn’t know why it broke, she was so certain it was fixed. “Let me look at it and I can—”

“I don’t believe you for a second!” he reached down for the toy, hesitantly, and then looked at her. “If it was an accident, then you’ll have no problem touching it!” when he reached to grab at her arm, she ducked and ran to the stairs, causing him to drop it.

“It was an accident, Mylo!” she shouted as he took after her. “I promise!”

“Yea right, twerp!” he howled after her.

Powder hurried up the stairs and tried to close the door on him, but he slammed it open after her and nearly had her. She dropped to the floor to avoid his hands and then climbed back up to her feet and ran towards the counters, where Vander was currently tending to the dishes and dispensers.

“Get back here!” he called after her, just as she made it to Vander and hid behind him.

“What the! What’s going on here?” Vander was being twisted about by his waist by Powder to keep him between her and Mylo, who was reaching around the giant of a man to grab at her. “Would you two just stop this? Stop, I said!”

Mylo stepped back, face red. “She screwed with one of my things and made it explode on me, Vander!”

“What?” he asked, holding the boy back with just one hand so he turned between them to look at her. “Is that true, Powder?”

“No! I mean…it did break…but I didn’t mean for it to happen!”

“She’s a liar!” he snapped. “She did it on purpose!”

“Now, now,” Vander tried. “Why would Powder do this to you on purpose?”

“’cause she’s a weirdo, that’s why!”

“I am not!” she snapped

“Enough!” Vander shouted again. “Powder says she didn’t mean it, Mylo.”

“But—”

“Powder, have you apologized?”

“No…” she hadn’t the chance to. He wouldn’t let her.

“Apologize to him, Powder.”

She turned her eyes to her brother, who was standing with his arms cocked at his sides. “I’m sorry, Mylo. It was an accident...really.”

Vander let him go, but still stood between them. “See? It was just a misunderstanding. Let’s all calm down, yea?”

“That’s no fair!” he snapped. “She’s always screwing up and doing this sorta crap, and then she always gets away with it!”

“It was an accident Mylo, what do you want me to do?”

Mylo scoffed. “Just keep the weirdo away from me!” and then he stormed off to the basement in fumes, slamming the door after him.

When he was gone, Powder let go of Vander and stepped back. His eyes went to her then and she looked away. “It was an accident…”

“I know it was, Powder,” he whispered. “Mylo’s just upset, but he knows it too.” She doubted that very much. He assumed she did these things on purpose alot. “Why don’t we give him a chance to cool down, yea?” she nodded. “Alright, let’s get you upstairs for some rest.”

He ended up walking her up to the room. At his door, he said, “I mean it, Powder. Try to get some rest.” She mumbled back an answer, and he laughed and kissed the top of her head. When he went for the stairs, she stopped him.

“Vander?” he turned half way. “Can I stay at the bar?”

He smiled, warmly. “You need your rest, kiddo.”

“I won’t get in the way, I promise.”

He sighed and walked back over. “It’s not about that. You’re never in the way and any other time you know I’d say yes, but right now you’re sick.”

“But…” at the look in his eyes, she nodded. “Okay.”

“Okay,” he agreed, squeezing her shoulder just a little bit. “I’ll come get you later when supper’s done.” Powder watched him go before pushing the door open to his room. The dark of the unlit room was very soothing to her sore eyes, at the very least. She made her way over to his bed and laid down horizontal across it, letting her legs dangle over the side. She tried to close her eyes and sleep, but her mind would not let go of what happened.

I never should have tried. She thought, watching the gentle lights from the window flicker across the rafters above. I should have ignored it. She rolled over to her side and reached a hand out to twist her fingers through a few holes in the top blanket, absentmindedly.

Yes, but I did, and I messed up. Again.

I wanted to help him.

Screwup!

No!

Klutz!

She closed her eyes against the thoughts and pulled the blanket until she could cover her head with it. He looked so mad.

Of course!

I should go say sorry again.

Go ahead.

No, don’t.

She brought the blanket up to her eyes, to press against the tears. I’m sorry Mylo.

Say it to him!

I should.

Go.

Stay!

I’ll just mess it up too.

Jinx!

I would.

Powder pressed hard against her head. No. I won’t. I’ll say sorry. I’ll say sorry and leave.

No. I’ll just cry.

Weirdo!

I won’t!

I will.

Useless!

Powder dug her nails into her hair, pressing harder and harder until the thoughts started to ebb away to the pain. “I’m sorry Mylo.” The grinding of the vent fans couldn’t even distill the noise in her head. “I’m sorry.” She laid there, curled up beneath the blankets, fighting herself and failing, until exhaustion took her.

When she woke, it was because of Vander’s soft voice.

“Powder?” he shook her gently. “Powder, come on, wake up.”

She was awake now. She wished she wasn’t. She pulled the blanket tighter around her, wishing that he would leave, and yet also hoping he never would. She felt the bitter burn of tears returning to her eyes.

Cry. Cry. Cry.

She squeezed her eyes against the thoughts, willing it away.

“Okay,” Vander sat down beside her and placed a hand on her shoulder over the blanket. “You still tired, kid?”

Yes.

No.

“Yes,” she thought she had managed it without the sob she felt lodged in her throat creeping out, but she knew she hadn’t when he sighed.

“Alright,” he whispered. It sounded final, as if he would leave, yet he remained where he was seated.

Why isn’t he leaving?

He will.

He won’t.

At last, he shifted, and she thought that was it. That he was leaving, but instead she felt the mattress depress as he laid down across from her. “I’ll wait here then.” Powder finally let the tears fall free. She pulled the blanket off and reached over to hug him, pressing her face against his collar bone.

Vander wrapped an arm around her and squeezed her to him. “It’s okay,” he told her.

“I didn’t mean to,” she cried.

Crying.

Always crying!

Crybaby!

He patted her back. “I know that Powder.”

I jinxed it.

“It was an accident.” She insisted.

He said, “Of course it was.” His voice was soft and soothing. Quiet. “You always have me and Vi if Mylo starts to mess with you too much. You know that, don’t you?” She sniffed and nodded. “Good, because we will be here for you. Always.” He gave a pause and then said, “What do you say about coming down to eat, yea?”

She was hungry—even though she knew she probably wouldn’t be able to keep it down—but she knew Mylo was down stairs, waiting. And she really didn’t want to upset him any further than she already had. “I’m not hungry.” Her stomach rumbled then, giving her away.

Liar.

Vander chuckled and sat up. She leaned away and lowered her eyes, to rub at her tears and nose out of his sight. “How about we just try, Powder? You need to keep up your strength.” He got off the bed and turned to hold a hand to her. “Let’s go, kid.”

She looked at his hand hesitantly and faltered for only a second. She took his hand and let him lift her up to her feet. As soon as she was on her feet, her head dazed and she stumbled. Vander steadied her and asked if she were okay, and she nodded. Her head felt like it was on fire though, but there wasn’t a real reason to mention that to him. “All the more reason to get food in you and back to rest.”

Vander walked with her back down to the bar. The smell of the food hit her at the top of the stairs, and it made her stomach ache more. She hadn’t eaten since the other morning, and that had just been a bit of stale toast. And she didn’t even keep it down.

When they arrived at the bar, Vi got up immediately from her seat. “Are you feeling better, Powder?” she tried to come near, but Vander stopped her.

“Ah, ah. Sick kid here.”

“Sick or not,” she said with a smile, before reaching over to pull Powder into a hug. Powder screwed her eyes shut and wrapped her arms around her sister as tightly as she could. Vi laughed. “Hey, easy Pow-Pow, you’re gonna crush me.”

Powder blushed but held on even tighter. “Sorry.”

Vi cupped her cheek when they separated and frowned at the sight of her. “You’re okay, right?”

Powder glanced passed her to Mylo sitting at a table far away from where Vi had been seated with Claggor and then re-focused her eyes back on her sister. “Yea, I’m okay.”

“Come sit with me and—”

“No, I don’t need more sick kids in this bar.”

“Vander, I’m not going to get sick.” Her protest had come with laughter.

“I’m not taking any risks.” Vander said and took Powder by the shoulders to guide her toward a different table, one that sat on the opposite side of Mylo. The entire floor of the bar separated them now.

Powder relaxed a little as she sat in the seat Vander had picked for her. He left and returned shortly with a bowl of steaming soup that didn’t look anywhere as appetizing as Jericho’s soups. At all. There were small clumps of something oddly green in the brown broth, and what she hoped were chopped potatoes and carrots. If she was lucky, that is.

Vander scooted it closer to her when she frowned. “Eat it all.” And then he ruffled a hand through her hair and walked away. She spooned at the gross concoction for a minute or two. The smell seemed so painfully exaggerated to her at that moment that she couldn’t stand another second of it. She dropped her spoon back into the bowl, feeling very nauseous, and pushed it away. There wasn’t hunger anymore, just the desire to flee that smell.

Powder tried to distract herself from it, first by counting the rivets in the bench seats of her table. She got to thirty-eight before she realized it wasn’t helping at all. Her attention went to scanning her side of the bar, for anything at all that could distract her until her stomach settled, but her eyes couldn’t fixate on a thing.

It was the laughter that finally caught her attention. She scooted around in her bench to look back.

Vi and Claggor were sitting together at one of the center tables, hunched over their plates of honey-glazed meat and potatoes, laughing and smiling over a discussion they were trying to keep out of ear shot of Vander. A muffled cough broke into the backdrop of their laughter.

Powder turned her eyes from them and over to Mylo. He was hunched over a bowl of equally disgusting soup now, bushy brows furrowed and nose bunched up. He was scooping spoonfuls of it into his mouth. He was very clearly still angry, the way his eyes kept their burning glare into his soup.

It’s my fault.

She would fix it. She could fix it. But she couldn’t do a thing about it here, that was for sure.

Powder sighed and glanced over her chair to where the others were. Vander was seated nearer to the counters, eating quietly, acting as if he couldn’t hear what the others were trying to hide from him just a few chairs down. They were distracted. She slipped out of her seat and followed the wall with her head down, hoping and hoping that they wouldn’t notice her.

“Did you eat, kiddo?”

Powder froze at the sound of Vander’s voice. She turned to face him, her hands twisting together. Vi was looking at her too, looking just as worried.

“I…I don’t feel good.” It was the truth. Okay. A truth. But he didn’t need to know that she wasn’t leaving just for one reason. She felt bad thinking that, though.

Vander gave her a soft, worried look and nodded. “Okay Powder. Go get some rest.”

“Sleep well, Pow-Pow.” Her sister called over to her just as she started walking again, keeping her eyes down so as to not risk her sister catching her half-truth. When she made it to the stairs, she hurried down the steps, relieved.

When she arrived at the foot of the stairs, she reached up to rub the back of her hand against her runny nose and looked around the room. Her eyes went to her bed immediately. Her chest of tinkering and art supplies had been pulled out from under the bed and dumped right on the floor. Mylo’s doing, Powder knew. She sighed and went over to clean it all up. She deserved it. She had screwed up. She hurt him. At least he hadn’t broken anything, or so as far as she could tell.

Once she was done putting her things back, she began to search the room for the broken toy. She hoped that Mylo hadn’t thrown it away yet. She checked the space between the table and the sofa, where she thought it had fallen during their chase, but there were only old candy bar wrappers and other bits of garbage scattered about.

She sat up from the table and chewed her lip as she thought. Wherever could he have put it? She got up and went to dig through the little trash bin at the end of the room, tucked away into the corner. Most of the garbage they had tried to throw away laid around the bin in a mess. It at least made it easier for her to search the bin. After a bit of digging, she found it. It had slid down the side of the papers and such to the bottom.

It had exploded on use for Mylo, she knew. It meant touching it was safe, but when she reached for it, she did so hesitantly. The last thing she wanted to do was make it go off again and risk someone hearing it. Her fingers wrapped around the plastic without harm. She smiled and pulled it out of the trash and then glanced back at the table. Her tools were still lying about the surface. Mylo must have forgotten about them.

Quickly, she gathered them all up in her arms and carried them over to her bed. Powder knew she didn’t have a lot of time to get it fixed. And she didn’t want anyone to see her working on it. It took her only a minute to think of the perfect plan.

She pulled her blanket free from the mattress—nearly spilling the toy and tools everywhere—and then started to tuck it into the support boards of the bunk bed and around the sides of the outside, creating a sealed tent. She flicked her lights on and smiled at how pleasantly lit it was. Good. Now she just needed to come up with an excuse for staying up, because she knew Vi would worry and then bother her about it until she got her answers.

Powder gathered up a bunch of her incomplete creations and dumped them onto her bed, and then found all of the parts she could use in the toy and dumped them there as well. To the rest of them, it would look like pieces she could use in one of her bombs. Especially to Vi.

With everything set, she crawled into her tent and resealed it after her and went to work. She took apart the shell first, and even took the PCB out and sat it down across a piece of metal she scrounged up from the room. It was a bit hard to see it in her light and without Ekko’s magnifying glasses—she forgot to ask to borrow them before she got sick—but she wasn’t going to give up.

She held the PCB up under the little bulbs and squinted as she turned it around, looking for any parts that could be damaged. There were a few pieces that looked a little rusty, but as far as she could tell, the board’s tracings and such were in working order. The bent capacitors had to be replaced for her to rule them out though, and one of them was bulging, and she knew that wasn’t a good sign. Replacing them was difficult, too. She didn’t have a lot of spares, so she had to take a few of similar capacitance from some of her other gadgets and unworking bombs.

Her soldering gun refused to work right and the short cable kept getting unplugged when she forgot to keep arm distance in mind, but after a few burnt fingers and re-seating the capacitors twice—because she had forgotten once to check the positive and negative locations and again after when she had a dud capacitor—she had them replaced.

The next part was figuring out what caused the spark. She double checked the wires. They were all fine, or at least she thought they were. By then, she heard her siblings coming down stairs. Their words were dulled by whispers and the rattling of the pipes and fans of the room. The outside was lit better, so she could see their shadows passing through. She quickly hid away the toy pieces under her other scrap and smiled when her sister parted the tent to peek inside.

“Powder? What are you doing up still?” her eyes roamed the parts and then she sighed. “Pow-Pow, you’re supposed to be resting.”

“She’s still up?” she heard Claggor ask.

Vi glanced back at him and made a face, one that seemed to say ‘no duh’ before glancing back. “Come on, lights off.”

Powder knew she had once chance to convince her sister to let her stay up. She thought over a dozen different things to say almost all at once, settling quickly with, “My head hurts too much to sleep.” She hoped that her sister could believe it. And in many ways, it was true, but certainly not what was keeping her up now.

Vi frowned. “Alright. Don’t tell Vander I allowed this, ‘kay? He’d hang me from the ceiling. And don’t stay up all night. Try to get some sleep.”

She smiled. “Okay.”

Her sister leaned in to hug her. “Night then, Powder.” And then she ducked back out and tucked in the blanket without even needing to be asked to.

Powder waited and watched their shadows ready up for bed for several minutes. When the lights finally clicked off and they all clamored into their beds, Powder adjusted the lights above her and went back to work. With the wires replaced and the capacitors replaced, the only way forward was to actually test it. She didn’t want to put it all back together just to test it, and she knew she didn’t really have to, she just had to trigger it. The laughing noise would need to be temporarily disabled though. She removed the speaker from the PCB and then pressed the little button where the trigger would press down on and preemptively drew away to avoid the burst, but nothing happened.

With a frown, she held it back to the light and inspected the button. It looked okay. Just to be safe, she took it out and checked the seating and even cleaned it, but it didn’t seem to be the problem. She had it replaced quickly and then tried it again. Nothing again.

Now this was interesting.

Okay, Powder thought as she inspected it again under the light, following the tracing from the button up and up the PCB. Why aren’t you working? Her eyes stopped on something. The battery. A small, black rectangular box hanging just a smidge over its containment shell. It wasn’t seated properly at all. She pulled it up and bit down on her lips when a sharp spark burned up her finger tips. She waved them and then stuck them into her mouth, little tears burning in the corners of her eyes.

That hurt more than she expected it would. It made her feel even worse over what happened with Mylo. It was no wonder he was as angry as he was. I’m fixing it though.

Well...I’m trying to fix it.

Powder checked the contacts for the battery and cleaned them, and then waited for it to dry before gently reseating the battery. It didn’t want to stay in though, so she reached a hand out of tent and blindly searched the box set beside her bed for her electrical tape. She taped one end of the battery down to its plastic containment shell.

Now for another test.

She took a breath and pressed the trigger. The battery popped, shocking her. The pain was even sharper than it was before. She pressed her hands together and struggled to hold back a hiss of pain. When the pain faded to a dull tingle, she carefully pried the battery out of its slot again and looked it over. She didn’t think she had any spares like it. Without the battery, nothing was going to operate right, and it would take her days to find a replacement. Well, even longer, since she was still sick. There was no way Vander would let her go out right now.

If Ekko was here… she sighed and laid back into her bed, staring up at the little strangely shaped bulbs and their dull colors. He’d know what to do, she thought. He always knew what to do. Ekko always had suggestions on how to improve her bombs and other creations. And although she couldn’t ever get any of it to work the way he intended on her own, when he did it for her, they worked every single time.

What would Ekko do? Ekko would fix it, even if it meant he had to remake it all from scratch materials. That’s when the idea hit her.

Powder sat aside her things and moved some of the blanket out of the way. A single ray of dull multi-colored light crept out from her fortress, creating an illuminating path a foot or so out of her bed. She dug through her box quickly and was careful not to make too much noise. She found three batteries, but only took one, as the others were never going to work.

Back in her tent, she took her screw-driver and started to carefully chip away the plastic containment shell for the old battery. When it was all removed from the PCB, she fit the larger battery into the slot. The pins aligned. Now to just get it to stick. She took more tape and made a double-side of it, and then gently set it down to the battery slot and then pressed the battery down onto it, hard. She gave it a few good shakes to see if it would stick, and then added two more when she found it shook about too easily.

One more test.

Powder looked at the button with unease. It would work. It had to. She pressed the button, and the toy fired the pellet. Powder was so surprised by the success that she gave a ‘Yes!’ before quickly clamping her hands over her mouth. There was no room to be certain yet anyway, not after last time. She needed more testing. She reloaded the toy a fired again and again, making sure it would not explode. She was sure to keep an eye on the battery and the capacitors the entire time. On the twelfth shot without an incident, she was certain. It was done.

When she went back for the plastic shell of the toy, she knew that she had to make some changes to accommodate the new battery and ensure the capacitors weren’t bent again. For that, she would need more plastic. She dug through her materials on her bed for pieces and then she took out her little knife and started to carefully cut around the part of the plastic where the battery sat. When it was free, she used the larger plastic piece from her other work and pressed it over the uncovered area so she could check clearance. Pleased with the results, she used a heating gun to slowly meld the edges of the plastic piece to the main shell. A few times she burnt right through, but she filled them in with hard glue.

Once she was through with the battery, she moved her attention to the capacitors. She repeated the same process, cutting the shell and then finding an extra piece of plastic she could finesse into position and heat into place. It was not a pretty job at all. The seams of plastic were hideous and of completely different colors to the main shell, but she could handle that issue pretty easily.

Powder spent the next hour and a half sanding down the seams and hard glue so that it was smooth to the touch and invisible to the eye. When she was through with that, she spent the next few hours going over the plastic with new paint. She didn’t have the exact color of the toy, so she had to redo the entire thing in a slightly darker shade. And since she couldn’t use her spray-cans, the process was slow and exhausting.

It was nearly morning when she had finally finished with it all. She left out any other artistic impression she would have normally included, so that it was all bare, the way that Mylo preferred things. The paint was dry enough to move the toy, so she sat it aside on a sheet of metal and began to gather all her tools and materials back up to deposit into her chest. Then, she scrounged up a piece of paper and wrote ‘I’m sorry’ on it.

With the toy and note in hand, she peaked outside of her bed-fort tent. No one was awake yet. She crawled out of the fort and made her way over to the little stand at the end of Mylo’s platform bed. Powder sat the note down first and then gently placed the toy on it. She nervously wrung her hands together as she stared at it. Maybe she should just give him the toy tomorrow? No. This was better. He could still be mad when he woke up.

This would have to do.

When Powder went to lie back down, she felt the aches and burns on her hands all at once. She was too tired to deal with it though, so she laid back into her pillows and stared at the dangling lights. Counting them over and over again, until the exhaustion in her took over completely.

The sound of talking had woken her very late into the morning. She blinked until her eyes cleared. The lights above her had been turned off, and the tent she made out of her blanket had been taken down and draped over her. She sat up as she rubbed at her eyes before looking around the room.

Claggor was sitting at the sofa, leaning over a bowl of morning gruel. He noticed her and sat straight to smile. “Morning.” He said. “You feeling any better today?”

In some ways, she did feel a little better, even if her throat still hurt and her nose was still stuffy. There wasn’t a headache at the moment, at least. “A little.”

Claggor smiled. “That’s good.” She kicked her feet over the side of her bed and shivered at the cold of the floor piercing through her socks. She knew that meant she was still very much sick. “You’ve been worrying Vi, ya know.”

“I have?” the last thing she wanted was to impose on her sister.

“She acts like such a mom sometimes,” he said it with a bright laugh. When he saw her look to the stairs, he answered her unvoiced question, “Vi and Vander went out to get more medicine for you and Mylo.” He went back to eating. “They should be back in a bit.” Mylo! She had forgotten completely! She leaned forward and peered around her bed to his spot. His bed was empty.

“Where’s Mylo?”

“Up stairs sitting in front of the freezer,” he said. “He says it’s too hot down here.” Well, that worked for her in the end. She hurried off her bed and toward his little table. When she saw that the toy and note were gone, she paused. “Whatcha doing?” he asked.

Without turning back to look at him, she asked, “Did Mylo find his toy?”

“That broken one from the other day?” Claggor leaned back into the sofa. “Yea, he threw it away this morning.” Powder walked over to the little bin and saw it lying at the top, with the letter crumbled next to it. She reached to take the toy out and twist it around in her hands.

She stubbornly reached up to rubbed tears away then and put the toy back into the garbage. What did she expect? For Mylo to run over and hug her? So stupid! She sniffed.

Claggor sat up. “Is something wrong, Powder?”

Idiot!

He hates you!

They all hate you!

Useless!

Jinx!

And for once, Powder agreed with the voices.

“No,” she smiled sadly. “I’m just tired.”

Chapter Text

It was late in the evening, and the summer heat refused to release its angry hold on the undercity. The dry heat had the undercity in its grip for days now, causing the water run-off from topside to come more as a drip than a roar at Sweet Drop. Not that the Promenade and higher Entresol level kids would ever let any of them play in their fresh, cool waters.

Those who were less fortunate had to make do with what they had. The water bottles they carried had to be used sparingly, which often meant kids stayed inside to avoid the heat or scrounge up any droplets of water they could find. Some kids were brave despite their lack, and went to have fun as if it were any other day.

For Ekko, days like that were rare. When the heat was so bad it felt as if someone was pressing down on him, making every breath difficult to take, he wanted to spend it someplace cooler. Somewhere with friends he could suffer in it with. And for that, he was glad that Benzo did not force him to work during the hotter summer days. All of the heavy lifting and running about to fetch items for customers was already difficult work, but combined with the heat, Ekko knew he would not have been able to keep it up for too long.

When he arrived at The Last Drop, the company that greeted him was just as miserable. Claggor was lying on the floor, stripped down to just his shorts, with a wet cloth over his head (it was a good idea; Ekko had ditched his shirt long ago). Vi was lying down on the single sofa, stretched along the length of it and looking absolutely annoyed and miserable, even moreso than Claggor. It must be tough to be a girl when days like this happened…

Powder was nowhere to be seen, and neither was Mylo.

He took a steadying breath over his growing nerves. “Where’s, uh, where’s Powder?” feeling like he just screamed his thoughts out loud, he quickly amended himself with, “And Mylo?” his courage faltered quickly to regret with the realization that he probably just revealed more than he ever wanted to, but neither of them seemed to be in the mood to dissect discussion much at all.

“Powder’s outside,” Vi answered, and sighed, as if the mere thought of being outside was actual pain.

“I don’t know how she can do it,” Claggor moaned dramatically from his spot, pulling the wet cloth further down his face.

Ekko passed them an amused glance before leaving the basement. The bar was not nearly as packed as it usually was during heat waves, which was a blessing in many ways. Vander was at the counter when he approached, scrubbing away spilled food and an alcohol mess a man had made, prior to passing out.

He climbed up into a seat quickly, mostly so he didn’t have to converse staring all the way up and over a counter. Vander regarded him with a nod and smile, still scrubbing.

“Hey Little Man, you need something?” he asked, ignoring the groaning man passed out at the other end of the counter.

“I’m just looking for Powder…”

“Oh,” he stopped scrubbing and smiled. “Just Powder, huh?” Ekko’s cheeks heated a little. “She’s up on the roof, kid.” When Ekko made a move to leave, he stopped him. “Wait a second, while you’re here, bring this up to her for me, would you?” he turned and poured a glass full of icy, cold citrus soft-drink. “Careful now," he gave a dramatic pause and left him with a strange sort of warning in his stare. "It’s her favorite,” Vander said next, when he handed it over with a straw. “Don’t spill it now.”

Ekko laughed and took the glass and shivered at the cold contact to his fingers. It felt so nice. “I won’t, promise.”

Vander leaned into the counter then. “And try to convince her to come in, would you? She’s been out longer than I like.”

“I’ll try!” he said, smiling.

“Good, good.” he reached over to ruffle his hair and then went back to his work. “Off with you, then.”

Ekko carefully leapt off his seat and made his way to the stairs at the other side of the bar, opposite of the basement stairs.

The entry way for the room was at the end of the hall on the second story. It was a shaky, rusting ladder that met a hatch in the roof. Parts of it had been mended over the years with tape, wood and doodled on with vibrant pinks and yellows and blues. It was Powder’s way of contributing where she could.

He was careful not to smear any of the chalky-imprints she left behind when he began to climb his way up. He held the glass close to his chest to help stabilize it during the climb, and then threw the hatch open. The heat hit him like a punch, knocking the air out of his lungs. He took a deep breath and moped at his forehead as beads of sweat already began to drip down his face. The metal hatch dropped behind him hard, but the noise didn’t alert the girl sitting at the edge of the roof to him at all.

When he approached, he saw that instead of her usual little purple vest and striped shirt, she wore a dark blue tank top and a pair of burgundy shorts that went a little passed her knees. When he drew near enough for her to hear him and she turned to face him with a small smile, his knees weakened and he felt a cold sweat come over him.

She looked like one of those little twirling dancers out of the old music boxes Benzo was oddly fond of collecting; pale with bright eyes and a smile that seemed to harbor the sun itself. Whenever she smiled at him like that, he wished he could capture it and have it to look back at forever, just like one of those antique music boxes.

“Little Man?” her eyes shone under the orange and green light of the undercity. “When did you get here?”

He didn’t know still if he liked it when she called him that. The nickname had originated from Benzo, and was thrown into circulation by Vander and Vi. It was a familial sort of mocking nickname, so he didn’t mind it when Benzo used it, and he knew that Vi and the others said it with only adoration. But when they said it front of Powder, it stung his heart sometimes.

“Just a few minutes ago,” he said, taking a seat beside her. He held out the glass. “Vander said to bring it up to you.” When she reached for the glass, her fingers brushed his, and he quickly pulled away. It felt like lightning sometimes when she touched him, and it made him happy and yet very uncomfortable at the same time.

Powder noticed it though, and looked at him with a little furrow of her brows. Which to him, managed to be almost as cute as her smile. “What’s wrong?”

“Uh…n-nothing.” he mumbled, flicking his gaze away from her eyes because they were making him feel weak. “I just didn’t want to accidentally drop it. Vander would have killed me.”

“Oh, don’t worry.” a breathy giggle came then. “I wouldn’t let him do that to you.” and despite the finality of that statement, she was still staring at him. He could feel it. It felt like hands were wrapping around his throat. When it seemed as if she would never turn away, she finally moved to sip at her drink again. A second later, she offered a very quiet, “Thanks, Ekko.”

He dared a peak her way while she was distracting with her drink. His eyes drew in the sight of her hair immediately. It wasn’t in her typical braid today, or held back by any metal clips. It just fell down her shoulders in that pretty blue shade, like a little waterfall. His heart started to beat so painfully fast he was afraid she would hear it. Of all the girls he had seen over the years making deliveries for Benzo or from working behind the store's counters, he couldn’t recall any girl that was as pretty as Powder was right then.

“Want a sip?” she mumbled after a second, holding the glass out to him. His mouth felt dry, and not just because of the heat. He could only nod and take the glass, still watching her from the side of his vision as he drank. She was watching something below them, in the distance. He sat the glass down between them, just next to her hand. Part of him wanted to reach out and take her warm hand and the other part wanted to scurry away far out of her sight.

“What are you looking at?”

She lifted a hand to point at something. He followed the line of sight of her finger and saw Mylo of all people at the end of the sight. He leaned forward, surprised, and then frowned. He was with a girl with hair like liquid copper. They were leaning against one of the buildings; he was smiling and she was laughing.

Why was Powder watching Mylo, of all people? He watched for a long moment and just when he was about to ask her why this was entertaining, Mylo was suddenly shoved away by the girl and he tumbled back into the wall. And yet, despite the very clearly angry gesture, the girl did not look so angry. In fact, she strangely looked happy, laughing even. Older teenagers would always confuse him, he realized.

“That’s happened like five times,” she said with a giggle, leaning back into her hands, kicking her feet. A part of Ekko wanted to say ‘Ah, poor Mylo’ but this all seemed very deserving, even if he couldn’t quite understand what was happening. It was funny to see Mylo fail in such an embarrassing way. “Teenagers are so weird,” Powder said it with all the confusion and humor he felt and reached to take another sip of her citrus drink.

Mylo tried to do something, to get close, and the girl’s face turned angry and he shrunk away, laughing it off. Ekko said, “His head’s so big he can’t hear her telling him to leave.” He beamed with pride when that made her giggle. Mylo was talking a lot now, gesturing almost impatiently. “Uh-oh,” Ekko laughed. “Now he’s in trouble.” The girl slapped at his arms, angrily.

Powder was slightly swaying from side to side on her hands, watching the scene unfold with a twinkle in her eyes. “’but you can’t tell me to leave’,” she said, mimicking his completely unique and annoying tone of voice he got when he was trying to over flatter himself pretty well. “’I’m so cool, I can unlock things!’”

Ekko burst out into laughter. “That’s gotta be too aware for it to be Mylo.”

Powder giggled again. “Yea, you’re right. He doesn’t even understand when Vi’s telling him to shut up.” They shared a laugh over that and then almost as bitterly as the heat reminding them that it was there, the sound of street life and industrial advancement choked out almost every organic noise beyond just them. They continued to watch Mylo try fruitlessly to sway the girl from her anger for a few minutes, laughing or interjecting the scenes with their own version of events.

Ekko wasn’t too good at the voices or whatnot, but he did enjoy listening to Powder’s rendition of her brother and all his troubles and annoying characteristics. In many ways, she captured his spirit very well. Sometimes she went over the top, but it was on purpose, and that only made him laugh until his sides hurt.

“’What do you mean my head’s too big?’” Ekko mocked.

“‘It’s so big we can use it like an umbrella!’”

“’So it provides shade!’” he tried to hold the voice, but he kept breaking it, partially because Powder’s smiling face kept causing him to laugh.

“’Wait, you mean you don’t step into your shirts?’” That one got Ekko bad. He felt tears sting in his eyes from the laughter. Powder was really good at this. He wondered why she didn’t throw these witty jokes back at Mylo whenever he picked on her.

Ekko opened his mouth to provide the next joke, but froze when he saw Mylo suddenly lean into the girl and press his lips to hers. Powder went really quiet and still beside him as well, and suddenly the thrill of their jokes evaporated into shared surprise and confusion.

Powder was the first to speak. “I don’t get it…”

“I don’t either.” He had seen adults kissing before, this was hardly new. “What’s so good about it?” even though he did think Powder was pretty…and he liked her smile and her laughter…and thought her eyes were pretty like a stormy sky…and liked it when she held his hands… and she smelled pretty…

“It looks like he’s trying to eat her face,” she giggled, picking her drink back up to sip again. Her laughs always sounded so joyous to him.

It did kind of look like it though. “Yea, it does.” He fixed his eyes on her then, smiling, as wind shifted across the roof top. Her hair waved a little in the wind and he couldn’t stop thinking about how it being let down made her look even prettier in the strange glow of the undercity. Ekko wasn’t sure if it was because of the heat or not, but he felt his whole body burning then.

That’s when she turned to look at him and he looked away quickly, afraid that his eyes would give away his thoughts. “Ekko?”

He dared not to look at her just yet. “Yea?”

“We should try.”

Ekko knew he was turning red all over when he finally faced her. “W-w-what? Why?”

She didn’t meet his gaze when she answered, kicking her feet in a way that seemed forced. “To see what’s so special about it.” Her answer came as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. “Vi does it all of the time, and so does Claggor.”

“I…” the words stuck in his throat like taffy. “I don’t think it’s special or…”

“Why would they do it all of the time then?” she asked, sounding contemplative, still not meeting his eyes. That was a good question. He really didn’t know why some teenagers and adults kissed so much, but the thought of kissing her made him so nervous, anxious and afraid, and yet it made his stomach do funny twists and whirls. The good kind of funny though, and one he was not used to at all.

He fumbled over the useless words he was going to spout and then meekly nodded. She smiled and sat her cup down, and then they both leaned in. Ekko could hear his heart beat as if it were in his ears. Their lips touched a second later, and unlike anything Mylo was doing, they only pressed their lips together.

Her breath smelled like citrus and her lips were still a little sticky from the soft-drink, but they were so very soft. And even though they weren’t really kissing at all and it was more a question of its appeal for her, it had sent a shiver down his spine all the same.

Powder pulled back first, giggling and making a face as if she just ate something sour. “That’s so gross!”

He swallowed back a pathetic sort of plea of disagreement, and offered out a half-hearted remark. “Yea! It was d-definitely gross.” And yet, when he really looked at her, he saw the red on her cheeks and that made his heart flutter just a little in hope.

By then, Mylo and the girl had disappeared, and even though they had been alone that entire time, Ekko felt even more nervous. It was if watching Mylo had given them an audience, even if that audience didn’t know it, and now without it he was stuck with just his stupid thoughts and his knotting stomach…and the girl that did all of that to him.

Don’t do anything dumb! He told himself as she laid down on the roof beside him, still kicking her legs, no longer on the topic of kissing, having lost all interest. “Sometimes it’s nice…”

He was afraid to he was misunderstanding… “What is?”

“The heat,” she said softly, watching something above them he couldn’t make out.

That was not at all what he expected. “Why?” he asked.

“Because you can hear the city,” she mumbled. Ekko listened to the world around them. It sounded just the same to him, except maybe there weren’t as many voices smearing together on the streets. Was that what she meant?

The hatch behind them was thrown open behind them suddenly and Ekko startled. Powder didn’t even flinch; she just kept her eyes skyward.

Claggor was peeking through, frowning. “Vander says it’s time to come in now!” he still had the wet cloth, only now it was draped over the top of his shaggy hair. “Come on guys, don’t make me actually come out there…”

Ekko waved at him to let him know they heard and when the hatch closed again, Powder gave a sigh and pushed herself up right again, legs still dangling over the side of the building. It seemed to him that she really didn’t want to go. “Should we go?” he asked her, voice quiet.

“Yea,” she said it with a bit more chirp than she had given before. “Vander can get really grumpy.” At that she smiled and got up to her feet. She held her hands out for him, to help him up. When he was up, they headed back down into the bar.

Everyone was gathered at the bar, around two tables that had been dragged to fit together. Vander was placing a bowl down when they arrived. Mylo was seated at the opposite end, already digging into his plate with abandon. The only free spot was on the right side, between Claggor and Vander.

At the sight of Powder’s hair, Vi laughed and waved her over. “C’mere Powder, let me help you with your hair.” She smiled and hurried over to her sister, and suddenly the room seemed so cold to Ekko without his best friend beside him.

“Let’s eat already!” Mylo complained.

Ekko’s heart was still on that citrus high when he settled down on the seat between Claggor and Vander, stomach still twirling too much to want to eat, thoughts still lingering on how pretty Powder had looked with her hair down, and that kisses were definitely super gross…but maybe not with Powder.

Chapter Text

Ekko’s hands were always so warm and oddly soft despite how much he hammered away, working with his tools or handling all of the hard labor at Benzo’s Shop. Powder wasn’t sure how he managed it, but she was thankful for it, because while she traced the lines on his palms with her thumb or index finger and pretended that she could read his entire life off that alone, the softness of his skin comforted her. It was a strange sort of comfort, and one she didn’t exactly understand.

She liked to ask the others too, but they weren’t particular fond of it. It always made Vi uncomfortable, Vander would oblige immediately but she could tell he didn’t understand it, Claggor would kindly refuse and Mylo thought it was all very weird. Ekko did not mind it at all though, and that made her cherish it even more.

When they sat at the stools in the bar, or in one of the booths, he let her trace his palms and would ask her what she thought it all meant. Powder didn’t really understand the reading rules herself. She had learned about palm reading one day when she went out shopping with Vander. They were waiting for their orders to be packaged when Powder saw a stall just down the street. The old woman behind the counter was promising she could read futures just from touching hands. She pestered Vander with her best puppy-dog stare and pleas until he let her try it. She was a little fixated on it ever since and despite not knowing how it all worked, she still liked to come up with stories for the lines every time she ‘read’ them. Mostly because it made Ekko smile and laugh, and all of that would make her heart leap a little.

“What does it say today’s gonna be like?” he asked from beside her in the booth. Powder held his hand with her right and was tracing the long line that cut across his palm with her left index finger.

Powder chewed her bottom lip, feigning a more thorough consideration. “It says it’ll be a good day.”

“That’s all?” he asked.

She smiled. “Yep.”

“Aww, c’mon Powder!”

Her smile grew and she retook his hand. “Okay…one more.” She drew her finger across his palm again, and let her expression take on that earlier façade once more. Ekko squirmed when she dragged her fingertip lightly against his skin. “You’re gonna ruin the reading.”

He laughed. “I can’t help it, it tickles.”

“You’re too ticklish.”

He let out a dramatic breath, as if that was the greatest revelation of all time. “Is that what it says?”

“No,” she said, giggling. “That’s what I say.”

That made his face darken. “Oh.” He paused, and then shifted a little in his spot, hand still in hers. “Then what else does it say?”

“That’s not how it works,” she said, sing-song, smiling. How it all worked was completely up to her whims though, and said whims were usually changing every time they sat down for the readings, mostly because she wanted to throw him through a loop. Powder thought it was funny when he’d tire himself out over trying to get around her growing intricate rules to get glimpses of his fate. And it definitely had nothing to do with getting to hold his hands longer.

“Ahh, right, uh…” he thought for a moment and then flashed his pearly smile at her. “Okay, am I gonna win the game today?”

Powder hmm’d and turned her head to the side. “It says…” she traced the lines softly for a few seconds and said, “It says you’ll win a game.”

“Really?!” his eyes sparkled like polished bronze coins. “What game is it gonna be?”

She smiled and answered without hesitation, “It doesn’t say.” Of course, she wasn’t about to tell him that she knew what game it was going to be because she was going to rig it.

“What? Aww, we gotta go play then, Powder!”

“You can’t rush fate, Ekko.” Powder said in a matter-of-factly tone, trying to mimic what she could remember what the old lady told her that day, staring at her with glassy eyes and smiling with a mouth that was missing most of its teeth. Powder didn’t believe in fate, but Ekko did, and that was enough for her.

“Yes you can! It’s easy!” he let her hand go and scurried out from the booth with the brightest smile he could possibly make, and then held a hand out for her. “I’ll show ya!”

Powder took his hand and got to her feet. “Okay, but I get the first pick of games!”

“Agreed!”

They first went downstairs to retrieve their chest of toys and gadgets and carried it off together, taking one side of the chest each.

It took them only a minute to reach the terraces that pressed the small alley ways behind the bar into a small maze. Since this is where they played a majority of their games, it was already littered with all of their bigger toys and obstacles—all of which had been created by their own hands.

Ekko spoke first, “What game will be first?”

Powder already knew which. “Boy Savior.”

That deflated some of his enthusiasm, she could see it in the way that his shoulders sagged just a little. Nevertheless, his eyes still burned with determination. Powder liked how he never shied away from a challenge. “Alright, well, the fates say I’m gonna win today!” they took only a few seconds to ready for their game.

She helped him equip his chest-armor, though one of the buckles for Ekko’s kept snapping off. Powder knew that it wouldn’t be a problem either way since she never missed. It would make for a very perfect excuse later on though, so she did not offer the dozen different ideas in her head to temporarily fix it.

“Are you ready?” he asked, taking up his position twenty or so feet away, wooden sword in hand. She fixed the pot-helm about her head, though try as she might, it kept wobbling around due to the heavy handle. She gave him a big thumbs up after she adjusted her toy-gun and his face nearly split from the grin. “Same rules as always?”

“Yea!”

Ekko pulled out his pocket-watch and let it extend down to his knee. Powder readied herself and aimed toward him. It swung pendulum for what felt like minutes, but on the seventh swing, he suddenly pulled it up and pressed the button.

Powder smiled and fired. The first shot flew over his shoulder. She shot again, and this time he ducked to avoid it. His laughter was ringing loudly around them in the boxed in area when he leapt over the next shot, nearly hitting his left shin.

He was less than ten feet away now and closing in fast. She aimed one last time and had him dead to rights, yet she paused. She could see the glean in his eyes, the excited grin on his face as he realized he was finally going to win. She smiled and fired wide. The paint ball flew way over head and struck into a wall far behind him. He had flinched but immediately pressed into his charge at the realization she had missed him and the distance between them was negligible.

He skid to a sharp stop in front of her, right before she could fire again, and tapped the pot-helm on her head with his wooden sword. “Gotcha!”

Powder smiled and dropped the toy-gun beside her. “You’re lucky your armor was hard to shoot at.”

“Uh-huh, sure thing Powder!” he cocked his arms up like he was showing off his muscles, sword still in hand. “Boy Savior doesn’t win off luck!” She giggled at the sight of him and his comical expressions of a tough guy. It was worth losing for that alone. It got so painfully boring winning all of the time anyhow.  

“Play again?” she asked, hoping he would say yes.

Ekko returned the question with a wide, pearly smile that made his eyes shine like the sun. “Definitely!” When he smiled like that, it felt like the sunlight could reach her anywhere in the undercity—as long as she was with him.

Chapter Text

Powder was sitting at one of the tables in The Last Drop when the doors opened and Vander stomped in from the pouring rain.

“Damn rain,” he grumbled, shaking the rain off as he dropped the umbrella into a little bucket besides the door. The noise of it clattering in the bucket made Powder glance up from her work and toward him. She could see that most of his arms were soaked, and laughed when she realized that the umbrella was much too small to cover the full reach of his wide shoulders. He was still carrying the small box he had left with a few hours earlier, too. The very same box that she had filled with her little contraptions for Ekko to go over.

She had been waiting so long for his return, she almost forgot about it entirely. “You’re back!” she sat aside her tools and leapt off her chair to greet him. He was still standing by the doors, dripping a mess onto the wooden flooring. “Did you see him? Did you?”

Vander smiled. “Hand me a towel, would you Powder?” she hurried back to the counters and grabbed a towel. When she returned, he dried himself off quickly and then dropped it to the floor to mop up the remaining mess.

Powder waited as long as she could. “What did he say?” she spent all weekend making little metal bugs to show him, and suffered quite a few cut and skinned fingers from it. She didn’t quite understand why he liked bugs so much, but she hoped it would repay him for always helping her with her broken tools—if only a little bit.

“Well,” he handed the box over to her gently. “He couldn’t go over them today.” That surprised Powder. Ekko never turned away her things before. Were they that bad, or did he not even look at them? Did she upset him?

Powder tried to think on their last interaction, but she couldn’t recall anything that might have annoyed him. Vander caught her gloomy expression as he leaned down to pick up the messy towel. “It’s nothing to worry about kiddo. He’s sick.”

Sick? But Ekko never got sick, not even when he’d come over and hang out with her when she was ill, or when he would bring her soup and sit with her to keep her company, despite Vander’s protests. Benzo often joked that Ekko was too stubborn to get sick, and Powder agreed with him. So why now?

“Is he okay?” she asked, following after him when he began to make his way back to the counters.

“It’s just a cold Powder, he’ll be fine.”

Fine? She knew what it was like to be sick—and unfortunately many times over—so she knew that what he must be feeling must be unbearable. And Ekko didn’t even have someone to him help like she had Vi to help her. He was all alone. Her heart ached at that thought. He would be there for her, if the roles were reversed. She knew that, because Ekko was her best friend.

Determined, she sat her box down on the counter in front of Vander and made her way to the kitchen. Their little fridge was packed today—they had shopped just two days ago—so they shouldn’t miss a bowl’s worth of something…would they? Well, no matter. If anyone complained, she would just give up a portion of her food to make up for it.

Vander had come into the kitchen just as she placed the bowl of soup onto the heating plate. He crossed his arms at the sight. “What’re you doing, Powder?”

That seemed an awfully dumb thing to ask, she thought. Wasn’t it obvious? “I’m heating up soup.”

He laughed. “I see that. I meant why?”

“It’s for Ekko,” she answered, turning away from the heater and towards the cabinet tucked away in the corner of the counter space. The little cabinet was chock-full of medicines and little jars of spices. To this day, she still didn’t understand why they were all kept in the same place.

“Okay,” Vander allowed in the silence tucked between the beeping of the heating plate and her digging through the medicines. “He’s sick. You can’t be over there.”

Powder faced him with a frown. “But he’s always—”

“I can’t have you getting sick again, Powder.” This wasn’t fair at all. When the others got sick, they were allowed to go visit each other. She looked away from his steel-colored eyes and down at the medicine in her hands. Vander gave a weak laugh. “Don’t make that face Powder. It’s not fair when you do.”

“What if I just bring him the soup? Could I go then?”

Vander kept his gaze on hers and then sighed. “You’re not going to let up, are you?” he shook his head. “Okay, fine. You can go, but you have to take one of the others with you.”

Powder hurried over to hug him around his waist. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!”

He wrapped one arm around her and pressed her to him with a quick hug. “Alright, alright,” he patted her back gently. “You better run along and ask one of the others before it gets too late.”

Powder tucked the little bottle of medicine into one of her pouches and then carefully lifted the bowl off the heating plate. It was a little hot to handle, but nothing too bad. She held it close to her chest and moved as quickly as she dared out of the kitchen. Vander followed behind her, splitting off when they made it back to the front of the bar so he could start setting the bar up for the morning.

She sat the bowl on the counter and then ran downstairs.

Claggor and Vi were sitting together on the large sofa, laughing over a joke they immediately stopped telling when she came into the room. Mylo was on the other sofa, one arm stretched out over the side to reach into a bowl of crispy chips.

She jumped down from the fifth step and onto flat ground, catching all of their attention. Vi leaned forward to look at her and smiled. “What’s gotten into you?”

Powder went straight to the point. “Vi, can you take me to Benzo’s Shop? Please?”

“What?” she frowned. “Pow-Pow, it’s pouring out there.”

“Why do you even want to go?” Claggor asked from his reclined position.

“Ekko’s sick and—” she was cut off by Mylo’s laughter. She tried to continue as if he hadn’t, “—and Vander said I could visit if someone goes with me.”

“D’aaww, the little babies can’t be separated even for a day.” Mylo cackled.

Powder scowled at him. “Shut up, Mylo!”

“Make me, twerp.” he shoved a handful of chips into his mouth with a wide grin.

“Okay, okay,” Vi stood. “Enough, both of you.” Sometimes Vi acted way too much like Vander. “I’m sorry Powder, but it’s raining too hard. You can see him tomorrow.”

That wasn’t the same thing though. How could she make her sister understand? “But Vi, that’s not—”

“Fair?” Mylo cut in. “Life’s not fair, kid. Gotta learn it someday.”

“What would you know about it? You can’t even see from under that big head of yours!”

Claggor started to laugh so hard tears burned in his eyes. Mylo snarled and sat up. “Yea? Well, you’re just a p—”

“Enough!” Vi snapped. “You two are always at each other’s throats and it’s given me a damn migraine that won’t go away.” Powder crossed her arms but kept her scowl focused on the lanky boy across the room. “You know what,” she sat back down on the sofa beside Claggor. “You can go Powder.” A spark of happiness burned in her. That is, until her sister amended the permission with a, “And you’re going to take her Mylo.”

“What?!” they both screeched at the same time.

“You heard me.” she said it with a big smile on her face.

“Like hell I’m gonna take her anywhere. I’m not a babysitter.”

This was the worst possible outcome! Powder didn’t want to spend the visit having to duck under his jabs and teasing, and she definitely didn’t want him to bother Ekko either! “I don’t need his help!”

“You do if you want to go,” Vi told Powder, and then turned her head towards their lanky brother. “And you’re going to take her if you don’t want me to tell Vander the market story.” That made Mylo’s face drain of all color.

The room became painfully quiet. Powder turned her angry glare back to her brother. He was returning it with just as much venom. Leave it to Vi to come up with a Vander-esque compromise that felt more like a punishment. Powder almost wished she had just snuck out, and accepted whatever punishment would come from it. Anything but having to deal with Mylo for today, of all days.

“Fine,” she grumbled.

Mylo stood. “I swear Vi, this better mean the story dies.”

Vi smiled broadly and passed a quick glance to the large boy beside her. It was the look of the victorious. “Sure. You play butler to Powder for today and you can consider it forgotten.” Claggor tried to suppress his laughter under his hand over her choice of words. “And that means no picking on her Mylo, or the scoop goes right to the big guy.”

“Better get along,” Claggor had added it with such amusement he could barely keep the laugh from his lips.

It only made the boy’s face paler, with anger and embarrassment. Powder didn’t really like the way he looked right there. “Fine!” he drew himself up to his long legs and stormed passed Powder, grumbling. When he got to the top of the stairs, he shouted, “C’mon Powder! God, I don’t have all day!” Powder passed her other siblings a quick look before hurrying up after Mylo. The boy was sulking when she caught up beside him. She could almost feel his annoyance.

When they made it to the first floor, Vander looked up from the counters when he caught sight of them. “Mylo? You’re helping Powder?” that made the boy mumble under his breath. “Well, you two be safe and Mylo? Keep a good eye on her.” Mylo waved over his shoulder to let him know he was heard.

Powder went to retrieve the bowl. Vander had put a top on it and wrapped it in a small towel to keep it hot. When she picked up the bowl and noted that it was still hot, she gave Vander a smile and thanked him. He waved in recognition and she hurried over to the door.

Mylo took out the umbrella and popped it open. “We only have one?” she asked, looking down at the little bucket.

“Tough luck for you then, huh?”

“Mylo!” Vander warned from the counter.

Mylo rolled his eyes. “We’re obviously going to share.” Powder glanced the umbrella over. There was no way that thing was going to cover them both. He didn’t seem to think so though, and threw the door open and waltz right out into the rain. Powder gasped and hurried to follow directly after him, almost right on top of his steps.

“Wait!” she breathed, grabbing at his shirt with her free hand to hold herself close enough to him to be spared the touch of rain. Her left foot hit the back of his left foot, nearly tripping him.

“Don’t step all over me, twerp.” His complaint was sharp, just like the sound of the rain clapping against the umbrella.

“Sorry. I’m trying to stay under the umbrella.” It was almost impossible though. She was an inch or two away from the edge, and the icy cold rain beyond its reach.

“Just don’t stomp all over me, it’s that simple.”

“If you’d just—”

“I swear Powder, if I get soaked, I’m tossing you into the nearest puddle. Got it?”

Powder clamped her mouth shut over her next words. I didn’t ask him for help. Powder kept her eyes down the best she could, to be sure she was not about to ‘stomp’ all over his feet. Why’s he so mad at me? It seemed more reasonable he would be angry at Vi and not her. Even Powder was a little mad over it.

Well, at least it seemed like they were both unwilling to talk much. That meant no fights, at least.

The walk to Benzo’s Shop was much slower due to the rain. Powder tried to keep the soup as warm as possible, but she knew the longer they were out in the cold, the more impossible that got. She couldn’t even say anything, or risk annoying Mylo even further. I wish he would just tell me why he doesn’t like me…

No. I know why. No one likes a weirdo.

She looked up from the little bowl and at the back of his head with a frown. It seemed like most of the time they were around each other, they were fighting, in some way or another. Or not talking at all. She didn’t like that at all, though she felt stupid for it. Because he very clearly didn’t care at all. Why couldn’t people be more like machines? Then you could just flip a switch and bam, nothing left…

I wonder what Mylo would be like, if he had a switch to go and an off with.

On. Off. On. Off.

As quiet as a church mouse.

Friendly in his quiet.

Definitely.

But then again, she couldn’t even imagine a Mylo that wasn’t slinging jokes and insults at her, or trying to get her to fall into his pranks. That had become Mylo in entirety to her.

What would I be with one?

“Why do you want to see him so bad today, anyhow?”

The sound of Mylo’s voice startled her out of her thoughts and she almost tripped over him. Why? Was it weird that she wanted to see him or something? They were friends. Best friends. And she was worried about him. So naturally, she wanted to visit him, to check up on him. Wasn’t that enough of a reason to go, even despite the rain?

“He’s my friend,” she mumbled. He mmmhmm’d. He sounded strange when he said that. She furrowed her brows and glared at the back of his head. “What does that mean?”

“What does what mean? Stop being so damn weird.”

“That stupid noise you made!”

He paused and she almost walked right into him. He turned around to face her. “It means okay, twerp.”

“Stop calling me that!”

“Why should I stop?” he asked it with a wide grin. This was amusing to him? Why was everything a joke to him? She hated it. It was so…so annoying!

“You’re not funny, Mylo.”

“Yea? Well, I think I’m funny.” He turned back around without warning, sounding particularly pleased with himself for that comeback. Powder almost got caught by the rain from how quickly he had moved.

“Ekko and I like to pretend, too.”

“That’s it!” he spun around so fast she plowed right into him and nearly fell out into the rain. “I’d rather deal with Vander than you! You’re just so damn annoying! All of the damn time!”

Powder’s cheeks burned red. “Well…well…I’d rather deal with rats than you!”

“Oh yea? Well then you can deal with them the next time they’re clawing through your shit, huh?”

“Maybe I will, since you can’t ever catch them!”

His face bunched up in anger. “Screw this, I’m leaving!”

“Go ahead!”

“I will!”

“Good!”

They pressed hateful glares back at each other for half a heartbeat before Mylo scoffed and walked off to the opposite direction, umbrella and all. “Have fun, twerp!”

The icy cold touch of the rain hit her hard. She shrieked in surprise. “Mylo! Mylo give me the umbrella!” but he acted like he could not hear, and kept walking away. She stomped a foot down hard, splashing a puddle everywhere. “Jerk!”

“Weirdo!” he howled back, disappearing around the bend in the road.

Powder stared after him for a minute or two, until she realized he really left, and then she huddled the bowl closer to her and hunched a little over it. “I didn’t need your help anyway!” she shouted after him, uselessly. Then she turned around and sprinted off toward the direction of Benzo’s Shop. At least now she would get there faster. She just hoped the soup would stay warm.

The rain refused to let up the entire journey, though further down The Lanes the canopy of all the criss-crossing bridges, cat-walks and soaring buildings made it much more difficult for the rain to reach lower levels. What did run-off into the streets came from gutters and loose pipes from the upper levels. The network of ancient culverts littered under the streets, packed tight with garbage and such, did not help to deter the flooding at all. By the time she arrived at the street where Benzo’s Shop was stationed, the water was already up to her shins.

Benzo’s Shop stood at a slightly higher incline, so the water ran around its steps almost like a moat. The lights were on, casting a strange orange glow through the thinly curtained windows and out onto the dark street.

Powder made her way over to the steps, sloshing through the grimy water as quickly as she could. It felt like ice against her skin. She was shivering when she finally made it to the door. The slanted overhang to the shop’s door provided a relatively small reprieve from the drizzle. She sluggishly repositioned the tiny bowl between her right arm and chest, and then reached out to bang on the door. There wasn’t any sort of response. She banged again, harder, until her frozen knuckles began to ache.

After a moment, the curtain to the door drew back and she saw Benzo’s round face staring back at her. He looked absolutely surprised to see her. He dropped the curtain and then unlocked the door.

“Powder? What are you doing here? It’s pouring out!”

She held the bowl out, teeth chattering so much her words came out strange. “It’s f-for Ekko.”

Benzo looked at the tiny bowl in her hands, confused, and then sighed. “You shouldn’t have come all this way for this, Powder. What will Vander say?”

“He s-said I could come.” There was no need to tell him that it came with a stipulation of an escort, or that her escort had abandoned her halfway here. It was over and done with, anyway.

“Somehow, I don’t think he planned on you being soaked to the bone, girl.” He stepped out of the way. “Come in, come in. I can’t have you catching a cold too.” Powder hurried in, and sighed at the warmth pumping out of the pipes in the walls. Benzo closed and locked the door. “Stay right there, I’ll get you a towel.” He disappeared into the back room for only a minute, returning with a large towel. “Here, give me that.” He took the bowl from her, exchanging it with the towel. “Dry yourself off good now, you hear me? Vander’ll pick the skin off my bones if you return to him sniffling.”

“Y-yes Mr. Benzo.” She wrapped the thick towel around herself and sighed. How strange that warmth could be so good feeling at times. She began to scrub herself as vigorously as her stiff hands could allow.

Benzo sat the bowl on the counter and looked her over. “I have half the mind to whoop you myself, girl. That was a might foolish thing to do, coming all this way in the rain, and without something to keep the damn rain off you to boot.”

Powder ducked her eyes from his gaze. “I had an umbrella…” she mumbled. “I just l-lost it.”

“Hmm, I bet.” he shook his head. “Well, what’s done is done. Follow me and we’ll get you something warm and dry to get into.” Powder followed after him quietly through to the back. The room was still packed high with treasures and other such trinkets, same as any other day. Powder could never really tell if something changed in the room, the way it all looked the same to her.

“In through here,” he said, stopping at another door. He opened it and walked in. The room was some sort of closet, though much larger than most. There were shelves packed with all sorts of things, from food to even tools. The back of the closet held two large machines, which were currently rattling against the wall. Benzo stopped at the end, and reached up to pull something off the top shelf. A bundle of oddly colored clothing was then deposited in her cold hands. “That’ll do, though it’ll run large on you for sure.”

She almost pressed the dry clothes to her wet body in her absentmindedness. “Thank you, Mr. Benzo.”

He chuckled and slapped at his thigh. “Now Powder, I’m either Benzo or sir. Mr. seems more suitable for my pa, don’t you think?”

She laughed. “Okay. Thank you, Benzo.”

He nodded. “You’re welcome, child.” He cleared his throat. “I’ll wait outside.” When the door closed behind Benzo, Powder sat the bundle on the nearest shelf gently and started to dig out of her clothes.

The replacement clothes were clearly for a boy, and a much older one than her. The trousers went far beyond the length of her legs, and the shirt hung so loose the sleeves felt and looked more like tents than sleeves. But they were dry and warm, and that was enough. To fix the trousers, she rolled them up until they went above her ankles and since there was no way she could ‘fix’ the shirt, she just let it be. She wasn’t sure where to leave her soaked boots, so after she stuffed the jar of medicine into her new pocket, she sat them on a little tray and put all her wet clothes next to it.

Benzo knocked on the door a minute later. “You done yet?”

“Yea, I’m done.”

The door opened and he peaked in. “Ah, good. We’ll see about getting you back to Vander and—”

“Benzo?” he turned to look at her, eyes rounding. “If it’s okay…can I see Ekko first?”

He laughed. “That’s why you came all this way, isn’t it?” she smiled. “Let’s go then.” When he started off again, she ran over to keep a pace beside him. “You know Vander was here earlier though, right?”

Powder nodded. “I know.”

“Is there a reason you needed to see Ekko today…?”

Powder hesitated. Why was everyone asking her that? He was her best friend and sick. She was worried. “I…I just want to make sure he was okay.”

“I see,” he stopped them at the end of the room, where a pair of stairs climbed up into the second story. “You know where he’s at. I’ll heat up that soup and bring it up for him, yea?” Powder thanked him and gave him a little hug. He chuckled so much his body shook. “Just make sure he doesn’t get out of his bed for me, will you?” he patted her back before walking off. She pressed on up the stairs when Benzo left.

The second story was much the same as most buildings in The Lanes. It consisted of a long, narrow hall way with several doors on each side, and only one large window at the end for light. Ekko’s room was the last door on the left, almost entirely hidden behind crates and boxes lined up against the walls.

Powder paused outside his door. It had been left wide open. The lights inside were dulled to such a faint glow that only the shapes of furniture and such could be made out. She hesitantly knocked on the door, to alert him.

“Ekko?”

There was a noise, and then coughing. “Powder?” more noise, and then the light flicked on, illuminating the entire room. “Is that you?” She walked into the room slowly, hands cupped. His eyes widened when he saw her. “Powder, but…” he coughed. “What’re you doing here?” he sat up from his reclined position in his bed, snot dripping from his nose.

Powder couldn’t look away. He was all clammy and flushed, and trembling as if someone dumped ice water on him. She had never seen him sick before, or so weak. He was usually the one checking in on her, with wide pearly grins and stories of the days she had missed stuck in bed about how he pilfered such ‘awesome loot!’ from the Pilties.

I could have been here for him, too. Why didn’t he tell me? The thoughts made her very annoyed with him. “Why didn’t you tell me you were sick, you dummy?”

“’cause I didn’t want you to get sick again comin’ over to check on me, that’s why.” he explained, with a heavy nasally tone. “’sides, Vander wasn’t supposed to tell you, so you weren’t even supposed to be here.”

How did that answer the question of why he didn’t tell her? “I’m your best friend! Why shouldn’t I come over?”

It seemed like he was going to argue something, but his eyes widened a little and he frowned. “…what are you wearing?”

Powder looked down at her clothes quickly. “I dunno. Benzo gave it to me.”

“Those are boys’ clothes, ya know.” he said, laughing. “It looks so silly on you.”

She wasn’t sure why that embarrassed her so much. Ekko’s teasing was never a problem, but at that moment it annoyed her a little. “And you have snot all over your face. That’s way sillier.”

Ekko laughed and reached to wipe his arm across his nose. “Yea, I do look pretty dumb right now, huh?” he sneezed then and sighed. “Can't breath, can't sleep, and my head hurts...now I get why it’s so annoying to you.”

The sight of his distressed state softened her from her irritation. “Are you okay?” she asked, gently.

“Yea, I’m okay, just got a bit of aches and stuff.” His voice sounded so weird with such a stuffy nose. “It’s nothing I can’t handle.” Stubborn as always. Mylo and Claggor lied about that kinda thing as well. Were all boys like this?

She frowned. “You don’t look okay…” that’s when she remembered the medicine. “Oh yea!” she dug into her pocket and recovered the little jar. “I brought you some medicine. It’s not gonna make it go away but…” she approached slowly and held out the jar. “…it might help with the aches.”

Ekko took the jar. “Thanks Powder, but I wish you would’ve stayed home.” He popped the top off and dropped two of the little red pills into his hand. “You didn’t have to do this.”

“Yes, I did.” she told him. “You’re my best friend.” echoing the same words he often used against her. Ekko tried to get up, but she reached over to press him back into the bed. “Benzo said you have to stay in bed.”

He gave a very dramatic groan. “That’s all I’ve been doing, sleeping or waiting to sleep.”

“That’s because you’re sicker than a wet dog caught in a storm,” Benzo said as he entered the room. The bowl of soup was balanced on a tiny tray, with a tall cup of water. Powder smiled. Benzo’s idioms were always so weird. “At least you had the sense to listen to Powder. Can’t say you had it before she was here.”

“Benzo!” he said, exasperated.

The man laughed. “What? She’s a good influence on you and I can’t be here all day making sure you listen to me, can I?” he sat the tray down on the stand beside the bed and then faced her. “Think you can stick around and make sure this idiot here gets some rest?”

Powder didn’t have any intention to return just yet anyway. And it seemed like fate agreed, for it began to rain so hard it sounded as if someone was drumming on the roof, making any return journey to The Last Drop too reckless to even consider. “Sure,” she said, smiling.

“Good! And be sure I know if he disobeys, yea? I’ll send word ahead to Vander just to be sure. We don’t want him acting like a ninny about it.” He clapped Powder on the shoulder softly before clamoring off, his throaty chuckles echoing down the hall the only evidence he was distancing himself.

“He’s never gonna let me live this down now.”

“Well, if you listen to him more, you’ll get better faster.”

“Yea?”

“That’s what Vi always tells me, and she’s never wrong.”

Never.

Ekko laughed. “I guess, yea.” He sighed and gestured at the bowl. “Where’d that come from, anyway?”

“Oh, I brought it over for you.” She went over and helped by bringing the bowl over to him. “It’s gonna be hot, so be careful.”

He gave that big, goofy smile of his when he took the top off and inhaled the scent. “Thanks Powder, it smells great.” When he started to slurp up the soup, she sat down beside him. He let the spoon stall in the brown broth. “Aww Powder, what if I get you sick?”

She shrugged. “I’ll probably get sick again anyway. I don’t care.” Besides, that never crossed his mind when he came over to visit her when she was sick and bed-ridden, so why should it for her?

“Well, alright,” he mumbled. “But you better not complain if you get sick!”

“I won’t.” she promised it by sticking her pinky finger out for him. He laughed and accepted it. Now she could not, under any circumstance, complain if she did get sick. This was their most sacred pact and it meant unimaginably bad and embarrassing things for those who broke it.

Ekko slurped hungrily at the soup and then hmm’d thoughtfully aloud. “It could’ve done with more meat though.” Powder pinched his arm and he laughed. “I’m just joking, ouch!” he laughed again when her second pinch got him on at the crook of his arm. “Stop that Powder, you’ll make me turn purple!”

“That’s what you get—” she was interrupted when he started to cough, so hard he dropped his spoon and nearly spilled his soup everywhere. She quickly put a soothing hand on his back and then reached down to pick up the spoon off the floor. “Benzo’s right. You should get some rest.”

He sniffed at snot dripping steadily out of his nose. “Ah, don’t be such a worry-wart, Powder.”

Powder put the spoon on the little stand and then took the bowl from him. “You don’t look okay, Ekko.” And it was the truth of it. He almost looked ready to drop. His face was all sweaty and his eyes looked as if they had sunk into purply pits, and she noticed that he hadn’t stopped trembling since she came into the room. It frightened her. “You’re shaking...”

“But—”

“I’ll tell Benzo.”

He groaned. “Jeez, sometimes you are just as bossy as Vi.” He scooted down the length of his bed and laid back down. Powder giggled and reached over to tuck the blanket it in around him. He gave a jump when she accidentally brushed her hand across his forearm. “Ah! Your hands are ice cold!”

She forgot that she had been out in the rain long enough to chill her to her bones. “Ooops, sorry Ekko.” she continued tucking him in despite the complaint and then leaned back against the wall behind his bed. After a moment, a peaceful silence settled between them, disturbed only by his occasional cough or groan of discomfort. Powder knew the pain all too well; the never-ending headaches, the hot waves that came crashing through to ice in a bizarre back-and-forth, the aching body and sore throat, and the congested nose. It was all horrible.

Powder thought on how Vander would sit beside her bed during the worst of it and hold her hand while he read her stories or listened to her when she was too sick to sleep, or how Vi would let her sleep on her lap and she’d run a hand through her hair. Powder wasn’t sure if that would bring him any comfort, but when she began to brush her fingers through his hair, she hoped that it would.

She began to sing, her voice barely even a whisper. “Dear friend across the river,” she used the same soothing, soft tones that Vi would use to comfort her. “My hands are cold and bare.” She softened her brushing even more. “Dear friend across the river, I’ll take what you can spare.” He was still in that sort of way that she knew he was falling asleep. “I ask of you a penny, my fortune it will be. I ask you without envy, we raise no mighty towers…” his tremors finally settled and his breathing slowed. She stopped running her fingers through his hair so that she did not wake him and then reached over to pull the blanket up to his shoulders.

Powder listened to the gentle sound of his breathing. This was the first time she had seen him sleeping, or so quiet. They were usually playing some wild game where shouts and screams and laughter was just expected because it somehow enhanced the fun, or they were lost in an excited discussion of machinery or tech. This was a strange change of pace, but as she watched the way his eyes flickered to his dreams or just how dorky his face looked when he slept, she found it just as pleasant. She wasn’t sure how long she had sat there watching him, but when Benzo knocked gently on the door and caught her attention, she realized it had been some time.

Benzo gestured for her to leave. Powder gently lifted herself off the bed so she did not disturb Ekko and made her way over to him. “Let’s let him sleep,” Benzo whispered, nudging his head. Powder passed a look back to Ekko before following the large man downstairs.

As soon as Benzo stepped out of the way when they were back at the front of the shop, Powder’s eyes locked onto the gangly sight of her brother Mylo standing by the counters. What was he doing here? She crossed her arms and looked away, just as Benzo turned his back to them and started to act as if he was putting things away.

“Look, Powder, I…” he rubbed at his shoulders, twisting his head around, looking at everything but her. “I’m sorry, okay? I shouldn’t have left you without an umbrella.” Benzo cleared his throat from behind his counter. “Okay, okay…I’m sorry for being mean to you, too.”

Mylo, apologizing? She heard it a few times, and it was only ever toward Vi and Vander. When he did something really stupid or dangerous, or both. Vi liked to joke that Mylo would burn up from the inside out if he had to say it more than once a year. So why now? And with her? Her thoughts went to Vander. Oh. That was definitely why. He returned without her and Vander probably chewed him out for it.

“You’re just saying that because you have to.”

Mylo said, “That’s not it.”

Okay. Where was the trick here? She focused her eyes on him, searching his face as if she could discern the prank around the corner just from his eyes. He was probably going to flick some prank-toy at her or laugh it off and tell her she was naïve for believing him so easily. A part of her really wanted to believe him though. Don’t be so stupid!

Stupid and gullible.

No. She wouldn’t fall for his pranks or tricks, not today. “Uh-huh.”

He sighed. “I told Vander what happened.” When she just stared, unbelievingly, he grew frustrated and said, “I felt bad about it, okay?”

“Why?” she asked, still uncertain.

“I just did.” Powder rolled her eyes and turned to leave, but he stopped her quickly. “Okay, okay, wait! I dunno, I just felt bad when I got back to the bar.”

She faced him and narrowed her eyes. “What are you sorry for?”

His long face grew a dark shade of red. “Come on Powder, don’t make me say it…”

“But I’m not making you say anything…”

He lifted his dark eyes to hers, revealing a deep frown and a softness she was not used to see on his face at all. “I’m sorry for teasing you and for making fun of you, and for leaving you behind in the rain. Okay?” he said it as gently as he could manage. “I am sorry, Powder. Really.”

“You really mean it?” He nodded. His entire face was red. Powder smiled and then ran over to hug him, squeezing him around his waist so tightly he arched his back to avoid the awkward angle of the bony arms digging into him.

Mylo tried to pry her off of him, face contorted in equal parts humiliation and unease. “Ugh, eww! Come on Powder, get off of me! This is so gross!” She only held on tighter. “Okay, that’s enough, come on.” He finally peeled her away from him and held an arm out to prevent her from coming near again. “So, are we good or what?”

She gave him a bright smile and hugged him again, getting a loud and dramatic sigh in return. “We’re good.” She had whispered it as she squeezed her eyes shut and pressed her face into his shirt.

Benzo chuckled softly from behind them. Powder let Mylo go at last so she could face the giant man. “I’ll get you two another umbrella, then.”

Powder frowned. “I have to leave?”

“It is rather late, girl.”

“But…but I want to stay with Ekko and help.”

Benzo stopped at the door to the back room and gave her an understanding frown. “I know you do, and I appreciate that, but it’s really not up to me. Vander is going to want you back before nightfall.”

Mylo cleared his throat. “I already spoke to Vander.” Benzo arched a thick eyebrow at him. “He wanted me to ask you if she could stay over for the night.”

“I don’t mind at all,” he said, smiling. “I’m just surprised, is all.”

“Well…you know Vander…too late for him to want her to be walking about, ya know?” Powder watched the way Mylo’s eyes darted from him to her and bunched her brows down at him. Something about that look seemed awfully familiar to her…

Benzo nodded. “So be it. I’m not about to argue with the man.” He gestured for Powder to follow him. “Let’s prepare you a cot for the night, yea?” when the man disappeared into the back room, Powder turned to her brother and mischievously smiled at him.

“Vander didn’t really say that, did he?”

Mylo frowned and flicked her forehead. “You want me to take it back or what?”

Powder rubbed at her forehead. “No!” and then she pouted a little, still unsure on why he was even doing all of this for her. It was one thing to apologize, but to antagonize Vander for her? “But what if we get in trouble?”

“I’ll tell Vander I lied.”

She stared at him, surprised. He would take the fall like that? “But…but why would you do that?”

“Isn’t it enough that I’m gonna do it? Why do you always need to know the reasons?” this day was proving to be so weird. This was the most flustered she had ever seen Mylo in any single day. Usually Vi would frustrate him here and there with a few jokes, or point out when he was overtly gentlemanly to ‘cute girls on the street’, but this was something different entirely. He looked as red as a cherry.

Powder smiled at the realization of what it meant. He was embarrassed. Well, that was okay. She was just happy he was being nice for a change. “Okay, thank you Mylo.” That only seemed to make him more uneasy.  

He scoffed and crossed his arms. “Well…just promise you won’t ever bring this up again. Deal?”

“Deal!” she held her pinky out for him. He just stared at her, bushy brows arching. She laughed and took his hand. “It’s to make a promise you can’t ever break.” She showed him how to make the pinky-swear and then shook their hands up and down once. “There, now it’s a promise.”

Mylo stuffed his hands into his pockets quickly. “Well, that was dumb.” But Powder knew that if he really didn’t like it or really thought it was stupid, he wouldn’t have contributed to it in the first place.

“You gonna help or not, girl?” Benzo asked when he popped back into the main room, looking every bit as frustrated as he sounded.

Mylo flung an irritated hand beyond her shoulder. “Well, go on, sheesh.”

Powder wished she could hug him again, but she didn’t want to risk the very fragile ground they had gained by potentially irritating him in an already uneasy mood. She settled with what she considered third best and said, “Thank you Mylo.”

“Mmm.”

And then she smiled and sprinted off to join Benzo, with hopes that maybe she could somehow coax this Mylo out again tomorrow or more at all. Because she found she loved this Mylo too much to ever want to let him go.

Chapter Text

The day had gone off without a hitch.

The heist they did for Benzo had proven successful. Almost too successful. Vi didn’t let anyone relax until they finally made it back to The Last Drop, and even then, as they lounged into sofas and chairs in absolute exhaustion, she worried something would go wrong. Despite her worrying, everything had worked out. Everyone was in a good mood, excited over the fact that there was finally enough coin left after payments and repairs and upkeep that they could spend it on themselves—or however they saw fit.

Even though Vi’s body ached from the day’s sprinting about and jumping between buildings and scaling fences to get out of the area, she was in a good mood too, when the realization that everything had worked out hit her. They all needed the reprieve, as the week had been consistently shit for them all.

At the moment they were all gathered at their favorite booth in The Last Drop, discussing what they were going to spend their coin on in the morning. It was a time to rewind for them, at least until Vander came down stairs to force them to their beds as he had for Powder two hours earlier. That usually came before it got too late, as Vander had a very strangely fatherly expectation of them when it came to bed routines.

“A jug of cherry pop,” Mylo said, leaning far back into the booth. “That’s the first thing I’m gonna get.” And Vi believed it. For the last week he complained endlessly about how they had no cherry soft-drink left, but too much citrus and cranberry. He jabbed his elbow into Claggor’s side. “What about you?” Claggor shrugged. He was never really one to express interests so openly. Mylo continued on as if he hadn’t spoken. “The first thing we ought to do is check if Jericho has his specials up.” he suggested it with an excited grin. “I hope it’s the glazed special, it’s the best one.”

“Good idea,” Vi said, smiling. “The fish bowl is better though.”

Claggor laughed. “You’re both wrong,” he said. “It’s definitely the curry.” They laughed over the stupid argument, and then Claggor turned his gentle eyes to her and smiled. “What about you, Vi?”

“I don’t know.” And she really didn’t. She would probably just end up buying Powder some more oil crayons or get her some new clothes or shoes, or give it to Vander for the bar or something. She didn’t really have a lot of things she was interested in spending coin on, and the money wasn’t specifically the reason she ever did jobs. Her desires went beyond material things, most of which lied out of the reach of a typical Zaunite, topside or undercity.

“Jeez, and I didn’t think an answer could get any more boring than Claggor’s.” Mylo drew his legs up to the table and wrapped his slim arms around the back of the booth. “You’re not Vander, you know. Have some fun.”

What would Mylo even understand about that kind of responsibility? Vi sort of envied his almost blind outlook on life, or how he just looked from thrill to thrill, or amusement to amusement. If she could just turn off that worrying part of her brain sometimes, she’d probably be just as obtuse as Mylo, which meant moments where she could just forget and have fun.

Vi was more than just a teenager though, and even she understood that. Even if she wasn’t the actual leader of their raggedy gang, she was the oldest amongst them and that meant stepping up, or Vander’s second confidant which curtailed her to responsibilities they couldn’t ever understand or she was someone’s big sister—which was a full-time job. At times, it felt as if she were being pulled in all directions at once, and she wasn’t sure which she preferred or if she preferred any at all.

“She’s gotta think about more than you,” Claggor offered for her stead, as he seemed to know exactly what to say sometimes. “I’ll treat you tomorrow Vi.”

“Thanks, Claggor,” she said, and reached over to pat his shoulder. “But save it for yourself, I’m good.”

“I’d rather—” whatever he was going to say was cut off by a sharp and loud bang from the floor below them. They all froze immediately to the sound, in a kind of startled state that seized them so completely that sense left them. It took them only seconds to head for the stairs.

Mylo had gotten there first, and pressed his lanky body down the dark stairs to their room. Claggor was ahead of her. When she had gotten to the half way mark of the stairs, the hoarse crying and screams hit her, freezing her.

Vi shoved passed Claggor, knocking him into the wall of the staircase and then raced passed a terrified Mylo so fast he was knocked to the floor. As soon as Mylo was up on his feet, he shot off back up the stairs like a bolt of lightning.

Powder was crumpled up near the back of the sofa, forehead pressed against the floor, trembling and screaming as she bashed at her head with her fists. She was screaming about something, but none of the words made any sense.

“Powder! Stop!” Vi wrapped her arms around her sister and lifted her off the ground and to her chest, to try and keep her still—to keep her hands free from wreaking havoc on her face. Vi squeezed her so tightly to her that she was afraid she was going to hurt her, but the fear racing through her just wanted it to stop, no matter what. But her scrawny little sister suddenly had a raw strength in her that she had never displayed before. “Powder, stop it!” she nearly lost her grip from the fierce fight. “Wake up!”  

Claggor was shouting behind her to do something, but Vi wasn’t listening to him, all she was trying to do was get her sister to stop, her mind holding onto the howling screeching that pierced the room with an almost feral like focus.

Vander came thundering down the stairs then with Mylo in tow. Vi didn’t realize she was crying until Vander took Powder out of her arms and tried to sooth the girl himself.

“Powder, hey, hey—” even he was having trouble keeping her still beneath his grasp. “Everything’s okay now.” his voice was loud, to try and get through to her, but her wailing would not relent. “Come on kid, it’s alright now, look around you.”

Vi reached out to lay a trembling hand on her sister’s shoulder and repositioned it after Powder tried to shrug out of the contact. “Powder, please, you need to calm down!” Mylo and Claggor were staring in open-faced terror, and somehow, that only unsettled Vi even more.

“Get them out of here.” his order did not come off as cruel, only desperate. Vi hurried up and guided her brothers out of the room. Mylo was more than willing to get out as fast as he could, but Claggor tried to insist on staying until she pushed at him harder. By the time she ran back downstairs, somehow Vander had calmed Powder down enough to stop fighting him.

Vi sat down beside him and reached over to lay a hand in her sister’s messy hair, but stopped, afraid that it would only do more harm than good. “She w-wouldn’t listen to me Vander, I…I…” the words fumbled out of her into a cry.

Vander passed her an understanding look as he pressed Powder closer into him. Her sister was still shaking like a leaf and sobbing about something so incoherently not a lick of it made sense to them. “It’s okay now.” He soothed, rocking her gently and rubbing a hand up and down her back. “She’s okay now.” Vi couldn’t tell who he was trying to reassure.

Vander brushed a hand down Powder’s disheveled hair a moment later, and Vi could see that his hands were trembling. It terrified her. Nothing was supposed to scare Vander. Nothing. “Deep breaths,” he whispered to Powder, as the sobbing and shouting finally began to burn out of her. “In and out.” It was still unclear what he had done to calm her sister down, but Vi was thankful. That was the worse Vi had seen her in months.

After a moment, Vander tried to move but Powder clung to him with a cry. He patted her back, to ensure it was alright. “P-please,” she begged. “Don’t go.”

It was clear why Vander had tried to leave, so she said, “I’m here, Powder. It’s okay.” Vi tried very hard to will away the terror in her voice. And as if Powder had heard her for the first time that night, she unwrapped her arms from Vander’s neck and practically flung herself into Vi. Vander got up without a word and left. Vi knew he would be coming back. This had become routine enough that they all knew their jobs to play. “He’ll be back,” she said, half for her sister and half for herself. “I promise.”

“It w-w-wouldn’t stop,” she cried, and Vi could feel the shakes that had not quite left and feel the heart that was racing like a hummingbird against her own.

Vi did not understand what she was talking about, but she held her sister to her the way she had seen Vander do it, and pressed her face into her sister’s messy hair. “It was just a nightmare, Pow-Pow,” she whispered with the same soft, warm tones she could so vaguely recall their mother using all those years ago. “It wasn’t real.”

“It was r-real,” Powder said, sniffling against her neck. Her voice sounded as if it had been run raw. “It was.” The desperation in her sister’s voice to make her believe it unraveled Vi. How horrible were her nightmares, that it could do this to her, over and over again?

“It’s over now.” Vi said. “And I’m here.” Powder held on tighter and pressed her face back into the crook of her neck. Uncertain of what else she could do, or even say, Vi just held her tighter. It took only a few minutes for Vander to return with a little medical box.

“Let me see,” Vander said, touching Powder’s trembling shoulder. Vi released a breath when Powder peeled away from her at last and faced their father, because she could see for the first time exactly how needed the medical box was. Vi couldn’t tear her eyes away. Powder’s face was covered in bruises and cuts, and the hands that were now lying on Vander’s knees so he could clean them were scrapped raw in some places, and bleeding steadily.

“This will hurt,” he told her, and pressed antiseptic solution to a cotton-ball and then dabbed it onto her fingers and knuckles. Powder winced and bit down on her lower lip, which only made her jump because somewhere along her frantic episode, she had bitten down on it hard and split it. “Here we go.” He said, and pressed another cotton-ball against the bruises and scrapes on her face.

The stinging administrations didn’t even make Powder flinch, which somehow made Vi feel even worse. Why did she want her sister to complain? How would that absolve her of worry? But a part of Vi knew there wasn’t something okay in the way that Powder was just sitting there. “Just one more.” This time Vander pressed it to her split lip and Powder finally flinched away. “It’s got to be cleaned.” he told her, the scolding tone just an inch from his voice.

“…sorry,” she mumbled between a cry and a sniff.

Vander did not move his eyes up from his task. “It’s alright Powder, just try to sit still. Here,” he took a small white pack out of the box and smacked it a few times, starting the process for it to freeze. “Hold this to your lip.” Powder pressed the compress to her lip and then screwed her eyes shut against the sharp cold. “Keep it there,” he ordered when she pulled it away only a minute later.

Vi helped guide her sister over to her bed while Vander stayed behind to pack up the medical box and clear up the discarded and used pieces. As her eyes drew upon the undisturbed nature of the bed, she came to the realization that her sister never even crawled into bed. It was littered completely with tools and mechanical pieces. But what then, could have caused this night-terror?

Once she had her sister sitting on the edge of the bed, she reached an arm over and brushed all of the junk off the side of the bed. The sharp, clattering noise it made startled Powder and caused her to close her eyes tight, as if she could block out all of the noise. Vi noticed, and frowned. “Sorry Pow-Pow, I wasn’t thinking.” She knelt down to start picking them all up. “I’ll put them away.” But if her sister had heard, she did not respond.

After she was done shoving all of the junk into their rightful chest, Vander had finished with cleaning up and came over to the bed. He leaned one arm against the bunk bed and hunched down so he could look into their faces.

“How are you feeling, Powder? Any better?” his great brows were furrowing, the only visible indication the event had scared him, as his voice had returned to that irony tone. Powder nodded, but she kept her eyes closed. “That’s good,” his voice was soft. “I’m going to get you something to help with the pain and to help you sleep. Don’t move.” He left them then, moving quickly, another minor look into his worried state.

After a moment of being alone, Vi finally had a chance to really look her sister over now. Her hair was disheveled, with loose hair from clips falling over her face and her braid poofy and loose. The cuts and bruises were now hidden beneath small, white strips of medical tape, some of which were staining red from blood leaking through.

Vi had hoped after the first few times they all struggled through these terrors, that it would somehow get better or even easier to deal with, but that was a stupid hope. The hope of a naïve child. She realized it now. There was no room for hope in the undercity. There was only what you could rip out of the hands of others. That desperate attempt to live, just one more day, so you could think about the next.

If that was how it was to be, fine. Vi would rip that life out of the hands of anyone who stood in the way, and she would use it to find that different way for her sister. Even if it meant that she had to cut her way through the mucky streets of Zaun all by herself, she would do it. Because everything that Vi had or would ever have, she would give to her sister. Every ounce of her being, every breath, every thought. Until there was nothing left of her to spare.

Powder drew herself against Vi suddenly, dragging her into a seat beside her. She was trembling again when she pressed her face into the fabric of Vi’s shirt. Fingers were digging desperately into material for a good hold. “I’m sorry,” Powder whispered into her shirt, so gently Vi wasn’t even sure she had heard it.

Vi tried to think on what to do or what to say, or how to make everything better for her sister, but she didn’t even understand what was wrong. So how could she help? She opened her mouth, to speak, but shut them quickly. It was as if something had her throat in a vice grip. She settled on the only thing she knew she could offer her sister, and wrapped an arm around her to bring her even closer, until she could feel her sister’s boney shoulder digging into her. Powder leaned into that contact and sniffed.

That sound made Vi dream of simpler times. When Powder’s biggest fears were the imaginary monsters that she drew on the wall and cried pathetically over because she ‘didn’t mean to make them scary’. Or the fears that came from the creatures that Vi herself created to scare Powder with, just so she could be the big sister coming to the rescue and get those strangely strong but scrawny hugs.

Vander came back downstairs, carrying a small glass of water and something in his hand. “Powder, when you take this—” she reached for the cup and he pulled it back. “—listen to me.” Vi watched as her sister’s pale eyes held Vander’s. “When you take this, you will stay in this bed. Do you understand me?” Powder nodded, meekly, and then took the glass from him. “Good.” When the pill was taken, he took the glass back. “You’re going to get some rest now, aren’t you?” She rubbed at one of her eyes, nodding. “I need to hear you say it, Powder.”

“Yes, Vander.”

Vander leaned down to kiss the top of her head. “I’ll come check on you in a little bit, baby girl.” And with great reluctance, he left them be, passing Vi one quick look.

Vi knew what that look had meant, so when they were alone, she tried to coax her sister into lying down. “Let’s get some sleep, Pow-Pow. Everything will be better in the morning. I promise.” I hope. She thought, fearing what would happen if it wasn’t.

“I’m not tired, though.” Her denial came out half a heartbeat later with a voice that betrayed her words.

“I know that’s not true.” Vi laid down and shifted about the tiny, lumpy spot beside the wall to try and convince her it was comfy. That sleeping was a great idea. She patted the spot beside her and gave the best smile a big sister could give. “Come on, don’t let me just lie here like some idiot.” Powder offered a small smile that was clearly forced and then laid down beside her. Vi wrangled an arm out of her tiny spot and reached over to brush loose hair from her sister’s face. “Close your eyes and get some rest.”

Powder was quiet for a minute, rolled around a few times out of discomfort, and then she whispered as if she were afraid someone would hear her. “I can’t…”

“They were just dreams. They can’t hurt you.” There was even more quiet, only this time it felt different. Vi turned her head to look down at the her. “They were just dreams. It wasn’t real.”

“I wasn’t asleep.” She sounded so frightened. Vi made a noise of acknowledgement, as she wasn’t sure what she could say to that. “I wasn’t.” Powder insisted, almost angrily.

“Yes, you were, you just felt like you weren’t.” she said and reached over to pull the blanket over her. “I promise you Pow-Pow, it was just a nightmare. And when you are awake, there’s nothing out here that can hurt you. Not while I am here.”

“W-what if you aren’t here?” she asked, her voice breaking into a shaky sob.

“That’s never going to happen,” she said.

Powder rolled over to face her then. Her pale eyes were full of tears. “Promise?”

Vi laughed and started to tuck the blanket in around her. “You’re stuck with me forever, Pow-Pow. Until I’m all old and gross and you want nothing to do with me.”

Powder gave a laugh that trembled like a leaf and moved to wipe at her eyes. “Not even when you’re all old and gross,” she whispered.

Vi understood what she meant exactly and leaned forward to touch their foreheads together. Powder’s skin was soft and clammy. “It’s you and me against the world. Always.”

Chapter Text

It was well passed nightfall when Vander guided the last few drunk patrons out the door. He waved all of them off and watched for a long moment before he closed the door and locked the door, and then pulled the blinder down.

He was far too exhausted to clean the bar up, so he turned for the stairs and caught sight of Powder in the back booth, head lying on her arm across the table. He smiled and made his way over. “Powder? Come on, let’s get you to…” he paused when he caught sight of all of the doodles scattered about the table. Vander leaned forward to push a few of them around, to get a better look at all of the art. He was careful not to disturb the sleeping girl on the table.

Most of the doodles were strange contraptions he would never understand the purpose of, while others were weapons and scenery of the undercity. A few of them were of Vi and the boys, but only one or two even included her with them. He frowned and sat them back down, and caught sight of something she had been doodling before passing out. He carefully peeled it out from under her hand and smiled when he saw what it was.

It was a rendition of him, oddly proportioned of course, and much skinnier than he actually was, but she was standing beside him holding his hand. That was not uncommon, of course. He had plenty of her art behind the bar of them or hanging up in his room, but the word written above his cartoon version's head made him smile.

Dad.

He felt so stupid for how much that meant to him. It didn’t matter if they called him dad or not, he loved them like one and he knew they all loved him back in the way that children loved their fathers, but there was just something about seeing it, or hearing it, that made him feel…complete. He folded the paper up as gently as he could and reached out to brush hair from Powder’s face before tucking the paper into his pocket and picking her up.

She mumbled tiredly and peeled her eyes open just a little. “You’re tired, kid,” He whispered while he turned towards the stairs. “Close your eyes, get some rest.” She mmm’d. By the time that he made it downstairs, she was asleep again.

Vi was the first one to notice them. She laughed. “Ah, sorry Vander, forgot she was up there.”

“It’s not a problem,” he said quietly. And it really wasn’t. He enjoyed these moments that reminded him of when she was much younger. When she would cling around his neck and peck his face with kisses and giggle because she thought she was annoying him, or when she would fall asleep curled up in his lap. It was silly of him, of course, because she and her siblings would always be his little kids, but those days felt like such simpler times. And he missed them so completely.

“I’ll set her in,” she offered, getting up from the sofa where she and the boys were sitting, immerse in conversation before he interrupted.

“It’s okay, really.” Vi hesitated but sat back down with a smile. Vander laid Powder down in her bed and then brushed hair from her face. “Good night, Powder.” he whispered and then he kissed her forehead. Mylo gave a little giggle at the sight and Vander turned his eyes to the boy. “She wakes up and there will be hell to pay.” That made Mylo laugh again, but he lifted his hands in defeat.

When he got back to the stairs, he glanced back at them. “It’s late. You all should go to bed too.” And as they started to groan and complain, he walked away, smiling. That was also a perk, the way he could rile them up, and hear that familiar sound that reminded him he was, in fact, their father.

Vander made his way up to his room and unlocked the top drawer of his desk, as he kept it locked so no one could get into it and rifle through his stuff. He took out a wooden rectangular box and sat it on the desk.  

It contained all sorts of Powder’s drawings ranging from family drawn-portraits, to cute little monsters, to her first written words and such. There were a few items in there too; like the first tooth the kids lost in his care, one of Powder’s socks from when she was a young child, locks of hair from each kid and a few ‘happy birthday’ cards they had given him over the years, before most of them out-grew it.

Today would be the second time ever he could add a piece of work to the box where she referenced him as ‘dad’ and it would be the second most valuable treasure he had. Just after her and her siblings. He put the drawing into the box and locked it all away with the sad thought that, soon, she wouldn’t draw him those little pictures anymore or sit with him in the bar. He hoped that, when she stopped that or stopped coming to him for her problems like her siblings did, that she would still give him those crushing hugs and those bright smiles. If she could still do that, he’d take losing the rest at the very least.

That was for later, though.

Vander had it for the now, and he’d cherish every second of it while he could.

Chapter Text

“What do I get if I do it?”

Ekko peeled his eyes away from the distance between the two buildings to the scrawny girl at his side. She held their shared spyglass in one of her hands, while the other latched around the crook of her elbow.

“What would you want?” he knew that with Powder, it could be just about anything. The last bet she had won, all she wanted in return was a box of whatever discarded materials he had and before that it was to walk her back to The Last Drop, because it had gotten too dark for her to walk home alone. That part hadn’t really bothered Ekko. It made losing less bitter. Today though? He would win. He had to win at least, because he was on a losing streak.

Powder was quiet as she considered it, eyes roaming the gap between the buildings nervously. “It’s too wide,” she mumbled. They were on a part of the building that stood ten feet over a deep gutter system. The water appeared to be clear of debris at least, but it looked cold and thick with slime and grim. It was completely uninviting, and that was part of the appeal of daring to cross it.

Ekko grinned. “That’s half the fun.”

“What if we fall?”

“We’ll be okay.”

Powder drew her eyes from the gap to him, brows furrowed. “I don’t know, Ekko…”

“Anything you want!” he reminded her of their rules with a smile, hoping that it would entice her.

“Anything?” she repeated, narrowing eyes at him that appeared dark blue beneath the shadows of the undercity. Ekko answered that with another smile. She sighed. “Okay, fine.”

“Cool! Now, who goes first?” they decided to play a game for that honor. After they argued over what to play for a few minutes, they finally settled on tossing a flat piece of metal. Powder had decorated each side with symbols and they picked a side each. Ekko let her pick first. She claimed the side with the twirling pattern, which left him the side with the three exclamation marks on it. “Ready?” he asked and flipped the metal when she nodded.

It landed on the twirling pattern.

Powder’s eyes widened. She definitely didn’t want to go first. He laughed and stepped out of the way. “All yours.”

“Ha-ha, Ekko.” she reluctantly climbed up onto the edge of the building and tucked the spyglass into one of her pouches. The thin plank of wood that had been placed between the buildings as a sort of bridge was rickety and slick with mold. She tapped at the plank with the tip of her boot and then leaned away, as if she expected it to just shoot up from beneath her and take her with it.

“You can do it, Powder!”

She took one hesitant step after another, stopping only two feet in. The plank creaked and groaned beneath her feet, and she almost slipped twice. Ekka leaned against the side of the building and cupped his hands over his mouth. “You’re almost there!”

She took another step, and then began moving even faster. Halfway there, her foot slipped and she fell forward, smashing right into the plank. Ekko panicked and reached to hold down the plank with all his weight.

Powder gave a shriek of surprise and wrapped her arms around the plank, shaking. The spyglass fell out of one of her pouches in the fall and landed right into the water below. They had gone halfsies on that spyglass a few months ago when their last one broke while they were playing in the scrap yard. Back to the saving game, it seemed.

“It’s falling!” she cried. “Ekko!”

“It’s not!” he shouted back, though he pressed down even harder on the wood regardless. “Get up and go!” but she only held on tighter and shook her head. “Powder! If you hang there all day, Vi and Vander will find out!” and they were not supposed to be here. Vi had directly forbid them from playing in this part of The Lanes, and told them that if she ever caught scent of them disobeying her, she would make Vander finding out look like child’s play. Of course, that just meant they had to be extra careful not to be caught.

“Okay! Okay!” Ekko knew the idea of having Vi find her here, and therefore get in trouble, would be just enough to instill courage in her. Or fear. She slowly pushed herself from the plank. It rattled beneath her as she adjusted herself back to a standing position. Ekko only let go when she was safely on her feet, and once he was certain that the plank would hold.

Powder took a few wobbly steps before dashing across as quickly as she could. When she jumped safely onto the flat surface of the other building, Ekko frowned and then climbed up onto the edge so he could see her better.

Running was considered mean-spirited, but it was not an illegal move to the game itself.

“That’s unfair, but I’ll allow it!” Powder turned to him and stuck her tongue at him. Alright. Now he just needed to do it himself, then the next bet would go, and go on and on until one of them eventually gave in and lost.

Ekko stepped onto the board. It groaned much louder than it had under Powder. That made him a little nervous. He eyed the unpleasant looking water beneath him for just a second before focusing his eyes on the girl across from him.

“Give in!” she shouted.

“Never!” he howled in defiance and then dashed forward. The plank rattled angrily under him, but when he landed beside Powder on the other side, it remained attached to each building. His heart was racing so fast he was sure that she could hear it. “Ha!” he managed out between his attempts to reclaim his lost breath. “One and one now!”

Powder scowled at him playfully and crossed her arms. “Not for long.”

He laughed and sat up. “Okay Miss Bravery, what’s the next bet?” She opened her mouth to speak, but he cut her off. “No shooting stuff, Powder! That’d be unfair.”

“Oooh, fine!” she grumbled, annoyed, because she very clearly was going to bet something along those lines. Her eyes scanned the city around them, as if they held the answers. After a minute of searching, a mischievous smile spread across her face. “And you have to do it, or lose?”

“Yup!”

The smile never left her face. “I bet you can’t get our ball back from Belliard’s.”

Ekko felt the blood freeze in him. “Aw, c’mon Pow! That’s unfair, no way anyone would—”

“Then you forfeit?” she was smiling even brighter now, confident she just caught him in a snare.

Oh. Powder could be very sneaky when she wanted to be. But Ekko wasn’t about to go down without a fight, least of all to her attempt to bluff him out. He smirked. “Fine. I’ll do it.” Her eyes widened. She did not expect that. It would make winning the betting game even better.

It would be to his benefit to go prepared though. A good way to see what was ahead of them before even approaching would be very useful. If only our spyglass hadn’t of fallen over... That gave him an idea! He smiled and started for the staircase leading down the side of the building.

“What’re you doing?” she called out, running after him.

“You'll see, just wait!” he exclaimed, dropping off the staircase and down onto the ground. He looked up at her and laughed when she stood at the drop off, clutching the railing. “What are you waiting for?”

“I’ll…I’ll look for another way down.”

“C’mon Powder, you just crossed that plank like it was nothing! You can make this drop, easy!” Powder’s face scrunched up at him in consideration, but then she sat down at the edge before leaping down. She landed hard on her feet and nearly stumbled forward, had he not reached out to steady her. He smiled. “See? Easy!”

“It would have been easier going down another way, too.” She told him, following after him again when he started off towards the gutter.

He shrugged. “Sure, but that wouldn’t be any fun.”

“Safe can be fun too,” she mumbled and he chuckled.

They stopped at the edge of the gutter a few seconds later, and Ekko pressed a hand above his eyes to see better under the strange lights of the undercity. He spotted where he thought the spyglass fell in and smiled, pointing.

“There! That’s where it fell in.”

Powder looked at him like he was crazy. “The spyglass?” he nodded. “What…how are we going to get it out?”

“That’s gonna take a bit of plannin’,” he said and glanced around the area. “I’m definitely not jumping in though.”

Powder shivered, mostly in disgust. “I’m not either.” He knew she was watching him when he ran over to a pile of garbage. “Let’s just forget the spyglass, Ekko.”

“Hold on, I think I got an idea!” he started to pull out a large pallet. “This’ll work.” He went for a barrel next, and she hurried over to help him roll it out.

“Are you sure about this?” she asked as they worked together to lift the barrel to the underside of the pallet. “Maybe Vi can get it for us.”

Ekko smiled. Powder thought the world of her sister, to the point that she would believe her sister could make the sun set and rise. “I don’t think she’d like how we lost it, Powder.”

“Oh, right…” her cheeks reddened and she offered him a shy smile. He thought it was cute the way she’d do that, and forced his eyes down, away from that little smile. “How do we get it out of the water?” she asked next.

Ekko considered that only briefly. If it came down to it, he’d stick an arm in to get it, but he really hoped he could avoid that. “Good question…I guess I could just reach in and grab it?”

“Eww, don’t do that!” she said it with a bright laugh. “Oh, wait! I think I know how!” she reached into one of her pouches and recovered a retractable screw-driver, the magnetized one Vander had bought her a few months ago. “We can use this…can’t we?”

He smiled and took the screw-driver from her. “Good idea, Powder! Got any rope or string?” she dug into her pouches and then shook her head with a small pout. “Alright, let’s check the garbage, bet we’ll find something.” They went to their search immediately, and after just a few minutes, Powder gave a shout that she found something. It was a massive line of rope, though it looked rather shoddy. It should hold for what they needed it for though.

“Awesome find, Powder!” they worked together then to tie the barrel to the pallet and rolled it around to be sure of its durability, before they cut the excess with a piece of glass off the ground. Ekko tied that around her screw-driver and, when she asked him gently to be careful with it, he promised he wouldn’t drop it. And, though he didn’t say it, he made a promise to her that if he had, he’d leap right in to get it. He knew how much gifts from Vander and Vi meant to her.

He took up a long stick and sat it on the pallet. “I think it’s ready to be tested!” he said as he pushed it towards the gutter.

Powder helped him, since it was incredibly heavy for just him. Before he climbed up onto the pallet, she took his hand. “Be careful.”

He laughed and kicked away from the edge of the ground to push the pallet out. “I always am!” he yelled back at her, turning around to face the direction where the plank was. Now to fish out their spyglass and look like a total hero. He used the stick to pull the pallet to a stop and to keep it from moving, and then began carefully lowering the screw-driver into the water, where he thought it had fallen.

After a few minutes of failure, he felt the screw-driver get stuck to something and excitedly started to reel it back up. When it splashed out of the water and all he saw was a metal tin, he tossed it far away and began again.

Come on… he was beginning to worry it might have somehow got swept away. When he heard Powder call out to him to ask if he found it, that’s when the screw-driver attached to something else. He pulled it up very gently, so as to not cause it to drop, and smiled when their spyglass came up, covered in grim. He safely detached it and the screw-driver, and stuck them into his pocket.

“I found it!” he waved back to Powder and she offered back a wide smile.

“Hurry back, then!” Ekko laughed and began paddling himself back towards her with the stick. At the ledge, she helped to hold the pallet still so he could safely leap off.

“Is it broken?” she asked worriedly while he cleared away the grim and gunk from her tools by rubbing it onto his trousers. He’d need to wash his clothes anyway, and he definitely didn’t want to hand them back to Powder all gross.

He extended the spyglass out and looked around through it, and then held it out to her with a smile. “Nope, it’s fine.”

Powder took it with a smile and then offered him a very quiet, “Thanks, Little Man.” She tucked them away back into her pouch after, though this time she made sure it was closed. “Vi would have been mad if I lost another one.”

Vi could never be mad at you, he wanted to tell her, but a part of him knew that was him speaking, and that he couldn’t understand ever being mad with Powder. The few fights they did have, he always felt really bad after, because she’d look at him with those big, sad eyes and everything he said or did would feel like it was a thousand times worse than it actually was. And he hated it when they couldn’t talk to each other.

Ekko wanted to tell her that even if Vi could get mad at her—and he knew that was unlikely, because Vi was completely smitten with her—that he would never feel that way about her, but the words wouldn’t come out no matter how hard he wanted to say them.

Instead, thought it best to get her mind from it at all. He smirked from ear to ear and said, “Well, at least now we can move on with the bets.”

She looked at him with raised brows and a clear look of disappointment. “Oh…I was hoping you forgot.”

“When I’m ahead?" He laughed completely over the top and started to sprint off. “As if!”

Powder giggled and chased after him. “We’re even, dummy!”

Chapter Text

The entire walk to the place of terror, Powder had tried very hard to convince him to stop, to give up the bet, or let her change it, but he did not stop walking. It was the rumors that scared her of course. The rumor that Belliard hurt kids who dared to impede on his property, and sometimes he would just hurt them because he could.

Most kids in The Lanes feared the rumors too, but not Ekko. And except maybe the older kids, and the teenagers. But then again, bigger kids didn’t have all the sense in the world and would dare anything, even if it turned out to be real.

The best rumor though was that Vander was scared of him. Which of course was ridiculous. Ekko knew that Vander had no fear, but that’s what made it such an interesting tale, and something cool to bet on. And if he won this bet, he would be considered a legend. Well, at least by Powder, but that was all that really mattered to him.

When they arrived on the same street as Belliard’s, Ekko took the spyglass from Powder and took a good glance at the man’s property, searching for him among his garbage or peeking through a window. The windows were all shattered and boarded up half-way. Piles of junk laid everywhere on the short porch and besides the stairs. It looked as if the house had been abandoned a hundred years ago, but everyone in The Lanes knew Belliard was very much alive.

“It looks clear!” what luck did he have? This would be a walk in the park!

Powder was still trying to convince him to give up, or let her change the bet. “You don’t know that,” she said. “Let’s just forget it. The game’s not worth it.”

“Don’t worry so much about it, Pow.” he handed the spyglass back. “I got it.”

“You don’t have to go…” she said as she followed him nervously towards the strangely gated brick house tucked away into one of the darkest streets of The Lanes. “Just let me change the bet, Ekko.”

“No bet changes,” he reminded her, flicking a finger in a salute at her before hopping over the fence.

Powder gasped. “Ekko, this isn’t funny, come back!” But he crept on, crouched low. She was holding onto the fence, watching in wide eyed terror as he drew closer to the porch, where their ball sat with three others that had been confiscated long ago by the house’s owner. Ekko was sure to keep his approach soft, glancing down to make sure he wasn’t about to step on anything.

When he made it to the porch, he glanced back at Powder quickly and gave her a thumbs up. She was not in the mood though, and only shook her head vigorously at him and gestured for him to come back. He smiled and turned back to the porch.

He reached for their ball—a bright yellow one painted in patterns—and lifted it out of the pile of other balls and toys that had the misfortunate of landing here. Score! He happily took a step back and scuffed something with his foot and knocked it over, causing a chain reaction of junk to collapse and break. He froze solid for just a moment before he turned around and started running.

The door drew open behind him and a man started shouting after him. “You little…! If I catch you here again, I’ll skin you alive!”

Ekko tossed the ball over the fence and then flung himself over next, landing hard on his chest. Powder helped him up from the ground and then pulled him to his feet. They wasted no time. Ekko took the ball and they started running.

It was only when they cleared the street and hid in a narrow alley that they stopped running. Ekko was thankful when it ended, and dropped dramatically to his knees. Powder had been so quick that he had to push himself hard to keep up. He always forgot just how fast she was. His chest was burning when he looked up at her. She was breathing hard, sweat forming across her brow, but she certainly didn’t look as drop dead as he did.

He laughed as he got back to his feet, still breathing a little hard. “That was a close one, huh?” Powder was not amused though, and he pressed his lips shut over the cocky words he had prepared when he noticed the tears in her eyes. “At least we got the ball back, right?” Ekko felt as if fire had overcome him when she wrapped her arms around in him a vice-grip of a hug.

She pressed her face into his neck and mumbled, “I don’t care about the ball, dummy.”

Ekko slowly returned the embrace, letting the ball drop at their feet. She smelled so nice. In that same kind of nice way that the flower-scented perfumes Benzo collected for the wealthy women of Zaun smelled. Only Powder smelled sweet in her own way, almost like cotton-candy with just a tinge of gasoline mixed in. Ekko thought it was the prettiest scent he would ever smell. “I’m sorry, Powder.”

“What if he caught you?” she asked.

“He didn’t though.” He felt her fingers dig into his back. She was really scared, wasn’t she? If it meant easing her, he’d forbid bets like that from their games. “I promise Powder, no more bets like that from now on, okay?”

She sniffed and nodded. “Okay…”

Ekko smiled softly. “My bet will be much easier.”

She pulled away at last and rubbed at her nose. “You still w-want to play?”

“’course I do! Unless you want to forfeit?” he wiggled his brows at her and she laughed.

“Never!” she echoed his earlier words and asked, “What’s the next bet?”

What would the bet be? It had to be good, after all. The challenge had to be risky too, but not as much as her last one. He didn’t want to be cruel and purposely pick something he knew she was not good at, and he couldn’t pick something she was good at either. That left a very slim area of operation for him.

The idea came to him suddenly. Ekko reached for the ball at their feet and said, “We play Reach.”

Her expression dropped. “I’m no good at that…”

“I’m not either,” he said. And it was true. It was a game generally played by the bigger kids, who reached much higher than any of them. “That’ll make it fair.”

Powder scowled at him. “It’s not fair at all. You’re taller and you have more muscles than me.”

He supposed that was true. Though it wasn’t his fault that she was all boney and tiny, he knew she was right. “Hmm. Okay…” he tapped a finger against his chin, thoughtfully. Ah. Perfect. He couldn’t keep the smirk off his face. They already had the perfect toy for the game, too! “Kickball.”

Her answer was immediate. “No.”

“Ah, ah! Do you forfeit then?”

Powder’s face bunched up. He thought it looked so cute the way the skin around her nose and between her eyebrows would scrunch up whenever she was mad. “You know I don’t like that game. Picking it is mean.”

He did know, but she was good at it, so he didn’t want her to refuse just because of what happened the last time they played. She had run with the ball and tripped right over it, landing in a goofy manner on her face. Mylo had laughed so hard he fell off his seat. Powder hated the game ever since then.

“It’s still fair though, right?”

She gave him a scowl and then nodded. “Okay, fine…” but then she said with a strange smile, “But I get to choose the place where we play.”

Ekko laughed. “That seems fair. Got a place in mind?”

“Yep!” that cocky smile returned. “Piller’s Yard.”

“Piller’s Yard?” he gave an exaggerated laugh. “You sure?”

“I’m sure.” That sparkle in her eyes meant she was up to no good, he knew. Whenever she got like this, it usually meant a lot of fun, or a lot of trouble. Sometimes a mix of fun and trouble. Ekko loved every minute of it, of course. He would do everything to make sure this was the last bet though, and if he lost this bet game, he’d just have to make sure the next one would win for sure.

He returned the smile. “Fine, let’s go!”

It took them only about fifteen minutes to reach Piller’s Yard. It was a spacious place, packed full of all sorts of things he and Powder loved to salvage from. There were even open, clean places where they could play without worry. One side of the yard was divided by a line of sorts, of wire fence and a few warning signs of sudden drops into garbage bins.

He didn’t particularly like the place. It was useful for gathering materials sometimes, sure, but there was not much else he liked about it. Except for how much Powder liked to play here, because the sun shone through the best here during the afternoon and she loved it. That was the only part that he liked. Not just because he liked to make her happy or do things that made her happy, but he also liked it because the sun would catch her hair and make it sparkle like the ocean, or how it made her eyes shine like little stars.  

Powder ran ahead of him into the clear opening and stopped in the sunlight. She closed her eyes for a long minute, appreciating the warmth of the sun’s touch. When he neared, she opened her eyes and turned to face him. “You can still change the game.”

He laughed. “No way. I’m gonna make ya eat dust this time, Powder.”

“We’ll see.”

Ekko tried to ignore just how sure she seemed and then turned his eyes around the open area. It was definitely large enough to play their game. His eyes caught the far edge though where it dropped off into the garbage bins. He didn’t want her to have that side, so he pointed. “I’ll take that side.”

“What if the ball falls over?”

He started to laugh. “You’re very cocky today, aren’t ya Powder?”

She blushed. “You wanted to play it.”

He jabbed a thumb into his chest. “Yea, and I’ll win it.” He tossed the ball over to her and hurried over to his spot. “The fence is my goal!” he shouted back to her. She sat the ball down and turned to go set up her spot. She used two crates to create the gap for her goal, meaning if he got it through, he got a point.

When she was done, she went for the ball and then looked at him. “Are you sure you wanna play this?” Ekko gave her a thumbs up and she looked at him with a frown. “Okay…” and then she turned and went back to her side. She placed the ball at her feet and smiled at him. “Readyyyyy?”

He tried to wrestle down the feeling he got whenever she smiled at him like that and shouted, “Ready!” At that, Powder bit on her lip and kicked. The ball went flying towards him with incredible speed and accuracy. He reached out to grab it and winced at the impact against his hands. If he had been just a few seconds too late, it would have flown right over head and into one of the garbage bins behind him just like she warned him it would.

He waved his hand around for a second and then dropped the ball and started to kick it towards her, using small kicks to keep the momentum without having to keep looking down. Powder did not move from her spot. Her eyes watched him with such focus it unnerved him.

“Victory kick!” he shouted as he kicked the ball as hard as he could. It soared through the air but just as it seemed like it would fly right over her, she jumped up and smacked it out of the air. It bounced hard at her feet but before it could bump away, she snatched it out of the air.

She gave him a full laugh. “Maybe next time?”

His cheeks burned. What a foolish thing to do in front of her! He started to race back to his spot when she dropped the ball to her feet. This was not good. She was too freakishly good at this game to leave his post abandoned. She kicked the ball just when he got back to his spot. He couldn’t tell where it was going to go until it was too late. She had not kicked directly at him or the goal, but at the leaning pole beside him. The ball hit the pole and then arched back and fell behind him.

“One point!” she shouted over to him, giggling. Ekko just stood there staring dumbly at the ball gently rolling away. How had she done that? That was beyond impressive. He took the ball and looked over at her.

“You hustled me!” he said, laughing.

She crossed her arms behind her back and turned her head a little. “Maybeeee.”

Oh. She definitely had. She was getting very good at that. No doubt Vi was teaching her how, or maybe even Vander. He saw how much those two played cards when they were alone. She was glowing like the sun with the victory though, and the sight of it was like winning for him anyway, so if it ended here, it was not too big an issue. But he was determined. He wanted that ‘anything’ that came after their bets really bad.

“Okay, this one for sure!” he knew he had no chance at kicking it over her. She was too quick, and he didn’t have the accuracy she did. His only chance was to run it to her and somehow get it passed her. It meant no over-head kicks. She would be able to get that easy. He had to trick her, and tricking Powder in a game was always incredibly difficult. It was as if her mind fired off at a thousand times its normal speed or something.

Ekko dropped the ball at his feet and raced towards her.

Powder once again stood firm in her place. He drew himself to her far left, but she only followed him with her eyes. He drew right, and again, she did not move. Frustrated, he moved through a long zig-zag, going randomly so as to not give off any body-language she could discern, and then kicked it.

The ball arched over to her left side. Powder reached an arm out to stop the ball, and it struck her arm with a loud clap. She gave a sharp cry of surprise and waved her arm around. “Ouch! Jeez Ekko.” She put the ball down so she could rub at her arm. “You kicked it way too hard.”

She caught it and she was chiding him? What a disaster this betting game was going. “Sorry Powder,” he said as he stood, feeling so completely stupid.

She giggled and then kicked the ball towards him, gently. “You can try again.”

Ekko’s face reddened at that. “I don’t need charity, Powder…”

“It’s not charity,” she said. “You didn’t kick it right anyway.” She pointed to somewhere far beyond him, smiling. “You kicked too far back; it doesn’t count.” He glanced back and frowned when he realized that she was right. “You can try again.”

He would accept it. He took the ball. “Alright, fine, but you’re gonna regret it.”

“Okay.”

“I mean it!” he called back to her as he walked away. She only giggled. That only ignited his desire to win even more. He made sure he was at the proper distance this time and then started again. This time, he did not kick until he was very close, but she caught it like it was nothing yet again.

He panicked and turned to race back to his spot, but it was too late. She kicked as hard as she could, and scored another point. Ekko skid to a stop just a foot or so from his goal and groaned. “Aw, no! C’mon!” Powder was going to get to three points easy, while making it look easy to school him.

“Sorry, Little Man!”

He was laughing when he took the ball back up and faced her. Enough goofing around! “Okay Powder! This time for sure!” he was about to drop the ball when he noticed her expression shift into surprise. But before he could ask her what was wrong, someone yanked the ball out of his hands and pushed him forward a little. Ekko scrambled forward to rebalance himself and then turned around to see who had shoved him.

Six teenagers stood there by the fence line. The one who had taken the ball was smirking as he twirled it around in his hand. The others ranged from lanky to fat, but were all considerably bigger than he was no matter how he tried to cut it.

Ekko scowled. He didn’t know who these losers were, but he wasn’t about to let them intimidate him. Not here, and definitely not in front of Powder. “Give me my ball back.”

“What, not even a please?” he asked, tossing the ball over to one of his friends. “You would think some snot-nosed brat would at least say ‘please’ when he’s slumped his way into my territory.”

“You don’t own shit.”

The teenager’s dark eyes narrowed at him. “Quite a tongue on this brat, huh?” he walked forward and slung an arm around Ekko’s shoulders, turning him around to face Powder. “I’ll tell you what kid; I’m feeling very generous today.” He gestured to the play-area with a wide swing of his hand. “I’ll let you two play here, but you gotta play by our rules first.”

Ekko shrugged out of his hold. “We don’t have to do anything you say.” The teenager sighed and then whistled. Two more kids appeared out from behind Powder. Ekko tried to run toward her, but the older boy held him place. Ekko gritted his teeth when the others grabbed Powder by her arms and dragged her forward. “You guys really gonna pick on a girl?”

The teenager put a hand on his heart, feigning hurt. “We don’t discriminate, ya know?” he smiled. “Let’s start over, kid. I’m Baine,” he held a hand out to him but Ekko just stood there, glaring. “Alright, I’ll call you ‘Little Man’ then. That’s what the girl said, right? Yea.”

When Powder was brought over, the two teenagers let her go. “Okay girl, what’s your name?” Baine asked, but Powder just kept her eyes down. She was smart. If he was smarter, he wouldn’t continue to antagonize them. But they were pissing Ekko off too much for him to ignore. Baine sighed. “You two are very rude children, you know that?”

“Little sump-rats,” another said, chuckling.

“Yes!” Baine pointed at the chubby boy that had said it. “Yes they are. And reasonable people don’t like rats crawling around their place.”

Ekko lifted his eyes to Powder quickly before looking away. If he had to appease these losers to get her away, then so be it. “Fine…I’ll play.”

Baine laughed. “That’s a good sport, but both of you trespassed, so you both got to play.”

Powder looked up with wide eyes. “We’ll leave.”

Baine lifted a finger to her, silencing her. “You can leave after the game, or you can leave after we teach you two a lesson. You pick.” She shook her head and looked away. “Rude and defiant. You two are not making it easy here.” He reached over to grab her arm and drag her forward.

Ekko tried to stop him, but another teenager grabbed his shoulder and pinned him in place. “Leave her alone, you jerk!”

“Ah, be quiet Little Man,” Baine said, as he dragged Powder over to the fence line where the garbage bins began. “Me and…” he shook her a little and when it was clear she was not going to give him her name, he continued, “Me and Blue here are just gonna play a few games. If she wins them, you two can go free of a punishment. Yea?” he asked her, shaking her by her shoulder again. Powder shrugged out of his hands and fixed a scowl on him. He laughed. “She’s got spunk. I like this one.”

“I’ll play, just let her go already,” Ekko snapped.

Baine knelt to Powder’s level, ignoring Ekko completely. “You’re gonna play with me, aren’t ya Blue? You wouldn’t want me to beat up your little friend, would you?” he had his goon toss the ball back over.

Powder turned her eyes to Ekko briefly and then back at him. “Okay…I’ll play.”

“Good!” Baine stood up and ruffled her hair, hard. “We’ll play the game you two were just playing, but to be sure you don’t try to run off on me, you’ll take this goal, yea?” Powder glanced back at the garbage bins before nodding. “Now that’s a good attitude, Blue.” He did not give her the ball though. He walked away, back toward her previous spot. “We’ll play this for one point. Don’t lose now, Blue.”

Baine dropped the ball and kicked it towards her. The strength difference between them was evident immediately. Powder barely caught it in time, and even then, she ended up dropping it. When she knelt to pick it up, the teenagers started to cackle.

“You gotta be a bit quicker than that, Blue.”

Ekko shrugged out of their hands and shouted, “You can do it!” one of the teenagers silenced him by digging fingers into his shoulder. Powder looked at him with a smile before turning her eyes towards the lanky boy opposite of her.

“If I win, you’ll let us go?”

Baine laughed and said, “You have my word.” Powder hesitantly put the ball at her feet and then took a breath. “Giving in?” he asked, but startled when Powder kicked the ball hard toward him. It flew right over his head, but before it could pass the crates, he leapt up and grabbed the ball. Powder let a breathy ‘no’ out when he caught it. He twirled it in his hands, face bright with amusement. “Well, well Blue, you surprised me there. Who woulda thought those skinny legs could kick so good, yea?”

Without warning, Baine kicked it again. This time it was much lower, as he had tried to fire off to her side. She caught it with her hands, just barely. Ekko knew that he was playing with Powder. He could have easily kicked it over her head, out of her reach.

Ekko said, “Concentrate!” one of the teenagers hissed beside him to be quiet and pinched into his shoulder again. Ekko squirmed, but continued. “Teach him a lesson!”

Powder rolled the ball around in her hands, turning her gaze from him to Baine. Her eyes searched the area for a minute before she placed the ball at her feet again. She ran out with it, kicking it. Ekko held his breath. She waited until she was very close before kicking it.

Baine leapt up to try and intercept it, but it smacked hard right into his face and he fell back into one of the crates with a painful howl. The ball rolled away from him even as he rolled and whined in the dirt. All the other teenagers froze in surprise.

This was not good at all. If they had been serious about letting them go after a few won games, they sure were not going to let this slide. Ekko glanced towards Powder and saw her face drain completely of color. Their only chance of avoiding confrontation was to get out, while they could.

He elbowed the kid behind him hard in the gut and then dashed towards Powder. “Run!” he shouted, catching her attention. She hesitated only a second before turning in the same direction he was headed and running. Unfortunately, the only way out was towards the garbage bins.

The gang was already after them, shouting and swearing behind them as their longer legs carried them at a much greater distance and far quicker.

“This way!” Ekko said as he turned and jumped over a ledge down into the lower area of garbage bins. Powder hurried after him, jumping and falling to her knees. She gave a small cry and lifted herself back to her feet, wobbling.

“They jumped down here!”

At once they took off again, though Powder was a foot or so behind him. He knew she had hurt her knees more than he realized, because in any other circumstance, she would have been far ahead of him. He considered stopping to face the kids to give her a chance to get away, but there were so many of them that they could just send some after her. Their only chance was to stick together.

They turned around a large dumpster and plowed right into three teenagers. One of the teenagers caught Powder before she could fall, but Ekko hit the ground hard. The air was knocked out of him.

“Let us go!” Ekko snarled when he sat up. “We didn’t do anything to you!”

The teenagers parted for their leader. His nose was bleeding from where the ball at hit him. His glare was murderous as he approached. “Didn’t do anything, huh?” he stopped between two other boys. “You trespassed onto my territory, kid.” And then he turned his eyes to Powder. “And Blue over here broke my nose.”

Powder tried to argue, “It…it was an accident.”

“An accident, huh?” Baine kicked Ekko to his back. Powder gasped and tried to move toward him, but the boy holding her pinned her in place. “You mean like how that was an accident?”

Ekko rolled over onto his side, arm aching where the kick had connected, and looked up at Powder. Her eyes were full of tears. “Leave him alone!” the rest of the teenagers had finally caught up and stood back, watching.

“Stop Powder,” he groaned. “I’m fine.” The last thing he wanted was for them to see amusement in going after her instead. He faced the gang leader with a scowl. “You had your fun. Can we go now?”

Baine held his gaze for a minute and then smiled. “Sure. You can go.” He gestured at his friends. “After we're done.” Two of the boys jumped him then and started kicking him. Ekko clenched his teeth to keep from making any noise, to keep from freaking Powder out, but when one of the kids smashed his foot into his rib, he let out a strangled cry and collapsed to the ground, tears burning in his eyes.

“Stop! Please! He wasn’t even the one who hurt you!”

Powder’s pleas seemed to work. The kicking stopped and Ekko groaned as he tried to suck in fresh air. Every attempt ignited fiery pain through him. Powder was kneeling beside him then, cold fingers searing through his sleeve to his arms. She helped him up to his knees, but before she could do anything else, one of the teenagers grabbed her and yanked her away. Ekko tried to reach for her, but couldn't even lift himself. "L-let her go!

Ignoring him, the boy slung her toward Baine and she nearly tripped into him. “You’re right, Blue. He’s not the one that broke my nose.” He put a hand on her shoulder and tightened his grip so hard she flinched and bent under his grasp with a wince. “So I'll tell you what; you make me believe you’re sorry, and I’ll let you both go.”

Powder’s pale eyes widened and then she lowered them. “I’m sorry…”

“Hmm?” he squeezed harder and she lowered to the ground. “I didn’t hear you.”

“I’m sorry!”

“For what?” he tightened his grasp.

Powder squirmed under the grip and cried out, “I’m sorry I broke your nose!”

That made two boys around them snicker, which made Baine release her and send the two seething looks. When the two quieted, he turned back to Powder. That was not something he wanted to hear. “That didn’t sound very sorry to me, Blue.”

The world came to a halt around Ekko when Baine slapped her. She hit the ground hard and when she instinctively covered her head with her arms and Baine kicked at her, he felt a sickness twirling in his gut. He tried to get up but fell to his knees as that pain came rushing back to him. “Powder!” he was well aware he had cried it. “Leave her alone! Please, she didn’t do anything!”

The other teenagers suddenly grew very quiet around him, until one of them stepped between Baine and Powder, stopping him. “That’s enough.” He pushed Baine back further. “They’re just kids, man.”

Baine shoved him away. “I don’t care.”

The boy stopped him again, harder this time. His dark eyes held Baine’s. “I said stop, Baine. She’s like, what, nine? Let it go.” Four other teenagers went to his side, standing between Baine and Powder. The other boys, including those that had jumped Ekko, slowly started to disperse, leaving their leader alone.

Baine ripped his arm away and scoffed. “Don’t let me catch them here again, Jett.” And then he stormed off in the same direction the others had fled to. When he was gone, the first boy who stood between them reached down to pull Ekko to his feet.

Ekko tugged his arm free and ran over to Powder, biting down the pain flaring through him as he moved. “Powder! Are you okay?”

She was shaking when she sat up. A little trinkle of blood dripped from her nose. “I…I’m r-ready to go home now, Ekko.”

He took her into a hug. “I’m so sorry, Powder.” he couldn’t even feel embarrassed he was crying in her arms. He was just so glad that she wasn’t severely hurt. “I’m sorry.” When he felt her arms wrap around him, he squeezed his eyes shut and tightened his hug.

“It’s okay,” she whispered, and somehow, that made him feel as if it was.

The teenager who had interrupted Baine spoke. “You two have to get out of here before Baine comes back. Can you walk, kid?” he was directing Ekko. “We’ll help you two out of here and—”

“Leave us alone!” he snarled.

“Hey,” he reached to pull Ekko to his feet and away from the others a foot or so. Ekko winced as the pain started to ache up his entire body. “Listen, we were supposed to just mess with you. You weren’t supposed to get hurt, but Baine, he’s…” he hesitated and let go of Ekko’s arm. “I know him. If he comes back and catches you two here still, he won’t stop. Not even with your little girlfriend.”

Ekko glanced back at Powder. One of the other boys helped her up to her feet and steadied her. No. He couldn’t let her get hurt anymore, even if he wanted to punch this guy’s lights out. He glanced back at the boy. “Okay…”

He held his hand out. “I’m Jett, by the way.” Ekko reluctantly shook his hand. “Alright, let’s get you two out of here, ya?”

Chapter Text

The other teenagers had walked them safely out of Piller’s Yard as they promised they would. The oldest among the teenagers pulled them aside and gave them their names, and gave his word that if they ever needed help again, they would there.

Ekko didn’t look too pleased with them and grumbled that they didn’t need any help, but Powder had to shush him quietly with a touch to his arm and a stern look. When he settled, she thanked the teenagers for their help. They were much bigger and stronger and they had stopped the bad kids for them, and that mattered. At least to her, it did.

The boy that introduced himself as Jett asked them if they wanted someone to walk them back to their home, wherever it was, but Ekko snapped at him that ‘you’ve done enough’. Powder understood why he was so wary, but she couldn’t drag him all the way back on her own, so she accepted for both of them and hoped that it wouldn’t annoy her friend too much.

“I’m fine,” he insisted to her as the teenagers argued. “I can walk us back without their help.”

“You can barely stand,” she whispered.

“I can to,” he grumbled. “I can. I’m okay, really. We don’t need their help. See?” he lifted his arms as high as he could, but she could see the painful struggle in it easily. Powder scowled at him and reached over to gently poke his chest. He gave a cry of sharp pain and doubled over to his knees, tears in his eyes. “Oww, Powder! Dang it!”

“You’re okay, huh?”

He looked up at her from his curled position and shook his head. “Fine, so what, it hurts. But it’s good enough to walk there.” But even as he said it, his face contorted in an attempt to hold back a grimace. Powder could see the lie easily. She sat down to let him lean against her. He sighed into the relieve of something, of someone, holding him up. “Okay, maybe not so good…”

Powder held him to her and listened to the other kids as they argued, until Ekko went fell unconscious in her arms. After a few minutes, the back and forth arguing stopped. Jett was the one to volunteer, since all of the other boys didn’t want to risk provoking Baine any further. He ended up hefting Ekko up onto his back and told Powder to lead them on.

Halfway through the journey, Ekko’s breathing became a little labored, and it scared her. She picked her pace up, but Jett told her to slow down. “This kid’s heavier than he looks, you know.”

“But…” she fumbled over her words and then looked down the road that led to The Last Drop, anxious. “He’s hurt, we have to hurry.”

Jett smiled at her thinly and shifted Ekko up his shoulders more. “Yea, I got that easy enough kid, but it is what it is. I’m not exactly built for chariot work.” Now that she looked this teenager over, he didn’t really look that strong at all. He was tall and lanky, almost like Mylo. He noticed her underappreciating gaze and laughed. “Sorry kid, it’s the best that I can give.”

“I…I didn’t say anything.” Had she? Sometimes her thoughts seemed to go further than she liked them to.

He smirked. “I could tell it by your look.” He stood a little straighter and re-leveraged the boy on his back to a more comfortable position. “How much longer until we are there?”

They stopped so Powder could tippy-toed up to touch Ekko’s arm when he began to groan painfully. When he quieted, she started walking again. “We’re almost there.”

“I’m not going to get my ass beat when we arrive, am I?” Jett asked after a moment. She hadn’t really thought about that. It wouldn’t be right if he would, she knew that. Her lack of an answer made him laugh. “I take that as a yes.”

Powder thought for a minute, chewing her lip, and then she said, “When we arrive, you can leave.”

“I bet runnin’ off looks worse to whoever owns you, kid.”

Well, it probably would. That was also something she didn’t think about. “I’ll tell them you helped. You won’t be hurt.” I think. It was sometimes hard to tell with her sister and brothers. They had very brittle tempers.

“You sound very confident, guess that means I’m good.” He smiled at his own joke. Powder didn’t know what to say to that, so she just kept her eyes down as they walked.

After a few minutes, The Last Drop came into view. The giant neon sign above the door was flickering dull light on them when they arrived at the door. Jett knelt and gently lowered Ekko into her arms. His weight was more than she expected. She fell back into the side of the bar and then struggled to lift him and herself back up to her feet. 

He watched her for a minute and then asked, “You good?”

Powder wrapped her arms under Ekko’s and pulled him up, arching back a little to accommodate for the extra weight. Her arms felt ready to break from the work. How was he this heavy?! Her face was pressed against the side of his head when she answered, giving her a slightly goofy sounding voice. “Y-yea, I’m good.”

Jett looked her over squarely, unbelieving, but then laughed. “I guess you are, kid.” He gave her a pat on her shoulder, which nearly caused her to drop Ekko, and then left. Powder didn’t want him to be seen, so she waited until he was out of sight to reach a trembling arm out for the doorknob. Her fingers just barely reached.

Oooh, come on Ekko, why are you so heavy?! She slid down to the ground then, legs giving out under the weight. She was now hunched a little over his crumpled body, arms still wrapped around his torso. She tried to lift him again, but her arms protested angrily. You big dummy! She laid him down on the ground and then hurried over to the door.

He’s okay.

I did this.

He will be okay.

What if he isn’t?

He has to be okay.

The door was locked. She jiggled the doorknob a few times, frustrated, and then reached up to start banging on the door. There was no answer. Were they out? No, why would they leave? But, why else would they lock the door?

She pounded on the door even harder, unaware tears were forming in her eyes until she felt the tickling of it against her cheeks. She reached to rub them away stubbornly and banged again. “Open up, guys!”

The door suddenly opened and a very confused Claggor greeted her. “Powder, what are you—” he quieted when she wrapped her arms around him in a cry. “What’s going on?”

“It’s Ekko! He’s hurt!”

“What?” she turned from him immediately and hurried to the spot beside the door where she left him lying. Claggor was right behind her. “Shit!” Claggor gently moved her out of the way and picked him up. Powder went to open the door wide for him and as soon as they were inside, Claggor shouted. “Vi! Mylo! Get up here!”

Ekko started to groan again and Powder gasped. “Claggor, you’re holding him too hard!” His cheeks reddened and he loosened his hold even as the others came running up the stairs.

“Little Man?” her sister’s voice picked up first and as soon as Powder turned, her sister had her arms around her. “Powder!” she struggled under her sister’s crushing grip. “What happened to you?”

Powder squirmed out of the hold at last. “Vi, Ekko, he’s been hurt and—”

Vi took her face in her hands, with a strength that at times felt like it rivaled Vander’s. “You’ve been hurt, Powder!”

“But Ekko—”

“Who did this to you?”

Frustrated that she wasn’t being listened to, Powder shoved out of her hands. “It’s Ekko that’s hurt!” Vi’s eyes widened a little and Powder immediately felt bad. “I’m…I’m fine Vi.” She mumbled and glanced quickly at her friend. “Please, h-help Ekko, please.”

Her sister gave a small smile. “Alright Pow-Pow, we will. I swear.” she stood. “Claggor—”

“What’s all the yelling about?”

They all went quiet at the sound of their father’s voice. Vander was standing at the end of the second-story stairs, brows furrowed in their direction. His eyes roamed over them shortly, widening when he saw Ekko and Powder. “What happened?”

Vi said, “We were just asking.”

Vander turned his eyes to Powder and she ducked them. They weren’t supposed to be playing anywhere near Piller’s Yard. This was going to get them in trouble for sure. If it was just her, she wouldn’t mind, but she didn’t want to put Ekko at any fault. What would he do right here? He would throw out a quick lie that would make everything better maybe, but she knew she couldn’t. She couldn’t fix anything. Not ever.

He sighed at her silence. “Alright. We will deal with that later.” He gestured at Claggor. “Bring him downstairs. We’ll get him looked over and then talk.” Claggor followed Vander downstairs and when Powder tried to follow, Vi snatched her by the arm and held her in place.

Powder focused her eyes on her sister’s as she knelt to her level. “You got to tell me what happened out there, Powder. I promise, you’re not in any trouble.”

Powder twisted her hands together as she spoke, “We…we were playing at Piller’s Yard.” Vi’s eyes widened at that just a little. “And some kids…well…teenagers…they were mad we were there.”

Mylo scoffed. “I bet it was those idiots from Jant’s Street. I told you we should have dealt with them.”

“Not now, Mylo,” Vi snapped, standing. “Pow, did you get any names? Or could you point them out if you saw them again?”

What? She said nothing about leaving, let alone going back there! “W-what? You want me to go with you?” it felt like her heart was going to burst out of her chest. “Can’t we just forget them? Why do you have to go fight them?”

“Forget them?” she repeated, brows narrowing down at her in a deep V. “How could I just let them do this to you and Little Man? Why would you want me to?”

Mylo placed a boney grip on Vi’s shoulder. “We’re wasting time. Vander won’t let us go if we don’t leave before he’s done with Little Man.”

Yes! That was all Powder needed to do. Stall them. Then they wouldn’t have to go fight. They wouldn’t get hurt. “Please Vi, you can stay and we could just let them go. They weren’t all bad anyway, and—”

Vi cut her off sharply. “If they weren’t all bad, you should tell me who, so I know who not to fight.”

“Let’s just rain hell on ‘em all.” Mylo suggested. “That ought to show everyone in The Lanes who not to screw with.”

Powder thought of Jett and his friends immediately. They were mean to them at the start, but then again, they never hurt them. They even helped in the end. They didn’t deserve to be hurt, did they? Would Vi even listen to them, if they tried to explain what happened? No. Powder knew her sister. She could have a head of stone sometimes, and Mylo was no better.

“Right, we’ll wait for Claggor and figure it out on the way.”

“We shouldn’t wait on him, Vi.”

“We’re not about to face off a group with just two of us.”

“Why not?” he challenged. “We can take ‘em.”

“Use your head for a minute, Mylo,” Vi snapped. “We’re waiting on Claggor. That’s final.”

It took only a few minutes for Claggor to clamor upstairs. As soon as he was in sight, Powder asked him if Ekko was okay. He smiled. “Vander’s got him now Powder, don’t worry.”

“We’re going after them. You ready to go, Claggor?” Vi’s voice was quiet.

He sighed. “I already guessed we were.” He adjusted his goggles. “Ekko mumbled something about Piller’s Yard. We going right now, before speaking with Vander?”

“Yea, he’d stop us. We were just waiting for you.”

Powder tried to sneak away then under the distraction of their discussion, but a boney grip latched onto her arm immediately. “Wait right there, twerp.”

She fought fruitlessly to get free. “Let me go!”

Vi pinched the bridge of her nose, annoyed. “Mylo, let her go. We don’t have time for this.”

“You’re gonna come with us for this one,” he told Powder, ignoring Vi. “Help us pick ‘em out.”

“Why do you even care?” Powder asked, trying to yank away again, but his fingers held on.

“Maybe I shouldn’t care, but no one picks on you. No one but me.” That surprised her so much she just stared at him. His cheeks turned red and he finally let her go. “Don’t look at me like some gaping fish, it’s embarrassing.” Powder held that same arm to her chest, still watching him. “God, Vi, tell your sister to stop being so god damn weird.”

“Enough Mylo,” her tone of voice was sharp, just like Vander’s got sometimes. “Wait outside guys, I’ll be out in a minute.” When he tried to protest, she shot him a glare and he scoffed and walked off. Claggor joined him immediately. When they were alone, she knelt in front of Powder. “Look, I get it. You don’t want to go with us and you don’t have to, but you gotta give me something I can go off of, Pow-Pow.”

There was nothing she could really do to stop them anyway, she understood that now. But maybe she could keep some kids from being hurt. “Okay…” She mumbled. “T-there was a boy who helped us. His name was Jett. I…I think he might help.”

Vi smiled and touched her nose with a finger. “Jett. Got it.” She stood. “You just stay with Little Man, okay? And don’t you worry about Vander. I’ll take the heat when I get back.” She leaned forward to plant a kiss on her head. “I’ll be back before you know it.” And as soon as Vi started to leave, Powder turned and hurried downstairs, hearing the door clap sharply closed behind her.

When she arrived at the bottom step, she paused at the sight of Ekko lying on her bed. His face was all twisted up in pain, but he was still unconscious. Vander was tending to his ribs when she approached. She wrapped an arm around the post for the bunk bed and pressed her cheek against the post. His chest and ribs were covered in bruises and welts, some already discoloring the skin heavily.

I hurt him.

Why…

I didn’t mean for it.

I didn’t.

All my fault.

Please be okay. Please.

Powder watched Vander tend to Ekko’s injuries with tears burning in the corners of her eyes. He glanced up at her a moment later, after tying the medical wrap in place. “Do you want to sit with him?”

She sniffed and mumbled a quiet ‘yes’. He moved out of the way, after covering him with her blankets. She sat on the stool he had been using and took Ekko’s hand. It was so warm. And that only made her feel even worse.

All of this was her fault. If she hadn’t suggested Piller’s Yard, he would be okay. If she never hurt that boy, he would be okay. If she had just run faster. If she had just been stronger—stronger like Vi—she could have stopped them. She could have helped him. But she wasn’t strong. She wasn’t fast. She wasn’t good at anything. Just once she wished she could do something for him. Just once.

Next time…next time….

Next time? I can’t do a thing right, not ever.

“You have to be okay,” she whispered to her sleeping friend, sniffing back little cries. “You have to be…”

Powder ended up watching him sleep while Vander cleaned up the medical supplies. Ekko’s brows kept furrowing just enough even in his sleep that Powder knew he was still in pain.

I’m so sorry.

I should have stopped them.

I should have helped you.

At the touch of her shoulder, she looked up into Vander’s eyes and tried to fight back tears when she spoke. “Is…is he okay?”

He squeezed her shoulder a little. “He will be just fine Powder; he’s just banged up.”

She sniffed. “It’s my f-fault.” It’s always my fault.

Always.

All I do is cause problems.

I’m sorry Ekko.

“It isn’t your fault. You didn’t make them hurt him.” He released her shoulder and paused for a minute or so before continuing. “Why don’t we let him get some rest? I’ll cook you up something to eat while you wait.” But she shook her head. “He will be here when you come back.”

“I want to stay.” she mumbled.

“Powder—”

I won’t leave him.

“I want to stay,” she said it a little louder and leaned over on her stool to rest her forehead against his hand, squeezing it as much as she dared to. “Please.”

I won’t.

Not ever.

Vander took a deep breath and then exhaled sharply. “Alright…” he gently ran a hand about her hair, in that way that had become soothing to her. “I’ll come check on you two in a bit.”

When he was gone, Powder took over caring for her friend. She brought over a little dish of cool water and a cloth, and placed it over his forehead, and even found more blankets to tuck in around him. She wasn’t sure if any of it was comfortable for him, so she kept vigilance for any signs of discomfort.

Vander came in and out of the room that following hour or so, checking in on them both. The first time he returned, he checked her over for the first time and once pleased that she wasn’t particularly hurt, let her go back to her careful watch of her best friend. In the time that followed his last departure, she closed her eyes. She intended just to rest them for a few minutes—she was so very exhausted—but had fallen asleep lying against the bed, hand in his.

It was the sound of his mumbling that stirred her. She lifted her head from the bed and rubbed at her eyes to clear them, even as he gently shifted up onto the stack of pillows behind him. “Ugh…” his eyes were narrowed, clearly lost in that same sort of languid state that she was lost in. “What happened…?” Powder tried to fight back her tears, but she failed. She all but threw herself into him for a hug. “Ouch! Ouch! Powder, you’re squeezing me too hard.”

“I’m sorry, Ekko,” she mumbled, against the crook of his neck. “I’m sorry for everything.”

He was quiet for a second. “Powder, none of that was your fault.” She felt his warm hands on her back then and never wanted to let him go again. “It wasn’t.” he assured her half a heartbeat later, as if he could hear her inner doubts.

“I’ll be helpful next time,” she said, crying. “I promise.”

“Don’t say that,” he whispered. “I wouldn’t want you to get hurt. Not for anyone, not even for me.” He winced when she hugged even tighter. “Besides, you don’t have to be anything else for me, Powder. I like you just the way you are.”

Powder knew he was just being kind, but that kindness was one of the many things she liked about him. Because he was always kind to her, even when he had no reason to be, even when he shouldn’t be, or when she didn’t deserve anything good at all.

Ekko offered a tiny laugh a moment later. “Uh, Powder?”

She was still clinging to him, so her voice was a little muffled.  “Mmm?”

“You’re uh…kinda digging into my ribs.”

She pulled back immediately; cheeks dusted in a rosy shade. “Oh…sorry, Ekko.”

He gave her that pearly smile that reminded her so much of sunshine. “That’s alright, it just hurt a little.” He shifted a little on his spot and then laid back until his head sunk into her pillow. He looked like he was in such immense pain.

“I’ll get Vander,” she mumbled, getting up. “He’ll help.”

“No,” he said quickly. “It’s alright, it’s not that bad.”

Powder could tell he was lying again. She sat back down though and gave him a frown. “I know that it hurts, Ekko…”

“It’s not that bad, really.” he said, smiling. “Mostly when I breathe.” He looked around the room then and then focused his eyes on her. “Where are the others?”

“They went out to fight,” she answered, quietly. “I couldn’t stop them.”

Ekko considered that information quietly for a moment, and then sighed. “I guess that was inevitable,” he laughed a little and pinched his eyes tight when that caused him pain. “I’m glad they didn’t hurt you though, Powder.”

If they focused their anger on her, where it belonged, he wouldn’t be hurt. Why didn’t they? Why did everything around her always have to go so wrong? She deserved it. Not Ekko. Never Ekko. “They should have,” she said, looking down at their intwined hand. “I was the one that hurt him, not you.”

“Powder, they were gonna hurt us no matter what they said or what you did.”

“Maybe...”

“No, there are no maybes about it,” his voice was stern. “They were just screwin’ with us. You hitting that idiot only made it happen faster, that’s all. You didn’t make it happen. Please, don’t beat yourself up over it.”

She stared at him, surprised. After everything she did, he wasn’t mad? Why? “You’re not mad at me?”

“Why would I be mad at you?” he asked. “You were awesome out there anyway, Powder!”

She wrung her hands together, cheeks darkening even further. “I was?”

“Definitely! Did you see the look on that loser’s face after you nailed him with the ball? It was priceless!” his laughter made it easier for her to smile and laugh about it too. “And besides, you were really brave. You kept sticking up to him. Not every kid would stand up to a bully bigger than them, not like that.”

I stuck up to him? She could only think about how she just stood there and cried, while he took the pain she caused. No, I didn’t.

I’m too weak.

A coward.

Ekko’s grumbling took her from her thoughts. Why was he so intent on acting so stubbornly about it? What harm could there be in admitting he was in pain? “Should I get Vander now?”

He sighed. “Nah…I just need a bit of rest, I think.” He closed his eyes and started to breath slower, in an attempt to relax. Powder watched him for a long moment before crawling into the spot beside him. He gaped and shifted a few inches towards the wall. “Whaddya doin’, Powder?”

“I’ll stay right here,” she mumbled, lying down beside him. “Until you’re feeling better.” And when she saw how wide his eyes were, she felt very self-conscious about it suddenly. Somehow it started to feel like she was imposing, but sticking together through everything—even through sickness and injury—was something they have always done, as far back as she could remember. From scrapped knees to days of being sick, to sleep overs when they were too scared to sleep in their own beds. It was how it always was and she didn’t want it to ever change. “If that’s okay with you?” she asked after a second of hesitation.

Ekko’s swallowed hard and then scooted about as much as he could without agitating his injuries. “It’s fine by me.” At that, Powder settled down in the spot nearest to the edge and rolled over onto her side so she could look at him. He remained on his back, but he had turned his head so he could look at her. “You know Powder…”

“Hmm?” she was feeling very tired again, but she forced her eyes to stay open, to stay on him.

“From now on, I promise.” His tawny eyes held her gaze and in that fading grasp of lucidity, she thought on just how pretty they were. “I’ll protect you, from everything. No matter what it takes.”

Powder smiled, because she believed it completely, as Ekko was the one who had promised it. And he never broke his promises, not ever. Because he was Boy Savior and Ekko and her best friend all in one, and he could do everything.

She reached over to wrap one arm around his chest, as gently as she could. “You promised...” She had whispered it, as if further cementing his words into reality as irrefutable fact. His smile was the last thing she saw before she closed her eyes and fell asleep beside him.

Chapter Text

“I said no, Claggor. I’m not moving.”

“Why? It’s like two feet. It won’t kill you.”

“I’m not moving closer to our sisters,” he spat back, annoyed. “Besides, why can’t they just move down, huh?”

Vi stopped her small punching bag from swinging to glance over at them. “Are you serious? There’s nowhere for us to move our bed down. It's just a few feet, it won’t kill you to move.”

He scoffed and threw the ball again. “Yea, it will,” he countered. “…what if we stuffed Powder into the engine room? She loves it in there!”

“How the hell does that solve the problem?” Vi asked, smashing her fists harder into the bag again, getting very mad now.

“Less people in here,” he answered simply. “Then we get rid of her shit to make more room for our beds. Easy.”

“How does it make sense to get rid of the tiny person?” Claggor leaned into the sofa and brought his boots up onto the table. “Makes more sense to get rid of the bigger problem.” He didn’t have to specify who he was talking about.

“All in favor of kicking Mylo out, raise your hand!” Vi shouted back, lifting a hand quickly to start the vote. Claggor joined her.

“Ha-ha guys, very funny.” He threw the ball again, smacking into the pipes and creating a loud dinging noise. “But seriously, but like…she’s so tiny. We could fit her anywhere.” He stopped throwing the ball. “Oh! What about that closet upstairs? She’d fit right in there and there’s tons of shit she can draw on too. She’d be happy!”

Vi stopped the bag again and turned to give him a seething look. “Powder’s not going anywhere.”

“Don’t get pissed Vi, it’s just a suggestion.”

“Well, I’m sick of your stupid suggestions. Keep them to yourself for once.” She moped at the sweat on her forehead and made her way over to the table where she left her water. “Besides, what the hell is so frightening to you about moving closer?”

Claggor tried to suppress a smile. “He’s afraid Powder’s gonna start dotting on him, I bet.”

“Awww,” Vi laughed. “Lil’ Mylo’s afraid of a little girl and her hugs.”

Mylo’s cheeks reddened. “Damn, fine. I’ll move the beds, just let off, would you?” he went back to throwing the ball, though his face was bunched in irritation. Claggor passed Vi a thumbs up for the help and relaxed into the sofa with a smile. “The first time I see a drawing on my shit though, I’m just gonna pommel her.”

That was of course not something that Vi was going to ever let happen, though she did find it tempting to have Powder draw on his stuff and then watch as Mylo fumed over the realization there was nothing he could do except accept that his little sister just gave him unwanted ‘annoying’ gifts. Vi made a mental note to do that later. It would be so worth it.

“Where is Powder, anyway?” she asked after returning to the punching bag and realized she hadn’t seen her little sister all day. It was becoming increasingly common lately that when she woke, her sister was already gone.

“Oh, she went out to play with Little Man hours ago,” Claggor told her.

“The little babies can’t be separated for long.” Mylo cackled it, stretching along the sofa and tucking his arms behind his head.

“They’ve been together since they were small,” Claggor mumbled. “It’d be weird if they weren’t with each other all of the time.”

That made Vi hesitate. She stopped the bag again and stared at the little doodles her sister left with a greater focus, especially the little Ekko drawings. All of the little things they did together started making completely different sense for Vi after she saw them that day at Sweet Drop. The gifts and smiles that Ekko gave her, or the way that Powder would smile and laugh when she was around him. They were like two different kids when they were around each other. Ekko seemed more a kid, and Powder didn’t look as lonely and sad. 

“Yea, well,” Mylo sat up. “They’re both weird, and weird hangs with weird.”

Vi pressed a hand to her forehead. She was not in the mood for this. “Mylo…” she hoped her warning would give him the distinct impression to shut up, but he continued on.

“It’s not an insult,” he told her. “You gotta admit that they’re both strange. Just saying that they’re a lot alike and kids don’t usually hang out with others that don’t click with their own styles, ya know?”

“He’s got a point,” her other brother said, softly. “Little Man doesn’t even play or talk with others his age at all unless he has to, and Powder?” there was a noise of him shifting on the sofa. “You ever see her even try to talk to other kids?”

That was something Vi was painfully aware of. She tried so many times over the years to get her sister to expand her friendship to others her own age, but Powder would just hide behind her and scare the other kids away with her anti-social behavior or she would just run off to Ekko and play with him instead. She wasn’t sure what exactly there was about Little Man that made Powder feel so safe, but Vi was thankful she at least had him as a friend.

Mylo said, “Too bad Powder freaks all the other kids out.” He gave a wistful sigh. “Imagine no longer having to babysit her.”

Vi turned half way to glare at him. “You don’t watch her, so what the hell are you complaining about?” he just shrugged, letting it go. “Let’s just drop the subject of my sister, okay?” her brothers quieted on that immediately, unwilling to antagonize her further. She went back to practicing on the punching bag but stopped only a minute or two later, when she heard something upstairs.

She stopped. “What is that?” They listened for a minute, and it became clear. Someone was knocking on the door. It was probably another drunk unable to read the clear ‘closed’ sign. They already turned three others away. It seemed like it wasn’t going to stop any time soon.

Claggor sighed and got up. “I’ll deal with it this time.”

“I’ll take next!” Mylo called after him. When they were alone, he said, “You ever wonder what those two even do?”

Vi bit down against a small smile. She knew what her sister and Little Man did. They just played together and hung out, and yet somehow despite the pure-hearted innocence of their friendship, there was more than enough ground for them to nurture crushes for each other. It was kind of adorable. Of course, Vi wasn’t about to let any of that known to anyone, especially not Mylo. And if he ever found out, she knew she’d have to step in, because it would disrupt or even ruin Powder and Ekko’s friendship. And besides that, the motherly part of Vi wanted to see how it would all go, and mentally record how her sister might react when she finally realized her feelings, or that Ekko felt something for her.

“I don’t,” she said after a few seconds of hesitation. “They’re just goofing around somewhere.” And if he was going to say anything back, it was interrupted by Claggor’s shouting from upstairs.

“Vi! Mylo! Get up here!”

It took a second for Vi to register the seriousness of his voice, but as soon as she had, she was running upstairs. Mylo was close behind her.

Vi came to a stop immediately at the sight of Claggor standing with Little Man crumpled in his arms. His face was all bruised and bleeding and his clothes were scuffed. He looked like he was in intense pain. “Little Man?” But when Powder turned around and Vi saw the blood trinkling down her nose, some of it dried, the only thing that crossed her mind was her sister. She had her arms around her a second later, squeezing her tightly to her. “Powder!” she struggled under the embrace, but Vi just held on tighter. “What happened to you?”

Powder did not stop squirming in her arms. “Vi, Ekko, he’s been hurt and—”

She shushed her little sister by grabbing her face and turning it into the light, revealing the bruise that was swelling on her cheek. “You’ve been hurt, Powder!” but that was her sister. She would ignore her own pain, especially if it concerned others.

“But Ekko—” her voice came a little muffled because of the squeezing grip on her cheeks.

“Who did this to you?” Vi cut her off, anger starting to quickly replace the worry.

Powder shoved out of her hands and took a step back. “It’s Ekko that’s hurt!” hearing her sister shout was a very, very rare occurrence—well, when she wasn’t yelling back at Mylo. It shocked Vi completely. Her sister’s cheeks reddened a little and then she mumbled, “I’m…I’m fine Vi.” There was a pause and her eyes went to the boy in Claggor’s arms. “Please, h-help Ekko, please.”

Vi moved her eyes to Little Man briefly, understanding as she remembered just how close the two were. Of course, she thought, recalling the moment she had accidentally spied from them at Sweet Drop yet again. They were best friends, with much more blossoming in their hearts. Her worry must have been even more painful for her.

She smiled a little. “Alright Pow-Pow, we will. I swear.” She stood. “Claggor—”

“What’s all the yelling about?”

Vi turned at the sound of their father’s voice. Vander was standing at the end of the second-story stairs, brows furrowed in their direction. His eyes widened when he saw the state of Ekko and Powder, and then they filled with worry and malice. “What happened?”

Vi said, as she brushed some hair out of her face, “We were just asking.”

The way her sister ducked her eyes under their father’s gaze was enough of an answer for Vi. Whatever happened, it wasn’t just bad, but she thought it would get them in trouble. Vi knew it meant they were playing somewhere they weren’t supposed to be playing. They loved to test the limits of Vander and Vi’s knowledge and patience, it seemed.

Vander must have understood Powder’s silence meant he wasn’t going to get an answer. He sighed. “Alright. We will deal with that later.” He gestured at Claggor. “Bring him downstairs. We’ll get him looked over and then talk.” when Claggor followed Vander downstairs and her sister tried to follow after them, Vi snatched her by the arm and held her in place.

When Vander was out of sight, Vi knelt some to her sister’s level. “You got to tell me what happened out there, Powder. I promise, you’re not in any trouble.” Well, not yet at least, she thought. Because after this, there would be a lot of talking and then some more ground rules.

Powder twisted in her arm and lowered her eyes. “We…we were playing at Piller’s Yard.” Vi tried to control the little tweak of anger that rushed through her then. She had strictly forbidden that part of The Lanes because of the gangs and criminals. Why did her own sister have to test her so much? “And some kids…teenagers…” she corrected. “they were mad we were there.”

Mylo scoffed. “I bet it was those idiots from Jant’s Street. I told you we should have dealt with them.”

“Not now, Mylo,” Vi snapped, standing. “Pow, did you get any names? Or could you point them out if you saw them again?”

Powder’s face suddenly drained of all color and her eyes widened frightfully. “W-what? You want me to go with you?” it almost looked like she was ready to drop. “Can’t we just forget them? Why do you have to go fight them?”

“Forget them?” Vi repeated, narrowing her gaze down at her sister, alarmed. “How could I just let them do this to you and Little Man? Why would you want me to?” surely even this was enough to make her sister want revenge? To accept some form of physical confrontation? Didn’t seeing Little Man in that hurt make her angry?

Half a second later, she felt Mylo place his boney grip on her shoulder. “We’re wasting time. Vander won’t let us go if we don’t leave before he’s done with Little Man.”

The way that made Powder’s eyes light up gave it all away even before she started to speak. “Please Vi, you can stay and we could just let them go. They weren’t all bad anyway, and—”

Vi stood and cut her off sharply. “If they weren’t all bad, you should tell me who, so I know who not to fight.” But that only made her sister stare in wide eyed defeat and sorrow.

“Let’s just rain hell on ‘em all.” Mylo suggested. “That ought to show everyone in The Lanes who not to screw with.”

Vi knew he was right. Powder was never going to say anything. It just wasn’t something her little sister could stomach. “Right, we’ll wait for Claggor and figure it out on the way.”

“We shouldn’t wait on him, Vi.” She knew he was talking about Vander stopping them, but it was a risk they had to take. If need be, they’d just leave anyway and receive whatever punishment Vander had for them.

“We’re not about to face off a group with just two of us.”

“Why not?” he challenged, getting cocky and big-headed as always. “We can take ‘em.”

How could he be that dense? They could be two of the best fighters in all of the undercity, but two against an unknown number of teenagers would win every time. “Use your head for a minute, Mylo,” she snapped at him. “We’re waiting on Claggor. That’s final.”

It took only a few minutes for Claggor to return. As soon as he was in sight, Powder asked him if Ekko was okay. He smiled. “Vander’s got him now Powder, don’t worry.”

And despite that confirmation that it was going to be alright, all her sister’s face seemed to show was worry. Vi frowned at that. She really cares for him, doesn’t she? She thought, realizing just strong the two’s friendship had gotten over these years and just how oblivious she had been to her own sister.

All the more reason to go out and pummel the fools who thought they could hurt them.

“We’re going after them. You ready to go, Claggor?”

Her quiet question drew his eyes immediately. He sighed. “I already guessed we were.” He adjusted his goggles. “Ekko mumbled something about Piller’s Yard. We going right now, before speaking with Vander?”

Vi knew Vander. He’d tell them they couldn’t go and try to remind them that violence wasn’t the only solution to problems, but this was not something Vi could let slide. Not now. Not ever. The only thing that could be learned from something like that, was that she and her siblings were free game and Vi was not about to let that be the news on the street.

With Claggor back with them, they could teach some runts who the streets to belonged to.

“Yea, he’d stop us. We were just waiting for you.”

Powder tried to sneak away then, thinking that she was being sneaky with it, but Mylo latched onto her arm and pulled her to a stop. “Wait right there, twerp.”

She yanked lamely at the grip. “Let me go!”

Vi pinched at the bridge of her nose, annoyed. They didn’t have time for this. Why did Mylo always pick the worst times for his behavior? “Mylo, let her go. We don’t have time for this.”

“You’re gonna come with us for this one,” he told Powder, clearly ignoring Vi’s demand. “Help us pick ‘em out.”

“Why do you even care?” Powder asked, trying yet again to free herself from his grip, and failing.

“Maybe I shouldn’t care, but no one picks on you. No one but me.” And that seemed to work on her sister, because she stopped trying to fight to stare at him with wide, pale eyes. Mylo’s cheeks reddened and he finally let her go. “Don’t look at me like some gaping fish, it’s embarrassing.” And yet Powder did not stop staring, so he turned away, very annoyed. “God, Vi, tell your sister to stop being so god damn weird.”

“Enough Mylo,” she snapped, trying to impart the same sort of tone that Vander used with them sometimes and feeling foolish that it just sounded strange instead. “Wait outside guys, I’ll be out in a minute.” When Mylo tried to protest her demand, she pressed an angry glare his way and he finally relented to her will, with Claggor in tow.

When they were alone, she leaned down a little in front of Powder. “Look, I get it.  You don’t want to go with us and you don’t have to, but you gotta give me something I can go off of, Pow-Pow.” Because she knew that if they went out with nothing, the ones responsible would likely get away, and that would just eat Vi alive.

After a second of quiet, her sister finally relented. “Okay…” She mumbled, sounding so small and so very frightened. “T-there was a boy who helped us. His name was Jett. I…I think he might help.”

See? She thought, smiling as touched a finger to her sister’s nose. That wasn’t so hard. “Jett. Go it.” She stood. “You just stay with Little Man, okay? And don’t you worry about Vander. I’ll take the heat when I get back.” She leaned down to plant a kiss on her head. “I’ll be back before you know it.” And then she walked away, hearing her sister immediately turn and run downstairs. Vi smiled as she closed the door.

Mylo and Claggor were waiting outside, ready to go and looking tense. That was usually how it went for them, when they knew a fight was imminent. It was a strange mixture of anxiety, fear and excitement. For Vi, it was even more. A fight cleared her head, showed her how simple the world could be in just a few minutes of nothing else mattering but the opponent in front of you. She wished that the rest of the world could be quieted to a moment like that all of the time.

“You ready?” she asked them.

“Let’s roll some heads,” Mylo said, grinning ear-to-ear. He was always ready to fight, with her or against her. He found it just as entertaining…when they were winning.

“The sooner it’s over, the better.” Claggor offered quietly.

With that, they started on their way to Piller’s Yard. On the way, they asked if Powder gave her anything and admitted to the lame information. Mylo complained that it wasn’t enough, that they didn’t have the time to poke around and ask every boy their name to find this Jett, but that didn’t matter too much for Vi. If she had to stay out all day and night to find the prick who hit her sister, she would do it.

Seeing her sister in pain always made her sick to her stomach, but there was something else about knowing someone had the nerve to hit Powder that unraveled the very thin control Vi had over her temper.

The last time someone dared that, Powder and Ekko were only eight and ten. The kid in question was just as young, so Vi couldn’t really do a thing, though she did scare the living shit out of him to convince him never to mess with her kid sister and friends again. That was the first day Vi had convinced Powder and Ekko it was ‘cool’ to practice fighting, but they were much too young to have excitement over staying in one place and learning something, so their desire to learn only came years later.

I can’t be with her all of the time, she thought as they pressed down the street leading to Piller’s Yard. One day I’m not going to be there when something worse happens… that thought unsettled her, because she knew that day was coming. It was inevitable in the undercity. Vi had gotten her first ‘no Vander’ day when she was eleven. She fought with a boy with a few inches on her and far more muscle, and barely made it back to The Last Drop without dropping. Powder needed to be ready for that inevitable, and Vi wasn’t sure it was something she could teach her.

Vi wasn’t listening to her brothers at all, so when Claggor reached to shake her hard to get her attention, she snapped her eyes to him, furious. “What?” He pointed ahead, to a group of boys gathered around a small abandoned building. Some of them were drinking, others were smoking. Only one of them was squatting at the center of them, laughing up at one of his friends when he did something stupid with his bottle of liquor.

“Think that’s them?” Mylo mumbled, staring the kids down with his own hateful gaze.

Vi flexed a hand. If it was, they had no idea how screwed they were. “I guess we’ll see.” She started off.

Her brothers were at her back the entire way. When they neared, the kids quieted and stiffened at their approach. The boy squatting in the middle of them stood in a sort of lazy way, grey eyes holding them in a regard that neither seemed afraid or at ease. It was almost as if he expected them.

He reached to brush sandy locks out of his face and offered them a half smile as he stepped in front of his friends. “I guess you’re who the girl belongs to, huh?” The girl? Vi narrowed her eyes at him. “The blue-haired girl?”

“You the prick that hit her?” Mylo just straight up asked, springing up, ready to implode.

“No,” the boy answered quietly. “I’m guessing she didn’t tell you about us?” he gestured with a thumb over his shoulder at his friends.

Vi relaxed immediately, and reached out to touch Mylo’s shoulder. He drew back instantly, though he crossed his arms and gave the kids a deadly glare all the same. “You’re Jett?”

At once, the other boys relaxed from their readied positions, as they were clearly just seconds from fleeing. Jett nodded. “Yea, these are my mates. And, if you’re wondering, no. They didn’t touch your sister or the little dude, either.”

“That’s good, means they don’t have to worry.” Vi said, pleased that she didn’t have to add four teenagers to the group they needed to somehow bust down. “I’m Vi. These are my brothers,” she gestured to Claggor first. “Claggor and,” she nudged her head to her right. “Mylo.”

He laughed. “Funny, I don’t see it.” He rubbed a hand to his nose, sniffing. “I’m guessing you’re here for something?”

Claggor said, “We’re looking for the ones who hurt our sister and her friend.”

“Ah,” he nodded. “Well, you’re almost in the right place. You’re looking for Baine. A right prick, but one with a strong group at his back. You’re not gonna win, so you might as well just turn back around and head home.”

Vi laughed. “We’re not afraid.”

“No, I can see that,” Jett mumbled. “Probably just stupid then.” Mylo took a step forward, but Claggor stopped him quickly. “Easy fella, I’m not gonna stop you from getting your asses beat, just trying to give you lot a friendly warning.”

“We don’t need your warning,” she told him. “Just tell us where to find him.”

Jett rubbed at his neck and passed a quick look to his friends, seeking permission. They all mumbled and nodded. “Alright, alright,” he swung his head back around to face them. “We promised your sister we’d help, and I’m not one to break my word.”

“You’ll help?”

“We’ll bring you to him,” he said. “Don’t hold it against us when you’re all put down though.”

Mylo cackled. “You have no idea who you’re talkin’ to, do ya?”

“Should I?” he asked, raising a brow. Claggor had to stop Mylo again. “They are just a little bit down the road, passed the garbage bins.” He twirled on his feet and walked by his friends, whom immediately started to follow after him. Vi passed her brothers a look that warned them to be on their toes and followed at the lanky boy.

“How many are there?” Claggor asked a minute later, looking tense in the middle of this new gang. It would just take a second for these boys to turn on them and steal any chance of getting away from them.

“In Baine’s group?” Jett didn’t turn to answer him. “I don’t know, it changes all of the time, but when we left him earlier, it was just him and four others.”

Five opponents. Vi was even more thankful they had waited on Claggor. If they hadn’t, this would have been a bloodbath.

“Not enough, I say,” Mylo laughed.

“You’re all very dumb, you know that?” Jett glanced back at them with a small smile before refocusing his gaze ahead of them. “He’s gonna chew you up and spit you out.”

“He can try,” she mumbled, growing increasingly nervous and excited at the same time. It was not all of the time that they got to fight others. She has been wanting to test her progress on something other than a machine or Vander’s watchful gaze.

“What even started it?” Claggor’s question made her glance at him quickly. She almost forgot that Powder never even told them what had happened.

“Your kid didn’t tell you?” Vi thought she heard him laugh. “If you mean how it started? The same way it always does down here in the slums. Some tough guy thinks he owns a place and got twitchy when someone else didn’t recognize that.”

So Powder and Ekko didn’t even do anything? She half-expected to hear that her sister accidentally said or did something to infuriate this Baine fool, or thought that maybe Ekko insulted him to look tough in front of Powder. Ekko typically did stupid things just to get attention from Powder. That happened a lot, even if her sister was so completely blind to it.

“Are you telling me Baine just hit my sister out of nowhere?”

“Uh…” he hesitated. “Well, I mean, it’s gonna be outta nowhere no matter how you cut it, but I guess you could say what triggered it was Blue—” he quickly explained ‘your sister’ after he realized they didn’t know what that meant. “—busting his nose up good, made him think it was broken even.” He chuckled a little bit at that.

Mylo started to laugh so hard he was wheezing. “What? Little Powder busted some kid’s nose up? I think you’re mistaken there.”

“It is a little hard to believe,” Claggor mumbled.

“Quiet, both of you,” she said, not angrily, but annoyed. “Why did she do that?” How would she do it? She almost felt a little proud that those scrawny little arms could muster that sort of strength.

Jett laughed. “It was an accident. He made them play ball, and she kicked it right into his face.”

That seemed more like Powder, as she always seemed to be the source of some problem or another, intentional or not. Vi was still a little proud though that her sister could have the strength to even do that.

Mylo snorted. “That’s more like Powder,” he said, echoing her exact thoughts. “A bag of accidents and injuries just waitin’ to happen.”

Accident or not, Vi didn’t care. There would never be a justification for someone to harm her sister and she was about to make this boy understand that as painfully as she could manage it.

Suddenly the boys all came to a stop at Jett’s back. He turned half way to her and gestured ahead. “We’re here.”

Vi came up to the spot by his shoulder. “Is that them?” she asked, focusing her eyes on the teenagers ahead of them. They were sitting on barrels and boxes, laughing as they tossed a ball around to each other. Vi recognized that ball easily—the erratic graffiti was not something that came out of anyone else but her sister—so she knew that it had to be the same teenagers. But she wanted to be sure.

Jett said, “Yea, that’s them.”

“What the hell are we waitin’ for then?” Mylo snapped, taking a step forward. Vi slung an arm out to stop him from moving. “What?”

Vi looked at Jett and the boys behind him. “Which one hit my sister?”

Jett’s grey eyes turned from her to the target immediately. He lifted a finger to point at the wide-shouldered boy at the back, leaning on his elbows. “Baine, their leader.” The teenager in question stood almost as tall as Vander, and although he wasn’t nearly as muscled, he was far bigger than Powder and Little Man combined. And yet despite that sheer difference, he had no problem picking on them. And the nerve to touch her little sister.

It would be the last time he ever laid a hand on a kid. Vi would be sure of it.

“Not yours?” Claggor asked, narrowing his eyes at the group opposite of him. Jett simply shrugged. This was not the time for their tiny group to fracture. Vi didn’t care if the boys behind her had been in the gang that morning. If they didn’t touch her sister or Little Man, and were willing to part ways, it was enough for her.

“You gonna help us knock your own friend down?” Mylo asked, crossing his arms.

“I promised your kid I’d help, not that we’d fight for you.” Jett said and added to it when they looked at him like he was a chump, “Look, we don’t know you. Why would we risk our necks for you? Last time we did, we got Baine.”

“It doesn’t matter, we got it.” Vi said, eyes still on the gang leader in front of them. “The leader’s mine.” She told her brothers as she retied the bandages on her hands.

Claggor adjusted his goggles over his eyes. “I’ll take the two on the left.” they were of course the two largest in the group.

Mylo cracked his knuckles and stretched his arms. “I’ll take the assholes on the right then.”

Vi rolled her shoulders and stretched her neck. “Stay on your toes.” And then she gestured with a quick nudge of her head and walked on. Jett and his friends sat back and waved them off, some of them giving thin smiles as they approached the other group.

Baine lifted his eyes when they drew near, the laughter he had dying immediately. His goons drew quiet.

“You lost or something, girl?”

“You Baine?” Vi asked, barely managing to keep her temper, to keep from immediately breaking his nose in.

He smiled. “Depends on whose asking.”

“Blue’s sister,” she said. His eyes widened in realization but before he could do anything or say anything, Vi dashed forward and tackled him to the ground. His friends got up immediately, but Claggor and Mylo sacked them before they could do much else.

Baine struggled under Vi’s grip. “Get the hell off me!” he swung at her, but she lifted her left arm to block the hit and then bashed her forehead into his nose. He howled pitifully and held a trembling hand to his bent nose as blood gushed between his fingers.

“Now your nose is fuckin’ broken!”

One of the other boys ripped her off of Baine, arm around her neck. She elbowed at her captor’s ribs hard until he cried and let her go. No sooner had he, Claggor slammed his fist into the boy’s face and sent him to the ground. His other combatant had his arms around his neck from the back, but his feet dangled off the ground, removing any leverage the hold might have granted otherwise.

Vi got to her feet even as Baine stood, even as blood continued to pour angrily out of his nose. She wasted no time. She threw herself at him again, smashing her fist into his face to knock him back. He tried to swing at her, but she ducked and then threw her left fist into his ribs.

A few feet away at her right, Mylo knocked one of his assailants back and then jumped up and brought his elbow down onto the head of the one in front of him, crumbling the boy to the ground in a pathetic cry.

The other was back at him immediately though, and had Mylo in a strangle-hold. Vi swore and ran over and tore the boy off of him, throwing him to the ground and turning around just in time to catch Baine as he tried to tackle her.

“You’re dead, bitch!” he snarled, throwing his arms up from under hers and knocking her away. Vi took a back step to balance herself and then quickly used her arms to block his attempt to hit her stomach. He adjusted quickly, and slugged the right side of her face. She fell to her side into the dirt behind Mylo, who took a back step to avoid his assailant and tripped over her, landing on his back.

Baine was on her next, punching at her face. She tried to hold him back, but the momentum of his first strike had given him the room to keep breaking through her defenses. By the fourth strike, her head was ringing.

All Vi could think about as the hits collided with her face was, ‘is this how Little Man felt?’ and ‘Was Powder scared?’.

“Get off!” Claggor’s sharp voice broke through the noise of the fighting and with one powerful yank, he threw Baine off of Vi and then he turned swiftly to smash a fist into another boy’s face, knocking him out. Mylo was back up and fighting back his assailant again just an arm’s length away, even as Claggor helped her back to her feet.

“Thanks.” she rubbed a hand against her lips from where blood had trailed down from her nose.

“Let’s hurry this up, yea?” he mumbled, reaching over to grab Mylo’s last opponent by the back of his shirt and then throwing him to the ground to press a heavy boot to his chest, pinning him down.

Mylo spat out blood and leaned forward onto his knees with a smile. “Thanks for the help, Claggs, but I coulda gotten him.” His face was already heavily bruised and one eye was swelling, but he was laughing as if he hadn’t taken any hits at all.

“No problem,” Claggor said, pressing down harder when the boy tried to squirm out.

All that was left was the leader now, who was standing on shaky legs, trapped against a heap of garbage with his only way out being passed them. He stared them down like a frightened animal. 

Vi drew closer to him, flexing her hands. He adjusted himself back a step or two, arms shakily held up in front of him in a horrible defense. She gestured at his fallen friends and said, “Not so much fun when you aren’t fighting little kids, is it?”

Baine’s eyes narrowed at her and he smirked. “I should have broken her nose, repaid the debt a little.”

Mylo gave a sharp whistle and cupped his arms behind his head. “Ooooh, that’s the wrong thing to say here, buddy.” Following her brother’s words immediately, Vi punched at Baine’s nose. He crippled back into the heap of garbage with a strangled cry, falling to his ass. “See what I mean?”

Claggor crossed his arms. “You should know Vi here doesn’t take too kindly to people talking shit about her sister. We don’t like it either. You can see how that’s a problem for you, yea?”

“And then you had to hit her,” Mylo gave another whistle, shaking his head. “And we can’t just let that slide.”

Baine used the heap of garbage to lift himself up. He spat out blood and then charged at Vi, swinging. She side-stepped out of the way, and he stumbled through the air to his knees. Claggor and Mylo just laughed as he repositioned himself to face them again.

“Come on, big guy, can’t hit me?” Vi asked, twisting out of the way of his strikes. “Should I sit still? Drop a foot or so in height, make it more fair for you?”

“Shut up!” he snarled, throwing another fist at her. She caught it and forcefully bent his arm down. He cried and dropped to his knees. “Let me go, you bitch!”

“Okay. Fine.” She brought her arm down across his out-stretched one, breaking it. Baine fell into the dirt in pitiful sobs even as she came to kneel over him, arms resting on her knees. “If you ever lay a finger on my sister or any other kid in The Lanes again—” she reached down to dig her fingers into his broken arm and he wailed. “—your arm won’t be the only thing I break. Got it?” his response was more cries, so she dug her fingers into his arm again. “I said, got it?”

“Y-yes!” he howled, dropping back into a curled position, cradling his arm.

Vi stood. “Good.” She turned her eyes to the other teenagers. Some of them were started to get up, others still rolling around in the dirt, groaning. “That goes for the rest of you too.” And then she used her boot to turn Baine over onto his arm—one last act of punishment—and walked away. Mylo scurried after her immediately, while Claggor hesitantly took his boot off the boy under him and walked away.

Jett and the other boys were laughing and clapping when they approached.

“That was some serious fighting,” Jett said, crossing his arms. “But Baine’s not just going to let this go, you know that, right?”

Vi scoffed and wiped fresh blood from her nose. “Let him forget. I’ll beat it back into him.”

“I don’t doubt that,” he said, smiling.

Claggor spoke next and it was the first time since the fight began that Vi had really looked at him. He had no injuries whatsoever. It was tough to hit a giant, after all. “You sure you guys don’t want to join us?”

“Join what?” Jett asked, raising a brow. “Your gang? I think we’re done with gangs.”

“We’re not like that asshole,” Mylo said, almost angrily.

“Of course not. You’re better thugs.”

Vi lifted a hand to silence Mylo when he tried to respond to that, and then looked the boy square in the eyes. “We’re nothing like Bain. We’re not about to force you into our group but…” she hesitated. “If you change your mind?”

Jett offered a small smile. “We’ll think about it.”

“Thanks then,” she muttered. “For helping.”

Jett said, “All I did was point a gun at a target. Hardly helping.”

“It was enough,” she said with a smile, and then she turned at the sound of Mylo groaning painfully. He was the worst among them, all battered completely. He gave Vi a thumbs up when he caught her staring, a wide smile plastered on his stupid face. “We should go.”

“Of course,” Jett gestured away. “Next time you guys are about to whoop some ass, let us know. We love good shows.” Another boy ran up then, and tossed a brightly colored ball at him. “Ah, right, your kid’s ball.” He held it out to them. “The least we can do is keep ‘em safe so they can play here, if they ever want to.” He paused only for a second before adding, “That doesn’t mean we’re in your gang though, got it? Just gonna help the girl with the wicked kick and the little tough dude, that’s all.” His friends echoed the same sentiments, pretty loudly too.

That was surprising. “You’d do that?”

“One of the few sunny spots in The Lanes,” he said, shrugging. “It’d be cruel to not help a bunch of kids enjoy it, yea?”

Vi took the ball from him and passed it over to Claggor. “Yea…it would.”

“See ya next time then.” he flicked a hand from his eye at her in a mock salute before walking away. The other boys hesitated only a few seconds before following.

When they were alone, Mylo gave a trembling, wheezy laugh. “He kept callin’ her your kid.” he was not going to stop cackling over it, it seemed. “And you didn’t even correct him. Priceless!”

Even Claggor smiled at it. “We should start calling her ‘Mama Vi’.”

“And get her one of those apron dresses, too,” Mylo added.

“And some themed family photos to brag about to other parents.”

Vi reached over to punch Claggor’s arm, causing him to just burst into more laughter. “Shut up, you two.” She charged off, annoyed because she knew they had gotten under her skin and it was showing very easily on her face.

“What? It’s a compliment!” he laughed after her. “Aww, c’mon Mama Vi! We’re sorry!”

“Don’t send us to bed without dinner!”

At that, she had to laugh. She turned halfway in her steps to look back at them. “Alright you assholes, you’re funny, but enough.” That seemed to end their humor quickly, but the entire walk back, she could hear their cackles and attempts to whisper their jokes.

It was well passed nightfall when they finally made it back to The Last Drop. The lights were out, except the neon sign above the door and a light on the second floor.

When they closed the door behind them, the light in the bar went on and they froze in their tracks. At the counters, with his arms crossed and a scowl pointed directly at them, was Vander. Mylo cleared his throat and took a few steps back, to hide behind Vi.

Vi knew it was going to roll back to them getting in trouble, but it was worth it. She would do it a dozen times over, if she could. What sort of message would it send if she let some thugs beat on her own sister or friends? That The Lanes was weak? That Vander let those sorts of things wash away like the rain? She knew she couldn’t not do anything, even if he wanted it.

She met his gaze. “I’m sorry Vander, but we had to.”

His eyes kept hers when he spoke. “How many times have I told you three?” he uncrossed his arms and walked to them. “Violence will never bring the answers you want. All you do is create another problem.”

“We handled it, okay? They won’t be a problem again.”

“No,” he said, his voice sharp and angry. “You didn’t solve anything. You think because you beat them down, they will change?”

Claggor rubbed at his neck. “We were just trying to make things right…”

“And you think making it right means hurting people?”

Vi felt her anger twisting inside. “And you think it’s right to let them hurt Powder?” she wouldn’t feel guilty for it. She wouldn’t. Baine and goons deserved every ounce of pain that was thrown at them.

His eyes softened immediately. “Of course not, but that’s why I’m here. To handle these things. You three didn’t even wait, you just charged off, half-cocked.”

“It’s over now,” she muttered. “They won’t think twice about doing it again.”

“What if they do?” he asked her. “What if the next time they see Powder or Ekko, they decide to take revenge and it’s much worse?”

Vi never even considered that. She looked away, equally mad as she was embarrassed something so simple hadn’t crossed her mind. If something worse was to happen to her sister and it was because of something she did…? Vi wouldn’t be able to live with that.

“I’m sorry Vander,” she said, quietly.

Vander placed a warm hand on her shoulder and then lifted her face into the light, revealing the new bruises and other injuries. His eyes roamed her face for a second before going to her brothers to inspect their hurts too. He sighed. “We’ll talk about it in the morning. You three look like shit.”

Mylo laughed. “I feel like shit, too.”

“A little pain to remind you of your screwup,” Vander told him with a small, amused smile. “Go wait downstairs. I’ll be down when I’ve got the bar locked up.” When they began to file away, he called out after them. “And don’t wake them up!”

They all took the warning to heart and made their way downstairs as quiet as mice. Vander was not in the mood to be tested, especially when it concerned the youngest among them. That was usually the sure-fire way of snapping a temper Vander rarely displayed.

Downstairs, there was only a small lamp in the back corner providing enough light for them to see where they were going. The rest of the room was lost in a gentle sort of darkness, and as Vi came down the last steps, her eyes went to her sister’s bed immediately.

Her pausing at the last step caused Claggor to bump into her and nearly knock them all down. It caught him by surprise, and he gasped out a ‘sorry!’. She rebalanced herself quickly and then turned to glare at him and press a finger to her lips. “Quiet, Claggs.”

“Right,” he whispered, edging his way around her carefully and making his way to the sofa. Despite not taking even a single hit, he was exhausted. He dropped to the sofa with a sigh and tore off his goggles to lie them on the table.

“Home sweet home,” Mylo whined comically as he raced towards the other sofa, throwing himself into the cushions with an exaggerated cry of comfort. Vi reached to grab something off the floor and fling it at him to get his attention. When his eyes met hers, she made a quick gesture to be quiet and pointed at the bed to the left with every ounce of annoyance she could muster. He smiled and rolled onto his back, ignoring her.

Mylo was probably the worst among them. His face was all bruised up and the black eye he was sporting was already dark purple and yellowy, taking a good portion of his face with it. His nose had bled some and dried a path down his face, and his lip was busted bad, but he was smiling as if he couldn’t feel any of it.

Vi made her way over to her sister’s bed and leaned down to look at the two cuddled together. Powder had one arm around his chest, forehead nuzzled against his left arm. Ekko had one arm rest over hers and had a little, dopey smile on his face. They both looked so young and vulnerable whenever they were like this. She often forgot how young they really were, and how much was demanded of them from the undercity despite it.

She wished she could give her sister a life where she didn’t have to strive and endure, or starve and thirst, but she knew it was out of her hands. And that the only thing she could impart to her sister was how to defend herself, but even that wasn’t going very well.

I’ll have to protect you forever then, she thought, watching the peaceful expression on Powder’s face for a long moment. She knelt to brush hair from her little face and then brought the blanket over the both of them.

“Good night, Pow-Pow.” She whispered, before making her way over to the singular chair and dropping into it with a winded sigh. Her head was still ringing and her nose and jaw hurt like crazy, but it was well worth the pain to have been able to knock that asshole down. Even if Vander disagreed, sometimes it was the only way someone could learn not to beat on others.

Vander came downstairs a few minutes later, carrying a medical box and looking not too pleased with the fact that he has to tend to more children’s injuries. Vi sat up and leaned forward so he could kneel and tend to her scrapes and bruises.

“You’re lucky it’s just a bit of bruising,” he mumbled as he pressed a cloth covered in alcohol onto her busted lip. “You three could have been seriously hurt.” She hissed and pulled away to grab at his hand.

“I’m fine Vander. Mylo’s got it worse.”

His eyes held hers for a moment before he nodded and rose to make his way over to the gangly boy on the other sofa. He gestured for him to sit up and Mylo followed suit, wincing and giving a loud cry of surprise when he pressed the cloth to his face.

Vander shot him an angry glare. “Quiet it down.”

“It hurts,” he complained, squeezing his eyes shut.

“Well, should have thought about that before you fought.” He said dismissively as he put medical tape to the injuries he could. He then tossed a cold compress to him. “Put that to your eye and keep it there.” Mylo grumpily did as he was told as Vander made his next round to Claggor. When he saw that Claggor was in fact fine, he laughed and pressed on back to Vi.

“It’s okay, I’m good,” she grumbled when he neared.

“You have a thick head, you know that?” he asked, tossing a compress onto her lap. “At least put that on and I don’t want to hear a single complaint from you.” She sighed and pressed the compress to her face. She bit back a hiss and shifted back into the seat, to a more comfortable position. “You do not know the worry,” Vander spoke a few seconds later, his voice growing very quiet and serious. “That you give me when you do things like this.”

“What’s the big deal? We’re all fine, Vander.”

“I know that,” he said, pausing again, as if he was considering something. “I just want you to be more careful, and think more on what you are about to do before you do it. If not for your own sake, for that of your brothers and sister.” she kept her eyes down, away from his judging stare. He sighed. “Alright. We’ll talk more about what happened tomorrow.” He started for the stairs.

When he reached them, Vi turned around in her seat to look back at him. “Vander?” he paused and turned half way to look back at her. “I’m sorry.”

He smiled and shook his head. “At least that’s something.” He waved at them. “Get some sleep, kids.” And then he was gone.

She slouched down into her seat and pressed her gaze over to the beds again. A part of her understood what Vander was trying to tell her—to warn her about—but when she looked at the two sleeping right then, covered in bruises and scrapes, none of Vander’s passiveness made sense to her. How could she just stand aside when her own sister suffered? When Powder had looked at her, little face bruised and nose bleeding, everything else had burned out of her completely. There was only anger and grief, and this overwhelming worry.

Mylo and Claggor teased her sometimes that she was like a mom and sometimes, whenever she looked at Powder, Vi felt that a sting that reminded her of their mother and father. It made it difficult to argue with them sometimes. And she would think, whenever she felt proud over Powder or happy whenever her sister was happy, was ‘is this how they felt when they looked at us?’ and she knew that it was. And that realization made her sad, because her sister never got to know their parents and never would.

Vi was all that Powder had, and would always have. They were the last remnants of a family. I’m all she has left, she thought, feeling worried tears burn in her eyes. And you are all I have left Pow-Pow. And I’ll be yours forever.

Vi sighed and leaned her head into her hand, watching the silhouettes of her sister and Ekko rise and fall in gentle breathing, appreciating the gentleness and innocence of their childhood. At least she had made the streets even a little safer for her sister. Vi would endure a thousand grueling moments of fighting if it meant making the world safer for her.

Chapter Text

Vander glanced up from counter and his task to look for the two kids tucked into the alcove at the far back left of the bar, to be sure they were still there.

They were still huddled over the table, elbow-to-elbow. They were working over their broken tools with great concentration. Most of the tools on the table were Powder’s, as her tools were self-made or dug out of the trash and fixed. It meant they needed constant maintenance. Which Ekko was more than happy to provide. Thankfully. Vander wasn’t sure he could afford to buy Powder any of her tools or equipment, even if he really wished that he could.

Vander quickly sat down a few glasses and mugs on a table nearer the bars for the patrons there and then made his way over to the alcove where the kids were.

At that moment, Ekko was doing something to a circuit board he had torn out of some hand tool while Powder was carefully resoldering something on another tiny piece of circuitry. There were various small piles of materials and other minor tools all across the table. Vander laughed at their expressions. They both looked incapable of looking away from their task.

“How’s it going? Made any progress yet?” They were already a few hours into their work, having started early in the morning, just after the others went out for the day. So there had to have been some pretty significant progress…or so he hoped.

Powder wasn’t listening, so Ekko answered, though he never looked away from his work. “Yep.” But that was apparently all he had to offer up. Vander looked over the table, inspecting it with greater attention. The glasses Vander brought over half an hour or so ago was empty, and so were the bowls of snacks.

They have been at this for hours. Are they even capable of tiring? He lifted a piece of something off the table to inspect it, confused, and Ekko casually reached over to pluck it from his hands and began to use it. It was some sort of tool.

“Are you two almost done?”

“No,” Ekko muttered even as Powder answered with a prolonged, “Nooope.” This was the only part that Vander didn’t enjoy much of. Whenever they worked together, they would zone out so completely that conversation was almost impossible to achieve.

“Do you think you two will be done any time soon?” it was getting very late, so very close to Powder’s bed time, and he really didn’t want to wrestle a hyper-active child to her bed if he could avoid it. Not a lick of an answer came.

And, as if he wasn’t standing there waiting on a reply, Powder glanced up shortly from her job to Ekko. “I can’t get the logic board back on.” It certainly sounded like a complaint, the words were at least, but she didn’t sound very annoyed at all.

Ekko glanced over to her hands, brows furrowed. “Ah, okay. Wanna switch then? I can’t get these stupid cables aligned, and you’re better at the soldering them than me anyhow.”

“Okay!” they quickly exchanged work, and Vander smiled. They really did work very well together. They began on each other’s work immediately. Powder’s smaller fingers allowed her to piece the new wire in easily, and her soldering really was better. Ekko had the new logic board aligned instantly and clipped in.

He felt a little foolish just standing there, like some dotting old fool, so he asked her, “What’s that you’re working on, Powder?” it seemed the right way to show interest in her hobbies, but when she didn’t look up or acknowledge him, he smiled. I’m not very important right now, am I? He thought, amused by the dedication in Powder’s expression to her task at hand, and her best friend. “Alright, I get it, pop’s not cool right now.”

Their hyper-focus made him remember when he first saw that sort of interest in her. They had visited Benzo’s Shop and while he was distracted talking business with Benzo, she had run off. When they finally found her, she was digging through a broken machine in the basement.

When Benzo asked her what she was doing, she told them that had she watched Ekko mess with it and wanted to help him figure out what was wrong. Vander had laughed because the first day she met that boy she had become loyal to him, but Benzo had smiled, left and then returned with a small bag of spare tools. He told her the best way she could help Ekko was to keep practicing and learning. And ever since then, she became obsessed with anything related to machinery or technology, and Vander watched as her aptitude continued to grow faster than he could financially support. And that only continued to strengthen the bond between the two kids over the years.

He chuckled at the memory. Powder finally looked up then at the noise, very clearly distracted. “Huh?”

Vander smiled. “Nothing. I’ll leave you kids to it then and check in later.” He turned away and returned to the counters. The walk back he could hear their hushed whispers play behind the music and chatter of the bar.  

He dropped right back into his exhaustive work. At least knowing that some of Powder’s only things were being fixed relieved some of the stress of having to figure out how to replace them, or having to tell her he couldn’t afford to help her. It was always painful and disappointing to have to tell his kids no for something they wanted or needed due to having no funds. Especially when it came to Claggor and Powder, because they hardly ever asked for anything of their own volition.

At some point later, between Vander rushing back and forth between patrons, Mylo had come up stairs and hurried off with a new bowl of snacks, and soon after him, Vi for drinks. She greeted him like she usually did and then sent a worried glance down the bar to the booth where Powder and Ekko were stationed before vanishing again. And in the hours that came after the kids’ last appearance, Vander had to stop three brawls, an argument that almost left an entire booth destroyed, and cleaned more alcohol and blood than he ever cared to. By then, he was ready to close down the bar and retire to a half-way decent sleep.

Vander exhaled sharply as he tossed the cleaning rag into the sink and glanced up at the clock dangling over the dispensers. It was half an hour passed two. Ordinarily, the bar would have begun to close an hour ago, but with the repairs needed for the generators, he had a few nights worth of extra work to make up the cost. Thankfully though, most of the folk had already dispersed; some due to having work in the morning and others because they had no more coin left to partake in their alcoholic pastimes.

Just a bit longer, he thought as he made his way toward a patron with his arm raised and a pasty-faced grin on his face. He could already imagine the small comfort of his bed. As Vander refilled the patron’s mug, he caught sight of something small moving in his peripheral vision. He paused after he turned to see what it was.

Ekko was still tinkering away at something, but without Powder at his side working. She was fast asleep now, with her head pressed against the left side of his back and her arms curled up between them. She was still holding one of the tools though, clearly having fallen asleep in the process of doing something.

Was he really that distracted that he forgot about the two kids he was supposed to be watching? He rubbed a hand across his face, annoyed with himself, and made his way over. Ekko glanced up at his approach, eyes squinting a little just to reveal he was tired. When Vander looked at what he was working on, it was another one of Powder’s tools. And that did not surprise him one bit.

“It’s late,” Vander whispered, so as to not wake Powder up.

Ekko nodded, his movement careful and precise, so that he did not shake too much and stir his best friend. “She fell asleep a bit ago,” he replied just as quietly. “I didn’t want to move her.”

That was a part of this boy that Vander appreciated the most above all of his other characteristics. That unbending, earnest desire to be kind to others and to help them where he could. It was even better that he seemed to hyper-focus that good will on Powder, too. And looking at her peaceful little face, Vander wished he didn’t have to move her either. He knew how difficult it was for her to fall asleep—let alone remain asleep for hours without being disturbed—but he couldn’t let her just sleep like that.

“You two should have gone to sleep hours ago,” he said, getting an abashed smile from the boy. He sighed. “Alright. Let’s move her downstairs, and then you are both going to get some shut eye.”

“But I’m not done—”

“You can finish whatever you’re working on tomorrow,” he cut him off, even as he reached to pick Powder up. She was so tired she didn’t even stir from the change. “Get everything squared away.” He walked away and smiled when he heard the movement of Ekko moving items quickly.

Downstairs, Vi and the boys were already asleep, though Vi and Mylo had fallen asleep on the sofas. The light was still on and the gramophone still playing rock softly in the background, forgotten in the haze of their exhaustion.

Vander carefully sat Powder in her bed and turned to grab some of the extra blankets to cover up the others. They were out so completely that when he moved them to a lying down position, they remained lost in their dreams. He tucked the blankets in around them, and returned to Powder.

He managed to take her boots off before she startled upright, trembling. “Ekko?” she mumbled, even as her eyes took in where she was, and who was there with her. He knew immediately what the problem was just from one glance at her. Her eyes were dilated and beginning to tear up, and her forehead wet with sweat. Another nightmare.

Vander sat down on the edge of the bed and no sooner had he, she was hugging him, face pressed tightly against his chest. He pressed her closer to him, comfortingly. “It’s okay,” he whispered, so he did not wake the others. “It was just a dream.” Powder only held on tighter. He knew he shouldn’t have let her and Ekko have sweets later than six. It usually made her nightmares worse. But she had given him those puppy dog eyes and that sweet little smile, and he couldn’t resist them at all. He thought about denying her the next time, but he knew that was not something he could do even if he should.

Unsure of how to soothe her, he asked, “Would you like me to wake Vi?” She shook her head quickly. “Okay.” He allowed the quiet to settle between them again, listening intently to her soft breathing as it began to slow back down.

After a moment, she mumbled, “Vander?”

“Hmm?”

She leaned away a little and he could see the tears in her eyes sparkling in the gentle light of the room. “Can I sleep in your room tonight...please?” her plea came out hoarse and desperate. Whatever the nightmare was, it was now clear to him it was one of the most terrible for her. She never asked to sleep in his room unless it was really bad.

Vander wasn’t even sure why his room made her feel so much safer either, but now he was stuck. She needed to sleep in her own room, he knew that, but he also didn’t want to tell her no for something that was very serious for her—for something that usually resulted in terrors that left her hurt and confused.

He needed to convince her to stay in her room to avoid encouraging a dependency in sleeping in his room—so that she could learn it was safe and have the chance to outgrow her fears—but he also knew that if her night terrors returned later, he would cave. As he would do anything to help her calm down.

“You can sleep with me tonight if you really want to, Powder.” he whispered. “but what about Ekko? Weren’t you two planning a sleep over tonight?” they were not, of course, but it had gotten so late that it didn’t matter now. He couldn’t send the boy out, especially not on his own.

Her eyes widened in a way that told him she had forgotten about her friend completely, and that the idea of a sleep over was already beginning to win her over. “Ekko is still here?”

Vander smiled. That was easier than he thought it would be. “He’s upstairs, but he will be down in a bit.” Powder relaxed considerably. “Why don’t you set up his cot for him while I go get him? Does that seem good?”

“Okay,” she agreed meekly.

Vander got up and ruffled her hair a little. “Don’t wake up the others, now.” He placed a small kiss atop her messy hair and then made his way toward the stairs. He paused only once to check back on her, and smiled when he saw her dragging the foldable cot out from under the bed.

Upstairs, he found Ekko finishing up storing all of their things into a clear container in a hurried manner. He looked like he was ready to drop to the floor right there. Vander cleared his throat to catch the boy’s attention. “You can leave that,” he said. “I’ll take care of it.”

Ekko frowned a little. “Really? I could—”

“I’m sure,” he cut him off before taking the container out of his hands. “You go ahead. Powder will need help setting up your cot.”

Ekko gasped out a, ‘She’s awake?’ before hurrying passed Vander, without even so much as another word. Vander laughed and carried the container to the kitchen, where he sat it out of sight. Once he was done, he made his way to the front of the bar and began closing it down. It took some time to manage all of the patrons out, as some were passed out in the booths and chairs, but eventually he had the bar cleared and the door locked and the sign down. By the time that he had finished, it was half an hour passed three and he couldn’t keep himself standing any longer.

Vander double checked the locks on the door and then pulled down the blinders to further discourage any daring thieves, and made his way downstairs. Most of the lights had been turned off, with only the one in the back corner beside Mylo’s bed left on. The gramophone was also off, though he wasn’t sure if it just stopped or was turned off.

He quieted his steps as he came down the rest of the stairs, careful not to creak any boards and stir the kids awake. His eyes roamed quickly to the sofas where Mylo and Vi were still passed out along and then over to the bunk bed to the left. He smiled at the sight of the cot pulled up against the lower bed, edge to edge. Powder was lying on the end of the bed, where her feet normally laid, all so that she was lying closer to her friend across from her.

Vander drew closer and chuckled under his breath at the sight of their hands entwined and dangling in the gap between the bed and cot, where the two beds could not touch entirely due to the ladder and planks of wood attached to the bed. He carefully removed their hands and then tucked them into their blankets.

He hesitated a step away and then half turned to look back at Powder’s restful expression. He mulled over staying—to keep a watchful guard for Powder’s night terrors—for just a few seconds before his eyes settled on Ekko. At the mention of her friend staying for the night, Powder had calmed down. He understood that with Powder, it was about the company really, but Vander had always seen a different sort of camaraderie between her and Ekko.

They were practically inseparable and whenever they were forced apart, Ekko was almost constantly a subject on her mind, especially so whenever she was left behind while her siblings went out on jobs or just to hang out with other teenagers. Powder would come into the bar and sit at the counters or lie down on the floor beside his work desk in his room, and roam over a dozen different subjects before—eventually—coming to the subject of her best friend. She would tell him something Ekko did or said with a smile or in an excitedly rushed voice, and Vander would smile at the sheer respect and admiration she had for him.

And it didn’t take a genius to notice just how highly Ekko regarded Powder, with the way he offered to help her constantly, or how he would bring her gifts and tools and take her out to play whenever she was feeling lonely. Or just by how much he praised her work and encouraged it. It was just one of many reasons why Vander approved of their friendship. Ekko was a good kid to most people, but it shined the brightest for Powder and Vander would always be grateful for that. Because he knew Powder deserved it and so much more.

And because of that iron-clad friendship, Vander knew he had no real reason to linger, not when both Ekko and Vi were nearby. Powder always felt safe around them, and if that was enough for her, it would have to be enough for him. But, if it turned out that she needed him, he would come running—wherever she was and whenever she needed him.

Vander smiled and knelt to kiss her forehead and wish her a good night before quietly making his way out of the room.

Chapter Text

Ding.

Ekko lifted his head from the little boxes and towards the door leading to the store front. He could hear the soft murmur of Benzo and another man. Well, Benzo had lots of customers. He turned his attention back to the little boxes full of random artifacts, treasures and tools. He was so preoccupied with his task he hadn’t heard the small steps approaching him.

He took out a shiny bauble of an origin he didn’t know and began turning it over, admiring the way it shone so prettily under the light, wondering what its purpose was, and how he could open it.

“…what’s that?”

Ekko gasped and dropped the bauble, turning to face the owner of the voice. It was a girl, and a tiny one at that! With boney arms and legs, a chubby face and a head of messy blue hair that fell just a little passed her jawline. Wide rubber bands of black and grey held random portions of her hair up in short tails and not a one of them in any pattern that kept it out of her face or in any sense at all.

“Gosh! You shouldn’t sneak up on people like that!”

Her pale eyes widened and she hugged something to her chest. It was a raggedy bear teddy with missing ears and mis-matched eyes sewn on with bright needlework. “…sorry.”

The softness of her voice made him step back from his irritation. “How’d ya get back here, anyhow?” no way Benzo would just let a random kid walk back here, way too much stuff a kid could pocket and make off with for that to be allowed.

She shrugged and turned her eyes from him down to the bauble at his feet. And, completely ignoring his question, she smiled and said, “It’s pretty.” What a strange girl.

Ekko knelt to pick up the bauble and then held it out to her. “Wanna see it?” she hesitantly reached out with her other hand and took it from him. He watched her as she inspected the object with curious eyes.

“What is it?” she asked after a few seconds.

“I dunno.” The girl looked it over again and then held it back for him to take. He frowned at the strange expression she had on. She looked so sad. “Do ya want it?” it wasn’t technically his to give away, but this was a box of ‘useless’ things Benzo set aside. He wouldn’t miss one thing, would he?

Her eyes widened. “…really?”

Ekko held it back out to her. “Uh-huh.” She accepted it with a meek ‘thank you’ and, as strange as every other part of her had been, she sat down on the floor to really go over her new gift. She sat her stuffed animal toy on her lap and smiled as she turned the bauble around. “Uh, what’s your name anyways?” he asked after a moment of watching her.

Her pale eyes lifted to him and he just stared. She had very pretty eyes, eyes that reminded him of a stormy sky, though they were ringed heavily with fatigue and set against flesh so pale he was afraid she was some sort of ghost rather than a girl. Her hair was pretty too and even her smile, though he felt it was a little strange the way that it was sort of lopsided and gap-toothed.

“Powder,” she answered, focusing that smile at him.

“Powder?” he repeated, considering it more heavily than anyone might have considered a name. It was a weird name for a weird girl. “Well, I’m Ekko.” He stuck a hand out to her. “Glad to have meet you.”

She reached up to take his hand. Her touch was a little cold, but he found he liked it. “It's nice to meet you too.” she had mumbled it, her voice very quiet and words strangely polite. Her eyes fell from his, back to the bauble in her hands. He watched her mess with it for a minute and gaped when, somehow, she opened it, revealing a cushion inside with a little ring in it.

“Wow! How did you do that?!” he asked, coming to sit down beside her, to stare at it. She shrugged beside him, as if to dismiss it entirely. “Can you show me?”

“Okay…” she closed it back up and then handed it back to him.

“What’d ya do first?” She pressed a little finger to a piece on the side of the rounded surface. “Press? Hmm.” He pressed it down but nothing happened. Before he could complain, she pointed to the other side too. “Now what?”

“Twist it,” she said, eyes watching his hands.

Ekko twisted it and, like magic, it popped right open, revealing the cushion and ring. “Cool! Thanks for showin’ me, I never woulda figured it out.” He tossed it back at her, and she barely caught it. When she gave him a confused look, he said, “It’s yours, remember?”

She frowned. “But it’s so pretty.”

“You want it to be ugly?” he asked, laughing a little.

“No…” she admitted softly, pressing the bauble to her chest, possessively. “Thanks.”

Ekko wasn’t sure where this strange girl came from, but he was glad of the company. The shop got really quiet and lonely sometimes. Maybe now he had someone else to play with him, so he could test out his awesome new sword! Or maybe to play hide-and-seek with, or even catch! That would be a ton of fun! “Hey, do you wanna play something?”

“Like what?”

He thought for a minute. “How about hide-and-seek. You ever play that?”

She looked indignant over that. “A’course!”

“Cool! You wanna be seeker then?”

She smiled. “Okay.”

Ekko hesitated by how quickly she responded. It sounded like she didn’t really want to play as seeker. “…do you wanna hide instead?”

“Okay,” she repeated, the small smile still on her face.

That finally made him laugh. “You can pick, you know? Whatever one you wanna play, you can play it.”

She thought on that for a minute, and then said, “Seeker.”

“Good choice!” he glanced around the room quickly. “Okay, just in case, the rules are; hiders can only hide in this room. Seekers have three minutes to find the hider, or until the hider reaches…” He hurried over and picked up an empty bucket and brought it over to the center of the room. “…the bucket. That’ll be victory for the hider. Got it?” She nodded, still smiling brightly as she covered her eyes with both hands and her teddy bear.

Ekko gasped and hurried off as she began to count down from ten. By the time that she reached three, he had found his hiding spot. It was a little space in the far back of the room, behind several stacks of boxes. He crawled over them and moved another one in front of the entrance to hide his tracks, and giggled as he heard her voice quiet from her count down.

“Ready or not…!” she called out.

Ekko found a sliver between the boxes where he could watch her search the room. She was so far away he was certain she was never going to find him in that three-minute limit. She bent at her knees to turn her head down and look under a table, and then straightened when she realized he was not there.

Suddenly she sat her teddy bear and bauble down gently on the table, and then turned towards the direction he was hiding. He gasped and leaned back, bumping into a box. And fearing that his breathing could be heard, he clamped a hand over his mouth and screwed his eye shut. His heart started to race very fast.

There was a giggle a moment later and then a very quiet, “Found you.” Ekko peeled his eyes open and gaped at the pudgy faced girl staring back at him, from where she was resting her chin on the box before him. But how?! He was so sure he had hid himself well, and left no tracks!

“How did you find me so fast?”

She leaned away from the boxes and turned her head a little. “The boxes looked weird,” she said simply. She caught him just from misplaced looking boxes?

He smiled and climbed out of his spot when she backed up a few steps for him. Well, if she was that good at seeking, he was hesitant to try and seek her out. “You’re pretty good at this game, but are you any good at catch?”

“I dunno, I never played it before.” she admitted quietly and he found she had a strange way of articulating her words. “Maybe?”

He laughed. “Cool! A newbie, huh?” he hurried over to a small crate to their right and dug through it. “We’ll play that then.” He turned around with a bright red ball and bounced it towards her. She gasped and took a step back to catch it. “Rules are simple; you don’t miss a catch or you lose, and tosses have to at least have two bounces to reach the person. So you can’t just straight up throw it, you have to make it bounce. First person to two mess-ups loses!”

Powder turned the ball around in her hands a few times, unsure. “so…the more bounces, the better?”

“Yep!”

“That’s not hard.”

Ekko said, “Miss hot-shot, huh?” That made her cheeks redden a little and he laughed. “Show me, then.” She shrugged and tossed the ball towards him. It bounced five times reaching him. He caught it easy enough, but stared at her in surprise. Most kids tripped up at this part of the game, and struggled to make more than three bounces. It was part of the reason he hated playing with other kids, they were too dumb or slow, or just plain boring.

“Was that right?”

“Yea, that was good,” he told her, twisting the ball around to lie between his arm and chest. “You sure you never played this before?” maybe she was just playing him. He heard Benzo say some people liked to hide things they were good at sometimes, because they could somehow get something out of it. But was that what this was?

“I never played with a ball before,” she mumbled shyly, turning her eyes down as she twisted her hands together.

He suddenly felt very sad for this strange, little girl. What kinda kid doesn’t own a ball? Even down in The Lanes, most kids had a ball to play with—whether they stole it or it was gifted to them. He stared at her pale little face with great intensity and pity. If she never even played with a ball before, he wondered what sort of games she played to entertain herself then. “Oh…what sorta games do you play then?”

That perked her up. She gave him a smile that showed off that gap in her teeth. “My sister makes up the funnest…” and almost as if she realized the word she used, she stopped and corrected herself. “The best games.”

He laughed a little over her choice of words and then asked, “Yea? Like what?”

“We make monsters and try to beat the other one up,” she said excitedly. “And one game where you try to toss bottles farther than the other, and a game where you pretend to be one of your drawings and fight. Oh, and—”

“Which one is your favorite?” He cut her off, realizing that she would have gone on forever if he hadn’t.

“Uh…" her face bunched up a little as she thought. "The drawing game.”

“Well, let’s play that! Can you show me how?

Her eyes went wide in mirth and then she nodded. “Okay…but we need crayons and paper.”

“That’s okay! I got some!” he gestured for her to follow after he sat the ball down where he stood. She pressed on after him, as quiet in even that as she was when she spoke.

His box of crayons was not all that impressive, but he thought he had enough colors to do whatever job they needed it for. He had a couple of each base color but only two black sticks, as that seemed to run out the most in his usage.  

He handed the box over to her even as he returned to dig out slips of paper. Most of them were crinkled and he thought about keeping the smoothest pieces for himself, but when he looked at her and saw the way she was digging through his crayons with a smile, he decided to give her the best paper.

“Here,” he said as he sat crossed legged in front of her. “How do we play this game?” she took the paper after carefully putting the box of crayons down.

“We get a piece of paper,” she mumbled as she smoothed a piece out for each of them and handed one to him. “And then we turn around, so we don’t see it.”

“Okay,” he turned so his back was to her and placed his blank canvas down in front of him. “What next?”

“We tell each other parts of something to draw,” she told him with a chirpy tone. “Like…like…” she hesitated, thinking. “I tell you to draw something that’s big, you draw anything that's big, that you want to draw.”

“So, we kinda give each other clues? Over and over?”

“Yeah!” she said, excitedly.

“How do we determine who wins?”

“We draw something three times and then show them.” Well, that seemed very simple, and it did sound very fun to try. After a second or so of quiet, she asked, “Do you wanna go first?”

Benzo always told him that girls should go first, that it was the polite thing to do, so he’d do just that. Besides, now he was sort of curious what this girl would give him to draw. “Nah, you go first.”

She hmm’d and then said, “Draw one of your favorite places to go to.”

Ekko laughed. Easy enough. “Okay and you…” he tapped a crayon to his chin. “Draw something that you think is pretty!”

Powder hesitated and then he felt her turn half way, feeling her shoulder gently brush his beck. “Anything I think is pretty?” she repeated, sounding unsure.

“Yep.”

“Okay…!” she turned back around.

And so, they began their little drawing game. Ekko’s prompt was easy enough for him to do. A favorite place? He had tons of them! He settled on the sunny spot below the upper levels he found in the scrap yard, and drew it out quickly with green and yellow crayons, and black for the borders of the art. After a moment, he shifted a little and turned his head.

“Done!”

“Me too,” she said, and he could hear her moving crayons and paper around. “Now you pick next.”

He wanted this one to be more special than the last. He looked down at his own drawing, thinking. “Draw something using your favorite color.”

“Okay!” and, realizing she forgot to add one herself, quickly amended with, “Draw your favorite thing to do.”

Once again, they went to their tasks with absolute dedication and focus. Ekko finished this prompt even faster than the last. He drew himself building some imaginary machinery—its task unknown, only vague in that it provided some benefit for the undercity—and filled in the area around him and the machine with some smaller details, because he felt it too empty so far. He hoped that wasn’t against any of the game’s rules. And before he could say that he was done, she had said it herself.

“Now?” he asked, waiting for the last prompt. Powder leaned away for something and then leaned back, back touching his.

“Draw a dream!” she chirped.

Ekko thought that seemed awfully vague, but he supposed that was the point after all. He thought quickly. “Well then…you draw a memory!” he followed her lead in vague prompts and smiled as they both went back to their work without so much as a word.

For this last prompt, Ekko took his time. He drew out parts of what was supposed to be the undercity, but instead of shadows and plates and towers blocking out the streets, the city was exposed to a bright blue sky and a shining sun. Trees sprouted up between buildings and the ground lush green and prickled with flowers (he had seen them all in the books Benzo collected). He wasn’t sure if she meant a literal dream you have when you sleep, or a dream you had of the future or yourself, but he hoped that was part of the vagueness of her prompt.

When he was done, his picture oddly came together perfectly. There was his favorite place beside the dream he had for all of Zaun and the undercity, with him working on something he enjoyed doing or desired to do always. It was only when he looked at the complete work that he began to wonder if she had picked her prompts specifically for this, as if it were some sort of test, or perhaps a hidden rule to the game.

“I’m done,” he said, and listened as she giggled and finally leaned away from him to turn back around so that they were facing each other. He hid his work behind his back as he waited for the next part of the game’s rules to be revealed. A part of him was very excited to see what she might think of his work.

Powder smiled and placed her work down in front of her, and his eyes soaked in what he saw. The art was unlike anything he had ever seen, and looked like mere squiggles until he really looked. There was a girl with vibrant pink hair, and beside her a larger stick figured man with a bushy looking face. They had comically large smiles on their faces, and some of their visible teeth were sharp, though he felt that was perhaps a mistake in design. And as his eyes roamed the vibrant and crazy like artwork, he caught sight of something that looked an awful lot like him.

Somehow, even though her art was bizarre and took a while to get, it made him feel grossly inadequate in his own work. He hesitated when he placed it down in front of him, so she could see. He watched her eyes as she reached over to take the slip of paper from its spot. Her quietness made him very nervous.

“It’s terrible…” he mumbled, shyly.

“No it’s not,” she said, smiling as she looked at him. “It’s pretty!”

“It is?”

She nodded and placed it down beside her own. “It’s way prettier than mine." she sounded happy about it, for some reason. "You win.”

He felt bad to hear her say that about her work, and he didn’t truly understand why. “I think your stuff is way prettier than mine, even if I don’t get all of it.” He leaned forward to tap on the pink haired girl and the man beside her. “Who are these people?”

Powder placed an index finger on the face of the girl. “That’s Vi, my sister.” And then she moved it to the man. “And that’s Vander, he’s…” she stopped herself there and then said, “My favorite color and a memory.” She explained, almost as if she could read the question that had begun to form in his mind next.

Ekko oh’d quietly. Her sister and he guessed her dad? But that didn’t answer… “…but why am I here?”

She placed a warm stare on him next. “Something pretty.” Her answer came so simply that he felt a little foolish for having asked it, as if it was obvious from the start and he had missed it because he was some moon-head.

He leaned away from her sharply though, strangely annoyed that she said something like that to him so easily—he was a boy and boys couldn’t be pretty, right?—but also very nervous to know she thought that he was something worth drawing. But whatever was so ‘pretty’ about him that she would desire to draw him for the prompt, above so many other things? “What do you mean?”

“Your eyes,” she said. “I think they’re very pretty.” He felt heat rise to his cheeks even as she took up his art and asked, “Can I keep it?”

He shrugged, trying very hard to act as if he didn’t really care. “I guess, it’s just some stupid art…” and then he peaked up at her from the view of her art and watched that gap-tooth smile spread across her pale face and thought just how right he was earlier—that she was a very weird girl. Weird or not though, he determined right then that he liked this girl with hair and eyes like the shifting skies.

Ekko held a hand out to her, startling her from her deep inspection of his art. Her eyes went from his face to the hand out stretched to her. Her brows quirked up in confusion. He jiggled his hand a little and then said, “Do you wanna be best friends, Powder?”

Her eyes widened and for a second, he thought she was going to spit at his request, but then she beamed that gap-toothed smile at him and hesitantly took his hand. “Okay…” the digits that clung to his hand were still oddly cold, but somehow that warmed him.

“Then that’s it,” he said, shaking their hands up and down a few times dramatically. “Now we’re best friends, forever.”

“Promise?” she asked quietly.

He laughed. “Promise!” and he knew that it was a promise he was going to find very easy to keep.

Chapter Text

Vi glanced up when she closed the bar’s door behind her and smiled at the sight of Mylo and Claggor fake wrestling in the corner by the jutebox. Their laughter was overtaking the low volume of the music. Vander was at the counter refilling the dispensers, nodding his head to the music, as difficult as it was to hear it over the boys.

She had left an hour or so ago for the markets, and it seemed like nothing changed, except the booth where her sister had been sitting before was now vacant.

“Where’s Powder?” Vi asked, moving the box in her arms around as she walked through the bar. Mylo did not answer, but Claggor gave a shrug as he held the other boy back. Her brothers were too lost in their foolery to even pay attention. She sighed and made her way over to the counters.

Vander looked at her when she leaned onto the counter and sat the box down. “I see you’re back,” he said, smiling. “Did you get what you needed?” She shrugged. “It wasn’t there?”

Vi sighed and leaned her head into her hand and twisted the box around with her other hand. “No, they were out.”

“I’m sure she will love whatever you got her,” he said with a small smile.

“Maybe,” she admitted quietly. “I wanted to get her that ohmmeter though. Claggor said she was super excited over Ekko’s…”

“Those things are usually very hard to come by,” he said. “What did you get her?”

“A new toolset,” she tapped her fingers on the box a few times. “And some new paint capsules.”

“Powder will love them.”

Vi gave a quiet chuckle. Her sister was weird like that, to like whatever garbage or stupid things Vi might get her. “I’ll need sweets to make up for it.” She leaned over the counter to grab the bottle of citrus soft drink, but Vander laughed and took it from her.

“If you let her drink this, she’ll be up all night.”

“Yeah, but it’d be a lot of fun,” she said, offering a little amused grin. “Wired Powder usually is.” the first time they realized Powder could not handle sugar was when she was six. Vi and Mylo had given her and Ekko tons of candy and sugary drinks from the bar’s stocks, and couldn’t stop laughing about how much they were bouncing off the walls or how loud they were. It was much more manageable now of course, but Powder still got really hyperactive from it, and would talk ears off in this rushed manner that was as funny as it was adorable.

“Maybe another time,” Vander chuckled as he tucked the bottle out of sight. “But not now, when it’s so close to her bed time.”

“She likes stories before bed, too.” She added with a quirk of her brows, twirling a loose peanut on the counter around as she regarded him from the corner of her vision.

Vander’s eyes narrowed at her in a way that told her he understood she was teasing him. She returned his stare with a smirk and flicked the peanut off the counter. He was almost as easy to rile up as her sister. “Relax Vander, I got it.” she said, as she pushed away from the counter with a laugh. “No sugar for Powder.” When he shook his head, she crossed her heart. “I mean it, no sugar.”

“Hmm, why do I doubt that?” he grumbled as he returned to his work, even as she made her way to the basement.

She found her sister sitting crossed legged on her bed, drawing something on the wall. The gramophone at the other end of the room was playing her favorite rock music. She was gently bobbing her head to the beat, humming in a way that was not matching the song at all.

Before Vi approached, she put the gift on the table and then snuck up behind her distracted sister. She ran her fingers up her sister’s spin spookily, startling her. “Vi!” Powder all but shouted, annoyed, partly because she was very clearly scared.

“What are you doing?” Vi asked, ignoring the outburst even as she plopped down on the bed beside her sister, jostling the bed and causing her to draw one of her lines far out of where she wanted to.

Powder gasped. “You made me mess up.”

Vi smiled. “Ooops, sorry Pow-Pow.” she reached over to tickle her. “Guess this isn’t helpful either, huh?”

Powder gave gasping laughter over the fingers tackling her stomach and arms, and tried to push her hands away, though without success. After all, Vi had the fortune of years of practice, and far greater strength. The laughter broke much of her pleas to stop, except the last attempt. “Vi! Stop!”

Stopping at last, she dramatically stretched out along the bed next, getting a sharp ‘Vi, stop shaking the bed!’ before resting her head on her sister’s boney knees. “Alright, alright. Forgive me. I come bearing gifts.” That caught Powder’s attention immediately; she looked away from her canvas and down at Vi.

“Really?”

“You gotta forgive me first.” Vi said, giving her a really big pout and puppy dog stare.

Powder giggled and leaned down to press her forehead to her sister’s. “I forgive you.”

“Good!” she rose comically and went over to the table, and came back with the box. She twirled it between her hands in a flourish and then sat it by her sister’s legs before sitting down. When Powder hesitated at the sight of it, Vi grabbed her by her ear and gently wiggled her head. “C’mon, open it.”

“Are you sure?” she mumbled. “You didn’t have to…”

“Very sure.” She told her. “Though if you don’t open it quickly, I’m gonna have to take it back.” That made Powder smile and excitedly take the box. She opened it very carefully and very slowly, so that she could keep the box. She usually kept them to store other things in, like her loose bolts and screws and wires.  

Powder’s eyes widened when she took out a shiny, clear case of new hand tools and the case of new paints. Vi didn’t know exactly what the tools were all called, but she knew that her sister had broken several in the last month due to just how old they were. Thankfully Ekko knew which ones needed to be replaced, so one visit with the boy was enough to get a list written down. If her sister didn’t share so much with Ekko, Vi would not have known what to get.

“Well?” Vi asked, feeling a little nervous. She never got her sister something this big before, not within her interests at least. When Powder reached over to hug her tightly, she knew she did well.

“Thank you,” she mumbled into Vi’s shirt. “I love it.” But then she pulled away and gave a little frown. “Did it cost a lot?”

Knowing that her sister would feel bad about it, Vi smiled. “What? Nah, I got it for dirt cheap.”  That made her smile and go back to admiring her new tool set and paint capsules.

“They are detachable!” she said excitedly as she popped a tip off of one of the screwdrivers and swapped it with another. “Ekko has one just like this!”

Vi of course knew that. It was part of the reason she went with this one, even though it cost a little extra. She only hoped it was just as good as the meter she failed to obtain. “Is that a good thing?”

“Definitely,” she said, still eying the new tools with all the admiration Vi had hoped she would display. She looked over then. “Why though?”

“What, someone can’t get their baby sister gifts just because?” the truth of the matter was that Vi felt really bad about how much they had to leave her behind the last two months, and wanted to reward her for staying behind without a fight or complaint, as she normally would. The next gift would have to go to Ekko, for helping keep her baby sister company in her stead.

Powder smiled a little and then sat aside her things to lean over to hug her again. “Thank you.” Vi put an arm around her and pressed her closer.

She loved her sister’s boney hugs, because even despite how tiny she was, they were always so strong. And in many ways, it reminded Vi of their father’s hugs, though that memory seemed to be fading away with each passing day, slowly being associated to Powder. And one day, when Vi closed her eyes, she knew it would be Powder that she saw, and not the smiling face of their father. But at least she had that memory, even should it be fading away. Her sister did not.

That soured her mood considerably. Their loss always seemed even more unfair whenever she really looked at Powder, because she looked just like their mother. A part of Vi hated that, to be reminded constantly of what they lost, but the other part depended on it. If it weren’t for Powder, would she start to forget what her mother looked like too? And what would she have done if she lost Powder on that bridge too?

That made her squeeze her sister more into their hug. Powder squirmed and laughed. “You’re crushing me, Vi!”

“Oh,” she laughed and released her hold. “Sorry, spaced out a bit there.”

Powder furrowed her brows worriedly at her, head turned just a bit to the side. “Are you okay?”

“Don’t worry. I’m okay, Pow-Pow.” she cupped her sister’s face for half a heart-beat, smiling at the sight of their mother in that face. “Just got some work stuff on my mind, that’s all.” A lie, but a white one she determined. The last thing she wanted to do was worry her sister, in any sort of fashion. Today was all about getting Powder to feel better, after all, and Vi had one way of making sure that continued.

“Why don’t you tell me about your tools?” Even though the thought of diving into a lengthy discussion about a subject she knew nothing about brought her discomfort, it would be worth the headache in the end.

Powder leaned away and immediately began regaling her with the names of the different tools in her set, and what purposes she generally used each for. Vi couldn’t make a lick of sense of what she was being shown or told, but by the way that Powder was enthusiastically pointing them all out to her, she was content. She had hoped that there wouldn’t be any questions that would require her to actually understand what was being said, but her luck was not with her. Whenever Powder did ask her for what she thought about something, Vi masterfully turned the subject around to something else. It didn’t seem to cross her sister’s mind at all what she was doing, thankfully.

Although she had quickly considered saying ‘this goes over my head’ or ‘Powder, I’m dumb, slow down’ to convince her sister that most of what was being said was like another language to her, but she feared that might make Powder not want to talk about it at all, and Vi didn’t want that either.

“…I could try to fix the generators myself now,” Powder was saying excitedly as she replaced the new tools back into their proper slots within the case. “And the dispensers, whenever they break…maybe.” she added, unsure.

Vi said, “I don’t really get that stuff myself, but I’m sure you could do it.”

“You really think so?”

“Powder…” she leaned a little forward, hunching down a bit more to get away from the top of the bunk bed. “I'm certain. I know you can do it, because I know you.”

Her sister’s eyes burned a little with tears. “But…but I can’t make anything that actually works and…and I can’t fix anything, at least not…not the way it is supposed to work.”

“You can’t fix anything?” she repeated, her smiling growing. “Powder, you fix most of Vander’s shit all of the time. And we’d be without power constantly if we didn’t have you to fix up the generators.”

“Ekko fixes them…” Powder correctly, dejectedly.

“And you help him all of the time,” she corrected and then wickedly, she drummed up a perfect way to lift her sister’s dreary mood. “Besides, I bet even that dork couldn’t do it on his own.”

Powder turned her doleful gaze to her then, and the broodingly gloom she had on just seconds before had vanished, replaced completely with irritation. “Don’t say that,” she all but demanded. There wasn't much that could annoy her sister, but bad-mouthing her friend seemed to be one of those few things that managed it.

Vi laughed and leaned back into one of the support beams of the bunk bed and crossed her arms. When she had visited Ekko earlier and suggested that Powder needed far more help learning about machinery, Ekko had snapped at her in a very similar fashion. Neither of them seemed to catch that she was teasing them on purpose, to rile them up for the reaction. And that just made it more amusing to continue.

“Sorry,” she offered with a restrained smile, trying very hard not to let a laugh loose and ruin the secret she had so carefully protected so far. “Just meant that Little Man needs help, and from you. That’s gotta mean something, right?”

“Ekko doesn’t need my help.” She sounded insulted by the suggestion, which only stoked the humor for Vi. “I…” there was a second’s hesitation. “He doesn’t.” she mumbled.

“I could always ask him; bet he’d say the same thing.”

And perhaps she had taken the teasing a bit too far, because Powder had become quiet very suddenly, and the solemn look had returned to her expression. She turned her eyes back to the tools, but there wasn’t any sort of admiration or excitement in that stare anymore. It was a look that Vi had become very familiar with, despite how hard she tried to rid her sister of it.

“Look at me, Pow-Pow.” It took a second, but her sister returned the gaze. “You trust me, right?”

Powder sniffed and nodded. “Yea…”

“Good, because the day your creations work like they are supposed to, you will see it too.”

“See what?” she asked, rubbing knuckles against her teary eyes.

She smiled and wrapped an arm around her sister’s neck to bring their foreheads together. The contact often soothed her sister, but Vi found just as much comfort in it. It was a reminder that she was still there, that Vi hadn't lost her like they did their parents. “You will see how great you are, just like I do.” Powder let out a little cry and then put her boney arms around Vi’s neck, to pull her into a hug.

There was a lot about Powder that Vi would never understand—and she was becoming resolved to that realization—but this was part of why Vi considered siblinghood more a blessing than a burden, even despite the days when it grew to be exhausting or even annoying. Because even though she at times lost out on time with others her age or for herself, the compromise of getting to watch Powder grow was more than worth losing all of that. And if it meant she had to sit through a thousand different ramblings about machinery or tech, she would gladly do it, because there was no greater pride and joy for Vi than being a big sister to Powder.

Chapter Text

Vander was not sure if he was even remotely lucid when he heard the voice, but as soon as he heard it, he was up. Every fiber of his being alerted to that point where dreams were far out of reach. He sat up, hit his head on the top of the bed, and grumbled angrily under his breath as he fumbled a hand into the dark for the lamp beside him.

When the light popped on, illuminating the room in a gentle orange hue, he saw the youngest standing at the doorway, trembling and clutching the dirty, earless teddy her sister salvaged for her out of their old home. He knew what this was. The weeks that had followed their unofficial adoption had come with some surprises—namely that Claggor fell asleep fast, Mylo was oddly afraid of the dark, Vi slept like a rock and little Powder had nightmares. Almost all of the time.

Vander sighed and drew himself to the edge of his bed, gesturing for her to come over. She hurried over in little pattering sounds and threw her arms around his leg, lips pouting as she pressed a wet face to his leg with a cry. He patted her shoulder gently, still learning the best ways to sooth her. He couldn’t recall the girls’ parents ever speaking about anything like this, but he supposed he wouldn’t have heard it in the first place. Details like that were often a background noise to those uninvolved, and his head used to be just on rebellion back then.

“It’s over now,” he told her, stifling back a loud yawn with his hand. “Come on, let’s get you back to your bed.” And your sister. This would be the third night in a row she’s come to his room, scared and crying. He wasn’t sure what was giving her such consistent nightmares, but it was starting to gnaw at him to deal with it every night and then go right to work the next morning with barely an hour’s worth of sleep.

“There’s monsters…” she protested through her iron-clad hold of his leg.

Vander was beginning to wonder if all of the scary games she played with Vi was the cause of all of these nightmares. He allowed a second of silence to creep between them and then asked, “Did you wake your sister?” she shook her head. Of course not, he thought, exhausted. He knew the only way to get her to back to bed would be to convince her there was nothing in her room.

“Let’s go check the room for those monsters.” She disengaged from her hold on him when he stood and went to drag on his boots. As he tied them without any of the deftness an awoken mind might have granted, he felt the bed move and then turned half way to see her crawling up the side. And before he could even say the words ‘no’, she was already digging under the covers.

He sighed. “You’ve got to sleep in your own room.” At times, when the kids got really difficult or even refused to listen to him—like right now—he wondered if he had made the best choice for them. That if he could even be a father, to be so responsible for so many. A doubt that has plagued him almost every night since the bridge. Since he scooped up four, broken and lonely children.

“It’s too scary,” she mumbled from half-way beneath his blankets. It was already difficult to understand a portion of what she was saying due to her age, but under the blankets, he could barely catch what she had said.

"That may be, but you need to..." he stopped when he saw that she had nestled herself comfortably amongst his blankets. As the experiences of the prior nights told him, that was that. She was not going to leave now that she was all comfortable. Which of course meant no comfort for him. Vander did not have the energy to argue or convince her to leave though, so he reached for one of the pillows and attempted his way towards his recliner by the desk, when she gasped and sat up quickly.

“D-don’t leave!”

Vander turned to her, pillow tucked between his arm and chest, a little alarmed at her sudden outburst. “I’m not leaving. I’ll be right here.” He gestured to the lousy chair behind him with a quick jab of his thumb.

Her eye’s looked like polished silver in the dim light, still quite red and teary from her troubles, as she slowly laid back down, calmed. At least for the moment. She struggled her teddy out from beneath the covers and held it close to her even as he turned back to his recliner.

He threw the pillow onto the seat and then pressed the lever until it reclined as flat as it could. Without another pillow—and unwilling to take the last one from his unrequested guest—he gathered up a few articles of clothing and draped it across the back. When he was through, he glanced back at the little girl in his bed. She seemed fast asleep already, with her breathing calmer than it was just seconds ago.

Once he was confident that she was asleep, and that he did not have to tend to any further fears or the like, he crept over to turn off the lamp and then went to lay down on the chair with an exhausted sigh. The dark was so soothing that mere seconds after closing his eyes, he was asleep.

It felt like only minutes before something jostled his chair and woke him. A pressure against his chest kept him from rising though. He rubbed the exhaustion from his eyes and squinted through the dark at what it was.

Powder.

She had one of her little arms around him and the other clutching her teddy to her chest. She was deep asleep, her little face relaxed and exhausted.

Vander kept a hand on her back to keep her still as he half rose, intent on carrying her back to the bed, when he caught sight of the three others lying around the foot of his chair on a bundle of pillows and blankets. He dropped back into the chair with a winded sigh and stared at the fan wobbling around on the roof. This definitely could not be a reoccurring thing with these kids.

Carefully he sat up, still holding Powder to his chest as he moved. The gentle movements did not disturb her. He threw one leg over the chair and then the next and rose. There was a spot free in the mass of blankets and pillows, so he carefully deposited her there, next to her sister. He tucked her teddy into her arms and tried to move away, when her little hand took his.

He froze, some part of his tired brain thinking that she might not wake if he kept very still. After a moment, the little digits clutching at him loosened just enough for him to gently pry away. His attempt caused her to grip his hand possessively with hers, letting go of her little ear-less teddy bear in the process. The sight of it made him realize just how heavily these kids depended on him. He couldn't even remember a moment in his life where he felt so needed by another. The feeling was terrifying and exhausting, and yet so oddly comforting.

Vander knew then he couldn't just leave the kids there on the floor alone—if only because they would certainly just follow him to his bed—so he gently laid down beside them on the bare floor. It was cold and uncomfortable, and he would have preferred his bed for certain, but when Powder's little hand tightened in his, it all melted away quickly.

He smiled.

Maybe this wasn’t so bad after all.

Chapter Text

Powder rested her elbows onto the display and watched him organize the baubles and various trinkets in the display. She put her face in her hands and sighed. “Are you almost done?”

Ekko glanced up at her through the glass. “Nope, still not even close.”

She sighed again and turned her eyes away, towards the wall displays that were about to be taken down and changed out in order to entice new customers. She had seen most of the big stuff already, whether or not it was on the wall, as Ekko had shown her every big item they had in storage. This was not going to be entertaining at all.

She laid her face on her arm against the display and started tapping her fingers on the glass in complete, unrhythmic fashion just above where his head was, where he was reworking the items. After just a few minutes of waiting, she stopped tapping and said, “What about now?”

Ekko laughed and poked out of the display. “It’ll probably be hours before I’m done. There’s a lot to do, and it’s only just me today. Benzo wants it done by today, so I gotta do it.”

“Hours?” she repeated, disappointed.

“Yep.” He went right back to his work and Powder leaned away from the glass, twirling on the stool he was so gracious enough to provide her with earlier.

Powder knew that if he continued to move at this pace, they were never going to have the time left in the day to play, and that would not do. They didn’t get to play the day before because of he said he was swamped with work, and before that he went out on deliveries for Benzo, so she got stuck at the bar helping Vander with the generators.

If this was a chore set aside for her, she would have done it quickly. It was better to get boring things out of the way quickly, or so she thought. For any of the bigger chores, she and her siblings would all work together to clear up their chores as fast as they could. Unfortunately, Ekko did not have siblings to help him with his daily routines.

Powder thought on how lonely that must be for him. She had three siblings and even then, it felt like it wasn’t enough. How bad was it for Ekko?

He never complains...he’s strong. Though she knew he shouldn’t have to be. I wish I could help...

An idea suddenly came to her, and she stopped spinning the stool to peer through the glass. She began tapping on the glass to get his attention. He looked up. “What?”

“I’ll help you,” she said, smiling.

“You sure? Tons of boring stuff to do.”

Powder leapt off the stool. “The quicker it’s done, the quicker we can play, right?”

Ekko drew himself up to his feet with a laugh. “Okay,” he looked around the room and pointed at a few boxes stacked in the corner. “Think you can take those to the back room for me?”

Powder hurried over to them. “That’s easy!”

“Don’t drop ‘em, Pow.”

“I won’t!” she said even as she struggled to lift one of the boxes. It was mostly just an awkward size, not that heavy at all. It took her only a few minutes to get all of the boxes to the back room, but as soon as she was back, there were more boxes.

She gaped for a minute at the new boxes before reluctantly repeating the process. The second time she came back to more boxes, she scrunched her face and then went back to work, but the third time, she turned her glare over at Ekko tinkering away with the placement of several items in the display.

“Is that all of the boxes this time?”

He glanced up quickly at her and then back down at his work. “For now, yea. Gotta get everything old packed up, though.”

There was going to be more?! But how much junk did they even have up here? She guessed it didn’t really matter, not if she wanted to get him through his chores quickly and actually have the time in the day to do something fun. She’d just save the boxes for when he was done making more.

Powder went over to the display again and knelt to his level, staring at the work he was doing. “Anything else?” she asked, and hoped very much so that it wouldn’t be related to moving boxes.

Ekko thought for a minute and then said, “I could use some help cleaning the displays over there—” he pointed a finger over her shoulder and she twisted in place to see where he was pointing. "—and maybe the shelves, too.”

“Sure!” she got up to hurry over, but he stopped her.

“Wait, the cleaning cloth and bucket is in the back, near the work sink.” Why weren’t the cleaning things up here already? She was beginning to see why it took him forever to get anything done. He was quite helpless sometimes. When he noticed her smiling at him, he laughed a little. “What?”

“Nothing,” she chirped. “I’ll be right back!” and then she ran off.

Just as he said, the bucket was sitting beneath the back sink, with a gross looking cloth hanging off its side. Powder knelt and grimaced at the moldy cloth. Was this what they thought was cleaning? How was she supposed to clean anything with…that?

Helpless for sure, she thought, smiling. She sat up and looked around the area. A cloth was slung over a box containing cleaning solutions. It looked pleasantly clean, at least. She snatched it up and threw it into the bucket and then filled it with hot water and some soap.

When she returned, she was annoyed to find four more boxes already stacked up. She groaned and sat the bucket down near the dirty displays and shelves, and eyed it with a little spark of irritation. It could wait she guessed. The displays and shelves first. She took off her sleeves and laid them on the stool by the main counter and went to work.

The dust and grim that came off the glass was unreal. She stopped scrubbing and glanced back at Ekko. “When did you last clean?”

He made a noise of thought and then, “I dunno.” he shrugged. “Last month?”

Powder turned her eyes back to the dirty glass and frowned. That somehow didn’t make much sense. Why were they so dirty? She sighed and went back to scrubbing, applying as much elbow grease as she could. After a few minutes of tiring muscles, she put the cloth back into the bucket and stood to admire her work. The glass was sparkly clean, and even reflected her back some.

Ekko stood to look over her work and said, “It looks good! Thanks Powder!” She smiled at the praise and then began working on the shelves next. They took a bit longer than the displays because they were so much taller than her. She had to go to the back and get a step-ladder and even then, she ended up struggling to reach the top shelves.

He finally noticed when he heard something fall. “Ah, hold on Powder, I’ll help!” he hurried over even quicker when she nearly slipped off the top step of the ladder. “Don’t fall! Vander would kill me if you got hurt on my watch.” Powder startled when she felt his hands on her back, steadying her. Somehow that made her very nervous. “Here, I’ll hold ya up! Can you reach now?”

She couldn’t find her words. She nodded and reached as far as she could to scrub. It took her a minute and she was certain she missed a lot, but it would have to be enough. She carefully climbed down the ladder as he stepped away to admire the finished work.

“Nice! It’s all shiny now.” He reached over and slung an arm around her shoulders.

At least that was over, and it hasn’t even been that long! She was certain they could speed through his work now. Besides, how much more could need to even be cleaned? Powder smiled. “What else?”

“Well, there are two more shelves that need to be cleaned,” he said it as he turned her to face the two shelves closest to the shop door and her smile drop to a frown. “Then I gotta mop. Oh, and then I gotta check on all of the water valves and stuff down stairs.”

Powder was almost afraid to ask. “Is that all?”

“Nope!” he laughed. “Then I gotta organize all of the boxes we put into the back room.” It was starting to seem like they hadn’t cleaned in longer than a month. Her sour mood was noticed. “See? Tons of work. You don’t gotta help me, Powder.”

Powder knew not helping meant not playing, and she didn’t want that. She pouted a little and repeated her earlier sentiment. “What’s next?”

His eyes widened. “Really?” he hesitated when she crossed her arms and sent him a little scowl. “Okay…what if you mop? I already swept early, and I’ll take care of the last two shelves, since they’re a bit taller.”

“Got it!” she started for the back room immediately, because she was certain he wouldn’t have had those cleaning tools at the ready up front. The mop was lying haphazardly against a corner wall in an empty metal bucket. When she neared, she could tell that just like the rest of the shop, the mop had not been touched in some time.

She took them in hand and filled them, she made her way back to the front of the shop. By then, Ekko was already hard at work scrubbing the remaining shelves down, his height allowing him access easily. When she walked in, the end of the mop smacked into the door frame, alerting her friend to her return.

Ekko shouted out, “Careful Powder, don’t trip!”

“I wouldn’t!” she snapped with all the indignancy she could muster. She sat the bucket of water down with a small struggle and carefully dropped the mop into the soapy water. This was easy enough! She helped Vander mop all of the time, after all.

After half an hour of work, she paused and moped at her brow with her hand, tired down to her core already. Ekko was just finishing up the last shelf, and leapt down from the top of the ladder to the floor.

“Pheeew! Finally done!” he exclaimed as he tossed his cleaning towel into the bucket and causing it to splash.  

“Heyyyy!” Powder leapt back with a laugh. Her boots were a little drenched now nearer the toes.

“Ooops, sorry, Powder!” he laughed. “Good news though, we’re almost done!”

“We are?” she asked as she carefully dragged the bucket to a corner and leaned the mope against the wall. They worked for so long, and did so much, she sort of lost track of time, and in what they were supposed to be doing in total.

“Just the valves, and the organizing left.”

They quickly debated on who should be assigned to what. After just a minute or two, it was decided that Ekko would handle the valves downstairs, and she would take over organizing the boxes in the back to the paper notes Benzo left behind.

In truth she would have preferred to be down there with him working on something she enjoyed, but she didn’t trust herself with that sort of thing yet. A screwup back at the bar could be managed in some way and forgiven by the owner, but if she messed something up of Benzo’s? She would never be able to live it down, or face Ekko again.

The notes that were handed to her were practically ineligible. She knew Ekko’s writing, so she could only assume this was Benzo’s. He had worse chicken scratch than Vi. Powder spent longer than she liked on trying to decipher its contents, but once she had, she went to work quickly. Most of the boxes were the ones she had already brought back, and thankfully all of the newer ones weren’t too heavy for her. She carried what she could, and pushed the others, until everything was perfectly aligned and stacked.

Once she was done, she tiredly made her way back to the front of the shop. It was near nightfall by then, and well passed the usual time they sat down to sup. Ekko also finally dragged himself into the main room by then, looking just as exhausted. He dropped a box of tools beside the counter and threw himself dramatically into the dingy old chair behind the counter.

Everything had finally been cleaned, or put away. Everything from the shelves down to the crevices in the floor boards. And Powder took painstaking measures to ensure that the boxes in the back room had been stacked and organized exactly to the specifications Benzo left behind for Ekko.

“Ah!” Ekko drooped further into his chair. “We’re finally done!” He stretched his arms out wide as he could and yawned. “A deal’s a deal though…you still wanna do something?”

Powder tiredly drew herself up into the stool at the opposite side of the counter and laid down across the surface, completely exhausted. The cool of the glass was very soothing. Her arms felt like noodles, and her legs were trembling. Playing was the last thing on her mind, especially not with how late it was now. She shook her head even as she moved to lay it atop her folded arms.

Ekko said, “Sorry it took all day, Powder.”

She lifted her head from her arms to look at him. “That’s okay, Ekko. I’m too tired anyway.”

He was smiling next when he spoke. “I’ll make it up to you next time.” He leaned towards the glass, with a wide grin. “I promise.”

“You promised!” she declared, smiling. Of course, there wasn’t really a need to ever remind him of a promise, it just became a habit to say it when one or the other made a promise.

“Tomorrow then?” he asked, as they both reclined into their positions. Ekko in his chair, and Powder against the glass.

“Don’t you work?” She did not want to be the cause of any trouble, and certainly didn’t want him to skip his work for a promise made to her.

Drawing them from their conversation, someone entered the shop. By the glint in her friend’s eyes, she guessed who it was even before she turned to see. Benzo. They greeted him with warm words and smiles, and he waved at them as he walked by. He looked completely exhausted. But when he made it to the door, he paused and turned around to look at them, eyes narrowing at the sight.

He looked surprised to see her. “Powder?” She smiled and waved at him again. “But why are you…”

Ekko hurried a reply back. “She was just helping me out with the cleaning.”

Benzo crossed his arms. “No wonder it’s so clean in here.”

“Hey!” Ekko laughed. “I did some work, too!”

“I only helped a little…” she offered to the discussion, feeling a little foolish to be standing there taking all of the credit.

“Mmm, I’m sure.” he mumbled. “Does Vander know you’re here so late?”

“I was just about to walk her home,” Ekko offered quickly, just as Powder tried to answer. He placed his tawny eyes on her. “Right Powder?”

She knew he was trying to avoid further chores, and smiled. He always thought ahead, on everything. “Right.”

Benzo mmm’d and messaged his chin as he looked them over. Powder guessed from that gaze he was suspicious and nervously turned her eyes down to the floor boards, and tried to count the pieces splintering up to keep from giving herself away.

“Well,” he said. “I suppose you should run along then. And Ekko—” he snatched the boy’s arm just as he tried to rush by. “—to the bar and back, eh?” somehow, it almost sounded like Benzo was angry. Powder glanced at her friend quickly, wondering what happened.

“Yep, nowhere else. Got it.” With that Benzo released his arm and gestured them on their way, before clamoring back towards the door. When they were alone at least, Ekko exhaled sharply and very dramatically and opened the door for her. “I thought he was gonna toss me through a window.”

Powder paused a few steps outside of the shop and looked back at him, while he locked up. “Is he mad at you?” that would be the first, if so. The thought of it made her anxious, for some reason.

Ekko laughed. “Not really, just annoyed. I, uh…” he rubbed impishly at his neck. “I was sorta supposed to this yesterday…and the day before that…”

Powder said, “Sorta?”

“Well…you know…I got distracted.”

She knew what that meant. Those days he couldn’t play, he was slacking off on his work. Which meant he was avoiding her in order to avoid Benzo as well. Realizing what had happened, she reached over to flick his nose, very much annoyed. “You got me to do your chores!”

He yelped as he rubbed at nose. “Sorry Powder, sorry!” She narrowed her eyes at him and reached to flick him again, but he quickly snatched her hands, laughing. “Okay, okay! No more, mercy!” he let her hands drop. “I promise I’ll make it up to you. Anything you want, I promise.”

“Anything?”

“Anything,” he assured her, holding his hands up like a shield. "Absolutely anything.

That made her smile, mischievously. It was always fun when Ekko was in a corner and she could tease him a little. “Okay,” she mumbled. “I’ll hold you to that, Little Man!” she started off towards the direction of bar, smiling, even as he chased after her.

“Huh?” he was gaping dumbly. “Wait a sec…c’mon Powder! You gotta tell me what it is now though!” he nearly tripped catching up to her distance. “It’s only fair.”

“Hmmm,” she feigned thinking on it and then smiled. “No.”

“Awww!” his nose scrunched up as he began to go over all the different things she might request of him and that just made it funnier. Powder started to giggle. “I knew it! You’re gonna make me do something super embarrassing, aren’t ya?”

“Maybeeee.”

“Powder!”

“It’s only fair,” she said in a sing-song voice. “You did trick me.” Ekko’s rubbed at his eyes, exaggerating his annoyance with a loud ‘uuuuugh’.

“You really aren’t gonna tell me?”

“Nope!”

“Baah!” he kicked at a piece of tin on the road. “What if I guess it?”

“Okay, you can try.” There was no way he was going to, but it was going to be funny to watch him try.

Ekko pressed a thoughtful finger to his chin as they walked. “Hmm….Oh! You’re gonna make me play as your wesel, aren’t you?”

She never had one herself, but she knew what he was talking about. “Easel?”

“Yea, yea, that! That it?”

She giggled. “Ekko, that’s the thing that holds the canvas.”

His cheeks darkened. “Oh…well, alright, whatever, the canvas thingy. Is that one it?”

“Nope, sorry.”

“Am I at least close?” She shook her head. “You’re having way too much fun with this, Powder!”

“Fair is fair!” she puffed.

“Alright, fine. Fair is fair.” he agreed, matching her pace. “Just please take mercy on me, Pow-Pow. Nothing too bad, okay?”

“Hmm…” she chewed her bottom lip. “We’ll see.”

The Last Drop came into view a few minutes later. The lights were still on inside and the sounds of the jukebox carried through the walls mutedly. The faint noise of chanting could be heard, or perhaps the drunken singing of patrons.

“Want me to walk you in?”

Powder knew he was just trying to come up with excuses to delay his return to Benzo’s. If she could though, she would help him avoid that confrontation for as long as she could. “Do you want to stay, Ekko?”

“Really?” his excitement wore off quickly though. “Ah, I can’t. If he wasn’t angry before, Benzo would definitely get angry if I disobeyed him on this.”  

“Oh…okay.”

“But hey!” he reached his pinky out. “I made a promise earlier, and I can’t leave it without making it concrete.”

Powder smiled and took his pinky with her’s. “It’s sealed forever now, Ekko.”

He laughed. “I know that Pow-Pow. I’m the one who taught you, remember?”

“I remember.” they released pinkies. It always made her feel colder whenever he moved away. She didn’t like it at all. “You’ll come over tomorrow…right?” one day she knew he wouldn’t, but she always wanted to make sure when that would be. To prepare for it. Maybe it could be easier when it happened, if she knew. Though not having Ekko around anymore to talk to was already making her feel sick.

Ekko smiled. “Definitely. Nothing could stop me.”

Powder suddenly took him into an embrace, fearing that soon was tomorrow. “Tomorrow…” she mumbled, pressing her face into the crook of his neck.

Ekko held her tighter. “Tomorrow.” He repeated softly, assuring her. “And remember to have your ‘anything’ ready for tomorrow, okay?” 

Of course she would have the promised anything ready. She already decided on it, back at Benzo’s. She took his hand to keep him from turning away and he paused to look back at her. “I already know.”

“Yea?”

“I wanna go out on the disc-runner.”

His eyes widened. “Really? Are you sure that's enough for your anything?” they had agreed long ago that an item or activity promised could be as big as you could imagine it, and this did seem pretty small now that she thought about it in retrospect, but it was more than enough for her. Even if it was simple and small.

“If we go together, that’s enough for me.”

Ekko smiled. “Together.”

Chapter Text

It was late when they returned to the bar, though just in time to see Vander and Vi off on their way. The two were annoyed about the tardy return, but didn’t have much time to press them on it. What they were leaving for wasn’t shared beyond the fact that they’d be gone until late tomorrow, but Claggor had his guesses and most of them involved ways to improve The Lanes, or their own pockets to just keep going. And it was obvious that anything too ‘big’ wasn’t even shared with Vi, and that would cause her to come home frustrated.

Vander left him in charge, and since it was just Mylo and Powder still about, it meant dedicating every ounce of energy in keeping them from tearing each other apart. It didn’t help that Mylo had insisted on bringing over a few of their friends for the night, and not a one of them were problem free.

There was Ramona, though everyone just called her Roni. She was much worse with her ‘teasing’ than anyone else Claggor knew. And Vaan, an idiot in every sense of the word and then finally Syd. If he wasn’t on some drug he picked up off the streets, it was a miracle. And technically, he wasn’t even supposed to be in the bar, but Vander and Vi must not have spotted him in their rush. But if it would keep Mylo easy to tame, it was something Claggor was going to have to endure, even if it would lead to punishment later on.

“Alright, quiet,” Claggor said as he locked the door behind him. “Powder’s probably already asleep. I don’t want her awake.” Mylo rolled his eyes as he pressed in. “I mean it, Mylo. Keep it quiet or I’m throwing your friends out.”

“Ouch,” Roni said, putting a hand over her heart. “Aren’t we friends too, Claggs?”

He sighed. “Not today.” She shrugged and walked off to the bar to inspect the selection. He knew she was going to try and take some and tried to keep her in his gaze, but Mylo leaned in with an ear-to-ear grin. “What?” he leaned to the side to get a peek at the girl and relaxed when he saw she was carrying a bowl of bar snacks to one of the benches, otherwise empty handed.

“You know,” he bumped him with his shoulders. “Roni digs you.”

Great. That was the last thing he wanted. A friend pinning after him, and one that liked to stir trouble just as much if not more than his brother. Nothing is ever easy around here, he thought. “Good for her.”

He laughed and elbowed him hard. “Go for it.”

The thought of ‘going after’ Roni kind of made him nauseous. If she was a headache already, he couldn’t imagine what she would be like as a girlfriend. “No thank you.” That’s when he noticed Syd and Vaan over by the jute box, shaking it. He moved his brother aside and hurried over. “Hey, be easy with that!” his hiss was loud enough for them to back away, warned. “Why can’t you guys just behave for once?”

“Hey man, we just wanted a tune. Chill.”

Claggor unplugged the power and turned to him, annoyed. “No Syd, I won’t ‘chill’. I told you we have to be quiet and your immediate thought was to blast music?” they disregarded him with laughter as they all gathered up at one bench. At least they were distracted for the moment. Claggor was beginning to understand how hard Vi had it all of the time. He didn’t know exactly how she managed it, but he knew he had to figure it out. The first way he could see it, was to get Mylo to see who was ‘head honcho’ when Vander and Vi were gone.

It was going to be a long night.

It’s not a big deal, he thought, watching as his brother and their friends huddled deviously. I just have to take away any opportunity for them and hammer down any problems…. Should be easy. And, hoping that they would sit still for just a few minutes, he went to the bar to lock the liquor cabinets and such, and then made his way downstairs.

He made sure to be as quiet as possible making his way down the creaky steps so as to not wake his sister, but found that there was still a light on. When he ducked into the room, he caught sight of his sister hunched over one end of the table, tinkering with something.

She had bulky headphones on, the pair she had dug up from trash a month ago. They had undergone dozens of attempts of fixing before they became partly operational, and changed in design from where she had to replace the shell with her own creation. One side was a rather intricate looking self-made cat ear, while the other half was just a bulby thing of metal. She was gently bobbing her head to the music, so invested in what she was doing she didn’t see him approaching.

Claggor caught sight of a sheet of metal and her brightly colored snips before she finally noticed him and startled. As she hurried to hide what she was working on and knocking some things down to the floor in the process, he motioned to her ears. When she had the headphones on the table, atop her mess, he noticed all of the cuts and scrapes on her fingers and hands, still fresh and bleeding. No doubt from working with the sharp, thin pieces of metal. “Aren’t you supposed to be asleep, Powder?” she tried to hide what she was working on again, and did so very sloppily. “Vander and Vi are going to be angry, you know.”

“I won’t tell if you won’t.”

He smiled. That was certainly a habit she was picking up from her sister. “You know that’s not how it works.” With an exaggerated sigh, she leaned away from the table and into the sofa behind her. “Come on, get cleaned up and get to bed.”

“Ten more minutes?”

“Yea and then you’ll ask for ten more.” He was acutely aware of the tactic. She tried it on Vi all of the time. There wasn’t a bigger sucker in all the world for Powder than Vi.

“Just a little longer? Please?” Claggor gave her a square look and she puffed her bangs out of her eyes before getting up. “Fiiiine.” When she disappeared behind the curtain, into their tiny little bathroom, he heard a very familiar clamoring noise coming downstairs.

As his brother and his friends came downstairs, he gestured wildly for them to go back up, but they acted like they couldn’t see him. “Yo, Claggor, what’re you doing down here?”

“Nothing,” he walked over to try and force them back upstairs. “Let’s go back up.” Masterfully, Mylo ducked out of his hands and Roni just gave him a stern look until he moved. “Come on guys, it’s too late to be messing around down here.”

“Why?” Roni asked, already nosily digging through things on the nearby table, just near his sisters’ bed.

“Because it’s late,” he answered, frustrated. “And Powder—”

“I don’t see the snot sleeping,” Roni cut in, twirling on one foot to face him and wrap her arm through his. Claggor sighed. “So what’s the big deal, Claggs? We’re not doing anything.” In the back, Syd and Vaan were digging through the cine-disc collection by the cinescreen.

“Hey!” Claggor pushed her away, ignoring the tantrum-like way she stomped a foot to hurry over to the boys. “What do you think you’re doing? You’re not watching anything right now.”

“Oh c’mon, stop being such a bore,” Mylo said. “No reason we can’t, right?” that’s when Claggor turned from Syd and Vaan, taking the discs from them, and saw Mylo digging through the things Powder had left on the table. He quickly deposited all the discs before practically throwing himself over to his brother.

“Put that down!” Mylo was already picking up sheets of metal, with designs etched on with dark marker and dotted with holes. The designs were of some sort of bug. A beetle of some type, Claggor realized. All of the shapes of it were drawn onto various sheets and pre-holed for easier cutting. He understood immediately what it was and who it was clearly meant for, and tried to take it, but it was too late. Mylo had figured it out too, and started to laugh so hard tears began to burn in his eyes.

“You guys are so loud!” Powder complained as she lifted the curtain out of the way. She paused when she saw Mylo with her things and the recognition of what that meant colored her face. “Put that down!” she had raced over so fast, she nearly tripped. “I mean it, Mylo! Put it down!”

Mylo held the sheets higher, out of her reach, smiling. “Why? Who’d ya make it for, Powder?” Claggor could see the anger in his sister’s eyes. “Little Man?” Roni and the others were cackling like hyenas.

“So what if I did?” Powder demanded, as she pulled his arm down by his elbow and tore everything out of his hands. The sheets were all bent, that was clear even to Claggor. She couldn’t look away from all the work she had done that had been destroyed in just seconds. When she finally did turn her pale eyes to their brother, she looked furious. “You ruined it!”

This was exactly what Claggor wanted to avoid. “Guys, please, just stop. I’m sure we can—” but they were not listening to him whatsoever. The argument had started.

“Me?” he yelled. “You did that by ripping it away from me!”

“You broke them!”

“You’re confused. I’m not the dolt that breaks everything when its touched, you are.”

It was clear Powder was growing angrier, and more flustered with each exchange. “All you ever do is lie, Mylo!”

“Oh noooo, the pipsqueak of a freak thinks I’m a liar. It’s over, I’m ruined!” his friends were trying their hardest to hide their laughter by then, but were doing a very poor job of it. Powder looked so frustrated. Their little exchange of insults, so common the last few months, generally left her overwhelmed, which usually only made more room for Mylo to tease her.

Of course, he had seen many of their fights and sometimes she could deal just as bad if not worse than he could. And it seemed like tonight was one of those moments. “At least I’m not a clueless, big-headed idiot!” By the look in his brother’s surprised eyes, he knew this was escalating very quickly. Mylo hated that insult more than any other.

“Please, let’s just calm—" Claggor tried to step between them but Mylo had forced him out of the way so he could lean down to Powder’s height and stare into her eyes.

“Yea?” they exchanged the most hateful stare Claggor had seen between them in a long time. “It beats being a loser though, doesn’t it?” the other teens grew really quiet then. Even Roni went silent. It was extremely obvious to them that this argument was now very serious and they were stuck in the middle of it.

When Claggor saw the tears in Powder’s eyes, he pushed him away. “That’s enough!”

“What? It’s all fun and games.”

“No, it’s not!” This was not at all how he wanted this night to go. Why was it like herding chickens with them sometimes? He just wanted a peaceful night where he could actually not have to worry about keeping Mylo in line, or Powder from finally losing her patience with their brother. “Go back upstairs, and take them—” he stopped when Powder angrily threw her things to the floor and ran upstairs.

“Damn it, Mylo! Look what you’ve done now!”

“Me?” he asked, exasperated. “I didn’t do anything! I was just teasing her! She’s the one that lost her shit, like she always does.”

“Do you even believe the lies you tell?” that made Mylo cross his arms, uncomfortable. “God! Vander and Vi are going to kill me!” he pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to will away the growing headache.

Mylo touched his shoulder. “Ah, don’t be so dramatic. I’ll just—”

“What?” he asked, shoving him back again. “You’ll just what?” that made his brother look away. “That’s it. All of you—” he turned to his friends. “—need to leave. Now.”

Roni forced a laugh. “Yea, I think we caught that tone a bit earlier, Claggs. C’mon guys, let’s go.” She tried to leave as quickly as she could, and the boys followed after her trying their hardest not to make eye contact with the brothers.

When they were finally alone, Claggor knelt to start picking up the pieces of Powder’s things. They were unsalvageable, from what he could see. The delicate sheets were dented here and there, and some of the cut-out holes were snapping out of line and into the actual design. He was surprised by how good the drawings were, or rather, how completely different they were to her typical sort of style. The art looked like it had been taken straight out of an entomological book.

What a shame. He was sure Ekko would have loved them.

“I didn’t think…well…this would happen.”

Claggor looked up at him. “That’s the problem, Mylo. You don’t ever think about anyone or anything else.”

“Why’re you so bent out of shape?” the twiggy boy demanded. “News alert, Claggs! Powder already has a dad; she doesn’t need a second one to make her even more spoiled.”

“What? Spoiled?” how could his brother be so stupid? “Mylo, you ruined her things! Do you even know how long she spent working on it? And you don’t even care! You never know what’s going on with others, because it doesn’t involve you.”

“Damn, you don’t have to be that pissed about it. They’re just dumb little drawings.”

“You can be such an ass sometimes, you know that?” he stood and shoved the damaged pieces into his arms. “You’d lose your shit if she did this to you.”

Mylo hesitantly glanced down at the jumble of things in his arms. “Alright, alright! I’m sorry, damn. I didn’t think it was gonna be such a big deal.”

“Real good job sounding heartfelt.”

“Okay, so then tell me what I can do to make it right.” He gestured the bundle in his arms upward. “Come on, anything. Just tell me so I can do it already.”

Claggor couldn’t believe this! Vi was right! Sometimes he was just so lost in his own head there was nothing that could pull him out of it. “So I can what? Help you get out of trouble? Figure it out yourself if you’re so sorry.”

“Oh, c’mon Claggs, that’s not it. I’m sorry, really.”

“Yea? Would you still be sorry if I didn’t say anything?” the boy’s cheeks pinked and that was more than enough of an answer. “Why don’t you just lay off, just for one god damn second?” he asked suddenly. “Do you like messing with her? Is that it?”

“What?” Mylo tossed the things from his arms finally to the floor, annoyed. “That’s not it at all. I was just—” he scratched at his head and looked away. “I was just messing around, that’s all. It’s funny sometimes, you know, the way she reacts. Her face gets all red and shit.” He said that last bit with a little smile and chuckle, trying very hard to lighten the mood. It did not work.

“It’s only funny to you.”

“What? Even Vi likes to tease her a little bit. Stop trying to make it look like I’m some asshole.”

Why did he think Vi’s teasing was anything even close to what he did? Vi would tease her with scares, or with things Powder thought was gross, things along those lines. But nothing that ever made her feel bad. “Really Mylo?” That was it. If he spent another minute with him, he’d lose his own temper. “You know what, whatever. I can’t deal with you right now. Clean up the room and maybe I’ll convince Powder not to tell on you.” He wouldn’t, of course, but maybe the scare of Vi’s fury would put him in some manageable place.

“But I am—”

“Enough,” he cut in. “Enough. Just do as I said.” And then he made his way upstairs, leaving his brother standing there.

It took Claggor very little time in figuring out where his sister had gone, as it was the only room in all of the bar that could be locked. Vander’s room. She escaped there whenever she could, to keep them all out sometimes, though mostly just to escape Mylo. She would only open the door for Vander—it was a bit difficult to say no to your father and the owner of the room—and of course her sister, though whenever they had their fights, she’d refuse even her.

He knocked gently before he took a seat on the floor, beside the door. “Powder?” no answer. “It’s okay, you don’t have to talk. I just wanted to say I’m sorry, about, you know…everything.” It was only after a few seconds, when he heard a muffled noise beyond the door, that he knew she was sitting there too. “If it might makes you feel better, I’m pretty sure Vi will kick his ass if you ask her to.” He hoped a little joke might lighten her mood, but she still would not answer.

“Do you…” he could barely hear her voice through the door a few minutes later. “…do you think I’m a f-freak? Or a…loser?”

“What?” how could she even think that? “Of course not.” The returning silence made him realize how unconvincing that sounded. “I mean it, Powder. I don’t think you’re either of those things and I think you know Mylo doesn’t either. He’s just an idiot that can’t think of anything else that doesn’t revolve around himself.” Ordinarily, that might have made her laugh. The fact that she did not, made it a lot more serious. “You do know that, right?”

“Okay,” she mumbled after a short pause, with a voice that sounded far away. “Good night, Claggor.” And then he heard the sound of floor boards creaking as she moved away.

“Good night, Powder.” He whispered, even though he knew she wasn’t there anymore. He sat there for a long while, not knowing what else to do, about any of it. About their constant fighting or how to fix what just happened. And that eventually, their fights would push them further and further apart.

Claggor rested his head against the wall and stared at the cracking wood panels of the hallway walls, distracted by sudden memories of when he and his siblings were young. Of all the times he took for granted and missed so much, like when Mylo used to play with Powder or even take her out on the streets to do their begging act. He missed the nights when they would all say good night to each other when the lights when out because they were too hurt and afraid to never express something like that again. And the mornings when they would pile up at a table and fight over the last few pieces of bacon or the last of the orange juice, and no one cared when Vander made up a rule on the spot where it ended up on Powder’s plate or cup anyways.

Those days were years passed, and yet every memory and the feelings that came with it, felt fresh in his mind whenever he thought of it. Of course, those days weren’t going to come back, at least not with him just sitting about hoping they would. He wasn’t sure what he could do, but he knew he had to try. When he got to his feet, he paused by the door with the hope that she might open it and ask him to stay, but exhaled and walked away a second later.

Returning to the basement, he found it in a relatively clean state, but where he expected to find Mylo lounging about, he found that his brother had gone to sleep already. Claggor had wanted to speak with him, to force him to go up there and apologize, but of course he had to make that impossible too.

No. He would much rather await Vander and Vi upstairs than potentially deal with his brother. He was already exhausted down to his bones. He turned to go back up, when he heard a creak and then his brother’s voice.

“Claggor?”

He faced him. He was sitting up on his bed now, arms resting on his knees, looking as if he hadn’t even slept a second. “What do you want, Mylo?”

“Is she still upset?”

“What do you think?” Mylo frowned and looked away. Damn. Claggor could never stick to disregarding people, or being mean, even if he was angry with them. He was going to regret this. He went over to sit on the lower bed. “Why do you even fight with her so much?”

Mylo dropped into his bed with a groan. “It’s not like I go ‘hey, I’m gonna fight with Powder today’ or some shit.”

“Why then?”

“I don’t know,” he admitted, sounded just as frustrated about that unknown. “Sometimes she makes me angry, I guess.”

Claggor let the silence sit for half a heartbeat, and then asked, “Mylo?” he hmm’d. “Do you hate her?”

“What?” he shot up straight and then looked over the bed at him. “Why would you ask something like that?

“Do you?” he pressed.

“No! Of course not.” He threw his feet over the side of the bed. “People fight sometimes, ya know? Siblings too. I mean, even Vi and Powder fight.” There was no denying that. Claggor wasn’t even sure what started most of their fights, but sometimes it was because Powder had done something she was told not to do, or messed something up in a serious way that jeopardized them all. It never really felt like sibling fights with them though, or at least to Claggor it didn’t. It always looked like a mom chiding her kid. But he knew there was a lot more that happened that Vi kept private, and he would never even begin to understand. “I meant what I said earlier, Claggs.” His brother mumbled. “I just like to mess with her a bit, that’s all.”

“Yea, well…you need to start thinking about how she takes it.” Mylo groaned again and then dropped back into his bed, dramatically kicking his feet up like he dropped dead. “I mean it, Mylo. You guys are fighting a lot more lately and it’s not only getting on all of our nerves, it’s clearly upsetting her.”

“She’s just a kid,” he said. “She’ll forget it by, like, tomorrow.”

“So what if she does? You’re not even gonna try and say sorry?” at this point, it didn’t even matter to Claggor if his brother meant his apologies. He would take the lie given to Powder, if it would make her feel even a little better and forget for a moment that maybe, just maybe, her brother might hate her.

“C’mon Claggor, do I really have to?”

There was only one way to get through to him, or rather, force him to get over how ‘embarrassing’ it was to apologize to his baby sister. “You know…if you convince her you’re sorry, she might not tell Vander about what happened.” He didn’t say anything, clearly not threatened by that. “Or Vi.”

That made him sit back up, sharply. “You think?”

He would have laughed, if it wouldn’t have convinced him not to go. “It’ll be better than waiting for Vi to find out without even trying.”

Mylo laughed, but there was a sort of fear in it. “God, you’re right.” He exaggerated a shiver. “She can get real pissed.”

“Yep, so you better not risk it.”

“Alright, alright,” he said, refixing himself to lie down in his bed better. “I’ll apologize first thing in the morning.”

That made Claggor smiled a little, but he hid it when he stood to look at his brother. “You mean it?”

“Jeez!” he rolled his eyes and then crossed his heart. “I promise, okay? Better?”

Claggor finally laughed and reached over to pat his arm hard, causing him to grimace and flinch out of the way. “Better.” At least that was solved. Well…sorta. It wouldn’t matter he guessed if the end had the same effects, anyway. “Don’t forget,” he said again as he kicked out of his boots and laid down. Mylo groaned and rolled over, shaking the bed in the process. Claggor smiled and closed his eyes.

It felt like only a few minutes passed when he awoke to a thundering cry of surprise and a sharp hissing noise and something hitting metal. He sprang up so fast he knocked his head into the upper bed boards. The dark of the room quickly sparked on and Claggor squinted for the source of the noise, waiting for his eyes to adjust.

Mylo was dangling from the roof by his right ankle, swearing at the top of his lungs. His face was decorated in glitter and little paper-cut out faces sticking their tongues out.

“Powder!” he howled. That’s when Claggor saw his sister peek down the stairs and then burst out into laughter at the sight of their brother swinging dumbly about. She was holding her sides, unable to contain herself any longer. “Get me the hell down! Now!” It was too much to try and not laugh with Powder—her laughter was always so infectious. It only infuriated their brother even more. “Get me down, god damn it!”

“Alright, alright,” Claggor said, laughing. “Sit still.” As he began to untie the knot around the radiator at the side of the room, Mylo shot his glare across the room.

“You’re so dead, Powder! Dead! You hear me?!!”

She stuck her tongue out at him. “It’s all fun and games.” She had tried to mimic the way he spoke, and succeeded in angering him even more. When he fell to the floor and scrambled upright, Powder took off like a bolt of lightning. Mylo was after her immediately.

“Guys!" the sound of shouting and running was drowning almost every sound out. "At least don’t murder each other!” Claggor howled after them as he struggled to pop on his boots. “It’s too early for that!”

Chapter Text

The mark was the small office on the third floor. They had watched the owner leave half an hour ago, and were waiting for the prime opportunity to advance.

Mylo was crouched low, elbows resting on his knees, chewing on a rough-candy he had snatched from the market earlier. Claggor was on the other side of the roof top, sitting down but keeping a watchful eye on the few guards that lazily completed their rounds outside. Vi was leaning against the crooked fire place of the building they were on, watching the people in the other rooms of the third floor, trying to figure out when to strike.

Powder was just a foot or so away from Claggor, peaking over the pointy middle of the roof top at the hotel they were camped outside of. The target was not even a Piltovian or a Zaunite. He came from far more distant lands, and was rumored to be quite rich. Why he was here in the undercity could be any one’s guess, though. Powder found that to be the really interesting part though, rather than what they might have. Why would someone want to come here?

The last pair of guards started their rotation down the road and Vi pushed away from the chimney. “That’s the last of them. Everyone remember their job?” Mylo sarcastically saluted her and Claggor raised a hand to acknowledge her. Powder nodded, even though she hadn’t exactly been given her portion of the plan yet. “Good. Let’s do this fast and quiet, everyone.” As the others began to trot over the narrow catwalk that connected the buildings, Vi turned and pressed a hand to Powder’s chest, to keep her from following.

“Not this time, Pow-Pow. Just wait right here and watch, okay?”

“What?” she breathed. “But…but you said that—”

“I said you could come with us,” she said. “and watch.”

“I can help though, I can.”

Vi took Powder by the shoulders. “I know you want to help Powder, I do, but for now I need you to just watch and learn, from here. Safely. Okay? We will be back before you even know it.” And before she could even say anything, her sister was already following after Mylo and Claggor across the narrow catwalk. They remained crouched, so that their smaller frames were less likely to be seen.

Powder sunk back to the spot she had been before and laid down against the smoothed metal surface to watch the higher levels of buildings and catwalks, where unsuspecting people walked right by. How was she supposed to learn anything just sitting back? She couldn’t even see them! She sighed and sat up to inch her way over to the edge of the building.

She was at least forty feet off the ground. Carefully she wrapped her arm around one of the air pipes beside her and watched the bustling crowd scurry about in the market below her. Powder rarely got to experience the undercity markets, let alone at night—Vander forbid her from going unless Vi was there with her—and wanted to soak it all in.

Across the street, sitting on some buckets and chairs, were a few musicians, strumming on their guitars and beating on drums, though most of their effort was lost to the market noise around them. Down from them were the food stands, which were usually packed to bursting. A man was cleaning chickens and fish on one of the counters when she looked. Powder shuddered in disgust before roaming her eyes further down the markets.

A few stout fellows were trying to haggle a store keep on something she couldn’t quite see and just next to them, another two men. They were arguing over something in the stall, throwing angry gestures into the face of the other, eyes wide and face turning red from the efforts of their screams.

Far across from them, two Enforcers were shouting at a store keep and just passed them…

Powder sat up.

Enforcers!

She scrambled back over the pointy middle of the roof top to look at the hotel. Vi and the others were still not in sight. Panicking, she went back to the edge of the building to check on the Enforcers. They were now slowly making their way down the street, straight towards the hotel.

She drew herself back and turned for her little box she had left beside Claggor earlier. She threw the strap over her shoulder and then climbed half way over the middle of the pointy roof to look down the narrow catwalk.

“Hurry…” she whispered. And almost as if some prayer was being answered, Vi and the boys climbed their way out of the hotel room window. Claggor had a giant bag slung over his shoulder. It was nearly bursting from how much they had taken.

Vi was the first to cross, and as soon as she over, Powder could hold it no longer. “Vi, there are Enforcers on the street!”

Her sister’s grey eyes widened. “Good work Pow.” Powder smiled. “Let’s get going before they start to sniff around. Claggor, you go first.” The giant boy gave a pert nod and then slid over the pointy roof to the other side. The bag bustled and smacked into things as he slid down to the catwalk they had come from. Vi slid down next and then waved for Powder to follow suit. She carefully lowered herself down the length of the roof to them and then dropped down beside her sister. “Careful,” Vi whispered, lifting a finger to her mouth, and then she was crouch-running across the catwalk toward Claggor, who had already made it to the other side.

The catwalk creaked angrily beneath Powder’s feet as she walked. She slowed her pace, afraid. Vi was waving at her to hurry along, but Powder was too scared to move any faster than she already was. Mylo appeared a second later, swatted the back of her head and said ‘Hurry!’ before running across to the others. Worried to be the last one on the catwalk, and to potentially be left behind, she started to run after her brother. Half way to the end the strap on her box caught onto something on the railing and yanked her so hard that she was ripped off her feet and landed hard on her back. The entire catwalk shook and cried against the fall. Mylo was thrown off his footing and went right over the side, landing hard on a smaller roof top three or four feet below them.

Vi immediately rushed over to the side of the building. “Mylo! Mylo are you alright?!”

The lanky lad groaned and rolled off his side, and then swore. “Damn it…my arm…I think it’s broken, Vi.”

“Shit! Don’t move, I’ll come down to you!” Powder could only stare back at the disapproving eyes that found her in her sister. She lowered them then and focused on untangling the leather strap from wherever it was caught on. After a bit of finessing, and some strength, it ripped free from its spot, destroying the strap.

“No.” she gasped and held the severed pieces in her hands. She knew even if she tied the ends together it would not hold during a run. She got up and made her way over to where they had gathered even as Vi made it down to Mylo.

Claggor noticed her solemn look and frowned a little. “You ruined your bag?” She sighed. Today was not going well for her, and Mylo was certainly going to be furious. And she wouldn't blame him one bit for it. “You can’t carry it like that anymore, Powder. Here, let me…” he shrugged the giant bag off his shoulder and down between them. Their brother’s curt, hushed swears sawed through the bustling city noise below them in only a way Mylo could manage. He shoved her box into the bag and re-slung it over his shoulder. “There. Safe and sound.”

“Thanks, Claggor.” She would have hugged him if she weren’t afraid of accidentally knocking him off the side of the building too. She hurt one brother enough for one day.

“No problem,” he said with a smile. “Let’s see if the big baby can get up here.” He leaned over the ledge to gaze down at the two below them. “You guys gonna be able to get back up here?”

“Yeah,” Vi answered, taking a stance near the wall. She locked her hands together and then hefted Mylo up with all her strength. Claggor clasped him by his good arm and pulled him up the ledge effortlessly. Vi climbed up just a few seconds after.

As soon as Mylo was on his feet, he rebounded on Powder, grabbing her by her shoulder and shaking her the best he could in his condition. “What was that?! Are you trying to get me killed?!”

Powder reached up to grab at the arm to try and keep him from jostling her about. “I’m sorry, Mylo! It was an accident. I got caught on the—”

“When aren’t you creating accidents?” he demanded. "I could have died!"

"I know, I know. I'm so sorry! I didn't mean for—"

"You don't ever 'mean' anything, do you?!"

“Cut it out Mylo,” Claggor put a hand on his shoulder to push him back. “Things happen and she clearly didn't mean it. Get over it.”

“Things happen?” he wiggled his broken arm at them, exaggerating his facial expression in the process. “Hello! Look at me! Look at my arm!”

Vi cut between them. “We don’t have time for this!” She took Mylo by the shoulder and turned him away from Claggor and Powder, towards the opposite way. “It’s already happened and there’s no changing it now. Just keep moving. We’ll get you fixed up when we’re back at The Last Drop.”

“I wouldn’t need fixing up if it weren’t for Powder jinxing everything!”

“Enough!” Vi snapped, shoving at him to keep him walking. “I don’t want to hear another word about it.” The boy scoffed and walked away, grumbling about how he must be a cat to have all these close calls. Claggor followed after him, and in that span of time, Vi looked back at her. “C’mon Pow, let’s just get home.” Powder opened her mouth to offer another round of apologies, but clamped it shut and instead followed quietly after her sister.

They continued across the next roof top, reaching a small portion of the buildings that touched and shot off in different directions. By then, Mylo was complaining very loudly about pain and begged for just a minute or two of rest. It was clear Vi did not like stopping, but there was no avoiding it. They hunkered down on the other side of a concrete stairway exit to the building. Claggor helped Mylo down so he didn’t strain his arm any further and took a spot to his right. Vi did not sit, instead standing at the corner and keeping an eye on the way they had come. Powder went to go sit down, but when she tried her brother quickly covered the spot with his good arm.

“Uh-uh! Go sit somewhere else, you klutz.” Powder clutched at her arm and looked away before turning and going to sit at the far end, just passed Claggor. He cleared the spot for her by moving the giant bag to the end where it met with the edge of the building.

She smiled as she took the spot. “Thanks.” At least one brother wasn’t angry with her. That was something. He just smiled and leaned into the concrete to rest, closing his eyes. Powder relaxed only for a half a minute before her sister pushed away from the building and faced them.

“Alright, that’s enough. Let’s go.”

Mylo gaped. “What? It’s barely even been a minute!”

“You can rest when we get back.”

“Fuck that,” he leaned back into the building. “I’m taking the rest now.”

Her sister looked ready to explode. “I didn’t ask—”

“I said no,” he snapped. “And ’sides, I wouldn’t even need to rest if it wasn't for a certain klutz trying to kill me every ten seconds.”

Powder sat up to glare over at him. “I said I was sorry, Mylo!”

“Do your apologies fix broken arms?” she wrapped her arms around her legs and looked away. “YeaH, exactly.”

Powder tried to offer a counter, but her sister suddenly cut in. “God, do you two ever stop? I don’t care what happened right now, I just want us to get back.” She leaned down to yank Mylo to his feet, ignoring him when he began to complain. “No,” she said, forcing him froward a little. “Enough. Just get going. You can complain all you want when we get back.”

“This is so messed up,” Mylo said as he cradled his arm. “If it was Powder, you’d let her rest as long as she wants.”

Vi walked up to him, and put her face just an inch away from his. Her eyes reflected every inch of her irritation with him. Powder actually felt bad for him. “Do you want me to treat you like a child, Mylo? Is that?” when he remained quiet, she condescendingly patted his shoulder. “That's what I thought. Now get moving.” As Vi walked away, Claggor took a moment to re-organize the bag for an easier time with it before following himself. Unwilling to stick around, at least with a very perturbed brother, Powder hurried to her feet to follow after her sister. Just as she passed Mylo, he reached out to grasp her arm with his boney fingers.

“Ah, ah, ah! Not so fast, pipsqueak.”

She tugged at her arm and tried her hardest to pull away, but compared to her, his strength was like a bull. “Lemme go, Mylo!”

“I don’t think so. You’re a train wreck waiting to happen and I don’t want to be in front of you when it crashes again.” Without warning, he let her go, which nearly caused her to fall back. “This time, I’m staying at the back.” He gently pushed her forward and she stumbled a bit. “Go on, and try not to get one of us killed this time.”

Powder rubbed at her arm as she walked, keeping her eyes down and watching as the metal deck slowly passed her in half-inch gaps. She peeked back at her brother over her shoulder, and looked away again when she saw how angry he looked.

It’s not like I meant to hurt him, she thought frustrated. Like he doesn’t make mistakes…

“Powder!”

She tried to block out his annoying voice, brows furrowing as she picked up her pace. Maybe if I started counting his mistakes, he’d leave me alone about mine…

“POWDER!” Finally, she looked back at her brother, irritated at last. “WATCH OUT—” She caught the surprise on his face before she plowed right into Claggor, who had stopped short. She fell back, landing hard on the deck as he toppled over, bag flying off his shoulder and spilling some of its contents all across the deck and over the sides.  

The sound of metal and other hard objects crashing down onto the streets and various surfaces sounded like thunder. Powder was frozen where she laid, eyes wide, terror seizing her. Every sound around her slowed to a thrumming noise in her ears. The sight of Claggor struggling up and running forward and her sister standing at the end of the cat-walk, shouting, crippled her. She saw Mylo’s long legs stride passed her, but she couldn’t force her eyes to follow him.  

She was shaking when she got up and crawled toward the spilled bag. The contents were everywhere. She started picking them up and shoving back them into the bag, as sound began to return to her with a buzzing pop.

“Powder!” her sister. “Forget the bag, just run!” She could hear a commotion below her, of men shouting and feet stamping brick, but ignored it, still trying to re-bag their spoils. Her heart was racing so fiercely it felt like someone was pounding on her chest. No, no, no. Her hands were full of various trinkets when she heard the shouting behind her.

“Stop where you are!”

Powder climbed to her feet and took several steps, trying to carry the bag, before something twirled around her legs and threw her forward. Her chin smashed hard into the metal deck and her vision flashed white. The bag flew from her hands, and rolled right over the side of the cat-walk. Panicking, she rolled over to see what had dropped her and froze at the sight of five Enforcers racing toward her. She gasped and tried to undo the bolas twirled around her legs. The Enforcers were closing in fast, but she knew she wasn’t going to be able to get free in time.

“Powder!” her sister skid to a stop beside her, landing harshly on her knees. When Vi saw the bolas around her feet, she swore and pulled at the boots they were wrapped around. “Shit!” Hold on!” as she struggled to free Powder of her boots, and the bolas with them, the Enforcers were on them. One lifted his club to strike it down across Vi’s back, but Powder gasped and shoved her sister out of the way. She hit the railing hard just as the club slashed down between them, striking the metal deck with resounding force. Two Enforcers collided into him, knocking each other over. Vi took the opening and jumped to her feet, tore Powder’s boots off and then hauled her up to her socked-feet.

“Go!” Vi howled, shoving Powder in front of her. She nearly tripped, but her sister caught her again and balanced her. “Don’t stop!”

“Stop right there!” one of the Enforcers howled as he struggled to climb over his entangled colleagues. “I said stop, damn it!”

When they reached the end of the cat-walk, Vi slid to a stop and faced the Enforcers. With one kick, she smashed the lever for the cat-walk down, breaking it. It started to rapidly contract. All at once the Enforcers started screaming, holding onto the railing as the walk began to fall out below them. Several fell down onto the lower buildings, and the last few crawled up the railings back to their side.

There wasn’t even a moment to rest. The Enforcers that hadn’t fallen down to the lower buildings were now rushing down the fire escapes and headed straight for the lower connecting cat-walks—straight for them.

They were bounding off again instantly.

Vi was at the back of their little group, screaming, “Go! Go! Go!” as if any of them intended to stop or it somehow sped them up. Powder’s feet began to throb almost immediately from the sharp concrete of the roof tops flashing by beneath her, but it was nothing compared to the panic boiling inside her chest, threatening to burst free.

Claggor turned sharply around another building jutting out far above them and as Mylo raced to turn fast, he stumbled a little before disappearing around the corner. Powder was close behind, barely making the turn in time to avoid flying right off the edge of the building.

They were rapidly approaching another set of buildings, this time separated by four or five feet of open space sitting above a bustling street. And yet, as if it were nothing, Claggor leapt right across the distance without a moment’s hesitation. Mylo flew right after him and even with his mangled arm managed it quite well. He hit the roof top too fast though and then fell chest first. But as the edge grew closer and closer for her, Powder skid to a stop, breathing hard.

Vi shot right by her and jumped the distance easily, landing hard on her feet and taking only a few steps before she stopped and glanced back. Her brothers soon realized why Vi had stopped and returned too. “What are you doing?! Jump!” Powder looked at her sister and then the giant space separating them. The fall would kill her. She took a step back, shaking her head. “Damn it Powder, just jump!”

“I…I can’t! It’s too far!”

“It’s not!” she howled. “You can do it! Jump!”

Powder took several long steps back, heart racing as she eyed the great divide between the buildings that now separated her from her siblings. The longer she stared, the wider it seemed to grow. Her siblings were across the divide, eagerly gesturing for her to follow, all shouting for her to ‘just jump’. The Enforcers were trying to force themselves through the door of the stairway exit, their orders to stop resisting muffled through the steel between them.

“Powder!” Vi’s voice was desperate, afraid. It only made her waver more. “Please!”

I won’t make it! I won’t!

It’s too far!

“Jump!” her sister cried. “Powder, please! I promise I’ll catch you!”

Powder shut her eyes against the noise swirling in her head and steeled herself for half a second before opening them and running as fast as she could. Her heart was racing in her chest when she leapt off the lip of the building and towards her siblings. Time seemed to slow around her as she flailed towards them, legs kicking under her, desperate to go further when her mind began to realize she had miscalculated the jump. When she slammed into the side of the building, arms searching desperately for a hold as she continued to slide down, she gave a scream for her sister.

And just as Powder lost her hold and began to fall backwards, her sister threw herself towards the edge and took Powder’s left arm into a vice grip. The shift of weight was too much though, and Vi slid half way down the side of the building too. Just as it seemed they were both about to drop off the edge, Vi found a hold of something and howled at the weight pulling her down, bringing a great deal of pain to her shoulder.

Powder knew better than to look down—Vi had told her so many times doing so would only make your fears worse—but she couldn’t help it. And when she had seen just how far off the ground they were, and just how close they were to falling to their deaths, her stomach all but leapt up to her throat. She grabbed at her sister—at anything she could—to get a better hold.

“Mylo! Claggor!” Vi shouted, sinking another inch as she lost one of her holds and grabbed at a lower one. “I can’t hold on!”

Claggor’s face appeared over the edge then and he leaned over to hold out an arm. “Gimme your hand!”

“No!” she snapped. “Get Powder first!” they slipped even further, and Powder gave a screeching cry. Vi tried to pull them up higher, and Powder nearly lost her hold on her sister in the process. “Powder, you have to climb up to Claggor!”

“I…I can’t!”

I’ll fall! I’ll fall! I’ll fall! 

“Damn it Powder, just do it!”

Claggor leaned down to them as far as he could, to meet her half way. “C’mon, climb up!” and when she shook her head, terrified, he tried to reassure her. “Don’t worry, we got you!”

Powder fruitlessly tried to force the bubbling fear in her stomach to dissipate before she started to climb up to her brother. Vi struggled to hold on under the weight, and as soon as Powder was at her sister’s shoulders, Claggor reached with his free arm and grabbed her by her shirt and yanked her up to the top safely with complete ease. Seconds later, he had Vi up on the building too. Her sister dropped to her back, breathing hard.

Across from them, the Enforcers finally broke through the stairway and flooded the roof top. As soon as they realized they could not clear the gap, they turned back and went right back down the stairway.

Powder had dropped where she had been thrown, trembling as the last vestiges of imminent dread evaporated from her. It left her sick to her stomach, and disoriented. She leaned forward to rest her head against the concrete, waiting out the sick in her stomach.

“Get back up.” Vi was short of breath when she dragged herself back to her feet. “We can’t stop here.” When not a one of them wanted to move, too exhausted, her temper snapped. “That means now!” begrudgingly, they all got back to their feet.

Powder shakingly drew herself upright, and watched with worked breath as her brothers tiredly shifted along the roof top. When her sister walked by, Powder tensed as she awaited those all too familiar disapproving words, but Vi only pressed right on by, head hung low. “Vi?” her voice came out trembling, even as tears began to burn in her eyes. Her sister paused only for a second before continuing on.

There was nothing shared between them, nothing whatsoever. And that hurt more than a thousand demeaning comments ever could.

Chapter Text

There wasn’t a single word shared between them on their walk back to the bar. The sounds of the streets and Mylo’s attempts to quiet his discomfort were the only sounds that accompanied them.

Vi kept rolling her shoulder and stretching her neck, clearly in pain from earlier, while Claggor kept reaching up to rub at the scraps shredded across his left check and jaw, from where he had hit the deck hard.

Powder’s feet were burning so fiercely, she fought back her own discomforting sounds by biting down hard on her lip. Each step drilled pain up her legs to her shoulders, but she was determined. There was too much in the air, too much between them all that she had caused, to ever voice her own discomfort. 

She just wanted to be home already. She wanted everyone to get patched up and forget what happened while they joke and fuss over who gets to pick the next cinema. But when she looked up, at their backs, she knew how that hope was a useless dream.

It’s okay, she thought as she followed behind her sister through a passing crowd. It’s okay. They aren’t angry… she tried to slow her drumming heart. They’re not angry.

“Okay, you know what,” Mylo’s voice cut through the street silence sharply. Powder dared a peek up at her brother. They had all stopped, awaiting the oh-so-important thing that he had to say. “I think we can all agree… we don’t say shit.” He dragged his eyes across each of them, resting just a little longer on her before going back to Vi. “Right? Not a word.”

“And how do you think we’re gonna hide that?” Vi asked, gesturing to the broken arm he was cradling.

Claggor thought for a second. “What if we say we got into a fight?” he asked, raising his brows. “We all kinda look it, anyways.” There was some truth to that, beyond the more obvious signs some of them possessed. Vi and Claggor’s clothes were all dirty and scuffed, and the scraps and rashes they sustained certainly helped with that tale.

“Except one thing I gotta point out.” They all stared and she rolled her eyes, annoyed. “Vander’s not an idiot.”

“Well…what’re you suggesting?” Mylo demanded. “It’s your fault this shit even happened.”

Vi waltzed right up to him, brandishing that trademark look that dared someone to mess with her. This was going to be another fight, there was no doubt about it. They knew exactly how to push each other’s buttons. “Say that again?”

“I said it’s your fault,” he snapped. “We said don’t bring her—” Powder grimaced and took a step or two back, away from them. “—But you didn’t want to listen to us. Because Vi’s always gotta be right…always in charge!”

“What, Mylo? You wanna be leader, is that it?” she poked hard at his chest. “Huh?”

Claggor drew them apart. “C’mon, we don’t need to fight each other on this shit day, too.” Vi scoffed and crossed her arms. “Things happen. We learn from them. We get over them.”

“Oh joy, we’re saved!” sarcasm was the first sign of Mylo’s unbending anger. “Vander’s gonna skin us alive! We wouldn’t even have to get over this if the spaz—” he gestured angrily at Powder. “—would just stay at the damn bar.”

“If I have to—”

“You know it’s the truth, Vi!” Mylo’s cut in. “She’s always screwing things up, and always getting us nearly caught. I’m sick of it!”

“That’s not true, she’s—”

“How’s it not true?” he challenged. “Every job, Vi! Every. Damn. Job!” he threw his arm up, exasperated. Powder looked away when her sister’s gaze fell to her momentarily. There was too much of her brother in that stare—that look that said just how much of a failure she was. “The only time we’ve hit pay the last few months is when we don’t take her! Everything she touches turns to shit!”

Powder’s frustration nipped at her. “You’re not perfect either, Mylo!”

“Nah, I’m not perfect,” he agreed. “But I’m also not a screwup.”

Vi took a threatening step toward him, but Claggor intercepted quickly. “Okay guys, that’s enough,” he said, walking up to them. “Arguing over it in the middle of the street’s not gonna get us anywhere. We gotta deal with Vander, so…” he forced them apart by their shoulders. “Let’s brainstorm that first, okay? Then you all can tear each other apart all you want.”

Vi rubbed at her neck, still feeling the pain there, even as she said, “Yea…you’re right. Pressing shit first.” They huddled in. “Okay, so, what if we…”

And as they dove right into concocting their urgent ‘escape Vander’ scheme, all Powder could do was think on the way her sister had looked at her. She thinks he’s right. Tears stung at her eyes, because she knew he was right too. Screwup! She squeezed her eyes shut so tight it hurt. She hates me! GOOD! GOOD FOR WHAT?

FOR NOTHING.

“So it’s settled?” Claggor said, saving Powder from her thoughts by drawing her from their trap. “We just lie our asses off?”

“I guess,” Mylo agreed with a mumble. “I don’t see why I gotta be the only one that got worked over in this story, though.”

Vi gave their brother a dead-pan stare. “I don’t know Mylo, might it have something to with your arm?” Claggor bit down on his lips to hide a laugh. “And you’re always reckless in fights. It’s fool proof.”

He scoffed. “Yea, fool proof.” He nudged his head toward Powder. “But what about her?”

I can help. I can. But the words froze in her throat and all she could do was just stand there, wishing to be anywhere else but here.

“Shit,” Vi muttered, turning her stare over to Powder and just remembering her in this brilliant scheme of theirs. “Okay, okay, not a big deal.” She thought for a moment, and then smiled as if she thought of the most cunning thing in all the world. “No way Vander’ll suspect of anything from Pow. We’ll just get her to lie about it too, say she saw the fight.”

“It’s not a what?” he repeated, gaping like an idiot. “Hello! Are we talking about the same kid here? She couldn’t lie her way out of a paper bag.”

Claggor itched at his neck. “He’s got a point, Vi. Why risk it?” he asked. “Probably better if we keep her out of the bar until it’s over.”

“I…” Powder hesitated when they looked toward her. She wished they would look away. “I can do it.” Mylo rolled his eyes. “I can! I’ll…I’ll say whatever…” whatever you want me to. Please. Just don’t look at me like that anymore. Please.

“Well?” Vi asked, looking to their gawky brother. “You got a problem with this, or would you like to take our chances with Vander?”

Mylo crossed his arms. “Whatever. We’re screwed either way, at least this way the dork gets pulled in on it to when—” he stressed that part. “—it falls to shit.”

Their scheme was quickly adjusted to include Powder. Her involvement was miniscule. She was to tell Vander, if pressed, that she saw the fight. It happened at the markets, in the small alley behind Jericho’s stand. She ran off when ordered to, but saw them jump Mylo first.

It took Powder a few tries through the story before she had it hammered down, but every time she got a detail wrong, Mylo would exaggerate some movement or sound as if that expressed completely just how doomed they all were for relying on her. Even Claggor looked uneasy with including her. But all of their worried or untrusting words or staring couldn’t compare to the way her sister kept looking at her.

Close your eyes. It will go away. Away forever.

They entered the bar quietly, pushing as much emphasis on their body movements to sell that message they were hurt and exhausted. When Vander looked up from the counter, spotting them, his eyes had widened. The few patrons lingering about passed a few looks at the kids as they walked toward the basement. Everything was going according to plan.

“Hold it.” Powder was the closest to the basement when that familiar voice reached them. Vander approached them, tossing a cloth over his shoulder. They all had gone as quiet as stone as he inspected them. “You gonna tell me how this—” he gently lifted Mylo’s broken arm, causing him to wince in pain. “—happened?”

Vi took charge. “We were, just thought it’d be better to wait until closing.”

“Mmm.” He let Mylo go. “I’d rather know now.” Powder knew that tone. She had seen it used on them many times. He knew they did something. She sought out her sister and saw her just as steely faced as their father. “Call it worry.”

“It was nothing we couldn’t handle,” she said, coolly. “We got jumped at the markets.”

Vander’s eyes narrowed ever so slightly. “I see. You’re telling me you directly disobeyed me on taking your sister there so late?”

“I didn’t think it’d be such a big deal,” she answered. “It wasn’t one either, until we got dropped.”

“Where?”

Vi almost smiled, amused he tried to catch her in a lie so quickly. “At Jericho’s, in the back ally.”

He nodded and launched into a series of probing stares at each and every one of them. When his eyes dropped on Powder, she hesitated in holding his gaze. It was more than enough. He struck. “Powder?” she felt every gaze on her, and it made her feel hot. “Kitchen.” She panicked and glanced at her sister before hurrying off. She heard Vander speaking as she walked. “The rest of you, wait here.” Seconds later, the sound of his heavy boots started after her.

When they arrived at the kitchen, he jumped right into his questioning. “Tell me and tell it truly; what happened?” She tried to duck her eyes, but halfway through stopped, thinking that would convince him even more she was lying. “Powder, this is serious. Tell me what happened.”

“We…we were attacked,” she mumbled, clutching her hands together. “At the markets.” Vander’s brows raised. Oh no. No. No. No. Stupid! STUPID! “I m-meant, in the alley b-behind Jericho’s.”

Instead of crossing her with more questions, he reached over to lift her face into the light. Her chin was still bleeding from where she had fallen. “Is that how this happened then?” she couldn’t speak, so she nodded. Without moving his eyes, he asked, “And your feet?” she looked at her socked-feet hesitantly, socks stained a little with blood, before nodding. “So,” he let her go. “Someone jumped you all?”

“Yes.”

“And broke Mylo’s arm?

“Yes,” she said again, a little quicker.

“And hit Claggor?” again, she confirmed it. “And stole your boots?”

“Yes, Vander.”

“Okay.” He paused. “And was this after the Enforcers, or before?”

“After and…” and as soon as she said it, she understood what she had done. She felt tears stinging her eyes again that day and felt so foolish for falling for something so simple so quickly. The anger she felt at herself hurt so much she couldn’t speak. What did you expect? She let out a frustrated cry and dug her hands into her hair, digging nails into her scalp. YOU GOOD FOR NOTHING.

“Powder!” Vander took her into his arms and knelt, to level with her and take her arms. “Hey, hey, stop! Stop it!” he forced her arms down and brought her into a hug. “What’s gotten into you today?” He held her back a little and cupped a cheek, brushing tears away. “It’s alright, okay? You’re not in any trouble.”

She started to cry. “I b-betrayed them.” She sniffed. “I d-didn’t mean to.” Useless as always.

Vander frowned. “Powder…no. You didn’t betray anyone. I already knew.” Knowing that helped her so little. In the end, they would see it as she was the first to crack. To break their trust and be the one that got them all in trouble.

“They’re g-gonna hate me…” You deserve it. She tried to block that pain away, but it was stronger than her. Everything always was.

“No,” he said, firmer. “They could never hate you. Whatever anger they might feel will pass. It always does.” But Powder knew that wasn’t true. Somehow, a few years ago, she had done something to Mylo and turned him against her. She didn’t even know what that was, but she knew something like this was just another step towards alienating the rest of them. “Do you understand?” he pushed hair from her face. “You have nothing to worry about.”

Powder knew he was wrong. She had done nothing but mess up every little thing that day, and had to worry about the consequences.  The only solace she could take from it all, was that she too would be in trouble—and that Mylo would have to at least shut up about that.

“Alright, let’s get back.” As he moved to stand back up, he caught sight of her socks again and frowned. “Does it hurt much?” it hurt, but she deserved it. Needed it. So that she would remember everything. Vander sighed at her silence. “C’mon kid, let’s get it cleaned up and then we’ll deal with everything else, okay?”

Vander had her sit down while he dug through the cabinets and drawers for one of his emergency kits. It took only a few minutes of searching that he found it, and only a few more to help her stop the gentle bleeding and to clean them. The bandage he wrapped tight around her feet hurt much worse than the cuts had, but only briefly. He assured her it would help before he patted the spot between her shoulder blades and issued her on. 

They won’t know… she thought as they returned to where they had left her siblings. Claggor was leaning against the wall, while Mylo was hunched down, still cradling his arm. Vi was standing, arms crossed and looking at them in that same way Vander did. They won’t.

Vander spoke first when they stopped, before any of them could.  “Mylo, Claggor, Powder? I need to talk to your sister. Wait downstairs.” Whatever complaint her brothers were about to give was silenced by a smooth glance from Vi. They complied quickly, stomping downstairs. Powder waited a few seconds before following.

Downstairs, as soon as she had pulled the door shut behind her, her brothers started to panic.

“He knows,” Claggor groaned, pacing a short line just a few feet behind the sofa. “Oh man…! We’re so screwed.”  He covered his eyes. “He’s gonna make me clean those damn gutters and stalls again, I just know it.”

Powder cleared the last steps of the stairs and then her brother bounded on her, snatching up her arm to keep her in place. “You snitch on us?” she tried to ignore him and just pull away, but he tightened his grip. “Spill it, you little spaz!”

“Let me go!”

“Not until you tell us!” he dragged her further into the room and let her go between him and Claggor. She kept her eyes down, but she could feel their eyes on her. It almost felt like her skin was burning. Mylo reached over to flick her nose, hard. She yelped and pressed a hand to it. “Now, twerp!” Even Claggor was looking expectantly at her. She knew that if she tried to speak, she would give herself away immediately. She didn’t even want to try to lie. So she said nothing, wringing her hands together. “You did! You sold us out!”  Mylo kicked at the back of the sofa, and swore when he hurt his toe. 

“Did you?” Claggor asked, looking so disappointed.

“No!” she said. “It’s n-not like that! He, I mean he…he already knew.”

“Yeah, likely story! More like you ratted us out to get out of any trouble,” Mylo jabbed his boney fingers into her shoulder, knocking her to the ground. She fell to her elbows and winced at the pain. “Like you always do!”

She wanted to say so much, to tell her brother off, but she knew better. Whatever she would say, he would just twist it around back her. So shut up, just shut up.

“That’s enough, Mylo,” Claggor pulled him back roughly by his shoulder. “Even if it’s true, what’s done is done. Picking on Powder isn’t gonna change anything.”

“He’s right. It won’t.” Vander said, as he came downstairs. Her brothers shuffled into a sloppy line in front of him, but Powder stayed where she was, too ashamed to bring herself up beside them. “Besides, she’s told you the truth. She didn’t tell me a thing. Blaming her for something you should have known better about will get you nowhere.”

“But Vander—”

He raised a hand, silencing whatever Mylo was going to try to say. “I’ve told all three of you not to take her out on jobs, especially those I have not put you to, but you’re surprised you’re in trouble for doing what I said not to?"

Claggor tried to speak. “Vi said that—”

“Vi is not in charge,” his voice was that tone that set them straight, the one that sounded like thunder. “Not yet.” He sighed and brushed a hand through his hair, pushing it back. “Don’t you understand? You all could have gotten captured, or worse, killed. Your recklessness is getting out of hand these last few months and if you won’t listen to me…. maybe some time grounded to your room for a month or two will teach you better.”

“What?” Mylo was gaping like a fish out of water. “That’s no fair!”

Even Claggor tried his hand at mercy. “Vander, c’mon, please reconsider. We were just trying to—”

“I’ve made up my mind.” He said, brows furrowing and darkening them like shadows. “Claggor, go upstairs and help your sister close down the bar. Mylo, we’re going straight to the clinic and when we are back, you’re going to help your sister and brother clean the entire bar before bed.”

Powder watched that trademark way he would clench his jaw to try and hide that burdensome anger of his. “And Powder?” he pressed, and his intent was painfully clear.

She turned her gaze to their father, pleadingly. If he would just… “What about her?” Vander asked, mutedly. No. Nothing was ever that easy for her.

“What’s she gotta do?” Claggor tried to quiet him before he could go too far, but it was too late. “She was out there with us too.” he wiggled his broken arm. “I wouldn’t even have this if it weren’t for her!”

“You three are the oldest. I expect you to look out for each other, your little sister most of all, but you brought her along despite my orders not to—despite knowing better.”

“So she just, what? Gets off scot-free?!”

“Yes,” he answered simply. “And maybe it will convince you all not to do it again.” He turned halfway, to leave the stairs open and gestured. “Now let’s go.”

Powder tried to amend the situation. “But Vander, I was there and—”

“I won’t hear another word about it. I’ve made my decision.”

“Of course!” Mylo gestured wildly with his other arm, frustrated. “Powder’s spoiled again!” he stomped towards the stairs, grumbling. “Some sister…can’t even keep from ratting us out.” Claggor sent her an apologetic look before following after him.

When the doors slammed behind her brothers, she brought her knees up to hide her face in—to hide her tears. Mylo was right. She had snitched them out and if she never meant to, it still happened. She deserved just as much punishment for leaving, especially after everything that happened. That she had caused.

“Powder…” Vander’s voice was soft as he knelt beside her. “Look at me, please…”

“Why?” she mumbled into her knees. “Why wasn't I included?”

He sighed, understanding her meaning. He pulled her out of her little space, so that he could look at her. “Powder… your brothers and sister are supposed to look out for you. To set examples. To keep you out of danger, not lead you right to it.”

“How am I supposed to learn if I can’t ever go?” she asked, sniffing. “How?”

Vander’s eyes softened further and he leaned way, hands still holding her arms to keep her from curling back up. “When you’re ready to learn.” He said it as if it were the simplest thing in all the world—as if everyone but her knew that answer.

She rubbed knuckles against her nose and looked at him. “But when?”

He smiled and loose tucked hair behind her ear. “When your dad says.” Somehow, she felt that ‘when’ was never going to come. “Now,” he stood, lifting her up with him. She grimaced as full weight fell back on her feet. He said something about understanding the pain as he guided her towards her bed. “I don’t want you walking about, not with your feet like that.” when she sat at the edge of her bed without a word, he took her face in his hands and made her look at him. “Okay?”

“Yes, Vander…”

Vander smiled and brushed her bangs out of her face, smoothing it down her head. She reached up to grab at his hand, to stop him. It was something he did just to tease her, and although it irritated her a little, she found it just a little comforting. “You’re a good kid, Powder, just the way that you are. You don’t have to rush to be anything else.” He leaned down and kissed the top of her hair. “I’ll be back in a few hours. Behave while I’m gone, yeah?” and when he tried to turn, she hurried and pulled him into an embrace.

Powder pressed her face into his shirt, fighting to keep herself from crying, and thankful for the comfort he brought. She never wanted to let go, or let him leave. Don’t go, she thought, when he peeled himself out of her bear-like hold. “I’ll be back in a few hours. I promise Powder.” Don’t go, please. “Besides, you’ll be plenty fine. Vi’s right upstairs, Claggor too.” Vander said his goodbyes before clamoring back upstairs.

Powder slowly laid back into her mattress and stared at the dim lights above as the muffled voices of her sister and Vander bore through the floors for just a few seconds. When she heard the creaking of the stairs, she knew who it was and squeezed her eyes.

Anyone but her…

“Pow?” No. Her sister was the last person she wanted to see her right now, especially so soon after failing so spectacularly. She pulled her pillow over and pressed it against her face, hoping that was enough of a hint for her sister to just leave.

“Hey…” and Powder felt Vi’s hands on her knees. “Come on, don’t ignore me.” The pillow was removed half a second later, and she could see into those eyes that reminded her of home and safety and fear altogether. “You know I can be annoying, Pow-Pow. Super annoying. And if I don’t get my way, well…” she shrugged. “Whose to say what will happen?”

Powder rolled away, pressing her face into her mattress, to hide. “Go away, Vi…” please…

“Ouch! But you know what, tough. I’m not leaving,” Vi sat on the bed and then laid down beside her, shoulders touching Powder’s back. “You’ll have to drag me out or something.” Don’t talk, she told herself. Don’t talk and she’ll go…she’ll go…

It took only a few more seconds for her sister to get frustrated with the silence, and her lack of progress. “Is this about today?” she asked. “Powder…you know I’m not mad at you, right?”

It was too much to keep back anymore; she started to cry. “Yes you are.” She sniffled and rubbed a hand against her tear-stained cheeks. “You couldn’t even l-look at me…”

“What?” Vi said it with a little laugh. “I’m not angry with you. And if I was, I think I’d know it being, you know, me.”

“Even after everything I did?” Powder asked, sitting up.

Her sister’s eyes held her. “After what?”

Powder stared, confused. “I—I ruined everything.” she insisted. “And…and I couldn’t even help with Vander…”

Vi smiled, amusement dancing in her pale eyes, and leaned back into the mattress again. “Vander already knew…he probably knew as soon as it happened. I don't know how he does it," she laughed. "You didn’t ruin anything.”

“But I lost your haul.”

 “Yea, you did…” Vi shrugged and sat back up. “But so what? We’ll figure something out about the money soon, so don’t worry about it.”

“What…what about Mylo?”

“What about him? He’s still up and complaining our ears off, so nothing’s really different.” Vi laughed when Powder drew her into a hug.

“I’m sorry.” She held tighter to her sister. “I’m so sorry.”

“Pow-Pow, enough of that,” she said, tightening her embrace. “You don’t gotta apologize for anything, okay? Shit happens. To everyone.”

“I’ll do better next time,” she promised. “I’ll—I’ll help and I won’t mess anything up. I swear.”

That’s when her sister gently plied herself out of the hug. The amusement that was there earlier had quickly evaporated into something that looked an awful lot like the looks Vander gave sometimes. “About that, Powder…we should talk.”

She didn’t like that tone. “About what?”

Vi rubbed at her sore neck again, looking away, at anything but her. “Vander was pretty angry about you being with us...”

Oh no. No. She doesn’t mean… “What does that mean?” she asked, even though she had her suspicions. “Vi, what does that mean?”

Finally, her sister returned the look. “We’re gonna have you stay back for a bit.” Powder’s eyes widened. “But look, it’s only for a little while, okay? When you’re ready, he said you can come out with us. He promised it. And I’ll help you every weekend, however I can. We’ll even go through the markets, across our regular paths…everything. It will help convince Vander. I promise.”

Powder felt that frustration and pain rearing back up, swirling violently in her stomach. “I’m ready now. I am! I can do it Vi, I can.”

“I know you can,” Vi said softly, just as Claggor’s voice came downstairs, yelling for her to help him. “You can do anything you put your mind to, Powder. I know it.” She reached over to pinch her nose and wiggle it a bit, smiling. “I believe in you, but you need more time. That’s all.” But all that sounded like, was that she couldn’t do. That she wasn’t ready, and wouldn’t be for some time. “And when you are ready, I just know you’ll be teaching us a thing or two.”

“Vi!” Claggor howled after her. “Come on! I’m not doing this by myself!”

“Alright!” she snapped back, standing. “I gotta go, but I’ll be back later and we’ll talk. I swear.” She leaned over so she could touch their foreheads together. “Remember what I said, okay?” but when she looked away, Vi sighed. “I’ll see you in a bit, Powder.” When she heard the door close softly behind her sister, Powder lifted her eyes and stared after her, confused by the anger and grief thundering within her chest. She knows I’m useless… but she won’t say it.

She won’t ever say it.

But Vi’s eyes had said it all and reflected every inch of her brother’s vicious words. The accusations of being the group’s bad luck—the screwup. In those grey eyes, the very eyes Powder saw the world in, there were lies morphing into empty truths.

Screwup… she tried to calm herself with deep breaths, as Vander had taught her, but each attempt hurt so bad. They all think it.

Powder fought every ounce of the part of herself that begged her to run away, like it always did, to go hide somewhere until it all blew over and everyone forgot about this latest misstep of hers, until those grey eyes no longer burned to look at. But she knew there was nowhere she could run off to in order to hide from herself. She was stuck. Stuck with the overwhelming burden of herself and just how little she could even do.

She pulled her pillow from its spot and crushed it to her chest, breathing hard. Mylo’s right…that’s all I am…

But it wasn’t how she wanted to be. She wanted to do everything they could. She wanted to be there when they were happy and no longer be the reason they were angry or upset. To be part of the reason the bar—and their lives—went forward. She wanted, just once, for her sister to feel proud of her. To be able to help her, for once. But it couldn’t be. She couldn’t be. She was just a shadow of something not worth even being there, like a misshapen puzzle piece trying to force itself into a shape it couldn’t be.

Powder pressed her face into her pillow and screamed her sobs into it, until her throat burned, wishing to be a thousand miles away.  

Chapter Text

Ekko came downstairs, arms full with a snuggly wrapped bundle, and heard the argument long before he could even see it.

“It’s been days!” Vi’s voice. “When are you going to let it go?!”

“C’mon Vi! She snitched on us!”

Ekko quieted his steps as he came to the end of the stairs and peaked into the basement. Vi and Mylo were were standing rigid before each other, about a foot apart, and looking ready to bring a conclusion to the argument via a fist fight. Mylo’s right arm was encased in a cast.

Claggor was nowhere to be seen.

“I don’t care what she did,” Vi shoved him back and he bumped into the sofa. “You don’t get to talk to her like that Mylo, not ever!”

He stood up, almost warily. “Yea, well…maybe some of us are sick of you and Vander letting her do whatever she wants!” he looked so angry. “And maybe we’re sick of you always doing whatever you want, without involving us.”

“Some?” she shoved at him again. This time he did not lift away from the sofa, but his glare was still held. “You mean just you!”

“Claggs didn’t seem too happy about any of it, either!”

“What was she supposed to do?” she challenged him. “Vander took her aside, already knowing the truth. And besides, even if he didn’t know…we shouldn’t have involved her in the lie in the first place.”

“Why can’t the little spaz learn to lie, then? It’s about time for her to, anyway!”

“No,” Vi said, annoyed. “She didn’t even tell him anything. You’re getting mad at her for something she didn’t even do, Mylo. Lay off, for once! She’s just a kid.”

“Just a kid, huh? When’s that excuse gonna burn out?” he said. “We were kids too, and we could do it.”

“That’s different, we weren’t like her.”

He scoffed. “Yea, of course not. We weren’t useless.”

Ekko’s eyes widened when Vi raised a fist to hit him and then quickly and frustratingly kicked the sofa instead, before turning away and leaning against the post of her bed, very clearly trying to contain her anger.  Mylo’s cold, angry stare just continued to follow her. “You know I’m right!”

“I can’t deal with you right now!”

Ekko hugged the bundle tighter against him in an attempt to restrain his anger. He wanted to run out and kick Mylo so hard he’d cry, but he knew he couldn’t. That he shouldn’t. And that if he did, Mylo would just use it as an excuse to tease and jab at Powder even more. Angrily, he backed out of the staircase carefully and quietly, heart pounding against his chest and thoughts racing with ideas on how he could get back at the dumb big brother of his best friend.

Upstairs, he sat the bundle down into one of the cubby cabinets behind the bar and peaked into the other room for the great owner himself. The kitchen was empty. Ekko made his way upstairs and checked all of the rooms, but they too were empty. With nowhere else to look within the bar, he climbed his way up to the roof. When he threw the door open and peaked out, he caught sight of his friend sitting near the ledge of the roof.

As he approached, he heard her soft crying and paused a foot or so away. “Powder?” she froze for half a second before clutching herself tighter. He hadn’t seen her like this in weeks. He knew whatever Mylo said to her must have been bad. He quietly took a seat opposite of her and waited a few seconds before looking over at her.

Her face was pressed against her knees, and her hair covered much of her face, but he could still see the red around her eyes and the tears, even when she tried to hide them and herself from his view.

Ekko did not say a word. He knew that if she felt comfortable talking about it, she would talk first. That was something they shared, that they understood about each other. Not to press something sensitive, but to wait on the other and be there even if they never felt ready. Instead, he reached out to take her right hand from its death-hold on her legs and held it.

For a long moment they shared in that quiet together. Her sniffling was just one of the many undertones of the city noises in that moment, but it was all that his attention latched onto. It was like an ember burning a hole through a piece of fabric, eclipsing everything else.

I wish I could make everything better for you, he thought as he tried to force his gaze to stay ahead of him and not on her. Lately, she could not stand it when people really stared at her. It unnerved her. She never had to say it to him, but he had figured it out quickly when she’d turn her eyes away from them as if it burned her. Even sometimes when Vi looked at her, she would avoid it and look as if it hurt her. That worried him the most.

Some nights he would stay up and day-dream about asking her to run away with him, and think on all of the things they could do if they had. All of the new sights and experiences, without any of the people that stressed her out. Ekko would take her to Bilgewater and show her real pirates! He would even take her all around the world just to show her real magic, not the cheap tricks on the streets of Zaun. And in those dreams, it was just them, always. She would smile and laugh every day and he would scare her every morning with the fake bugs she hated so much. And at night, when everything was settled down, they would lie down beneath the stars and make up funny names for the constellations and he would tell her all sorts of stories to help her fall asleep.

But they were just dreams, and dreams were never going to help her, or make anything better for her. It was just childish of him to hold onto them, expecting things to work out so magically. And yet, that realization didn’t stop him from desperately wanting it.

“It’s okay,” he told her softly and her grasp on his hand tightened. He didn’t know exactly what happened, but he knew that whatever it was, it was bad. “Mylo and the others…well…” he struggled for the right word to soothe her.

 There really were so many ways to describe Mylo, but he didn’t feel right saying it to her. He was at times a colossal jerk and incredibly rude, but he knew she still loved her brother, despite it all. She doted on all of her siblings after all, even if she mostly hung on Vi’s words the most. And he knew that without a shadow of a doubt, because he had seen her ask Vander to get her brother’s favorite snacks and soft pop while they were out at the markets, or seen the way she would sometimes throw a match at the arcade to make him feel better.

And although sometimes Ekko wanted to kick the teenager between the legs himself, he knew that her brother felt the same way. Because just as he did with Powder, he had also seen the way Mylo could be with her and others. The days he'd see Mylo stealing fruit or candy for her, or the times he would help her reach higher parts of buildings and walls by letting her stand on his shoulders.

Ekko wondered if that was what it was like, to have siblings. To fight so harshly but still love each other beneath it all.

“He’s right,” she mumbled, taking her hand away to rub stubbornly at her eyes. “I can’t do anything right and I…I just make things worse.”

“That’s not true!” Ekko insisted. “Just because you can’t do what he can do, doesn’t mean you can’t do anything right.” Powder finally lifted her head a little from her knees to look at him. “It’s true. You do so much other stuff Powder—way cooler stuff!”

“But they—”

“It doesn’t matter what they say,” he cut her off. “Especially Mylo! He’s just a big-headed jerk sometimes.”

She rubbed knuckles against her nose and smiled tiredly through a waning frown. “His head is pretty big…”

Ekko smiled at the peep of his friend showing through that grief. “The biggest head in all of Zaun.” That made her laugh, and brought back more of that Powder-like spark back to her eyes. He would do whatever he had to make sure it stayed, for as long as possible. He leaned back onto his hands and nudged his shoulder into her, to rock her a little. “Was Vander very angry with you guys when he found out?”

Her shoulders sagged and she rewrapped her arms around her legs to press her forehead back against her bony knees. “Not with me…” she sounded embarrassed to be admitting to that, as if it was worse that she also wasn’t in trouble for whatever it was that happened.

Ekko might have guessed that. Whenever they put themselves into serious trouble, or they dragged her along despite knowing Vander was against it, it always meant a very angry barkeep. And to Vander, it made no sense to punish the kid for the irresponsible behavior of the teenagers. Of course, Mylo would often crack out jokes that she was a ‘suck-up’ and a ‘teacher’s pet’ or just very spoiled, and that would just make matters so much worse.

It usually took something pretty big for Vander to wrangle intelligence out of Powder on her siblings though, or at least to make Mylo that angry. Now Ekko was worried it was hurting her more than she was letting on. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“What’s there to talk about?” she mumbled, leaning her face into the comfort of her arms atop her knees. “They think I snitched and now they all hate me…”

“Powder, come on…” he placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. “That’s not true. They don’t hate you. They could never hate you.” I’d never forgive them if they did, he thought, watching the way her eyes focused on something off the side of the building. She was trying so hard not to let the tears go. It was always a hard job to convince her of that when her siblings acted like typical moon-brained teenagers, as they were always so oblivious to what they made others feel around them. It made Ekko dread that he was near that age himself. Is that what he’d turn into?

She pressed her face into her arms yet again and said, “They think I’m useless…” her voice was muffled, but he could hear the grief. The edge of it being so close to a sob. “I know that I am, but…but I’m trying not to be.” she struggled to keep her voice even. “I really am.” and with that, she lost the fragile control she had maintained. The sob had broken free. “I don’t want to be this way…”

Ekko reached over to pull her into a hug. She wrapped her arms around him immediately and let her cries go at last. “You’re aren’t useless, Powder.” You could never be. In that moment, all he wanted to do was express all of the things he felt for her and all of the things he knew was true about her. That she was strong and smart and brave, in all the ways others wished they were. That her trying even despite her fears, and her failures, is what made her braver than her siblings.

He wanted to tell her that he admired her so much that she was part of the reason he kept learning and working on his gadgetry. Because no matter how many times she fell, she always got right back up to try again. Even when others knocked her down, over and over again.

To him, that made Powder the coolest person in all the world.

“You aren’t!” he insisted. “They’re all just big, dumb teenagers!” to mark his point even better, he made exaggerated movements mimicking some of the body signs her siblings did. She laughed a little at that. Somehow, her laugh always managed to take the edge off his own grief and he would cherish it forever. For the friend he never wanted to let go of and for the girl that fluttered about in his heart and mind like a little bird.  And for the constant presence of her friendship soothing him, he wanted to make sure to provide the same sort of comfort for her.

He got to his feet, and held out his hand. “C’mon, let’s go.”

Powder knuckled away at her tears. “Where?”

He gave her a bright smile, the one that became trademark of him, and pulled her up to her feet. “It’s a surprise!” he tugged her towards the ladder when she hesitated. “C’mon, you’ll love it, promise.”

Together, they made their way downstairs to the first level of the bar. It was still empty. Vander wasn’t even back yet, wherever he had hurried off to. It only made Ekko more curious as to what happened, but when he saw the way Powder looked towards the basement, he didn’t want to ask. He hurried to where he stored the bundle earlier and then gestured with his head for her to follow him outside.

Ekko led her around the side of the bar, where he had tucked his disc-runner against the piping of the bar. Quickly, he sat aside the bundle and then tore the multi-patched tarp off with a grin, expecting that Powder-like excitement when she saw the surprise. But instead, she went over to kneel beside the disc-runner, to touch the shiny new golden motor installed behind the battery. “You found one…” she said, at least sounding a little amazed. “When?”

No. That certainly wasn’t very Powder-y of a reaction. He tried not to let the worry of that cloud his face when he went to kneel beside her. “A few days ago.”

She looked over the new part again, brows furrowing. “In Zaun?”

“I wish!” he laughed. “It woulda been better to crawl through the dumps than cross paths with the Pilties. Nah, I lifted it off a mechanical shop top-side.” He tapped a finger against a part of the battery where the serial and brand name had been imprinted once, but it was now sanded down so much it was indiscernible lettering. “Even personalized it and everything.” He thought that would earn another laugh, but when it didn’t, he grew anxious. “It’s even faster now!” he pressed on. “Do you, uh, wanna join me? For a spin?”

Powder laughed as she stood. “Definitely!” another laugh! Finally! He was beginning to worry that he was searching for the impossible, and that he wouldn’t be able to take her mind of her troubles. It allowed him to relax, if only by a little bit.

They worked together to unchain the disc-runner from the pipes and guide it back out of the ally. Just as they got it onto the brick road, Ekko remembered the bundle and leaned down to pick it up from where he left it.

When he got back, Powder was fixing the affixed flags at the back of the runner. “I almost forgot!” she looked up at the sound of his voice. “Here, I brought this over for you.” She took the bundle from him hesitantly. “Don’t worry, it’s not a scare. Promise.” Though he realized that might have made her feel a little better, after she chided him for it of course.

Powder smiled before she undid the knot at the top. He waited nervously for her reaction, as he had spent hours at the market the other day looking for just the right one, with all the qualities she found ‘perfect’. Her eyes sparkled when she saw the overstuffed teddy. Ekko wasn’t quite sure what it was, but it did look a little like some sort of lizard and it was the ugliest looking thing he had ever seen.

And despite its obvious flaws, she giggled and squished it in a hug. “It’s so cute!” she pulled him into an embrace too. “Thank you, Ekko!” she pulled away from him just enough to create a gap between them and then asked, “What’s his name?”

Ekko laughed. “I’m not any good at names, y’know? You oughta name him.”

She chewed her bottom lip as she thought. “Okay!” she was absentmindedly pressing in one of the eyes of the weird lizard teddy, thinking. Something must have clicked, because her smile grew wide and she pressed the ugly thing possessively to her chest. He couldn’t help but notice the devious shine to that smile. “I have the perfect name for him!” but without even letting him in on what she picked, she tucked the ugly teddy onto the rear rack and tied it in so it wouldn’t get lost.

He knew she would clue him in on it eventually, she had this strange pattern sometimes, so it didn’t bother him not to know. If it worked in making her even a little happy, it would be worth it anyways to never know.

“Okay, get on!” he said, reaching to hold the disc-runner upright for her. He waited until she was on before he climbed onto his post in front of her. “Ready?” Ekko wanted to be gone before her brothers or sister showed up, to ruin everything. He revved a little, not intending to actually go yet, but she gave a gasp and wrapped an arm around his neck.

“Wait! Wait!” the arm tightened more. “I’m not ready!” He laughed and let off the acceleration. It immediately calmed her so she could go back to finding a more suitable sitting position on the rear rack. One of these days, he would get one that was larger and put something on it for safety and comfort. Just so it would be easier for her.

Powder patted his shoulder a few seconds later as a sign she was done and shouted, “Go!” from behind him. He answered that by revving the runner hard and roughly spinning it around, to face the opposite way. With a sudden yank of speed, they were off.

With all the practice under his belt, he easily sped around people that lingered in the streets and right by hopeless Enforcers, completely confident in the fact that he would never crash or be caught—not ever if Powder was with him!

“Can we fly?!” she asked just beside his ear. Ekko couldn’t make his little disc-runner fly, but he would sure try to!

They were going so fast now that everything was blurring around them, amassing into large swaths of multi-colors of neon and darks, lost in the same breath of time and excitement as them. The air was searing his face now and his lips dried so fast, but he couldn’t stop smiling when he heard her excited cry. Speeding up even more, to the limits of his disc-runner, her arm gripped around his neck and pulled back, fingers digging into his flesh for a better hold as the tiny vehicle raced to a speed they had never before gone.

They drew over a bump in the street and for just a few heart beats they were airborne. Powder’s girlish laughter of delight erupted behind him and he felt her fingers dig even deeper into his shoulders. As the disc-runner landed back on brick, she gave a shriek of exultation and extended one arm out, to let the wind whip at her. Her other arm was still wrapped in a death-grip around his neck, pulling him back ever so much.

This was the Powder he wanted to help maintain, the one that just for a second forgot about everything that was wrong and all of the things that hurt her. In the moment, happy. Excited. The weird girl that he had met long ago and decided immediately would be his friend for life. And he would give anything to help her be happy forever. Anything and everything. And one day, he would. He would help make Zaun the kind of place where she didn’t have to be like her siblings—a place where she could be herself and no one would want her to be different.

Maybe then, his dreams wouldn’t be needed.

They were rapidly approaching the end of his allowed use of the bike, at least with Powder onboard, so he dropped their speed considerably, until at last the speed was gentle and soothing. Even so, she had held on even tighter and was now pressing her face against the side of his, eyes pinched shut. Even with his face chilled to the bone, he could feel the warmth of her tears against him. And it alarmed him. He thought this would be enough of a distraction to mend her heart even a little, but had he just made it worse?

Ekko tried to pull over, so that he could help, but she protested. “Please...” he knew what she meant and felt unable to deny such a small request. He continued through the cobbled streets, even as it grew more and more vacant as they climbed higher into the city, closer to the openness that lingered above Zaun like a scar. He kept on going, until the light of day started to draw closed behind the outlines of that opening and the moon crept up over its horizon. By then, he knew he couldn’t keep driving, if only for the fact that if they went any further, it would be a long return.

“Powder?” he called back to her, pulling the disc-runner over to the curb. “We should probably head back…” it was already late enough that he would undoubtedly hear shit from Vi and Vander, but he especially didn’t want her to hear it. The iron-clad hold around his neck finally let up and as she leaned away, the disc-runner shifted ever so slightly. He glanced into the little mirror at his left and saw her eyes skyward. “Powder?”

Her eyes focused on him through the mirror then. “A few more minutes!” but before he could even say a word, she already began climbing off her seat and racing toward a fire escape leading up to a ratty old building.

“Wait!” he gasped, struggling out of his position. The strap for his seat pulled him back in his haste, as he had forgotten it. “Shit, wait Powder, wait!” he finally got the belt undone and with a yank, took the disc-runner’s key and followed after her.

By the time that he made it to the roof, she was already sitting down, staring up at the starry sky. Ekko took a deep breath and walked over. “Is this what you wanted to see so bad?” he took a spot beside her and joined in the night watching. It looked as if someone had splattered dots across a black cloth. It was unmistakably beautiful. She hmm’d. “Don’t you and Vi come up here all of the time?” he remembered her talking about it a few times. About how they made regular trips to the surface, so that they could spend all night watching the moon slowly move across the sky. She would excitedly recant how they would stuff their faces with candy and drinks, and that Vander would scold them endlessly whenever they got back.

“Yeah,” she mumbled. “Sometimes…” she sighed and laid back gently across the rooftop. “She’s busier now, though.”

Oh. Now he understood. “Well…” he laid down beside her, leaving just an inch or two of space between them. “…if you want, I can take you up here more.” But he would have to clear it with Vander and Vi first. The last thing he wanted to do was enrage those two. They could be so overtly protective of her sometimes.

Powder looked at him then with that bright smile he adored so much. “Really?” he nodded. “I’ll hold you to it then, Little Man!” And then she turned her eyes back to the stars, and he followed suit.

For a long time, they remained together in silence, watching the waning light give more way to the night sky. Ordinarily he hated silence. The stillness of a room would feel like something was choking him, forcing his mind to focus on how alone he was without others. Somehow though, with Powder, it didn’t seem so bad. Sometimes in that silence, he learned so much about her and other times, he felt like he could see her thoughts burn in her gaze or in the way that she moved. And that just meant getting to know her better, and he would always be happy with that.

Suddenly, the silence was broken. “Ekko?” he turned his head to look at her, nearly bumping her because of how close they were. “What do you think it’s like? Up there?” he followed her gaze above, to the sea of stars illuminating the sky in a beautiful array of colors. The moon hung above them a full coin of silver. It looked so big that it gave the illusion he could reach up and snatch it from its place.

He never really spent all that much time thinking about space or the stars, or anything else that slept beyond their sky. He was more curious about the things that lived or worked on the planet. “I don’t know,” he admitted, but remembered something he had read somewhere. “Quiet and really cold, I guess.” There was a soft sigh then, and he wondered if somehow his answer displeased her. “Why? What do you think it’s like?”

She smiled and looked at him. “I’m okay with cold, or quiet.” Yes, that seemed to fit her right, or so he thought. “Do you think people will go there, one day?”

“To space?” he asked, still watching the starry sky with just as much attention she was paying it. She mmm’d, sounding tired. “Yea, I think so…probably way after us, though.”

“I hope not,” she mumbled softly, yawning just half a breath later. “I want to fly to the moon someday, and see what it all looks like from there.” There was just a second’s worth pause. “Do you think it looks pretty there, the sky?”

Pretty? Ekko finally looked over at her. The dark made it difficult to see her very clearly, but the gentle illumination from the moon provided just enough for him to see her eyes. He couldn’t imagine a place prettier than under the light besides Powder, where he could see it reflect so prettily in her eyes, but he supposed that if the light could reach places in space, it would be pretty just for that. “Yea,” he whispered. “It’ll be pretty for sure.”

Ekko watched her for a long moment and couldn’t help the overwhelming desire to never leave their spot on the little rooftop, so that he could always have that smile and those eyes just a gaze away. He suddenly wondered if that was wrong of him, to think that way, to want her smiles and happiness all to himself. But he couldn’t help that flame in his heart that hung on every look, every smile, every laugh…

“Okay,” she said, disturbing the quiet. “Then I definitely want to see it one day, if it looks anything like this.”

If that was what it took to make her happy, he would do it. Whatever it took! He sat up, feeling suddenly strong enough to lift the moon itself. “I’ll fly you to the moon then!” she looked at him, with all the surprise in the world dancing in her eyes at his sudden outburst. “I mean it! I’ll fly us between the stars and straight to the moon!”

And when she only stared at him, he felt his cheeks burn and looked away, embarrassed. That was definitely cooler sounding in his head than spoken aloud. She must think I’m an idiot now…

But instead of the teasing or the ridicule his self-destructive thoughts expected, he felt her hand touch his. He faced her, despite his thoughts warning him to flee. She was sitting up now. “Do you promise?” she asked, and he stared hopelessly into her starlit eyes, thoughts whirling. How could any girl be this pretty?

Ekko swallowed hard. “I promise, Powder.” He was afraid the words had left him brokenly, and wanted to flee yet again to avoid the embarrassment, but the way she held his gaze kept him frozen in place.  

She gave that soft smile of hers and then hugged him, squeezing her boney arms around him in such a strong way that it seemed completely unnatural of her. “Thank you,” she mumbled against his neck and he could feel the tears cooling against his skin.

“For what?” he asked, his voice so low he wasn’t even sure he spoke.

“For being my friend,” she answered just as quietly, with a voice that was trembling just as much as his heart was. He closed his eyes and returned her embrace with just as much ferocity, wanting to never leave the warmth of it.

How could she thank him for something like that? Of course they were friends! He couldn’t imagine a day without her. And yet, despite the obviousness of it, it still made his heart sing all the same to hear it.

“I’ll always be your friend, Powder.” He pressed his face into the crook of her neck, feeling tears burn in his eyes now. “Forever.”

Chapter Text

Vi was wrapping her arm with new tape when she heard her sister’s annoyed sigh. When she looked up, she saw Powder fiddling with her hair. She laughed and got up.

“Hold up Pow, I’ll help.”

Powder smiled and handed the brush over with a thank you and Vi took a seat beside her to brush her hair. When she smoothed her sister’s hair down her back, it reached to almost the end of her shoulder blades. When had it gotten so long? It felt like it was just a few months ago it barely reached passed her ears. No wonder it took her so long to braid it now.

“You know, Powder…” Vi stopped brushing for a second, a little annoyed by how long it was taking. “I could cut your hair, make it easier to deal with.” The day Vi cut her own hair was like a breath of fresh air. Having not to deal with it constantly every day took a lot of irritation out of her day. But Powder shook her head. “Alright,” she continued brushing for a minute more or so, and then dove right into the work.

Vi had a lot of practice with the art of plaiting over the years. She used to help her mother braid her hair and then did her own, and then went right to helping and teaching her little sister. It was years of it, but she didn’t mind; the work was easier now and having that moment or two with Powder made up for it all. And in these little moments of silence, while she brushed or braided her sister’s hair, she would see their mother in that dopey little face and in that hair. When she thought about it then, it made all of the more difficult parts of being an older sibling easier to deal with.

And ‘difficult to deal with’ was more often than not an understatement with her siblings, especially with her sister—who would become moody and difficult to talk to or discern, or got out of control with her antics and behavior. But even then, despite all of the troubles, it lifted her spirits to have the time they had between them, good or bad.

And just like that, the moment was gone, and all she wanted was to have it back. She looked at the completed braid; a kempt knot of three, and then deftly undid it all. Powder glanced back. “Done yet?”

Vi said, “Sorry Powder." she reached for the brush again. "I messed it all up. I’m just gonna have to redo it.” and then she smiled as Powder turned back around so she could continue. Alright, so maybe dealing with her sister's hair wasn’t so annoying after all.

Chapter Text

A creak by the stairs drew Violet’s attention. She looked up from bowl of snacks toward her little sister. She was standing by the end of the stairs, one arm looped around one of the beams to the railing. Her little hair fell messy down to her ears, held up out of her face with various ribbons but failing miserably at their job. In one hand, she dragged her earless teddy across the ground by its arm.

“Oh, hey Powder, c’mere.” She patted the seat beside her and smiled when her sister raced over to the spot. “We’re gonna sit down and watch a cine-disc, snacks and everything. Wanna join?”

She was clutching her earless teddy to her chest now. “Vi?” she mmm’d over a mouthful of caramel popcorn and peanuts. “…is Vander our dad now?” that made her almost choke on her food. When she cleared her throat, she looked at her sister again.

“What? I…why are you asking?” Vi hoped the kids from before hadn’t been bullying her and Ekko again, or she was going to have to have a few words with them again.

“Is he?” she asked again, and even Vi could hear the frustration in her voice. She shifted, uncomfortable. It had been a year and a half since they came to live with Vander and the thought had crossed her mind many times, to the point that she and her brothers out right asked once. Vander had smiled and said ‘Well, I hope so, ‘cause you’re my kids now’.

Vi never thought about how her sister might have wondered about their new dynamic. She just assumed her sister was too young for it all, that she would just assume they were all a family, but she realized how stupid that was of her now to disregard. Since Powder so easily accepted Claggor and Mylo as their brothers, why wouldn’t she think about what part Vander played in it? Especially since she seemed so attached to him already?

Vi put the bowl down and drew her legs up under her as she turned around on the sofa to face her baby sister. “Do you want him to be?”

“Maybe…” she mumbled, picking now at the frayed pieces of yarn poking out of her teddy’s head. That ‘maybe’ was really a ‘yes’. “He’s nice…” That was certainly true. Vander looked all mean and scary and sometimes they could see him argue with patrons or with others and that was scary too, but they knew he was a softie. Vi knew it especially, as she had seen him try his hardest to spoil Powder silly with snacks and toys every chance he could.

Vi smiled and reached over to brush some hair out of her sister’s face. “Then he’s dad.”

There was a moment of quiet before she spoke again. “Vi?” another pause. “…can I call him dad?”

That was something she knew was not something she could answer in the way her sister wanted. Vi had settled on calling Vander by his name, but she wasn’t about to tell her sister how to address him. “If that’s what you want to do, you can.” She already knew Vander wouldn’t mind, and she half expected him to be thrilled if Powder had started calling him ‘dad’ out loud—even if he might try to hide it.

“Okay…”

With that done, she reached for her bowl again but noticed that her sister fussing about with her teddy again. She was clearly not at ease yet. Vi leaned back into the sofa and knew exactly what was bothering her sister. Sometimes, even if rarely, it was so easy to read her. “Do you wanna go ask Vander if he wants to join us?”

Powder climbed off her spot hastily and raced up the stairs without a word. Vi laughed and reclined back into her spot with a smile. It took only a few minutes for her brothers to return and minutes after that for Powder to return dragging Vander by his hand downstairs. The sight of it made her and her brothers laugh.

Their new family wouldn’t ever replace the one they all had lost, nothing ever could, but with moments like these, Vi knew without a doubt; this was her family now and once found, she would give everything to protect it this time.

Chapter Text

“No.” he said with all the finality he could muster. The eyes that stared back narrowed at him at the same way their fathers always did. Mylo crossed his arms, defiant. “No.”

“We could—”

“No.” he cut his sister off quickly. “I am not watching her!” he unfolded his arms to jab at her chest. “It’s your turn and my day free! ‘sides, why should I?” it was not every day that Vi came to him with a favor, so he had to play this right. If he could manage it, he’d be able to walk away with one hell of a sweet deal.

She looked so annoyed. “Because I’m your sister?”

“Yea, no, not a good enough reason.” He wasn’t sure why she wanted this so bad today, but if it was this important to her, it only meant he could finagle a bit more out of it. “Why’s this so important, anyway?” she rubbed at her neck and turned her eyes away, and it annoyed him a little to notice how close her mannerisms were to their father.

So, she wasn’t going to say? Now this was getting real interesting. The only way now to get her to explain, was to point out he was her only hope. He tried to hold back a smile as he spoke, because he knew he had her. “Just get Claggor to do it.” That wasn’t going to happen of course, he had left with Vander an hour earlier.

“He’s already left with Vander, you know that.” she said. “Come on…what do I have to do to get you to agree?”

Mylo could tell she was desperate now. “You really need help?” she nodded, looking every bit irritated that she was asking him for help as he knew she was. She hated asking for help for things like this, if she could help it. “Fine, but on two conditions.”

She sighed. “What?”

“I wanna know why you’re ditching Powder on me—” that made her gaze narrow, angry. “—and I want you to help me convince Vander to clear out the old room in the basement.”

“What? That ratty room? Why the hell do you want it?”

“It’s big enough for Claggs and I to move our shit in, that’s why.” He explained shortly, and then smugly held out a hand. “Do we have a deal?”

Frustrated, Vi took him by his shoulder, fingers digging in. “Only if you swear not to give me shit!”

Mylo smirked. “Sure. No shit giving.” He crossed his heart. “Swear.” He couldn’t believe his eyes when he saw the embarrassment cross her face.

“I swear, if you say anything, I’ll kick your skinny ass, Mylo.” She released him and once again began to rub at her neck. “I got a date, okay?”

Mylo’s enthusiasm evaporated. What? That’s what this was about?! “What, seriously?” he gaped, not understanding, and furious with himself for thinking it’d be worth the deal. “That’s it? Seriously?” She looked him square in the eye, annoyed. “No shit giving,” he quickly said, lifting his hands up. “I just thought it’d be, ya know…. something else?” now that he thought about it, he wasn’t exactly sure what he was expecting.

“Yea, well…that’s it.”

He was going to ask who the girl was, but he knew better. Vi didn’t really like to discuss her personal life all that often with anyone outside of her sister or maybe sometimes Vander. He wasn’t sure why, though. “Okay, deal’s a deal.” He could always have backed down after getting the intelligence, but he guessed there wasn’t a problem if it helped her out a little.

“Really?” one of her brows arched up, surprised. “You’re a life saver, Mylo!” she gave him one of her signature half-hugs, squeezing her arm around his neck so strong it hurt just a little. “Thanks!”

“Yea, yea,” he shoved out of her embrace. “Just go before I change my mind.” the longer she waited, the more likely that would become reality.

She laughed. “Yea, I got it.” She made her way to the front door, and then glanced back at him. “I’ll be back later tonight. Just…I don’t know…just don’t do anything stupid, okay? And don’t mess with Powder.”

That pinched a nerve. “Oh, so I can’t dangle her off the side of the bar?”

“Mylo…”

“No terrorizing her?” he pressed, now very tempted now. It sounded like a lot of fun.

“I’m being serious,” she said, glowering. He sighed and gestured an affirmative. “Good. And don’t let her sit up all night, okay? Vander will chew us all out about that.”

“I get, I get it, sheesh. Just go already.”

And just like a worried parent, she glanced nervously around the bar, as if expecting danger to be there and ready to leap out as soon as she was gone, before sighing and leaving. When the door closed behind her, he smirked.

Tonight was going to be fun.

Mylo knew of so many ways to prank his little sister and every one of them would be worth every laugh and all the angry rants from Vi and Vander. Maybe he could even get Powder back for last week’s water balloon incident. Now that would be perfect!

Once he was sure the bar doors were secured upstairs, he made his way downstairs with a face cracking grin. First, he would get the little snot to do all his chores for the day, maybe threaten to throw her into one of the closets if she refused or lock her up on the roof. No, no, no. He was thinking too small! He could totally get her to do his chores for the rest of the week!

The lights were out when he finally made it to their room. Even in the dark, he could see the mess of things across the table, the best indication his sister had been there.  

Now just to find the pipsqueak…

“Hey!” he drew a few steps into the room and frowned when the light switch did not turn the light on. He walked further in, carefully so as to not trip over the mess on the floor. “Guess what, twerp? I’m in charge for the night, so you gotta do what I say!” that’s when he heard a loud creak behind him and turned.

Suddenly, Powder appeared from above, hanging upside down and shouted. “Boo!” Mylo startled back with a scream and tripped over the mess below him, falling straight to his back. Just as he fell, she burst out into giggles. “I got you!” she said through her laughter, still dangling when he sat up.

“God damn it, Powder!” he was up on his feet then, aching a little where he fell onto loose toys or sharp garbage. “You gotta stop doing that! It’s not funny!” this was the eighth time she had done it in that week alone. She answered that with one of those little smiles that poked at his temper. “Get down, you dolt! Now!” She rolled her eyes and pulled herself back up. “Why’re you even hiding up there in the dark, anyway? It’s weird.”

Powder dropped down a few seconds later. “I was trying to fix the light.”

Oh. That’s why it was out. “Well, great job you did there. I can see so well!”

She scowled at him. “I couldn’t reach it.”

“What, really? Even with those stumpy little arms?” he gestured to her arms and smirked when it riled her up. “What a surprise.” He made exaggerated stretching movements as if he prepared for a difficult task and then jabbed a thumb into his chest. “Watch what you can do when you ain’t value sized.” And content with the little glare he got in return, he reached up and effortlessly twisted the busted light bulb out of the socket.  “Ta-da! Normal person did normal thing!”

Powder angrily snatched the busted lightbulb from him and then recovered one from her pouch, which she clearly failed to use earlier. “I could have done that…”

“Yea?” he screwed the new lightbulb in, and the light suddenly turned on. “Maybe after like a decade more of growing, you could of.”

“I’m not that short!”

Mylo pressed his lips tight over a sputtering laugh as he reached over to measure the distance between them. “You sure about that?” he then shuffled his hand through her hair the opposite way Vander did it, just to annoy her. “You keep on growing kiddo, one day you’ll be normal sized.”

She swatted his hands away. “Stop that!” she fixed her hair quickly, impatiently.

He did it again, laughing when she shoved him away. “I get to do whatever I want tonight, because I’m the boss.”

“No way! Where’s Vi?”

“It’s the truth,” he flicked at her nose. “Vander and Claggs are still at the markets and Vi just went out. That puts me in charge.”

“As if!” she snapped as she rubbed at her nose. “Vi wouldn’t ever leave you in charge.”

“Oh, is that so?” oh yea, he was definitely going to shove this pint-sized weirdo into a closet by the end of the night. “Well, you can ask when she gets back, huh? But for now,” he grabbed her by her shoulders and forced her further into the room. “You’re gonna do as big bro Mylo says and clean up the whole room.”

“What?” she shrugged out of his hands to face him. “But I didn’t make all of this.”

“Pfft, you think I care, pipsqueak?” he turned her again. “Get to it.”

Powder gave a few protests before eventually doing as she was told, though begrudgingly. He took a seat on one of the chairs to watch, to make sure she didn’t wiggle out of his orders and propped his feet up on the table with a big smile.

“Ah, this is the life,” he said, stretching and yawning. “Women cleanin’ like they oughta while the men relax.” He knew that would annoy her. When she threw the things in her arms into a bin and faced him with a little scowl, he gestured. “Room ain’t clean yet, Powder.”

“No way. I’m not cleaning anymore.”

He sat up, letting his feet hit the floor. “Is that so?” That tone made her waiver, but it wasn’t enough. “You know what defiant brats get?” he asked, even as he stood. “Timeouts.”

Her eyes widened, understanding exactly what he meant. “Don’t you dare!” but it was too late, he was already heading toward her. “I’ll tell Vi!” she squeaked, panicked, as she backed away. “I mean it, Mylo! Don’t!”

He just did a big favor for Vi. He doubted that she would react too angrily towards this, or rather, she would force herself to react a lot calmer than she ordinarily would have. She owed him.

Mylo laughed. “I’ll take my chances!” he grabbed her by her arms and started to walk her toward the blocked section of the room. There was a nice little closet on the inside, just big enough to squeeze her in. She dug her feet into the ground and tried her hardest to keep him from moving her, but it was useless. She would never make up the strength difference.

“Lemme go!” she howled, even as he unlatched the closet’s door. He had her halfway in when she gave in. “Okay! Okay!” she cried, holding her arms out to keep from being shoved into the closet. “I’ll clean!”

He laughed and released her. This was much easier than he thought it would be! “Good call!” she shoved passed him then, face all red. “And I don’t wanna see a speck of shit out there, got it?”

Victorious, he returned to his seat and re-took his comfortable, reclined position and tucked his arms behind his head with a sigh. Powder worked through the room in anger, the only indication of it being how her face bunched up or her quiet. It took only half an hour for her to get everything squared away, including the dirty laundry no one ever wanted to take to the washing room because that would then mean they had to clean it. By then, the room was as clean as it was ever going to get.

Mylo lifted his hands and created a focus with his fingers. He closed one eye as he moved the focus across the distant wall, where several large pipes reached up the wall just a few inches from his and Claggor’s suspended beds. He moved the focus further, to the back room blocked by a giant purply-blue curtain. Yea, their things would fit great!

Powder noticed him from where she was kneeling at the end of the sofa and her bed, trash in hands. “What’re you doing?”

He rolled his eyes and looked over at her, dropping the focus. “None ya business, twerp.”

She stuffed the garbage in her hands into the bag she had and got up and despite her earlier anger, she was peeking over the back of the sofa with a little smile. “Can I help?”

Mylo remembered all too well what her help looked like. “Don’t need your help.”  that didn’t work though. She threw the bag into a bin and hurried around the front of the sofa, taking a seat. “Stop bothering me.”

Ignoring his demands, she pressed on. “Are you gonna paint the room or something?”

“No.”

“Fixing something?”

“No!”

“Well, are you gonna put something up?” she was looking frustrated by the lack of knowing. “C’mon, just tell me.”

She was never going to leave him alone, he realized. “You wanna help?” he quickly thought on what he could put her to work towards, something that’d ultimately benefit him. That’s when it hit him. “Okay, fine. I’ll let ya in on what I’m doing if—” he raised a finger so she wouldn’t press on in excitement before he could finish his words. “—if you help me out.”

“What?” she laughed and curled up on the sofa. “No way! Do your own chores.”

Mylo could tell when he had the two girls on the ropes. They were so easy to read. He smiled. “It’s not chores, but I guess if you don’t wanna know…” he closed his eyes, to make it seem like he really didn’t care one way or another. It took only a few seconds before Powder caved.

“…what is it?”

“Either agree to the deal or don’t.” and just like with her sister, he knew exactly how to get at them in the end. And for Powder, making something seem mysterious was just enough to make her unable to resist.

“Fine!” she leaned off the sofa some. “What do I gotta do?”

Mylo sat up. “That’s the neat thing…you just go to sleep.” It was the most perfect plan. He could get her out of his way, and right out of watching her really, in one swing. Which would mean getting Vi’s favor would come from an effortless night.

 “….what?” she looked so confused. “It’s way too early.”

“Well,” he shrugged. “That’s the deal.”

“Do I get to know before I go to sleep?” she asked, curiously.

“Nope, because then you could just screw over me in the deal.”

She puffed and crossed her arms, dropping back into the sofa. “Then no way!” He knew she would cave eventually, so he got up and started a brisk pace around the room, inspecting different cubbies and corners, and spaces beneath shelves and their bed. That only drew her curious gaze further.

He stopped at the entry way of the room, by the stairs, and stared at the ugly furnace squatted in such a place it took up unnecessary space just by being where it was. It provided as supplementary power to the bar, mostly used on colder days or when they were running low on gas for the generators. At the moment, it was on a timed schedule, but he was sure he could just turn it off and drag the thing just a little closer to the stairs and let Vander and Powder figure out how to reconnect it from its new spot. Afterall, his grand plan couldn’t work if the thing laid about.

“Whatcha doing?” she asked, leaning over the back of the sofa now to watch him, resting her face in one hand.

Mylo glanced at her, amused by her attempt. “Not gonna work, spaz. If you wanna know, you gotta accept the deal.” He smirked when she dropped against the back of the sofa dramatically. “Just say yes, and you get to know. Simple.”

“No way!” she was getting frustrated now, he knew it. “I’ll figure it out.” There was no way she was going to figure it out, let alone have the patience to try and wait until then. If there was a thing his sisters lacked, maybe in varying degrees, was patience. He was in the clear.

Instead of attempting to pry her interest more with baiting, he knelt beside the furnace and inspected the front and sides. There were quite a few buttons, and not a one of them had markers. They were all rubbed off from years of use, or knock-off part replacements. But he knew one of them turned the damn thing off.

Hmm, this one oughta do it! He pressed an orange-y looking button and it got stuck in. Strangely enough though, it did nothing. He shrugged and pressed the button below it, and it also did nothing.

Powder noticed and her voice peaked over the hum of the nearby pipes. “Uh… I don’t think you should touch that.”

“Oh? Why not?” he rolled his eyes and went back to pressing buttons, one by one. “Mind your own business.”

She sat up. “Mylo, really, don’t—” and just as got that last word out, he pressed the last button. A sharp hissing noise interrupted her and froze them both in place. Until the front door started to expel a ton of steam.

Mylo was on his feet immediately, startled. “Uh, Powder, what the hell is this?!”

“Well, I did tell you not to touch it!”

He turned halfway to glare. “How’s that helpful right now?! Just tell me how to stop it!” steam started to release from every crack and crevice, and he shuffled out of the way from the hot air building around it. “Powder!”

“You’re the one that did it! You stop it!”

Panicking, he turned to her and cupped his hands pleadingly. “Okay! Help me and I’ll…I’ll owe you big!” She narrowed her eyes at him, suspiciously. “I swear Powder! I swear! Just help me turn it off!”

At that, she perked up. “Okay!” and with a leap, she was over the sofa and approaching the furnace with inquisitive eyes. She pressed the same button he did, but it did nothing.

“Oh great! Why didn’t I think of that?!”

She ignored him, continuing her investigation of the furnace, even as it seemed to get louder and hotter in the room. Finally, she reached into one of her pouches and retrieved a flat-headed screwdriver and then jammed it into the side of the button, and then pushed. The button shell plopped off, revealing the circuitry below. And, simply and easily, she pressed her finger to the exposed button and the furnace shut off with a grumbling hiccup.

While she knelt to find the piece that flew off, he stared, gaping like an idiot. That was all it took? When she put the piece back on in such a way it seemed like she had done it before, he realized something that made him feel like such an idiot.

“You knew that was going to happen, didn’t you?” he asked, feeling even worse when she smiled a little. “You hustled me, you brat!”

“I did not!” She pocketed her screwdriver and smirked. “Now for that favor!”

“Oh, hell no! You don’t get jack shit! You tricked me!”

“I didn’t trick you…you just didn’t listen to me.” that quieted him. “Besides, you swore!”

Why did he ever think to strike a deal with this little snot? Well, maybe he could turn it around a little. The last thing he wanted was for Vander to find out he nearly blew up the furnace, or maybe even the bar. “Fine, you get your favor, but you gotta swear not to speak a word of this to Vander or Vi.”

Powder smiled. “That sounds like you’re asking me for another favor.”

He ground his teeth. He was beginning to regret agreeing to help Vi, or even showing off this attitude in front of Powder. She picked it up too well. “Fine…you get another favor then.”

She laughed. “Nope, not a favor. Help me with anything I want tonight, and I’ll keep the secret.”

“What? How is that any fair?! You have—”

“Well, that’s the deal.” she echoed his earlier words with a smile.

“You’re such a little…” he swallowed back the string of insults. He was having a difficult time deciding which was worse in that second—potentially getting Vander’s weeks long punishments, or dealing with Powder and giving her ammunition for who knows for how long?

All it took for him to decide was seeing her smile grow even brighter at his hesitation. No. He would rather face The Hound of the Undercity than Powder.

“Nah,” he said, and her eyes’ rounded with disappointment. “I think I’ll take my chances with Vander.”

“But…but I helped you!” she complained. “And you swore!” Mylo shrugged. “Didn’t you say deals were the only thing we couldn’t break? And that—"

“Okay, sheesh, enough!” he cut her off sharply. “You get the deal in fair trade though, got it? I’ll give you a favor for fixing the furnace and a favor for keeping my secret. End of. Deal?”

Powder considered his alteration with great difficulty. She bit her lower lip and searched the room for something he didn’t understand, almost feverishly. It took him only a few seconds to determine why. She was searching for things to get him to do before agreeing. He wanted to laugh. At least she learned enough to do that.

Finally, she turned to him and held out a hand. “Okay, deal.” He smirked and shook her hand, already thinking of all the ways he was going to get her back for tonight. It wouldn’t be tomorrow or the day after, but he was going to get her back…earn back some hard-earned respect he fought to build over the years. With the deal sealed, she pumped her arms inward and laughed. “Yes!”

“Now name one favor. And be quick about it.”

“Okay! Okay! Give me a second…” she cupped her hands together and turned a little, further inspecting the room, deliberating.

“Nothing embarrassing either, twerp.” He snapped, jabbing a finger toward her menacingly when she turned her eyes back to him. “I mean it! If you try, I’ll toss you into that closet and take the heat for everything. Got it?”

“Sure, whatever!” Somehow, he couldn’t quite believe her, but he shook her hand regardless. “Oh, I got it!” she grinned at him like she thought of something superb. “I wanna know what you were doing.”

Mylo wanted to laugh. Was this truly what she was spending a favor on? She was such a kid! If this was him, he’d be making her do all his chores or make him some food or wait on his every command like a butler. Kids were so dumb.

“Clearin’ out the room.”

“But why?” she asked without hesitation.

A wickedly genius thought occurred to him. Why even tell the truth? How would she know if it was or not? “Just cleaning up, that’s all.”

All it took was a little slip of a smile for her to catch him. “Hey! It’s not fair if you lie!”

Shit! I should just toss this munchkin into a trash can… “I’m clearing the back room for Claggs and me, okay?” At her look of disappointment, he hoped that meant she would get bored with their deal quickly. “C’mon, what’s the next favor?”

By the look on her face, he knew she hadn’t thought it through at all. “Umm…” great. Now he was stuck waiting on the decision making of a child. He crossed his arms. Whatever favor he was going to pull out of Vi, was going to be worthy of every ounce of trouble he was receiving tonight.

“Powder, I swear…if you don’t think of something in the next twenty seconds, you forfeit the favor.”

“Wait, wait! That’s not fair! You didn’t say anything about that!”

“Too bad, because it’s part of it. I’m not gonna stand here like some idiot all night waitin’ on you to decide.”

“Oooh, fine!” she was panicking now. “Uh…” her eyes searched the room again, and then widened at the sight of something. “Oh! Okay, I got one, I got one!”

“Then spit it out!”

Powder scrambled around the sofa and towards the table, where all her things were still set about. She had another thing coming if she thought he was going to clean up her mess. He opened his mouth to protest, but just as he tried, she spoke up. “I want you to help me with my things!”

“I’m not cleaning up your stupid shit, Powder.”

“Well, I didn’t ask you to help me clean!” she snapped. “Come here, I’ll show you…” and without waiting for him to decline or accept, she sat down back at her station and started digging through the mass of things gathered there. He rolled his eyes and walked over.

“Here,” she said, holding up a little clear tin of oil crayons and a case of hand tools without looking up at him. He took them with hesitation, not understanding. She glanced up and frowned. “What?”

“I’m not gettin’ the picture here…”

Powder said, “You’re gonna help me put all my stuff together and color them! Oh, and name them!”

“What?” he gaped, glancing down at all the half-completed contraptions scattered across the tabletop. He recognized a lot of their designs. It was hard not to, when a lot of them exploded near you or on you. “Are you serious? This is so stupid! I don’t even know what to do.” He took one of the tops and turned it around. “It all looks like junk to me.”

Powder scowled and reached over to take the piece from him, annoyed. “It’s not junk!” she leaned back into her spot, frowning a little, looking at the little piece of metal. “They’re not.”

“Whatever…” he shook his head and leaned his elbows onto the table. “Just tell me what to do so I can be done with it already.”

Powder dug through the piles for various parts and pieces, and then hefted them over to him. “Here! Do you see these?” she touched a few parts that all looked indiscernible to him. “They’re the top pieces and they go to…where are they...these here.” She scooted more towards him. “See? They screw on like this or…oh wait…” she swapped the pieces she had in her hands with others on the table with a nervous laugh. “Like this.” And then she put them together, though they were loose. “And then you screw these parts in here.” she tapped the parts exposed, and in that he could at least see screws. Finally, something he knew.

Mylo took parts out of the pile she set aside for him and glanced over at her. “How many of these are there?”

“Umm…” she shrugged. “I dunno?”

“You don’t even know?”

“I make them a lot,” she mumbled, turning her attention back to the table. “I lose count sometimes…”

Yea, because you keep screwin’ them up… he snickered at that thought and considered repeating it aloud to screw with her, but pressed his lips shut when he saw her diving right into her work. Well, he guessed it wouldn’t do to antagonize his secret’s keeper. Instead, he diverted his attention to the task at hand and began working his way through the ugly little scraps of metal and junk.

Throughout the work, Powder kept looking over and laughing at his attempts. Her corrections were numerous, and incredibly annoying, but at least she was unwittingly helping him get through her own favor much quicker. The harder things to put together were new designs he hadn’t seen before. They were clunky and weird, and he didn’t understand what their purposes were at all, but he soon found the repetition of putting them together oddly soothing. Or at least, distracting.

By the first hour of work, his fingers were scuffed and cut in many places. It stung so fiercely he had to keep stopping to lick at them or wipe down his pants, annoyed. But no matter how many times he passed a look to Powder and saw all the cuts—old or new—she just pressed on as if it were nothing.

Why does she even bother with this shit? He turned over the last piece he completed, staring at the blank metal with annoyed curiosity. They’re never gonna work… he sat down whatever the hell it was when he realized it was the last one in his pile. Why didn’t she just give up? How many times did these things have to blow up in her face or just not work before she understood it was out of her reach? There were things people could do, and things they couldn’t. And in Zaun, that understanding was crucial to getting on with life and doing what moved you forward.

If this was him, he would have given up a long time ago, and pursued something that could benefit him. He knew the others would have too, especially Vi with her short patience and temper. But Powder was so completely unlikely anyone in the bar that expecting her to just drop something was like expecting mountains to just move.

Distracted by his thoughts, he hadn’t heard her speaking until she tossed an oil crayon at his head. “Huh? What?” he turned his gaze to her. “What’d you do that for?”

“Come on, this is the best part…or okay the second-best part!”

He sighed and took out a few crayons. “What do I draw?”

She was already working on a piece herself when she shrugged, distracted. “Anything you want.”

Mylo dove into his work with far less enthusiasm. He didn’t know what to draw, so he just started with a few drawings of enforcers being smashed or blow to pieces. He smirked and laughed under his breath as the drawings continued around the creation, each involving a more gruesome death. When he was done with that one, he took up the next and drew a large version of himself sitting on the Bridge of Progress with a crown atop his head.

After a few minutes had gone by, Powder put her work down and asked what was so funny, unable to ignore the cackling anymore. He lowered the device for her to see and grinned. “Top notch shit, right?”

Powder laughed at the drawing and took it from him. “This isn’t what I meant.”

He snatched it back. “Yea, well, you said draw anything, so maybe you shoulda just been clear from the start.”

She quickly picked one of hers up and showed it to him. There was a bright orange face decorated on it, with large white wiggly eyes and two uneven canines, with slits for nostrils. He had no idea what the hell he was looking at. “I meant something like this, see?”

“I don’t even know what that is.”

Powder frowned at him before turning it around so she could see it. “It’s a monster, duh!” She opened the top. “And he’ll shoot out nails from here! Or maybe pellets…” that didn’t seem like something she thought of yet, only that it was meant to be a bomb of sorts. “Oh, and his name is Dirk!”

“That’s stupid,” he said, earning a pout. It became clear over the years that her names were more than just a name a kid calls a pet, but also served as her way of distinguishing the generations of her work. Either way though, she never came up with anything good. “You shoulda named it something like, uh, ‘Beatasaurus’ or ‘Combusto’. Now those are badass names.”

That made her laugh as she closed back up her bomb. “That’s way worse.”

“Oh yea, forgot you’re a total nerd. You couldn’t find cool if it hit ya in the face. All you nerds do is just sit there daydreaming about giant robots or some shit.”

Powder was annoyed now. “What’s not cool about giant robots?”

“Making them,” he pointed out. “Cool is using ‘em.”

“I think it’s cool,” she mumbled, getting back into her work.

“Yea, that’s half the problem,” he said as he tossed the last piece he had back onto the table. It clanked about, knocking a few finished bombs over. She ‘hey’d!’ him and reached to steady them back upright. “If the goal is to be cool, you gotta ditch this weird shit.” She rolled her eyes. “It’s true, and I gotta help you out with not embarrassing us all. It’s kinda in the cards for a big bro.”

“No,” she said simply and with great finality. It didn’t take a genius to know when Powder was annoyed. It showed on her face a lot easier than it even did with Vi, with the way she furrowed and frowned and looked ready to throw something at you.

He shrugged. “Alright, suit yourself, twerp.” And went right back into slogging through his deal. When it seemed like he was almost done, Powder hefted another pile of parts to assembly, decorate and name. It was beginning to irritate him. How had she even made so many of things, and when?  

After a while, he wasn’t even trying anymore with the drawings. He just scribbled things on the surface, random lines and such, and tossed them into the complete pile before she could spot any of it. If she ever pressed him on it, he would just say it means something to him. He was sure that would shut her up, because it would be something she ultimately couldn’t prove otherwise.

By the time that he was finally done, it was almost nine o’clock. There were no more stupid things to put together, or to color or even name. That had been the most annoying part of the deal, naming them. She wouldn’t let him use numbers or food names and kept insisting he was trying to ruin the deal. But now, he was finally done.

Mylo sighed and leaned into the sofa and stretched his arms high above him before tucking them behind his head, exhausted, hungry and bored. Powder was still fiddling with another invention he couldn’t even begin to interpret the use of when he groaned.

“Is that it?”

That’s when she finally looked up and at the table, curiously. All his work was done and squared away in the place she had designated earlier. “Oh…” she frowned. “Yea…”

“Finally!” Mylo laughed and got up. “I’m gonna get some chow. Don’t do anything stupid while I’m gone, got it?” he rubbed his hands together, already envisioning the grandiose night ahead of him, but stopped at the stairs when he heard the clank and chink of metalwork. He looked back and saw Powder trying to finesse a piece of metal about, completely distracted once more by her work.

“What’re you doing?” she asked what he meant, but never lifted her eyes. “I mean, ‘aren’t we done’?” he was certain of that, given that he cleared his pile of junk, and that what she was working on now didn’t look like any of the stuff they had finished with earlier. Whatever it was, was flatter and much wider.

“Huh?” She hissed when she accidentally cut her finger with her snips. She sucked on her finger and looked up at him, a little annoyed by the distraction. “Yea, it’s all done.”

“Then what is that?” he gestured to the new things she had brought out to work on.

“Something else.” she mumbled, and just like before, redirected her focus to her task. He shrugged and started for the stairs once more and made it halfway before he stopped again at the continued sounds of metalwork. He considered going back, because her deal was to help her put everything together and clearly not ‘everything’ was.

No, he thought. I did what I said I’d do, and that’s it! But as he reached the top step, he knew it wasn’t any fair to wiggle out of a deal—a deal he wouldn’t have even needed if he didn’t mess around. He groaned and turned around. He retook his seat from earlier and plopped his elbows onto the table hard, catching her attention.

“What’s next?”

Her brows furrowed at him. “What do you mean?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” he reached for something, anything, to occupy himself and help ignore the way she smiled at him—like she knew something he didn’t. “Look, don’t get the wrong idea. It’s just, I made a deal and I gotta keep it, okay?”

“Okay.” she agreed, still smiling, when she took what was from his hands and replaced it with something he could actually help her with.

He quickly amended himself. “But this is the last shit for the night. You’re gonna go straight to bed after this, got it?”

“Got it.” She said it as she held out a pair of snips for him, trying her very hardest to hide her smile from him. After a minute or so later, she spoke up. “Mylo?” he looked at her. “Thanks.” And then she went back to her work.

“Yea, well…” he itched at his neck, caught off guard by her words. “I’m not planning on making this a habit.” but he supposed it wouldn’t be too bad to have more chances to mess with her. 

Chapter Text

Ekko leaned away from the back of the bar’s wall and glanced over at his friend. She was sitting less than a foot away to his right, drawing in chalk on the wall before them. Now was the perfect opportunity to test out some of his new jokes.

“Hey, Powder?” she hmm’d, distracted. “Wanna hear some funny jokes?” that made her look at him finally, brows furrowed suspiciously. “They’re good, really!”

“Really?” she asked.

“Really!” he assured her, with a bright and confident smile.

His enthusiasm must have convinced her, because she smiled a little. “Okay, but they better be funny!”

Acting quickly, he thought of his list of new jokes. It took him only a second or two to decide. “Why don’t eggs tell each other jokes?” she hesitated on an answer before shrugging. “Because they’d crack each other up.” Powder shook her head and went back to drawing. “What did the green grape say to the purple grape?” she said ‘Ekko’ in a warning, but he could see the smile breaking on her face. “Breathe, you idiot!” he pressed on before the momentum could be lost. “Do you know why I don’t trust stairs? They’re always up to something.”

Powder laughed and threw her chalk at him. “Your jokes are so dumb!”

But he knew she loved cheesy jokes despite all the protesting and laughed. “Oh, I guess I shouldn’t tell you the joke about pizza then, it’s too cheesy.” When she started to finally giggle, he watched her with a bright smile.

Ekko would need to find more dumb jokes and fast.

Chapter Text

Vi was reclined across the entire length of the bench, while her brothers sat across from her with their friends. Vander had taken the day off and was resting upstairs, leaving the bar and everyone in it to her responsibility. Unfortunately, it meant little to no fun for her sometimes to be the mediator.

“Can’t the brats turn it down, at least?” Roni asked, taping a long nail against the surface of the table, repeatedly. The sound of music echoed up from the basement, dulled only because of the volume and walls. Vi groaned and hung an arm over her eyes. “It’s giving me a damn headache.”

“Agreed. I can’t even hear myself think.” Mylo complained, hand digging into a bowl of chips.

“That’s dangerous for you, anyway.” Claggor joked, earning an obvious giggle from Roni.

He ignored the jab. “Can someone explain to me why we let the babies have the basement again?”

“Yea, shouldn’t kids be, like, outside or something?” Roni added. “We’d really be doing them a favor.”

“We had it every day this week,” Vi said. “You guys can get over one night.” And right then the music seemed to get louder. Mylo groaned and dropped his head to the table, dramatically. She guessed it was getting a bit loud. And the last thing any of them wanted was to wake Vander and irritate him. “Okay, okay. I’ll get them to turn it down, calm down already.”

As she walked away, she heard her lanky brother’s voice pick up again. “Who wants to bets she gives in to Powder?” Vi rolled her eyes and slammed the door to the basement shut behind her, cutting off their laughter.

The music grew so loud she covered her ears the rest of the way downstairs. It was so loud she couldn’t even really hear the music itself. It just sounded like noise to her. She threw the door open to their room and stomped down, readying a howl like Vander might have given, but froze up at the sight of the kids in question.

They were dancing crazily and were dressed to match that bizarre flair. Powder had enormous dark glasses on and one of Mylo’s hats on backwards with one of Vander’s bright shirts that was certainly too big for her, whereas Ekko had a red scarf tied around his neck, a patched-up vest with spray paint on it, a pair of Vander’s outrageously large boots on his feet and a backwards six painted on his right cheek in green—which was totally done by her sister.

Then the music shifted to some funkier sounding underground music. Ekko was singing the lyrics, trying to echo the beat with hand gestures and body bobbing while Powder was mimicking him, all while she was laughing over her friend’s erratic and exaggerated movements.

They looked like they were having the most fun in the word. Even if it meant looking like idiots to those who might see, they were just happy. What little dorks, she thought, barely able to contain the laughter now as Powder’s imitation of her friend grew crazier. It was too much. Vi burst out into laughter.

The sudden sound threw Ekko off rhythm. He turned to look and tripped backwards in Vander’s boots, accidentally pulling Powder with him because he had been standing on the ends of her over-sized shirt. Powder dropped on top him with a loud ‘oomf!’.

When Powder got up, she tripped again on the shirt, knocking Ekko back over just as he got up. That only made Vi laugh harder. “Ooops, sorry Ekko.” she shouted over the music, and carefully pulled herself back up and away from him, and then offered a hand to him.

“What were you two even doing?” Vi walked over to turn the gramophone down some.

Powder lifted the hat up from her face, where it had fallen from her drop. “We were dancing.” Ekko quickly corrected her with, ‘it was a dance battle’.

“A dance battle, huh?” she arched an eyebrow up, amused because they weren’t at all embarrassed at what they were caught doing.  “And who was winning?”

“Ekko.” Powder declared just as Ekko said, “Powder.”

How funny that they were so close and yet so completely blind to the obvious. She smiled and walked back over to the stairs. “Alright then, dorks—” she imparted the word with as much affection as she could muster, and they both scowled at her playfully. “—just keep it down from now on, okay? Vander’s asleep.”

“Okay!”

“Sure thing!”

Vi shook her head and climbed halfway up the stairs before glancing back. They were already at the gramophone, debating what song to put in next. She laughed and left them to it.

When Vi made it back to the table and the music returned to a loud level, she was met with laughter.

“What happened, Vi?” Claggor’s face was cracking with a grin that could barely hold back his laughter. “Couldn’t say no?”

Mylo struck next. “Do we need to have a talk about spoiling your kid?”

“Yep, I’m a mom. I get it.” Vi sat down and laid back across her bench, smiling. “Super funny, guys.” But seeing the two like that? And her sister so happy? It was worth the teasing in the end.

Chapter Text

It was the afternoon when Vi and her brothers entered the bar arguing over what they were going to play on the gamebox downstairs. Claggor was suggesting a puzzle game, but Mylo wanted to play a horror or platformer game. Vi had suggested a brawling game but was promptly shut down by both of her brothers.

“Hey, take it downstairs.” Vander shouted from the kitchen, having popped out to confront them. When they were still arguing, he spoke again. “Now.”

They rushed for the stairs, determined to be the first down to get the best controller. “Hey, no shoving!” Claggor cried out when Mylo shoved by with a maniacal laugh. It didn’t matter to Vi which controller she got, she sucked at them anyways, but she wasn’t about to let Mylo get there first because he would certainly load up a dumb game. So, she leapt down the rest of the stairs and grabbed at his arm to pull him back.

“No fair!” he whined when she hurried through the door. “Cheater!”

Together they rushed to the clear space in front of the screen and started pawing over the controllers, all yelling. In the end, Claggor had won the fight, and scored the most functional controller. Because of that, Mylo’s complaining got him the first pick of games and of course he picked a platformer. They only got through two levels when the commotion thundered downstairs. Vi was too distracted in trying not to be pushed off the platform by her conniving brothers when her sister’s excited little voice erupted into the already loud room.

“Vi! Vi!” but she was still invested in her game and trying to push Mylo’s avatar into a pit of lava. She could barely contain her laughter at how peeved he was getting with her attempts. “VIIIII!”

Her sister’s frustrated voice finally drew some of Vi’s attention. “Huh, what? What?” she finally turned her eyes from the game after her avatar fell into lava and to her sister. “Wh…” the words hung in her throat at the sight of her sister, and little Ekko beside her.

Atop Powder’s head was a circlet made of twigs and wires with baubles in it that dangled a little cloth from the bar in front of her face and hanging from Ekko’s neck was a long scarf he had twisted about to make it look like a tie.

“What are you two wearing?” her words came out between little laughs and glancing back to see if she respawned yet.

But Powder ignored the questioning completely. “Violet—” oh, it was usually a serious question when her sister used her full name. Now her attention was entirely on her sister, intrigued. “—do I really gotta take Ekko’s name?”

“You do! That’s how it works!” Ekko insisted and Powder protested sharply with a, “Nuh-uh!”

Vi stared. “Huh?” she had no idea what these two were going on about sometimes. “What in the world are you guys talking about?”

When they responded in unison, she never would have anticipated the answer. “Marriage!”

All at once, her brothers stopped playing to look over, just as stunned as Vi. There was a long moment of silence before, one by one, they burst into laughter. Mylo was in such a fit, he was wheezing. Claggor was in full tears and stamping his feet on the ground.

Powder’s face bunched up in anger, but she looked more like a squirrel than angry with how puffed out her chubby cheeks were. Vi just wanted to pinch them. “What’s so funny?” she demanded, her voice wavering only a little. Ekko’s cheeks were a little red, but he affirmed her demands with an echo.

Vi finally managed to calm herself from the hysterical laughter to really look at them. On each finger—the wrong fingers, making it funnier—were thick cords of mix-matched string wrapped around little rocks that were very clearly painted on. She snatched her sister’s hand up, fighting back a grin, to look at the ‘ring’.

“Oh? Are these the rings?”

“No duuuh,” Powder said it in a very annoyed fashion and pulled her hand away, as if Vi were absolutely dumb for even asking something so obvious. Ekko lowered his eyes, embarrassed.

Mylo’s wheezing returned, and Claggor said, “When did you guys get married? And why weren’t we invited?”

“Today! And ‘cause it was secret, duh.” Powder declared proudly, smiling, clearly not understanding the secret keeping part of a ‘secret’. “Oh! We’re gonnna get a puppy, too. Right Ekko?”

“Y-yea!” he stammered, face red, but standing a bit proudly. “A white one!”

“And we’re gonna name him Flapjacks!” Powder added with another bright smile.

Vi pressed a hand against her mouth, to keep the laughter back. Now she understood what this was, and why it was happening. The day before they had sat down to watch a cine-disc with Vander, one of those older ones he liked. In the movie, the woman and man had gotten married in secret, but since they couldn’t have babies, they adopted a puppy together instead. And they named it Flapjacks. Since Ekko was not there to watch the cine-disc, Vi had only assumed Powder had wrangled the poor boy into the whimsical tale.

“You two are such dorks!” Mylo managed to say, getting a sharp elbow in the ribs from Vi. She did not want this to end, not yet. It was too good.

“So,” she started, smiling. “You know you’re married married now, right? There’s no going back!”

Powder exclaimed, “We know that! We’re not dumb. We promised each other!”

“Promised forever and ever!” Ekko added sharply, as if insulted by the insinuation they didn’t know that.

Vi and her brothers burst out into laughter again.

Chapter Text

It was some time passed dinner when Ekko finally came over. They had planned on playing something or taking the disc-runner out for more field tests on its upgrades and replacements, but when she noticed how exhausted he looked, she went to picking at him with questions. He explained how much work he had been doing the last few days, and suddenly playing had become unimportant to her. Powder tried to convince him they could hang out any other time, and send him back to rest, but he gave a big puff about it.

“Are you sure?” she asked as they sat down in front of the gamebox. She watched the way he yawned as he reached for one of the controllers. “We could always do something tomorrow.”

Ekko laughed so brightly that it almost convinced her he wasn’t tired. “Uh oh, is that fear I hear Powder? Don’t wanna lose, huh?” he wiggled his eyebrows comically, making her laugh.

“Yea, right!”

They debated quickly on what game to go with, and ended up on a versus party game, but not a one of them ever moved to battle or compete with the other. They played together instead, messing around with the in-game entities, and causing havoc together, laughing whenever one of them had accidentally hurt the other player with their extravagant mayhem.

When their laughter and their shouting finally began to quiet, they grew hungry and thirsty. They did rock paper scissors to see who would go collect the snacks. Powder lost two times in a row, so she made her way to the kitchen. She snuck right passed Vander, who was too busy with a patron to notice her. Once inside, she started up some popcorn and went digging through the cooler box. She found a fresh bottle of fizzy drink and a bottle of caramel. When the popcorn was done, she poured a generous amount of caramel into the bowl and mixed it around, and then went looking for clean cups.

It took her several minutes to ready everything, so when she snuck back to the kitchen doorway, she looked for signs of an alert Vander. He was still preoccupied, though this time with a table near the door of what looked like extremely inebriated patrons. She smiled and hurried back to the basement before he could notice her. If her siblings weren’t busy and Vander wasn’t distracted, she knew this little heist would not have gone so smoothly.

When she hurried back downstairs, arms full of their snacks, she was smiling. “I got them! Vander didn’t even see me.” she said as she carefully navigated over to the spot by the gamebox again, too distracted by trying to keep their snacks from spilling over to really notice his quiet.

When she got everything set up on the table, and he still hadn’t answered, she frowned. “Ekko?” he was just sitting there, leaned against the table, quiet. Powder got up and went around the table. “…hello?” she hesitated when she found him fast asleep. The game was left unpaused, and the controller still in his hands.

Powder smiled as she gently took the controller out of his hands. She knew he was tired! It made her laugh, as it was usually when he tried to push something that the opposite was true. Although she knew he would get annoyed she let him fall asleep tomorrow and she was a little disappointed herself to be alone again, she decided against waking him. Instead, not quite tired herself, she gathered up art supplies from her box and went back to her spot beside him.

She spent the next half-hour half listening to the thunderous noise upstairs and half paying attention to her drawing. She was doing the finishing touches on the last panel she made, filling in the colors and making speech bubbles, when her friend suddenly slid from his spot and bumped into her.

Powder seized up immediately, oil crayon still pressed to the near complete page when his head settled on her shoulder. She sat there in quiet for a long moment. “Ekko?” her voice came out a whisper, for some reason afraid, but his gentle breathing was her only answer. She wasn’t entirely sure what to do and that made her uncomfortable.

Setting her things down, she went to move him back to his position, but stopped herself halfway. Suddenly, she lowered him back down, confused by the weird feeling in her stomach. The idea of moving him away seemed different, and somehow wrong, like the sun setting too early. Even though he smelled like oil and rusty tools and all his clothing was stained with grease and she should be annoyed to have to clean it and the smells out of her clothes, there was something about it that was oddly…comforting.

It reminded her of the spots they liked to gather at and dig up spare parts and things to play with. Those places where the sunlight pierced the steely canopy above them and warmed the air, and all those brief moments of the world melting away until there was only each other. When the thoughts that hurt finally stilled, and the fear burned away, and all there was was sunlight. It didn't feel exactly like that comfort, when he was awake and there was that bubbly warmth, but it wasn't so bad this way either, she guessed, even if it made her stomach feel a little funny.

Powder gently leaned her head against his. “Good night, Ekko.”

Chapter Text

It was late afternoon when Powder joined Vander and her siblings for a trip to the markets. She was supposed to stay behind at the bar with her brothers, but they had wanted to go too and argued with Vander until he relented and let them come. There was a new stocking today, and everyone was always so excited to see what was brought in. She and her siblings never had much to ever spend of course, but sometimes it was nice just to see the nice things.

Powder didn’t see much that interested her most of the time they came down to the markets. Instead, she would always hurry to Jericho’s or to another food stand and stand close enough just to take in the smells of all the delicious things that were being cooked and served up to those who had the money to enjoy it.

While Vander was talking with one of the stall attendees, Powder went one stall down from him, and peered through glass at the bowls of chocolates and various other candies. The prices were much too steep for her, but she checked her pouches anyway. All she had was a single coin, and a few random screws and pretty little rocks she collected with Ekko a few days ago. She eyed the candies with utter jealousy before rejoining Vander.

As soon as she approached, whatever he was discussing with the two men on the other side of the stall was promptly shut down. It was one of those things she wasn’t supposed to know about, that much was obvious, but instead of pressing him like her brothers or sister might have, she tippy-toed to look over the counter at the different alcohols on display. This was the place he ordered his supply from, and sometimes, Vander would sample new ones to see if they were worth bringing into his menu.

Vander continued talking, but with a small hesitation. “I’ll send someone over for the casks sometime tonight. Would that work?”

One of the men walked away while the other nodded. “Yes, that’ll work. Be sure you write the carriers name down, so we don’t go handing it out to anyone it ain’t supposed to go to.”

Vander reached down to write something on a piece of paper and handed it over. The man tucked it inside his shirt and for a long moment, there was silence, until Vander looked down at Powder with a small smile. “Powder, why don’t you go see what your brothers and sister are doing?”

“Now?” she asked, dropping back to her height, disappointed. He patted her back and gently turned her around. “Can’t I stay?”

“It’ll be boring anyway,” he said, still smiling. He was trying to get her to leave. “Go on now and behave yourself.”

Powder pressed on through the crowd toward where she last saw her siblings. It took a minute to dig through the people gathered about, but when she finally dug through, she spotted her siblings gathered around a game stall.

They were laughing over something when she approached. “Hey guys!” she said, smiling, as she neared. The group grew quiet immediately. Mylo cleared his throat and rubbed at his neck, swerving his gaze away. Claggor crossed his arms and looked down at his boots to avoid looking at anyone in particular.

Vi offered a small smile. “Hey, Powder.”

Well, whatever they were talking about, they weren’t going to share with her. She learned to accept that very early on. So, setting aside her curiosity, she peaked at the game stall they were using as leans and then back at them. “Are you gonna play?”

“Huh?” Mylo glanced at the stall and then laughed. “A kid’s game? No.” Vi elbowed him hard and that was enough to shut him up. He started to nurse his side gingerly, grumbling under his breath.

“We’re just hanging out,” Claggor chipped in from where he was sitting on a barrel.

“Yea, just a bit too tired for anything right now, Pow.” Vi added.

“Oh,” she mumbled, a little discouraged. “Okay.” She glanced back toward where she left Vander, very much wanting to return, before going to a spot between Mylo and her sister. There was a sort of quiet about them that very thick enough to cut, and one that even she was painfully aware of as being the cause.

Claggor yawned and leaned back, until he was lying back in an angle enough to close his eyes more comfortably. Mylo was tapping his feet, rocking his head as he watched people pass in front of them.

“Hey, you know what…” Mylo gestured with a nudge of his elbow towards the crowd moving about in front of them. “Maybe we could play something.” Powder looked up at him, confused.

“No,” Vi said it with such finality, it drew her brother’s gaze.

“C’mon, it’s not that big of a deal. A 'snatch a few things, compare the haul' sort of game.”

“I said no.” Vi’s voice was sharp and that made him shut up at last. She sighed and dug through her pocket, recovering a few coins. “Hey Powder, why don’t you go get something to eat.”

Powder held her hand out, hesitantly. “Really?”

“Yea, whatever you want. Sky’s the limit in choices.” She was smiling when she leaned down a bit. “Just don’t let Vander see you with whatever you pick.”

Powder hurried off after a brief thanks and sought out the candy stalls. There was the one near Vander, but she knew she couldn’t buy anything she really wanted if he was near. The last time she had bought a bag of candy, he wasn’t very happy about it… mostly because she had eaten it all very quickly and made herself sick. So, it left her with the two to the south. The walk was only a minute or two, as the largest difficulty was digging through the people who didn’t want to move. But when she arrived, she found a pleasant surprise in that not many were huddled about the stalls.

Powder waited for the last two kids to scurry off with their haul before she approached. The lady behind the stall smiled down at her and knelt to rest her elbows on the counter. “Well, well, if it isn’t little miss sweet tooth herself. Does your dad know you’re here?”

Vander had acquainted himself with all the known candy shops in the area, and made it known to them she was not to be buying unless he or Vi were there. And this woman in particular had been very briefly chewed out over selling Powder and Ekko two jars full of chocolate and tart candies a few weeks ago.

Powder thought to try her luck. “Yes…?”

The woman laughed and leaned away. “Alright, fine, just this once. What’s got your eye this time?”

She smiled and brought her arms up to rest them on the glass and looked down through the glass, at the various bowls and jars of brightly colored candies and chocolates. There was her most favorite, the little multicolored orb candies that all had different tastes, and then jars full of sweet and bitter candies, and others that were saltier. And of course, the various amounts of chocolate, ranging from dark and milk, from covered in caramel to covered in peanut butter. They were all delicious, or at least most of the ones she had tried before, but the longer she stared, she wondered what to get.

The money wasn’t hers, not really, and it didn’t seem very nice to buy only what she wanted. And that brought up an idea. She pawed for the coins in her pouch and revealed them to the woman. “How much can I get with this?”

The woman took the coins, six in total, with a cluck of her tongue and rolled them around in her hand for a minute, thinking. “Well,” she finally said, putting the coins on the counter. “Today’s your lucky day. I’ve got a sale on pretty much everything here, so your coin could get you about two or three different kinds if you even it out.”

Powder smiled. That worked out perfectly! “Okay, then I’ll get…” and so she pointed to three different kinds. The first were the chocolate squares packed with caramel and nuts for Vi, the second were the stringy worm like candies covered in bitter but sweet coating for Mylo and the last she picked were mini milk chocolate bars with a hard cookie center surrounded in peanut butter for Claggor.

All and all, it came up to the grand total of six coins total, and the woman was kind enough to pack them into separate jars for her. The jars were no bigger than six inches tall and about three inches wide, but it was plenty candy for them. Powder safely tucked the jars away into her pouches and made her way back to her siblings.

As she approached, their voices carried to her over the thinning crowd before she could even see them.

“Let’s just ditch her.” That was Mylo. Powder slowed her steps and waited at the end of a nearby stall to listen in.

“No,” her sister said, annoyed.

“C’mon, we don’t have much time at the markets. Vander’ll be done any minute now.” He pressed. “We could ditch her with him and hurry over to Syd and Vann, help them with—”

“I said no,” she snapped. “Unless you want to take her with us, because that’s the only way we’re going to do it.”

Mylo scoffed. “You don’t ever learn, do you? I’d rather eat nails than bring her with us for something like this.”

“Let’s not argue,” Claggor said. “We were having a nice time just—”

“I’m not having a nice time just sitting here because we can’t do anything without upsetting Powder,” Mylo chimed in. “And I think we’re all sick of it. I’m just the only one with the balls to say it.

“Whatever you have, Mylo,” Vi really sounded angry with him. “can’t account to having balls.” There was a shuffling noise, and it almost sounded like one of them had been pushed. “We go with her, or we don’t go at all.”

“She’s not ready for any of it,” Mylo continued. “C’mon Vi, you know that. That’s why you decided not to take her along with us anymore in the first place.” Powder gasped and backed a few steps away from the stall, breathing hard. Her sister decided that? But…she thought Vander had? “That last time? Shit man, we lost what could have kept us going for like, what, a month? We haven’t even seen a sniff of something like that since.”

“He’s got a point,” Claggor muttered. “Not about any of the rest, but…I mean, she’s not ready, Vi. She’s just not.”

There were a few seconds of silence, and then her sister sighed. “Yea, I know she’s not ready guys, but it’s not like what we’d be doing is a job or anything. She could tag along and not cause any trouble.”

Powder closed her eyes and drew herself into a hug. Why did she think anything could be different? She was the problem. She would always be their problem. She sniffed back a sob and ran off the opposite way, pushing through the crowds. She raced right passed Vander while he was distracted, unwilling to face him or anyone else at that moment.

She kept running and running, until her breath barely left her, and until the bar had come into sight. She had thought about running to Benzo’s, or even further than she had ever gone before, but felt ashamed of the fear that rose to her heart at the thought of being somewhere she didn’t know. And that made her feel even worse because she knew that cowardice was one of the many reasons why her siblings weren’t the screwups she was—because they were not cowards.

Powder could barely see through her tears when she arrived at the door and fumbled with her key. Every breath left her like gasps and hurt her chest. “Open!” she pleaded, frustrated that she could even struggle with a stupid lock. Please! The lock finally unlocked, and she slammed the door closed after her frantically.

She backed away from the door, breath leaving her short and choked. The bar opened around her in darkness and cold. The setting light drifted through the open windows mutedly, casting light only a few feet in front of the windows. Those shadows began to grow, reaching toward her with spider-y fingers, and ringing in her ears as if she had dived under water.

Powder gave a start when they neared and ran for the stairs to her room, hearing the shadows chasing after her. She turned and slammed the door shut behind her and stepped back, watching the doorknob, waiting for the shadows to follow her. The doorknob wretched about violently. “No!” she shut her eyes again. Go away…go away…! You're not real, you're not! And all at once, the sound stopped. When she dared to look, the doorknob was still, and the ringing noise from the shadows outside the door seemed to be gone with it.

She forced another breath and hurried down the rest of the steps. “It’s not real,” she mumbled to herself meekly, wringing her hands together as she drew further into their dark, cold room. Vander and Vi had said so. That her experiences were just nightmares. But I’m not asleep, she pointed out to the restless voices, breath hitching again. But her sister had lied to her, so what if she lied about that too? No. She wouldn’t. Not about that…she wouldn’t! She told herself when the doubts seeped back in. She promised me…and…

Where were those promises now when she needed her? When the lies had come to dig into her flesh? What would her sister even say?

“She’s a liar,” she cried, shivering. “She lied to me…” Everything was crowding in on her again and she closed her eyes, trying so very hard to calm herself and her breathing. Vander’s words, to breath in deep and out deep, rustled through her thoughts. She tried his advice, over and over again, but each attempt only seemed to fan the flames more.

It’s not working! She wrapped her arms around herself, panicking. Please…! Please work! Her thoughts went to her sister, and just how terribly she wanted her nearby—how she needed her nearby. Idiot! You idiot! She doesn’t want you…they don’t want you…why should they?

I can’t do anything…

She began pacing a short line, hands clenching and unclenching with each step, tears threatening to run free. No, no, that’s…that’s not it. It’s not. She paused mid-step suddenly, squeezing her eyes shut so tight it hurt. I’m not wanted anywhere. She put her hands to her head and pressed, until it brought pain. Shut up, shut up, shut up!

I didn’t do it on purpose, she told herself, finally letting her tears fall, as she remembered that last job she joined them for. I didn’t…I didn’t! I just screwed up…that’s all. That doesn’t mean I’m a… her body shook from the thought. It’s not the same thing! It’s not! They wouldn’t…they… But she had seen the way Vi looked at her that day she had screwed up and it hurt so bad Powder didn’t know what to do with the pain. The accusatory message had rung so clear in that gaze.

Her siblings hadn’t forgotten about what she did at all. They whispered behind her back, and for how long? Would they ever forgive her for it? Would Vi? No. She knew that answer. Her sister was there too, admitting to how much of a hinderance she was. Everything that Vi had told to her that day had been another lie. She didn’t mean a word of it, she didn’t mean anything she promised, not ever.

She will never forgive me for it! Never!

“All you do is screwup,” she shouted, digging her fingers into her scalp as she turned and stumbled into a pace in the other direction, breathing coming more and more labored. “Idiot!” she howled, digging deeper, until the pain hurt almost as much as the thoughts. She collapsed to her knees by the end of her bed, rocking back and forth. Just go away… but the thoughts whispered venom, and it dug so deep she knew it was right. Knew that her brothers, her sister, even Vander, hated her. That they knew she was useless and slow and cowardly and weak. And there at the markets, they all tried their hardest to avoid her company. They could not stand her. Why did she try to pretend it wasn't true?

In the back of her mind, she felt it, heard it. She lashed an arm out toward the shadows with a cry of anger and frustration when they drew too close. They dispersed into the blackness only momentarily, reforming into wobbling masses of shadow, whispering in ringy tones. “Leave me alone!” she beat her head with her hands. “Leave me alone!” Why must she be reminded? She knew what she was. She knew it better than anyone. She just wanted to be allowed to forget, just sometimes…just for a little bit.

I know, she tried to keep her eyes away from the shadows, hoping desperately that if she did not see them, she would not hear them. But they were persistent, and the words that they parted to her rang deep. Reminders of every mishap she had caused, every time she fled when her siblings fought, every time she annoyed them. I know that! She looked at them, feeling her anger rise. I know what I am! The shadows moved, voiceless and yet screeching all the same in her head. Mocking her for her stupidity, for believing her sister, for thinking she could ever change what she was.

The shadows! Why wouldn’t they just shut up?! And why couldn’t her head just stop betraying her?! Powder screamed and started to throw anything she could get her hands on at the shadows. Each object passed through the shadows without harm, smashing into walls or shelves. Why wasn’t it working?! Why?! She couldn’t take it anymore! She just wanted it to stop, even if it was just for a few minutes! She picked up another object and reached back to throw it but stopped halfway through, when she saw that it was one of her partially completed bombs.

Powder swallowed back a cry and lowered her hand, staring at the ridiculous drawing sketched across its dented surface, tears stinging her cheeks. It was another reminder of her failures, of what she could never do right. The voices were whispering again, mocking once more, and she screamed as she knelt to smash the bomb into the ground. Over and over, screaming so loud her throat was burning, until all that remained in her hand were broken, dented slivers.

She dropped what was in her hand, trembling, and looked at her hand as pain started to radiate up from her hand to her shoulders. Her palm was cut almost to shreds and the pain was almost unbearable, but as she looked around the room for the shadows, she couldn’t hear anything. There was nothing at all and it was so soothing, she started to cry through laughter. However, almost as quickly as they had gone, the whispers began to return and all she wanted was that moment of quiet, of peace, of nothingness, back again.

Powder looked at her hand and the pieces on the floor and took one of the shards. She pressed the shard into her palm, until it drew blood, staring at the blood that trinkled down her hand and onto the floor without blinking. She took a staggering breath, as the whispers were drowned out by the pain and she could finally breathe again.

Chapter Text

Ekko stood before The Last Drop, staring at the lights blurring through the windows and listening to the dulled sound of happy patrons and blasting music, nervous and afraid. He wasn’t entirely sure why Powder hadn’t come to see him in days or why he hadn't been allowed to see her, but he spent that time worrying over the last things he said to or her did, afraid he might have insulted her or upset her. But no matter how much he recalled, he wasn’t sure what he could have done. The few times he tried to come over, it was either Vander or Vi that turned him away, but never said why beyond that Powder couldn't come up to visit. Benzo suggested he take something over as apology gift regardless of knowing or not, and Ekko took the advice to heart.

He found a little box and filled it with various trinkets Benzo said he could take. He filled it with gems of little value but were still pretty, little carved statues from Piltover, and even electrical wires and such he scrounged up from his collection. He hoped it would be enough to make up for whatever he did, but as he stepped towards the bar, his heart began to race. What if she turned him away? What if she yelled at him or threw the box back at him? He swallowed, hard, suddenly feeling hot and sweaty as he pushed the door open.

The bar was lively, packed almost to bursting. Vander was busy with a table and looked completely impatient with those he was dealing with. Three men were shouting over the crowd to get his attention, too. He decided to wait by the door until the bartender could talk, but as the minutes rolled by and it was becoming more and more obvious there wasn’t going to be time, he wondered if he should just leave or go on ahead. Just as he was ready to turn away, Vi came upstairs grumbling under her breath and nearly bulldozered right over him. She noticed him with surprised-colored eyes and gasp, and then a quick hand snaked out to steady him.

“Little Man, what’re you doing here?”

He struggled over leveling his voice. “I was wondering if...if I could see Powder now?” a part of him wanted to press her about why he wasn’t allowed to see her earlier, but he knew better than to risk poking her temper and patience.

Vi’s eyes widened briefly, before a warm smile graced her face. It almost looked like relief to him. “Oh yea, that…” she rubbed at her neck, chuckling a little. “…you know what, I’m sure you can.” Relief flooded through him. One step completed. He asked where she was and made his way to the roof as soon as she explained where.

Ekko sat the box down on one of the tiny tables in the upper hallway and climbed up to the roof. The door was left ajar, letting in the thick hot outside air in an unbearable wave. He peaked out and saw her sitting alone at the edge of the rooftop. He prepared himself and what he might say, and then pushed out.

“Powder?” she hesitated before turning halfway to look at him. There wasn’t any bright, gaped tooth smile to greet him, or shiny eyes of blue. There was only an exhausted looking friend.

“Oh.” she mumbled and looked away again. "Hey, Ekko." Even her voice sounded tired, and that drew on his worry even further.

He nervously approached, keeping a good distance between them as he found a spot to her left. When he was seated, he took a quick peak at her. Her hair was down and barely looked brushed, and the patchy looking t-shirt and pale trousers she wore looked wrinkled and overused. It was the way her eyes looked though that worried him the most as the blue spark that ordinarily burned in them was now replaced by a steely grey and encircled with dark rings.

Of course, Ekko knew she looked sad sometimes, and she was always pale, but something about it now felt off to him. And suddenly, he didn’t care if she were angry with him, he only cared about if she was okay or not. “Powder, are you…okay?”

“Yea,” her voice was so quiet he wasn’t sure she even spoke.

He let a few minutes go by before he dared to speak again. “Powder?” the only indication she heard him was a gentle hmm. “Why…” he wasn’t sure how to word this question. “…why wouldn’t Vander let me come visit?”

She sighed. “I…I was grounded.”

What? That didn’t seem at all likely. In all the time he had known Powder, she only got grounded like three times, and two of them was because of pranks she pulled on her siblings. “Grounded? But why?” he asked, quietly. Her eyes began to fill with tears, and he felt that same fear from earlier cripple him. “I’m sorry,” he whispered. “I’m sorry I asked.”

She started to cry. “Is…is it okay if we d-don’t talk?”

Ekko was unsettled by the state she was in. He had seen her sad, angry, annoyed, or even happy before, but something about this felt different. It felt wrong, like more than she should ever have to bear alone. He wanted to reach out and take hold of all her pain and sorrow and throw it aside, but he knew that was not possible. That whatever comfort he could give his friend, would come however she needed it and whenever she wanted it. And if it meant he had to endure her silence, or even her anger, he wanted to take all of it…if it would only help her a little.

“Of course that’s okay, Powder.” He spoke softly. “It’s more than okay.” She sniffed back a ‘thank you’ and scooted closer to lean against his side. Ekko put an arm around her and leaned his head against her’s and watched the fading lights of topside with her, determined to be whatever she needed him to be, and forever how long she needed it.

Chapter Text

It came to Vi very suddenly, amidst of her brothers’ arguing over who would get first shot at the games tonight, that her sister had not returned yet. She watched the going crowd with growing unease, half listening to her brothers, watching for the distinctive blue hair. She gave it only a few minutes before she reached over to grab at Claggor’s arm, silencing him.

“Powder’s not back,” was all she said, and that was more than enough to alert them.

Mylo pushed away from his spot and searched the crowd quickly. “Aw damn it…this is not good.”

Claggor frowned. “Maybe she’s just distracted…” but his voice betrayed him to his worry.

“Alright, let’s split up.” She thought briefly on where to send them. “Claggor, you check out the games’ area. Mylo, go check with Jericho. Maybe he’s seen her.” It was what Vi hoped for, since her sister got distracted easily, and was an absolute glutton. They went their separate ways quickly, shoving through patrons unwilling to move out of the way. She sprinted off toward the candy and tiny food stalls.  

Vi went through four of them before she finally happened on one that had seen her. The woman at the counter was vaguely familiar, until she started speaking about avoiding Vander’s anger. Then it clicked. Once explained, the woman quickly explained that Powder had come through, bought some candy, and then left within five or so minutes.

Please! Vi thought, chest tightening. Please know something! “Did she say anything? Or did you see her go anywhere else?”

“No,” the woman looked nervous, and Vi understood why. It was not easy knowing you could upset The Hound of the Undercity. “She just ran off….you won’t tell him, right?” she swore under her breath and walked away, even as the woman called out after her. “Right?!”

Vi spent another half an hour looking everywhere she could, and eventually bumped into her brothers doing the same thing. They had no answers about their missing sister, or any leads either. And now she was starting to panic.

“She wasn’t anywhere I checked,” Claggor said, slightly out of breath.

“I checked the alley ways, too.” Mylo added, frowning. “Zilch!”

Vi tried to force back the rising panic in her tone, but it was fruitless. “Shit…” God damn it, Powder, where are you? No, no. It’s okay, she thought, taking a deep breath. It’s going to be fine. “Okay, let’s just…uh…let’s just retrace our steps. She’s gotta be here somewhere.” And if she wasn’t? Vi wasn’t ready for that.

“Shit is right!” Mylo hissed. “When Vander finds out about this, we’re so fucked!”

“When I find out what?” They all turned, startled, and faced their father with surprise and fear. In his hand was a weathered looking bag, full of various food stuffs. He raised a brow at their silence. “What aren’t you telling me?”

All the worry that had centered in on her chest like a stake felt unbearable now before their father. “It’s Powder, she’s missing!” If anyone could find her, make it okay, it would be Vander.

Vander’s face tightened as he tried to control an outburst. “What?” Mylo took a few steps back, ducking his eyes. “I sent her your way. Are you telling me you never even saw her?”

“We saw her, it’s just…”

His steely eyes held hers and she ducked her gaze, nervous. “She went off for snacks and never came back. We’ve searched everywhere and still can’t find her.”

Vander’s hand tightened on the handle of the bag and when he finally spoke, his voice was tight with anger.

“We’ll discuss sending your sister off without someone later—” that made her look away, guiltily. It was just a few minutes away… it should have been okay! “—for now, we will split up again. She must be here somewhere. We’ll pick through every damn rock if we must.” And so, he divided them up again. He sent Mylo to Benzo’s to see if she went to see Ekko, Claggor to the south with him and then finally put his eyes on Vi. “Head back to the bar. She might have returned.”

The idea of that eased a portion of her fear, and guilt. Yes, it had to be that. She had to have returned to the bar. She always did when she was scared, angry, or tired. Vi hoped for it desperately as she sped off towards the bar. She would take berating from Vander for a week straight if Powder would just be there safe and sound.

The entire way back to the bar, all Vi could think about was knocking sense into her sister’s head for running off without talking to any of them first. It made her so unbelievably angry, but as the bar came into view, she realized the fault lied on only one person—and it was not Powder. As the older sister, as the one with responsibility, she should have known better than to send her sister off alone, even if it were only a minute or so away.

When she finally arrived at the bar, she found the door unlocked, though the lights were still out. She shut the door hard behind her and scanned the unlit bar quickly for her sister. “Powder? Are you here?” but all she could hear was the rattling pipes and outside bustle. She went for the stairs immediately and peaked up. “You up there?” still, nothing. She turned for downstairs next, even quicker.

The downstairs was dark as well, but Vi could still see her sister sitting in the middle of a mess, tearing at her little baubles with worked breath. She reached for the light and flicked it on.

“God damn it! There you are!” she pressed on, annoyed and yet flooded with relief to see her safe and sound. “We were looking everywhere for you; do you realize that?!” and then she noticed the actual state of the room under the light. It almost looked like a little tornado tore through it. “What the hell happened in here?” Powder mumbled something about cleaning it. “You know what, it doesn’t matter! Vander is pissed, you know that? So you better come up with a good reason for ditching us before he gets here!” in part, she needed there to be a good reason, because if there wasn’t? Vander’s anger would not be so easily quenched, and it would be hyper focused on her. It was their responsibility—Vi, Claggor and Mylo’s—to make sure that they were all safe. Powder most of all. And today had proved a massive failure to that, and it was bound to circle back on them. Vi most of all! And yet, despite the warnings and everything else she had said, Powder poured herself further into her baubles, ignoring her.

It admittedly took little to irate Vi’s patience and temper, but it was very rarely prodded by her sister. Today, that didn’t seem to be the case. She was already struggling to hold back a Vander-esque berating but this unexpected tweeny attitude from Powder was beginning to gnaw on what little restrain she had left.

“Don’t ignore me!” she pulled Powder to her feet by her hand, briskly. At her sister’s grimace and sharp hiss of pain, Vi turned her hand over. Her palm was cut to ribbons and was still so raw it was bleeding and dripping down her arm. “The hell?!” No, this was not good at all! “What happened to your hand, Powder?!”

“Nothing!” she snapped and pulled her arm away to her chest protectively. “I…I fell!”

“You fell?” it was moments like this that Vi wished that what existed between her and her sister was solely about being sisters, instead of her having to pick up the occasional ‘mom’ role. This was above her and it was starting to exhaust her. She snatched her sister’s arm again. “Is that why you left without saying anything to us? Why you trashed our damn room? Because you fell?”

Powder yanked her arm away, hard. “I said I’d clean it!”

“What?!” Vi’s frustration was getting the better of her now. “Who cares about the damn mess?! I’m worried about your hand, and why you even left the markets! Do you have any idea how worried you made everyone?!”

“I’m fine…!”

“Oh, you’re fine?!” she took her hand and moved it palm up again. “Is this fine to you? Why don’t you ever think about what you do before you do it, Powder?! It’s one mess after another!” Her sister’s eyes filled with tears and before Vi could walk back her comment, Powder shoved passed her angrily and ran upstairs.

Damn it! “Powder, wait! Please!” but when the door slammed after her, Vi turned around to kick the back of the sofa with a frustrated cry of anger. “Fuuuuuuck!”

It took her a few minutes after the incident to collect her anger and go searching for her sister again. She hoped there wouldn’t be another hunt through The Lanes because the worry from the first attempt was still lingering painfully in her chest and a second go would shatter what little control she had over it. It took her only minute to find that her sister had barricaded herself in their father’s room.

Vi paced a short line up and down the hallway outside his door, thinking on the best way to ease her sister out of her seclusion—and before Vander could get back. It was the only way she could see getting her sister out of trouble and fixing her mistake. She went to the door and pressed her forehead to the cool, smooth surface and closed her eyes.

“Powder?” she waited a second before continuing, tapping on the door gently with her fingers, mostly because she was nervous. “Powder, I’m…I’m sorry. I didn’t mean what I said. Come on, open the door so we can talk.” The quiet answered her. “Please, Powder! I’m sorry! Just let me in so we can talk about it!”

In the end, the room remained securely locked and her sister as quiet as a mouse within. And by the next half hour, Vander and the boys had returned. She met his towering presence down at the bar entrance and took the fifteen-minute-long berating over her numerous mistakes with as much dignity and strength that she could muster. The boys knew better than to say anything, or to tease her about it after too, and it made it just a little easier to bare.

Vander had gone upstairs right after, and only about fifteen minutes or so later, returned looking just a little less angry than he had before with a meek Powder at his side. He sent her downstairs with a few words whispered between them, and that was that.

Whatever was said to him, he did not share, but he did take Vi aside to let her know that Powder would be grounded for the foreseeable future. It was in that, that Vi knew whatever discussion occurred, did not end exactly as he had intended it. Because she knew usually, he would let things slide with Powder. It made her realize that Powder was probably just as unresponsive to him as she was earlier.

The next few days proved to be awkward, tiring and worrisome.

On the first morning, Vi woke and tried to greet her sister, only to find her still asleep. The room had been cleaned sometime the first night while the rest of them slept but getting her sister out of bed after proved almost impossible. She would watch her sister worriedly, opening her mouth to speak several times, only to shut herself up and leave the room so her sister could have time alone. Even the boys had granted Powder the same relief and stayed outside of the bar as much as humanely possible of them.

The next day, Ekko had come around looking for Powder. She caught the door that first time and had the oh so joyous experience of having to fumble out a lie as to why Powder couldn’t come out. Because it had nothing to do with the grounding—as even in that, Vander would never keep them apart and no one else seemed to understand what grounding was for in this case—and everything to do with the fact that Powder just didn’t seem to want to leave her bed.

In fact, Vi tried so hard to coax Powder to come out. She invited her to hang out with her and the other teenagers, even tried to bribe her with candy and promises to take her deeper into the city to tag some buildings, but nothing worked. She just mumbled something about being tired or said nothing at all.

Even the boys tried. It was really strange to see Mylo actively being nice to her. No one knew what happened still at the markets to even drive her away, or how she hurt her hand, but they all had their own suspicions. Mylo thought maybe the kids from Piller’s Yard had come back, while Claggor thought maybe she had done something she wasn’t supposed to and got hurt. Vi didn’t have many ideas on it herself, she didn’t really care in the end about how it happened, only that it had, and she didn’t know what to do now to make it better.

The third day had come, and Vander had shared in the concern with the rest of them. He bought her big bags of candy, little tools, scrap from the markets and other such things, even lifted her grounding. She wouldn’t even look at what was brought to her. And whatever food she ate, she ate little of and on her bed, and only when Vander insisted very intently that she eat. Everything else, she never even touched. It just sat there on the nearby table, rotting.

It was getting to a point where Vi was not sleeping, just so she could keep an eye on Powder, because what if something happened while they were asleep? She took her meals downstairs too and tried to use that time to talk to Powder or get her to eat. But whatever response she got, it was muted and tired, and ultimately led to nothing more than Powder falling back into absolute silence.

On the evening of the fifth day, Vi had cornered Vander about it again. She practically begged him to try again, to do anything. To just help. He promised her he would, and he certainly did try. She followed him downstairs and watched from the doorway as he knelt beside the bed and whispered to Powder. It must have been only a few minutes at most, but he rose and walked back to the stairs, shaking of his head in the clearest indication that it had gone poorly.

Vi spent that night chatting the ears off her sister, trying to get her to talk, to laugh, to shout—to do anything. She even pulled Mylo aside and tried to get him to coax out her anger, but he didn’t want to make it worse and even got angry that Vi wanted him to try that way. But what else could she do? Vi was feeling as if she had no other choice!

But Mylo’s refusal made her realize that it was ultimately going to fall on her shoulders to figure it out, and that she couldn’t keep hoping foolishly on it to just get better on its own, or for others to know how to. They didn’t know Powder the way that Vi did, after all, and that had to account for something, right? So, before bed that night, she sat down on the end of her sister’s bed and looked down at her hands as she spoke.

“Powder? Look, I know you’re mad at me, maybe even mad for a lot of other different reasons, and you have every right to be. I don’t want to take that away from you. But I just want you to know that I’m sorry.” she looked over to her sister, to see if she was getting any reaction at all and felt tears in her eyes. “I’m so sorry for what I said that night in the basement, and for whatever happened before then at the markets, or whatever else that upset you.” Once Vi had finished speaking, she felt her words didn’t sound heartfelt enough and it was making her nervous. “You don’t have to talk to me or do anything else you don’t want to do, but if you could just eat? Vander and I…well…we’d feel a lot better knowing you’re—” she hesitated on the right choice of words. “—we’d all feel better knowing you’ve eaten. Because we’re all worried about you, Pow-Pow, and we just want you to feel better. Okay?” she let a moment of silence linger before sighing and getting up. “Goodnight, Powder.”

Vi had gone to sleep that night without knowing it. She stayed up as long as her body would allow her to, listening for any softly spoken word from her sister, or any indication she was needed. But sometime in, her eyes had closed, and she fell asleep. When she woke next, it was late in the morning. She leapt off her bed, ready to tear her sister out of bed, if need be, but saw that it was empty.

At first, she felt gnawing worry, but then she hurried upstairs to find Vander. Before she spoke, she noticed an empty bowl on a nearby table and turned her eyes across the floor toward the front of the bar and focused them on her father, disbelieving. Vander met her gaze with a small, relieved smile of his own and nodded. He motioned her over, sparing a hurried glance towards the upstairs, before fixing it on her just as she took a seat.

“She came up a few hours ago,” he whispered, leaning onto the counter. “She didn’t say much, just asked for something to eat, and then went up to the roof.”

Vi would have cried, if she wasn’t so exhausted. “Is she okay?”

Vander shrugged a little. “I’m not sure, but at least she ate, yea?”

“I should see her, and—” He reached over to grab her arm, stopping her. “What?”

“I think, maybe, we shouldn’t push her.” He said, slowly. “We might make her worse if we do. Let’s just give her some space.”

“What? Space?” she couldn’t even believe she heard those words! “Vander, that’s all we’ve given her for days!”

“Yes, I know.” he pressed patiently. “But if you pressure her, or confront her now about it, she might retreat again. And she just came up to eat and go out on her own. Is it worth the risk?”

Vi struggled for the answer. She knew he was right, in some ways, but she needed to see her sister. She needed to know Powder understood that she was sorry, that no matter what, she would always have her back. That she would always love her. And letting her sit alone even longer didn’t seem to sell that tone…

Vander continued, gently squeezing her hand. “I think we ought to play it safe, by the ear. Let her have her space, Vi. I mean it.”

She turned her eyes towards the stairs again, thinking, in pain. Was it worth the risk, to potentially send her back down that spiral, just so she could feel better about it all herself? In the end, she had decided to listen to Vander and give her sister space. She spent that time downstairs, nervously finding new things to do and annoying her brothers in the process, until the hours ticked by, and the light outside started to dim.

“Don’t do it,” Mylo grumbled from his spot on the sofa. “Listen to Vander. Give Powder space.”

“I hate to agree with Mylo, of all people, but…yea, I agree.” Claggor added. “Don’t push her. We’ve all been in that kinda place before anyway. You didn’t like to be pushed, none of us did.”

It didn’t feel the same whenever they got upset and went through a ‘silent phase’. Powder often did, of course, but never for anything longer than a day. It had been nearly a week now and Vi was desperate. It was in moments like this that Vi wasn't sure what was keeping her breathing. The fear of what could be, of what could take her sister from her at the drop of a  hat, was unbearable. 

“I can’t,” she insisted. “You two don’t get it… she’s not your sister.”

“Ouch,” Mylo said, dropping into his seat. “Way to point out how you view us.”

“C’mon, you know what I meant,” she said. “I just meant…well…”

Claggor offered the answer for her. “You two grew up together, blood and all, we get it. There’s gonna be differences in that, but that doesn’t mean we can’t understand it. Powder’s upset, just like any of has been time and time again, especially at that age. But what did we all want and need then?” he waited a second before pressing the point. “Space. So just listen to Vander here, Vi. Don’t poke at a sleeping bear, okay?”

Mylo put his feet up on the table. “Don’t bother, Claggs. She’s already got the look. That damn motherly look that means she’s gonna do whatever the hell she wants, without thinkin’ about it.”

Vi shot him a seething glare. “I don’t want to hear your shit right now, Mylo.”

“Then just shut up and do as Vander said! Why do you gotta make everything more difficult than it has to be?” his question was overrun with Claggor’s demands for him to just be quiet. “What? It’s the damn truth!”

Vi told him to fuck off before she turned for the stairs, grumbling the entire way up about wanting to knock her brother’s head off his stupid shoulders and use it as a soccer ball. She was so lost in her anger she hadn’t noticed Little Man until she nearly ran him over.

She gasped and reached to steady him before he could fall. “Little Man, what’re you doing here?” and how had he snuck in without Vander noticing? She passed the barkeep a quick look and saw that he was utterly distracted.

Ekko looked worked up when he answered. “I was wondering if…if I could see Powder now?”

Now? What is he talking… and then she suddenly remembered how she and Vander sent the boy off by denying his requests to see Powder and felt a little foolish for having forgot. Of course he’d come by again, they were friends after all and…

Vi suddenly smiled, bright. Why hadn’t she thought about this earlier?! Yes, maybe Ekko hanging around earlier might have caused more headaches than it would have cured them, but it was different now. It had to be. Powder had left their room and if she were still angry with Vi, maybe she wouldn’t be with her one and only friend?

She felt a little relief come from this impromptu visit. “Oh yea, that…” well, no one had told the poor kid that Powder was grounded, but she was so grateful for his unscheduled visit, so she didn’t even care that Vander might not approve of this disturbance. “…you know what, I’m sure you can.”

He fidgeted on spot, eyes skirting across the bar, anywhere but at her. She would have reflected on that any other day, but right now, all she worried for was her sister. “Is she downstairs?”

“No,” Vi said, quickly, noticing that the patrons were thinning and that meant that Vander was losing distractions and fast. “She’s upstairs. Go, quick, before Vander spots you.” She watched him go and smiled proudly when Vander finally noticed the boy hurrying upstairs. It was going to be worth his anger.

And just as she expected, as soon as he was clear of his patrons, he marched towards her, shaking his head. “I thought we agreed?”

Vi smiled, just a little, hoping to pull him away just a little from his annoyance with her. “Little Man’s her best friend, where’s the harm in trying?”

Vander said, “Well, I hope you are right then.” And then he went back to the bar, distracted once again by complaining patrons. Vi had taken a seat in one of the corners of the bar facing the upstairs and waited patiently for Little Man’s return.

It took a few hours, but when she saw the two coming downstairs, she shot up from her seat so fast she hit her legs into the table and stumbled a little from the pain. The commotion had gone unnoticed by the two kids, thankfully, and they continued for a little free space on the opposite side of the bar.

Vi ducked behind a few people throwing darts by the jute box and peaked around them to get a look at her sister. She still looked exhausted, and she didn’t seem to be talking much at all with or to Little Man, but she had joined him at their favorite table. When all she had done that week was sleep or lie in her bed as quiet as a church mouse. And it meant so much to see, after such a harrowing week, that Vi felt tears in her eyes.

She rubbed them away stubbornly and decided, in this, she would giver Powder her space. To let her work through it with someone she felt she could work it through with safely and crept away. She looked up once when she reached the door to downstairs and saw Vander approaching their table with a bowl of snacks and drinks.

Vi waited on bated breath to see what would happen and laughed a little when she saw her sister take a bowl from Vander, until she came to the painful realization that this was going to happen again and that there was nothing she was going to be able to do to make it better, not on her own. Then there wasn’t laughter, there was only a dread that hurt Vi so completely she didn’t know what to do with it.

Chapter Text

Ekko was squatting behind a rusty bin, breathing hard as he listened for the sounds of his friend trying to creep up on him. He nervously checked the water gauge on his gun and saw that it was nearly full and put a finger on the trigger as he gently leaned out from behind his cover. The alley was clear, except for the mangy looking dog digging into trash.

He swallowed hard and leaned back into cover. Today was going to be the day he scored victory against Powder. It had to be. He failed the day before, and the three before that, and it was quite unfair. Every loss meant he had to do whatever Powder wanted, and that had meant a ton of games that she was unreasonably good at. And so, he really wanted the victory, no matter what.

Mentally, he pictured The Lanes and all the streets they were allowed to play on unwatched and tried to think on which his friend would take first. He and Powder knew them well, just like any other kid, but he liked to think he knew the secrets others did not. That Powder did not. And that it would grant him the advantage this time.

He focused his eyes upward, to a set of fire escapes that led to the roof. He checked if the coast was clear before he sprinted for the stairs. The metal clanked hard beneath his feet, so loud he was afraid it was going to give him away to half the city. But when he made it to the top undisturbed, he smiled and crouched, and sprinted down the length of the building. Technically, this was considered cheating in their games, but he hoped she wouldn’t find out. Besides, he needed something to even the odds!

Ekko made it to the end of the building and peaked over the edge. It was clear. He scaled down the opposite set of stairs to the alley way below, and then unstrung his water-gun from his ratty belt and crept to the opening of the alley way. The crowd on the street wasn’t very problematic, but it was enough to grant him cover as he sprinted over the cobbled streets to the other side.

Just as he reached his next set of cover, he spotted the distinct and unforgettable shade of blue in the crowd working towards the place he had just left. He skid to a stop and stumbled behind a trash can to watch as Powder came into view.

She was dressed up for war, with her hair pulled back messily in a knot that fell over the rest of her hair. It was something that Vi had done for her in a hurry before they started to play, because she didn’t have the time to braid it the way Powder loved it. Her face had pink war-paint on her cheeks and the ‘armor’ they both wore, which was a piece of cardboard with strings acting as straps. The first to get their armor drenched, was the loser. So far, only Ekko had gotten hit once or twice, but thankfully at a great enough distance that there were only spots on his armor. Here though? Here he could sneak up on her and run the bottle empty before she could even react.

Acting quickly, he followed behind her, ducking behind people or objects whenever she’d stop and turn around. Soon enough they were nearing the open street that led back to the bar, and every nook and cranny she checked turned out empty. She would bring her water-gun up and spray water into her mouth every now and then, looking absolutely bored and perhaps even a little frustrated that she hadn’t found him yet. He wanted to laugh. She had no idea just how close they were!

Ekko wanted the victory so bad. He knew that if she won again, she’d probably ask to go eat or go back to the bar to draw or hang out with her siblings, and he didn’t want that. Not today. He wanted it to be just them, for as long as possible. And the battle plan was playing perfectly in his head. He’d wait for her to turn into an alley, back turned, before he would spring up out of the crowd. With his rather laughable aiming, he’d need to get close. And when she would turn to fight him, he’d empty the water-gun and give his best evil cackle at the victory. He was sure her face would turn all red too, and that would make it even better.

Powder was nearing one of the last alleys on the street and paused at the entry way, gun still held up, ready to go. He drew closer, heart racing and a wide grin on his face. She reached to rub at her nose then and spread some of her war-paint across her nose and fingers, and he leapt in for the win.

The noise he made caught her attention sooner than he expected though, and just as he neared, she turned. They smacked right into each other and went flying to the cobbled street in varying echoes of surprise and gentle pain. They dropped their guns in the run-in, and as Ekko pressed himself to move quickly to recover, he picked up her gun by accident while she was still getting up. His eyes scanned it and saw that the water-gauge was empty. She had run out, and it came to him immediately that it was not because she had been firing at him. That wouldn’t do. The game would end pre-maturely!

Thinking hastily, he dropped her gun and he fumbled with the cartridge to his gun and opened it, letting the water spill out into the street, before re-attaching it. He hoped she hadn’t noticed, and when she jumped to her feet finally with a breathy laugh and pointed her gun at him, he realized she hadn’t.

There was pink paint smeared across the center of her face and now dirt too from falling into the filthy streets. “Gotcha!” she shot, but nothing came out. She blinked, confused, before looking at her gun with the dreaded realization she was out. Her eyes went to him, and he smirked and lifted his gun. Her eyes went wide.

“Wait! Wait! Ekko, I don’t have any—” when he exaggerated his attempt to shoot, she cut herself off sharply and tensed up for the attack, pinching her eyes shut. When nothing happened, she opened one eye to peak at him. He let the smile drop from his face and forced all the fake fear into his expression that he could. Relief replaced her surprise, and then she laughed. “You’re out too!”

Ekko gave a laugh and shrugged. “I guess so!”

“How? You didn’t even hit me.”

“I did too!” he snapped, indignantly. “See?” he gestured with his gun to two small circles sprayed across the sides of her left.

“Nuh-uh, that wasn’t you!”

“It was too!” he shot back, and then felt his cheeks pull even further into a smile even though he tried his hardest to look annoyed with her. “So, who wins then? I say it was me!”

“As if!” she said, exasperated, and then pressed the tip of her water-gun to her lips, thinking. “Maybe we should do a rematch?”

Yes! It was working! Now all he had to do was act it up… “Aww man, really? I didn’t win?”

“No!” she said, face turning red.

Ekko suppressed a laugh. This was too easy! “Damn, if you’re sure…”

“This time, we’ll play near the bar.”

“Why not here again?”

Powder’s pale eyes held his, and he blushed. The look in them was scolding no matter how else he tried to discern it. “You used the roof tops, didn’t you?”

He gaped. How in the world did she know that?! “I—I…of course not! That’d be cheating!” She mmm’d him, unbelieving. The only way to get her out of this topic was to jab at her sense of sportsmanship. “What’s that Powder?” he put a hand to his hear, mockingly. “Are ya scared I’m gonna win this time?” she narrowed her eyes at him. “Scared of some butt-kicking?”

The red on her face grew darker, and the freckles across her nose became very noticeable. “Oh! Fine!” that’s when he noticed the pink paint again. She continued, clueless to his staring but raring to go and face bunching up in her sportsy sureness. “You’re on!” He burst out into laughter suddenly. “What’s so funny?” she demanded.

“You got paint all over your face.”

“I do?” she frowned and reached to rub the back of her sleeve against her face. She got most of it, but not the streak across her nose. “Better?” He shook his head. “Well, where else?” with a trembling hand, he reached over to brush his thumb across the lower bridge of her nose. “Is it better?” He swallowed hard and nodded. “Good! Now let’s go! I’m gonna make you eat dirt!” she gave a chirpy laugh, and the sound of it brought him out of his stupor.

He smiled at her confidence. “Oh yea, you think?”

“I know so!”

“Alright then!” he took up a running pose. Powder bit her lower lip and readied for a sprint off, back to their water source down the street. “Ready?”

“Ready!” she shouted back, and before he could even say go, took off running.

“Hey!” he called after her, as he tried to catch up. “Hey! Wait a second! That’s cheating!”

Powder looked back at him with a bright smile. “A cheat for a cheat then!”

Ekko laughed. He didn’t know how she knew he used the roof tops, but in the end, they could play for even longer, and that meant the cheat had been worth it. All he wanted was every day to be like this—to play with Powder and forget the world around them, for as long as he could.  

Chapter Text

Vi was staring up at the roof, unable to sleep, when she heard the bed creaking beneath her and the gentle cries of her little sister. She pushed herself up and then hung over the edge of the top-bunk to look down at her sister.

“Powder?” there was another muffled cry then. “What’s wrong?” A little face popped out from beneath her blankets, teary eyes all wide and nose dripping with snot. And Vi knew just by that look. “Oh…the monsters again?” Powder shook her head, chubby cheeks all red and wet. “What’s wrong, then?” But Powder’s eyes only watered more, and she started to cry. Vi frowned and lifted herself out of her hanging position to climb down the ladder, mostly to stop her before she could wake the boys up.

“Hey, come on Pow, it’s okay.” Vi soothed her as she climbed into the bed to lie beside her and lifted an arm to allow her sister into a hold. “See? It’s all okay now.”

But Powder only clung harder. “I saw them again.”

Vi’s heart hung immediately at that, knowing but hoping she misunderstood. “Who?”

“The b-bad men,” she mumbled, snuggling into a tighter hold.  

Vi squeezed her tighter as she thought of these bad men that had been plaguing her sister the last few weeks. She knew who they were. Even she had nightmares of that bridge, and the monsters under the helmets. “They can’t get you here,” she whispered, voice strained in its effort to stay quiet, but still strong. “Promise.”

“W-what if they do?”

“Vander’ll stop ‘em,” she said. “He’ll stop ‘em before they even get inside.”

“Really?”

“Really,” Vi insisted, smiling a little. “He’ll pop ‘em like grapes!” And then to illustrate this, she put a finger in her mouth and made a ‘plop’ nose against her cheek, causing Powder to giggle. “Smooshed up grapes!”

“Ewww!”

“Eww’s right!” she agreed, laughing. “But they’ll be no more bad guys then, right?”

“Right,” Powder whispered in agreement, tears finally relieving. She snuggled even more into Vi’s side, comforted. There was a prolonged yawn then, and then a little ‘goodnight, Vi’.

Violet held on tighter and mushed her cheek against her sister’s messy hair, smiling. “Goodnight, Pow-Pow.” And as she felt her sister slip into her slumber, she watched the dangling lights above them until her eyes burned, promising herself that she would get stronger than even The Hound himself to protect Powder.

Chapter Text

Powder startled upright with a choked gasp. The room was encased in pitch dark, except near the stairs where a slit in the doorway revealed lights from upstairs. The light blurred to tears, and every breath she forced herself to take came pained and short. She tried to focus on counting away the seconds from the nightmare, but every count only made the pain worse and made her remember that despite it all, she was still in that dark alone. She moped her hand across her sweaty brow and watched in a sort of frozen terror as shadows danced within shadows, and figures and monsters sprouted up in the corners. The worst part was that she knew these things were not really there—she knew it, because Vi always told her that they weren’t real—and yet it did not stop the terrifying grip it had on her.

Some of the things in the dark were unfamiliar and terrifying for that, but the ones she knew…the ones she had seen before and the ones she feared to see, choked her. They were staring at her; she could feel it by the cold that drew over her. Staring with unseen eyes.

Powder pinched her eyes shut against tears and drew her blanket over her head. You’re not real, she reminded herself. You aren’t. She could feel them now though, tugging at the blankets and poking at her. It was too much. Hastily, she threw her blanket off and ran for the stairs without looking back, heart racing even faster now.

The upstairs had proved to be no savior though. The light streaming into the bar crept in from the street, and casted everything in long shadows. She passed the long, clear windows a nervous look before speedily running for the kitchen, her feet barely making any noise barefoot on the wood. As soon as she was in the room, she felt for the little switch on the wall. The first flick did not bring on the lights, but the second had.

The pale lights flickered on with a gentle buzzing, and immediately, everything was lit. There were no shadows here. Nothing to dance and taunt, to smile and see. Shivering, she ran over to a narrow spot between the end of the counters and their ice box, and tucked herself in. She drew her legs up as far as she could and wrapped her arms around them. The heat from the exhausts of the ice box brought a gentle warmth to her in the cold of the kitchen, and with that, a small measure of safety. Here where there was warmth and light, none of those shadows could follow her. She wanted to drive them away, at least for a little while.

Desperately, she went through all her sister’s tricks and advice to still the fear and the monsters, and when that failed, she moved onto brothers’ suggestions and even Vander’s. Nothing was helping to move her away from that ledge though, and now every creak in the floor and the rattle in the pipes terrified her.  

“Powder?”

She looked up from her knees to see Vander standing in the archway, brows furrowed. “Why aren’t you in bed?” she hurried to her feet and over to him, wrapping her arms around him. She pressed her face into his shirt, to try and hide her tears and her shame. There was a moment of silence before he put a hand on her back, to comfort her.  “More nightmares?”  she nodded. “How about we get you back to bed?” Powder knew what awaited her if she went back to sleep. She held him tighter. He must have understood what that meant, because he patted the spot between her shoulders and said, “If you want, I’ll sit with you until you fall asleep.”

“I’m not tired,” she mumbled.

He gave a sigh, though it was more tired than anything else. “Well,” he whispered. “I’m pretty tired, but you want to know a secret?” she peeled away to look at him. “I had a nightmare, too.”

“You did?”

“I sure did,” he said, nodding. “And do you know what I do when I’ve had a nightmare?” In her mind, she envisioned him wrestling the shadows and all the monsters, and wished she had that kind of strength. She asked him if he fought the dreams and monsters, and he chuckled. “Sometimes, if they’re real nasty, but no. I’ll let you in on the secret though. Here, follow me.”

Powder followed him toward the back counters and watched him as he dug through the lower shelf for a few seconds. He took out a clear spray bottle filled with blueish liquid and gestured for her to join him at the front of the bar. She still couldn’t reach any of the barstools, so he lifted her up to one.

“Would you like to tell me what the nightmare was about?” Powder lowered her eyes, embarrassed. He considered her quiet briefly and then said, “Powder, it is okay to be afraid. Everyone has dreams, and sometimes, they’re scary. It’s only natural.”

“Everyone?” she repeated, unsure. She couldn’t really imagine her sister having them, or her brothers, or even Vander—though he said he did. How could any big kid get scared like that? Or an adult? It didn’t make any sense.

“Everyone,” he insisted. “It’s just something our brains do, create figments to ease things we think about, but that’s all that they are—figments of our mind.”

“F-figments?”

He explained, “It just means something invented or imagined. It’s like a story, only one your mind tells.”

Oh. Stories weren’t too scary. Well…unless Vi was telling it, or Mylo. They only ever had scary stories. But what about the real monsters? That’s what she feared, really, as they never seemed to leave her alone. “W-what about real monsters?”

“Real monsters, you say?” he hmm’d. “You don’t have to worry about that. If there are any real monsters, they won’t come into the bar. I wouldn’t let them anywhere near you.”

“Really?” but that couldn’t be. She had seen them before! “What if they are here?”

Vander said, “On the chance that they get in? And passed me? Well, that’s where the secret weapon comes in.” he took a seat on the stool to her right and reached over to jiggle the bottle he had set down earlier. “You see this?” she nodded; eyes wide with fascination. “This is a special blend of monster repellent, my very own creation.” She mouthed the word quietly to herself, unsure. He noticed and smiled. “It’s a special kind of water I made. It means that if you spray a spot with it, like this—” he sprayed the air beside them. “—it means no monster can step in that place. And, if you spray an actual monster with it?” he snapped his fingers, surprising her. “They’re gone for good.”

That seemed way too good to be true. “…really?”

Vander nodded. “Do you want to try?” he scooted the bottle towards her, and Powder looked it over, disbelieving, but curious and desperate. “Go on, try it. Spray wherever you saw a monster.” And when she hesitantly took the bottle, he helped her back to the floor and then followed her as she slowly walked around the bar, glancing into every dark corner with wide eyes, trembling. Powder found a spot that had tormented her before, and currently hung in absolute darkness. She got prickly skin whenever she looked at it and stood there terrified as that feeling started to envelope her again. The shadows began to dance, and she took a step back, cradling the bottle to her chest.

Vander put a hand on her shoulder to steady her. “I see it too,” he said, voice low. “Go on, spray it.” She pointed the bottle out and pinched her eyes shut as she sprayed. She only held the trigger down for a few seconds, but when she realized she was just waiting there for the shadowy monster, she gave a cry and dropped the bottle to scurry behind Vander. He made a noise of excited surprise. “Ah, see? It works every time! The pain was too much. Come and look, you’ve run it off.”

“No! It’s there, it’s there!”

“I promise it isn’t. See for yourself.” She shook her head, fingers digging into the fabric of his shirt. “Just take a little peak, you’ll see. Don’t worry. I’ll be right here the entire time.” Feeling brave, she peaked around him and stared into the shadows for several long, nerve wracking seconds, until she realized that they were no longer moving, or taking shape. It was gone! She stepped out from behind him, staring in disbelief. It was really gone! Vander said, “See? It’s gone.” He put a hand on her head, ruffling her hair a bit. “And you want to know another big secret?” There was more?! She nodded. “They hate light. Any kind of light.”

“But I see them in light…”

“Ah, that’s not the secret,” he said. “The secret is that they won’t go away in light unless you know that they can. If you disbelieve, it won’t work on them.”  That would explain so much. Vi tried to tell her that light banishes monsters, but that had never been the case before. Maybe she was right after all…! But she suddenly remembered that downstairs, the nearest light switch was near the stairs! How was she going to keep them away when she didn’t have any lights? And what if the repellent ran out?

When she brought that up to him, he hmm’d and rubbed at his chin. “That’s a good point. I can make more of the monster repellent whenever, but the light is trickier…” he quietly considered something and then smiled, brightly. “I have an idea. Follow me.”

Vander led her to a little closet upstairs and dug out a crumpled cardboard box, and then led her down to the basement. She hesitated at the top steps but on his insistence that there was nothing downstairs that he would let hurt her, she followed him again. They passed the light switch and went right to the bunk bed. He sat the box down and then motioned her over, before pressing his index finger to his lips, to indicate to be quiet.

“Look inside,” he whispered. Powder nervously knelt to open the box. She wasn’t sure what she had expected, but a tangled mess of bulby things certainly wasn’t it. She was hoping for a new weapon to keep the nightmares and monsters at bay, not junk. She lifted one of the tangles up and looked up at him with furrowed brows. “Here, let’s untangle them.” Together, they took a bundle each and undid the knots and tangles, until they had two straight lines of wire with tiny bulbs separated every inch or so.

When it was done, Vander took them up in his arms and then walked over to the front end of the bed. He knelt and messed with something, and after a few seconds, bright and varied colors of light sprang to life suddenly. She jumped, startled, and then cracked a wide smile at the beautiful lights reflecting off the walls and floor.

“See?” he whispered to her, resting his elbows on the headboard to the bottom bed, hands full of brightly colored wire. “Now there’s light. Let’s find a good place for them, yea?” and together, they began to work the wire and bulbs carefully through the top of the bed. And after a few minutes, the bottom bed was encased in bright, multi-colored lights.

It looked like something out of a wonderful dream. Powder giggled and crawled up onto her bed and reached up to touch at some of the bulbs, amazed. This wasn’t just light; this was all the color in the world captivated and dancing right here within reach. If this couldn’t keep the monsters away, she wasn’t sure anything else could.

Vander knelt and looked at the dancing lights with a smile of his own. “Now you have everything you need to keep them away. Why don’t we give it a shot?”

Powder looked at him, scared. “W-what if it doesn’t work?”

“I’ll tell you what,” he grunted as he took a seat on the floor beside the bed. “I’ll sit right here with you until you fall asleep. And when you wake up, and you see that it worked, well…there we go.”

Powder chewed her lower lip, thinking. “What if they come back?” she asked, her voice like a whisper.

“I’ll be right here to make them go away,” he answered. “I promise.”

“You’ll stay?” she asked. “All night?”

“All night,” he agreed. “But you must try to go to sleep. Do we have a deal?” she mumbled agreements. “Good! Now, let’s get you back under the covers, yea?” he helped her get back under her covers and then tucked her in nice and squarely. “Comfortable?”

She looked at the dancing lights quickly before turning her eyes to him. “You won’t leave?”

“I won’t.” he repeated, softly. She wrestled an arm out from beneath the blankets and took his hand. He tightened his grip on her hand and took a seat on the floor beside her bed. “Close your eyes now. I’ll be right here when you wake up.” His hand was a little tough and too big, but it was warm. Just like his hugs. And it was beyond comforting. She focused her burning eyes on the lights again with a yawn and closed her eyes, unaware of how exhausted she was until just then.

The last thing Powder remembered from that night before sleep, was the soft sound of Vander’s humming.

Chapter Text

“Let me out!” she howled, cramped so forcefully into the small closet and its forgotten denizens that she could scarcely move. There was something sharp stabbing into her lower back, and her legs had long since gone numb, but her pleas and anger were ignored by her brother. “I know you’re there!” she snapped. “Mylo!” but the only response was the blaring bar music below her, and that of a dozen or so different conversations by the patrons listening to it.

It was the perfect atmosphere to mask her imprisonment and that was exactly why her brother loved to do it. No one would be able to hear her, and no one would come looking for her until the day was over, because they were either too busy or had their own things to do to wonder where their sister had gone off to. She wasn’t sure why he wanted to get rid of her this time, but she wished the big dummy would have just asked her to stay out of sight first! One of these days, she was going to pay him back for it.

Her eyes focused in the dark at the slits where the door met the frame of the wall. Light burned through just enough for her to see the hinges, in all their rusty, ricketiness. They were loose, loose enough that one could undo them. If only she could just reach her pouches, maybe she could get out. She wiggled about. There was something pressing against her right that prevented her from moving her arms, but maybe if she got it to budge, if only an inch or two… she strained her body towards the left. The object poking into her back intensified, but she continued fidgeting until the thing to her right slacked and she lifted her arm up several inches. Almost! She pulled her arm up more, scraping it against something. She sucked in breath, stung, but kept going. All at once, the pressure to her right slacked and she yanked her arm out between her and the pile of forgotten trash with a victorious laugh. Finally! She wiggled her arm down in the open space towards her pouch and felt around for one of her tools. She fished around until she found her rotating screwdriver and maneuvered herself well enough to reach the loose hinges. It was much more difficult doing the task one handed and from such an awkward angle and height. The tip of the screwdriver kept sliding down or she kept missing, but eventually she got the set of three screws out of the first hinge. When the screws fell out of sight, she finally realized something that stole all the enthusiasm out of her. The other hinge was higher than she could even stand up, due to the shelf above her head which was also packed with trash. What was she going to do now?

With a frustrated cry, she kicked her foot into the door. The door shook but stood strong. The missing hinge was not going to be the thing that felled it. Still, she kicked and kicked, mostly to vent her anger and frustration. At this rate, it would be well into the night before she was let out. Her stupid brother was going to win again! She kicked again, frustrated, and saw the doorknob jingle heavily to the act. She leaned forward, into as much of the open space she had, and focused her eyes on the doorknob. It was darker on the left side, she could barely make out the shape of it, but knew she saw it—a tiny little space between the doorknob and the actual door.

Powder jabbed the flat end of the screwdriver in between that space and started to yank and wiggle as hard as she could. “Come on,” she growled, pushing on the handle of her tool until it touched the door. “Break!” she pulled back, causing the screwdriver to catch. There was a brief second or two of resistance before finally the doorknob casing popped off. A bright light bloomed into the closet from the exposed bore hole, though a few pieces remained in the hole itself. “Yes! Yes!” she stuck her hand into the hole, feeling around for leftover but intricate parts that kept the door locked. She stuck her tongue out as her fingers fiddled with the dead bolt. All she had to do was pull it back, out of the strike plate. It took her a few tries, as the inner section of the bolt was greasy and thus slippery, but eventually she got it slid back and the door sprung open.

The sudden lack of force holding her and the garbage back caused her to fall forward, and several things to slide down and collapse on top of her. “Ooof!” Other garbage rolled passed her into the hallway, though the noise of it didn’t seem to alert anyone downstairs. She drew herself up slowly, her legs still numb. The weight nearly caused her to fall again, but she grabbed onto the door and held herself up until the numbness vanished.

When her legs were strong enough once more, she made her way downstairs, intent on not finding her brother and yelling at him, but instead telling Vander. That seemed the most proper way of repaying him back for his scheme. But as she came thundering down the steps and caught her brother engaged in conversation with a few girls from their little clique, the idea of getting Vander to punish him didn’t seem so enticing anymore. No. This time, payback required more. And she had just the idea to start it off.

She scanned the crowd for her other siblings and caught them sitting at the table just one down from Mylo. They were distracted enough that they didn’t see her sneak by. The two elderly folk sitting at the table she stopped at gave her one long look before returning to their discussion. Any average patron of The Last Drop knew all the Vander kids well and that they all often pranked each other or just got in trouble. It had become a normal thing for customers to witness and so her grabbing a few packets of mustard from their table would be no different a thing.

Powder knelt and then crawled under the tables up towards her brother’s. She was careful not to bump into anyone and alert the bar to her location. The floor was unbelievably tacky and covered in mud and spilt alcohol, but all that mess was going to be worth it in the end. When she made it to her brother, she ripped the packets open and reached through the space between the chair and table to pour it onto his seat. Next, she reached into her pouch and recovered permanent marker ink.

When her eyes caught sight of the bright, hot pink, she put the others away and then reached back up to the table. Her fingers touched the handle of a cup and then she pulled it down beneath the table. She carefully poured the ink onto the handle and then maneuvered it back onto the table before anyone could see her. As soon as she was done, she backtracked quickly. There was more to do and if she wanted it done in time, she had to be quick.

Back at the old folk’s table, she sprang up to her feet and crouch ran towards the basement stairs. No one had seen her. She raced downstairs and once inside their room, went for Mylo’s drawers. He would certainly come to change once he realized his pants had been soiled, so she opened the first drawer and took up all his pants, and then went to the sofa. She shoved them all underneath and then went back to the drawer.

She recovered a tub of super glue and then drew a line of it across the top of the drawer and then closed it. She held it in place for a minute or so to let it set, and then grinned when jiggling the thing resulted in an unmoving force. Of course, she knew her brother’s strength hurdled towards attempts would eventually open it but frustrating him with the realization as he opened the drawers to find nothing made it even funnier.

Next, she went to the small washroom in the corner, hidden behind a curtain. She carefully took the mirror off the wall and hid it beneath the cine-screen table, just so there was no chance he could see his reflection, and then she went for her box of things under her bed. She gathered the last supplies she needed and then she ran back upstairs.

The bar was still heavily occupied and thus distracted. She caught sight of Vander busy pouring several orders and her sister laughing with her friends. She took the chance to continue her scheme, even though at the drop of a hat anyone could notice her. She hoped it would just be another night in which they didn’t. Although she couldn’t complete this step until he was down in their room, she could still lay the foundation.

Powder figured she would have up to three or four minutes to set this last trap once he was downstairs and to get to her final position. It didn’t seem like enough time, but she figured that if she couldn’t get to the last position, all the other pranks would still be funny. Except, it started much sooner than she had expected. She heard her brother’s surprised gasps and jumped up to her feet, catching the sight of him over a few patrons. He must have sat down! No, it was much too early! He was making his way back around, toward her.

Powder hurried for the kitchen, not only to stay out of sight, but to try and secure the last things she needed. She didn’t have time to find a larger cup, so she picked two small ones from the kitchen sink and then hurriedly poured the paint capsules she took from her box into them.  And then she returned to the bar and was thankful her brother wasn’t back yet. She went to the incomplete trap and then dragged a chair over, so she could reach the door frame above. Next, she used the excess string she had laid out to tie gently around the bases of the cups and then tippy toed to place them on the frame.

It was then she heard her father’s voice.

“Powder? What are you…” She gasped and jumped down from the chair, panicking now because her brother could return any second and now her father had caught her mid-prank. He realized it too and shook his head. “Do I even want to know?”

Powder hurriedly explained and hoped he would understand. “It’s payback!”

Vander sighed and threw up his hands. “I saw nothing.” And then he made his way into the kitchen.

She smiled and pushed the chair back into its position and then began the final addition to the prank. She tied the end piece of string to the sides of a large noise maker and then laid the pull trap a few inches above ground. The sound of rapid footsteps drew her attention. Alert, she ran away, towards the stairs to the second floor. She found a spot on the fourth or fifth step and knelt to watch through the balusters.  

Mylo came charging upstairs, and Powder smirked against laughter at the sight of black ink on his face, from where he had touched his face unknowingly. He was still wearing the same pants too, which meant he had found the empty drawer. His foot hit the trap and pulled them taunt, causing the noise maker to be pulled and screech. It not only drew his attention sharply, but that of the entire bar, and before he could make much of it, the cups capsized over and spilled paint all over him.

It was too much. She broke into a fit of laughter, and the near dead silence of the bar allowed him to easily track her down. His eyes were wide with anger and his jaw was set sternly. Vi and Claggor noticed and started to cackle uncontrollably, and the girls Mylo had been with joined in too, trying to hide their amusement behind their hands.

He took a step towards her, dripping paint as he walked. “You little…!" His outrageous response only fanned the flames. Powder's laughter ached her sides even as she raced for the safety of their father's room. "I’m going to kill you, you runt!”

Chapter Text

Ekko was lying on the cool metal roofing of a building near the bar beside his friend, watching people pass by above them, so small they looked like dots. He was distracted suddenly by the curiosity to know just how many people were living cramped here below the surface, so he hadn’t really noticed the very quiet mood that descended upon them until it was broken.

“What’re your parents like?”

He turned his head to look at her, letting the cool metal chill his cheek. It was so out of the blue. “You’ve met ‘em before, remember?”

“That doesn’t count.”

“Why not?”

She laughed. “I was a kid!”

Ekko smiled. “We’re still kids.”

“We were little kids." she corrected herself. "So?"

He never really had to describe his parents to someone before, so he wasn’t sure how to begin, or what to say. He thought on the way his father was stern but fair, or how his mother was funny and a little mischievous. How did you put that into the right words though?

“Hmm,” he mulled over the thought for a second or two. “I don’t know to describe them, really.” It seemed tougher than it should be. “My dad’s stern, I guess you could say, like the kind that thinks there’s things you gotta do right in life or don’t do at all. It’s something I disagree with him on.”

“Why?”

He sighed. “He thinks Piltover is an answer.” That drew a silence between them. Even at their tender age, they both knew that Piltover offered nothing to anyone but its own. It was a fantasy to believe in its so called ‘riches for all’ tales. And to divert from that sudden topic because it fouled any mood, he continued. “Ah, but my mom’s a total kid!”

Powder shifted beside him. “What do you mean?”

He smiled. “She’d play tricks on me and dad all the time, like switching out our shoes or loosening caps to drinks and stuff. There was one time she even convinced my uncle to eat cave slime by swappin’ her portion out with colored pudding.”

That made her laugh. “Eww! That’s so gross!”

He joined her laughter. “He was so stumped because she just kept eatin’ it like it was nothing. It was only a few days later when he showed her that he could eat the slime without puking that she finally showed him the trick.”

Powder was smiling when she spoke. “She sounds like fun.”

“Yea,” he said, feeling an ache in his chest suddenly. He missed them so much that it hurt. He stubbornly rubbed a few stray tears from his eyes. “Yea…she’s lots of fun.” His attempts to hide his pain did not work it seemed, because he felt her hand touch his. 

“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “You don’t have to talk about it.”

“No,” he mumbled. “It’s okay. I’m glad you asked. It’s nice to talk about ‘em, sometimes.” He chewed his lip then, thinking. Curious. He knew he asked her a few times before, years ago, but that was so long ago… “Powder?” she made a quiet noise of acknowledgement. “What about you?”

“What about me?”

Ekko felt a little foolish because he thought his question was clear. “I mean…what about your parents? Do you remember what they were like?”

Powder shifted beside him again, elbow smacking his arm gently as she moved just an inch or so away. If it wasn’t for the quickened breathing, he never would have thought she heard his question. “No…” she finally gave, her voice giving away the grief-soaked emotion she tried so hard to hide from him.

“No?” he pressed gently; afraid he was prying too far but wanting to know, despite how bad that made him feel. He never asked her about them, always afraid the question would do more harm than he could repair. “Like…nothing at all?” he couldn’t imagine what that was like. To forget the faces of his parents, or even to never know them.

“Only a little,” she admitted, and when he glanced over, saw that she was picking absentmindedly at her shirt, eyes downcast.

“What do you remember?” he was always curious what her parents might look like. The one time he asked Vi, she gave him a shrug and tried to act all aloof about it, but he knew when she went into the other room she had cried. He never asked again.

When she finally spoke up, her voice was quiet, almost as if she were afraid to continue. “Sometimes, I…I think I can hear my dad’s laugh.” That made his heart ache. “And I think my mom had hair like mine, but…sometimes I think she didn't...” she shrugged. “I don’t know, there...” her hesitation drew his attention sharply. She was clearly going to say more, before deciding not to.

Why did he think this was a good idea? He knew how her parents had died… what an unbelievably jerk thing to ask! “I shouldn’t have asked. I’m sorry, Powder.”

She exhaled, finally letting go of her mindless picking and turned her head so that they were staring into each other’s eyes. The grief he had seen just for a split second was smoothed over quickly with a fragile smile. “It’s okay, it doesn’t matter anyways. It’s silly.”

There wasn’t anything silly about her pain though, or what she missed. He considered saying that, but wondered if it might make things worse, and instead reached over to take her hand and turn his gaze back to the looming giants of the city. He counted to seventeen people passing above them before the silence was broken again. “Ekko?”

“Yea?”

“What do you think we’ll be like?”

“Huh?” he sat up to his elbows and looked at her. “Whaddya mean?”

She joined him in his upright position, only she sat upright entirely. “When we’re adults, duh.”

“Oooh,” he shuffled further upright too. “Uhh…I don’t know. I guess I’ll still be me?”

Powder laughed. “Of course, you’ll be you.” She shook her head, and he had the distinct impression she found him obtuse today. “I mean…well, you know what I mean.”

Ekko wasn’t entirely sure, but he had his assumption, and he went with it. “Well, I’d like to imagine I’m gonna discover something impressive! Something that’ll change things up, ya know?” and then, feeling foolish yet again, he quickly added, “What do you think?”

“I think you’re already cool,” she said, without any hesitation. “So you’re definitely gonna be famous all over the world!”

That made his cheeks heat up. That wasn’t what he meant by his question, but a huge part of him was happy over the knowledge that she thought that way about him, or at all. “You think so?”

“Of course! But you gotta change your hair.”

“My hair?” he repeated, suddenly hyper aware of her staring at him and wanting to cover his head. “What’s wrong with my hair?”

“Nothing,” she said, and reached over to touch it. Her fingers were cold, but oddly comforting. “But if you’re gonna be someone the world knows, you should have really cool hair, right?”

“Yeah?” Somehow, her interest in his silly and unimportant hair was quickly becoming more and more important. “I’m thinking a mohawk! A green one!”

Powder laughed. “A mohawk?!”

“Okay, whatcha suggest?”

“I dunno, but definitely not a mohawk.”

“Ahhh, you’re no help! I’ll just go with one, then!” She started to laugh harder. “Pfff, fine! No mohawk, sheesh.”

“It’s for your own good, Ekko. Trust me!” Her smile never ceased to draw breath from his lungs. He wished he could bottle that smile up, to look back on any moment he’s sad or lonely. The only comfort he took in the fact that he couldn’t, was that she was always there.

That drew him to her question again and made him realize they hadn’t touched on her thoughts, yet. “What about you?”

“Me?” she looked surprised to have it suddenly turned on her.

“Yeah, you! What do you think you’re gonna be like?”

She shrugged. “I never really thought about it.” He could tell by that tone that it was not entirely the truth. She had, but she didn’t want to tell him that. He knew her enough not to pry, and he respected her enough not to. “What do you think I’ll be like?”

Her question caught him off guard. In his mind, he immediately began thinking of an imagined grown-up Powder, and it filled his belly with butterflies, because he was sure she was going to be even prettier than she was now. Only a few distinct details came to mind, though. Her dorky smile was still there and those pretty eyes, but he saw her with her hair down and her freckles more intense, dressed a little outlandishly because that was just Powder. And he knew she could be whatever she set her mind to, but he felt deep in his heart she would be an incredible inventor—if not one of the best in history.

“I think you’re gonna run circles around me and the world, Powder. You’ll create things that were impossible, and everyone will come to you to figure things out. That’s what I think. I won’t be the cool one, you will be.”

Her cheeks reddened. “You really think so?”

“Of course! You’ll totally leave me in the dust!”

“Never! We’ll stay together forever.”

“Yeah? Even if I’m really, really lame?”

“Even if!” Powder scooted closer to him and leaned against his side. “Well, so long as you don’t get a mohawk!”

Ekko laughed. “No promises!”

Chapter Text

Violet peaked around the pillars and through a sliver in a tarp wall towards the four people conversing quietly amongst themselves. She couldn’t recognize one of the men, but the other had been coming over a lot the last few months. She couldn’t make out much of what they were saying, but she knew she heard something about money, and food. The look on her father’s face was one Vi had seen a lot. She knew what was eventually going to happen—he would go out and find some scheme to include himself in just to make enough coin to feed them.

She heard a creak and quickly turned about, startled. Powder was standing by a pillar, staring at her with wide eyes. The dark of the night made it hard to see details, but the candle flickering on the table nearby reflected in her eyes, revealing the tired face of a freshly awoken child.

“Pow? What are you doing up?”

“I’m hungry,” she whispered with a pout, big sad eyes filling with tears. It was two days ago they had a meal, so that made sense. Of course, there was technically something to eat in the house, but their parents had made the rule that food during extreme cases was to be consumed every other day. It meant many nights of aching stomachs, but it meant they lasted just a little longer…

Quickly, she hurried from the tarp and took her sister’s hand to guide her back into the other ‘section’ of their house. “Hungry, huh?” little Powder nodded furiously, and to compliment the motion, her stomach growled. Vi laughed, quietly, and stopped them by a plank of mismatched wood and various lengths, set atop a box to act as a table. “Okay, let’s find something to eat. You stay right here, okay?”

Vi hurried to the secret place where her parents stashed food and other such things. It was a false bottom to the floor, hidden beneath a small platform where they slept. They didn’t know she knew about it, but when the food was found to be gone, they would surely suspect…

No, it didn’t matter if they did find out, she determined. How was she supposed to just ignore that her sister was starving? She took out the last few pieces of bread, tucked into an old plastic bag, and then sealed it back up. She hurried back to her sister and was thankful when she saw that she hadn’t moved from her spot.

“Okay, here we go,” she handed her sister a slice and watched as she scarfed it down hungrily. Her dirty little fingers picked at the crumbs left over the table, and then she started licking them to get every little piece she could. The rumbling stomach that came immediately after her sister was done made Violet pause at stuffing her slice in her mouth. She looked at her sister again before smiling and holding the slice out. “Here you go, Pow.”

Powder took it with dirty little hands, staring wide eyed. “Really?” she asked, her ‘r’s sounding more like strangely wrangled ‘w’s.

“Really!” she said. “Better eat it up before they come back, though.” That was all it took to encourage her. Powder stuffed it in her mouth greedily, chewing slowly as if it could satiate her hunger longer if she did. When she was through, crumbs stuck to cheeks, Vi laughed and reached over to brush them away.

“Feel any better?”

Powder answered, “Is there more?”

“No, not right now.” Vi explained. “But don’t worry Pow. Mom and dad will get more food tomorrow.” She wasn’t sure if they could, but it felt better to lie right there than to let her hopes be crushed. “Now, c’mon, before they come back. We gotta get to bed.”

“I can’t,” Powder complained, as she was led away to the corner of the back where a sheet was tacked to the wall to create a tent like barrier, from both the elements and the lights when their parents stayed up with company. “I’m too hungry…”

“I know, but we gotta try anyway, okay?” she said, lifting the sheet up for her. Powder crawled in without another word. Vi joined her shortly and reached awkwardly around them to fish out the meager blanket they had. It was ratty and patched up the best it could, and much too small for both of them. It was too cold of a night to let her little sister go halfsies, or without, so she took the time to tuck the blanket in around her to be sure she was as warm as possible. “See? Bet you’re sleepy now, huh?”

“A little…” Powder yawned and rubbed at her eyes, which only made Violet smile.

“Just a little, huh?” she tried to find a more comfortable spot for herself in the cramped space but found it impossible. “Let’s just close our eyes and try to sleep, see if that works.”

“But—”

“We gotta try,” she pushed. Her sister gave in and closed her eyes. Finally, Vi closed her eyes too and felt the gentle reach of sleep tugging at her. She rolled about a few times until she found a spot that felt good and let the exhaustion begin to whisk her away. It did not last long, though.

“I’m cold,” Powder complained into the quiet suddenly, sounding very perturbed.

Violet twisted about on the hard board below them just enough to wrap an arm around her sister and bring her closer. Though it was a cold night for anyone, her sister was very cold. It was almost like touching ice. “Is that better?”

Powder snuggled closer and wrapped a scrawny little arm around Vi’s waist. Though it was a very good answer itself, it was the soft breathing that came a few minutes later that told Vi her sister had finally fallen asleep. Since it was much too cold to sleep, and her own stomach was aching painfully, Vi stayed up the rest of the night. She tried to preoccupy herself with listening to the echoes of their parents and even by counting different things she could spot, like little holes in the walls or how many times the wind knocked something down outside, but it didn’t do much.

It wasn’t until much later, at the start of dawn, that her tired brain caught up with the sound of her parents entering the house. She carefully reached up to put hands over her sister’s ears, gently so as to not wake her, and listened as their voices drew closer.

“…I said no.”

“What do you want me to do then?” their father asked, rushed, sounding angry. “There’s no other way.”

“I don’t trust that snake,” their mother snapped. “I don’t want you to go.”

“So do we let the girls go hungry?” There was a long bout of silence. Vi strained to listen, thinking they had left the house again, but finally heard a noise that sounded a lot like a scoff and then rushed steps. “Don’t just walk away from me!”

“Keep your voice down!” mother hissed. “The girls are asleep!”

“It’s either I do this, we go to the brothel or we let them starve to death!” Vi screwed her eyes shut at the sound of something crashing and breaking and then pressed harder on Powder’s ears, hoping desperately that she would not wake up. “What the hell, really? Hitting me? God damn it woman, stop that.”

“Get out!” she demanded. “Go do whatever you want, just get out!”

“Fine!” he howled and then shortly after, the door slammed after him, shaking the whole house with it. After a long moment, when the silence drew upon the house again, Vi let go of her sister and gently got up to peak out the end of their little tent.

Their mother was sitting on a box, head hung in her hands, crying so gently it could barely be heard. She crawled out of the tent and slowly made her way over. “Mom?”

The woman lifted her head out of her hands, surprised, and then frowned. “Oh, Violet…” she sighed. “You heard all of that, didn’t you?” she nodded. “Did your sister hear?”

“No,” Vi said quietly. “I made sure she didn’t.” She took a spot on the floor beside her mother and took her hand. It was warm, despite how cold it was around them. “Are you and dad mad at each other?” it sounded like the fights the other parents’ had. The kind that made one of them leave, or maybe both. She wasn’t sure what she would do if her parents got that angry with each other.

“No, we’re just exhausted and…” she suddenly reached over and ran a hand through Violet’s hair. “…you have nothing to worry about, Vi. Everything is going to be okay.”

“I can help!”

“No. You do so much already.” her mother whispered.

“But I want to help,” she insisted. “I want to.”

Her mother regarded her solemnly for a moment and then smiled, moving her hand down to caress her cheek. “You want to help? Then you can make me a promise. Can you do that?”

Violet nodded, eagerly. “Of course!”

Her mother brushed a warm thumb across her cheek, smiling. “No matter what happens, promise me that you will always look after your sister.”

Was that it? But she already did that! “But mom, I already do that.”

Her mother laughed. “Then you’re already helping the best way that you can.” Violet puffed her cheeks, a little annoyed. She wanted a real thing to do, one she wasn’t already doing. One that wasn’t obvious.

“I want another one!” Vi said, enthusiastically. “I can do it!”

“Another one?” she repeated.  “Well, alright, but this one is very, very, very important, and you cannot ever break it. Do you still want to do it?”

“Yes!”

“Then protect that heart of yours.” she said, quietly. “From all the ways that you care and all the ways that make you different, that's what makes you strong. Do not let anyone ever take it away from you.”

“My…heart?” but how was that going to help them any?

“Do you promise?”

Violet looked into her mother’s eyes and saw just how serious she was being. The soft look that normally laid in her gaze was steely, as if this simple request was the most important thing in all the world. She wasn’t sure how this would help anything, let alone themselves, but she knew she couldn’t say no now. A big kid wouldn’t do that, anyways.

“Okay,” Vi said, her voice soft. “I promise.”