The Fall: 22. Echoes

Echoes

-Fancy meeting the boss, kid? -said the woman that had once been his childhood friend with an irritating tone.

-Sure, I guess that you Pilties can't get a job done without that overseer's hand telling you to do so. -said Ekko again.

Just as he expected, his face was punched into the wall. He had already gone through this way too many times. Always trying to find a way to fix what had happened in Zaun.

...

The city was a living chaos, now more than ever.

Viktor had died, but the Pilties hadn't had enough. They would raze the whole place, and the kids would go down with it. That is, unless he did something.

Of the original twelve, only three remained; but while the years passed by, a place like Zaun always gave birth to more orphans and those scared children always needed their help. Ekko and Mine had been bringing the orphans from Zaun in turns, always taking care of them while living hidden in the outskirts of Piltover. None was the one in charge of finding them out and contacting both Ekko and Mine, but that ended with the last few battles.

The sky looked different the day they received None's last letter.

...

From I,

IX and XII, XXXI and XXXIV are bringing you my last piece of writing.

Chaos reigns in Zaun; Viktor has manipulated the government itself and we're being forced into the military. Every single soul is forced into it; women, children, even the elders. It is said that Singed's latest modification of Shimmer is being tested on those who don't look strong enough to fight. I guess that you understand why this will surely be my last letter for you, friends.

Don't forget what we've been fighting for. This is not the Zaun we praised, Viktor is not the herald that was supposed to make our lives better. The corruption that has taken control of our homeland does not represent the lifestyle we defend. That's why I need to ask you one last thing.

Keep Zaun alive. This war is already lost, Zaun has self-destructed itself and ruined its own roots. Broken-hearted, I can only tell you to let this place fall, and bring Zaun to Piltover. Teach our ways to those Pilties, make them realize that we were right. Show them that we're not their enemies, but their rivals instead. The children you're taking care of are the future of Zaun, make sure that you don't forget that.

With best regards,

None

...

His footspets echoed thorugh the empty streets of Zaun. Ekko ran as fast as he had ever done it, rushing through corpses and ruins. Not even then he realized what None had meant; Zaun had already killed itself, but that meant nothing to Ekko. The mural, their hideout, their past. The place where the original twelve had met for the first time. I's ability to be ignored when he wanted to go unnoticed, II's handcrafting techniques concerning techmaturgy, III's thirst for vengeance, IV's lack of purpose, V's way of being trusted by everyone, VI's irritating voice, VII's innocence and goggles, VIII's illness,  IX's egoism and self-centered hate, X's pigtails, XI's plan. He was XII. He was the one with the dream.

And that dream had't died out, not even after being witness of what was happening to their homeland. While running he started to hear voices; loud as they were, it was difficult to understand them. Still, he managed to notice Viktor's tone on that voice. The one to blame's words were as irritating as they had been the day that half the crew was lost. Back when Viktor was known as VIII, he had been the one to force them back, leaving II, III, V, VI and VII to rot down in Zaun's underground mazes. And he was now the one that would let the rest of them dying for a cause that no one defended but him.

-The shimmer didn't work as expected Singed. -he could hear Viktor say.- These beasts couldn't stop an organized army like the on of Piltover.

-Did you really expect them to do so? -asked Singed.- I already told you that the only thing they'd bring would be chaos.

-You should have explained yourself better.

-I already explaioned myself better when we tried it out with your old orphan friend, and here you have the results.

Only then Ekko realized; the screams of agony, mixed with moans and deep groans that could be heard over their conversation. He needed to know what had happened to None; with nothing to stop him from doing so, he slightly moved towards the alley. Once he saw what was there, he wished he had never left None alone at Zaun.

-This guy and Dr. Mundo's experiments are nearly the same. -said Singed while his finger pointed towards None's last remnants.

-Whatever, leave them to rot now. -ordered Viktor.- We'll get to the old lab, subjects III and VII are our only hopes in this war. I'll tell Twice that we're on our way, You'd better get going.

-What should we do about him? -asked Singed, feeling bad for what had been a poor, scared boy.

-Free him. He'll be a decent distraction.

In a split second, Ekko was in front of Viktor. Half an instant before that, Ekko was back at his position. It had been less than a second, but he had stared at his face. Had he noticed? What had he meant with "subjects III and VII"? Ekko couldn't tell. And he didn't have time to find out.

-BOOM, BABY! -shouted an irritating female voice from the darks.

Suddenly, dust covered everything. He could feel the presence of two more people around, and the consumed energy could be felt in the air. The voice had been familiar to him, but he couldn't tell only by that.

-Got him Jayce! -shouted the same voice again.

Then he realized. It was VI.

When the dust faded out he saw them both. VI was holding Viktor up in the air with a single hand, her gauntlet covering all of the Viktor's trunk. Does she realize who he was?

-What are you waiting for? -asked VI to her companion. -Singed won't take long to wake up, finish this now Jayce.

The man had a scary look on his face. Ekko knew that VI's companion found no pleasure in doing what he was going to do, but the boy could see in that man's eyes that he knew he had to. Shocked, he witnessed how his cannon suddenly transformed into a hammer, and the man accomodated it in his hands for it to fit a correct position. And then VI's companion smashed Viktor while she held him up.

Another cloud of dust rose, and this one took longer to fade out; when it did, nearly nothing had changed. VI's body was laying in the floor near a wall, but she was fine. Her gauntlets had small remains of blood and flesh, and the place was covered with the remnants of what had once been a half-human half-machine person. 'Rest in piece, VIII.' thought Ekko. It took him long to realize what was truly happenind. Singed had covered it all with some kind of adhesive, and both VI and her Piltie friend were stuck on it.

-Are you Ok Vi? -asked the man, unable to see her because they were stuck in opposite directions.

-I always am boss! -answered VI.

Had she kept her name? If so, did she remember anything at all about their shared past?

A falling wall caught Ekko's attention. None's moans were louder than ever, and the stones that had once held him back were now falling to pieces. One of them fell infront of him, and only then he realized where he was; he had failed to defend the mural. Luckily, he always had another chance. He was called Ekko for a reason.

But luck was not with him that day. His Z-drive had been hit by a piece of the mural, making it useless. He had failed to defend those he had loved, and he had failed to keep their memorial through the years. Then he heard the screams.

Vi's ally was shouting the void out in pain while what had once been None was crushing his arm. The hammer, probably pulverized by the hulk that None now was, was nowhere to be seen. But Vi was still fine.

Avoiding the zones where Singed's adhesive covered the floor, Ekko got to Vi and freed her without a word. He carried her towards the inner side of the mural, what had once been their home, and walked towards None. That was when he saw Mine with the children and he realized that he had fucked it all up.

A scream drowned in chaos while Zaun  burned down to ashes.







_________________________________________________________________________________
Special thanks to /u/Xecelee and his post in Reddit's /r/leagueoflegends for making my investigation job about Ekko way easier than it would have been.