Chapter Text
Powder never was the one to be surprised too much by anything. She was always braver than Mylo, more observant than Claggor, and didn’t overthink as much as Ekko. There was a reason that Vander always told her that she was destined for more than the bar. However, as she is sitting on the floor, cradling the head of an unconscious Ekko, she cannot utter a single word, left speechless and so lost. There, in the center of the machine they built together just yesterday, stands a man. And she feels she knows him; his face is of a friend she sees every day but different simultaneously. She spots the bags under his eyes, the scars adorning his hollow cheeks, the tears forming on his eyelashes. And she wants to move, to say something, to scream, to ask what is happening, but she feels frozen in time. She is unable to read his expression; it is so full of sorrow and pain but also love. Powder almost feels his longing through the air between them, but before she can say anything the other Ekko as she later called him disappears with a flash.
And that’s it.
The silence is heavy, it makes her head hurt. Only weak sobs she cannot really locate ringing around. Little specks of blue light fall around. She blinks and blinks, trying to see the man once more, wondering if this is all some sort of strange hallucination.
“Powder?” she suddenly hears. Looking down, she sees Ekko raise his hand and trace the outline of her cheek. It takes her a few seconds to realize the sobs she hears are hers. Tears slowly dripping down her face. “What… what just happened?” he asks, his voice slightly breaking.
“I think I just met you. Another you…”
It is four in the morning, and there is almost no one in the Last Drop when a scream cuts through the silence.
“What do you mean she isn’t going to the Innovators’ Contest? What about you?” Vander shouts as he spins around to face the blonde boy. “It is the only thing she has been talking about since, like, forever. This concoction you worked on during the last few days? The Z-drive? What happened to it? What did I miss?”
The man furrows his brows as Ekko sighs. He knows Powder. He knows his girl, and even if they aren’t as close as when she was a kid, he cares for her the same. He always prided himself on being observant, but even a blind person could see how different she had become in the last few days. It was as if her energy doubled, tripled, or even quadrupled. There was even a flying thought that she finally listened to him, and his motivational talks achieved their goals, but no… It would be too good to be true. So, he just stopped overthinking and settled on being happy with his daughter’s enthusiasm. Maybe it also clouded his judgment a bit, because looking back it seems something was bothering Ekko all this time too.
“Look.” The boy flops onto one of the bar stools. “Something happened. Something I fully cannot understand. Vander… the last few days have been a total blur for me. Feels like I was there, but my memories are so clouded, and I cannot remember half of the things I did and why I even did them. I remember waking up at her place and it was like the fog lifted but” –he slouches a little bit– “ it also left more questions.”
“Oh Ekko…”
Vander puts down the glasses he was polishing and shoots a look at Silco, who approached when the boy was speaking.
“And she… She is shutting me off. Doesn’t want to talk to me, and deep down, I feel I will not understand what is happening without her telling me at least something. She is just sitting right there in the same place since yesterday night and I feel as if I cannot handle her crumbling again. Not like–“
“Boy, it won’t be like the last time,” Vander interjects. “We are not losing anyone else. Never.”
The wound, still fresh, almost as if it never fully healed, threatens to open again. Silco just nods and takes one of his hands, squeezing it slightly. There is a few seconds of silence between the three of them. It has always been difficult… speaking about Vi and what could have been if that day had never happened. It took so many sleepless nights for all of them to walk through it, and the pain has never really stopped. After all these years, it only became muted, and Ekko was aware that it would never fully disappear. He doesn’t want for it to come back tenfold, though.
“I can see you think Ekko,” Vander speaks quietly.
He looks down at the boy once again and closes his eyes for just a second. He knows that help is needed but is also painfully aware that he isn’t the best person to provide it. Vander feels Silco’s soft stare accessing the situation and his calloused fingers tenderly brushing his knuckles.
“Look, I need you both to take deep breaths for me,” the shorter man murmurs, his voice gentle as the wind in the early spring. “Ekko. You need to rest because, knowing you, you did not sleep a wink last night. And you, my dear” –he points at Vander with his finger raised – “don’t worry your little head too much. You know I got this.”
“I know,” he huffs.
He can’t hide the little smile forming on his mouth and stands on tiptoes to plant a simple kiss on Vander’s forehead, right above his knitted eyebrows.
“If you know, then off you go. Both of you. Cannot have my favourite bartender and the Zaun’s finest inventor slacking during the Innovators’ Contest later.”
When Ekko disappears behind the doors, the two men are left alone. It makes Vander slump a little more as he sighs.
“I should have seen something was wrong, but I was so happy she finally listened to me and really got into the whole thing,” he says. “You should have seen her, Sil, because I have not seen her so invested in her inventions for years. And Ekko… I swear something was troubling that boy lately. He looked at Pow differently. As she was about to slip through his fingers. And I have this awful feeling we are all missing something.”
“Vander you-“
“No, you don’t understand. The last time I felt that way, I lost her. I lost Vi, and I almost lost myself in the process,” he rambles, his voice becoming more and more erratic. “I almost lost Powder.”
“But you did not.”
“Yeah, I didn’t cause YOU were there.” He tugs at the loose hair falling into his eyes. “You were there for Powder when she cried herself to sleep every night when I was drowning myself at the bottom of the mug. Imagine what could have been if you weren’t,” he almost spits. “How could I even call myself her dad?”
“You cannot torture yourself like that, Vander. How many times do I have to remind you that you were allowed to grieve?”
“How do you do it? How do you live through all of that and stay strong and capable of hope? You come back after everything life throws at you – after I throw at you.”
“I need you to stop there, Vander, and listen to me. It is not the time for that conversation, and you know it,” he quickly adds, voice not faltering even for a second. “What is important right now is Powder. And what she needs is her father.”
He looks at Silco, trying to drown his thoughts in the gentle touch of the other man. It’s as soothing as steaming tea, as warm as a winter blanket, and as familiar as his own bed.
“You’re right.”
“Yes, dear, I am always right. As I tend to remind you all the time.” Silco rolls his eyes and lets out a laugh.
Vander grins. “And the father she needs right now is you.”
A sigh.
“I am not getting out of it, aren’t I?”
There’s a half smile on Vander’s lips.