Chapter Text
This shouldn't be possible.
Powder knew it didn't make sense. Just like it didn’t make sense when something about Ekko had suddenly changed, a few weeks ago. Yet, she had felt it in her core.
It didn't make sense, yet it was happening. There was no denying it. Ekko was literally in her arms, while a different Ekko stared at her from within the glowing orb. His eyes pierced her, brimming with sadness—the same eyes she had fallen hopelessly in love with, spiraling into an endless abyss that drew her in no matter how much she tried to resist it.
He had been her best friend, her Little Man, since she could remember. They had grown up together, hand in hand, through thick and thin. So, when a couple of years ago, their friendship began to shift into something more, it felt like the expected path. Everybody cheered the change—except Powder. For her, there was a reason why their relationship never turned serious.
Then, one day, something about him was undeniably different. He was more mature, more enigmatic, burdened with shades of complexity and quiet angst. He carried himself differently; even his walk had changed. It was as though he’d grown overnight into someone she didn’t fully recognize.
Now, with the glowing orb creating a barrier between them, all the pieces started to fall into place. For the first time, she was really seeing him: his face streaked with paint, his jacket covered in drawings, his hair a mess compared with his usual uptight style. This was Him all along—not her best friend, not her oldest friend, but someone else entirely. A different man.
Memories crashed through her mind, vivid and overwhelming. Every moment she sensed something wrong but buried it deep inside.
The time he flinched around her, his alarmed eyes betraying a mistrust that stung more than she’d wanted to admit.
The memories flashed faster.
The time he asked her if Vi was dead.
The day he appeared with that tiny stranger who was always lurking around. He’d started obsessing over some project he had never once mentioned before, with a desperate intensity that screamed life-or-death urgency. It cloaked him in darkness yet revealed a depth and strength she hadn’t seen before.
Then, she remembered the moment she lay half-asleep on her red couch, watching him tinker with a small red monkey. Her heart had felt unbearably heavy—a sensation she couldn’t name at the time, so she’d chalked it up to suspicion.
She remembered when they locked eyes at the dance, just hours before. That twist in her stomach. The way the rest of the world vanished away. She had never felt so connected to him before, not in all their years of growing up together. They floated through that night like they were in a blissful fever dream.
"Some night," she'd said.
"It's beautiful."
They never had a night like that before.
"Where'd you learn those moves?"
"Oh, I was just following your lead."
Mm… suddenly, he had lines.
When he asked her to pretend it was the first time—his voice raw, honest, and vulnerable. Those eyes weren’t Little Man’s. They belonged to someone else. She’d known it then, with certainty. The same certainty that she’d known she was completely in love when they kissed, for the first time.
But this… shouldn't be possible.
The question was forming on her lips, but before she could bring herself to speak, he was gone. Along with everything around him—Heimerdinger included.
What the actual fuck?!
Little Man opened his eyes, murmuring, "Powder… What happened?"
"I… I don't know. Well, I do, but…" She shook her head, struggling to clear her mind. "No, it's not possible." Her hands darted to his chest, making sure he was really there. "Are you okay? Are you hurt?"
"I'm fine, I think. I feel fine," he replied, rubbing his head. "Maybe I partied a little too hard last night, huh?" He chuckled weakly.
The relief she felt was quickly shoved aside by gears moving inside her head. It was not possible, yet it was happening. Images of Ekko’s notebook flooded her thoughts—his drawings of the anomalies connecting silhouettes. It was all starting to make sense.
She sprinted to Heimerdinger's notes, flipping frantically through the pages as her mind raced.
The answer has to be here. All this time we were working on this puzzle that also didn't make sense—until it made. I know it.
"The time loop!" she shouted.
"What? What are you doing? You look mental, like when you get one of your new ideas." Little Man was slumped on the red couch, pressing his forehead. "You know what? Last night's catching up to me. I'm gonna go and take a nap." She barely heard him. Her mind was reeling.
This is it, right? The z-drive allowed him to jump back. But how could they know it would behave like that? Did they use it to get here?
"Pow Pow? You heard me? No? Never mind. See ya later, genius… or madness."
It is. It’s because they used it before! To get here. From somewhere…
An image hit her like a punch: the badass girl Ekko had painted on the tree. “From a dream,” he’d said.
A dream? A DAMN DREAM?! Violet!
Her cheeks burned red with anger and disbelief as tears welled in her eyes. She knew Vi was alive. Somewhere. A place where Ekko had gone to. Somehow.
She had helped build the device. She could replicate it. She just needed to figure out how to build the giant portal Heimerdinger had constructed in a few hours.
How hard can it be?
Flipping faster, almost tearing the pages, her heart stopped when she saw it. The sketches were messy, the handwriting rushed, but it seemed somewhat complete. It even made sense.
"I can actually do this," she whispered, her voice trembling, as if speaking it aloud could make it easier to swallow.
I can follow him… No, not him. He left me. But I can go to you, Vi.
Time seemed to freeze as the notebook slowly slipped from her hands and she sank to her knees. Tears blurred her vision, spilling freely while she sobbed, covering her face.
"I can't! The stones… He used them all!" she cried to nobody.
How could he do this to me? I thought it was real. It felt real when we kissed. It felt real when he gave me the necklace. How could he just leave me… and not take me?
"I believed it was real!" she screamed, her voice breaking with anger. Her grief churned into fury, darkening her mind and her heart.
How could he use me like that? He knew what Vi meant to me.
She snatched the stupid necklace from around her neck and stormed to Violet's memorial. Her tears dried as she wiped them away—just as Vi had done for her as a child. She collapsed into the chair in front of Vi’s picture, utterly devastated.
How dared he? He really wasn't my best friend—my Ekko could never.
She opened the drawer to bury the necklace when her whole body froze, staring widely at its darkest corner. Inside was the old leather pouch she had long forgotten about, packed with crystals to the brim.
The crystals that took Vi's life.
The crystals she had forsaken—but were far more powerful than Ekko's tiny shards.