Chapter Text
Act 1: Chapter 1
The Decline
If there was one thing Jinx was good at. It was ignoring things. Pain, hunger, exhaustion, things that should have slowed her down were little more than background noise. A tick she had perfected over the years, but lately, her body was getting harder to ignore.
It started with the littlest of things. Fatigue clung to her like a second skin, bruises that bloomed across her arms and legs without any memory of impact, and headaches that pulsed behind her eyes. She narrowed it all down to stress, bad sleep, and the consequences of living life the way she did. But then came the dizziness, the moment where her world titled violently, the times she could swear she was standing still but her body swayed like a leaf in the wind.
And now this…
She barely remembered falling. One second, she was on her feet, and the next, she was flat on the ground, the taste of copper on her tongue, her skull throbbing from the impact. The people around her had been little more than smudges of movement and background noise. A rush of voices and too-bright lights. Then… The hospital.
Jinx hated hospitals. She hated them with a passion…
Sevika had always told her to listen to her body. That it knew better than she did. Yet, she never listened. Maybe she should have…
She sat on the edge of the examination table, swinging her legs impatiently, the paper beneath her crinkling with every movement. Jinx sat in the dimly lit room, the low hum of the fluorescent lights buzzing in the background. Her hands fidgeted in her lap, and her eyes traced the cracks in the walls. The memories were coming, unbidden, like a wave she couldn’t outrun. Every sound, every movement, seemed to push her deeper into that place… the night everything fell apart.
Her chest tightened. The memories came in flashes, like jagged shards of glass. It was too much to bear, but there was no escape. Not anymore. She knew it was useless if she tried. Sevika would hunt her down in minutes. She had half a mind to just rip out the damn IV and walk out the door, but even she had to admit… something was wrong… Really wrong…
Sevika would kill her if she walked out now. Not that the older woman was the nagging type, but Jinx had seen the look in her eyes lately. That guarded concern, the way her hand hovered a little too long on Jinx’s shoulder when she thought she wouldn’t notice. It was similar to how she looked at Silco… Sevika wasn’t her mother, wasn’t even family, but she had been there… more than most. Picking up the pieces when JInx was too wrecked to stand on her own.
She didn’t want to hear it, didn’t want to know, but the knock on the door brought her back to reality. The door opened, and the doctor stepped in, her stomach twisted. “We ran some tests,” the doctor began voice carefully measured. “And we need to talk about your results…” Jinx just rolled her eyes. “Lemme guess. ‘You need to take better care of yourself, Jinx. Eat some veggies, cut back on the experiments, less explosives, maybe sleep more than three hours a night?’”
But the doctor didn’t laugh. Didn’t even smile. That’s when she knew.
Her stomach clenched, a cold weight settling in her chest. She wanted to tell him to cut the dramatic flares and to spit it out, but the words lodged in her throat. The doctor signed, flipping through the chart. “Jinx… we found some abnormalities in your bloodwork. Your white blood cell count is extremely high. We suspect it may be leukemia.”
Suddenly the world stopped.
Leukemia…
The word rang in her ears like a gunshot. She blinked, staring at the doctor like he had just spoken a foreign language. It didn’t make any sense. It wasn’t real. It just couldn’t be real. People like her didn’t get cancer. She was supposed to burn out, not… not waste away…
Her fingers curled into fists, nails biting into her palms. “You’re joking,” she said, voice flat. The doctor just shook his head. “I know this is a lot to process, but we need to do further testing to confirm. If it is leukemia, we need to start treatment as soon as possible.” Jinx barely heard the rest. Words blurred together. The treatment options, survival rates, and chemotherapy. It all melted into one meaningless noise. Her mind was stuck on that one word.
Leukemia.
Sevika is going to lose her mind…
Cancer… She didn’t know how long she sat there, staring at the wall before she finally forced herself to speak. “So… what now?”
The doctor paused, then nodded toward the door. “Your nurse will be in shortly to discuss the next steps. He’ll be helping through the process.” Jinx scoffed, shaking her head. “Wonderful… Can’t wait.” The doctor left, and she let out a slow breath, fingers running through her blue hair. She needed to get out of here. Figure things out on her own. Maybe disappear for a bit, pretend nothing was wrong, that nothing was happening-
A knock came at the door as it opened… In walked a male nurse, with white dreads and chocolate skin… She knew him…
“Ekko…”
Jinx froze. For a moment, neither of them spoke. He looked different from when she was with him last. He looked older, his hair shorter, his expression more serious than she remembered. But his eyes… his eyes were the same. The perfect golden brown… They were wide. Like he was seeing a ghost.
“Powder?” he said, disbelief in his voice. Jinx swallowed hard. Of all people in the world, why, just, why did it have to be him? “It’s uh Jinx now…” she paused, forcing a smirk as she continued. “Small world huh?”
Ekko took a cautious step closer. “You’re- you’re my patient..?”
“Apparently…”
Silence stretched between them, heavy with a decade’s worth of unspoken words. Jinx crossed her arms, pretending she didn’t feel the sting of old wounds reopening. Ekko exhaled, rubbing the back of his neck. “Guess I’m your nurse, then.” Jinx let out a humorless laugh, shaking her head. “Yeah. Guess you are… Boy savior”
Ekko frowned at the old nickname, his lips pressing into a thin line. “You still call me that?” Jinx shrugged, leaning back against the cold wall. “Old habits die hard.” He studied her for a moment, his expression unreadable. “You look… different.” She huffed. “Jeez, thanks. I’ll be sure to put that in my scrapbook.” Ekko just sighed, glancing at the clipboard in his hands, but his focus wasn’t really on it. “Pow- Jinx… This isn’t something you can laugh off.” Her smirk faltered for a fraction of a second. “I don’t need a lecture, Ekko. The blood test might be wrong…”
“I’m not trying to lecture you,” his voice softened. “I just… I know this is scary.” Jinx scoffed. “Please, I’ve faced scarier things than a couple of bad cells.” Ekko’s gaze hardened. “This isn’t something you can fight with a gun and a grin, Jinx. No amount of hacking and hiding can stop this. It isn’t real. And if you don’t take it seriously-”
“What?!” she snapped. “I’ll die?!”
The words hung in the air, heavier than either of them expected. Ekko’s jaw tightened. “I just don’t want to see that happen.” Jinx looked away, her fingers gripping the edge of the hospital bed. For the first time, she didn’t have a witty retort.
Ekko took a step closer. “Let me help you… Please…”
Jinx closed her eyes, exhaling slowly. She didn’t want help. She didn’t want pity. But looking at Ekko, his eyes soft yet so tired, the way he still cared, after all this time. He still wanted to be there for her despite everything…
Maybe, just maybe, she wasn’t as alone as she thought.