Chapter Text
Five years after Silco took Vi in:
Powder’s there.
She swings a pillow towards Vi, and Vi laughs and lets it hit her. She swings her pillow towards Powder, letting it gently hit her in the side.
But something goes wrong, and Powder falls to the ground, letting out a small ‘oof’.
“Pow? You ok?” Powder’s not getting up. Why isn’t she getting up? Vi moves to kneel next to her, panicking when she sees blood. She needs to stop the bleeding, and soon. There’s so much blood.
She rolls Powder over, trying to find where the blood is coming from. Powder’s eyes shoot open, and stare directly at her.
“It’s your fault.”
Vi’s shaking. She needs to help Powder, she needs to stop the bleeding, but her hands aren’t moving, they aren’t doing anything.
“It’s your fault I’m dead.” Powder says, her small voice so full of anger that it makes Vi flinch.
“No, no, I didn’t know. Please, Pow, I didn’t know the enforcers would come for you.”
“You shouldn’t have left me. You should have stayed, and I would still be alive. It’s all your fault.” With those final words, Powder goes limp, her eyes blank. Vi jerks away from her baby sister’s body. She needs to get out of here. But suddenly Vander’s body’s in front of her. Then Claggor’s. Then Mylo’s. Then Ekko’s. Then Benzo’s. All her fault.
Vi’s eyes fly open, her breaths coming in short gasps. Tears immediately sprang to her eyes. Dream-Powder was right. It’s her fault her family had died. It’s her fault that they are gone. The walls of her room seemed to be getting closer, she was going to get trapped again. Trapped like when she got trapped under rubble, the injuries from that forcing her to take the shimmer.
She can’t stand to be stuck in the room for any longer. Somehow she manages to stumble to her feet, and out of her room. She doesn’t know where she’s going until she manages to get to Silco’s office, and pushes through the door and inside.
“Violet? Are you ok?” Silco’s immediately standing up, and crossing the room to her. He guides her back to his chair and lets her sit down. He could probably tell that there wasn’t much longer before her legs would give out.
“Just follow my breathing. You can do it.” He starts to exaggerate his breathing, and Vi manages to suck in a slightly deeper breath of her own.
“Good, Violet. Keep going. You’re ok, you’re safe.”
Eventually, Vi manages to get her breathing under control, and is immediately embarrassed. She was acting like a child, crying to her Pops after a nightmare.
“I’m sorry, I can go.” She mumbles, starting to stand up when Silco lays a hand on her shoulder.
“Violet, I’m not upset with you. In fact, I am glad you came to me.”
“Why? I’m sure you were doing something important, I shouldn’t have interrupted you. I’m not a needy little kid.” Silco looks at her, but she doesn’t meet his eyes. She doesn’t want to see the pity there, doesn’t need the reminder that everyone still sees her like that, the kind of person to be pitied. But when he doesn’t look away, and she glances up, there’s no pity in his gaze. There is care there, and the love that only a father can have for his daughter, but no pity.
“Having emotions does not make you a child, nor does it make you weak. I am glad you came to me because I don’t like knowing you were upset or scared, and I did nothing to help. It doesn’t matter if you are a child, an adult, or an old woman, I will always want to be there, even if it’s just to help you calm down after nightmares, or talk about what’s bothering you, because you are worth every second of my time. I am deeply sorry if anything I said has ever made you feel otherwise.”
Vi feels her eyes well up all over again. She really needed to hear that, and she hadn’t realised quite how much.
“You didn’t say anything. I just…”
“Feel like you should always be strong for everyone else?” Vi nods. That was… exactly right, actually.
“It’s ok to relax sometimes. It doesn’t make you weak. I promise.”
“Ok. I’ll try.”
“That’s all I ask.” Then Silco hugs her, and she finally lets herself relax, lets herself feel safe.
“Thanks Pops.”
“Hey Pops, what were you doing up so late anyway?”
“A scientist who was working for me has been missing for a year or so, and I was trying to figure out what happened to him.”
“Who was the scientist?”
“His name was Signed.”
“Weird name”
“It was a nickname. He had burn scars covering his face.”
“Was he, maybe, an old dude and a complete asshole?”
“Yes…”
“Yeah, I killed him.”
“Violet…”
“He was hurting kids!”
Powder was in the prison cafeteria again. Ekko had convinced her to take a few hours where she wasn’t constantly managing the Jinxers, and had taken over the jobs she would otherwise be doing. She had just finished eating when she heard what sounded like a panicked kid, probably a young one judging by the voice. Powder was immediately out of her seat and towards the sound, finding one of the younger Jinxers, Emi, cornered by a prisoner that Powder didn’t recognise. Probably a new one then. The confrontation was clearly gaining some attention, but most of the prisoners who saw Powder approaching chose not to get involved. Smart move. A few other Jinxers also notice and come to join her as she approaches the guy cornering Emi. He seems to be annoyed at something Emi had done, but Powder can’t figure what.
“Is there a problem here?” She raises her voice enough that it carries through the room, and most of the prisoners in the area fell silent.
“Fuck off Shorty. This ain’t your business.” Ok, rude. Powder knows she’s short, all the kids who grew up in Stillwater are. Lack of sunlight and proper food will do that to them. But he didn’t need to say anything about it.
“Leave the kid alone.” She doesn’t raise her voice any louder, and she sounds unworried. It’s the easiest way to show that she knows what she’s doing, and she knows she won’t lose. Not if the argument stays verbal, that is. It’s a good thing she’s built up enough debt and blackmail amongst the guards and the more intimidating prisoners, so if the fight did get physical, they would take over for her. Either way, the Jinxers don’t lose fights.
“Oh, are you part of an itsy bitsy little gang? Don’t see why I should be scared of a few kids.” His tone was mocking, and Powder narrowed her eyes.
“I don’t suppose you’ve met any of the guards that work in solitary yet? Real big, mean guys? Who would just happen to drag you down to have a little… chat, if you don’t leave us alone?”
“You’re bluffing.” Powder smirked, noticing the tell-tale signs of fear he was trying so hard to hide.
“Am I? It’s amazing what a little blackmail can do.”
“Who the fuck even are you?” he was sneering at them now, but Powder could tell he was still afraid.
“Most people call us the Jinxers.”
“S’pose you must be the jinx then.”
“Maybe I am. Now scram.”
“Fine.” He finally leaves, mumbling, “Fucking Jinx” under his breath.
She goes to check on Emi, but she can’t stop thinking about what the guy had said. Jinx. She kinda likes it…
“Hey Powder?”
“Yeah Ekko?”
“How come half of the non-Jinxers have started calling you Jinx?” Powder smirks. The name had seemed to catch on quickly, and since she hadn’t been telling many people her actual name outside of the Jinxers, everyone else had just started to assume it was Jinx.
“Some idiot called me that. ‘The Jinx of the Jinxers’ or something” She lowers her voice when she does the impression of that prisoner, and frowns to try and get across how grumpy he had been.
“Does it… bother you?”
Oh. of course Ekko was worried about her. Classic Ekko. She grinned at him though.
“I like it. The name doesn’t get to control me anymore. Not like when I was little. I’m gonna own it, and be the Jinx that all the grumps out there are all afraid of!” Ekko laughs at the last bit.
“Ok. Just making sure. But you’ll always be Powder to me.”
“Wouldn’t have it any other way, Little Man”
“Hey! I’m taller than you!”