Chapter Text
The air during the drive was heavy, dry, filled with worry and anxiety, at least for Ekko. Jinx on other hand was singing along with Isha’s playlist - Isha had insisted she’d be the one curating the best songs for this new year’s eve. His arms and hands stood tense over the steering wheel.
Being at the front door of Vander’s home was kind of nostalgic, the good memories seeped into his brain. Most of them numbed the worries, the headache, the fear. But it wasn’t enough, the living wounds of the past still carved their way deep on his skin.
“Got all the spoils of war with you, trouble?” Jinx asked Isha. The kid nodded with a grin on her face. She carried a large bag containing all the gifts they personally handpicked for each guest. As Isha walked to the front door he couldn’t contain the shy smile that shone in his mouth, the bag of gifts was comically large in comparison to Isha's size. “Now that’s more like it, Little Man!” Jinx said with another smile at him as she noticed him. “And don’t you dare think I didn’t see you completely frowned up during the entire drive.” She said caressing his face. A light sigh struggled out of his mouth.
“I-I Just-” He tried to explain himself, but was shushed by her forefinger on his mouth.
“I’m here with you, am I not?,” she asked sincerely, her tender blue eyes doing the rest, leading him to the right answer. And as he nodded, with her hand cupping his left cheek, she smacked her free hand into his right cheek squishing his face tightly and pulled close to hers “So better get yo head in the fuckin’ game. This new year’s eve will be, no HAS TO BE, the best family reunion we had yet! I’ll not accept any excuse, mister!” She commanded and a second of silence followed “Did I make myself clear?” She took his face even closer to her.
“Y-yes, ma’am!” he answered right away.
“Good! Or else imma beat your ass so goddamn hard it’ll sting till next year!”.
Isha laughed loudly at the door from their discussion and stood her hand to highfive Jinx. “Now, my dearest captain-” said Jinx pointing to the door while bowing to Isha “-make trumpets of the holiest angels rang on their door!”. Isha promptly started ringing the bell and knocking at the door incessantly “Ah! Ain’t this the most beautiful melody you ever listened to?” She asked sarcastically, faking a solemn face, then she turned her back to the door and faced him with a smile, while the most annoying sound ever to exist filled the air.
Ekko’s previous shy smile now widened up and the air from his lungs escaped from his throat into a laugh.
Vi attended the door, the annoyance on her face was noticeable miles away “Do you really have to make a scene every time you show up?”.
Jinx immediately hugged her “I’m glad you came Pow-Pow”.
“Better don’t regret those words later, fat hands!” She said as she entered the house.
“And you bunny blue?” Vi holded Isha in a bear hug “By god, look how much you’ve grown!”.
Isha chuckled. Here, look what we’ve got for you! The girl signaled, handing over Vi’s gift.
She unwrapped the gift. In the box laid a new pair of boxing gloves along with a 20 years whisky “BY JANNA! How much did this shit cost Ekko?”.
“Probably more than you’re worth.” The man answered.
“No, no, no I can’t accept it, sorry”.
“It’s bad luck to refuse a gift, you know? Even worse if it’s from your family. So shut up and take it, you deserve Vi”.
“Thanks” she sighed and shared another tight hug with Isha who entered past the door running after Jinx.
“Now you Little Man, got something for me?” Vi said towards him with open arms. He hugged her tight as if holding onto the edge of a cliff .
“You good?”
“Trying my best, at least” he answered.
“Things changed Ekko…. They’ve changed”.
“I hope so” There was something slightly comfortable in hugging Vi, a feeling of safeness or belonging somewhere other than his normal routine. Something human, something almost lost in his daily life.
He brought with him their share for the dinner, heading towards the kitchen in search of a place to let it sit. There he found Vander and Babette washing dishes and finishing the cooking respectively. Jinx was between them talking more than their old ears could hear as Ekko approached.
“Well, well. Now look who it is!” Vander said facing him while drying his hands in a towel
“Where’s Isha?” Ekko tried to avoid the small talk.
“Looking for the soda with the highest sugar dose she can find” The bluenette answered.
“Dontcha worry Little Man! Your santa’s helper already delivered us your gifts. But you two didn’t need to spend your money on a fancy watch for me,” Vander said.
“We didn’t-”.
“I tried to tell him we just fixed an old wristwatch, Ekko,” Jinx cutted. “But this old head still doubts our potential with non-explosive mechanisms” Vander shrugged and chuckled.
“And Babette?” The boy asked.
“Oh darling, I loved the painting.You did it by yourself?” Ekko nodded “You have the eye and mind of a true artist boy.” A shy smile tugged his face. Maybe he could be an artist, in another world, one that at least he could dedicate his life to this passion. Maybe everyone in Zaun could have been some kind of artist in this same world.
“See!” Jinx said pointing to Babette and facing Vander and Vi, who walked through the kitchen “This is how you should react when you guys receive a gift! Cut the ‘omg I don’t deserve it’ bullshit!”.
“Speaking about gifts” Vander pointed “Violet, Powder. If you could come with me. I have something for you both too.” The girls glazed each other then followed the man as he led the way upstairs.
Ekko knew very well those looks printed on both sister’s faces. Not so long ago Vander would call them with the same calm and patient tone in his voice while taking his time to scold them for any shenanigans they’ve made. A decade and some bits of year - being more precise.
As the Vi and Jinx went upstairs, Ekko saw himself helping Babette with the dishes. The water splashing against porcelain, metal and glass gave the melody that the silent tune between them had been craving. “You have some balls you know?” the old lady spilled.
“What?” It was his immediate response.
“Opening yourself up like that to your folks…last year” She paused then gestured with her hands an explosion “I mean, truly opening up those bare, crude feelings…”.
“Vander or Vi?” he asked. It had to be one of them. The outburst he had was supposed to be something personal, wrong. None of them had the right to tell anybody else what happened that day. A day that the boy savior still carried like a wound, a fail of composure that would be put to proof this very night.
“The whole street actually, darling.” Babette chuckled. Her hand found the young man’s shoulder “And I’m sure the whole Zaun is proud of what you did” Ekko tensed up to this phrase “They are good people, but negligent parents that wronged you. And for that I’m proud of what you did! Could be less noisy though, but in times like these, only your heart can tell what’s right or wrong”
He went silent, his pupil fixated on the embroidered tablecloth in front of him, the anxiety seemed to pry his head open again.
The sound of Babette lighting a cigarette snapped Ekko out of his trance. She took a deep drag and after a second let the smoke out through her nose “Well kiddo, if you need courage for what’s to come” she opened the fridge “Better thank Janna they’ve learned how to bottle it up” and offered him a beer.
He took it without thinking twice, but before his first desperate sip “Wait,” the lady said “I completely forgot, we’ve got to warm ourselves up first.” She then took two shot glasses, lined them up, poured some of Vander’s most precious liquor and handed him “It’s a special night after all”.
In an instant the shot disappeared leaving a burning in his throat as a nostalgic gift.
Babette laughed at the expression he made “You know, I hope someday you’ll live to have this kind of feeling.”
“What’d you mean?” he asked in doubt .
“Get old, see things change, sometimes for better, hope mostly will be better” Ekko sighed . Hope for some better future was all he used to do these days. It was worse than truly fighting for one, but this option surely had its price, and often, a bitter one.
“But from time to time, the future reserves us some good surprises.” Babette said, looking at him.
“Some years ago. If any motherfucker told me I would be sharing a drink and having a real talk with that same skinny brat who use to throw a soccer ball into my yard every fucking time I had a client I…”.
He laughed with the memory invading his mind “C’mon it wasn’t every time. And most of it, Mylo was the real responsible for every time the ball landed in your house, Babette.”
“But he is not here to defend himself is he?” She chuckled.
“No, he is not,” he said after a quick sip on the beer “but that doesn’t make me the only culprit!” She shrugged and grinned at his answer, taking a drag.
They suddenly realized the dark turn their little chat took.
“So… Is Vander ok? He looked kinda tense?” Ekko tried to change the course of their talk.
“Yeah, I think so,” she took the last drag of her cigarette “months ago, while he was still recovering from the staircase incident, he found some stuff stashed in his wardrobe and decided he was gifting them to Vi and Powder”.
In September, Vander fell down the stairs, tripping over his left leg prosthesis as he was going down. It wasn't as serious an accident as it could have been; he fractured his good leg and wrist, and had a mild concussion. However, Vi and Jinx, worried beyond belief, did everything they could to make sure he was safe. The girls weren't completely wrong to be worried, after all. Vander was getting older, they all were, and any slight shock could have devastating consequences later on.
Babette, during these days, was making sure he was doing fine as he recovered. She would help him move around the house, help with cooking, cleaning. It wasn’t something bad for her, as a demanding job, no!. It was enjoyable, rewarding. She never thought she’d be able to get in close again to this friendship that time had worn away.
Ekko, was still trying to understand how something stashed and forgotten in an old wardrobe would make a good gift? Perhaps Vander forgot to buy any gifts for the sisters? Highly improbable.
Before he could sink into those thoughts, Isha turned the corner and ran into the kitchen with a glass soda in her hand.
“And how are you doing, bunny? You’ve entered the house, raided the kitchen and didn’t even give me a hug” Babette had such a sweet tone talking to Isha, Ekko swore it was impossible to be real. When he was Isha’s age, what he would normally hear from Babette were curses and angry screams.
Isha then hugged her properly and answered I’m fine, just tired, and you? Isha was panting and sweaty, probably found something to play with in the backyard.
“I’m fine too sweetheart” The woman grinned and ran her fingers on Isha’s hair.
Ekko was this entire moment with a brow raised looking directly at Isha. “Who taught you that running around with a glass in your hand was a good idea, girl?” He asked the kid.
Guilty! Isha tried to mask it off by taking a sip from the cup while avoiding his gaze. The man then sighed “Now spit it trouble, what do you want?”.
Grandma and grandpa want to see you. There it goes, the phrase that politely invited his anxiety back. He gripped harder on the kitchen counter and tried to contain his breathing. I was playing with them, they seemed very happy to me. The boy’s pupils faded, now just a shiny dot in the brown ocean of his iris. They even brought my favorite soda. The girl completed it.
He knew sooner or later he would have to face them. Face the awkwardness of the situation he put himself in.
However before he could lose himself, again, thinking too much, Vander and Vi came downstairs. The girl, angrily stepping ahead through the old hardwood floor only stopped when the old man's hand nudged slightly on her arm right by the end of the stairs.
“She will be fine…” Vander calmly said.
“You gave her back all the memories from the worst part of her life,,” Vi spat pointing at the room they just left, tapping Vander’s hand from her arm. “And had the audacity to say she is fine with it?”.
Vi now walked in the direction of the front door and stopped in the kitchen entrance staring at Vander, waiting for his answer.
Ekko almost interfered, but Babette’s hand found him first. He looked at her, she shook her head preventing his action. She darted towards Isha and he followed her gaze. The little girl scared with the grow ups loud voices crouched on the ground with her hands pressed on her ear. Vulnerable, stuck in a shooting that never had her as a target.
He sat down alongside her, tugged her close, enveloped the girl with his body and slowly stroked her hair trying to avoid a crisis.
“I said ‘she will be’!” Vander said now with an imposing tone, not losing the calm on his face. Vi said nothing back, just kept staring at him, on her face concern and confusion were what remained. Vander sighed “Look, Violet,” He tried to get closer. “I’m not saying it’s a good gift, nor that you should accept it. It’s just a jumble of old things this old dog thought he should share with you both, and maybe could mend for…”
“But you were wrong!” She interrupted “Now Jinx has locked herself in YOUR room and probably having an outbreak ‘cause of it”
Ekko got up with Isha in his arms, but still didn’t interfere.
“You treat her like she’s made of glass, Violet,” Vander retorted unapologetically. “She’s stronger than both of us!” The front doorbell rang.
“You know how she truly is, she won’t cope with it! You raised her yourself! ” Vi almost screamed.
“Yet I’m the only one she asked out of the bedroom, but you promptly followed me” he said with a smirk. The bell rang again. “Is it really her that ‘won’t cope’?”.
Vi froze for a sec and stepped up. “Enough!” Ekko said out loud before Vi could keep up. “Would you two please shut up!” Isha in his arms squinted, he embraced the girl closer to his chest, whining.
The bell rang another time. “Vi, would you please…” The boy didn’t have to ask twice. She attended the door, closing it behind her.
Ekko approached Vander calmly, “I’m sorry, babygirl.” Vander said to Isha, still cradled in her father's arms.
“Do I need to get upstairs?” The boy said, now concerned with Jinx.
“Do you trust your girlfriend's strength, Ekko?” He nodded. “Then there is your answer boy…If she needs your help, she’ll ask for it.”.
Isha jumped outta his arms, drying her tears on her sleeve. Vander kneeled down slowly trying to meet the girl’s height. “I’m terribly sorry bunny. I hurted you, was reckless, stupid and shouldn't give you that kind of example.”
The girl gazed at Vander angrily. Don't do it again! Vander took a little longer to understand her signals.
“It won’t repeat itself.” Promise! The girl answered quickly, “I swear sweetheart.” Vander then stood up, looked at Ekko, offered him a warm smile and headed towards the backyard at a slow pace, knowing the world wouldn't change place if he delayed a second or another.
He envied in a certain way Vander’s composure. A second ago he and Vi almost went at each other's throats. But now he was in peace, recognized his wrongs, apologized to Isha, undoubtedly would apologize to his daughter as soon as he could and, more certainly, would avoid those mistakes to ever happen again.
It sure did take a lot of strength to be like that, more so to commit yourself to it. Ekko knew he had no ability to be like him, last year had been proof of that. But sometimes leap forward, be better, face consequences, take a hella courage and just one beer wouldn’t be enough.
Luckily for him, courage didn’t just come only in bottles. It irradiated through some people, and right at that moment, his courage was 1,30m tall, wore a battle-vest with the Chem-Sisters’ logo sewn on it over a red t-shirt, had a chopped brown hair lightly stained in blue, a large smile that missed a tooth and was tugging his hand leading him slowly through the hallway.
“Please don’t leave me there” He pleaded to Isha, the girl saluted with her free hand. “Pinky-promise?” he grinned trying to ease the atmosphere building up around him.
Isha pulled him down to look him dead in the eye while offering him her pinky, which he accepted with his own. The girl nodded in approval of their deal just sealed. Together then? She asked.
“Yeah…as always” he grinned now widely and Isha nodded once again.
And together they went past the backyard door.