Arcane: I have Plasmids F*** YEAAAAAAH!!!

Time passes. Not much. But enough for the adrenaline to cool, and for the silence to creep in.

Ekko's lying back on the cot now, bandaged, breathing slower. Color's coming back to his face. Barely. He looks like shit, but he'll live. Eleanor's work, mostly.

Seraphine helped too.

Right now, she's crouched beside him with a rag and a bottle of clean water. I'm standing against the wall, arms crossed, watching the whole thing like it's happening on stage.

Ekko shifts a little, wincing. "Thanks, Sera."

She smiles at him. It's soft. Tired. "It's nothing."

I smirk. "Would you look at that, little Man got game."

Ekko rolls his eyes. "Don't you have something better to do?"

"Nope."

Eleanor mutter without looking up."Don't mind him, He's Just jealous."

I look at her, betrayed."Oh you did NOT Just say that."

"Oh, but I Just did." she fires back.

Seraphine looks between the three of us like she's watching a language she doesn't quite speak. But she feels it. That weird rhythm between old friends who lost time and pain that glued them back together.

"Alright," I say, stepping closer. "We're past the reunion. Time to talk."

Ekko nods slowly. "Yeah… I've been waiting for this."

Silence settles again, heavier this time. I sit on the edge of the cot next to him. No more jokes. Not for this part.

"You remember the last time we saw each other." I say.

Ekko's jaw tightens. "Like a nightmare I never woke up from."

He swallows.

"Silco's abomination had Just killed Benzo..." He clenches his fists.

"When you arrived later, you went straight to the docks to save everyone".

He stares off.

"That's the last time I saw my family."

His Voice drops.

"When The dust settled, the shimmer factory had burnt down. Milo's body turned up days later. Claggor, Vi, Vander... you? Gone."

I don't say anything.

Ekko continues, voice heavy. "I tried to move on. But then I found out Powder was still alive. Thought I had to save her—thought Silco was keeping her hostage."

He gives a dry, bitter laugh.

"So I snuck into the Last Drop like some wannabe hero."

"But she didn't need saving. Not from me. Not from anyone."

His eyes go distant again.

"She said her name is Jinx now. Said she killed you. Told me she didn't deserve saving."

He wipes at his face.

"Powder's gone."

I sit with that for a second. Then finally speak.

"I woke up in hell."

Ekko looks over.

"After the explosion at the docks, I was thrown into the Water."

"By the time I got back to the surface, the Factory was burning. And Vander...Vander was on the Ground."

"He had shimmer in his body...He mutated like One of silco's Monsters. He was injured from the explosion."

"But He was alive."

Seraphine, who's been silent until now, glances up sharply.

"What happened then?"

"I gathered all of my remaining strength...and I carried him all the way from the docks to Fontaine Futuristics." I say.

Ekko's brows furrow. "Why?"

"I have a secret room deep underneath the Factory" I say. "Hidden. Even back then."

"I dragged Vander in and did everything I could to stop the shimmer. I Rebuilt his body. I saved his life."

"You rebuilt…?" Seraphine's voice is quiet now. Almost scared.

"Shimmer's a cancer. Twists your body, mutates your flesh." I say, nodding. "I had to stabilize him. I sealed him in a vita chamber.deep underground."

Ekko just stares at me.

Silent.

Then—his eyes widen.

His mouth opens. "The bombs."

And I see it hit him.

He and Scar blew up Fontaine Futuristics.

His face goes pale.

"FUCK."

I reach out and whack him on the head. Hard.

"OW—WHAT THE FUCK?!"

"That's for blowing up my goddamn factory, dumbass!"

Seraphine covers her mouth, shocked.

Ekko looks like he's about to pass out all over again. "We didn't know—! I didn't know he was in there!"

I shake my head. "Relax. The underground's fine.It's sealed like a damn vault. Silco probably didn't even find the door."

"Are you sure?" Seraphine asks. She looks pale. Almost dizzy.

"I'm sure," I say, firm. "Vander's alive.Still in there. Sleeping, But safe."

She just stares at me for a second.

Then something shifts.

Her voice is softer when she speaks next. Hesitant. Careful.

"Are you… are you really Lukas? You look so diferent..."

I turn back to her. And this time, I don't lie.

"Yeah."

Ekko nods beside me. "He's really Lukas."

I scowl."Zigga, you deaf?!"

Seraphine's eyes don't leave mine. I see the gears in her head moving. A memory waking up.

"I still remember that day you came to my uncle's shop," she says, remembering a distant past. She looked a little Sad when she mentioned her uncle's shop."You needed clothes to go topside"

"Yeah...I still remember that day, you were a Pain in the ass." I mutter.

She smiles, just barely.

Then she nods. "You really are him."

"Hell yeah, I am HIM." I declare.

She chuckles a little.

"Some things Don't change, huh?"

Ekko leans back, staring at the metal ceiling above the cot like it holds answers. He's silent for a while.

Then, softly—

"Where the hell were you, Lukas?"

He turns his head. Looks at me, and not like a kid looks at an older friend. No. Like a soldier looking at a ghost.

His eyes linger on the scar cutting through the right side of my face. The ruined eye, pale and useless. And the left?

Glowing.

A slow breath escapes him.

"You disappeared for four years, man. Then suddenly, you come back through some kind of space tear, with a Terminator in deep-sea armor. No offense, Eleanor."

She smirks, arma crossed. "None taken."

"And not just that," Ekko continues, eyes narrowing. "There was another Woman with you too."

I step forward, slower now. My arms drop to my sides.

"It's complicated."

"Try me."

His voice is steady, but I can see the cracks.

Seraphine, still nearby, is quiet. But she's watching too.

Waiting.

"You never explained what this Power of yours actually is."

I nod.

"My Powers aren't from this world."

Ekko flinches like someone just tugged a nerve.

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me," I say. "I was on a mission. One that led me to a place far below the surface of a Planet called Earth."

"Earth?" Seraphine echoes, barely above a whisper.

Ekko sits up straighter. Seraphine still hasn't blinked.

"I spent one year down there," I say. "Fighting an army of genetically modified crackheads. All addicted to a chemical called ADAM."

I raise my palm.

Let a golden fireball flicker to life.

"The same thing that gave me this."

They both stare at my hand.

"And the last three years?" Seraphine finally asks.

I smile.

"I fucking ruled."

That one lands. Dead center.

Ekko's jaw tightens. Seraphine's brows draw inward.

"The war ended. I took the city back. Elizabeth helped me Rebuilt it. Gave the sane ones something to hold onto. Eleanor was part of that."

She straightens a little behind me, arms still folded.

"He helped my father rescue me," she adds. "From my mother. She wasn't... well."

I glance her way. That's putting it lightly.

"So yeah," I say, voice calm. "For the past three years, I governed an underwater city with unstable technology, ghosts in the walls, and enough pressure to crush a whale. It wasn't easy. But I made it work."

The silence that follows is long.

Ekko's staring at me like I just grew another head.

"You're serious," he says finally. "You're not joking. You actually... ruled a city under the ocean?"

"Yes."

"With people in it."

"Yes."

"And monsters."

I grin. "Hell yeah."

He stares at me for another second.

Then he leans back.

"...Yeah, okay, now I need a fucking nap."

Seraphine finally breaks her silence with a breathy laugh. One hand rubs her temple like she's trying to reboot her brain.

"None of this makes sense. How does that even work?!"

I shrug. "How do magnets work?"

"Well, technically They—"

"They Just do. End of discussion."

Ekko shakes his head. "So what now? Why did you come back here?"

I look at him.

Eye glowing gold.

Scar burning like old fire.

"I have some unfinished business."