Chapter Text
The long standing project of building a time machine has been running through his mind tirelessly. Hundreds of twists of every screw on his machine have been done and undone, but none of it made progress. Ekko consulted Heimerdinger many times before and all he said was to wait. Wait for what? He’s been patient long enough. The yordle meant well, but Ekko couldn’t just leave his ideas to ferment like what Heimerdinger suggested.
As soon as he finished welding the last part of the machine, he dusted off the metal shavings and ashes on the glass that were peppered on the device.
'This is it- months of hard work…' he thought to himself quietly, paranoid that Heimerdinger may be around the corner judging him for his impulsivity (considering he's small; he's probably tangled in cobwebs). Holding his Z-drive at arm’s length, he stood at the center of the room and turned it on.
Cranking the switch resulted in a bright green glow emitting from the machine, signaling Ekko to brace himself in case of explosion. Flecks of green and teal sparks, followed by the small objects light enough to be carried by wind, began floating and aggressively spinning around him as he heard the time glass inside whirring louder by seconds. Suddenly, all movement, except his body, stopped. The quake that came after that only seemed to affect him, tripping him over.
Ekko’s eyes widened as he saw a slit beginning to tear mid-air. It expanded until it was as tall as the door frame. He second-guessed that the device summoned a portal instead of rewinding time. That can’t be good- that wasn’t on his drafts.
“What the–” he shielded his eyes from the blinding green portal. When it was stable enough for him to move, he examined the portal and cautiously looked into it. To his surprise, it didn’t burn him to a crisp upon contact. He read several books that the existence of portals and blackholes are potentially radioactive. The whole event caught him off guard when he took a glimpse inside.
The other side didn’t seem too different from his own room, except it was more kept in orderly fashion with several unfamiliar devices placed in the corners of this “other room”.
Ekko carefully stepped inside, noticing how unfamiliar the place would be if it weren’t for the same decorations and old tools that he used for projects. The room had more natural sunlight from the windows compared to his workshop which was nearly boarded up, preventing anyone from peeking through. He was so dumbstruck in another reality that he didn’t realize the portal started to close. “Shit, wait–!” and with that, it closed before he could even reach his arm towards it. The tension escalated when he heard the door creak open
“What in the world…?” said the man at the door, who appeared to be sporting an orange scarf covering his mouth and goggles on his eyes. He instinctively raised his bat at him in case of a threat.
“Uh…” He looked anywhere to give an explanation, but was just as confused as the older man. “Listen, I’m not a robber. This is where I live–” he shut his mouth before he could babble nonsense to the man’s ear. The older man seemed to notice the machine strapped on to his back, and for some reason, it lowered his defenses and pieced together what was going on. He took off the goggles and mask to reveal his face; it was him.
Ekko stood there perplexed, trying to comprehend what was in front of him. The man appeared to be in his early 30’s version of himself. He was taller and more calloused, but brought a gentle presence. He wore similar clothes, but the significant difference was that his coat– it was a darker shade of gray with splashes of spray paint. His hair has longer locks, tied back with a silver band engraved with an hourglass symbol. Hints of facial hair that was shaven days ago can be seen on his jaw. “I bet that z-drive of yours acted up huh?” the man’s voice shook him off his thoughts. Ekko was speechless.
By the looks of it, his time machine has used up all of its fuel. Had he taken the opportunity to hide the hexgem from Vi when they captured her and the enforcer, he wouldn’t be putting himself in trouble all because of a tiny miscalculation in his work. He heard the door shut and the older Ekko gestured towards the work table, signaling him to be quiet while walking.
“If you had worn a mask, I would’ve clubbed you.” Older Ekko moved the blueprints aside to make way for the broken time machine and continued. “You’re lucky you are me.” he sighed.
“You have a z-drive too?” Dumbfounded, Ekko tried to speak up despite the confusion. The way the older man acted felt as if this scenario happened countless times.
“Of course I do. But not as faulty as yours.” he remarked as he set his bat down. “I merely rewinded by seconds.”
Ekko let the man do his work and set the device on the desk, confident that this version of him is more adept at what he does considering they have the same mind. As he did, there was a small cooing noise that came out of nowhere. “What was that?” As if on cue, a little head popped up from the man’s broad shoulder.
“Ah crap, she’s awake…” old Ekko whispered to himself as he took the baby off from his back harness. The infant appeared to be a 1 year-old baby girl– complete with yellow bonnet and overalls. She had dark skin, but was more of a lighter complexion, and huge big brown eyes with the cutest nose. The baby was in a healthy condition too, considering that zaunite children don’t get to have enough nourishment when they’re born.
Present-day Ekko on the other hand was flabbergasted. He has a child in this timeline?? Who was the mother???
The man settled the child down on the high chair that Ekko overlooked when he got here. The infant babbled and smiled at the man before getting her head patted gently by her father.
'Wonder if I'm a good dad?' Younger Ekko thought, but was interrupted.
“I’d tell you how I ended up with a kid, but we have more important matters to attend to.” said the older man. “Right now, we need fuel for this one. I assume you used a syntixi?” The mention of that illegal crystal shot a wave of anxiety in his spine. Scar repeatedly warned him of obtaining syntixi crystals as they were as volatile as hexgems if not stabilized.
“Yeah I did. But only as a test run.” he defended, quickly dismissing any sort of accusation that he could use against him. Knowing how he talks, older Ekko could easily point at his impulsivity. The older man sighed in disappointment.
“I see.” the man said. “Bet Scar stopped ya, huh?” he chuckled wholeheartedly. After all, Scar stood as his big brother for a long time. Who can blame him for being a helicopter parent? Ekko nodded in agreement.
“If not syntixi, what else could we use?” Ekko thought of ways to power his Z-drive, but the only two possible fuels were hexgem and syntixi. There aren’t many resources to come by in Zaun and electricity costs a lot. “You don’t suppose we could–”
“Steal a hexgem from Piltover? No can do.” The man quickly rebutted. “Please, you know better than that Little Man. You wanna spark another war?” He said. Ekko rolled his eyes at his older counterpart, barely hiding his irritation to which the man expected of him. Boy, he was a little shit.
Somehow, the infant agrees with her father by blowing a raspberry at him. Oh great, he’s outnumbered…
“Well what else can we do?” the younger man said, unscrewing the panel with the nearest tool on the desk. “I shouldn’t be here for long. I would disrupt the timeline if I stay.” he held the consumed syntixi that was as small as a bronze cog.
“You will go home on short notice. Have some faith in me, Little Man.” the man assured the 20-year old. In fact, Older Ekko is more chill than his younger counterpart. Ekko twitched his nose.
“Aight, fine. What’s your plan?” he asked, crossing his arms.
“We get shimmer.” He said. Ekko’s eyes widened; he knew that thugs use shimmer for their prosthetic limbs and for combat, and yet he never considered them to use as fuel. Perhaps it's his morals that prevented him from resorting to it.
“Now suit up, and don’t let anyone see you on the way out.” the older man offered him a monkey mask that was hanging on his wall. Strangely enough, the inside part of the mask has…lipstick stains? Who owned this mask? Did his future self wear lipstick at one point? ‘I mean I won’t judge…’
Having no other choice, he took the mask and put it on as they headed their way out.
‘This mask smells…familiar…'
“We gotta put her at the nursery first though.” The man picked up the cooing baby in his arms and rocked her to sleep. Ekko just stared at the two and said nothing, until the baby looked straight up to him and smiled. He awkwardly waved his hand at the infant as the man walked out ahead of him.
This is the strangest day of his life, and that’s saying something…