Chapter Text
“Professor Heimerdinger?!” Jayce called out in surprise, stepping away from Jinx in an instant. “W-why are you here? Uh, right now, I mean?”
Jinx followed his eyes until she was met with the same, furry yordle she’d seen only moments prior to Jayce’s startled shout. The more she looked at the yordle, the less sense it made that this was apparently a professor, and a “big” one at that, judging by Jayce’s reaction.
Then again, his name did strike her as kind of familiar… Maybe Silco had told her about someone named Heimerdinger when she hadn’t been paying attention.
“What is the meaning of this?” the yordle asked, ignoring Jayce’s question. His voice was kind of funny, but one stern glare from Vi was enough to make her shut her mouth.
The professor waddled around the enforcer, heading straight for the blue-emitting crystal, still afloat by Jayce’s side. Jinx had to admit the yordle looked kinda cute when he walked like that. Like, she’d ever only known one yordle and that guy was a piece of shit and definitely the opposite of cute.
… Maybe she should add Smeech to some kind of kill list?
“Look, professor, this is-” Jayce tried to defend himself, but Heimerdinger just shushed him.
“Jayce Talis,” the yordle said, almost like a hidden warning. “What have you done?”
Jinx stood still along with Vi, both watching the scene unfold before them. She’d never really thought about how Jayce’s life had been affected by the explosion back in her own timeline, because why the hell would she? He was Piltovan, he’d probably just get a slap on the wrist for indirectly causing the explosion, right?
“Professor, I… I believe I’ve discovered something truly incredible,” Jayce said, his voice now laced with a quiet excitement. “A way to harness magic through science!”
“Magic?!” the yordle responded, a mix of surprise and fright passing over his furry little face.
“Yes!”
“No…”
“… No?”
Jinx’s eyes had been darting between the two scientists, only mildly amused by the light “bickering” between them. The small glances she stole at Vi told her she was finding it rather funny too, but Jinx had to remind herself that they weren’t exactly out of the woods themselves. Who knows what this little furry thing would do once he figured out Jinx had helped Jayce.
“The Arcane is dangerous, Jayce. You cannot control it,” Heimerdinger continued, pacing around both Jayce and Jinx to get a better view of the floating crystal. “It lays waste to civilization, my boy. That cannot happen here. It mustn’t”
As the yordle had been speaking, Jinx couldn’t help but agree to everything he’d been lecturing about. Jayce’s work was ironically enough the reason that everything went wrong. Of course, she was definitely to blame as well, but if Jayce’s stupid Hextech had never existed, then her family would still be alive.
… Maybe. Silco was still a variable that could mean utter disaster…
“… But Heimerdinger, please just listen-” Jayce tried again, only to get shut down with one glare from the small professor.
“This is a violation of the Ethos, Jayce…” Heimerdinger responded, and as if on cue, the enforcers behind him moved, handcuffs at the ready. “I’m afraid I’ll have to… take you in.”
The yordle finally looked between Jinx and Vi, letting out a soft sigh. “You two will come along as well. My apologies.”
Jinx dared to throw one glance at Vi, and for once, they were both thinking the same thing.
Shit.
─── ⋆⋅ ♰ ⋅⋆ ───
Jinx was bored. Why wouldn’t she be? Ever since Heimerdude had randomly showed up at Jayce’s lab and then brought them “in”, she’d just been thrown into a room on her own with nothing to do.
She supposed it could be worse though. She was given a plate of food, and the room was at least equipped with a bed that felt just as soft as her own back home. Kind of ironic how a holding cell’s bed was the same quality Vander was able to get them in the Undercity.
“Bored, bored, bored…” Jinx singsong, clapping along with her broken melody. “I am so, so bored, bored right out of my brain. If I don't die first, betcha I'll go insane!”
As if she wasn’t already insane. She had no delusions about herself and her practically broken head. It had been years since she’d been normal - that is if she ever truly was. For as long as she could remember, there’d always been something wrong with her, now that she really thought about it.
The quiet presence of Powder in the back of her mind suddenly seemed more prominent again. Maybe she didn’t like it when Jinx thought ill of herself, but what else was she supposed to do? It’s not like she was wrong!
She let out a low, frustrated growl as she kicked the table’s leg, the food on top threatening to spill.
Before she even got a chance to stabilize the flimsy table, there was a new sound bothering her beyond the cell’s door. It almost sounded like footsteps, but too fast and too small for a human. Her brows furrowed, her attention turning completely to the door.
There was a single rustle of keys hitting against each other before the door opened, revealing the yordle from earlier. Heimer-whatever.
“Ah, I see you haven’t eaten?” he said, ears drooping slightly at the sight of the untouched food.
Jinx only huffed in response, arms crossed. “Not hungry,” she lied, licking the inside of her dry mouth.
Truth be told, she would’ve loved to eat everything on that plate, despite how boring it looked. It was just that annoying part in her brain that didn’t want to accept simple hand-me-outs.
“I see…” the yordle didn’t sound convinced but he didn’t comment on it further. “I do apologize for the wait, young lass. I had hoped my talks with the others would’ve been faster, but it seems Jayce is very passionate about his… project, and you sister was, how do I put it… stubborn.”
Jinx felt how the edge of her lips turned up, just showing the tiniest of smirks.
“That sounds like Vi,” she shrugged, leaning against the table’s edge. “Uncooperative too, I’m sure.”
It was hard to tell, but Jinx swore she saw the professor smile behind his bushy moustache, which again was annoyingly cute. “Maybe just a little,” he agreed, approaching the stool opposite of Jinx’s – one she hadn’t bothered to sit on yet.
Apparently, that was the wrong choice. The yordle continued to smile at her, waving her over as he brought out a small notebook. What, was she getting interrogated now? And by this fluffy little guy?
She groaned loudly, pulling the chair out for her to sit on. It was a bit too tall, her legs simply swaying back and forth in the air as she planted her rear on the stool’s top, leaning onto the table’s edge with her elbows. She eyed the food once but pulled herself together. No eating, not now.
“So, I’ve heard a few things,” he started, adjusting a pair of glasses he’d pulled out of what Jinx would call thin air. He tapped a pencil against the book’s pages, already jotting down a few words. “Quite intriguing things, in fact. It all leads back to you, miss Jinx.”
Jinx could barely hold back her laughter, only managing to swallow it in the last second. ‘Miss Jinx’… right, that sounded perfectly normal.
“Hm,” she hummed, rolling her thumbs as she studied him. “What kind of “things” are we talking then, huh? Good things? Bad things? Like, what are we doing here?”
“All in good time!” the yordle cheered, way too happy for Jinx’s liking. It felt fake, but at the same time she could tell it wasn’t. He was just… weird. “For starters, I hear you’re from the future?”
Her heart sank at those simple words before a silent anger gnawed through her. Did everyone just know at this point? Why did this guy know? How did he know?
The professor must’ve noticed her scowl, quickly moving to explain before her growing frustration could unleash.
“Don’t worry! I’m the only one who knows,” he started, though pausing as he thought twice, “well, me and Jayce, and I assume your sister.”
… Of course. Of course he’d tell someone, why wouldn’t he?! This is what she got for trusting a Piltie, how stupid could she be?!
“Don’t blame the poor boy,” the yordle said, ears drooping slightly at the sight of her angry face. “He’s enthusiastic. It’s not every day you encounter a time traveller, much less one who’s arrived by the means of his own “project”, so to say.”
“Don’t blame him?” she repeated, her voice cracking at an embarrassing time. “I trusted him with a very important secret! Wait- why do you even believe it? It’s crazy!”
The professor shrugged once, tapping his pencil against a page again. “Jayce is many things, but a liar is not one of them. You must have done something that truly convinced him of your bold claim, so I have little choice to believe it myself.”
She kept her gaze on him for what felt like forever before she let out a strained sigh. “I just helped him make his “dream” come true or whatever. That magical rock, crystal or whatever. I’ve… worked with it where I’m from so I knew what he was missing. I gave him that final push so I could have access to the crystals myself for… uh… time travelling reasons, but then you showed up and ruined that plan.”
“Ah…” the yordle nodded, adjusting his glasses again. “Jayce told me a similar story… of course, he doesn’t know why you needed something so dangerous in the first place.”
He paused, giving her room to talk. When she didn’t, he sighed. “I was hoping you could shed some light on that. The Arcane is nothing to play around with, no matter how long you might have tampered with it before.”
“Don’t I know it?” she responded with a quiet chuckle.
The memory of the fortune cookie’s army invading Piltover, along with those strange strings of magic that had connected with her brain… well, in a way, those images still haunted her.
When the yordle didn’t make an effort to speak again, she let out an exaggerated sigh. “Look, time travel is already crazy enough. You wouldn’t believe my reasons even if I told you.”
To her surprise, he smiled again.
“I’ve lived for quite some time, Miss Jinx. I’ve seen my share of what others might consider impossible,” he assured her, leaning as far across the table as his little body allowed. The invitation was clear… and if this yordle meant what he said, Jinx figured this would be her best chance to finally get out of Powder’s body.
“I… I am from the future,” she started, folding her arms on the table. “But I’m obviously not a child in the future. And please don’t tell this to anyone except my sister, but I’m actually… dead. In the future I mean.”
She felt how her cheeks heated slightly from finally letting that piece of information slide out to someone who wouldn’t get super overprotective of her. Even if it was a Piltie strange yordle she’d said it too, it was still a relief to just let it out.
“Dead?” he asked back, twirling his bushy moustache.
“Yeah, you know… killed. But not like I was supposed to be. I didn’t fully die somehow. I was turned into this… Janna this is gonna sound insane… I’m a ghost… a ghost who accidentally travelled back in time and inhabited my younger self’s body,” she said, gesturing to herself and her young body.
Heimerdinger didn’t respond at first, the cogs turning in his head. Jinx couldn’t help the slight scoff escaping her throat.
“See? Told you wouldn’t belie-”
“I believe you,” he assured her faster than she could complain, much to her surprise.
She blinked once, tilting her head to the right in confusion. It must’ve looked funny since the professor chuckled before speaking again.
“Spirits are not unheard of in certain parts of Runeterra, Jinx. They are often tied to the Arcane in one way or another. If they weren’t, they wouldn’t exist in the first place, and I can assure you, I’ve seen such beings before. A ghost is a… less scientific way of describing your condition.”
Jinx just stared at him, one thought clear in her mind.
Oh. He really wasn’t kidding.
“So… you believe me…” she repeated, the words falling strangely on her tongue. “Will you help me fix this?”
“That depends on what we’d be fixing, Miss Jinx,” the yordle responded happily. “You still haven’t told me exactly what you needed Jayce’s research for.”
“Oh, right… so, as a ghost or spirit - whatever - I’ve been… taking control of Powder, my younger self’s, body. We’ve mostly been in agreement on when I should do it, but the last time I did it, meaning right now, I got stuck. Literally, I can’t get out of her body again, and I can barely feel Powder’s presence anymore,” Jinx blabbered out, voice straining as she almost forgot to breathe. “I… my spirit only exists like this because of Hextech - uh… that’s what Jayce calls the magic tech in the future - so I figured I might be able to use it again to get out of Powder’s body… for good.”
The professor didn’t say anything at first, seemingly lost in thought. He didn’t seem against the idea itself, but magic still seemed like a sore subject for him. To what reason, Jinx honestly didn’t know.
“It could be dangerous,” he warned her, scratching his head in thought. “Even if I find a way to make this “Hextech” work, there’s no telling what it could do to you. If we sever the connection to the arcane you still possess, well… it could mean you’ll be gone. For good.”
She winced at that, the dark thought feeling like a heavy weight on her shoulders. Gone for good… in some way, it sounded like everything she’d been wanting for what felt like forever at this point. In another way… she’d be leaving everyone behind in a world that might just be way better than the one she came from.
But Powder needed to be free. At the end of the day, this was hardly a question with a hard answer.
“I don’t care. Just help me free Powder, no matter the cost.”