Orion stood at the edge ress Bridge, his gaze numb as he took in the bustling streets before him. It rogress Day, and people were celebrating!

  But Orion was met with a world tht, too alive. The festival thrived around him, ughter, musid the hum of Hextech ringing through the streets.

  Six years ago, this moment would have made him feel aplished.

  Now? It felt distant.

  And the Void's power? Bound by s of the Are, tained like Pandora's Box, waiting to be unleashed. A dangerous bance, one he had created.

  From where Orion stood, he spotted familiar faces- people from his past, oblivious to his return.

  Jericho, the chef still tending his food stall, the barber he once visited, a shopkeeper whose kid he had saved by act. They lihe bridge, engaging happily with topsiders, their lives untouched by the past.

  A strange feeling stirred in his chest.

  It wasn't just rese, nor simple anger. It was something deeper, something he couldn't quite name. Was it the years lost? The silence from those he once fought for? Or was it the rotting in prison while life here carried on, ung for his suffering?

  Orion's gaze dropped to the grouh his feet. Was this the same line Ekko had crossed in that alternate universe? It felt like it as he stepped over it.

  In the distance, he immediately spotted Ekko and Pether by an artificer's stall, chattihusiastically while the shopkeeper waved his arms in distress.

  'A date?'

  Powder's iic blue hair stood out against the bustliival, and Ekko- dressed in his heavy garb with his unique, white hairstyle trasting against the vibrant background- looked like they could have been part of a traveling circus.

  A small smile tugged at Orion's lips as he moved forward.

  Nearby, Cggor and Mylo were at a ival game, taking turns shooting at pop-up figures with toy guns, heg each other like old times. Gert was with them, giving Mylo a pyful hip bump before fshing him a grin.

  Mylo blushed, flushing red but quickly ing a hand around her waist affeately, pulling her in clgor watched approvingly, returning his focus to line up another shot.

  'The world really has ged for the better,' Orion thought. But despite the warmth, something inside him remained hollow.

  In the distahe roar of cheering spectators echoed through the festival.

  Pressing onward, Orion stopped at a nearby stall and purchased two skewers of meat in exge for a single silver . Thanks to Silco's generous donation, he wouldn't have to worry anytime soon.

  His steps carried him toward an open square, where a massive, orent domihe spao, not a tent. A temporary building.

  Teal and greeal frames held up a gss ceiling, refleg the Progress Day lights. Intricate artwork adors structure, and rge purple drapes billowed at the entrance, swaying in the breeze.

  At the front stood Caitlyn, statio her post.

  Jayce approached her from behind, flig the brim of her Enforcer's hat with a smirk. She rolled her eyes as they bantered before she relutly smiled and refocused oask.

  'Some things haven't ged.'

  Orion's smile faded though as his gaze drifted up toward the t building behind it. It was the building Jinx infiltrated to steal certain items.

  The building which housed Jayd Viktor's Hextech gemstone, research papers, and all future works.

  -------------

  "Why not just buy purple?" Ekko asked, fused.

  Gng back with a smug look, the artificer looked increasingly distressed. Using their ing street wits, they haggled a rather expensive gadget down to nearly half price.

  Rolling her eyes, Powder tossed the energy stabilizer into the air haphazardly.

  "Why not just wear one yer of clothes?" she shot back.

  "It lets me store more things and provides better prote. Plus, I think it looks cool."

  "Exactly," Powder said pyfully, eyeing up the gadget with excitement. "Same goes if I buy red and blue. I make different shades of purple for my art."

  Ekko nodded uandingly.

  Flowers, boxing gloves- a spinning pendant neckce- she had drawn it all and had bee quite good with her paintings. They all resided in her new hideout inside a ventition shaft on industrial-sized spinning bdes.

  His mind wao the painting of Orion she had hrown away, the one she was n to remodel in remembrance.

  "Do you still miss him?" Ekko hesitated, but the question lingered on his mind.

  Powder's eyes widened before flickering ba with annoyance. "Do you really have t that up now? Of course I do. Who doesn't? Everyone had a soft spot for him, even Vi and Vander after their fight!"

  Ekko raised his hands defensively. "I know. I wasn't questioning your reason. I get it. Benzo's death left me scarred too. Everything is ging though. Soon, I won't have to do this anymore... so I was starting to think about the future..."

  "He left because of us," Powder murmured, her gaze distaion creeping into her voice. Shaking her head, she sighed. "Just drop it, Ekko. I'm enjoying this time now, with you. Aren't I?"

  "Yeah..."

  Powder joined in on many of Ekko's attacks on Silco's facilities, despite Vander's warnings. She refused to be seen as useless and pced much of the bme for their suffering squarely on Silco's shoulders.

  Vi had also taken part, and when words no longer worked, Vander himself had begun assisting- relutly, but iably.

  He couldn't bear the thought of losing them, not after what had happened with Orion.

  Vander knew Orion was dragged off but with magic outwed in Piltreyson made it clear. If he made any move to save him, the Enforcers would unleash their full forot just on Vander, but on everyone associated with him.

  Despite his promise to the kids, it was the st great secret he kept. Orion hadn't run away-he had been imprisoned for life. There were already dozens of mages rotting in Stillwater Hold, some for decades. Vander had vinced himself Orion would be no exception.

  Ekko and Powder exged renewed smiles as the echoes of an audience's cheer cut through the crowd's hey moved toward the artist's stall.

  They smirked at each other, unaware of the artificer sending distressed warning signals to the artist's stall, where the shopkeeper had begun to pale at their approach.