At 12:07 a.m., in the back alley behind Forgen Tavern, Logan was carrying a huge crate. A green fuse nearly half a meter long curled across the top. Isha followed close beside him as the two of them walked down the narrow path behind Jinx.
Under her lead, Logan and Isha climbed up into a place that looked like an abandoned attic. Higher and higher they went, until they reached a massive cylindrical loft. At the very top was a private little space—and the moment Logan stepped into it, his eyes lit up.
Was this Jinx's private room?
All around them, the enormous ventilation fan blades were draped with all sorts of things. Jinx stretched her arms out for balance, boots clanking on sheet metal as she walked along the trembling fan blade like it was nothing. She moved steadily ahead, then turned back with a bright, mischievous smile at Logan.
Moonlight spilled over her hair, washing the blue pale—almost holy.
It had gotten colder lately, so Jinx was dressed warmer than usual. A deep black coat on the outside, a blue wool sweater underneath, tight black pants below. She stepped forward on her long legs, planting her foot lightly on the fan blade.
"Right here!" Jinx shouted. "We're setting it off here, Logan! I want the whole city to see this giant firework!"
Zaun had been insanely lively tonight. Jinx, Logan, and Isha had eaten their way through the market, playing around until nearly midnight—then she finally brought Logan here.
"This is where you used to live, isn't it?" Logan asked, looking curiously at the little things she'd collected. Everything was a mess, and graffiti monsters were stamped across half the objects.
Jinx nodded. She hopped down from the fan blade—and while she was at it, she snatched Isha in one quick motion, catching the kid just as she was about to imitate her and sneak onto the blade too.
"Don't copy everything I do. This takes skill!" Jinx planted one hand on her hip and wagged a finger at Isha.
Isha looked offended. She let out a little "nyeh!" and stomped her foot.
She worshiped Jinx. So whatever Jinx did, she wanted to do it too.
"I said no means no. If you really want to learn, I'll take you to walk the balance beams next time. Once you can do that, then you can come here." Seeing Isha get mad, Jinx immediately bent down and coaxed her.
That worked. Isha nodded happily and reached out to make a promise with Jinx—then she ran off on her own to play, trotting right over to the big firework crate and waiting for Jinx to give the order.
She was smart!
You could tell Logan and Jinx were about to get all lovey-dovey again.
Sigh… life is hard. Isha sighed internally.
It was like this at home too. Sometimes she'd even bring her homework outside to do it—while also, conveniently, standing guard for Logan and Jinx.
She knew the drill.
Logan picked up a cloth doll. It was pink, crudely made, and old enough that it was filthy. One of the button eyes had fallen off. Logan took one look at it and laughed.
"Jinx… is this Vi?"
"Yeah. That's the old her. I made it myself—when I was nine." Jinx nodded. She crouched neatly beside Logan, gathering her braids in her hand so they wouldn't drag on the floor and get dirty.
Then, still holding her braids, she started introducing all the things around them.
"This one—I made it when I was eleven. My first real weapon. It's this!" She grabbed a battered square box. The paint on its graffiti had flaked off, making it look even weirder than it already was.
She placed it into Logan's hands and said, "I stuffed a net inside. You throw it at someone, and when it hits, it pops open and the net wraps them up."
"And this—this is from when I was thirteen. My first pistol. I built my current little pistol off of it."
Logan listened carefully to Jinx's voice, to the way she shared her past like she was handing him something precious. And as he listened, he pieced things together in his mind.
At nine, she made a Vi doll—because she was scared to sleep alone at night, and Silco couldn't always be there to lull her to sleep. So that doll became her anchor.
At ten, she made dolls for the others too—Milo and Claggor.
At eleven, she built her first weapon.
At twelve, she pestered Silco into buying her a cake—one of those tiny little cakes from the topside. It was small, really small, but she loved it.
At thirteen, she made her first pistol.
At fourteen, she did her first job for Silco. She made a Rift Scuttler monster doll, hoping it would chase away the nightmares in her sleep.
At fifteen, she built Pow-Pow—the light machine gun she carried on missions.
At sixteen, she stopped making things for herself.
At seventeen, same.
And now she was about to turn eighteen.
Jinx was about to be an adult.
Logan watched her profile as she spoke, committing everything to memory. Quietly, he looked at her face—her cute, perky nose, her soft pink lips, the slight upward curve of her mouth that made you feel drunk just looking at it. She seemed to be sinking into her own memories too.
"I don't know why… but before, whenever I thought about this stuff, I'd get really angry." Jinx suddenly set something down, then spat toward a doll in the distance.
That one was thin and sharp-looking—Milo. She made a face at it, like she was telling him she'd thrown the past away.
She wasn't going to lose it anymore, probably. No—she wouldn't. Right?
At least… she wouldn't lose it because of Milo anymore.
"But now I don't." Jinx looked at Logan, her big blue eyes blinking fast.
"Heh. Then it's definitely because you met a super handsome, super nice, super strong, insanely amazing guy," Logan said shamelessly.
Isha had wandered off to the side, so this was one of the rare times Logan and Jinx were actually alone—outside of the bedroom.
Usually, the moment he was alone with Jinx, Silco and Vander would pop out from who-knows-where. And the worst part was: they wouldn't even say anything. They'd just stand there.
Other times it was Vi. The second she saw Logan and Jinx alone together, she'd shove her hands in her pockets and stare at Logan with that perfect "I'm here for the gossip" face—eyes full of disdain.
That look drove Logan crazy. Like—
Oh? Still just in the chatting stage?
Logan, why are you so useless?
Want me to teach you how to flirt?
That kind of look.
So yeah—Logan really enjoyed having time alone with Jinx.
And since his guard was down, that shameless line came right out.
His status had changed. His power had changed. But he hadn't changed all that much inside. If he could, he wanted Jinx to praise him too—he really, really liked it when she praised him.
Being admired by the person you loved… that feeling was just unbelievably good.
"Yeah! I met someone super great!" Jinx nodded hard, grinning. "She's super awesome, and she's great to me, and she's really gentle, and she listens to everything I say."
Logan: "???"
"ISHA! She's seriously so cool, right? I've never seen a kid that cool!"
Logan: "???!"
"You've gotten evil, Jinx." Logan reached out to grab her, but she darted back—though he was clearly just teasing. If he'd actually tried, there was no way she could've escaped.
Logan clicked his tongue and crossed his arms, pouting.
Seeing his face, Jinx smiled sweetly. "Okay, okay—fine. It's you. The super handsome one. The super good one. The one I like the most. You. Happy?"
"Now that's more like it." Logan nodded, then glanced at the time.
"Is it almost time?" Jinx leaned in and lowered her head to look at Logan's wristwatch.
It was a little watch Jinx had made for him.
A blue kids' watch. Isha had one too—hers had a puppy on it. Logan's had a kitty.
Logan didn't feel embarrassed at all. If he were some random guy, wearing a cat-eared hat and a kids' watch would make people think he was an idiot. But if the ruler of Zaun wore a cat-eared hat and a kids' watch, people would call it fashion.
"Yeah. Time to light it."
"ISHA!" Jinx sprang up and ran toward her.
Isha turned, saw Jinx coming with a lighter, and immediately bounced on her toes, eager to grab it herself.
"I'm giving you this difficult mission," Jinx told Isha seriously. "Light the fuse, then run away fast. Understand?"
The materials inside this firework were enough to make several extremely lethal bombs. Standing nearby would be dangerous.
But the safety was fine. Jinx's stuff might not always be pretty, but it was absolutely reliable and practical.
"Yah!" Isha nodded hard, one hand pressing down on her hat while she carefully leaned in to light the fuse.
Logan and Jinx sat on a couple of stools, watching her.
The fuse caught—and Isha immediately ran… just in the wrong direction. Panicking, she ducked down and slipped through the fan blades, ending up on the far side.
She looked up and saw Logan and Jinx on the other side. She wanted to run back to them—but the fuse was already burning fast.
"Just stay there, Isha," Logan called to her.
Isha thought for a second, nodded, then crouched in the corner, covering her ears and staring seriously at the firework crate.
Logan and Jinx watched too.
Then—
The fuse hit the end. With a weird sound, Jinx's mouth curled into a grin.
"BOOM!"
A huge blast shook the loft, making the whole structure tremble once—then came a chain of thunderous detonations.
Thick beams of light shot up from the Sump depths, surging toward the sky over Piltover. Logan lifted his head and watched the streak climb higher and higher—until it finally reached the air above Piltover.
"POP!"
A gigantic firework exploded across the sky between the two cities. The roar was so enormous it felt like the entire world had been lit up.
Brilliant color burst outward from the center—red like fire, wild and blazing; orange like sunset, dreamy and gentle, smearing warmth across the dark; blue bright and clean, carrying a mysterious chill—
In that instant, everyone in both cities looked up.
Zaunites did.
Piltovans did too.
That one firework swallowed all the others. In the whole sky, it was the only star.
Wave after wave of fireworks followed, turning midnight into day.
Jinx shot up from beside Logan, arms spread wide, and shouted, "Pro—"
"Ah, no—happy Rebirth Day!"
She shouted it toward the fireworks, then spun back to Logan, her smile so huge it looked like it might split her face.
But then she abruptly dropped the smile. She stared at Logan with a seriousness that punched straight through the joy, and said, "Logan. It's a new year. You have to promise me one thing."
Logan looked at her. Firelight painted her face in shifting colors. He nodded.
"You can't leave me. Ever. If you do, I'll go crazy." Jinx spoke slowly, each word cut clean. "I can't live without you anymore. If one day you throw me away and leave me alone… I'll kill you, and then I'll kill myself. And if I can't find you when it happens, I'll still kill myself."
"Logan. I mean it."
Logan froze for a second. His breathing felt tight, like the air had suddenly become too heavy.
Then he looked at her and said, "What are you thinking? Haven't I told you already? I'm not going anywhere. We're together. Whatever I do, I'll take you with me."
"Really?"
"I won't lie to you, Jinx. I promise." Logan said it plainly.
Jinx stared into his eyes. She bit her lip, then raised her hand and stuck out her pinky, dead serious.
"Then we make a promise."
Her pinky stayed out as she added in a small voice, "Don't think I'm a burden, Logan. I'm just… I'm just scared that one day you'll suddenly decide you don't want me anymore…"
Logan lifted his own hand, hooked his pinky around hers, and locked the promise.
He could hear her still trying to explain—
"People around me always leave. I'm scared I'm a—"
Logan watched her little face. Her tiny expressions. The flicker of fear and hope in her eyes.
And then Logan made a decision.
The hand that was hooked with her pinky slid upward, turning into a grip around her wrist. With a gentle pull, he drew her into him.
Jinx…
She wasn't good with words. When she cursed, it was always the same few lines on repeat. And when she tried to express feelings, all she could do was clumsily say things like I like you, I care about you—she couldn't dress it up in pretty language.
Her emotions were heavy. Everything tilted toward life and death, like right now: she was trying to tell Logan how important he was to her, but what came out sounded like a threat—those pitiful, scared eyes paired with terrifying words.
Either Logan dies, or she does.
It was too heavy.
But… that was Jinx.
Her love was awkward and clumsy—yet blazing hot, like fire.
If you didn't protect it properly, it would burn you.
Logan pulled her into his arms and lowered his head. His lips touched softness.
His eyes met Jinx's—wide open, blue and shining, flooded with a misty sheen that made them painfully beautiful.
Jinx's breathing broke apart. Her whole body went stiff, like she'd been frozen in place. Legs tensed, rigid as a corpse sprawled in Logan's arms—
Don't blame me.
Who told you to say something like that all of a sudden?!
Do you even realize that after that moment… you—you turned eighteen?!
Kissing Jinx—how is that Logan's fault?!
Seriously, who could hold back?
A pair of small hands slid up behind Logan's neck, wrapping around him.
After the initial rush, Logan moved on pure instinct. His brain was just as blank as his face—because nobody had ever told him what he was supposed to do next.
So all he could do was kiss her—clumsy, careful little touches. Once. Twice.
Like he was trying to say, without words: I won't leave you. I'll stay with you. Always.
Something words could never fully carry.
Jinx responded just as awkwardly. Sometimes her teeth even bumped his lip, leaving a faint little mark.
Not far away, Isha straightened up, hands covering her eyes—except her fingers were spread wide open.
"Mmm—"
Isha let out a loud squeak, cheeks burning red, and then stood there quietly, peeking at the two of them again… and again… and again.
:)
//Check out my P@tre0n for 10 extra free chapters //[email protected]/Razeil0810