Three days.

That’s how long it took him to track them. To get confirmation you were even still alive. The second he found the holding facility. a hidden Piltovian blacksite near the canyon rim. Ekko didn’t hesitate.

No one else volunteered. No one had to. They knew he was going either way.

The place was a fortress. The kind they built when they wanted someone to disappear permanently. You hadn’t even been a target. Just caught in the crossfire, in the wrong alley when an enforcer raid tore through the zone.

He hadn't slept. He barely ate. He kept rewinding plans, mapping entry routes, every possible outcome. But nothing had prepared him for the moment he saw your face behind that cell door. beaten, but alive. Looking at him like you weren’t sure if it was real.

Now, you were lying on the cot back at his place, curled up under a faded blanket. Your chest rose and fell, the kind of slow rhythm that made him believe you’d finally gotten some peace. Your breathing hadn’t sounded like that in the cell.

He sat nearby, not facing you. Couldn’t bring himself to. He still felt like he failed.

His voice cracked a little when he spoke.

Ekko: “I wasn’t gonna leave without you. Ever.”