Undertow | Ekko x Reader

The pounding on the door shattered the stillness.

Ekko woke with a jolt, his body tensing before his mind could catch up. The sharp knocks came again—insistent, urgent—bouncing off the walls of his small corner room like stones skimming water. The Firelight sanctuary might have been peaceful now, but nothing stayed calm for long. 

The voice followed. Low and gravel-rough. Scar.

"Ekko. You need to see this." 

That got him moving. Ekko swung his legs off the cot and tugged on his jacket, the familiar weight settling on his shoulders as he opened the door. Scar stood just outside, his lanky frame half-cast in shadow. Even without the mask, his face was unreadable, his sharp red eyes unreadier. He didn't waste words. Didn't need to. He just turned and started walking. 

Ekko followed, still shaking off sleep as they wove through the flickering glow of the Firelight base. The air smelled faintly of smoke and damp earth, a mix that had come to feel like home. But tonight, the silence stretched too thin. Scar moved with his usual unnerving quiet, half-beast, half-man, his silhouette sharp against the glow of passing lamps. 

The others joined in as they reached the outer tunnels—bodies moving like phantoms through the dark—until the group numbered five, maybe six. No one asked questions, though Ekko felt their unease in the glances they tossed his way. He'd learned to trust that instinct. 

The fissure's jagged mouth loomed ahead, splitting the underbelly of Zaun like a wound. Beyond it, the air grew colder, carrying the faint trickle of unseen water. This was where the base's sanctuary gave way to the maze of the underground sewer system—a labyrinth few outside the Firelights had ever seen, let alone survived. 

Scar led the way, slipping through a narrow gap and into the dark. Ekko followed, boots splashing through shallow puddles as they wound deeper into the tunnels. The maze was all wrong angles and shadows, turns folding in on themselves, each path a trick waiting to pull you under. But the Firelights knew it by heart. Ekko knew it by heart. 

Tonight, though, something sat wrong in the air. 

Scar finally slowed near one of the outer entrances—one that saw little traffic except for patrols. He raised a clawed hand to stop the group, his red eyes narrowing on something ahead. Ekko's gaze followed, and that's when he saw her.

The figure was small, curled into herself at the base of the damp stone wall. A hood obscured her face, shadow swallowing her features. She didn't stir as the Firelights approached, even with their footsteps stirring echoes across the tunnel. 

Ekko frowned, his voice low as he broke the silence. "What happened?" 

"Found her here," Scar muttered, keeping his voice just above a growl. "Morning patrol caught sight of her. Asleep." 

"Asleep?" one of the others repeated, incredulous. 
"She's bait." 
"Or worse—she's watching us."

The murmurs thickened, worry lacing every word. Ekko turned on them, his expression dark. "Quiet." 

The group fell silent. 

Ekko turned back toward her, narrowing his eyes. Something felt off. Who in their right mind slept at the edge of a fissure? At the mouth of the Firelights' most guarded secrets? No one stumbled into this place. No one found it. 

Still, she didn't move. 

Ekko stepped closer, his boots splashing through the wet. "Cover me," he muttered, though Scar was already watching like a predator at the edges of the light.