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Jayce couldn't get it out of his head. Viktor on the ground. Viktor now in this strange arcane slab. Viktor snoring softly in the strange arcane slab.
Not many people knew that Viktor was a snorer. No, scratch that, he was a sleep snorer and talker.
So it wasn't that lonely when he stuck around the lab. His partner was still there, but quite incoherent.
“Szzzzz… please… more sugar… just three more teaspoons…” said the sleeping man encased in arcane semi-fluid.
Jayce smiled fondly at the man. He was going to be okay. Viktor had to.
Despite all the terror of the attack at the statue unveiling, when Jayce came back to the lab, he felt completely at peace. His partner was there. Healing. Coming back.
Jayce did worry though. He promised Viktor that he would destroy the hexcore. Yet… it was something he used to heal Viktor.
“Viktor will understand,” he whispered to himself.
Then he looked behind him. Schematics for weapons made from hextech.
“Viktor… won't understand,” he sighed.
But it was a war! So that made it okay, right?
“I miss you Viktor,” said Jayce, looking at the closed eyes of his partner, suspended in the air. “You knew what was missing in all my plans. I should have listened to you. I should have—”
A giant snore cut into his weepy monologue.
“Szzzz… Viktor nation… how we doing?...” said the sleeping man, a bit more clearly than usual.
Jayce stood up, wincing from his wound. He came up to his partner's face, heart pounding.
“Viktor, are you awake? Hello?”
“Jayce?...” Viktor seemed to say.
“Viktor? Are you okay?”
“Szzzz… Jaybe yes… Jaybe no…” said the unconscious man, before more soft snoring.
Jayce laughed but it was a bit empty. Just more sleeping sounds.
He couldn't help but go up to the man, and put his hand on Viktor's cheek, just feeling the presence there.
You have to be in there, thought Jayce. You have to be.
“I'll be here for you, V. Just come back soon.”
Viktor gasped awake, and his whole being pulsed with energy. He was trapped, he noticed, in this strange viscous substance. He pulled and pushed until he came out to the floor of his lab.
His fingers were not his. Yet he moved them. He stood up on legs that were not his, using his crutch, which quickly absorbed the residual energy of… was it the hexcore? Could it have been its power?
He saw his partner sleeping on the table.
Not many people knew, but Jayce was a drooler in his sleep. Many a notes got covered in slobber.
“Jayce…”
The man in front of him kept drooling.
Viktor walked over and came to the table. He saw Jayce’s sleeping face and felt… nothing. Normally when he saw his partner's face he felt a pulse of affection go through him. Yet now? There was none of that.
It was obvious, this transformation had changed his body, and his emotions. Everything was so clear now.
He was a mechanical creature now. Beyond evolution. Beyond emotion.
He saw Sky's notebook, and… it was not sorrow, was it? No… certainly there were no emotions now in his body.
He picked it up and noticed the weapon schematics. Of course, signed by Jayce at the corner.
Sky appeared in the corner of his eye. A hallucination?
“Hello, Viktor,” said the hallucination.
“Sky?” said Viktor, surprise colouring his voice.
“Still here,” said Sky, with a wry smile.
“But you died… you can't be here.”
“So did you, Viktor. But you're here now.”
Before Viktor could ask more, the man underneath him rose up, drool coming out of his mouth, and a very automatic swipe at his mouth to clean up.
The sudden rise of the man pushed Viktor onto the ground, spread on the floor. Viktor definitely did not feel surprised and embarrassed. He definitely was now an unfeeling robot.
Jayce jumped up shocked he bumped into someone, then looked to the ground to see Viktor, and was shocked, doubly so, and then after looking at Viktor’s body, triply so, and finally at a specific part of Viktor’s new body, quadruply so.
“Who's there? Viktor, you're alive! Oh my god, Viktor. Woah.”
Jayce was, of course, glad to see his partner alive. The new body was strange but it was expected, since the hexcore had changed him. But there was a certain part of Viktor’s body… Jayce couldn't do anything but blush.
He couldn't describe what he saw in any other way than it was perfect. Viktor's body was perfect and it made his mouth water, which was strange and possibly because he was drooling in his sleep, or maybe it was watering in a fresh new confusing way he didn't want to think about.
He helped Viktor up and then quickly went to get a blanket. “Viktor! You must be cold!”
Viktor frowned. “No, I am not cold… I feel a—”
“Here's a blanket, please cover yourself even if you don't feel cold,” said Jayce hastily.
He had to make sure Viktor was covered up. Having a naked Viktor around him was going to make him go crazy.
“Er… yes. Thank you, Jayce,” said Viktor, his train of thought interrupted.
“I'm so glad you're alive, Viktor!” said Jayce, now hugging his clothed friend. Oh god, he could feel Viktor’s new body’s… everything though the blanket.
“Hey, let's get you some clothes. I think we had some ready for you somewhere. I mean, how crazy would it be to have set this entire system up to have you come back but then not have any clothes ready? I definitely don't only have a blanket for you,” lied Jayce as he desperately tried to find a lab coat, but more importantly, underwear and pants for Viktor. Perhaps his underwear would do with all of Viktor’s changes. Wait… was it weird to give your partner your underwear?
“Jayce, focus,” said Viktor, unamused. I have to end this partnership, he thought.
“Yes, Viktor?” said Jayce, turning to face his partner who was wearing Jayce’s favourite blanket, something that was also doing something weird to his heart, making it flounder and swell.
Stop thinking about swelling, thought Jayce, his eyes still glancing at times to Viktor’s crotch.
Viktor narrowed his eyes. Why was Jayce so distracted? The man's eyes were going everywhere, looking at him and then looking away, then looking back, and looking down. How sleep deprived was his partner to end up like this?
“Jayce, you promised to destroy the hexcore.”
“But, it saved you, Viktor!”
“It killed Sky,” said Viktor with the finality of a queen moving into checkmate.
“I'm not dead, Viktor,” came Sky's voice. “I'm literally inside you. But not in, like a weird way. Or anything.”
“Er,” said Viktor with the tone of someone being told they just made an illegal move in chess.
A glowing astral projection of Sky floated in the air sitting behind Jayce on the table, hand on her old notebook.
“Is… everything okay, Viktor?” said Jayce concerned. Viktor was looking at something off on the right. Oh… it was the weapons schematics.
“I can explain! There's this crazy criminal who's to blame for the explosion, and they needed hextech to fight her since she's also using hextech. It kind of makes sense if you think about it like that.”
Jayce couldn't let this ruin their partnership, their friendship. “I couldn't think of a better solution. That's why I need you, Viktor. I can't do it without you. My ideas go nowhere, or they get twisted up by the council. I'm quitting the council, and all those politics. My place was always here, with you, in the lab,” he pleaded.
Viktor walked past Jayce and picked up the book.
He moved towards the door.
“I must say goodbye to this place now. To you.”
“Goodbye? Viktor, you're my partner.”
“Our paths diverged long ago. It was affection, that held us together.”
“Wait, affection?” asked Jayce, confused.
Viktor definitely did not feel a blush on his cheeks, since he was an evolved being.
"Goodbye, Jayce.” Viktor turned to leave his old partner for good.
Jayce stood there, stunned as Viktor walked away. “He felt… affection for me? And that was what kept us together? Not the science?” said Jayce quietly to himself.
Somehow that blazed something warm inside himself. He quickly went to pick up his clothes and a bag, and as many supplies as he could. He had a partner to follow.
“Jayce, please stop following me.”
“I'm not.”
Viktor sighed as he trod along the empty academy hallways.
“I already said goodbye to you, Jayce. I do not wish for you to be with me anymore.”
“Me neither,” said Jayce, making sure to be right behind Viktor, following the slim man as he maneuvered through the labyrinthine halls.
“I'm just going to where I need to go.”
“And where's that, then?” demanded Viktor, stopping and turning around.
“Oh hey! It's your bedroom!” said Jayce, gesturing to the door they stopped in front of.
Viktor looked at the right and saw it was Heimerdinger’s old lab. Viktor grinned slightly, before he lowered his lip. How odd. He didn't feel cold, nor did he feel affection nor sadness nor anger. Yet somehow there was a sense of amusement there.
Probably it would fade.
“You know this is not my bedroom,” stated Viktor.
“I know you know. But maybe we could sneak in, for old times sake,” grinned Jayce, feeling a bit of their old camaraderie. His partner was in there. He knew it.
“I am beyond ‘old times’. What I seek,” said Viktor, turning with a sweep of a fluffy blue blanket, “Is the future.”
“If you want to get out of the academy, you'll want to take a right,” said Jayce.
“I knew that,” said the newly evolved being, turning around.
It was extremely annoying — no, it was a mere trifle, thought Viktor, that Jayce was following him throughout Piltover.
The streets were empty due to the attack, so citizens did not want to be outside because of the fear.
So there were no crowds to lose this dogged man.
“Oh, remember that bakery? Those donuts are so amazing. Maybe we should get some.”
“Hey Viktor! That's my old apartment! You know, maybe we should go up there and take one of those blackboards for a spin.”
“Man, look at this crazy metal robot statue. Do you remember when we took a nap here and then the next day made like, a hundred prototypes for our Progress Day presentation? Maybe we could rest here for a bit and try our luck again.”
Viktor definitely was not affected by all the memories they built in the city. Definitely not.
“Well what a coincidence that we're on the same gondola down to the undercity, Viktor. By the way, I did pick up some pants if you wanted to put them on?...”
“Jayce, please go home.”
“Okay, but maybe if you put on these pants first.”
“If I put them on, will you go?”
“Jaybe yes, jaybe no.”
“What?”
“Could you please put on some pants, Viktor!”
“Jayce, please stop following me,” said Viktor, definitely not exasperated, striding faster with his rolled up pants.
“I'm just taking a night stroll!”
“This is one of the more dangerous parts of the undercity.”
“I love sightseeing!”
“Jayce, go away!” said Viktor, finally raising his voice.
“I'm not following you! I'm just going the same way you're going. Just coincidentally!”
“Jayce, we are in a sewer pipe in the deepest part of the sump.”
“I know, it's very weird that you're here too, Viktor. By the way, in case you're cold I accidentally brought extra mittens.”
Viktor snatched the mittens out of Jayce’s hand and put them on.
They were purple and very fluffy. They were soft and warm. They had a Talis T on it. Definitely knitted by Ximena, as the woman had knitted other things for Viktor over the years since she was his son's partner. He never knew why she always winked when she said ‘partner’.
On the wrists, in neat embroidery, it said ‘Viktor’.
Dammit, thought Viktor, he loved it. Ximena shouldn't have made this.
“They are rather nice,” said the astral projection of Sky.
How do I get him to leave? Viktor asked Sky silently.
“I don't think he is,” said Sky.
I don't think he is either, sighed Viktor.
“So, where are we going next?” said Jayce with a smile.
They came to the darkest depths of the undercity, and walked into a nest of addicts.
This was it. Viktor could feel his glorious purpose coming.
He looked behind him to see Jayce wary and keeping a lookout as the shimmer-addicted came closer and closer.
“Stay behind me, Viktor,” said Jayce, taking out a small Talis forged hammer.
“No need for that,” said Viktor, as one bespectacled person came closer.
A scuffle happened, and Viktor moved to do what he knew he needed to do. He reached out and— wait. The mittens!
Somehow they were interfering with his newly made arcane powers, and a light was glowing in his hand.
No, thought Viktor. This is ridiculous. All undone by something that shouldn't have been made in the first place.
The shimmered folk ran away from the bright light. Viktor could feel his energy explode out, hand unravelling with the short circuited energy.
“Viktor!” yelled out Jayce, running towards Viktor.
Viktor couldn't hold his calm anymore. “Jayce! Stay back!”
“No!” said the man, the bright light making him squint, dark eyebrows coming together.
“I'm not leaving you! I know I messed up, but I know if I stick to you, things can get better. We can make it alright!” Jayce covered Viktor’s glowing hand, desperately trying to contain it.
“Go! Leave me! You're going to get hurt, Jayce!” Viktor couldn't keep his tears from falling. His new body, like his old one, was betraying him, but in reverse. His old body was frail physically but emotionally he could hold it all in. Now it was the opposite, his body physically strong but now emotionally out of control. Or perhaps it was his old and new body, both coming together to make him suffer everything he tried to hold back.
Jayce held onto Viktor’s neck and pressed his forehead to him. As the wind swirled around from the energy coming out, Viktor could somehow hear the whisper, “I'm never letting you go. I promise, Viktor.”
Just then, the rune on Jayce’s strap shattered, and everything went white.
The first thing Viktor saw was a floating Sky in front of him.
“Oh, you're here Sky,” said Viktor, his voice seeming miles away, as he realized he was on the ground looking up into the sky. “Am I dead?”
“Oh my god, Sky?!” cried out Jayce next to him.
“Wait, you can see her?” said Viktor, shocked and sitting up.
“Uh, yeah?” said Jayce, looking back from Viktor to Sky. “She's right there? You mean you've been saying you could see her this whole time? I thought you said she was dead!”
“She was dead! She just was… around again differently!”
They both looked at Sky, who was floating in front of them, ethereal with white floating hair, soft smiling eyes, her body shimmering with astral energy, looking like flowing robes, with a staff that held in its head the crystal shards of Jayce’s rune, now surging with energy.
“Janna!!” cried out one of the shimmer addicts, coming up to them, falling to his knees.
“Please! Heal us! Save us!” said the man, sobbing, hands clasped and pleading as he let his forehead grind to the ground.
Jayce and Viktor looked around in shock, as more and more of the plagued came around them to bow and pray.
Sky smiled down benevolently and raised her staff. A gentle wind blew from it and soft green energy came out.
As it flowed out, Jayce felt his wound heal. He looked around and saw that the lesions and scars of the shimmer addicted faded away, like smoke in the breeze.
He looked at Viktor, wanting to see how the magic affected his partner.
Viktor was just looking up at Sky, who was channeling real power. Divine power.
How had Viktor ever thought he could become some kind of god? In a world where there were true gods in the ancient ruins of the different realms. He felt this divine revelation flow through him, as the purple in his body blew off him, replaced by a gentle blue.
“I have removed the void from you, Viktor. You should feel much better.”
She floated down and pressed a chaste kiss on his cheek. “I will miss our talks.”
“Where are you going, Sky?”
“Wherever the wind takes me,” she answered, as her form slowly faded in a slightly fragrant breeze. Her harmonious form was leaving, but the wind that came with it was going to be a storm. A mighty storm that swept away the poison from a father's mind, that protected Piltover from the dark shadow's influence, and kept Noxus warships at bay.
They didn't know it, but it was the end of all their troubles.
Viktor just looked up, tears flowing down, as the prayers of the thankful rang all around him, praising Janna’s mercy.
Jayce kneeled down next to his partner. “I guess we better go pray at the temple, huh.”
“I hate the temple caretaker there,” said Viktor, wiping away tears. He didn't even notice when Jayce was kissing them away. Maybe that was a weird Piltover tradition, so he didn't pay it any mind.
From far away, Sky, in her divine glory could only think to herself that she was fine taking care of the great evils of the void, the Black Rose, and Chemtech, but she was going to spend as much time as she could away from that damned couple.
Well, she thought. I'll give them one last favour.
A sudden gust came and Viktor found himself flung on top of Jayce, bodies pressing tight, his hair falling down draping Jayce’s face.
Morning light was breaking, and it shone through Viktor’s brown hair.
“Hey, partner,” whispered Jayce.
“Hello there,” said Viktor.
“So you'll come back?” said Jayce, still breathless, not wanting to break this spell.
Viktor noticed Jayce’s tears threatening to overflow. A tear came down. Viktor went down to kiss Jayce on the cheek. Since Jayce did that to him, for some sort of, Piltovan custom, Viktor was only right to return it.
“Well maybe I'll end up going back to your lab. You're free to follow me, if you want to.”
“I'll follow you anywhere, Viktor.”
“Promise?”
“Promise.”