Actions

Work Header

Rating:
Archive Warning:
Category:
Fandom:
Relationship:
Characters:
Additional Tags:
Language:
English
Series:
Part 26 of Jayvik Fics
Stats:
Published:
2024-12-23
Completed:
2025-01-11
Words:
3,244
Chapters:
2/2
Comments:
88
Kudos:
1,062
Bookmarks:
134
Hits:
7,768

Break The Silence

Summary:

Jayce and Viktor find the perfect way to thank Mage Viktor for bringing them back together.

Or the fic where Mage Viktor gets his Jayce back.

Notes:

(See the end of the work for notes.)

Chapter 1

Chapter Text

Everything is silent, except for the wind and the quiet buzzing of the insects that surround Jayce’s resting place. It is always silent. May it be laughter, screams of joy, screams of pain, Viktor has stolen it all from the world long ago. Only his voice remains, and he rarely speaks a word, out of respect for the countless souls trapped in this barren graveyard.

However, today is different. Today he has a reason to break the silence, even if only for a second. So he lets his head fall on the shoulder of his motionless partner, and pretends to be leaning against warm flesh rather than cold stone, and whispers, his voice full of reverence:

“He made it, Jayce. He made it.”

No answers come. Not that Viktor expected one, but…

Somehow, after all these years, his heart still hopes.

The breeze soon carries his words away, and the silence returns.

Loud.

Deafening.

Bitterness shoves accomplishment and relief aside to carve itself a place within his chest. Ah. Viktor should have known. This achievement, no matter how great, how commendable, is just the end to another pursuit.

Another world might have been saved, but the one Viktor lives in has long since been condemned, and nothing will change that. His Jayce will never look at him with adoration in his hazel eyes and ask for his partner back.

The crystal sound of a tear hitting solid stone disturbs the great quiet. Viktor brings a hand to his face, surprised at the wetness he finds there. Haven’t his eyes gone forever dry from insurmountable sadness years ago?

Apparently not.

With haste, he wipes his regrets away, his gesture containing so much anger that he accidentally scratches his cheek. What right has he to mourn, to lament over his fate, when he is the very cause of his own misery? When he ignored every advice, every word of caution, and everyone but him paid the price for it?

A thin drop of blood trails down his face, onto his jaw. Viktor lets it run its course. After all, what’s a little trickle? Viktor bears so much blood on his hands he should be drowning in it.

Maybe he is.

Air doesn’t quite reach his lungs the way it should. Sobs and sorrows clog his throat and leave him heaving. He clings to Jayce, desperate for warmth and comfort, for everything he doesn’t deserve. All the while he hates himself for lingering here, when he could be repairing his wrongs. Sort of.

There are other worlds to save from himself. Other timelines to preserve. Rescuing Jayce, again and again… But not his Jayce, never his Jayce. It might just… ease his pain. Or at least, distract himself from it. Happiness will forever be out of his reach, but he has accepted it…

He has accepted it, hasn’t he?

…Why can’t he accept it? Why must this eternal torture reopen his wounds again and again?

Why did he stupidly make himself immortal?

Why cannot he fall forever asleep here, by Jayce’s side, and just…

Rest?

Viktor sighs. What is he thinking? Given his crimes, that would be too tender a conclusion. He shouldn’t complain, when he’s still got so much to atone for…

A soft, swishing noise slowly rises. The dragonflies scurry away all at once. Magic thrums in the air.

“Am I interrupting?”

The oh-so-familiar words, spoken with the utmost gentleness, shock and shake Viktor to his very core. They struck him with all the might of lightning and leave him paralyzed.

For a second, he dares hope for the impossible.

But no.

His Jayce is still trapped within the prison of his own body.

The other Jayce, though, the one that made it, is stepping out of a portal, with his Viktor in tow.

Constellations and nebulae dance over the newcomers’ skin. Pure light, blinding like the sun, radiates from their hair. The Arcane constantly embraces them. They look… ethereal.

And so, so happy.

Envy squeezes deep into Viktor’s heart like a worm into an apple, ugly and insidious.

With a heavy soul, he disentangles himself from his Jayce and rises up.

“Why are you here?” He inquires, his voice far less steady than he’d like it to be.

Jayce greets him with a smile bright like a supernova. Beautiful, but dangerous. Viktor might yearn for its warmth, but he knows he’ll only receive burns and heartaches if he gets too close, because this isn’t the star he was meant to gravitate around.

“We came to thank you. And to give you this.”

Déjà-vu fills Viktor as he drops a small stone that shines with all the colors of space into his hand. This moment, he has already lived it thousands of times, but never like this. Never in reverse. The gem quickly melts into his palm, and its singular glow spreads from the base of Viktor’s wrist to the tip of his fingers.

Curiosity gets the better of him, and he rubs the altered skin with his thumb, but observes no major change. At best, it might run a little hotter than the rest of his body. However, in his long years of existence, Viktor has never seen anything like it.

“What is it?”

Jayce nearly puffs up with pride, unable to hide his true feelings, as always.

It is another knife in Viktor’s chest. How he wishes he could see his Jayce look like this again…

“The cure to the Glorious Evolution. It took us a long time to find it, but we can sift through universes more easily than you ever could, and we knew it had to exist somewhere. So…”

“We persisted,” Viktor’s astral counterpart completes. “Because we owe so much to you.”

The mage doesn’t have time to register this miraculous news and the implications behind it, because the next thing he knows, his alter ego is pulling him into a tight hug. A low, gentle static constantly ripples through his cosmic body, but it doesn’t feel harsh or aggressive, contrary to the one produced by the Hexcore. Even though he is undeniably real and tangible, he feels weightless in Viktor’s arms, as if it’s not a man he is holding, but the night sky itself.

“Thank you, for guiding Jayce back to me.”

“You… You would have done the same,” he stammers.

The other Viktor smiles.

“Yes, I know. That is precisely why I’m here.”

Timid awe infiltrates the mage’s heart. He stares at his glimmering palm, somewhat still unbelieving.

“This… this will be enough to…”

His younger self nods.

“To save him. Just like you saved us.”

“And restore every universe affected by the Glorious Evolution,” Jayce chimes in. “Those many worlds you traveled to, they’ll flourish again, even those where I failed. All thanks to you. No, don’t worry, you won’t have to do it all over again. We’re taking it from there.”

Viktor’s heart misses a beat as the astral version of his partner also joins the hug. For the first time in an eternity, he feels… seen. Cared for. It brings new tears to his eyes, though these ones are so much more hopeful than those he spilled on his Jayce’s shoulder.

Is… is his burden truly about to be lifted? After all this time? Has he truly done enough to attain redemption?

“We can’t stay here for long, and you will only have eyes for your Jayce once you have him back anyway,” His counterpart knowingly states as he sends a furtive, loving glance to his own partner. “So let’s share our goodbyes now. We might never see each other again, but… know that I will forever be grateful. This second chance you’ve offered us… We won’t waste it.”

“Yeah, we’ll never forget you. And we’ll be watching over you two, up there from the stars,” Jayce warmly promises.

Viktor shakes in their arms, almost at a loss for words.

“I… Thank you. For coming back. For… everything.”

Twin celestial smiles beam at him softly.

“It’s nothing you haven’t done for us. Now, go take care of him. He’s waited long enough.”

They gently let go of him and return toward the open portal, although they do not cross it yet. If this somehow goes wrong, you won’t be alone to deal with it, they don’t say, but the message gets across regardless.

It soothes Viktor, and gives him courage.

With a trembling hand, he reaches for his Jayce’s shoulder, hesitant at first, and tenderly brushes his fingers against the unyielding stone.

“Please, come back to me,” He tearfully murmurs.

The gem in his palm sparkles. The gleam transfers from his skin into Jayce’s lifeless shell.

Everything explodes with color.

A strong wave of magic pushes the mage backward and ruffles his hair.

Viktor shields his face with one arm, but keeps his hand on his partner’s shoulder.

Out of reflex, he holds onto him for support. His fingers dig into supple flesh.

The realization hits.

Viktor doesn’t wait for his vision to come back. No, he throws himself into Jayce’s arms, blind and trusting, desperate to be reunited with him. Strong hands happily welcome him and pull him against a familiar broad chest. Uprooted plants still cover Jayce and the scent of earth clings to his skin, but Viktor couldn’t care less.

He’s here. His partner is here…

"Jayce... Oh, Jayce."

“Viktor, Viktor…” His partner sobs his name, voice hoarse from years of unuse. “You’ve done it, you... You've saved us all. I… I knew you would. I never stopped hoping.”

Viktor did. He gave in to despair long ago. But Jayce didn’t. During all this time, he…

He kept believing in him.

Chapter 2

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

When the blinding burst of colors eventually fades, it reveals the most breathtaking sight Viktor has ever laid eyes upon. Jayce, his Jayce, is there, breathing and crying and smiling in his arms. Age has creased his face and streaked his brown locks with grey, but to the mage, he remains as devastatingly handsome as when he knelt before him to be assimilated by the Glorious Evolution.

Guilt assaults his mind at the memory. He remembers it all too well, remembers how Jayce looked up at him adoringly, his eyes so full of undeserved trust and love…

Worst of all, Viktor remembers his own happiness. How downright elated he felt when he imprinted his mark on Jayce’s forehead and unknowingly cursed him to a fate worse than death. How he equated his partner’s unwavering compliance to finally being accepted and seen.

If only he didn’t push Jayce to make this ultimate sacrifice… If only he didn’t trade everything he loved for hollow delusions…

And yet, despite it all, his partner kept believing in him through his long years of torment. Viktor cannot fathom how. What he knows, though, is that he will cherish that trust and do everything not to fail it again.

Jayce’s even bears the consequences of Viktor’s hubris on his body. The Hexcore corruption he’s been subjected to for so many years has left opal scars all over his skin and turned the tip of his hair white. His knees are red and raw and stiff from having stayed in the same position for much, much too long. Jayce has also lost weight and muscles during his long wait, which the mage cannot help but feel terrible about.

He looks… famished. Neglected. And yet he still stares at Viktor longingly, as if he was the sun himself.

Most of the plants that grew on him have already fallen at his feet, but a few still cling to his clothes and skin, even though their roots have nowhere to slither in anymore. Several decades of dirt and dust accumulated also cover his body, just like his once flawless attire has become ragged with time.

“Let me…”

With a soft caress of his magic, Viktor repairs the torn fabric and swiftly whisks the grease away. However, he is more delicate with the little sprouts that have detached from Jayce’s body. He collects them all with his powers and finds each seedling a place atop the Hexgate so they can grow there.

Perhaps this is his long solitude talking, but he just can’t get himself to discard them uncaringly. Not when he has been tending to them for the longest time, when they represented the only promise of hope and life in an otherwise dead and corrupted world.

His actions earn him a fond look from not only Jayce, but also their astral counterparts. They wave him goodbye, and Viktor barely misses it, so engrossed that he is in this sweet reunion with his partner. Ah. They were right to bid him farewell earlier. It truly feels like his entire world revolves around Jayce and Jayce alone, now that he has him back.

The mage returns their smile, beyond grateful. This invaluable present they have offered him, this opportunity to make everything right… He will treasure it preciously.

The portal flickers, then eventually closes. And just like that, they’re gone from this universe and timeline. Back into the boundless embrace of the Arcane, where they now belong.

Their departure does not distract him for long, though. His whole focus returns to Jayce at lightning speed when his partner cups his face in his large, gentle hand. Viktor doesn’t understand how Jayce can love him so much still, after everything he endured because of him, but there is no denying the near-religious adoration in his eyes.

He shudders as his partner tenderly wipes the dried trail of blood off his cheek, the motion full of soft reverence. His tears flow anew. For the first time in an eternity, they are born from joy rather than despair.

However, the affectionate gesture also draws Viktor’s attention to the two knuckles that are missing from Jayce’s hand. His heart turns and twists as he remembers how they broke when he parted from his hammer.

“Your fingers… I… Oh, Jayce, I’m so sorry.”

His partner pulls him a little closer and brings their foreheads together. The strokes on his cheek grow even more gentle and loving.

“Don’t be. It was… a necessary sacrifice. I’d lose them again to have you back.”

“Perhaps, but… I am the one at fault. I should have been the one to pay that price. Not you,” He murmurs.

“But I want to see you happy, Viktor, not punished. And I’d rather lose a few more fingers than let any harm come to you. You’ve been hurt enough.”

“Hurt? How so? I’ve barely suffered a scratch, while you…”

“I’m not talking about your body. You’ve spent decades alone, Viktor.”

“So have you…”

Jayce shakes his head.

“It’s not the same. I… wasn’t entirely there. Not the whole time. When you visited me, yes, but otherwise… It felt more like sleeping. But you had to live through all these years with no one by your side. I can only imagine the toll it has taken on you…”

“Maybe, but I brought it upon myself… You, all the people of this world…. None of you asked for any of this.”

“You didn’t know it would end this way. Viktor, you… You only ever wanted to help people. I know you did. So I beg you, do not be so harsh on yourself…”

In response, Viktor leans further against his partner’s hand, too tired to keep arguing and utterly drained by the wreck of his emotions.

“Please, just… Let me fix whatever I can and… and give you some relief.”

Guided by remorse and sorrow, he places his hand over Jayce’s and angles it so he can put an apologetic kiss on his partner’s palm. Magic imbues the other man’s flesh and travels up his injured pinkie and ring finger. It stops right where the digits got severed and wraps around the ugly wounds. Exposed bones disappear under the warm glow of his spell as Viktor wills healthy scar tissue to form at an accelerated rate.

He wishes he could do more, wishes he could revert Jayce’s body to its original state, wishes he could turn back the clock and return all the years he has stolen from him. But all he can do is aid his recovery and alleviate his pain.

“This… This is all I can do…” He sadly confesses.

“Please, do not sell yourself short. This is amazing. You are amazing, Viktor. You saved us in every universe, in every timeline…”

“Yes. From myself,” He reminds Jayce. “I do not understand. How… How can you hold no rancor towards me? How… How does your love for me subsist, even now?”

At that last question, Jayce’s expression turns incredibly fond.

“Isn’t it obvious? If my love still burns strong after all these years, it’s because you kept it alive. You never gave up on me, Viktor. You could have just fled your mistakes in another reality, but instead, you always returned here. Returned to me. You made me love you, time and time again, even when I was barely a ghost of myself. And don’t forget that I too share my part of the blame. You… You never asked to be fused to the Hexcore. I’m the one who set you on this path.”

“That was a long time ago,” Viktor points out with a sigh. “I have long since forgiven you.”

“Then let me forgive you too.”

Viktor's tears only double in intensity when Jayce gently presses their lips together. This still feels like more than he deserves, but at the same time, he yearns for it, for Jayce, with all his heart. So he closes his eyes and melts into the kiss, giving in to this gravitational pull that will always bring them back together.

He doesn’t know how long they stay entangled like this. Maybe a second. Maybe another eternity. It’s everything he’s dreamed of for years, and yet it only makes him ache for more. Cuddles, hugs, kisses, intimate embraces, he needs it all. Needs to merge with Jayce in every way he can, until they become so closely intertwined no force will be strong enough to separate them ever again.

Thus, a little noise of protests escapes him when they eventually part, which causes his partner to warmly chuckle.

“As much as I’d love to keep kissing you, we should go share this cure first, don’t you think?” Jayce suggests. Devotedly, he takes Viktor’s hand in his and brings it to his lips, like a loyal knight would. The mage shivers as they brush against his skin. “Let’s rebuild this world together, partner.”

And although Viktor has a thousand reasons to be apprehensive about what will come next, to fear that he will be rightfully ostracized and hated for all the errors he’s made, and to let that anxiety govern his thoughts, he still nods in agreement, reassured by his partner’s confidence. By the sheer trust he puts in him.

A trust that isn’t born from ignorance, but firsthand experience.  A trust that has been tried again and again and again, but never faltered.

Even if the worst comes to pass, we’ll still have each other. I know you’ll never abandon me, is what it quietly whispers.

 That is why, as they link their fingers together and make their way down the Hexgates, leaving this awful chapter of their lives behind them, Viktor feels ready to face it all.

So long as Jayce remains by his side.

Notes:

Thanks a lot for reading, I hope you enjoyed this chapter :D

Notes:

Happy early Christmas to all of you who are celebrating :D Second part will (obviously) be focused on Mage Viktor taking care of his Jayce ❤️

You can find me on Tumblr

Series this work belongs to: