Chapter Text
“I won’t fail. I swear it.”
Oh, how the mighty fall. Ithacus, Thesues, Achilles, and of course the mighty Golden Boy of Piltover. Pride, arrogance, betrayal, and love. The downfall of everything great .
Jayce Talis was by no means a weak man. His time in that cave had proved that time and time again. He crawled his way out of that nightmare. Eating and drinking whatever he could get his hands on. Carving everything he could into the walls. Stuck with the guilt that he could have somehow prevented this. Then again, how could he just stand there and do nothing. Viktor was dead. dying, in his arms. He almost lets a pathetic laugh escape his mouth, for he holds no regret for what he did. Even after the Zaunite woke up, different, changed by the arcane, he still held adoration for his partner. Even after Viktor walked out on him and left him in that cold, empty lab. Jayce could truly never hate Viktor and maybe that would be his undoing.
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“Goodbye, Jayce.”
“Wait-” Jayce cries, a pathetic, desperate noise leaving his mouth. He was losing him, yet again. He just got his partner back and he was leaving.
The Zaunite does not slow for a moment, continuing the walk towards the exit. Time seems to move slowly, making it all the worse.
“I do not have time for this, Jayce. ” Viktor spats, saying the other man's name with a tone of impatience, like he is nothing but a stranger.
The tone makes Jayce feel cold. His whole body seemed to shake at the words. Viktor was walking out on him, after everything, like it meant nothing.
“Vik-” the older man starts, already feeling the familiar tightness in his throat, “I-I’m sorry. I couldn’t-” he pauses, the realization hitting him, hard. He loved Viktor, more than anything. “I can’t lose you, not again- I just got you back, please! ” He begs, hoping, praying , that he can convince his partner to stay.
The man in front of him halted. A small sigh is heard, “I am not the man you held such affection for Jayce. I am changed, different …” he trails off, voice void of any emotion. Viktor shuffles the blanket around him and walks .
Jayce does nothing but stare as his partner walks away. He can’t move. He can feel the tightness in his throat like a cruel wire has wrapped itself there. The drumming in his ears is deafening . Viktor left , leaving him with nothing but guilt and old memories.
Finally able to move, he stumbles towards his old desk, yanking open the cabinet. He curses under his breath, throwing out old papers and trinkets, searching . His hand finds the neck of a bottle. He pulls hard, stumbling back and falling to the floor. His hand grips the bottle of whiskey, ripping off the top and throwing it across the lab. With shaky hands, he brings it to his lips, taking a long swig. Jayce relishes the way it burns his throat and loves the way it makes him choke . “I deserve this.” he thinks to himself. Despite what everyone said, he was nothing without his counterpart. Everything he did was for Viktor, and now he is alone because of his selfishness. All because he was an idiot and didn’t see the signs. Would things be different if he had said something before all of this? If he hadn’t begged Viktor to attend the meeting?
He lets off with a sputter- harsh coughs rattle his body. The bottle in his hands haphazardly gets placed somewhere. His breaths came in quick and desperate. “It’s my fault.” Jayce thinks to himself. His hands find their way to his hair and pull. He pulls until it stings, satisfying the part of his brain that tells him, “You deserve this. You have caused Viktor nothing but pain. You broke your promise!” He pulls once more at the thought, a strangled yelp leaving his mouth. One that could be comparable to that of a wounded animal- a sound so sharp, so raw, it cuts through the air like a scalpel through the skin—a man, abandoned .
Jayce’s mind spins as he thinks of every possibility- of all the ways he could have somehow prevented this. Would things have ended differently if he had dropped everything to be with the Zaunite—to be by his side when the sickness had been at its worst? Jayce had spent so much time in other places that seemed so irrelevant now. Time was inestimable when it came to Viktor, and Jayce seemed to waste every second of it. Viktor was running out of time and Jayce still filled his days with ridiculous parties, council meetings, and Mel- all the while Viktor was alone . Alone in the very same lab Jayce found himself in now.
Jayce thinks back to the promise he made Viktor when he had found him on that ledge- when the man before him had looked so defeated . It had terrified him, watching his partner loon over the edge. There was always the question, looming in the back of his mind, “What if you didn’t make it in time?”
Vision blurred, partly due to the alcohol, mostly because he can’t breathe. It sounds pathetic and the man knows that. The mighty Jayce Talis reduced to nothing more than a drunken mess- sobbing on the cold floor of the lab. Uneven breaths leave his mouth, small pathetic noises escaping as his mind spirals. The memory of carrying Viktor's lifeless body through the streets of Piltover, begging him to hold on flashes through his mind. The sickening crack of ribs as he desperately tried to restart his partner's heart was forever ingrained in his mind. A sick, twisted movie stuck on a loop.
A guttural scream tears from his throat, body instantly shooting upright. A wave of dizziness hits him like a train, causing him to falter. Frantic eyes search the surroundings, desperate to find the one thing that could make him forget. Strong hands, forged by fire, are reduced to a shaking mess as they grab the bottle of golden liquid. The familiar burn made its way down his body to the pit of his stomach.
An ugly, choked noise echoes throughout the room- alcohol seeping from the sides of his mouth as he forces the liquid down. His throat raw from the fire pouring down his throat. Jayce lets off with a gasp, throwing the bottle across the room. Glass shatters as it makes contact with the floor.
Jayce brings himself to stand, stumbling forward in a drunken haze. He shuffles towards the desk- the desk that had notes upon notes he had taken while Viktor was inside of that thing. Teary eyes glance over them, searching for a reason why. An impossible equation only Viktor himself could solve.
Jayce tears his eyes away and looks towards the place where Viktor's body was held. An ugly reminder of what he had done. A reminder of the promise he broke. The memory of Viktor’s body on the table, lifeless, unbreathing flashes through his mind. The moment he threw everything away because he couldn’t stand the thought of a world with Viktor. An ugly sob spills out of his mouth, Jayce Talis was selfish. Shaky legs make their way toward the cocoon, hands almost caressing the outline of Viktor's figure. Jayce drops to his knees, unheard pleas leaving his mouth. Pleas only the walls would hear.
Jayce Talis does not know how long he sat there, crying. He does not remember when the sobs turned into small sniffles nor when he had curled up on the floor- laying at the feet of Viktor's outline. The floor was cold but he could not bring himself to care, the whiskey coursing through his blood making him feel warm . If he focused on it enough, he could make himself believe that Viktor was next to him. That was enough for him to close his eyes and let the darkness take him.
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