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And then, there was nothing...
It's hard to imagine the feeling of having your body detached from reality, but Viktor has enough reasons to believe that's what's happening to him right now.
Something terribly wrong has happened, he knows it, but his semi-conscious state doesn't allow him to think much beyond that.
Little by little, his senses seem to find their way back to his body. The darkness gives way to a suffocating brightness, his eyes are still closed and yet the light hurts them. Soon, the brightness disperses into small, meaningless pockets of vision, the angle is strange and he can't identify what these shapes that seem to be projecting around and above him could be.
The buzzing in his ears accompanies this new development, murmurs and moans mix with a cacophony of voices that Viktor can't distinguish. He tries to move, and regrets it at the same moment, a searing pain immediately runs through him. Viktor had always considered himself a pain-tolerant person, but even he had to admit that this was too much. Still, in a desperate act, the scientist held back a breath and tried to stand up... only to find that he couldn't.
Panic flared in his mind, Viktor took a deep breath and his lungs didn't respond as they should, a crushing weight on them.
What happened? Where am I?
It didn't feel like death. He always imagined that his illness would take him sooner or later, peacefully. And that didn't seem to be the case at all. Viktor had always thought a lot about how he would die, more than Jayce would say was healthy -
JAYCE
Suddenly, Viktor's train of thought seemed to reconnect, the fragments of memory coming together again, recapitulating the situation.
Right, he was with Jayce, here, in this room. He was standing right next to him as the man of progress convinced the council to accept the peace treaty they were proposing. Everything seemed to be going so well, one step away from being right, and then...
The world literally exploded around him.
That was it. Understanding what had happened didn't do much to ease his pain, but it did give Viktor back the barest sense of control.
Looking down with great effort, he notices the enormous marble pillar above his torso. The shapes around him are nothing but rubble and bodies, camouflaged by smoke and soot. The realization hits him quickly, Viktor is no idiot, he may not know the true extent of his injuries, but he knows that only a miracle could get him out of there, and Viktor never believed in such a thing.
His mind begins to cloud over again, unconsciousness threatening to take him one last time. Stuck there, his eyes scan the place, searching madly for his partner. Viktor refuses to look at the bodies, for some reason, he is unable to even consider that possibility.
And then, he sees him.
Oh.
Jayce, alive, breathing. Covered in soot and dirt, but without a single visible scratch. His always warm face is closed in a confused and worried expression. Relief floods Viktor immediately, he wants to call out for Jayce, a spark of hope igniting in his chest because maybe, and just maybe, Jayce is also looking for him in this hell.
And then he sees her.
Oh.
So carefully, Jayce lifts her by the arms, her once immaculate white dress now destroyed, which doesn't diminish Mel's glow in the slightest. She is as beautiful as she has ever been. Jayce places his hands on her face, searching for any sign of pain in her features. He murmurs what seem to be words of comfort to her. The gesture is so delicate that it makes Viktor's stomach churn for some reason.
Viktor's voice dies in his throat, he won't be able to call out for anyone, the pain in his body no longer seems so terrible. Viktor wanted to look away, but the gesture required too much effort. What a pathetic position to die in.
Jayce didn't need to see him like this, he would probably burst into tears in a failed attempt to get that pillar off him, Jayce tended to be very sentimental. Besides, he had Mel, Viktor would never be the first person he would look for in this situation.
No. It would be kinder, to leave like this, silently.
And he did.
Before the darkness took him completely, Viktor could swear he saw the figure of a man in white robes hovering over him. He must have dreamed of Jayce's voice too.
And then, there was nothing.