Archive of Our Own

It was his hands that tipped him off first.

Viktor was uncertain if at the time, Jayce even knew it. They trembled, ever so slightly, as he recorded some results from their latest test onto the chalk board and stood back from it. It was so slight. It didn't even show in the writing, but Viktor realized it.

At each new character where his hand would ever so slightly leave the stability of the chalk board, it shook. Intrigued, he watched when Jayce so characteristically put his index and thumb to his chin, holding the chalk with his ring, middle and pinky finger. It was slight, but it was there. Muscles, fatigued, or perhaps the start of carpal tunnel taking hold after spending years forging and writing.

Viktor didn't say anything, of course. There were lots of explanations as to why Jayce would have shaking hands on that particular day, aside from health related issues. Perhaps it was the aftermath of late-night drinking and schmoozing around with Piltover's politicians, or too much coffee in an all too common attempt start the day right and get as much experimentation done as possible in one shot. It could have been anything. In fact, it slipped Viktor's mind almost instantly when he turned around to see their latest hextech invention spitting out the crystal they had tried so helplessly to get it to take. For some reason the arcane didn't like it. Or perhaps it was the machine that was being a picky eater, spitting its fuel out at its parents, directly into Viktor's forehead.

"Ow!" he said.

But Jayce only laughed, before picking it up and going to try again. This time, he tightened the slot for the crystal shut with a wrench he pulled from the magnetized straps at his thigh that for years he had used to keep small tools on himself, and started the stress test again.

Much to no one's surprise, the machine spat it out once more, although this time Jayce was the one exclaiming hurt while Viktor watched from the side, snickering.

The second time he noticed something was amiss, it was because Jayce looked physically ill. At first, he had been annoyed. With his own growing illness, any disease or flu that entered his immune system was a gamble with death. Irritated, he had gotten to work with Jayce at his side, back faced to him.

"Do you plan on getting Mel sick as well, or was your goal just to make me bedridden?" Viktor asked, barely hiding the seething annoyance bubbling under his skin when he first heard Jayce cough. He felt him so inconsiderate, especially when not long ago, Viktor had been laying in a hospital bed.

"...What?" Jayce asked, sounding confused as he looked up from his work. "Oh, I'm not sick. I mean you were with me last night," he told him, annoyed at Viktor’s annoyance. "If I were sick, you would already have it anyways."

Viktor only rolled his eyes and continued to work.

Well enough, the coughing became rarer, but the slight paleness and fatigued eyes never went away after that day.

When their third partner, Mel, finally noticed, Viktor was beginning to suspect that Jayce had something more serious going on. It had been months of working in the lab, and although he was preoccupied with his own health issues, and trying to track down Singed in his direness, he saw Jayce slowing as well. What brought Mel to notice made it blatant to all three of them that something indeed was very wrong.

Viktor and Jayce were working. It was very late, but they needed to speed up the process. Viktor could feel himself dying, and Jayce could see him dying. Coughing up blood, the weakness getting stronger, recovery times taking longer. They were both pouring all their resources into the medicinal side of the hexcore, and Mel was making arrangements to get them less than legal imports of materials for their projects.

She came in, with a couple boxes in her hands, small enough that they could fit into her palm. They were apparently a stronger version of the raw crystal used in the hexcore, but whether the seller was lying or not, only experimentation would tell.

"Hello, gentlemen," she announced, happily. She knew she would need to set the mood right to get them not to stay up all night with the new shipments, and she was also hoping that perhaps they could all spend some time destressing together after a long day. "A shipment came in."

Viktor looked over his shoulder, removing his goggles. Jayce followed suit soon after.

"That's excellent," Viktor said, getting up and limping over to take them. He opened a package, handing it to Jayce who regarded it before setting it down on the table.

"Yes, they're quite beautiful but I was warned they're ten times more potent than the others, and to not let any drop whatsoever. So I was thinking maybe it would be better for you two to perhaps join me in turning in for the night, and take a look at it with fresh eyes tomorrow?" she asked, sweetly, reaching over to put a hand on Viktor's waist.

Viktor never could resist her charm, even when she was blunt about what she wanted out of him. He smiled, blushing slightly. It had been a long time since all three had gotten together, and he was hoping that even if they weren't intimate, they could at least hold onto one another for that night.

"I think that's a wise idea," Viktor said, kissing her cheek, gently. He pulled away, looking at Jayce with a smile. If he could not enjoy those moments, what was the point of extending his life anyways? "Jayce?" he asked, beckoning him to join them in leaving.

Jayce had his back turned, and was staring at his notes. He didn't respond, but Viktor could see his hands gripping the desk. He narrowed his eyes, slightly confused. Viktor knew that Jayce was preoccupied with finding a cure, just as much as he was, but he had never seen him get angry to the point of white knuckling the wood of his desk when asked to leave it. Especially not with Mel.

"...Jayce, did you hear?" Mel asked, slightly louder. She knew he was starting to go a little deaf from being in the forge.

But he did not respond, and instead his hands went limp as he slacked forward on the desk, face hitting it hard. Mel quickly went over to stop the box from falling as he hit it, but Viktor was far quicker to realize what was happening.

Often, it happened to him as well.

From where Jayce had gone limp, face hitting the desk, gravity did the rest of the job and pulled him to the floor as well, hitting the ground with a thump. Whenever Viktor had spells where he suddenly passed out, they came in one of two ways. He would wake up on the floor, or he would wake up mid fall, scrambling to grab anything to hold himself up. It seemed that in this case, Jayce was experiencing the prior.

"JAYCE!" Mel shouted in shock, quickly going over to him.

Viktor limped beside her, watching her expression change from shock to deep worry. He crouched on the ground, using the desk for stability and looking at his fallen partner. He was paler, more pale than he had been in a while. Blood dripped from his nose, having hit it hard against the desk. Mel was panicking. She had her hand on his arm, and although she didn't shake him, she was frantically trying to remember what to do. Viktor wanted to panic himself but he had to remain calm so at least one of them could direct the other. He reached for his wrist to feel for a pulse, in case somehow his heart had stopped. It was likely he could have inferred from his breathing, but Viktor wasn't thinking the most logically either.

"Mel," he said, calmly, grabbing one of her wrists to get her attention away from Jayce's face and her holding of it, "you need to go and find a doctor. I can't run as fast as you, so I will stay here."

"Right- right!" she said, quickly getting up and running out the door, slightly tripping on her heels in desperation.

Viktor sat on his haunches, ignoring the screaming pain of his leg. When he fainted, he hated people touching him, poking and prodding, gawking. Thankfully, he was usually alone, with Mel, or with Jayce those days. He put a hand underneath Jayce's neck, to gently try and cradle his head without moving him so that it was not parallel with his heart. He knew Jayce had been ill, but not this bad. Viktor reached, and undid the top of his shirt, to allow him to breathe easier.

"You know, if you didn't want to do anything you could have just said so. No need for this cop-out," he told him, sarcastically.

Humour to Viktor was always a great way to try and cope with darker situations. It had saved Jayce before, as he stood at the edge of his blown-up workshop. Perhaps now, it would save him again. Make whatever this was a one time situation. Maybe, if he said the right words when he woke up, Jayce's skin would return to its normal tones, and they could pretend that he didn't need to take it easy, and just go back to one of their rooms and have a normal night.

When Jayce's eyes half opened, rolled back in his head yet slightly moving as if he were looking somewhere, and his breathing grew louder yet shallow, Viktor was unfortunately certain that laughter as medicine was not really an option.

"Jayce," he said, quietly.

Jayce didn't answer, but his eyes flicked to the source.

As an undergraduate, when Viktor had his first fainting episode, he was deeply confused. Scared, even, to have been studying one moment and finding his head on the library floor with onlookers gawking the next. What none of them did was explain what happened when he passed out.

"Jayce," Viktor repeated, trying to find the words to put in the simplest form possible. He always was so confused when it was him. "You fainted. You were only out for a little while, but Mel was here, asking us to come turn in for the night. She has gone to get a doctor."

Jayce only breathed, before his eyes turned to the ceiling. For a second, he looked pacified, but his gaze quickly flicked back to Viktor.

"....What?" he asked, weakly. He looked just as shocked as Viktor felt.

"You passed out. Hit your head on the desk then fell on the ground," Viktor said again. "Mel went to get a doctor."

"...No," Jayce disagreed.

"Well, you can deny the facts all you want. It's two against one," Viktor tried to keep the mood light.

It was frightening to lose control of one’s own body, he did not need to worry Jayce with a concerned expression or tone of voice.

"....I mean no, as in 'no, this can't be happening right now,'" Jayce responded, slightly irritably. "I don't have time for this," he went to sit up.

Viktor let him, putting a hand on his back when he reached for his head in pain, before trying to be as strong as possible to get him to lay back down gently on the floor again.

"I'm afraid our bodies don't care about our schedules, Jayce.”

When the doctor was done with him, and the three were back at Jayce's suite, the nerves were calming down. It seemed a lot of it was chalked up to things like under eating, stress, and a lack of sleep, but just to be sure the doctor had taken a blood sample and said he would be back with the results later that week. For the time being, however, Jayce was supposed to take it easy, and try not to exert himself as much on the job. Viktor was honestly shocked at how light the prognosis was. How unserious the concern seemed to be. He knew Jayce was typically a very healthy man, that this was uncharacteristic. In his own experience, however, every seizure or fainting spell was met with an order for bed rest which was promptly ignored. There was a certainty within him that indicated he knew Jayce would have ignored an order like that as well, but he was shocked it was not even suggested.

Mel had brought them some tea, and they were taking it easy. Jayce was already asleep by the time she was back from the kitchen, with Viktor at his side playing with the hair near his ears, feeling a lock between his fingers. Mel came over and sat down next to them.

"I didn't realize he was exerting himself this much for me," he told her regrettably.

"Don't blame yourself for this. He probably would have done the same thing even if you weren't in the picture whenever he discovered the medicinal factor," she responded, taking a sip of her drink.

Viktor could only sigh, putting his tea down to cradle Jayce's frame as best as he could.

"I hope so," he said, under his breath, quietly.

"You don't have to hope when I know," Mel replied, determined as she wrapped her arms around him, kissing the back of his neck and reaching to touch Jayce's arm, even though she knew he could not feel it.

Viktor only gave her a half hearted smile in turn.

The next few days went by mostly normal, except for everyone's sake, things slowed quite a bit. Jayce was not his usual self, far more quiet than it, but Viktor could see he wasn't as ill as he had been. At least with the knowledge that he was on the mend, the work got quite a bit less stressful. In fact, when the test results came back negative for everything, Viktor almost felt as if they were in their early days of research, barely understanding what they were working with yet making the world a better place while they used it. If it hadn't been for the growing ache of his body, Viktor may have been content to let his research take a back seat in favour of spending time with his two favourite people.

The new pace seemed to be beneficial as well to their progress. Despite the suspicion, the crystals turned out to be real, and were working a lot better with the plants they were using. They could get them to thrive for about a half a day, but they couldn't seem to stabilize them past that. Even though every trial seemed to take longer than the last, which was inherently a good thing, they could occupy their time in between with other research, like ways of improving the hextech, or creating new devices. At the forefront of Jayce's mind, was creating new mobility devices. Viktor's struggle to walk often devoured his energy, which of course was difficult to watch. There were some other things they were working on, but Jayce full heartedly was putting his soul into a better brace for Viktor's leg, working on schematics and begging his partner to not worry when he went to the forge.

All was going well, but it was on a day just like any other that things started to slip again. In fact, they had only just begun their work, the morning sun lighting their chalkboard, with the papers strewn about containing notes from the day prior all organized in a somewhat cohesive fashion. Viktor was looking at the progress on a plant that had made it to the two-day mark. It was starting to show signs of deterioration, but with some alterations to the runes, Viktor was seeing some more growth and smiling at it.

"Okay, so it seems that if I do a combination of these three," Viktor told Jayce, who was looking over his shoulder, "that the rate of deterioration slows. The only issue is that... are you even listening?" Viktor asked with a slight laugh, looking at Jayce who seemed preoccupied with studying the plant before him.

"Oh yes, yes of course. Three runes, right... I'll go write-" he suggested, walking over to the chalk board and drawing the runes in order. "Continue."

"Then, if we add this one, it stops growing again," Viktor added, Jayce half looking over to see which one, then putting the rune below his other notes.

"What should we try next?"

"I'm not sure... there's so many, and because it's our most promising subject I didn't want to tempt fate to try something and kill it," Viktor said, playing with one of the leaves.

Jayce started to write all the unused runes on the board, thinking. Powder from the excess chalk flew in the air, made visible by the early morning sunlight seeping in through the windows. Jayce coughed as it entered his lungs, continuing on.

"Maybe we could try the one we used with that hydrangea seed. Maybe it will work different with a fern," Viktor jokingly suggested.

"Yeah," Jayce said, trying to catch some air. "That seems like a great idea," he added with a sarcastic tone.

Viktor laughed, but Jayce had set his chalk down.

Over the course of the past few months, the coughing had gotten worse from when Viktor first noticed it, but the sound itself had become habitual. He paid it no mind once he knew it was of no danger to him, but when Jayce dropped to his knees, with one hand gripping the edge of the chalkboard with white knuckles, and the other covering his mouth, the shock of silence being broken hit him. He looked over, furrowing his brows with worry that this was going to end up with Jayce fainting again. Jayce however, only gasped between his choking, not paying much mind to Viktor with his back turned to him.

"Jayce?" Viktor asked, reaching for his cane and standing up.

"I'm fine," Jayce called to him, quickly as to get the words out, looking down at his hand. He was coughing again, when he felt Viktor beside him, crouching down and touching his back with the most gentle caress. Feeling fear for the concern he received, Jayce tried to turn his back to him again, as he continued to gasp between coughs.

Viktor only looked down to him, carefully touching the muscles straining at his back. They flexed beneath his hand as he struggled, and he was wondering if he should get a doctor, until finally, the fit stopped. He let him breathe for a second, thinking about suggesting they go outside for air and rethink, when he realized why Jayce kept his back turned to him.

Blood was all over the hand he had at his mouth.

Viktor didn't say anything, as he sank down next to him with a curious expression. Jayce didn't meet his eyes, still catching his breath from the fit.

"What is that?" Viktor finally asked, after he felt Jayce could answer.

It took him a second to think of a response anyways.

"Sympathy pains," Jayce half joked. He looked to Viktor to try and read if it landed, but all he got in turn was a very concerned expression.

"I don't care what your doctor said, that isn't from overworking or stress. You're sick with," he paused, trying to think, "something!"

Jayce regarded the blood, before he took out a handkerchief and wiped it from his hands.

"I'll get a second opinion. Just promise me you won't tell Mel." Viktor sighed, before he nodded. "Thanks."

Jayce got up, struggling slightly with dizziness.

"I can recommend you mine here in Piltover. She's pretty good with her job," Viktor suggested.

"I don't need to take away from you. I'll get someone else."

Viktor said nothing in return, but he sat down, and out of the corner of his eye kept watch on Jayce as best as he could.

Things started to calm down again, but Jayce wasn't doing much better. In meetings, he would often excuse himself - something the others were starting to get annoyed at given they had to stop all proceedings - only to come back looking dazed and tired. At that point, the council was beginning to get a lot more involved with his maladies. Heimerdinger for one, stopped him one day after a decision on Piltover's finances was made.

"Jayce, my boy," he had called after him. Jayce looked over his shoulder, glaring slightly. His body felt like he needed to sleep, and having to wait for another to spout something at him made him all the more fatigued. He waited none the less. "Mel told me you were having some... health issues, and I wanted to suggest taking a break from your duties as councillor."

"I don't have time for this," Jayce said, resuming his walk to his suite.

Heimerdinger trotted along as fast as he could to catch up.

"Listen, young man, I've lived many years, and I know something is wrong when I see it. Pushing yourself to remain on the council so that you still have control over your experiments’ legality won't help you in the long run."

"This isn't about that," Jayce countered, stepping into one of the lifts. The doors closed before Heimerdinger could get in another point.

When he got home that night, he locked himself in his room, not taking any visitors. Mel had tried to knock and get in, but he feigned being asleep in favour of some time alone.

His own fear on the matter was starting to grip him a lot tighter. If none of the doctors he saw could find anything wrong, then that also meant there was nothing that could be done to help him. He shuddered, for a second.

Death was always a scary prospect, and he knew that it always lurked in every corner, watching, waiting for the time to strike. He just didn't think it would happen to him. Shallowly breathing, he got up and staggered to the bathroom, throwing up. Whether it was from fear or sickness, he didn't know. All he could glean from it was more anxiety inducing, with the amount of blood clots mixed in with the bits of undigested food making him back himself into a corner of the bathroom and hug his legs to his chest.

He didn't want to die, but he didn't want to complain when Viktor was in a more dire situation. He couldn't say anything when his partner was closing in on the end of his life, if they couldn't figure out how to get the hexcore to work.

He held himself, running his fingers through his hair before standing in the mirror, wiping the blood from his face. He was still recognizable. Perhaps tired, but still there. He blinked slowly at the reflection, and went to the toilet, flushing away the vomit and going back to bed. When he closed his eyes, he didn't even find the strength to turn off the light, let alone take off his clothes. All he could do was let dreamless sleep take him.

He woke up to Mel crouched next to him, her hand on his face feeling nice with how cool it was against his skin. She was talking to someone, but he couldn't make out the sounds. He could hardly make out the fact it was her, with how blurry and dark his vision was.

She noticed he was awake, and said something, but all he could do was close his eyes again.

When he woke a second time, instead of Mel, it was Viktor speaking with someone. He lazily kept his eyes open, slowly looking around the room. It was dark out, and he wondered why Viktor had come to his residence when they had agreed they would meet up the next day. It seemed as though he were bickering with someone, Jayce assumed to be Mel, but he couldn't quite make out the other figure. Slowly, he closed his eyes again, taking in a deep breath before sitting up. His body screamed at him to lay down, but he was confused and needed to be let in on whatever was happening, especially if it related to the hexcore.

"Viktor?" Jayce asked, hearing the hoarseness in his voice.

Viktor turned his attention to him but didn't say anything, for a second, looking rather confused himself.

"You've been very ill, Mr. Talis," said the woman who Viktor had been bickering with.

"Who is this?" Jayce asked Viktor, annoyed at him bringing some random woman into their space.

"This is my doctor, Cecilia," Viktor introduced. "Why didn't you tell us it was getting this bad?" he added, irritably.

"What?" Jayce asked, confused. The doctor and Viktor exchanged nervous glances. It seemed either were debating telling him the truth, so he narrowed his eyes, sharply. "What?" he repeated.

"It's been three days, Jayce, of you being in and out. You've thrown up blood, seized..." Viktor put, bluntly.

"I just got here," Jayce informed him, not believing that for a second.

"I'm afraid not, Mr. Talis," the doctor said, motioning for him to lay back again. He did, only out of respect however, feeling uncomfortable at being in such a position around a stranger. His eyes shifted between the two. "Do you recall the last thing that happened, before you went to sleep?"

Jayce tried to think, but his head hurt. He looked to Viktor for reassurance but all he got was concern. Reaching a hand to his head, the answers felt lost on him.

"I came back to my suite; I wasn't feeling well... I threw up then went to sleep. That was it. Didn't think it warranted people coming into my home," he told both, irritably.

The others exchanged glances again, as the doctor moved away to write some notes, still hanging by. Viktor moved and touched Jayce's face, a look of pity plastered on it. He was cold, just like Mel, but the motion didn't put Jayce at ease in the slightest as it had before.

"Mel found you, when you didn't show up at the council meeting," Viktor started, quietly. "She called for a doctor, and I arranged for mine to take you on as a patient."

"But I told you-"

"I know. But I don't trust the others to be doing their job." Jayce didn't argue back, he felt too tired. He felt like he was covered in filth and sweat. His mind flicked to having a shower, before resuming its want of sleep. "She thinks that the waves of it getting better then a lot worse means it's something wrong with your immune system. I'm not too sure what that implies, but it would explain why nothing showed up."

"That's right, and it could give us some more ideas on tests, if you would consent to it, Mr. Talis."

Jayce was far too tired to protest. He gave a small nod, but could feel himself starting to slip again. He needed to sleep, the same way he needed air. The doctor came next to him, took his hand, asked him to move his fingers in a certain way. Viktor went off to the side, watching from afar with pity. It wasn't impossible for Jayce to follow her instructions, but he struggled with paying attention. He could tell he was struggling to even keep his eyes open from how his gaze constantly drifted.

Viktor, absently, had to wonder if he had ever looked this bad.

When the doctor was done her tests, Jayce was looking out the window as she scribbled some things down, and went to her satchel again. Viktor got up to ask her what it could be, while Jayce struggled to turn his back to the two, seemingly just realizing he was no longer in the clothes he had been wearing, and that his head was laid on a towel in case he threw up in his sleep.

He closed his eyes, his fatigued body finally reaching reprieve.

"What do you think it is again, exactly?" Viktor asked, his voice low.

"An autoimmune disease due to exposure to something," she whispered back.

"Is there any cure for that?"

She didn't speak for a second and Viktor looked at the ground.

"There are things we can do to get rid of the symptoms. He could very well lead a normal life if we find the right combination of medicines, but I have never seen anything present quite like this. It may take some trial and error."

"And you're sure this diagnosis is accurate?" Viktor added.

"No. But I don't see what else it could possibly be."

When the doctor finally left, and Viktor was alone with Jayce once again, he sat down next to him, and gently pushed a hand through his hair. For a second, Jayce opened his eyes, looking at him with a blank expression, that only spelt fatigue. Viktor could only respond with his own shocked one before he looked at the ground.

"You haven't shown the hexcore’s interactions with the plants to Heimerdinger yet, have you?" Jayce asked, his throat strained.

"No. I didn't think he would approve, even if we need it now."

"Me either... but what if he has something he can help us with? A suggestion."

Viktor gripped his cane for a second, before putting a hand on Jayce's shoulder and squeezing it.

"I will ask. But," he hesitated to continue, "I think this needs eyes from someone who's willing to go further than he is."

"Do you know anyone?"

Viktor breathed in, sharply.

"Yes, I do."

Jayce reached for his hand, intertwining their fingers. Viktor's were always so cold, and it felt refreshing to the touch.

"This isn't supposed to be about me. Or us. There are others who need this, just as much as you do. Forget Heimerdinger. You need to go find them, and bring them to help work with you if I can't."

Viktor nodded, slightly.

"I will try."

Mel came to stay with Jayce when Viktor departed for the Undercity. He had left when things had started to get worse than before.

For a few days after his severe bout of illness, Jayce had got slightly better. He was well enough to have a shower, shave, brush his teeth and dress in new clothes while a maid helped clean the rest of his home. However, Viktor's doctor had recommended bed rest, and in an uncharacteristic lack of rebellion, Jayce went down without a fight. He did, however, work on theory as much as he could for the hextech and its biological interferences.

After a few days of this peace, things were getting bad again. The doctor had given him some things to help with the pain, but Mel was seeing him become more and more unfocused because of it. She enlisted the help of her friend, Lest, but it was much to no avail. The only thing Lest could do was recommend a salve that did nothing but distract for a few moments, leaving Mel with only one other option, that being to wait and stay by his side.

Viktor would occasionally join them, especially in the evenings, but he was working harder than ever before on the hexcore. It was only when he woke up next to Jayce one night, barely looking alive in his sleep and laid on his back, that he knew he had no time other than then to make his pilgrimage to Singed. Jayce was so pale that Viktor was uncertain if any blood flowed through his veins at all. He quickly sat up, blinking hard at the morning sun, and reaching over to touch him.

Mel was already dressed, pacing back and forth at the end of the bed.

"Jayce?" Viktor whispered, shaking him a little.

"He woke up and couldn't speak a word of sense," Mel cut in before Viktor could speak. "He was in so much pain."

"Why didn't you wake me?" Viktor asked, getting out of bed and exchanging worried and angry glances between his two partners.

"It wouldn't have changed anything. I called for another doctor. I gave him something to numb the pain and help him sleep."

Viktor didn't respond as he went to look at Jayce again. He did appear drugged, sleeping soundly, but he could tell by how his body laid, rigid and tense, that something unnatural plagued it. Veins showed that once could never be seen for the thickness of his skin, with a dark hue.

Mel cracked one of the nails she had been biting, causing Viktor to look at her, watching the silent tears slip down her face.

Slowly, carefully, he got up and went over to her, looking at the ground before reaching for her hand with his own. She looked over at him and put her arms around him, crying silently as she did so.

Viktor tried to remain stoic.

"I will go to the Undercity," he said, coldly. "There is a doctor there. If this is caused by something Piltover has never seen before, then its doctors will be useless for him, but this man won't be. I learnt everything I know about biology and chemistry from him. If anyone can help it's him."

"The Undercity?" Mel asked, astonished. "The tensions are too high. You need to stay here and get your contacts to bring him over."

Viktor looked over at Jayce, and then his own trembling hand.

"We don't have time for that, Mel. And you know it," he explained, as he went to the dresser where a few of his clothes had been left behind from previous hookups. He slowly pulled them on, appreciating the fact that Mel had had them cleaned.

"Viktor," she said, sternly. "We can't afford to lose both of you."

"If this is about money then hextech will keep you the richest person in Piltover for decades to come, even if we both die," he told her, voice like ice.

"That's not what I meant, you know what I meant," she reiterated. "'I' can't lose both of you."

Viktor looked to the mirror, straightening his collar.

"That's why I'm doing this. Hopefully I will be back within the day, but if I'm not... the papers on our latest on biology and hextech interactions are in the lab in the top drawer on the left," he reached for his cane and took her hand, giving her a chaste kiss. "If he is at all well enough, try to let him work out the theory."

Mel nodded, and Viktor tried to reassure her once more with a squeeze of her hand, before he left through the door. The only emotion he had was the feeling of selfishness for trying to cash in on the only contact in the Undercity he had left and leaving his two loves in the process.

The journey to the Undercity was long and treacherous.

Being physically disabled in his leg meant that there was no way around without the use of the lift and a slow stumble through the streets. Generally, people in the Undercity gawked less at his physical afflictions, however. In Piltover it was so rare for anyone to be outwardly disabled, given the access to healthcare and a lack of accidents. Those who did require mobility aides usually got the finest, most discreet versions of them, and made their way through life just fine with the help of the generosity of the rich who could afford to throw away their money on frivolous expenses. In the Undercity, people got hurt. They had to adapt. Muteness, blindness, and deafness were all so common that people hardly batted an eye at someone who wouldn't respond to their queries or who felt the wall to find their way. Prosthetics at that point were more common than regular limbs.

So it came to no shock to Viktor that he got to Singed with some physical struggle and yet no mental strain, finding him where he always was. Singed looked at him one time as he entered the laboratory, before looking back to his work.

"I understand, now," Viktor said. "I know why you did it all... and I need help."

Singed only cocked an eyebrow before motioning for him to sit.

After Viktor explained his own predicament, and then the wild downfall of his partner, Singed looked more intrigued than he ever did. That is to say, he had put his work down and regarded the speaker with his full attention.

"I-... I need solutions. Anything. I know you'll say no, but I need to ask, because I can't lose him. I can't lose myself. Will you come with me?"

Singed sat with his thoughts for a second, before turning his back to Viktor and going about his work as he spoke.

"I used to have a daughter, you know. I lost her... everything I ever do is to try and get her back. When she went, I told myself I would never get attached to anything again. It made it easier to experiment. But, there was one exception to that rule, and it was you. I'm not a heartless man, despite what others think. I'm not cruel. I just think science is more important than... anything else."

He paused for a second, walking to the closet on the other side of the room, grabbing his satchel.

"I'm not keen on helping topsiders. But you make this case sound interesting. And I want to help you, specifically... I know a doomed man when I see one. You speak of your partner dying, but I know you have felt your own mortality making itself known for far longer than the timeline of his affliction. I will come with you, and treat your partner in exchange for one thing."

Viktor beckoned him on with a nod.

"I need you to get me unfettered access to the topside’s equipment, with no questions asked."

"I can make that happen," assured Viktor, getting up.

"Then I can help you and your partner."

Viktor never felt more grateful in his life. He would have hugged the man had he felt he hadn't lost touch, but all he could do was look at the floor with guilt for having to ask for help.

"Should we leave tonight? It's rather late at this point," Singed asked, seeing his protege silent.

"No, they might not let us in with the dark. They'll think it's too suspicious."

"Very well, then. Do you have a place to stay?"

Viktor felt more guilt, still looking at the ground.

"Your room is where it always was. You're welcome to use it, but I will be making noise with preparations for tomorrow."

"Thank you," was all Viktor could say in response.

During Viktor's absence, things became quite hectic. Mel had to oversee a lot of her work, but she was concerned with Jayce the most. He had woken up from his drug induced stupor and was writhing in pain, hands gripping at the bedsheets or his shirt, unnaturally strained into claw like holds, as if he was struggling to dig his way out from underneath dirt in the most desperate way possible. Mel sat next to him, as the doctor saw to him. For all his pain, he was still trying to give cohesive answers to all her queries, but he couldn't focus. Mel held his hand, his fingers around her own gripping at a bruising ferocity. With her other hand, she tried to smooth his hair.

"Mr. Talis, do you recall when the pain first started to happen?"

Jayce shook his head.

"Where is it?"

"My back, legs, arms," he said, desperately.

He felt her take the arm unoccupied by Mel, and only briefly registered her pushing a needle into his bicep. It didn't help instantly, but when it did, it was only a minimal decline in the agony. He still gripped the fabric of the bed, and breathed heavily in an attempt to mediate the feeling.

"Your records show you've been seen by quite a few doctors, all of which are uncertain about what this could be from. My own personal opinion is that this might be the work of a mage or perhaps the lasting effect of one of your experiments."

Jayce didn't respond, and clutched at his chest.

"Our other partner works very closely with him and hasn't shown anything like this," said Mel, annoyed at the suggestion. "And security for any threats to his life have been personally handled. There aren't any mages left in Piltover."

"Even so, I don't see another explanation for nothing showing," the doctor explained, reaching for Jayce's face and pulling the base of eye down as to see the veins. "I would have suggested poison but from the records, none of the toxicology reports came up with anything."

Mel only sighed.

"Can you at least prescribe him something to numb the pain? He is pretty obviously suffering," she snapped.

"Of course, councillor," she said, rummaging in her satchel and producing a bottle. She handed it to Mel, who looked at it with suspicion. "For his weight, one every hour or as needed."

Mel nodded, putting it at the bedside before standing up to see the woman out. When she came back, Jayce had his forearm covering his eyes, and was panting.

"You should take one now," Mel told him, fishing one out and helping him sit up to drink some water. Wordlessly, Jayce thanked her with a nod, laying back down after swallowing and resuming his hold on the sheets.

Mel could only watch and smooth back the hair from his forehead, or wipe his face of blood from his nostrils or mouth.

At noon, Mel had done some paperwork at his side, had seen two other visitors at the door, and was beginning to think allowing Viktor his leave was a mistake. She heard a knock at the door and had high hopes that it was him, only to find her assistant, with a rather concerned expression on her face.

"Yes?" Mel asked.

"Jayce's mother is at the entrance," she said.

Mel pinched the bridge of her nose, in frustration and tried to think. She wondered if it would have been a mercy to deny his mother entry, as to not allow her to see her son suffering, ill and laying in bed. She knew, however, that that wasn't an option. If she didn't let her in, it was likely she would find a way to let herself in to see him.

"Send her in," she said, sharply, before closing the door. She quickly looked around, going to grab the laundry off the floor and cleaning up slightly. This was not how Mel had wanted to meet Jayce's mother, but she would have been damned if she didn't make a good first impression, even if the circumstances were dire. She sat down next to Jayce, waiting, holding his hand. "Jayce, your mother's coming. Should I get you anything?"

"My mom?" he asked, slurring slightly. Perhaps the drugs were helping enough.

"Yes, she’s-"

There was a knock at the door.

"I'm so screwed," Jayce said, lamenting the concern he knew his mother would have.

"I had the same thought."

Mel went to the door and opened it, letting the poor woman in and dismissing Elora.

When Jayce had described his mother prior to his illness, he had made her out to be a very caring individual, who wore her heart on her sleeve. When Mel saw her, evidence that she had been crying strewn on her face with her hands holding one another in a tight, worried clasp, she could see why. Quickly with a polite nod to Mel, the woman had come over next to the bed. Mel watched from afar as she stifled her gasp and put her hands over her mouth. It looked as though she once again was trying to hide her true fear in favour of sparing Jayce the worry. She sat down next to him when prompted by Mel, holding his face. It was not lost on her that Ximena’s middle and ring fingers touched where his pulse would be, while the others held his cheek.

"What did the doctors say?" the woman asked Mel, who looked at the floor as she walked closer.

"They said they didn't know what was wrong."

Ximena gave her boy a concerned expression, as Jayce avoided her eyes.

On her part, Mel could only stand by in case either needed anything, feeling useless with having been reduced to such a role.

When Viktor came back, Jayce was in a lot less pain, although he was very drugged. Heimerdinger had come by, with some sort of remedy he had picked up long ago from when he was in his hundred-fifties. A bitter tea that although looked useless, was prepared with some distant plant only found in his homeland. It grew in abundance there, but in Piltover it was hard to come by given how fast it flew off the shelves for those who knew of its remedial benefits. It did not stop the coughing or the bleeding, but it sated Jayce enough to be able to carry on a small conversation, prior to the side effects of severe fatigue playing their roles and lulling him into slumber again.

She knew it was Viktor as he walked in unannounced, and with another set of footsteps behind him. Mel did not let her shock show when she set eyes on his companion, only watching Viktor as he introduced him.

"Mel, this is my teacher," he told her. "I've told him about everything, and he seems to have some working theories."

"Hello, Ms. Medarda," Singed said, politely.

"What do you think it could be?" asked Mel, concerned and wanting the pleasantries over with. She put Jayce's limp hand down from where she had been holding it to her cheek.

"A multitude of things, but for something like this to happen so quickly, I do believe it's poison. Just perhaps one Piltover isn't familiar with."

Mel's eyes narrowed, slightly.

"Another doctor suggested it might have been the hexcore or magic at work. Do you think that could be a possibility?"

Singed contemplated for a moment.

"Perhaps, but unlikely. It's more likely something your doctors are unfamiliar with."

Mel kept quiet as Singed took her place next to Jayce, giving Jayce a slight glance.

"Do you recall what he has been drugged with? There are some interactions that might get in the way of treatment if this is what I suspect it is."

"Aracnian sand plant, some opioid based chemical, and... a small dose of shimmer."

Viktor narrowed his eyes at her, without saying anything as to not cause a scene. He knew Jayce would have never taken that by himself, not within his right mind at least. A small noise broke his focus, and he looked down at Jayce who was sharply breathing in as if his sleep barely masked the pain, and his gaze softened.

"Aracnian sand plant... quite uncommon. The other two should be fine," Singed said, mostly to himself as he opened one of Jayce's eyes, looking to his pupils and veins to see if he could see the trace amounts of shimmer in his blood. The first he couldn't spot it, but the second he did indeed find some.

Viktor watched as Jayce's irises shifted rapidly, seeing nothing. He backed away, not knowing how long he could stomach it. The gore and death of the Undercity may have habituated him to some medical matters, but he couldn't tolerate it when he knew of innocence. Jayce had done nothing to deserve that. When he passed by someone getting killed for their thievery or another who was slumped in their own vomit from drinking too much, he could pass it off as the natural consequences of their actions, but Jayce did not have any malintent with any action he committed to. Anger tinged at Viktor’s calm demeanour. He didn't think he deserved to be chronically ill either. Both had done everything right to get to where they were, neither should have been paying the consequences suited for those of viler character.

Singed took out some vials from his satchel and put them on the bedside.

Mel, perhaps looking for a way out, stood up.

"I'll go and find someone to get us a desk in here for you," she said, firmly, walking out to the hallway of the complex with a slight squeeze of Viktor's shoulder.

Singed seemed to notice but didn't comment.

"How long have you three been together?" he asked, after a few moments of awkward silence where Viktor joined Jayce on the opposite side of the bed, sitting upright still yet reaching for him.

"All three of us? Four years or so."

"Hmm," Singed said, not really paying much mind. Such arrangements weren't uncommon in the Undercity or Piltover. In fact, it was quite normal. However, the politics intrigued him. "They both seem to be of a high social ranking. This one's on the council, you said?" he asked, half motioning at Jayce.

"They both are. Mel was first. He's only there because they need a scientist to explain the hexcore, I don't think he's interested in the leadership himself. I couldn't do it because at the time, we were both pretty sure that if one of us was going to die it would be me first. He's more outgoing anyways."

"I see," Singed said, rolling up one of Jayce's sleeves to draw some blood to test. Viktor felt sickened at how bruised his arm was from the multitude of injection points, which made him wonder what had happened in the two days he had taken to retrieve the doctor. Certainly some of them were older, as he had seen many doctors who each wanted to conduct their own tests from the time he fainted up until that point, but it did not escape him that it looked as though some were freshly bruising. Singed seemed curious too, thumb tracing the bumps for a second, looking for a place that wasn't yet marred but still in the same area. "And he doesn't do any recreational drugs you said."

"No, not at all," Viktor affirmed. "Only occasionally drinks at parties."

Singed took some blood, flicking the side of the vial and watching the air float to the top. He put it on the side table and contemplated for a second, a habit that was beginning to make Viktor’s eye twitch from his impatience.

"Would you have a microscope brought here? As well as some of the usual acids and bases we used to do experiments with?"

Viktor only nodded, before he went out, leaving the other two alone.

Singed, for a second, watched Jayce's struggle in his sleep, before he came closer and regarded him with curiosity. He had no idea what Viktor saw in the man. Aside from the obvious cultural differences, he must have had a very good head on his shoulders in relation to science to be able to court his protege. In Mel, he could see the attraction right away. She was well mannered and strong in the social sense, where Viktor was shy yet well versed in scientific sense. It was opposites attracting. He just couldn't see the appeal in someone who was essentially an outgoing version of himself, strong willed from how he was described and slightly egotistical. Perhaps when they spoke, he would understand, but for now all he could feel was slight contempt that Viktor didn't choose someone who had the Undercity's interests at heart.

After about a day, things in Jayce's area were set up.

Singed had to remark at the luxury of Piltover. It took only an hour to have a lavish study area built, and perhaps half a day to get the right chemicals and beakers. Mel had to leave again, this time to make sure that things were running smoothly in a trial proceeding regarding a new import, which left Viktor alone with Singed and Jayce once more. There was the distinct impression that Singed got from Mel that she was trying to distract herself from the possibility of her two partners dying. Or perhaps she was afraid of him, but he found that unlikely given how unbothered she was when she first saw him. In any case, Viktor was helping him.

"It's not what I suspected it would be. My first thought was that it would have been someone using the virus found in the rivers near the caves to poison him. That would have made sense with the bleeding in his stomach. But I couldn't find any of that in his blood," Singed explained, allowing Viktor to look into the microscope.

"So what are your other suggestions?"

"Do you recall when I taught you about chiral chemicals?" Viktor nodded, slightly. "I believe he may be poisoned with the chiral version of shimmer. It would explain why it couldn't be detected as well as why the symptoms are so... different," he said.

"What makes you say that?"

Singed sighed a little, sitting down at the desk and looking at the slide in the microscope again after a brief moment of looking out the window.

"Back when we were looking for more covert ways to get rid of our enemies, at least whenever Silco needed my help, I thought that the easiest way to do so would be to use what I already knew how to make best. It would explain everything. While shimmer is quick and runs through your system to make you stronger, its inverse reflection is true as well. It doesn't make you stronger, it eats away at your nervous system and suppresses anything your immune system could do to help you. Slow. There’s a bit of a build up."

"And is there an antidote for this?"

"I assume, yes. Perhaps not one that can be made in time, however."

Viktor felt his stomach drop as he staggered to the bedside again, not saying a word. Jayce was panting in his sleep, hair matted to his face. The stubble on his cheeks was starting to grow from his inability the groom himself, but the hollowed out bones beginning to show how thin he was getting were still prominent.

"There are, however, ways to keep him alive until you or I can figure this out. Ways for... all of us to have a happy ending."

Viktor looked over his shoulder, narrowing his eyes at Singed who kept his back turned to him.

"I'm not going to let you take him and put him in one of those- those chambers," Viktor told him, starkly, memories of Rio suffering. He looked back down at Jayce, who seemed to struggle away from his touch when he felt his forehead. "I don't want him to suffer more than he has to. I can hardly watch this now. And I don't think he would want to be kept around if it meant being in a state like that."

"No, of course not. Perhaps if we must, we can revisit that if we cross that bridge. I was referring to this, actually," Singed said, turning around in his seat and showing Viktor two vials. Viktor's hands gripped at Jayce's arm slightly tighter at the sight. A hit of shimmer through a salve given to him by Lest was one thing, having it injected along with its green variant was another. "It's up to you, but if you don't make your decisions soon, I don't think you'll have anyone to make a decision for."

Viktor looked down to Jayce again, whose gaze had turned away from his touch, as if it were the cause of his discomfort.

"Talk about it with your other partner, if you need. I can help him hold out that long at least."

They eventually did decide to do the suggestion. Mel said that Jayce would have chosen it for either of them, and that his mother would likely murder both of them if they didn't choose it. Viktor hadn't even considered that, at the time, but he felt having a partner who was addicted to shimmer was better than having no partner at all.

When he got back to inform Singed about the shared decision, he regarded Jayce for a moment. He moved, slightly, writhing despite the drugs he was sedated with. Small scratches at his neck and chest, the sheets bloody from the excess dripping down the corners of his mouth and nostrils. Viktor’s eyes flicked to Singed, who looked as though he were preparing for an affirmative decision.

"Mel wants to do your shimmer treatment. I agree with her," Viktor stated, sitting down on the stool at the bedside and interning his fingers with Jayce's hand to shift his grip from the mattress of the bed.

"Is that so," Singed said, reaching for a vial on the table.

"Yes. What should we do to start?"

"Well, for me I should get some paralytics, I think. Of course, a few sedatives too, I don't want him to kill me when he’s well enough. He looks like he could if he weren't sick."

"Yes, he's quite the athlete,” Viktor half smiled to himself in adoration, before his eyes narrowed again and he turned to Singed. “But what should I do?"

"Well I suggest you leave. I've had to do this procedure quite a few times, and each time it's not so pleasant for either the patient or myself."

"What do you mean...? I can't leave. If it's going to be painful for him then he needs me to help him through it."

Singed walked beside him, putting his hands on his shoulders, Viktor looking up at him in response for a second and then back to Jayce.

"You're a good man for wanting to stay by your partner, I can tell you love him a lot," Singed sighed. "Which is why he can’t see you when this happens. You don't want him to associate you with what he's going through."

"If he is going to be suffering that much could you not-" Viktor was cut off by the sharp feeling of a needle in his neck, and Singed's arms supporting him as he lost control of his body.

"You were always like a son to me," Singed said. He looped an arm under Viktor's, and the other under his legs. For a second, Viktor felt he was back in the lab, falling asleep next to Rio, being carried to the spare bedroom that so vividly looked decorated as if it were for a ballerina dancer of some kind. Strength was not one of his aptitudes, but Viktor was light, and Singed laid him on the side couch near the door, making sure his head was on the pillow. "I could never replace my daughter, but you were the closest thing to a child I had after her death. That's why I need to protect you... from seeing this. From having him hate you. You'll understand, I hope someday, the need to protect your children from such things."

Viktor heard him speak, the sound of his cane clattering to the floor. He even registered being carried and laying on Jayce's day bed, slightly out of view from the regular one they had so often shared. But the words were muddled. He looked at Singed with betrayal in his eyes, and fear for what might happen to Jayce if he couldn't be there to protect him. Regret at getting the man who stopped at no end to preserve life made his stomach churn, along with the mixture of whatever he had been drugged with, but there was nothing he could do. All he could do was look to Jayce and hope that there was a true need for this.

Singed watched as his protege closed his eyes, and stepped aside to his work bench, grabbing the things he needed, before setting them on the bedside to return Viktor his cane, leaning it against the arm of the couch. When he returned to Jayce's side, flicking the needle, he regarded him for a second.

"As for you... I hope you can hear this. I'm going to give you the courtesy of not giving you a paralytic. Normally, I would have you strapped down to a table for this, but we aren't in my lab. I'm asking you not to hit me. There are quite some nasty interactions between sedatives and shimmer, so if you're half as smart as Viktor describes you then I'm sure you'll be forgiving enough to control yourself."

He sighed, reaching for his arm and pushing the needle into the area beneath the cook of his elbow.

The procedure was long, and painful for either party.

On Jayce's part, he woke up to a figure with a bandaged face holding him down to the bed and stabbing him with a syringe. Of course, he was quite frightened, especially when the light behind him kept flashing in strange circular shapes. Images of Viktor, dead at their shared workstation, the hexcore floating uselessly behind his head from where he had taken his final breaths against the table. He reached out to try and grab him, shouting his name in fear, only to see the bandaged man again, laughing slightly. Jayce cowered away, trying to run, only to be pulled back and held down by Mel.

"I understand you're frightened," her voice said, although it sounded so unfamiliar. "I am sure you think I've come from the Undercity to kill you, but it's quite the contrary."

Jayce looked away then back again. This time, it was Viktor holding him down laughing slightly.

"I'm not trying to hurt you, boy, but you are making it increasingly difficult to not give you a paralytic. Trust me, it's not my intention to waste such things on you. I just want- AHG!"

Jayce bit him in a dire attempt to escape from the unfamiliar man. Singed didn't even flinch, only pushed his head to the side, jabbing him with the needle he'd been saving for a desperate moment.

"You see? Now you've lost your autonomy. I sincerely didn't want that to happen," he explained, laying him back down on his back. "You won't be able to communicate that I'm hurting you, or if something is making something worse. But I'm not a fan of being bitten, so you'll just have to forgive me for saving your life."

"No," Jayce said, weakly.

"Fine, maybe I will just stop and leave you here. Its uhh- how do they say it. No skin off my back," Singed told him.

Jayce looked to the opposite direction, his eyes just barely registering Viktor's form, as he weakly reached for him. Singed moved his head so he was laying facing the ceiling again, grabbing one of the rags strewn about that had served as protection for the sheets, and draping it over his eyes. On a normal person, Singed wouldn't have given any courtesy. However, given the fact this was Viktor's partner, he would extend what small bit of humanity he could think of.

"I was only joking; I have a dark sense of humour. I know you must be hallucinating right now. That's quite frightening, especially when you've never had a drug before that makes you do that. I promise you, though, that you're safe in your room, and nothing is wrong aside from your body's own intolerances." He hovered the needle he had prepared, one of ten he had been strategically dosing him with. "This is going to help you."

Jayce could hear him, see light, but as he tried to reach or move whatever covered his eyes away, he couldn't. His limbs felt like lead that was impossible to move. Even his fingers wouldn't comply to any motion he made. All he could do was lay there, and try to infer what was real and what was fake. Screaming, laughing, pain, the distinct feeling of getting choked, and the talking of a voice so unfamiliar to him, that he was uncertain if he were even in his room anymore. It was only when the hands finally left him, from the final dosage, that his head started to clear, and his panic ceased. If he couldn't do anything about his predicament, or the noises around him, he may as well just have closed his eyes, and let whatever was going to happen, happen.

In that, there was peace. Although there was no fear associated with his body given he couldn't feel anything touching him anymore, there was still worry about the other man in the room. Bodily protest, however, and the final shot being something that at least made the pain go away, slowly allowed him to push the fear away and return to drugged neutrality. In doing that he found that the rest naturally followed suit, and he was quick to close his eyes to the world and let that dreamless sleep take him once again.

Singed took the towel from his eyes, watching him for a second. He looked to be under again, but he was unsure of if the paralytic had left him with his eyes closed or not. There was no way for him to tell unless he cared enough, which he did not, so he let him be for the time as he went to his work bench again, filtering through some ideas for a schedule to dose him with shimmer. The effect would not last forever, so he would have to either supplement it with chemtech eventually or let him return to the state he had found him in.

Delightedly, about a half hour later, Viktor had woken up. He staggered to his feet, grabbing his cane before going to the bedside, his knees giving out as he reached for Jayce.

Singed noticed, standing up and coming to aid him in getting closer.

"Relax, boy... he's fine," Singed explained, letting Viktor see for himself. "He's just asleep at the moment."

Viktor fell to his knees beside the bed, touching Jayce's face, trying to get him to look at him. He no longer looked dead, but it was obvious he was dosed up on shimmer. His veins were slightly tinted with purple, and the blood which dripped from his nose and dried along his face was unnatural looking. Viktor did not care. He put his forehead to Jayce's none the less, holding the back of his head gently. He was breathing, and that was all that mattered to Viktor in that moment. To feel him, the air from his lungs against his skin, the warmth of his breath once again, he was satisfied with how the procedure went.

"You have to realize, Viktor," said Singed, worried for him to seem so hopeful, "that this isn't going to last forever. His body will start to break down again, and he will deteriorate. These aren't injuries, he's sick. He won't get better without real treatment."

"I know," said Viktor, not moving away. "But he's okay now. Do you know when he'll be awake?"

"Perhaps in a couple hours. That should be when the treatments start to kick in and the paralytics wear off."

Viktor nodded, pulling Jayce closer and holding him. It looked as though he cringed in his sleep from being moved slightly, but Viktor only took that as further confirmation that he was in fact going to wake up again. He could have laughed, even, for how happy he was.

Jayce's eventual awakening was unfortunately not two hours later, but rather six.

Mel was sat next to him, writing something for her meeting the following day on a clipboard. Her gaze was elsewhere, but she was so incredibly close that he could smell the soap she used in her hair, and the perfume he always loved. He half opened his eyes to the lamp illuminated room, breathing in sharply and trying to gauge his surroundings better before he made his presence known. It was too dark to see much, however, so he looked back to Mel, tiredly stirring once again.

"What time is it?" Jayce inquired, wondering.

Mel jumped in her spot, her hand to her chest with the fright.

"It's about two in the morning. Your doctor is in bed right now but... how are you feeling? Should I call for someone?"

"No," he said, quickly, trying to sit up. Mel helped him, pulling the pillow at his head to rest against the backboard of the bed, and holding his shoulder. He could feel dried fluid on his face from sweat and blood that had been repeatedly wiped away with care. He felt so filthy with the illness, so unkept from his usual meticulous routines. "Oh god, I feel disgusting," he stated.

"I could help you shower, if you'd like, a bit later. I think for now you should just wait a second before starting anything. You've been out for quite some time."

Jayce's expression shifted, to confusion.

"How long?"

"About a week," Mel said. Jayce gave her a shocked expression. A day, it felt like, at most. "We-" her breath caught in her throat, as she put down the clipboard and pencil on the side of the desk, a dire attempt to keep herself from crying. "We thought you were going to die."

Jayce only could give her a shocked expression in turn. He did not feel remotely sick enough to warrant that reaction. Steadily, he reached for her hand and thought to himself. There were still pains, and aches, still a feeling of a slight need to cough, but it wasn't like how it was. It wasn't as if he were going to be getting worse. In fact, he felt well enough to the point where he wanted to leave his room to eat and wash up. Maybe a little tired but he always felt that way, which made it all the more difficult to believe her.

"I feel okay now," he explained.

Mel smiled, softly, and nodded. She didn't think now, just when they could speak again, would be the best time for a fight. Further, his reaction to being dosed with shimmer might not be what her ideal reunion would entail either, so she kept herself checked on that front too. Instead, she reached for his face and pulled his lips to her own, tracing her thumb along the tear lines.

"I'm glad."

They shared a moment of quiet, Mel coming closer and leaning her head on his shoulder as Jayce wrapped one of his arms around her. Moments of the dreams he had flashed behind his eyes, the distinct feeling he couldn't lift his arm despite the fact he put it around his love replayed on a loop. Viktor, dead.

"Where's Viktor?" he asked, suddenly.

"Oh," Mel said, before motioning at his sleeping form. "He uhh... had a long day too. He should know you're okay, though," she said, maneuvering herself away from Jayce and walking over to her other partner. For a second, she didn't wake him, wondering if she should have just let him sleep and see Jayce when he was cleaned up and perhaps a little stronger. She knew he would have never forgiven her if he did that, though. She shook him awake, meeting his dissatisfied gaze, before matching it with a smile.

Viktor sat up quickly, looking to Jayce.

"Good morning," Jayce said, as Viktor and Mel returned to his sides, Mel going to sit next to him on the bed and Viktor taking her former spot at the chair sat near the edge.

"You're awake," Viktor stated, smiling the same grin he had the day they figured out how to harness the hexcore. He took one of Jayce's hands in his own. Despite everything, they still looked so much sturdier than his thin ones.

"Yeah... Mel told me you guys thought that wouldn't happen again."

Viktor looked down at the ground, and Mel moved closer, wrapping her arms around Jayce's left one, holding it.

"You were so ill, Jayce... you looked like you were already dead," Mel added.

Jayce looked down, pensively at her. Bewilderment at that fact still plagued him. She however, had her eyes closed, only leaning against him to feel his warmth.

"We found a doctor who knew what was wrong with you and had a solution," Viktor explained, pushing back some of Jayce's hair from his face. It had gotten a bit longer with sickness.

"I guess now wouldn’t be a good time to thank them," Jayce said, laughing slightly.

"Tomorrow you will meet him, he is uhh," Viktor wanted to put it lightly. "Eccentric."

"Huh," Jayce said. "That's fine."

"I hope so," Viktor replied, under his breath. "Do you need anything? I didn't ask how you were feeling yet."

"I feel a bit tired but you know, if you're really looking to get me something I'm starving."

"Yes, of course," Viktor said, getting up.

"Wait," interrupted Mel, sitting up herself in his place. “I'll get us some food, you stay here," she told them, not wanting Viktor to struggle carrying a big plate of food with his cane. She got up, leaving the two, thinking of what would be suitable to give someone recovering.

A comfortable silence fell between the two, as Viktor traced the veins of Jayce's hand.

"What about you, though," Jayce asked.

"Hmm?"

"Can this doctor cure you too?"

"Oh. That. Don't worry about me right now, Jayce. But yes, I think he has a few suggestions for me as well."

"Whatever I have isn't chronic. You- you're dying," Jayce reiterated.

Viktor didn't speak for a second, his eyes widening at the memory of seeing Jayce laid in bed, Mel by his side trying to make sure that he wasn't on his back so he wouldn't choke on the blood in his stomach, as him and Singed worked at the imported desk. The struggle of pain and suffering as he clawed at his skin, the agony of whatever poisoned him setting his nervous system alight despite the fact he wasn't hurt on the outside. But Viktor didn't have the energy to argue with him, he didn't want Jayce to spend whatever remained of his strength on a dispute. Instead, Viktor came closer, wrapping an arm around Jayce's stomach, his other around his back, resting the hand on his shoulder in a half side hug.

Mel came back a few minutes later with some heated broth, much to the distaste of Jayce who drank it far too quickly and was dissatisfied with how hungry he still felt. However, he didn't complain and was glad to have at least a little in his system.

After, however, he did manage to persuade Mel to let him shower, given how much sweat he felt on himself. Horrified to find that perhaps the other two parties weren't lying after all, Jayce had looked at himself in the mirror. Seeing his reflection, looking at his body without his night shirt on, there was something wrong. It made him far quieter, after Viktor helped him shave given his shaky hands and Mel trimmed the edges of his hair, to understand how much unlike himself he truly looked. It was a strange dissonance, to see one's body, haggard and weary, only to feel normal.

They laid together after, though, the thoughts of his illness taking a back seat. Mel held the both of them, and Viktor held Jayce, who laid facing the two.

By the time Jayce woke up again, he was alone in his room. He looked over to the window, and it appeared to be midday, as the sun shone through the glass at its highest point. He regarded it, for a second, before sitting up. Although the night before he had been feeling a lot better, a sickly tiredness never left him and felt worse than its previous influence. Not wanting to shut his eyes again, however, Jayce forced himself to get up and get dressed. The night before, things had been somewhat hectic, and he hadn't had the proper chance to see his own skin in good light, pale and bruised from injections. Feelings of the dreams started to seep back into his memory, given a look at what appeared to be abrasions from another's hand grabbing him. He stared at it, for a second, before doing up his shirt and putting on a tie. He could hardly recognize his own reflection, but at least he felt more like himself with his hair cut and beard gone.

Apparently the maid hadn't come, so Jayce was inclined to clean up a little himself. The blood on the sheets was the thing that disgusted him the most, so he took off his bedding and replaced it with something fresh and a little bit darker, before looking around the room.

The work station at the desk he didn't remember owning intrigued him. He went over to it, watching some of the beakers that were now no longer boiling gleam back at him. Whatever contents that had once been in them stained the sides a dark purple-ish brown, with the sunlight bleeding through the once pristine glass, marred in the hue it cast on the wall. He shrugged a little, finding nothing legible in the notes, going off to get something to eat from downstairs.

In the main kitchen, Jayce opened to cupboard and grabbed the loaf of bread he recalled his mother bringing over. It was rock hard to the touch, and dissatisfiedly, he put it back before opening the cooled cabinet that served to store things like meats. He also found nothing there that wasn't rotten, and sneered at that, rolling his eyes. There was only powdered food to eat, and Jayce wanted more than some broth made from a dehydrated packet to sustain himself. With that in mind, he pulled on his boots and left his suite, locking the door before taking his time down the stairs and going outside.

Piltover was just as beautiful as it always was, with street performers dancing in the market and enforcers scouring out any danger. Jayce even waved to a few children, although they didn't seem to recognize him so much as the adults who still tipped their hats at the poster boy for hextech. He shrugged at that before heading off to the nearby food court, and buying from the first stand he could see.

Seafood.

Delicious, fresh from the waters, and marinated in some sort of spice that made his mouth water just by smelling it. He bought one stick of it, then another, then another two before leaving. For all his complaints about being starved, the satisfaction at finally getting something in him, especially given he enjoyed it, was more than he could ask for. Food had never tasted so delicious.

After eating, he went to go to the academy to find Viktor or Mel perhaps, and maybe go check on the hexcore. He knew that likely the second he walked in, people would be shocked to see him again, but he did not care too much. He really wanted to get back in the lab, and talk with Viktor about some ideas he'd been having before his major lapse in illness.

Jayce climbed the stairs to the lab, gently knocking on the door before waltzing in.

Viktor was hunched over the table, bickering with Sky about something.

"No, I don't need that. Give me the other one, we've already tried that," he spat, irritably.

"The hexcore already showed signs of rejecting the plant we watered with the chemtech. We need to create a suitable mixture-"

"Hello?" Jayce asked, walking towards the two. "Maybe I could help. What are you doing to the plants?"

Both Viktor and Sky look back to the door, where their backs formerly were turned. Sky stared in utter horror at him, mouth slightly agape, and barely hanging onto her clipboard. It looked as though she had seen a ghost, which caught Jayce quite off guard.

"Didn't think I looked that bad," he said with a nervous laugh.

"Your doctor told me you were supposed to be on bed rest," responded Viktor, standing up. "Sky, please excuse yourself."

She did as told, taking her things with her, and giving a still shocked expression to Jayce before she made her exit.

"Really? I was never told this."

"Well I'm telling you now," Viktor said, irritably. He tried to push some things away from the desk, and pushed the shimmer out of sight. "He just went back to the Undercity to get some supplies."

"The Undercity? Oh, didn't realize he was from there," Jayce said, seemingly not having an issue with it.

"No, I know you probably assumed he was from Piltover," Viktor agreed, watching the monstrous plant he'd been growing wave its leaves slightly with all the commotion of everyone moving around in the room and the slight wind of bodies in motion.

"What were you working on?" asked Jayce, again.

"I uhh... I don't want you to worry about this right now. Come along, Jayce," he said, wanting to usher him out, and putting a hand at the small of his back to move him away. Jayce, for what it was worth, was uncharacteristically compliant, only stealing a few glances at the plant before he too left the room along with Viktor. "Did you see anyone else? Or did you just come here to be in the lab?" asked Viktor, trying to get his thoughts away from the experiment.

"Well, I was going to say hi to the professor and hopefully Mel," Jayce started to explain. "I'm sure there are some things I need to attend to for the coun-"

"No. You don't need to attend to anything with the politics." Jayce narrowed his eyes at how quick Viktor was to dismiss his former job. Seeing his expression, Viktor continued. "It's been almost two weeks of you being bedridden, and one where you weren't even able to keep your eyes open. Your duties are on hold. They got redistributed. I'm filling in on the scientific side of things."

Jayce walked on, a little shocked at how everything seemed to continue without his need for being there. It made him feel rather insignificant, but he didn't voice any concerns.

"So... what can I do then?"

Viktor paused his stride. In his mind, he would rather not have Jayce confined to his room, especially if he was genuinely well enough to be out.

"I think you should see your mother, if you are well enough. She was very upset... she spent a lot of time with Mel at your bedside, I think it would be best for her to know you can stand again and talk with her."

Jayce hadn't known she had visited even. He agreed that was probably the best course of action, and left at Viktor's suggestion.

Jayce spent the night at his mother's house, glad to be back in his childhood room but also annoyed at his partners for seemingly wanting him to stay away. For all it was worth, she was incredibly glad that Jayce was back. She threw her arms around his neck, sobbed, kissed his cheek and held his head with a hand at the base of his skull, as if he were a young child again. She also made a large dinner which secretly, Jayce was more thankful for than her other affections. His bedroom and the discomfort of laying on a smaller bed not so much, however. It took him back to his time there after he lost his first apartment, and was unable to live without the care of his mother. Always under her guardianship, after just making it out alone. He sighed, just happy that soon enough, he could go back to being independent again.

When he departed the next day, she had begged him to stay, but he assured her that he was fine, and was desperate to build his strength again.

She let him leave after that.

Given Viktor's distaste at him being out of bed, he didn't think Mel would be much better. Further on that, he also did not want to face the council again. If he couldn't do the one thing he wanted to do, that being working on the hexcore, then he would do what he always did when he had the time; forge.

He went into the chambers, lit the fires, and sat at his desk after pulling on some gloves and protective gear. His sketches of an arm brace sat untouched, along with some ornate looking swords Mel had wanted him to make for the dignitaries. The brace was supposed to work in tandem with the hexcore, so he pushed it aside and pinned the sword design to the wall so he could look to it. It was two thin blades, curved upwards. Long enough to qualify as a sword but small enough that someone of a lighter stature could enjoy them and remain effective in a fight. When the metal had softened enough, he took it from the fires and put it to the anvil.

He could feel his body's weakness in every motion he took. Raising the hammer above his head, having it sloppily hit the mark. The fact he had lost strength annoyed him, but he only sighed sharply, raising it again and hitting with more precision. His old routines started to filter back in, and his mind went blank as he got more precise. Though his body still protested, the pain felt nice in a way. As if he were doing an intense workout that would leave him satisfied and wanting a cool shower after. Aside from that, the added bonus of having made something would make him feel useful again, in a world where everyone had seemed to move on.

By the time it was noon, he had finished making the base of the two swords, and was working on sharpening them and carving in some meticulous designs. These were meant to be gifts for dignitaries, although Jayce could not recall who, and as such had to be ornate as well as useful. It was not his usual interest to do immense detail, but there was something satisfying about listening to the sparks fly as he carved into the blades side, using Mel's artwork as reference. Ships, long lines of wind and clouds, water. He was almost done with the art aspect and was going to move on to the sharpening process before he noticed the handle was slightly misshapen. He cursed as he fired it again, pulling the red blade out and hitting it with his hammer, this time holding the face of the blade and targeting the handle more.

"Jayce," a voice called, although he didn't quite register it. He hit the blade again, this time harder, before examining it and narrowing his eyes. Not quite ready, so he hit it again. "JAYCE!"

He quickly looked to the door, where Mel stood, a mixture of intense anger on her face and concern.

"Oh, hi," he said, dismissively hitting the piece once more. "I'm almost done, they just need to be sharpened."

"What are you doing?" she shouted, getting closer. Jayce stopped as to not hit her with sparks, as well as because the work was to his satisfaction.

"Finishing these swords you asked for. You like them?" he asked, pushing the one he had been working on into the water.

"Are you daft?" she asked him.

"So you don't like it? What's wrong-"

"Why are you in the forge?"

"Oh. Viktor didn't want me to work with him and said my job as councillor had been redistributed. So, I thought if there was nothing for me to do I might as well get working on this."

Mel just stared at him, dumbfounded, before she even tried to speak again. She knew that he, on occasion, was the stupidest man she ever met but this was out of character even for his naivety.

"They were redistributed because you are supposed to be on bed rest. What made you think to- to come here and-" she went to the hammer and tried to lift it, struggling. "You're either insane or stupid, I'm not sure which."

Jayce laughed at her concern.

"What? I feel fine," he explained. "Better than fine. Maybe tired. Hungry. But I'm not feeling like I need to lay in bed."

Mel just stood there, having given up and admiring the craftsmanship of the blade in the basin of cooling water. Jayce pulled it from the water for her, and touched its side before laying it next to the other at the table.

"They look amazing, Jayce." She took a deep breath. "We were looking for you, by the way. Your mother said you'd be here, but your doctor has come back to Piltover and wants to see how your first treatment went. We couldn't find you and Viktor was pretty concerned."

"Why isn't he here then?" Jayce asked, absentmindedly wiping off the blades and taking them to the sharpener.

Mel hesitated.

"I think he's been rather sick lately. I saw him coughing up blood in the corridor yesterday, and while he assured me it was normal, I think he's just worried about getting the hextech to work in time."

Jayce stopped what he was doing and put the swords down. He was starting to get frustrated. There were many things he could have done to help with the hexcore, and here he was, being ushered out as if he were too stupid to contribute anything. He bit the inside of his lip, holding back a frustrated sigh and expression in favour of giving Mel warmth.

"Let me get cleaned up. Where are they now?"

"I think back at your suite," Mel responded. “That's where the doctor had his lab, anyways."

"So that's what that was..." Jayce said. "Well, I'll be there in a bit. Just can't go like this," he explained motioning at his body covered in dirt from the smoke, as he walked to snuff out the fire.

When Jayce arrived back at his residence, albeit cleaned up from having a shower in the forge's bathroom, he was instantly taken aback when he went to his room and saw Singed standing next to Viktor. His eyes shot wide, and everything in his body screamed at him to grab Viktor and run as fast as he could. That there was only danger in having that man near him, that he would pin him down and laugh at either of their torment. Viktor must have noticed, because he gave Jayce a very confused expression, before settling into a slightly dissatisfied one at the thought of his apprehension of seeing a Zaunite in his room. He rolled his eyes, slightly, before looking back to the lab.

"Hello, Mr. Talis," said Singed. "We didn't formally meet, at least you weren't in your right mind. I'm sure you remember me from the treatments, though."

Jayce looked to Viktor, whose expression seemed to sympathize a little bit, but gave no reassurance.

"Treatment? Didn't feel like any treatment," Jayce responded, sharply, looking for something to defend himself with and finding nothing.

"You're standing now, aren't you? Have a seat. I can explain my process and why it felt that way and why you may have some... lingering memories of hallucinations, but I would much rather ask about how you are. See if your body is rejecting anything."

Jayce complied and sat down, but he was evidently very weary of the other man.

"Hallucinations? You never said he would hallucinate," Viktor asked.

"Small ones, it's quite common but doesn't happen all the time. Anyways. How are you feeling?"

"Fine," Jayce said.

"Pretty vague response. Your partner said it was like you had never been sick to begin with. He also said your mood changed quite a bit. You weren't as... stubborn? Is that how you put it?" Singed asked Viktor who gave a half nod. Jayce didn't know what to say to that, so he kept his mouth shut. "It's pretty common to experience psychosis after a treatment. That is why I asked."

"I don't feel any different. I didn't know I was even that sick."

"Oh, quite interesting," Singed said, turning back to face the beakers at the table. "I was worried that you might die before they agreed on how we'd medicate you. But if everything's fine now, then I guess we made the right choice, didn't we." Before Jayce could ask why it was such a difficult decision, the doctor spoke again. "Have you managed to make any enemies in your closer circles? Specifically with the people who might bring you food?"

"Not that I know of," Jayce said.

"This was the work of poison," Singed stated. "I assume there must be someone who wants you dead. Perhaps one of the people on the council, who would benefit from it?"

"We're working on finding names, Jayce," said Viktor before he could ask anything. "There's no need for you to worry about any of this right now, please, doctor," he added, warningly.

"Yes, quite right. There's nothing you can do, it's in your system and it won't be leaving any time soon," Singed responded, absentmindedly.

Viktor gave a bewildered stare to him before looking to see Jayce's reaction, who seemed confused. The man was starting to realize that perhaps Singed had been a bit more sadistic than he originally thought, and seemed to either enjoy or have some ambivalence about Jayce's fear.

"What the doctor means to say is we found a temporary cure for the poison, but that we are working on another. And I promise it will be done soon," Viktor explained, hoping that would put Jayce at ease.

"I don't mean to be pessimistic, Mr. Talis, but I didn't want to lie to you either," Singed said, purely for the sake of Viktor. "What you were dosed with is the chiral version of shimmer. Shimmer itself stays in your system forever but it is also designed to give positive mutations quickly. Its chiral version, unfortunately, doesn't mutate anything, but causes it all to deteriorate. That's why you were throwing up blood and coughing it up. Internal bleeding from where you were most exposed. Swallowing and digesting it. It only spread from there to the rest of your body."

Jayce stared blankly forwards, his eyes having a blank expression behind them. As if he weren't even listening or thinking. Viktor went over and touched his shoulder, much to no reaction.

"Mel has every enforcer working on the case. And I'm working on something that will help you."

"Why? I feel fine. Whatever you did worked," Jayce said, defeatedly, although not sounding like he cared all that much.

"The shimmer and chemtech won't be able to help you forever. I'm afraid right now you may feel strong, better than what you ever have, but in a week or a little more, you're going to start to experience your body worsening. Of course, we can increase the dosages, but there will come a time where it won't be improving anything, just keeping you alive."

Jayce swallowed, sharply, but kept his gaze adverted, looking only to the floor.

Viktor put his arms around him, sitting next to him at the edge of the bed, holding his shoulders.

"Oh," Jayce finally managed, although he didn't sound too disappointed in that fact. Singed looked at the man for a second, then Viktor to try and gauge to see if his nonchalant attitude towards his diagnosis was in character. Viktor however, was only holding Jayce. "So that is what shimmer feels like?"

Viktor pulled away, shocked his first statement that led to any insight into what he was thinking about was on the drug.

"Well, no, not particularly. Its medicinal uses are far different from what a trip would feel like. If you were on the stuff you find in the streets, you would be in a different state of mind. A bit angrier and euphoric. When it's healing something, well, I'm afraid it's just painful until things restore themselves. I have some other patients too, who always complain about the first few moments after injections. But it returns them to normal, so they keep coming back."

“I didn't realize that it could be used as medicine," Jayce said, blankly.

Viktor didn't speak for a second, before leaning his head against Jayce's shoulder.

"I thought you would have been furious with me for this," he put, kind of bluntly.

"...I am trying to care, but I can't," Jayce responded. "I just feel normal."

"Perhaps you're in shock," Singed suggested, coming over with his notes from when he was first creating a treatment plan and handing them to Jayce. "If you're interested on the mechanics."

"Thanks," he said, his posture a little more rigid when Singed came near.

When Singed left alongside Viktor, going back to the lab to work on their other issue, he was quite shocked at finally having met Jayce. He was unlike how Viktor described him as, headstrong, slightly egotistical, and incredibly smart. He could see he had an excellent grasp on the mechanics of biology and chemistry, but he was so blank that it was hard to see him as egotistical or stubborn at all.

"Your partner is a lot more... quiet than you described."

"I think he was surprised. Or perhaps afraid of you. He's never like that, usually."

"Hmm, yes, shock perhaps. Fear. Common… but he didn't even react at us telling him that this will come back."

Viktor sighed, picking at the spine of the book of notes in his hand with his finger nails.

"He's always had an issue with," Viktor hesitated, unsure of if it were right to say. "Well, he’s always been a bit suicidal."

"Hmm. Yes... I see," Singed said, understanding.

"That hasn't really been an issue since I met him and he got off his charges, though."

"I think perhaps you should consider having him work with you on the hexcore," suggested Singed, passively.

"I don't want him to think lesser of me for taking this path with our research. I don't want him to see it- it ruined by anything. I know he would understand using shimmer, at least in myself to fortify my body. But not on a mass scale. This was meant to help the weak whose bodies would die anyways, not only those who could tolerate it."

"Are you sure? He didn't seem upset at all about shimmer. He has my notes on its medical uses too." Singed hesitated when Viktor didn't respond. "I'm only suggesting it so that if he is suicidal, he doesn't feel like there's nothing left for him, given you mentioned hextech was his salvation before."

Viktor's gaze kept to the ground.

“I will ask him tomorrow. Maybe he will understand. Maybe he will think of it as a good solution."

"I just don't want to see you hurt. I had a wife once. She too became too ill to work with me, and took her own life. Although in that case she was ill with the grief over our daughter.”

Viktor's eyes only flicked to him, before the ground again, the prospect of losing Jayce in such a way picking at him.

When Viktor returned after some fruitful discoveries about the interactions between shimmer and the hexcore plants, he found Jayce sitting in bed with his night clothes on, and reading over Singed’s notes. It looked as though he had been at it for a while, reiterating the words through his mind over and over again. Viktor knocked at the side of the door to get his attention, before going to sit with him.

"Read anything interesting?" Viktor asked, moving to sit next to him.

"Not really," said Jayce. "I tried going to the library to read up on shimmer but there weren't many books about it yet. Just a few mentions in some newer medical papers. All I've been able to understand about it has been from these notes."

"Yes, well. I'm sure Singed could explain it to you." He felt Jayce tense at his name, looking away. "How badly did he hurt you?" asked Viktor.

"He was just... there. Like he liked watching me suffer and liked making it happen. I thought he killed you. That's what I dreamt, at least."

Viktor didn't speak, before he kissed his cheek wrapping his arms around him.

"Well, I'm right here," he told him. "Nothing happened to me."

"I know. It just felt so real.”

Viktor didn't respond for a second, before he put a hand at his lower stomach, kissing his cheek, gently, and moving down to his neck. Jayce closed his eyes, putting the notes at the bedside table before leaning into Viktor's touch.

The following day was the same as before, except Jayce woke up with both Mel and Viktor still passed out, Mel having joined them about an hour after Jayce and Viktor had been in the suite together. He carefully moved from their hold, a slight headache hitting him as he got out of bed. Their clothes strewn on the floor made him almost trip, but he got to the bathroom and into a shower, cleaning himself up. When he got out, he could see at least Mel was stirring, and brushed his teeth before washing his face and regarding himself in the mirror. Same as he ever was, if not just a touch more tired looking than usual. He didn't bother with the oncoming scruff, and instead opted to get dressed before sitting on the balcony to enjoy some time alone. His mind felt so blank, yet so muddled with worry at the same time. Viktor, his own ailment, the hexcore and his lack of control in council depressed any motivation to do anything else except sit and fret over things he couldn't control.

His eyes shifted, lazily, to the small community market starting to set up, and the children on their way to school, being led by their mothers or fathers, hand in hand. He had no thoughts on that and only stared, not concerned with much.

"What are you doing?" Mel asked, sweetly, joining him.

Jayce pointed to the market.

"Thinking about that berry stand," he said.

Mel looked at it, before smiling and going to sit on his lap. He put his hand at her lower back, sharing a kiss with her.

By the time everyone was off to start their days, Jayce was quite pleased to find Viktor adamant about him joining him. Contrary to before where he was ushered out, the lab now felt so inviting. Viktor gave him their notes, and he started to read as he played with one of the pencils, spinning it over his thumb.

Sky came in, her smile quickly dropping when she saw Jayce, who looked over at her with some pity. He realized it was incredibly likely she had been working with Viktor and was now having her place taken. Jayce didn't offer her any condolence aside from him turning his head away to read the notes again and letting Viktor deal with it.

"Oh, Sky," he said. "Jayce was well enough to work with me again, so no more arguments over what mixture is correct."

"Sure," she said, going to leave. She stopped, looking over her shoulder. "Anything I can get you two?"

"No thank you, Sky. You can leave." She went to go, but Viktor stopped her. "Oh wait, actually yes there is something you can get. Would you mind stopping at the fruit stand near the council residence area and buying some of the berries there?"

"Of course, sir," she responded, going.

By the time Jayce had gotten through the notes and was starting to experiment with the chemistry, it was almost time to turn in. The fresh pair of eyes on the matter did prove useful. The plants were thriving, and they were starting to speak on sick animals and perhaps testing them as well. Jayce was explaining why he felt it would be difficult to do that, given the experimental nature, but agreed that it would likely be an unfortunate necessity.

When it came time to leave, Jayce was noticeably a lot more tired than he usually was at that hour, which was fine by Viktor as the pain in his leg was flaring up and he wanted to go and rest it in hot water again. They ended up going back to Viktor's residence, simply because it was closer by, and Jayce laid down to sleep while Viktor went to draw himself a bath. By midnight, Viktor was in Jayce's arms, and they were both passed out in Mel’s, Mel having caught up with them after meeting with the chief enforcer and chewing them out a bit for not waiting for her at the academy labs.

Over the course of the next few days, they started to follow a routine of running experiments and trying to see the long term effects of the hexcore. Politics were taking an extreme backseat in Jayce's life, and he was quite satisfied with that. It was a lot less stressful to work on his projects without the looming threat of a Zaun-Piltover confrontation that he had to manipulate his way into stopping. He also quite enjoyed the company of Viktor a lot more than those who were constantly picking at him to see his opinions, or requesting something of him.

The only thing he was missing was Mel, although on occasion she too would visit them and they could show some love for her as well.

It was about a week and a half after settling that things went south.

Working with Singed did stress him out, usually, but with Viktor there the anxiety was kept at bay. Between trying to get more comfortable with him whenever he had to take a dose of shimmer, and talking, Jayce had found some humanity, but it all appeared to be devoid of any true passion. It startled him into quietness around him. That day, Jayce found himself looking for any escape away from the man, to the point where it became unbearable to be in the same room. So, he excused himself and said he had to finish something in the forge.

It wasn't technically a lie, but it wasn't as if he needed it done right that minute either. He summed it up to not getting enough sleep, but for some reason the paranoia stayed with him, even as he sharpened the blades and wrapped the handles in red leather.

There really was nothing else to do in the forge that was urgent, but he did suppose he could work on the mobility aid he had been planning. Unlike the previous ones, this was not designed with Viktor in mind but rather those who had issues with their arms. He threw some metal to the forge, and waited, pacing around.

Nothing was helping to calm him, not even the usually relaxing work of carving details and sharpening blades. Every noise that wasn't made by himself shocked him, and despite the fact he had locked the door, he was worried someone was going to come in unannounced.

It wasn't even Singed that he was thinking about, although he wasn't exempt from the fear either. He had no one in particular on his mind as he took the metal out to beat with a hammer in an attempt to bend it to his will. He struck it, thinking about how everyone kept describing his near death experience. Another loud clang, and his thoughts went to Viktor who had struggled with his ailment longer, and how unfair it was they gave him any attention at all. Another, and now all he could see whenever he closed his eyes was Singed, laughing to himself as he dosed him up again. For a second, he paused, before he hit it again. The spirals behind him, the bright light. Jayce could feel fear dripping out of his pores, as he rhythmically hit the metal. The images all came to a cataclysm when out of nowhere, he heard the soft voice of his partner at the door.

He shouted in fear, quickly turning around to find Viktor, standing there, still with the keys in hand. A confused and concerned expression was on his face.

"Jayce?" he asked.

"You scared me- sorry," Jayce responded, out of breath.

Viktor slowly walked over, and Jayce returned to his project, flipping it to the other side with the heavy pair of prongs, before picking up his hammer again.

"I came to ask you to dinner, Mel had her assistant come get me."

"Yeah, of course, sounds lovely."

He went back to hitting the ragged piece of metal with the hammer. Viktor watched for a second before gathering the courage to stop him, knowing that he himself always hated when others would tell him not to do something.

"Jayce," he started, gently. "I know you are feeling better, but I really think you should stop at least this part of your… project.”

"Mm," Jayce said, ignoring his instruction. "I feel fine, Viktor. Stop worrying about me."

"I know but every time I did this, every time I would work after recovering my strength, it always leads to some form of crash out where I feel ten times worse the next day."

"I don't have what you have, though," Jayce explained, going to the water and dripping the metal in it. It sizzled before he turned to Viktor. "I just need to get out of my head for a bit. I'll stop once I've calmed down."

"What are you worried about?"

Jayce turned back, uncertain of how to put it in words.

"Lots of things. And... I mean I'm scared." Viktor came closer again, prompting him to elaborate. "I keep having these thoughts that just- just don't make any sense at all," he said, frustratedly.

"Like intrusive thoughts?" Viktor asked, wondering how Jayce didn't know how to deal with such things at his age.

"No," Jayce responded. "I uh... I don't know. Maybe? They felt a lot more real than an intrusive thought, though. Like I actually was experiencing it."

"Hmm. Perhaps you should start seeing your therapist again," suggested Viktor.

"Oh god no," Jayce exclaimed, walking back to his desk and looking at the blueprints. "I don't have the time, and I really don't want to."

Viktor knew he couldn't force him, but he wanted to.

"Well. Let me know if it gets worse," he said. "Mel said seven o'clock, that work for you?"

"I'll be there."

Viktor smiled, before going over to kiss him goodbye. Jayce leaned to his touch but something about it felt disingenuous.

The crash out did happen, although it was a few days later instead of directly after.

When Jayce woke up he knew there was something wrong. He could feel it in his bones, a fatigue that made him not want to move at all, and a dull pain that although did not inhibit him, was incredibly distracting. However, he didn't want to voice his concerns to either Viktor or Mel, who were still asleep soundly, holding onto one another. There was unnecessary worry in that, and Jayce knew that he could go straight to the doctor to save them any suffering.

He got up, showered, shaved, brushed his teeth, but all the actions that usually made him feel better instead drained him. He sat on the bathroom floor, for a minute, enjoying the solitude, and the cool feeling of the tiles. When he heard one of his companions stirring, however, he stood up, gripping the counter as the room swayed. Coming out of the bathroom, Jayce went to get on his clothes.

Viktor sat at the edge of the bed, having only just woken himself, and was caressing Mel's cheek with his thumb, before he turned to Jayce.

"Good morning," he called, whispering.

"Hey," Jayce said, equally quiet as to not wake Mel. He went to the dresser, pulling on some things he had stored there. Mostly things Mel liked on him that she strategically kept as his only options in her abode. Today, it was a black shirt that Jayce always thought was a little tight, and his usual style of pants.

"That looks nice," said Mel, shocking her other two partners as she sat up.

Jayce felt blush spread on his ears and cheeks, smiling in thanks.

"It does indeed," Viktor agreed, making his partner more red. "Suppose I should be getting ready too."

By the time everyone was at their respective jobs, Jayce was feeling a lot worse for wear. He stayed near the chalk board, far away from Viktor who was playing around with the hexcore and muttering to himself.

Singed was quietly working opposite to them, showing off his forte of making chemicals dance for him.

Writing scattered all on the board was sloppy, hardly legible. Jayce cursed himself for not having the patience to take his time, nor the strength in his hand. He stared at the words, trying to make sense of his own garbled thoughts on the hexcore when he felt something wet slip down his face.

Absentmindedly, he wiped his nose, only to find his hand covered in a thick red liquid, with more slipping down his lips.

For all Singed's apathetic stances, he did have some care in the world. Though he would have never put it in such words specifically, he loved Viktor, and he knew what it was like to lose a partner, even if it wasn't a slow decline in health. Getting up from his station, he walked over next to Viktor before he began talking.

"I've found a few live test subjects. Sick rats, mostly. I can bring them in tomorrow," he started to explain.

"Oh, is that so?" Viktor asked, not looking up from his work.

"Indeed. I don't think they have much longer though, so we may want to speed up the process here," Singed added, grabbing a chair and lifting it as quietly as possible.

"We are working on it... I just worry. A plant is different from something that we can understand to be in distress."

"Hmm, yes, but that is all the more reason to start testing on such... creatures. To understand how they will be affected and minimize the suffering." He set the chair down, and touched Jayce's shoulder, pulling him to sit.

Jayce did as he was beckoned.

"Even then, with human testing, it will be so much different too. Being able to communicate-"

"We can cross that bridge when we get to it," Singed cut in, handing Jayce a handkerchief and keeping a hand on his shoulder as to remain in his attention and have him not look behind him.

Jayce found it both a comfort and fear inducing. He held his nose, staring at the ground and keeping quiet.

The following day he was a lot sicker. The trek home the night before was long, arduous, and he could feel the aftermath of every step he had taken. Instead of telling everyone, he went to the bathroom and laid on the floor in the middle of the night. It had been a comfort before, and now, the coolness made him relax. The blood could be washed from his coughing fit into the flood drain, any sweat could be cleaned away. He wouldn't have to sit next to his partners and have his own sickness induced filth corrupt them in any way.

It was Mel who found him in his half conscious state. No panic on her features made him feel calm, but he could see fear in her eyes as she crept down to be next to him, putting her cool hand to the back of his neck. Coherent enough to understand she would get someone if he didn't assure her, he reached for her hand, gently touching the ends of her fingers to acknowledge he was with her, before letting himself relax again.

He didn't know how, but the next time he opened his eyes he was in bed again, listening to the garbled voice of Singed explaining something in the distance as Mel kept a hand on his forehead and upper arm, while another person sat at his other side, holding his hand in their own. Whether it was his mother or Viktor he had no idea, given the metal fingers had either acclimatized to his temperature and he could no longer distinguish it from skin given it were his mother, or his hands were too calloused to realize it was fully human. Whoever it was didn't matter, however. He couldn't keep his eyes open long enough to squeeze the grasp or speak.

Agony woke him the next time. He was laying on his back, choking on his own blood when he felt someone desperately pull him to sit up and cough over the side of the bed. His vision was far too blurry to tell him this time who it may have been, but his hearing helped him realize that he was either alone with Singed or any other person in the room was dead quiet.

"My mistake," Singed said, although Jayce could only make out the tone, not the words.

He passed out again as soon as he caught his breath, the only thought crossing his mind being hope that maybe he wouldn't hurt him so bad this time.

The final time he awoke, he stayed conscious.

It was midday, sun burning his skin through the window. He screwed his eyes shut tighter and moved a hand to cover his face, only to have in pulled away and held tightly.

"Jayce," said a voice, beckoning him to open his eyes fully. He tiredly looked to his surrogate little sister.

"Hey, sprout," he said, hearing his own fatigue. Attempting to mask it better, "where've you been?"

"The... the Undercity, Jayce. I'm sorry. I left before I knew and I didn't realize you were sick and I'm so sorry, but I'm here now!"

Jayce looked around the room, before he tried to sit up. Unlike last time, his body didn't let him. A mixture of fatigue and pain kept his torso and arms still. Caitlyn didn't even see he was trying to do it.

"...Why were you in the Undercity?"

"Tracking down- actually don't worry. I can tell you about it later."

Jayce was too tired to berate her until she told him, so he gave a slight nod, closing his eyes again.

"Caitlyn, I need to get out of here," said another voice.

Jayce's eyes shot open again.

"Not now, Vi, just give me a moment."

"Caitlyn, pretty boy here is not going to make it. We're wasting our time if he can't get me in front of the council."

Jayce felt Caitlyn's grip on his hand tighten to a painful degree, before she loosened it, muttering a sorry.

"You're so selfish."

"My sister could be dead, and we aren't even getting what we came here for," spat the other character.

Jayce was now intrigued with the drama, until he felt Caitlyn's hand shake. He looked over, watching silent tears fall down her face. Apparently realizing her mistake, her friend came over.

"Don't cry," Jayce muttered, trying to reach for her face but not quite making it.

Caitlyn let out a sob, and Jayce closed his eyes again.

The next time he woke up, it must have either been a few minutes later or the next day, because the sun was in the same position as it had been before, burning his face. Irritably, he went to cover his eyes, only the shout in the slight pain searing his nose as he grazed whatever was on his face. Finding the strength this time, Jayce sat up, reaching for whatever had been pulled on his face.

"Don't touch that," said a calm voice. Singed was sitting beside him, working with some chemicals.

"Touch what?" Jayce bit back, the pain making him more agitated.

"The nasal tube," Singed clarified.

Jayce hunched over slightly in nausea, now quite annoyed with his own body and Singed. He touched it again, feeling the glass bit at his face, and letting his eyes trail down to the metal covered section, connected to some sort of beaker of toxic looking green liquid. Had he been more weak of stomach, he would have gagged at the sensation of tugging it, but the motion felt like nothing compared to the rest of the agony his body was under.

"...Where's Mel? Where's Viktor?" Jayce prompted.

"Viktor is working on the hexcore experiments and your girlfriend is greeting her mother."

"Her mother?" Jayce asked, reaching for the tube at his nose again and tugging it. Pain seared his nostril, but he could not attend to a dignitary looking so weak.

"I told you to stop that. Or would you like to die quicker?"

"I need to go help Mel with welcoming her. She doesn't know the swords are done."

"What are you on about, boy? You're not well enough to stand, let alone meet with some war lord."

Jayce felt the all too familiar panic reach in and grip his heart.

It only occurred then to him, that despite the fact he felt invincible, that this was really happening. That he was actually dying. Sure, he had known logically before that something was amiss and killing him, but that hadn't inhibited him to do as he pleased. Now, as he gave up at trying to pry the chemtech from his nasal cavity, the realization hit him. Panic set in, as he slowly laid back down staring at the ceiling with his breaths quickening.

Singed touched his shoulder to get his attention, but he could hardly register.

"Try to relax, boy. There's nothing that can't be fixed with enough trial and error."

Fear would not subsist. He kept quiet, but his quick breathing and the fact he could hear his own heart pounding in his chest were of no comfort. Nor was the needle he unexpectedly felt jabbed into his arm.

"What are you drugging me with?" Jayce asked through gritted teeth. For all his cowardice in the past, he had never been one to fly. Rather, he grit his teeth and fought.

"Shimmer," Singed said, his voice the same monotone it always was.

"Why."

"You can't take the hexcore in this state, you'd wither and die. But if we get your body-"

"No, no we can’t do this again!" Jayce said, pushing Singed away and sitting up again. Anger flared inside him, the need to hit something. To move. Run away from that horrible medicine. "No- no this isn't how it's supposed to be. That treatment- that's for everyone. It's supposed to be for people who are too weak for- for anything! You don't understand," he said, desperately trying to pull the damned tube from his body.

Singed stood there, quietly. Watched as he came to his own realizations that it was deep within him now, surgically feeding his nervous system the chemtech. Breathing, slowing, replaced with something else. Fear, mixed with futility.

"...I can see why Viktor likes you," said Singed, trying to take his attention away from the unchangeable. "His science- he couldn't tolerate it hurting anyone. Only ever wanted to use his genius to better things, even during trial stages. Not just for people who were strong enough to tolerate it. I suppose survival of the fittest wasn't in his best interests." Singed helped Jayce to lay on his back again. "It's no wonder he admires your morals."

Jayce closed his eyes, gripping the bed. Fear still plagued his mind, but he tried to focus on Singed's words.

"Is it ready?" Jayce asked, desperately.

"No. Nowhere near ready enough to help you. But there are some alternatives that we can do until it's ready."

"Like what?"

"We can cross that bridge when we get to it," Singed stated, a phrase Jayce was getting frustrated with given his constant usage of it. "For now, can you please let me get you to a stable point? Perhaps I can even remove the chem IV."

Jayce stopped moving at the prospect of not being hooked up to a machine.

A nap, a day in bed, a lot more needles of shimmer, and Jayce was well enough to sit on his balcony and watch people from afar. Hands that once gripped hammers like a vice, or wrote neat notes explaining his theories, now shook too badly to do much of anything. Mel had helped him to sit, and Viktor had brought him some things to read while Jayce waited for his company to return from their work. Although his partners left, he wasn't starved for attention. Caitlyn came by, his mother, and Singed every hour to see if he was still alive. Most of his day, however, was spent in quiet solitude, staring at the city he had loved, that he put so much time into, that thrived without him.

It frightened him greatly how everything continued to move, even though he had grown so still.

When it became dark and neither of his companions had returned, Jayce had been too tired to continue reading. He was watching a young boy being dragged by his father, who was shouting at him for some perceived issue.

"You hit that young girl, and I had to be pulled from work to come get you. Do you not realize how because I have to stay home because YOU got suspended, I'm going to be in trouble too?" the father yelled.

The boy angrily marched along side him. Childishly, given he was a child, he kicked his father's shins.

Jayce almost laughed.

"You little brat," the father shouted, getting down to his level and grabbing him by his shoulders. "One day, I'm going to be gone. You're going to think back on this and regret everything you ever did, you understand me?"

Then, the father dragged the boy along.

For a second, Jayce tried to recall a similar circumstance in his own life. He had not been the most outgoing child, nor disobedient. His love of science often kept him in his room, playing alone and making things work. The only real memories he had of his father were of him in the forge. Always working, but allowing him to watch from a safe distance. He recalled one time, before his dad died, hitting the metal with a hammer while his father was holding him up to the height of the anvil, laughing.

His eyes shot open, trying to push the memory back and watch the crowds again.

But the tears were starting to slip. The fear of what was going to happen started to pick at his mind. Jayce leaned over, covering his eyes and muffling the sobs.

Even when he heard Viktor coming in, and felt his hands on his back, moving up and down in slow motions, he couldn't find the will to speak or calm himself.

"What's wrong?" Viktor asked, softly, when he finally couldn't sob anymore.

Jayce took a moment to respond, not quite knowing how to put the feeling to words. If anyone were to understand, he contrived however, it would be Viktor.

"...I can feel myself dying," he said, his voice raw. "And I'm afraid."

Viktor sighed, sitting next to him while keeping his hand on his.

"I'm well acquainted with that feeling," Viktor explained. "I find that doing something can help. To get your mind off of it. Do you want me to draw you a bath? Mel should be here soon."

But Jayce only shook his head no, the quietness of the aftermath of a good cry gripping his throat.

"Everything I do is ruined by it... the pain is always there," he told him, desperately. "I can't escape it, no matter how hard I distract myself."

Viktor traced the veins on the back of his hand, softly. If he had a solution for him, he would have been using it himself. The only thing he could think of, however, was medication and laying down. He knew that this was beyond medicine however, beyond a temporary solution. Viktor moved his chair closer, leaning up against him and holding his hand.

The conversation later had spurred Viktor to work harder. In the lab, he sat at the hexcore, making it shift rapidly and on occasion, taking out a rat that would nibble at his fingers in distress before being still. Disgusting natures made Viktor hard pressed to sympathize with the animals, but he certainly didn't like how they squealed when he shot them with the chemtech and shimmer mixture, nor how they became so still when he finally used the hexcore on them. Their fur, where it had fallen from their sickness, revealed purple skin after having been used in tandem with the hexcore and medicine. He had gotten them to no longer wither and die quickly, but the other rats were afraid of them after they interacted with the hexcore, and they didn't have much will to run or eat as they once did. Usually, this ended up being the rats’ killer, or a delayed response to the hexcore where they would crumple under its effects a few hours after.

Viktor held this one in his hands, staring at its stomach, watching it breathe. It had been feisty, his chewed skin on his fingers a testament to that, but now it was docile as he moved the fur back, trying to see if it too looked unnatural.

His hand slipped. The rat dropped to the table, the short distance, yet had no motivation to move as Viktor grabbed his chest, starting to cough.

The familiar feeling of not being able to breathe hit him. He leaned over, a routine, and gagged, trying to get as much air through his nose as possible. Blood dripped from his mouth to the floor, and he reached for his handkerchief as he gasped, wiping off his nose and face with it. The episode was calming down, but still, fear gripped him harder. He sat up, just as Singed strode in, calmly.

"I think now would be a good time to explore some other options for you and your... partner," he said, as if he hadn't witnessed his illness. "If you can't figure out a way to use the hexcore and don't want the adverse affects, then to give yourself time to work out the kinks you'll need a way to prolong his life, and your own."

"I- I know!" Viktor said, anger masking his usually calm tones. "I need to get it working with some form of mechanical distributer that can hold back the magic to a tolerable amount." Viktor picked up some metal he had carved and put it around another rat. "But I can't find the right runes."

Singed took a seat opposite to him, picking up the rat Viktor had dropped and regarding it.

"I have a solution for you.”

Viktor looked over, his heart knowing whatever Singed was about to say would be so unethical that he would refuse, but having hope anyways that perhaps he could push aside his fear, if just for a little while to extend Jayce’s and his own life.

"What is it?"

"Perhaps... it would be better to show you."

After a long travel to the Undercity waters, Viktor was staring at something he didn't quite understand. Similarly to Rio, who was alive, if suspended in some filthy looking green liquid, a small girl lay in a casket like basin. Her room, hidden behind a false wall he assumed was for protection, was decorated with dancers. Figurines, toys, posters. As a child, he never thought much of such iconography, but he was beginning to understand his former teacher a lot better.

The girl herself looked dead. Perhaps newly so, with her skin pale, and her body motionless, but dead all the same.

Singed took a large container of something, injecting it to the side of the meticulously crafted pod.

"This is my daughter, Orianna."

Viktor regarded her.

"Her body, you mean?"

"No. She's alive. Look," Singed pointed to the side, and Viktor leaned down. "See those wires near her neck?"

Viktor gave a nod of concerned affirmation.

"Those feed her a constant of nutrients that keeps her brain alive. If I were to pull her out, she would be able to understand us, and reply with the same capacities she did the day I put her in."

"Can she hear us now? Is she awake?"

"I have no way of knowing. If she is, she's paralyzed. An enforcer shot her in the back of her neck."

Viktor's eyes softened, but when he looked back at her, her features so dead, a small bit of anger hit him.

"So she is suffering in some closet until you can find her a cure?"

"I wouldn't say suffering. If she is awake, she's in no pain at all. The chemicals she's in by now would have spread through all her body, and it would have numbed her. The only thing I have to take care of is her brain, and I assure you that it hasn't deteriorated."

"So then if she's conscious she is forced to lay here until you can save her or find the courage to let her go?"

Singed didn't respond.

"I spend a lot of time with her. I talk to her. She isn't usually alone. I hope she isn't conscious, but I can't say with certainty that she isn't."

Viktor stared, having mixed feelings.

"My proposal is this. I can make two more of these for you and your companion. This will stop the poison in him from killing him, while you continue to work on the cure. If you find it, there's no need to for me to put you in yours. But if you can't in time, then when I see you sick enough, I take care of the three of you, until I can figure out a solution."

Viktor hesitated, staring at the chemicals floating around. How he apparently fed her.

The idea that she was conscious made him hesitant. Jayce was in so much pain, that the drugs he had been given did nothing. If he were to sit in this bath, unable to move, would he just be laying in his own suffering until something changed?

"You're offering because you want to cure her. Not because you care about any others. To you, this is just a means to your own ends," said Viktor.

Singed didn't deny it, as he got up, looking at some machinery.

"We have a common enemy, boy. Death. My motivations don't matter. I care about you, as well. I wouldn't be offering if I felt otherwise, because I already have enough information to continue your studies without you. I'm doing this because I don't want to see you suffer loss. I don't want to see you dead."

"But is this-" he gave an exaggerated hand motion at Orianna, "is this living to you?"

Singed didn't respond, for a moment, before he sat down next to his daughter again, gently putting a hand on the top of the glass.

"No, it isn't. But one day it will be."

Viktor stared at her for a second again, before leaning against the wall.

"I need to think about it."

"Of course. Sleep on it. Give it a day or two, talk with your girlfriend. But promise me to decide soon. I will need time to make it, and if I can't stabilize him..." he let Viktor come to his own conclusions.

When Viktor returned, Jayce was laying in bed again, with Mel's hand over his forehead and her other holding his at the centre of his chest. Appearing to be asleep, Viktor remained quiet, regarding the scene with some hesitancy.

"Where were you?" Mel whispered, lowly. The fury in her voice still was prevalent.

"I was in the lab."

"No, you weren't."

"I was. I was in Singed's lab. We were looking at other ideas."

Viktor came over. In the dim light, he could see that Mel had been crying. Her eyes were red and puffy, but he made no comment nor tried to comfort her. Jayce too looked different. His veins were no longer purple but a deeper shade of sickly black, as if tar pumped through him. His breathing too, was different. Rapid.

"He had a seizure," Mel said, emotionlessly. "I looked everywhere for you."

Viktor stared at her, not certain how to remedy any of this. Thoughts bounced in his mind about the suffering, and what could be done to mitigate it, while other thoughts contrasted those, begging him to draw it out until he could take it all away.

"Did a doctor see him?"

Mel nodded, not caring to elaborate.

Viktor, in turn, went to the lab made for Singed and looked over some of the chemicals. A part of him wanted to break them, a voice saying that throwing those poisons at the wall could somehow cure Jayce. The other said to meticulously see to the right combination to calm him.

Mel only watched, occasionally muttering something to Jayce in an attempt to get him to sleep better.

The next day, Viktor could not make it to his own lab. Jayce was suffering far too much to leave his side, and he needed to be there in order to administer medicine.

For all the beauty Viktor could attribute to Jayce, he did not bear suffering well. He was irritable, incoherent, and when he wasn't crying out in pain he was throwing up into the pot Mel had procured. Hands gripped at the side of the bed, digging into the frame with his nails, or at the sheets. Occasionally, it was his hair or arms, which bled from his torture. Mel would stop him, and he wasn't strong enough to pull away anymore. It was as if everything had just decided to stop working. Even when he could say a few words, it was only his companions' names or a desperate plea to make it stop. Viktor still fed him a steady stream of pain relievers, although they did little. It was all he could do.

When Singed joined them, having been sent for by Mel, Viktor was almost glad to not have to take the role of chemist anymore. Still, sitting by Jayce was partially worse. He'd hold his wrist, dig his nails into him unconsciously. Had it been under different circumstances, one could have assumed some domestic violence with the bruising, yet Viktor felt more like the tormentor than Jayce could ever be.

"Oh this is unnerving," said Singed. "It shouldn't have been this fast."

"What can you do?" Mel cried, almost angrily.

"Only prolong it at this point," responded Singed, coming over, with some sort of mixture.

When the dose hit, Jayce did seem to relax with his breathing depressing and his grip falling, although his eyes were still wild, flicking quickly across the ceiling to the window. Viktor put a hand on his forehead, glaring at Singed who had turned his back to him.

"Paralytics aren't helping, give him something that will make the pain stop."

"I'm working on it," stated Singed.

Mel moved Jayce to sit against the pillow, equally annoyed that the Undercity doctor had taken away what little autonomy Jayce had left in favour of silence, while remaining as civil as possible. When he came back around, and Jayce's eyes finally relaxed, Viktor was trying to suppress his rage.

"What is the solution here?" Mel asked again, throat tight.

A deep silence took the room, only interrupted by Jayce's struggle to keep air in his lungs.

"We don't have one," stated Viktor. "Everything continues to wither and die. And if it doesn't, it's fundamentally changed."

"Like how?" she prompted onwards, as Singed moved some chemicals around, starting a burner.

"Like the subject- rats. They stop moving. Stop eating. Don't fight when you try to pet them."

Mel looked at the ground.

"I don't want to kill his mind," she said.

"No... of course not," responded Viktor.

"So what do we do here, Viktor?" she repeated, her voice choking and betraying what former resolve she had left.

Viktor had nothing to say, so got up and put his hands on her shoulders as she started to sob, leaning to wrap her arms around his waist. Unbalanced as ever, he used her for support as she did so, blinking hard but remaining determined to be the strong one.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Singed looking at him.

The doctor tilted his head, ever so slightly.

Viktor looked to the ground, and gave a curt nod.

That night, as his companions laid sleeping, Jayce in a drug induced slumber and Mel in a similar condition although induced through Noxian wine supplied by her mother, Viktor lay awake. His hand trailed across Jayce's face, lightly. He had machines connected to him now, pumping vile chemicals through his blood. They glowed, slightly. Viktor knew that it was because of the plant Singed used to manufacture the drug, but it gave an unnatural, toxic look to them that made Viktor want to rip them out. Instead, he only gently held the side of his face, his thumb tracing the scar along his eyebrow.

He felt Mel hold his waist tighter, her hand intertwined with Jayce's across from them, Viktor in the middle. Looking over his shoulder to see if he had woken her, he felt slight anxiety, but she was still asleep, the unconscious movement not an indication of shared insomnia.

Viktor’s eyes returned to Jayce, the thought of what he could do. A body he once thought was full of life, now so much different than what it had been not months ago. It was as if someone had flicked a switch and reversed their positions. Viktor had come to terms with the fact that he was going to die first. Jayce was supposed to live, have children with Mel, continue to be the Man of Progress. What cruel destiny would take that away, which person was so selfish to take that away from him? Of course there were people in Zaun who wanted him dead, but why now? Why so suddenly?

Jayce stirred in his sleep, eyes half opening.

Viktor kept his hand to his face.

"Hey..." he said, slurring.

"Hey." He paused for a second, knowing he did not have long. "I love you, Jayce," Viktor promised. "So does Mel. So does everyone."

Jayce closed his eyes again. The fact he was coherent enough to say a greeting at all shocked Viktor. He hadn't expected his words to reach him, but he hoped that as he slipped into unconscious again that he understood.

"I love you too, V... we should do something... with Mel... tomorrow..." he said, long pauses between his thoughts.

"Whatever you want," Viktor told him.

But Jayce was asleep again. The small flare of personality, his intelligent eyes muddled, all gone. For a second, it looked like he was going to move to lay on his back, but Viktor held his face. He wouldn't have been able to, anyways. The doctor had too many things filtering into his blood through the top of his spine, a precursor of what was to come.

It was nice to be able to talk to him, in that brief moment of lucidity. Quietly, though, when Viktor's fingers traced the fresh connection points between tube and flesh, he pulled Jayce closer, and started to sob. Maybe there would be another chance, and Viktor would soon have him in his arms again, while Mel held the both of them. Perhaps tomorrow, or the day after, he would make a breakthrough. He would save himself, and Jayce from their torment. Keep Mel healthy too until they all reached the right age to die. Or perhaps they could live as long as Heimerdinger. But for tonight, the uncertainty of the fact that the last words he would hear Jayce speak were a promise for a better tomorrow got to him. What was he supposed to do to make good on his word when tomorrow wasn't certain?

At least, if he didn't wake up again, Jayce would know that he was loved.

Viktor sobbed into his chest, eventually crying himself to sleep. Whether Mel was awake or not, he felt her grip tighten on him, leaving him with enough strength to let his eyes slip shut and allow the exhaustion to take him.

A dreary day.

Viktor stood at the window, hands gripping the side of the frame.

His lab felt empty, but he looked around for a presence anyways, finding nothing but ghosts.

He had no recollection of why he was there, but he knew he needed to find the hexcore and someone to work on it with. It was strange, however, that when he went into the hallway, that they were vacant too.

Even the ache in his leg felt like it had left, truly leaving him with no company.

The trip to the basement sections of the academy felt long. Mostly, Viktor was taking his time checking out to see if anyone was around and willing to talk. Loneliness was necessary for greatness, and Viktor had learnt that lesson long ago, but the complete absence of those around him, and the sickening thought that the disappearance of the hexcore had something to do with it made him nervous. Limping faster, almost sprinting, he went down the stairs, trying to reach the basement where they sometimes kept the gemstones and cores. Perhaps Jayce had taken it down there, for safe keeping. It was unlike him, but Viktor still felt the desperate need to check.

When he finally made it into the room, he staggered in.

No one was there in the usually heavily guarded room, except for Jayce.

But he was no longer alive, at least not in the conventional sense.

Viktor slowly walked over to the basin, losing his breath. Unlike the one in Singed's secret room, Jayce's looked more like an adult's coffin. It was long, and slender enough just to fit him comfortably, and the wires were not scattered along the floor but neatly held together and pushed against the wall. Further, the elegant decorations at the sides did not shine that unruly Undercity metal hue, made from scraps melted down. It was either pure gold, or silver painted to make it appear so. There were no cracks on the glass, however, refurbished with the metal. Orianna had been partially obscured by those, especially near her legs. No, Viktor could see all of him, and he would have lied if he had said that even in his death like state, he wasn't beautiful. His clothes, similar to Orianna once again, looked to be his finest. That shirt that Mel loved on him, black pants he could have worn to council meetings, his usual sleek boots. The most striking were his accessories, however. The blue crystal he always kept at his wrist, and the two magnetized leather straps around his right thigh. As if he were going to the forge and would need to keep his tools near. Even his face and hair looked well groomed, clean shaven and cut to just the same length it was on the day Viktor first met him. It moved gently, in the waters though, no longer combed back neatly.

Viktor collapsed to his knees, level with Jayce's head.

Although the similarities made his heart ache, the differences made him want to tear it out of his chest.

There were so many wire-like tubes connected to him, especially near the back of his neck, and some at his hands and wrists. The murky water he laid in, though, contaminated with chemicals and things to keep his body from decaying, made his skin so pale that it could have matched Viktor's complexion. He was certain it was just the affect of the water, but his heart sank, and he gripped at the side of the basin, sobbing.

Whatever compelled him to move, Viktor could not recount, but when he opened his eyes again he suddenly was at a desk opposite the container, staring down at the hexcore that floated atop it.

He knew he shouldn't have grabbed it, shouldn't have tried it, but instead, he reached for it. It did not burn his hand or connect with him in any way. In fact, it felt cool to the touch. Perhaps it was because it knew his intent was for it to help Jayce.

When he turned around, however, the water was leaking to his shoes. Jayce stood, grabbing the shattered glass of the lid that had once kept him bound, ripping the wires from his skin. He looked haggard, out of the water. A lot more full of life, but as if he weren't enjoying it. Viktor could see in his eyes, that anger permeated all his thoughts.

"Did you do this to me?" Jayce asked, voice choked out, low, and furious.

"You were dying, but we can use the hexcore-"

But Jayce was running at him, glass in hand. He only had time to put his hands up before his eyes shot open.

Mel was shaking awake. He turned to her, annoyed, and confused.

"You're going to wake him, stop moving so much," she said, groggy herself.

Viktor looked back to Jayce, as Mel resumed holding him.

He looked just as sick as ever, but at least he wasn't as dead looking as the Jayce in his dream.

When morning came, the rains were torrential. Viktor stayed with Jayce, following the instructions laid out before him. One dose of chemtech every hour, another of shimmer every hour, in addition to keeping the mix steadily beating through him through the machines he was connected to.

Mel stayed too, although on her end she had the more difficult task of keeping Jayce in as little mental pain as possible. She laid next to him, her hands gentle along his face. His breathing was slow, and while Singed had cautioned against using sedatives as pain release, Mel had sat him up, pouring some of the liquified versions of the medicines he once took in pill forms down his throat, massaging his neck to get him to swallow. On his part, Jayce was hardly conscious for the process, and in the brief moments of being awake for the dosage, felt comforted by the fact he could recognize Mel. Her armour, her smell. Her voice. Even with pain and discomfort, he just melted to her touch, leaning against her.

She had laid him on his side again, facing him, resuming her steady hold against the side of his face, as if it could help him open his eyes again. Much to her disdain, he did not grant her the courtesy of that. The most she got was movement behind his eyelids.

Mel had never been too emotionally involved with her partners before. She took what she wanted and then she let it go. The Noxian view of relationships deemed them unnecessary at best and weakness inducing at worst. However, she had never subscribed to that ideology, thinking of it as a great way to manipulate and gain power. If the other party was appealing and needed to be on her side, why not become an item so that they had an obligation? Jayce had certainly started out like this, but he and Viktor had quickly become so much more important to her than that. The subtle way Jayce would reach for her hand when their council meets were over, starting with her pinky then enveloping her palm in his own. Viktor's intelligence when he too joined their triad, offering her perspectives she never even considered before that deepened her understanding of the world around her, and the need to preserve life.

Now she realized why her mother had always cautioned her against anything aside from a physical transaction. She wished she had listened to her, because despite the fact that she regretted no moment spent with her partners, especially in the later stages of their grouping where they fell into easy habits, she wished she wasn't hurting so bad.

She had told herself that she wouldn't complain outright to Viktor. He was dying along with Jayce, which meant he had his partner's and his own mortality to grapple with. Of course she had had talks with Jayce before about Viktor, prior to this ordeal. But now, with the impending certainty that either were dying, she just wanted to forget her love for the both of them.

Instead of leaving as her mother had suggested, she pulled Jayce into her arms and listened to Viktor humming in concentration. It was a habit she felt he and Jayce both had no idea he even did. Subconscious. Something intrinsic to him, that comforted her to no ends. A deep shuddering breath, and she held in the tears that formed at the thought that she would never hear Viktor hum again at some point, nor find Jayce’s own quirks grabbing her attention once more.

When Singed finally joined them, Jayce was suffering visibly again. This time, however, he didn't wake up to cry out. He breathed heavily in his sleep, sweated, and occasionally twitched, but he wasn't conscious to show how much it disturbed him. Even prompted, his eyes were no longer opening, a development that shocked both his partners into complete silence as Singed went about creating a more potent variant of the shimmer.

When night fell, it was obvious that Singed needed to stay.

Jayce had went from panting in pain in his sleep, to hardly breathing at all within a couple hours. Singed was quickly thinking, however, working next to him and keeping him alive for the time being. Mel was thankful to not see him in so much pain anymore, no longer coughing up blood or writhing around, at least, but she still sent for his mother, knowing the end was drawing near. Sent for Caitlyn. Sent for Viktor, who had left for the core.

Viktor was in his office, playing with the hexcore. Everything had proven futile, and at that point, he had desperately cut himself to sacrifice his blood to it. It reacted by repaying him with a headache and glowing more vibrantly at him, which made him angrily toss his notes and stand up, smashing a fist to the desk.

Meekly, he heard someone enter.

"Viktor? Are you all right?" Sky asked, her clipboard held tightly to her chest.

He sat back down when she came in, keeping his back away from her.

"I'm fine," he spat, hoping his tone was an indication enough that she needed to leave.

"Would you like some help? I have some thoughts that could-"

"No," he cut her off. "You don't understand it, that much was apparent from when you were in here last."

She stood quietly, for a second.

"Well, if you need to talk or change your mind... I'll always be here. Sorry that I can't help now."

She started to make her way to the door when Viktor dropped the tools he had been using to poke at the core, looking over at her.

"It was you, wasn't it?" he said, less angry and more shocked.

"What?" she asked, stopping dead in her tracks.

"You were the one that poisoned him. Undercity connections, motives, the fact you handled our food. It was you."

She only stared at him.

"Did you poison Mel, too?" he asked, standing to his full height.

"I didn't poison anyone, Viktor," she retaliated, anxiously.

"Yes, you did."

She did not respond, for a second.

"Are you going to turn me in?"

Now Viktor hesitated.

"No. You're the only one that can work the hexcore enough so that nothing falls apart. I can't do anything to you without everything he built being shattered." A pause, as he tried to compose himself. "Answer my question. Did you poison Mel?"

Sky's cheeks had drained of colour. She shook her head, no, feeling like a school child.

Viktor only leaned against the desk, the world around him feeling like it would fall apart. He grabbed his cane, before trying to make an exit.

"Viktor, please-" Sky called out.

"You got what you wanted. There is nothing you can say or do that will make me forgive you. Leave me alone, don't come near me or Mel or anyone else I care about, or I'll make sure you feel the same pain I'm feeling right now, do you understand me?" he said when he turned to her, voice dangerously low.

He would have strangled her right there if he had another successor to take care of his work when he was gone, that had Piltover's interests at heart. Viktor quickly left without another word nor shout to express his anger however, when he saw Mel's assistant at the end of the hallway, leaving Sky alone with the hexcore and dead rats.

Jayce, laid on his back again, disconnected from the medications. He opened his eyes, hearing people talking in the distance.

In the corner, Viktor and Singed were having a conversation. He had no idea what it was about, but both of them looked pitiful from what his blurred vision could see.

"Are you sure?" Singed asked, confidently.

"…He wouldn't have kept me suffering just so that I could be alive when he found a cure. I can't do that to him-"

"Hey," Mel said, sweetly cutting in from whatever argument Viktor was having. She smiled down at him, touching his head, but his eyes were closing again. The pain was dulled, but his fatigue still plagued him.

He offered her a quick smile none the less.

The second time Jayce woke up, there were many people in the room with him.

Singed was giving him a dosage of something that contrary to the others, made him feel a lot better. Calm, at peace, warm even.

His eyes shifted to his left, where Mel still comforted him, her beauty not failing to make him question why she had chosen him when she could have had anyone, even in his current state. Softly, gently, her hand touched his forehead, moving his sweat covered bangs away from his eyes. She said something to him, but he could not make it out, especially when his attentions went to the next person.

His little sister, who looked worse for wear than when he last saw her. She was covered in filth, sitting at the end of his bed, and he was almost tempted to make a joke about how much of a dirty cop she had become. He felt it would be in bad taste, however, given her excusal from the enforcers and the fact he wasn't quite sure if everyone in the room would understand it. Still, she too said something, then said something to Mel, before looking back at him.

Viktor chipped into the conversation too, which caught Jayce's attention. He could make out the words this time, just enough to get an idea of what was going on.

"The adrenaline should have helped with that."

They had given him something that must have taken him from the brink. If Jayce was thinking right, it was a way to stop an overdose from over sedation. It would have explained why he was no longer as tired as he had been, despite how much his body screamed at him to close his eyes again.

With as much strength as possible, he moved his thumb along Viktor's hand, knowing he was holding it. He felt him squeeze, but was quickly caught off guard by a pressure around his head and neck.

He didn't even have to see her to know it was his mother.

The smell of her perfume, the way she held him, the broken sobs she was holding back as she squeezed him tighter, as if it would stop whatever was eating away at him and somehow bring him back to her.

Jayce could not find the words to comfort her. Instead, he reached with his opposite arm, not wanting to break the hold from Viktor's fingers intertwined with his own, and reached around to return her hug. Struggle, but Mel helped him, and he squeezed his mother as tightly as he could, feeling Mel hold over his hand with her own to help him. Or perhaps it was just to be close.

Jayce didn't know. He just knew it felt nice.

His eyes shifted to the window, where the clouds were separating from what he assumed was a rainstorm of some kind. For once, the sun didn't bother him as it kissed his skin.

He let his eyes slip shut again, silently thanking it for its warmth.

The next time he opened his eyes it was night, and there was only one person in the room with him.

He looked the same as he remembered him. Big, gruff, a little on the heavy side.

"Hey, kid," his father said.

Jayce only could offer him a relieved smile as he closed his eyes once more, feeling him put a hand on his shoulder, just as he had done countless times when he found him at the forge's desk, having fallen asleep while drawing ideas that he could never quite articulate clearly enough for his father to construct.

It was a comfort.

Like he knew he would be carried to his bedroom, and wake up with a blanket over him.