Chapter Text
"Viktor, Councilor Medarda wishes to see you." A woman's voice said formally through the room.
The brown haired scientist turned from the—admittedly pointless—device he'd been tweaking with, "Elora, why so formal? Is this something important?"
Elora nodded and stood next to his chair. "There's been some sort of outreach program offered to Piltover.. I'm not sure myself of the full details, but Mel is the only reason it hasn't been turned down. I guess she might be wanting your thoughts on it?"
"And not your's?" Viktor said, standing.
"I already gave her my thoughts. Ionia won't like anything that has the Medarda name anywhere near it." She replied as she watched the man grab his cane.
He laughed, "I was thinking the same thing."
Mel was waiting for Viktor and Elora in her Council-allocated penthouse, sitting casually on the couch with three mugs of warm liquid on the coffee table. "Viktor." She nodded at him as the two made their way inside.
"You know, our date isn't scheduled until this weekend, Mel." He quipped, sitting down next to her and reaching for the stylized gold and blue mug made to look like it was broken and repaired with gold. Hearing Mel's displeased hum, Viktor chuckled, "Sorry.. What exactly did you want me for? Elora told me Ionia has some sort of outreach project?"
She nodded. "They said they've made some sort of magical transportation system, nothing new, but supposedly it needs absolutely zero mages or spells to work. They won't disclose the exact specifics, but someone's invented a way to harness magic without innate arcane talents."
Viktor stayed silent, a whisper of surprise on his face.
"They want to build one of these transportation outputs here in Piltover, a sort of olive branch given our city's stance on magic." Mel continued, "I would wish to be able to go over there and do the diplomatic aspects of this deal myself, but—"
"But it's Ionia?" He finished for her, "I don't imagine anyone else on the council is thrilled with the idea."
Mel shook her head. "Heimerdinger particularly, they fear what the introduction of magic into Piltover—especially that which doesn't require one to be born a mage—might mean for our future."
"So it's an impass? The only councilor willing to accept their outreach is a Medarda, which Ionia won't take kindly to? We cannot accept then?"
"Unless I send you." She looked at Viktor.
He froze, halfway between lifting his mug to his lips, "Me?" Seeing Mel nod, he laughed in disbelief, "That won't work. I don't know if you've forgotten, but we're—"
"It's uncommon for people from the undercity to have a last name. If they ask you, you'll tell them as such." Mel cut him off firmly. "They don't need to know who you're married to."
He frowned, "I'm still not entirely sure it's a good idea, Mel."
Mel grabbed his hand gently, rubbing her thumb over the back of his hand. "You'll be fine, I promise."
Over the next two months, there were many meetings regarding the outreach. It was finally decided that Mel would anonymously sponsor the trip to Ionia for Viktor, his assistant Sky, and a small handful of diplomats on behalf of high houses interested in funding the outpost in Piltover.
On the morning of the voyage, Sky showed up to Viktor's apartment with enough bags that one could make the mistake of thinking she was moving to Ionia.
"Sky, I'm confident you didn't need to pack your entire wardrobe for this trip." Viktor teased, packing a final small bag with his medicines and toiletries.
"It's not my entire wardrobe," she laughed, sitting and fidgeting with her pen, "I packed enough clothes for a week, three fancy outfits in case it's needed, my makeup and haircare, and stuff to study the flora there."
Viktor gave her a tilted smile and chuckled, "You're bringing your equipment? Really?"
"If this diplomacy stuff doesn't go right and there's no outpost, who knows if I'll ever have the chance again! I'd rather take the chance now than wait and possibly lose it."
He shrugged, "I suppose that makes sense."
"How many bags are you bringing?"
"Two," Viktor answered quickly, closing up his bag, "Well, three, including this— but this is for my medicine and soaps."
They made their way out to the airship ports, bringing their luggage. Mel was waiting at the dock for them and smiled softly when she saw Viktor. The two made their way over and got their luggage packed into the airship. Viktor watched Sky head into the ship as he walked over to Mel to tell her goodbye.
The trip to Ionia took just over three days. Realistically, it should've taken much longer, but they had sailed to a southern island in Ionia and taken through a hexgate and accelerated straight to the heart of the nation as a first example of the possibilities and wonders of the hexgates. Viktor thought the display of it was a bit over-dramatic, but it was nice to not have to spend another two days on the stuffy airship. When they departed off the ship, they were shown to an inn they'd be staying in for their duration in Navori—what seemed to be the closest thing to an academic heart in Ionia.
Sky was quick to run off into her room to unpack, as Viktor did the same. Having finished putting his unpacked clothes into the hanging closet, he made his way over to Sky's room, knocking on the door first despite the fact they gave each other their spare keys 'in-case anything happened'— in reality, Sky just wanted to be able to come over and spend time with Viktor whenever she wanted.
"Oh, Vik! I'm still unpacking, but I'm almost done." Sky answered the door, holding a small fabric bag that seemed to be how she kept her toiletries and soaps together in her luggage.
He chuckled as Sky let him in, sitting down on the edge of the bed, "You brought your own soaps?"
"Of course! How am I to be sure they have the proper hair products for me? You can never be too careful." She yelled back from the bathroom, "You saw how bad my hair looked back when we were kids compared to now."
Viktor sighed, "You're right, I thought I befriended a walking nest, not a spa girl."
She laughed and shoved Viktor playfully when she came back from the bathroom, "You're the worst. I think I should go find a different scientist to assist."
"Well, good riddance." He laughed in return, glad that he at least has one person around to keep him feeling a sense of normalcy.
Viktor was, to put it bluntly, tried and uninterested in the tour around Ionia. They'd been walking around for nearly two hours, and they still haven't actually gotten to the Hexgates part, which was the entire point of the trip. Sky was at least interested in the botany of the land and was whispering to him about what she planned on trying to study, keeping Viktor somewhat entertained.
Finally, they made their way to what the tour guide said was the academic block of the city and into a big building. Thankfully, the elevators were big enough to fit everyone on the tour, so Viktor wouldn't have to wait for everyone else to get up the stairs while he took the elevator alone. They went into what appeared to be a large lab, and Viktor was finally invested in the tour.
"Hello, you must be the investors from Piltover." A man's voice said. Standing in the middle of the room was a man about 6 feet tall with warm brown skin, neat, short black hair, and a fitted and—admittedly flattering— Ionian suit. "My name is Jayce Talis, I'm the inventor of Hextech and the head of the Hexgates. I'm glad you all are here today."
Viktor's gaze caught on the man for a moment, before he looked around the room and noticed the chalkboard with equations.
"I'm sure all of you are interested in how this technology works, especially if you're planning on investing in the future creation of a Hexgates in your country. While the technology is very advanced, I'm glad to answer any questions you may have." Talis smiled at the group, standing tall with his hands behind his back.
Waiting for the others to ask questions first, Viktor quickly realized the inventor was giving simplified and somewhat dumbed-down explanations, being asked about how they worked and responding with, "The magic in the gems quickly transports from one gate to another."
He didn't have to wait long, since apparently the others in the group were more interested in Ionia itself than the technology they were here to decide to fund. He let Sky know he'd be lagging behind, and watched the rest of the group leave.
"Uh, sir.. The tour is leaving. I'm sure you don't want to be left be–"
Viktor interrupted, "I'm sure there's more to the hexgates than simple teleportation, no?" He turned to look at the man, "I understand though, I doubt any of my eh, companions here, would be interested in the actual science of your work."
Jayce's eyes lit up, "You're actually interested in how it works?"
He nodded, "It's intriguing, putting magic in the hands of the common people? It's the kind of ingenuity I'd have loved to be apart of, had you been from Piltover." Viktor looked back to the chalkboard. "May I ask what you're trying to do here?"
"Oh! It's more theoretical right now. I want to find a way to use Hextech to make true magic available to all, not just magic-powered items." Jayce explained, "I just can't find a way to get the runes to work the way I want them to."
"Runes?"
"Yes! Hextech is powered by the crystals, but it's commanded by runes." Jayce stepped closer to the man, "It's almost like the magic is reading instructions on what to do, and the runes are the words."
He nodded along, "I see. I do have some ideas, but obviously, you know more about this than I do, so it may just be a shot in the dark."
He looked at Viktor, "Really? Tell me, I'll see if it makes sense."
"Well, if the runes are like instructions, then you'd want something that can change the instructions. It's like when you cut the words out of a book and change them around to form new sentences, you want different instructions for different executions."
Jayce was staring like Viktor just explained the meaning of life, which caused him to blush slightly, "Eh— Unless you've already tried that." He said nervously.
"No, no. I haven't.. I didn't even think of that! It makes so much sense." Jayce turned to the chalkboard and started writing down what Viktor said. "I'd been thinking of a device that has all these runes and spells carved into it already, but that's just over-complicating it and limiting it's uses to what it comes with."
Viktor hummed, "I guess you just needed a new set of eyes then, huh?"
"Yeah," Jayce chuckled, "I guess I did." He turned to look at Viktor, "Thank you so much— uh.. Oh. I don't know your name."
He chuckled in return and smiled.
"It's Viktor."
Chapter 2
Notes:
What do you mean I took a month to write 2k words? Nuh uh..
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Upon returning to his hotel room the next day, the last thing Viktor expected was to open the door to Sky sitting on his bed like a disappointed mother catching their child coming home after sneaking out to a party. He was already tired from having spent the night bouncing ideas off his newfound partner, as Jayce called him, and learning quickly how Hextech functioned, so Viktor just walked straight past Sky and into the bathroom to take his medicine.
"What? Viktor!" Sky yelled, "Where were you? I came to wake you up for breakfast an hour ago and you weren't here!"
He didn't respond until he came from the bathroom, "I was with my new friend." Viktor smiled,
Sky was imminently interested, "You made a friend? Already? Who?"
"Jayce."
She blinked, "The Hextech guy?"
Viktor nodded, "He was very eager to talk about his inventions, I even helped him solve a possible issue with something he was trying to come up with."
Sky hummed curiously, "That sounds a bit irresponsible of him. What if you took that knowledge and just reinvented Hextech back in Piltover."
"Huh. I can talk to him about that, that does seem like an issue." He said, looking over at the window. "Anyways, I think I'm gonna take a nap, since I didn't get any sleep last night. You said you wanted to go study the flora here, right?"
Sky nodded.
"Do you think you could come over and wake me up once you come back? I would still like to be able to go out for lunch with you today, but I do need sleep, unfortunately."
"Alright, yeah. I'll probably be done at around 3, so a late lunch?"
Viktor smiled, "Yeah. A late lunch."
She headed to the door, "I'll see you later then, Vik."
"It's nice to walk somewhere that you can look up and see the sky, rather than more buildings." Viktor smiled as he walked alongside Sky, the two of them taking up a slower pace to enjoy the scenery. "It's funny, I think the hexgate is the biggest building here, yet it's so much smaller than the buildings back home."
Sky nodded, mostly paying attention to the trees as they passed, "Yeah. It's so beautiful."
He chuckled, finding how enamored by the flora of the land his friend was. "I thought you just got done with studying the plants for the past few hours. I think for once, you have to stop smelling the roses."
She lightly punched him in the arm not holding his cane, "Says you. How long were you in the hextech boy's lab with him yesterday?"
He rolled his eyes with a chuckle.
"Pot calling the kettle." Sky said before pointing to a small building with a sign hanging over the door, something written in Ionian. "Here. One of the tour guides said this is a nice place for a light lunch." She led him into the tavern and waved for one of the waiters.
Sky seemed to have picked up on Ionian language quicker when they were given the rundown on it before the trip, so she ordered for both of them. Viktor ordered something that looked like noodles with some sort of shellfish, maybe shrimp. After a couple minutes of chatting with each other, the waiter came back with their food. Sky got a bagel with what Viktor guessed to be cream cheese and fish, among other light toppings. "I'm surprised how much seafood they have here, we're pretty far inland."
Sky shrugged, "Well, I don't imagine it's easy to keep big livestock farms due to the terrain here, and besides, they have those Hexgates all over Ionia, right? There's probably one near a coastal village so they can export anything they catch quickly."
Viktor hummed and took a sip from his drink before he replied, "That'd make sense, I guess I just didn't expect the predominancy of seafood."
They continued to eat for a short while, enjoying the atmosphere of the diner. "So, do you have any new plans? You seemed interested in that Hextech stuff a lot more than just for the Hexgates." Sky could probably see Viktor's eyes light up after she asked the questions.
"It's very interesting." His body language was calm, but she knew Viktor well enough to know he was genuinely happy to talk about it, "Basically, it's powered by these crystals, right? He uses runes carved into the materials to instruct the energy from the crystals into doing what's needed for the invention."
Sky nodded, "That's cool. So it's like a manual!"
"Exactly." Viktor said as he fidgeted with his ring. He hadn't been wearing it when he was in the main part of the city, as it had the Medarda crest on it, but he figured nobody would see it here, so he had it in his pocket. He watched Sky call over the waiter to order dessert, but noticed the man gave him a strange look, so he put his ring away. When the waiter came back, he was holding their check as well. She had ordered them a sort of spongy vanilla cake with molten chocolate in the middle. They split it between them, and Sky took the check, reading it over.
"This doesn't seem right.. does the total seem right to you?" She handed it to Viktor.
Looking it over, he nodded. "They charged us extra. but it's not listed what the charge is from." He had an idea what the charge was for, as he'd faced this sort of thing all the time in Piltover before he'd become publicly affiliated with House Medarda. Before he could say anything, Sky snatched up the receipt and marched up to the counter to politely tell them they messed up the check. Viktor just sighed and kept his head down.
Thankfully, the lady up front had no idea the waiter had charged them extra because he'd seen the Noxian house crest on Viktor's ring, so she fixed the issue with no delay. As he got up to give Sky the money, he saw the waiter standing with his arms crossed, looking less than pleased.
When they walked out of the tavern, Viktor sighed, "Hey Sky, I don't know if I want to come back here. The food's good, but eh.." He paused, "It's a bit of a walk, isn't it?"
She shrugged, "I guess so. I'll try to find somewhere closer to the inn, yeah?"
"That'd be nice," He smiled back at her as they began to walk back to the inn.
Waking up to knocking at the door, Viktor sighed and grabbed his cane. "Sky, you have the spare key." He said as he opened the door, only to be met with a certain inventor looking so nervous one could think he was about to confess to a crime. "Oh, Mr. Talis. What do I owe the visit?"
He chuckled, an anxious sound that woke Viktor up more, "You can call me Jayce. Uh, I was wondering if you wanted to come to the lab and help me out a bit? Sorry if it's early, I just uh.." Jayce stopped himself, huffing at his own awkwardness, "Do you want to come with me?"
"Oh." Viktor said, "Yeah, sure. I just need to get dressed first. Would you like to come in and sit? I can change in the bathroom."
Jayce nodded and came in, sitting on the hotel room chair, watching as Viktor grabbed his leg brace, which went under his pants and his clothes before heading into the bathroom. Jayce sat there nervously until Viktor came back from the bathroom, dressed in a simple brown button up and some dark maroon jeans. "Alright. Let me leave a note to Sky."
"Sky? That's that girl with the curly hair and glasses, right?" He asked, seeing Viktor nod in confirmation as he grabbed a pen. "She seems like a nice person."
Viktor nodded again, "She's been my friend since before we came to topside."
"Topside?"
"Oh, right." He chuckled. "Piltover is kinda two different cities, but both sides are still the state of Piltover."
Jayce looked surprised, "Really? We've never heard about that here."
He shrugged as he grabbed his day bag, motioning for Jayce to follow him out of the door. "I'm not surprised. Most correspondence with other nations comes from the council, so it's unlikely they'd ever mention the rift between our nation." Jayce led the way, slowing as to not leave Viktor behind, "It's actually quite different on each side of The Pilt. Piltover is quite.. hm. I don't know how to describe it. Grand, I suppose? It's much different than Ionia."
Jayce nodded along as they walked.
"The Undercity, it's very knit together, dark. Many of the buildings are stacked, and it's built into the ground on multiple levels. I was born in the lower levels, but my mom moved us to the upper level when I was little to avoid the grey."
"The grey?"
"The smog." Viktor said, "The undercity is where a lot of the mining and manufacturing happens, so there's a buildup of dust and fumes. It used to be a lot worse before I was born, according to my parents." He stared at the ground as they walked, an odd tone in his voice. "My dad worked in the mines before.. we moved." There was a moment of silence before Viktor cleared his throat. "But it's still home, no matter the quality of life." He joked. "I live up topside now, so I've got clean air to breathe, and we've been working to clean the air across the river, too."
"Wow." Is all Jayce could say. Viktor chuckled at the simple response. "Oh, we're here." He looked at the academy building. It was shorter than Piltover's academy, and took up less room too, but the city was smaller than Piltover, too. No need to have a giant building to fit all of the people interested in invention and science when there are so many more cities in Ionia they could go to, Viktor supposed.
"Is there anything in particular you wanted my help with?" He asked as he was led to Jayce's lab.
"I had a couple of loose ideas I wanted a fresh perspective of. Other than that, I guess I just want someone to work with?" He admitted.
Viktor smiled at the honesty, "Well, I didn't have any plans for today anyways."
Seeming a bit lost in thought, Jayce just nodded in response and opened the door to his lab. It was about the size of the labs the academy back in Piltover would rent out, but a third of the area was taken up by a forge, so the practical room for using would be less. "I do like this lab, it's cozy looking." It was warm in the lab, but not too hot, "You like it?" Jayce sounded happy.
Viktor nodded and found a rolling stool to sit on, leaning his cane down against the desk. "I like the warmth. It's good on my leg."
"Okay, noted." Jayce smiled and grabbed a different chair, since Viktor had taken the stool he normally used, "Here, this is what I was working on."
"Hey Vik, are you hungry?" Jayce asked after they got done writing up blueprints and got a small prototype of how it'd look built out of scrap metal Jayce had laying behind the steam hammer.
"Oh, yeah I suppose we should get some food. What time is it?" Viktor paused, mentally repeating what Jayce said, "Vik?" He chuckled, which made Jayce freeze. "Well, yeah. You know.." He started nervously, "It's short for Viktor, so I figured— I'm sorry, I should've asked."
Viktor laughed and grabbed his cane, standing up, "It's okay, I just didn't expect it, since that's what my friends call me."
"Oh, okay. Sorry Viktor." The man still seemed a bit tense, so Viktor smiled soft and said, "You can call me Vik."
Jayce practically shot up, "We're friends then?"
He simply smiled in return. "Yes, we're friends. Now, let's go get some food?"
Notes:
My friend said I write like it's a theatre script, so sorry about that LMAO
Nikkirain25 on Chapter 2 Tue 07 Oct 2025 11:00PM UTC
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LillithIO on Chapter 2 Fri 10 Oct 2025 01:46PM UTC
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