Chapter Text
Jayce’s vision warped. The world stretched and snapped like a slingshot, hurling him upward, sideways—everywhere at once. When the motion finally stopped, he found himself suspended in a strange… dimension. Or something like one.
Golden figures hung in the void, thousands of them, each tethered by a thin string at the crown of their heads. Beyond them stretched a black abyss, dotted with drifting souls like distant stars.
“This… is what you see?” Jayce whispered, turning toward The Herald.
The Herald floated above him—vast, radiant, almost divine. Anyone else would have been terrified. But Jayce knew him. Or he hoped he did. A sharp ache in his chest insisted Viktor was gone, that this being was all that remained. Still, he clung to the possibility that his partner was somewhere inside that towering presence.
“This… conflict,” The Herald said, extending a hand. “This senseless waste.” He swept his staff through the air, the golden figures trembling in its wake. “I know their minds, Jayce. They want better lives, but emotion clashes with reason. Humanity’s self‑corrupting contradiction.”
Jayce drifted closer. He took a breath, choosing his words with care.
“You always wanted to cure what you thought were weaknesses. Your leg. Your illness.”
He looked down at his softly glowing hands.
“But you were never broken, Viktor. There is beauty in imperfections.” His gaze lifted, softer now. “They made you who you are. An inseparable piece of everything... I admired about you.”
The Herald’s posture shifted. His attention snapped to a sudden vision forming before them—Ekko, leaping forward, hurling a familiar Hextech device.
“That device… it can’t be,” the Herald murmured.
There weren’t supposed to be two. What could have caused this?
The device struck his mask. Gold rippled and peeled away, dissolving into smoke. And beneath it—
Viktor.
Jayce’s heart lurched. Viktor’s eyes widened, his form shrinking, the overwhelming aura fading into something painfully human.
Jayce swallowed hard. “I thought I wanted us to give magic to the world. Now... all I want... is my partner back.” His voice wavered, but he held the tears at bay.
Viktor looked up at Jayce, almost shocked. There was a brief silence before Viktor spoke again. “Why do you persist? After everything I've done?”
Jayce gave a small, bittersweet smile. “Because I promised you.”
He reached out, gently taking Viktor’s arms and pulling him into a tight embrace.
Viktor gasped as Jayce’s memories flooded through him.
“Why did you ever give me this? Why?” Jayce’s voice echoed through the vision.
“I thought I could end the world’s suffering,” The version of Viktor answered. “But when every equation was solved… all that remained were fields of dreamless solitude. There is no prize to perfection. Only an end to pursuit.”
It was Viktor. All Viktor. He saved Jayce.
Every possible outcome flashed before him. Every stone dropped into little-young Jayce’s hands. Every experiment. The first look they shared when they quite literally hovered in the air. The look of a deeper connection than any sort of friendship could compare to.
“In all timelines, in all possibilities… only you can show me this.”
Viktor’s breath hitched. Tears blurred his vision. He pulled away, overwhelmed, collapsing to his knees. His gaze darted across the countless souls suspended in the void—his doing. He shook his head slowly.
“You must go, Jayce…” His voice was small, frightened, exhausted. It was Viktor again. Entirely Viktor. He closed his eyes, accepting his fate of losing Jayce again.
Jayce knelt beside him, placing a steady hand on his shoulder. Viktor looked up, meeting the warmth he’d once known so well. That familiar warmth he would give him every day, maybe even a deeper warmth now.
Jayce removed the stone from his wrist. He took Viktor’s hand, placing the stone in his palm and covering it with his own.
“We finish this together.” He said, determined.
The stone dissolved into Viktor’s skin, glowing fiercely. Light spiraled outward, warping the world around them. Souls fell and rose. Reality twisted. Neither of them could fully grasp what was happening.
Jayce held Viktor’s hand tightly, refusing to let go. He pulled him close, cupping the back of his neck, guiding their foreheads together. Viktor leaned in—hesitant, then certain.
Jayce took the cue and kissed him. Viktor froze for a heartbeat, then melted into it. They stayed like that for a long moment, ignoring the chaos around them.
Jayce smiled against his lips, whispering, “I love you,” just before everything collapsed into darkness.
They weren’t afraid. They both felt light. Even in the darkness of nothing, they both could feel the warmth of each other’s eternal embrace. And that was enough.