Chapter Text
Jayce’s feet, previously suspended in a vast expanse of nothingness, were met with solid ground. With no time to find his balance, he crumpled painfully to his knees. His forehead was sore, having collided with something, or rather someone, and his mind was reeling. He used his free arm to balance himself against the cold floor, the other still holding tightly to the back of Viktor’s neck.
Viktor!
Jayce opened his eyes to see his partner in front of him, brows creased and eyes still shut tight. Jayce didn’t dare move, keeping his eyes only on his friend as he took in his surroundings. He was shocked to find the two of them in an environment that was all too familiar. Machinery whirred and clicked all around them, and the subtle smell of motor oil and metal and Viktor’s cologne graced his nose, giving him a moment of calm nostalgia. He took a deep breath of the familiar air, trying to steady his hammering pulse.
“Jayce?”
The soft, raspy voice drew Jayce’s attention immediately back to Viktor, who had opened his eyes but, like Jayce, had not let go of the other. His hand still rested firmly on Jayce’s forearm.
“Viktor!” Jayce breathed, relief spreading a smile across his lips, and he pulled his head away an inch or two to properly look at him. He couldn’t help rub his thumb against the nape of Viktor’s neck, feeling the texture of his hair brush against his skin and his sharp jaw against his wrist, grounding him to the present moment. He was there, in front of him, alive.
Viktor’s amber eyes bore into Jayce’s. The beginnings of a smile began to touch his lips before his brows furrowed, his gaze growing confused. “You look…different.” Jayce’s eyes narrowed in confusion as Viktor’s eyes trailed to his chin. “I remember you having a beard.”
Jayce immediately scrubbed a hand over his mouth, expecting to feel the scruffy hair he had gained after fighting for his life in the anomaly, later trimmed to a more presentable degree before the battle against the Noxians and…and Viktor. However, he found the skin smooth, only slightly stubbly. His brows knit together in his confusion, a question beginning to take shape on his lips, before he squinted to take a closer look at the man across from him. He also looked different. Dare he say, Viktor looked…healthy. His sharp cheeks and piercing eyes less sunken, his pale skin holding more color than his previously greyed complexion over recent years.
“Viktor,” Jayce whispered, barely more than a breath, one only the two of them could hear, “what happened?”
The door to the lab opened with an echoing clunk. Mel Medarda’s powerful strides filled the room as she approached the two men.
“Mister Talis, Viktor,” the woman greeted pleasantly with a nod to both men. She seemed to be unbothered by the two of them kneeling on the ground. Her voice held the same calm note it always had, but there was a tightness to it. An undertone that was almost anxious.
“Me-erm, Councilor Medarda,” Jayce returned, straightening his posture but leaving a hand on Viktor’s shoulder. He was confused by her formal greeting, especially considering what had ensued mere hours prior. Everything seemed too calm, too normal, considering what had ensued mere hours prior. Not a sign of bloody warfare or ivory and gold machines in sight.
“My apologies for any…interruption, but the Council has requested an audience with you.”
“What for?” Jayce asked.
Mel’s…Councilor Mederda’s shoulders tightened, her eyes steely. “The Hexgates have shut down. Everything infused with Hextech has.”
Jayce felt Viktor tense under his touch. His gaze drifted away from Councilor Medarda and returned to his partner, who was currently refusing to look Jayce in the eyes. Jayce could see his gaze was calculating, the gears in his incredible brain turning, thinking, deducing.
“Has there been any sign of recent malfunction?” Viktor asked the woman, not looking at her either.
“None. They just…went dark, maybe ten minutes ago. No warning.”
Viktor finally met Jayce’s eyes. Jayce’s were confused, Viktor’s wide yet unreadable, his ever-complex emotions shifting in his gaze.
“We’ll…we’ll be there shortly,” Viktor said, his eyes pulling away from Jayce’s as he addressed the councilwoman. She nodded in her understanding and gracefully left the room, closing the door behind her.
It was just the two of them again.
“What the hell is going on?” Jayce finally asked after an eternal second of silence.
“I…I don’t know.” Viktor’s eyes darted around, as if reading a highly complex equation, then stopped to rest on Jayce’s wrist. They grew wide. “The rune stone.”
For the first time since they arrived…wherever they were, Jayce released Viktor from his gentle hold. He glanced at the spot where the stone rested. Well, would have rested. It was gone. He lifted both of his hands to look them over, then turned them palms up, and there it was! Not the rune stone, but a raised, swirling scar in the rough shape of the rune engraved in the blue gem he had worn all those years. It was barely readable, let alone usable, but it was undeniably there, carved into his palm.
He turned his hand to show Viktor. The other man’s eyes, growing wider still and filled with confusion and curiosity, briefly met Jayce’s before glancing down at his own hand pressed to the floor. Jayce reached for it and lifted it gingerly from the ground. Viktor let him.
Jayce turned Viktor’s palm to the ceiling where they could both see. The same mark was also branded into his skin. Where they had clasped their hands together and held onto the rune in what they believed would be their final moments.
“I don’t think we’re…this place…” Jayce couldn’t find the right words. He knew it was possible to travel to alternate timelines thanks to the anomaly. Hell, he had the scars to prove it. Well, had. If not physical, mental at least. But the words “alternate timeline” or “alternate reality” just didn’t feel right as they took shape on his tongue.
“It’s not ours,” Viktor finished for him.
In the time they had been apart, before Viktor had become so deeply intertwined with the arcane, Jayce had forgotten just how much he missed Viktor filling in the words that he couldn’t quite get out in the desired manner.
“Exactly.”
Viktor straightened up, looking around the lab. Jayce followed his gaze. An unfinished prototype of the Hexclaw and the Atlas Gauntlets lay on their workbench, nearly completed.
“It looks like we’ve landed a few days before Progress Day, maybe a week,” Viktor concluded.
“If the Hexgates really are shut down, there might be an angry mob waiting outside our door come Progress Day,” Jayce tried to joke, imagining the tourism nightmare Piltover was before and during Progress Day even with the Hexgates, but it came out stiff. It did still earn a small huff and a quirked lip from Viktor, so that was enough of a win for Jayce at the moment.
Viktor grew tense. “The gemstones. Where did we keep them?”
“Oh! Uh, in one of the secured drawers, I think,” Jayce replied, wracking his memory. This was before anyone other than Jayce and Viktor had known about the stabilized Hextech crystals. God, that seemed like lifetimes ago. Just the two of them working in the lab together. Before Jayce became a counselor, before the crystals were stolen by Jinx, before the hexcore and the bombing and the anomaly and everything else going to shit.
He missed it so much his chest ached.
“Jayce! Focus, please,” Viktor scolded, snapping a finger in front of his nose. “I need my crutch. I have to check on those crystals.”
Jayce blinked himself out of his spacy daze. “R-right, sorry, uhh…” He stood up and glanced around the room, scanning for the crutch, but it was nowhere to be found. At least not in the form Viktor had last needed to use. Resting on the table was a much shorter cane, similar to the one Viktor used when he and Jayce first met. Jayce shrugged with a creased brow, retrieved the cane, and brought it back to Viktor, who was still kneeling on the ground.
“I’m afraid this is the best we’ve got right now,” Jayce said, his tone apologetic as he gave the cane to his partner. “I’ll see if I can find anything better in a…minute…”
Viktor was looking intensely at the cane in his hands, then to Jayce, then to the cane again. A single, steely look was all Jayce needed to know that he should be prepared to catch Viktor if his leg gave out or he lost his balance. He gave a small nod and stood, his arms extended for Viktor to grab hold if he needed him.
Viktor braced his hand and his good leg under him, his free hand on the cane shaking with the effort it took to keep his balance on the much smaller mobility aid. He rose to his feet, hunched over as he tested his crippled leg underneath him, and stood up straight.
Jayce’s heart skipped a beat. It was the best he’s seen Viktor look in terms of his health since he’d met him. His posture wasn’t hunched and he appeared to have some slight muscle on his bones. His clothes weren’t baggy on him, but well-fitted and comfortable to his form.
He didn’t look ill at all.
“Viktor…” Jayce breathed. That was all he could say. Viktor pursed his lips, once again refusing to look Jayce in the eyes, and wordlessly walked to where he believed the crystals would have been kept at this time. Walked. The more Viktor moved with his cane, the more confidence he had in his leg, putting only a fraction of his weight on the mobility aid rather than having to support his entire body on it. Jayce could only stare.
Viktor rounded the desk, brows knit tightly together, and turned the cogs of their homemade locking system on the secure drawers of their workbench. The locks clicked and whirred as the drawer opened. Viktor’s eyes grew even more confused, and perhaps a little nervous.
“Jayce…you need to see this”
The other man shook himself from his daze and quickly trotted over to his partner’s side, looking into the drawer. What he saw made his heart race.
The crystals were there, yes, but not as they were. Instead of glowing blue with a mystical hum, they were stagnant, grey, and silent. Completely devoid of life. One might mistake them for any old marble. Completely unordinary and definitely nonfunctional.
The two of them just…stared. Jayce couldn’t believe what he was seeing. These crystals, the very cause of the hellscape their world had nearly turned into, not to mention all of the damage they had caused beforehand. Lifeless. Jayce wanted to believe it, God he wanted to believe it, but he couldn’t. It just seemed too good to be true.
“You should get going,” Viktor finally said, breaking the silence. “The council is expecting you. I will stay back and-”
“No,” Jayce firmly retorted. “No more of you staying behind. We’re partners, Viktor. We do this together.” He put a hand on Viktor’s shoulder and dipped his head to try and meet his averted gaze. “Like we always should have.”
Viktor’s eyelids fluttered briefly, a little shocked at how blunt and forward Jayce was in his words, and finally turned his head to look at him. His partner’s brows were knit together, and his hazel eyes were sad, filled with regret, but also alight with stubborn conviction. He had a feeling Jayce wouldn’t even consider attending that council meeting if Viktor wasn’t there with him.
The corner of his lips quirked ever so slightly upwards, his own eyes softening.
“Together, then.”
Viktor rose to his feet, allowing Jayce to steady him, and stuffed the grey hextech gemstones into his pocket.
“We should show these to the council. It appears that it’s not just the Hextech machines that have become dysfunctional, but the very magic of Hextech itself.”
If Jayce never had to attend another council meeting for the rest of his life, he could die happy.
“What about our imports?”
“With the Hexgates down, we are unable to communicate and trade with our allies!”
“We need to find a way to fix the gates as soon as possible.”
“With Progress Day only a week away!”
The voices of the Council ricocheted off the surrounding walls, making it sound like thousands of them were screaming over each other, fighting to make their voice heard.
“Everyone! Calm yourselves!” Professor Heimerdinger finally shouted over the hullabaloo. He looked at Jayce and Viktor, standing in the center of the circular table. The last time Jayce was in that spot, he was nearly banished from Piltover. Now, he’s discussing the very thing created from the science that got him there in the first place. “What are your thoughts on the matter, dear boys?”
Jayce and Viktor glanced at each other, and Jayce nodded in the direction of the crystals in Viktor’s pocket. With a steely gaze, Viktor stepped forward, dug the crystals out of his pocket, and placed them in front of the professor.
“These were supposed to be stabilized versions of the hextech crystals, safe to use by the average citizen,” he began. He looked back at Jayce. “We were in the process of creating portable hextech devices that could be used by the people. Piltoverian and Zaunite alike.”
Quiet mutters filled the air of the Council room. Jayce and Viktor could both hear the disdain in some voices over the idea of having hextech in the hands of the people of Zaun. Professor Heimerdinger turned a crystal over in his fingers, looking at its grey color and cloudy appearance.
“And all of your crystals now look like this? None remained, shall we say, healthy?”
Jayce shook his head and stepped forward to be next to Viktor. “What we think we know is that the issue with the Hexgates shutting down is not related to a failure of machinery. It’s related to a failure of Hextech magic itself, and we believe it is completely out of our control.”
That got the Council riled again. Jayce could barely make out what they were saying.
“Order! Please!” Heimerdinger shouted again.
“My daughter has reason to believe there may be traces of Hextech in the Undercity,” Councilor Kiramman spoke up. “What do you propose we do about that? If this is true, there is the possibility of the magic still functioning there. That makes us vulnerable to attack.”
Murmurs of agreement came from most of the other councilors. Jayce’s stomach twisted in disgust that their immediate reaction was to think of the crimes the undercity may commit with the crystals, if they had working crystals at all. However, if Jayce’s gut was correct, that was a big if.
“Then we’ll track it down,” Viktor said, his voice bold and proud. “Tomorrow, Jayce and I will travel to the Undercity to see if there truly is any trace of working hextech there.”
“You will need protection. I propose we send you with a small legion of enforcers to keep you both from harm,” Councilor Medarda offered.
Viktor shook his head. “If we travel in large groups, we will only draw attention to ourselves.”
“Viktor’s right,” Jayce agreed before turning to Councilor Kiramman. “With your permission, I request your daughter come with us. As you well know, she’s an incredible shot, and she has more information than any of us on possible locations Hextech may be found.” Viktor met his eyes with an approving nod.
All eyes were on Councilor Kiramman, who hummed in thought before turning to the two young men. “Very well. My daughter will accompany you both in your travels.”
“Yes, that’s all well and good, but what about the Hexgates?” Councilor Salo hissed in his usual entitled tone. “Without them, how do you expect us to keep up with trade quotas, let alone the tourism that will certainly come with Progress Day. Our flourishing economy will fall into ruin!”
Jayce fought the urge to roll his eyes at the posh blonde councilor. Viktor did not facilitate the same level of control. It was no surprise that the economy was his main interest, but did he have to be so dramatic about it?
“Our economy functioned just fine before Hextech, Councilor Salo. I’m sure it will function just fine without it again,” Professor Heimerdinger chuckled.
“Then I believe it is settled,” Councilor Medarda concluded. “All in favor of Jayce and Viktor traveling to Zaun to retrieve the Hextech crystals?” She was the first to raise her hand. Hiemerdinger followed, then Councilors Kiramman, Hoskel, Shoola, and Bolbok. Salo was the only one whose hand remained down, a sneer on his face not unlike that of a pouting child. A six-to-one vote.
“Marvelous!” Heimerdinger chirped cheerily, returning the dull crystals to Viktor’s hands. “I wish you both luck in your endeavors, gentlemen! You are dismissed.”
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It must have been late afternoon when the two of them landed in this world, for the sun had begun to set by the time they had arrived back at the academy. Beautiful tints of scarlet and gold danced across the sky as they walked up the steps.
“A beautiful evening,” Viktor hummed, his gaze on the clouds above. Jayce turned to look at his partner. His face was bathed in the orange tint of golden hour falling upon the city.
“Yeah. Beautiful.”
The two returned to their lab, and Jayce went around and turned on the lamps as night fell through the windows. Viktor placed the broken crystals back into the drawer and locked it. Those locks on the drawers were one of the first “just for fun” projects the two of them built together, in between figuring out uses for Hextech. Laughing and scheming with his partner over something as small as a homemade locking system, one only the two of them knew how to work, was a memory Jayce held close to his heart.
Viktor stood up as Jayce finished with the lights. By body language alone, Jayce could tell Viktor was just as tired as he was. His shoulders slumped and his eyes half-lidded, he sighed.
“I’m exhausted,” Jayce finally admitted with a chuckle.
Viktor hummed in his agreement. “I don’t think I’ve felt this tired this early into the night since I left the Undercity,” he replied, a tired smile on his lips. “I will probably just sleep here tonight.”
Jayce thought about heading home, remembering his mother. His stomach twisted with the thought of her, alone in her home, her husband, and son to her knowledge, dead. Even if his mother in this timeline was alive, he wasn’t sure if he could face her while everything was still raw in his mind.
“Yeah, me too.”
They were lucky enough to have two bedrooms and a bath attached to their lab, a privilege given by Heimerdinger when he allowed the two to have their own large space to work in the Academy. “Though I prefer you two to go home and rest, I do know that sometimes the midnight oil burns brightest in the lamp,” he’d say.
The two men shuffled around each other as they got ready for bed. Viktor gave an apologetic mumble once or twice after bumping into Jayce as he brushed his teeth. Jayce didn’t mind. When they were done, they said their goodnight’s and headed to their separate rooms.
Jayce shut the door behind him and stripped down to his boxers. He put on his pajamas, crawled into bed, and flopped under the covers with a hefty sigh. The bed was comfortable, familiar, but he couldn’t help thinking it wasn’t truly his. None of this was truly his.
Well, other than Viktor. He was the only thing he knew for sure.
Time ticked away slowly, each minute feeling as if it were hours. Jayce tossed and turned under his blankets. He was exhausted yet it was impossible to fall asleep. Every passing second he grew more and more frustrated, making it harder and harder to finally rest. He could feel his heartbeat in his ears, his thoughts too loud and too quick.
A soft knock sounded from the other side of his door, which creaked open a second later. Jayce shot up into a sitting position, heart pounding, only to see Viktor’s silhouette against the warm light from the lab.
“Jayce?” Viktor asked into the dark room. Jayce could see him shuffle awkwardly. “I’m…did I wake you?”
“No! No, not at all!” Jayce hastily reassured. “What’s going on? Are you okay?”
“Yes. Fine. Nothing is wrong, I just…” he paused again. Jayce was getting nervous. The last time he’d seen Viktor this awkward he had asked his partner to come on stage to deliver the Progress Day address with him. “Can…may I sleep in here tonight?”
Jayce was a little taken aback by the request, but his shoulders relaxed. “Yeah, yeah of course V.” There was no other furniture in the room where either of them could sleep, so Jayce pulled back the covers so Viktor could settle down next to him for the night. “Come here,” he murmured softly to his partner, who walked over with his cane clinking against the ground.
Once Viktor had laid down comfortably, Jayce pulled the large blanket back over the two of them. From what he could see of Viktor’s face in the dark, he could see his brows were knit together and his eyes shining.
“You okay?” He asked, brushing his knuckles softly against Viktor’s arm.
Viktor didn’t answer. Not immediately at least. Jayce didn’t pressure him, just kept small contact with his arm. He was about to shut his eyes when Viktor finally spoke.
“Why are we here, Jayce?”
Now it was Jayce’s turn to be lost for words. He didn’t get the chance to open his mouth before Viktor spoke again. Only this time, once he started, it was as if he couldn’t stop.
“We were supposed to die. The Hexcore, the arcane, why this instead? And hextech immediately malfunctioning as soon as we land here? Right before…everything! It-it just doesn’t make sense!”
“Viktor-” Jayce tried to say, his voice soft. His concern grew tenfold now. He had never seen Viktor ramble like this, not outside of working on projects in the lab.
“It feels like a second chance! A second chance that I don’t deserve! My leg is better than it’s been in years! I can breathe without feeling as though the Grey is festering in my lungs, choking me! I…I don’t feel like I used to. Sick. Why, Jayce-”
“Viktor!” Jayce interjected harshly, grabbing his shoulder to shake him out of his spiral. His next words were quiet, calming. “Where is this coming from?”
Viktor’s amber eyes, previously darting around, looking anywhere but directly at Jayce, finally locked desperately onto his gaze. Jayce’s heart sank when he realized there were tears pooling in them.
In all the years he had known him, not once had he seen Viktor cry.
“I…I’m afraid.” He said it with such sadness in his voice it made Jayce’s heart shatter in his chest. “I’m afraid that when - no, if - we wake up tomorrow, y-” he swallowed hard, “we won’t be here. We may not be anywhere. I’m afraid this is all just one final trick the arcane is making against me. Rubbing salt in the wound. My punishment for what I had done.” He finally pulled his desperate eyes away from Jayce’s as a tear began to fall. Viktor couldn’t look at his partner. Not like this. After everything he’s done, he didn’t deserve his company, his sympathy…him. He didn’t deserve to cry.
A warm hand brushed against his face, wiping the tears from his cheeks. It trailed past his ear and came to rest on the back of his neck. Viktor’s skin buzzed underneath Jayce’s hand, a reminder of Jayce performing the same act in the Hexcore. His eyes tentatively returned to Jayce’s. There was no anger in his gaze. Just like in the hive mind of the hexcore. Viktor had never been able to put a name to the emotion that swam in Jayce’s eyes whenever he looked at him like that. The same sentiment stood now. All Viktor knew was that he wanted to get lost in it, drown in it, let it consume him in its warm embrace.
“There is nothing I wish I could do more than promise you that tomorrow will come,” Jayce said, “but I can promise you this…” He leaned forward a fraction of an inch, forcing Viktor to look him in the eyes. “No matter what happens tomorrow, no matter where we are, I’ll be by your side. Okay? I just got you back, V.” Viktor’s breath caught quietly as Jayce’s thumb rubbed soothingly behind his jaw. “I’m not losing you again.”
Had Viktor been in a better mood, he may have pushed Jayce’s face away, scolding him for being such a sap. Now, he just looked back at Jayce with shining eyes, fighting hard against the tears that threatened to spill over once more. He allowed a sad smile to grace his lips, resting his hand on Jayce’s arm. The memory of Jayce pulling him close in the Hexcore, their hands then as they were now, flashed behind his eyes. He wasn’t sure what he did to deserve a friend like Jayce in his life, and he was almost certain he would ask that question for as long as he lived. But not now.
Viktor closed the gap between them, pressing his forehead against his partner’s and closing his eyes.
“Here’s to tomorrow, then.”