Chapter Text
The breeze came in nicely through the window, and finally, some fresh air ventilated the damp air of the lab. Viktor took a deep breath, sticking his head out slightly, appreciating the view of Piltover's streets, some people walking around minding their own business. He left the window open, carefully stepping back to his desk where a hex crystal waited for him to continue the mindless tinkering after getting frustrated with an insufferable rune, he couldn't quite understand yet. The room that was previously clammy now felt fresher, and he tried to relax sinking into his chair; unsuccessfully, of course, he couldn't think of anything else other than the rune carved down in a piece of paper covered in notes and scribbles that he and Jayce had previously written down.
He signed, glancing back at it again, rubbing his fingers against his now closed eyelids, feeling exhausted. It's been four days, four days of staying up late reading dusty academic scrolls, four days of being in the lab hypothesizing theories based on previous knowledge they had from other runes, and four days of barely any progress. But he is not giving up now, he and Jayce have already gone this far, and he can't just back away from it after spending so much time and effort on it. He will figure it out one way or another.
With this newfound wave of inspiration, he sets himself properly in the chair and continues to read through a book that Jayce had given him, containing some information on the proper usage of runes; with not enough detail to solve the problem but he can't be picky about this specific topic.
Viktor tries to connect the dots by pouring his whole attention into it, thumbing delicate pages while annotating on a different piece of paper. There has to be a distinction between this rune and the other ones. Why is it that this one is so difficult to comprehend? Why is there hardly any information about it? Has anyone before him been able to do something with it? Can you do something with it? and if so, what? So many unanswered questions would probably plague Viktor's mind for the next few hours, and he will try to answer them one by one.
He was alone in the lab this time because Jayce had gone to a meeting with the council for whatever reason, it was quite annoying that they always interrupted the progress that they could be making if they were together but he would not be complaining too much—at least Jayce is the only one needed there instead of him. His mind lingered a bit, thinking of reasons why they would be talking to Jayce for three hours, but he stopped himself. That is not important, Viktor thought, trying to get back into the research. He eventually gets a hold of himself and continues to read.
A loud screeching noise interrupted his task, making Viktor turn his head sharply to the window where the sound was coming from. Startled, he moved his body trying to stand up to make his way over, grabbing his cane to see what was going on. He hardly notices that a shadow moved quickly through the window. In an attempt to keep himself balanced he placed his free hand on the table where all his research was, shuffling back as he heard the noise again, but this time it was somehow more recognizable, and as much as he wanted to figure out what it was that was making such horrible sounds he was not able to complete his thoughts because he could only focus on whatever creature was approaching him rapidly. He took a step back as quickly as his leg allowed him to, bumping his hip against the edge of the table, making it shake suddenly, jostling everything that was on top of the desk.
With a surprised gasp, Viktor saw how the hex crystal that had been mounted on a tiny metal contraction, fell in what felt like slow motion, alarmingly close to where he was standing. The man already knew what would happen if the crystal touched the floor from that height—It probably wouldn't be a horrible explosion, but he sure didn't want to test his luck. As his brain went into a blur from being overwhelmed with everything happening, he tried to reach for the falling object by moving his hand. He realized how he had unconsciously clenched his fist and was now grabbing onto one of the papers that were scattered on his desk.
Without a care of what the contents of the paper were about, he stretched his arm, losing some of his balance in the process. Viktor really didn't care at this point, he just wanted to prevent the imminent explosion that was about to happen. He was halfway, almost grasping the crystal with his fingertips but all of a sudden there was a hiss that came from underneath him. Maybe it was curiosity, maybe it was fear or maybe it was the fact that he had forgotten about the creature that was still in the lab with him, but he stopped his attempt at grabbing the hex crystal to glance beneath him.
Viktor watched as two bright elongated pupils stared at him and he felt the pain of sharp claws now engrain on his good leg climbing up his body.
Was that a cat?
Was the last thing Viktor could think before the crystal fell to the ground, blasting blue energy all over the lab. After that, everything around him went black.
///
The recognizable creak of the lab door being abruptly opened brought him back to consciousness, but he couldn't open his eyes. It felt like he hadn't slept properly in weeks—which is not too far off—though it was a different type of tiredness, the type that doesn't let you move a muscle because of exhaustion.
He heard a voice, it was coming from the entrance room perhaps or maybe it was closer to him, but he couldn't tell, everything felt fuzzy. "I know what you are going to say!" Was that Jayce? Yes, that was his voice. It sounded far away now, slightly muffled by the distance yet still loud and recognizable like he was shouting. "'Jayce, what were you even talking with the council that took you four hours?' and to that, I'll tell you that you rather not know, it was mostly useless information. Hoskel's chatter is still ringing in my head, that man doesn't know how to stop talking." There was a pause, the shuffling of clothing, the tapping of shoes on a carpet, and the distinctive sound of a plastic bag being pushed around. These were the only things Viktor could hear. He wanted to move, he wanted to scream for help and as much as he disliked the idea, he didn't care right now. He wanted to call for Jayce. But he wasn't able to, he could only admire the darkness of closed eyelids and feel a tingly sensation in his body. "Anyways... To make it up, I bought some food! I'm sure you haven't eaten anything because I know you and you probably didn't even think about eating. So... I got us some sandwiches."
There was another pause. Viktor could feel a rhythmic vibration on the floor. Jayce was approaching the lab, and his shoes resonated throughout the whole area but that was strange, it is true that Jayce practically stomps everywhere he goes but this was on another level. He tried to open one of his eyes, and a sliver of light came into his retina, it was too bright and everything was incredibly blurry.
"Viktor?" He heard the steps fade away again. Was he going to the kitchen area? Of course, he was going to the kitchen, he said something about food before. Why was Jayce taking so long to get where he was? "Are you mad at me?" Yes! But I don't care about the council anymore, I'm passed out on the floor, and you are going to the kitchen! Viktor cursed to himself, as much as he wanted to scream at his partner his jaw wouldn't move. "Look, I'm sorry, okay? I really wanted to come back here with you, but the council wouldn't let me go,"
Viktor slowly opened his other eye, and he felt blinded again by the lights. Since when had the lab become so bright? In a moment his eyes got costumed to the light but everything that was far away still looked distorted, like there was a thin layer of mesh in his eyes. He tried to look down at his own body, to see if there were any visible physical injuries from the explosion but...
There was only fur.
And what he thought were his hands in front of him...
Were two small paws.
So, he just stared at it, mostly out of shock and because his body—or whatever it was now— didn't react.
It could've been a delayed reaction but out of nowhere, he felt a burst of energy spring his body up in the air to then slowly land on all four. Well, that was definitely wrong. He looked at himself lowering his head, expecting to find the academy uniform. But no.
It was just fur.
White fur to be more precise, perhaps in the range of a pale cream color.
He blinked once, twice, and even more after that but the image of two fluffy paws propped steadily on the floor did not disappear.
"Viktor, can you please talk to me—" Jayce's pleading voice came from the lab door, but stopped after meeting with Viktor's eyes. "Huh?"
Jayce!
"Meow!"
Well fuck.