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Banal. Tearing at the meat with eyes trained upward, out of the steep ravine he found himself trapped. Insipid. The only stimulation he found was from the drip of water, alleviating the pain in his limb bit by painstaking bit, his countless daydreams of rectifying his misfortunes, his trials and his errors, all before they ever occurred—what he would give to fix everything—And yet, Jayce had to endure it.It was with no little resolve that he found himself climbing the slippery-wet walls of the ravine, trembling with the anticipation of making it over, with the dread-heavy weight in his chest at every loss of careful balance, at every slip.But made it he did.And just at the precipice, just as Jayce’s resolve would be put to the final test—to finally do right by his promise, to end this forsaken mission of Viktor’s… To be the one, the only one—in what seemed countless universes and timelines—to show him that there was no prize to perfection; that humanity, imperfections… this was what had held them together; entwined their fates into one. Because Jayce loved Viktor not in spite, but because of.“Send me back,” Jayce said resolutely. Yet, the arcane was chaos—and Jayce was purged, spat out, delivered—To the wrong moment, the wrong time. Jayce stumbles to a knee, hand scrambling to his leg still aching with seemingly phantom pain... As there was no hint of a wound, the repairs... gone. Poof. Pants like he had worn on any typical day of business adorned his person. What? This was plainly wrong, he...He raises his other hand to his unkempt face, except, no… Clean-shaven, perhaps some stubble along the jaw as though it had been… a day, two? This was all… wrong, wrong, wrong.Pain twists his face as his head seizes in a vicious migraine. He blinks his eyes open to the office, devoid of the cocoon that had embraced Viktor’s prone body. Devoid of seemingly all normalcy—the knickknacks, the data, the collections of books and journals and note-taking, the board of their—Jayce’s recent calculations in his pursuit to understand how Viktor’s body was being sustained…This wasn’t where he… Where was the hexcore? Why hadn’t he returned to the moment he’d have expected, where they had been absorbed into the anomaly?“Am I… interrupting?” that voice: so sure, and ironic, and amused. Undisturbed by the resonating vibration of Viktor’s “improved” form.It couldn’t be. And yet… Jayce is quick to his feet, eyes wide as they face…“Viktor?” he breathes. A Viktor with a healthy glow, eyes bright with something unnamed, leaning his weight until that trusty crutch of his creaks against the wood.Jayce takes a halting step forward, disbelieving. This Viktor—a Viktor that has Jayce reeling with nostalgia—tilts his head in askance, “Is everything all right? I left for but a moment to find you halfway across the room from your beloved work, bowed to a knee. Is this a studious man finally cowed?” Viktor’s mouth twitches.Jayce isn’t quick to quip back, his mind a mass of interwoven this feels right and this is wrong.But at Viktor’s tell-tale amusement-turned-concern in the dip of his eyebrows and hunched shoulders, Jayce finally returns, “I… had a momentary lapse. A break. This equation has me all,” Jayce waves a hand, eyes still wide and focused on Viktor’s face, taking him in as he absorbs Jayce’s words.“A break. Though I admit I do not know the meaning of the word,” Viktor says slyly, face still at a half-tilt, eyes looking up through eyelashes as Jayce unconsciously takes an extra step forward; wanting to be closer. “Perhaps a break is what you need. It is… late. You must rest, Jayce. I expect my partner to perform at his best if we wish to make any strides in our research, after all.”“You should rest, too, then.” The words come out soft and slow. Jayce’s chest feels tight with the emotion that bellies it.
“It was affection that held us together.”
Jayce squeezes his eyes tight against the pain that pounds his head anew. Moments later, his arm is steadied. A warm weight of a hand at his bicep, crowding around to his shoulder, to his back. “Jayce. That’s it.” Viktor attempts to guide him to a seat, but finds himself halted as his hand is carefully interlaced and Jayce takes a step forward to see him directly, even through the lances of pain. To catch his close gaze and hold on to it tight.“So, it’s late. We should both take our leave, right?”Viktor glances down at their entwined hands as if struck dumb, “Hmm. Perhaps best, yes.” He cleanly slips his hand away. Always retreating; yes, Jayce remembers it well now.Jayce wanted to say everything all at once, that he misses him every day, every passing second, and what he would do, what he would give up, just to stay in this single moment forever. But. Viktor’s eyes glide past him, his lips purse in contemplation, and Jayce knows without a single doubt that nothing he said or did right now would change anything.This Viktor thinks himself imperfect. He’s lonely, black and bruised with it. Yet he pulls away. Viktor thinks himself unworthy of all Jayce would offer him in a heartbeat.And so, Jayce forces himself not to reach out a second time.“I’ll walk you home,” he tries his level-best to keep the yearning at bay in his voice.“Ehh, no. You are like… fawn on new legs. Exhausted. I will see you in the morning, partner.”Jayce swallows. “Yeah, you’re right.”“I am right often, yes.”Jayce chuckles, eyes brightening. It’s just… he’s lovely. Viktor is lovely. How did he not see it before now?So, he’s further back in the past than he first realised. But perhaps…Perhaps this wasn’t so bad. Perhaps this was right. Perhaps this was no accident at all that he’d end up here of all places, rather than back to that moment where Viktor might be too far gone to recover?And maybe his mission here is still the same. To convince Viktor that he is worthy of all his affection not in spite of his imperfections, but because of. To impede the success of hextech, to right where he went wrong the first time?Nothing bad could come of trying. Right?
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The crux of the matter: Jayce didn’t know what to do.Nothing had changed. Perhaps Jayce was too optimistic, but hindsight was supposed to be 20/20. He knew what to avoid, and despite his best intentions—
Viktor sighed, setting his tools aside. He knew where this was heading. "Jayce, we've discussed this. The integration of hextech into the betterment of society is the future. It’s progress."
"But at what cost?" Jayce countered, stepping closer to the workbench. His hand hovered uncertainly over their next phase of hextech. Piltover’s Progress Day was soon approaching. "We’re playing with forces we don't fully understand."
Viktor's gaze grew steely. "You've seen the potential. The lives we could save, the cures to ailments we could possibly procure with this—this technology; this magic. This isn't just about power or prestige; it's about changing the world for the better."
Jayce grimaced, head scrambling because it’s not something they didn’t see eye to eye on in the past—and he knew by the tightening of Viktor’s mouth that this… prevailing argument between them, it was a tension that seemed to settle on them, layer by layer, like volcanic ash. "I do see that potential, Viktor. But what if we lose control? What if this... this power we're meddling with turns on us?"
Viktor leaned back, which would be endearingly nonchalant in any other instance to Jayce—if this argument didn’t feel as though it was a precursor for bad things to come. Jayce feels a flash of dread down his spine. "We're scientists, Jayce. We will assess such future risks should they come to pass... but perhaps the probable benefit,” he raises an eyebrow to the prototype of their new invention pointedly, “outweighs in this instance, no?”
Viktor had paused. It might have been the look on Jayce’s face—defeat, some sort of profound trepidation—that prompts him to allay Jayce’s fears. “Worry not, Jayce. We will be sure to be cautious.”
—he just can’t seem to create tangible change that will protect Viktor from what is becoming less deniable day after day: the inevitable future.It had been weeks of Jayce trying to push this issue in hopes that it would resolve itself. Except, all Jayce had been noticing was an increased distance between them. And it hurt; every time he wished things were different, that he could fall back into their past dynamic without events falling too perfectly into place that Jayce’s second chance would fall to pieces before his very eyes. He couldn’t allow himself to fail.But it’s beginning to feel a little too much like he was losing Viktor’s trust, his respect, his admiration… It was no coincidence that Jayce’s dreams of hextech had been stained; marked by the horrors that he had seen; by the faceless drones that had been people… People that he had imagined, once upon a time, they would help. It appeared as though his and this Viktor’s dreams for the future were approaching a crossroads… and he was afraid their paths might soon diverge.He’s interrupted from macabre thoughts by Viktor’s very perceptive observation, despite his supposed disinterest by the way he was careful to avoid eye contact; too focused on his work: “You seem to be…” Viktor purses his mouth, then seems to decide in a split-second to stop hedging around the subject: “You are growing a beard, true or not?”Jayce is taken-aback. “Huh, what? I mean, yeah, I guess so. I’ve been too distracted to really take notice.” He rubs a hand over stubbled jaw. It had been a while, he recalls. It might even be a good idea to let it fully grow out: a reminder to oneself the importance of his mission. A reminder of what was possible.Viktor slants a brow at him, “Grooming yourself has taken a backburner, Jayce? Now, that is a surprise.”The cheek on him. Jayce smiles genuinely for the first time in days. “And what’s that supposed to mean? Just because we’re scientists means we shouldn’t care a whit about appearances?”“Ehh, not my point. I just expected remaining Piltover’s most eligible bachelor would need—” Viktor glances over him slowly, and oddly, Jayce feels a confusing urge to squirm in place as heat races to his cheeks. “—more upkeep?”Jayce clears his throat. “Well, maybe I don’t want to be Piltover’s ‘most eligible’.” Jayce pauses, eyes sweeping over Viktor’s figure, intrigued once more. To anyone it would seem as though Viktor was relaxed, that this topic of conversation was inane and of seemingly no deeper meaning, except Jayce noted areas of tension: the slightly rigid way Viktor was holding himself, for example, as though Viktor was already secretly hoping Jayce wouldn’t probe any further.Yet, Jayce is curious, Jayce is a scientist, and Jayce can’t exactly help himself where Viktor is concerned. “You think I’m the most eligible bachelor in Piltover?”Viktor tuts, eyes back to sweeping over his dozens of papers and note-taking and well-thought-out sketches of foreseeable inventions. “Don’t be obtuse. Now can I insist that instead of pouting, you make yourself useful and—”“I’m not trying to be obtuse,” Jayce says defensively. “I just want to clarify, you know, if that’s what you think, or whether—”“That’s what the masses believe, Jayce,” Viktor states matter-of-factly. He rolls his eyes in the next second. “It is quite clear to everyone, in fact—”“Now, I don’t know about that—"It’s probably quite opportune that Mel chose that particular moment to knock politely, and then ever so courteously invite herself into their shared workspace.Even so, Jayce is happy to greet her, and also just far too amused by Viktor’s apparent conflict over whether to be thankful for the interruption, or whether to cast a dark look upon their intruder, that Jayce welcomed her presence.Recently, he’d been harbouring his own conflicted feelings over Mel.While their short-lived relationship had been exhilarating, and had represented everything Jayce had wanted (to be embraced by high society, to have his words and his actions finally mean something; to feel as though he was making a difference from the very top), it very firmly now represented a mistake. His guilty conscience twinges remembering the consequences of his distraction.Viktor had been dying and he… he hadn’t been aware. Hadn’t had an inclination. Too invested in politics to understand the struggle Viktor had been facing; how Viktor was beginning to delve too far into his obsession with the hexcore in a desperate pursuit to fix himself.Well, he wouldn’t be making those same mistakes this time around, this he was sure of.
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“Heimerdinger thinks science should be used to improve lives as much as we do. We just need to show him it’s… safe.”“And you don’t think it’s safe.” Viktor is quick to reply, intent on Jayce’s face, contorted in a way as if what Viktor had just said wasn’t the way this conversation was supposed to go.“I—it obviously has a few screws loose. It just needs… more time.” Jayce winces, looking away. As he often did as of late.Vitkor didn’t realise a person’s ideals could change so suddenly, but it had been clear for months. Jayce hadn’t been invested in their dream for hextech for… seemingly a long time. Viktor hadn’t been aware. He was now.He was seething with it. “We could help people now. You used to be excited about what we could accomplish, but now…”When Jayce turns to Viktor, Viktor's struck by the unsettlingly deep emotion he sees in Jayce's eyes that he quickly blinks away.“Maybe some of us don’t want to see our dream corrupted.” Jayce’s voice is stony, directed at Viktor as though he thought he would be singlehandedly capable of doing so.“What is wrong with you? What has been wrong with you? You’ve changed.” Viktor’s chest is heaving with it, fury igniting like a furious cyclone in his bloodstream. Only Jayce—only Jayce could make him feel so out of control. He clenches his hand against the cool metal of his cane. Narrows his eyes.Jayce’s expression is distraught. His eyes were wet at the corners. Viktor feels strangely bereft; in mourning of a man he used to know; in mourning of a man he wants but a man who seems to… fear the direction he takes, day after day.Only Jayce could make him feel so… monstrous.“Jayce—” his voice catches in his throat as Heimerdinger’s pet poro appears, chirping as it makes its entrance.“Professor! I’m—" Jayce glances at a slumped Viktor out of the corner of his eye, “—so glad you could make it.”“Wouldn’t miss it for the world, my boy. What do we have on the docket?”Jayce unveils their hextech gemstone.Somehow, he seems to have predicted Heimerdinger’s feedback on the next phase of their hextech without a fault.Had used his exact wording, in fact.That there were “screws” to be tightened, that it needed time—a decade, Viktor didn’t have a decade—in order to be ready, that it needed to be safeguarded against misuse, against corruption.Had Jayce and Heimerdinger had a separate discussion without him present? Why didn’t Jayce seem to... to trust him anymore?Why, when it had seemed Jayce had embraced him as his lab partner for so long, did it feel as though he was being pushed further and further away?Viktor’s lip curls; anger thrumming through his veins.“Are you happy?” he says volatilely, as soon as they were alone.“What?” Jayce whispered. Playing obtuse, it seemed. This time it wasn’t entertaining.“We’ve carefully researched hextech for years. We stabilised the crystal like they asked. Built the hexgates like they asked. We’ve leaped through almost impossible obstacles, time and time again. Yet now, you give up?”“Viktor, it’s not so simple.”“Then explain. Explain it to me.” What have you been hiding from me? Viktor thinks desperately.“I’ve seen what it can do!” Jayce grabs him around the shoulders, bunches his clothes like a maddened barbarian, his tears flowing freely. Viktor is shocked stiff, anger distilling out of him; leaving only confusion and affection. It should taste like a dirty word, affection, as betrayed as he had felt.However, Jayce’s next words sap all betrayal out of him, leaving only surprise and insatiable curiosity. “It’s not been so easy, Viktor! Appearing in the past, knowing all I know… straining our friendship like I have been—like I know I have been! If you had seen it, seen it with your own eyes, you…”And like a child, Jayce clutches at him in a hug so tight, Viktor thinks he sees the stars; bursting with vibrant colour, like the constellations in the sky.“I miss you…” he breathes against his neck. Viktor shudders pleasantly, eyes wide, as he slowly allows his arms to enfold Jayce in return; the noise of his crutch dropping to the floor like a distant memory. A hand runs through the hair at the nape of his neck. “I’ve missed you.” Jayce repeats, like a prayer, enraptured; burying his head.“What… what do you mean by ‘appearing in the past’? Jayce?” It had been a few days since that fateful conversation. “Jayce!”Jayce violently wakes up, spine rim-rod straight, and clashes skull against cheek with Viktor—who–who had been shaking him—“Viktor!”Viktor's clutching at the bruise forming on his cheek, exclaiming in pain. “Why—your dense head! Last time I attempt to wake the sleeping princess—” Viktor mutters, pointedly watching him over the hand keeping pressure against his face, keeping the pain at bay.Jayce’s eyes widen, “I—I apologise, are you okay? I didn’t realise—”“Mhm, I should hope not, or I would be remiss to not ask what grudge you hold against me?” At Jayce’s fear-stricken look, Viktor scoffs and continues. “Fear not, I have already forgiven you. As I have forgiven you a lot as of late. Just rise. I had been expecting you at the office hours ago. Hence why I am here at this godforsaken time, past noon might I add," Viktor adds judgementally, his lips pursed, "waking you from your deep slumber.”Jayce shakes his head, groans, “Sorry. Let me—can I fix you a tea, a coffee?”Viktor nods decidedly, “A coffee. Black. Thank you. I’ll wait.” To which he grabs his cane stiffly, headed for the door.“Hey—”Viktor pauses, looks behind with shuttered eyes.“I’m glad you’re using the keys I gave you.” Jayce smiles sincerely, and is endeared to see a flush rise to Viktor’s cheeks.“Yes, well—what else would you have me do if we are to rectify our future—our past?" he says with an odd questioning tone to his accent, "mistakes in time?” and with that, Viktor flaps a hand, and flees from Jayce’s bedroom.Despite himself, Jayce’s chuckle follows him.With Viktor on side, things didn't feel... impossible. Now he just had two sisters to reckon that almost-impossible dream with. Violet... and Jinx. And he knew just the person to help him with that.
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“You were right.” Jayce said suddenly. He perks his head above the workbench to stare directly at Viktor, who seems to startle out of anxious plotting; pen tapping carefully against paper.“As always,” Viktor drawls. He tilts his head in curiosity. “Which instance are you specifically referring to?”Jayce chuckles, “Smart-ass. I mean, well… We built all,” Jayce spreads his arms, glancing around the room at prototypes and various scattered diagrams of budding ideas, “this to make a difference. A real difference to people’s lives. I can’t be afraid of making the same mistakes if I don’t make changes with the second chance I’ve been given.” Jayce’s eyebrows are drawn in consideration. “I’m going to reveal our inventions. The gemstone. Despite the dangers.”“Does this mean to say you… didn’t reveal our inventions, oh Man of Progress, the first time we did this?” Jayce grimaces in a way that tells Viktor he didn’t intend to let that slip. “On a scale of ehh, one to ten, how furious was I?”“Yeah, you weren’t happy. Professor Heimerdinger got in my head. Felt as though we did have a duty to safeguard against our technology getting into the wrong hands, but this time, I feel more prepared that we can do that anyway. And this time I don’t want to… No, I refuse to let you down.” Jayce has a steely gaze fastened to him, yet still he swallows nervously, as though waiting for divine judgement for his past mistakes. If he could count on anyone to be such a paradox, to be such a rarity of contradictions, it was Jayce Talis.And Viktor doesn’t know how to handle his vulnerability. He wouldn’t ever allow himself to do the same, and that’s part of why Jayce has always seemed to—however unintentionally—inspire him.He was quite simply... intriguing. Breathtakingly refreshing.Viktor clears his throat and looks away. Says very simply, “Okay.” Out of the corner of his eye, he swears he notices Jayce slump like a dejected puppy that didn’t get enough attention from its owner. And it is exactly the something he will aptly choose to ignore in favour of getting back to his methodical planning. Not one thing could go wrong. Plenty goes wrong.They had wanted to avoid any casualties that they could predict. Jinx—who Jayce had somehow outlined to be a damaged, lost soul who dearly missed her sister—somehow manages to commit mass murder like it was an integral part of her day-to-day lifestyle, and so that was completely out. But throw a homicidal, unrelentingly capricious hammer into the works, and he wasn’t sure what they’d been expecting, exactly.Yet, with the entire force of a tipped-off Piltover Police Department, Jinx was captured (the massive death toll did ruffle a few feathers leading to quite the hefty consequence, but all in all, this apparently worked in their favour.)Jinx was getting sent to—“Ship her off to Stillwater. She’s deranged! Our people need to see that a firm lid has been stamped on the matter. That the problem has been… extinguished.”Marcus, the Sheriff, couldn’t get a word in edgewise. As Jayce watched him sweat, the gears in his mind were shifting and turning over. He hoped this plan of theirs worked.“If I may…” Jayce starts. Viktor’s head snaps toward him, rallying to support him, and Jayce steadies a hand. Viktor, although mostly unconvinced, shifts back into his seat. “The responsibility to safeguard our technology has been reasserted only recently to me,” Jayce glances pointedly toward Heimerdinger, “and if not for that anonymous tip, I would have failed in this duty. The magnitude of danger had this gemstone been stolen… it doesn’t bear to think about.” This earns a few alarmed whispers along the councillors’ table. “However, this girl—the one who calls herself Jinx—her imprisonment might give you the exact opportunity to finally get the undercity under heel; not by tooth and nail, but through… concessions and compromise. To eliminate the threat from the root.“I have come before you to recommend that we suspend all Hextech operations until this threat to the city’s welfare and safety is resolved.” Jayce didn’t dare look for Viktor’s reaction. As of course, this hadn’t been part of the plan. Jayce had never revealed that he became a councillor—mostly because it was a moment he’d regretted. That he thought he would avoid.Jayce desperately wished that this split-second decision didn’t cost him. And that once Viktor and he could talk, Viktor would understand. Giving up on their dream wasn’t an option, and Jayce knew that the councillors wouldn’t dare halt their hextech operations… It was just that Viktor didn’t know that, and he didn’t know whether Jayce was going back on his assurances.So, councillor he became to everyone’s much-obliged surprise… However, Mel didn’t stop there. Just as he’d expected of her. If Mel was anything, she was a person with an astute mind. She paid attention.“I am curious however, Mr. Talis. You mentioned something about ‘concessions and compromise’,” Mel hums inquisitively, hands positioned under her chin and leaning ever so slightly forward. “How exactly did you propose that this individual—this Jinx character—could be used to open a dialogue with the undercity’s many criminals? Is this girl of any import, and if so, how is it that you are aware of this?”“I’m glad you asked, Councillor Medarda. Which is why I wish to invite Caitlyn Kiramman to the meeting.” Cassandra raises from her position at the table in understandable surprise, staring at Jayce as if he was but a stranger. “For months she’s long suspected that there is a single mind behind the undercity’s violence—and I think this attack—Jinx's capture—will prove the theory correct. As does… further enlightening evidence.” Jayce is careful to not glance in Marcus’ direction.A great clamour erupts in the room. Revelations upon revelations, it seemed. Marcus guffaws like the gallows awaits him; outraged, but most of all: desperate. “This attack proves nothing of the sort!”“Councillor Kiramman, did you know of this?” another interjects.“Everyone, silence—calm yourselves. Perhaps we should hear this assertion out?”The doors swing open.And Caitlyn—finally—makes her entrance. The noise of the room quiets down immediately.Jayce sighs a breath of relief, locking eyes with Viktor who looks back at him… oh. Right. He looks rightfully betrayed. He hopes his expression does anything to assuage Viktor, as he’s definitely going for a look that screams please trust me. Viktor narrows his eyes in response. Jayce can almost hear him. Councillor? You? And you didn’t think to, hm… tell me this oh so insignificant detail?“Well, young Kiramman, what do you have to say?” Heimerdinger coaxes.Cait chances a look at Jayce, and with his nod of assurance, she begins.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Jayce is pacing, ruminating on everything that had changed. Jayce could no longer trust events to fall into place as they did before, which was exactly what he’d wanted, but he couldn’t stand there and say he wasn’t anxious to see what would happen next… Gods, there was no prerogative for what did happen next. He was just glad to have Viktor’s steady reassurance, to have his listening ear as he listed off everything he knew, every key individual that had a part to play and guessing as to what their next plan of action would be if he were in their place.Jayce just… he didn’t want a repeat of the same mistakes. Surely now, after everything that’s already changed, that reality was, simply put, no longer possible? Jayce sometimes felt the dread at night that everything he did here wouldn’t change anything in the end. Still wakes up startled from nightmares of an unrecognisable Viktor, led down the same path because of Jayce’s own failures. Safe to say, he’s… not really been sleeping well.“Silco… he’ll likely make first contact with Marcus when the news of Jinx’s capture gets released. And then we can set the terms of her release.”Viktor hesitates, “You would see her… released, Jayce?”Viktor’s hand tightens against his clutch. He’s been refusing to sit since watching Jayce spin in circles like a caveman who’d lit a fire for the first time. In fact, Jayce thinks he’s been attempting to stay upright out of a sense of pride for weeks now. Jayce has had to propel himself backward from the urge to forcibly settle Viktor into a chair, sometimes.“I—” Jayce turns, glancing away from Viktor and the frustration of those thoughts, then collapses into a seat with a groan, clutching forefinger and thumb to his nose. “She’s our only bargaining chip.”“What of the condition of seeing an independent Zaun realised? You don’t believe he will be amenable?” Viktor raises his eyebrows in classic scepticism. He adjusts his grip on his clutch, leaning more heavily against it. Jayce notices his strain with mounting worry.Against his better judgement, Jayce comes to a stand. “Please, sit.” When Viktor snaps his head, with well-predicted mortal outrage, Jayce is quick to rebut: “I could do with more pacing? I’m surprised your head hasn’t popped right off attempting to keep me in line of view.”“A little egotistical of you to think. I’ve allowed your yap-fest in the midst of thoughts mostly revolving around our undefeated mathematical hindrance.” Viktor narrows his eyes at their chalkboard.Jayce grimaces. “You solved it the last time, you can do so again. Unless you’d like me to…”“Don’t you dare,” Viktor spits, pointing an accusing finger. “I will tackle this.”“Perhaps you’re taking longer this time with… you know… the added pressure of avoiding an apocalyptic future that we kinda… uh, inadvertently… created?” Jayce trails off at Viktor’s pursed mouth.“You don’t say.”“Oh, come on—”“Please, go on, recollect to me your wonderfully brilliant thought process there. How I hadn't already drawn the same conclusion is surely a testament to your mind's superior prowess—”There's a beat where Jayce silently takes a moment to admire Viktor's pettiness, and then he replies, “The sarcasm is truly unnecessary.”“Is it?”To Jayce’s utter wonder, Viktor does move to take the seat so graciously offered to him, settling into it stiffly. He must be in pain. Jayce bites at his lip anxiously.“I think Silco will likely be suspicious of our intentions; whether we will stick to our promises. The only real thing we can offer is… Jinx.”Viktor hums, partly in agreement but partly inredulous. “I think you misjudge how convincing you can be when you’re… passionate. I have every confidence this will go, if not perfectly, much more smoothly than what you’re presently imagining, especially with your involvement in leading the negotiations.” Viktor shrugs his shoulders.Jayce’s words are stuck in his throat. “You… you really think so?”Viktor inclines his head, nods. He hasn’t noticed how Jayce is seemingly struck by how nonchalantly Viktor just seems to… believe in him.Viktor finally glances up, ruefully smiling. “Truly. I know so. It has happened at least once before.”Jayce leans his weight against their workbench, crossing his arms. Interestingly, Jayce notes that Viktor tracks this movement.“Do tell,” Jayce says charmingly with a grin, watching curiously as Viktor snaps his eyes back up.“You know very well.” At Jayce’s encouraging expression, Viktor sighed. As if exhausted by the ways Jayce constantly searches out his praise. “Your court case. Your words inspired me. It’s what led me here, of course; sharing in your vision.”“Our vision.” Jayce corrects; eyes warm.“Yes… ‘our’ vision. You will not let me forget.” Viktor chuckles, but it quickly morphs into a series of hacking noises. Coughing into his hands, chair screeching as it drags along the floor, Viktor's crutch falling; jostled from its position, where it had been resting against the desk.Jayce watches, and that ever-present dread climbs his throat until Jayce can feel his head pound, as he watches the blood spatter into Viktor’s hands. Viktor stares down, dazed.Jayce sees the traces of it around his nose, his mouth.All hell breaks loose in his mind. “No,” Jayce whispers, “no no no. Not yet. I—”Viktor sharply snaps his head, “Not yet?” he croaks out, almost in disbelief.Croaking because he’d just been coughing up a lung, and Jayce—fuck. He hadn’t told him—This couldn’t be happening. Not now.“I thought I had more time.” Jayce feels tears spilling at the corner of his eyes. “I—”“I… I die, don’t I?” At Jayce’s wordless but eye-opening expression, Viktor continues numbly, “How long have I got left, Jayce?” Viktor attempts to come to a stand, slaps Jayce’s hands away when he lurches—suddenly shaken from his terror, his horror—to Viktor’s aid; to grab his clutch for him.“How long?”“I—you—there was an incident the first—the first-time round.” Jayce’s breathing is panicked; staring at Viktor as though he was about to lose him. It was a sickening feeling. “It was Sky who found you—you’d lost consciousness—you, you were rushed to hospital—”Viktor turns his face in shame, grinding his teeth at the revelation. Feels blood drying at the corner of his mouth and hurries to scrub it away with the back of his hand, feeling his knees knock together in his haste to hide away from Jayce’s desperate gaze. And he’s starting to realise how… how angry, how humiliated he feels.“And where were you? In the entirety of this story you felt keen to hide from me, where were you?” Viktor snaps.Jayce is struck silent. It’s so absurdly quiet, after his rambling is cut to an abhorrent end, that Viktor thinks he can hear the rush of his own blood in his ears in the midst of his embarrassed fury. “Get out,” Viktor hisses.“I—please, Viktor—” tears streak down Jayce’s cheeks. “Please let me explain!”“Leave me!” Viktor snarls, chest heaving.Viktor doesn’t watch as Jayce makes his exit. Just hears the door softly close, and he waits until he feels safe enough, alone enough, to allow his despair to blanket him.
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Caitlyn thought her reaction to finding out the pseudo big brother of hers was a time-traveller had been rather tame, despite Jayce’s preconceived notions that she would somehow take the news quite badly.It began and ended quite literally like this:Caitlyn was very disinclined to believe him, she was then suspended in disbelief when he continued to assert he was a time-traveller and even more so when he seemed to be outrageously frustrated that she continued to not believe him, then she was forced to reluctantly accept that Jayce was a time-hopping freeloader when an anecdote from very recent—that he’d surely not be in possession of as she had not told a single bloody soul, and for good reason, mind you!—was whipped out as a tool in his freeloading arsenal to convince her without so much as a by-your-leave (how could he know that? It was devastating that he knew that, Gods, the humiliation that he did know that), and then of course, the aftermath: asking every-which question known to mankind as though his knowledge of the future held all the answers to existence and life itself. (It did not. Matter of fact, she continued her incessant questioning solely to annoy him. It worked.)After that whole debacle, Caitlyn did see where she stood to gain with being his co-conspirator (well, co-co-conspirator considering the active participation of his—cue metaphorically dubious coughing—of his lab partner), and she thought their whole plan had merit. It had the additional benefit of proving her theory correct: that there was a single hand puppeteering the strings of violence in the Undercity… and that Silco was the word.However, one hitch in the plan she had not been expecting… Inmate 516 being a contingent to said plan. She would argue, not an overly important contingent, but nevertheless. It was… irritating.She was brutish, rude, and frankly insulting. Not… mean-spirited, but certainly cynical. Not boring, yet already proving to be exhausting; in that vexing, maddening way of hers. She was…Not worth Caitlyn’s time.Except… she was Jinx’s sister.Furthermore… she was also imprisoned in Stillwater without a trial, without even a record of a single crime.Caitlyn’s teeth grinded at the sickening thought of it. In fact, if her teeth were still intact by the end of whatever charade she had to play with Vi to get a little more insight into Jinx so they can play their cards right, she would be astonished.“So, you’re really not gonna give me a solid clue as to why an uptight prissy like you would get someone like me out of the slammer?”“Ooh, you are a charmer, aren’t you?” Caitlyn responds coldly. “You’d think gratitude wouldn’t be a little remiss about now, but no, you’re just as expected—”Vi scoffs in incredulity. “I’m just as expected? You enforcers are all the same. Just asshole criminals in fancy uniforms.”Caitlyn’s mind flashes to Marcus. Absurdly, Vi’s words snag at that corner in her mind suffocated with feelings of doubt and guilt. Their Sheriff—someone who was supposed to represent unshakable moral character; someone who was just, fair, and sought the truth, someone who was supposed to uphold their institution’s integrity and reputation to help people, first and foremost—well, he’d completely betrayed that trust, and Caitlyn felt ridiculous, unimportant and miniscule for not being the one to take first notice. But she would be the first to take action.“Yes, you might be right.” Caitlyn freely admits, outside of the sanctity of her mind. “Which is why I’m going to root out the corruption, and you’re going to help me.”Vi looked distinctly disgruntled by that, which, good, let Caitlyn teach her a lesson on not making baseless assumptions here, Caitlyn was not a naïve child—she could really help people, make a difference—“And what’s in it for me? Helping you? You think they’ll really care that a Zaunite got an unfair sentencing? Like hello, nothing new there, Cupcake, because in case you weren’t aware, they’d all rather see us be neatly contained in a tin can where we don’t pose a threat to seeing their utopian dreamland blown to smithereens!” Vi throws her hands up wildly to augment her reasoning, like Caitlyn was being the unreasonable one for not seeing the true picture. Let it be said that Caitlyn was aware of how very much that plan (presenting Violet like hazzah, here’s the proof of our corrupt system, please fix it) would not work.She was irritated all over again of the fact that that’s Violet’s perception of her; the whole idea makes her heartbeat uptick in righteous indignation. However, Caitlyn supposed that it was difficult to fault her, because Caitlyn hadn’t exactly given her the true reason in how she had the potential to help in their negotiations, nor the incentive to provide said help in the first place (which handily were one and the same). Though, Caitlyn thought that it was proving her point about her sort being quite unscrupulously selfish. Why not even attempt to help her end the corruption that continuously disadvantaged her very own community? Why did she need an incentive to help at all?And most damningly, that blasted infernal nickname couldn’t be what Vi had used in reference to her, could it?“Pause. Cupcake?” Caitlyn questions, hoping to be proved wrong.“Is that really all you took from that?” Vi seemed inordinately dissatisfied.“Well, I have a name, do I not? It’s Caitlyn, you’d better get used to using it. Because what’s in it for you is something I think you’ll find irrefutable to resist.”“Oh yeah, pray tell Cupcake. I’m on the edge of my seat.” Despite the evenness of the tone strongly reeking of sarcasm, Caitlyn knows that Vi not giving her the slip as soon as she could meant she was hanging around for a reason; and that reason being: she was intrigued. Why did a rouge enforcer track her specifically down and free her from the confines of Stillwater? What could be so important? What did she have to offer?Well, that and the promise of edible food for a start. This was exactly her plan for their next location rather than continuing to wander. Something had been mentioned about a Jericho, but Caitlyn wasn't sure she wanted to risk her chances taking on the streets of Zaun, not knowing whether Violet was reliable yet made her a flight risk. Caitlyn was hoping once she told her about Jinx, it would no longer be a point of scrutiny.So, Caitlyn narrows her eyes and doubles the fuck down. “Try that again, and I might let you in on the secret.”Vi rolls her eyes so far, Caitlyn secretly hopes they get stuck.“Caitlyn, then.”“Well, Violet,” she says all mockingly, “it’s about your sister.”
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Jayce knew that sometimes he didn’t know well enough when to leave something alone.He knew deep down that it would come to this. That’s why he’d never escaped the nightmare of being breathless with the denial that it was Viktor’s body lying in a vulnerable heap on the floor, that he hadn’t even noticed tears springing unbidden to his eyes. It’s why he had never escaped the feeling of Viktor’s prone body in his arms, head lolling to the side like a marionette’s strings had been cut, and his soft hair brushing against his shoulder for what he thought might be the last time. Because he’d been dead. He’d been lifeless.That’s why the fear he feels now was so all encompassing; to an overwhelming degree. Because not only was Viktor dying, and the only possible way to stop it was to repeat the same mistakes he’d made the first go round, but he’d done irreparable damage to Viktor’s trust once again.He hadn’t learned anything, had he?He thinks it even while he twists the key to enter Viktor’s small apartment. He thinks it even when he takes a small obtrusive step inside, uninvited, and most likely unwelcome, yet still searching out Viktor’s presence in the form of a flickering light through the cracked opening of his bedroom door.He enters.And Viktor sits there, head hanging and his hair—usually so put together, now messy and unhinged, as though he’d been stressfully pulling at the strands—obscured his eyes, his hand fiddling with the buckles clasping his brace against his leg that must be stiff and painful to even be attempting to lift up in the exhausted, rage-induced state Jayce had left him in hours ago.The door creaks slightly under Jayce’s hand, and Viktor’s head snaps up.His eyes were red-rimmed, mouth that was fixed in a tense frown now parting in surprise. Then, his eyebrows pull together in utter incomprehension. “If this is your idea of a joke, I assure you that I find it remarkably unamusing.”Jayce hesitates, “No joke.”“Great.” Viktor fights to pull at his brace, attempting to speed up the process through his anger. “A cosmic one, then? Like I’ve not had enough of those to last the length of my meagre lifetime thrice over.” Jayce flinches at the dig. But it was to be expected… and honestly? If it was anything to go by the shame curling up Jayce’s throat, it was well-deserved derisiveness too. Even still, he ignores it. Refuses to allow the hurt to show. He’s stepping closer before he even knows it, falls to one knee, knows his expression is affixed into one of need, a way to prove how sorry he was—and Viktor abruptly stops moving.“What do you think you’re doing?” Viktor grits out, eyes flashing. “Do I have to spell it out for you like you’re a child incapable of reading between the lines? I do not want you here.”Jayce raises a hand in spite of Viktor’s outrage, and curls it around Viktor’s leg, and long before Viktor can even think that he deserves a well-aimed kick to the face, he pulls it toward his thigh, resting it with what seems no little relief to Viktor, whose mouth had grown thinner and surlier by the second in response to Jayce’s flagrant bypass of Viktor’s understandable want for space.“I know,” Jayce says softly. “I just… I couldn’t leave it like that. I came to explain myself.” Before Viktor can so much as snap as to exactly where he can shove his excuses, Jayce continues, “And that doesn’t mean you have to forgive me, okay? I know I don’t deserve as much. But, just… please, please hear me out?” Jayce begs, finally catching Viktor’s eyes in an irrefutable plea. “Please, Viktor?”In the moment that Viktor weighs over his decision, Jayce finds himself trying to be useful… His hand tightening against the clasps of Viktor’s brace, and he is quick to then smoothly unbuckle them, one by one, dragging at it until Viktor belatedly complies, allowing his leg to be extricated of the contraption that Jayce carefully places to the left of his position, where he’s still currently presiding… kneeling on the floor of his bedroom.Viktor swallows, throat jumping nervously before he looks away. “If you insist,” he replies gruffly. “But be certain of the fact that I won’t enjoy your fake platitudes.”“They’re not fake, Viktor.” Jayce takes a deep breath, realises he’s still holding on to Viktor’s leg and allows himself a brief respite, pretending that this was just a different sort of circumstance where he was only offering a helping hand, and that he hadn’t so mistakenly ruined things between them (which was seriously becoming a theme. Why was he such an idiot?)Alas, he had, though. And he wanted, no, needed to at least attempt to correct things.He rubs his thumb just so over the softness of Viktor’s shin in the process of slowly slipping his hand away, and in response Viktor startles, shifting his leg quickly out of his delicate touch. It’s reasonable to say that Jayce hadn’t meant to jumble the first interaction after Viktor is so patiently allowing Jayce to say his piece, but he had. And the flush rises in his face.“Sorry, I,” Jayce rubs a hand against the back of his head, “the reason I’m here: I didn’t intend to obscure the truth from you on purpose—”“In other words, you mean lie?” Viktor scoffs. What Jayce would give for Viktor to direct his ire toward him, rather than aiming that faraway glare at the wall, head turned away?Jayce continues, “—or omit anything. In my timeline, it happened later than now, but I’m coming to realise just how oblivious I was to the fact you were hurting…” Jayce’s voice is strained, “long before the truth of your condition was revealed to me in the infirmary.”Viktor’s mouth twists.“I didn’t want you to find out like this,” Jayce admits, “As though it was a source of shame to be hidden from you—” Viktor, finally, eyes blazing, does turn to him. His breathing was laboured from what Jayce can detect. “—it wasn’t! Viktor, I’ve always seen you as an equal, a friend—no, more than that—my best friend, my partner. I’ve never pitied you. That’s not the reason!”Viktor’s anger seems to have drained from him. He stares at Jayce as if trying to read through another web of lies, and the silence is like a living, breathing entity on its own.“Equal?” Viktor finally whispers, his voice tight. “Is that what you call it? Keeping me in the dark about something so—so vital? Friend, partner? Is that what we are, Jayce? Because from my vantage, it seems like you’ve been playing a very cruel game with me.”Jayce lets out a shuddering sigh, and the tears that cascade down his cheeks at Viktor’s frightening words seems to shock them both. “That’s not true at all,” Jayce bites at his lip, clutching his hands together in a tight hold as if to draw some self-comfort from the action. “But perhaps, in all of my shortcomings here, I was just being selfish. Again.” Jayce’s eyes close tightly, hands becoming a bruising grip on each other, as if the force could atone for all he’s done, and he ends up scrubbing his face in frustration instead, lest Viktor think him wallowing when he had no right to. He’s not the one wronged here. It’s entirely plausible for Viktor to think that of Jayce… no matter how utterly shitty it makes him feel.“I’m always selfish when it comes to you,” Jayce speaks through his hands tearfully. “Fuck, I think I didn’t even think to tell you sooner, because to do so, I—it would be like losing you all over again. You don’t know what it did to me, and maybe I should’ve been more truthful from the start, but to rehash it all in its entirety—” Jayce’s ramblings cut off in a sob. His heart seizes at the very thought—the picture in his mind’s eye of Viktor gone, the desperation he’d felt to bring him back, oh Gods—He'd broken that single promise in an instant.“I’m so sorry.” Jayce hangs his head in his hands for a long time, crouched on his knees in front of Viktor, that is until…A light brush of a hand in his hair, rubbing through the strands, the touch hesitant and then morphing into one of decisiveness. A thumb at the shell of his ear, familiar hand cupping his face as Jayce looks up.“Don’t cry,” Viktor looks grief-stricken, “not over me. I—I didn’t realise how much this has affected you. I should have. Realised, that is. Ah, what is the saying? Mending fences? Burying hatchets, and what have you?”“Don’t give me an easy out, Viktor,” Jayce shakes his head while Viktor’s grip becomes more demanding, “I don’t deserve it.”“Who are you to say what you deserve or do not? Are you the wronged party, here?” Jayce almost reels back at the idea, and Viktor allows his mouth to quirk up, eyes full of discerning concern, “No, I don’t suppose you are. So, I decide. You are forgiven, just do me the favour of not lying to me again. And of course, I did not mean… It is simple fact that we are friends. I have been in my own head about this; projecting. It’s difficult to reconcile that you’re… different… when my whole life I have seen the way people look at me, look down on me. I should have had more faith in you to not do the same, not after so long. Because I know you, Jayce Talis. I should’ve known better than to think. Well.” Jayce has never seen Viktor to be so flustered before; awkward laxing grip on his face and dawning realisation of how much emotion has been laid bare between them.Just as Viktor thinks to pull away, Jayce reaches up to hold on. Slips his fingers between Viktor’s, the feeling so right it’s almost painful to think that he should… let go.So he doesn’t.Viktor licks his dry lips, eyes locked to the position of their hands holding Jayce’s head in place.“We’re more than that,” Jayce cuts through the damning tension.“What?” Viktor whispers, eyes searching now. Unreadable.“More than friends,” Jayce refuses to back down, not now. “You’re… everything. The single most important thing in my life—I, Gods, I couldn’t bear the thought of losing you that I… I defied the laws of nature. Do you not—?”Viktor’s wide-eyed expression makes the butterflies dance and riot in his stomach, and the fact that Viktor hasn’t yet pulled away frays at the last dregs of maybe I shouldn’t do this, and the anxious spiral of thoughts disappear long enough for him to admit that this—this is it. He has to do this now. Damn the consequences.“I love you.”Viktor’s expression tumbles through an array of emotions.Fuck.And settles on fear.“You don’t.” He snaps his hand back and cautiously stands up, “Jayce—”“Viktor, I do,” no no no, “I do! I love you! I’ve loved you for so long, for some time without even realising it, I—”“It’ll pass, then!” Viktor says, frenzied. Backs away. “You should go.”“What? Viktor, please. You—”Viktor turns away, as if knowing exactly what’s going to be asked. Jayce thought—He swore he saw—Did Viktor really not feel the same? Jayce feels his heart lurch in his chest at just the shock of it. It ached like a physical pain.“Don’t you love me too?”Viktor stumbles in his attempt to get further away. “Why are you doing this? We—everything was—”“Answer me!” Jayce says, despairing. “Why the hell won’t you just—?”“In case you forgot, I have an expiration date! This is madness! I—you shouldn’t be entertaining this, I shouldn’t be…” Viktor mutters, plopping once again down, looking so desolate that Jayce finally understands.This time it’s Jayce who reaches out, threads his fingers through the hair that he quite familiarly knew would be so soft, but he never thought in a million years he’d actually have the chance again, but here it was, and—“Viktor, please,” Jayce says tenderly, inching closer enough to speak directly into the nape of his neck, closer still until he can feel Viktor shudder into the embrace. “You think I won’t take any time with you I can get?”Maybe there was still time to find an alternative, to save—the thought appears like a Trojan horse, and yet, Jayce can’t seem to find the will to banish it entirely.“Don’t even begin to think I’m better off without you… This isn’t a passing feeling, I love you, I’m going to love you, and when the time comes, I won’t regret a single moment spent with you.”“You… idiot,” Viktor mutters, pulls away barely to flick his eyes across Jayce’s painfully honest face. “I don’t want to hurt you.”“I know.” Jayce inches closer.“It’s going to hurt you,” Viktor breathes and Jayce glances down at his lips.“I know.” The barest breadth of space was between then, and Viktor felt the words tingle against where their mouths were so close, but not close enough.And then Viktor’s eyes slide closed, and Jayce slots their mouths together. Their kiss is tentative at first, as if testing the waters of their newfound feelings, but it soon deepens into something more profound. Because this wasn’t a kiss like any other Jayce had had before. This—it felt like a meeting of two people who would find each other, time and time again, in all timelines, and all possibilities.What he had with Viktor, it felt… inevitable.