Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Knowledge is a paradox.”

As he spoke, Viktor silently rubbed his thumb upon the corrupted metal of the cog in his hand…And in the other, brought his palm to rest on his stomach. “The more one understands, the more one realizes the vastness of his ignorance.”

The two growing stars within him lazily floated.

The doctor looked at his former pupil for a heartbeat, as though he did not know what to say. Then, he looked to  Vander, redirecting towards his creation. “Marvelous specimen, isn’t he?”

“The regenerative qualities of his blood will stabilize you.” Singed circled the sleeping beast, then kneeled next to him. “Apex Shimmer combined with you, the apex form of Hextech.”

Viktor somberly knew of his decline, steadily approaching with every finite use of his powers. His unborn children, his people…He planned to reserve magic within him, to the end of the pregnancy, and enough to quietly cut off his connection to the Commune, before he inevitably died as he was meant to.

The offer was a temptation, wherein the Herald would no longer need hex crystals to replenish himself, nor fear the loss of his children. But he knew what would be the cost.

“What you are suggesting would destroy him.” Viktor responded, the memories of Vander and his love for the undercity, his family, mixing with Singed’s, of his alliance with the Noxian general. “And for what? Conquest? The greed of warmongers?”

Singed hesitated, then slightly shook his head. “To complete your work.” He laid a bony hand on the mechanism drilled into Vander’s back, his creature’s even breaths undisturbed.

“To save us, from ourselves.”

And in the mechanism’s place, Viktor saw the doctor’s daughter, her young face pale in death, floating in the stars of her iron-glass coffin.

“You must survive, Viktor.”

She was the reason for Rio, for Vander. For all the inhumane amoral experiments Singed had committed. Everything he had done was for her.

After years believing his first child was lost to him, only to be reunited with Isha, and the potential growing within him, with their paradox of a father…

He genuinely empathized with Singed’s obsessive work towards reviving his daughter, knowing he would have done the same, if he lost Isha again, and failed his children before they could even be born.

And yet, even after pondering, he could not understand why.

Why was Jayce, in his younger past form, brought to Viktor in the present, only for him to end up…

“…Do you believe in fate, Doctor?”

The multicolored stained glass above them, framed by an intricate spiral, edged in his vision by the thriving successor to his first Hexcorized plant… “Our paths, carved before us?”

Jayce breathed heavily above him, ragged, and so different from the last time they’d been together, when they separated…After Salo’s dying vision faded, as he and Sky looked above at the Anomaly… “...There is another will at work within him.”

“I thought I heard something just before the portal closed. Ancient, like a…”

“Like a voice.”

“Guided by an invisible hand?”

What was strange, was that it sounded like his own.

Whatever will was influencing Jayce, the invisible force who returned him through the sophisticated conjuration of the Anomaly, proved the vastness of his ignorance once more.

“…You’re pregnant.”

The Herald looked down at his once mentor, a mirrored contrast to when he was once a child clinging to Rio’s anguished form, weakly screeching in pain…

As Singed stood up, exhaled, and reached inside his jacket.

Viktor’s memory of earlier faded as he opened his eyes, sat patiently on the floor of his sanctum, letting his daughter cut his hair behind him.

Rather than returning to meditation, on connecting himself to his powers further to help Vander, he chose to spend his afternoon with Isha, and their much needed time he wanted to make up for. A single afternoon wouldn’t be able to accomplish it, but it was a good start.

Vi and Jinx understood. He had seen through their father’s memories how their mother cut their locks as children. It was an intimate tradition in the undercity, to care for a loved one’s hair. Viktor had never let just anyone touch his hair, prone to allowing it to grow long until they became irksome. When the length finally bothered him enough, he would cut it himself.

Jayce helped him once, speaking fondly of the appeal of keeping a hairstyle short and clean, unknowing of the tradition every fissure folk knew…

Isha was more than happy to help, somehow already producing scissors (Viktor amusingly recognized them from one of his Commune members), while Vi was slightly skeptical about letting the young girl handle the sharp object before letting them be.

“Are you sure that’s safe?”

Viktor hummed, as his daughter took his hand, analyzing his shoulder length hair and already mimicking cutting it. There was a small braid in his hair, done by the two blue-haired girls, blonde and brown intertwined. “Of course not.”

Jinx snorted. “She’s held a gun to your face, remember? Isha can handle a couple of scissors.”

He remembered seeing through his daughter’s memories, and how much she cared for Jinx. How happy she was, to get to be a kid and be loved, after a childhood of forced labor and thrashing, where they preferred silent children over ones who could speak.

Viktor vowed to himself to keep that momentum, and let Isha know just how loved she was.

He felt the weight on his head grow lighter with every snip, content to let Isha work at her own pace. Not turning to look at her, he instead spoke aloud. “You seem quite fond of your current hairstyle.”

Isha made an approving sound, proud of her well-earned dyed hair, matching her role model, even down to the little braids. He could tell the color made her confident, feeling closer to the blue-haired loose cannon who saved her from Chross’ men.

The irony was not lost on him, that the very person who almost killed him, was the same who would care for his presumed dead child, but Viktor didn’t really care to have any hostility. A stray lock of blonde fell to the floor, joining the rest. She was really cutting it quite short, he observed.

His thoughts idled, enjoying the comfortable silence. He rubbed the fingertips of his right hand, feeling the magic charge that sparked from the contact.

His Hexcorized body was something he had grown used to over the past months. He no longer coughed. No longer struggled to walk. His transmuted staff, what had once been his crutch, forged by Jayce for him as a gift after his last broke, by his side on the floor.

It had done so much, and more. He had helped so many people, had so many breakthroughs he wished to share…And yet it was only when the younger Jayce unexpectedly came into his life, and Isha returned to him, did he realize how deeply lonely he felt.

For the first time, the vision of his Glorious Evolution, to supersede nature and heal everyone through Hextech, wavered against the love reignited within him. The remnants of his heart, opening to the world, finding true reasons to face his fears, in the very imperfection of nature that gave him Isha and her growing siblings.

Viktor felt the corrupted cog tucked within his robes, right above his chest…and Singed’s gift to him, even after he reinforced his conviction to help Vander, and the veiled threat of the Commune’s undoing, should he perish. His hand subconsciously rested on his stomach once more, and he knew what he had to do.

Isha ran her fingers through his now shorter chestnut hair, fluffing it up. Then she stood up, and skipped to face him, pulling out a small mirror. (Again, from one of his followers, when did she get that?)

He softly inhaled, taking in her handiwork.

His new hairstyle was reminiscent of his past self…back when he first met Jayce. Isha made do with the sides of his face where even his ears had become fused with distorted steel, yet it highlighted the sharpness of his features, while also highlighting the cut of his jaw. His daughter gave him a toothy smile, eyes lit up, expecting a reaction. Viktor lowered the mirror, and softened.

“Thank you, Isha. You did wonderfully.”

Her golden gaze, that which she inherited from him, sparkled at the praise. He couldn’t help but caress her cheek, fond. “You know I meant it when I say you have my eyes.” 

A thought struck him. “Would you…like to see?”

That caught her interest, and she nodded curiously.

The Herald smiled, and gently took his daughter’s hand. The warmth of the Sanctum faded, and darkened, as he brought her to the vast expansion of the eternal starry night within his zone.

“Ah!”

Isha gasped in wonder, and Viktor marveled at the vision of his daughter in glowing light. She spun in the endless stars, entertained by the weightlessness, and he chuckled.

Then, she focused on him, and the wonder in her eyes grew, taking in his fond golden gaze, mirroring her own.

In the depths of his inner universe, his daughter closed her eyes, and connected her forehead with his. What she had seen Vi do with Vander, and what she always wanted to do, even when she was alone in the factories.

In the outside world, Viktor felt a tear fall from his face, grateful beyond measure.

He didn’t know how long they were like that, when he suddenly felt a different, familiar glow.

Isha was the first to pull away, and taking a good look at her astral form, noticed something emanating, an aura of the Arcane…

Two gleaming orbs of Hextech blue, perfect in spherical form.

The Machine Herald opened his eyes, and returned with Isha to the real world. 

He asked with careful gentleness. “May I see the gemstones?”

That made his daughter look up at him, a touch confused. Then her eyebrows scrunched up, unsure. He knew her hesitation was warranted.

He had sent Salo, who had access to Piltover, to retrieve deposits from the Hexheart. Two would not cause the Hexgates to shut down. But they were all he needed to replenish his waning magic, and continue his work in the Glorious Evolution.

In their reunion, Jayce had ruthlessly killed him, and after…

Disheveled, wilder hair and beard, looking at him with ferocious determination, breathing heavily…

After a moment, Isha dug her hand in her right pocket, and took them out.

Two of the perfected Hextech gemstones, made with Jayce.

With careful hands, he picked them up, rolling them within his palm. Feeling his magic resonate, connecting with the pure energy of the Arcane within.

Isha stared up at him, watching the blue light play off the planes of her parent’s face, as he spoke quietly. “I made these, long ago, to help people. With someone I care for very much.” Honesty is the lifeblood of love, and he refused to be anything less to his daughter. “I thought I knew what it meant back then.”

Then…he pulled out Singed’s gift to him, and felt the glass vial clink against the stones.

You must survive, Viktor.

His daughter stared at the glowing orange gold Shimmer within, reflecting in her eyes, as he spoke softly.

“I was once told, love and legacy are the sacrifices we make for progress. But now…”

His single minded focus, unrelenting even against all odds, for his people, for the Commune, for the Glorious Evolution…Would his goals of perfecting the world match against his daughter, who he never thought he’d hold in his arms again?

Against his children…

Deep within, Viktor already knew the answer.

He gently returned the gemstones to Isha, and with them, gave the vial of Shimmer.

“I don’t need these to make me whole anymore.”

Isha was truly his daughter, smart beyond her years, as her eyebrows scrunched, feeling the weight of his words. Viktor closed her hands around both the vial and stones, as he smiled somberly.

“Do as you wish with these. Though, destroying the vial is possible.”

He would not sacrifice his children, his people, for his cause.

Even if that meant using the last remnants of his magic for the twins’ birth, for Vander…and to sever his connection to the Commune.

To inevitably die, as he was meant to long ago.

Viktor…

Sky’s voice, concerned, frightened, echoed in his mind, as he silently soothed the Hexcore, who wore his once assistant’s physicality.

Parents are not meant to outlive their children.

The Hexcore’s sentience struggled, and within, his creation tried to prolong his will to live.

No…Parents are meant to stay alive and healthy, so their children won’t be left alone.

As the small family stood up, Viktor gently played with the end of one of his daughter’s blue dyed braids, while she tucked away the Hextech gemstones and vial in one of her pockets.

Isha will be okay with Jinx. And so will his children when they are born, when he hopes to entrust them with Vi and Vander. They will be loved and raised well, without him.

And the solace of this knowledge further strengthened his resolve, quieting the Hexcore’s presence, the echo of its concern a fading memory.

With her toothy grin, Isha took his metal hand… stealing back Jinx’s gun from Huck, the plan to distract him…

It sparked a memory in him, even with the faint echo of Isha earlier today, the sensible concern he should feel at them, to be addressed after, along with his precautions in the event of the Noxian army hounding them…

His voice reverberated.

“You may not know this, but your birthday is approaching.” His daughter’s amber gaze widened. Likely, she did not know the exact date, but Viktor did. He would mourn her every year when the day came up. But now, for the first time, he would be able to celebrate with her.

Through their hand’s connection, Viktor chuckled, feeling the vague childlike imagery of a birthday party, Jinx dancing with her and himself, decorations all around, with cute comical pointy hats on Vi and Vander. He could feel her thoughts racing with possibilities, and the urge to go plant the idea in Jinx right now, so they could plan ahead.

“You will need a cake too. We can bake one together then.” The honey cake recipe, that which his mother once made for him on his birthdays before she passed, would be perfect. Him and his daughter inherited her eyes, that sparkled with hope and excitement, as he squeezed their joined hands.

“I promise.”

So caught up in his daughter’s excited grin, Viktor did not notice the figure entering the Sanctum, until he looked towards them…and his Hexcorized heart skipped a beat.

Ragged in body and spirit, raw intensity in burning hazel eyes…

Viktor softly smiled, his partner returned.

“Jayce.”

I missed you.

The longing escaped in his voice.

He went to take a step forward, their stare unbroken, when he felt Isha tense, and move to stand in front of her parent protectively with her arms open.

Something was very wrong.

Then, the corrupted weapon in Jayce’s hands, sharp and heavy, slowly lifted towards them.

Fear and adrenaline, Isha —

The hammer raised, pointed at him, his daughter, as Jayce’s form briefly split —

“Find Jinx and Vi, Isha — ”

He let go of her, pushed her away from the line of the hammer’s sight, as the anomalous entrancing energy powered up, Jayce’s very being tearing apart, shouting  —

I won’t fail.

Yet Isha let out a cry, reaching out to him —

I swear it.

What he had been planning to use against the Noxian army, the thousands of bloodlines connected to his Voice —

“FIND THEM.”

Isha’s terrified expression went blank, as her very soul obeyed his words, and ran away.

Viktor felt tears fall from his eyes, pained that the parting memory he would leave his daughter is controlling her against her will.

As Jayce roared in agony, finally pulling the trigger —

The last of his powers drained into severing his connection to the Commune, his final act protecting the twin stars within him —

That glowed brightly back, shielding absorbing the fatal blast, a resounding shockwave of magic.

A booming blast reverberated into the greenhouse, and a blinding light filled the world outside.

That took Jinx out of her embrace with Vi and Vander, as Caitlyn picked herself up, looking out in confused dread at the sound that slowly echoed away.

“What was that?”

The greenhouse’s metal door opened, and with it —

Jinx inhaled sharply, as Isha entered, dazed.

She quickly went to kneel by her side, holding her shoulder and cupping her cheek. The dullness in her eyes alarmed the Loose Cannon, what happened —

“Isha?”

The young girl slowly blinked, as she rubbed her eyes, and the light returned to amber gold…

Before widening in panic, tearing up —

“Hh! HHH!!!”

Isha breathed in rapidly, then signed to them in terror, the special gesture she had recently made for —

Parent —

Viktor —

Shimmer pink eyes sharpened, as without waiting for them to understand, Isha urgently ran out the door as soon as she came in —

She heard Vander’s thundering sprint behind her followed by Vi’s, as Jinx rapidly caught up to Isha, picking her up and using her acceleration in bursts to get to the Sanctum faster, running faster —

Didn’t care for Caitlyn or the doctor left behind, speeded past the confused hippie cultists breathing weirdly, their glowing marks fading —

“Jayce?”

“We need to get out of here — ”

The blurry rush of a vaguely familiar scraggly figure, taking Caitlyn Cupcake away, but Jinx didn’t care about any of that, as Isha desperately cried out, the Sanctum, floating shattered metal at the top of the sphere —

As soon as she stopped, Isha fell out of her arms, and dread suddenly sank into Jinx’s stomach like a hundred stones.

Viktor, remnants of fading sparkled light flickering out of the singed hollow in his chest, collapsed on the ground, unmoving.

The memory of Mom and Dad on the bridge, smoke parting to lifeless eyes staring beyond nothing —

Jinx breathed heavily, scratched out, as Isha held her parent’s upper body close to her, shaking him, sobbing —

That she didn’t notice Vander and Vi’s arrival, as Isha gasped shakily —  

A small desperate hand dug into her pouch, the gemstone, a glowing orange gold tube —

Pushing the gemstone inside the Herald’s chest, opening the vial —

As Isha opened Viktor’s mouth, and forced the Shimmer inside.

I understand now. The message hidden within the pattern.

The reason for our failures in the Commune. 

Humanity. Our very essence. Our emotions… Rage. Compassion. Hate. 

Love.

Two sides of the same coin. Inextricably bound.

That which inspires us to our greatest good… is also the cause of our greatest evil.

For a few seconds in eternity, Viktor felt peace, in the darkness.

His eyes slightly opened, confused…then, the light shining down his face…

Isha…

Pure Hextech energy, knitting metal in his chest, his Hexcorized body drained grey…

As his returned heartbeat grew louder in his hearing, deafening him —

He couldn’t breathe —

His upper body jolting forward, leaning forward choking on air, agony as his Hexcorized veins, branching thrashing filling with burning gold —

Falling to the side, convulsing on the ground violently —

Liquid glowing amber within, the endless expanse of the universe within him alight —

Breaking through his womb, enveloping the twin embryos inside of him, incredibly young, what they would go through, the glowing stars, blindingly bright —

A force field of anomalous energy exploded out of him, expanding in less than a second, protecting the radius of the whole Commune, the army at their gates  —

Rushing, evolving —

His son and daughter’s unborn eyes, opening with his as Viktor violently gasped —

Their luminous pupils golden, their irises polluted in every color.

Isha sobbed as Viktor, transformed before their very eyes, fell unconscious, then pulled her parent close in her small arms, her tears like raindrops on the Herald’s robes.

Chapter Text

Somehow, with every day, Vi found her life kept leveling up when it came to insane moments.

Passing by the Commune folks, who’d been both going about their everyday chores within the force field’s limits, while also taking care of themselves, in the wake of something passing over them that she couldn’t say what…only that they seemed to be more, emotional, now.

Given what happened to their leader and healer, Vi couldn’t blame them.

It had been two days since Viktor was shot and nearly killed by Jayce, who had magically returned from Janna knows where, and honestly, it was still hard for her to grasp what he’d done.

She remembered before the hunt for her sister, in between the attack and the memorials, visiting Jayce in the lab and bringing back the gauntlets. The horror she hid at the sight of a thin, pale faced man suspended in a glowing chamber, and the guilt that piled up further when the Councilor explained who Viktor was, and why he was up there.

Her memory of Jayce back then, longing and sleep-deprived, waiting for his partner to wake up, clashed with the sight of him completely changed running past them, and Isha signing angrily at what the person who had done this looked like.

On her way to the Sanctum, she passed by the now familiar shape of her dad, patrolling the force field on all fours, prowling. 

“Vander.” 

Approaching him, he stood up and towered over her, making her feel like a kid again. She shifted her feet. “Vi.” Snarled through sharp teeth, yet sent relief down her stomach with every time Vander recognized her.

She connected her forehead to his in greeting. They hadn’t seen each other yet this morning, though considering who they were letting stay for now to help Viktor, and when she learned this fuckface was the one who did this to Vander, the same piece of shit who made Shimmer…

“I am the only one here who can determine his condition.”

Cuffed and kneeling on the hard dirt, the doctor stared back at her vicious glare. Vander protectively hovered over Viktor’s prone body and Isha holding her parent close.

Jinx’s Shimmer pink eyes dangerously glinted. “Of being dead?” Then winced, hearing the young girl’s sob behind her. “Sorry.”

But Singed only nodded slightly. “The little one may have helped him, but his condition is still severe. If he does not receive further treatment soon, then he will be.”

Vi warred with herself, as she exchanged a wary glance with her sister. On one hand, she desperately itched to beat the ever living shit out of this doctor for what he did to Vander, and everything else in between.

On the other, knowing they had no idea what to do to help Viktor’s current state hanging between life and death, along with the force field outside barring them from finding someone less insane…

Fuck.

“Viktor must survive.”

The pink-haired boxer stared above at the spherical force field surrounding them in the Commune, glowing and iridescent. A bigger scale of the protective barrier the gauntlets made sometimes, plus with the knowledge that Viktor was as much a part of Hextech as Jayce was (didn’t that speak to fuck all, that she only learned this recently). Compared to the stone box she spent much of her life in, Vi had to admit at least that this was a more comfortable prison. Better food for starters, and much better company. But she knew it wouldn’t last for too long.

“Is Viktor awake yet?” Vander growled, and through his changed features, she could recognize the concern in his dual-colored eyes. 

Vander, their dad lost to them for years, tortured and experimented on until he was barely human anymore…Then Viktor, saying he was worth the risk, patient and kind as he poured everything into healing him.

Vi looked down, and sighed. “...I don’t think so.”

She won’t forget what Viktor had done for Vander, nor what he meant to Isha in the revelation prior to all of this. The memory of the crying young girl cradling her still parent in her arms, uncomfortable and too close to home.

A small frustrated chuff from the taller. “But I haven’t checked yet today.” Vi put a bandaged hand on his arm, nodding. “I’ll go see em now.”

Metal against impenetrable magic, its resounding echo making them both look to the side, where the entrance stood.

Outside the force field, Ambessa’s army had made camp, with her hulking lieutenant heavily patched up throwing a spear to try to pierce the barrier.

Just like all the others, as when she saw them first trying to get through, forged steel disintegrated into glowing ashes. Just like the first poor soldier who attempted to get through.

The bearded man scowled at them through the iridescent layer, and Vi glared back, as she walked away, leaving her father to continue guarding the borders.

Whatever Viktor had made, people could go out, but as far as they knew, no one could get in. 

As an unwilling subject, Vander had chucked the Noxian lieutenant outside of the force field when he woke up two days prior, keeping his spear with them. The metal talismans weighed in her pocket, given by Jinx after being told they absorbed Hextech magic. A little gift apparently, seeing as the gauntlets were stuck outside, and that they were down one gemstone.

When she finally reached the Sanctum, Huck was standing by the entrance quietly speaking to another villager, and nodded at her as she passed. Since entering the Commune, the negative perspective she had on the once Shimmer-addicted man had lessened, and knew he was just as worried over Viktor as they were, especially after what happened to all of them.

Inside the broken spherical chamber, lay Viktor, surrounded by plush pillows and a structured blanket fort made by Isha and Jinx.

Singed hovered over the prone man, checking his vitals for the day, while Isha and her sister seemed to be arguing about something.

“I don’t get what you wanna show me, stinkbug, but this ain’t helping.”

Isha made a sound of frustration, pushing Viktor’s limp metal hand into Jinx’s, then signing.

“Stars?” Jinx continued to look nonplussed as the smaller girl brought out a drawing. From here, Vi could see a childish colorful scrawl, two bright yellow stars over what looked to be Isha and an approximation of Viktor with…white hair? She pointed angrily at the two yellow scribbles, before putting it down and taking her parent’s other hand.

Vi walked over, squatting down next to her sister, while Isha’s gold eyes became awed, staring at something they couldn’t see. “What’s up?”

Jinx sighed, resting her chin on her palm. “Honestly, ain’t got a clue. Been trying to figure it out though.” They watched as Isha opened her hand not holding onto Viktor, gazing at the empty air in wonder, before waving for some reason. “She and fortune cookie have some kinda special connection, even like this.” She notched her head to the comatose man’s direction, as Singed hummed, pulling away.

“Fascinating.”

When the doctor’s gaze turned to Isha, whose eyes refocused to the real world as Jinx protectively cupped her cheek with a glare, pulling the small girl away from him. “You’ve discovered them as well.” 

“I assume your parent did not have time to tell you yet.” His scarred eyes crinkled in what Vi thought was a smile. “You remind me much of Viktor when he was young. Intelligent beyond your years.”

“I am glad to see they are alive, despite the circumstances.”

Stranger danger alarms blared in her head at the cryptic words, and Vi stood up, getting to why she was here in the first place as she spoke to the doctor.

“How is he?”

Whatever faint fondness in Singed’s voice left as soon as it came, glancing at her before staring down at Viktor. Underneath his blue-red robes, the Herald’s metal body had lost its purple glowing tinge, replaced with faint orange gold, weakly pulsing every few moments from dull grey steel.

To the rest of the world, one would think Viktor was simply asleep.

“His vital signs continue to be too low to be detected normally. He is alive, barely. Hextech and Shimmer have stabilized him, and yet it has not been enough to awaken him.” Singed spoke through his high collar, muffled yet raspy. “Warwick’s blood could sustain him further, if you allow it.”

“His name, is Vander.” Vi snarled, but felt torn. Knowing the father who adopted them, selfless and self-sacrificing, if he heard his blood could help Viktor, he would give it. Yet she didn’t want Singed and his fucking needles to touch her dad, ever again. She still didn’t trust him, and for all they knew, this could be a long play at getting to what Ambessa wanted.

They could just kick him out of the force field, but she hated that they couldn’t, until Viktor woke up.

There had to be another way.

Expecting her refusal, Singed only moved to encircle the Herald’s body, assessing. “Do you know how Viktor came to be this way?”

“...”

The memory of a red night sky streaked in blue, of Jayce tiredly gazing up at his partner above them…

Vi looked away.

“...The explosion. He was there, when…”

Jinx tensed beside her, seated still with Isha next to her parent’s comatose form.

When he wasn’t meant to.

“Jayce did something, to keep him alive.” And remembering it, Vi still couldn’t understand.

Why did Jayce do this to Viktor?

Old guilt and remaining confusion struggled within her, while Singed only nodded. “The Hexcore.” Then, an exhale. “In truth, according to my calculations, it should have been enough to cure him, and extend his lifespan beyond his expected end. But…”

Vi followed the doctor’s gaze, as Huck walked in, the redhead having listened in, with a torn expression on his face.

“Likely he had been pushing his energy the past year to build all of this. His community.” Singed stared down Huck. “Choosing them, knowing regardless that he would soon decline.”

Fuck.

Vi felt her stomach lurch in turmoil, as Jinx flinched beside her, stricken, at the realization Huck confessed aloud.

“All he ever wanted was to help.”

Singed assessed the newcomer for a breath, then rasped. “Viktor’s state, for all his advancements, is severe. Whatever did this to him, is unlike anything within both Shimmer and Hextech.”

The broken pieces of the Sanctum floated high above them, as Vi frowned, not liking where the doctor was going.

But they had no choice.

“If Jayce is the source of both Viktor’s rebirth and current state, he may be the key to saving him once more.”

The Hexheart towered above him, edged with the corruption of the Anomaly within.

Jayce gazed at the foundation of the Hexgates that he created with Viktor, as his breath came out in a faint fog, thinking heavily.

I won’t fail.

His hex crystal, kept with him his whole life, now tied to his very veins, as it slowly killed him.

I swear it.

Much had happened in the past two days, since he was sent back from the apocalypse.

“Jayce, mijo…”

His mother sobbed, hugging him tightly, even in his terrible state, thinking him dead the past months. He could not help but hold her back, his heart restricting, having missed home.

“Thank you, for coming back.”

He didn’t have the heart to tell her, it would not be for long.

“How can I know you aren’t lying to me?”

The council table lined in cracked gold, Mel returned to him, and yet Jayce could no longer look at her the same way after what happened to them both. 

“Why would you think I am?!”

“Because you used me, and Viktor, for Hextech. You called us ‘investments.’”

“ — you were a wise investment.”

Then, just this afternoon, before Mel left to find her mother.

They were both hurting, and their paths had diverged.

“I’ve been confused about a lot lately.”

Jayce gazed at Piltover’s cityline, Mel beside, as lost as him, in blood rather than in bond.

“But there’s one thing I know in my bones.”

They had irreversibly changed, and even though it was through great pain, they both knew it was for the better. There was no going back to how they once were, and they reconciled with the end of their romantic relationship.

“There is no force in this world that can control you.”

They parted ways, with his last strong yet gentle words to her, before leaving to check on the Hexheart.

“You will never be a passenger.”

Tying his loose ends, saying his goodbyes without the word itself, before the inevitable happened.

Jayce gripped the staff of the corrupted Mercury Hammer. Given by his Hexcorized self, and…

“In all timelines, in all possibilities…”

Viktor’s voice, distant, speaking to another, multicolored eyes glassy with tears, then closing, as he pulled the trigger —

“Only you…can show me this.”

He’d done as Viktor had shown him, in the apocalypse. He’d bought the world time, and in so doing, fatally attacked the one person he held most dear.

Jayce felt his heart tighten painfully.

It didn’t hurt any less, to know it was all to save Viktor from a fate worse than death. To save everyone from the still looming future, of the world’s end.

The Council was assembling soon, as were people from the undercity he had called to the meeting. Jayce may not have physical proof of what was to come, but he would do his best to speak from the heart, and rally them to face the coming storm, together.

Viktor’s soft smile in bed, cupping his jaw, illuminated by the morning sunlight.

Jayce felt his body agonizingly glitch, and he flinched, angrily scowling.

Enough reminiscing.

The Hexheart pulsed as the gates teleported above, the Anomaly slumbering within, as he turned and walked away, opening the vault doors.

Soon, he would see Viktor again, one way or another. And when he does, he cannot…

Jayce cannot let his love and weakness stop him from saving them all.

The heavy metal doors slowly unlocked, and opened.

Revealing Caitlyn, waiting for him this whole time.

Another close one in his life, irreversibly changed after what they’d done.

At the sight of her familiar face, Jayce nodded in greeting.

“Hey, sprout.” Likely, she was here to call him for the meeting he had asked her help with. But the look on the once naive woman’s face, now lined with wariness and the weight of her sins, said otherwise.

“There’s someone who wants to see you.” Caitlyn spoke, illuminated only by the light of the Hexheart chamber behind him, the darkness of the tunnel hallway more pronounced in its shadow. “I…I knew him before, and I normally wouldn’t have brought Huck here, but…”

“It’s about Viktor.”

Jayce’s hand on his hammer tightened, then she moved away, to reveal a hooded cultist, with red pulled back hair, a turquoise silver pendant, linen garments, and the signature marks of Viktor’s magic.

The same marks on every creature he passed in the apocalypse.

His hammer roared to life, spiral sharp Anomaly power breaking through —

Caitlyn stared at the charged weapon in surprised horror, but the man…

There was fear in his changed eyes, and yet, he stood his ground, as Jayce growled.

“Where is he.”

This…this was something the mage did say would happen. That he would visit, and that Jayce must do everything in his power to stop him.

But…after a tense moment, seeing no sudden threats, the Defender begrudgingly exhaled, and lowered his weapon, powering it down. Caitlyn released her breath, still staring at him, while the cultist only pulled back his hood then, and responded.

“The Herald is back in the Commune. Vi and Vander are with him.” At the sound of the pink-haired woman’s name, Caitlyn flinched. He knows she was worried for Vi, after being rushed back to Piltover by him. 

The cultist gazed at him, and implored quietly.

“Viktor is dying. He needs your help.”

Jayce should be celebrating. The end of the world would be avoided, the apocalypse he lived through, no longer a possibility…

Viktor collapsed on the ground, and he had to leave, before he fell to his knees —

But he couldn’t believe it.

He snarled. “You’re lying.” 

The cultist only frowned, shaking his head. “His daughter did everything to save him, but your attack has done its work. I spoke with the doctor, before I left for here.”

“He’s…We don’t know when he will wake up.”

…

Daughter?

His sigh reverberated, as he looked to Cait, who stared at him confused. “I volunteered, knowing I may not be able to return. I will be your willing prisoner after, so long as you hear me out. Please.”

“Wait…daughter?”

He doesn’t know if he said it, or Caitlyn. Only that the single word, made his blood freeze.

“Yes. Viktor’s daughter. Isha.” Huck frowned, saddened. “He thought her long dead, when she was taken from him as a newborn. Simply awful.” Jayce felt his lungs constrict, as the repressed memory of shooting his partner came back with a vengeance, through the tearing of his very being…

“Find Jinx and Vi, Isha — ”

Footsteps drowned out from the roar of the Hexcorized Hammer, running away  —

“No…No…”

Viktor never told him, not his Viktor, nor the mage in the other timeline —

“Jayce?”

An unbidden memory from years ago, when everything made sense, when he visited his partner’s apartment, seeing Viktor bake a small cake drizzled with honey, and oddly explained with a quiet smile that he was remembering someone, one of the sweeter moments between them as they shared the cake after —

Gasping, choking for air —

“Jayce, stop! ”

His hand was forced away from the tight grasp around the cultist’s neck, as Caitlyn shoved him back. Huck collapsed to the floor, coughing. Jayce drew in a shaky breath, not realizing what he had done without thinking.

Viktor had a daughter. Had a child, with someone else, and never…

It doesn’t matter. It shouldn’t matter. He can’t, he can’t —

Awful, isn’t it? Losing a loved one.

No. He had to focus.

As Caitlyn helped the other man up from the floor, Jayce heavily inhaled and exhaled, the cold fog emanating from his mouth…

Just like the cultist’s, as he massaged his neck, lightly wheezing.

Salo, changed and so reverently speaking of Viktor, yet he did not breathe, no fog came out in front of his face…

“How are you breathing?”

That wasn’t possible.

“...”

Cait gave him an even warier stare, confused by his question. But the cultist knew what he was speaking of, as he lowered his hand from his neck. 

“Viktor severed his connection to all of us. And for the first time in ages, we…we breathed.” Huck soberly answered. “Our bodies felt, heavier. Weaker. But we were alive.”

Severed his connection…? Thousands of the Evolved, decaying metal limbs and featureless heads, creaking, staring back at him…

Huck empathically glanced at Cait, whose expression was lost. “Don’t misunderstand. Outside of me, everyone in our Commune willingly asked Viktor to heal them. And had I been given a choice back then, knowing what I do now…I would do it all over again.”

“I was at my worst when he found me, and he gave me the chance to make amends. To be better.”

No, no…This wasn’t what happened…

Jayce breathed harder, as the cultist stared at him with honest blue eyes, that became soft with sadness.

“We could feel how much Viktor cared for you, Jayce. How much he missed you.”

No…no… “There were thousands of us, and we couldn’t fill the void he had inside of him, after he left you.” 

Huck chuckled, looking down. “It’s why many of us didn’t stop you, even when you brought a weapon inside. Why one of our kids brought you to the Sanctum. Because he was waiting for you.”

His heart was being destroyed from within, he had to stay strong, to focus, this wasn’t real —

“It’s difficult sometimes, to relive your worst failures.”

The cultist murmured, and his voice broke. “I don’t know why you did it. I don’t think I would understand. But I’m speaking on behalf of the Commune, and all the people Viktor helped, the good and the bad.”

“On behalf of his daughter, and his children yet to be born.”

…

What?

“Please, help him.”

It was nighttime, and the inner Sanctum was softly aglow with the few lanterns about the blanket fort keeping Viktor’s body safe from the cold, illuminating the colorful doodles on its walls made today by his daughter and Jinx.

Vi woke up slightly next to her sister, who snuffled, then continued snoring, pillowed by Vander’s furry body. The boxer rubbed her eyes a touch, blinking.

Isha, who should have been asleep next to Viktor, was scribbling away at another drawing, awake and concentrating very hard.

Careful to extract herself from the cuddle pile, Vi made her way to the smaller girl, and chuckled. Powder…Jinx used to get like this too, back when they were kids, when she had ideas that kept her up at night.

“Whatcha got there?” Vi murmured, sitting down beside Viktor and Isha.

So focused on her latest drawing, Isha didn’t notice her, continuing the doodle determinedly. From here, a metal corrugated cog glinted next to the kid’s helmet, as she peered down at what was being colored in.

The whole paper was being scribbled blue between stars of all colors, and a sleeping doodle of Viktor, with two big yellow stars above him.

She wasn’t like Jinx, not knowing how to communicate as well with Isha. The girl reminded Vi of Steb, who spoke very few words in the time she’d known him, though Loris never had a problem understanding him. 

But Vi tried, and complimented Isha quietly. “That’s really good.” She was rewarded with a glance up, and a toothy grin. 

Then, crayon-waxy fingers reached for hers, and Vi let the little girl guide her hand, to rest on Viktor’s blanketed stomach, for some reason.

It weirded her out a little, but it wasn’t anything too strange, so she kept her palm splayed upon the metal plane of the transformed man’s stomach, feeling a small curve. This had to do with what Isha’s been trying to tell her sister this morning.

Isha sat up, and stared her down determinedly, as she brought up the almost finished drawing to point at the center. Vi smirked. Okay, she could do this. She’s handled a lot more confusing things, and a lot worse besides. So, first things first.

“The stars.” The little girl nodded at her first deduction, then patted Vi’s hand on her parent. “Stomach.” What their connection is was what she had to find out next.

The young kid’s gold eyes sparkled, and she nodded again. Then… Isha brought up one fist, and thumped her knuckles on her other open palm.

The gesture was familiar, and it didn’t take Vi long to understand. “Beating.”

A groan, then Isha frowned, rapping her knuckles softly again on her palm, then on the ground, making a more audible sound. Vander and Jinx slept on, none the wiser.

“Thumping. Banging. What?” The young girl scowled at her guesses, then did the gesture a last time, not in multiples, but a single…

“Knock.”

Isha snapped her fingers, brightening. She got it then. But this odd play of charades still didn’t make sense to Vi yet.

Stars, stomach, knock…

These were the times she missed Caitlyn. Vi had street smarts and wasn’t an idiot, but it had to count for something that Isha was literally the daughter of a mad scientist.

Stars, always two…Knocked…

Then, it all shockingly, horrifyingly, clicked in Vi’s brain, as Isha made a rainbow curve above her parent’s stomach, and stared at her with pleading golden eyes, to understand.

Viktor was pregnant.

The next morning, the force field wavered, in the nearing presence of a weapon, anomalous and otherworldly.

Chapter Text

“Our mother…Our dearest mother…”

Viktor was ethereal, adrift.

Two hooded figures, purple and red and blue shifting within the fabric, a soft murmur heard within his very soul…

“Centuries of pain and sorrow…”

He could only follow, as they climbed, the haze of a destroyed world surrounding them…Along their path, petrified corpses all over, even of babies and children…

“You will now learn the truth of what we are capable of…”

Until they reached their summit, where a third, paler hooded figure, holding a staff, waited by a kneeling statue.

“And it will hurt you to the core.”

The pair embraced the third, one of them resting their hand on the statue’s shoulder, overtaken by nature…

“Don’t worry. We are with you.”

Then, golden pupils with dark irises glowed from beneath their hooded eclipse. The last figure, cloaked in bleached white and corrupted colors, reached out…

“We love you.”

As Viktor took their hand, and experienced their connected truth.

The first thing Vi did for this morning, the moment Singed came inside the Sanctum to check on Viktor, was grab the so-called doctor by the jacket and pin him to the wall.

“Why the fuck didn’t you tell us?!”

The commotion abruptly woke up Vander and her sister, while Isha slept peacefully next to her parent, tuckered out from the late night with her starry drawing held loosely in her hand. The doctor knew what she was referring to immediately.

“I assumed you were aware.” Singed rasped, frustratingly composed. “If I remember, I even spoke of it to the little one in front of you.”

Seeing the doctor so close to his children and those he sought to protect raised Vander’s hackles, standing now in a defensive position. “What’s going on?” Jinx had stood up with their dad, as her Shimmer eyes sharpened from drowsiness, and thumbed the butt of her gun at the sudden amp in hostility. “Vi?”

“Viktor’s pregnant.”

Shock crossed through Jinx’s face, then a disbelieving nervous sound. “What?” 

She didn’t want to take her eyes off the doctor, but her voice wavered vulnerably. “Isha told me last night. You said they have a connection. That’s what she was trying to tell us.” Her fingers clenched harder around the doctor’s jacket, imagining it was his throat. 

“And you wanted to put Vander’s blood in him, knowing this.”

“Would you rather they die?”

Vi held back a flinch, and Isha whimpered in her sleep, snuggling closer to Viktor. Vander snarled, while Jinx stiffened.

Singed stared them down, blunt and cold. “The lives of Viktor and his children are on the line. Given the precarity and unique composition of his form, severe measures must be considered.” He leaned forward, and Vi could see his scarred mouth underneath his high collar. “We do not have the luxury of sanity, nor of time.”

Vi kept contact with those unnervingly pale eyes, her breath drawn, before exhaling reluctantly, then letting go of the doctor with a helpless scowl.

A thick uncomfortable silence followed. Then, Jinx slowly drawled.

“So…Who’s fortune cookie’s baby daddy?”

Her sister said it like a joke to break the tension, but when Vi looked at the blue haired girl warily, then glanced at Vander for a dawning second…she let out a nervous laugh.

“What, you don’t mean…?”

Their dad, even through his changed features, gave both a bewildered expression and an incredulous one. “Vi, that’s — ”

“We haven’t been here that long!” Jinx protested, looking to be in just as much denial as Vi was. “And gross, just because they were alone a lot — ”

“Viktor is in the very early stages of pregnancy,” Singed unhelpfully chipped in with his infuriating rasp. “Though I theorize, like much of his augmented organic creations, the children’s growth may be accelerated than one would deem normal.”

Jinx waved her hands in the air in annoyed protest. “That’s not helping! For all we know, Mister Golden Boy who shot him got Vik knocked up!” The dark implications of that seemed to hit both sisters the moment she uttered them, and considering the state they found the other man…

Then Vi spluttered, going back to what Singed just said. Did she fucking hear that right? “Wait, did you say children, like plural?”

It was like Singed was having fun at their confusion, as he only tilted his head, gesturing to Isha and her drawing. Fuck, two stars…

“The issue of who impregnated Viktor — ” Jinx made a yuck sound and grossed out face at the phrasing, “and the number of his children matter little.”

Next to them, setting off Vi’s alarms, Vander suddenly straightened, sniffing the air. 

Blood, not triggering him thanks to the Herald’s healing, but scented nonetheless.

“Though…I believe we will have bigger problems to address, soon enough.”

Vi glared at him fiercely, and went to tell the doctor to stop fucking with them or she’d make good on the promise of chucking him out —

When a familiar boom, muffled yet no less loud, alerted them all.

The same sound just like the blast three days ago, when Jayce almost killed Viktor.

Instinctively, she moved to run towards the entrance, but Vi had to physically stop herself, reason clashing with her first reaction as she looked back.

The sudden blast was enough to wake up Isha, who blearily blinked while Jinx crouched to put herself as the first defense before the small girl and her comatose parent.

Hesitant to leave her family, Viktor and Isha alone with Singed, Vi felt lost, but then another raucous boom shook the Sanctum from the outside, and it was Vander who encircled the three protectively, nodding as he snarled.

“Go. I’ll protect them.”

Jinx had pulled out her Zapper, powered it up, and pointed her gun at Singed, as her Shimmer eyes glowed dangerously. “You try anything doc, and those burns I made’ll look like angel kisses next to this.”

Vi didn’t stay to see Singed’s reaction or ask what her sister meant, leaving the Sanctum in a rushed dash, the metal talismans gifted by Jinx clinking in her pocket, as she sprinted to find where the source of the commotion was —

A third boom, then another, closer this time, and Vi looked up in the midst of her search, seeing the force field fragment for a terrifying millisecond, before returning to its normal calm swirl of colors.

Jayce was trying to get in, and taking the barrier down with him.

If Huck was successful, or dead at Jayce’s hands, he must know no one can get in, only leave and never return.

Then finally reaching the entrance to the Commune, Vi could see through the force field —

A full on battle was happening outside, from here she could see Noxian soldiers encircling Jayce and the Piltie councilor, Mel, fighting Ambessa’s right hand man together, who dodged another blast from Jayce’s corrupted hammer that ended up hitting the barrier again with a deafening boom once more.

Mel who looked way more golden than she last saw her, suddenly forming a magical glowing sphere to protect Jayce from a spear thrust by a Noxian soldier, and as the other man roared, clashing with Rictus and in a series of exchanged blows, thrust the heavy metal of his hammer to the lieutenant’s shin breaking it with a furious shout, then downing the hulking lieutenant with a swift raise of his destructive weapon, that fell without mercy —

As nearby, occupying Ambessa in a single duel with enforcers dead or battling other soldiers, and losing, Hextech rifle fallen to the ground in the midst of combat —

“Cait!”

Fear and love drove Vi without question to run, leaping through the force field, seeing the blue haired woman struggling as Ambessa was trying to drive a spear into her opponent, in the struggle punching Caitlyn on the throat, making her gasp for air and fall to her knees —

Using her full weight, the boxer launched herself at Ambessa, knocking her down for a brief second to the ground —

The wind also escaped her lungs as Vi coughed, having gone down with her, and tried to stand up next to the bigger woman, who was quicker to regain her footing.

“Vi!” A powerful fist slammed into her stomach before she could stand, making her shout in pain.

Then wincing, trying to focus against it, Vi’s eyes widened in realizing dread, seeing what had fallen from her pocket.

Ambessa smiled down at her, then she kneeled to pick up her lieutenant’s talismans, the silver metal gleaming a sinister green, as she expertly wrapped them around her right arm.

“I owe you thanks, once again.”

Then, she raised her arm, masterfully blocking corrupted Hextech energy coming her way, as it was all absorbed by the talismans.

Jayce growled at his attack being nullified, then had to return his attention to destroying the rest of Ambessa’s soldiers, Mel protecting him all the while —

Vi struggled on one knee to get back up, Ambessa went back to fighting Cait immediately, not giving her time to breathe anymore, as the first blow struck her in the chest.

Her complicated feelings and love for Caitlyn, the lingering pains and sins they needed to address, gone in a heartbeat seeing her in danger still, her eyes now widening at the sight of an unconscious Steb and Loris on the battlefield, and Maddie — 

Maddie picking up the Hextech rifle, cocking it, then pointing at Cait who had her back to her — 

“NO!”

She wouldn’t make it in time, the shock of betrayal not setting in yet, only the terror that she would lose another person she loved dearly, Vi reaching forward desperately —

When a golden magical sphere stopped the bullet inches away from Maddie, ricocheting and hitting the filthy traitor in the shoulder, making her gasp out in pain.

Not giving her space to shoot again as she reached the other woman, with a furious shout Vi lunged at Maddie whose blue eyes widened — Grabbing her by the neck, and with all her strength throwing Maddie against Viktor’s force field, as she screamed in agony, disintegrating into glowing ashes like all the rest.

Adrenaline coursing through her veins, Vi clenched her fists and breathed hard, her heart stopping —

The Noxian warrior nearly drove her spear into Caitlyn, Mel deflecting the sharp point at the last second, while Jayce ran past her, and as Vi joined forces with two other women —

Ambessa’s eyes sharpened into battle honed concentration, as Vi mirrored her focus by shifting to her fighting stance, with Mel and Caitlyn beside her, their battle now equal.

As the battle ensued behind him, Jayce looked upon the iridescent force field towering above them, shielding the Commune from the outside world, shielding Viktor, away from him…

“Mother, stop this!”

The senseless bloodshed around a place of peace, Ambessa had not listened to reason no matter how much Mel pleaded still, having left her no choice when she turned her own army against her daughter —

Her hesitation cost lives, and he could only hope Vi and Caitlyn would help her against her mother, but Jayce had one goal in his determination, coming back here.

Viktor needed him, the apocalypse farther and farther away, I’m sorry, I swore I wouldn’t fail, Viktor and his children needed him —

Blood dripped down his Anomaly-corrupted hammer as he breathed heavily, examining the force field, seeing a few of the cultists fearfully looking at the battle they were protected from.

Then, in a brave moment, one of them came to face him —

As the brunette boy who had once gazed at him with open trusting eyes, bringing him to his Herald by the hand, now stared back in betrayed anger.

“We could feel how much Viktor cared for you, Jayce. How much he missed you…It’s why many of us didn’t stop you, even when you brought a weapon inside. Why one of our kids brought you to the Sanctum. Because he was waiting for you.”

Those blue metal-lined round eyes were the only thing that made him hesitate, when every second blood was further spilled. Other cultists now stared him down as well, protective of their home, and the leader who had healed them.

Even when, as he confirmed with Huck, everyone had been severed from their connection with Viktor.

Jayce met each of their gazes, and saw what they all had within their stares.

Challenging him, to try, and see if Viktor welcomed him still.

Before he was taken prisoner, Huck had stressed to them about the force field, that they would need to find a way inside, with its nature destroying anything that tried.

But Jayce knew what he needed to do, the moment the hex crystal fused to his very veins resonated, lifting his hand for him.

Reaching out, his fingertips brushing the iridescent magic…

As the world around him bled into another —

Somehow, Jayce was at the foot of the mountains where he almost died, a memory, or a dream —

Two hooded figures, a butterfly passed by them, as they stood facing each other amidst a blooming field of flowers, lifting their heads to look at him…

Their features, and their eyes —

His hand lifted out to the figures, to try and reach them —

Then the force field let him pass through, and they were gone.

Chapter Text

The original alternate path. Where the younger version of Jayce had not visited him.

Where Isha, his daughter…

Happily running with tears in her golden eyes towards a rampaging Vander, permanently feral in the wake of the distraction Jayce’s betrayal caused…Jinx’s horrified scream, reaching out to the small girl who she’d grown to care for deeply…

Disintegrated by her gun, and the Hextech gemstones Viktor himself had created, all to save them from Vander’s massacre.

…

Isha died, and Viktor went insane with grief, after losing his daughter twice.

Singed kept him from the brink of following after his child, his mind broken as he sought to rekindle his partnership with Jayce, Viktor needed him when he needed a reason to keep living, he needed him —

Only to be vehemently rejected, and shot again. 

Viktor felt the hollow in his chest grow further…then…

Grief and madness filled the gaps where love had been.

Piltover and Zaun stood no chance against the Herald’s Glorious Evolution.

And by the time Viktor realized what he’d done…

The world no longer feared death.

Isha wasn’t afraid anymore.

Outside there was another boom, and she protectively leaned closer over Mama’s body, with Jinx and her dad guarding them too. 

The doctor looked towards the entrance the same as them, waiting.

Then, a few moments later…

Zapper in Jinx’s hand sparked, and her role model’s glare deepened, wary. “What is it?” Isha wanted to see too, but didn’t want to leave where she was.

Singed only glanced back for a second. Then, he reassured Isha, like he did when they first met, in the prison elevator while his hand was bloody. “Worry not, little one.”

“Your mother’s visitor is here.”

She asked her parent earlier, what he wanted to be called. Viktor only smiled gently, saying he did not mind either term, before they made the hand sign Isha would use just for him.

Something seemed to dawn on Jinx above her as the other quietly swore while Vander growled and curled around them further.

Mama’s visitor…The one Mister Huck went to bring back.

Viktor let go of her, pushed her away from the line of the hammer’s sight  —

The one who did this to her Mama.

Isha felt torn, just like she did when the doctor told them he could help heal Viktor. She was the one who did that, not him. He hurt him, and she had to save him.

…But she wanted Mama to wake up. To hug her, and be with them again.

After a hard life of being alone, working her small body in the factories until she couldn’t take it anymore and ran. After being with Jinx, and finally getting to be a kid, helping their city, then later Vi and their dad... 

Finding Viktor, who thought her dead, and the few precious moments they had together, before everything went wrong…

She just got him back, and now she was losing him again.

Isha had to give her Mama’s attacker a chance, if the doctor really thinks he won’t hurt them again. If he tried, or couldn’t help, she knew just what to do.

But as footsteps grew louder, Isha tried to push down her feelings, because she had to.

She had to let him try.

Even if it took this Jayce’s help to bring her Mama back.

There was a scream so piercing it could be heard from even here, then Isha instinctively took Viktor’s hand in hers.

Everyone else disappeared for a moment, alone, replaced by a beautiful dark expanse with stars…

With two of them, brighter and active, greeting Isha with a soft twirl around her.

Mama’s words echoed in her mind.  “You may not know this, but your birthday is approaching…You will need a cake too. We can bake one together then.”

Isha was their big sister, just like Jinx and her sister was too.  She wanted her and Viktor to bake honey cakes for when they’re born, not just on her birthday. And every birthday after, where they could grow up together, and be a family, just like Jinx, Vi, and Vander.

No matter what happens, she had to protect them, when she couldn’t protect Mama.

Isha softly signed will keep you safe with one hand, before letting go.

Then the world bled back in…

With Mama’s visitor, stepping into the entrance of the Sanctum.

Her heart leapt in adrenaline, and burned.

It was him.

He was wearing different clothes, looked more like a Piltie than last time. More bloodstained too. But the big butterfly hammer he held, the same one that was pointed at them back then…

Jinx carrying her as fast as they could make it back, her parent on the ground, lifeless with a hole in his chest —

“Viktor…” 

Pained hazel eyes, staring at her Mama, almost dead because of this Piltie.

Mama made her leave because of him. Wanted to protect her from him.

Now, it was her turn, to protect Viktor from Jayce.

He took a step forward —

And before he could take another step, grabbing Zapper from Jinx’s surprised hand —

Isha stood up and without hesitation pulled the trigger, shooting an arc of pure blue annihilating energy straight at the man who hurt her family.

Jayce’s eyes widened as the small girl with blue hair abruptly shot at him, the familiar Hextech blue about to reach him in less than a second as he instinctively raised the hammer to guard —

“Isha!”

When just as suddenly, an iridescent sphere exploded out of the hammer, shielding him at the very last second.

Jayce started, watching as the tendrils of Hextech electricity were immediately absorbed by the barrier, protecting him from harm. Just like the force field outside, keeping the Commune safe against those who would hurt them.

Like Viktor…

A heavy breathing pause, thick with tension, as Jayce slowly lowered his hammer, and with it, the barrier, the iridescent layer returning mysteriously within.

There was nothing now between them, caught in the deadlock of the small girl, chestnut peeking out of blue dyed hair, still holding up Jinx’s gun…

Defiantly glaring at him, with those achingly familiar golden eyes.

Isha. Viktor’s daughter.

The longer he stared back, the more he saw Viktor in her, and it hurt. The longer he looked at her, the burning, warring knowledge that Viktor had a child without his knowledge, with some faceless stranger — He was the first to break, and in this stalemate, Jayce only registered now the others in the Sanctum.

A scarred pale thin man in Zaunite clothes. His heart quietly sped up in protectiveness and horror at the sight of a fierce hulking beast crouched over Viktor’s body, snarling at him.

Next to the beast, was Jinx.

The same blue haired maniac who had sown chaos all over Piltover, who bombed them and pushed Jayce to the brink of desperation as his partner bled out in his arms…Now by Viktor’s side, her Shimmer pink eyes cautiously darting between the two of them. Had it been any other situation, he’d recognize the irony in their places being switched. Viktor always helped people in need, and it should have surprised him less to see his once killer protecting him loyally.

He was Viktor’s killer now too. One who inflicted far worse pain, and knowingly did so, even when it took every shred of his being to hurt the partner he loved. Who he had put so much through, bringing him back against his will. Only to lay lifeless on the ground once more.

Jayce didn’t have the right to feel this way anymore. The fearing concern at the lack of breathing. The hole he shot through Viktor’s chest had somehow healed. His hair, short and fluffy on his pillowed head, reminiscent of how he looked when they were together…

He didn’t notice before, all his concentration focused back then on completing his mission. But to finally take in Viktor, in all his changed form, wearing only what he now realized was his childhood blanket, that he’d given his partner to protect him from the cold ages ago…

Viktor, even like this, was breathtakingly beautiful.

“He is here to help, little one.”

The thin man rasped, breaking the charged silence. “Had he wished to harm your mother again, he would have done so already.”

He couldn’t help the small twinge of pain at the cold statement. Jinx had carefully walked to stand next to Isha, and the resemblance in their style was uncanny. It didn’t take a genius to see the girl admired the other, for some reason Jayce didn’t care to know right now, even when he buried the thought of whether his once partner’s daughter knew her idol hurt Viktor just like him. It didn’t matter anymore.

Jinx took her gun back from the young child, and something silent passed between them in the exchange. Then, the older blue-braided girl raised the weapon again, and translated as Jayce watched Isha sign something to him using her hands.

“Did you know he was pregnant, when you shot him?”

He flinched, and his already tumultuous heart clenched tighter.

Looking back, he should have known. Viktor should have told him, before sending him back. 

Why did the mage who saved his life keep him in the dark, then give him the Hexcorized hammer of his alternate self, and send him down this path to stop himself?

He should have known.

Jayce answered, guttural, pained.

“No.”

Then, it was the creature behind the two girls, who snarled through sharp teeth. “Why?” Jinx kept her eyes on him as Isha turned her head to follow his gaze at the transfigured man behind them. “Why did you do it?”

Why?

The apocalypse created by Hextech, everyone dead or turned into evolved husks around him —

Viktor’s faint old smile looking at him, multicolored eyes fond and sad —

“Only you can show me this.”

He felt his being tear apart, and under the weight of everything…

Jayce couldn’t keep it in any longer, and spoke the raw truth.

“Because I promised him.”

His gaze locked onto Viktor’s prone body, resting among soft pillows and tea lights. Surrounded by the love he deserved.

The hammer fell to the ground with a heavy thunk. It was no longer needed.

“I don’t have the right to care for him anymore. I know that.” Jayce couldn’t look away from the man he loved, who he hurt irreversibly. Isha listened, watching him. “I thought I wanted Viktor and I to give magic to the world. But now…”

Years, blind to how he had been misdirecting his love everywhere else. Years, taking his partner for granted, and when the brutal time came to separate, Jayce couldn’t even let him go.

An apocalypse that showed him the truth, and made him realize why he did everything, to end up here, for this moment.

“Now…all I want…is my partner back.”

He vowed. Promised not to let what happened in the apocalypse future happen here. Struggled every day since then to not give in, when the second he saw Viktor again, that’s all he wanted to do.

And as far as he could discern, he had done it. He had averted the apocalypse. At the cost of destroying themselves in turn.

Now, that there was nothing anymore to keep him away…When Viktor needed him most…

Breaking him out of the spiral of his maddening guilt and yearning, was a small gentle hand.

Jayce looked to Isha, lost.

And saw the same determined empathy his partner expressed, back when Viktor saved him from killing himself.

That she now understood him.

Like father, like daughter.

It felt like a haze as Isha silently took his hand, and guided him to her parent. Jinx withdrew, followed by the beast guarding Viktor, only a short distance away. The doctor walked towards them now, as Jayce was brought to kneel by his partner’s side.

“Viktor…”

With a trembling hand, Jayce caressed Viktor’s face. The other, on his still chest, where he had shot him.

“Why isn’t he breathing?” There had to be a reason, or why would they give him so much hope and anguish —

“His vital signs are too low to detect to the common senses.” Crouched next to them, the scarred man explained bluntly. “Isha saved Viktor with an infusion of Shimmer and a Hextech gemstone. He has been like this since your attack.” 

“We do not know if it worked, or how long he will remain between life and death.” 

Jayce’s breath grew ragged, everything else in his vision blurring except for his partner, tears welling in his broken gaze.

After all this, only for him to lose Viktor…

Analyzing him, gauging what he would do next… “Your anomalies caused this.” The doctor rasped. “And they may be the key to saving him now.” 

I did this, I did this to you, the world had to be saved and you needed me —

“That is why we called for you.”

He didn’t know how much time had passed, it felt like he had been staring at Viktor’s face, serene, as though sleeping, for an eternity…

“I’m sorry…”

The sob that escaped his throat, Jayce didn’t realize he had leaned closer, until his tears fell upon the remnants of Viktor’s face unmarred by the Hexcore. “I know you’re in there, V. I…” His voice shook.

“No matter how long it takes, I will find you again.”

The hex crystal embedded in his wrist, his devoted connection all this time to Viktor that he’d carried for decades, glowed and thrummed to life…

Pressed to his partner’s cheek, as Jayce cradled the back of his head, and lifted him slightly, in an anguished embrace.

“I’m here now.” Connecting their foreheads, as his heart continued to break, the longer he felt nothing. “So please…” All his love and sorrow, concentrated into that dangerous determination, that has changed and destroyed entire worlds…

Jayce held Viktor in his arms, and sobbed.

“Come back to me.”

“If I could have sacrificed my life instead, I swear, I would have done it.”

His older self echoed his memories, as they sat at the edge of the remnant of the world.

In his ethereal astral form, Viktor was only a spirit. Yet in his unknown duration here, everything within him had changed. 

Due to their very nature, they were always connected. The power of the Anomaly absorbed from Jayce’s attack had amplified their bond, and brought his soul here.

Even from here, he could feel what Isha had done to him, to save him after what Jayce had done…and yet Viktor had not returned. Because he needed to know.

He looked to the other, and could not help how his heart panged, remembering. “That is what we thought for a long time, after Isha was born, yet dead to us.”

“I loved our daughter with all my heart. I loved her, even when I didn’t know she was there, all this time.”

A stray flying insect, with iridescent wings, shimmered past them, and the peaceful breeze blew in.

Viktor spoke softly, and what his elder had shown him, their memories now shared.

“We lost ourselves in our grief.” That is how this world ended.

The mage quietly nodded. “We have always chosen to hurt ourselves, even now, for this moment. For the sake of something more.” An exhale. “It is why it hurts so much, when we lose them.”

“My Isha is gone, along with everyone I wanted to help.” His older self closed his eyes, and put a hand to his chest, the pain of losing his child within, never healed, even after centuries. “And as I realized, in these fields of dreamless solitude…”

“When I discovered the capabilities of teleporting not just through space, but other timelines, other possibilities…I found Jayce.”

Then, from his hand, erupted the Anomaly, eternity in his palm, quiet for now.

“I thought we could bring an end to the world’s suffering, and in the end, we destroyed it.” The Anomaly lazily spun in his hand. “In the early days after everything we had done, I was…desperate. We failed to do good, and I wanted to fix what we had broken.”

Then, his elder moved the Anomaly towards him, and Viktor gently let chaos be transferred into his hands.

And within, glimpses of possibilities played before him.

A deadly cold storm, a young boy’s cry for help…

“Yet I found I could not do it…Our love is selfish, in every universe.” The hooded mage chuckled, then soberly explained. “And so I resolved to save him, in every lifetime, and ourselves, in any way I can. Though events can always happen differently, in the end. There is no prize to perfection in them. Only an end to pursuit.”

Viktor, overwhelmed enough, spun the Anomaly on its axis with the tip of his finger, and saw worlds on top of theirs, within theirs, happening now and yet in the past and future…

Jayce, desperate and yearning, a drunk younger version of himself finding him in an alleyway, then…

Jayce, Hexcorized like him, adorned in an inverted red blue of his blanket, fighting an army with terrifying insanity in his changed eyes, fighting for his dead body back…

Jayce, grim and determined, packing what he needed, as he set out to find him, wherever he may be, after his Viktor had pushed him out at the last moment from sacrificing his life for his partner’s mistakes…

In all of them, there was Jayce, and their love, however dark.

“We change entire worlds when we are together, and we destroy entire worlds when we are apart.” Elder Viktor murmured, a truth that shook him to his very core. “I thought of all the ways, all the possibilities to avert in other universes what I had done in mine.”

An endless expanse of colorful stars, souls raining down in sparkling gold and beautiful acceleration energy, alongside their magic together, as their astral bodies held on…

“In another, death in the thousands followed rather than millions, and we are locked in an infinite embrace with the one we hold dearest.”

Of all iterations, this one was the most breathtaking.

As Viktor felt the weight of the Anomaly in his hands, taking in everything one devastating truth at a time, he spoke his theory.

“In my timeline, you sought to avoid Isha’s death, and all other unnecessary deaths as well.”

He looked to his alternate self, who had set down his staff on his lap, then nodded. “To stop Isha’s death and thousands of others, yes.”

“Do you remember what we thought, when the doctors told us she was stillborn?”

Viktor would never forget. “We had not brought life into the world. Only death.” It was not lost to him, sitting here in the remains of an extinct world, how truer those words were now.

But his older mage self gently took back the Anomaly, and let it fade back within him.

“You will be different.”

It was then, that it struck Viktor.

“You brought the younger Jayce to me.” The elder confirmed his accusation with a small smile, and hummed.

“We never were able to raise any child, much less Isha. And there is only one I know whom we would willingly have children with.”

The silent sentry behind them, having knelt for centuries, quietly listened.

Viktor cupped his stomach. Flat in his astral form, separated from the glowing stars of his unborn children. And yet…

“In other timelines, we have different children. In some, we have none at all.” Elder Viktor confided, wistful. “I found, that in those we do have them, we do not bring about annihilation. Because the world is worth living with them.”

His older self laid a hand on top of his, cold, yet comforting. “Thalessa and Velkan are among these exceptions. Though they are much more advanced in growth here, despite their infancy.”

They had left them alone to talk, and said they were going to help their father before returning. Then they left after embracing Viktor, and told him if anything happened, know that they love him.

“In our pursuit to save the world from suffering, we lost ourselves, lost our dream.”

Slowly they stood up together, and Viktor felt the words of his older self etch into his very soul.

Please…

“We must be better, for our children.”

Come back to me.

Distant and echoing, the world began to softly blur…

“Jayce is calling you.”

The Elder bridged their hands between them, a sad yet hopeful smile on his face…

“I hope for Isha and our children to grow up in your universe, and for all our sakes…”

A tear fell from Viktor’s soul, as the acceleration rune of Jayce’s hex crystal brought him back…

“Live well and be happy, together.”

Viktor opened his eyes slowly, gold pupils with polluted irises dazedly taking in the warm light…

And Jayce was there for him, with Isha blessedly alive, as he could not help it anymore, and cried.

Chapter Text

“Viktor… Viktor!”

Brought back by love, Jayce cupped his face, tears welling up from golden eyes and falling silently. The grief of the apocalypse, anguish and an overwhelming maelstrom of emotions understanding the truth he had been shown…

Viktor slowly sat up, Jayce not letting him go, his gaze fixed on him in shock, awe, blissful relief, and he could hear his once partner’s thoughts, you’re awake, alive, you’re alive —

“Jayce…”

A sob escaped Jayce, as Viktor’s gold pupils focused on him, wet with tears, then placed his hand on top of his resting on a sharp metal cheek —

Mama!

Heard from within her thoughts, a cry with a forceful push as Isha shoved the other man away with a surprised noise, hugging her parent in a joyful embrace at seeing him reawakened.

The memory of her death viscerally clashed with the weight of his child in his arms. And so Viktor held her tightly back, needing to remember his daughter as she is now, alive.

“Isha…” He felt her memories of the last few days, tending to his prone form, drawing their family, finding her siblings in their unborn potential within, and protecting them all in her way… 

“I’m sorry. For everything I put you through.” He’d been an awful parent since their reunion. Protecting her and hurting her in equal measure. 

“I’m so sorry.” His voice broke, withdrawing slightly to cup Isha’s face, and look her in the eye as he swore. “You deserve better from me as your parent.”

We must be better, for our children.

“I promise to be better , for you and your siblings. Now, and forevermore.”

The elder mage’s words ingrained in his very soul, to not make the same mistakes he did, and to treasure what he no longer could.

Isha sobbed, he felt her unquestioning love and forgiveness, her soul bright and worth protecting a thousand times over, and Viktor let his daughter hug him close once more, basking in the feeling of her alive in his arms.

“ I promise. ”

He could hear others nearby, the familiar acidic aura of Singed, the gunpowder and axle grease of Jinx, saying something in regards to his awakened return…Yet none of it mattered, when he felt Jayce’s aura, of pure light and forged magic.

Viktor opened his eyes, and the sight of Jayce staring at them, anguish and longing in his gaze, made him offer his hand, pulling the man he would always be connected to in their embrace.

Within him, Thal and Vel, awakened before their birth, glowed brighter, their family whole at last.

The teardrop crystal fused to Jayce’s very veins, that had been spreading Hexcorization into his body, slowly killing him, had been the key to awakening Viktor. His connection to the world of the apocalypse, and to his partner, in an endless cycle of saving each other…

Far away in a world apart, the elder Viktor faintly smiled. The apocalypse averted here, and his work was done.

The rune’s purpose fulfilled, he let the crystal’s energy fade, and so too followed the deadening of the corrupted veins around it.

To die together, or live together…

In all timelines would they never be separated, not even by death.

Viktor knelt before his Jayce, touching the statue’s moss-covered shoulder, and connected their foreheads, feeling the other’s soul within embrace his in kind.

In the aftermath of the battle against Ambessa, they tended to their dead, and recuperated.

The Noxian General had died in her daughter’s arms, and Mel held her mother close one last time, before helping the remnants of her army bring the body for funeral rites back above. They were her soldiers now, with Rictus gone as well, and a burden she said she needed to bear as a Medarda, for the path ahead.

Caitlyn tended to Vi’s wounds in their fight against Ambessa, protecting her. The air lighter between the two, with relief and love in their eyes, and every touch they shared that healed something within them.

Isha had gotten Jinx to begrudgingly help fix the Commune’s entrance gate, which was near collapse from being struck in battle. The little girl brought them water while Vander did most of the heavy lifting with a patient rumble, happy watching his daughter build and improve, for the people around who she cared deeply for.

Singed, needing to return to give his daughter the dosage she needed to remain in unaging stasis, quietly left, yet they knew he would return.

The Commune’s force field dissipated and the threat over their lives now gone, Huck and his partner’s followers reunited with their Herald, who had freed them from their connection, yet healed them nonetheless in a method they did not hold against Viktor, for having chosen this when he came to their aid. But they were now free to go, and Huck serenely smiled, saying some of them will leave, and some of them will stay. Keeping the dream of the Commune alive, even in their Herald’s absence, should he choose.

Jayce had not left his side while they walked through the Commune witnessing all this, as Viktor spoke with his people, grateful and grieving contrasting within.

And now, they walked the rich fields where familiar yellow flowers grew, as Jayce held one hand, and Viktor cupped the other to his stomach, listening.

No words passed between them, yet his partner paused in their walk, and nodded, looking down.

“Yes…Yes…I know.”

Most people would have looked at Viktor weirdly for speaking out of the blue, and to seemingly nothing. Yet Jayce understood what was happening, and quietly asked.

“What are they saying?”

Deep down, his stomach twisted, at the reminder that Viktor was pregnant with someone else’s children. That he had Isha before they met, with another man no longer present.

Jayce swallowed his jealousy and the possessiveness born from his love and protective streak when it comes to Viktor, knowing he couldn’t change nor dictate who the other got to love, just as the same could be said for him back when he was with Mel.

This darker part of him quietly rejoiced though at seeing there was no presence of either person, no lover by Viktor’s side, other than Jayce. He did not know what he would do, if there was, or would be. Nothing that would be free of blood, that he was sure of enough.

After all that they’d been through, who they truly were to each other, and having his partner back, Jayce would never let Viktor go.

His partner looked up to gaze at the horizon of the Commune aglow with the bare light from above filtering in, changed yet the same, as he faintly smiled.

“Thalessa and Velkan are saying, they cannot wait to meet you when they are born.”

Jayce felt his chest clench. “Oh.”

He loved Viktor’s children deeply already, as though they were his own. 

And they will be, his voice shaping to volunteer himself to be there for them, raise them in place of the other who abandoned their parent, who was blessed with Viktor’s love and threw it away —

“They can feel you are here, and they are excited to grow up to be with their father.”

…

Father?

Everything around them seemed to go quiet, as Jayce’s heart stopped, the moment he understood the children’s words through their parent’s mouth.

Slowly, he turned to look at Viktor, adorned in his blanket, bringing their joined hands to splay over the small swell of his stomach. He felt them, their life growing within, and —

Just like when he was a young boy saved by the mage decades ago, Jayce breathed in shocked awe, not able to believe what Viktor revealed.

“...How?”

The Herald tearfully smiled. Then, he raised the other’s wrist to his cheek. The same arm where Jayce’s rune leather cuff was once constantly worn, where now the crystal embedded in his scarred veins lay dormant…

As the air in his lungs was knocked out, and Jayce fell to his knees.

Viktor shuddered as he continued laving kisses upon Jayce’s beloved hex crystal, reverently riding the aftershocks, and feeling bone-deep sated for the first time in a very long while…Then, pleading hazel eyes looked up at him, and his hands reached out as though to grab…

With a tired yet indulgent smile, Viktor knew without words what Jayce was asking for, and fervidly kissed this past younger version of his partner, with a tender exhale shared between them…

An endless loop, with no discernible origin. Their relationship a paradox, a cycle of magic, changing and destroying…

And now, created life.

His injured leg protested painfully at the sudden movement, yet did not compare to the guilt flaring in his chest. He’d shot Viktor, pregnant with his children this whole, he hurt them —

“What I did to you — ”

“I understand.”

Having lowered down with him, his metal hand cradled his partner’s face closer. “I understand now, Jayce.” Viktor whispered, caressing his thumb upon the other’s cheek, feeling his inhale, seeing hazel eyes widen slightly in surprise. “I saw…everything.”

The most precious of tears fell on his face like raindrops, as Viktor’s voice trembled, closing his eyes. “All my life, I have sought to help people.”

“Viktor…”

You have. You’ve saved the world a hundred times, saved me a thousand times over, even at the cost of ourselves. You’ve helped people worlds over, and no one else will ever know but us.

Viktor wetly laughed, and Jayce knew he heard his thoughts before he could speak them. “Thousands of lifetimes, and for the first time, I don’t know anymore…”

“What will I do now?”

To have exceeded and defied what once was their life’s purpose, so deep within themselves it was pure nature…

Devoted, Jayce pulled his partner close, now kneeling together among the soft yellow flower fields, and gave what he wanted to ask for a very long time, held back or ignorant for so long…and could do so now.

“Please, be with me, Viktor.”

Golden pupils with polluted irises gazed back at beloved hazel, that had gone through everything, to the ends of the earth, just to be with him again.

“And we’ll find out, together.”

Their tears mixed as they slid down Jayce’s face, no longer discernible from each other, taking all of Viktor’s lost anguish and pain, faith and love overcoming the fear of the future.

And as they closed their eyes in a longing embrace, their kiss tasting of love beyond everything…Jayce saw the vision of the future, looped back in memory to Viktor, who deepened their connection in the pained wonder of hope.

This last parting gift the elder mage gave to them, of a future worth living to see come true.

A cottage by the mountains, a field surrounded by thousands of beautifully colored flowers…

An airship that travelled all over the world arrived from above, Isha, older with braided brown hair ending in faded blue, happily waving at them, Jinx with shorn hair beside her, and who Jayce recognized to be Ekko, grinning as they prepared to land. 

Bringing news of how Piltover and Zaun fared in their absence. How they saw Singed last time, and the return of his daughter in a strange clockwork form. How they heard of Mel visiting from Noxus, having reclaimed her home and defeated the Black Rose. How Vander helped the people now in his beastly form, accepted for its irreversible state, yet no longer plagued by the beast. How Vi and Caitlyn’s wedding went, with the tale of how Jinx and Isha stole most of the desserts.

As the grass and flowers billowed in the wake of the airship’s landing, carefree laughter resounded, running past…

Thal and Vel, happily excited to greet their sibling, that even though they were gifted beyond their years, got to have a childhood surrounded by people who love them.

Hextech in their inherited blood, a defining trait for their family, the magic they created permeating in their children as mages themselves, and likely for any future offspring they have, a fourth kid as possible as ever…

By the porch of their cottage, Jayce hugged Viktor from behind, wrapped his arms around his chest, as the other took his hand, lovingly kissing his cheek. 

Domestic in their peace well deserved, after exploring the world, and finding their dream in each other, and their children.

The vision faded as soon as it came, yet gave them light and hope in the wilder unknown, that a future as beautiful as this could happen.

In the present, Jinx and Vi called out their names, with Isha in tow, looking for them before Mel and Caitlyn departed for Piltover above. 

Yet they could not see Jayce and Viktor, foreheads intimately connected, kneeling amidst the flowers, who exhaled in exhilarated and hopeful love…

Of their future together, made possible by the anomaly in their bloodline.