To Be Destroyed

[esp_dragonv2]

Fandom: Arcane: League of Legends
Summary: Viktor asked Jayce to destroy the hexcore. It should have been an easy task.
Contains: Horror. Mental connection. Pain. Sentient object.
Rating: G
Genre: Horror
Word count: 1,779
Status: Complete



Viktor followed Jayce into the lab, eyes first going to the hexcore as they always did. It was from habit and pride to check it was there, to see the culmination of all the work they'd accomplished over the years. They hexcore also just drew the eye, with its flickering light and constant spinning. But now...

"What happened?" Jayce asked, striding over to it.

Viktor snorted, watching the new purple shine, the sharper edges that ended at points like thorns. "I had been running some extra experiments while you were busy."

Jayce craned his neck once he reached it, trying to see the hexcore from different angles, not getting close enough to touch. "Yeah, I can see that. Just... Tell me later?"

Viktor nodded, tugging at his glove. "Of course." Once he could relax. Once the hexcore had been destroyed.

Viktor settled into one of the chairs to watch Jayce work, far enough to not be in the way, but close enough to have a clear view. Was it the right way to do it? What if it reacted the same way as before and disintegrated Jayce?

That was why he was here. He had to watch, in case something happened. To make sure it was destroyed.

He had watched Jayce raise his hammer hundreds of times before, the sunlight catching its smooth sides. He had always tensed before, in case the test was another failure, or the previous test was a fluke and now the cyrstal would shatter. Now he wasn't sure if the hexcore would even react in the same way as the other hextech.

When Jayce's hammer hit the hexcrystals, it rang out with a clear chime; when it hit the hexcore, it was a discordant screech, multiple sounds overlapping each other.

Wrong.

It sounded wrong.

It had to be destroyed.

The hexcore didn't shatter. Of course it didn't. The crystals were strong enough to resist a blow and the hexcore... Well. It continued to float there, seemingly not moved at all under Jayce's strength.

Another swing of the hammer, and it felt as if it beat against Viktor's chest instead.

This was something they had spent years perfecting, that they hadn't uncovered all its secrets yet, but they couldn't let it continue to exist.

It was too dangerous.

Another swing and Viktor pursed his lips, running a hand down his leg, pain prickling there. The pain had stopped since the transformation, nerves assumedly changed, but had that only been temporary? Maybe the transformation hadn't been as complete as he thought.

In some ways, that was a good thing. A failure of sorts. It wasn't permanent.

They had made some progress, and now they would have to understand where they'd went wrong (everywhere) and fix it.

They weren't losing everything by destroying the hexcore.

They had their notes. They could make something else. Something that wouldn't kill.

Another swing, the resulting screech sounding louder, like splintering glass, and Viktor hissed, clutching at his leg, his hand aching in sympathy.

Wait.

His hand?

It hadn't...

Viktor stared at what he was doing, the purple edges of the transformation peeking out from under his glove. How the angles of his leg weren't recognisable after the transformation.

It couldn't be. But he could see the connection, the possibility of what was happening.

He heard the whistle of Jayce's hammer cutting through the air and he braced himself.

It didn't make sense, he wasn't the one being hit, but it did.

Pain radiated up his leg as if he'd been kicked (hit with a hammer) and there was something else among the racket.

A scream.

But it wasn't his. It couldn't be, because Jayce wasn't reacting, lifting his hammer again.

Except.

It was his own voice. He was sure it was.

Not quite.

Not exact.

It was cracked and warped at the edges, an echo rather than the source.

Because he wasn't the one screaming.

But then.

Who was?

Viktor fell, the world spinning-

No. The world changed and he was no longer seeing Jayce's back, but his front, Jayce's face reflected in purple as he brought his hammer down towards Viktor.

No. Nonono! Stop it!

Searing pain brought Viktor back, and he clutched at his leg, staring at it.

At the glowing purple crack of light pulsating through his trousers.

"I think I just made a crack!" Jayce's voice wavered in and out of Viktor's hearing, proud.

Viktor swallowed, lurching to his feet, the words still reverberating in his mind. He had wanted Jayce to stop. Of course he did. Who wouldn't flinch at an object coming towards their face.

But that hadn't been his thoughts.

It had sounded like him, had used his voice. But it wasn't him.

It was the hexcore.

Had he done something else when he'd tried to change his body? When he'd succeeded? Or was the arcane more sentient than they'd assumed, able to have thoughts, but no voice to speak.

"Jayce..."

His voice was a rasp and he wasn't sure if Jayce heard him. He could barely hear himself, his vision twisting as he stumbled forward.

He could feel his leg, both able to hold his weight, and far too aware of the crack that was spreading down it, a different kind of pain that had nothing to do with muscles and bone. His leg was just being torn open as if there was nothing there.

It was hard to walk, hard to judge where to plant his feet when Jayce's face swam in front of his vision.

He watched Jayce raise his hammer again, and Jayce was too far away to do anything about it. To stop him.

Pain slammed through Viktor's leg and hand, and he couldn't tell if the noise he heard was the hexcore shattering, or his leg.

It had to be neither.

They both still had to be in one piece.

It wouldn't hurt this much otherwise.

He saw Jayce jerk away from hims - the hexcore and-

His body was crumpled on the floor.

He knew that. He could feel the smooth stone under his cheek, the waves of pain radiating from his leg, but he could also feel the weightless spinning of the hexcore, somehow both attached to the hexcore and not, its sense of being floating around the core.

...Sense...of being?

Make him stop! He needs to- I don't want to-

"Vik-!"

Hands grasping his shoulders grounded Viktor back to his body, his eyes focusing on Jayce's face. He was closer compared to the hexcore's view, worry written over his face as he checked Viktor over. Viktor was upright, leaning against Jayce's chest.

"What's-"

Viktor raised his left hand, his right refusing to listen to him. He grabbed Jayce by the lapels. It felt real. This felt real, his breathing harsh to his ears, Jayce's clothes soft under his fingers, and he focused on that, trying to concentrate, trying to stay here as his hand shook.

Jayce wrapped an arm around him, and it was so warm.

"C'mon, let's-"

"No." Even that felt slurred, as if he was relearning how to use his tongue, how to speak. But he had to say this first. In case something else happened. "You can't destroy it."

Jayce frowned, squeezing Viktor's hand, his warmth seeping into Viktor. "I'm more worried about y-"

"It's because-" Viktor shook his head. "We're connected, Jayce," he said, tugging his glove off. Purple light shone through the jagged cracks deep enough that, on a normal body, would have gone through bone and muscle. It wasn't a normal hand, and Viktor could still move it, albeit more stiffly than before.

Jayce's eyes went wide. "How?"

"I don't know," Viktor said, studying his hand. He could guess, but he didn't know anything for sure. Yet.

"So if I destroy the hexcore..."

Viktor nodded, dropping his hands, his energy spent. "I may die along with it." He didn't know how much of his body had changed in the transformation, if it was more than just his hand and leg. But there had to be more. How else could he control his new limbs if his nerves hadn't also been changed to adapt to them?

"That's not all." He looked across to where the hexcore was. He couldn't see it, not from this angle, but he could see its light reflected against the walls. "It's alive, Jayce."

"Are you...?" Jayce trailed off, looking towards the hexcore, before his gaze was drawn back to Viktor's hand.

"It feels pain. It feels fear. It can talk." In his own voice.

"It doesn't..." Viktor swallowed.

I don't want to die.

It sounded so much like him, using his voice. Was it really the hexcore? The thoughts were similar, but the emotions behind them were different. Unfocused and scattered.

Has he stopped?

Yes. It looked like Jayce was listening to him.

Good. It hurt.

It was reacting to his thoughts. It could hear him just as he could hear it.

Viktor wheezed a chuckle, relaxing against Jayce.

"Viktor...?"

"It doesn't want to be destroyed, and neither do I." It would have been defeating the purpose of developing the hextech in the first place.

"I'm not going to kill-" Jayce sighed, leaning in to kiss Viktor's forehead. "So what do we do now?"

"I don't know," Viktor murmured, still aware of the weightless spinning, the connection to something more, something bigger that was at the edge of his senses. It didn't feel as he could shut off the connection, and now that he knew of it, he couldn't stay only aware of his own body.

"We'll - we'll figure something out," Jayce said. "A way to break the connection."

Viktor nodded, closing his eyes, his vision tinged with purple even then.

Would it work? Did a forged connection mean it couldn't be broken, not without changing both of them permanently? Like when metals were melted to make something new.

Was he truly still himself? Had he given something up to make the hexcore as it was? Would he even notice?

Would he be able to tell if the connection strengthened? There were no barriers to stop them.

If they...

If they were to end up becoming one being instead.

He didn't know that. He couldn't be sure that would happen. A hypothesis rather than fact.

He squared his shoulders, opening his eyes, seeing Jayce watching him. He was here, he was alive.

And he would do everything he could to keep it that way.

"Of course we will," Viktor said.

They would find a solution.