#jayce chose to die with viktor instead of a life with mel because he LOVED HIM and couldnt imagine a life without him.

[cursiveinkwords]

"it's you that i lie with

as the atom bomb locks in

yes it's you i welcome death with

as the world

as the world caves in"

[alpaca-clouds]

Winter Whumperland Day 08: The Machine's Heart

This is today's entry for @amonthofwhump's Winter Whumperland. I chose Revenge Whump for today's prompt.

Fandom: Arcane - League of Legends

Shipping: Viktor/Jayce

Genre: Revenge Whump/One-Sided Love

Length: 2358 words

[Ao3 Link]

How could things change in such a short amount of time? It seemed that only yesterday they still had spent their time together, trying to find new uses for Hextech. And now? Now Viktor had not seen Jayce for almost five days. He knew his friend was in his rooms, just trying to forget the world existed – and Viktor did not know how to feel. Mel was dead. As was most of the council. Piltover was in chaos. It was a miracle that Jayce had not been hurt any worse than he had. But the actually wound was to his mind, to his spirit. Whenever Viktor saw him, the man he had once known was gone.

Viktor meanwhile was here, tinkering with the hex crystal even though he knew he should not. It had killed her – it had killed Sky after all. So, really. He should get rid of that thing, that had such a corrupting influence. He should get rid of it.

But his leg was actually able to carry him for the first time in his life. And then there was the other thing. The one thought that would keep him going more than anything: If he died as well, what would happen to Jayce? Maybe Viktor was overestimating his own importance for his friend, but a part of him just hoped…

No, no, that was wrong. It was all wrong of course. But he wanted to believe it.

One truth remained: If he did not do this, he would die. And Viktor did not want to die. Because there was so much more he still could archive.

***

The Machine Herald easily jumped across the roofs of the lanes. His mechanical legs carried him easily, as he made his way up to the Northwest, where the bridge was leading across the channel. This was going to be his night. He and his autonomicons, his drones, were going to do, what he had been yearning to do for so long. He would finally get his revenge. His revenge on the man who had taken the last bit of humanity from him.

It was ironic, really. Ironic that he wanted revenge. He did not even really know why. But he knew he needed it. His mind was long not human anymore. Instead, being enhanced by hextech to a level no human would be ever able to reach. He was no human anymore. He was a machine and he would show humanity that this was the only way to evolve. To become like him. Only half-human, but half-autonomicon. He would turn the world into something better. Into a place that was no longer being destroyed and corrupted by human foolishness.

Like the foolishness of him…

***

It was working. Somehow it was working. As his veins started to glow with the hextech, his fingers were no longer trembling. Even more happened, as he continued. He could actually breath freer, would no longer cough out his lungs. He also did not feel exhausted all of the time, allowing him to spend more time on his research.

There was nobody to control him after all. Heimerdinger was simply gone. And Jayce…

Thinking of him, made Victor's heart hurt in yearning. He missed being be his side, but even now, more than three weeks after Mel's funeral, Jayce would not come here. He had thrown himself into council work by now, kept saying that he would pick up the slack of those dead or too injured to work. Mel's death had consequences, after all. Mel's death was, why relations with Noxus were harsh right now. Maybe it was even the right thing to do, but Viktor just missed having his friend by his side, having someone to talk to.

After all everyone else was long gone, too. And it was not as if people had ever been talking to Viktor a lot. He had never had any friends. After all he had not been able to play with the other kids because of his illness. So Jayce… Jayce had always been different. Because Jayce had never seen the weak body failing him - but the mind, that could think of so many things. He had been the only one to ever accept Viktor for who he truly was.

Maybe Viktor should go and talk to him. Maybe… But what was he even going to say?

***

There were enforcers on the bridge. Of course, there were. As they saw him coming, some of them got out their guns. Child's play. He was quicker than them, his legs easily letting him jump up to the arch of the bridge, while the drones, that were only commanded by his mind, rushed at the enforcers, bullets spewing from their mouth. They were only human – he was not. The humans were stupid, their reflexes so terribly slow and their bodies so very squishy. It was easy to extinguish a human life. Their bodies would rot in the earth until nothing was left. Nothing but bones and dust.

He was not like them. Not anymore. He was eternal, just as a machine would be with good maintenance. Whenever part of his body failed, he would exchange it for something better. That was, why in the end the humans would fail, while the machines would thrive. That was, why he would win in the end.

And he… He was so very human. The most human of them all. So blinded by his pride and ego, that he had never even noticed how much his friend had suffered. He had never seen the affection that was so willingly given to him. Instead…

***

“Jayce.” Viktor for once was feeling good about himself. He did no longer need the crutch to stand upright and was feeling more energetic than he maybe had ever felt. He had just decided to screw it, to go to visit his friend, if his friend was not coming to him.

The man at his desk was looking up. Even though his skin was still tanned, he was pale. There were dark rings underneath his eyes. It seemed that all the new energy that Viktor had gained, had been taken from him. “Viktor, what…?”

Viktor could not bear to look at him like that. He walked over to him, putting one hand onto his shoulder. “When was the last time you slept?”

“I…” Jayce looked at the letter he had been writing, as if he would otherwise not even remember the date. “I need to get this finished, I need to…”

“Rest,” Viktor said. “You need to rest. You can barely keep your eyes open.”

Jayce's gaze was clouded over, as he clearly fought to stay upright. “I am fine,” he muttered, trying to brush Viktor away. “I need to…”

Viktor took his hand and just heaved him into an upright position. “You'll need to get to your apartment and lie down for at least ten hours.” He did not even notice he was holding up his friend, until the man looked at him in disbelieve.

“What has happened to you?”

He had grown stronger, had he not? Viktor had not even thought about it aside from his legs finally carrying him and his fingers no longer trembling. He just smiled at Jayce, pulling his hand over his own shoulders. “I've gotten better,” he muttered.

***

Piltover was so familiar and yet so alien to him. He had lived here for so long, but it did not feel like it had ever accepted him. To them he had always been just a charity case from the undercity, nobody to take serious, to pay attention to. It was their fault, after all. It was nothing he could hold against them. After all they were human and their human minds unable to even comprehend brilliance. They had those wrong minded ideas of good and bad, of right and wrong, but of status as well. They overlooked so much in their lives and their civilization would fall because of it.

Today, however, the Machine Herald was not here because of them. No. He was here for the man, he once had called his friend. The man who had betrayed him more than anyone else. Jayce.

Maybe, he had reasoned, it was just part of his transition to become more machine. Maybe that was, why he needed this revenge. Because maybe then those human feelings would vanish from his mind.

Humans had this strange belief that the feelings resided in one's heart. Foolishness of course. He had long replaced his heart with something that would actually last and the feelings remained. After all feelings were nothing more than electrochemical reactions in his brain – the brain that he had not yet found a way to fully replace. So he would have to deal with it another way.

It did not take him long to orient himself. He knew where he was going. He knew where his former friend was living, after all. It had been that place, where he had been betrayed after all.

***

It was foolishness and Viktor knew it. Yet, he was sitting by Jayce's bedside while the other man was sleeping of his exhaustion. He could not bear the thought of losing this man, who had been the one and only person he had ever been able to on eye level. Not only had Jayce never looked down on him because of his background or his sickness, he also had the same kind of bright mind that Viktor knew he himself possessed. Together they could change the world, Viktor knew that. But they could only change the world together.

Looking at him sleeping, he was once more reminded that in some ways Jayce was the opposite of him. Viktor knew he had always been rather scrunchy himself, with his sunken eyes and hollow cheeks. Meanwhile Jayce was simply pretty, there was no way around it. His jawline was strong, his skin so smooth, his hair full, his build muscular. No wonder a woman like Mel would fall for him. She had been pretty, too, of course. So maybe it was no wonder either Jayce had fallen for her. But Viktor doubted that even if she had not died, they would've ever been able to have, what he and Jayce had.

But maybe this was true the other way around. His fingers glid along Jayce's cheeks, the tips blackened from the hex magic. Jayce was so warm and just to touch him like this felt good. He had wanted to do it for so long and yet had never dared to do it. Maybe that had been his mistake. The fact that he had never dared to act on his feelings. Maybe…

He bowed forward, slowly pressing his lips against those of his friend – only for said friend to open his eyes.

“What? Viktor?” He pushed him away, staring at him. Even now he looked so tired. “What are you doing?”

It was a valid question, really. Viktor was looking at him. “I…” There was no good explanation, really. “I am sorry, Jayce. I just…” He wanted to take a step back and yet stopped himself. “I am sorry, I am…” He lowered his voice. “I wanted to tell you for so long, I am in love with…”

Jayce took his wrist, looking at the blackened fingers, the purple veins of hex magic running through them. “What did you do, Viktor?” There was horror in his eyes, as he looked at him.

“I fixed myself,” Viktor said. “Don't you see? I fixed myself. I am not dying any longer. And I start to understand how it works. How it actually works. We might be able to use it to heal everything! Anything!”

Jayce just stared at the hand, while it was now his fingers, that were shaking. “What have you done to yourself?”

“I healed myself,” Viktor said. “I am finally able to…” Why were they even talking about this? What did it even matter?

But Jayce just slowly shook his head. “You did not fix yourself. You… I think you…” He pushed himself up. “Maybe there is a way to reverse this, maybe…”

Viktor could not take it any longer. “Do you actually want me to die?”

“What? No. Viktor. I just…”

He could not believe this. He could not believe that this was, what Jayce was talking about. “I can finally breath free and this is what you are worried about? I am finally able to stand here in front of you, telling you that I love you and all you worry about is how I got better?”

“I think you did more harm to yourself than good. Just listen to me, Viktor, I…”

Viktor stared at him, slowly shaking his head. “No. You just… won't understand.”

***

There it was. Jayce was still living here. In the apartment he had finally been able to afford after Hextech had taken off. A nice apartment, filled with luxuries only humans would find useful. No, not even they found them useful, but they served their pride, so that was why they filled their living spaces with all those knickknacks. The Machine Herald, however, had no use for it, as he easily opened one of the windows from the outside, letting himself in. He would finally end it and finally be free of those awful feeling that still plagued his mind.

He drew in some air, before going to the place he knew his former friend's room to be. The drones were following him quietly. He was looking into the room only to find the bed empty. Which did not make sense. This was 3 in the morning – so of course Jayson, who was very much a human, would sleep.

Except if…

The pulse hit the Herald, before he had even finished processing the thought. It threw him into the room, while his former friend followed him inside.

“I always knew, you would be coming, Viktor.” Jayce said, holding his Hextech hammer. His eyes were dead, having lost all their spark, when he looked down at the Herald. “So, what are we going to do now?”