Chapter Text
“Say again why we have to do this at night?” Zeus yawns, dragging his feet up the staircase at a snail’s pace, “This is so past my bedtime.”
“It’s just rune stuff,” Keria giggles, taking hold of his and Oner’s hands to pull them along, “come on, it’ll be easier just to show you.”
He hears Gumayusi laugh behind him as they stumble into the lab. The sun had set a few hours ago, and they had been working on the second iteration, tweaking the configurations so that their third attempt would go without a hitch.
“What happened to the disc?” Oner remarks, climbing onto the raised platform with ease, “Are those inspiration runes? That’s… inspired.”
“You can give it a spin.” Keria gestures the motion, watching Zeus join Oner. The two of them nod at each other and simultaneously give the rings a push.
The rings activate with a deep metallic hum, whirling into motion with a flash of hextech blue. Their two juniors yelp in surprise as the initial shockwave explodes outward, then turn their head in wonder as the globe of constellations surround them.
“What the—” Zeus mutters, all previous sleepiness gone from his expression, “this is awesome!”
Oner swipes at the edges of the projection, laughing as it moves with his hands.
“You guys did beautiful work.”
Keria turns to Faker to see him staring at the Sky Sphere, the blue runes reflecting his eyes like a sea of magic. He doesn’t recall Faker smiling much, but at this moment, their mentor’s lips are split in a smile that can only be of wonder and pride.
“This will work with what you had in mind?” Gumayusi asks, “It’s just missing the function of a power source, otherwise it works as an energy refiner and amplifier.”
Faker nods, “You mentioned sunlight being the issue?”
“Sort of.” Keria grimaces, “We fixed the problem by accentuating the other functions, so generating power from sunlight might be too much for the current rune progression to handle. There’s a 50/50 chance it might explode in full daylight.”
“And I’m sure neither of you has had the thought of testing that out,” Faker glances at them as if daring them to say otherwise, “right?”
“Yessir.” Gumayusi and Keria hurriedly agree.
“Well…” Oner begins, (under his breath, Zeus whispers, ‘uh oh.’) “what if it wasn’t direct sunlight… Say, right after sunset?”
Keria blinks, turning the thought over in his head.
“That… I have no idea. The only thing that’s certain is that it’d be risky.”
“Let’s try it,” Gumayusi brightly suggests, “for science!”
Keria turns to Faker for help, but he only hums, eyes gleaming with interest. They are men of science after all, and he can’t deny that even he feels curiosity at the prospect.
But as Gumayusi and Oner grin at each other with manic glee, he and Zeus make eye contact, expression communicating the same sense of dread.
This might be a disaster.
—
It was indeed a disaster.
“It could’ve been worse.” Oner sheepishly admits, “No one got hurt.”
“Thank Keria for that,” Zeus snorts, “You and Guma would’ve been toast otherwise.”
He isn’t exaggerating; Keria sits on a tall stool while Faker trims at the singed tips of his hair with a pair of scissors.
They’d attempted to activate the Sky Sphere at dusk, and Keria had observed the rings accelerate until they seemed to spin out of control. He’d then barely tugged his teammates out of the range of the blast in time as the last rays of sunlight disappeared under the distant skyline, slowing the sphere down.
“Close your eyes,” Faker instructs. Keria follows, feeling his mentor blow the stray bits of hair off his face, “all done.”
As soon as Faker moves out of the way, letting their teammates see him, Oner and Zeus burst into laughter.
Keria fights the urge to cover his face and hair with his hands, “Is it that bad?”
“Why is it cut so neatly?” Zeus approaches, brushing a finger through his fringe.
“I think it looks okay.” Faker hums, which considering it’s his handiwork, isn’t too surprising.
“It’s cut cutely,” Gumayusi says after a solid second.
“It’s weird, isn’t it?” Keria deadpans at him.
Gumayusi shrugs, “It’s cute.”
In the background, Oner is still laughing.
✰
Aside from their brief mishap, the third iteration of the sphere progresses smoothly, with the second available for reference despite the blast.
Before he knew it, they were on the last stretch of the project, and Keria stands in front of Faker’s office. He knocks at the dark oak door, and at his mentor’s approval, pokes his head in.
“Hyung?”
Faker looks up from his desk, setting a thick book down on its surface.
“Keria,” He smiles, “have a seat.”
Keria closes the door behind him, and steps in, taking a second to view the room.
It’s as tall as their personal lab, with dark wooden bookshelves stretching so high up that Keria has to crane his neck to see the top. An intricate chandelier hangs from the ceiling, and he would have considered it a fire hazard if not for the soft blue glow of hextech at its gilded metal tips. The walls are painted deep emerald green and decorated with orange-tinted lampshades emitting a soft warm glow. Paired with the golden trims of the mirrors and paintings, the entire place exuded an old, noble ambiance of a trove of knowledge.
Keria sits down in the wooden chair facing his mentor’s desk, placing a handful of papers in front of him.
“Are those the final design specifications?” Faker takes the papers, examining their content.
Keria nods, “I just wanted to make sure of some logistics before we finalize the physical components.”
It doesn’t take long for them to sort out the last details. He and Gumayusi had planned everything out in accordance with Faker’s requests, and it’s all too easy to confirm them with their mentor.
“Then, take this,” Faker hands him a smooth, transparent sphere after they had most of the technical elements out of the way, “it’ll act as a battery for the Sky Sphere until I can get the approval to install it in Zaun.”
Keria takes the ball, grunting in surprise when his hands dip as it turns out heavier than expected.
“I’m surprised they’re still trying to stop you from it,” Keria admits, hoisting the crystal ball up to place it in his bag, “are the politics that bad?”
Faker sighs, “Never underestimate politicians. I kind of wish Gumayusi could take care of this, he’s much better at this sort of thing.”
“He does feel like he’d fit in with them.” Keria inclines his head, imagining his teammate among the Piltovan councilors. It’s not hard to picture, considering how well he meshed with the student body.
“He would. Though I reckon he got much better at socializing over the years,” He recounts, “he was still arrogant when I first met him, so I’m glad he mellowed out before we started working together.”
Keria blinks, “Wait, when exactly did he join your team?”
“Around the same time as you did,” Faker frowns, “our families aren’t that close, considering I grew up in Zaun and him in Piltover. We only learned we were related a little while after the expo.”
Pause. He knew about Faker’s Zaunite origins, if only because they’d gotten close enough that they’d felt comfortable sharing their more personal details with each other. It wasn’t unexpected, considering his eagerness to meddle with the undercity’s affairs. Or at least, it came as less of a surprise than Oner admitting he was Lunari. (Who would’ve known?)
But the second part…
“That’s—” Keria starts, “I thought you’d helped him, with the Sun Disc.”
“I did,” Faker agrees, “but not to the extent you might think. I only gave him a few pointers here and there, the rest was all him.”
Keria thinks he might have to re-evaluate his view of his teammate. He’d worked under the assumption that he’d had an advantage because of his family ties with Faker. This, however, meant that he managed to get funding from his professors and help from his peers without his uncle’s influence.
“That’s pretty impressive,” Keria admits.
“Quite.”
They kept talking about the political logistics, and by the time they finished their discussion, the pendulum clock in Faker’s office indicated early afternoon. With time to spare, Keria shyly asked permission to search through his mentor’s books.
“Go right ahead, and if you’re interested,” Faker stands up, reaching for the bookshelf right behind his desk, “I’ll recommend you this one.”
As his mentor hands over a book, its royal-blue cover engraved with gold and silver, Keria’s eyes widen as he realizes what it is.
“This—” he breathes out, “how did you—isn’t this a full volume of the twin aspects’ history? I thought they’d all been destroyed…”
“It seems impossible, doesn’t it?” Faker smiles wrily, “most of the ones I’ve found had the pages on the silver sister’s accounts torn from them.”
It hadn’t been long since the Solari and the Lunari had reconciled, somewhat. Progress was still slow, and even if on paper, they were no longer enemies, centuries-old grudges still persisted. The Lunari were still looked down upon; prejudices didn’t disappear overnight, and too much of their history had been lost in their long-fought war. To have found a book with the Solari and Lunari sections both intact was a feat Keria never would’ve imagined to be conceivable.
“I know you’re interested in the Solari’s customs,” Faker recounts, “And I thought you might like this, it details the Lunari’s, as well as the two of them in conjunction.”
Keria can barely contain his excitement, hugging the book tightly against his chest, “Can I borrow it? I promise I’ll take good care of it.”
“Of course,” Faker nods with a small smile, “I trust you.”
Keria grins back at him, immediately opening the tome to a section in the middle, where the remnants of ripped pages would usually reside. In the corner of his eye, he notices Faker pick up his own book again, and the two of them sit in comfortable silence, reading their respective manuals. It must be then that he’d lost track of time because when he finishes the section and looks up again, the short arm of the pendulum had gone past two more numbers.
His movement seems to alert his mentor, who blinks up at him, then turns in his seat to check the time.
“It’s getting late,” Faker sighs, taking off his round-rimmed glasses to wipe them with a handkerchief, “Are you enjoying the book, so far?”
“I am!” He grins, “The Solari rituals make so much more sense when you consider their Lunari equivalents.”
Faker laughs at his enthusiasm, “You’re very skilled in making those kinds of connections, I’m glad to have your expertise for this project.”
Keria feels his cheeks warm up at the praise, “It’s nothing. We’re a team, and everyone’s been doing well.”
It’s true. His contributions to their project are nothing to scoff at, but he wouldn’t have done so well without his teammates. Faker’s patient guidance made him feel comfortable doing what he did best, and Zeus’ supportive words and enthusiasm gave him even more motivation. Oner’s strangely insightful help saved him from trouble many times, and Gumayusi was the best lab partner he could’ve ever asked for: kind, encouraging, and trustworthy.
“You’re too humble,” Faker chuckles, “it’s so different than what I’m used to.”
Keria can’t hold back a laugh at that, “You’re used to Guma boasting aren’t you?”
“And Oner, and Zeus.” Faker sighs, but his expression is fond, “Those three are so shameless, it would be embarrassing if they weren’t skilled enough to back it up.”
Keria hums in agreement, “They’re… something else.”
“They are, and you are too.” Faker smiles at him, reaching over to place a hand on his shoulder. “I’m really grateful that the four of you joined me in this endeavor. You are all prodigious, and you’re doing exceptionally well. So keep up the good work.”
Keria beams, bright and unrestrained, “I will!”
☼
It’s smooth sailing from then on, with no changes made to the base of the Sky Sphere, minor adjustments needed to the disc, and a readjustment of the rings which turns out to be easier than anticipated. Before long, they’re set to activate the third and last iteration of the Sky Sphere’s initial prototype, the one they’d be using to show Piltover how runic hextech can capture the power of the astral bodies in the sky.
On the day they’re supposed to show the prototype to the rest of their team, Keria doesn’t sleep. He and Gumayusi have been tinkering away in their laboratory all night, using diffused hextech lamps to verify each nook and cranny of the sky sphere, each crystal and carving, each rune and ring.
It’s been raining outside, small droplets of water hitting the glass of the rooftop with small plinks. As it slowly came to a stop, the soft noise of the remaining rain and the darkness create a comfortable atmosphere as they work in silence, passing each other their tools and weaving up and down the raised platform where the sky sphere whirls slowly.
“Alright,” Gumayusi stretches his back in a wide motion, “I think we’re good to go.”
“But what if we missed something?” Keria jitters a bit from nervousness.
“Keria… We’ve triple-checked it…” His teammate whines, plopping on the ground onto his back. They’ve been doing that a lot, nowadays, whether it’s to cloud-watch or stargaze.
“But do we quadruple-check it?” Keria wonders out loud, yelping as Gumayusi swats at his ankle from the ground, “I’m kidding! Don’t trip me—”
“Join me.” Gumayusi instead reaches for his hand, tugging him downwards, “We might not get sleep tonight, but at least the sky is nice.”
Keria complies, propping his head against his teammate’s stomach as if it was a pillow. He feels the rise and fall of his breathing, slow and soothing as he observes the clear ceiling. Water droplets still decorated the glass panes, creating mesmerizing patterns as the small dots of starlight and the soft blue hue of their sphere refracted out of them.
“So the Sky Sphere is done, huh?”
Keria feels Gumayusi’s voice through his diaphragm vibrating against the back of his head. He makes a noncommittal hum, “We haven’t tested it out in sunlight yet.”
“Come on, in what universe will it fail? We’ve made sure it won’t.”
Keria chuckles at his teammate’s confidence. Maybe it’d grown on him, after a while. And maybe, he’d admit to himself, he needed someone to ground him, sometimes, when he got nervous and lost in his own mind.
“So we did. You did a good job.” He reaches a hand out in an awkwardly-angled high-five. Gumayusi still claps his hand, and Keria doesn’t need to look at him to know he’s got a satisfied smile on his face.
“I have to congratulate you, by the way, for winning the expo, last year.” Keria recalls, “I never properly did so.”
“Thank… you?” Gumayusi replies with uncharacteristic hesitance, “Not that I don’t appreciate it, but where did this come from?”
“Faker and I had a chat.” Keria shrugs, “I didn’t know you managed to construct the Sun Disc replica mostly on your own. It’s quite an impressive feat.”
“Oh did you? Were you talking about little old me—ouch!”
“Oh my god.” Keria snorts at Gumayusi’s pained noise as he punches him, “I shouldn’t have brought it up.”
“What can I say? Aren’t you honored to work with—ow! Alright!” He concedes with a laugh, and Keria is delighted to hear an edge of nervousness in his laughter, “I’ll stop, just don’t hit me—”
Keria tries to vaguely point in his direction in warning, but he doesn’t think it’s effective considering 1. He’s still using his teammate’s stomach as a pillow and 2. He might not be aiming his finger right, judging by the laughter he feels through Gumayusi’s chest.
“All this to say, I’m looking forward to what we’ll be doing next.”
He yelps as Gumayusi straightens up, staring at him with wide eyes, “Does this mean you’re staying with our team?”
Keria rolls away to sit cross-legged, facing his teammate. “I never specified how long I’d be staying in Piltover, did I? It was originally going to be two years, though I might extend it to three.”
“Three years, huh.” Gumayusi presses his lips together, almost looking disappointed.
He scratches the back of his neck, “I’m returning to Targon after we’re done. We managed to complete the first Sky Sphere in one semester, and that’s better than I could’ve envisioned, but even then, there’s still a lot of work to do. There are parts we can improve, and refine.”
Gumayusi listens to him aptly, nodding along.
“But did Faker tell you about the Runeterra Hexgates project?”
Gumayusi blinks, “No? But it sounds epic? And why did he tell you first, I’m his nephew!”
Keria sticks out his tongue at him, “We both know I’m his favorite.”
“That’s false.” Gumayusi coughs, “That would be Oner.”
Keria doesn’t dignify that one with a reply; it’s true. Gods know why Faker was so fond of their teammate, after that wild first meeting. Keria thinks it was probably because it was funny. And because Oner treated him like any normal person, instead of the idol-worship Faker must’ve become accustomed to.
“You know how he’s going to first use the Sky Sphere to improve the undercity’s situation, right?” At Gumayusi’s nod, he continues, “Well, we think it’s probable that we can use it as an energy source to power Hexgates between the major cities all over the world.”
With each of his words, Gumayusi’s eyes widen, “All over the world ?! That’s insane.”
“Right?” Keria grins, “And you know what that means? Easy transportation between Targon, Shurima, and Piltover.”
He watches his teammate’s expression light up in understanding, “And since we’re the ones who conceived the sphere…”
“That’s right! We’d have easy access to that!” Keria exclaims brightly, “I’d still be able to work with you, or at least, visit you often.”
“That sounds wonderful,” Gumayusi laughs, “and I’d be able to visit Targon! I’ve always wanted to go.”
“You should come,” Keria’s heart swells with the pride he feels for his home, “since you’ve worked with the Shurimans’ solar runes, you should check out the Solari’s. They’re beautiful.”
“Yeah?” Gumayusi shifts so he’s sitting closer, mirroring Keria’s cross-legged position in front of him, “Tell me about that.”
So Keria does. He tells him about Targon and its high peaks, about how the sunlight got absorbed into the chiseled stone, keeping them warm during the cold winters. He tells him about the people he met, about the Rakkor and the star-shepherds, and their kindness as unflinching as the starlight they’ve worshiped for centuries.
As he talks about his home, the stars move in the sky, turning West as the night starts withdrawing from the sky, and the first hues of lighter blue appear on the edge of the horizon.
“It’s almost sunrise, isn’t it?” Gumayusi wonders aloud, hearing the chirping noises of birds singing the morning’s arrival.
By that time, most of the raindrops have ran down or evaporated from the windows, leaving them with a clear view outside.
Keria hums, taking out his pocket watch to check the time, “It should be any minute now.”
As soon as the last word leaves his mouth, the first rays of sunlight peek over the edge of the cityscape. Keria sees the steadily turning arms of his watch and hears its ticking sound, but at that moment, time freezes around him.
Keria knows the beauty of the morning.
He’d grown up on the mountain range surrounding Targon, where the sun rose over a horizon so far and vast you’d wonder how a world so magnificent could possibly exist. He knows the first rays of daylight into the colors of a dawning sky, knows the warmth of sunlight like he knows the flow of the air he breathes.
The sight that greets him still manages to knock the breath out of his lungs.
He’s known, instinctively, that the windows of the laboratory were eastward; he learned to locate his cardinal directions a long time ago. But this is the first time the thought had to occur to him clearly, as he gets a direct view of the sun slowly rising from behind the tips of the buildings.
Sunrise over Piltover’s Skyline slowly creeps above its tall, slanted rooftops, and reflects off the still rainwater between the tiles. It bathes the city in a soft, golden light, and he understands why Piltover was so acclaimed for its beauty; the patterns on the rooftop were almost reminiscent of the deep ridges decorating Targon’s landscapes. And if mankind could imitate the gods, why wouldn’t it be called the city of progress?
Sunlight streams into the laboratory and hits the remaining droplets of water remaining against the glass like tiny prism gems, scattering the light into rubies, emeralds, and sapphires. As the Sky Sphere comes into contact with sunlight, its ocean-blue glow pales into the color of a clear morning sky, and the rings accelerate, pulsing with golden light.
“It’s working,” Gumayusi smiles with relief, meeting Keria’s eyes as he walks towards the sphere, “do you have the power storage device?”
Keria nods, and without a word, takes out the glass-like globe from his bag, handing it to Gumayusi. His teammate sets it on top of the base, directly under the spinning sphere, then taps the precision rune. They watch as bright light gathers in the center of the Disc, then shoots out, perfectly bouncing off the rings a couple of times before reaching the crystal ball. It quickly becomes luminous and bright like a tiny sun.
Gumayusi presses a hand to the globe, his front basked in the golden light.
“Come here,” Gumayusi extends his hand at Keria, who takes it, letting his teammate hoist him onto the raised platform, “feel this.”
He guides Keria’s hand to rest against the surface of the globe.
A wave of happiness hits him with almost dizzying force as his hand grows warm with the thrumming power, and the warmth seems to spread from his palm all the way into his heart.
“We’ve done it,” Keria whispers, smiling wide to his teammate, who reciprocates it with a toothy grin.
Their moment gets loudly interrupted by the door to their lab opening with a bang.
“Guys! Did it work?” Zeus shouts excitedly, as chipper as someone who goes to bed directly after sunset. Behind him are Faker and Oner, still rubbing their eyes, but all their tiredness seems to evaporate as they take in the scene.
“We did it!” Faker cheers as Gumayusi and Keria step onto solid ground, only to get tackled by Oner in a crushing hug. Zeus immediately joins in, and they’re laughing, bright and loud in the morning light. As Gumayusi and Oner beckon Faker to come closer, then tug him into their group hug, eliciting a small ‘oof’ from their mentor, Keria can’t help but join the cacophony of elated voices.
Their laughter resonates within the laboratory walls in synchrony with the sphere’s pulsing rhythm, each of their voices amplifying the other like constructive interference, their joy as bright and warm as the sunrise.
Mornings are bright, in Piltover, but the five voices in its University’s laboratory are brighter still.