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Jayce’s breath came in short, uneven gasps as he stood at the threshold of Viktor’s commune. The foul air of Zaun clung to his skin, suffocating him with the weight of everything he had to do. Not even the slightly fresher air in Viktor’s safe haven did much to clear the tightness in his throat and the burn in his lungs. His hands gripped the handle of his Hextech hammer tightly, the smooth, cold surface grounding him in the moment—but only barely. The hammer hummed in his grasp, the energy it held flickering faintly, like the last gasp of a dying star.
Viktor’s sanctuary almost looked peaceful, with no screaming, no bloodshed. No violence. His body ached and his head was pounding so hard he thought it’d shatter his skull any second now.
I won’t fail. He told himself as he trudged forward staggeringly.
There was a girl in front of him cutting through the voices in his head, voices he couldn;t even distinguish that sounded more like animalistic shrieks to him. She reached her hand out to him and for some reason, Jayce took it. As they walked, Jayce’s gaze flickered over her, trying to make sense of the strangeness that clung to her. There was an unsettling beauty about her, a grotesque calm that contradicted everything around them. He could see it in the way she moved, in the way her skin shimmered faintly as if touched by the power of the Hexcore itself. It was subtle but unmistakable. Her body had been altered—healed, perhaps, by Viktor’s hand. But there was a wrongness to it, a reminder that whatever had fixed her had come at a cost.
He had seen it before. In the Wild Rune. The same kind of grotesque alteration. The twisted beauty of something that had been given life where life should have ended. It was wrong. He could feel it in his bones, the way the air seemed to vibrate with the pulse of the Hexcore. It was everywhere—an invisible force, holding this commune together, keeping its inhabitants alive. But it wasn’t natural.
But, she was also just a young girl. One who might’ve been on the brink of death, hopeless and terrified. Viktor must’ve saved her. At least he must’ve thought he had.
His mind warred with itself, the memories of his time in the Wild Rune crashing over him again. The things he had seen there, the things that had been twisted by raw magic, by unrestrained power—it had scarred him. He had barely escaped with his sanity intact. And now, here, he was seeing it again. Viktor had crossed that line. He had gone too far.
Ahead of him, bathed in a strange, eerie glow, was Viktor—or what was left of him. The twisted amalgamation of man and machine, the embodiment of everything Jayce had once believed they could create, was now the very thing that stood to destroy them all. Viktor had given himself over to the Hexcore, fused with it, until he was more technology than flesh. It radiated from him in pulses, the heart of a machine where there should have been a human soul.
He was floating in the air, cross legged and arms spread out, head tilted slightly upwards. It was the first time seeing him in…months? Years? Jayce no longer had an accurate sense of time, but seeing the differences in the Viktor he knew back then, the one he loved, and the monstrosity before him now, it felt like lifetimes since they’ve last seen each other. Physically, of course. Viktor was a constant presence in the back of his mind when he was trapped in the Wild Rune, at least when he wasn’t terrified…fleeing for his life.
Jayce staggered forward, his head was pounding again. The sunlight and the glow around Viktor was so bright it burned, but he couldn’t bring himself to look away.
Viktor looked…beautiful. If he ignored the metallic, hexcore powered body, Viktor looked healthy. Well Rested. Peaceful. His skin had a healthy rose flush, and the rainbow color glowing on the sides of his face gave him a soft yet sharp look that highlighted his beauty. There was no sign of his illness, the one Jayce was so scared would take away his partner from him. He looked like he did when he first saved Jayce.
He had been driven in despair, his life in shambles, and Jayce found himself standing before a ledge when he heard a soft, Am I interrupting? He was beautiful then, but Jayce wouldn’t realize that until they were lab partners, spending hours upon hours with each other, finding joy in each other's companies and in their shared work. They both wanted to change the world as they knew it. They wanted to save lives.
I saved him . The thought repeated in Jayce’s mind, but it was hollow. He had told himself that countless times since he made that desperate choice to combine Viktor with the Hexcore. The memory of Viktor’s shattered body in the aftermath of Zaun’s attack on the council haunted him. Jayce had acted on instinct, fueled by fear—fear of losing his best friend, of losing the man who had meant so much to him.
But now, looking at the Viktor standing before him, Jayce wasn’t sure who he had saved. Or if he had saved anything at all. This wasn’t his friend, not anymore. This wasn’t even a human.
What have I done?
A wave of nausea churned in his stomach as he took in the full extent of the transformation. Viktor’s limbs were sharp, jagged metal, his eyes hollow and glowing with an unnatural light. His movements were slow, deliberate, almost methodical. It wasn’t Viktor—not the Viktor Jayce had known. That Viktor was gone, consumed by the Hexcore that now pulsed within him.
Jayce’s heart clenched painfully. The weight of what he had to do pressed down on him, heavier than the hammer in his hands. He couldn’t move. His feet were frozen to the ground, as if the world itself refused to let him take that final step. The promise he had made to Viktor so long ago hung in the air like a noose around his neck.
You have to destroy it. The Hexcore. Viktor’s voice echoed in his mind, a ghost from the past.
Okay, okay. I promise.
Back then, it had seemed so clear. So simple. If Hextech ever became a danger, they would stop it. Together, they would destroy it, no matter the cost. But they hadn’t foreseen this. They hadn’t foreseen the ways progress would twist them, would tear them apart.
Jayce swallowed, his throat dry. His vision blurred as memories flashed through his mind—memories of them in the lab, huddled over blueprints and prototypes, their heads bent in shared determination. Viktor’s eyes had always glowed with a fierce, quiet brilliance. His hands, steady and precise, had built the very future they dreamed of. Together, they had changed the world.
And now, Viktor was the threat.
Jayce’s body shook, his legs threatening to give out beneath him. His pulse pounded in his ears, drowning out the sounds of Zaun’s perpetual hum. All he could hear was his own ragged breathing and the distant, distorted echoes of Viktor’s voice, whispering from a time long gone. The memories of the promise, of their shared dreams, clashed violently with the cold reality in front of him. He had to kill him. He had to end this.
I can’t do it. You have to.
No, Viktor couldn’t do it. Jayce had to. Jayce gritted his teeth, forcing himself to breathe. His chest ached with the weight of that promise. He had to keep it—had to fulfill what Viktor had once asked of him, no matter how much it tore him apart. But God, how could he?
He’s my best friend. He’s…
Please. Promise me, Victor had pleaded.
A sharp, violent memory crashed into him like a wave, dragging him under. The Wild Rune. The terror. The madness. Jayce staggered, his vision swimming as the horrors of that place clawed at his mind. He had never spoken about it—not in detail. Not even to himself. What he had seen there, what he had faced… it had twisted him in ways he could barely comprehend. It had shown him things, truths, that had shattered the foundations of everything he had believed. He had barely escaped with his sanity intact, and even now, the edges of that sanity felt frayed, ready to unravel at the slightest touch.
He had been so afraid there. Terrified beyond anything he had ever experienced. The fear had been primal, bone-deep. It had seeped into his soul, haunting his every waking moment since. But now, standing here, facing Viktor… facing the decision he had to make, Jayce felt a different kind of fear. This fear wasn’t of the unknown, of monsters lurking in the shadows. This fear was of himself—of what he was about to do. Of the person he would become after this.
I don’t want to do this.
The thought came unbidden, and it hit him with the force of a blow. He didn’t want to do this. He didn’t want to kill Viktor. Every fiber of his being screamed at him to turn around, to find another way. To save Viktor. Again. But he knew, deep down, that there was no saving him. Viktor was already gone. This thing—this creature standing before him—was all that was left. And it was dangerous.
I don’t want to do this , he thought again, his heart twisting painfully in his chest. But I have to.
Viktor had always been the logical one, the one who saw things clearly, without emotion clouding his judgment. He had known, even then, that there were some lines they couldn’t cross. He had been the one to set the boundaries, the one to remind Jayce of the dangers.
Jayce’s grip on the hammer tightened. His hands trembled, his legs felt like they were going to give out, but he forced himself to stand. Forced himself to move forward. Each step felt like it took a lifetime, the distance between him and Viktor shrinking with agonizing slowness. His mind warred with itself, his heart breaking under the weight of what he had to do.
I made a promise. The thought was like a knife twisting in his chest, sharp and unrelenting. He had made a promise, and he wouldn’t fail. Not now. Not when it mattered most.
Jayce stopped just a few feet away from Viktor. His heart pounded so loudly he could barely hear anything else. Viktor’s form glowed softly in the darkness, a faint, mechanical hum emanating from his body. He looked almost peaceful, in a way. Almost like the man Jayce had once known. But that man was gone.
Jayce raised the hammer, his muscles shaking from the effort. He didn’t want to do this. He wanted to drop the hammer, to run to Viktor, to find some way—any way—to save him. But he knew, deep down, that there was no saving him. This was what Viktor had wanted. This was the price they had to pay for what they had built.
I won’t fail. I swear it.
The words echoed in his mind, a resolution born of desperation. He had failed so many times before—failed to see the danger, failed to stop it before it got out of control. But he wouldn’t fail now. He couldn’t. This was the only way.
Viktor opened his eyes. And when Jayce met them, he saw a rainbow of colors shining in his eyes. There was a slight furrow in his eyebrows, the same he got whenever he encountered a flaw in his work or had food too salty for his taste. He looked a bit confused as he looked down at Jayce, as if questioning why he was there, what he was doing lifting his hammer, why was he about to hurt him-
My God, Viktor. Jayce had exclaimed once. He was so happy then. So, so happy.
You’re alive.
Viktor’s eyes widened, in horror? No. A being like him couldn’t feel such emotions. Those were only for humans.
The head of the Hextech hammer, now altered with the wild, untamed energy from the Arcane, crackled with power as it connected with Viktor's chest. Time seemed to slow in the aftermath of the impact, the hammer releasing a devastating blast of energy that tore through the enclosure they were in, blasing the roof off as well.
When he opened his eyes again he found Viktor crumpled to the ground, his body slumped against the ground. A grotesque gaping hole in his chest caused by the blast from Jayce’s hammer. Viktor’s eyes were duller now, no longer shining, and when they slid away from Jayce’s face they were lifeless. His hand uncurled where it rested on the ground and a small clink of metal echoed in Jayce’s ears as it rolled around.
Jayce stood there, panting heavily, staring down at what he had done. He couldn’t move. His legs felt like they were made of lead, his chest so tight he thought he might suffocate.
And then the screaming began.
For a moment he didn’t know if it came from him, but no, it was from outside. Loud, deafening, ear grating screams from the people Viktor had changed with the Hexcore. It was an inhumane sound that seemed to match the pain he felt in his heart.
He staggered back, away from Viktor's body and out of the enclosure. He ran past the people crumpled on the ground and didn’t look back when the fires and gunshots and explosions went off either.
In the pursuit of great, we failed to do good.
Viktor’s voice caught him off guard and he lost his balance. He stumbled forward when he was finally far away from the destruction he caused, and fell to his knees, his hammer slipping from his hands and skidding a few feet in front of him. He couldn’t look at it, the weapon that started it all, but that wasn’t right, was it?
It was Jayce that was to blame for all this, and it was Viktor too when he had chosen to save him that day. If he had died then, this wouldn’t have happened, none of this would’ve happened.
Damn it, Viktor. If only you weren’t such a good person. If only you weren’t so perfect.
His hands dug into the dirt, clenching tightly as his vision blurred with tears. He had killed his best friend. The man who had stood by his side, who had believed in him when no one else did. The man who had meant more to him than anything in the world. And now he was gone, destroyed by the very thing they had built together.
He didn’t know how long he stayed there on the ground, but when he finally moved his body felt so sore he was unsure if he could ever move again. Jayce’s body shook as he got to his feet. He lifted his hammer with trembling hands and took in a shuddering breath.
Then he ran, his heart breaking under the weight of it all. He had told himself it was for the best—that it was what Viktor would have wanted. But it didn’t feel that way. It didn’t feel right.
Nothing would ever feel right again.