Work Text:
I won’t fail.
I promise.
Those exact words had been echoing in Jayce’s mind since the moment he uttered them. They had become less a sentiment, and more a motivation to continue towards his goal.
Viktor.
Jayce’s mind was assaulted with a vision of the other timeline. The other Viktor had shown Jayce what would transpire if he failed. He had spent enough time in that barren hell to know that whatever his Viktor was doing needed to come to an end. He couldn’t fail. Not for himself. Not for Viktor.
Jayce lugged the Mercury Hammer behind him, its uneven surface leaving behind tracks on the soft ground. He pulled his mind away from that familiar weight behind him and instead directed his attention towards the birthplace of problems yet to come.
The commune.
Jayce leaned against cavern walls, his breath coming in shallow from the effort. While Jayce was fighting the urge to curse everything Viktor could do with it, he couldn’t deny its beauty. The usually destitute and bleak landscape of the Undercity had been transformed into a wasteland of nature and life. From where he was, the people who were part of the commune seemed peaceful, aiding sick or dying individuals towards the open front gate. Jayce shuddered. Viktor’s supposedly good intentions were blanketed by what Jayce had seen during his time in the alternate dimension. Soulless husks with no purpose covering an even more soulless wasteland.
Shaking his head to rid himself of the thought, Jayce pushed onwards.
As he came up to the front entrance, the stationed commune members only glanced in his direction. One of them, a man with the recognizable magic of the Hexcore covering his right eye, opened his mouth as though he were going to tell Jayce to stop. Before he could, it seemed as though he were interrupted by an outer force. A look of recognition flashed across his face, though Jayce was sure he had never seen the man before in his life.
“I’m going to have to ask you to leave the weapon here, unfortunately.” The man’s gentle tone disgusted Jayce. “We’d like to avoid violence or hostility of any kind.”
Jayce sneered, tightening his grip on the Mercury Hammer, guarding it like a dog with a bone. Try to take it from me. With that, the man’s eyebrows ticked upwards with a flash of concern. He sighed-- though, he knew from his encounter with Salo that that was most likely artificial --and turned his body, letting Jayce walk past him without any opposition.
Jayce continued his stroll through the commune, watching the confused looks each person wore as they looked at him. It all seemed rather peaceful, and he felt like he stuck out like a sore thumb. The clean, almost sterile, appearance of everything around him in contrast with the blood, filth, and sweat that Jayce was drenched in made it all the more apparent.
Jayce stumbled again, though this time it wasn’t over the terrain. In a panic, he swung the Mercury Hammer at the disturbance, only stopping his hand from pulling the trigger when he noticed a child on the ground in front of it. Jayce moved the hammer to his side once more, letting out a shaky breath. Rather than run away from him, the boy smiled and put his hand out, a silent gesture beckoning Jayce to grab it. Against his better judgment, he did, letting the boy lead him towards Viktor.
It was all too soon. Jayce hadn’t seen his partner (his brain buzzed at the word) in what felt like years. They both would be changed. Different. Maybe Viktor would be unrecognizable to him. If he was, maybe the guilt of what he would have to do would disappear.
The boy had dropped his hand, and he was left standing by himself at the entrance. He took a breath in.
I won’t fail. I promise.
Jayce exhaled and stepped towards Viktor.
Jayce’s gaze drifted upward, and he felt shock settle its way into his bones. Viktor was beautiful. There was no other way to put it. His partner was suspended from the ceiling, sinewy wires connecting to him in different places. Though he was quite a ways away from the ground, Jayce noticed how long his hair had gotten. The brown had earned some blonde around its edges, making Viktor look as though his face was glowing. Finally, his eyes settled on the blanket. His blanket. It hung off of Viktor’s resting body, looking more like a tailored tunic than any childhood blanket he had possessed.
Regardless of what Viktor had done to it, it was still the same one Jayce had so carefully placed on his shoulders when he first emerged from his resting place. The same one the two men had passed between each other during late nights in the lab.
Jayce felt his chest tighten with an unknown weight. He was trembling. The mantra he had been chanting to himself with such conviction earlier had become almost a whisper. Jayce had to strain to hear it.
He had to have been standing there for only a few seconds, but to Jayce, it felt like eons of observing the man in front of him. Viktor awoke from whatever gentle sleep he had been in. His eyes fluttered open like a butterfly’s wings, and Jayce could perfectly remember the way his eyelashes looked when he did so. His partner looked down at him, his eyes widening minutely in surprise.
That’s when he saw it.
Viktor smiled at him. His lips quirked up at the corners with such a soft kindness that Jayce almost broke down. His mind was flooded with memories of that same smile throughout the years they worked together in the lab. The mantra was gone. The horrible visions of the future were gone. He couldn’t hear or see anything anymore. All of his senses were hyper-focused on the man standing in front of him. His partner.
Standing? When did he-
Viktor stepped forward, and Jayce froze.
This isn’t real.
“Viktor?”
It can’t be.
“Jayce,” the warmth of his voice sent shivers down Jayce’s spine, “You came.”
Jayce let the hammer slip from his grasp. He fell to his knees, looking up to meet Viktor’s eyes.
“I am so happy to see you, Jayce.” The syllables seemed to dance with Viktor’s accent. Jayce fought to keep his eyes open, not wanting to hide from the gaze of the man who had such fondness for him.
It was over. It had been over the second he stepped into the commune. He wasn’t strong enough to do it. Jayce’s mind flashed back to the Viktor who had sent him on this mission, the promise he had made. It all fell apart as he looked up at his partner. Maybe in another universe, some other version of him could complete what he set out to do. Not him. Not in this timeline.
He hadn’t noticed that he had begun crying until he tried to breathe in again. He choked on his tears, causing Viktor to reach his hand out and wipe his face.
“Why are you crying?” His voice was soft. Genuine. Gentle. A gentleness he didn’t deserve.
He took a breath. “I’m so tired, Viktor. I…” Jayce trailed off. He leaned into Viktor’s hand, letting his eyes close, like he could drift off to sleep at any moment, cradled in his partner’s arms.
Somehow, even with his eyes closed, Jayce could tell Viktor was smiling again. Maybe it was from the more than ten years of working next to the man. Maybe, Jayce wagered, it was because they were intrinsically bound together. Whatever it was, the warmth that filled the space was a smile from the other man, and Jayce was comforted by it.
“You needn’t tire anymore.” A pause, as though he was assessing something. “You’re… hurt?” Viktor had begun to rub his thumb in a small circle on Jayce’s cheekbone.
Jayce had almost forgotten about his leg. How he had made it this far with a shattered tibia, especially one that was festering with some sort of hex-fueled infection, was beyond him. Jayce opened his eyes again, though not looking Viktor in the eyes, and nodded. “I, uh…fell down a ravine,” he let out a dry chuckle.
Viktor made a noncommittal hum and then kneeled in front of Jayce, their heads level with one another. “I can help you.” He brought his other hand to Jayce’s face, cradling his other cheek, “I want to help you.”
Every fiber in his body was telling him to run. To grab the hammer and finish what he came to do. Jayce wanted to listen, but he couldn’t. It was so much easier to lay down like some dying animal and accept his fate. He was tired of fighting. He wanted his partner back, and, despite the circumstances, he could have him now.
“I don’t…I don’t want to lose myself.” Jayce brought his hand up to hold onto the other man’s forearm. “I don’t want to end up like them, Viktor. I don’t want to be some…mindless puppet.” He finally made eye contact with the man, his half-lidded eyes betraying his exhaustion.
Viktor cooed, wrapping his arms around Jayce to bring him into a hug. Jayce melted into it. “You worry too much, Jayce.” He hummed, “You will always be different from them. You are…special to me. I know that now.”
After some time, Viktor ended the hug, settling himself into a more relaxed position. He started at his partner for a moment, and then he spoke again.
“Let us make you more comfortable.”
Jayce let himself be moved around, Viktor readjusting both of them so Jayce’s head was in his partner’s lap and the rest of his body was lying in front of them. The man above him gently carded his fingers through Jayce’s tangled hair, careful to avoid pulling on any knots. They both sat comfortably in the silence that had been created. From everything that he had been experiencing, Jayce was quite happy for the small respite.
Jayce closed his eyes. “What now?”
“Now, you will open your mind to me, Jayce.” He said it so softly, as though he didn’t want to disturb the air around them with his words. He braced himself, yet he still couldn’t help but flinch at the cold sensation of Viktor’s fingers on his forehead.
He felt what could only be described as ice entering his veins moments after. Bursts of pure energy and spectrums of color thrust themselves into the forefront of his mind. There was a buzzing all around him, and every thought was abandoned from his mind. The only thing he could think and see and feel was Viktor, Viktor, Viktor. Jayce’s mind was being thrust through entire galaxies and star systems, and Viktor was guiding him through it.
Slowly, he tried to return to himself. Jayce felt as though he were still floating, unable to settle his way back into his bones. There was a noticeable change in the sensations in his body. There was no longer any pain stabbing its way through his leg, wrist, or back. It had instead been replaced with a warmth similar to a hot bath after a long day.
He felt warm. He felt strong.
He felt adoration.
Jayce let his eyes fall open, letting his gaze meet Viktor’s. The love in Viktor’s eyes was almost palpable. After everything that Jayce had done. Everything he had planned to do. To think, that he almost denied himself the love Viktor had for him. He felt shame bubbling up in his chest.
His partner moved his hand from his forehead to his cheek, doing the same with his other hand on the other side of Jayce’s face. “Do not worry yourself with those thoughts, Jayce, that is the past,” Viktor practically purred his words, “How do you feel now?”
He felt something prodding at the edges of his mind. He took a breath, steadying himself. He could not feel the shame. Viktor would not allow it. “Warm.”
“Warm?” A giggle trailed the end of the word. “What does that mean?”
Jayce hummed, nuzzling his face into one of Viktor’s hands. “Safe. Secure,” he paused to look up at Viktor, “Loved.” He thought to himself about what he had tried to do before. He did not want to fight Viktor anymore, or anything he would do to him. He would take care of him.
The man above him smiled softly. “I am glad. I hoped to make your experience different,” Viktor brought his head down to touch foreheads with Jayce, “You are not like them, Jayce. Your mind is one of the most valuable parts of you. I would not want to take that away from you.”
Jayce closed his eyes once more, letting the warm sensation spread throughout his entire being. He struggled to remember the reason he went to the commune in the first place. Of course, he was searching for Viktor, but why? Faint prickles of pain and desolate wastelands tried to dig into his brain, but something chased them away. He had no reason to think about these things.
Rest, Jayce. Viktor’s voice floated around in his mind, curling itself around him like a cat. Jayce surrendered himself to his partner completely. His mind, body, and soul were as much his as they were Viktor’s.
Rest.