Viktor x Reader - TheFanficCorner (2024)

Chapter 1: Notice

Chapter Text

Hey, hey! It's so nice to see you (again?).

This is a finished project, 50 chapters of story in all of their smutty and fan-produced glory. No more updates, no new chapters but maybe slight changes in editing and spelling.

Please mind that this is a GENDER NEUTRAL reader fanfiction. There will be only vague descriptions of physiques, especially in the smut parts. This piece of work is avoiding the use of pronouns and if mentioned can be chosen by the reader themselves.

Maybe you even love it so much you came back for a second time?

Love, me.

P.S: since it seems to be unclear to many, I always mark the chapters that contain SMUT so that people can read or avoid them as they please. If there isn't smut in the title, there won't be smut in the chapter.

⚠️Shortcuts you need to know⚠️
(Y/N) = your name
(E/C) = eye colour
(H/C) = hair colour
(S/C) = skin colour
(Y/A) = your age
(Y/G) = your gender

Chapter 2: One

Chapter Text

Pain.

Pain was what this world was made of.

You didn't even remember the last day you didn't feel pain. It was a constant companion, like a parasite nestling inside of your body, eating into your flesh and corrupting your cells.

Existing hurt.

Being alive was a burden on yourself.

But you didn't want to give up.

There wasn't much to live for. Not in a place like Zaun, especially not in the lanes.

But there was something.

Someone.

"Viktor...", you mumbled in your sleep as another wave of pain chased cold drops of sweat across your forehead.

Someone moved next to you.

Lazily, a head full of thick, dark brown hair rose.

"Did you say something?", a soft voice asked, slow and thick with sleep. "I can barely hear you."

The slight Russian accent was enough to make your eyes pop open.

"Ah...", you gasped and managed to force a hand up to your face. "I had a nightmare..."

It was a lie.

It was always a lie.

But he didn't have to know.

He shouldn't know.

After all, he deserved a lot more than just worries and fear.

"Hm?", slowly, the scrawny build man came closer and threw a glance at you from above, while the back of his hand wiped away the beads of shimmering sweat. "You're all wet."

You grabbed his hand and smiled.

"I'm just warm.", you said and chuckled.

A cough was scratching in the back of your throat.

You forced it back and almost immediately came to regret it.

The pain that the cough wanted to release stabbed you into the stomach. Your heart pulled together and for a moment it felt like you'd die.

Out of agony, your legs twitched.

His amber eyes jumped down to where the blanket was moving.

You forced your body to calm down.

"You can't be warm.", he said and examined your face a little closer. "It's pouring outside and the walls have holes. Everything is damp."

"Viktor.", you rolled your eyes in a playfully annoyed manner. "Don't be a smart ass."

His eyebrows pulled together.

"I'm not.", he tried to defend himself, maybe taking it a little too serious. "I'm just stating facts."

"Yeah, sure...", with a soft smile on your face you crawled closer to him and buried your face on his narrow chest. "Rest a little with me. We still got time."

Without complain, his arms wrapped around you.

Viktor's chin came to rest on the top of your head while he lay down into the old, used pillows and pulled you with him.

The sound of his beating heart pressed against your cheek.

It was an even beat, not slow nor fast.

You wondered how your heartbeat would sound to his ears.

Back when you two had been kids, he had been smaller than you. His favourite resting place had been in your arms, with his head on your chest to listen to the song of life that your body had to share.

It had always helped him to fall asleep.

But after the pain had grown, you had kept him from listening.

The sound was probably different now. It wouldn't help him sleep.

Maybe even quite the opposite.

Thankfully, Viktor had grown quite a bit ever since and this gave you a good excuse as to why you didn't want him to rest on your chest anymore.

He was the big one now, so you could listen to his heartbeat instead.

From outside the wooden walls, the dripping of shattering raindrops crawled into the room.

The place you two were living in was anything but a home.

It was barely big enough to fit a small cooking place with a gas stove, a bed and some storage room to hide clothes and other valuable things such as Viktor's cane.

It was one of the few luxuries that you were able to afford.

Medical treatment was too expensive, most doctors weren't even real specialists. And the Topside was out of reach.

It would have been a wonder if an enforcer would have let either of you pass the bridge.

The cane was a gift from you for his birthday the year before.

Such a thing was worth gold down in the Undercity, so it was out of the question to hide it.

A deep sigh escaped your cracked lips.

"You sound exhausted.", Viktor noted and let his fingers play with the (H/C) strands of hair in the back of your neck. "Are you getting sick again?"

You shook your head.

The skinny build made it possible to feel every bone in his chest.

Viktor was a scrawny looking young man, too skinny and too short for his age.

But he was a man of the Undercity, a born Zaunite. The pollution and dirty water were explanation enough as to why he wasn't like the people from Piltover.

But that didn't make his outside less charming.

He did have quite a nice amount of thick and dark brown hair. He always made sure to keep it well groomed and combed to the sides, out of his forehead.

Whenever he deemed it too long, he asked you to trim the back.

In a way, that was his way of being vain. Even though appearance wasn't what he put much effort into.

His long face with a narrow yet sharp jaw was always shaved.

With a tired sound, you raised your head to meet his gaze.

The brown of his small eyes was so bright it reminded of the purest of amber.

"I'm fine.", you smiled and placed a soft kiss on the bottom of his right eye.

Viktor had two beauty marks, one on the left side of his face, right above the lip and one underneath his right eye.

As a child, he had always tried to scratch them off because he had deemed them ugly, marks of Zaun.

But you had made it a tradition to kiss them whenever he needed to know you were dead serious or certain about something.

"We should get going.", you rose from his chest. "Your parents are probably waiting already."

Chapter 3: Two

Chapter Text

The Lanes never were and probably never would be silent.

Life was raging in the deep, dark cracks of it, waiting for every opportunity to make a quick buck.

Crimes were the main occupation for the people who had been unfortunate enough to be born in this place, followed by prostitution and violence.

You and Viktor were considered odd, even amongst the strange faces and monstrous creatures.

Neither of you knew how to crack locks or the right amount of force that was needed to break somebody's legs.

You were more pragmatical, knew how to fix stuff.

Viktor was crafty while you knew how to sell the worst of junk to people for more money than the material was worth.

It wasn't a well paying way to survive, but enough to keep your heads above water and your stomachs filled for a day.

Letting out a deep breath, you lowered your head and hid your face under the big hood of your cloak.

Your gaze wandered along the marketplace.

Strange creatures and even stranger things were placed on all of the tables to attract buyers who'd probably not only get scammed but robbed before they could turn on their heels.

You threw a glance over your shoulder.

Viktor was right behind you. Supporting his weight on his crutch, he gifted you a smile.

The sight made your heart skip a beat.

You had always had a soft spot for Viktor. While growing up, he had always been the shy one, reserved and trying to avoid getting too close to people.

But every time he had looked you in the eyes, there had been this smile on his face. It was the softest, most innocent smile a human being was able to create.

And he only ever showed it to you.

Returning his subtle sign of affection, you reached out to offer him a hand.

He took it with the hand that didn't need to hold onto the clutch and gave it a gentle squeeze.

"You should go ahead.", he said and caught up to your side with a bit of struggling. "I will catch up eventually."

Rolling your eyes, you shook your head.

"I'm not leaving you behind, Viktor."

"You're faster without me."

To warn him you gave his hand a squeeze that was considered a bit more than gentle.

A soft sound escaped him that was something between a submissive acceptance and the urge to suppress a relieved smile.

"We visit your patents every year.", you locked fingers with him. "We always arrive together and leave together. I wont stop doing that now after all these years."

A breath of relief left his lips. He couldn't fight back the smile this time.

"You hold yourself back because of me.", he said as you crossed one of the many bridges that led to the elevators to get up top.

"I am looking out for you. Just like I promised."

The smile faded.

"You don't have to. If that's what you want, I can take this responsibility from you."

The two of you stopped in front of one of the elevators.

Sighing, you placed a hand on his cheek and shook your head.

"That's not what I meant and you know that.", you glanced at the elevator that was about to arrive. "Let's not ruin the mood today."

The elevator came to an abrupt stand and the doors swung open.

Without paying attention, you took a step inside.

Viktor reached out and tried you to prevent the misery from happening, but stumbled and lost his grip.

With a gasp, he fell to the ground.

Alarmed by the sound, you tried to turn on your heel but weren't able to stop.

With full force, you slammed into someone's hard chest.

A sound of surprise escaped you.

Angered, you squeezed your eyes shut and rubbed the pulsating pain that throbbed against your forehead.

"Watch where you step.", a low female voice said, annoyed.

Someone pushed you harshly aside.

"Hey!", you growled and managed to open one eye.

Thick strands of smoke lingered in your nose and made the air inside your lungs scratch.

"(Y/N), don't.", Viktor asked while struggling to get back on his feet on his own.

The woman, dressed in a dark parker, stopped. She didn't turn around, just threw a wordless glance over her broad shoulder.

One of her thick, black eyebrows rose to ask silently to dare to speak to her.

With an interested look on your face, you eyed her for a moment.

Strands of short black hair were tied into a knot at the back of her head.

A lit cigarette dangled between her lips.

"Aren't you on of Vander's people?", you asked, head tilted and arms crossed.

Viktor, still chained to the ground, grabbed you by the leg of your pants and gave it a warning tug.

"(Y/N)...", he mumbled. "Leave it."

Still eyes locked with her, you lowered yourself to grab him by the shoulders so that his breathing calmed down again.

"I've heard only good of Vander.", you told her. "He's said to be the greatest leader Zaun ever had. Why can't you respect him a bit more and be friendly to your fellow Zaunites?"

Taking a deep breath in, she rolled her eyes, took a deep drag from her cigarette and blew a cloud of smoke into the air.

The dim green light of the shops lingered on her brown skin.

"You should keep your eyes where you're going.", she said in a slightly irritated voice, but turned towards you anyways to pull Viktor up on his feet in one swift movement. "But I suppose im partly at fault."

She offered a hand in apology.

For a moment, you eyed it before accepting the handshake.

"I'm sorry I wasn't looking where I was going.", you gifted her a polite smile. "I'll be more cautious around you next time, miss..?"

"Sevika.", she blew smoke through her nose, eyes lingering on Viktor's crutch. "And I'm not one of Vander's people. I handle things myself."

Chapter 4: Three

Chapter Text

"You really need to stop challenging your luck.", Viktor said, his forehead covered in wrinkles of worry.

A bit of natural light seeped through the cracks and holes of the metal railing. It was rare to have such a sight.

The touch of it was warm, almost soothing.

It was so different from the light you knew from the Lanes, so tender and less harsh.

Sighing, you rolled your eyes.

"For someone who grew up in Zaun, you're awfully fearful, my dear.", you said in a teasing manner and gifted him a soft smirk. "I'll be fine."

The elevator stopped.

He pulled a face and started moving first.

"Until you won't.", he mumbled.

The look on his face was something you knew all too well.

He was mad, not because you had done something, but because he was worried sick for you.

Viktor had always been this way and would probably always be a bit too logical, a bit too sensitive when it came to the people he loved.

He had lost many and feared to loose even more.

Both of you were what was left for the other.

Life in the Lanes taught one lesson very early, if you have someone to care for, you have a weakness.

And Viktor was no fool. He knew that not only was he a weakness, but a huge one with his physical state. He didn't want to burden you more than necessary.

And yet, he got mad whenever you stood up for yourself.
Or him.

Especially him.

If it would go his way, you two would seek shelter in one of the many secret hideouts of Vander and never return back to light till the end of your days.

But you didn't want this.

Not for him.

He had a sharp mind and skilled hands. He was a man fit to be an engineer in one of Piltover's many factories. Maybe he'd even make it far enough to become a professor at the academy.

Viktor didn't believe in any of this and always called you a dreamer for thinking it was possible.

And for the longest time it really had been just a dream.

Up until your condition had worsened.

Now, you knew that this dream had to become reality.

It was a thing of the impossible that Viktor would make it in the Lanes by himself. He wasn't made for this violence, he was a soft soul, with compassion and a will to better everyone's life.

His mind was the one of a great man, equal to those who lived in fancy houses and made a lot of money.

He had just been unfortunate enough to be born into the world of Zaun.

With a sigh, you allowed him to walk ahead.

Every time he was mad, he tried to be more physically active. It sometimes felt like he tried to show you how common he was, so that you would decide to leave for good.

But even if his leg wouldn't be crippled you could have never thought about deserting him.

He was one of the very few reasons why you had made it this far.

He just didn't know.

A few gloomy eyes watched from the shadows as you passed the alleys that were overflowing with trash, human remains and other things that made the air smell like a rotten mess.

The ground was dusty.

Not a single flower had the chance to bloom, let alone grow from a seed.

The Undercity, consisting of the Lanes and Zaun, was a terrible place, with even more terrible people.

Around every corner lurked a crime and every coin was drenched in blood.

There was no escape, only cracked hopes and shattering dreams.

In this place of misery, it was your duty to keep Viktor safe and sound so that he'd make it out one day. It was the only thing that kept you alive.

As the thought crossed your mind, some kind of pain stabbed you in the chest.

Struck by surprise, you had to suck in a sharp breath.

Your hand rose to your chest to apply pressure. But your legs gave in anyways.

Gasping for air, you had to search hold on a wall.

Your entire body was trembling.

Beads of sweat dripped down your forehead.

All at once it felt like the sun was gone and a cold winter breeze wrapped around your body.

Sounds fell silent and a ringing filled your ears.

"(Y/N)?", Viktor's voice cut through the silence.

Immediately, the world returned.

"Hm?", you raised your eyes and gifted him a slim smile.

Worried, he knitted his eyebrows together.

"You look unwell. Again."

Chuckling away the pain, you straightened your back and wiped away the sweat in one swift movement as well.

His amber eyes examined your every move for a moment.

"We should go back.", he turned to approach you.

Quickly, you grabbed him by the hand and started walking.

"We are almost there.", you said with a played smile and rounded a corner to avoid a group of kids that tried to play tough.

A groan escaped his pale lips.

"If you're unwell, you need to rest.", he insisted.

Smirking, you threw a glance over your shoulder to eye him with a co*cky expression.

"Says the one who never rests, mister.", you replied.

Ashamed, he turned his gaze away. But the hint of a smile appeared on his face anyways.

Even though Viktor was a man with confidence in his skills, he still happened to come across as quite awkward when it came to interactions with other people.

Years of friendship and daily teases had made him more comfortable around you, but every now and then a few things managed to make him blush.

Especially when you smiled at him he seemed to get weak.

Satisfied that you managed to lighten his mood so easily, you smiled softly and kept guiding him away from the houses and dark alleys.

Peoples screams and shouts faded.

Instead the sound of moving water filled the air.

"Almost there!", you chirped.

Viktor's eyes turned sad.

"Almost...", he mumbled to himself.

Chapter 5: Four

Chapter Text

The thing that filled the sewers and ocean of the Lanes couldn't really be considered water. It was some sort of stinky, milky liquid that was awfully colourful.

Chemicals and a heavily stench of burned plastic made the air taste sour and yet statistic.

Taking a deep breath in, you let both of your hands rest on the railing of the pier and looked out to the sea.

In the distance, huge ships blew thick clouds of black into the air and created a veil of pollution that slowly sank back to the surface of the sea.

The smell of coal was carried across the city.

Strangely enough, the wind always blew the bad things down to the Lanes. It only ever blew into the direction of Piltover when the smell of freshly bloomed mountain flowers traveled across the land.

It was as if Topside always managed to steal from the people of Zaun.

Luck just wasn't something to count on when being born in the Undercity.

Viktor's gloomy reflection appeared on the surface of the water.

With a thin smile and a shake of your head, you gave him a gentle bump to the shoulder.

"Cheer up.", you said and gifted him a peck on the cheek. "It's your birthday, silly."

A sigh made his narrow chest quiver.

His gaze wandered down to the shimmering water.

"Birthdays shouldn't be celebrated.", he mumbled, both confused as to why this was important to you and also a bit depressed. "They are days like any other."

"You're downplaying this, Viktor. How many people do you know that make it to twenty-three?"

From the corner of his eyes, he gifted you some kind of bitter look and pulled a face.

"I heard that up in Piltover, every child makes it to twenty-three.", he leaned over the railing to be able to let his fingers dance through an oily film on the water.

All the colours of the rainbow curled under his touch.

"Piltover is different from the Undercity.", you said and crossed both arms in front of your chest. "They are just..."

"Lucky? Spoiled?", he locked eyes with you. "Privileged."

"Many of them were people of Zaun."

He shrugged.

"Maybe...", he pulled back and started to rub the oil stuck to the tips of his fingers. "But they forgot. They don't want to be like us anymore."

"You will be better, won't you?", with a smile, you walked past him, but didn't miss the chance to flip two fingers against the back of his head.

A chuckle escaped him.

"You still dream about getting up top?", he asked and followed you to the other side, where the sunlight hit the water just right.

A wall of colourful glass rose into the air.

The building itself was old and deserted, with many broken windows and cracks inside its washed out facade.

But the people of Zaun had morals and enough decency to keep one part of it untouched.

It was the large side, covered from top to bottom in a colourful glass mosaic.

Flowers lay in front of it and candles were lit. It smelled of perfume.

A few toys had been placed as well.

Your eyes wandered up to the mosaic to meet the eyes of a woman bathed in light and feathers.

She was heavenly, her body language being the one of a person who knew what it was like to laugh the gods in the face and win.

Out of everything the Undercity had to offer, this was your favourite thing.

It was like an embodiment of hope.

Viktor, on the other hand, couldn't look at it the same way you did.

With his eyes lowered, he approached one of the candles.

It was a strange little thing, made from metal and many screws to form the shape of a boat. The flame never died, no matter how windy or cold it was. It probably would even keep burning when it got flooded.

Viktor had build it to honour his parents. Oil kept the flame alive.

Sometimes, his genius really did frighten you because he made the simplest of things turn out to be masterpieces of perfection.

Shaky, he managed to lower himself to his knees so that he could check on his creation.

"Mother.", he nodded towards the flowers that stood left to the candle and then to the ones at the right. "Father. It is time again. My birthday is today."

His eyes checked all the small details. With ease, he found a flaw, even though it would have been perfect to anybody else's gaze.

With nimble fingers, he fixed the issue.

For a moment, you let him talk to his parents while watching from afar.

You had never had the pleasure of meeting his mother. She had passed weeks after Viktor had turned one. His father had welcomed you not only as his sons best friend but also as an additional family member.

He had tragically been murdered by an enforcer who had taken him for a criminal as he had tried to pass the bridge to get Viktor the medical attention he needed for his right leg.

Both you and Viktor had seen him die that day and shared that trauma ever since.

Your family had taken Viktor in after that, but it wasn't the same.

He had always seen himself as just another burden on your mothers life.

As he had proposed to make it on his own a few years back, you had mor hesitated to leave with him.

Whenever his birthday came around you made him come to this place.

He insisted he hated it and deemed it unnecessary, but with each year that passed it seemed to be easier for him.
He healed.

It was just a matter of time.

"Happy birthday, Viktor.", you keeled down behind him, both hands on his shoulders. "I got something for you."

Surprised, he threw a glance over his shoulder, eyebrows raised.

"Really?", an excited smirk was on his pale lips.

An amused smirk appeared on your face.

Ever since he had been a child Viktor had proclaimed he hated gifts.

It amused you to see the boyish shimmer in his eyes.

"Close your eyes.", you whispered into his ear.

Chapter 6: Five

Chapter Text

With both hands covering his eyes, Viktor remained motionless as you let your hand slide into your pocket to pull out a small metal plate and a bag of candy.

The plate had been requirable easily compared to the sweet, sugary treats that could only be found in the noblest of Topside's shops.

It had cost a fortune, but Viktor was hooked on these particular kinds of candy ever since he had been gifted one by a man he had always called Singed.

You didn't give it to him right away though.

"Left or right?", you asked with a smirk.

His lips curled.

"Left?", he asked unsure. "No, no give me right."

Usually, he didn't like to pick right since it reminded him of the limb in his leg. But today he seemed to be risky.

Chuckling, you placed a kiss on the side of his face and wiggled with the bag of candy in front of his covered eyes so that it would make a sound.

Aroused by the sound, he opened one eye.

"Candy?", he asked and couldn't help but smile. "Where did you get it?"

"I had to ask a few people for favours.", you wiggled with the plate. "You want this too?"

Frowning in confusion, he took it with two fingers to examine the shiny surface from all sides.

"Bronze?", he asked. "Thank you. I suppose I could build it into some of my creations. Bronze is good for electric flow."

Rolling your eyes, you flipped two fingers against the back of his head.

"Look more closely.", you demanded, smiling about how much of a nerd he was after all. "I thought your eyes are fine."

"Hey... No need to be rude."

"You know I'm just teasing you."

He smiled softly.

"You'd never do anything to hurt me.", Viktor said with some kind of shimmer in his eyes that could have made ice melt.

For a brief second, your gazes met.

A hot lightning was send through your body. Your cheeks started to feel hot.

Had he always looked this handsome?

Maybe it was just the light or the fact that you were mosh happy about him making it to twenty-three.

Ever since he had been a kid people had told him and you that Viktor would just be a burden and it would be best for everyone if he wouldn't make it.

Many children didn't make it in Zaun. Even the ones without any physical restrictions.

But Viktor had made it.

And you were the happiest you've ever been about that fact.

His amber eyes returned to the metal plate.

Again, he made them dance between his fingers.

Rays of sun got caught by the surface and made it shimmer like gold.

"Hm?", his eyebrows rose in surprise.

"Found something?", you smirked, proudly.

"If I tilt it this way, something appears.", he tilted the plate in a way that you could see. "Did you know that?"

Humming, you stretched your neck to have a closer look.

"I knew that it's supposed to be a message. I didn't know how though. It's surprisingly simple... but also smart to do it this way."

He frowned.

"A message?"

"Yes."

"From who?"

You swallowed.

If you told him, he'd be mad. But if you lied to him, you would do something you've had never done before.

Both you and Viktor had never lied to each other, not even as children.

The only exception was your current health situation. Yet again, you weren't really lying about that since he just didn't know in the first place.

But the look in his eyes, paired with the hint of an excited yet confused smile on his lips made you weak.

You swallowed hard.

"Someone very important needs you to prove yourself.", you said and turned away your eyes to watch the ships in the distance. "Just do what the message says. It won't be dangerous, I promise."

Not satisfied with that answer, Viktor turned around entirely so that he could have a better look at you.

With a small gesture he indicated that he demanded answers.

To avoid a fight, you wanted to get up.

But his hand jumped forward and grabbed yours. His nails gently dug into the palm of your hand.

"(Y/N).", he said softly. "I'm not mad. I just..."

"It's from the academy."

His eyes jumped wide open.

A breath escaped him.

"What?", he almost had to laugh.

"It's a letter from the academy."

His eyebrows pulled together in anger.

"You went to the Topside?"

"I was invited."

"Topside doesn't invite people from the Undercity."

"But I was."

"How? Why?", with a shocked look on his face, Viktor pulled himself up on his cane. "You put yourself in danger for this."

He gestured with the plate in his hand.

For a moment, you stared at the shiny surface before crossing your arms in front of your chest.

"Viktor.", your voice was as serious as it had never been before. "This is a chance to get out of here. Don't waste it."

Sarcastically, he pulled a face.

"A chance for who?"

"You, obviously."

He shook his head, making the thick brown hair on his head dance with the movements.

"If it's not a chance for us, it's no chance at all."

A sigh escaped your lips.

"Think about it."

"No.", he didn't even miss a second to give his answer.

The way he looked at you gave away that he was dead set on his decision as well. Of there was a hill he was willing to die on it would be this one.

"Viktor...", with soft desperation, you grabbed his face with both hands. "I'm begging you. This is a chance that comes once in a lifetime. At least think about it."

His eyes locked with yours.

A hint of guilt appeared inside the brown.

With a sigh, he turned his gaze to the plate to examine it one last time.

"Would it mean that much to you?", he asked.

"It would mean the world to me. You don't have to decide now. Just... Don't throw it away before you thought about it."

Chapter 7: Six

Chapter Text

The mood turned.

As you two returned to the dark, gloomy sides of the Undercity, Viktor seemed like he tried to avoid you.

Every time you looked to check on him and your eyes met accidentally, he turned his gaze to the ground.

Sighing, you turned away.

It was no use to confronting him, he'd just get defensive and start an argument. It would only lead to the two of you being angry at one another.

He needed some time to himself.

Preferably, he would use that time to think about the invite to the academy. Something like this was worth more than thousands of coins.

To you, it was a no-brainer that he took the chance and tried to get to the Topside.

But Viktor shared a different kind of opinion. Probably because he didn't know about your medical condition.

Yet again, if you told him he would probably throw the chance away without batting an eye.

"Wanna go for a drink?", you asked and threw a glance over your shoulder, a fake smile on your lips.

He shrugged.

"Why?", he asked and stopped at the crossroad.

To the left, the path was muddy and uneven. It lead right into the shadowy parts of Zaun, where the small place called home was hidden.

Right ahead was the main road that only idiots liked to use. Usually, a bunch of enforcers wandered it up and down to create a false sense of security.

Most people in the Undercity felt threatened by the presence of Topside's dogs. But there was also no way to get rid of them without risking a war between both cities.

To the right was a small alley. Neon lights crawled over the cracked tiles of the street.

"It's your birthday.", you said and gestured towards the bright lights. "Let's have a drink."

"You don't drink."

"That's a lie. I don't like to drink."

Sarcastically, he raised an eyebrow.

"That's not really a difference.", he noted and rolled his eyes. "Just one."

You huffed.

"Yeah, sure. Because that's how it works."

A sigh rolled from his lips.

"As long as you take care of the fistfights, I don't care how much we have.", he gifted you one of those co*cky smirks that he always had on his face when he used his limping leg as an advantage.

Surprised, you raised both eyebrows.

"Can I rethink my offer?", you asked.

"No.", he smirked and walked ahead.

As a born and raised Zaunite, fighting wasn't the issue. You knew how to punch someone and break some bones.
But you weren't skilled per se. Whenever someone tried to jump you it was more of a reflex to use the most brutal of forces.

Even though the Undercity was a place of violence and misery, the people didn't appreciate when someone hurt their own kin.

A bar fight shouldn't end in murder. Unless that person wanted to cause a massacre.

The thought was enough to make you shiver. Swallowing hard, you forced your legs to stop shaking and went after him.

Viktor knew how to take care of himself, but that didn't change the fact that the limb in his leg made him appear like an easy target.

You preferred to stay by his side and prevent anything from happening beforehand.

The alley was packed with people. Eyes watched everywhere while ears kept listening through the cracks in the walls.

Every single snippet of information was worth something in the Undercity.

With your head lowered, you politely pushed past every person until Viktor's familiar dark hair came into sight.

He was surprisingly fast on his feet compared to his usual speed. He must have craved a drink for quite some time and just didn't want to admit it.

The neon lights brightened the darkness.

Dull noises started to fill the streets. Mud and trash crunched below every step.

Viktor was struggling to keep his posture straight. He had trouble to walk with his back straightened anyways, most of the time his shoulders were bent and he put more weight on the cane to support himself.

That way, Viktor always walked slightly sideways and tilted to the front.

One wrong step and the muddy ground would make him slip.

Out pf worry, you wanted to put an arm under his shoulder to support him.

But he would have take it as an act of pity.

Viktor almost had no self esteem yet he hated when people took care of him. He always wanted to do it himself.

For the longest time you worried that one day he would decline a helping hand and would fall into a bottomless pit from which he would never return.

But at the same time you admired how dedicated he was.

You just wanted to look out for him.

A bitter huff escaped your lips. You did see the irony in it, Viktor being too stubborn to burden you while you were just the same.

Unconsciously, you put a hand on your chest.

The air of the Undercity wasn't just polluted but also dry and dusty.

Every single breath scratched inside your lungs. But at the same time it made you feel like your lungs pulled together.

Sometimes, a sharp pain stabbed you.

The beating of your heart didn't feel normal anymore either. It was too fast, too slow and sometimes even skipped beats.

Every time that happened, your body ket you know by chasing a dry cough and some blood up your throat.

You tried to hold it in, Viktor was close enough to hear.

As you did so, thin strands of blood dripped from of your lips.

Immediately, you wiped the trails with the back of your hand.

For a brief second, you examined the stains.

The shade of red didn't seem healthy either. It was quite dark, almost blackish and smelled of rotten meat.

Your fingers were shaking.

For a long time you had brushed the sickness off as something that came with living in Zaun. But your condition had worsened to an extend that it was just cruel.

In front of the neon sign of the bar, Viktor stopped and threw a glance over his shoulder to check on you.

"Why so gloomy?", he asked.

Torn from your thoughts, you blinked.

"Nothing...", smiling, you hid your bloodstained hand from his gaze. "I was just asleep."

You didn't tell him it was a nightmare.

You never did.

Chapter 8: Seven

Chapter Text

Deafening noises filled the room, mixed with music and the cheering of drunk people.

Hooded figures sat at tables in the dark, making business, threatening each other and fighting.

The sound of billiard balls hitting against each other reached your ears.

You looked away from Viktor for a second, your attention caught by some familiar looking person who was leaning against one of the billiard tables.

A cigarette was dangling between her lips. The tip lot up in a deep orange as she took a deep breath.

Her eyes wandered through the crowd, as if she was the guard dog of the place and wanted to make sure everyone behaved properly.

At first she didn't notice you approaching, but as she looked back to double check, a slight hint of pleasant surprise lit up inside those brown eyes of her.

A smirk tugged at the corner of her mouth.

"If it ain't the bigmouth.", Sevika said and leaned into your direction. "Did you follow me?"

Huffing, you crossed your arms in front of your chest and gifted her a challenging smirk.

"Not really.", you replied and raised your chin to check out the rest of her company. "I thought you ain't one of Vander's. What's bringing you to his bar?"

Sevika took a deep breath and blew a cloud of smoke into your face.

"Vander handles the Undercity."

"That I am aware of."

"Good. So you know that this is a safe place. I wait for jobs here without having to worry about others bitching around."

Understanding, you nodded.

"Even the tough ones need closure, huh?", you smiled. "I hope you'll be on my side then, just in case someone does decide to start a fight."

With a shrug, she eyed the crowd again.

"Good people here today.", Sevika confirmed and put out the cigarette. "But I guess I could play the guard dog. For coins."

"Obviously. But I have to decline. My money will go towards booze today."

She glanced towards the bar.

"You came to drink?"

"To celebrate."

"For the boy with the limb I suppose."

"His name is Viktor.", you tilted your head. "And he's fine."

She shrugged.

"Never said otherwise."

"Yeah, but I don't appreciate your tone."

Softly, she huffed.

"You sound like his guardian.", her attention was caught by someone in the shadows. "Speaking of the devil. Where's your little friend?"

Confused by that question, you frowned.

"At the bar, probably.", you tilted your head. "Why?"

A smirk made Sevika brighten up.

The sight seemed so strange, you couldn't help but take a step back.

She didn't seem like the type of woman to smile easily. However, it also had something of a threat, like a warning not to come close.

"Not alone, I see.", she noted and gestured into the direction in which you suspected Viktor. "He got his hands full."

Cursing softly, you bit your lips and hoped that it wasn't some kind of trouble with certain types of women.

Bar fights were no problem, but for some reason, Viktor had a thing for attracting women.

It wasn't surprising, after all, he did have a handsome face. When he sat down it was hard to tell he had a limbing leg.

But the way he carried himself still made clear there was a lack of confidence.

That made him an easy target for sec workers. Or people who tried to make conversation to pickpocket without getting caught.

But as your eyes fell over your shoulder to look for him at the bar, you caught a glimpse of something way worse.

Viktor was indeed in company.

Unfortunately it wasn't the kind you had feared.

He was enjoying himself.

Shyly smiling and looking at strangers faces, Viktor sat at the bar, surrounded by people who were all too interested in him.

Some of the ladies had their hands on him, while the guys offered him a first round.

The sight made something inside your chest pull together.

It was great to see that he was more social than you had expected him to be.

But at the same time it made a deep rooted jealousy boil up inside of you.

You decided not to act on it.

Once he was out of this place he would make new friends anyways. It was only a matter of time until you had to let him go so you might as well get used to it as long as the two of you still shared the same kind of life.

"Excuse me.", you said and nodded your head goodbye to Sevika.

With a smirk, she hummed.

"Sure thing.", she said but didn't let you go immediately. "If you ever need someone to watch out for him, I might know someone."

Your legs froze.

"Pardon?"

"You don't look like you appreciate him being around this kind of company. But you accept it for his sake."

Her words made your heart jump inside your chest.

Were you really this easy to read?

"Viktor knows how to keep himself out of trouble.", you said while trying your hardest to appear unmoved by the fact that she had just hit a sore spot. "He'll find his friends."

Sevika let a small chuckle be heard. It was a mix between amusem*nt and mockery.

She wasn't buying it at all.

"If he keeps himself out of trouble or not, it doesn't seem to fed him well.", she turned to start playing billiard again. "The guy I heard of is paying well. Apparently."

Intrigued yet suspicious by the offer, you raised one eyebrow.

"What makes you think that my issues are connected to money?"

"Everything is, isn't it? There are only two ways to survive down here. Make it up or get rich. And since no one makes it up, he has to earn some money."

You huffed.

"And what would I gain from it?"

"He would stop taking to others and stay with you."

"I'm not greedy about his attention."

"But his affection, isn't it?", she made one of the balls bounce, gifted you a smirk. "My guy needs someone crafty. And in return, you'd get him all to yourself. Well fed and well looked after. Maybe even healthy."

Chapter 9: Eight

Chapter Text

With his head pulled in, Viktor sat at the bar while a bunch of people he didn't know surrounded him.

Their question asking and confident way of approaching him was a bit intimidating, but he didn't have any other choice since you had gotten lost in the crowd.

He just tried to sit it out in hopes you would find him.

"What can I get ya?", a large man approached behind the bar.

He was huge, a giant in the flesh, with large arms and a dark look on his face. At second glance he smiled though.

The lower half of his face was covered in a thick beard, his hair as brown as chestnuts.

"Hello.", Viktor put on a polite smile. "I'd like two drinks please."

The man looked past Viktor.

In the distance, you could be seen talking to Sevika.

"One for that friend of yours over there, eh?", the man asked and nodded into your direction.

Viktor threw a glance over his shoulder. A hint of gloominess lit up inside his amber eyes, mixed with displeasure.

"Yes please.", he said and eyed the man. "Uh... Sir?"

"Vander.", Vander grabbed two huge glasses to fill them up to the brim. "Ya should be a little careful, eh? Not everyone who comes here is good news."

With a hum, Viktor took the drinks to claim them before someone of his newly found friends could snatch it.

For a brief second, Vander eyed him before turning away to cater to other people.

A deep sigh escaped Viktor.

His hands wrapped around the handles of the glasses, but at the same time he didn't want to try and get up.

A cold shiver crawled down his spine as the thought of falling in front of all these people crossed his mind.

He hated to admit it, but even though he tried all he could, he still felt like he wasn't equal to the people in the Undercity.

He knew that life down here was a game of survival and he had been born with bad cards.

Every day he felt like he pushed you down with him.

Even the smallest of things were a challenge to him. You always reassured him that it wasn't a problem, yet he wanted to stand by your side instead of being carried along.

And yet, he never felt as loved by a person as he did with you.

That only made the decision harder.

Unconsciously, his hand reached into his pocket to feel for the metal plate.

This was literally his golden ticket into the academy, out of Zaun and up to Piltover.

Of course he knew that the rich and fancy wouldn't welcome him with open arms. But up where they didn't see his limb as a weakness but rather a flaw, his chances of surviving were higher.

Once he was gone, your life would turn easier. You would have more time to yourself instead of looking out for him all the time.

Maybe it was for the better if he'd take this chance and left.

Was that why you had proposed the idea?

Did you want to get rid of him?

His fingers tightly wrapped around the plate, so tight, until his knuckles started burning.

"Viktor?", a soft voice tore him from his thoughts.

Struck by surprise, his head snapped up to meet your eyes.

A hot lightning chased through his body and made his cheeks glow.

"(Y/N).", he couldn't help but smile. "I got us drinks."

He passed one of the glasses on to you.

With a warning expression, you hushed the strangers around away before you took a seat next to him.

The first sip made you pull a face. It wasn't just strong but also had an unholy taste to it that made your insides twist and turn.

Shivering, you glanced over to Viktor and almost fell from your chair.

Like a champ, he benched half the glass before putting it down to catch his breath.

A slim layer of shimmering liquid covered his pale lips. One of the drops managed to find its way to his chin, where it slid along the sharp jawline and dripped down his thin neck to disappear in the collar of his shirt.

Your eyes followed the shimmering trail as if it was the only thing that could interest you in all eternity.

Your mind went blank all of a sudden. All you could do was swallow hard.

Your heart beat wildly inside your chest anyways.

"Are you alright?", Viktor asked and put a hand on your forehead. "You look so red. But you do feel fine..."

Ashamed, you turned your eyes away.

"I'm fine...", you mumbled, almost embarrassed that your childhood friend made you feel the things you felt in that moment.

His head tilted to the side, making the kong strands of his perfectly brown hair slightly jiggle.

"Are you sure? Maybe you did get sick this morning.", his hand moved to your cheek to gently force your gaze back into his direction. "We can go home if you want to."

He smiled softly, obviously willing to sacrifice the good mood for your well-being.

The realisation that Viktor would literally sacrifice anything for you, his own fun, will and the chances to make a life of his own, struck you like lightning.

Of corse you two had been close like no one else and yet it was shocking.

If it were for Viktor, he'd make heaven burn and hell freeze if it meant doing you good.

It scared you how dedicated he was.

It scared you because that meant there was no chance in a million years he'd leave you behind to apply to the academy.

"sh*t...", a soft curse slipped from your lips.

The sensation that his fingers on your cheek send through your body was enough to make you shiver.

Viktor took it as a sign of you being cold.

Concerned, his eyebrows pulled together.

We should get going, he put the drink down.

"No, let's have some fun.", you tried to make him stay. "It's your birthday."

But he refused.

"I want to go.", he slipped from your grip.

It was a lie. Of course it was.

But you didn't want to start another fight.

Ever since you had given him that invite to the academy, he seemed changed.

Maybe you had done a mistake.

Chapter 10: Nine

Chapter Text

"You know we could have stayed.", you said as you followed Viktor down some stairs.

Usually, you would go first so if he slipped you could catch his fall.

But in that moment he was so persistent to go first that you didn't even have the chance to try and protect him as usual.

He didn't even look at you but kept walking, gaze turned straight forward.

He seemed to be lost in though because he only looked up as his foot hit the shaky, old planks of the pier that the shabby house of yours was build on.

You stopped to watch him.

His fingers wrapped around the handle of his cane.

All of a sudden he was strangely tense, his shoulders rose and his back bend.

At first you though he was in pain.

It wasn't something uncommon for Viktor to experience pain or cramps due to his leg. Depending on how often and long he strained it, pain could occur.

Most of the time he pretended it was just exhaustion, but every now and then he couldn't hide how much effort he needed to put in to get through a normal day.

Slightly, your fingers twitched. You felt the need to reach out for him.

But he quickly brushed it off again.

"I'm fine...", he mumble towards the foggy water, but it was clear he spoke to you.

He still didn't look at your face nor did be try to be in a close radius.

You respected that and kept your distance.

What made you change your mind?, you asked in a careful tone.

A deep sigh escaped his lips. Slowly, he let his eyes wander over his shoulder to stare at you for a moment.

There was a deep, dark sadness inside this amber brown of his.

Usually, it was easy for you to tell what he was thinking about. Ever since childhood, he had been like an open book, every single paragraph clear, even the smallest of words easy to understand.

But in that moment he was like a blank sheet of paper.

Almost like a stranger.

"Did you ever think about another life?", he asked out of the blue, his voice even lighter than usual.

Taken aback by that question, you raised one eyebrow.

"Of course.", you said. "Another life for us. Like we promised each other."

The hint of a smile lit up his face.

"Yeah... Like we promise."

Worried by the way he was talking, you did approach him, but remained standing on the last step, still leaving space between the two of you.

Giving in to the desire to touch him, your hand reached out to brush a strand of his brown hair out of his sight.

But you managed to restrain yourself.

His eyes followed the movement of your hand.

He didn't object, but he didn't move towards you either.

He just remained motionless.

"Viktor.", you said in a gentle tone. "Did you think about it?"

Out of reflex, his free hand slid into his pocket.

"I did.", he admitted. "But I can't... I won't leave you here."

"You must."

"I don't want to."

A heavy sigh escaped your lips. Squeezing your eyes shut, you suppressed the urge to argue with him all over again.

All you needed was to convince him.

But this wasn't the right time nor the right place.

The day wasn't the greatest anyways, stained by memories of the past and unsolved trauma. The way he acted was also off, but maybe it was just because he was busy with his own piece of mind.

You knew that Viktor had not taken your gift lightly.

It would be best to give him a few days and push him into the right direction after.

"One day something better will wait for us.", you lowered your hand. "But let's not worry about it today. For now it's just us against the world."

His eyes followed your hand. A soft sound escaped him. It was something between a regretful whimper and an accepting hum.

"You shouldn't worry at all.", he offered you a hand.

Hesitantly, you accepted.

"I worry all the time.", you took his hand and locked fingers.

His eyes turned dark, yet he seemed relieved to finally hear his suspicions confirmed.

"I'm a burden to you."

"No.", you said without missing a second. "I worry in a different way about you."

Confused yet with the curiosity of a child, he looked up.

"How can you worry but not worry?", he asked.

The way he asked made him seem so little like an adult man and more like an unsure boy with self esteem issues.

Viktor had always been bad with understanding emotions that weren't as clear as day.

But he did get that you never wanted him harm.

Over the years he had become better at understanding you, and you only since he hated other peoples company.

With both hands you grabbed his face to force him to lock eyes with you.

Smiling softly, you placed a kiss on his beauty marks before brushing your nose against the tip of his.

Immediately, he turned into his soft self again.

"I'm not thinking of you as a burden.", you said, firm and clear, while looking him in the eyes. "I worry about you because I want you to be safe. I want you to have a good life."

A deep breath made his chest quiver as he grabbed your wrist to give it a gentle squeeze.

"You need to stop worrying about me and take care of yourself."

"I am by helping you out of here. Once you're up, I'll do anything to follow."

A sarcastic expression appeared on his face.

"Why do I get the feeling you'd get into more trouble without me?", he asked and pressed his forehead against yours.

You couldn't help but chuckle.

"Maybe because without you, my voice of reasoning will be gone to keep me from doing stupid sh*t."

Viktor had to chuckle too.

"You always got us into trouble.", he confirmed.

"And now I'll get us out."

Again, a shimmer of doubt appeared in his eyes.

"Let's not settle on it yet.", he asked.

Chapter 11: Ten

Chapter Text

With lowered eyes, you sat at the small widow of your home and stared onto the dark surface of the water.

Small waves formed as people drove by with improvised fisherman's boats. They were on the hunt for some small fish, maybe ones that were edible.

Chances were high they would just end up with trash or the huge monsters would tear them into the depts.

One more corpse in the Undercity wouldn't matter anyways.

Behind you, the sound of pots and pans clashing against each other filled the small room.

You threw a glance over your shoulder.

Viktor was struggling to gather some supplies together. The expression on his face was neutral, but the way he carried himself gave away that he was at the edge of his possibilities.

"Let me.", you offered.

But as you wanted to take the pot from him, he refused.

"You should get to bed.", he suggested. "I'll bring you food when it's ready."

Carefully, he placed his cane next to the stove and started to get to business.

A deep breath escaped you.

For a moment, you remained standing behind him, staring at the back of his brown hair.

He was so exhausted, his back bend and his shoulders hanging low.

Viktor had been born to be a proud man but Zaun had made him a poor cripple, someone who was worth less than anyone else.

You wanted him to make it out.

Thankfully, he seemed to start to consider taking his chance and give it a shot to get up into the academy.

But even if he would agree, this plan needed money. And a lot of that.

Unfortunately, there was nothing you could have offered him. You didn't have a single coin, work wasn't paying well and he had as little as anyone else in this godforsaken place.

A thought crossed your mind.

Maybe there was a way. It wasn't ideal, but the only option there was.

And waiting for another chance wasn't possible. There was no time to loose. It was now or never.

"Viktor.", you placed your chin on his shoulder and watched his long, slim fingers get to work.

"Hm?", a soft smile was on his face.

"Would you mind if I go for a walk?"

His hands froze mid movement.

"You don't have to ask me if you want to go back to the bar.", he gifted you a glance from the side. "I'm not your mother. Nor your boyfriend... Do what you want."

At his remark about the boyfriend part, your lips flinched.
The two of you had been friends for as long as you could remember. But there had never been a relationship that went further than that.

He had never show any interest in people, at least not romantically. And you had tried to stay away from people of the Undercity.

The possibility of dating him had never crossed your mind. Maybe it was dangerous territory since it could take a toll on your friendship.

But at the same time the thought made your cheeks glow as if they were on fire.

"Viktor.", softly, you placed a kiss on the side of his head. "I just need to get some business done."

His eyes twitched.

"You still work for them?", he didn't sound like it but the way his eyes shimmered gave away that he was upset.

Swallowing hard, you pulled away to offer him some space.

Whenever Viktor was upset he didn't like to be touched. It was a privilege to be close to him and whenever his mood was gloomy he took that away.

It was his way of feeling in control, of being powerful.

You respected that, but it did hurt if you were honest. You had always taken great pride in the fact that he trusted you enough to allow intimacy to an amount that he even hated his father to do.

Kisses and hugs were something he had only ever allowed you.

The more you hated it when he took that from you.

"It brings money in.", you tried to justify yourself.

He frowned.

"There are other ways.", he insisted.

"Ways that don't pay enough."

A deep breath escaped him.

"I don't want you to work with such people."

"They are people like anyone else in the Undercity."

"They are criminals. We aren't."

A bitter smirk appeared on your face.

"Yeah...", your gaze fell to the ground to avoid the shame of looking at him. "We're the odd ones out."

Immediately, he sucked in a sharp breath.

With his lips pressed into a thin line, Viktor turned his gaze out the window. For a moment he didn't say anything.

All he could focus on were his thoughts.

Expressions crossed his face. It went from hurt to annoyed, to pained and anger.

"Do as you please...", he finally said and went back to preparing food.

Something inside your chest got heavier. It felt like a needle stabbed right into your heart and made it bleed.

For the hint of a second it felt like breathing got harder.

"I'll be back soon.", you said, turned on your heel and rushed out the door before he could have a change of heart.

With a loud shattering sound, the door fell shut.

From the corner of your eyes, you managed to catch a glimpse of his facial expression.

There was so much guilt in his eyes. And yet he hated to see you go, there was no doubt about it.

And yet, you knew there was no other choice. You had to go.

Viktor needed money to go to the Topside. It would be even better if you'd manage to make enough to give him a head start and some financial stability for the first months.

Obviously, if you would have told him ghat, he would have refused and insisted you to leave it.

This was a better way.

Letting out a deep sigh, you got moving.

Maybe this was a stupid idea, because once you were with one foot in on shady business it was almost impossible to get out.

But you had to risk it and at least ask.

After all, it wasn't for you but him.

Chapter 12: Eleven

Chapter Text

With your head pulled in and a hood covering your face, you walked through the dark alleys of Zaun.

Muddy rainwater splashed underneath every step you took.

The stench of chemicals was stuck inside your nose.

Shadows crawled over the ground and up the walls.

Your eyes wandered through the darkness.

Eyes were watching from all sides. Some of the people seemed like poor fools, unable to make proper decisions of their own while others looked like they were the reason for other peoples misery.

All of a sudden, one of the dark silhouettes made eye contact.

His eyes were darkened and all covered in crust. His face had mud all over.

The cracked lips moved, a soft sound escaped.

Quickly, you rounded a corner. It was better to get away quickly before he would ask for something like money.

Or worse, he'd try to hook you up on drugs.

Rumour had it that there was a new kind of substance going around. It was supposedly stronger than any other drug and made incredibly addictive.

Apparently it also came with heavy disadvantages.

Again, a few drops of rain fell from the sky. As the watery orbs hit the surface of your clothes, an awful stench hit you.

Headaches chased through your temples.

Pulling a face, you lowered your head even more and rushed on.

Neon light kissed your feet.

As you looked up, the door of the last drop greeted you.

Your feet froze.

It felt like you betrayed Viktor by planning to make business with shady people like the ones that lured inside this building.

Sure, Vander was a great man with great ideas and unlike others, he had moral. But that didn't change the fact that the people of the Undercity were monsters.

His influence had changed the way the people of Zaun went about their work and kept everything in check, but crimes were still crimes.

Out of caution, you threw a fee glances over your shoulder. Somehow it made you unreasonably nervous to be at the Last Drop without any real connection to it.

A few people already started to look you up and down.
Your hand reached out for the doorknob.

All of a sudden, a wave of dusty, dry coughs struck you.

Taken by surprise, you tore your eyes wide open and pressed a hand to your mouth.

The coughs shook you so violently that a vibrant pain made your lungs ache. Breathing became impossible.

Weak on your legs, you had to support yourself on a wall.

For a short second the pain was gone.

Greedily and with tears in your reddened eyes, you managed to gasp for air.

The hard wall pressed into your back as another wave of pain and coughing made you bend over.

Heads rose.

Confused glances were thrown into your direction.

Feeling the stares of strangers digging into your flesh, you forced yourself to catch a breath and crawl around a corner into another dark side alley.

Out of breath, you bend over and let the pain do its worst as a steam of blood gushed from your mouth.

Thick red drops poured from between your fingers.

Red and dirty rainwater mixed with a shimmering layer of oil on water.

The taste of iron and raw meat covered your lips.

It smelled of smoke and ashes.

It scratched inside your lungs whenever a breath crossed your lips.

You tried to ignore the cough that scratched the back of your throat.

Steps approached.

Your eyes jumped to the side. Out of reflex, your fingers twitched and reached into the side of your pocket to wrap around a knife.

Someone passed. Shadows crawled over the ground, over the walls and vanished onto the darkness again.

A shaky breath escaped your lips.

Small drops of blood poured from the cracks of your mouth. It felt like your teeth were bleeding as well.

Your entire body was trembling. Breathing burned.

"Holly sh*t.", a low voice chuckled.

A cloud of thick, grey smoke stroked your face.

The weight of a hand pressed down on your shoulder.

"f*ck off!", you growled and shook it off.

With the back of your hand you wiped the blood from your mouth and spit the rest against the wall before standing up straight again.

Annoyance already visible in your (E/C) eyes, you turned to meet the person's gaze.

Surprised your eyebrows rose.

"You really appear out of thin air in the worst of times, don't you?", you asked with your eyebrows pulled together. "How did you find me?"

With an amused smirk on her face, Sevika took a drag from her cigarette.

"There's blood on your shirt.", she noted drily.

You didn't give it a second thought.

"I was looking for you."

She smirked.

"I'm not a nurse, kiddo."

You rolled your eyes.

Pain and impatience had taken your will to have a conversation with her besides what you desired to discuss.

"You told me a guy needs people to work for him.", the tip of your tongue appeared to clean the corners of your mouth. "I need his contact."

Her gaze wandered up and down on you.

"He needs people who are... capable."

A hissing sound escaped you. Annoyed, your lips curled.

"I am, thank you very much."

Curious, her head tilted to the side while she crossed both arms in front of her chest.

"What would you need the money so desperately for? You seem on the brink of death already anyways."

Baring your teeth, you showed her that your patience was running thin and you weren't around to make smalltalk.

"That's none of your business.", you snarled. "You said he pays well. I am willing to work."

With a shrug of her broad shoulders, she took a drag from the cigarette and threw it into the mud.

Hissing, the glowing tip died down.

It smelled burned for a moment.

"I'll bring you to him.", she offered. "But you should know that it's dirty work."

"I didn't expect anything less."

"It's very dirty."

"So what? Should I be concerned that it will kill me?"

A huff escaped her.

"That's one way to take it."

Chapter 13: Twelve

Chapter Text

With her head covered by a huge hood, Sevika guided you through a dark alley in the furthest back of Zaun that you had ever seen.

No natural light reached this far. Not even the unnatural neon colours managed to crawl through the tiny cracks.

A strange smell was in the air, some mix of unknown chemicals and oil.

A few rats crawled through the mud but quickly vanished inside holes in the walls as Sevika's heavy steps approached.

A cold shiver crawled down your spine as you caught a glimpse of a group of hooded figures kneeling in a corner.

They seemed to do some shady business, more shady than the usual business that the Undercity was infamous for.

For the hint of a second you managed to catch a glimpse of a strange violet liquid that was passed from one hand to another before it disappeared in the new owners pockets.

They seemed to notice your staring.

Heads snapped into your direction.

Bloody, irritated eyes locked with yours.

Frightened, you retreated. While doing so you bumped into Sevika by accident.

Letting out a low sound, she threw a glance over her shoulder.

"Don't stop walking.", she advised and examined the people around. "They will jump you if you stop. Or of you're too slow."

She kept on walking again.

Your legs twitched. They wished to run, but common sense in the back of your mind said that running would have been a sign of weakness.

Thugs of the Undercity were skilled in smelling weak targets who would make a good catch.

There were plenty of people who got robbed, beaten or killed within seconds of setting foot in this godforsaken place for the first time.

And you didn't want to be one of them.

With bated breath, you followed her further down the rabbit hole.

The water inside the puddles started to change from dirty to bloody and infected.

A thin layer of unidentifiable liquid covered the surface.

As you stepped into it, the colours got stuck to the soles of your shoes and made them stick to the ground like gum.

Disgust already crawled up your throat. It felt like everything you had eaten in the past days was about to return back to daylight.

All of a sudden, Sevika stopped and raised a hand to signalise for you to hold on as well.

With narrowed eyes, she looked around before knocking on a shabby old door.

The sound of rusty metal echoed through the emptiness.

Colourful flowers grew along the walls. They were pretty, but at the same time awoke the suspicion that it wasn't wise to risk a touch or even a sniff.

A small window opened in the door.

Two old, watery eyes examined her for a moment before moving on to you, where they remained a but longer.

The window closed again.

Locks opened. Slowly, the door moved while screaming and screeching.

No person was to be seen as the way opened and revealed a stuff, dark room that had nothing in it but a staircase wrapped in shadows.

Carefully, Sevika threw a glance inside.

One of her hands moved to her belt where a weapon was secured.

As she deemed the coast as clear, she dared to enter.

"Come on.", she said in a demanding manner. "It won't be open forever."

Something inside of you hesitated.

It wasn't just stuffy air that reached your nose, but also a scent that was enough to make all the bones inside your body tingle.

Sevika did a gesture. She was starting to get impatient.

The door moved again, all by itself.

A deep breath escaped you.

"Will I be able to return, is the question?", you asked with one eyebrow raised.

"Depends.", she turned away to approach the staircase that seemed like it led straight to hell. "Do not anger anyone and keep your mouth shut."

It wasn't a great answer, but probably the only one you'd ever get.

You didn't want to go. You really didn't want to.

This place was guaranteed trouble, trouble that you had managed to avoid for over two decades.

Starting now would have made all the years keeping Viktor out of trouble wasted.

But at the end of the day this opportunity was the only option to get some funds together.

And at this point you were desperate.

Viktor already seemed to get used to the idea of leaving the Undercity for the academy.

Now all that was needed was money. And this was the only way to make it quick and in loads.

At least that was what you hoped.

The door was already halfway closed as your legs decided to take matters to actions and took the final step.

With a heavy sound, the door fell shut behind you and made the ground shake.

Darkness swallowed everything.

Sevika disappeared for a moment.

A shivering breath escaped your lips.

This deep blackness felt different than everything you've ever experienced. It was colder, more cruel.

Every breath felt like the air tried to poison you, as of the shadows tried to crawl into your nose and corrupt every inch of your being until nothing but an empty vessel was left.

But you couldn't stop now.

The Undercitg had already taken too much from you.

You wouldn't stop, now that there was a silver lining to be seen.

Just a bit more darkness. Soon it would be bright day.

At least for Viktor.

With new found determination beating inside your chest, you raised a hand to feel where you were going.

"Sevika?", you asked and dared to take another step into the darkness.

A dim light awoke.

Orange glow kissed your face. Gentle warmth reached your cheeks.

Scratchy smoke filled the already dusty air.

"Down here.", her voice said and not a second after, a small, electric blue light chased away the darkness.

The strands dripped down the stairs and seeped into the depths like water from an ocean.

"Where does this lead?", you asked but didn't wait for an answer to take the first step.

"Somewhere dark."

Chapter 14: Thirteen

Chapter Text

The sound of Sevika's steps echoed from the walls and danced down the staircase.

The feeling of something or rather someone following sat in your neck like a hungry beast.

With every step that led further under the earth, it felt like the air declined. Breathing got harder.

Your head was spinning.

Narrowing your eyes. you tried to spot something in the darkness.

"Sevika?", you asked. "How long till we there? My feet start to get sore."

Her steps froze.

The glow of the light she held faded.

For a moment, everything was nothing but dark.

The only thing that could be seen was the orange glow of her cigarette whenever she took a deep breath.

Smoke scratched your throat.

"You should get rid of that impatience of yours.", she said and seemed to work on one of the walls. "The man I'm talking about doesn't like impatience."

A sigh escaped you.

"Who even is he? You talk about him as he's some kind of genius."

"He is.", there was a smirk audible inside her voice. "He once was close to Vander."

You frowned.

"A friend of Vander's..."

"You're probably too young to know about him."

Something in the back of your head tingled.

"I thought Vander handles the Undercity himself."

The sound of a switch filled the darkness.

"Not always.", a crack of light fell into the room and illuminated Sevika's boots. "There were days when the Undercity raged war against Piltover and vice versa."

A cold shiver crawled down your spine.

Her words awoke memories. Dark, painful memories.

"I know.", your eyes fell onto the dim light. "I lost my father in one of the fights. When the bridges fell."

With shadows adoring her face, Sevika gifted you a short glance.

"Then you must have heard about him."

You avoided her gaze.

"No. Just his accomplishments. He used to be Vander's right hand man, no? He worked from the shadows. At least that's what the people used to whisper about. He was like a rat."

"Vander's rat.", Sevika confirmed and did a gesture to let you have the first entrance. "But not for long anymore."

Your lips twitched.

Somehow, hearing those words from her mouth were nothing you wished to hear. It could have kept you unmoved. But instead, worry awoke.

However, now it was too late to back out. You had already made one bad decision for a good cause, a few more wouldn't do any more damage.

Not batting an eye, you walked past her.

Bright, purple light hit you all at once.

Blinded, you squeezed your eyes shut and raised a hand to shield your face.

A cool wind stroked your fingers. Goosebumps grew all over your body.

It smelled of chemicals and cleaning supplies, similar to a lab.

Steps sounded behind you.

Then steps approached.

You blinked a few times to get used to the sudden brightness of the room.

Pressure pressed down on your head. It felt like this wasn't a normal room but a space buried deep between the earth and sea.

"Sevika.", a scratchy yet smooth voice reached your ears. "Who did you bring this time?"

Immediately, you felt unsure about the person it belonged to. It didn't feel like that person could be truest. At least not if you want to make it out alive, without a knife stuck inside your back.

Slowly, your eyes got used to the light.

Watery outlines appeared.

They were vaguely tall, with slim builds and heads held high.

Sevika stopped next to you.

A cloud of smoke wrapped around her body.

"You said you needed people.", she said, unmoved, yet a little distant. "Here is one."

It sounded like she wanted to keep a certain position against him. But the attempt failed miserably considering that she sounded like a poor fool who was working for this man only to earn small crumbs.

She wanted more but wouldn't get it.

A low sound filled the silence, humming.

Steps sounded again.

Someone circled you.

The weight of eyes traveled over your body.

Finally, you managed to catch a clear glimpse of the man.

He wasn't extremely tall but quite slim, with a long, sharp face and the facial expression of a man without morals. He carried himself like a king, a man who knew what his goals were and how many sacrifices he would have to make.

At first, he seemed like any other Zaunite with too much hunger for power.

At sending glance, your face froze though.

The colour of his eye, that was turned to face you, shimmered in a bright, warm blue. But as he turned, the deformed side of his face was revealed.

Deep, pale scars ran through the flesh of his cheek, right through the other eye, only to disappear in his hair.

The other eye shimmered in a feisty orange yet it was as black as sin.

He reminded you of a cat, but not the friendly ones you used to pet as a child. He was like those beasts that lurked in the shadows to feast on bloody remains.

With a low sound, the man crossed his hands behind his back and eyed you.

"You don't look like what I wanted.", he noted. "But it should be fine."

Your eyes narrowed.

"Are you the one they call Silco?", you asked, more curious than frightened.

And yet, despite the curiosity that his appearance awoke inside of you, you couldn't shake off the dull feeling that it wasn't wise to get too caught up in business with him.

His lips twitched.

"I was looking for someone with brains.", he eyed you up and down. "But you seem to be someone with questions. Yes, I am Silco. Who do I have the pleasure with?"

You sucked in a sharp breath.

Your eyes jumped to the side to catch a glimpse of Sevika.

She had to know him better than you.

Briefly, she locked eyes with you as well and gave you a warning look.

"(Y/N).", you answered.

Silco frowned.

"Well... Tell me, (Y/N), are you smart?"

The hint of a smirk appeared on your face.

"Depends on how high the pay is."

Chapter 15: Fourteen

Chapter Text

With a gesture, Silco invited you into another room.

A man sat at a table, bend over small pieces of metal and plastic.

He was so invested in his work that he didn't even notice people watching him. Or he didn't want to pay any attention to them.

Either way, he seemed like a shady guy with questionable work methods.

"Singed.", Silco introduced him. "You asked for a helping hand."

He gave you a push.

Unsure, you stumbled into the room.

Your eyes were glued to his hands.

They worked insanely fast, with these long fingers and slim wrists.

It was easy to tell that this man was chronically underweight, with many more health issues than the bare eye could see.

But he was damn good at what he was doing.

It kind of impressed you to just watch him.

Your attention was caught by the things he was working on.

It looked like a small bottle made of glass, but the bottom and the top were metal made with screws to twist and release pressure.

Bright, violet liquid danced inside this pipe made of glass.

The sight alone was enough to make you swallow hard. It made you feel like whatever this stuff was, you didn't want to get too close to it.

Maybe it was poison.

Or something way worse.

With bated breath, you stepped closer.

"Sir?", you asked and leaned down to get into the corner of his field of vision.

His fingers froze.

A deep breath escaped him.

The dim light made it hard to tell, but he was old, with deep wrinkles running through his face and the corners of his mouth hanging low.

Eyebrows knitted together and a dark shimmer in his eyes, the man moved his head to look you up and down.

Another breath escaped him.

He smelled of chemicals.

"You don't look like someone who would understand my work.", he just said and turned back to ignore you. "Get me another."

Arrogance hit you.

With an annoyed expression on your face, you leaned back and crossed your arms in front of your chest.

"I've seen bigger geniuses work like this.", you replied.

Curiosity lit up inside the man's eyes.

"Is that so?", he asked, slight offence audible in his words. "Then I would like to meet that person."

Goosebumps crawled all over your body.

"He's... not going to be here long anymore.", you said.

One eyebrow of Sevika rose.

She knew that Viktor existed. She had seen him at the Last Drop.

One word from her and you'd be done for. She had warned you that lying would be something idiotic to do when you wanted to work for these men.

With bated breath, you threw a glance over to her.

She just smirked. Not a single word left her lips.

The man, Singed, put his work down and let out a deep, exhausted sigh.

"That genius of yours.", he started with curiosity burning on his tongue. "Why will he leave?"

A silent curse chased through your head.

Now you needed to feed into the lie.

What were you suppose to do?

Tell him the truth?

No, that would have put Viktor into danger. Getting him involved into your business wasn't what you wanted.

So what else was there to tell?

Viktor's father had always said that a good lie had to have a hint of truth in it.

"He's sick.", your tongue said without permission from your brain. "He'll be gone soon. At least that's what I hope. That's why... why he can't work for you. I will have to be enough."

It wasn't a complete lie.

Viktor really was sick, just not dying from it. And you really wished from the bottom of your heart that he'd be gone soon, up in Piltover, working for people with enough money to pay him well.

A little sceptical, Singed eyed you for a moment before lowering his head.

"Very well. This one will do.", he said over his shoulder to Silco. "For now."

A slim smirk appeared on Silco's face.

"We will see about that.", he said and lowered his head to eye you in a strangely intimidating kind of way. "I don't have to tell you that this won't be a job to talk about?"

You swallowed hard.

Only the weight of his gaze on you was enough to make you feel like murder was about to knock on your door.

You didn't like these men.

But their money was something to like a lot.

"My pay...", you dared to ask in a low voice. "How much?"

You had to force yourself to speak calmly, otherwise you feared your words might start to shake.

A hint of fear started to crawl up your throat.

Silco's orange eye met your gaze. It felt so evil, so rotten, like something the Undercity hasn't seen before.

"Of corse we pay.", one of his slim hands reached into his pocket to pull out a bag filled with coins.

With a clang, it hit the ground before your feet.

Small, copper coins fell out. They danced over the tiles, hit the tips of your shoes and fell to the side.

Your own expression greeted you in the reflection of the polished surface.

Slowly, you bend down, reached out and grabbed one single coin to let it dance between your fingers.

The bag wasn't huge. Sure, compared to what you would have made with a few small robberies up in Piltover.

But considering that it served to compensate you for putting your life on the line it seemed only like a small silver lining.

"That's not enough.", all at once, your fingers froze and trapped the coin in a sharp angle.

Warning, Sevika shook her head.

Silco frowned.

"You didn't earn the privilege to be greedy yet.", he bared his teeth.

"I'm not.", you met his gaze. "But I have a high risk of dying for your cause. And for that I need to get payed."

"Get your hands dirty first."

"I'll even get them bloody if you want me to. But not without some money in my hand."

A dark shimmer crossed Silco's face.

"Fine.", he hissed. "Prove me you're worth it and I'm willing to negotiate."

Chapter 16: Fifteen

Chapter Text

"Are you really that desperate?", Sevika asked as she squatted next to you on one of the rooftops. "As a friendly advise, I'd take what he offers for now. It's still good money."

With a grim expression on your face and your eyes squeezed together, you squatted behind a wall and tried to find a loophole inside the security system of a fancy villa.

The facade was so shiny that it blinded the ships from miles away. White and gold mingled.

There was no light illuminating the windows.

"This should be easy game...", you mumbled and put away the binoculars to grab a rope instead. "I know you won't safe me if things go south. But I'd appreciate if you could stay out of may way."

Sevika let out a deep breath.

"I got orders.", she followed you to the edge of the roof. "I need to keep an eye on you."

"To report to Silco.", you huffed and jumped down to a lower roof. "You know, for someone who wants to work her way to the top, you do an awful lot of dirty work. You're like a lap dog."

A sound of warning escaped her lips.

With quick steps you crossed the roof to get closer to the target of your desire.

"And you're just doing this to impress him."

You huffed.

One quick glance to check if the coast was clear and your fingers started to work on one of the windows of the upper floor.

"I'm doing this for money."

"Oh really?", one of her eyebrows rose. "Does your little friend know what you're doing for some coins?"

You froze.

It wouldn't be wise to play with her. She knew already that you had been lying to Silco and Singed.

But you also had no intention of getting blackmailed either.

Letting out a deep breath, you cracked the lock of the window and opened it slowly.

A breeze of scented air hit you in the face.

It smelled of lavender and vanilla, yet very subtle and not irritating at all.

Whoever lived in this place had good taste.

"I appreciate that you didn't tell on me.", you said with a glance over your shoulder. "But let's not mingle too much in each others business."

"Hm. So he doesn't know."

Annoyed, you pulled a face.

"Yes...", you admitted with a hint of anger. "And I would like to keep it that way. Now, if you'd excuse me. I got some rich bastard to rob."

Without wasting another word, you grabbed the frame of the window and threw yourself into the hallway of the house.

With a low thud, you managed to land on both feet and jump behind a dresser for cover.

One last time you threw a glance over to Sevika before pulling the hood of your jacket into your face.

Sevika didn't make any moves to try and follow you. She remained motionless, watching from the distance.

Satisfied, you rushed down the hallway.

The next room that followed seemed to be some sort of living room.

Three couches were placed in a circle, in the middle a small coffee table that was plated with gold and pearls. The cushions were made of fine silk that shimmered with rainbow colours as the dim light of the candles stroked the surface.

You had seen many places, fancy and ordinary, in Piltover but this one was impressive.

The sheer amount of wealth that was displayed was enough to chase some kind of disgust up your throat.

People down in the Undercity were dying and whoever lived in this house covered the handles of their doors in gold.

You turned your head to listen if someone was around before you moved on, up the stairs and to the left.

Door after door appeared.

You decided to start with the one that was the furthest away. With bated breath you pressed your ear against the hard, polished wood and listened.

No breathing on the other side.

No steps either.

Carefully, you pushed down the handle.

The door opened a crack wide, barely enough to throw a glance into the room.

It was empty, thankfully. But the sight was confusing.

The entire interior was covered in wood and gold. It was ridiculous how fancy everything looked. Books lined up back to back in shelves that reached all the way up to the high ceilings. It seemed irrational make a room this massive only to keep books in it.

But yet again, Viktor was a man who insisted that books, or rather the knowledge that they held, were valuable as well.

You were about to pull the door shut again and look for something better to steal, as steps reached your ears.

They were small, yet fast, like the ones of a child that tried to move past enough to escape a parent. They almost weren't audible and much closer than expected.

You had missed them.

A shiver of surprise chased down your back.

Out of panic, you jumped into the room and pulled the door shut.

The smell of dried paper and old wood hit you.

Goosebumps grew all over your arms.

A shivering breath escaped you.

The beating of your heart started to fasten. Panic rose and tied your throat.

"Alright...", you tried to calm yourself, whispering, while your eyes wandered through the room. "Alright... f*ck... Well, I've had worse. Just stay calm (Y/N). You got this. All you need is a small token to show off to Silco."

On your tiptoes, you walked along the many bookshelves and tried to spot something that seemed valuable.

But all there was were books. Books and trophies, certificates and framed congratulations, written on paper.

It wouldn't be wise to steal one of those. It would he easy to identify the owner and the fact that you hadn't acquired those unrightfully.

But out of curiosity, you stopped, took a moment and let your eyes wander over a few of the things.

"As a token of our affection and appreciation, we, the council of Piltover, hereby hand over this honouring...", you read to yourself with withheld breath. "To the founding member of Piltover, Cecil B. Heimerdinger."

Chapter 17: Sixteen

Chapter Text

Your heart dropped into your stomach.

You were in the middle of robbing Heimerdinger.

The Cecil Heimerdinger. One of the founding members of this very city, a creature of the arcane and professor.

Goosebumps grew all over you. Cold sweat crawled down your back.

"sh*t!", you cursed.

Your kegs twitched. You were about to back out of this and jump through one of the windows, as a sound made your heart stop.

Someone opened the door.

Out of reflex, you ran up to the desk, that were lined up at the end of the room, and jumped behind them.

You took a deep breath and slammed a hand to your mouth to silence the smallest of sounds.

There was a small crack at the backside of the desk under which a small ray of light crawled.

The light touched the fingers of your hand that you had pressed to the ground of support.

Sounds tore the silence apart.

A shadow appeared inside the light.

But it didn't look like the shadow of a species that Heimerdinger was part of.

It looked like an animal.

You remembered that Heimerdinger had a pet, a small animal that seemed like a ball of fur. It was a poro.

Shivers chased through your limbs.

Those little things were little bastards with insanely good noses. If this thing would get too close, you were done for.

Thankfully, you had an ace up your sleeve.

Poro's were as good in smelling things as they were blown on food.

The small steps got closer. The sound of a nose sniffing the ground filled your ears.

It was a little as if a dog was looking for intruders.

"Well, well, little friend.", a high pitched voice chuckled. "Do you smell the new furniture polish? Makes the wood smell noble, doesn't it? You'll get used to it."

Barking, then the sounds of little steps again.

They started to get closer.

Slowly, you let your hand slide into your pocket and grabbed a hand of snacks.

Viktor had given them to you a few weeks back. Humans wouldn't be able to eat them anymore, but poro's could eat just about anything.

Sniffing and barking, the poro approached.

Your eyes followed the shadow until it was so short and small that a head full of thick, white fur appeared. Horns came to sight.

Your heart beat wildly inside your chest.

Your fingers tightened around the snacks. You pulled them out.

The poro froze. Its little head snapped up.

A sound of excitement escaped the creature.

You shook the snacks in your hand to create a rustling sound.

Big, black, button like eyes met yours.

Your heart stopped.

The poro didn't move. Only a small huff escaped that little mouth.

Without breaking the eye contact, you offered a hand dull of snacks.

All you needed was for it to take the food and eat until the sleepiness kicked in.

But you feared that it wouldn't be enough to cause a food coma. Those creatures were small but had a huge stomach. They could eat like black holes.

The poro turned its head. Carefully, it stepped closer to sniff the food.

Its tiny tail started wagging.

Within minutes, your hand was empty.

Whimpering with excitement, the poro started to lick your hands for crumbs. As it did so, it was so close that you just snatched the little thing and pressed its mouth shut.

Surprised, it squeaked, but didn't resist.

Instead, it dropped into your lap, stretched all four feet into the air and demanded for you to rub its belly.

Nervous yet ready to do anything it took to keep it calm, you started to pet the creature.

One problem was solved.

But there was still someone else in the room.

Again, steps sounded.

Heimerdinger's shadow came closer.

A soft curse escaped you.

Squeezing your eyes shut, you took a deep breath and held it.

The silence was so tense, someone could have cut it with a knife.

The sound of something heavy being moved filled the room.

Someone groaned, exhausted.

"Oh my.", the little voice called out again. "Sometimes it sure would be nice to be taller."

Chuckling.

Feeling like the moment had you in a chokehold, you dared to bend to the side, your fingers still keeping the poro entertained.

A small figure appeared in the corner of your vision.

It wasn't taller than a child, with hair covering the entirety of its body.

It stood on a ladder, face turned away from you.

Small fingers reached out to grab a book that was about the same size as its own torso.

With a low thud it fell to the floor. A cloud of dust twirled up.

In that moment it hit you. Of the floor was this dirty, there was a possibility that you had left footprints.

Your eyes jumped through the room and indeed, there were a few marks of your shoes not far from where you were hiding.

Again, a low curse escaped your lips.

The owner of the place jumped down the ladder.

A face full or white hair appeared, with big eyes and pointy ears.

A small nose curled as the creature, no other than Heimerdinger himself, grabbed the book to carry it away.

But mere steps before the door, he stopped and threw a glance over his tiny shoulder.

A lightning of fear struck you.

Immediately, you pulled back and hid behind the desk again.

Heimerdinger frowned.

"Well?", he asked and put both hands on his hips. "Come out."

Your heart dropped.

It was impossible that he saw you.

He was so far away and it was dark. The only light that illuminated the room came from the lamps in the hallway.

"I know you're hiding.", Heimerdinger continued. "Come on, we don't got all night."

Your entire body refused to move. It was as if you had turned to stone.

It would be better to turn yourself in.

Heimerdinger was said to be an understanding, friendly being. Surely, he'd be nice and let you get away with a slap on the wrist if you were honest now.

He came closer.

Your legs twitched.

But all of a sudden, the poro jumped from your lap and ran to its owner.

Cheerfully, it wagged its tail.

Startled, you remained motionless.

"There you go!", Heimerdinger said with a smile in his voice. "Let's finish this research, shall we?"

Steps moved away.

The door fell shut again.

Chapter 18: Seventeen

Chapter Text

"f*ck!", you gasped for air. "Oh f*ck, that was so f*cking close."

Baffled yet shaking with adrenaline, you crawled out from behind the desk.

Your legs were still shaking while the beating of your heart felt like it tried to escape your chest.

A pulse pressed against your throat and made you swallow hard.

In all the years you had stolen from people it had never been such a close call. And on top of that it hadn't been from someone this influential.

Grinding your teeth, you let your eyes wander over the desks.

Technical drawings and lab inventory spread across the three tables. Everything looked so fancy, so much like science stuff, that you didn't know what would he worth taking and what was just normal stuff.

"f*ck it.", you cursed and grabbed everything that seemed like something and stuffed it into your bag. "Silco that f*cker... He knew where he was sending me."

With your teeth clenched, you tied the bag across your chest and ran up to the closest window to throw a glance out.

The streets below were dark. All that could be seen were the dim spots of streetlights and a few silhouettes wobbling back home.

The next roof wasn't far but you wouldn't be able to make the jump with the extra weight.

But going back to the window you had used to enter didn't seem like a great idea either.

The possibility that Heimerdinger was still in the hallway, or worse, sitting in the living room, was too much of a risk.

You needed to leave the place through one of these windows.

Your gaze wandered down to the facade of the house.

There were enough decorations and edges to climb down. Yet again, of you would miss one, the fall would be too deep to get away unharmed.

Or unnoticed.

"f*ck...", you cursed again and moved to the window that was closest to the door. "f*ck! f*ck!"

There was another house, not far from that window.

If you were slick, you could open the window and pull yourself over to the other house.

But before that you needed to get rid of the stuffed bag.

Throwing it was no option. The sound of the impact would cause people to notice.

A shadow moved in the dark.

"Sevika!", you gasped and tore the window open to gain her attention. "Sevika! Over here!"

Alarmed by your movements, she jumped down from the roof she was on to get closer to you.

With her eyebrows knitted together, she looked around before moving closer to the edge.

"What the f*ck, kiddo?", she asked, her voice barely more than a hiss. "I saw light in the hallway."

You groaned, the bag already in hand to throw it over.

"No time.", you whispered and did a gesture. "Catch!"

With all your strength, you yanked it across the distance.

Eyes wide open, she jumped back, threw her hands into the air and caught it, only to be torn to the ground by the impact of the weight.

"Holy sh*t!", she breathed. "What's in here?!"

Taking a deep breath, you moved a few steps away from the window. A deep breath escaped your lips.

With your eyes fixed on the other roof, you started running, jumped up to the windowsill and put all your strength into both legs.

Cold air stroked through your (H/C) hair.

Your own breathing echoed inside your ears.

The feeling of zero gravity kicked in.

For a moment it felt like all the blood rushed to your head, making it spin.

The edge of the roof came closer.

But not close enough.

With your eyes wide open, you reached out for safety. But your fingers missed.

You fell.

"Gotcha!", strong fingers wrapped around your wrist.

Gravity hit.

A sharp pain chased through your shoulder as your entire weight pulled you down while Sevika kept you from falling to your safe death.

Biting your lips, you suffocated the scream of pain that crawled up your throat.

"Hold on.", Sevika gasped, sweat shimmering on her forehead. "I'll just..."

Gasping in pain, you let your eyes roll back.

"C'mon, I'm not that heavy!", you groaned, tears in your eyes.

She let a huff be heard, teeth clenched.

"Gravity isn't your friend right now...", her other hand reached down.

You tried to raise your dangling arm and grab it, but it felt like the entirety of Piltover's riches pulled you down.

Beads of sweat shimmered on your forehead. As they rolled down your temples, they left icy trails.

It felt like your brain was about to freeze.

"You need to work with me...", Sevika growled, also meeting her limits. "Stop hanging like a wet sack!"

"Oh, I'm sorry, I forgot to leave my bones at home!"

"Shut up!", with one mighty pull, she threw herself back with all her weight and pulled you up.

The sudden movement chased some kind of pain through your body that you had never experienced before.

All your limbs froze.

Your face met the cold, hard roof.

Breathing heavily, you remained lying for a moment.

Your shoulder pulsated. You were barely able to move the fingers.

Everything hurt.

Tears blurred your vision.

"Get up.", Sevika jumped to her feet.

She was put of breath, but the caution in her eyes gave away that she wanted to leave as fast as possible.

You tried to move. But your legs were shaking. Everything felt numb.

"I- I can't!", you whispered, shock tying your throat.

She pulled a face.

"My ass!", harshly, she grabbed you by the collar and dragged you along. "This was so loud, all of Piltover must know."

Your nails dug into her shoulders for stability.

"Sorry.", you squeezed your eyes shut. "The bag... Where is it?"

She jump down the roof to a balcony.

"I got it.", she patted her chest to show the bag that was strapped to it. "Quite heavy. Did you take everything you could find?"

"I- I wasn't sure what could be of worth."

Baring her teeth, she reached the ground and went straight for the bridges.

"It better be a lot, because this was bullsh*t...", she mumbled.

Chapter 19: Eighteen

Chapter Text

Drenched in sweat and gasping for air, you finally returned to the Undercity.

Your legs were still weak, barely strong enough to carry you down the stairs to Silco's hideout.

"f*ck.", you gasped while holding onto the wall with one hand. "Sevika..."

"Hm?", one of her hands grabbed you by the shoulder. "Are you alright?"

You had to take a deep breath.

"I'm... not sure. But you won't tell?"

"Tell what?"

"How close it was."

She shrugged.

Her hand moved to the stuffed bag that she had thrown over her shoulder.

"It worked out, I don't care how.", she said and opened the door for you. "No need to tell details."

Your haze lingered on the colourful light.

All at once, exhaustion presse down on you. It felt like rocks tried to bury you.

"Thanks...", you glanced at her. "Any chance I can repay the favour?"

She lit herself a cigarette.

"I'm sure we can work something out once I need something.", she gifted you a smirk. "Now get going, we don't have time to waste. We're already late."

Confused, you frowned.

"Late?", you asked and stepped into the lab.

"Yes, late indeed.", Silco's smooth voice answered. "I hope you brought a good excuse with you."

Your eyes met his gaze.

A shiver crawled down your spine.

The way his black eye moved gave you the creeps.
Something about this man was deeply evil.

A hint of regret already formed in the pit of your stomach.

You had to get the money and then get the hell out of that man's business.

Taking a deep breath in, you straightened your back and did a gesture to ask for the bag from Sevika.

For a moment, her eyes jumped up to meet Silco's. Her lips twitched, a low sound escaped.

He raised an eyebrow, his head tilted, to ask a silent question.

The hint of an idea shimmered inside his eyes. He seemed to know that something was off. And he demanded for her to answer.

Her eyes moved to you.

It felt like knifes stabbed you in the back.

"Here you go.", she dropped the bag in front of your feet.

The knot broke and a ton of items spilled out, all over the floor.

With a sound of curiosity and surprise, Silco eyed your acquired goods.

"Interesting...", he bend down to pick up one half of a golden microscope. "This is... a job well done."

He showed the price to Singed, who was watching from afar.

Agreeing, he hummed before pulling his glasses all the way down to the tip of his nose and checking the contents of the bag himself.

"It is.", he mumbled while looking through the small objects made of shiny metal. "Those are... scientific equipment. Where did you get this?"

He looked up to examine you from top to bottom.

There was this shimmer in his eyes, this idea that he had. But he didn't want to confirm it.

Singed was a man of logic. Making quick decisions without asking about the facts beforehand would have made him look questionable.

With beating heart, you looked to Silco from the corner of your eyes.

An amused smirk appeared on his face.

"Well...", he did a gesture as if he was the one who had performed a thing of the impossible. "Your new helping hand just stole from our dearest Heimerdinger."

Singer's eyebrows rose.

"Is that so?", he turned an object in his hand that he seemed to be particularly interested in. "Well... In that case, I have to take back what I said. You really are worth for something."

Slightly proud about the praise, yet feeling insulted, you smirked and nodded your head in thanks.

"Then I guess my pay will increase.", you turned to Silco. "I'm serious. If this will be my work, I want to get a bonus for the risk I'm taking."

Silco closed his healthy, blue eye.

"Your demands annoy me.", he admitted with a hint of his teeth showing. "But even I can't deny that you are of use."

His hand reached into his pocket to fetch another bag filled with coins.

You eyed it before daring to touch the strings on which it dangled.

"This is...", you bit your lips.

"Not enough?", he asked with one eyebrow raised. "Don't worry. This is just for a job well done. Next time, you'll get more. And after that more."

Your eyes narrowed.

"I'm supposed to go up there again?!", you asked.

He shrugged.

"That or be unemployed."

Singed got up, the entire bag in his hands.

A new kind of expression appeared inside his eyes.

"I am pleased with this outcome.", he said. "I will make sure that you will get payed lavishly. If you are willing to do something."

Unsure, you let your eyes wander between Silco, Singed and then to Sevika.

A deep breath escaped her. She gently shook her head, but didn't interfere.

She was smart enough to know that it would be stupid to get into Silco's or Singed's way.

If they wanted something, all she could do was recommend what to do. Or rather what not.

Maybe it was stupid to gamble for more than you already had. But the promise of more money, desperately needed money, made you open your mouth anyways.

"You want me to go back.", you said. "Into this house of Heimerdinger."

Singed hummed.

"Indeed...", he fished a piece of metal from the bag to hand it to you like a token of appreciation.

One of your eyebrows rose.

You took the thing anyways.

It was a small lens, like a magnifying glass. Colourful light reflected in it.

You could see your own face, unsure, hesitant.

"I assume I won't go back for just anything.", you looked up. "But something special."

His eyes flinched.

"A sharper mind than I thought... Let's not talk about it yet. Rest. The biggest decisions are made after thinking about them."

With a nod of his head, he excused himself, turned away and left with everything you just had stolen from one of the mosh powerful beings in all of Piltover.

A shaky breath escaped you.

"I will return."

"Tomorrow.", Silco agreed.

"Tomorrow..."

Chapter 20: Nineteen

Chapter Text

Like a criminal, you crawled around your own house.

In that moment, you felt like you were about to rob the place you were living in yourself.

The fact that Viktor was on the other side of the walls only made things worse.

You didn't want to lie to him. You didn't want to pretend that nothing had happened.

How would you explain the bags of money to him?

Never before had you been this wealthy.

With your head pulled in, you managed to make it to the back of the house.

There was a door, unlocked most of the time.

But that night it was locked.

"f*ck...", you cursed and let your back hit the wall.

Viktor was probably already asleep.

A cold breeze stroked the flat surface of the water. Small waves formed and hit the pier.

A deep breath escape your lips.

You knew that this would be a night out in the open.

Breaking into your own home would have been idiotic. Viktor had secured the house with many of his inventions.

It was almost impossible to get inside without a few injuries.

With a deep sigh, you closed your eyes and got ready to spent a few hours outside.

Everyone was quite. Even the Undercity needed to sleep once in a while.

The sound of a window opening filled the silence.

You didn't react to it, probably just some random kid that tried to sneak out to do some irresponsible stuff.

"You're late.", Viktor's voice suddenly said.

He didn't sound surprised, nor disappointed. Just painfully sober about the situation.

Pulling a face, you slowly glanced up to meet his eyes.

The expression inside of them was almost painful to watch.

With a sorry expression on your face, you gifted him a smile.

"Hey...", you said in a silent voice and raised your hand to try and stroke his cheek.

He dodged the touch and rolled his eyes instead.

"Come in...", he unlocked the door.

With guilt written all over you, you entered the house.

"I have a good reason.", you tried to defend yourself.

"I don't want to hear it.", without meeting your eyes, he turned away and limbed back to bed.

The way he carried himself gave away that, not only was he incredibly disappointed, but also hurt.

You had to take a deep breath.

"I'm sorry...", you said. "I know I did an asshole thing, but I promise it wasn't for nothing."

From the bed, he gifted you a glance that might as well could have went to one of the kids that had used to bully him back in the day.

"You lied to me.", he said in such a reproachful kind of way that it made you feel physically sick.

"You wouldn't have let me go."

His already displeased expression darkened even more.

With expectations written all over his face, he sat up straight in bed and turned to fully face you.

"If that is the case, then how am I supposed to not be mad at you?", he asked, slightly angry. "You left, lying where you went and now you tell me you had to lie to me? Did you steal again?"

A sigh escaped you.

You had to suppress the urge to roll with your eyes.

"Listen, Viktor.", you took a step towards the bed while kicking off your shoes. "You have every right to be mad that I lied, but not everything I do is your business."

His eyebrows drew together.

"Of course it is!"

"Oh? How so?"

"We live together? If you get into trouble I'm done as well. We promised to have an eye on each other."

"And I plan on keeping that promise."

"Then why are you lying to me? Why are you acting weird?"

Something in the back of your mind twitched.

You could feel how your patience was running thin.

It wasn't fair to be mad at him for being mad at you. But at the same time you had understanding why he made such a big deal out of it.

"I do what needs to be done to survive down here.", you said and grabbed the smaller of the two bags of money to show him. "I found a job."

The emotions on his face froze.

Unsure, Viktor's amber eyes jumped from the money to you and back again.

His hand reached out, but hesitated mid way and pulled back again.

"Where did you get this?", he asked, all of a sudden so taken aback, so concerned. "This is a lot of money."

You smiled.

"Yes it is.", you grabbed his hand to press the bag into. "And where this came from is more. So much more."

His fingers didn't close. He refused to take it.

"Why? I- how?", he asked and grabbed your shoulder with his free hand to shake you. "(Y/N), do you know what this means?"

"Yes!", you laughed. "It means you'll make it out of here soon."

Taken aback, he pulled away fully.

The expression on his face was hesitant but a clear shimmer awoke in his eyes.

He was frightened.

"It means you are in someone's dept.", he said as if you were cursed. "You'll never make it out of here..."

Now, you couldn't help but be annoyed by his concerns.

"I'm begging you, Viktor.", you rolled your eyes and let the money disappear under the bed. "You're reading too much into things."

"I'm not! Remember what my father did. He asked for one favour in this place and now he's dead."

"I don't believe in peoples good sides as much as he does."

"It doesn't matter what you do, whoever gave you that money will find you as soon as you are worth something.", he grabbed you by the wrist, so harshly, that his nails dug into the soft skin and left marks. "Even if you make it up to Piltover, they will hunt you down!"

All of a sudden, your heart got heavy.

"But I won't make it to Piltover, Viktor.", you whispered, so silent, so soft, that he didn't even hear it.

Chapter 21: Twenty

Chapter Text

Guilt.

There was so much guilt in you.

All you could feel was guilt.

It was like a knife to your throat, like a wound that refused to stop bleeding.

Your back was cold.

For the first time in years, Viktor didn't sleep with his chest pressed to your back. He had turned away, so far on the other side of the bed that he almost fell off the edge.

You two didn't share a blanket either that night.

He had taken a new one.

As minting came, you thought the feelings would vanish.
But as soon as your eyes opened and you turned your head to catch a glimpse of Viktor, your stomach pulled together.

He was already awake.

With his back turned to you, he sat on his small desk, eyes covered by goggles.

Small sparks danced around his fingers.

He worked on metal, as always.

"Viktor.", you whispered.

His movements froze.

Slowly, his head rose. But he refused to look at you.

"Foods ready.", he gestured towards a steaming pot that was sitting on the kitchen counter.

For a brief moment you eyed the food before turning your full attention back to him.

"Let me explain...", you asked.

You crawled to the edge of the bed to be closer to him.

A dry cough scratched in the back of your throat.

You fought it back, only to flinch as a sharp pain stabbed you in the chest.

But even though you knew that holding back the cough would do more damage than good, you still bared with it.

The taste of blood gathered in your mouth.

You swallowed it.

A sigh made Viktor's back sink into itself.

He was so skinny, so sickly looking.

For the longest time you had watched him be this version of himself, that didn't fit the great mind.

He deserved so much more.

You were willing to sacrifice everything it needed to get him where he was supposed to be.

And yet, you felt terrible to think about the possibility that it was necessary to sacrifice this friendship.

"Please say something...", you asked, voice shivering in fear.

Viktor let another deep breath he heard.

"I don't know if I want to hear your explanation.", he took of the goggles. "In the last few days you lied more to me than in the past years."

His eyes wandered over his shoulder to examine you. But he didn't meet your gaze.

"I'm sorry.", you avoided his gaze.

"Why did you do it?"

His voice was barely more than a whisper.

Guilt shimmered in his amber eyes as well. Yet, he was mad and wanted it to stay that way.

Before a word of reason could leave your mouth, you had to take a deep breath.

"You know that the academy demands a lot of money.", you started while your eyes lingered on the floor, where the shadow of the bag of coins crawled over the wooden planks. "We don't have that kind of money."

"Then you should stop having this stupid dream."

A huff escaped you.

"No."

Anger appeared on his face.

"Why not?", with audible annoyance in his voice, he put his tools down and stared at you. "You're becoming someone you're not just for money?"

"For you.", you smiled softly. "All we need is to get you up to Piltover."

"And then what?!", he jumped from his chair, but had to grab the edge of the table to not fall over. "Am I supposed to get up there and live a happy life without you? I won't leave you behind, I already said that."

You sighed.

"And I told you, you won't have to leave me behind. All we need is enough money for you to get up and make it through the academy program."

"I don't get your plan."

"Viktor...", with a soft smile, you got up to walk over to him. "You get to Piltover, finish the academy and once you make money of your own I can join you."

Doubt lit up inside his eyes.

"But that takes years.", his hands grabbed your shoulders for support. "And we don't even know if I am able to make it to the end."

Now you couldn't help but chuckle.

"Viktor...", you pressed your forehead against his and let out a deep sigh. "You're a genius. There's no way you won't make it."

His hand started to rub the back of his neck.

With his head pulled in, he turned his gaze away and smiled to himself.

"Do you really think that?", he asked, flattered.

"I think you will become something great once you have the chance to study."

His eyes returned to you.

This time, there was so much happiness on his face, so much hope.

His grip on your shoulders tightened.

His face came closer.

The smile that reached his eyes was so enchanting, you didn't even realise how close he was until it was too late.

The soft touch of his lips pressed onto yours.

It was strange, even though the two of you had grown up together, the thought of him being this close had never once crossed your mind.

He tasted of dirty water and old, salty food.

It wasn't a pleasant taste. But the fact that it was Viktor made it a lot easier to bare.

His hands reached up to your face to grab it.

You allowed him to do as he pleased. But at the same time you were too stunned to react.

Thoughts chased through your mind.

You didn't want to push him away.

And yet, you feared what would happen if you would return this kiss.

It didn't last longer than a few moments.

As he pulled away again, a cold feeling stroked your lips.

"I'm sorry.", he smiled in an uncomfortable manner.

Quickly, you shook your head.

"No.", you placed a soft kiss on his beauty mark. "Don't be sorry. I'm not mad."

"I just...", he had to take a deep breath. "You are the best person I will ever meet. Please... never leave me."

Your heart shattered inside your chest.

Chapter 22: Twenty-One

Chapter Text

"I'm sure you will be fine on your own, but...", you sighed, rubbing the back of your neck. "Can't you stick with what you're doing now?"

Annoyed yet with a smile on his face, Viktor stopped in the middle of the bridge to grab your hand.

"(Y/N).", his smile broadened as your name crossed his lips. "If you take a risk for me, I take a risk for you. That's what we always did, no?"

He placed a kiss on the back of your hand.

The gentle touch, mixed with the warmth of his breath on your skin made you almost melt.

You knew that Viktor was an affectionate man, especially with you.

But ever since that kiss, he acted a lot softer, more intimate.

Even as a child he had hated it to be touched or to touch others unless he was familiar with them.

But now he was totally different, so sweet, as if he was seriously trying to court you the old fashioned way.

It made your heart beat faster, but at the same time you also feared that this would go too far.

Telling yourself you didn't love him would have been a lie and the two of you knew that every well.

But you couldn't be with him and that knowledge tore you apart.

Once you would agree to date he would try everything in his power to stay in the Undercity with you. He would let that one chance slip.

You couldn't let that happen.

But that would mean you had to push him away. And that was something neither of you really wanted.

With a smile that was both meant to be happy and an apology, you pulled away.

The tips of his fingers locked with yours for a second, making it hard to let go. A cold breeze stroked the palm of your hand as he let go.

"You just said that once you're involved with these people, they'll never let you go again.", you stroked a strand of his brown hair out of his field of vision. "We need to make sure you'll leave everything behind once you get up to Piltover."

Amused, he curled his lips and shook his head.

"But that would mean I'll leave you behind as well, silly."

A sound of defeat escaped you.

"You really try everything to argue against me."

"Not everything. It's easy to win against you, so why use all my resources?"

You pulled a face, playfully offended.

"Every day you send me to the edge of my patience...",
you mumbled with a smirk tugging at the edges of your mouth.

He gifted you a smirk, so confident and smug that it took you by surprise. Usually, Viktor wasn't like this. But maybe the kiss had given him a boost in confidence.

"Let's just go and make money.", he grabbed your hand with both of his, the cane squeezed under his arm for support. "If we both work, we'll have twice the money in half the time."

A deep breath escaped you.

"And then what?", you asked.

"And then we will go up to Piltover together.", he smiled as if it was obvious.

"But once you're in the academy.", you still need money. "How are we going to finance it?"

"You'll keep working."

"So I'll go back to Zaun every day to work and risk my life? Then I might as well stay here."

"No. I want you to make honest money. I'll earn honest education and you'll earn honest money."

Your eyes widened.

A laugh escaped you.

"Viktor...", you pulled away to lean against the railing of the bridge. "How am I supposed to do that?"

His eyebrows knitted together.

"By looking for work?", there was still a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth, but it started to fade. "You'll finde something. You're skilled in many ways."

"I'm a criminal, Viktor. Nobody in their right mind will employ me."

With his eyes lowered and a heavy darkness shimmering in those amber orbs of his, he let out a deep breath.

His shoulders sank.

"Let's not argue about it now, please.", he turned away to walk on. "It's still far away. We will work out the details, no?"

With a glance over his shoulder he gifted you a hopeful smile.

But you could tell that he was getting tired.

He had a plan and your disapproval kept crushing it.

But what else were you supposed to do?

He didn't know that you wouldn't make it up to the shining side of the city. And even if you were hopeful, the realistic chances were so slim, it was almost like a dream.

Your health was declining by the day. You could feel the strength leave your body.

Piltover had prestigious doctors and mages, but those people were expensive. Not only didn't you have money, the coins you earned were supposed to go towards Viktor.

This was a race you couldn't win.

So it was useless to try in the first place.

With lowered eyes and a slim smirk of sadness on your lips, you looked after him, how he walked away, bend on his crutch.

You still remembered the first time you had met him.

He had been such a small, cranky child, without any hope or life in his eyes.

And now he tried to be all grown up. Viktor had grown into a man.

Only problem was that you didn't want him to be a man. Because him being a man meant that you could fall for him.

Maybe you had already fallen for him and just refused to acknowledge it.

"sh*t...", you cursed softly as your heart skipped a beat thinking about the kiss.

Immediately, the nature of your smile changed from despair to a soft, loving one.

There was so much you felt for him.

But it was stupid to ruin his chances.

You were a burden.

A cough scratched in the back of your throat.

The iron taste of blood lay on your tongue.

Quickly, you spit it down into the depths of the Lanes.

Chapter 23: Twenty-Two

Chapter Text

"You can still turn back.", your hand was already on the metal door, while your eyes were fixed on Viktor. "Last chance."

Casually leaning on his crutch, he tilted his head and smiled sarcastically.

One of his eyebrows rose.

"What?", he asked with amusem*nt in his voice. "I can't leave you on your own. You'll run heads first into a mess."

You snorted, rolling your eyes.

"I beg your pardon, I'm not that terrible...", a bitter smile appeared on your lips because you knew how right he was.

The first job had been risky enough and you almost blew it.

Thank the gods Sevika had been there otherwise you'd probably sit in a cell in Piltover. Or worse, someone would have to scratch your remains from the shiny pavement.

With a harsh knock on the door, you made yourself noticed.

The small window opened.

Sevika's eyes met yours.

For a brief moment her gaze wandered past you to examine Viktor. Her eyebrows rose in surprise, but it was easy to tell that a smug smirk covered the lower half of her face.

The window closed again. Not a moment later the door swung open with a loud, nasty creak.

Viktor pulled a face.

"You should get it oiled.", he noted soberly and met Sevika's eyes. "Are you who my (Y/N) works for?"

Sevika let a small huff be heard.

"Your (Y/N).", she glanced at you, smirking broad. "Cute. No, I don't pay. But I do give orders."

Understanding, he hummed, walked up to the door, but waited and threw a glance over his shoulder to you.

With your lips pressed into a thin line, you shrugged.

"She is like that.", you gave Sevika a pat to the shoulder. "But don't worry. She's a lot softer than she looks like."

She rolled her eyes.

With another heavy sound, the door fell shut again.

Curious, Viktor let his eyes wander through the room.

Usually, he was a shy person with little to no interest to explore unfamiliar surroundings unless he deemed them useful for his own cause.

But now he seemed to be a totally different man.

Some kind of sparkle lit up those amber eyes of his as he stretched his neck and watched the deep sea creatures pass the glass window. His mouth was slightly parted, lips formed into a sound of surprise and mesmerisation.

He reminded you a lot of the old Viktor, the curious child he had been before the cold, harsh reality of the Undercity had crushed all the hopes he's ever had.

"(Y/N)!", with an excited smile brightening up his face he turned to show you a gigantic fish that emerged from the deep blue depths. "It's a giant of ancient times."

A cold shiver of respect chased through your body.

The gigantic fish crossed the glass front seemed to be made of stone. It's eyes were almost completely grown into the skull.

Teeth decorated the front of its mouth, but they also were attached to the outer layer of the skin.

It was like a creature of nightmares, a reason why you hated to swim in the waters of the lanes.

"True power often is more than just appearance.", a smooth voice tore you from your thoughts. "It lies within."

Both you and Viktor turned your heads.

Silco's proud face met you.

Immediately, his eyes fell onto Viktor. They shimmered so full of curiosity yet the thought about how this new person could be used to serve his own purpose.

Silco already had a plan for him and he didn't even know a name to the new face.

You sucked in a sharp breath.

With your head lowered, you put on a brave expression and dared to approach Silco without him allowing it first.

"I must ask for a favour.", you said in a low voice so that Viktor wouldn't hear.

But he was too busy admiring the creatures of the deep anyways.

Silco hummed.

"You can't protect them all.", he said and folded his hands behind his narrow back. "He'll get work like any other."

You shook your head.

"No. He's not made for work... like that."

His black eye trembled.

"I can tell. Why did you bring him here then?"

Hesitantly, you looked up to meet his gaze. But you froze as Singed's face appeared behind the other man.

This man didn't seem to be a person for emotions. And yet there was this expression in his eyes.

He knew something.

"I'll take him.", he said without skipping a beat. "As my assistant."

Your eyes jumped to Viktor.

"Why?", you asked confused. "How? I mean..."

Your eyes narrowed.

It didn't sit right with you that this man knew something about your closest childhood friend that you didn't.

Behind you, Viktor moved.

He turned around, was already turned halfway, as the smile on his face froze.

You noticed.

Confused, you let your eyes wander between the strange man and Viktor.

There was something in his eyes, memories that he didn't quite leave in the past.

"Viktor?", you asked.

He didn't react.

All he did was stare at Singed. He didn't even blink. His eyes were trembling.

"Viktor?", you took a step towards him.

That's when life returned to his limbs and he stumbled back. As he did so, so full of fear and odd memories, he almost dropped his crutch and fell to the ground.

One of his hands tried to grab the air for support. He fell with his back against the glass instead.

Breathing heavily, he scratched his nails over the surface.

An unpleasant sound filled the tense silence.

He was in shock.

With your eyes narrowed and confusion on your face, you looked at Singed.

"I suppose you owe me an explanation.", you said with a sour tone in your voice.

Singed looked absolutely unimpressed.

With his lips pressed into a thin line, he lowered his shoulders and retreated to the shadows.

"I don't owe you anything.", he said. "But if you make up your mind, I'm willing to owe you a good amount of money. Viktor."

Chapter 24: Twenty-Three

Chapter Text

"You know him.", it wasn't a question but a simple remark.

With your arms crossed, you stood next to Viktor, who sat on the remains of a wall, and stared down to the shimmering water of the Lanes.

The smell of chemicals and dust was in the air.

You could taste the pollution on your tongue with every breath you took.

Sunken into himself, Viktor hummed.

His hands were tightly wrapped around the handle of his crutch.

He was still tense.

The way his eyes moved over the ground gave away that he thought about something.

Singed's face must have forced memories back to the surface.

"I was very litte.", he admitted in a low voice.

He wasn't frightened, at least not anymore. But the sound of his voice wasn't like it usually was either.

You took a deep breath.

Somehow, you feared that this had been a bigger mistake than it seemed to be at the moment.

"I shouldn't have agreed to take you with me.", you said and rubbed your eyes to chase away the feeling of flames burning through your eyeballs. "I'm sorry."

His head snapped up.

"No!", he sounded like a kid that was desperate to be useful. "No, I want to help. You didn't even know."

A sigh escaped your lips.

"Yeah... But I knew they aren't clean people either.", you frowned. "What did he do anyways?"

The expression on his face darkened.

A visible lump tied his throat. He had to swallow hard a few times before the next words managed to leave his mouth.

"He has no morals.", Viktor whispered in a voice that made him sound like he was a little boy again, frightened and even traumatised. "There used to be a creature. It was beautiful."

"Singed is a man for pets?", you raised one eyebrow.

He shrugged, head tilted.

"I don't know. But... He loved this creature. Rio. That's what he called her. Something killed her. Or maybe it was just the effect of time. But she declined by the week."

A dark shimmer lit up inside his eyes.

He remembered something. Something cruel.

"Did he kill it?"

"No. No, maybe that would have been better. But no. He kept her alive, locked away in a giant jar. She was suffering. And he kept her alive. Just because he wanted to maintain her uniqueness."

Something inside your chest pulled together.

Judging by the way he told the story, he had been attached to this thing called Rio. Maybe because of his interest for the unknown. Maybe because he had never been allowed to own a pet himself.

Either way, the memories still haunted him.

Viktor wasn't good with people, but he did have a good sense of right and wrong. If he acted so distant, even afraid towards Singed, it meant that he couldn't be trusted.

Ever other day you would have listened to these warnings.

But the problem was money.

Silco seemed to hold Singed in high regards. He would never drop him just to keep someone who stole a few things.

Granted, the fact that you had successfully stolen from Heimerdinger himself must have earned you a few points. Yet, probably not enough to drop a doctor.

Chewing on the inside of your cheek, you let your eyes wander up to the towers of Piltover.

The sunlight was caught on the white facades and made them shimmer like gold.

Rosy clouds wrapped the roofs and made them look like cotton candy.

You couldn't help but let out a snort.

This entire Uppercity looked like a candy land, the dream of every child that knew nothing but poverty and misery.

A cough scratched in the back of your throat.

You tried to swallow it, but choked and had to cough even harder.

To reopen your air ways, you bend over, away from Viktor's field of vision, and hit your chest a few times.

Your sight turned cloudy.

Saliva dripped from your lips. And a few drops of watery blood mixed into it.

"f*ck!", you gasped and wiped your mouth.

Worried, Viktor threw a glance over his narrow shoulder.

"Are you alright?", he asked and tried to reach out.

Quickly, you grabbed his hand to give it a squeeze.

"I'm fine.", you caught your breath to give him a slim smile. "Just swallowed the wrong way."

His eyebrows pulled together.

He tilted his head to get a better look at you.

"Are you sure?", he tried to get up. "You look pale."

Pretending to be fine, you stretched your back and stood up straight again.

"I always look pale.", you joked and placed a kiss on his beauty mark. "Must be the pollution."

You wanted to pull back.

But his hand snapped forward to wrap around the collar of your shirt.

Struck by surprise, you froze.

Viktor's grip on you tightened.

His eyes locked with yours.

Amber melted into (E/C).

There was so much seriousness in his gaze. He looked so hard.

You had never seen him like this before.

"Viktor?", you asked in a calm yet tense manner.

His eyes moved.

"(Y/N).", he said softly and leaned towards you. "Don't make me worry. We would just worry about another. Wouldn't that be tragic?"

With gentle force he pulled you down.

Both confused and worried about what he would do if you would refuse, you leaned into his lead and bowed down.

His lips came closer.

The warmth of his breath tickled over your skin.

Slowly, he tilted his head.

His eyes closed.

Not a moment later the softness of his lips pressed onto yours.

A warm lightning chased through your body.

Sighing softly, you closed your eyes and leaned into the feeling.

It was a stupid mistake, a sin you weren't supposed to commit.

And yet you couldn't help it.

You longed for the touch of his narrow hands.

You wanted to taste him on your tongue.

He seemed to understand.

His hand slid into the back of your neck and pulled you closer. All of a sudden, the tip of his tongue stroked your lips.

You wanted to open your mouth.

He pulled away.

"You taste like blood.", he said.

Chapter 25: Twenty-Four

Chapter Text

With bated breath and the sweet taste of Viktor still on your lips, you stared into those familiar brown eyes.

There was a small hint of blood shimmering on his pale lips.

It was yours.

The feeling of liquid dripping from your lips crawled over your skin. It tasted of iron.

Struck by shock, you tried to back away.

His hand wrapped around your wrist.

"Why do you bleed?", there was so much worry in his voice.

Quickly, you wiped the trail of red away with the back of your hand. But a deep dark stain remained on your face.

You had to swallow hard.

The way he looked at you made you feel like the world was caving in.

"I...", you had to close your eyes to fight back the desperation that slowly started to make your vision watery. "I'll be fine."

Slowly, he shook his head.

"That's a lie.", he said without doubt.

It was, but there was no need to put him in more distress.
He was already visibly in enough pain and panic. Telling him the entire truth wouldn't have crushed all the process you had made in the past few days.

But what were you supposed to tell him instead?

Something in the back of your mind stirred.

It was a manipulative, dark thought. Yet, it would serve the bigger purpose.

Maybe it could be the final push for him to make a final decision.

Taking a deep breath in, you had to push the little voice of reasoning into the back of your mind to feel less guilty.

"Once we get up to Piltover we can look for a doctor.",
you grabbed his hands to lock his fingers with yours. "Viktor, do you understand now why you need to get into the academy?"

His eyebrows knitted together to form an expression of desperation.

His fingers cramped so hard that a sharp pain chased through your bones.

"Are you... is it serious?"

You couldn't help but smile bitterly.

"No.", you breathed. "No, I still have... possibilities."

"Possibilities that need money."

"And Piltover's privilege...", you had to take a moment to swallow the disgust for yourself that crawled up your throat. "Viktor, I'm not smart nor skilled enough to get a place in Piltover's society."

"Neither do I!"

"But you're smart. You're a genius, you can make things, you'll... You have something to offer that they might be interested in."

Hesitantly, his lips twitched.

His gaze jumped through the streets, over the surface of the contaminated water and back to you.

"I...", visibly in pain, he squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head. "So we have to go back to Silco. I'll work for Singed."

You pulled at face.

This wasn't what you had wanted. But at least he was now willing to try and get into the academy without arguing about it.

And even though you were relieved that your plan worked out, you didn't want to put the weight of another burden on his shoulders.

Yes, you needed money to get him to the Topside, but you didn't want to force him to work for a man he despised with every cell of his existence.

On the other hand, you knew exactly that he wouldn't let you go back to work for Silco. Not after he had tasted blood on your lips.

"Actually...", you pulled back to hide the expression on your face from him. "I know how to get some money."

His hand lay on your cheek to gently force you to look at him.

"It's nothing stupid, is it?!", he asked.

You chuckled.

"No."

"Dangerous?"

You shook your head.

"Not more than what happens to my body right now."

A painful expression crossed his eyes.

"I can help.", he insisted and placed another gentle kiss on your lips.

You returned it, both feeling sickened by the fact that you managed to lie to him so easily and relieved that it turned out just the way you wanted.

For the longest time you had thought that it was impossible for you to betray Viktor. And yet it didn't feel as terrible as you had expected.

At least it served a bigger purpose.

Maybe if you told yourself often enough it would turn out to be true and the feeling of guilt stopped stabbing your heart.

"Don't worry...", you kissed him again, greedily chasing the warm feeling that his lips caused. "It will be quick. Just one more job."

"One more?", his fingers wrapped around your cheek as if it was his only possibility to keep you in his life.

It felt like he feared you'd slip from his fingers and disappear for all eternity.

You couldn't bare to see him look at you this way.

It felt like a lie.

It felt like the worst kind of betrayal you had ever done.

One simple robbery wouldn't be enough to cover the costs of the academy. No matter what you'd steal, it wouldn't be enough for one time.

And yet.

In the end it was all for the better.

It was for him.

With a soft smile, you raised a hand and offered him your little finger.

"One last job.", you said, voice weak. "I promise."

His eyes lit up.

But there was still this small hint of doubt. Knowing that some kind of mistrust sat in his chest was like a knife they cut deeper than you had ever experienced.

For a moment his gaze lingered on your finger. He seemed to see the lack of honesty.

Your heart beat wildly inside your chest.

Scratchy pain crawled up your throat again.

You could already feel the iron taste of blood on your tongue again.

Viktor locked his little finger with yours and gave it a firm yet warning squeeze.

"One last job.", he said and locked eyes with you. "Don't lie to me again. Even if it is for me. Even if it means you'll get a cure."

Taken by surprise, you couldn't help but huff.

"If I don't take this risk there won't be a cure.", you said. "Silly..."

"Neither will there be when you're dead, my love."

Chapter 26: Twenty-Five

Chapter Text

The night felt colder that day.

Maybe it was because you knew it marked the day you lucked out.

Maybe it was just your imagination.

With your head lowered, you stood high up on one of Piltover's roofs once again and let your gaze wander over the empty streets.

This city had the privilege of rest. Whenever the daylight declined and the shadows of the night came, the people could turn to their homes and lay down to rest until new, golden light would shine on their faces.

If there was one thing you envied the people of Piltover for, it was this.

Safety.

Something you had never known.

As you took a deep breath, the air felt as crisp and fresh in your lungs that it almost hurt to breathe.

Your eyes fell onto a building.

It was the same from the day before, huge and fancy, like nothing you had ever seen before.

But this time, light kept the windows alive.

A small silhouette jumped from one lit square to the other.

It was strange, Heinerdinger was a small creature, but somehow managed to be seen on every room he walked into.

Something wasn't right, you could feel this dull supposition nag in the back of your head.

And yet, you decided to move forward anyways.

All you needed to do was to avoid Heimerdinger and that little poro of his.

At the memory of this small creature, you had to smile.

It had been nothing but nice to you.

The urge to pet its soft, pure white fur again awoke inside of you.

But you quickly shook it off. This was just the child in you that had loved animals more than anything.

You still remembered the day you had bought home a cat. One of its legs had been broken. You had managed to patch it up, only for it to be sold for a bag of food the next day.

It still hurt you to remember the look on Viktor's face as your mother had had to tell him the truth.

A sigh made your chest tremble.

Life in the Undercity really hadn't been great.

"Soon...", you mumbled as your eyes fell into one of the windows that wasn't lit. "I promised you."

Without thinking about it, you rubbed your fingers together to get rid of the tingling feeling that started to spread on the tips.

It was strange, somehow you didn't give it a second thought why the window was wide open. All you did was take a few steps back and jump right into the house.

It was like an invitation.

Like a wide open door.

As silent as a cat, you managed to land in the hallway, on all four.

A sharp pain chased through your limbs.

Coughs scratched the inside of your throat.

You managed to hold it back, but only for the cost of the feeling of passing out.

"f*ck!", you squeezed your eyes shut to regain the power over your own senses. "Not now..."

Breathing heavily, you managed to get back on your feet and walk down the hallway, head pulled in.

The first time you walked towards the salon and laboratory.

This time you decided to turn to the opposite direction, in hopes of finding something valuable.

Bedrooms usually were stacked with jewellery and clothes. Most of the times, garments weren't worth a lot, but you imagined that a being, as powerful and influential as Heimerdinger it was, must own things with golden details.

Buttons, zippers, any kinds of accessories, would make quite some money on the black market.

Holding your breath, you slid past paintings of creatures you've never seen and landscapes you wished to visit one day.

You had to huff bitterly.

As far as you could tell, you wouldn't be visiting anything any time soon. Or ever.

Your health was declining by the day. It was only a matter of months now.

Maybe less.

Maybe more.

Hopefully more.

You had told Viktor that you would look for a doctor once he was in the academy. Originally, it had been a lie to serve the purpose. But maybe you would be able to turn this lie into a truth.

"Maybe...", you whispered, tears rising to your field of vision. "Maybe we can be happy one day."

You could still taste him on your lips.

In the heat of the moment you had not payed any attention to him in detail. But now that there was a moment to think more about it, you realised how clean he tasted.

It was unusual for people in Piltover to taste like toothpaste and something pleasant like mint. Viktor had tasted quite sweet, like candy even, but like honey instead of sugar, mixed with the freshness of herbs.

It was as if he already tried to fit in with the people he'd be a part of soon.

It made you feel ashamed to know that he took such good care of himself. Meanwhile, you didn't even remember the last time you've had a decent shower with enough soap to clean your hair and body.

Doors appeared to your left.

The knobs were as shiny as pure gold.

At first glance you thought about taking them. But at second thought it seemed unlikely to you that they were made of actual gold.

The first door you tried was locked.

The second one opened, only to reveal an empty room.

Confused, you frowned.

Why would a being like Heimerdinger keep an empty room?

Surely he must have had something to put into. Maybe a bed for guests, or one of his many trophies.

A shiver crawled down your spine.

Something felt off.

The room was empty though, nothing hidden or covered. Just emptiness.

You threw a glance over your shoulder.

The hallway was deserted too.

The only noise came from the other end, where the salon was lit.

But it didn't feel like you were alone.

"Well...", a little voice suddenly startled you. "You must be who took my things the other night. Don't you want to be polite and apologise?"

Chapter 27: Twenty-Six

Chapter Text

All the blood froze in your veins.

It felt like a bolt of lightning just had struck you right to your chest.

With your eyes wide open, you remained frozen in shock as bright light suddenly flooded your vision.

Pained by the sudden brightness, you turned your head away and squeezed your eyes shut.

Your head screamed to run but your legs were glued to the floor.

Something held you in place, like invisible hands that forced you to stay even though this was a perfect moment for escape.

Warmth stroked your cheeks. But it wasn't the normal kind of warmth. It felt different. Almost unnatural, yet like the most natural thing this planet had to offer.

Small orbs of heat bursted into a thousand pieces as they touched your skin.

It felt like magic.

A shivering breath escaped your lips.

"Well, well, well.", Heimerdinger's voice sounded again.

It was obvious that he was amused.

Small steps filled the room.

Frightened, you tore your eyes wide open again, only to be surprised by a room, lit with candles.

A table sat right in the middle. Left and right waited two chairs to be used.

"W-what?", you took a step back, baffled. "Why... It was empty a minute ago."

A soft chuckle escaped the small creature in front of you.

"Magic is something mesmerising, isn't it?", he asked and crossed his little arms behind his back. "It can reveal what wants to be hidden and hides what should not be revealed."

His eyes examined you from top to bottom before returning to your face.

One of his thick eyebrows rose, he asked a silent question, expecting you to answer to the crimes you had committed.

Sucking in a sharp breath, you straightened your back to meet him with confidence. But deep down inside there was this feeling of deep, furious distress.

It felt like your insides were about to turn to the outside out of panic.

"Master Heimerdinger.", you gifted him a polite smile. "Forgive me for invading your home."

His head tilted to the side. He was interested.

"Oho? I didn't assume a criminal could have a polite tongue. Tell me, child, why apologise if you can't give me a reason?"

"I don't want to be rude, but a creature as well off as you wouldn't understand."

"So it's money."

A bitter smile appeared on your face. A huff of amusem*nt escaped your lips.

"That is what a creature like you would think.", you snarled and took a step back. "But the issue runs far deeper."

Heimerdinger noticed you moving.

He followed, took two steps instead of one, and gifted you an expression that was more than just angered.

He seemed to be disappointed in you.

Somehow, it made you feel ashamed.

It was as if Viktor's father looked at you again. He had always been a very honest man, who believed in hard work and the truth.

Heimerdinger reminded you a lot of him.

Maybe, just maybe, he would understand if you'd tell him what this stupidity was really about.

Maybe he'd let you get away with a slap on the wrist.

Your legs froze.

And even though your heart beat uncontrollably inside your chest, you took a deep breath and started to speak with a strong, calm voice.

"Master Heimerdinger, sir...", you had to take a break to organise your thoughts. "Have you ever been to the Undercity?"

Surprise appeared on his furry face.

"Why would you ask me that?", he asked.

The bitterness on your face turned into sadness.

Of course you weren't surprised. You hadn't expected anything else.

People from Piltover always judged the ones who came from the Undercity. They always saw the criminal but not the reasons why crime was the only option for these poor fools.

Heimerdinger was just like them.

A disappointment to you.

"Because you wouldn't understand if you haven't seen it with your own eyes before.", you said and stepped back until your back hit the wall.

The feeling of defeat washed over you.

With weight pulling down your heart, you let your head hang low and slid down the wall to sit on the floor.

The urge to sob crawled up your throat.

Both confused and invested in your human emotions, Heimerdinger stepped closer.

Something else appeared inside his eyes.

Regret.

Compassion.

Either way, his attitude changed.

Instead of being angry with you for breaking into his home, he approached and placed one of his tiny hands on your knee. It was a bit awkward, yet a nice gesture to show support.

"Well, well, young one.", he said and tried to make you cheer up. "I might have never been to the Undercity, but you could tell me about it if that's so important to you."

Feeling desperate and crushed, you shook your head.
It felt wrong to cry to a creature that was partly responsible for all the terrible things the Undercity had become.

And yet it felt like this was the only way to get this pressure off your chest.

"Stories are different.", you whispered, eyes watery. "This... The place I call home can't be described."

Heimerdinger's ears twitched.

"Is it bad?", he asked, as if he was asking about a child he had send into this world and was now worried about.

"It's terrible... It... is like a disease."

"Sometimes life is hard."

You pulled a face.

"It's unfair even. But mostly to the wrong people."

Now it was Heimerdinger who had to pull a face.

"That is rich coming from a thieve."

You huffed.

"I'm not talking about myself, sir.", you wiped your face with both hands to get rid of the exhaustion that burned underneath your skin. "Some people are unlucky to be brown in Zaun. And no matter how much they work, how intelligent they are, the Undercity will keep on taking from them. And take, and take. Until they have nothing to give anymore but their own life. And then the Undercity will take that too..."

In that moment you weren't strong enough to keep in a cough.

A thin threat of blood managed to slip out from between your lips.

You wiped it away with the back of your hand.

Heimerdinger watched, his forehead made wrinkly by thoughts.

"If it isn't you...", he mumbled, scratching his chin. "I would like to meet that person you're talking about."

Chapter 28: Twenty-Seven

Chapter Text

You couldn't believe it.

There he was, Heimerdinger, one of the most powerful creatures in all of Piltover, right next to you in one of the elevators that led straight into the Lanes.

Somehow this felt like being accompanied by a god.

And yet you couldn't help but feel nervous like you've never did before.

What if someone would recognise the creature underneath the black hood?

What if you said one wrong word to the wrong person?

No, you shook those fears off.

Heimerdinger was a creature of the Arcane, a creature born with magic.

Surely he would be able to solve bigger problems.

Yet again, you didn't wish to cause any in the first place.

All you had to do was smuggle him through the Lanes without being seen and then get to Viktor.

Once he talked to him it would be easy to convince him to offer Viktor a place at the academy.

Only thinking about it made your heart beat fast with excitement.

Soon Viktor would be a student of the academy.

"Please follow me.", you bowed your head to hide the hopeful expression on your face under the hood.

It would have been foolish to make people see emotions other than caution. Happiness didn't exist amongst people of Zaun.

They considered it something vulnerable. It marked easy targets.

With his eyes jumping through the streets, Heimerdinger followed you.

Both curiosity and shock mixed in his eyes.

He seemed to be surprised that this was the true face of the Undercity.

You wondered if this was his first time on the other side of the bridges.

No, surely he must have been here before. After all, he was one of the founding members of Piltover, that once had been as much part of Zaun as Zaun had been part of Piltover.

"Good heavens...", he muttered as you crossed the main road. "This is..."

"The Lanes.", you mumbled with a bitter huff. "You're in luck, master. Today is a calm day."

His little head snapped up to meet you with confusion.

"Calm?!", he asked. "This is like a battlefield."

You nodded.

"A battlefield at rest. Most days, it's war down here."

You pushed a few wooden boxes aside to make way for him to pass.

"But... This place used to be like no other. Industry, flourishing business."

You stopped, looked down and had to frown at him.

"How long has it been since you've come here?", you asked, both baffled and insulted by his audacity to be surprised.

His eyes left you. He seemed to think.

"Well, a few decades I suppose. Not too much time, but maybe a bit long. This seems rather extreme considering that I haven't been away for long enough to have a change of human generations."

"Master Heimerdinger, most people don't here don't have a few decades. Some are lucky that they make it past teenage years."

He looked up to you again. This time there was some sort of expression on his face that might as well could have been from a teacher.

"My dear child, humans might not live long in comparison to my species, but they do manage to make it to a couple decades.", he explained as a matter of fact. "Some even grow to be a century old."

A soft sound of annoyance escaped you.

"Some live up in Piltover.", you snarled. "As for me, I am a fourth generation of Zaunite already."

"Fourth? Doesn't that seem rather extreme?"

You huffed, dodged the shoulder of a hooded figure, who obviously was about to try and pickpocket you, and walked down some stairs.

Muddy water and oil mixed on the tips of your boots.

It smelled of chemicals.

Heimerdinger could hardly keep himself from pressing a hand to his snort. The pollution and chemical stench seemed to be something he was entirely unfamiliar with.

"It would seem extreme for someone who knows nothing but security and riches, no?", you asked and guided him down the stairs into another alley that swallowed all the dim light that managed to crawl down to the Undercity.

"I assumed you'd understand the concept of hard work and earnings, my child.", he noted. "Instead I came here to be insulted."

"My apologies. I do not insult your way of living. Rather I am upset about the fact that you, a creature of privilege, fail to understand that this way of life is no one's choice. We are simply forced."

"There is always a way out of crime. The bridges are a way to connect the two cities. They have and always will offer another chance."

You froze.

For a moment, you had to hold your breath to keep yourself from shaking.

There was this voice in the back of your head.

Hate.

All you could feel for him in that moment was hate and disgust.

He really did live up in Piltover, in a huge house, with all the fancy things and privileges while believing that escaping this hellhole you called home was as easy as crossing a bridge.

The image of Viktor's father crossed your mind, how he was laying there, covered in blood, between rubble and empty bullet shells, his eyes wide open, locked with yours.

But he hadn't moved.

After that day he had never moved again.

"Sir...", slowly, you threw a glance over your shoulder to meet his gaze with nothing but cold, traumatised eyes. "The bridges have taken more from me than they could ever give back."

Something crossed his face.

Was it disapproval?

Or the urge to argue?

No, it was something else.

He didn't knew. It took him by surprise to hear these words.

Unsure about what to say, his lips moved. He raised a hand in an attempt to approach you.

But you could already feel the tears burn in the corners of your eyes.

Quickly, you turned your head forward again, to hide your face.

"We should hurry.", you tried to sound well put together, but a small tremble was audible inside your voice. "Once night strikes it will not be pleasant to be down here."

Chapter 29: Twenty-Eight

Chapter Text

Carefully, you glanced around the pier before gesturing for Heimerdinger to follow you down the stairs.

His little steps echoed on the dirty pavement.

"Interesting...", he hummed as his gaze wandered over the pitch black surface of the water. "No reflection of the moon."

You let out a sober sound of agreement.

"No stars either.", you glanced up, trying to remember the last time you had seen one of the small light orbs in the sky. "Sometimes the sun doesn't show either."

He frowned.

"Sometimes?"

"When the factories work overtime, they produce more pollution. The ash and gas covers the sky and it's dark for a few hours, no matter what time of the day it is."

"But they have regulations. How can they commit such vile acts against the laws of the city."

Now you couldn't help but huff. It almost felt like you had to laugh.

But instead, a cough made your chest pull together. A small strand of saliva dripped from your mouth.

Quickly, you wiped away the evidence before anyone could notice and get concerned.

With a quick glance, you checked if there was light in one of your windows.

Small candles weren't enough to illuminate the place enough to see clear outlines of people. Only vague shadows managed to form behind the curtains.

Someone moved.

You gestured for Heimerdinger to stay back.

The entire house was secured with Viktor's crazy inventions, some more dangerous than others.

People who weren't in the know would easily walk right into them and cause a huge fuss for everyone around to notice.

With a guest like the founder of Piltover, attention was more than unwanted.

One wrong step and everything would blow to pieces.

Slowly, you took the first few steps towards the door and knocked a few times.

On the other side, someone seemed to move.

Something made of metal was placed on a hard surface.

The legs of a chair ran over the ground.

Heavy breaths reached your ears.

For a moment everything went silent.

Your gaze jumped over to Heimerdinger, who was waiting at the corner.

With interest in his eyes, he looked up and followed all the cables and screws that spread to all the directions of the house.

"This looks unusual, to say the least...", he mumbled, one hand caressing the white beard of his. "Such complex mechanisms."

He wasn't intimidated, but simply examined the structure. It was as if he was grading work of his students.

And it seemed to impress.

Knocks on the other side of the door attracted your attention.

You returned to the usual procedure that you and Viktor followed if one was at home and the other wasn't.

You answered the knocks with a row of knocks as well.

The doorknob moved.

But the door only opened a crack, wide enough for bright amber eyes to greet you with an angered gleam.

As soon as your gazes locked you could feel how your heart went heavy.

An apology was already on the tip of your tongue as Viktor closed his eyes, slightly shook his head as to tell you to keep your mouth shut and closed the door.

Locks opened.

Then Viktor appeared.

Gentle warmth stroked your face.

It smelled of firewood and food.

"You're late.", he said. "Again."

This time he didn't seem to be willing to listen to one of your many excuses.

All he did was stare at you.

"Viktor...", you stepped aside to make him look outside.

But he refused.

"You told me one more job.", he started, audibly and visibly upset. "And then you just disappear for a day without telling me where you went!"

You didn't say anything.

Not a single world could have fixed this.

But sometimes actions spoke louder than words.

Without opening your mouth, you stepped aside and gestured towards the pier where Heimerdinger still stood.

His entire attention was turned towards the mechanisms that covered the house.

It was as if he saw something like this for the very first time.

At first, Viktor was confused.

With his eyebrows knitted together, he stretched his neck to throw a glance out the door into the dark.

It took him a moment to realise what kind of creature stood in front of the house.

Then something crossed his face.

Surprise.

Shock.

Excitement.

All these things made his eyes light up.

But almost immediately, his head snapped back into your direction.

With surprising strength, Viktor grabbed you by the sleeve and pulled you into the house.

"Is that Heimerdinger?!", he asked, almost out of breath.

You couldn't help but smile.

"Isn't that insane?", you asked and grabbed him by the shoulders to shake him. "He came here to see you."

He frowned.

His eyes jumped through the room, both in confusion and nervousness.

"He did?", his hand rose to rub the back of his neck like he always did when he thought about something. "I mean that's great... Wait... How did he even get here?"

"He asked me to show him.", you tried to push him towards the door but his heels dug into the wooden planks and made it almost impossible to make him move. "He wanted to see you."

Viktor leaned against the pressure you pushed him with.

"(Y/N)... wait a moment...", supported by his crutch, he turned his head to look at you. "What did you do?"

Surprised by that question, you frowned.

"What do you mean?"

His facial expression changed. He seemed to mistrust the situation.

"Heimerdinger doesn't come to the Undercity for just some guy.", he said, curling his lips. "Did you threaten him?"

"No? I...", you sighed. "Can't we call it luck?"

"Luck?", Viktor couldn't hold in an amused huff. "We don't have luck. We are Zaunites."

Disappointment appeared on your face.

All of a sudden the feeling of overwhelming happiness washed over you and left a cold, sober tingle in the back of your brain.

"No...", you managed to gift him a sad smile. "We're not lucky... But you're talented."

Chapter 30: Twenty-Nine

Chapter Text

"Well...", with his little arms crossed behind his back, Heimerdinger eyes Viktor from top to bottom. "I always like to say that great minds can't always be seen by the bare eye. But you seem rather unnoticeable, my young friend."

Viktor sat on a chair, his shoulders lowered and his head hanging low. One of his hands was on his crutch to keep it standing up while the other rested on his leg.

You stood next to him, one hand on his shoulder like you always did when you wanted to reassure him.

This might have been one of the hardest moments in your life.

You knew that this was a moment for Viktor, about Viktor and him alone. He needed to handle this himself.

And you had no doubt that he would be able to handle it in the best ways possible.

Viktor seemed to pick up how nervous you were. It wasn't an every day occasion that you lost your chill.

With a reassuring smile, he grabbed your hand that was on his shoulder, gave it a gentle squeeze and eyed you from the corner of his eyes.

"Don't worry, I will try to answer his questions as well as possible.", he said and turned back to the creature that eyed him like some sort of goods that were up for sale. "If you'll allow me, that is."

With his chin raised and a hand stroking the long strands of hair of his moustache, Heimerdinger fell into a state of thinking for a moment.

Small sounds made his throat tremble.

"Words don't mean a lot for a man of science, isn't it?", he asked and looked around the room. "But research."

"Facts.", Viktor agreed.

One of Heimerdinger's eyebrows rose in surprise.

"Indeed... You know, maybe I did judge too quickly. Tell me, young man, what's your name?"

"It's Viktor, sir."

"Viktor. A name for great people. So tell me, Viktor, what is your profession?"

Unsure what to answer to that, Viktor let his brown eyes wander over the table that he used to work on.

He tilted to the side to make way for Heimerdinger to see and gestured towards the many scraps and metal parts that were spread out across the wooden surface.

Heimerdinger snapped his fingers.

A gush of warm air traveled through the room.

As it touched your face, a familiar shiver chased down your body.

It was the touch of magic.

As if he was a feather, Heimerdinger's feet rose from the ground. Elegantly, he floated towards the table, high enough to see what was on it, and returned to the ground.

"Interesting indeed.", he said, more to himself than either of you and turned around to walk small circles through the house. "Well, young one, tell me about it."

He did a gesture as if he expected a proper presentation.

Viktor locked eyes with you.

You knew that he wasn't a social butterfly, let alone someone who managed to explain his work well. Most of the time he just threw something together and it worked. Everything came together inside his head.

He had tried to explain his work steps a few times to you but with little success since he talked as if you knew exactly what he was thinking.

Even though that was mostly true, it didn't apply to his genius.

That was something you would probably never understand about him. And yet, it was one of the things you found most mesmerising about him.

That and the fact that he had managed to remain polite and gentle even though he was a man of Zaun.

With a soft smile you squeezed his shoulder for comfort and gestured with your chin towards one of his inventions that you were particularly fond of.

A few years back, shortly after moving in together, some punks had broken into the house and had dealt great damage to your arms and hands. In that time it had been hard for you to work, pain had been a constant companion and the nights had been terrorised by nightmares and the fear of being mugged again.

In that time Viktor had build something that was both comforting and dangerous.

It was a small cube, barely larger than the palm of your hand, made of many smaller cubes.

The inside was made of screws and gears.

Viktor eyed it for a moment.

A small layer of dust had already gathered on the surface.

You hadn't used it in a while, but that was because nobody had managed to get into the house ever since thanks to the improvised security system.

Heimerdinger noticed the both of you staring.

With a considerate yet interested gaze, he looked at it himself.

"Don't you want to show me?", he asked in a polite manner. "Don't be shy."

This time, you couldn't help but give Viktor a soft push.

He accepted his fate, took a deep breath, and slowly reached out to grab the object that had everyone in the room in a chokehold.

As the tips of his long, slender fingers stroked the surface, the dust was wiped away and revealed bright, polished metal underneath.

The cube reacted slightly. Small, angular cracks appeared inside the sides, revealing the faint shimmer of blue.

A vibration chased through the tabletop.

You could feel it tingling in your hand.

The smell of salty water reached your nose.

Something chased through Heimerdinger's eyes.

"Is that..?", he stepped closer as if he just had seen a miracle happen.

"It's not.", Viktor said with a smile and showed him.

You could tell by the way his eyes moved that he feared he had already disappointed him.

Without hesitation, Heimerdinger grabbed the cube with both hands to examine it from all sides.

"I can't believe it!", he said. "It looks like magic. It even feels like it. But it's not."

"It's a simulation.", Viktor pressed one of the tiles of the cube. "It's just a fraud."

With a mechanical hiss, the tiles of the cube separated and started to float around a field of energy that caused small lightnings to danced from one metal piece to another.

It seemed almost as if the Arcane was floating right through it.

"But if it's not magic...", Heimerdinger locked eyes with Viktor. "What is it?"

He lowered his eyes, but at the same time reached up to grab your hand.

"Electricity."

Chapter 31: Thirty

Chapter Text

Your heart beat wildly inside your chest as you walked Heimerdinger back to the elevator that led up to Topside.

You didn't dare to say a word, yet you couldn't help and make it obvious how much you needed to hear him say the things you wanted him to say.

He hadn't looked at you once for the entirety of the way back. Instead, he seemed to be lost in thoughts, busy with things that you probably wouldn't understand.

As he set foot into the elevator, he didn't even turn around.

He just straightened his back, crossed both arms behind it and looked up as if he tried to see the shiny roofs of a city that was so different from the one down where you came from.

The gates closed.

Greasy oil and burned water mixed inside your nose.

Some heavy feeling pressed down on your shoulders as the elevator got moving.

The platform rose.

Slowly, Heimerdinger moved upwards and out of sight.

Air started to burn inside your lungs.

A whimper escaped your lips.

"Some flowers truly do grow in the shade.", his voice suddenly mumbled. "Well... We will see."

And with that he was gone.

It wasn't much, but at least something to make your heart jump with relief.

A small smile appeared on your lips.

"Thank you..!", you couldn't help but whisper that after him even though it was unlikely he still heard it.

Rubbing the tiredness and exhaustion from your eyes, you turned on your heel and walked down the bridge to get back to Viktor.

Your feet were already on the last step as a cold shiver crawled down your spine.

Out of reflex, you reached into your pocket and wrapped your fingers around the handle of your knife.

The weight of a hand pressed down on your shoulder. Fingers dug into your flesh, so harsh and persistent that it made you feel like muscles rubbed against bones.

In one swift movement, you twirled around, tore the knife into the air and grabbed a fist full of fabric.

With full force you pushed into the stranger and made them stumble back against a wall.

A surprised huff escaped the person.

"Don't move.", you hissed and pressed the dull side of the knife against the strangers neck.

A sharp breath was sucked in.

"You're a lot worse than you look like.", a familiar female voice said.

Surprised, your gaze jumped up to meet a pair of deep brown eyes.

"Sevika.", you eased the pressure on her neck but didn't let go entirely. "What do you do here?"

She took a deep breath, visibly not pleased by your attack on her.

"What did you do with that thing?", she asked, not wasting a single second.

Taken aback, you frowned.

"What thing?", you asked back.

"That thing.", one of her eyebrows rose as she pointed towards the elevators. "You know what I mean."

You didn't dare to answer.

Instead, you took a careful step back and eyed her for a moment.

"Did Silco send you to spy on me?", you asked, eyes narrowed.

Her face didn't give away a single emotion. All she seemed to be was bored.

With two fingers, she fished a cigar from her pocket and lit the tip to take a deep breath.

The tip glowed in a deep, fiery orange.

It made you nervous to see her act this way.

Somehow, it felt suspicious.

"Silco asked for you.", Sevika finally said. "But it seems you switched teams. He won't be pleased to hear about that."

A cold shiver chased through your limbs. Goosebumps grew all over your body.

Of course you hadn't expected things to go without issues.

But if Silco found out you wanted to leave, things could turn ugly real quick. It was just like Viktor had said, once you had business in the Undercity it would never leave you alone ever again.

"I didn't switch teams.", you tried to escape the upcoming storm. "I wasn't on yours in the first place."

Sevika huffed.

A cloud of grey smoke seeped from her lips as she crossed her arms in front of her chest and tilted her head to gift you a glance that said more than a thousand words.

"You did a job for Silco, you're his property.", she said. "That's how it is."

"Not for me."

"You don't matter."

One of your eyebrows rose in a sarcastic manner.

"But you do?"

For a moment, she seemed to think.

"Not yet.", she admitted and threw the halfway smoked cigar away. "But one day I'll come out at the top."

"Good for you. I assume you want something, now that you saw me in a situation that could be a disadvantage to me once Silco catches a hint."

A smirk appeared on her dark lips.

"Are you offering?"

"Don't f*cking play with me, Sevika, I'm serious. Or do you want to be nice and forget what you saw?"

"Well... Not really. What would I gain from that?"

"Then speak up. I don't got all day."

Annoyed, you crossed both arms in front of your chest and raised your chin to meet her gaze.

You weren't willing to let her have the high ground. Unfortunately, she was the one who had cards to play against you.

All you could do was wait for her to play into your cards.

If she ever did.

"No matter what I decide to do, you will have to come with me.", Sevika did a gesture. "Now."

You frowned.

"Why?", you asked.

"Because if you don't show up, Silco will send someone who's a lot less nicer than I am."

Now you were the one who had to snort with amusem*nt.

"Nice?", you asked, one eyebrow raised. "You?"

She rolled her eyes and shook her head.

"You're not getting anywhere with this. Let's get going. You're wasting time."

She turned around.

But your legs refused to walk.

"I can't.", you said and looked down where the outline of the pier waited for you. "I need to go home."

She glanced over her shoulder.

"Come with me or you'll never go home again.", she warned.

Chapter 32: Thirty-One

Chapter Text

There was this feeling nagging at the back of your brain.

It felt like a warning, something that made it harder for you to raise your feet and take a step.

Your heart beat felt irregular, too fast yet too slow.

The stench of chemicals was in the air as Sevika pushed the door open and let you walk into Silco's layer first.

Voices filled your ears.

From the door you were only able to see vague outlines of people.

Two men stood in front of the glass window and argued while giant fish passed by.

You took a deep breath. But right in that moment, a sharp pain stabbed your lungs.

Struck by surprise and suffering, you chocked. Bending over, you pressed a hand to your mouth and started coughing.

It was so violently and powerful that yours lungs vibrates with every breath you took.

Saliva and watery blood ran through your fingers. Small drops landed on the ground, right between your feet.

"sh*t...", with shaky hands you managed to wipe your mouth.

The voices died down.

Quickly, you glanced up to see if someone watched.

But the two people were gone.

Relieved, you took a deep breath and managed to stand up straight again.

"f*ck...", you eyed your fingers, drenched in deep, red blood and other liquids that didn't seem healthy to have pouring from your mouth.

Sevika offered you a handkerchief.

You eyed her from the corner of your eyes.

Swallowing your pride, you took it with a thankful nod of your head and wiped your face as clean as possible.

"We're not gonna talk about it.", she said as a matter of fact.

It relieved you to hear that.

"No.", you took a deep breath and folded the handkerchief until the bloody spots weren't visible anymore. "No, we won't. You don't want that back, I assume?"

She shook her head.

"I'll have to decline."

"Good.", you let the stained piece of fabric disappear in your pocket. "Now, where's that rat?"

A flinch chased through her face.

"I'd advice you to never say that out loud again."

You hummed.

"Whatever. It's not like I have a full life ahead of me."

"That can change.", Silco's voice suddenly cut into your conversation.

Alarmed, your head snapped around to meet the colourful, evil gaze of his.

The urge to jump back crawled through your body, but you managed to keep it in check and remain well put together from the outside.

"You wanted to see me.", you said, not leaning into his offer.

He eyed you for a moment.

It wasn't like the first time you two had met. This time was different.

Something about him had changed. Or at least about the way he looked at you.

"Yes.", Silco lowered his gaze as if he tried to appear more approachable. "I wanted to see you. For a job."

You rolled your eyes.

"Obviously. What do you need?"

"Ingredients.", Singed appeared in the shadows but didn't move out of it. "Special ones."

You frowned.

"I don't know anything about stuff. I know how to steal. That's it."

"And that is what we need.", Silco interrupted. "You need to steal the ingredients for us."

A sigh left your lips.

Annoyed, you squeezed your eyes shut and rubbed the root of your nose to massage the pain away.

"Fine.", you managed to press out between clenched teeth. "What do you need and where do I find it?"

"Don't worry, you've been close to it before.", Silco smirked in a satisfied yet evil way. "It's barely any more dangerous than your little trip to Heimerdinger's home."

As the name crossed his lips, your shoulders stiffened.

The thought that you had to invade his home again made you feel not just physically sick but also worried to the core.

And now that he knew you personally this was also a game of trust.

"I won't go to Heimerdinger anymore.", it slipped from your tongue. "Last time I almost wouldn't have made it back."

Silco shook his head.

"Not his home.", there was a strangely dark gleam inside this orange eye of his. "But rather something he's heavily associated with."

A frown of confusion appeared on your face.

Unsure, you threw a glance to Sevika.
She shrugged, but it was obvious that it didn't bother her in the slightest in what a position you were in. She had warned you out of politeness.

Not because she tried to be a friend.

"Be more specific.", you turned back to Silco.

All of a sudden, Singed emerged from the shadows.
As his face appeared before you, hugged by shimmering light and deep wrinkles, you couldn't help but take a step back in caution.

Those old, deep eyes of his were like holes in which you could fall and never return from.

You didn't want to get too close to him.

Viktor had a good sense when it came to people and if he was frightened by Singed, so were you.

It was like a survival mechanism.

With a slight tremble of his wrinkly, pale lips, Singed reached into his pocket and pulled out a set of uniquely looking tools.

Hesitantly, you eyed them before accepting.

"What am I supposed to do with these?", you eyed one of the tools from up close.

It looked a lot like a key, yet like it was able to crack a lock.

"Get entrance.", Singed said and returned to his place behind Silco.

"To where?", your gaze returned to the other man, written with confusion and a slight hint of worry on your face.

A dimm and gloomy intuition awoke in the back of your head.

But you didn't dare to say it out loud.

You didn't have to though. Silco was quick to explain.

He cleared his throat to gain your attention and did a gesture to make make things clear.

"This job is not up for discussion.", he explained and locked eyes with you. "It's either you do it or you die."

A cold shiver crawled through your body.

"Just tell me.", you managed to choke out.

"The academy. You need to break into Heimerdinger's office and steal some things."

Chapter 33: Thirty-Two

Chapter Text

There was this feeling nestling in your guts.

It felt like a warning of your own body and yet you couldn't help but wonder if it truly would be fatal to ignore it.

Usually, Viktor's intuition was better than yours. As sensitive and shy as he was, he still had a better sense of understanding when it came to danger and other people.

You always tried to come out at the top, no matter what needed to be done. Maybe that was why fate now punished you with a bleeding lung.

And it felt like it only got worse by the minute.

With every breath you took there was this scratchy, rattling feeling in your chest. It felt like claws dug into your flesh and crawled upwards only to be recognised as a bloody cough by the outside world.

You had to breath in flatly now or else the pain was so much of a torture that stars danced before your eyes.

There was no way you would be able to escape Silco without finishing this job.

But there was also no way you'd get into the academy without being caught.

It was one of the largest, most fancy buildings that Piltover had to offer. Anyone would have spotted it from a mile away.

Enforcers were everywhere, day and night, to guard the place and all the things Heimerdinger and his students worked on.

And to add to that it was right in the middle of a plaza, so you wouldn't be able to get in without being seen.

"sh*t...", you cursed and jumped down the roof to take a casual stroll around the place.

One thing you had always been lucky about was the fact that you nor Viktor looked like people from the Undercity. If you acted all normal and unsuspecting, you were able to pass easily as one of the lower working class people.

That way you managed to make it all the way up to the gates of the academy, before one of the Enforcers stopped you.

"This is a restricted area!", he barked, his face all serious.

You didn't pay much attention to him, took a step away from the fence and kept admiring the impressive architecture.

Only thinking about the possibility that Viktor, one day, would be walking these halls as a student, made you shiver to the core.

"Oho?", a small voice said in surprise. "Do I see right?"

Your eyes wandered down the floor only to widen in shock.

The beating of your heart quickened and it felt like you were about to sink into the ground out of shame.

With your lips pressed into a thin line, you tried to turn on your heel and disappear in a group of tourists that passed by.

But Heimerdinger just chuckled.

With a flick of his wrist, he ordered a breeze of the Arcane to lift you from your feet and over the fence.

Confused, you struggled in the air.

"Professor!", the enforcer at the gate gasped towards the creature. "Sir, this is a restricted area!"

Annoyed, Heimerdinger shook his little head and let you land next to him.

You landed right on your bum.

"Sir, I didn't mean to...", you tried to explain to the enforcer.

Heimerdinger folded his hands behind his back and shook his little head.

"A guest is a guest.", he said and gifted you a wink. "Besides, we still got something to talk about, my young friend."

Surprised, your eyebrows rose.

"If you insist, sir.", you jumped back on your two feet and wiped the dirt of your clothes. "Did you consider giving Viktor a chance?"

His bright eyes sparkled with some sort of secret compassion. He gifted you a slim smirk, winked and turned around to make you follow him.

With his small legs, he tapped through the huge entrance hall.

A strange feeling inside your chest as a group of well put together students passed the two of you.

Their gazes felt like knifes inside your flesh. They pitied you, were disgusted by the way you dressed.

Like a peasant.

It was clear that they knew you weren't one of them.

Would Viktor have to suffer through those kinds of disgusted looks as well?

Would he be an outcast for simply having been born unlucky?

Swallowing hard, you pressed your lips into a thin line and turned away your gaze.

It wasn't the first time that you had trouble just because of your place of origin. But never before had you been ashamed like this.

Heimerdinger stopped in his tracks.

Slowly, the threw a glance over his small shoulder and eyed you.

"I am very unfamiliar with human emotions.", he hummed while stroking the long strands of his beard. "But you look upset."

You avoided his eyes and shook your head.

"This is nothing.", you mumbled. "But it's good to know what Viktor will have to deal with. I'll prepare him."

Humming in agreement, Heimerdinger walked on until he stopped in front of one of the huge doors that seemed way too fancy and well decorated to be just a simple classroom.

Interested, you eyed the hallway up and down.

To get to this door was quite simple.

All you had to do was walk into the academy, straight through the entrance hall and past the huge winged door that lead into the main hall for studies.

Then all you had to do was walk all the way down the hallways until a blue door with golden embroidery appeared.

A golden plate told what this place was.

Office of professor Cecil B. Heimerdinger.

Something in the back of your head twitched.

If this was his office, the lab couldn't be far either.

No, you thought and shook your head. This was a stupid idea.

"Where do I have it?", Heimerdinger mumbled to himself as he skipped through a row of keys he carried with him.

Your eyes fell onto one that was oddly shaped.

Out of curiosity, you tapped it with two fingers.

Pleased, he smiled.

"Ah, yes, this one.", he unlocked the door. "Please. Be my guest."

Chapter 34: Thirty-Three

Chapter Text

"Sir?", you asked, your hands folded in your lap and your back as straight as it has never been before. "Do you need help?"

The huge armchairs in Heimerdinger's office felt like they were made of the purest of leather and the softest of feathers.

You feared that once you leaned back you wouldn't be able to return again.

Heimerdinger stood in front of his bookshelf, back turned towards you, while he went through rows and rows of books.

He seemed to be looking for something, but it was unclear if it was a book or something else.

The shelves that covered his entire office were stuffed with all sorts of things, such as more trophies, certificates, old machines and other things he must have had invented once.

Heimerdinger was a Yordle, a creature that managed to live for much longer than a human ever could.

Surely he's had enough years to invent something great, something besides the glory that was called Piltover itself.

However, the things he had stacked on his shelf didn't seem to be any more different than the things Viktor threw together for fun.

Not that you knew exactly.

"Ah!", Heimerdinger grabbed a stack of paper. "Here it is."

With a proud expression on his furry face, he let the old papers fall onto his desk.

A cloud of dust appeared.

You squeezed your eyes shut and tried to avoid breathing it in.

But it was already too late.

Violently, you started to gasp and cough for air. The vibration was so powerful that it made your lungs ache and your throat dry as the desert.

With one hand pressed to your mouth, you bend over to get rid of the horrible feeling that scratched through the balls of yours eyes.

Tears blurred your vision.

Warm liquid started to fill the palm of your hand.

Small drops of blood seeped through the cracks in your fingers and dripped to the floor.

The coughing eased.

But the pain remained. With every single breath it felt like thousands of needles dug into your flesh and made your chest pull together.

Breathing heavily, you raised your head, eyes marked by deep circles, and wiped the last bit of blood from the corners of your mouth.

Heimerdinger was frozen in shock.

Concern was written all over his face. Yet interest shimmered inside his eyes.

"What is this?", he asked, frowning.

Squeezing your eyes shut, you took a deep breath.

"Death.", you admitted, both bitter yet accepting. "I can't stop it anymore."

"What about doctors?", he asked. "Piltover is well off."

You sighed, annoyed by his inability to understand.

"But I'm not. And I never will be."

"Then what about your friend, Viktor? Once he's out of the academy he'll be able to find good work."

You shook your head.

"I don't have that much time left.", your eyes met his. "I need to make sure Viktor is taken care off before my time runs out. And I need you to give him a chance."

A low sound escaped the creature.

"Very well...", he folded his hands behind his back. "You seem determined. Something impressive, that I always admired about the humans."

"I'm not begging. All I'm asking is for a fair chance."

"And he shall get it."

Surprised, your eyes widened.

At loss for words, you had to lean back and stare at him for a long moment.

Short, hasty breaths left your dry and cracked lips.

It felt like your entire body was on fire.

It felt like you were about to die.

Maybe that would have been better.

Maybe death would be better.

A deep, yet exhausted, breath escaped your lips. You closed your eyes and shook your head slightly.

This was exhausting.

Continuing to be was exhausting.

With his eyes lowered in compassion, Heimerdinger approached you, the papers in hand.

You reached out to take them, but hesitated as your gaze fell onto the blood stained fingers of yours.

Swallowing hard, you clenched the hand into a fist to keep it from shaking.

"Would you be kind enough to tell me what that is?", you asked Heimerdinger with a tired smile.

He hesitated. His eyes examined your face.

He nodded.

"It's a letter of application.", he said.

Your eyebrows rose.

"An official offer to join the academy?"

"Well... Yes. With this he will be able to skip the tests before the final entrance exam."

"He'll be treated like someone from Piltover."

"Not exactly. But he will have the same starting point. If he makes it through the entrance exam, he'll enter the academy like one of them. He won't have to earn his place for the exam. This is his place."

"Assigned by you?", your field of vision started to blur with relief and happiness.

Heimerdinger nodded.

"I signed it personally.", he confirmed and put the papers in an envelope to hand it to you again. "This is a sign of my affection."

You took the envelope.

He didn't let go.

For a moment, the two of you just stared at the smooth surface, both holding one edge.

Not a single word was said.

Silence filled the room like water filled the ocean.

"Affection...", you mumbled as if in trance, a soft smile on your face. "What a strange thing to say about a stranger..."

Agreeing, Heimerdinger closed his eyes and lowered his head.

"Indeed it is.", he said and finally let go. "I've seen something in that Viktor. His eyes shine. He's still young. His spirit is still... hungry for more."

A soft huff escaped your slightly parted lips.

"He'll change this city for the better.", you said and got up without even shaking hands goodbye. "He's... so much more."

With sorrow written all over his face and his ears hanging low, Heimerdinger watched as you put all your last strength into pushing the huge doors of his office open.

"I must thank you, professor.", you threw a glance over your shoulder. "I didn't expect you to have pity on a dying thief."

A sigh escaped him.

"And I didn't expect to find a diamond buried in the dirt.", he hummed. "The Arcane sure does have strange ways."

Chapter 35: Thirty-Four

Chapter Text

The way back to your home felt like it was the most exhausting, painful path you had ever have to take in your entire life.

Your head was heavy.

You could barely keep your back straight and your shoulders up.

Your legs felt like blades dug into the flesh with every step you took.

Bones felt weak and fragile. You feared that with every step they got closer to the breaking point.

At the top of the stairs, that led down to the pier, you had to stop and sit down.

Your head was spinning.

Your lungs were aching.

Everything was torture, the light breeze that danced over the water, the soft rain that fell from the cloudy, grey sky.

The feeling of fire hugged your skin. It felt like you sat in the middle of a burning house.

And yet, despite the suffering and the exhaustion that tortured your mind, your fingers held the envelope of Heimerdinger tightly.

This was like a golden ticket, no, even better than that.

This was an honest invitation.

The one you had given Viktor on his birthday had been stolen, taken from a poor fool who had been foolish enough to come down to the Undercity to look for illegal materials.

Someone had stabbed him and after he had breathed his last breath, you had taken everything he has had.

Money, clothing, a good knife.

And a chance from the academy.

But this?

This was far greater than a chance.

This was a promise.

And you knew that Viktor wouldn't fail to earn it.

He had always been the smart one of the two of you. And he would continue to outsmart, not just you but a whole institute of spoiled, rich brats.

Maybe, just maybe, one day he would even manage to outsmart Heimerdinger.

At the thought, a chuckle made your aching chest tremble.

"What a fool I am...", you mumbled and wiped your lips to get rid of the taste of blood. "Death really does bring out the worst in people. My true colours aren't pretty... What a shame..."

Putting on a smile, you wiped the tiredness off your face and put on a mask of joy.

This was for Viktor.

You were the bringer of good news. Perfect news to be exact.

There was no need to drag it down by your state of health.

He didn't have to know. Not yet.

Maybe never.

"Viktor?", you knocked on your own door.

You could hear how someone worked on the other side.

There was light burning in one of the windows.

Warm air escaped through the cracks of the walls.

Someone got up and walked over to unlock the door.

A crack opened.

A gush of air hit you in the face.

It smelled of Viktor.

It smelled of home.

Bright amber eyes greeted you.

At the sight, you couldn't help but smile in relief.

This was what kept you going.

Those eyes and this worried shimmer inside of them that couldn't be mad for longer than the breath of a second.

"How did the job go?", Viktor asked in his gentle voice and opened the door wide enough for you to enter. "You look satisfied."

"I'm happy.", you said and didn't skip a second to wrap your arms around him in a hug. "I'm just... so happy to have you."

Without even thinking, you placed a kiss on his cheek, so dangerously close to the corner of his mouth, that his eyebrows rose in surprise.

Gently chuckling, he raised his hands in defence and leaned his weight against you for support.

He had always done that. You were the only person he trusted not to let him fall.

It broke your heart to know that one day there wouldn't be anyone left to prevent that.

One day he wouldn't have anyone anymore to hold him.

The door fell shut and warmth filled the house again.

Still smiling, Viktor met your gaze and wrapped his hands around your cheeks.

"You're in such a good mood, my dear.", he said and pressed his forehead against yours. "Was the job that good?"

The smile on your face froze.

The job.

You hadn't finished the job for Silco yet and it most likely wouldn't be possible to get around it either.

At least not if you wanted to live.

But Viktor didn't have to know.

Quickly, you shook the cold feeling inside your chest off and smiled again.

One of your hands rose to gently caress that dark brown hair of his.

"Here.", you showed him the envelope of Heimerdinger. "I got something for you."

A little unsure, he raised an eyebrow and gifted you the kind of look that demanded answers.

"What is that?", he asked, but dared to take it off your hands anyways.

"A gift.", you said. "Someone gave it to me. For you."

"For me?", his slender hands froze, already opening the edges. "But... what for?"

Chuckling, you shook your head and guided him to the bed so that he would sit down.

"It's nothing bad.", you said and placed a kiss on each of his beauty marks. "I promise."

A sarcastic expression appeared on his face.

"You promise? The last time you promised something, you lied."

You couldn't help but huff.

"Not this time."

"How can I be sure?"

"Open it."

A soft breath escaped him. But he smiled anyways and continued to tear the edge open.

The papers appeared.

He pulled them out.

For a moment, the house fell silent.

Tension was in the air.

It felt like you were about to have a nervous breakdown.
His eyes wandered over the lines. With each read passage, the expressions on his face changed.

First there was worry.

Then confusion.

Surprise.

And finally his eyes widened in disbelief.

"(Y/N)!", he gasped and jumped from the bed.

His crippled leg wasn't able to carry his weight, so he fell forward and stumbled right into your arms.

You caught him with a smile and wrapped your arms around his chest to pull him into a hug.

"You're almost there, Viktor!", you whispered into his ear, tears blurring your vision.

He pushed you away, grabbed your face and placed a heated kiss on your mouth.

"We're almost there, my love.", he breathed against your lips.

Chapter 36: Thirty-Five

Chapter Text

As his taste spread on your tongue, you froze.

Immediately, you wished that this moment could be frozen in time to remain forever.

In comparison to other people of the Undercity, Viktor had a clean taste to himself. Almost like toothpaste.

The faint hint of home cooked food came with it.

He smelled of oil and metal, probably because he had still worked on his creations a few moments ago.

It was just the way it always was, so much home, so comforting.

But this time it was different.

It was better.

And you craved more.

"My love?", Viktor asked, the fear of a mistake audible in his voice.

You didn't give him a second to reconsider or regret.

With both hands, you grabbed his face and pulled him into another kiss.

You craved him.

For the longest time he had been that one thing that your body, heart and mind had been craving.

And now that time was running out you didn't want to wait any longer.

Soon there wouldn't be an opportunity like this anymore. You wanted to enjoy your time left with Viktor to the fullest extent.

As he awoke from his state of surprise, Viktor's eyes fell shut and his hands wrapped around you to close the last bit of distance that was left.

Your chest hit against his. It felt like two pieces of the same puzzle finally connected to form one.

The beating of his heart pressed through your skin and bones, to greet yours and make it beat in sync.

The warmth of his breath stroked your face as he held you tight and made you part your lips to invade your mouth his his tongue.

The tip felt rough as it started fighting with yours, entangling it in a fight and trying to gain dominance.

Your hands rose to slide into the back of his neck and pull him even closer.

You wanted to devour him.

There was this need inside of you to take in as much of him as possible. It was almost as if you wished to become a part of his existence.

As the used air started to burn inside your lungs, the two of you had to part to catch your breaths.

Breathing heavily, and with his gaze clouded, Viktor locked eyes with you.

His lips were slightly parted.

A reddish shimmer was visible on his face.

You felt flustered yourself. Heat burned on your cheeks and made them glow with desire.

Your eyes fell onto his, usually, thin lips.

Now they were all red and swollen, covered by a slim layer of shiny saliva.

"(Y/N), my love.", he said with a thicker accent than he usually had and wiped the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand. "You don't know how much I want you by my side."

Your eyes darkened.

A faint hint of regret lit up inside your chest. But you quickly made it die down before it could grow roots.

"You want me?", you asked, hesitantly, while your legs took one step back to help you seek support on the edge of his work desk.

Something inside his eyes flinched.

"I need you.", he said and closed the distance between the two of you again. "Please."

You shook your head.

"Don't beg. I'll give you my everything.", you kissed him again, softer this time.

"I don't want your everything.", he whispered against your lips. "You are enough."

These words were enough to make you whimper.

His hands wrapped around your body again to pull you close.

But this time you didn't let him have his way.

With your eyes closed, you grabbed Viktor by the shoulders and turned him around in one swift movement so that he was the one who had to seek support at the edge of the table.

Under your gentle guidance, he let himself sink down on his chair and let you take the lead.

Slowly, you lowered yourself to kneel between his legs while you placed a trail of kisses on his neck, down his arms and finally to his crotch.

A shivering breath escaped him.

His legs flinched.

"My love...", his hand lay on the back of your head to keep it in place. "Why the rush?"

With lowered eyes, you gifted him a soft smile and sighed.

"I've wasted so many years, Viktor...", you whispered, your fingers gently digging into the flesh of his tights. "I don't want to continue this mistake. Time is precious. But time with you would be invaluable."

A deep breath escaped his lips.

You could feel how his fingers twitched, entangled with the (H/C) strands of your hair.

The pressure eased.

Pressing his lips into a thin line, he leaned back and allowed you with a nod of his head to continue.

For a moment, you kept eye contact.

Then, slowly, as to not make him shy away, you lowered your face between his legs and let your lips press against the bulge that was already forming in his pants.

A shivering breath escaped his lips.

His legs twitched, but he forced himself to remain motionless.

His grip on your hair tightened nonetheless.

"It's alright.", you breathed. "Relax... I'll love you. I always did..."

A shiver chased through his body as the warmth seeped through the layers of fabric and touched his skin.

Leaning into the newly found pleasure of your mouth on his hard dick, Viktor let his head fall back and closed his eyes.

You took this as an invitation to open the zipper of his pants and pull them down far enough for his bulge to be set free.

His length flinched as the cold air stroked him.

You grabbed it to see how big he would be.

Viktor wasn't huge, but rather long and slim. It would probably be a challenge to fit all of him inside, no matter of it would be your mouth or other places.

A small dark, wet spot already stained the fabric.

You had to smile at the fact that a few simple touches of you were enough to make him be this excited.

"I'll be gentle.", you promised and pulled the last layer of fabric back.

Chapter 37: Thirty-Six (Smut)

Chapter Text

In one swift movement, Viktor's dick rose before your eyes.

Thick veins and shiny liquid adored the pale length. The tip was darker, slightly pink.

With bated breath, you brought your face closer to it.

He had a nice scent to himself, slightly salty, but surprisingly clean. The faint of of soap rose to your nose.

Carefully, you opened your mouth and let the tip of your tongue slide along the entire length, from the bottom all the way up to the shaft.

Viktor's breathing quickened.

But he still remained focused.

You took this as a sign that he was ready to experience the real thing.

Taking a deep breath in, you sat up a little and positioned your mouth right on top of him.

A layer of salty, sticky liquid was visible. He seemed to be excited already.

Your tongue played with him again for adjustment.

A shuffled groan escaped his lips.

As you glanced up you could spot a faint hint of red on his pale face.

His eyes were tightly shut, his chin rested on his chest. It felt like he wanted to risk a glance at you, with him twitching in your hands, but feared that it would be too much.

His cheeks turned into a deep red.

The sight made something between your legs flinch. A hit feeling chased down your core.

It felt like your heart started to beat right where lust grew.

Without thinking about it you let your head sink down on him and swallowed Viktor's entire dick in one swift go.

He was longer than you had expected and almost immediately bumped into the back of your throat.

Struck by surprise, you choked but forced yourself to regain focused right away.

Tears blurred your vision for a moment.

"My love...", Viktor's fingers stiffened. "Not so fast."

But you couldn't help it.

All by itself, your tongue started to dance around him, rubbed up and down, all the way till you couldn't bare to take him deeper in anymore.

Salty tears rolled over your cheeks, down your nose and mixed with the slight sweetish, clean taste of his co*ck in your mouth.

A few times you moved your head up and down, pulled back to catch your breath, and swallowed him again.

Every time a small sound escaped his lips.

It fed into your ego to hear him make those desperate sounds, feel him shake below your fingers.

You wanted to do more to him.

All of a sudden, his fingers entangled with the strands of you hair.

You didn't think much of it at first, but all at once he pulled you back and forced you to leave him.

With a sloppy sound, you released his dick from the wet embrace of your lips.

Heavy breaths made your chest tremble.

Heat made your head feel dizzy.

You could feel how your muddled twitched. It started to feel sticky in your pants.

Through half-lidded eyes you watched him catch his breath before a single word was able to cross those trembling lips of his.

A trail of saliva was visible on one side of his mouth.

He wanted to wipe it with the back of his hand.

Without hesitating, you caught it mid movement and sat up to lick it away.

Struck by this gesture, he locked eyes with you for a moment.

There was so much lust darkening his eyes. He barely managed to keep himself from grabbing your neck and biting down on it to leave a mark.

"I didn't know you could be so...", Viktor swallowed hard. "...feral, my love."

His breath stroked the sensitive skin on your throat and made you shiver.

Your nipples pulled together.

A trembling breath escaped you.

With your eyes closed and a whimper on your tongue, you pressed into this feeling of warmth and pleasure.

"I'm desperate, Viktor.", you whispered while your nails dug into his narrow shoulders.

His lips touched your skin.

You could feel him he smiled.

"For what?", he asked, so rough and daring all of a sudden.

For a moment, your heart stopped beating.

Immense desire struck you, made you whimper and melt into his influence even more.

"For you!", you managed to gasp as your middle started to pulsate. "Only you. Always you."

Viktor gently but down on your neck. It wasn't painful but harsh enough to leave a dark mark of the outlines of his teeth.

It would fade soon.

But the lust that it send through your body would remain.

"I want you to lay on the bed.", he asked, demanding.

It was enough to make you shiver.

Never before had he talked to you like this.

Sure, he had been annoyed sometimes, had asked for favours.

But now he sounded like there was no room for complains.

The tone of his voice was strong, stronger than you had ever heard, and it made clear that even though he knew his limits, he wasn't willing to let them stop him.

He desired you just as much as you did him.

And he wanted to make you feel everything of it.

His hand rose to grab your cheek. His thumb started to caress them.

A smiled tugged at the corners of his mouth while his eyes were full of love.

The way he looked at you gave away that there was nothing about you that he would have changed in that moment. He looked at you and all he saw was perfection.

And he wanted every single bit of that.

"Would you do me this favour, my love?", he asked and stole another gentle kiss from your lips.

Your eyes wandered down to catch a glimpse at his rock hard co*ck.

You returned to your knees to give him another taste of your warm, rough tongue.

A deep breath escaped him.

His eyes fell shut again. Behind the closed lids they moved and flustered.

His hand entangled in your hair.

"Please...", he groaned but couldn't help and move upwards to press into your throat. "Move to the bed, my love."

Chapter 38: Thirty-Seven (Smut)

Chapter Text

A cool breeze stroked your naked body as you lay on the bed and let Viktor cover you with gentle touches and kisses.

Taking a deep breath in, you closed your eyes and let your head fall back into the pillows.

His tongue was rough yet sweet and caring as he wandered up and down your body to get a taste of every single inch.

As he reached your nipples, they pulled together under the wet, warm touch of his mouth.

A whimper escaped you. Out of reflex, your torso moved up to press into his face.

A soft chuckle made his narrow chest vibrate.

His hands grabbed your sides and pushed you into the mattress.

"Easy, love.", he kissed you again, both so very loving and gentle. "Let me be good to you."

He wanted to pull back but you grabbed his face and caught him in more kisses.

His taste was like a drug to you.

While pushing his tongue through your lips to conquer your mouth, his hand slowly wandered down between your legs.

With gentle pressure, he rubbed up and down.

Surprisingly, he seemed quite skilled with his hands.

Maybe it was because of his craftsmanship, after all, he worked with his hands every day. He was able to put together the smallest of details.

But the way his fingers moved, how they put pressure on the right spots and how he knew exactly how to move to make you gasp, indicated that he must have had some experience.

Somehow that made you feel jealous of the person who had been his first.

Or maybe you were just imagining things.

Maybe he was just a natural.

In a swift movement, the tip of his fingers moved down to your entrance.

A hot lightning chased through your lower half and made your toes curl.

Your hips pushed upwards, into the palm of his hand.

All at once, he pulled away.

The loss of his fingers left a cold feeling.

Goosebumps grew all over your body.

But before you could make your displeasure about him pulling away audible, something else started to press against your tight entrance.

You froze.

Viktor bend down to kiss you.

"I love you.", he whispered and slowly pushed his lower body closer to you. "My love."

A short feeling of being spread made you stiffen.

Then he slid inside.

Struck by the feeling of him filling you, your mouth jumped wide open and a gasp filled the silence.

Viktor pressed a kiss to your throat.

The way he filled your insides made it feel like there was a missing puzzle piece that now had found its place.

It made you feel complete and simply satisfied. As if you had reached your own state of perfection.

A deep breath escaped Viktor.

His dick twitched inside of you as your walls clenched around him.

Your body reacted to him the way his body reacted to yours.

They were like a clockwork mechanism.

As he slowly started to thrust into you, your walls flinched and choked him.

Almost immediately, the two of you found a rhythm to match each other.

His hips rolled into yours and hit a spot that made you roll your head back and close your eyes.

A deep sigh of pleasure made you gasp.

Again, Viktor leaned over you and started to place a trail of tender kisses on your face, your neck and your lips.

You grabbed his face with both hands so that he wasn't able to pull away and caught him in a desperate kiss.

The pace he thrusted into you with wasn't fast nor harsh, but it already showed its effects on your boys.

With every move, the tip of his dick reached placed that made your stomach flinch in pleasure.

His own breath was thick and heavy.

He kept moving, slow and steady, while pressure started to build up inside of your lower body.

The veins of his dick kept massaging your walls.

As your insides flinched, Viktor's shoulders stiffened and a strained expression appeared on his face.

He broke the kiss, breathing heavily, and pressed his forehead against yours while picking up a quicker pace.

"My love.", his words were shaking already. "You feel... like a dream..."

With your hands holding his face, you pushed into his thrusts, greedy for more.

You could already feel how the pressure started to spread to your middle and made your insides tingle.

You wanted to feel the most highest of pleasures that he was able to give you.

"Viktor...", you sighed and kissed him again. "Please... Let's enjoy this... a little longer."

With his eyes tightly shut, he hurried his face in the crotch of your neck and inhaled your scent.

"I wish...", he breathed against your skin. "But you feel too good..."

His dick twitched and bend under the pressure that your walls put on him.

He was barely able to keep himself from pushing up so hard that you almost flinched in pain.

Your arms wrapped around his shoulders.

Nails dug into Viktor's pale back. Deep red marks were left.

"Viktor!", you moaned as the pleasure started to feel unbearable.

Your entire body started to grow goosebumps. It felt like your insides were about to burst.

Heat chased through your lower body.

The feeling of something warm started to spread inside of you.

Viktor's co*ck started to get swollen.

It was enough to spread you even more.

That was the final move that pushed you off the edge.

With your head rolled back and your fingers dug into his flesh, the heat exploded between your legs.

It was a gentle climax, made you sigh and shake. Yet it made you feel warm and cozy inside.

Sighing, Viktor closed his eyes as well.

A few more thrusts and his body stiffened.

With heavy breaths, he came deep inside of you.

Warm liquid filled you. It so much that, as he pulled out, it dripped into the sheets.

But in that moment it didn't matter.

All that mattered was that Viktor was there.

The excited beating of his heart pressed through your chest and made your heart beat with the same rhythm.

"(Y/N)...", Viktor stole a shy kiss. "My love."

Chapter 39: Thirty-Eight

Chapter Text

It felt like a dream.

Everything was just a dream.

But just like every time when the night had passed, you needed to wake up and return to the terrible place that was reality.

The urge to cough pulled together your lungs.

As if struck by lightning, you rose from the sheets and bend under the pressure that drove tears to your eyes.

It felt like blood was about to pour from your nose but you sucked it back in and swallowed the taste of iron.

Next to you, Viktor curled his nose.

"My love?", he popped one eye open. "Why are you awake already?"

With your head turned away from him, you wiped the corner of your mouth with the back of your hand.

A pale red stain remained visible on your skin.

A low curse escaped you.

"I'm fine.", you gifted him a smile and leaned in to kiss him briefly.

If you'd kiss him longer, he'd probably notice the taste of blood on your lips.

"You look stressed.", he grabbed your cheek to gently force you to look at him.

Leaning into the feeling of his warm palm, you closed your eyes and let out a deep sigh.

Then you smiled.

"It's just that I'm nervous.", you placed a kiss in his hand.

Smiling softly, he tilted his head.

"What do you mean?"

You kissed his beauty marks, then pulled him into a hug.

"The enrolment for the academy. It's today."

He pulled you into a thigh hug and buried his face in the crotch of your neck to inhale the scent that was stuck to you ever since last night.

It made his heart beat with pride to notice that your smell had changed and was now a mixture of your old one and his.

It felt like he had finally conquered that part of you for himself that had always seemed untouchable.

"Do you really think I can do it?", he asked.

You grabbed his face to shake some sense into him.

"Don't doubt yourself. You can do it. But I don't want you to just do it. I want you to get in the academy and show everyone that you're not just anyone. I want you to get in at the top."

Doubt lit up inside his brown eyes.

"You think too highly of me."

"I think you pull yourself down. If you just put a bit of trust in yourself, you'll be able to outshine everyone."

Shyly, he turned his eyes away and rubbed the back of his head.

"You're over exaggerating.", he hummed, stretching.

"I believe in you. And so should you.", with a gentle kiss to his forehead, you slid out of bed and gathered the clothes that were spread across the floor. "Catch."

You threw his share of the clothes at his face.

Chuckling, he threw them on and wanted to follow you. But as his feet touched the ground, his legs gave in and he almost fell.

You caught him.

"Easy, no need to jinx today.", slowly, you let him sink on the bed. "You'll need all your strength to figure out what to invent today."

Slightly annoyed, he pulled a face, let his head fall to the side and groaned.

"This is just a pain in the ass.", he said and hit his limbing leg a few times. "How can I become a student to the academy with this?"

Shaking your head, you walked over to the stove and lit a flame to get eggs ready.

You wanted to put a nice breakfast together for him to get a good start into the day. Luck wasn't something he really needed since he had skills instead.

But you wanted him to go up to Piltover with a filled stomach. Those assholes would have enough reasons to make him an outcast, being hungry wasn't supposed to be one of them.

Unfortunately, the food in the Undercity wasn't all too nice nor nutritious.

It would have been great to offer him more than just some eggs, maybe bacon and some pancakes. But all you had was bread.

You still tried to make it look like a proper breakfast.

"Careful.", you handed him the plate with steaming hot food. "I'll go check out the climate upstairs. Take your time and find a good idea to blow them away with."

With a kiss to his hair, you said goodbye to him and slid out the door.

As soon as it fell shut behind you, a wave of coughing and pain chased through your lungs and forced you down to your knees.

Your entire body was aching.

Tears blurred your vision.

"f*cking hell...", you gasped and managed to stumble further away to hide from Viktor possibly seeing you. "This is getting worse by the minute..."

A thin trail of blood poured out of your nose.

The irony taste spread inside your mouth and crawled down your throat.

Taking a deep breath in, you managed to straighten your back and pulled a hood over your head to disappear in a crowd that was about to travel to the Topside as well.

You could feel that this was an important day.

More people than usual wanted to get to the elevators.

The smell of hope was in the air while pride filled their eyes.

Kids and teens were visible everywhere. It was an unusual sight since most kids didn't make it and teens tended to turn into criminals rather than try and get an actual education.

The crowd pushed across the bridges, towards the elevators.

But you broke out from the flow and took a shortcut into the dark alleys of the lanes instead.

You needed to talk to Silco.

Quickly, you jumped down some stairs.

A shadow caught your attention.

You froze, reached into your pocket and wanted to pull out a knife.

A hand snatched forward to wrap around your collar and pull you into the dark.

Brown eyes lit up.

"You're playing a dangerous game.", Sevika growled. "It will kill you."

Chapter 40: Thirty-Nine

Chapter Text

With anger written all over her face, Sevika dragged you into an alley and threw you into a corner.

With a gasp, you smashed into a pile of empty boxes.

Wood creaked and broke under the impact of your weight and the impact.

"f*cking hell, ogre!", you hissed and took a swing with the knife at her as a warning. "Back off! What the hell is wrong with you?"

With her eyebrows knitted together and annoyance written all over her face, Sevika took a drag from her cigarette and blew the smoke out of the corner of her mouth.

She crossed her arms in front of her chest and rolled her eyes before raising one eyebrow in a sarcastic manner.

"You're not going to put that away?", she asked and pointed at the knife.

You bared your teeth.

"No chance. I can't afford to let my guard down. You'll crush me."

She huffed.

"Thanks.", the tip of the cigar started to glow as she took a deep breath again. "But really, you need to take that down. It won't stop me from twisting your neck with my bare hands."

You frowned yet believed that she was telling the truth.

Slowly, your hand sunk. But you held onto it.

"What do you want?", you asked and had to suppress a cough.

Sevika pulled a face.

"You're being a rat.", she hissed and flipped the halfway smoked cigar away. "And I told you that's dangerous."

You rolled your eyes.

"Why do you care about the danger I'm in?", you asked and pulled yourself up to your knees.

A bitter smile appeared on her face as she crossed her arms and examined you from top to bottom.

"You're in rough shape."

A growl got stuck in your throat.

"Cut the chit chat, Sevika!", you spit blood into the mud. "Why do you care?"

Her eyes followed the red puddle, how it mixed with the dirt and disgusting water to turn brown and rotten.

"If you get into sh*t, I'll be f*cked too.", she said and stepped closer to bend down and meet your gaze in a warning manner. "Silco is getting suspicious of you and unfortunately I know what you've been up to. Heimerdinger is not a name he appreciates."

A flinch chased through your entire body.

With a grim expression, you raised your eyes and moved your lips to keep yourself from launching at her.

The knife in your hand started to shake.

It was as if a new desire lit up inside of you.

You had never before wanted to kill someone. But in that moment it felt like if there was a once in a lifetime thing, this would be the time and place.

Sevika's gaze wandered down. She must have noticed your body's reaction.

"I would advise you not to do that.", she said in a low, calm voice, completely unbothered.

With fire burning inside your eyes, you raised the knife to her throat and grabbed her by the collar to apply more pressure.

"Give me one f*cking reason not to.", you hissed through clenched teeth. "Because right now you're threatening me."

For a long, painfully long moment, she just stared at you.
Her eyes didn't move. She didn't even blink.

A deep breath left her lips.

The smell of cigar smoke lingered in your nose. Warmth stroked your face.

Her face moved.

A slight smirk appeared. It was almost mocking.

"Right.", with two fingers, Sevika grabbed the tip of the blade and pushed it down without caring that one possible movement of yours could stab her in the throat. "I'm not a threat. Not as long as you play along."

Squeezing your eyes shut and taking a deep breath, you lowered the knife.

"Fine.", you hissed. "Call your shots."

Satisfied, she smiled.

"Good. Now, I get that you're trying to get away from Silco. It makes sense."

"You don't get to assume what I want."

Groaning, she rolled her eyes.

"Quit playing tough. I get it, you're a Zaunite. Vermin is hard to kill.", she let out a deep breath. "Anyways. You're in deeper than sh*t."

You let your head sink and rubbed your eyes.

"Tell me something I don't know.", you groaned, trying to fight back the headache.

"Your situation is good for me."

You glanced at her though your eyebrows.

"How so?"

"I want to climb the ladder, but Silco won't let me. The job you got might get me to where I want to be."

"You want to rob Heimerdinger's lab?"

"No. I'm not a thief but rather someone for the rough stuff."

You huffed.

"I can imagine."

She didn't respond to that.

"Either way, if you get me the stuff he wants, I'll take it to him and you can stay up in Piltover."

Unsure, you frowned.

"That logic is flawed.", you noted. "Silco seems to be influential."

"Not past the bridges."

"Not yet."

"That's a problem to worry about in the future. Right now I am willing to take the job off your hands. So, you get into Heimerdinger's office, get what I need and then we part ways. Do we have a deal?", with a generous look in her eyes, she offered you a hand to shake. "No buts. I play with open cards."

For a moment, you had to eye her.

Something in the back of your head was in doubt.

It wasn't that you were unsure about the deal. It sounded good, great even, and Sevika didn't seem like she wanted to f*ck you over.

But considering that your health was declining, you feared that this action wouldn't go down smoothly.

Maybe you would be able to take advantage of Viktor's test and disappear in the heat of the moment to steal the things needed, but there was always a risk.

And right now you were the biggest one yourself.

"I...", you were about to raise your hand but couldn't bring yourself to.

Sevika noticed.

"This is just another offering.", her hand slid into one of her hidden pockets to pull out a glass container with purple liquid shimmering in it. "It's for my own interest as well. Take it or not. But it will make things easier."

Chapter 41: Forty

Chapter Text

Noises filled the large halls in which the academy held its annual tournament for free spots to be taken.

A mass of people already filled the ranks and even more were still trying to find a seat.

Everything was so loud and vibrant.

The decoration was like nothing you had ever seen before.

This was that moment that you've been dreaming about for years. Just one lucky chance and life would change forever.

Yet, you couldn't help but be distracted by something else.

With your eyes lowered, you turned the glass tube in your lab and watched as the strangely purple liquid twisted and turned.

It had a weird shimmer to it, almost as if it was made of glitter. Soft light evaporated from it as well.

Whatever it was, there was no way in hell that it would be something good.

The Undercity had brought up many drugs, the fancy kind, the mild kinds and the ones that ruined lives within seconds.

You wondered what this would be.

Maybe it was because of your health issue but the thought crossed your mind that, if this could be used once without any risk of addiction, you would be willing to consider its use.

"Just once...", you mumbled to yourself and wrapped your fingers around it. "Maybe..."

Someone moved behind you.

Irritated by the movement, your head snapped up.

Viktor's amber eyes met yours. He smiled softly.

"My love.", his hand lay on your cheek to pull you into a soft kiss. "Isn't this exciting? Look at all the people."

Your gaze briefly wandered through the hall.

"Yeah...", you tried to smile but couldn't bring yourself to make it look sincere. "Exciting."

Concern lit up in his eyes.

"Are you alright?"

Quickly, you let the glass tube disappear in your pocket before turning to face him with another smile.

"I'm fine.", you kissed him. "Just nervous."

Chuckling he rubbed his forehead against yours.

"You're more nervous than me.", he joked. "If this continues I'll have a panic attack and chicken out."

Huffing, you closed your eyes.

"Come on. You're so close."

"Yeah..."

You glanced at him.

The expression on his face was a mix of worry and stage fright.

"What's wrong?", you asked in a soft voice. "Don't tell me you want to quit now."

His hands wrapped around yours to give them a gentle squeeze.

It felt like he tried to hold onto the world through you.

"It's not that I want to.", he let out a deep sigh. "You got me this far, I can't quit now."

You tilted your head.

"Then what is it?"

For a moment, his eyes avoided you.

"What if I won't make it?", he asked and looked down on himself.

Viktor wore his best clothes, a washed out white shirt, brown pants and leather shoes. A red vest wrapped around his chest.

To be completely honest, it was obvious that he didn't belong to the others.

They were all dressed to the nines, some in more formal suits than others or pretty dresses with high heels and shiny accessories.

You had never owned anything like this and neither had Viktor.

But that didn't matter.

Because you knew that Viktor was the brightest mind in the room.

You had checked out the competition and judging from the little knowledge you had, they were all mediocre skilled. None of them had any groundbreaking work to show off.

The academy offered tools and supplies for the competition so Viktor wouldn't have any disadvantages when it came to that.

He'd create something that would blow the jury off their feet.

"Viktor.", you kissed each of his beauty marks once and passionately. "Don't worry too much. You'll get new clothes."

"I'll make a joke of me."

"You won't. I promise. Just go out there and put your best work together.", you stole another kiss from his lips. "I love you. Never forget that. Ever. No matter what happens."

A soft smile conquered his lips. Yet he tilted his head and grabbed your face to make you look him in the eyes.

"That sounds like a goodbye.", he chuckled, but you could tell that there was a hint of real fear in his words.

Smiling, you shook your head.

"How could I?", you wrapped your arms around him. "Now that life is this close to getting good."

His smile pressed against your lips.

The crowd around fell silent.

Lights darkened.

Your gaze wandered down the stairs to the stage.

A row of people appeared, lead by a small creature dressed in an all blue uniform and gold.

Heimerdinger.

People starte to clap.

Excitement started to fill the room.

"Dear participants, visitors.", Heimerdinger's voice flooded the crowd. "I am most pleased to announce these years academy tournament for our next generation of students."

Next to you, you could hear Viktor suck in an audible breath.

You grabbed his hand to give it a reassuring squeeze.

"I believe in you.", you whispered into his ear.

A smile tugged at the corners of his lips.

Heimerdinger did a gesture to capture the entirety of the hall.

"Today we will witness the birth of new ideas and inventions.", he said. "All this before the eyes of the council members."

Viktor's head snapped to the side.

You followed his gaze up to a balcony.

A bunch of rich looking, grim faced people sat in a row, looking like they expected the world but didn't really want to be in this place.

As the people turned their heads to look up to them, they put on nice smiles and waved hello's to the crowd.

Heimerdinger nodded his head in greeting to his fellow council members and returned back to the people.

"Very well.", he cleared his throat. "I am also excited to share with you that this tournament will offer more possibilities to these years attendees. May I ask the lucky ones to join me and the jury?"

A sigh escaped Viktor's lips.

"Well, it's time.", he said and placed a kiss on your forehead. "Wish me luck."

"All the luck this universe has to offer.", you said and let him go.

Chapter 42: Forty-One

Chapter Text

It pained you to slip away from the scene as Viktor received his task.

You could tell he looked around, looking for you in the crowd. You stopped at the stairs, smiled at him and made it look like you were just trying to get a better look at him.

He smiled back and returned to the notes he was supposed to scribble down for the judges to read later.

In that fraction of him not paying attention, you slipped away.

The crowd swallowed you without leaving a single trace.

Not one pair of eyes followed you as you walked down the corridor to Heimerdinger's office.

A cool gush of air danced across the perfectly polished and shiny marble floor. The banners that hung from the ceilings trembled and created a noise that was something between a soft huff and a frightening rustle.

It felt like this giant building was as deserted as a graveyard.

A cold shiver crawled down your spine.

With bated breath, you looked around before kneeling down in front of the lock.

One glance was enough to know that the tools that Singed had provided wouldn't be of any help.

This thing that kept the two wings of the door tightly locked seemed to be a creation of Heimerdinger himself.

It was made of a few metal plates, held together by screws and a strange bright blue light.

As the tip of your fingers stroked over the surface, a light fuzzy feeling chased through all of your limbs.

You had never seen magic with your own eyes before but could imagine that this was it.

The Arcane was said to be a powerful force that could both cause destruction or miracles.

It depended on the person who had the ability to call out to it.

Heimerdinger was a Yordle, a creature of magic.

Maybe he would be willing to hear you out if you were able to fully explain your situation.

But that meant you couldn't afford to betray him now.

On the other hand, Silco would kill you if this job wouldn't get done. There was no question about it.

The evil that his eyes carried was something entirely else that you had never seen before. He'd walk over bodies just to get to his next goal.

The possibility that already had happened and would only continue seemed more than likely to you as well.

It was dangerous to risk it with him, because he would kill you. It wasn't a warning but a promise.

And even though your own body was about to put out the last bit of fire in it, you didn't feel the desire to go out with a knife stuck inside your throat.

That meant you had to get into Heimerdinger's office, no matter if he'd agree to make you better with the help of the Arcane or not.

All of a sudden, sounds filled the corridor.

Struck by surprise, you let your head snap around.

Nobody was to be seen but dull voices started to form in the distance.

Silhouettes and shadows crawled across the marble floor.

Out of reflex, you jumped behind one of the banners.

The voices came closer. They sounded like two girls.

Laughter reached your ears and it started to sound like they entangled in a playful fight.

Your eyes wandered down to the floor where the brim of the banner left and inch to see their feet pass by.

They stopped for a brief moment, laughed again and kept running.

They sounded like they were quite happy.

It made you smile to see them mess around, not a care in the world, and have fun in private while all the other people had nothing on their minds but the tournament.

The way they messed with each other reminded you a lot of yourself and Viktor back in the day, when his limb hadn't been that severe and he had still been able to properly walk for some time.

Those few memories started to blur but the feelings they caused still managed to make your heart beat like on the first day.

The two girls disappeared and silence returned.

You remained motionless for a few more minutes until the beating of your heart settled again.

Then you fished out the tools that Singed had provided.

You didn't think they would work on a lock that was forged with the power of the Arcane but it was more than nothing.

If one thing was certain then that your fingers were even more useless. And if you were completely honest, you didn't want to risk it either.

Magic was nothing to mess with and you feared that one wrong move might cause damage that couldn't be made undone.

Loosing a finger wasn't on top of your bucket list.

Again, you looked around the corridor and listened for more intruders.

Everything was silent.

Only the sound of the wind chased around the pillars and made the banners tremble.

Taking a deep breath in, you inserted one of the sharper tools into a gap that seemed like it could be cracked open, and applied some pressure.

The metal started to bend a little. A small dent formed.

A plopping sound reached your ears.

Small cracks started to part the top and the bottom of the lock and a gush of bluish mist seeped out.

As it touched your (S/C) skin, goosebumps grew all over your body.

For the breath of a second the raging pain inside your body fell silent and nothing but calmness and the ability to breath easily remained.

Taken by surprise, your hand slipped and applied too much pressure. As you did so, a sharp piece of metal cut into the side of your hand and a few drops of blood poured out.

All at once, the lock snapped and both sides fell to the floor, damaged.

The blue magic poured out of it like water from a broken jar.

The first touch felt smooth and soothing. But then it turned into something cruel and painful.

The goosebumps on your body shifted and pulled together. It felt like every muscle inside your body tensed until they started to ache.

With tears of torture in your eyes and your hands shaking, you fell forward and pushed the door open.

"sh*t!", you gasped.

Chapter 43: Forty-Two

Chapter Text

Struck by the most unbeatable pain, you managed to stumble into the office and grabbed the edge of Heimerdinger's desk for support.

A slight bloody imprint of your hand was left as you caught your breath and moved on.

The first time you had been in this place, Heimerdinger had spent a good amount of time going through his shelf space.

You suspected that those were the places to look for if you needed to steal research and technical drawings.

But that wasn't what you had come for.

Your eyes jumped through the room, restless, almost pressured, as if a wild animal was sitting in your neck. The beating of your heart was as fast as it hasn't been since the day you had found out that diseases and death were slowly bringing you to your knees.

Everything hurt, the cut in your hand, the movements of your chest when you took a breath, even standing on your feet came wirth some sort of discomfort. And yet, all you could focus on was the ringing inside your head.

You needed to get Silco his ingredients.

But your physical state started to worsen drastically.

You wanted to take a step towards the shelves, just to check if there was something that could have been of use, and almost fell over as your legs gave in.

With a surprised gasp, you managed to catch yourself and grab one of the armchairs for support.

Blood smeared all over the fine leather.

"f*ck...", you cursed while a trail of sweat rolled from your forehead and down to your nose where it dangled in the form of a perfect crystal clear pearl. "No... No, what is happening?"

As soon as the question left your lips, your heart pulled together.

The pain was so inhuman that you couldn't help but collapse, a soft scream leaving your lips.

Twisting and turning, you grabbed your chest in an attempt to keep the torture at bay. But it was no use. Blood started to crawl up your throat while your entire body stiffened.

Within breaths you weren't able to move anymore.

An icy feeling wrapped around you.

"No.", you begged, panic tying your throat. "Not now... Not... like this..."

With all of your last strength you managed to force your shaky hand down your pocket and wrapped your fingers around the gift that Sevika had given you.

Cold glass nestled into the palm of your hand.

It felt like a kiss, but a poisonous one.

But what else was there to fear?

You were laying on the floor, shaking, not master of your own senses no more, while the irony taste of blood crawled up your throat and threatened to pour all over the floor.

Even if this wasn't a good decision, it was the only option you had.

Either this or dying like a rotten little rat on the floor of a legend.

You wouldn't be more than vermin. They'd gather your remains and throw you right back down to the Undercity. If they'd even do that and not throw the leftovers into the river for the monsters to feast on.

You wouldn't even be a body to bury for them.

You couldn't go out like this.

You wanted to leave this office and return to the hall.

You wanted to see what Viktor invented.

You wanted to hear people hold their breaths and be amazed by the man you loved more than a thousand stars.

You wanted to see Viktor smile at you with pride.

One last time.

Just one last time you wanted to see him smile. Smile for you.

Hot tears ran down your face, both born from pain and despair, as you managed to pull out the glass container with the purple liquid in it.

With the help of your teeth you cracked the lid open. Almost immediately, an unpleasant smell of acid hit your face.

Pulling a face, you squeezed your eyes shut, pushed the urge to throw up into the furthest corner of your being and set lips on the edge of the container to take a careful, almost frightened first sip.

It didn't taste good.

In fact, it didn't even taste remotely consumable. It was as if all the bad things, all the evils and disgusting cruelties that lurked in the darkest shadows of Zaun had been caught and put into this liquid.

You were barely able to finish half of it as your body finally reacted to the crime that you committed against yourself and a wave of nausea made you choke.

Out of reflex, you dropped the glass, the remaining contents spilling all over the floor, and pressed a hand to your mouth and nose to keep everything inside.

A violent cough knocked at your throat, mixed with the urge to empty your stomach all together.

It took you a moment but you managed to keep everything inside and swallowed hard.

The pain died down.

Exhausted, you closed your eyes, let out a deep sigh and collapsed on the floor again.

The icy cold touch of the marble floor seeped into your bones. It was like a hug of death, a promise of what was about to come.

Silence spread in your head.

The ringing in your ears toned down.

For a brief moment, you felt nothing. Everything was light and without a single worry.

You could breath, no pain, no pressure.

The scratching inside your throat was gone.

But there was something else instead.

It was strange, but your body didn't feel like your body anymore. It was as if something else started to slowly take over.

A dull feeling grew through your limbs, like the branches of poison ivy. It dug into your muscles, took over and wanted to take control.

Your fingers twitched all by themselves. You didn't even order them to. They just moved.

The urge to react to something grew inside of your body.

Aggression made your heart beat faster.

Where did that come from?

A mere minute ago you were at the verge of death and now there was this thirst for blood tying your throat.

All at once, your eyes snapped open.

They shimmered in a poisonous purple.

Chapter 44: Forty-Three

Chapter Text

As light as a feather you jumped to your feet and rushed past the desk.

Your newly acquired purple eyes jumped through the room. You could see everything, from the old, almost vanished footprints on the marble to the crenels of dust and the white hair that must have fallen out of Heimerdinger's white fur.

The smell of dust was in the air, mingled with old paper and glue.

Nobody was around, but your ears picked up dull mumbling and talking in the distance. It seemed to come from the crowded hall.

For a moment, you took the time, held your breath and tried to see if you could spot Viktor's voice in this sea of noises.

Words washed over you.

Sentences formed, ripped apart and reconnected with ends that didn't belong to them.

Irritated by the overwhelming response to your new hearing abilities, you squeezed your eyes shut and tried to silence the mess.

But the words grew louder and louder.

Clapping mixed into it, first very calmly and then like the static noise of a broken electric machine.

A headache started to pound against the inside of your skull, stabbing your brain.

Small spots of light flashes before your inner eye.

Shaking your head, you managed to regain a fragment of your senses and clear your mind enough to make out a dull voice in the eye of the storm.

Low mumbling filled your ears.

Then, everything ripped apart and the words of Viktor reached you.

He had a habit of talking himself through the steps while working on something. Whenever he did so, his accent got a bit heavier and his voice a little less soft.

It was as if he tried to be his own teacher, not allowing a single mistake to be made. Whenever he had an idea stuck in his head he wouldn't rest until it was sitting in front of him, made in metal and screws.

Viktor thrived for perfection and nothing less which only made you wonder even more why he had fallen for something as flawed and broken like you.

He mumbled something to himself about how he would put certain parts together to make a whole.

The calmness of his breathing told you that he was composed and well put together on the outside. He wasn't letting anybody see how fast his heart beat.

A soft breath escaped his lips, to others probably mute, to you as loud as a scream.

"(Y/N).", he whispered with pride and a smile in his voice.

It was enough to make you falter.

The noise reappeared and flooded your mind, making everything drown in ringing and throbbing ear pain.

All at once, the strength that the liquid had given you was gone and you stumbled. Helpless, you fell to your knees.

Your hand shot up to seek support, grabbed one of the shelves and pulled it down.

Books fell onto your head.

Except for one.

One of them remained perfectly standing straight.

As another wave of strength put you back on your feet, you took another glance.

It was a simple mechanism, ridiculously so. You had seen Viktor build more complex hideouts than this to store away his valuable creations and other things he had made money of off.

With a sarcastic huff, you pulled the book back.

A clicking sound filled the silence.

For a moment, nothing happened.

Again, you pulled the book back.

Another click.

Nothing happened.

A flinch chased through your purple eyes.

You felt rage rising inside of your chest, making you clench your teeth and fists.

"I swear to the gods!", you hissed and grabbed the book with so much force that the sound of something ripping and breaking filled the room.

Struck by surprise, you blinked at the torn out book that you were now holding on your hand.

You had not expected this to happen. You didn't even know you had used such an amount of force.

Somehow, this was something that upset you.

The liquid didn't just enhance your hearing but all of your senses. Including your strength.

But in exchange it made you blind to your abilities and brought anger to your heart.

Whatever it was, it was something dangerous. Something that couldn't be controlled.

But now it was too late anyways.

Hopefully the effects would only be temporary.

A few moments passed in which you took the time to examine the mechanism that was hidden inside the book.

Then, very slowly, the shelf in front of you pulled back and revealed a gap, barely big enough for a dog to slip through.

A dog.

Or a Yordle.

"f*ck!", you cursed and dropped to your knees to check if it really was the only way.

You wouldn't fit through there, not even in a million years. Maybe if you'd break both of your shoulders but that wasn't ideal.

Irritated by this unfortunate turn of events, you pulled a face and grabbed the edges of the gap.

Almost immediately, wood splintered under your touch. A few pieces dug into the palm of your hand, cut the flesh and made it bleed even more.

But instead of pain, you felt rage conquering your body.

Your gaze managed to slip through the gap and past the secret entrance, right into a room that wasn't just filled to the ceiling with all kinds of strange looking things but the air was also beaming with the power of the Arcane.

As you pushed your hand through in an attempt to grab one of the containers, you felt a tingle run through your body.

It was just like when you had cracked the lock.

At first, the touch of magic was soft and tender. But then another wave of tension and pain hit you.

Struck by the shock, your eyes rolled back your body moved upwards.

As you lost control, your hands tightened and the wood shattered.

Thousands of little pieces dug into your palms.

Drops of blood splattered all over the floor.

Your vision flickered and for a short moment the world drowned in purple and anger.

Not even knowing what you were doing, you moved up and threw yourself against the shelf.

Glass shattered.

A way opened.

Chapter 45: Forty-Four

Chapter Text

With your teeth bared and breathing heavily, you clawed your way through the layers of solid wood to the other side of the room.

A bright blue shimmer hugged your face as you entered.

The air felt warmer, softer even.

Small sparks of light were in the air. They were almost like magical fireflies.

Both mesmerised and curious, you reached out to squish one of them in your hand.

Immediate regret overcame you as a sharp, electric pain chased through your limbs. It was as if lightning had struck you.

With your eyes wide open, you stumbled back and hit the wall.

For a moment, your vision blurred.

Your head felt dizzy.

"f*cking...", you gasped with lowered eyes and rubbed your forehead.

A trail of blood poured out of your nose again, over your lips and to the edge of your chin where drops fell onto your collar to colour it red.

You didn't notice.

All the feelings of your body were gone.

All you could feel was pain.

As the feeling of electricity vanished you felt full and empty. Almost like a hollow puppet.

Your mind was blank.

How did you get to this place?

Confusion made you tremble for a moment.

Cold sweat ran down your back.

Then the world was drowned in purple again.

Anger returned. It was a strange emotion, a strange feeling that tied your throat and corrupted your mind.

It didn't come from within you. It wasn't yours.

Rather it was like a parasite that nestled in your flesh and grew with every breath you took.

So this was what this strange liquid demanded as a price for power.

It devoured you, moment after moment. You needed it to keep breathing and for every breath it demanded you to give up a fraction of yourself.

Your mind already struggled.

What would happen once you reached the limit?

What would you become?

A brainless monster perhaps.

Or worse, nothing.

Nothing but remains of your former self, so hollow that you couldn't even be recognised by Viktor.

Only thinking about it was enough to make your mind snap back to reality.

The purple veil in your eyes flickered. Colours returned.

But the liquid didn't fully let go of you yet.

With the reclaimed clarity, you jumped to your feet and started going through the rows of glass containers.

Neither Singed nor Silco had been specific about what they needed.

All you knew was that Heimerdinger kept it hidden as if it were his most precious possession.

But all you could see was jars full of things that were so ordinary that even unskilled eye like yours knew what it was.

"Dammit!", you cursed while the influence of the liquid started to blur your senses again.

With your teeth clenched, you grabbed one of the shelves to keep yourself from falling.

Your head was spinning. Dizziness made your brain feel slow and your thoughts tough like honey.

Heimerdinger didn't have anything of value hidden in this place.

But Silco had insisted that there was something so valuable and important that even the Yordle wouldn't want it to be stolen.

Something he valued more than anything else.

A wave of nausea swept you off your feet.

Your eyes flickered.

The liquid already demanded it's sacrifices, so quickly and harsh that it seemed idiotic to you to use it.

A thin trail of blood poured from your nose and covered your lips as you hit the ground once again.

Exhaustion tied your throat and froze your limbs.

There was only one thing that the creature seemed to value and it was something that was seemingly unimportant.

Nothing more than a mere pet.

And yet.

Whenever he appeared somewhere, it was by his side, no matter if day or night.

It was never seen unattended.

"Poro...", it crossed your lips in a hoarse, shaky whisper.

A lightning of pain chased through your body.

With a silent scream, you twisted and turned, shaking under the pressure that your muscles let loose all at once.

As if possessed, you threw your head back while your legs twisted.

Foam formed in your mouth, poured out and covered your throat.

It was cold as it soaked into the fabric of your clothes.

Tears blurred your vision.

The world downed in a ghastly violet, evil and greedy for more pain.

A shaky breath crossed your lips and for that exact breath you though you weren't yourself anymore. It was as if another person had slipped into your body, took over control in an attempt to take your place.

Again, you gasped for air.

A warm feeling tore you from this poisoned state of mind.

Blood.

Blood poured from your nose, so harsh and hot, that it was enough to make you snap back to reality.

But there was something else as well.

A sharp yet dull pain remained stabbing into your chest. It was as if needles tried to make your pounding heart explode.

Was that the remaining power of the Arcane?

Or were you just lucky enough to withstand the influence of the liquid once more?

Whatever it was, you needed to use this moment.

Quickly, you jumped back to your feet, wiped the blood and foam from your mouth and crawled back through the hole.

A cool shiver crawled down your spine.

The office was a mess.

Papers were spread all across the floor. Books lay open, a few pages torn out.

Handprints of blood decorated furniture and seats.

It was a wonder that nobody had entered yet.

A silent curse escaped your lips as you made your way through the mess and back to the door.

Sounds seeped through the cracks.

You froze.

Your fingers trembled.

No, this wasn't real.

Quickly, you shook your head.

The noises died down. But the feeling that you were being watched remained.

Quickly, you opened the door, jumped out and smashed it close again.

Your own breath echoed inside your ears.

Cold sweat covered your entire body and forehead.

You could already feel the power over your senses slip from your grip again.

This purple liquid really was a gift from the devil.

Chapter 46: Forty-Five

Chapter Text

With trembling steps you managed to make your way back to the entrance of the big hall and hid in one of the shadows.

From the place you stood, you had a good view down on the stage.

A row of contestants were lined up in front of tables, working and their faces sharpened with focus.

You could hear everything they said.

Your ears were ringing with voices and breaths.

Sharp pain stabbed your brain.

Your eyes were all watery. They trembled.

Cold sweat covered your back and ran down your throat to seep into your clothes.

Everything was sticky and yet you were cold as if a layer of ice grew on your skin.

The effects of the liquid were both mesmerising and terrifying.

It wasn't worth it, that's what you knew now. But it was too late to complain about the damage that you had done yourself.

This had been a choice of yours and you were to suffer the consequences.

Rattling breaths escaped your lips.

Again, the feeling of running blood crawled over your skin.

Out of reflex you wiped your mouth with the back of your hand. But all that showed as you looked at it was old, crusty marks.

Again, this warm feeling irritated your senses.

Everything felt so sharp, so present under the influence of the liquid. It was as if your body was one thousand times more awake.

Everything washed over you all at once.

It was so overwhelming it made you feel physically sick.

Even though your senses were playing tricks on you, you could have sworn that the feeling of running blood was real.

Yet it was hard to tell where it was. Your entire body felt bathed and sticky.

Muscles tensed and flinched.

With every single sound, be it oh so small, your nerves reacted and your eyelids trembled.

It felt like you were fighting the battle of your life. And the enemy was your own system.

As the feeling of flowing blood irritated you once again, you couldn't help but throw your head back to shake the unpleasant sensation off.

A few drops of red fell to the floor and shattered into even more pieces.

Ringing filled your head.

Your ears were bleeding.

Frozen in confusion yet realisation, you remained motionless, your gaze glued to the dots of blood.

It felt so surreal to see life escape your every pore.

This was it.

The beginning of the end started to move closer.

There was no use rushing things no more.

You had already lost this race by making a decision.

A fatal one.

Squeezing your eyes shut, you took a deep breath of air that tasted of smoke and fire and shut out all the noise.

Silence lay over your brain.

The flow of your own blood tingled in the back of your head.

The beating of your heart was as uneven and sick as you had expected it to sound.

Only a single more thing was to be heard.

Viktor.

As soon as his voice, so soft yet entangled in his own thought process, reached your ears a smile lit up your face.

"You need to put this together.", Viktor mumbled to himself while audible excitement held his words hostage. "And then put this on it. Don't burn yourself. Your love will worry. You don't want (Y/N) to worry."

A chuckle made his narrow chest tremble.

Whenever your name crossed his lips he seemed to utterly enlightened.

As if you were the source of his happiness, the fuel that kept his engine running.

The sound of regret and sorrow escaped your mouth.
With your eyes lowered, you pulled your head in and tried to escape the pain that came with the knowledge that soon you would tear that one thing he loves from his hands.

It pained you to know that he depended on something so utterly rotten and corrupted as yourself.

And yet.

You wanted to be greedy and bathe in the fact that this man, a saint born from the disgusting flesh of the Undercity, loved you and only you.

How loyal he was.

One day it would be his end.

And your fault.

"Forgive me, my little genius.", you whispered, a soft smile on your lips, so full of pride. "I've been foolish. You've always been the smarter one of us."

A thin veil of tears and salt blurred your vision.

Your eyes sharpened.

All of a sudden you managed to spot Viktor, crystal clear, with all his flaws and imperfections.

Beads of sweat decorated his pale face while goggles protected those amber puppy eyes of his.

Every single of his beauty marks seemed like a perfectly placed grain of onyx.

As he raised his head in a hasty movement, his hair danced like liquid chocolate.

At the sight your breath started to shiver.

His hands moved as quick and smooth as the water of a mountain river.

It was like a dance of his body, guided by a mind so much sharper and quicker than you could ever aspire to be.

You took a step out of the shadows, hopeful to catch a glance at his perfect features.

The warm light that flooded the room touched your (S/C) skin and made the skin crack.

Veins of shimmering purple appeared.

Hot tears ran down your cheeks. But even though the world drowned in pain you could do nothing but smile at how perfect this man was.

So flawlessly perfect.

With a satisfied smile, Viktor took a step back from his creation, a sphere made of shiny metal and glass, and took off the goggles to catch a glimpse at his own work.

A hint of doubt crossed his eyes.

At the edge of your seat, you grabbed the railing and leaned closer towards the stage, closer to Viktor.

Then, all at once, the lights went out and a dark curtain fell.

Heimerdinger appeared.

And with him that one thing that could keep you from getting murdered by a Zaunite crime lord.

The poro.

Chapter 47: Forty-Six

Chapter Text

A cold shiver chased goosebumps all over your body.

As the skin crunched, even more cracks appeared and pushed more violet shimmer to the surface.

They danced over your limbs, made your body ache and burn. A few small ones formed at the sides of your eyes and mouth as you smiled in disbelief.

It was a miracle that nobody had noticed you yet, with this strange yet threatening appearance, standing in the open while staring down at Heimerdinger and that little creature of his.

It was as if your brain was frozen.

You couldn't move, couldn't turn away.

All you could do was stand there and stare at the creature.

"Ladies and gentlemen!", Heimerdinger's voice flooded the hall. "The time is up. I must ask the contestants now to put down their tools and step forward."

Like a herd of sheep, everyone dropped tools, screwdrivers, pieces of metal or whatever they had worked with mere moments ago and walked around their assigned work station.

With their hands folded behind their backs and their shoulders pulled back, they raised their chins to present themselves to the crowd.

Everyone beamed with pride.

Everyone except one.

Viktor.

With his head lowered, he held onto his crutch and avoided the eyes of the unknown.

Only once he glanced up through the curtain of his brown hair and tried to find a familiar face in the crowd.

Out of fear, you jumped back so that he wouldn't catch a glimpse of your state of misery.

Only as darkness swallowed you, you noticed how critical it was. The purple glow that seeped from your body was bright enough to make your eyes react to it.

Realisation struck you like lightning.

A small gasp escaped your lips, paired with your eyes torn open in horror.

Was this how Viktor would see you?

No.

No, he couldn't see you like this.

Never.

With hesitant steps, you retreated, further away from the lights and the eyes of people who not only judged you for who you were but for what you had chosen to be.

Fear raged in your eyes.

Your back hit the closed door, fingers felt for the handle to exit.

The sea of mumbling, talking and cheering made your brain pulsate with pressure.

Your senses slipped.

It felt like everything came crashing down all at once.

The beating of your heart started to press against your bones. It felt like it wanted to escape your chest and explode.

Your fingers found the handle of the door, wrapped around it.

"And what about you, young sir?", Heimerdinger's voice broke through the raging storm.

A soft, shy sound was to be heard.

Your legs froze.

This was the exact sound that Viktor did whenever he felt like the world was about to crave in on his shoulders.

Almost immediately, the fear and panic that boiled inside your chest vanished and a deep rooted kind of worry tied your throat.

He needed you right now.

You knew that his eyes glanced through the strands of his brown hair, looking for you, seeking a smile, reassurance.

But you weren't there.

A trembling breath escaped your lips, cracked and covered in your own crusted blood.

The feeling of hot tears crawled down your face.

"Forgive me, Viktor!", it escaped you while your legs started to move on their own, towards the light. "I'm here... Viktor. Viktor, I'm here..."

Your hands wrapped around the railing. It felt like all you had to hold onto was this.

The cool metal bit into the palms of your hands, burned and made blood flow.

But you didn't shy away.

You couldn't.

Salty tears made your purple eyes beam as you looked down to the stage, down to Viktor and met his hopeful gaze with a smile that was so much more than just an apology, so much more than just a token of your love.

For a moment, he found you in the crowd, locked eyes.
He didn't move. Nor did he react.

All there was to be found was this expression in those amber eyes of his.

Was that horror?

No.

He wasn't even surprised.

He was disappointed.

It made your heart shatter to see it, realise the damage that you had done.

And yet.

He smiled.

He realised his head, pulled his shoulders back and gifted you a smile as if to say that worrying wasn't necessary.

His lips formed silent words, but the way he breathed reached your sensitive ears.

"(Y/N), my love.", he whispered. "I love you. Dearly so."

It might as well could have been a knife that struck you. The pain would have been the same, cruel and like torture, because it was the only pain that couldn't be treated with medicine.

It was the pain that came with making your own decision and seeing the ones you love disagree.

Death would have been better.

But what a simple way out that would have been.

Too simple.

Too easy after enduring a lifetime of misery.

If it was inevitable, you wanted to go out with a blow, a firework that sought its equal.

You wanted your name in the books so that maybe one day it would meet Viktor's again. Yours as the name of evil, his as a legend.

Viktor tore his eyes away from you, bowed his head in respect and dedicated his attention towards the small creature that barely reached up to his knee.

Heimerdinger gifted him a smile that might as well would have been from the young man's passed father.

"So?", the Yordle asked, arms crossed behind his back. "Tell the jury about your creation."

Nervousness tied your throat.

Your eyes jumped to the jury, all grim faced, with their head held high.

You couldn't help but glance up further.

The balcony wasn't empty either.

Only silhouettes were seen, but it was clear who sat there, wrapped in shadows, while the glow of gold drew a picture of wealth.

The members of the council.

Viktor had noticed too.

But he wasn't nervous as he picked up the small cube on his work station.

With a soft expression, almost as if in love with his idea, he presented it.

Chapter 48: Forty-Seven

Chapter Text

"This is a small creation, an idea that came to me because of a person I hold most dear.", Viktor started to explain, so excited that he almost didn't stutter. "It is very mousy from the outside."

He placed it on the floor, right in front of Heimerdinger's feet and let go.

The sides opened, as if not screwed together with enough pressure.

A layer of red was revealed.

Copper details shimmered along it.

With one eyebrow raised, Heimerdinger stroked the long fur on his chin while walking around it.

"This is...", he stopped on the other side. "I don't know what this is. Enlighten me."

Viktor chuckled.

It was a heartwarming sound, enough to make the audience fall silent.

Low mumbling reached your ears.

They whispered about the stranger, confused about how he could chuckle at the great founding member Heimerdinger as someone as unimportant as himself.

Some whispered he was foolish.

Others called him scum from the Undercity.

No matter what, you hated to hear them talk about him. He was yours and only yours.

Who were they to judge him for the circ*mstances he had no power over?

As the thoughts crossed your mind, you couldn't help but be surprised and frightened about the way you reacted to strangers.

Usually, you had not been this way.

So what were you angry?

Why were you mad?

There was this deep rooted hate that clawed its way through your guts and up your throat to choke you.

Surprisingly, Viktor wasn't shaken by the newly found attention of others.

No, he seemed confident in himself. And especially in his work.

With a shimmer that you had never seen before in his eyes, he leaned down to Heimerdinger and pressed a small button.

"This is a little lover.", Viktor said, the voice of a teacher accompanying his every word as the metal started to bend and form a small puppet, barely bigger than the palm of his hand.

It was an exact copy of yourself, down to the smallest detail. The face, the proportions, the clothing.

You even recognised a small scar that you had ever since another kid had sliced you with a knife for being friends with a cripple.

Struck by surprise yet still unsure what to do with it, Heimerdinger's eyebrows rose.

Interested, he tilted his head and watched as Viktor lowered his hand to let the small copy of you jump into his palm.

A soft breath escaped you as it spun around and started to dance over his arm to sit down on his narrow shoulder.

Viktor chuckled.

"It's not just a cute little object.", he explained further and pet the machines cheek to make it giggle. "It's a friend. A helper, to be exact. Nothing is easy in life, so sometimes, people need a (Y/N). To make it easier."

The little creature nodded, jumped up and off his shoulder.

A shocked murmur wandered through the crowd.

People slid to the edge of their seats.

Irritated that the small thing was about to crash to the ground and shatter into a thousand pieces, their eyes widened and the beating of their hearts fastened.

Your ears started to tingle with the sensation.

It started to hurt even worse.

But you couldn't turn your eyes away.

You needed to see this.

It felt like time stopped.

Everything moved so slowly.

The creatures feet were about to touch the ground.

The impact would shatter its fragile structure. It would break and nothing would be able to put the pieces together again.

Not even Viktor, with his loving and caring passion for your existence and anything that resembled you.

All at once the sound of electricity chased shivers through your bones.

Little hairs in the back of your neck stood up straight.

You blinked.

And not a breath later the small machine was gone.

Gasps filled the silence.

People looked left and right.

Baffled, you stared at the life sized copy of yourself, standing next to Viktor, made of brass and blue.

Metallic eyes moved.

A head tilted to the side.

With a proud expression on his face, Viktor did a gesture to present the true form of his creation.

"This is my (Y/N).", he said and his voice was so full of excitement that his words even trembled a little. "Whether you need a big helper or a small one, (Y/N) will save the day. There is nothing that isn't in its ability. It can fix a roof, play with the kids, protect you. It will help you out of anything."

His eyes wandered away from the thing, all the rows of seats and strangers up, to meet your gaze with a hint of shiny tears in those amber eyes of his.

He smiled, not sad nor disappointed. He just smiled at his lover.

"Perfection.", you whispered, feeling how the sight of his face touched your heart and made it beat like it used to before the Undercity had taken possession of it. "Why would you flaw yourself with something like me?"

You had always been the one to make decisions. Not always had they been good, neither right nor wrong.

But now it was him who had made one.

He had decided that you were good enough to get him up to the shiny roofs of Piltover.

Heimerdinger eyed the creation.

"Is it... I can feel the Arcane.", he noted, visibly confused.

Viktor's expression shifted.

"It's purely machine and science.", he insisted.

The small creature tilted its head to eye the shiny face that looked down on him.

He seemed unsettled about something. Maybe even concerned.

A shaky breath escaped you, out of fear that he would turn this masterpiece down in an instant.

But he didn't.

The poro wiggled its small body. Sounds escaped the furry mouth.

All of a sudden, it stopped being the giddy pet it was and froze to look up to you.

Your heart almost dropped as Heimerdinger turned to meet your gaze as well.

"Ah.", it crossed his lips softly. "So this is it."

He knew you could hear him.

And he knew about the sin you had committed.

Chapter 49: Forty-Eight

Chapter Text

With shaky steps, you bursted out the door and through the long corridors of the academy.

Your breath was short and heated.

Beads of sweat covered your forehead while the feeling of drying blood stuck to your fingers.

Gasping, you rushed past the banners and decorations that were supposed to accompany this fine day of prestige and new beginnings.

This was supposed to be the most important day of Viktor's life.

Had you bombed it with the poor judgment of yours?

Had this one little decision thrown everything into flames so that it would burn to the ground without any chance of a second try?

The beating of your heart pressed against the bones of your rib cage as you managed to make it back into the entrance hall.

One step and your legs gave in.

With a grunt, you fell to the ground, knees and hands hit the icy cold marble and a sharp pain chased through all your joints.

Purple light seeped through the cracks that started to widen on your skin.

You wanted to get up but your feet refused to obey.

Your body started to rage against your own control.

Terrified, you managed to raise your hands to your eyes.

Every single finger of yours was shaking, either with pain or with the lack of control.

The tips were as purple as the liquid itself.

But what truly made your brain scream in agony was this black skin that started to devour your natural (S/C) tone. It was like ashes and dusty dirt that slowly pressed through the layers of healthy skin.

It didn't just look dried out but as you dared to gently touch the spots, small pieces crumbled to the ground and fell apart.

It was as if you slowly turned to ashes.

Ashes and violet were about to consume the last bit of your existence that kept you from becoming one with the place of your birth.

"No.", your voice trembled as you tried so helplessly to get off the ground. "No... I- I don't... I can't... Get up... Get up. Get up!"

But no matter how much the tears burned inside your eyes, no matter how much you begged, the ownership over yourself didn't return.

Your limbs remained stiff and your brain kept raging against the human that tried to fight back the monster that wanted to crawl out of your guts.

Pearls of slaty water dripped from your violet eyes as you let your head fall down in defeat.

You could hear the wind chasing through these halls of knowledge.

You could feel the icy cold on every inch of your body.

But you couldn't do anything.

All there was left was to let yourself fall to the marble floor where black ashes mixed with old blood, tears and purple that crawled out of the cracks as if it were the essence of your life.

A shaky breath escaped your dried out lips as you curled together to shield yourself from the misery that was about to consume you whole.

"Viktor...", you whispered and had to smile all of a sudden. "Forgive me, my Viktor. Forgive me that I couldn't be better. I wanted to be everything for you. Forgive me."

Shadows lingered in the edges of the hall.

Slowly, they started to crawl across the floor, closer to you, closer to the corners of your eyes.

They nestled in the back of your brain, stretched out their blurry claws and dug into your mind to tear everything apart.

Dull sounds still managed to reach your ears, but you were unable to react.

Exhaustion chained you to the ground.

It felt like you were just someone trapped in a shell, stored away to be forgotten and erased for good.

With halfway lowered eyelids, you managed to turn your head and look to the side.

Strands of (H/C) hair stuck to your forehead, drenched in sweat and blood.

More shadows approached.

Darkness had almost swallowed everything.

But there was something else as well.

A voice called out.

You didn't hear what they said.

You didn't even recognise the face as one of the silhouettes dropped something and kneeled down right in front of you.

Scrawny hands touched your face.

"My love!", Viktor gasped as his eyes rushed over your face, so sickly and damaged like he had never seen it before. "(Y/N)! Can you hear me? Answer me, my love!"

But your eyes were as motionless as glass under the surface of water.

As he tilted his head to catch a better glimpse, a shiver crawled down his spine.

Those were not the eyes of the (Y/G) that he fell in love with. Those were orbs of purple, poisoned and unnatural.

The sight struck him so hard by surprise that he almost shied away and dropped your head.

Next to him, the poro appeared.

And not a moment later the small steps of its master sounded.

"Hm..?", with his forehead in deep winkles, Heimerdinger stroked the fur on his chin. "How strange... I can feel the power of the Arcane. But there is also something else. It's evil."

Viktor pulled a face and clenched his teeth.

"I'm so sorry...", he had to keep himself from shaking. "I know that this is not my place to ask but-!"

With a raised hand and a shake of his head, Heimerdinger silenced him.

"Not here, not now, young one.", he urged and called two enforcers to his side. "We will discuss this in private."

Without asking questions, nor batting an eye, the two men in uniform picked up your motionless body and but it on a gurney.

Fear lit up inside Viktor's eyes.

"What are you doing?!", he asked and wanted to jump up to hold onto your tensionless hand. "You can't just leave!"

But the Yordle whispered something towards the enforcers and not a moment later they were gone with you.

Breathing heavily, Viktor stumbled after them, hands reached out for you.

But the damage in his leg only allowed him to take barley two steps.

With a gasp, he fell to the ground.

"(Y/N)!", he screamed, so loud that the banners of the hall trembled.

With a grim gaze, Heimerdinger placed a hand on his shoulder.

"We need to talk.", he repeated. "In private."

Chapter 50: Forty-Nine

Chapter Text

The world was on fire.

Every breath was like a flame that crawled into your lungs, burned bright and went out with a bang.

It was like firework raging inside your body.

The thought must have been a funny one, if only there wouldn't have been so much pain, so much suffering.

It was torture.

Death would have been easier.

"Easier, maybe, but not better.", a tried voice suddenly filled your ringing ears.

Struck by the familiar accent, you tore your eyes wide open all at once.

Bright light flooded your vision and downed everything in a white veil and golden dots.

"What?", you asked as hot tears ran down the sides of your face.

They left a trail that felt both sticky yet burned like salt in an open wound.

A hand found yours to give it a squeeze.

It made you pull a face in pain, but you returned the gesture. It gave you comfort to know that he was by your side.

"I know what you're thinking.", Viktor said, both sounding reproachful and shattered. "Death would be easier."

You couldn't help but smile.

"It would be...", you agreed and managed to turn your head.

There was a thick pillow that you were resting on.

It wasn't from home, it was too thick and soft to be from the shabby cabin. It felt more like something that royalty would sleep on.

It felt like something from Piltover.

Slowly, the brightness faded and blurry shadows formed before your eyes.

Everything was watery.

"It would be easier, wouldn't it be?", you asked with a sarcastic smile, so much mockery for yourself. "But what will you think of me?"

"I think you're an idiot.", his words started to shake. "But I love you. And I'm sure you had your reasons."

A chuckle escaped your lips.

"You're too good for this world, Viktor.", a scratch cough made your lungs vibrate.

Blood seeped from your lips.

Immediately, a soft napkin wiped the sticky blood away, tender and caring.

"You always protected me so well. I never had to learn how cruel this world is."

"I'm... glad."

"Is this what you've been sacrificing to keep me safe?", his hands stroked the ashy skin of yours as if he were afraid you'd fall apart underneath his touch. "It scares me to see you like this, my love."

Gently, you shook your head.

"This is a price I'm willing to pay.", you insisted.

"I'm not.", he replied without skipping a beat. "And I won't watch you fade just so I can have a life that you worked hard for."

Tears burned in the corners of your eyes.

You felt the urge to sob but couldn't.

"I'm begging you, Viktor, don't throw your chances away.", you whispered and blindly reached for his wrist to hold onto. "I did too much to get you here. I can't let you go back to the Undercity."

With his eyebrows knitted together, he had to swallow hard and shook his head.

His lips moved to answer.

But before he could say something that the two of you would regret, the sound of a door opening filled the room.

Small steps approached, accompanied by the sounds of a poro.

"Well, well.", Heimerdinger climbed up to the bed to take a better look at you. "I must say, I knew you were dedicated. But this... well."

A shaky breath left your dried out lips.

You were at the verge of breaking down as the small hands of the Yordle touched your forehead.

A sharp pain chased through your brain.

For a moment, everything made you feel sick. It was as if the world was spinning.

"Wh-what is this?!", you asked in a shaky voice, unable to bend under the torture. "Make it stop! I'm begging you, make it stop!"

Concerned, Viktor reached out to grab Heimerdinger.

"Sir, please...", he said in a way that made clear how much he suffered himself.

Usually Viktor was the one with all the answers. But now there was nothing he could do.

And it irritated him in a way he had never experienced before.

The touch of magic faded.

"Well, there is a hint of the Arcane in you, child.", Heimerdinger said. "But you're not a creature of magic."

Catching your breath, you managed to swallow a scream of pain and shook your head.

"No, I'm human.", you replied.

Heimerdinger frowned.

"Then count yourself lucky. The bit of magic in your body keeps this... development of yours, slow. Without it you'd be dead."

Confused, you looked around the room.

Every time you took a breath, your lungs rattled.

Your insides felt dry yet burned like hell.

"I'm... but I'm..."

"Terminally ill. I know. What exactly did you take? What kind of medicine causes these... side effects?"

Viktor's head snapped back to you.

Finally, you were able to meet his gaze.

"You're what?", he asked, eyes trembling.

Swallowing hard, you couldn't help but smile in a sorry way.

"I never wanted you to find out.", you raised your hand to caress his cheek.

The touch left dark marks, as if you painted on his pale face with cinder.

"Then what did you plan? Wait until you die and leave me without any explanation?"

The way he said it, so shaky yet angered and frustrated, left little for you to answer.

All you could do was pull a face of pain and regret and shake your head.

"Forgive me...", it escaped you.

Whimpering, he squeezed his eyes shut. But he leaned into your touch as if he needed it to survive.

Heimerdinger watched, sighing.

"What a mess you two are in.", he mumbled and lowered his gaze.

"Sir...", you turned your head to look at him. "Please don't punish Viktor for my mistakes. Let him take the entrance exam again."

He shook his head.

"That won't be possible."

"Sir!"

He silenced you with a raised hand.

"Your friend Viktor is a great mind. There's nothing that the academy can teach him."

"But-!"

"However, I am positive that I can. If that is alright with you, boy.", Heimerdinger gifted Viktor a smile. "Be my apprentice. I'm sure we will discover a lot of mesmerising things."

Chapter 51: Fifty

Chapter Text

Up in Piltover everything seemed different.

The gush of air felt softer, gentler, while the taste of the salty sea water came with it. Unlike down in the Lanes it didn't taste of chemicals nor pollution.

It was just salty.

Never before had you experienced something like this.

Pulling a face, you managed to rise from the bench in the garden of Heimerdinger's courtyard and walked a few steps.

Grass nestled against the soles of your feet.

Grass, something you hadn't known before.

As another breeze danced through the branches of the trees, the leaves trembled and sang a song of nature.

It even smelled of flowers and fruits that were about to bloom.

Taking a deep breath in, you closed your eyes and raised your chin to let the warm rays of the sun kiss your cracked skin.

Your face wasn't the same anymore. It probably would never be the same again either.

Yet, you were alive.

Maybe you even gained more time to find help. Maybe you'd be able to live on.

The breeze chased goosebumps across your body.

Not a single thing in it was the same either. It was painful to move. Every single joint of yours felt like it was rusty and damaged.

But this was a price you were willing to pay for a second chance you didn't deserve.

"A nice life, isn't it?", a sarcastic voice asked.

A cold shiver crawled down your spine.

You refused to open your eyes, yet you couldn't help but pull a face as a reaction to the unwanted guest.

"You should leave.", you said in a cold voice.

Huffing could be heard.

"Come here.", Sevika said, as she leaned against the other side of the fence, face grim. "We had a deal."

With your eyebrows knitted together, you cracked your eyes open a bit and glared at her from the side.

"We do, don't we?", you asked and let your hands slide into one of your pockets.

After Heimerdinger had left you had managed to take a bit of the poro's fur. It wasn't a lot, barley enough to cover the palm of your hand.

But in the end it was more than nothing.

And you knew for a fact that both Sevika and Silco would have done a lot to get their hands on a single strand of the fur.

Slowly, you managed to walk over to where she stood, but kept your distance and leaned against a tree instead.

The shadows and the trunk gave you a bit of cover. Thankfully, no one who could see Sevika was around.

She would have been as noticeable as a drop of blood in freshly fallen snow.

Sevika greeted you with a smug smirk, arms crossed.

"You look well taken care of.", she noted while glancing you up and down. "Like a pet."

You pulled a face.

"I would rather be a well fed pet than spent one more day digging in the mud to survive.", you snarled and pulled out two small pieces of white fur to show it to her. "This is what you want."

Interested, her eyes widened and she tilted her head.

The expression on her face shifted, a greedy shimmer lit up inside her eyes.

"This is... what is this?", her hand tried to reach through the gaps in the fence but you pulled away.

There was no way she would try to climb to the other side.

As a founding member, Heimerdinger lived in a neighbourhood that was well secured by the constant presence of the highest ranks of enforcers.

They didn't just carry gadgets but also guns and heavy armour.

As a child of Zaun, you had seen those kinds of enforcers before. They were used for active war against protesters.

No matter how much of a giant Sevika was even she would struggle to resist those kinds of forces. And she was smart enough to know that herself.

So she remained standing on the other side.

That didn't keep her from gifting you a glance at her bare teeth though.

"It's the fur of a poro.", you said and twisted the small strands of white between the tips of your fingers. "Very valuable. Heimerdinger's most priced possession. I wonder... what Silco would need this for."

Her eyes wandered over your face.

"You took the shimmer."

Your lips flinched.

"I did. And I wasn't pleased."

She pulled a face, both sarcastic and annoyed.

"Don't blame me.", Sevika huffed. "I told you it comes with a price."

"It almost killed me."

"Well, it's a prototype after all."

A tsk escaped you.

Aching pain wrapped around your lungs.

For a moment, your body tensed. You had to press the palm of your hand against your chest to keep from coughing.

"It's stupid to put my life at risk even though I'm the only one who could get what you wanted.", you pulled out the rest of the poro fur. "Do not come here again. Leave me alone."

With a gaze as grim as night, you reached out to offer her what she desired so much.

For a moment, she stared at your hand. She didn't trust you a single bit.

But that didn't matter. After all, you didn't trust her either.

"Take it.", you said in a warning voice. "Or I'll change my mind."

You wanted to pull back.

Immediately, she snapped forward to snatch the fur from your hand.

"Thanks I guess.", she said and pulled the hood back over her head. "I wish you a long life. As a pet."

Rolling your eyes, you turned away to make her leave faster.

Steps reached your ears.

The next time you glanced over your shoulder, she was gone.

"Good...", you mumbled to yourself and walked back into the sun.

Your legs felt weak again.

With a sigh, you leaned against the trunk and let the warm rays of sun kiss your face.

"My love.", a voice suddenly called out.

You smiled.

"Viktor.", in a gentle manner, you wrapped your arms around his neck and kissed him. "How does it feel?"

Smirking, he raised an eyebrow.

"How does what feel?"

"Getting what you deserve. Heimerdinger's apprentice."

A chuckle escaped him.

"Your boyfriend.", he kissed you, so softly and longing that it made your heart skip a beat. "This time I'll make things right. You'll live. I'll make sure of that, my love. I love you."