Chapter Text
The eternal cosmos was achingly calm.
As one would expect. As Viktor had always hoped, after all. All things considered, it wasn't too bad here. He was surprised the universe graced him with this calmness. He certainly didn't deserve it, after all he'd done.
He looked over at Jayce — golden boy Jayce Talis, Piltover's finest. The only man who could have possibly snapped Viktor out of his tunnel vision towards what he believed to be evolution. He had no clue how long the two of them had been together, in the infinite fabric of starlight. It felt like only moments ago that they'd disappeared from their own world together. Yet, it also seemed so long ago...
The concept of time was admittedly a bit confusing here. Not that Viktor minded, either. It seemed they had all the time in the world, together.
Jayce, ever the scientist, was fascinated by it all. He wanted to reach out and touch, to research and understand. It was the true nature of a scientist, after all. Viktor had no need for this. He had seen all he needed to see. In fact, he'd seen far too much... hence his awful misdoings. It was still a wonder to him, how Jayce had forgiven him. Sacrificed himself to be amongst Viktor in the cosmos. He was so undeniably human. He was perfect. So flawed and incomprehensible that he was absolutely perfect.
Viktor wondered how he ever could have thought the glorious evolution was found in monotony.
"Hey, V, come look at this." Jayce's voice interrupted his thoughts. It was an often occurrence, as the two floated in nothingness. Viktor would become lost in thought. Jayce would pull him out of it.
Viktor went over to where Jayce was — another concept that was hard to grasp in such a place. Jayce was not far, or close. Viktor did not move, but had also shifted. Whatever the matter, Viktor ended up by Jayce's side (as he so often did), looking over his shoulder. "What is it?"
Jayce had reached out in the intangible space and was currently pushing against a particular spot. It gave like a stretchy fabric, flexing against his fingers. "It's... thin here, if that makes any sense."
"No, it does not," Viktor deadpanned, before reaching out to touch the same spot. He found Jayce was right, though it still did not make any sense. He didn't understand how it could be thin. To be honest, he didn't understand how they could reach out to touch it, either. "What do you think it means?"
"Not sure," Jayce admitted. "But..." He smiled, that characteristic Talis grin that meant he had something churning in that head of his. Possibly a terrible idea. "We are scientists. Our job is to question. To theorize and experiment. I mean, I've been wondering..."
Oh boy. A Jayce rant. Well, they had all the time in the cosmos.
"Where exactly are we? We were in the anomaly's astral plane, and this looks particularly similar, yes, but we also seemed to have gotten sucked into the rune you gave me. Is it possible we're within the rune? Or is it possible the rune took us elsewhere, to another plane outside of the ones we know?"
It was a very fair point. They weren't in complete understanding of what had happened to them. Only that this was where they were, and there didn't seem to be any choice to leave. Except, if there was a thinness...
Viktor leaned forward, inspecting the thin part of the plane. "The runes could be used to travel, yes... we could be in a rune, but a new universe entirely. You mentioned the anomaly was formed by our overuse of Hextech. That a line thinned, of sorts. Is it possible something similar is happening here?"
"You're right!" Jayce grinned. He put an arm around Viktor's shoulders. "I missed doing this with you, Viktor."
Viktor felt a warmth, a strange one he assumed he would not feel again, envelop him. However, before he could respond, the fabric-like space he had been touching began to ripple. He fell silent as he observed it. The stars and night sky, or whatever it was they were seeing, were snapping like threads. "It's progressively ripping," he noted.
Jayce, however, was lost in his theories — seemed some things never changed. "Well, honestly, I thought the rune was destroyed with us, including its physical form... perhaps the magic was returned to its rightful place? The fabric of time and space as we know it? I mean, the rune should have been dissolved alongside our physical forms..."
"Jayce," Viktor said in a quiet, warning tone. The fabric in question was ripping as his partner continued to theorize, revealing nothing but a white emptiness beyond.
"Maybe this means there's always been a base source for magic. After all, the arcane spoke to people-"
"Jayce!" Viktor snapped. And he was not the only one. The scene in front of him was like threads snapping and falling apart in front of them. Jayce, finally tugged out of his scientific ranting, stared with wide eyes. But before either of them could question the nature of what was happening, an inexplicable pull started to drag them towards the empty whiteness. "Where- what?" Viktor lamented, trying to pull away. However, the invisible force had a grip he couldn't withstand.
It didn't exactly look welcoming, the empty white space. It didn't look like it wanted anything good with them. "Where is it trying to drag us?" Viktor questioned, mildly panicked. His mind was whirring with the worst case scenarios — that they would be blipped out of existence, or perhaps their forms as they knew them would be torn to shreds as well-
Jayce grabbed onto Viktor's arm with a firm gaze. "I... I don't know. But we're going to do it together. Just like we promised." Damn Jayce and his promises and good heart, making Viktor's defenses fall. Making him less afraid of the unknown.
"Yes," he whispered back. "Together."
And then all was white.
It felt like traveling, almost. But it was uncomfortable and somewhat violent in nature, as if whipping and squeezing through a place they weren't meant to be in. Honestly, less like traveling and more like being flung. The white faded into a more familiar scene of blazing space like surroundings, the deep purples and blues blurring at the edges of Viktor's vision as they flew through time and space... and something more.
Suddenly, the two of them made an impact — a dull thwack as the two of them met solid ground.
It took a few minutes for Viktor to gather his senses, but when he did, the first thing he realized was the warm grip of a hand on his arm, which was incredibly relieving. As long as Jayce were there, it couldn't be too bad, whatever had happened to them. He tried to say something, but he was suddenly grasped by an intense, violent pain. It was almost like he was being ripped to shreds. The surprised scream he let out was garbled and unclear.
"Viktor!" Jayce immediately grabbed his shoulders, trying to figure out what was wrong with the other man. "What-" yet, before he could question anything, it seemed Jayce felt the same pain. Viktor watched in disbelief and horror as he watched Jayce... he didn't even know how to describe it. It was as if the man was shredded into pixels, mismatched and twisted. It looked painful. It felt painful. Viktor's body still thrummed with the sensation of wrongness after the short episode had passed, and judging by Jayce's expression once his own sensation had come and gone, it was equally uncomfortable.
The next thing Viktor realized, as the uncomfortable hum of wrongness bothered him, was that his physical form was... well, properly physical. They were in a place where he could feel the roughness beneath his fingertips and the thrum of magic and Shimmer throbbing in his blood. He looked down at himself — he looked like he had before dying physically and manifesting into the arcane itself. His body was, well, purple.
And Jayce... Jayce looked just as he had, worn and tired but right in front of him, a physical, real thing. Viktor suddenly had the indescribable urge to reach out and touch him, just to make sure. However, Jayce interrupted him, eyes wide as he looked around. "...Where are we?"
Viktor looked around. The scene in front of them was... odd. There were towering buildings, perhaps nearly as big as the academy, and moving vehicles somewhat similar to the ones in Piltover, but not quite. It smelled putrid, not as insufferably as Zaun, but enough to be annoying. There were far too many noises. Chatter and honking and everything...
Viktor slowly got up. Jayce followed suit, but let out a groan of pain. Viktor whipped around, his eyes landing on an ever familiar leg brace. Right. He'd forgotten Jayce had acquired that. How the tables turn, he mused internally as he took Jayce's arm, attempting to help him up.
"Don't bother," he sighed, gently lifting himself up. "I just... didn't expect to have our physical forms back. I was hoping my leg would be unbroken, though."
"I suppose we've reverted to the last form our physical bodies once had," Viktor gestured to himself, the thrumming and glowing of his body giving that part away. "But why? And where exactly are we?"
"Well... the threads of where we once were snapped. So it's pretty safe to assume we are far, far from home," Jayce sighed. "Likely on a universal sense... this looks nothing like Runeterra."
Viktor quietly pondered their situation. "The runes we had could teleport. And especially if we were in such a magically charged state... it's plausible the arcane had launched us into an entirely new universe. I don't believe just through space, but through realities."
He looked down at his hands. How they'd turned into shreds of strange pixels and such. The innate wrongness he got just from being here. "I don't think we're meant to be here. Something is wrong."
"No kidding," Jayce sighed. "But how do we figure out what? And we don't have anything on us anymore. I don't have my hammer."
"We must hope this universe is somewhat forgiving to us, I suppose," Viktor sighed quietly. "Should we... explore?"
"I don't know if that's a good idea," Jayce muttered. During their time together before, Viktor had never taken the time to really appreciate the beard. It suited him. "If we have our physical forms again... we can die again, can't we? And there's no telling where we'll end up. If this place even has an arcane."
"We can't just stand here, Jayce," Viktor pointed out. "We are not meant to be here. It's evident by that violent... outburst we both had upon arriving. I believe our best course of action is attempting to leave."
"Well, how are we going to manage that?" Jayce huffed, obviously getting a bit frustrated. Bleeding heart Talis with his emotions on his sleeves. Viktor nearly rolled his eyes. However, he remembered something.
He grabbed Jayce's wrist, holding it up to see the embedded rune in his skin. "This! This is our key. Since we are back at our original physical forms... we can utilize the rune."
"Not sure if we're seeing the same stuff, Vik, but it sort of is inside of me. Like, merged to my flesh. I don't know how we're going to pull it off."
"All we need is the starter," Viktor muttered. "Perhaps if we can recreate the anomaly in this world-"
"What the hell?" Jayce interrupted, eyebrows furrowed in disbelief. "No! What part of what we did with Hextech was bad did you not get the first time we got sucked into a rune?"
Viktor frowned, his own irritation flaring. "I understand it completely, Jayce, but we aren't manufacturing Hextech to give to the people of this universe, we're attempting to get out. If we use it internally, it won't affect this universe-"
"How do you know?" Jayce interjected. "What if someone finds it when we're gone? What if we're just forsaking this universe to the same fate as our own?"
"We'll destroy it, just as we did the first time!"
"And how do you suggest we do that-!"
They quickly devolved into an argument, not at all noticing the strange hum that resonated throughout the universe, the change in the molecules around them. The entry of something new, perhaps equally unwelcome. They were only snapped out of it when they were unceremoniously trapped together in a strange net of sorts.
Viktor whipped his head around to find out who their attacker was, while Jayce writhed uncomfortably against him, probably complaining. However, he tuned it out as he came face to face with... a very odd group. There stood three figures — one was in a blue and red bodysuit with a spider pattern adorning the front and a sharp facial design on the mask. Another to the side was in a white and black bodysuit with a hoodie, and large, descriptive eyes for the mask, the whole ensemble decorated with teal and pink embellishments. The third person had less of a suit, more of goggles, and she was riding what seemed to be this universes type of a motorcycle (much nicer than back home, he noticed), and was heavily pregnant.
The one in white was the one who spoke up. "...These are the universe shattering anomalies?" She had a very disbelieving and almost sarcastic tone.
The one in the middle, broad and seemingly very unfriendly, crossed his arms. "Their irregularities are violently high compared to the typical anomalies we've faced. There's something different about these ones."
Jayce, in his infinite wisdom, chose then to speak up. "We're right here, you know."
"Jess, if you can grab them and bring them back to HQ," the man muttered. "I've got a lot of research to run on them. I'll see you two there." He turned, clicking the buttons on a strange watch. Viktor watched in fascination as an orange, angular sort of portal opened up, and he disappeared into it with a small flash.
The woman adorned in reds stepped forward. "You're with me," she said to the other, who was likely the youngest. The younger one nodded and picked the two men up with ease.
"If you could be careful," Jayce grimaced. "Broken leg over here."
"Trying my best, dude," the girl muttered. "Hold on. This may get uncomfortable." The other woman, Jess, opened a portal like the one the man had disappeared through. Viktor noted it was like that vibrant blue of starry blues and purples they had passed while traveling here.
And as they were hauled into the portal, the same uncomfortable feeling overcame them, but Jayce's hand was still on his arm, so he tried not to give up too much hope. They ended up in a different place, quite different than the one they were in before. "Did we teleport?" Viktor asked quietly to the girl hauling them with zero effort — impressive, really — but she didn't reply. He figured the process was like the Hexgates, and the watch was their Hex crystals of sort.
However, Viktor knew he couldn't try to bridge too many parallels to this world and their own. Obviously, things were far from the same.
They wandered past a multitude of people. "How many of these costumed weirdos are there," Jayce muttered under his breath. There seemed to be hundreds, or thousands, or even more of these people who all looked vaguely similar, yet not nearly the same. They all had their spider motifs... "Perhaps they're vastayan?"
"Most of them look relatively human," Viktor pointed out. The strange costumed people were staring at them, whispering to one another. He caught a few hints of their gossip: those are the anomalies that made Miguel absolutely freak out. I hear they're even worse than the 1610 kid. They could really mess things up...
Viktor filed away as much of the information as possible. If they were going to try to get out of this mess, they'd have to be as diligent as possible. Eventually, they came to their destination. A lot of strange, glowing orange cells. At least, he figured that they were cells. Considering how each one they passed had someone in it. There were a strange cast of characters amongst the orange walls, all screaming to be let out. Soon, they found their own place, which was a slightly bigger cell, and a lot more distanced than the others. They were tossed in, the net unfurling to leave them on the ground as the wall sealed up, trapping them.
"Hey!" Jayce yelled, pounding on the seemingly holographic wall. However, it was solid as stone. "You can't just keep us in here, we're people!" He opened his mouth to attempt more, but that sudden outburst from earlier, the violent pain that seemed to tear them apart, returned, making Jayce a twisted mosaic.
Viktor quickly came to his side as he nearly collapsed to the floor. "Can't you help us at least stop these... outbursts?" He pleaded to the girl in white. The woman in red seemed to be long gone. "Have the decency for that, at least."
The girl sighed. It seemed she understood his point there, at least, with how the eyes on her mask knit together in what could have been mild concern. "Yeah, yeah. I should have known you guys would have that issue. I'll grab you guys some wristbands..." The girl disappeared, but returned with some oddly colored wristbands, tossing them inside the cell with them. "Put those on. It'll stop the glitching."
"Glitching?" Viktor asked as he pulled his wristband on, making sure Jayce followed suit.
"It's what happens when anomalies like you guys are in a place they aren't supposed to be," the girl crossed her arms. "It's the universe telling you that you shouldn't be here."
Viktor opened his mouth to ask more — he had endless questions, he needed to know as much as possible. He thought that with his arcane sight before, he knew everything he needed to know about these things. But it seemed he'd hardly scratched the surface. After all, a scientist at heart... he couldn't help but be curious. However, he was cut off.
"That's enough, Gwen." The girl flinched at the startling voice, harsh and gruff.
"You're gonna tell them the same stuff, anyways," she pointed out.
"Go," the man with the broad shoulders and blue and red suit had reappeared. The girl quietly obliged. That left the two of them with this strange man, who looked to be in charge.
"Are you Miguel?" Viktor tested the gossip he'd heard along the way.
"How do you know that?" The man hissed. His tone was sharp and angry. Viktor quickly figured this guy wasn't exactly fond of them from the get go.
"I overheard it," he answered honestly. Something also told him that this man didn't appreciate a liar.
Miguel stared at Viktor, perhaps attempting to read his response. "Lyla, run diagnostics," the man muttered as he observed the two of them. A very small woman floating in the air appeared, much to Jayce and Viktor's disbelief. She fluttered around them in observation. How strange this world was. "How did you two get here?"
"We don't know," Jayce spoke up. "We don't want to be here as much as you don't want us here."
The tiny floating woman, Lyla, let out a displeased noise. The expressive mask Miguel wore contorted into a questioning look. Lyla muttered, "I can't find anything about these two in the databases. Their molecular structure is unlike anything I've ever seen. Whatever universe they're from... it's not a Spiderman one, for sure."
"How can that be possible?" Miguel hissed.
Spiderman. What a strange concept. Viktor and Jayce looked at one another as Lyla continued running her tests. "This one in particular," she pointed to Viktor, "has a very odd biological makeup. The other one seems to be... relatively human, except for a strange spike in unknown activity in the wrist area. But the other has said activity everywhere, along with... other things I've really never seen. This is real weird, Miggy..."
"Do not," Miguel snapped. "Keep running diagnostics." He then looked back at the two of them. "I understand you two don't want to be here. I need to consume as much information to be able to safely return you to... wherever you've come from. There will be a series of questions in order to gain as much information-"
"Is our names part of that?" Jayce sarcastically interrupted.
Miguel's expression, even through the mask, very obviously darkened. "I don't care to learn your names. You are anomalies that are threatening my universe. All I want to know is how to get rid of you." He seemed to be sick of entertaining them, because he turned to walk away. "Lyla will continue running tests. She's my artificial intelligence assistant. If you have any questions, she can aid you." The man stalked away, leaving them in the holographic cell with a tiny floating woman in a fur and heart shaped glasses.
...Great circumstances.
Viktor shot Jayce another look, and he got a similar one in return. They couldn't plot aloud, not with the woman around. But there wasn't much to plot to start with. The most they could do now was gather intel and try to figure out the best course of action.
"So, Miss Lyla," Jayce spoke up, putting on the typical Talis charm. "Where exactly are we?"
Lyla hardly looked up from the holographic schematics she was looking at. "You are on Earth-928B, in the year 2099, located at the Spider Society."
"Earth," Jayce repeated. "...Just Earth?"
Viktor understood what Jayce was getting at. Runeterra, after all, was a very literal term for their home. Magic Earth. If this was only an Earth, it must have a lot less of a centralized magic based structure. He piped up, asking, "928B? Are there prior Earths?"
Lyla still didn't bother looking at them, glaring at Viktor's very strange genetic code. "All Earth variants in the Arachno-humanoid Poly Multiverse have a signature code to differentiate them from others."
Jayce blinked. "The... what?"
"Evidently, nothing that concerns you two," Lyla huffed, probably starting to get sick of their questions. "I can't find any genetic code aligning with preexisting logged universes... and I have every universe in here. Where on Earth did you two come from?"
The two felt silent. They weren't particularly in the mood to share with the artificial intelligence assistant of their captor. Lyla sighed. "So, you've never heard of Spiderman? Never had one? Never even thought of one before, maybe? No friends bitten by a spider or have any dead uncles?"
Their confused expressions gave them away, and Lyla groaned. "I figured you two would be no help. Well, I have the information I need from you two to run further tests. Give me a call if you need something. I'll... probably show up." And like the flick of a switch, she was gone. Leaving them in their solitary cell.
"...What are we supposed to do?" Jayce sighed.
"I... I don't know," Viktor said regretfully. "I'm not certain what they'll do to us."
They were quiet for a moment more before Jayce broke the silence. "For the record," he said quietly, "it's nice seeing you... alive."
Viktor looked down at himself. Jayce's blanket and the thrumming purple flesh was not what he'd call nice. It was a reminder of all the awful things he'd done. The mistakes he'd made in pursuit of what he thought was good.
He shook his head, trying to erase the thought. He looked at Jayce. He had that scruffy beard and unkempt hair. The leg brace for his broken leg, that looked strangely familiar to one Viktor had known for quite some time in his own life. His ragged clothing and grim smile.
"You look nice," Viktor finally said. "Imperfections and all."
Jayce cracked a brighter smile, a proper one that reminded Viktor of better days and simpler times. "Imperfections and all," he repeated quietly. It felt entirely too sappy for the current situation they were stuck in. However, Viktor couldn't find it in him to be particularly annoyed about it. It was nice. Even if the circumstances were less than favorable.
Viktor had always been pessimistic. It came with being chronically ill. Most people wanted him to have hope. Those people usually weren't the ones dealing with constant, debilitating pain and endless appointments and referrals to new doctors who only referred more and more expensive things. Those people never tried several solutions that were supposed to work, at some point, only to find nothing changed, or perhaps it got worse.
So yes, Viktor was pessimistic. Rightfully so, and this made him very aware their circumstances were... well, downright bad. However, with Jayce by his side, his typical cynicism was replaced by something he could not name. Perhaps determination. Desire?
Whatever the proper terminology, Viktor knew something had changed. That something made him want more. To want to hope. He knew nothing of this world, of their fate. But he would work, day and night until this world cut him down, to find a way out. For Jayce.
For all his mistakes and failures, Viktor figured he owed this one good deed.
"We're going to get out of here," Viktor whispered. "I swear it. Together."