Chapter Text
Jayce awoke on a slab of concrete.
His head was pounding, and the sun overhead was doing its best to blind him. Where the hell was he? The last thing he remembered was touching the anomaly. Were Ekko and Heimerdinger here, too?
“Hey! We need some help over here!”
Jayce squinted at the figure suddenly looming above him. He didn’t recognize her, but he appreciated the way her large, neon green pigtails were blocking out the worst of the sun.
Her stance projected protectiveness, like she was guarding his for some reason prone body. Should he know her?
A burly man in an enforcer uniform suddenly bullied her out of the way, sending her stumbling.
“Hey,” Jayce said with uncoordinated lips. “What was that for?”
“Get up, 516,” the man said. “If you’re well enough to run your mouth, you’re well enough to walk on your own.”
He seemed like he was talking to Jayce, which was odd. What was that number he’d called him?
For lack of any other idea of what to do, Jayce obeyed the orders and pushed himself up on sore arms. From his new seated position, he saw he was wearing striped pants that he certainly didn’t remember owning. He was also wearing a stained gray tank top, and he caught sight of a shaky tattoo of the teleportation rune inked beneath where he once wore it on his wrist.
The enforcer grabbed Jayce’s arm none too gently once he was on his feet and dragged him forward in the direction of a large concrete building that Jayce unfortunately recognized.
He was at Stillwater Hold.
In the time it took for him to be walked to some sort of doctor’s office and shoved onto an exam table, Jayce’s overactive mind had come to the only logical conclusion to the whole situation: he was in another universe.
That meant he was inhabiting the body of another Jayce who, for some reason, had been thrown in prison.
He glanced at himself in the mirror across the room as the doctor poked and prodded at him. His hair was long and greasy, hanging down to frame a stubble-covered jaw. There was a new scar on his cheek, and his nose looked slightly crooked.
How long had he been locked up here? He thought he looked about the same age as he had when he woke up in his own universe that morning, but this Jayce had clearly been through some shit that would add a new wrinkle or two.
His view of himself was soon obscured by the doctor, who’d stepped in front of him to tilt his head back and forth.
“How do you feel?” she asked.
“Uh. Not great.” That, at least, wasn’t a lie. “I’m having some trouble remembering stuff.”
The doctor took a step back. “Do you know your name?”
Jayce nodded. “Jayce Talis.”
“Do you know how old you are?”
“Thirty-one?”
“Close. You’re twenty-nine.”
Oh, well. Good enough.
“Do you know why you’re here, Mr. Talis?”
“Because I fell.”
The doctor shook her head. “I mean here in Stillwater.”
Jayce swallowed. He didn’t know if he wanted to hear the answer. “No.”
The look the doctor gave him was both pitying and severe. “You’re here because you killed a child.”
The doctor’s words continued to ring in Jayce’s ears even after he was led back to the cell that was apparently his. If what she’d said was true, he certainly belonged there.
He had killed a kid, though. Hadn’t he? It had been an accident, but that blood was still on his hands.
Was this version of himself so cruel as to do such a thing on purpose? From what he and Viktor had theorized, alternate universes were like branches, growing with each decision but, at their core, coming from the same seed.
Viktor.
Jayce’s heart skipped a beat. Where was Viktor in this world? Was he also in prison?
Jayce banged on the bars to his cell, ignoring the way the sound made his head throb. He barely had time to snatch his hand back before an enforcer slammed a nightstick against the metal.
“Quiet, 516!”
Jayce had seen those numbers engraved on his uniform. It seemed here, that was what he’d been reduced to.
“I need to ask you something,” Jayce said.
“Is it ‘are you going to get thrown in solitary’?” the guard said. “Because if you do that shit again, you will be.”
Jayce winced. He didn’t know the rules here, that much was clear. But he still needed to ask.
“Is there someone named Viktor here?”
The enforcer scowled. “How the fuck should I know?”
“He’s pale. Uses a crutch. Has a Zaunite accent.”
The enforcer took a step closer to the bars. “Listen here, since that bang to your head looks like it made you forget: I make the rules here. I don’t care what House you came from, or how special you think you are. You respect me, or you regret it.”
“But—”
The guard leveled him with a challenging look. “Careful, boy.”
Jayce bit his lip. He knew what the man wanted to hear, but the blow to his own pride seemed insurmountable. He had no choice except to give in, though.
He hung his head. “Yes, sir.”
A different enforcer let him out of his cell a few hours later. By then, he’d worn a track through the floor with all his pacing.
He stepped out into the dingy hallway, where he saw other people all walking to the right. He followed them for a lack of any better idea.
They ended up in some sort of cafeteria. Jayce, who, now that he thought about it, was actually starving, fell in line. He was then rather rudely shoved away by the woman behind him.
“Get the fuck out of here,” she spat.
Jayce blinked, dumbstruck.
“Are you dumb all of a sudden?” she asked. “Kiddie-killers eat last.”
Jayce winced. “Right.”
He made his way to the end of the winding line. By the time he made it to the front, most of the food was gone. Still, he took the slop-covered tray they passed him with a silent nod.
He clenched the sides of the half-rotted wood as he scanned the room. First, he looked for Viktor who, much to his relief, wasn’t there. Neither were Ekko or Heimerdinger. Then, it was on to the next challenge: finding somewhere to sit.
He spotted the woman with the pigtails from earlier and made his way over to her. If she was standing guard over him like that, they had to be friends…right?
“Jayce!” she greeted when he slid into the seat next to her. “Are you okay?”
“I’ve been better,” he said truthfully.
“What the hell happened, man? You just collapsed.”
“I don’t know. Honestly.”
“Good thing you had your girl Zeri there to protect you, huh? Jowler was eyeing you like meat.”
Jayce had no idea who the woman—Zeri—was talking about, but he nodded along anyways.
“What are you gonna tell your enforcer friend when she comes tomorrow? Think she’ll try to get you special treatment again?”
She was talking about Caitlyn. Caitlyn was coming to see him. She—gods, Jayce could cry. He really needed a familiar face. Maybe she could even help him get back to his timeline somehow.
Jayce picked up his spork—the only silverware he’d been given—and prodded at the semi-rotted meat they’d given him.
“It’s not that bad tonight,” Zeri said, swallowing a bite of her own. “At least, if you close your eyes. And maybe plug your nose, too.”
Jayce willed himself to pull off a piece of the mystery meat, ignoring what he was fairly certain was a maggot inside. He needed all the strength he could get if he was going to find a way out of there.
Unfortunately, he had a feeling that would be far easier said than done.
Jayce spent the following morning vibrating with anxiety. Breakfast apparently wasn’t a thing here, so he was left to pace his cell again until an enforcer banged on the bars to let him know he had a visitor.
He was marched down the hall towards a separate room, where he was deposited in a chair and handcuffed none too gently to the table. A few minutes after the guard left, Caitlyn walked in.
Jayce, despite the awfulness of the entire situation, smiled. “Hey, Sprout.”
“Jayce. It’s good to see you. I apologize for my tardiness; my mother requested my help in the garden.”
“Your mom’s alive?”
Caitlyn frowned. “Why wouldn’t she be?”
Jayce floundered. “It’s just- I mean—”
Caitlyn looked at him critically. “Are you alright?”
“I fell and hit my head yesterday,” Jayce admitted. It was the only explanation he could think of for making such a comment.
Caitlyn gasped. “That’s horrible!”
“The doctor cleared me,” Jayce assured her. “She said my memories should come back to me soon.”
“That’s good,” Caitlyn said. Jayce could tell she wasn’t entirely reassured, though.
“Will you tell me about what you’ve been up to?”
As much as he enjoyed getting Caitlyn’s life updates over the years, he admittedly had ulterior motives for the question now—namely, finding out what the hell was going on in this world he’d found himself in.
“Well, I finally introduced Amara to my parents,” she said. “I think they like her.”
“Amara?”
“My girlfriend.” The duh was clearly implied.
“What about Vi?”
“Who?”
Jayce winced. “Sorry. Never mind. I thought you mentioned someone with that name once.”
“If you say so.”
Jayce tapped the side of his head, then grimaced at the slight pain. “Amnesiac, remember?”
Caitlyn chuckled weakly. “Right.”
“What about work? How’s being an enforcer?”
“They put me on a new duty,” she said. “Have you heard about the Hexgate?”
Jayce’s entire world ground to a halt. “Remind me,” he said weakly.
“It’s this new contraption that will supposedly be able to transport airships across the continent instantly,” Caitlyn said. “They’re breaking ground and doing some sort of miniature demonstration on Progress Day. They’ve assigned me to guard the site and the project.”
She paused and bit her lip. “Sorry. I know Hextech can be a touchy subject.”
So Hextech had continued on without him, then, even if it was slower going. He could only think of one person smart enough to crack it.
“The inventor behind it,” he said. “His name’s Viktor, right?”
“I believe so.”
Of course. Even now, Viktor wasn’t getting the recognition in Piltover that he deserved. (But then, how much of that had inadvertently been Jayce’s fault?)
“I need to talk to him.”
If Viktor had access to the hex crystals, he could help Jayce find a way out of here. Gods, if Jayce could just speak with him…
The idea of seeing his partner again—especially after the way they’d parted—filled him with a sick longing. Jayce had long gotten used to burying the way he felt, though.
“Why?” Caitlyn asked.
“There’s some research I never wrote down that would affect things on a larger scale. If that’s what Viktor based his demo on, it could malfunction. Maybe even explode.”
It wasn’t the most eloquent lie, but Caitlyn seemed to buy it.
“I’ll have someone ask him, but I can’t make any promises.”
Jayce nodded. He knew Viktor, though; knew that his curiosity was insatiable, sometimes to his own detriment. He would come.
He had to.
Jayce woke from a restless sleep to a guard banging on the bars of his cell.
“516,” the woman barked. “Get up.”
Jayce sat up and scrubbed at his eyes. The enforcer was shining a flashlight into his cell, and Jayce had to squint to see the displeased face of the person holding it.
Jayce had learned the hard way over the last few days that there was a routine to this place. He spent his mornings in the laundry room, washing sweaty uniforms in giant vats. His afternoons sometimes included time outside in the yard, but often he was left to kill time in his cell.
Zeri was his only friend, and he did his best to follow her lead on things. The other prisoners either gave him a wide berth or treated him with outright hostility, so he otherwise stuck to himself.
His nights were typically filled with tossing and turning on the hard mattress and trying to ignore the sounds he heard coming from other cells. So naturally, his first instinct at being woken was to panic.
Had he done something wrong? He thought he’d been doing an okay job of blending in.
Cautiously, he approached the bars.
“You have a visitor,” the enforcer said.
It took a moment for the words to filter through Jayce’s sleep-addled mind. Then he had to try his best to stifle his instinct to beam.
Who else would be busy and insane enough to think coming to Stillwater in the middle of the night was an acceptable decision other than Viktor?
Jayce was led by the enforcer back to the room where he’d met Caitlyn. He could hear people shifting in their cells as they passed, but the flashlight wasn’t bright enough for him to see their expressions. For the sake of Jayce’s anxiety, it was probably better that way.
Jayce didn’t resist when the enforcer cuffed his hands to the table again. Instead, he just bounced his knee as he waited for Viktor to come in.
When the door cracked open, Jayce’s breath caught in his throat.
The last time he saw Viktor, his partner had abandoned him. Before that, he’d been comatose. And before that…Jayce swallowed. He didn’t want to think about Viktor’s body, limp and bloodied and far too light, in his arms.
This Viktor was gloriously human and alive. He looked tired, but not exhausted in the way he’d been when his disease was at its worst. He also looked incredibly suspicious of Jayce.
His eyes flicked over Jayce’s face as he slowly approached the table, each thud of his crutch echoing in the concrete room. A familiar look of relief—the one that Viktor always tried and failed to stifle—crossed over his features as he took a seat.
“Viktor,” Jayce breathed. “You’re- you’re really here.”
“Yes, well. You did ask to see me.”
The stiffness of his posture, off-kilter and slouched as it was, was a horrible reminder of the fact that, for him, Jayce wasn’t his friend of seven years. He was a stranger.
“I remember your trial,” Viktor said after a moment. “You didn’t even put up a fight.”
Jayce shrugged. “It was my fault, wasn’t it?”
“A life sentence here is not something most so willingly accept—especially for what was for all intents and purposes an accident. Honestly, I was surprised the Council cared so much about the death of a Zaunite.”
A Zaunite? Was his punishment actually for the kid he’d unintentionally killed in the Shimmer factory? No, that didn’t make sense. That didn’t happen until later, after he and Viktor had stabilized the Hextech gemstones.
There were also those Zaunite children who broke into his apartment and caused it to explode, though. Had one of them died in this timeline?
“I’ve always thought it unfair that they keep you locked up here while they plan to reap the benefits of the research you began,” Viktor continued. “I could not have started Hextech without your notes, but nobody cared about my words back then. Not that they care all that much now.”
Viktor’s gaze sharpened, then. “Miss Kiramman said you had important information about the Hexgate proof of concept for me.”
“Well…not exactly.”
“Did you call me here to waste my time, then? There are still many preparations to finish before Progress Day.”
Jayce took a deep breath. “What I’m about to say is going to sound crazy. I need you to hear me out, though.”
“I suppose that’s the least I can do. Consider it, eh, repayment, for your research.”
Jayce steeled himself, and then: “I’m from another universe.”
“Excuse me?”
“You know,” Jayce said. “An alternate timeline.”
The Viktor that Jayce knew would ponder the statement, even if he didn’t necessarily believe it. He really hoped this one didn’t just brush him off.
Viktor stared at him for a moment before speaking. “Explain.”
“In my world, you and I made Hextech together,” Jayce said. “And there was this…anomaly. I don’t know why, but it sent me here.”
“Hmm. That’s quite a story.”
“It’s the truth.”
Viktor hummed. “Let’s say I believe you. What exactly do you expect me to do?”
“You’re the smartest person I know, V.” The nickname slipped out before Jayce could hold it back. “I think the hex crystals are the only way back, and I need your help.”
“You speak with quite the familiarity.”
Jayce leaned forward, instinctively trying to touch Viktor for comfort. The chain and handcuffs held him back.
Worse than the pain of the metal digging into his skin was the sight of Viktor flinching.
“Sorry,” Jayce said. “It’s just, in my world, you’re my best friend. My partner. I wasn’t always there for you in the way I should’ve, but…you’re the most important person in my life. I realize that now.”
Viktor still looked skeptical, despite Jayce spilling his guts.
“You love sweetmilk,” Jayce blurted, desperate to convince Viktor. “And you put three sugar packets in your coffee. You snuck into the Academy in an old uniform after your parents saved up for it. You’re from the Entresol level of Zaun. You—” Jayce swallowed. “You’re sick from the Grey, and you don’t want anyone to know. Even- even me.”
Viktor’s mouth had dropped open about halfway through Jayce’s rambling spiel. “I’ve never told anyone those things.”
“You told me.”
Viktor stared down at his hands for a moment before meeting Jayce’s gaze head-on. “I believe you.”
Jayce’s heart soared. “You do?”
Viktor nodded. “I’m not entirely sure how to help you with your predicament, though.”
“I need access to the lab. I’m sure we can come up with something together.”
“You expect someone to allow you, a convicted criminal, access to Hextech?”
“You know, I hadn’t really thought that far ahead. Mostly I was just focused on convincing you of the whole alternate universe thing.”
Viktor pursed his lips, clearly deep in thought. Jayce knew better than to interrupt when Viktor got like that.
“I suppose I can ask the Council for approval. I’ll tell them that I need your expertise to help finish the Hexgate demonstration safely. Perhaps even assist with the Hexgate itself. If Councilor Medarda advocates on our behalf, there’s a chance the other councilors will approve.”
Mel. Jayce wondered how she was, back in his world. Was she safe? What had happened with her mother?
“I expect I’ll have an answer for you in a few days,” Viktor said. “Please be on your best behavior until then. I hope to see you again soon.”
“Yeah,” Jayce said, trying not to panic at the possibility that Viktor might leave and never come back.
This time, the abandonment would surely do him in.
In the first stroke of luck since he arrived in this hellish universe, Jayce was led away from his cellblock the next evening. Two enforcers directed him into a small room that was empty save for a foul-smelling grate in the floor.
One guard thrust a bundle of clothes into Jayce’s chest, and he fumbled to keep from dropping them onto the nasty concrete.
They then closed the door and left Jayce to his business.
It felt amazing to put on regular clothes again, even if it was an Academy uniform a size too big for him. Hopefully someone would be willing to give him a belt—and, more pressingly, new shoes.
He didn’t know what to do with his uniform once he finished changing, so he carried it out with him. The enforcer that had given him the new clothes took it from his arms, while the other grabbed Jayce’s wrists and pressed him up against the grimy wall.
He flinched at the cold metal of handcuffs cinching around his bare skin, but forced himself to remain still. This was his chance, and he wasn’t about to blow it.
“Move,” the enforcer who’d cuffed him ordered.
They frogmarched him out a large set of doors with intricate locks, and then shoved him in the back of a carriage outside. One enforcer sat in the back with him while the other drove.
“You’re a lucky man, 516,” the guard beside him said. “Try not to fuck it up.”
Jayce nodded. They passed the rest of the ride in silence.
A different enforcer met them outside when they pulled onto Academy grounds and yanked the door open. Jayce recognized him: Sheriff Marcus.
“This him?” Marcus asked.
“Yes, sir,” the guard beside Jayce said.
Marcus made a gesture, and a green-skinned, gilled vastaya pulled Jayce out by the arm. Jayce vaguely recognized him from Caitlyn’s strike team.
“Come along,” Marcus said. “Let’s go bring the scientist his gift.”
Jayce prickled at the derision in Marcus’ voice. He remembered when the man respected him, or at the very least acted like he did.
Marcus and the vastaya took him to the lab, one behind him and one in front. As though he wanted to go anywhere else.
They came to a stop outside a familiar door. Marcus rapped on it twice.
“Just a moment!” Viktor called from inside.
The seconds seemed to stretch on forever until Viktor cracked the door open. He had goggles pushed up on his forehead, and it made his hair stick up in a way that made Jayce’s chest ache.
“Ah, good,” Viktor said. “I was wondering when you would arrive. Come in.”
He stepped aside so that Marcus could push the door open all the way. His hand landed like a brand on Jayce’s back, and he was unceremoniously shoved inside. It was difficult to keep his balance with his hands tied behind him.
“Careful,” Viktor snapped. “He’s of no use to me if he cracks his head open.”
“Sorry,” Marcus said, not sounding remotely apologetic.
“He’s also useless without his hands,” Viktor said. “Please uncuff him.”
“No can do,” Marcus said. “This man is violent, and he could easily overpower you.”
The comment clearly rankled Viktor. “I promise you, I am far from helpless. And one of you will be here at all times, no?”
Marcus looked at the vastaya. “You have your weapon, right?”
He nodded. “Yes, sir.”
Marcus turned to Jayce. “Don’t make him use it.”
“Relax,” Viktor said. “He already promised to be on his best behavior.”
Marcus scoffed. “You’re from Zaun. You of all people should know how criminals can lie.”
“Hey,” Jayce said, a familiar protectiveness flaring. “Don’t talk to him like that.”
Marcus met his statement with a fist to the gut. Jayce doubled over with a grunt of pain, unable to defend himself. His arms flexed as he strained against the cuffs.
“Enough,” Viktor said. “This is my lab, and I will not tolerate violence in it.”
“He was threatening an enforcer,” Marcus said. “I had every right to protect myself.”
Viktor’s body was beginning to shake with barely concealed rage. Still, he managed to keep his tone even.
“Your presence here is no longer needed,” he said. “I’m sure, eh…” He glanced questioningly at the vastaya.
“Steb,” he said.
“Yes, Steb, can handle things.”
Marcus gave a curt nod. “Of course.”
He turned to leave, but Viktor cleared his throat. “Aren’t you forgetting something?”
He gestured with his free hand to Jayce’s bound wrists.
Marcus plastered on a fake smile. “My mistake.”
His grip on Jayce’s forearm as he unlocked the handcuffs was crushing, and he gave Jayce a final warning squeeze before stepping away.
“I’ll be back later to check on things,” he said.
This time, Viktor didn’t interrupt. Jayce was all too glad to see the man go.
He massaged his wrists and rolled his shoulders a few times to get the blood flowing again. His entire body felt like a giant bruise.
“I apologize for him,” Viktor said. “That was completely uncalled for. Though what else would you expect from an enforcer? Pigs, all of them.”
Steb, standing silently, said nothing.
“Come,” Viktor said. “Let me show you my blueprints for the Hexgate demonstration.”
Right. The mini Hexgate. The reason he was technically here.
He followed Viktor over to his workstation, Steb a few steps behind him. He was certainly taking this whole guarding thing seriously.
The organized chaos that always consumed Viktor’s workspaces was comforting. Papers, pens and screwdrivers laid askew, and Viktor had to shuffle through a few piles before finding what he was looking for.
He passed Jayce a stack of papers, each detailing the runes and mechanical components of the Hexgate. They were similar to what he and Viktor had come up with in his own world, though some parts were much less efficient.
“Excuse me, Steb,” Viktor said after a few minutes. “Would you mind giving us some space? I don’t do well with hoverers. You understand.”
“No can do, sir,” Steb replied. “I’m under strict orders to keep eyes on the prisoner at all times.”
“Are you unable an eye on him from the other side of the room? Surely you can still aim your pistol from there.”
Steb seemed to seriously consider this before taking a few steps back. It wasn’t as far as Jayce would’ve liked, but it was certainly better than before.
“Now that we don’t have someone breathing down our necks,” Viktor said, “where should we begin?”