Archive of Our Own

Viktor sat on that bench at the blockade. Seeing Singed was… enlightening but a painful endeavor. He was detained by the enforcers, questioned like he was a rat. Viktor had his papers at the ready, proving his citizenship to Piltover. 

He was accused of forgery. Of faking these documents. Viktor told them to call Jayce. Jayce… Jayce would understand. That was a mantra he kept repeating. 

“… have any idea how this looks?! I order a blockade and my own partner violates it!” Jayce yelps, not unlike a puppy. Ah, so he didn’t understand. Fool, idiot, waste of space, mistake, failure, worthless trencher.

“You ordered this? Why?”  Viktor asked, betrayal creeping onto his tongue. 

“There are people down there who seem hellbent on destroying us! What were you doing?!” Jayce whisper yells. 

“I was consulting a friend about our quandary! I told you I knew someone!” Viktor said, trying to keep his voice even, hurt welling up. Betrayer. Trencher playing Topsider. You abandoned Tata.

“Well you didn’t say they were from the undercity!” 

“What difference does that make?” Viktor asked, voice low, gentle even. 

“What diff- they’re dangerous!” 

“I’m from the undercity.” Viktor reminded him poisonously. Jayce, in all his stupidity seemed to remember that and began to backtrack. DANGEROUS! Dangerous trencher! Friend denies you! You’re dangerous! Some friend! Betrayed you! 

“I’m sorry. I’ve… I’ve had a lot on my plate.” Jayce murmured. 

“Oh, now you apologize? Let me ask you Jayce. When you look at me, who do you see? Someone who was born into a cushy, Piltie life? Someone who was afforded luxuries like being able to attend the academy without clawing his way through the fissures? Or do you see a criminal? Someone dangerous? Someone who is a miscreant and drug dealer at all times?” Anger… Don’t be angry. Lose friend. Denied companionship. Lose access to legacy. 

“What! No! V, you’re one of the good ones! L-Like Sky!” And Viktor gasped like he had been slapped. Viktor couldn’t control the rage he felt. He whipped on his heel and turned to see Jayce, really see him. And he didn’t like what he saw. 

What- Who Viktor saw, made his heart ache, and chest tighten more than the grey ever could. He no longer saw his friend, his partner. He saw a politician, an enforcer, a pompous asshat who saw him as lesser. 

“I’m… I’m one of the good ones? And you… you are like them. All of the bad ones. The career politicians, the corrupt enforcers, the people who are ignorant because it is simply convenient to be.” Viktor whispered dangerously. Topsider traitor! Topsider traitor! Too piltie for Zaun! But too Zaun for the Pilties. Walking contradiction! 

“Wait! Waitwaitwait! V, cmon I didn’t mean it like that!” And he saw panic in Jayce’s face. Viktor felt something tug at his heartstrings. He cut them so there was nothing left to tug. 

“I am done, Jayce. I’m done. I’m going to go back to the lab, I will pack my belongings, and I will leave. I am renouncing my citizenship when I walk back across this bridge. Then, you don’t have to worry about if I am going to steal, if I am going to do something that will jeopardize your dream.” Viktor said with vitriol. Was never your dream. Just his! No legacy to be secured. Disappointing. Kill yourself. 

“Wait! V, Vik! I didn’t mean it like that! That came out wrong!” Jayce yelled. 

Viktor heard it before he saw it. He guessed the trajectory would be close. He didn’t duck or dodge. He simply stood there. The crude bomb landed and erupted into flame. Jayce was ducking, cowering, like a scared child. Viktor only glanced down at him, and moved through the sea of enforcers. 

Jayce followed at his heels, begging him. Begging him to stay, to please let him fix it. Viktor finally had enough. 

“If you do not stop following me, Councilor Talis, I am going to make a report to the council. Now leave. Before we both do something we regret.” Viktor hisses. Undeserving. Die! Kill yourself! Diediediediedie! 

Ja- Councilor Talis looked at him with soft eyes, and an even softer heart. Viktor stared at the man who he once called a friend, a confidant. He couldn’t see that now. 

“… okay, V.” 

“It’s Viktor.” He said as he plunged the knife into their bodies. Savagery. No more friends. Kill yourself! 

He watched as the air deflated from Councilor Talis, the blood slowly seeping from his body onto the well paved roads of Piltover. 

Viktor continued onward and forward until he got back to the apartment arranged by Councilor Heimerdinger. He grabbed his bags, and filled them with all his possessions that wouldn’t get stolen. He would be sure to sell his stupid fucking piltie clothes or burn them with his Tata when he returned home. He went to the lab and took all his patents, his inventions, his intellectual property. 

He took a handful of the hex gems. 4 or 5. He wasn’t sure. Thief. Thieving trencher. Stereotype. 

“Viktor?” Ms. Young had called softly. Well, shit. 

“Ms. Young. I am leaving and I would recommend you do the same.” Viktor says eventually, the words sagging on him. 

“You’re… you’re packing. Where are you going?” She asked, eyes full of inquisitivity. 

“Home. To my Tata, Aunt, and little sister. Councilor Talis made it clear what he thought of me. Of us. Of Zaun. That we are two of the good ones.” Viktor spat. Too Zaun for her. Betrayer trencher trash. Die! 

Sky recoiled. She wordlessly helped him pack. She gave him a hug goodbye and bumped foreheads with him. “Promise to let me visit.” Sky whispered. 

“Tata has always liked you. You are always welcome.” He smiled softly. Sky cried as he left. When Jayce came in, frantically looking for Viktor, she denied seeing him. That they both had just missed him. 

Jayce ran out, mania creeping into his chest and face, fighting the urge to scream. Fighting the loss of control he had over a situation.

Viktor made it to the bridge and handed his papers to the enforcer. He didn’t register that it was Caitlyn. 

“Purpose of crossing?” She asked automatically. 

“Returning home.” He muttered. 

“Viktor?” She had asked incredulously. 

“Ah. Officer Kiramman. This should be easy then. I am also renouncing my citizenship. I will not need those papers anymore.” He said, as evenly as he could. She never liked you. Sumprat. Trencher. Zaunite. Beneath her. Status Quo. Enforcer Scum. Not your friend. Never your friend. DIE. 

“I see. Very well. But… are you alright?” She asked gently. 

Viktor nodded. He didn’t say anything else. She personally escorted him over the bridge to the other side. She gave a final indecipherable look and crossed back over. 

Viktor only glowered as he walked through The Lanes. He paused in front of Benzo’s old shop, stifling back his tears. He missed Benzo. Then he went and got himself killed. Idiot. 

He kept on his trek through what should’ve been called the memory lanes, as he paused and looked around too often now. Things had changed and stayed the same and everything will never be as it was, but still frozen in time in some ways. 

He passed Babette’s, and peered in like he had when he was 16 and figuring things out, and he remembered Papa finding him and calling him a little pervert with that good natured laugh of his. Viktor was so embarrassed he hadn’t left the house for a week after that. 

Viktor quickly retreated when he got an eyeful of breasts and scrotums. Janna, be merciful please. He continued his journey again and limped through his childhood memories. Then he saw it. Home. 

He walked into The Last Drop and when he spotted Sevika, a dam broke. He felt all of his childish emotions burble up through the blood in his body and he started sobbing. Weak! Useless! Problematic! Traitortraitortraitortraitor! Do the world a favor and die already. 

Sevika was there in a flash. She held him tightly with a scowl that said enough to any onlookers. 

She carried him up to his Tata. 

Silco was immediately in a standing position when he heard the sobs of Viktor. He rushed over to him in Sevika’s arms and took his son gently. 

“Lásko… what’s wrong?” Silco asked tenderly, pressing his hands against his Vitya’s face, thumbs wiping away his sons tears. He hadn’t heard his son cry since Vander’s passing. Screaming about how could that happen?

A fragile, small voice cuts through his thoughts. “I’m sorry Tata… you were right. You always are.” Viktor whispered. And as much as Silco loved to be right, to have his thoughts reaffirmed, this was heartbreaking. His son was in enormous pain. He didn’t even know what he was right about. But he saw the bags and suitcases and could hazard a guess. 

“Oh… son, come. Let’s sort through your things. Sevika, can you make him some sweetmilk? The kind that you make.” Silco asked. It wasn’t necessarily an ask. It was an order. Sevika wasn’t dumb enough to mistake it as otherwise. She nodded and left. 

Jinx came barreling in a few moments later, rambling excitedly about the new gadget she’d been tinkering with! How she could use the grey to feed bioengineered plants. And then she saw her big brother in a crumbling heap on the ground, sorting through his bags with their dad. 

“Viki…?” She asked slowly. Silco shook his head at his daughter, and she immediately laid on her brother, like a Jinx sized blanket. Viktor's body started shaking and trembling again, tears rolling down his cheeks. Monster. Terrorist. Emotional manipulator. Bad big brother. Shut up and die so you don’t scare her anymore. She shouldn’t even touch you. Too dangerous. 

A broken sob escaped his lips, and that soon turned into manic laughing until he could not contain the mania and sheer exasperation from the situation. 

Jinx just hugged her brother from behind. Viktor screamed as the words kept thwacking around in his head. One of the good ones. 

“He said… he said I was one of the good ones! He ordered the blockade! He kept coming up with excuses! How he hadn’t meant it like that! Called us dangerous!” Viktor laughed hysterically, arms wrapped around himself while he shook with laughter and heartbreak. 

“Lásko… who’s he?” Silco asked, sorting through the offensive piltie clothing. 

“My partner!” Viktor shouted, breaking out of Jinx’s grasp, grabbing fistfuls of clothing and throwing them into the fire. Jinx had flinched back and scrambled to help Viktor throw the offending clothing into the fireplace. Silco sighed softly through his nose. 

“Jayce said all that?” He asked, taking some of the clothing and throwing it in the fireplace. 

“Do not say his name! He’s a councilor now! He is to be addressed by his House!” Viktor laughed mockingly, tears falling in fat blobs down his cheeks. 

Silco let out a pained noise, at how badly his son was hurting. To have relapsed into a state of instability, after years of progress, it was disquieting. 

Viktor flung the remaining clothing into the fire and screamed a pained noise. Viktor just kept screaming. Jinx had covered her own ears and started to pace, muttering to herself. 

Silco groaned internally and grabbed the bottle of scotch from his desk drawer and took a long, needy drink. Now both of his kids were worked up and he was… useless. He could found a nation, unite the chembarons, hell, he could kill his husband, but he couldn’t help his children. 

Sevika entered the room again with the sweetmilk and handed the drink to Viktor who barely acknowledged it, his own screams becoming softer, like his vocal cords were finally quitting. Sevika sat on the floor with them and just held out a hand for the scotch. Silco didn’t hesitate when he handed her the bottle. She drank and stuck her tongue out with the burn. Sevika grabbed Viktor and just held him until he petered out, sipping at his sweetmilk and sniffling. 

Silco got up and paced around with Jinx reassuring her that the voices aren’t there, unable to to hurt her. Eventually she calmed herself down enough and clung to Silco. Silco sighed gently, pressing a kiss into her hair. 

“When was the last time you took your meds?” Sevika asked. 

Viktor fidgeted in discomfort and suddenly the floor was incredibly fascinating. Sevika ran a hand down her face. She jerked the med drawer open and fished out Viktor's medication. She remembered the engraving on the box by touch. 

She went through the bottles and dispensed the pills into her hand and plopped them all in Viktor’s mouth she more or less had pinched open. 

“Swallow.” And Viktor complied. Sevika sighed again and helped him stand up. 

“Your room. Let’s go. Jinx, you take your medicine?” Sevika asked with a raised eyebrow. 

Jinx also found the floor very interesting. Sevika tosses the box of medication meant for Jinx at Silco. He catches it with ease and begins the arduous process of getting Jinx to take her pills as Sevika and Viktor leave the office. 

Viktor doesn’t say much of anything as they take the short walk down the hall to his room. Sevika helps guide him in his childhood bedroom, and she sits on his chair and he lay in bed. 

“Viktor… Vitya…” Sevika murmurs quietly, the term of endearment thick on her tongue. 

Viktor looked up at her with golden eyes red around the edges, tear stains down his cheeks. She runs a hand through his hair, the action foreign to her muscles. She tried to mimic Silco, but he was probably losing fingers to Jinx right now. 

“What… what happened today with the councilor fuck, that wasn’t okay. I… uh, I heard you from downstairs. Do you have plans to go back?” Sevika asked. 

“… I renounced my citizenship at the border. Wouldn’t want a dirty, no good, low life trencher sumprat, to ruin his image.” Viktor all but spat like it was poison

Error, error, Sevika has shut down. She looked at Viktor incredulously. 

“Your dad isn’t going to like that.” She replied with a groan. 

“No, no Tata won’t. But… I just… Vika, I’m in love with… with him. And he will never love me back. And now that I know he thinks so… so little of me? Of where I come from? That… that isn’t worth loving.” He whispered. 

Sevika smiled sadly, though it looked more like a grimace. 

“I’m sorry, Viktor. That you went through that. I know you set out to disprove that not every piltie looked down on us. We really thought you had for a while. Silco wouldn’t shut up about you going to the academy, being the dean’s assistant, making Zaun proud. He even spoke highly of Councilor Talis for a moment. Saying he was the only clean thing in that blight.” Sevika sighed. 

Viktor nodded with solemnity, eyes heavy, and beginning to drift. Sevika got up and left the room for him to sleep. She nearly stepped on Naph and Mr. Bun and picked them up off the floor and put Naph in Viktor’s grasp. Viktor clung to Naph like a lifeline. 

When Sevika walked back in the room, Jinx was pouting in her fathers lap, cheeks puffed out. 

“Jinx! You have to swallow the medicine!” Silco sighed, carding his fingers through his baby’s hair. 

Sevika just held up Mr. Bun and delicately held his arm out. It was an underhanded gesture, but Jinx immediately swallowed her pills and shot out of the lap of her father and rescued her bunny. 

“Why do you have him?” Jinx asked dangerously. 

“It was a hostage situation. Either you swallowed your damn pills or I renamed him Righty.” Sevika said bluntly. 

Silco was stifling a laugh under his scotch. Jinx glared at Sevika and pushed past her into the hall to go cuddle with Viktor. 

Sevika sighed as she sank into the chair. 

“Viktor told me a shitty piece of news. He renounced his citizenship in Piltover.” 

Silco spat out his scotch. 

Damn it, what a day. This was a perfectly fine mess to be in. 

“That’s… a setback. And yet I find it perfectly acceptable. He was too good for those Pilties anyway.” Silco murmured into his drink. 

“I think it’s good that Viktor came back to us. It’s just miserable seeing his heart broken. He said he is in love with Jayce.” Sevika muttered, yoinking the bottle from Silco and taking a hearty swig. 

Silco yanked the bottle back and drank from it again. “Well, I can’t protect him from heartbreak. But maybe we can move the timelines around. Jinx said she’s almost finished with her weapon.” Silco purred. 

Sevika gave a snort. “Let her have an early birthday present?” She asked. 

“Yes. A very early birthday present.” Silco grinned. 

Meanwhile Jinx and Viktor were cuddling on the bed, Viktor sound asleep wrapped protectively around his sister and Naph. Jinx was staving off sleepiness with a stick. It wasn’t working. 

Hypnos came for her and Janna blew away the bad dreams. Jinx dreamt of bombing all of Piltover because they hurt her brother. 

Viktor dreamt of Jayce, looking down on him in disgust. Sneering and screaming that he was just a sumprat. Then he dreamt of Vander. It didn’t feel much like a dream. 

“Hey, kid, still got all your insides?” Vander had asked, ruffling Viktor’s hair. 

“I’m 30. Hardly a child.” Viktor’s voice cracked. 

“And I’m still older than you. Therefore, a kid. What happened today?” Vander asked, pouring a glass of sweetmilk and scooting it across the small bar. 

“Jayce… Jayce happened. You and Tata were right, Papa. There aren’t any good Pilties.” Viktor shuddered, clinging to Naph and sipping his sweetmilk. 

“‘M s’rry you had to find this out for yerself, munchkin. How is Tata? He taking care of himself?” Papa asked softly. 

“You’re the dead one, shouldn’t you know?” Viktor snarked. 

“Fair ‘nough. Y’know, when you were in your Tata’s belly, you would make him cry all the time. I made breakfast? Tears. Bring him flowers? Tears. Counting cogs? Tears. An the day you were born? Your Tata wouldn’t stop crying. Said you were ‘is perfect little creature. Oh but when you was coming out? He told me that he hated me and that he was going to castrate me, feed me my own dick and kill me. He broke 4 of my damn fingers.” Vander laughed, wiggling his fingers. 

“Why was I his creature?” Viktor smiled sadly. He hadn’t heard this before. 

Vander sniggered and topped off Viktor’s sweetmilk. “When you were marinatin’ in the womb soup, you would kick and kick and kick. All hours of the day. All night. We could feel you all the time. Jus’ begging to be let out. You were so… lively. Tata swore you was dancing on his bladder on purpose.” Vander snorted softly. 

“That doesn’t explain the creature part.” Viktor reminded. 

“I’m gettin there, creature! When you was coming out, you had to be rotated. Breech or something. Y’came out feet first like a little woodland creature.” Vander sighed. 

“Something happened during your stay in Zauns finest hotel, your leg came out crooked. Tata cried as he held you and promised you a better tomorrow. Turns out it was because of the exposure from the mines.” Vander sighed miserably. 

“Why… why are you telling me this?” 

“Because some things aren’t our faults. It would be nice to blame ourselves. But we can’t always. What happened ‘tween you and Jayce, was it? That wasn’t your fault. Now. Y’gotta wake up. Tell your Tata i love him. But also… member that sometimes trust isn’t enough to correct things to how they were. The people we love the most can hurt us the most.” Vander smiled gently, and faded into mist. 

Viktor woke up with a gasp. He looked down at Jinx, and panicked, she shouldn’t be so close to him. He could hurt her. It took some prying to get Jinx off of him, but eventually he did. He took Naph with him as he padded down the hall with his cane. He scooted down the stairs not trusting himself to walk down them. 

Silco was sat at the bar, drinking his coffee and eating his meager oatmeal. 

“Good morning, Vitya. Are you feeling better?” Silco asked, looking over at him. 

“Mnf. Papa said he loves you.” Viktor mumbled, rifling through the pantry for the oats and syrup. Delusional. Untrustworthy. Insane. The dead don’t speak. 

Silco smiled at that. “I love him too. Haven’t seen Naph in a while.” Silco remarked. 

Viktor shrugged and made his breakfast. He brewed his coffee and glared at the coffee machine. He waited for the oats to boil and poured in a frankly offensive amount of syrup. 

Viktor made a little harumph at having to make 2 trips for his breakfast, but he did it. Poor, helpless little cripple. Kill yourself!

Silco could only watch. Sure, his son was 30. But that doesn’t mean he stopped seeing his child. And what a stubborn man his Vitya was. His little creature. 

“How did you sleep?” Silco asked. 

“Mngh. Saw Papa. Told me about how i was your creature. And how you cried all the time with me.” Viktor mumbled around a mouth full of syrup with a side of oats. 

Silco blinked a few times. They hadn’t told Vitya that story. They never called Vitya their creature after his diagnosis, or at least when he wasn’t around. 

“You were insistent that I would never be happy during my pregnancy with you. You had such big opinions even in my womb.” Silco says with a laugh. 

Viktor only huffs exasperatedly into his breakfast. 

Silco knew the signs of a day shaping up to be… difficult. What a headache.

_________________________________________

The previous day…

Jayce was running around, looking like a maniac. He finally gave up the hunt when Caitlyn came storming up to him like a draft off of Bilgewater and grabbing his ear, pulling him along. 

“Owowowowowow!” Jayce yelped. “Sprout what the hell!” 

“Don’t you what the hell me!” Caitlyn hisses, shoving Viktor’s papers into his chest. 

“What’s- what’s this?” Jayce asked, taking the papers, and flittering through them, fear and confusion running amok through his features. 

“Take a wild guess, Councilor Talis!” Caitlyn seethes. 

“No! Nononononono! I can still- I can still fix this! And- and then I’ll step down and we can be lab partners and this- this whole thing will be behind us! Easy peasy!” Jayce scrambles through his words, trembling and stuttering over them, like the uneven streets of zaun had been personally paved by his mouth. 

Caitlyn looked at her brother, the desperation oozing out from every pore. 

“Jayce. What happened?” Caitlyn finally asked. 

And Jayce spilled. Every word he said, and how he didn’t mean it like that. 

Caitlyn smiled sympathetically. That was it then. A simple mistake of the tongue. Viktor was being sensitive. 

“And now! Now he’s gone and I hurt him and I can’t find him! What if he’s hurt? What if someone stole his crutch for parts?! Or his brace?” Jayce frets.

“He’s in the undercity dummy. I have a guide.” Caitlyn says reassuredly. 

So they set off to find her guide. And they do find her. Jayce should have anticipated it being Vi. 

“Oh, cupcake! And you brought Hammertime. Lovely.” 

“He’s my brother. We need to find someone in the undercity! His name is Viktor?” Caitlyn says, hope in her tone. 

Vi looks at Caitlyn and at the frankly disaster of a man in front of her, who looked about 2 inches from a mental breakdown. 

“Can’t help you with that one, Cupcake. Viktor probably went back to daddy and I’m not touching that with a 10 foot pole. And besides, you shouldn’t assume everyone knows each other down there.” Vi says, blue eyes calculating. 

“Who’s his father?” Caitlyn asked, pointedly ignoring how sensitive Vi was being.

“Silco. Knew Viktor as a kid. Fucking weirdo. Always talking to himself and never really making sense of anything. Then Powpow came along and he kinda just… withdrew from real life. Isn’t this a conflict of interest, cupcake?” 

Caitlyn’s mind shut down for a second. “Viktor’s father… is a chembaron?! What poor woman did he hurt?” Caitlyn muttered. 

“Oh, you got it wrong. Silco birthed him. Always treated Vik like he was made of glass or some shit. What happened anyway with… uh… hammertime over there?” Vi asked. 

“Huh. Didn’t see that one coming. Jayce told Viktor he was one of the few good people from the undercity and Viktor… just left.” Caitlyn said. 

Vi glared at Caitlyn. “Good for him. I woulda left too.” Vi says, heat catching in her throat. 

“What? Why? Statistically more crime happens down there than anywhere else in Runeterra, aside from Bilgewater! It’s just an observation!” Caitlyn exclaims. 

“Alright, we’re done here. Wouldn’t want a sumprat spooking you guys. Y’know, since we’re all criminals. According to your observations.” Vi said. 

“Wh- Vi! You’re not a criminal! You’re a good person! Stop being so sensitive! It wasn’t meant like that!” Cait whines. 

“Then how did you mean it, princess? Because from where I’m standing, you’re calling me and everyone else a fucking criminal. People punished for being born in Zaun. In poverty. Do you know why I was in Stillwater at 15? Or did you just read the fancy files?” Vi jeered. 

“I did read them actually. I told you I had. There was no official report given! You just… showed up.” Caitlyn said. 

“I was taken by fucking Marcus. Topside needed someone to blame for Jinx’s fucking mess! So blame me! But I didn’t do anything fucking wrong! I spent 7 years of my goddamned life in a prison cell for something I didn’t do! And Jinx didn’t either. She was just a kid. She… she was trying to help. She didn’t do a damn thing wrong either.” Vi huffed. 

“Jinx killed your dad, Vi. I think that constitutes something wrong.” Caitlyn said, reaching a hand out only to have it smacked away. 

“Jinx was 11! Her fucking bombs normally didn’t work! She was a little kid! She was only trying to help. Vander… Vander was taken by Silco, and he was… he was telling us to be brave and to leave. He’d talk with us when he got back. They had a… a thing? They were married when I was younger. Had Vitya. Then The Day of Ashes happened. Nothing was the same after that. Silco took Vik and… and ran. Never saw Silco again after that. Until the night everything snapped. I told Jinx to stay behind. It was too dangerous for her.” Vi sighed, voice shaking. 

“Mylo, Claggor, and I… we went to rescue Vander. And when we found him… he wasn’t looking great. Stab wound, black eye, and he just… kept telling us to be brave and to go home. But we got him out! And we started running and then Silco found us. I was fighting and… then Silco came at Vander… and Vander looked so sad and resigned. Then he got pushed off the walkway and… he drank the Shimmer, and then Jinx blew everything up. She was only trying to help. She was only trying to help.” Vi whispered. 

Caitlyn looked horrified. So had Jayce or at least an approximation of it.

“Where was Viktor? During all of this?” Jayce asked. 

“Vik… Vik was there. But he was crying and crying and begging them both to stop fighting. He tried to help us free Vander. His papa. But Viktor… Viktor broke that night watching Vander die. He was so quiet. He didn’t even cry. Something like… rewired him that night.” Vi huffed, pushing Caitlyn’s hand away again. 

“See, one of the good ones! He was trying to help!” Jayce chuffed, voice rumbling with pride. 

“Be so fucking serious right now. Viktor lived most of his days in his own head. Talking to the monsters, to the things that told him to try killing himself. Look, Vik changed at some point. He got better. But you aren’t getting it. Viktor is only a good person when he’s medicated. But even when he isn’t, he’s still someone. That someone is just obsessed with dying and trying to stab himself in front of little girls.” Vi grimaced at the memory. 

“What are you on about? Viktor has never been mentally unstable in the time I’ve known him. He’s the smartest damn person in the room.” Jayce said. 

“Cause he’s medicated so heavily he can’t think about dying. Vander told me that Viktor was… trapped in a cage he designed himself. That his intelligence was a way to cope.” 

“He’s never taken any medicine I’ve seen.” Caitlyn added, rather unhelpfully. 

“Probably at his place, or worse, he’s off his meds. Let me tell you both a story about a 17 year old Viktor.” Vi began. 

“Picture it. Regular day at the bar, Powpow is working on some dinky ass boat she found in the caves, and I’m there watching her take it apart. And in comes Vitya. Losing his shit. His equations weren’t working. Then he sees powpow with this stupid piece of shit boat. And you know what he does? He has a complete freak out. Screaming about how he isn’t there anymore. Couldn’t be hurt. Then he keeps spiraling. I’m trying to calm him down. Do you know how scary that shit is as a fucking 9 year old? Oh wait. We’re all criminals so you don’t! But then he finds the fucking kitchen knife and tries to stab himself with the fucking thing. Vander is there and is wrestling with the fucking cripple and he’s just screaming. And crying. And begging. Begging to let him fucking kill himself. Vitya had to be fucking sedated to calm his ass down.” Vi pants. 

Jayce and Caitlyn have a look of surprise and horror on their faces. Jayce once again wears something… practiced. Like he studied it. 

“That was the last memory I have of him. He… he never saw us anymore. His weekend visits would come and go. He holed himself up the entire time. He couldn’t even look at us anymore.” Vi says with a sniffle. 

“Why… why wouldn’t he look at you guys anymore?” Caitlyn asks. 

“Fuck if I know, Caitlyn! Guilt? Fear? A stern talking to? A warning to stay away from us? I don’t have a damn clue. Plus, it isn’t your gods damned business, so by Janna’s tits, leave it the fuck alone. Viktor isn’t coming back. Make your peace with it and let go.” Vi muttered, stalking off. 

Jayce’s legs gave out from under him and he just… collapsed on the street and cried, he really fucked this over. Viktor left because of him. So now, Jayce had to get him back. Apologize properly. Beg and grovel. In the morning, he had a meeting with Silco. He just… needed to have a cry in the middle of an alley first. It was disgusting to Jayce. He lost control of the variable. 

Eventually Caitlyn got him up and back to his apartment, and he just collapsed on his floor in the living room and slept there. Morning came far too early, but he got up and dragged himself to the bridge. 

Silco arrived a few moments after, dressed sharply, and with murder in his eyes? Eye? Jayce wasn’t sure. Silco made him feel small despite the small height difference. 

“Perfect place for an ambush. And you without your hammer.” Silco says. 

“I was reminded recently of what brought us together in the first place, the threats beyond our walls.” Jayce says with some rasp to his voice. 

“The city has a short memory.” Silco drawls. 

“Progress.” is all Jayce can muster out. 

“Far be it for me to stand in the way.” Silco spits out, gingerly taking out a piece of paper and pressing it into Jayce’s chest. Jayce read it over in a flurry of motion.

“Free trade routes? Blanket amnesty? Unrestricted access to the hexgates? Sovereignty? D-Do you really think you’re in a position to demand all this?” Jayce asked, incredulity seeping through his tone like sepsis through bone. 

“I’ll give you credit for your stunt, boy. I didn’t think you had the stomach. But the big display followed by a request for parley? You’re tipping your hand. You’re afraid.” Silco says, sounding all too predatory and knowing. 

“I am afraid. Yesterday I got a glimpse of what war between us might look like. Your people wouldn’t stand a chance. The council couldn’t care less. I’m trying to save you from annihilation.” Jayce says with a certainty that hasn’t reared its head in a while. 

“Well well. Not the fresh faced academy pledge, are you? You want peace? This is the price.” Silco rumbles back. 

Jayce lets out a soft sigh through his nose. “You’ll discontinue the production of shimmer?” 

“Half there already.” 

“Return the gemstone?” 

Silco doesn’t reply. Just stares at him with contempt in his eyes. 

“And I’ll need Jinx and Viktor. She has to pay for what she’s done, and I need my partner back.” 

Silco's façade cracks just a hair. Eyes widening, looking askance. 

“They weren’t her crimes. She was working for me. As for Viktor, haven’t you done enough already?” Silco asks coolly. 

“Believe me, if I had it my way, it’d be you rotting in Stillwater. But we can’t make a deal with a snake and cut off its head. As for Viktor, he’s being sensitive. I didn’t mean it like that. We both have our shitty parts to play. Get me Jinx and Viktor, and I’ll give you your nation of zaun.” Jayce replied flippantly. 

That stoked Silco’s ire. But Jayce shoved the paper into Silco’s chest and walked off. 

Silco trekked back beneath the earth in layers carefully peeled away from the mining operations. He sat in front of the statue of Vander, taking a heavy drink of his flask.

“A thousand times I’ve imagined this moment. Never like this. All we ever wanted! The boy didn’t even haggle! And what do I lose but problems? Oh it all makes sense now lover.” Silco says shakily as he pours a drink out for his husband and takes another swig of his alcohol. 

“Is there anything so undoing as a daughter and son?” Silco asked the winds. 

Jinx hopped down next to her dad and lay in his lap. 

Silco didn’t startle and ran a hand through her hair. “I miss him… a lot. ‘M sorry I killed him…” Jinx whispered. 

“My little demolition, what are you talking about? Who said that?” 

“Vitya… he’s having a hard time. He found the boat again. He smashed it this time… said I murdered his papa… I didn’t mean to! I was only trying to help!” Jinx cried. Silco thumbed the tears away.

“Don’t cry, you’re perfect. I will talk to Vitya. He’s just… readjusting to his medication.” Silco said. 

“Oh… why’d he stop it?” Jinx asks. 

“I suppose the same reason you stopped yours. You’re 18, Jinx. What are you gonna do when I keel over and die, hmn?” Silco asked, squishing her cheek. 

“I’m gonna stuff you in a jar and launch you into the sun!” She giggled tugging at his shirt. 

“Good girl. Alright, enough of this. Let’s walk back. I need to talk to Vitya and you have… biodesigns? to work on. Also, the timelines are moving up. How would you feel about testing your weapon tonight?” Silco asked, grinning. 

Jinx immediately hopped up and started talking a mile a minute about this… Fishbones she’d been working on. A missile compelled by magic. Silco was fascinated. He didn’t deign to hide his smile while she rambled excitedly about this weapon she’d created. 

When the two got back, Viktor was heaving heavily over the bar, venom in his facial expression. Sevika just looked at her boss and shook her head. 

“Be! Quiet! He didn’t mean it like that! He was just talking out of his ass like he always does!” Viktor growled, reassembling the boat, hands trembling and tears streaming down his face. 

“Vitya?” Silco asked. 

Viktor looked up from reassembling the boat from his childhood. “Tata! Jinx! Oh, Jinx I- I am sorry for earlier! Look! I’m… I’m fixing it! See!” And there was a crazed desperation in his eyes. 

“It’s okay Vitya! C’mon! Take a break! I can make Naph a new hat!” Jinx grinned a little manically. Viktor let a sob escape his throat. 

“N-no! I’m working! I need to apologize and make it right! So I don’t scare you again!” Viktor sobbed, covering his mouth with his hand. 

“Yalready did! Buuuuuuuut I forgive you! So c’mon! Naph and Mr. Bun need to catch up and gossip!” Jinx laughed excitedly. 

Viktor looked at the boat and at Jinx and made a pained sound. A whine. Like he was deliberating between the two. 

“Vitya. Go, take a break. It will be here when you get back. It will not be touched. Then when you are done, we need to talk.” Silco sighed. 

Viktor whimpered but nodded, he let himself be pulled by Jinx up the steps to their bedroom. 

“Alrighty! So! Mr. Bun heard some hot gossip! Piltover’s golden boy is gonna get the nation of Zaun its independence! But he wants us in exchange for it.” Jinx whispers conspiratorially. 

“Naph thinks that is a terrible idea and Tata wouldn’t do that.” Viktor says deadpan, wiping tears away with the heel of his palm.

“Exactly! So, Mr. Bun is saying I should blow up the council! Tonight!” Jinx giggles. 

“Naph says that’s a bad idea. Vetoed. Naph thinks Mr. Bun should take his head out of his ass and realize that diplomacy is far more civil.” Viktor huffed. 

“And Mr. Bun thinks he was there for Naph when his dad abandoned him under the bed for 7 years and shouldn’t be so quick to blow up the cannery.” Jinx hisses. 

“If I recall correctly, you blew up the cannery because you’re a little psycho!” Viktor yelled. 

“At least I didn’t try stabbing myself in front of a 5 year old!” Jinx shot back, grappling him and ripping his shirt sleeve, exposing his Shimmer tattoos.

“At least I’m not on father number three!” Viktor said, yanking her braid and getting a hand over her mouth, which prompted her licking his palm. He revoked his hand. Gross. 

“Well at least I never went traitor! I didn’t abandon my family! I didn’t pick the wrong partner!” Jinx snapped, tackling Viktor to the ground and giving him an elbow to the face. 

Viktor yelled and smacked Jinx on the head with his crutch. Very hard he might add. 

Jinx started wailing and crying. Viktor immediately wrapped her in a hug and held her very tightly to his chest. “I’m sorry! Please don’t cry! Please? I- I have more hexgems! Please stop crying! I’ll do anything you want!” Viktor hoarsed out. 

Jinx kept crying. Sevika and Silco stepped into the room and simply… surveyed. Silco just sighed and apologized to his liver and to Vander for all the drinking he was doing later. 

Silco picked up Jinx and let Viktor put his head in Silco’s lap when he sat on the bed. 

“What happened? It wasn’t even 3 minutes! I was working on lunch! Then we hear the two of you fighting! Fighting! Like children! One of you is 30!” Silco sighed with exasperation, pinching his nose bridge. 

“Jinx started it!” Viktor rasped out. 

“Nu-uh! You’re the one who hit me with his stupid piltie traitor doodad!” Jinx whined. 

“It is a crutch! Handmade!” Viktor whined back. 

“It’s stupid and I hope you get mugged!” Jinx shot back. 

“And I hope you blow yourself up!” Viktor sniped. 

“Well I hope-“ 

“ENOUGH!” Sevika roared. “Enough with the hoping! I hope you both shut the fuck up for 5 seconds!” Sevika groaned. 

The two both let out a harumph. Silco gave an appreciative nod. 

“Jinx goes first. Jinx, what happened?” Silco asked, ignoring Viktor’s affronted expression. 

“We were just… playing around. Then Viktor got on his stupid piltie high horse about diplomacy and said I’m on father figure number three!” Jinx whined. 

“Vitya!” Silco snapped. 

“Am I wrong? You killed her biological father, she killed my biological father, and now she’s on figure number three! Tell me I am wrong! Oh, and she was eavesdropping, again!” Viktor defended. 

Silco shoved his sons head out of his lap. “Go. Out in the hall.” Silco hisses. Silco watches hurt, anger, and then misery cross his sons eyes. 

He wants to call out to his son, apologize, but Viktor’s ire doesn’t let him as his son glares down at him. Silco was going to drink a Kiramman wine bottle tonight and top it off with some high shelf vodka. 

Viktor limped into the hallway with a scowl on his face. 

Sevika trailed out after to keep an eye on him. 

“Bombadier, I think you’ve mastered the stealth aspect of stalking. But, you shouldn’t have been listening to that conversation. It’s rude to eavesdrop. And telling Viktor about a particularly upsetting topic? That’s unfair. Now, go work on your prototypes and leave your brother alone. Just… just for the afternoon, okay?” Silco sighs. 

“Okie dokie, bossman! Also I was going through Vitya’s stuff earlier and he has Shimmer!” Jinx chortles, pushing out of the room and past Viktor. 

Silco feels his blood boil. He knows Jinx was only attempting to help, but Janna’s tits! A conversation for later. He calls for Sevika to send in Viktor. 

Viktor sat in his desk chair, looking past Silco. At something that isn’t there. 

“Vitya.” Silco starts. 

“What I said wasn’t kind, and I should be nicer to her because she’s younger and you’re sorry I’m having a rough time but that doesn’t excuse what I said or did?” Viktor guessed with terrifying accuracy. Was he really that much of a broken record? 

“Good. So you’re aware. But I shouldn’t have to continue parenting you both in your adult lives!” Silco groans. 

“Then you shouldn’t have let papa stick his dick in deranged if you didn’t want a psycho, cripple, fuck up as a son!” Viktor shouted, hands flying over his mouth, apologies tumbling out. 

Silco appeared like he had been struck. He looked directly in his sons eyes, and pulled Viktor to his feet. He ignored his son’s flinching and apologies, fury stoked at his tongue and heart. 

“Sevika, grab his things. Take him to the safe house.” Silco growled. 

Sevika only nodded as she disappeared and reappeared with Viktor’s belongings. “Let’s go, Viktor.” She said with a malicious smile, grabbing him by the wrist and leading him away. 

“No! Please, I'm sorry! I didn’t mean it! I don’t want to go! Please! I’m sorry!” Viktor babbled through tears. “Tata!” He sobbed down the halls. 

By the time the two arrived at the safe house, Viktor was fully panicked and crying profusely, pacing around with agitation. Sevika left his bags by the door and locked the door from the outside. 

The safe house was where Viktor spent a majority of his time as a teenager. Locked inside with no means of getting out. Ever since he tried killing himself as a teenager in front of Jinx and Vi, this was where he spent all of his time. He hated it. It was to keep him safe, Tata had said. 

Viktor kept pacing back and forth, as the voices got louder, stronger. Mocking him for being back in a place he loathed. It was all his fault. 

There wasn’t much there. Only finger foods and his bedroom. He had a sitting area, but it was largely unused except by the means of the marks on the floor from his pacing. Viktor cried as he felt the weight of reality come down on him. 

He cut off Jayce because he was being sensitive and Jayce hadn’t meant it like that, he couldn’t have! He was his best friend and Viktor was just trencher trash. It’s reasonable for Jayce to have looked down on him. Viktor shouldn’t have gotten comfortable. His own fault. 

Then he ruined the fragile relationship with Jinx, because he could still feel Singed’s hands on him, calling him Orianna, over a stupid fucking boat he had made as a child. He terrorized her again. He was still the monster she remembered. 

Then he insulted his Tata. His Tata couldn’t deal with him anymore, only after a day, because he fucked up. He fucked everything up. He ruined it. He ruined everything. He was dying. He didn’t get to tell anyone he was dying. He was dying alone in the safe house. At least he had Naph. 

He went to retrieve the bunny from his things. There was no bunny. He left him again. Abandoned again. Left to be ravaged by time. 

Viktor cried as he threw himself against the door. Begging for someone to come let him out. He needed Naph, then he’d come back and stay here forever. He needs Naph. 

No one answered. 

__________________________________________

Silco felt tears well up as he heard the desperate pleas from his son. He knew Vitya hated that place. But he was obviously spiraling and he wasn’t like Jinx. He couldn’t give him things to work with because he’d try killing himself. 

Silco sighed miserably. He thought the deal over with Talis. Maybe Piltover had the resources for Viktor that they just… didn’t have here. So Silco wrote back to Jayce. His son… his precious son needed help. More than what he could offer. 

__________________________________________

Jayce got the letter from Sky in a hurry. 

Dear Councilor Talis; 

I hope this letter finds you where you ought to be. I am unwilling to relinquish Jinx to you. She was working for me, following my instruction. If you wish to jail me, fine. I would ask you to appoint Sevika as high councilor of Zaun upon my imprisonment. 

Regarding My Viktor, he needs psychiatric treatment. He is not well. He was born unwell, through no fault of his own. That blame lies with me as well. Working in the mines while I was pregnant with him, smoking cigars and drinking in my early pregnancy, unknowing I was pregnant, I postulate that those conditions harmed him irrevocably.

Viktor is schizophrenic. He takes medication that has been stolen from Topside, since Zaun hasn’t received a medication shipment in the last 15 years. He hasn’t taken it in an indeterminate amount of time. Viktor tries to kill himself during his episodes. It’s terrifying to see. I don’t know how he’s managed without his medication. 

But he has. And I am keeping him safe from himself for the time being, in a place he hates. If you wish to have him back, my terms remain the same, under new stipulation that you arrest me and place Viktor in psychiatric custody. 

Do that for Viktor. Not for me nor Zaun. Please respond accordingly and I will give you the key and address to Viktor if you truly are amenable to these terms.

It is as you have said, we both have our shitty parts to play. 

Silco of Zaun. 

This was the offer. He’d get Viktor back, at a cost. The cost of Viktor’s reputation. People would question why Jayce worked with a schizo. But Viktor was perfect in all his imperfections. This one just needed some medical tweaking. Jayce could generously afford it. He’d get Viktor back and he’d stop working for the council and devote all his time to the lab, to his partner. The condition of Viktor going inpatient though? That wouldn’t be fulfilled. Viktor would hate it. Hate him. Privatized care would be better. 

Jayce wrote back with his deceptive acceptance and handed it to Sky and told her to take the rest of the day off. 

Jayce Talis was done with politics and hopelessly devoted to Viktor. 

The second in command to Silco came up hours later. With Silco and with a slip of paper. She looked worn down. 

Jayce hadn’t expected such a quick response. But he is keen on it. 

“Keep my son safe. Do that for him.” Is all Silco said as he handed himself over to the authorities, led away in an incredibly fragile peace. 

Jayce instructed them to keep Silco in solitary for his own safety and if they failed to comply, Jayce would have their jobs, houses, and possibly families on the line. 

That threat seemed to terrify them all into submission. Sevika, he had learned her name was, handed over the slip of paper with an honest to gods scowl. 

Jayce reads the address and finds the key stuck to the page with a small amount of adhesive. 

“You’re going to continue hurting him, even when you don’t intend to.” Sevika stated, like it was a fact. Somehow it felt like a curse was being placed upon him. 

“And I will always apologize and make it right. Because I never want to hurt him again. After this motion goes through, I’m stepping down.” Jayce hums, fiddling with the key. 

“This isn’t a matter of wants. This is a matter of what you do. Viktor is an incredibly fragile man, with a brilliant mind and shattered psyche. He needs his meds and he needs someone who won’t harm him anymore than he has been.” Sevika says with a glower. 

“I assure you, all of my time will be devoted to him. No more stupid mistakes, no more slips of the tongue, and no more harm will come to him. I swear on my fathers grave, Councilor.” Jayce postures up to the woman. 

“You’re not sending him to the psychiatric facility, are you?” Sevika deduced all too soon. 

“Viktor would hate it and by extension me. I still intend to fulfill the means of agreement. Privatized care, around the clock.” 

“With you as his nurse?” Sevika all but mocks. 

“Ha! No. An actual psychiatric doctor who will evaluate, care for, and monitor him and report back to me.” Jayce grins surreptitiously. 

“And where will he live? He can’t be left alone. Not even for a second without locking or taking things away. He has tried killing himself with a spoon.” 

“With me, of course.” 

“Then you better get someone to lock away everything you own.” Sevika hisses and walks away. 

Jayce hums for a while lost in thought as he walks home and begins hiding things. Things that are dangerous to Viktor. Eventually he gets things to a point he feels certain that Viktor can’t hurt himself at all. And Jayce can restrain him if need be. 

He pens a note to a renowned psychiatrist within the city, offering a salary that’s nothing to sneeze at, for private round the clock care for Viktor. He receives a timely and prompt response accepting the position. He makes up the second guest room. 

Jayce hums a happy tune as he walks into the undercity, following the crude little map drawn on it. He eventually comes up to the house with a little bunny doll hanging off the door handle in a little bag.

Jayce takes it and holds onto it. He unlocks the door and goes to open it. 

The door refuses to open. 

Jayce sighs. “Viktor? Can you let me open the door?” He asks, voice soft. 

The door gives way, just a hair. But that’s all he needs. He manages to pry the door open and sees Viktor in a crumpled heap on the floor. 

Jayce sits down next to him. “Viktor. I am so sorry I said what I did. I never should have said or insinuated anything like that. I truly am so sorry.” Jayce sighs. 

Viktor looks up at him, tear stained eyes shining with something darker. “Shut up! Shut up! He’s not just saying that! He isn’t groveling! He’s genuine! He has to mean it! He came to get me!” Viktor mumbles. 

“V, they’re not real. They can’t harm you. But they might have a point that I’m groveling a little. Because that’s just how bad I feel, cielito.” Jayce murmurs. 

Viktor starts sobbing and thrashing his head into the wall. Jayce immediately puts up a hand behind his head and Viktor screams. 

It’s hauntingly beautiful to Jayce. But he doesn’t vocalize that. Viktor stops screaming when he catches sight of the bunny doll. Viktor immediately lunges for the toy and curls around it with soft utterances of how sorry he is that he left him.

“Care to introduce me, cariño?” Jayce asks. 

Viktor hums. “This is Naph. He’s the last gift I have from my Papa. They stopped giving me stuff after I got diagnosed.” Viktor mumbles, smoothing down the ears on the toy. 

“Why’d they do that?” 

“Tried killing myself with them.” 

“Why not with Naph?” 

“Makes the voices go ‘way.” 

“Then it’s important we hold onto him. Vik, how long have you been off your medication?” Jayce asks. 

“Mngh. 5 years? Didn’t need it anymore. Had you and science. Things made sense.” Viktor shrugs, continuing to fiddle with the plush. 

“You’ll always have me, angelito.” Jayce says with a smile. 

“Not anymore. You have Mel and the Council. Don’t need some crippled sumprat.” Viktor pouts. 

“V, is that really what you think? I’ve been miserable without you.” Jayce says with a conviction. 

“Then why did you call everyone I love dangerous?” He asks in a small voice. The ‘why did you call me dangerous?’ went unspoken.

“Because I’m fucking stupid and don’t think before I speak.” Jayce laughs. 

Viktor nods. “You don’t. That is true.” 

Jayce lets out a small snort. “I canceled your lease. You’re gonna move in with me. Partners.” 

Viktor groans, placing his head on the bunny’s velvet tummy. “I’m so stupid. I overreacted. I’m being sensitive.” Viktor moans miserably. 

“It’s okay. I was the one who fucked up anyways.” Jayce hums, clapping a hand on Viktor’s back. 

Viktor let out a pitiful whine and lay his head on Jayce’s shoulder. “I was unfair to you. I need to apologize to my Tata and sister.” Viktor mumbled. 

“I’m afraid neither of those things will be accomplished, cariño. They’re both in Stillwater.” Jayce mumbled into fluffy hair. 

Viktor’s body wound up into something tight and he let out soft whimpers that morphed into loud sobs. Viktor tried to hit Jayce and yell at him. Beg him for answers. But before he could even get a hit in, his wrist was caught. 

“Aye coño. None of that. They’re both criminals. Silco went voluntarily if that makes it better. It was part of his deal actually. Jinx… she wasn’t part of the deal but she needed to pay for her crimes.” Jayce says in earnest and sympathetically. 

Viktor ripped his hand back and pressed himself against a wall, trying to get away from Jayce. But magnetized nonetheless. His gaze stuck in a horrific orbit. 

“They’re my family, Jayce! I need them! Please! I didn’t even tell them I was dying!” Viktor sobs. 

Jayce feigns something akin to sympathy and weariness, yet he couldn’t bring the full emotion to fruition. 

“I’m sorry, bebecito. It’s for the best. But you can still pen them letters. I’ll even help. Deliver them personally.” Jayce says with a gentle, practiced smile. 

It does little to soothe or even comfort Viktor. Viktor curls in on himself and slams his hands against his head, to a degree Jayce finds himself actually growing concerned. 

Jayce eventually grabs hold of Viktor’s bird-like wrists and tenses his hands around them firmly. 

“No. None of that. No hurting yourself, hmm?” Jayce says with gentle concern. 

“I want to go home.” Viktor muttered trying to pull his wrists back, to no avail. 

“Where’s home amorcito?” Jayce asks, it’s a challenge really. 

“In the pilt.” Viktor mutters, voice low and something indecipherable. 

“Wrong. Home is in Piltover. With me, sky, and cait.” He declares, pulling Viktor close to his chest. 

“Piltover was never my home. Only the confines of a gilded cage. Home is with Papa and Tata. With Jinx. Are you my home, Jayce?” Viktor asks, eyes clouding over, something unrepentant worming its way through the surface. 

“If you want me to be. I can be whatever you need me to be.” Jayce reassures. 

“I need you to be my home, Jayce. But how can you be when you’ve imprisoned my family?” Viktor asks. Like he’s trying to solve a puzzle. 

“Vik… he wanted to go to prison.” Jayce tries. 

“I understand that. What I do not understand however is why you arrested my sister, when she was not part of the deal. Tata kept her out of it. Either you lied to my Tata, or you lied to me. One will have more consequence than the other, Jaycetopher.” Viktor said, yanking his hands away. 

Jayce swallowed audibly. This was not the way he planned to be found out. He never could lie to Viktor though. 

“Jaycetopher? You’re really that mad at me, V?” Jayce tries to deflect. 

Viktor doesn’t say anything as he grabs his bag and pulls a vial of Shimmer out. 

“This, Jayce, is Shimmer. It’s a lethal dose in this amount. Tell me, what would happen if I poured the whole thing down your throat? Down mine?” Viktor asks, golden eyes glistening with madness. 

“V, where did you get that?” Jayce asks, slightly panicked. 

“I told you I knew someone. This was supposed to be the answer to our quandary. Cross magic and science! But then you insulted me. My friends, my family. So Jayce, did you lie to my Tata or did you lie to me? The answer will be the variable, and us the constants. I will either kill you, or myself.” Viktor smiled, like he had when they were floating all those years ago. 

“Vik- You don’t mean that! C’mon, cariño. Put it down and we- we can talk! Like old times!” Jayce pleads. He doesn’t want Viktor to kill himself. 

“Me or Tata, Jayce? Who did you lie to?” Viktor asks impatiently. Hold the vial close to his mouth, thumb poised to open it. Jayce panicked. His control slipping again, markedly faster this time. 

“You! Janna Vik! I lied to you! Please forgive me! It was cruel! I just want you!” Jayce yelped. It was unbecoming of him. But everything was falling out of his control and into a ravine. 

Jayce however wasn’t a fast man in the moment that time stopped. Viktor flicked the cork open and drank the Shimmer. 

Jayce screamed. He wrenched the vial away a moment too late. It was nearly empty. And Jayce felt his whole world fall apart. The sickening purple lines crawled down Viktor’s throat and body. 

Viktor crumpled to the ground, and Jayce didn’t know what to do other than pick up Viktor and run. He didn’t know where he was running to. 

Then Jayce ran into Sevika. Quite literally ran into her. Her expression shattered when she saw Viktor. She decked Jayce and flung Viktor over her shoulder and ran to Singed.

Jayce recovered quickly, wiping his bloodied mouth and spits out what could be discerned as a molar then chased after her, a wild animal on the hunt. His prey all but stolen from him. 

An apex predator having stolen his meal, and unlucky for her, he was an apex hunter. He gave chase and Sevika all but ran faster, kicking down oil drums and chem barrels to block him. But he was hunting and he vaulted over the obstacles. 

“Where are you taking him?” Jayce roared. 

“To the fucker who might just have a snowballs chance in Zaun of saving this scrawny shit!” Sevika roared back. 

Jayce caught her when they reached the caves. She snarled at him and poised herself to issue another hit, but Viktor let out a moan of pain and discomfort. They both looked at him, softening. 

Jayce followed wordlessly behind. 

“Doc?! You in here?” Sevika yelled. 

“Nope! Just me!” Jinx called back, legs crossed on the desk, a smile in her voice. 

“Dammit! Where is the codgy fucker?” Sevika asks, putting Viktor on the table. 

“Visiting Orianna! Give him like… 5- VITYA!” Jinx scrambles off the desk, looking at her brother, tears welling up. 

Jayce stands between them, grasping at a scalpel, wielding it like he’s unsure. 

Jinx pulls a gun from… somewhere and aims it at his dick. 

“Get. Away. From. My. Brother.” Jinx growls. 

“No. You’re dangerous, Jinx.” Jayce hisses. 

“You’ve got it twisted, Golden Boy. I’m not dangerous. I’m efficient! But if you’re desperate to look for danger, for viciousness, he’s laying right there on that table. Dying.” Jinx giggled. 

Jayce glowered at the girl. He didn’t grace her with an answer. Singed appeared behind Jayce and wielded a syringe, and injected it into his neck. He let Jayce crumble to the ground. 

“Janna, doc!” Sevika moaned. “Is he…?” 

“Dead? No. Unconscious for the next 3-6 hours? Yes. Oh Vitya… what did you do?” The doctor asked, running hands along his neck and sides. 

“From the looks of it, took shimmer. The amount is-“ 

“Determinate. I gave him a vial for his studies. 20 units. He must have drank it all. No matter. I will reverse it. Jinx, grab me the reversal agent from the cabinet on the right, please. Bright yellow.” The doctor hums, stroking Viktor’s face. 

Jinx contemplates shooting the doctor in the head but completes her task. The way he touched Viktor made her skin crawl and her throat burn with ash and bile.

He administers the agent and Viktor jolts. Raises from the dead and claws at Singed. “Don’t fucking touch me!” Viktor screams. 

He scrambles to get off the table before collapsing against Jayce, body weak but mind alert. 

“I was supposed to die.” He grits out, stares at it like a fact in a book. 

“Viki! I’m sorry! Please don’t leave me!” Jinx cries, launching herself into his arms. 

Viktor tenses but wraps his arms around her. “Králíček, I will never leave you. But… I have something I must tell you.” He says so sadly. 

“Viki? You’re scaring me.” She states like it’s a certainty. 

“I’m sorry. But I am dying. Not in a dramatic sense. In the sense I have Lung Blight. I-I-I meant to say something last night but every- everything was falling apart and I just… I’m sorry.” He drops his head miserably, resting his forehead against hers. 

“Then we’ll make you new lungs! A-and take out the old ones and feed ‘em to the sea monsters!” Jinx cries. She’s been doing too much of that lately. Crying. Weak little Powder! You’re still a JINX! You’re gonna save him like you saved us?

“I’m not a jinx! Shut up Mylo! I am Jinx! And I’m gonna save Viki!” She musters up through her tears. 

“Mylo was always a little bitch. But it’s too late for me, bunny. It’s in the final stages. I doubt I’d survive the surgery anyway.” Viktor sighs. He’s resigned to it like a finality. 

“Nope! That’s quitters talk! And you don’t get to quit! I’m gonna fix you! It was gonna be a surprise for your birthday, but I made you a new leg! Just gotta… hack off the bad one first! Heh- and then you don’t need the stupid piltie doohickey. At least not after the 6-8 weeks of recovery and physical therapy. And lots of tea parties with Mr. Bun.” She mumbled. 

That made Viktor laugh genuinely for the first time in a few months. “I think Naph would like that. But how did you make the prosthesis work? Is it able to interface at a neural depth?” Viktor asked through chuckles. 

“In theory, yes! But I don’t know in practice! So uh… Dr. Jinx is accepting patients as long as you get rid of the piltie and come live with me and dad, ‘kay? For me?” Jinx asks gently. 

Viktor felt conflict arise within him. But then he stamped it down. “I’d like that Jinx. I promise I will stay.” He stage whispered. 

“That’s not doable, Viktor. The terms of the agreement with Jayce were Silco voluntarily turned himself in, and Jayce got you back. You legally cannot stay.” Sevika sighed. 

Viktor blinked a few times and looked at Jinx as if to ask if she knew about this. Jinx shook her head. A dangerous glint in her eyes. 

“Lefty, whaddya mean dad turned himself in voluntarily?” Jinx asked, a smile overtaking her face. 

Sevika grimaced. “Jayce originally wanted you and Viktor in exchange for Zaun. You locked away in Stillwater, Viktor in the lab. Silco… he didn’t want to lose either of you. But Piltover has better resources for Viktor. So he offered himself up as collateral. He loves you both so much. I hope you both realize that.” 

Viktor tries to hold Jinx tighter, and he can’t. Jinx launches herself out of his grasp and starts kicking Jayce until he wakes up. 

“Good! You’re awake! Deals changing, pretty boy. You’re gonna let Silco out of jail, annnnnd you get to keep all your organs on the inside! Doesn’t that sound fun!” Jinx says squatting next to Jayce. 

Jayce lets out a low pitched moan of pain and discomfort. “Th’ fuck? Deals off. G’way. Don’t vivisect me.” He mumbles sleepily. 

Viktor sighs deeply. He brings his fist down hard on Jayce’s chest, in an area he knew was still tender. From what? Not a clue. But it was tender. 

Jayce jolts and screams. “OWWUH! What the fuck? Are you insane, you little shit?” Jayce snarls. 

“Yes, actually. Glad you took the time to notice.” He states dryly. 

Jayce rubs his pec gently. “Well I have someone to fix that thank Janna.” 

“Ah. I see you had a list. Was it before or after stripping me of my autonomy?” Viktor snarks. 

“I’m- I’m not stripping you of your autonomy, cariño. This was a stipulation that your dad put up. He just never specified.” Jayce defended. 

“You cancelled my lease! My name isn’t on the official patent for the Hexgates! I’m being traded like a chess piece! Well then- pawn to E4!” Viktor yelled. 

“That’s a bold move.” Jinx snarks. 

“And predictable, Vik. For you. Pawn to C5. Anyways, I’m still tired. I’m going back to sleep.” Jayce says dismissively with a yawn. 

Jinx brought her heel down on Jayce’s chest in the tender spot. Jayce let out an animalistic scream. “Pawn to D4.” she chirps. 

“Ow! Janna! Fuck both of you! Fine! What! What do you want, you blue haired Rapunzel pirate!” Jayce barked.

“I. Want. My. Brother. So here’s your option, pretty boy, either he lives here, with me and you release our dad, or I live with Viki and I don’t blow up your precious piltie council. Tick tock!” Jinx giggled. 

“I don’t negotiate with terrorists.” Jayce says flatly. 

“Hm. You should!” And Jinx walks a few paces away and grabs an honest to gods rocket launcher. She punches in the coordinates she memorized and giggles. 

“You’re bluffing.” Jayce eggs. 

Jinx readied her finger on the trigger. She didn’t say anything. 

Jayce paled at the realization. “Fuck! Okay! Okay. Just… let’s not get hasty? I am amenable to you living with myself and Viktor. Just don’t blow anything up? Please? I can even arrange a visitation with your dad, yeah?” And Jayce kicked himself for how whiny he sounds. 

“Visitations.” Jinx corrects. 

“Visitations. I can do that. Now let’s just… put down the rocket launcher?” Jayce asks with ice rushing through his veins. 

Jinx deprograms the weapon and makes herself at home in her brother's lap, tucking her head into his throat. Viktor wraps an arm around her and hums softly. 

“I’ve got you, little bunny.” Viktor says gently, squashing his own fear down regarding harming her. 

Jayce rests his head against the cave wall and groans. “Vik? How come you never told me your dad was a drug lord?” Jayce asks with fond exasperation. 

“And how would I broach that, Jayce? ‘Hey! Just thought you should know that the man who pushed me out of his vagina is responsible for an addiction that plagues the underground!’” 

“I mean that would’ve been a start! You do realize that this could jeopardize hextech right? Our dream?” Jayce sighs, shaking his head. 

“Your dream, but yes, I was aware. Which is why I never brought it up and planned to keep it that way until you had to stick your stupid sexy face into my business!” Viktor hisses. 

“My dream?! Vik you saved me that night! You fixed my calculations and saved my life! It became our dream when you helped me make MAGIC!” 

“So you trauma bonded with me! Maybe don’t try killing yourself and utilizing dangerous materials!” Viktor spat. 

“I wasn’t in the room! I was literally locked out of it! Some little shits broke in! And trauma bonded?! That’s what we’re calling it? Like you didn’t fix my equations after seeing them once?!” Jayce moaned. 

“Oh… uh… My bad. Oopsie.” Jinx said a little quickly and awkwardly. 

Viktor raised an eyebrow at his little sister, pointedly ignoring Jayce. “Jinx? What did you do?” 

Jinx squirmed in her brother's arms. “So we got a tip from little man? And we just wanted to rob the place! Honest! But then there was a sandwich and a Valdiani and nose hair trimmers and ooh shiny rocks!” Jinx said awkwardly. 

“Jinx…” Viktor said slowly. 

“It was me, Vi, Mylo and Claggor! Vi said ‘grab anything that looks valuable!’ And ooh shiny rocks! Wellllll, they looked valuable! And then I dropped one and weeeeeellllll!! Kerplewwww! Good sandwich by the way!” She says with a nervous smile and chuckle. 

Viktor groaned and threaded his fingers through her bangs softly. “Bunny… are you telling me that you’re the reason I had the misfortune of meeting my best friend?” Viktor asked gently. 

“Hey! Misfortune? Cariño, y’can’t get enough of me!” Jayce laughed. 

“Jinx, poke his left pectoral if you wouldn’t mind.” Viktor said. 

Jinx giggled and readied her attack. Jayce screeched and grabbed her wrist before she could poke his hickey any more. 

Jinx whined childishly and wrenched her wrist back. 

“So you stole the unstable hex crystals and dropped one and then blew his apartment up. Jinx, miláček, why would you guys listen to little man? And Jayce? Why did you get conned by a 12 year old?” Viktor sighed. He made a rumbling sound in his throat. 

“Cause little man said he paid double for some piece of shit scrap. And we wanted to prove to Vander we weren’t little kids anymore.” Jinx said the last part so softly Viktor barely heard her. 

“Hey! He was a very convincing salesman.” Jayce defended weakly, earning a flat stare from Viktor. 

Viktor turns his attention back to Jinx and presses little kisses into her hair and sighs. “But you were little kids. All of you. You could’ve been arrested! Or worse! Why… why try to prove something? How many kids were rebuilding entire arcades? Or fixing carburetors? How many were building bombs that worked?” Viktor asked. 

“You knew all that?” Jinx asked. 

“Of course I did. Papa was so proud of you hooligans and all your shenanigans. He wrote me all the time about how Vi did this! Powder fixed that! Mylo fucked this up! Claggor found that! He was… so immensely proud of you all in ways I never could make him proud.” Viktor said with a small laugh. 

“Huh? Viki? Vander loved you so much! He went to your stupid innovator thing your first year at piltie prep! He… he had all the newspaper articles and magazine snippets and even the letters the fucking yordle sent! He wouldn’t shut up about you!” Jinx protested. 

“Why didn’t I see them then?” Viktor asked.

“He kept them all in a shoe box he had in the rafters. He had a shoebox for all of us actually. Dad has them now. Vander… he was private like that.” Jinx sighed. 

“And how did you find out about them?” Viktor quipped. 

“Eh. Did some digging where I shouldntabeen, the ushe.” Jinx laughed

“Ah. I see, bunny.” Viktor laughed. 

“Why d’ya call me bunny?” Jinx asked. 

“When you were a baby, you would stuff so much food into your cheeks you looked like a bunny. A deranged, adorable little bunny. And when you were learning to walk, you hopped everywhere.” Viktor smiled. 

“Huh. Why did you stop hanging out with me and Vi?” Jinx asked. 

Viktor took a deep breath and sighed. He could use a cigarette right now. “That is… a longer story. Do you remember when I went away for a month?” 

“Yeah. Yeah I do. Everything was super boring and weird and everyone was treating you like you were dead.” Jinx bemoaned. 

“Eh, legally I was, for 3 minutes. I overdosed in the bathroom. On allergy pills of all things. The… the voices… the herald… they kept telling me to kill myself and  I should harm you and Vi. That scared me so much… I never wanted to hurt you two. But myself? I could… eh, live with it so to speak.” Viktor sighed. 

Jinx nestled into her brother more, tucking herself into his arms. 

“Tata found me in the bathroom when I started screaming because I couldn’t breathe. I was panicking. I took 3 bottles of antihistamines and thought I was saving you two from me. There is a primal fear that scholars hypothesize comes from the brain stem when it comes to be deprived of oxygen.” Viktor sighs, sinking his fingers into Jinx’s hair. 

“Did you really wanna hurt us?” Jinx asked softly. 

“What? No! No! Jinx, dítě, I could never hurt you. You or Vi. I was so scared by those thoughts, I tried to kill myself. Tata had a favor he cashed in with an old friend Topside to get me medical treatment. I was… diagnosed with Schizophrenia. Tata and Papa agreed that it would be better if they kept it, me, away from you girls. So the best option was the safe house.” He sighed. 

“The safe house?” Jinx parroted. 

“It’s an abandoned house down near the fissures. Tata and Papa fixed it up. Tata would stay with me when he could. Which wasn’t often. But a friend would come by everyday to check on me, play games with me, and make sure I had my medicine.” Viktor rambled. 

“You… you were all alone Viki? That must have been so scary.” Jinx whispered, snuggled into the crook of his arm. 

“It was. It was scary. But when they were fixing it up, I was locked in my room. By my own choice. Because I was so scared I would hurt either one of you. When I was allowed out… it was peaceful. The day I saw you with that boat… it was, eh, upsetting. It brought back a lot of memories.” Viktor sighed. 

“You kept screaming that someone wasn’t there to touch you anymore.” Jinx mumbled. 

“Yes. The uh… the doctor used to give me… examinations when I was younger. Going through puberty. It was uncomfortable.” Viktor says with a grimace. 

“Oh! He gave me exams too! Said I was scrawny! Just like you!” Jinx smiled. “Oh, I wasn’t supposed to mention them. Eh heh. Whoops!”

Viktor paled. Sevika looked downright ghastly. Jayce had a wash of fury over him that no one could quite place nor understand. 

“Jinx? Miláček? Can I see your gun? I’m going to kill him.” Viktor said with barely constrained rage and enthusiasm. 

“No. None of that.” Sevika ordered. “I’m gonna kill him.” And Sevika took off, running through the cave system screaming for the doctor to stop being a coward and show his face. 

“Why’s she mad?” Jinx asked. 

Viktor ignored the question. “Jinx, zlatíčko? Did he ever and I mean ever touch you somewhere he shouldn’t have?” Viktor asked, panic taking over. 

Jinx didn’t make eye contact. Didn’t say anything, just shifted with discomfort and traced Viktor’s hand with her finger. 

For Viktor, that was confirmation enough. “Where, bunny?” 

Jinx whimpered. “He said it was normal. That he had to measure. Against the growth charts.” 

“Damn it Jinx! Where!” Jayce shouted. Jinx whimpered and dove into her brother's chest. 

That earned him a jab into the hickey from Mel. Jayce glared at Viktor. Viktor shot him a look that would make a weed wither. 

Jayce was that weed. 

Jinx whimpered again. “He said they were small… even for my growth patterns. But that was okay. Because it made me look young.” 

Viktor nodded softly and held his sister ever closer. “Bunny… that was wrong of him. He never should have done that.” Viktor soothed. 

“But he did it to you too! So… wasn’t it normal?” She asks. 

“Just because he did something to the both of us, doesn’t make it normal, or okay. It was wrong.” Viktor smiled sadly, nuzzling his sister. 

“He said it was sposed to feel good. And it didn’t a-and—“ 

“And you didn’t deserve it, Jinx. You didn’t do anything wrong. Didn’t expect to bond with you about grooming, but eh, here we are.” Viktor tried to joke. 

Jayce shot Viktor a look that would cripple societies. 

Good thing Viktor is already a cripple. 

But it had the intended effect. Jinx was laughing. The kind of laugh that made it feel like everyone was laughing with you. Viktor started laughing with her. 

Jayce was… pointedly not laughing. He looked deeply uncomfortable, actually. Like the whole preposterous nature of this situation wasn’t hilarious in some tragic way. 

“Jayce, you will not offend us if you laugh. It is a little funny, no?” Viktor asked through giggles. 

“No, Viktor, it's not funny. It’s actually really fucked up that you’re both laughing at this? This is serious. He hurt both of you! An- and you’re both just laughing at it, like it’s a joke?” Jayce exploded. 

Viktor and Jinx both sobered up at that. “Of course it’s not funny, Jayce. But the eh… nature of the situation is. Two siblings getting molested by their doct—“ 

“Don’t, Viktor. This is serious.” 

“‘Don’t Viktor this is serious!’” Jinx mocked in faux sternness, causing Viktor and Jinx to laugh again. 

Jayce groaned and tried standing on shaking legs. He did it, but woah vertigo is a bitch. “You’re both insane. Both of you! Acting like this is something that is a game or funny! I’m glad that fucker is going to be murdered. What would your father say?!” Jayce yelled. 

Jinx stood up and postured against Jayce, staring him down in all of her tiny glory. “You don’t get to decide what we find funny toots! It’s our trauma and we found it fair and square! Well, it found us, but eh. Technicalities. And well, I don’t know what he’d say because he’s in jail!” Jinx said with a smile that was too sharp at the edges. 

“Even now! You’re making jokes! I am putting both of your asses in therapy when we get topside. Maybe your therapists will find it so funny that you both end up institutionally separated and on so many meds that you can’t think straight!” Jayce growled. 

“Fuck you.” Viktor spat. 

“Oh, really? You don’t even have a leg to stand on, on a GOOD day, Viktor! Fuck me? Fuck you and your trauma bonding bullshit!” Jayce yelled. 

“At least I can admit I don’t need you as much as you clearly need me! What would you do if I left, Jayce? Would you spiral so far you’d try killing yourself again? Who would pull you back again? Who would you leech off of next?” Viktor spits, venom and acidity coating each word. 

Jayce looked as if Viktor had physically punched him. 

“You don’t mean that, Vik.” Jayce muttered, tears welling up hot and fast. 

“I don’t? Let me be clearer then. You are so codependent on me, I think your mother thinks she’s been replaced by a schizo cripple from Zaun. Do you want me to be your mommy Jaycito?” Viktor mocked. 

Jayce shook with each word, body trembling as he took shaky lamb steps towards Viktor, motions so jerky they looked like the automatons they made for projects in their downtime. Jayce slapped Viktor across the face so hard it echoed throughout the cave system. Jinx immediately tried to jump into action but was stopped by Viktor’s own jerky momentum to propel himself upwards and an outstretched hand.

Viktor growled as he stood up, propped against the wall, and punched Jayce in the hickey. It wasn’t a good punch by any stretch of the imagination, but it still caused the intended result. 

“Did I strike a nerve, Jaycito? Did big mean Viktor cross a line?” Viktor snarled. 

Jayce slapped Viktor again, tears free flowing now. “Shut the fuck up! Don’t you dare bring my mother into this!” Jayce screamed. 

“Oh, but you can bring my father into this? You need to take what you give, Talis.” 

“Your father is a fucking criminal!” 

“And your mother has blood on her hands too! Talis forge works used to be a decent employer down here until your father up and died! Then she implemented new policies and procedures. Dangerous ones! People died, Jayce! But you don’t know anything about hardship, do you! Looking down on Zaun like we are the shit you had the misfortune of stepping in!” Viktor howled. 

“Mamí didn’t make those decisions! I did!” Jayce screamed again. 

“Oh, so you have a history of making life altering decisions! Typical fucking piltie!” Viktor yelled.

“At least I’m cognizant enough to make choices for others! What can you say, Viktor?” Jayce spat. 

“That I have my autonomy not dictated by a group of people.” 

“Not for much longer. When we all get back topside, you’re both under my care, my supervision, and you both lose your control over your mental health. That includes doctors, nurses, the council. I have to report this to them. Thank Janna I have a case for insanity against you, Vik.” Jayce replied in honeyed words that sat within a barely stifled rage. 

Viktor froze. “And what are you implying, Jayce?” He asked, voice suddenly hollow in his own ears. 

“That your autonomy within Hextech is done. Your autonomy within our working relationship as we functionally know it? It’s mine now. Your ideas will be mine, your inventions will be mine, and you will be mine.” Jayce glowered. 

“So I am property. I do not like this agreement, Jayce. Jinx, we’re going. Right now.” Viktor huffed. Jayce’s eyelids drooped, sleep coming at an inopportune time. 

“Yep! Later Jayce~!” Jinx giggled, skipping over to Viktor, and letting him lean on her. Jayce felt desperation clawing its way up through his throat and lungs, like too many hands bursting through sinew and musculature. It spilled out of him. Desperate pleas and I love yous and don’t leave mes and I need yous. 

The two walked away as Jayce collapsed to the ground, sleep overtaking him again, pleas dying on his lips like supernovae explosions. 

And Viktor and Jinx? They disappeared fundamentally. They’ve been spotted in Bilgewater, Demacia, and Ixtal. Rumors purporting Viktor looking more machine than man, and Jinx being the mad scientist making new prosthesis for Viktor. 

And Jayce? He was lost to grief and overconsumed with work and trying to track them down. He’d come close a few times. He begged on hands and knees with apologies that never fit right in his mouth. Large and clunky. 

And Sevika? She used her council position to get Silco out of prison after murdering Singed. She claimed Jayce failed to maintain his end of the deal brokered with Silco. The agreement was null and void, but Sevika maintained her position as compensation. 

And Silco? He was last seen in Ixtal hot on the trail of his children, because they needed to come home. But that’s where the sighting ended. He hasn’t been seen in months since. But the latest reports of the siblings mentioned a new found sobriety between the two of them. Like they had absolutely nothing left to lose. 

Regarding Mel. She had Jayce in her bed most nights, crying about Viktor. She was also invested in finding him, if it meant she kept Jayce happy and pliant. She understands her mother a little bit better now. That they both preferred weak men. 

Vander just watched on and sighed, grumbling while cleaning a glass. 

“Felicia? What’re we gunna do ‘bout them anklebiters?” He chuffed. 

“Love them until they die, I suppose it’s all we can do, huh Sil?” She smiled, sipping her wine. 

Silco sighed and nodded, knocking back his wine. “Love them even when they make mistakes. I’m sorry I didn’t care for Powder better.” Silco mumbled.

“Silly, y’did what y’could. Heavens know we didn’t do our best with Vitya. There ain’t a blueprint for raising kids luvvy.” Vander said. 

“Wouldn’t that be the dream bozos?” Felicia laughed. 

“Oh- Oh somethin’s happenin’! Oh for fucks sake Powpow! Babygirl no don’t shoot that—! Well then. There goes their refuge in Ixtal. Wasn’t Vitya meant to be the reasonable one?” Silco guffawed. 

“Did we ever accuse himma that one, Sil?” 

“No, no, we were too busy locking him away from the world. I’m sure reason has left him since they escaped Talis over in Demacia.” Silco drawled. 

“I thought it was when he left Talis in the cave if I’m honest.” Vander snorted. 

“He did what?” Silco asked with an eyebrow raised. 

“I thought Sev told you! They had some big argument about finding their molestation trauma funny and Talis went ballistic and basically was like ‘you’re intellectual property Vik!’ Like an absolute asshole!” Felicia piped in. 

“Molestation trauma?!” Silco’s voice pitched up. 

Vander shot Felicia A Look and quickly refilled Silco’s glass to the brim with wine and left the bottle in front of him too. Silco took the bottle and drank from it. 

“Right! So! Singed? A very bad man, who did very bad things to Vik and Powpow. They’re bonding over their trauma and I think that’s the only thing keeping them together for right now, like mentally!” Felicia grits out. 

Silco takes another frantic gulp of wine and moaned. “I’m a terrible father. Vander, second death is possible, the Pilt is right over there. Drown me please? Again?” Silco muttered. 

Vander looked at Silco with panicked eyes and hopped the counter and wrapped his husband up in his arms. 

This was going to be a very long afterlife.