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But you were never broken, Viktor.
The words slice through him like a knife- the warmest, kindest knife Viktor has ever known. They pierce him deep, but it is a painfully good kind of ache.
His soul is stitching itself back together with the thread of Jayce’s words, even as they finish tearing through his gut.
It is everything he’s ever needed to hear.
And it is infinitely too late.
The world is on fire around them. Everything he’d ever worked for has fallen to rubble and dust. Corrupted. Festered.
If only Viktor hadn’t been too blind to see it.
Exhaustion settles over him like a heavy snow. He’s so tired. So very tired of everything under the sun. Of living with pain knitted deep within his marrow. Of suffering that goes hand in hand with silence, of prejudice too interwoven into society for him to cure.
His hands have made enough messes. His mind has caused enough catalysts.
He’s ready, now, to undo whichever jagged lines he has carved into this world that he can. To take back any scarring, to reverse any carnage.
It’s such a tiny gesture, in the grand scheme of things. But to remove the arcane from this timeline is the very least of which he can do.
And he intends to do it alone.
“You must go, Jayce.” He murmurs the words, resignation weighing him down like a coat of iron. He knows that Jayce can make it out of here in time- Viktor should possess enough strength to absorb the arcane on his own. And if he doesn’t, he will create the strength, anything to save Jayce, to keep the others safe, to somehow atone for his overwhelming amount of crimes-
“No.” A hand clasps down onto Viktor’s shoulder, this weight somehow not oppressive like the rest of the weight on his shoulders.
He turns to find Jayce’s warm eyes, his free-giving care bleeding off of him in rivulets of affection. Adoration. “We finish this, together.”
Viktor wants to argue- but then Jayce is placing the rune in his hand, is closing his fingers over Viktor’s own- and a strength unlike any Viktor has felt before is coursing through him, and oh. How could Viktor have ever hoped to accomplish this on his own?
How could he ever expected to achieve anything without Jayce there beside him? To amount to anything, without his partner at his side?
Energy rushes to meet them as they call it close, the whole of the arcane converging down on them, racing towards them like they are a black hole, a drain unplugged in an overflowed sink.
It burns, sets every nerve of Viktor’s on fire- but still he holds on, as memories and scenes flash around him, past regrets and long forgotten joys weaving their way through the chaos. Sparks of lights, urging Viktor and Jayce along.
He sees Jayce in everything. He is all around him, encompassing him here at the end. Flashes of his smile, from the first night they’d met- casual touches that burned Viktor like a hot iron- gentle words and simple praises, careful looks and longing glances-
Viktor blinks as it swarms him, his eyes filling with unshed tears as he levels his gaze with Jayce’s own. Something bubbles up in his throat, feelings that he’d longed to express for many months- but had never found the words to voice.
“I love you, Jayce.” The admission hits him like an arrow through the heart, his most hidden parts laid bare for Jayce. “And for everything but that, I am truly sorry.”
Jayce chokes on a laugh, a single tear sliding down his perfect face. “I love you too, Vik.” He presses their foreheads together, the pressure around them growing into something too big to contain, something too powerful to withstand. “And I’m sorry for never saying it sooner.”
Viktor laughs, his ribs aching at the motion. Like his muscles are being ripped to shreds, his lungs caving in on themselves. “We both know it would not have prevented this.”
Jayce smiles in response, the expression so soft that Viktor fears he may fade too soon. “No. No, it wouldn’t have.” Jayce gentle rests his forehead against Viktor’s own. “But I’m sorry all the same.”
Viktor leans in then, ignoring the shrieking in his ears, the fire in his skin, the ice in his veins- he ignores it all as he presses his lips into Jayce’s, his mouth gently coaxing his open.
If the world is to end, then this is how Viktor should like for it to go.
Everything crashes and burns around them, but for this moment, Viktor feels untouchable. As power flows into their clasped hands, Viktor’s mouth slides against Jayce’s, a shudder passing through him as their tongues brush, as Jayce softly nips at his lower lip.
It feels like touching starlight. Like swimming in the sun. It feels like dragging his hand along a broken mirror, like plunging his body into a toxic cesspool.
In other words- it feels like touching magic.
You were never broken, Viktor.
He thinks he might believe it now. How can he be broken, when Jayce is here to make him whole?
I love you, he thinks, his heart cleaving in two. You were all there ever was for me.
He feels the moment that they start to fade. The pain becomes more tolerable, his corporeal form less tangible.
He keeps his lips sealed over Jayce’s as his world fades not to black- but first to every color conceivable.
He takes a breath in.
Pulls Jayce a little closer.
And then, like a leaf fluttering away on a breeze, like a raindrop rolling down a slicked pane of glass-
They are gone.
——
Viktor opens his eyes to starlight.
It shines like firelights, little pinpricks that glimmer all around him, ribbons of light lacing through like the northern lights.
He hardly notices the splendor of it all. Instead, his eyes are trained on a figure that stands just before him- the center of his universe, the brilliant sun to Viktor’s shadowed moon.
The figure opens their eyes, surprise alight on their face, before a warm smile overtakes it-
“Jayce.”