Chapter Text
You all arrive at their laboratory. Jayce opens the door, and you’re greeted with a now familiar sight, although the room looks much better illuminated with sunlight. Metal pipes bracket the ceiling, running down the walls and into the floor. Large tomes, worn with time and use, decorate the many shelves.
“Wow it’s so…” You begin.
“Messy?” Jayce jokes.
“No, it’s beautiful. I’ve always dreamed of a lab space like this,” you say, looking around and cautiously stepping over papers.
“You have?”/“You’re a scientist?” Viktor and Jayce speak at the same time.
“Yeah, I’m studying microbiology.”
“What’s that?” Jayce asks, curious.
“Oh, you know, like bacteria and germs and whatnot.” You wave a hand vaguely.
“What are those?” His eyes are big and shining, which would be endearing if the things he’s saying weren’t literally horrifying.
You shoot him a semi-crazed look. “…Are you telling me germ theory doesn’t exist here? You guys don’t know about bacteria??”
The other two scientists shake their heads slowly.
“Oh wow. I guess I forgot how different this world is from mine.” You blink, trying to clear away your disbelief. “Is there a library nearby? If it’s alright with you two, I’d like to visit it. Maybe I can get a better grasp on the nuances of this world.”
Viktor looks thoughtful. “That would be doable. We should probably visit anyways to get a fresh perspective on our research.”
As you stand in the middle of the room, taking everything in, you spot the runes you had seen in your dream. Your eyes light up, and you bound over.
“What does this one mean?”
“That’s the rune of precision. From left to right are the runes of sorcery, domination, and resolve.”
“From what I gathered, the runes act like a code or a language to basically tell the magic what to do?”
“Ehh…Essentially.” Viktor shrugged one shoulder. “But we haven’t been able to use them effectively with the arcane crystals, and we don’t know why.”
”Well, no complicated command that I’ve ever heard had only 4 words,” you comment. “Where’s the rest of them?”
“What do you mean?” Jayce chimes in.
“The other “words,” do you know any more?”
“No, we don’t…” He scratched the back of his neck awkwardly.
“Well,” you said, turning back towards the board, “if you know some of them, you can ostensibly create new ones. We just need to figure out the rules. It’s clearly a symbolic language as opposed to a phonetic one, so we should start by studying the shape of the runes.”
“Wha- how do you know how to do this?” Jayce questions. Viktor looks confused as well.
“I double majored in biology and linguistics in undergraduate university.” You see their dumbfounded expressions. “Oh, that is, I studied the sciences of living things and languages. Plus, I love to find patterns.”
“…Well damn.” Jayce says after a moment of silence. “You might be able to crack this thing,” he exhales, thoughtfully. “Do you want to join us in our research for real?”
You give him a toothy grin. “S’not like I have anything else going on at the moment, sure.”
You reach out two hands.
They glance at them.
“C’mon, let’s shake on it.” You insist. As you cheerfully initiate a weird three-way handshake, you feel a rush of…contentment overtake you. They both shake your hands, squeezing gently. You pull back a touch too quickly, and hope that they don’t notice. That was weird, you think, rubbing your wrist.
Suddenly, the weight of your decision barrels into you. “Oh wait- So…I technically can help you with this. BUT the invention of this technology leads to some pretty drastic repercussions, so I will, but only on one condition.”
“I’m only agreeing to do this because I believe this creation can improve the lives of those in both Piltover and Zaun. If for a second I think that either of you would rather use it for political clout or to create weapons of mass destruction, I’m out.”
You hesitate, “I’ve seen the consequences play out before, and what little I know about your fates is not pretty. I don’t want anyone to suffer anymore, including the two of you.” With fire in your eyes, you stare them down.
After a beat, Viktor responds; “I think you’ll find that we share the very same values. It will be no trouble to abide by that rule.”
Awesome, that was easier than I thought. “Great, when can we get started?” You ask, eagerness returning.
Jayce looks out the window at the slowly setting sun and realizes suddenly how late it is, and after all the running around they did today, he is exhausted.
“Why don’t we pick this up again tomorrow? It’s getting late.” He yawns.
You, on the other hand, are wide awake. It must be a form of jet lag from the apparent time difference.
You pipe up; “Would it be alright with you two if I stayed up to continue looking at your research? I want to try and glean what I can from what you’ve already discovered.”
“You’re not tired?”
“Nope. When I went through the fountain it was early in the morning, so my body probably thinks it’s midday.”
A beat of silence.
“Don’t worry! I’m not gonna rob you guys blind or anything, I’m just gonna take notes of my own.” You say cheerfully, hoping they’ll grant you this.
They look at each other, having a silent conversation.
You sigh; “If you can’t trust me based on our interactions so far, at least trust the fact that it would be completely stupid for me to betray the only two people in this world who I have contact with and won’t throw me into a mental asylum for claiming that I’m from a different dimension.”
“That’s a valid argument.” Jayce admits, and nods slowly. “Okay, I’m alright with it. Viktor? What do you say?”
“I’m okay with it as well.” He turns to appraise you. “I am eager to see what progress you make.”
You breathe, growing nervous. “Don’t count your chickens just yet…Er, that is, that means to not-” You stumble over your words trying to explain the idiom, until Viktor simply chuckles.
He looks into your eyes. “That saying is one we are already familiar with, do not fret. And do not worry, any amount of headway you make will be greatly appreciated.” His amber irises shine as he reassures you, and you only hope that the warmth in your cheeks isn’t reflective of your actual appearance.
You groan in your head. Stop being so nice to me or I swear I’ll kiss you. KICK. KICK you…r ass. Fuck.
Before you can thank him, he points behind you. “That is a bathroom that you may use, and in the corner there is a couch you may sleep on if you find yourself getting tired.”
“Oh!” You take a look at the amenities, and are pleased to find a fully stocked bathroom with a shower, and a large, comfortable-looking couch. “Ugh, this really is the lab of my dreams! All I’d need is a wet lab setup…” You muse to yourself, fantasizing about fume hoods and microscopes.
You continue muttering to yourself, temporarily forgetting about the two others in the room. They watch you from across the room as you take cursory measurements of the empty spaces in the room and plot to install your own equipment.
Jayce is looking at you thoughtfully. “I kind of can’t believe how well she’s adapting to our world. If I were her, I’d be freaking out about leaving everything behind.”
Viktor is staring at you, looking pensive. “The only reason it was so easy for me to leave Zaun behind is because I no longer had any…personal attachments. I had nothing and no one to lose.” He turns to Jayce, trying to mask his feelings. The pain of losing his parents and having no close friends in young adulthood is one he has spent much time deconstructing, and while he has made great progress, it still feels like a knife.
Viktor’s gaze is empathetic as he considers it. “Perhaps her situation is not dissimilar to my own,” he finishes.
Jayce sucks in a quiet breath. You’ve seemed in good spirits all day, so he never considered such a possibility, but he immediately senses some truth in Viktor’s conclusions, premature though they may be.
“She knows so much about us, but we don’t know anything about her.” Jayce murmurs.
Viktor nods his head in agreement, but replies thoughtfully; “And yet, I have the feeling that we will.”
They think to themselves, evaluating different strategies of connecting with you. In the background, you hop onto the couch, testing its firmness. A faint sensation on the back of your neck causes you to look up and around. Hm, you think, must be a draft, and continue to get comfortable, completely oblivious to the developing plot.