Viktor's days in Spirale grew lonelier the more time passed.
Not for the lack of people - no, Viktor was making many new connections, the likes of which he wasn't used to. In a place where you are entirely alone, you often had to be the one to reach out, to ask questions, to make conversation. His introverted tendencies had become a thing of the past during the creation of his commune, at the very least when it came to approaching others and beginning conversation.
He isn't sure if the previous version of himself would have been able to do this, to meet all these people and establish connections, weak as they are now. He's thankful for them. But when company took its leave, the loneliness, the silence, all settled in again. He couldn't hear Sky in his thoughts anymore, and he missed her, the way she always matched his ideas with those of her own, a excellent example of intelligent collaboration. She filled the hole in his heart that leaving Jayce had left behind.
Now he didn't have Sky, he didn't have his commune, and he didn't have Jayce.
As he approaches the site of his origins here, the large hole in Spirale, a deep sense of melancholy settles into where his heart used to be. Without the commune, without Sky and the hexcore, he began to miss Jayce, their conversations, the way he would rest his hand on the spot between his shoulders when he came over to see what he was doing. He missed their friendship, their partnership.
Even if he had been the one to end it.
He's distracted in his reverie, and only notices that someone new has arrived in Spirale by the sounds they make as they awaken. The herald raises his head, his eyes immediately widening as he can't believe who he sees there. It couldn't be.
Jayce.
Something in his chest seizes at the very sight of him. This wasn't the Jayce he'd left behind in Runeterra, the one who had clearly been through something terrible. Viktor hadn't gotten the chance to ask him before Jayce had raised his hammer before him and dealt the terminal blow that brought him here. This was Jayce as he'd left him - it was affection that held us together, he'd said before leaving him with a simple goodbye, as if leaving him were the easiest thing in the world. In fact, it was one of the hardest things he'd ever done. It didn't make sense, and yet it made all the sense in the world. Something about this place pulled people from different dimensions, different timelines, humans, creatures, animals, gods - why couldn't it pull a Jayce from his past here?
He takes a couple of careful steps forward, for a second afraid of what Jayce will think when he sees what he's become.
Jayce will understand.
His old words echo in his head, and before he knows it, he's calling out to him.
"Jayce," He speaks, an odd filter to his voice distorting the name for a moment, before it settles into one familiar to the other.
"Is that really you?"
@progress-and-science
