Mechanical heart (Viktor x OC)

31

"Elvira! Did you hear?" Aya yelled as she burst through the doors to the lab she shared with Elvira. "Hear what? I only hear your loud as yelling, when I'm trying to solve an equation," Elvira sarcastically said, without looking up from her papers.

It had been weeks since the progress days, and Elvira had spent her days sitting in her lab, trying to do anything productive, but failing. Her mind was lost in the what if's about her magic, and she fell deeper and deeper into depression. The stress on her mind and body was taking a toll on her physical state as well, as her hair was turning white. 

A rare occurrence, Aya had told her, when a young person can become so stressed that their hair turns white. And Elvira had been doing her hair in complicated braids and styles, in order to hide the white strands that were spread evenly around her head. Aya was the only one who knew. 

"Viktor's in the hospital," Aya said between her heavy breaths, as she held onto the door frame, obviously exhausted from running there. "What?" Elvira gasped as she quickly stood up from her seat, and looked at Aya in disbelief. "Yes, Jayce is at the hospital now, he's waiting for you," she explained, but Elvira was already storming past her, hurrying to get there quickly, as she didn't know the severity of the situation. She didn't know the situation at all, in fact. 

Why was he in the hospital? Did something happen? Did he have an accident? Thoughts filled her mind as she almost ran down the streets. "Hey watch where you're going!" someone yelled after Elvira after she had bumped her hip into one of the stalls selling fruits. She only turned around for a second to assess the situation, and once she made sure she didn't damage anything, she kept walking. 

After what seemed like hours of walking, she reached the hospital and found Jayce sitting by the entrance, waiting for her. "Elvira," he stood up when he saw her, a somber look on his face. "What happened?" she asked him while walking into the building, Jayce trailing behind her, struggling to keep up with her fast pace. 

"He fainted I think, while working on the hexcore," he said, and Elvira stopped and turned around. "You think?" 

"I wasn't there," he admitted, avoiding eye contact out of shame. "Where were you?" Elvira asked him, hands crossed over her chest, making Jayce feel small. "With Mel." Elvira let out a short chuckle. "You know how he's been lately! How could you be fucking her while he's struggling with his health!" Elvira asked frustrated before making her way towards the stairs.

And when Jayce started walking after her, she turned around and pointed her finger right in his face. "No. You stay here," she commanded him, and Jayce was too ashamed of his selfishness to do anything other than what she told him to do. 

Elvira walked up the stairs, thinking back on Viktor's slowly worsening condition. He had been coughing more lately, and it had bothered Elvira so much that she had forced Jayce to look after Viktor when she wasn't able to. 

She also had figured out that Viktor was avoiding her ever since getting worse, for reasons unknown to Elvira. But now that this had gotten him in the hospital, she had her suspicions. 

She found herself standing in front of the door to his room, taking deep breaths in and out, to calm her raging mind. He did not need this now. She raised her hand to knock on the door, before opening it carefully. "Viktor?" she asked as she slowly stepped into the room, looking around the dark and dull room, before her eyes landed on Viktor.

He looked pale and weak, and he struggled to keep his eyes open. "Fuck, you need to be more careful!" she scolded him as she made her way over to him, leaning over him, checking his state. "I'm fine," he assured her, but she didn't listen and kept looking over him for any damage. "Elvira," he said as he grabbed her wrist, and only then did she realize she was crying.

"You idiot, this is why you've been avoiding me!" she choked on her words, as she tried to hold back her tears. "I'm sorry," he said, his voice raspier than normal due to his coughing. "I could have healed you," she whispered, pain in her voice. She sat down in the chair next to his bed, and held her face in her hands, hiding the emotion from Viktor. 

"You would have died." Elvira leaned forward, her hair falling in front of her face, keeping it hidden from Viktor. "It doesn't matter," she sucked her emotions in, all emotion drained from her face as she looked up at Viktor. 

"How are you feeling now?" Viktor looked away from her as she spoke, not baring to watch her emotionless face, as he knew she was dying underneath the mask. He knew very well how she was feeling, ever since that day when she couldn't save the life of a child she had never met before. And now she couldn't save his life. He knew she hid it, so he wouldn't feel guilty. And he hated it. 

He wanted her to lash out. He wanted her to cry, scream, and yell. It would be better than this cold expression on her face now. "I'm feeling better. They're letting me go tomorrow." Viktor stared at the window in front of him, looking out towards the city. 

You could see the hexgate from the window, working just as he and Jayce planned for it to work. It made Viktor proud to look at, and it made him realize that he couldn't die. He had to do everything in his power to stay alive. If not for his own future, then for Elvira's sanity. 

"You should have told me," Elvira broke the silence that Viktor hadn't even noticed until now. He was so lost in his own thoughts that he hadn't realized that Elvira had walked over to the window he had been staring out of. 

"It would have been cruel," Viktor said, his voice softer than before. "Why?" "You know why," he simply said, and she looked at him before looking down on the floor. "It is cruel."

"The world is cruel." "I suppose," Elvira agreed.