Muj Milacek | Viktor Arcane x Reader | Revised

Chapter 9

"Give me a few days of peace in your arms - I  need it terribly. I'm ragged, worn, exhausted. After that I can face the world." - Henry Miller

You thought about the dance often, too often, in fact. Especially when it is just you and Viktor in the quiet evenings. You let yourself get caught up in the joy that that party had brought you. For a few blissful months after the party, you found yourself wondering if perhaps this was the turning point, if things were finally going to start looking up. You couldn't imagine anything ruining that moment.

It wasn't until Viktor showed up one day with a crutch instead of a cane that you were rudely brought back to reality, your hope for a brighter future squashed. He'd had a crutch in all your visions of him. It was a reminder that you hadn't figured out what was going to happen, let alone how to solve it. Viktor was still going to get sick, you were still going to have to watch him suffer - and if your visions were anything to go by, you would have to watch him slowly wither away, and most likely, die.

The pain etched itself onto your features, impossible to hide as your eyes met his. His expression remained carefully devoid of emotion, a mask that shielded his true thoughts from view. The tension between you both crackled in the air like electricity, each of you battling to maintain control over your emotions. But the anguish on your face was palpable, a raw and exposed wound that refused to be ignored. And his stoic facade only served to intensify it - he knew what was coming, and though he hadn't seen it, he refused to give up.

That was the beginning of the end.

As the days passed, his condition deteriorated rapidly. His already lean frame grew even thinner, and his light complexion paled to a sickly pallor. Dark circles deepened under his eyes, evidence of the countless all-nighters he spent in the lab. You marveled at his stamina, trying your best to keep up with him, but inevitably succumbing to exhaustion as you nodded off among stacks of papers and books. The toll of his work was evident in every line on his face, carved deeper with each passing day.

He became quieter, more focused, more determined. You couldn't blame him, you only wished that you could do more to help - but you felt as useless as your magic, weak and unable to do anything but cause problems.

Viktor and Jayce had begun construction on the mysterious blue orb adorned with intricate runes that had appeared in your vision all those years ago, but even with the intricate symbols you had given them, they struggled to make any headway.

The Viktor you knew was still there, but he had changed. He smiled less, he ate less, but most of all he was always completely enervated. Even when he did manage to crawl into bed at night, you could tell he wasn't sleeping well. He always looked exhausted, no matter if he left the lab at a regular time or not.

You'd tried using your magic, desperately pleaded with it to do something, fix whatever was happening with Viktor. You'd have taken one of those horrifying visions if it meant you could figure out how to solve this. Yet, like every other time you'd tried to use your magic on purpose, nothing useful happened. The frustration was almost suffocating in its intensity - you were terrified of losing him, why couldn't those emotions be strong enough to do something?

Or perhaps, it was you who wasn't strong enough.

"What if I absorb just a bit more magic?" you asked one night, staring intently at one of the many Gemstones lying about the lab. Now that they had become stabilized, they were much safer to have around. "Only a small amount, then maybe I could do something to help heal you. One didn't do much to me, a second couldn't hurt."

"No." His voice was firm and resolute, as he moved his stool closer to yours. He grasped your hands softly in his. "We do not know the consequences it could have on you. You cannot sacrifice yourself for my sake."