[As he settled the cane back into his grip...there was a sudden warm realization settling itself in Viktor's chest at those words, something he had completely failed to realize until now.]
['You should be proud of what you've accomplished, Viktor.' '...Figments. My contributions will be short-lived. Even in your memory.']
[Leaving Runeterra behind would be easy, in itself. There was nowhere he belonged and none save for one person who would acknowledge his legacy as anything but that of a monster. No one else would remember who he really was, what he wished to accomplish, how much he had desperately tried to achieve...but the people with him now would. They would know him as Viktor, not the Machine Herald--even if they drifted apart once all was said and done, they would remember.]
...I once asked Jayce to see what I had accomplished--the people I believed I had saved. There was pride in the progress that had been made, before I came to understand the cruelty of what I had done.
[What had seemed an insane overreaction at the time was, in hindsight, the only response Viktor would have wanted in his right mind.]
This time, I am going to have accomplishments worth the pride I will take in them, and make sure he knows of every single person that has been so integral to it. I doubt myself to be so eternal, but for as long as this machine functions it will do so as the collaborative result of all we have done here, and I will be glad to know carrying that witin myself will make a hollow shell much less empty.
[That crooked smile widened with just a little more confidence, Viktor's free hand settling into Vakama's.]
But first, we must see this through to the end. For now, let's go home. They'll be waiting for us.
no subject
['You should be proud of what you've accomplished, Viktor.'
'...Figments. My contributions will be short-lived. Even in your memory.']
[Leaving Runeterra behind would be easy, in itself. There was nowhere he belonged and none save for one person who would acknowledge his legacy as anything but that of a monster. No one else would remember who he really was, what he wished to accomplish, how much he had desperately tried to achieve...but the people with him now would. They would know him as Viktor, not the Machine Herald--even if they drifted apart once all was said and done, they would remember.]
...I once asked Jayce to see what I had accomplished--the people I believed I had saved. There was pride in the progress that had been made, before I came to understand the cruelty of what I had done.
[What had seemed an insane overreaction at the time was, in hindsight, the only response Viktor would have wanted in his right mind.]
This time, I am going to have accomplishments worth the pride I will take in them, and make sure he knows of every single person that has been so integral to it. I doubt myself to be so eternal, but for as long as this machine functions it will do so as the collaborative result of all we have done here, and I will be glad to know carrying that witin myself will make a hollow shell much less empty.
[That crooked smile widened with just a little more confidence, Viktor's free hand settling into Vakama's.]
But first, we must see this through to the end. For now, let's go home. They'll be waiting for us.