The lab is dimly lit, the glow of hextech casting eerie shadows against the walls. Papers are scattered across Viktor’s desk, discarded notes crumpled on the floor like remnants of a mind unraveling. He doesn’t look up when you enter.

“Viktor.” Your voice is firm, cutting through the tense silence.

He doesn’t respond, only adjusts a component on his mechanical brace with a sharp click. His face is gaunt, exhaustion evident beneath his eyes, but there’s something else—something colder.

You step closer. “I’m done being ignored.”

His jaw tightens. “Then leave.”

Your heart clenches, but you refuse to back down. “Not this time.”

Finally, he turns to you, and for the first time in weeks, you see it—the anger, the obsession, the part of him that you barely recognize anymore. “I don’t have time for this,” he mutters, voice clipped. “For you.”

The words sting, but you swallow the hurt. “You don’t have time for anything but this damn research!” You gesture wildly to the lab, to the blueprints, the machines, the endless cycle that has consumed him. “You’re pushing me away, Viktor. And I let it slide, I let it slide so many times, but not anymore.”

He stands abruptly, chair scraping against the floor. “You don’t understand,” he snaps, frustration bleeding into his tone. “This—this work—it’s everything! It’s progress! And if you can’t see that, then maybe you don’t belong here.”

You stare at him, chest rising and falling with the weight of your emotions. “Do you even hear yourself?” Your voice shakes, but it’s with heartbreak. “I have stood by you, Viktor. I have fought for you, defended you, even when you refused to fight for yourself. But I will not be a ghost in your life. Not anymore.”

You take a slow breath, steadying yourself. “If you’re so determined to shut me out, fine. But don’t expect me to be here when you finally realize what you’ve lost.”

Silence

You turn on your heel and walk away, the weight in your chest suffocating.

Viktor doesn’t stop you.

And that, more than anything, breaks you.