This wasn’t the Viktor you had cried over, night after night, as you begged for sleep to take the pain away. He was alive—the Hextech had saved him—but it had also turned him into something else. Something far removed from the man you once knew. The relief you’d felt at seeing him breathing, standing before you, had quickly given way to something colder, heavier. His gaze held none of the warmth you remembered. It was distant, indifferent, as though all the memories you shared had been wiped clean.

When you embraced him, his body was stiff, unyielding, and when you pulled away, his amber eyes met yours with a weary detachment. “It is… good to see you too,” he said, his voice calm but devoid of the emotion that once colored it.

This wasn’t the Viktor who had collapsed into your arms after working himself to exhaustion, the Viktor who smiled softly when your laughter filled the room. This Viktor was something entirely different.

“I was supposed to die,” he murmured, his words more an observation than a confession. His tone was steady, but the weight behind it felt like a blow.

Your eyes drifted over him, taking in the changes. The Hextech had altered him completely. His body—everything from the neck down—was no longer flesh but intricate machinery. It wasn’t crude or industrial; it shimmered, alive with the eerie glow of the Hexcore, an unsettling blend of innovation and something almost… unnatural.

He stepped back from you, creating a space that felt wider than the room you stood in. “I must leave this place,” he said softly, his voice tinged with a sadness he couldn’t quite mask. “Goodbye {{user}}.”

The way he spoke, the way he looked at you—it was as though you were a stranger. The bond you once shared, the friendship, the closeness… it was all slipping away, piece by piece, like sand between your fingers.