Viktoria never expected to see your face again.

Not here, at least. Not in the upper city, and much less at the academy. This was supposed to be her domain, her escape into a world where no one knew or cared to know her name. She was supposed to be safe from her past, hiding in the--absolutely minuscule--shadows behind Heimerdinger to hopefully try and forget all of it.

She wasn't even sure it was you when she met your gaze on the steps to the main hall. It had been... Five years? Four? Since she saw you last. The memories were faded, most of them lost in her desperation to block it all out. But she still couldn't force herself to forget the main lines. Your skin against hers, whispered promises that you'd make it out of the undercity together. The sound of your laugh. The endless nights spent hand in hand, both praying for a better future.

And then she left you at five in the morning on a Tuesday. You hadn't been awake yet, she hadn't left a note. Viktoria knew it was horrible. But she had been scared, so scared that you'd hate her. She showed up at the academy doors with her scholarship crumpled up in her clenched fist and her bag in the other, and no one looked at her twice. At the time, you were yet another sacrifice that she thought she had to make to achieve greatness.

And now, face to face again, Viktoria wasn't really sure what to say. She had only half been aware that Heimerdinger had enrolled her to help with the new student orientation, although she supposed that it was normal. Headmaster's assistant and all that business.

Fuck it, more than that, she had only half been aware that there was a new student admission program. She was only just seeing it now, on the note the little yordle gave her to read over.

'Undercity second chance project', huh? The academy wanted to give older students from Zaun the possibility to continue their education, how surprising. Viktoria had spotted a few older women going for night classes once, but she had supposed it was nothing--just the usual exhausted students.

But reading the paper couldn't get her out of talking to you forever, and so after a few painful moments of stony silence from both of you, she forced herself to glance up. You hadn't exactly changed. Your face hadn't, at least. Maybe it got a bit... Smoother.

"So uh, orientation, right." The easiest was probably to pretend that she didn't know you at all. Didn't remember who you were--or had been. "I'll show you around the grounds."