Ink & Ashes // Arcane Fanfiction Viktor x Reader

13

To your surprise, once you reached the grand spiralling staircase that spanned the length of the giant building, Viktor led you up, not down.

"Where are we going?" you asked after an ungodly amount of flights, trying to not sound as breathless as you felt.

You swore that if you looked out a window at that point, you would look down upon the clouds you were so high up. Still, even at that level a steady stream of students and scholars ascended and descended the stairs, ducking through doors and chattering in alcoves.

They parted around Viktor like a hand through water, obviously aware of his status. Meanwhile, they eyed you inquisitively, gaze lingering for just a second too long. You could almost sense the question hidden behind their gaze: who is that?

"You'll see," came Viktor's reply. He strode a few steps ahead, surprisingly fast regardless of his cane. You hurried to keep up, taking the steps two at a time. "It's worth it."

At last the staircase began to narrow, the pedestrians ducking off onto other floors, until there wasn't enough room to walk side by side. The interior had shed its grandeur the further you ascended, until only wavering sconces lined the walls.

It took you a moment to register that he had finally stopped. You had been steps away from crashing into him, too lost in your thoughts to notice until the last moment.

You leant against the wall, huffing. There wasn't enough room to look and see what Viktor was doing. He rummaged in his pockets for something.

A jangle of keys. A creak of wood. A rush of cold air.

Viktor stepped through the doorway, and you followed, blinking against the sudden bright sunlight. Once your eyes had adjusted, you looked up and gasped.

The door opened onto a rooftop - the roof of the Academy. A simple, waist high wall surrounded the large rectangular perimeter. Even though an area such as this was hardly seen by many, swirling floral patterns had been carved into the stone.

But it wasn't the architecture that rendered you speechless; it was the view.

From up there you could see all of Piltover. A sea of blue rooftops stretched out before you, cresting and falling like waves. You couldn't tell where the buildings ended and the sky began, save for a shimmering line of silver between: the sea.

Wind whipped at your hair. You were so impossibly high up. You felt as if you could reach up, up, up to the sky, and your hand would come away stained with blue.

Airships milled about, ferrying to and from the city. Their musical jangle of equipment met with your ears even from such a distance. Below, you head the faint murmur of civilisation: a mix of a million memories and emotions and lives merged into a single, bubbling hum.

Only a smudge of smoke against the watery blue sky suggested the existence of the Undercity. Like fingers of a gnarled hand, plumes of smoke reached out from the smog, grasping at the remains of the day.

You gaped unashamedly. There was so much to see, so much to take in. You felt you could've stood for hours, unmoving, basking in the beauty of it all.

"Wow," you finally said, your words tinged with a laugh. "This is... wow."

Viktor, whilst you had stood awestruck, had ambled over to the wall. He leaned against it, cane resting against a leg, arms folded against the cold.

"I thought you might like it up here," he said, "seeing as landscape art seem to be an interest of yours."

"It's incredible." You walked to stand beside him, resting  your arms on the parapet and chancing a glance down. The drop was perilous. Little ant-like specks of people milled about far, far below. You felt your legs wobble, and looked away.