Mechanical heart (Viktor x OC)

2

"What are you? How did you do that?" the boy pushed himself closer to the walls in an attempt to get away from Elvira. "I am from Ionia. I was born with magic. You don't need to be scared, I want to help you," she backed away from him. 

He looked at her for a few seconds before sighing. "Fine, I'll help you. But only today, and only if you heal my wound." "Deal," she said as she cracked her fingers. "Shall we get to work then?" she crouched down next to him and lifted up his shirt to inspect the wound. 

"So, since we're working together for the day, what's your name?" she asked as she looked at the thin but deep cut in his side. "It's Nunja." "That's an odd name." "Yeah, the full name's Nunja Business." "Haha, very funny. So funny in fact, that I forgot to laugh," she focused on twirling her fingers over his wound, starting from the deepest part and working her way up.

"But for real, what's your name? If you won't tell me I'll just refer to you as Nunja." "Fine, it's Ash." "No last name?" "We don't do last names in the undercity. At least not the orphans." "Oh."

She pulled down his shirt and stoop up at looked at him expectantly. "What?" he asked as he scrunched his eyebrows. "Aren't you gonna get up?" "Are you done already?" he asked as he checked where the wound would have been. "Damn, that's fast," he said impressed. 

"What would you like to see?" he asked as he stood up and brushed the sand off his pants. "Just the first part of the undercity for now. I don't have much time." "Very well," he nodded before walking off, Elvira trailing after.

"I'm Elvira by the way," she said as she tried keeping up with his fast pace. "Don't care." 

After walking a short distance from where they already were, they were already standing in the middle of a busy street filled with people already more eccentric than in Piltovers streets. People with scars of different sizes and shapes walked around amongst people with a much more colorful color palette. Everything seemed more real to her than the polished people of Piltover. 

But she could immediately sense the struggles at this level. And she knew the deeper into the sumps she went, the worse it got. Children were playing with trash in the streets, and they looked thin and pale. She could also smell the faint smell of chemicals and pollution in the air, but she also knew that this too got worse the deeper you went. 

"The people at this level are living rather comfortably compared to the rest of the undercity. Here they have natural sunlight, cleaner air and they can grow foods if they want. The problem here is that there are usually a lot of enforcers here, that treat them way harsher than they would treat you guys in Piltover" Ash explained as they walked along the line of tiny houses. 

"They also have to work their asses off to afford those small houses you're seeing. The parents usually have two jobs, while the kids have to take care of themselves." "That's not safe is it?" Elvira asked, feeling her heart grow heavy with guilt. "Safer than ending up deeper down. Us down here tend to grow up faster than you guys across the river." "I see." 

They kept walking around the upper levels exploring until Elvira noticed the sky turning orange. "It's getting late. Thank you for showing me around here," Elvira gave Ash a thankful smile. "Sure, whatever," he shrugged as he too looked up at the sky. "Which way is back to Piltover?" she asked quietly as to not draw attention to herself. She assumed the people around here were not very fond of piltovans. Ash just simply pointed in the right direction before turning around to walk further into the undercity.

"Thanks again," Elvira called after him, earning nothing but a small shoulder shrug. She didn't think much of it as she turned to walk in the direction he had pointed at. Once she was back in the familiar streets of Piltover, she heard her name being shouted.

"Elvira!" someone called and Elvira was soon tackled into a hug by Aya. "Where in the world have you been?" she shook her shoulders, making Elvira feel dizzy. She usually became dizzy whenever she used her magic here, as she didn't have anywhere to pull it from other than her own essence. 

Back in Ionia, she would pull the magic from nature, since everything there had a magic essence. But here, she didn't have that option. So when Aya was shaking her around like a ragdoll, that trigger the dizziness even more. "Stop, calm down! What do you mean?" Elvira asked her confused about her behavior. 

"I was looking for you because I've had a breakthrough with our project! But I didn't find you at the apartment, so I went over to Jayce's lab since that's where you are when you're not at the lab or home, but neither you nor he was there either!" she rambled on and Elvira had to grab her shoulders to ground her. "Calm down, and breathe. I can't understand what you're saying when you're speaking without air," Elvira chuckled a little and looked around to find a small outdoor cafe close to the river. 

"Let's go get a coffee, and we can talk about it. Ok?" Elvira asked and Aya nodded her head, almost running over to the cafe. Elvira bought two coffees and the second she sat down at the table, Aya's mouth opened. "Shh, take a sip first," Elvira ordered, as she didn't want Aya to speak with a dry throat. 

Aya was always one to forget to take care of herself when she had big emotions, and Elvira was always the mother of their friendship, who had to baby Aya and remind her to take proper care. 

"So, anyway, where were I?" "Jayce and me were not at his lab?" "Oh yeah! So none of you were there, and when I left I ran into Caitlyn, you know the Kiramman kid? Anyway, she told me that she hadn't seen you today, but that Jayce had left a short while ago to find some materials for his tinkering, and that you weren't with him," she continued before taking a short break to drink some coffee.

"And I went for a walk just now, to see if I could find you, and then I see you coming from the direction of the undercity?!" she said a little too loud for Elvira's liking. "Shhh! Can you be a little louder? Might as well tell the council at this point!" Elvira shushed Aya, who sunk down in her seat in embarrassment. 

"Sorry, but what were you doing there?" she gave Elvira a stern and scared look. "I was just walking around. Seeing what it was like. I wasn't deep, just the first level," she reassured her friend, but Aya was not reassured. 

"Aya, I had someone show me around, just relax ok?" "YOU WAS WITH SOMEONE FROM THE..." she yelled out and Elvira quickly bent over the table and placed her hand over Aya's mouth. "If you do not shut up I will throw you into the river Pilt," Elvira threatened and Aya realized her mistake. "I am so sorry, but you must understand my panic! What were you thinking?" she sighed before picking up her coffee, taking a long sip to prevent herself from possibly yelling again. 

"I was thinking that I wanted to see for myself what it was like down there, to see if I could help in any way at all. The reason I wanted to become a tinkerer was to help the less fortunate, not bring even more luxury to the already rich and wealthy."

"But you mustn't tell anyone of my ventures down there. Ok?" she stared at Aya, waiting for her response. "Fine, but just promise me that you know what you're doing and that you're safe. Ok?" Aya glared at her friend. "I promise."

"Now, tell me about the breakthrough in our project," Elvira smirked at Aya, who had completely forgotten about the main reason she was looking for Elvira in the first place. "Oh! It's better that I show you, come to the lab tomorrow when you wake up? It's getting late rn," Aya said and Elvira almost choked on her coffee. 

"It's getting late? Since when did you start to care about sleep? Or it being late? Or just taking care of yourself at all really?" Elvira laughed and Aya pouted her bottom lip. "I will have you know that I've always cared about sleep!" "Stop lying, we both know that's not true." "Ok fine, but I really need sleep now, since I was up all night working on that damn plant. So just meet me tomorrow, ok?" Elvira nodded.

"I gotta go home and sleep, I suggest you do the same. We'll most likely be staying up late tomorrow again, working," she grinned before downing the rest of her coffee, slamming some gold on the table for the coffee, and then she was off. Elvira looked at the coins on the table before chuckling. "Stupid," she whispered to herself as she pocketed the gold, finished her own drink, and went home to the apartment she shared with Aya.