Jayce's change of expression is impossible to ignore, and though some parts of the procedure are hazy, Viktor knows that this was bound to come up. Perhaps it's best that they clear the air now, rather than let resentment build. It's fitting, though, that Jayce is the one to destroy it. Beyond the fact that Viktor is in no shape to do much of anything, this brings his request from another timeline full circle. Now, instead of resigning Viktor to death, they're solidifying his new chance at life.

The price is just the destruction of his work.

He wants to argue--to say that they cannot assign human morality to the thing he created, therefore it cannot act maliciously--but of course he knows that Jayce is right. Viktor, perhaps, owes him an explanation, or his best attempt at one.

"It called out to me," he begins, inviting Jayce to settle in next to him, so that he doesn't have to hover. "I don't think it wanted to control me. It was offering, a, a partnership."

A new kind of existence for himself, if only he could reach out and take it. Transcendence. On the other side of this, however, he knows it wasn't what he wanted, no matter how appealing it was at the time. The only partner he wants is right beside him.

"I wasn't strong enough to say no. If you hadn't been there--"

Well, he thinks maybe he knows what happened to the other version of him, the one that wanted to die.