lazybox | izunia lucis callout

...I won't forgive you. I still hate you, for...everything. I've lived these past ages knowing you took all that I had and all that I loved, and it's because of you that I still...can't fully bring myself to trust anyone, even now.

I'm not going to kill you. I'm not the monster you tried to destroy or the person you crushed out in the process--I don't really know who I am, anymore.

[He brought a hand to the orange-red scarf loose around his neck-...ah, that's right. This was why...he couldn't bring himself to stop wearing it, wasn't it?]

...But I know that I'm still your brother.

[Slowly, one more time, Izunia inhales... and then exhales.]

I don't seek your forgiveness. I know that what I've done is far beyond it. Even if it wasn't - I'm not the person you remember, either. We're both too damn old and ruined for that.

[And then - it's a risk, but so is everything. For once, Izunia is going to throw himself into the mouth of what he wants. Surely this time, the consequences can't be as damning as the last time he didn't stop to examine every angle, every possibility.

He flings his arms around Ardyn's shoulders and holds him tight.]

But you're my brother, and to see you happy is all I want in the world.

[Ardyn flinched again, as if halfway to pulling back or throwing a punch...but then he stopped and thought about what he was doing for a change, taking an unsteady breath and cautiously putting an arm over his brother's shoulders.]

...I wish I could say 'it's good to see you again', but...well, perhaps there's something to be said for nostalgia.

On the slightly lighter note of my happiness, perhaps I should at least have etiquette enough to introduce you to your future brother-in-law. Damned family tree's a fucking ivy at this point.

[Wait. Future brother-in-law, that's him, right? He doesn't actually...move any closer yet, but he does look over.] Uhhhhhh. Pretty sure I already made my fumbles mcstupid introduction. Thought maybe you got a blue scarf for me.

Hhhhhhi? Church. Uh. Leonard. Leonard Church, uh, soon to be Leonard Lucis Caelum, I think? I think on the name, not I think on the marrying--uh. Yeah.

Yes, he already tried to proposition a threesome, I can only imagine how that would have worked out.

[It's a bit of a helpless laugh as Izunia slides off Ardyn's shoulders, because what else can he do? Some things never change, and Ardyn's lovers making his life incredibly awkward is apparently one of them.]

Marriage, though? You truly have become someone else, if monogamy is anywhere near your future.

...Leonard.

[Because what better way to cover up uncertainty and the exhaustion of retreating panic than with exasperation? Ardyn sighed, straightening up and shaking his head.]

Still, monogamy is certainly a strong word. For both of us, I imagine.

Ehhhhhhhhhhhh, call it an open relationship. [Is it okay if he comes back over? He's not sure. So he'll. stay hanging back. for safety for now.] Also, all I said was that two of you was basically a dream come true, okay.

That is, essentially, a proposition. Ware the sudden arrival of dreams, lest they turn into nightmares.

[Which you know that definitely would have been if Izunia was in any way inclined. Great way to die, but he luckily has a sense of self preservation.]

Still, I'm... glad. Beyond glad.

An open relationship in which you are my favorite person out of everyone in all the many varying worlds. [Ardyn walked over to drape his arms over Church's shoulders as if to say 'look at my boyfriend, he's wonderful and perfect and fuck you you can't have him.']

[...He was, after all, still quite spiteful in matters regarding his twin brother.]

My wonderful guard, protector, friend and most perfect if admittedly sometimes stupid and tactless fiancé.

[The whole situation is beyond awkward, and he genuinely would like little more than for the floor to open up and swallow him. But Ardyn is showing him off, so he has to preen.]

You left out hot. My incredibly talented and extremely handsome stupid tactless fiance. But I like 'perfect', that's, that's a good word, yeah.

[Watching them is painful, but in a good way, like a bone getting pushed back into place.

Ardyn is happy and Izunia will not, ever ever again, do something to get in the way of that. If this man is responsible even in part, no matter how utterly thoughtless he has already shown that he can sometimes be -

Izunia will not allow anything to get in the way of that.

Preen away, you two, while Izunia pulls himself up off the floor and leans against a shelf with his arms folded. There's some amusement on his face.]

You two suit each other.

[Ardyn laughed in the hollow sort of way he tended to do, when exhaustion and pain and endless ages crept up on him. Half hanging off Church and half clinging to him, the former immortal didn’t answer for a second or two.]

...there’s no one better.

[Flawed, broken, stupid, thoughtless—just the same as Ardyn himself.]

You know how it goes. Kingly healer turned immortal monster winds up in an interdimensional televised murder mansion with a robot ghost from the future, your classic meet-cute situation.

Should I show him the tat? Oh my god show him your tat. Would he know what that means? I can and will take my shirt off if that embarrasses the hell out of you.

I'm a former king making his living running a knickknacks shop slash black market swords operation, it's not as though that's any stranger.

[A subtle shift of his head, Izunia's eyebrows going up. Part of him is surprised that they would have already gotten to the 'matching tattoos' stage already, but on the other hand...

Well, Ardyn probably wouldn't think him much for ink, either.]

Is this the point where I say 'I'll show you mine if you show me yours' and then Ardyn mocks me for the innuendo for twenty minutes?

Oh, he'll likely not recognize it; the organization as it is now wasn't established until much more recently. And as for innuendo, I assure you I am not the one you need to worry about.

[But Ardyn shrugged, pulling his scarf off and turning to show a small sigil in black, low on the back of his neck.]

[Points.] That, by across my back, cuz I'm not a fucking weenie. [He's also not covered in scars, but he would like to keep the tone of all this upbeat thanks.]

Sooooo you got some too? Like brother like...brother. Twin...brother.

...It's familiar, actually, but I can't say I can place it. Something from Regis' reign?

[Hey guys you realize that a Glaive upright wore the ring to activate the Wall at one point, right.

In answer to Church's question, Izunia shrugs his shirt casually into the Armiger. There's a set of black cracks at the base of his sternum, over the heart, and from there, a group of birds flies up towards his collarbone - eleven crows.]

Just the one.

It's the mark of the modern Kingsglaive, yes. Several of us have i--

[?????]

When the hell did you get that?

[Well Church apparently doesn't know a lot of things, but also he doesn't understand your god damn magic so.]

Dude. That's sweet as hell. Kinda hipster but I'm not gonna judge.

...After.

[There's no need to say after what. There's only one event in their lives that can really be explained so well in just one word.]

Nine for silver, ten for gold -

...

[Ardyn glanced away, wrapping his scarf back around his neck and fidgeting with it as he leaned on Church's shoulder.]

Eleven for a secret to never be told.

You guys and your stupid fucking rhyming mystical bullshit. Okay. I got a fucking question. [And he might wrap an arm back around Ardyn pretty tight.] You literally took over his life after the whole tried to kill him, didn't take, shoved him in a shitty stone prison, also didn't take, etc.

Why?

I mean--I find it really hard to believe that people didn't know about the twin brothers, and if one got all daemonified and cast out, then...like, why lie about which brother you are? Fucking why not go oh, well, Ardyn got fucked by the gods, time for Izunia to be king, bitches? Kinda how monarchies usually work.

[Honestly he expected that question a long time ago. The dress shirt flicks back into being in a flash of blue, and Izunia adjusts the collar to delay answering.]

...Because Ardyn was right when he called me a coward.

[He takes a deep breath and does not elaborate.]

'Izunia' didn't deserve to be remembered with all the respect that I knew the Founder King would gain, the near-worship as the beginning of the Lucian line. 'Ardyn,' who gave up everything he was trying to heal and protect the people, did.

[Ardyn went rigid at Church's side, putting an arm around his waist as well as if to momentarily stop either of them from launching across the room and throwing a punch.]

And did Gilgamesh abandon 'Ardyn' immediately, or did he just-...

[...]

-or did he just abandon me?

[Good, because Church can't warp, but he's tempted to do the next best thing and go break his fucking nose.]

Get rightly fucked, scrublord, how did people react when they found out 'Ardyn' suddenly couldn't heal for shit?

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