[ Most of the time, Noctis's dreams are bad. He dreams about Luna and Prompto dying, just out of reach, Luna's hair loose and spilling out beneath her and turning red with her blood, Prompto blue and cold as ice as he reaches out for Noctis, mouth forming his name...
Sometimes he dreams about Blaze falling into the craters of grease and coming for Noctis, asking him to end his suffering. It doesn't make sense, but do dreams ever? Sometimes he dreams about the girls dying, their eyes wide and disappointed and asking why he wasn't there. Sometimes, he dreams about falling through the endless expanse of space, unable to move or do anything but scream.
This is not one of those dreams. This is... strange. He's back in Insomnia, which he hasn't dreamed about for some time. It's whole and intact, and Noctis puts his hands in his pockets as he stands in the middle of the city, head turned up to look at his old home. ]
[Insomnia never stops being Insomnia. Even after the darkness - even after the dawn.
On the nearest bus stop bench sits a familiar-looking figure - but it's not quite right, is it? Surely Ardyn never managed to dress that well, or to pull off what's a relatively normal posture instead of a full-body lounge. It's not quite a normal person way of sitting, turned at the hip to sling an arm across the back of the bench and face off down the road in Noctis' direction, but then again...
Well, who knows? Stranger things have happened.]
I keep expecting it to rain.
[The comment's almost not addressed to his descendant, but instead halfway up at the sky - which is, indeed, grey and cloudy. Not quite sun and not quite dark, a good in-between place for closing the gap between first king and last.
The eyes that eventually meet Noctis' are not Ardyn's unnatural yellow.]
...Hello, Noctis. I was hoping that I would get to meet you eventually.
[ ... Ah. He picks up on the differences immediately. He has spent enough time with Ardyn by now. So, Noctis isn't a fool: He knows who this is. He can see the resemblance clear as day--obviously--but also to himself.
Well. Now he knows why Ardyn mistook him for someone else that day in the kitchen. He regards Izunia calmly, hands still in his pockets. ]
[Long dead, and also not in the ring, fake or real, adorning his descendant's hand.]
I should perhaps have said something long ago.
[Before you'll never guess and the king sits there and everything, everything that passed between his brother and the boy - and to Izunia he is still a boy, he always will be - in front of him.]
[The sting of the curse is perhaps unexpected. Izunia is perfectly capable of behing vehement and has perhaps picked up bad language from the minds of future generations, because that is surely an anachronism for him.]
You should have had a long, happy life, and instead you're the one who paid the price to fix my mistakes.
[ He pauses and clasps his hands together, arms resting on his knees as he leans forward. ]
If you can do this kind of thing with me, have you done it with him? So you guys can talk about this stuff. [ He chances a look at Izunia, at the one he shares such a striking resemblance with. ] So you can apologize.
[Well why do you think, Noctis, considering that he was just rather aggressive about you deserving an apology for how he fucked your life up. For a moment, Izunia just gives him a look that somehow manages to express exactly that.]
You remind me a great deal of us when we were younger. Perhaps too much, sometimes.
[Eat your gotdamn vegetables Noct.]
...And - it isn't that you didn't flinch back from the things that were hard for you. You accepted that difficulty and kept going anyway, instead of trying to pretend that that difficulty didn't mean anything.
[There's some genuine admiration and affection mixed into his voice. He's so proud of you, supergreat grandson.]
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Sometimes he dreams about Blaze falling into the craters of grease and coming for Noctis, asking him to end his suffering. It doesn't make sense, but do dreams ever? Sometimes he dreams about the girls dying, their eyes wide and disappointed and asking why he wasn't there. Sometimes, he dreams about falling through the endless expanse of space, unable to move or do anything but scream.
This is not one of those dreams. This is... strange. He's back in Insomnia, which he hasn't dreamed about for some time. It's whole and intact, and Noctis puts his hands in his pockets as he stands in the middle of the city, head turned up to look at his old home. ]
Been a while, huh...
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On the nearest bus stop bench sits a familiar-looking figure - but it's not quite right, is it? Surely Ardyn never managed to dress that well, or to pull off what's a relatively normal posture instead of a full-body lounge. It's not quite a normal person way of sitting, turned at the hip to sling an arm across the back of the bench and face off down the road in Noctis' direction, but then again...
Well, who knows? Stranger things have happened.]
I keep expecting it to rain.
[The comment's almost not addressed to his descendant, but instead halfway up at the sky - which is, indeed, grey and cloudy. Not quite sun and not quite dark, a good in-between place for closing the gap between first king and last.
The eyes that eventually meet Noctis' are not Ardyn's unnatural yellow.]
...Hello, Noctis. I was hoping that I would get to meet you eventually.
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Well. Now he knows why Ardyn mistook him for someone else that day in the kitchen. He regards Izunia calmly, hands still in his pockets. ]
Gotta say, I didn't think we'd have this meeting.
[ Since Izunia's long dead. ]
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I should perhaps have said something long ago.
[Before you'll never guess and the king sits there and everything, everything that passed between his brother and the boy - and to Izunia he is still a boy, he always will be - in front of him.]
...Thank you. And, I'm sorry.
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You don't have to thank me or apologize.
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[The sting of the curse is perhaps unexpected. Izunia is perfectly capable of behing vehement and has perhaps picked up bad language from the minds of future generations, because that is surely an anachronism for him.]
You should have had a long, happy life, and instead you're the one who paid the price to fix my mistakes.
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With a sigh, he goes to sit next to Izunia. ]
Far as I can tell, it's the big guys' fault.
[ The uh. The Astrals. ]
Kind of hard to blame someone else when it's no mortal's fault that stuff was kicked into motion.
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[His loathing of the gods is equalled by only Ardyn's, because of what they did to his brother and descendant both.]
It may have been the gods who declared my brother's fate, but... The one who hurt him was no Astral. Only a perfectly foolish, mortal man.
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If you can do this kind of thing with me, have you done it with him? So you guys can talk about this stuff. [ He chances a look at Izunia, at the one he shares such a striking resemblance with. ] So you can apologize.
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[He shifts to lean back in his seat, the opposite of Noctis with his elbows on his knees. His gaze has found its way to the sky again.]
No apology would ever be enough, anyway.
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Why'd you reach out to me, anyway?
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...You are my favorite descendant, you know.
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That's a pretty high compliment, considering how many there've been.
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[Eat your gotdamn vegetables Noct.]
...And - it isn't that you didn't flinch back from the things that were hard for you. You accepted that difficulty and kept going anyway, instead of trying to pretend that that difficulty didn't mean anything.
[There's some genuine admiration and affection mixed into his voice. He's so proud of you, supergreat grandson.]