lazybox | Get in time traveller

Get in time traveller

[Altissia. The ring, burning into his finger, burning into his skull, and he knows the price without asking, knows before it's paid. The thing you value most, isn't that always how this works in fairytales?

Ravus. Noctis. Ardyn, and that little revelation barely enters his mind at the time, the familiar glowing signature of a warp in an unfamiliar color. The prophecy, the visions that hang in his mind, a last wish from a woman who spent her life to ensure it, Lunafreya's final message to ensure that Noctis would survive.

The last clear words he can remember clearly, You've a calling to fulfill, and then Prompto and Gladio's voices, concerned, in a blur...

And then nothing. Just the feeling of a ring's power, setting him alight from fingertips to crown -

It's still in him, that power. The ring of the Lucii binds to its wearers for life, knotting strands of light into their souls, be they kings or anyone else.

(He had expected to die. Living is harder.)

And in the depths of his unconsciousness, in the place where he knows the things that he hasn't had time to consider, Noctis and Ardyn and prophecy and all of that terrible weight -

From there, from the connection of the fire in his soul that will never go out, that can only be smothered and locked away in the dark, a voice says, what would you give to change fate?

And, of course, he answers, Anything.

----

In another world, Ignis Scientia wakes in Altissia, his face scarred, his vision burned away, and continues on.

In this one, Prompto Argentum enters the room just in time to see a flare of purple flame lick along his friend's body and leave nothing behind, not even a char mark on the wrinkled sheets.

And Ignis?

Ignis wakes, with a groan and a hand pressed to his face, in the back of a cart that trundles to a stop to pick up another passenger, a young healer with cheeks not yet sunken by pain and eyes not yet yellowed by plague. He wakes bereft, on some fundamental level, of the touch of magic that bound him to Noctis, the hum of energy that bound retainer to prince...

He wakes with the imprint of a ring on his finger, the memory of agreeing, and not the damnedest idea where he is.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Perhaps simply a mark of good fortune, then.

[And with that, he sets about settling the sheaths onto his belt so that they'll rest comfortably while remaining easy to draw. Strangely, in spite of his obvious familiarity with the weapons themselves, it takes Ignis a bit of time to get them settled in a way he likes.]

...Is there something wrong, Ignis?

Hm? No, nothing at all.

[There, that ought to do it.]

...hm. If you're sure. Shall we get going?

[...whatever favor the poor armorer thought he owed Ardyn, he shook the young savior's hand rather furiously and wouldn't accept more than half payment no matter how Ardyn tried to insist otherwise.]

[Weird place, Solheim.]

[Not so strange, if Ardyn treats everyone with the kindness he's shown thus far. As strange as that is to believe, Ignis can't help the increasing feeling that it's true.

Upon their return to the house, however, he all but finds himself faceplanting into the bed. Oops, perhaps he did push a bit farther than he should have...

He doesn't come out again until sometime late into the night, to make a cup of coffee and try and get his thoughts in order. Izunia's work desk will be short a notebook and pen come morning, but hardly any of it is more than scribbles.]

[The city wasn't unruly at night; far from silent, but not the bright nightlife Insomnia had once had beneath the safety of the Wall. Outside the shine of white streetlights was tempered here and there with the glow of red magitek circuitry along the grander buildings.]

[Ardyn was not much for mornings--the magic of the sacred Crystal and his own unique power were both fairly taxing on a mere mortal body, and so he slept a bit more than he perhaps should have. Still, the occasional late night was not completely foreign to him, and in this one in particular he shuffled in the direction of the kitchen in loose-fitting clothes that btrayed how thin he was in a way the multiple layers didn't.]

[Yawning and rubbing his eyes, he made it as far as the doorway before blinking a few times.]

Ignis...?

Ah - did I wake you?

[Shit. Play it cool, Ignis, play it cool, like you were not brooding in the dark by yourself.]

No...no, not at all. Are you alright?

...Don't concern yourself on my account.

[That's not yes. He's well aware that that isn't yes.]

It's rather my job to concern myself on others' accounts.

[He pulled up a chair, sitting across from Ignis and leaning on his brother's desk.]

You've done more than enough for me.

[And he should know better, than to accept it, than to believe -

(But why wouldn't it be real, at this point? A younger Ardyn, with no reason to suspect that Ignis is anything but what he sees - ) ]

There's no such thing as doing 'more than enough' for someone. If someone should be distressed or in pain, I help them. There should be no limit to compassion.

Perhaps not. But I feel there may be a limit in what I'm comfortable accepting from one person.

[He's trying so hard to not get attached. And yet... He's failing miserably.

People aren't made to carry their burdens alone. Isn't that why Noctis had all of them in the first place?]

I... fear I have nowhere to go save here, and no way to see those I love again.

...I'm sorry. Did something happen to them?

It is more that something happened to me, I think. I cannot help but think that I've failed them.

[A careful dodge. Possibly transparent as one, but... Ardyn hasn't pushed him, yet. He has to hope that pattern will hold true. At least until he can decide what to do about all this.]

...

[Sure enough, Ardyn didn't push the matter. He reached over with a hand not yet bearing a heavy black ring, laying it gently over one of Ignis' own.]

Would that there were anything I could do to help you, my friend. Though we've scarcely known each other, I find it doubtful for you to be the sort to fail others.

[Friend. How strange, to hear that word, from that voice, in reference to himself - at least, without any bitter sarcasm or manipulation to it.

The hand beneath Ardyn's turns over, to return the touch.]

It's only human, isn't it? To fear getting attached again, in the wake of such loss.

...I'm afraid I don't know. [His other hand came to join the first, holding Ignis' in a gentle, warm grip only barely calloused by swordsmanship and with only a scar or two marring his skin.]

I've only my brother and Gilgamesh--I know not what I would do were I to lose them. I imagine it would be terribly frightening, to befriend another knowing such a thing to be possible.

I feel as though I'll go mad if I do and mad if I don't.

[He adds his free hand, marred with the scar of a ring, to the table.]

But I can... admit there's no comfort, in being alone.

Izunia and I meant what we said; you're entirely welcome here. Our home is yours for however long you wish, though I begin to fear that little comfort for what I see must plague you.

...Always before, I was the one who found it easy to commit to a course of action. Even when the others were plagued by doubt, I could manage to reassure them long enough to get us moving again.

Now I wonder if I should have pushed them so hard.

I do not think that any terrible thing. [He squeezed Ignis' hand gently, sounding sincere.] You're like my brother--responsible for keeping things on track when they divert or others become distracted.

And yet now I still find myself at a loss.

[He inhales, and then, slowly, exhales.

Even the voice of reason needs to do one or two reckless things, from time to time. And if he is going to commit to this, it needs to be with his whole heart.

(He can't tell himself that this is just for Noctis, to change and change his fate somehow by changing Ardyn's. Noct, forgive him.) ]

Come here a moment?

...hm?

[He got up, crossing the distance to Ignis' side with a genuinely confused look. Thousands of years from Ardyn Izunia, he was just a concerned kid who had no idea of the executioner's blade over his head.]

What is it?

[And after only a moment's hesitation, Ignis puts his arms around Ardyn's shoulders and holds on.]

Thank you.

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